"Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" by TOM WAITS – 56 Tracks (Including Two Hidden Tracks on CD3) covering 1985 to 2004. Features 30 New Songs, Tribute Album Contributions, Soundtrack Songs, Collaborations, Original TW Versions of Songs Recorded by Others and More - Guests Include his wife Kathleen Brennan with Siblings Sullivan and Casey Waits on Guitar and Drums, Mitchell Froom (of Crowded House), Dave Alvin (of The Blasters), Ron Hacker, Mark Ribot, Brett Gurewitz (of Bad Religion), Mark Linkus (of Sparklehorse) and Larry LaLonde (of Primus) on Guitars, Larry "The Mole" Taylor of Canned Heat on Bass, Blues Harmonica Players Charlie Musselwhite and John Hammond, Pedal Steel Guitar Player Bobby Black of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Jazz Pianist Art Hillary and many more (November 2006 UK/EUROPE Anti- Records 3CD 56-Track 4-Panel Hardback Digibook with Audio restoration, Mixing and Editing by Karl Derfler and Gavin Lurssen Mastering)

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"...Room For The Forsaken... "

 

It amazes me that this expensive (at the time) 3CD 56-Track trawl through his unreleased 'Orphan' recordings from 1985 to 2004 is the biggest seller Tom Waits has had to date (it came out in November 2006 after much preparation). Three years after its almost entirely positive reception from the press and public alike, Anti- Records even released a pricey 7 x VINYL LP variant of "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" with six extra tracks on LP7 (see details below).

 

But then again, anything resembling a Box Set afforded to this giant of Alternative and Americana Music is the kind of thing that will get legions of his many admirers a tad excited. Tom Waits is God as far as I'm concerned. And I will have it no other way. There is a lot of dreaming of Knickerbockers on Fannin Street, yards of Buzz Fledderjohn, hobos throwing money off the back of a train and Moses looking to start another fire with used Pontiac Tyres. So let's bend down the branches my sea shanty people and get into details...

 

UK and EUROPE released 17 November 2006 - "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" by TOM WAITS on Anti- 6677-2 (Barcode 8714092667721) is a 56-Track 3CD Hardback Digibook Compilation of New Songs and Outtakes from 1985 to 2004. It plays out as follows:

 

CD1 "Brawlers" (64:20 minutes):

1. Lie To Me

2. Low Down

3. 2:19

4. Fish In The Jailhouse

5. Bottom Of The World

6. Lucinda

7. Ain't Goin' Down To The Well

8. Lord I've Been Changed

9. Puttin' On The Dog

10. Road To Peace

11. All The Time

12. The Return of Jackie And Judy

13. Walk Away

14. Sea Of Love

15. Buzz Fledderjohn

16. Rains On Me

NOTES on CD1:

Track 3 ("2:19"), Track 8 ("Lord I've Been Changed" credited as ("I Know I've Been Changed") and Track 15 ("Buzz Fledderjohn") were all used on the 2001 CD album "Wicked Grin" by JOHN HAMMOND on Pointblank Records – a whole album of Tom Waits songs done by the American Blues Harmonica Player. The versions on "Orphans..." are the Tom Waits originals – as is "Fannin Street" (Track 10 on CD2)

Track 5 appears in the 2003 Documentary "Long Gone"

Track 7 is a Leadbelly cover version

Tracks 8 and 15 see Notes on Track 3 etc

Track 9 appears in the 1999 Comedy Drama "Liberty Heights"

Track 12 is a Ramones cover version that appeared on the 2003 tribute album to the American Band called "We're A Happy Family"

Track 13 was on the 1996 Soundtrack Album "Dead Man Walking"

Track 14 is a cover version of 1959 Phil Phillips classic "Sea Of Love" and appeared in the 1989 Al Pacino film of the same name

Track 16 is a co-write with Chuck E. Weiss and first appeared on his 1999 album "Extremely Cool"

 

CD2 "Bawlers" (69:37 minutes):

1. Bend Down The Branches

2. You Can Never Hold Back Spring

3. Long Way Home

4. Widow's Grove

5. Little Drop Of Poison

6. Shiny Things

7. World Keeps Turning

8. Tell It To Me

9. Never Let Go

10. Fannin Street

11. Little Man

12. It's Over

13. If I Have To Go

14. Goodnight

15. The Fall Of Troy

16. Take Care Of All My Children

17. Down There By The Train

18. Danny Says

19. Jayne's Blue Wish

20. Young At Heart

NOTES ON CD2:

