"Everything I Am: The Complete Plastic Penny" by PLASTIC PENNY - Including their two UK LPs "Two Sides Of A Penny" (April 1968 in Both Mono and Stereo) and "Currency" (February 1969 in Stereo Only) – both on Page One Records Plus 14 BBC Sessions, The A&B-sides Of Six Rare 45s and One Album Outtake (February 2019 UK Grapefruit Records 3CD/58-Track Clamshell Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

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"...Mrs. Grundy Doesn't Comprehend..."

Released in December 1967 and charting quickly in January 1968 - PLASTIC PENNY scored a lone UK 45 hit with "Everything I Am" - a cover version of a Box Tops B-side penned by those two dapper white dudes of Southern Soul-Rock - Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. It peaked at No. 6 in Blighty on Larry Page's 'Page One' Records and despite two albums in 1968 and 1969 (also on Page One Records) - that was their lot in terms of success – one single.

But the quickly assembled five-piece boasted Vocalist Brian Keith of The Congregation in its ranks along with Keyboardist Paul Raymond later of Chicken Shack and Savoy Brown, Lead Guitarist Mick Grabham later of Cochise, Procol Harum and Bandit and Drummer Nigel Olsson who would of course become Elton John's defacto rhythm man for the best part of the Seventies on DJM Records. Bassist Tony Murray would slide into The Troggs after Plastic Penny faded. They might have been young (Olsson was only 18) and that singer an acquired deadpan taste - but they made some racket while it lasted. 

Hardly surprising then that with two albums (one in both Mono and Stereo), twelve-sides of six rare singles, a Foreign language version, a compilation track from an LP that's listed at £100+ and a shed load of unreleased BBC material – those savvy dudes over at Cherry Red's cult label Grapefruit Records have been able to conjure up a 58-Track 3CD box set for what was essentially a one-hit-wonder band. Let's flip that coin and see what lies underneath...

UK released 22 February 2019 - "Everything I Am: The Complete Plastic Penny" by PLASTIC PENNY on Grapefruit Records CRSEGBOX053 (Barcode 5013929185302) is a 3CD 58-Track Clamshell Box Set of Remasters that plays out as follows:

CD1 "Two Sides Of A Penny" LP in MONO Plus Bonuses (49:04 minutes):

HEADS [Side 1]

1. Everything I Am

2. Wake Me Up

3. Never My Love

4. Genevieve

5. No Pleasure Without Pain My Love

6. So Much Older Now

TAILS [Side 2]

7. Mrs. Grundy

8. Take Me Back

9. I Want You

10. It's A Good Thing

11. Strawberry Fields Forever

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Two Sides Of A Penny" - released April 1968 in the UK on Page One Records POL 005 in MONO

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Everything I Am (Single Version)

13. No Pleasure Without Pain My Love (Single Version)

Tracks 12 and 13 are the A&B-sides of their December 1967 debut 7" single on Page One Records POF 051 (peaked at No. 6 in the UK charts)

14. Nobody Knows (Single version)

15. Happy Just To Be With You (Single Version)

Tracks 14 and 15 are the A&B-sides of a March 1968 UK 7" single on Page one Records POF 062

16. Guarda Nel Cielo (Nobody Knows It)

17. Tutto Quel Che Ho (Everything I Am)

Tracks 16 and 17 are the A&B-sides of an ITALIAN-only Italian language 7" single from May 1968 on Ricordi International SIR 20.067

CD2 "Two Sides Of A Penny" LP in STEREO Plus BBC Sessions (72:47 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 11 as per CD1

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Two Sides Of A Penny" - released April 1968 in the UK on Page One Records POLS 005 in STEREO

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Turning Night Into Day

13. Everything I Am

14. Take Me Back

Tracks 12 to 14 BBC Session for Top Gear recorded 10 January 1968, broadcast 14 January

15. Everything I Am

16. No Pleasure Without Pain My Love

17. It's A Good Thing

Tracks 15 to 17 are BBC Session for David Symonds, recorded 22 January 1968, broadcast 29 February

18. It's A Good Thing

19. Nobody Knows It

20. So Much Older Now

Tracks 18 to 20 BBC Session for David Symonds, recorded 19 March 1968, broadcast 25 March

21. Your Way To Tell Me To Go

22. The Shelter Of Your Arms

23. Give Me Money

Tracks 21 to 23 BBC Session for David Symonds, recorded 12 July 1968, broadcast 22 July

24. Killing Floor

25. Strawberry Fields Forever

Tracks 24 and 25 BBC Session for David Symonds, recorded 17 February 1969, broadcast 1 March 

CD3 "Currency" LP in STEREO Plus Bonuses (57:41 minutes):

1. Your Way To Tell Me To Go [Side 1]

2. Hound Dog

3. Currency

4. Caledonian Mission

5. MacArthur Park

6. Turn To Me [Side 2]

7. Baby You're Not To Blame

8. Give Me Money

9. Sour Suite

Tracks 1 to 9 are their second and last album "Currency" - released February 1969 in the UK on Page One Records POLS 014 in Stereo-only

