Cleopatra Releases Super Deluxe UFO live box set!

Formed in 1969 by singer Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way, and drummer Andy Parker, British rockers UFO began life as a psychedelic-drenched space-rock band that staked out musical turf that wasn’t far away, stylistically, from what Gong or Hawkwind were doing at the time. By the time of the band’s third album – 1974’s Phenomenon – Bolton had been replaced by guitarist Michael Schenker and UFO had veered away from exploring their inner consciousness and towards a hard rock sound that would become the band’s calling card. Subsequent albums like 1975’s Force It, 1976’s No Heavy Petting, and 1977’s Lights Out would influence a generation of rockers to follow, including many bands that would create the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

On February 5th, 2016 the good folks at Cleopatra Records will release UFO’s Live Sightings, a four-CD box set that features classic live performances from the band’s successful early ‘80s concert run through the states. Guitarist Paul Chapman had replaced Schenker by the time of 1980’s No Place To Run album, and this line-up of the band delivered a handful of charting albums like 1981’s The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent and 1982’s Mechanix. The first disc of the box set features a Chicago 1980 concert with performances of songs like “No Place To Run,” “Doctor Doctor” and “Rock Bottom” among its dozen tracks. Disc two offers up a Chicago 1981 show that includes performances of “The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent” and “Too Hot To Handle” while disc three delivers a St. Louis 1982 set with performances of songs like “We Belong To The Night,” “Only You Can Rock Me,” and “Lights Out.”

The fourth disc of Live Sightings features a Cleveland 1982 set with performances of songs like “Doing It All For You” and “Live Rain.” Altogether, the four concert discs feature 46 songs, and each disc is packaged in its own mini-jacket with printed inner sleeve. Live Sightings also includes a 12”x12” sixteen-page booklet with color photos and extensive liner notes as well as duplicate printings of vintage tour programs. If that wasn’t enough for your $60 (pre-order price on Amazon as of today), Live Sightings also includes Early Flight, a special bonus vinyl LP documenting a 1972 performance featuring the only known recordings of guitarist Larry Wallis (Pink Fairies, Motörhead) on songs like “Galactic Love,” “Back In The U.S.A.,” and “Mean Woman Blues.” A very collectible set for long-time UFO fans, Live Sightings provides a lot of bang for your buck!

Buy the CD box set from Amazon.com: UFO's Live Sightings

Book Review: Andy Powell's Eyes Wide Open - True Tales of a Wishbone Ash Warrior (2015)

Wishbone Ash was one of those 1970s-era “classic rock” British bands who, while undeniably an influence on a legion of artists, remains criminally obscure in the states. The foursome toured the U.S. constantly throughout the ‘70s, and managed to place eight of their ten releases during the decade onto the Billboard Top 200 albums chart (their highest chart successes coming with Wishbone Four at #44 and Live Dates at #82, both in 1973). Yet they never managed more than a modicum of commercial success stateside, remaining much more popular in the U.K. and Europe.

Formed in 1969 by guitarist Andy Powell, bassist Martin Turner, guitarist Ted Turner, and drummer Steve Upton, Wishbone Ash sounded nearly fully-formed from day one, the band’s mix of hard rock, progressive, and folk-rock finding an appreciative audience that largely remains with them to this day. The band released its self-titled debut in 1970, and hit its creative peak early with their third album, the 1972 classic Argus. Wishbone Ash was, arguably, the first band to popularize the twin lead guitar sound later utilized by Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden, and the band’s use of two lead singers – Powell and Martin Turner – created a unique and effective sound that added to the band’s onstage dynamic.

Andy Powell’s Eyes Wide Open

The band’s sole remaining member from the founding foursome, Andy Powell has kept Wishbone Ash going strong deep into the new millennium. Some forty-five years after their debut, the band is still releasing creative, entertaining music (check out 2014’s wonderful Blue Horizon album) with Powell at the helm of a rotating cast of musicians. Band members have come and gone through the decades – the original line-up lasted almost four years before Ted Turner departed, replaced by guitarist Laurie Wisefield – and throughout the fallow years of the ‘80s and beyond, Powell has continued to tour and record as Wishbone Ash, enlisting new fans and creating an unshakeable legacy for the band.

Powell has taken time out from a steady tour schedule to pen his version of the rock ‘n’ roll memoir, joining contemporaries like Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, and Bob Dylan in framing his career on his own literary terms. Powell isn’t the first Wishbone Ash founder to push his bio; disgruntled former member Martin Turner published his No Easy Road book back in 2012. As the last man standing, however, Powell has insight and experience provided by decades in the trenches, and as he’s struggled to keep the band rolling throughout the inevitable ups ‘n’ downs of the music biz, Powell has earned the right to offer his own spin on the band’s history.

True Tales of a Wishbone Ash Warrior

Powell’s Eyes Wide Open is an entertaining tome, the writer describing his childhood fascination with music, the making of his first guitar, and playing in his first bands, which provided him with the confidence and stagecraft to forge a career in rock ‘n’ roll. It’s with the formation of Wishbone Ash that the story takes off, though, and Powell goes into depth in talking about the band’s early years, the camaraderie between the members, and the creation of the band’s classic early albums like Pilgrimage, Argus, and Wishbone Four. This isn’t a ‘tell all’ styled bio, though, so while Powell alludes to, and sometimes writes explicitly the band’s extracurricular activities, he seldom goes into all the sordid details. Powell is quite frank about both the successes and the problems the band had with original manager Miles Copeland and the internal tensions that led to, first, Ted Turner’s departure and, later, that of Martin Turner, which opened the revolving door of band members.

Even more interesting are Powell’s memories of those years of struggle during the 1980s and ‘90s, his assumption of the mantle of band leadership through attrition, and the fight to continue creating credible new music (with the sonic experimentation that included) with an ever-changing line-up of talented musicians. The band’s modest success during these later years has only happened via the support of a loyal, worldwide fan base that has allowed Wishbone Ash to continue touring and recording to the present day. Powell acknowledges a large number of the band’s fans and their contributions in the book, also pointing out a few of the more detrimental hangers-on, haters who have attempted to derail Powell’s ongoing efforts, either due to jealousy or simple malevolence.

Blue Horizon

One of the biggest ‘haters’ of the Wishbone Ash legacy is former member Martin Turner, whose obviously bruised, but enormous ego won’t allow him to bury the past and move on. Powell goes into detail about the legal battle between he and Turner that eventually arose over the use of the Wishbone Ash name (the former bass player and singer began touring as Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash in 2004 without Powell’s consent), a fight that Powell won. True, Eyes Wide Open provides Powell’s perspective on the issues between himself and his former bandmate, but considering that Turner never developed a significant solo career and, to this day, considers himself as the “key creative force” behind Wishbone Ash while using the band’s name to sell his music, you’ll forgive me if I lean towards Powell’s version of the story as the band’s longtime captain and surviving member.

Powell’s frequent ‘detours’ from his story are welcome, including a chapter on his long-suffering partner of 45+ years, wife Pauline, Powell’s school sweetheart who has stoically kept the home fires burning while the musician was off making money. His chapter on India is simply fascinating, Powell displaying a keen eye and a real talent in talking about touring the country and observing the economic chasm that exists between its poorest and richest citizens. A detour into talking about guitars is also a lot of fun for any gear fanatic, as the guitarist known for his Flying V talks about the various axes he’s had and played through the years. The obligatory chapter on touring (“Road Works”) should be required reading for every young musician, as Powell describes in depth the many obstacles and hazards of the road warrior.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

One doesn’t have to be a Wishbone Ash fan to enjoy Andy Powell’s Eyes Wide Open. Sure, classic rock fans will find a lot to like in Powell’s stories about rock ‘n’ roll during the 1970s, but equally of interest are his efforts in dealing with the changes in the industry through the years, his attempts in keeping the band relevant in this age of instant (and fast-fading celebrity) and, most importantly, the process behind making vital new music like 2011’s Elegant Stealth and the aforementioned Blue Horizon album.

Eyes Wide Open includes an extensive Wishbone Ash discography compiled by music journalist Colin Harper, including an accounting of all the band’s BBC sessions and their studio and live albums (almost three dozen recordings to date), as well as an exhaustive list of the band’s live dates from 1971 through 2015, all of which will certainly appeal to the Wishbone Ash fanatic. For the rest of us, the book defines a legacy of great music, the product of an unheralded rock ‘n’ roll genius that continues to chase the brass ring almost five decades down the road. Grade: A (Jawbone Press, published November 9, 2015)

Buy the book from Amazon.com: Andy Powell's Eyes Wide Open

CD Review: Uriah Heep's Totally Driven (2015)

British hard rockers Uriah Heep have defied expectations throughout much of the band’s 45+ year existence. The fact that they’re still rockin’ here in the year 2015 is an impressive feat in itself, Heep continuing to tour the world and release underrated (and largely overlooked) music. Formed in 1969, the band experienced modest commercial success as one of the most popular arena-rock outfits of the 1970s, vying with legends like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple for their share of the youthful, head-banging rock ‘n’ roll audience. They’ve suffered through numerous line-up changes, the tragic results of substance abuse, and ever-changing musical trends that threatened to make the band obsolete more than once.

