Caravan, The Meat Puppets, Zoot Sims and Mingus - a musical Detour

Taking a minor detour away from the King Crimson focus, it's surprising to note how long its been since my last entry here! I've been doing a lot of listening and thinking though not a lot of writing. So I figured before too many more ideas get lost in the shuffle it might be good to get them out in the open. Plus – there's a whole lot of great music I've been discovering or re-discovering that I wanted to pass along. 

First up – Caravan's first album – 1968. I've had this record in my collection for a long time without paying too much attention to it. In fact, I think it was given to me by an old friend I lost touch with (and haven't rediscovered despite the power of social media). At any rate, I remember listening to this back in the 90s and not being impressed (compared to Badfinger, Caravan sounded kind of meandering and tentative). Then, just this past winter I decided to give it another chance and BINGO! I'm eating this record up. In spite of some very funky recording values there are some wonderfully musical ideas presented. And the organ parts make the record. Here's a nifty video of Caravan performing the first track - “A Place of My Own”. 

 

Now, I have known of the Canterbury Scene groups for a while, yet the appeal of the aesthetic has eluded me for the most part. Finding the Caravan album so compelling gives me hope that I'll enjoy other releases of theirs and from other bands like Soft Machine. In the meantime, I've discovered just how rare (and expensive!) first run copies of this Caravan album are and since I've been playing the daylights out of it, went looking for a CD. Once again, the value of compact discs in terms of what you get for your money just can't be beat these days – you can get Caravan's first on CD with both the mono and the stereo mixes for less than $10 from a variety of sellers. I'd recommend jumping on that deal and keeping it in your collection even if you don't like it initially. I'm happy I never purged the LP years ago – funny how some music takes time to catch an ear for. Caravan was worth the wait for me!

Also worth the wait was finally getting to see the Meat Puppets at a local club! Once again – I'd been aware of the Meat Puppets for years due to my appreciation of the SST bands in general back in the 80s. Yet, I never connected with their music until the early 2000s. I didn't even latch onto them at the peak of their popularity in the 90s when they were featured on the Nirvana Unplugged show and album. Without getting into the whole story now, I never quite got into Nirvana. Let's just say I was surprised at how many people loved Nirvana when they became popular – those same people who must have been listening to Debbie Gibson when Husker Du was at their peak?! Ah, well.......I do remember seeing a lot of advertising of their records in Musician Magazine back in those days. The band certainly looked cool. I just never seemed to hear anything on the local college radio.

 In fact, the same was true of The Minutemen versus fIREHOSE. Never seemed to hear the former – whereas the local play of the latter's first album on the radio caused me to rush out and buy that. And of course, one of the songs on the first fIREHOSE album is called - “Under the Influence of Meat Puppets”! Yet, I still didn't bother with the Pups until I found a cheap copy of “Mirage” on CD and took a chance. 

“Mirage” completely baffled me. I was expecting heavy stuff like Husker Du. Yet, “Mirage” sounded like pastel-flavored, Euro-pop-funk-lite (whatever that means). Over time, I did get into “Mirage” pretty seriously and learned how it was a departure of sorts for the Meat Puppets – yet their whole catalog is a big departure from itself in a way. The Meat Puppets are one of the few bands to experiment with different approaches from one record to the next, yet remaining true to their own sound – that's a familiar tale isn't it? Kind of like The Beatles! Unfortunately when I got into the Meat Puppets, Cris Kirkwood was still estranged from his brother Curt (who had put out the solo album “Snow” which I dutifully snapped up when released). So, it was to my general surprise that the brothers reunited and started putting out new albums and playing live again. There's only one of those releases I don't have yet – the first in the series “Rise to Your Knees”. All the others I have on VINYL and they're great! 

 

Better still was the band live – I haven't been this thrilled to see a live act locally in a long time (at least at this particular club – one that I played at many years ago myself). Check out this nuclear version of “Lake of Fire” from the show I was at:

Long live The Meat Puppets!!!

One show I ended up missing by a mere few days was seeing Ryley Walker. He'd played a few towns north of me a handful of days prior to me buying his album. I wish I hadn't delayed as long as I had with that purchase – otherwise I probably would have gone to that show. And the new record in question is a corker!

Primrose Green is a fantastic blend of folk and jazz in the mold of John Martyn – yet Ryley has a great sounding voice – better than Martyn's in my opinion.

 I have to be honest – I can't comment about Ryley Walker outside of what my ears tell me about his music. I have no idea about his back story, where he comes from or how long he's been active. Just based on how much I've enjoyed Primrose Green I hope he has a long and profitable career. I have to say I am really enjoying this whole “new release on vinyl with download code included” thing. Primrose Green is a beautifully recorded album which translates well to the vinyl medium. If all new music sounded this good there could be a sonic revolution at hand beyond Neil Young's wildest Pono dreams. Ryley Walker is great artist to keep an ear out for in the future. Check him out!!

