Friday, February 28, 2020

Archive Review: Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey's Going Back Home (2014)

Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey's Going Back Home
Wilko Johnson is dying…it’s a sad but true, and an inconvenience that has seemingly done little to slow down the legendry and influential British guitarist. Diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in January 2013, Johnson was given, best case scenario, ten months to live. At six months past his expiry, he continues to rock every bit as hard as he has during his entire career. After a “farewell tour” which stretched throughout much of 2013, Johnson and his road-tested live band continue to light up stages across the United Kingdom.

Johnson made his bones as the guitarist of British pub-rock legends Dr. Feelgood, lending his talents and unique finger-picked guitar style to the band’s first four albums, from 1975’s Down By the Jetty to 1977’s Sneakin Suspicion, after which he left the band to launch a solo career that is now in its fifth decade. For those not in the know, pub-rock was a uniquely British institution that took its inspiration from 1950s-era proto-rock and rhythm and blues and 1960s bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. It was raw, it was rootsy, and it was highly influential on the late ‘70s punk and new wave scenes that would follow. It was typically performed in pubs rather than large concert venues, and bands like Dr. Feelgood, Brinsley Schwarz (with Nick Lowe), and Ducks Deluxe paved the way for more successful artists like Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and Joe Strummer and the Clash.

Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey’s Going Back Home


With a death sentence hanging over his head, Johnson knew that his date with the Reaper was coming, and he wanted to leave one last album for his long-time fans. He and Roger Daltrey of the Who had talked as early as 2010 about working together, about recording an album of the sort of old-school British R&B – like Johnny Kidd & the Pirates – that they both loved as teens. After the Who wrapped up its 2013 tour, Johnson got Daltrey into the studio for a week in November to record Going Back Home, using Johnson’s touring band for back-up.

Comprised of eleven songs, including a raucous cover of Bob Dylan’s “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window,” Going Back Home features songs written or co-written by Johnson, drawn from across his solo career and his years with Dr. Feelgood, the material re-imagined in a raw, intimate, rockin’ British R&B style. Somebody convinced Universal Music to reactive the Chess Records imprint to release Going Back Home, and it was a good decision, as the album displays all the heart and soul of the 1950s and ‘60s era Chess records that influenced Daltrey and Johnson as young men.

Daltrey’s once-golden voice is nowhere near what it was during the Who’s mid-‘70s peak, but it’s perfectly suited to a bluesy reinterpretation of Johnson’s songs. Going Back Home kicks off with the title track, Daltrey’s growled, primal vocals reminiscent of the great Howlin’ Wolf as Mick Talbot’s tinkling piano keys add a distinctive honky-tonk vibe. Harp player Steve Weston knocks out riffs in the spirit of Little Walter while Johnson’s percussive fretwork establishes a rhythmic bottom end. Call it Chicago-styled blues with a British flavor, the arrangement dominated by piano and harmonica. By contrast, “Ice On the Motorway” is a lively romp with funky rhythms, engaging guitar licks, and an overall Southern soul vibe. Daltrey’s vocals are fierce and Johnson’s riffing is wiry and hypnotic, making for a livewire three minutes of music.

Some Kind of Hero


Wilko Johnson photo by Paul Crowther
Wilko Johnson photo by Paul Crowther
Johnson and Daltrey do a fine job in covering Dylan’s “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window,” the singer’s hearty vocals miles away from the Scribe’s nasal drawl, but curiously effective as they impart a deep emotion to the lyrics. Johnson leads the band through an energetic arrangement, drummer Dylan Howe adding some nice percussive fills while Weston’s harp dances spryly atop the instrumentation. Johnson’s guitar is relegated mostly to rhythmic support, but its presence is felt nonetheless. “Keep On Loving You” would have made a great Muddy Waters track, its energetic, slightly-funky feel reminiscent of the Master’s early ‘70s “electric blues” albums. Johnson’s guitar is given room to shine here, Wilko plucking imaginative notes out of the air and feeding them through his fingers as Daltrey’s anguished vocals ride low alongside a steady drumbeat and washes of keyboard.

Johnson’s “Some Kind of Hero” is a perfect example of mid-‘70s pub-rock, the song an amalgam of bluesy licks, rockin’ rhythms, and rootsy twang-bangin’ that moves like a reckless locomotive on a rhythmic bedrock of driving guitar, blasts of harp, rapid-fire drumbeats, and piano-pounding worthy of ol’ Otis Spann. “Keep It Out of Sight” is also reminiscent of the era, mixing up period soul and rock ‘n’ roll with Daltrey’s powerful vocals at the forefront, lush instrumentation behind, and Johnson’s razor-sharp fretwork throughout. Talbot’s Hammond organ plows through the mix like a mad bull, and the entire performance hits your ears like a long-forgotten dream, dredging up memories of half-remembered songs and music long past.