BONUS TRACKS:

10. Your Way To Tell Me To Go

11. Baby You're Not To Blame

Tracks 10 and 11 are the A&B-sides of a July 1968 UK 7" single on Page One Records POF 079

12. Hound Dog

13. Currency

Tracks 12 and 13 are the A&B-sides of a November 1968 UK 7" single on Page One Records POF 107

14. Celebrity Ball

Track 14 is a Mid-1969 LP outtake first issued on the April 1970 UK compilation LP "Heads I Win - Tails You Lose" on Page One Records POS 611

15. She Does

16. Genevieve

Tracks 15 and 161 are the A&B-sides of a July 1969 UK 7" single on Page One Records POF 146

The 28-page booklet is the usual feast of period memorabilia – sheet music, promo photos, 60ts charts, press clippings and concert posters supporting The Love Affair, the artwork for the two LPs and a collage page of Euro and Worldwide picture sleeves for the singles. Liner-notes King DAVID WELLS does a thoroughly in-depth job of describing how the debut single was made by a bunch of sessionmen – became a hit – and then the mad scramble began to form a band to back it up with TV appearances and tours. But the momentum of the catchy "Everything I Am" proved impossible to follow, finally getting to a point where their slowed-down grunge cover of Presley's 50ts exciter "Hound Dog" elicited a Chris Welch review that advised members of the band to avoid motorcyclists coming to their gigs to avenge Elvis and do things to the ribcages of Plastic Penny (I personally think its a rip-roaring success but what would I know). It's a great read and with contributions from Paul Raymond and Brian Keith touching on subjects like his real name (O'Shea, a Scot with an Irish surname) and the trouble it caused him with journalists and meeting Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy during the recording of their debut – there is much to enjoy in its 5,000+ words.

Oddly there are no mastering credits – but I suspect Simon Murphy or Ben Wiseman or Paschal Byrne did the Remasters. The MONO MIX of the Debut LP is hissy for sure but clear nonetheless (there is lovely separation on the Stereo mix and real power too). Even those BBC Sessions - that can be very mixed audiowise depending on the source – are shockingly good. And with both LPs clocking in at over £100 and £150 on the collector’s market, this reissue is welcome-news for die-hards and genre fans. To the music...

The 1968 debut split Side 1 and 2 into themes - Heads and Tails. Of the eleven songs – impressively seven were Brian Keith and Paul Raymond originals – with the other four being covers - the Penn/Oldham/Box Tops B-side "Everything I Am", the Addrisi Brothers song "Never My Love", "I Want You" by John Group of the Graham Bond Organization and finally - the Beatles classic "Strawberry Fields Forever". I have to say I'm quite at a loss as to why "Everything I Am" did such huge business. Both "Wake Me Up" (sung by Paul) and "Never My Love" (sung by Brian) are dominated by the very Nice-sounding keyboards of Paul Raymond with a touch of Procol Harum doom swimming around "Genevieve".

Side 1 brings the overall smooch feel to an end with "So Much Older Now" – Keith's voice not up the expressiveness needed. Side 2 opens with the very Psych-Underground "Mrs. Grundy" – a rather nasty little beasty about a neighbour who does not get it (one of the album's genuine period highlights). The boys try Pop with the cheesy "Take Me Back" but it feels so 60ts but not in a good way. Better territory is the cover of "I Want You" – a chugger that feels like early Traffic. A very competent harmony vocal version of "Strawberry Fields Forever" ends the album but overall you feel the debut is good rather than being great despite all that collective (admittedly young) talent.

Once again album number two "Currency" from 1969 had that combo of originals and covers – Lieber and Stoller's "Hound Dog" made famous of course by Big Mama Thornton and Elvis, Robbie Robertson's "Caledonian Mission" from The Band's 1968 debut LP "Music From Big Pink", Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" - a hit for actor Richard Harris also in 1968 - and the never-released on one of his own albums "Turn To Me" from the 1969 pen of Elton John and Bernie Taupin - a genuine rarity in EJ's voluminous catalogue. The other five are originals with "Your Way To Tell Me To Go" being the leadoff single as far back as July 1968 - nearly nine months before the LP arrived in February 1969. Immediately the power of the remaster on the Stereo "Your Way To Tell Me To Go" is fantastic and the songwriting chops obviously immeasurably improved since the debut.

