"...Love Really Changed Me..."
Underrated debuts, there's a
shed load of them - and you can add July 1968's "It's All About" by
SPOOKY TOOTH to that list.
Principal band member and
lead vocalist Mike Harrison had come up through the 60ts R&B ranks with The
V.I.P.'s in 1963 through to the Psych sounds of ART on Island Records (they
made one revered album called "Supernatural Fairy Tales" in 1967)
before forming Spooky Tooth with Keyboardist and Lead Vocalist Gary Wright,
Lead Guitarist Luther Grosvenor, Bassist Greg Ridley and Drummer Mike Kellie
(later 70ts ranks of the band would feature Mick Jones of Foreigner).
Between 1968 and 1974 Spooky
Tooth popped out seven accomplished albums all of which have been Remastered
and Reissued for these exemplary CD series (September and October 2016
releases). Their debut was actually issued in three configurations in the UK
and America (different artwork too) and this CD reissue will allow punters to
sequence all three. It's all about a roundabout indeed, to the rainbow
details...
UK released 30 September
2016 - "It's All About" by SPOOKY TOOTH on Universal UMC/Island 570
547-1 (Barcode 602557054712) offers their 1968 debut album in Stereo in an
'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with 10 Bonus Tracks that plays out
as follows (72:01 minutes):
1. Society's Child [Side 1]
2. Love Really Changed Me
3. Here I Lived So Well
4. Too Much Of Nothing
5. Sunshine Help Me
6. It's All About A
Roundabout [Side 2]
7. Tobacco Road
8. It Hurts You So
9. Forget It, I Got It
10. Bubbles
Tracks 1 to 10 are their
debut album "It's All About" - released July 1968 in the UK on Island
ILPS 9080 in Stereo and September 1969 in the USA as "Spooky Tooth"
on Bell Records BELL 6019 with the tracks in a different running order.
Produced by JIMMY MILLER (of Rolling Stones fame) - it didn't chart in either
country.
To sequence that American LP
use the following:
Side A: 1. It's All About A
Roundabout 2. Tobacco Road 3. It Hurts You So 4. Forget It, I Got It 5. Bubbles
Side B: 1. Society's Child
2. Love Really Changed Me 3. Here I Lived So Well 4. Too Much Of Nothing 5.
Sunshine Help Me
The American LP was reissued
again in June 1971 on A&M Records SP-4300 with different artwork but with
the original 1968 British album line up of songs (Tracks 1 to 10 above). The
only difference being that "Too Much Of Nothing" was replaced as
Track 4 on Side 1 with a cover version of The Band classic "The
Weight" (Track 13 in the Bonuses).
BONUS TRACKS:
11. Sunshine Help Me
(Original Version, Recorded 13 October 1967)
12. Weird (January 1968 UK
7" single on Island WIP 6022, non-album B-side to "Sunshine Help
Me")
13. The Weight (September
1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6046, A, non-album track, cover of The
Band classic)
14. Do Right People (September 1968 UK 7" single on Island
WIP 6046, B-side of "The Weight", non-album track)
15. Love Really Changed Me
(Single Version) (June 1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6037, A)
16. Luger's Groove (June
1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6037, B-side of "Love Really Changed
Me", non-album track)
17. It Hurts You So (Mono
Mix)
18. Sunshine Help Me
19. Too Much Of Nothing
(Tracks 18 and 19 are from a BBC Radio One "Top Gear" Session
recorded 21 February 1968)
20. The Weight (Track 20 is
from a BBC Radio One "Top Gear" Session recorded 30 September 1968)
The 12-page booklet is a
pleasingly fact-filled affair although it could have featured the different US
artwork for the "Tobacco Road" version of the album that also has the
song "The Weight" substituted for "Too Much Of Nothing" –
but alas. What you do get is new liner notes from MARK POWELL of Esoteric
Recordings that features interviews with two of the band’s principal players –
Mike Harrison and Gary Wright – both reminiscing with affection of their time
with the eclectic Rock Band. There are also colour photos from the album cover
shoot of the boys amidst the vegetation, other period snaps, a rare foreign
picture sleeve for "Bubbles" and the usual musician/reissue credits.
