I have been playing this album a lot recently, probably after not having listened to it for over a year. As they say on radio stations - it has been on high rotate!
I started the binge after seeing he had recorded a new album. I ordered it but the vagaries of Fiji Post mean that I had it delivered to Wellington for me to pick up at Christmas.
Unlike most music in my collection I have NO IDEA when and where I bought No More Mr Lucky. Pretty sure the following would have combined to have made me pick it up;
The cover - the red suit, the fedora, the bag and no idea who the person is - presumably Randall
It was cheap
It was on the New West label (at the time it was released I had most of the albums recorded on what was then a new the label)
Bloody pleased I took the punt as this is a really great album and it was certainly good enough for me to start collecting his albums (I now have five).
At the time I know I knew nothing who Randall Bramblett was. Wikipedia was not quite as thorough as it is now and so did not really extend down to long suffering and under-rated musicians like it does now. Now I know he has been playing in bands and on records since the early 70s. I also know that this was his sophomore effort of a second go at a solo carteer was recorded 25 years after his initial go.
A few years after I had the album I saw Bonnie Rait and she opened with Bramblett's God is in the Water - a song that really let's you hear what he all about in one song.
I really do not think there is a bad song on this album. Many like Get in Get Out and Peace in Here have a quiet and insistent groove that only the best songwriters can get across. Others like Lost Enough and Sunflower are magical.
I can not remember how I came across and decided to buy High on Tulsa Heat across the name John Moreland and the album. That is even though it only arrived this week.
I think it must have been an Amazon recommendation via a connection from rating Jason Isbell.
Anyway I am glad I did find out about it and even though I am only on my second play through I know that I will be playing this often.
I am sure those who like the quieter observation side of Springsteen, Isbell and the like will enjoy this.
It really only takes one listen to realise he is a gifted lyricist. Great and memorable single lines, couplets and verses keep jumping out at you that are a mix of succinct and wry personal observation. However you would have to like music on the depressing side to really get what I am saying. This is not a happy listen......
"you worried that you're happier at war than at peace or are you losing sleep tonight like I am?" From Losing Sleep Tonight
"I guess I got a taste of poison, I've given on up on ever being well, and I keep mining the horizon, digging for lies I'm yet to tell" Cherokee
or this
"And the things that made you so safe are only on a screen these days, And there's a loser in every fight, your favourite version of the past, can be found in a photograph of American Flags in black and white" American Flags in Black and White
"We were high on Tulsa heat, And lost in lonesome sound, Now we're back on broken ground" High on Tulsa Heat
In late 1987 and early 1988 Neil Young was touring his then new album This Note's For You.
While many hardcore fans now dismiss the album I certainly find it an interesting and challenging album. It marked the return to the Reprise label after being sued by David Geffen for not making "Typical Neil Young Albums" while he was recording for the Geffen Label.
I think (theory according to me) that Neil may have been thumbing his nose at David Geffen and deliberately recorded a more commercial but still non typical album recorded a horns driven album for his for his return to Reprise. Anyway it was a start to Young's renaissance both in terms of quality and successful.
I probably have about 6 or 7 Neil Young live albums and for all of his reputation for being contrarian most of the live albums have at least 50% classic songs (sometimes radically changed). Sure some are loud rocking crazy horse albums while others are softer more acoustic ones, but generally they are held together by a selection of classic songs.
Thankfully Bluenight Cafe is very different to that. If it had been just another live concert album with the old stuff a a few selections off the new album, I probably would not have bought it. I have checked the set lists from the tour and the show generally consisted of 12 or 13 songs Only an extended jam of Tonight's The Night is really a nod to his more famous back catalogue.
Bluenight Cafe therefore seems to be a great documentation of that tour. It collects all the songs that were played each night and then cherry picks the additional songs that may have only been played once on tour or ever.
So we get a solid version of Crime in The City which would not be released until the next album Freedom, an early version with some different lyrics of Ordinary People (which would eventually see the light of day almost 20 years later but with 6 more minutes, a beautiful version of Twilight with some subtle for Neil guitarwork,
Only played it once so far but this is a great addition to Neil Young's archive series.
Like many Bowie fans I came across Mott The Hoople through their "cover" of All the Young Dudes. Also like many Bowie fans I then picked up a few of their albums and have their great live album, and the twin pack of Mott and The Hoople.
