BEATLES - Magical Mystery Tour (LP edition) 1967 (1976 reissue)

   

 

"Roll up roll up for the Mystery Tour
Roll up roll up for the Mystery Tour"

This copy of the album proved to be both magical and mysterious.
Read on, all will be revealed.

Let's be very clear, this is about the music, NOT the excruciatingly painful made-for-TV film. The best bit of the film was The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band singing 'Death Cab For Cutie'. The other non-Beatle song was cut. Traffic performed "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush".

Back in the day I had the original 1967 7" double EP. It came in a hard cover complete with 24 page booklet and had 6 songs over 4 sides. I've checked it online and some copies are now being sold for silly money. However, mine is laying discarded along life's long and winding road (not a song on the EP by the way). Translation: I don't know where it is.

Tracy on the other hand, has this US issued LP. Because the original soundtrack only had 6 songs it was not enough for a full album and so the decision was made to release it as the very first UK double EP. It was felt that the US market wasn't as receptive to EP's so an additional 5 non-album singles were added to make the US release a full LP. Just as a side note, The Beatles were not happy about that. They wanted the music from MMT to be stand-alone. The playing order of the 6 soundtrack songs was changed from the original EP to this LP, which further upset the 'Fab Four'. 

The 6 songs themselves tend to follow in the same vein as 'Sgt. Pepper ..' The title track does the same by working as an introduction to the event (MMT) the same as the title track of 'Sgt Pepper' introduced the band. 

'Your Mother Should Know' was almost used in the "Our World" broadcast, the world's first global live television link. Instead as we all know, 'All You Need Is Love' rang out around the globe instead. 'Your Mother Should Know' is reminiscent of 'When I'm Sixty-Four' in style.
'I Am the Walrus' is apparently John Lennon's response to finding out that that Beatle lyrics were being used by Engish literature teachers. He figured he'd write something that nobody could analyse or interpret.
I think he succeeded.
The title of 'Fool On the Hill' could well have come from McCartney's liking of a Dutch crowd called "The Fool" who in turn took their name from the design of "The Fool" tarot card.
'Flying' and 'Blue Jay Way' complete the original soundtrack songs.
I love 'Blue Jay Way'. It's so weird, moody, atmospheric. Apparently, if you want to get technical, according to the pundits it uses Lydian mode - "a seven-tone musical scale formed from a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone." So there.

Now for the magical mystery of Tracy's copy of this album.
As I always do, I took the album out to check the matrix# in the runout to identify the pressing. Imagine my surprise when I read the following message ..
"Tracy Christmas from Lorraine 12/19/1979"
It was obviously a gift from one of Tracy's friends over 40 years ago, but Tracy had no idea that greeting had been etched into the runout.
The two friends have since been reunited.

Magical Mystery Tour

MADNESS - Madness 1983

 

"Hey you, don't watch that
Watch this!
This is the heavy heavy monster sound
The nuttiest sound around
So if you've come in off the street
And you're beginning to feel the heat
Well listen buster
You better start to move your feet
To the rockinest, rock-steady beat
Of madness
One step beyond!"

Sadly, that song isn't on this LP. I got your attention though !!

My introduction and pretty much full exposure to Madness was from the TV show 'The Young Ones' in the early 80's. They were on the show twice, once in 1982 singing 'House of Fun' and again in '84 with 'Our House'. Not to be confused with Crosby, Stills & Nash's 'Our House' which was "a very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard", the Madness house was "in the middle of our street" and "it has a crowd, there's always something happening and it's usually quite loud".

Starting life as a ska/rocksteady/two-tone band in the mid 70's they got a bit fluid with their style and in 1981 when they released their cover of Labi Siffre's 1971 song 'It Must Be Love' the vocals had mellowed and the sound was a bit more pop. Having said that, they drifted back and forth between genres for a while longer. 

Graham McPherson - "Suggs" - was lead singer on all the tracks on this compilation album, taking in 6 songs from their 1982 album 'The Rise and Fall', 3 from the 1981 album '7', one from 1979's debut album 'One Step Ahead' (but not the title track!) and 2 songs released as singles only. 

The album was compiled and released mainly for the North American market, being issued in the US, Canada and Mexico and one run in Japan.

The songs were specifically selected to expand their market after charting in the US with 'It Must Be Love' and 'Our House'. Rolling Stone magazine reviews gave it a thumbs up and said in part that "it introduced the best tracks from Madness's earlier albums to an American audience, while leaving out any songs with insular British cultural references." It may have left out lyrical references, but anyone who watched the music videos for 'Our House' and 'House of Fun' particularly would have seen more British cultural references than is healthy for them. From the four Yorkshiremen a la Monty Python to the very British thing of men dressing up as women to bowler-hatted types on roller coasters, there was enough imagery to confuse and confound the unsuspecting viewer. Who knows what they thought of the video for 'Night Boat to Cairo' .. mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the mid-day sun. Along with other charting songs like 'Grey Day', 'Cardiac Arrest' and 'Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)' this compilation gives a good introduction to the group.

At last look, Madness are still together and still touring as of 2019 with, incredibly, 6 of the original 7 members of what is termed their 'classic' line-up.

Good beat, good songs, good fun. Bring a bit of Madness into your life.

House of Fun

Our House

MEAT LOAF - Bat Out of Hell 1977

 

In 1975 on Broadway and again on screen, Meat Loaf came out of the freezer riding a motorbike and his character Eddie burst into song - 'Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul'. Unfortunately, although he's already scarred and mangled Eddie then comes to a grisly end by being chopped into pieces by Dr. Frank-N-Furter. The Rocky Horror biker was like a pre-cursor to the part Meat played in the first song on his debut studio album, both the song and the album bearing the same name - 'Bat Out of Hell'.

In the song the biker has one last night with his girl before he leaves at the crack of dawn. He gets on his silver black phantom bike and rides 'faster than any other boy has ever gone', but all he can think of is his girl and he doesn't see the bend in the road. The sun comes up and he's lying under his bike, which is on fire. He looks down at his broken body and sees his heart beating, then he gives in to the inevitable and feels himself breaking out of his body and flying away ... 'Like a bat out of hell'.

So, two songs, two motorcycles, two deaths. My advice to Meat Loaf would be, don't ride bikes.

"Boy: On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?

Girl: Yes.

Boy: I bet you say that to all the boys..."

'You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)' has a spoken intro but then breaks into a full-throated guitar driven belting theatrical hot and heavy love song with chorus breaks and a clap-along sing-along rousing finish. Fun fact: that's NOT Meat Loaf speaking at the opening. The intro was said to be done by Jim Steinman but there's strong support for it being Todd Rundgren and an actress, Marcia McClain.

'All Revved Up With No Place To Go' is another hard hitting story within a song, but for me the most outstanding element to the whole track is the legend that is Edgar Winter playing the saxophone. He did the same on a couple of other tracks too. Magic. 

"I want you, oh, I need you

But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you

Now don't be sad, cause two out of three ain't bad".

Oh, that's harsh. This is one of those songs that is so easy to get wrong. You start off with Meat telling his girl that 2 out of 3 ain't bad, he wants her and needs her but he'll never love her. It's only by the third verse you realise why. He says clearly that there's only one girl he'll ever love and years ago it was her who said the same to him, leaving him broken and incapable of a full commitment. You can hear it in his voice as the song builds. A power ballad in every sense of the word.

"Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night

I can see paradise by the dashboard light"

'Paradise By the Dashboard Light' is a book of three chapters, a play of three acts, a lifetime together based on a single promise.

