Sounds Good, Looks Good...

Welcome to Mark Barry's Review Blog - SOUNDS GOOD, LOOKS GOOD... It features in-depth reviews for Quality CD Reissues and Remasters - all with Discography Info (six times Amazon 'Hall of Fame' Reviewer). With over 2,600 posts - genres covered include Rock, Pop, Soul, Funk, Jazz Fusion, Blues, Rhythm 'n' Blues, Doo Wop, Vocal Groups, 1960s and 1970s, Prog, Psych, Folk, Blues-Rock, Goth, Punk, New Wave, 1980s, Reggae and more. I also review FILMS, TV Shows, BLU RAYS and BOOKS. Enjoy the reads...

Thursday 29 April 2021

"The Original Soundtrack" by 10cc – March 1975 UK Third Studio Album on Mercury Records featuring Kevin Godley, Lol Crème, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart (July 1997 UK Mercury 'Digitally Remastered' CD Reissue – Expanded Edition with Two Non-LP B-sides as Bonus Tracks) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and 204 More Like It Are Available In My

Amazon e-Book

CAPT. FANTASTIC - 1975

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters

All Reviews From The Discs Themselves

(No Cut And Paste Crap)

"...The Flush Of Success Relieves A Constipated Mind..."

The boys in the band sang, "Something's cooking, and it might be you..."

I remember when I first heard this extraordinary album by the ultimate Mancunian four-piece band - 10cc. In some respects it was like hearing "Sgt. Peppers" from 1967 all over again, because in March 1975 you didn't know where to look, such was the innovation and cleverness displayed on every single convoluted song.

Wrapped in stunning (if not a tad too convoluted) tunes and Audiophile-type Production values, its matt gatefold sleeve and lyric insert gave the album the feel of event rather than just another release. These guys had worked like Billy-o on this sucker and it showed – an album that did indeed paint moving pictures and feel like their accompanying musical score. "The Original Soundtrack" has always been a gorgeous Vinyl LP to look at - and hear - and some 45 years plus after the event, remains so still.

So even though this CD variant from July 1997 could really do with an upgrade in terms of presentation and more expanded extras (the 4:08 minute single edit of "Life Is A Minestrone" followed by the 3:46 minute single edit of "I'm Not In Love" for starters) – this Digitally Remastered and Expanded CD Edition still packs a serious aural Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in its digital pores.

So - Gendarmes going to Hell in Paris, sleazy photographs in Soho, another honky on the dole, Mini Mouse getting more fan-mail than the Pope, portraits hiding nasty stains on the wall, big boys that should be quiet and not cry - let's get this romance cooking honey and return to their fourth Seventies classic...

UK released June 1997 - "The Original Soundtrack" by 10cc on Mercury 532 964-2 (Barcode 731453296428) is a Digitally Remastered Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Two Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (48:53 minutes):

1. Une Nuit A Paris [Side 1]

Part 1 - One Night In Paris

Part 2 - The Same Night In Paris

Part 3 - Later The Same Night In Paris

2. I'm Not In Love

3. Blackmail

4. The Second Sitting For The Last Supper [Side 2]

5. Brand New Day

6. Flying Junk

7. Life Is A Minestrone

8. The Film Of My Love

Tracks 1 to 8 are their fourth studio album "The Original Soundtrack" - released March 1975 in the UK on Mercury Records 9102 500 and April 1975 in the USA on Mercury SRM-1-1029. Produced by 10cc - it peaked at No. 3 in the UK and No. 15 in the US LP charts.

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Channel Swimmer

Track 9 is the 25 March 1975 UK 45-single on Mercury 6008 010, Non-LP B-side of "Life Is A Minestrone"

10. Good News

Track 10 is the 23 May 1975 UK 45-single on Mercury 6008 014, Non-LP B-side of "I'm Not In Love"

The 8-page booklet is both good and bad. Only the front cover of the LP is represented - with the inner gatefold, rear cover and especially that hugely detailed lyric-insert - all AWOL. In their place is a new set of liner notes from ROB STEEN that are witty and super-affectionate with further track-by-track info from 10cc-man GRAHAM GOULDMAN. Typically his observations are erudite, sarcastic without being condescending and filled with factoids only the maker knows about.

ROGER WAKE who did all the Strawbs and Joan Armatrading CD Remasters on A&M Records – handles the Remaster here and its lovely. Some say the Mobile Fidelity issue that followed (I think it was 1999) is better – but that US-only Audiophile CD is cost prohibitive in 2021 – while this beauty is a smidge above a fiver – and less on secondhand internet sites. To the music...

Apparently the three-part "One Night In Paris" suite was a Side-long 20-minute opus at one point but they decided it was too boring, so chopped in down to a mere eight and half minutes. And this is where the missing lyrics start to pinch. The wit and razor-blade wisdom that's inherent in 10cc songs means that the smarts in the words start to come at you fast and furious right from the off and you wish you could keep up. Layer after layer of music is intertwined with onion soup French accents, but this is nothing to the wall of synths that greets you for the iconic "I'm Not In Love" - still moving and so unique. The bippity boppity boo jaunt in "Blackmail" belies just how nasty the subject matter is as the guitars rip from speaker to speaker.

The opener on Side 2 "The Second Sitting Of The Last Supper" is the closest the LP gets to an out-and-out Rock song ala Zeppelin - a song about the Messiah returning reluctantly. It's huge in this Remaster. They use the Gizmo on the guitars for the swirling etherial "Brand New Day" - a rather lovely tune in a strange piano-plinking way that I return to more often than others. Autoharp and processed acoustic guitars fill the non-drugs tune "Flying Junk" - no doubt a reaction to the sheer amount of Charlie swirling around the music business at that time - expanding minds supposedly but also expanding paranoia and addiction.

