Wednesday, April 25, 2007

WELCOME TO THE NEW AND IMPROVED BLITZ WEB SITE!


GROOVIN': Booker T. And The MGs' founder and keyboardsman Booker T. Jones, shown above as he headlined at the thirtieth annual Detroit Jazz Festival over the Labor Day weekend, released the acclaimed Potato Hole CD in 2009. Potato Hole will be one of the releases prominently featured in the Blitz Awards For 2009, coming soon. Photo by Audrey McDowell (Click on image to enlarge).


THE INTERNET HOME FOR BLITZ MAGAZINE -
THE ROCK AND ROLL MAGAZINE FOR THINKING PEOPLE


Welcome to the new and improved official web site for Blitz, The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People. Since 1975, Blitz has been the leading voice for the discerning music enthusiast. Blitz Magazine has also been online since January 1996.


Here you will find news and updates about all of the key artists essential to the growth and development of rock and roll music and related genres, including rhythm and blues, country and western, jazz and easy listening. For highlights from recent past editions of the Bits And Pieces and Shape Of Things To Come columns, click on the archival postings on the right hand side of this page. Be sure and check back frequently for regular updates.


If you have any questions, please e-mail us at BlitzMcD@aol.com.

Michael McDowell
Editor/Publisher
Blitz Magazine
Since 1975 - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People
P.O. Box 626
Dearborn Heights, Michigan 48127 - 0626 USA.


E-Mail us at BlitzMcD@aol.com for a list of available back issues.


Now on Blitz's website: Long time Blitz contributor Beverly Paterson's exclusive interview with Tony Roumell, lead guitarist for the pioneering first generation garage band, the Underdogs. See interview below.


BREAKING NEWS: GOSPEL ROCK PIONEER CARMAN HAS OPTED TO RETURN TO WORK DESPITE RECENT MAJOR HEALTH SCARE. UPDATED DETAILS IN THE BITS AND PIECES COLUMN BELOW.

Also in the Bits And Pieces column, Peter Rechter, co-founder of the Melbourne, Victoria garage rock pioneers Peter And The Silhouettes and the Tol-Puddle Martyrs, discusses the making of this latest CD in an exclusive interview in the Bits And Pieces column below.

Also in the Bits And Pieces column, the beloved veteran trio of musical satirists, APO Hiking Society is calling it quits after forty-one years. Group founder Jim Paredes explains in a Blitz exclusive. We also pay tribute to the landmark accomplishments of the late Del-Fi Records founder, Bob Keane. And country music's renaissance man, Bill Anderson discusses with Blitz his current venture in the studio, prepping his follow up to his highly acclaimed Whisperin' Bluegrass collection.

And in the Reissues/Anthologies section of The Shape Of Things To Come column, Highwaymen cofounder Steve Butts provides first person insight about The Cambridge Tapes, a landmark (and heretofore unreleased) October 1963 concert that rightfully reiterates the Highwaymen's status as folk music visionaries.


Also in the Reissues/Anthologies section of The Shape Of Things To Come column, we examine the atmosphere of celebration that characterizes Bite My Foot, Folk Era's latest installment in the reissue of rare recordings by the late Kingston Trio banjoist, John Stewart. Such festivity is tempered with relatively more cerebral concerns in Live In '65, Appleseed's two CD collection of a previously unissued concert recording by folk rock pioneer Pete Seeger. The vision of the late SSS International Records founder Shelby Singleton is celebrated with the release of Do Your Duty, a compelling collection of classic SSS International and Silver Fox sides by veteran R&B great Bettye LaVette. Folk rock pioneer Janis Ian offers insights on her just released 2CD anthology, The Essential Janis Ian. Blitz editor/publisher Michael McDowell celebrates the long overdue release of Think Rational!, a near comprehensive collection of the early work of the Rationals on Big Beat. 7Ts Records provides a superb two-fer CD collection of the Candida and Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando albums by Dawn. Folk music legends, the Gateway Singers are also the subject of one of the most celebrated reissues of the year with the Folk Era label's Live At Stanford, 1957. We also take a closer look at the comprehensive collection, Instrumental Hits With Strings And Things on Big Beat's parent company, Ace Records. We in turn celebrate Super Oldies Records' release of The Best Of Franklin Records 1967 - 1972, a comprehensive two-CD overview of the pioneering Winnipeg, Manitoba label. We also examine the reissue of many of the classic Western Africa Calypso 78s in the Honest Jon's label collection: Marvellous Boy and Gear Fab's release of the rare 1969 debut album by Chaplin Harness.

Likewise in the New Releases portion of The Shape Of Things To Come column below, first generation garage band survivors the Doughboys keep the flame burning with their just issued Act Your Rage collection. Pianist Fred Simon successfully bridges a variety of gaps both in and out of jazz circles with his latest release, Since Forever. Manual Scan/Shambles co-founder Bart Mendoza presents the best of up and coming San Diego music in the Various Artists collection, Staring At The Sun, Volume Seven. Mendoza also contributes to Wait Another Day, the most recent outing by the Anna Troy Band. The Electric Prunes present a fitting commemorative for the tour that never was, with the California 66 compilation celebrating their ill fated tour with Love's Johnny Echols and the late Seeds cofounder, Sky Saxon. Folksinger/songwriter Anne Hills draws from the songbooks of Leonard Cohen and Peter Mayer to complement her mostly original material in her engaging new Appleseed release, Points Of View. Actor/musician Ronny Cox furthers the latter aspect of his career with his seventh release, Songs...With Repercussions. Veteran trumpeter Chris Pasin emerges from a protracted sabbatical with a still ahead of its time release of his 1987 Detour Ahead sessions. Virtuoso pianist Eldar Djangirov also keeps the hard bop ethic vital with his latest for Sony, Virtue. Conversely, renowned bassoonist Daniel Smith tackles the most challenging standards by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Robert Johnson, the Horace Silver Quintet and others in his remarkable new release, Blue Bassoon. All this and more in the new releases section of The Shape Of Things To Come column.

EDITORIAL


GUEST EDITORIAL

CALIFORNIA ’66 - THE DE-TOUR:
BULLET THROUGH THE BACKSEAT -
ROCK NEVER CHANGES
By James Lowe

Editor’s note: The history of rock and roll is full of tales of deals gone sour. Labels that didn’t properly promote or pay an artist. Radio stations that heeded the advice of consultants, rather than the input offered by their listeners. And tours that imploded due to mismanagement.

The recent, ill fated California ’66 Tour was an example of one such seemingly promising development that had gone awry. The idea behind the tour was to bring together several of the leading visionaries of garage band and psychedelic rock to join forces and celebrate the fruits of their labors. The original lineup included the Electric Prunes, the Seeds’ Sky Saxon and Love’s John Echols, backed by Baby Lemonade.

But sadly, the tour was not meant to be. Saxon’s unexpected passing on 25 June was the first of many negative developments that prematurely derailed the tour before it barely got underway.

The following Blitz Magazine exclusive, a first person account from Electric Prunes co-founder and lead vocalist James Lowe with regards to the California ’66 Tour, contains valuable lessons for aspiring musicians, as well as critical insights for observers and students alike.

They say the road to h—– is paved with good intentions. When it comes to our recent tour concept of California ’66, the asphalt machine was set to lock and load.

We always thought that if we could get three bands with like presentations from the ’60s together, there might be a chance that an audience could be roused to attend a show or two simply by crowding the bill a bit. We have seen how hard it is to actually get people off the sofa to come down to a club or venue to see this type of act. This was the idea behind California ’66: a three group attack with California bands from the ’60s was planned, with the Electric Prunes, Love and Sky Saxon.

Back in January 2009, we actually were contacted by a lawyer from Washington D.C., with the offer that he would like to promote just such a tour. We made suggestions as to whom the other acts might be and, at his behest, gave the guy our estimate of what the out of pocket expenses for a tour for two weeks would cost.

This included back line (the equipment on stage), transportation (both bus rental and or van rental), back line technicians (drum tech plus guitar tech), per diems, hotel rooms and air transport. Our drummer is sponsored by Premier Drums. So we mentioned he could get his drums for free as long as a set up charge ($250.00) was paid. At that time, we suggested the promoter get some sponsorship to pick up part of the tab for the trip. We knew it would be hard to make venue fees pay for everything and this seemed a viable way to help pull it off.

This seemed a pretty comprehensive tally for an eastern trip. The only thing left out was the cost of the musical acts, since we had no idea what Sky Saxon or Love would want and we were willing to shrink or stretch our nightly fees to help make the tour doable.

We even had a meeting in Los Angeles with the promoter, members of our band and Love. At the meeting, it was mentioned that the other band needed $3,400 per man for the two week schedule. This seemed okay to us, since there were fourteen dates and we were willing to go along with that. We needed separate hotel rooms for our band, simply because it is hard to drive all day and play all night with the same people. So a hotel room becomes your only privacy. This was agreed to, as well as our equipment rider, which spells out each piece of gear we need for a show and per diems for the musicians to eat on the road.

The promoter began booking dates. Usually, bands get a guarantee against door proceeds. This insures you can pay for transportation, hotel rooms, etc. and have a chance to earn a little more if the venue fills up. We were under the impression some form of sponsorship was to be included to help out. Well, we later learned there was no sponsorship, and to our amazement, there were no guarantees, only the prospect of something if the tickets sold.

Why would the venue do anything to promote a show if they were not paying anything for the three acts? If someone showed up, great, if not, they were out nothing. Why risk anything on what was essentially a "free" show? Fourteen shows were booked under this "door only" concept. When we heard this, we offered that we had never gotten anything from door proceeds in all the years we had been playing. Apparently, no one heard.

To the promoter's credit, he hired a public relations firm and opened a website. They set about building a fire. (Electric Prunes co-founder and bassist) Mark (Tulin) and I went on a mission to do radio shows, promos, and interviews with numerous outlets to support the tour. I set about doing artwork and creating merchandise to support California ’66. We put our positive foot forward to try and create some interest in the tour.

We are not stupid. We kept asking, “How this was going to work?”

Maybe he had a hidden sponsor. Maybe he was willing to pull the money out of his pocket for the overages. As we got closer to the dates, we started getting "red flag" e-mails from the promoter: "Why do you need more than twenty-five dollars a day to eat on?”, "If any of you know people you can stay with in any of these cities, please do", " I have ordered a drum kit for Love, why do you (the Electric Prunes) have to have one, too?", "Do you really need separate rooms?" "A bus and driver is too expensive".

Well, we know things don't always go as planned. So we tried to help solve problems and sent the promoter a connection for a splitter van that would hold one group and the equipment. That van was assigned to Love for some reason and the promoter said he was now looking for one for us. The first question we asked was, “Who was going to drive them?” I assumed the back line technicians.

As we looked at the schedule of playing almost every night, we began to see that some dates were a play and jump in the vans and try to make it to the next venue.

One drive was 1200 miles, an almost impossible schedule. When we asked about this, the promoter offered that he would be driving and would pull over if he needed sleep. Well, if you remember, there were two vans. How was he going to drive both? What would we be doing while he was sleeping? I guess the equipment technicians could drive?

But then came the surprise: there would be no technicians. They were too expensive. The promoter would set up the gear, even though he had never done it before. Talk about impossible! All I could see was cardiac arrest.

And we would not be renting hotel rooms ahead of time. We will roll into towns (in the summer) and assume we can get a good deal for twelve hotel rooms on a moment’s notice! And that drum kit from Premier, if you want it, you get it. And that other splitter van, you rent it and you pay back the airline tickets to get you to the east coast and you pay for your separate hotel rooms.

And by the way, there is no money for the musicians. We will pay them if anything is left over at the end of the tour. Of course we have no idea at this point what the expenses are. And since our guys would be taking vacation days from their regular jobs to do this, they could not go out for nothing, could they? Actually, much to our amazement, our guys offered to do one week for nothing. Our idea was to pare down the schedule so it wasn't so costly. The answer came back that this was "not negotiable". It was all fourteen of the dates or nothing.

Looking back, I can't see why we hung on for so long. Maybe it was because it was our idea and we had fronted three thousand dollars for tour merchandise. Or because we had gone to Sky and Love and had arranged for them to contribute special cuts for a California ’66 tour CD. The final nail in the coffin came when the promoter told us that we should feel lucky to be out playing live for people and that other bands would give their eye teeth to be doing this.

I kept seeing us standing by the road in New Jersey, trying to hitch back to California when the promoter ran out of gas money. We were faced with dropping out of our own tour, a disappointment to those who had ordered tickets and a blind sided direct hit to our band. Even if the promoter didn't realize it, we knew he would be ruined if he attempted to do this with three groups. We had no choice but to drop out.

The warning is that if it smells funny, it could be fish. I don't think there was any malice involved here. But good intentions could not outweigh bad decisions and ignorance. Professionals such as doctors and lawyers sometimes think they can automatically transfer knowledge from one discipline to another. Tour promoting might be fun, ha, ha! A lot of work and a very specialized set of skills to pull it off. Mitigating circumstances, I think lawyers would say.

All along, we tried our best to offer our experience as a guideline. But were ignored or rebuffed by the promoter. He felt that he knew best. When we looked at what had been set up, we had to bail. We can take pain, and have many times. But our guys were not going out to play for nothing. It was insulting to think everything else would be paid first before the guys actually making the music got anything. Does that tell you something about respect?

We played two dates on the tour that we had brought into the schedule and knew they had gone to a lot of work to promote. We decided that if we were going to give our services away, WE would be the ones to give it. Fortunately, Fairfield, Connecticut, a benefit for a public radio station WPKN and the Wooly Weekend Festival in Montreal were able to get together and get us there to play two nights. The Montreal promoter contacted us after our apology e-mail and informed us he had put the equity in his house up as collateral for the show and people had planned trips around his event (and we couldn't let this guy lose his house!). We played. Fairfield showed us that this three act concept could work. Thanks to the Blues Magoos for filling the bill for Sky Saxon.

As I look at the California ’66 CD, posters, buttons, and gig cards, I wonder what we were thinking? Maybe we should have seen it coming when Sky Saxon died in the midst of the planning. Maybe he was trying to tell us something. Maybe we were just betting too much on our own idea.

We had suspended reality and reason for hope. Hope is a wonderful thing. But when they dump that load of hot asphalt on your head, you'll know that you should have been paying attention.


The lesson: In every crash test dummy's heart, there is a desire to not have it happen again or to at least learn from the experience. Here is what I learned: Don't get involved with people that are doing this for the first time, unless you want to do ten times as much work and end up at the side of the road. Negotiate your fee first.


Later, you will be called a wanker anyway. So you might as well be a paid wanker. Never fail to realize how cool your band mates are. They really came through with some more than fair suggestions and compromises. They ROCK!

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE UNDERDOGS



The Underdogs (left to right): Rhythm guitarist Chris Lena, lead guitarist Tony Roumell, drummer Michael J. Morgan and lead vocalist/bassist Dave Whitehouse. (Click on image to enlarge)

THE UNDERDOGS, PART ONE:
AN INTERVIEW WITH
LEAD GUITIARIST TONY ROUMELL
Introduction by Michael McDowell
Interview by Beverly Paterson


Amongst scholars and aficionados of first generation garage and psychedelic rock, there is a general consensus that Southeastern Michigan was the genre’s premier hotbed of creativity. And while geography at best is in reality a peripheral component of such an equation, the immense body of work that survives indeed serves as ample testimony to support the hypothesis.


To an extent, companies with the benefit of national exposure factored in the development of the movement, evidenced by the Human Beings’ Because I Love Her on Warner Brothers, the Woolies’ Duncan And Brady and Who Do You Love on Dunhill and the various 45s released by the Tidal Waves and the Unrelated Segments on HBR and Liberty. However, the vast majority of the essential releases came from such independent labels as Palmer, Detroit Sound, Panik, SVR, Hideout, Dearborn, Teen Town, Maltese, A-Square, Impact, Sound, Lucky Eleven and Enterprise.


Of those, two labels in particular quickly emerged as area front runners. The late Hugh “Jeep” Holland’s Ann Arbor-based A-Square Records and the late Dave Leone’s Hideout Records drew considerable attention and generated ongoing influence; not only for their sheer volume of superlative output, but for serving as the launching pad for the careers of a number of artists who went on to considerable acclaim elsewhere.


To that effect, A-Square brought large scale attention to the Scot Richard Case in mid-1967 with their definitive cover of Skip James’ I’m So Glad. The Scot Richard Case signed with Capitol the following year and became key figures of progressive rock as SRC. A-Square also issued the earliest singles by the highly influential Rationals, whose tremendous legacy was chronicled in the Big Beat label’s Think Rational! collection earlier this year.


And while their recorded output was not as prolific, the trio of A-Square singles by the Thyme prompted Date Records to issue the Zombies’ Time Of The Season as a single from the Odessey And Oracle album when it appeared that the Thyme’s cover was destined for chart success. The Thyme nonetheless did succeed in their own right when Bang Records picked up their version of the Monkees’ Love To Love.


Still, it was Leone’s Hideout label (named after the fabled live music venue, which was located at Eight Mile Road and Harper Road in suburban Harper Woods) whose contributions to the movement were the most far reaching and sustaining. To wit, the Pleasure Seekers’ Never Thought You’d Leave Me single earned the ambitious band a contract with Chicago’s Mercury Records. Following the Pleasure Seekers’ demise, bassist Suzi Quatro went on to international acclaim as a solo artist, with such classics as Can The Can and Devil Gate Drive to her credit.


Hideout also provided a forum for the early works of the Talismen, whose Cream tribute, Vintage NSU served as a springboard for band leader Cub Koda’s subsequent venture, the Brownsville Station. Hideout issued Brownsville Station’s debut single, Rock And Roll Holiday in 1969, which in turn led to a debut album on the offshoot Palladium label and international acclaim on Big Tree Records with such memorable hits as Let Your Yeah Be Yeah and Smokin’ In The Boys Room.

The ambitious dark green label also issued memorable singles by such area favorites as the Four Of Us, the Mama Cats and the Mushrooms (who were formerly known as the Subterraneans). The Mushrooms’ lone Hideout single, Such A Lovely Child b/w Burned featured future Longbranch Pennywhistle and Eagles guitarist Glenn Lewis Frey as lead vocalist. In addition to his work with the Mushrooms, Frey had also performed with the aforementioned Four Of Us.


Hideout’s Mushrooms and Mama Cats 45s also provided a forum for the prolific songwriting genius of Bob Seger. With his backing band, the Last Heard, Seger graced Hideout with several of garage rock’s definitive classics. The first of these, a playful rewrite of the late Barry Sadler’s February 1966 smash, The Ballad Of The Green Beret as The Ballad Of The Yellow Beret (on Hideout’s one-off Are You Kidding Me? label, with the author’s credit listed as “D. Dodger”), backed with the rollicking surf rocker, Florida Time (which depicted the artist as the Beach Bums) was a lone light moment in anticipation of Bob Seger And The Last Heard’s career defining follow up.


That follow up, East Side Story was a powerful statement about the tragedy of war. It gave Seger his first taste of success, reaching number three on the charts of Dearborn, Michigan’s highly influential WKNR Keener 13 radio during the week beginning 10 October 1966. East Side Story was covered on the Detroit Sound label by the Wanted, whose own legacy was ensured in March 1967 with their number one single, In The Midnight Hour and its superlative A&M label follow up, Don’t Worry Baby.


East Side Story set the stage for the equally intense Persecution Smith b/w Chain Smokin’ single in early 1967. Both singles were picked up for national distribution by Cameo Records, which at the time boasted one of the most ambitious garage band rosters of any major label. Cameo sustained Seger’s momentum in 1967 with Vagrant Winter and Heavy Music, setting the stage for his tenure with Capitol the following year. He continued to deliver at optimum level for Capitol throughout 1968 and 1969 with 2+2=?, Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man, Ivory, Innervenus Eyes and Noah. Seger eventually broke through with the Beautiful Loser album in 1975 and went on to well deserved superstardom.


The triumphs of Bob Seger, Glenn Frey and Suzi Quatro notwithstanding, circumstances for them and Hideout Records as a whole may have gone quite differently had it not been for the pioneering work of the label’s first signing of note, the Underdogs. From suburban Grosse Pointe, the Underdogs (Dave Whitehouse - lead vocals/bass, Tony Roumell - lead guitar, Chris Lena - rhythm guitar, Michael J. Morgan - drums) provided Hideout with its first chart success in November - December 1965 with The Man In The Glass. The brooding, mid-tempo lament (with lyrics that were inspired by an Alcoholics Anonymous poem) peaked at number nine on WKNR’s weekly music guide during the week of 01 December 1965 and was covered by rock legend Dion DiMucci on his Inside Job album.


Not surprisingly, the irresistible flip side of The Man In The Glass nearly became a hit in its own right. Composed by Dave Leone, Friday At The Hideout was a playful account of a typical night at Leone and Edward “Punch” Andrews’ Harper Woods-based Hideout club that had also been recorded by the Fugitives. The Underdogs’ version became a key component of Hideout’s landmark various artists album, Best Of The Hideouts.


The impact of the Underdogs’ version of Friday At The Hideout was far reaching enough that the Romantics (whose earliest press came in Blitz Magazine) covered it on their National Breakout album in 1980. In turn, Norton Records used Friday At The Hideout as the point of reference for their acclaimed 2001 anthology of the label’s best work. The Man In The Glass b/w Friday At The Hideout was picked up for national distribution by Warner Brothers’ subsidiary Reprise label, as was the band’s follow up single, Little Girl b/w Don’t Pretend.


And while that second single and their third, Get Down On Your Knees (coupled with a stunning rendition of the Rolling Stones’ Surprise, Surprise) curiously did not repeat the success of The Man In The Glass, they handsomely demonstrated the Underdogs’ command of the idiom and their capabilities as both innovators and interpreters.


Composed by Dave Whitehouse, Bob Seger and Dave Leone, Get Down On Your Knees in particular was an ideal vehicle for the more aggressive side of Tony Roumell’s guitar artistry. Conversely, his sublime work on the Rolling Stones cover (aided and abetted by Whitehouse’s sympathetic vocals and Morgan’s spot on percussion flourishes) set the stage for the success that was to come.


That success came in late 1966, when the Underdogs became the first rock and roll band signed to the immensely successful Motown family of labels. Solo artist Chris Clark had garnered some attention that year with her tour de force performance of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland’s Love’s Gone Bad on Motown’s subsidiary V.I.P. label. Clark’s Love’s Gone Bad was backed with a commendable reading of Put Yourself In My Place, a February 1966 hit by V.I.P. labelmates the Elgins.


Despite the relatively modest chart showing of the Elgins’ original (#24 on WKNR, and eclipsed for the most part on a national level by the B-side, Darling Baby), Motown apparently had enough faith in Put Yourself In My Place to release a cover by the Supremes in late July 1966 as the flip side of their monster hit, You Can’t Hurry Love. And while the Supremes had previously enjoyed some degree of notoriety with their better B-sides, in the case of this release, all of the attention went to You Can’t Hurry Love, which finished 1966 as WKNR’s number one single of the year in their annual best of charts.


As such, it was seemingly up to Chris Clark to give Put Yourself In My Place and Love’s Gone Bad a respectable showing of their own. But despite Clark’s impressive efforts, the arrival of the Underdogs at the label changed everything. With sweetening by members of the legendary Funk Brothers, Motown changed course and gave Love’s Gone Bad to the Underdogs for their first session with the label in November 1966.


Produced by Clarence Paul and released on V.I.P. Records, the Underdogs’ Love’s Gone Bad entered WKNR’s charts as the Keener Key Song Of The Week on 19 December 1966. It eventually went on to an impressive number two during the week of 23 January 1967 (holding its own against formidable competition by the Monkees, the Woolies, the Buckinghams, the Electric Prunes and the Royal Guardsmen) and finished 1967 at a very respectable number ten on WKNR’s year end survey (amidst such respectable company as the Wanted, the Parliaments and the aforementioned Monkees).


As was the case with their debut Hideout single, the Underdogs’ Motown debut was blessed with a flip side that in many ways outpaced the intended A-side. Mo Jo Hanna was previously recorded Henry Lumpkin, who enjoyed his greatest success in 1962 with his What Is A Man single and went on to record for Buddah Records in 1968. Mo Jo Hanna was covered in 1963 by Marvin Gaye, who turned in a superb version of it on his Recorded Live On Stage album for Tamla. But in the hands of the Underdogs (who were granted a reasonable amount of artistic license by Paul), Mo Jo Hanna became the ultimate synthesis of the garage rock and Motown ethics. It is a classic of both factions in every sense of the word and for all intents and purposes should have been an immensely successful A-side in its own right.


Sadly, the Underdogs’ success was ultimately short lived. Buoyed by the acclaim afforded Love’s Gone Bad, Motown entrusted the Temptations’ The Way You Do The Things You Do to their care for a Norman Whitfield produced session in March 1967.


Despite Whitfield’s more hands on approach to production, the results were on par with the band’s previous work. Nonetheless, The Way You Do The Things You Do languished in the vaults until it eventually saw release as part of the Motown Sings Motown CD collection in September 1998 (which was reissued in expanded form on Hip-O Records in December 2004).


Before leaving Motown, the Underdogs recorded several other tracks for the label that remain unreleased. They include covers of the Monkees’ Last Train To Clarksville (which had also been recorded by the Four Tops on their Reach Out album), Junior Walker And The All Stars’ Shake And Fingerpop, the 1964 Supremes/Nella Dodds hit, Come See About Me (which was also covered by Junior Walker And The All Stars in 1967), the late Shorty Long’s Function At The Junction and You Hit Me Where It Hurt Me.


The task of achieving rock success with Motown covers eventually fell to the Sunliners, who were recruited by Motown after respectable tenures with Hercules, Golden World and MGM/Verve Forecast. Following modest acclaim with their Land Of Nod single while at Verve Forecast, the Sunliners (who were originally known as the Glo-Worms) changed their name to Rare Earth. Motown celebrated their acquisition in 1969 by granting them a namesake label.


Rare Earth Records also issued an album by virtuoso guitarist and rockabilly legend Dave Edmunds’ band, Love Sculpture and in late 1969 provided the American release for the Easybeats’ definitive classic, Saint Louis. In turn, the band Rare Earth added their own unique dimension to the Temptations’ Get Ready and (I Know) I’m Losing You and Edwin Starr’s Stop Her On Sight (from Starr’s pre-Motown/Gordy tenure with Ric-Tic Records).


Indeed, the Underdogs not only paved the way for Motown to expand into rock and roll with Rare Earth’s signing, they likewise set a precedent for Motown’s concurrent successes with such beloved rock heroes as the Four Seasons, Lesley Gore, Soupy Sales, Paul Petersen, Love Sculpture and Bobby Darin. However, by that time, the Underdogs had parted ways with Motown and eventually splintered into the Nickel Plate Express. Lead vocalist Whitehouse went on to collaborate with various rock and blues bands in the 1970s, while drummer Michael J. Morgan remained peripherally involved in the music industry and divided his time between Michigan and Florida. Tragically, Morgan passed away from lung cancer at age 59 on 28 March 2008. Likewise, Hideout founder Leone (who in the 1990s managed the Howling Diablos) succumbed to a heart attack on 05 October 1999.


