UPDATE 6:22 p.m. 4/21: Back from record stores. Long walk. I got two records one at each shop at 5 points. Roy Clark’s ‘ Spectacular Guitar.’ He’s one of the best guitarists and perhaps underrated by rock fans. Grass Roots, some personal reasons I picked ‘Golden Grass’ which I will talk about at a later date. Fine day to shop, came in under $15 for two I wanted. Don’t tell Catherine. I’m still trying to find the right time to tell her about my growing stack of albums.
I did confess to getting Neutral Milk Hotel’s Aeroplane record on newly minted vinyl during a recent road trip to see family. It’s an album I had on CD, but I love it and couldn’t resist a purchase at WUXTRY in Athens, Ga., where the band lived and, I believe recorded the album.
Hey all,
I published another Countdown update on AL.com. Click here.
I am going right now to 5 pts. South to Record Store Day at the two stores there, Charlemagne and Renassance. And Seasick little later.
I’m still taking this week all in as my colleague and friend John Archibald won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
I’m off …….Oh wait a minute!
Coincidence or not department. The Difford and Tilbrook vinyl record I have as my latest review has a song I singled out “Picking up the Pieces.”
My five snippits I introduce to AL.com readers today contains the Average White Band’s famous hit ‘Pick up the Pieces’ a totally different song from different eras and genre………wow.
OK maybe not so Wow but it is kind of strange…OK maybe not strange at all (I’m going now).
Listen to the AWB video piece of my post and watch the (totally white) crowd try to dance … funny (OK I’m going now.)
Couple of nice songs, most notably ‘Picking up the Pieces.’
‘Tears for Attention’ finally gets your attention after a dozen listens, now seems to be a very good song to me after first dismissing as slooow..
But my main reaction is how this is SO not as good as Squeeze, whom I really enjoyed, especially Argybargy and East Side Story, which I will review when I get to the S’s. Difford and Tilbrook were the core of Squeeze. The Squeeze sound is still there with this one but there’s a lack of energy, a lack of mussels (from a shell.)
I will say though that ‘Picking up the Pieces’ I would rate in the Top 5 of all Squeeze songs.
This is one of those records I may keep out for further listens because there’s something subtle at work that may actually work with further listens. Here’s the thing: I know they can sing and I know they can write songs. I’ just asking to sing louder and write better.
I have a story about the Dixie Dregs. Must have been around 1978 and I was hanging out with Catherine (my future bride), Rose and Carol in downtown Athens, Ga.
We were all high school buddies and happened to be walking past the Georgia Theatre when some folks were loading equipment from a truck into the theater. It was late afternoon.
We sidled, or at least the young women in the group sidled, over and asked what’s up. They told us they were the Dixie Dregs and were playing that night.
The Dregs members and crew seemed quite chatty, though not to me. Anyway, with me way in the background, they invited ‘us’ to enjoy the show from the front row. (I think at this point they were holding the door open for Catherine, Rose and Carol and I had to practically dive through before it closed in my face.) Anyway free front row show and it was good. An all-instrumental funky band playing music that was hard to pigeon hole.
Ironically, earler that year I had won an award for best high school critical review with a write-up about Sea Level, an all instrumental offshoot of the Allman Brothers, playing the same venue. The award was from the University of Georgia Journalism Department.
Sea Level was playing at the grand opening of the Georgia Theatre as a concert venue. It used to be a movie theater. (It burned down in 2009, but I can attest it has been re-built and is very much a go-to Athens, Ga. music venue, with the likes of Randall Bramblett and Chuck Leavell frequently playing.}
As for the Dregs’ music, it was musicianship at a high level. A little bit of Mahavishnu Orchestra, a little southern-fried rock, and some Pat Metheny, or Steve Howe-like jazzy guitar-based tunes. As a guitarist, Steve Morse is about as respected by musicians as you can get. Since 1994, he’s been lead guitarist for Deep Purple.
He had big shoes to fill in Deep Purple where the guitar was once wielded by Ritchie Blackmore. Apparently, he has been well received in the group. This from Deep Purple’s website:
Morse brought a funkiness, a depth as guitarist and writer, an unparalleled fluidity as a soloist, a startling aptitude as foil to Lord, and an arsenal of influences – country, folk, jazz, what they’ve sadly labeled “fusion,” and an inherent understanding of blues-based riffs – that meshed effortlessly with the immaculate Glover-Paice sense of swing and Gillan’s seeming capacity to go anywhere at any time, full-throated and eyes ablaze.
On the Dregs’ 1978 album ‘What If,’ which I have, the instrumentals are easy to listen to and sound as if they could be soundtrack miniatures in a way. ‘Take it off the Top,’ the opening song,, sounds so familiar, kind of like a TV soundtrack (in the vein of Rockford Files).
