"Yesterday Has Gone: The Songs Of Tony Randazzo" by VARIOUS (September 2019 Ace Records CD Compilation – Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Gonna Take A Miracle..."

(TONY RANDAZZO is part of Ace Record's Singer Songwriter Series)

I've had Ace CDs that went the extra Country Mile in the Audio department before - but this little British issued doozy goes a few 60ts furlongs further.

This is a truly fantastic sounding CD containing Melodrama Pop, 60ts Soul, Girl Group heartache and young boys going out of their heads whilst pining for miracles (and not just the Smokey kind). Most of the music centres around late 1965 and into 1966 (primo 45-singles time) and at 71:43 minutes - "Yesterday Has Gone..." is a generous slab of quality misery into the bargain that collectors will lick their lips over.

For sure Randazzo's overblown Phil Spector-ish I'm-gonna-die pleading same-song-structure every time can grate after a while - and there are some truly yucky saccharine moments with The Vogues and The Kane Triplets that will test punters patience worse than EU Brexit negotiations. But make no mistake, with the likes of Little Anthony & The Imperials, Timi Yuro, The Royalettes and Derek Martin on board – musically there is also so much here to adore (twelve are in glorious Stereo too). Let's move from the outside and start looking in...

UK released Friday, 27 September 2019 (4 October 2019 in the USA) - "Yesterday Has Gone: The Songs Of Teddy Randazzo" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1556 (Barcode 029667096027) is a 25-Track CD compilation of Remasters in their Singer-Songwriter Series that plays out as follows (71:43 minutes):

1. I'm On The Outside (Looking In) - LITTLE ANTHONY & THE IMPERIALS (August 1964 US 7" single on DCP Records DCP 1104, A-side)

2. Can't Stop Running Away - TIM YURO (May 1965 US 7" single on Mercury 72431, A-side)

3. Baby Are You Puttin' Me On - THE ROYALETTES (from the 1966 US LP "The Elegant Sound Of The Royalettes" on MGM Records SE-4366 in Stereo)

4. You Don't Need A Heart - TONY RANDAZZO (March 1965 US 7" single on DCP Records DCP 1134, A-side)

5. Think Before You Act - TONY ORLANDO (September 1965 US 7" single on Atco 45-6375, A-side)

6. You Better Go - DEREK MARTIN (June 1965 US 7" single on Roulette R-4631, A-side)

7. It's Gonna Take A Miracle - THE ROYALETTES (June 1965 US 7"single on MGM K 13366, A-side)

8. Rain In My Heart - FRANK SINATRA (December 1968 US 7" single on Reprise 0798, A-side)

9. We're On Our Way - THE VOGUES (May 1971 US 7"single on Bell 991, B-side of "Love Song")

10. Buttercup Days - THE KANE TRIPLETS (October 1968 US 7" single on United Artists UA 50466, A-side)

11. Let Me Dream - GEORGIA GIBBS (December 1965 US 7" single on Bell 635, A-side)

12. Let Me Know When It's Over - ESTHER PHILLIPS (September 1965 US 7" single on Atlantic 45-2304, A-side)

13. Lonely Girl - ANNABELLE FOX (May 1966 US 7" single on Satin S-402, A-side)

14. Better Off Without You - RITCHIE ADAMS (November 1966 US 7" single on MGM K 13629, B-side of "You Were Mine")

15. I'm Lost Without You - BILLY FURY (January 1965 UK 7" single on Decca F. 12048, A-side)

16. Or Not At All - JIMMY RICE (April 1965 US 7" single on Red Bird Records RB 10-027, A-side)

17. Good For A Lifetime - AL HIBBLER (January 1966 US 7" single on Satin S-401, A-side)

18. Goin' Out Of My Head - DIONNE WARWICK (from the 1970 US LP "Very Dionne" on Scepter SPS 587 in Stereo, produced by Bacharach & David)

19. Better Use Your Head - MEL TORME (from the 1966 US LP "Right Now!" on Columbia CS 9335 in Stereo)

20. I Watched You Slowly Slip Away - HOWARD GUYTON (February 1966 US 7" single on Verve VK-10386, A-side)

21. Yesterday Has Gone - ANTHONY & THE IMPERIALS (May 1968 US 7" single on Veep V-1285, A-side)

22. Think Twice Before You Walk Away - PORGY And THE MONARCHS (December 1966 US 7" single on Musicor MU 1221, B-side of "My Heart Cries For You")

