This may be too late since Halloween is over in about three hours. But the best Halloween album I can think of is Sun Ra’s ‘The Magic City. Yes that Magic City.
Sun Ra was a far-out jazz and blues figure from Birmingham. He even dressed up as one could or might for Halloween — in long robes and head dresses. Except he did it all the time, not just Oct. 31.
I bought ‘Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra, a reissue of a 1965 recording, on a recent trip back to Athens, Ga., and WUXTRY Records.
I’m not including it on my Countdown list because I just bought it and am trying to keep my vinyl countdown to records I bought growing up. But I’m listening to this on a Halloween night and its free form avant garde jazz has prepared me nicely for any scares that are awaiting out in the blackness. Add flutes, saxophone, drums, etc. it makes a mighty psychedelic stew.
Oh what the heck, I’ll put this on my Countdown after all.
Well, he gets an A for effort but have mercy, this is a whiplash record. You get whiplash from the sudden shifts from smooth Top 40 style cuts to hard experimental jazz to soul shout outs and guitar histrionics.
Winter has his bluesy brother Johnny along for the ride. For that matter he has much of his regular band which records as the Edgar Winter Group, including Rick Derringer and Dan Hartman. That band was known for its top 40 hits ‘Free Ride’ and ‘Frankenstein.’
The brothers Winter were born with albinism (a deficit of skin pigment) and on the cover and on inside art, photos show both men sporting long white locks. Edgar started his career in a band called White Trash.
This album produced no break-out hits but had several cuts that seem like they could have — most notably the maudlin, but catchy, lead song ‘Tell Me In a Whisper.’
‘Hello Mellow Feelin’ and the rocker ‘Shuffle Low,’ also stand out.
The World Party record I reviewed yesterday had a song called ‘Ship of Fools.’ I remembered I also had a song with the same name on a Robert Plant solo album, and, I had one with yet again the same name on a Bob Seger album.
None of the songs on vinyl were the same song. They just shared the same titles.
A little Google research and 10 minutes later I found that Levi Asher writing for Litkicks.com discovered the same thing by looking at his Apple playlist. He had Seger, Plant and World Party but he also found songs entitled Ships of Fools by the Grateful Dead, the Doors, and John Cale.
He used his discovery to trace the usage of the phrase Ship of Fools which goes back to Plato. It’s fascinating but we aren’t doing that here. See this link if you want more on that.
Let’s get a little inter-active here. Below I am linking to all of these versions. And I’d like you to tell me which one you like best. I’ll tell you my pick at a later date. Mainly because I need to refresh my memory on some of these or most of these.
OK, so one second he’s sounding like Mick Jagger then the next he’s singing like Bob Dylan. With a slight dance hook you know he’s reaching for Prince.
Of course he’s not those guys.
He does do a Dylan cover just in case you’re not paying attention. It’s ‘All I Really Want to Do.’ I think Sonny and Cher’s version was better but what do I know.
His songwriting is riddled with too many cliche’s.
We are the revolution baby, coming to take you home, after the revolution baby, there is nothing you can’t be.
But I like the guy. He has a keen sense for melody. And his lyrics aren’t that bad. World Pary is Karl Wallinger who left the Waterboys, I think, to get more playing time.
This I think is his first under the name ‘World Party.’ The 1980s synth infection is in full epidemic stage here. He plays keyboards and just about every song is keyboards. To push through the reaction I get when I hear all the synths is to turn up the volume. And yep it worked. Loud=Better.
Southern fried blues rock at its best. While Bobby Whitlock is best known for his work as a band member or side musician, he has done some fine solo work as well.
The credentials are impressive for this husky voiced pianist.
He tasted his first piece of success as a member of Delaney and Bonnie where he met Eric Clapton who was in his band-hopping stage.
He then played, as did Clapton, on George Harrison’s magnum opus ‘All Things Must Pass.’
One of the best songs on Rock Your Sox off is ‘Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad’ with its onslaught of guitar rock/blues. The song was originally recorded by Derek and the Dominos, which included Whitlock, Clapton, Jim Gordon, Carl Radle and Duane Allman. Penned by Whitlock and Clapton, the song was one of the highlights on one of the best all time albums, ‘Layla’ by Derek and the Dominos.
