"This Is Lowrider Soul Vol. 2" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – 24-Tracks of Sumptuous 60ts and 70ts American Soul in the Torch-Song Ballad Tradition featuring The Ethics, Barbara Mason, The Sparkels, The Larks, Darrow Fletcher, Brothers Of Soul, The Perfectionists and more (November 2021 UK Ace/Kent Soul CD Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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70ts Soul, R'n'B, Funk, Jazz Fusion
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

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"...Sad Story..."

 

I loved Volume 1 of "This is Lowrider Soul..." issued by the UK's Ace Records on their legendary Kent Soul label imprint back in early February 2019 and promptly awarded its sexy sashaying contents five-stars.

 

I'm pleased to say that even though it falls on a few across 24-tunes (one previously unissued cut), installment number two lives up to the same high standards as its predecessor. There are some truly gorgeous swish 'n' sway smoochers on this 2021 CD compilation – sumptuous soul (as the rear inlay states) that puts the Torch Song and Ballad Tradition of the 60ts and early 70ts to the fore every time. I've honestly enjoyed more titles on here than I've reached for the skip button. Lots to discuss - to the dreamers and the tear-stained faces of our sad story fools in love...

 

UK released 26 November 2021 - "This Is Lowrider Soul Vol. 2" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records/Kent Soul CDKEND 497 (Barcode 029667104524) is a 24-track CD compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (70:12 minutes):

 

1. So Much in Love - THE EXCEPTIONS (1969 GWP Records recording first issued September 2009 on the UK CD compilation "GWP NYC TLC Volume 2" by Various Artists on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 326)

 

2. Please Say It Isn't So - LEE WILLIAMS & THE CYMBALS (August 1968 US 45-single on Carnival CAR-537, A-side)

 

3. Somebody Please - THE VANGUARDS (August 1969 US 45-single on Whiz 612, A-side)

 

4. Yes I'm Ready - THE HESITATIONS (April 1969 US 45-single on GWP Records 504, B-side of "Is This The Way To Treat A Girl (You Bet It Is)")

 

5. You Never Loved Me (At All) - BARBARA MASON (March 1969 US 45-single on Arctic 148, B-side of "Take It Easy")

 

6. Sad, Sad, Story - THE ETHICS (February 1969 US 45-single on Vent V-1004, A-side)

 

7. Try Love (One More Time) - THE SPARKELS (March 1964 US 45-single on Old Town 1160, A-side)

 

8. Follow Your Heart - THE MANHATTANS (September 1965 US 45-single on Carnival CAR-512, A-side)

 

9. Someone - THE LOVERS (December 1965 US 45-single on Gate Records 501, B-side of "Do This For Me")

 

10. Little Girl - DARROW FLETCHER (1965 US 45-single on Jacklyn Records 1003, B-side of "Infatuation")

 

11. I Want You - DEE TORRES (1966 US 45-single on Dore 762, B-side of "Let The Little Girl Dance")

 

12. It Hurts So Much - THE SUPERBS (June 1965 US 45-single on Dore 736, A-side)

 

13. I Want You (Back) - THE LARKS (March 1972 US 45-single on Money 601, A-side)

 

14. Trust In Me - THE MAGICIANS (1966 Villa recording first issued on the March 2007 UK Various Artists CD compilation "Hitsville West: San Francisco's Uptown Soul" on Ace Records/Kent Soul CDKEND 271)

 

15. Believe In Me - THE HYPERIONS (March 1965 US 45-single on Chattahoochee 669, B-side of "Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do")

 

16. Here It Comes - THE PERSIANS (June 1969 US 45-single on GWP Records 509, B-side of I Don't Know How (To Fall Out Of Love)")

 

17. Can't Nobody - BROTHERS OF SOUL (2021, PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED 1969 Galaxy recording)

 

18. That's The Way Our Love Is - THE RADIATORS (Originally unissued 1970s Dave Blake recording first released January 2009 on the UK Various Artists CD compilation "Masterpieces Of Modern Soul Volume 2" on Ace Records/Kent Soul CDKEND 310)

 

19. My Sweet Baby – THE MARK-KEYS (1969 US 45-single on TCB Records 1447,B-side of "Heavenly Thing")

 

20. Don't Take Your Love Away From Me – THE PERFECTIONS (1968 US 45-single on Drumhead 100, A-side)

 

