I'm in the process of re-listening and re-evaluating my record collection, in no particular order. I'll be sharing the results of my evaluation and thoughts on the music in this blog.
The re-discovery of 60's garage rock through the Lenny Kay-curated compilation Nuggetsin the late 70's gave birth to a big garage punk revival movement. Most of the revival bands focused on the wilder side of the 60's as personified by The Sonics, Standells, Count V etc. New Colony Six (NC6) though, turned out to be less influential than those groups, even though the title track of this compilation was included in the expanded Nuggets box set. The reason is something that's not normally considered a flaw: they were too meticulous in their writing and too proficient in their playing. While the average American garage band tried to make up for their lack of sophistication by playing louder and faster, NC6 relied on well-crafted original tunes, beautiful harmonies and melodic keyboards. Their name and revolutionary-era outfits were a product of their desire to be seen as "the answer to the British Invasion" - they were influenced by The Hollies, Beatles, Zombies etc. but aspired to compete with them on equal terms. This compilation on the Sundazed label focuses on NC6's early years, when they spiked their amiable pop with some real garage rock grit. Later they would score nationwide hits with some forgettable pop, but the early singles and first two LP's that provide the basis for this compilation is where they got the balance right. The band's first single "I Confess/Dawn Is Breaking" (1965) was a local hit in Chicago, side A being an infectious folk rocker and B a melodic garage pop tune with groovy organ. It was included in their 1st (and best) LP, which was optimistically titled Breakthrough(1966). Most of it is present here starting with their most memorable tune and their one fiery garage rocker "At The River's Edge", a Yardbirds-style rave-up in double tempo, with lots of harp and fuzz guitar. "A Heart Is Made Of Many Things" is a R&B tune with harmonica and their trademark harmonies that sounds like a cross between Them and The Beach Boys. There are a number of melodic mid-tempo garage rockers, which seem to be the band's specialty: "Last Nite", "I Lie Awake" and "Dawn Is Breaking" as well as a few nice ballads making the most of their sunshine pop harmonies ("Don't You Think It's Time You Stopped Your Cryin'", "I And You", "Some People Think I'm A Playboy", and the proto-psychedelic "The Time Of The Year Is Sunset"). A rockier song from the album appears here in its stereo mix from the 7' single (the Breakthrough LP was mono), and that's the Bo Diddley cover "Cadillac". The band's sophomore album Colonization (1967) shows a gradual turn to soft rock with a bigger percentage of saccharine ballads ("Sunshine", "Accept My Ring", "I'm Here Now", "The Power Of Love", "My Dreams Depend On You") and upbeat folk rock ("Love You So Much", "You're Gonna Be Mine"). The Farfisa organ which was so prominent on the first album often takes a back seat here. Still there's also some rootsy R&B ("Woman" and Lovin' Spoonful cover "Warm Baby") and bona fide garage rock ("Let Me Love You"). The CD closes with an extended version of The Yardbirds' "Mister You're A Better Man Than I". With some powerful drumming, busy bass, and nice fuzz guitar, it sounds as if the band wanted to immortalize their "tour de force" live set closer. It ends in an inadvertently funny way, with the singer reciting the lyrics in an overtly theatrical voice to make sure we all get the message of the song. When I bought this CD, I was into punkier stuff and found it too lightweight for my taste. I now appreciate it better, but it's still very much of its time: if you're feeling nostalgic for the pre-hippie mid-60's this is one for you!