It's also the only classic rock standard that includes a baseball play-by-play as part of the lyric. Phil Rizzuto, famed New York Yankees announcer calling the game as the pressure builds on the field and in the car where the young couple reach boiling point and the player and the boy both head for home. Suddenly the announcer stops without giving a result of the play at the same time as the girl shouts "Stop right there". 

She wants to step back, get a commitment. "I gotta know right now before we go any further do you love me? Will you love me forever?"  He's cornered, desperate and answers "Let me sleep on it and I'll give you an answer in the morning".

After a long and heated back and forth the boy breaks and screams like a trapped animal "I started swearing to my God and on my mother's grave that I would love you to the end of time" followed by a switch back to the present day where that promise is still binding and all he can hope for is the end of time to release him from his vow.

Shakespearean in it's dramatic tone, Wagnerian in it's musical characteristics and at 8 1/2 minutes, epic in it's length.

Jim Steinman was the writer behind all the songs on the album and some of the influences are obvious. Things like the teenage songs about tragedy, 'Leader of the Pack', 'Tell Laura I Love Her', that sort of thing. Surprisingly though, originally he wrote a few of the songs for a rock 'n' roll sci-fi version of Peter Pan. After it's release the song and LP were often compared to Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album. It probably didn't help that Roy Bittan played piano and Max Weinberg was on the drums. They were both members of Springsteen's E Street Band.

Todd Rundgren produced the album and was in the band of musicians and singers playing on the LP. As mentioned, Edgar Winter was in there, along with Rory Dodd (who sang with Bonnie Tyler on another Jim Steinman song, 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'). Ellen Foley sang backup on 4 tracks and was the lead female singer on 'Paradise ..'. After the album came out Karla DeVito replaced Ellen for touring and sang live in concerts. There is confusion about the music video though. Karla appears on the video but the live footage of her was synced with Ellen's studio vocal.

The album has been described as silly to epic and everything in between, but there's no denying that it is worthy of it's standing as one of the best selling best known albums of all time.

Paradise By The Dashboard Light

NATIONAL ONE-HIT WONDER DAY - Sep 25 2020

 

This is the 30th anniversary of One-Hit Wonder Day, so I'm not doing any reviews, today belongs to you. Go through your dusty old budget bin compilation albums. Grab your stack of 45's, some that are intact and some juke-box rejects that need spiders. Remember that one song by a group or artist you never heard of again, or that one song by a group or artist that seemed to hang around forever but never quite repeated their moment in the sun.

Sit back, relax and blow away those mental cobwebs to reveal one magical moment of music.

ALICE COOPER - Lace and Whiskey (1977)

 

I'm going to spend the first part of this review talking about a different LP. In 1975 Alice released his 'Welcome to My Nightmare' album, followed by a promotional world tour. Well, I say world tour. What actually happened was after touring MOST of the world, the Australian Labour and Immigration Minister banned Alice from bringing the show to Australia and so the New Zealand leg was also put on hold.

It wasn't until 16 months later on 14th March 1977 that Alice set foot on an Australian stage (Perth) to begin the Oceania part of the long awaited tour and it was 4th April '77 - the very last performance of 'Welcome To My Nightmare' at Western Springs in Auckland when I finally got to see men dressed as giant spiders climbing an enormous web, dancers in a graveyard projected onto a screen that then split and allowed the live figures onto the stage and Alice singing that he was 'No More Mr. Nice Guy', there were 'Billion Dollar Babies' and 'Only Women Bleed'. Songs from the named 'Welcome .. ' album as well as back catalogue stuff.

OK, that's the backstory. 4th April 1977, I saw Alice live in concert. 29th April 1977, Alice released this album 'Lace and Whiskey'.

I must have still been buzzing from the concert, I went out and bought the album unheard.

I bet you've all got one. You know what I mean. An album, or a tape or a CD that you bought, listened to once and then apart from when you redecorated or moved house, it never left the shelf again. This is one of those albums.

Seemingly trying to create a new persona and theme, for this album Alice became Maurice Escargot, some sort of 40's or 50's fictional private investigator. The album cover shows a cheap crime novel called 'Lace and Whiskey' with reviewer comments and a photo of the author on the back along with props to reinforce the impression - a handgun, bullets, whiskey bottle. The record inner sleeve is a full photo of Alice in character. The whole problem is, despite all these images and sets creating the illusion, the music doesn't carry it through. 

There was even a tour to promote the album called "King of the Silver Screen" named after one of the tracks, but it only ran in the US and Canada in the summer of '77 and '78 and by the second year it was renamed "School’s Out for Summer". Of the 19 songs in the setlist, only 4 came from this album.

There were two songs released as singles from the album. 'You and Me', which got to #9 in the Billboard Hot 100, was a soft rock ballad and '(No More) Love At Your Convenience' was disco-pop - keep in mind this is Alice Cooper we're talking about - but that second single did nothing, everywhere. There were a couple more slow numbers, some solid rock and then there was the only cover, 'Ubangi Stomp'. This is a rockabilly song written by Charles Underwood and first released in 1956. Do you want the Bob Dylan connection? The original is included on "Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, Volume 3", a compilation album of songs from Bob's Sirius XM radio show.

It's not all doom and gloom. For the sake of this review after 40+ years I had another listen. IMHO this album fails on a number of levels. It promotes to be a themed entity but has no theme, the songs are unrelated and have no flow or structure and the style isn't constant. However, taken individually there are some listenable tracks.

"Road Rats', a song about the band roadies, has some gutsy playing and full-bellied noise. 'It's Hot Tonight' and the title track 'Lace and Whiskey' feel like standard Alice. With additional people like Bob Ezrin on keyboards, Jim Gordon on drums (ex Derek and the Dominoes, he unfortunately had mental problems and killed his mother in 1983) and one of the world's best bassists Tony Levin, the album stands up on a technical level, but you have to pick and choose the ones worth listening to.  

Vincent Damon Furnier, you've done better work than this.

Ubangi Stomp

IN TUA NUA - The Long Acre 1988

Stepping back from the mainstream for a day, let's dip our toe into the "Oooh, so close" category.

After spending time in Ireland, Tracy came back to the US with a new found appreciation for some local musicians and armed with a catalogue of albums.

The 80's and early 90's produced a crop of successful Irish bands, U2 obviously, Thin Lizzy, Pogues, Cranberries, Waterboys .. and on and on.

There were also many who did great work, made great music and had a great following - but sadly it all remained in Ireland.  'Something Happens' got a mention back in June and today it's In Tua Nua.

Their name comes from the phonetic spelling of the Irish An Tuath Nua, "the new tribe."

Getting together in the early 80's as a 7-piece group, with Leslie Dowdall providing amazing lead vocals they played and sang a mix of  modern folk, traditional Irish music and rock with uillean pipes, electric violin and guitar. They started off by being signed to U2's Mother label where they released their first single.

After moving to the Island label they released a couple more singles, 'Take My Hand' co-written by Sinéad O'Connor and a cover of Jefferson Airplane's 'Somebody To Love'. They recorded an album for Island but for some reason it was never released and after two years of waiting for it, Steve Wickham and Vinnie Kilduff left the group to join The Waterboys and Island dropped the rest of the band.

Adding replacements the band regrouped and signed with Virgin and in 1987 put out their debut album 'Vaudeville' followed the following year with this one, 'The Long Acre'.

