Aerosmith down and out and brilliant!

Aerosmith "Rock In A Hard Place" is the band at their worst….at their best. Only three fourths of the original band remained, Joe Perry split in 1979 and Brad Whitford played rhythm on “Lightning Stirkes” before abandoning ship as well. The early 80’s was also the time that the drugs stopped working for most of the heavy 70’s rock star user. Steven Tyler would really show the effects of years of abuse during the 1982/83 Rock In A Hard Place tour. But for the album, he managed to pull it together to record one the most underrated rock records of all time.

Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay were the guitar slingers that had to fill Perry and Whitford’s shoes. Crespo came up with some killer sleazy, struttin, boogie-rockin guitar riffs to play off of Tyler’s drug and booze drenched lyrics, “I’ve been drinkin just to make this here song rhyme”. The album was recorded at the Power Station in NYC, where an engineer named Tony Bongiovi worked. His young cousin Jon would often help out in the studio and was present during some of the recording of Hard Place. That kid would go on to become Jon Bon Jovi and years later he would say that watching Steven Tyler sing “Cry Me A River” was one of the greatest moments of his life. And it’s easy to see why, Tyler practically rips his lungs out in the song.

And the ballad is even more heart wrenching considering the mess Steven Tyler was. Plus, not putting a 70’s style big symphony behind “Cry Me A River” strips it down to the blood sweat and tears of the band and it comes through in volumes. Throughout the album I can barely understand what Tyler is singing, but you know exactly where he’s coming from. Remember, this was still a time when there was no such thing as drug abuse, Betty Ford was a few years away and the only priority for a rock band was record an album and hit the road, repeat. The drugs were used to keep the machine moving.

Fittingly, the album ends with a smash in a back alley scene and fades out. Or as Tyler would have known it then…..Thursday. “Rock In A Hard Place” is the album that “Draw The Line” should have been. The songs are stronger, the grooves are fatter, it’s more cohesive and there’s no Joe Perry vocal. It’s full of wasted abandon, probably their sloppiest, and sleaziest performance on record. But that what makes it work! And with all due respect to the singer, the rest of the band wasn’t exactly in great shape either. Each had substance problems of their own and Rick Dufay was less the new guitar player and more the new drug buddy for Tyler. 

During the following tour he began often missing lyrics, launching into drunken rants. He sometimes fell down, passed out and generally destroyed what was left of Aerosmith on stage. Several hard fought years later, the original band would reform to become the kinder, gentler corporate version we know today. But before they crawled out of the gutter, they squeezed out a masterpiece of blitzed proportions rarely achieved.

Listen to this song right now!

My new favourite album

Went to the wreck-a-stow the other day. Had a few things in mind that I wanted to look for, but went with a budget in mind so I didn’t want to go over 30 bucks. Started off with a few cheap scores in the used section. Three of them for 5 bucks a piece, so had another 15 dollars of cap room. Decided to check out the lower rack with the newer records, with multiple copies of most of them. That’s where I came across “Rockferry” by Duffy.

I remember hearing her debut song a few years before and kinda digging it, but had totally forgot about her. At the time, she was labeled as one of the new Amy’s, as in Winehouse who was at the height of cracked out success when “Rockferry” was released in 2008. There were at least five copies of the record, most of them priced 19.99 and one was even 21.99?! But the last one was only 17.99. It would put me a little over my budget, but I just had a feeling about it. I put it back at first and went through the rest of the section. Didn’t find anything else and did a little more browsing. But I had that feeling, I needed to buy the Duffy record.

I put it on and "spell-binding" is what first came to mind, her voice is just incredible. As with most great music, I didn’t really know what to think of it at first. I kinda liked it, but wasn’t sure if I was just thinking that because I wanted to be right about buying it, or if I actually did like it. But……there was just something about her voice and some of the songs were pretty cool. I listened to it again, at first just side one a couple of times. Then I flipped it over and listened to side two. It finished and I flipped it over again, then it started to hit me and I couldn’t stop listening. There were a few songs that stood out at first, such as “Rockferry”, “Mercy” and “Distant Dreamer”. But soon enough it all just came together!

It is a little mellow in parts, but her voice is just incredible and there are some great grooves to keep the album moving. The Amy Winehouse comparions are understandable, but not entirely accurate. They’re both female singers from the U.K. who have a throaty retro style. But while Amy has a horn led Stax-soul type of sound, Duffy is far more lush and contemporary. Instead of horns, Duffy has strings and keyboards, with a sweet R&B rhythm section behind her. All with 21^st century production and like I mentioned, this girl can sing. And while Amy definitely reminds you of a certain sound from the past, Duffy isn’t so easy to pin down. She does have lyrics like, “When I drop you boy, you’ll need another toy”. Not exactly something that would appeal to the male demographic. But with these melodies, songs and production, she could sing the phone book and it would still sound great.

