"You Showed Me: The Songs Of Gene Clark" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – featuring The Rose Garden, The Thyme, Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, Iain Matthews, Starry Eyed & Laughing, Pure Prairie League, Roxy Music, Flamin' Groovies, Juice Newton, This Mortal Coil, Death in Vegas with Paul Weller, Echo In The Canyon with Jakob Dylan and Cat Power, and his son Kai Clark (March 2022 UK Ace Records CD Compilation of Remastered Cover Versions) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Train Leaves This Morning..."

 

True to form for these Various Artists CD compilations, Ace's stab at the mercurial Gene Clark of The Byrds and Dillard & Clark fame has its own bizarre mix of cover-version winners and near-misses - thankfully holding its head up proud more times than shame pushes it south into a droop.

 

Part of Ace's ongoing Songwriter Series and covering a huge time range (1964 to 2019), I've had this generously-packed CD since day of release (it encompasses Country, Country Rock, Bluegrass, Indie and Pop). And while I've been obsessing over the John Barry set "The More Things Change..." and Dusty Springfield's "Dusty Sings Soul" which came out on the same Friday, 25 March 2022 (see separate reviews) - I've found myself going back to this eclectic slightly unloved Country Rock brat and bawler more and more. Time to feel a whole lot better, to the details...

 

UK released Friday, 25 March 2022 - "You Showed Me: The Songs of Gene Clark" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1611 (Barcode 029667104722) is a 21-Track CD Compilation of Remastered Cover Versions that plays out as follows (77:12 minutes):

 

1. You Showed Me - ECHO IN THE CANYON with JAKOB DYLAN and CAT POWER (2019)

2. Feel A Whole Lot Better - JUICE NEWTON (1988)

3. I Knew I'd Want You - THIN WHITE HOPE (1989)

4. She Don't Care About Time - FLAMIN' GROOVIES (1984)

5. Eight Miles High - ROXY MUSIC (1980)

6. Till Today - THE ROSE GARDEN (1968)

7. Echoes - STARRY EYED & LAUGHING (2015)

8. Elevator Operator - VELVET CRUSH (2001)

9. I Found You - THE THYME (1968 recording, issued 2008)

10. So You Say You Lost Your Baby - DEATH IN VEGAS featuring PAUL WELLER (2002)

11. Tried So Hard - THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS (1971)

12. In The Plan - NEW GRASS REVIVAL (1979)

13. Train Leaves Here This Morning - KAI CLARK (2020)

14. He Darked The Sun - LINDA RONSTADT (1970)

15. Kansas City Southern - PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE

16. Polly - IAIN MATTHEWS (1974)

17. Why Not Your Baby - THE MOTHER HIPS (2011)

18. Full Circle - BYRDS (1973)

19. Silver Raven - THE BAIRD SISTERS (2008)

20. Some Misunderstanding - SOULSAVERS featuring MARK LANEGAN (2009)

21. Strength Of Strings - THIS MORTAL COIL (1985)

 

KRIS NEEDS has been a great writer for some time now, providing quality liner notes for countless mucho-praised reissues - but man oh man - the Kris-ter outdoes himself here. As a self-professed Byrds fanatic, Needs pours on the facts and details in a stunning 28-page booklet - the text aligned with photos of the pertinent albums and CDs and black/whites of our hero both solo and with the spec-festooned Byrds. One of thirteen kids, Harold Eugene of Tipton, Missouri (his real name) is undoubtedly nodding appreciation up there in post-flyte Heaven. 

 

NICK ROBBINS does the masters and they all rock, but then as many are from the 90's onwards, it's hardly surprising that they do. Those 60ts tracks jump and pop but the 80ts cuts are dragged down by that smarmy studio-polish they all seemed to have. To the music...

 

"You Showed Me" opens strongly with a title track done by Echo In The Canyon for their 2019 BMG Records CD album of the same name. Bob's boy Jakob Dylan and Cat Power duet on this discarded early Byrds song written in 1964 that then became a minor hit for The Turtles in 1967. "You Showed Me" has also been covered by Salt 'N' Pepa and The Lightning Seeds while its co-writer Roger McGuinn revisited it too on his "Live From Mars" set in 1996. "You Showed Me" is a lovely song, great Clark melody warming your heart. But then things dip into 'that' 80ts sound for Juice Newton's "I Feel A Whole Lot Better" and I can't help thinking there must have been a better version of this fantastic song somewhere else.

 

I have no time for Thin White Hope's version of "I Knew I'd Want You" or The Flamin' Groovies sounding like a note-for-note Byrds pastiche covers band on their pointless "She Don't Care About Time". Far better is the surprisingly excellent Rose Garden doing "Till Today" (a forgotten 1968 gem) while England's Starry Eyed & Laughing turn in a stunning "Echoes" - a 1974 recording that first appeared in 2015 aping those Byrds-sounding backwards jangling guitars. Velvet Crush do a suitably grungy Rock stab at "Elevator Operator" - gonna have to get along without her now. Paul Weller rocks it out for the very Blind Faith organ-driven "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" where Death In Vegas are joined by strings as well as the Modfather in great form and clearly wanting to respect a songwriter he admires.

 

Clever segue into pure Country Rock with the pedal-steel picking "Tried So Hard" - The Flying Burrito Brothers sounding amazing for a 1971 recording. Updating that sound to the banjo picking of New Grass Revival in 1979, they do a great Eagles circa "One Of These Nights" Country stab at "In The Plan" - beautiful remastered audio too. Pure Prairie League doe a lonesome sound solid for "Kansas City Southern" – fun like The Ozark Mountain Daredevils meets Souther-Furey-Hillman. Can't quite work out (still) in my mind if "Full Cycle" from the poor "Byrds" album of 1973 is good or just acceptable filler that isn't awful - though I can understand why Needs has included its mandolins and harmonies here.