They seemed to be finally riding the wave when they went to Los Angeles to record their third Virgin album 'When Night Came Down on Sunset', but after finishing the recording the band "somewhat acrimoniously" split up. Due to the breakup Virgin didn't release the album and it was only made available years later in 2006 on iTunes, mainly due to the efforts of the band's drummer Paul Byrne.

Stand-out tracks on this album would be 'Don't Fear Me Now', 'Wheel of Evil' and the title track 'The Long Acre' but to be honest, as a taste of what might have been and a look behind the curtain at some of the excess of talent in the Irish music scene, this whole album is well worth a listen, or two, or many more.

Don't Fear Me Now

 

CANNED HEAT - The Boogie Assault Greatest Hits Live 1987

 

In 1968 Canned Heat played the Fillmore West in San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury was the centre of the counterculture universe. Concert posters like the one by Lee Conklin for that concert came out of that time and scene. I didn't get there until 35 years later and by then, 2003, the street signs kept getting stolen, the psychedelic shops were few and far between and Fillmore West was a car dealership. All I came away with was a t-shirt.

In the early 80's when Canned Heat played Australia, I had moved back to New Zealand. Sometimes you just can't catch a break.

Back to those 1968 days when Canned Heat had their 2 best known and signature hits 'On the Road Again' and 'Going Up the Country' was when they had what was referred to as their "Classic Line-Up". It was also the time when nicknames were introduced for the band members, so we had Bob "The Bear" Hite, Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine, Larry "The Mole" Taylor and Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra.

Heading to Woodstock in 1969 'Going Up the Country' became a sort of unofficial anthem for the festival.

The band got their name from a prohibition era song, the 1928 'Canned Heat Blues' by Tommy Johnson. Due to the lack of alcohol, alternatives were found, one of them being Sterno, the campground fuel, known by it's drinkers as 'canned heat'. 

By the time of this Australian tour the band had changed quite a bit, particularly with the recent death of Bob "The Bear" Hite.

The only 'Classic' member on this recording is "Fito", but "The Sunflower" kept coming and going. In fact after the tour Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine went into a studio in New Zealand and recorded a solo album, "I used to be Mad (but now I'm half Crazy)". I've seen 2 different covers for the album. One just lists him as solo artist and is based on the Harley-Davidson logo (he owned 11 of them and had a long association with Hell's Angels) and the other cover credits the album to Henry Vestine and the Heat Bros, because in fact it really is a Canned Heat recording, all the band were there. If you can find it, grab it. It was released as a CD in 2002.

This 'Boogie Assault' album captures some of the atmosphere of those 1981/2 Australian concerts and also presents me with a bit of a puzzle.

My copy is printed in Australia and has the cover shown below, black with white and red lettering. With few exceptions all the other covers I've seen for this album show a cartoon drawing of an old Australian outback pub with kangaroos being blown out through the roof. 

There's an interesting comment on the Canned Heat website about this recording, written by Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra ..

"Recorded live in Australia during 1982. This was supposed to be a release for Australia and New Zealand only. But Mr. Noble (the producer) licensed the record worldwide violating our agreement and causing all kinds of problems that culminated in a lawsuit I started against him. It is an unauthorized release and one of my least favorite Canned Heat."

Despite his comments, the album puts together some excellent live versions of Heat hits .. 'On the Road Again', 'Up the Country' as well as 'Let's Work Together', the Wilbert Harrison song changed and re-recorded by Bryan Ferry as 'Let's Stick Together'.

The full side 2 of the LP is taken up with a 23 minute rollocking stomping 'Refried Hockey Boogie'.

Canned Heat are still boogying on, but after many years of a revolving door membership, the current line-up only has "Fito" on drums from the original or classic eras. Ever popular with the biker crowd, and perhaps most popular still in Australia, Canned Heat are forever part of the history of the blues.

On the Road Again - Adelaide 1981

DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS - Too-Rye-Ay 1982

 

Firstly, an apology. Seeing this album will generate instant ear-worms and you may be singing 'Come On Eileen' for the rest of the day.

Secondly, a warning. Some album editions have a beginning solo fiddle and a fade out on 'Come on Eileen' at a length of 4:12. Others have no intro but a tag of Kevin Rowland singing "Young Charms" at the end making it 4:32 and the 2002 CD version has both intro and tag at 4:47.

OK, now we've got the confusing bit out of the way, what about the album. Well, it's not an easy listen. If you sit down ready to experience 2 sides of 'Come on Eileen' clone music you'll be disappointed. Some of the tracks are extremely uncomfortable to ears that are waiting for the seemingly promised Celtic Soul. The nearest you'll get is on the opening song that gives that promise with the title 'The Celtic Soul Brothers'. With an intro to make it sound like a live pub performance it has been described as anything from "jolly, rollicking jug band fare." to a "Redcoat romp". One chronicler even claimed that the song was the inspiration for Roddy Doyle's book and movie "The Commitments".

The other relatively 'easy' listening track is a Van Morrison cover of 'Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When I See You Smile)'.

Maybe the nonesense lines helped to make it familiar. Originally Van Morrison sang -

"Ding a ling a ling

Ding a ling a ling ding"

When Dexys did it they sang -

'Toodle langa langa Toodle langa fang'

which came across a lot like 'Eileen's' -

'Too-ra-loo-ra

Too-ra-loo-rye-ay'.

OK, maybe I'm clutching at straws. I hate to admit defeat, but I've found nothing else on the whole album that I can call enjoyable, interesting or even lyrically or musically strong enough to be worth listening to more than once. Apart from 'Eileen' making it to #1 in most worldwide markets the rest of their output, IMHO, has been mediocre and confused.

The group itself has gone through more changes and more line-ups than I've had hot dinners. At last count, over 54 people have at one time or another been members of Dexys Midnight Runners. The general consensus is that Kevin Rowland can be .. um .. difficult (read: control freak) and that people either leave or are invited not to stay.

Some changes came during album production or tours and famously one change is captured on film, or not captured, depending how you look at it. Seb Shelton was the drummer for the video of 'Come on Eileen' and appears in the early part but was fired during filming and doesn't appear at the end. The girl playing the part of Eileen is Máire Fahey, sister of Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama.

The group's name comes from the recreational drug brand Dexedrine used to give Northern Soul fans an extra boost to be able to dance longer.

OK, the brutal truth - I bought this album on the strength of one song and on reflection it is not an album I should have bought or would buy again. 'Eileen .. ' was a one-hit wonder, this album is a one-hit album. Give it a miss.

Come On Eileen

TEMPTATIONS - All Directions 1972

As I'm going through my music and doing these reviews it seems that if I'm ever not sure of the date, just use 1972 by default. I bought a whole heap of music that year, of all types from .. as the title of this album says .. All Directions !

I know exactly why I bought this one. Track 3, almost 12 minutes. In every second of those 12 minutes every note and every beat are just where they should be. 'Papa Was a Rollin' Stone'. It's almost 4 minutes into the song before the vocal kicks in. What a brave move. Even when it was released as a single it was only cut back to 7 minutes and still had just short of a 2 minute instrumental lead-in.  

The story behind the song is a bit more fractious though. It was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for a group called 'The Undisputed Truth'. They recorded it and released it as a 3.28 single in 1972 but it didn't do much for them. Whitfield was the producer on this album so took the song and blew it out to the 12 minute version here.

The Temptations weren't happy with the amount of instrumentation the song was getting, feeling it was taking over from their vocals. Some of them also had problems with the lyrics and ultimately they weren't happy about recording it and tried not to. They were convinced that the song and the album would be a dud. As it turns out, it's one of the Temptations most popular and signature songs.

