Birtha "Birtha" 1972****

I recently received this LP as a present from a very good friend. Reading the sticker on the album sleeve (well, thankfully not the sleeve itself but the plastic shrink wrap), this band sounded very much like something up my alley. So why didn't I know about them until now? I'm talking to you, MOJO magazine! I've hardly missed any issues in the last 25 years, and not a word about Birtha? Shame! What is your Buried Treasure column for?

So this is one of very few all-female classic rock bands - actually, apart from them only Fanny and The Runaways come to mind. Heart were led by the Wilson sisters, but they were a mixed gender band. Their roots can be traced back to the mid 60's and L.A. teeners The Daisy Chain who released a flower power-inspired LP in 1967. The next year, bassist Rosemary Butler and lead guitarist "Shele" Pinizzotto paired with keyboardist Sherry Hagler and drummer Olivia "Liver" Favela to create Birtha, a band that sounded nothing like its predecessor. This is earthy, blues-inspired hard rock. Vocal duties are shared among the group, but it's Favela's Joplinesque blues growl that impresses the most, especially on the funky hard rocker "Too Much Woman (For a Hen Pecked Man)", an Ike & Tina Turner cover featuring a cool fuzz guitar solo and piercing shrieks. The second (and last) cover "Judgement Day" (original by Redbone) has another, more restrained, soulful vocal, but it's the organ and drum solos that steal the show here! The rest of the album is all band originals, spearheaded by lead single "Free Spirit" - another Favela-sung hard rocker with wild guitar solos. "Fine Talking Man" builds up from a subterranean bass riff to a soul belter. The singer (Rosemary?) does her best Joplin impression; even though she's a few whiskey-and-cigarette cases short from sounding like Janis, she deserves an A for effort. On the soulful "Feeling Lonely", she gives a more convincing blues/soul performance. Side 1 closes with an introspective ballad, sung by Shele. Nothing special on its own, it nevertheless provides a much needed respite from all the previous shrieking. Side 2 opens with "Work On A Dream", a literally workmanlike rocker. I like the groovy organ here, but I find the insistent harmony vocals somewhat tiresome. The album closes with the gospel-like "Forgotten Soul". Midway through the song the band switch gears, falling into a heavy groove, while Olivia's voice changes from evoking Aretha to doing Steve Marriott. Most reviewers immediately make comparisons between Birtha and Fanny, which is somewhat fair I guess. Apart from both being all-female bands from L.A. operating around the same period, soundwise there are also similarities. I'd say Birtha is the heavier of the two, going deeper into funk and hard rock territory, which I love - even though the strained vocals suggest they may be trying too hard at times. They constantly stunned audiences who didn't expect such an aggressive sound from a "chick band", which was also the selling point their marketing team tried to make - even promoting them with the "Birtha Has Balls" slogan. Attention-grabbing as it was, it may not have done the girls any favors, as it suggested they were copying male rockers rather than doing their own thing. They worked hard, relentlessly touring all over the US, Canada, and Europe, and also recording a second (allegedly inferior) album, but to no avail; so they called it quits in '75. Apart from a CD compiling both albums that surfaced some 25 years ago, nothing has been heard from them since. A controversial reissue label from Australia rectified that in 2023 by releasing this nice gatefold reissue of their debut. Whether properly licensed or not, it's nice that Birtha's music is back in circulation. Hopefully they'll get the attention they deserve this time!

