This Review Along With 300+ Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
CLASSIC ROCK & POP 1970 to 1974 - Exceptional CD Remasters
Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"…Just Like The Dawn…My Heart Is Silent Breaking…"
Originally issued in Germany (Berlin) in May 2011 as a pricey box set
with a 95-page booklet and fold-out map containing the lyrics on the other side
(now deleted) – this 'altered' reissue followed only months after (August
2011). As you can imagine - fans that forked out over sixty-five pounds/ninety
dollars for the initial import were a tad peeved and felt taken for a ride.
However (and there's no meanness intended here) - you'd have to say that their
loss is very much our gain - because this scaled-down reissue finally makes
Mickey Newbury's extraordinary music available to us all - and at a reasonable
price too - eighteen to twenty pounds/thirty dollars for 4CDs worth.
Released 23 August 2011 - "An American Trilogy" by MICKEY NEWBURY on Saint Cecelia Knows/Mountain Retreat CEC001R
– this 4CD reissue comes in a 5-way foldout card–pack with cardboard-colored front
artwork (instead of the black embossed original) and a curtailed booklet of
24-pages (no map either). The CDs are the same as the initial issue and break
down as follows:
Disc 1 (41:31 minutes):
1. Write A Song A Song/Angeline
2. She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye
3. I Don’t Think Much About Her No More
4. T. Total Tommy
5. 33rd Of August/When The Baby In My Lady Gets The Blues
6. San Francisco Mabel Joy
7. Looks Like Baby’s Gone
Tracks 1 to 7 are his debut album "Looks Like Rain" – issued
in the USA on Mercury Records SR 61236 in September 1969
Disc 2 (38:53 minutes):
1. An American Trilogy
2. How Many Times (Must The Piper Be Paid For His Song)
3. Interlude
4. The Future’s Not What It Used To Be
5. Mobile Blue
6. Frisco Depot
7. You’re Not My Same Sweet Baby
8. Interlude
9. Remember The Good
10. Swiss Cottage Place
11. How I Love Them Old Songs
Tracks 1 to 11 are his 2nd album "'Frisco Mabel Joy" – issued
in the USA on Elektra Records EKS-74107 in October 1971
Disc 3 (37:14 minutes):
1. Heaven Help The Child
2. Good Morning Dear
3. Sunshine
4. Sweet Memories
5. Why You Been Gone So Long
6. Contelia Clark
7. Song For Susan
8. San Francis Mabel Joy
Tracks 1 to 8 are his 3rd album "Heaven Help The Child" –
issued in the USA on Elektra Records EKS-75055 in January 1973
Disc 4 (44:46 minutes):
1. If You Want Me To I'll Go
2. Sunshine
3. Sad Satin Rhyme
4. Why You Been Gone So Long
5. I Don't Wanna Rock (Publisher Demo)
6. Let Me Stay Awhile
7. Flower Man
8. Good Morning Dear
9. On Top Of Old Smokey
10. Interlude: How Many Times (Must The Piper Be Paid For His Song)
11. Better Days
12. How I Love Them Old Songs
13. I Don't Wanna Rock (Live Radio Session)
14. I Don't Want Me No Big City Woman
15. You're Not My Same Sweet Baby
Tracks 1 to 15 are called "Better Days (Demos, Rarities,
Unreleased)" and break down as follows:
Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6 and 8 are PUBLISHER DEMOS
Tracks 2 and 3 are a US 7" single released in 1969 on Mercury
73036. A-side is an Alternate Mono Version to the album cut - which is in
Stereo – the B-side is non-album also
Tracks 7 and 9 are HOME DEMOS – "Flower Man" is PREVIOUSLY
UNRELEASED
Tracks 10 to 15 are a live RADIO SESSION recorded 25 November 1970 for
"The Skip Weshner Show" on Radio KRHM-FM in Los Angeles.
Both "Better Days" and "I Don't Want No Big City
Woman" are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
PACKAGING:
A fairly obvious and noticeable absence is 'artwork' – none of the three
albums are pictured anywhere – even on the CDs themselves. There's a famous
picture of Newbury in front of a plate glass Tiffany Lamp – that multi-coloured
Tiffany Lamp theme is used for all 4 different picture CDs – but of course
without the original artwork to reference it – they make no sense. His second
and most famous album "'Frisco Mabel Joy" (the only one of his LPs to
be given a UK release in late 1971 on Elektra K 42105) even enjoyed the
privilege of a boxed die-cut front with a lovely inner sleeve behind it
containing the lyrics – but none of that is reproduced here either. Perhaps
there's licensing issues? But if you do want to know what the album covers look
like and get a feel for his output – Saint Cecilia Knows re-issued the three
records and the fourth "Better Days" rarities set on VINYL in 2011 -
and all are pictured on Amazon (and available for sale).