With Brian Keith out of the picture, Raymond takes the lead and his vocals on both "Your Way To Tell Me To Go" and the infamous "Hound Dog" (with Nigel Olsson on Lead Vocals) suit the very Small Faces rocking-out feel to both of the tunes. Given the quality of "Your Way..." and the very Nice-Prog-Psych to the instrumental "Currency" - it's easy to see why the second LP is so much more desirable on the collector's market. "She reads the leaves and she leads the life..." they sing on a credible rocking up take on The Band's "Caledonian Mission" but my ears are drawn to the seldom heard "Turn To Me" - an Elton John and Bernie Taupin turn to me when you're lonely ballad (it was also covered by Guy Darrell, a Page One Records label mate). Fans have also loved the very Who/Move influenced "Give Me Money" where it could very well be Pete Townshend trashing away at that guitar while Olsson goes all Moon. I'll admit I've never heard the compilation rarity "Celebrity Ball" but its a cracker and should really have been on the "Currency" LP. Disc 3 ends with a very cool stand-alone almost Allman Brothers rocker in "She Does" in Stereo b/w the single mix of "Genevieve" described here as a 'Stereo Single Version 2'.

"...They say your baby doesn't love you, but she does...” the band pleads on the excellent but ignored single "She Does" - a little like Plastic Penny's short but productive stay – people misconstrued and just plain never saw them and thereafter gave them a chance.

For sure, not everything on here will thrill even 60ts nutters to the core, especially the overall slapped-together feel of that underwhelming debut. But that cool second LP and those BBC Sessions (that show the growing confidence of the band as they went from 1968 into 1969) will be enough to warrant a dip into this wickedly diverse money pit. And again Grapefruit make it impossible to resist...

"Trout Mask Replica" by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND (October 1969 USA 2LP set on Straight Records and November 1969 in the UK on Straight Records (both in Stereo) - featuring guitarist William (Bill) Harkleroad as Zoot Horn Rollo, Guitarist Jeff Cotton as Antennae Jimmy Semens, Guitarist Doug Moon, Bassist Mark Boston as Rockette Morton, Bass Clarinet player Victor Hayden as The Mascara Snake, Sound Recordings by Richard (Dick) Kunc and Drummer John French as Drumbo (June 2004 UK/EUROPE Reprise Records CD Reissue/Re-Pressing) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Over 310 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
CADENCE /CASCADE 

PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

Just Click Below To Purchase

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Dream Of A Octafish..."

It seems bizarre (if you'll forgive the Zappa and Beefheart label-associated pun) that in June 2020 – a full 51 years after this notorious, revered and in fact much reviled double-album was first released at the end of 1969 – that CD variants of it appear to only number two and both carry the same 1989 reissue catalogue number and barcode just to confuse us jagged-rock junkies. A potted explanation...

The first UK/European CD pressing from March 1989 is Reprise 927 196-2 (Barcode 075992719629) and is known as the RSA Pressing. It can be identified by the Matrix Number on the playing side of the actual CD in the run-out plastic, 927196-2 RSA. It has the 20-page booklet, a young Beefheart pictured on the CD label, 'Manufactured in Germany by Record Service GmbH Alsdorf' on the CD label and 'Manufactured in Germany, Fabrique en Allemagne TELDEC Record Service GmbH' on the rear inlay.

The only other issue I know of is June 2004, known as the Cinram Re-pressing. Again it comes with a 20-page booklet, Beefheart photo on the CD label and the label/inlay credits. But the CD Matrix is 759927196-2.4 06/04 V2 on the rim of the playing surface. The nutty thing is that for such an iconic album, neither claims a Remaster and both still have the same catalogue number and barcode. And of course you can't really tell from the outside which pressing is which until you turn the actual CD over...

Anyway, let's get to the Sixties Avant Garde Rock, Psych, Musique Concrete and Experimental Dream of a Octafish extravaganza that is the Troutster...

UK re-released June 2004 (itself reissued September 2006) – "Trout Mask Replica" by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND on Reprise 927 196-2 (Barcode 075992719629 – Cinram Pressing with CD Matrix 759927196-2.4 06/04 V2) offers the full 1969 2LP Set Remastered onto 1CD and Plays out as follows (79:06 minutes):

1. Frownland [Side 1]

2. The Dust Blows Forward 'N The Dust Blows Back

3. Dachau Blues

4. Ella Guru

5. Hair Pie: Bake 1

6. Moonlight On Vermont

7. Pachuco Cadaver [Side 2]

8. Bill's Corpse

9. Sweet Sweet Blues

10. Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish

11. China Pig

12. My Human Gets Me Blues

13. Dali's Car

14. Hair Pie: Bake 2 [Side 3]

15. Pena

16. Well

17. When Big Joan Sets Up

18. Fallin' Ditch

19. Sugar 'N Spikes

20. Ant Man Bee

21. Orange Claw Hammer [Side 4]

22. Wild Life

23. She's Too Much For My Mirror

24. Hobo Chang Ba

25. The Blimp (Mousetrap Replica)

26.  Steal Softly Thru Snow

27. Old Fart At Play

28. Veteran's Day Poppy

Tracks 1 to 28 are the double-album "Trout Mask Replica" - released October 1969 in the USA on Straight Records 2 STS 1053 and November 1969 in the UK on Straight STS 1053 (both Stereo only).