Throughout 2009, Motown Records has drawn sustained praise from a wide variety of observers as it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. The festivities culminated in a gala event at the Marriott Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit, Michigan on 21 November that featured label founder Berry Gordy, as well as members of Motown’s beloved house band, the Funk Brothers, veteran Tamla Records frontrunner Stevie Wonder and long time Motown ally and former Atlantic recording artist Aretha Franklin.


In conjunction with that year long event, long time Blitz contributor Beverly Paterson spoke with Underdogs lead guitarist Tony Roumell and rhythm guitarist Chris Lena about not only their unique contributions to the Motown legacy, but their role as front runners in the first generation garage rock movement. Paterson’s interview with Roumell follows in this first of two installments of the Underdogs’ story.


BLITZ: Who were your main influences?


ROUMELL: Pretty much the same as everyone else’s who was around at that time. I liked George Harrison and B.B. King a lot.


BLITZ: Did you take guitar lessons or did you basically teach yourself to play?


ROUMELL: I took some lessons, but I actually started my musical training at a very young age; four and a half, five years old.


I started out with piano lessons. But when the whole rock and roll thing started happening, I stopped playing piano and took up the guitar.


Then after the Underdogs broke up, I got back into piano and got my masters degree in Austria. In fact, I still play the piano. Classical music; a lot of Bach and Mozart. My mother was an opera singer. So I grew up with music.


BLITZ: How did your mother react when you gave up piano for the guitar? Did she encourage your rock and roll activities?


ROUMELL: Oh yeah, she was totally into it! She loved all kinds of music. I remember one time she told me to go out and get an electric mandolin! This was after the Underdogs broke up and I was playing with another rock band. I did play in a few bands after the Underdogs. But none of them got as much recognition as the Underdogs did.


Anyhow, when my mom suggested that we add an electric mandolin to our sound, we thought she was kidding. It seemed so corny! But then a couple of years later, Rod Stewart had a hit with Maggie May, which featured an electric mandolin!


So yeah, my mom was really into it. She loved seeing us kids have fun playing music.


BLITZ: Were you in any bands before the Underdogs?


ROUMELL: The Cake Eaters. But we never made any records.


BLITZ: How were you recruited into the Underdogs?


ROUMELL: They had another guitar player before me. His name was Chuck. I don’t remember what his last name was, though. He was kind of what you would call a square, I guess. He had trouble getting out late at night to play gigs and stuff like that. So he just wasn’t working out.


The guys in the Underdogs knew me already. We had all gone to high school together. They had seen me playing with the Cake Eaters.


So one afternoon, this was a Friday around four o’clock, Chris called me up and said, “You’ve got to come and play with us tonight at the Hideout”. Chuck quit the band just like that. So I joined them right then and played the show that night.


BLITZ: Were you already familiar with their repertoire?


ROUMELL: Oh yeah. I had seen them play before. The songs were easy to learn, because they were so simple. Pretty basic stuff. Back then, bands weren’t writing their own songs. They were doing cover songs.


At the time I didn’t even know what a cover song was. I didn’t know what that term meant until a few years ago. We just played songs we liked. Songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds or whatever. So it was pretty easy to fall into what the Underdogs were doing.


It was a big honor to be asked to join them. They were the big band around and they were really great. The Underdogs were a fantastic band. We were definitely one of the top bands in the area for a while there.


BLITZ: What was the Hideout club like?


ROUMELL: Oh it was a fun club. If you were sixteen, seventeen or eighteen years old, that was the place to go and have a good time. There aren’t clubs like that around anymore. There aren’t any places for kids to go these days where they can just let their hair hang down and have fun.


I always had a great time at the Hideout and have so many good memories of playing there and seeing other bands play. But in the summer, it would get extremely hot. I don’t know if you have ever lived any place where summers are just unbearable. But summers in Detroit are like that. They’re very muggy and the humidity is unbelievable.


So there were five hundred kids crammed into the Hideout. They were all dancing around, dropping with sweat and it fell on the floor, turning the tile into wax. Everyone was slipping and sliding around! The kids would be dancing very suggestively, but there were no drugs around at that time.


Occasionally, someone might be drunk. But there was no violence of any kind. Everybody had a great time.


Chris told me that Dave Leone, the owner of the Hideout, passed away a few years ago. He died of a heart attack. I was really sorry to hear that. Dave was a good guy.


BLITZ: How would you compare your version of Friday At The Hideout to the one by the Fugitives? I personally like your recording better!


ROUMELL: I like our version better, too! But you have to understand that we all looked up to the Fugitives. They were the house band and everybody looked up to them.


BLITZ: Michigan has always been known for its incredible music. So many extraordinary musicians have come out of the state. The quality of the music is consistently excellent. Is there some sort of secret recipe?


ROUMELL: It’s always amazed me how much great talent comes from Michigan, especially the Detroit area. My theory is that there is really not a lot to do there. It can be a pretty boring place! So if you are a young person that is drawn to entertainment, you can practice your craft without having a lot of distractions around.


There’s really not much competition in a sense. Not like there is in Los Angeles or New York. So you have the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond.


Detroit is a blue collar city. For diversion, a lot of people go to the malls. It’s a place where people go to build cars or work in factories, although it never really recovered from the 1967 riots.


Before World War II, (an individual) could make good money working there. So a culture was created.


Berry Gordy owes a lot of his success to timing. He never thought his artists would become as big as they did. Bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones paved the way for the Motown acts to break through really big like that.


BLITZ: The Underdogs were clearly more influenced by the hard rocking blues sound of the Rolling Stones than the more pop approach of the Beatles.


ROUMELL: That’s right. You asked about influences earlier. I forgot to mention what a big influence Mike Bloomfield of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was. Unfortunately, he died some years ago. But he was a great guitarist.


We went to see the Paul Butterfield Blues Band play in Chicago back in the sixties, when they were at their peak. It was a real big thrill to meet Mike Bloomfield.


So the blues were a big influence. John Mayall was also a big influence. The Underdogs always made sure to throw a couple of blues numbers into our sets.


BLITZ: Did you get into those long, drawn-out jams that were becoming so popular during the latter half of the sixties?


ROUMELL: Oh sure! Take out the harmonica and just rock away. Playing the blues was a natural progression from what the Beatles and the Rolling Stones originally started doing. Of course the Rolling Stones were way more influenced by the blues than the Beatles. But kids like us weren’t familiar with the records they copied. We were influenced by the British Invasion bands copying the blues artists.


BLITZ: Did you play on the first Underdogs single, The Man In The Glass, or did you join the band after it was released?


ROUMELL: No, I didn’t play on The Man In The Glass. The first single I was on was Little Girl. That was the first time I ever played a twelve-string guitar. I borrowed one from somebody and I remember how hard it was, trying to press the strings down. I like Little Girl. It was a cool song.


BLITZ: Did you enjoy the recording process?


ROUMELL: Recording is a lot of hard work. No matter what style of music the musician is playing, whether it is rock and roll, classical or opera, the recording always sounds different when it is played back. You become so objective. Even if your performance is great and you’re feeling good, you’ll hear these little things in a different perspective that sound like mistakes.


BLITZ: So you become your own worst critic.


ROUMELL: Exactly. Then you have to do all these retakes and it becomes repetitious. Recording in the studio is a lot different than performing live. When you’re on stage, you can get away with a lot more than you can when making a record. Recording was okay, but I wasn’t crazy about it.


BLITZ: Were you excited to hear your records on the radio?


ROUMELL: Oh yeah, oh yeah! Love’s Gone Bad did real well. I don’t know how high it went on the charts nationally. But it got a lot of airplay around Michigan.


BLITZ: How exactly did the Underdogs hook up with Motown Records?


ROUMELL: As I mentioned earlier, my dad had a catering business. He knew everyone around town. Berry Gordy’s sister, Esther got married to George Edwards, who was a state representative from the District of Detroit.


My dad was good friends with George. So through him, he got the Underdogs our first audition with Motown. I was told to contact this guy named Jeffrey Bowen, who worked artist and repertoire at the label.


Chris and I still talk about him. He was a real card, just out of college. He later married one of the Pointer Sisters and produced a couple of their albums. He was a great guy.


You’ve probably seen pictures of the Motown acts, standing in a room with mirrors and ballet bars. That was a rehearsal room in a building across the street from Motown, and that’s where our audition took place.


We were really loud. I don’t remember exactly what song we played. But I think it was something by the Rolling Stones. It was a real rocker. Motown wasn’t interested in how we played. They were more interested in our singing. So they told us to turn down the sound because they couldn’t hear our vocals.


Anyhow, there were these fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. We played so loud that a couple of these fixtures fell to the floor!


BLITZ: That must have made a good impression!


ROUMELL: They weren’t upset at all. A janitor was called in to sweep up the mess. We kept right on playing. We were thanked for coming down to audition and we thought that was the end of it.


A couple of weeks later, my dad asked me if I had ever heard back from Motown. I told him, “No”. He asked me if I was just going to leave it at that. So I decided to give them a call.


Jeffrey asked us to come back down again. We did a second audition for them. There were about forty or fifty people in the room, all listening to us. We played two songs and they decided to sign us. They really liked us!


I think the first audition was probably a set up. My dad wasn’t too happy I was playing rock and roll. He wanted me to focus on college. He figured Motown would discourage us and I would quit playing music. That’s what I think! So we were the first white band signed to the label. That’s our big claim to fame!


BLITZ: Were you a fan of the Motown artists prior to being on the label?


ROUMELL: Oh yeah, I had been listening to them for years. Smokey Robinson in particular. He has such a great voice and he’s a fantastic songwriter.


Berry Gordy is a smart man and he ran a really good company. He was commercially focused and paid close attention to trends. There were people at Motown who would spend all day listening to the radio to hear what was going on, what kids were listening to and they would go from there.


I remember going into Jeffrey Bowen’s office one day. He tossed an album at me. It was by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and he told me that this was the future. The Motown offices were filled with albums. So they were constantly up on what was going around all over the country and would write and produce songs to fill the market’s niches.


BLITZ: What was it like recording at Motown?


ROUMELL: In some ways, it was good for the band. But in other ways, it wasn’t. We came out of an environment that was looked at as being rebellious. We were playing this rough garage band rock. Music made by white kids who idolized the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who. We never gave much thought to what we were doing.


But then we got to Motown, which was very commercial. Like I said, it was a very competitive environment and Berry Gordy was interested in making hit singles.


Our drummer, Mike didn’t play on a lot of the recordings, because Motown noticed his rhythm would sometimes vary. They wanted everything perfect. Everything had to be just so and polished.


Some of the Motown studio band was called in to play on our recordings. Although Chris played some rhythm guitar on the records, he was a bit disgruntled about having other musicians play with us. I don’t blame him for feeling that way.


Of course Dave sang on all of our recordings. That’s his voice all the way. Motown really loved Dave’s voice. He was a powerful singer. If he stuck with it, I think he could have gone far.


I also played on all of our recordings. For some reason, Motown thought I was a great lead guitarist. But I never looked at myself that way!


My favorite song, though, is one we never released. It’s a cover of The Way You Do The Things You Do, the Temptations song. It sounds completely different. We rocked it up and the bass lines are just fantastic!


When we first recorded, The Way You Do The Things You Do, we thought it was kind of corny. But it sounds really great now! I wish Motown would have released it as a single.


Norm Whitfield produced it. It appeared on a CD called, Motown Sings Motown that came out somewhere around 1998 or 1999. That CD includes nothing but versions of popular Motown songs that weren’t done by the original artists.


What Motown used to do was have a few different acts record one song. Then every Monday morning, the producers and the other people who worked at the label would vote on which version they thought would be the most commercially successful. It made for a very competitive environment!


BLITZ: It would be a while before Motown signed any rock bands after the Underdogs released Love’s Gone Bad.


ROUMELL: It was about a year or so after we got signed to Motown that they started signing up white rock bands. There was Rare Earth, and then all of a sudden, more and more bands like that were starting to come out. Sly And The Family Stone. Earth, Wind And Fire. They became very popular and had hits.


BLITZ: Love’s Gone Bad was the final single to be released by the Underdogs. It seems like you were on the verge of breaking through big time, having the support of Motown Records. Is there any one reason why the band split up?


ROUMELL: With the Underdogs, it was one of those things where everything was going along really well and then we got the deal with Motown Records. Like I said earlier, there was some disgruntlement there, with certain members of the Underdogs not being allowed to play on their own records.


We were kids from the suburbs. We came from Grosse Pointe and our families were relatively wealthy. My father had a huge catering company and restaurant. He was very successful. Chris’ dad was a designer. Mike’s dad owned airplanes. None of us came from a deprived background. We had other things to fall back on, and I think Motown didn’t take us too seriously at first.


BLITZ: Would you say there was some resentment?


ROUMELL: No, not at all. It’s just that Motown was very professional and they had their own way of doing things. We were pretty raw. We didn’t have any fancy stage exits or anything like the Motown artists were known for. Motown was trying to coach us and it just wasn’t going to happen.


With the Underdogs, we just liked to get out there and have fun when we played. But once we got signed by Motown, things started getting serious. So we kind of lost our enthusiasm and it was time to move on. We started thinking about college, because that’s the background we came from.


BLITZ: Were any of your live shows ever taped?


ROUMELL: No, people just didn’t think about doing things like that back then. Technology wasn’t like it is now. Motown had a four-track studio and they were considered to be state of the art. Motown had the best equipment around.


But what’s funny is that I now have a five thousand dollar studio right in my home and it’s a thousand times better than what Motown had. That shows you how much technology has advanced.


BLITZ: The music still holds up well after all these years. You didn’t need billions of dollars and fancy toys to make good records.


ROUMELL: That’s the art of it. You had people putting everything together with the producers and engineers. Back then, everything was recorded for AM radio. Everything is done digitally now. You can adjust everything to make it sound the way you want it to sound.


BLITZ: You don’t even have to know how to play an instrument or sing on key these days to make records and become a star. Everything is tweaked to perfection.


ROUMELL: But you do have to be a good entertainer in order to make it. You can only get so far on looks and stage presence to make the big time. Talent wins out every time, no matter what industry you’re talking about. The public votes. If the quality isn’t there, then you won’t go far.


You hear about people who have compromised to get famous. But they don’t stay at the top. They might be around for a year or so. Then you never hear about them again.


BLITZ: You mentioned that you played with some bands following the break up of the Underdogs.


ROUMELL: None of them were as well known as the Underdogs, although I did play a few gigs with Ted Nugent’s band, the Amboy Dukes. But that wasn’t my scene at all. A lot of drugs were happening then, and I was never into drugs.


So I went back to my classical music, went to college and finished up school. But I still saw Chris and Dave around town. They were playing together as a duo with a flute in there, which was really cool. But then everyone just went their separate ways.


BLITZ: Do you regret that you left music? Of course you’re still playing for your own enjoyment. But do you ever wish that you would have stuck with it on a full time basis?


ROUMELL: When I left the Underdogs, I really wanted to get out of it altogether. The music had changed quite a bit, with psychedelia and everything. That just wasn’t my scene. For me, playing in a band was about playing music. But drugs and politics came in, and that really turned me off. That changed everything.


Looking back, I do kind of wish we would have stayed with it. The Underdogs were a great band. I think we could have gone far. But we just didn’t have the sense or vision.


It’s funny how some bands from that time made it that you never thought would. I knew Glenn Frey from the Hideout days. Glenn later went on to play with the Eagles. But back then, he was in the Four Of Us. They were a second or third tier band.


BLITZ: Their cover of (the Byrds’) I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better is really great.


ROUMELL: That’s a good record. The Four Of Us were a harmony band. They were more into pop music than what we were doing. But you never would have thought that anyone from that band would go on to do anything really big. We were all just kids, having a good time.


Anyhow, I saw Glenn Frey a year ago last April. I do financial planning now. One of my brokers held a convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. Glenn Frey was performing and the audience numbered about four or five hundred people.


So he got up there on stage and said, “We’re really going to rock tonight. Does anyone have any requests?”


And there I was in the back of the room, screaming out, “Friday At The Hideout”! You should have seen the look on Glenn’s face. He looked like he had just seen a ghost!


BLITZ: That’s hilarious! Did you manage to talk to Glenn after the show?


ROUMELL: I did and he remembered me. We talked about the old times!


BLITZ: You obviously have not been aware there has been a renewed interest in garage rock bands, especially regional acts such as the Underdogs.


ROUMELL: No, I haven’t been aware there’s been any interest. But I started to realize there was when a cousin of mine who played in a band in the sixties told me there was.


I can’t remember the name of the band he was in, but now he works with high-end south equipment. He came out here to California a while ago and told me there were people putting together recordings of the sixties garage bands.


BLITZ: How do you view those recordings now, after all these years?


ROUMELL: Some of those songs have held up pretty well. One song I never cared for when we first recorded it was, Get Down On Your Knees. I just never liked that song. But it sounds really good to me now!


BLITZ: Do you listen to much current music?


ROUMELL: I know what’s going on out there. I have two sons. My oldest son is in audio engineering and wants to do film soundtracks. He plays in a really good band that toured with Incubus. They’re called Yellow Snow and they play heavy metal music. They’re like a combination of Metallica and Less Than Jake.


And I like Madonna. I think she has a really good voice. She’s a great entertainer. She can sing just about any style of music and her voice has commercial appeal.

BLITZ: What are the chances of an Underdogs reunion?


ROUMELL: I think it could happen. But we would have to find Dave Whitehouse. I’ve been trying to find him, but nobody seems to know where he went. The last I knew, he was in Colorado.


We’d only get together if Dave could join us. He was the voice of the Underdogs. I just couldn’t hear anyone else taking his place!


(Coming soon: In the second half of the Underdogs’ story, rhythm guitarist Chris Lena discusses with Beverly Paterson his role in the band’s legacy).




Saturday, February 03, 2007

BITS AND PIECES - NEWS ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS By Michael McDowell


Closing The Songbuk: The beloved musical and political satirists, APO Hiking Society shocked fans worldwide on 13 January with their announcement that they would be retiring after more than four decades. Exclusive insights from group founder Jim Paredes follow below. APO Hiking Society is shown above in a lighter moment on the cover of their 1996 Dating Alternatib CD. Left to right: Danny Javier, Boboy Garrovillo and Jim Paredes (Click on image to enlarge).




GOSPEL ROCKER CARMAN
TO PERSEVERE
DESPITE HEALTH CONCERNS


After no small amount of prayer and medical attention, Gospel music pioneer Carman Licciardello has opted to assert his faith. Despite having been hospitalized on 21 January after experiencing a number of serious health symptoms and in spite of subsequent concerns expressed by his health care providers, Licciardello will be returning to his regular work and ministry schedule.


Reports issued that evening indicated that Licciardello’s symptoms “put him in the emergency room” and included, “blood pressure 180/112, numbness and extreme coldness in hands and feet, hemorrhaging in the retina of the eye, shortness of breath, sudden loss of balance and overall body strength”.


However, on 28 January, Licciardello issued a statement, which reads in part:


“I have suffered from some serious health issues over the past few days. I was rushed to the emergency room due to unusually high blood pressure. It needed to get under control before a stroke or heart attack would occur.


“I've had numbness in my limbs, drop of temperature in the hands, nose bleeds (for no reason), hemorrhaging behind the left eye, fatigue and nausea. All these symptoms showed up at once, which was the big concern.


“I've seen several doctors, including a podiatrist, cardiologist, chiropractor, neurologist, endocrinologist and an optometrist. I've had blood drawn, x-rays of the heart, arms and legs and have even been tested for diabetes. No doctor has been able to diagnose the problem. Therefore no treatment has been prescribed. A specialist in NYC did narrow it down to symptoms that result from long-term stress.”


Prognosis notwithstanding, Licciardello has nonetheless elected to take a leap of faith.


“As it stands, taking time off to rest is needed, but not an option”, he explained.


“If I stop working, the finances become a bigger issue and brings on more stress. The ministry workload and schedule has been trimmed to an absolute minimum. I am still undergoing tests, seeing a nutritionist, personal trainer and hopefully this will increase stamina for the work schedule.”


A major figure in Gospel music for more than three decades, Licciardello’s flair for vivid imagery and diverse musical settings have combined to produce dozens of Gospel standards, including Sunday School Rock, Satan: Bite The Dust and the mega classic, Who’s In The House. Licciardello also starred in the 2001 classic motion picture, Carman: The Champion, in which Blitz Magazine’s Michael and Audrey McDowell likewise appeared in minor roles.


Yet despite the occasional live appearance and CD release, Licciardello’s ministry schedule was curtailed considerably since the release of that landmark film. As it turned out, such proactive measures may have been for the best in the long run.


“This is nothing new to us concerning his condition, as it has been something we have dealt with since 2001”, said a representative from Licciardello’s office.


Blitz Magazine will continue to stand in prayer for this much loved veteran artist. Updates will follow as additional information becomes available.


NOW THAT IT’S
OVER AND DONE
:
APO HIKING SOCIETY
CALLS IT A CAREER

The new decade has begun on a most regrettable note with the announcement on 13 January that the pioneering vocal trio, APO Hiking Society has decided to retire after 41 years.

“We are doing our last Valentine’s show this February 13 at SMX in the Mall of Asia”, the group said in a statement.

“We still have other concerts to do before and after Valentine’s, but only until end of May.”

Formed in 1969 as the Apolinario Mabini Hiking Society in honor of the late Philippine Prime Minister and Barangay Talaga native, Apolinario Mabini (1864 - 1903), APO Hiking Society began their long and prolific career as a thirteen member outfit. The subsequent abbreviation of their name was in some respects a lateral move, given that the term “Apo” refers to a wise man. It was also a poignant gesture, considering that Mabini died prematurely as a paraplegic, yet continued to inspire and motivate others through his tireless activism.

By 1974, APO Hiking Society had become streamlined through inevitable attrition into a trio consisting of cofounders Jaime Ramon “Jim” Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo, as well Danny Javier (who had joined the group shortly after its inception). They made their recording debut that year with a live album (still as the Apolinario Hiking Society) for the Sunshine label, In Concert #$%*!?. Therein, the acerbic wit that would characterize their numerous subsequent recordings was evidenced in abundance in such tracks as See Yourself, Otis Elevator and Look What We’ve Done To Your Song Medley.

Indeed, APO Hiking Society’s succinct hybrid of the sublime vocal and instrumental interplay of Harpers Bizarre (highlighted sublimely in their classic Mahirap Magmahal Ng Syota Ng Iba single) and their Four Preps-like flair for wry socio-political humor continued to define their music through such indispensible releases as 1984’s Feet On The Ground (with a jacket that lampoons the front cover of Booker T. And The M.G.s’ acclaimed 1970 McLemore Avenue album), 1994’s Barangay and 1996’s Dating Alternatib. APO Hiking Society’s ongoing impact was such that they became the subject of two hugely successful tribute CDs in 2006 and 2007.

Nonetheless, APO Hiking Society’s legacy was best defined by two crucial landmarks; one of which was largely unprecedented in musical history. In 1985, as their native Philippines was still reeling from the 21 August 1983 assassination of the highly influential Senator and opposition leader Benigno Servillano Aquino, the trio released The Worst Of Apo Hiking Society, a spirited live album that doubled as a thinly veiled rallying cry for the faithful.

While on the surface that album’s music and transitional banter continues to serve as a fitting commemoration of a well executed concert, subtle references therein to “assassin”, “hidden wealth”, “Marunong ka pa sa presidente namin? (Do you know more than our president?)” and “Ang presidente namin binoboto pa namin yan…kung sa bagay, ang boto namin nabibili rin! (We still vote for our president…..however, our votes can be bought!)” provided no small amount of incentive for the momentum that culminated in the People Power Revolution of 22 - 25 February 1986 that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos from office. Appropriately enough, APO Hiking Society’s rendition of Jim Paredes’ often covered Handog Ng Pilipino Sa Mundo (Gift From The Filipino People To The World, which was also known as A New And Better Way) became the movement’s anthem.

In terms of their recorded canon, APO Hiking Society endeared themselves to musicologists at large with their groundbreaking 1985 single, American Junk. With its uncompromising assault on the lowest common denominator trappings of commercial music and its ensuing detrimental effect on cultural development, American Junk in turn provided a forum in the group’s aforementioned 1985 live album for some of the key moments of incendiary political dialogue. The studio version subsequently appeared on their 1987 Universal Records album, Made In The Philippines.

APO Hiking Society continued to tour and record prolifically throughout the 1990s. Their road work was highlighted by a highly acclaimed live appearance at Pasadena, California’s Ambassador College Auditorium in the latter part of the decade.

Yet at the onset of the new millennium in 2001, it became increasingly apparent that individual pursuits were occupying a steadily growing portion of their time. Most telling was Paredes’ well-publicized relocation to Sydney, New South Wales in mid-decade, after which he found himself returning frequently to his former home base to fulfill a seemingly unending itinerary of group and related commitments, including his long standing role as a regular columnist for The Philippine Star newspaper.

As a result, APO Hiking Society managed to release only two CDs of new material during the entire decade of the 2000s (compared to seven studio outings throughout the 1990s), 2001’s inventive Banda Rito and 2009’s superb The APO: Jim, Boboy And Danny. And while their live appearance itinerary has continued at optimum level in recent years, the beloved and venerable trio has nonetheless at last sadly decided to make official that which their many followers have dreaded for some time.

“Right now, we don’t want the stress of a big show and may do a few small ones instead”, Paredes explained.

“We want to enjoy it till the end”.

It is an ending that many most assuredly do not want to come. In the hours immediately following their announcement, APO Hiking Society’s various media sites were bombarded with protests from their legion of devotees, who universally implored the group to reconsider.

But for the moment, APO Hiking Society seems determined in their resolve to finish the race as champions.

“We promise they will be the best shows ever”, they assured.

Encouragingly, Paredes hinted to Blitz that the God given talents and the collective vision which has inspired them to greatness for more than four decades may continue unabated in some capacity.

“We will continue to speak up individually or collectively”, he said.

“I promise to still be irreverent when needed!”

Whether irreverent or serious, APO Hiking Society’s contributions to music and society as a whole have indeed been immeasurable. To be certain, given the volatile and uncertain worldwide political climate of recent years, theirs would be a most welcome ongoing voice of reason. Blitz will continue to monitor and report developments in this situation.



A CELEBRATED MAN:
PETER RECHTER DISCUSSES
THE TOL-PUDDLE MARTYRS’
LATEST RELEASE


New releases from first generation garage band pioneers are certainly a cause for celebration. In the case of Melbourne, Victoria’s Tol-Puddle Martyrs, there has been more cause for jubilation in the present decade than there was in 1967, when the band’s original line up (Peter Rechter - keyboards, Kevin Clancy - lead guitar, Russell Hogan - rhythm guitar, Kieran Keogh - bass, Len Gaskell - drums) recorded one of garage rock’s definitive classics, Time Will Come.