23. Hurt So Bad - THE DELFONICS (from the 1968 US LP "La La Means I Love You" on Philly Groove PG 1150)

24. Love At First Sight - THE STYLISTICS (January 1979 US 7" single on Mercury 74042, A-side)

25. A Million To One - THE MANHATTANS (October 1971 US 7" single on DeLuxe 45-137, B-side to "Cry If You Wanna Cry")

Tracks 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24 and 25 are in STEREO

Tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,20 and 22 are in MONO

The 24-page colour booklet is the usual classy affair from Ace Records of the UK - each artist and song given promo photos, those rare US labels repro'd and of course photos of our elegant songwriting hero - Brooklyn's Tony Randazzo. Soul and R&B Music aficionados IAN CHAPMAN and MICK PATRICK both do a bang-up job of filling in the 60ts details - Patrick quite rightly pointing out that Randazzo's co-writers Bobby Weinstein, Victoria Pike, Lou Stallman, Bobby Hart and Roger Joyce all deserve to be spoken of in the same voice of respect that is afforded the affable Randazzo. You might argue that TR is so closely associated with the orbit and success of Little Anthony & The Imperials (that's him sat in the control booth with the boys around him on the front cover of the booklet) - that more of their classic output should have been featured here - but Little Anthony's catalogue on End, DCP and Veep Records has been done extensively elsewhere.  For sure by the time you reach The Stylistics in 1979, the end of the CD is putting up mediocrity instead of magic - but the rest is fabulous 60ts melodrama and I suspect collectors will accept the rough with the smooth that comes with all-encompassing compilations like this. Besides NICK ROBBINS - long-time Audio Engineer at Ace Records and a guy who’s transferred literally hundreds of full-length compilations from every conceivable type of master-tape box - has excelled himself. The Audio is properly gorgeous.

"Yesterday Has Gone" opens with a killer one-two - a magisterial Stereo cut of Little Anthony & The Imperial's masterpiece "I'm On The Outside (Looking In)" followed by the Mono beauty of Timi Yuro with "Can't Stop Running Away" (a tune she apparently also recorded in Italian for the Euro market). The Royalettes two slices of 60ts Soul live up the word elegant in their US LP title (they are given a beautiful full-page black and white publicity photo on Page 13 of the booklet) – while the Derek Martin smoocher and one-time Fireflies vocalist Ritchie Adams are me discoveries of the month. I can honestly live without the Sinatra workmanlike rendition of "Rain In My Heart" and the aforementioned syrup-overloads of The Vogues and The Kane Triplets (no matter how gorgeous their blond hair looks on Page 17) – stuff like the Jimmy Rice cut and the Howard Guyton slowly slipping away melodrama (recorded with The Five Pearls in 1954) are the business.

Not all genius for damn sure, but this is a CD compilation that for many has been a long time coming. I suspect collectors everywhere are going top be well pleased – and frankly – yet another feather in the cap of Ace Records – a cap that after 40 years of quality reissues must weigh a few tons by now...

"Blues Jam In Chicago, Volume Two" by FLEETWOOD MAC and CHESS PLAYERS (November 1999/July 2004 Sony/Blue Horizon 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…I Want You To Rock Me Baby…All Night Long…"

With guests from the famed US Blues and R&B label Chess Records, the two volumes "Blues Jam In Chicago, Volume One" and "...Volume Two" are based around Fleetwood Mac's 4th vinyl outing in December 1969 – the 2LP set "Blues Jam At Chess" (also known as "Fleetwood Mac in Chicago" in the USA). Having a rather convoluted history on all formats - both the original UK and American record issues and their subsequent Remastered 1999 and 2004 CD Reissues require some serious explanation as regards release dates, artwork and even content. So here goes – the records first...

Fleetwood Mac's 4th vinyl outing was a double-album called "Blues Jam At Chess" issued December 1969 on Blue Horizon Records S 7-66227 in the UK and Blue Horizon BH 3801 in the USA (different artwork). Produced by MIKE VERNON and MARSHALL CHESS at the Chess "Ter-Mar" Studios in Chicago - the artists involved were FLEETWOOD MAC, OTIS SPANN on Piano, WILLIE DIXON on Bass, WALTER "Shakey" HORTON on Harmonica, J.T. BROWN on Tenor Sax, GUITAR BUDDY on Guitars (Pseudonym for Buddy Guy), HONEYBOY EDWARDS on Bass and S.P. LEARY on Drums. It was recorded in one day - 4 January 1969 – and has a multiple credited title (the artists listed in block capitols above).

