Reviews Roundup - Billy Joel

This was originally written May 20th, 2016 and it sat in the cue, but I wanted to add a new feature now. I decided to mix things up on this blog with a new, and semi recurring feature, as the regular reviews have been so time consuming, and the spirit of this blog was to be thoughtful and fun. Therefore, here we go:

By Matthew Anthony Allair

    Billy Joel is probably one of the most significant American singer / songwriters to come up from the 70s and 80s. He was able to blend Tin Pan Alley song craft, with a romantic classical sensibility, and a penchant for hard rock into an accessible and unique blend, regardless of what some might feel about him, he is hard to ignore or dismiss.

Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
    Billy Joel’s first album, technically, came about when managers advised him that the best way to sell his songs was to record an album as a showcase. Joel set up a management and publishing deal with producer Artie Ripp which enabled the album to get made, but it also would allow for impending problems, a contract that Joel would soon have to get out of.  The album was a mixed bag, in part due to Joel not really finding his voice. The two best songs and the ones he’d continue to include on his set list was the plaintive ballad “She’s Got A Way”, and the up tempo piano rocker “Everybody Loves You Now”, which included some impressive dexterity on the keys. The third track that sounds the most like Joel is “You Can Make Me Free”. The better cuts on the rest on the album are the few plaintive piano tracks that feel introspective, the gospel flavored “Tomorrow is Today” and “Got To Begin Again” or the Beethoven / Debussy flavored instrumental “Nocturne”. As far as the rest, cuts like “Turn Around” and “Falling Of The Rain” feel like Elton John B-Side knock offs, “You Look So Good To Me” feels like the advertisement jingle for body soap or cosmetics, or a Paul Williams take, and “Why Judy Why” feels like his attempt at a “Yesterday” rewrite, pleasant, not bad, but also a little too self conscious. Soon, Joel would begin to have sure footing. The other problem with the original printing was the mastering which sped his voice up, something that was fixed in a 1983 printing.

Piano Man (1973)
    For most fans, Joel’s second album feels like his official debut. The origin of the title track has been told endlessly, but Billy Joel spent six months playing a bar in L.A. and built the song out of that experience. While also entangled in legal disputes to break his ties with Ripp, he continued writing songs, and quite good ones at that. While still a little bogged down working with session musicians, and inspired by the flavor of Elton John, James Taylor, and Harry Chapin, the production sheen of Michael Stewart gave him a ‘California sound’, but surprises abounded. “Travelin’ Player” is a brisk, bluegrass number, “Ain’t No Crime” is a mid tempo gospel / R&B number with a real lift. “You’re My Home” is a country number, a ballad for his wife that was later recorded poorly by Helen Reddy.  His first epic suite came about with “The Ballad of Billy The Kid”, it would not be the last. “Worse Comes To Worst” is an odd Latin flavored number.  “Stop In Nevada” is a plaintive ballad with an effective emotional build that demonstrates gifts we would see again and again. But the last three songs are his best, and builds the album to a great final. The ballad “If I Only Had The Words (To tell You)” reveals a real confidence in his writing. “Somewhere Along The Line” reveals a hint into his insight and cynicism, and the proto metal “Captain Jack” with some provocative lyrics and comments on the futility of habitual drug addiction was unusual at the height of Rock N’ Roll indulgences. But this worked and put Billy Joel on the map, and also consigned some critics to view him as the next Harry Chapin, when Billy was probably thinking otherwise – “To hell I am.” But that would only be clear in the near future.

Streetlife Serenade (1974)
    It was pretty evident in Billy Joel’s career that the wanted to bridge the gap between his classical influences and his pop instincts. The title track, “Streetlife Serenader” was the one ambitious number on the album, crossing Debussy influences with his folk rock instincts. The orchestration from the Piano Man album is replaced with synthesizers . Michael Stewarts production delivers an even sounding record, but there are already clear differences. Most critics characterize the album as Joel’s ‘Sophomore slump’, but the quality of the material remains high enough, in spite of the inclusion of two instrumentals, the Scott Joplin  flavored “Root Beer Rag”, and a tune tailored for an imaginary western, the Sergio Lenoe / Ennio Morricone flavored “The Mexican Connection”. The second cut, the rocker “Los Angelenos” was written with Rod Stewart in mind. Several of the cuts seem like fairly standard country ballads, “The Great Suburban Showdown” and “The Last of The Big Time Spenders”. The track “Roberta” at least has a sweeping romanticism to it. The Lead single, “The Entertainer” has a real cynical bite to it. The rocker “Weekend Song” reinforces that he wasn’t going to be one type of writer, the plaintive “Souvenir” marks his Debussy influence, and remains one of the most poignant on the album and a favorite. This album also represented the end of his Southern California phase of his career, he would move back to New York, retool his band, and find his real voice.

Turnstiles (1976)
    This is considered the album where Billy Joel was really taking control of his career, he Produced the album himself, which allowed him to bring in more members of his touring band, and stay clear of the session musicians that left his previous albums feeling a little flat. He also had moved back to New York and the album is a comment about that change, but it also allowed him to find his real voice as a writer. It opens with the Phil Spector flavored “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”, a song tailored to arenas, but much of the album manages to be eclectic and idiosyncratic. There’s the introspective “Summer, Highland Falls”, with its rolling piano figure, and the odd reggae of “All You Wanna Do Is Dance”.  No know knew at the time, but Joel’s first real classic debuts here, “New York State of Mind”, and it would take Barbra Streisand recording her version to draw attention to its greatness.  “James” is an electric piano ballad with a classical sense of harmony. “Prelude / Angry Young Man” is the ambitious rocker, with some dexterous piano and bright guitars. “I’ve Loved These Days” is nostalgic in the sense that it realized the indulgences of the seventies were about the end, an important cut that is incisive. The epic closer “Miami 2017 (See The Lights Go Out On Broadway)” may have been apocalyptic fiction, but resonates in this day and age, built around some fine piano and biting guitars. This was the beginning of Joel being on a roll that wouldn’t stop for a decade and a half.

The Stranger (1977)
    There’s little argument that The Stranger is Joel’s breakthrough, but the story of how he got there is interesting.  Prior to the recording Joel hired his wife Elizabeth Webber to take over as manager, and at least one song is a reflection of her experiences in a chauvinist business.  At one point, Beatles producer, George Martin expressed an interest in producing him, but Martin wanted to use session musicians. When Phil Ramone agreed to come on board, he was savvy enough to agree to use Joel’s touring band, the core of which was drummer Liberty DeVitto, Bassist Doug Stegmeyer, and multi-instrumentalist woodwind and horn player Richie Cannata, and guest guitarist Steve Khan. This breathed a little more life into each song, and basically a fighting unit was established that would last for a decade. Four of the songs would be a mainstay on FM radio. “Just The Way You Are, Only The Good Die Young, She’s Always A Woman,” and “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” and “The Stranger” along with “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant”  would also get frequent play. The album became a template for the type of multi megahit release that would be prevalent in the 1980s. The song “She’s Always A Woman” has been branded unfairly misogynistic, but most people fail to realize it was about his wife, and the treatment she received as his manager for being tough. “Only The Good Die Young” has been accused of being anti-Catholic, but the song is really simply about rationalizational lust and one of the liveliest cuts of his career. “The Stranger” opens with a midnight jazz flavored motif before it’s segway into a bright syncopated tempo.  “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” lived up to its epic suite. But songs like “Vienna” held its own charm, offering up insight to the young to slow down, and not lose sight in living in the moment as a trade off to their ambition. The pop flavored “Get It Right The First Time” is the closest thing to filler on the album, and the sprawling Gospel flavored “Everybody Has A Dream” rounds it out to satisfaction.

52nd Street (1978)
    Billy Joel reassembled his team for the follow up, and while it share’s a similar production sound, there are differences. There’s a slight focus on jazz influenced numbers, but the material still remains eclectic. The three singles remained FM radio staples once again, the hard rock pop of “Big Shot”, the mid tempo pop of “My Life”, which was licensed to be used on the Bosom Buddies TV show, and the ballad “Honesty”.  But there’s almost a basis for some critics that complain about Joel’s self conscious imitation of other artists. “Zanzibar” sounds like a Steely Dan outtake, but it does feature some great jazz soloing from Freddie Hubbard. “Half A Mile Away” does feel like a Chicago imitation to a degree, but the stellar “Rosalinda’s Eyes” with its Latin, Bossa-Nova Jazz rounds out the Jazz influences on the album. The longest track is the Phil Spector influenced and Righteous Brothers inspired “Until The Night”, which incidentally, Bill Medley record on a 1980 solo record. “Stiletto” is probably the most filler track on the album, although enormously enjoyable. The title track, “52nd Street” warps up the jazz flavor of the album with a touch of humor.  But Joel would start breaking down assumptions with his eighties work.