With so much great music coming out on vinyl again, the platters have been stacking up. Taking into account my varied tastes (including classical and world music) I've got records piled all over the place. Keeping things organized has continued to be a challenge. I ended up separating by general genres – Classical, Rock / Pop and even Jazz. As much as I disagree on an aesthetic level with putting music into pre-conceived “bags” I've had to confront how tough it can be to find what you're looking for when all records are thrown in the same pile. It gets worse when records end up in different rooms of the house – oy! So I was surprised to find a jazz record lurking in the “rock” section that I must have missed when setting up the jazz section: Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers

 Here's another record given to me a long time ago which I gained a new appreciation for recently. Zoot Sims was a tenor sax player in the straight-ahead tradition. Once again, I know next to nothing about his life. By the time he recorded this album for Pablo Records in the mid-70s he was a well-established name in jazz. The title of the album is a bit misleading, however since the Gershwin Brothers do not appear on the record – they were the composers of all the tunes. Without getting into a whole Gershwin deal – if you are reading this and don't know about the impact of Ira and George Gershwin on modern music I'd be shocked to say the least. Plenty of artists continue to record entire albums of Gershwin material – Brian Wilson being a recent example. What caught my attention on this record was, besides the great music (Grady Tate on drums again!!), the general presentation of the album. Pablo Records was a Norman Granz designed label that put out quality jazz music with a no-frills image. This is such a 70s thing. No disrespect to Zoot Sims, but that cover photo is not the most flattering image in the world. Nobody would mistake this label with Blue Note (arguably the hippest looking jazz album covers of all time). This is PEOPLE'S JAZZ. Man, what a lost aesthetic if there ever was one. Well, don't be fooled by the stark cover image – the music is swinging and fantastic (as is most of the music featured on these Pablo albums – they put out a lot of stuff). But image can carry a lot of influence, of course. This is stating the obvious, yet some innovators were more savvy than others. 

I was recently reading about Charles Mingus again and I found myself re-watching this intense film showing Mingus at the apex of his paranoia in the 60s. As scattered and frustrated as Mingus is in this film, I couldn't help thinking how some of his insights continue to have a relevance and resonance right down to the current times. It is curious to note that the world of music was changing pretty rapidly at the time this film was made. The jazz world was poised to take a plunge into jazz-rock-fusion (the more commercial extension beyond the free-jazz innovation of the early 60s). Mingus would not make that transition along with many others – his own health demanded his time and attention. And perhaps the frantic fire we see in the film settled down for his own benefit (how long can any person sustain that level of intensity without consequences?). Yet, many of the injustices remain from Mingus's time to our own. Images can be powerful – as Mingus knew too well as he demonstrates how easy it is to operate a firearm – it seems that the JFK assassination was especially in the forefront of his mind as one can hear in the film. There are no easy answers to the question of how to make the world a better place. I think Mingus's music will continue to illustrate that beauty can emerge from the most trying of circumstances. I think that is ultimately what the film maker gives us here – in the turmoil of the times, music can still express the human qualities of joy, hope and exuberance. Keep those vibrations flowing................

Crimson Reflections – Part One: Stumbling into the Court

For the next few installments here, I will be working through some reflections on the great musical institution known in rock music circles by the name King Crimson. It's weird, but I don't think of Crimson as a typical band, per se. It isn't exactly a collective either. Crimson is more of a creative landscape under the watchful guidance of Mr. Robert Fripp who, if anyone has taken the time to read some of his fascinating blog posts, seems to have a fairly complicated relationship with his “garden”. Hmmm. That isn't a bad analogy – King Crimson is more like a musical garden than a “band”. Fripp is the master gardener - the gatekeeper. Crimson is a carefully manicured garden where some plots are allowed to grow wild – as long as the carefully controlled chaos suits the aesthetic of the master gardener. Sometimes the undergrowth gets out of hand and the garden goes on lockdown only to be re-opened to the public in a newly remodeled form. Yet, the essence of the garden remains consistently tied to a particular aesthetic which can only be defined as Crim.

As usual, I am grossly ill-suited to be telling this tale. I haven't even heard all of the music from this region. Well, it would be kind of tough to do though not impossible. There have been solo albums and offshoots – many pathways winding through the Crimson Forest. Yet, a curious realization emerges – the lifeblood of the land is tied up with other elemental components – often associated with other landscapes and regions. There is an odd sense of dislocation that permeates through the Crimson Garden. A slightly less romantic analogy for King Crimson might be the family across town who lots of folks are related to though they don't always admit it. There is an element of elite yet outlaw status with this motley assortment Mr. Fripp has presided over since its inception......which goes back to 1969 when it was still just a band – and not even HIS band, initially.

To move this analysis forward, I will be using the above visual to represent the four major time shifts associated with the Historic Crimson Identity. Those familiar with the music will understand what the four compact discs represent. Everybody else will have to keep reading, of course.

NOTE: There is a recent permutation of King Crimson which toured in the fall of 2014. This version of the band has so far been represented with a live CD which I have not yet ordered or heard. True to form for me – I totally missed the opportunity to see this new version of Crimson just like every other time. Sheesh. So this newest edition is not represented quite yet here.