When punk and new wave took over the pop charts in the 1980s and legions of Heep-influenced “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” bands ruled the underground, Uriah Heep went abroad and developed lucrative markets by touring unlikely locales like Russia, the Balkans, and northern Europe. Heep continued to record throughout these lean years, with bandleader and founding guitarist Mick Box keeping the flame burning brightly through some tumultuous eras for a band that many in the U.S. and the U.K. had given up for dead.

Uriah Heep’s Totally Driven

Uriah Heep’s line-up stabilized in the late ‘80s with the addition of Canadian-born singer Bernie Shaw. Having made his bones with NWOBHM band Praying Mantis, Shaw provided the charismatic, leather-lunged frontman the band had been looking for since the (forced) departure of original vocalist David Byron in 1976. Shaw joined a solid instrumental roster led by the criminally-underrated Box (who is worthy of, but seldom mentioned when all those lists of great rock guitarists are compiled) along with the longtime Heep rhythm section of bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Lee Kerslake, and fleet-fingered keyboardist Phil Lanzon (ex-Grand Prix). It’s this line-up that recorded the material that makes up Totally Driven, the band’s 25th official studio album.

A two-disc set featuring 27 songs, this material was originally recorded in 2001 while the band was preparing for their legendary “Acoustically Driven” and “Electrically Driven” concerts. Previously released with different track sequencing as Remasters: The Official Anthology, that album quickly went out-of-print, and these performances – re-recordings of classic Heep tunes – have sat on the shelf until now. As an anthology, Totally Driven performs admirably, offering two songs each from the band’s first eight albums (three from The Magician’s Birthday), one song from Fallen Angel, and nine songs from the first four Shaw-era albums circa 1989-1998. Curiously missing is any material from the band’s late 1970s/early ‘80s fallow period that includes High and Mighty, Byron’s tragic final album with the band; two of the three LPs featuring singer John Lawton; all three of the Peter Goalby era albums; and the band’s disastrous 13th album, Conquest, the only Heep release with singer John Sloman of Lone Star.     

The Magician’s Birthday

Even if the band’s classic line-up wasn’t set, their sound was almost fully-formed by the time of the 1970 release of their debut LP …very ‘Eavy…very ‘Umble (released as Uriah Heep in the states). “Gypsy” perfectly displays the band’s Gothic-influenced early style, the song’s lush orchestration at odds with its raging hard rock undercurrent. Shaw does a great job in approximating Byron’s over-the-top operatic howl, and the song’s martial rhythms provide an odd dignity to the affair. Plucked from their underrated 1971 sophomore effort Salisbury, “Bird of Prey” is a proto-metal rave-up that, in its original form, paved the road for bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden to hot-rod down a few short years later. Shaw again hits the high notes with reckless abandon and the song’s runaway rhythms are complimented by Box’s laser-focused solos.

Released in 1972, The Magician’s Birthday was the band’s follow-up to their commercial breakthrough, Demons and Wizards, released earlier that year. Three songs from the album, every one of ‘em a gem, are included here, beginning with the melodramatic “Sunrise;” the band’s backing instrumentation is duly elegant while Shaw takes a slightly different (but no less powerful) vocal approach to the lyrics. From here we jump into “Rain,” which closed the first side of the original vinyl (“Sunrise” fittingly opening the album). Lanzon’s wonderfully moody piano intro opens the door for Shaw’s carefully measured and appropriately breathless vocals, the singer perfectly capturing the melancholy of the original. It’s a beautiful Ken Hensley ballad performed nicely by Shaw and Lanzon, with just a hint of background orchestration for ambiance.

Sweet Freedom

Fans remember 1971’s Look At Yourself as the album with the über-cool mirrored cover artwork, but the title track is another locomotive rocker that presages the NWOBHM with its stunning fretwork, soaring vocals, and manic keyboard runs. The modern incarnation of the band does it proud, with Box’s high-flying guitars and Kerslake’s carpet-bomb percussion creating a joyful, chaotic noise. Sweet Freedom, released in 1973, remains the band’s most popular album overall, moving better than four million slabs o’ wax worldwide. The title track from that album is a typical Heep joint, with swelling instrumentation building to an exhilarating crescendo before the vocals kick in. Shaw’s pipes are perfectly-suited to the emotionally-charged lyrics on what is a sort of metallic semi-ballad, with band harmonies and rich instrumentation creating a symphonic vibe. 

Uriah Heep circa 1973

Another fan-favorite from Look At Yourself is the Goth-tinged Byron/Hensley track “July Morning,” a guitar-heavy rocker that nonetheless carries itself like a dark, atmospheric dirge. Box’s guitars swing and sting like a hive of angry bees while Shaw’s ethereal vocals hang, hauntingly, above Lanzon’s eerily churchlike keys. Kerslake and Bolder provide a rock-solid rhythmic foundation to the song, their presence subtle but necessary. The aforementioned Demons and Wizards provided the band’s big break, their first LP to hit Top 30 in the states, vaulted onto the charts by the success of the hit single “Easy Livin’,” which rose to #39 on the strength of the song’s infectious melody, galloping rhythms, clashing guitars, and David Byron’s unbelievable vox. Shaw and crew knock it out of the ball park here with a machinegun-paced performance that is guaranteed to have you banging your head against the wall!     

Lady In Black

To be honest, I didn’t find the second half of Totally Driven to be nearly as engaging as the first fourteen tracks, but it certainly has its moments. As I’m personally partial to the 1970s-era Heep material I cut my teeth on as a young rock critic, the second disc’s reliance on late 1980s and ‘90s era material is less appealing, but no less valid. “Between Two Worlds,” from 1998’s Sonic Origami, undeniably hit your ears like a sledgehammer, the performance showcasing all the elements one expects from a Uriah Heep record – molten guitar, dark/light instrumentation, driving rhythms, and lofty vocals. “Love In Silence,” from 1995’s Sea of Light, displays a mature band with phenomenal chemistry that is capable of all sorts of musical surprises. Box’s acoustic strum serves as a backdrop for Shaw’s vocal gymnastics to float above while Lanzon’s fluid keyboard licks paint the canvas with brighter colors.    

Jumping back to the decade of my misspent youth, “Blind Eye,” the third track here from The Magician’s Birthday, is another back catalog treasure worthy of your attention. With razor sharp guitars cutting through the song’s dense instrumentation, Shaw’s nimble vocals evince a barely-contained roar while an uncredited flautist balances on one leg in the background, his dancing notes providing a nice counterpoint to the band’s blustery rhythms. The enormous commercial success of Sweet Freedom came mostly on the back of the AOR hit “Stealin’,” reprised here as close to the original as one can get, with chiming organ providing unlikely grandeur behind Shaw’s vocals on this desperate outlaw tale. The gang vocals on the chorus are just as thrilling as they were 40 years ago, the song’s bludgeoning instrumentation providing bedrock for Box’s screaming guitar licks. Totally Driven closes with another fan fave, “Lady In Black” (from Salisbury), Box’s spry acoustic fretwork perfectly matched to snorting violins and Shaw’s howling, tortured vocals.      

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Totally Driven captures much of the magic of Uriah Heep’s lengthy and prolific career, comprised as it is of new performances of songs culled from better than half of the band’s twenty studio albums (at the time). The Shaw-fronted line-up had been together almost 15 years at the time these songs were captured on tape, and the enormous chemistry between the singer and the players is evident in the grooves. It’s long past time that the critical intelligentsia recognizes Heep’s status as one of the best hard rock bands of the past half-century, Uriah Heep continuing to defy expectations while pursuing a unique rock ‘n’ roll muse. 

While it may seem like heresy to the longtime Heep faithful, Shaw is every bit as good a vocalist as David Byron was, albeit with a different style and technique. While none of the performances on Totally Driven are going to motivate you to trade in that beat-up old vinyl copy of Demons and Wizards, it’s a fine effort nonetheless, and a fitting launch to the band’s new self-titled independent label. By placing their past in a proper context, Uriah Heep has set the stage for the future. Grade: B (Uriah Heep Records, released November 13, 2015)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Uriah Heep's Totally Driven

Uriah Heep, 1986-2007

CD Review: The Dictators' The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! (40th anniversary edition, 2015)

The year was 1975, and the Reverend graduated from high school in June, preparing for college by dealing dope, mowing half a dozen yards each week, and working the local Shoney’s Big Boy over the summer. A fervid follower of (and future contributor to) the great Creem magazine, I kept running into mentions of the Dictators, a NYC five-piece rock band beloved by critics. Figuring that the rag hadn’t steered me wrong when it hipped me to the New York Dolls, I picked up a copy of The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! and found the tonic for my troubles. I listened to the album constantly (much as I had with the two Dolls LPs), the band’s lyrical preoccupation with cars, girls, pop culture, and rock ‘n’ roll appealing to me like cream to a cat.