The Tol-Puddle Martyrs’ original line up disbanded in 1969. Keyboardsman Peter Rechter eventually went on to acclaim as front man of the Secrets, whose Feel Pretty Good remains one of the touchstones of the early 1980s New Wave movement. Rechter’s Secrets persevered until 2002, when the band learned that the Cleveland, Ohio-based Secrets, the vocal group that recorded the classic The Boy Next Door for Phillips in 1963, was still very much active and performed regularly.

However, interest in the Tol-Puddle Martyrs had remained strong amongst musicologists and record collectors during the band’s protracted sabbatical. As such, it didn’t take a great deal of convincing to persuade Rechter that the time was right for the Tol-Puddle Martyrs to resurface.

Ironically, the band’s legacy rested primarily upon two singles, the aforementioned Time Will Come and Love Your Life, as well as the earlier Claudette Jones single that Rechter had recorded with his previous band, Peter And The Silhouettes. But since entering the second phase of their career, the Tol-Puddle Martyrs have not only been far more prolific in their output, the benefit of four decades of accumulated experience has given them a finesse and greater sense of urgency in their material.

Buoyed by the acclaim afforded their 2007 Psych-Out USA album on the Secret Deals label (which finished at a respectable number five in the Blitz Awards that year), the current incarnation of the band (Peter Rechter - keyboards/lead vocals, Graham McCoy - lead guitar, Michael Harold - bass, Ian Langford - drums) has followed suit with A Celebrated Man. This current collection finds Rechter’s vision as sharp as ever, with twelve originals that enhance the band’s legacy admirably.

A part of Rechter’s mission statement is fueled by his determination to keep an academic perspective in his work. To that effect, he remains an ardent student of history and culture. He most recently expanded his repertoire in that respect in October by exploring Japan.

“Words can’t explain how wonderful the people and country were”, said Rechter.

“It is truly an amazing place.”

Musically, Rechter maintains a very broad perspective, counting such diverse artists as Burt Bacharach, the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, the Easybeats, Elvis Costello, Cream, the Lovin’ Spoonful, Georgie Fame, the Loved Ones and Johann Sebastian Bach amongst his primary influences. The music of the British Invasion likewise remains a key inspiration.

“I guess there will always be touches of the British sounds of the Sixties in my music”, Rechter concurred.

“That's the time and genre that's the closest to me, even though my tastes in music are very eclectic. I love to write uplifting and sometimes strong melodies and riffs in for songs. I like to tell a story, make a statement and express my feelings wherever I feel and think it appropriate.

“I like quirky changes and progressions that will surprise, but I also enjoy the predictable. The lyrics to a song are always very important to me. But they don't always have to have a deep meaning behind them. I like to think that my melodies, chord progressions, overall feel and words always compliment each other. That is what I always strive for.”

One track that exemplifies that ethic is Better Man. The track has a basic Hollies feel to it, and in turn celebrates British psychedelia of the Finders Keepers/Creation variety, with a touch of the horn arrangement from the Beatles’ Penny Lane thrown in for good measure. The results seem to suggest entertaining a hypothetical scenario, as if the Tol-Puddle Martyrs had been based in England instead of Victoria.

But for Rechter, the inspiration wasn’t that complex.

Better Man is a personal song about how I try to understand others in the hope of bettering myself as a person, while hoping that the words will influence the attitude of those who do take a listen” he explained.

Nonetheless, the betterment of the individual seems to be a recurring theme in this collection, as evidenced by A Celebrated Man.

A Celebrated Man is about my son Ben, who is truly like the person in the song”, said Rechter.

“He loves going to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch his football team, drives his sister's car and travels to work each morning into the city on the tram. It was a song that just flowed out of me from the beginning to the end.

“I wanted it to be a celebration of how I feel about him. Hence the Baroque fanfare on the Bach piccolo trumpet, which was played by an old university days friend, from my time at the conservatorium of music.”

As such, it could be inferred that the aforementioned references to Penny Lane also reflect a sustained inspiration, as demonstrated succinctly in Fast Lane.

Fast Lane is about our experience of London life”, said Richter.

“(My wife and I) spent two weeks in London in 2007. The line, ‘sometimes you just feel so lonely, nothing ever stops and no one knows me’, was about us walking along Oxford Street, where I had never in my life seen so many people in the one area. I remember saying to my wife that no one here knows us, we're alone! So again, it's a very personal song.

“Our daughter was living in London at the time. She helped show us the ropes of getting around using the Oyster Card, which is the ticketing system for public transport in London. We had a lovely time of it! Went to Liverpool, did everything Beatles. Visited Windsor Castle, but Her Majesty wasn't at home at the time! England is a wonderful place to visit. It and the people inspired me to write the song.”

Interestingly enough, Rechter seems determined to present multiple perspectives on the issue. His Anybody Else emphasizes the Kinks-like disenfranchisement of I'm Not Like Everybody Else, albeit with the more aggressive execution indigenous to the Chocolate Watchband's cover of that song. Yet despite the self-depreciating observations within ("I'm just a lost soul trying to see what my journey will be"), Rechter espouses optimism by stating, "So I'll make my way to a brand new day, and I'll find my cause one worth living for."

"Anybody Else again is in some ways a personal song”, he said.

“(It) grew out of being constantly harassed by phone calls from people I don't know, trying to convince me to take part in this, support that. Of course when it comes to writing, one has the license to expand and enhance, but what I was trying to say is that I will make up my own mind in these areas.”

To be certain, Rechter has made up his mind to reiterate the impact of the Kinks on the Tol-Puddle Martyrs’ work. With its New Vaudeville Band/Rudy Vallee-like vocal execution (an engaging motif that was also executed to perfection in the Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon), Where Do We Start? reflects an ongoing cultural dichotomy between the aesthetic innovations made by their cross generational solidarity and the so-called technical advances of the information age, which by definition has emphasized the here and now with little regard to the accomplishments of pioneers such as these. The line, "We're all choking and we're mad about it!" seems to suggest as much, although it likewise infers a more timely component of societal malaise.

Where Do We Start is me paying homage to the composer who has possibly been the greatest influence on my work, Raymond Douglas Davies” Rechter readily agreed.

“I have never stopped enjoying the songs of Ray Davies. Although well known and respected in many places, he is still very underrated when it comes to ranking.

“Ray often stands up for the little person, writes about everyday wonders and was one of the first to make his concerns known about the environment in Apeman and Village Green. ‘We’re still choking and we're mad about it’ is reference to the song, Apeman and yes I'm mad about the way governments always find a reason why we need to continue filling the air with filth.

“I would love to be able to get this song to Ray, just to say thank you for his contribution, which in my mind is simply amazing.”

Technological advances seem to have equal footing with environmental concerns in Rechter’s mission statement. For that matter, issues of universal interest likewise fuel his creative muse, as evidenced by The News.

A cursory review suggests that The News is a lament about the rapid advances of technology superseding the capabilities of the average individual to assimilate the resultant information accordingly. References to guitarist George Harrison's passing in 2001 suggest that Harrison and his erstwhile bandmates were a more feasible conduit of such developments in that the "news" they brought resulted in a sustained cultural impact, rather than the sound byte approach that characterizes the Fast Lane of the present day rapid technological advancements.

“I'm an avid watcher/reader of the news”, said Rechter.

“I like to know what's going on around me. At times I'm amazed by how technology has allowed us to reach, hear, see etcetera immediately.

“Man walking on the moon, even though it was 1969, was truly amazing. Here in Australia, we watched as it happened, as many of the pictures that were beamed around the world came from our observatories and still amazes me today.

“When George passed away, I truly didn't know where to turn. It cut deeply enough for me to want to let people know how I felt at the time. To me, George Harrison was the sensitive composer. His music is full of love and hope. When I listen to it, it has a similar effect on me as Bach, Mozart and Chopin.”

With so many weighty issues vying for space within this remarkable work, it was inevitable that at least one track would have to serve as a means to vent. To that effect, Fast Lane seems to suggest cultural friction in the sense that the melody itself indicates a longing to default to a relatively carefree, dance-oriented motif with traces of the Isley Brothers' Twist And Shout, while lyrically the piece seems to parallel a Face To Face-era Kinks lament bordering on social commentary. Pocket Paradise seems to underscore this theory. A possible impasse between duty and desire?

Pocket Paradise is just me saying that when we find something, or someway of quality that truly works for the betterment of people, don't interfere and change it”, said Rechter.

“Leave it alone. Or enhance it to include everyone, not just the privileged few.”

Truly those privileged few include amongst their number those who have been blessed with the opportunity to experience the Tol-Puddle Martyrs’ music over the past four decades. And A Celebrated Man is more than enough reason to continue the celebration.

NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN:
DEL-FI FOUNDER BOB KEANE
SUCCUMBS TO RENAL FAILURE

While many of the most influential music industry insiders established their legacies as producers (Phil Spector, Joe Meek, George Martin), arrangers (Ron Goodwin, Felton Jarvis), bandleaders (Bert Kaempfert, George Cates), composers (Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil), label executives (Hugh “Jeep” Holland, Dave Leone and again Phil Spector) and all-around visionaries (Brian Wilson, Dave Guard, Michael Nesmith, Otis Redding, Jan Berry, Ray Charles), few have been able to make their mark by excelling in all of these (and other) disciplines combined.

One such artist who defied the odds is country music’s poet laureate, Bill Anderson, who for more than a half century has broken ground as an artist, musician, producer, composer, journalist, actor and radio announcer. Another is the great Bob Keane, founder of the Keen, Del-Fi, Donna and Mustang labels and one of a very exclusive group of pioneers to warrant the distinction of renaissance man.

Numerous accolades have been afforded Keane’s earliest accomplishments. He was born Robert Kuhn in Manhattan Beach, California on 05 January 1922. By 1938, he was arranging, conducting and handling clarinet responsibilities for his own big band. He was performing regularly on Los Angeles’ KFWB Radio and was subsequently signed by Decca Records.

Following a stint in the Army Air Force during World War II, Keane returned to music and performed on the Los Angeles club circuit as a clarinetist with a variety of combos. In 1955, he formed the Keen label with John Siamas and launched the immensely successful solo career of the Gospel Stirrers’ Sam Cooke (who had also briefly recorded for Specialty as a solo artist) with a number one single, You Send Me b/w Summertime in 1957. Sadly, his partnership with Siamas proved to be short lived, as Keane was reportedly deceived by Siamas out of the partnership in the label that bore his name.

Undaunted, Keane then went on to form the Del-Fi label, one of the most prolific and influential labels in the development of rock and roll. While Del-Fi was responsible for making an instant superstar out of the late Pacoima, California singer/songwriter and guitar virtuoso, Ritchie Valens, Keane likewise through Del-Fi and its subsidiary Donna label launched the careers of such integral figures as future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, the Mothers Of Invention’s Frank Zappa (as both a staff producer and recording artist), the Surfaris, future Tamla label solo artist Brenda Holloway, the Sentinals, Little Caesar And The Romans, the Addrisi Brothers, Bobby Curtola, Chan Romero, Ron Holden, Eden Ahbez, the Centurions, Johnny Crawford, the Darts and the Impacts.

By 1965, Keane added the Mustang subsidiary to the Del-Fi family as a forum for the burgeoning garage band and rhythm and blues movements. Mustang most notably gave a moment in the spotlight to the tragically brief yet immensely influential career of the late Bobby Fuller and his band, the Bobby Fuller Four. Mustang likewise released a number of worthwhile singles by Felice Taylor, Ronnie And The Pomona Casuals, the Shindigs, the Ticklers, the Rooks, the Beauchemins and Keane himself, who continue to record for the label as a solo artist and under the pseudonym Verrill Keene.

With the momentum derailed by Bobby Fuller's premature passing in July 1966, Del-Fi Records went on a protracted sabbatical in 1967. Midway through that period, Keane oversaw the successful career of his sons John and Thomas, who recorded as the Keane Brothers. Meanwhile, one of Keane’s staff producers and A&R men at Del-Fi and Mustang went on to major superstardom as one of rhythm and blues’ most respected renaissance men in his own right.

The late, great Barry White parlayed his internship at Del-Fi/Mustang into an immensely successful career as an artist, composer and arranger for the 20th Century label. With its boundless atmosphere of optimism and one of the most stunning and mesmerizing string arrangements ever committed to record, White’s You’re The First, The Last, My Everything single made enough of an impact on series visionary David E. Kelley to use that 1974 single as a recurring theme throughout the 1997 - 2002 run of the much loved and greatly missed Ally McBeal television series. Kelley’s notion proved so successful that White became a recurring character in the series. In his autobiography, White not only credited the Ally McBeal series for sustaining his career in its final stages, but in turn acknowledged Keane as a central figure in its inception.

Had Keane’s career ended with the temporary closure of Del-Fi and Mustang in 1967, his accomplishments to date would have been more than enough to guarantee his place in the upper echelons of rock and roll history. But thankfully, Keane’s vision remained strong, prompting him to reactivate Del-Fi in the 1980s.

Over the next decade, Keane not only appeased a substantial segment of the musicologist and collector contingents by making the complete catalogs of Ritchie Valens, Eden Ahbez, the Bobby Fuller Four, Bruce Johnston, Little Caesar And The Romans and various productions by Barry White and Frank Zappa available in the CD format, he likewise drew from his formidable skills in artist development to sustain the career of the Randy Fuller Four (with band co-founder Randy Fuller assuming his late brother Bobby’s front man responsibilities) and brought into the spotlight such up and comers as vocalist/actress Kari Wuhrer, country rocker Jenny Morris, East Los Angeles rockers Brown Bag and the third generation garage band, Outrageous Cherry (featuring former Ivories lead guitarist Larry Ray Piekutowski). Del-Fi also chronicled via Various Artists compilations the annual International Pop Overthrow festivals and brought catalog stalwarts and like minded aspirants together in miscellaneous collections under various common themes.

Sadly, in 2002, Keane was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, the disease that claimed the life of Herman’s Hermits’ beloved and immensely influential guitar hero, Derek Leckenby on 04 June 1994. Miraculously, Keane recovered, although his illness precluded his ability to continue in his responsibilities with the label. As such, he sold Del-Fi to the Warner Music Group in September 2003.

Tragically, Keane’s bout with major illnesses did not end there. He eventually developed kidney problems and succumbed to renal failure on 28 November 2009 (the same illness that claimed the life of Blitz Magazine Editor/Publisher Michael McDowell’s mother, Virginia McDowell on 19 April 2004) while in an assisted living facility in Hollywood, California.

In addition to his enormous list of accomplishments as one of the music industry’s premier renaissance men, Keane was one of the few figures in such a position to have finished his course with his integrity intact. Highly respected and trusted by those who knew him, Keane’s legacy, in the words of the Bobby Fuller Four, is Never To Be Forgotten. Keane is survived by his wife, Dina, sons Thomas, John and Robert, daughter Chanelle, brother Walter Kuhn and seven grandchildren.

WILD WEEKEND:
BILL ANDERSON BRINGS HUMOR INTO THE STUDIO

Country music’s renaissance man, Bill Anderson has ended a protracted recording sabbatical with the good news that he and producer/engineer Rex Schnelle have returned to the studios in Nashville to begin work on Anderson’s still untitled forthcoming new CD.

Anderson, whose groundbreaking Whisperin’ Bluegrass CD and DVD project for IDI/Madacy was Blitz Magazine’s pick for the Best New CD of 2007, said that his new collection will feature original collaborations with Jamie Johnson, Brad Paisley, Jon Randall, Buddy Cannon, Rivers Rutherford, Barry Dean, Casey Beathard and Tim Nichols.


“I'm really pleased with the new CD so far”, Anderson told Blitz.


“I've done several humorous type songs, which is a bit of a departure for me. People think I'm serious because of songs like Still, Five Little Fingers and Mama Sang A Song. But I love to laugh. I think this new record will show more of that than I've ever shown on record before.”


While Anderson has always excelled in an autonomous capacity as a songwriter (with such indispensible classics as I Love You Drops and I Get The Fever to his credit), his most impressive track record as a collaborator dates back to 1965 with his career highlight Decca single, Bright Lights And Country Music, written with the late, great Jimmy Gateley. More recently, Anderson’s tag team approach provided George Strait with the award-winning Give It Away and also earned Anderson covers from Sugarland (Joey) and the aforementioned Brad Paisley (No).


Inbetween sessions, Anderson also found the time to make a guest appearance on the premier episode of the RFD-TV series, Larry’s Country Diner. Scheduled to air on the third of September, the hour-long debut will feature Anderson performing Po’ Folks, Give It Away and his 1963 monster crossover hit, Still (which also earned Anderson considerable acclaim amongst rock and roll audiences via a cover by the Sunrays on the Tower label). Future installments of Larry’s Country Diner will include appearances by Bobby Bare (Marie Laveau; Singin’ In The Kitchen), Jeannie Seely (Don’t Touch Me; Bring It On Back), former Browns front man, Jim Ed Brown (Broad Minded Man; Bottle, Bottle), T. Graham Brown (I Tell It Like It Used To Be; Darlene), Gene Watson (I Want My Rib Back; Where Love Begins), Gospel rockers, the Whites and Gatlin Brothers front man, Larry Gatlin.


Anderson’s collaboration with Larry’s Country Diner host and producer, Larry Black has to date been quite fortuitous. Black has been instrumental in locating long lost episodes of Anderson’s syndicated television series, which originally aired from 1965 to 1974. Upon completion of filming of the first thirteen episodes of Larry’s Country Diner, Black and Anderson will begin work on reviewing Anderson’s program (Anderson believes that between twenty and twenty-five episodes have survived) with an eye towards eventual DVD release.


A relentless perfectionist, Anderson recently commented that he is reticent to listen to many of his earliest recordings because of a perceived tension in his voice. But for those who don’t have the benefit of such first-person perspective, it is that very dynamic that gives his best work the intensity that rightfully earned it classic status. The virtue of perfectionism served him well not only in the studio, but in his work before the camera in his aforementioned variety series and in his subsequent television roles, as well as in his endeavors as a composer, journalist, entrepreneur and radio announcer.


In the meantime, Bill Anderson’s impending studio collection is set for release prior to the Christmas season.


“I just hope it comes across the way in which we are intending it”, said Anderson.


And if Whisperin’ Bluegrass and such relatively recent studio outings such as The Way I Feel and A Lot Of Things Different are any indication, his newest release is certain to produce (in the words of one of his four 1968 hit singles) a Happy State Of Mind.


CARRY THAT WEIGHT:
BEATLES CATALOG REISSUED ON 09 SEPTEMBER


It was as if the retailers could see it coming. For some time now, many of the surviving outlets that continue to stock CDs have been selling certain items from the Beatles catalog at lower prices than would be expected, given the band’s ongoing immense popularity.

These CDs of course are pretty much faithful replicas of the original vinyl albums, bereft of bonus tracks and (in some cases) only available in monaural, to the considerable detriment of the band’s catalog. At best, such limited availability would seem to do the Beatles a disservice, given the proliferation of deluxe edition projects available by other artists, with both monaural and stereo mixes included and (more often than not) with a generous helping of heretofore unreleased material.

In reality, said oversights now appear to have been part of a long range marketing strategy, after all. On 07 April, Apple Corps announced the impending release of a deluxe edition of the Beatles catalogue, set for global issue on CD on 09 September to coincide with the release of the highly anticipated video game, The Beatles: Rock Band.

As such, those who had heretofore resigned themselves to the basic CD versions will now have the option of buying the entire Beatles catalog again in deluxe editions. The remastered reissues will include all twelve United Kingdom Beatles releases with the original UK cover album art, as well as enhanced booklet inserts with the original sleeve notes, plus newly written essays and rare or previously unreleased photographs.

The reissue project has been overseen by engineers at London’s Abbey Road Studios. Using a combination of vintage equipment and the most up to date digital technology extant, the project has taken four years to complete. Abbey Road promises, in Apple Corps’ words, “The highest fidelity the catalog has seen since its original release”.

Unlike the late 1980s British CD reissues, the new deluxe editions will feature all of the Beatles’ albums in stereo. Past unavailability of stereo reissues prompted Capitol Records in the USA to release two CD box sets, The Capitol Albums, Volumes One And Two several years ago, containing the American versions of the Beatles’ earliest albums in both the monaural and stereo configurations.

Aside from the reissue of the band’s individual albums, there will also be a combined single re-release of the Past Masters, Volumes One And Two collections. The earliest pressings of the deluxe remastered CDs will also include a brief documentary film about each album. The documentary films will include rare film clips, as well as comments from the Beatles themselves and observations from director Bob Smeaton on the making of each of the albums. Completists will have the option of purchasing all fourteen albums, accompanied by a DVD containing each of the documentaries as a stereo boxed set.

Also available on 09 September will be a second Beatles boxed set, aimed specifically at the collectors market. The Beatles In Mono will contain the ten Beatles albums that were originally afforded a monaural release, as well as two additional discs that offer monaural alternatives to the stereo versions found in the Past Masters project. The Beatles In Mono will also contain stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul to accompany the monaural versions, complete with replicas of the original vinyl LP sleeves and all pertinent inserts.

In the interim, the conventional pressings of the Beatles’ catalog remain available on CD. However, there has been no indication that the 1966 American only Yesterday And Today album (which remains unavailable in the CD configuration, except in bootleg format) is among those slated for legitimate release. Yesterday And Today had been issued by Capitol primarily as an outlet for the growing number of 45RPM single releases that the Beatles had amassed at that time (including Yesterday, Act Naturally, Day Tripper, We Can Work It Out, Nowhere Man and What Goes On) and was combined with leftover tracks from earlier albums that had somehow been excluded from the American versions of their albums.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME By Michael McDowell



Above: The Rationals' Scott Morgan (left) and Blitz Magazine Editor/Publisher Michael McDowell enjoy a day indulging their passion for record collecting. A rave review of the Rationals' just issued Think Rational! double CD collection follows below. Photo by Audrey McDowell (Click on image to enlarge).


CD REISSUES


CHAPLIN HARNESS - Chaplin Harness (Gear Fab)

In the AM/FM wars of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the lines between the two camps generally appeared to be clearly drawn. The AM side offered a greater degree of diversity, with the common ground being a preference for the singles format. Conversely, the FM contingent endeavored to accommodate the trend conscious under the guise of “free form”, then and now a euphemism for a lack of direction that in reality was little more than an attempt to pander to the peer conscious demands of the lowest common denominator.


Retrospective observations frequently overlook an integral component of the FM camp; one that could have saved the format from imploding had it received its due from the onset. Embraced at the time by a handful of the more forward thinking FM ilk were a series of independently recorded bands. For all practical purposes, those bands were perpetuating the garage band ethic of the mid-1960s in the sense of maintaining creative autonomy based on little else than their own take on societal developments, as filtered through respective cultural and geographical factors indigenous to their individual circumstances.

Certain traits were deemed to be a prerequisite of the FM experience, such as an increase in volume, propensity for extended musical workouts and a general disdain for the upbeat or humorous in favor of a somber approach intended to demonstrate a concern for whatever social malaise with which the respective band purported to most closely identify. Where this sort of band differed from the more notorious FM fare was in their determination to make a musical statement that at least demonstrated a modicum of concern for the art itself, rather than falling in lockstep with their more notorious counterparts.

Whether or not the band in question recorded independently or was signed to a major label, they would generally would regards such traits as an asset. This resulted in a slightly more elevated sense of purpose than the movement as a whole seemed willing to allow. To that effect, artists as disparate in their focus as Ratchell, the Incredible String Band, Amon Duul II, Mahogany Rush and Tranquility each managed to maintain a modicum of integrity and individuality, yet all managed to at least be acknowledged (if not embraced) to a reasonable extent by the FM contingent.

Conversely, a number of such bands were unable to sustain their momentum beyond a handful of independent recordings, many of which have been reissued in the CD format over the past decade by Roger Maglio’s Gear Fab Records. The latest of note is this 1969 collection, which was recorded in Camden, New Jersey by the ambitious sextet, Chaplin Harness.

Although the ten selections herein did not realize an official release at the time that they were recorded, they were previously made available in vinyl format in 2005 on Brian Hulitt’s Void label. A new partnership between Maglio and Hulitt will enable releases such as this one to concurrently remain in print in both the vinyl and CD formats.


For Chaplin Harness, that means greater exposure for an album that curiously did not make it past the test pressing stage at the time of its recording. And while there is much to indicate that such tracks as Stitch, Peat Moss and the extended, Dave Brubeck meets Brian Auger-like workout, 3/4 Plaything would have been welcomed by factions within the FM circle that were sympathetic to blues and jazz (and indeed, Chaplin Harness at the time counted among their ranks the veteran Philadelphia jazz guitarist Rick Iannacone, who went on to make his mark with the Bobby Zankel Trio), Chaplin Harness’ lone moment in the spotlight came with the single release of the James Gang/Jimmy Smith hybrid, Dit Dewey Man, an extended version of which is included here as a bonus track.

While very much of its time, Chaplin Harness’ sparse repertoire was deserving of greater notoriety than it was afforded. Sadly, lead vocalist Raymond Bozarth passed away a few years after this album was completed. But his sympathetic and expressive vocals, coupled with Iannacone’s guitar savvy and the obvious chemistry generated by bandmates Edward Monroe, Joseph Mingori, Nicholas Fanelli and William Vespe were very much indicative of a band whose sense of direction and purpose transcended the confusion of the times. They left not only a brief yet noteworthy legacy, but a commendable demonstration of why the musical climate from which they came was not completely bereft of merit.



CANDIDA/DAWN FEATURING TONY ORLANDO - Dawn
(7T’s Records)

Despite the tremendous amount of pretentiousness and bravado espoused at that time by certain segments of the FM contingent, in the great AM/FM wars of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a number of groups and solo artists rose to the occasion to reinforce AM radio’s status as the true groundbreaker and ongoing representative of music of superior aesthetic merit.

One such group was the trio Dawn, who remained steadfast in their resolve to place the betterment of their art above any sort of concessions to commercialism or the constantly evolving social and political mores of the day. In the process, Dawn recorded a number of classic singles and several above average albums for the late Larry Uttal’s Bell Records.

Much of Dawn’s success can be attributed to the musical savvy and commanding lead vocals of Manhattan native Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis, who parlayed a successful run with the Five Gents into a prolific solo career in 1961 for Epic Records as Tony Orlando. While at Epic, Orlando released an above average album and several noteworthy singles, including Bless You, Happy Times (Are Here To Stay) and the monster classic, Halfway To Paradise. The highly engaging and memorable melody of Halfway To Paradise made a significant impression on labelmate Bobby Vinton, who recorded a sublime cover of it in 1968. In the process, Vinton’s version enabled Orlando to sustain enough momentum in the spotlight during what was a transitional period for him in order to build a multi-faceted favorable reputation in the industry.

But Orlando’s best on the job training came in 1967 as a songwriter and solo artist for the Cameo-Parkway family of labels. At the time, Cameo-Parkway was in a transitional phase. On one hand, the label boasted a world class artist roster that featured a number of the most respected garage band artists in history, including Terry Knight And The Pack (on their subsidiary Lucky Eleven label), the Rationals, Bob Seger And The Last Heard, the Ohio Express and Question Mark And The Mysterians. Conversely, Cameo-Parkway was enduring considerable behind the scenes financial concerns, which sadly led to the label’s demise in early 1968.

