"On The Level: Deluxe Edition" by STATUS QUO (March 2016 Universal/Mercury 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' Reissue - Andy Pearce Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Deeper And Down..." 

Universal and Mercury have been giving it some welly on the Status Quo 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' reissue front of late. So it's hardly surprising to see the British band's beloved seventh album of no-nonsense Rock (and their first UK No. 1) get that same tickle-tastic sonic upgrade and presentation booty call. And while it's very, very far from perfect (the bootleg feel to the Maine tracks on Disc 2 leaves a decidedly nasty taste in the mouth) – this DE of 1975's "On The Level" is a winner on several other fronts – namely the amazing new Audio for the core 10-track album that for fans will absolutely be worth the price of admission alone - and of course better presentation.

First up - "On The Level" gets deeper and down with a stunning new Andy Pearce Remaster on Disc 1 and an hour’s worth of Quo Boogie as a Bonus on Disc 2 (some of which is Previously Unreleased). You get the "Down Down" 7" single edit from November 1974 that preceded the album's release (also a UK No. 1) as well as a rare demo version of the song - the May 1975 3-Track "Status Quo Live!" EP with "Roll Over Lay Down" as the lead track (a UK No. 9 chart hit) - a cover of The Doors' classic "Roundhouse Blues" first issued on the "Rockers Rollin'..." 4CD Box Set in 2001 - and finally six new Previously Unreleased versions recorded live in Maine, Germany in February 1975 at the height of their popularity.

Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham have handled the Remasters of Thin Lizzy, Budgie, Free, Wishbone Ash, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Uriah Heep and Rory Gallagher to name but a few (currently working on Deep Purple apparently) – and all to mucho praise. I've personally never heard this Status Quo album so kicking and alive and that applies to all of it. Secondly this DE has recently dropped in price – so is all the more tempting for those wanting to revisit those heady days of Hair and Levis. Here are the level-headed details...

UK released 25 March 2016 (1 April 2016 in the USA) - "On The Level: Deluxe Edition" by STATUS QUO on Universal/Mercury 4766972 (Barcode 602547669728) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "On The Level" (38:40 minutes):

1. Little Lady [Side 1]

2. Most Of The Time

3. I Saw The Light

4. Over And Done

5. Nightride

6. Down Down [Side 2]

7. Broken Man

8. What To Do 

9. Where I Am

10. Bye Bye Johnny

Tracks 1 to 10 are their seventh studio album "On The Level" - released late February 1975 in the UK on Vertigo 9102 002 and April 1975 in the USA on Capitol ST-11381. Produced by STATUS QUO - it peaked at No. 1 in the UK (didn't chart USA)

Disc 2 BONUS TRACKS (60:43 minutes):

1. Down Down (Single Edit)

November 1974 UK 7" single on Vertigo 6059 114 - a UK No. 1 - "Night Ride" was its B-side

2. Roll Over Lay Down (Live)

3. Gerdundula (Live)

4. Junior's Wailing (Live)

Tracks 2 to 4 are the "Status Quo Live!" 3-Track EP UK released May 1975 on Vertigo QUO 13 (Roll Over Lay Down (Live) is the lead track)

5. Roadhouse Blues (Live 1975) - First appeared on the 2001 "Rockers Rollin' Quo In Time 1972 - 2000" 4CD Box Set on Universal 589 216-2

6. Backwater (Live)

7. Just Take Me (Live)

8. Claudie (Live)

9. Little Lady (Live)

10. Most Of The Time (Live)

11. Bye Bye Johnny (Live)

Tracks 6 to 11 recorded "Live in Mainz, Germany 22/06/1975" and are Previously Unreleased

12. Down Down (Demo)

STATUS QUO was:

FRANCIS ROSSI - Lead Guitar and Vocals

RICK PARFITT - Lead Guitar and Vocals

ALAN LANCASTER - Bass

JOHN COUGHLAN - Drums

ROBERT 'Bob' YOUNG - Song Co-Writer

The gatefold card digipak is the usual flimsy effort from Universal with a 'Deluxe Edition' sticker on the shrink-wrap instead of those protective plastic slipcases they used to issue. The inner flaps sport two fabulous 7" picture sleeves for "Down Down" - one from Japan and another from Europe (Germany I suspect) - beneath the see-through CD trays is the collage of photos that adorned the original 1975 LP's inner sleeve - loads taken by the Quo fan club and mates. The CDs have those dark Vertigo labels with the two spaceships or floating jellyfish while the 16-page booklet has liner notes from DAVE LING of the Classic Rock and Metal Hammer magazines. Francis Rossi is newly interviewed for the release and his witty dry remarks show a self-effacing bloke who kept his head (although not his hair) when the whole of England was worshipping at his feet – and someone smart enough to know and acknowledge four decades later that spreading the writing to Parfitt and Lancaster as well made the whole album tighter. Long time band associate and associate songwriter Bob Young and the others throw in their recollections too. There are more rare 7" picture sleeves with great looking live shots - a Top 30 Best Selling Albums list with the Quo at No. 1 trumping Engelbert Humperdinck's "Greatest Hits" at No. 2 (thank gawd for that) - trade reviews on the hysteria surrounding the band after years of hard slog - an advert for the "Status Quo Live!" EP that featured the growing ‘From The Makers Of’ list of album-cover images at the bottom (always a feature at the base of their rear album covers) - and finally several shots of the boys in their trademark heads-down pose – guitars out front - tearing it up across the stages of the UK. It's all very tastefully done.

Rick Parfitt's "Little Lady" still stands up as a great little rocker that cleverly segues into the pretty opening for Francis Rossi and Robert Young's "Most Of The Time". Soon that sweet melody is replaced with monster riffage - taking the one-two sucker punch of the Side 1 openers romping home.  "I Saw The Light" and "Over And Done" are great Quo - short and to the boogie point - but the wicked groove of "Nightride" has always been Side 1 poison. And what you also notice is the amazing power the new Remaster has given all these rockers - fantastic. Side 2 opens with the song that put them at No. 1 - the jangle of "Down Down" - a tune that also brought derision later when it became fashionable to slag off the simplicity of it as something less than worthy. It sounds amazing here - again and again.

Alan Lancaster's "Broken Man" is the record's pop tune - a happier musical jaunt than its lyrics would suggest (he'd envisaged it as more bluesy to begin with). With its opening couldn't-give-a-monkees in the studio dialogue - "What To Do" features Rossi's mixture of Rock and Pop and I've always liked it. "Where I Am" is the love song amidst the thorns - a tune I've always thought showed their greatness - they could lull as well as rock. It ends on their brilliant cover of Chuck Berry's "Bye Bye Johnny" - a live-in-the-studio boogie blaster Capitol tried as a 45 in the USA but to no luck (the British No. 1 album meant nothing over there). The overdubbed Quo Army singing, "You'll Never Walk Alone" as the song fades out brings a great record to a clever close.

The 7" single edit of "Down Down" runs to 3:51 as opposed to the 5:24 minutes of the full album version - but it's properly trounced by the live version of "Roll Over Lay Down" recorded at the Kursaal in Southend in 1975. That's followed by of the wonderfully catchy "Gerdundula" from "Dog Of Two Head" that is described as 'live' but turns out to be a live-in-the-studio re-recording. Back to the 'get it moving' geezer rock of "Junior's Wailing" and the sheer power of the band as a live event is screaming out at you. Their near 13-minute version of the Doors classic "Roadhouse Blues" (Quo's shorter studio cover of it ends Side 2 of the 1972 "Piledriver" album) was also recorded at the Kursaal in Southend in 1975 and first appeared on the "Rockers Rollin'..." Box set and was used as a Bonus Track on the previous "On The Level" CD Remaster. It's a worth inclusion if not a little overly long. Some have complained that the Mainz tracks are bootleg quality at best - good bootleg mind you - but bootleg nonetheless - unfortunately they'd be right. You can hear tape wobble and bluntly I'm not sure I'd want to inflict my ears with these versions ever again (docked a star for that). The near six-minute "Down Down" demo is hissy and crude - interesting only in a historical context but not a lot else and will surely test even a die-hard fan's patience.

Admittedly Disc 2 lets the Side down badly when it's obvious that the keepers (the singles and maybe "Roadhouse Blues") would have fit easily onto an 'Extended Version' of Disc 1. But at least that brilliant remaster of the core album and presentation live up to expectations and its new reduced 2017 price now makes it worth the buy. Toilet Rolls and Mars Bars as Francis Rossi says - heads down everybody... 

"Inflammable Material" by STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (2001 EMI 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Try To Put It Right..."

