LORDE - Melodrama 2017

I can't remember exactly when I saw/heard Lorde. I do know it was before she became well known internationally - when 'Royals' was still just bubbling in the background. I remember looking for more of her music on YouTube and coming across her video clip for 'Tennis Court'. It was, and still is, an amazing clip. She was 16, not famous, putting out music for criticism or acclaim, and she opted for a minimalistic non-singing non-lipsynching one-shot video where the only word she mouths is 'Yeah' and the only change is the lighting. I thought it was, above all else, very brave. I've linked to that clip at the end of this post. It's worth a look.

Lorde's first album, 'Pure Heroine' came out in 2013. My immediate reaction was a mix of a young Kate Bush with a smattering of the electronics of Laurie Anderson, some slight synth-pop Pet Shop Boys-ness, but then after a few more listens it really was just all Lorde. It was different. I love 'difference' in music. It's refreshing.

Seeing her live was a bit of a shock. If you found Joe Cockers gestures uncomfortable or even painful, you could get the same reaction from Lorde. Just keep in mind, she literally dances to her own tune. She wrote the words and the music so I figure she can interpret them in her own way too. 

After 'Pure Heroine' there was a four year wait for this second album, 'Melodrama'.

In between there were the odd bits and pieces. A cover of Tears For Fears 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' from the 'Catching Fire' soundtrack. A cover of Sheryl Crows 'Are You Strong Enough to Be My Man?' singing with Haim, 'All Apologies' with the surviving members of Nirvana at their 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Even doing Kanye's 'Hold My Liquor'. But nothing new until 2017. 

When 'Melodrama' came along the single used to promote it was 'Green Light'. To me, that's not the best track. It's a good track, it fits the albums concept, it works, but it's not my go-to.

The album is a progression from 'Pure Heroine' in a few ways. Production is up - it's more complex, perhaps even more electropop, certainly more personal (if that's possible). It came after a break-up with a boyfriend. Keep in mind, she was still only 20 when she wrote and recorded this, so it's young love, angst, but I'm sure to her as raw and real as it could be. 

My picks? In no particular order, 'The Louvre', 'Writer in the Dark' and 'Hard Feelings/Loveless'.

'The Louvre' has a hypnotic beat driven by the repetitious chorus lyric ..

"Megaphone to my chest

Broadcast the boom boom boom boom

And make 'em all dance to it".

'Writer in the Dark' is (IMHO) perhaps the most personal song, certainly it shows the most maturity in talking about her new-found fame and the lack of perceived support she gets from the (now) ex-boyfriend ..

"Stood on my chest and kept me down

Hated hearing my name on the lips of a crowd"

'Hard Feelings/Loveless' is a song of 2 halves. 'Hard Feelings' is about falling out of love. In amongst the lyrics though is a more down to earth line, 'I'm at Jungle City', which is a referencce to one of the five studios used to record the song. At the 4 minute mark, after some weird distorted synth there is a short cut from a Paul Simon documentary where he mentions a favourite tape. Then, as lead in to the 'Loveless' part of the song there's a sample of the Phil Collins drum solo from 'In The Air Tonight'. The words come in with a totally different style and content to the first part of the track. 'Loveless' becomes a throw away couldn't care less jingle that makes light of the pain and turns it back on itself. That's my thoughts anyway - what do I know, I'm an old codger !! I've added a link with the lyrics. Follow along.

Having said that about my 3 favourites, it's very easy just to play the album from start to finish, one track after the other and let it run it's course. It's a great listen.

I have no idea when or even if there will be a third Lorde album, or what direction it may take. Regardless, I'll be waiting.

Tennis Court - YouTube

Hard Feelings/Loveless - YouTube

THE NOTTING HILLBILLIES - Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time 1990

This is good. It feels good. It sounds good. It makes everything good. It's Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time music.

Mark Knopfler had dissolved Dire Straits in 1988 and in 1989 The Travelling Wilburys came along with their new version of a super group. Mark got a few of his cronies around him and formed The Notting Hillbillies to give himself a new musical outlet.

Not quite in the same 'super' league as the Wilburys, the Hillbillies were still class acts. Guy Fletcher had worked with Steve Harley and then Roxy Music and had been with Dire Straits for about 4 years before they disbanded. Brendan Croker had his own band, The Five O'Clock Shadows and the others band members all had their own credibility.

The tracks on the album are a great mix of covers and traditionals with a smattering of originals thrown in. Despite being a writer of renown, Mark Knopfler kept himself in check, only penning one song, 'Your Own Sweet Way' which just can't help sounding a little Dire Strait-ish .. there's no way he can keep from using his guitar to make those oh-so unique noises. Brendan Croker and Steve Philips contribute another couple of originals and there's even a Charlie Rich cover in there.

The traditional tracks give a feeling of familiarity to the album, starting with 'Railroad Worksong' ... everybody knows you're working for a dollar a day and you want your good buddy to take the hammer to the captain so at some point you get to sing along.

There's not that much to write about the Hillbillies. This was their one and only album, although they have come together again for charity shows and even did an 11 show U.K. tour in 1997.

It's a shame they didn't record more. I really like this album .. it's clean, laid-back, comfortable.

Maybe the reason they didn't do any more lies in the title. They really are 'Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time'.

Railroad Worksong - YouTube

LEON RUSSELL - Will O' the Wisp 1975

There isn't enough room on my little corner of the internet to even scratch the surface of Leon Russells contribution to music. It is vast, all-encompassing and seemingly endless.

He was 14 years old when he joined The Starlighters, playing alongside J.J. Cale in Tulsa nightclubs. Born Claude Russell Bridges he started calling himself Leon because of the fake I.D. his friend gave him so he could get into the clubs to perform.

In the 60's he was one of the most sought after session musicians around. The list of people he supported and albums he played on is way too long to list but basically included .. um .. anyone you can think of !! He was also writing songs, including Joe Cockers 'Delta Lady', George Bensons 'This Masquerade' and The Carpenters 'Superstar'. 

Add to that his work as a producer. I have an album called 'Dylan Jazz' by the Gene Norman Group, released in 1965. As the title suggests, it's interpretations of Bob Dylan songs, but with a couple of interesting twists. Jim Horn (remember that name for later) played saxaphone, Glen Campbell played guitar and Leon Russell produced it. 