Track 1 first appeared on a Various Artists 2002 CD compilation of children’s songs called "For The Kids"

Track 2 first appeared in the 2005 Roberto Benigni film "The Tiger And The Snow"

Track 3 first appeared on the 2001 CD Soundtrack to "Big Bad Love" and was covered by singer Norah Jones on her 2004 album "Feels Like Home

Track 5 first appeared on the Soundtrack to the 1997 Wim Wenders film "The End Of Violence" and again in 2004 (in a different form than the one here) on the Dreamworks animated film "Shrek 2"

Track 6 is an outtake from the 2002 "Blood And Money" album and also appeared in the Robert Wilson production of Georg Büchner's unfinished 1837 play Woyzeck

Track 7 appeared on the 2001 Soundtrack to the movie "Pollock"

Track 8 first appeared as "Louise (Tell It To Me)" in 1998 on the Ramblin Jack Elliott CD album "Friends Of Mine" on Hightone Records; this version is by Tom Waits only and differs to the duet

Track 9 appeared in the 1992 Martin Bell film "American Heart"

Track 10 – see Notes on Tracks 3, 8 and 15 on CD1 – a Leadbelly cover version

Track 11 released on the 1991 album "Mississippi Lad" by Teddy Edwards

Track 12 previously appeared in the 1999 Comedy Drama "Liberty Heights", but in a different version

Track 13 "If I Have To Go" was first used in 1984 as "Rat's Theme" on the documentary film "Streetwise", later became an outtake "If I Have To Go" from the 1986 "Franks Wild Years" album - appeared in the theatre play version of "Franks Wild Years" but not on the album

Track 14 is a Leadbelly cover

Track 15 was on the 1996 Soundtrack Album "Dead Man Walking"

Track 16 was in the 1984 documentary film "Streetwise"

Track 17 from the 2003 documentary film "Long Gone" (Johnny Cash had done a version of it on his 1994 comeback album "American Recordings")

Track 18 is a Ramone cover version

Track 19 first appeared on the 2001 CD Soundtrack to "Big Bad Love"

Track 20 is a cover version of the Standard done by the likes of Frank Sinatra

 

CD3 "Bastards" (55:20 minutes – see NOTES):

1. What Keeps Mankind Alive

2. Children's Story

3. Heigh Ho

4. Army Ants

5. Book Of Moses

6. Bone Chain

7. Two Sisters

8. First Kiss

9. Dog Door

10. Redrum

11. Nirvana

12. Home I'll Never Be

13. Poor Little Lamb

14. Altar Boy

15. The Pontiac

16. Spidey's Wild Ride

17. King Kong

18. On The Road

19. Dog Treat (Not Credited, Hidden Track)

20. Missing My Son (Not Credited, Hidden Track)

NOTES:

Track 1 from the 1930s Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill production "Threepenny Opera"; also on the 1985 Various Artists Tribute Album "Lost In The Stars: The Music Of Kurt Weill"

Track 3 is a cover version of the famous Disney song from "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" – first appeared on the 1988 compilation "Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films"

Track 4 is a Skip Spence (ex Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape) cover version first issued 1999 on the Various Artists Tribute Album to his lone solo album "Oar"

Track 9 is with Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse and is on their 2001 album "It's A Wonderful Life"

Track 11 has lyrics by the famous American writer Charles Bukowski

Track 12 has lyrics by the famous American hobo Jack Kerouac

Track 15 originally released on the 1987 Spoken Word compilation "Smack My Crack"

Track 17 is a Daniel Johnston cover version – first appeared on the 2004 Tribute Album "The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Uncovered"

Tracks 19 and 20 are Hidden Songs - the track list for CD3 on the rear has only 18 titles and neither are amongst the Six Bonuses issued on the 2009 VINYL EDITION of the Box Set.

 

Is this an Anthology Book Set of Previously Unreleased – a new 3CD compilation with new songs and stragglers? The packaging "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" doesn't actually elaborate in most cases – but with so many of the songs having been on other discs that stretch from 1985 up to 2004 – then I am calling it a Box Set.

 

The Hardback Digibook is a lovely thing to behold, but is a tad infuriating in some respects. It is very easy to snap the spine due to the rigidity of the thing – there is a Musicians Credits Page at the end of the lyric pages for each CD – Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards – unfortunately it gives you a core band and Guests but not who played on what or when. The lyrics are a fantastic read (bulk of nearly 80-pages), but again other than a Brennan/Waits writer credit in most cases, no details on where to find any track or history.

