"Phoebe Snow" by PHOEBE SNOW (June 1995 US The Right Stuff/Shelter 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue with One Bonus Track - Steve Hoffman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Almost 300 Others Is Available In My

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

Folk-Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Country Rock and more

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

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"...You Make Things All Rhyme..."

Like Dory Previn, Judee Sill and even Melissa Manchester - New York's Phoebe Snow released albums that made noises at the time (in this case a career peak position of No. 4 in the States in the Autumn of 1974) - but in truth her work has taken decades for true appreciation to be shown - for the rest of the world to catch up so to speak.

Over in Blighty - Snow remained something of a cult figure for years making a whopping four further albums on Columbia Records (issued through CBS here) between 1976 and 1979. I can recall they would sit in the secondhand racks of Reckless in Soho and Islington for months on end – nestled forlornly alongside Richie Furay, Eric Anderson and Bobby Whitlock LPs - hoping to be bought and loved by someone. Well better late than never...

Gorgeously produced by Dino Airali and mixed by Phil Ramone - the self-titled 9-track album originally on Shelter Records in the USA also boasted top musician contributions - Dave Mason of Traffic, Americana guitar supremo Dave Bromberg, uber sessionman Hugh McDonald on Bass, Bob James on Organ and Zoot Sims on Tenor Sax, Percussionist Ralph Mac Donald and even The Persuasions old-timey Vocal Group lending their lovely lungs on an inspired cover of Sam Cooke's "Good Times (aka Let The Good Times Roll)".

But what marks this CD reissue out for special praise is a glorious Remaster by Steve Hoffman (done at Future Disc Systems in Hollywood) - one of the Engineers behind the 'Audio Fidelity' CD Reissue Label and someone many Audiophiles will seek out just because he twiddled with the master tapes. Let's get to the 'manifold expressions' and poetry men...

US release 22 June 1995 - "Phoebe Snow" by PHOEBE SNOW on The Right Stuff/Shelter T2-31972 (Barcode 724383197224) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue of the 1974 album on Shelter Records with One Bonus Track (Non-Album B-side of a Single) that plays out as follows (39:52 minutes):

1. Good Times [Side 1]

2. Harpo's Blues

3. Poetry Man

4. Either Or Both 

5. San Francisco Bay Blues

6. I Don't Want The Night To End [Side 2]

7. Take Your Children Home

8. It Must Be Sunday

9. No Show Tonight

Tracks 1 to 9 are her debut album "Phoebe Snow" - released July 1974 in the USA on Shelter Records SR 2109 and September 1974 in the UK on Island/Shelter ISA 5010. Produced by DINO AIRALI (Co-Produced and Engineered by PHIL RAMONE) - "Phoebe Snow" peaked at No. 4 in the USA (didn't chart UK). All songs written by Phoebe Snow except "Good Times" by Sam Cooke and "San Francisco Blues" by Jesse Fuller.

BONUS TRACK:

10. Easy Street

Non-album B-side to "Harpo's Blues" - a US 7" single released April 1975 in the USA on Shelter SR-40400

The 8-page booklet is a fairly functional affair – album credits, the lyrics, the side-profile photo of Phoebe that adorned the rear sleeve but not a lot else (shame there wasn’t an assessment of her achievements). But the big news is a STEVE HOFFMAN Remaster (assisted by Engineer TOM BAKER) from original tapes – and this album sounds GLORIOUS – lovely warmth glowing from each song – a transfer that brings out that combo of top session playing and quality production. This is a mellow-mellow Soft Rock LP – it required a deft touch and that’s what you get. Classy indeed. To the slinky music...

With the album released in early July 1974 and not doing much business, Shelter USA pushed out the first of three singles to promote interest - and it worked. The impossibly hooky and Summer vibe-ish cover of Sam Cooke's "Let The Good Times Roll" b/w the equally catchy "Harpo's Blues" led the charge in August 1974 on Shelter SR-40278. Although it didn't make Top 20 per say - strong radio play saw the LP finally hit the Billboard charts in early September 1974 – from whence it made a steady climb to an impressive No. 4. Trying again with "Poetry Man" b/w "Either Or Both" in December 1974 on Shelter SR-40353 - it too would take the long road - finally charting in April 1975 and eventually giving Phoebe Laub (her real name) her first hit single on Billboard. The hugely popular song (and undoubted album highlight) enjoyed an 11-week run - peaking at No. 5 - aided in no small part by her guest duet vocal appearance on the "Gone At Last" track from Paul Simon's 1975 "Still Crazy After All These Years" album. Shelter seized the day again - reaching once more for "Harpo's Blues” as 45 Number Three - but this time putting the non-album "Easy Street" on the flipside - added onto this CD as a Bonus Track.