I hate to call it fusion, as well, but the music certainly fuses jazz, blues, rock and some classical conceits into a very listenable sound synthesis. There’s a violin, organ, bass and drums all driven by Morse’s extraordinary guitar.
I talked on the phone recently with my niece Rachel. She is 11 and lives in Boulder, CO. Her favorite show is Riverdale, and she loves to talk about it.
I learned this TV show was adapted from the old comic books featuring Archie and Betty and Jughead and Veronica and Reggie.
I was a big Archie fan when I was Rachel’s age. I had stacks of the comic books, and I watched the cartoon on Saturday morning.
K.J. Apa is Archie in Riverdale
I know nothing about CW’s TV rendition of Riverdale , except that it’s not a cartoon and is very popular with the tween and early teen demographic.
Over the phone with Rachel I started singing “Sugar Sugar’ from 1969.
Sugar, uh uh uh uh uh uh,
Ah honey honey, uh uh uh uh uh uh You are my candy girl And you got me wanting you
Talk about a take-you-back-in time little ear worm. I still remember the words.
“I like the new version,” Rachel said, interrupting my reverie.
New version? Of Sugar, Sugar?
L-R My daughters Claire, Emily and niece Rachel. Emily and Rachel watchh Riverdale. It’s Rachel’s favorite.
How could they remake the best song ever by a cartoon character. ‘Sugar, Sugar’ was the No. 1 song for the year 1969.
Here’s what ENews at eonline.com says: “Sugar, Sugar” was originally performed by The Archies, a group of fictional characters from The Archie Show. The song shot to No. 1 on the Billboard 100 chart and stayed there for four weeks, topping songs by the likes of Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
See what I’m talking about? Archie Andrews sold more 45’s of ‘Sugar, Sugar’ than songs by Marvin Gaye, Elvis, and the Beatles? Also the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder. It beat songs like ‘Proud Mary,’ ‘Suspicious Minds,’ Spinning Wheel’ and on and on. (Actually Wilson Pickett did a pretty good soulful version in 1970.)
Archie Andrews. With Betty on tambourine. And the other wonderful cartoon musicians.
Listen to Archie’s phrasing when he sings ‘Oh sugar, pour a little sugar on it honey,’ deftly juxtaposing sugar with the sweetness of honey. A brilliant bit of wordplay there.
The real Archie?
What’s not to like: there’s the double-knee crunch dancing of Betty and Veronica; Archie playing a mean rhythm guitar that looks like a Gibson Les Paul; and all sorts of cartoon shenanigans like Archie and Reggie turning into a frog or rabbit when kissed.
That kind of splendid imagery can’t happen in Riverdale with live actors, I don’t care what kind of special effects you have these days.
But Rachel insisted the Josie and Pussycats version at Riverdale is by far the best Sugar, Sugar.
In the updated version, they have changed the name of the song to ‘Candy Girl (Sugar, Sugar).’ by Inner Circle featuring Flo Rida, (Vocalizing, I suppose for Josie and the Pussycats). It’s a modern song and the show is a far cry from the Archie of Saturday mornings past. Parents need to know that Riverdale is a drama about a group of teens that’s based on the classic Archie comics.
Archie? With a teacher? Maybe things have become, well, real. Maybe too real.
Here’s the new version, with a new rapping intro:
Rachel, my niece, gives a solid thumbs up to the Riverdale version.
I am partial to the old version, the No. 1 hit in 1969. Maybe the competition will spur cartoon Archie to come out of retirement and get the band back together. (He’s been virtually unheard of since that bitter break-up song in the 70s: ‘I Don’t Need You to Carry a ‘Toon.’)
Which one do you like best?
(To comment, click on the headline and scroll to the botttom of the story. For more on the song and the Archies see here.)
ALBUMS: Brothers in Arms (1985); Making Movies (1980); Dire Straits (1978)
MVC Ratings: Brothers, 4.5/$$$; Making Movies, 4.0/$$$; Dire Straits, 4.0/$$$
I was hesitant about doing Dire Straits. They have become so big that it is almost cool to hate them. Like the Eagles; people love to hate them. That hate campaign was generated I believe by the classic character ‘The Dude’ played by Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski.
But I think it’s unfair. Both to the Eagles and Dire Straits.
Just because you have heard Hotel California 343,000 times doesn’t make it a bad song. Just because the “Walk of Life” sits in your head ready to come to life at anything resembling the Hammond B3 organ intro to the song, doesn’t mean it’s terrible. Annoying, maybe.
But Dire Straits and the Eagles are very good, yes, great bands. I’ll deal with the Eagles later in my blog, soon actually when I get to the ‘E’s’.
It’s the phenomenon of the cliche’ — a word or phrase overused to the extent it becomes dull. But how did it get to be a cliche’ to begin with? People used it, liked it. It was, at the end of the day, a way to put a bottom line on it. Moving forward, if you know what I mean.