 

But for me the compilation has three out-and-out gems that shine above all the rest – the first is Iain Matthews formerly of Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort and Plainsong doing a gorgeous lilting take on "Poly". The compilers could have opted for the cooler Alison Krauss and Robert Plant version on their much-praised "Raising Sand" album from 2017, but instead went for something much older – a 1974 track from Iain Matthews' "Journeys From Gospel Oak" LP on Mooncrest Records that imbibes his take with just the right amount of Gene Clark Country twang to make it go beyond copyist to actually moving. Smart choice.

 

There then comes an extraordinary moment when a near eight-minute Neil Young-type-guitar-grunges the buggery out of everything in sight for "Some Misunderstanding" – Soulsavers featuring Mark Lanegan letting rip. His doped-up dirty vocals ("...you might need a friend at a time like this...") and wild guitar solo playing throughout literally infuses this searching heavy-heavy song with the pain that has always been at its core – capturing the darker side of Gene's demons in a new way.

 

But they are trumped by how own son Kai Clark doing a truly heart-warming take on "Train Leaving Here This Morning" where his New Country Rock vocals and band makes him sound like and tap into his Dad somehow (Ryan Adams and The Cardinals could have done this to the same effect). The tune will be familiar to most of us via the Eagles debut album on Asylum Records in 1972 – "Train Leaves Here This Morning" being one of the lesser-aired LP nuggets on that auspicious start. Kai Clark did this version on his self-published CD album "Silver Raven" in 2019 and I think after this compilation that will be my next port of digital call for Gene Clark-fulfilling-nourishment.

 

"You Showed Me: The Songs Of Gene Clark" is not all brilliant, but then again, in reality, how could it be. Still, Ace Records of the UK and compiler Kris Needs are to be praised for combining The Baird Sisters with Roxy Music and This Mortal Coil and somehow making it gel. And in the end, this Singer-Songwriter tribute CD comp makes me want more of the great man Gene Clark (and I'll be seeking out that Kai Clark set too), so in that respect, a job well done.

 

"There's a train leaving here this morning, I don't know what I might be on..." 

 

Well, maybe seek out this journey's reinterpreted platform and give its sympathetically polished compartments a lonesome whistle on your amped-up rig...because I think the effort (like Ace have clearly made) will pay off...

"Come And Stay With Me: The UK 45s 1964-1969" by MARIANNE FAITHFULL (October 2018 Ace Records CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Tomorrow's Calling..."

Now here's a tasty little peach and actually a little surprising it hasn't been catalogued before.

Marianne Faithfull had four albums with England’s Decca Records beginning with her self-titled "Marianne Faithfull" debut in May 1965 and finishing with "Loveinamist" in February 1967 (her LPs were on London Records in the USA and often with different track lists and sleeves – the "Go Away From My World" LP from December 1965 was exclusive to that country).

In-between that extraordinary British LP output and US variants also came the obligatory British 7" singles (10 of them) with non-album flips and a 4-Track EP also with exclusive content. And that's where this very cool Ace Records CD reissue comes in. Let's get to the little birds...

UK released Friday, 26 October 2018 (9 November 2018 in the USA) - "Come And Stay With Me: The UK 45s 1964-1969" by MARIANNE FAITHFULL on Ace Records CDTOP 1531 (Barcode 029667092029) is a 22-Track CD compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (64:39 minutes):

1. As Tears Go By

2. Greensleeves

(Tracks 1 & 2 are the A&B-sides of her debut UK 7" single on Decca F 11923 released June 1964)

3. Blowin' In The Wind

4. House Of The Rising Sun

(Tracks 3 & 4 are the A&B-sides of her second UK 7" single on Decca F 12007 released October 1964)

5. Come And Stay With Me

6. What Have I Done Wrong

(Tracks 5 & 6 are the A&B-sides of her third UK 7" single on Decca F 12075 released February 1965)

7. This Little Bird

8. Morning Sun

(Tracks 7 & 8 are the A&B-sides of her fourth UK 7" single on Decca F 12162 released April 1965)

9. Go Away From My World

10. The Most Of What Is Least

11. Et Maintenant (What Now My Love?)

12. The Sha La La Song

(Tracks 9 to 12 are the A&B-sides of the 4-Track UK EP "Go Away From My World" on Decca DFE 8624 released May 1965)

13. Summer Nights

(Tracks 13 and 12 (of the EP) are the A&B-sides of her fifth UK 7" single on Decca 12193 released July 1965)

14. Yesterday

15. Oh Look Around You

(Tracks 14 and 15 are the A&B-sides of her sixth UK 7" single on Decca F 12268 released October 1965)

16. Tomorrow's Calling

17. That's Right Baby  

(Tracks 16 and 17 are the A&B-sides of her seventh UK 7" single on Decca F 12408 release May 1966)

18. Counting

19. I'd Like To Dial Your Number

(Tracks 18 and 19 are the A&B-sides of her eight UK 7" single on Decca F 12443 released July 1966)

20. Is This What I Get For Loving You?

(Tracks 20 and 16 are the A&B-sides of her ninth UK 7" single on Decca F 22524 released February 1967)

21. Something Better

22. Sister Morphine

(Tracks 21 and 22 are the A&B-sides of her tenth UK 7" single on Decca F 12889 released February 1969)

There's an advert inlay beneath the see-through CD tray called 'Birds Of A Feather' that shows five other CD compilations on Ace Records for hip and happening 60ts girlies and the 24-page booklet with new liner notes by KRIS NEEDS offers up the usual plethora of period memorabilia, label repros for those desirable Decca 45s and several full-page colour photos of the gorgeous ingénue. Complete with mastering from NICK ROBBINS (all tracks are MONO) and you're on a winner.