Glass Houses (1980)
    As soon as critics wanted to brand Billy Joel with a certain identity, he started to buck the trend. What is so funny, in my mind, about the surprise of some critics that Billy Joel wanted to play more rock material, is that Billy Joel always included heavy rock numbers with each prior release, and he had played in the brief, ill fated heavy metal duo Attila from 1969 / 1970, but Joel stripped down his writing to focus on clearly guitar driven material, lead guitarist Dave Brown made his proper entry here, and Joel offered his own take on new wave, punk, and the Rolling Stones.  After the crash of glass, the Stones imitation , “You May Be Right” opens the album, I could very easily see Jagger and Richards performing this song. The new wave flavored “Sometimes A Fantasy” has the right range of paranoia and euphoria. The Spanish flavored “Don’t Ask Me Why” offers up the insight about past events happening for no grand reason, and you have to just move on.  “It Still Rock N’ Roll To Me” offers the mission statement of the album, and Joel has observed that much of the new wave and some of the punk he heard at the end of the seventies, really just sounded like the power pop of the late 60s and 70s. “All For Leyna” has some robust piano work and clever time shifts, and was only released in the UK. Of course, the first four cuts became FM staples. The second half of the album only deepened the new wave motif, but it wasn’t all cut and dried. “I Don’t Want To Be Alone” sounds like a Joe Jackson cut from the late 70s, and “Sleeping With The Television On” follows the formula of countless early new wave acts. Things take a shift with “C’Etait Toi (You Were The One)”, a French flavored ballad the follows in the tradition of The Beatles “Michele”. “Close To The Borderline” is the closest thing to punk on the album, but it also sounds like something the Rolling Stones would have done, if they tackled the same approach. The closer “Through The Long Night” nods toward Paul McCartney. Overall sound of the album is very dry in most places and contrasts with the polish of the previous two albums, and credit must go to Phil Ramone for being adaptable to the change.

Songs In The Attic (1981)
    It has been pretty common for most record labels to contractually expect recording artists to put out live records, and Billy Joel was no different, but he did something fairly clever, capitalizing on the momentum of three massive hit albums, he complied recordings of songs from the first four albums, but using his current band, and now with an established signature, the earlier songs took on a new life. But what probably surprised fans at the time were “She’s Got A Way” and “Everybody Loves You Now”, the two tracks from Cold Spring Harbor, which had gone out of print by the time of its release.  The live “She’s Got A Way” was released as a single and did surprising well. The track listing for the rest of the album followed as thus:  “Miami 2017, Summer, Highland Falls, Streetlife Serenader, Los Angelenos, Say Goodbye To Hollywood, Captain Jack, You’re My Home, The Ballad of Billy The Kid, I’ve Loved These Days.”

The Nylon Curtain (1982)
    It’s difficult to say what impact the death of John Lennon had on Billy Joel, but  a lot of stars at the time were unnerved by Lennon’s murder, and they reacted by pushing themselves to put out better material. The Nylon Curtain acts as a loose concept record, using the contemporary sound of John Lennon’s 1980 solo record, with a few Paul McCartney songs for good measure, and the spirit of Bob Dylan. Billy Joel put out what I consider to be his contemporary masterpiece, the album took about a year to record, with its layer or synthesizers, and live orchestrations, but more importantly, it was the biting social commentary that differed from previous records. Billy Joel has admitted himself to not being a fan of political records, and disliking County Joe & The Fish. But he focused on a range of topics, and recorded some of his most experimental material ever.  “Allentown” is a comment about the displaced working class in small towns, and the decline of unions to strengthen them. “Laura” is a pretty scathing, mid tempo number about an manipulative and passively abusive woman that captures a little of Lennon’s sound. “Pressure” is self explanatory, but it blends with his classical instincts once again with some edgy instrumentation. The somber “Goodnight Saigon” was written about Viet Nam veterans. But side two remains just as interesting; “She’s Right On Time” is a Paul McCartney flavored number with a rich arrangement. “A Room Of Our Own” is a brisk pop blues number that channels the flavor of Lennon. “Surprises” is an expansive, and experimental ballad, that seems to be about himself stepping outside of himself to view his past. “Scandinavian Skies” clearly channels the ambition of The Beatles “I Am The Walrus”, and is about his brief experimentation with Heroin. But the last track is a real gem, “Where’s The Orchestra?” is another McCartney flavored track that uses the metaphor of life’s expectation’s with fame and the business not bringing all of the answers, as well as loneliness. His marriage to Elizabeth Webber was on the verge of ending during this period. Some critics were skeptical or reluctant to admit that Billy Joel had broken new ground, but there’s a good case to be made that this album represented a pinnacle of his career.

An Innocent Man (1983)
    After Billy Joel’s divorce, he started dating several women and he’s admitted this was the impudence behind writing many songs that had a fun and retro aspect. But it was also a huge gamble at a time where the grounds of pop music was always shifting. In 1982, The Stray Cats managed to have great success with a retro rockabilly sound, and that might have given Joel some confidence to move forward.  But indeed, Joel recorded an album that became his second juggernaut with An Innocent Man, I remember in 1983 and 84 that the album became so over saturated on the radio, it did become tiring, but the fresh novelty of the record paid off with another group of spades for the singer. It’s mix of R’n B and early Rock N Roll harkens back to the music of his childhood, but there was more than met the eye with the release. “Easy Money” held the flavor of James Brown and Wilson Picket, and was used in a Rodney Dangerfield movie.  The title track really demonstrated the grown of his lyric writing, and was flavored by Ben E. King or The Drifters. “The Longest Night” was classic doo-wop and a nod to The Spinners. “This Night” borrowed its chorus from Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata, 2nd movement, and the tune was inspired by Little Anthony and the Imperials. The lead off single was Motown inspired, “Tell Her About It” held the flavor of The Temptations. “Uptown Girl” was a clear nod to Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. “Careless Talk” was again a nod to Sam Cooke, The old school rocker “Christie Lee” has been compared to Little Richard, but really had more the flavor of Jerry Lee Lewis.  “Leave A Tender Moment Alone” has been compared to Smokey Robinson, but has such a contemporary feel as a composition, it transcends it’s period feel. But “Keeping The faith”, a light funk, Wilson Picket number, is the albums key statement of purpose and explains his intent was less about nostalgia, but about looking backward before moving ahead:

You can get just so much
From a good thing
You can linger too long
In your dreams
Say goodbye to the
Oldies but goodies
'Cause the good ole days weren't
Always good
And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems,
I told you my reasons
For the whole revival
Now I'm going outside to have
An ice cold beer in the shade
Oh, I'm going to listen to my 45's
Ain't it wonderful to be alive
When the rock 'n' roll plays, yeah
When the memory stays, yeah
I'm keeping the faith.



Perhaps Billy sensed he was at his height, for the priorities of courting Christie Brinkley would change his focus.  Six of the tracks would become FM staples, and he could never duplicate its success the same way again.

Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985)
    Joel would take some time off to get married for a second time and have a child, and put out a comprehensive overview of his output from 1973 to 1985. The only two new tracks hinted at the heavy synth and electronic pop that he would explore further a year later. This trend could also have been influenced by the popularity of figures like Thomas Dolby,  and Depeche Mode, the two new tracks were a synth pop number “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)”, an anti suicide song that was inspired by personal experience, at the start of the seventies Joel did have a failed suicide attempt, and he continued to have depression issues he would keep from the public. The other track “The Night Is Still Young” seemed to reflect on his desire to settle down, he married Christie Brinkley and they had a child, hinting at something that the public had little suspicion of – that he would retire from recording within a decade.