As such, Orlando was ironically able to benefit from the crisis management opportunities afforded him as a result of Cameo-Parkway’s situation. Due in part to his proven track record at Epic, Cameo-Parkway allowed Orlando to try his hand as both a solo artist and composer. He rose to the occasion handsomely, releasing the self-penned Manuelito b/w Sweet, Sweet 45 for Cameo in mid-1967 and penning the classic, I’m Just Waitin’ (Anticipatin’ For Her To Show Up) single for Chicago’s New Colony Six on Cameo’s affiliate Sentar label that same year.

With Cameo-Parkway’s formidable artist roster scattered among such willing recipients as Capitol and Buddah Records by mid-1968, Orlando was somehow cast adrift until late 1969 (although his momentum was sustained in the interim by the aforementioned Bobby Vinton cover), at which time he re-emerged as the lead vocalist of the studio group Wind.

With Wind, Orlando enjoyed a sizeable hit single with the dynamic Make Believe for Life Records at the end of 1969. Likewise, the ensuing Make Believe album contained a number of noteworthy tracks (including Love Flashin’ Through Me and Ain’t Like It Used To Be). Despite the anonymity with regards to personnel on the album cover, the brief success of Wind brought Orlando back into a favorable light amongst the industry astute, who realized that the frequently self-indulgent recorded output of the Woodstock nation’s second generation disciples did not serve as every musicologist’s cup of tea and that Orlando’s consistency warranted further investigation.

Although Wind’s notoriety did not prove to be a long term blessing for either Orlando or Life Records, by mid-1970, his legacy was about to take a tremendous turn for the better. Orlando was approached by the late Hank Medress regarding a single that Medress had in the works for Bell Records. Medress was a part of the legendary Tokens, who had established a formidable track record of their own with such landmark singles as Hear The Bells, He’s In Town, I Hear Trumpets Blow and She Lets Her Hair Down, as well as the groundbreaking Intercourse album. The Tokens also enjoyed a prolific and highly respected side career as producers, composers and session musicians, with such masterpieces as the Chiffons’ mid-1965 number one single, Nobody Knows What’s Goin’ On (In My Mind But Me) to their credit.

Medress and colleague (and Cameo-Parkway alumnus) Dave Appell asked Orlando to provide the lead vocals for that Bell release. The song was Candida, released under the name Dawn in similar fashion to the previous year’s Wind single. The group’s name, in fact, was inspired by the daughter of Bell Records’ promotion man, Steve Wax.

While the Dawn project was apparently of sufficient interest to warrant a sister group, Dusk (whose I Hear Those Church Bells Ringing and Angel Baby singles for Bell are widely regarded as doo wop classics), it is likely that not even Orlando, Medress and Tokens bandmate Phil Margo (who reportedly served as drummer at the Candida sessions) could have anticipated the enormity of the accolades that awaited them. By late August 1970, Candida was a monster hit, inspiring Medress and Orlando to return to the studio to complete the album that comprises half of this CD collection.

Although Dawn’s archives have been the subject of numerous reissues in the current decade, this particular collection is noteworthy not only for the inclusion of bonus tracks, but for the superior fidelity that highlights nuances of the original sessions that were not readily apparent in the Bell vinyl.

To wit, the title track is more clearly seen for the elaborate production that it is; graced by flowing acoustic guitar throughout the first verse, segueing into superbly arranged violin swirls and punctuated with subtle horn accents. Through it all, Orlando is decidedly more recognizable as the vocal gymnast that he always was, rising to the occasion with crescendos and judicious application of melisma.

While subsequent Dawn singles frequently adhered to the precepts that contributed to the success of Candida, in their albums, both Orlando and the Tokens’ entourage were able to explore and build upon a variety of moods. Within that first album, such experimentation (which seemed to vary at random between a determined approach and capriciousness) was most richly rewarded when all concerned followed their respective muses with original material.

For whereas such extraneous contributions as the Drifters’ Up On The Roof was in some respects a welcome expression of solidarity with music of substance in an era when such proven accomplishments were infuriatingly dismissed out of hand by the aforementioned FM contingent for no other reason than chronology (and indeed in some respects the tread lightly rendition of James Taylor’s caught in the crossfire Carolina In My Mind seems a concession to their ilk), it is the diverse and rich in house fare such as the introspective Look At (which was the flip side of the Candida single), the celebratory Country (which parallels in spirit the Beach Boys’ contemporary, environmentally conscious work on their Sunflower and Surf’s Up albums), the not so unlikely synthesis of the thematic precepts of the Vogues’ Five O’Clock World and Bobby Russell’s 1432 Franklin Pike Circle Hero found in Home and the playful yet understated Let’s Run Away Girl (a prototype for the Amazing Rhythm Aces’ 1975 monster classic, Third Rate Romance) that give Dawn its identity and the impetus to persevere.

And persevere they did, as the Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando half of this collection readily attests. By the time this subsequent album was released in November 1971, the classic Dawn lineup of Orlando and cousins Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent was not only solidified, but (as the evidence herein suggests) assertive in the sense of championing a group identity, rather than defaulting to the concept of a lead vocalist with background accompaniment.

As was the case with the Candida album, Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando excels in terms of originals. Witness the Temptations-flavored Who Did A Number On Me, the variation on the Let’s Run Away Girl theme of Carmen, the coyness of I Didn’t Mean To Love You So Good, Juanita (which in some respects justified their earlier Drifters cover) and the seemingly Home, Part Two tenor of The Good Life, all of which give credence to the notion of a viable and cohesive musical identity that survived and flourished in that most narrow and hostile of eras.

And while their unique interpretation of Tony Martin’s I Get Ideas succeeded on a variety of levels (as to a lesser extent does their faithful reading of Stephen Stills’ Love The One You’re With), it again is the cover material that provided the album’s lone misstep.

As was the case with their earlier take on Up On The Roof, the medley of Del Shannon’s Runaway and the Turtles’ Happy Together was a heartening sign of Dawn’s (and the Tokens’) resolve to champion representative classics from rock and roll’s rich repertoire and see them through the challenges of the times until they would again find their footing when welcomed at large by the overwhelmingly sympathetic punk and new wave movement a mere several years hence.

Yet while it is to their considerable credit that all concerned were perceptive enough to realize the irony that characterized the 1967 Turtles classic (which in reality was not “happy”, but instead an account of an individual who was in experiencing considerable inner turmoil), its only shared trait with the late Del Shannon’s 1961 Big Top label debut was the element of uncertainty and apprehension indigenous to their respective story lines. In reality, both originals were individually able to generate solidarity amongst listeners, but due to decidedly different circumstances. As such, the two pieces no more belonged united in a medley than would such decidedly diverse fare as the Steve Miller Band’s Tokins and the Outsiders’ Time Won’t Let Me, simply because both are delivered in upbeat fashion.

This is most assuredly not to infer that Dawn’s singles catalog as a whole was bereft of merit. Indeed, in addition to Candida, Dawn was responsible for a number of engaging and immersible 45s, several of which are represented in this release. While in some respects Summer Sand, What Are You Doing Sunday, I Play And Sing and their Ben E. King-like reworking of Les Paul And Mary Ford’s Vaya Con Dios generally adhere to the Candida ethic, each is strong enough in its own right to warrant accolades on a level with Dawn’s several far more successful singles.

One such monster hit, Knock Three Times appears here as a part of the Candida album and provided the group with a number one hit single in the closing weeks of 1970. Orlando’s vivid tale of communicating with a potential acquaintance through their apartment building’s plumbing system was irresistible enough to earn the highest of accolades in the form of a superlative cover by the great George Jones in the early part of 1971.

While their resounding singles success afforded Dawn the opportunity to host their own CBS television series for several seasons in the mid-1970s, by decade’s end, Orlando opted for a solo career. He in turn was able to parlay his CBS experience into a starring role on The Cosby Show during the 1984 - 1985 season.

Likewise, Hopkins (whose pre-Dawn musical career included session work for Ed Wingate’s highly respected Golden World and Ric Tic labels) used her Dawn pedigree to transition into a successful acting career, with extended stints on such memorable television series as Bosom Buddies, Gimme A Break! and Family Matters in her curriculum vitae.

Most recently, Orlando has appeared at the Welk Theatre in Branson, Missouri, sharing the bill with the beloved Lennon Sisters (who are still led by group cofounders Janet and Kathy Lennon, with younger sister Mimi in the place of retired siblings Diane and Peggy Lennon). But it is Orlando’s work with Dawn that remains his most enduring accomplishment.

And with good reason. Not only are Dawn’s numerous singles and albums an ongoing testament to the validity of the team concept of recording (in which those who individually excel either vocally, instrumentally, as composers, as arrangers and/or as producers join forces for the best possible results), but (as is evidenced in abundance here), their sizeable body of work then and now provided a welcome and substantial alternative to the largely counterproductive atmosphere indigenous to the times in which they were created. And that in and of itself is a tribute to their artistic integrity.

LIVE AT STANFORD, 1957 -
The Gateway Singers (Folk Era)

The development of the stereo recording process was one of the watershed moments in the history of the music industry. Although a number of film studios had the foresight to record their soundtracks in stereo (showcased as early as 1940 in the soundtrack of Walt Disney’s Fantasia), stereo albums were not readily available for mass consumption until the latter part of 1957. The stunningly superior audio experience evidenced in one of the earliest stereo releases, Capitol’s Original Cast soundtrack for Meredith Willson’s The Music Man provided more than sufficient testimony as to the validity of the experiment.

Another rarity in the 1950s was the live recording. Despite an abundance of worthwhile material for consideration, few artists or labels at the time had the foresight (or were willing to contribute to overcoming the inevitable technical and financial constraints) to record concert performances. While the live performances of some artists (including Hank Williams, Dave Brubeck and Eddie Cochran) have survived via television or radio broadcast recordings, only a handful of musicians (Charlie Gracie, Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington amongst them) have had concert performances from that period preserved in the vinyl and/or CD configurations.

As such, this previously unreleased stereo recording of a February 1957 live show by the beloved Gateway Singers is not only representative of the best of all possible worlds, it is in some respects more akin to answered prayer. Live At Stanford, 1957 is the second of three such landmark recordings issued by Allan Shaw’s Folk Era label in 2009, following the Highwaymen’s career-defining The Cambridge Tapes and in anticipation of Flashback 1963, the latest installment of heretofore unissued live collections from the vast legacy of the Kingston Trio.

Along with the Easy Riders and the Tarriers, The Gateway Singers (Elmerlee Thomas - vocals, Travis Edmonson - guitar, Jerry Walter - banjo, Lou Gottlieb - bass) represented continuity for folk music in the wake of the Weavers’ fall from mass media grace as a result of their uncompromising mission statement and in anticipation of the meteoric rise in 1958 of the Kingston Trio to the upper echelons of the music world.

Of those three groups (Gateway Singers, Tarriers, Easy Riders), it was the Gateway Singers whose impact on the development of the idiom was the most profound and sustaining. Much of this can be attributed to the group having been blessed with remarkably gifted individuals.

The Gateway Singers were not a supergroup in the sense of a gathering of heretofore individually lauded members, as was the case with the pioneering vocal group, the Heidelburg Quintet (which was comprised of five superstars - Steve Porter, William F. Hooley, John Bieling, Will Oakland and the legendary Billy Murray - each of whom had amassed extensive track records as solo artists prior to their collaboration), but in the sense of being comprised of supremely gifted individuals who would go on to establish impressive legacies elsewhere when their tenure with the Gateway Singers had run its course.

Of these, it was perhaps contralto Elmerlee Thomas whose potential was never fully realized. Prior to joining the group at Gottlieb’s behest, Jones had made impressive inroads as a research scientist in genetics, yet had already demonstrated formidable musical capacity as a protégé of the renowned opera singer Marian Anderson. Sadly, Thomas’ valiant attempts to transition from the Gateway Singers into a prolific solo career (highlighted by her 1959 Sun’s Gonna Shine album for Warner Brothers, which featured early versions of Chilly Winds and Good News, as well as the essential Turtle Dove and Johnnie Has Gone For A Soldier) were circumvented by her untimely passing from a brain tumor in 1969.

The elusion of due acclaim was not the case with Travis Edmonson, whose post-Gateway Singers career was defined by his successful tenure as half of the Bud And Travis duo. Bud And Travis’ numerous albums for Liberty, such as In Person At The Cellar Door, Perspective and The Latin Album (which was also reissued on Folk Era) are widely regarded as folk rock classics.

Likewise the great Lou Gottlieb (1924 - 1996), who followed a brief post-Gateway Singers musical hiatus (for the purpose of completing his doctoral studies at the University Of California) with an immensely successful tenure (with Alex Hassliev and Glenn Yarbrough) as bassist and cofounder of the Limeliters. While few would likely contest the notion that the Kingston Trio was the preeminent driving force behind the folk boom, a solid argument could be made for the notion that the Limeliters were (alongside the Highwaymen and the Chad Mitchell Trio) a close second in terms of impact and innovation.

To that effect, Gottlieb worked as an arranger for the Kingston Trio during that transitional phase in his career. In fact, the Kingston Trio’s Dave Guard readily admitted to having been inspired by Gottlieb’s trademark highbrow humor in the development of his own on stage repartee.

Indeed, a closer look at this collection indicates exactly how enormous was the impact of the Gateway Singers not only on the Kingston Trio, but on folk music in general. Witness the playful account of the marriage of actress Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier depicted in the rollicking Monaco, which found its way to the Kingston Trio’s A Rolling Stone in arrangement and Pay Me My Money Down in execution. Likewise, Come To The Dance was echoed months later in the Kingston Trio’s Raspberries, Strawberries, complete with a brief Coplas-like guitar flourish at midpoint. Woody Guthrie’s The Sinking Of The Reuben James (which originated with Pete Seeger’s pre-Weavers band, the Almanac Singers, of which Guthrie was also a participant) was even covered outright by the Kingston Trio on their 1961 Close Up album, as was Buddy Won’t You Roll Down The Line in a subsequent duet album by John Stewart and Nick Reynolds.

Even the comedic banter between numbers identifies with the later Guard, Reynolds and Shane model. Consider the seemingly improvisational references to Dot Records recording artist Jim Lowe in the It’s Not The Green Door dialogue that precedes Malaguena Salerosa (the introduction of which provided a suitable framework for the Kingston Trio’s South Coast), as well as the Nick Reynolds-like asides from Edmonson and/or Walter in response to Gottlieb’s numerous mini-dissertations throughout the proceedings. While not, in Gottlieb’s vernacular, “pedestrian fare”, his obscure to the masses references to history, politics and contemporary culture nonetheless resonated extremely well with his like minded audience.

Aside from being one of the most poignant of anti-war anthems (alongside the Kingston Trio’s definitive rendition of Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream), Down By The Riverside even served to bridge the gap between the Weavers (who recorded a stunning version for Vanguard as Study War No More) and the Kingston Trio and in turn shines as one of several most welcome Gospel-oriented efforts to highlight this collection. The others - This Little Light Of Mine and Run, Come See Jerusalem - in addition to their considerable and ongoing potential for both witnessing and exultation, likewise found their way into the repertoires of numerous other artists, with the latter having been a highlight of the Brothers Four’s 1962 In Person album.

Much of the remaining material served to personify the folk music maxim of perpetuation through shared experiences. To that effect, the late, great Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter’s Rock Island Line herein once again returns to its folk roots after recent moments in the spotlight in country rock and rockabilly/skiffle fashion by Johnny Cash and Lonnie Donegan respectively. Ledbetter’s Midnight Special (which concludes these proceedings) was similarly feted in subsequent, diverse renditions by the Brothers Four, Paul Evans and Johnny Rivers.

The Group Therapy banter that segues into Rock Island Line even provides a brief opportunity for the Gateway Singers to editorialize about the potential of such cover material with its playful (and ironically prophetic) references to Elvis Presley’s impending induction into military service.

Yet such protectionist overtures did not provide sufficient deterrent to those who sought to partake of this material with their own musical persona. And while the results varied widely in spirit and execution (from Jimmie Rodgers’ Kisses Sweeter Than Wine to the Smothers Brothers’ irreverent take on The Fox), all combined to underscore exactly how enormous was the impact of not just folk music in general, but the Gateway Singers themselves on its reascension to the forefront of indigenous American music.

Although Edmonson’s passing on 09 May 2009 marked the end of this classic lineup of the Gateway Singers, Live At Stanford, 1957 provides not only a fitting epitaph, but an absolutely indispensible addition to the rich canon of folk music. Alongside Hank Williams’ The Unreleased Recordings box set, the various Kingston Trio reissues and compilations and the aforementioned Highwaymen collection, Live At Stanford, 1957 is truly one of the most significant archival discoveries of the twenty-first century to date.

THE CAMBRIDGE TAPES - The Highwaymen (Folk Era)


If the release of their groundbreaking When The Village Was Green CD in 2007 reiterated the Highwaymen’s status as one of folk music’s absolute front runners, then this most welcome collection of heretofore unreleased concert recordings from the group’s earliest days more than underscores why such accolades were warranted in the first place.


Recorded live at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology on 26 October 1963 during their immensely fruitful tenure with United Artists Records, The Cambridge Tapes showcases the Highwaymen as being far ahead of the curve in terms of versatility, musical dexterity and the prerequisite (for the genre) social consciousness.


And while those ingredients are of course indispensible components of the live folk recording equation, where the Highwaymen succeeded (and continue to flourish) while others were unable to transition successfully from studio to stage was in their superior ability to assess, address and execute the fundamentals.

Rather than just dutifully reproducing selections from their recorded canon with little or no sense of direction or purpose, the Highwaymen, in the vernacular of radio, left no room for dead air in their performance. Songs were played straight only as necessary, with improvisation, commentary and/or levity inserted either in premeditated fashion or ad libbed as warranted by the circumstances.


Banjoist and cofounder Steve Butts concurs with that assessment.

“We paid great attention not only to the songs, but to the SHOW, with pacing, careful mixing of song types, even the keys we sang in”, he said.


“That's why we love to create and listen to live performances.”


Thankfully, banter was not kept to a minimum, either. Wry humor, acerbic wit, irony, self-depreciation and proclamations of solidarity with the key issues of the day were all fair game for subject matter, and the Highwaymen herein excelled on all fronts.


At the time of this recording, the Highwaymen consisted of the aforementioned Steve Butts on banjo, as well as tenor guitarist Bob Burnett, lead guitarist Dave Fisher and the late Chan Daniels on guitar and charrango. Original member Steve Trott had embarked upon a sabbatical from the band in June 1962 to attend Harvard Law School. In his place was Gil Robbins, a veteran of the Cumberland Three, the band that in 1961 had provided a springboard for John Stewart to succeed the late Donald David “Dave” Guard as banjoist in the Kingston Trio.


Whereas mastery of the fundamentals would seem to be a given for a live performance in the twenty-first century, a random review of concert albums from artists in all genres that were taped around or prior to the time of this recording demonstrates that the Highwaymen were in rare company in having perfected their stage timing in comparison to the somewhat unnerving attempts by others to salvage their between song transitions with more than the usual “you’re a lovely audience” clichés, which many an artist resorted to out of desperation.


To that effect, the Highwaymen herein opened with the title track from their March On Brothers album. It was and is a rousing and harmony-laden call to arms that embraced civil rights issues. In turn, March On Brothers would prove its mettle as a clarion call for the military concerns that would dominate global politics several years hence.


As a whole, The Cambridge Tapes project is a generous look at the highlights of the Highwaymen’s United Artists catalog to date. An earlier live recording, Hootenanny provided several fine moments for this particular performance, including Woody Guthrie’s Roll On Columbia, Roll On (a not so distant cousin of the Leadbelly/Weavers masterpiece, Goodnight Irene and a track that was enthusiastically reprised on When The Village Was Green in 2007) and Mister Noah, a wry look at the Biblical account of the flood from Genesis 6 - 8.


Mister Noah was also recorded in 1963 by Dave Van Ronk on his Folksinger album in the more matter of fact way that was unique to Van Ronk’s persona, complete with the “h” word that the Highwaymen herein graciously omitted. However, the Highwaymen compensated for any perceived failure to meet expectations amongst the sub tangent of their demographic that might place priority on such concerns by staging a group argument in the final bars, which dissolves with an abrupt and well-timed comment about the civil rights movement.


The same can be said for the light hearted Shaggy Dog Stories, which in snippets touches on everything from western swing to Shel Silverstein’s humorous Boa Constrictor (later covered by Johnny Cash) and a playful salute to such vocal harmony greats as the Classics, the Belmonts and the Safaris.


By October 1963, the Highwaymen had also amassed an impressive backlog of 45s, several of which are reprised here. Of those, their two signature singles, Cotton Fields and Michael comprise the inevitable coda prior to intermission. Despite the potential for “familiarity breeds contempt” that has challenged other musicians under like circumstances, the Highwaymen were able to maintain their focus and sustain their enthusiasm, both of which could easily have been circumvented by the inevitable overkill commensurate with the necessity of having to routinely revisit that which brought them success of that magnitude in live settings.


Said enthusiasm is especially evidenced in Cotton Fields, a Leadbelly original that was covered in 1969 by the Beach Boys on their 20/20 album. Therein, the Highwaymen take liberties with their own legacy by executing the “little bitty baby” lyrics in faux baby talk and by camping up the standard folk harmonies in the final seconds. As a result (and possibly unintentionally), the band received a warm reception from an audience that most likely would have nonetheless stood in solidarity with the band in terms of such concerns anyway.


However, singles such as Gypsy Rover (which was the flip side of Cotton Fields) suffer from no such stigmatism, due to their relatively more modest degree of notoriety. As such, its upbeat sing along chorus (a rare deference by the band to folk music convention) sustains its charisma with relative ease. Likewise, Midnight Train (a 1963 single and a Gil Robbins composition, not to be confused with the Monkees’ 1970 Micky Dolenz-penned, R&B-flavored classic of the same name) absolutely soars as a clarion call, with Gospel overtones and sublime vocal harmonies.


The final installment of the singles chapter comes with I Know Where I’m Going and Bob Gibson’s Well Well Well (also recorded by Peter, Paul And Mary), which were coupled on a United Artists single in 1962. Herein, the Scarlet Ribbons-ish flavor of the former is overshadowed by the foretelling prophecy of the latter. Well Well Well reprises the aforementioned saga of Noah and its inevitable ramifications (as noted in II Peter 3:5-6), rendered with the fervency of a Jewel label-era Reverend Willie Morganfield. That the two sides of that 45 are presented in entirely different segments of the show underscores the Highwaymen’s aforementioned astute sense of timing.


Indeed, Gospel music provides a number of the highlights of this collection. While the Highwaymen allow James And Martha Carson’s 1946 hit, I’ll Fly Away to speak for itself, the acapella John combines a compelling first person account of Jesus’ ministry with the inevitable fervor and sublime vocal harmony that could have enabled the Highwaymen to join forces with such masters of the idiom as the Statesmen Quartet and the Jordanaires, had they been so inclined.


Passin’ Through brings the concept full circle by integrating the fall of Adam (Genesis 3) with Jesus’ propitiation (Luke 23:34) and its subsequent impact on such landmarks of history as George Washington’s six months of trials in 1777 - 1778 at Valley Forge and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s resolve to emerge victorious in the Second World War. A musical sermon of sorts, and a well illustrated one at that.

But of all of the albums in the Highwaymen’s canon at the time of this recording, it was One More Time that received the lion’s share of attention here. In fact, it is an inversion of the group shot from the cover of One More Time that graces the front of this CD.


As One More Time was their current release when this concert was recorded, the band opted to showcase six of its tracks in a live setting. Aside from the aforementioned Midnight Train, One More Time provided the bluegrass flavored Sourwood Mountain and So Fare Ye Well, as well as a cover of Ritchie Valens’ October 1958 hit, La Bamba and one of the earliest renditions of Buffy Sainte Marie’s The Universal Soldier; a candid anti-war anthem that became a sizeable hit single for Donovan Leitch on the Hickory label in 1965.


One More Time also provided an ideal opportunity for the Highwaymen to showcase their musical versatility. In 1963, George Hamilton IV recorded one of country music’s absolute masterpieces with his sublime, quasi-blues treatment of Bob Gibson and John D. Loudermilk’s Abilene on RCA Victor. To be certain, if any record could be used to extol the virtues of what many country music purists frequently derided as the “Nashville Sound”, Hamilton stated the case beyond reproach and in the process set a standard that would be difficult to duplicate and nearly impossible to surpass.


To their considerable credit, in cutting their own rendition of Abilene for One More Time, the Highwaymen set a precedent by realizing that the only way to approach such a work without succumbing to redundancy was to present it in an entirely original manner. As such, Hamilton’s classic herein is transformed into a sublime slow blues. In some respects, such a revision is more in sync with Loudermilk’s general mission statement anyway, as evidenced in his Tobacco Road (which was a chart hit for Lou Rawls at the time of this recording).


Although it is obvious that all five members of the Highwaymen contributed significantly to the overall aesthetic success of the band, The Cambridge Tapes also provides a poignant reminder of just how critical the late Chan Daniels was to that success. In addition to his frequent asides and timely observations during the between song banter, Daniels (who passed away in 1975) brought to the proceedings such key instruments as the Charrango and the Guitarrón, Both were used to maximum advantage herein during El Humauaqueño and The Ladybug And The Centipede. That the Highwaymen continue to pay tribute to Daniels in the present day by including El Humauaqueño in their live set is a poignant testimony to his ongoing impact in their work.

Students of the Highwaymen have been blessed in abundance in recent years with not only a proliferation of CDs of their earliest material, but with a generous amount of new releases, as well. In 2008, their self-produced Celtic album, The Water Of Life was reissued by Varese Sarabande, who (along with the Collectors Choice label) also keeps in print collections of the highlights of their United Artists catalog.


“In 2004, we went into our bass player Johann Helton’s home studio in Boise, Idaho and spent a week doing The Water Of Life, which has mostly Irish and Northern English tunes”, Butts explained.


“We had a thousand copies done up by a reliable CD manufacturer. We sold them from our website and in concerts. This CD is listed on our website and is available from us and from Folk Era Records.”

Commensurate with their impressive and long standing track record of keeping great material available on a wider scale (with a catalog that includes anthologies by such diverse artists as the Bachelors, the Dixie Cups and the Easybeats), Varese Sarabande Records approached the Highwaymen about The Water Of Life.


“For some reason, Cary Mansfield at Varese Sarabande Records, which has put out a separate compilation of our earlier stuff called Folk Hits, decided to re-manufacture The Water Of Life exactly as we recorded it and put it out commercially”, said Butts.


“It is exactly the same as our CD from 2004. But it is available in the stores that Varese Sarabande supplies.”


The Water Of Life is indeed a departure not only from The Cambridge Tapes, but from the Highwaymen’s overall repertoire. Featuring yet another version of the never tiresome The Gypsy Rover, it also includes Work Of The Weavers (with its playful reference to the beloved folk pioneers of the same name) and Andy Stewart’s Ramblin’ Rover, both of which were included in their When The Village Was Green live set.