***** for At The River's Edge
**** for I Confess, A Heart Is Made Of Many Things, I Lie Awake, Dawn Is Breaking, The Time Of The Year Is Sunset, Let Me Love You, Warm Baby, Woman, Mister You're A Better Man Than I
*** for Don't You Think It's Time You Stopped Your Cryin', Last Nite, I And You, Cadillac, Sunshine, Love You So Much, You're Gonna Be Mine, The Power Of Love
** for Some People Think I'm A Playboy, Accept My Ring, My Dreams Depend On You, I'm Here Now
This double LP was one of the nicest presents I got for this year's Covid-miserable birthday. A beautifuledition with gatefold cover and olive-colored 180 gram vinyl. No lyric booklet though, which I found strange since this is famously Dylan's first collection of new songs since winning the Nobel prize for literature. You'd think the lyrics would be of some interest to record buyers, right? The first couple of singles from the album surfaced during the first and strictest lockdown, ideally for dylanologists to have ample time to dissect every tiny nuance. And there are so many of them, an unstoppable torrent of words about everything from The Rolling Stones to JFK to Shakespeare to... dick sizes. Some reviewers were especially impressed with the latter reference - like schoolchildren when the teacher says a bad word. I myself found the wordplay often inspired, and enjoyed all these historical and cultural references, but at first listen I didn't dwell too much on the lyrics. Songwriting isn't literature, you can't stop and ponder the meaning of a verse while you listen to the song. Musically, a lot of the songs here consist of Dylan effectively rhythmically reading his poems with subtle acoustic accompaniment. Songs in this category include "Black Rider" with its minimal Spanish guitar backing, "Mother of Muses"'s Celtic melody and Gothic fantasy "My Own Version Of You" with its eerie waltz-like motif playing in the background. "I contain Multitudes" is likewise poetry reading with a wistful musical backing, just like the 17-minute long "Murder Most Foul", which is inspired by the John Kennedy assassination. The latter has a richer instrumentation with piano and violin, but the music is nevertheless secondary to the recitation. I was more drawn to the more conventional tunes incorporating well-worn blues and folk melodies and riffs. The quality of his backing band, intelligence of the lyrics and Dylan's assured delivery more than make up for the lack of musical originality. Roots music is, after all, the most suitable vehicle for a veritable institution like Dylan. What did you expect, techno? "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" is, of course, a blues shuffle with harmonica reminiscent of the titular bluesman. "False Prophet" and "Crossing the Rubicon" are two more electric blues tunes, while "Give Myself To You" and accordion-led "Key West" are closer to the classic American Songbook tunes he covered in his last 3 records, as well as reminiscent of some Dire Straitsballadry (think "Romeo and Juliet"). Like every album of new Dylan material in the last 25 years, ...Rowdy Ways was hailed as an artistic triumph and topped many of 2020's Best-Of lists. Personally I don't think it adds much to Dylan's impressive body of work, other than re-confirm his status as a master lyricist. Maybe post-Nobel prize there was some pressure to deliver an "important" work - if Dylan ever feels the pressure of people's expectations - which prioritized the lyrics and made the music seem as a bit of an afterthought. Not that the album is ever less than sonically pleasant: there's some understated but classy playing, and Dylan's raspy voice carries more warmth now than the nasal and whiny instrument of his youth. In any case this may not be the masterpiece most critics make it to be, but neither is it one I would advise skipping. A middling Dylan album still has a lot to reveal if you listen carefully and are in the right frame of mind.
**** for False Prophet, My Own Version of You, I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, Key West (Philosopher Pirate), Murder Most Foul
*** for I Contain Multitudes, Black Rider, Mother of Muses, Crossing the Rubicon
My first contact with Captain Beefheart was in my late teens: I bought Trout Mask Replica from a street seller at the Monastiraki flea market, real cheap. Later I found out why: the album is a double LP, but my copy only had one record inside. At the time I only had a hazy notion about it being 60's psychedelia, which couldn't prepare me for the shock of the cacophony within. This was nothing like Jefferson Airplane, my gold standard of U.S. psychedelia at the time! I gave it some time in case it grew on me but, with the exception of "Ella Guru" and "Dachau Blues", I still found it unlistenable and promptly sold it. It took another decade for me to try again, this time with a more conventional introduction: this Best Of- collection. Once again I wasn't sufficiently informed: this compilation only covers his years with Virgin Records (1974-1984), bypassing his earlier (and some of his best) records. Whether the song choices represent the best of that period I cannot comment, since I haven't heard all of the original albums in their entiriety But what is here is in my opinion very good, even though many critics and Beefheart fans dismiss some of it as "too commercial". The compilers have tried to mix the straight blues/pop tunes with the more experimental ones, and also interspersed various song snippets and spoken word edits, supposedly hoping to create a more even and cohesive collection. I must admit it worked on me: I still don't like the short snippets, but I found the CD as a whole quite listenable. For the purposes of this presentation, though, we'll look at the tracks in chronological order, starting with the Captain's most maligned album: Unconditionally Guaranteed(1974) made its commercial intentions clear from the cover, featuring the Captain clutching dollar bills with both hands. Here, we get 4 tracks from it: the first is blues-rock "Sugar Bowl", with a vocal strangely reminiscent of Ray Manzarek - and you know that singing wasn't Ray's strong suit. Nice to hear that harmonica, though! "I Got Love On My Mind" is straight Motown-style soul à la The Four Tops.