I've always loved that fade in on the brilliant "Life Is A Minestrone" - catchy as a seaside chill chorus and those hilarious lyrics too - what a winner - it's also one of my fave singles of theirs. "Film Of My Love" is my least fave on the LP and the B-sides are just that - good but not great. Having said that, it's cool to have these rare flip-sides in digital form. And also included in this 'Digitally Remastered' Series are "How Dare You" (1976), "Deceptive Bends" (1977) and "Bloody Tourists" (1978).

"...The seat of learning and the flush of success relieves a constipated mind..." – they sang on the witty brilliant Pop of "Life Is A Minestrone". Don't get stuck between a bog and a hard place (sorry about that pun) and never mind your crepe suzette - get your ten cc's worth right here. Genius and then some my sons...

"Fandango!" by ZZ TOP – May 1975 Album on London Records with First Side Being Live (Without Overdubs) and the Second Side Being Studio Tracks - featuring Billy F. Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard (February 2006 UK Warner Brothers Remastered And Expanded CD Reissue with Three Bonus Tracks) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and 204 More Like It Are Available In My

Amazon e-Book

CAPT. FANTASTIC - 1975

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters

All Reviews From The Discs Themselves

(No Cut And Paste Crap)

"...Downtown Tush..."

The fantastically named ZZ TOP had been building up a serious head of steam since their January 1971 US debut "ZZ Top's First Album" on London Records - a natural home for a Texas Blues Rock band.

But things really started to boil on platters number 2 and 3 - "Rio Grande Mud" released April 1972 and especially "Tres Hombres" from August 1973. The stunning Blues Boogie riffage of "La Grange' from "Rio Grande Mud" had gotten everyone's attention (especially American FM Radio) – so the Tops needed a big fat juicy follow-up winner – a 45-juggernaut - and "Tush" from 1975's "Fandango!" nailed it like Anthony Hopkins anywhere near an Oscar performance.

Which brings us to this – the 'Newly Remastered And Expanded' CD Edition of "Fandango!" from late 2006 – over 30 years after the main event first appeared. Time for details, so to the girls turning up at gigs with a new boyfriend and your old jeans that went missing just before she left (eek)...

UK released 28 February 2006 - "Fandango!" by ZZ TOP on Warner Bothers 8122-78965-2 (Barcode 081227896522) is a Newly Remastered And Expanded CD Reissue of their Fourth Album from 1975 with Three Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (42:04 minutes):

1. Thunderbird [Side 1]

2. Jailhouse Rock

3. Backdoor Medley: Backdoor Love Affair/Mellow Down Easy/Backdoor Love Affair No.2/Long Distance Boogie

4. Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings [Side 2]

5. Blue Jean Blues

6. Balinese

7. Mexican Blackbird

8. Heard It On The X

9. Tush

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fourth LP "Fandango!" – released May 1975 in the USA on London PS 656 and June 1975 in the UK on London SH-U 8482. The three 'live' cuts of Side 1 were recorded without overdubs at the Warehouse venue in the Waterfront District of New Orleans - while Side 2 sports five new Studio Tracks. Produced by BILL HAM – the LP peaked at No. 10 in the USA and No. 60 in the UK.

BONUS TRACKS:

10. Heard It On The X (Live)

11. Jailhouse Rock (Live)

12. Tush (Live)

All three Bonus Tracks recorded live in 1979 and are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Some history - sporadic tracks from "Fandango!" have cropped up in remastered form on the 2003 "Chrome, Smoke & BBQ" 4CD Retro Box Set - whilst there is also a Remastered version of the whole album minus the bonuses (33:51 minutes) in repro card sleeve form in the June 2013 Box Set "The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990" on Warner Brothers 8122796519 – a 10CD mini clamshell whopper of a box set that goes all the way from 1971's debut up to their "Recycler" album from October 1990.

Here we get a 12-page booklet with hugely entertaining and informative liner notes from TOM VICKERS - a friend and admirer of the band since the Seventies. The front and rear artwork of the single sleeve original LP is here (nudie suits and ten-gallon hats ahoy) as are some period photos of the 'Little Trio From Texas' including an overhead shot of 80,000 arena friends in 1974 (see photos provided). The band was (still is) BILLY F GIBBONS on Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals and Harmonica with DUSTY HILL on Bass and Vocals and FRANK BEARD on Drums (the only one who ironically did not sport a beard as a part of their recognisable look for decades to come).

But the big news is of course a BOB LUDWIG Remaster done from original master tapes at his Gateway Mastering Studios, and as you can imagine, this rowdy little sucker is not shy in any way as it exits your slightly shell-shocked speakers. It sounds 'great'. To the tunes and those complimentary extras...

The smart move on their Texas Threesome part was to show both sides of the band – Side 1 of the LP live and undubbed – gritty, down and dirty as a bar stool in Little Joe’s Bourbon Bordello out on Highway 29. Those of us who bought the LP at the time will remember the wording on the rear sleeve - "Side One Live Recorded At The Warehouse, New Orleans Captured As It Came Down - Hot, Spontaneous - And Presented To You Honestly, Without The Assistance Of Studio Gimmicks". And that’s pretty much what you get.

