This iconic album cover said it all about coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad style. Despite its daring appearance, if you looked closely, the whipped-cream clad model was actually wearing a wedding dress.
Subsequently, I bought, again, the album Whipped Cream & Other Delights from a used record store. As it turned out, the LP inside was actually the TJB album Going Places. Oddly, I did not mind.The album cover was legendary. It featured model Dolores Erickson, who was three months pregnant when they photographed her. She was actually covered mostly in shaving cream because whipped cream melts under the hot photography lights.
Herb Alpert, Whipped Cream And Other Delights Full Album Zip
denys - i don't have too much information on harry arms. only thing i know about are all of the george garabedian produced tijuana brass albums i have seen. george had his hands in many pies and i speculate (far fetched guess) that the harry arms album is a comedic attempt like the sour cream and other delights record that was put out. i wonder which came first?
The album cover that made a generation salivate at the notion of licking away a truckload of whipped cream to reveal what was underneath. (Fun facts: it was actually shaving cream, and model Dolores Erickson was three months pregnant.) The image was memorably parodied by Soul Asylum on the EP Clam Dip & Other Delights.
odds and ends...Artists reviewed on this page:A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector - Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass - Bee Gees' 1st - Captain Beefheart - Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blue Cheer - Lori Burton - Johnny Cash - Chicago - Otis Clay - Sam Cooke - The Delfonics - Donovan - Nick Drake - The Electric Flag - Jonna Gault And Her Symphonopop Scene -Genesis - David Gilmour - Buddy Guy - Tim Hardin - Iron Butterfly - Robert Johnson - Albert King -B.B. King - Freddy King - Leadbelly - The Loading Zone - The Lovin' Spoonful - The MC5 - Mrs. Miller -The Monkees - The Moody Blues -Mountain - New Riders Of The Purple Sage - NRBQ -Van Dyke Parks - Ajda Pekkan - The Pentangle - Elvis Presley - Billy Preston -Rotary Connection - The Shaggs - Shake Me, Wake Me: A Tribute To Holland-Dozier-Holland -Soft Machine - Soul Christmas - Spirit -Steppenwolf - The Stooges - Koko Taylor - TammiTerrell - Carla Thomas - Big Mama Thornton - T. Rex -Doris Troy -The Turtles - Earl Van Dyke - Vanilla Fudge - Jr. Walker &The All-Stars -Larry WilliamsIt's frightening how many records are out there, 60s or not. We've tried to cover the most important ones, but there's a limit to what two guys with other things to do (believe it or not!) can accomplish. Here we inventory a few 60s artists whose work we know mostly from one or two records, usually good ones. Most of them deserve more extensive coverage - and we're working on it. Short takes on 70s, 80s, 90s and later acts are on separate pages, and if you can't find someone you saw on this page earlier, like the Allman Brothers, Booker T. & The MGs, David Bowie, Tim Buckley, Ray Charles,Leonard Cohen, Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead, Screamin' Jay Hawkins,Isaac Hayes, the Hollies, Janis Ian, the Isley Brothers, The Jackson 5,the James Gang, Jethro Tull, Elton John, Carole King, King Crimson, Kossoff/Kirke/Tetsu/Rabbit, Little Richard, Mar-Kees, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Curtis Mayfield, Van Morrison, LauraNyro, Procol Harum,Quicksilver Messenger Service, Rotary Connection,Santana, Ike & Tina Turner, War, or Yes, they've probably graduated to their own full-length review page. (JA) Various Artists, A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (1963)I expected to come out against the canonization of this girl group sock hop disc as the ultimate Christmas album; I figured I'd say, "Almost no original material, and Spector uses the same tricks on every track."But you know what? It's extraordinarily well done from start to finish: each song has the fresh delivery and easy pride of a new composition, and though Spector does rely heavily on echo, stacksof pianos, guitars, horns and strings (his famous Wall Of Sound) and an occasionally overprecise feel, there's a great deal of variety in the arrangements. Drummer Hal Blaine adds distinctive rhythmic figures to each tune, so even the kitchiest have some oomph ("Frosty The Snowman"), and the combination of fast rock tempos and classy orchestral arrangements keeps boredom at bay. "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is a percussion showcase, betweenBlaine's fills, a descending triangle line, and all the melody instruments dropping out at the bridge. And most of the tunes have cute arranged endings - a trifle corny, but better than unimaginativefadeouts. The songs are divided equally among the Ronettes, Crystals, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, and Darlene Love:I'm not crazy about Ronnie Spector's nasal voice, and the Crystals' Lala Brooks isn't the most distinctive singer, but Love (who also sings most of the songs credited to Bob B. Soxx)is terrific: belting with passion and authority, and adeptly handling aranger Jack Nitzsche's subtly changing harmonies.She serves up the one original, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," which has the same dramatic thunder and anthemic backing vocals as Spector's "Be My Baby." Session musicians include Sonny Bono on percussion, and Don Randi and Leon Russell on keyboards,among others.(DBW) Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965)Trumpeter/bandleader/entrepreneur Herb Alpert had formed A&M Records with Jerry Moss in 1962, and this second Tijuana Brass release became the label's biggest hit, topping the charts for eight weeks though the only single, "A Taste Of Honey," peaked at #7. The secret of Alpert's success was a talent for making different styles of music all sound like Muzak mush: he tackles a few different Latin rhythms ("El Garbanzo," "Bittersweet Samba") without any authenticity that might have offended the Lawrence Welk crowd; he makes Naomi Neville's rowdy "Whipped Cream" sound like a game show theme. Aside from the horns (mostly in unison, occasionally backing Alpert solo), the backing is L.A. mellow: 2/4 electric bass, precise but unexciting percussion, hardly any strings, keyboards or guitars.If you wanted to, you could call this a concept album, since each song is about something edible ("Green Peppers," Lieber & Stoller's "Love Potion #9") - it would have been appropriate to include a couple of songs about cheese. Produced by Alpert and Moss.Alpert continued to run up hits through 1968, at which point he shifted focus to his label, only occasionally releasing new material like "Rise" (#1 in 1979) or "Diamonds" (#2 in 1986, featuring Janet Jackson).