"Happy Love Song" is another R&B song with horns. It would be a perfect vehicle for someone like Joe Cocker but sounds like a weird choice for Beefheart. "This Is the Day" is an absolutely gorgeous ballad with fantastic guitar, while this time the vocal emulates the right Door: Jim Morrison. Which is fine by me, but here's the rub: is still doesn't sound like Captain Beefheart. And, while there's lots of singers who can carry an emotive ballad, there's only one Beefheart. Despite the fact that this album wasn't well received, he had another one in the works: Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) was cut from the same cloth, but with a new band. "Pompadour Swamp" is slow Dr. John-like funk, and "Further Than We've Gone" is a ballad with Barry White-like vocals, cool piano and a clean guitar solo à la Dire Straits. Haters call this particular incarnation of The Magic Band "The Tragic Band" which is completely unfair because their playing is really good. So what if they sound very professional and predictable? It's exactly what these particular songs call for. I don't know how you can dis a record containing a majestic ballad like "Observatory Crest", buteverybody put this album down, too. Beefheart responded by retiring for the next 4 years. He would never again try approaching mainstream audiences.
When his next LP Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978) appeared, it was in a completely changed music landscape, transformed by the advent of punk and new wave. Opener "The Floppy Boot Stomp" shows off what made him unique in the first place which was previously suppressed in his bid for commercial success:His blues roots are evident in the excellent slide guitar but this is no Clapton-like blues rock. It's avant-garde music, growling vocals and polyrhythmic drumming far removed from the "classic rock" the punk rockers were rebelled against. Which is why one hears his influence all over Pere Ubu, P.I.L., The Fall and other punk/post-punk bands. Even more evident is his influence on Tom Waits' work from there on. In Tom's own words "Once you've heard Beefheart, it's hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood". If it wasn't for Beefheart's influence, Waits would probably have remained the barfly balladeer of the 70's and never would have made the wonderful and idiosynchratic records he did later on. "Tropical Hot Dog Night" is even better: dadaistic lyrics ("like two flamingos in a fruit fight", what's that about?), freakyLatin beats you think you can dance to, and snappy sax riffs...weird, yet perfectly addictive. "Candle Mambo" is its more experimental littleLatin Jazz cousin, and "Harry Irene" a bit of mutantcabaret featuring accordion and a... whistling solo. In these two he avoids the vocal acrobatics and goes for a sing-talking style. "Love Lies" is what I guess his ballads from the previous albums would sound like if they weren't harnessed into something more easily digestible: a repetitive blues motiff with free jazz sax and emotive singing that varies from whispers to Joe Cocker-like soul grit to painful growls and shrieks. And yet, melodic and emotional as a love song should be.
Doc at the Radar Station (1980) is another vinyl I used to have and sold, as I wasn't too impressed with it at the time. Re-listening to some tracks from it which are included here I can see why: "Run Paint Run Run" initially sounds like cacophony of percussion and sax, growls and shouts. Only the recurring title chanted by the band in unison is memorable and urgent. Yet when you listen to it enough times all the disparate elements lock together. I now like it quite a lot. "Sheriff of Hong Kong" is somewhat funkier with a catchy guitar riff, but makes for even more difficult listening. The cryptically titled instrumental "A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond" is the least challenging of the three tracks from Doc... included here - a strummed Rennaisence-style melody that one might even call pretty.
Ice Cream for Crow (1982) turned out to be Beefheart's last LP. For the last 3 dacades of his life, he'd retire to a trailer home in the desert and only express himself artistically through painting - and quite successfully, too. From that album, we get "The Past Sure Is Tense". The vocal is certainly as out-there as any he's done, all shouts and yelps and whatnot, but there's a nice rhythm to it, and bluesy elements in the guitar and harp reminiscent of the Captain's early days as a blues growler. Great stream of consciousness lyrics too! The same is true for "The Host, the Ghost, the Most Holy-O", though the choppy rhythms and derranged preacher vocals render it less approachable for the uninitiated. "Light Reflected Off The Oceans Of The Moon" is an impressive free jazz instrumental. Don't let the serene title fool you, this is noisy, feral stuff which few will enjoy.
Which completes the presentation of the individual tracks. On this compilation they all sound slightly different than the original studio versions, with short (around 10 seconds long) spoken word or instrumental edits from other Beefheart songs uppended to their front end. This rarely works in favour of the song but helps somewhat in homogenizing the two very distinct facets of the artist presented here. Regarding this particular compilation, if you'd ask me whether it is a good collection of tunes, I'd say Yes, absolutely! Is it a good summary of Beefheart's work? No way! It leaves out his early blues stuff, his most famous experimental work Trout Mask Replica, and a series of great albums that are sonically in the middle and therefore among his most enjoyable. But would I recommend it as an introduction to the artist? Yes I would! Despite many fans' and critics' rejection of his more mainstream songs, I believe the ones included here are excellent and should appeal to a broad spectrum of listeners. Should you not get turned off by the weirder ones, you'll probably get hooked and be ready to delve in the Captain's wider catalogue. Fans of Frank Zappa or late-period Tom Waits will discover a kindred spirit there. Otherwise you're left with half an album's worth of amiabe 70's blues rock and another half-album of more challenging, yet still listenable, avant garde, which is enough for the simply curious.