After the roar of the crowd, a drum roll and an excited compare asking the collective punters are they 'ready to rawk' (they were) - ZZ Top launch into a new song called "Thunderbird" where they sing about getting high, high, high. It's a storming opening and even though a new tune, feels like a friend you missed. Dusty's hero had always been Elvis Presley (they relay a story about stumbling on him in his limousine one day as they travelling to a Memphis gig) - so not surprisingly they tear through "Jailhouse Rock". A tune that's been overdone for sure, but ZZ give it some fantastic new Rock licks and suddenly those lyrics about "...wanna stick around and get my kicks..." have a new urgency. Side 1 ends with a nine and half minute tour-de-force medley. They mix in the Willie Dixon-penned Little Walter tune "Mellow Down Easy" into two of their own - "Backdoor Love Affair" and "Long Distance Boogie". As the drums pound and the rapid pace is maintained - Billy raps with the crowd between singing - let that boy Boogie Woogie way down in New Orleans. It's great fun and despite being only a three-piece, they make a huge sound as they romp on home.

But then we get their greatness reaffirmed as the Studio Side 2 opens with the fantastically dirty riffage of "Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings" - the Remaster giving it some real power at last. There follows what has to be one of my favourite Blues lurches of theirs - the tale of "Blue Jean Blues". Frank Beard done ran into his baby and finally found his old blue jeans (he recognises them from the oil and gasoline) only she's wearing them for some other lowlife skank (stunning Blues playing throughout too). More tales of dodgy goings-on down at the "Balinese" and then a gal who works the cantina then dances and loves the boys in "Mexican Blackbird". The rapido riffage returns with "Heard It On The X" – tunes from their past whizzing through the air – listening to the radio as it lifted and enlightened. The Remaster brings up that so-cool guitar solo – top indeed.

The album ends on a total winner. The seven-inch 45-single "Tush" was issued July 1975 in the USA on London 5N-220 in a picture sleeve and 11 July 1975 in England on London HLU 10495 in a label bag – both issues with the cool "Blue Jean Blues" on the flipside. This is my idea of a masterpiece 45-single – both sides impossibly great. The Blighty issue created interest in the album (didn't chart though), but it hit big in the USA, peaking at No. 20 – an improvement over the No. 40 placing of its American little brother "La Grange" in May 1974 (a minor blip for the booklet is not picturing the rare US cartoon sleeve). The short, sweet and to-the-point riffage of "Tush" has been used in countless movies since - "Armageddon", "Dazed And Confused" and "The Bucket List" to name but a few and in great TV series like "Breaking Bad".

The three previously unreleased live choices recorded four years after the "Fandango!" album (no dates or venues are supplied) reflect tracks that were on the original 1975 LP. And it is clear that the years have helped because they are honed and crafted into mini aural beasts – stunning air and atmosphere around them – a fitting end to a very successful and pleasing reissue.

Dusty F. Gibbons sees his third solo album "Hardware" issued in June 2021 with many advance orders and excited Stereo trigger-fingers waiting anxiously to get their grubby paws on it. But if you want to know why ZZ Top was so adored in the first place, this gritty little Balinese CD Remaster is the perfect place to go.

Fifty years plus and that 'little 'ol band from Texas' still continue to cast a long shadow...and isn't that just the Blues Rock best...

Wednesday 28 April 2021

"Atlantic Crossing" by ROD STEWART – August 1975 UK and US Sixth Studio Album on Warner Brothers Records featuring Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn of Booker T & The M.G.'s, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimmy Johnson, Fred Tackett, David Lindley, Barry Beckett, Nigel Olsson and The Memphis Horns (November 2000 UK Warner Brothers CD Reissue in the 'Warner Remasters' Series – Patrick Kraus Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and 204 More Like It Are Available In My

Amazon e-Book

CAPT. FANTASTIC - 1975

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters

All Reviews From The Discs Themselves

(No Cut And Paste Crap)

"...Home Again...Across The Sea..."

Issued in Blighty in November 2000 - can this forgotten CD Remaster really be 'over' 20 years old in 2021? Well it is - and at just above a fiver-English (brand new and sealed) from darling Jeff and his Amazonian hoards – tis still bloody good value for money too.

Common consensus tells us that Rodders lost something in his transition from fantastic Faces frontman vocalist intertwined with a stunning solo career in the first half of the Seventies when he segued to this - his August 1975 Warner Brothers big Stateside push that came complete with a model wife, saffron scarf, bubbly glass in hand, Art acquisitions on the Malibu walls and burgers bigger than Kenny Everett's bum-pads in that now infamous slag-off sketch (very sexy Ken).

But actually, as far as I'm concerned, the musical rot did not really start in until December 1978's "Blondes Have More Fun". I know some of the more sexist tunes like "Hot Legs" were hard to take then and even more so now – but like most fans of my advanced years, I've always held a torch for "Atlantic Crossing" (1975), "A Night On The Town" (1976) and "Foot Loose And Fancy Free" (1977) - a trio of good to occasionally great albums in a period where most Rock acts were either floundering or downright superfluous to Rock 'n' Roll requirements. I don't want to talk about it – how you broke my heart - yes I do - here are the boozy half-and-half pass-the-champagne-Britt details...

UK released November 2000 - "Atlantic Crossing" by ROD STEWART on Warner Brothers 9362-47729-2 (Barcode 093624772927) is part of the Warner Remasters Series and is a straightforward CD reissue of his 1975 LP that plays out as follows (44:27 minutes):

Fast Half

1. Three Time Loser [Side 1]

2. Alright For An Hour

3. All In The Name Of Rock 'n' Roll

4. Drift Away

5. Stone Cold Sober

Slow Half

6. I Don't Want To Talk About It [Side 2]

7. It's Not The Spotlight

8. This Old Heart Of Mine

9. Still Love You

10. Sailing

Tracks 1 to 10 are his sixth studio album "Atlantic Crossing" - released August 1975 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56151 (reissued January 1978 on his own label Riva Records RVLP 4) and August 1975 in the USA on Warner Brothers BS 2875. Produced by TOM DOWD - it peaked at No. 1 in the UK and No. 9 in the US album charts. "Three Time Loser", "All In The Name Of Rock 'n' Roll" and "Still Love You" written by Rod Stewart - "Alright For An Hour" co-written with Jesse Ed Davis while "Stone Cold Sober" was co-written with Steve Cropper of Booker T & The M.G.'s. The other five tracks are cover versions (each discussed below).

