"The Velvet Underground & Nico" by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO (June 2002 UK Universal/Polydor 2CD ‘Deluxe Edition’ Reissue – Bob Ludwig and Jeff Willens Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and 364 More Like It

Are Available In My E-Book 

 

GIMME SHELTER!

CLASSIC 1960s ROCK ON CD 

And Other Genres Thereabouts 

 

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional Reissues and Remasters 

All Reviews From The Discs 

No Need To be Nervous!

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

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"...He's Got The Works..."

I can think of only two other albums like The Velvet Underground's debut that have influenced so much and so many - and had such a staggering and lasting cultural impact - "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles and "Never Mind The Bollocks..." by The Sex Pistols. When I worked at Reckless in the West End we kept at least 100 copies of the Velvet's debut on new 180grams reissue vinyl for eager punters to snap up on a daily basis - without question the biggest selling reissue album we ever had. No other LP short of Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" or Nirvana's "Nevermind" has had such a devoted and long-lasting following.

And for those who can't afford (nor want) the Super Deluxe 6-Disc version that came out in October 2012 - this 2CD Deluxe Edition gives a scratchy arm all the needles it'll need. Here are the Femme Fatales and Andy Warhols...

Released June 2002 - "The Velvet Underground & Nico: Deluxe Edition" by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO on Universal/Polydor 314 589 624-2 (Barcode 731458962427) is a 2CD Deluxe Edition with the Mono and Stereo Versions of the album with Nine Bonus Tracks and breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (60:18 minutes):

1. Sunday Morning

2. I'm Waiting For The Man

3. Femme Fatale [Vocals by Nico]

4. Venus In Furs

5. Run, Run, Run

6. All Tomorrow's Parties [Vocals by Nico]

7. Heroin [Side 2]

8. There She Goes Again

9. I'll Be Your Mirror

10. The Black Angel's Death Song

11. European Son

Tracks 1 to 11 are the STEREO VERSION of "The Velvet Underground & Nico" - their debut album released March 1967 in the USA on Verve V6-5008 and November 1967 in the UK on Verve SVLP 9184 [For Mono Variant see Disc 2]

12. Little Sister

13. Winter Song

14. It Was A Pleasure Then

15. Chelsea Girls

16. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

Tracks 12 to 16 are from "Chelsea Girl"- the solo debut album by NICO released October 1967 on Verve V6-5032 (Stereo) and finally released in the UK in September 1971 on MGM Select 2353 025 (Stereo)

Disc 2 (77:33 minutes):

1. Sunday Morning

2. I'm Waiting For The Man

3. Femme Fatale [Vocals by Nico]

4. Venus In Furs

5. Run, Run, Run

6. All Tomorrow's Parties [Vocals by Nico]

7. Heroin [Side 2]

8. There She Goes Again

9. I'll Be Your Mirror

10. The Black Angel's Death Song

11. European Son

Tracks 1 to 11 are the MONO VERSION of "The Velvet Underground & Nico" released March 1967 in the USA on Verve V-5008 and November 1967 in the UK on Verve VLP 9184 [For Stereo Variant see Disc 1]

12. All Tomorrow's Parties (Single Version),

13. I'll Be Your Mirror (12 and 13 issued July 1966 as the A&B-sides of a US 7" single on Verve VK-10427. Both tracks feature NICO on Lead Vocals, are in MONO and were not issued in the UK as a single. "I'll Be Your Mirror" the 'single version' features an alternate ending to the cut on the LP)

14. Sunday Morning (Single Version)

15. Femme Fatale (Single Version) (14 and 15 issued December 1966 as the A&B-sides of a US 7" single on Verve VK-10466. "Femme Fatale" features NICO on Lead Vocals, is in Mono and was not issued in the UK)

Compiled by BILL LEVINSON and remastered by BOB LUDWIG and JEFF WILLENS - they've done a fantastic job with an album that is notoriously lo-fi on purpose (Produced by Andy Warhol with Nico credited as a 'Chanteuse'). The foldout flaps of the digipak feature reviews of the album from various trade papers of the time, album credits, suitably blurry photos of the band beneath the see-through trays and a 28-page booklet that has classy black and white snaps of the group's famous shows (mostly live shots) and some studies of Nico. The Dave Thompson liner notes (Pages 3 to 12) go deep into the album's explosive history, there's lyrics to all the songs and original US issues (Universal 314 589 624-2) even has a 'peelable' banana on the front flap to repro the rare first pressings on vinyl (now worth a King's ransom).

Flower-power ladies, loved up hippies and peace-in-our-time acid droppers got the fright of their lives when "The Velvet Underground & Nico" was released in the spring of 1967. It painted a seriously dark picture of a counter-culture that was already writhing in sweaty withdrawal. Drugs and their all-pervasive effect of everything you hold dear permeates almost every song  - scoring them ("I'm Waiting For The Man"), doing them ("Venus In Furs") and then selling your body and eventually your soul to get more ("Run, Run, Run"). And all of this despair is wrapped up in jagged melodies, droll voices (American and German) and distorted guitars that sound like they're being tortured by CIA operatives determined to find a Communist. 

But I suspect that like "Bollocks" - the real reason the album has endured so long is precisely because it's so brutally honest - where one track is actually called "Heroin" - and the others barely disguise such a controversial subject matter. And yet there's inexplicable prettiness too - the gorgeous opener "Sunday Morning" sung by Lou Reed as if he hasn't a care in the world - while Nico scores massively with three vocal beauties - "Femme Fatale", the ragged piano of "All Tomorrow's Parties" and the delicate "I'll Be Your Mirror". Even now it's an extraordinary piece of work and 'influential' barely touches on its true impact down through the decades. It also has something you can't invent - it's effortlessly cool...

