This LP appeared on your favorite music dealer’s shelves a few days ago, but in case you may have missed it, sonic provocateur Nik Turner (Hawkwind) released his new solo album, titled Space Fusion Odyssey. The follow-up to Turner’s critically-acclaimed 2013 release Space Gypsy, the new album includes contributions from a stellar cast of talented guests, including Billy Cobham, Robby Krieger of the Doors, Steve Hillage and Gilli Smyth of Gong, Soft Machine’s John Etheridge, and Amon Düül II founder John Weinzierl, among others.
Released by Cleopatra Records’ Purple Pyramid imprint, Turner’s Space Fusion Odyssey CD comes packaged in a mini-LP gatefold sleeve with a 12-panel poster, while a vinyl version arrives in a deluxe 12-panel poster fold-up jacket, pressed on glorious, gorgeous starburst colored wax. Leading what he’s dubbed the Interplanetary Arkestra (in honor of jazz legend Sun Ra), Turner applies his otherworldly sax and flute playing to an ambitious set of jazz-fusion influenced psychedelic space-rock that is quiet unlike anything you’ve heard before (don’t believe me – stick the video below into your earholes and if the swirling guitarplay of Robby Krieger and Megadeth/Ohm axeman Chris Poland doesn’t blow your little mind, nothing will…)
Later this year, Turner will be publishing The Spirit of Hawkwind 1969-1976, the book promising to be the definitive biography of the legendary space-rock innovators, documenting the band’s gravy years. Written by Turner and noted music historian Dave Thompson, the hardcover tome will include over 250 pages of rare and unseen photos as well as a comprehensive Hawkwind discography – no mean feat, considering the extensive and oft-confusing Hawkwind/Hawklords back catalog. Definitely a book for the Hawk-geek among us (the Reverend included…)
Nik Turner’s Space Fusion Odyssey track list:
1. Adjust The Future
2. Hypernova
3. Spiritual Machines
4. Pulsar
5. An Elliptical Galaxy
6. A Beautiful Vision In Science Forgotten
7. We Came In Peace *
8. Interstellar Clouds *
9. Spiritual Machines Chapter 2 *
10. Random Acts (Revisited) with The Fusion Syndicate *
With one foot in the past and his eyes on the horizon, bluesman Eric Bibb is one of the most exciting and innovative artists on the blues scene today. Working with acclaimed French harmonica wizard JJ Milteau, Bibb further fuses blues tradition with a contemporary edge on Lead Belly’s Gold, scheduled for November 6, 2015 release by Stony Plain Records.
Lead Belly’s Gold features eleven live tracks recorded at the legendary Paris jazz club The Sunset, combined with five new studio tracks. Offering both material chosen from the Lead Belly songbook as well as original tunes written by Bibb and Milteau in tribute to the influential bluesman, the pair are backed on Lead Belly’s Gold by guitarist Jerome Browne, bassist Gilles Michel, keyboardist/percussionist Glen Scott, drummer Larry Crockett, and backing singers Big Daddy Wilson and Michael Robinson.
In his day, Lead Belly (born Huddie Ledbetter in 1888 in Louisiana), was known as a “songster,” a musical wanderer who would perform a mix of folk, gospel, blues, and ballads – whatever songs might elicit tips from an appreciative audience. Ledbetter was also a skilled and innovative 12-string guitarist, a role taken on by Browne on the new album. Ledbetter’s ability to take a traditional song and interpret it in a way so as to make it his own is a large part of his legacy, and his artistic influence extends beyond blues music (notably Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee) to folk singers (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan) to rock ‘n’ roll (Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, the White Stripes – even Nirvana recorded a Lead Belly song).
Lead Belly’s Gold features several classic tunes from the artist’s milieu, including “Midnight Special,” “Good Night Irene,” and “Rock Island Line,” as well as lesser-known Ledbetter gems like “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” and “The House of the Rising Sun.” One of the more intriguing among the new Bibb/Milteau compositions is “Swimmin’ In A River Of Songs.” Writing in the album’s liner notes, Bibb notes, “It’s hard to remember when I first heard Lead Belly’s music because, somehow, he’s always been around. Most likely, I heard recordings of others (The Weavers and Woody Guthrie) singing songs from his huge repertoire before hearing his actual voice…”
Continuing, Bibb adds, “what I hear now, when I listen to Lead Belly’s recordings and YouTube clips, and what I must have sensed when I was a boy, is the man’s personal power and independence. His sound made it clear that he was his own man. The fatalism and resignation that I heard later in the voices of many of my prewar blues heroes was missing in Lead Belly. He was way ahead of his time. The path he cut through a world that conspired to rob him of his humanity, dignity and manhood was a personal triumph that will inspire for generations to come.”