I was in Dublin (probably late 1979) and went to see STIFF LITTLE FINGERS in a city club that hosted Punk Bands. Big mistake and a genius move.

SLF live was easily the most terrifying musical spectacle I'd ever seen and the most exciting. I was 21 and a Southern Irish Catholic and like everyone around me pogoing up and down and spitting at everything that moved - I was taken by a visceral storm - the volume - the no-holes-barred lyrics - the incendiary riffage that felt like a motorbike hurtling at you with its handlebars intent on doing some damage. Lead singer Jake Burns was an animal unleashed on stage (he was the same age as me) - snotty, arrogant and insanely truthful about things we didn't hear nor see on Irish or English tele.

And above the fear I also recall feeling a certain sense of shame at just being Irish. People forget now how the 'troubles' were at that time. Down South of the Border - except for the odd overturned car by rambunctious youths down from the North on a day pass or a beer-fuelled punch-up in a Baggot Street pub over dumb and poisonous ancient political loyalties - we Dubs didn't experience much of the Catholic and Protestant horror that the populous of the Six Counties did on an increasingly horrific basis. We knew of it - saw it on the news - read the lurid headlines - hurt for them - even prayed for them - but never really physically felt that loss and the rage at authority that follows it. Then I saw Stiff Little Fingers...

With their 'f' words and genuinely substantive attack-the-hypocrisy lyrics - both of their initial 45s "Suspect Device" and "Alternative Ulster" had shifted copies - moved - impressed - made us curious if not a little wary. After the gig (which had a fight too half way in as I remember hence the mistake comment earlier) and that constant stream of three-minute kick-him-in-the-goolies moments - I was hooked and bought the nine-flames dark-covered album soon after. Back home in leafy Clontarf with the safety of my Garrard SP25 and Dustbuster to protect my delicate middle-class posterior - I found the album was filled with songs about living in the physical reality of 35% unemployment – walls with murals and footbridges decked in barbed wire blocking out river views – soldiers and paramilitaries caught up in an endless cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation and always with innocents in the firing line. They sang of too many wasted lives and those in charge only exasperating and maintaining the political misery. But through the growls - it was also articulate and relevant in a way that so much of the bloated Rock scene wasn’t.

Our daughter Julia was born 1 September 1994 - the day of the IRA ceasefire (the subsequent UDA/UVF cessation came in October 1994 and effectively brought the 30 year war to an end) - so we gave her the middle name of 'Hope'. 1 September 1994 is also the release date for "The Shawshank Redemption" – in my opinion – the greatest and most hopeful film ever made. Barbed wire love indeed.

Which brings us to this kick-ass 2001 CD from EMI. Let's get to the rough trades... 

UK released 22 January 2001 - "Inflammable Material" by STIFF LITTLE FINGERS on EMI 535 8862 (Barcode 724353588625) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster of their 1979 debut LP with Three Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (64:01 minutes):

1. Suspect Device [Side 1]

2. State Of Emergency

3. Here We Are Nowhere

4. Wasted Life

5. No More Of That

6. Barbed Wire Love

7. White Noise

8. Breakout

9. Law And Order [Side 2]

10. Rough Trade

11. Johnny Was

12. Alternative Ulster

13. Closed Groove

Tracks 1 to 13 are their debut album "Inflammable Material" - originally released February 1979 in the UK on Rough Trade Records ROUGH 1 and 1980 in the USA on Rough Trade ROUGH US 5. Produced by GEOFF TRAVIS and MAYO THOMPSON – it peaked at No. 14 on the UK charts (didn't chart USA).

BONUS TRACKS:

14. Suspect Device (Single Version) - March 1978 debut UK 7" single on Rigid Digits SRD 1, A-side (Privately Pressed, 500 Copies)

15. 78 RPM (aka 78 Revolutions Per Minute) - October 1978 2nd UK 7" single on Rough Trade/Rigid Digits RT 004, Non-album B-side of "Alternative Ulster"

16. Jake Burns Interview by Alan Parker (13/6/01) Part One

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS was:

JAKE BURNS - Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals

HENRY CLUNEY - Second Guitar and Lead Vocals on "No More Of That" only

ALI McMORDIE - Bass

BRIAN FALOON - Drums (Jim Reilly is mistakenly credit as the drummer but he joined the band later)

Although the 8-page booklet features an intro from lead singer and songwriter Jake Burns and the near 18-minute CD interview conducted with him by ALAN PARKER is hugely illuminating (and fun) – the original lyric inner that came with the Rough Trade album is missing. And as words are so important with this most political of bands – that comes as a bit of a disappointment. The CD Remaster appears to be by NIGEL REEVES and was done at Abbey Road – so the power and punch is there – only amplified. Nice to have those rare single-sides too...