Side 1 opens with "Good Times" - a soft-shoe-shuffle through a famous Sam Cooke hit that features Steve Burgh of Jacobs Creek on Guitar with the dulcet tones of The Persuasions. You're immediately struck by her strangely intoxicating voice - a warbling refrain as she strums Acoustic Guitar. It gently slides into the Soft Rock of "Harpo's Blues" - Teddy Wilson on Piano, Zoot Sims on Tenor Sax and Bob James on Organ. The self-serving ladie's man wooing all the chicks with his fervent lines inhabits "Poetry Man" - Snow's knowing lyrics filled with sweetness one moment and savagery the next ("..Home's that place, somewhere you go each day, to see your wife..."). Acoustic Americana sails in with "Either Or Both" - just her and Dave Bromberg working an Acoustic Guitar and Dobro - sliding bluesy notes and her doubled vocals making the song feel like an intimate evening in some cellar downtown where you discover a magical force behind the microphone. Side 1 ends on a soft Blues shuffle - just her with an acoustic and Chuck Israels on Upright Bass working their way through the second cover version on the album - Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Blues" - Snow sounding not unlike a female Tom Waits moaning about a woman who took the ocean liner and ain't likely to be coming back any time soon (what a bounder).  

Side 2 opens with a double-dose of mid-tempo shuffles - "I Don't Want The Night To End" and "Take Your Children Home" - the first a sexy 'oh daddy' longing song whilst the next has a plea to love children. Lyrically "It Must Be Sunday" is probably the wordiest song on the album - emotional desperados drinking Vermouth, shopping the pain away - lonely hearts dreading the reminders laced into another solo New Year's Eve (Zoot Sims on Tenor Sax and Bob James on Organ). Stage fright and malaise consume Phoebe in "No Show Tonight" - drowning in the dressing room - take back that Oscar (Dave Mason of Traffic plays Lead Guitar). "Easy Street" turns out to be a sweetie for a B-side - a feeling lost, kind of ill, last dollar bill song - pleading to God for help - a few tips on crossing over to Easy Street. It ends the CD on a high.  

IN 2013 "Phoebe Snow" received what many would consider to be the ultimate Audiophile accolade - a vinyl reissue by the highly regarded Analogue Productions as a 2LP set played at 45 speed. If you want the absolute CD business then the 1994 DCC Compact Classics 24-Carat Gold Reissue with the Bonus Track as listed above but also with an extra six demo versions of albums tracks - is the one for you (DCC Compact Classics GZS 1051 - Barcode 010963105124 for the right issue). The Demos are absolutely gorgeous by the way and I sometimes find myself playing them more that the more sophisticated finished versions. But beware, it's been deleted some years now and like much of DCC's Audiophile catalogue has acquired a bit of a nasty price tag. In the meantime you can settle for this easily available 1995 American CD reissue version - Barcode 724383197224. And it’s cheap too.

“...Do you like or love...either or both of me...” - Snow sings pleadingly on “Either Or Both". I’ll settle for this one to love ta very much...

"Big Brother Is Watching You: The CBS Recordings Anthology" by SKIN ALLEY (February 2011 Esoteric Recordings 2CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Almost 300 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

Folk-Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Country Rock and more

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

Includes the albums "Skin Alley" and "To Pagham And Beyond" - both from 1970

"...Take Heed..."

Obscure for a reason - unknown but worthy of rediscovery – a bit of both? I've always found the hybrid Jazz-Rock and Underground Music of England’s SKIN ALLEY difficult to pin down. In fact you could say that by the time they made their third album "Two Quid Deal?" over on Transatlantic Records in 1972 (outside the remit of this double that chronicles their first two platters on CBS) - they were more Funk-Rock than Prog or Fusion (for that reason, two of that album's songs made their way onto the superb August 2017 RPM Records 3CD Box Set "One Way Glass: Dancefloor Prog, Brit Jazz and Funky Folk 1968-1975" – see separate review).