21. (I'm Not Ready To) Settle Down – (LITTLE BEN &) THE CHEERS (November 1966 US 45-single on Penny 101, B-side of "Mighty, Mighty, Lover")

 

22. You Can't Blame Me – JOHNSON, HAWKINS, TATUM & DURR (March 1971 US 45-single on Capsoul CS 22, A-side)

 

23. What Am I Going To Do – HOUSTON OUTLAWS (November 1972 US 45-single on Westbound 211, A-side)

 

24. A Man That Is Not Free – SOUL SENSATIONS (1973 US 45-single on Music City 892, A-side)

 

NOTES: 

Tracks 4, 8 and 13 in STEREO, all others in MONO

Track 17 is PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED

 

With fantastically detailed liner notes by SEAN HAMPSEY, the 24-page colour booklet is the usual feast of US 45-labels you rarely see (many are heavy auction pieces) and amazingly they even have a Japanese picture sleeve 45 for The Hesitations doing "Yes I'm Ready" in 1969 on the rear page. While you’d expect snaps of heavyweights like Barbara Mason and The Manhattans on the Lowrider scene, there are also quality black and white publicity photos of rarely heard artists like The Ethics, Darrow Fletcher and The Superbs. Someone has located a Carnival Records (of New Jersey) trade advert and Page 4 features notes and thanks to Ady Croasdell and Sean Hampsey from scene-supporter RUBEN MOLINA for putting this lovely music on the world stage. Typical quality from Ace then, backed up by NICK ROBBINS CD Remasters that jump off the speakers with feeling and sweat. Slow Soul can often fail to hide hiss in-between the croons, the oohs and the aahs – but here these tracks are breathing just lovely and the three in Stereo sound sensational. To the tunes...

 

Volume 2 of Lowrider Soul opens with a couple of classy doosies – the easy on the ear Exceptions with a 1969 song called "So Much In Love" that languished in the vaults for four decades until CD resurrection in 2009, followed by a gorgeous 1968 group-harmony side called "Please Say It Isn't So" from The Royals fronted by Lead Vocalist Lee Williams. Whilst most of the cuts (not surprisingly) concentrate on the astonishing productivity of the 60ts – the four from the 70ts impress too especially the foursome of Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr (initially known locally as The Revelations) and the beautiful "I Want You (Back)" by The Larks – a band and tune that sounds as tasty as their respective titles promise. I wasn't too enamored with some of the cuts that sounded more girl-group teeny-angst than I would have liked, but I loved The Hesitations "Yes I'm Ready" and the Brothers Of Soul unreleased track is a genuinely cool addition to the annuals of the genre.

 

Part of the joy of listening to a smartly put together compilation like this is discovery - lovers of the music getting stuff out there that deserves our weary ears. I dug "This Is Lowrider Soul Volume 2". 

 

Ace Records have a hard-won rep for CD compilations and a quietly cool little winner like this only shows why...

"The Pointer Sisters/That's A Plenty" by THE POINTER SISTERS – Debut and Second Studio Albums from May 1973 and February 1974 on Blue Thumb Records USA and Island Records UK (September 2021 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) Compilation – 2LPs Remastered Onto 2CDs – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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70ts Soul, R'n'B, Funk, Jazz Fusion
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"...Yes We Can Can..."

 

A very clever 2CD reissue from one of England's premier reissue labels - Beat Goes On Records - or BGO as they also go by in 2021.

 

Both The Pointer Sisters debut and second studio platters issued May 1973 and February 1974 on Blue Thumb Records in the USA (Island Records in the UK) have been popular Jazz Scat albums for years (albeit hardly valuable). Funk and Soul fans too have noticed the odd pearl on each as well.

 

But the CD variants - the first reissued by MCA in 2001 and the second by Universal's mail-order branch Hip-O Select in 2006 - have been deleted remasters for decades now and pricey into the bargain. At last UK and US fans (and anyone else for that matter) gets access to them for a reasonable outlay and both thankfully boasting exceptional Remastered Audio care of BGO's resident Audio Engineer ANDREW THOMPSON who did the original tapes in 2021. Here are the 'yes we can' details...