Taking their name from a track on The Vibrators 1977 "Pure Mania" debut album on Epic Records – Stiff Little Fingers open their debut with the re-recorded "Suspect Device" and immediately your listening to Northern Ireland’s answer to The Pistols and The Clash (huge influences on the young Belfast band). Other winners include the great guitar opening to "State Of Emergency" and the short but devastating "White Noise" with those GORDON OGLIVIE lyrics that floor you. While their own "Here We Are Nowhere" and "Wasted Life" talk of the despair kids felt at the time - Ogilvie adds lyrical polish to "Barbed Wire Love" and "Law And Order". The band's second guitarist Henry Cluney gets a rare vocal lead on "No More Of That" - while all the others are handled by Jake Burns. Like the first Clash, Damned and Pistols albums - it's a perfect slice of truth from the day and still sounds relevant 40 years after the event...

The June 2001 Jake Burns interview is revelatory, funny and full of great reminiscences. He talks of Taste with Rory Gallagher and watching their farewell show in 1970 at the age of 12 and realising that being a guitarist was what he really wanted to do. Initially turned on by the early Seventies heavy metal of Sabbath and Zeppelin – he formed a covers band called Highway Star (named after a Deep Purple song). But Burns bored of that and quickly moved on to the British New Wave of Dr. Feelgood, Graham Parker, the Damned and The Sex Pistols. But then the first Clash album happened and his future as a songwriter with songs that had meaningful lyrics was set.

Later in the interview he talks of the cancelled Clash gig at the Europa Hotel in Belfast when the London band couldn't get insurance to play – but the disappointed and angry crowd rioted outside and Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon tried to pacify the mob. We get background on Gordon Ogilvie – Manager and Lyricist - John Peel's invaluable and timely support on the BBC's Radio 1 – making the covers of the "Suspect Device" single in their flats on the kitchen table (500 copies only) – the £35,000 Island Records offer in London that fell through (the subject matter of the "Rough Trade" song and not the indie label as many wrongly think) – the Tom Robinson tour and support his entourage gave them – the first Rough Trade independent LP breaking the English Top 20 and so on. Part 2 of the interview can be heard on the CD reissue for their 2nd LP "Nobody's Heroes".

Always a great band rather than a good one – you can’t help feel that their blistering debut is sidelined nowadays for the more obvious markers of the day. An overlooked flame. Time to step out of the shadows – again.

"...I've got very strong views..." - Stiff Little Fingers sang on "Closed Groove". Well thank God for that I say...

"The Pretender" by JACKSON BROWNE - November 1976 Fourth Studio Album on Asylum Records (July 2004 UK Asylum CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 145 Others Is Available In My

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1976

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"...Out Into The Cool Of The Evening Strolls..."

Some records actually scare you - emotionally that is. Back in 1976 and well into 1977 I was 'too' into "The Pretender". I was lonely I suppose and this album hooked into that lonesome pain like no other. Even now I find certain tracks hard to listen to – a downer LP I'd rather avoid in some ways.

And as it's 40th anniversary has come and gone in 2016 with no Deluxe Edition reissue/fanfare from Asylum or WEA (it shifted over two million copies for God's sake) - we're still left with this rather boring looking 80ts type CD reissue in a standard jewel case complete with a gatefold slip of paper for an inlay. Presentation wise – you get a big fat zip. But then you play the plain-looking CD and the Remaster is absolutely astounding.

The only mastering credit on the inlay for CD is GREG LADANYI who mixed some of the album back in the day and it doesn't advise a date or what was used. Fans will know that revered audio engineer Steve Hoffman remastered the LP for his DCC Compact Classics audiophile label in 1993 (DCC Compact Classics GZS-1047 - Barcode 010963104721) and I can't help but think that that CD variant is what has been used here (without saying so). I'm open to correction on this of course - but what can't be argued away is that you get gorgeous audio on what looks like the most boring of CD reissues ever. Anyway - here are the bright baby blues...