What gets you here is the quality of the releases - almost every couple of months in the initial flurry - from the teenage heartache whimsy of her Jagger/Richards-penned, Andrew Loog Oldham-produced debut "As Tears Go By" to the heavy, heavy drug-taking misery of "Sister Morphine" only a few years later (a co-write with Jagger and Richards and a tune The Stones would return to in 1971 with devastating effect on Side 2 of "Sticky Fingers"). The range of emotion is amazing and cool too to hear those four EP songs together at last.

Exclusive non-album songs include "Greensleeves" (Track 2), the A-side cover version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" (Track 3), "This Little Bird" and "Morning Sun" (Tracks 7 and 8), three songs of the four (Tracks 9, 10 and 12) from the "Go Away From My World" British EP - the other song "El Maintenant (What Now My Love?)" is on the "Loveinamist" album from 1967. Also exclusive is the British A-side "Summer Nights" (Track 13) that was only available at the time on the December 1965 US LP compilation "Go Away From My World" on London PS 452. The British A-side cover of the Beatles classic "Yesterday" was also exclusive at the time to the American "Go Away From My World" LP with its B-side "Oh Look Around You" being non-album in both countries (Tracks 14 and 15). And so on…

An exemplary release from Ace - but then again we've come to expect nothing less. Well done... 

"Mental Train: The Island Years 1969-71" by MOTT THE HOOPLE (November 2018 UK Universal/Island 6CD Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Thunderbuck Ram..."

I was both looking forward to and in some ways dreading this MOTT THE HOOPLE Box Set - an odd thing to say when you're spending over £40 of your pensioner’s pre-Brexit allowance. And typically "Mental Train..." both delivers and disappoints is several weird ways.

What’s good - the new Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham Remasters have massively improved on what went before - as their skills always seem to do (see my reviews for Free, Budgie, Rory Gallagher, ELP  – a very long list of great work). Some of the unreleased stuff is shockingly magnificent - check out Take 6 of "Angel Of Eight Avenue" on Disc 5 mixed from faders-up multi-tracks - whilst Kris Needs once again nails it with wickedly insightful liner notes that feature new contributions from key players (Campbell Devine and Kris Needs compiled the set). But there's fluff too aplenty, the mock distressed look card artwork is horribly presented and the actual albums themselves have always left so much to be desired – piano-plonking tedium often sitting uncomfortably alongside thundering Rock brilliance. Guy Stevens would have been proud even if the band weren't selling jack for four whole LPs.

There's an absolute ton of Buffin details to crawl through, so Mad Shadows and Willard Manus paperbacks ahoy (they took their name from one of his novels) – let’s get Overend Watts mental on this huge haul...

UK released Friday, 2 November 2018 - "Mental Train: The Island Years 1969-71" by MOTT THE HOOPLE on Universal/Island MOTTBOX 001 (Barcode 602547869623) is a 89-Song 6CD Box Set of New Remasters (30 Previously Unreleased) with a 52-Page Hardback Book, Single Sleeve Mini LP Artwork for all Six Discs and a fold-out Colour Poster all housed in a 10x8 Box with Ribbon. It breaks down as follows:

CD1 "Mott The Hoople" (79:13 minutes, 17 Tracks):

1. You Really Got Me [Side 1]

2. At The Crossroads

3. Laugh At Me

4. Backsliding Fearlessly

5. Rock And Roll Queen (Full Album Version, 5:10 minutes) [Side 2]

6. Rabbit Foot & Toby Time

7. Half Moon Boy

8. Wrath And Wroll

Tracks 1 to 8 are their debut album "Mott The Hoople" - released 22 November 1969 in the UK in Stereo on Island Records ILPS 9108 and June 1970 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 8258. Produced by GUY STEVENS - it didn't chart in the UK but peaked at No. 185 in the USA in July 1970. 

BONUS TRACKS:

9. If Your Heart Lay With The Rebel (Would You Cheer The Underdog) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED INSTRUMENTAL

10. Rock And Roll Queen [Single Edit, 3:20 minutes] - October 1969 debut UK 7" single on Island WIP 6072, non-album version

11. Road To Birmingham - non-album B-side to their October 1969 UK debut 7" single on Island WIP 6072

12. Road To Birmingham (Guy Stevens Mix) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

13. You Really Got Me (Full Take, 11:14 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

14. You Really Got Me (Guy Stevens Vocal Mix, 2:51 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

15. Rock And Roll Queen (Guy Stevens Mono Mix, 3:21 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

16. Rock And Roll Queen (Kitchen Sink Instrumental, 5:22minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

17. Little Christine [Recorded 24 June 1969] - first UK released March 1981 on the Mott The Hoople compilation LP "Two Miles From Heaven" on Island Records IRSP 8

CD2 "Mad Shadows" (73:24 minutes, 15 Tracks):

1. Thunderbuck Ram [Side 1]

2. No Wheels To Ride

3. You Are One Of Us

4. Walkin' With A Mountain

5. I Can Feel [Side 2]

6. Threads Of Iron

7. When My Mind's Gone

Tracks 1 to 7 are their second studio album "Mad Shadows" - released September 1970 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9119 and October 1970 in the USA on Atlantic SD 8272 (didn't chart in either country)