The Bridge (1986)
    The Bridge would be notable for several reasons and on several levels, it was the last record produced by stalwald Phil Ramone, and the last record with his core band of a decade. It managed to feature another four durable hits, ‘Modern Woman, A Matter Of Trust, Baby Grand” and “This Is The Time” and it was a showcase for a number of iconic musicians, namely Ray Charles, Jazz Bass legend Ron Carter, Steve Winwood, and Cyndi Lauper. The opening cut ‘Running on Ice” was inspired by the Police. Billy’s collaboration with Ray Charles, “Baby Grand” was a fitting ode to the Piano, and seemed apt considering that “New York State of Mind’ in 1976 was inspired by Charles, other session legends like Vinny Calaiuta, Neil  Stubenhaus, and Dean Parks rounded out the session. The Pop synth heavy “Modern Woman” was used in the film, Ruthless People. The pop rocker “A Matter of Trust” was written on the guitar. The big Band flavored “Big Man On Mulberry Street” featured the jazz bass of Ron Carter, and swing horn work from Eddie Daniels and Michael Brecker. The two true filler tracks feel the most forced are the ballad, “Temptation” , and “Code Of Silence”. A track that Joel admits he had writers block working on and Cyndi Lauper stepped in to help finish, she also sang harmonies. Both tracks hint that the cracks were showing, that the writing wasn’t as effortless as it had been. The closing track, with Steve Winwood on B-3 is the strongest, “Getting Closer” was a pointed comment on his feelings on the music business. The Bridge managed to be an eclectic album that looked back while moving forward, and closing a book on a major part of his career.  The Bridge is also notable for helping to end Joel’s contractual obligations to Artie Ripp in terms of royalties.

KOHUEPT (1987)
    The Bridge tour was globally extensive enough to where when an opportunity to tour in Russia, namely Leningrad, and Tbilisi, Billy ran with it at the height of social changes that were being brought about due to glasnost and perestroika.  The tour made history as Joel was one of the first American artists to have a live Radio broadcast in Soviet history. The tour had a profound impact on Joel, but he wasn’t really happy with the live album, it was released by Columbia without his input, and to meet a contractual obligation. The bulk of the material covered contemporary songs from Turnstiles, The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, An Innocent Man, and The Bridge, and featured a live version of The Beatles ‘Back In The U.S.S.R.” and a more intimate acoustic cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are-A Changing”. Peter Hewlett was brought on the tour to cover some of the higher vocal notes, and his core band appeared on the tour sans David Brown. While not a definitive recording, it would be the final document of his core band, indeed changes were afoot.

Storm Front (1989)
    Storm Front was the byproduct of a number of shake ups. Namely, the firing of brother-in-law Frank Weber (Elizabeth has ended her role as manager years before), and a law suit after an audit revealed major discrepancies in Weber’s accounting. Billy Joel didn’t bring back Phil Ramone, but brought in Mick Jones from Foreigner to co-produce. By his own account, Joel has started to feel that certain players had become complacent and he wanted a fresher sound. Liberty DeVitto and David Brown were kept on, as well as Mark Rivera who otherwise had no role on the album, but Russell Javors and Doug Stegmeyer were let go, and replaced with Schuyer Deale, Joey Hunting, and synth player Jeff Jacobs. As well as other players like Don Brooks, Mick Jones, Itzhalk Perlman, Lenny Pickett and the Memphis Horns. The album opens with the bluesy groove of “That’s Not Her Style”, a comment on the perception of his model  / wife Brinkley. The musically simplistic “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, a relativist historical roundup, works due to the production sheen, it was a big hit. The rest of side one continues with strong material, ‘The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” deals with the plight of American coastal fisherman with a little help from Perlman, and then there’s the confessional “I Go To Extremes”, Billy has been candid about his depression issues. Followed by  the unexpected country flavored “Shameless”, a track that manages to have the structure of something you’d expect from Jimi Hendrix. The title track has an R&B Stax feel with some surprising Jazz voicings. “Leningrad” is the most moving ballad on the album, taking a nod to Russian classical composers, it address his experiences from the Russian tour.  “State of Grace” is the power pop number on the album, and has the strongest vocal melody I would say, it also illustrates that Joel could still craft a melody effortlessly. “When In Rome” is a more standard R&B Stax flavored number, I have to admit that “When In Rome” and “Storm Front” remain the weakest tracks. The plaintive “And So It Goes”, with just Piano and Synth is the most introspective, and will remind listeners of material from Cold Spring Harbor. One more surprise was on the way.

River of Dreams (1993)
    The musical climate had changed drastically by the time Billy Joel released his final album of pop songs. The alternative rock scene had changed out the bulk of the old guard, and newer artists at the beginning of the 90s adapted to the changes. Perhaps Joel has been astute enough to recognize the shift, as there was another shake up with the album, Producer Danny Kortchmar was brought in to deliver a more stripped down and dryer sounding album, with some additional production help from David Thoener and Joe Nicolo. Most significantly his core band mates were replaced, Liberty Devitto only plays on one track, replaced by Zackary Alford or Steve Jordan, Danny Kortchmar handled much of the guitar duties along with guitar icon Leslie West, T.M. Stevens handled most of the Bass duties, with Jeff Jacobs being retained for extra keyboard work. The gamble may not have paid off as well as the previous album, but it did deliver an hit album. The turmoil of the legal suits with Frank Webber had taken their toll, and Billy Joel had a crisis of faith over his judgment. The album has been described by Joel as a song cycle, which deals with this crisis, and evolves into a more optimistic group of songs. “No Man’s Land” is scathing in its criticism of urban development, the rise of Box stores, and  the track seems prophetic when considering the current crisis with entertainment retail.  “The Great Wall of China” is pretty obvious vent about his former manager. “Blond Over Blue” has interesting contrasts between the verses and the lifting chorus. “A Minor Variation” is an R&B number that interestingly features Richie Cannata in the horn section. “Shades of Grey” deals with the ambivalence of getting older and not seeing things as clear cut. The second half has a stronger group of material, with the first three being the singles. “All About Soul” builds into a gospel flavored ending in the mould of “Everybody’s Got A Dream”.  The simple ballad, “Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel) is a hymn to his daughter about mortality. “The River Of Dreams” has an African flavor that harkens back to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. There’s an increasing theme of spirituality to be found in the last half of the album, “Two Thousand Years” is basically an appeal for peace and reason. The closing track also closes out this phase of his career, “Famous Last Words” sums up his mission statement to not write anymore songs.  Not everyone was pleased with the album, Liberty DeVitto was pretty scathing in his thoughts about the album. But Joel might have felt the need for the changes to stay vibrant, yet once his legal issues, and contractual obligations had been met, he might not have felt the need to continue.

Greatest Hits Vol III (1997)
    Billy Joel made good on his vow to not write and record any new songs. His second compilation closes with three covers, the fairly new Bob Dylan ballad, “To Make You Feel My Love”, which remains the best cut. The Carol King / Gerry Goffin ballad “Hey Girl”, and Leonard Cohen’s “Light As A Breeze”. Good numbers, but not very distinctive in a way. The rest of the collection is round out by a few tracks from An Innocent Man, then cuts from The Bridge, Storm Front, and River of Dreams, basically for casual completists of his hits.

    In fairness, I haven’t really listened in depth to his classical excursions, or the My Lives box set, or his live album compilations from 2000 onward, so I feel I can’t really access the material. But Billy Joel, regardless how you may feel about his work, or his cool factor, or lack thereof in certain circles, has produced a body of work that should be considered on par with Lennon / McCartney, George & Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, or Irvin Berlin. He was able to retain some rock authenticity while blending classical sensibility with Tin Pan Alley song craft. The 70s and early 80s catalog should speak for itself. As far as why he retired from recording? As far back as the late 80s, he started to use sports analogies about knowing when to quit. Perhaps, once he had met his contractual obligations, the urgency to write pop tunes wasn’t as great a need. He was part of a handful of working class musicians with the ability to craft intelligent songs, while being relatable. The other writer that shared the same ability was Bruce Springsteen, these points are important to consider once you realize what a prodigious writer Joel is – few can duplicate him.

Retro Reviews: Fanny - Fanny

     I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. These albums are lesser known titles.

Fanny – Fanny (1970)

****

Producer: Richard Perry

Musicians: June Milligan, Jean Milligan, Nickey Barclay, Alice de Buhr

Songs: Come and Hold Me, I Just Realized, Candlelighter Man, Conversation With A Cop, Badge, Changing Horses, Bitter Wine, Take a Message To The Captain, It Takes A Lot of Good Lovin’, Shade Me, Seven Roads.