(DBW) The Bee Gees, Bee Gees' 1st (1967)You may think I'm crazy, but... Although the Bee Gees were just teenagers fresh off the boat from Australia when they cut this, back home they'd already been TV and radio stars for years, and they already had a clear-cut musical agenda. Surprisingly, that formula isn't just British bubblegum a la Herman's Hermits or the Monkees, despite the nasal Peter Noone-like vocals and frequent lapses of taste - what they're really trying to do is rip off the Beatles' early 1967 psychedelic formula, right down to the booming Ringo-ey drums, zooming Macca-ey bass lines, light orchestration, harpsichords, mellotron, you name it.Even more surprisingly, it works: tracks like the druggy, Gregorian chant-infused "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man" sound almost like the real thing.Admittedly, a million other bands were running the same race, and only a few like the Kinks, Small Faces, and Zombies knew how to make a good record without being so damn derivative. But I'm impressed with the brothers' solid pop instincts - they wrote all the tunes and manage to make all of them sound different, at least from each other.A couple attempts are downright catchy, like the singles "Holiday" and "New York Mining Disaster 1941" - not to mention "To Love Somebody," a Top 40 hit like the other two and probably better remembered despite its corny arrangement, gratingly bombastic chorus, and mock-soul vocal. The album's an amusing 60s artifact for those who care about such things, if a waste of time for anyone hunting for hints of the Bee Gees' 70s disco sound. (JA)Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica (1969)Here's the real reason we call this the "odds" page - if avant garde is what you're after, look no further. Backed by bass, drums, two distorted guitars, and an occasional horn section, vocalist/sax player Captain Beefheart rambles his way through an exhausting double album (now on one CD) of shouted, chanted, screeched, and occasionally sung beat poetry. Snippets of conversation and incoherent instrumentals are scattered between the "songs," which themselves seem to be minimally directed first takes - hence, the band often thuds off in a million directions at once.Here's the good news: the individual tracks are all short; Beefheart has a gripping, far-ranging voice; his poetry is some of the best put on record during the 60s ("Steal Softly Thru Snow"), full of clever rhymes ("Dust Blow..."), sly political allusions ("Ant Man Bee"; "Veteran's Day Poppy"), and wild, arresting imagery ("Pena"); and the band is riffy and adventurous ("Ella Guru"), if frequently atonal and maximally slipshod. If all of this sounds like Frank Zappa in an unusually experimental mood, well, it's no coincidence - Zappa and Beefheart already had been friends for years, and Zappa produced the record. Beefheart recorded slightly less experimental albums both before and after this, and even eventually collaborated with Zappa on a duo LP, but this is his most influential and widely-cited effort. (JA) Blood, Sweat & Tears, Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (1970)BST was the pioneer jazz-rock fusion band, back when that meant pop music played in a 50's sax- and piano-dominated jazz style. Formed in 1968 by keyboard player Al Kooper (Child Is Father To The Man), they went on to huge commercial success with their eponymous 1969 LP, which was recorded after Kooper quit and vocalist David Clayton-Thomas joined. Although Clayton-Thomas wrote that record's most memorable hit ("Spinning Wheel"), by 1970 the group already was artistically exhausted. Instead of original numbers, rote covers of contemporary rock songs are everywhere: Goffin and King's "Hi-De-Ho," the Band's "Lonesome Suzie," James Taylor's "Fire And Rain," Joe Cocker's "Somethin' Comin' On," even Traffic's "40,000 Headmen."But the record's misguided centerpiece is an endless, ornate, thoroughly unlistenable "experimental" version of the Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil." The non-stop, tightly executed, listless horn parts rob the arrangments of any energy; and Clayton-Thomas' made-for-Vegas vocals are so gratingly insincere as to make most of the record downright unlistenable. The closest thing to unbridled fun is the near-rocker A-side "Lucretia Mac Evil." BST's artistic and commercial nosedive continued for several years after this; try to track down their two earlier records if you're interested in them at all. (JA) Blue Cheer, Vincebus Eruptum (1968)Once upon a time, bands like Blue Cheer littered the airwaves with sloppy, amateurish, grovelingly unoriginal attempts to ape Jimi Hendrix.But after about 1968, everybody just rolled over and gave up trying to rip off Hendrix's RUX-era feedback, distortion, atonal soloing, blues influences, and even drum sound.Too bad, it's fun.Bassist/singer Dick Peterson is a strutting, screaming blues shouter who writes feeble-minded rhyming couplets ("Doctor Please") and sounds about as authentic as Nancy Sinatra.Drummer Paul Whaley gets to embarass himself with a couple of competent but boring drum solos.And guitarist Leigh Stephens is a total gearhead, obsessed with duplicating Hendrix's tone and volume - make no mistake, Stephens uses Marshall amps.But alas, he's completely unconcerned with playing anything remotely musical.Meanwhile, Peterson's such a weak songwriter that half of the six tunes are the world's most predictable covers: "Rock Me Baby"; "Parchment Farm"; and Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," which became Blue Cheer's only Top 40 hit.His originals are weak, but at least on "Out Of Focus" they deliver a stomping, tambourine-fortified acid rock riff that would have fit in well on an Airplane record.It's loud, stupid, indulgent, and monotonous, but they're drawing from the best possible hard rock influences, and they're really not that much worse than better-remembered West Coast competitors like the Dead or Big Brother.Take another bong hit and give it a spin.Produced by Abe "Voco" Kesh.After this Peterson kept the band going for several more albums, despite some lineup changes. I've got Outsideinside, from later the same year, and it's a step down. (JA)Lori Burton, Breakout (1967)Lori Burton and Pam