Leon was part of the ensemble 'Delaney & Bonnie and Friends' during '69 and '70 - other members who came and went included George Harrison, 2 of the Allman Brothers, Dave Mason (from Traffic), Eric Clapton, Rita Coolidge and more.

1970 was also the year he was involved in the Joe Cocker tour, concert, movie and general mayhem of 'Mad Dogs & Englishmen' and he still found time to go into the studio and record his eponymous debut solo album. The album included the track 'A Song For You', often thought to be one of Leon's best and recorded by over 200 other artists.

More notable though was the list of people almost queuing up to be on the album with him. Take a deep breath .. here we go .. Klaus Voorman, Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Eric Clapton, Jim Horn (remember Jim?), Steve Winwood, Delaney & Bonnie, Joe Cocker et al.

Fast forward a few years, to his sixth studio album, and we get to 'Will O' The Wisp'. The backup on this one again includes Jim Horn but also reaches way back and brings in his old friend and band-mate from when he was just 14 years old .. J.J. Cale. I bought this album for one track and then grew into the rest. The one track I loved then and love now is 'Back To The Island'. Add to that the other songs Leon has played over the years and albums .. 'Tight Rope', 'Roll Away The Stone', 'Bluebird', 'Lady Blue' and you have not only a great singer, writer, producer and musician but someone who played an integral part in the musical careers of so many other artists.

There was a great quote from Graham Reid on the website Elsewhere.co.nz .. "Leon Russell is like the Kevin Bacon of rock: there are six degrees of separation between him and anyone else. Actually, that's not true. There are about three."

To be honest I'd take it further. In many cases, there is no separation. They stand shoulder to shoulder.

Leon passed away peacefully in his sleep in 2016 aged 74.

Back to the Island - YouTube

TRAFFIC - The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys 1971

When I was 14 I was delivering newspapers and packing potatoes at the local greengrocers.

When Steve Winwood was 14 he was playing keyboards and guitar for the Spencer Davis Group. By the time he turned 16 the group released their first single and he was lead singer on their 1965 #1 hit 'Keep on Running'. Not a bad resume. 

Winwood left SDG in 1967 and along with Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason and Chris Wood they created Traffic. In the same year that they formed the group they put out 3 singles that all made the U.K. top ten. 'Paper Sun' was a Capaldi/Winwood composition, 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush' was the title song to a movie of the same name. The song was written and sung by all the group, and 'Hole in My Shoe' was a Dave Mason song. The other members of the group didn't like it, saying it didn't represent their style (it was very psychedelic). Despite not liking it, the song got to #2 in the charts.

Their debut album, Mr. Fantasy in 1967 didn't include any of their hit singles, but did have the brilliant song 'Dear Mr. Fantasy'. Just over 50 years later the song found a whole new audience, a whole new generation, when it was used as the opening song in the Marvel movie Avengers: Endgame. It sent shivers down my spine when it burst out in the cinema !!

The following year, 1968 they released the single 'Feelin' Alright' which didn't do ANYTHING. In fact, it wasn't until many years later that I realised Joe Cockers version was not the original. The song was one more of the few not written by Winwood/Capaldi, it was another Dave Mason composition. Winwood and Capaldi became the Lennon/McCartney - Jagger/Richards of Traffic, writing the majority of their recorded work - Winwood on music, Capaldi on lyrics.

They also released another album, self-titled 'Traffic'. Mason left the group just after that and the remaining three did a U.S. tour in late '68. Winwood and Chris Wood also played with Jimi Hendrix and were on the 'Electric Ladyland' album. Oddly, so was Dave Mason, but he wasn't credited.

In 1969 the band broke up for a while, Winwood formed Blind Faith with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech but Blind Faith also broke up after less than a year. Winwood started working on a solo record, but brought in Wood and Capaldi, which basically got Traffic back together !! Inevitably the sessions ended up with a new Traffic album, 'John Barleycorn Must Die' which was their most successful album to date. The song 'John Barleycorn' at first glance is an horrific tale of blood and murder and torture. When you look at the history of it though, it is a song about the barley crop being grown and then harvested for beer and whisky. It's based on an English folk song from around 1725. Well worth a listen, keep the lyrics in front of you to read along. The version done by Traffic has been compared to the style of Pentangle and Fairport Convention.

By 1970 ex-Blind Faith member Ric Grech joined the 3 Traffic lads, then in 1971 Jim Gordon of Derek and the Dominoes came on board along with Ghanian Rebop Kwaku Baah. That was the line-up that recorded today's feature album 'The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys'.

OK - are we ready. Here's my obligatory Bob Dylan reference !!

The title of the song and album came from an entry in Jim Capaldis notebook, written by actor Michael J. Pollard. Capaldi said:

"Pollard and I would sit around writing lyrics all day, talking about Bob Dylan and the Band, thinking up ridiculous plots for the movie. Before I left Morocco, Pollard wrote in my book 'The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys'. For me, it summed him up."

The song was never released as a single, mainly because it is almost 12 minutes long, but with the advent of 'album oriented rock' on American FM radio, it got and still gets lots of airtime.

"Don't worry too much, it'll happen to you

We were children once, playing with toys

And the thing that you're hearing is only the sound of

The low spark of high-heeled boys"

For a more complete discography there are some great compilations out there - but the more recent ones are CD based. My go-to is from 1991 - Smiling Phases. Well worth hunting out.

The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys - YouTube

BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND - Gorilla 1967

Eccentric is a word often used in descriptions of England and English people. It is probably best used when talking about The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

7th December 1969 - Back in my home town of Harrogate after 4 years in Australia, I was 19 years old when I got a ticket to the Harrogate Theatre and saw one of the strangest music shows I've ever encountered.

Giant papier-mâché heads, a policeman, an instrument made out of a trumpet mouthpiece, a plastic hose and a funnel. An enormous air filled phallic tube extending from the stage and bouncing over the first few rows .. and some of the most incredibly nonsensical lyrics put to music. It was magnificent !!

Having it's origins in the early 60's The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band for a while became known as The Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Vivian Stanshall gathered musicians of varying and sometimes dubious talent to come and go, changing the line-up and then changing the name back to The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. He got tired of trying to explain the 'Dada' part.