 

My journey through this region commences not in a chronological manner, but in a geographic one. I will begin in the southwest quadrant of the map since that is where my own journey started. How I wound up there is related to an article I read in Musician Magazine in August 1984. The article is highly entertaining and worth spending the fifteen minutes or so it takes to read. See here: 

http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_King_Crimson_in_Musician 

The residents of Crim at this time were Fripp (of course), Bill Bruford (who to me was the first Yes drummer), Adrian Belew (who I knew only from Frank Zappa's band at that point) and bassist Tony Levin (who I heard on countless records without knowing who it was – like John Lennon's last album). For some reason I found that article interesting enough to want to just buy some King Crimson without worrying about what the music sounded like. So it was that I wound up at my favorite record joint and purchased the Discipline album on compact disc (new in the blister package!) without having heard a note of the music.

 
 Never mind that the record was about 4 years old by the time I got to it – this was still “new music” as far as I was concerned. And was it EVER! To this day, I have not heard anything remotely like what the Discipline album was then and still is. It is uncanny to me. Discipline was love at first listen. I was thirsty for a new music and King Crimson delivered in a way no other musical entity could at that time. 

I was so enthused with Discipline I set out later in the summer to bag another Crimson album – the one profiled in the article that, for reasons I don't remember, I initially passed up in favor of Discipline. Good thing too, since Three of a Perfect Pair was not quite the same experience – and one I nearly paid an ultimate price for (had I not been as fortunate as I was). You see, all this pre-dated my ability to drive an automobile. Trips to the record shops were dependent upon a willing parental lift and were therefore infrequent. Until I got it in my brain that I could ride my bicycle to the record shop on a clear, non-rainy day.

Having some LP-spending cash on hand I reasoned I could steer the bike with one hand while holding the LP with the other on the trip back. Of course, certain parts of the return trip involved a few intense downhill maneuvers which might complicate the process. No worries – just go! The trip to the shop was unremarkable except I got the LP this time (would have been smarter to get the CD, no?). The return trip was also fairly unremarkable – even down the really BIG hill which should have been the scarier prospect. It was the second biggest downhill where things went awry. My street was on the left at the bottom of a down-hill dip in the main road – right after going under an overpass built for a train-track elevated above the road. No problem except I was riding into oncoming traffic, one-handed and didn't count on some rather large debris which had accumulated under the bridge which was hard to navigate and............................. holyshitivehitalogwherethefuckdidthatcomefromiamnowfallingoffthebikeintooncomingtraffic! What's the first thought when I realize I am going down off the bike like this? “Oh my God! SAVE THE RECORD!!!!”

 

See that bend in the LP cover? Well, that was the extent of the damage to the record, thank heavens. My own damage was also mercifully slight. No cars managed to run over me thank goodness. So I arrived home bruised and shaken, yet undeterred. I later would bring Three of a Perfect Pair to parties and put it on when other guys tried to dance with the girls I was interested in. Heh heh! Yet, that LP would be the end of Crimson Mark III and I never got to see that edition live in concert. It would be many years later before I even bothered to purchase the Beat album.Not because I didn't want it, but because I KNEW – I knew it was going to be great and I was holding out for when I needed to hear it. I know – I am such a weirdo I just didn't want to rush into the last LP from that era of the band. I wanted to SAVOR it.

Last summer I got to experience the ultimate re-creation of this era of Crimson when I saw the double trio act of Adrian Belew's and Tony Levin's bands together performing Crimson music up in Woodstock at the Bearsville Theater. I was totally blown away. I cannot wait for the next performance next summer. I was enthralled once again – even though that Fripp guy was not present. I was also semi-yet-not-quite starstruck to discover the great Tony Levin mulling around the bar before the show – standing right next to me! I'm sure I could have blathered on to him about how his contribution to the Discipline album changed and energized my life as a young listener (and still does), but any knucklehead can come off like Waynes World, right? Just being that close in proximity to such an important musical figure was enough of a buzz for me. So enjoyable it was to see him then, I returned to the Bearsville later in the season to see Tony Levin's Stickmen group. I could watch and listen to him play all day long – he's a true musical treasure of our times. It is no surprise that Mr. Fripp let him in the Crimson Garden all those years ago.

 

          As a postscript and tie-in to the other eras I will be writing about – the Discipline album was released as part of a 40^th Anniversary campaign featuring new 5.1 surround sound mixes of all the King Crimson albums. Most of the catalog has been released this way, though so far Discipline is the only album from that era to be given the 5.1 treatment. That said – the new mix is so spectacular I would recommend any fan of this album to get a surround sound system RIGHT AWAY so you can hear this experience as quickly as possible before life gets in the way too much or back copies of this thing become too expensive to afford anymore. Yes – it is THAT GOOD. In fact, as I will profile in the future, it is this 5.1 remix campaign that finally convinced me King Crimson leads the pack of so-called progressive bands. 

Every single release from this 40^th Anniversary series is so stellar, they've raised the bar as to what real progressive excellent music is really all about. The 5.1 remixes have breathed so much new life into the back catalog of Crimson albums, they have forced a re-evaluation of even the more marginal records made under less-than-ideal circumstances. Its almost as if the sonic unfolding of those records sheds new light on what those Crim residents were really up to – while everyone thought they were imploding, they were re-defining the potential of the future. What may have baffled listeners in stereo back in the early 70s comes to life in surround sound in the present era. King Crimson has always been a cutting edge ensemble. Technology has made it possible for the music to be re-discovered and re-evaluated for newer generations of listeners.