Sawyer were another 60s songwriting team, writing hits for Lulu and Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles, but when their schoolyard soap opera "Nightmare" was passed over by the Shangri-Las, they decided to record and release it themselves as the "Whyte Boots." Though the single wasn't a huge success an album followed, credited to Burton. The tunes are all over the pop map, including some remarkably brazen ripoffs - "Bye Bye Charlie" sounds just like "Cherry Cherry," "Only Your Love" recalls "I Got You Babe," while "Since I Lost Your Lovin'" slavishly copies a much better song with "Lost" and "Lovin'" in the title - and the arrangements are as flexible as Burton's alternately smooth and down-n-dirty vocals. But every style is rendered so tongue in cheek that the tunes never compel: the Shangri-Las are over the top and ridiculous, yes, but it's not a joke because they sound like they really mean it. Here, whether Burton's belting like crazy (the sappy "Love Was") or attempting Supremesian iciness ("Let No One Come Between Us") there's never an emotional connection.One could easily argue that Burton and Sawyer were ahead of their time, anticipating the irony-steeped swagger of the New York Dolls by several years, but since I don't like the Dolls I'm not going to be the one to make that argument. Burton and Sawyer soon stopped working together; Burton sang backup on "Number 9 Dream" among other ventures, while Sawyer hit it big co-writing smashes like "Love Child" for the Motown machine.(DBW) Johnny Cash, At San Quentin (1969)Near as I can tell, Cash is the Method Man of country music: underwhelming vocal technique and not much of a writer, but so successful at projecting a down-home but dangerous Everyman image that he's widely respected by genre insiders and novices alike. The followup to Live At Folsom Prison, and similarlyrecorded before a wildly appreciative audience of inmates, Cash reels off his biggest hits - "I Walk The Line,""A Boy Named Sue," "Folsom Prison Blues" - and two run-thoughs of "San Quentin," a biting condemnation apparently written for the occasion.My cassette also includes a pile of bonus tracks ("Ring Of Fire"), some featuring Cash singing with wife June Carter and the Statler Brothers ("Daddy Sang Bass"). Lyrically a mix of love songs ("I Still Miss Someone"), outlaw tales (Dylan's "Wanted Man") and Christian homilies ("He Turned The Water Into Wine"), all plain-spoken.The recording quality isn't great, but with such simple music - three chord songs witheasily anticipated melodies - it hardly matters. Cash's gruff charm and offhand humor are satisfying, but there's not muchelse going on here.(DBW) Chicago, III (1971)Formed in the Windy City in 1967, this group was halfway between pop and prog, cutting lengthy fusion jams but also reining themselves in to craft catchy singles. In fact,much of the time they sound like CSN with horns ("Happy 'Cause I'm Going Home," carried by wordless harmony vocals, until it devolves into a pointlessly extended flute solo).These dudes were perhaps second only to the Beatles in genre versatility, but the results aren't that listenable: "Free Country" is a painfully long improvised flute-piano-vibes tossoff; "What Else Can I Say" uses CSNY's trick of adding Beatlesque high harmonies to country instrumentation, though not as effectively.They attempt a big band wah-wah guitar funk jam in 6/8 time, and just don't pull it off ("Sing A Mean Tune Kid") - the BST-style jazz fusion"Loneliness Is A Just A Word" is also in triple meter. "Mother" is a rousing, TOP-imitating brass workout with a busy funk bass line;"A Hard Risin' Morning Before Breakfast" is country rock that's very close to Marshall Tucker's subsequent "Can't You See," down to the raspy vocal (guitarist Terry Kath's, I believe).The double album contains two side-long suites, "Elegy" and "Travel Suite," which incorporates the high energy, vaguely Santana-like hit single "Free." But withoutany consistent themes or motifs to hold them together, they don't achieve any impact beyond the sum of their parts: the instrumental jam "The Approaching Storm" is so lively it's hard to take itas part of a piece about the coming extinction of humanity. Still, the set nearly topped the charts, stalling at #2. Most of the songwriting is by organist Robert Lamm or trombonist James Pankow; produced by James William Guercio.Though I don't hear anything here beyond chameleonlike technique, I'm willingto grant that their other early records may be a lot better.The band famously ruined its reputation with a string of schlocky AM ballads, but continued to sell strongly through the end of the 80s.(DBW) Otis Clay, I Can't Take It (1977)Chicago soul singer Otis Clay, who notched his first hit in 1968, moved to Hi Records in Memphis in the early 70s, and served up a well preserved mid-60s Stax/Volt sound.He does occasionally venture into labelmate Al Green's territory ("Keep On Loving Me," with the mellow pace and plaintive vocal of hits like "Tired Of Being Alone"), but more often he's channeling Otis Redding or Sam & Dave, singing with rough emotion(title track) with the Memphis Horns blaring and the rhythm section chugging. It's perfectly authentic, and there's some variety in thearrangements: funky guitar in "Pussy Footing Around," cycling keyboards on "I've Got To Find A Way (To Get You Back)." But the songwriting is distressinglyroutine ("Home Is Where The Heart Is" and "House Ain't A Home (Without A Woman)") and Clay doesn't do anything better than the mastershe's imitating. The writers are unfamiliar to me: D. Bryant, D. Carter, E. Randle... unlike the other Otis, Clay doesn't appear to have written anything himself.Produced by Willie Mitchell; backing by the Hodges brothers (Leroy on bass, Charles on organ, Teenie on guitar) plus Michael Toleson guitar, Archie Turner on piano and Howard Grimes on drums.(DBW) Sam Cooke, Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963 (rec. 1963, rel. 1985)Sam Cooke is generally considered the father of soul music, with a long string of hits starting in the late 50s, and hisreputation has only grown since his 1964 shooting death.This belated release has become known as the definitive twistin', testifyin', toe-tappin' Cooke in concert album, deliveringall the mesmerizing intensity with none of the whitey-pacifying show tunes of At The Copa. Well, I don't hear it that way. It's not nearly as frenzied as, say, James Brown's first Apollo LP, it's not well recorded, and it's too short.Cooke wrote all the material - including hits like "Cupid," "Chain Gang," "Having A Party" - but that's not as big a plusas you might think, because it's a relentless stream of I-vi-IV-V and I-IV-V chord progressions, mostly in the same key at the same tempo. Most importantly, Cooke belts every song in the same gritty gear, not showing any of the tonal variety that made his voice so special.Not that the record isn't good: the performance of "Bring It On Home To Me" is terrific, King Curtis delivers a couple offine sax solos, and it's great to have live performances of Cooke's best known tunes.But I don't think it was a mistake on RCA's part to release the Copa show instead.