Much like their friends and cross-town predecessors the New York Dolls, the Dictators were a “band out of time” (songwriter and bassist Andy “Adny” Shernoff’s own words). Formed in 1973 by a group of friends that included Shernoff, guitarists Ross “The Boss” Funichello (née Friedman) and Scott “Top Ten” Kempner, and drummer Stu Boy King, roadie “Handsome” Dick Manitoba was added to the band by producers Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman (Blue Oyster Cult, The Clash) to be the Dictators’ secret weapon onstage and in the studio.

When released in March 1975, the album earned widespread critical acclaim for its proto-punk sound and irreverent lyrics. But the LP went absolutely nowhere commercially, tours opening for bands like Nazareth and Rush were minor disasters, and the band was soon thereafter dumped by Epic Records. After a hiatus of a couple years, the Dictators would sign with Asylum Records and release two more albums before splintering in the late 1970s. Like a creeping mold that can’t be washed away, the album continued to make friends and influence people over the years, and now – four decades after its original release – The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! has received a deluxe, re-mastered 40th anniversary reissue courtesy of Real Gone Music.

The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!

Opening with the sound of applause, the listener gets their first taste of “Handsome” Dick Manitoba, the trash-talking, fast-walking pro wrestler alter-ego of the band’s former roadie, Richard Blum. Manitoba’s album-opening rant gives way to a muscular guitar line that intros “The Next Big Thing,” a boastful, tuff-as-nails rocker that bristles with more attitude than a porcupine drinking malt liquor. The twin fretwork of Ross the Boss and Top Ten is stunning, with drummer Stu Boy King driving the rhythm with the subtlety of a subway car careening off the tracks and into the darkness. Shernoff’s defiant lyrics announced to the world that “the Dictators are here!”

So what does the band do for song number two? They cleverly re-imagine Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” years before Joey Ramone would do it proud with Holly Beth Vincent. Manitoba’s caterwauled vocals are crooned over a slow-grinding, often chaotic soundtrack that turns the 1960s pop gem into a punk standard. King’s solid percussion work opens “Back To Africa,” a slightly tongue-in-cheek love song that offers up some of Funichello’s most incendiary guitar playing alongside poppy group harmonies and deceptively complex backing instrumentation built entirely around flamethrower six-string and jackhammer drumbeats.

“Master Race Rock” is one of the Dictators’ most controversial songs, a ragged-but-rockin’ jam that could only be misunderstood by somebody who didn’t bother to listen to Shernoff’s satirical lyrics. Riding a slash ‘n’ burn soundtrack to ‘nowheresville,’ the band boldly declares itself the leaders of teenaged America, i.e. the “Master Race.” Funichello’s scorching leads push the amps to eleven, and the song rings its way out with shards of delicious feedback. By contrast, the thematically-similar “Teengenerate” is provided a softer, more melodic, ‘60s-era sound that hides the intents of its malevolent teen protagonist beneath a sunshine-pop sheen; even the twin guitars are more subdued here than elsewhere on the LP, chiming like a bell rather than crashing into a plate glass window.

(I Live For) Cars and Girls

Channeling their inner surfer dude, the Dictators tackle a second cover on the album, the Rivieras’ upbeat “California Sun,” with an energy and aplomb equal to their take on “I Got You Babe.” With Manitoba’s yelping vox riding high in the mix, the band bashes its way through the song with reckless (and nearly criminal) abandon. “Two Tub Man” is one of the first songs that Shernoff penned for the band, and it remains a fan favorite to this day. A classic Manitoba rant introduced the song, the “Handsome” one spitting out boasts like “Nature Boy” Rick Flair in his prime as the song’s riff-happy opening explodes into a pure punk-rock supernova. With clashing guitars piercing the mix like an angry switchblade, along with the band’s over-amped energy, gang vocals, and overall nasty attitude, “Two Tub Man” delivers the blueprint so many British bands would follow just a couple years later. Oi, indeed!

The anti-social teenage angst of Shernoff’s “Weekend” is concealed even better than with “Teengenerate,” the band ripping off a familiar Buddy Holly riff to add a bit of shiny, wholesome, early rock ‘n’ roll energy to their otherwise shaggy construct of distorted guitars, bombastic percussion, and overall cacophonic instrumentation. “(I Live For) Cars and Girls” is the song that received the most airplay from The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! A clever pastiche of Beach Boys-styled pop; crude, irreverent humor; whip-smart, teen-oriented lyrics; and a lean, mean pop-rock soundtrack that only soars into absurdity a couple of times, the song was a work of satirical genius. Spot-on in its poetic depiction of mid-1970s teenage obsessions and malaise, the song also works as a sort of jaded commentary on the false innocence portrayed by the pop music of the ‘60s era.

This 40th anniversary reissue of The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! includes several bonus tracks, including a pair of remixes by rocker Andrew W.K., who does a fine job of re-imagining the tracks he chose, “Two Tub Man” and “Weekend.” Working from the original tapes, he doesn’t enlist the songs into the witness relocation program as much as he just plugs in little of his unique electric attitude into the re-mixes, amplifying the original intent rather than smothering it with a pillow. Both remixes are quite effective, and show how much Dictators’ DNA exists in Andrew’s own work. Of the numerous outtakes here, “Backseat Boogie” is interesting ‘cause it doesn’t appear on the album proper. A fierce jolt of booger-rock driven by King’s machine-gun rhythms (which are said to have flayed his hands during the recording), it’s a fine performance that should have been appended to the original LP. Instrumental takes on “Master Race Rock” and “California Sun” are a hoot, displaying both the band’s relative musical amateurism as well as their unbridled enthusiasm, the Dictators making a joyous noise as the tape rolls on...

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Throughout the summer of ’75 and well extending into the next summer, when I moved out of the parents’ house (for the first time) and into an apartment with a biker buddy of mine, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! shared equal time on the turntable with Springsteen’s Born To Run and, later, Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak. All three albums shared a certain amount of manic energy, devil-may-care attitude, and purist belief in the power of rock ‘n’ roll to free us from a mundane working class rut.

The Dictators would go on to release a pair of fine albums – 1977’s Manifest Destiny (a solid ‘B’ grade) and the following year’s Bloodbrothers (a bona fide A+ classic) – before breaking up, but their undeniable influence can be heard in fellow travelers like the Ramones, the Fleshtones, Twisted Sister, the Beastie Boys, and many other bands on both sides of the pond. They would become more proficient with their instruments, playing even faster ‘n’ louder, and Shernoff would develop a keen eye as a lyricist…but never again would the Dictators make music as naïve, cheeky, and as fun as they did with The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! Grade: B+ (Real Gone Music, released December 4, 2015)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! 40th anniversary edition

CD Review: Lee Michael's Heighty Hi: The Best of Lee Michaels (2015)

Nobody sounded quite like singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Lee Michaels during his seven-album run with A&M Records, circa 1968-1973, and while some have tried, nobody has quite nailed his unique, frequently minimalist creative vision since. A soulful vocalist often accompanied on album by only a lone percussionist, Michaels explored the use of piano, keyboards, and even harpsichord in rock music unlike any other artist at the time; even when he went the full band route by adding bass and guitar, it was Michaels’ keyboards that led the parade.

A reappraisal of Lee Michaels’ place in the rock ‘n’ roll history book as been long overdue, and perhaps the release of Heighty Hi: The Best of Lee Michaels will prompt a well-deserved rediscovery of one of the great lost rockers of the 1970s. Comprised of 20 tracks, including his lone Top Ten hit “Do You Know What I Mean,” Heighty Hi provides an insightful cross-section of Michaels’ music, pulling material from all six of his studio albums and offering a representative sample of his artistic ambitions. The compilation provides an introduction, of sorts, to new listeners and is being released alongside the seven-disc The Complete A&M Album Collection box set for those who desire to jump headfirst into Michaels’ milieu.