Featuring Captain Beefheart on Lead Vocals, Tenor and Soprano Saxes and Horns, guitarist William (Bill) Harkleroad as Zoot Horn Rollo, Guitarist Jeff Cotton as Antennae Jimmy Semens, Guitarist Doug Moon, Bassist Mark Boston as Rockette Morton, Bass Clarinet player Victor Hayden as The Mascara Snake, Sound Recordings by Richard (Dick) Kunc and Drummer John French as Drumbo. It didn't chart in either country.

Famously original American copies came with a booklet that the UK issues didn’t have. Those lyrics and cartoon drawings are repro’d in the 20-page booklet but there are no mastering credits.

It's not an idle statement to say that Beefheart's "Trout" is the very definition of a Marmite Record - love it or loathe it. Let's put it this way, and what follows is no word of a lie. When we worked in Reckless Records at the Upper Street branch in the Nineties and Naughties - about 6:40 pm with a 7pm closing time, we'd slap on "Trout Mask replica" and by five-to seven, its discordant angular avant garde jagged rhythms had the shop cleared of all customers n fifteen minutes flat. Never failed. In short, this double was never an easy listen and if I'm honest, I think half of the 'unmitigated genius' reviews are full of a substance you find in the Margate drains - and I don't mean Fairy Green Liquid. "Ella Guru" and "Orange Claw Hammer" will (like much of it) test your patience and tickle your fancy at one and the same time. And even if there is no mastering credit, this CD sounds pretty damn good.

Magic band stalwarts Bassist Mark Boston and guitarist Bill Harkleroad left to form MALLARD in 1974 with Vocalist Sam Galpin and ex Zappa/Mothers Drummer Art Tripp. They made two albums on Virgin in 1975 and 1976 while the Captain himself was at the famous British label too. But this is where it all started proper...

The dust blows forward and the dust blows back. You can't help thinking that Don Van Vliet was always going forward while the rest of us try to catch up - half a century later...

"Axis: Bold As Love" by THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE (1 December 1967 UK 2nd LP on Track 613 003 and 15 January 1968 USA on Reprise RS 6281 in Stereo featuring Mitch Mitchell (Bass), Noel Redding (Drums) and Producer Chas Chandler (February 2012 UK Sony Music/Experience Hendrix/Legacy 1CD-only Reissue (original Remaster issued March 2010 as a CD+DVD in A Card Digipak) – Eddie Kramer and George Marino Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…Little Wing…"

The first decent reissue of "Axis: Bold As Love" turned up 28 April 1997 on MCA Records/Experience Hendrix MCD11601 (Barcode 008811160128) as part of 'The Hendrix Family Authorised Editions Series'. It was a Remaster of Jimi's second studio album carried out by the LP's original engineer Eddie Kramer aided and assisted by Audio/Restoration boffin George Marino.

That was superseded by another Kramer/Marino Reissue/Remaster on the 8 March 2010 which put "Axis: Bold As Love" into a card digipak and added on a DVD. Sony Music/Experience Hendrix 88697621632 (Barcode 886976216320) however has been deleted now for some time and clocks in at around twenty quid on the open secondhand market. Use the barcodes provided above to locate either issue.

What we're finally left with is what we have here – a 1CD-only 2012 reissue of that 2010 Remaster put into a standard plastic jewel case for under six quid. To the Spanish Castle Music and Little Wing details...

UK released 6 February 2012 - "Axis: Bold As Love" by THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE on Sony Music/Experience Hendrix/Legacy 88691938922 (Barcode 886919389227) is a 1CD-only Reissue of the 8 March 2010 Remaster and plays out as follows (39:29 minutes):

1. EXP [Side 1]

2. Up From The Skies

3. Spanish Castle Music

4. Wait Until Tomorrow

5. Ain't No Telling

6. Little Wing

7. If 6 Was 9

8. You've Got Me Floating [Side 2]

9. Castles Made Of Sand

10. She's So Fine

11. One Rainy Wish

12. Little Miss Lover

13. Bold As Love

Tracks 1 to 13 are his second studio album "Axis: Bold As Love" - released 1 December 1967 in the UK on Track 612 003 (Mono) and Track 613 003 (Stereo) and 15 January 1968 in the USA on Reprise RS 6281 (Stereo only) featuring Mitch Mitchell (Bass), Noel Redding (Drums) and Producer Chas Chandler. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD. All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix except "She's So Fine" written by Noel Redding. The album peaked at No. 5 in the UK and No. 3 in the USA. 

The 24-page colour booklet is festooned with photos from the archives of Linda McCartney, Eddie Kramer, Bruce Fleming and Baron Wolman (amongst many) - the great axeman in studio and live mode with his crew of bushy-haired two. The British LP originally on Track Records was a gatefold with a 4-page lyric insert and while that fab black and white photo that dominated the inner gatefold of the three disappointingly isn't here, the lyrics are. That minor omission is replaced with long and fantastically detailed liner notes (Pages 11 to 20) from JYM FAHEY that go into the staggering pace of recording (the "Are You Experienced?" debut barley finished and the double "Electric Ladyland" on the summer horizon) - Hendrix's career skyrocketing less than nine months after Chas Chandler has brought Jimi to England in September 1966. It's a fab read and even goes into the near disaster with master tapes for Side 1 and "If 6 Was 9" which were thankfully resolved. The remaster by EDDIE KRAMER and GEORGE MARINO, supervised by Janie Hendrix and John McDermott on behalf of the Experience Hendrix Estate, gives oomph and power to every song. Which brings us to the music...