Of the two versions I actually find the MONO mix to be more powerful and direct (unavailable since its 1967 release) - the wild soloing of "Heroin" is so stunning and the jangly guitar of "There She Goes Again" much cleaner as it escapes your speakers. And with Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed and John Cale all contributing to the NICO solo tracks - it's hardly surprising they bookend Disc 1. The flute and dry nature of "Chelsea Girls" with "Bridget all wrapped in foil..." matches the Velvets album perfectly while the eight-minutes of the (admittedly hissy) "It Was A Pleasure Then" feels just as druggy as anything on the "Banana Peel" debut.

Will we ever know its like again? Will I ever find an unpeeled 'banana sleeve' in a dollar bin or carboot sale - no is the answer. But at least with this superb Universal DE Edition you can get to understand what all the fuss and iconography is about.

"$26 in my hand...more dead than alive..." Lou Reed sings on "I'm Waiting For The Man". 

Well in 2019 you'll get your fix for a lot less now - and in this case - it's worth every blood red cent...

"The Velvet Underground" [1969 3rd LP] by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (November 2014 UK UMC/Polydor '45 Anniversary Remaster - The Val Valentin Mix' Single CD Reissue – Bill Levenson, Jaime Feldman and Kevin Reeves Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...I'm Set Free..."

"All You Need Is Love..." - The Beatles said. I'd agree (mostly). Except perhaps when it comes to the muddy cash-grab quagmire that is big-league-albums by hugely influential bands.

With the 45th and 50th anniversaries of 1967, 1968, 1969 and next year 1970 passing us by sequentially - in my not so humble opinion, Velvet Underground fans (like everyone else) have been hit with a plethora of dubious Multiple-Disc Sets. The all-encompassing definitive issue (until next time that is) will have the Stereo Mix – the Mono Mix – padded packaging and unreleased Live /Acetate stuff that given the audio cacophony which was The VU is either unlistenable or barely rises above interesting - tracks you'll play once in other words and never feel the need to again.

So for Art-Rock platter number three - "The Velvet Underground" issued March and April 1969 respectively on MGM Records USA and UK - I'd stick my foot in Door No. 1. The simple single-CD '45th Anniversary Remaster - The Val Valentin Mix' is all you need. You get great remastered audio from a team of three who took care - a half decent booklet of 12-pages that isn't the gatefold slip of paper of old (the inlay isn’t perfect for sure but it is better than what was on offer before) - and best of all - "The Velvet Underground" is generally available brand new for less than a fiver from many online retailers. To the quietly majestic music and those pale blue eyes...

UK released 24 November 2014 - "The Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary Remaster - The Val Valentin Mix" by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Single-CD Reissue of their 1969 third album on UMC/Polydor 0602547038661 (Barcode 602547038661) plays out as follows (43:53 minutes):

1. Candy Says [Side 1]

2. What Goes On

3. Some Kinda Love

4. Pale Blue Eyes

5. Jesus

6. Beginning To See The Light [Side 2]

7. I'm Set Free

8. That's The Story Of My Life

9. The Murder Mystery

10. After Hours

Tracks 1 to 10 are their third studio album "The Velvet Underground" - released March 1969 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4617 and April 1969 on MGM Records CS 8108 in STEREO (reissued November 1971 in the UK on MGM Select 2353 022 with different artwork). The album was recorded Nov/Dec 1968 at the T.T.G. Studios in Hollywood, California. 

A team of three renowned names have handled the transfers - Supervision by BILL LEVENSON and JAMIE FELDMAN with Mastering by one of Universal's long-standing Audio Engineers KEVIN REEVES. Reeves has done huge swathes of the UMC catalogue over the last two decades - I think its literally over 300 credits including large amounts of multiple-genres in the 'Originals' series. He's hits the tapes for Audio Fidelity as well. In fact if his name is on it, like say Vic Anesini over at Sony/BMG or Erick Labson for Chess or Ellen Fitton for Motown and so on - I want it. My battered original LP (and manky reissue for that matter) have never sounded this good.

The booklet is a pleasing 12-pages but its entirely pictures and posters, gigs with harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite at the Avalon Ballroom, jangling and Prog Rock-ing with The Byrds and England's Colosseum in Boston, headlining The Hilltop Festival in Mason, New Hampshire, sharing with The Chapter Five at Springers in Portland, November 21, 1969 - even a ticket stub from The Whisky A Go Go on the credits page looking like a naught remnant from the past. There aren't any liner notes per say which for an Anniversary Reissue is bizarre - no history - no sense of its place - zip - damn shame that. But for a fiver, overlook it, because the music is worth it.

Disarming, perhaps even menacing, the Side 1 opener "Candy Says" oozes genuine pain and hurt – I need the quite places, if I could walk away from me, Lou Reed sings – the remaster gorgeous too. Back to more frantic frenetic territory with "What Goes On" – those LR guitars sounding like a 1967 Byrds session where everyone has dropped something small, lysergic and purple and said to hell with it – let’s distort those axes. And again the hypnotic drone sound – so influential – you can literally hear Roxy Music and their 1972 debut on Island Records coming in the distance (Ferry covered the song on his 1978 solo LP "The Bride Stripped Bare").

Sloppy and yet rumbling like a volcano about to erupt – suddenly the guitars of "Some Kinda Love" are fantastically clear as they do battle in each speaker. Combines the absurd with the vulgar – indeed the possibilities are endless in this cleaned up movie. One of my absolute VU faves – the gorgeous and emotionally delicate "Pale Blue Eyes" is thrilling to hear in such clarity. And I love the articulacy of linger-on lyrics like, "...thought of you as my mountain top...thought of you as my peak...thought of you as everything...I've had but couldn't keep..." Lou Reed then ends Side 1 with the let-me-find-a-purpose prayer to "Jesus" – a song I've always felt was not-so-secretly about drugs and a sincere plea for a willpower tunnel of light somewhere up in the distance.