Whitlock reinterprets the song a bit but remains mostly faithful to the original.
Four guitarists played on this Whitlock-Clapton penned-cut: Jimmy Nalls, lead guitar; Dru Lombar, electric guitar; Larry Howard, acoustic guitar; Ricky Hirsch, slide guitar.
Nalls, a prolific and respected guitarist, died of complications from Parkinson’s disease in 2017 at the age of 66; he died following a fall at home, according to his website.
Birmingham native Chuck Leavell (Allman Bros., Sea Level) sits in on keyboards on three of the album’s eight tracks.
In a footnote, Whitlock recently has been on social media blasting the re-mastering job for ‘All Things Must Pass.” It’s stirred up a hornet’s nest of an internet debate which of the re-mix is the best. There’s the original mix, the 30th Anniversary mix and the 50th anniversary mix.
I just bought the 50th Anniversary edition and it sounds very fine to me, if not a little smoothed over. But it’s clean, and I think the voices have been pushed up in some songs.
The producer’s and engineers, including Harrison’s son, Dhani Harrison, pushed back Phil Spector’s original ‘wall of sound’ version. I’ve never had this album so I don’t really have anything to compare with. Check back in a year or so and I’ll let you know.
Who said life is boring? From another person’s view, my life is pretty boring. I am somewhat limited by my brain disease. So I don’t drive, I can’t (or, at least, I’m not supposed to) take walks near or far by myself.
I’m going to lead you through a ‘boring’ day for me in an effort to show that living with Lewy body dementia doesn’t mean you can’t smile as the hand of God stirs the pot.
It was Monday, earlier this week, and my youngest daughter, Claire, called me to see if I wanted to go shopping for shoes, among other things. Why sure, I said.
Shopping with my grown- up daughters usually consists of walking around with the daughter for about 10 minutes then hastily seeking a chair. This pattern proved true on this day. I sat in a chair at the front of the store and watched people. That is really more fun than it seems, but its excitement has a short expiration date; luckily Claire arrived in a short time with some items. I’m pretty sure she bought some shoes.
Then we went to Target where she continued to shop for clothes. I wandered over to the section that had vinyl records. Little known fact, you can get some get good records — high quality re-mastered slabs of vinyl at Target and other like-minded stores such as Bed Bath and Beyond. There’s not a huge selection, mostly current best sellers. But they usually have the new re-issued classsics.
I saw George Harrison’s classic ,three-record box set called All Things Must Pass. I had to have it. (Remember we are living in the moment here.) This was a hefty box recently released on the 50th anniversary of its original recording release, and I guess they charged by the pound as it was $69.99. Whew, I dropped the box like it was on fire.
Dang, can’t say that I’ve ever spent that much on a record. If you follow my blog, you will know that about 75 percent of my collection are used or cutouts, or lucky finds at garage sales and thrift stores. With $75, I could probably find 10 good albums at a well-stocked record store or thrift shop.
And this is the smallest version of the set issued in several iterations at higher prices including a crate.
I have sold a couple or three records for that amount and above, so I do have an inkling for what records are worth. In this case you have a classic recording, re-mastered for sound quality, lyric sheets, a poster and, a booklet with photos and such.
I started seeing this as a good value. I’ve wanted this since about age 16, but it was pricey and for the reasons mentioned I felt better spending that money on several records.
I was in a kind of reverie or brain drain as I held the album and shook it ever so lightly to see if it had all the ‘stuff’ in there. I walked away without the album and went to look for Claire. Couldn’t find her. That was the sign I was waiting for.
I went back and snagged the album, found Claire and hustled to the check-out line before I changed my mind. Claire made some comment like ‘whoa’ when she saw the record and its price tag. I had a $50 bill and some other paper money in my wallet — but not enough. I dug through the cubby holes in my wallet and rooted around in my pockets. A few bucks brought me up to about $60 on a $75 purchase. I asked Claire for money, but she doesn’t carry cash like most young adults her age.
So as the chatter got louder in the ever-growing line I negotiated a deal where I split the purchase into two payments by credit card and the rest in cold hard cash.
The clerk said something like ‘They said vinyl records wouldn’t last but they are going strong.’ ‘Yup.’ I said.
