Chances are that you’ve heard the soulful voice of Willy DeVille, even if you weren’t aware of it at the time. DeVille experienced a potential commercial breakthrough when his song “Storybook Love” was used by director Rob Reiner as the theme song for his film The Princess Bride. Originally recorded with Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler for DeVille’s 1987 album Miracle, “Storybook Love” was nominated for an Academy Award, and DeVille performed the song at that year’s award ceremony.
Despite his brief flirtation with the mainstream, DeVille was probably too strong a brew for the bland tastes of the average MTV-viewing record buyer in the late 1980s. Throughout a lengthy career that began in the early 1970s with his NYC-based band Mink DeVille, and a solo career that began in earnest under his own name with Miracle, DeVille was a true American musical renegade. Pursuing a unique vision that blended rock and soul with blues, R&B, Latin, and Cajun music, DeVille was never happy sitting in one stylistic groove for too long, and once he wrapped his magnificent voice around a style, he owned it.
Willy DeVille’s Come A Little Bit Closer
While he never built a stateside audience beyond a loyal cult following, DeVille remained popular in Europe until his untimely death from cancer in 2009. He continued to tour and record through the years, releasing his final album Pistola in 2008, and he remained curious about exploring various roots-music styles until the end. Come A Little Bit Closer: The Best of Willy DeVille Live is exactly that, a compilation of some of the singer’s best songs and live performances, culled from throughout his career.
DeVille was a powerful and charismatic live performer, pouring his heart and song into every live performance, regardless of the venue or audience. Come A Little Bit Closer begins with “Venus of Avenue D,” documenting one of the best-known songs from an early incarnation of Mink DeVille, captured live in Amsterdam in 1977. Displaying just a little of the diversity that would grace DeVille’s later recordings, “Venus of Avenue D” is a punkish rocker with a heart full of soul, offering R&B tinged hornplay and muted vocals that up the amperage and electricity as the song slowly ascends. The Brill Building pop gem “Little Girl” comes from the same show, the song a mid-tempo ballad that DeVille imbues with an emotional fervor.
The Evolution of Mink DeVille
A handful of songs, from a 1984 show in the Netherlands, illustrate the evolution of Mink DeVille, the band, into Willy DeVille, the singular performer. Injecting his performances with greater R&B influences and elegant vocal nuances, DeVille’s performance of “This Must Be the Night” crosses the playfulness of Gary “U.S.” Bonds with the earnest blues-eyed soul sound of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. Ditto for “Love and Emotion,” a lovely love song with a Philly soul sound and a European heartbeat, while “Savoir Faire” is just an all-out rocker with raging vocals and blazing guitars, blasts of horn, and shards of honky-tonk piano.
DeVille was a masterful interpreter of other songwriter’s material as well, from the aforementioned “Little Girl” to a gorgeous cover of Bryan Ferry’s hauntingly beautiful “Slave To Love,” the singer wringing every bit of heartbreak out of the song. The garage-rock standard “Hey Joe” is gleefully re-imagined with a jaunty Spanish rhythm and exotic instrumentation dancing lively behind DeVille’s playful vocals. No “best of” compilation would be complete without “Storybook Love,” and this 2002 version, recorded in Berlin with the Willy DeVille Acoustic Trio, is met with enthusiastic response from the German audience, the singer accompanied by a lone piano as he pure magic out of the yearning, heartworn lyrics.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Willy DeVille was an American musical treasure, a gifted songwriter and vocalist that reveled in obscurity for over 30 years, yet continued to create powerful, exciting music throughout, without the benefit of major labels or radio airplay. DeVille suffered from addictions during much of his career, and it could be argued that his personal demons held him back, career-wise, although it did little to slow the impressive pace of his songwriting or performing.
Come A Little Bit Closer: The Best of Willy DeVille live is not only a wonderful introduction to this talented artist’s rich and diverse milieu, it also serves as a gateway to a lot of great music still available from one of the greatest and most underrated of American musicians, Willy DeVille. With a love for indigenous musical forms that informed his sound, roots music never sounded better than when sung by DeVille. (Eagle Records, released May 24, 2011)
By 1979, the angry, hurried punk-rock spewed out by such “Class of ‘77” grads as the Sex Pistols, the Damned and others had begun to give way to the more considered, diverse, and admittedly softer-edged “new wave” sounds that would dominate the early 1980s. Also, by this point, Graham Parker, as angry a young bloke as any of his punkier musical brethren, had found near universal critical acclaim with his first three studio albums – Howlin’ Wind and Heat Treatment in 1976, Stick To Me in 1977 – that would be unaccompanied by any semblance of real commercial success.
Plagued by lack of promotion and label mismanagement for his albums – Parker would write the song “Mercury Poisoning” around this time about his label – and overshadowed by the commercial emergence of the similarly angry young artist Elvis Costello, Parker swung for the fences with his 1979 album, Squeezing Out Sparks. Working for the first time with producer Jack Nitzsche after making three albums with musician Nick Lowe, Costello channeled all of his piss-n-vinegar energy, emotion, and frustrations into songs like “Discovering Japan,” “Local Girls,” “Passion Is No Ordinary Word,” and “You Can’t Be Too Strong.” Squeezing Out Sparks would become Parker’s best-known, and most successful album, topping 200,000 copies sold and inching itself into the Billboard magazine Top Forty.
Graham Parker & the Rumour’s Live In San Francisco 1979
As Parker remembers in the liner notes for Live In San Francisco 1979, management put him and his band the Rumour on tour shortly before the March 1979 release of Squeezing Out Sparks and kept them out on the road, on two continents, for almost ten months. One of the early stops along the way was a two-night gig at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco in April, the second night of which was recorded by local radio station KSAN-FM for on-air broadcast.
This is the show that would later be used by Parker’s label for a promotional album titled Live Sparks that culled San Francisco performances of the ten songs from Squeezing Out Sparks, tacked on a couple of songs from a live broadcast on WXRT-FM in Chicago, and would be quickly sent out to radio stations to help provide momentum for Parker’s tour and album sales. The limited-edition, promo-only vinyl quickly became a coveted collector’s item, but would later become redundant in the CD age when included as a second disc on the 1996 reissue of Squeezing Out Sparks.
Live Sparks only told part of the story, however, while Live From San Francisco 1979, released by archive specialists Renaissance Records with its online partners It’s About Music, recreates a longer tale. Featuring a twenty-song performance by Graham Parker & the Rumour as recorded by the radio station, Live From San Francisco 1979 provides a valuable document of the band’s reckless live energy and Parker’s frenetic vocal pace. Whereas the sound on Live Sparks was always suspect – thin and full of echo – it has been markedly improved here, albeit at slightly less than studio quality. While portions of this performance have circulated among fans as bootlegs for years, none to my knowledge have ever included it in its entirety.
Squeezing Out Sparks
Parker performs his Squeezing Out Sparks album almost in its entirety on Live From San Francisco 1979, supplementing those performances with a healthy dose of material from his previous three studio discs. Kicking off with a crash-bang reading of “Discovering Japan” and slipping into a fast-paced version of “Local Girls,” Live From San Francisco 1979 jumps into an urgent performance of “Thunder and Rain” that includes some stellar fretwork from guitarists Brinsley Schwartz and Martin Belmont, Graham’s strident vocal gymnastics, bombastic drumbeats from Steven Goulding, and just beneath the surface, some great keyboards and special effects courtesy of Bob Andrews.
After ramping up the audience with three subsequent barn-burners, Parker & the Rumour deliver a swaggering look at “Don’t Get Excited” that befits the song’s syncopated electricity before launching into the pub-rock-flavored romp “Back To School Days.” A piano-led, tongue-in-cheek boozy roll in nostalgia, the band cranks it out here like Friday night at the local watering hole and their life depends on winning over the crowd. The aforementioned “Mercury Poisoning,” spit out here with all of the venomous intent of the original studio version, is one of the best songs written about the music biz. Directly targeting his former record label and its feeble attempts at promoting his music, Parker’s nimble wordplay is matched by an infectious chorus and kicked out with a punkish fervor of clashing instruments and angry vocals.