    Man, I have not heard an album that was as fun as this one. There’s a lot of debate I see sometimes that women should stay in their wheelhouse and just do folk music, but these ladies are out to prove many wrong. Some might see an all-female rock band as a gimmick or token, but these ladies have the chops, both as singers and musicians to show this is the real deal. I heard a rumor that Producer Richard Perry heard them at some local club and made certain they got signed. The Milligan sisters on guitar and bass, respectfully, are great players. Nickey Barclay is a more than adept keyboard player, and drummer Alice de Buhr has a steady fire about her playing. One sense these women really love to play off of one another.  The total effect is that you forget these are women, just great entertainers.

    The first several songs might be a  little deceptive as they lay out their pop sensibilities but dig deeper and their rock pedigree comes through on the later material. ‘Come and See Me’ has a nod to the late 60s with an opening that will remind people of Roger Mcguinn and Pete Townshend, before it settles into a pleasing grove. “I Just Realized” opens with an informal quality before it settles into some whimsy. “Candlelighter Man” reveals their rich vocal harmonies. “Conversation With A Cop” has the odd conceit of being a ballad that may have some social comment hidden within. Their cover of Cream’s “Badge”, might be one of the most refreshing reinterpretations I have heard in awhile, it reminds me of The Beatles early years where they would record other’s work and create something definitive such as in ‘Twist and Shout’, very impressive effort.

    A piano blues motif opens “Changing Horses” before it drives into high gear as another pop rocker, again, there’s an informal quality and a sense of camaraderie between the band mates that is charming.  “Bitter Wine” has a clever opening, and some layered instrumentation, and great vocals. “Take A Message To The Captain” has some playful electric piano and a light flavor. “It Takes A Lot of Good Lovin” is the other cover, and features some playful blues support from June as she helps drives the thrust of the song, and some great organ soloing from Nickey. Some great bass and piano work aids “Shade Me” Some bluesy B-3 Organ sets up the tone for the heavy and driving closing track, “Seven Roads”, drummer Alice de Buhr is fantastic throughout the album. The album ends on a rousing note, the whole enterprise leaves me curious to see where they go next. Recommended.

Retro Reviews: Rodriguez: Coming from Reality

 I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. These albums are lesser-known titles.

Rodriguez: Coming From Reality (1971)

****

Producer: Steve Rowland

Musicians: Sixto Rodriguez, Chris Speeding, Tony Carr, Phil Dennys, Jimmy Horowitz, Gary Taylor, Andrew Steele

Songs: Climb Up On My Music, A Most Disgusting Song, I Think Of You, Heikki’s Suburbia Bus Tour, Silver Words?, Sandrevan Lullaby – Lifestyles, To Whom It May Concern, It Started Out So Nice, Halfway Up The Stairs, Cause

Reviewed By Matthew Anthony Allair

    Rodriguez’s second album has come out and it has left me pondering the fates, if you’ll indulge me, the other Latino rock act that has enjoyed a great deal of success is the band Santana, which is a mixed race group, while they aren’t directly a social comment or political band, it makes their music more palpable to the public. That doesn’t take away from the merits of that band, or their success is less deserved, it just means that the risk that Rodriguez is putting forth is greater. He is just as socially penetrating as he was with “Cold Fact” from last year. He has a new producer and the record feels more focused and there’s a fuller sound in some respects. It also feels more conventional in places which is a trade off.

    The opener, “Climb Up On My Music” feels like a mission statement. Aside from the lead work, Rodriguez stretches out on acoustic. The keyboard work from the start is a good edition, the rhythm section with the drum and bass really catches fire.  “A Most Disgusting Song” will probably be the most provocative track, a blues number that feels like it’s channeling a contemporary like Gil-Scott Haron. “I Think Of You” is the first ballad on the album, nice backing support, and rich string arrangement. “Heikki’s Suburbia Bus Tour” is the albums rock tune, and mirrors “Only Good For Conversation” from the last album. ‘Silver Words” is the other pop leaning ballad with good acoustic lead support, and string quartet.

    “Sandrevan Lullaby – Lifestyles” is a two section medley, ‘Sandrevan’ is a somber, wistful instrumental with good playing by Rodriguez and quartet, and ‘Lifestyles’ is a more pointed, penetrating piece, the most Dylan like number examining the desperate facades that people front, with great lines such as ‘she laughed when I tried to tell her, hello only ends in goodbye’. Or ‘America gains another pound, only time will bring some people around, idols and flags are slowly melting’. This track is probably the albums tour de force. “To Whom It May Concern” takes a break with a prominent piano and orchestral arrangement for a song that advocates against relationship victimization and self-empowerment. “It Started Out So Nice” is a lovely blues ballad, which is either about the about the end of a relationship, the loss of innocence, or both. “Halfway Up The Stairs” is the closest to a pop number on the album. The closing number, “Cause” is a stunner, Raw and bleak with stanzas like “because my heart has become a crooked hotel full of rumors, but it’s I who pays the rent,’, the profiles various people and continues with lines like ‘cause they told me everybody’s got to pay their dues, and I had overpaid them.’, it all simply illustrates the toll of our class struggles, and the road that leads to self-destruction. Brillant closer.

    His honesty might not be for everyone, but I hope he continues. While the material might be a fraction less than what was on ‘Cold Fact’, that margin is by very little, this holds up well. We need truth more than lies anyways - his reality is pretty deep.

Retro Reviews: Paul and Linda McCartney: Ram

 

    I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Crème. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. All the albums reviewed are indeed classic albums. 

Paul and Linda McCartney: Ram (1971)

**** ½  Stars

Producers: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney

Musicians: Paul and Linda McCartney, David Spinoza, Hugh McCracken, Denny Seiwell, Marvin Stamm, New York Philharmonic

Songs: Too Many People, 3 Legs, Ram On, Dear Boy, Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey, Smile Away, Heart Of The Country, Monkberry Moon Delight, Eat At Home, Long Haired Lady, Ram On (Reprise), The Back Seat Of My Car

Reviewed by Matthew Anthony Allair

    After the consternation over The Beatles breaking up, more details emerge over the how’s and why’s, but I have been pretty redescent to jump in on speculations as I suspect there’s more than meets the eye. Thus far, Paul seems to be getting the bulk of the blame, but that should be irrelevant over the issue of his personal post band output, and indeed Paul does have a new album out and it’s a pretty great one.

    While Paul will, likely, never escape his time with The Beatles, he does seem to be trying to move forward and find a new statement. While the first album, McCartney, was uneven, with several random experiments, and several songs that felt like informal vignettes, when it was good, there was an informal charm to it. It’s also true that it  nearly closed with a gem of a song like “Maybe I’m Amazed”.

    Paul seems like he listened to some of the complaints of the prior album. While Ram retains that charming informal feeling of McCartney, there is a mix of more polished and developed songs of these dozen tracks. Several tracks have the unmistakable influence of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. Paul is rounded out by several guest musicians, Danny holds a steady groove support, while Hugh and David offer some excellent guitar work. But make no mistake - Paul still carries the bulk of the playing. Linda’s vocal support rounds out the sound. 

    Earlier in the year, Paul released his charming single “Another Day” backed with the quirky blues of “Oh Woman Oh Why”, which hinted that something was coming out. Now we know. So, what to expect? If given the chance, this should raise expectations. The opening track “Too Many People” has an odd start, but pulls together quickly, it seems to be pointed at his Beatles peers, at least one, and the last half has some outstanding Guitar leads from ether Spinoza or McCracken. “3 Legs” is a quirky blues number that seems to be about betrayal. The pleasant “Ram On” has some false starts, similar to the first album, but quickly has a relaxed charm. I can’t tell what “Dear Boy” is about, perhaps an ex-partner, but it has the most Brian Wilson like quality yet vocally. “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey” is the second strongest song, and the closest to what the Beatles might have sounded like had they continued. “Smile Away” is simply a pleasant up-tempo number to round up side one.

    “Heart of The Country” is a pleasant number that is a more developed version of what McCartney tried to do on his first album. “Monkberry Moon Delight” will probably be the more polarizing track on the album, it’s goofy qualities ask you to take it with a grain of salt, but some great rolling guitar is featured. “Eat At Home” has some of the catchiest, driving guitar figures on here. “Long Haired Lady” is one of the more adventurous tracks on here with it’s multiple sections and it’s everything I wish Lennon’s “Well Well Well” had been, The reprise of “Ram On” will likely mirror the “Sgt Pepper” reprise and it serves as a fitting tie in to the final track, “The Back Seat Of My Car”, another track that has the inventiveness of Wilson, the closing chants of ‘We believe that we can’t be wrong’, could be seen the defiance of Paul and Linda through a difficult year, after a false end, it closes with a final crescendo that brings it all home.