 

Defying Expectations: Sinatra’s “Watertown”, Nilsson Schmilsson and Billy Meshel's Minor Masterpiece

     

 It finally happened. Either a sign of advancing good taste or advance of age, I can’t tell which. It hit me – Sinatra. Not in some crazy obsessive way. Call it a general appreciation that didn’t quite exist before. Now, I’m not into the whole Myth / Mystique / Idealization trip here. Just an ability to enjoy Sinatra’s music and an acknowledgment of his artistry. I’d read little articles here and there – some by Sinatra experts. Interesting stories from a musical point of view, not from the “Rat Pack Fanboy Club” point of view. For many of my generation, the Sinatra image was not especially interesting, in terms of what was considered “cool”. Maybe some of the blame can be laid on comedian Joe Piscopo’s doorstep. Somehow I could never take Sinatra seriously - especially after the way Piscopo sent him up on Saturday Night Live. All those songs with mundane lyrics being crooned like they were the most important and profound poetry – with that mock-seriousness in his voice - good God, it really was just too funny. 

  Yet, if you give yourself the chance to listen beyond the mind-numbing, drool-inducing lyrics you’ll hear PHRASING. That’s what got me to listen a little closer. I like singers who know how to phrase through interesting melodic material. And, even with the limitations of his range, Sinatra was a phrasing magician. That said, I would be very hesitant to call his style “jazz”. Advanced crooning with a unique swing feel, perhaps. A stylist, surely. Plus, it’s fairly easy to pick up Sinatra records in thrift store bins. Like classical music these days, only the die-hard collectors want Sinatra LPs. The main concern for collectors centers around his Capitol-era output. Something to do with the original vinyl being the only place to get the “dry” mixes – later reissues were smothered in reverb apparently. And don’t get me started on the “D” versus the “N” pressings. I can’t remember which is the better one right now. I have examples of each and I’m still working on figuring that stuff out. But the collectors know. What they usually don’t care about are the Reprise-era albums.

I have a bunch of these too – actually I kinda like the oddball stuff like Frank’s version of “Both Sides Now” on this record:

  By this point in his career, Sinatra miraculously had some pretty decent comebacks and he wasn’t quite done. The “Cycles” LP was released in 1968. His next big smasheroo, “My Way”, was right around the corner in 1969. Yet, as iconic as “My Way” is today, this is where Sinatra’s hits would start to dry up (“New York, New York” notwithstanding). His recorded output would start to taper off and head for that long slide towards the “Duets” albums that would pretty much cap his career, for better or worse. The Reprise era did, however, have a few interesting experiments along the way, the first – and arguably greatest – of which was unleashed on the public only a year after “My Way” topped the charts. Yet, this LP would sink like a stone and make nary a ripple in either the Sinatra-obsessives circles or everybody else’s circles. I speak of: WATERTOWN.

  I’d read a little about this album over the last few years and a bunch of months ago I finally found a nice white-label promo copy – in mint shape – for about $10. I reckon it is available on CD and/or download for the digital-inclined. Now, this is very important: don’t read the article I’m going to link here until you listen to the record! It’s not a very long album and it’s rewarding so just suck up that 40-some odd minutes and do it.

 

Then, read this article: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/03/14/blue-eyes-in-watertown/

Sinatra’s “Watertown” may very well end up as the record music fans will celebrate with his hits, long after the Rat Pack fanboy brigade has left the building. The artistry he displays in reading through the material, as a believable sonic narrative, is impeccable. “Watertown” really stands apart from the usual Sinatra offering. Perhaps that is why it remained largely ignored when it was released. Folks probably didn’t know what to make of it and most likely just shrugged it off. Silly people……….for once Sinatra sounds to me like he’s sincere, like he’s not purposely trying to hustle you about how great he is – you know that kind of rap.

I have this theory about singers. For whatever reason, I especially enjoy singers who approach their material almost as actors / actresses. I want the illusion that the singer is communicating something from a point of experience. I say “illusion” because, as in acting, it really isn’t necessary for the artist to have personally experienced whatever they are singing about as long as they are able to communicate the emotion, idea or sentiment. I do wonder, though, if most people really care about whether or not singers portray their material in such a way anymore. Given the way a lot of current music sounds to me, I think not. To my ears, so much of current music / singing sounds like a commercial on TV – like the singer is trying to hustle me. Big turnoff. Not being a vocalist myself, I generally admire anybody who can carry a tune, though. 

  One of the better vocalists of the late 20^th century, in terms of American-styled popular music, was Harry Nilsson. I mentioned in an earlier posting about the RCA Albums Collection Box I picked up (along with the most recent biography). Maybe not everybody needs the whole catalog, but I'd say at least one Harry record belongs in any music fan's collection: Nilsson Schmilsson. 