The older material easily fits in between the newer songs here, the band’s innate chemistry allowing it to change gears quickly from the swinging R&B rave-up “Heat Treatment” to the rockabilly-tinged “Clear Head” and the hard-rocking “Saturday Nite Is Dead.” The band’s cover of the Jackson 5 gem “I Want You Back” has always been one of my personal favorites, Parker’s reverent vocals doing a great job at expressing the romantic longing and loss of the original song. This live version is pretty cool, a little faster-paced than some performances, but Parker’s vox are still top-notch and the accompanying guitars bring just enough Steve Cropper/Stax Records flavor to mimic the Motown sound. Live From San Francisco 1979 closes with the anarchistic “New York Shuffle,” the song’s pub-rock vibe complimented by a little rockabilly guitar, honky-tonk-styled piano, and more than a little punkish intensity.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Live From San Francisco 1979 documents a road-weary Graham Parker & the Rumour that climb the Old Waldorf stage and kick out the jams with reckless aplomb anyway. The collection is a hell of a lot of fun, mixing Squeezing Out Sparks with the earlier material, and both Parker and the band sound absolutely energized by the loud-n-rowdy audience. More than anything, the album showcases an artist that never quite received the commercial pay-off that his passionate, intense, and entertaining music should have gotten. Luckily we have recordings like Live From San Francisco 1979 to remind us of just how damn good Graham Parker & the Rumour were back in the day. (Renaissance Records/It’s About Music, released October 25th, 2009)
Review originally published by the Trademark of Quality (TMQ) blog, 2010
Asbury Park, New Jersey is the type of “small town” that John Mellencamp sung
about, with a 2020 census population of slightly less than 17,000 souls. A
onetime beachfront tourist destination located on the Atlantic Ocean, it could
boast of a boardwalk teeming with shops, and an indoor amusement park with a
famous carousel. By the 1980s, however, financial woes, widespread poverty, and
1970’s race riots led to Asbury Park searching for an answer to its dilapidated
storefronts and weak economy, a struggle for revival that continues to this day.
The infamous Stone Pony music venue opened in 1974 and Asbury Park soon
became home to a thriving regional music scene that included artists like Bill
Chinnock and his Downtown Tangiers Band, the Lord Gunner Group, Ken Viola, Kog
Nito and the Geeks, Steel Mill, Maelstrom, and Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom,
among many others. Three individual talents – Bruce Springsteen, “Little Steven”
Van Zandt, and “Southside” Johnny Lyon – would transcend the Asbury Park music
scene to become bona fide, worldwide rock stars. Of these three, Lyon probably
gets short-changed in the fame and fortune department, and has been unfairly
accused of riding the coattails of his two better-known rock ‘n’ roll brethren.
I Don’t Want To Go Home, the 1976 debut album by
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, was produced by Van Zandt and included three of his original songs, along
with two written by Springsteen, including “The Fever,” which became an early
signature song for Southside Johnny. The band’s second album, 1977’s
This Time It’s For Real, was again produced by Van Zandt and featured
eight out of ten songs written by the man known then as “Miami Steve”, or
co-written with his pal Bruce. The stone cold truth is that all of these guys
had played together for years in many of the various aforementioned Jersey shore
bands, and their fates (and careers) were intertwined since the late 1960s.
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ Live In Cleveland ‘77
Touring in support of This Time It’s For Real, Southside Johnny
and the Asbury Jukes made their way to Cleveland and the city’s Agora
Ballroom, a sort of “home away from home” for expat denizens of Asbury Park’s
music scene. Southside Johnny and crew would hold the Agora stage for one
night in May 1977, a performance that was broadcast live on Cleveland’s
popular WMMS-FM radio station. The concert was lost for decades until its
recent re-discovery and long-overdue release on CD by Cleveland International
Records. It’s a gift for longtime Southside Johnny fans like myself, because
there’s not much on this old planet of sound that’s more fun than an Asbury
Jukes show.
In between their debut album and sophomore effort, a
live promotional album was released to radio stations across the country, but
Live At the Bottom Line never really captured the Asbury Jukes in full
swing and although it received a fair amount of airplay, its exclusive
distribution meant that new SSJ&AJ fans couldn’t buy it. A full-fledged
Asbury Jukes live LP wouldn’t be released until 1981’s
Reach Up and Touch the Sky, which makes me wonder what might have
happened if this Cleveland performance could have been released in, say, late
1977 or ’78. Lyon is fronting a firecracker of a band here, including
guitarists Van Zandt and Billy Rush, keyboardist Kevin Kavanaugh, and the “La
Bamba” horn section. The set list pulls from both of the band’s albums, as
well as a couple of surprise cover tunes, encompassing the full scope of the
Jukes’ blues-infused, rockin’ R&B sound.
This Time It’s For Real
After a brief DJ introduction, the party kicks off with “This Time It’s For
Real,” a brassy R&B raver featuring Lyon’s soulful vocals, blasting horns,
Van Zandt’s vocal harmonies, and a throwback chorus that would have seemed more
at home in 1957 than ’77. The band does legendary soul man Solomon Burke’s “Got
To Get You Off My Mind” justice with a smoky, smooth performance that
incorporates a bit of jazz in its rhythm and blues grooves. “Without Love” is a
cool Ivory Joe Hunter tune that is afforded a blisteringly-emotional vocal
performance that is literally steeped in romantic yearning with muted horns,
gorgeous piano-play, and slow-rolling rhythms.
Although the next
song is listed on the CD as “She Got Me Where She Wants Me,” it’s actually
another track from This Time It’s For Real, Van Zandt’s masterpiece “Love
On the Wrong Side of Town.” Opening with a tinkle of piano keys and marching
rhythms before the horns chime in the romantic anguish pours out of Lyon’s
vocals, it’s one of the most devastating songs of romantic betrayal in the
Asbury Jukes tool kit. Junior Walker’s “Little By Little” provides a spotlight
for the La Bamba Horns to shine with a previously-unreleased performance while
the Springsteen/Van Zandt joint “When You Dance” is a brilliant pastiche of late
1950s-era R&B and early ‘60s garage-rock. Kenny “Popeye” Pentifallo’s tribal
drumbeats open with the chant of “La Bamba, La Bamba” before the entire band
cranks up for a horn-blasted, unbridled Bacchanalian rave-up.
Say Goodbye To Hollywood
The legendary, lovely, and talented Ms. Ronnie Spector joins the band for a
performance of Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye To Hollywood,” a song she’d previously
recorded with Springsteen and the E Street Band for single release. Spector’s
epic, larger-than-life voice is perfectly suited to the song’s lyrical and
musical grandeur and the Jukes back her up with horns blazing. Springsteen’s
“The Fever” is provided a similarly steamy performance – more muted, perhaps,
but featuring some of Lyon’s most nuanced vocals on what is essentially an
old-school R&B torch song. “I Don’t Want To Go Home” is the song that
introduced many of us to Southside Johnny, a song that combines the romantic
loss of a ballad with the aching urgency to drink away one’s sorrows to a loud
bar-band. The mournful horn-play is paired with subtle keyboards while the
guitars underline Lyon’s heartbroken vox on what is an electrifying R&B
romp.
Live In Cleveland ’77 closes out with three strong
performances, beginning with “Broke Down Piece of Man,” written by Memphis soul
legend Steve Cropper. Van Zandt’s guitar leads the charge, buzzing horns add
some brightness, and the vocal harmonies reinforce the song’s strong rock ‘n’
blues roots. An inspired cover of Sam Cooke’s “Having A Party” appeared on the
Bottom Line LP and should have been released as a single as it’s a
faithful reading with plenty of energy, Lyon’s jaunty vocals punctuated by
joyous horns. A previously-unrecorded cover of the Sam & Dave Stax Records
hit “You Don’t Know Like I Know” is based on bassist Allan Berger and drummer
Kenny Pentifallo’s strong rhythmic foundation, with Lyon’s hearty vocals soaring
on the sound of Kevin Kavanaugh’s Booker T-styled keyboards and Memphis-styled
horn blowing, ending the album on a distinctively up-tempo
note.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
For Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, their May 1977 performance in
Cleveland was just one of thousands of nights on the road. The Jukes’ third
Van Zandt-produced album, 1978’s Hearts of Stone, would earn widespread
critical acclaim but was only modestly successful and Epic Records dropped the
band, who would subsequently sign with Mercury. “Little Steven” went on to
become an integral part of Springsteen’s world-beating E Street Band during
the 1980s while Southside Johnny has led various band line-ups across four
decades and nearly two-dozen albums to date.