The problems didn't stop there. The second track on side one is 'Run Charlie Run'. It's basically a Black Power song about whites moving out of areas that are becoming racially diverse. The song called for them to sing the line in parenthesis in a false caucasian accent ..

"So I'ma telling you

Run, Charlie, run

Look the ni**ers are coming

(The ni**ers are coming?)"

'I Ain't Got Nothing' is a slow smooth lament - "Every road has a way (And they tell me every dog has its day)" - and it includes the fill shoutout "(Shoo-wop-shoo-wop)". Magic.

There's a few other covers on here too. Edwin Starr's 'Funky Music Sho' 'Nuff Turns Me On' also written by Strong and Whitfield and 'Love Woke Me Up This Morning' originally done by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, written by the amazing Ashford and Simpson.

Then, and this came as a surprise to me when I bought the album, they do a version of 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'.

I was surprised because the well known and popular Roberta Flack single had only been released a few months before. The song itself had been around for quite a while even then. It was written in 1957 by Ewan MacColl, who I just mentioned in a recent post as being not only a singer/songwriter himself but father to Kirsty MacColl.

The song had been recorded a number of times over the years, Roberta used to sing it in a club where she was resident singer. In 1969 she recorded it for her debut album. In 1971 Clint Eastwood heard it and asked to put it into his movie 'Play Misty For Me' (great movie BTW) and so her version was released as a single and became a massive hit.

It just seemed odd that the Temptations would include it here so soon.  

The last track 'Do Your Thing' was another cover, this time an Isaac Hayes song from the 'Shaft' soundtrack. 

Depending on which Temptations song you listen to dictates which Temptations you get. Over the years since around 1960 there have been about 25 members of the group. In fact 2 of them, Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks, were together from the mid 50's as The Primes. Add David Ruffin to the mix as lead singer on many of their singles and what a line-up. 'My Girl', 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg', 'I Wish It Would Rain', '(I Know) I'm Losing You', 'Just My Imagination' then later teaming up with The Supremes for 'I'm Gonna Make You Love Me' the list goes on. 

They had the voices, the style and certainly they had the moves.

My Girl

 

BIG PIG - Bonk 1988

 

This isn't a review as much as a short story of an album.

In the early 90's before I ever knew her, my future Mother-in-Law owned a New York City club called Beowulf. Loud music, booze, pinball machines and pool tables, a bar that stretched for miles all ruled by the leather-jacketed mother of my future bride. Among other things, Sonic Youth used the club to film their song 'Dirty Boots'.

I was in New Zealand, my yet to be wife Tracy was in New York and we began a long distance internet relationship.

In 1996, after typing to each other for a year, I was about to fly over to the US to meet Tracy and her family. Before I left I got an urgent request. Her mother had left one of her favourite albums in the back of the car, New York had a sunny day and the vinyl became lots of different shapes, but none of them were flat. It was an album by an Australian group, hard to find in the States, could I please try and track it down and bring a replacement with me.

I've mentioned my go-to record store in Auckland, Real Groovy. I headed into the city, scoured their racks and found what I needed.

'Bonk' by Big Pig.

I was flying over 9000 miles to meet the love of my life and my most precious cargo was an 8 year old album by an obscure (in NYC terms) Australian funk pop band.

Music really is universal.

The group Big Pig did lend itself to club music though. Their line-up was distinctive in that it consisted of lots and lots of percussion, drums, vocals and some harmonica, but no guitars so the songs were heavily beat-centric. The album was released in the US and tracks appeared in various soundtracks - 'Hungry Town' was used in "Miami Vice" and the movie "Young Einstein" while 'Breakaway' was featured in the opening of "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure".

Big Pig only released 2 albums, this one followed two years later by 'You Lucky People'.

If you feel like being one of those lucky people, start with 'Bonk'. 30 years on it's still worth a listen.

Hungry Town - Big Pig

Sonic Youth at Beowulf

JONA LEWIE - Heart Skips Beat 1982

 

This is my New Zealand bought copy of Jona's album and it gives me pleasure and pain in equal measure.

The pleasure is that I've got a very distinctive, definitely Kiwi version of this album. Jona recorded on the Stiff label and this pressing incorporates a map of New Zealand into the name 'Stiff'. 

The pain is because the cover states very clearly that it includes a copy of 'Kitchen at Parties' and I can't find mine anywhere. Somewhere in the past 40 years it got left behind.

Stiff Records came about in 1976 when punk began to gain momentum. They started grabbing bands and artists right left and centre, sometimes leading to success - Nick Lowe, Ian Drury, Elvis Costello, Madness etc - others fading out as quickly as they charged in - who remembers Plummet Airlines or The Feelies?

Along the way they found Jona Lewie in 1977. Although he became more well-known through his work with Stiff, Jona had been around the traps for quite a while, starting his first group in 1963 at school.

He was on TV in Europe in the late 60's early 70's as part of Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts and supported Derek and the Dominoes and Son House. He also had a #2 UK hit in '72 with 'Seaside Shuffle', a song he wrote and was released under the name Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs.

In 1980 he released the single 'You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties' (which I lost, did I mention that. It's gone.) Not surprisingly, as I bought this album there, the song achieved it's highest chart position in New Zealand, making it to #3.

I've added the video clip for 'Parties' at the end of this post, partly because it's a good song and partly because of the backup singer in the yellow dress. None other than the amazingly talented and sadly missed Kirsty MacColl.

That same year he put out 'Stop the Cavalry'. This time it not only got to #3 in NZ, but also in the UK. It made it to #1 in a couple of European countries where he was still popular from his earlier work there. 'Stop the Cavalry', unintentionally, became Jona's version of Jose Feliciano's 'Feliz Navidad'. Due to the line "wish I was at home for Christmas" it became one of the seasonal 'must-play' records on all the festive rotations, which is surprising as it started life as a protest song. Much like Feliciano though, Jona Lewie says that half his income comes from royalties for that song.

It was released as a single and didn't appear on an album until this one in 1982. 'Heart Skips Beat' also has 'I Think I'll Get My Haircut' which didn't chart anywhere but is relatively well known, especially with the synthesizer breaks played by Jona.

'Cream Jacqueline Strawberry' has Jona on the Polymoog, but also of note is Kevin Godley credited with backing vocals and toe-tapping !! along with Lol Creme also backing vocals and ukulele.

Godley and Creme, singer/songwriters and ex-members of 10c.c. were co-producers of this album, together with, mainly, Robert Hine.

As an aside, Godley and Creme put out one of the best, state-of-the-art morphing videos of the 80's for their single 'Cry'. Even today it holds up well and is worth a look.
Cry - Godley and Creme

Back to 'Heart Skips Beat'. It's not a great album, it has some unremarkable songs and slightly repetitious styles, but there are stand-outs. Obviously 'Cavalry' is at the top of the list, but personally I like 'The Seed That Always Dies' and 'Louise'. If you're in the mood for a gentle instrumental with sea effects and orchestration then the album ends on just that note with 'Rearranging The Deckchairs On The Titanic'.

I've said it a number of times but it rings true here. This is another one of those albums that falls into the category "Of It's Time'.

I don't play it often, but I'm pleased it's there.

You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties

LEONARD COHEN - Various Positions 1984

 

"If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame"

Those are the opening lines of the title track 'You Want It Darker' from Leonard Cohens last album released in October 2016, just 19 days before he passed away at the age of 84. Before that he had a lifetime of novels, poetry and song with heavy influences on the three taboo subjects, sex, religion and politics. Often writing and singing about death and depression he gained the reputation of creating 'music to slash your wrists by', but he also found pleasure in romance.

