I noticed that 108 viewers came by the other day.
Thanks for showing up folks. For the most part I have discontinued to write blogs about bands here and have basically been putting them on my main site R S Crabb Presents Record World. I doubt if any new entries will be forthcoming but the archives will still remain available for those looking for something other to read about forgotten bands. I do check regularly for any comments and providing some tidying up around the site. But the main postings will be found at this link: http://rscrabb.blogspot.com/
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Fred Neil
Given to the footnotes of his music career, Fred Neil really did things his way. He basically a folk singer from the start but if you listen deep into his songs you can actually hear what he was thinking about. He didn't care much for the New York lifestyle and even on his signature song Everybody's Talkin he'd rather be sailing down in Florida, something that he would eventually do and pretty much silenced his career.
Fred only released four proper albums. Tear Down The Walls with Vince Martin, Bleecker And MacDougal, Fred Neil aka Everybody's Talking and Sessions. TDTW is mostly Martin but when Neils takes over on side 2 things begin to come together.
Bleecker And MacDougal is considered his overall best album, with the original version of The Other Side Of This Life and Little Bit Of Rain as highlights. Somehow Capitol Records decided to sign him up and Fred Neil, despite Everybody's Talking showing Neil doing things his way. Adding electric guitar and drums did bring some rock elements into the mix but it's still a mostly folk album. There's a ragged feel even to the hits of The Dolphins, and Talkin', these two songs enabled Neil to live a comfortable life from here on out. The jazzy feel of Green Rocky Road, the blues of Sweet Cocaine and Neil's views of New York life that he was beginning to tire (That's The Bag I'm In) and the 8 minute jam that follows Green Rocky Road, showed that he ran out of songs and rather jam a while. One or two proper songs and Fred Neil would be a better known classic.
Even then Neil was set in his ways and on Sessions you can hear his producer Nick Venet getting a bit frustrated on the two long songs that close out side 2. Sessions sounds like the songs were done in one take, for better or for worse. At best Neil does one of the slowest and coolest versions of Please Send Me Somebody To Love, but on the other hand, Look Over Yonder and Merry Go Round simply are just boring, when Neil shouts out a line, he's basically trying to wake himself up. The problem with one take songs is that if they go over 7 minutes they lose the listeners soon after. The half live, half studio The Other Side Of This Life concludes Neil's music career, doing things his own way, even telling Howard Solomon to shut up after Roll On Rosie before going into The Dolphins. Interesting cameos by Les McCann (Come Back Baby) and Gram Parsons (Ya Don't Miss Your Water) but overall an uneven album. Collector's Choice Music issued all of the Capitol albums plus some unreleased material as The Many Sides Of Fred Neil, basically all of his Capitol sessions plus an 45 with The Nashville Street Singers.
There isn't many best ofs out there. Rev Ola took a shot of his recordings and so did Raven but the one label of interest Fallout, compiled some of his late 50s and early 60s attempt at rockabilly with Trav'lin Man, which featured his 6 singles recorded for various labels (Epic, ABC Paramount, Look, Brunswick). There's a connection between Jack Scott and Buddy Holly, especially on the Brunswick sides. The teenie bopper of You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry and Rainbow And A Rose reveals a side of Neil we would rarely see (and with good reason) but Four Chaplains is the song that reveal Neil's going more of a folk direction despite pedestrian vocal arrangements. These collection of singles have been reissued on various other labels and different names (Passion, Funny Secrets). If you're looking for the folk side of Fred, this is not the one to go to, but if you're into hearing Fred trying to be the next Buddy or Jack, it's worth a listen but not something you'd play on a regular basis.
Neil dropped out to live his life on saving the dolphins down in Coconut Grove Florida and would not record anything new. There have been rumors of a couple live recordings that Columbia Records sat on and Neil would only come out for very rare hometown appearances, and Neil would pass away from skin cancer in 2001. But even for a folk singer Neil did things his way and if the record label didn't like it, so be it. The best overview is Do You Ever Think Of Me, which Rev Ola/Cherry Red does pick Neil's best known and loved songs. And Bleecker And MacDougal and Fred Neil are the best studio albums. As long as radio keeps playing Everybody's Talking, by Nilsson, the memory of Fred Neil will be kept alive. He may have a disdain for record labels and producers but he did process one of the most recognizable bass vocals in music history. And he was a fine songwriter.
The Albums:
Trav'lin Man-The Early Singles (Fallout 2008) B
Tear Down The Walls (Elektra/Collectors Choice 1964) B-
Bleecker And MacDougal (Elektra/Collectors Choice 1965) B+
Fred Neil aka Everybody's Talkin (Capitol 1967) B+
Sessions (Capitol 1968) C+
The Other Side To This Life (Capitol 1969) B-
The Many Sides Of Fred Neil (Collectors Choice 1998) B+
Do You Ever Think Of Me-Best Of (Rev-Ola 2003) A-
Echoes Of My Mind (Raven 2005) B+
Notes:
The Sky Is Falling, I think is Rev-Ola's version of The Other Side To This Life, therefore I didn't include it in the discography.
In 2006 Water Records did issue the Capitol albums as stand alone albums.
Funny Secrets (Mocking Bird 2012) and Passion (Ludoxx 2012) is the same album as Trav'lin Man.
Fred only released four proper albums. Tear Down The Walls with Vince Martin, Bleecker And MacDougal, Fred Neil aka Everybody's Talking and Sessions. TDTW is mostly Martin but when Neils takes over on side 2 things begin to come together.
Bleecker And MacDougal is considered his overall best album, with the original version of The Other Side Of This Life and Little Bit Of Rain as highlights. Somehow Capitol Records decided to sign him up and Fred Neil, despite Everybody's Talking showing Neil doing things his way. Adding electric guitar and drums did bring some rock elements into the mix but it's still a mostly folk album. There's a ragged feel even to the hits of The Dolphins, and Talkin', these two songs enabled Neil to live a comfortable life from here on out. The jazzy feel of Green Rocky Road, the blues of Sweet Cocaine and Neil's views of New York life that he was beginning to tire (That's The Bag I'm In) and the 8 minute jam that follows Green Rocky Road, showed that he ran out of songs and rather jam a while. One or two proper songs and Fred Neil would be a better known classic.
Even then Neil was set in his ways and on Sessions you can hear his producer Nick Venet getting a bit frustrated on the two long songs that close out side 2. Sessions sounds like the songs were done in one take, for better or for worse. At best Neil does one of the slowest and coolest versions of Please Send Me Somebody To Love, but on the other hand, Look Over Yonder and Merry Go Round simply are just boring, when Neil shouts out a line, he's basically trying to wake himself up. The problem with one take songs is that if they go over 7 minutes they lose the listeners soon after. The half live, half studio The Other Side Of This Life concludes Neil's music career, doing things his own way, even telling Howard Solomon to shut up after Roll On Rosie before going into The Dolphins. Interesting cameos by Les McCann (Come Back Baby) and Gram Parsons (Ya Don't Miss Your Water) but overall an uneven album. Collector's Choice Music issued all of the Capitol albums plus some unreleased material as The Many Sides Of Fred Neil, basically all of his Capitol sessions plus an 45 with The Nashville Street Singers.
There isn't many best ofs out there. Rev Ola took a shot of his recordings and so did Raven but the one label of interest Fallout, compiled some of his late 50s and early 60s attempt at rockabilly with Trav'lin Man, which featured his 6 singles recorded for various labels (Epic, ABC Paramount, Look, Brunswick). There's a connection between Jack Scott and Buddy Holly, especially on the Brunswick sides. The teenie bopper of You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry and Rainbow And A Rose reveals a side of Neil we would rarely see (and with good reason) but Four Chaplains is the song that reveal Neil's going more of a folk direction despite pedestrian vocal arrangements. These collection of singles have been reissued on various other labels and different names (Passion, Funny Secrets). If you're looking for the folk side of Fred, this is not the one to go to, but if you're into hearing Fred trying to be the next Buddy or Jack, it's worth a listen but not something you'd play on a regular basis.
Neil dropped out to live his life on saving the dolphins down in Coconut Grove Florida and would not record anything new. There have been rumors of a couple live recordings that Columbia Records sat on and Neil would only come out for very rare hometown appearances, and Neil would pass away from skin cancer in 2001. But even for a folk singer Neil did things his way and if the record label didn't like it, so be it. The best overview is Do You Ever Think Of Me, which Rev Ola/Cherry Red does pick Neil's best known and loved songs. And Bleecker And MacDougal and Fred Neil are the best studio albums. As long as radio keeps playing Everybody's Talking, by Nilsson, the memory of Fred Neil will be kept alive. He may have a disdain for record labels and producers but he did process one of the most recognizable bass vocals in music history. And he was a fine songwriter.
The Albums:
Trav'lin Man-The Early Singles (Fallout 2008) B
Tear Down The Walls (Elektra/Collectors Choice 1964) B-
Bleecker And MacDougal (Elektra/Collectors Choice 1965) B+
Fred Neil aka Everybody's Talkin (Capitol 1967) B+
Sessions (Capitol 1968) C+
The Other Side To This Life (Capitol 1969) B-
The Many Sides Of Fred Neil (Collectors Choice 1998) B+
Do You Ever Think Of Me-Best Of (Rev-Ola 2003) A-
Echoes Of My Mind (Raven 2005) B+
Notes:
The Sky Is Falling, I think is Rev-Ola's version of The Other Side To This Life, therefore I didn't include it in the discography.
In 2006 Water Records did issue the Capitol albums as stand alone albums.
Funny Secrets (Mocking Bird 2012) and Passion (Ludoxx 2012) is the same album as Trav'lin Man.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley is considered to be one of the best vocalists that came out of the late 60s. And perhaps one of the more erratic artists that I most certainly ever came across. While his early albums are folk rock, Buckley wasn't that concerned or interested to continue to hit the folk trail. And in the meantime pissing off fans by following his own muse,be it folk, or oddball avant garde vocal exercises, as if his testicles were being tied up in knots. But after the extremism that was Lorca, turning into Star Sailor and later the final three albums Buckley got into funky porn soul as exhibited via his 1972 Greetings From LA. While All Music tends to short change Sefronia and his final album Look At The Fool, I tend to favor Sefronia over Greetings or Look At The Fool, to which the latter album Buckley seemed to be out of his league with the choices of his songs or the band that did those songs. The way it was going, had Buckley not O Ded on Heroin, he might have gone disco and in a bad way.
It's easier for me to say that his folk rock albums are his best, the Bizarre/Straight albums his most notorious and the DiscReet trio a strange foray into blue eyed soul with an eye on porno for lyrical inspiration. The first album Tim Buckley is straight forward folk rock, but Buckley throws a lot of his vocals into the songs such as Are You The Girl or Song For Jainie. Song Slowly Song does shows a hint into the future, with sparse guitar work and Buckley moaning away. Goodbye And Hello the followup begins Buckley turning away from the folk and getting into more abstract blues and even jazz with I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain or Pleasant Street. Happy/Sad, the third album is another wild ride but still listener friendly even though the songs are getting longer.
Buckley's final Elektra offerning Lorca, is his version of Metal Machine Music, a wild five song album with the title track showing off the torturous vocal, as if Buckley's skin was being peeled right off him. The record is not for everybody, although side 2 has the more memorable I Had A Talk With My Woman and to a lesser extend Nobody Walkin'.
Between the blurred avant garde jazz whatever you call it, the Bizarre Straight albums (out of print since Herb Cohen and Rhino and Warner Brothers had a big disagreement) are what people considered his classic period. I disagree. Certainly there are shining moments on Blue Afternoon, and Bunk Gardner of The Mothers Of Invention fame helps Star Sailor and Song To The Siren the best song of the album. What stood out was the crabby reviewer Robert Christgau giving Star Sailor a C- and thinking Buckley was doing Nico imitations and not Odetta, to which she was the inspiration to his vocals. Star Sailor is a bit more worthy than a C minus, maybe a solid B and an A for effort. But in the long run, it's seems to me to be a bit of a novelty than classic. Alas, the problem stems from Herb Cohen falling out of favor with Frank Zappa and after a 1989 reissue via Enigma/Retro both Star Sailor and Blue Afternoon are long deleted, hard to find and collectors scour the country for used copies. 4 Men With Beards issued both albums on LP, and perhaps one day Warner Brothers will finally get come to terms to both the Zappa and Cohen estates to get both records reissued once again. Blue Afternoon to me is the better album but that's a matter of opinion.
While the Bizarre Straight albums are out of print, the DiscReet records are still available, somehow Herb Cohen kept those masters at hand and with Jerry Goldstein behind the production board, Greetings From L.A. was when Buckley decided to quit the fusion acoustic light jazz and go for a more funkier sound. My opinion about Greetings is mixed, at times the grubby porn funk of Move With Me or Get On Top would have perfect for those XXX movies of that time. Buckley does sound inspired most through the album. Sefronia, released a year later is commendable with cover versions of Tom Wait's Martha and Fred Neil's The Dolphins and Buckley does a nice Fred Neil soundalike. And I Know I'd Recognize Your Face is a rather pleasant blue eyed soul number complete with a female counterpoint. The title track Sefronia does return to the days of Goodbye And Hello the song itself. Buckley doesn't give up on the funky stuff, Honey Man and Quicksand could have fit in on Greetings From LA. Tim kinda cools it on the theatrics but just in case you forgot, he does soar on his vocal on Honey Man and Sally Go Round The Roses. As for Look At The Fool, it sounds like Buckley is on auto pilot and most of the songs are not memorable. It does get points for Chuck Rainey and Earl Palmer on bass and drums. Not a total wasted effort.
Since Buckley's passing in 1975, Elektra Rhino has put out two overviews. One of them Morning Glory is a 2 CD overview of his recordings and even the Bizarre/Straight/DiscReet albums do have highlights. Disc 1 covers the first three albums plus some unreleased live performances, the folk rock years and Disc 2 is the Straight/DiscReet Lorca era. However the single disc Best Of Tim Buckley effectively distills most of his best song in a easier to take single disc but still totaling 79 minutes. Or all the Tim Buckley you need if you only need one good overview. The first album and Goodbye And Hello are worthy, the rest you're better off to sample via You Tube or song samples Lorca and Star Sailor will try your patience. As well as Look At The Fool or Greetings From L.A. Nevertheless, Tim Buckley was that rarity, a person that followed his own vision of music. The man could flat out sing. And sometimes scream as well.
Albums: (Incomplete)
Tim Buckley (Elektra 1967) A-
Goodbye And Hello (Elektra 1967) A-
Happy/Sad (Elektra 1968) B+
Blue Afternoon (Straight 1969) B+
Lorca (Elektra 1969) C-
Star Sailor (Straight 1970) C+
Greetings From L.A. (DiscReet/WB 1972) B
Sefronia (DiscReet 1973) B+
Look At The Fool (DiscReet 1974) B-
The Best Of Tim Buckley (Elektra/Rhino 2006) B+
The Dream Belongs To Me (Manifesto 2012) B
Notes: While Blue Afternoon has been out print, Rhino Germany has included it in a box set called Original Album Classics, to which the first five albums are included. Very odd considering that Blue Afternoon is on Straight/Bizarre. It's probably cheaper to buy the box set then. However I did find a CD copy of Blue Afternoon and it's kinda of a return to the sound that made Goodbye And Hello a classic album, The Train, does suggest the one take vocal gymnastics that Buckley would attempt on Lorca and Star Sailor. The Dream Belongs To Me captures two distinct periods in Buckley's history, one side is from the folk years, while side 2 is from the funk experiments of the early 70s. The 1973 live showing is somewhat disappointing, it sounds like some of the songs were thought up on the spot. Star Sailor and Blue Afternoon can be found at a cheaper price if you like MP3s, the LPs vary in sound. But if you want a stand alone CD of these two albums, better take out a second mortgage since EBAY or Amazon used copies are over 20 dollars. Good luck trying to find one at your local record store, you're going to need it.
It's easier for me to say that his folk rock albums are his best, the Bizarre/Straight albums his most notorious and the DiscReet trio a strange foray into blue eyed soul with an eye on porno for lyrical inspiration. The first album Tim Buckley is straight forward folk rock, but Buckley throws a lot of his vocals into the songs such as Are You The Girl or Song For Jainie. Song Slowly Song does shows a hint into the future, with sparse guitar work and Buckley moaning away. Goodbye And Hello the followup begins Buckley turning away from the folk and getting into more abstract blues and even jazz with I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain or Pleasant Street. Happy/Sad, the third album is another wild ride but still listener friendly even though the songs are getting longer.
Buckley's final Elektra offerning Lorca, is his version of Metal Machine Music, a wild five song album with the title track showing off the torturous vocal, as if Buckley's skin was being peeled right off him. The record is not for everybody, although side 2 has the more memorable I Had A Talk With My Woman and to a lesser extend Nobody Walkin'.
Between the blurred avant garde jazz whatever you call it, the Bizarre Straight albums (out of print since Herb Cohen and Rhino and Warner Brothers had a big disagreement) are what people considered his classic period. I disagree. Certainly there are shining moments on Blue Afternoon, and Bunk Gardner of The Mothers Of Invention fame helps Star Sailor and Song To The Siren the best song of the album. What stood out was the crabby reviewer Robert Christgau giving Star Sailor a C- and thinking Buckley was doing Nico imitations and not Odetta, to which she was the inspiration to his vocals. Star Sailor is a bit more worthy than a C minus, maybe a solid B and an A for effort. But in the long run, it's seems to me to be a bit of a novelty than classic. Alas, the problem stems from Herb Cohen falling out of favor with Frank Zappa and after a 1989 reissue via Enigma/Retro both Star Sailor and Blue Afternoon are long deleted, hard to find and collectors scour the country for used copies. 4 Men With Beards issued both albums on LP, and perhaps one day Warner Brothers will finally get come to terms to both the Zappa and Cohen estates to get both records reissued once again. Blue Afternoon to me is the better album but that's a matter of opinion.
While the Bizarre Straight albums are out of print, the DiscReet records are still available, somehow Herb Cohen kept those masters at hand and with Jerry Goldstein behind the production board, Greetings From L.A. was when Buckley decided to quit the fusion acoustic light jazz and go for a more funkier sound. My opinion about Greetings is mixed, at times the grubby porn funk of Move With Me or Get On Top would have perfect for those XXX movies of that time. Buckley does sound inspired most through the album. Sefronia, released a year later is commendable with cover versions of Tom Wait's Martha and Fred Neil's The Dolphins and Buckley does a nice Fred Neil soundalike. And I Know I'd Recognize Your Face is a rather pleasant blue eyed soul number complete with a female counterpoint. The title track Sefronia does return to the days of Goodbye And Hello the song itself. Buckley doesn't give up on the funky stuff, Honey Man and Quicksand could have fit in on Greetings From LA. Tim kinda cools it on the theatrics but just in case you forgot, he does soar on his vocal on Honey Man and Sally Go Round The Roses. As for Look At The Fool, it sounds like Buckley is on auto pilot and most of the songs are not memorable. It does get points for Chuck Rainey and Earl Palmer on bass and drums. Not a total wasted effort.
Since Buckley's passing in 1975, Elektra Rhino has put out two overviews. One of them Morning Glory is a 2 CD overview of his recordings and even the Bizarre/Straight/DiscReet albums do have highlights. Disc 1 covers the first three albums plus some unreleased live performances, the folk rock years and Disc 2 is the Straight/DiscReet Lorca era. However the single disc Best Of Tim Buckley effectively distills most of his best song in a easier to take single disc but still totaling 79 minutes. Or all the Tim Buckley you need if you only need one good overview. The first album and Goodbye And Hello are worthy, the rest you're better off to sample via You Tube or song samples Lorca and Star Sailor will try your patience. As well as Look At The Fool or Greetings From L.A. Nevertheless, Tim Buckley was that rarity, a person that followed his own vision of music. The man could flat out sing. And sometimes scream as well.