 

Guests include his wife Kathleen Brennan with Siblings Sullivan and Casey Waits on Guitar and Drums (respectively), Mitchell Froom (of Crowded House), Dave Alvin (of The Blasters), Ron Hacker, Mark Ribot, Joe Gore, Brett Gurewitz (of Bad Religion), Mark Linkus (of Sparklehorse) and Larry LaLonde (of Primus) on Guitars, Larry "The Mole" Taylor of Canned Heat on Bass, Blues Harmonica Players Charlie Musselwhite and John Hammond, Pedal Steel Guitar Player Bobby Black of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Jazz Pianist Art Hillary and many more. While you can so hear Pedal Steel player Bobby Black on say "If I Have To Go" (so you can guess it), others are not so easy to identify.

 

The Three Card Pouches offer right-way-up and upside-down typed fact sheets on stuff like who was the first to invent a Pipe Organ, the miseries of famous people in history – so very Tom Waits. The photographs in black and white too – pics of TW with Keith Richards, John Hammond, JJ Cale and John Lee Hooker, actors Nicholas Cage, Fred Gwynne of Munsters fame and Italian actor Roberto Benigni when he did the movie Down By Law in 1986. There are snaps of the house band, pianos, his sons, other images of cars, barns, book shops full of Pulp Fiction paperbacks, stains on wooden floors and concrete (probably blood), loudhailers, prison mugshots, old black and whites of family, interesting looking individuals and so on. The photo credits include great names like Anton Corbijn, Julianne Deery (cover photography), Jim Jarmusch, Jane Rose and Strangers.

 

Audio Restoration, Additional Digital Editing, Mixing and Remixing was done by KARL DERFLER at Bay View Studios while top Audio Engineer GAVIN LURSSEN did the Mastering. The sound is fantastic throughout even when the vaudeville madness on CD1 and CD3 threatens, there is always clarity to the organized musical chaos and the beauty of the stripped-back ballads on CD2 is simply hair-raising and a gorgeous contrast in overall tone. "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" feels like the White Album by The Beatles in many ways - you dip and dive and always come up trumps with another discovery you missed first time round or just plumb forgot about. It says a lot of Tom Waits that if this is the stuff he missed or fell by the wayside – and yet it still sounds this good and relevant – this yeah baby. To the music...

 

For someone who is notoriously unwilling to accommodate any kind of autobiography written about him (he famously told friends and acquaintances not to cooperate with one) – Waits has collaborated with so many (check out the number of Soundtrack songs he has done). But what is fascinating about this set is getting to hear his originals (so to speak). If you take the John Hammond CD album "Wicked Grin" for instance – his "2:19" is about five and half minutes long and overstays its welcome, Hammond shortened it to about 4:20 but that smaller playing time tightened it so much. Yet his "Buzz Fledderjohn" is the opposite – better by him than by Hammond. Stuff like "Lucinda" is fabulous and the plaintive "Rains On Me" might have lyrics that repeat just a tad too much, but it is a real find.

 

For me the gem here is CD2 where the mood is mellow and love songs like "Tell It To Me", "Down There By The Train" and "If I Have To Go" (Barry Beckett on Pedal Steel) are gorgeous. But he does not do soppy for too long. To counter the wounded piano of "World Keep Turning", TW of course throws in the croaking acidity rhythms of "Little Drop Of Poison" (a rat always knows when he’s in with weasels). Or jostling beside the witty and entirely suitable covers of "Goodnight Irene" by Leadbelly and the crooner standard "Young At Heart" made famous by Sinatra – Waits floors you with the bury-the-axe ring-in-the-pawnshop desperation in his gravel vocals for "Never Let Go" – where a loverman may put a rope over the cross-leg tree but he will not let go the hand of his loved one. Silver twine from a Valentine beauty permeates the banjo and oboe of the deceptively simple "Shiny Things". It might be a bit hissy too, but "Fannin Street" has a lost and never found loveliness to its lonesome story. "Little Man" sees him hog a piano – words drawn out as the notes creak and moan before the Sax and High-hat shuffle comes in like a pair of sinners heading into adjacent confessionals. In "It's Over", you can hear too how he reused the music and themes in another song but this is still as good – always me whenever there is trouble – a feather left by his woman on an unmade bed.