I came to Leonard Cohen through various paths. Obviously Dylan was my first and major influence in the mix of poetry, symbolism, abstract thought and music but there were others. The books of Rod McKuen, some taken into spoken word albums led to listening to songs with deeper, but often darker lyrics and as I got older and more appreciative I went back to earlier catalogues and rediscovered Leonard Cohen.

His debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' in 1967 came with a powerful lasting collection of titles that stayed with him throughout his career. The haunting 'Suzanne' and the lilting 'Sisters of Mercy' - 'So Long, Marianne' based on his relationship with Marianne Jensen and the soft, sad 'Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye'. 

This album, 'Various Positions' came at the halfway point of his studio album output but contains one of his most well-known songs.

'Hallelujah' almost didn't make it to the album and hardly made a ripple when it was put out as a single. It didn't chart in the US or UK and only got to #17  in Canada, probably due to national pride.

Bob Dylan picked up on it early, doing it in concert in 1988, but it wasn't really until John Cale in 1991 and then the most popular version by Jeff Buckley in 1994 that it took a foothold. Since then it has been covered over 300 times and appeared in so many movies, TV shows and soundtracks it's hard to keep count.

Leonard himself is quoted in 2009 as saying perhaps there should have been a moratorium on using it, but then in 2012 he went back the other way to say he was very happy it was being sung.

There's another track on this album that I love.
'The Captain'.
It's written as a conversation between the title character and the singer, biting and sniping at each other as the Captain seemingly tries to hand over command and responsibility as the singer questions his actions. It's dark and it's harsh but it's sung to a jaunty almost bouncy sing-along backing that is at odds with the story being told.

I've never found a reliable interpretation of the true meaning of this song, so I have my own ideas and I allow my version to make sense, but probably only to me. I still have a major problem with the last verse and just can't make it fit.

"Now the Captain he was dying
But the Captain wasn't hurt
The silver bars were in my hand
I pinned them to my shirt."

On 'Various Positions' Cohen used Jennifer Warnes as backup on many of the tracks, after having her on a previous album 'Recent Songs' I used to have a Jennifer Warnes album she released in 1986 titled 'Famous Blue Raincoat' which was a tribute to Cohen and contained some of his better known songs to date.

In 2017 on the eve of the 1st anniversary of his death there was a memorial concert in Montreal to celebrate Leonards music and poetry. Sting, Elvis Costello, k.d. Lang, Courtney Love and many others perfomed. There's a video out there, I have a copy. If you can find it, take a look. It's called 'Tower of Song'.

As with some other artists, Leonard Cohen's body of work is extensive and lends itself to finding one or more comprehensive compilation albums to cover a representative range. Everybody needs 'First We Take Manhattan', 'Who By Fire' and 'Chelsea Hotel' in their collection.
"I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
You were talking so brave and so sweet
Giving me head on the unmade bed
While the limousines wait in the street"

The Captain

MIKE OLDFIELD - Elements – The Best of Mike Oldfield 1993

Father Damien Karras: "How long are you going to stay in Regan?"

The Demon: "Until she rots in earth."

Regan MacNeil: "Mo-ther...Make it stop!"

When the opening theme to Mike Oldfield's album 'Tubular Bells' was used on the soundtrack of the 1973 film 'The Exorcist' it not only massively increased sales of the album but also put Mike Oldfield's name front and centre.

In 1971 Oldfield had created an instrumental demo called 'Opus One' but couldn't get a recording deal. He was working as a session musician and was at the Manor Studios, owned by Richard Branson.

It's now part of music history that the engineers told Branson about the demos, he was about to launch Virgin Records and so gave Oldfield a week of studio time. After Oldfield recorded 'Part One' during that week, then 'Part Two' a few months later, Branson famously released 'Tubular Bells' as the first record on the Virgin Label.

The 4:19 movie theme version of 'Tubular Bells' is on this compilation, but I prefer the longer 8 minute plus selection where the instruments are identified ..

"Grand piano

Reed and pipe organ

Glockenspiel

Bass guitar

Double-speed guitar

Two slightly distorted guitars

Mandolin

Spanish guitar and introducing acoustic guitar

Plus, tubular bells"

... so I've added a link to it at the end of this post. 

Contrary to the list of guitar types and styles on the original album sleeve, the only electric guitar used was a 1966 Fender Telecaster that was once owned by Marc Bolan. I find it fascinating that the person acting as Master of Ceremonies to announce those instruments was none other than Vivian Stanshall, musician, songwriter, poet and lead singer of the magnificent Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. When the album was re-recorded in 2003 Vivian was no longer with us, having passed away in 1995, so that narration was done by John Cleese.

'Tubular Bells' really was Mike Oldfields seminal work and something he returned to again and again, not only in other albums (Tubular Bells II, Tubular Bells III, Tubular Bells 2003, plus compilations) but also in individual tracks. 'Sentinel' released as a single in 1992 is a reworking of the Exorcist theme. He also revisited the 'Caveman' voice on a number of other albums.

There's much more to his catalogue though, with over 20 studio albums, 25 compilation and remix albums and a ton of collaborative works. When he teamed up with Maggie Reilly doing vocals it produced some minor and major charting singles - 'Five Miles Out', 'To France' and perhaps the best known 'Moonlight Shadow'.

One anecdote often repeated is when Oldfield and Virgin Records were not getting on as well as they should. At one point Virgin were insistent that he release another instrumental album and name it 'Tubular Bells 2'. Instead, Oldfield recorded 'Amarok', which was an hour long uninterrupted piece that didn't lend itself to any segment being used as a single. There was also a hidden message for Virgin in there. Oldfield offered a £1,000 prize for anyone who could find it. Turns out it was at the 48 minute mark, a morse code sequence that spelled out "FUCK OFF RB". 

This compilation covers a nice cross-section of his work, obviously only scratching the surface but giving a good range of what to expect from digging deeper into his discography. Going from the festive Christmas-y 'In Dulci Jubilo' to the traditional hornpipe of 'Portsmouth' and touching on 'Etude' from the "Killing Fields" soundtrack, it includes 4 Maggie Reilly tracks along with 'Shadow on the Wall' featuring Roger Chapman and 'Islands' with Bonnie Tyler.

There are also excerpts from 'Amarok' and 'Ommadawn'.

All in all, a good place to get a sample of the mind of Mike Oldfield.

Tubular Bells (Excerpt)

Portsmouth

Moonlight Shadow

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS - Funky Kingston 1975

 

RIP Toots Hibbert who passed away 11 Sept 2020 from Covid-19 complications.

In the David Bowie review I mentioned that he'd released two albums with the same name - 'David Bowie' - one in 1967 and the other in 1969.

Toots and the Maytals did the same with this one. 'Funky Kingston' was released in 1972 in the UK with 8 songs on board.

In 1975 another album of the same name was released in the US and other parts of the world with the same cover photo. This version had 10 tracks, only 2 of which were the same as the previous LP.

I bought my 1975 copy in New Zealand and played it till the stylus melted.

I've always loved reggae, but without Toots, we may never have had the genre and probably not the name. In 1968 he released a single, 'Do the Reggay' (yes, spelled like that), which was the first popular song to use the word reggae and attach it to the style of music. Taking over from rocksteady, based on mento, it became forever associated with Jamaica and was easily identified by the walking bass line.