The 'dodgy subject' of UFOs gets speeded up and slowed down in the entertaining but ultimately silly "EXP" where Jimi's guitar gets screeched into the Universe never mind your living room speakers (panned and all). That's quickly followed by the first real Audio hit and song - the stunning bass and drums of "Up From The Skies" - that vocal and flicked guitar sounding so alive it’s frightening. I love that so cool guitar solo he does as he talks (I can dig it baby). The true Hendrix punk riffage sound comes roaring into your ears with "Spanish Castle Music" - just a little bit of magic - and again a fantastic transfer that captures that lethal double-whammy of power and subtlety.

We trip the light-funky-tastic with his skip-and-bop "Wait Until Tomorrow" - drums whacking as Dolly Mae hangs from her window pane - Jimi almost rapping the lyrics as he flicks those tasty strums. Rapido rhythm burning my eyes in "Ain't No Telling" - his guitar once again Funk-Rocking as he solos into one of the albums beauties. There are reasons why so many have covered the gorgeous "Little Wing" - but to hear it with such power and clarity here is almost too much to bear. I also think of Stevie Ray Vaughan when it plays - beautiful and ethereal playing like all the greats. Fantastic stuff even if it’s always felt to me like it ends too quickly.

There is a very evident hiss element in "If 6 Was 9" but that 'air' surrounding the performance actually lends it even more power IMO. White collar conservative...pointing their plastic finger at me... you just have to love the myriad of musical ideas going on here - like no-one (let alone Producer Chandler) could capture what was going on in Jimi's head, in turn transmitting down through to his fingers and out onto the fretboard.

Side 2's "You've Got Me Floating" (corrected to "You Got Me Floatin'") is another wild Funk-Rock child that segues into that other LP gem "Castles Made Of Sand". The Bass and Drums once again so staggeringly clear and present and how cool are those Indian Brave verses before he goes into that edgy guitar solo. And that 'eventually' ending with that echoed guitar fade out. Always feeling like an odd-man-out, Noel Redding's "She's So Fine" has all the trademark Experience sound but his voice is not the 'cool' of Jimi - which is a shame because they're cool guitar noises going on all around.

Racing towards the finish is the fantastic swoon of "One Rainy Wish" - a sort of "Little Wing" Part 2 - a song sleeping peacefully under the tree of song. Both the neck-jerkingly sock-it-to-me Funky "Little Miss Lover" and the Rock waltz life-giving-waters of "Bold As Love" finish the album with genuinely amazing style (that huge fuzzy solo towards the end still drops a jaw or two).

Hendrix would drop the 2LP atomic bomb of "Electric Ladyland" in November 1968 with "Voodoo Child" and "Crosstown Traffic" - the same month The Beatles would chuck out their double-album urge-to-splurge "The Beatles" - commonly known of course as 'The White Album'. 

Sixties Rock, Blues Rock, Psych... My god what a year 1968 was and what a good idea for you to start your slight return to it...right here baby... 

"When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS – Including The US Albums "Winds Of Change" (September 1967), "The Twain Shall Meet" (March 1968), "Every One Of Us" (August 1968), "Love Is" (December 1968 2LP set, April 1969 UK as a Single LP) and more (21 February 2020 UK Esoteric Recordings 5CD Box Set Containing Four Albums with Mini LP Card Repro Sleeves (the Mono and Stereo Sleeves of "Winds Of Change" are separate), a Fold-Out Poster and 66-Page Booklet Plus Ten Bonus Tracks – Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Over 310 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
CADENCE /CASCADE 

PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

Just Click Below To Purchase

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...The Twain Shall Meet..."

I've enjoyed a few tasty Box Sets in 2020 (despite lockdowns and other enslavements) - but this has to be one of my faves and an absolute shoe-in for how reissue should be approached. What a humdinger this gorgeous looking thing is. And it sounds the Ben Sherman too.

There's a lot of coloured rain, meetings of twains, winds of change, uppers and downers and a girl named Sandoz to wade through - so without any further sky pilots, let's get all San Franciscan man...

UK released 21 February 2020 - "When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 52700 (Barcode 5013929480001) is a 56-Track 5CD Oversized Clamshell Box Set of Remasters covering Four Studio Albums Plus Ten Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Winds Of Change" STEREO (60:34 minutes):

1. Winds Of Change [Side 1]

2. Poem By The Sea

3. Paint It Black

4. The Black Plague

5. Yes I Am Experienced

6. San Franciscan Nights [Side 2]

7. Man - Woman

8. Hotel Hell

9. Good Times

10. Anything

11. It's All Meat

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Winds Of Change" - released September 1967 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4484 in Stereo (Mono variant is Disc 5) and November 1967 in the UK on MGM Records C 8052 (Mono) and CS-8052 (Stereo) – the STEREO MIX is used here. Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 42 in the USA (didn't chart UK).