BONUS TRACKS:

8. Thunderbuck Ram - BBC Session, Top Gear, 21 February 1970 [John Walters Producer]

9. Thunderbuck Ram (Original Take with Organ Solo, 4:50 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

10. No Wheels To Ride (Demo Version, 6:29 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

11. Moonbus (Baby's Got A Down On Me) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

12. The Hunchback Fish (Vocal Rehearsal, 6:01 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

13. You Are One Of Us (Take 9, 5:12 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

14. Going Home [recorded 16 Jan 1970] - first UK released March 1981 on the Mott The Hoople compilation LP "Two Miles From Heaven" on Island Records IRSP 8

15. Keep A Knockin' (Studio Version, Take 2, Little Richard cover, 2:30 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD 3 "Wildlife" (73:30 minutes, 17 Tracks):

1. Whiskey Women [Side 1]

2. Angel Of Eight Avenue

3. Wrong Side Of The River

4. Waterflow

5. Lay Down

6. It Must Be Love [Side 2]

7. Original Mixed Up Kid

8. Home Is Where I Want To Be

9. Keep A Knockin' (Live 1970 at The Fairfield Hall, Croydon in London)

Tracks 1 to 9 are their 3rd studio album "Wildlife" - released 19 March 1971 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9144 and April 1971 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 8284 (didn't chart in either country); the Live Version of "Keep A Knockin'" also includes an uncredited version of "What I’d Say" by Jerry Lee Lewis

BONUS TRACKS:

10. Midnight Lady – 9 July 1971 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6105, Non-album A-side

11. The Debt – Non-album B-side of "Midnight Lady"

12. Downtown – 17 September 1971 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6112, Non-album A-side (B-side was the Mick Ralphs album track "Home..."); A-side is a Crazy Horse cover version originally written by Danny Whitten and Neil Young on his backing band's self-titled debut album from 1970

13. Brain Haulage (Whiskey Women) (3:55 minutes) – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

14. Growing Man Blues (Take 10, 3:40 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

15. Long Red (Demo, 3:53 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

16. The Ballad Of Billy Joe (3:38 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

17. Lay Down (Take 8, 5:08 minutes, Melanie cover) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD4 "Brain Capers" (68:58 minutes, 16 Tracks):

1. Death May Be Your Santa Claus [Side 1]

2. Your Own Backyard

3. Darkness Darkness

4. The Journey

5. Sweet Angeline [Side 2]

6. Second Love

7. The Moon Upstairs

8. The Wheel Of The Quivering Meat Conception

Tracks 1 to 8 are their fourth studio album "Brain Capers" - released 19 November 1971 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9178 and January 1972 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 8304 (didn't chart in either country)

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Mental Train (The Moon Upstairs) (5:16 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

10. How Long (Death May Be...) (4:10 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

11. Darkness Darkness (3:04 minutes, Jessie Colin Young song, Youngbloods cover) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

12. Your Own Backyard (Complete Take, 4:12 minutes, Dion Cover) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

13. Where Do You All Come Front? (Backing Track, 3:16 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

14. One Of The Boys (Take 2, 4:22 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

15. Movin' On - first UK released March 1981 on the Mott The Hoople compilation LP "Two Miles From Heaven" on Island Records IRSP 8 (mastered from a cassette)

16. Black Scorpio (Mamma's Little Jewel) - first UK released March 1981 on the Mott The Hoople compilation LP "Two Miles From Heaven" on Island Records IRSP 8 (mastered from a cassette)

CD5 "The Ballads Of Mott The Hoople" (Exclusive compilation, 73:18 minutes, 12 Tracks):

1. Like A Rolling Stone (Fragment, 1:29 minutes)

2.  No Wheels To Hide (Live, 1st House Fairfield Hall, Croydon, 7:25 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

3. Angel Of Eight Avenue (Take 6, Mastered from faders-up multi-tracks) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

4. The Journey (10:24 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

5. Blue Broken Tears (3:11 minutes, Mastered from faders-up multi-tracks) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

6. Black Hills (Full Ralphs Version, 4:07 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

7. Can You Sing The Song That I Sing (15:54 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

8. Till I'm Gone - first UK released March 1981 on the Mott The Hoople compilation LP "Two Miles From Heaven" on Island Records IRSP 8 (mastered from a cassette)

9. The Original Mixed Up Kid - BBC Session, Mike Harding, 16 March 1971

10. Ill Wind Blowing - first UK released March 1981 on the Mott The Hoople compilation LP "Two Miles From Heaven" on Island Records IRSP 8 (mastered from a cassette)

11. I'm A River (Rehearsal, 10:40 minutes) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

12. Ride On The Sun (Sea Diver) - first UK released March 1981 on the Mott The Hoople compilation LP "Two Miles From Heaven" on Island Records IRSP 8 (mastered from a cassette)

CD6 "It's Live And Live Only" (Exclusive Compilation, 78:18 minutes, 12 Tracks):

1. Rock And Roll Queen

2. Ohio

3. No Wheels To Ride/Hey Jude

4. Thunderbuck Ram

5. Keep A Knockin'

6. You Really Got Me

Tracks 1 to 6 recorded 1 September 1970 at The Fairfield Hall in Croydon, London

"Ohio" is a Neil Young song - a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover; "Hey Jude" is a Beatles cover; Keep A Knockin' is a Little Richard cover and "You Really Got Me" is a Kinks cover