  This record has it all: great singing, great playing, great songwriting. The Moonbeam Song. Coconut. Without You. Jump Into the Fire. Man, if you can’t dig this record I feel sorry for you! Jump into the Fire also happens to have one of the top five BADDEST bass guitar moments ever in the history of recorded music: bass man Herbie Flowers got the wild idea to de-tune his bass right in the middle of an already rockin’ performance – still on-key but all growlin’ and flappin’ and totally rockin’! Herbie don’t need no 5 string bass to get those low, low notes. Just start unwinding that low E RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TAKE. How badass is that? If that track doesn’t make you want to jump up and play “air bass” you must not have a pulse. Anyway……depending on how much you like brilliant songwriting and stellar singing, you might not need the new box, but you definitely need Nilsson Schmilsson because you like the good things in life. Maybe throw in Son of Schmilsson (the sequel) since you like to laugh too. 

  Yet, these Nilsson albums are a bit different from what came before in Harry’s catalog. The Schmilsson records were a carefully designed move toward more rock-n-roll territory. The clutch of records that preceded these were more in the adult-pop, thinking-man’s music vein with a little touch of 1920s aesthetic to them. And those early albums were successful enough for other aspiring songwriters and singers to take notice. Who wouldn't want to have this guy's talent, right? See here:

 One little known example of Nilsson's impact on music (from pretty early on) came to me in a fairly random way………

Once in awhile I end up with records I didn’t intend to buy. Such was the case when I saw a few Ahmad Jamal records advertised with a “lot” of LPs on an ebay auction. It was like 6 or 7 LPs for $5 or something (including the Jamal albums). I didn’t think too much about the other records that arrived. Among the mystery albums was this:

  I honestly didn’t take much time to even look at this record until a few weeks ago. I noticed it was sealed and looked like some middle-of-the-road, crooning Ed Ames type LP until I looked a little closer………….

First of all, the record label – Probe – was a short-lived offshoot from ABC Records in the late 60s. This label is noteworthy for being the American company that released the first few Soft Machine records in the US. Soft Machine was a decidedly prog-rock / psychedelic band from England. Hmmmm. This album also looked like it was a “concept” album – especially obvious when perusing the song titles………

  Oh my God…..the front cover photo, the song titles, the back cover liner notes……read this:

Even before I placed the needle in the groove I was snickering to myself. This was one of the funniest things I’d seen in a long time: a “concept” album about a lonely guy who just can’t make it with the chicks! Everything about the package is screaming this concept. Who is this guy? How did he get away with it? Who would give him a budget to complete such a project, let alone release it? It is interesting to note that the very goofy liner notes on the back cover make specific reference to Frank Sinatra (and presumably the current hit “My Way”).

Apparently, Billy Meshel cut a few singles under his own name in the early 60s and worked as an erstwhile songwriter for smaller companies. (This song isn't bad – though some of the comments listed on the youtube site are, shall we say, concerning!)

  I get the sense that he must have worked for ABC records in some other capacity besides “singer” and through those connections managed to wrangle a deal for his “concept album”. Although the liner notes make reference to Sinatra, the real inspiration behind this record seems to be Nilsson who was pioneering a new “sensitive loner singer” approach to popular music. However, where Harry's tunes betray sophisticated command of language and finesse, Meshel's lyrics are, by contrast, direct and absurd! Yet, despite the lowbrow vocal delivery, the songs are well-orchestrated and inexplicably catchy! Meshel certainly had a gift. At least one other person has taken notice of this album and uploaded a few tracks to youtube. Here's one:

  This is certainly one of the oddest “concept albums” I've encountered. What makes it so offbeat is the earnestness with which the material is presented – the music itself is very radio-friendly (for the era). It's the extreme point of view of the concept and the ham-fisted lyrics that skew the proceedings toward decidedly “cult status” territory. Fans of late 60s “sunshine pop” would find this record FASCINATING. And, in its own twisted way, it's really very funny! A “quirky classic” that has been gurgling under the radar all these years. I actually like it better than the Four Season's “Imitation Life Gazette” (their “concept album”). So, for those of you who think you've heard it all – if you see Billy Meshel's minor masterpiece lurking in the bins for $1 – it ought to keep you scratching your head and tapping your toes between guffaws. If there ever was an album that probably wasn't supposed to happen, but did anyway – this is IT! Somehow, I'm glad it did and wound up in my collection. It shows a dogged resolve in an industry which seldom rewards such tenaciousness. Maybe these days its too easy to put one's own “minor masterpiece” out into the public arena. Billy Meshel's album was a leap of faith. Perhaps not a lucrative one, but certainly impressive enough in its own inimitable fashion. Regardless of what it may have been like to work for the guy and whatever you might think of the music, he wasn't “phoning it in” here. Isn't that what we, as demanding listeners, ask for?

The 1990s - Decade of the Curmudgeon in Training

                                                It was 20 Years Ago Today.............