(DBW) Sam Cooke, At The Copa (1964)A powerful statement of Cooke's talents as a singer and songwriter;in putting together a show for the nightclub crowd, Cooke avoid the tackiness trap the Supremes (among others) fell into, by picking the best (not the most familiar) show tunes, and singing them with passion and conviction.In so doing, he forged a path for later soul singers: his performances of "Try A LittleTenderness" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out" are exact blueprintsfor Otis Redding's versions of the same tunes, and the same goes for "Blowin' In The Wind"and Stevie Wonder. His voice is marvelous, gliding easily from smooth crooning ("WhenI Fall In Love") to grainy urgency ("Frankie And Johnny"). Perhaps most impressive,he even holds your interest when he's teaching the audience to sing "If I Had A Hammer."Though only two songs are Cooke originals (not counting the spiritual "This Little Light Of Mine," mysteriously credited to him), they're both paradigmatic: the love song "You Send Me" and the dance hit "Twistin'The Night Away."Conducted by Rene Hall, and recorded by Bernard Keville: the balance between full orchestra and rhythm section is admirable for such an early liverecording. Produced by Al Schmitt.(DBW) The Delfonics, La La Means I Love You (1968)Philly Soul mastermind Thom Bell knew what he wanted right from the start: pop-soul for grown-ups, with elegant orchestration and group harmonizing. He even had the future MFSB/Salsoul rhythm section - Norman Harris and Roland Chambers (guitar), Ronald Baker (bass) and Earl Young (drums) - in place.But as Bell set out to reshape the Delfonics according to his vision, there were a few stumbling blocks. Lead singer William Hart could sing tenor and write lyrics, but wasn't particularly good at either (often seriously out of tune, for one thing). Bell couldn't afford the studio time to nail down the Bacharachian sound he was going for. And he didn't have a lot of quality songs, so after the hit title track (covered by Prince among others) and the gorgeous "You're Gone," the album is filler galore, with two Bacharach-David covers ("The Look Of Love"; "Alfie"), the Bach-via-Motown pilfer "A Lover's Concerto" and the Little Anthony number "Hurt So Bad" (co-written by Teddy Randazzo and later covered by Linda Ronstadt).(DBW) The Delfonics, Sound Of Sexy Soul (1969)Similar to the predecessor, except that the single ("Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)") wasn't a big hit. There's another Randazzo resurrection ("Goin' Out Of My Head"), another Motown mention ("Ain't That Peculiar"), and some standards ("Let It Be Me"; "Scarborough Fair"). The originals range from passable ("Loving Him") to limp ("Hot Dog (I Love You So)"), and again the arrangements are bare-bones, the lyrics are dull ("Somebody Loves You"), and Hart's intonation is suspect ("Everytime I See My Baby").Bell soon corrected these faults as he launched a long string of classic albums for the Stylistics and Spinners.The first two albums are available on one CD with the solid, orchestrated followup single "You Got Yours And I'll Get Mine."(DBW) Donovan, Sunshine Superman (1966)No record better epitomizes the early, starry-eyed days of the hippy era than this seductive, low-key blend of Eastern exotica and druggy folk music.So much in tune with the times that it easily could be mistaken for a much later recording, Donovan Leitch's second and best-known LP alternates between ethereal, loosely structured mood pieces that highlight sitar and tabla ("Ferris Wheel"), and methodically produced orchestrated rock with clever string, mellotron and harpischord arrangements ("Celeste").Donovan's gentle, slowly-paced baritone vocals and fanciful verbal imagery work perfectly with the material, and his songwriting is consistently solid.So there are tons of high points: the funky, harpsichord-driven title track, a #1 hit featuring Jimmy Page on guitar; "Season Of The Witch," a superb acid rocker with an unforgettable, loping beat; the surprisingly professional, Simon & Garfunkel-like jazz diversion "Bert's Blues"; the super-mellow Eastern/Elizabethean blend "Guinevere"; and the wry hippy anthem "Fat Angel," which mentions the Jefferson Airplane and later was covered by them.There are some lapses in taste - the seven-minute "Legend Of A Girl Child Linda" goes over the top with an experimental string/woodwind arrangement, "The Trip" is a predictable electric Dylan imitation, and the mock-Indian tunes are occasionally unfocused and pretentious ("Three King Fishers").But you wouldn't expect anything else from such a quintessential 60s record.Donovan's next four albums through 1969 all sold strongly, as did a series of singles including "Mellow Yellow" (with Paul McCartney on bass), "Hurdy Gurdy Man," "Atlantis," and "Goo Goo Barabajagal" (where he was backed by the Jeff Beck Group). By 1970 the public had lost its taste for psychedelic folk, but Donovan released several more albums during the 70s and attempted a comeback in the late 90s. (JA) Nick Drake, Time Of No Reply (rec. 1968 - 1974, rel. 1979)A reclusive, extraordinarily talented English folk singer who cut just three studio albums before overdosing in 1974, when he was barely into his 20s.His original, Joe Boyd-produced studio work is uneven, with slightly awkward Elizabethean orchestral arrangements on his first two records (Five Leaves Left, 1969; Bryter Layter, 1970) that don't always mesh with his hushed, intensely personal baritone and delicate acoustic guitar picking (1972's Pink Moon is more starkly produced).This essential, posthumous collection of leftovers features one good example of his full-blown production style (the stately, gently swinging "I Was Made To Love Magic"), but is dominated instead by entirely solo recordings that let Drake's genius shine as brightly as possible.Four other Five Leaves Left outtakes are astoundingly