    While the album has some uneven brief moments, it doesn’t take away from the overall impact, it mixes the informality of the first album with greater studio polish and playing. I will be looking forward to see what Paul and Linda come up with next, yet this album feels significant and like something that will influence others, in time. Forget what my peers are saying about this album and Paul, it’ s a fantastic album.  

Led Zeppelin III (1970)

Listening to Led Zeppelin was a perennial right of passage, starting in Junior High School, for most adolescence boys and girls, and I should qualify, for most male teens. I remember back in Junior High while living in Rohnert Park, picking up Zeppelin II and IV (The Zoso album). At the time, I was exploring what I liked, and from my initial exposure to rock and pop music, I was eclectic, absorbing everything like a sponge, and for those reasons, the passion for Zeppelin didn’t fully kick in until my Freshmen year of High School. Nevertheless, eventually, the entire body of Zeppelin’s work had a profound impact on me. Many of the songs, and the range of the songs pointed to what was possible, to new directions. Sadly, too many metal musicians would only focus on narrow aspects of Zeppelin; The hypnotic grooves of the first two records or the invention of the epic power ballad with “Stairway To Heaven” or “Ten Years Gone,” while missing far too many of the ingredients, a profound knowledge of Blues, Folk, Arabian, and classical from Page, Plant, Jones, and Bonham. This deep foundation, like many 60s acts, set them apart.

My discovery of Led Zeppelin III came about in cassette form as a Freshman, and it stood out as a clear demarcation and bridge between II and IV. The music evokes certain mental images, and puts one into a particular place. For myself, it just doesn’t evoke my imagination, but recollections of my room in Corte Madera. The combination bunk bed and desk, and wall shelves to compensate for a very small room. The move from Rohnert Park back to Corte Madera had allowed for a clean slate in my life, and a complete reinvention of myself at the start of high school, after being a social outcast in Junior High, I had a wider circle of friends and the climate of High School allowed me the space to find myself, and the strength to carve my own nitch.

Of course, I became aware of the vinyl edition of Led Zeppelin III with the rolling wheel cover art. The cover represented an aspect of the band that people tended to gloss over -- their humor. There’s a sense of whimsy to be found with the designs of II and III, before the mystical aspect of the band took over. The album represented a demarcation, a breaking point from what could have been a predictable formula, and in a baffling sense both critically and commercially, the band wasn’t rewarded. Yet in hindsight, it became clear to see the third album opened the band up to other possibilities. In a 1990 interview by J.D. Considine, he commented on the bands wide range of styles, and John Paul Jones said:

It wasn’t a purist band, as you get nowadays, where the entire band listens to the same type of music. Between the blues influences of Robert and the roll & roll influences of Jimmy, who also had strong influences, the soul influences of Bonzo and my soul and jazz influences, there seemed to be a common area, which was Led Zeppelin. The fusion of all types of music and interests.

The story of the band’s origin has been told to the point of exhaustion, How Jimmy Page, an ace session guitarist, joined the Yardbirds at the tail end of Jeff Beck’s tenure when the band briefly existed as a two-guitar outfit for a millisecond before Beck’s departure, and Page recorded the Little Games album, which would act as a template of ideas that Page would further explore with Zeppelin, only to have the Yardbirds disintegrate before the start of a Scandinavian tour in 1968, yet to have Peter Grant, the fifth member, manage the band and help put the pieces together that became Zeppelin. Hints of the band’s creation could be found with “Beck’s Bolero” a track from the Jeff Beck Group’s Truth album that featured Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins, and Keith Moon. There has been a dispute between Page and Beck about the arrangement for “Bolero,” but by most accounts Page was responsible for the core arrangement, which makes sense, “Bolero” has certain dynamics that fit Page’s sensibilities. In fact, Page would use a similar Bolero march for one section of Zeppelin’s “How Many More Times.” But whereas The Jeff Beck Group would act as a showcase for Beck, and would quickly splinter due to ego conflicts, Page’s Zeppelin would remain a cohesive outfit with all of the band members equal contributors.

Once they formed, and fatefully played “Train Kept A Rolling” on their first rehearsal, the band barnstormed across Europe and America with their debut album in January 1969, and followed up with Zeppelin II in October of that year. What developed with Zeppelin III was hinted at with the first and second albums – “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You”, “Your Time is Gonna Come”, the alternative tuning raga of “Black Mountain Side”, the song craft sensibility of “Thank You”, or “Ramble On”. But the mellow side of the band made them hard to pin down for critics who wanted to focus on the amped-up blues, hypnotic riffing, and for lack of a better term, the cock rock bluster that could be found on certain tracks. But acknowledging the song craft of the band, the band’s nod to The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, or Joni Mitchell, was a more dicey proposition for critics, as acknowledged by Page in Cameron Crowe’s 1975 interview:

“That’s it! When the third LP came out and got its reviews, Crosby, Stills and Nash had just formed. That LP had just come out and because acoustic guitars had come to the forefront, all of a sudden: Led Zeppelin Go Acoustic! I thought Christ, where are their heads and ears? There were three acoustic songs on the first album and two on the second.”

While accusations of hype surrounded the band, the same label of hype could be attached to Crosby, Stills and Nash, an outfit that enjoyed its elite 1960s pedigree largely due to being involved with the Woodstock festival, and this isn’t to take away anything from CSN, just an aside point. Zeppelin III’s demarcation is evidenced with the duel sides, the heavy rock and acoustic side. But that tends to simplify the intent of the material, as “Friends” is an acoustic number and the second half of “Gallows Pole” swings like mad, nothing was ever cut and dried with a Zeppelin LP.

“The element of change has been the thing, really. We put out the first one, then the second…then a third LP totally different from them. It’s the reason we were able to keep it together.” – Page 1990

In a 1971 interview with Rick McGrath, prior to the fourth LP, this is what Robert Plant had to say on the issue of the album:

“The third album, to me, was a disappointment in the way it was accepted because it wasn't given enough of a chance. After ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘Bring It On Home’, and thunder which was what is was. So we say try this for size and I thought when we were doing it that I was able to get inside myself a little more and give a little more on the album. I thought the whole thing felt like that. I was pleased with it, and I’d play it now without hesitation and dig it. And you can’t always do that to an album you’ve played a million times. But I really thought it stood up and then everybody was saying, well, no, and they’d leave it and then come back in a couple of weeks time and say, well, we can see…but nevertheless, we think it’s best. But that’s what people want because the simple, heavy thunder is much easier to assimilate, much easier to react to in every way. But you can’t just do that, otherwise you become stagnant and you’re not really doing anything, you’re just pleasing everybody else.”

The album opens with “Immigrant Song.” a white noise count-off leads to the main riff, with some spry bass work by Jones. In spite of its references to Nordic Viking legends, the track was inspired by the band’s concert in Iceland, June 1970, Plant has acknowledged it was ‘supposed to be powerful and funny’. Which also brings up to another aspect, and misconception of the band, that they lacked humor on account of the mystique and mysticism that had been built up about them. There’s a certain whimsy to be found on the Zeppelin II and III albums, and while that humor might have been more sly and didn’t fit the mold of the Beatles / Monty Python sense of humor, it was still there.




After another chattering false start, “Friends” features an alternative acoustic tuning by Page. The strings aren’t played by Jones, but was arranged and conducted by Jones with Indian musicians at a studio in India. Its lyric’s seem to be a plaintive appeal for connection. A sliding synth drone connects the track to “Celebration Day”, a technique that was cleverly utilized to mask a recording debacle. Page seems to use a baritone Guitar for the spry introduction. It has been recalled that members of Zeppelin’s road crew, in a drunken stupor while listening to the playback of “Celebration Day” late one night with the band not present, accidently erased the opening bass and drum tracks, forcing Page to do some clever editing. Its lyrics, in the tradition of “Living Loving Maid,” seem to be a scathing critique on an aging groupie, but it could also be acknowledging the price paid for the life of a touring band.