If you want to get to know Toots and the Maytals, start with '54-46 (That's My Number)'. In 1966 he was arrested for possession of marijuana and got 18 months in prison. This song was written based on his experience and it has one of the best known and used bass lines in popular music. Have a listen, even if you've never heard it before, you know it well. Then find 'Monkey Man'. Basic, repetitious, addictive - all in a good way. In a great way. It's a brilliant song, so much so that people like The Specials and Amy Winehouse covered it.

By the time you get to this album you'll be ready for 'Time Tough', 'Got to be There', the title track 'Funky Kingston' and the marvelous 'Pressure Drop'. Toots explained the song as a sort of 'karmic justice', that if you do bad things to innocent people "the pressure's going to drop on you".

There's a couple of covers on this album too .. John Denver's 'Country Roads' gets a Caribbean flavour by making it more local ...

"Country roads take me home

To the place I belong

West Jamaica, my ol' mama

Take me home country roads"

... and they took on the Richard Berry song made famous by The Kingsmen, 'Louie Louie'. If you thought The Kingsmens version was undecipherable, wait till you get it in reggae !

Toots, along with the Maytals, was a founding member of a musical genre that started small but went on to enrich the world. I for one am eternally grateful.

54-46 Thats My Number

Monkey Man

DAVID BOWIE - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars 1972

 

I will need to tread very carefully. There are people out there who are as passionate about David Bowie as I am about Bob Dylan. They'll be sitting in the bushes reading this, ready to take me down with a single shot if I say one word out of place, distort one fact, misquote one lyric or disparage him in any way.

Like so many others, my first exposure to Bowie was in 1969 through 'Space Oddity'. It wasn't his first single - that happened in 1964 with 'Liza Jane' as Davie Jones and the King Bees. It wasn't on his first album - that was 'David Bowie' in 1967 (not to be confused with his 1969 album of the same name which DID include 'Space Oddity'). It was his first UK #1 hit though, but not at the time. When it was released it made it to #5. It was only when it was re-released in 1975 that it cracked the coveted #1 spot.

I had a few other Bowie albums over the years, but as a total entity this was always my favourite, followed closely by his set of covers on 'Pin-Ups'.  I think my go-to Bowie song has to be the sparse, minimalistic 'Sound and Vision'.

So, to this featured album. I love all of it, in total or in part. I can listen to it as a whole or cherry-pick songs and jump around the tracks. This belies what a lot of reviewers and critics say - that this is some form of concept album and that the character of Ziggy appears almost throughout.

'Five Years' is a dystopian song of a limited time left before the world is no more. Reviewers say that Ziggy is indirectly introduced on this track, presumably in the verse ..
"I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlor,
Drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine,
Don't think you knew you were in this song" 

The song itself starts with what has been described as a 'heartbeat' drum-beat with a controlled vocal setting the scene. By the end, Bowie is screaming out a warning, his voice breaking in panic and emotion, almost a sob in the final pleading. Amazing.

'Soul Love' is gentler, talking of love, but with an undercurrent. Don't be fooled by the pleasantry and imagery of some early verses ..
"New love, a boy and girl are talking
New words, that only they can share in
New words, a love so strong it tears their hearts
To sleep through the fleeting hours of morning"

Bowie plays a very creditable saxophone solo in the middle break. Always love a sax solo.

'Moonage Daydream' is full on Ziggy, clearly telling us in the second line with no doubt ..
"I'm the space invader, I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' bitch for you"

'Starman' is obviously a Ziggy song, a 'Starman' bringing hope to Earth through the T.V. and radio. The funny thing is though, the song nearly didn't make it on the album. The Chuck Berry cover 'Round and Round' was meant to be there but the RCA head wanted a releasable single so Bowie wrote this. I don't know how 'Round and Round' would have fitted in and more to the point how could Ziggy exist without this narrative.

Having said that, the track 'It Ain't Easy' IS a cover song, written and sung originally by Ron Davies and this song definitely, literally and unequivocally has nothing whatsoever to do with the Ziggy story. Odd.

'Lady Stardust' switches from the female 'lady' to telling us the singer was a boy in bright blue jeans and long black hair.
"People stared at the makeup on his face
Laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace
The boy in the bright blue jeans
Jumped up on the stage
And lady stardust sang his songs
Of darkness and disgrace"
The popular thinking is that the song was about Bowie's contemporary, Marc Bolan, particularly as the working title was 'Song For Marc'. Pretty much confirms it really. The great Marc Bolan. LOVE Marc Bolan.

Doing a 'Readers Digest' version of the next 2 songs combined with this one, according to the biographer Nicholas Pegg, they string together " 'Lady Stardust' presents Ziggy being recalled by the audience, 'Star' shows him only singing to a mirror, and 'Hang On to Yourself' puts him in front of the crowd."

The eponymous track 'Ziggy Stardust' gives Ziggy's life story starting and ending with the same line .. "Ziggy played guitar" but in between it chronicles the size of his penis, his drug use and how he got a bit too big for his boots.
"Came on so loaded man, well hung and snow white tan"

The best thing about doing these posts isn't just recalling my impressions of an album or artist, or re-listening to the songs and getting back some of the thrill I got from first playings - it's also finding out new things. Obviously I don't know everything about everything so I do the odd bit of research here and there and I love it when I find out new things.
For instance, looking behind the scenes on this recording I discovered that Bowie wrote 'All The Young Dudes' recorded by Mott The Hoople. Apparently, he offered them the song that became the next track on this album, 'Suffragette City', but they went for 'Dudes' instead. I'm sure everybody but me already knew that, but I'm so pleased I found out.

'Rock 'n' Roll Suicide' ends the album, metaphorically and physically. Last track and the last thoughts and words of Ziggy himself.

A great album. Really, nothing short of a great album. Take it out, dust it off, let's all hope we have more than 'Five Years' left.

Five Years

LED ZEPPLIN - Led Zepplin III 1970

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a history of using some great music in their soundtracks, but they really excelled themselves just 5 minutes into 'Thor:Ragnarok' when the first guitar riff belts out and Robert Plant wails "Ah-ah, ah! Ah-ah, ah!" to open 'Immigrant Song'. Although written in 1970 during a tour of Iceland, the song almost word for word could have been composed with the 2017 movie in mind. The lyric talks about coming from a land of ice and snow with references to Valhalla and the line "The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands" along with the throbbing pulsing heart-racing music that seems faster than it is. The whole song serves to enhance two of the best scenes in the movie. Because of that line, many fans had been referring to the Led Zepplin sound as "hammer of the gods" for years, and Stephen Davis even used it as the title of his book about the band.

'Immigrant Song' was also the opening track to this featured album.

In truth, any album by Led Zepplin could have been used for this review. Tracy is the authority and collector of Zepplin in this household. My contribution was a copy of 'Houses of the Holy' from 1973, but her collection covers so much more, and each album has gems in the listings. It surprised me just how many of their songs I knew, but didn't realise I knew. I'd been singing along to 

"Hey, hey mama said the way you move

Gon' make you sweat, gon' make you groove" 

without realising it was called 'Black Dog' ! Anyway, that's another album for another time. Back to Led Zepplin III.

I picked this album because it's acknowledged to be a bit of a transition from their earlier rock to include a more acoustic form and there are some solid blues influences throughout the LP. There are also rock songs - something for everyone.

Obviously 'Immigrant Song', 'Celebration Day' and 'Out on the Tiles' are the Led Zepplin we knew, but then there's 'Gallows Pole'.