Over the years, Lyon
has taken his sound into deeper blues and R&B territory, which admittedly
has hamstrung his commercial potential, but he’s stayed true to his original
vision and influences, sometimes finding a little modest success (as with
1991’s Better Days) but more often than not he’s been preaching to a
loyal choir of fans with albums like 2010’s Pills and Ammo or 2015’s
Soultime! For one night in 1977, however, anything was possible, the
Juke’s future was still on the horizon, and Southside Johnny sang his heart
out. Thanks to Live In Cleveland ’77, we get to hear the show like we
were there. (Cleveland International Records, released March 22, 2022) Buy the CD from Amazon:
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ Live In Cleveland ‘77
It’s no secret among the cognoscenti that blues-rock guitar great Jimi Hendrix was an inconsistent onstage performer. When he was hot, he burned as bright as a supernova, but when he was not, he could be dull and lackluster. It was part of the blessing and the curse of Hendrix’s talents, that he often seemed to view live shows as an inconvenience thrust upon him by his manager when instead the guitarist would rather be sequestered in the studio experimenting with sound.
In an effort to scour the tape vaults of anything remotely of commercial value, Experience Hendrix – the corporation formed by the late guitarist’s relatives to preserve Jimi’s legacy and exploit the hell out of his musical catalog – has for years released live recordings for a rabid fan base to devour. Live At Berkeley, featuring a Jimi Hendrix Experience comprised of Hendrix, long-time friend and bassist Billy Cox, and drummer Mitch Mitchell, captures the band’s second set at the Berkeley Community Theatre from Saturday night, May 30, 1970. The album documents a solid eleven-song performance with good, although not great sound (well, it was recorded over 40 years ago), definitely showcasing Hendrix at his best onstage.
Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Live At Berkeley
The performance found on Live At Berkeley has long been a fan favorite, and as both sets were originally filmed and recorded that Saturday night, both have been frequently bootlegged on LP and CD in the four decades since. For fans that live their lives above ground, however, with no previous (bootlegged) exposure to this particular band performance, the Berkeley shows are a revelation. The second set documented by Live At Berkeley cranks up slowly, like the first glowing embers of an out-of-control wildfire. “Pass It On,” which fuses Hendrix’s “Straight Ahead” with improvised lyrics and lots of flamethrower solos, is loose and funky, with Cox and Mitchell delivering a ramshackle rhythm behind Jimi’s chaotic leads.
By the time the band hits three songs in and “Lover Man,” this rock ‘n’ roll locomotive is beginning to fire on all cylinders. Hendrix’s hurried vocals are propelled forward by Cox’s wickedly twisted and fast-paced bass line, Mitchell’s explosive percussion allowing the guitarist to embroider the song with what sound like experimental, stream-of-consciousness styled solos that further Hendrix’s redefining of electric guitar. “Stone Free” is a rampaging rocker with Hendrix’s half-buried vocals overshadowed by his wiry fretwork, Cox’s throbbing bass, and Mitchell’s crashing cymbals. By the time that Jimi cuts loose with his solo two and a half minutes in, he’s clearly entered the stratosphere and running on pure adrenalin and imagination.
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
Of course, Hendrix doesn’t ignore the fan favorites on Live At Berkeley, trotting out both the reliable “Hey Joe” and the legendary “Foxey Lady” for an enthusiastic audience. The former is provided its usual malevolence with Hendrix’s darkly-elegant guitar lines and mournful vocals while the latter is pumped-up larger than life with and extended and amplified performance of the familiar intro as Hendrix’s axe howls and squeals with feedback. The arrangement of “Foxey Lady” lends itself to improvisation, and Cox coaxes a heavy bass sound as the foundation beneath Jimi’s screaming guitarplay. Another of the band’s early hits, “Purple Haze,” is provided a similar treatment, scorched-earth guitar layered above the driving drumbeats and sledge-hammer bass. Hendrix stretches out the song’s well-worn riff with short, but sharp solos and heaps of echo and buzz.
It wouldn’t be Jimi Hendrix if he didn’t trot out a couple of songs from the bluesier side of his milieu, and in Berkeley that night he delivered a powerful reading of his “I Don’t Live Today.” Mitchell’s fluid, tribal rhythms intro the song with a short drum solo before Hendrix kicks in with an electrifying barrage of guitar licks. Call it “blues on steroids” if you will, but the song is one of the finest, albeit misunderstood of the Hendrix catalog, his blustery solos channeling more emotion and empathy in a few seconds than a lot of guitarists can muster across an entire album. This album’s “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” represents one of the guitarist’s blockbuster performances, ten-minutes-plus of fiery blues and rock fused into an incredible display of talent and audacity with otherworldly lyrics and an incredible Mitch Mitchell drum clinic that keeps up with the guitarist nearly step for step.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
You’d be hard-pressed to find a live Hendrix performance with more electricity than that documented by Live At Berkeley. The refashioned Jimi Hendrix Experience begins the second set with a slow rolling boil and builds to a livewire crescendo, closing out the performance with a lengthy jam that (figuratively) blows the roof off the Berkeley Community Theatre. However – and this is a big “if” here, folks – considering that this performance was released a mere nine years ago when Experience Hendrix had its deal with MCA Records, is buying it again a real necessity?
There are no additional tracks on this new reissue, only a mild upgrade in sound and, well, honestly, if you have this CD already, there’s no reason to upgrade. Spend your money on the DVD/Blu-ray release of Live At Berkeley with the new footage instead. On the other hand, if you’re a Hendrix newbie and haven’t heard this stuff before, run to your local music retailer and grab up a copy of both the Live At Berkeley CD and the DVD. Now, if we could only get a CD release of the Experience’s first Berkeley set, the hardcore faithful would shut up and be happy! (Legacy Recordings, released July 10, 2012)
Blooze-rock guitarslinger Pat Travers is fondly remembered for his incredible string of late ‘70s/early ‘80s albums that began with his self-titled 1976 debut and ran through such blistering six-string showcases as Makin’ Magic and Putting It Straight (both 1977); Heat In the Street (1979), Crash and Burn (1980), and Radio Active (1981); and, of course, the signature Live! Go For What You Know (1979), which yielded Travers’ best-known tune, his red-hot and scorching cover of the Stan Lewis blues classic “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights).” When the Reverend lived in Detroit circa 1979-81, you couldn’t turn on WRIF-FM without hearing Travers’ trademark guitar licks and distinctive vocals.
Pat Travers’ Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)
Unlike many so-called “classic rock” artists, Travers survived the onslaught of, first, punk rock and, later, “new wave” to carry stadium-approved guitar rock into the new decade. By the mid-‘80s, however, Travers’ trademark one-two punch of blues and rock had fallen out of favor with the MTV generation and he sat the rest of the decade on the bench, coming back into the game with School of Hard Knocks in 1990. Since that time, Travers has continued to plow the fertile earth of electric blues and rock ‘n’ roll cheap thrills, releasing a handful of decent studio albums – some with an abundance of original material – as well as a slew of remarkably consistent live discs, working through the years with other such respected rock journeymen as Aynsley Dunbar, Carmine Appice, Jeff Watson, and T.M. Stevens.
The secret to Travers’ ongoing longevity is that, through the years, neither his original songs, nor his typically inspired choices in cover material, have been all that complicated. My old buddy Grimey once said of ZZ Top’s early albums, “anybody could play that stuff,” and that’s also true of Pat Travers. What separates the bearded wonders from Texas – and the six-string wunderkind from Canada – from the great unwashed masses is although anybody can play this stuff, few are as capable of doing it with such energy, passion and originality.
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights), a rather worthwhile collection of Travers’ guitar rave-ups from the good folks at MVD Audio. While it might be easy to dismiss the disc as “justanotherPatTraversalbum” in spite of the ultra-groovy high-contrast Brian Perry cover art, with its reassuring deep maroon framework, you would have to be the worst sort of imbecile to pass this gem by in the “classic rock” bin of one of the few remaining record stores. Turn said disc to its reverse and take a gander at the glorious baker’s dozen of songs awaiting your purchase and tell me, honestly, closeted blooze-rock fan, that this collection of original Travers’ scorchers and rare cover tunes wouldn’t just ROCK YOUR F’KN WORLD!!!