Strumming its melodic way out of your speakers from Side 2 is the here-we-go-again "Beginning To See The Light" – a tune that feels like the morning after "Jesus" when the cravings return and the snarl of sarcasm takes over. I've always love that doubled vocal in the opening lines of "I'm Set Free" – underpinning the emotion and the off-the-cuff guitar solo that seems to be receding into some black hole it can’t get out of. "I'm Set Free" is brilliant VU - lovely yet tainted with their peculiar brand of shiny leather corruption. The jaunty rat-a-tat of "That's The Story Of My Life" is followed by a barrage of voices and poetry in "The Murder Mystery" - Mo Tucker's fay vocal like Nico's younger sister. She continues to sing on the closer "After Hours" - possibly a tad too whimsical for the hurt beauty that's preceded it. 

Always somehow forgotten after the explosive 1967 game-changer debut with Nico – VU's third however has always felt like a classic to me - even a forgotten one despite its chart placing of No. 15 in the USA (its dullard artwork and unimaginative name did it no favours). And in 2019 - a full 50 years on - they still sound otherworldly like say My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins - like a band from the future giving us a lyrical and musical nod so we can prepare for the next stage. 

Amazing stuff and so damn cool too. And available my children of Reed, Morrison, Yule & Tucker & Co. (a team of lawyers in California specialising in misery) for only a skydiver...

"Cosa Nostra Beck-Ola" aka "Beck-Ola" by THE JEFF BECK GROUP [feat ROD STEWART] (October 2006 UK Epic/Legacy 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and Over 384 More Like It

Are Available In My E-Book 

 

GIMME SHELTER!

CLASSIC 1960s ROCK ON CD 

And Other Genres Thereabouts 

 

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional Reissues and Remasters 

All Reviews From The Discs 

No Need To be Nervous!

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

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"...All Shook Up..."

While the Magritte painting of an apple on the front cover artwork roared "Beck-Ola" as the title to his second solo album after The Yardbirds - the flip-back rear and black and silver Columbia Records labels rather confusingly credited the LP as "Cosa Nostra Beck-Ola" by Jeff Beck and not a more accurate The Jeff Beck Group.

In fact, when you read the highly enlightening liner notes to this brilliant CD reissue (JB remembers with brutal precision) – it's a small wonder according to our main man that either album made it out anywhere. By his own admittance – his 1968 "Truth" album debut was recorded in four days flat while number two pushed out the studio recording time boat to a whopping six days in April 1969, both produced by Mickie Most who seemed hell-bent on moulding the pretty ex Yardbirds Guitarist Jeff Beck into the next David Cassidy popping out "Hi Ho Silver Lining" pop ditties until he puked - whilst at the same time being utterly contemptuous of the Hard Rock/Blues Rock Jeff Beck along with Zeppelin were creating in Blighty in that stunning year (1969).

The short 7-track record only materialised because a second US tour was imminent and new material was needed to support that trek – but they’d nothing. So out come the Elvis Presley covers – the instrumental jams, a throw in from Rod and Ronnie, a love song to his absent gal from Nicky and the beast is cobbled together with you suspect Victor Frankenstein standing over an acetate of SCX 6351 shouting "It's Alive! It's Alive!"

But my God look at this band – 50 years on and the line-up still raises hairs just looking at it. The barnstorming extraordinaire lungs of Rod Stewart, future Faces pal and Rolling Stones guitar man Ronnie Wood as the rhythm section Bass Player, the demure but brilliant sessionman Nicky Hopkins on keyboards (he didn’t do live too well), JB on Guitars of course and the uncouth Keith Moon madman that was Tony Newman on Drums. On paper it had the makings of a truly ginormous super-group like say Blind Faith or Derek & The Dominoes. But tempers, personality clashes, egos, mercurial talent and musical direction kiboshes (not playing Woodstock because they weren’t together enough as a band) quickly ripped the whole wild child apart. But cobbled together or not – and with four brilliant outtakes that elevate this disc properly upwards - man what a recorded legacy. Let's get all shook up...

UK released 10 October 2006 - "Cosa Nostra Beck-Ola" aka "Beck-Ola" by THE JEFF BECK GROUP on Epic/Legacy 82876 77351 2 (Barcode 886919829822) is an 'Expanded Edition' Digitally Remastered CD with Four Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (48:41 minutes):

1. All Shook Up [Side 1]

2. Spanish Boots

3. Girl From Mill Valley

4. Jailhouse Rock

5. Plynth (Water Down The Drain) [Side 2]

6. The Hangman's Knee

7. Rice Pudding

Tracks 1 to 7 are his second studio LP "Cosa Nostra Beck-Ola" aka "Beck-Ola" by THE JEFF BECK GROUP - released July 1969 in the UK on Columbia SX 6351 (Mono) and Columbia SCX 6351 (Stereo) and August 1969 in the USA on Epic BN 26478 (Stereo Only). Produced by MICKIE MOST - it peaked at No. 15 in the US LP charts and No. 39 in the UK. It was reissued September 1971 in the UK as "The Most Of Jeff Beck" in different artwork on EMI's budget label Music For Pleasure MFP 5219. The CD uses only the STEREO mix.