well-crafted: a couple of shimmering, creepy, subtly remorseful love songs ("Clothes Of Sand"; "Joey"); the uncharacteristically upbeat "Mayfair"; and especially the haunting title track, one of his most tuneful and poetic compositions.The rest is mostly just as strong.There are two early versions of Five Leaves Left tracks (the jazzy, bittersweet character sketch "Man In A Shed"; the cute, poppy "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane," with Richard Thompson adding a tentative lead line);two scratchy, very early home demos (the grim Delta blues "Been Smoking Too Long"; "Strange Meeting II");a 1969 demo with a barely audible vocal but a ringing, majestic guitar part ("Fly");and four 1974 demos from an unfinished fourth record (the Cat Stevens-like "Rider On The Wheel"; "Hanging On A Star"; "Voice From A Mountain," recalling early Joni Mitchell; best of all the creepy, off-kilter "Black Eyed Dog," with its magical harmonics-based riff).Luminous, irresistable treasure, like all of his work. (JA) The Electric Flag, A Long Time Comin' (1968)This self-described "American Music Band" was led by white bluesman (andformer Dylan sideman) Michael Bloomfield anddrummer (and future Hendrix sideman)Buddy Miles, and it features Harvey Brooks on bass, Barry Goldberg onkeyboards and a full horn section, plus an assortment of guests likeRichie Havens (on sitar). The material's all new except for a cover ofHowlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" and a truly annoying take on the olddrinking song "Wine," but nothing sounds original: it's facelessblues-rock, with recycled lyric ideas ("Groovin' Is Easy") and noparticularly good solos, plus the exact same "far-out experimentation" azillion other bands were doing at this point, like sitar and Moog.The record's one certified excellent riff tune, "Another Country," isspoiled by the obligatory 8-minute effect-laden freakout. It's a shame,because Bloomfield at least had some talent (better heard on the Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills SuperSession record). Produced by John Church. I think the band made onemore record before splitting up; Bloomfield's career fell apartafter a couple of records with Kooper, though he managed a fewsmall-label blues records before ODing in the early 80s. (DBW) Jonna Gault And Her Symphonopop Scene, Watch Me (1968)Jonna Gault could have been a huge smash success, a cross between Laura Nyro and Barbra Streisand, but instead she was swept into thedustbin of history. A twentyish singer/songwriter/arranger/producer in an time when even Joni Mitchell had to hide behind amale producer, Gault had classical training and recording experience, and got a contract with RCA granting her complete artistic control.But her "symphonopop" style - guitarless pop with unusual combinations of orchestral instruments, without the overreliance on stringsthat characterized the era - was a complete flop: she bridged the generation gap in the direction no one wanted to go, bringing a flower child sensibility to square pop music. The story would be more interesting if this were a brilliant overlooked record, but the truth is it's justmediocre: she falls in love with uninteresting melodic figures and repeats them endlessly ("The Pink Life"), her wry social comments areso understated they don't say much of anything ("Jack And Jill," a chronicle of mod love), and her thin voice doesn't match her boisterous delivery (title track). And who needed another version of "Eleanor Rigby"? Kitschiest of all is the colossally ill-conceived cover of "Good Vibrations" with orchestral instruments recreating the Beach Boys' vocal parts. But there are fine tunes here - the love songs "Here We Are" and "The Answer Has To Come From You," the folk-ish "Love Will Tell YouWhy" - and her arrangements show true flair. Gault released a few more singles - "Man In The Moon"; "What If They Gave A War And No One Came?" (orchestrated by Lincoln Mayorga) b/w "Wonder Why, I Guess"; "Young" b/w "From My Window"; the depressingly ordinary, guitar-based "I'm Never Gonna Cry Again" b/w "What's The Use" - but I'm not aware of any other LP.(DBW) Genesis, From Genesis To Revelation (1969)I've never liked the band, but I picked up this historical oddity (available on CD as And The Word Was...), thinking they might have once had talent. Their first record, it was cut in a hurry before they'd even performed in public, and well before either Phil Collins or Steve Hackett signed up. As high school students they'd landed a record contract on the strength of some home demos, and the finished product just doesn't show a lot of personality, although it's often similar to their later, much more popular 70s records. Like the Moody Blues and unlike most of the era's other high-concept British pop bands, Genesis chooses to tread water here with pompous, white-bread, orchestrated arrangements that smothers their arty lyrical ambitions.Peter Gabriel doesn't demonstrate a lot of range, either vocally or emotionally - he's so low-key you'd think he was just humming to himself while strolling through the park. The rest of the band is nothing special, and the dribs and drabs of dynamic excitement are provided by swooping string sections, amateurish percussion, and Tony Banks' simplistic piano riffs, all of which now sound utterly dated. The predictable Sgt. Pepper's emulation also includes cross-fades, mellotrons, phasing, and repeated musical themes. For obsessive fans and 60s historians only. (JA) Genesis, Nursery Cryme (1971)I'm such a sweetie that I gave these guys another chance. Whoops, my mistake. By now Genesis had decided that instead of being a pretentious 60s psychedelic pop-rock band, they should be a pretentious 70s prog rock band like Yes or King Crimson ("Seven Stones"; "The Fountain Of Salmacis," which is pretty good as mellotron-drenched Yes imitations go).So they adopted all of the trappings, from wall-of-sound synth parts to ten-minute, multi-part suites ("The Musical Box"), and watered it down into polite, smiley-faced pop.But they blew it on two counts. First, there isn't a quality soloist anywhere in the band, although guitarist Steve Hackett is competent and Phil Collins impressively apes the prog rock drumming style pioneered by Mitch Mitchell, Michael Giles and Bill Bruford. So there's little to keep your attention as they plod through their unpredictable song structures on epics like the mock-ominous "Return Of The Giant Hogweed." And second, none of them knew how to assemble a batch of catchy hooks into a