Journey Through The Past 31 : David Bowie Station to Station - It was theside effects of the Cocaine

Station to Station cemented David Bowie's reputation as rock's finest chameleon - a continuing search for fame and artistic relevance combined with an ability to pick from the best of the current alternative music and drug induced paranoia produced an album unlike anything else at the time.

When it was released it was not initially received that well by critics.  For a start there were only 6 (!) songs on it and one of them was, for rock fans, an obscure cover song.  It was not the "plastic soul" that Bowie described of Young Americans disco but a much funkier incarnation.  It was not really until the tour that accompanied it that its qualities started to be acknowledged.

Golden Years was the lead off single and probably the weakest track.  It was however the link between the previous album and the new one.  In NZ the images of Bowie on Soul Train looking emaciated and decidedly unfunky were worrying.   However this was at a time in Bowie's career when image meant less than the music though and the album was within hindsight a natural progression between Glam, Plastic Soul and the Berlin Period

Kicking off with the 10 minute title track the album delivers what I would call a metallic almost passionless funk. While the album as a whole is one of Bowie's most consistent the highlights are very high including Station to Station itself, the funky workout of Stay and Bowie's reinterpretation of the Johnny Mathis, Nina Simone song Wild is the Wind.  The latter is one of my stereo auditioning albums - and I particularly like the way that the drum lick at 4:25 comes in.   A few years ago a deluxe reissue of the album was made with a blistering live set from Nassau Coliseum in LA where many of the songs on the album were delivered with even more energy - with a particularly good version of Stay.

Journey Through The Past 29 : Etta James - Tell Mama

In 1967 Etta James had not had a hit for four years.  Aretha Franklin had just travelled south to Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals Alabama and kick started her career at Atlantic Records.  So Chess Records decided to try and do the same with Etta James, Irma Thomas and a few others.  While Irma Thomas's recordings were not released until years later.

Etta's however provided an immediate hit with the title track and the definitive recording of I'd Rather Go Blind.  The CD comes with a stack of other recordings that are just as good including Do Right Woman, Do Right Man, I Worship the Ground You Walk On, Misty and Fire.

As an added bonus check out this version of I'd Rather Go Blind Etta recorded years later with Dr John. Just sublime!

Robert Plant : A Life : A book that did not really answer many questions

I have never been that much of a Led Zep fan.  I have a few of their albums on vinyl and their 4CD box set. I always went for the folkier more gentle side of the band.  However I have always paid attention to Robert Plant's output post Zeppelin.  There has always been a sense of Quest to his music - like he is looking for Some New Town.   That he was from Dad's hometown of Wolverhampton was also of interest especially that he stayed close to his roots and seems to have stuck by a lot of his old friends and still drinks in the same local he always has.

I almost met the man last year when Jan and I were in town for work and to see him as well.  I was in Slowboat Records in Wellington when an old guy with a ponytail came in asking if they had any English Psychobilly music - I did not realise it was him until I read about it the next day in the paper.  Bugger!!


There must be something about the store as the next time I was in there The Seddon Earthquake struck and when Jan found out she said at least  if it had been worse I would have died amongst a pile of records!

Over the years, without being a great fan I have collected a few Plant records and CDs (I probably now have more than I do Zeppelin albums).   I have particularly been impressed by his last 4-5 records where he has not stood still and explored a number of different genres and has veered more towards the Americana that dominates my collection.

So I bought this book hoping to understand this part of him a bit better and perhaps get a few leads on where he is going next.  
It is certainly NOT one of the great music biographies.  It does not really let the reader get to know the man that well and does not shed any great light on what is inspiring him apart from his love of music, is loyal to his old friends (to a point) and is greatly conflicted by what happened to his family and friends while he was in Led Zeppelin.  The book made reference to a few places I have now become, if not familiar with at least aware of  Stourbridge Penn, Dudley and the Bullring.

It does seem rather than blame himself for some of the choices he made at the time he blames the band.  It does also seem to make it clear that it is unlikely that there will be another Led Zeppelin reunion.   Something that, after listening to and watching the 2007 reunion show and comparing it with both the Live from The Artists Den DVD and his show in Wellington last year - I think we are all better off for that.     His current music and reinterpretations show what someone with 40+ years in music can do when they are still pushing their own boundaries.  Check out these few clips, Tall Cool One, Two O One, Rock'n'Roll, and Gallows Pole.    Certainly Buddy Miller's guitar work is now more interesting and challenging to Plant than another Page collaboration would be.

