Those are the highlights. Never really liked the Eurythmics much. I always thought Annie could sing, but I thought she thought she could sing better than she can sing. I bought this on the singular best song and overplayed song she and Dave Stewart have ever done: ‘Sweet Dreams.’ (Which to me sounded like a great Madonna song.)
So I guess I’m realizing this 30 years too late. But I bought the wrong record..
ALBUMS: Emerson Lake and Palmer (1970); Works Vol. 2 (1977)
When it comes to Emerson, Lake and Palmer I find myself feeling inadequate.
I loved ‘Lucky Man,’ when I was 13 or so (actually still do) so I got that album.
But that was written by Greg Lake when he was 12! OMG.
The classically influenced forays by Emerson and gang are labeled pretentious by some critics.
I don’t mind saying, I don’t find them pretentious. They are sometimes beautiful to my ears and sometimes they are over my ears and over my head.
ELP was no obscure Soft Machine here (see my home page graphic).
ELP sold about 50 million records worldwide.
When I posted on my Van Cliburn albums, I wondered in the column if Emerson could have beaten Van Cliburn in the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Well I didn’t wonder so overtly but I did set up ‘dueling’ videos.
I don’t know what’s going on when someone sounds like they have three hands on the piano. I can never break this down like altrockchick.com, a multi-instrumentalist, multilingual and probably one of the most insightful rock critics I’ve read of late.
. Read a snippet from her review of ELP’s Trilogy:
Here Keith Emerson demonstrates his dynamic flexibility on the piano, quieting detractors with a delicately played and beautifully phrased sequence. His return to percussive piano chords signals the intro to Part 2, a passage with tiny hints of Copland, foreshadowing the later track, “Hoedown.” Greg Lake then returns to sing the enigmatic closing verses.
I cannot write that. But I believe she knows it based on her other writings and the authority with which she writes.
Now my mentor and adversary (he has no idea who I am, of course), Robert Christgau, the grand poo-bah of acerbic crank, famously panned ELP, and said the fans are as pretentious as the band, or something like that.
Uh oh. I recently sat listening to ELP with my daughter, late 20s, and we thoroughly enjoyed Works Vol. 2 and their self-entitled debut album. Emily would read a bit during the contemplative pieces and perk up and grab the album cover on some of the more brazen ones. She is the least pretentious person I know. (She likes Dixie Chicks, who can also play their instruments.)
And I can listen to a master pianist, Emerson, play Scott Joplin all day.
Now I’m digging through my box ‘o cassette tapes because I remember I had Tarkus in that format.
I sold my Insect Trust .45 Saturday so Tarkus might be a good replacement in my rotation.
Did you know the mayor of Atlanta is the daughter of Major Lance?
Interesting. I did not know that. I learned this as I was researching this record compilation called ‘Endless Beach.’
Who is Major Lance, you ask?
A lesser known R&B singer who had some hits in the 1960s, notably ‘Um, Um, Um, Um, Um,’ and ‘The Monkey Time.’
This record also led to a search of information on Carolina Beach Music, a sub-genre of old and new R&B closely associated with the dance called the Carolina Shag. My take on listening to this album is that it is quite nice, pleasant, feel-good music. Undiscovered gem.
Some of the artists here, playing music represented from 1963 to 1979, include Robert John, Tower of Power, The Tymes, Tina Charles, Wild Cherry, Otis Leavill, and Spiral Staircase.
This two – record set has a very detailed R. Crumb-like cover credited to Ellwood Smith.
Keisha Lance Bottoms
Liner notes explain the Carolina Beach sound.
Lance’s daughter is Keisha Lance Bottoms, the 60th mayor of Atlanta.
There’s a YouTube video out there which isolates Entwistle playing bass on ‘Won’t get Fooled Again.’ It shows he really can play the hell out of the bass. One of the best of all time other musicians agree.
So, that’s a good way to listen to this album. If the song doesn’t grab you, or more likely, if the lyrics seem bad, — then listen for the bass and marvel at the bass runs. You do have Peter Frampton on this record, playing some nice lead guitar. And there are some good tuneful songs here that must have seemed much more intelligent to my 19-year-old ears then after 40 years of life experience after that.