 

CD3 begins as it intends to rant, rave and shock and maybe even make you laugh along the way – pump organ and lyrics about seven deadly sins and starving first mates (a Kurt Weill song called "What Keeps Mankind Alive"). Then comes a spoken piece called "Children's Story" where he describes the earth as an overturned piss-pot and then says night-night to the child presumably listening (hoping for a peaceful night's kip). The mania continues with heavily treated vocals for "Heigh Ho" where it sounds like a Christmas Carol meets a creepy movie. The witty and erratic continues as Waits talks about "Army Ants" – wasps and female ants who bite off the head of their lovers (nice). Tunes actually appear in a brilliant cover version of "Books Of Moses" – an Alex Spence (ex Jefferson Airplane, then Moby Grape) cover version from his lone and famous "Oar" – when the Spence song actually sounds like Waits wrote it first. The madness continues with Harmonica wailing for the almost unlistenable one minute and three seconds of madness that is "Bone Chain". Traditional sea shanty "Two Sisters" has Waits accompanied only by a lonesome violin. 

 

You gotta love any musician who opens a sideways song to his wife Kathleen with lyrics like "She drove a big old Lincoln with suicide doors and a sewing machine in the back..." – a song about a woman who was struck by lightning eight times and collected bones of all kinds (well of course she did). And even though it sounds like it was recorded in an echoing muddy bucket, Waits somehow makes "Home I'll Never Be" touching (shame there are no lyrics for it in the booklet). And on the humor and whack goes to a live (uncredited) song called "Dog Treat" where he schmoozes the audience with a story about a Bull Penis that has become a snack for canines (his comedic genius shining). The last un-credited track called "Missing My Mom" is again spoken – a story about a Chinese Mom who meets TW in a supermarket and has an unusual request for him. Both are an absolute hoot and a truly great way to end a box set even Captain Beefheart would have given the nod too.

 

Genius is a word bandied about liberally when it comes to off-centre musicians and artists – too damn often truth be told. But after time with this fantastic, funny and yes moving American songsmith – you will know why Tom Waits elicits such passion amongst his fans – and yes – smiles. Time to go bringing in Bo Peep for a date with a Transylvanian Chimney Sweep who just wants to show her his fabulous one-of-a-kind soot collection (it's dark baby). Genius...and then some...

 

PS: 8 December 2009 also saw a Limited Edition 7 x 180-Gram LP VINYL VERSION of "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" released in the UK/EUROPE on Anti- 86677-1 (Barcode 8714092667714) which contained a 34-Page Booklet and six songs that were not on the 3CD original release of November 2006. The six are all on LP7 ("Bonus") as follows:

Side 1:

1. Crazy 'Bout My Baby (Fats Waller cover)

2. Diamond In Your Mind (Brennan/Waits song)

3. Cannon Song (Eugen Brecht/Kurt Weill cover)

Side 2:

1. Pray (Brennan/Waits and more song)

2. No One Can Forgive Me (Tom Waits song)

3. Mattie Grove (Traditional cover, Arranged by Brennan/Waits)

"Geronimo's Cadillac" by MICHAEL MURPHEY - May 1972 US Debut Solo Album [ex The Lewis and Clarke Expedition] on A&M Records, October 1972 in the UK on Regal Zonophone Records featuring Members of The Lost Gonzo Band, Blue Steel, Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry (August 2004 US-Only Hip-O Select/A&M Records CD Reissue In A Numbered Limited Edition (5000 Copies) Hard Card Oversized Mini LP Repro Artwork Gatefold Sleeve with Hip-O Inner - Gavin Lurssen Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 240 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1

Debut Albums 1956 to 1986

Volume 1 of 2

Artists from A to L...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

A Huge 1,750+ E-Pages 

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TUMBLING DICE - 1972
- Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 

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Thousands and Thousands of E-Pages of Real Info

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"...That Rainbow Man..."

 

Trading under the aliases of Travis Lewis and Boomer Clarke - Texans Michael Martin Murphey and his pal Boomer Castleman had been in the short-lived one-album band The Lewis And Clarke Expedition. Their "Earth, Air, Fire & Water" debut LP had appeared on Colgems Records in November 1967 (COM-105 Mono and COS-105 Stereo). As Lewis and Clarke, they had also managed to place their song "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round" (from that L&W debut) on Side 2 of The Monkees LP "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd" (Colgems COS-104, also issued November 1967). Probably kept them in peanuts and coffee for a while.

 

Years later, legendary Producer Bob Johnston of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Simon & Garfunkel fame brought Michael Murphey to A&M Records and Nashville as a Promising New Artist. And that brings us to this, his rather lovely but kind of obscure Country-Folk-Rock debut solo album "Geronimo's Cadillac". 

 

Issued May 1972 on A&M Records in the USA and October 1972 on EMI's Regal Zonophone label in the UK - Murphey in fact re-visited "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round" on his debut - and again in his own stylistically Terry Reid-ish gruff-voiced style. To the digital...