By around 1965 the group were semi-professional, playing working men's clubs around England, doing parodies and jazz based comedic songs. Acts like The Barron Knights and The Temperance Seven had paved the way for humour on the charts alongside 'pop' music so they were proving very popular. 

The New Vaudeville Band were a fictional studio group, and when their song 'Winchester Cathedral' took off they needed real people to perform live. The Bonzos were asked to do it and they declined, but when the New Vaudeville Band did make an appearance on Top of the Pops they had copied The Bonzos style and look.

Fortunately the Bonzos had already come to the attention of other musicians, specifically Paul McCartney, who asked them to perform one of their songs in The Beatles 'Magical Mystery Tour'. They got a spot as resident band on the children's TV show 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' which also starred future Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

Neil Innes was now a permanent member of the group and proved to be a driving force behind some of their most memorable music.

Their first album, Gorilla, was released in 1967 and included a Stanshall/Innes composition, 'Death Cab For Cutie', a parody of teenage tragedy songs done in an 'Elvis' style. Not only was that the song they performed on 'Magical Mystery Tour' but it is also immortalized by being the name adopted by an American alternative band in 1997.

Fast forward to 1968 and the release of their most successful single 'I'm The Urban Spaceman', another song penned by Neil Innes. Partly due to their previous association with the Fab Four, the song was famously produced by Paul McCartney and Gus Dudgeon. Dudgeon is the producer of most of Elton John's most successful albums. McCartney and Dudgeon were credited on '...Spaceman' under the combined pseudonym 'Apollo C. Vermouth'.

The B-side of the single was a Stanshall song 'The Canyons of Your Mind' with the video clip featuring Neil Innes playing shockingly bad guitar and Vivian Stanshall parodying a parody of a parody !! 

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band went through more changes after their peak of 1968/69 and another name change, to the shorter Bonzo Dog Band.

Neil Innes continued on to more success in the 70s, teaming up with Monty Python for albums and on stage, notably in 'Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'. He wrote some of the songs in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' and does the whistling in 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'.

He appeared on the series 'Rutland Weekend Television' where in one sketch he played Ron Nasty, based on John Lennon. Eric Idle played Dirk McQuickly, parodying Paul McCartney. That was the birth of what would become The Rutles. When the telemovie 'All You Need Is Cash' was made, Idle did the screenplay and Innes did all the music. (If you find it, watch it - it is brilliant.)

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band were a feature of a place and time. 

It was the 60's. It was weird. We survived.

I'm the Urban Spaceman

Canyons Of Your Mind

 

FLEETWOOD MAC - Then Play On 1969

Today (25 July 2020) the sad news came that Peter Green, founding member of Fleetwood Mac, passed away. 

Oh Well (part 1)

"I can't help about the shape I'm in

I can't sing, I ain't pretty and my legs are thin

But don't ask me what I think of you

I might not give the answer that you want me to"

Peter filled in for Eric Clapton with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for a while and when Clapton left in '66 Peter became a full-time member, joining Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

John Mayall gave Green, Fleetwood and McVie some free recording time and they recorded 5 songs. One of them, an instrumental was named 'Fleetwood Mac' by Green, incorporating Mick and John's names.

By early '67 Peter went off to form his own blues band along with fellow Bluesbreaker member Mick Fleetwood who Peter had known even before the Bluesbreakers when they played together in another group 'Peter B's Looners'. Along with Jeremy Spencer playing guitar they formed  "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer". John McVie waited until September '67 when he also joined them and they became the early Fleetwood Mac. 

Peter only stayed until 1970, long before the Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham days, but just around the time Christine McVie (nee Perfect) came along. Christine Perfect had previously played piano and backup on 2 of their albums, 'Mr. Wonderful' and 'Then Play On' before permanently joining the group. 

Between 1967 and 1970 though, Peter wrote and performed some of the early Fleetwood Macs most memorable songs, many released just as singles without an album backup.

It's often overlooked that Peter wrote and recorded 'Black Magic Woman' in 1968, 2 years before Santana released their version. 

The hauntingly ethereal dreamlike seascape instrumental 'Albatross' also came out in 1968. In a 1987 interview George Harrison said that 'Albatross' was the inspiration behind the Beatles track 'Sun King'.

The above-mentioned 'Oh Well (parts 1&2) came along in 1969. Part 1 lasts 2:19 and is fast paced and has a vocal track. Part 2 is a slower, classically influenced instrumental lasting for 5:39.

'Man of the World' is the only Fleetwood Mac song on the Immediate label, the label collapsed just after the songs release.

It's also quite unique. The A-side is shown as 'Man of the World' by Fleetwood Mac. The B-side is 'Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight' by Earl Vince and the Valiants. Obviously it was Fleetwood Mac having a bit of fun recording under a different name. The song was covered by Punk rockers The Rezillos in 1978.

I remember playing the B-side on the jukebox in the local transport cafe back in the day, it was one of those great "guess who this is" tracks.

Be aware, depending on when you were born, this may not be 'your' Fleetwood Mac. It may not be your parents Fleetwood Mac. It could well be the Fleetwood Mac enjoyed by your grandparents.

And still so good today. 

Oh Well part 1 - YouTube

GRATEFUL DEAD - Workingman's Dead 1970

To be perfectly honest, this album was given to me along with a few others - the cover is tattered and torn, written on and split, but the vinyl inside plays well.

I'm sure that true hardcore Dead Heads will disagree, but for the casual observer (me) 1970 was a good Grateful Dead year. It saw the release of 2 albums, this featured LP and their next studio album 'American Beauty'. They contained between them four of my favourite tracks - 'Uncle John's Band', 'Truckin'', 'Casey Jones' and 'Friend of the Devil'.

Take a pause - no more stuff that caught my eye until ..

.. I came back around to the Grateful Dead for one reason and one reason only. Bob Dylan.

I have 3 releases, 2 official, one a bit bootlegy/unofficialish. 

The dodgy one is 'Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead Live Vol 2 Unauthorised' with 14 songs from a concert in Oregon in 1987 where the Dead backed Dylan.

The first official one is live 'Dylan & The Dead' where Dylan is backed by The Dead on seven songs from various shows on the same 1987 tour.