'Gallows Pole' has been around forever in various versions, sometimes about a woman, other times a man, probably starting life as an old folk song called 'The Maid Freed From the Gallows'

Leadbelly did a great frenetic version back in the 1930's but he titled his 'The Gallis Pole'. Led Zepplin based theirs on the Fred Gerlach version but the credits read "Traditional: Arranged by Page and Plant".

I love this song. It starts gently enough - acoustic guitar setting the scene and Robert Plant holding his voice in check. Then the build-up starts and at about 2 minutes the drums kick in and a banjo adds to the stressful vocals that Plant has started to scream. The whole thing descends into a loud cacophony of tension and fear and resignation. Brilliant.

'Since I've been Loving You' is blues. No embellishments, just a live studio recording but it met with mixed reviews. A Rolling Stone article said it "represents the obligatory slow and lethally dull seven-minute blues jam." Joe Satriani on the other hand thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. For me, I was going to say that some of the guitar work reminds me of Gary Moore, but realistically, he came later, so if anything, maybe he reminds me of Jimmy Page.

  

'Bron-Y-Aur Stomp' was named after a house in Wales where the band went after an American tour. The place was actually called Bron-Yr-Aur but misspelled on here. On their 1975 album 'Physical Graffiti' they did an instrumental using the correct name. This one is a jaunty clappy tub-thumping song, which, when you listen, is about a man and his dog.

'Hats Off To (Roy) Harper' is another blues song with a nod to Bukka White's 'Shake 'Em On Down'. The track is attributed to Charles Obscure. There is no such person, that's a pseudonym for Jimmy Page. Roy Harper on the other hand is a folk singer, a friend of Jimmy's and the band, a renowned musician (he sang lead vocal on Pink Floyd's 'Have a Cigar' when Roger Walter's voice wasn't working.) Jimmy Page played on one of Harper's albums, 'Stormcock' but there he was credited as S. Flavius Mercurius, so he seemed to have a habit of using odd names.

All in all, this album is a mixed bag. Certainly more hits than misses and some side streets taken instead of sticking to the highway. 

Worth a new listen or a revisit - and when you've finished, watch Thor:Ragnarok !!

Robert Plant & Jimmy Page 'Gallows Pole' - Jools Holland Show 1994

 

DON McLEAN - American Pie 1971

1971, I was in the Australian Army, they had started the withdrawal from Vietnam so there were a lot of us crowding the barracks. I was stationed at the Jungle Training Centre in Canungra, not far from the Queensland Gold Coast. A few of us got the OK to live off-base and we got flats in and around Surfers Paradise. The army almost became a 9-5 job, we'd drive in and drive home and if we had to work the weekend we got a day off in lieu. All that is background to say that that's when I bought this album.

Next to the album photo I've attached a photo of me at the time. The US Stars and Stripes influence carried through from the album cover to my clothing. 

A couple of quirky things - the inner sleeve has a poem written by McLean about William Boyd, known more as Hopalong Cassidy. The sleeve was removed from copies after about a year. The other thing is the side. Not side one, side two. Instead it's 'One Side' and 'Another Side'. As I said, quirky. On the back there is a dedication to Buddy Holly.

Everybody knows the title song, in part or in total. 8 minutes 33 seconds. DJ's play it when they have to go to the bathroom. Drunks try and sing it at parties. People either know the meaning behind it or put their own spin on the words. Don McLean himself didn't give too much away. At one point when he was asked what the song meant he said "It means I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to." 

Some bits are obvious. McLean was working his paper round aged 13 in 1959 when he saw the news about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper - 

"But February made me shiver

With every paper I'd deliver"

The phrase "the day the music died" became so fixed in the lexicon that it ended up being used to refer to that tragic plane crash.

Elvis was 'the king', Dylan was 'the jester' and the Rolling Stones get a nod towards the end with 'Jack Flash sat on the candlestick' and 'no angel born in Hell' describing the death of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont Free Concert. 

You've also got The Byrds in there, "eight miles high and falling fast", Charles Manson and The Beatles, "helter skelter in a summer swelter" and "sergeants played a marching tune". 

Did you spot Woodstock? "Oh, and there we were all in one place, a generation lost in space". 

Janis Joplin - "I met a girl who sang the blues" and then back to Buddy, Richie and Big Bopper - "And the three men I admire most The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost".

When Dylan was asked by MTV's Bill Flanagan what he thought of being referred to as the jester he replied ..

 “A jester? Sure, the jester writes songs like ‘Masters of War,’ ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,’ ‘It’s Alright, Ma’ – some jester. I have to think he’s talking about somebody else. Ask him.” Not impressed Bob.

The album does contain other songs of note, particularly 'Vincent' which was a hit in it's own right. It's sometimes incorrectly referred to as 'Starry Starry Night' because of it's opening line but whatever you call it, it made it to #1 in the UK and #2 on the US Adult Contemporary charts.

'Winterwood' is a lovely song. Peaceful and pleasant and just a plain old love song.

"No-one can take your place with me,

And time has proven that I'm right.

There's no place I'd rather be,

Than at your place for the night."

Conversely, 'Empty Chairs' is a tear-jerker.

"Empty rooms that echo as I climb the stairs

And empty clothes that drape and fall on empty chairs

And I wonder if you know

That I never understood

That although you said you'd go

Until you did I never thought you would"

Don sang 'Empty Chairs' at a concert and Lori Lieberman was in the audience. Charles Fox composed a song and Lori collaborated with Norman Gimbel to write the lyrics, inspired by watching McLean's performance. The result was 'Killing Me Softly With His Song'. Lori did a beautiful version in 1972 but it didn't get anywhere until Roberta Flack released hers in 1973.

I think my favourite Don McLean song is from his debut album 'Tapestry' in 1970. The first track is 'Castles in the Air'. It was re-recorded in 1981 and the new version was the more popular, but to me, the original is best. Faster, brighter, better.

For something a little bit different, I've linked a video of 'American Pie' sung live by Don, but used as a promo for Grand Rapids. The downtown area was shut down, 5000 people were involved and the whole thing is amazing. Enjoy.

American Pie - Grand Rapids version

Castles in the Air (original)

 

THE WHO - Who's Next 1971 ($$ 1981)

In the summer of 1964, after teddy-boys and before punks and skinheads, the two factions on the streets of England were Mods and Rockers. Mods wore suits and rode on scooters wearing parkas. Rockers wore leather jackets, boots or brothel creepers and rode motorbikes.

I was 13 going on 14. I couldn't own either a scooter or a bike, but I did have a leather jacket. I bought some silver star studs and stuck them in the back of my leather jacket to spell out ..

"Live Fast
 Love Hard
 Die Young"

I say again, I was 13 going on 14. I couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag. I walked around in a studded leather jacket wearing tight jeans and winklepickers !!

I say this to illustrate a basic conflict. By late '64 we had moved to Australia, and in 1965 when 'My Generation' dropped it was too hot for leather and I really really liked the music The Who were playing. I swapped sides. Well, maybe not swapped sides. It's very hard to make a fashion statement when you're a red-headed freckly pasty Yorkshire kid living in a mining town on the edge of the Simpson Desert with temperatures in excess of 100f for days on end. Let's just say I became more cosmopolitan in my tastes in music and clothing.

So back to the music. There was a live album released in 1970, 'Live at Leeds' but 'Who's Next' was the Who's first studio effort since 'Tommy' in 1969. Like 'Tommy' this was meant to be another rock opera by Pete Townshend with the project name 'Lifehouse'. It never happened, in a nutshell Pete's vision included all sorts of theatrics and production and in the end, after a few trial performances, the rest of the group decided against it and Pete had a nervous breakdown.The premise of the rock opera was a dystopian near future. Music is not allowed and people live indoors wearing experience suits. Bobby, a bit of a rebel, starts sending rock music into the suits.