Albums: (Incomplete)
Tim Buckley (Elektra 1967) A-
Goodbye And Hello (Elektra 1967) A-
Happy/Sad (Elektra 1968) B+
Blue Afternoon (Straight 1969) B+
Lorca (Elektra 1969) C-
Star Sailor (Straight 1970) C+
Greetings From L.A. (DiscReet/WB 1972) B
Sefronia (DiscReet 1973) B+
Look At The Fool (DiscReet 1974) B-
The Best Of Tim Buckley (Elektra/Rhino 2006) B+
The Dream Belongs To Me (Manifesto 2012) B
Notes: While Blue Afternoon has been out print, Rhino Germany has included it in a box set called Original Album Classics, to which the first five albums are included. Very odd considering that Blue Afternoon is on Straight/Bizarre. It's probably cheaper to buy the box set then. However I did find a CD copy of Blue Afternoon and it's kinda of a return to the sound that made Goodbye And Hello a classic album, The Train, does suggest the one take vocal gymnastics that Buckley would attempt on Lorca and Star Sailor. The Dream Belongs To Me captures two distinct periods in Buckley's history, one side is from the folk years, while side 2 is from the funk experiments of the early 70s. The 1973 live showing is somewhat disappointing, it sounds like some of the songs were thought up on the spot. Star Sailor and Blue Afternoon can be found at a cheaper price if you like MP3s, the LPs vary in sound. But if you want a stand alone CD of these two albums, better take out a second mortgage since EBAY or Amazon used copies are over 20 dollars. Good luck trying to find one at your local record store, you're going to need it.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Del Amitri
The funny thing about the 1990s was the wide selection of music that still could be found on the charts. While rock radio would like you to remember everything Nirvana or Alice In Chains, bla blah, the fact was that contemporary pop rock was still a norm. Somehow to the left of Madchester alternative rock and the Seattle Grunge and to the right of hair metal lies the pop rock style of Del Amitri or better known to me as simply the Dels, easier to remember and easier to spell than Amitri.
The band goes back to 1984 when Justin Currie advertised for musicians to play in his new band and ended up getting Iain Harvie to be the other half of this band and they got signed to Chrysalis and put out a very good debut that bordered on Elvis Costello and Aztec Camera but with a Cockney accent sound to beat, it's probably more on the same scale as The Housemartins. Hugh Jones produced the debut and even if Justin Currie was a wee lad of 16 17 years old, his word play was much older and although I brought up the Elvis Costello reference, Justin may have listened to Graham Parker as well. The album didn't sell very well and only when Del Amitri managed to get hits was when EMI decided to reissue it in 1995. Hammering Heart and Sticks And Stones Girl are the highlights.
After a three year absence, and a new label, Del Amitri's next album Waking Hours revealed a much different sound. Gone was the wicked Cockney voice, replaced by a more smoke strained and laid back vocal from Currie as he had a hit with Kiss This Thing Goodbye, in a way, the left field song with banjo sounded out of place with the hair metal craze of 1989 and while Hugh Jones still was on as producer, the band was more stripped down and to the point. You wouldn't know they were from Scotland. Their type of rock was more straight ahead (Stone Cold Sober) but the ballads like Nothing Ever Happens or Move Away Jimmy Blue, was more of The Band rather then U2. Although you don't hear much from this record, it was just as important as say U2's Rattle And Hum, just not as pretentious.
But every album that the Dels did do, Currie would find enough hooks and melody to come up with an hit single. The Last To Know from Change Everything is one, and the throwaway Roll To Me, (the mix from Twisted sounded like Currie thought of it on the spot and Al Clay the producer recorded it that way) turned out to be their biggest hit, since it continues to be heard on soft rock and classic rock radio for that matter. And later, Not Where It's At another mainstay of the radio. Currie could compose it and Iain Harvie could think up a nice guitar riff and melody, but the strange thing about this was that they could have that big hit single on these albums but the rest of the songs would not be as attention grabbing. All of their albums really do have moments although while critics lambasted Twisted, I thought it worked quite nicely as the Dels went for a harder rocking sound. Change Everything might get a slight nod over Waking Hours as best overall album for the A&M years, but to me, Twisted is their "twisted' classic, to which the madness of Justin Currie comes into full fury glory, Bring Somebody Else they channeled their inner Crazy Horse among the ballads. On original hearing Change Everything took a few listens to get used to, Gil Norton's production might be too polished but no doubt the songs do stand out from Be My Downfall, to the blues rock of Just Like A Man up to the Rolling Stones riff of The Ones That You Love Lead You Nowhere bleeding into the cowbell 123 of The Last To Know and even to the finale Sometimes I Just Have To Say Your Name. Which, in the end is their best studio album.
A long layoff after the failure of Twisted making a disappointing showing on the charts, the Dels came back with a whole new lineup, only Currie, Harvie and Andy Alston remained from the previous album and Some Other Sucker's Parade tried to return back to the glory days of Change Everything, while the title track and Not Where It's At managed to hit the radio, the rest of the album was a hit and miss, Mark Freegard's production wasn't a very good fit, and David Bianco's mix job was even worse. A&M wasn't exactly promoting it either, they were in the process of being brought out by Universal and Universal really showed a lack of caring. But even if it's their lesser of the US A&M albums (2002's Can You Do Me Good never saw a US release) there are still some decent songs that could have been better had they been recorded better (Medicine). Sensing a end to things, Universal put together Hatful Of Rain, a 17 song best of which gives us the best songs and two new songs, one is the crappy Cry To Be Found, a very bad attempt for radio airplay but failed miserably, the other Don't Come Home Too Soon a much better song which was adopted by the Scotland soccer team in their world cup appearance. Justin Currie would later follow that the the outtakes Lousy With Love (B Sides compilation) soon afterward. A&M would then edit Hatful Of Rain with the uneven 20th Century Masters Collection. Hatful Of Rain, The Best Of The Dels is a uneven mess but perhaps the best overview of what they could do, and makes a valid point that they were a good singles band, but the inclusion of Here And Now and Cry To Be Found drags this down a bit. But if you find it for under two dollars its worth a listen or two.
After Can You Do Me Good, Justin Currie pretty much retired the band and has gone solo, most of the albums worth a listen but without Iain Harvie kinda lacks the spirit and focus of the Dels. That said, in the late 80s and early 90s Del Amitri was the alternative to hair metal, although Justin Currie's sense of humor might have labeled him a punk rocker in a pop aritst's skin. They might have missed the boat in New Wave in 1985 but in 1989, they found their mark in Scottish rock and pop. And for their effort, got a radio classic with Roll To Me as well.
Albums:
Del Amitri (Chrysalis 1985) B+
Waking Hours (A&M 1989) B+
Change Everything (A&M 1992) A-
Twisted (A&M 1995) A-
Swimming With Your Boots On-Live Dels (Oxygen Import) B+
Some Other Suckers' Parade (A&M 1997) B+
Hatful Of Rain-The Best Of Del Amitri (A&M 1998) B+
B Sides-Lousy With Love (A&M Import 1998) NR
20th Century Masters (A&M 2002) B
Can You Do Me Good (A&M 2002) NR
The band goes back to 1984 when Justin Currie advertised for musicians to play in his new band and ended up getting Iain Harvie to be the other half of this band and they got signed to Chrysalis and put out a very good debut that bordered on Elvis Costello and Aztec Camera but with a Cockney accent sound to beat, it's probably more on the same scale as The Housemartins. Hugh Jones produced the debut and even if Justin Currie was a wee lad of 16 17 years old, his word play was much older and although I brought up the Elvis Costello reference, Justin may have listened to Graham Parker as well. The album didn't sell very well and only when Del Amitri managed to get hits was when EMI decided to reissue it in 1995. Hammering Heart and Sticks And Stones Girl are the highlights.
After a three year absence, and a new label, Del Amitri's next album Waking Hours revealed a much different sound. Gone was the wicked Cockney voice, replaced by a more smoke strained and laid back vocal from Currie as he had a hit with Kiss This Thing Goodbye, in a way, the left field song with banjo sounded out of place with the hair metal craze of 1989 and while Hugh Jones still was on as producer, the band was more stripped down and to the point. You wouldn't know they were from Scotland. Their type of rock was more straight ahead (Stone Cold Sober) but the ballads like Nothing Ever Happens or Move Away Jimmy Blue, was more of The Band rather then U2. Although you don't hear much from this record, it was just as important as say U2's Rattle And Hum, just not as pretentious.
But every album that the Dels did do, Currie would find enough hooks and melody to come up with an hit single. The Last To Know from Change Everything is one, and the throwaway Roll To Me, (the mix from Twisted sounded like Currie thought of it on the spot and Al Clay the producer recorded it that way) turned out to be their biggest hit, since it continues to be heard on soft rock and classic rock radio for that matter. And later, Not Where It's At another mainstay of the radio. Currie could compose it and Iain Harvie could think up a nice guitar riff and melody, but the strange thing about this was that they could have that big hit single on these albums but the rest of the songs would not be as attention grabbing. All of their albums really do have moments although while critics lambasted Twisted, I thought it worked quite nicely as the Dels went for a harder rocking sound. Change Everything might get a slight nod over Waking Hours as best overall album for the A&M years, but to me, Twisted is their "twisted' classic, to which the madness of Justin Currie comes into full fury glory, Bring Somebody Else they channeled their inner Crazy Horse among the ballads. On original hearing Change Everything took a few listens to get used to, Gil Norton's production might be too polished but no doubt the songs do stand out from Be My Downfall, to the blues rock of Just Like A Man up to the Rolling Stones riff of The Ones That You Love Lead You Nowhere bleeding into the cowbell 123 of The Last To Know and even to the finale Sometimes I Just Have To Say Your Name. Which, in the end is their best studio album.
A long layoff after the failure of Twisted making a disappointing showing on the charts, the Dels came back with a whole new lineup, only Currie, Harvie and Andy Alston remained from the previous album and Some Other Sucker's Parade tried to return back to the glory days of Change Everything, while the title track and Not Where It's At managed to hit the radio, the rest of the album was a hit and miss, Mark Freegard's production wasn't a very good fit, and David Bianco's mix job was even worse. A&M wasn't exactly promoting it either, they were in the process of being brought out by Universal and Universal really showed a lack of caring. But even if it's their lesser of the US A&M albums (2002's Can You Do Me Good never saw a US release) there are still some decent songs that could have been better had they been recorded better (Medicine). Sensing a end to things, Universal put together Hatful Of Rain, a 17 song best of which gives us the best songs and two new songs, one is the crappy Cry To Be Found, a very bad attempt for radio airplay but failed miserably, the other Don't Come Home Too Soon a much better song which was adopted by the Scotland soccer team in their world cup appearance. Justin Currie would later follow that the the outtakes Lousy With Love (B Sides compilation) soon afterward. A&M would then edit Hatful Of Rain with the uneven 20th Century Masters Collection. Hatful Of Rain, The Best Of The Dels is a uneven mess but perhaps the best overview of what they could do, and makes a valid point that they were a good singles band, but the inclusion of Here And Now and Cry To Be Found drags this down a bit. But if you find it for under two dollars its worth a listen or two.
After Can You Do Me Good, Justin Currie pretty much retired the band and has gone solo, most of the albums worth a listen but without Iain Harvie kinda lacks the spirit and focus of the Dels. That said, in the late 80s and early 90s Del Amitri was the alternative to hair metal, although Justin Currie's sense of humor might have labeled him a punk rocker in a pop aritst's skin. They might have missed the boat in New Wave in 1985 but in 1989, they found their mark in Scottish rock and pop. And for their effort, got a radio classic with Roll To Me as well.
Albums:
Del Amitri (Chrysalis 1985) B+
Waking Hours (A&M 1989) B+
Change Everything (A&M 1992) A-
Twisted (A&M 1995) A-
Swimming With Your Boots On-Live Dels (Oxygen Import) B+
Some Other Suckers' Parade (A&M 1997) B+
Hatful Of Rain-The Best Of Del Amitri (A&M 1998) B+
B Sides-Lousy With Love (A&M Import 1998) NR
20th Century Masters (A&M 2002) B
Can You Do Me Good (A&M 2002) NR
Sunday, October 4, 2015
The Rockets
Consider this. The late 70s are not looked upon fondly as it once was. While classic rock radio tends to favor AC DC or Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin to satisfy the advertisers, plenty of other bands were a part of the rise of album rock. But in the late 70s there are bands that you never hear anymore. Prism comes to mind, the Canadian rockers who made about five albums for Capitol, which would be unheard of in this day and age. Duke Jupiter who bounced between Mercury, Coast To Coast and Motown, Nantacket, who made three albums for Epic and one for RCA. All pretty much gone from the radio, on only remains on the minds of serious collectors looking for something other than Back In Black.
The Rockets, started out years ago as part of Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels, basically Jim McCarthy and Johnny Bee, one of the best unknown drummers ever. His beats on Jenny Take A Ride and the obscure Turn On Your Lovelight sounds like a freight train running down the track. Later, Johnny Bee Bandzerak and McCarthy would reunite with Mitch Ryder for Detroit, the 1971 album for Paramount that featured a wild version of Rock And Roll. MCA reissued that album on CD in the late 80s. McCarthy also worked in Cactus, the offshoot of Vanilla Fudge with the late Rusty Day (Amboy Dukes) doing lead vocals but their hardline boogie has not aged very well.
The Rockets (no relation to the band that would become Crazy Horse and made one album for White Whale) is more straight line boogie rock related than the bombast of Cactus and finally came together around 1976 to create an album called Love Transfusion for Tortoise International/RCA records and produced by Don Davis (Robin Trower, Motown). With Johnny Bee and Jim McCarthy being the main focus and songwriters (Johnny Bee was also lead vocalist for a while) they ended up getting Dave Gilbert as vocalist. Gilbert, had that Midwestern growl of a vocal that gave The Rockets a distinct sound. Picking up Donnie Dackus as keyboardist this is considered the classic lineup although various bass players would come and go. Another key member would be Dennis Robbins to give a twin guitar attack. Moving over to RSO they recorded Turn Up The Radio which would give them their biggest hit with a cover of Peter Green's Oh Well. Ably produced by Johnny Sandlin (Allman Brothers, Elvin Bishop) it's a good place to start if you want to hear what The Rockets were all about, music to dance to. The followup album No Ballads was somewhat lesser, there were some cool songs (Desire, Takin It Back) and a cover of Sally Can't Dance and like the title says there was no ballads unlike the one off Turn Up The Radio (Lost Forever Left For Dreaming).
While it's considered that Turn Up The Radio is their bona fide classic, I like the two albums that they did for Elektra, Back Talk and Rocket Roll. Certainly Back Talk was a rebound from No Ballads, with the Title track and Can't Get Satisfied and even Johnny Bee takes a vocal on a couple numbers. Better production came from Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, Graham Parker) on Back Talk. Dennis Robbins would leave for a up and down career in country music, having a solo album for MCA in 1986 and co writing songs with a up and coming guitarist by the name of Warren Haynes, then Robbins recorded with Billy Hill for an album for Reprise before doing three albums for Giant Records. Despite the oddball recording Glen Kolotin did on Rocket Roll, that record remains my favorite Rockets album. The Detroit rock boogie is in full force on songs like Rock And Roll Girl and Rolling By The Record Machine. Somehow the record flopped, Elektra didn't pay much attention to the band and The Rockets would find themselves on Capitol for their final effort Live Rockets which had a minor hit with Open The Door To Your Heart. Then the band broke up, and Dave Gilbert eventually would die in 1999 after years of heavy drinking from liver cancer. http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/rocket-to-the-crypt/Content?oid=2174215
Eventually, Johnny Bee and McCarthy decided to reform The Rockets with a new vocalist Jim Edwards but McCarty decided to return to Cactus and after a 4 song EP this decade, The Rockets have been silent once again.
In some ways The Rockets could have been a bit better known, perhaps fate didn't do them favors by bypassing Bruce Springsteen's Fire for a potential hit single and countless fights did split the band up. But between the grooves The Rockets did provide some classic Detroit rock and roll, to next to Bob Seger The Rockets were very good at what they did. With the exception of Love Transfusion, the RSO and Elektra albums have been issued as 2 on 1 CD, although the Renaissance reissue suffers from a harsh midrange remaster. Still, they should have done better and unfortunately the ongoing fights splintered the band up. Still when they were on their music, they were just as good as anybody else and even if David Gilbert had major demons with drink and drugs, he was a damn good vocalist. But the world won't know their music outside of Oh Well. This is where you the music collector comes in and seeks out their back catalog.
The Albums:
Love Transfusion (Tortoise 1977) B+
The Rockets: Turn Up The Radio (RSO 1979) B+
No Ballads (RSO 1980) B-
Back Talk (Elektra 1981) B
Rocket Roll (Elektra 1982) A-
Live Rockets (Capitol 1983) B-
Reissues:
The Rockets/No Ballads (Renaissance 2009) B+
Back Talk/Rocket Roll (Wounded Bird 2005) A-
The Rockets, started out years ago as part of Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels, basically Jim McCarthy and Johnny Bee, one of the best unknown drummers ever. His beats on Jenny Take A Ride and the obscure Turn On Your Lovelight sounds like a freight train running down the track. Later, Johnny Bee Bandzerak and McCarthy would reunite with Mitch Ryder for Detroit, the 1971 album for Paramount that featured a wild version of Rock And Roll. MCA reissued that album on CD in the late 80s. McCarthy also worked in Cactus, the offshoot of Vanilla Fudge with the late Rusty Day (Amboy Dukes) doing lead vocals but their hardline boogie has not aged very well.
The Rockets (no relation to the band that would become Crazy Horse and made one album for White Whale) is more straight line boogie rock related than the bombast of Cactus and finally came together around 1976 to create an album called Love Transfusion for Tortoise International/RCA records and produced by Don Davis (Robin Trower, Motown). With Johnny Bee and Jim McCarthy being the main focus and songwriters (Johnny Bee was also lead vocalist for a while) they ended up getting Dave Gilbert as vocalist. Gilbert, had that Midwestern growl of a vocal that gave The Rockets a distinct sound. Picking up Donnie Dackus as keyboardist this is considered the classic lineup although various bass players would come and go. Another key member would be Dennis Robbins to give a twin guitar attack. Moving over to RSO they recorded Turn Up The Radio which would give them their biggest hit with a cover of Peter Green's Oh Well. Ably produced by Johnny Sandlin (Allman Brothers, Elvin Bishop) it's a good place to start if you want to hear what The Rockets were all about, music to dance to. The followup album No Ballads was somewhat lesser, there were some cool songs (Desire, Takin It Back) and a cover of Sally Can't Dance and like the title says there was no ballads unlike the one off Turn Up The Radio (Lost Forever Left For Dreaming).
While it's considered that Turn Up The Radio is their bona fide classic, I like the two albums that they did for Elektra, Back Talk and Rocket Roll. Certainly Back Talk was a rebound from No Ballads, with the Title track and Can't Get Satisfied and even Johnny Bee takes a vocal on a couple numbers. Better production came from Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, Graham Parker) on Back Talk. Dennis Robbins would leave for a up and down career in country music, having a solo album for MCA in 1986 and co writing songs with a up and coming guitarist by the name of Warren Haynes, then Robbins recorded with Billy Hill for an album for Reprise before doing three albums for Giant Records. Despite the oddball recording Glen Kolotin did on Rocket Roll, that record remains my favorite Rockets album. The Detroit rock boogie is in full force on songs like Rock And Roll Girl and Rolling By The Record Machine. Somehow the record flopped, Elektra didn't pay much attention to the band and The Rockets would find themselves on Capitol for their final effort Live Rockets which had a minor hit with Open The Door To Your Heart. Then the band broke up, and Dave Gilbert eventually would die in 1999 after years of heavy drinking from liver cancer. http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/rocket-to-the-crypt/Content?oid=2174215
Eventually, Johnny Bee and McCarthy decided to reform The Rockets with a new vocalist Jim Edwards but McCarty decided to return to Cactus and after a 4 song EP this decade, The Rockets have been silent once again.
In some ways The Rockets could have been a bit better known, perhaps fate didn't do them favors by bypassing Bruce Springsteen's Fire for a potential hit single and countless fights did split the band up. But between the grooves The Rockets did provide some classic Detroit rock and roll, to next to Bob Seger The Rockets were very good at what they did. With the exception of Love Transfusion, the RSO and Elektra albums have been issued as 2 on 1 CD, although the Renaissance reissue suffers from a harsh midrange remaster. Still, they should have done better and unfortunately the ongoing fights splintered the band up. Still when they were on their music, they were just as good as anybody else and even if David Gilbert had major demons with drink and drugs, he was a damn good vocalist. But the world won't know their music outside of Oh Well. This is where you the music collector comes in and seeks out their back catalog.