Going Back Home closes with two of Johnson’s best songs – “Everybody’s Carrying A Gun” and “All Through the City” – both performances showcasing the guitarist’s underrated lyrical skills. The former is a cautionary tale of fame that Daltrey knocks out of the park with his knowing vocals and Johnson spices up with rollicking, rockabilly-tinged guitar licks. Toss in Talbot’s honky-tonk ivories and a raucous rhythmic foundation created by Norman Watt-Roy’s throbbing bass line and you have an ear-tickling performance. The latter song is an insightful portrait of street life painted with vivid lyrics, an infectious melody, and some of Johnson’s rawest, most electrifying guitarwork. Daltrey’s vocals snarl and sneer like his best work with the Who, the song finishing the album with a definite edge.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line


Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey have delivered a minor masterpiece with Going Back Home, the two rock ‘n’ roll lifers tearing up the studio like they were both nineteen years old again. As swansongs go, Johnson couldn’t have done any better – his songs, his guitar playing, and his band leadership serving as a fitting last will and testament, creating a highly entertaining set of blues and rock music served up with energy and affection. Everybody here realizes the stakes, and their combined talents deliver a recording worthy of the Chess Records imprint.

Although not a traditional blues album by any measure, Going Back Home is Chicago and Delta blues as filtered through British rock sensibilities, and certainly Mississippi-bred bluesmen like Waters and the Wolf would recognize their influence on Daltrey and Johnson alike. Kudos to Roger Daltrey for the passion and skill he brings to these performances, and to Wilko Johnson, who continues to deliver for his fans under the most stressful of circumstances, displaying his talents with an energy and vitality of an artist half his age. (Chess Records, released March 25, 2014)

Editor’s note: Thankfully, Wilko beat the cancer that threatened to kill him and he continues to perform and record, releasing most recent album, Blow Your Mind, in 2018!

Review originally published by About.com Blues

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey’s Going Back Home




Archive Review: Nick Gravenites & Animal Mind's Kill My Brain (1999)

Nick Gravenites & Animal Mind's Kill My Brain
By any accounts, Nick Gravenites owns one of the most impressive resumes in rock and blues music. A founding member of the legendary Butterfield Blues Band, he wrote several of their more notable songs, including “Born In Chicago.” Gravenites has enjoyed a thirty-year career as a songwriter, guitarist and producer, appearing on some 45 albums as a musician. He’s had songs recorded by folks like Janis Joplin, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Howlin’ Wolf and produced artists like James Cotton and Mike Bloomfield. So you’re asking yourself, “how come I haven’t heard of this guy if he’s such a genius, eh?” You can cure your ignorance by digging up a copy of Kill My Brain, the first CD in a proverbial month o’ Sundays by Gravenites and his long-time band Animal Mind.

Released by the small San Francisco indie 2 Burn 1 Records, which usually specializes in some pretty esoteric reggae titles, Kill My Brain is the perfect introduction to this talented and underrated artist. Featuring Gravenites’ trademark electric blues and guitar-driven rock, Kill My Brain is a wonderful collection of songs with enough heart to appeal to your intellect and enough muscle to blow your ears out. Although the title song is a bit of a clunker, with pretty garish backing vocals, the remainder of the disc holds up magnificently.

“Didn’t You Used To be Somebody” opens with a somber organ riff and choral accompaniment, leading into a poignant tale of Gravenites’ career and the death of Janis Joplin. “Get Together” presents the classic rock chestnut in a different, bluesier light while “Your Heart’s In the Wrong Place” is a lively, uptempo blues number complete with horns and Gravenites’ soulful vocals. Closing the album with a bang, “I’m Gone” is the sort of high-energy Chicago rave-up that Gravenites used to perform with Paul Butterfield and gang back in the day.

Assisted by his backing band, Animal Mind, which includes Pete Sears of Hot Tuna and the Blues Project’s Roy Blumenfeld, Kill My Brain also offers guest shots from Sammy Hagar and Huey Lewis. A fine example of what can be done with rock music in a blues context, I’d much rather listen to somebody like Nick Gravenites, who continues to bring new perspective to an old art form, than an Eric Clapton, who coasts on past accomplishments. If you’d like to find out what all of the fuss is about, check out Kill My Brain and discover why Nick Gravenites is one of rock music’s “most valuable players.” (2 Burn 1 Records, released April 6, 1999)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 1999

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Nick Gravenites & Animal Mind’s Kill My Brain


Friday, February 21, 2020

Archive Review: Dan Bern's Dan Bern (1997)

Dan Bern's Dan Bern
Once upon a time, getting saddled with the “new Dylan” label was like hanging a big, fat dead artistic albatross around your neck. The industry equivalent of the Mafia “kiss of death,” it meant a quick, painful end to your young career. Other than Bruce Springsteen, who punched his way out of that particular box with the brilliant Born To Run, where are all the other “new Dylans” these days?