The shorter 24-page booklet version has liner notes by the Producer and
Compiler of the set – CHRIS CAMPION. It also reproduces Kris Kristofferson's
original liner notes for Newbury's 1969 debut album "Looks Like Rain"
and an article that first appeared in the AllMusic catalogue of 2000 by
BEN-FONG-TORRES. There's some photos of Newbury in the early years - his short
stint with the Doo Wop group The Embers – a tour with the American Army in 1960
- and a gig poster from November 1970 where his West Coast debut performance is
shared with David Steinberg at the newly opened 'The Bitter End' venue in Santa
Monica. The last few pages give detailed musician-credits on all albums and
extras (Dennis Linde produced and played on "'Frisco Mabel Joy" –
Charlie McCoy and Jimmie Haskell are on "Heaven Help The Child" etc).
But the big news is the sound…
SOUND:
All of that slightly underwhelming packaging pales into the background
once you start to 'listen' – because not only is the music gorgeous – this set
has one the most BEAUTIFUL REMASTERS I've ever heard. Each of the albums is
shockingly clean - none-too-trebled for effect – just there in your speakers
with truly stunning clarity. JESSICA THOMPSON and STEVE ROSENTHAL did the transfers
and they're to be praised for their work with the tapes.
MUSIC:
The first LP famously features segues between the tracks of 'rainfall'
lifted off the "One Stormy Night" LP by The Mystic Moods Orchestra –
and the reproduction of it here is so good that you may double take on the
weather outside. The remaster especially brings out the Dennis Wilson
"Pacific Ocean Blue" girly vocals that punctuate so many of the songs
with an almost churchlike eeriness. I suppose you'd say that overall his musical
style is country – but that's too limiting. Singing one moment then talking the
next in that richly tonal Oregon drawl of his - there's a shimmering delicacy
about the music that makes it both hurting and deeply beautiful at one and the
same time. Girls leave, girls stay, hearts lift, hearts break… It's American
country-rock music but with a Nick Drake sensibility. Another very real
influence is Kris Kristofferson whose similar languid songwriting-style lingers
in the background (Kristofferson championed Newbury at the time and has sung
his songwriting genius ever since). There's even the melodrama of The Walker
Brothers in there too – but never too mawkish.
Highlights include the beautiful ballad "She Even Woke Me Up To Say
Goodbye" (lyrics from it title this review) and "I Don't Think Much
About Her No More" (which feature those lovely background vocals I
mentioned above). "The Future's Not What It Used To Be" was featured
on the massive "Forever Changes" box set covering Elektra Records and
it's huge history. The lyrics of "Frisco Debut" feel real -
"might as well be the moon when you're as broke as I…" and "when
you're cold, there's nothing as welcome as sunshine…"
Writing something as rampantly patriotic and deeply Southern as "An
American Trilogy" at a time when America was dying inside (Vietnam, Race
Riots) mightn't have occurred to most songwriters of the day – but it did to
Newbury - who stunned the Bitter End audience into silence and tears with it in
1970. Hearing it rescued from the very Vegas version Elvis Presley charted in
1972 (No. 8 in the UK) is an unexpected and genuine pleasure. The remastered
sound quality is gorgeous – the strings, vocals – fabulous. The near six-minute
"How Many Times (Must The Piper Be Paid For His Song)" is beautifully
arranged with acoustic guitars and that "look away Dixie" vibe to the
melody. By the time he got to "Good Morning Dear" and "Song For
Susan" on the 3rd album "Heaven Help The Child" - the combo of
piano, vocals and strings had become almost an artful signature style of his –
and so impressive. A slight remake of "San Francisco Mabel Joy"
finishes the album with rainfall, acoustic guitars and wailing steam trains in
the distance - and you're reminded so much of England's Nick Drake and his
perfect three albums on Island Records - "Five Leaves Left" (1969),
"Bryter Layter" (1970) and "Pink Moon" (1972) - Newbury's
own "American Trilogy" should be just as revered - and is just as
good.
I had thought the 4th disc would be most filler – but it's not. The
publishing demos are mostly Newbury singing at piano with some light band
accompaniment and are very pretty. "Good Morning Dear" alone was
recorded by huge names like Ray Charles and Roy Orbison. Best of all is the
Radio Session for KBHM - which is hissy - but with acoustic guitar and voice to
the fore - is so wonderfully intimate. And many of the songs like "Sad
Satin Rhyme" and "I Don't Wanna Rock" are not on the other albums.
"Better Days" itself is as lovely a song as any penned by more famous
luminaries.
To sum up – Mickey Newbury’s brand of melodrama Country Rock may not be
everybody’s cup of Darjeeling. But if you’ve an open ear and are willing to try
it - "An American Trilogy" is an embarrassment of riches and at last
its pitched at a price music-lovers can actually afford. Even if Newbury is an
unknown to you – this is one of those times when I’d say you should take a
chance - because the quality on here is a joy and worth every penny.
Properly fabulous rediscovery time…and well done to all involved...