Whiskey Blooze
Ostensibly this is an album of live performances and, since MVD licensed the content from Cleopatra Records, my best guess is that this elixir is of late ‘90s vintage, perchance from the same shows that populated the 1997 Whiskey Blues live album. Regardless, Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights) showcases Travers’ skills just as strongly as any of his late ‘70s releases, the middle-aged axeman finding new ways to breathe life into aging chestnuts like “Snortin’ Whiskey,” “Crash and Burn,” and the ubiquitous title track. It’s with Travers’ performance of songs by fellow travelers like Z.Z. Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cream, and Aerosmith that a full measure of the artist is provided, however.
Given the man’s undeniable blooze-rock credentials (and I use the British slang term “blooze” since London is where the Canadian guitar prodigy cut his eye teeth), it should be expected that Travers would kick serious ass with tunes like the Texas mudstomp of Z.Z. Top’s “Waitin’ For the Bus” (a bull’s-eye right down to the Gibbonesque vox) and “Jesus Just Left Chicago” (ditto). Travers even acquits himself honorably on the redneck swamp sludge of Skynyrd’s “Gimme Back My Bullets,” while he should be able to play molten electric Chicago slag like Willie Dixon’s “Evil” in his sleep. But two of the covers here simply scream aloud from the smackdown laid down upon their pointy heads by Travers and his unnamed crew.
Travers’ energetic, soulful reading of Stevie Wonder’s wonderful “Superstitious” puts that of his former idol Jeff Beck to shame, the stellar fretwork displayed here is torn from somewhere deep down in the man’s rock ‘n’ roll soul. While the band struggles to keep up with Travers’ madman performance, the guitarist is walking on clouds with an extended solo so damn hot that it will leave blisters on the listener’s fingers. The other notable cover that DEMANDS your attention is the unlikely choice of “Lights Out” by British rockers UFO. With lightning bolt leads building upon galloping rhythms, Travers strays from his usual bluesy milieu to cut loose with reckless abandon on the strident hard rock classic, his vocals chasing some ghosts we can’t see, his trusty six-string coaxed and coerced into spitting out alien sounds that more respected “guitar gods” like Satriani or Vai can’t even muster up in their dreams.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Before you dismiss Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights) as “justanotherPatTraversalbum,” you should rustle up a copy and hear it for yourself. These thirteen songs are the perfect forum for Travers’ free-wheeling, swashbuckling six-string style, the album capturing the sound of a man whose time has clearly passed but he doesn’t GIVE A DAMN! Freed from commercial expectations, label demands, creative concerns or any of the constraints of the modern music biz, Pat Travers is able to simply do what he does best – rock! (MVD audio, released May 3, 2007)
Review originally published by Trademark of Quality (TMQ) music blog
For members of bands like the Clash or the Sex Pistols – arguably the two most important punk bands of the 1970s – it hasn't been easy living down the legend that’s been built up around them these past 20 years like a bloody albatross around the neck. While the Clash finally melted away into mediocrity with sub-par versions of the band, the Sex Pistols instead self-destructed in the white heat of scandal, hype, death, drugs and violence.
Thus this year’s dubious Sex Pistols reunion tour, celebrating their twentieth anniversary, and the resulting live CD. Making no bones about their intentions, the newly reformed Sex Pistols polished up their axes and polished off musical chestnuts like “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant” for a whirlwind “Filthy Lucre” tour of Europe and the United States, a performance trail expressly designed to financially soften their descent into retirement. Although I find it all perfectly hilarious – young punks these days bitch far too often about which bands have “sold out” and what’s real punk and what’s not – here are the godfathers of the entire damn scene making an unabashed grab for the cash.
I held reservations about Filthy Lucre Live, however, until I slapped this mean little puppy onto the box and cranked up the sound. Somewhere along the line during the past two decades, the Sex Pistols have actually learned how to play, and their old punk standards take on new potency when stripped of their amateurish original performances. Cuts on Filthy Lucre Live like “New York,” “EMI,” “Holidays In the Sun” and “Anarchy In The U.K.,” as well as the aforementioned pair of Pistols’ classics, sound every bit as vibrant and exciting in this live setting as they ever have. Johnny Rotten’s wailing vocals sound as off-kilter as they always have, his snarling humour at his own expense (and the audience’s) merely part of his longstanding public identity. The band – guitarist – sound like they’ve been playing together for the past 20 years rather than apart, their timing, energy, and power unmatched by bands half (or even a third) their age.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Filthy Lucre Live sounds damn good, and although I doubt that the fearless foursome could create new material with the strength of that on which their legend rests, it’s good to hear these songs, and the band, once again. Score one for the old timers... (Virgin Records, released July 27, 1996)
The “Greasy Truckers Party” was a benefit show for Greasy Truckers, an English flower-power group raising money for a number of social causes. Held at The Roundhouse in London on February 13, 1972, the show bill featured the improbable trio of Hawkwind, Brinsley Schwarz and Man. Originally released as a two-album set back in the day, the original eight-track tapes were recently unearthed, cleaned up, and reissued as a proper thee-disc set featuring complete performances from each of the three headlining bands. In a couple of cases (Man, Brinsley Schwarz), the chance to hear the complete set is quite breathtaking – on the original LP, for instance, only two of Man’s five distinctive performances were offered, tho’ that did include the incredible “Spunk Rock.”
Man’s Spunk Rock
Prog-rockers Man opened the show strong with a set that included their impressive twenty-two-minute jam “Spunk Rock.” The song features some incredible interstellar fretwork from Mickey Jones and Deke Leonard, the two guitarists seemingly engaged in some earth-shaking duel as their jagged riffs and razor-sharp leads intertwine like concertina wire. Drummer Terry Williams acts as both a referee and a cheerleader here, his steady, explosive drumbeats providing a constant barrage of rhythm and noise for the two six-string gladiators to build upon. The song’s ever-shifting time signatures, emotions and directions is enough to put many of today’s limp-wristed so-called “virtuoso” jam bands to shame.
It would be tempting to say that the remainder of Man’s set was a letdown after the high-flying antics of “Spunk Rock,” but ‘tain’t so…the band clearly set the bar high and then attempts to demolish it with an impressive set of material, the band clearly influenced by the sounds emanating from San Francisco over the previous five years. Shimmering guitars and subdued rhythms lead into the scary, riff-driven, semi-psychedelic “Many Are Called But Few Get Up,” which sounds eerily like Volunteers-era Jefferson Starship at their dark, menacing, flower-power-is-kaput best. Once again, Williams’ machine-gun drumbeats provide the foundation for some really spacey and entertaining guitarwork.
“Angel Easy,” the other carryover from the original Truckers LP, is a shorter, more traditionally-structured rocker with distant vocals and a slightly funky rhythmic undercurrent. Whether it’s Leonard or Jones kicking in the notes here, the guitars set the pace for the song to rumble along like QMS on any given night at the Fillmore. The fourteen-minute “Bananas” sounds every bit like the band had been torching some peels on its way to the show, a mild hallucinogenic cloud settling over a rollicking pub-rock rhythm. The song extends for a whopping 14-plus, which lends itself to all sorts of cosmic abuse, lane changes, andslippery mountain curves. The set-closing “Romain” is pure electric booger-rawk, with long sweeping rhythms, bent-wire guitar tones and some of the most brilliantly bombastic drumming that you’ll ever hear.
Hawkwind’s Sonic Poetry
Hawkwind closed the show with its unique psychedelic space-rock, punctuated by Robert Calvert’s bizarro poetry. The Hawks’ set suffered from some initial sound and power problems – a bit of a drag, indeed, for a band whose entire vibe was built upon the manic manipulation of the sonic realm. Nevertheless, by the time that the band gets its set off the ground and launched towards the stratosphere with the lengthy “You Shouldn’t Do That,” the chemically-assisted among the audience were soaring wing-to-wing alongside ‘em, if you know what I mean (and I think that you do). After all, this was ‘72 kiddies, and mind-altering goodies like LSD and ‘shrooms, and even peyote had yet to be bulldozed in favor of the extreme highs-and-lows of coke and ‘ludes (and the coming tragedy of the disco era).