I remember liking this album a lot more than I do now after three or four listens, For me in my now self, it is good but not at all the undiscovered gem that I thought I remembered. Alternatively, the Dave Davies solo stuff, another band member of a major group, stands up better over time. Such are the surprises when you pick through your past.
Maybe it’s songs like ‘I Feel Better’ and ‘Who Cares’ and which come across as angry break-up songs with not a shred of humor or, maybe, perspective.
From ‘I Feel Better,’ ‘You can’t keep an animal that ain’t been tamed, you didn’t even know the fellow’s name.’
‘Who Cares‘ is one that if you ignore the lyrics, the bass and guitar interplay is pretty amazing as the song does a long fade.
From ‘Thinking it Over’ he sings: “Thinking it over I decided not to worry, I decided to take my own life.’
Dark and funny I appreciate. Dark and not funny is, well dark.
I pulled this out of the collection and couldn’t recall a song on it but had the feeling that I used to like this. Ely, pronounced Eeelee, is a Texas roots rocker who was once good friends with Joe Strummer and played with the Clash.
Great guitar player, good songwriter and club-disciplined live performer.
He defies classification. That said, I wish I had more of his records. Hi-Res is good but has a little bit of that 1980s over production veneer. Songs of notice: ‘What’s Shakin’ Tonight,’Cool Rockin’ Loretta,’ and probably my favorite ‘Letter to Laredo,’ which has some nasty guitar licks, and also some not-so -nasty Duane Eddy-like bass string ‘twang’ reverberation.
According to Wikipedia, which I am careful with, Ely toured with the Clash, ultimately performing together in Ely’s hometown of Lubbock, Texas. The Clash even name checked Ely in their song ‘If Music Could Talk’ off of the Clash’s Sandinista. Ely was preparing to record with Strummer when the Clash front man died.
Here’s from ‘Laredo:’
As I was rolling across the Mississippi, I stopped there and I cried, no use for a man to keep a mighty river all dammed up inside
I jumped bail from Sweetwater County, now I’m on the run, on my head is a five-number bounty, for a crime I never done.
Take this letter to Laredo to the one I love, tell her to stay low, beneath the stars above, her love is my only alibi, it’s for her love I lied
Twang. Twang. Twang. What’s that called when the word sounds like the sound it is a word for? Let me run to Google.
Shite, I already had this in my head as the answer but I looked it up anyway. I hate when I do that. Of course it’s onomatopoeia. Meow.
Duane Eddy it seems couldn’t shake that twang thang.
The twang sound was a technique of playing lead on his guitar’s bass strings to produce a low, reverberant ” sound. according to his Wikipedia page.
Dang. I wrote earlier that John Anderson had a twangy voice, broadening the boundaries of the word’s descriptive power. Over three decades or four, Eddy put out 33 albums, a number of which were recycled greatest type packages.
But of those 33, nearly half — 14 — had Twang or some version (Twangin’, Twangy) in the title. So he was all about the Twangin,’ and I’ll proffer here the guy could twang.
This ‘greatest hits’ album I have is frustrating, however. It doesn’t have the ‘Peter Gunn’ soundtrack, a Henry Mancini piece that was the theme song for the self-entitled television show.
‘Rebel Rouser’ is good, maybe not rousing good, but sock hop tuneful.
Raunchy’? Not much. ‘Shangri La’ didn’t get there.
Instrumental music guitar has always been a bit difficult. I admire good music but I also like my words, you know I do. Oops sorry I just had to slap myself, ‘Last Date’ just about twanged me to sleep. “Honky Tonk’ had words but needed women. Now ‘Rumble’ is good in a slow grind way. Nice sax — which is also present and well played on several tracks. And then there’s ‘The RIver Kwai March,’ yes that one that opens with whistling. Actually in Eddy’s cover version, it sounds like a piccolo has replaced human lips. But this upbeat war music piece seems oddly out-of-place here.
Overall, my take is this is background music for a late 50s dinner party. But he is a R&R hall of famer and Grammy winner, so what do I know.
File this one next to the Chet Atkins album I reviewed earlier. Now for some instrumental party guitar, more what Eddy strives for, not Chet (a legend by the way), I will in the future review a little known band called the Raybeats. Now they rock.
Also, I have a copy of an album by a group called the SIlencers from Pittsburgh which has a locked and loaded version of ‘Peter Gunn.” to be reviewed when I get to the S’s in my alphabetical journey.