7. The Moon Upstairs

8. Whiskey Women

9. Your Own Backyard

10. Darkness, Darkness

11. The Journey

12. Death May Be Your Santa Claus

Tracks 7 to 12 recorded 30 December 1971 for the BBC's Radio 1 "In Concert" programme (produced by Guy Stevens)

MOTT THE HOOPLE was:

IAN HUNTER (Ian Hunter Patterson) – Lead Singer, Piano

MICK RALPHS – Lead Guitars and Second Lead Vocals

VERDEN ALLEN (Terence Allen) – Organ and Other Keyboards

OVEREND WATTS (Pete Overend Watts) – Bass

DALE “Buffin” GRIFFIN (Terence Dale Griffin) – Drums

Guests:

Guy Stevens – Production, Song Contributions

James Archer of the LSO – Violin on "Angel Of Eighth Avenue"

Jess Roden (of Bronco) – Backing Vocals on "Lay Down"

Stan Tippins (of Doc Thomas Group) – Backing Vocals on "Lay Down"

Jerry Hogan – Pedal Steel Guitar on "It Must Be Love" and "Original Mixed-Up Kid"

Jim Price – Trumpet on "Second Love"

The box looks the part and ribbon allowing you to access the six single card sleeves in the inner well is a nice touch – but as already said and noted by other buyers – none of the card sleeves actually reflect the original British albums. The gatefolds for the first three are gone – removed to the book. The five pinched faces on the inner debut gatefold is spread across the back pages of the hardback, the child and lions photo inside "Mad Shadows" is on the inside of the front, the live shot of the band on the inner gatefold of "Wildlife" is behind text on Pages 36 and 27 and the airplanes inner for "Brain Capers" and the gimmick mask appear at both ends of the book too. The colouring of the CDs reflects the original British LP pressings - the Pink Island 'Pink I' Logo for the first two – the Palm Tree Pink Rim Logo Label for the other two and so on...

The book may seem a little slight at first but there’s a lot of info inside and period stuff to peruse (a fab promo photo on Page 13 for the Doc Thomas Group which featured a young Mick Ralphs and Pete Watts before Guy Stevens altered their names for Mott). Renowned writer KRIS NEEDS provides the tangled and at times chaotic history of the British Band – informative and entertaining reading, as always. The uber rare British picture sleeve for the 1969 "Rock And Roll Queen" single in on Page 48 as is the front sleeve for the final Island album from the period – the 9-Track "Rock And Roll Queen" compilation from 1972 on Island ILPS 9125. It was issued to cash in on the success of the "All The Young Dudes" single and LP on CBS Records (their first chart single courtesy of a song gifted to them by David Bowie). The LP is pictured on Page 48 (along with other European single picture sleeves) and if you want to sequence the popular "Rock And Roll Queen" compilation as a CD from this Box Set use the following tracks:

Side 1:

1. Rock And Roll Queen (Disc 1, Track 5, Album Version)

2. The Wheel Of The Quivering Meat Conception (Disc 4, Track 8)

3. You Really Got Me (Disc 1, Track 1)

4. Thunderbuck Ram (Disc 2, Track 1)

5. Walkin' With A Mountain (Disc 2, Track 4)

Side 2:

1. Death May Be Your Santa Claus (Disc 4, Track 1)

2. Midnight Lady (Disc 3, Track 10)

3. Keep A Knockin' (Live, Full Album Version) (Disc 3, Track 9)

The Audio is fabulous and as these hirsute/girl-leering gents were prone to Rocking out big time like Spooky Tooth with spiked Vodka or a demented Free in a graveyard after dark – both Pearce and Wortham capture all that bottled power so well. The listen is also surprisingly downbeat – way too many slow ballads – ill-advised Country Rock stints on "Wildlife" and a 15-minute outtake from Hunter that will test his mother’s patience. Having said that – I actually think that Disc 4 with the Previously Unreleased material is one of the strongest discs on here – fantastic alternate versions – that Take 6 of the Manhattan morning ballad "Angel Of Eight Avenue" brought a tear of joy to my demonically-possessed elderly-person’s eyes. Let’s get to the content...

The self-titled debut always felt to me like a rudderless beginning - the opening three covers (The Kinks "You Really Got Me", Doug Sahm's "At The Crossroads" and Sonny Bono's "Laugh At Me") displaying a band that seemed to be recording whatever they liked as they were rehearsing. For sure there's power in the sheer riffage on offer as they turn the Kink's proto-punk anthem into an instrumental - whilst Hunter's "Backsliding Fearlessly" sounds like a bad Dylan cover. The first sign of a genuine 'rawk' hit comes with Mick Ralphs "Rock And Roll Woman" presented here in two variants - the full and clear stereo album cut at 5:10 minutes and the severely muffled single edit of 3:20 minutes that sounds like it was mastered in a bucket. "Rabbit Foot And Toby Time" is another rockin' Ralphs tune, but it's an instrumental of two minutes duration that goes absolutely nowhere. Side 2 and the album in general is dominated by the 10:39 minutes of Ian Hunter's "Half Moon Bay" - a slow boiler with great organ playing from Verden Allen that at times feels both epic and indulgent with just the right measures of both. The debut ends with a mad Guy Stevens contribution called "Wrath And Roll" (a habit they would repeat again and again) and unfortunately you can't help thinking it might have been a better idea to include something possibly resembling a tune. Way more interesting is the Previously Unreleased and catchy-titled "If You Lay With The Rebel (Would You Cheer At The Underdog)?" - a riffage instrumental with better Production values than some of the album tracks. Die-hard fans will appreciate 11:17 minutes of "You Really Got Me" where the take descends into guitar mayhem and the fruity "Little Christine" from the "Two Miles..." compilation actually feels like the Faces circa their debut.