Two of Universal’s leading
Audio Engineers BEN WISEMAN and PASCHAL BYRNE have handled the analogue to
digital transfers, mixes and Remasters – and this sucker boogies. Spooky Tooth
always made somewhat of a chaotic and cluttered racket with moments of Psych
and Rock Funk punctuating the guitars and keyboards and this Remaster handles
the lot with admirable aplomb.
Their debut opens with a
cover of Janis Ian's "Society Child" which like their version of
Loudermilk's oft-copied "Tobacco Road" further on in the album is a
radically reworked thing. But for me the album really opens with one of their
own - the Luther Grosvenor, Jimmy Miller and Gary Wright composition "Love
Really Changed Me" where they get piano funky on the intro only to go into
'save me' vocals towards the melodramatic end. Spooky Tooth had a certain sound
that felt like a mash-up of Traffic, Moby Grape and Procol Harum - a sort of
Soulful Rock meets art-house Psych - evidenced on the slow and trippy
"Here I Lived So Well" (gorgeous Remaster on those etherial vocals
and punchy bass).
Another cover gets Toothed -
Bob Dylan's "Too Much Of Nothing" first aired by Peter, Paul &
Mary in 1967 - bending guitar notes soon start going into a high-vocal Rock
boogie - like Uriah Heap having too much fun. One of the album's best tracks,
the Harpsichord opening and funky 'crazy dreams' "Sunshine Help Me"
feels like Prog Rock Donovan meets Blood, Sweat & Tears (the single version
is one of the bonus tracks). The short two minutes of "It's All About A
Roundabout" opened the American LP on Side 1 and you can hear why - a
poppy hippy moment that maybe Radio or DJs might hook into to. But my faves are
two Jimmy Miller and Gary Wright songs - the hide and seek "It Hurts You
So" and the brilliant "Forget It, I Got It" - a sort of Joe
Cocker "Feelin' Alright" piano bopper that at times feels like
Marriott and The Small Faces having an Immediate Records whig-out. Of the
Bonuses, a real digital winner is the rarely heard B-side "Do Right
People" – a Funky Rock charmer that could easily have been on the album.
Speaking of those who like their 60ts on a funky tip – the 21 June 1968 45 on
Island WIP 6037 has a winner non-LP B-side instrumental called "Luger's
Groove" - Spooky Tooth having a sort of Santana goof off moment – speedy
guitar soloing anchored by piano rolls – very cool indeed.
Mike Harrison did three solo
albums on Island and Good Ear Records between 1971 and 1975 (see my review of
those on Beat Goes On CDs), Luther Grosvenor joined Stealers Wheel for a brief
stint in 1972, then changed his name to Ariel Bender and joined Mott The Hoople
for their seventh album "The Hoople" in 1974. Gary Wright later had
two huge No. 2 US hit singles with the Yacht Rock of "Dream Weaver"
and "Love Is Alive" in 1976 – both from his 1975 platinum Warner
Brothers album "The Dream Weaver".
For sure July 1968's
"It's All About" is something of an acquired taste in May 2020 – but
it sounds good to me and those ten bonuses make it taste a whole lot better
too...
SPOOKY TOOTH
September and October 2016
Universal/Island CD Expanded Edition Remaster Series:
1. It's All About (1968
Debut) - 30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-1 (Barcode
602557054712) with 10 Bonus Tracks
2. Spooky Two (1969 2nd LP)
- 7 Oct 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-3 (Barcode 602557054736)
with 9 Bonus Tracks
3. Ceremony: An Electronic
Mass (1969 3rd LP with Pierre Henry) - 7 Oct 2016 CD release on
Universal/Island 570 547-0 (Barcode 602557054705) with 6 Bonus Tracks
4. The Last Puff (1970 4th
LP) - 7 Oct 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-5 (Barcode
602557054750) with 6 Bonus Tracks
5. You Broke My Heart...So I
Busted Your Jaw (1973 5th LP) - 30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570
547-8 (Barcode 602557054781)
6. Witness (1973 6th LP) -
30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-7 (Barcode 602557054774)
with 1 Bonus Track
7. The Mirror (1974 7th LP)
- 30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-6 (Barcode 602557054767)