Heighty Hi: The Best of Lee Michaels

So what can the intrepid listener expect from Heighty Hi? Opening with the controversial title track, “Heighty Hi,” (hey, it was originally released in 1968), Michaels applies a jangly, Southern gospel vibe to what appears, on the surface, to be a pro-marijuana song but seems to me to be just as likely to also serve as an apt metaphor for peace and brotherhood. Led by Michaels’ wistful vocals and intricate piano playing, the song is certainly infectious in its charms. The comp cranks right into Michaels’ best-known tune, “Do You Know What I Mean,” a studio throwaway that, while based on a true story, the singer never really cared for…and ironically, it became his biggest hit. Featuring a repeating keyboard riff and minimal percussion, the song relies on Michaels’ tortured, tearful vocals that – whether he cared for the song or no – nevertheless channel true emotion.

If only for these first couple of songs, which stood proudly alongside the typical guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll fare of the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Michaels deserves acclaim. As shown by Heighty Hi, though, there are lots of other fine examples of Michaels’ musical genius. “If I Should Lose You,” from Michaels’ 1968 sophomore album Recital, masterfully blends R&B roots with a bit of psychedelic pop for a quick shot of exhilaration: Michaels’ whimsical vocals and baroque piano are accented by former Paul Revere & the Raiders’ guitarist Drake Levin’s soaring notes and soulful blasts of horn on what should have been a radio-ready chart hit. Michaels’ original “The War,” also from Recital, is a somber but moving anti-war dirge lifted above the mundane by Michaels’ anguished, angry vox and his clever, effective juxtaposition of harpsichord and keyboards to create a discordant backdrop to the lyrics.

Goodbye, Goodbye

Heighty Hi includes the non-LP track “Goodbye, Goodbye,” a high-octane rocker that was released as the B-side to single “The War.” A foreshadowing, perhaps, of the sort of (slightly) more commercial rock music that Michaels would explore on his album 5th, “Goodbye, Goodbye” is a busy, engaging tune with dynamic keyboards pitted against fluid piano licks, with steady percussion (including a resonant cowbell) and an upbeat, energetic feel that should have made it an AM radio hit. The title track from Michaels’ sophomore effort, “Carnival of Life” has a psych-pop edge that’s sharply honed by intricate keyboard runs and blustery percussion while “Keep The Circle Turning,” one of the many cover songs that Michaels visited on 5th, is provided a rich foundation built on Michaels’ gospel-tinged keyboards, the singer’s reverent vocals supported by the warmth of Merry Clayton’s backing vox.

Michaels’ cover of the Marvin Gaye classic “Can I Get A Witness,” also from 5th, was the singer’s only song to hit the Top 40, and a good ‘un it is, Michaels’ high-flying voice surfing atop a recurring keyboard riff similar in sound to “Do You Know What I Mean.” The urgency and romantic frustration found in Michaels’ vocal performance separates it from his better-known hit, and while it’d never be mistaken for Gaye’s incredible version of the Holland-Dozier-Holland gem, Michaels does the song proud. Michaels shared management with fellow San Francisco rockers Moby Grape, so his cover of their raucous “Murder In My Heart (For The Judge)” comes as no surprise. A rowdy take on the song that features Levin’s nimble fretwork and explosive percussion courtesy of drummer Frosty (a/k/a Bartholomew Eugene Smith-Frost), Michaels’ deft piano-pounding and gang vocals add a real sense of menace to the song.

Michaels’ original “What Now America,” from 1970’s Barrel, is the sort of gritty, socially-conscious protest song that he could sink his teeth into as a songwriter (Michaels has stated on more than one occasion that his ‘love songs’ were penned only to pacify hit-hungry label execs). With minimalist backing instrumentation and intelligent, probing lyrics, Michaels’ plaintive vocals slowly reach a crescendo before ebbing back into darkness. The shortest of the four songs from Michaels’ 1972 psych-rock experiment Space & First Takes, “Own Special Way (As Long As)” re-imagines the typical love song of the day with a clamorous, keyboard-dominated soundtrack that, along with drummer Keith Knudsen’s solid timekeeping and Levin’s subtle guitar, takes on an authentic funky undercurrent.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

After his stint with A&M Records concluded with the release of the obligatory Lee Michaels Live album in 1972, the singer signed with Clive Davis and Columbia Records, recording a pair of albums for the label that went nowhere when Davis, the singer’s biggest advocate, was forced out of the company. Those Columbia label albums have become obscure footnotes to Michaels’ career, sought-after collectors’ items that command posh prices. After releasing one more album, Absolute Lee, on his own independent label in 1982, Michaels retired from music altogether to pursue a successful career as a restaurateur.

In spite of his unfair distinction as a “one hit wonder,” interest in Lee Michaels and his music remains extremely high to this day, better than three decades after he sung his last note. Four previous Michaels compilations have been released on CD over the past 25 or so years, with Heighty Hi offering more songs and a much more comprehensive look at the diversity and artistry of Michaels’ music. For the casually curious, Heighty Hi will satisfy your needs, providing the ‘hit’ and much more.

As for the long-suffering, but preternaturally loyal Michaels’ fan, The Complete A&M Album Collection offers the singer’s complete run of LPs for the label, digitally re-mastered from the original master tapes, thus allowing you to shelve that worn vinyl in your collection. Either way you decide to go, you’ll be hearing a lot of great music, created by an artist who was never afraid to follow his own distinctive muse. As for those long lost Lee Michaels’ albums on Columbia, well, we can only hope… Grade: A (Manifesto Records, released November 20, 2015)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Lee Michaels' Heighty Hi: The Best of Lee Michaels

Hawkwind’s Early Years Remembered In Print

If you’re of a similar vintage to the Reverend, then British space-rock pioneers Hawkwind probably hold a special place in your heart. The band’s early ‘70s albums like In Search of Space and Space Ritual were mind-blowing, consciousness-expanding experiences for many young rock ‘n’ roll fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Nik Turner has enjoyed a lengthy solo career exploring the outer limits of rock music, but he was also an early and essential member of Hawkwind, contributing to seven of the band’s albums during the decade of the 1970s. Turner has documented these anarchic, chaotic early years in the pages of The Spirit of Hawkwind 1969-1976, a beautiful deluxe hardback book that was published on October 30th, 2015.

Written with music historian Dave Thompson, Turner provides readers with an inside look at the band, from the drug bust of original band bassist Lemmy K to the band’s notorious Glastonbury Festival appearance. The book runs 300 pages and includes an enormous number of rare and never-before-seen photos as well as a comprehensive Hawkwind discography (no mean feat, considering their various side projects, single releases and such), a complete list of band gigs, an a reproduction of Turner’s tour diary from the band’s first U.S. tour in 1975.

The deluxe tome also includes a reproduction of the band’s 1971 single “Sonic Attack,” and a reproduction of a 1971 twenty-page 6”x9” promotional booklet. The Spirit of Hawkwind 1969-1976 ain’t cheap – the Cleopatra Records website is selling it for around $60 – but it’s also a unique piece of Hawkwind memorabilia.

Turner will be touring the U.S. beginning in November in support of his new album Space Fusion Odyssey, performing songs from the rich and deep Hawkwind catalog. The book will be available at the merch table, and Turner will be signing copies of The Spirit of Hawkwind at the shows, which we’ve conveniently listed below.

Nik Turner North American tour dates:

Nov 12 - Brick And Mortar, San Francisco CA
Nov 14 - El Corazon, Seattle WA
Nov 16 - Lion's Liar, Denver CO
Nov 18 - Shank Hall, Milwaukee WI
Nov 20 - Reggie's, Chicago IL
Nov 21 - Token Lounge, Westland MI
Nov 22 - The Rockpile, Toronto, ON Canada
Nov 23 - Grand Victory, Brooklyn NY
Nov 24 - Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
Nov 25 - The Bug Jar, Rochester NY
Nov 27 - Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia PA
Nov 29 - Brighton Bar, Long Branch NJ
Nov 30 - Sellersville Theater, Sellersville PA
Dec 1 - The Pourhouse Music Hall, Raleigh NC
Dec 2 - The Masquerade, Atlanta GA
Dec 3 - Siberia, New Orleans LA
Dec 4 - Notsuoh, Houston TX
Dec 5 - 237 @ The Korova, San Antonio TX
Dec 6 - 7th Street Club, Austin TX
Dec 8 - Rebel Lounge, Phoenix AZ
Dec 9 - Till Two Club, San Diego CA
Dec 10 - The Whiskey, West Hollywood CA
Dec 12 - LVCS, Las Vegas NV
Dec 13 - The Continental Room, Fullerton CA

Related Content: Nik Turner's Space Fusion Odyssey CD Preview

CD Review: Leslie West's Soundcheck (2015)

No matter what he does, at this point in his storied career – spanning six decades and showing no signs of slowing down yet – guitarist Leslie West will forever be known as the frontman of legendary power-trio Mountain. Forget about the years spent honing his craft as a member of 1960s-era garage-rockers the Vagrants (who recorded some great singles), ignore the short-lived ‘70s supergroup West, Bruce & Laing (who recorded a couple of über-cool albums back in the day), and gloss over a solo career that began in 1969 and continues, better than a dozen studio and live albums later, with the excellent Soundcheck. No, for Leslie West, it’s always going to be “Mississippi Queen,” his feral vocals launched by the sound of a thousand cowbells…

For those of you who tuned out after Mountain’s Nantucket Sleighride (a Top 20 LP, by the way), welcome back! You’ve missed a lot of great music during the interim…1972’s Mountain Live had its moments, and the band’s 2007 Masters of War collection was pretty fab. There are the…ahem…aforementioned West, Bruce & Laing albums that I’m personally rather fond of, and West’s bluesier, post-millennial solo work has resulted in some fine efforts like Unusual Suspects. All of which brings us back around to Soundcheck, West’s 16th solo LP and, perhaps, his strongest and most cohesive work since, say, 1999’s As Phat As It Gets…which is even more remarkable considering that Soundcheck is a pieced-together collection of new songs and previously-unreleased performances that have been pulled from the archives, provided a new coat of attitude, and unleashed on an unsuspecting public.

