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.
ADDITIONAL ADDS (SEE NOTE BELOW) Deep Purple Made in Japan Live:45/$$$$; Machine Head 4.5/$$$$; Who do we think we are — 3.5/$$$
I more or less have been untethered from the Internet, and thus my blog, for a long weekend out of state.
It was an accidental untethering. I forgot my laptop and phone charger. I really did. But it forced me to actually be more ‘there’ with family and friends. So, that was great. I highly recommend forgetfulness in certain parts of your lives, forgiveness in other parts.
Anyway, I’m working my way through the D’s and thought I’d do a three-fer. Only other time I did three artists in one post on this blog was for the Bongos, Blue Rodeo and BoDeans. If you missed those, check them out. Some good music by those groups.
This time I have three records that are widely different except that they came out in the 1970s. They come at different turning points in these bands’ careers.
Deep Purple, Stormbringer
This heavy metal band is known for giving us the most recognizable (and simplest) riff in rock and roll history. At least it’s in that conversation. That rift being the crunching seven-chord sequence opening ‘Smoke on the Water.’
The riff is so well known it’s a cliche. I’ve heard their are music stores (where they sell guitars) that have signs posted: “No Smoke on the Water allowed.”
Deep Purple has had some good musicians over the years. By the time Stormbringer rolled around, there had been several personnel changes. The album was basically the beginning of the end. The group still had (disgruntled) guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore. This was to be his last DP album before leaving and forming Rainbow. He does blister the guitar on the way out of the door though. While some fans call this an underrated album, I hear a distinct drop-off from their previous two.
For those interested in Deep Purple I would recommend a live album I no longer have (whoever borrowed it 30 years ago, please give it back, Nevermind keep it): The album is Made In Japan and is actually worth a little money if you can find it.
NOTE UPDATE: After publication of this blog, AL.com’s J.D. Crowe, our in-house cartoon drawer and illustrator surprised me with not only ‘Made In Japan,’ but also a primo version of ‘Machine Head.’ Thanks JD, that puts me into the purple.
Detective
This is the debut album of this group and one of only two studio albums. They were signed by Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label. (Bad Company was also on that label).
Detective is heavily influenced by Zeppelin, probably to a fault. It’s hard to imitate the sound that Zeppelin created. To me Zeppelin teetered toward a parody of the blues, but avoided that pitfall by sheer will of outrageously creative playing and performances. In other words, they took the blues and made it their own.
It was a magical elixir that Robert Plant and company put together. I do think Detective is good and there are some rabid fans out there who say their live concerts were as good as any in the late 1970s.. To my ears, they were missing an ingredient.
What’s that ingredient?
I don’t know. That’s why it’s a magical elixir.
John Denver, Poems Prayers and Promises
OK, don’t hire a lawyer for the whiplash I am giving you right now.
John Denver after a Led Zeppelin soundalike band and the heavy guitar sounds of Deep Purple is like slamming on the rock and roll brakes.
This is not rock and roll ladies and gentlemen. This is a pleasant voiced singer-songwriter putting out his fourth album, a commercial breakthrough, which led to a meteoric rise to celebrity-hood. With his golly gee outdoorsman image and environmentally friendly folky tunes, he won over middle America before tragically dying in a glider/experimental plane crash off a cliff in California.
This album has some covers such as ‘Let it Be’ by the Beatles which is somewhat unnecessary. But it has a couple of songs that made Denver a household name: Sunshine on my Shoulders, and (Take me home) Country Roads. While I can tolerate Country Roads, Sunshine on my Shoulders makes me run screaming from the room; the only thing that could possibly be worse would be Detective trying to do ‘Stairway to Heaven.’
Still if you think you’d like Denver music, and many millions do, it’s probably best to start at one of his greatest hits albums.
ALBUM: Layla and other assorted love songs (1970),
MVC Ranking: 5.0/$$$$
This is one of my all-time favorites, a true desert island album. I don’t know why this was so big an influence at about age 16. It was blues by a bunch of white guys who were reportedly PUI (playing under the influence).
But they weren’t just any guys off the street. They were Eric Clapton, whose transmogrification of black blues through his decidedly English filter earned him the nickname: God.
Then there was the 23-year-old guitar prodigy Duane Allman, already being whispered about in reverent terms whose time would end tragically a year or so later. The mythology was the he ran into the back of a truck hauling peaches. And that’s why the Allmans named the next album was entitled ‘Eat a Peach.’ The truth however was that he c
There also was the slightly obnoxious and opinionated Bobby Whitlock, a fine keyboardist, songwriter and singer. And carrying the bottom, drums and bass, were Jim Gordon and Carl Radle, among the best in the business. Clapton and Allman particularly were at a crossroads in their careers. Clapton zooming through the Yardbirds, Cream and Blind Faith. And Duane just getting ready for the spotlight in his familial band from Jacksonville, FL. and Macon, GA, the Allman Brothers.