The following year the Stateside double-album was initially split into two single LPs and retitled "Blues Jam In Chicago, Vol.1" and "...Vol.2" – released June and September on Blue Horizon BH 4802 and BH 4803 respectively. They again had different artwork (colour photos of the sessions). Neither charted - but reissued as a double-LP proper under the title "Fleetwood Mac In Chicago" in June 1971 on Blue Horizon BH 3801 – it did chart and peaked at No. 190 on a 6-week run. This double variant sported yet more artwork changes – the title stenciled onto the side door of a blue car/cab. To confuse matters even further and on the back of the success of the Buckingham/Nicks "Fleetwood Mac" Reprise Records LP – it was reissued yet again December 1975 as "Fleetwood Mac In Chicago" on Sire S2X 6009 and charted belatedly for a second time – peaking at No. 118 in a 16-week chart run. This 3rd reissue reverted to a plain sort of eggplant red titled cover - the one used for the original 1969 Blue Horizon double.

The cover of the original 1969 British 2LP set had a wavy backdrop and titled sleeve - no real effort in the art department - while the 1971 and 1975 US doubles didn't fare much better either – a blue car door sleeve for 1971 and a plain red cover for 1975. These new CD remasters however use the much prettier 1970 "Blues Jam At Chicago – Volumes 1 & 2" artwork for both volumes and were first issued inside November 1999's "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967-1969" 6CD Box Set – and are now re-released 12 July 2004 as individual stand-alone single CD reissues (this one is "Blues Jam In Chicago Volume Two" on Columbia/Blue Horizon 5164472 - Barcode 5099751644729). So at last to the rejiggered musical content...

The original American Volumes issued June and September 1970 were simply Sides 1 and 2 of the British and American double-LP on Volume 1 with Sides 3 and 4 put onto Volume 2. But as these July 2004 CDs are taken from "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967-1969" Box Set  – they're the 'Expanded Edition' versions with (in some cases) radically reconfigured tracks. In order to show the musical differences I've detailed the Vinyl Track List first - then the Expanded CD...

ORIGINAL 1969/1970 VINYL TRACK LIST (Sides 3 and 4 of a 2LP set):

Side 3:

1. World's In A Tangle [Jimmie Rogers cover/J Lane]

2. Talk With You [Danny Kirwan song]

3. Like It This Way [Danny Kirwan song]

4. Someday Soon Baby [Danny Kirwan song]

5. Hungry Country Girl [Otis Spann cover]

Side 4:

1. Black Jack Blues [J.T. Brown song]

2. Everyday I Have The Blues [P Chatman cover]

3. Rockin' Boogie [Jeremy Spencer song]

4. Sugar Mama [Sonny Boy Williamson cover]

5. Homework [Clark Perkins song/ Otis Rush cover]

1999 and 2004 EXTENDED CD TRACK LIST (75:52 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 8 are as per the LP above (5 from Side 1 and 3 from Side 2)

9. My Baby’s Gone (David Edwards cover) - an outtake which first appeared on "The Blue Horizon Story 1965-1970 Volume 1" 3CD box set from 1997 (reissued in 2006)

10. Sugar Mama – Take 1 (Sonny Boy Williamson cover) [Take 1 – Incomplete – Previously Unreleased]

11. Sugar Mama – Take 2 [Master Version, as per the LP]

12. Homework (Clark Perkins song/Otis Rush cover) [as per the LP]

13. Honey Boy Blues (David Edwards cover) [Incomplete – Previously Unreleased]

14. I Need Your Love – Take 1 (Jimmie Rogers cover) [Take 1 – Incomplete – Previously Unreleased]

15. Horton's Boogie Woogie (Walter Horton cover) [Take 2 – Previously Unreleased]

16. Have A Good Time (Walter Horton cover) [Previously Unreleased]

17. That’s Wrong (Walter Horton cover) [Previously Unreleased]

18. Rock Me Baby (Jackson cover) [Previously Unreleased]

WALTER HORTON plays Harmonica on 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and sings on 13, 16, 17 and 18

BUDDY GUY, HONEYBOY EDWARDS and WILLIE DIXON are on 9 and 13

J.T. BROWN, HONEYBOY EDWARDS and WILLIE DIXON are on 6, 7 and 8

OTIS SPANN plays Piano and S.P. LEARY plays drums on 1 and 2

OTIS SPANN also plays Piano on 3, 10, 11 and 12 – and has Lead Vocals and Piano on 4 and 5

The tapes were digitally remastered to stunning sound quality by DUNCAN COWELL in 1999 for the Box Set (that’s what’s been used here) - as fresh as a politician's new excuses and the foldout leaf inlay has informative and detailed liner notes by original Producer and label head honcho MIKE VERNON as well as those in the studio photos.