Leslie West’s Soundcheck

Much as he did with 2011’s highly-rocking Unusual Suspects, West dips into his address book of famous friends, recruiting talents like guitarists Peter Frampton and Brian May (Queen), singer Bonnie Bramlett, and former Jeff Beck keyboardist Max Middleton to help record Soundcheck. The results are superb, showcasing some of the finest guitar-picking of West’s lengthy career on an inspired mix of new songs and covers you’d never expect. Soundcheck turns it up to eleven right from the start, the bluesy album-opener “Left By The Roadside To Die” all taut muscle and sinew, West’s anguished whiskey-voiced howl matched by a potent mix of acoustic string-bending and thunderous instrumentation, the guitarist’s tortured electric solo reaching deep into the darkness and garroting your senses.     

After the blustery, no-holds-barred opening track, West throws us a curveball with a lively cover of singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason.” Reinvented as a mid-tempo blues-rock dirge, West captures the heart of the song with his resonant guitarplay. Another odd cover choice, “You Are My Sunshine,” was chosen by West after hearing a version of it on the TV show Sons of Anarchy. Swapping guitar licks with Peter Frampton – West playing slide and Frampton playing straight – the two artists create a mesmerizing and somewhat malevolent take on the country classic, stripping it of its backwoods roots and reinventing it as something darker and somehow still enchanting. “A Stern Warning” is a too-short but thoroughly charming six-string instrumental which switches gears from Delta blues to ephemeral Spanish-styled guitar licks to Middle Eastern rhythms in creating a truly breathtaking piece of music.

People Get Ready

We’ve all heard the Beatles covered ad nauseam, but a short, funky, electrifying instrumental take on “Eleanor Rigby” that provides a solo showcase for virtuoso bassist Rev Jones will definitely turn your head. West has another pair of aces hidden up his sleeve in wonderful covers of Curtis Mayfield’s classic “People Get Ready” and the Don Nix blues standard “Goin’ Down.” West out-shines Jeff Beck on the Mayfield gem, his guitar tone and interwoven melodies combine with his soulful vocals guaranteed to send chills down your spine, while “Goin’ Down” is a Leon Russell styled rave-up delivered with gospel fervor by guitarists West and May (who, together, shred mightily), with Bramlett providing lovely backing vocals, Muscles Shoals legend David Hood on bass, and with Middleton banging the piano and Bobby Whitlock on keyboards.

Offered in tribute to R&B great Ben E. King, the hauntingly beautiful “Stand By Me” is done up right as a duet between West and sixteen-year-old singer Ariela Pizza. The young singer’s lofty, more ethereal tones provide the heart of the performance while West’s gritty vocals capture the original version’s enormous soul; guitarist David Biglin provides an engaging acoustic strum in the background. The duet sounds different than anything else on Soundcheck and stands out not only for the skill of the performance but also the reverence shown for a great song. Soundcheck closes with a welcome dip into the archive, West resurrecting a long-lost live version of the Willie Dixon treasure “Spoonful” featuring the late, great Jack Bruce on bass and vocals (from 1988). Performed as Cream did it back in 1968 for the live half of their Wheels of Fire album, the extended eight-minute jam shows West channeling his inner Clapton while Bruce’s wiry bass lines flow like a river beneath his bawdy vocals.    

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

West’s influence as a guitarist is undeniable, with instrumentalists as diverse as Warren Haynes, Eddie Van Halen, Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre, and Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple among the many citing the big man with the bigger sound as a major influence on their own music. What is too often overlooked, however, is that West’s talents extended far beyond his reputation as a louder-than-life fretburner. West is also imminently capable of playing subtle and elegant – a truth showcased nowhere better than on Soundcheck.

Soundcheck effortlessly roams from blues to rock to pop music and beyond, the disparate sounds tied together by West’s skilled fretwork. It’s one of the guitarist’s best efforts in a career littered with milestones; longtime fans will readily embrace Soundcheck. For those of you who may have forgotten West’s charms long ago, Soundcheck is a great way to get reacquainted with this engaging and underrated talent. Grade: A- (Provogue Records, released November 20, 2015)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Leslie West's Soundcheck

Related Content: Mountain's Masters of War CD review

DVD Preview: Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Church

Jimi Hendrix fans have a lot to be happy about this year – Experience Hendrix, the late guitarist’s estate, and Sony Legacy have finally reissued the live performance from the Atlanta Pop Festival 1970 as a long-anticipated, budget-priced two-disc set (Freedom: Live At The Atlanta Pop Festival). The new Atlanta Pop Festival CD expands what was heard on the Stages box set, which has been out of print for nearly two decades, adding five additional tracks from the original concert, including fan faves like “Red House” and “Hey Joe.”

On October 30th, 2015, Hendrix fanatics will have another reason to whirl like a dervish when Sony Legacy releases the Electric Church documentary film on DVD and Blu-Ray. The film debuted on Showtime in early September, but the commercial home video release features bonus content not included on the broadcast. Documenting the event considered by many to be the “Southern Woodstock,” the film tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Atlanta Pop Festival and Hendrix’s performance in front on the largest audience of his career.

The Atlanta Pop Festival, held over the July 4th holiday weekend in 1970, was the result of the efforts of Atlanta promoter Alex Cooley. Attempting to create a true cultural event, Cooley signed talents like Bob Seger, the Allman Brothers, and blues legend-in-the-making B.B. King to perform at the festival, but it was Hendrix’s Independence Day appearance that created rock music history. Electric Church features 16mm film footage of Hendrix’s performance with Experience bandmates Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell, including songs like “Hey Joe,” “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” “Purple Haze,” and “Room Full of Mirrors” as well as a scorching read of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Electric Church also includes interviews with Cox and Mitchell, as well as fellow musicians like Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, and festival organizer Cooley, among others. The film provides further insight into the genius that was Jimi Hendrix and serves as another important chapter in the career of, perhaps, the most deeply documented artist in rock ‘n’ roll aside from individual members of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

CD Review: Fanny's Fanny Hill (1972)

There has been a lot of recent hype (and no little notoriety) surrounding the Runaways and their status as the “first female rock ‘n’ roll band.” Although both Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Joan Jett and her bandmate Lita Ford would emerge as successful solo artists in the 1980s, the members of the Runaways had yet to enter kindergarten when distaff rockers like Goldie and the Gingerbreads (featuring Genya Ravan) and the Pleasure Seekers (with the talented Quatro sisters) were rockin’ clubs from east coast to west.

Too often lost in the discussion is the band Fanny, who were the third all-woman rock ‘n’ roll group to be signed to a major record label (after the two above-mentioned bands), and the first to release a full-length album (their 1970 self-titled debut). Originally known as “Wild Honey,” the band changed its name to Fanny when producer Richard Perry got the L.A. based outfit a deal with Reprise Records. The band’s best-known line-up featured singer/guitarist June Millington and her sister, bassist/vocalist Jean Millington, drummer Alice de Buhr, and keyboardist Nickey Barclay. This is the group that would record Fanny’s first four albums, the quartet scoring a Top 40 hit with the title track of their second album, 1971’s Charity Ball. 

Fanny’s Fanny Hill

Fanny Hill was the band’s third album, and the last to be overseen by superstar producer Perry, an eclectic boardman whose credits included albums by artists as diverse as Captain Beefheart, Tiny Tim, Ringo Starr, and Barbra Streisand, on whose 1971 album Barbra Joan Streisand the four members of Fanny played. Recording at the famed Apple Studio in London with engineer Geoff Emerick, Perry proved to be a sympathetic sounding board for the band, his careful production imbuing Fanny’s songs with a timeless quality while coaxing great performances out of the four musicians. Fanny could rock like a house on fire, but there’s an abundance of post-hippie folk-rock tunes to be found on Fanny Hill, as well as some well-done blues and R&B.