Journey Through The Past 30 : The Ramones

It was sad to hear yesterday that Thomas Erdelyi (better known as Tommy Ramone) had died meaning that no one remains of that Seminal New York Punk band.  

I first heard of them when visiting Terry at his Lismore St Flat in Easter 1978. His flat decided to throw a Punk Rock themed party which was really filled with a sense of irony for a bunch of agricultural and horticultural students who were more at home in bush shirts than black T Shirts.   I am not sure how much research they did but the soundtrack to the party was very well selected with what are now recognised as the first two Punk Records on either side of the Atlantic with the Damned's Damned Damned Damned, The Ramones debut and a great compilation of New Wave. 



Somehow I inherited the first two albums and I am not sure what happened to that compilation. I have always enjoyed the simplicity of their music. Many claim it is dumb rock but it takes skill to write simple short songs.  I will always enjoy Beat on The Brat, Blitzkrieg Bop and Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue and I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.

Two years later I saw The Ramones at the Wellington Show Buildings where they played a great short set of their songs. Tommy had already left the band by then pursuing a career in record production - the highlight of which was probably his work on The Replacements Tim.  

In recent years The Ramones has been a soundtrack to drives between Suva and Nadi with Chris driving. Quite why teh whole band has died is not quite clear - sure Dee Dee had drug problems but the others did not seem overly afflcted. 

  

Damn Right I've Got the Blues : Elmore James

About 3 years ago I was in Auckland on business and visiting Chris.  I took a long weekend and Chris and I spent time driving north, exploring the regional conservation parks and listening to music.  We stopped at JB Hifi at the Albany Mall and stocked up on a whole lot of music.  We went into the CD Store not having any purchases in particular in mind but when we came out we could not help but notice that a lot of what we bought that day was blues, hip hop or other African  based music.

We quickly struck a deal and agreed that for one day at least we would not play any white music.  That day we played some Gil Scott Heron, The Roots, some Tinariwen and this mighty compilation of Elmore James music.

Elmore James slide guitar was a great influence on early Stones, Fleetwood Mac and other British beat bands of the 60's.  Best known for songs The Sky is Crying, Dust my Broom, and Shake Your Moneymaker.  At university in 79 when George Thorogood's debut album was all the rage we also became very familiar with Madison Blues which was well paired with John Lee Hooker's One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer.

Recent Additions : Toumani and Sidiki

I have been enjoying Toumani Diabte's music since first being introduced to it when I picked up his second collaboration with Ali Farke Toure in 2010.  That was a magical pairing with the two of them creating almost orchestral sounds with their traditional African instruments. It was also released shortly after Ali Farka Toure had died so there was always sadness that as I had come late to the music and that there would be no more.

Now we have father and son playing together creating an album of kora duets that adds to the history of great traditional African music.  

Toumani and Sidiki is an album of acoustic instrumentals that continues the family tradition.  Sidiki, named after his grandfather who was reputedly at the time the greatest living kora player when he was alive, has taken a break from his normal hip hop band in Mali to join his father in a 70 generation tradition.

Here is a sample from this year's Glastonbury Festival.

A Favourite Song - We Had it All

Some songs resonate with me more than others for whatever reason and deserve blogs of their own.  We Had it All - written by Troy Seals and Donnie Fritts, two song writers who often contributed to the Muscle Shoals sound, is one of my favourites.  Whose ever version of it I play I end up putting it on again and frequently again.  Its simplicity is its greatest strength and attraction.

I first heard it when I picked up a CD of Waylon Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes which I wrote about here. The only song on that album not written by Billy Joe Shaver it still managed to captivate me as it clearly did others as it has been covered so many times.    

Some of my favourite versions are of course Waylon's, Willie's and Keith's or Sloppy Rolling Stones' live versions on Youtube and Green On Reds'.   However Dobie Gray's version off his terrific Drift Away album remains my favourite version.