The other official release is the Grateful Dead album 'Postcards of the Hanging' where they do 13 Dylan covers from live shows and rehearsals.

This is a very short post. I'm not into the Grateful Dead to any degree other than the few songs I mentioned. My main attraction is the stuff they did with Dylan.

I'm including this post in my reviews to acknowledge them in the part they play in Dylan history and also to see if there is anyone out there who can recommend other albums that should be included in any collection worth it's salt.

OK Dead Heads, it's your turn.

Answers on a postcard please !!

Uncle John's Band - YouTube

AMY WINEHOUSE - Frank 2003 & Back to Black 2006

*WARNING* Explicit lyrics and content

I was working on a review of Steely Dan for today's post when I realised it was the anniversary of the passing of Amy Winehouse.

It's hard to believe that in her short and spectacular career she only released these 2 studio albums. Everything else, the compilations, the live album and the box sets have all been released posthumously.

'Frank' was her debut album, with Amy getting songwriting credits on 11 of the 13 tracks. She really announced her arrival by including a no-nonsense song co-written by her and her producer Salaam Remi .. 'Fuck Me Pumps'. The album title 'Frank' was in part Amy's tribute to Frank Sinatra who she noted as one of her early influences. The LP is included in the book '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die' and was 57th on the 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century.

Then came 'Back To Black'. This time she again went with Remi but also the producer / DJ / musician Mark Ronson. The different production techniques show in the tracks each worked on. The Remi tracks like 'Me & Mr Jones' (with the unforgettable line 'what kind of fuckery is this') have a different feel to them from the Ronson songs. Ronson used backing by Sharon Jones' band The Dap-Kings and a fuller orchestration.

The end result though is a brilliant mix of soul and R&B and 60's girl group and 'wall of sound' all blended with Amy's phenominal voice, moving from styles and genres and emotions effortlessly. The album is personal, drawn from her drug use, her drinking, her weight loss and turbulent lifestyle. As of 2019 it had sold over 16,000,000 copies.

We (Tracy and me) first saw Amy in the early 2000's on a British TV show before we'd even heard any of her music. She was mesmerising, unlike anything we'd seen or heard before. A young contemporary singer with an old soul singing in a way that brought out a history of music she had never lived through but which was living inside her.

A Deluxe edition of Back to Black was released in 2007 with some live, b-side and bonus tracks. Although they were not the writers, 3 songs made popular by The Specials were on the deluxe set. 'You're Wondering Now', 'Hey Little Rich Girl' and 'Monkey Man' gave a hint to the music Amy listened to growing up. The Mark Ronson 'Valerie' was also included,  as well as Spector's 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' and Sam Cooke's 'Cupid'. Add to that Amy's own compositions such as 'Rehab', 'You Know I'm No Good', 'Love is a Losing Game' and basically every song she ever sang and all of a sudden her body of work is big enough to show how she deserves her place in music royalty, but always too small to have fully revealed the extent to which her talent could have taken her.

It was heartbreaking to watch in real time how her life started to disintigrate and her judgement fell away. It was only a matter of time and it was obvious to almost everybody.

Sadly, on July 23 2011 Amy joined the 27 Club, that tragic collection of bright lights extinguished at a too-young age. Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain and then almost inevitably, Amy.

Amy Winehouse was truly one of a kind. Play everything she ever did repeatedly.

You Know I'm No Good - YouTube

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE - There's a Riot Goin' On 1971

In May 1971 Marvin Gaye released a concept album using a song cycle from the perspective of a Vietnam Vet. The album was called 'What's Going On'.

In November the same year Sly Stone was due to put out 'Africa Talks to You' but in response to Marvin Gaye's question 'What's Going On' he changed the album title to 'There's A Riot Goin' On'.

I bought this album when I was in the Australian Army. I think as much as anything I was getting stuff that was slightly off centre and somewhat rebellious, just for the hell of it. Turns out though, I really got to like the music.

Classed as everything from R&B, Soul, Funk, Avant-pop, Avant-soul, it certainly isn't 'mainstream', but it is very strangely addictive.

Some tracks are laid-back, a non-aggressive almost jazz base, lulling you into a false sense of security. Then another track comes along that throws that out of the window and you get rasping vocals, howls, noises that shouldn't exist. In the middle of all that, 'Family Affair' pops up and all of a sudden you have recognition - a radio song - yes it's funk, or whatever label you think it is, but it's familiar and offers some comfort.

To add to the challenges the album can throw at you, the last track on side one is the title track 'There's a Riot Goin' On'. It's silent and is listed as 0 minutes and 0 seconds. In 1997 Sly said it had no running time because he felt there should be no riots. !!

Turn the album over and soon you're listening to '(You Caught Me) Smilin'', which, to steal a quote from Tina Turner for one of her songs ..'starts off nice .. and easy, but ends up nice .. and rough'.

There's my favourite track 'Spaced Cowboy', then another one sometimes played on the radio 'Running Away'.

The last track, 'Thank You For Talking To Me Africa' is a slower reworking of the 1969 song 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' and to my mind is an improvement on the original. 

I like this album. It's darker than some other Sly stuff, as I said, it can be challenging, but if you want to reset your mind after too much 'easy listening', sit down with Sly & the Family Stone. As a bonus, the musicians playing on this LP included Billy Preston, Ike Turner and Bobby Womack.

Family Affair - YouTube

BLONDIE - Parallel Lines 1978

When I first came to the USA in 1996 I hopped on a bus in the New Jersey town of Nutley to head in to New York. Traveling through unfamiliar streets I looked out of the window and saw the Union City post office building and in my head I immediately started singing 'Union City Blue' by Blondie.

Another CBGB's alumni, Blondie were founded by Chris Stein and the one and only Debbie Harry and rose up in the new wave / punk New York 70's.

Almost a New Jersey girl, Debbie Harry was born in Florida as Angela Trimble, but at 3 months old was adopted by a NJ family and renamed Deborah Ann Harry.

Before making her name in music, Debbie worked for a while as a go-go dancer in a disco in the aforementioned Union City, NJ. She also spent time as a Playboy Bunny.

Debbie had quite a long road to fame and fortune. Starting in the late 60's as a backup singer with The Wind in the Willows she joined The Stilletoes in 1974 where she met Chris Stein. The two of them along with a couple of others formed Angel and the Snake, then Debbie and Chris left and created Blondie.