The album kicks off with an upbeat take on Marvin Gaye’s soul classic “Ain’t That Peculiar,” the band mixing a sly New Orleans R&B vibe with a bluesy undercurrent. Although June Millington’s breathless vocals are underserved by the mix, frequently overwhelmed by the instrumentation, her welcome slide-guitar licks are simply devastating, displaying why she was held in such high esteem as a guitarist by her male contemporaries. The song’s bluesy arrangement and full-bodied instrumentation, along with great harmony vocals and blastin’ sax courtesy of Bobby Keys, bring a whole other dimension to the familiar tune. “Knock On My Door,” an original song penned by keyboardist Barclay, switches gears entirely, Jean Millington’s lofty vox supported by complex and intriguing instrumentation on a wildly syncopated arrangement that includes some scorching guitar from June.

You’ve Got A Home

June Millington’s “You’ve Got A Home” is a wonderfully textured folk-rock song that, if it had been released a couple years later, would certainly have sat at the top of the charts alongside similar singer/songwriter fare from James Taylor or Joni Mitchell. The song’s gentle, pastoral sound is precious; its lyrics – a loving ode from a single mother to her son – are well-crafted, poetic, and thoroughly engaging. Supported by a sparse instrumental arrangement and tasteful acoustic and slide guitar, “You’ve Got A Home” is the heart and soul of the album. Sister Jean’s “Wonderful Feeling” is yet another song out of time, a bittersweet romantic ballad with smart, considered lyrics and no little emotion that fully displays the band’s instrumental skills with a melancholy arrangement and overall vibe that sounds like, but pre-dates mid-1970s Fleetwood Mac.  

Barclay’s delightful “Borrowed Time” is an unabashed, up-tempo rocker with undeniable R&B roots. Written in response to the out-of-control egos of their male rock contemporaries, “Borrowed Time” offers up some of Barclay’s most inspired keyboard-pounding and brassy vocals, June’s fretwork soars in its imaginative elegance, and the addition of horns by Bobby Keys and Jim Price bring a Southern rock/Rolling Stones vibe to the performance that drives it over the top. A unique cover of the Beatles’ deep track “Hey Bulldog” brings a different perspective to the grand psychedelic-era gem. Fanny keeps the song’s original piano riff intact, as performed admirably by Barclay, but the band heaps on red-hot guitars and explosive percussion alongside the orchestral backing provided by June’s clavinet.

Rock Bottom Blues

The band’s “Rock Bottom Blues” is a slippery slab o’ roadhouse grease that offers up some po’ boy (girl?) lyrics and a rockin’ arrangement that incorporates Jean’s spry bass line, June’s serpentine guitar licks, Barclay’s honky-tonk piano, and a rare vocal by drummer Alice de Buhr that, although trashed by critics at the time, is appropriately stressed and strained considering the lyrics while being badly lost in the mix. By contrast, “Sound and the Fury” is a country-styled tune that absolutely nails the overall sound and cadence of Byrds/Burritos-styled country-rock. June’s lyrics perfectly capture that cry-in-your-beer vibe, her vocal performance, while not incorporating a lick of twang, is nonetheless expressive and emotional. An un-credited Sneaky Pete provides tasty pedal steel for an additional bit of Bakersfield authenticity.

Barclay’s “The First Time” is a slice of Southern rock not dissimilar to Delaney & Bonnie, the song evincing a great mix of rock, soul, and gospel fervor with dancing keyboards, church-choir harmonies, and Jim Price’s subtle horn play. Barclay proves herself to be the strongest vocalist among the band’s four members, her turns at the microphone generally displaying more confidence and greater range, but with three talented songwriters among their ranks, Fanny’s ability to create a diverse blend of music was unparalleled at the time.

This Real Gone Music reissue of Fanny Hill tacks six bonus tracks onto the album’s original eleven songs, including the single version of “Wonderful Feeling” and an outtake of “Rock Bottom Blues” with de Buhr’s original vocal track, which is definitely stronger and more inspired than the version that Perry chose for the album. Notable among the bonus tracks are a raucous cover of Ike Turner’s “Young and Dumb,” which was released as a non-album single and features some devastating guitarplay by June alongside Barclay’s rough ‘n’ tumble keyboards, and the previously-unreleased “No Deposit, No Return,” a country-tinged Barclay original with twangy vocals, clever lyrics, and an undeniable shit-kickin’ grin.       

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

As mentioned above, Fanny was definitely a band (slightly) ahead of its time, and I can easily see Fanny Hill being a chart-gobbling monster if it had been released in, say, 1975 or ’76 instead of 1972. The album’s overall singer/songwriter direction is bolstered by the band’s instrumental ability to sound big or go soft, to tear the roof off the sucker or to strum and sing in a folkish vein. Featuring an unsung, talented singer in keyboardist Nickey Barclay and two underrated vocalists in the Millington sisters, Fanny also had the benefit of three gifted songwriters among its four skilled musicians, and a world-class guitarist in June Millington. Widely considered to be the band’s best recording, Fanny Hill is well worth your time to check out if you’re a fan of 1970s-era singer/songwriter styled music.

Unfairly lost in the shuffle (the early 1970s produced a wealth of great rock ‘n’ roll), Fanny Hill peaked at only #135 on the charts. Fanny worked with Todd Rundgren as producer for their 1973 album Mother’s Pride, which was the last to feature the band’s original line-up. June Millington and Alice de Buhr left the band after this fourth album, Fanny adding guitarist Patti Quatro from the Pleasure Seekers and drummer Brie Brandt as Jean kept the band going for one more shot at the brass ring, 1974’s Rock and Roll Survivors. The Millington sisters continue to play music as Fanny from time to time, but the gorgeous Fanny Hill is the foundation of the band’s enduring musical legacy. Grade: A- (Real Gone Music, released June 29, 2015)

Buy the album from Amazon.com: Fanny's Fanny Hill (expanded edition)

CD Preview: Dr. John’s The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974

Mac Rebennack a/k/a Dr. John the Night Tripper, is one of the most colorful and talented figures in rock ‘n’ roll history. A true New Orleans music legend, he began his career playing sessions for famed producer Cosimo Matassa, working with local legends like Allen Toussaint, Professor Longhair, and Art Neville, among others. Rebennack would become an essential part of the Crescent City’s music scene, scoring a regional hit as an artist with the 1959 instrumental “Storm Warning” and working as a staff songwriter for Ace Records and as a producer and A&R man for labels like Ron and Specialty Records.

In the mid-1960s, though, Rebennack was facing some legal problems at home even while job opportunities were shrinking. A talented songwriter and pianist, he relocated to Los Angeles and picked up his career as a session player, contributing to hits by artists like Sonny & Cher and Van Morrison as well as working with producer Phil Spector. He launched his solo career in 1968, creating the “Dr. John Creaux the Night Tripper” voodoo witch doctor persona to sell his unlikely and unique hybrid of psychedelic-rock, blues, and New Orleans-flavored R&B. Rebennack would later shorten his chosen moniker to “Dr. John” and, signed to Atlantic Records’ Atco subsidiary, would release his solo debut, Gris-Gris, in 1968.

Throughout the remainder of the ‘60s and well into the 1970s, Dr. John would build a cult following with his flamboyant stage show, where he would often wear Mardis Gras costumes and headdresses. This would be a prolific period for the veteran musician, Dr. John recording seven albums for Atco in six years, including often-overlooked gems like his 1972 album Dr. John’s Gumbo, an inspired collection of covers of classic New Orleans R&B and jazz, or the previous year’s The Sun, Moon & Herbs, which included guest performances by Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, and horn players Bobby Keys and Wayne Jackson.

Dr. John would mine gold with 1973’s In The Right Place. Backed by fellow New Orleans legends the Meters, Rebennack scored a Top Ten single with the classic “Right Place, Wrong Time,” which pushed the album into the Top 30, and the song “Such A Night,” which peaked at #42 on the charts but has since become equally as popular through its frequent use in movie soundtracks and TV shows.

Dr. John’s legacy as a pop-rock songwriter and performer is often overlooked, but will receive a new evaluation on September 18th, 2015 when archival label Omnivore Recordings releases The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974, a 22-track compilation that includes all the A and B-sides from Dr. John’s singles for the label. There’s a lot of fine music to be found in these grooves – New Orleans R&B, traditional zydeco, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll, including songs like his biggest hit, “Right Place, Wrong Time,” as well as “Iko Iko,” “Cold Cold Night,” “Loop Garoo,” “I Walk On Gilded Splinters,” “Such A Night,” and “A Man of Many Words,” which features Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton.