Even if many in attendance had brought their aviator helmets and flight jackets with them, nothing could have prepared them for the lightspeed, white lightning, brightly-flashing magic migraine that was Hawkwind in its prime. This is Lemmy the K era ‘wind, with wings of razor-sharp titanium and the most god-awful sonic roar heard this side of purgatorio. “You Shouldn’t Do That” starts with the sound of full-thrust afterburners and steadily climbs to a crescendo build upon shards of crystal riffage, claustrophobic drumbeats, and switchblade synthesizers. You didn’t have to be as high as a Greek god sitting in a stupor on Mount Olympus to enjoy this stuff, but it didn’t hurt any, either.
Not that the old Reverend would prescribe dangerous substances to his gentle readers, but as one who was around back in ‘72 and…ahem…as someone with a taste for various illicit mind-benders and cerebellum-snacks, Hawkwind was definitely playing my song. “The Awakening” is like falling headfirst into a shimmering puddle of quicksand, as slug-like, squiggly guitar lines and odd bodkins synth-squawks leave a slimy, colorful trail across your skullpan. “Master of the Universe” is a delightful proto-metal spacewalk with stunning fretwork, Lemmy’s incandescently heavy basslines, and steady backbreaking rhythms clearly spawning the entire glut of “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” bands that would stumble into the future from the Roundhouse’s doorstep that night.
Space Rock Pioneers
Of course, Hawkwind was never a band to leave an audience simply awestruck when they had a real opportunity to thoroughly reprogram their collective gray matter (reference: the band’s subsequent Space Ritual LP). Devoid of hope, the dark vibe of “Paranoia” is overwhelming in its desperation, but the short, sweet, shock-to-the-brain that is “Earth Calling” is pure Kafka set to something that approximates music, an alien-encounter with intense-sound-and-emotion unheard of in these parts of the galaxy. The out-of-this-world, hard rocking “Silver Machine” was as close to a hit song as Hawkwind’s merry pranksters were ever going to experience (albeit in a slightly different form). Almost traditional in its rock-and-roll aspirations, the song includes some high-flying synth work among its scorching guitars and driving rhythms nonetheless.
The band’s final tune here, the free-form “Brainstorm,” is a cosmic-orgy of massive proportions, a sheer lysergic-fueled attempt at traversing time and space, a mock-battle where no single instrument dominates, but rather they tend to all meld together into a singular noisy conglomeration of sound and fury. When a random guitar or voice does manage to break out of the musical miasma, it’s only to herd the listener back into the hive with electric cattle-prod efficiency. This is the kind of transcendent, out-of-control moment at which Hawkwind often excelled, and their attempt to rewrite the laws of physics that February night back in ‘72 is duly appreciated.
In the middle of the night, however, tucked between the two dynamic, prog-oriented monoliths, was Brinsley Schwarz (with a pre-cool Nick Lowe). The pub-rockers faced down a hostile crowd, winning them over with their exclusive blend of pre-No Depression twang-rock and blue-eyed soul. Whereas the previous two bands left the audience in awe of their mighty instrumental powers, the Brinsley boys pursued a vision of pure songcraft with actual melodies, choruses, and catchy hooks. “Country Girl,” one of the band’s signature songs, is a gently-rolling Byrdsian outtake with more keyboards and less 12-string, while “One More Day” is a playful mid-tempo country rocker that would have fit right in on any Uncle Tupelo album.
Brinsley Schwarz’s Pure Songcraft
The R&B stomp-and-stammer of the vintage Otis Rush tune “Home Work” benefits from some manic string-mangling, while the Nick Lowe rocker “Nervous On the Road (But Can’t Stay At Home)” offers up swaggering soulfulness, Bob Andrews’ Staxian keyboard riffing, fine vocals and subtle touches of rockabilly-tinged guitar. Blessed with two considerable songwriters in Lowe and Ian Gomm, the band had a wealth of material to choose from. Gomm’s “Range War” is a romping, stomping melodic twangfest that expands upon late-era-Byrds with ringing guitars, rapidfire keyboard-bashing and some truly odd lyrics – something about an Old West fracas with six-shooters and, for some strange reason worthy of Hawkwind’s poetic nightmares, Marvel Comics’ anti-hero the Silver Surfer.
The traditional “Midnight Train” is provided an appropriately raucous reading, with some crafty honky-tonk piano, twangy vocals, and South Nashville chicken-picking. The savvy “It’s Just My Way of Saying Thank You” offers whip-smart lyrics, strutting keyboard-led rhythms, and great live harmonies. A cover of Allen Toussaint’s New Orleans soul classic “Wonder Woman” offers a lively rhythmic soundtrack, Andrews’ finest Booker T-influenced pianowork, and some Steve Cropper-styled wiry fretwork. Brinsley Schwarz’s fourth album, 1972’s Silver Pistol, included two songs from obscure American folk-rock songwriter Jim Ford; one of those is performed here – the blues-tinged, countryish “I’m Ahead If I Can Quit While I’m Behind.”
Paradoxical title aside, the song is a freak-folk ballad featuring Schwarz’s finely-crafted guitarwork, mournful vocals, and weeping rhythms … a heartbreaking hillbilly lament if ever there was one. Lowe’s wonderful “Surrender To the Rhythm” is a fine example of what Brinsley Schwarz did best, a seamless fusion of Nashville-by-way-of-Camden-twang with a rolling R&B backbone, ‘60s-era pop aspirations and an “anything goes,” ‘70s rock mentality that lends a timeless quality to a relatively obscure but vastly underrated pub-rock genre.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Sadly, rather than closing on a high note with the delightful “Surrender To The Rhythm,” the second CD in this set instead crawls out on all fours with the atrocious hippie-cretin blathering of Magic Michael. The sort of free-spirited acid-casualty that the late ‘60s and early ‘70s spit out by the handful, Magic Michael haunted London’s rock underground like a drooling phantom, often gracing the stage during mid-band set changes, offering the audience the measure of his limitless lack of talent. Michael’s “Music Belongs To the People” is a mindless, improvised mess including members of the audience climbing onstage to “jam” alongside the magic one’s yelping vocals and cacophonic guitar strumming. This insipid, fetid chunk of stoner-era trash wouldn’t cut the mustard at the height of Flower Power’s drug-fueled insanity; in this day-and-age, it’s more painful than a botched root canal by a drunken dentist.
If this all sounds like an odd combination of music that I’ve described for you all well, yeah, it is. Any one of these three bands stands on its own, and all three are distinctly different in both style and ambition. That was the magic of the early ‘70s, however…long before corporate radio and major label homogenization lowered expectations across the board, young music fans had a gluttonous buffet of bands to choose from, and we often ate from the trough with glee. It was a high-flying time for “music-as-culture,” and art often times outweighed commerce. Although it’s unlikely that a performance of the diversity and scope of the Greasy Truckers Party concert could take place these days, the album represents more than a mere cultural artifact – Greasy Truckers Party also captures a magical night of music. (Liberty Records, released November 2, 2007)
Review originally published on the Trademark of Quality (TMQ) music blog, 2007
Memphis power-pop legends Big Star released their classic sophomore album, Radio City, in February 1974, recording as a trio after the departure of founding member Chris Bell. Minus the overt pop sheen that Bell brought to the band’s material as a songwriter, Radio City features Chilton’s rock ‘n’ roll influences on gems like “September Gurls,” “Mod Lang,” “I’m In Love With A Girl,” and “Back of A Car.” The critically-acclaimed album didn’t sell particularly well, though it would later come to be considered a classic, influential work.
To tour in support of Radio City, Big Star singer and guitarist Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens were joined by John Lightman, who replaced the band’s original bassist Andy Hummel, who was returning to school. The trio subsequently recorded a session for broadcast by New York City radio station WLIR-FM at the legendary Ultrasonic Studios. That near-mythical session was later released under the title Live on CD by Rykodisc in 1992, but would be out-of-print by the end of the decade.
On January 25th, 2019 Omnivore Recordings – those herald keepers of the Big Star flame – will release that legendary Ultrasonic recording on CD and double-vinyl as Live On WLIR. The fifteen-track set features material from the first two Big Star albums as well as a cover of singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III’s “Motel Blues.” Live On WLIR has been restored and remastered from the original tapes and features liner notes by Memphis native and music historian Robert Gordon (no relation) and includes an interview with bassist John Lightman by Rich Tupica, author of There Was A Light: The Cosmic History of Chris Bell and the Rise of BIG STAR.