Many early fans maintain it was all down hill from Bowie's involvement but that really does a disservice to the band as well. I certainly think that Mott is their crowning achievement. Kind of Glam meets Dylan in London.
I managed to pick up a copy of Live at Carnegie Hall shortly after it was released. It took a while to wing its way from the US to Fiji via NZ.
It is certainly worth the wait.
I have only seen Ryan once, on his first visit to NZ with the Cardinals. Jan and I flew up to Auckland, got caught in traffic and just managed to check into our hotel and then to the concert on time. It was a solid show but Ryan was having one of his grumpy nights so it did not reach the heights necessary to be a great show..
I think he has been back to NZ three times since and each time the reviews seem to get better and better.
Ryan is certainly one of the best songwriters to have emerged in what is now approaching a 20 year career. After struggling with a hearing and balance disorder he is now back touring regularly and recorded his two shows at Carnegie Hall in November 2014. You have the choice of buying a ten song selection or the full shows on a six lp set. I chose the latter and do not regret it at all.
Releasing and buying two complete concerts is fairly typical of Ryan and his fans. Ryan who has been accused of not exercising enough quality control in his releases. He released three albums including a double in one 12 month period. However all his albums (with maybe the exception of the The Finger's We Are Fuck You album) have at least one or two songs worth hearing.
So this is just Ryan in a chatty mood, guitar, piano - magnificent acoustics and some immaculate recording with a first rate vinyl pressing. Magical.
In terms of songs as he says halfway through side two - he was talking to his manager and asked where he thought he should play a whole lot of songs he had not played for more than ten years and Carnegie Hall was the obvious choice - yeah right! But that is what you get sets covering his whole career but with generous dashings of his solo debut - Heartbreaker.
I think if you are in the States you can see most of the shows on Youtube but you guys will have to make do with Oh My Sweet Caroline, Rescue Blues, and the new one How Much Light . I am particularly pleased that he chose to play Halloween one of my favourites from his Love is Hell Double EP.
Great album and now I am looking forward to getting his Taylor Swift tribute 1989 on vinyl.
The song The Joker was my introduction to Steve Miller in 1973. While it is now almost a standard it marked a change in style and emphasis for the band as it changed from a psychedelic blues band to a slightly quirky pop rock band.
Anyone new to the band, familiar with all the later hits and buying the album The Joker on the strength of the title track will be a bit taken bacj by much of the rest of the album. And it is a pity that the song has almost become a standard and its originality and quirkiness now lost.
There is a great aggressive take of Come on In My Kitchen, one of my favourite Robert Johnson songs. Similarly blues inflected and oriented are Steve Miller's own Loving Cup (not to be confused with the Stones' song of the same name) and Evil.
Ironically it is his cover of Jesse Young's Mary Lou that points most directly to where he was going. Some fans fell away but many more followed.
I was introduced to them by The Coat when he came to visit us in Nelson in the early 80s. He knew not to come empty handed and the records I remember from that visit were by Husker Du (Zen Arcade from memory) and The Replacements (definitely Let it Be).
I later learnt that they were both from Minneapolis which at that stage seeemed to be like the Dunedin of the States with these two bands and Prince.
After hearing them it was inevitable that I would end up getting copies of their latest records and have since collected more than a few by each and The Replacements became Chris's favourite band.
What I particularly like about this album and Husker Du is the melody buried beneath the noise.
The first four songs really outline the manifesto of their later career pretty well. The title track kicks things off nicely, then you are into the melodic Every Everything and Makes No Sense at All and then the angry Hate Paper Doll. Now that would have made a great EP - but there are more rewards.
I really enjoy music where strong melody is hidden in noise. There are lots of examples of this from Tom Waits, Husker Du and many of the 1990s Grunge Bands.
One of those bands that does this the best in my opinion is Dinosaur Jr. I came to the band backwards. When they were first around I was a father with a young family - a time in life when my search for new music was at its lowest ebb. So the whole grunge thing pretty much passed me by.
Recently I was encouraged to check out J Mascis's solo work and from there I started to work back through the Dinosaur's back catalogue. I now have half a dozen of their albums from their latest two and some of their earlier "classics".