Their first album in 1976, self-titled Blondie, had a couple of Harry/Stein compositions 'In the Flesh' and 'Rip Her To Shreds' .. both up there amongst my 'best of ..' list.

February 1978 saw the release of Plastic Letters, but the main successes from that were a cover of a 1963 doo-wop song 'Denis' (originally Denise) and a song written by the group's bass player Gary Valentine, '(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear'.

Then in September of the same year, 1978, came their 3rd album and major breakthrough, both nationally and internationally, Parallel Lines.

'Hanging on the Telephone' - 'One Way or Another' - 'Picture This' - 'Sunday Girl' and 'Heart of Glass' all came from this stand-out LP.

In 1979 I was arranging a company presentation at a trade show in Auckland, NZ. The stand next to us was promoting audio/visual equipment and played the Blondie 'Heart of Glass' music video constantly. I can't recall what I was promoting, but I remember every second of their presentation !

And the hits just kept on coming !!! 

1979 gave us 'Dreaming', 'Union City Blue' and 'One Way Or Another' from Eat to the Beat.

1980 had 4 single releases with the biggest being 'The Tide Is High'. I spoke about that song in my review of Yellowman in a previous post ...' 'The Tide is High' was recorded in 1967 by the Jamaican group The Paragons. In 1971 U-Roy toasted over the original and released his deejay version. In 1980 Blondie got hold of it and put out a commercially explosive number 1 reggae hit.'

In 1981 'Rapture' was the first #1 song in the U.S. to have rap vocals.

The list goes on.

I always had an admiration for Deborah Harry for the way she stuck by Chris Stein. They had a long relationship but never married. Blondie split up in 1982 and in 1983 when he was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin, she slowed her solo career down so she could look after him.

The band reformed in 1997 and keep going today in one form or another.

Heart of Glass - YouTube

CURE - Standing on a Beach (compilation) 1986 - Galore (compilation) 1997

To quote the title of a Cure song, one compilation album is 'Never Enough'. To cover my favourites takes at least these two albums and I'm sure I could find more quite easily.

Robert Smith is the only member of the band who has been there constantly since day one in 1976. As the voice and definitely the 'face' of the Cure he certainly has a distinctive look. He claims to have been wearing makeup since he was young and despite the black clothing and giving the appearance of goth influence he has always said it is coincidental and that "it's so pitiful when 'Goth' is still tagged onto the name of The Cure".

He didn't start out as the vocalist. As a sometimes member of Malice he was a rhythm guitarist but as the group changed names (Easy Cure, Cure) and singers, Robert realised he could do better than them and reasoned "If I can get away with that, I can be the singer. I've worked on that basis ever since."

I've never followed The Cure in terms of their development - their growth from one album to the next, the progressive addition of different instruments and sounds with focus on Spanish or 6-string bass or acoustic riffs.

I've only ever cherry-picked the songs, taking from here and there, bouncing back and forth between old and newer, never really caring who made up the rest of the band, as long as Roberts voice was there.

No technical details, no anecdotes, no long drawn out history of the band. Just listen to them. Even non-fans will know at least one or two or more of their songs ..

'Love Cats', 'Fascination Street', 'Pictures of You', 'Friday I'm in Love', 'Why Can't I Be You', 'Boys Don't Cry' and my all-time favourite and ringtone on my phone - 'Close to Me'.

Close to Me (Closest Mix) - YouTube

STATUS QUO - Rocking All Over The Years 1990 (compilation)

  

I'm old enough to remember Status Quo before they were a 'boogie shuffle' band. Back in the 60s they were putting out the same sort of pseudo psychedelic stuff that Traffic and Small Faces were doing. 'Pictures of Matchstick Men', 'Green Tambourine' etc. In fact even before they were known as Status Quo, in 1967 they covered The Blues Magoos '(We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet', recording as The Spectres.

*editors note* I may be featuring The Blues Magoos sometime soon !

The Spectres were formed in 1962 by Alan Lancaster and Francis Rossi. In 1966 they became The Traffic, then Traffic Jam, then The Status Quo. Rick Parfitt joined in '67 and in '69 they dropped the 'The' and became just Status Quo. Phew !!

Going back to the song 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' Francis Rossi said "I wrote it on the bog. I'd gone there, not for the usual reasons...but to get away from the wife and mother-in-law. I used to go into this narrow frizzing toilet and sit there for hours, until they finally went out."

Too much information Francis.

It was 1970 when they got hold of a song written by Australian Carl Groszmann, 'Down The Dustpipe'. That's when the aforementioned 'boogie shuffle' style came in.

Perhaps the song they are best known for is 'Rocking All Over The World'. 

Written by John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame) and featured on Fogerty's self-titled 1975 solo album, Status Quo covered it in 1977 as the title song of their album of the same name, then released it as a single.

Status Quo were the opening act for Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985 and 'Rocking ...' was the song that set it off. Perhaps one of their strangest gigs was in 2005 when Rossi and Parfitt were in 3 episodes of the long running British soap 'Coronation Street'. They played themselves and ended up performing 'Rocking ...' as part of a fictional wedding reception.

My own personal version of Status Quo's 'Rocking All Over The World' is the attached video clip. When I was in Papua New Guinea, in Kundiawa, a street entertainer by the name of Kambra Kua used to come around playing tin cans and singing fragments of songs he'd heard roaming from town to town. He turned up outside one of the stores I was running and I offered him 2 cigarettes to take a video of him. Somehow, he'd remembered just enough of 'Rocking ...' to make it almost recognisable. Here he is in 1986. Enjoy.

JJ CALE - Special Edition (compilation) 1984

Back in the day I had a few JJ Cale albums on the shelf. 'Naturally', 'Okie' and 'Troubadour'. I was going to feature 'Naturally' as the main album, it has so many stories and so much history, but I went for a compilation instead to get more range.

Johnny Cale and the Johnny Cale Quintet had released a few singles from 1958 through '65 without causing any ripples. In 1965 he was performing at the Whiskey A Go Go where Johnny Rivers was also playing. The owner suggested he change his name so as not to be confused with either Johnny (Rivers) or John Cale from Velvet Underground. So, JJ Cale was born.