As Gordon writes in the album’s liver notes: “Alex is, in this trio, playing all the guitar and singing lead, and he’s giving it about all he’s got. The road and the march of time eventually wore down that Alex, as time wears on all of us. But this recording is a clear window into the impenetrable past, making it a thrill today to hear Alex so young and enthusiastic.” Check out the complete tracklist below and watch Omnivore’s video trailer for the album before sprinting over to Amazon.com to buy a copy of Big Star’s Live On WLIR on your choice of formats.
Big Star’s Live On WLIR track list:
1. September Gurls
2. Way Out West
3. Mod Lang
4. Don’t Lie To Me
5. O’ My Soul
6. Interview
7. The Ballad Of El Goodo
8. Thirteen
9. I’m In Love With A Girl
10. Motel Blues
11. In The Street
12. You Get What You Deserve
13. Daisy Glaze
14. Back Of A Car
15. She’s A Mover
British guitarist John McLaughlin is an extraordinary talent who, for better than 50 years now, has both pushed the boundaries of jazz, rock, and blues music as well as transcended mere genre labels. McLaughlin was a member of various British bands throughout the 1960s, playing alongside legends like Alexis Korner, Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames, and the Graham Bond Organisation before releasing his first solo album, Extrapolation, in 1969.
That same year, McLaughlin moved to the states to play with the pioneering jazz-fusion band Tony Williams Lifetime, which brought him to the attention of jazz legend Miles Davis, who recruited the guitarist to play on visionary recordings like In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. During the ‘70s, McLaughlin fronted the fusion outfit the Mahavishnu Orchestra, whose albums The Inner Mounting Flame (1971), Birds of Fire (1973), and Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1975) set the standard for innovative guitarplay.
Aside from Mahavishnu and a lengthy solo career that has yielded almost 20 recordings, McLaughlin fronted the late ‘70s band Shakti, collaborated with talents like Carlos Santana and Return to Forever’s Al Di Meola on albums, and lent his enormous six-string skills to records by the leading lights of 20th century music, including jazz giants Stanley Clarke and Wayne Shorter, rockers Jack Bruce (Cream) and James Taylor, and many others. McLaughlin has earned awards from publications like Down Beat and Guitar Player and has been lauded by fellow guitarists like Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, Steve Morse, and Pat Metheny as an influential and evolutionary musician.
Sadly, every good thing must come to an end sometime, and last year the 76-year-old guitarist and band leader embarked on a farewell tour of the United States. Comprised of 25 concerts, McLaughlin invited a favorite guitarist of his, Jimmy Herring, and his band The Invisible Whip, to accompany him on his trek across the states. The tour concluded with a sold-out show at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, a venue last visited by the guitarist 36 years ago.
On September 21st, 2018 Abstract Logix will release McLaughlin’s Live In San Francisco on CD and vinyl. The album is an eight-song, 73-minute collection that features a nine-piece band including members of The Invisible Whip and The 4th Dimension performing material that McLaughlin created with the Mahavishnu Orchestra some four decades ago. The final show of the “Meeting of the Spirits Tour,” the concert documentary features performances of classic McLaughlin songs like “Birds of Fire,” “The Dance of the Maya,” “Earth Ship,” and “Eternity’s Breath.” McLaughlin hasn’t lost a step through the years, and his crystalline playing of these legendary songs is sure to appeal to both Mahavishnu Orchestra fans and jazz-fusion aficionados alike. You can check out the complete track listing for Live In San Francisco below.
John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring’s Live In San Francisco track listing:
1. Meeting of the Spirits
2. Birds of Fire
3. A Lotus on Irish Streams
4. The Dance of Maya
5. Trilogy
6. Earth Ship
7. Eternity’s Breath Part 1 & 2
8. Be Happy
Over the past few years, legendary prog-rock band King Crimson has become the epitome of the touring band. Ostensibly led by guitarist Robert Fripp, the band’s sole original member (and, for decades, its creative spotlight as well), these days Crimson is populated with a wealth of talent, all of whom contribute to the band’s nightly live performances.
As busy as they’ve been touring the last few years, they’ve been equally busy in documenting their performances with a slate of live album releases. Dig deep into your couch cushions or take out a bank loan ‘cause here comes yet another worthy King Crimson live set that you’re gonna want to add to your collection.
On September 28th, 2018 the band will release Meltdown In Mexico, a four-disc set, on its own DGM label. Comprised of three audio CDs and a Blu-ray disc, Meltdown features over three and a half hours of material performed during the band’s five-night residency at Teatro Metropolitan in Mexico City during July 2017. The Blue-ray disc offers over two hours of multi-camera, high-definition video footage as well as an audio soundtrack in several formats like 24/48 LPCM, high-resolution stereo, and 5.1 DTS HD-MA.
Meltdown In Mexico offers the first recorded appearance of a Crimson line-up that features Fripp, longtime bassist Tony Levin, guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, saxophonist Mel Collins, keyboardist Bill Rieflin, and a trio of talented percussionists in drummers Gavin Harrison, Pat Mastelotto, and Jeremy Stacey. The concerts were mixed by Crimson’s Bill Rieflin from full multi-track recordings, and the band’s performance includes tracks that span Crimson’s five decades like “Breathless,” “Discipline,” “Red,” “Starless,” “The Court of the Crimson King,” “Moonchild” and, of course, their signature song, “21st Century Schizoid Man.” Meltdown In Mexico also includes the band’s inspired cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” for a total of 38 tracks spanning the three audio discs.
If Meltdown In Mexico is anything like the recently-released Live In Vienna set from 2016, or the previously-released Official Bootleg: Live In Chicago 2017, King Crimson fan have something to look forward to! Buy the CD from Amazon.com: King Crimson’s Meltdown In Mexico Also on That Devil Music: King Crimson - Live In Vienna CD review
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa has released a new album, with Live At Carnegie Hall: An Acoustic Evening still a vibrant reflection in our rear-view mirror. Still, Joe loves the stage, and at this point in a career that has spanned nearly three decades, he’s released more live albums as a solo artist (14 counting this one) than he has studio works (a dozen as of 2016)…and don’t get me started on his band efforts with Black Country Communion or collaborations with singer Beth Hart. Releasing at least an album a year, he’s as prolific as any artist currently working.
Joe’s latest live set is yet another expansive two-disc collection where the guitarist lets his British blues-rock flag proudly fly. Guessing that Joe’s dad is of a similar vintage as myself (i.e. early 60s in age), we probably shared a lot of the same records – records that young Joe B. grew up listening to. Joe’s love of British blues-rock has been quite evident on his albums through the years, as he’s covered songs by a lot of his fave artists, but British Blues Explosion Live brings the guitarist’s fascination with bands like Cream, the Jeff Beck Group, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and Led Zeppelin to a boiling point.
Joe Bonamassa’s British Blues Explosion Live
Recorded live in July 2016 at The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich U.K. this fourteen-track collection may be the heaviest guitar album that Bonamassa has made in years. Joe’s done his homework here as well, mixing in covers of the usual suspects (Jeff Beck’s “Beck’s Bolero,” Zep’s “Boogie With Stu,” Cream’s “SWLABR”) with a few deep cuts of lesser renown. Although Eric Clapton’s reading of the traditional “Motherless Children” is a familiar favorite from his acclaimed 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard, his cover of songwriter George Terry’s “Mainline Florida” is obscure by any measure. Bonamassa funks the tune up with a loping groove and soulful vocals while the band recreates the original soundtrack to perfection.
Willie Dixon’s classic “Let Me Love You Baby” has been recorded by everybody from Buddy Guy and Koko Taylor to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Blodwyin Pig, and Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack. I’m not sure whose version inspired young Joe, but I’m going with Savoy Brown’s, as Bonamassa’s raucous fretwork here reminds of young Kim Simmonds (tho’ Joe is a fan of Blodwyn Pig’s Mick Abrahams). The Jeff Beck Group’s “Plynth (Water Down the Drain),” from the 1969 album Beck-Ola, was a tailor-made showcase for Bonamassa’s rockin’ “Guitar God” persona, and while his hurried vocals don’t capture much of the soul innate in Rod Stewart’s original performance, his fretwork burns with the intensity of a collapsing star.