UK released 19 July 2004 - "The Pretender" by JACKSON BROWNE on Asylum 8122-78912-2 (Barcode 081227891220) is a straightforward CD transfer of the 1976 Asylum Records 8-track LP and plays out as follows (35:25 minutes):

1. The Fuse [Side 1]

2. Your Bright Baby Blues

3. LInda Paloma

4. Here Come Those Tears Again

5. The Only Child [Side 2]

6. Daddy's Tune

7. Sleep's Dark And Silent

8. The Pretender

Tracks 1 to 8 are his fourth studio album "The Pretender" - released November 1976 in the Asylum 7E-1079 and in the UK on Asylum K 53048. Produced by JON LANDAU - it peaked at No. 5 in the USA and No. 23 in the UK.

Musicians:

JACKSON BROWNE - Lead Vocals on all plus Acoustic Guitar on Track 2

FRED TACKETT (of Little Feat) - Guitars on Tracks 4, 5, 6 (Left Chanel), 7 and 8

DAVID LINDLEY - Slide Guitar on Tracks 1 and 6 with Violin on Track 5

LOWELL GEORGE (of Little Feat) - Slide Guitar and Harmony Vocals on Track 2

JOHN HALL (of Orleans) - Guitar Solo on Track 4

ALBERT LEE (of Heads, Hands & Feet) - Guitar on Track 5

WADDY WATCHELL - Guitar (Right Chanel) on Track 6

ROBERT GUTIERREZ - Guitaron, Violin and Backing Vocals on Track 2

LUIS F. DAMIAN - Vijuella, Guitar and backing Vocals on Track 2

CRAIG DOERGE - Keyboards on Tracks 1, 6, 7 and 8

BILL PAYNE (of Little Feat) - Keyboards on Tracks 2, 4 and 5

ROY BITTAN (of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band) - Piano on Track 2

MIKE UTLEY - Organ on Track 4

ARTHUR GERST - Harp and Backing Vocals on Track 2

JIM HORN (Arranger), CHUCK FINLEY, DICK HYDE and QUITMAN DENNIT - Horns on Track 6

LELAND SKLAR - Bass on Tracks 1, 6, 7 and 8

CHUCK RAINEY - Bass on Tracks 2 and 5

BOB GLAUB - Bass on Track 4

RUSS KUNKEL - Drums on Track 1

JIM GORDON - Drums on Tracks 2 and 4

JEFF PORCARO (of Toto) - Drums on Tracks 5, 6, 7 and 8

GARY COLEMAN - Percussion on Track 5

BONNIE RAITT and ROSEMARY BUTLER - Harmony Vocals on Track 4

DON HENLEY (of Eagles) and J.D. SOUTHER - Harmony Vocals on Track 5

DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH (of The Byrds, The Hollies, CSNY) - Harmony Vocals on Track 8

DAVID CAMPBELL – Arranged Strings on Track 8

Although it doesn't directly mention the event that shaped the music - the album was recorded amidst horrible personal circumstances (his wife Phyllis had taken her own life in March 1976) and you can feel that bleakness seep out through the darkness of the lyrics. The LP's artwork displayed the range of emotions a heart feels. As he crosses a street in his clean white teeshirt - Browne looks like someone planted him there from another world - an outsider striding amidst pedestrians who don't seem to notice what's going on inside him. You flip the cover over and a naked child of three is giggling on a beach - playing in the sand and the sunset light as the tide goes out. It shows that there is also joy amidst the pain - hope - a continuance no matter what.

Musically Jackson Browne's fourth studio album was a very class affair. And as you can see from the extensive list provided above - the session players were the best. You get most of Little Feat, members of Toto, The Eagles, David Crosby and Graham Nash of CSNY, John Hall of Orleans, Albert Lee of Heads, Hands & Feet and Roy Bittan of Springsteen's E-Street Band – as well as his how own core players - David Lindley and Craig Doerge. Harmony Vocalists feature Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, Rosemary Butler and J.D. Souther. An embarrassment of riches really.

It opens with David Lindley providing sweeping slide guitar notes for "The Fuse" as lyrics about 'years in the wilderness' slowly turn into a positive romp towards the end of the song - 'the walls come tumbling down'. And just as it’s fading - Lindley does those brilliant harmonics on his guitar - Craig Doerge providing a gorgeous counter on the piano. But for me "Your Bright Baby Blues" represents the album's first moment of true greatness. A lethal combo of musicians contribute to the "...I can't seem to get away from me..." hurt in the words - Chuck Rainey on Bass, Billy Payne of Little Feat on Organ with Roy Bittan of The E-Street Band and especially Lowell George whose guitar slide solo is the very epitome of brevity and impact combined. I've always hated the cod Mariachi rhythms of "Linda Paloma" though I know others love it. Asylum used it as the B-side to the Side 1 finisher "Here Come Those Tears Again" - an American No. 23 hit single in February 1977 on Asylum E-45379.