MUSICIANS featured were:

GUITARS - Steve Cropper (Booker T & The M.G.'s), Jesse Ed Davis, Jimmy Johnson and Fred Tackett

MANDOLIN and VIOLIN - David Lindley

KEYBOARDS - Barry Beckett and Albhy Galuten

HORNS - The Memphis Horns

BASS - Duck Dunn (Booker T & The M.G.'s), Bob Glaub, David Hood and Lee Sklar

DRUMS and PERCUSSION - Willie Correa, Roger Hawkins, Al Jackson and Nigel Olsson (Elton John's Band)

BACKING VOCALS - Cindy and Bob Singers, The Pets and The Clappers

STRING ARRANGEMENTS - Arif Mardin for "Sailing" and "I Don't Want To Talk About It" - James Mitchell for "This Old Heart Of Mine"

The foldout three-way gatefold slip inlay offers only credits alongside that photo which adorned the inner sleeve of the 1975 LP and naught else. For such a huge album, it seems kind of cheap and piddly and has not been expanded ever since. But the 24-Bit High Resolution Audio supplied in this Warner Remaster done by PATRICK KRAUS rocks like the proverbial clappers. The recordings were top notch originally anyway, but this CD has a real punch and swagger – amplifying what was boogie-on-down one minute (Side 1) – then Soulful and swaying the next (Side 2). To the record...

Recorded in America with a very Memphis Rock-Soul feel and produced by the legendary Tom Dowd – the LP title wasn't just a nod to his new future and aspirations - Rod had literally upped sticks to the USA to escape (like so many at the time) ludicrously crippling British taxation laws that we're robbed him of almost all his earnings. More importantly, with "Atlantic Crossing", Stewart had also left behind the 'sound' of his old British Steamhammer, Jeff Beck Group and Faces muckers Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan and Martin Quittenton. Now it was sessionmen galore – Soul Boys like Steve Cropper and Jesse Ed Davis who also understood and loved Rock and R&B and Funk. There was a deliberate commercialism to "Atlantic Crossing" – a ten-track winner full of potential singles – least not of all the arms-waving-in-the-air Celtic-ish ballad "Sailing" (a cover version of a Sutherland Brothers single from 1972 on Island Records penned by Gavin Sutherland) of course repeating the No. 1 status of the album in the UK.

A huge fan fave and a great snotty little rock 'n' roller, "Three Time Loser" opens proceedings on Side 1 with a catchy chorus wrapped around a tale of too many girls our determined monogamist thought were the one only to find they left him with more than a memory. "Alright For An Hour" gets Funky - a slight Reggae swing where it's alright for a day but it didn't last through to the weekend (drums and bass so clear). Five minutes of a great guitar boogie follows with "All In The Name Of Rock 'n' Roll" where Rodders and his band take on New York and all points thereafter (a very Stones swagger to this one - look out kids - it's the FBI wanting to know what's that in your fruit bowl that's keeping up on stage all night every night).

Not for the first time on this album does Rod tap into Dobie Gray's output when he hits us with a Soul-Rock Reggae-fied rendition of "Drift Away". Give me the beat boys to sooth my Soul - I wanna get lost in your Rock 'n' Roll and drift away. Originally written by Mentor Williams but made a hit on MCA Records by Dobie Gray, unfortunately Rod's version is strangely lacking despite all that great musicianship (Dobie's is one of the greatest Soul singles ever in my book – a song that actually touches you – something Rod’s version absolutely doesn’t). Back to boozy Mick Ronson-type Lou Reed riffage in the excellent "Stone Cold Sober" - a co-write with guitarist Steve Cropper of Booker T & The M.G.'s - one of the first tunes to make real use of The Memphis Horns as the guitars riff and the pianos roll – it ends Side 1 on a real high with great slide guitar and soloing too.

Time to smooch with the slow half. It seems astonishing even now that the stunning Danny Whitten-written Crazy Horse cover version of "I Don't Want To Talk About It" - a song that is so synonymous with Rod Stewart - wasn't actually issued as a 45-single in 1975 anywhere. It would have to wait until April 1977 in England to see it relegated to the B-side of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" on Riva Records RIVA 4 (the US single featured "The Balltrap"). This is really where his newer more sophisticated sound started - all those acoustic guitar notes and Arif Mardin arranged strings swirling around your speakers. "...Talk About It" is followed by a much more successful cover of "It's Not The Spotlight" - a Barry Goldberg and Gerry Goffin song made famous by both Bobby Bland and Dobie Gray - a street of dreams remembrance that still has the power to move.

In November 1975 his own Riva Records issued his cover of The Isley Brothers Motown classic "This Old Heart Of Mine" as a single with "All In The Name Of Rock 'n' Roll" on its flip-side and was rewarded with a No. 4 chart position in the UK. I've never liked it - insipid really - but that Sax solo sounds splendid now. One of the album's forgotten tunes is his own "Still Love You" - an awkward declaration about a girl with cherry wine spilled on her dress - nights out dancing - two hearts now parted. And of course "Sailing" made him an international superstar in 1975 - a huge four-and-half-minute hit that had gone unnoticed when The Sutherland Brothers Band put it out in July 1972 on Island Records. It only goes to show his uncanny knack at noticing the potential in a song.

For sure the inlay to "Atlantic Crossing" is merely functionary and some of the tunes are a wee bit 'too' saccharine for most tastes nowadays - but the good stuff is great.

