Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling, Part Two (2021)

VENUE: Live WNCR-FM radio broadcast from the Agora Ballroom, Cleveland Ohio, sometime in September 1972.

SOUND QUALITY: Meh…you really need to turn it up to hear it, the recording hollow, brittle, and empty-sounding. Just a step above full-blown bootleg status, really, but Gallagher’s vox are easily discernable and his guitar cuts through the muck like a surgeon’s scalpel, but his otherwise talented rhythm section is blurred and slurred into sonic roadkill on most tracks.

COVER: It’s a major label release, so the packaging isn’t too shabby – nice B&W “action” shot of Rory strangling his Stratocaster on the front, a B&W full band photo on the rear cover along with the track listing. The inner sleeve is in color with track listing and credits, and photos of the current in-print Rory Gallagher album catalog (so fire up those credit cards, kids!).

TRACKLIST: 
(Side A) 1. Messin’ With the Kid • 2. Used To Be • 3. Should’ve Learnt My Lesson

(Side B) 4. Laundromat • 5. Pistol Slapper Blues • 6. Banker’s Blues • 7. In Your Town

COMMENTS: Let’s clear up any potential misconceptions about this “Record Store Day” album from the beginning…released on July 17th as part of the second RSD “drop” for 2021, Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling, Part 2 isn’t a two-album set (like it says on the RSD website), it’s a single, seven-song 12” record pressed on a thick slab of 180g wax. There’s no “download card,” as some sources claim (or else my still-sealed copy didn’t come with one…as last year’s predecessor didn’t have a download, I’m pretty sure that Universal went cheap-o again and didn’t include one here, either…). Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features a previously-unreleased radio broadcast of a promotional concert done exclusively for Cleveland’s WNCR-FM. 

Gallagher and his band performed seven songs in the otherwise empty Agora Ballroom on some day in September 1972 (no date listed, but Gallagher opened for Fleetwood Mac in Cleveland on September 8th). The album is a “sequel,” of sorts, to last year’s RSD release Cleveland Calling, a previously-unreleased in-studio acoustic performance for WNCR-FM from August ’72. That album was a resounding success upon its RSD release, peaking at #2 on the Billboard magazine “Blues” chart, a feat matched by this new archival release. Gallagher’s band at the time included bassist Gerry McAvoy (who would remain with Rory until his death in 1995), keyboardist Lou Martin, and drummer Rod de’Ath, the same talented group that would later record Gallagher’s critically-acclaimed 1973 albums Blueprint and Tattoo. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the greatness that was Rory Gallagher, he was an Irish blues-rock guitarist who, after finding inspiration in the music of U.K. hitmaker Lonnie Donegan, picked up the instrument at the age of nine and subsequently fell in love with the blues and rock ‘n’ roll music he heard listening to Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network (AFN) on his radio late at night. Influenced by artists as diverse as Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly, and Woody Guthrie, Gallagher taught himself slide guitar, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, and banjo. His first band that anybody remembers was Taste, a blues-rock power trio formed in 1966 that would release a pair of critically-acclaimed studio albums before breaking up. Gallagher released his self-titled solo debut in early 1971 and followed it up a few months later with his sophomore effort, Deuce, both albums breaking the Top 40 in the U.K. 

Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features one song from Rory’s debut and three from Deuce, alongside a trio of previously-unrecorded tunes that were part of Gallagher’s concert setlist that would appear on his breakthrough1972 album Live In Europe. The Agora Ballroom was a great venue for Gallagher’s “meat and potatoes” approach to rock and blues music, the historic stage hosting notable concerts by talents like Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top, Boston, Todd Rundgren, Ian Hunter, and many others. Oddly enough, the club’s proximity to popular FM radio station WMMS meant that the station frequently broadcast live shows from the location. Cross-town rival WNCR seems to have pulled a fast one here, broadcasting an exclusive Gallagher performance from the venue.

As for the performance itself, Gallagher and crew bring fire and brimstone to the stage. Opening with Junior Wells’ signature song “Messin’ With the Kid,” Rory does a little noodling guitar intro until the band explodes into a revved-up, amphetamine-fueled Chicago blues jam that hits your ears like a drive-by mugging. Martin’s honky-tonk piano-pounding livens up the performance by offering a counterpoint to the Gallagher’s raging guitarplay. (Note: “Messin’ With the Kid” is incorrectly attributed to Wells but it was actually written by Chief Records founder and producer Mel London, who also wrote hits for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James). Gallagher’s original “Used To Be” is a bit of a letdown by comparison with the album-opener, but it features some tasty fatback six-string bending by the Irish maestro against a strident, if somewhat smudged rhythmic backdrop. 