Do the walk of life to that one hotel that’ll let you check in but never check out. But of course that’s so 1970s.
I especially like Dire Straits because of a concert I saw at the Agora Ballroom in Atlanta in my formative years. It was Nov. 8, 1980. They were just out, touring America off Making Movies, their third album, and were relatively unknown or at least unknown enough to be playing the US in these smaller venues.. The now-defunct Agora was large for a nightclub but still a small venue for a concert. It was previously called Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom. It burned down in 1983 (some stupid with a flair gun…no, wait that’s another tune, sorry.)
As I remember the Agora was across the street from another great venue, The Fox Theater.
Knopfler (left) and Dire Straits
We sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the stage. I still vividly remember the now emblematic guitar solo from Sultans of Swing and watching his hands move through the chords and his finger-picking as it increased speed.
Knopfler is one of a few electric guitarists who doesn’t use a pick. With a pick, I’d imagine he would sound a lot like Eric Clapton. But the finger picking takes a little sting out. It is distinctive and slightly muted.
That doesn’t mean he can’t crush some chords as he does in the very popular “Money for Nothing,’ arguably one of the top recognizable riffs after Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water,’ or the Stones’ Satisfaction (or ‘Honky Tonk Woman.’)
It was Nov. 8, the day before my 21st birthday , and I was taking it all in. I was sipping Toohey’s out of an Australian oil can. (It would be several years before they upped the drinking/nightclubbing age from 18 to 21.)
The small venue, the front row seats and the friends (including Catherine, my soon-to-be wife, made for one of my most memorable concert experiences ever. Dire Straits went on to sell an astronomical 100 million albums over their career. (The Eagles have sold even more, 150 million).
That’s not to say that I think Dire Straits was the greatest band ever.
Although, Knopfler sings a bit like Dylan, he certainly was no match for Bob in the songwriting department. See what I just did before I say, his lyrics sometimes wandered into cliche’.
That’s all from this department although stay tuned for my piece on the Eagles and related: Mark Knopfler’s soundtrack album, Local Hero. Great movie, great soundtrack.
If you have any doubts about whether this man can play, watch the Sultan’s video to the end. And to think I saw that about six feet away.
Below are some links and excerpts from stories I wrote about my new status at AL.com
It’s all good. Really good.
Bottom line: I’m now going to be writing full time as a columnist. Here’s part of what I wrote and published on AL.com Friday.
A little over a year ago I wrote a column that pulled out the tried and true trope: I have some good news and bad news.
My ‘good’ news was that despite what I had previously announced in a column, I did not have Parkinson’s disease after all. I did not have that dreadful brain degenerating disease that left Muhammed “The Louisville Lip” Ali speechless, and makes Michael J. Fox shake and tremble like he has just been pulled out of an ice fishing hole.
I didn’t have it. But I had something else.
There was that word ‘but.’
Oliver listening to and writing about one of his 678 vinyl records stored on bottom shelf. Despite a degenerative brain disease, he vows to review them all. (Mike Oliver).
My wife, Catherine, scolds me when I use the word ‘but’ after a declarative clause. “When you say ‘but,'”she says, “You are negating everything you said in the first part of the sentence.”
But, but, but … I argue. (I always argue semantics).
But it’s true in this case. Not having Parkinson’s was NOT good news. I was misdiagnosed (not uncommon). I didn’t have Parkinson’s; I had Lewy Body dementia, which in general leaves its patients with a shortened lifespan. The average lifespan after diagnosis is five to seven years, usually much shorter than the lifespan expected after an Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diagnosis.
I was diagnosed about 18 months ago at age 56. So, I have a little time, I think.
Today I wrote more specifically (to theAl.com audience ) about my countdown and record review:.
So I’ve told you earlier I was going to be doing more writings on AL.com, and some of it will relate to the countdown of my vinyl records.
I have vowed in my blog that I will count down my collection of 678 vinyl records before I succumb to a degenerative brain disease called Lewy Body dementia.
I’m 58 now and it appears I have enough records to last me about two years, although I am feeling deadline pressure.
All the songs on this album were recorded in the 1950’s before 1958. I was born 1959.
I believe I first heard a Bo Diddley song on a Rolling Stones record. The song was ‘Crackin’ Up.’ Don’t remember the Stones album, maybe ‘Love You Live.’ All of the songs on this LP clock in at under 3 minutes. No messing around with these tight simple, but potently rhythmic, blues songs. Between Chuck Berry and Bo, Keith Richards must have learned every chord in his arsenal.
Diddley, Mississippi born, he died at 79 in 2008 in Florida. He is known for his guitar-with-a-beat technique, influencing the likes of Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones and the Who (Magic Bus). The kids loved it; parents were outraged by the pulsating herky jerky guitar music..