In 1966 Cale released a single, 'Slow Motion' with his composition 'After Midnight' on the b-side. Again, the record failed to make any waves. For the next few years Cale basically hit survival mode. By 1970, in his own words  "I was dirt poor, not making enough to eat and I wasn't a young man." That's when he heard that Eric Clapton had recorded 'After Midnight' on Clapton's debut album. On the strength of that, JJ was persuaded to record his own debut album, 'Naturally', to make the most of this new found fame. One reviewer described Cale's style and songs as .. "a lazy, rolling boogie that contradicted all the commercial styles of boogie, blues, and country-rock at the time."

When Cale recorded 'After Midnight' on the failed single, he did an upbeat version, which is the one Clapton heard and imitated. When it came to doing it again for this album he decided to do a slower laid back track.

On the same album he did 'Call Me the Breeze' which was covered by Lynard Skynard and his own hit 'Crazy Mama'. Both those tracks were recorded using a drum machine, as JJ said "I didn't use a real drummer because I had no money."

'Crazy Mama' made it to the US top 40, but once again, the hit track was initially buried. 'Crazy Mama' was the b-side of 'Magnolia' until a Little Rock DJ turned the record over and played the flip side till it melted.

As an insight into JJ Cale's view on fame and fortune, he was invited to perform 'Crazy Mama' on 'American Bandstand' which would have virtually assured him of a #1 hit. When he found out he wouldn't be actually playing the song, only lip-synching, he refused to appear.

'Cocaine' was a hit for JJ after it was taken from the 1976 'Troubadour' album, but it was also covered again by Eric Clapton on his 1977 album 'Slowhand'. The influence of JJ on people like Clapton and Mark Knopfler is unmistakeable, often credited and definately well documented.

He eventually did team up with Clapton when they did the 2006 album 'The Road To Escondido' together, re-recording two of JJ's songs from the 70s 'Any Way The Wind Blows' and 'Don't Cry Sister'. One review said that Clapton had learned so much from Cale that it was sometimes hard to know who was singing what and when. My favourite track from the album would have to be 'Ride the River'.

JJ passed away in 2013 aged 74 and the following year, Clapton recorded a commemorative album of JJ's music, 'The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale', enlisting an array of musicians to pay tribute. Mark Knopfler was there of course, along with JJ's wife and fellow performer Christine Lakeland. Willie Nelson, Tom Petty and some of the best backup singers and musicians completed the ensemble.

A nice touch is on the opening track 'Call Me The Breeze' from which the album gets it's name. Clapton used JJ's original spoken intro and drum machine to start the track before coming in with his take.

J.J. Cale is probably better known for covers of his songs done by others, but his own albums really should feature strongly in any collection. 

Call Me The Breeze - YouTube

DESMOND DEKKER - Israelites 1970

I bought this album in New Zealand. I've had it for 40 years and only just noticed something when I took it out for this posting.

The album sleeve is Music World Ltd NZ ©1981, but the album label is Bulldog Records U.K. (P)1970. I got myself a relicensed reprint !! That's fine by me, makes it a little more interesting.

Desmond Dekker was probably the first reggae / ska / rocksteady singer I ever consciously heard. When 'Israelites' came out in 1968 and hit #1 when I was back in the U.K. in 1969 (#9 in the US) it made me sit up and take notice. Quickly followed by 'It Mek' I realised I'd found a new musical form to embrace.

To fully appreciate some of these songs a rudimentary understanding of Jamaican patois (patwa) is handy. 'It Mek' for example loosely means 'that's why' or 'that's what you get'. Going forward to the song by Musical Youth, 'Pass the Dutchie' .. originally that was a song by The Mighty Diamonds, 'Pass the Kouchie'. Kouchie was slang for a cannabis pipe. Musical Youths version changed it to a patois term 'Dutchie' which is a type of cooking pot.

Anyway - I digress.

Desmond Dacres (changed to Dekker around 1963) had been around for a while. Born in Kingston, he was an apprentice tailor in St. Thomas, then when he went back to Kingston he became a welder. In 1961 he got a recording contract with Leslie Kong, a Chinese-Jamaican producer. It would be another 2 years before he had a record released and in the meantime Desmond introduced a fellow welder to Leslie Kong. The fellow welder was Bob Marley. We know the rest !!

By 1963 Desmond began releasing records, progressively getting more and more fame and recognition locally. His fourth record made him one of the top stars on the island. 'King of Ska' was recorded with backing vocals done by The Cherrypies. They became better known by their other name, The Maytals, especially when Toots Hibbert took the lead. Desmond's first songs were all sort of social, religious, moralistic, but in 1967 he started referencing the 'rude boy' culture of Jamaican life. '007' (later '007 (Shanty Town)') became his first international hit in 1967 and gave him a major rude boy following.

After gaining popularity through 1967 and 1968, Desmond became a permanent resident in the U.K. in 1969.

In 1970 he released a version of Jimmy Cliff's song 'You Can Get It If You Really Want', within just a few weeks of Jimmy's own version and even using the same backing track. Despite that, it got to #2 on the U.K. charts.

In 1980 he signed with Stiff Records who had primarily punk and new wave acts, but were moving into groups like Madness and The Specials.

Desmond's first album with Stiff was the 1980 'Black and Decker' where he reworked earlier hits into more of a 2-Tone Ska styling. As part of that sound, one of the backup groups was Akrylykz, a ska band founded in the Hull School of Arts. The saxophonist in that group was Roland Gift, later to become frontman/singer for Fine Young Cannibals.

Despite everything, Desmond was declared bankrupt in 1984, but thanks to a TV ad using 'Israelites' he began to bounce back. In 1993 he did a collaborative album with The Specials, 'King of Kings' which had a reworking of Desmond's 1963 Jamaican hit 'King of Ska'. In 2003 the soundtrack to the movie 'The Harder They Come' was re-issued with 'Israelites' and '007 (Shanty Town)' giving him another exposure to a new audience.

In 2006 as he was getting ready to headline a world music festival in Prague, Desmond sadly had a heart attack and passed away at the age of 64.

So many acts became famous because of Desmond's early breakthroughs. British ska and 2-Tone may never have made the same impact without Desmond and the music he introduced to people like me. 