“Lead Belly was a human jukebox,” says Bibb. “He knew hundreds of songs that he’d either heard somewhere and adapted, or written himself. Jean-Jacques and I chose songs from Lead Belly’s vast repertoire that we could make our own. We wanted to pay homage to not only a great musician, but to the rich tradition he embodied. Staying pretty close to his renditions, we had a lot of fun collaborating on these new arrangements.” Check out the video below for a taste of Lead Belly's Gold!
We’re all gobsmacked by the death of reverend blues-rock guitarist Smokin’ Joe Kubek [obit here]. The guitarist’s long-time musical partner Bnois King released a statement saying “He loved the blues. He was always very serious about the music and the presentation of the music. He had a modern style but he really studied those old cats. And, he would literally give you the shirt off his back. He was a great friend.”
There will be a visitation for fans wishing to pay their respects to Kubek, which will be held from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Sunday, October 18th, 2015 at Donnelly’s Colonial Funeral Home, 606 West Airport Freeway in Irving, Texas. The following service will be restricted to family and friends only. Thanks to The Blues Foundation’s HART Fund, Music Cares, and The Actors Fund For Everyone, the cost of Kubek’s funeral service and related expenses are being paid in full.
However, there’s another way that blues fans can pay respect to Smokin’ Joe for all the great music he gave us through the years. Nobody gets into blues music expecting to get rich, and even for the most popular of musicians, money can be tough. Kubek was stretched thin, financially, before his death. His wife Phyllis has been battling breast cancer, and Joe had been staying off the road – live shows providing most of his income – to take care of his wife. Now that Kubek is gone, his wife is left on her own without income and with mounting medical bills.
A call has gone out to the blues community to help with Phyllis Kubek’s living expenses. If you wish to make a donation to help out and honor Smokin’ Joe, you can do so one of three ways. You can donate to the Go Fund Me account that has been set up to raise a goal of $20k to help Phyllis with her medical and living expenses. You can send a donation directly via PayPal to the email address pkubek@tx.rr.com. Or you can send a check made out to Phyllis Kubek c/o Piedmont Talent Agency, P.O. Box 680006, Charlotte NC 28216. Blues fans have always shown that they have the biggest hearts, so dig deep and help out a friend in need! (Thanx to Debra Regur, Blind Pig Records, for the info)
Smokin' Joe Kubek photo by James Bland, courtesy Blind Pig Records
It’s no secret that we’re Nils Lofgren fans ‘round these parts…the Reverend has been following the talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist since his late 1960s band Grin and his early ‘70s solo work. Lofgren’s membership in the high-profile E Street Band, backing up Bruce Springsteen on stage and on record, helped prolong and pump some longevity into his solo career.
In spite of the release of last year’s ten-disc, career-spanning CD box set, we still consider Nils to be one of the most criminally-underrated talents in rock ‘n’ roll. Whether you’re a Nils fanatic or not, there’s no denying that the man has created a heck of a lot of great music!
On November 13th, 2015 Lofgren will be adding to his immense and impressive back catalog with the release of UK2015 Face The Music Tour on both CD and as a digital download. After the release of Face The Music – the aforementioned box set – Lofgren organized a series of solo and duo acoustic shows to promote the retrospective collection.
In January 2015, Nils toured the U.K. and performed to enthusiastic audiences, with several shows recorded for posterity. It’s these shows that are documented by Lofgren’s UK2015 Face The Music Tour album. Lofgren sings, and plays guitar and keyboards, accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Greg Varlotta. The result is an inspired collection of intimate performances that showcase Lofgren’s talents in the best light.