The scorching, Chicago-styled blues of “Should Have Learnt My Lesson” closes out the album’s first side, the song’s languid tempo disguising a fiery heartbeat and truckloads of emotion channeled through Gallagher’s strings and Martin’s subtle keyboard flourishes. It’s a captivating performance made all the better by Gallagher blue-eyed soul vocals. “Laundromat,” the lone song here from his debut album, roars out of the grooves to open side two, the song’s mix of raucous British blues and jazzy undertones providing a clever bit of songwriting alchemy. Gerry McAvoy’s bass and drummer Rod de’Ath are more discernable here, providing a rhythmic backbone for Gallagher rowdy performance and soaring solos. 

A cover of legendary bluesman Blind Boy Fuller’s “Pistol Slapper Blues” never made it onto a proper Gallagher studio recording, its only contemporary appearance coming on the guitarist’s Live In Europe (it would later appear as a bonus track on the CD reissue of Irish Tour ’74). Gallagher seems to have treated live albums like studio work anyway, his setlists peppered with new originals and cover songs that he’d seldom revisit. Fuller’s Piedmont blues classic is provided a spry acoustic setting here, with Gallagher’s inspired vocals rising above his elegant fretwork. The Big Bill Broonzy song “Banker’s Blues” is cut from similar cloth, Gallagher’s half-spoken vocals accompanied by melodic harmonica, subtle piano, and filigree acoustic guitar. Deuce’s “In Your Town” closes the set with a booger-rock frenzy driven by Martin’s rollicking keyboards and Gallagher’s stinging, energetic guitar solos.

While he never built more than a cult following stateside during his lifetime, Gallagher nevertheless forged an influential and modestly-successful career, releasing eleven studio and three live albums over roughly 20 years as a solo performer. Gallagher died of complications from a liver transplant in June 1995, but his unassailable catalog of music influenced artists as diverse as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, and Joe Bonamassa, among many others. In the wake of his death, Rory’s brother Dónal has kept the guitarist’s legacy alive with a steady stream of high-quality live and archival releases. He may have dug deep into the vaults to find the performance featured on Cleveland Calling, Part 2 but it’s a worthy addition to the artist’s canon and a necessary addition to the collections of Rory’s avid fans. Grade: A (Chess Records/Universal Music, released July 17th, 2021)

Review originally published by the Original Live! Music Review website...

Also on That Devil Music:
Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling review
Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour review
Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions review

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling (2020)

VENUE: Live WNCR-FM radio broadcast from Agency Recordings Studio, Cleveland Ohio; August 7th, 1972

SOUND QUALITY: Pretty darn good, actually, given the antiquated original source material. If you want to be overly-critical, there’s a lack of depth to the performances, which are missing the electrifying dynamic present on most of Gallagher’s records. However, the nature of an acoustic performance covers a lot of sonic flaws as there are not as many layers to capture – just the magic of a man and his guitar, his voice, and his harmonica – another gig played by a bluesman older in spirit than his young age (24) would suggest. 

COVER: Simple but effective major label quality packaging with separate B&W photos of the legendary Irish guitarist on the front and rear covers and an overall neutral greyish tone. The inner sleeve is in color with track listing and credits, and photos of the current in-print Rory Gallagher album catalog should newbies wish to discover more great music from the gifted guitarist.

TRACKLIST: 
(Side A) Pistol Slapper Blues • Don’t Know Where I’m Going • Gypsy Woman • Out of My Mind

(Side B) The Cuckoo • Banker’s Blues • Should’ve Learned My Lesson • Blow Wind Blow    

COMMENTS: 

Like many a U.K. youth in the 1950s, Irish blues-rock guitarist Rory Gallagher found early inspiration in popular skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan. Gallagher began playing guitar at the tender age of nine years old, and bought his first electric guitar (a Stratocaster) at the age of twelve. Listening to Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network (AFN) late at night, Gallagher broadened his musical palette with early rock ‘n’ roll influences like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. It was when he discovered the music of Muddy Waters that he fell in love with the blues and, throughout his teenage years, he would play a mix of folk, blues, and rock music, finding further inspiration in artists like Woody Guthrie and Big Bill Broonzy. Gallagher subsequently taught himself to play slide guitar, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, and banjo with vary degrees of virtuosity.

Gallagher’s first band of note was Taste, a blues-rock power trio formed in 1966 when the guitarist was a mere 18 years old. That band released a pair of well-received studio albums – 1969’s Taste and 1970’s On the Boards – before breaking up; a pair of live albums were released in the wake of the band’s demise to capitalize on Gallagher’s bourgeoning reputation as a six-string prodigy. Gallagher released his self-titled solo debut in early 1971 and followed it up a few months later with his sophomore effort, Deuce. Gallagher broke into the U.K. Top 10 for the first time with 1972’s Live In Europe, which was unusual in that the album featured performances of five songs that hadn’t been previously-recorded by the guitarist.  