It definitely turned out to be the right decision and the best 17.99 I’ve spent in a long time. Been listening to the record almost non-stop for two days. I should actually be in bed right now, but I just had to blog about it. It also gives me a chance to listen to it a few more times. Side two is mid way through at the moment (for about the 20^th listen) and I’ll probably give side one another go before I call it a night. The quicker I get to sleep, the quicker I can get up in the morning and put Duffy on again.  

The first single off the album and song I first heard in 2008 is “Mercy”. But if you want to hear your first Duffy song, you should listen to "Rockferry"

Check out the video here

The Doors at their best!

I love the Doors and the Danbury 67 bootleg is one of my favourite live recordings of any band. This is why...

October 11^th, 1967.  It was less than a month after Jim Morrison got the Doors banned from Ed Sullivan for singing the word “higher” during “Light My Fire” and less than 2 months before he becomes the first rock star arrested on stage in New Haven, the Doors played Danbury High School in Danbury, New York. They were arguably the biggest band in the country and riding their initial wave of success. On the same day as the Sullivan show, the band and Jim Morrison had took part in 2 photo shoots while in New York. Known as the “Young Lion” photo session, these pictures would go on to define the band and Morrison’s image. This quote from doorshistory.com sums it up.

“The Doors are packing every place they play. The "young lion" photos are appearing everywhere and Jim's layout in Vogue comes out in the middle of the month (October). Both Time and Newsweek run articles on The Doors. The Doors are now mainstream news. Jim is becoming masterful on stage turning concerts into seances evoking cathartic experiences with his calculating moves and control of the audience. The Doors are playing at or near their best. Jim is treating each show as if it's his last giving all out performances.”

For the show at Danbury, legend has it that a member of the faculty recorded the show with a reel to reel set next one of the PA speakers, or possibly above the stage. However they did it, what they recorded that night is simply rock and roll legend.

They start with “Moonlight Drive” and Jim puts in a stellar version of "Horses Latitudes" in the middle. Then comes a very poignant moment. The Four Seasons were originally supposed to play the show, but didn’t. Some of their fans were in the crowd, disappointed at missing their favourite band and not fans of the Doors. Leading into the second song, Morrison does his usual, “let me tell ya about something I haven’t seen in a long time, something I need reeeeaaaal bad” then asks the crowd, “Do you know what it is?”, some guy responds, “A bath” and laughter ensues. Morrison dives into the song , ignoring the heckler and delivering a fierce version of “Money”.

A killer “Break On Through” follows with more poetic improv, then “Back Door Man” in full featuring “Got The Right”. I kinda prefer the full versions of this tune instead of when they chopped it into a medley. It’s followed by probably the best recorded version of the rarely performed, “People Are Strange”.  Another great moment comes next with a mesmerizing version of the “Crystal Ship”. Then just when everyone is hypnotized he screams, “WAKE UP!” The intro poem leads into “Light My Fire” and it’s an inspired version to say the least. Even down to Jim’s “Persian night babe……see that light…” poem, it’s perfectly timed.

Jim is very reserved physically, but hitting all the right notes musically. Plus Ray, John and Robby are in top shape this night, the solos on “Light my Fire” are some of their best. By the time they reach the beginning of “The End” the band is practically chomping at the bit to get into it. The version that follows is easily my favourite and considered by many to be their best. The band clicks with rare abandon and is firing on all cylinders. The part where Jim sings accapella, “He walked on down the hallway baby” and the band explodes back in is incredible. Robby’s guitar scream after the “father I’m going to kill you” part is bone chilling. Then Ray plays a couple of notes on the keys at about the 16 minute mark that have never appeared in another recorded version. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard and I wish it would’ve become a much bigger part of the song. But, it only exists for a few brief seconds which almost makes it sound that much better. Then…..for the final climax, Morrison jumps off the stage, screaming into the shocked crowd. He gets back up and proceeds the smash mic stand into the stage repeatedly. If you listen closely, you can actually a few of the hits. He then falls to knees in a heap before slowly getting up to mass applause and finishing the song.

It’s a listening experience unlike any other. There are only a handful of Doors live recordings from 1967 and Danbury is the only complete show and simply an incredible document of their first creative peak. The sound quality is a little distorted, but still quite superior for an amatuer recording. I did make some small improvements to the original mp3’s. The right side dropped out for a few portions of “Break On Through”, plus a couple of smaller spots in “People Are Strange” and “Light My Fire”. I’ve corrected those, but there are still some volume fluctuations, tape hiss and such that I didn’t mess with. And I fixed the skip at the beginning of “Light My Fire”.

