Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Having withdrawn from The Beach Boys following 1971's Surf's Up , Brian Wilson instead devoted "some" of his time to the girl group sounds of his wife Marilyn and sister in law Diane Rovell, both former members of The Honeys. In May of 1972, as Spring ("American Spring" outside the US), they released a record that absolutely vanished There are only two used copies of the CD for sale at Amazon and both are prices at just under $130.
Brian with his wife and 2/3's of Wilson Phillips
This is a collector's item because it gives us some insight into Brian's frame of mind during his missing years. Marilyn said at the time "The idea was to record all the songs that we ever loved. Brian helped out in all departments--he sang, arranged most of the backgrounds, wrote some of the songs and picked the material. He was very emotional throughout and would cry at the sessions because he liked a song so much he couldn't believe it."
Among the songs Brian picked were Carole King's "Now That Everything's Been Said", Tommy Roe's "Everybody", Delaney and Bonnie's "Superstar", The Shirelles's "Mama Said" and three songs from the Wilson Brothers. Two came from Dennis Wilson. "Fallin In Love" ( recorded as "Lady" on Pacific Ocean Blue) and "Forever" from The Beach Boys album Sunflower. Also from Sunflower came "This Whole World" with an extra bridge ("Starlight/Star Bright"). That's the song The Mojo Collection-The Greatest Albums Of All Time calls the highlight of this mostly unheard album..."as fine as anything Brian Wilson ever produced"
Listening to the album I was struck by how commercial it must have seemed to at least a few United Artists record execs. After all didn't Carole King just re-record a whole bunch of girl group songs for Tapestry?
History proved them wrong but this is still an absolute delight of an album.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
That was actually a problem within the band. As Wally put it many years later "What had always been happening was that Eric would want our songs to sound like The Beach Boys, The Who or The Beatles. He'd say 'Play a Who drum roll there, or play a Townshend guitar riff here'. I wanted us to be The Raspberries."
The Raspberries would record four sensational albums in the 70's : their debut, Fresh, Side 3 and Starting Over. When the last one sold poorly, the band broke up and the American Badfinger went down in history as the fathers of Power Pop
Friday, May 4, 2012
Joy of Cooking is overdue for that kind of reappraisal that plucks great artists from the past and makes them the new big thing. And not just because two women led this band of confident purveyors of in-the-groove-boogie or that some of the lyrics offered feminist takes on love lost and gained. Joy of Cooking simply rocked.
"The one outfit so far that can compete with top-level male band quality is Joy of Cooking, and it is only partly female. The group is owned and led by two 32-year-old women. Terry Garthwaite, a tough rock singer, plays electric guitar and sings with a scratchy authority that can suggest Janis Joplin. Her partner, Toni Brown, a pretty Bennington graduate, sings, stomps around the stage, plays electric piano and organ, and writes songs about what it is like to be a woman ("Time goes, and the baby keeps growin', and I can't help knowin', baby I love you"). The girls —backed by three males, Fritz Kasten, 27, drums, Ron Wilson, 37, congas, and Jeff Neighbor, 28, bass—produce a reasonably rich mixture of blues, wailing gospel and riffs of pure country, folk and hard rock, all curiously overlaid with Latin conga rhythms."
Formed in Berkeley during the hippie era, Joy Of Cooking had to wait four years before recording their major label debut. They spent a lot of that time playing house parties, finding the grooves of their songs and making them last for the people enjoying the show. We only got three initial Joy Of Cooking albums. Castles , released in May of 1972, was the last. It earned an A- from critic Robert Christgau who wrote "the music has grown crisper and fuller while continuing to flow as swimmingly as you'd hope."
Toni and Terry each had kids in the 70's. Both moved on. Toni is a full time artist. Terry has been exploring the healing power of music. In 2006, the two put together a Joy of Cooking compliation made of unreleased tunes and a live concert.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The songs Springsteen played in his audition were MARY QUEEN OF ARKASAS ( two takes), SAINT IN THE CITY, JAZZ MUSICIAN (two takes), IF I WAS A PRIEST, ARABIAN NIGHTS, GROWIN' UP, DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET?, TWO HEARTS IN TRUE WALTZ TIME, STREET QUEEN, ANGELS, SOUTHERN SUN and COWBOY OF THE SEA. The Mary, Saint, Bus and Growin' Up demos all appear on the 1998 box set Tracks.
Hammond, who also discovered Bob Dylan and Stevie Ray Vaughan, said “I couldn’t believe it. I reacted with a force I’ve felt maybe three times in my life. I knew at once that he would last a generation.”
Hammond took the tapes to his boss, Clive Davis, who found Springsteen's act "amusing". They offered Bruce a $25k advance to record his debut album, fully expecting to get a singer-songwriter effort because that was the only thing selling in 1972. Instead Bruce went back to Jersey and gathered together the boys in his band. And the rest is history...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
At the time, Stone the Crows was a band on the rise, in the midst of recording what would be their top selling album Ontinuous Performance. Harvey and the band backed "Britain's answer to Janis Joplin" and Harvey's girlfriend, Maggie Bell, who would win the 1972 NME Pop Poll for Best Female Singer. (That's Maggie who goes toe to toe with Rod Stewart on "Every Picture Tells A Story").
After some time off the band finished recording Ontinuous Performance adding a new song , "Sunset Cowboy" written for Les. Ex Thunderclap Newman guitarist Jimmy McCullouch took Harvey's place until the band broke up the following year and he joined Wings.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
But dig it. Randy Newman invented "Snark". When Newman uses the politician's throwaway applause line "It's great to be an American", it's coming from a slave trader trying to get Africans on a boat setting sail for Charleston in "Sail Away".
There is something for everybody on this album. Play "Simon Smith and The Amazing Dancing Bear" for the kids and "Dayton, Ohio-1903" for the grandparents ( and iced tea fans). C'mon! He calls Cleveland the "city of light, city of magic" in a song about the Cuyahoga River catching fire. Have you been to Cleveland?
Anyway, the version of another classic Sail Away cut, "Political Science", you'll hear is from a 1974 live show in Sausalito,CA . Randy was out pushing the follow up Good Ole Boys at the time. Another magnificent album that would be as misinterpreted and forgotten as Newman's anti-prejudice anthem "Short People" would be in 1977.
Newman still records the occasional pop album but we've mostly lost him to the movie soundtrack business. He's been nominated for twenty Academy Awards, winning twice.
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