The Albums:
Love Transfusion (Tortoise 1977) B+
The Rockets: Turn Up The Radio (RSO 1979) B+
No Ballads (RSO 1980) B-
Back Talk (Elektra 1981) B
Rocket Roll (Elektra 1982) A-
Live Rockets (Capitol 1983) B-
Reissues:
The Rockets/No Ballads (Renaissance 2009) B+
Back Talk/Rocket Roll (Wounded Bird 2005) A-
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Curve, Lush And The Shoegazer Music Boom of 1991-1992
I might be in the minority but I always liked shoegazer music, which really was alternative music back in the early 1990s. Terms of feedback guitars, straight ahead beats and words that nobody could make out what they were saying. My Bloody Valentine might be considered the best of the shoegazers but that is debatable. Jesus And Mary Chain could be considered the pioneers of shoegazer music but that's also terms of discussion. Even The Stone Roses are considered shoegazers although they're more Brit Pop than MBV.
In the scope of shoegazer, Ride to me offered the best of this type of music. While critics call Nowhere their best album, Going Blank Again is their classic to these ears. The continuing swirl of sounds on Leave Them All Behind is the best indication that you could get lost in the noise. Still, it seems that Ride got tired of this sound and tried to venture out into different directions with Carnival Of Light before ending their career as purveyors of guitar rock on the forgotten Tarantula and broke up, Andy Bell moving on to Hurricane #1 before joining Oasis. The longest lasting of these bands, The Charlatans UK started as Madchester beats, which is part of Shoegazer music and their first two albums Some Friendly and Between 10th And 11th were part of the original alternative radio before Corporations like Clear Channel turned that into Modern Rock but even they got tired of Shoegazer and with Steve Hillage producing changed course with Up To Our Hips and eventually The Charlatans became the modern Rolling Stones, the highlight Tellin Stories before losing their keyboard player in a auto accident and their drummer in 2013 from cancer. The lesser known The Darkside made two shoegazer albums that borderline more on psychedelia of the 60s rather than the Madchester sounds of The Charlatans UK. All That Noise, shows The Darkside's fondness of The Velvet Underground. The Seeds and The Charlatans (US Version that is), but perhaps their shining moment was the 9:52 song Rise from their final album Melomania. Out of all the shoegazer bands The Darkside were the most trippiest. Fellow labelmates The Dylans may have bit more straight ahead rock and roll, like The Stone Roses, their best moment was the dreamy Godlike from their first album. And like the Stone Roses, The Dylans couldn't build upon their first album, Spirit Finger finding them spinning their wheels and poor sales and indifference and the band was no more.
Which leaves us with the Inspiral Carpets, a band best known with a organ sound similar to The Doors. They started out pretty good with the almost hour long Life, but each album was less and less interesting. Picking up their best of is the better buy, like The Doors The Carpets could get very wordy and lose focus, which makes getting The Very Best Of Inspiral Carpets the best deal, but I'll stand by Life as probably the only Inspiral Carpets album you would ever want to own.
Perhaps the best shoegazer bands were the ones lead by women. Although fans and critics have spoken highly of Slowdive, I wasn't impressed with the album that I heard, they reminded me of a noisy Cowboy Junkies. Lush on the other hand started out as a shoegazer type of band. Led by Miki Berneyi's breathy vocals and the songwriting and backing singing of Emma Anderson, their debut album Spooky and the EP collecting Gala are perfect examples of shoegazer dream pop. They recorded for 4AD, one of the top alternative labels out there in the early 90s, home to The Pixies and Breeders as well. It also helped that Robin Guthrie (Choctaw Twins) produced Spooky. But unlike the Dylans, Lush followed Ride's trail and started making albums not so much shoe gazer but more alternative rock, with mixed results. Split, like Ride's Carnival Of Light is Lush trying to find a new sound that will fit them better but not quite getting there yet. Their final 1996 effort Lovelife, they went for a sound that was somewhat like Elastica, getting minor hits like Ladykillers and a duet with Pulp's Jarvis Crocker on Ciao. a disjointed version of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra for the 90s. The record was probably their best seller but drummer Chris Acland's suicide ended Lush once and for all. Their best of Ciao! captures most of their highlights.
Certainly the nosiest has to be Curve, who existed right in the middle of the shoegazer craze of 1991 and 1992 and perhaps the most related to My Bloody Valentine and Jesus And Mary Chain of noise music. They made three albums for Charisma/Anxious, Doppelganger, Pubic Fruit and Cuckoo. Led by Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia, they were produced by Flood and Alan Moulder, Moulder would greatly in the mixing of albums from Ride, if anybody gave Shoe Gazer music its sound, that would be Moulder. Doppelganger takes a while getting going but toward the end of the album the angry guitars and looping drum tracks take hold on Wish You Were Dead and Fait Accompli, the latter track would be expanded and added on, as well as three EPs that comprised Pubic Fruit, to which like Gala from Lush, composes Curve to be a very noisy dance shoe gazer band. Cuckoo, as uneven as it is, still is remarkable, the title track one of their best overall songs. Curve would later break up and then reunite through the years although I have not heard anything outside of Cuckoo. Kevin Sheilds of MBV fame did play on their 2002 album. Overall fact remains that while Curve may have been a noise band and their sound did base an influence on the more popular US band Garbage in the mid 90s that underneath the noisy guitar and blurred singing from Halliday, Curve, like Lush was a very good pop band.
By all accounts Shoe Gazer pretty much fell apart around 1992 when Nirvana and grunge took over the alternative airwaves although some bands did try to keep that sound going. Blind Mr. Jones put out Stereo Musicale on Cherry Red (Herb Cohen's Bizarre/Straight issued it two years later). Blur started out as dance shoe gazer with Leisure but then Damon Albarn and company started writing Kinks influenced songs before changing gears with the Pavement tribute S/T album of 1998. And Catherine Wheel Frement album for Fontana is their most hypnotic album, with their classic Black Metallic, before they abandoned Shoe Gazer with a more mainstream modern rock album of Happy Days. Ocean Colour Scene, late to the party, their 1992 S/T album probably the final noteworthy of the shoe gazer music as we knew it back then, before they went with a more soulful direction. I'm sure I'm missing a few bands from all of this but these were the most noteworthy of bands. But in any case The Shoe Gazer Music was perhaps the final music genre that I gave much thought about. Alternative Music today is nowhere near as varied as it was back in the early 90s. But in any case, you really didn't need much thought into playing this music. Just hit the play button start the beat and let the music take you where it leads.
In the scope of shoegazer, Ride to me offered the best of this type of music. While critics call Nowhere their best album, Going Blank Again is their classic to these ears. The continuing swirl of sounds on Leave Them All Behind is the best indication that you could get lost in the noise. Still, it seems that Ride got tired of this sound and tried to venture out into different directions with Carnival Of Light before ending their career as purveyors of guitar rock on the forgotten Tarantula and broke up, Andy Bell moving on to Hurricane #1 before joining Oasis. The longest lasting of these bands, The Charlatans UK started as Madchester beats, which is part of Shoegazer music and their first two albums Some Friendly and Between 10th And 11th were part of the original alternative radio before Corporations like Clear Channel turned that into Modern Rock but even they got tired of Shoegazer and with Steve Hillage producing changed course with Up To Our Hips and eventually The Charlatans became the modern Rolling Stones, the highlight Tellin Stories before losing their keyboard player in a auto accident and their drummer in 2013 from cancer. The lesser known The Darkside made two shoegazer albums that borderline more on psychedelia of the 60s rather than the Madchester sounds of The Charlatans UK. All That Noise, shows The Darkside's fondness of The Velvet Underground. The Seeds and The Charlatans (US Version that is), but perhaps their shining moment was the 9:52 song Rise from their final album Melomania. Out of all the shoegazer bands The Darkside were the most trippiest. Fellow labelmates The Dylans may have bit more straight ahead rock and roll, like The Stone Roses, their best moment was the dreamy Godlike from their first album. And like the Stone Roses, The Dylans couldn't build upon their first album, Spirit Finger finding them spinning their wheels and poor sales and indifference and the band was no more.
Which leaves us with the Inspiral Carpets, a band best known with a organ sound similar to The Doors. They started out pretty good with the almost hour long Life, but each album was less and less interesting. Picking up their best of is the better buy, like The Doors The Carpets could get very wordy and lose focus, which makes getting The Very Best Of Inspiral Carpets the best deal, but I'll stand by Life as probably the only Inspiral Carpets album you would ever want to own.
Perhaps the best shoegazer bands were the ones lead by women. Although fans and critics have spoken highly of Slowdive, I wasn't impressed with the album that I heard, they reminded me of a noisy Cowboy Junkies. Lush on the other hand started out as a shoegazer type of band. Led by Miki Berneyi's breathy vocals and the songwriting and backing singing of Emma Anderson, their debut album Spooky and the EP collecting Gala are perfect examples of shoegazer dream pop. They recorded for 4AD, one of the top alternative labels out there in the early 90s, home to The Pixies and Breeders as well. It also helped that Robin Guthrie (Choctaw Twins) produced Spooky. But unlike the Dylans, Lush followed Ride's trail and started making albums not so much shoe gazer but more alternative rock, with mixed results. Split, like Ride's Carnival Of Light is Lush trying to find a new sound that will fit them better but not quite getting there yet. Their final 1996 effort Lovelife, they went for a sound that was somewhat like Elastica, getting minor hits like Ladykillers and a duet with Pulp's Jarvis Crocker on Ciao. a disjointed version of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra for the 90s. The record was probably their best seller but drummer Chris Acland's suicide ended Lush once and for all. Their best of Ciao! captures most of their highlights.
Certainly the nosiest has to be Curve, who existed right in the middle of the shoegazer craze of 1991 and 1992 and perhaps the most related to My Bloody Valentine and Jesus And Mary Chain of noise music. They made three albums for Charisma/Anxious, Doppelganger, Pubic Fruit and Cuckoo. Led by Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia, they were produced by Flood and Alan Moulder, Moulder would greatly in the mixing of albums from Ride, if anybody gave Shoe Gazer music its sound, that would be Moulder. Doppelganger takes a while getting going but toward the end of the album the angry guitars and looping drum tracks take hold on Wish You Were Dead and Fait Accompli, the latter track would be expanded and added on, as well as three EPs that comprised Pubic Fruit, to which like Gala from Lush, composes Curve to be a very noisy dance shoe gazer band. Cuckoo, as uneven as it is, still is remarkable, the title track one of their best overall songs. Curve would later break up and then reunite through the years although I have not heard anything outside of Cuckoo. Kevin Sheilds of MBV fame did play on their 2002 album. Overall fact remains that while Curve may have been a noise band and their sound did base an influence on the more popular US band Garbage in the mid 90s that underneath the noisy guitar and blurred singing from Halliday, Curve, like Lush was a very good pop band.
By all accounts Shoe Gazer pretty much fell apart around 1992 when Nirvana and grunge took over the alternative airwaves although some bands did try to keep that sound going. Blind Mr. Jones put out Stereo Musicale on Cherry Red (Herb Cohen's Bizarre/Straight issued it two years later). Blur started out as dance shoe gazer with Leisure but then Damon Albarn and company started writing Kinks influenced songs before changing gears with the Pavement tribute S/T album of 1998. And Catherine Wheel Frement album for Fontana is their most hypnotic album, with their classic Black Metallic, before they abandoned Shoe Gazer with a more mainstream modern rock album of Happy Days. Ocean Colour Scene, late to the party, their 1992 S/T album probably the final noteworthy of the shoe gazer music as we knew it back then, before they went with a more soulful direction. I'm sure I'm missing a few bands from all of this but these were the most noteworthy of bands. But in any case The Shoe Gazer Music was perhaps the final music genre that I gave much thought about. Alternative Music today is nowhere near as varied as it was back in the early 90s. But in any case, you really didn't need much thought into playing this music. Just hit the play button start the beat and let the music take you where it leads.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Alison Moorer-Down To Believing
Perhaps the bigger story of this year was not of the new Steve Earle Terra-plane album which had the Earlster putting out a blues album but rather his new ex wife's album Down To Believing which came after she filed for divorce after 7 years of being with him. In some ways it's not a answer record in the matter of Richard And Linda Thompson's 1982 farewell Shoot Out The Lights. Moorer's is more subduded and not as venomous. She can rock out like Miranda Lambert on lead off track Like It Used To Be, to which Moorer sangs Don't want to say goodbye but it will set me free. I think the key track is the 2 and half minute next song Thunderstorm/Hurricane which probably a more read between the lines of washing herself away from the strains of her marriage.
Overall, Moorer has recorded off and on for various labels of varying degree. Like Shelby Lynne, it's hard to pin Moorer as a straight country act or Americana one. She employs the usual Nashville session folk on this record (Kenny Greenburg who produces, Fred Effingham, Chad Cromwell, Dan Dugmore, Michael Rhodes all play on this record, Ray Kennedy and Justin Niebank record and mix parts of this album as well). Unlike her previous albums, Down To Believing is a bit more darker as Moorer, who has stayed very silent talking about her breakup in the press, chooses to express them in the songs at hand (Tear Me Apart, Blood, I Wish). While the songs are fairly good, the Nashville Session hires don't exactly bring the anger into music, it's rather more passive then aggressive. Her cover of CCR's Have You Ever Seen The Rain is like the original, note for note and not that all bad. It does pick up better towards the end with perhaps the best song is I'm Doing Fine, to which throughout it all, she's getting on her life as best as she could be. Second best song is probably Gonna Get It Wrong, which could describe our lives as well; as much as we all try to do our best, we all going to get it wrong somehow.
Certainly Down To Believing might be Alison's most emotional album to date although the jury is still out if it's her best overall (Alabama Song is considered her best). But while her ex continues to play live and host his own XM radio show and still remains the ultimate outlaw singer songwriter, Down To Believing is Moorer's answer to it all, while she continues to live her life and bring her autistic son up in the world and make a new album that won't get noticed in the country world, this record has more brains than the average Luke Bryan song. And I give it an extra point for being raw and emotionally honest. She's keeping quiet on the social media set but the words and music on Down To Believing indicates she's speaking her mind.
Grade B+
Overall, Moorer has recorded off and on for various labels of varying degree. Like Shelby Lynne, it's hard to pin Moorer as a straight country act or Americana one. She employs the usual Nashville session folk on this record (Kenny Greenburg who produces, Fred Effingham, Chad Cromwell, Dan Dugmore, Michael Rhodes all play on this record, Ray Kennedy and Justin Niebank record and mix parts of this album as well). Unlike her previous albums, Down To Believing is a bit more darker as Moorer, who has stayed very silent talking about her breakup in the press, chooses to express them in the songs at hand (Tear Me Apart, Blood, I Wish). While the songs are fairly good, the Nashville Session hires don't exactly bring the anger into music, it's rather more passive then aggressive. Her cover of CCR's Have You Ever Seen The Rain is like the original, note for note and not that all bad. It does pick up better towards the end with perhaps the best song is I'm Doing Fine, to which throughout it all, she's getting on her life as best as she could be. Second best song is probably Gonna Get It Wrong, which could describe our lives as well; as much as we all try to do our best, we all going to get it wrong somehow.
Certainly Down To Believing might be Alison's most emotional album to date although the jury is still out if it's her best overall (Alabama Song is considered her best). But while her ex continues to play live and host his own XM radio show and still remains the ultimate outlaw singer songwriter, Down To Believing is Moorer's answer to it all, while she continues to live her life and bring her autistic son up in the world and make a new album that won't get noticed in the country world, this record has more brains than the average Luke Bryan song. And I give it an extra point for being raw and emotionally honest. She's keeping quiet on the social media set but the words and music on Down To Believing indicates she's speaking her mind.
Grade B+
Friday, June 5, 2015
Dillard & Clark
While critics and historians tend to think that Gram Parsons was the new visionary of the new country rock, Dillard And Clark are just as important to the legacy of the new and exciting world of Country Rock or Americana. Of course 1968 was a new year. A year earlier, Parsons and the International Submarine Band recorded Safe At Home on Lee Hazelwood's LHI label before joining The Byrds for the more well known Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Gene Clark, was once a part of that band, giving them a classic with I Feel A Whole Lot Better and a few others, Doug Dillard played in a band called The Dillards but he joined forces with Clark on Gene's first solo album with The Gosdin Brothers, which has remained in print off and on, most notably on Echoes, an album that Columbia put out in 1991 that had selected Clark tracks and the complete Gosdin Brothers output. Anyway, Dillard and Clark decided to record together and A&M picked them up.
Although The Flying Burrito Brothers got better treatment from their label, Dillard And Clark put out two albums. The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard And Clark and Through The Morning, Through The Night, the latter album I managed to find used at a Goodwill store. The Fantastic Expedition, if you compare it to the Burritos or The Byrds is much more bluegrass than either band and features Bernie Leadon as a very important player in the band, helping out to write the songs and give it a more country bluegrass flavor. Clark wrote most of the songs except for a cover of Lester Flatt's Git On It Brother (Git In Line Brother), a nice gospel bluegrass number. Leadon helps co write 6 of the songs and Dillard 3. The Eagles would cover Train Leaves Here In The Morning. If nothing else, Leadon's presence on the first three Eagles album could be considered an extension of what he was trying to accomplished with Dillard and Clark, with him joining Eagles, they were more country rock before Don Henley and Glenn Frey decided to go more of a harder rocking direction. The Fantastic Expedition is very hard to find album but one should pick it up since it's heart is in the right place, just like Sweetheart Of The Rodeo or Safe At Home.
While Doug Dillard was an outstanding banjoist in his own right, he didn't write very many songs, but rather be comfortable covering a Reno And Smiley song (No Longer A Sweetheart Of Mine), Everly Brothers (So Sad) or the famous Rocky Top (Donna Washburn, later a cookbook expert on the internet sang that song and backup on Through The Morning, Through The Night). Which left Gene Clark being the main songwriter and he came through with a few great songs, the title track, Polly, and Kansas City Southern. But the second album showed more of a slant toward electric music rather than the goodtimey Fantastic Expedition. A trade of drummers, Mike Clarke went to the Burrito Brothers, Jon Corneal replaced him. Dillard moved on after the recording, A&M tossed out Don't Let Me Down as a promo 45, it didn't sell. Despite a bizarre number (Corner Street Bar) Through The Morning, Night still holds up. Like the first album, that too was a failure and Dillard And Clark were no more, Clark moving on to a cult solo career and briefly rejoining Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn for the short lived Hillman, McGuinn Clark band in the late 70s. Doug Dillard continued on a solo artist till he passed away in May 2012 at the age of 75. Second only to Earl Scruggs as one of best banjo players ever.
BGO managed to put together both albums and three songs that only made it to 45 for a two on 1 CD that is basically the Complete Dillard And Clark Output. Why Not Your Baby was later covered by Velvet Crush, and yes it was another failed single. Strange to hear the Strings come out of nowhere and drown out the band on the instrumental middle and fade out of the song. It would have been a better fit on the second album rather than the first. Rather than adding the songs between albums, they tacked them on at the end. Still it's nice to have that song in any context.
In the end, while Dillard And Clark's albums never did much for chart showing, it's clear that they do hold their own against the Gram Parsons and The Byrds output. Perhaps it may have been too bluegrass for the country rock fandom but they no less essential than Sweetheart Of The Rodeo or Gilded Palace Of Sin. Even the clerk at the bookstore had no idea who they were and when I showed them the CD to buy, he asked me if these guys were from England and who were they? I answered it's Gene Clark of The Byrds and Douglas Dillard of The Dillards joining up.
Somebody needs to brush up on their music history.
Grades:
The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard And Clark (A&M 1968) (Reissued via Water 2008) A
Through The Morning, Through The Night (A&M 1969) B+
The Complete Dillard And Clark A&M Years (BGO 2011) A-
Later revision.
Sundazed Records issued Fantastic Expedition on vinyl in 2011, but the second album has not (judging from what I have seen from Amazon). BTW, I bought the Through The Morning, Through The Night album at Half Priced Bookstore......for a dollar.