How Many More Times
The vastly influential John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers is represented by “Double Crossing Time” and “Little Girl” from their classic 1966 LP Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. The former is a sizzling Chicago-styled blues romp with plenty of Reese Wynans’ tinkling piano keys and Bonamassa’s fatback fretwork while the latter is a more up-tempo jaunt with stinging guitar and rollicking instrumentation. A cover of Beck’s “Spanish Boots” is simply breathtaking, Bonamassa’s voice soaring above the staggering rhythms while his guitar rages like a hurricane fiercely eyeing landfall.
Bonamassa sneaks his own instrumental “Black Winter/Django” onto the set list, and it’s a testament to his British blues-rock influences that his nimble-fingered guitar playing reminds of both Beck and Jimmy Page. The guitarist’s duel with drummer Anton Fig here is particularly exhilarating, the two artists parrying and thrusting their instruments like skilled fencers gone mad. Fig’s bombastic percussion opens Zeppelin’s “How Many More Times,” Bonamassa’s vocals flowing more naturally than Plant’s original efforts, and while he’s not bowing his fretboard, he’s tearing it up like Albert King at his peak.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Joe Bonamassa never ceases to surprise, and British Blues Explosion Live is certainly no exception. The inspiration for these performances leaps out of the grooves with a vengeance, leaving Bonamassa’s talented veteran road band to catch up. There’s nary a wrong note to be found among these fourteen tracks, and the immense contributions here of keyboard wrangler Reese Wynans – himself a veteran of bands like Captain Beyond and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble – remind listeners of the role that piano-pounders like Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart playing on the original recordings of these songs.
Altogether, British Blues Explosion Live is another triumph for Bonamassa’s restless muse, serving as a solid addition to the guitarist’s ever-growing catalog of music as well as a fine introduction to the artist’s considerable talents. Grade: A (J&R Adventures, released May 18, 2018)
Shuggie Otis, the son of R&B legend Johnny, was a true musical prodigy, the guitarist recording his first album at 16 and retiring from the rigors of the biz by age 30 with a handful of classic recordings comprising his canon. With the 2013 reissue of Otis’s landmark 1974 album Inspiration Information (which included Wings of Love, a bonus disc of unreleased recordings), Otis went back on the road after a three-decade hiatus, performing with a band that included his brother Nick on drums and son Eric Otis as second guitar. Live In Williamsburg offers a snapshot of a single performance from the guitarist’s “comeback” concerts, the document a welcome reminder of Otis’s unique musical voice and enormous talent.
Otis runs through a dozen of his best songs on Live In Williamsburg, the performances ranging from the soulful groove of Inspiration Information or the Chicago-styled, guitar-driven electric blues of "Sweetest Thang" to the psychedelic soul of "Wings of Love." The guitarist’s signature "Shuggie’s Boogie" displays Otis’s deft hand at traditional blues guitar while the exotic "Aht Uh Mi Hed" blends reggae rhythms with lush fretwork, wistful lyrics, and bleating horns to create a new R&B sound. Otis is best known, perhaps, for the sly funk of "Strawberry Letter 23," the song a 1977 Top Ten chart hit for the Brothers Johnson. Here Otis tones down the song’s rhythmic backbone slightly in favor of shimmering instrumentation and soulful vocals, creating a transcendent musical moment. Otis’s vocals and guitar playing show little or no rust here, displaying the same livewire electricity as his groundbreaking 1970s work, albeit tempered with experience and wisdom. (Cleopatra Records, released October 14, 2014)
Review originally published by The Blues magazine in the U.K.
Those fearsome road warriors King Crimson seldom perform any song the same way twice; neither are their nightly performances as cut-and-dried in structure as many performers. This free-wheeling approach to their music has not only made them an in-demand touring band but it has also created a collecting frenzy for their frequently-released live albums. Crimson may not be the Grateful Dead of the 21st century, but they’re offering a similar fan-friendly experience for loyal fans of their unique and complex music.
On April 6th, 2018 King Crimson will release Live In Vienna, December 1st, 2016, a three-disc box set that captures that night’s electrifying live performance. Mixed from the original multi-track tapes, the first two discs of the box provide listeners with the complete first and second sets from the concert. Disc three includes “a series of soundscapes edited into newly sequenced pieces” featuring band members Robert Fripp, Tony Levin, and Mel Collins, according to the press release for the album. The third disc also features the Vienna show encore as well as the first live performance of the song “Fracture” since 1974. The set is presented in a fold-out digifile package with 16-page booklet featuring tour photos and notes by writer David Singleton, all of it packaged in a slipcase.
The current King Crimson line-up includes guitarist Robert Fripp, bassist Tony Levin, guitarist and vocalist Jakko Jakszyk, saxophonist Mel Collins, keyboardist Bill Rieflin, and three drummers – Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison, and Jeremy Stacey. The band spend much of 2017 touring the states, with their June show in Chicago immortalized by the release of the double-disc set Official Bootleg: Live In Chicago, June 28th, 2017. Crimson will be touring Europe and Japan during 2018.
King Crimson’s Live In Vienna, December 1st, 2016 tracklist: Disc One First Set: Vienna 2016
1. Walk On: Soundscapes: Monk Morph Music Of The Chamber
2. Hell Hounds of Krim
3. Pictures of a City
4. Dawn Song (Suitable Grounds for the Blues)
5. VROOOM
6. The Construkction of Light
7. The Court of the Crimson King
8. The Letters
9. Sailors’ Tale
10. Interlude
11. Radical Action II
12. Level V
Disc Two Second Set: Vienna 2016
1. Fairy Dust of the Drumsons
2. Peace: An End
3. Cirkus
4. Indiscipline
5. Epitaph
6. Easy Money
7. Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row
8. Red
9. Meltdown
10. Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two
11. Starless
Disc Three Encores and Expansions
1. Fracture
2. Heroes
3. 21st Century Schizoid Man
4. Schoenberg Softened His Hat
5. Ahriman's Ceaseless Corruptions
6. Spenta's Counter Claim
It’s no secret that the “Godfather of British Blues,” the legendary John Mayall, has made his living on the road. An energetic 84 years old, Mayall continues to tour with the zeal of a man a quarter of his age, the past couple of years fronting a lean, mean blues machine comprised of longtime bassist Greg Rzab and drummer Jay Davenport while Mayall sings and adds keyboards and harmonica to the mix. Since beginning his relationship with producer Eric Corne and his Forty Below Records imprint, Mayall has also delivered a trio of albums – 2014’s A Special Life, 2015’s Find A Way To Care, and 2017’s Talk About That – which stand proudly among the best work that Mayall has done over the course of a storied career spanning six decades (and counting).
On February 23rd, 2018 Forty Below Records will release Three For the Road, a live set featuring Mayall and his current touring trio. Recorded live in March 2017 in Dresden and Stuttgart, Germany, the album features nine red-hot performances of original Mayall tunes like “Streamline” and “Lonely Feelings” as well as covers of contemporary songs by Curtis Salgado (“The Sum of Something”) and Sonny Landreth (“Congo Square”) along with classic gems like Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “I Feel So Bad” and Eddie Taylor’s “Big Time Playboy.”
“I hope the fans will enjoy the fireworks that the three of us came up with during a subsequent tour of Europe last year,” Mayall says in a press release for the new album. “We opted for recording in East Germany purely as a convenience and availability of a recording company. They specialize in live recordings and I must say they captured the energy that took place onstage. The songs come from my extensive library of material composed by some of my favorite blues players. Naturally, my playing is featured quite a lot more than usual in this format, and I hope listeners will enjoy the performances that capture a new chapter in my live shows.”
Longtime John Mayall fans will notice that, for a bandleader notorious for discovering talented young fretburners, there is no guitarist in his current band. “I’ve been using the trio format for our live shows for a year already,” he states, “and the reason for that came about quite accidentally when my guitarist Rocky Athas wasn’t able to make a festival gig due to airline cancellations. Since then, I found that the interplay and dynamics have created a more personal upfront sound in my live performances. I can’t speak too highly of bass player Greg Rzab and drummer Jay Davenport, who have been my bandmates for the last ten years or more. Their Chicago roots are to the fore every time we get onstage together.”