In a press release for the new album, Lofgren says “after a three year break from our traditional acoustic U.K. tours, we headed back in the dead of winter, excited for another run of shows, town to town, on the bus, sharing music that hopefully spreads some good will and hope to linger with the wonderful audiences we've had, decade after decade. Accompanied by Greg Varlotta, our friend and amazing, multi-instrumentalist and our stellar crew, we all set out to do special, inspired shows everywhere.”
Continuing, Lofgren adds, “we were all thrilled with the audience response and it was Amy [Nils’ wife] who insisted we record the last half of the tour, optimistic it could lead to an album of live tracks to commemorate this wonderful U.K. run. She was right and here it is. We hope you all enjoy it. It really is the audience that breaths the life, fire and inspiration into every performance. God bless you all and thanks again for your presence and magical energy, night after night, town after town, note after note. Peace and Believe.”
1. Too Many Miles
2. New Holes In Old Shoes
3. Lost A Number
4. Walkin’ Nerve
5. Miss You “C”
6. Girl In Motion
7. I Don't Want To Talk About It
8. Rusty Gun
9. Black Books
10. Goin’ Back
11. The Sun Hasn’t Set
12. Like Rain
13. Mud In Your Eye
14. No Mercy
15. Shine Silently
One of the most highly-coveted “Holy Grails” of record collecting has always been Nils Lofgren’s Back It Up!! A 1975 promotional release by Lofgren’s label, A&M Records, the faux bootleg was actually cut live in the studio by Nils and band for a radio broadcast on San Francisco’s KSAN-FM. The folks at the label liked the performance so much that they decided that it was just the thing to light a fire under complacent FM radio programmers and support Lofgren’s critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album.
With much less corporate bureaucracy to struggle with back in those days, the idea of an authorized “bootleg” album shuffled around the offices and quickly became a reality. The label pressed up 1,000 copies of Back It Up!! on vinyl with a plain white cardboard sleeve and crude photocopied insert, as was the style of bootleggers at the time, and mailed ‘em out to radio stations and the press. Although it netted Lofgren a fair amount of airplay and hype, history has proven that it did little to boost his record sales above those of any mid-card punter.
As laid out by Bud Scoppa’s informative liner notes for Back It Up!! Live…An Authorized Bootleg, the label was hot to send the promo album out as a regular release, an idea nixed by the man Nils himself. Fearing that the live disc would interfere with sales of his second album, Cry Tough, the promo-only album was put back into the label’s vaults. Meanwhile, as Lofgren’s career continued on pace, with the talented guitarist eventually setting aside his solo work in favor of a gig with Springsteen’s E Street Band, the status of Back It Up!! continued to grow, a primo copy of the original PVC fetching low-to-mid three-figure prices in collector’s circles.
I had seen several bootleg copies of Back It Up!! circulating around the various record conventions that I worked during the late 1970s/early '80s, especially in Detroit and Chicago, but the Reverend actually picked up his favored copy of the vinyl from a former label executive’s gotta-move-now-cause-I’m-outta-cash yard sale in Nashville for a mere $2.00. My copy looks like the real thing, but what the hell do I know? It could be a boot; if it is, it’s a good one: the vinyl sounds great and looks authentically grungy. Maybe I should do some DNA testing, though, ‘cause according to Scoppa, his roommate – noted rock critic R. Meltzer – was hired by the label to fix the inserts to the sleeve, his sweat inevitably mixing with the sticky glue.
The main reason why Back It Up!! remains a valued collectible after all these years isn’t solely because of its scarcity, or lack thereof (I’ve probably seen over 1,000 copies myself at shows through the years, if you catch my meaning). No, the album is valued above other label promo items ‘cause it rocks like a leopard on a treadmill, whatever that means. It’s a great selection of songs…a couple from Nils Lofgren, the debut album; a couple of vintage Grin cuts (including the beautiful “Like Rain”); and a soulful turn on the Goffin-King chestnut “Goin’ Back.”
The performances captured by the album are simply electrifying, among the best you’ll hear from Nils, and these ears have heard a lot. Lofgren’s Keith Richards tribute, “Keith Don’t Go (Ode To The Glimmer Twin)” starts out with a tense, trippy guitar line straight from the Who playbook before breaking into Nils’ impassioned lyrical plea. The fretwork is stellar, Nils tearing off a number of crushing solos built atop the brickyard rhythms provided by his brother, guitarist Tommy Lofgren.