"...I am sailing, home again, across the sea, I am sailing stormy waters, to be with you, to be free..." - Rod sang on that global dominator of a song. Revisit this continent joiner of an album...though perhaps with a bottle of real ale instead of a glass of bubbly this time (and maybe loose the negligee too). Well done my son...

Tuesday 27 April 2021

"Rock 'N' Roll" by JOHN LENNON – February 1975 UK LP on Apple Records featuring Jesse Ed Davis, Steve Cropper and Jose Feliciano on Guitars, Leon Russell on Keyboards with Bobby Keys, Nino Tempo and Barry Mann on Horns, Klaus Voorman on Bass and Duet Vocals, Jim Keltner and Hal Blaine on Drums and Production by Phil Spector (September 2004 UK EMI/Apple/Parlophone 'Remixed & Remastered' Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks – Peter Corbin, Mirek Stiles, Steve Rooke, Allan Rouse and Paul Hicks Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry....

This Review and 204 More Like It Are Available In My

Amazon e-Book

CAPT. FANTASTIC - 1975

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters

All Reviews From The Discs Themselves

(No Cut And Paste Crap)

"...Rip It Up..."

It was always a gap-filler between real albums and its bare-bones artwork and lack of an inner sleeve to enlighten what was going on inside irritated too. And yet I've always held a candle for 1975's "Rock 'N' Roll" - John Lennon's return to the passion that ignited his soul and limbs when he was a wee nipper in Liverpool. But which digital variant do you buy?

Fans will know there has been a further new remaster of "Rock 'N' Roll" released in 2010 under the Yoko Ono approved 'John Lennon Signature Collection' banner. That version on EMI/Apple 5099990650628 (Barcode 5099990650628) offers just the 13-Track 1975 LP (two cuts were two-song Medleys hence its sometimes listed as having 15-Tracks on CD) - but it comes 'without' the tasty Bonus Tracks presented here (the 2004 version), offered no insert of any kind and I've always felt is a useless and pointless reissue. And I just like the audio on this 'Remixed & Remastered' sucker better too. Let's rip it up (again)...

UK released 27 September 2004 - "Rock 'N' Roll" by JOHN LENNON on EMI/Apple/Parlophone 874 3292 (Barcode 724387432925) is a 'Remixed & Remastered' Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (54:22 minutes):

1. Be-Bop-A-Lula [Side 1]

2. Stand By Me

3. Medley: (a) Rip It Up (b) Ready Teddy

4. You Can't Catch Me

5. Ain't That A Shame

6. Do You Wanna Dance

7. Sweet Little Sixteen

8. Slipin' And Slidin' [Side 2]

9. Peggy Sue

10. Medley (a) Bring It On Home To Me (b) Send Me Some Lovin'

11. Bony Moronie

12. Ya Ya

13. Just Because

Tracks 1 to 13 are his sixth studio album "Rock 'N' Roll" - released February 1975 in the UK on Apple PCS 7169 and Apple SK-3419 in the USA. Produced by PHIL SPECTOR - it peaked at No. 6 in both the UK and US LP charts.

BONUS TRACKS:

14. Angel Baby

15. To Know Her Is To Love Her

16. Since My Baby Left Me

17. Just Because (Reprise)

The first thing that hits you visually (apart from the spine CD jewel case) is the crappy gatefold slip of paper masquerading as an inlay. For sure all the credits are here (especially the reissue ones) - but there is no history - no new notes - hell we don't even know who played what on what track. There are at least some black and white photos from his Teddy Boy haircut phase on the inner gatefold - but naught else and that's disappointing. That aside, I love the muscle in the Remaster provided by the team that did all the Apple CD Reissues - Peter Corbin, Mirek Stiles, Steve Rooke, Allan Rouse and Paul Hicks. Let's get to the retro...

Dr. Winston O'Boogie opens his genre-tribute album with that great British hero of Rock 'n' Roll - Gene Vincent and his iconic 1956 winner on Capitol Records - "Be-Bop-A-Lula". And of course Lennon's fantastic sneering vocals infuse the thing with that wild-child vibe sweet Gene had all those decades ago. He then goes unexpectedly early Soul - namely Ben E. King's still moving "Stand By Me" - a bona fide classic originally issued Stateside on Atco Records in the spring of 1961. With Bobby Keys (of Rolling Stones fame), Nino Tempo and Barry Mann on Horns and Production by Phil Spector – the tune was old school but modern sounding. I can still recall Lennon doing this on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' as a love message to his son - it was magical and a moment when the album stopped being just lusty covers and became something bigger.

Next up is a Fifties double-header from Little Richard's Specialty days - JL tearing into "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy" - his throat doing justice to the Georgia Peach's vocal pyrotechnics back in the days when such behaviour was genuinely Punk. Almost certainly one of 'the' biggest influences in all their Beatle lives - Chuck Berry's Chess Records classic "You Can't Catch Me" and an underrated rocker in "Sweet Little Sixteen" (that Rod Stewart noticed too for his 1974 album "Smiler") gets dusted off - both motorvatin' once more. Amongst the players (we now know) is Guitarists Jesse Ed Davis, Steve Cropper of Booker T & The M.G.’s with Jose Feliciano while Leon Russell of Shelter Records played Keyboards. Legendary sessionmen like Hal Blaine and Jim Keltner hit the skins whilst Klaus Voorman (of "Revolver" fame) played Bass and does the call-and-response duet vocals with Lennon on their brass-busy cover of Sam Cooke's "Bring it On Home".