Steve Forbert and Elliott Murphy have managed to eke out a living with critically-acclaimed music through the past decade (although, admittedly, they had to run off to Nashville and Paris, respectively, to do do....), but all those other great hopefuls are strictly M.I.A.; which makes me overly cautious when I’m already hearing Dan Bern pigeonholed with comparisons to the legendary Mr. Zimmerman.

On his encouraging self-titled debut, Bern creates wonderfully wordy story-songs that, to these ears, compare more favorably with Murphy’s style or early Springsteen than to Dylan. Whereas rock’s greatest scribe has often favored tossing out oblique, indecipherable lyrics in songs, Bern instead strings together phonetic delights, delivering lyrics with a rhythm and cadence more common to rap than to the folk tradition these songs are obviously drawn from. Some critics have gone so far as to unfairly label Bern’s work as “flawed,” once again comparing the young artist to tried-and-true work that has withstood the test of time. Note to critics: come on guys, there is no “new Dylan” – never was and never will be. Hell, not even his own son is the next Dylan, and they share the same surname.

Instead, Bern is a ‘90s folksinger, one with a distinctive style and flavor that is entirely his own. When he hits the mark – which is often enough for this writer – there are few young songwriters who can match Bern’s marvelous wordplay. Bern throws away thoughts and imagery that many more successful artists would trade their souls for, lines far too numerous to recount here (Although I have to share the opening couplet of “King of the World,” my favorite song to date on the subject of fame: “the day that Elvis died was like a mercy killing/America breathed a sigh of relief/We knew all about the drugs and the Vegas shows/There wasn’t much of anything that looked like grief....”). Songs like “Estelle,” the darkly humorous “Too Late To Die Young” or “Jerusalem’ (where Bern seems to be lyrically predicting the critical box he’s been placed in) are artistic triumphs.

Bern is a bright young talent, thoughtful and thought-provoking, a gifted writer and charismatic performer. If he’s not yet the equal of Dylan, well, at the time neither was Bobby himself. If Dan Bern, the album, is any indication of the depth of his talent, I predict that time will treat Dan Bern quite well. (Work Records/Sony Music, released March 4, 1997)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Dan Bern’s Dan Bern

Archive Review: Moby's Animal Rights (1996)

Moby's Animal Rights
Along with Prodigy and the Aphex Twin, British artist Moby helped define early ’80s English club culture. Mixing Eno-inspired ambient music with electronic techno/rave compositions, Moby created a genre onto himself that led to many a ecstasy-fueled dancefloor trance. None of these Anglo-artists have broken through to a mainstream American audience as of yet, but no one can’t fault them for trying. Prodigy are attempting to conquer the states via appearances at this year’s Lollapalooza Festival, while Moby has made his bid for U.S. chart dominance via the release of his strongest album yet. Although it seems – at this date, at least – that Animal Rights is a failed attempt, commercially, from an artistic perspective a critic couldn’t ask for a more invigorating album.

With Animal Rights, Moby takes a step towards a harder rocking sound that incorporates his ambient and classical influences alongside strains of metal, industrial, and noise. Moby the producer juxtaposes moments of instrumental calm with those of sheer lyrical and musical white light/white noise. Although many songs here showcase the artist’s social conscious, both lyrics and liner notes covering a broad range of topics, it is the words, phrases and melodies seemingly tossed away at random that seep into one’s consciousness for future recall.

While the label released Moby’s cover of Mission of Burma’s “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” – perhaps the weakest song on the disc – to moderate radio airplay, they missed the strengths of cuts like “Soft” or “Come On Baby,” which would sonically fit well into playlists alongside Tool, Korn, or Nine Inch Nails. Overall, however, the album is structured as an entire artistic piece not well made for pulling out radio cuts. Although not a concept album, as such, Animal Rights nonetheless should be listened to in its entirety, where the subtle interplay between light and dark, the clashing of ambiance and primal rock can work its magick the way that the composer meant it to.

Following in the footsteps of obvious influences like Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, and David Bowie, Moby creates music that is much more than the sum of its parts. A talented multi-instrumentalist, Moby is a vastly underrated guitarist, and if he delivers only a few amazing six-string flourishes during the massive instrumental attacks to be found on much of Animal Rights it only leaves the listener wanting for more.