Compared to Volume 1 – this second set gets the lion’s share of previously unreleased material – almost doubling the playing time - and while the first Volume is good if not a little dull (see separate review), the second is fantastic. It seems that as the session went on, the adoring Brits and the accommodating Yanks settled down and became more comfortable with each other to the point where sparks started to fly. I mean the mighty tunesmith of Chess – Willie Dixon – is in here – along with Buddy Guy and Otis Spann. How the genuinely in-awe-visitors must have been stoked...

But what chucks this half of the double album up into the stratosphere is the seven bonus previously unreleased cuts (Tracks 10 and 13 to 18) which are not incomplete takes or aimless studio chatter, but fully realised songs – albeit a little rough around the edges. “Rock Me Baby”, the Sonny Boy Williamson cover “Sugar Mama” (a regular in Rory Gallagher’s Taste live shows) and the Horton original “That’s Wrong” - all throw up fabulous moments of admiration and interplay. The whole gang is enjoying themselves and it has to be said that one of the keys ingredients in their pooled magic is Walter Horton’s wonderful harmonica playing and for that matter - sheer presence. And often less than a fiver of your English pounds online...this British/American Blues-Rock CD is seriously great value for money.

To sum up – a 5-star presentation to a 4 to 5-star second half – and for fans of Blues, Danny Kirwan, Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac - it’s an absolute necessity.

PS:

"Blues Jam At Chicago Volume One" by FLEETWOOD MAC and CHESS FRIENDS on Columbia/Blue Horizon 5099751644620 (Barcode 5099751644620) is also an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reconfiguration and Remaster (68:24 minutes) and is available separately (see my review)...

"Full House" [5th LP from June 1970] by FAIRPORT CONVENTION (October 2001 Universal/Island 'Island Folk Remasters' CD Reissue – Suha Gur Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...A High Consumption Of Mandrake-Root..."

After the quite awesome album-trio of "What We Did On Our Holidays", "Unhalfbricking" and "Liege And Lief" (January, July and December 1969 – the Fairports being one of less than 15 artists to release three albums of original material in the same country in the same year) - I always thought July 1970's "Full House" was a wee bit of a 7-track disappointment what with the kerfuffle surrounding the fabulous "Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" song (dropped at the eleventh hour).

In fact, band member and long-time Fairport inner historian Simon Nicol tells us in his informative and witty liner notes that Lead Guitarist Richard Thompson and Producer Joe Boyd were so late replacing "Poor Will..." with "Flowers Of The Forest" that the first 5000 cover arts of the UK LP actually have "Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" listed on the rear and had to be pasted over in gold lettering to state "Flowers Of The Forest" (now there is a vinyl rarity if ever there was one). Personally I can't help feel that the album would have been infinitely better with both on it and something lesser like the step-we-gaily-as-we-go romp of "Dirty Linen" had been dropped instead. But that's why I give this wickedly good 'Island Folk Remasters' CD reissue five stars - it contains five superb bonus cuts that will allow you to sequence the album you want - rather than the one we were given almost five decades ago.

And the CD remaster sounds bloody good too, especially given the notorious recorded-on-two-continents (UK and USA) ramshackle nature of the recordings. Nicol even suggests the sound may not be audiophile but it's a band gelling, bursting with heart and the new blood of Dave Pegg who had replaced Sandy Denny (gone off to Fotheringay) – and I think hindsight has proven him right. Hell – we might even be able decipher RT's loony liner notes apparently loosely based on some hallucinogenic Tolkien-esque games almanac (gotta say no to that mandrake-root Richard). Let the mediaeval games commence...