To the matter at hand - what you get here is the London band's first two platters on CBS Records both released in 1970 - "Skin Alley" from March and "To Pagham And Beyond" from December. There's also the debut UK 7" single from March 1970 - an Edit and Remix of "Tell Me" from Side 1 of the debut LP paired up with the non-album "Better Be Blind" on the flipside. And as if that's not good enough, for real aficionados there are 9 new tracks recorded in London in November 1970 for a movie called "Stop Veruschka" about the German Model and socialite Verushka - or if we're really being snobby here - Countess Vera von Lehndorff-Steinort (her real name). These wild Jazz recordings have languished in vaults for over four decades and make their digital debut here mastered from original tapes. A lot on offer then - let's get to the cops and robbers...

UK released February 2011 (re-issued September 2015) - "Big Brother Is Watching you: The CBS Recordings Anthology" by SKIN ALLEY on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 22243 (Barcode 5013929734326) is a 2CD 26-Track Reissue containing the two 1970 albums "Skin Alley" and "To Pagham And Beyond" along with a non-album single and Nine Bonus Tracks from an unreleased soundtrack "Stop Veruschka". It plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (67:19 minutes):

1. Living In Sin [Side 1]

2. Tell Me

3. Mother Please Help Your Child

4. Marsha

5. Country Aire [Side 2]

6. All Alone

7. Night Time

8. Concerto Grosso (Take Heed)

9. (Going Down The) Highway

Tracks 1 to 9 are their debut album "Skin Alley" - released March 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 63947 (no US issue). Produced by DICK TAYLOR for Clearwater Productions - it didn't chart.

10. Better Be Blind

11. Tell Me (Single Version)

Tracks 11 and 10 are the A&B-side of their March 1970 UK debut 7" single on CBS Records 5045. "Tell Me" (the A-side) runs to 4:39 minutes on the album - but the 'Single Version' is 3:58 minutes and a different mix - the B-side "Better Be Blind" is non-album.

12. Shower Music

13. Sofa, Taxi And Sand Themes

14. Cemetery Scene

15. First Drug Scene

Tracks 12 to 15 recorded November 1970 at De Lane Lea Studios in London and come from the unreleased soundtrack to "Stop Veruschka" (see also Tracks 7 to 11 on Disc 2)

Disc 2 (64:20 minutes):

1. Big Brother Is Watching You [Side 1]

2. Take Me To Your Leader's Daughter

3. Walking In The Park

4. The Queen Of Bad Intentions [Side 2]

5. Sweaty Betty

6. Easy To Lie

Tracks 1 to 6 are their second studio album "To Pagham And Beyond" - released December 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 64140. Produced by FRITZ FRYER - it didn't chart.

7. Russian Boogaloo

8. Skin Alley Serenade

9. Sun Music

10. Bird Music

11. Snow Music

Tracks 7 to 11 recorded November 1970 at De Lane Lea Studios in London and come from the unreleased soundtrack to "Stop Veruschka" (see also Tracks 12 to 15 on Disc 1)

SKIN ALLEY was:

Tracks 1 to 11 on Disc 1

KRZRYSTOF HENRYK-JUSKIEWICZ - Organ, Piano, Mellotron, Harpsichord and Vocals

BOB JAMES - Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Flute and Vocals

THOMAS CRIMBLE - Bass, Mellotron and Vocals

GILES 'Alvin' POPE - Drums, Congas and Timpani (Tracks 1 to 9, Drums only on Tracks 10 and 11)

Tracks 12 to 12 to 15 on Disc 1 and Tracks 7 to 11 on Disc 2

KRZRYSTOF HENRYK-JUSKIEWICZ - Hammond Organ, Piano, Mellotron and Vocals

BOB JAMES - Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Flute and Vocals

NICK GRAHAM - Bass, Flute and Vocals

GILES 'Alvin' POPE - Drums

Tracks 1 to 6 on Disc 2

KRZRYSTOF HENRYK-JUSKIEWICZ - Hammond Organ, Trumpet, Piano, Mellotron and Vocals