Israelites - YouTube

JOURNEY - Captured 1981

"Just a small-town girl

Livin' in a lonely world

She took the midnight train goin' anywhere

Just a city boy

Born and raised in South Detroit

He took the midnight train goin' anywhere"

Is everybody singing? This song was about all I knew of Journey until I moved to the US of A. My wife Tracy on the other hand lived and breathed them through their 1978-87 phase when Steve Perry was the voice of the group. Logically then, I deferred to her expertise and innocently asked .. "What's your favourite album and single?' .. I may even have added 'my darling'.

She went berserk. Started quoting scenes from "Sophie's Choice" .. accused me of being a monster .. "HOW CAN I CHOOSE" she screamed .. "YOU BEAST". The doctor said I should be able to eat solid food again by next week.

So, enjoy all the photos for this entry, there were more but, you know, I have my limits. We settled on the live double album 'Captured' as the feature for the day.

Journey were formed in 1973 by Gregg Rollie who had been co-founder of Santana, Neal Schon, who joined Santana as a 17 year old, George Tickner and Ross Valory. Add to that a drummer, Aynsley Dunbar, who had previously been working with Jeff Beck, David Bowie and Frank Zappa and that was quite a base to work with.

It wasn't until late 1977 that Steve Perry was brought in as lead vocal, making his first appearance on the 1978 album 'Infinity' He brought with him a song he had written, 'Lights' and after working on it with Neal Schon it was included on the album. It was released as a single with only moderate success but over the years it has become one of their most popular and recognisable hits. It wasn't until 1979 when they released 'Lovin', Touchin', Feelin'' that they got their first top 20 entry.

Hardly surprising though that Journey's sound, style and therefore fan base changed when Steve Perry arrived. His vocal range, called a countertenor, was quite amazing - technically from #2 to A5 (if that means anything to anyone). Nicknamed 'The Voice' by Jon Bon Jovi he's had praise from many of his peers and contemporaries, having his ability compared to everyone from Robert Plant, to Aretha Franklin to Frank Sinatra. After leaving Journey he released solo work, probably his most well-known single being 'Oh Sherrie'.

Tracy was there in the crowd back in the day. October 25th 1986 - Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford. The Brooklyn girl travelled over to New Jersey to sing and sway and swoon.

Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - YouTube
Lights - YouTube

ROY ORBISON - A Black and White Night 1989

It's impossible to talk about Roy Orbison in any depth in my small speck of text buried away on the internet.

From his first solo album 'Lonely and Blue' in 1961 to the latest 'Unchained Melodies' with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra released in 2018 Roy's body of work is extensive and on the whole, magnificent.

When we emigrated from England to Australia in 1964 we were at sea for a full 5 weeks. We spent 2 weeks going across the Indian Ocean with no sign of land. As we started getting closer and closer to Australia, heading for the Port of Fremantle, I took my trusty transistor radio on deck and tried daily to pick up a signal. Eventually, when we were close enough for the radio waves to defeat the ocean waves, I got a faint, familiar sound coming through ... it was Roy Orbison singing 'Oh, Pretty Woman'. We were approaching civilization !!!

I'm going to refer to Bob Dylan to give his description of Roy's voice. He should know, they were together for the 'Traveling Wilbury's' recordings. To quote Bob ...

"With Roy, you didn't know if you were listening to mariachi or opera. He kept you on your toes. With him, it was all about fat and blood. He sounded like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop. After 'Ooby Dooby' he was now singing his compositions in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a professional criminal ... His voice could jar a corpse, always leave you muttering to yourself something like, "Man, I don't believe it"."

Roy needed no help in performing, but on this album he has backup to the hilt. The list of people on stage with him is just incredible and speaks to the respect and regard he was held in. Jackson Browne, T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, k.d. Lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Jennifer Warnes. If you are fortunate enough to find the DVD of the show, you'll also spot Sandra Bernhard, Patrick Swayze and Kris Kristofferson in the audience. I'm adding a link to the 'Oh, Pretty Woman' YouTube clip from the show and the eagle-eyed among you will catch Billy Idol in the crowd loving every minute of it.

Recorded in September 1987 just over 1 year before Roy's death at the too-young age of 52, this live album displays his talent, voice and charisma to the full. Singing his classics like 'Only the Lonely', 'In Dreams', 'Blue Bayou', he appears in his trademark dark glasses and dark clothing, owning every song and standing taller than his actual height with his peers on stage.

There's no anecdote I can write that hasn't been written, no personal tragedy of Roy's that hasn't been documented and no accolade that hasn't already been given.

All I can say, in a world of musicians who strive to achieve greatness, Roy Orbison is the yardstick to be measured against.

Oh, Pretty Woman (Black & White Night) - YouTube

RAMONES - Mania (compilation) 1988

When The Traveling Wilburys released their 'Volume 1' album in 1988, all the members took pseudonyms to create one family with the surname Wilbury.

George Harrison was 'Nelson' - Jeff Lynne was 'Otis' - Roy Orbison was 'Lefty' - Tom Petty was 'Charlie T Jr' and Bob Dylan became 'Lucky'.

The reason I mention that is because it was fun and interesting and quirky, but it was far from new.

Back in 1974 in Queens, New York, Jeffrey Hyman, Douglas Colvin, John Cummings and Thomas Erdelyi chose a collective surname and became respectively Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny and Tommy Ramone. The story goes that it was Doug Colvins idea, he'd heard that back in the early days Paul McCartney used the pseudonym Paul Ramone. He started calling himself Dee Dee Ramone and eventually persuaded the others to individually take on the name and use it for the group. Over the years 4 others would change their names with the sporadic addition of Marky, C.J., Elvis and Richie Ramone.

They gained fame and notoriety on the new punk scene from their regular appearances at the famous CBGB's club after making their debut in August 1974. The sets were only about 17 minutes long, but by the end of the year they'd played there 74 times.

When they released their first album in 1976, the self-titled 'Ramones', brevity was still the keyword. Containing 14 songs, the longest one was 'I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement' at 2:35 and the shortest was 'Judy is a Punk' coming in at just 1:30  !!

The LP did contain one of their most well known tracks though, 'Blitzkrieg Bop'.

Tommy Ramone wrote the song called 'Animal Hop' but it was Dee Dee who renamed it and changed the line "shouting in the back now" to "shoot 'em in the back now".