 

Wow. I can't believe the mid-1990s are now officially 20 years ago. As each new year arrives I like to think in terms of where I was and what I was doing 10 - 20 years ago. The 1990s were not my favorite decade by a long stretch and I'd never want to live through a bunch of years like that again. I'd prefer not to get into why specifically, but I do know about the music that got me through a pretty rough decade. And oddly enough I've found myself listening to some of that same stuff again lately. So, before we move forward I'm going to get us in the wayback machine for a guide through what music kept me sane in the crappy decade of the 90s.............

First off, as the 90s started I developed an ear for The Beach Boys. This was big news for me, especially since I had dismissed them for so long. I really like it when I have a “eureka moment” with music. For me, The Beach Boys LP “Little Deuce Coupe” - the mono original – was what hooked me in. I still love this record. Every song is great.

  It also helped that my cousin Steve got into the Beach Boys at the same time. I'll never forget the generosity of my cousins who pitched in to give me the Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” box set that Christmas.

  Those six CDs played in heavy rotation for the balance of the decade. The retrospective CD box set was a big deal in the 90s and The Beach Boys set a standard of excellence with this release. It's still fantastic! I loved it so much I put the decal that came in the box on the back window of the car that got me through the decade. 

 Two years ago I was amused to see quite a number of young 20-somethings at the Beach Boys 50-year anniversary concert I went to. Really took me back to my own formative years as an obsessive fan..........

So while everybody else was cranking up the Nirvana – I was playing side two of Surf's Up religiously every night before I went to bed (I did mention how cheerful the 90s were for me, right? Heh heh). 

  As it turned out, there were plenty of Beach Boys “moments” through the decade – Brian Wilson emerged from his 80s haze, Pet Sounds was released as a separate “sessions” box set and in 1996 I saw my first Beach Boys concert in Poughkeepsie, NY. I am so glad I got to see Carl Wilson before he died – I will never forget him belting out “Sail On Sailor”. You could tell he wanted to do that song for “those fans” - the faithful. Yeah. I was among that lot. Still there, too. 

 

  Now, look. If you can't figure out that most of my musical tastes run pretty much backward in time you haven't been reading this blog too often. I'm doing my best to connect with some new music nowadays, but in the 90s I had pretty much zero interest in current bands. At least in the main genres. So, the 90s for me were more about older music. However, some older artists were putting out first rate records......like Paul McCartney did with his “Flaming Pie” album. Yep! I got that on VINYL, new! 

  Where? Well, I managed to find my way down to the Princeton Record Exchange in the 90s and boy did I blow a lot of cash there! With everybody re-discovering vinyl these days, I started that process back in the 90s. Paul's album came out after the Beatles Anthology hoopla (also a fun memory / experience for me in those years). I still think “Flaming Pie” is one of his best. Hard to realize it is almost 20 years old now........

Now, let me introduce you to my two steady girlfriends of the 90s................one British and one American.

Dusty:

Lesley:

       Now, I knew them both before the 90s, but I got really serious with them in that decade. Good thing they never found out about how much I professed my love to each of them separately. They were known to be pretty feisty if you crossed them the wrong way. Lesley could be brooding – saying “You Don't Own Me” over and over. Dusty was known to throw dishes and stuff when she got going! Each of these women sent me scrambling for their original albums and 45s since most of their music hadn't been reissued on CD yet. They made me WORK, I tell ya! Yet, when I did find those platters all was forgiven. We're still friends to this day and get together when we can. But life moves on. Dusty and Lesley still hold places in my heart even though Sandy Denny would come along in the 2000s and sweep me off my feet permanently. (Listen, I told you the 90s was a bad decade........I wasn't kidding!)

        Being involved like I was with those crazy women – it usually leads to only one thing: The Blues. Man, I had the blues in the 90s. I played with some great blues musicians in those years – lots of memorable gigs. There was a renewed interest in West Coast Swing in some circles I hung around. Good thing I had a membership to the BMG Music Club so I could have access to great compilations like this:

     I got heavy into T-Bone Walker in those days. Years later I read biographies on T-Bone and Muddy Waters. I think T-Bone would have been more my kind of character to hang out with. These Imperial sides have served me well over the years. Really fantastic – especially the slow numbers. Like “I Got A Cold Cold Feeling”. Yeah....

Aside from T-Bone Walker I also spent a lot of time listening to Elmore James. This CD compilation is still the only disc I have, but its got killer songs on it. When Elmore sings on some of those late-period tracks he just sounds so desperate and jumping out of his skin with heartache – God! There's nothing like that voice. 

 

As the late 90s rolled around, my fortunes started to turn around a little. But not without a serious bump in the road – after a year working in my chosen profession full time, I was left wondering if I'd manage to continue on that path. The summer of 1999 left me full of doubt and (near) despair. Things would work out in the end, but one of the best musical experiences I had in the 90s was seeing The Fugs in concert at the Byrdcliffe Barn in Woodstock NY that summer. Their performance really bolstered by spirits and gave me the courage to keep trucking, no matter how weird life might get. So I want to publicly thank Ed Sanders, the late Tuli Kupferberg, Steve Taylor and all the modern Fugs for positive vibrations back in the summer of '99.

I have no idea why I got caught up in the tunes of those times. Music is the soundtrack of our lives. And some years, that's what gets us through. Keep those vibrations close – some of my fondest companions have been the vibrations flying off those black and silver sonic potato chips. Keep 'em crunching, friends.