BOB JAMES - Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Flute and Vocals

THOMAS CRIMBLE - Acoustic and Electric Bass, Guitars, Harmonica and Vocals

NICK GRAHAM - Vocals on "Walking In The Park" and "Sweaty Betty"

GILES 'Alvin' POPE - Drums

The 16-page booklet features the front and rear sleeves of the 'lippy' cop of the debut LP and the colour photo of the band on the inner gatefold of "To Pagham And Beyond". Amidst the text is a trade advert for the 6 March 1970 release of the "Skin Alley" album and 'Clearwater Productions' adverts for their Underground clique of acts - Cochise, Hawkwind, Heron, Trees and of course - Skin Alley. There's even a very rare promotional for the 'Afan Festival No.2' on Saturday the 23rd of May 1970 at the Afan Lido, Port Talbot in Wales with a tasty line-up across 8-hours to choose from that included Rory Gallagher's Taste, The Keef Hartley Band, Atomic Rooster, Skin Alley, Hawkwind and some upper-coming little Prog band called YES. 48 years later and the lead singer’s mush - Jon Anderson of Yes - is gracing the glossy cover of the August 2018 Edition of England's Record Collector magazine – side by side with that other stallion of Prog - Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull - both immortalised by a specially created illustration for the front cover by Rodney Matthews (limited edition art prints No'd to 200 available for £200 each - get in my son).

MARK POWELL (leading light at Esoteric Recordings) provides the detailed and informative liner notes while a duo of Audio Engineers I love did the remastering from original tapes - PASCHAL BYRNE and BEN WISEMAN. These guys have been through (quite possibly) hundreds of these reissues and are more than up to the job. Licensed from Sony - these CDs sound great – especially that second LP. Let's get to the music...

Side 1 of the self-titled debut album opens with two from Bob James - the witty wayward generation song "Living In Sin" and the almost Fleetwood Mac sounding feeling-blue single "Tell Me" (dig that Mellotron evoking those Summer days). They're followed by two from keyboardist Juskiewicz - the organ and drums fusion of "Mother Please Help Your Child" and seven minutes of pure Underground Jazz-Rock in the instrumental "Marsha". It’s clear that the tapes are in remarkable shape - that rhythm section rattling around your speakers as Juskiewicz gives in some Keith Emerson on the Organ followed by Bob James getting all blowy on his Sax. Side 2 opens with another Bob James composition - the Flute and Harpsichord pretty "Country Aire" - a jaunty little number that sounds like its title. There then follows the first of three Thomas Crimble songs - "All Alone" - the other two are "Night Time" and "(Going Down The) Highway" - sandwiched between 30-seconds of Harpsichord from Juskiewicz called "Concerto Grosso (Take Heed)". Both mellow and melancholic - his vocals on "All Alone" aren't possible the strongest but there's a great 'where is my little girl gone, left me all alone' shuffle about it and "...Highway" would have been the kind of tune that heads bobbing in the live scenario.

The unreleased soundtrack opens well with "Shower Music" - a piano roll that could be 2018 let alone 1970 - only to give way to a breathy flute. Five minutes of "Sofa, Taxi And Sand Themes" sports lyrics about growing old floating over acoustic guitars and impressive musical passages on various keyboards and guitars. Esoteric Recordings clearly thought "Skin Valley Serenade" (over on Disc 2) worthy of punter’s adoration because they give it pride of place on the August 2017 3CD Box Set "Let The Electric Children Play: The Underground Story Of Transatlantic Records 1968-1976". The funky "Russian Boogaloo" will have instrumental nuts sit up and dance too. But I'd have to say both "Cemetery Scene" and "First Drug Scene" are insufferable lengthy Jazz and Sound Effect whig-outs that would test Captain Beefheart's patience and I can see why these were left in the can.