Ah, rock and roll. Smooth unfiltered like good Kentucky bourbon. It’s Berry DIddley and for Everley Buddy Lee Lewis.
(Well that last sentence sort of belies the unfiltered description. Maybe filtered just right like Marlboro Lights? Not so good but I am deviating again.)
I picked up on Dave Edmunds from the group Rockpile’s ‘Seconds of Pleasure,’ which is similar to this best-of (although Rockpile is better). It is just rock and roll with Edmunds, and when Lowe was involved, there were some great lyrics to go with the three or four chords.
Dave is primarily a cover singer. Here he does Crawling from the Wreckage’, a Graham Parker song and John Fogerty’s ‘Almost Saturday Night’ and Elvis Costello’s ‘Girls Talk.’ And he covers his buddy Lowe, or does he expose himself?
Nick and Dave lent a hand in Carlene Carter’ very good album ”Musical Shapes,’ which has an Edmunds-Carter duet that seemed very friendly.
And Nick married Carlene.
And Nick wrote the song “I Knew the Bride (When she used to Rock and Roll).
And Dave Edmunds covered the song, coming up with what most say is the definitive version. Nick recorded several versions to lesser success than the Edmund’s.
Carlene and Nick divorced.
Subject for further research: the timeline that the above happened.
Sample lyrics.
Take a look at the bridegroom smilin’ pleased as pie Shakin’ hands all around with a glassy look in his eye He got a real good job and his shirt and tie is nice But I remember a time when she would never even look him twice
So there’s the yellow bird flying free having babies and I have the yellow vinyl.
It’s a yellow record called ELO OLE, an early greatest hits album from the multimillion selling supergroup the Electric Light Orchestra. The yellow disc and ELO’s ‘Out of the Blue’ album are my NP (Now Playing) portion of my column.) I will follow this NP with five records culled from deeper in my blog. Overall, since last September I have reviewed 169 records on the way to 678. It’s all to bring awareness to Lewy body dementia, which I have. On with the Yellow Vinyl.
I recollect that it was approximately 1978 in Athens, Ga., when the local AM radio station, WRFC I believe, asked for caller number something would get this record. I called and I got it. I’ve opened it and have played it just a few times, left the shrink wrap on because thought it was special.
It was a promotional DJ copy and it is a little rare. Worth about $60 in this great condition, according to my perusal of the Internet. It’s good music too (as a bonus).
Jeff Lynne and ELO wanted to make music that combined grand symphonic features and flourishes. They fancied themselves taking up where the Beatles left off in such pieces as ‘A Day in the Life’ or ‘Magical Mystery Tour.’
And they did well. This yellow disc compilation of early ‘hits’ is a fascinating look at how the group was blending orchestral instruments with rock and roll. You can almost hear them testing the waters with OLE. On ‘10538 Overture’ and ‘Kuiama’, they are very much in ‘prog’ rock territory. Cellos and violins and synthesizers sweep around on various floors of this musical building. As the album progresses you can guess where this group is headed: Hitsville baby.
I got proof of that in my other ELO album, ‘Out of the Blue,’ which was a two-record worldwide hit that seemed to spawn endless amounts of Top 40 hits.
Now there’s no question these guys were good at what they did – but they couldn’t ever really get the respect? Was it an Eagles thing I’ve addressed before? Or like Dire Straits, they just got so big they weren’t ‘cool’ any more? Again. I say it’s an undeserved lack of respect. They sell multimillions of records by being bad? Like Yogi Berra said, nobody goes there anymore it’s too crowded. That said, they started going for the pop life about the same time I was moving away from it. So songs like ‘Strange Magic,’ though catchy, is not something I’d choose on a jukebox. ‘’Boy Blue,’ maybe.
Addressing this lack of respect issue I can’t help but remember this unfortunate moment about ELO. At the George Harrison tribute concert, a band of superstars commenced playing ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps.’ Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and their respective band members, and Harrison’s son, Dhani Harrison. Anyway, the ELO guitarist is just jamming away, soloing, picking, doing a pretty good job.
Then Prince emerges from the other side of the stage. Prince had reportedly left the rehearsal of the song in a huff, fired his sound guy, so there was a lot of uncertainty what if anything Prince’s performance would be.