I Bet on Sky is their latest album and was my introduction to them. I love the noise on this album!
One of the first things with any Dinosaur album is always its cover. They always have a phantasmagorical element to them - slightly nightmarish versions of Dr Seuss characters! Then when the needle hits the record you are blasted from the first chord. The album plays well as a whole but the tracks I enjoy the tracks Watch the Corners, See it on Your Side and Don't Pretend You Didn't Know.
It is said all the time about J Mascic and it is now a bit of a cliche but anyone who likes Neil Young with Crazy Horse would do well to check out this and other albums by them.
Way back in 1962 Johnny Jenkins was the hottest act in Macon Georgia. He was apparently a dynamic guitarist with a great band that included a young Otis Redding on vocals. Jenkins had a recording session arranged in Memphis at Stax Studio and Otis drove him.
After the session finished early there was still time available and Jenkins apparently suggested they record his driver.
So in the remaining time Otis cut These Arms of Mine and as far as Johnny Jenkins was concerned sadly he seemed to be history.
It was not until eight years later that he finally managed to record Ton Ton Macoute his debut album. We should be glad that he did not give up because this is a fantastic album. It might have been lost if it did not include Duane Allman on guitar. He plays guitar on a few tracks and have been included on anthologies of his work which brought the album into wider view.
Named either after the infamous police/death squads of Papa Doc in Haiti or the Creole bogeyman that children in New Orleans were threatened with if their behaviour was bad. Emphasising the link to Creole it kicks off with an inspired version of Dr John's I walk on Gilded Splinters a tracked steeped in New Orlean's voodoo. Other highlights are Dylan's Down Along The Cove and John Lee Hooker's Dimples (coincidentally all with Allman on them).
It is hard to find on vinyl but I did manage to track down a great copy. So pleased I did, recommended
Sweet Soul Music was Arthur Conley's first album. Conley was an Otis Redding protege and Redding produced this album. Half the album was recorded at Stax in Memphis with the MGs and the other half at FAME in Muscle Shoals with The Swampers.
I recently found an almost immaculate copy of the original US vinyl pressing in a store in Brisbane. While I had a CD version in an Atlantic Soul collection there was no way it was going to stay in that shop.
From its opening horns played by the Memphis Horns - making you think you are in for some sort of western soundtrack music the album kicks off with the fantastic title track. Then its into an early Dan Penn Spooner Oldham track - Take Me (Just as I am). It is such an early collaboration that Spooner is still calling himself Linden. There is one other Dan Penn number and the remainder were either written by Conley, Otis Redding or the both of them together. You can see why Otis liked Arthur so much. I can not really find a bad thing about this album and it is sad that Arthur never went on to the fame that his mentor did and hoped he would have.
Everyone knows Neil Young's reputation as a stubborn sunnoffabitch and this ep is a case in point. Released only in Japan, Australia and NZ it is much sought after elsewhere - check out what it sells for!. Eldorado is a teaser of sorts to the excellent album Freedom it was a released shortly after Young's return to the reprise label and he was regrowing his reputation after some erratic and underwhelming albums.
Only two of the tracks, Cocaine Eyes and Heavy Love, did not appear in some form on Freedom. However this is a pointer to the fact that he had regained his mojo and things were on the up.
Now a collector's album my copy still has that price sticker on it!
Recently I was playing it on one Saturday at work and someone came into my office and expressed disbelief that I could be listening to anything so downbeat.
While everyone may love a winner there is not a winner in sight in the first 5 songs. Each with its own aching melody and simple arrangement.
It starts with Everything's Alright, when clearly it's not. Have you ever heard a sadder and more desperate song and start to an album than.