The eight-song Cleveland Calling LP was released for October’s third Record Store Day “drop” in a limited edition of 3,000 copies and documents Gallagher’s live broadcast by Cleveland’s WNCR-FM radio in August 1972. I don’t know how they did it at WNCR, but I do know that their crosstown rival (WMMS-FM) used to broadcast slews of live performances, and taped many (if not all) of ‘em, creating a treasure-trove of live 1970s-era classic rock that languishes in a vault somewhere (hopefully). Evidently, things didn’t work out too well as many of the WNCR on-air staff revolted against company efforts to overly commercialize the station, going on strike in late 1972. They were subsequently fired en masse by management after a late-night meeting mediated by the station’s morning DJ, Don Imus (who would soon go onto bigger broadcast markets). The station itself switched over to an automated country format on January 1st, 1973. 

But I digress…Gallagher’s acoustic performance here is stunning in its passion and complexity. After a brief intro from the station’s deejay, Carolyn Thomas, Rory starts his short, sharp set with a rowdy cover of Blind Boy Fuller’s Piedmont blues gem “Pistol Slapper Blues,” one of the previously-unrecorded tunes from Live In Europe. With spry guitar pickin’, Gallagher does an admirable job in capturing the joi de vivre of Fuller’s original performance. “Don’t Know Where I’m Going” is one of three Gallagher originals from Deuce, a harmonica-driven country-blues jam that could easily be mistaken for 1930s vintage, Rory’s vocals flowing above simple strummed chords, the overall result greater than the sum of its parts.

“Gypsy Woman” was a cover of a Delta-dirty Muddy Waters song that first appeared as a bonus track on the 1999 CD reissue of Gallagher’s debut album. Probably the bluesiest track here, Rory’s scattershot vocals and imaginative fretwork make the performance a pure joy. Another song from Deuce, “Out of My Mind” is a folk-styled rocker with impressive vocal gymnastics, nimble guitar playing, and more than a few stylistic nods to the skiffle tunes of the musician’s youth. Flipping the flapjack, second side opening song “The Cuckoo” is a traditional English/Irish folk song that wouldn’t find proper release until the posthumous 2003 album Wheels Within Wheels, itself a treasure-chest of acoustic outtakes and lost recordings from across 20 years of Gallagher’s career. 

Deceptively complex in the manner of many a rusty old song from musty, forgotten songbooks, Gallagher pours his soul into the performance, gilding “The Cuckoo” with exotic fretwork and strong vocals that help shape the song’s lyrical story. The guitarist follows up with a reading of his idol Big Bill Broonzy’s “Banker’s Blues,” which he’d record a year later for the critically-acclaimed Blueprint LP. After giving Ms. Thomas a lesson in harmonica styles, he launches into a fine approximation of Broonzy’s folkie proto-Chicago blues sound, capturing all of the tongue-in-cheek humor of the lyrics with his light-hearted vocals and intricate guitar strum. The last of the three original Deuce tunes, “Should’ve Learnt My Lesson” is another slab of old-school blues, rich with Gallagher’s elegant string-bending and the overall “high lonesome” Piedmont vibe captured by Rory’s mournful voice.       

Cleveland Calling closes out with “Blow Wind Blow,” as obscure a Muddy Waters song as you’ll find (it’s from the oft-overlooked classic 1969 LP Fathers and Sons). Fresh from playing on the Chicago blues legend’s The London Muddy Waters Sessions album, Gallagher acquits himself nicely here, digging into the song’s roots in the Mississippi Delta of Waters’ plantation-raised early days, his up-tempo guitar playing matched by syrupy vocals and a just-beneath-the-surface energy that threatens to explode with any random note. Sadly, a studio recording of the song wouldn’t be released until the excellent 2019 “odds ‘n’ sods” collection, Blues, a three-disc collection of rare, unreleased, and live recordings that would land Gallagher back on the Top 20 of the U.K. charts.
 
Gallagher move past 1972 to enjoy a modestly-successful career throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, releasing a total of eleven studio and three live albums over a 20-year span, with 1990’s Fresh Evidence representing the guitarist’s swansong. Gallagher would die of complications from a liver transplant (a tragic necessity due to decades of living a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle) in June 1995. Over the course of his career, Gallagher had the opportunity to perform and record with musical idols like Lonnie Donegan, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Muddy Waters and was part of the band Box of Frogs with former Yardbirds Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith, and Jim McCarty. While he never rose above the status of “cult artist” in the U.S. his loyal following has supported a steady stream of posthumous live albums and DVDs. 