**** for Free Spirit, Fine Talking Man, Feeling Lonely, Too Much Woman (For A Hen Pecked Man), Judgement Day

*** for Tuesday, She Was Good To Me, Work On A Dream, Forgotten Soul

End of the year retrospectives 2023

Another regular feature in my post (after the R.I.P.) is the End of the year retrospective. Alas, record companies neglect to send me any records to review, which means that, by the end of each year, I've listened to very few new albums. What I do is collect the retrospectives of music magazines and present their choices. I used to buy 4 music magazines every December; but now Q's publication has stopped and Classic Rock doesn't come with a CD anymore so I stopped buying that, too. I do continue presenting Classic Rock's best-of-the-year-lists however, because it's so different from MOJO and UNCUT's. These two often coincide, and this year they agree on very high placements for Lankum's False Lankum ,PJ Harvey's I Inside the Old Year Dying, and Lana Del Rey's Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. Nothing surprising about that, PJ Harvey and Del Rey have been consistently brilliant lately. Lankum I've heard on the magazines' sampler CDs and a little bit on youtube; I agree their take on Irish folk is refreshing and exciting while respecting tradition. It's rare for a folk band to top this list, but they're worth it. Speaking of folk, on the other end of the age spectrum from Lankum we have 88-year old Shirley Collins with Archangel Hill (MOJO list's No.22 and UNCUT's No.36). Can she still cut it, or is she only getting the "national treasure" treatment because of her age? It's definitely the former! As long as her artistry and composure remain intact, she doesn't need any kind of vocal prowess. This reminds me of an interview of hers a few years back: asked if she would record any Irish ballads, she answered that she wouldn't be good at it, because Irish ballads should be sung with passion while English ones call for a more restrained and dignified delivery. I found this revelatory, because I previously thought that the two musical traditions were very similar, but her observation suddenly made sense to me - which is why I share this with you, even though it's irrelevant to this specific post. Back to albums of the year, it seems that MOJO's list closed pretty early, since they didn't include the new Rolling Stones LP, Hackney Diamonds (Uncut's No.18 and Classic Rock's No.1). Their first album of new material in 18 years, and the first after Charlie Watts' demise, it evokes their glory days without ever reaching the same heights. I'd call that pretty satisfactory, nevertheless. Other old timers whose records feature among last year's best are Paul Simon, The Pretenders, John Cale, Iggy Pop, and Peter Gabriel. A lot of bands from the 80's and 90's also made well-received comebacks, Blur even topping Mojo's list. Teenage Fanclub,Yo La Tengo, Depeche Mode, and Slowdive also belong to the same category. The magazines' giveaway CD's contain many interesting samples from the year's best albums - I specifically enjoyed the tracks by Wilco, The Coral, Jason Isbell, and Robert Forster but the one that surprised me the most was the entry by Corinne Bailey Rae - a rough piece reminiscent of the Riot Grrrl movement rather than her old pop self. I just had to listen to some more samples to make sure she's being creatively eclectic rather than going through a midlife crisis. Lastly, I find it interesting that only Classic Rock acknowledged the existence of a new Metallica album - with Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance, one would expect it to fit somewhere in Mojo or Uncut's 75-album long list. I'm sure Metallica will be quite upset about that omission while they're counting the millions they earned from their latest stadium mega-tour.

 MOJO 1. Blur - The Ballad of Darren 2. PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying 3. Lankum - False Lankum 4. Robert Forster - The Candle and the Flame 5. Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy 6. Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd 7. jaimie branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) 8. Paul Simon - Seven Psalms 9. Everything But the Girl - Fuse 10. Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings 11. Wilco - Cousin 12. The Coral - Sea Of Mirrors 13. The Necks - Travel 14. Grian Chatten - Chaos For The Fly 15. BC Camplight - The Last Rotation of Earth 16. Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile 17. boygenius - the record 18. James Holden - Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities 19. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Council Skies 20. The Pretenders - Relentless 21. billy woods & Kenny Segal - Maps 22. John Cale - Mercy 23. Teenage Fanclub - Nothing Lasts Forever 24. Lisa O'Neill - All Of This Is Chance 25. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World 26. ANOHNI and the Johnsons - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross 27. Mozart Estate - Pop-Up! Ker-ching! and The Possibilities of Modern Shopping 28. Fatoumata Diawara - London Ko 29. Billy Nomates - CACTI  30. Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte 31. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin 32. Bill Orcutt - Jump On It 33. SBT - Joan Of Allay 34. Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows 35. Depeche Mode - Memento Mori 36. Shirley Collins - Archangel Hill 37. Sleaford Mods - UK GRIM 38. Gaz Coombes - Turn The Car 39. Slowdive - everything is alive 40. The Tubs - Dead Meat 41. Gina Birch - I Play My Bass Loud 42. Lloyd Cole - On Pain 43. Kassa Overall - Animals 44. Ian Hunter - Defiance, Pt. 1 45. Susanne Sundfør - blómi 46. Rickie Lee Jones - Pieces of Treasure 47. Animal Collective - Isn't It Now? 48. Dexys - The Feminine Divine 49. Osees - Intercepted Message 50. Jana Horn - The Window Is The Dream 51. Rogê - Curyman 52. Hamish Hawk - Angel Numbers 53. King Krule - Space Heavy 54. Blake Mills - Jelly Road 55. Eddie Chacon - Sundown 56. Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure 57. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Weathervanes 58. Lonnie Holley - Oh Me Oh My 59. Róisín Murphy - Hit Parade 60. Iggy Pop - EVERY LOSER 61. Baaba Maal - Being 62. Gabriels - Angels & Queens 63. Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We 64. The Lemon Twigs - Everything Harmony 65. Public Image Ltd. - End of World 66. Jonathan Wilson - Eat the Worm 67. Cécile McLorin Salvant - Mélusine 68. Billy Valentine - Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth 69. bar italia - Tracey Denim 70. Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy - O Yinne! 71. Edgar Jones - Reflections of a Soul Dimension 72. Margo Cilker - Valley Of Heart's Delight 73. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light 74. Say She She - Silver 75. Robert Finley - Black Bayou