They came together, looking for some kind of light. Clapton and Allman, who had never met, hit it off, personally and professionally.
The result a blues album of original material and some great classic blues like Big Bill Broonzy’s ‘Key to the Highway,’ and Billy Myles’ ‘Have You Ever Loved a Woman’ (popularized by Freddie King). And a nice cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Little Wing,’ a relatively new song at the time.
‘Bell Bottom Blues’ ached. ‘Why Does Love Have to be So Sad’ whip-snapped stinging guitar over Whitlock’s and Clapton’s alternating shouts of anguish. ‘I Am Yours’ consoled.
And of course there was Layla, a rocket launched by the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, a rocker of break-up love, the pain boiling over and anger surfacing.
I tried to give you consolation
When your old man had let you down.
Like a fool, I fell in love with you,
Turned my whole world upside down.
Layla, you’ve got me on my knees.
Layla, I’m begging, darling please.
I don’t know if it’s a Lewy thing but I’m enjoying this jazz more than ever. I’ve played this Miles record, both sides about five times in the past two days. It’s old new jazz. (Also jumped into a Dizzy Gillespie record, I’ll review in the G’s.}
It’s modern jazz, sometimes ‘played too darn fast’ Chuck Berry famously complained. It’s modern but it’s 1958, a year before I was born and a year before Davis gave us his masterpiece (IMHO) ‘Kind of Blue.’
But this one with Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane burned pretty well. I gave it a ‘5’ anyway. I remember buying this used at some kind of flea market in Anniston, AL. Would have been 1982. I knew who Davis was but upon seeing the cover photo I felt like I had to have the album. Pretty intense and cool looking dude. And that’s what his music looks and sounds like: Him.
In youth sports they have a day when the sideline crowd of Moms and Dads must be quiet. No shouts of encouragement (Kick the ball!). No shouts of disparagement (Joey why didn’t you just kick it already?).
It’s called Silent Saturday. But as I found out, today is another kind of Silent Saturday, and it’s tied to Easter weekend.
I slowly became aware of this when my wife, Catherine, associate pastor at First Presbyterian Birmingham, didn’t respond to my ‘Good Morning’ as I walked by on the way to the coffee pot.
The reverends Cat Goodrich and Catherine Oliver on Palm Sunday at First Presbyterian Birmingham.
I didn’t think much of it, she must be absorbed in her Easter preparations, I thought.
I found this video that has more than 350 million page views. What? That’s a page view for everyone in the United States and then some.
The video was by a group called Disturbed and it was a cover of the old Simon and Garfunkel classic, ‘Sound of Silence.’ I watched the video, very dramatic, even melodramatic. I can see how this is popular.
I went to show Catherine because I knew she loved the song. She used the music in a presentation at her church in Athens, Ga., in her youth and always cranked it up when it came on the radio. (Ha, funny, cranked up Sound of Silence.)
By this time I had forgotten that Catherine didn’t say good morning back at me. I came walking in with my laptop and said I wanted her to see a video. She made hand gestures. Eventually she spoke very softly and said she was coming out of her silence, and that this was Silent Saturday.
I Googled and found this from popular Christian writer Max Lucado discussing Easter weekend:
Jesus is silent on Saturday. The women have anointed his body and placed it in Joseph’s tomb. The cadaver of Christ is as mute as the stone which guards it. He spoke much on Friday. He will liberate the slaves of death on Sunday. But on Saturday, Jesus is silent.
Whoa. My brain gets a kickstart with back-up help from the coffee: I told Catherine the video was ‘Sound of Silence,’ a cover version. Her face conveyed a mixture of confusion and amazement.
How did you know? She thought I had pulled the video because of the day, which I really knew little to nothing about.
Anyway, it’s a heck of a video, and my only hint is that this version is befitting of a band called ‘Disturbed.’ Catherine and most pastors I know after six weeks of Lenten preparation and Holy Week might also be described as disturbed. But that’s another story.
Watch the video below (Looks like you may have to click through to play video but it’s well worth it):
‘Glad All Over,’ ‘Bits and Pieces,’ ‘Catch Us if you Can,’ ‘Do you Love Me’ — the hits kept coming from this Fab Four plus One.