BONUS TRACKS:

12. When I Was Young

13. A Girl Named Sandoz

Tracks 12 and 13 are the A&B-sides of a stand-alone 45 7" single released March 1967 in the USA on MGM Records K 13721 and May 1967 in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1340 - peaked at No. 15 in the USA and No. 45 in the UK

14. Ain't That So

Track 14 is the non-album B-side of "Good Times" - a UK 45 7" single released August 1967 on MGM Records MGM 1344 and December 1967 in the USA as the B-side of "Monterey" on MGM Records K 13868 - it peaked at No. 20 in the UK and with the different A-side at No. 15 in the USA

15. Gratefully Dead

Track 15 is the non-album B-side to "San Franciscan Nights" - a UK 45 7" single released October 1967 on MGM Records MGM 1359. The September 1967 US 45 7" single for "San Franciscan Nights" had "Good Times" on its B-side (MGM Records K 13794) - the UK B-side was exclusive

16. Anything (Single Version)

Track 16 is the non-album B-side to "Monterey" in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1412 - "Anything" was issued as a US 45 7" single in May 1968 on MGM Records K 13917 but as the A-side with "It's All Meat" on the flipside. The UK A-side is Track 11 on Disc 2

Disc 2 "The Twain Shall Meet" STEREO and MONO (56:22 minutes):

1. Monterey [Side 1]

2. Just The Thought

3. Closer To The Truth

4. No Self Pity

5. Orange And Red Beams

6. Sky Pilot [Side 2]

7. We Love You Lil

8. All Is One

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "The Twain Shall Meet" - released March 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4537 in Stereo (only Promo copies were in Mono) and May 1968 in the UK on MGM Records C 8074 (Mono) and CS 8074 (Stereo) - the STEREO MIX is used here - Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 79 in the USA (didn't chart UK)

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Sky Pilot (Part One)

10. Sky Pilot (Part Two)

Tracks 9 and 10 are the A&B-sides of a Stereo 45 7" single released January 1968 in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1373 and May 1968 in the USA on MGM Records K 13939 - it peaked at No. 14 USA and No. 40 in the UK

11. Monterey (Mono Single Version)

Track 11 is the A-side of a May 1968 UK 45 7" single on MGM Records MGM 1412 (the B-side is Track 16 on Disc 1)

Disc 3 "Every One Of Us" STEREO (49:04 minutes):

1. White Houses [Side 1]

2. Uppers And Downers

3. Serenade To A Sweet Lady

4. The Immigrant Lad

5. Year Of The Guru

6. St. James Infirmary [Side 2]

7. New York 1963 - America 1968

Tracks 1 to 7 are the album "Every One Of Us" - released August 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4553 in Stereo (only Promo Copies were in Mono on MGM Records E-4553) - the STEREO MIX is used. Produced by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS - it peaked at No. 152 in the USA (this LP had no UK release).

BONUS TRACK:

8. White Houses (Single Version, Stereo Mix)

Track 8 is the A-side of a November 1968 US 45 7" single on MGM Records K 14013 (the B-side is "River Deep, Mountain High" – Track 10 on Disc 4)

Disc 4 "Love Is" STEREO (73:54 minutes):

1. River Deep, Mountain High [Side 1]

2. I'm An Animal

3. I'm Dying, Or Am I?

4. Ring Of Fire [Side 2]

5. Colored Rain

6. To Love Somebody [Side 3]

7. As The Years Go Passing BY

8. Gemini

9. The Madman

Tracks 1 to 9 are the US double-album "Love Is" - released December 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4591-2 in Stereo only and April 1969 in the UK as a 'single album' on MGM Records CD 8105 in Stereo. 

The 6-track UK LP can be sequenced from this CD as follows - Side A: 1. River Deep, Mountain High 2. I'm An Animal 3. I'm Dying, Or Am I? Side B: 1. Ring Of Fire 2. Coloured Rain 3. To Love Somebody 

BONUS TRACK:

10. River Deep. Mountain High (Single Version, Stereo Mix)

Track 10 is the B-side of "White Houses - a November 1968 US 45 7" single on MGM Records K 14013 (the A-side "White Houses" is Track 8 on Disc 3)

Disc 5 "Winds Of Change" MONO (43:53 minutes):

1. Winds Of Change [Side 1]

2. Poem By The Sea

3. Paint It Black

4. The Black Plague

5. Yes I Am Experienced

6. San Franciscan Nights [Side 2]

7. Man - Woman

8. Hotel Hell

9. Good Times

10. Anything

11. It's All Meat

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Winds Of Change" - released September 1967 in the USA on MGM Records E-4484 (Mono) and MGM SE-4484 (Stereo) and November 1967 in the UK on MGM Records C 8052 (Mono) and CS-8052 (Stereo) – the MONO MIX is used here – Stereo CD Variant is Disc 1. Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 42 in the USA (didn't chart UK).