Another of the highlights of The Water Of Life is Whiskey In The Jar, which had been recorded as Darlin’ Sportin’ Jenny by the Brothers Four on their 1962 In Person album for Columbia. Far from being the first such instance of public domain material being renamed as so to preserve the respective artist’s unique arrangement (witness, for example the variation of poet Carl Sandburg’s This Mornin’, This Evenin’, So Soon by the Kingston Trio becoming Tell Old Bill in the hands of the Chad Mitchell Trio), Whiskey In The Jar represents a rare instance of the Highwaymen being in the latter half of that “battle of the titles” equation.


To be certain, throughout The Cambridge Tapes, the Highwaymen either give credit where credit is due (typified by their truncated and flippant version of the Woody Guthrie/Burl Ives chestnut, Aunt Rhody, which had recently been recorded in relative earnest by the Springfields on Philips) or were on the pioneering end in the aforementioned battle of the titles. Witness Marianne, attributed herein to Victoria, British Columbia folk rock pioneer Ian Tyson (of Ian And Sylvia fame) and not to be confused with the 1957 Easy Riders hit for Columbia. This particular Marianne was covered in 1965 by Chad And Jeremy and released as the flip side of their Before And After single under the title, Fare The Well (I Must Be Gone).


Irrespective of the frequent exchange of ideas between bands during the folk boom, in the hands of the Highwaymen, amongst the proliferation of interpretations, theirs almost invariably became the definitive rendition. In the case of original material, their dedication to the execution of the fundamentals put them at tremendous advantage in terms of being able to establish prolific legacy. The Cambridge Tapes is a most welcome affirmation and celebration of that legacy, which continues at optimum level after nearly a half century.


In the words of the late, great Walter Brennan in the classic television series, The Guns of Will Sonnett, such seeming proclamations of bravado (whether expressed or inferred) are in actuality, “no brag, just fact”. Indeed, one maxim that the Highwaymen can attest to without reservation is that The Cambridge Tapes not only, in Butts’ words, “represents us at the top of our game in the 1960s”, but has also become an instant classic that certainly ranks amongst the finest releases in all of folk music. (An in depth look at Richard E. Noble's just-released Highwaymen biography, Number #1 follows below).



THE ESSENTIAL JANIS IAN - Janis Ian (Columbia)

For musicians who value artistic integrity as an inexorable component of their mission statement, almost invariably there comes a price. Moreover, espousing such priorities on an ongoing basis often means that a given artist will most likely spend their careers languishing in relative obscurity.

Circumstances as these were a common occurrence within the recording industry for decades. Although the fact that creative autonomy continued to flourish from the dawn of the recording industry in the late 1880s through the rock and roll boom of the mid-1960s is evidenced in the hundreds of thousands of records extant that testify accordingly, an artist whose vision necessitated venturing upon occasion beyond those self-imposed (and subjective) parameters was frequently under-promoted, un-recorded or ultimately unsigned as a result.

Thankfully, since the advent of the independent music press movement in the mid-1970s that gave birth to Blitz Magazine and a number of other publications of similar intent, artists who put their musical principles first and foremost in their curriculum vitae were given a hero’s welcome and the ongoing assurance that their work would have a home and a sympathetic showplace. The subsequent rise to prominence of other like minded venues such as the internet and its inherent website capabilities enabled many an artist to in turn navigate their own career paths by giving them a forum for self-promotion, limited in that respect only by their own potential.

To be certain, this form of media liberation was a welcome relief for musicians such as Janis Ian. Under the earlier system, a given artist would either have to toil for any number of well meaning yet sadly outgunned independent labels (which more often than not meant being resigned to a “labor of love” status, albeit with a propensity for greater long term adulation), or face the daunting task of relying on winning the favor of one of a handful of discerning major labels. And given the considerably higher percentage of quality material being produced at that time, the chances of being lost in the shuffle were much greater.

Being accountable to a plethora of demanding media contacts often meant that major labels would have to be judicious in how their output was promoted in order sustain those diverse relationships. As such, under that system, Ian was able to benefit to a certain degree from the relative flexibility of a label like Verve Forecast when her nearly a year-and-a-half old Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking) single finally broke in mid-1967.

But even the likes of Verve Forecast (at that time the recording home of the Hombres, the Blues Project, Ritchie Havens, Friend And Lover and the late, great Dave Van Ronk) could only wield so much influence. This in turn meant that another eight years would pass before industry giant Columbia took a chance on Ian, who responded in kind with her equally impossible to ignore two-sided hit single, At Seventeen/Stars in 1975.

To a casual observer, it would seem that Ian had fallen into a period of relative inactivity during the extended gap between the release of those two singles. But common sense dictates that one capable of such high impact original material on an ongoing basis could not and would not opt for a protracted sabbatical unless it was dictated by extraneous circumstances, such as health concerns or family obligations. Indeed, save for a three year hiatus (from 1971 to 1974) for the purpose of reassessing priorities and sharpening her skills, Ian managed to release a respectable six albums within that eight year period.

Most assuredly, since her 1967 recording debut, Ian has not only continued to record prolifically, but has done so with the same impeccable standards and unwavering commitment to musical diversity that characterized those two career highlights. Those and other triumphs comprise the thirty-one tracks in this much welcomed latest installment of the multi-label The Essential cooperative.

This same double CD anthology was initially issued several months ago by Ian on her Rude Girl label as Best Of Janis Ian: The Autobiography Collection, in conjunction with her recently published life story. And while only the cover art has been slightly modified in keeping with The Essential series’ trademark logo, the track selection remains intact in all of its comparatively superior fidelity and aesthetic diversity.



Over the years, that diversity has served Ian well through numerous musical projects, with nods to folk, rock, jazz, rhythm and blues and upon occasion the exuberance of straight ahead rock and roll. And given that Ian herself has handpicked the thirty-one tracks that comprise this collection from her vast catalog, interestingly enough, the overwhelming majority of them fall into the folk and/or acoustic categories; the genre in which Ian to date has been the most introspective.

To that effect, the aforementioned Stars is the most telling track. A first hand observation of the trappings of celebrity, Stars represented Ian’s perspective with regards to the sentiment that was first articulated by Rick Nelson in Teenage Idol and which continued with the Kingston Trio’s Folksinger’s Song and Tony Clarke’s The Entertainer. Therein, Ian maintains an undercurrent of sympathy for her beleaguered and/or fallen colleagues, giving credence in the process to sixteenth century martyr John Bradford’s maxim, “There but for the grace of God go I”.

Likewise, Ian’s adaptation of the late Woody Guthrie’s I Hear You Sing Again (from Ian’s 2004 Billie’s Bones album) is a most heart rending tribute to motherhood. Its sparse backing provides a pertinent setting to highlight the ongoing impact that parents have in shaping the direction in which their charges pursue music and the arts.

In that relatively subdued format, Ian generally managed to deliver an occasional pointed commentary. Witness Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, a wartime lament recorded for the 2005 Songs Of America compilation that could double as a eulogy for the late President John F. Kennedy. That Kennedy is capriciously alluded to in the tongue-in-cheek Autobiography merely underscores the point.

Yet even that lyrically riveting track pales in comparison to the blues-tinged His Hands (taken appropriately enough from her 1992 Breaking Silence album), a stark and sobering account of domestic violence that showcases Ian in a rare musical moment of transparency and vulnerability. For one who has made a career of opting for the acerbic approach when necessary, such a deviation serves in part to shed light on and beget solidarity with both artist and mission statement.

Nonetheless, those so called pointed commentaries often found a more sympathetic home in Ian’s more aggressively rendered material. To wit, with its tip of the hat to the familiar meter of Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues, the 2000 live take of God & The FBI sustains Ian’s curious adherence to a cultural dichotomy that never really was. Initially exacerbated only by period deferences to a cause that endeavored to split hairs with what ultimately proved to be sympathetic other perspectives (musical and otherwise), its reiteration nearly a half century after the fact under the guise of more common ground instead serves to (however inadvertently on Ian’s part) further highlight the unity of purpose that was indigenous to the two factions from the onset.

However, Ian does not necessarily share that perspective.

“I don’t even think like that”, she said.

To that effect, Thankyous (from her 1973 Stars album) made restitution before the fact. Its inclusion here suggests that Ian’s perspective on the matter remains a work in progress.

“It’s probably a discussion to have among journalists”, she added, graciously defaulting to the self-depreciation mode that is indigenous to the most gifted of composers.

Conversely, when a cause is clearly defined, Ian rallies to the challenge and soars accordingly. Witness not only the 1995 Nancy Griffith-like This Train Still Runs, but the obvious Society’s Child. Ironically, the latter track herein again raises a peripheral concern, given that it is presented here in monaural, as it was earlier this year in the Now Sounds label’s reissue of Ian’s 1967 Verve Forecast debut album.


“The reason we included the mono mix is because it has never before been on CD and is a unique mix, not a fold over of the stereo”, said Now Sounds’ Steve Stanley.



That may be the case for the Verve Forecast rerelease, although given its appearance here as such in this otherwise all stereo collection (and considering Ian’s professed disdain for the monaural option), it seems likely that a suitable stereo mix of that classic single may not be available.


“I have no idea”, said Ian.

“That’s what Universal gave us. God only knows.”

Nonetheless, that minor issue is ultimately the lone source of contention in this otherwise impeccable collection. Indeed, with such uptempo fare as Fly Too High (from 1979’s Night Rains) and the Kenny Rankin-flavored folk/jazz romp, Silly Habits counterbalanced by the country blues of the Dolly Parton duet, My Tennessee Hills and the compelling, self-explanatory Joy, The Essential Janis Ian presents a well rounded portrait of an artist whose remarkable gifts, unique insight and unwavering commitment to excellence have sustained her reputation as a musical visionary for more than four decades.


DO YOUR DUTY - Bettye LaVette (Sundazed)


If nothing else, Bettye LaVette is entitled to distinction for her sheer tenacity alone. Although she made her recording debut in 1962-1963 with a pair of singles for Atlantic and a follow up outing in 1963 for LuPine Records (the label that also launched the career of the legendary Falcons), LaVette’s moment in the spotlight did not come on a grand scale until September 2005, with her acclaimed debut for the Anti– label.


In the interim, the Detroit native who was born Betty Haskins persevered with a series of releases for some of the best loved and most sympathetic labels specializing in Northern Soul, including three singles for Calla (the label that launched the hugely successful career of J.J. Jackson and provided memorable moments by the Sandpebbles and the Orlons). LaVette also followed the Falcons to the Big Wheel label for one single, I’m Holding On. From there, she enjoyed reasonable chart success with Hey Love and several other 45s for the late Ollie McLaughlin’s Karen Records (recording home of the Capitols, Jimmy “Soul” Clark and Jimmy Delphs) and eventually recorded a series of singles for SSS International’s Silver Fox subsidiary.


It is LaVette’s work for Silver Fox that is chronicled here. Recorded during SSS International’s most fruitful period (1969 - 1970, at which time the parent label was enjoying success with releases by Peggy Scott And Jo Jo Benson, Margaret Lewis, Johnny Adams, Teresa Brewer and David Allen Coe), it was determined that LaVette’s work was better suited to the label’s Silver Fox branch. Silver Fox was founded and headed by Lelan Rogers, whose groundbreaking work with International Artists Records brought widespread and ongoing accolades to the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Arnim And Hamilton, the Bubble Puppy and others. Rogers had promoted one of LaVette’s earlier releases and oversaw production on her sessions for Silver Fox.


Indeed, LaVette’s Silver Fox catalog is a small yet impressive body of work, presented here in stereo and showcasing her capabilities as a purveyor of the dramatic interpreter persona championed by labelmate Gloria Taylor (who provided Silver Fox with a sterling vocal cover of Al Kent’s 1967 instrumental classic, You Got To Pay The Price), as well as the late Barbara Acklin and Erma Franklin. To that effect, LaVette’s reading of Franklin’s Piece Of My Heart (included here), while not deviating from the essence of the original, nonetheless does the piece justice. Likewise Joseph Alfred “Joe South” Souter’s Games People Play, in which LaVette’s well timed vocal inflections serve as a reminder that South’s seemingly objective observations about such vices as infidelity, astrology and self centeredness therein are subjects of derision, not celebration.


But it is with the title track and its flip side, My Train’s Comin’ In that LaVette came into her own as a distinctive soul shouter. In turn, the previously unissued Easier To Say Than Do is pure Memphis soul, with horns that could easily have graced the best Otis Redding balladry. Likewise, He Made A Woman Out Of Me, which transitions from Atlantic-era Stax to yellow label Stax in spirit, complete with Stax’s trademark mid-tempo groove.


Although Do Your Duty is not the first CD release to chronicle this chapter of the LaVette canon, it is nonetheless a fitting testimony to the visionary capabilities of SSS International’s founder, Shelby Sumpter Singleton Junior, who sadly passed away from brain cancer on 07 October 2009. The accompanying detailed and informative sleeve notes by Scott Schinder also give this collection the edge, as does the package design, which engages the familiar Atlantic/Atco motif indigenous to its classic rhythm and blues releases. And LaVette, who celebrated her ascension to center stage by headlining at the prestigious Detroit Jazz Festival in 2007, is now reaping the rewards of perseverance. Indeed, Do Your Duty is a fitting account of a key moment in that long journey to well deserved acclaim.


THINK RATIONAL! - The Rationals (Big Beat)


Of the handful of legendary artists whose recorded legacies have heretofore eluded reissue in the CD format, the general consensus is that among the most highly anticipated and in demand amidst that elite group is the first generation garage band, the Rationals.


With their indispensible 45s for the Danby’s, A-Square, Cameo, Capitol, Genesis and Crewe labels long out of print and in considerable demand amongst collectors and devotees of first generation garage rock, the Rationals’ singles catalog has in recent years only been available via a pair of bootleg CDs. One of these bootlegs combines their lone album for the Crewe label with several representative singles. The other, The Lost Fan Club Album And Unreleased Material spotlights their impossibly rare fan club album with additional singles sides (with inevitable duplication on the latter in the process).


As such, it would seem that the release of Think Rational! would placate those who have waited for more than four decades to be able to enjoy a legitimate reissue of this material. However, for a variety of reasons, Think Rational! is being marketed and made available solely within the British and greater European markets, meaning that the audience that would seemingly be the most anticipatory of its release will have to procure this collection through import sources. To wit, Blitz Magazine was only able to obtain a review copy through the above and beyond the call of duty efforts of a sympathetic British journalist/collector colleague, rather than through the conventional label channels.


To be certain, those who are already familiar with the Rationals’ repertoire will understand immediately what the fuss is all about. Conversely, many who were not first hand witnesses of the band’s success, yet who have subsequently discovered the Rationals’ rich body of work, by definition are largely unaware of the complex circumstances behind their legacy. As a result, many such observers draw well intended (yet nonetheless erroneous) conclusions about the band and their ongoing impact.


To wit, the Rationals (Scott Morgan - lead vocals, rhythm guitar; keyboards; Steve Correll - lead guitar; Terry Trabandt - bass; Bill Figg - drums) hailed from Ann Arbor, Michigan, a college town (University Of Michigan) that is roughly forty miles west of Detroit. Ann Arbor was also home to the MC5 and the Stooges, which often (and quite inaccurately) invites comparisons between the three bands.


But in reality, the Rationals’ remarkable run predates the success of the other two bands by several years. When the Rationals first gained hometown notoriety in 1965 with their number one A-Square label single, Look What You’re Doing (To Me Baby) b/w Gave My Love, Stooges front man James “Iggy Pop” Osterberg (who was also a close friend of the Rationals) was drumming for the Iguanas and the MC5 were roughly a year away from their debut I Can Only Give You Everything single.


Furthermore, the Stooges and MC5 relied on a combination of social commentary and hard rock to fuel their respective repertoires. Conversely, the Rationals were avid record collectors and diligent students of British Invasion rock and rhythm and blues. And to their considerable credit, they learned their lessons well enough to produce far above average original material from the onset.


Another ongoing disparity between assumption and reality is alluded to by project producer Alec Palao in the accompanying essay: “Those that experienced the Rationals in their prime share an emotional bond to the combo that the rest of us can never fully comprehend, but the recorded evidence speaks for itself, as to the quality of the group and its constituents”.


To that effect, there are those who wrongly assume that this bond stems at least in part as the result of provincialism. On the surface, the assumption appears to be a reasonable one, given that the state of Michigan (and the Detroit area in particular) has long tried to assuage the despondency generated by the fading glory of its automotive and music industries with an unrelenting jingoism (which is exacerbated on an ongoing basis by the area’s news media) that serves as a major irritant to many within its walls and perpetuates an image of weakness worthy of either pity or derision to outside observers.


To be certain, no other geographical region enjoyed the boom of creativity that Southeastern Michigan did at the time when the Rationals made their recording debut. Bands such as the Human Beings, the Pleasure Seekers, the Tidal Waves, the Unrelated Segments, Tim Tam And The Turn-Ons, the Shy Guys, Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels, the Wanted, the Capreez, Bob Seger And The Last Heard, the Cherry Slush, the Undecided, the Ones, Jamie Coe And The Gigolos, the Underdogs, the Young Men, the Thyme, the Lazy Eggs, the Camel Drivers, Band-X, the Four Of Us, the Bossmen, the Woolies, Terry Knight And The Pack and Question Mark And The Mysterians were all front runners in the garage band movement, whose collective body of work remains a touchstone within the idiom to the present day.


And in addition to the late Hugh “Jeep” Holland’s A-Square Records, such prolific labels as Hideout, Lucky Eleven, Top Dog, Impact, Maltese, Panik, Sound, Palmer, Dearborn, SVR, Detroit Sound, Enterprise and Spirit provided a steady stream of superlative singles (and an occasional album) by these artists and others of similar intent.


In addition to those enormous contributions to the rock and roll idiom, the greater Detroit area was simultaneously a creative hub for rhythm and blues. On top of the significant input from Berry Gordy’s Motown family of labels, such companies as Ruby, Golden World, Karen, Revilot, SonBert, Ric-Tic, Groovesville, Carla, Ring and Wee Three served to propel such giants of the genre as the Wonderettes, Sue Perrin, Jimmy (Soul) Clark, the Parliaments, Gino Washington, Edwin Starr, Deon Jackson, the Fabulous Peps, J.J. Barnes, the Capitols, Steve Mancha, the Holidays and Darrell Banks to legendary status.


But whereas the artists in question have the common ground of geography, to infer that this peripheral component of the equation was a significant catalyst in the development of their art is anathema to the musical diversity and originality that they represent. And while the Rationals drew and expanded upon occasionally from those who motivated them, their in house material was either on par with (and in many cases, superior to) that which was being released by countless other labels and/or artists globally.


Interestingly enough, it was outside material that provided the Rationals with their most memorable moment. Otis Redding had written and recorded Respect for the Volt label in 1965. But just as the Wanted subsequently took Wilson Pickett’s In The Midnight Hour and the Woolies reinvented Ellas “Bo Diddley” McDaniel’s Who Do You Love and made them their own, the Rationals brought such fervent passion and original thought and into their rendition of Respect that Redding in interviews conducted shortly before his tragic passing in a December 1967 plane crash praised it as the definitive cover, while simultaneously deriding the later (and vastly different) reinterpretation by Aretha Franklin.


Redding’s assessment was most assuredly an accurate one. For whereas Franklin’s legacy boasts an abundance of superlative singles for the Atlantic, Columbia and Arista labels (and with all due respect to the Vagrants’ rendition on Atco), the impassioned delivery, engaging arrangement and sublime vocal interplay nonetheless all joined forces to make the Rationals’ 1966 A-Square single of Respect the standard of excellence amongst the competition.


Many concurred with that observation, as the Rationals’ version finished at a very impressive number five in a listener poll of the 113 greatest singles of all time, published by area radio giant WKNR Keener 13 in early 1969 (with the Association’s Cherish, Bob Seger And The Last Heard’s Heavy Music, the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction and the Doors’ Light My Fire occupying the top four slots). Conversely, Franklin’s version (which had peaked with a two week run at number five on WKNR’s weekly music guides on 15 and 22 May 1967) was nowhere to be found on that 1969 list.


Had Respect been the Rationals’ solitary moment in the spotlight, it would have been more than enough to ensure their immortality. But further evidence of their musical prowess was not only forthcoming in abundance, it could even be found as close as that single’s flip side, Morgan and Correll’s Feelin’ Lost.


Feelin’ Lost had been previously released as an A-side, coupled with the jazz-tinged Little Girls Cry (which was written for the Rationals by the aforementioned Carla Records solo artist, Deon Jackson, who was also a long time friend of the band). As was the case with the earlier Look What You’re Doing (To Me Baby) b/w Gave My Love single, both sides of Feelin’ Lost b/w Little Girls Cry generated considerable interest that nonetheless failed to translate into significant area airplay.


Not willing to let an original of that calibre fade into obscurity, A-Square reissued Feelin’ Lost with Respect as the intended B-side. But during the week of 05 September 1966, WKNR added Respect to its weekly Keener Music Guides and Feelin’ Lost once again seemed to live up to its title.


To further complicate matters, A-Square also issued the Respect single with the band’s ferocious cover of Eddie Holland’s Motown label mega classic, Leavin’ Here on the flip side. Yet when Cameo picked up Respect for national distribution, it stayed with Feelin’ Lost (now as the B-side) and the following year instead released a rerecorded version of Leavin’ Here as an A-side.


Disparities notwithstanding, A-Square’s efforts to keep Feelin’ Lost in the spotlight eventually paid considerable dividends towards enhancing the band’s reputation as purveyors of first rate original material. Truly one of the definitive classics of British Invasion-inspired first generation garage band rock, Feelin’ Lost is one minute and forty-eight seconds of frantic, urgent garage rock at its finest, graced by unique chord changes in the chorus and bridge and impeccable vocal harmonies. Many who at the time obtained copies of Respect expressed equal enthusiasm for the Morgan/Correll flip and marveled at the fact that radio leader WKNR and other area rock and roll stations such as Southfield’s WXYZ and Windsor, Ontario’s CKLW did not chart both sides of the single.


These concerns did not escape Ann Arbor’s WPAG, who astutely gave equal airtime to the 1967 Cameo rerecording of Leavin’ Here and its flip side, Not Like It Is. Ironically, WPAG was the only area station to afford that single any significant amount of airplay. Still, the Rationals continued to receive considerable attention from the beloved former WKNR radio announcer, Robin Seymour on his immensely popular and highly influential daily television program, Swingin’ Time, which aired on neighboring Windsor, Ontario’s CKLW Channel 9.


Although drummer Bill Figg reiterated his ongoing (and inexplicable) disdain for the track in Palao’s superb essay that accompanies this collection, Not Like It Is not only helped sustain Leavin’ Here throughout its WPAG chart run, it today is widely regarded amongst Rationals aficionados as one of the band’s best tracks. Not Like It Is had been previously released by Albert King as a cut on his 1962 King Records album, The Big Blues under the title, Had You Told It Like It Was (It Wouldn’t Be Like It Is).


Cameo released the Rationals’ version with King’s complete title in parentheses and with the presumably easier to assimilate Not Like It Is as the principal point of reference. And had the label not been struggling for survival behind the scenes at the time, Not Like It Is surely would have followed Respect in terms of exposure and acclaim. Its mid-tempo, somber and stark account of a relationship on the brink of dissolution from irreconcilable differences resonated extremely well with the rhythm and blues-inclined faction of the Rationals’ fan base.


“The guys in the band told me how popular that song was”, said Palao.


“They personally couldn’t understand why.”


Interestingly enough, the version of Not Like It Is included here differs slightly from the Cameo single in that subtle post-production sweetening such as hand claps that were added to the final mix have been omitted.


“I searched long and hard for a copy of the Cameo 45, both promo vinyl and stock styrene, that didn't have high end distortion, that I could dub, but one was not to be found and I know several people who have mint copies”, said Palao.


“ABKCO did not have a tape of the final single version, and the only tape in the Holland archive was missing the handclaps. So I would have had to dub the 45.


“That said, a close comparison of the single and the underdub reveal little in the way of difference. So in the interests of fidelity, I went with the superior sonic source, the tape. Had hate mail on this too. Some people just can't be satisfied!


“I didn't have time to pressure ABKCO to look further. But I wanted the track to sound the best it could. Apologies then to the fans who miss the handclaps”.


Although the Crewe and Genesis era tracks should eventually see reissue on their own CD compilation, Think Rational! boasts a wealth of material from the A-Square, Danby’s, Capitol and Cameo archives. Among the highlights are both sides of their 1967 promotional single for Ann Arbor’s Danby’s clothing shop, the original Turn On and Irrational. Just as the Yardbirds rose to the occasion with their Great Shakes commercial, the Rationals likewise transcended any concerns about the nature of the project and therein delivered a tour de force performance.


Another standout is their 1967 Cameo cover of Sam Hawkins’ Hold On Baby. Hawkins’ Blue Cat label original version was one of two hits that the veteran pioneer of smooth R&B enjoyed in 1965 (the other being the sublime I Know It’s Alright that November).


In many ways, Hold On Baby presented the Rationals with one of their most challenging moments in terms of cover material. Hawkins’ original is a masterful portrait of a seemingly naïve protagonist who enters into a relationship with as much bravado as he could muster under the circumstances, only to find himself as the pleasantly surprised recipient of his intended’s relatively greater expertise in the subtleties of such matters.


Hawkins’ uncanny sense of timing with vocal gymnastics at appropriate points in the story line were enough to warrant a number eleven peak on WKNR’s charts during the extremely fruitful and competitive week of 19 May 1965, holding its own amidst such formidable competition as the O’Jays’ Lipstick Traces, the Human Beings’ Because I Love Her, labelmate Jeff Barry’s wonderful I’ll Still Love You (on Blue Cat’s sister Red Bird label) and the Tigers’ hot rod masterpiece, GeeTO Tiger. Keenly aware of their own abilities and limitations, the Rationals opted for the more aggressive approach with Hawkins’ classic and again succeeded in making it their own.


Although Hold On Baby was another aesthetic triumph for the Rationals, Cameo’s impending demise was just around the corner, which again meant that the label’s ability to promote its latest fare was seriously impaired. Cameo made one last admirable showing in February 1968 with the Ohio Express’ superb cover of the Standells’ Try It and managed one last effort on its subsidiary Parkway label with a memorable single by the Olympics before calling it a day.


Sadly, Cameo/Parkway’s demise meant the sudden displacement of one of the most respected artist rosters in all of rock and roll. Aside from veteran label greats such as Chubby Checker (whose June 1966 Hey You! Little Boo-Ga-Loo is an often overlooked career highlight) and such highly promising R&B aspirants as Bunny Sigler, the Delfonics, Eddie Holman and Chris Bartley, the Cameo family of labels in 1967 boasted a world class roster of garage rock royalty, including Bob Seger And The Last Heard (whom Cameo had recruited from Hideout Records), Terry Knight And The Pack (on the subsidiary Lucky Eleven Records, as well as the parent Cameo label), the New Colony Six (whose Sentar label was picked up by Cameo in time for the release of their second album, Colonization), the Yellow Payges, the Bachs Lunch, Question Mark And The Mysterians and the aforementioned Ohio Express.