From the axe of Mick Ralphs, "Mad Shadows" opens with the wild "Thunderbuck Ram" where England’s Mott The Hoople suddenly thinks it’s a hybrid between MC5 and The Stooges with a bit of melodic Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac thrown in for the middle eight. As Ian Hunter delivers the brooding, epic and even sad "No Wheels To Ride" – only two songs in and the second album already feels like the band has found something – their own MTH sound. A trio of Hunter songs - the reverential "You Are One Of Us", the Chuck Berry boogie of "Walkin' With A Mountain" and the warbling seven-minute keyboard ballad that opens Side 2 "I Can Feel" (complete with Uriah Heep drama vocals) stamps his songwriting authority on proceedings (lovely solo too from Ralphs). "Threads Of Iron" is a jaunty little number from guitarist Ralphs with a catchy 'you are what you are' vocal line. The album closes with Hunter's unnerving and funereal composition "When My Mind's Gone" - a six-and-half-minute piano plonk that sounds as casket-inducing as its title suggests. It's a good album. Amidst the extras - Radio 1's Fluff Freeman introduces an in-the-distance BBC Session version of "Thunderbuck Ram" immediately indicating what an exciting prospect this band must been - live and in yer face. Far better however is the 'Original Take with Organ Solo' of the same song where Mott start to sound dangerously close to Peter Green's "Oh Well" with a disgruntled Hammond playing in the background (have to say this is a highlight amongst the unreleased). Another goody comes in the guise of the Kossoff-sounding riffage for "Moonbus (Baby's Got A Down On Me)" – a very tasty period find. It's also cool to finally hear their fast and furious studio take for Little Richard Penniman's "Keep A Knockin'" – here kept down to a boogie baller of just two and a half minutes (the Georgia Peach would approve).

They try to go American-ish with the very Steppenwolf guitar vs. organ boogie of "Whiskey Women" – the opening track to the infuriating every-musical-direction-will-do third album "Wildlife". But that boys-own beginner is solidly trounced by what I believe to be Ian Hunter's first moment of musical magic – the gorgeous ballad "Angel Of Eight Avenue" where he describes waking up in New York on the first Mott US tour with a lady who is as fragile and as beautiful as the Manhattan morning he's gazing out upon (what a lovely transfer too – great work boys). The cover of Melanie's "Lay Down" features a chorus contribution from Bronco's Jess Roden but the Country-Rock of "It Must Be Love" is awful (the "Downtown" stand alone single wasn't much better - a cover of a Crazy Horse song). The album ends of what feels like a different group - a crowd rousing 11-minute live take on Little Richard's "Keep A Knockin'" with Mick Ralphs showing what he can do when let rip. Late 1971's "Brain Capers" was always their best album and it seems the band thinks so too. "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" opens the record in raucous Rock fashion and this time covers of Dion's "Your Own Backyard" and The Youngbloods "Darkness Darkness" (a Jessie Colin Young song) actually sound like Mott made the right choices. Both "The Journey" and "Sweet Angeline" see Hunter in a melancholy mood (there's a man on a bridge called Suicide) - while Verden Allen provides a rare lead vocal on his own "Second Love". A damn good album "Brain Capers" - wee bit of a lost masterpiece really. I hadn't expected either CD5 or CD6 to provide much but they're full of goodies – especially those unreleased studio outtakes on disc five.

For sure "Mental Train..." is not for the casual browser and it would take until album number five ("All The Young Dudes") to awaken record buyers to MOTT THE HOOPLE. But their is a strange kind of bloody-minded heroism on offer here - a time when bands were allowed to sound nuts - grow with each release - until that initial magic someone saw before they signed them - finally broke through.

Leaping lizards but it's astonishing any of them survived given the times and acrimony within the ranks. Ralphs would go on of course to form Bad Co. with Paul Rodgers of Free whilst Ian Hunter would enjoy a massive solo career and aged 79 in 2018 is still rocking, touring and writing.

Always nuts but glam loveable - on the musical evidence presented here - you may find yourself seeking out Mott The Hoople and "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" this Christmas...

"The Elektra Albums" by JUDY HENSKE (July 2017 Ace Records CD Reissue - 2 Stereo LPs onto 1CD - Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...The Real Thing Comes Along..."

There's a 1963 Elektra Records upper-body-shot publicity photo for Wisconsin's Judy Henske on Page 19 of the booklet that accompanies "The Elektra Albums" and it says beneath her perfectly manicured Bob haircut and serene expression 'JUDY HENSKE looks like this...' You turn over to the last page of the booklet (Page 20) to find where the dots lead and it says '...and sounds like THIS!'

There's our Judy – late 20’s – no longer the-girl-next-door - mouth open like the Mississippi in full-on flood-mode - literally screaming her lungs out into a microphone like she's gonna swallow that sucker whole. And when you play the first two tracks of "Judy Henske" - a studio album recorded live in front of an invited enrapt audience - you understand why Elektra wanted to emphasise her sheer vocal power (THIS!) - a sort of early Janis Joplin voice meets the wit of Phyllis Diller via the sheer out-front force and shocker good looks of Grace Slick.