Moby is, perhaps, one of the most exciting and stimulating composers in the rock genre today and if commercial stardom forever eludes him, it is only because Moby seems destined to make the same sort of historic contribution to the rock genre as the aforementioned artists. Animal Rights is a ground-breaking album, the sort that only comes around once or twice a decade. (Elektra Records, released September 23, 1996)

Buy the LP from Amazon.com: Moby's Animal Rights


Friday, February 14, 2020

Archive Review: Living Colour’s Vivid (2010 reissue)

Living Colour's Vivid
When they came along in the late ‘90s, Living Colour was an anomaly among hard rock bands. First of all, the members were all young African-American men with musical backgrounds in jazz, R&B and improvisational avant-garde music. Rock ‘n’ roll at the time was sheer whitebread, dominated by longhaired white boys, the cultural diversity of the late ‘60s/early ‘70s overthrown by corporate homogenization.

Living Colour didn’t fit into MTV’s nerf metal demographic but damned if they didn’t rock harder than half a dozen Motley Crue clones. The band seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the summer of 1988 with the release of its debut album, Vivid, but New York City fans knew differently. Living Colour had been banging around town for a couple of years, refining their sound and stage presence with residencies at clubs like CBGBs.

Living Colour’s Vivid


The release of Vivid would break through the barriers of race in rock, opening the door for multi-cultural ‘90s hard rock bands like Rage Against the Machine and System of A Down. This breakthrough was accomplished mostly on the strength of a single song, the blistering “Cult of Personality,” the accompanying video dominating the MTV playlist well into 1989 and breaking the band with a white audience. It was apparent from the video for “Cult of Personality” that Living Colour wasn’t kicking out the same old shit.

Vernon Reid wasn’t just another heavy metal guitar god, but a world-class six-string wizard who had earned his bones as a member of the experimental Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoder Society. The rhythm section of bassist Muzz Skillings and drummer Will Calhoun provided as big a beat as a band could ever want while frontman Corey Glover – largely untrained and with little experience as a singer – perfectly complimented the band’s funky, unpredictable groove with his rough-hewn, soulful vocal style.

Listening to the recently remastered reissue CD of Vivid shows that the album held much more great music than the celebrated hit single. Living Colour incorporated many styles and influences into the band’s sound, placing disparate elements of freeform jazz, funk, soul, heavy metal and guitar pyrotechnics into a hard rock framework. While songs such as “Open Letter (To A Landlord)” and “Funny Vibe” showcased the band’s social consciousness, visiting themes of poverty, homelessness and race, songs like the hedonistic “Glamour Boys” or “I Want To Know” were pop-influenced rockers with an almost new wave sound. (This was the ‘80s, after all….) When the band hit a metallic groove, however, as with “Cult of Personality,” “Middle Man,” or “What’s Your Favorite Color?” there were few other bands around who could match Living Colour’s powerful and innovative sound.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line


The CD reissue of Vivid includes five bonus cuts culled from 12” singles; most of which have never appeared on compact disc before. A hip-hop remix of “Funny Vibe” by Prince Paul includes cameos from rappers like Daddy-O and Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy. A red-hot cover of the Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” and a live version of “Middle Man” appeared previously on the band’s Biscuits collection. A Keith LeBlanc remix of “What’s Your Favorite Color?” adds to the funk quotient while a live performance of “Cult of Personality” closes Vivid and blows the roof off the mutha!

One of the most important albums in rock history, Vivid sold over a million copies and earned the band a Grammy® Award. More important, though, is the influence the album and Living Colour would have on those that would follow. With Vivid, Living Colour literally changed the face of rock ‘n’ roll. (Legacy Recordings, released May 4, 2010)

Review originally published by the Alt.Culture.Guide™ music zine

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Living Colour’s Vivid




Archive Review: Los Lobos' By the Light of the Moon (1987)

Los Lobos' By the Light of the Moon
It’s an unfortunate reality that rock ‘n’ roll, the corporate entity, is by its very exclusive nature, inherent racism, and bureaucratic unintelligence, pretty much a white man’s game. Oft times, all the hype, hoopla, and promotion is spent on the wrong artists or product, and musicians who fail, by reason of birth, to make the cut, are doomed to obscurity or, worse yet, an audience limited by racial demographics.

It’s a damn shame, too, for sheer, potent rock ‘n’ roll is not an exclusively lily-white art form. Case in point – Rick James can, and regularly does, out-rock any one of a number of lesser-talented AOR staples, doing it with energy, intelligence, and a measure of ballsy braggadocio.

Still, when was the last time you heard a Rick James song on your local “rock radio?” For every Prince or Michael Jackson who achieve multi-Platinum™ success in spite of the limitations of programing and promotion, there are dozens of talented artists and bands who suffer the commercial degradation of racial inequality. This editorializing is an attempt, however successful, to let you know what you may have been missing. There’s a whole world of talented musicians out there who aren’t represented on the charts, programed on the radio, or viewed on MTV. Los Lobos is one such band.