This old house is burning down
In a blaze of gasoline
You've been writing out you suicide notes
Since you were 13
And you say that you're sold
Through the feelings that you have
And you're sort of feeling nothing
Well that's all I ever had
Then it's straight into his "hit" California and it does not get any better. Can he escape his problems by transferring them to you and then moving on?
there’s a buzz hanging over my head
from my broken neon halo
like a movie that I slept through
I just don’t get the point
but if I get to california
before I lose my mind
I’ll lay my burden on you
for one last time
If there is a connection between the songs other than their sadness it may just well be what he has done to Emily which there seems to be no coming back from in I'm Sorry Sweet Emily -
All of the lovebirds are quiet tonight
They must have all fallen asleep
But i've got a hunger as big as my eyes
and a promise I'll never keep
I know i shouldnt be out here
'cause no one loves you more than me
But I don't think I'm coming home tonight
I'm sorry, Sweet Emily
All of your friends are like angels
The role models I'll never be
With habits they kick like booze and cigarettes
This things much bigger than me
I know i shouldn't be out here
'cause no one loves you more than me
But I don't think I'm coming home tonight
I'm sorry, Sweet Emily
Half of me begs for forgiveness
And half of me just wants to die
But I cant resist the swaying of their hips
As they shine under barlit skies
I know i shouldnt be out here
'cause no one loves you more than me
But I don't think I'm coming home tonight
I'm sorry, Sweet Emily
I'm sorry, Sweet Emily
While this may all be too much for some, it is for Jan, Klein is still around despite all his woes and this short track from 2010 indicates it may not have got any better as he "just wants his fucking life back:
After the mega success of Nilsson Schmilsson and Without You. Harry Nilsson embarked on his lost weekend (four to five years) with John Lennon, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. He disappointed his label RCA by almost deliberately making anti career moves. While he called the follow up album Son of Schmilsson it lacked the humour of the earlier album and lacked an obvious hit.
His next album was A Little Touch of Schmilsson in The Night was a seemingly even more move away from his target market. It is an album of songs from "The Great American Songbook" with light orchestral backing. Now that everyone has done that (Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga and, yawn, Rod Stewart it does not seem the commercial suicide that it was then.
You can pick this up for $4-$5 in second hand record shops and it is well worth doing. The arrangements sound like they could be by Nelson Riddle or George Jenkins and the voice is in top condition. So fork out the cash and enjoy Harry's versions of Me and My Gal, It Had to Be You and Makin' Whoopee
I've had a Youngbloods's Greatest hits for a while - bought for the classic Get Together but I was also aware of Darkness Darkness from covers by Tim Buckley and Robert Plant.
I came across my copy of Elephant Mountain from my favourite second hand record store in Boulder (Albums on the Hill in the University Area). It was in good condition and well priced
Darkness Darkness kicks off this album which is a mix of 60's folk, some experimental rock and some jazzy vibes led instrumentals. In truth I am still getting used to this album but I enjoy it more and more everytime I play it.
Tiger Woods by Dan Bern always makes me laugh. I especially like the bit about not achieving your dreams too early and of course it ain't bragging if its true
.
I got big balls, big old balls
Big as grapefruits, big as pumpkins
Yes sir, yes sir, and on my really good days
They swell to the size of small dogs
My balls are as big as small dogs
Well, it ain't braggin' if it's true
Yes sir, yes sir, it ain't braggin' if it's true
Muhammad Ali said that
Back when he was a young man
Back when he was cassius clay
Before he fought too many fights
And left his brain inside the ring
And sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods
Sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods
I got a friend whose goal in life
Was to one day go down on Madonna
That's all he wanted, that was all
To one day go down on Madonna
And when my friend was thirty-four
He got his wish in Rome one night
He got to go down on Madonna
In Rome one night in some hotel
And ever since he's been depressed
'Cause life is shit from here on in
And all our friends just shake their heads
And say too soon, too soon, too soon
He went down on Madonna too soon
Too young, too young, too soon, too soon
And it ain't braggin' if it's true
Yes sir, yes sir, it ain't braggin' if it's true
Muhammad Ali said that
Back when he was cassius clay
Before he fought too many fights
And left his brain inside the ring
And sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods
Sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods
If certain girls don't look at you
It means that they like you a lot
If other girls don't look at you
It just means they're ignoring you
How can you know, how can you know
Which is which, who's doin' what
I guess that you can ask 'em
Which one are you, baby?
Do you like me or are you ignoring me?
Do you like me or are you ignoring me?
Do you like me or are you ignoring me?
And all you need to do that is one big pair of big balls
Balls as big as grapefruits, balls as big as pumpkins
Balls as big as mine but even though my balls are big
I really like Lee Morgan's Sidewinder album which I Chris put me onto and which appears on almost all lists of best Jazz albums. Doing my normal research on artists and albums I like I came across many articles that said that Search For The New Land offered something a bit different.