The list of producers involved making in these original recordings represents a “murderer’s row” of classic soul and R&B talents, including Allen Toussaint, Harold Battiste, Jerry Wexler, and Tom Dowd, and the track listing for The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974 includes some of the best songwriters of the 21st century, including Willie Dixon, Huey Smith, Buddy Guy, Allen Toussaint, and Dr. John himself.

The set includes extensive liner notes by critic and historian Gene Sculatti. Dr. John is a six-time Grammy® Award winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and while he’s made plenty of great music over the decades, he’s seldom matched the quality and quantity of these late ‘60s/early ‘70s singles. Check out the video below for a taste of Dr. John’s heady musical gumbo and then get over to Amazon.com and order a copy of The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974.

Dr. John's The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974 tracklist:
1. The Patriotic Flag Waver (mono version)
2. Mama Roux
3. Jump Sturdy
4. I Walk On Gilded Splinters (Part I)
5. I Walk On Gilded Splinters (Part II)
6. Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya
7. Loop Garoo
8. Wash Mama Wash
9. Iko Iko
10. Huey Smith Medley: “High Blood Pressure” “Don’t You Just Know It” “Well I’ll Be John Brown”
11. Wang Dang Doodle
12. Big Chief
13. A Man Of Many Words (w/Buddy Guy & Eric Clapton)
14. Right Place, Wrong Time
15. I Been Hoodood
16. Such A Night
17. Cold Cold Cold
18. Life
19. Let’s Make A Better World
20. Me-You=Loneliness
21. (Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away
22. Mos’ Scocious

Fossils: The Doors' Morrison Hotel (1970)

[click to embiggen]

The Doors – Morrison Hotel

You’d think that with the Doors’ fifth studio album in four years (plus 1970’s live Absolutely Free, the less said about the better…), that Messrs. Morrison and company would begin to run out of musical ideas, but it wasn’t so. Whereas 1969’s The Soft Parade witnessed a band treading water and wondering how to get out of the pool, just a year later Morrison Hotel found a re-energized, raw, and ready-to-rumble outfit revisiting their blues roots (the Texas-flavored “Roadhouse Blues” and “The Spy”); delving into psychedelic mysticism (“Indian Summer,” “Waiting For The Sun”); and diving back into the existential deep end with the dark-hued, malevolent “Peace Frog.”

Although Morrison Hotel yielded no hit singles (tho’ “Peace Frog” grabbed a lot of FM airplay and “Roadhouse Blues” would rise as high as #50 on the singles chart), it was a commercially-successful mix of blues and hard rock (hitting #4 on the album chart) that paved the way for L.A. Woman the following year. Advertising for Morrison Hotel was just more or less a variation on the album cover, but the band photo – taken in some little alcove off some street – displays a certain gritty authenticity that plays well with the music. At this point in their career arc, the Doors really only needed to let fans know that a new album had been released and the rock ‘n’ roll gods would take care of the rest… 

CD Review: Pat Travers' Retro Rocket (2015)

Guitarist Pat Travers earned his considerable reputation by playing aggressive, livewire rock ‘n’ blues music. Along with such contemporaries as Leslie West, Robin Trower, and Frankie Marino, Travers was a bona fide 1970s-era arena-rock guitar god. As musical currents changed during the mid-to-late ‘80s, though, Travers et al found themselves on the outside looking in, commercially speaking, as a new wave of punk, pop, and stylized rock washed away the heroes of the previous decade. The guitarist has soldiered on for better than four decades, pursuing his own unique vision of blues-rock music while playing to a loyal, if dwindling fan base.

To be honest, I didn’t expect much more than a good time from Retro Rocket, Pat Travers’ latest album. Although I’d heard and enjoyed a number of Travers’ post-2000 releases, some of them recorded with bassist T.M. Stevens and drummer Carmine Appice, none of the albums really broke new ground. Sure, Travers’ guitar playing has remained top notch, but often the performances were lacking in inspiration. So when I read that Retro Rocket was, in part, patterned after such late ‘70s and early ‘80s creative and commercial triumphs as Heat In The Street, Crash and Burn, and Black Pearl, I was hopeful. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut that is Travers’ Retro Rocket.      

Pat Travers’ Retro Rocket

Retro Rocket leaps from the launching pad from the very first track, “I Always Run” fueled by a rampaging riff that’s met by wiry lead strokes before Travers’ whiskey-soaked vocals come roaring in. The six-string interplay between Travers and guitarist Jürgen Engler displays a primo, 1970s-style scorched earth style, the song’s driving rhythm (courtesy of bassist Scott Telles and drummer Lisa Cameron) building a perfect foundation for the dueling guitarists to dance atop. It’s a muscular song, a throwback to an earlier time, perhaps, when dinosaurs ruled the rock ‘n’ roll planet, but it strikes a perfect chord for this child of the ‘70s. Both high-flying and yet earthy, “I Always Run” defies any expectations you might have had of Retro Rocket.

“Searching For A Clue” is less affecting, perhaps, albeit just as pumped-up and steroidal as its predecessor, with stunning guitarplay and locomotive rhythms. The surprise of the opening cut may damper enthusiasm a bit for track two but on its own, “Searching For A Clue” is a no-frills rock ‘n’ stomp wailer that should pacify any guitar geek. Musically, “Who Do You Turn To” reminds of British blues-rock stalwarts Savoy Brown, the song displaying a similar blue-veined hue, but Travers’ vocals soar effortlessly over the song’s complex arrangement while the instrumentation builds to a chaotic crescendo that channels more than a little late ‘70s punk-rock energy in its anarchic sound and gnashing fretwork. 

Hellbound Train

Damn, “Up Is Down” is a nearly perfect hard-rock romp, beginning with Telles’ Jack Bruce-styled opening bass line and Cameron’s crashing drumbeats and peaking with the psychedelic-tinged, yet bombastic guitar licks that dominate the song. You won’t find a more “old school” performance than this, but Travers and his merry pranksters pull out the stops to make it sound fresher than any of the young crop of retro-rockers currently plodding across the musical horizon. The song jumps effortlessly into “Mystery At The Wrecking Yard,” a sly little tale that delivers lyrical cheap thrills above relentless, devastating, wrecking-ball instrumentation that shreds metallic while welding shards of blues and acid-rock to the chassis. If this pyrotechnic display doesn’t rock you, then I can only conclude that you’ve assumed room temperature…in which case, it sucks to be you, don’t it? 

Travers swaps bands for the final four songs on Retro Rocket, with drummer Sean Shannon bashing the cans and keeping time while bassist Neil Carpenter holds down the bottom end. Guitarist Joe Stump jumps in here for a couple of songs, “I Am Alive” being the better of the two, Stump and Travers laying waste to everything that lies before them. Stump brings a more brutal, metallic style for Travers to play off of on this lyrical statement of defiance, and it’s sheer delight hearing the two of them tear it up. Travers' “Hellbound Train” isn’t a cover of the Savoy Brown classic but rather a co-write by the guitarist and drummer Shannon. No less menacing than its namesake, this “Hellbound Train” rips up the grooves like an out-of-control tornado, Travers’ lower-register vocals delivered above raging guitar while the song’s crushing instrumentation paints a bloody backdrop.

In a somewhat different vein, a vintage live recording of “Looking Up” – the title track of Travers’ 1996 album – sounds a bit out of place…but only slightly, the song’s bluesy fretwork and explosive percussion tempered by a funky groove laid out by bassist Kevin Ryan. Travers’ solos are no less expressive, and just as powerful as any of the newer songs on Retro Rocket, so the song slots in here perfectly. Travers’ take on “Lead Me Home,” the theme from The Walking Dead TV show, is included here as a “bonus track,” and it’s a resonant lil’ sucker. Travers’ wailing vox are paired with some fine, shimmering git-picking that capture the spirit of the lyrics perfectly.    

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

With nary a punter to be found on Retro Rocket, Pat Travers delivers a stunning tour de force that equals any of the classic albums he recorded during his halcyon years. Seldom has Travers’ playing sounded more vital, energetic, and passionate than it does here, and working on creating material that evokes his glory days while remaining contemporary in feel clearly lit a fire under the guitarist’s sleepy muse. Retro Rocket delivers an unabashedly hard-rocking set of guitar-driven songs that will make you fall in love with Pat Travers all over again… Grade: A (Purple Pyramid Records, released March 17, 2015)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Pat Travers' Retro Rocket

 

Classic LPs by Joe Cocker & the Doors on SACD

Audio Fidelity main man Marshall Blonstein has been on a helluva roll lately, licensing all sorts of classic rock and blues discs for re-release as Super Audio CDs on his label. With this latest announcement, however, I think that Mr. Blonstein may have outdone himself. On June 2nd, 2015 Audio Fidelity will release The Best of the Doors and Joe Cocker’s With A Little Help From My Friends on hybrid SACD discs.