BONUS TRACKS (All Previously Unreleased, PETER MEW mixes done in April 2003):

8. Sweet Little Angel

(B.B. King cover version recorded live in the studio 19 Nov 1968 at Mirasound Studios in New York, second version recorded that day with Mick Waller from the "Truth" line-up on Drums)

9. Throw Down A Line

(Hank Marvin cover recorded at Trident Studios, London, 7 February 1969)

10. All Shook Up (Early Version)

(Presley cover recorded at Abbey Road, London, 8 January 1969 – between the third and final album version)

11. Jailhouse Rock (Early Version)

(Presley cover recorded at De Lane Lea Studios early April 1969 on 4-Track)

The 16-page booklet isn't the most beautiful thing I've ever seen but it is very, very informative – sporting new liner notes from noted writer and music historian CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY with full-on contributions from the Guitar Maestro himself. You get black and white photos of JB in the studio and at Fillmore West in 1968 - Rodders in full microphone manhandling pose and another one of him looking ill at ease with a guitar strapped around him (what do I with this). JB recalls that Nicky Hopkins had a girlfriend at Mill Valley so he dedicated that song to her and his viewing of Drummer Newman tearing it up with Little Richard and Gene Vincent – convinced him that Tony was just the right kind of thug for the job of turning Motown into Rock-Soul or something thereabouts. The CD label has a pic of JB on it and the Rene Magritte painting of 'La Chambre d'Ecoute' that adorns the front sleeve of the album is used as the back inlay beneath the see-through CD tray.

Sony's long-standing Audio Engineer VIC ANESINI handles the LP while EMI/Abbey Road Sound Boffin PETER MEW carried out the fantastic remixes and Remasters on the unreleased session outtakes. Anesini has done hugely prestigious names – Presley, Paul Simon, Santana, Mott The Hoople, Nilsson, Spirit and loads more and his magic touch has brought all that latent power to the fore. This CD Rocks - threatening almost all of the time to get snotty, rowdy and salacious with your amp and speakers.

Keeping to his liner-notes promise of 'heavy music' contained within but in a new/old sort of hybrid form - Beck gets proceedings under way with a kick-em-in-the-teeth near five-minute cover of the Elvis classic "All Shook Up". Even the Early Version in the Bonuses feels electric - Rod in stunning vocal form repeating phrases and singing the song like its new. You can hear Beck, Hopkins and especially Wood on the Bass swinging as Rod roars "I'm in the mood for love..." with a proper swagger. Then it gets even heavier - Ronnie, Jeff and Rod getting writing credits on the ragged rocker "Spanish Boats". Rod got a day job in Bethlehem while Beck distorts that guitar and the ensemble kicks in just before two minutes with the impact of a truck (love that guitar vs. piano battle that ends the all-over-the-place Production). After the snot-nose statements of the two lead-in tracks, Nicky Hopkins gorgeous love song "Girl From Mill Valley" comes on like a magical instrumental interlude (I put on CD compilation as a sort of chill pill). But then its back to rocking business as they end Side One with "Jailhouse Rock" - a rough and ready version with Rod almost lost in the echoed vocals but Beck displaying hair-raising guitar chops (God what they must have been like live when they were ripping this sucker out).

Side 2 gives us some fab Alex Harvey dangerous and menacing riffage in "Plynth (Water Down The Drain)" – Hopkins, Wood and Rod credited as the writers. The Faces would return to it in a radically different slide-guitar form as "Around The Plynth" on their 1970 debut album "First Step" (the "Five Guys Walk Into A Bar..." Box Set for Faces contains an equally slasher take from a 1970 BBC Session version). All five get writing credits for the heavy-heavy bludgeon that is "The Hangman’s Knee" – a prison cell and lawyers tale of woe punctured by grungy guitar work from an unleashed JB. The 7:22 instrumental minutes of "Rice Pudding" was recorded 19 April 1969 and if any one track on the album screams Heavy Hard Rock – then this guitar-wailing drum-whacking riff-beast is it. But then at 3:18 minutes it cleverly mellows into Hopkins piano accompanied by long low slide notes from Beck panning from speaker to speaker until it eventually returns to the opening guitar slash. Even now it’s a bruiser – the kind of song that would be difficult to make in 2019 – and maybe that’s why I admire its ragged audio tangents so much (fantastic musicality in that fade out passage)...

As I've already pointed out, the Bonus Cuts elevate this CD Reissue into the stratosphere. Opening with an absolute blinder – a huge Blues take on B.B. King's "Sweet Little Angel" – Rod is in storming $20 bill form while the Beck led band sounds like the only serious rival Led Zeppelin ever had (shockingly good stuff). Even though he barely masks his loathing for Mickie Most and his Pop Single attempts - I like "Throw Down A Line" - not nearly as bad a tune as JB seems to think it is. The four-track "Jailhouse Rock" early version is tripping–over-itself ragged and I love it for that – ending a great sounding CD reissue on a high.

Beck would morph his musical journey into Prog Rock mixed with Jazz-Funk-Soul instrumentals that would by the George Martin Produced "Blow By Blow" and "Wired" LPs in 1975 and 1976 take the world by storm (check out his Stevie Wonder written Syreeta cover of "'Cause We Ended As Lovers" on "Blow By Blow"). But this is where the rough boy started, and 50 years on, this Granny Smith still slaughters...

"Horn Rock & Funky Guitar Grooves 1968-1974" by VARIOUS (26 July 2019 Ace/BGP CD Compilation - Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Toe Hold..."

I love a compilation like this - clever choices - great sound - discoveries. I'll even forgive the rather uninspiring artwork because those sexy bearded men with non-arthritic knees and disturbingly alluring butt wiggles over at Ace Records (using their Beat Goes Public label imprint) have only gone and done my nut it again.

This is a wickedly good single CD vaults-trawl that even sports an unissued nugget from Texan Donnie Brooks very much in the early Blood, Sweat & Tears vs. Chicago vein and a no-one knows-nothing-about recording from Frank Slay’s Claridge Records that deserves its day in the sun. There's a lot of Soulful Rock and horny horns to wade through here, so let's get at it my Funkalicious admirers...