UNCUT 1. Lankum - False Lankum 2. Paul Simon - Seven Psalms 3. Wilco - Cousin 4. PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying 5. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World 6. Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd 7. Lonnie Holley - Oh Me Oh My 8. The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein 9. Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings 10. John Cale - Mercy 11. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Weathervanes 12. Slowdive - everything is alive 13. Blur - The Ballad of Darren 14. Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows 15. Margo Cilker - Valley Of Heart's Delight 16. The Clientele - I Am Not There Anymore 17. Lisa O'Neill - All Of This Is Chance 18. The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds 19. The Coral - Sea Of Mirrors 20. Hiss Golden Messenger - Jump For Joy 21. The Necks - Travel 22. Shirley Collins - Archangel Hill 23. Sam Burton - Dear Departed 24. Robert Forster - The Candle and the Flame 25. Kassi Valazza - Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing 26. boygenius - the record 27. Matthew Halsall - An Ever Changing View 28. SBT - Joan Of All 29. Depeche Mode - Memento Mori 30. Wednesday - Rat Saw God 31. Baaba Maal - Being 32. jaimie branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) 33. Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile 34. Sunny War - Anarchist Gospel 35. Teenage Fanclub - Nothing Lasts Forever 36. Billy Valentine - Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth 37. Eddie Chacon - Sundown Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross 39. Califone - villagers 40. Israel Nash - Ozarker 41. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V 42. BC Camplight - The Last Rotation of Earth 43. Blake Mills - Jelly Road 44. Everything But the Girl - Fuse 46. Modern Nature - No Fixed Point In Space 47. Cian Nugent - She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living 48. Allison Russell - The Returner 49. Margo Price - Strays 50. Craven Faults - Standers 51. London Brew - London Brew 52. Dexys - The Feminine Divine 53. Tinariwen - Amatssou 54. Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12 55. Pretenders - Relentless 56. Cian Nugent - She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living 57. Kara Jackson - Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?58. Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada 59. Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte 60. Setting - Shone a Rainbow Light On 61. Fatoumata Diawara - London Ko 62. Deer Tick - Emotional Contracts 63. Meg Baird - Furling 64. Osees - Intercepted Message 65. Dot Allison - Consciousology 66. Jim O'Rourke - Hands That Bind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 67. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You 68. Sleaford Mods - UK GRIM 69. Alabaster DePlume - Come With Fierce Grace 70. Animal Collective - Isn't It Now? 71. Steve Gunn & David Moore - Let the Moon Be a Planet 72. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin 73. Grian Chatten - Chaos For The Fly 74. Jim Ghedi And Toby Hay - Jim Ghedi and Toby Hay 75. Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble - Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble III

   

CLASSIC ROCK 1. The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds 2. Metallica - 72 Seasons 3. Foo Fighters - But Here We Are 4. Ian Hunter - Defiance Part I 5. Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex 6. The Struts - Pretty Vicious 7. Queens Of The Stone Age - In Times New Roman 8. Mammoth WVH - Mammoth II 9. Skindred - Smile 10. The Pretenders - Relentless 11. Iggy Pop - Every Loser 12. Crowne Lands - Fearless 13. Rival Sons - Darkfighter 14. Great Van Fleet - Starcatcher 15. The Cadillac Three - The Years Go Fast 16. Ayron Jones - Chronicles Of The Kid 17. Danko Jones - Electric Sounds 18. Those Damn Crows - Inhale/Exhale 19. The Damned - Darkadelic 20. Wytch Hazel - IV: Sacrament 21. Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But A Dream 22. Sparks - The Girl Is Crying For Her Latte 23. Duff McKagan - Lighthouse 24. Extreme - Six 25. Creeper - Sanguivore 26. Joe Bonamassa - Blues Deluxe Vol 2 27. Uriah Heep - Chaos & Colour 28. Geese - 3D Country 29. Alice Cooper - Road 30. The Answer - Sundowners 31. Def Leppard - Drastic Symphonies 32. The Hives - The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons 33. Black Stone Cherry - Screamin' At The Sky 34. Maneskin - Rush 35. The Cold Stares - Voices 36. The Inspector Cluzo - Horizon 37. Peter Gabriel - i/o 38. Starbender - Take Back The Night 39. Grace Potter - Mother Road 40. Vega - Battlelines 41. Jethro Tull - Rockflote 42. Yes - Mirror In The Sky 43. Royal Thunder - Rebuilding The Mountain 44. Black Spiders - Can't Die, Won't Die 45. DeWolff - Love, Death & In Between 46. Ann Wilson & Tripsitter - Another Door 47. Brothers Osborne - Brothers Osbourne 48. The Defiants - Drive 49. Green Lung - This Heathen Land 50. Paul Rodgers - Midnight Ride