As the Cameo/Parkway ship began to sink, the Ohio Express and Chubby Checker sought the greener pastures of Neil Bogart’s Buddah label, where they both enjoyed ongoing singles success. Chicago’s New Colony Six played it safe by signing with hometown giant Mercury Records and were rewarded with major international hits. The Yellow Payges went on to a successful run with Uni Records. And Question Mark And The Mysterians, Terry Knight And The Pack (who, with Knight’s departure for a solo career by late 1967, persevered as the Fabulous Pack) and Bob Seger (whose band changed its name from the Last Heard to the Bob Seger System) all opted for the Capitol tower on Vine Street in Hollywood, California.


The Rationals followed suit and were rewarded with one of the biggest hits of their career. Just as the Dave Clark Five had recorded two entirely different pieces that were titled Everybody Knows, the Rationals faithfully covered the Kinks’ exuberant I Need You (flip side of their May 1965 Set Me Free single for Reprise) and in late 1967 took on the seemingly impossible challenge of doing justice to Chuck Jackson’s unrelated ballad of the same name.


With such Wand label triumphs as If I Didn’t Love You, Beg Me, Any Other Way, Shame On Me and the Maxine Brown duet, Something You Got to his credit, Jackson was one of R&B’s absolute masters and indeed a challenging one to cover. Nonetheless, Morgan’s jaw dropping performance on I Need You was enough to prompt Capitol to pick up the December 1967 release from A-Square.


The single generated immediate acclaim when the Rationals debuted it on Robin Seymour’s New Year’s Eve television special that December. WKNR responded accordingly, as I Need You (which was released with back to back full length and edited versions on the Capitol promo single) finished at an impressive number four on the Keener Music Guides during the weeks of 01 and 08 February 1968, right under such worthy contemporaries as Paul Mauriat’s monster instrumental Love Is Blue, the Fireballs’ exuberant cover of the Kingston Trio’s 1965 album cut, Bottle Of Wine and the late Otis Redding’s swan song, (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.


Aside from their widely acclaimed 45s, Think Rational! also includes a copious amount of material from the band’s impossibly rare Fan Club album and a number of previously unreleased tracks. Highlights include an impressive take on the Esquires’ Bunky Records B-side, Listen To Me, an alternate version of their rendition of the Knight Brothers’ often covered May 1965 Checker label monster classic, Temptation ’Bout To Get Me, a serious enough reading of Them’s Gloria to warrant consideration for single release before the Shadows Of Knight provided the definitive rendition (which in turn earned the Chicago quintet a well deserved number one single), a competent reading of Eddie Floyd’s Knock On Wood (which both the Wanted and the duet of Otis Redding and Carla Thomas covered in 1967) and a notable version of Larry Williams and Johnny Watson’s Poor Dog.


Aside from those unique covers, Think Rational! also makes a great case for the band’s songwriting prowess with such above the norm originals as I Want To Walk With You, Sing, Be My Girl, Someday, Sunset and an earlier version of the Crewe label-era Ha Ha.


“Actually, the same person who complained about (the omission of the 45 version of Not Like It Is) was nastier about the fact that I didn't include the Crewe versions of things like Ha Ha ‘because they are so much better’”, said Palao.


“I don't necessarily concur. Such is life.”


While many among the Rationals' faithful would doubtlessly agree with Palao’s observations, there are nonetheless those who were disappointed to see two of the key tracks from the band’s earliest days excluded from this collection. Wayfaring Stranger (a Duane Eddy-inspired instrumental, which the bootleg CD lists as Way Fair Warning) and Strawberry Jam (also known as Jam 1964) are superb early examples of the Rationals’ prowess as musicians. But their omission in this case nonetheless brings with it good news.


“In the final stages, I decided to reserve these for the vinyl reproduction we are doing of the Fan Club album, which is the only place they ever appeared”, Palao explained.


“Much better to place them in context on the vinyl reissue. Sadly though, I've already had hate mail for not including them on the CD!”


To be certain, the record collector contingent is often difficult (if not impossible) to please. But in reality, Think Rational! is as satisfying a collection that could be hoped for, given the difficult circumstances that delayed its release.


“That's the difference between subjective nostalgia, and the objectivity that comes from loving the music”, Palao concurred.


“Wanting to present it in the best possible way, but not necessarily being able to replicate the context in which it originally appeared”.


Indeed, Think Rational! is no mere exercise in nostalgia. Like all great music, it is timeless art that warrants the ongoing adulation. And just as the difficulty in obtaining the band’s singles over the decades ultimately did not prove to be a deterrent to the faithful, in turn, whatever extra effort is required to locate a copy of this collection will invariably reap substantial aesthetic dividends.



LIVE IN ’65 - Pete Seeger (Appleseed)


It is generally agreed amongst academicians and record collectors alike that 1965 was one of the five most productive and diverse years of the twentieth century in terms of musical development. Nonetheless, the exemplary work showcased in this heretofore unreleased live performance (recorded in February of that year at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Carnegie Hall) by folk rock legend Pete Seeger is so rife with resilience and fortitude that it is one of only a handful of works that need not rely upon the benefit of the creative atmosphere of that most productive of eras in which to flourish and/or sustain its impact.


Somewhat more so than the majority of his previously issued live recordings, Live In ’65 highlights Seeger’s attributes as a one man band. Alternating between banjo and twelve-string guitar throughout the nearly two hour set, Seeger approaches the highly diverse material herein with his trademark keen instincts intact. In the process, he once again brings together the occasionally disparate factions of solidarity and academic enlightenment.


Not that such a setting is unique within the Seeger canon. Indeed, even his earlier work with the Weavers was upon occasion sustained with such sparse instrumentation. More than anything, such is indicative of Seeger’s mastery of both banjo and guitar. Instinctively, he incorporates each as either a call and response vehicle, understated accompaniment or full orchestration in deference to the material at hand.


Observers from the folk, rock and related circles took note, readily assessing the viability of incorporating such material into their own repertoires. Most notable amongst those who were successful in this endeavor in 1965 were of course the Byrds, whose exuberant renditions of Seeger’s The Bells Of Rhymney and his Book of Ecclesiastes-inspired Turn Turn Turn provided key moments in the Byrds’ first two albums for Columbia that year. The Byrds took the Seeger connection a step further with their ambitious cover of Lawrence, Pennsylvania native Stephen Foster’s late 1847 - early 1848 composition, Oh Susanna on their Turn Turn Turn album. Foster’s piece likewise opens Seeger’s set herein in timeless and pertinent fashion.


Not necessarily a concession to mere jingoism, Seeger frequently incorporates such devices into his live set as a clarion call of sorts. In the process, he engages the casual observer with the familiar, and from there seizes the momentum generated by the ensuing solidarity to raise the bar with musical and social academia.


The latter device works especially well throughout this set with material that emphasizes not so much the incendiary issues of the day (and indeed in 1965 there were many such issues) as it does the ongoing universal concerns that have the capacity to transcend the frustrations and limitations of partisanship. Seeger utilizes both humor (Manyura Manya, Uh Uh Uh, the exuberant and irresistible All Mixed Up and the tongue in cheek Queen Anne Front) and a relatively more straightforward approach (When I First Came To This Land, the Gospel classic This Little Light Of Mine and the indispensible nod to former Almanac Singers colleague Woody Guthrie with the latter’s standard, This Land Is Your Land) to reinforce the connections with his audience before taking it to the next level.


The next level in this case involves little in the way of discernible transition, given Seeger’s remarkable gift for sustaining his observers’ collective attention. As such, when Seeger holds court with such potentially inflammatory material as He Lies In An American Land, Peat Bog Soldiers, an almost defensive rendition of Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall and his own Where Have All The Flowers Gone (which of course in 1961 provided the Kingston Trio with one of their many signature moments), any possible dissention has already largely been diffused as the result of his endless supply of charisma and his remarkable gift of friendly persuasion.


As noted, those virtues in turn endeared him to fellow musicians, from the aforementioned Kingston Trio (whose flippant October 1959 take on Oleanna provides an amusing contrast to Seeger’s comparatively more straightforward version in this collection) and the Byrds, to the Sandpipers (who enjoyed a sizeable A&M label hit single in mid-1966 with their version of Guantanamera) and Trini Lopez (who Seeger curiously refers to as a “young rock and roller” in his introduction to If I Had A Hammer). The thoroughly immersible, mostly instrumental showcase, Old Joe Clark likewise graced the repertories of fellow banjo virtuoso David “Stringbean” Akeman and country music’s absolute master, Hank Williams.


Thankfully and miraculously, nearly seventy years after he first made his mark as cofounder of the aforementioned Almanac Singers, Pete Seeger remains a prolific contributor to the musical landscape at large, as evidenced by his award winning 2008 At 89 CD for Appleseed. And as Live In ’65 handsomely underscores in relation, his is a vision that remains both undiminished and indispensible.


BITE MY FOOT - John Stewart (Folk Era)


The unexpected passing of the beloved Cumberland Three/Kingston Trio veteran and resident visionary John Stewart on 19 January 2008 has certainly been one of the great tragedies of the new millennium to date.


Interestingly enough, Stewart’s vast legacy is often seen by his considerable legion of devotees as two separate and distinct factions. One of course is his tenure with the Kingston Trio (1961 - 1967), in which he rose valiantly to the seemingly impossible challenge of filling the shoes of the departing Donald David “Dave” Guard.


Guard, who was retiring from the Kingston Trio to briefly embark upon a career as front man for the Whiskey Hill Singers and then on to compere the Dave’s Place television program in Sydney, New South Wales, was widely regarded as the band’s visionary. With only a brief hint of uncharacteristic apprehension, Stewart accepted the challenge and rallied to provide the Kingston Trio with some of its most enduring work, including the landmark live album, Once Upon A Time for Bill Cosby’s Tetragrammaton label.


That which is supported by the other faction is Stewart’s post-Kingston Trio solo career. Many who champion this chapter of Stewart’s legacy do so to such an extent that any of his previous accomplishments are regarded as periphery, at best.


In Bite My Foot, evidence to support the latter perspective exists only to the degree that the career provincialism espoused therein by Stewart is at that early juncture (November 1973) not so much a profession of solidarity with the lockstep mentality of the times as it is a work of healing in progress.


This is not to infer that the rich and diverse personality that defined Stewart from his Cumberland Three days is absent within these proceedings. While the material may draw primarily from his solo era sources, the dry wit that highlighted Once Upon A Time and other Kingston Trio live recordings (reiterated herein with his familiar, “return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear” maxim) is very much in evidence throughout this collection, which was recorded live in Phoenix, Arizona.


Indeed, it is Stewart’s role as a master storyteller that graces both his material and his transitional banter. Traditionally, that banter has opted for a more optimistic and upbeat perspective. Nonetheless, by definition, some revision was inevitable in light of the subject matter at hand. The Last Campaign Trilogy speaks pointedly to that paradigm shift, chronicling as it does Stewart’s participation in Senator Bobby Kennedy’s ill fated bid for the presidency in 1968.


Thankfully, such tragedy, while a necessary inclusion, is not representative of Stewart’s focus as a whole. Indeed, the introduction to Pirates Of Stone County (from which the aforementioned “days of yesteryear” benediction is reprised) segues into a vivid portrayal of vintage Americana that nonetheless celebrates and encourages both participants and observers within a setting borne of long term despondency.


With its admonition of caution, Wolves In The Kitchen follows suit, with Stewart again mixing gentle reproof and correction with the Biblical gift of exhortation exemplified in I Corinthians 12. Likewise the urgency of Mazatlan, which meshes a Marty Robbins-like eloquence in telling a tale of the Old West with the seemingly incongruous juxtaposition of heavy handed execution in an acoustic setting; not unlike that which graced the contemporary works of Michael Martin Murphy, America, Atlee Yeager and Don McLean.


However, at no point in these proceedings does musicianship assume a position of deference to dialogue, social concerns, politics, drama or any other byproduct of verbal expression. To be certain, Bite My Foot is as much a showcase for Stewart’s musical prowess as it is his lyrical eloquence. Witness Banjo Solo Time, in which the instrument that in part defined Stewart’s role within the Kingston Trio is celebrated with the same exuberance that characterized Peter Tork’s banjo excursions during the Monkees’ 1967 tour.


That parallel was perhaps inevitable, given the long standing musical and personal camaraderie between the Monkees and the Kingston Trio. The obvious similarities in arrangement and execution that grace both Wolves In The Kitchen and the Monkees’ March 1967 A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You single aside, Stewart of course composed the Monkees’ December 1967 number one single, Daydream Believer and members of both bands saw one another both socially and professionally. Stewart maintained that same degree of musical solidarity with the Lovin’ Spoonful, for whom he penned the landmark 1968 Kama Sutra label 45, Never Goin’ Back.


Stewart’s impassioned take on Never Goin’ Back closes these proceedings and provides one of two examples of his work that went on to considerable notoriety in renditions by other artists. The other is July You’re A Woman, this set’s midpoint highlight. July You’re A Woman had also been a sizeable hit for Pat Boone on the aforementioned Tetragrammaton label. Boone of course briefly collaborated with the Kingston Trio at the close of the Dave Guard era and was one of the first to explore on record the obvious parallels between rock and folk.


In his final years, Stewart made great strides in bridging the perceived gap that persisted between his two camps of observers by championing both facets with equal fervor. And just as his final performance with Kingston Trio bandmates Nick Reynolds (who sadly also passed away in 2008) and Bob Shane at the Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp in August 2007 reiterated as much, this outstanding collection (which presents Stewart in a refreshingly more bare bones setting than did his The Phoenix Concerts album for RCA Victor) irrevocably assures that his was always a message of hope borne of adversity.



MARVELLOUS BOY: CALYPSO FROM WEST AFRICA -
Various Artists (Honest Jon’s)



One of the major advantages of the CD era to date has been the proliferation of anthologies and reissues that have not only assured the continued availability of countless indispensible recordings, but that have made available as either bonus tracks or stand alone collections a wealth of heretofore unreleased and/or rare material, as well.


To be certain, such collector-friendly musical genres as psychedelic and garage rock, doo wop, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, easy listening, jazz and country have been blessed with an abundance of such repackages, assuring that each genre’s most indispensible artists continue to have accessibility to the faithful, as well as to those who might be just discovering their work. Indeed, if a particular collector was to limit their sphere of interest to any one of these genres, it might seem that everything essential may already be readily available (although given the frequent pattern of extreme discernment common to the collector contingent, that may not necessarily be the case).


But a healthy sense of what over the past decade or so has come to be known as thinking outside the box has provided quite a revelation for collectors who may, for example, embrace British Invasion era rock, yet who (often by choice) remain oblivious to anything outside of their chosen field of interest. Nonetheless, those same collectors are invariably pleasantly surprised upon discovering that there was a wealth of prolific talent that produced superior and like minded results in Australia and New Zealand at that same time, including such artists as the La De Das, Little Pattie, Ray Columbus And The Invaders, the Simple Image, Alison Durbin, the Groop and the late, great Johnny O’Keefe.


Enter Honest Jon’s Records, one of a number of diverse sources of music for those whose sphere of interest supersedes any such self-imposed provincialism. Label founder Damon Albarn is a prolific musician in his own right. Albarn has drawn extensively from the Hayes, Hillingdon Gramophone Company archives (which are currently under the stewardship of EMI) to produce a series of compilation CDs that for the first time make available for general release music from a variety of regions that was rarely afforded exposure elsewhere at the time of its original issue.


One such compilation is the September 2008 Give Me Love: Songs Of The Brokenhearted - Baghdad, 1925 - 1929, which celebrates the rich musical culture that was indigenous to the city in the post-Ottoman period prior to Iraq’s national independence on 03 October 1932 (the reality of which was somewhat different than the idyllic setting portrayed by the legendary Billy Murray in his 1913 hit, Bagdad). The twenty-two track collection gathers the work of fifteen artists (highlighted by multiple offerings from vocalists Sayed Abood and Hdhairy Abou Aziz), whose respective mission statements have a tendency to confound the conventional expectations of many outside observers. For while the focus as suggested by the title of that collection would suggest clearly defined parameters, the artists nonetheless brought to the table a diversity that is certain to generate at least a modicum of curiosity amongst this offering’s potential audience.


In the ensuing years between the original release of these 78s more than eight decades ago and the Honest Jon’s reissue, a number of musical visionaries proved ambitious enough to seek out this music and incorporate the best elements of it into their own work. Most obvious amongst them of course were the Monkees, whose Peter Tork-penned Can You Dig It (from their 1968 motion picture, Head) draws upon the key characteristics of Give Me Love’s Malek Ana by Sultana Youssef. Like minded earlier efforts by the Yardbirds (Over Under Sideways Down), the Association (Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies), the Hollies (Stop Stop Stop) and the New York City-based Devil’s Anvil (who released an entire album of duly inspired material on Columbia in 1967) fueled developments in this direction, although the target demographic of those artists were rarely motivated to investigate the work of their heroes’ inspirations in greater detail at that time.


Since then, the increased accessibility of such material via collections such as these has changed that situation for the better. In turn, Honest Jon’s has followed suit this year with the aptly titled Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa.


Although the mere suggestion of internal competition would most likely be anathema to the label’s mission statement, in a variety of ways this is nonetheless the superior collection. Irrespective of the greater relative familiarity of the music’s basic tenets to the target audience of this anthology, Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa succeeds on a variety of levels, not the least of which is musical diversity.


To that effect, while the musicians herein pursued their art with slightly less pomp and relatively more sparse instrumentation than did their counterparts in Cuba, the exuberance and (in some cases) bluster common to both is undeniable. The latter trait is particularly evident in Godwin Omabuwa And His Sound Makers’ Dick Tiger’s Victory; a salute to Orlu, Imo pugilist Richard “Dick Tiger” Ihetu, a national hero in Nigeria who succumbed to liver cancer on 14 December 1971 at age 42.






Its 1962 original release date makes Dick Tiger’s Victory one of the newest tracks in this eighteen song collection. It also remains one of the most curious, due to Omabuwa’s election to forego the basic precepts of meter and rhyme in favor of free verse, And while the majority of the remaining selections gravitate towards convention in that respect, in no way does that compromise their individuality, accessibility or level of exuberance.





Indeed, the Rhythm Aces underscore the point with Mami, a samba-flavored instrumental that showcases its intensity by paradoxically downplaying the characteristic verve of the genre with judicious use of muted trumpet, understated strings and a salsa-flavored horn arrangement in the refrain, executed pianissimo. Likewise, Ebenezer Calender And His Maringer Band take the high road with their upbeat delivery in Fire Fire Fire (one of four early 1950s tracks by the Freetown, Sierra Leone band in this CD). And the comparatively status quo arrangements of Bobby Benson And His Combo’s Taxi Driver (I Don’t Care), Roy Chicago’s Olubunmi and Steven Amechi And His Empire Rhythm Skies’ playful Nylon Dress in no way detract from the continuity.


And as was the case with the Honest Jon’s Baghdad release, Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa showcases material that provided inspiration for artists who at the time benefited from a greater degree of notoriety and thankfully were capable stewards of the message. The impact of originals such as Bere Bote by Erekosima “Rex” Lawson’s Mayor’s Dance Band on the earliest works of the Kingston Trio is more than obvious (underscored by the fact that the Kingston Trio began their career as Dave Guard And The Calypsonians).


In turn, the boundless optimism of the Famous Scrubbs’ Poor Freetown Boy and Scrubbs Na Marvellous Boy can be heard all over the Melbourne, Victoria-based Groop’s definitive masterpiece, the wry The Best In Africa. And Long Beach, California guitarist Billy Strange apparently had no reservations about taking Rolling Stone And His Traditional Aces’ Igba Suo Gamwen, and turning it into the instrumental Monotonous Medley. Cameo Parkway songwriter Kalman “Kal Mann” Cohen followed suit by adding English lyrics and rechristening it as Limbo Rock, a 1963 hit record for South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rock and roll pioneer Chubby Checker on Parkway.


As these examples demonstrate, the best musicians innovate and learn from one another and grow artistically as a result. And with the most welcome greater accessibility of these groundbreaking singles via this collection, thankfully the efforts of all concerned will not have been in vain.



THE BEST OF FRANKLIN RECORDS 1967 - 1972 -
Various Artists (Super Oldies)


Necessity is the mother of invention is a frequently cited variation of a maxim that is generally attributed to the Greek author and philosopher, Plato (427 B.C. - 347 B.C.). More than two millennia later, it became an ad hoc mission statement for Boston, Massachusetts journalist/politician/inventor and American founding father, Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790). So extensive was Franklin’s impact on a plethora of academic and related disciplines as a result of its ongoing application in his life, that he continues to be cited as the standard of excellence in that respect more than two centuries after his passing.


In turn, Franklin’s methodology and unrelenting ambition made a significant impact on Winnipeg, Manitoba entrepreneur and musicologist Frank Wiener. The University Of Winnipeg alumnus and one time aspiring violinist followed Franklin’s application of Plato’s observation by founding Franklin Records in 1967 and incorporating Franklin’s likeness into the label design.


If indeed necessity is the mother of invention, then Franklin Records fulfilled a variety of needs on a number of levels. On the surface, it provided a more tangible frame of reference for the numerous bands whose bookings fell under Wiener’s jurisdiction. Indeed, while an evening’s live performance was certain to generate accolades amongst observers in the coming weeks, a given artist’s work being committed to a vinyl 45 would then not only enable a student of their music to revisit that moment for decades to come, but it would likewise provide a means for said artist to accrue a more widespread audience via the radio airplay that often followed.


That method of exposure made Franklin’s initial releases a curiosity in some respects. Primarily, it enabled Wiener and his label to make inroads in several ways that would not otherwise have been as readily apparent.


To that effect, many of the early Franklin label discs were cover versions of material that had been successful in other genres, particularly in rhythm and blues. And while the occasional detractors of the first generation garage band movement often cite the over abundance of Chuck Berry and Ellas “Bo Diddley” McDaniel standards extant within the idiom as an example of the genre’s possible limitations, Franklin’s artists sidestepped any such concerns by opting for the road less traveled.


Not that their outside material of choice was bereft of adulation from other sources. The likes of the Temptations’ My Girl and Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, the Ronettes’ Be My Baby, Deon Jackson’s Love Makes The World Go Round, Little Eva’s Keep Your Hands Off My Baby, Little Richard’s I Don’t Want To Discuss It and the Young Rascals’ Love Is A Beautiful Thing were all subjects of tribute renditions over the years by such diverse artists as Otis Redding, Andy Kim, Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders, Delaney And Bonnie and others. And in every one of those cases, the artists in question brought to each piece a sizeable portion of their own musical personality, rather than the generic garage blueprint default indigenous to the plethora of Berry/McDaniel retreads.


In the case of the early Franklin singles, such supremely capable bands as the Gettysbyrg Address, the Back Street Journal and the Jamieson-Roberts Device sidestepped the pedestrian conundrum not only by incorporating their own perspective into the very heart of the composition, but by further transcending any remaining barriers (which were already well on their way to being depleted anyway) that might isolate their most assuredly sympathetic genres of origin. In the process, they instead highlighted the universal appeal and artistic merits of each piece.


The ambitious and forward thinking Wiener was most assuredly the ideal catalyst that Winnipeg’s first generation garage band movement needed to facilitate such a major development. Nonetheless, his role would have been much more difficult had his target geographical area (which, by virtue of common purpose, also encompassed southern Manitoba at large, including such aspiring neighboring communities as Winkler, and into such like minded nearby metropolises as greater Fargo, North Dakota) not been as blessed with such formidable talent as it was.


To that effect, Wiener was determined to launch the label with the best possible overall musicianship available. And in terms of prime resources, none could possibly supersede the accomplishments (even at that early date) of Winnipeg’s all time greatest contribution to the musical landscape, the Guess Who. That band’s lead guitarist, Doctor Randy Bachman was brought on board to produce Franklin’s 01 June 1967 debut single, comprised of the Gettysbyrg Address’ aforementioned Young Rascals and Little Eva covers. Bachman would also augment his Guess Who activities in the coming months by contributing several original compositions for other Franklin artists.


Indeed, Franklin’s Guess Who affiliations ran even deeper than Bachman’s contributions. The Gettysbyrg Address boasted among its ranks bassist Doctor Bill Wallace (who, along with Bachman and their other Guess Who bandmates received a doctorate degree in music from Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba in 2001) and the late, great guitar virtuoso, Kurt Winter. Wallace enjoyed a brief tenure with the Guess Who in the 1970s. He again became an integral part of the band during their triumphant Running Back Through Canada tour in 2000.


Winter’s involvement with the Guess Who was even more enduring. He was recruited from the trio Brother in May 1970 to replace the departing Bachman in their ranks and subsequently oversaw lead guitar responsibilities on such indispensible Guess Who anthems as Hand Me Down World, Rain Dance and their definitive classic, Running Back To Saskatoon.


Irrespective of input from sympathetic outside sources, it was more than readily apparent by the evidence herein that such bands as the Gettysbyrg Address already had in place all of the necessary components to generate and sustain an impeccable musical legacy. Unlike many bands of similar intent, who were seemingly content to forego any sort of fine tuning and/or revision in favor of merely bashing out favorites from their record collections, the Gettysbyrg Address brought to the table a keen attention to detail that in some cases enabled them to supersede the original versions.


Foremost amongst these is their interpretation of the Young Rascals’ Love Is A Beautiful Thing. Originally issued as the B-side of the Young Rascals’ Atlantic label You Better Run single in 1966, Love Is A Beautiful Thing boasted somewhat unconventional chord progressions and seemingly arbitrary diversions into minor keys, making cover attempts somewhat of a challenge for any but the most capable. Fittingly, the Gettysbyrg Address not only rose to the occasion by mastering the piece’s basic structure, they in turn embellished the turnarounds that lead into each verse with a true “now that we have your attention” sforzando attack that at once makes the piece their own and underscores their superior capabilities in terms of realizing and executing their vision.


Even so, the Gettysbyrg Address’ greatest strengths as interpreters did not necessarily come from their ability to rise to such challenges as those posed by the material of the Young Rascals. Rather, it stemmed primarily from their finely tuned musical persona, which repeatedly drew from the best of sources and made an original impression upon an established masterwork.


To wit, their sublime interpretation of Little Eva’s Keep Your Hands Off My Baby brings a whole new dimension to the piece that Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders only hinted at with their 1965 version. In the chorus, the Gettysbyrg Address showcased their superlative vocal interplay, which at once suggests greater solidarity with the protagonist of the story line, as well as the band’s keen instincts for utilizing vocal dynamics for maximum impact.


But it is with their take on the Ronettes’ Be My Baby that the Gettysbyrg Address most convincingly demonstrated the potential of these particular attributes. Their sublime, just out of reach vocal synthesis of the best like minded traits of the work of the Robbs, the Razor’s Edge, the Buckinghams and the New Colony Six sets the stage for such brilliant original material as Come Back To Me (Baby). Penned by lead vocalist Mike Hanford (whose earlier internship with the Shondels was an ideal proving ground for his obvious capabilities as both a composer and interpreter), Come Back To Me (Baby) showcases these virtues to an even greater degree, augmented by an inventive horn chart that serves as a forerunner of the dreamscape genre championed in the early 2000s by such bands as the Glowfriends.