Perhaps most importantly, Gallagher’s undeniable talents would subsequently influence artists as diverse as Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Alex Lifeson of Rush, Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, and fellow blues guitarists Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa, among many others who all cited the humble Irishman as an influence on their own music. Gallagher also swayed contemporaries like Eric Clapton (who once credited Gallagher with “getting me back into the blues”) and Jimi Hendrix (who, allegedly asked how it felt to be the world’s greatest guitarist, replied “I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”) and had been asked to join both Deep Purple and the Rolling Stones to replace those band’s wayward guitarists. 

While Gallagher could strangle his Stratocaster and torture a stack o’ Marshall amps as loudly and energetically as 1970s-era contemporaries like Johnny Winter, Leslie West, or Pat Travers, Cleveland Calling is a fine representation of the often-understated (acoustic) aspect of Gallagher’s talents, his between-song conversations with the station’s DJ providing the barest of glimpses into the personality of the gifted musician and performer. Cleveland Calling is a “must have” if you’re a longtime Gallagher fan but stands tall on its own for blues fans who just want a taste of this too-frequently overlooked artist. Grade: A (Chess Records/Universal Music, released October 24th, 2020)
 

Review originally published by the Original Live! Music Review website...

Also on That Devil Music:
Rory Gallagher’s BBC Sessions review
Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco review
Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions review

Archive Review: Dave Alvin’s King of California (2019)

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dave Alvin is an American music icon. During a career that has now spanned five decades, Alvin was a founding member (with brother Phil) of roots-rock legends the Blasters, with which he recorded four albums. Leaving that band in 1986 to pursue other musical avenues, Alvin was a member of L.A. punk stalwarts X as well as that band’s musical side project, country-folk outfit the Knitters. Alvin played alongside fellow Blasters members Steve Berlin and Bill Bateman as part of Chris D’s notorious band the Flesh Eaters and, with the equally notorious Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana (The Beat Farmers), the trio toured as the Pleasure Barons.       
 
Alvin has also lent his six-string skills to recordings by the Gun Club, blues singer Candye Kane, Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Gos, and rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess, among many others and, as a songwriter, he’s had material recorded by artists as diverse as Townes Van Zandt, Dwight Yoakum, Jo-El Sonnier, Willie Nelson, and Marshall Crenshaw. Alvin launched his solo career with the 1987 major label release of the critically-acclaimed Romeo’s Escape (titled Every Night About This Time in England) but, when the album failed to sell sufficiently in an era of multi-Platinum™ country artists (rising to #60 on the country chart), Columbia Records released him from his contact.

Signed to the roots-rock oriented indie label HighTone Records (also home to artists like bluesmen Robert Cray and Joe Louis Walker and Americana pioneers Joe Ely and Chris Smither), Alvin delivered a pair of albums – 1991’s Blue Blvd. and 1993’s Museum of Heart – that enjoyed modest sales but received mixed critical response. Stepping back from the heavy production and electric instrumentation of his previous two albums, Alvin whittled his songs down to their gnarled, raw-boned roots for King of California. In the original label press release for the album, Alvin wrote “King of California is my 3rd solo album for HighTone, and it’s a bit different…for one thing, I stripped down the instrumentation. I addition to some new original songs, I’ve included a few covers, and some songs I previously recorded solo, or with my first band, the Blasters.” 

Dave Alvin’s King of California 

Released in May 1994, Alvin’s King of California album celebrates its ‘silver anniversary’ this year with a long-overdue deluxe reissue on vinyl (with bonus tracks!) by Craft Recordings. Widely considered as an influential classic album of Americana, Alvin recorded King of California with mostly acoustic instrumentation, joined in the studio by many of his usual cohorts including bassist Don Falzone, drummer Bobby Lloyd Hicks, and multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz, who played slide and pedal-steel guitar, mandolin as well as producing the album. Longtime friends like Syd Straw, Rosie Flores, and Chris Gaffney added backing vocals to several songs. As critic Mark Deming wrote for All Music Guide, “While King of California was often lumped in with the then-fashionable unplugged craze, in retrospect it was the album where Dave Alvin’s abilities as a performer began to catch up with his gifts as a songwriter…”

The results were stunning, the predominantly acoustic soundtrack behind the songs placing a greater emphasis on Alvin’s lyrical skills and underrated vocals. “Current trends and fads aside,” Alvin writes, “I’ve wanted to do a ‘quieter’ collection of old, new, borrowed, and blue songs for quite some time. It can be difficult trying to please the people who want to hear sweaty, electric rock ‘n’ roll, as well as the fans who are more interested in contemplating the lyrics. I think King of California is mainly for the latter group. Alongside the new songs on the album, Alvin also re-recorded several songs. He explains why in the press release, writing “I wanted to re-cut songs like “Fourth of July,” from my first solo album Romeo’s Escape because, to be perfectly honest, I can sing ‘em better now.”  