UK released 26 July 2019 - "Horn Rock & Funky Grooves 1968-1974" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records/BGP CDBGPD 311 (Barcode 029667094825) is a 17-Track CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (66:01 minutes):

1. Buddy's Advice - PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND (fifth studio album "Keep On Moving" from October 1969 (USA) on Elektra EKS 74053 - Buzzy Feiten song)

2. Toe Hold - AL KOOPER (from his debut solo album "I Stand Alone" from February 1969 on Columbia CS 9718)

3. It's Been A Long Time Coming - DELANEY & BONNIE (May 1968 US 7" single on Stax STA-0003, later issued on their debut album "Home" released August 1969 on Stax STS-2026 (USA) and March 1970 (UK) on Stax SXATS 1029)

4. Understanding - COLD BLOOD [featuring Lydia Pense] (from their December 1970 second album "Sisyphus" on Atlantic/San Francisco SD 205)

5. One Fine Morning (LP Version) - LIGHTHOUSE (fourth studio album "One Fine Morning" released July 1971 (USA) on Evolution Records 3007 and October 1971 (UK) on Vertigo 6342 010)

6. Roller Coaster - BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS (September 1973 US 7" single on Columbia 4-45937, A-side - also on the August 1973 sixth US LP "No Sweat" on Columbia KC 32180 and CBS Records 65275 (UK))

7. Clever Girl - TOWER OF POWER (from their May 1973 US Debut LP "Tower Of Power" on Warner Brothers BS 2681)

8. Blow Your Mind - DONNIE BROOKS (Previously Unissued 1970 Recording, 2019)

9. Run Back To Mama - CHASE [featuring Bill Chase] (from their April 1974 third album "Pure Music" on Epic KE 32572)

10. Tuane - HAMMER (from their November 1970 debut album "Hammer" on Atlantic/San Francisco SD 203)

11. Somebody Oughta' Turn Your Head Around - CRYSTAL MANSION (from their August 1972 US LP "Crystal Mansion" on Rare Earth R 540L)

12. Clown (Part 1) - THE FLOCK (September 1969 edited into two parts FRENCH 7” single on CBS 6965 (A-side is 3:15 minutes) – also part of the full "Clown" track on their debut album "The Flock" issued September 1969 in the USA on Columbia Records CS 9911 (Stereo) and April 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 63733)

13. Gypsy Boy II - TOBIAS WOOD HENDERSON (from the 1971 album "Blue Stone" on Pulsar Records 10605)

14. Shoes - BLACK MAGIC (Previously Unissued Claridge Records recording, 2019)

15. Make Your Move - THE ELECTRIC FLAG (from the 1974 LP "The Band Kept Playing" on Atlantic SD 18112)

16. Boomp, Boomp, Chomp - THE SONS (from their November 1969 second album on Capitol Records SKAO-332 called "The Sons" – The Sons Of Champlin (featuring Bill Champlin) now credited as The Sons)

17. Aunt Marie - AMERICAN SOUND LTD (1968 US 7" single on Pearce 5841, A-side)

The 20-page booklet features track-by-track info on the 17 cuts by noted writer and Soul/Funk expert DEAN RUDLAND. As ever his knowledge comes shining through and does his level-headed appraisal - the text peppered with shots of album sleeves you rarely ever lay eyes on (Butterfield, Tower Of Power and Lighthouse getting a colour page each) and a couple of tasty US 45s on Stax and Columbia (Delaney & Bonnie and Al Kooper). Audio is care of Ace's long-standing sound-man NICK ROBBINS and given that 95% of it comes from major labels - each track is ballsy and full - proper power when the brass comes brandy-glass rattling into your living room.

Written & Arranged by Buzzy Feiten and Produced by songsmith and all-round catalyst Jerry Ragovoy - the track selection opens strongly with "Buddy's Advice" - Paul Butterfield smart enough to know that the Blues-Rock medium was already too limiting by 1969 - so for album number five, he Funks it up and Soul sympathiser Ragovoy delivers the audio wallop. You're then nailed with a Stateside threesome - ex Blood, Sweat & Tears Al Kooper, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Leon Russell pals Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett and the truly fantastic Cold Blood sporting the gutteral layrinx of Lydia Pense - a woman who might worry Janis Joplin, Maggie Bell and Elkie Brooks (in that order). Kooper's cover of the Isaac Hayes and David Porter penned "Toe Hold" (previously done by Sam & Dave, Johnnie Taylor and Sharon Tandy) is a smart choice. The backing band that can swing is Dylan's "Blonde On Blonde" troupe, the arrangements are by Jazz Trumpeter Don Ellis (cutting a rug over on Charles Taylor's CTI Records at the same time) and backing vocalists The Blossoms giving it the girl power the Soulful cut needs. Cold Blood have always been a lust of mine - their cover of Donny Hathaway's "Valdez In The Country" surely a contender for Volume 2.

Lighthouse even got their fourth album "One Fine Morning" a Blighty release on Vertigo Records in October 1971 hoping to mimic their home country Canadian success of No. 2 (on GRT Records) and a more modest No. 80 on the US LP charts (Evolution Records). But probably because the black-and-white swirl record company was perceived as a 'difficult' Prog Rock label - nobody fell for their Fusion Rock (time to change that).

The compilation then cleverly goes past the usual choices for Blood, Sweat & Tears (their first three albums, the second and third of which peaked at No. 1 in America) and instead opts for a tune when the public had effectively stopped liking them - the cool "Roller Coaster". Coupled with the fab Tower Of Power and a Keith Olsen produced session in 1970 for Donnie Brooks - things continue well with Bill Chase's "Run Back To Mama" - the ex Maynard Ferguson trumpeter and his band sounding like they’ve been gargling old-school B, S & T. platters for breakfast.