 

The Kinks – Face to Face / 1970s Double album compilations

      As time goes on I find myself enjoying the music of The Kinks more than many of their 60s contemporaries. The Davies brothers gifted the world with quite an amazing body of work for future generations to explore. Among the lesser-known gems in their extensive catalog is the 1966 LP “Face to Face”.

The first time I heard this entire album was when I borrowed an original mono LP from the local library (when they still had LPs in the stacks – I discovered a LOT of great music this way…). Apart from “Sunny Afternoon” the rest of the album was new to me. Really – it’s a terrific batch of songs, some of which have a deeply personal vibe – listen to Ray Davies’ vocal on “There’s Too Much on My Mind”. It’s quite a convincing delivery – he sounds like he really means the sentiments behind those lyrics! (I’ll swear that Paul McCartney nicked that swooping bassline for “Dear Prudence” two years later for the Beatles’ White Album as well!)

 But the liner notes on the reverse side of the sleeve hinted at some kind of hazy narrative the songs supposedly provided a soundtrack for. Thinking about that now I’m inclined to believe there was no intentional plot behind the songs, but those sleeve notes planted the idea in my head and my imagination filled in the gaps. It didn’t help matters that many of the songs featured various sound effects which added to the quasi-cinematic quality. Beyond just the sound-effects, The Kinks conjured up some real exotic textures here, in a decidedly low-fi manner –  the effect is the sonic equivalent to a grainy 8mm home movie. Decidedly impressionistic, in fact!

The impressionism extends to the subject matter of the lyrics. The characters in Ray Davies’ vignettes are by and large melancholy, frustrated, unfulfilled – the pleading mother’s voice in “Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home”, the “Session Man” – the empty frustration of the artist bogged down with hack-work, the disillusioned vacationer in “Holiday in Waikiki”, “Little Miss Queen of Darkness” herself unable to lose her blues in the swinging London nightclubs, even the character of “Sunny Afternoon” can’t enjoy the beautiful weather because he’s pre-occupied with the departure of his girlfriend and his money! Yet we never know the whole story behind these frustrations – the listener is left to fill in the gaps on his own. So in a strange way, Face to Face does hang together on a concept, though not in the obvious way.


Although “Face to Face” was released in the latter part of 1966, the album was not a reaction to the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds”. Many other English acts, like the Beatles, took their cue from Brian Wilson to explore more sophisticated music and lyric content in their music. Not Ray Davies. The sessions for “Face to Face” ran CONCURRENTLY with the Beach Boys’ own sessions for “Pet Sounds”. The Kinks album was done by June 1966 and delayed due to business reasons mainly. In an industry where months can make a difference, it is interesting to wonder if The Kinks album had been released closer to completion, would there have been greater accolades?

As it happens, The Kinks were banned from performing in the United States for five years between 1965 and 1970. So there would be little opportunity to promote the record in the States. It even had the distinction of being out of print in the US for many years (though import copies were readily available if you knew where to look). “Sunny Afternoon” was the only major hit song featured (if you don’t count the Kinks own version of “Dandy” – Hermans Hermits had the hit with that one). It stands as one of the most ignored releases of The Kinks cannon, yet it remains one of their strongest LP efforts! It’s one of my “desert island discs”. Well worth tracking down a copy!

I think what I like so much about this album is how even the lesser songs have something special going on – maybe they’re not “top shelf” material, but clearly beyond filler status. And they help to move the imaginary plot-line along. Listening to this record is kind of like putting together a connect-the-dots coloring, story-book. Characters are elusive, situations are half-explained………it reminds me of a whole imaginary town where Eleanor Rigby lived and was just another typical resident. But, again – all of this music and composing was done long before Eleanor Rigby came out. How does Ray Davies do stuff like this?

 Like other albums I am obsessed with I have several copies – analog and digital. Let me count the ways…….two US mono LPs, one US stereo LP, one Spanish PRT stereo LP, one German PRT mono LP, the 1986 PRT compact disc and the 2011 2-disc deluxe CD set from Sanctuary (featuring the mono and stereo album mixes with bonus tracks as well). WHEW! The real oddball of the bunch is the 1986 compact disc. This was the only digital version of the album for many years – for some odd reason this record fell between the cracks of the early albums released by Rhino and the Reprise albums released by Warners (which started with the 1967 release “Something Else by The Kinks”). What makes the ’86 PRT CD problematic is how the two sides are reversed. The disc leads off with "Holiday in Waikiki” and the whole of side two precedes side one in the tracklisting. Ooops.

Otherwise the ’86 disc is pretty good sounding for an early digital transfer. What I don’t have is an original UK Pye LP since I reckon those are now quite scarce and costly (like most original UK pressings from most English bands). And, as I’m quite sure, the sonic benefit over the PRT LPs would be negligible at best. In fact, after I had to return the library copy, the Spanish PRT was what I found at a local shop when I went looking for a personal copy and it served me well for many years! Still sounds great, matter o’fact.