 

UK released Friday, 3 September 2021 - "The Pointer Sisters/That's A Plenty" by THE POINTER SISTERS on Beat Goes On BGOCD1466 (Barcode 5017261214669) offers 2LPs Remastered in full onto 2CDs (no extras) and plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (43:33 minutes):

1. Yes We Can Can (Full Album Version, 6:01 minutes) - Side 1

2. Cloudburst

3. Jada

4. River Boulevard

5. Old Songs

6. That's How I Feel - Side 2

7. Sugar

8. Pains And Tears

9. Naked Foot

10. Wang Dang Doodle

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "The Pointer Sisters" - released May 1973 in the USA on Blue Thumb Records BTS 48 and Island ILPS 9243 in the UK. Produced by DAVID RUBINSON (& Friends) - it peaked at No. 13 on the US Rock LP charts and No. 3 on the R&B listings (didn't chart UK).

 

CD2 (46:31 minutes):

1. Bangin' On The Pipes/Steam Heat - Side 1

2. Salt Peanuts

3. Grinning in Your Face

4. Shaky Flat Blues

5. That's A Plenty/Surfeit, U.S.A.

6. Little Pony - Side 2

7. Fairytale 

8. Black Coffee

9. Love In Them There Hills

Tracks 1 to 9 are their second studio album "That's A Plenty" - released February 1974 in the USA on Blue Thumb Records BTS 6009 and Island ILPS 9276 in the UK. Produced by DAVID RUBINSON (& Friends) - it peaked at No. 88 on the Rock LP charts and No. 33 on R&B (didn't chart UK).

 

The outer card slipcase and the 20-page booklet give these Beat Goes On CD reissues a smack of class and the CHARLES WARING liner notes feature typically knowledgeable and sensible insights alongside all that original gatefold artwork. The Audio is gorgeous throughout, spectacular even, tracks like the shuffling double-bass cover version of the classic "Black Coffee" making your ears prick up as the room fills with glorious sound.

 

Firmly in Jazz Vocal Scat mode (with hints of 70ts Sisters Funk and Soul every now and then) – those expecting the Slow Hand period Pointer Sisters of the early 80ts need to look away right now. These album-plays are more than a tad dated with all that do-be-do vocal gymnastics on testing cuts like "Old Songs", "Pains And Tears" and "Salt Peanuts". The Pointers update that Andrew Sisters 'beep beep' shuffle with cuts like "Shaky Fat Blues" and Dixie ragtime with "That's A Plenty/Surfeit, U.S.A."

 

But my heart has always been with the full version of the Allen Toussaint masterclass in Funk "Yes We Can Can" in all its 6:01 minute glory is a wonder to behold and that sexy Soul-Funk cover of Willie Dixon’s Chess Classic "Wang Dang Doodle" is another forgotten 70ts kick-ass nugget (The Hoodoo Rhythm Devils wigging out on fuzz guitar, piano and 'all night long' Saxophone). The bluesy guitar-funk Playing For Change social-awareness of "Grinning In Your Face" on platter No. 2 is fantastic stuff (why not a 45?) – the piano-slink of the Gamble-Huff-Chambers finisher "Love in Them There Hills" is fab too – and Seventies Soul/Funk fans may wish the whole albums were full of such retro wonder, but sadly they are not.

 

So, stunning audio, top-class presentation as always from Beat Goes On and rarities that deserve a second go round. They would move on from these Jazz Scat beginnings to a more sexy commercial Disco Dancefloor sound later on and huge global success. But this is where it all started. Just don't expect a "Yes You Can Can" Funk-a-thon every few track...

"On Track...LED ZEPPELIN Every Album, Every Song" by STEVE PILKINGTON - A Review of the 2021 Sonicbond Publishing Paperback Book by Mark Barry...

LED ZEPPELIN – "On Track - Every Album, Every Song"

(A Review of the 2021 Book by STEVE PILKINGTON)

 

****

There will be fans that will look at the release date for Zep's debut album on Page 13 as January 1968 for the USA and March 1968 for the UK - and wince.

 

They'll instinctively know it should read January and March 1969 (it was recorded between September and October 1968). But it's an easy mistake to make and don't for a moment let that put you off this rather brill little book.

 

I suppose the world needs another Led Zeppelin splurge like it needs another Covid-19 variant, but I enjoyed this read a huge amount and as one of those old buggers who was actually there when they hammered those Gods so to speak - there is a lot I didn't know discussed within.