When I read that Grant Green, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter all played on it I decided I needed to buy it.
There was a problem though. It did not seem to be in print and older copies were going for big money.
So I started to keep an eye out for it and recently I saw on line that it had been re-released and a record store in New Zealand had it in stock for close to $40. Doing a bit more on line searching I managed to find a copy for about 2/3 of that.
The album has a different feel (if I was a real Jazz aficionado I suppose I would say different vibe) to Sidewinder. More introspective and less poppy (if you can say that about Jazz) than Sidewinder.
Nevertheless on the three plays I have given it so far I know I am going to enjoy this album and play it often. The title track is an excellent way to start the album, sometimes it starts with a slightly tentative motif but does get going about midway through its quarter of an hour. It starts with Hancock leading things which leads into Lee's solos and at about the 10 minute mark some very restrained but very typical Grant Green guitar work comes in.
I bought this record because I was going to an offshoot of The Laneway Festival in Singapore.
I knew one or two of the bands' names on the roster but little of the music. The only artists I already had in my collection were Laura Marling and the Horrors.
So I bought a bunch of CDs to do some research. Father Son Holy Ghost was one of them and I am pleased I did as it is pretty solid collection.
Girls was in their finals stages as shortly after lead singer and songwriter, Christopher Owens was off on a solo career (apparently his latest is worth checking out). However they put on a pretty good show. Owens has a good voice and is a good front man - singing an acappela tribute to Whitney Houston that was better than the lady herself (which in my opinion is not hard).
While not a classic album it has four tracks that I think are pretty bloody good and that these days is a pretty high hit rate. A few of the tracks also show off some fine guitar work - the standout track for me is the Penultimate track - Love Like A River - I think if this had been released 20 years ago it would have been a huge hit and may now be recognised as a a classic. However some of the other tracks are up there as well, the very 80's sounding opener Hunny Bunny, Saying I love you and Jamie Marie with its beautiful, simple and understated guitar.
By the time Bobby Lance headed to Muscle Shoals in 1971 to record First Peace he had already tasted some success with Aretha Franklin scoring a hit with his The House That Jack Built.
First Peace was released in 1971 and to me is a real find.
It shows what could happen when The Swampers (this time with Eddie Hinton on lead and slide) got behind someone and into a real groove. On this album they are supplemented by King Curtis, his horn section and The Sweet Inspirations. Hard to see how this album could be anything but good.
Bobby has a soulful voice, writes good songs and it is interesting on why he did not achieve wider recognition or success (maybe it was the beard :-)).
When I was in the third and forth form we had a girl/young women in our class who always seemed more sophisticated than everyone else.
One of the things that stood her apart was that while most of us were into Bowie, T Rex and The Sweet Tracey would expound on Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. The Bowie connection had of course led me to Walk on the Wild Side and Transformer but apart from that at that time I did not really connect with Reed.
That came a bit (lot) later. Over the years I had accumulated a few albums including a great double career summary called Rock'n'roll Diary. However the first album of his I went out and bought when it was released was New York, released in 1988. I think I bought it because at the time it was hailed as a return to form.
It was one of the first CDs I bought as well and it boasted that with the right type of CD Player and a computer connection you also had access to the lyrics. I did not have the right player so that did not matter.
The album opens with a great three punch from Romeo Had Juliette, Halloween Parade, and Dirty Boulevard. Mike Rathke's jagged guitar complements Reeds own rhthym work and Rob Wasserman is one of the most under-rated bass players around. All this is underpinned with producer Fred Maher's economic drumming. Right from here you know that Reed has perhaps the best band he ever played with (apart from Metallica (joke!) that is).
Not only that his lyrical focus is keen in his warts and all homage to his hometown.