The album kicks off with the title track, introduced by lush six-string work which blends into Alvin’s warm, sonorous vocals. The spry backing soundtrack provides the perfect accompaniment to Alvin’s romantic tale and wistful lyrics. The melancholy “Fourth of July” benefits greatly from the more subdued setting, Alvin’s brilliant imagery coming to life above the jangling guitars and rolling rhythm. One of the album’s better original tracks, “Goodbye Again” is a duet with the talented Rosie Flores, an Americana legend in her own right. Opening with Mexican-styled fretwork, Flores’ lighter, pastel-colored vocals provide a sparkling counterpoint to Alvin’s deeper, darker-hued voice. The natural chemistry between the two is remarkable, their performance a pure joy.   

Border Radio

The plaintive “Bus Station” offers another brilliant performance, Alvin’s half-spoken vocals telling a sad tale of hard luck romantics as Skip Edwards’ mournful accordion plays longingly in the background. Alvin’s vocals carry the gravitas of Merle Haggard while the song’s simple, effective instrumental backdrop reminds of Doug Sahm’s Texas Tornadoes. On the other hand, a spot-on cover of prolific bluesman Memphis Slim’s “Mother Earth” perfectly captures the song’s original vibe with Alvin’s rowdy, Piedmont-styled guitar-play, performed (appropriately) on a National Steel guitar. “Little Honey” features some of Greg Leisz’s best slide-guitar licks while a cover of George Jones’ “What Am I Worth,” a duet with the wonderful Syd Straw, is a hillbilly romp that displays both Straw’s show-stealing vocals and her sense of humor alongside Alvin’s equally light-hearted vox and spry rockabilly fretwork, the two coming across like a younger Johnny and June Carter Cash.    
 
King of California closes out with “Border Radio,” perhaps the best song from Romeo’s Escape and a holdover from the Blasters’ self-titled 1981 sophomore album. Unlike songs similar in subject as Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” or ZZ Top’s “Heard It On the X,” Alvin’s song is an introspective lyrical rumination, juxtaposing the sound of the 50,000-watt radio station floating in the Southern California air against an emotional tale of love and loss. Alvin’s filigree acoustic guitar strum offers fine punctuation to his effective, somber vocals. 

Overall, the album’s melting pot of rock, country, and blues music provides a shining showcase for Alvin’s immense songwriting skills and mastery of American music forms. His penchant for story-songs shines brightly in the grooves, Alvin providing a voice for the downtrodden lovers and losers in this world. “A lot of the songs on King of California have to do with people realizing that their dreams may not come true and trying to figure out just where to go from there,” he says in the album’s press release. 

The Cuckoo

There are three bonus tracks appended to King of California. The instrumental “Riverbed Rag” is a bluesy, bluegrass-tinted rave-up featuring a duel between Alvin’s six-string and Leisz’s Dobro that was an unreleased performance from the original sessions. A cover of Merle Haggard’s haunting “Kern River” offers up one of Alvin’s most nuanced vocal performances and elegant instrumentation while a cover of songwriter Kate Moffatt’s “The Cuckoo” is provided an equally ethereal performance. All three songs are welcome additions to King of California, fitting in nicely alongside the rest of the material. Alvin’s decade with HighTone Records resulted in six studio albums and a live set, his tenure with the label culminating in the acclaimed 2000 album Public Domain, a collection of traditional folk and country songs that earned Alvin a Grammy® Award for “Best Traditional Folk Album.” 

During the ensuing years, Alvin has experienced the careers ‘ups and downs’ typical of the music lifer. He signed with the similarly roots-oriented Yep Roc Records for 2004’s Ashgrove, and has been with the label ever since, continuing to release acclaimed recordings like West of the West (2006), Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women (2009), and Eleven Eleven (2011). Alvin reunited with his brother Phil for 2014’s Common Ground, an inspired collection of Big Bill Broonzy songs, and again in 2015 for the album Lost Time, a collection of classic blues and soul tunes by folks like Willie Dixon, James Brown, and Big Joe Turner. Alvin recorded with his old friend Jimmie Dale Gilmore on 2018’s Downey to Lubbock. 