UK released 1 October 2001 - "Full House" by FAIRPORT CONVENTION on Universal/Island IMCD 285/586375-2 (Barcode 731458637523) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue (Five Bonus Tracks) in the 'Island Folk Remasters' Series that plays out as follows (59:03 minutes):

1. Walk Awhile

2. Doctor Of Physick

3. Dirty Linen

4. Sloth

5. Sir Patrick Spens

6. Flatback Caper

7. Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman

8. Flowers Of The Forest

Tracks 1, 3 and 4 make up Side 1 of the original July 1970 UK LP "Full House" on Island ILPS 9130 - whilst Tracks 5, 6, 2 and 8 make up Side 2 (same tracks for the September 1970 USA LP on A&M Records SP 4265). Track 7 is the song dropped from the album at the last minute and is a Bonus.

BONUS TRACKS (Five including Track 7):

9. Now Be Thankful (Mono)

10. Sir B. McKenzie's Daughter's Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie

Tracks 9 and 10 are the non-album A&B-sides of a UK 7" single released 9 October 1970 on Island WIP 6089

11. Bonny Bunch Of Roses - album outtake recorded May 1970 at the Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, California, USA - but not used. Returned to and re-recorded as the title song to their 13th UK album "Bonny Bunch Of Roses" issued February 1977 on Vertigo Records 9102 015 

12. Now Be Thankful (New Stereo Mix) - February 1998 SUHA GUR Mix

FAIRPORT CONVENTION was:

DAVE MATTACKS – Drums, Harmonium and Bodhran

SIMON NICOL – Vocals, Electric, Acoustic and Bass Guitars, Dulcimer

DAVE PEGG – Vocals, Bass Guitar and Mandolin

DAVE SWARBRICK – Vocals, Fiddle, Viola and Mandolin

RICHARD THOMPSON – Vocals and Lead Electric Guitar

A very nice touch is that the beautiful textured gatefold sleeve of the ILPS 9130 LP is ever-so-slightly repro’d in the hessian feel of the six-leaf-per-side foldout liner notes – the text peppered with those gorgeous mediaeval cartoons of the five band members (done by a mysterious crowd called Superwives). While most of us know the 7-track configuration I've outlined above – the liner notes tell us that Tracks 1 to 8 constitute the ‘original’ album – clearly as the remaining band now wants us to see it. It doesn't say who did the Remaster but Audio Engineer SUHA GUR is a name I actively seek out - he's done the James Brown Singles Collections on Hip-O Select, Luther Allison, Richie Havens, Joe Cocker's "Mad Dogs...", The Allman Brothers, Kansas and many more. The Audio is great and what an absolute find "Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" is - never mind the beautiful Stereo mix of the Swarbrick/Thompson single "Now Be Thankful". Let's get to the music...

The Side One opener "Walk Awhile" offers up a Swarbrick/Thompson continuation of the Fiddle/Guitar Folk Rock of "Liege & Lief" - a fun start and a very confident here's-a-new-genre get-used-to-it statement of intent. The track would It's followed by the Traditional "Dirty Linen" - a step-we-gaily instrumental with a guitar break half way through its drunken charlady jaunt around your living room. Far better for me is the fabulous almost Bluesy-Folk vibe to the nine-minute "Sloth" - another sozzled historical slowy where lyrically the right thing is suddenly the wrong thing - where "...just a roll on your drum and a war is begun..."

Side 2 offers up four in the shape of "Sir Patrick Spens" (a Fiddle and Guitar tale of mermaids warning sailors that they won't see dry land even if Pat has different ideas), "Flatback Caper" (an instrumental Traditional that has a Swarbrick/Pegg Mandolin battle),  "Doctor Of Physick" (a Swarbrick/Thompson composition where dodgy types come to steal purses in the dead of night and maidens lose their head) and finally the sophisticated and brilliant "Flowers Of The Forest" - all the harmony vocalists in this Folky Boy Band doing the song proud. And of course a fab find in the long and winding "Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" - a slow piece of Thompson genius (so shows the way his solo career would unfold) where our protagonist sings a health to the Jolly hangman who'll string you up the best he can (what a guy). The A-side of the stand-alone single is great too - long a stalwart in their live repertoire while the impossibly monikered B-side makes a dash for The Guinness Book Of Records as the longest name in a song.

Those five extras have lifted this reissue of "Full House" (Fairport's fifth) into a much better place for me. And for less than a five-spot to the right jailer, this 'Island Folk Remaster' CD can be in your home before you can say, impeach that mediaeval rascal and his bonny bunch of ring-dum-a-do-da roses. Nearly 50 years on and those goodies still get to me. Great stuff and recommended...