bona fide song. So the trio of non-stop wank-a-thons isn't balanced at all by the four shorter, but equally disorganized numbers.Despite this, much of the material is inoffensive or even pretty, such as the melodious, 12-string laden acoustic folk songs "Harlequin" and "For Absent Friends," and the fast-paced, light-hearted, McCartney-like "Harold The Barrel." So if you can't get enough of early 70s prog rock, there are worse ways to burn your money.Produced by John Anthony and engineered by David Hentschel. (JA) Genesis, Selling England By The Pound (1973)You know, if I keep buying these damn Genesis records I'll be forced to make up a page for them. This time around there's not much to report: all of the excesses they demonstrated on Cryme come up again, but there are even fewer vocal passages, and the lengthy instrumentals are deadly boring.Inexplicably, they put the band's weak link - synth player Tony Banks - at the instrumental center of every tune.And this time Peter Gabriel just won't shut up, rambling on endlessly with his limp melodies and spacey narrative lyrics ("The Battle Of Epping Forest"). Neither Steve Hackett's leads nor bassist Mike Rutherford's quiet, classically influenced acoustic guitar help very much; Hackett gets a sprawling solo on "Firth Of Fifth" that sounds like someone experimenting absentmindedly with a cool distortion pedal as the band once again rips off early King Crimson.The good news is a couple of short pop songs that seem to have been their best to date, especially the gimmicky AOR hit "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" and Phil Collins' slightly folky vocal spotlight "More Fool Me." But the few high points aren't worth wading through the dreck.The band's next effort - and the last before Gabriel left to start his solo career - was the legendary double album Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, which I just might force myself to review someday. (JA)David Gilmour (1978)Pink Floyd was riding a wave of monster AOR hit albums at this point, and Gilmour wasn't about to mess with the formula, even as he took a rare opportunity to escape from Roger Waters' control of the band. Working mostly with just a two-man rhythm section, he handled vocals, guitars, keyboards, production, and most of the songwriting himself, and he studiously copied Floyd's high-tech sound. The key difference is the lack of anal overproduction, inscrutable lyrics, and sprawling spacey jamming - most of the tracks run merely five or six minutes.And for those who love the guy, there's a heck of a lot more lead guitar work than usual. The album even features a moderate radio hit, although it's the one track Gilmour didn't write (the stately anthem "There's No Way Out Of Here," with classic 70s Floyd female backups vocals and paranoid lyrics). Elsewhere there are a few solid Dark Side-inspired pop tunes like "Short And Sweet." But the downside is predictable: monotonous instrumentation, a total lack of spontaneity, and too many mid-tempo pentatonic instrumentals like the pretty but insubstantial "Mihalis" and "Raise My Rent." (JA) David Gilmour, About Face (1984)With Waters having virtually taken over Pink Floyd and then dragged it through a Final Cut that amounted to a solo album, the stage was set for Gilmour to prove himself yet again.He rose to the challenge, delivering more commercial savvy and stylistic variety than you'll hear on almost anything the Floyds ever did.Half the tunes sound like actual or would-be AOR hits: the trance-like, sequenced-synth drenched "Until We Sleep"; the Floyd-esque metal ballad "Murder"; the super-funky "Blue Light," with its hyperactive horns and crashing, digitally-delayed guitars; and the swaggering, stomping corporate rocker "All Lovers Are Deranged."There's just one pompous orchestrated instrumental ("Let's Get Metaphysical" [har]), one daft stab at Caribbean rhythms ("Cruise"), and two boring orchestrated ballads ("Out Of The Blue"; "You Know I'm Right"), and Gilmour seems entirely at ease plastering everything with his immaculate guitar solos - instant, by-the-book catharthis without any distracting creativity. So the record could hardly be a better deal for fans of soulless four-minute 80s rock tunes.Co-produced by Gilmour and Bob Ezrin; the band is Ian Kewley (keyboards), Pino Palladino (bass), and Jeff Porcaro (drums). Guests include a horn section, Ray Cooper, and Steve Winwood (sounds like his organ playing on "Murder" and "Blue Light"); Pete Townshend contributed the lyrics to two songs (including "Deranged") but doesn't appear. (JA) Buddy Guy, I Was Walking Through The Woods (rec. 1960-1964, rel. 1970)Another transplanted Southerner, bluesman Buddy Guy grew up in Louisiana, but found success only after moving to Chicago in 1958.For some reason, these early 60s electric blues recordings weren't released on LP until well after Guy had left Chess Records, but theyinclude perhaps his most famous composition, the seven-minute slow lament "Stone Crazy." Compared to contemporaries like AlbertCollins, I find Guy's guitar style rather sterile, with a trebly tone and overprecise, nimble runs that lack emotional punch.But he's got a great voice - wobbly and frequently breaking on high notes, it conveys remarkable vulnerability and honesty.The backing is a standard Chicago blues piano-led rhythm section augmented by predictable horn charts.Though most of the tunes were cut in 1960 or 1961, "My Time After A While" dates from 1964, and features future Motown writer Leonard Caston on piano, and future Earth, Wind & Fire leader Maurice White on drums- it's more cleanly recorded, with the guitar mixed back behind the bass and piano, but otherwise the same slow blues as the rest of the disc.(DBW) Buddy Guy, A Man And The Blues (1968)His first record on folk label Vanguard, and he sounds much the same as he did at Chess - Otis Spann tickling the ivories, several saxplayers providing the backdrop for his solos - but it seems Guy's low on song material. There are a few tossoff instrumentals ("I Can't Quit The Blues") and four covers: the Motown hit "Money (That's What I Want)," B.B. King's "Sweet Little Angel," Plumber Davis and Jules Taub's "Worry, Worry," and the record's best song,the quiet, desperate "One Room Country Shack," by Mercy Dee Walton.Moreover, "Just Playing My Axe" poses as an original, but really it's just "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."The uptempo numbers are interchangeable ("Mary Had A Little Lamb," "Jam On A Monday Morning") and some of the songs are far too long (title track). This record isn't going to sell anyone on electric blues.Like his peers, Guy fell into a tailspin in the 70s and 80s, but he outlived it, and has had tremendous commercial and critical successin the 90s, working with the likes of Clapton and Jeff Beck.