45's
Train Leaves Here In The Morning/Out On The Side (A&M 995)
Why Not Your Baby/Lyin' Down The Middle (A&M 1087) (reissued as a Sundazed 45)
Don't Let Me Down/Rocky Top (A&M 1165)
Although The Flying Burrito Brothers got better treatment from their label, Dillard And Clark put out two albums. The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard And Clark and Through The Morning, Through The Night, the latter album I managed to find used at a Goodwill store. The Fantastic Expedition, if you compare it to the Burritos or The Byrds is much more bluegrass than either band and features Bernie Leadon as a very important player in the band, helping out to write the songs and give it a more country bluegrass flavor. Clark wrote most of the songs except for a cover of Lester Flatt's Git On It Brother (Git In Line Brother), a nice gospel bluegrass number. Leadon helps co write 6 of the songs and Dillard 3. The Eagles would cover Train Leaves Here In The Morning. If nothing else, Leadon's presence on the first three Eagles album could be considered an extension of what he was trying to accomplished with Dillard and Clark, with him joining Eagles, they were more country rock before Don Henley and Glenn Frey decided to go more of a harder rocking direction. The Fantastic Expedition is very hard to find album but one should pick it up since it's heart is in the right place, just like Sweetheart Of The Rodeo or Safe At Home.
While Doug Dillard was an outstanding banjoist in his own right, he didn't write very many songs, but rather be comfortable covering a Reno And Smiley song (No Longer A Sweetheart Of Mine), Everly Brothers (So Sad) or the famous Rocky Top (Donna Washburn, later a cookbook expert on the internet sang that song and backup on Through The Morning, Through The Night). Which left Gene Clark being the main songwriter and he came through with a few great songs, the title track, Polly, and Kansas City Southern. But the second album showed more of a slant toward electric music rather than the goodtimey Fantastic Expedition. A trade of drummers, Mike Clarke went to the Burrito Brothers, Jon Corneal replaced him. Dillard moved on after the recording, A&M tossed out Don't Let Me Down as a promo 45, it didn't sell. Despite a bizarre number (Corner Street Bar) Through The Morning, Night still holds up. Like the first album, that too was a failure and Dillard And Clark were no more, Clark moving on to a cult solo career and briefly rejoining Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn for the short lived Hillman, McGuinn Clark band in the late 70s. Doug Dillard continued on a solo artist till he passed away in May 2012 at the age of 75. Second only to Earl Scruggs as one of best banjo players ever.
BGO managed to put together both albums and three songs that only made it to 45 for a two on 1 CD that is basically the Complete Dillard And Clark Output. Why Not Your Baby was later covered by Velvet Crush, and yes it was another failed single. Strange to hear the Strings come out of nowhere and drown out the band on the instrumental middle and fade out of the song. It would have been a better fit on the second album rather than the first. Rather than adding the songs between albums, they tacked them on at the end. Still it's nice to have that song in any context.
In the end, while Dillard And Clark's albums never did much for chart showing, it's clear that they do hold their own against the Gram Parsons and The Byrds output. Perhaps it may have been too bluegrass for the country rock fandom but they no less essential than Sweetheart Of The Rodeo or Gilded Palace Of Sin. Even the clerk at the bookstore had no idea who they were and when I showed them the CD to buy, he asked me if these guys were from England and who were they? I answered it's Gene Clark of The Byrds and Douglas Dillard of The Dillards joining up.
Somebody needs to brush up on their music history.
Grades:
The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard And Clark (A&M 1968) (Reissued via Water 2008) A
Through The Morning, Through The Night (A&M 1969) B+
The Complete Dillard And Clark A&M Years (BGO 2011) A-
Later revision.
Sundazed Records issued Fantastic Expedition on vinyl in 2011, but the second album has not (judging from what I have seen from Amazon). BTW, I bought the Through The Morning, Through The Night album at Half Priced Bookstore......for a dollar.
45's
Train Leaves Here In The Morning/Out On The Side (A&M 995)
Why Not Your Baby/Lyin' Down The Middle (A&M 1087) (reissued as a Sundazed 45)
Don't Let Me Down/Rocky Top (A&M 1165)
Monday, June 1, 2015
Review: O.C.Smith-Together
Something found for a dollar.
The late O.C.Smith was one of the better baritone vocals of the 60s and early 70s and best known for Little Green Apples but 8 years later, he found himself on Caribou/Epic Records in search of one last hit that would keep him going. Together turned out to be his final CBS effort.
For contemporary soul music of the late 70s, it's not bad. Jazz drummer John Guerin along with Max Bennett gives Smith some decent uptempo soul music with I Found The Secret and Wham Bam (Blue Collar Man) along with the ballads that O.C. was famous for. While the title track didn't chart in the states, it managed to hit number 32 on the British charts, not bad for a country that was more into punk rock than soul music. Even Joni Mitchell helped co write side 1 lead track Just Couldn't Help Myself. Empty Hearts does sound a bit like Larry Graham's One In A Million You. Like Brook Benton, Smith could phase a lyric and turn it into a romantic song such as Empty Hearts or Simple Life.
However in 1977, people were more interested in disco music rather than soft soul music and Together got lost in the shuffle and Together would be O.C.Smith's final album for CBS Records. It is a lost soul classic, professionally done by the session players (including Mike McDonald of the Doobie Brothers perhaps?, and David Foster). Smith would continue to record off and on before passing away in 2001 from a heart attack at age 65. While he'll be forever remembered for Little Green Apples, Together proves that he was more than a one hit wonder, still giving it his all despite public indifference and no record sales. Even the dollar copy was a Promotional copy.
I give it a B Plus.
Welcome Jaime Lee Fritze from A Sound Woman blogsite as our new follower. I try my best to promote blogs that promote music and records and all things music. While Record World is bit more all over the map, The Review Consortium remains 100 percent committed to music and bands of interest. For my readers please check out her site. http://asoundwoman.blogspot.com/
The late O.C.Smith was one of the better baritone vocals of the 60s and early 70s and best known for Little Green Apples but 8 years later, he found himself on Caribou/Epic Records in search of one last hit that would keep him going. Together turned out to be his final CBS effort.
For contemporary soul music of the late 70s, it's not bad. Jazz drummer John Guerin along with Max Bennett gives Smith some decent uptempo soul music with I Found The Secret and Wham Bam (Blue Collar Man) along with the ballads that O.C. was famous for. While the title track didn't chart in the states, it managed to hit number 32 on the British charts, not bad for a country that was more into punk rock than soul music. Even Joni Mitchell helped co write side 1 lead track Just Couldn't Help Myself. Empty Hearts does sound a bit like Larry Graham's One In A Million You. Like Brook Benton, Smith could phase a lyric and turn it into a romantic song such as Empty Hearts or Simple Life.
However in 1977, people were more interested in disco music rather than soft soul music and Together got lost in the shuffle and Together would be O.C.Smith's final album for CBS Records. It is a lost soul classic, professionally done by the session players (including Mike McDonald of the Doobie Brothers perhaps?, and David Foster). Smith would continue to record off and on before passing away in 2001 from a heart attack at age 65. While he'll be forever remembered for Little Green Apples, Together proves that he was more than a one hit wonder, still giving it his all despite public indifference and no record sales. Even the dollar copy was a Promotional copy.
I give it a B Plus.
Welcome Jaime Lee Fritze from A Sound Woman blogsite as our new follower. I try my best to promote blogs that promote music and records and all things music. While Record World is bit more all over the map, The Review Consortium remains 100 percent committed to music and bands of interest. For my readers please check out her site. http://asoundwoman.blogspot.com/
Saturday, May 9, 2015
The Pursuit Of Happiness
Power pop from Canada? You don't say eh?
Actually Moe Berg and the jolly ranchers known as The Pursuit Of Happiness had a great debut back in 1988 with Love Junk with tongue in cheek songs like I'm An Adult Now and Looking For Girls. Love Junk, produced by Todd Rundgren had them sound a lot like Utopia but with the female backing vocals of Kris Abbott and Leslie Stanwyck in tow, they compliment Moe Burg's world of sex and women. The 13 songs don't vary much from your standard three chords and a straight ahead beat, but each song had their own different arrangement. Nevertheless Love Junk remains their best.
One Sided Story, repeats the format and same producer and Burg continues to have his love sex blues with women. Beginning with Food, which sounds cliched and Two Girls In One an uninspired followup to Adult. Some of the songs are even more crass (Shave Your Legs), as Berg comes across as a creepy nerd rocker who won't take no for an answer in his world of trying to pick up women and One Sided Story might have been deemed worthless if it wasn't for songs like All I Want or the return to Love Junk sound of filler tracks like Runs In The Family or Forbidden Fruit. It's a better listen than the one and half star All Music guide rating but it is a Sophomore slump.
Nevertheless Chrysalis under new EMI ownership dropped TPOH and they found themselves on Mercury in 1993 with The Downward Road and perhaps their best known single Cigarette Dangles. By then Stanwyck left the band and Ed Stasium gave them a more metallic sound that contradicts the first two albums. A better album than One Sided Story but the one two punch of Dangels and Nobody But Me, the album falls a bit short of inspiration and has about four songs too many. Amazing how Stasium managed to get TPOH to sound like Living Colour on Nobody But Me. Mercury wasn't interested in promoting this band and dropped them soon afterwards.
The next two releases were Canadian only issues and I never heard Where's The Bone, but The Wonderful World Of TPOH was a lackluster effort, not much to recommend it outside She's The Devil, the Moody Blues type of segmenting one song into the next forces the listener to hear below average power pop about sex and girls that most bands would have worked themselves out of 8 years into their career. They never did break up, only releasing a song here and there up till a 2005 remake of When Doves Cry for a Canada best of. When We Ruled contains both the 1988 and the 1986 version of I'm An Adult Now. The Razor And Tie best of Sex And Food cherry picks cuts with live versions of Food and has a few b sides to offer (Let My People Go) but even that best of wasn't out very long. In terms of theory, When We Ruled is the best overview of this band, but for myself the first three albums are their legacy and shows the good and bad side of Moe Berg. But for Canada Power Pop, they were really pretty good when they got their act together.
Albums:
Love Junk (Chrysalis 1988) A-
One Sided Story (Chrysalis 1990) B-
The Downward Road (Mercury 1993) B+
Where's The Bone (Iron 1995) B
The Wonderful Of TSOH (Iron 1996) C
Sex And Food-The Best Of TPOH (Razor And Tie 2000) B+
When We Ruled (EMI Canada 2005) B+
Actually Moe Berg and the jolly ranchers known as The Pursuit Of Happiness had a great debut back in 1988 with Love Junk with tongue in cheek songs like I'm An Adult Now and Looking For Girls. Love Junk, produced by Todd Rundgren had them sound a lot like Utopia but with the female backing vocals of Kris Abbott and Leslie Stanwyck in tow, they compliment Moe Burg's world of sex and women. The 13 songs don't vary much from your standard three chords and a straight ahead beat, but each song had their own different arrangement. Nevertheless Love Junk remains their best.
One Sided Story, repeats the format and same producer and Burg continues to have his love sex blues with women. Beginning with Food, which sounds cliched and Two Girls In One an uninspired followup to Adult. Some of the songs are even more crass (Shave Your Legs), as Berg comes across as a creepy nerd rocker who won't take no for an answer in his world of trying to pick up women and One Sided Story might have been deemed worthless if it wasn't for songs like All I Want or the return to Love Junk sound of filler tracks like Runs In The Family or Forbidden Fruit. It's a better listen than the one and half star All Music guide rating but it is a Sophomore slump.
Nevertheless Chrysalis under new EMI ownership dropped TPOH and they found themselves on Mercury in 1993 with The Downward Road and perhaps their best known single Cigarette Dangles. By then Stanwyck left the band and Ed Stasium gave them a more metallic sound that contradicts the first two albums. A better album than One Sided Story but the one two punch of Dangels and Nobody But Me, the album falls a bit short of inspiration and has about four songs too many. Amazing how Stasium managed to get TPOH to sound like Living Colour on Nobody But Me. Mercury wasn't interested in promoting this band and dropped them soon afterwards.
The next two releases were Canadian only issues and I never heard Where's The Bone, but The Wonderful World Of TPOH was a lackluster effort, not much to recommend it outside She's The Devil, the Moody Blues type of segmenting one song into the next forces the listener to hear below average power pop about sex and girls that most bands would have worked themselves out of 8 years into their career. They never did break up, only releasing a song here and there up till a 2005 remake of When Doves Cry for a Canada best of. When We Ruled contains both the 1988 and the 1986 version of I'm An Adult Now. The Razor And Tie best of Sex And Food cherry picks cuts with live versions of Food and has a few b sides to offer (Let My People Go) but even that best of wasn't out very long. In terms of theory, When We Ruled is the best overview of this band, but for myself the first three albums are their legacy and shows the good and bad side of Moe Berg. But for Canada Power Pop, they were really pretty good when they got their act together.
Albums:
Love Junk (Chrysalis 1988) A-
One Sided Story (Chrysalis 1990) B-
The Downward Road (Mercury 1993) B+
Where's The Bone (Iron 1995) B
The Wonderful Of TSOH (Iron 1996) C
Sex And Food-The Best Of TPOH (Razor And Tie 2000) B+
When We Ruled (EMI Canada 2005) B+
Sunday, May 3, 2015
465 Views?
Imagine my surprise when I found out that last month was the best month ever for the review consortium with 458 views. Pretty damn good when I haven't posted much before putting up the Belly overview. Of course I have reasons to believe it was inflated and probably less than half spent time here reading the archives.
I really don't plan to post much in here, unless we get a repeat of last month's success. Then I might post something new or off the wall. For those who stopped by and read the post, thanks for reading. And be sure to check out the primary site Record World, where most of the action happens over there.
I really don't plan to post much in here, unless we get a repeat of last month's success. Then I might post something new or off the wall. For those who stopped by and read the post, thanks for reading. And be sure to check out the primary site Record World, where most of the action happens over there.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Belly
The problem of alternative rock of 20 years ago is that it has dated badly, even by Bro Job Country standards or autotuned robotic vocals. Let's investigate of a band that sold tons of CDs but most have been seen in dollar bins all across this fair land.
Best known for Feed The Tree, a nonsensical but hooky song, it basically captures Tanya Donnelly brilliantly. She started out in Throwing Muses and later The Breeders before striking out on her own with Belly. In the death-thrones of MTV video music before boring the fuck out of everybody with reality crap, Feed The Tree couldn't be escaped from 120 Minutes or when MTV played videos. As a whole Star was very uneven despite failed hits like Gepetto and Slow Dog. It is alternative rock but in the ears of mine, I prefer Lush a lot more.
The followup King, features Gail Greenwood on bass, Glyn Johns producer and a more rock and roll attitude although Donnelly continued to throw unlistenable stuff, but Super Connected was a pretty good song. King, the album didn't sell very well and in 1996 Donnelly retired the band.
You can basically find both albums for less than a dollar at thrift stores. Even Sweet Ride, The Best Of Belly, the recommended album is full of b sides and questionable material. We really don't need a song sung in French for a best of. This does have the radio mix and edit of Feed The Tree and with that gets my vote as the album to get. Donnelly continues to write and play music as a solo artist.
Albums:
Star (Sire/Reprise 1993) C+
King (Sire/Reprise 1995) B-
Sweet Ride The Best Of Belly (Sire/Rhino 2002) B
Best known for Feed The Tree, a nonsensical but hooky song, it basically captures Tanya Donnelly brilliantly. She started out in Throwing Muses and later The Breeders before striking out on her own with Belly. In the death-thrones of MTV video music before boring the fuck out of everybody with reality crap, Feed The Tree couldn't be escaped from 120 Minutes or when MTV played videos. As a whole Star was very uneven despite failed hits like Gepetto and Slow Dog. It is alternative rock but in the ears of mine, I prefer Lush a lot more.
The followup King, features Gail Greenwood on bass, Glyn Johns producer and a more rock and roll attitude although Donnelly continued to throw unlistenable stuff, but Super Connected was a pretty good song. King, the album didn't sell very well and in 1996 Donnelly retired the band.
You can basically find both albums for less than a dollar at thrift stores. Even Sweet Ride, The Best Of Belly, the recommended album is full of b sides and questionable material. We really don't need a song sung in French for a best of. This does have the radio mix and edit of Feed The Tree and with that gets my vote as the album to get. Donnelly continues to write and play music as a solo artist.
Albums:
Star (Sire/Reprise 1993) C+
King (Sire/Reprise 1995) B-
Sweet Ride The Best Of Belly (Sire/Rhino 2002) B
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Bush Revisited
Bush has been one of those bands that have benefited quite well from the dollar shop pawnshop buys that I have been doing the past few years. For a band that has never really captured my fancy, Bush will go down in history has coming flying out of the runway with Everything Zen, which is perhaps the best Nirvana rip ever. Unlike Kurt Cobain, Gavin Rossdale owes a bit more to the classic rock sound to which Everything Zen kinda reminds me of Crazy Horse (don't ask why they just do). My second favorite song from that album Sixteen Stone, the 45 second X Girlfriend.
Throughout their course of history, Bush's British Grunge music sounded perfect for alt radio and modern rock to which KRNA still plays Everything Zen and a couple others from the first album but nevertheless Bush has never been a critic's fave band no matter what they do. The Steve Albini recorded Razorblade Suitcase was supposed to give them street cred, but that bombed as many a copy found itself into the dollar bins all across America and the problem wasn't Albini's production but rather a lack of songs that took up too much time and not worth remembering. Deconstructed, was a techno flop, re-imagined the hits for techno dance and over an hour? Not worth your time nor mine. The Science Of Things reunited them with the original producers who produced Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe back in the 80s but in 1999 it's a different story but The Science Of Things really starts out great with Warm Machine and Jesus Online and even The Chemicals Between Us is listenable for techno, but the rest of the album falters. Cut the filler down to a reasonable 10 songs and it could be their classic.
Somehow Rossdale and company moved over to Atlantic for the ill fated Golden State before disbanding, Bush forming a new band Institute with Page Hamilton playing guitar and Distort Yourself which also featured Chris Traynor gave a harder edge sound that was lacking in Bush. Rossdale made a listenable solo album Wanderlust, which All Music calls him the Grunge Peter Cetera (ouch). Has its moments but for the most part you can live without it too.
And then Rossdale does the unthinkable, brings the Bush name out of mothballs, keeps the original drummer and adds Chris Traynor and makes the best album of their career, the Bob Rock produced The Sea Of Memories to which Bush finally becomes a good hard rock band and not a grunge bunch like they're known in the past. And against all odds succeeds, thus getting this reviewer to go back and review their past catalog (and not costing me over 8 dollars in getting the back catalog). For the most part Bush is in need of a decent ICON collection that Interscope is famous for but since Kirkland Records has been reissuing the Trauma albums of the 90s we probably won't see that happening. But as for yourself, your better off with Sixteen Stone and the Sea Of Memories to understand what makes Bush a band to hear. If not, well, there's better bands to cast your lot with.
UPDATED: Sixteen Stone and Razorblade Suitcase were once again reissued via Zuma Rock and I'm sure Science Of Things has been as well although I didn't see it at Best Buy. The usual propaganda of Remastered For The First Time (what the hell were the original Trauma/Kirtland CDs were supposed to be? Remastered is a very very overused term since everytime you burn a copy, you're remastering it yourself). After a one off with E One music, Bush signs up with Zuma Rock on a Sony Music deal and issues Man On The Run. If you liked or love Sixteen Stone you'll tolerate Man On The Run although Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains) really doesn't do much outside of turn the recording levels up higher than usual. If Sea Of Memories was an extension of Distort Yourself, Man On The Run is basically Sixteen Stone Redux but without a key song like Everything Zen to make it memorable. It's not bad, some songs are worthy of a second or third listen (Just Like My Other Sins, Loneliness Is A Killer) and the original album closer Eye Of The Storm could be an album cut for album rock, if there's such a thing. But Rossdale will write a song that makes one smirk (Let Yourself Go, is about as dumb as the Breathe In Breathe out rant from Machinehead off 16 Stone) and in this day and age he will not convert new listeners or stifle his critics that like Bush as much as they do Nickleback, so Man On A Run is for fans and followers only. The album is a tad bit more disappointing than Sea Of Memories, but the key element of Chris Traynor as member of band keeps Bush more rocking than usual, although Corey Blitz is more of a hired hand. Give Gavin Rossdale this, while the critics been after his head for 2 decades and waiting for him to fail, he continues to defiles them all. Much to their dismay.