The rarity of so many moments and Morrison delivering one of his most consistent performances ever recorded make Danbury one of a kind. But don’t take my word for it check it out for yourself by clicking here. 

Let me take you back to when it all began...

Women And Children First was the second Van Halen record I bought. I was 12 years old, loved “1984” and wanted to hear more from my new favourite group. The family was in Victoria for Christmas and we were at Mayfair one day. I was flippin through the Van Halen records in the mall record store and the only one I could afford was Women And Children First. I remember being a little upset because I wanted to buy every album other than Women And Children First. It had the boring cover, I didn’t recognize any of those songs and the title sounded stupid to me. I was actually scared that I had bought the crappy Van Halen record and wasted the only money I had. To top it off, there was no record player at my grandparents, so I would have to wait a week to listen to my new, crappy record.

I put it on my little turntable, radio, cassette combo before I even started unpacking and my fears were quickly put to rest. I was floored when “And The Cradle Will Rock” kicked in after the scratch intro! Still my favourite “rock” song about rock that rocks! And this was just the beginning. The bongo intro to “Everybody Wants Some” was a little weird, but the song quickly became very cool. I didn’t really understand a lot of what Dave was singing and talking about, but I heard him loud and clear when “Fools” kicked in. “I ain’t about to go to school and I’m sick and tired of golden rules”, “Ooohhh who makes the rules, ooohhh I live with fools”. And I had no idea what “Romeo Delight” was about, but didn’t care, it was one of the coolest songs I'd ever heard!

And then side 2, what the hell was this!?! Some sort of weird reverse revving to start? Then the plodding riff, some screaming, into walkie talkie/CB chatter and then some crazy song! I was confused as hell, but loved it! Listening to “Loss Of Control” now, you can hear plenty of elements that would end up in “Hot For Teacher”. But that first time, it was like a tornado. With Eddie and his fingers whipping all over the place. Next up, the acoustic intro of “Take Your Whiskey Home”, into the rock and then Dave goes “whoah” during the full stop..….still gets me, every time! Followed by the completely acoustic “Could This Be Magic” and more confusion. I thought I was listening to a rock album! But by the time they hit the chorus, “Lonely ships upon the water, sail away with someone’s daughter” I was hooked. Again, I didn’t actually know what it mean, but it sounded great! Then they cap it off with “In A Simple Rhyme”, just awesome. Simply one of, if not my favourite Van Halen songs.

It was such a different world after only listening to 1984 previously and being so young and dumb. The intros, the walkie talkie talk, the spoken word interludes, the acoustic guitars, the short instrumental that mysteriously appears a after the last song…..it was like I fell through the rabbit hole and landed in wonderland.

Motley Crue and Judas Priest records would soon follow, plus all the Van Halen as soon as I could afford them. My hair grew into the Eddie Van Halen do, then sports, school and most friends were cast aside..….I had some music to listen to.

Listen to this song right now!

In music time, it took two and a half listens of Women And Children First to write the above. My tattoo... 

Eurythmics - Savage

I inherited a Eurythmics catalog (5 records from Sweet Dreams to Savage) off a friend of mine about 10 years or so ago. She gave me a box of her sister’s old records. There were some other cool records in there, but 5 Eurythmics albums was a major score! I’d always liked them and most of the songs I heard on the radio and video channels. Sweet Dream turned out to be a classic, as expected. The 3 middle albums (Touch, Be Yourself Tonight, Revenge) had some good songs, but were each a little uneven. But Savage was amazing! I had heard it at a friends place when it first came out and liked it. But basically forgot about it until I got the box of records.

Then I put it on again and it was even better than I remembered. When it was first released it was noted as having a much more experimental sound, even for the Eurythmics. Dave Stewart himself said it saw the band, “turn sharp left”. But it sounds great now and the electronic elements show they were way ahead of their time, much like on the “Sweet Dreams” record. It’s aged very well and still sounds great today. The songs are fantastic and I’ve always liked the conceptual element of it. Annie takes the role of the neurotic, mousey housewife who morphs into the extroverted blonde vamp. Plenty of metaphors abound, but for the most part I get a feeling it follows the path to freedom for anyone stuck in a redundant, monotonous situation.

Instead of embarking on another massive worldwide tour, Annie and Dave decided to make a video album. As great as the record is, the video is superb. The order of the songs is actually moved around a little and it works much better for the concept. Some of the videos are pretty simple, others a little more elaborate. But it’s very cool and Annie is in her element bouncing from character to character.