Truth is, in the early to mid 1980s, there was an upsurge in import vinyl in even the most provincial shops. It was not uncommon to have access to UK, German and even Latin American copies of classic albums in this era. This was the way I wound up with a stereo UK album of With the Beatles at a fairly young age. I remember finding that pressing at a department store though I don’t remember the rationale of why I bought it as opposed to a regular US copy of Meet the Beatles. Maybe the idea of more songs appealed to me. Another time I took home a copy of Sgt. Pepper pressed in Uruguay (featuring the UK stampers) on the blue Odeon label. The cover was essentially a plastic bag that had a color picture of the front cover sealed inside of it. I remember there being a glut of these in the stores being sold at a steep discount – probably why I bought one in the first place. Funny to think I don’t see these things popping up on ebay too frequently. Odd considering how many there were at one time.

Long before the import craze of the early 80s, there was a double LP compilation album obsession. I’m sure the roots of this must have been in the bootleg album market. Bootleg albums began appearing in the late 60s and early 70s – not only containing previously unreleased material, but also sometimes of records copied directly from legitimate sources and re-arranged in some kind of thematic order or another. One of the earliest examples of this trend was the bootleg Beatles set known as the Alpha and Omega.

Bootleggers gambled on the notion that although longtime Beatles fans might have gotten burned out from the constant playing of Beatles music from the original albums, creating a new combination of older tracks along some kind of thematic line could present the same songs in a new way to listeners. This hunch was proven by the bootleggers and co-opted by the legitimate companies. So, while the bootleggers released “Alpha and Omega” illegally, Apple / Capitol put out the two double album sets known to fans as the Red and Blue albums with tracks presented in chronological order. Even though the 1962 – 1966 and 1967 – 1970 sets contained no new material, they sold like hotcakes! The double album compilation became a viable vehicle for the recycling of old material.

Some of these double albums became surprising classics in their own right. While the Beatles doubles maintained a respectable presence in the marketplace (and in the hearts of 70s Beatles fans), other groups released truly iconic double LP compilations. Witness the Rolling Stones’ Hot Rocks series. Even though there is nothing new on the Hot Rocks collection – it is pretty much required listening for any music fan – period! Ditto for the Beach Boys with the “Endless Summer” double album. That collection helped to revitalize and re-define their career as a live act from the mid-70s to the present!

Even the Kinks got collected in the early 70s with the release of the Kinks Kronikles double album. This is such a brilliant collection of the mid-to-late 60s Reprise-era Kinks it really belongs in any music fan’s collection. The songs flow together so beautifully – whoever programmed this record was a genius. You don’t even need to read the effusive liner notes from John Mendelsohn on the inside cover to understand how this double LP makes one of the most compelling arguments for Ray Davies’ songwriting brilliance. The music speaks for itself.

So many bands had their material recycled into double album compilations at this point. Perhaps one of the best examples of how this seemingly pointless trend could yield surprisingly artistic results was the double album culled from the classic “7” albums from the Moody Blues titled simply: “This Is The Moody Blues”. There is not a single bit of unreleased music on this 2 LP set. However, the tracks are arranged and crossfaded into each other across the disc sides in such a way to give the illusion that the 7 albums the songs came from could easily be reconfigured since they’re all cut from the same cloth – artistically, sonically and aesthetically. It sounds insane to say it, but even if you already own the classic, core 7 Moody Blues albums, you still need This Is The Moody Blues – trust me.

Some artists would issue new material on double compilation albums. Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volume 2 is a prime example – plenty of classic tracks alongside some exclusive songs making the purchase a must-have for true fans.

Why am I going on about all this? Well, this past Record Store Day, there was a re-release of a classic double compilation album on vinyl – The Doors “Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine”. The initial copies were pressed on limited edition gold-colored vinyl and looked pretty attractive! Apparently it was a brisk seller since they tended to blow out of the shops quickly and wound up on ebay at inflated prices. So, a few months later I’m down at the Princeton Record Exchange and I get real excited to see new copies of this in the bins. Whooo! So without thinking too much I scooped one up and went about my business snapping up more LPs. When I got home was when I realized I’d made a mistake. I guess Rhino Records decided to press more of these on regular black vinyl and that’s what I bought – not the limited edition. Ooops. Well, I never did own this compilation before. Yet, I still have it sealed and I’ve been debating – should I open it and listen to it anyway? Maybe it could be on the level of This Is The Moody Blues. It does have a couple of unique tracks on it (from b-sides apparently). Ahh…..maybe another night. I’m in no hurry.

Instead I think I’m going to spin the Jefferson Airplane double LP “Flight Log”. This is interesting since it includes tracks from some of the later solo albums and runs the gamut from the first Airplane album to the Jefferson Starship era. It’s a weird collection of obvious unit-moving hits and bizarre deep cuts. Ah, back in a time before the ‘net where it is possible to hear every song ever written for free (seemingly). The whole notion of an extended “greatest hits” album would get a new lease on life in the 1990s with the proliferation of the compact disc box set craze. And just like the double compilation albums of the 70s, there would be some really excellent box sets and some clunkers. But that is a story for another time, dear reader. Until next time……keep those vibrations flowing!