For a band that was noted, or accused of being over-produced with the instrumental layering that Page was keen on displaying in the records, it is surprising to find most of the rock numbers are fairly spare with guitar tracks. Page seemed to always understand that a song will eventually tell you what is needed, and to his credit the tracks on side one aren’t dense with sound, unlike many metal bands that double the rhythm guitars to such a degree that there’s no room to breathe. It should be noted, that while the albums, and Page’s production innovations were important, the real measure of any band was in their live performance, and the band was fairly consistent in that area. Yet, it is important to note that Improvisation was a crucial component, and the band, following in the tradition of great Blues and Jazz improvisation, excelled in this area, often with a fearlessness that most contemporary bands never display.

Page has described “Since I’ve Been Loving You” as progressive blues, and the track remained a concert staple, even appearing in their 2007 reunion London gig. Jones Organ work anchors the track while Page delivers a hybrid of blues and Spanish flamenco with fire and flare.

“Out on the Tiles” is something else altogether, a boisterous rocker with an interesting origin. The main riff was actually written by John Bonham, as recounted by Jason Bonham, a vocal melody sung by Bonham in his barroom carousing that the band transformed with a new vocal line from Plant.

Before I continue with the second half of the album, I feel that context is in order, and to offer speculation about situations that might have impacted the meaning of certain songs. Plant had commented in the Cameron Crowe interview from ’75, regarding their first tour in ‘69:

The states were much more fun. L.A. was what L.A isn’t now: L.A. infested with jaded 12-year-olds is not the L.A. that I really dug. It was the first place I ever landed in America; the first time I ever saw a cop with a gun, the first time I ever saw a 20-foot-long car.

But the band also experienced the flipside of that American experience–they had been spit on, had guns drawn on them and were heckled at airports, as well as witnessed the treatment of Viet Nam protesters by Police, as well as fans being mistreated by Police at their shows. Robert Plant had acknowledged thus:

“We’ve been to America so much and seen so many things that we don’t agree with, that our feelings of protest have to reflect this in our music.”

Based on examples of their tour itinerary from ‘69 through early 1970, it stands to reason they toured several southern states in America, and probably witnessed, not only racial tension, but the hostility towards long-haired hippies in certain southern cities, which was effectively illustrated in the 1969 film Easy Rider. These experiences probably formed the intent that one could find in several of the acoustic songs that comprise side two of the album.

I would be remiss to not address the cottage location in Wales that Page and Plant used for inspiration, the name Bron-Y-Aur which means “The Golden Breast”. As Plant clarified to Cameron Crowe in 1975:

“It was time to step back, take stock and not get lost in it all. Zeppelin was starting to get very big, and we wanted the rest of our journey to take a pretty level course. Hence, the trip to the mountains and the beginning of the eternal Page and Plant. I thought we’d be able to get a little peace and quiet and get your actual Californian, Marin County blues, which we managed to do in Wales rather than San Francisco. It was a great place.”

One important feature was the role of Jones’ mandolin, which would remain an important standard feature on future Zeppelin tracks. “Gallows Pole”, which was based on the folk song “The Maid Freed from the Gallows,” opens fairly plaintively, changes tempo and builds up to a manic pace, along with Page’s debut on Banjo, and ends with his lead fuzz box guitar. “Gallows Pole” offered a template for what would follow with “Stairway To Heaven”. It is surprising that “Tangerine” was never released as a follow up single to “Immigrant Song.” After a false start, the track laments about the loss of innocent love. The origin of the track dates back to a song written by Page and Keith Relf titled “Knowing That I’m losing You” from the final Yardbirds sessions. The band’s song craft can be found in spades with this material, and it would be difficult to argue that they lacked substance or melody.



My personal favorite, and probably the album’s highlight was “That’s The Way”, another atmospheric tune with another alternative tuning from Page, and some distinct electric dobro slide work, addressing southern segregation and conservation issues. “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” opens with some nimble guitar work from Page before kicking into jaunty gear, in an homage to Plant’s dog. “Hat’s Off To (Roy) Harper” is a slide blues credited to Charles Obscure, a duet with Plant’s vocal treated with a vibrato for an eerie effect, and a somewhat cryptic closure yet one that falls in line with the band’s blues tradition. Roy Harper was already a rising name on the music scene when the band issued their nod to him in 1970. Many might remember that Harper eventually sang the lead vocal on Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar” within the space of five years later.




Yet the story about Zeppelin III isn’t exactly complete: at least three other tracks were written and recorded during this period. The “Immigrant Song” B-side, “Hey Hey, What Can I Do” was a sought after track for years, and I have heard it in rotation of classic rock radio stations. It’s also a highly radio-friendly, catchy acoustic rock number that reflects their love of melodic folk rock.

“Bron-Y-Aur” is a Page acoustic fingerpicked instrumental that eventually appeared on Physical Graffiti, and “Poor Tom” was a guitar and Harmonica folk number driven by a New Orleans shuffle that appeared on Coda. Like The Beatles there has been so much erroneous mythologizing about the band, and a lot of negative assumptions built up, it becomes hard to discern where the truth lies within that myth. I have seen Zeppelin III lumped in with the more mystical aspects of the band, whereas the evidence doesn’t support that assumption. There are no references to the occult in the lyrics, other than the Crowley quote to be found in the inside groove of the Vinyl edition–Do What Thou Wilt. I would argue that the mystical aspects of the band didn’t really come into play until Zeppelin IV, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti.

Certainly Stephen Davis’ Hammer of the Gods helped to codify some of the more negative perceptions and feed certain myths while not offering much context. Then there was the music press, and notoriously Rolling Stone, that heaped scorn on the band from the outset. I could understand Lester Bangs’ mixed review for Zeppelin III, as Bangs held little affinity for a lot of progressive rock, and preferred the directness of the 3-minute single format.

But John Mendelsohn’s ’69 reviews were inexcusable, dismissing the band with accusations of them lacking wit, melody, vocal harmony, and expression, Mendelsohn seemed to hold a benchmark that every band needed to follow The Beatles’ melodic power pop format, which was a ridiculous standard indeed. Mendelsohn also displays an ignorance about the very idiom of the blues, which often holds a limited musical vocabulary, but often focuses on emotion, mood, and placing the listener into a certain mental state, all aspects that Zeppelin utilized effectively.

On a simplistic level, Zeppelin represented a changing of the guard in 1969, and to the elite music press and critics that had propped up many of the stars of the late sixties, this change was a threat. But the press, driven by ideals, wasn’t accessing the merit of the music, which should have been their role to do so, but used Zeppelin to make a sociological argument.

Some of the accusations of ‘hype’ might have had a fraction of merit, but there was a deeper issue at hand there. Zeppelin faced an image problem driven by Peter Grant’s business deals and record contract terms that gave Page and the band creative control. They set the terms of when they would tour, selection of album art, and which tracks would be chosen as potential singles. For the elite underground scene, who mistrusted power and wealth, the critics viewed the band as mercenaries before a note was played. Shunned by the English underground elite, Peter Grant and the band had to rely on America.

There was also a trickier element to the Zeppelin story; the band captivated a younger audience than the generation that embraced the cultural and political sensibilities of 60s artists. As noted by critic Jon Landau, who would go on to manage Bruce Springsteen by the 70s:

“Zeppelin forced a revival of the distinction between popularity and quality. As long as the bands most admired aesthetically were also the bands most successful commercially (Cream, for instance), the distinction was irrelevant. But Zeppelin’s enormous commercial success, in spite of critical opposition, reveals the deep division in what was once thought to be a homogeneous audience.”

Speaking for myself, these issues have prompted a deep distrust for critics, and a complete lack of regard for their role. Music, Film, Novels, Art and Theatre are subjective in nature, and individualistic, and I never vault a critic any higher than someone who is merely paid to offer an opinion. Frankly, In my personal travels, I have known a couple of established critics, and have found most to be thin-skinned, and self-important, easily driven by hubris after the praise of sycophants, and while many might begin their careers with the intent to serve the public, they seem to serve their own self interest and write for their fellow peers more often than not. The deep, dirty secret, that most critics bluster over, is the fact that their role won’t be important in the annals of time. They operate with a self-delusion they cannot admit openly.