My crave on Side 2 has always been the sneer his voice elicits in another Little Richard gem - "Slipin' And Slidin'" - its down and dirty vocal leanings suiting the Liverpudlian to a tee. I can't say I've ever like "Peggy Sue" - Holly original or remake by hundreds of others - but his superb combo of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me" with Lloyd Price's "Send Me Some Lovin'" is an inspired Rock 'n' Roll-meets-Soul concoction. The fun inherent in the Larry Williams nugget "Bony Moronie" still tickles and the album romps home with some R&B tinges - Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya" and a return to Lloyd Price for "Just Because" - ending a Rock 'n' Roll LP on a New Orleans R&B lean (from whence R&R came). And of the generally excellent extras is the 1960 Rosie & The Originals hit "Angel Baby" (clever choice) while The Teddy Bears did the Phil Spector written "To Know Him Is To Love Him". Bluesman Arthur Crudup provided "Since My Baby Left Me".

Perhaps too many of the tracks are afflicted with that brass-busy backing – too much echo on the vocals – a sort of sledgehammer approach too. But that was his interpretation, and I for one like it.

Is John Lennon still standing in that Hamburg doorway in his leather jacket watching the kids rush by - dashing headlong into the magic of songs and the liberation that gurgles like a cauldron of youth within them?

I think so. Only now, John has a wider smile on his lovely face, knowing that he's passed the torch on to the next set of runners gagging to rip it up and Rock 'n' Roll all night – and on into the early hours on their bad-hair day journey...

Monday 26 April 2021

"Ian Hunter" by IAN HUNTER [of Mott The Hoople] – March 1975 UK Debut Album on CBS Records (Columbia Records in the USA) featuring Mick Ronson, Geoff Appleby, Dennis Elliott and Pete Arneson (May 2005 UK Columbia 30th Anniversary Edition CD Reissue and Remaster with Six Bonus Tracks) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Once Bitten Twice Shy..."

In January 2021 - almost a whole year into Pandemic lockdown and nationwide minimalist misery - something odd happening on the budget CD reissue front. And it involved Ian Hunter and Mott The Hoople.

Crimson - which is a label subsidiary of England's Demon Music - issued "Gold" as a 3CD dirt cheap 50-Track round up of English rockers Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter's solo output between 1972 and 1983. Retailing at under six quid and covering all points between Mott's 1972 "All The Young Dudes" LP (featuring David Bowie and Mick Ronson) and Hunter's last studio album for Columbia/CBS Records in 1983 "All The Good Ones Are Taken" - it was preposterously great value for money (released 8 January 2021).

Using Demon's long-standing licensing arrangements with Sony Music – it also boasted their Remasters into the bargain. In fact as I recall, fans were amazed to see "Gold" do such business that at one time it was No. 1 on Amazon UK's reissue CD charts and has apparently made the real UK LP charts at No. 33 as a compilation – his first showing in decades. Hardly bloody surprising mind you, when you look down through the huge 50 tracks.

So why do I mention this with regard to the 2005 "30th Anniversary Edition" CD reissue of his 1975 UK debut LP "Ian Hunter" with its paltry 14 songs? Because such is its popularity amongst fans, "Gold" boasts seven of its eight original tracks - only the LP version of "Boy" being missing. So why would you buy the 30th issue at all if you can nab seven of its eight and so much more? Fabulous remastered sound for one, six genuinely great Extras for another and far better colour annotation and liner notes - none of which is on the budget "Gold" set in its basic foldout card sleeve. And the 30th Anniversary Edition is also a smidge above six quid to buy – so reasonable too. Here are the Once Bitten Twice Shy details...

UK released 2 May 2005 - "Ian Hunter: 30th Anniversary Edition" by IAN HUNTER on Columbia 519 817 9 (Barcode 5099751981794) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue and Remaster with Six Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (58:42 minutes):

1. Once Bitten Twice Shy (4:44 minutes) [Side 1]

2. Who Do You Love (3:51 minutes)

3. Lounge Lizard (4:31 minutes)

4. Boy (8:55 minutes)

5. 3,000 Miles From Here (2:48 minutes) [Side 2]

6. The Truth, The Whole truth, Nuthin' But The Truth (6:14 minutes)

7. It Ain't Easy When You Fall/Shades Off (5:46 minutes)

8. I Get So Excited (3:50 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 8 are his debut solo album "Ian Hunter" - released 28 March 1975 in the UK on CBS Records S 80710 and April 1975 in the USA on Columbia PC 33480. Produced by IAN HUNTER and MICK RONSON - it peaked at No. 21 in the UK and No. 50 in the USA on the LP charts.

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Colwater High (Session Outtake, 3:12 Minutes)

10. One Fine Day (Session Outtake, 2:22 Minutes)

11. Once Bitten Twice Shy (Single Version, 3:52 Minute Edit) – 4 April 1975 UK 45-single on CBS Records S CBS 3194, A-side

12. Who Do You Love (Single Version, 3:18 Minute Edit) - 25 July 1975 UK 45-single on CBS Records S CBS 3486, A-side

13. Shades Off (Poem) (1:37 Minutes)

14. Boy (Single Version, 3:42 Minute Edit) - B-side of Track 12 - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED on CD

The full-colour 16-page booklet is a jam-packed affair – concert tickets, foreign picture sleeves, tour badges, press reviews – and all of it washed done with hugely informative and well-written liner notes from CAMPBELL DEVINE (done in February 2005) that include comments from Hunter. Not surprisingly – the other huge factor in it all is the ace axeman MICK RONSON who is featured a lot. In fact when you play through the first three cuts on Side 1, Ronson is so on top form and so Seventies Rock 'n' Roll - it hurts - and you can 'so' hear why he was a choice to replace Mick Taylor in The Rolling Stones. Audio is care of first generation tapes Remastered by MASTERPIECE and again taking a track like "Lounge Lizard" – the guitars are kicking your doors down. This CD sounds fantastic.