 

Hip-O Select's CD reissue is part of their Limited Edition to 5000 numbered series - hard card sleeves with inners and various original features. Good news and bad news there. The original American LP was on their Tan Label variant and came with an inner sleeve that printed all the lyrics - this CD rather stupidly uses a pressing probably around 1975 that has the Silver and Gold A&M label, advert inner bag for other A&M Records and no lyrics. This means that you get the Silver & Gold label on the CD and a rather silly repro of those A&M Records advert bag on a single slip of paper. The hard card gatefold sleeve (numbered in gold on the rear, see photos) is truly gorgeous and is oversized compared to say those Japanese SHM-CD Mini LP Repros. But the best news is what I really want - a stunningly pretty and clear CD Remaster courtesy of GAVIN LURSSEN from original tapes. 

I've got Lurssen's stellar transfers across a multitude of releases - Stephen Bishop ("Careless" and "Bish", both issues in this numbered series too), Joe Walsh ("Barnstorm"), Steppenwolf and The Crusaders ("Gold"), Terry Callier ("Occasional Rain"), Jimmy Cliff ("The Harder They Come" DE 2CD Version), Bo Diddley ("Chess Years") and right on up to Tom Waits ("Blood And Money") and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' magnificent "Raising Sand" set in 2007. Lurssen is the kind of Audio Engineer I seek out - and make no mistake - his work here is just beautiful. Only seconds into the lovely Acoustic Guitar of "Boy From The Country" and you'll be done and dusted. If you have any love for "Geronimo's Cadillac", then this is the digital version you need to own. To the details that 'take me back'...

 

US-only released 20 August 2004 - "Geronimo's Cadillac" by MICHAEL MURPHEY on Hip-O Select/A&M Records B0002878-02 (no Barcode) is a Limited Numbered Edition of 5000 Copies. It's housed in a Hard-Card Oversized Gate-fold Mini LP Repro Artwork Sleeve with a Hip-O Select See-Through Plastic Inner and Mid-70ts A&M Records Advert Bag reproduced as a single page insert (no lyrics). It plays out as follows (44:49 minutes):

 

1. Geronimo's Cadillac [Side 1]

2. Natchez Trace 

3. Calico Silver 

4. Harbor For My Soul 

5. Rainbow Man 

6. Waking Up 

7. Crack Up in Las Cruces [Side 2]

8. Boy From The Country 

9. What Am I Doin' Hangin' Around?

10. Michael Angelo's Blues (Song For Hogman)

11. Backslider's Wine 

12. The Lights Of The City 

Tracks 1 to 12 are his Debut Solo Album (as Michael Murphey) "Geronimo's Cadillac" - released May 1972 in the USA on A&M Records SP 4358 and October 1972 in the UK on Regal Zonophone SRZA 3062. Produced by BOB JOHNSTON - it charted September 1972 USA and peaked at No. 160 some weeks later (didn't chart UK). 

 

MUSICIANS: 

MICHAEL MURPHEY [ex The Lewis & Clarke Expedition] - Lead Vocals, Acoustic, Bottleneck, Mandolin, Piano & Harp

LEONARD ARNOLD [ex Lavender Hill Express, later with Blue Steel] - Electric and Pedal Steel Guitar 

GARY NUNN [The Lost Gonzo Band] - Bass, Piano And Background Vocals 

ROBERT LIVINGSTON [The Lost Gonzo Band] - Bass and Background Vocals

BOOMER CASTLEMAN [ex The Lewis & Clarke Expedition] - Electric Guitar with Hand Levers 

KENNY BUTTREY [Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry] - Drums & Percussion

KARL HIMMEL [Mother Earth] - Drums 

CHARLES JOHN QUATRO - Vocals 

These Hip-O Select numbered CD reissues are lookers, lovely and so aesthetically pleasing, but again it's the GAVIN LURSSEN audio that thrills. To pre-empt the album in Blighty, Regal Zonophone issued "Geronimo's Car" as a 45-single on the 1st of September 1972 with the equally melodious "Boy From The Country" on the flipside for RZ 3062. But while it tanked in England, the USA afforded the same track combo a cool LP-artwork picture sleeve for their 7" single on A&M 1368. That July 1972-issued 45-single rose across months to No. 37 on the Billboard charts. So lingering around since May 1972, the LP then suddenly began getting traction and finally charted Stateside in September 1972 for a stay of 9 weeks. Speaking of sweet sounds, the slide guitar and warm bass of "Natchez Trace" and the Acoustic Plainsong-sounding strum of "Backslider's Wine" (the rain ruining his alibi) are other examples of beautiful audio.