In a recent label press release for the vinyl reissue, Alvin says that he’s “real proud” of the album, “the whole process was a revelation, to record with everybody in the studio sitting roughly in a circle, sitting there on the edge of my chair with an acoustic guitar knowing that if I blow this chord, we have to start over. And I could use my voice; when I was recording electric my voice couldn’t lead the band. In this situation I could. That allowed a certain openness and freedom I hadn’t experienced before. And for Greg, this was his baby, his chance to produce me and get my voice right. His calmness in all of this led to the vibe of the record.”

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Alvin continues to tour exhaustively, both as a solo performer and with the reunited Flesh Eaters in support of that band’s recent I Used To Be Pretty album. A quarter-century down the road, though, King of California continues to find a new audience appreciative of its earthy, no-frills sincerity; honest instrumentation; and Alvin’s intelligent story-songs and poetic lyrics. The album has proven to have legs beyond its modest indie-rock roots, influencing a generation of Americana (and country) artists and songwriters to follow. (Craft Recordings, reissue released June 14th, 2019)

Review originally published by the Rock and Roll Globe website... 

Archive Review: Dave Alvin’s Live In Long Beach 1997 (2015)

Both with roots-rockers the Blasters and as a solo artist, Dave Alvin has plumbed the depths of American music. Blues, rock, folk, and country – it’s all grist for Alvin’s immeasurable talents, and albums like last year’s Big Bill Broonzy tribute Common Ground (recorded with brother Phil) show that the singer, songwriter, and guitarist has one foot in the past and his eyes on the horizon.

Live In Long Beach 1997 captures a show where Alvin is joined by friends like Billy Boy Arnold, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and Joe Louis Walker. Although Alvin’s solo set displays understated charms – especially his reading of “Long White Cadillac” – it’s when his guests jump in that things sizzle. Brown fiddles the house down on Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya” while a jam with Walker and Arnold on “Long Beach Blues” is worth the cost of admission alone. (RockBeat Records, released February 17th, 2015)

Review originally published by The Blues magazine...

Archive Review: Love’s Reel-To-Real (2016)

By 1974, Arthur Lee had left Love’s psychedelic roots in his rear-view mirror, forming a version of the band that had little in common with its 1960s-era origins. Love’s Black Beauty – unreleased until 2011 – displayed the talents of Lee’s new musicians, essentially the line-up Lee took into the studio to record Reel-To-Real.

Fans expecting another Forever Changes will be disappointed. Lukewarm criticisms aside, Reel-To-Real is a fine record in itself, Lee flexing his soul and funk muscles, resulting in performances that blend Sly Stone with Frankie Miller. “Who Are You?” is a red-hot slab o’ funk while “Which Witch Is Which” is a jarring trance-blues tune. The rootsy “You Said You Would” is raucous fun and, of the bonus tracks, “Graveyard Hop” stands out as a throwback rocker. Reel-To-Real provides another intriguing piece to the puzzle that was Arthur Lee. (High Moon Records, reissue released 2016)

Review originally published by The Blues magazine... 

Archive Review: Love’s Forever Changes (2008)

One of the most beloved and enduring albums in the canon of rock music, Love’s Forever Changes was initially released in 1967 to yawns and commercial indifference. The third and final album released by the Los Angeles band’s original line-up, Forever Changes barely slipped into the Billboard Top 200 albums before sinking back out of sight…until it was rediscovered by eager rock fans during the alt-rock daze of the ‘90s.

Love’s Forever Changes

Love was formed by the brilliant singer/songwriter Arthur Lee in 1965, Lee’s artistic vision often supported and complimented by underrated guitarist Bryan MacLean. In any other band, MacLean would have been the primary talent, but in Love he often toiled beneath the long shadow of Lee’s genius. After leaving the band in 1968 in the wake of Forever Changes’ release, MacLean would tinker away at songs and solo material before leaving the music biz altogether. The rest of the band provided an incredible cohesion and chemistry to Lee and MacLean’s original material.     

Love’s first couple of albums – 1966’s self-titled debut, and the following year’s Da Capo – featured a guitar-driven, folk-rock sound with waves of psychedelic candy-coloring and washes of electric-blues and jazzy flourishes. Neither album particularly lit the world on fire, but both were strong artistic statements. Originally, the label wanted session players to back Lee and MacLean, respectively, on their songs, due to the band’s growing personal problems and drug use; indeed, two tracks on Forever Changes were recorded with studio pros. When all the members of Love finally got together to make the album, nobody could have imagined what would come out of the sessions. 

A grand collection of baroque-pop with elements of psychedelic-rock, folk, and R&B with uncharacteristic horns and strings, Forever Changes is a masterpiece of musical composition and lyrical brilliance. The songs crafted by Lee and MacLean were years ahead of their time, deep tapestries of sound with lush threading of various colors. The Spanish, flamenco flavor of MacClean’s enchanting “Alone Again Or” stands in direct contrast to the trebly guitarwork of the psyche-rock naildriver “A House Is Not A Hotel.”  The gentle hippie soundscape of “Andmoreagain” is supported by a lilting melody and gossamer orchestral flourishes while the overtly cynical “Bummer In the Summer” is an old-fashioned garage-rock freak-out.