***** for Tropical Hot Dog Night, Observatory Crest
**** for The Past Sure Is Ten,e, The Floppy Boot Stomp, Bluejeans and Moonbeams, Run Paint Run Run, This Is the Day, Harry Irene, I Got Love on My Mind, Love Lies, Further Than We've Gone
*** for Sugar Bowl, Happy Love Song, The Host the Ghost the Most Holy-O, Pompadour Swamp, Sheriff of Hong Kong, Candle Mambo, A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond
Another album from a recent J-rock batch I ordered on a whim. I already had a few Japanese rock albums in my collection (and have reviewed some here), mostly relating to garage/psychedelia: stuff by The Mops, Flower Travelling Band and certain CD reissues of rare psychedelic/prog albums. But I realize that these latter ones were just cult artists valued by collectors, not really the face of popular Japanese rock. So I found a discogs seller with relatively good shipping prices and a large J-rock selection, and I semi-randomly ordered a few LP's. While browsing on the subject, I saw Carmen Maki mentioned in sites as either the "Japanese Grace Slick" or "Japanese Joplin", so when I saw this album for sale I decided to get it. Looking into her bio, I was surprised to find that Maki (full name: Maki Annette Lovelace) wasn't originally a Japanese national - she only became one in 1993. She was an American, the daughter of an American father and Japanese mother. Because of her mixed race, her facial features looked equally exotic to Westerners and Japanese alike, which I couldn't have guessed. Furthermore -for whatever reason- she got a Korean education, in a strict Korean private school for girls which she dropped out of to follow her artistic muse. Her very first single made her a big pop star at the age of 18, but she turned her style around after being introduced to rock -and Janis Joplin in particular- in 1970. She made a heavy blues album with Blues Creation, before forming Oz in 1972 with some talented rock musicians including 18-year old guitar prodigy Hirofumi Kasuga. This is their 3rd and last studio LP together, and as I found out later it's considered their "ugly duckling", or at least the least popular one. Certainly the opener "Nankai kōro" (南海航路) is a pleasant but unimpressive mid-tempo tune. I do like the instrumental bridge with its nice organ and guitar solos, as well as the ending coda. Blues ballad "Rabu Song O Utau Mae Ni" (Love Song を唄う前に) is a good showcase of Maki's mellower style, while wild rocker "Toriaezu" (とりあえずロックンロール) is where she deploys the full power of her voice, Joplin comparisons making sense for the first time. "26 No toki" (26の時) is another perfunctory effort, only saved by the fiery guitar solo at the end. Side 2 opens with excellent hard rocker "Sora e" (空へ, "To The Sky"), followed by acoustic ballad "Machikado" (街角). I couldn't get into the latter one because of the following problem: If Japanese-language hard rock takes some getting used to, it isn't much different in this respect than Spanish, Russian, or any other non-English rock. But ballads, especially by female singers, sound a bit too exotic to me. They conjure images of smoke-filled nightclubs full of American GI's killing time between assignments in Korea or Vietnam. Am I alone in this? Well yes, I suppose I have seen too many war movies. At almost 14 minutes, "Mukashi" (昔) is arguably the album's centerpiece. A progressive piece with heavy and atmospheric melodic passages, it blew my mind during its last minutes with Maki vocalizing wordlessly over the band's psychedelic rock improvisations. I don't know whether they were trying to emulate Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig In The Sky", but I did get a similar vibe. After all this, the album ends anticlimactically with a baby crying and a short lullaby called "Age". The album cover is a rather un-rock'n'roll black & white photo of the band dressed in their Sunday best (or whatever is the equivalent in Japan), while my LP also contains a nice 8-page booklet with song lyrics (in untranslated Japanese) and photos, including what appears to be baby Maki's family photo. Apparently the girl got her good looks from her mother! Ultimately, even if this LP isn't a truly great one, it's certainly worth having: it's consistently listenable, contains excellent musicianship and some really cool moments scattered throughout the record. Now I need to find Maki's other, better acclaimed, albums and prepare my next order from Japan...
**** for 空へ (Sora e), 昔 (Mukashi)
*** for 南海航路 (Nankai kōro), Love Song を唄う前に (Rabu Song O Utau Mae Ni), とりあえずロックンロール (Toriaezu), 26の時 (26 No toki),