Over on Disc 2 we get the accomplished second album "To Pagham And Beyond" released at the tail end of 1970. With only three lengthy songs to each side - the album is far more Jazz-Rock than the first LP. The title of this 2CD anthology opens Side 1 - "Big Brother Is Watching You" - a face-the-wall warning mixed in with misery lyrics over a lost girlfriend. Eight minutes and forty-three seconds of "Take Me To Your Leader's Daughter" sees the flute and stop-start Latin rhythms mingle with Jazz Piano as the workout nears its snake beat high-hat drums ending. Having joined the band for the "Stop Veruschka" sessions - Nick Graham guests as lead vocalist on two tunes - the cover of Graham Bond's "Walking In The Park" and Thomas Crimble's delightfully entitled "Sweaty Beatty". Threatening to turn into a Juicy Lucy session doing a Hammond Organ shuffle - "Walking In The Park" could easily have been an edited single in my books - go after the Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago market - but alas. After a wild and slightly ill-advised Saxophone screaming beginning - "Sweaty Beatty" thankfully settles into a rather cool Jazz-Rock tune – nice melody lines and playing. The album ends on "Easy To Lie" – six-minutes twenty of people talking all over town – some dude got shot down and our incensed singer is not sure that innocent/sucker wasn’t set up. Nice vocal lines and a finger-clicking beat are soon joined by Fuzz Guitars and Spaghetti Western chants – only to go into speed halfway through. "Easy To Lie" ends the CBS period well...

SKIN ALLEY were very much a part of a period in British counter-culture when experimentation was embraced – even the norm a few years later. For sure not all of this music will sail your average Joe's dancing dingy – but I have to praise Esoteric once again for a quality job done. Recommend from Margate and beyond...

Moving, Beautiful, Life-Affirming and Sad - Juhi Chaturvedi and Shoojit Sidcar's "October" - This 2018 Film Is One To Seek Out...

"OCTOBER" 

The Shoojit Sidcar 2018 Film 

A Review

Like most ageing white-guys trying desperately to rock a silver-fox beard - I've mostly looked on Indian movies as being happy-wappy Bollywood Bling where someone breaks into a song and dance routine at the drop of a monikered handkerchief. Then everyone else on set suddenly joins in the wild shape-throwing (miraculously having won a job lot of bionic limbs and hips) - our hero singing to camera with a smile on his henna painted face the size of Boris Johnson’s venial sin list in a Catholic confessional (yikes).

Don't get me wrong. I've loved Indian-themed movies like "The Namesake" and "The Lunch Box" that have thrown off those stereotypes (see reviews) - both films mentioned - deeply beautiful and moving too. So it was more than a pleasant surprise to find this sweet little World Cinema gem lingering on Amazon Prime for (technically) no schillings and zero pence.

Beautifully written and realised by Juhi Chaturvedi and Directed by Shoojit Sircar - a group of 20-something upwardly mobile Indian men and women are all working in a 5-Star luxurious New Delhi Hotel. Trying to hold down jobs (some elevated, some menial) whilst staying on the right side of the uber-strict Floor Manager and expensive 3-year courses paid for by ambitious parents - at a drunken New Year's Eve party on the third floor - something goes badly wrong. The rest of the movie sees our once carefree but work-committed crew and their fractured families become acquainted with the hospital caring side of life (whether they like or not) and all that brings with it in the clinical and often cruel real world.

The three principal leads are brilliant - the handsome yet reckless Varun Dhawan as Dan - a lazy young man with an attitude and a whole lot of growing up to do - the quietly beautiful, studious but largely unnoticed Banita Sandhu as Shiuli - a woman waiting for life to begin – waiting for love to blossom like the white Night Jasmines she so loves that only bloom in October - and her long-suffering yet dignified mother Isha Chaturvedi.

I would add (without giving too much away) - that this is a sad film in some respects but it is also uplifting.  Once into the thick of the pain - "October" takes it time - delivering moments that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled. I'd also single out for special praise - a truly haunting soundtrack by Shantanu Moitra with a simple violin theme you might find yourself humming as you wipe away tears in the kitchen post surgery (badly in need of a reviving cuppa).

"October" will not be for everyone - slow and subtitled and at times not really sure of itself or where it's trying to go or what it's trying to say. But I found it intensely moving nonetheless. And nearing 60 years of age - I'm going online to get Banita Sandhu's phone number (look out honey-bun, here come the bouquets).

Life is both joyous and vicious in equal measure and this little ode to hope gets across both sides of that story with a rare poignancy (wake up and smell the roses while you can).

 "October" is a lovely unfolding watch that made me cry and one I recommend you seek out like the sweet life-giving scent of flowers...