For sure her gravel voice and quirky beat-them-into-submission personality was not (and would not) be for everyone and some of this 1963 and 1964 material is seriously dated in 2018. But there's much to love here (the second studio album is a bit of a forgotten gem in my opinion). When she does her intro to "Ballad Of Little Romy" - it lasts for nearly five minutes - brilliant repartee with the audience who are in fits of laughter at her bawdy explanation of a murder ballad – a personality so big you just had to love her (she’d a thing for old-timey songs and their eyebrow-raising words and themes). Judy famously banged her foot so hard keeping time during one song - she punched right through the floorboards in front of the audience. Six-foot tall Henske just laughed it off and went on with the gig. Let's sing the praises of an American lady who deserves our applause...

UK released Friday, 28 July 2017 (August 2017 in the USA) - "The Elektra Albums" by JUDY HENSKE on Ace Records CDCHD 1501 (Barcode 029667079921) offers two Stereo LPs from 1963 and 1964 in their entirety Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (79:47 minutes):

1. Low Down Alligator [Side 1]

2. Empty Bed Blues

3. Ballad Of Little Romy

4. Wade In The Water

5. Hooka Tooka

6. I Know You Rider

7. Lily Langtree [Side 2]

8. Lilac Wine

9. Love Henry

10. Every Night When The Sun Goes In

11. Salvation Army Song

Tracks 1 to 11 are her debut album "Judy Henske" (aka "Miss Judy Henske") - released 1963 in the USA on Elektra Records EKL 231 (Mono) and EKS 7231 (Stereo) - the STEREO mix is used.

JUDY HENSKE - Vocals and Stories

JOHN FORSHA - Guitar

JOHN (STREAMLINE) EWING - Trombone

JIMMIE BOND - Bass

ONZY MATTHEWS - Orchestral Arrangements

12. High Flying Bird [Side 1]

13. Buckeye Jim

14. Till The Real Thing Comes Along

15. Oh, You Engineer

16. Baltimore Oriole

17. Columbus Stockade

18. Blues Chase Up A Rabbit [Side 2]

19. Lonely Train

20. Duncan And Brady

21. God Bless The Child

22. Good Old Wagon

23. You Are Not My First Love

24. Charlotte Town

Tracks 12 to 24 are her second album "High Flying Bird" - released 1964 in the USA on Elektra Records EKL 241 (Mono) and EKS 7241 (Stereo) - the STEREO mix is used

JUDY HENSKE - Vocals

JACK MARSHALL - Guitar

JOHN FORSHA - 12-String Guitar

JOHN (STREAMLAND) EWING - Trombone

BILL MONTGOMERY - Bass

EARL PALMER - Drums

Production and Arrangements JAC HOLZMAN

The 20-page booklet features new liner notes from KRIS NEEDS whose penned many's a review for England's Record Collector magazine. In between the superb history (which includes interviews with Henske now in her 80s) - we get label repro's of the first album's lone 45 - "I Know You Rider" b/w "Love Henry" on Elektra EKSN-45003 and the second record's pair - white labels demos of "High Flying Bird" b/w "Till The Real Thing Comes Along" on Elektra EKSN-45007 and "Lonely Train" b/w "Charlotte Town" on Elektra KSN-45010. There are gold Elektra LP labels for the Mono variant of the US debut (both sides) and the gorgeous front-sleeve artwork for both albums gets a full-colour page each. There's even an advert for the MGM Movie "Hootenanny Hoot" which featured a bikini-clad Judy hanging out with various hipster types. It's the usual Ace Records classy affair. But little preps you for the Stereo mixes of both LPs remastered by DUNCAN COWELL - an Audio Engineer with longstanding ties to Ace Records and the Blue Horizon CD reissues (including Fleetwood Mac). These recordings sound utterly amazing - clean and full of life - clearly the tapes have been looked after. Let's get to the songs... 

"...And now ladies and gentleman...a special treat...it's another song! This is about a woman with an empty bed - Lord!" The invited audience laugh - and why wouldn't they. Her version of "Wade In The Water" is a little hissy for sure but powerful nonetheless as God troubles the river. Her "Hooka Tooka" song is a history capsule of how children were used as warning signals in the red-light district of Chicago - look-outs should the cops come calling - and the audience joins in - her voice and the harmonica match perfectly as she sings about mama chewing tobacco. Elektra tried "I Know You Rider" as a 45 but I'm not sure who they were aiming this rapid-paced big-voiced Folk at? Better is "Lilac Wine" where Judy sounds like a gruffer version of Julie London pining for her man with a jug of blitz in hand (lovers of Jeff Buckley will instantly recognise the melody and lyrics of "Lilac Wine" from his 1994 masterpiece "Grace" - a song that dates back to the Fifties and was first covered I believe by Eartha Kitt). The audience gets in the sing-a-long act with the witty "Salvation Army Song" where she forsakes drink, drugs and sex in the gutter with naughty men for banging her drum (with a sigh).

The second album wisely forsakes the gimmicky 'live' vibe and is a straightforward Folk, swinging R&B, Blues Standards album with fab tracks like "Till The Real Thing Comes Along" where Jack Marshall and John Forsha both get to stretch out on Acoustic guitars. "Oh, You Engineer" is a co-write between Henske and Shel Silverstein where a wife hears of her husband's busy schedule with the ladies down the line and she urges him to turn his Piston Rotations down (nice). Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole" gets a Bluesy acoustic make-over where Henske's voice feels like she's channelling Karen Dalton six years hence. Low and lonesome vocals and shimmering shuffles on the hi-hats give "Blues Chase Up A Rabbit" a melancholic yet sweet feel - book shop and café society cool. The American Traditionals "Lonely Train" and "Duncan and Brady" both get ticket-and-travel acoustic versions where her aching vocals sound like she's feeling the weary lyrics for the first time. And on it goes to the bedroom lure of "You Are Not My First Love" where the singer admits through a fog of cigarette smoke that others lovers were merely trial runs for her present squeeze...