“I Don’t Want To Know,” also from the solo debut, should have been a huge radio hit; a melodic rock number with fine vocal gymnastics and a BIG catchy hook guaranteed to grab you by the ears, it’s a classic tale of love and betrayal. This live version benefits from the addition of Al Kooper’s piano, the rock legend working on producing Lofgren’s sophomore effort at the time. The aforementioned cover of “Goin’ Back” offers Kooper’s light-hearted keyboard riffing and a breathless, smooth-as-silk vocal performance by Nils. “Beggar’s Day” jumps back into a rock groove after several pop-inflected cuts, the obscure Grin cut showcasing Lofgren’s tuffest vox and even tougher fretwork, his slice-and-dice solos filleting the slightly funky rhythms of bassist Scott Ball and drummer Mike Zack.
Rock 'n' roll, much like life, is full of “what if” moments. What if you had married the geek that later started that billion-dollar software business rather than the high school quarterback? What if you’d bought that Google stock at $12 per share like your father-in-law suggested? What if Mr. Miyagi had refused to teach that punk kid any of his slick moves? What would have happened to Lofgren’s career if an excellent live set like Back It Up!! had been released to compliment both his debut album and Cry Tough? Would it have been enough to put Nils in the national spotlight, where his native talent and dynamic onstage presence might have brought him the stardom he deserves?
As good as this set is, maybe Back It Up!! could have been better. Clocking in at slightly less than 45 minutes, the album feels incomplete by a song or two. Maybe Nils and his talented band only put these seven songs to tape, I don’t know. But if Hip-O Select had more of this stuff in the vault, they should have released an expanded version of Back It Up!! since it’s clearly the long-faithful fans that would be the most interested in this limited edition CD reissue.
If you’re interested in this great disc, I’d recommend that rather than spend your coin on this A&M/Hip-O Select release, surf over to the man’s web site (www.nilslofgren.com) and buy his virtually identical version of the album (titled Bootleg). You can’t go wrong either way, ‘cause this is a classic disc deserving of a place on your shelf. (A&M Records/Hip-O Select, released 2007)
Released during the dimming days of the “peace & love” decade of the 1960s, the Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers was, arguably, both one of their best albums and one of their most controversial. The band’s leftist, anti-war politics shone brightly in the lyrics of songs like “We Can Be Together” (in which the label tried to censor the word “motherfucker) and the title track while songs like “Good Shepherd” and “Eskimo Blue Day” evinced more of a “back to the land” Earth goddess vibe. Musically, Volunteers ranged from hippie folk and psychedelia to anthemic hard rock.
The album extended the band’s string of five straight Top 20 albums, peaking at #13 on the Billboard Top 200 while the title track rose to #65, quite an accomplishment for a politically-charged song at the dawn of the AOR era. The label’s ad for the album certainly didn’t help its commercial prospects – I’m sure that the band’s high-profile performance at the Woodstock festival a few months previous did more for Volunteers – the ad’s graphic showing little more than a photo of the LP cover, the band’s name in too-large type, and an out-of-the-place copy of Dan O’Neill’s “Odd Bodkins” comic.
Volunteers would be the last album from what is considered to be the band’s classic line-up, drummer Spencer Dryden forced out and replaced by Joey Covington. Singer Marty Balin would also leave soon thereafter, and before the 1971 release of Bark, the band’s sixth Top 20 LP in a row and the first for its RCA-distributed Grunt Records vanity label. Considering how little effort or thought went into the ad design for Volunteers, or even the album cover artwork of Bark, it’s not sure if the band was too stoned to realize that they were being dissed by the label.
After touring with Neil Young while still a teenager, singer, songwriter, and guitar hero Nils Lofgren formed the band Grin in 1969 with bassist Bob Gordon and drummer Bob Berberich. While his credentials as part of Young's entourage certainly attracted a few people to the band's early shows, Grin rapidly built a fervent audience of its own in the Washington DC/Northern Virginia area based entirely on the band's dynamic performances and Lofgren's six-string pyrotechnics.