Summer of Love

Lyrically, Forever Changes provides a signpost of storm clouds on the horizon. Largely written and recorded during the “Summer of Love,” the album’s poetry frequently portrays a society undergoing change. Portending a long, dark night ahead, songs like “The Red Telephone” and the surrealistic, anti-war “Live And Let Live” deliver a forceful, sometimes frenzied message despite their lush backing soundtrack. Lee had stated in interviews that he literally felt that his life was coming to an end at this time, and his sub-conscious reflections on race and society have taken on a timeless quality.  

So, what’s the difference between this Forever Changes “Collector’s Edition” and the last time around, when Rhino reissued the album in 2001? Well, to begin with, this one is a whopping two-disc set, the first presenting the original album in all of its pristine glory. The second disc offers an “alternative mix” of the album, eleven songs, only one of which was included on the 2001 CD. To these ears, the “alternative mix” of the album sounds inferior, lacking the same texture and depth of the originally released recordings. 

Another ten “bonus tracks” replicate those on the last reissue, adding previously unreleased versions of “Andmoreagain” (instrumental backing track) and “The Red Telephone” (tracking sessions highlights), neither of which are essential, or even add much to the experience save for the hardcore believer. The lively, rocking obscure B-side “Laughing Stock” is a welcome addition, while a boisterous, unreleased cover of “Wooly Bully” is a bona-fide album outtake, and a heck of a lot of fun. A mono single remix of “Alone Again Or,” with dynamic sound and warmth, makes a strong case for taking rock back to its (mono) roots. Informative new liners notes from Andrew Sandoval are complimented by a handful of photos.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Should you spring for the “Collector’s Edition” of Forever Changes? If you’re a fan of the band, you probably already have. If you’re unfamiliar with Love, mildly curious, or haven’t heard this landmark work, you should give it a listen. After all, hundreds of rock critics couldn’t be wrong when they voted Forever Changes as one of the best albums of all time, could they? (Rhino Records, reissue released 2008)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine...

Archive Review: Purple Mountains' Purple Mountains (2019)

Indie-rock legend David Berman, longtime frontman of critic’s darlings the Silver Jews, returned in a big way in 2019 with a self-titled album under the band name Purple Mountains. Over five years in the making, the album represented a fresh start and a reboot of Berman’s long-dormant music career. Sadly, it also proved to be his final statement as the enormously-gifted singer/songwriter took his own life roughly a month after the release of Purple Mountains.

It will never be known if Purple Mountains was purposely designed to be Berman’s swansong, but it certainly provided a hell of a high note to go out on. The artist took his time in crafting the album’s brilliant, lyrical songs, Berman reportedly recording music with former bandmate Stephen Malkmus, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys as well as recording an entire album with Canadian psych-rockers Black Mountain, all of which were discarded in favor of working with members of the Brooklyn folk-rock outfit Woods.  

The talented musicians in Woods surrounded Berman’s intelligent wordplay and sonorous vocals with a soundtrack of loose-limbed yet melodic rock, pop, and country sounds, even incorporating scraps of Mariachi-styled horns. Channeling the dark obsessions of his songwriter’s mind, Berman’s lyrics for Purple Mountains touch upon his struggle with depression, his troubled relationship with his estranged wife, and even the mountain of debt he faced that motivated his return to music after a decade on the sidelines. The result is a stark and sometimes agonizing self-portrait of an artist trying to keep his head above water. With Purple Mountains, Berman combined the introspection of Townes Van Zandt with the oblique self-referencing of Bob Dylan in the creation of a masterful coda to a career cut short by tragedy. (Drag City Records, released May 10th, 2019)

Review originally published by the Rock and Roll Globe website...

Archive Review: The Flamin’ Groovies’ Flamingo (2008)

Sadly, the back catalog of the greatest rock band of the ‘70s, the Flamin’ Groovies, is seriously FUBAR, with essential titles flying in-and-out of print with disturbing regularity. This year’s model of the band’s incredible second album doesn’t include any much-coveted Groovies bonus material, but it is available, so whatcha gripin’ about? 

Flamingo is a joyous romp through the record collections of Cyril Jordan and the soon-departed Roy Loney, a spirited collection of rootsy garage-rock, proto-punk, R&B, electric blues, Elvis, Gene Vincent, and Brit Invasion pop-rock. Recorded in glorious lo-fi, the Groovies manage to cut through the production muck nonetheless with crazed, inspired performances. 