 

While his brand of Country Rock and Acoustics meant zip in the UK, Murphey would go on to chart another seven albums on the US Billboard Album Charts on a variety of labels (A&M, Epic and Liberty) between 1973 and 1983. Arnold and Nunn would both be part of The Lost Gonzo Band on MCA Records from 1975 onwards, while Charles Quatro (poet and singer) would go on to have his own solo LP on Atlantic Records in 1971.

 

But "Geronimo's Cadillac" is Murphey's mellow even Country-Soulful starting place. And Hip-O Select have done it proud on the audio front at least on this now rare American-only 2004 CD Remaster - even if the packaging sloppiness kind of let the lyrical side down somewhat. 

 

Summing up - as the piano and organ in the LP's hymnal finisher "The Lights In The City" (written by Ray Lewis) swells around your room and talk of light shining down fills your speakers - I suspect fans and newcomers alike will be basking in this disc's audio glow. Rare but nice...

"Wonderful World, Beautiful People" (USA LP title) aka "Jimmy Cliff" (UK LP title) by JIMMY CLIFF (Part of Hip-O Select's 2005 4CD Remastered Book Set 'Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971') - A Review by Mark Barry...

USA LP ARTWORK and TITLE

UK LP ARTWORK and TITLE

USA CD Remaster Version of The Album within this 4CD Book Set

Rear Sleeve of the Hip-O Select 4CD Book Set

"…I've Got Many Rivers To Cross...Until I Get Over…"

In the late 60ts and early 70ts - Reggae superstar JIMMY CLIFF was released on A&M Records in the USA and Island and Trojan Records in the UK – with an awful lot of crossover on the tracks between the two countries.

But if you want the best audio for his socially smart and Reggae-Soulful “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”/"Jimmy Cliff" LP (1970 in the USA, 1969 in the UK) – this gorgeous Hip-O Select 4CD Book Set out of the States is the place to locate it (and so much more). Here are the details and the many rivers to cross...

USA released October 2005 - "Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971" by JIMMY CLIFF on Hip-O Select B0005362-02 (Barcode 602498322994) is a 4CD Book Set - and Disc 1 features the "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" LP (known as "Jimmy Cliff" in the UK) with one Bonus Track and plays out as follows (36:47 minutes):

Side 1:

1. Time Will Tell

2. Many Rivers To Cross

3. Viet Nam

4. I’m Gonna Use What I Got (To Get What I Need)

5. Hard Road To Travel

Side 2:

6. Wonderful World, Beautiful People

7. Sufferin’ In The Land

8. Hello Sunshine

9. My Ancestors

10. That’s The Way Life Goes

11. Come Into My Life

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" released January 1970 in the USA on A&M Records SP-4251 and November 1969 in the UK as “Jimmy Cliff” on Trojan TRLS-16 with the same tracks.

BONUS TRACK:

12. Waterfall

US and UK 7" SINGLES around the album:

“Waterfall” was the non-album B-side of the 7" single "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" released in November 1969 on A&M Records 1146 in the USA. The song “Waterfall” had been released as the A-side of a UK 45 on Island WIP-6039 in late 1969 with “The Reward” as its B-side (no featured on this set).

A&M also issued "Viet Nam" from the album as a 45 in the USA on A&M Records AM 1167 in February 1970 with "Come Into My Life" as its B-side. Trojan Records in the UK issued "Come Into My Life" as the A-side in March 1970 on Trojan TR-7745 with the album cut "Sufferin' In The Land" as its B-side (some European territories like Germany and Italy even gave this release a picture sleeve – as they did the release that preceded it - "Viet Nam").

PACKAGING and AUDIO: 

The packaging is exceptional - a long hardback book with embossed sleeve in what feels like recycled card and paper, pictured and themed CDs, superb US and UK discographies, detailed liner notes - it's beautiful to hold and look at. But the real goods as ever lie in the sound...

GAVIN LURSSEN has remastered the original master tapes at the Mastering Lab and the sound/audio is gorgeous. One of the complaints about reggae CD reissues is that they always sound muffled and compressed compared to the whack of their original vinyl counterparts - and as a lover of old records - that's actually true. One of the reasons for this is that some small independent reggae labels had to reuse tapes for economy, so the originals don't exist - and their reissues use a copy of a copy. But this is A&M/Island Records - so the tapes are still in tact and as evidenced here - in tip-top shape. Lurssen has restored life into these songs and brought out the lovely musicianship on them, excessive hiss levels are kept to a minimum without loss of feel and track after track is a joy to listen to. The clarity of the bass, piano, drums, backing vocals and strings on "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" is just one of many examples - an absolute revelation.