Lofgren further parlayed his connection with Young into a record deal for Grin, and the band released its self-titled debut in 1971. Grin's sound was simple, no-frills, guitar-driven rock 'n' roll with pop overtones and catchy melodies. Although the debut album didn't set the world on fire with sales, it did well enough to merit a follow-up, and in '72 the band released 1+1. The album's lone single release, a clever slice of power-pop called "White Lies," would become a minor hit on AOR radio, rising as high as #75 on the Billboard magazine pop chart and propel the album onto the bottom end of the Top 200 album chart.
To help flush out the band's sound, Lofgren added his brother as a second guitarist after the second album, Tom Lofgren playing rhythm behind Nils' scorching leads. In 1973, the band released All Out, another fine collection of songs that rose almost as high as 1+1 on the charts, but yielded no singles, hit or otherwise. Disappointed by the band's lack of forward commercial momentum, CBS dropped Grin, who would quickly be picked up by A&M Records.
Gone Crazy would be the result, Grin's fourth and final album, released in 1973 and sadly suffering a fate similar to its predecessors. Many consider Gone Crazy to be Grin's weakest album, but I'd disagree – the band's four-album milieu is uniformly and consistently enjoyable. Grin's infectious pop/rock sound was a welcome digression during the hard rock early 1970s, and if Lofgren and crew could easily bang it out with the heaviest of their contemporaries, they also possessed an elfin charm and whimsical nature that sets their music apart from much of the decade's better-known bands.
Gone Crazy opens with a fierce rocker, "You're The Weight" offering up a concrete-hard guitar-bass-drum riff on top of which Lofgren lays down his potent vocals and measured wildcat solos. The song is as infectious as anything Grin had done previously and, in many ways, foreshadows Lofgren's soon-to-come solo debut album. The band slows it down a bit for the mid-tempo ballad "Boy + Girl," which features as much of Lofgren's keyboard skills as it does guitar. With trilling piano play that sounds like an old-timey, Western saloon soundtrack, Lofgren tries on his best blue-eyed soul shoes, the song engaging and hiding just a bit of nasty funk beneath the grooves.
"What About Me" returns the band to solid rock territory, Lofgren's wiry fretwork running like an electrical charge across the song's exotic instrumentation. While Lofgren's vocals here are a little more strained, they fit the chaotic feel of "What About Me," with the rest of the band throwing in their own shouted harmonies. Lofgren delivers a scorching solo at just past the two-minute mark, short and shocking and simply devastating while his grinning (sorry!) band members knock out the wild-n-wooly rhythms behind him.
"True Thrill" is a bouncy, pop-influenced tune with a slippery rhythmic arrangement, Nils' trademark guitarplay, a little vocal harmony, and some very fine basswork by Gordon. With a little label push in the right direction – perhaps a judiciously-placed $100 bill in the sleeve for a few station programmers – and the song could have been a hit on both AM and FM radio. By contrast, "Beggar's Day" (Eulogy to Danny Whitten)" is a blistering rocker and strictly FM radio fare. Written for his fallen Young bandmate Whitten, it is lyrically one of the best songs Lofgren has written, with powerful instrumental backing, passionate vocals, and some of Lofgren's nastiest guitar solos.
The gentle ballad "Believe" is the closest that Gone Crazy comes to a clunker, the piano-heavy tune relying too much, perhaps, on Lofgren's still-maturing keyboard skills and too little on his six-string mastery. Lofgren's vocals are slight, sometimes too sweet, and the band harmonies are simply precious, and the lyrics come from a solidly romanticist perspective, but the song could have benefitted from a little guitar grit. The album ends with "Ain't For Free," a bluesy mid-tempo honky-tonker that smolders in the grooves and features a different side of Lofgren's guitar skills.