Roaring out of the Spanish-speaking slums of East Los Angeles, Los Lobos are a damn fine rock ‘n’ roll outfit of Mexican-American origin, carrying on a tradition that began some two decades ago with the crooning of Ritchie Valens and the garage-rock of Thee Midniters and continuing in an almost unbroken line through such contemporaries as Ruben & the Jets, Con Safos, and the Plugz (who would become the Cruzados). Unlike many artists of non-Anglo heritage who attempt to hide or downplay their ethnic origins, Los Lobos are proud of who they are and where they come from.

By the Light of the Moon is Los Lobos’ second album and follows much the same footsteps as 1985’s critically-acclaimed How Will the Wolf Survive? A blend of soulful, R&B, American-styled guitar-rock, and melodic, haunting traditional Mexican folk music, Los Lobos and By the Light of the Moon present a stylistic offering that is fresh, original, and at once both like and unlike much of what you may have heard before (strains of Doug Sahmn’s Tex-Mex musings reach my ears, as does brooding blues music not unlike Stevie Ray Vaughan). Lyrically, Los Lobos tend to sing of romance, pride, and wisdom.

The result is an all-too-brief glimpse into a culture that parallels that of the predominantly-white Anglo record-buying public. It would be a shame to allow such intelligent and thoughtful art drop into obscurity needlessly. Artists such as Los Lobos have too much to offer to be ignored for reasons of race, demographics, or ethnic prejudice…and if this does occur, we are all the much poorer for it.

Review originally published by Nashville’s The Metro magazine, 1987

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Los Lobos’ By the Light of the Moon




Friday, February 7, 2020

Short Rounds: Beach Slang, The Bar-Kays, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Delaney & Bonnie, Mott the Hoople, Television Personalities (2020)

Beach Slang's The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbeat City
New album releases in 150 words or less...

Beach Slang – The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbeat City (Bridge Nine)
There’s no denying that James Alex and his Beach Slang gang wear their Replacements idolatry on their collective sleeves, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbeat City. With former ‘Mats bassist Tommy Stinson helping craft the album’s sound, the band revels in the unbridled joy of playing rock ‘n’ roll with reckless abandon and guitars in overdrive. Sure, songs like “Born To Raise Hell,” “Tommy In the 80s,” and “All the Kids In L.A.” evince an obvious Replacements sonic vibe, but I think that Alex is a better lyricist (i.e. less self-absorbed) than Westerberg at this point in his career, and I hear strains of Hanoi Rocks and Superchunk in this gleeful din as well as a can’t-put-your-finger-on-it genius that separates Beach Slang from a generation of Replacements sound-alikes. I expect I’ll be playing Deadbeat Bang a helluva lot in 2020 (and so should you…). Grade: A   BUY!
 
The Bar-Kays' Gotta Groove
The Bar-Kays – Gotta Groove (Craft Recordings vinyl reissue)
The Bar-Kays’ Gotta Groove was a comeback effort by a band recovering from tragedy, after losing most of its members in the plane crash that also killed Otis Redding. The survivors rebuilt the band and found the funk with this energetic comeback effort. Inspired by Sly Stone, “Don’t Stop Dancing (To the Music), Part 1” is a joyful fusion of funk ‘n’ soul with blasting horns, a busy instrumental mix, and an overall raucous party vibe. They slow it down a bit for an instrumental cover of Marvin Gaye’s “If This World Were Mine,” which displayed the band’s musical chops, but the party cranks up again with the rowdy, mostly-instrumental jam “Funky Thang.” This version of the Bar-Kays would later back up Isaac Hayes on his landmark Hot Buttered Soul LP and, as members came and went, would find success venturing further into funk and disco throughout the mid-to-late ‘70s. Grade: B   BUY!

Booker T. & the M.G.’s Melting Pot
Booker T. & the M.G.’s – Melting Pot (Craft Recordings, vinyl reissue)
With both Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper looking to exit the Stax Records factory, 1971’s Melting Pot was recorded in NYC rather than Memphis. The album lives up to title, featuring a fusion of sounds befitting Jones’ expanding artistic vision, offering longer original songs with lengthy instrumental jams. “Back Home” mixes Southern rock and soul with gospel fervor, while the down ‘n’ dirty swamp-rock of “Chicken Pox” is brimming over with imaginative keyboards and greasy guitar picking. Running nearly nine minutes, “Kinda Like Easy” is a sequel, of sorts, to the band’s early hit “Green Onions,” the song mining a similar rhythmic canvas atop which Jones layers keyboard riffs and Donald “Duck” Dunn’s bass lines echo with malice. The band’s last album for Stax, Melting Pot would become their most commercially successful album since 1967’s Hip Hug-Her, yielding a hit with an edited version of the eight-minute title track. Grade: B+   BUY!