Update: In 2017 Rossdale came up with Black And White Rainbows, a somewhat more upbeat album considering that his marriage to Gwen Stefani crashed down beginning with Mad Love and continuing through Water and Lost In You although perhaps Gavin might be thinking more of his new found love, or perhaps a love letter to the remaining Bush fans out there. The record drags on way too long and too many slower tempo songs at the end kinda makes this a chore to listen through if you're not a hardcore fan. But it doesn't differ much from Sixteen Stone (to which let's face it will be the album that Bush will be forever remembered); it may have meant more if this was the followup to that album rather than the dull thud of Razorblade Suitcase 20 years earlier, but radio will not bend over backwards to play Black And White Rainbows, Bush's time has come and gone. They could benefit from a best of. But in theory, Rossdale has never topped Everything's Zen, that the first song that started a career and he could never follow it up with another rip roaring song. I still think 2010's Sea Of Memories is their best overall album and Sixteen Stone the only other album you could ever want. But I'm mostly amazed of myself to continue to follow the antics of Gavin Rossdale and Bush by buying Man On The Run and Black And White Rainbows, knowing full well they might have a good song or two, but in the end they would stockpile their album with five or six subpar filler songs and lose whatever interest that I have had in the first place. I doubt there'll be a next time, but I can never write Bush off. It's a hard habit to break.
Grades:
Sixteen Stone (Kirtland 1994) B
Razorblade Suitcase (Kirtland 1996) C
Deconstructed (Trauma 1997) C-
The Science Of Things (Kirtland 1999) B
Golden State (Atlantic 2001) B-
Institute-Distort Yourself (Interscope 2005) B
Gavin Rossdale-Wanderlust (Interscope 2008) C+
The Sea Of Memories (E One 2010) B+
Man On The Run (Zuma Rock/Sony Music 2014) B
Black And White Rainbows (Zuma Rock/Caroline 2017) B
Throughout their course of history, Bush's British Grunge music sounded perfect for alt radio and modern rock to which KRNA still plays Everything Zen and a couple others from the first album but nevertheless Bush has never been a critic's fave band no matter what they do. The Steve Albini recorded Razorblade Suitcase was supposed to give them street cred, but that bombed as many a copy found itself into the dollar bins all across America and the problem wasn't Albini's production but rather a lack of songs that took up too much time and not worth remembering. Deconstructed, was a techno flop, re-imagined the hits for techno dance and over an hour? Not worth your time nor mine. The Science Of Things reunited them with the original producers who produced Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe back in the 80s but in 1999 it's a different story but The Science Of Things really starts out great with Warm Machine and Jesus Online and even The Chemicals Between Us is listenable for techno, but the rest of the album falters. Cut the filler down to a reasonable 10 songs and it could be their classic.
Somehow Rossdale and company moved over to Atlantic for the ill fated Golden State before disbanding, Bush forming a new band Institute with Page Hamilton playing guitar and Distort Yourself which also featured Chris Traynor gave a harder edge sound that was lacking in Bush. Rossdale made a listenable solo album Wanderlust, which All Music calls him the Grunge Peter Cetera (ouch). Has its moments but for the most part you can live without it too.
And then Rossdale does the unthinkable, brings the Bush name out of mothballs, keeps the original drummer and adds Chris Traynor and makes the best album of their career, the Bob Rock produced The Sea Of Memories to which Bush finally becomes a good hard rock band and not a grunge bunch like they're known in the past. And against all odds succeeds, thus getting this reviewer to go back and review their past catalog (and not costing me over 8 dollars in getting the back catalog). For the most part Bush is in need of a decent ICON collection that Interscope is famous for but since Kirkland Records has been reissuing the Trauma albums of the 90s we probably won't see that happening. But as for yourself, your better off with Sixteen Stone and the Sea Of Memories to understand what makes Bush a band to hear. If not, well, there's better bands to cast your lot with.
UPDATED: Sixteen Stone and Razorblade Suitcase were once again reissued via Zuma Rock and I'm sure Science Of Things has been as well although I didn't see it at Best Buy. The usual propaganda of Remastered For The First Time (what the hell were the original Trauma/Kirtland CDs were supposed to be? Remastered is a very very overused term since everytime you burn a copy, you're remastering it yourself). After a one off with E One music, Bush signs up with Zuma Rock on a Sony Music deal and issues Man On The Run. If you liked or love Sixteen Stone you'll tolerate Man On The Run although Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains) really doesn't do much outside of turn the recording levels up higher than usual. If Sea Of Memories was an extension of Distort Yourself, Man On The Run is basically Sixteen Stone Redux but without a key song like Everything Zen to make it memorable. It's not bad, some songs are worthy of a second or third listen (Just Like My Other Sins, Loneliness Is A Killer) and the original album closer Eye Of The Storm could be an album cut for album rock, if there's such a thing. But Rossdale will write a song that makes one smirk (Let Yourself Go, is about as dumb as the Breathe In Breathe out rant from Machinehead off 16 Stone) and in this day and age he will not convert new listeners or stifle his critics that like Bush as much as they do Nickleback, so Man On A Run is for fans and followers only. The album is a tad bit more disappointing than Sea Of Memories, but the key element of Chris Traynor as member of band keeps Bush more rocking than usual, although Corey Blitz is more of a hired hand. Give Gavin Rossdale this, while the critics been after his head for 2 decades and waiting for him to fail, he continues to defiles them all. Much to their dismay.
Update: In 2017 Rossdale came up with Black And White Rainbows, a somewhat more upbeat album considering that his marriage to Gwen Stefani crashed down beginning with Mad Love and continuing through Water and Lost In You although perhaps Gavin might be thinking more of his new found love, or perhaps a love letter to the remaining Bush fans out there. The record drags on way too long and too many slower tempo songs at the end kinda makes this a chore to listen through if you're not a hardcore fan. But it doesn't differ much from Sixteen Stone (to which let's face it will be the album that Bush will be forever remembered); it may have meant more if this was the followup to that album rather than the dull thud of Razorblade Suitcase 20 years earlier, but radio will not bend over backwards to play Black And White Rainbows, Bush's time has come and gone. They could benefit from a best of. But in theory, Rossdale has never topped Everything's Zen, that the first song that started a career and he could never follow it up with another rip roaring song. I still think 2010's Sea Of Memories is their best overall album and Sixteen Stone the only other album you could ever want. But I'm mostly amazed of myself to continue to follow the antics of Gavin Rossdale and Bush by buying Man On The Run and Black And White Rainbows, knowing full well they might have a good song or two, but in the end they would stockpile their album with five or six subpar filler songs and lose whatever interest that I have had in the first place. I doubt there'll be a next time, but I can never write Bush off. It's a hard habit to break.
Grades:
Sixteen Stone (Kirtland 1994) B
Razorblade Suitcase (Kirtland 1996) C
Deconstructed (Trauma 1997) C-
The Science Of Things (Kirtland 1999) B
Golden State (Atlantic 2001) B-
Institute-Distort Yourself (Interscope 2005) B
Gavin Rossdale-Wanderlust (Interscope 2008) C+
The Sea Of Memories (E One 2010) B+
Man On The Run (Zuma Rock/Sony Music 2014) B
Black And White Rainbows (Zuma Rock/Caroline 2017) B
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Paul Revere And The Raiders
Three years ago I attempted to put into words the legacy of Paul Revere And The Raiders and their music. This the original posting on the Record World Blog http://rscrabb.blogspot.com/2011/04/crabb-bits-mel-mcdaniel-paul-revere.html
Three years on and the death of Paul Revere got me to return to their recordings and revisit what I thought of their 2 CD Essential Paul Revere And The Raiders, overall time has shown that was the best overview. Basically the more scattershot Legend Of Paul Revere, the bloated 2 CD set Columbia issued in 1990 turned out the be the better overall overview. More that album shows the tale of the two Paul Revere And The Raiders bands; the first the overall party band led by Revere and the second the more hit laden and pop leanings of Mark Lindsay. The liner notes to the 1990 best of by William Ruhlmann are a must read. With both Paul and Mark providing insights it does show that the band had inner struggles between the two performers all the way back to when Lindsay popped up onstage in the early beginnings of The Raiders and impressing Paul to let him into the band. It also shows that Lindsay can be full of himself at times too, whereas Revere remained the fun loving rock and roll guy who specialized in bad jokes and taking Louie Louie down the road further than the Kingsmen, though that band had the bigger hit. It was sloppy fun, The Raiders' version was more jammy and since Lindsay didn't sing much of the song outside of Louie Louie hook line the song wouldn't dent the top 100. The Legend Of Paul Revere, the best of, is looked upon as one cd dedicated to the covers and the party time feeling of their leader, while the second focuses on Lindsay's studio version of the Raiders, more sessionmen than band members, which did struck a nerve on The Raiders themselves, three of them moved over to The Brotherhood and making two albums for RCA. In their place, Freddy Weller and Keith Allison, more polished musicians would take their place.
The fun band that Paul Revere envisioned made recordings for Gardena and had a number 38 hit in 1961 with Like Long Hair or Beatnik Sticks and are on The Legend Of P.R. Mojo Workout, a sprawling two cd set that Sundazed put out in 2000 shows the dirty R and B and early rock songs that Paul liked. Problem was Mark Lindsay couldn't deliver them in the same way. Good example was the uncharting Over You, which Aaron Neville did much better. And in these changing times, it's a bit creepy hearing Lindsay singing he's going to kill his love interest if she goes cheating on him. Mojo Workout taken on its own is nice party music for the early 60s, the covers well known and chosen but Linsday can't sing them that well. But then on track 18, when Steppin Out comes marching in, they were on to garage rock and that's when Lindsay does come into his own, the material is better suited for him rather than Over You or Slippin And Slidin'.
The big success of their hits, Terry Melcher gets full credit and he had a way to make the songs and hooks sound better. In fact AM radio was perfect for Him Or Me What's It Gonna Be, or Kicks. The albums themselves were peppered with R and B or an occasional ballad. Just Like Us might have been the perfect introduction to The Raiders, with even Drake Levin and Mike Smith singing a song or two. Here They Come is a half live half studio affair and the live side captures the craziness of a Paul Revere concert. It's good fun to hear Louie Louie live and them romping through Do You Love Me or lead off You Can't Sit Down, a song that features that rare Mark Lindsay's sax solo. The studio side, showed The Raiders trying their best to cover Time Is On My Side, although it pales next to The Stones or Irma Thomas. They also cover PF Sloan on These Are Bad Times For Me And My Baby. Not a total wasted effort but Here They Come is the first true Raiders album, in search of their own sound.
Midnight Ride was better, with Kicks being the big hit and Not Your Stepping Stone a album cut classic, it could have been a hit single for them, but The Monkees beat them to it. Amazingly when the band was going through changes The Spirit Of 67 and Revolution remain my favorite albums from them. By then Paul Revere was more interested in their live performances so it was Mark Lindsay and Terry Melcher with some studio musicians coming in to help; Hal Blaine is on Him Or Me (not Jim Gordon as rumors have it) Spirit Of 67 features The Great Airplane Strike which gives The Rolling Stones a run for their money. Mark dominates the singing with Fang and Mike Smith singing one song apiece. Revolution is their heaviest album...and their strangest. Some of the songs appeared in mono, the most oddest is Make It With Me, which Lindsay's vocals are buried in the fuzz, even the backing vocals are mixed higher up. Only Paul Revere appears as the other vocalist on Ain't Nobody Can Do It Like Leslie Can (mixed in mono). The CD version, now out or print and commanding high prices has an extended Him Or Me and The Legend Of Paul Revere (the song). The haunting I Hear A Voice, to which Mark and The Raiders sing along to a moody Revere piano. Their finest moment.
Once Terry Melcher left to do other things, Lindsay took over production and they went pop with each new album. Influenced by Sgt Pepper, Something Happening, is more Magical Mystery Tour with the oddball horns, and stop start bridges (Too Much Talk). Being on Dick Clark's Where The Action Is in the afternoon opened up new doors, but it also begins a bubblegum type of pop that I don't think Lindsay envisioned and has said that Melcher was missed big time. Something Happening, while more polished wasn't as memorable as Revolution, only Don't Take It So Hard saves the album from being more slight. Hard And Heavy With Marshmellow, another play on words by Mark is even more bubblegum with Mr. Sun And Mr. Moon, but the record is saved by the four minute and more mysterous sounding Cinderella Sunshine (A 2 minute up tempo track became a 45 but to these ears not as essential) and perhaps it's was becoming that The Raiders were trying to keep up with The Monkees. Only this time The Monkees made a better album.
Alias Pink Puzz is the final good album, and for the first time since The Spirit Of 67, the other Raiders add their two cents worth, most notably Keith Allison's Freeborn Man, which is more country than rock. In some ways I look at Pink Puzz like I do at the S/T Association album, it does show the bands doing something more different than the bubblegum pops that Lindsay was turning them out to be. I'm not sure how radio mistook them for another band when Let Me came out under the Pink Puzz name, Lindsay has a distinctive voice and if the fool radio programmer was didn't know that, he surely would by the MA MA MA MAA scream at end of song. Collage, the next album, a lot of people like more but for me it was more a letdown. This record has more to do with the Monkees' Head album rather than Sgt Pepper's and Lindsay remade Tighter and Gone Movin On to a more polished but lest interesting version. The problem of this album is that it's too bizarre, and Lindsay trying to keep up with the times made a dated effort, the screams all over Sorceress With The Blue Eyes or Dr. Fine makes one reach for the Fast Forward button. And Just Seventeen is just a bad song overall, probably the worst song they ever put out since Over You. It's not all a wasted effort, We Gotta All Get Together in single form is fairly good till the last minute and half drags it down, a cover of Laura Nyro's Save The Country and Interlude (To Be Forgotten) are highlights. But I tend to look at Collage is one of the more overrated albums of the 60s, even from Paul Revere And The Raiders themselves.
By then, Lindsay convinced Revere to change the name to The Raiders and in 1971 they finally scored their first and only number 1 hit with Indian Reservation. The album itself is famous for Mike Smith returning back to drums. But the album itself is all over the place, there are some questionable remakes (the world could live without with Eve Of Destruction) and Max Frost and The Troopers aren't losing sleep over The Shape Of Things To Come. Although I think Lindsay showed some music taste in covering Come In You'll Get Phenomena (the Easybeats song) the problem was he lacked the vocal and arrangement to pull it off. The success of the single enabled Columbia to release another album and the final one was the uneven Country Wine. First side is good, the title track, Power Blue Mercedes Queen (with a riff taken from Mississippi Queen) standouts, but side 2 whatever Lindsay came up with, the songs simply were awful and ranks with the worst that they ever done. The failure of their 1974 single All Over You, a Bob Dylan song made their label decide to not issue another album and the Raiders decade long association with Columbia was over, sans a forgotten 1975 single Gonna Have A Good Time b/w the bland Your Love which appears on the now deleted and hard to find Complete Columbia Singles on Collector's Choice Music. By then Mark Lindsay and Paul Revere decided to go their own ways. Revere would form his own Raiders in the late 70s, and instead of doing new recordings, stayed true to his vision of being a fun and party band, playing the hits and doing comedy skits and routines and become one of the most loved entertainers till his death. Lindsay's latest album actually sounds more rocking to the early Raiders rather than the MOR pop he was doing in the late 60s and early 70s: having hits with Arizona and Silverbird. The Real Gone Columbia Singles of Mark Lindsay CD, warts and all isn't bad. In 2013 Mark released Life Out Loud and is by far his most rocking album to date. It does actually recall a lot of Spirit Of 67 or Revolution, it's a shame that Mark didn't go this way after those albums.
In some ways The Complete Columbia Singles a great beginning and end saga of the happenings of Paul Revere And The Raiders and if you can find it fairly cheap is the recommended overview. But it also documents the downfall as well. The Raiders really begin to lose their ID on the 3rd CD. A development of being wild garage rockers that gave The Wailers a run for their money to a garage rock sound and then on to pop bubblegum. Cheaper alternatives remain the latest 2 CD best of Paul Revere And The Raiders or even the first Paul Revere And The Raiders Greatest Hits revision with a few bonus tracks tacked on for better value. Sundazed used to have all of the Paul Revere And The Raiders' classic 60s album but most have fallen out of print, as of this writing only Just Like Us, Mojo Workout, Midnight Ride are in print. However Raven Records down under has kept their albums in print, including Indian Reservation/Collage as a 2 on 1 CD. They also packaged the first five Columbia albums on a double value 2 cd set. Something Has Happened includes the next four (Goin To Memphis, Something Happening, Hard And Heavy, Pink Puzz) into a 2 CD set. So if you buy these two Raven packages you will have the complete Paul Revere on Columbia collection. The Aussies seem to take great pride in preserving music that the Sony Music here in the states has given up years ago. I still hold claim that their 1972 All Time Greatest Hits is the go to album but since that has never on CD, it's a moot point but if you do come across it, it's still worth a listen.
But being the madman in rock and roll Paul Revere, bless his heart, lived his dream to the fullest, when Jack White made a comment about how old men can't rock anymore, Revere told him to put up or shut up, but White never took the challenge. His loss. But what we all know, Paul Revere remained the real deal, and never a phoney or fake. Thankfully, his recordings will continue to live on, making new fans who don't get the new rock of today. Or just get tired of whatever Jack White is putting down.
Grades:
Here They Come (Columbia 1964) B+
Just Like Us (Sundazed Reissue) B+
Midnight Ride (Columbia 1966) B+
Spirit Of 67 (Columbia 1967) A-
Paul Revere And The Raiders Greatest Hits (Columbia 1967 revised 1999) A-
Revolution! (Columbia 1967) A-
Gone To Memphis (Columbia 1968) C+
Something Happening (Columbia 1968) B-
Hard And Heavy (With Marshmellow-Columbia 1968) B-
Alias Pink Puzz (Columbia 1969) B+
Collage (Columbia 1970) B-
Indian Reservation (Columbia 1971) B-
Country Wine Plus (Raven 2011) C+
All Time Greatest Hits (Columbia 1972) A-
A Christmas Past...And Present (Koch Reissue 2007) B
The Legend Of Paul Revere (Columbia 1990) B
The Essential Ride 63-67) (Columbia 1996) A-
Mojo Workout (Sundazed 2000) B
The Complete Columbia Singles (Collector's Choice 2010) A-
The Essential Paul Revere & The Raiders (Columbia 2011) B+
Mark Lindsay-Arizona/Sliverbird (Collectibles 2 on 1-1971) C
You've Got A Friend (Columbia 1973) B-
The Complete Columbia Singles of Mark Lindsay (Real Gone 2012) B
Life Out Loud (Bongo Boy 2013) B+
Here They Come/Just Like Us/Midnight Ride/Spirit Of 67/Revolution (Raven Import 2011) A-
Something Is Happening/Hard And Heavy/Alias Pink Puzz (Raven Import 2012) B+
Indian Reservation/Collage (Raven Import) B-
Country Wine Plus (Raven Import 2013) C+
Three years on and the death of Paul Revere got me to return to their recordings and revisit what I thought of their 2 CD Essential Paul Revere And The Raiders, overall time has shown that was the best overview. Basically the more scattershot Legend Of Paul Revere, the bloated 2 CD set Columbia issued in 1990 turned out the be the better overall overview. More that album shows the tale of the two Paul Revere And The Raiders bands; the first the overall party band led by Revere and the second the more hit laden and pop leanings of Mark Lindsay. The liner notes to the 1990 best of by William Ruhlmann are a must read. With both Paul and Mark providing insights it does show that the band had inner struggles between the two performers all the way back to when Lindsay popped up onstage in the early beginnings of The Raiders and impressing Paul to let him into the band. It also shows that Lindsay can be full of himself at times too, whereas Revere remained the fun loving rock and roll guy who specialized in bad jokes and taking Louie Louie down the road further than the Kingsmen, though that band had the bigger hit. It was sloppy fun, The Raiders' version was more jammy and since Lindsay didn't sing much of the song outside of Louie Louie hook line the song wouldn't dent the top 100. The Legend Of Paul Revere, the best of, is looked upon as one cd dedicated to the covers and the party time feeling of their leader, while the second focuses on Lindsay's studio version of the Raiders, more sessionmen than band members, which did struck a nerve on The Raiders themselves, three of them moved over to The Brotherhood and making two albums for RCA. In their place, Freddy Weller and Keith Allison, more polished musicians would take their place.