After touring in support of Gone Crazy, Grin would break up in 1974 and Lofgren would stay with A&M Records, delivering his critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album a year later, fully launching a successful and varied career that is still going strong today. Although the Grin chapter of Nils Lofgren's musical history has been obscured by his later work, it's nice to once again hear the underrated Gone Crazy, one of the true hidden gems among the band's sparse catalog. (Hip-O Select Records, released October 26, 2009)
Forty years ago, rock ‘n’ roll icons the Dictators released their liver-quivering debut album, the classic The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! The proto-punk outfit – comprised of audacious frontman “Handsome” Dick Manitoba, guitarists Scott “Top Ten” Kempner and Ross “The Boss” Funochello, bassist Andy “Adny” Shernoff, and drummer Stu Boy King – followed a fast ‘n’ loud musical aesthetic heavily influenced by 1960s-era garage-rock and British Invasion bands and lyrically littered with pop culture references to professional wrestling, crappy television shows, hot rods, and fast food.
In celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the release of The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!, the good folks at Real Gone Music have whipped up an interesting release for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event on November 27th. The label will release a Black Friday exclusive, The Dictators: The Next Big Thing EP, which will be pressed on opaque red vinyl. The four-song 10” EP includes rowdy remixes of three songs from the Go Girl Crazy! LP – “The Next Big Thing,” “Two Tub Man,” and “Weekend” – which have been sonically-altered by Dictators fan and punk legend Andrew W.K.
The Dictators: The Next Big Thing EP will be released in a limited edition of 2,500 copies featuring back cover and label artwork taken from previously-unseen photo contact sheets, and the record also includes a previously-unreleased song from the original sessions, “Backseat Boogie.” On December 4th, 2015 Real Gone Music will continue their Dictators celebration with the reissue of The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! in an expanded and re-mastered anniversary edition.
Reissued on CD for the first time in over 20 years, this new edition includes nine bonus tracks in addition to the nine original songs, including Andrew W.K. remixes of “Weekend” and “Two Tub Man,” the previously-unreleased “Backseat Boogie,” and the unreleased single mix of “(I Live For) Cars and Girls.” Shernoff contributed liner notes for the reissue, and the packaging includes several rare, previously unseen photos.
Unceremoniously dumped by Epic Records after The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! failed to produce the sort of overnight success the label expected, the band signed with Elektra Records and released a pair of critically-acclaimed livewire LPs – 1977’s Manifest Destiny and the following year’s Bloodbrothers – neither of which performed commercially (the former inched onto the chart at #193). Both albums are considered classics today, and the band’s unbridled rock ‘n’ roll spirit would influence a generation of died-in-the-wool rockers to follow.
After the break-up of the groundbreaking and influential New York Dolls in 1975, guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan formed the Heartbreakers with bassist Richard Hell. When Hell left the band to form the Voidoids, he was replaced by Billy Rath, and a second guitarist was added in Walter Lure. It’s this line-up that recorded the band’s lone classic album, 1977’s L.A.M.F.
Although it flopped like a beached halibut on the Jersey shoreline, the Heartbreakers’ L.A.M.F. has since come to be considered an early punk-rock gem, the album influencing bands like the Damned and the Sex Pistols (both of whom the Heartbreakers toured the continent with on 1976’s Anarchy Tour), among many others. Thunders’ post-Heartbreakers solo career and his popularization of junkie chic have served to make the singer, songwriter, and guitarist a rock ‘n’ roll cult idol. Since his death in 1991, dozens of live and bootleg albums of dodgy provenance have been released under both Thunders’ and the Heartbreakers’ names.
Oddly enough, one live set that’s never been semi-legitimately released is the Heartbreakers’ August 1977 shows from the Village Gate in New York City. On October 16th, 2015 Cleopatra Records will finally put this legendary performance on plastic with the release of Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers’ L.A.M.F. Live At The Village Gate 1977. Pulling from two electrifying performances that Walter Lure considers the best shows that band ever played, the Village Gate shows include guest appearances by former New York Doll Sylvain Sylvain and rockabilly rebel Robert Gordon. L.A.M.F. Live At The Village Gate 1977 is being released on both CD, with a mini-LP gatefold sleeve, and as a limited-edition hot pink vinyl LP with gatefold sleeve.
L.A.M.F. Live At The Village Gate 1977 track list:
1. Chinese Rocks
2. Pirate Love
3. Get Off The Phone
4. All By Myself
5. Let Go
6. Can’t Keep My Eyes On You
7. Chatterbox
8. One Track Mind
9. Take A Chance With Me
10. Born Too Loose
11. Boppin’ The Blues
12. Do You Love Me
13. I Wanna Be Loved