Either way though, listening or watching, Savage is just a great album, with great songs and production. And “Brand New Day” is possibly one of the best album closing songs ever. It’s the end of the journey and the promise of a new beginning with a simply phenomenal performance from Annie. They also bring things full circle in the video, a dance troup of school girls perform ‘Eurythmics’ to the song, which is a music education type of dance from which the band originally took their name.

Here’s the song list for the video and if you’d like to check it out for yourself, I found a link to download click here

Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)

I Need A Man

Heaven

Shame

Wide Eyed Girl

Do You Want To Break Up?

I Got A Lover (Back In Japan)

Put The Blame On Me

Savage

You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart

I Need You

Brand New Day

The Alabama Singers...are actually the Pilgrim Travelers!

So it turns out the Alabama Singers I mentioned in a previous post aren't a real group after all. I don't mean that in a Milli Vanilli way, but the record I have is an Italian bootleg of a record from a 50's gospel group known as the Pilgrim Travelers. That would explain why it doesn't sound like the late 60's, it was recorded ten years before then. It would also explain why I like it so much, the 50's is one of my favourite decades for music. Plus, the doo-wop, walking bass lines and skiffle drums are all 50's hallmarks. Of course, I say that now, but for the last 5 months, I thought it was a 60's record ha ha Anyway, this is part of the note Alex sent me....


"The real revelation is that the "Alabama Singers" do not exist! In fact these recordings are by the Pilgrim Travelers, a black gospel group from the 50's! They weren't even from Alabama! They recorded almost exclusively for Specialty Records, but they also recorded 14 sides for Andex, a small record label owned by Bob Keane. These sides were released as 45's in 1958, but it seems that they were first released on the 1957 LP Look Up! which is now out of print and very rare.


The bottom line is that the recordings are truly superb, and they have inspired me to really check out the Pilgrim Travelers and listen to many of their other recorded sides from th 50s, which are almost categorically terrific. I highly recommend them, especially if you have any doubt as to whether the Alabama Singers and the Pilgrim Travelers are one and the same."


The Pilgrim Travelers are easily found on youtube and as he mentioned, they are indeed one and the same and terrific! Thanks again for all the internet sleuthing Alex! Now the search is on for the Pilgrim Travelers, one door closes and another opens. The picture above is a 1988 re-issue that I found on ebay for 20 bucks. I haven't clicked the 'place bid' button on it...yet.


I've also relabelled the folder and here are The Pilgrim Travelers 

The Alabama Singers

This is one I discovered recently, during a late August trip to Vancouver. I’ve been trying to find some cool gospel, but it’s a tricky genre. I prefer southern Baptist spirituals as opposed to Methodist hymns for example. It can be tough to find a genre that doesn’t really exist in your geographic area (Canada). But, I came across the Alabama Singers record at Vinyl on Hastings, a great store with a huge selection. I’d never heard, heard of or seen anything by the Alabama Singers. But, I recognized some of the song titles and thought I’d give it a shot. The cover is pretty striking too, pictures from a very dark chapter in American history. But it's also where the title "Negro Spiritual Music" and the songs came from.

Turned out to be a fantastic find! It was released in 1969 and has really good production for the time. Doesn’t sound like a lot of late 60’s music, mainly because of the genre. It’s a lot brighter than the sound of pop and rock music from that time. The songs bounce from uppity hand clapping numbers to mid-tempo rollers and sorrowful ballads. The performances are superb and the level of vocal talent is second to none. The lead singers switch between male and female and all are top notch. This record is a great example of the voice as an instrument, with songs like Go Down Moses, Poor Pilgrim Of Sorrow and I Can Do Better Than That. The latter being one of my favourites!

The soul is intense, (He’ll Never Let Go Your Hand, Yes Indeed, Walk Around) and the ballads can bring you to tears. Motherless Child is about as moving as it gets, it’ll literally make you stop what you’re doing. That’s one of the things I really love about gospel, it’s straight from soul. There’s nothing in between the belief and the song.

It’s quick, only 33 minutes and not one song cracks 3:00 (the longest being 2:58, the shortest 1:44). So it has lots of songs (14), which means a good batch of tunes. It doesn’t slow down, even with the ballads, because the songs are so short. That’s another thing I’ve always enjoyed, short albums. You don’t want it too short, like 15 minutes. But between 30 and 45 minutes works perfect. If it’s good, you’ll listen to it again. And I’ve listened to this record a lot!

I haven’t found this album anywhere for download, although I have seen a copy of the vinyl on ebay. There is an album on itunes which looks similar, but it also features the Downtown Sisters and is called, “Gospels and Spirituals”. Only 4 of the songs are the Alabama Singers too.

The true origin of the Alabama Singers has been discovered! New link and update a couple of posts up.