Delaney & Bonnie's Home
Delaney & Bonnie – Home (Craft Recordings, vinyl reissue)
The 1969 debut by Delaney & Bonnie – the talented pairing of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett – Home was produced by Stax Records stalwarts Don Nix and Donald “Duck” Dunn, its groundbreaking sound providing a foundation for the duo’s later work, their blend of country, blues, and soul influencing the entire Americana genre. There’s a lot to like about Home, beginning with the album-opening “It’s Been A Long Time Coming,” which places Delaney’s gritty, soulful voice against Bonnie’s soaring tones for a stunning duet while the Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd-penned “We Can Love” should have been a hit single, the song reveling in a Sam Cooke groove and an Aretha vibe. Home failed to chart, and Stax dropped Delaney & Bonnie from their roster, but the album did attract the notice of people like Eric Clapton and George Harrison, who would help the duo write their next chapter of their career. Grade: B+   BUY!

Mott the Hoople's The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mott the Hoople – The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Madfish Records, UK)
The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll is a two-LP, vinyl-only import compilation of the legendary Mott the Hoople’s three-album tenure with Columbia Records circa 1972-74 and, as such, it’s a real gem. All the UK hits are here – “All the Young Dudes,” “Honaloochie Boogie,” “All the Way From Memphis,” “Roll Away the Stone,” and the title track. The set also includes rare B-sides and UK single versions that were unavailable to stateside fans back in the day. Throw in lesser-known obscurities like “Marionette,” “Foxy Foxy,” “Saturday Gigs,” “Rose,” “Rest In Peace,” and Mott’s inspired version of Lou Reed’s classic “Sweet Jane” and you’ll see why Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, Overend, and the rest of the gang inspired everybody from Queen and the Clash to Def Leppard and Kiss. Beautiful gatefold packaging with liner notes by Hunter biographer Campbell Devine makes this essential for any Hoople fanatic. Grade: A+   BUY!

Television Personalities' Some Kind of Happening
Television Personalities – Some Kind of Happening (Fire Records)
The first of two double-disc volumes documenting beloved British rock institution Television Personalities, Some Kind of Happening is a collection of the band’s UK single releases circa 1978 to 1989. Although the band came of age during, and was inspired by the punk revolution, singer-songwriter Dan Treacy was too incorruptible to merely chase three-chord clichés. As such, the 45s preserved by Some Kind of Happening range from atonal post-punk and neo-psychedelia to melodic indie pop. The band was never more than a cult favorite stateside, but they influenced numerous college rockers of the 1980s and ’90s and Treacy’s restless muse, combined with his wry humor and dry wit, make songs like “Part Time Punks,” “If That’s What Love Is,” and “Paradise Estate” a joy. A whimsical cover of Syd Barrett’s “Apples and Oranges” and the Treacy original “I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives” are worth the price of admission alone. Grade: A   BUY!

Previously on That Devil Music.com:
Short Rounds, January 2019: The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dana Gillespie, Manfred Mann, Mick Ronson, An A-Squared Compilation
 
Short Rounds, December 2019 (Holiday Gift Suggestions): Cindy Lee Berryhill, Black Pumas, Alice Cooper, Robyn Hitchcock & Andy Partridge, Handsome Dick Manitoba, The Muffs, Harry Nilsson, The Rosalyns & Bobby Rush 



Archive Review: The Traveling Wilburys' The Traveling Wilburys Collection (2016)

The Traveling Wilburys Collection
Great music often occurs by happenstance, and never more so than with the intriguing story of the Traveling Wilburys. According to the tale told by former Warner Music chairman Mo Ostin in the liner notes to The Traveling Wilburys Collection, George Harrison was hanging around with a bunch of friends in Bob Dylan’s studio, working up a song called “Handle With Care” to use as a B-Side for “This Is Love,” the first single from Harrison’s Cloud Nine album. These “friends,” by chance, happened to include the Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, the legendary Roy Orbison and, of course, the greatest songwriter that rock music has ever produced, Bob Dylan.

This humbling assemblage of musical talents finished the song and Harrison hustled “Handle With Care” over to Ostin’s office for executive approval. Warner Music A&R chief Lenny Waronker listened in, and everybody agreed that the song was too damn good to waste as a lowly B-side. Featuring a wonderful Orbison vocal performance and Harrison’s vastly-underrated fretwork, the song became sign of bigger things to come. The superstar quintet reassembled in the studio and quickly knocked out a proper album, Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1 which was released in late 1988. “Handle With Care” was chosen as the album’s first single, just barely missing Top 40 status, but was a hit nonetheless. The album climbed to the number three position on the Billboard charts and subsequently sold over five million copies.

The Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1


Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1 and its 1990 companion, Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3, represented an accomplished musical collaboration by a group of rock’s biggest stars and brightest talents. As the friendly, pop-inflected rock of the Traveling Wilburys gave way during the ‘90s to the onslaught of Seattle bands and harsher styles of music, the two albums slipped out-of-print and the rights to both reverted to Harrison. By the end of the decade, though, as the millennium approached, people began to rediscover the charms of the Traveling Wilburys and the two albums became coveted collector’s items, fetching premium pricing on eBay and elsewhere. After Harrison’s death, his estate sat on the albums for a while, but now Rhino has licensed them both and slapped them together as The Traveling Wilburys Collection, a two-CD set with a bonus DVD and collector’s booklet with liner notes, photos, and credits.

Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1
What made Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1 so enchanting wasn’t the infectious video for “Handle With Care” that grabbed significant MTV airplay, or even the impressive pedigree of the superstar participants. No, what mattered most was the music, which sounds like it was created by a bunch of close buddies hanging around the studio. The songs are loose and ego-free, yet they showcase the talents of all the collaborators. To reinforce the group concept and downplay their individual star status, they all took on the “Wilburys” surname – Lucky (Dylan), Lefty (Orbison), Otis (Harrison) and Nelson Wilbury (Lynne) along with Charlie T. Jr. (Petty). An entire Wilburys’ mythology was created around the faux group, further creating an aura of mystery around the band and its music.

Every one of the Wilburys brought something to the table, each one singing and playing on every song. The material runs the gamut of musical styles, perhaps reflecting the individual group member’s tastes at the time. Lynne’s rockabilly-styled love song “Rattled” is a rollicking Carl Perkins/Jerry Lee Lewis hybrid, while Petty’s reggae-tinged “Last Night” offers staggered rhythms and great harmonies behind his tale of romance under the moonlight. Dylan’s “Dirty Word” pairs the bard’s penchant for oblique wordplay with sly, tongue-in-cheek humor. His other song here, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man,” is a deliciously wicked Springsteen-styled story-song, a sordid tale of shady deals gone bad that features one of Dylan’s most electric vocal performances.

Handle With Care


The aforementioned hit single, “Handle With Care,” features a lush Jeff Lynne soundtrack behind Harrison’s romantic fantasy, the song taken to a higher level by Orbison’s transcendent vocal contribution. The album’s other hit single, “End of the Line,” offers up the combined harmonies of the five Wilburys behind strong lead vocals courtesy of Petty, and some intricate, intertwined guitars, each doing something different in the mix to great effect. Orbison’s “Not Alone Any More” represents, perhaps, his best performance since the ‘60s, his quivering vocals drenched with emotion, simply heartbreaking as they soar towards the heavens behind Harrison’s delicate fretwork. The Traveling Wilburys Collection adds two previously unreleased bonus tracks to the package: “Maxine” is an upbeat number with slight production but energetic Harrison vocals and fretwork, while the grand performance of “Like A Ship” is reminiscent of late-period Beatles, putting Dylan’s creaky vocals behind the epic instrumentation instead of John or Paul.

The critical acclaim and commercial success enjoyed by Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1 was tempered by Roy Orbison’s unexpected death shortly after the album’s release. The singer’s passing made a sequel problematic, as Orbison’s powerful and unique vocals were an integral part of the first album’s songs. Two years later, however, the surviving Wilburys gathered together to honor their fallen brother and celebrate his life, recording Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3 (yup, there is no “Volume 2”), which would subsequently be dedicated to “Lefty Wilbury.”

Aside from Orbison’s death, a lot had happened in the two years between the 1988 release of Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1 and its 1990 follow-up. The Harrison album that inspired the entire Wilburys phenomenon, Cloud Nine, had also provided the former Beatle with a bona fide late-career comeback. Ditto for Bob Dylan, whose own Daniel Lanois-produced Oh Mercy album, released in 1989, provided the aging rock star with a third career, launching a never-ending tour that continues rolling today. Lynne and Petty worked together to fashion Full Moon Fever, Petty’s first solo album and a hit in its own right, while Lynne also produced the critically-acclaimed posthumous Roy Orbison album Mystery Girl.

So, by the time that the remaining Wilburys foursome returned to the studio to put together Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3 they all had other things on their mind. As such, rather than the easy-going camaraderie that made the first album so user-friendly, Lynne and Petty tend to dominate these sessions to the detriment of Dylan and Harrison. For one, the material isn’t as strong as that from Volume 1, and the vocal performances don’t revel in the laser-like focus that they previously shared.

Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3


Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3
That’s not to say that there are no good songs on Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3. You can’t go wrong with a group of this caliber talent, and the album has many memorable moments. “The Devil’s Been Busy” easily rises to the level of the first album, showcasing similarly magical vocal harmonies, with the guys swapping lead vocals in front of a wall of jangling guitars and rolling rhythms. Dylan’s “If You Belonged To Me” sounds like a Blood On the Tracks outtake, a lovely romantic confession that offers an extremely satisfying vocal performance, timely harp work and delicate rhythm guitar.