Substantial to hold and pretty to look at - the glossy outer hard-case Box Set has a pull out tray that offers five Mini LP Card Repro Sleeves of the American Artwork – Discs One to Five as listed above with the Stereo versions of "Winds Of Change" and "Love Is" being gatefolds while the other three are single sleeves (as per their original MGM Records artwork). The one-sided six-leaf foldout poster is fact an advert for the Box Set (very cool looking) and is a nice touch.

But the 66-Page Booklet is a straight-up work of art, a veritable feast of info and images. There are so many Psych-based posters of the period, concert and festival flyers, rare ticket stubs, trade adverts, live photos, promotional material and more. But surely the piece de resistance is Pages 56 to 63, each offering up a huge array of foreign picture sleeves for both singles and albums – France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Norway, Yugoslavia, USA, UK demos – and all in gorgeous colour. Combined with the preceding text that is in itself peppered with rare period stuff – it doesn’t half make an impact.

MALCOLM DOME also puts together a fantastic history of the period – his liner notes liberally dosed with recent conversations and remembrances on sessions and tours from band member Antion Meredith (the new name for Vic Briggs), guest Zoot Money (talking about future Police guitarist Andy Summers), producer Keith Olsen and more. There are even lists of live dates on the final pages that show the band criss-crossing the UK, Europe and the States. Although there are loads of snaps and warm recollections of his talent and charisma, conspicuous is the absence of EB in the notes? Also Esoteric forgot to put in the catalogue numbers I’ve provided above for any of the releases. But these minor points don’t stop "When I Was Young..." from being exemplary in every way.

The transfers are care of the vastly experienced Audio Engineer BEN WISEMAN – 24-bit digital Remasters from original tapes done at Broadlake Studios in Herefordshire. Those of us who have had to pick at the bones of these recordings across the decades will marvel at these punchy little beasts – only the BGO CD reissue of "Every One Of Us" gets close to how good these CDs sound. To the music...

After the dissolution of the R&B phase of the Animals with November 1966's "Animalisms", Burdon relocated to San Francisco and soaking up the hippy Psych counter-culture exploding there, he relaunched as Eric Burdon & The Animals. Drummer Barry Jenkins remained from the old line-up and in came the trio of John Weider on Guitar, Violin and Bass, Vic Briggs on Guitar and Piano (now known as Antoin Meredith) and Danny McCulloch on Bass. Wasting no time, the band launched their MGM contract with the Eddie Kramer engineered 45 times were very hard "When I Was Young" in April 1967 with the heavy fuzz-guitar Psych-based "A Girl Called Sandoz" on the flipside. Also recorded at that session was "And Just That" - a tune used in the 1967 James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin and Bobby Darin movie "Stranger In The House" (all three turn up in the Bonuses on Disc One). Burdon's new incarnation of The Animals hit big and fast - the single peaking at No. 9 in the USA while his native England seemed less interested with a No. 45 placing (Tina Turner, The Ramones and The Smashing Pumpkins have subsequently covered "When I Was Young"). To the mish-mash that was their MGM debut...

The "Winds Of Change" album is a product of Tom Wilson's one-take lackadaisical Production and the band's have-no-material, let's-make-it-up-right-here approach. But it did give way to experimentation with styles - the Tex Mex trumpet on "Hotel Hell", strings and Jazz moments on the ballad "Anything", Music Machine Bassist and future Producer Keith Olsen playing Bass on "Winds Of Change" and "The Black Plague" and Piano on "Good Times" because McCulloch had broken his wrist. A patchy album anyway, but when MGM put Burdon’s liner notes (a eulogy to acid) on the front cover instead of the inside (without his permission) – the band hated it and the public thought he was a preachy git. So even with good tunes like "San Franciscan Nights" and the Ray Charles, Ravi Shankar praising "It's All Meat" – stupid moves like Producer Wilson tricking the band into recording a substandard cover of "Paint It Black" by The Stones and then putting it on the album without their knowledge or permission – left a ranker.

And of course it's a period piece so stuff like the Tabla 'n' words experimentation of "Man - Woman" sound a tad trite 52 years on – but with this cracking audio – tunes like the sitar-driven eternity song "Winds Of Change", the I took a walk and wrote a "Poem By The Sea" song (with crashing percussion) and the take you under my wing "Anything" sound ahead of their time and not bound by it. I also rejigger the track list of the LP – drop "Man - Woman" and "Paint It Black" to include the Cream-sounding British B-side "Gratefully Dead" and "When I Was Young" – to get the album I really want (but that's just me!).