Neither of the Hammer or Crystal Mansion cuts actually feature funky horns, but are guitar-driven monsters that 'feel' like they do. The first I heard of the brilliant scatted "Tuane" track was on Disc 2 of Rhino's fabulous 4CD Box Set "What It Is!" - a 2006 deep dive into Atlantic's vaults and associated labels looking for Rare Grooves. The song was supposed to have lyrics but band member Johnny De just scatted along with the backing track and they realised it was a winner sans words. The Crystal Mansion cut has the feel of a Rock Band that deep down wants to be the Average White Band or Mother's Finest when they grow up and their chandeliers drop.  And on it goes to a French single edit by The Flock and a Funk 45 most people will never see on Pearce Records 5841 (out on Kansas) by the cool sounding American Sound Ltd telling you about a hip relative to the sound of manic brass punctuations.

American Rock gets back to its soulful roots...the blurb on the rear inlay to CDBGPD 311 states. And I’d like to thank Ace for reminding us of that and being a credit to the reissuing community. Recommended...

"Lullabies For Catatonics: A Journey Through The British Avant-Pop/Art Rock Scene 1967-74" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (May 2019 Grapefruit 3CD Clamshell Box Set – Simon Murphy Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

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"...Tramcar To Frankenstein..."

On Page 3 of the 40-leaf chunky-monkey info fest that is the booklet to this latest 3CD Clamshell Mini Box Set vaults-trawl from those provocative and fruity types over at Grapefruit Records - there's a tiny period advert for the Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Daevid Allen and Mike Ratledge first line-up of Soft Machine soon to play Edinburgh - entitled "Lullaby For Catatonics". At the bottom it helpfully adds - and for no other reason you suspect than its funny and its going to mess with someone’s establishment head - "Literary Societies Give Me The Shits".

In short - and in their devil-may-care adventurous way - the inexperienced but ballsy London Art House boys were informing a still culturally uptight world that we're playing this Underground Music man (or Prog Rock or Art Rock or Psych or whatever else phrase you want to call it) and if you don't like it son, you can bugger off. Now let’s get the beers in and brush up on the agricultural maintenance of unfeasibly large mushrooms in suburbia.

As you can no doubt tell, I like these sort of catch-all sets and as other collectors like me have noticed in the last few years - Cherry Red's Grapefruit Records label has become rather good at it. Time to don the multi-coloured shirt and hat, put some casters on the Mellotron and head out at dawn to Stonehenge (or some place with camels maybe). Here are the windy song details...

UK released 31 May 2019 - "Lullabies For Catatonics:  A Journey Through The British Avant-Pop/Art Rock Scene 1967-74" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Grapefruit Records CRSEGBOX056 (Barcode 5013929185609) is a 3CD Clamshell Box Set of 49 Remastered Tracks that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Spontaneous Underground" (78:47 minutes):

1. I Should've Known - THE SOFT MACHINE (Not originally issued, recorded April 1967)

2. I'm Waiting For The Man - THE RIOT SQUAD featuring DAVID BOWIE (Not originally issued, recorded April 1967)

3. Conquistador - PROCOL HARUM (from the September 1967 US Debut LP "Procol Harum" on Decca DES 18008)

4. Bypass The By-Pass - THE END (not originally issued, recorded October 1967)

5. World War Three - DANTALIAN'S CHARIOT (Not originally issued, recorded January 1968)

6. Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) - THE ZOMBIES (from the April 1968 debut album "Odyssey & Oracle" on CBS Records S BPG 63280 in Stereo)

7. I Talk To The Wind - GILES, GILES & FRIPP [pre King Crimson] (Not originally issued, recorded September 1968)

8. Tramcar To Frankenstein - THE LIVERPOOL SCENE (from their November 1968 second UK LP "Amazing Adventures Of The Liverpool Scene" on RCA Victor SF 7995 in Stereo)

9. The Battle - THE STRAWBS (Not originally issued alternative version, recorded December 1968)

10. Xoanon Bay - WOODY KERN (from the January 1969 debut album "The Awful Disclosures Of Maria Monk" on Pye Records NSPL 18273 in Stereo)

11. In The Beginning - GENESIS (from their March 1969 debut album "From Genesis To Revelation" on Decca SKL 4990 in Stereo)

12. Wasted Ground (Memento Mori) - THE VELVET FROGS (Not originally issued, recorded mid 1969)

13. Beyond And Before - YES (from their July 1969 UK debut LP "Yes" on Atlantic Records 588 190 in Stereo)

14. Druid One - THIRD EAR BAND (from their July 1969 debut album "Alchemy" on Harvest SHVL 756 in Stereo)

15. Through The Eyes Of A Child - BACHDENKEL (Not originally issued, recorded September 1969)

16. All Over The Country - THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN (Not originally issued, recorded late 1969)

17. Merry Go Round - EYES OF BLUE (from their October 1969 second album "In Fields Of Ardath" on Mercury SMCL 20164 in Stereo)

Disc 2 "Tea On The Lawn" (79:03 minutes):

1. Egyptian Tomb - MIGHTY BABY [ex The Action] (from their November 1969 debut album "Mighty Baby" on Head Records HDLS 6002)

2. Banquet - AUDIENCE (from their December 1969 UK debut LP "Audience" on Polydor 583 065 in Stereo)

3. To Play Your Little Game - CRESSIDA (from their February 1970 UK debut LP "Cressida" on Vertigo VO 7)

4. Parachute - PRETTY THINGS (from their June 1970 fifth studio album "Parachute" on Harvest SHVL 774)

5. Crytallised Petard - RUSTIC HINGE (not originally issued, recorded mid 1970)

6. Vivaldi - CURVED AIR (from their November 1970 debut album "Air Conditioning" on Warner Brothers WS 3012)

7. World Of Ice - SWEET SLAG (from their January 1971 debut and only album "Tracking With Close-Ups" on President PTLS 1042)