An impressive nine of the eleven tracks are Jimmy Cliff originals – including some stone cold classics as “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”, “Come Into My Life” and the magisterial “Many Rivers To Cross” – bizarrely only ever a B-side on 45 to “The Harder They Come” on Island WIP 6139 in October 1972. The two covers have interesting histories – both being Soul songs from 1968. “I’m Gonna Use What I Got (To Get What I Need)” is a Jimmy Holiday A-side from his days at Minit Records (October 1968 USA 7” single on Minit 32053). Cliff takes a mid-tempo number and ratchets up the tempo with added strings and trombones and those reggae big drums. It cleverly feels like a Reggae message song. With a wickedly good organ groove and backbeat - the pride of roots come shining through in the other cover – “My Ancestors”. It’s a Bob Tubert and Demetriss Tapp song picked up by Lou Rawls in February 1968 on Capitol Records CL 15533 - a song about the singer’s son being as ‘mighty’ as his ‘ancestors’ through bloodline. He kind of rocks it up for "That's The Way It Goes" (not great really) and its easy to see why the chipper and upbeat "Come Into My Life" was picked as a 45 - the kind of crossover Reggae-Soul 7” single radio loved.

To sum up - sure it's expensive and it could have been sequenced to feature more of what we want - but "Better Days Are Coming" is still a peach - a thing of beauty to behold and more importantly to listen too. A lot of it isn’t even Reggae in the traditional sense of the word – more Reggae-Soul – with a positive vibe and message for all to hear.

If you want a cheaper CD variant of "Wonderful World, Beautiful People"/"Jimmy Cliff" - Caroline Records of the UK have issued a November 2015 ‘Expanded Edition’ of "Jimmy Cliff" (the UK title) on Caroline CAROLR026CD (Barcode 600753634790) which has the 11-track LP and a generous 13 extras – rarities – even some foreign language versions.

But for me there’s something about Lurssen’s mastering on the 2005 Hip-O Select 4CD reissue that sends me every time.

Either way - frankly - cross as many rivers as you can to get this set into your life… 

"Barnstorm" by JOE WALSH (2006 Hip-O Select CD - Gavin Lurssen Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…Sets Me Free Without A Warning…Wonder Why..."

It's hard for me to be rational about Joe Walsh's "Barnstorm" - I've adored it for over 45 years and this brill-sounding American CD reissue has only made matters worse.

First things first though - this Hip-O Select/Geffen CD re-issue on B0006229-02 (No Barcode) has had a troubled existence. It was first released in January 2006 to howls of derision because someone had used the wrong master tapes (laden with unbearable amounts of hiss) and even left gaps between the songs on Side One where certain tracks segue into each other. 

Mistakes were admitted - it was withdrawn and it re-appeared in November 2006. To complicate things further - there are in fact 5 variants of the album on CD - the American 1980s crappy MCA issue, the wonderful silver disc version by Mobile Fidelity in 1990 (now rare and pricey), a 24-bit remaster issued in Japan in December 2004 as a mini-album repro - with a further 2011 reissue of that in Japan on the SHM-CD format - and then this - the Hip-O Select USA November 2006 issue. I've the Mobile CD, the 2004 Japanese one and this - and to my ears - the HIP-O SELECT version remastered by three-times Grammy winner GAVIN LURSSEN out does them all…

1. Here We Go

2. Midnight Visitor

3. One And One

4. Giant Behemoth

5. Mother Says

6. Birdcall Morning [Side 2]

7. Home

8. I’ll Tell The World

9. Turn To Stone

10. Comin’ Down

Having left THE JAMES GANG behind after 3 great albums - Walsh recruited KENNY PASSARELLI and JOE VITALE to record his solo debut in March of 1972. It was finally released in the USA on Dunhill DSX 50130 in October 1972 with its British counterpart released November 1972 on Probe SPBA 6268 (later reissued in 1974 on ABC). It was afforded the luxury of a gatefold sleeve, which is reproduced on both sides of the gatefold inlay in colour (the inside of the UK sleeve was in black and white). There's no new liner notes though - nor any juicy bonus tracks nor outtakes - which is a damn shame - a missed opportunity there.