Ravi Shankar, The Who, Hugh Masekela, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix all get praised in the cool sounding "Monterey" – a fab groover about the famous 60ts Festival. With Guitar, Sitar and Horns ripping along like the theme song to some Tarantino movie about car chases and drugs – that sexy opener for "The Twain Shall Meet" album from March 1968 quickly segues into the Summer of Love swish and sway flower song "Just The Thought" (fab audio). Clever cross channel panning of the vocals and guitars opens the equally wicked "Closer To The Truth" and already three songs in and the album feels like the masterpiece the first LP struggled to be. Burdon advises that no matter how low you are, there is always someone lower in the philosophically dodgy and sound (at the same time) "No Self Pity" – a be what you are piece given hippy nuances with the Harpsichord and Sitar doing battle with the Bass and Burdon's otherworldly delivery. The seven minutes and thirty-six seconds of "Sky Pilot" is all flanged vocals and guitars - soldier's blood and crying mothers back home filling up the anti-war song with genuinely well-written lyrics. Another near eight-minute piece ends this excellent album - "All Is One" - opening with an uncredited Royal Scots Guards giving in some highland moaning bagpipes before we embark on a very-Doors we're all one and the sun is your son hippy trip. Yeah baby...

The "Every One of Us" LP divides people – I think its part genius and part crap. It starts out so well too. Eric thinks people better get straight in "White Houses" – a rather good jaunty tune tail-ended by cool guitar soloing. "Uppers And Downers" is a 20-second piss-take on the Grand Ole Duke of York melody of olde. Better is the John Weider instrumental "Serenade To A Sweet Lady" – a polished toe-tapping piece of Rock-Jazz music for the woman who would become his wife of the next 50 years (she sadly passed in 2019). Seagull screeches begin "The Immigrant Lad" – a very Donovan/Dylan strummed acoustic song - the Remastered audio gorgeous as Eric sings of coal and old sailors and the waters of time. Side 1 then ends with a tambourine-shaking shuffling rocker called "Year Of The Guru" that could have been a kick-ass single - clever follow-your-leader warning lyrics backed by brilliant piano fills and sexy overdubbed guitars.

Side 2 opens with "St. James Infirmary" – a brilliant Eric Burdon groove that is quickly side-swapped by the beast the album is most remembered for - the infamous near 19-minutes of "New York 1963 – America 1968" playing out Side 2 and overstaying its welcome big-time. Starting out well with sung lyrics about arriving in New York in 1963 where EB goes to the Bronx and the Apollo theatre – his Newcastle mind blown by multicultural parts of the city and the possibilities it offered. But of course assassinations in the news and the riots that followed soured the dream. Throughout this social commentary workout that then extends into 1968, John Weider plays a stormer on guitar while Zoot Money (credited as George Bruno) plays Organ and Piano. About 6:16, the music stops and becomes a spoken dialogue about a Government-abused pilot only to return to a slow-build of I Feel Free chants and music. You can either love it or hate it – and like most – you'll probably feel a bit of both.

Ex Dandelion's Lion and future Police axeman Andy Summers joined EB, Zoot Money, John Weider and Barry Jenkins for the double-album "Love Is" from December 1968. In an interesting aside, Eric Burdon & The Animals would join a very minimalist set of ranks - bands or artists who released three studio albums in the same year or three albums of original material in the same year (Creedence, Fleetwood Mac and Fairport Convention in 1969, Canned Heat and Matthews Southern Comfort in 1970, Nilsson in 1971, James Brown in 1973 to name but a few - my list is on-going and presently has only 22 names on it). Another cover of the Ike & Tina Turner classic "River Deep, Mountain High" might induce a yawn amongst listeners - but EB and his newly infused band go at it with Rocking R 'n' B gusto for seven and half minutes - his love for the lady boundless. Sly Stone's "I'm An Animal" gets an almost DIY punk ethic going on - hey hey hey, they shout - before it gets all mellow yellow and Soul-Rock-ish.

Their cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" sees EB give it some welly on those burns-burns-burns lyrics. But one of the double's undoubted highlights is the nine and half minutes of "Coloured Rain" where Summers and the other guitarists in the band get to stretch out with chops and changes on the Traffic cover that are almost Prog in their structure. Seven minutes of "To Love Somebody" does The Bee Gees proud - a daring re-working of their catchy hit made into an epic Rock tune. Don Robey's "As The Years Go Passing By" has Eric waxing lyrical about Blues Music and its effect - a fantastic ten-minute piano-and-guitar Blues Rock shuffler than got left off the single British LP when "Love Is" was finally released April 1969 in Blighty. "Gemini" gets eleven minutes of Psych blissed out free form brilliance - an obscure Steve Hammond song that would eventually show up on the lone self-titled Quatermass LP in May 1970 on Harvest Records (Hammond has also been in the ranks of Fat Mattress). It ends on the huge chunky doomy riffage of "The Madman" - a song that soon becomes a bopper as Eric ponders the world.

I'm fairly sure that 'outsiders' who do not know this part of Eric Burdon and The Animals story might wonder what all the fuss is about. But do I love you (my oh my) - bet your life baby. Well done to all the good bods who brought the legacy of "When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" to life...