Here’s description from a New York Times story:
The Petty rehearsal was later that night. And at the time I’d asked him to come back, there was Prince; he’d shown up on the side of the stage with his guitar. He says hello to Tom and Jeff and the band. When we get to the middle solo, where Prince is supposed to do it, Jeff Lynne’s guitar player just starts playing the solo. Note for note, like Clapton. And Prince just stops and lets him do it and plays the rhythm, strums along. And we get to the big end solo, and Prince again steps forward to go into the solo, and this guy starts playing that solo too! Prince doesn’t say anything, just starts strumming, plays a few leads here and there, but for the most part, nothing memorable.
So when the real thing went down, some didn’t even know Prince was playing.
More NYT: The group featured Tom Petty and two other members of the Heartbreakers, as well as Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison (George’s son) and Prince, himself an inductee that year. Marc Mann, a guitarist with Mr. Lynne’s band, played Eric Clapton’s memorable solo from the album version of the song. But Prince, who essentially stood in the dark for most of the performance, burned the stage to the ground at the song’s end.
The ELO guy didn’t know what hit him. Probably still doesn’t. Petty’s mouth hung open. Harrison’s son shook his head with a huge smile.
This Lindsey Buckingham-produced album is a perfect cutout. High expectations for this. It had one ‘hit.’ A couple of good songs. The rest, fodder.
Plus it had a big portrait of the artist’s face on the cover, similar to the cover of a Buckingham solo project I reviewed here.
The hit was ‘Magnet and Steel’ which sounded nice — the whole album had high production values but the analogy?
‘You are the magnet and I am the steel.’
Two albums, two different people. but you think Lindsey Buckingham (L) who produced Walter Egan’s album, and Egan went to the same photographer for cover shoot>
Really? I’m trying to quit the use of ‘Really? But really? Go away simplistic and utterly useless metaphor. It conjures up scenes from a car junkyard with that big old magnet thing coming down from crane: Whomp, I am the magnet, you are the crumpled up steel that used to be a car. How about you are the honey I am the bee, or, bear, or, you are the pile, I am the fly. OK being gross. But didn’t any one of his Fleetwood Mac buddies say anything?
I was a senior in HS. I remember going what? Sounded like a TV show. Tonight’s episode of “Magnet and Steel’ will see our crack detectives solve another crime and then come together like, well, “Magnet and Steel.”
If this is a sexual reference as I saw one commenter suggest, then this critique may be a little harsh, in other words, at least it has a two-level meaning for ‘steel.’
Now there are a couple of songs I do like. ‘Make it Alone’ is good stuff. Hard riff, break-up song, guitar driven. ‘Hot Summer Nights‘ was on the radio momentarily. My favorite though is ‘Just the Wanting,’ a torrid little piece of a love song with one-bended guitar string all the way through. (see video below)
I remember exactly why I got this record but not where.
Earl Slick played guitars on one of my all time favorite albums, Tonio K’s ‘Life in the Foodchain.’ The wall of guitar sound on songs like the title song are amazing. Of course that album also had legendary surf rock guitar player Dick Dale, and country guitar great Albert Lee, among others, so that was a good picking group.
The Slick album is fairly generic hard rock. Kind of like Bad Company without the great hooks, or UFO without the in-your-face blasts of metal guitar.
But Slick can play.
Some of his solos mid-song really made me sit up and listen. As a guitar fan,I will keep this record out and play it some more.
I could definitely hear that distinct wailing guitar sound he contributed to Foodchain. (Dale I believe contributed the clucking chicken guitar noise to Foodchain’s ‘Funky Western CIvilization.’)
Slick played on several tours with David Bowie and also worked with John Lennon post-Beatles.
The unusual thing about the Slick’s record, ‘Razor Sharp,’ and probably one of the things that pushed me to buy it is it’s odd cover.
It has a three dimensional depiction of a razor blade with what is obviously supposed to be blood dripping and a slit, an actual slit, in the front cover as if the razor had made it. (See the pictures).
ALBUMS: Emerson Lake and Palmer (1970); Works Vol. 2 (1977)
ight Orchestra. The yellow disc and ELO’s ‘Out of the Blue’ album are my NP (Now Playing) portion of my column.) I will follow this NP with five records culled from deeper in