The fun band that Paul Revere envisioned made recordings for Gardena and had a number 38 hit in 1961 with Like Long Hair or Beatnik Sticks and are on The Legend Of P.R. Mojo Workout, a sprawling two cd set that Sundazed put out in 2000 shows the dirty R and B and early rock songs that Paul liked. Problem was Mark Lindsay couldn't deliver them in the same way. Good example was the uncharting Over You, which Aaron Neville did much better. And in these changing times, it's a bit creepy hearing Lindsay singing he's going to kill his love interest if she goes cheating on him. Mojo Workout taken on its own is nice party music for the early 60s, the covers well known and chosen but Linsday can't sing them that well. But then on track 18, when Steppin Out comes marching in, they were on to garage rock and that's when Lindsay does come into his own, the material is better suited for him rather than Over You or Slippin And Slidin'.
The big success of their hits, Terry Melcher gets full credit and he had a way to make the songs and hooks sound better. In fact AM radio was perfect for Him Or Me What's It Gonna Be, or Kicks. The albums themselves were peppered with R and B or an occasional ballad. Just Like Us might have been the perfect introduction to The Raiders, with even Drake Levin and Mike Smith singing a song or two. Here They Come is a half live half studio affair and the live side captures the craziness of a Paul Revere concert. It's good fun to hear Louie Louie live and them romping through Do You Love Me or lead off You Can't Sit Down, a song that features that rare Mark Lindsay's sax solo. The studio side, showed The Raiders trying their best to cover Time Is On My Side, although it pales next to The Stones or Irma Thomas. They also cover PF Sloan on These Are Bad Times For Me And My Baby. Not a total wasted effort but Here They Come is the first true Raiders album, in search of their own sound.
Midnight Ride was better, with Kicks being the big hit and Not Your Stepping Stone a album cut classic, it could have been a hit single for them, but The Monkees beat them to it. Amazingly when the band was going through changes The Spirit Of 67 and Revolution remain my favorite albums from them. By then Paul Revere was more interested in their live performances so it was Mark Lindsay and Terry Melcher with some studio musicians coming in to help; Hal Blaine is on Him Or Me (not Jim Gordon as rumors have it) Spirit Of 67 features The Great Airplane Strike which gives The Rolling Stones a run for their money. Mark dominates the singing with Fang and Mike Smith singing one song apiece. Revolution is their heaviest album...and their strangest. Some of the songs appeared in mono, the most oddest is Make It With Me, which Lindsay's vocals are buried in the fuzz, even the backing vocals are mixed higher up. Only Paul Revere appears as the other vocalist on Ain't Nobody Can Do It Like Leslie Can (mixed in mono). The CD version, now out or print and commanding high prices has an extended Him Or Me and The Legend Of Paul Revere (the song). The haunting I Hear A Voice, to which Mark and The Raiders sing along to a moody Revere piano. Their finest moment.
Once Terry Melcher left to do other things, Lindsay took over production and they went pop with each new album. Influenced by Sgt Pepper, Something Happening, is more Magical Mystery Tour with the oddball horns, and stop start bridges (Too Much Talk). Being on Dick Clark's Where The Action Is in the afternoon opened up new doors, but it also begins a bubblegum type of pop that I don't think Lindsay envisioned and has said that Melcher was missed big time. Something Happening, while more polished wasn't as memorable as Revolution, only Don't Take It So Hard saves the album from being more slight. Hard And Heavy With Marshmellow, another play on words by Mark is even more bubblegum with Mr. Sun And Mr. Moon, but the record is saved by the four minute and more mysterous sounding Cinderella Sunshine (A 2 minute up tempo track became a 45 but to these ears not as essential) and perhaps it's was becoming that The Raiders were trying to keep up with The Monkees. Only this time The Monkees made a better album.
Alias Pink Puzz is the final good album, and for the first time since The Spirit Of 67, the other Raiders add their two cents worth, most notably Keith Allison's Freeborn Man, which is more country than rock. In some ways I look at Pink Puzz like I do at the S/T Association album, it does show the bands doing something more different than the bubblegum pops that Lindsay was turning them out to be. I'm not sure how radio mistook them for another band when Let Me came out under the Pink Puzz name, Lindsay has a distinctive voice and if the fool radio programmer was didn't know that, he surely would by the MA MA MA MAA scream at end of song. Collage, the next album, a lot of people like more but for me it was more a letdown. This record has more to do with the Monkees' Head album rather than Sgt Pepper's and Lindsay remade Tighter and Gone Movin On to a more polished but lest interesting version. The problem of this album is that it's too bizarre, and Lindsay trying to keep up with the times made a dated effort, the screams all over Sorceress With The Blue Eyes or Dr. Fine makes one reach for the Fast Forward button. And Just Seventeen is just a bad song overall, probably the worst song they ever put out since Over You. It's not all a wasted effort, We Gotta All Get Together in single form is fairly good till the last minute and half drags it down, a cover of Laura Nyro's Save The Country and Interlude (To Be Forgotten) are highlights. But I tend to look at Collage is one of the more overrated albums of the 60s, even from Paul Revere And The Raiders themselves.
By then, Lindsay convinced Revere to change the name to The Raiders and in 1971 they finally scored their first and only number 1 hit with Indian Reservation. The album itself is famous for Mike Smith returning back to drums. But the album itself is all over the place, there are some questionable remakes (the world could live without with Eve Of Destruction) and Max Frost and The Troopers aren't losing sleep over The Shape Of Things To Come. Although I think Lindsay showed some music taste in covering Come In You'll Get Phenomena (the Easybeats song) the problem was he lacked the vocal and arrangement to pull it off. The success of the single enabled Columbia to release another album and the final one was the uneven Country Wine. First side is good, the title track, Power Blue Mercedes Queen (with a riff taken from Mississippi Queen) standouts, but side 2 whatever Lindsay came up with, the songs simply were awful and ranks with the worst that they ever done. The failure of their 1974 single All Over You, a Bob Dylan song made their label decide to not issue another album and the Raiders decade long association with Columbia was over, sans a forgotten 1975 single Gonna Have A Good Time b/w the bland Your Love which appears on the now deleted and hard to find Complete Columbia Singles on Collector's Choice Music. By then Mark Lindsay and Paul Revere decided to go their own ways. Revere would form his own Raiders in the late 70s, and instead of doing new recordings, stayed true to his vision of being a fun and party band, playing the hits and doing comedy skits and routines and become one of the most loved entertainers till his death. Lindsay's latest album actually sounds more rocking to the early Raiders rather than the MOR pop he was doing in the late 60s and early 70s: having hits with Arizona and Silverbird. The Real Gone Columbia Singles of Mark Lindsay CD, warts and all isn't bad. In 2013 Mark released Life Out Loud and is by far his most rocking album to date. It does actually recall a lot of Spirit Of 67 or Revolution, it's a shame that Mark didn't go this way after those albums.
In some ways The Complete Columbia Singles a great beginning and end saga of the happenings of Paul Revere And The Raiders and if you can find it fairly cheap is the recommended overview. But it also documents the downfall as well. The Raiders really begin to lose their ID on the 3rd CD. A development of being wild garage rockers that gave The Wailers a run for their money to a garage rock sound and then on to pop bubblegum. Cheaper alternatives remain the latest 2 CD best of Paul Revere And The Raiders or even the first Paul Revere And The Raiders Greatest Hits revision with a few bonus tracks tacked on for better value. Sundazed used to have all of the Paul Revere And The Raiders' classic 60s album but most have fallen out of print, as of this writing only Just Like Us, Mojo Workout, Midnight Ride are in print. However Raven Records down under has kept their albums in print, including Indian Reservation/Collage as a 2 on 1 CD. They also packaged the first five Columbia albums on a double value 2 cd set. Something Has Happened includes the next four (Goin To Memphis, Something Happening, Hard And Heavy, Pink Puzz) into a 2 CD set. So if you buy these two Raven packages you will have the complete Paul Revere on Columbia collection. The Aussies seem to take great pride in preserving music that the Sony Music here in the states has given up years ago. I still hold claim that their 1972 All Time Greatest Hits is the go to album but since that has never on CD, it's a moot point but if you do come across it, it's still worth a listen.
But being the madman in rock and roll Paul Revere, bless his heart, lived his dream to the fullest, when Jack White made a comment about how old men can't rock anymore, Revere told him to put up or shut up, but White never took the challenge. His loss. But what we all know, Paul Revere remained the real deal, and never a phoney or fake. Thankfully, his recordings will continue to live on, making new fans who don't get the new rock of today. Or just get tired of whatever Jack White is putting down.
Grades:
Here They Come (Columbia 1964) B+
Just Like Us (Sundazed Reissue) B+
Midnight Ride (Columbia 1966) B+
Spirit Of 67 (Columbia 1967) A-
Paul Revere And The Raiders Greatest Hits (Columbia 1967 revised 1999) A-
Revolution! (Columbia 1967) A-
Gone To Memphis (Columbia 1968) C+
Something Happening (Columbia 1968) B-
Hard And Heavy (With Marshmellow-Columbia 1968) B-
Alias Pink Puzz (Columbia 1969) B+
Collage (Columbia 1970) B-
Indian Reservation (Columbia 1971) B-
Country Wine Plus (Raven 2011) C+
All Time Greatest Hits (Columbia 1972) A-
A Christmas Past...And Present (Koch Reissue 2007) B
The Legend Of Paul Revere (Columbia 1990) B
The Essential Ride 63-67) (Columbia 1996) A-
Mojo Workout (Sundazed 2000) B
The Complete Columbia Singles (Collector's Choice 2010) A-
The Essential Paul Revere & The Raiders (Columbia 2011) B+
Mark Lindsay-Arizona/Sliverbird (Collectibles 2 on 1-1971) C
You've Got A Friend (Columbia 1973) B-
The Complete Columbia Singles of Mark Lindsay (Real Gone 2012) B
Life Out Loud (Bongo Boy 2013) B+
Here They Come/Just Like Us/Midnight Ride/Spirit Of 67/Revolution (Raven Import 2011) A-
Something Is Happening/Hard And Heavy/Alias Pink Puzz (Raven Import 2012) B+
Indian Reservation/Collage (Raven Import) B-
Country Wine Plus (Raven Import 2013) C+
Thursday, September 18, 2014
George Hamilton IV
The passing of George Hamilton IV barely caused a ripple in the music world Thursday. George passed away from a heart attack and was 77 years old. But he started out as a teen idol of sorts recording a bunch of sides of ABC Paramount before going into the country music world and scoring a number 1 hit with Abilene. For a 10 plus year career at RCA Victor, Hamilton is better known for discovering and incorporating folk rock into his albums. He was one of the first artists to record Gordon Lightfoot. He covered Urge For Going a Joni Mitchell write up. But my favorite songs remain It's My Time, one of the better John Loudermilk songs ever written although it sounded too much like Break My Mind. But since I couldn't find the forty five of It's My Time, I paid 10 dollars for a used copy of the Gentle Soul Of George Hamilton IV from the now gone Memory Lane Records in Tempe years ago. Even better was a 97 cent record found at The Salvation Army called West Texas Highway, his long forgotten 1971 album for RCA, and he covered James Taylor's Sweet Baby James, a then unknown Michael Martin Murphy and Boomer Castleman's title track of WTH and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils Larry Lee What's Forth Worth as well as some fine songs by Harlan Howard and Bill Anderson. And produced by Bill Ferguson (Porter Waggoner). But by then country radio had ignored him although he continued to record for RCA and later ABC, MCA and Dot and a few more. By the late 90s George was doing gospel 90 percent of the time although he would make the rare secular album such as 2011's In The Heart Of Texas.
For CD greatest hits, George is non existent. Collectibles issued his RCA album of Abilene and it's a solid album but Sony Music never thought to include him in their long deleted RCA Country Legends series in the US but there's a import that cherry picks the hits and leaves out It's My Time but gives the listener She's A Little Bit Country. Not a good trade off. Bear Family has done a much better although sloppy job of the RCA early years and The ABC Paramount era with To You And Yours, which is more of the latter label than the former. So it's either the overblown To You And Yours From Me And Mine 6 CDs box with the early recordings and odd and ends, or it's the 3 cd set My North Country Home which might be the best Gordon Lightfoot tribute album, with the songs that Gordon wrote. But don't hold your breath for any more of the RCA albums to be reissued but most if not all have highlights. Except for She's a Little Bit Country.
RIP to a great country singer.
For CD greatest hits, George is non existent. Collectibles issued his RCA album of Abilene and it's a solid album but Sony Music never thought to include him in their long deleted RCA Country Legends series in the US but there's a import that cherry picks the hits and leaves out It's My Time but gives the listener She's A Little Bit Country. Not a good trade off. Bear Family has done a much better although sloppy job of the RCA early years and The ABC Paramount era with To You And Yours, which is more of the latter label than the former. So it's either the overblown To You And Yours From Me And Mine 6 CDs box with the early recordings and odd and ends, or it's the 3 cd set My North Country Home which might be the best Gordon Lightfoot tribute album, with the songs that Gordon wrote. But don't hold your breath for any more of the RCA albums to be reissued but most if not all have highlights. Except for She's a Little Bit Country.
RIP to a great country singer.
The Days Of Rockpile
Let's face it. In a perfect world Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and Rockpile would be in the rock and roll hall of fame. Actually they are....in mine. The uniqueness that is Rockpile stems from the meeting up of retro rocker Dave Edmunds and journeyman de facto leader of Brinsley Schwarz Nick Lowe, which that band started out somewhat in the style of Buffalo Springfield but got more pop sounding with each album. Edmunds at that time was a up and coming producer who did Foghat's first album and had a hit of his own with I Hear You Knockin, but Edmunds himself was a one man band. In 1974 Edmunds produced the Brinsleys What So Funny About Peace Love And Understanding, a minor in the UK (uncharted in the US due to a lack of interest of United Artists promoting it, Elvis Costello covered it in 1979).
However the pub rock scene was in full bloom in the UK. Bands like Ducks Deluxe and Eddie And The Hot Rods and The Pirates are rising up the dust in pubs and a new label called Stiff started up and Lowe became somewhat of a staff writer and producer. Lowe had a hand in Graham Parker's albums and The Dammed but messing around in the studio he came up with So It Goes (done with Steven Goulding on drums (The Rumour) and the punk fused Heart Of The City which was a far cry from the corporate rock of FM radio of Boston or Heart. Edmunds on the other hand made a tribute album to Phil Spector and The Everly Brothers for RCA and then signed to Swan Song, Led Zeppelins' label. At times he used Nick Lowe on bass and Terry Williams (Man) on drums and in 1977 released Get It. A fun romp through 50s and 60s rock and roll his I Knew The Bride was more country rather than the Lowe speed rock that can be heard on Stiffs Live. But Get It, is the first true album of what would be Rockpile the band, rather than Rockpile, Edmunds' alter ego and improves over Subtle As A Flying Mallet, the 1975 RCA one off. Edmunds was expert in providing many of vocal overdubs on Get It, What Did I Do Last Night or Little Darlin' which managed to scrape the top 100. But the heart of the record remains more 1961 rather than 1977 and Edmunds could imitate any type of music he wanted, from Dion ballads (Where Or When) to George Jones to Elvis (My Baby Left Me, just about note for note).
1978 really begins the Rockpile era. Lowe recorded for Stiff Records (later issued to Columbia) and Edmunds for Swan Song so they could do two albums per year. And Lowe's Jesus Of Cool, later renamed Pure Pop For Now People becomes the first album and the Columbia version is all over the place, beginning with So It Goes and Heart Of The City, the Stiff singles, a goofy Bay City Rollers tribute song and power pop songs like Marie Provost, Breaking Glass, and They Called It Rock. When Pure Pop went out of print, Yep Roc reissued Jesus Of Cool and added plenty of b sides and oddities to make it a better buy. His Heart Of The City live version, Edmunds used vocal overdubs for the same take on Tracks On Wax 4, still remains their most hardest rocking song ever. It also includes Cruel To Be Kind (the original version). Even with the meddling Columbia cherry picking and redoing the song sequence Pure Pop For Now People remains a classic album in itself but Jesus Of Cool is the better buy. Tracks On Wax 4 from Edmunds had much compressed mix and louder sound, but Edmunds' heart remains in Eddie Cochran/Chuck Berry land with Trouble Boys and a over the top It's My Own Business, and of course the Everly Brothers on What Looks Good On You Is Me.
1979 is the year of Rockpile coming into their own as Lowe and Edmunds made their best albums, Lowe's Labour Of Lust and Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary. Nick was more experimental, he'd add elements of punk on Switch Board Susan, Love So Fine and Born Fighter. Edmunds updated his sound but still kept a love of Phil Spector on Take Me For A Little While, gone blues on Bad Is Bad (featuring one Huey Lewis) but Edmunds choose wisely on his covers, Elvis Costello's Girls Talk is one of the best things he ever did, and getting Albert Lee to play guitar on Sweet Little Lisa, and Queen Of Hearts is better than Juice Newton's version. But it also helped that Billy Bremner came on to play lead guitar as well. Billy's presence in this band cannot be understated. And it was nice to see Cruel To Be Kind hit the top 30. Still, in my book, Labor and Repeat both albums were the top 2 best of 1979. And the future looked bright for Rockpile to make it even big right?
So it goes. 1980 the first true Rockpile album Seconds Of Pleasure came out and the combined efforts of Lowe and Edmunds and even Bremner made the record a fun album. Of course Nick wrote the songs, and Edmunds found the covers but the perfect 2 minute song was Now And Always, somewhat of a throwaway but it's not. They could rock out with If Sugar Was As Sweet As You or You Ain't Nothing But Fine. But the band was falling apart and a falling out had Edmunds leaving and Nick moving on to new members although both of them had enough material to do their own albums, Nick The Knife and Twangin...from Edmunds. The latter sounds thrown together, after all this was Edmunds' final album for Swan Song and while some of the songs were still quality (Almost Saturday Night, You'll Never Get Me Up In One Of Those) there was more filler than what I expected from Edmunds. I'm going to start living again even if it kills me might be the best direct link to George Jones and The Everlys. But overall pales next to Nick The Knife which comes out of the field running with a drum heavy Burnin, going into a reggae beat of Heart (much different from the seconds of pleasure version) and then Stick It Where The Sun Don't Shine, co sung with soon to be ex wife Carlene Carter who married Lowe. But it was becoming clear that Nick was changing his music from power pop punk to contemporary rock and roll. While Lowe was rocking less, Edmunds was rocking more with D E 7th, his first for Columbia in 1982 with Me And The Boys. But in all fairness, Rockpile was basically done with Twangin... and Nick The Knife.
Over the years Lowe would be changing his style to a more crooning country style that I have never gotten much into, although most of it is fine, I come to find that the albums starting with Pinker And Prouder Than Previous was the musical downslide of Lowe, content to gently rock out and a far cry from the 70s. Edmunds did work with Lowe one more time on the 1989 flop Party Of One and Lowe's last good album. The start of a long and fruitful relationship with Bill Kirchen (Commander Cody) Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner, the latter two he worked with when he helped John Hiatt with Bring The Family. That included a one off album called Little Village in 1993 with Hiatt, but Party Of One Lowe would bring some of his later day classics stuff like You Got The Look I Like and I Don't Know Why You Keep Me Hangin On, a duet with Paul Carrack. A solid record but it didn't sell, and Lowe would move on to Upstart and later Yep Roc. Edmunds on the other hand started working with Jeff Lynne (ELO) for the 1983 Information album and later Riff Raff. A bit too techno rock and too much of a ELO both albums do have their charm. After a live album, Edmunds dropped out for a few years, than returning with Closer To The Flame (Capitol) and then back to the DIY that recalls of the days of Rockpile the Edmunds alter ego band of the early 70s with Plugged In a valiant effort but rather more of a hobby album since it didn't sell. Edmunds has been semi retired of late but has put together some new songs. A Pile Of Rock, with The Refreshments and Gerant Watkins backing Dave up was a worthy live effort although I have yet to hear it.