She would go on to cult fame with Jerry Yester (ex Modern Folk Quartet) and cult-hero fame on the "Farewell Aldebaran" album in 1969 on Straight Records (a huge influencer in the UK) - but this is where her Folk and Traditional's musical career started. A very cool reissue from Ace and one to check out - especially that "High Flying Bird" album...

PS: see also my review for "Farewell Aldebaran" by JUDY HENSKE and JERRY YESTER. It was issued June 1969 on Frank Zappa's Straight Records in the USA (STS 1052). The 2016 Omnivore Recordings CD Reissue offers a new remaster from original tapes and five Previously Unreleased Instrumental Home Demos as Bonus Tracks...

"No. 1 Record" by BIG STAR (2009 Universal/Concord 'Expanded Edition' CD – 2004 George Horn Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…Finest In The World…"

If you can't get your grubby paws on the April 2004 'Hybrid SACD' release of both 'No. 1 Record" and "Radio City" by BIG STAR (2LPs onto 1CD - see separate review) – a stunning audio treat on Stax/Fantasy/Universal SXSA-60025-6 (Barcode 025218732369) that also contains a standard CD layer – then opt for the Universal/Concord Music Group 2009 stand-alone CD reissues.

Each carries a very reasonable price tag, half-decent liner notes from the Editor of the superb Zig-Zag Magazine and uber-fan KRIS NEEDS (a six-leaf inlay) and best news of all - that same awesome audio done by GEORGE HORN at George Horn Mastering in California. They even sport a relevant bonus track.

If you're a newcomer - you've probably heard of their legend - or clapped your ears on one of their ballads that frequent so many Indie movies as badge of cool (like say Nick Drake or Patti Smith). Musically – it beggars belief even now that BIG STAR famously didn’t fare well at the box office – barely scraping above chart position No. 400 on initial release in 1972 and 1974. Their record company suffered distribution problems (Stax was on the wind-down) and even knowledgeable record stores found it hard to procure copies. Years after its release - it was still something of a hushed collectable. Like so many hard-luck stories of bands that 'should have been huge' - BIG STAR really were the very definition of 'criminally overlooked'. Here are the big details for the CD reissue of their wonderful debut album "No. 1 Record"...

USA released 14 September 2009 – "No. 1 Record" by BIG STAR on Universal/Fantasy/Concord Music Group, Inc. 0888072315730 (Barcode 888072315730) features 2004 Remastering, a Bonus Track and plays out as follows (40:01 minutes).

1. Feel

2. The Ballad Of El Goodo

3. In The Street

4. Thirteen

5. Don't Lie To Me

6. The India Song

7. When My Baby's Beside Me

8. My Life Is Right

9. Give Me Another Chance

10. Try Again

11. Watch The Sunrise

12. St 100/6

Tracks 1 to 12 are their debut album "No. 1 Record" - released June 1972 in the USA on Ardent Records ADS-2803.

BONUS TRACK:

13. In The Street (Single Mix)

NOTE: their second album "Radio City" followed in January 1974 on Ardent ADS-1501 – but neither LP received an original UK vinyl release at the time. However, they were both clumped together as a budget-priced double-album package on Stax SXSP 302 in July 1978 - their first official British release on record. There have been various CD reissues of the albums ever since - most notably by England's Ace Records on their subsidiary label Big Beat and Rhino's superb 2009 American 4CD Box Set "Keep An Eye On The Sky" which features outtakes and alternates from both of these recording sessions.

As I said before in my review of the 2004 'Hybrid SACD' reissue - the big news here is a beautifully sensitive GEORGE HORN remastering that has brought a warmth and delicacy to already gorgeous music.

Lead singer and Guitarist ALEX CHILTON had been in THE BOX TOPS and along with CHRIS BELL (Guitar and Vocals), ANDY HUMMEL (Bass and Vocals) and JODY STEPHENS (Drums) - they wrote all their own songs (mostly Bell-Chilton compositions except "The India Song" by Hummel and "My Life Is Right" by Chris Bell and Thomas Eubanks of 'Rock City') and made a glorious racket.

Back to the audio - the bass, acoustic guitars and sublime harmony vocals on "The Ballad Of El Goodo" for instance are thrilling to hear as is the sweetness of "Thirteen" - surely one of the loveliest Alex Chilton songs. The jangling power-pop guitars of "When My Baby Needs Me" sound fantastic and "Try Again" reminds me of a band I loved called SMITH-PERKINS-SMITH who made only one album (a self-titled debut) in 1972 on Island Records (yet to make its way onto CD) - a sort of CSYN alternative. In fact the musicality on display here brings in mind that other tragic band BADFINGER.

Their record company tried two 45s in the USA - "When My Baby's Beside Me" b/w "In The Street" on Ardent ADA-2902 in August 172 - and a belated "Watch The Sunrise" b/w "Don't Lie To Me" on Ardent ADA-2904 in April 1973 - but neither charted. Songs like "My Life Is Right" are upbeat jangly rockers that straddle Country Rock and Pop - while the ache in "Give Me Another Chance" is just plain beautiful and moving. And to this day both "Thirteen" and "Try Again" make me weak at my ageing knees...

BIG STAR were always a little bit special and hold a cult status to this day that grows with the passing of time - like NICK DRAKE, JUDEE SILL or JOHN MARTYN.

"...Won't you tell your Dad...get off my back...tell him what we said about 'paint it black'..." - Chilton sang on the beautiful acoustic adolescence song  "Thirteen".

You and me kid against the world...