(DBW) Tim Hardin, Tim Hardin 4 (1969)An American folk-blues singer who died of a heroin overdose in 1980, Hardin has a solid reputation among rock critics thanks to several successful covers of his songs ("If I Were A Carpenter"; "Reason To Believe").But this time around he comes up totally flat, with not one of the six originals creating any interest.The problem is not just his dead-pan performance, which raises the term "monotonous" to new heights, but the band's stultifyingly genteel Chicago blues affectations, with an idly wailing harmonica and a lightly tapping rhythm section.Strapped for ideas, he not only covers blues greats like Willie Dixon ("Seventh Son") and Bo Diddley ("Bo Diddley"), but Chuck Berry ("You Can't Catch Me," shamelessly retitled as "Airmobile" and credited to Hardin) and the Animals ("House Of The Rising Sun").Hardin's voice is pleasant enough, but he's so laid back he practically begs you to tune him out.Inauthentic and soulless, the record shows that Hardin had failed to grasp the emotional core of the blues - unlike contemporary English musicians of the John Mayall school.Produced by Erik Jacobsen. (JA) Iron Butterfly, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968)Another bunch of stoned California kids, led by Doug Ingle on grandiose vocals and skating-rink organ, sometimes falsely credited with inventing heavy metal. The 17:35 title track is not the first album-side-length tune on a rock album, but it was one of the earliest, one of the longest, and one of the most commercially successful. And for the first couple of minutes it's actually a solid, enjoyable riff tune. Guitarist Erik Braunn gets a good lead guitar tone, but doesn't really know how to play the damn thing at all. What the hell, neither could I when I was 17. Ron Bushy takes a plodding drum solo, but the weakest part of the track is Ingle's second solo spot, where he holds open chords endlessly. The other side of the album is formula psychedelic pop,as you can tell from the titles ("Flowers And Beads"). The lyrics aren't even laughably bad, they're just boring, and besides the title track the only catchy riffs are on "Termination." "Are You Happy" is another freakout that manages to be more boring than "In-A-Gadda" in less than half the time. Bassist Lee Dorman is probably the best musician of the bunch: he's a nimble Jamerson disciple, and though he usually overplays, he occasionally slips in a nice run. (DBW) Robert Johnson, King Of The Delta Blues Singers Volume 2 (rec. 1936)Almost every song here has been covered by latter-day blues greats - "Stop Breakin' Down,""From Four Till Late," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Love In Vain,""Dust My Broom," "Rambling On My Mind" - which should be all the recommendation you need to check this out.Influence aside, it's a heartfelt, surprisingly well recorded album with a lot of emotional range and effective, if basic, acoustic guitar backing. Unlike Leadbelly, Johnson mostly either sticks to strict 12-bar 3-line format ("Kindhearted Woman Blues") or a 24-bar variant with two couplets and a two-line chorus - the one exception here is the good-time standard "They're Red Hot" - but as a practiced showman he varies approach and tempo enough to avoid falling into a rut.One blues tradition that doesn't descend from Johnson is blues-singer-as-ultramasculine-archetype: Johnson has a high-pitched, slightly quavery voice, regularly breaks into falsetto, and drowns his sorrows in...malted milk ("Malted Milk").Johnson's entire recorded output fits on two LPs, so I really have no excuse for not owning both of them.(DBW) Albert King, Born Under A Bad Sign (1967)Born in Mississippi, Albert King moved to Memphis and became Stax/Volt's own bluesman; here he's backed by Booker T. & The MGs, and their flexible backing gives him a big leg up on the competition, ranging from crisp R&B (Big Joe Williams's "Oh Pretty Woman") to slow blues ("I Almost Lost My Mind"). King's trebly, Buddy Guy-style lead guitar provides a sharpness the MGs are sometimes lacking on their own ("Crosscut Saw").Booker even co-wrote the title track, a huge hit, and the whole band wrote "The Hunter," also a signature tune;the Memphis Horns also turn up on some tracks. King himself has a pleasantly rough voice and precise technique ("Down Don't Bother Me"), and he has the breadth to pull off a few ballads ("The Very Thought Of You"), but he's not in the first rank of blues artists for two reasons: his compositions are nothing special ("Personal Manager"), and there's nothing distinctiveabout his performances - he took his last name from B.B. King, and his vocals show B.B.'s influence pretty clearly. But if you're going to be influenced by somebody, that's not a bad place to start. Not a cornerstone of the genre, but it's harmless. (DBW) B.B. King, To Know You Is To Love You (1973)B.B. King is an anomaly, the sweet bluesman. If Robert Johnson or Howlin' Wolf came over to your house, you'd expectthem to steal your whiskey and your woman; King would probably bring you a box of cigars and a bottle of wine. His music is cheerful andgood-natured - if the blues is about pulling yourself out of your troubles by singing about them, King always sounds like he's at least three-quarters recovered. Combined with his riveting, vibrato-heavy guitar technique - lots of arching,sustained high notes, more often punctuating vocal lines than building solos - King gives you about as good a time as you can have listening to music. This record is even sweeter than usual, with covers of Stevie Wonder (title track) and the Staples Singers ("Respect Yourself")and soft backing from Philly soul musicians including Norman Harris and Vince Montana.It's a bit weird to hear congas and wah-wah behind King on a pure blues number like "Oh To Me," but all that's forgotten when King dishesout a no-nonsense tune like "I Can't Leave"or stops the band so he can rain bent notes and trills on the closing audience tribute "Thank You For Loving The Blues."He even puts over the shapeless pop tune "I Like To Live The Love" - you know a blues musician is good when his sellout crossover attempt is still a blast. Produced by Dave Crawford; Stevie adds electric piano on his tune, but if you didn't know it was him, you'dnever guess.