In the end, when Lowe and Edmunds teamed up in the late 70s to make albums under their own name, it was like getting two albums from them in the same year. Rockpile to me was the Beatles in my lifetime. They were that much loved.
However the pub rock scene was in full bloom in the UK. Bands like Ducks Deluxe and Eddie And The Hot Rods and The Pirates are rising up the dust in pubs and a new label called Stiff started up and Lowe became somewhat of a staff writer and producer. Lowe had a hand in Graham Parker's albums and The Dammed but messing around in the studio he came up with So It Goes (done with Steven Goulding on drums (The Rumour) and the punk fused Heart Of The City which was a far cry from the corporate rock of FM radio of Boston or Heart. Edmunds on the other hand made a tribute album to Phil Spector and The Everly Brothers for RCA and then signed to Swan Song, Led Zeppelins' label. At times he used Nick Lowe on bass and Terry Williams (Man) on drums and in 1977 released Get It. A fun romp through 50s and 60s rock and roll his I Knew The Bride was more country rather than the Lowe speed rock that can be heard on Stiffs Live. But Get It, is the first true album of what would be Rockpile the band, rather than Rockpile, Edmunds' alter ego and improves over Subtle As A Flying Mallet, the 1975 RCA one off. Edmunds was expert in providing many of vocal overdubs on Get It, What Did I Do Last Night or Little Darlin' which managed to scrape the top 100. But the heart of the record remains more 1961 rather than 1977 and Edmunds could imitate any type of music he wanted, from Dion ballads (Where Or When) to George Jones to Elvis (My Baby Left Me, just about note for note).
1978 really begins the Rockpile era. Lowe recorded for Stiff Records (later issued to Columbia) and Edmunds for Swan Song so they could do two albums per year. And Lowe's Jesus Of Cool, later renamed Pure Pop For Now People becomes the first album and the Columbia version is all over the place, beginning with So It Goes and Heart Of The City, the Stiff singles, a goofy Bay City Rollers tribute song and power pop songs like Marie Provost, Breaking Glass, and They Called It Rock. When Pure Pop went out of print, Yep Roc reissued Jesus Of Cool and added plenty of b sides and oddities to make it a better buy. His Heart Of The City live version, Edmunds used vocal overdubs for the same take on Tracks On Wax 4, still remains their most hardest rocking song ever. It also includes Cruel To Be Kind (the original version). Even with the meddling Columbia cherry picking and redoing the song sequence Pure Pop For Now People remains a classic album in itself but Jesus Of Cool is the better buy. Tracks On Wax 4 from Edmunds had much compressed mix and louder sound, but Edmunds' heart remains in Eddie Cochran/Chuck Berry land with Trouble Boys and a over the top It's My Own Business, and of course the Everly Brothers on What Looks Good On You Is Me.
1979 is the year of Rockpile coming into their own as Lowe and Edmunds made their best albums, Lowe's Labour Of Lust and Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary. Nick was more experimental, he'd add elements of punk on Switch Board Susan, Love So Fine and Born Fighter. Edmunds updated his sound but still kept a love of Phil Spector on Take Me For A Little While, gone blues on Bad Is Bad (featuring one Huey Lewis) but Edmunds choose wisely on his covers, Elvis Costello's Girls Talk is one of the best things he ever did, and getting Albert Lee to play guitar on Sweet Little Lisa, and Queen Of Hearts is better than Juice Newton's version. But it also helped that Billy Bremner came on to play lead guitar as well. Billy's presence in this band cannot be understated. And it was nice to see Cruel To Be Kind hit the top 30. Still, in my book, Labor and Repeat both albums were the top 2 best of 1979. And the future looked bright for Rockpile to make it even big right?
So it goes. 1980 the first true Rockpile album Seconds Of Pleasure came out and the combined efforts of Lowe and Edmunds and even Bremner made the record a fun album. Of course Nick wrote the songs, and Edmunds found the covers but the perfect 2 minute song was Now And Always, somewhat of a throwaway but it's not. They could rock out with If Sugar Was As Sweet As You or You Ain't Nothing But Fine. But the band was falling apart and a falling out had Edmunds leaving and Nick moving on to new members although both of them had enough material to do their own albums, Nick The Knife and Twangin...from Edmunds. The latter sounds thrown together, after all this was Edmunds' final album for Swan Song and while some of the songs were still quality (Almost Saturday Night, You'll Never Get Me Up In One Of Those) there was more filler than what I expected from Edmunds. I'm going to start living again even if it kills me might be the best direct link to George Jones and The Everlys. But overall pales next to Nick The Knife which comes out of the field running with a drum heavy Burnin, going into a reggae beat of Heart (much different from the seconds of pleasure version) and then Stick It Where The Sun Don't Shine, co sung with soon to be ex wife Carlene Carter who married Lowe. But it was becoming clear that Nick was changing his music from power pop punk to contemporary rock and roll. While Lowe was rocking less, Edmunds was rocking more with D E 7th, his first for Columbia in 1982 with Me And The Boys. But in all fairness, Rockpile was basically done with Twangin... and Nick The Knife.
Over the years Lowe would be changing his style to a more crooning country style that I have never gotten much into, although most of it is fine, I come to find that the albums starting with Pinker And Prouder Than Previous was the musical downslide of Lowe, content to gently rock out and a far cry from the 70s. Edmunds did work with Lowe one more time on the 1989 flop Party Of One and Lowe's last good album. The start of a long and fruitful relationship with Bill Kirchen (Commander Cody) Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner, the latter two he worked with when he helped John Hiatt with Bring The Family. That included a one off album called Little Village in 1993 with Hiatt, but Party Of One Lowe would bring some of his later day classics stuff like You Got The Look I Like and I Don't Know Why You Keep Me Hangin On, a duet with Paul Carrack. A solid record but it didn't sell, and Lowe would move on to Upstart and later Yep Roc. Edmunds on the other hand started working with Jeff Lynne (ELO) for the 1983 Information album and later Riff Raff. A bit too techno rock and too much of a ELO both albums do have their charm. After a live album, Edmunds dropped out for a few years, than returning with Closer To The Flame (Capitol) and then back to the DIY that recalls of the days of Rockpile the Edmunds alter ego band of the early 70s with Plugged In a valiant effort but rather more of a hobby album since it didn't sell. Edmunds has been semi retired of late but has put together some new songs. A Pile Of Rock, with The Refreshments and Gerant Watkins backing Dave up was a worthy live effort although I have yet to hear it.
In the end, when Lowe and Edmunds teamed up in the late 70s to make albums under their own name, it was like getting two albums from them in the same year. Rockpile to me was the Beatles in my lifetime. They were that much loved.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Radio Misfits Or Where Are They Now
I make no secret how much I hate Corporate Radio and the same 200 songs played day after day after day after day etc etc etc. The love of such overplayed classic like Centerfold or Sweet Home Alabama or Dream On or Boston's first album have long gone, especially suffering in a department that the radio can only pick up classic rot (The Fox) shitty top forty (Z102.9) bro country (98.1 K Hack) or shitty 'real rock' (KRNA) for music. I rather have my ears picked out with a stick than have to deal with Back In Black selections or the three Guns and Roses numbers off their first which can be very annoying when dealing with a machine that breaks down while W Axl Rose screams over and over again. The nadir of classic rock radio or "real" rock shows a lack of variety that there is much more to Nirvana or Pearl Jam of music 20 years ago. Figure that Dookie and Smash are 20 years old now, nobody has any loving for the 16 million selling album Cracked Rear View from Hootie and The Blowfish which REAL ROCK KRNA used to have in their playlist before somebody watching Beavis and Butthead decided that KRNA needed to add death metal or grunge to the equation. Too bad you can't fire bomb Cumulus or Clear Channel radio, which dominates the FM field. If you want country classics you have to sort through five watt 1360 but knowing you can't that up, you're stuck with the latest horse hockey from Rascal Flatts on K Hack or bad heavy metal disguised as country radio.
In the age of the internet, time flies as faster than ever since we're on the computer 20 hours at a time it seems and 15 years ago, life got this fast as I got my first used computer and fought with that for about a year before getting a Gateway and fighting that for another two years. Past ten years I've had the same computer but it's pretium 4, it hangs up more often than not (like it is now) and researching the oldies and archives take much longer than it used to. The future seems to be on smart phones where you can down load apps to get lesser known radio pod casts and net stations to hear what Cumulus/Clear Channel won't play. Didn't used to be that way till Newt Gingrich sneaked past Bill Clinton doing Monica no doubt, the Telecommunications Act Of 1996 which gave us the Corporate CSers that is Cumulus/CC. And the same shit music and now much loathed rock classics that we're sick of hearing three times in one 8 hour setting picking cotton at our employment. Funny how KRNA used to play Nickleback but now since that band is uncool, they haven't. In the era of 1994, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots still live on but you don't hear Circus Of Power, Helmet and Killing Joke. Think of ten years ago, Good Charlotte you couldn't escape hearing on the radio but now you don't anymore. Los Lonely Boys came out with a debut that got played to death but 8 years later, they're forgotten in radio land. Or Sister Hazel. All For You makes them a one hit wonder, never mind they had a few more albums out after that.
Punk music of the 1990s has not aged very well. I really wasn't much into Rancid although Green Day is my choice of punk music, but KRNA considers them to rock and roll, so you can hear the usual Dookie hits. Or Offspring's Smash which somewhat holds up but every album after that they got to be a novelty act. A lot like Smash Mouth. Walking On The Sun is retro cool, Astro Lounge broke them with All Star, which made them a novelty act and after the third album nobody cared. So they're playing county fairs and package deals with other washed up 90s acts. Even Eve 6, which 15 years ago gave us Inside Out is now a oldies act. Like the rest, play for 15 minutes, just the hits and then hit the road to another town in the night. MXPX, basically Green Day light but speed metal due to a drummer with a sugar buzz and Torette's disease. Chick Magnet, they duplicated Green Day's Longview beat and got a minor hit for their trouble though you're more inclined to hear it on net radio. They never did top Green Day, they came close with the Everpassing Moment with Dave Grohl helping out but they blew their collective cool by then going for a Good Charlotte sound, with an eye on better sales. That didn't work. But they're still around playing whenever they get a moment free from families and life situations.
Perhaps Blink 182 was the more serious contender to Green Day but the Blinkers seem to have a fixation with poo poo jokes and worse ones. Dude Ranch is a poo poo joke itself, but Enema Of The State was a much better effort, a mature one at times although this year's event the boys couldn't help but change a few lines of their hits in a typical Animal House fashion. The Mike Portnoy of punk drummers Travis Barker helped their sound a lot after he replaced the original drummer. It's been said that Cheshire Cat, the album before Dude Ranch is one of the classic punk albums of the 1990s but once they enlisted the late Jerry Finn (Green Day/MXPX/Suicide Machines) to help guide them, they found their stride. I'll give them this, the 2011 Neighborhoods album was a nice comeback album. But even though they're in their 40s, they still can't stop telling poo poo jokes or playing the Cussing Song live (which can be found on Short Music For Short People on Fat Wreck Chords). But at least they're still playing live, unlike Good Charlotte who has become a footnote to punk rock history despite rumors of a new album this year.
The lack of variety on Corporate Radio is a very sore subject and although this blog attempts to seek out the ones that did get some airplay, for some reason they don't now. Make no mistake AC DC is good and their albums are classic, I just don't want to hear Back In Black on regular rotation the past 30 years. And in the meantime Cumulus/Clear Channel overlook such bands like their counterparts The Angels (although Marsalies gets played once a month) or the even harder rocking Kings Of The Sun (the new Clifford Hoad led Rock Till You Die is better than anything KRNA plays new). While Green Day gets the corporate love, none is shared for MXPX or Less Than Jake. The Seattle Superbands of the 90s are on regular rotation but King's X, Atomic Opera, Ministry and Helmet are on the outside looking in. And don't get me started on Pink Floyd, since Porcupine Tree has been the best prog rock band in this era and KRNA still manages to pull out The Wall or Wish You Were Here (and of course Dark Side) instead. And no King Crimson either.
Every day we have more new music to go with the past, there's never been so much out there and never has there's been so few ways to hear it, certainly not Corporate Radio. Public Radio tries their best, but their format is about 4 hours before The World Cafe comes on. And what the DJs play for new music isn't any better than the classic crap but at least it's a different torture. Streaming is the way of the future for some but for me, it's never going to change me not buying anything and if there was a way we can hear it on the radio rather than a Smart phone at work I'm open to suggestion.
But there's a always a place for Radio Misfits and you can find them at the thrift store and the dollar section. You're better off just to take a bunch of CDs to work and listen to them. But make sure you have a few to get through the night and have enough variety not to generate burnout like we do listening to the fucking FOX or KRNA at night.
Better yet, just give me silence. It's better than four hours of earworms like Foolin' by Def Leppard in your head all night.
In the age of the internet, time flies as faster than ever since we're on the computer 20 hours at a time it seems and 15 years ago, life got this fast as I got my first used computer and fought with that for about a year before getting a Gateway and fighting that for another two years. Past ten years I've had the same computer but it's pretium 4, it hangs up more often than not (like it is now) and researching the oldies and archives take much longer than it used to. The future seems to be on smart phones where you can down load apps to get lesser known radio pod casts and net stations to hear what Cumulus/Clear Channel won't play. Didn't used to be that way till Newt Gingrich sneaked past Bill Clinton doing Monica no doubt, the Telecommunications Act Of 1996 which gave us the Corporate CSers that is Cumulus/CC. And the same shit music and now much loathed rock classics that we're sick of hearing three times in one 8 hour setting picking cotton at our employment. Funny how KRNA used to play Nickleback but now since that band is uncool, they haven't. In the era of 1994, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots still live on but you don't hear Circus Of Power, Helmet and Killing Joke. Think of ten years ago, Good Charlotte you couldn't escape hearing on the radio but now you don't anymore. Los Lonely Boys came out with a debut that got played to death but 8 years later, they're forgotten in radio land. Or Sister Hazel. All For You makes them a one hit wonder, never mind they had a few more albums out after that.
Punk music of the 1990s has not aged very well. I really wasn't much into Rancid although Green Day is my choice of punk music, but KRNA considers them to rock and roll, so you can hear the usual Dookie hits. Or Offspring's Smash which somewhat holds up but every album after that they got to be a novelty act. A lot like Smash Mouth. Walking On The Sun is retro cool, Astro Lounge broke them with All Star, which made them a novelty act and after the third album nobody cared. So they're playing county fairs and package deals with other washed up 90s acts. Even Eve 6, which 15 years ago gave us Inside Out is now a oldies act. Like the rest, play for 15 minutes, just the hits and then hit the road to another town in the night. MXPX, basically Green Day light but speed metal due to a drummer with a sugar buzz and Torette's disease. Chick Magnet, they duplicated Green Day's Longview beat and got a minor hit for their trouble though you're more inclined to hear it on net radio. They never did top Green Day, they came close with the Everpassing Moment with Dave Grohl helping out but they blew their collective cool by then going for a Good Charlotte sound, with an eye on better sales. That didn't work. But they're still around playing whenever they get a moment free from families and life situations.
Perhaps Blink 182 was the more serious contender to Green Day but the Blinkers seem to have a fixation with poo poo jokes and worse ones. Dude Ranch is a poo poo joke itself, but Enema Of The State was a much better effort, a mature one at times although this year's event the boys couldn't help but change a few lines of their hits in a typical Animal House fashion. The Mike Portnoy of punk drummers Travis Barker helped their sound a lot after he replaced the original drummer. It's been said that Cheshire Cat, the album before Dude Ranch is one of the classic punk albums of the 1990s but once they enlisted the late Jerry Finn (Green Day/MXPX/Suicide Machines) to help guide them, they found their stride. I'll give them this, the 2011 Neighborhoods album was a nice comeback album. But even though they're in their 40s, they still can't stop telling poo poo jokes or playing the Cussing Song live (which can be found on Short Music For Short People on Fat Wreck Chords). But at least they're still playing live, unlike Good Charlotte who has become a footnote to punk rock history despite rumors of a new album this year.
The lack of variety on Corporate Radio is a very sore subject and although this blog attempts to seek out the ones that did get some airplay, for some reason they don't now. Make no mistake AC DC is good and their albums are classic, I just don't want to hear Back In Black on regular rotation the past 30 years. And in the meantime Cumulus/Clear Channel overlook such bands like their counterparts The Angels (although Marsalies gets played once a month) or the even harder rocking Kings Of The Sun (the new Clifford Hoad led Rock Till You Die is better than anything KRNA plays new). While Green Day gets the corporate love, none is shared for MXPX or Less Than Jake. The Seattle Superbands of the 90s are on regular rotation but King's X, Atomic Opera, Ministry and Helmet are on the outside looking in. And don't get me started on Pink Floyd, since Porcupine Tree has been the best prog rock band in this era and KRNA still manages to pull out The Wall or Wish You Were Here (and of course Dark Side) instead. And no King Crimson either.
Every day we have more new music to go with the past, there's never been so much out there and never has there's been so few ways to hear it, certainly not Corporate Radio. Public Radio tries their best, but their format is about 4 hours before The World Cafe comes on. And what the DJs play for new music isn't any better than the classic crap but at least it's a different torture. Streaming is the way of the future for some but for me, it's never going to change me not buying anything and if there was a way we can hear it on the radio rather than a Smart phone at work I'm open to suggestion.
But there's a always a place for Radio Misfits and you can find them at the thrift store and the dollar section. You're better off just to take a bunch of CDs to work and listen to them. But make sure you have a few to get through the night and have enough variety not to generate burnout like we do listening to the fucking FOX or KRNA at night.
Better yet, just give me silence. It's better than four hours of earworms like Foolin' by Def Leppard in your head all night.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
The Buck Pets
The 90s is the last decade of creativity before major label buyout mania took over and the independent cool labels got swallowed up by corporations. Good for the share holders but for the music listener not much so. Even in the 80s Island Records when Chris Blackwell was heading that label managed to score some good bands along the way. John Mayall made two late comeback albums that were great, the now hard to find Chicago Line one of them. Drivin' n Cryin' the most visible. And one of them came from Texas by the unique name of The Buck Pets.
A typical story of a one album wonder band, The Buck Pets' debut album is a raw sonic sludge of loud guitars and a combination of Soul Asylum lyricism but with a Husker Du' guitar sound that kinda foretold the grunge movement. But since they were not from Seattle, the term is more Alt Guitar Noise. Their first album remains their sole classic album. A bit of Jane's Addiction stop and start rock was added on for good measure, my guess is they couldn't name themselves The Fuck Ups and decided to find a name that could rhyme with that, thus The Buck Pets. Island was gracious enough to send the boys down to the Bahamas at Compass Point and get Ron St Germain to produce and mix the album and it doesn't sound out of place along with Jane's Addiction or early Husker Du', I hear The Junk Monkeys as well. The band owes nothing to Peter Buck or REM, the initial reaction was them being associated to REM but not at all. Unless they inspired REM to record Monster a few years later. The first song Iron Cock probably scared away MTV 120 Minutes or Headbangers Ball but it's a nice start to the album. I think the highlights is the acid power pop of Song For Louise Post and bonus CD cut The Bad Sleep Good, Or Not At All which melody was probably inspired by Nirvana's Bleach but for references to such bands of influence, The Buck Pets S/T still manages to hold up.
But somehow the attitude changed big time and perhaps the Island buy out to Polygram soured the band and the next album Mercurotones paled in comparison. A product of Corporate Island telling them what to do and what sound is now, the record is just about total confusion as The Bucks tried anything and everything to update their sound but a lot of songs never get going or sound unfinished. Perhaps the best title of this album is Fuck It by The Buck Pets. One song Libertine is produced by the Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys) and the rest done by Michael Beinhorn whose best moment was Mother's Milk by Red Hot Chili Peppers and one of the more hands on and less satisfying producers of the 90s. Rock Goddess (R T Cocaine Blues) starts the record out okay but the rest of the record they sound bored. Libertine at least changes the outcome a bit and perhaps the Dust Brothers would have been a better choice of production than Beinhorn. The first album was husker du drive, Mercurotones is driven more by the Pixies. Not a total waste, Hey Sunshine shows that they can do power pop fairly well. But the band disown just about everything about this album including art work and photo taken. The record flopped and Corporate Island said bye bye.