8. Mocking Bird - BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST (from their February 1971 second album "Once Again" on Harvest SHVL 788)

9. The Prisoner - COMUS (from their February 1971 UK debut LP "First Utterance" on Dawn DNLS 3019)

10. Home (Reconstruction) - NIRVANA (from their March 1971 third studio album "Local Anaesthetic" on Vertigo 6360 031)

11. Death May Be Your Santa Claus - SECOND HAND (from their April 1971 LP "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" on Mushroom Records 200 MR 6)

12. The Prisoner (Eight by Ten) - SPRING (from their May 1971 debut album "Spring" on RCA Neon NE 6)

13. Don Alfonso - THE COXHILL-BEDFORD DUO [Lol Coxhill and David Bedford - ex Kevin Ayers Band] (from the June 1971 Lol Coxhill double-album "Ear Of Beholder" on Dandelion DSD 8008)

14. Grande Piano - STACKRIDGE (from their August 1971 debut album "Stackridge" on MCA Records MDKS 8002)

15. Saving It Up For So Long - SAMURAI (from their August 1971 debut album "Samurai" on Greenwich Gramophone Co. Records GSLP 1003)

16. No. 2 Psychological Decontamination Unit - BLONDE ON BLONDE (from their October 1971 debut album "Reflections On A life" on Ember Records NR 5058)

17. Me And My Kite - FUCHSIA (from their October 1971 UK debut LP "Fuchsia" on Pegasus Records PEG 8)

Disc 3 "The Wind Sings Winter Songs" (79:50 minutes):

1. Welcome For A Soldier - DEEP FEELING (from their November 1971 debut album "Deep Feeling" on DJM Records DJLP 419)

2. Can I See You - OPEN ROAD (Previously Unreleased recording, early 1972)

3. O Caroline - MATCHING MOLE (from their February 1972 UK debut album "Matching Mole" on CBS Records S 64850)

4. Unhinged - 9.30 FLY (from their June 1972 UK debut LP "9.30 Fly" on Ember Records NR 5062)

5. The Machine Grinds On - GNOME SWEET GNOME (Previously Unreleased, recorded July 1972)

6. No More Sunshine Until May - AS YOU LIKE IT (Previously Unreleased, recorded circa 1972)

7. A Winter's Tale - JADE WARRIOR (from their December 1972 third studio album "Last Autumn's Dream" on Vertigo 6360 079)

8. C.F.D.T. (Colonel Fright's Dancing Terrapins) - BOND & BROWN [Graham Bond and Pete Brown] (from the December 1972 UK LP "Two Heads Are Better Than One" on Chapter One Records CHS-R-813)

9. Ship - GNIDROLOG (from their December 1972 second UK LP "Lady Lake" on RCA Victor SF 8322)

10. Anvils In Fire - RUPERT HINE (from the March 1973 UK LP "Unfinished Picture" on Purple Records TPSA 7509)

11. Upon Composition - RON GEESIN (from the April 1973 self-published LP  "As He Stands" on (No Label) RON 28)

12. Growing Up And I'm Fine - MICK RONSON (from the March 1974 UK debut album "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" on RCA Victor APL-1 0353)

13. Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape - BE-BOP DELUXE [featuring Bill Nelson] (from their June 1974 UK Debut album "Axe Victim" on Harvest SHVL 813)

14. Somewhere In Hollywood - 10cc (from their May 1974 second UK LP "Sheet Music" on UK Records UKAL 1007)

15. Mother Russia - RENAISSANCE (from their May 1974 US LP "Turn Of The Cards" on Sire Records SAS 7502, issued March 1975 in the UK on RCA/BYM Records BTM 1000)

Compiled and Annotated by DAVID WELLS with Project Management from the legendary JOHN REED – long standing Audio Engineer SIMON MURPHY has done the mastering for Another Planet Music and as you can imagine with so many sources, it’s a mixed bag of gruff vs. gorgeous with thankfully the emphasis more on the latter. The 40-page booklet is a stunning achievement – rammed to the gunnels with facts and memory-jogging details, black and white and colour promo photos of every band and artist (I’ve never seen a photo of the band Woody Kern who featured Rik Kenton, the one-time Bassist for Roxy Music and the one seen as they played “Virginia Plain” on Top Of The Pops in 1972. There are trade adverts from Cream Magazine, NME and Melody Maker - the disastrous reverse-psychology Purple Records campaign for Rupert Hine’s LP advising punters to not buy it if they didn’t like it, and it worked - or an interview with Patrick Campbell-Lyons of Nirvana on their third platter and latest incarnation.

You get lesser-seen LP covers like Samurai, Liverpool Scene and Comus, foreign picture sleeves for obscuro singles from Mighty Baby and their Egyptian Tomb or Procol Harum’s Conquistador in its Yank sleeve. There is a two-page colour spread of gig posters and festival art adorning the centre - famous venues like The Roundhouse in London and Mothers in Birmingham as well as the lowly but cute Adam And Eve Folk Club in Bradford Street where you could ogle The Strawbs on 26 September 1969 for the frankly iMac extortionate fee of six schillings and six pence (who got the six pence gravy, that’s what I want to know). Each CD card is fronted by a band of the time, Giles, Giles & Fripp for Disc 1, Mighty Baby for Disc 2 and 10cc as we enter into 1974. As you can imagine - its fab stuff – now to the music...