Even so, the Gettysbyrg Address were far from being the only band of merit on the Franklin roster. The ambitious quintet, the Back Street Journal in mid-1967 demonstrated a greater than average understanding of the rhythm and blues ethic (paralleled at the time perhaps only by Toronto, Ontario’s Mandala) with front man Jack Sundrud’s quasi-psychedelic romp, I’m Not With You. Sadly, it remains the Back Street Journal’s lone contribution to the label’s legacy, although it is readily apparent that the band’s creative forces were far from spent at that juncture. They ultimately disbanded in the closing weeks of 1969 in the wake of several personnel changes.


Also indicative of greater potential despite the fact that their solo Franklin release is comprised of two cover selections was the Jamieson-Roberts Device. Their down tempo, Hollywood Argyles-flavored take on the Shorty Long/Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels smash, Devil With A Blue Dress On and its flip, one of the earliest covers of the often trod Little Richard standard I Don’t Want To Discuss It were very much reflective of the band’s ability to reinvent a given standard and in the process not only produce what for all practical purposes is an original work.


Both the Woolies with their definitive rendition of Ellas “Bo Diddley” McDaniel’s Who Do You Love and the Wanted and their masterful interpretation of Wilson Pickett’s In The Midnight Hour set the standard of excellence within that realm earlier that same year. The Jamieson-Roberts Device most assuredly followed suit in fine fashion, making their lack of a subsequent single somewhat inexplicable, especially given that their name was reportedly a tribute of sorts to the Funk Brothers’ beloved virtuoso bassist James Jamerson and Levon And The Hawks’ guitarist Jaime Royal “Robbie Robertson” Klegerman .


Ironically, the Guess Who connection persisted within their ranks, as well. Lead vocalist/lead guitarist Greg Leskiw was brought on board concurrently with Kurt Winter in the aforementioned May 1970 landmark development that saw Guess Who cofounder Randy Bachman depart from their ranks to found Brave Belt with fellow Guess Who alumnus Allan “Chad Allan” Kowbel.


To his considerable credit (given the obvious acrimony inferred by his curious choice of label names, which has previously been documented at length in Blitz), Super Oldies Records’ Shawn Nagy nonetheless herein wisely eschewed the common practice of post hippie era revisionism. He instead opted to downplay any such deference to those who may have in their wake enjoyed a greater degree of commercial acclaim.


Most assuredly, the practice of post hippie apologetics at large has repeatedly proven to be both ludicrous and unnecessary. Two of the more obvious examples were of course the ongoing deference to producer Tom Petty at the time of the release of the landmark Drop Down And Get Me album by the late, great rock and roll pioneer, Del Shannon, as well as the frequent references to the praise offered by Bruce Springsteen at the onset of rhythm and blues giant Gary U.S. Bonds’ tenure with EMI Records.


To be certain, the impact and/or necessity of any such “endorsement” from the latter is particularly laughable, given the repetition of the pattern in conjunction with the 2009 ninetieth birthday celebration of the beloved folk rock visionary, Pete Seeger. The notion that a figure with the enormous legacy and tremendous impact that Seeger has had upon both the musical and cultural landscapes would require any sort of input from the likes of Springsteen for justification is beyond mere absurdity.


All things considered, the Guess Who parallels herein are (despite Nagy’s justifiable prudence) not so much a deference to the Petty/Springsteen conundrum as they are a celebration of the gestation of multiple like minded works in progress. Ultimately, the Guess Who may have established a more widely recognized legacy. But as the evidence herein suggests, theirs was a triumph aided and abetted by many whose relatively modest volume of input is in no way indicative of any lack of potential. Indeed, that the Guess Who thought highly enough of Franklin Records and its roster at large to recruit from it in such fashion to sustain their own ongoing success is ample testimony to its ability to endure strictly on its own merits.


Accordingly, Franklin Records was able to weather the enormous changes that sought to redefine the world of music in 1968 - 1969 by continuing to draw upon greater Winnipeg’s seemingly endless pool of more than capable talent. Most prolific among them was the octet Sugar ’N Spice, who hailed from the now defunct electoral district of Winnipeg known as Crescentwood. Assembled from the remnants of the rhythm and blues-inspired Griffins, Sugar ’N Spice featured the vocal trio of Maureen, Aileen and Kathleen Murphy, augmented by a capable and diverse five piece rhythm section whose presence in the band’s overall musical persona was often equally in the forefront.


Sugar ’N Spice made their Franklin debut in 1968 with their Not To Return b/w I Don’t Need Anything single. Both sides were penned by Randy Bachman, who demonstrated a rarely seen flair for rhythm and blues ballads with the A-side. In turn, Sugar ’N Spice proved to be a perfect match for both songs and as such were able to use that acclaimed single (which became a top ten hit in Winnipeg) as a springboard for five additional Franklin label singles from 1968 to 1970 (including their early 1969 number one cover of Peter, Paul And Mary’s The Cruel War), as well as two equally engaging releases in 1972 under the name Spice.


While not as productive in terms of sheer numbers as was Sugar ’N Spice, several other bands on Franklin’s roster were able to establish a solid reputation with their respective contributions. The Trade Winds 5 Inc. did so in 1968 with one of the label’s last cover singles. In this case, Bobby Marchan’s Get Down With It (which the great Wayne Cochran had covered to perfection for Mercury Records) was paired with a spot on reading of Deon Jackson’s intricate and mesmerizing January 1966 Carla label debut, Love Makes The World Go Round.


Sadly, the Trade Winds 5 Inc.’s keyboardsman, Reed Cullen had succumbed to cancer in 1967. That the band persevered with a single whose atmosphere reflected the sheer joy and celebration of rock and roll and rhythm and blues and as a result stood in defiance of certain negative developments in the musical landscape at large is a poignant testimony not only to their integrity, but to the integrity of Wiener and the label, as well. The band closed their tenure with Franklin in early 1969 with producer Bob Burns’ engaging Be Sure, which provided a fitting prototype for the mid-tempo, jazz-tinged, horn-flavored hybrid that would characterize the bulk of the original material that graced the New Colony Six’s Attacking A Straw Man album later that year.


And while their contributions to Franklin Records were limited to one single each, both Expedition To Earth and the Electric Jug & Blues Band provided key moments in the label’s discography. The A-side of the former band’s 1968 eponymous single incorporates the basic chord structure of the Monkees’ Valleri into a motif that explores and celebrates the peripheral aspects of cerebral enlightenment in much the same manner as did the Amboy Dukes’ Mainstream label Journey To The Center Of The Mind single that same year.


The Electric Jug & Blues Band followed suit in 1969 with the convention defying two-sided hit, You Don’t Love Me b/w The Family Breakdown. Interestingly enough, while seemingly similar developments elsewhere would suggest otherwise, the Electric Jug & Blues Band with their ambitious instrumental, The Family Breakdown championed the aggressive, blues based rock honed to perfection at the time by the Yellow Payges on their debut album for Uni Records.


Throughout 1969 and into the early 1970s, Franklin’s roster began to increasingly reflect the demands of Wiener’s schedule. Hailed for the example set by his demanding work ethic and tireless support of up and coming musicians, Wiener endeavored to spotlight as many such aspirants as possible.

Lone singles by the Love Cyrcle (led by guitarist Wes Doll and keyboardist Jackie Richards, whose 1969 Never Leave Me Never single reflected the boundless optimism found in contemporary releases by the Peppermint Rainbow and Liz Damon’s Orient Express), the Dublin Corporation (whose 1971 Melting Pot reflects an obvious admiration for the vocal stylings of Guess Who front man Burton Cummings and superbly compliments the Blood, Sweat And Tears leanings of the flip side, Rollin’ Common), the Overland Stage (with their ambitious Airplane, which succinctly draws from the few common traits of 1969 AM and FM rock to produce an enduring original that appeals to both factions), Melvin D. Burlap (a Fargo, North Dakota quintet, whose Let Me Love You followed suit), Michael Scholl (whose 1969 Each Time I Close My Eyes single is curiously omitted here), the Triad (a trio whose late 1969 The Only Way To Fly single was produced by long time Guess Who associate, Lorne Saifer), the Chopping Block (an ironic choice of names, which was exacerbated by the aggressive nature of their 1970 How Can I Be Right single, which in turn forecast their propensity for self-destruction with somewhat disconcerting accuracy) and the Good Fortune (whose Ring In His Nose provided an amusing respite from the predominantly self indulgent atmosphere of 1970) held their own against the output of such relatively more prolific labelmates as the Mongrels (whose lead vocalist, Joey Gregorash went on to greater exposure with such acclaimed solo singles as Jodie and Stay) and Blakewood Castle (who likewise provided a rare light moment in 1970 with their unlikely Pipkins/Creedence Clearwater Revival hybrid, Lynnie, Lynnie). These artists, while maintaining the label’s impeccable standards, invariably served to whet observers’ appetites for more.


But after 1972, further output from Franklin Records was not to be. After much deliberation, Wiener made the decision to fold the label in the spring of that year. Not surprisingly (given the increasingly unproductive musical atmosphere at large), he reasoned that his numerous other obligations within the industry prevented him from affording Franklin the necessary attention to maintain the label’s unwavering high standards.


To be certain, Wiener navigated Franklin’s course with rare insight. Like SVR Records’ legendary and beloved founder, Jack Chekaway, Wiener tempered his business acumen via solidarity with his artists as a fellow musician, enabling both factions to produce at optimum level. Following the label’s demise, he relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. There he oversaw operations of his musical showcase, Frank’s Place until it likewise wound down operations in 1996.


However, the enduring appeal of the Franklin roster once again became apparent on 26 September 2009. On that day, Super Oldies Records and CFRW Radio joined forces to host the Winnipeg Rock Reunion at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. The historic event featured performances by surviving members of such Franklin alumni as the Gettysbyrg Address, the Electric Jug And Blues Band, the Fifth, the Love Cyrcle, the Shondels and others. The subsequent outpouring of accolades from attendees and press alike was testimony to not only the ongoing impact of the artists’ legacies, but to the irrefutable need for those legacies to be chronicled accordingly. To be certain, Super Oldies Records has done just that to perfection in this indispensable collection.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME By Michael McDowell


Virtuoso bassoonist Daniel Smith has taken on a formidable cadre of covers from such giants as Cannonball Adderley, Robert Johnson, Charlie Parker, the Horace Silver Quintet, John Coltrane and Charles Mingus. The resultant rave review of Smith's just released Blue Bassoon by Blitz Editor/Publisher Michael McDowell follows below.



CDs - NEW RELEASES



SONGS...WITH REPERCUSSIONS - Ronny Cox (Wind River)


Despite the abundant evidence to the contrary, there persists within the media and the public at large the perception that an artist who excels in a given field is generally incapable of (and therefore discouraged from) succeeding in related disciplines. According to that perspective, those who initially made their mark in front of a camera should not venture into a recording studio, nor should one who creates with pen in hand hold a microphone in their other hand. Such concerns have of course almost invariably proven to be unfounded.


To be certain, the entertainment industry has long been blessed with examples of artists whose mastery of a variety of disciplines irrefutably negate that theory. Visionaries as diverse as Billy Murray, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Leadbelly, Dean Martin and Russ Columbo to Waylon Jennings, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, Jim Lowe, Pearl Bailey, Miley Cyrus and Bill Anderson have all made a substantial mark in one or more of the following: radio, television, the recording studio, the concert stage, film, the print media and other related outlets.


Once such multi-faceted artist is Cloudcroft, New Mexico native Daniel Ronald “Ronny” Cox. For the past several decades, Cox has excelled in film and television, as well as in the recording studio. On the large screen, Cox established his legacy with prominent roles in such lauded productions as The Jesse Owens Story, Harper Valley P.T.A., A Case Of Rape and Deliverance. He also made guest appearances in such acclaimed television series as Desperate Housewives (as Henry Mason) and L.A. Law.


Concurrently, Cox has pursued his passion for music with equal fervor, culminating in this, his seventh release. Issued under the prolific and diverse Folk Era umbrella, Songs...With Repercussions serves as both Cox’s tribute to his late wife, Mary (who sadly passed away in 2006) and his most cohesive effort to date in his endeavors to align himself with the folk, country rock and folk rock movements at large.


With respect to the latter, a cursory review may generate a degree of dissention amongst the uninitiated as to Cox’s choice of venue. Indeed, some may reasonably infer that his genial tenor is more ideally suited to the all embracing post-modern country espoused by John Anderson or Epic label era Merle Haggard, especially when it is considered alongside the work of such like minded pioneers of the folk idiom as Burl Ives, Lou Gottlieb or Terry Gilkyson.


But such hasty categorization ultimately proves to be little more than a variation on the aforementioned pigeon holing that would limit a given artist to a single discipline. Indeed, with this fifteen track collection of originals and pertinent outside material, Cox proves to be both a diligent student and capable professor of the more academically inclined brand of folk espoused by the Highwaymen, Arlo Guthrie and labelmate Terry Lauber.


In terms of covers, Peter John Mayer’s down tempo Holy Now distinctively and engagingly outlines a cohesive argument for the affirmation of forthtelling prophecy over apologetics; a perspective which Cox will have ample opportunity to reiterate throughout 2010 during his scheduled live appearances at churches in Alabama, New York and Rhode Island.


Likewise, Jack Williams’ Give It To The Rich Man lampoons the dichotomy that persists between the material and spiritual perspectives and how the virtues of one are often falsely attributed to the other. A timeless illustration and one that is certain to hold fascination amongst a cross section of observers in view of the current social and economic climate.


As a tunesmith, Cox more than proves his mettle in that respect with Santa Ana Winds. Not to be confused with the Beach Boys’ 1980 classic of the same name, Cox’s Santa Ana Winds nonetheless professes like minded fascination with that unique Southern California phenomenon and in turn defers to the observer to draw their own conclusions with reference to its origin and impact.


Conversely, in Grady, Cox revisits the timeless, Matthew 7:1 reproof and correction message espoused in Hank Williams’ Be Careful Of Stones That You Throw. Then, as now, the impact of the “judge not, lest ye be judged” perspective is one that finds a substantial cadre of both observers and potential beneficiaries.


With that assertion, Songs...With Repercussions comes full circle, giving not only a methodology to its message, but further enhancing Cox’s resolve to excel in a multi-disciplinary capacity. And as his legacy to date aptly underscores, he has done just that.


VIRTUE - Eldar Djangirov
(Sony Masterworks Jazz)


In the self-penned sleeve notes that accompany this release, pianist Eldar Djangirov refers to the key events that define contemporary society as a “whirlwind”. He likewise inferred therein that one of his objectives with this work was to provide a musical backdrop for that observation.


Indeed, Virtue is in some respects a reflection of the prevailing moods and mores of this early part of the twenty-first century, in that it captures a whirlwind of emotions, with variations in expression, dynamics and tempos. One need look no further than the fluctuation of intensity in the opening bars of Insensitive or the ominous overtones of Blackjack in this collection to gather supporting evidence to that effect.


Likewise, circumstances within Djangirov’s life and career to date represent a microcosm of his vision at large. To wit, in 2007, upon completion of his studies at the University of Southern California, Djangirov relocated operations from Los Angeles to New York City.


Given Los Angeles’ status as the entertainment capital of the world and its long and impressive track record for nurturing and developing a wide array of artists, such a move seems somewhat curious. But for that which fuels his mission statement, Djangirov’s creative juices are better suited to the sort of atmosphere which New York City provides.


New York City was the home of the late Milton Gabler’s pioneering Commodore Records label; a driving force in the rise of the hard bop movement throughout the immediate post-World War II years. Although Commodore closed its doors in 1954 (with Gabler by that time lending his expertise in that capacity to the Decca, Coral and Brunswick family of labels), it set a precedent that helped sustain the atmosphere of creativity within the city to the present day.


In turn, a good portion of Djangirov’s mission statement owes its aesthetic impetus to the classic synthesis of the hard bop sensibilities of Ornette Coleman and Bill Evans-era Miles Davis with the comparatively mellifluous approach indigenous to the works of such masters as McCoy Tyner and Dave Brubeck; both of whom Djangirov has shared center stage with in recent years. Like Brubeck, Djangirov espouses (in the vernacular of the essay that accompanies the CD reissue of the former’s February 1955 Brubeck Time album) “contrapuntal panache”, yet not to the degree where it has become an encumbrance.


In this case, it serves as an integral component towards the depiction of the instrumental work as an expression of a given image or set of circumstances, reflected in both title and expression. Djangirov concurs, stating matter of factly that, “This music is a fitting soundtrack to my life and the things I have seen an experienced while living in New York City”.


Djangirov’s observation is best reflected in Daily Living, which succinctly captures the sometimes frantic atmosphere of his new home base with timely fluctuations in tempo and execution. The opening bars suggest at once an appreciation for the dawn of a new day, coupled with the ongoing deference to what in the late 1990s became known as the “tyranny of the urgent”. At midpoint, Djangirov, bassist Armando Gola and drummer Ludwig Afonso underscore the point by encouraging one another to follow suit with variations in mood that are indicative of the challenges inferred by the title.


Likewise, the opening and closing numbers, Exposition and Vanilla Sky bookend and compliment one another to the degree that Djangirov has upon occasion presented them in melody form in live settings. Each incorporates a hint of dissonance (aided and abetted with guest horns and reeds for maximum impact) at pertinent moments to serve as a reminder of the setting at large, yet (and again with a touch of the aforementioned contrapuntal panache, complete with abrupt Blue Rondo A La Turk-like time signature fluctuations for good measure) with enough flourish to cultivate and nurture the prerequisite dreamscape.


The notion of a dreamscape in part stems from Djangirov’s ongoing professions of optimism, borne from early success that has continued unabated. Like Craig Hundley and Joey DeFranceso before him, Djangirov was able to parlay his virtuosity into widespread acclaim that transcended any peripheral reservations. As such, the likes of Estate and Lullaby Fantazia each convey a comparatively understated atmosphere that is at once structured, yet assured and optimistic.


To be certain, Djangirov’s vision is a long range one; polished to perfection in the present setting, yet (in his own words), “an exposition of art, clarity, integrity and freedom”. He continues to refine that art by surrounding himself with the best that the idiom has to offer, highlighted by two appearances at New York City’s Iridium Club in December with guitarist and Blue Note recording artist Pat Martino and members of the Les Paul Trio in tribute to the late guitar giant. Remarkably, he continues to do so with boundless enthusiasm and an accessibility that belies his level of expertise.


“This is what Virtue means to me”, he said. Indeed, the world of jazz is all the better for it.



ACT YOUR RAGE - The Doughboys (RAM)


Taking into consideration the fact that they are a surviving first generation garage band with their original line up nearly intact, the Doughboys by definition have the artistic license to vary and/or expand their artistic focus in whatever manner best suits their creative muse.


As such, that they have seemingly drawn from the fruits of their labors by herein pursuing a path indigenous to the road well traveled by their second generation disciples is, at the least, a curious move. In reality, it serves as an indicator that theirs may have been a mission that was not so much ahead of its time as one that, while sympathetic to its initial surroundings, was slightly out of lockstep with the collective focus of their fellow founding fathers.


Indeed, in some respects, the Doughboys (both individually and as a group) laid their own foundations belatedly. While their pair of late 1960s 45s for the late Larry Uttal’s Amy/Mala/Bell conglomerate are certainly on par with the work of such contemporary labelmates as the Capes Of Good Hope and Gary And The Nite Lites, the bulk of their recorded legacy (including this, their second album) is far more in solidarity in terms of execution (if not content) with the work of such enthusiastic second generation students of their work as the Chesterfield Kings and the Unclaimed.


The path for many second generation aspirants was one borne of naievete that was often, as Nick Lowe once astutely observed, Nutted By Reality. To that effect, the Unclaimed long ago imploded from the proverbial “artistic differences”, while the Chesterfield Kings eventually hit their stride after years of primarily attempting unwaveringly faithful renditions of cover material that ultimately served to highlight their desperate need to establish their own identity. Meanwhile, the Doughboys used their protracted hiatus to make the most of individual pursuits within the new wave/punk era that likewise provided those second generation interns with a forum.


Most notable of these efforts of course was drummer Richard X. Heyman’s extensive solo catalog. The earliest releases in that phase of his solo career prompted many a musical observer at the time to erroneously assume that Heyman’s work was that of a fellow aspirant, rather than the efforts of an alumnus of one of their inspirations. Concurrently, lead vocalist Myke Scavone managed to generate widespread attention in that capacity with the band Ram Jam on the Epic label.


Given the relatively greater acclaim afforded these individual pursuits, it is not all that surprising then that the Doughboys’ most recent efforts in some respects approach their mission statement (which is based largely on rhythm and blues influenced garage rock) with first generation fundamentals tempered by the variables unique to ’70s hard rock and the aforementioned punk/new wave movements.


But where the Doughboys break rank with their students is in their commitment to sidestep the one dimensional tendencies common to many of those disciples’ earliest releases. Such is an inevitability when a given artist focuses on the glorification of a given ideal rather than endeavoring to bring their own personality into it. For while many of the sixteen tracks herein reflect the trademark heavy handedness of the genre, each nonetheless benefits from subtle touches along the way that enhance their inherent diversity.


The allocation of songwriting responsibilities fairly evenly amongst their ranks most handsomely serves to underscore the reasoning behind such a move. Scavone and lead guitarist Gary “Gar Francis” Venittelli excel in that respect with several respectable collaborations, highlighted by the Goats Head Soup-era Rolling Stones swagger of Queen City and the curious Tremblers/Graham Parker/James And Bobby Purify hybrid (complete with basic New Wave era Portrait label guitar fills) of Suck It Up.


Interestingly enough, Heyman in his several original contributions largely sidesteps the undercurrent of psychedelia that cushions the harder edges of his solo outings. While that option would have contributed to the enhancement of the diversity factor, a further assessment of priorities assures that he indeed made the most prurient move. Heyman’s strategy works particularly well with his harmonica driven, Stooges-flavored Sidetracked Again and the relatively more subtle Desperate Delusion.


Nonetheless, the ambitious (and somewhat revisionist) cover of the Moody Blues’ Tuesday Afternoon (which is tempered with the string flourishes indigenous to the bridge of the Yardbirds’ Little Games) enables the band to reaffirm their first generation sensibilities in fine fashion. To be sure, such overtures are more than a mere conciliatory gesture, given the inclusion here of a previously unreleased cover of the Kinks’ It’s Alright that features the guitar artistry and vocals of band cofounder Willy Kirchofer, who sadly passed away in 2005 after a brief illness.


While Blood, Sweat And Tears may have decisively asserted that in some instances that the Child Is Father To The Man, in the case of the Doughboys, Act Your Rage has given them a forum to once again exercise their parental rights by humbling their followers with their decisive command over both factions of their unique professor/student relationship. To be certain, the Wishful Thinking to which Heyman refers herein is irrefutably their reality; a reality that observers at large are certain to recognize as both a late hour blessing and a reaffirmation of generational priorities.




POINTS OF VIEW - Anne Hills (Appleseed)


Over the past century, folk music has expanded in scope and perspective from being a medium by which history and events are chronicled to become one of the primary vehicles for the promulgation of socio political concerns. Particularly within folk settings, those points of view expressed are inexorably linked to presentation.


By definition, such pursuits are at once both subjective and immediate. Immediate in the sense that as the result of the timeliness of the issues that they represent, they cannot be easily ignored. As such, presentation becomes a critical factor in their success.


Presentation within the folk idiom has generally followed two courses of action. One is the ebullient approach, championed with resounding success by the Kingston Trio, the Highwaymen, the Gateway Singers and others of similar intent. Therein, the respective protagonists showcase their points of view in musical settings that frequently vary from track to track in terms of instrumentation, yet which share the common thread of impassioned and fervent delivery. In other words, they are rendered with a passion for the cause.


The other course is the low key and/or understated approach, most frequently identified with the singer/songwriters of the early 1970s. Such methodology in recent years represents the road less traveled, simply because it requires a greater ability on the part of the respective artist to draw attention not only to themselves, but to the message. For without the clarion call of the music itself, the onus is upon the artist to champion the cause at hand.


One artist who has succeeded remarkably well with the latter approach is the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based songwriter, Anne Hills. In this, the most recent of her nearly two dozen releases (which include acclaimed collaborations with Jan Burda, Cindy Mangsen and Priscilla Herdman), Hills primarily engages the quiet storm motif to serve as the backdrop for a myriad of concerns.


Hills’ propensity for such methodology stems in part from her status as an alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy. At that renowned Northern Michigan facility, passion and technique are emphasized as indispensible components of an artist’s vision. Nonetheless, in reality, many have experienced challenges in their attempts to give equal footing to both in their respective mission statements.


When utilized in a folk and/or acoustic setting such as this one, any attempt to place emphasis on technique is often akin to trying to appreciate the ambiance of late nineteenth century Denmark by immersing one’s self in the like minded manufactured atmosphere created by the various merchants whose wares define the vast retail district of Solvang, California. Or from a rock and roll perspective, it is somewhat similar to the notion of endeavoring to gain commanding knowledge of the doo wop idiom by viewing reruns of the Happy Days television series.


In other words, to endeavor to artificially recreate the atmosphere of a movement whose impact was largely borne of spontaneity in thought and deed is an exercise in futility. As such, for an artist such as Hills to successfully convey her agenda, the storyline at hand must be delivered in such a manner as to render the impact of such periphery as the musical backdrop minimal.


To her considerable credit, Hills has done just that with a variety of concerns that are at once both universal and divisive in scope. Universal in that they speak to the day to day occurrences with which everyone can identify. Yet divisive in that even when rendered with the most cavalier of approaches, certain components of her material concern themselves with issues that can nonetheless trigger impassioned responses.


To wit, I Am You, in which Hills endeavors to invoke the essence of the America of New York poet Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus. In the light of Lazarus’ “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore” maxim, one need look no further than the commercial news media to realize the dichotomy that persists in society with regards to such a perspective.


Conversely, The Farm draws upon the malaise that has defined the American economy in recent months to express solidarity with its resultant multitude of disenfranchised visionaries and contributors. While perhaps not as empathetic and/or sympathetic with the cause from an eyewitness perspective as was Billy Ray Cyrus’ like minded, above and beyond the call of duty anthem, The Buffalo (from his 2007 Home At Last album), Hills nonetheless transforms the righteous indignation expressed by Cyrus’ central character into an object of pity, when ironically such gestures of outreach are often regarded as anathema by many of its intended recipients.


To her credit, Hills has made considerable overtures to bridge any perceived gaps between the various factions, even in circumstances where the notion of any such impasse seems ironic. Witness her interpretation of Peter Meyer’s Holy Now, which judiciously incorporates Biblical imagery (from the account of Moses and the Red Sea found in Exodus 13:17 - 15:21 to the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine chronicled in John 2:1 - 11) to support the notion of the more idyllic society to which many default for a revisionist retrospective of their own upbringing.