Is there an opening line to an album that sets the agenda for the rest of the album better than
"Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map that brought Columbus to New York, Betwixt between the east and west he calls on her wearing a leather vest"
On Dirty Boulevard he lays the American Dream bare with a few short versus;
Pedro lives out of the Wilshire Hotel
he looks out a window without glass
The walls are made of cardboard, newspapers on his feet
his father beats him 'cause he's too tired to beg
He's got 9 brothers and sisters
they're brought up on their knees
it's hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs
Pedro dreams of being older and killing the old man
but that's a slim chance he's going to the boulevard
He's going to end up, on the dirty boulevard
he's going out, to the dirty boulevard
He's going down, to the dirty boulevard
This room cost 2,000 dollars a month
you can believe it man it's true
somewhere a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants
No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything
they dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard
Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em
that's what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death
and get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard
Other standout tracks to me include Strawman with its attack on consumerism, politicians and television evangelists. "Spittin' in the wind comes back twice as hard"
One track that resonated with me at the time and still does is Beginning of a Great Adventure. I was just starting my time as a parent and at the time his wife seemed to be encouraging him to start a family. Lou was a troubled man and who had had a strained relationship with his own parents. This song / poem questions his motivations for having a child. It seems brutally honest with his reservations apparently winning out in the end as he had no children.
"It might be fun to have a kid that I could kick around
create in my own image like a god
I'd raise my own pallbearers to carry me to my grave
and keep me company when I'm a wizened toothless clod
Some gibbering old fool sitting all alone drooling on his shirt
some senile old fart playing in the dirt
It might be fun to have a kid I could pass something on to
something better than rage, pain, anger and hurt
I hope it's true what my wife said to me
I hope it's true what my wife said to me
I hope it's true what my wife said to me
She says, "Lou, it's the beginning of a great adventure"
I first came upon Andres Osborne about 5 years ago when a purchase I made on Amazon triggered a recommendation to buy his latest CD at the time, Black Eyed Galaxy. I did and did not regret it. I now have 9 cds and one lp by the man. All of them are very good. Some are great.......
......... And Living Room is my favourite. By a Long Way. I find it hard to even pick a few songs off it to suggest to listen to as that will mean that I am not pointing you to others. The others are all good, in fact many artists would be pleased to have any of them as the best album in their catalogue. But Living Room is special.
It was originally released in 1999 and I feel robbed of about 12 year's of listening. I think that if this album had been released in the 70's it and he would have been talked about now in the same league as Lowell George and Little Feat.
He kind of is any way but in rather smaller circles than used to happen.
Anders was born in Sweden and emigrated to the US when he was 16 and is now settled in New Orleans and has clearly absorbed the sounds and soul of that city. That is never more obvious than on this album - this is his Dixie Chicken.
Last year when Jan and I had our musical odyssey around the US Jan's most wanted to see musician was Jason Isbell and mine was Anders. They were playing one night apart in Colorado about 500km apart and we had to choose - so we spent time in the Vail Valley listening to Jason - not a bad choice. I am not complaining - it just means I am yet to see Mr Osborne. I will.
Last week I wrote about Townes Van Zandt's almost posthumous Far Cry from Dead and mentioned that Warren Zevon had recorded The Wind in similar circumstances. Knowing he was dying Zevon wanted to record one final album.
At that stage it could not really have been about the money. While Zevon had recorded a number of really good albums in the 5 or 6 years before he was diagnosed with cancer they were not great sellers and probably on reached hard core fans like me. To say they did not bother the charts would be an understatement.
His last few albums had seemed to have predicted his situation but he denied that. Truth was his lyrics were always a bit dark and morbid with earlier song titles like I'll Sleep When I'm Dead and Things to Do In Denver When You're Dead (the title stolen for a movie). Therefore new songs on the albums before The Wind like My Shit's Fucked Up, MacGillycuddy's Reeks and My Ride's Here could well have just been coincidental to his situation - or maybe some kind of premonition.
Anyway back to this album. While sentimentally many say it is better than those immediately previous albums I am not quite so sure. They are in my opinion as good as this one. However the backstory of Zevon determined to and struggling to complete this and the quality of that final song certainly give a poignancy not always associated with Zevon. The story of the album is presented really well in the video Inside Out.
So what of the songs? They are really a typical Zevon "pick'n'mix". With a good rocker Dirty Life and Times "I'm looking for a woman with low self esteem", a plea for forgiveness with Please Stay,
The final song on the album was also apparently the final song he recorded and like Johnny Cash's last songs he could not get the vocals in a single take. A song that I think will be played at many funerals the beautiful, simple and final "Keep Me In Your Heart"
Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath
Keep me in your heart for awhile
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for awhile
When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for awhile
There's a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sometimes when you're doing simple things
around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile
You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on
your blouse
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you
Engine driver's headed north to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for awhile
These wheels keep turning but they're running out
of steam
Keep me in your heart for awhile
There was a cassette rolling around in a company car from memory. It was before he became Mr Roberts and he got the attention that came with that.
