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Dixie Dregs — 527

ALBUM: ‘What If.’ (1978)

MVC Rating:

4.0/$$

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.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Dire Straits — 530, 529, 528,

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.

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Bo Diddley — 531

ALBUM: Go Bo DIddley (1959, RE 1986)

MVC Rating: 4.5/ $$$ (used reissue)

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:

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The dB’s — 532

ALBUM: Like This (1984)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

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.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

.

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Donovan — 535, 534, 533

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.

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Mac DeMarco –536

ALBUM: Salad Days (2014)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

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.

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Deep Purple, Detective, John Denver — 539, 538, 537

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ALBUMS: Deep Purple ‘Stormbringer’ (1974); Detective, ‘Detective’ (1977); John Denver’s; Poems  Prayers and Promises (1971).

MVC Rating:  Stormbringer, 3.5/$$$; Detective 3.5/$$; Denver 3.5/$$

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.

On that album Blackmore’s guitar solo on ‘Highway Star’ is arguably a top rock solo of all time.

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.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Derek and the Dominos — 540

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.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Miles Davis — 541

ALBUM: Milesones (1958)

MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$$$

ALBUM: Milestones (1958)

MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$$$

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.

Below, Miles and company play:

Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.

 

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The Dave Clark Five — 541

ALBUM: The Best of the Dave Clark Five (1970).

MVC Ratings: 4.0/$$$

‘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.

It’s rock and soul and I like it.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.