Side 2 offers up a stunning run of four. A song to his son of three (who'd just lost his mum) - "The Only Child" is both sad and beautiful and lyrically deep. He warns his boy that the world may make him hard and wild but to let the disappointments pass and remember to be kind. And one day he may meet that Soul that sees into his own (Henley and Souther nail those harmony vocals). "Daddy's Tune" is a 'so hard to talk to you' paternal plea that oddly starts to rock out towards its awkward end. Way better is the beautiful and intensely sad "Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate" - a short homage to missed chances - a song filled with longing for simple love - lying awake at night. Those final string notes will crush you. And it ends with the epic title track - that piano as clear as a bell. Asylum edited the album cut of 5:50 down to 4:47 minutes and with "Daddy's Tune" on the flip-side - Asylum E-45399 was rewarded with a lowly No. 58 placing in May 1977. The guy goes to work - comes home from work - goes out - gets wasted - staggers home - gets up in the morning - only to do it all over again. "...Ah the lovers as they run through the night...while the ships bearing their dreams sail out of sight..." – how many of us felt that in dead-end jobs...

Sure it’s depressing in places and too dark at times to deliberately inflict on yourself - but forty years after its release - Jackson Browne's "The Pretender" still has the power to floor me. And something that powerful and moving will always draw me back. And it sounds great too...

"The Albums" by MEAL TICKET (2017 Lemon Records 3CD Mini Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Out Of The Blue..."

When I worked for Reckless Records in Islington and Berwick Street in Soho (I was a buyer for 20 years) – Meal Ticket LPs were strictly a no-no - bargain bin fodder that never sold - always reduced to sell. And despite the gorgeous presentation of this lavish Lemon Records 3CD Mini Box Set (Lemon is a part of Cherry Red of the UK) - it's easy to hear why that was the case for this very US-influenced West London band.

That's not to say that there isn't anything worth loving here – there most definitely is. The "Code Of The Rode" debut album from July 1977 has some genuine melodic peaches on it (Britain's answer to the Americana of The Eagles, America and The Band) - but the second platter "Three Times A Day" that followed only four months later in November 1977 is a dog and the third "Take Away" from November 1978 is not much better.

London's Meal Ticket formed in 1975 - so the 1977 debut album on EMI International/Logo Records had time to gestate and songs like "Out Of The Blue", "Last One To Know" and the epic sounding harmonies of "The Man From Mexico" would do any Crazy Horse LP proud. The lyrics too are long and smart and penned by actor and scriptwriter David Pierce. Along with Canadian singer Rick Jones – Pierce was an integral part of Meal Ticket the band and a prime mover behind the 1975 Chrysalis Records LP "Flash Fearless Versus The Zorg Women Parts 5 & 6" (CHR 1081) – a Sci-Fi spoof album project that featured Elkie Brooks, Alice Cooper, Jim Dandy of Black Oak Arkansas, James Dewar of Stone The Crows and The Robin Trower Band and John Entwistle of The Who. But clearly out of decent songs - and given the visceral musical scene of Punk and New Wave exploding all around them - it's no wonder that the insipid soft-rock of the second and third LPs died a death commercially (none of Meal Ticket's recorded output disturbed the UK charts and none of it was issued Stateside). And rehearing them now – 40 years of time has not been kind to either of the later LPs.

But for fans who've waited decades for these albums to be put out on CD (especially that debut) - this first-time-on-digital in the UK 3-Disc Box Set from Lemon Records with its great Audio and classy presentation is going to be a must buy. Here are the Bar Room details...