No, not really close to the Beatles in both performance and songwriting, although ‘Glad All Over’ and “Because’ and ‘Can’t You See that She’s Mine’ — which the vocalist, Mike Smith, vows to ‘keep on holding her hand — sound just like early Beatles. ‘Because’ is the name of a Beatles song — but not this one.
This is one of the better British invasion bands and there were many.
The interesting anomaly here is Blueberry Hill, the song made famous by Fats Domino. Smith does some hard-kick vocals here, channeling, or trying to channel Wilson Pickett or Otis Redding and gets close enough to make it interesting.
ALBUMS: Dave Davies — AFL1 3603 ( bar code album 1980); Chosen People (1983)
MVC Rating: Bar code — 4.0/$$$; Chosen People 3.5/$$
Dave’s brother Ray was the Kinks Kreative soul. Dave was the guitarist, and a pioneering one at that. The riffs in early 1960s classics like ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day and All of the Night’ were much copied (e.g. Van Halen). One could make the case the distortion laden pieces paved the way for heavy metal.
I have lots of Kinks records, bought mostly in my high school years in Athens, Ga. I’ll write more when we get to the K’s in www.myvinylcountdown.com
Ray wrote the lions’ share of Kinks song. One notable exception was Dave’s ‘Death of a Clown,’ one of the Kinks’ most poignant songs ever, and they did a lot of poignant songs.
The Kinks went through so many style changes, every album was like a new band although all decidedly Kinks. They did English folk whimsy, straight-ahead rock and roll and clever commentary songs.
Dave had a way of doing falsetto harmony behind Ray’s lead vocals. I thought it was the coolest thing. Listen to one of their most famous songs, ‘Lola‘ to hear the brother harmonizing effect. It reminds a lot of Ronnie Lane’s style of singing, though with a rocking edge.
These two solo albums I have are hit and miss. Dave shows off his guitar chops. On the bar code album, he puts the bar code on the the cover as the main art for the album, perhaps making the statement that his music is seen as nothing more than a commodity? I’m just guessing here.
Best song on bar code album, ‘Doing the Best for You,’ simple little melody on piano with crunching guitars. The Chosen People has a lovely song called ‘Give Me One More Chance.’
It sounds like a command, a rude command at that. Merge!
[Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsWe can’t all do it at the same time. But we have to do it. The sign says so.
Now, what if I can’t merge. The cars are too jammed together. Then, I need someone to YIELD. I like that word.
The other word I don’t like is dementia. I have Lewy body dementia or (LBD). Sometimes it’s called Dementia with Lewy bodies. Sometimes, people take the dementia out altogether and say Lewy body disease. But dementia is the most used and most accepted description. It is a word that broadly describes damage to the brain that affects cognition, memory, speech, etc. That brain damage can be caused by Lewy bodies (proteins) or Alzheimer’s or other brain diseases. Although we know the process of this brain damage, in cases like Lewy, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, we don’t know the cause of these diseases. And there is no cure.
So why don’t I like the word dementia? Well for one, it is a root word of demented, which sounds menacing.
The word itself, demented, sounds too much like ‘demon.’ The dictionary says demon is a bad spirit or ‘one who acts as a tormentor in hell.”
The dictionary says demented means “driven to behave irrationally due to anger, distress, or excitement.”
Now that’s a little better than being in hell. But if I’m driven to irrational behavior it’s because I am ‘driven’ to it.
Because of my LBD, I have quit driving and am now being driven by other people: my wife, my daughter, my colleagues, friends, neighbors, church folk, Uber drivers. Just about anybody I can flag down.
I must admit it has been an interesting life-changing adventure. No longer in the driver’s seat, I’m on the passenger side.
The general consensus is that I’m one of the worst backseat (or passenger side), drivers in the world.
It does allow me time to get work done via phone or laptop while someone else is driving. If I’m not gripping the seat with my white-knuckled hands
Or stomping the floor like I may find a brake on the passenger side.
I have so far resisted the urge to discuss the correct method to merge with my drivers.
Take the zipper merge, for example, which according to my Internet research (Wiki) is a “convention for merging traffic into a reduced number of lanes. Drivers in merging lanes are expected to use both lanes to advance to the lane reduction point and merge at that location, alternating turns.”
Like a zipper.
But I usually keep these tidbits of information to myself, as I have seen my drivers get a little agitated when I ‘help’ them drive.
I usually save my instruction on my rides to things like: WATCH OUT FOR THAT TRUCK!
Um, oh, OK, we have the green turn arrow, I see that now. Sorry, I just couldn’t tell if that truck was stopping; it did roll a bit.
So I think I’ll hold onto that merge information until we put some time between my unnecessary shouting.
HONK HONK, the car behind us blares the horn because we are slow to merge.
‘