You get so used to the April 1975 45-single edit of "Once Bitten Twice Shy" at 3:52 minutes that the album's extra minute comes as almost an elongated shock. And as good as it is, I'd suggest that the single edit is the right one – the tight one. Either way, "Once Bitten Twice Shy" and its witty lyrics about naughty men on the road and that fantastic Bowie-esque dirty riffage make it such a winner. Hunter has been playing it ever since – brill – what a Ronson guitar solo too towards the end.

"Who Do You Love" is a great second helping and it stills feel shocking that it didn't do as well as its predecessor 45-single when issued 25 July 1975 on CBS Records S CBS 3486 in Blighty with an edit of the near nine-minute "Boy" on its flipside. Speaking of which, the seven-inch single edit of "Boy" (here as a Bonus Track) has our hero swearing one minute with nothing to say the next – and again even though it loses nearly five-minutes plus from the LP cut – it works beautifully. Typical of Ian Hunter to pen a cool stand-and-deliver ballad about schizophrenia.

Side 2 opens with the short but wide-open-spaces-beautiful "3,000 Miles From Here" – a bittersweet tale of a one-night stand lady who took his attention just a little too seriously – him ashamed and pining – sans phone number or even a name. Back to genius with a huge fan fave – the kick-ass Rock-rolling slow-march of "The Truth, The Whole Truth, Nuthin' But The Truth" – once again Ronson boot-boy stomping your speakers into submission with highly produced rawk guitar. Love that funky clavinet backdrop too. Big Ballad time comes in the piano-thump of "It Ain't Easy When You Fall/Shades Off" – its chorus feeling like some great Bowie mid-Seventies tune you’d forgotten and just stumbled on again. "Ian Hunter" ends on the speeding riffage of "I Get So Excited" – Ian hearing a thousand drums miles away – his childlike love of Rock and Roll Music still leaving him so inspired and raring to go.

Both the session outtakes "Colwater High" and "One Fine Day" were uncovered in 2000 for the "Anthology" set where Hunter re-did new vocals. They sound huge and are more glam than damn – with "One Fine Day" rocking it like a monster – so great. The "Shades Off” track is a spoken poem – green fields travelling by – Hunter sounding like Bowie trying to work out life as he watches it pass by – its final moments featuring faded-in music from the album.

The 30th Anniversary Edition of 1975's "Ian Hunter" is Dedicated to Mick Ronson (1943 to 1993) – and damn right. But what a combo they made - Hunter's songwriting and voice versus Ronson's down and dirty guitar. It sounds amazing, is well presented and the extras are actually worthy of the moniker 'Bonus Tracks'. Get your hands across that state line one more time people and un-peel this wee Seventies gem in all its snotty Rock 'n' Roll glory...

"Cold Fact" by RODRIGUEZ [Sixto] – March 1970 US Debut LP on Sussex Records Featuring Dennis Coffey, Mike Theodor, Bob Babbitt and Andrew Smith (August 2008 US Light in The Attic Records CD Reissue and Remaster In A Card Digipak With Large Booklet – Itself Reissued August 2019 in the UK on Universal/Sussex – Using The Light in The Attic Records 2008 Remaster but in a Jewel Case with Reduced Booklet) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Searching For Sugar Man…"

Sometimes in a lifetime of scouring through racks for musical thrills - you stumble on something just a little bit special that it seems no one has noticed (including myself).

Back in the Nineties when I was upstairs in the grotty and cramped Cheapo Cheapo Records of London's Rupert Street on one of my twice-weekly forages - Vincent (who worked that floor) would stand behind his tiny counter space and smile, because he knew I always spent money and would take chances.

So there I am - flicking through manky reused plastics - once again raiding the soundtrack section to add to my 40 or so John Barry vinyl albums. And if the mood took me (and it always did) - I'd then move over and mosey through the nearby Easy Listening Section where Phil Cording (the cantankerous old geezer who owned the place and worked downstairs) would lump all sorts - Labi Siffre, Nick Jameson (of Foghat) and (usually American copies) Rodriguez.

I'd see the sleeve of what Phil clearly thought was some Jose Feliciano lookalike and think naught of it. "Cold Fact" would in fact sit there for months on end at £2.50 - and no one but no one - would pay any attention to it all (even the Soul Boys who would be scouring the basement area for Kent compilations on Ace Records).

But then years later came the American reissue label Light in The Attic Records quickly followed by the sensational 2012 movie "Searching For Sugar Man" (see separate review for the BLU RAY) and Rodriguez LPs stopped being sold for £2.50 'real fast'...

Back in the 2000's "Light In The Attic" was a relatively unknown reissue label in the mainstream - but their quality was on par with Bear Family of Germany and Ace Records of the UK - names that speak volumes to collectors all over the world. And while the two reissued albums raised eyebrows with their musical quality and sumptuous presentations (for a relative unknown) - the film busted the music open like a floodgate.

Sixto's debut American album "Cold Fact" was released March 1970 on Sussex SXBS 7000; followed the next year by "Coming From Reality" in November 1971 on Sussex SXBS 7012 – effectively his last studio effort. But despite their musical quality - few noticed locally. Legend in fact has it that "Coming From Reality" sold less than 20 copies. Then our American Reissue heroes step in - "Cold Fact" released on Light in The Attic LITA 036 (Barcode 826853003629) in August 2008 while "Coming From Reality" followed in May 2009 on LITA 038 (Barcode 826853003827). Light In The Attic also issued VINYL variants too. Fans of Rodriguez and the film "Searching For Sugar Man" have been purchasing those American releases ever since.