UK released 27 January 2017 (3 February 2017 in the USA) - "The Albums" by MEAL TICKET on Lemon Records CDLEMBOX227 (Barcode 5013929782709) is a 3CD Mini Box Set offering their three studio albums from 1977 and 1978 and Two Bonus Live Tracks Remastered. There are Singular Card Repro Artwork Sleeves and a 20-page booklet and it plays out as follows:

Disc 1 - "Code Of The Road" (46:40 minutes):

1. Out Of The Blue [Side 1]

2. Keepin' The Faith

3. OK Bar (Same Old Story)

4. Last One To Know

5. Day Job

6. The Man From Mexico [Side 2]

7. Snow

8. Golden Girl

9. Standing On The Wrong Corner

10. Georgia Syncopator

11. The Code Of The Road (Travellers Bible)

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Code Of The Road" - released July 1977 in the UK on EMI International/Logo INS 3008. Produced by ALAN O'DUFFY and WILLY FINLAYSON (no US release).

Disc 2 - "Three Times A Day" (38:10 minutes):

1. This Could Be The Town [Side 1]

2. Oh Sister

3. Last Port Of Call

4. Comes The Dawn

5. River Man

6. Yesterday's Music [Side 2]

7. Rural Routes

8. I Wish I Wish

9. Laughing Daughter

10. This Dream I Have Of You

Tracks 1 to 10 are their second studio album "Three Times A Day" - released November 1977 in the UK on EMI International/Logo INS 3010. Produced by RICHIE GOLD (no US release)

Disc 3 - "Take Away" (44:11 minutes):

1. Why In The World [Side 1]

2. Down On My Knees (After Memphis)

3. Lucy

4. Lone Star Motel

5. The Shape I'm In

6. Blame [Side 2]

7. Simple

8. Bonnie Lee's Dinette

9. At The Funny Farm

10. Get On Board

Tracks 1 to 10 are their third and final studio album "Take Away" - released November 1978 (reissued April 1979) on Logo Records LOGO 1008. Produced by DAVID MACKAY.

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Son Of The Creature From The Black Lagoon (Live)

12. Boogie Queen (Live)

Tracks 11 and 12 are non-album - released November 1978 as the second single in a UK double-pack for "Simple" on Logo Records GO(D) 330. The standard single (Disc 1 of the double-pack) on Logo Records GO 330 contained "Simple" on the A-side and "Funny Farm" on the B-side. There is no venue or recording date advised for the live cuts.

You have to say that the glossy clamshell box is pretty as are the three repro card sleeves and the 20-page booklet. New liner notes come courtesy of MICHAEL HEATLEY and with recent interviews give a thorough history of the band's beginnings and end. In-between the text are photos of the many EMI International and Logo 45s that EMI tried - as well as live photos of the band, the rear sleeve artwork on the back page (no inners) and various press cuttings. The mastering is down to JAMES BRAGG and the Audio on all three is excellent - especially "Code Of The Road".

You can immediately hear why EMI thought "Out Of The Blue" would be the best lead-off single for the debut album - it's a fantastically hooky song. EMI International INS 533 was issued as a British 45 towards the end of May 1977 with the witty "Day Job" as its B-side - months ahead of the album. Given the strength of the Rick Jones, David Pierce and Steve Hammond composition - it should have been huge really and yet I can't recall ever hearing it at the time. Other nuggets on an album obsessed with American Highways and Mexican Haciendas are the very Crazy Horse vibe of "Last One To Know" and the brilliant harmony breaks that occur in the near six-minute Side 2 stunner "The Man From Mexico".

After the relative high of the debut - "Three Times A Day" comes as a huge disappointment. Tracks like "This Could Be The Town" and "Rural Routes" suddenly sound dull and derivative. EMI tried "Yesterday's Dreams" b/w "The Man From Mexico" from the first LP in September 1977 as a 45 on EMI International INS 539 - even awarding it the luxury of a picture sleeve (both sides are repro'd on Pages 3 and 4 of the booklet). But fans of say Cado Belle or Ace didn't seem to be listening as it tanked. When album number three "Take Away" showed in November 1978 - EMI (under their Logo label imprint) tried "Simple" as the LPs first 45 in two formats - a standard 7" single and a double-pack with two unreleased live tracks on Disc 2 - but no takers. March 1979 saw them try their cover of The Band's "The Shape I'm In" as a single - Logo GO 342 with the LP opener "Why In The World" as its B-side. But that and the last UK single "Blame" in May 1979 on Logo GO 352 (with "At The Funny Farm" on the flip-side) failed as well.

You have to say that re-listening to these albums has been a mixed emotion - loving the first but I'd forgotten how forgettable the other two really are. Still - fans will adore the quality presentation and the sparkly audio and will need to own it. Others should try a listen first...