A change of label to Restless (aka Worthless Records according to the band) didn't help things. A change of drummers and To The Quick was released to indifference. Living Is The Best Thing got some airplay on the album rock station but nothing more came of this. Ted Nicely replaces Mike Beinhorn at production but the problem was the songs were even less memorable than Mercurotones and they were stuck on a label that had no clue on how to promote this band. A cover of the Who's Bargain is commendable but if you want to ever hear an album of a band giving up. To The Quick is that. They did threw in the towel after that, although Andy Thompson and Chris Savage did get the band back together for a 2010 reunion show.
For all intent purposes, The Buck Pets fit very well with Alternative rock of the late 80s, when they came out of the gate, they showed their influences and inspiration quite well but with record label meddling the next two efforts make a valid point of not signing with a major label. You can hear the results. For for a short time in 1989, they were one of the up and coming bands. The first album is all you need to know.
Grades:
The Buck Pets (Island 1989) A-
Mercurotones (Island 1990) B-
To The Quick (Restless 1993) C
A typical story of a one album wonder band, The Buck Pets' debut album is a raw sonic sludge of loud guitars and a combination of Soul Asylum lyricism but with a Husker Du' guitar sound that kinda foretold the grunge movement. But since they were not from Seattle, the term is more Alt Guitar Noise. Their first album remains their sole classic album. A bit of Jane's Addiction stop and start rock was added on for good measure, my guess is they couldn't name themselves The Fuck Ups and decided to find a name that could rhyme with that, thus The Buck Pets. Island was gracious enough to send the boys down to the Bahamas at Compass Point and get Ron St Germain to produce and mix the album and it doesn't sound out of place along with Jane's Addiction or early Husker Du', I hear The Junk Monkeys as well. The band owes nothing to Peter Buck or REM, the initial reaction was them being associated to REM but not at all. Unless they inspired REM to record Monster a few years later. The first song Iron Cock probably scared away MTV 120 Minutes or Headbangers Ball but it's a nice start to the album. I think the highlights is the acid power pop of Song For Louise Post and bonus CD cut The Bad Sleep Good, Or Not At All which melody was probably inspired by Nirvana's Bleach but for references to such bands of influence, The Buck Pets S/T still manages to hold up.
But somehow the attitude changed big time and perhaps the Island buy out to Polygram soured the band and the next album Mercurotones paled in comparison. A product of Corporate Island telling them what to do and what sound is now, the record is just about total confusion as The Bucks tried anything and everything to update their sound but a lot of songs never get going or sound unfinished. Perhaps the best title of this album is Fuck It by The Buck Pets. One song Libertine is produced by the Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys) and the rest done by Michael Beinhorn whose best moment was Mother's Milk by Red Hot Chili Peppers and one of the more hands on and less satisfying producers of the 90s. Rock Goddess (R T Cocaine Blues) starts the record out okay but the rest of the record they sound bored. Libertine at least changes the outcome a bit and perhaps the Dust Brothers would have been a better choice of production than Beinhorn. The first album was husker du drive, Mercurotones is driven more by the Pixies. Not a total waste, Hey Sunshine shows that they can do power pop fairly well. But the band disown just about everything about this album including art work and photo taken. The record flopped and Corporate Island said bye bye.
A change of label to Restless (aka Worthless Records according to the band) didn't help things. A change of drummers and To The Quick was released to indifference. Living Is The Best Thing got some airplay on the album rock station but nothing more came of this. Ted Nicely replaces Mike Beinhorn at production but the problem was the songs were even less memorable than Mercurotones and they were stuck on a label that had no clue on how to promote this band. A cover of the Who's Bargain is commendable but if you want to ever hear an album of a band giving up. To The Quick is that. They did threw in the towel after that, although Andy Thompson and Chris Savage did get the band back together for a 2010 reunion show.
For all intent purposes, The Buck Pets fit very well with Alternative rock of the late 80s, when they came out of the gate, they showed their influences and inspiration quite well but with record label meddling the next two efforts make a valid point of not signing with a major label. You can hear the results. For for a short time in 1989, they were one of the up and coming bands. The first album is all you need to know.
Grades:
The Buck Pets (Island 1989) A-
Mercurotones (Island 1990) B-
To The Quick (Restless 1993) C
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
The Remingtons
In the late 80s and early 90s it was not uncommon for soft rockers form country bands and make a decent living from it. Chris Hillman probably had the most success with The Desert Rose Band. Henry Paul went from the southern rock of The Outlaws and his namesake Henry Paul Band to form a partnership with Van Stephenson (Modern Day Delilah) and country hack Kent Robbins with the band Black Hawk which had a successful 90s run themselves. Sometimes other bands fall through the cracks. The Remingtons were one those who did.
Richard Mainegra and Rick Yancey were in the soft rock band Cymarron that had a 1971 hit with Rings, James Griffin was in Bread, perhaps the ultimate soft rock band of that time. In 1991 thereabouts these guys got together to make two country rock albums for the dreaded BNA label. Produced by Larry Michael Lee (Ozark Mountain Daredevils singer of Jackie Blue and later produced the likes of Alabama, Restless Heart and even R& B singer Tracie Spencer) and Josh Leo (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) the 1992 Blue Frontier was a product of country music of the 1990s, smooth harmonies, and soft tempo courtesy of some of the finest Nashville session players at that time ( Biff Watson, Bernie Leadon, Mike Rhodes, Harry Stinson). Blue Frontier is mainstream C&W, with two top twenty hits with A Long Time Ago (10) and Two Timin Me (18). Like Restless Heart, it's ballad heavy and not enough rockin country to satisfy more than a curious listen. But when James Griffin takes the lead on When Love At First Sight Goes Blind or Takin The Easy Way Out, then the record comes to life. The record managed to peak at number 55 in 1992 and BNA ponied up for a new album.
Yancey left, Denny Henson replaced him and they recorded Aim For The Heart, a album that was better for the choice of a remake of Everything I Own, the old Bread classic, this time James Griffin did the vocals. Jimmy sang on half of the 10 songs on Aim For The Heart, Robb Royer, an old Bread band mate and songwriter contributed the song Lucky Boy. A bit more MOR pop while maintaining an eye on the country side, the record bombed and The Remingtons were let go from BNA.
The fact of the matter is that The Remingtons may have owed something from their soft rock beginnings but they were also were part of the music scene like that of Desert Rose Band. A more friendlier sound than Desert Rose Band which meant more ballads. And unfortunately for them what they had in mind for music, Black Hawk took a little bit further and had more hits. Denny Henson and James Griffin continued on till Griffin died from cancer in 2005.
A footnote in country music of 1990s The Remingtons were not bad, most of the time they wrote their own songs. And anything Jimmy Griffin played in, he did give them a more rocking edge in the music they made. Nobody remembers them much anymore, today's country radio ignores them (like they do with Black Hawk and Desert Rose Band and even Restless Heart, unless Willie's Roadhouse plays them) and their CDs can be found in the dollar bins but both albums do have a good song or two.
Grades:
Blue Frontier (BNA 1992) B
Aim For The Heart (BNA 1993) B+
Richard Mainegra and Rick Yancey were in the soft rock band Cymarron that had a 1971 hit with Rings, James Griffin was in Bread, perhaps the ultimate soft rock band of that time. In 1991 thereabouts these guys got together to make two country rock albums for the dreaded BNA label. Produced by Larry Michael Lee (Ozark Mountain Daredevils singer of Jackie Blue and later produced the likes of Alabama, Restless Heart and even R& B singer Tracie Spencer) and Josh Leo (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) the 1992 Blue Frontier was a product of country music of the 1990s, smooth harmonies, and soft tempo courtesy of some of the finest Nashville session players at that time ( Biff Watson, Bernie Leadon, Mike Rhodes, Harry Stinson). Blue Frontier is mainstream C&W, with two top twenty hits with A Long Time Ago (10) and Two Timin Me (18). Like Restless Heart, it's ballad heavy and not enough rockin country to satisfy more than a curious listen. But when James Griffin takes the lead on When Love At First Sight Goes Blind or Takin The Easy Way Out, then the record comes to life. The record managed to peak at number 55 in 1992 and BNA ponied up for a new album.
Yancey left, Denny Henson replaced him and they recorded Aim For The Heart, a album that was better for the choice of a remake of Everything I Own, the old Bread classic, this time James Griffin did the vocals. Jimmy sang on half of the 10 songs on Aim For The Heart, Robb Royer, an old Bread band mate and songwriter contributed the song Lucky Boy. A bit more MOR pop while maintaining an eye on the country side, the record bombed and The Remingtons were let go from BNA.
The fact of the matter is that The Remingtons may have owed something from their soft rock beginnings but they were also were part of the music scene like that of Desert Rose Band. A more friendlier sound than Desert Rose Band which meant more ballads. And unfortunately for them what they had in mind for music, Black Hawk took a little bit further and had more hits. Denny Henson and James Griffin continued on till Griffin died from cancer in 2005.
A footnote in country music of 1990s The Remingtons were not bad, most of the time they wrote their own songs. And anything Jimmy Griffin played in, he did give them a more rocking edge in the music they made. Nobody remembers them much anymore, today's country radio ignores them (like they do with Black Hawk and Desert Rose Band and even Restless Heart, unless Willie's Roadhouse plays them) and their CDs can be found in the dollar bins but both albums do have a good song or two.
Grades:
Blue Frontier (BNA 1992) B
Aim For The Heart (BNA 1993) B+
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Reo Speedwagon Updated
Once upon a time REO Speedwagon was a hard rocking band from Illinois that managed to have a good rocking debut featuring Terry Luttrell. Had a minor hit with Lay Me Down and Sophisticated Lady but Luttrell left after a following out with Gary Richrath. Kevin Cronin replaced him and made REO TWO which was more of that hard rock and boogie and got FM airplay with Golden Country (to which Luttrell said he co-written with Richrath but never got credit). Then Cronin left and was replaced by Mike Murphy.
While reviews of Riding The Storm Out were not nice, I find it to be a rewarding album simply of the fact that a coworker had a 8 track of that and it was played a lot at the old APCO station that I used to work at. Joe Walsh helped out on a few songs on Riding The Storm Out and I always preferred the title track over the OTT version that classic rock radio plays to death. However Lost In A Dream was less enjoyable and This Time We Really Mean It showed REO spinning their wheels and getting nowhere. Murphy then left and Cronin came back for the 1976 REO album and despite tinny production from John Stronach, had a FM hit with Keep Pushin' and I Believe That Our Time Will Come. I used the like You Get What You Play For, their 1977 Live double but found that in my later years I tend to prefer the originals.
1978 began the classic years beginning with the wonderful You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish and they got hits with Roll With The Changes and Time For Me To Fly although it's a shame that Blazing Your Own Trail wasn't selected for the third hit. In my senior year, had this on cassette and it was one of the most played tapes that I did have. Nine Lives, didn't sell as well but it rocked harder with Drop It (An Old Disguise), Heavy On Your Love and Only The Strong Survive but yet this didn't have any ballads, unless you count the country sounding I Need You Tonight. But Hi inFIdelity broke them big time on the strength of Keep On Loving You and then REO became ballad heavy and after that I pretty much gave up on them from here on out and Richrath was eventually forced out of the band. Good Trouble took up where Hi Infidelity left off and basically was a snoozer and Wheels Are Turning and Life As We Know It were by the numbers MOR pop. Last year REO returned to Sony Music to put out the budget christmas album Not So Silent Night but I never did hear that. Find Your Way Home might have been their best since Hi Fidelity.
Like a fool, I sold my CD copy of REO and kept the album only to find out that the vinyl album was pretty scratchy. Guess I have to see if I can try to find that record. But in the end, REO started out a great midwestern rock and boogie band and then sold their soul for the radio and got that major hit. As for myself I prefer the rockers over the ballads anytime of year.
In the time since this original review I have come to find that the overplayed hits have soured my listening to their albums even though Keep On Loving You or Take It On The Run are cheese entertainment. Today's Millennials roll their eyes and smirk on the tongue in cheek Tuna Fish, which has been nominated as one of the top ten all time worst album titles ever but still is a classic album in its own wake thanks to John Boylan helping with production. And I even thought Kevin Beamish captured the REO sound quite well on Nine Lives although his later work with Henry Paul Band and Jefferson Starship really became dated 80s synch pop. Songs like Drop It or Only The Strong Survive still hold up. Anything beginning with Good Trouble onward, their label branded them into MOR pop like Journey but only more poppier and nobody remembers Terry Luttrell or Mike Murphy anymore. At least on Find Your Way Home, Kevin Cronin finally learned how to rock a little bit more, something that he didn't do on Building A Bridge or worse the 1990 Epic farewell and flop A Man, His Dog, His Chicken etc to which the band finally rocks out, on the last two songs. Which were the best two songs of that forgettable LP.
But nowadays Kevin Cronin and company are content to bask in the past glories of Keep On Loving You or Can't Fight This Feeling and can be seen playing at state fairs and casinos, sometimes with classic rock refugees Foreigner and Styx, sometimes on their own. I know in my heart that while I enjoyed having Cronin returned in 1976, replacing Murphy as the lead singer, my guilty pleasure still remains with the Murphy led Ridin The Storm Out or Luttrell's appearance on the first album. The first remains a midwest rock classic but each album after that would reveal a more California pop and roll even on Ridin The Storm Out, Reo Two, still holding on to a Illinois groove. But back then, their record label held out a very long 10 year association with them, till they hit gold with the 1977 Live album and after that the Platinum selling Hi Infidelity. And they sold out their collective cool, and eventually Gary Richrath would leave, thus finally giving Cronin his pop vision that started with the 1976 REO album and grew. Like Journey, I'm happy they found their formulaic style of ballads and light pop, but also like Journey I'd rather hear them rock out than ballading it. Thank God, they haven't milked remaking the hits like Foreigner always seems to do, but then again they beat that band into making their own Christmas album. Buyer beware indeed.
Gary Richrath, the long time guitarist of the band passed away on September 12, 2015.
Grades
REO Speedwagon (Epic 1971) A-
REO-TWO (Epic 1972) A-
Riding The Storm Out (Epic 1973) B+
Lost In A Dream (Epic 1974) B-
This Time We Really Mean It (Epic 1975) C
REO (Epic 1976) B+
You Get What You Play For-REO Live (Epic 1977) C+
You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish (Epic 1978) A-
Nine Lives (Epic 1979) A-
Hi Infidelity (Epic 1980) B+
A Decade Of Rock And Roll (Epic 1981) B+
Good Trouble (Epic 1982) C+
Wheels Are Turning (Epic 1983) C
Life As We Know It (Epic 1984) C
REO-The Hits (Epic 1988) B-
The Earth, The Man, His Small Dog And A Chicken (Epic 1990) C+
The Second Decade Of Hits (Epic 1991) C+
Building A Bridge (Castle 1996) C+
Find Your Own Way (2007) B
Not So Merry Christmas (Legacy/CMG 2010) C+
While reviews of Riding The Storm Out were not nice, I find it to be a rewarding album simply of the fact that a coworker had a 8 track of that and it was played a lot at the old APCO station that I used to work at. Joe Walsh helped out on a few songs on Riding The Storm Out and I always preferred the title track over the OTT version that classic rock radio plays to death. However Lost In A Dream was less enjoyable and This Time We Really Mean It showed REO spinning their wheels and getting nowhere. Murphy then left and Cronin came back for the 1976 REO album and despite tinny production from John Stronach, had a FM hit with Keep Pushin' and I Believe That Our Time Will Come. I used the like You Get What You Play For, their 1977 Live double but found that in my later years I tend to prefer the originals.
1978 began the classic years beginning with the wonderful You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish and they got hits with Roll With The Changes and Time For Me To Fly although it's a shame that Blazing Your Own Trail wasn't selected for the third hit. In my senior year, had this on cassette and it was one of the most played tapes that I did have. Nine Lives, didn't sell as well but it rocked harder with Drop It (An Old Disguise), Heavy On Your Love and Only The Strong Survive but yet this didn't have any ballads, unless you count the country sounding I Need You Tonight. But Hi inFIdelity broke them big time on the strength of Keep On Loving You and then REO became ballad heavy and after that I pretty much gave up on them from here on out and Richrath was eventually forced out of the band. Good Trouble took up where Hi Infidelity left off and basically was a snoozer and Wheels Are Turning and Life As We Know It were by the numbers MOR pop. Last year REO returned to Sony Music to put out the budget christmas album Not So Silent Night but I never did hear that. Find Your Way Home might have been their best since Hi Fidelity.
Like a fool, I sold my CD copy of REO and kept the album only to find out that the vinyl album was pretty scratchy. Guess I have to see if I can try to find that record. But in the end, REO started out a great midwestern rock and boogie band and then sold their soul for the radio and got that major hit. As for myself I prefer the rockers over the ballads anytime of year.
In the time since this original review I have come to find that the overplayed hits have soured my listening to their albums even though Keep On Loving You or Take It On The Run are cheese entertainment. Today's Millennials roll their eyes and smirk on the tongue in cheek Tuna Fish, which has been nominated as one of the top ten all time worst album titles ever but still is a classic album in its own wake thanks to John Boylan helping with production. And I even thought Kevin Beamish captured the REO sound quite well on Nine Lives although his later work with Henry Paul Band and Jefferson Starship really became dated 80s synch pop. Songs like Drop It or Only The Strong Survive still hold up. Anything beginning with Good Trouble onward, their label branded them into MOR pop like Journey but only more poppier and nobody remembers Terry Luttrell or Mike Murphy anymore. At least on Find Your Way Home, Kevin Cronin finally learned how to rock a little bit more, something that he didn't do on Building A Bridge or worse the 1990 Epic farewell and flop A Man, His Dog, His Chicken etc to which the band finally rocks out, on the last two songs. Which were the best two songs of that forgettable LP.
But nowadays Kevin Cronin and company are content to bask in the past glories of Keep On Loving You or Can't Fight This Feeling and can be seen playing at state fairs and casinos, sometimes with classic rock refugees Foreigner and Styx, sometimes on their own. I know in my heart that while I enjoyed having Cronin returned in 1976, replacing Murphy as the lead singer, my guilty pleasure still remains with the Murphy led Ridin The Storm Out or Luttrell's appearance on the first album. The first remains a midwest rock classic but each album after that would reveal a more California pop and roll even on Ridin The Storm Out, Reo Two, still holding on to a Illinois groove. But back then, their record label held out a very long 10 year association with them, till they hit gold with the 1977 Live album and after that the Platinum selling Hi Infidelity. And they sold out their collective cool, and eventually Gary Richrath would leave, thus finally giving Cronin his pop vision that started with the 1976 REO album and grew. Like Journey, I'm happy they found their formulaic style of ballads and light pop, but also like Journey I'd rather hear them rock out than ballading it. Thank God, they haven't milked remaking the hits like Foreigner always seems to do, but then again they beat that band into making their own Christmas album. Buyer beware indeed.
Gary Richrath, the long time guitarist of the band passed away on September 12, 2015.
Grades
REO Speedwagon (Epic 1971) A-
REO-TWO (Epic 1972) A-
Riding The Storm Out (Epic 1973) B+
Lost In A Dream (Epic 1974) B-
This Time We Really Mean It (Epic 1975) C
REO (Epic 1976) B+
You Get What You Play For-REO Live (Epic 1977) C+
You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish (Epic 1978) A-
Nine Lives (Epic 1979) A-
Hi Infidelity (Epic 1980) B+
A Decade Of Rock And Roll (Epic 1981) B+
Good Trouble (Epic 1982) C+
Wheels Are Turning (Epic 1983) C
Life As We Know It (Epic 1984) C
REO-The Hits (Epic 1988) B-
The Earth, The Man, His Small Dog And A Chicken (Epic 1990) C+
The Second Decade Of Hits (Epic 1991) C+
Building A Bridge (Castle 1996) C+
Find Your Own Way (2007) B
Not So Merry Christmas (Legacy/CMG 2010) C+
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