Premierguitar.com writes: Along with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley was one of rock n’ roll’s guitar-slinging originators. His guitar rhythms harked back to a more primitive place than the swing-meets-country style of Berry; outraged parents in the fifties referring their children’s affection for “jungle music” were most likely referring to Bo Diddley.
I love the way DIddley snarls and talks every now and then. His insult battle with Jerome Green in ‘Say Man’ presages rap battles of the future.
Fun, but short, album to put on at a party to dance to the songs of a man who actually named a song after himself:
This reeks of college. Although this came out in 1984, two years after I had graduated from Auburn University.
I guess you may have earlier picked up that I matriculated there.
But my home was Athens, Ga. Yes I went to UGA as well. And Athens, at that time, was on the cutting edge of alternative music with the B-52’s, REM, Pylon, Love Tractor and many others.
I straddled the line, sometimes going all in on so-called alternative music, but still respecting roots rock and classic rock, blues and soul.
As Springsteen famously sang: I learned more in a three-minute record than I ever learned in school.
The dB’s had several very good musicians and songwriters, Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, who later joined REM, on tours. The dB’s had that college radio sound, a little jangle, a poppy feel that felt on the edge of breaking out but nonetheless retained its alternative label — perhaps a reason they never really did break out.
The dB’s were clever, smart and musically interesting. A Spy in the House of Love is one my favorite rock and rollers, but db’s still screamed dorm room and college life, which as I listen to it right now is good — because it brings back memories.
ALBUMS: The Real Donovan (1965 ); Hurdy Gurdy Man (1968); Barabajagal (1969).
MVC Ratings: Hurdy 4.5.$$$; The Real Donovan 3.5/$$$; Barabajal 4.0/$$$$
I am skipping ahead here only slightly in my alphabetical placement. I should be doing my Dire Straits and Bo Diddley and db’s before Donovan.
But in the previous post I compared up-and-comer Mac DeMarco to Donovan and since I brought him up, I figured let’s review my three Donovan records before I get back to my not-so-strict alphabetization. At least we’re keeping it in the D’s.
If Donovan sounds interesting to you, I’d probably start with one of his several greatest hits albums. The three records I have cover most of his hits: Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man, Atlantis, Catch the Wind, Mellow Yellow and Colours to name the bigger hits.
The first song of the 1965 album is called Turquoise and it was what first made me connect DeMarco’s style to Donovan. And from DeMarco, Salad Days, the title song, sounds like a whimsical Donovan song.
As for other comparisons, the Donovan song Atlantis with its repetitive singalong chorus could just as well have been an Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ song, had Donovan not done it 40-something years ago.
Donovan was born in Glasgow, Scotland and was a high school dropout and sort of wandering beach bum, according to his bio. His early work seemed heavily influenced by folk music and Bob Dylan. Although Donovan has said some of his songs that people say sound like Dylan were composed and recorded before Donovan even knew who Dylan was.
Donovan comparisons go only so far. Donovan isn’t or wasn’t as ‘chill’ as DeMarco, at least from what I hear on Salad Days. Donovan had some pretty heavy electric guitars in Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man, and Barabajagal to name some.
While DeMarco’s ‘lo-fi’ sound has just a tincture of psych, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck played on some of Donovan’s songs and Donovan dove head-long into that 60s psych-o-melodics. (My word, just going to try it out for a while.)
And then there’s Mellow Yellow and the ‘electrical banana’ — yes he wrote that.
Of course, I have to stifle a laugh when I hear an earnest young singer of 23 open the album with: ‘As I’m getting older, chip upon my shoulder.’
Mac DeMarco, who is now 27, says his ‘salad days are over.’
Well at 58 my lettuce wilted long ago.
Act your age, he says on the record. Not going to do it.
One thing, this Canadian is as mellow (maybe even yellow) as an old folkster.
I like him.
He’s got an updated Donovan style with a little frost on it. That’s Donovan Leitch of Hurdy Gurdy man and Sunshine Superman fame. (See now I’m pulling my old man references — back to the 1960s, how about that! Donovan was charting 50 years ago). Also that’s Donovan of Mellow Yellow fame if you missed the reference above.
Donovan was kind of dismissed as a hopelessly helpless hippie at points in his career, a Dylan clone at other parts. But he put out some great music.
Like Donovan, Mac does some spacey slow note-bending guitar work. His words, despite my funning with them, are good. Production is immaculate. It’s that ethereal feel that reminds me of Donovan mixed with a little sleepy time jazz as you hear on Johnny’s Odyssey.
This is a new album, 2014. My sister and her family gave me this one along with some others still yet to be reviewed. The idea being that if I keep my vow of counting down all my vinyl before I die of brain disease, she (and others) are extending my life by adding to my collection. I can’t argue with that, although I do have a lot of albums before I get to the Z’s!
Thanks for this one, nice gentle sound. DeMarco is a young person with a wise heart. Just like my younger sister.