The day before New Years Day at the end of 2019, 'I Wanna Be Sedated' was played a lot because of the opening lines ..

'Now twenty, twenty, twenty four hours to go

I've nothing to do, nowhere to go'

(2020, 24 hours to go .. clever huh.) 

The featured 'Mania' compilation contains 30 tracks with a few worth a special mention. 'Rockaway Beach' and 'Wart Hog' both start with Dee Dee doing what he did at live shows .. shouting out the tempo with a rapid '1-2-3-4'.

Buried on side 3 of the double album is a song you wouldn't necessarily expect, co-written by Sonny Bono, made famous in America by Jackie DeShannon and in England by The Searchers - 'Needles and Pins'.

This isn't the only odd cover The Ramones did. On different albums you can find a couple of surf songs gone punk !! 'California Sun' and 'Surfin' Bird' get the Ramones treatment.

One of my favourite Ramones songs is also a cover, from their album '¡Adios Amigos!'. Written by the man, the myth, the legend, Tom Waits, they do a version of 'I Don't Wanna Grow Up' that starts with the signature '1-2-3-4' and relentlessly belts out for the next 2:50 minutes. Most recently the song was featured in the movie Shazam! as the end credits rolled.

Sadly the four founding members have all passed away, Joey in 2001, Dee Dee in 2002, Johnny in 2004 and Tommy in 2014, but they left a catalogue of music, a place in history and whenever you see a photo of four guys in leather jackets leaning against a wall, you just KNOW who they are.

I Don't Want To Grow Up - YouTube

THE ANIMALS - The Most of the Animals 1966

In June 1964 the Animals released the single 'House of the Rising Sun.'

I was almost 14 yrs old, sitting in Harrogate with a transistor radio and an old (probably Ferguson) reel to reel tape recorder, furiously trying to record this amazing song.

Fast forward. We'd moved to Australia. I left school at 14 and left home at 16 and in April 1967 (still only 16) I was living and working in Brisbane. I bought myself a ticket to the Festival Hall for 22nd April and went along to see The Animals do their stuff. It was quite a show - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, Paul & Barry Ryan and an Australian support act, The Loved Ones were on the same bill.

By that stage they'd had what they say in the trade - 'a string of hits.'

'Boom Boom', 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood', 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place' and their first chart entry 'Baby Let Me Take You Home' which was a retake on the Eric von Schmidt version of 'Baby, Let Me Follow You Down' as done by Bob Dylan (see, gotta get Bob in there somehow.)

The sensible thing to do was to buy a compilation album to try to get as many of their best songs as possible on one LP. This album, 'The Most of The Animals' covers 1964 and 1965. The title doesn't refer to having the most of their songs .. it's actually called after their producer, Mickie Most. There was also 'The Most of Herman's Hermits' named for the same reason.

So much of their popularity with me hinged on 'House of the Rising Sun'. I liked their other blues based stuff but to this day 'House ... ' gives me chills.

The swirling driving Vox Continental organ played by Alan Price is just a truly amazing piece of music. Consider too, this whole song was done in just one take. They'd been playing it on the road and had got it note and word perfect with no need for fancy footwork. At a time when most #1 songs up to that point were 3 minutes or less, this took up 4:29, longer than anything that had come before.

After these early successes the Animals became slightly psychedelic and went on to release things like 'Sky Pilot' and 'San Franciscan Nights'

People often think of The Animals as a whole, when they probably mean things they've heard by Eric Burdon. He'd joined War in 1969 ('Spill the Wine' and the classic 'Tobacco Road'), had the Eric Burdon Band in the 70s then went solo - and between 1991-94 he teamed with Brian Auger (think Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity) to form the 'Eric Burdon - Brian Auger Band', but when you hear his other work you instinctively think of him with the Animals. 

In fact, when you think of the Animals it's hard to pin down just who you mean. There have been so many variations and line-up changes it's almost impossible to keep track. Between 'The Animals' - 'Eric Burdon & The Animals' - 'Valentine's Animals' - 'Animals II' and 'Animals & Friends' there have been over 30 band members.

Now aged 79, Eric is still a force to be reckoned with and in one form or another The Animals are still firing on all cylinders.

House of the Rising Sun - YouTube

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON - The Silver Tongued Devil and I 1971

I had two Kristofferson albums back in the day. This one and his 1972 release 'Jesus Was a Capricorn.' I can't remember what made me buy them in the first place. It probably had something to do with the fact that he wrote 'Me and Bobby McGee'.

Janis Joplin's 1971 version is the most popular and certainly the most played. Sadly it was released posthumously so Janis never got to know just how popular it really was.

I remember it earlier than that though. In 1969 I bought the Kenny Rogers and the First Edition album 'Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town' and '..Bobby McGee' was the second song on side one - but even before that, Roger Miller had a hit with it on it's first release.

So .. that's probably why !!

There were and are far more strings to Kris' bow than that most famous of songs though. A great singer in his own right he not only wrote for other people - songs such as 'Help Me Make It Through the Night', 'For the Good Times' and many more, but also put out hit albums of his own.

Alongside that he had a very successful movie and television career starting back in 1970. Nearly 40 years after the original and just over 40 years before Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga made a third version, Kris starred in the movie 'A Star Is Born' alongside Barbra Streisand and won a Golden Globe for his performance.

This featured album, his second, has 2 of my all-time favourites. 'Jody and the Kid' is a heart-wrencher and 'The Pilgrim, Chapter 33' contains one of the best verses ..

'He's a poet, he's a picker

He's a prophet, he's a pusher

He's a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he's stoned

He's a walkin' contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,

Takin' ev'ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.'

A couple of the backup singers on this LP were Rita Coolidge, who Kris was married to 1973-1980, and Joan Baez, who was credited as 'The Lady' on one track.

In 1985 Kris formed a country supergroup, The Highwaymen, with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. One of their most successful singles was 'Desperados Waiting For a Train.'

Amazingly Kris just turned 84 years old, but in my mind's eye I still see him as Billy the Kid alongside Bob Dylan's Alias in 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.' Let's hope it's still a while before he's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'

(I always try to get a Dylan reference in somewhere!)

Here's Kris and the rest of the Highwaymen doing a classic