Cut to summer of 2019. What you have here is a reissue of a reissue – Universal UK (or UM abbreviated) finally giving both of his Sussex albums CD and Vinyl Reissues in August 2019. To the cold facts...

UK released Friday, 30 August 2019 - "Cold Fact" by RODRIGUEZ on Universal/Sussex 00602577896255 (Barcode 602577896255) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster (based on the August 2008 Light in The Attic Records Remaster) that plays out as follows (30:26 minutes):

1. Sugar Man [Side 1]

2. Only Good For Conversation

3. Crucify Your Mind

4. This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues

5. Hate Street Dialogue

6. Forget It

7. Inner City Blues [Side 2]

8. I Wonder

9. Like Janis

10. Gommorah (A Nursery Rhyme)

11. Rich Folks Hoax

12. Jane S. Piddy

Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut album "Cold Fact" – released March 1970 in the USA on Sussex Records Sussex SXBS 7000. Produced by DENNIS COFFEY and MIKE THEODORE – it didn’t chart (no UK release either).

Musicians were:

SIXTO RODRIGUEZ – Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar

DENNIS COFFEY – Electric Guitar

MIKE THEODORE – Keyboards and Brass/String Arrangements

BOB BABBITT – Bass

ANDREW SMITH – Drums

BOB PANGBORN – Percussion

Guests – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Gordon Staples

The 12-page booklet of the 2019 reissue offers all the lyrics and basic reissue credits – the Remaster used is the 2008 LITA version. For sure there is hiss evident on many of these 1969 recordings, but the clarity and air around them is wonderfully evocative. This is real music played with real heart and I for one think that in this case, warmth is better than Audiophile. It's delicate Folk-Soul Music and it needed a deft touch - LITA and Universal have done that.

Sixto Diaz Rodriguez (pronounced Sees-Toe) was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1942 to recently emigrated Mexican parents. From the early to late Sixties - Motown had put the Motor City on the musical map - so emerging singer-songwriters cut their teeth in bars and cafes, soaked up the campus and street politics and hoped to get noticed. After an early 7" single in 1967 on Impact that folded without trace - enter Producer Dennis Coffey and Sussex Records (home of Bill Withers).

Opening with acoustic chords and clever Mike Theodore keyboard jabs - "Sugar Man" talks of "silver magic ships" bringing "colours to my dreams..." and as his voice fades out in a deathly echo - the drug references are no longer cool. It then goes all Psych Rock in the fuzzed-up "Only Good For Conversation" (doesn't really suit him) but things so stratospheric for me in the gorgeous "Crucify Your Mind" - a track I'm always playing. It has a brill melody - clever vibes after each set of lines and a fabulous brass backing that makes it feel like Jose Feliciano doing Soul.

"The Establishment Blues" struck a chord with kids in South Africa because of its lyrics - words like "I opened the window to listen to the news...but all I heard was the Establishment Blues..." The same applied to the superb Side 2 opener "Inner City Blues" where Rodriguez echoed their young yet restricted existence - "papa don't allow no new ideas around here..." The bass and guitars are harshly separated on "I Wonder" but it doesn't stop it from a being a great song - and when the organ kicks in as he sings, "I wonder does hatred ever end..." - it sounds like "Blonde On Blonde" Dylan - Sixto making social comments that are astute and matter.

"Like Janis" feels like Dylan circa "New Morning" where he sings, "I know you're lonely..." Both it and "Gommorah" are very hissy - but the tunes feature slick guitar playing and "Gomorrah" some ill-advised kiddies singing. The albums other great song "Rich Folks Hoax" slams greed in all kinds of high places - "the priest is preaching from a shallow grave..." and some music industry type "don't tell me your recipes for my happiness..." It ends on the attacking "Jane P. Diddy" where he accuses someone of being "pimp and paint" - nice. And the "Coming From Reality" album that followed "Cold Fact" in November 1971 is even better in my opinion – see separate review.

"Cold Fact" was a forgotten classic, now no longer forgotten because people cared enough to see it resurrected. Nice to know that minor miracles such as this can still actually happen in the real world as well as on the silver screen...

PS: this review is dedicated to Phil Cording and his Staff at Cheapo Cheapo Records in London’s Rupert Street - Vincent and Jack. ‘Uncle’ Phil sadly passed away a few years back...RIP and thanks for all the records...

PPS: 30 August 2019 also saw a VINYL LP Reissue of "Cold Fact" on Universal/Sussex 00602577077371 (Barcode 602577077371)

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Thursday 29 April 2021

Wednesday 28 April 2021

Tuesday 27 April 2021

Monday 26 April 2021

INDEX - Entries and Artist Posts in Alphabetical Order

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More Fantastic 60ts 70ts Soul Than You Can Shake A Stick At - SEE MY REVIEW

Probably The Best Value Remasters Box Set Around - SEE MY REVIEW

MICROWAVE That's Cheap and Extremely Cheerful

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Apple's Best Laptop By A Country Mile...

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BEATLES - "In Mono" - Gorgeous Gift! SEE MY REVIEW

GRATEFUL DEAD - 2 x HDCD Reissue from Rhino - Fab Track Choices, Sound and Price - SEE MY REVIEW

BEATLES - Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Remaster from 2019) - Beautiful! SEE MY REVIEW

Superb Socially-Conscious Soul/Funk from 1971 to 1974 - See Review

BEATLES - "White Album" - Amazing 2018 Remaster and Unplugged Demos - SEE REVIEW

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ALLMANS Forgotten But Brilliant Double from 1972 - SEE MY REVIEW...

BILL WITHERS Truly Great Multi-Disc Soul Box - SEE MY REVIEW

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