The album also yielded a pair of hit singles, the first – “She’s My Baby” – a rocking number that benefits from Lynne’s retro-styled production (with slight echo), shared vocals and a red-hot guitar lead courtesy of guest Gary Moore. The second single, “Inside Out,” also features strong harmonies, with the guys swapping vocal leads on top of a steady drumbeat and complex six-string play. Overall, however, Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3 falls short of the performances created for, and the expectations created by its predecessor. Keep on listening, though, and these songs grow on you. They don’t share the spontaneity and intimacy of the material on album one, but they’re certainly not without attraction.

The Traveling Wilburys Collection also adds two bonus tracks to the end of Volume 3, although both songs had been previously released. The first, “Nobody’s Child,” was originally included on a benefit album. A trembling country blues, the song is, quite frankly, not much to talk about. The vocals are inappropriately over-the-top and somebody forgot to tell Dylan, et al that you don’t have to affect a nasal twang to sound like an authentic bluesman. Much better is an inspired cover of Del Shannon’s classic song “Runaway” that was released as the B-side to “She’s My Baby.” The song cries out for Orbison’s soaring vocals, but Lynne does a fine job on the lead and the harmonies build impressively on the song’s fast-paced rhythms.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line


The set’s additional DVD includes a “making off” mini-documentary titled “The True History of the Traveling Wilburys” as well as the music videos for all four of the two albums’ singles and one for the embarrassing “Wilbury Twist.” A deluxe edition of The Traveling Wilburys Collection includes a larger CD booklet, presumably with more pictures and content for the extreme fan. For this listener, however, the standard two-CD set works well, presenting the music in all of its original glory, finally resurrecting the magnificent sound of the Traveling Wilburys for a new generation. (Rhino Records, released June 3, 2016)

Review originally published by the Trademark of Quality (TMQ) blog

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: The Traveling Wilburys Collection




Saturday, February 1, 2020

New Music Monthly: February 2020 releases

Winter's icy grip is embracing most of us here in the U.S. but that doesn't mean that there aren't some red-hot tunes on the horizon this month to keep you warm! It's a short month, to be sure, bu if new music from folks like Green Day, Sepultura, Tame Impala, Guided by Voices, Supersuckers, and Ozzy Osbourne, among others, doesn't light your fire, maybe a five-disc Eric Burdon & the Animals box set will make the weather more tolerable.

Release dates are subject to change and nobody tells me when they do. If you’re interesting in buying an album, just hit the ‘Buy!’ link to get it from Amazon.com...it’s just that damn easy! Your purchase puts valuable ‘store credit’ in the Reverend’s pocket that he’ll use to buy more music to write about in a never-ending loop of rock ‘n’ roll ecstasy! 

Green Day's Father of All...

FEBRUARY 7
Cadillac Three - Country Fuzz   BUY!
Green Day - Father of All...   BUY!
Nada Surf - Never Not Together   BUY!
Sepultura - Quadra   BUY!
Stone Temple Pilots - Perdida   BUY!
Supersuckers - Play That Rock 'n' Roll   BUY!

The Third Mind's The Third Mind

FEBRUARY 14
Huey Lewis & the News - Weather   BUY!
Nathaniel Rateliff - And It's Still Alright   BUY!
Tame Impala - The Slow Rush   BUY!
The Third Mind - The Third Mind [with/Dave Alvin, Victor Krummenacher & David Immergluck]   BUY!

Ozzy Osbourne's Ordinary Man

FEBRUARY 21
Eric Burdon & the Animals - When I Was Young, The MGM Recordings, 1967-1968 [5-CD box set]   BUY!
Greg Dulli - Random Desire   BUY!
Grimes - Miss_Anthrop0cene   BUY!
Guided by Voices - Surrender Your Poppy Field   BUY!
Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man   BUY!
Nancy Priddy - You've Come This Way Before [vinyl reissue]   BUY!

Mondo Generator's Fuck It

FEBRUARY 28
Caribou - Suddenly   BUY!
Dom Flemons - Prospect Hill: The American Songster Omnibus   BUY!
Mondo Generator - Fuck It   BUY!
Soccer Mommy - Color Theory   BUY!

Eric Burdon & the Animals' When I Was Young, The MGM Recordings, 1967-1968

Album of the Month: Eric Burdon & the Animals - When I Was Young, The MGM Recordings, 1967-1968 is a five-CD box set comprised of the band's late-period albums for the label including 1967's Winds of Change (with the hit single "San Franciscan Night") and 1968's The Twain Shall Meet (with the hits "Sky Pilot" and "Monterey"), Every One of Us, and Love Is plus assorted rarities and singles edits. An underrated period for the band, to be sure, coming in between the Animals early success as part of the British Invasion and Burdon's later solo work.