On the way home Claire said to me ‘I see what you did there. Break the payments into two receipts, and show Mom just one.’
What? I said with fake indignation. Who have I raised here? She would think that I would try to hide a purchase from the mother of my children? How could she even come up with that idea?
I let out an evil laugh, or maybe just an evil snicker: “Exactly,’ I said.
I think my daughter was wagging her finger at me. I was waiting to hear what Claire’s blackmail demands would be when I had a thought.
I’ll tell Catherine it was my birthday present from her.
Catherine met us at the door and she immediately asked how much?
‘Um, well, let’s see …” I started digging through my pockets for one receipt. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell a lie. I told her it was sixty-something which was either a half-truth or half-lie because it was really seventy-something. But take away the taxes and bingo I have a sixty-something dollar record, right? The rules are loose in this deft game of deception.
Then … a breakthrough.
I told her it would be my birthday present, upcoming in November. She said that’s perfect, “I’ve been struggling trying to figure out what to give you.’
She was happy, I was happy. I now have a classic record, considered the best solo project from a solo Beatle.
That night as I was making a song request to Alexa — the feminine robotic DJ — to play something, she suddenly got the urge to ask me help her fill out a profile on me and asked some pretty intense questions like what kind of music I like. And then she played some seductive love song by the Avett Brothers.
I looked at my wife and asked ‘Where did that come from?’
Catherine rolled her eyes and said, ‘She’s flirting with you.’
I felt a little dizzy and turned the volume down of the song as Catherine laughed.
So, as I look back over this, yes, it could have been a boring day. Home to store and back again.
Yet somehow it wasn’t.
We are given only a finite number of days. Enjoy them while you can. Because all things must pass.
New wavers of the 1980s run to your closet, pull out that box of vinyl and find the Woodentop’s very excellent album, ‘Giant.’
If you did what I did oh so many years ago, you played it once or twice and put it in the closet without any real testing. Very good album with all sorts of swirling rhythms. Drummer Benny Staples is excellent for this upbeat, bopping music.
They have a subdued B-52s feel, with a British accent. Like Morrissey on happy juice.
ALBUM: The Smoker You Drink the Player You Get (1973); So What? (1974)
MVC Rating: 3.5/$$$
Joe Walsh is a good guitarist, good songwriter and great band member. It’s not easy coming to work for a new employer. So when Walsh joined the Eagles in 1975, there were concerns that Walsh was too hard rock for them or wouldn’t fit the Eagles sound.
While the Eagles sang the sedate Best of My Love, Walsh was playing songs like Rocking Mountain Way with its crushing guitar chords and nasty slide guitar. Before Rocky Mountain Way, he led the James Gang, a hard rocking, steady touring band with Midwest origins.
How would the Eagles with their soft Southern Cal delivery integrate with the rocking guitarist who loved to make his guitar talk through a vocoder and fuzz it all up with a fuzzbox?
Turns out he did OK. Understatement of course.
In 1998, a reader’s poll by Guitarist magazine selected the Hotel California guitar solos as the best guitar solos of all time.
ALBUMS: ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends?’ (1975);’The World is a Ghetto’ (1972)
MVC Rating: Friends: 4.0/$$$$; Ghetto: 4.0/$$$$
Not to be confused by the song ‘War’ by Edwin Starr, the band, ‘War,’ was a funk-Latin-jazz-rock-soul group that was as adept with the long jam pieces as it was the pithy singles.
The song off the same-named album ‘Why Can’t We be Friends,’ was a megahit, a sly little ditty about race relations at a volatile time.
Speaking of Sly, one would not be laughed out of the room for saying War was like Sly and the Family Stone without Sly — large music ensemble, use of brass and reed instruments, funky, etc.
The difference was the Family Stone had a charismatic leader and War didn’t — at least at this point in the game. Early in their existence, War had Eric Burdon, former Animals lead singer, with whom they produced the hit ‘Spill the Wine’ under the name Eric Burdon and War.
War, without Burdon saw their share of hit continue: they not only produced the Friends song but also ‘Cisco Kid’, ‘Low Rider,’ and ‘The World is a Ghetto.’
I remember buying both of these used in Athens, Ga., in high school.