Therefore, I cannot blame Zeppelin’s hostility towards the music press. Having said that, the band wasn’t immune to criticism. Peter Grant’s circle of employees did behave thuggishly and it was documented that writers and hangers-on were manhandled. The band did indulge in their excess with parties, drink, and drug use. Page allowed his dalliances with Crowley to feed the occult rumors, which members of the band probably sensed was good for business, and to cultivate the mystique. The problems that developed for the band after 1976, with countless setbacks, might be viewed as karmic payment, but might have been just random happenstance. Nevertheless, there had been so many distortions and embellishments about the mystique of Zeppelin from Groupie Mud-Shark antics, underage dating, Robert Johnson-flavored deals with the devil, backwards masking, and Tolkien references, that it has only been in the last two decades that their music, and its important role, has been accessed.

Their legacy should never be in doubt, and Led Zeppelin III serves as part of that legacy.

Producer: Jimmy Page
Arrangers and Composers: Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and John Bonham
Engineer: Andy Johns
Cover: Zacrom

Side One:
Immigrant Song
Friends
Celebration Day
Since I’ve Been Loving You
Out On The Tiles  

Side Two:
Gallows Pole
Tangerine
That’s The Way
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Hat’s Off To (Roy) Harper  

Next up: Queen II (1974)

You can download the album from iTunes, or order it from Barnes and Nobel.

The bulk of the information comes from a series of Rolling Stone articles by Mikal Gilmore, Cameron Crowe, J.D. Considine, Andy Green, the on-line reprint of Rick McGrath’s work, and the 1990 Box Set. Special thank you to XScribe for editorial proofing.

The Beatles: "Revolver" (1966)

The Beatles have always been a part of my consciousness in one form or another since I was very young. I remember my first exposure to them being at that house in San Rafael, when my mom had the vinyl Capitol prints of the “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help” soundtracks. My Dad held a certain leeriness about their earlier bubblegum pop years, and he really only connected with them during their mid to late sixties period, as their writing evolved into something more sophisticated and varied. Years later, while we were living in Rohnert Park, near Santa Rosa, my middle brother stayed with us for a spell and he had Japanese import copies of the early 60s Capitol era. I remember owning the Red and Blue compilations while living in Rohnert Park, during Jr. High. It wasn’t until I was a High School freshmen that I really started to connect with their material, starting with Rubber Soul.

Yet Revolver was the album that really stood out for me, and I remember listening to the Capitol vinyl edition on a regular basis. When CD players affordably went on the market in the late 80s, the Beatles catalog was the first sets I invested in, and I was even more blown away by the UK edition of the album. While countless artists shaped the sound of rock ‘n roll in the fifties, the Beatles expanded the vocabulary of Rock and pop in ways that were profound. Yet what were the circumstances that made them so profound? Did the band even understand fully their impact? I doubt it, as they were probably just doing their thing and being in the moment. When you consider the statistical odds of a band forming, much less connecting at the level they did so, between John, Paul, George, and Ringo, it seems almost miraculous that these four individuals converged in post war Liverpool and the same time and place, yet they did so.

In essence, it becomes the chicken or the egg argument, was their greatness already there, was it preordained (an argument I’m suspicious of)? Or did they simply rise to the occasion with each success? I could well imagine that Revolver must have been a shock when it was released, August 5th, 1966. But there were ample clues that the band had evolved enough to be able to release such a title. There writing had become more sophisticated, the subject or romance had already become ambivalent, as early as late ’64 they had started to veer away from the bubblegum pop format, and the writing became more varied, as evidenced with several tracks off of Beatles For Sale – “Baby’s in Black, I’m A Loser, I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party”, and this sophistication was further evidenced with Help – The flute ensemble of “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, and the string quartet of “Yesterday” or the heavy rock of “Ticket To Ride”.

While Rubber Soul might have been a revelation as far as an album filled with quality material, the conventions of the album, their standard rock instrumentation of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, excluding the exception of George’s Sitar on “Norwegian Wood”, had remained intact in principle, even if the writing had grown by leaps and bounds. Rubber Soul was also a more organic sounding album, with its emphasis on acoustic guitars, whereas Revolver, in a sense, was an electronic album, and the first true studio only release.

One also should bear in mind, two events sandwiched between the pre and post release of Revolver. One being the infamous Robert Whitaker, ‘butcher babies’ photo sessions that seemed intended to smash their clean cut image, and during the final tours in 66, the frightening Philippines / Manila incident where Imelda Marcos claimed The Beatles snubbed her, when they had previously declined to attend a breakfast, although Marcos wasn’t informed of the decline. The diminishing returns of their bubblegum image, and the growing security risks of touring due to Beatle mania, probably shaped their confidence they could continue as a recording only band.

While Norman Smith had managed some great technical feats for The Beatles in 65, Geoff Emerick role as an engineer was probably the most significant development to evolve for the Beatle’s 1966. Paul’s Bass sound alone was a vast improvement, with more presence and fullness, it allowed Paul to treat the bass as a lead instrument. Geoff Emerick from his book: “Here, There and Everywhere” in 2006 made the following comments about how he arrived at the Bass sound:

“But before he got down to the brass tacks of teaching the others their parts (for “Paperback Writer”), Paul turned to me. “Geoff,” he began, “I need you to put your thinking cap on. This song is really calling out for that deep Motown bass sound we’ve been talking about, so I want you to pull out all the stops this time, all right, then?” I nodded an affirmative…It occurred to me that since microphones are in fact simply loudspeakers wired in reverse (in technical terms, both are transducers that convert sound waves to electrical signals, and vice versa), why not try using a loudspeaker as a microphone?...I broached my plan, gingerly, to Phil McDonald…Over the next few hours, while the boys rehearsed with George Martin, Ken (Townsend) and I conducted a few experiments. To my delight, the idea of using a speaker as a microphone seemed to work pretty well.”

Ringo’s drum’s also benefited from Emerick’s techniques including close miking the bass drum. The guitars themselves took on a more heavier sound, while The Who and The Kinks had already broken new ground with a heavier rock sound, The Beatle’s refined those innovations and laid the groundwork for the power pop single, and this could be demonstrated with such tracks as “Taxman, She Said, She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing,” and “Doctor Robert”.

This was further demonstrated in their single recorded during this period, “Paperback Writer / Rain”, overdriven brisk guitars, very present bass and drums, complex vocals, and in the case of “Rain”, a backing track that is slowed down and their first use of backwards vocal. “Paperback Writer” should have been seen as the first signal of the new identity, the fab four, bubblegum pop sensibility had ended. Paul McCartney has observed in 1997:

“One day I led the dance, like “Paperback Writer”, and another day John would lead the dance like “I’m Only Sleeping”. It was nice, we weren’t really competitive as to who started the song, but the good thing was if he wrote a great “Strawberry Fields”, I’d try and write a “Penny Lane”. So, we kept each other on our toes”

This change was also very evident in the Klaus Voormann cover, Voormann had been a long time friend from their Hamburg days, and he would go on, in the space of a few years to play bass on John and George’s solo albums. The cover also managed to hint at their sense of humor, and their interest in pop surrealism, sans the band name, which one could say was a reflection of their already iconic status, and the fact that their individual persona’s had become more pronounced. It is also worth noting that the title could have a double meaning – it could be referring to Long Play 33 1/3 Rotations Per Minute, the speed that a vinyl record has to properly play, or it could be a word play on ‘Evolve’. John observed in 1969 and 1975:

“The sixties saw a revolution among youth – not just concentrating in small pockets or classes, but a revolution in a whole way of thinking. The youth got it first and the next generation second. The Beatles were part of the revolution, which is really an evolution, and is continuing…We were a part of it and contributed what we contributed; I can’t designate what we did and didn’t do. It depends on how each individual was impressed by The Beatles, or how shock waves went to different people. We were going through the changes, and all we were saying was, ‘It’s raining up here’ or, ‘There’s land!’ or, ‘There’s sun!’ or, ‘We can see a seagull!’ We were just reporting what was happening to us.”

After a brief introduction – an audio loop, a cough, the chirp of a guitar, and the count-off, “Taxman” kicks things off, it’s a testament to George’s development as a songwriter that his track would lead off the album. Yet, ironically, it is Paul that plays that blistering lead guitar. “Eleanor Rigby” is significant on several fronts, one being the composition, the narrative description, the classical motif, and the willingness for the band to step out of themselves, to step out of their positive outlook, and acknowledge that there were a lot of working class people, that were leading lives of quiet desperation – those lonely (and lovely) people. That track alone – “Eleanor Rigby” would set up a template that other writers would follow, including Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, all of the way through to Aimee Mann. Geoff Emerick also made observations about the sonic innovations with “Eleanor Rigby’ after Paul had specifically instructed that he didn’t want the strings to sound like Mancini:

“String quartets were traditionally recorded with just one or two microphones, placed high, several feet up in the air so that sound of the bows scraping couldn’t be heard. But with Paul’s directive in mind, I decided to close-mic the instruments, which was a new concept. The musicians were horrified! One of them gave me a look of distain, rolled his eyes to the ceiling, and said under his breath, “You can’t do that, you know.’”