The album’s lone cover – a manic reading of Little Richard’s "Keep a Knockin’" – will jump right from the speakers and grab you by the ears! Get it now before it’s gone again… (American Beat Records, reissue released 2008)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine...

“Return of the Body Politik” (Consolidated, Downset, Public Enemy, 1994)

Consolidated’s Business of Punishment (London Records)
Downset’s downset. (Mercury Records)
Public Enemy’s Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age (Def Jam)

Has it really been a mere twenty years or so since socio-political commentary was an integral part of rock music? Growing out of the protest songs of the early sixties, mainstream rockers picked up the lyrical mantle handed them by their folk-song singing brethren, utilizing their talents to lyrically attack every subject from racism and poverty to women’s rights. Somewhere along the way, though, as rock became a business, poetic commentary faded from the charts, sliding subterranean, only to surface every now and then in the angry words of hardcore punks or raging metalheads.

Rap music can be thanked for bringing a new awareness of social consciousness to popular music. The commercial success of artists like Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Ice T has served to open the doors to some dangerous thought processes being captured on disc. In this new Victorian era where garden-variety liberalism is impotent and the mainstream media is nothing more than a corporate whore for conservative philosophy, the radical left is finding its heroes among the artists of the underground.

Consolidated are one of those truly alternative, radical musical outfits. A Bay-area trio with a rapidly-growing cult following that is threatening to boil over into the mainstream, the band’s latest release, Business of Punishment, may well be the catalyst that pushes Consolidated past the 212-degree mark. These guys could never be accused of ambiguity; indeed, they proudly wear their sincerely-held beliefs on their proverbial sleeves. The band is radical to an extreme, pushing an activist party-line that is pro-feminist, pro-vegetarian, pro-choice, pro-animal rights...you know, the kind of godless commies that would give Rush Limbaugh nightmares. They’re a sorely needed artistic antidote, however, to the sort of right-wing mindset that preaches life while practicing death.

Business of Punishment treads much of the same lyrical ground as previous Consolidated albums, albeit with a bit more wisdom and experience under their belts. Over an instrumental background that incorporates elements of rap, punk, hardcore techno, and even a bit of soul along with random samples, found vocals and audience commentary, Consolidated deliver brutal rhymes that place a progressive spin on the issues of the day. “Born of A Woman” presents an insightful look at women’s roles in society while “Butyric Acid” tackles folks like Operation Rescue with its unrelenting chorus of “if you don’t want an abortion don’t get one.” 

“Dog + Pony Show” skewers the recording industry even while damning the “alternative” elitism that exists in music while the brilliant “Today Is My Birthday” takes a sad look at AIDS. There are fifteen thought-provoking cuts in all on Business of Punishment, every one guaranteed to slam dunk your frontal lobes, disturb your status quo and shake up the very core of your beliefs. Musical activism is alive and well and its name is Consolidated.

Downset are the new kids on this block, but they’re fully-grown and fully-loaded. This West Coast posse kicked out an impressive EP on Metal Blade a year or so back, even having the cajones to cover Public Enemy’s “By the Time I Get To Arizona.” They’re back, larger than ever, with their self-titled debut and believe me, it’s one mean mutha....

Like a nightmarish vision of Winston Smith, the cover of downset. features a painting of John Q. Citizen all trussed up, gagged with the flag while the constitution burns in the background. No greater truth in labeling has ever been plastered on an album jacket. Downset hail from the police state that is L.A. and that’s the turf they explore lyrically on this powerful collection of songs. 

Musically, they’re somewhere slightly to the left of Body Count, with Rey Anthony Oropeza’s rhymes backed by the twin monster guitars of Rogelio Lozano and Ares, thrashing with abandon, slinging molten riffs while the message is one of freedom and brotherhood in the face of oppression. From women’s fear of rape to the powder keg that is most of L.A., from racism to economic injustice that fosters poverty, Downset explore the socio-political edge of lyrical themes with the language of the street but with a wisdom and insight that defies their relatively young ages.

That Public Enemy should resurface with a new album that is at once both fresh and familiar should surprise no one. That Chuck D. still has an important message to relate, something important to say, should also come as no surprise. These greybeards of rap still have a lot of life left in them, and they’ve got a trick or two to show the young ‘uns.

Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age is Public Enemy’s most adventurous effort to date, a conceptual album set in one of many possible futures. Racism has become institutionalized and a bigot sits in the White House. The environment is in shambles, the Black community is a soulless plantation and violence, natural disasters and hate threaten man’s very existence.

Review originally published by R.A.D! zine, November 1994