(DBW) B.B. King, Live At San Quentin (1990)I have to suspect some of his 50's and 60s discs are even better, but man, is this a lot of fun. King's band - Walter King, musical director and sax;Edgar Synigal, sax; James Bolden, trumpet; Leon Warren, rhythm guitar; Eugene Carrier, keys; Michael Doster, bass; Calep Emphrey, drums -propells him at top speed though a catalog of his best known material. His guitar tone is a bit rougher than usual, but his playing isstill wonderfully controlled ("Every Day I Have The Blues").His expansive personality makes the songs he didn't write ("Let The Good Times Roll," "The Thrill Is Gone" "Every Day I Have The Blues") as thoroughly his as his own compositions ("Rock Me Baby," "Sweet Little Angel"), and his spoken asides are as entertaining as hisplaying ("Never Make A Move Too Soon").The only clunker is the Ira Newborn composition "Into The Night," which was recorded for a 1985 movie soundtrack and sounds exactly likeLionel Richie's dance hit "Running With The Night."There's one studio track, "Peace To The World," that's sort of a blues version of Three Dog Night's "Joy To The World," but not really asbad as that implies.Produced by SASCO Productions, whoever that is.(DBW) Freddy King, Let's Hide Away And Dance Away With Freddy King (1961)Texas-born Freddy (later Freddie) King recorded both vocal and instrumental blues from his first sessions for King Records in 1960, but the instrumental sides sold like wildfire out of the gate,and the vocal sides didn't. Hence this LP, eleven instrumentals showcasing King's remarkably crisp, nimble blues guitar technique - avoiding bends or distortion - in front of a faceless rhythm section. It's good-time music, with some terrific hooks and structural quirks ("Hideaway," a Clapton favorite; "In The Open") and even the three-chord tossoffs are pleasantly rambling ("Butterscotch"). Too dated to be truly essential, but worth buying just for the cover photo of a cherubic King and his tiny guitar - it's impossible to look at that and stay in a bad mood.Ten years later, King hooked up with rockers including Leon Russell and Eric Clapton, and released some big-selling vocal records I plan to check out; he died of heart failure in 1976 at the age of 42.(DBW) Leadbelly, Includes Legendary Performances Never Before Released (rec. 1935)There's a lot to be said for seminal bluesman Leadbelly: he's got a freewheeling demeanor, a larger-than-life persona, a good sense of humor, varied techniques on 6- and 12-string guitar, and a knack for half-improvised,pointed story songs (an obvious influence on Dylan, for one). Maybe these songs haven't been covered as much as Robert Johnson's precisely because Leadbelly makes them so personal.Or maybe it's because he spends so much time lecturing us on the differences between yellow-skinned, brown-skinned and black-skinned women... it's hard to imagine Clapton singing that stuff. (It's easierto picture Mick Jagger singing it, but that's a different story.)Anyway, the overwhelming problem I have with Leadbelly is, his Louisiana diction is so incomprehensible - almost Cobainesque - that I don't get much out of listening.I hope his later records are easier to follow, and I'll be checking some out. I really should go farther back and listen to Leadbelly's mentor, Blind Lemon Jefferson (author of "Black Snake Moan," included here), but I haven't gotten there yet.(DBW) The Loading Zone (1968)This Berkeley outfit does for Motown what the Electric Flag did for blues: makes it suck.More specifically, makes it suck by adding blaring horn charts and psychedelic guitar (Peter Shapiro, who sounds like he flunked out ofBig Brother) and alternating between a hammy black singer (Linda Tillery) and a hammy white singer (Paul Fauerso,also on organ). Not to mention overusing cheesy special effects (the absurd echoey screaming that closes "The Bells").You couldn't build a more similar act to the Electric Flag in a laboratory, except that instead of blues covers, this group plays Motown covers: the Smokey Robinson hit "Shop Around," the Holland-Dozier-Holland obscurity"Love Feels Like Fire," the "Nowhere To Run" clone "Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead."They even use Motown conventions - pounding bass and snare - to write an original song extolling the virtues of hippie meditation("Kali Yuga-Loo").To be fair, drummer George Newcom and bassist Rob Kridle lay down a solid foundation, and Fauerso's organ playing is fine - it's just everythingon top of the foundation that's disastrous. And the closing "Can I Dedicate" isn't terrible, but when a record's best song is a nine-minuteinstrumental based on "Born Under A Bad Sign," you're in trouble.The next time someone tells you today's music is all crap, not like the great stuff everyone played in the 60s, force them to listen tothis record.(DBW) The Lovin' Spoonful, Daydream (1966)These guys were really big, but for only about two years. Daydream shows the original lineup in all its glory; by now they'd already scored a major hit ("Do You Believe In Magic"), and this early 1966 album includes two more: "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice," a brilliantly arranged but whitebread love song with great harmonies and a catchy, if plodding descending guitar riff that's doubled on chimes; and the equally clever title track, which went to #2. The album is short and terribly dated-sounding, but actually quite good, with the band effectively delivering its unique blend of old-timey blues and Byrds-influenced 60s folk-rock - you'll hear plenty of tambourines, smooth harmonies, and jangly guitars.Zal Yanovsky plays most of the guitar parts, and he's quite competent if entirely derivative of the big Chicago blues sound. But most of the musical focus is on John Sebastian, the lead singer and songwriter, who also adds some rhythm guitar and harmonica. He's got a warm voice and a good ear for light-hearted lyrical Americana when he's not falling prey to 60s pop song cliches.The sound really was behind the times, though; there's none of the heavy rock experimentation of the Beatles, Byrds, and Yardbirds, clever orchestration of the Beach Boys, or introspective, but political lyrics of Dylan. Later the same year the band scored two more monster hits ("Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?" and "Summer In The City," their only #1), then five further ever-more-lackluster Top 40 singles until sinking into obscurity in the wake of John Sebastian's 1968 departure. (JA) John Mayall, 2ff7e9595c
Comments