One has to bear in mind that in the late fifties as Rock N’ Roller’s like Elvis or Buddy Holly started to go pop and use string sections, the strings often sounded banal, and generic. Something that McCartney was probably instinctively fighting to avoid, but McCartney and Emerick’s instincts were correct, and revolutionary.

John’s “I’m Only Sleeping” is a whimsical acoustic pop number with George’s crisp, distorted guitar fills and the introduction to backwards guitar. When the Anthology CD’s were released, this is one of the tracks presented a different arrangement including vibes, this being indicative of this period, where the Beatles by ’66, had the luxury of not settling for one arrangement and then moving on, but could find the ideal voice of a song. George’s cavalcade of guitar at the end of the track, segway’s nicely into his own track.

George’s “Love You To” was his first proper attempt at an Indian composition, although it isn’t pure replication being that an acoustic guitar, and some heavily distorted guitars drive the rhythm, Tabla player Anil Bhagwat adds to the track, and Jimmy Page would eventually do the same on his “Black Mountain Side” on the first Zeppelin album – but the track was an important template, the blending of rock, pop and world music would become commonplace. Peter Gabriel would build his entire career on the merging of such sensibilities, as well as Paul Simon.

In many respects Paul is one of the most natural melodic songwriters, putting forth a melody seems to second nature to him, and this strength was never more evident in “Here, There and Everywhere”; one of his most liked, and highly regarded tunes, and one that John would eventually site as a favorite.

“Yellow Submarine” is in essence a children’s tune, written by Paul and John for Ringo, the inclusion of topical sound effects set another precedent, and Pink Floyd, the band that fittingly Norman Smith was assigned to produce by the end of 1966, would take these techniques to new heights. It should be noted that Syd’s final Pink Floyd track, “Jugband Blues” (1968) shares a similar structure with a marching brass band interlude, but the sentiment was darker, surreal, and disturbing. John’s “She Said She Said” is one of those few mid tempo acid rock numbers, inspired by an LSD experience, John’s overdriven guitar, and George’s heavy fuzz lead weaves together nicely. Paul observed in 1997 about “She Said She Said”:

“Very much John. It’s a nice one. I like the title “She Said She Said”, which I think was made up on the session. John brought it in pretty much finished, I think. I’m not sure but I think it was one of the only Beatle records I never played on. I think we’d had a barney or something and I said, “Oh, fuck you!” and they said, “Well, we’ll do it.” I think George played bass.”

Geoff Emerick has also revealed that “She Said She Said” was the last thing recorded for the album, when they were a track short from the standard fourteen track long-player.

Often Rubber Soul is dubbed the pot album, and Revolver is dubbed the LSD album, but I feel that overstates and simplifies matters. While the drugs may have inspired the band to take more risks and become more fearless, McCartney and Lennon have admitted they were never able to function properly in the studio, nor be productive while under the influence, yet there remains this romanticism about playing while stoned.

It needs to be noted that we have only discussed the first seven tracks, and already the album has shown a staggering range, the second half is no less full of surprises. Paul’s “Good Day Sunshine” was written in the spirit of The Lovin’ Spoonful, Triad Jazz as Paul has described it, what is interesting about the piano work is one can’t tell if it was all Paul, several of the more bluesy riffs sound like John’s playing style, which would later be evidenced in his Plastic Ono Band and “Imagine” album. John’s “And Your Bird Can Sing” is the most brisk rocker from the album, and attempts a harmonized lead. Again it should be noted that the version heard on the Anthology CD, was altogether different – the 12 string jangle arrangement.

Paul’s “For No One” – like “Here”, is the other highly regarded track, also cited by John as a favorite, and features the first classical solo featured on a Beatles track, played by Alan Civil, it wouldn’t be the last. John’s “Doctor Robert” was inspired by a real event, and seems a sly dig at the Hollywood prescription drug chic that was prevalent in the day.

Something needs to be said about George’s songwriting output during this period, it has been noted that if George were in any other band, he would have been regarded as a very good writer, but had to compete with the giant talents of McCartney / Lennon. George’s third offering, “I Want To Tell You” manages to tuck in an unusual chord, and perhaps the track influenced the sustained / augmented chord choices one could find with contemporary alternative or the art rock scene. George observed in his 1980 book:

“I Want To Tell You is about the avalanche of thoughts that are so hard to write down or say or transmit…the mind is the thing that hops about telling us to do this and do that – when what we need is to lose (forget) the mind. A passing thought.”

Paul’s “Got To Get You Into My Life”, a clever ode to pot nonetheless, might be responsible for shaping the careers of bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, and Earth, Wind & Fire, with its jazzy, biting, horn quartet. Geoff Emerick observed in 2006 after commenting on Eleanor Rigby:

“No one had heard strings like that before, and neither had they heard brass the way I recorded it on “Got To Get You Into My Life”. Again, I close-miked the instruments – actually put the mics right down into the bells instead of the standard technique of placing them four feet away – and then applied severe limiting to the sound. There were only five players on the session, and when it came time to mix the song, Paul kept saying, “I wish we could make the brass sound bigger.”…That’s where I came up with the idea of dubbing the horn track onto a fresh piece of two-track tape, then playing it back alongside the multitrack, but just slightly out of sync, which had the effect of doubling the horns. I loved Paul’s singing on that song, too – he really let loose.”

Yet is was John’s “Tomorrow Never Knows” that broke the most ground - built around a processed drum and bass track, with a hint of organ, the swirl of tape loops was a sonic revelation, with a little dose of George’s backwards guitar, and a little jangle piano for good measure, the track laid the groundwork for an entire new genre, although it would be decades before that would be realized.

Not only has Revolver remained my personal favorite, and many music writers have arrived at the same sentiment, I would have to argue, it had the most profound impact. For decades, Sgt. Pepper was hailed as the most important rock album, and most profound by many critics, but upon closer scrutiny the second half of the album doesn’t hold up as well. While Sgt. Pepper enjoys the highest ratio of ‘firsts’, the first – loosely – concept album, the first to include lyrics, the cover and gatefold, George Martin’s orchestral arrangements and production. The second half of the album is guilty of filler with “Good Morning, Good Morning, Lovely Rita” and there’s a good argument for the “Sgt. Pepper” reprise, and is only held together by John’s profound “A Day In The Life”, but Revolver is filled with great songs, it remains interesting and varied, and leaves you wanting more.

This brings us the thrust of the point; that Revolver set up the template for countless bands, pointing musicians to new directions with where they could go. The power pop of Cheep Trick, Sweet, Def Leppard could be found with “Taxman, She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, Doctor Robert”. The singer / songwriter, balladeer of Billy Joel, Carol King, Adell could be found with “Eleanor Rigby, Here, There & Everywhere, Good Day Sunshine” and “For No One”, or rock and progressive rock’s dalliances with classical with “Eleanor Rigby”. The aforementioned “Love You To” and it’s influence on world music, and the tape loops of “Tomorrow Never Knows”, which would lead to trance, ambient, techno, or the experimentation of Miles Davis with his 1972 album, On The Corner.

The tree that is Revolver branches off with its influences on countless bands, in so many directions, that such a list would be profound and encompassing. While I consider the entire Beatles catalogue essential listening, Revolver deserves the credit it enjoys, and should be reassessed by every generation of music fan.

Producer: George Martin
Arrangers: The Beatles, George Martin
Composers: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Cover: Klaus Voormann

Tracks: Side one (UK version):  
Taxman  
Eleanor Rigby  
I’m Only Sleeping  
Love You To
Here, There and Everywhere  
Yellow Submarine  
She Said She Said

Side Two (UK version)  
Good Day Sunshine  
And Your Bird Can Sing  
For No One  
Doctor Robert
I Want To Tell You  
Got To Get You Into My Life
Tomorrow Never Knows

You can download the album from iTunes
Or you can order it on-line from Barnes & Nobel
Next up: Led Zeppelin III