There have been numerous “hits” compilations released on legendary L.A. rockers the Doors, both before and after the mysterious death of band frontman Jim Morrison. The Best of the Doors LP that was released in 1973 is considered the best collection by far, a potent single-disc effort that features eleven tracks total, including seven of the band’s eight Top 40 hits. Audio Fidelity is reissuing The Best of the Doors as a limited edition, numbered Quadraphonic 4.0 multichannel hybrid SACD. The two-channel stereo and DSD layers of the SACD were re-mastered from the original two-track tapes, which became available for the first time since 1970.

The 4.0 Quad layer of The Best of the Doors mirrors the earlier CD-4 QuadraDisc format, and the original Quadraphonic eight-track and reel-to-reel tapes. Rather than use the 1973 master as their source for these songs, Audio Fidelity preferred to use the original two-track master tapes of the band’s eight studio albums released between 1967 and 1971, providing the listener with the cleanest and most honest sound possible. The material deserves such white glove treatment, too, with songs like “Hello, I Love You,” “Soul Kitchen,” “Riders On The Storm,” “Love Her Madly,” and “Light My Fire” (all on The Best of the Doors) rightfully considered bona fide rock classics.

The other June release from Audio Fidelity is equally impressive. In honor of legendary British vocalist Joe Cocker’s death last December, the label is releasing the singer’s 1969 debut album, With A Little Help From My Friends, as a hybrid SACD. Backed by longtime stalwarts the Grease Band – which featured the talented guitarist Henry McCullough and keyboardist Chris Stainton – Cocker also had a few famous “friends” drop by the studio to help with the record, including guitarists Jimmy Page and Albert Lee, keyboardists Steve Winwood and Matthew Fischer (Procol Harum), and a heavenly choir that included backing singers Merry Clayton and Madeline Bell.

Cocker had already enjoyed a number one hit in the U.K. with his 1968 cover of the Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends,” but the critically-acclaimed mix of rock, blues, and soul found on his full-length debut yielded a Top 40 hit in a cover of Dave Mason’s “Feeling Alright” while the album peaked at #35 on the U.S. charts and #29 in the U.K. Aside from the two hits, With A Little Help From My Friends features an inspired mix of covers like Dylan’s “Just Like A Woman” and “I Shall Be Released” and the Animals’ hit “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” as well as underrated originals written by Cocker and Stainton like “Marjorine” and “Sandpaper Cadillac.” If you haven’t heard Cocker’s soulful wail, this is the album to start with!

Buy the CDs from Amazon.com:
The Doors' The Best of the Doors SACD  
Joe Cocker's With a Little Help From My Friends SACD

CD Review: Vanilla Fudge's Spirit of '67

Vanilla Fudge made their bones by covering pop, rock, and R&B songs long before the hair metal ‘80s made it an artistic requirement. The band’s psychedelic, acid-washed arrangements kept enough of a song’s original flavor to entertain while still adding something new and original to the mix. Formed by singer and keyboardist Mark Stein, guitarist Vinny Martell, bassist Tim Bogert, and drummer Carmine Appice, the Fudge came to the attention of legendary product George “Shadow” Morton, who was smitten by the band’s slowed-down, sludge-drenched live performance of the Supremes’ hit “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” The band recorded the song with Morton producing, scoring them a deal with Atco Records (an Atlantic label subsidiary), and their subsequent self-titled 1967 debut.

That album rose to number six on the Billboard albums chart on the strength of the band’s unique readings of popular songs by the Beatles, Sonny Bono, Curtis Mayfield, and Rod Argent. Slowing down a song’s tempo, layering in a rich brew of Stein’s Hammond keyboards and Martell’s stinging guitar, and backed by the sludge-like stew of Bogert and Appice’s mesmerizing rhythms, the album struck a chord with young rock fans. Morton would go on to produce the band’s following two albums, both of which went Top 20, but the further the Fudge strayed from that initial plodding approach to cover tunes, the more their commercial returns diminished, and Vanilla Fudge broke up in 1970, after the release of their fourth album, Rock & Roll.

Vanilla Fudge’s Spirit of ’67

The Fudge reformed in 2000, sans Bogart, who had retired from touring after a lengthy career, and they’ve been performing occasional shows ever since. Spirit of ’67, a collection of cover tunes of songs made popular in, yes, 1967, is the Fudge’s first album in ten years. Unfortunately, there’s little to like about Vanilla Fudge’s Spirit of ’67. The arrangements proffered these classic songs aren’t so much imaginative as they are dated and boring, the band trying to add a contemporary sheen to vintage tunes that, by their very familiarity, are part of the hardcore music fan’s DNA and thus require no feats of imagination. Even sadder, the “contemporary” edge the band attempts to bring to the material is from the 1980s or ‘90s…wielding overused, abused musical tropes that barely outlasted their initial use two or three decades ago. I’m not against a band bringing its own vision to classic material, but it has to improve upon the original, not deconstruct it in favor of something less.

Take, for instance, the Fudge cover of the Doors’ gem “Break On Through (To The Other Side),” which is “spiffed” up with backing harmony vocals and a vague flamenco rhythm that completely overwhelms an otherwise engaging Vince Martell guitar solo. The song is stripped of its original malevolence and turned into a Vegas stage show with a truly outrageous and unnecessary exit. Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” is…well, I’m not sure what they were trying to achieve here. There are Gothic tinges to the song’s instrumentation, which is overly lush and claustrophobic rather than cautious and celebratory. The Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday” is completely shorn of its pop-psych charm in favor of tinkling pianos and a thick, Tran-Siberian Orchestra-styled soundtrack.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

The band has always had luck with the Motown songbook, but their stab at Marvin Gaye’s classic “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” is just downright embarrassing. The vocals are straining to achieve soulfulness, the instrumentation is overblown and over-the-top all around. True, the bar for covering this song was set pretty high by Gaye and, later, John Fogerty’s CCR, but the Fudge’s arrangement robs the song of its heartbreak, making it sound more like a house party than a tearjerker. The rapping in the middle of the song does nothing to redeem it, either…and speaking of embarrassing, the band’s cover of the Boxtops’ “The Letter” is equally blustery and OTT, with crescendos of out-of-place orchestration and an overall vibe that is at odds with the original’s frantic, romantic “in-a-hurry” intentions. Alex Chilton is likely spinning in his grave at the song’s lounge-singer vocals and (too) busy instrumentation.

Not all of Spirit of ‘67 is thus, however…the band manage to hit the right tone throughout much of their cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ “The Tracks of My Tears,” creating just the right balance of pathos and emotion to make it work, even if the instrumentation is a wee bit more grandiose than necessary. Their take on the Monkees’ “I’m A Believer” is more imaginative than most of these covers, sounding like a cross between Argent and Iron Butterfly, with flailing keyboard riffs and heavy percussion bringing a share of that old Fudge black magic to the song. The Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” is given more of a throwback sound (think 1970s), and while Vince Martell is no Steve Winwood, his vocals here are OK (although I could do without the gratuitous backing vox), his guitar solos crisp and creative. Procol Harum’s “White Shade of Pale” benefits from Mark Stein’s eerie Hammond B3 licks, and although the song’s instrumental arrangement attempts to fly a little too close to the sun, the performance comes back to earth with its wings only singed.  

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

OK, so it’s brass tacks time…Vanilla Fudge’s Spirit of ’67 is an overall mess. By my count, only four or five of the album’s cover songs (i.e. half) add anything to the original performance, while the rest are mostly just mundane and gimmicky. The album’s one new song – Stein’s “Let’s Pray For Peace” – is of a similar overblown nature as much of Spirit of ’67, but that’s OK. It’s an original song with a solid melody, an earnest message, and heartfelt, if a bit overwrought vocals. It works, even if it’s completely out of context of the rest of the album’s conceptual conceit.

If you’re a diehard, longtime patron of Vanilla Fudge, my words won’t dissuade you from buying Spirit of ’67, nor should they. Enjoy, I say, it’s all rock ‘n’ roll to me! But for the Fudge newcomer, your money would be better spent on the band’s self-titled 1967 debut album or even Psychedelic Sundae, a “best of” collection which offers up some tasty covers of the Beatles, Motown, Donovan, and others. As for Vanilla Fudge, I’d just as soon they applied their long-suffering shtick to current songs by the likes of Taylor Swift or Sam Smith. That, my friends, is something I’d like to hear! Grade: C (Cleopatra Records, released March 3, 2015)

Buy the CD on Amazon.com: Vanilla Fudge's Spirit Of 67