In turn, the original My Daughter And Vincent Van Gogh (coauthored with Allen Power) demonstrates from first person insight the consequences of revisiting a given ideology in the hopes of passing on its perceived lofty attributes onto successive generations, only to realize that the nuances of the ideal in question are frequently lost on or misunderstood by virtue of the time and space gap (and apparent lack of historical research) that similarly affected the credibility of the aforementioned Happy Days/doo wop analogy.


Yet where Hills has succeeded while countless others have failed in similar attempts is in her credibility as a wordsmith. To be certain, the same challenges addressed in My Daughter And Vincent Van Gogh with only an understated, piano-based score for support would have taxed the limitations of a lesser bard, not to mention the patience of that bard’s respective audience.


Indeed such a fate was frequently the case for many who have previously blazed this trail. But like Norma Tanega, Janis Ian and Judy Henske before her, Hills has stated her case succinctly. In the process, she has likewise succeeded in rallying devotees of both the medium and the message
.


DETOUR AHEAD - Chris Pasin (H20 Records)


Within rock circles, a sure sign of a lack of imagination and originality on the part of a given artist would be one who cites any combination of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and (depending on the sub-tangent of the rock and roll genre upon which that artist focuses) the Velvet Underground as their primary inspirations. Given the abundance of worthwhile role models extant, to default to those most representative of the common denominator is indicative of little more than a desire to generate across the board appeal with the least demonstrable amount of creativity. In some cases, it is also indicative of a concession to peer pressure, which by definition is anathema to the creative process.


Likewise, the jazz idiom has been blessed with several visionaries who, as has been the case with their aforementioned rock and roll counterparts, have nonetheless been afforded the lion’s share of attention to the detriment of numerous other equally gifted pioneers. In particular, the enormous recorded legacies of trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Charles Mingus and saxophonists Charlie Parker and John Coltrane are vast enough in scope and expression in and of themselves to represent the idiom at large. Nonetheless, their ongoing presence at center stage in such circumstances has been a source of no small amount of consternation for many a succeeding aspirant.


Yet for Chicago, Illinois trumpeter Chris Pasin, such maxims were seemingly of minimal concern in May 1987, when he recorded the sessions that are now at last available under the ironic title, Detour Ahead. Ironic in that shortly after the completion of these sessions, he set aside an already impressive track record to embark upon a protracted sabbatical from which he only recently emerged.


The element of irony is compounded by the fact that at that time, the world of jazz was in the middle of an uncharacteristic creative nadir. The hard bop movement that had given the aforementioned legends their due in the spotlight had run its course for the time being (although it would continue to set the bar in the decades to come amongst the more discerning of observers). While artists such as Roy Hargrove, Hugh Masekela and Stanley Jordan persevered for the faithful, theirs was (for the moment) an increasingly disenfranchised perspective.


In the interim, some of the more negative elements of the immediate post-Woodstock era in rock began to find their way into jazz circles, as the self-indulgent coterie masquerading under the guise of “improvisers” introduced a controversial sub-tangent known as fusion into the mix. Almost as a knee jerk reaction, opposing factions opted for a low key and light approach that, in the pedestrian vernacular, produced a lot of elevator music. Nonetheless, in the process, they attracted an audience weary of the moribund excesses in both the rock and jazz idioms, yet further disenfranchised themselves from any remaining solidarity with the academic and purist stalwarts in both camps.


As such, for an artist such as Pasin, to align himself at that time with that small but unwavering contingent of independent thinkers certainly (and refreshingly) made him out of step with the jazz mainstream. But his inclinations towards individualism did not end there.


To that effect, witness the results. Not only was its cohesive approach an expression of solidarity with the aforementioned hard bop pioneers, but that gesture in and of itself also puts Detour Ahead on a slightly different path than that pursued by Hargrove, Masekela and Jordan at the time.


Interestingly enough, Pasin recently referred to these May 1987 sessions as, “too structured”. That of course is not to infer “structured” in the sense of the verse, chorus and bridge blueprint that characterizes much of the best rock, country, MOR and rhythm and blues material. But structured in that the mission statement of the hard boppers called for a tangible theme upon which each participant contributed their respective gifts to bring the vision to fruition, as opposed to the frequently inaccessible “anything goes” approach of fusion. Pasin has undergirded his stance by sidestepping any overt references to the idiom’s front runners by instead aligning himself with those whose journey to center stage has yet to reap accolades on a Coltrane/Mingus level.


In that respect, Detour Ahead succeeds on a number of fronts. Irony again factors into the mix, given that percussion responsibilities were succinctly overseen by the late Dannie Richmond (1935 - 1988). Richmond’s twenty-one year tenure with Charles Mingus (juxtaposed throughout his career with various side projects with such diverse artists as Joe Cocker and Elton John) made him somewhat of an anomaly, given Mingus’ well documented propensity towards a revolving door policy.


Such overtures of consistency also served Pasin well. His deferences to the hard bop ethic not only promote an instant affinity within the ranks of the faithful, but likewise assure his work the long term respect already afforded the genre’s front runners.


To that effect, the six originals that highlight this collection each paint vivid imagery that succeed on an individual basis. Yet despite their distinctive nature as such, they nonetheless collectively join forces in the manner indigenous to the best works of similar intent.


Perhaps the most telling track in that respect is the quasi-autobiographical Enigma, a noble attempt to bridge the gap between artist and audience that persists most notably in the jazz realm. Pasin does so with classic Impulse-like interplay between pianist Benny Green and Pasin’s own “showdown” simpatico with saxophonist Steve Slagle that inevitably recalls the extended workout between John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Farrell “Pharoah” Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison and Rasheed Ali in John Coltrane’s 1966 cover of Mongo Santamaria’s Afro Blue (from John Coltrane’s landmark Live In Japan collection), albeit with only a modicum of reserve in comparison.


That train of thought is perpetuated in comparatively understated fashion in The Light At The End Of The Tunnel, in which Pasin incorporates changes of tempo and transitional Blue Rondo A La Turk flair from Green to suggest an imminent revelation (again portrayed with maximum efficiency via a Pasin/Slagle collaborative). Such subtle Gospel overtures are further manifest in Lost And Found, which charts its course in much the same manner as did the Dizzy Gillespie Sextet in their like minded 1951 romp, Good Groove (albeit with less emphasis on the staccato interludes and in slightly more upbeat fashion).


Many works of similar intent endeavored to reaffirm their solidarity with the Broadway perspective. The most obvious example was of course set by John Coltrane’s definitive reading of Mary Martin’s My Favorite Things from The Sound Of Music. The prerequisite show tune herein, Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart’s My Romance (from their 1935 production, Jumbo) allows Pasin to provide the impetus for the more discriminating sector of his audience to maintain a modicum of congeniality with those outside of the fray who nonetheless remain sympathetic to the cause.


As the other outside contribution, the title track allows Pasin to extend that olive branch to the generally more sympathetic blues community, as well. Originally a 1949 vocal for the late Billie Holiday, Detour Ahead succeeds even without benefit of Holiday’s admonishment to, “Wake up, slow down, before you crash”.


To be certain, in his lengthy sabbatical, Pasin did just that. While his circumstances (which he has attributed to family commitments) were not as indicative of imminent danger as were those of Holiday, Pasin nonetheless has simultaneously bridged the gap between (often inexplicably) disparate factions and raised the bar within his chosen idiom. To be certain, his impending studio excursions will be causes for celebration.



SINCE FOREVER - Fred Simon (Naim Jazz)


In jazz circles, pursuing solo projects with the piano as one’s primary instrument is an enormous responsibility. With it comes the daunting task of being able to establish one’s own identity in a field whose path has been paved by such formidable giants as virtuoso Art Tatum, the visionary Dave Brubeck and the prolific and diverse McCoy Tyner.


It could be inferred that the futility of living up to such a legacy was a factor in the development of the so-called smooth jazz in the 1970s and 1980s. Therein, technical virtuosity, while still a prerequisite, was not so much the focal point as it was a necessity to portray a variety of moods and imagery within the dreamscape that characterizes the idiom.


In a career that spans several decades and includes collaborations with such like minded protagonists as the Pat Metheny Group, Larry Coryell, Fairport Convention and the perennially controversial Mahavishnu Orchestra, pianist Fred Simon has risen to that challenge repeatedly over the years.


In the aptly titled Since Forever, Simon reiterates his resolve by once again surrounding himself with the most sympathetic of sidemen, including Paul McCandless (oboe, saxophone and various wind instruments), Steve Rodby (bass) and Mark Walker (drummer). And if that format seems familiar, it most assuredly is.


Such was largely the instrumentation that defined the best work of jazz’s perennial standard bearers, the classic John Coltrane Quartet (of whom the aforementioned McCoy Tyner was of course an indispensible presence). And while a cursory review suggests that the two could not appear more dissimilar in approach, a closer listen to the update of his earlier Simple Psalm herein at once evokes the transitional phases between the various movements in Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.


Not that Simon is following in lockstep in the hopes of measuring up to an impossible to surpass standard. As the title track infers, he is indeed not only pursuing his own muse, but is defying the charges of elitism that detractors of the genre have suggested by openly embracing and dedicating the piece to the great Pete Seeger, co-founder of the Almanac Singers and the Weavers, whose 2008 At 89 CD was a Grammy winning highlight of an astounding seven decade career.


In A Silent Way follows suit in a subdued manner that belies the legacies of its inspirations, trumpeter Miles Davis and fellow keyboardsman and one time Cannonball Adderley sideman, Joe Zawinul. Likewise Song Of The Sea, which suggests a mastery of at will subtle variations in mood and execution, as demonstrated to perfection repeatedly in the Capitol-era works of the late, great Ron Goodwin.


To be certain, the aforementioned allegations of elitism have over the years obscured the inevitable and undeniable solidarity that persists not only within the various jazz factions, but amongst the various musical genres at large. And with Since Forever, Fred Simon has irrefutably demonstrated that not only are the various components of the equation a virtue (rather than a means to invoke and/or perpetuate a schism), they in turn represent common ground between all concerned. Or as Simon’s media release suggested, “pop sensibility with jazz complexity”. Indeed.


BLUE BASSOON - Daniel Smith (Summit)

The utilization of a bassoon as the primary instrument in a jazz ensemble is not entirely without precedent. Consider the ongoing prolific contributions of noted composer/sideman Paul Hanson, as well as the late 1960s - early 1970s work of the late classical bassoonist Richard Palaikis (who occasionally performed on that instrument in small jazz ensemble settings at that time by transposing scores intended for the clarinet). Nonetheless, the bassoon is not generally regarded as an example of convention in a medium dominated by other reed instruments such as the saxophone and wind instruments like the trumpet.

Among reed instruments, the bassoon is among the more challenging to master. Like the oboe, the bassoon is played with a double reed, which by definition requires greater wind capacity on the part of the respective musician. Nonetheless, the uniqueness of each has attracted such diverse artists as Harpers Bizarre, Sonny And Cher, Donovan Leitch and Dion DiMucci, all of whom have incorporated either a bassoon or oboe into some of their more memorable arrangements.

Daniel Smith has herein taken the bassoon to the next level. He has done so by not only putting it in the spotlight, but by applying its unique attributes to some of the jazz idiom’s most revered classics.

Foremost among these is the Cannonball Adderley Quintet’s Sack O’ Woe. Long regarded as one of the genre’s definitive classics, Sack O’ Woe has been covered with tremendous aesthetic success by such diverse artists as jazz/rock visionaries Manfred Mann, the late session guitarist Howard Roberts (with the Howard Roberts Quartet on Capitol), rock and roll pioneers the Routers and guitarist George Benson.

In the Adderley original and in each of the aforementioned covers, the inherent sense of urgency in Sack O’ Woe has invariably been expressed with the most sympathetic instrumental resources available. That Smith is able to maintain that level of intensity with the bassoon’s seemingly limited range is very much a credit to his ability to transcend expectations.

As if to underscore that this was no singular victory, Smith has applied that same determination in this collection to other highly respected triumphs of the jazz and blues idioms. They run the gamut from the likely (Charles Mingus’ Nostalgia In Times Square, Charlie Parker’s Billie’s Bounce, the George Shearing Trio’s Break Out The Blues and John Coltrane’s Equinox) to several pieces from various backgrounds in which the bassoon would at first seem to at best have been an afterthought in the minds of their respective progenitors, including Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins’ 1954 romp, Solid, B.B. King’s My Baby’s Gone, Robert Johnson’s From Four Until Late and the Horace Silver Quintet’s often covered 1966 keyboard showcase, The Jody Grind.

In the case of the Horace Silver and Sonny Rollins covers, Smith not surprisingly finds his footing at the onset. But in the case of Robert Johnson’s blues masterpiece, a bit of revision was in order. To that effect, Smith transformed Johnson’s slow blues shuffle into a Joe Reisman-like upbeat march/bossa nova/swing hybrid, aided and abetted to no small degree by Les Paul-flavored fretwork from renowned session guitarist Larry Campbell.

Somewhat surprisingly, Smith owes much of the project’s success to his various sidemen. Surprisingly in that he has surrounded himself not with veterans who by definition innately understand the nuances of the material at hand, but with a comparatively prodigious (albeit supremely accomplished) trio that includes keyboardsman Martin Bejerano, bassist Edward Perez and Spyro Gyra drummer Ludwig Alfonso. That they have joined forces to produce such remarkably invigorating results speaks quite favorably for a generation of relative aspirants that has upon occasion been known to give precedence to technique over heart. To be certain, Blue Bassoon features both attributes in abundance.

WAIT ANOTHER DAY - The Anna Troy Band (Blindspot)


While its invocation in matters of socio/political concern can often infer the espousal of a given partisan agenda, in the world of music, the notion of diversity can (and more often does) reflect a healthy perspective on the part of a given artist towards expanding their respective mission statement and ultimately enhancing the quality of their output.


The marked contrast between commercial radio of the 1950s and 1960s and its multi media counterparts of today underscores the aesthetic merits of a broadened scope. In the case of commercial radio of a half century ago, it was not uncommon for stations in any given North American market to routinely program rock and roll, easy listening, country, jazz, rhythm and blues and/or world music releases back to back, interspersed with one another and with each appreciated on their own merits.


By contrast, at best, the special interest internet-based outlets at large seem to be one of the few such vehicles for maintaining that perspective. Conversely, radio stations today frequently find themselves genre hopping on a regular basis in the hopes of capturing what is left of a steadily decreasing market share. Many have even abandoned music altogether, opting for a variation of the all talk format, which in itself has given rise in recent years to its own set of divisive ethics.


In the earlier scenario, the most astute artists stood in solidarity with the all encompassing perspective espoused within radio circles. It was not at all uncommon for such visionaries as Rick Nelson, Dave Edmunds, the Monkees, the Temptations, Johnny Cash, the Turtles, Dean Martin, Fats Domino and others to defy convention and showcase a wealth of genres in each new release.


To their considerable credit, artists such as these were able to succeed in that respect because of their superior capabilities as musicians, composers and/or interpreters. Relative aspirants, while nonetheless respected for their accomplishments, invariably found it difficult and/or impossible to sustain their momentum to such a degree.


Limitations of that sort have been a major contributor to the failure of countless artists over the past two decades to establish any sort of legacy on the level of those created by the aforementioned pioneers. A quick perusal of the sales charts of the early 1990s will reveal a significant number of names that at the time seemed destined for long term success, yet whose work in retrospect lacked the timeless attributes that enabled the accomplishments of their predecessors to both survive and continue to flourish.


Thankfully in recent years, a growing number of artists have begun to overcome the default one-dimensional approach in both their personal and professional pursuits. Their penchant for diversity has resulted in a noticeable upswing in the percentage of worthwhile new releases, as reflected in the annual Blitz Awards.


One such artist whose resolve in that respect is indicative of great promise is San Diego’s Anna Troy. Citing such artists as Otis Redding, the Yardbirds, Candye Kayne, Miles Davis, Manual Scan and Lizzie “Memphis Minnie” Douglas among her inspirations, Troy has endeavored in this, her second release, to embrace a plethora of genres that expands even beyond the common thread that runs between those artists.


Indeed, while Wait Another Day in part celebrates the rhythm and blues and jazz that unites her aforementioned inspirations, Troy herein has nonetheless also tried her hand at original material that owes more to the so-called power pop, punk and classic rock espoused by and exclusively adhered to within certain narrow factions of the contemporary San Diego musical landscape.


Yet Troy herein has done so not in conciliatory fashion, but in an earnest attempt to broaden her perspective. Keenly aware of her own strengths and limitations, Troy astutely heeded the Beach Boys’ maxim, You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone to facilitate her vision. That help came in the form of Steve Miller Band/Greg Kihn Band alumnus Greg Douglass.


Douglass’ well seasoned guitar artistry (which also included sessions with such notables as Link Wray, Hot Tuna and former Them front man, Van Morrison) serves in part to bring to life the heart of their five joint songwriting efforts (highlighted by the ambitious acoustic excursion, The Way You Dream), as well as Troy’s celebratory collaboration with keyboardsman Michael Reed (Out Of Luck, whose funk/hard rock underpinnings suggest the tongue in cheek atmosphere of Led Zeppelin’s The Crunge) and her four solo excursions (of which the bare bones So Hard is this collection’s lone hint of Troy’s long ago endeavors to flourish within a mainstream rock environment and her subsequent regrets).


Interestingly enough, additional assistance came from Manual Scan/Shambles cofounder and respected journalist, Bart Mendoza, whose garage/punk romp, Can’t Don’t Want To provides this collection’s lone outside contribution. Troy rises to each challenge well, determined to not fall prey to the conundrum that prematurely derailed the vision of countless artists of similar intent.


It is at that juncture where Wait Another Day finds Troy. Having made a tremendous leap in terms of diversity over her nonetheless engaging 2006 blues-tinged Ain’t No Man debut for Elektra Records, Troy is now at the crossroads of self assurance and accessibility. As she continues to fine tune her vision, subsequent endeavors will most likely follow suit and by definition will develop the universal attributes that will in turn generate greater acclaim for her work. And as Wait Another Day demonstrates, Troy is well on course to succeeding on all counts.


STARING AT THE SUN:
A COMPILATION FEATURING
SAN DIEGO MUSIC, VOLUME SEVEN -
Various Artists (Blindspot)


Various Artists showcases that focus upon up and coming independent artists have often vacillated between highly promising and high maintenance artists. In many such cases, their lone common denominator is often an unwavering belief in the validity of their respective mission statements.


One of the prime examples of the high maintenance perspective is the 1966 Battle Of The Bands: Recorded Almost Live collection on the Onyx label. To the unwaveringly focused garage rock enthusiast, the nine suburban Boston bands represented therein on the surface appear to pass muster in terms of such dispensable attributes as appearance and perspective.


But as Motown Records founder Berry Gordy astutely observed, “It’s what’s in the grooves that counts”. In that respect, the well intended Here They Are, Poets Of Merit, Apaches, Hearts Of Darkness, Fugitives, Vibrants, Satisfactions, Mods and Stolen Mintues at that juncture were nonetheless only able to offer little more than competent takes on frequently copied standards by the Young Rascals, Beatles, Terry Knight And The Pack, Outsiders, Rolling Stones, Animals and Temptations. Nice, but not essential. That none of the artists involved in the Onyx label project went on to any greater degree of notoriety merely underscores the point.


In the case of Staring At The Sun, Volume Seven, Blindspot Records’ CEO, Manual Scan/Shambles cofounder and journalistic colleague Bart Mendoza has the benefit of both hindsight and the aforementioned three tool pedigree to avoid such a pedestrian trap. In his journalistic role, Mendoza generally doubles as an encourager, using his trademark tireless work ethic as a barometer to which the project’s participants can aspire.


Many of the artists involved in this collection have responded in kind; delivering above the norm original material in which inspirations may be worn on their respective sleeves, but never to the degree of becoming an albatross (or a blind spot of sorts - no doubt at least a partial inspiration for the label’s name - that eventually derailed the momentum of many a second generation garage rock outfit in the late 1970s and early 1980s). That the twenty-two artists depicted herein largely rely upon original material speaks favorably to lessons learned and their individual resolve.


In the case of the latter, “blind spot” ambition occasionally supersedes the prerequisite attention to the fundamentals. To wit, Wendy Bailey’s I Swear, I Say exudes boundless enthusiasm that will inevitably be better showcased as the minutiae of structure, execution and the regrettably prerequisite peripherals are addressed accordingly (as a showcase clip of the piece presently circulating in video circles underscores).


Likewise, Christopher Cash’s Morning Star follows the path of subtle psychedelia trod most notably in second generation circles by the Rain Parade and Jeremy Morris. And while the Rain Parade and Morris admittedly represent the more adept and astute factions of a movement that was long on bravado while frequently sub par in terms of originality and execution, the benefit of Mendoza’s perspective enables Cash and other project standouts such as Dave Humphries (whose Heartbroken Angel incorporates a judicious string arrangement to highlight the pathos of a seemingly misguided quest for spiritual enlightenment), the Spring Collection (with their astute observations of “Do you remember the dreams we had?” found in Our Wildest Dreams, a well executed tale of learning from the shortcomings of their second and third generation forebearers) and Cocolafe (whose Coco Kallis and Lafe Dutton bring to the table a bit of diversity in the form of first person Americana, tempered with a beat poet weariness, a subconscious allegiance to the McNamara and Neely curator cum interpreter perspective and the inevitable interpolator component as a relatively more serious variation of the Beat Farmers ethic found in Reservation Billboards).


As a reality check, Mendoza’s Shambles provide at mid-point Mod Radio UK, a sound byte of the standard bearer credo in jingle format. Indeed, in this setting, theirs is not to compete or to pontificate, but to provide a road map with which those involved can chart their own course. With Mendoza’s input, it appears that each of the artists herein are well on their way to following the paths to which they are best suited.



CALIFORNIA 66 - Various Artists (Prune Twang)


It was certain to be a landmark event. A one of a kind celebration of the best that first generation garage rock had to offer, including the Electric Prunes, Seeds lead vocalist Sky Saxon and Love’s Johnny Echols (backed by Baby Lemonade). Not only the premier event of its kind for 2009, but possibly for the decade as a whole.


Sadly, it was not meant to be. As Electric Prunes cofounder and lead vocalist James Lowe articulated in a recent Blitz guest editorial, about California 66, “Things don’t always go as planned”.


An understatement, to put it mildly. Saxon died on the eve of the tour’s launch. The Electric Prunes and Echols persevered, with fellow garage rock pioneers, the Blues Magoos filling in for Saxon on key early dates. But in the wake of a series of broken promises and miscommunications that would have exasperated the most seasoned of road veterans, the California 66 tour came to a premature end after only a few dates.


Of the artists involved, the Electric Prunes by far have always been the most astute and diligent in terms of overseeing their own business affairs. Upon consulting the other artists involved, it was agreed that a CD collaborative would be a fitting commemorative of the tour.


Having released their own material prolifically in the present decade, the Electric Prunes assumed the responsibility of pressing this limited tour edition on their own Prune Twang label. Each artist contributed pertinent rarities, which, while not oblivious to their respective legacies, nonetheless showcased them in a manner that highlighted their undiminished capacity for excellence.


Not surprisingly, it is the Electric Prunes whose input best represents a band that remains on top of its game. While Circus Freak (from their acclaimed 2006 Feedback CD) may be their most recognizable track, live versions of Hideaway and You Never Had It Better from a 2008 Las Vegas performance and a 2007 demo of Left In Blue are most assuredly worthwhile additions to the band’s impeccable canon.


With band cofounder Johnny Echols assuming front man duties in the wake of the passing of original lead vocalist Arthur Taylor Lee, it seemed fitting that Love’s contributions highlighted multiple facets of the band’s storied career. To that effect, Lee’s uplifting original The Good Humor Man is coupled with a spirited rendition of Love’s 1966 monster classic, Seven And Seven Is. Both stem from a 2005 live date in Germany, a year away from Lee’s tragic August 2006 passing from leukemia. Love’s contributions are rounded out with the highly sympathetic archival track, Reno by Baby Lemonade, who served as Echols’ backing band on the ill fated tour.


Under the circumstances, it is likely that the offerings by Ritchie “Sky Saxon” Marsh are the most highly anticipated. Aside from a live take of the Seeds’ 1966 definitive single, Pushin’ Too Hard (recorded live at Anaheim, California’s Melodyland Christian Center in 1968), California 66 also includes the previously unreleased free verse raver, Just Like John Lennon Said (recorded in 2007) and Summer Of Love, a wistful recollection from what would ultimately be Saxon’s final album, 2009’s Back To The Garden.


As a bonus (uncredited in the sleeve notes), California 66 includes two tracks that offer a unique perspective on not only the celebration that was meant to be, but the cause for celebration itself. The latter is represented by a spoken word track over a sympathetic background, in which such key players and observers as the Electric Prunes’ James Lowe and Mark Tulin, the Strawberry Alarm Clock’s keyboardsman, Mark Weitz and Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan offer their unique insights on the project. The proceedings conclude with a radio spot for the show that never was, which ends with the foreboding admonition, “This may be your last chance”.


Tragically for Saxon, California 66 ultimately proved to be just that.


In a history of the Seeds published in Blitz Magazine in 1986, Saxon told interviewer Frank Beeson, “The 1960s had enthusiasm going for it, as well as the will of the people. Their spirit couldn’t be beaten”.


And for one brilliant moment, the ongoing enthusiasm and spirit of several of the movement’s most beloved pioneers is captured herein as a fitting commemorative of what certainly would have been a second to none event. In memory of their fallen colleague, the Electric Prunes will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this CD collection to Saxon’s widow, Sabrina.

Monday, September 04, 2006

HOW TO REACH US


Blitz Magazine's Michael McDowell with British Invasion legends Chad And Jeremy after the duo's Monroe, Michigan show on 16 October 2006. A rave review of Chad And Jeremy's just issued ARK-eology CD can be found in The Shape Of Things To Come column above. Left to right: Jeremy Clyde, Michael McDowell and Chad Stuart. Photo by Audrey McDowell.




Questions? Comments? E-Mail Blitz Editor/Publisher Michael McDowell (above) at BlitzMcD@aol.com. Or write us at P.O. Box 626, Dearborn Heights, Michigan 48127 - 0626 USA.

This website is dedicated to the memory of some of the finest people to ever walk the face of this earth, who are greatly missed and whose contributions to Blitz are immeasurable: Kenneth E. McDowell (1914-1966), Virginia J. McDowell (1919-2004), Stella O. Broackway (1916-2001), Anna Sawchuk (1885-1978), Michael Cichonsky (1888-1973), Catherine Cichonsky (1896-1962) and Boris "Lash" Loupishansky (1916-1960).

Blitz also remains grateful for the unconditional love that was given by the three best friends that one could ever ask for: our late cats Doctor (02 June 1991 - 28 June 2001) and Baby Lee (02 April 1992 - 23 January 2006) and our beloved family dog, Peeps (01 May 1990 - 02 May 2007).

Blitz Magazine invites you to stand in prayer with us for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Jesus is Lord!