Proceedings on CD1 open strongly, two well-recorded and period-groovy unissued recordings from April 1967 - Soft Machine and none other than David Bowie on his short stint with The Riot Squad. The first is even Mod Soulful (should've known it wouldn't last type lyrics) whilst Twig the Wonder Kid does his best Lou Reed drawl on their cover of The Velvet Undergrounds more-dead-than-alive drugs song "I'm Waiting For The Man". While I appreciate its place in musical history (arrangements and sound) - I never want to hear Procol Harum's hammy "Conquistador" ever again. Far better is Bill Wyman's involvement in The End and their surprisingly good unissued "Bypass The By-Pass" - great audio on a tune about people drinking and the authorities downing on them with breathalysers. But then things kick up a real Heavy Psych notch with the "World War Three" from Dantalian's Chariot - future Police guitarist Andy Summers screaming on those effects peddles with thunderous and genuinely exciting effect. Speaking of bizarre, probably because of its war references and pleading "Please let me go home..." lyrics, Epic issued The Zombies "Odyssey & Oracle" track "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)" as a 45 in the USA - whatever you look at the politics behind that - its an extraordinary song on an album that only grows in stature as the decades pass (much like The Pretty Things material over on Disc 2).

Other corkers include an alternate take on the whimsical but sweet pre Crimson version of "I Talk To The Wind" by Giles, Giles & Fripp that would of course re-emerge on their October 1969 debut "In The Court Of The Crimson King" over on Island Records - a landmark LP itself due yet another multi-disc Anniversary issue this October 2019. While the song choices made for obscuro bands like Woody Kern, The Velvet frogs and even the darling Eyes Of Blue leave me a bit cold, no such thing with the genuinely chilling and brilliant "Tramcar To Frankenstein" by The Liverpool Scene (with Andy Roberts) sounding almost like pre Sabbath. A real discovery also comes in "Through The Eyes Of A Child" by Bachdenkel (brilliant) and dare we say it - the weird baroque and almost uncatagorizeable cool of Third Ear Band stringing it up on "Druid One". And you can so hear why bands like Yes and Genesis went on to true genius (even if the Gabriel debut LP only sold 645 copies on Decca) - the greatness and tune-craft was already there right from the start. I would say though that audio-wise the Strawbs alternate for "The Battle" is intrusively hissy and some may find entries on CD1 more noodle than song.

After the slightly disjointed CD1 – the largely Prog-based Disc 2 ups the brilliance level considerably opening with an absolute corker from Mighty Baby - their "Egyptian Tomb" - pictured in its Dutch Philips Records picture sleeve on Page 16 in the booklet. Amazing sound - Eastern and Western influences converging - the ex Action boys did more than good and were surely a strong rival to Yes for syncopated rhythms and sheer musicality. Howard Werth's Audience and the Shakespearian named Cressida trump up two goodies from their debuts - melodies and fine playing (Iain Clark from Cressida later joined Uriah Heep for their 1971 platter "Look At Yourself"). Superb Beach Boys harmonies come next in Phil May's brilliant "Parachute" - The Pretty Things proving that 1968's "P. F. Sorrow" wasn't just a one-off masterpiece. Ex World Of Arthur Brown, its clear Rustic Hinge have been absolutely pigging out on Captain Beefheart's 1969 double-opus "Trout Mask Replica" - their "Crystallised Petard" meshing Stockhausen with the Mighty Beef in no uncertain terms (unreleased at the time, the LP would eventually see UK light of day in 1988 on Reckless Records RECK 3 as "Replicas" - now where do I know that label from - oh yes I worked for the buggers for 20 years). Other corkers include Fuchsia (see my separate review for their self-titled LP) and the amazing debut of Comus - their "First Utterance" horror gatefold artwork completely undermining the Dando Shaft meets Steve Marriott brilliance contained within. Lysergic plant name or not, I can't say I liked Sweet Slag, or the childish misplaced nonsense of Lol Coxhill and David Bedford, nor the three Mellotrons of Spring - already feeling like a wildly dated sound by at least 4 years when issued in 1971.

CD3 comes stomping in with Deep Feeling's musically accomplished take on the Vietnam War in "Welcome For A Soldier" - an A Cappella centre section that will have Harmony Vocals fans nodding a cap. Part of Donovan's musical crew for the 1970 Dawn Records album "Open Road" (incredibly his ninth studio album by that time) – several members of the ensemble including writer John Carr took the name for their own band. After Open Road's "Windy Daze" debut album on Greenwich Gramophone Company Records hit the shops in 1971 – they recruited Bassist and Singer Tony Reeves (soon-to-be the front man for Greenslade) for a completed second album but on TR’s departure, it never got released. Here we get the opening track – the impressive "Can I See You?" Ex Soft Machine, Matching Mole made two revered albums for CBS Records in 1972, with the pretty Robert Wyatt-sung "O Caroline" being a highlight on the April debut (Bob Stanley featured it on the "English Weather" CD compilation he did in 2017 for Ace Records - see my review). Other winners include Jade Warrior with their touching "A Winter's Tale" - Mick Ronson contemplating David Cassidy fame on "Growing Up And I'm Fine" - while 10cc and Renaissance bring it all home with complicated Rock brilliance from their superb "Sheet Music" and "Turn Of The Cards" albums.

I can imagine some will feel that much of "Lullabies For Catatonics:  A Journey Through The British Avant-Pop/Art Rock Scene 1967-74" is interesting noodle, but not much else. I'd argue they'd be wrong (the good far outweighs the dud big time) and once again Grapefruit Records have kicked out another 3CD reissue winner – the kind of catchall Box Set that will have you chasing down those obscuro albums with glee (time to get your Be-Bop Deluxe and Gnidrolog fetishes quenched boys).

If your ears are up for Ealing Art College musical adventures and hairy-bottomed Mellotron romps in the Yorkshire, Canterbury and Gloucestershire landscape with your third-eye tackle out – then look no further...