Although the concept and project itself was effectively shelved, 'Who's Next' has 9 songs and 8 of them were originally part of 'Lifehouse'.

The difference is that once the restrains of making a rock opera out of the songs was lifted the group then were able to treat the tracks as individual compositions and create an album of cohesive, but not necessarily thematic songs. The only one not taken from the 'Lifehouse'  project was Jon Entwistle's 'My Wife'. All the rest were by Pete Townshend.

'Baba O'Riley' is so often misnamed as 'Teenage Wasteland' that it should almost be a title in parenthesis. Problem is, 'Teenage Wasteland' was the working title for 'Baba O'Riley' but eventually became a song in it's own right with different lyrics and a slower tempo. 'Baba O'Riley' came from a combination of Townshend's two mentors Meher Baba and Terry Riley. I've included a link to Pete's original demo of 'Teenage Wasteland' below.

The opening line of 'Bargain' uses one of Meher Baba's phrases, "I'd gladly lose me to find you" showing again the influence he had over Pete Townshend.

Apart from 'Baba O'Riley' the other two tracks from the album released as singles were 'Behind Blue Eyes' and 'Won't Get Fooled Again'.

The highest charting was by 'Won't Get Fooled ..', in fact the other two did nothing in England and 'Baba..' barely scratched the surface in the US. It was only later that these songs became not only extremely well received but also radio station classics.

I'm a bit of a hit and miss Who fan. I loved all their early singles .. 

'Substitute', 'Happy Jack', Pictures of Lily', 'Magic Bus', 'I Can See For Miles' .. but when it comes to albums I'm a bit ambivalent.

I just looked through some of my stuff and pulled out my copy of 'Quadrophenia'. The cover shows just a little sign of wear and tear, I've been carrying it around for 47 years !! The 22 page booklet inside is intact and the 2 vinyl albums are pristine. There's a good reason for that. I dislike the album with a passion. Hardly ever played it. Cannot find one song on there I like and 'Love, Reign O'er Me' makes me want to burst my eardrums with hot needles.

Personal taste I suppose.

In the meantime, 'Who's Next', using the cherry-pickings of a forgotten unfinished rock opera is not a bad listen. This is actually the 1981 '$uper $tars' re-issue so it was even better value for money.

Fill yer boots.

Teenage Wasteland (Pete Townshend Demo)

 

ROLLING STONES - Beggars Banquet 1968

In the late 70's I had a friend, Glenn, in New Zealand who was a total Stones disciple. He started young collecting all their vinyl. When cassettes came along he got all available releases in both formats. He corresponded by mail worldwide long before the internet and gained a reputation and recognition. He traded bootlegs and vhs tapes. He subscribed to everything.

The last I heard from him was late 80's. CD's had arrived, he couldn't stop collecting because he had to keep up, had to keep the collection as complete as possible. He was furious. He hated the Rolling Stones. He prayed they'd split up for good.

I wonder where he is now, thirty odd years on.

My first ever LP was the first Stones album (review 25 June 2020), but I didn't go overboard. I was selective, I allowed myself to dislike some stuff and not buy a new release just for the hell of it.

I was still in the market for 45's so I'd just buy the occasional single or early compilation like 'High Tide and Green Grass' and 'Flowers'. I avoided 'Their Satanic Majesties Request'. To be fair, I did like some of it, but the album was too close to 'Sgt. Pepper .. 'in attempted style and it just didn't sit right.

Then in 1968 we got 'Beggars Banquet'. This was more like it. After the pop and the psychedelia and some misguided attempts at who-knows-what, here were the Stones I knew from 1964 when I bought that first album. The edge was back along with, to use the genre titles, roots rock, blues rock and where appropriate some innovation with new instrumentation - but essentially, it was the Stones I wanted.

The opening track gave some of that experimentation.

'Sympathy For The Devil' has maracas, congas, bongos, even a cowbell in there. Mick comes in with a request .. "Please allow me to introduce myself" and his character sings to us in first person. It's a brutal song full of historic atrocities where the devil takes delight in the suffering. Then he has the nerve to tell the listener to treat him with respect. There's no real rise and fall to the music, no real change of pace, just a hypnotic repetition. Add to that the gradual increase in the disembodied chant of 'woo-woo' behind everything and you get a song of power and foreboding and menace. There's a whole story about how the 'woo-woo' came to be in the song, but Anita Pallenberg, Brian Jones' girlfriend and Marianne Faithfull, long time member of the Stones inner circle, provided the backup vocals.

Good innit !!

It was part of the song's notoriety that the Stones were playing it at Altmont in '69 when Meredith Hunter was killed by a Hell's Angel security guard, but they were playing 'Under My Thumb' at the time.

'No Expectations' is a sad, lonely refrain. Anything that starts with a train leaving a station is setting up to be a tear-jerker. Brian Jones' slide guitar gives that melancholic feel. Sometimes when I listen to this song I imagine the slide guitar part being done by a harmonica, give it almost a 1920's southern blues tone.

The very next track gives us exactly that! On 'Dear Doctor' Brian Jones puts down the guitar and picks up his blues harp. Nice one. It's a tongue-in-cheek story of a man being jilted on his wedding day and instead of being upset he is totally relieved.

'Parachute Woman' is blues - plain and simple. Mick gets into some harmonica along with Brian this time.

'Jigsaw Puzzle' has comparisons to the type of song Dylan was doing, particularly 'Stuck Inside of Mobile ..' because of the wordplay and imagery used. It's probably my second least favourite song on the album, but I'm not sure if that's why.

'Street Fighting Man' is what it is. Everybody knows it, everybody has an opinion, it's a real Stones song, best played loud as a good rock song, but surprisingly with a sitar keeping the energy going.

'Prodigal Son' is the only song on the album not written by Jagger/Richards. Instead it's a Rev. Robert Wilkins composition from the 1920's-30's. Originally called 'That's No Way to Get Along' the Stones renamed it for the album. In 1928 the Rev. Wilkins wrote a song called 'Rollin' Stone'. Funny how things work out. I think 'Prodigal Son' is probably my second favourite song on the album. 

'Stray Cat Blues' is a controversial song, dealing as it does with the singers desire to have sex with a 15 year old. Just to make it worse, Mick sometimes dropped the age to 13 when he was singing it live!

'Factory Girl'. Love it. Love it. This is my favourite. Technically it's compared to 'an Appalachian folk tune' .. but who cares. To me it's evocative of my working class roots, of back streets and simple pleasures. 

"Waiting for a girl who's got curlers in her hair

Waiting for a girl she has no money anywhere

We get buses everywhere

Waiting for a factory girl"

Although nothing like it in style or melody it always makes me think of the Ewan MacColl song 'Dirty Old Town'

"I met my love by the gas works wall

Dreamed a dream by the old canal

I kissed my girl by the factory wall

Dirty old town

Dirty old town"

As I said at the top of this review, I allow myself to dislike some stuff. I don't like 'Salt of the Earth'

This was Brian Jones' last album to be released while he was alive. Two tracks on their 'Let It Bleed' album included him playing congas and autoharp, but he was fired during the production of this album. He had already died when the album was released. (The 27 Club).

Altogether, I like this album. Play it, get back into it. If you need to know any more about it, try to find my mate Glenn from the 80's back in New Zealand. He'll tell you.

Factory Girl