Recorded in 1987 Lyle was part of the re-invigoration of country music that was occurring at the time. However while artists like Steve Earle were bringing a rocky and earthy swagger back - Lyle was mixing Country with jazzy big band arrangements and a wry sense of humour.
I still have no idea what the opener If I had a Boat is about - it really seems to be just a nice piece of nonsense that means little other than some things are worth more to men than the love of a good woman (or man in Tonto's case).
If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go Out on the Ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat
He has probably recorded better albums since this (I particularly enjoy Joshua Judges Ruth and The Road to Ensenada) but this really set his agenda and has some of most memorable songs including Give Back My Heart with its tale of how a one night stand tamed both the hunter and hunted
I walked on through the door and she just smiled
In a long Pony tail and a pretty white dress,
She said hi bull riders do it best
I said oh my god what's your name, my name's Lyle
Somehow I do not think thus is how he met Julia Roberts
Then we have the murder ballad of LA County, and the big band arrangements of She's No Lady, M-O-N-E-Y and the title track Pontiac. The latter a nice piece of poignant life observation.
Having recently discovered Don Nix. I am keeping my eye out for his records and CDs.
He was an early player in the 60's music scene; hanging out at Stax Records with his school mates. , being in an early version of The Barkeys (or the MGs or whatever they were calling themselves at the time and then supporting Leon Russell early in his career.
From Wikipedia I found out that in 2002 he came out of self imposed retirement and re-recorded a lot of his old songs with a bunch of like minded luminaries.
So we have a guy with a natural feeling for the blues, Memphis Style joined by Steve Cropper, Bonnie Bramlett, John Mayall, Dan Penn, Bobby Whitlock and Tony Joe White.
The album Going Down that came out of these sessions was released on a small label in the US. It is really worth checking out if any of those names mean anything to you. From Going Down he works his way through a series of songs many of which I knew but had not associated with him. Songs like Same old Blues, Black Cat Moan, Palace of the King and Like a Road Leading Home and Living on The Highway.
Recommended for anyone who likes good southern blues rock.
Neil Young released Sleeps With Angels in 1994 In the middle of a purple patch that started with Freedom and Ragged Glory and then included Harvest Moon and (maybe) Mirror Ball and Broken Arrow.
However I really like this album - it's certainly up there with anything he did in the 70's and along with On The Beach and Rust Never Sleeps in my top 3 Neil Young albums. Perhaps the quietest of his Crazy Horse albums but maybe the most challenging in terms of atmosphere, lyrical content and theme.
To me the album has an overall theme of the breakdown of the American Dream. It opens with My Heart and closes with A Dream That Can Last. Pretty much the same song with different arrangements but different - with the former showing the heart of the American Dream and the latter seems to be saying that after all the problems and issues of the intervening songs there is still the dream to cling to.
The songs in between deal with death (Sleeps with Angels and Change Your Mind - addressed to Kurt Cobain, violence (Drive-by) and the image of a ghost city (Blue Eden and Safeway Cart). The latter with its image of "Like a safeway cart rolling down street, like a sandlemark on the Saviour's feet, just keep rolling on, it's a ghetto dawn "
He plays the same song twice with different title and lyrics does this again but even more so with Western Hero and Train of Love. The former shows the change in heroes from those of the west chasing manifest destiny, through someone in a world war and finally to a big business tycoon.
Then there is the false ode to consumerism Piece of Crap. The weakest song on the album but still a bit of a laugh and I remember Chris and his school mates miming to it at school camp.
Far Cry from Dead was the first CD or record I bought by Townes Van Zandt. I am not sure how he had passed me by - but I am reminded by a story I was told by an old friend of my brother Jon's. How they went to a concert in Auckland to see someone and were impressed by the opening act and it was not until years later he realised it was Townes.