Mayall hasn’t given up on including a guitarist in his band, just planning on looking over all his available options. “As for recording, I shall still be exploring the talents of guitar players who will be pretty well-known to all lovers of rock ‘n’ roll,” he says. “They will be strongly featured on the next studio album. I have already got songs lined up for our sessions in the studio at the end of this month. So look out for the prominent interplay and surprises that will be coming your way later this year. Thanks for all your support as usual. I couldn’t do it without you!”
Peter Case doesn’t receive anywhere near the respect he’s earned. Case, with fellow talents Jack Lee and Paul Collins, was an early punk pioneer with San Francisco-based band the Nerves, whose “Hanging On The Telephone” would later be recorded by Blondie. When the Nerves broke up, Case formed power-pop favorites the Plimsouls in ’79, the band’s song “A Million Miles Away” featured in the cult film Valley Girl and becoming a college radio staple throughout the ‘80s. By 1986, Case had launched his solo career with an engaging self-titled debut LP that earned the singer/songwriter a Grammy® nomination. In the three-decades-plus since, Case has created a solid body of work with his intelligent wordplay and unique blend of rock, folk, and blues music (i.e. what we call ‘Americana’ today...).
Case’s critically-acclaimed debut was reissued as a special 30th anniversary set with bonus tracks last year by Omnivore Recordings, who had also released his underrated Hwy 62 album in 2015. Now the label has dipped into the artist’s archives with a big net and landed On The Way Downtown, an entertaining eighteen-song collection featuring previously-unreleased performances from nearly 20 years ago. Documenting two live radio performances on the popular KPFK-FM syndicated radio program FolkScene, On The Way Downtown features a full-band performance of nine songs from Case’s 1998 album Full Service, No Waiting while the second half features material from the artist’s 2000 album Flying Saucer Blues as well as several songs from earlier releases. Both sets have remained unheard since their original radio broadcasts.
Peter Case’s On The Way Downtown
Case was backed on his 1998 performance by a full band that included some mighty skilled folks like guitarist Greg Leisz (who has also played with Dave Alvin, Joni Mitchell, and Lucinda Williams, among others), bassist Tony Marsico (The Cruzados), and percussionist Don Heffington (Lone Justice, et al). So Case is in good company here, talent that shines through wonderful songs like the haunting “Spell of Wheels,” with its exotic percussion and blazing harmonica riffs, or “On the Way Downtown,” whose loping groove is accented by Case’s melodic vocals and an odd-but-affecting guitar line.
“Crooked Mile” is fatback swamp-rocker with serpentine fretwork, rapid-fire vocals, and an undeniably menacing vibe while “See Through Eyes” is provided a more traditional folk-rock performance with emotional vocals and sparkling instrumentation that incorporates gorgeous pop melody. On the acoustic 2000 radio performance preserved by On The Way Downtown, Case is joined by violinist David Perales. The pair delivered a fine performance here that strips Case’s lyrics down to their naked emotional roots. “Something Happens” offers rich interplay between Case’s guitar and Perales’ violin that creates an exotic ambiance that allow Case’s vocals to ride on waves of ethereal sound.
An energetic cover of Mississippi John Hurt’s spry “Pay Day” plays up the ‘country’ side of country-blues with nimble fretwork and twangy vocals while “Icewater,” from Case’s debut LP, combines the songwriter’s words with the music of Texas blues legend Lightnin’ Hopkins for a twang ‘n’ bang bluesy romp with locomotive harp and fast-peddling vocals dueling with Perales’ scorching violin licks. “Beyond the Blues” is a beautifully-crafted song, Case’s lilting vocals accompanied by a weeping violin that you’d swear was a pedal-steel guitar. “Paradise Etc” displays not only Case’s guitar skills, but also his wit as a wordsmith, the song featuring one of my favorite lines in “the apocalypse is over, and I still owe rent,” the lyrics sung above an elegant guitar strum. An inspired cover of the North Carolina Ramblers’ Charlie Poole’s “Leaving Home” is provided an up-tempo arrangement with fast-moving vocals and raucous guitarplay on an obscure 1926 folkabilly rave-up.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Odds are that the faithful Peter Case fans have already snatched up a copy of On The Way Downtown, but for those on the fence, what are you waiting for? Jump down off that post and run – don’t walk – to your nearest independent record store and buy the album! On The Way Downtown places Case in a live setting where his natural talent and charisma can transcend the studio setting of most of his albums. A skilled songwriter; an effective and, at times, charming vocalist; and an underrated guitarist, On The Way Downtown provides listeners old and new alike with a fine pair of performances that represent Case’s talents at their best. Grade: A (Omnivore Recordings, released October 27, 2017)
Rock ‘n’ roll legends the Rolling Stones have been kicking around since the early ‘60s, the band’s enormous and influential back catalog of music including some 30 studio albums, 23 live releases, and better than two dozen various compilations and box sets…not to mention a slew of DVDs and literally dozens of bootleg albums. The band’s early years are a sorely underrepresented part of the Stones’ milieu, an oversight that will be rectified with the December release of On Air on CD and vinyl.
On December 1st, 2017 Universal Music will release the Stones’ On Air in various formats, including single and double-CD sets and a two-disc vinyl album. The compilation collects the band’s live BBC sessions recorded between 1963 and 1965, with many of the performances previously-unreleased. The single CD and vinyl formats feature eighteen tracks that range from the band’s first single – a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Come On” – and include classic tunes like “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Memphis, Tennessee,” “Mercy, Mercy,” and “Down the Road Apiece” performed on various BBC programs like Saturday Club, Top Gear, and Blues In Rhythm.
For fans willing to cough up a few extra dollars for the double-CD set, you’ll get another fourteen songs like “Carol,” “Confessin’ the Blues,” “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” and “2120 South Michigan Avenue,” the performances highlighting the band’s blues and R&B roots. None of these tracks have appeared on CD before (although four songs were included on a 7” vinyl EP included with the band’s 2012 GRRR! compilation), and eight of the songs have never been recorded in the studio or even released by the band. Each recording has been restored via a process called “audio source separation” to provide a full, cleaner sound.
On Air is the audio companion to the recently-published The Rolling Stones on Air in the Sixties by author Richard Havers, who also co-wrote Bill Wyman’s book Rolling with the Stones. The book represents the first official, in-depth history of the Stones as viewed through their early television and radio performances and it includes many previously-unpublished documents and photos from the BBC archives. Copies of both the book and On Air are available direct from the Stones’ website as stand-alone or bundled purchases, or you can use the links below to order from Amazon.com.
The Rolling Stones’ On Air track listing:
Disc 1
1. Come On (Saturday Club, 10/26/1963)
2. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965)
3. Roll Over Beethoven (Saturday Club, 10/26/1963)
4. The Spider and The Fly (Yeah Yeah, 8/30/1965)
5. Cops and Robbers (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964)
6. It’s All Over Now (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 7/17/1964)
7. Route 66 (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964)
8. Memphis, Tennessee (Saturday Club, 10/26/1963)
9. Down The Road Apiece (Top Gear, 3/6/1965)
10. The Last Time (Top Gear, 3/6/1965)
11. Cry To Me (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965)
12. Mercy, Mercy (Yeah Yeah, 8/30/1965)
13. Oh! Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin’) (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965)
14. Around and Around (Top Gear, 7/23/1964)
15. Hi Heel Sneakers (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964)
16. Fannie Mae (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965)
17. You Better Move On (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964)
18. Mona (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964)
Disc 2 (included with deluxe edition)
1. I Wanna Be Your Man (Saturday Club, 2/8/1964)
2.Carol (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964)
3. I’m Moving On (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 4/10/1964)
4. If You Need Me (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 7/17/1964)
5. Walking The Dog (Saturday Club, 2/8/1964)
6. Confessin’ The Blues (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 7/17/1964)
7. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Top Gear, 3/6/1965)
8. Little By Little (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 4/10/1964)
9. Ain’t That Loving You Baby (Rhythm and Blues, 10/31/1964)
10. Beautiful Delilah (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964)
11. Crackin’ Up (Top Gear, 7/23/1964)
12. I Can’t Be Satisfied (Top Gear, 7/23/1964)
13. I Just Want to Make Love to You (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964)
14. 2120 South Michigan Avenue (Rhythm and Blues, 10/31/1964)