SOUND:

GAVIN LURSSEN has remastered the album – he's an engineer who did exceptional work on the two STEPHEN BISHOP Hip-O Select titles "Careless" and "Bish" and the stunning 2 CD "Gold" set for Universal by THE CRUSADERS (see separate reviews for them all). Originally produced and engineered by BILL SZYMCZYK, "Barnstorm" was always a ‘sloppy’ album in feel (in stark contrast to say "So What" from 1974) and was always going to be a difficult album to remaster well - but LURSSEN has done a fantastic job. The instruments are live and in your face. There is still hiss on some of the tracks, but in the main it's minimal. Some love the rough feel of the recordings; it drives others crazy; personally I find there's charm in them that's missing in the more polished later albums. Walsh and his guitar have a sound and this album exemplifies that - warts and all.

The production difference for instance when you go from the slightly hissy "Giant Bohemoth" to the all-out riffs of "Mother Says" is marked. MS rocks like a monster now and even in the centre passage where all the instruments crescendo and threaten to get out of hand, this remaster holds it all together - YOU HEAR IT ALL - the drums, the wonderful keyboard flourishes - even the men giggling like loons at the end when it fades out. Superb stuff.

But then comes the gem I've been waiting for - "Birdcall Morning" - I'm lost man - I go to pieces at hearing this. After 30 years it finally sounds a fresh as a new sixpence - a beautiful song now given beautiful sound. I've A/B'd this with the Japanese issue and it's just brighter - fuller somehow - wonderful. "Turn To Stone" is the original version and is just HUGE in sound - a little `too' rough I would say for most tastes. The album ends with the lovely acoustic ditty "Comin' Down" - the strings rattling around the speakers with the harmonica playing it out. 

A little know fact about one of the album tracks is worth mentioning. Alana Gordon and Allan Jacobs of the obscure American band THE MAGICIANS wrote "I'll Tell The World (About You)". Allan "Jake" Jacobs later went on to be JAKE and THE FAMILY JEWELS. The Magicians made 4 excellent 7” singles on US Columbia in the mid Sixties that unfortunately each sank without trace (never got an album out either) and they quickly disbanded. The group’s last single "Lady Fingers" had help in its production from BILL SZYMCZYK - and as Szymczyk produced "Barnstorm" - it was probably he who introduced the lovely “I’ll Tell The World” to Walsh. The US Sundazed label have a wonderful anthology CD of the band's work called "An Invitation To Cry" which has the original of this beautiful song on it - well worth checking out. Someone has posted a video of their original version on You Tube - in fact and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if this long forgotten Sixties gem turns up in a hip 'n' happening advert somewhere near us soon - it's that good.

To sum up - the remaster on this lesser known 1972 gem is an absolute joy. "Barnstorm" is the kind of album you need to get into your life - and this Hip-O Select Remaster is to my ears the best version of it yet. It's been deleted years now and typically garnished a rather nasty price tag - as much as £40 on occasion - but if you can find one - I urge you to seek it out.

Joe Walsh once ran for President of The United States of America. On the strength of this album - I could never understand why he didn't get the job…

PS: (March 2009 footnote) The Japanese-only 2004 24-bit CD Remasters of Joe Walsh's first 3 albums "Barnstorm", "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" and "So What" complete with vinyl LP repro sleeves and inners have now become hugely expensive collector's items. Someone in Japan seems to have noticed this, because the 3 are being 'reissued' on 22 April 2009 in Japan again but on the new SHM-CD format (Super High Materials) - but this time along with the missing 4th title - the live set "You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind". They are available for pre-order from the 2 excellent Japanese mail-order sites "cdjapan" and "mundojapan".

PPS: (October 2009 footnote) see also review for "So What" the SHM-CD

PPPS: check out his 2012 live video with DARYL HALL on “Daryl’s House” where they covered “Funk 49”, “Life’s Been Good” and a stunning version of a forgotten Hall solo track called “Somebody Like You” (see YouTube)

PPPPS (how many Ps can you have, Feb 2016 footnote): For GAVIN LURSSEN REMASTERS see also my reviews for “Driving Wheel” by Little Milton, “Gold” by The Crusaders, “Careless” and “Bish” by Stephen Bishop, “Occasional Rain” by Terry Callier and “All Things Must Pass” by George Harrison

This review is part of my SOUNDS GOOD Music Book Series. One of those titles is CLASSIC 1970s ROCK - an E-Book with over 245 entries and 2100 e-Pages - purchase on Amazon and search any artist or song (click the link below). Huge amounts of info taken directly from the discs (no cut and paste crap).