Anyway this is not a bad place to start with Townes' - yes it is the end - an almost posthumous album - I guess he was in a similar condition at this stage as Warren Zevon when he was when he recorded The Wind. However while Zevon wrote a new batch of songs that dealt with his predicament, Townes picks through his catalogue and does much the same thing. Hence we get great, grave-like versions of Waiting Around to Die, Sanitarium Blues, Dollar Bill Blues, Tower Song and For the Sake of A Song.
Much like considering Johnny Cash's version of In My Life rather than The Beatles' both good but one is sung with life's full experience whereas the other by someone with an understanding of life before it is lived.
Of course Townes also does Pancho and Lefty but the songs above are what we need to look for in this instance.
I am not sure that Still will create any new fans for Richard Thompson. But at this stage of his career that is not really the point.
I sense that, freed from the desire and probably need to make it big, Thompson recently has just concentrated on what he is good at.
Therefore this is a typically solid Thompson album. It has now expected mix of solid songs, terrific guitar playing and at times wicked humour. Thompson recorded the album with the same band he recently brought to NZ in Wilco's loft with Jeff Tweedy producing.
When I saw him in New Plymouth in March he played Guitar Heroes and Beatnik Walking off the album. While some might enjoy the virtuosity of Guitar Heroes where Thompson plays in the styles of his various guitar heroes from Django, James Burton, Chuck Berry and Hank Marvin, it just does not come off to me and seems unusually slight.
However I am pleased to report that this is the the rest of the album is up to Thompson's normal standards. Standout tracks for me include All Buttoned Up, She Never Could Resist a Winding Road, Long John Silver and the aforementioned Beatnik Walking
I had not listened to Tambourine in a while until the other day when I decided to put it on in the car and give it whirl again. It had probably been at least 2-3 years since I last listened to it.
I decided to play it because I wanted to hear Laid a Highway which was always my favourite song on the album. However as we played the album (twice) I was surprised at how well I knew the album after that time and realised that I must have played it more than I remembered.
This was Tift's second solo album - I had bought her first,Bramble Rose, after it got a lot of press with Tift being promoted heavily as a next big thing. It never happened of course. But she has gone on to release a series of solid albums to usually pretty good reviews - if not great sales.
What I particularly liked about this album was the country soul feeling she brought to a trio of songs . Your Love Made A U Turn and Tambourine and the album closer Shadow in the Way. While the rest of the album is good it is more formulaic which may explain why she has not achieved greater success.
I was interested to note that she played a show in Auckland earlier this year. I would have gone if I had not been so far away!!!
Love Like A River by Girls is a I think a lost classic. If this had been released 20 years ago it would have been a huge radio hit and may now be recognised as a a classic. However now it has only been heard by a few people and almost lost - hopefully some more people will listen to it now.
An Amazon recommendation of The Deslondes self titled debut prompted me to get the credit card out and make the purchase! As simple as that. A country AND western band from New Orleans had to be interesting right? Yep and No I reckon.
It is a good album and growing on me but the promotional material promised a blend soul and country that I just do not hear as strongly as I had been led to believe. No matter once I had been through it a few times - I can celebrate it for what it is - a very good Country Album
The album kicks off with the terrific Fought The Blues and Won, Louise - has the Johnny Cash "chugga chugga" rhythm and is one of the better tracks. Simple and True reminds me of one of my favourite unknown bands Carolina's Lou Ford and that is never a bad thing.
When I started this blog I said that one of my objectives was to cast light on bands and albums that I did not think got the recognition they deserved. That means many of my posts are about bands that people say "who?" to.
Lou Ford shone brightly for two excellent albums and then all but disappeared.
Pity - especially when bands like Mumford and Sons can come along and play watered down versions of what others do and get all the recognition (and all the money).
I first came across the band Lou Ford on an Uncut sampler CD. I then tracked down their first two CDs Sad But Familiar and Alan Freed's Radio and was blown away that such an unknown band could have produced such good albums and not been recognised.
The band hails from North Carolina and features brothers Chad and Allan Edwards on guitars and vocals. They took their name from the book/movie The Killer Inside Me where Lou Ford was a sadistic sheriff.
The band has none of that feel to it playing a mix of country and rock but not quite country rock.
The brothers' harmonies are a distinct feature of the band and I really struggle to choose which of these two albums I prefer. It depends very much on the day.