 

And it was a blast to return to deep album cuts like "What Is And What Should Never Be", "Gallow's Pole", "When The Levee Breaks", "No Quarter" and "Ten Years Gone" and find mentions of Robert Plant's scat-vocals, Memphis Minnie as the real writer, John Paul Jones and his keyboard contributions and Jimmy Page building up the various guitar parts for the stunning Side 3 closer of "Ten Years Gone" on "Graffiti". And there are even 16 photo pages that show most of the important artwork (inner sleeves, inspirations and so on) alongside period live photos. They miss a few things like the beautiful inner sleeves of "Graffiti" and the five other angle cover sleeves labelled A to F on the spines of "In Through The Out Door" and so on (I think it’s the 'D' angle photo that is now the default cover for all issues – a side shot of the man sat on the chair at the bar burning a piece of paper). But there's enough to be getting on with... 

 

UK-released by Sonicbond Publishing in October 2021 (December 2021 for the USA) - with "On Track... LED ZEPPELIN - Every Album, Every Song" - author and uber-fan STEVE PILKINGTON gives us 160 A5 paperback pages of properly in-depth 'track-by 'track' analysis (priced at £14.99 but available for about ten or eleven).

 

You get their issued studio and live catalogue from "Led Zeppelin" and "Led Zeppelin II" (both in 1969) through to 1979's final studio effort "In Through The Out Door" and onward to the 1982 ragbag "Coda" mop-up compilation. But it also smartly takes in posthumous compilations like "BBC Sessions" from November 1997, the 3CD live set "How The West Was Won" from May 2003, the "Led Zeppelin" DVD also from May 2003 and finally the reunion 2-disc set "Celebration Day" from November 2012. The last few pages are two Appendix lists of the Author's fave tracks and Concert Milestones (Denmark in 1968 to Berlin in 1980) followed by some adverts for other books in the series.

 

Pilkington smartly precedes his song-by-song analysis with lay-of-the-land paragraphs on the circumstances surrounding each album and they really do set up the read. Stuff like the ridiculous debacle over the "Houses Of The Holy" artwork that delayed the album's release by nearly 8-months amazes (painted naked kids climbing up the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland to some sun god was not everyone's idea of saintly genius even in 1972). Insights also like the original 'Racket' Hipgnosis artwork (hideous idea about a tennis court) being rejected for "Houses" album and the Obi band-name that had to be put on sleeves or US retailers wouldn't (quite rightly) stock an LP with naked children on it (albeit in a very covered up way). Those wrapped paper OBI's had to be broken open (like a present), so March 1973 UK copies of the LP on Atlantic K 50014 with the titled Obi still relatively intact are incredibly hard to find (like "4", there isn't actually a title or band name on the outer artwork at all). There's the St. Mark's Place building in New York that formed the 'window sleeve' basis for February 1975's "Physical Graffiti" with its fourth floor that had to be edited out of the photo to make the wording fit. He even has the drawing that inspired the 'object' on the largely crap "Presence" LP from 1976 - another Hipgnosis artwork disaster too far in my book.

 

Pilkington includes the only non-LP B-side they ever released on a 45-single during their run - "Hey Hey, What Can I Do" (on the flip of the US release for "Immigrant Song") at the end of the "Zeppelin III" sessions when it was recorded. It appeared on the 1972 Atlantic Records sampler LP "The New Age Of Atlantic" (which was a single LP and not a double as he says). There's lovely stuff on Sandy Denny's gorgeous duet-vocal contribution to "The Battle Of Evermore" on November 1971's "IV" when she was in-between Fairport Convention and Fotheringay and how it didn't appear in Zeppelin live sets until 1977 with John Paul Jones sometimes taking her vocal part. Pilkington quite rightly rubbishes the all-time low of "Coda" - an embarrassment of posthumous album of career outtakes that also featured their most boring Hipgnosis artwork ever.

 

Speaking of outtakes and peripherals - when reissued as a 3CD set in the 'Deluxe Edition' series, "Coda" was massively expanded and made a ton more acceptable and it really might have been better if this book went at all those outtakes too - but it doesn't. In fairness to him, he isolates the important ones, so you do get stragglers like "Baby Come On Home" from the debut LP sessions that first officially appeared on the 1993 posthumous release "Box Set 2" - and "La La", an outtake from the famous October 1969 second album that finally turned up as a Bonus Track on the 2CD Deluxe Edition of "II". But there are others missing.

 

So, not perfect really by any means (4 out of 5 stars), but Pilkington's writing is really good, his knowledge gives you fan-obsessive background like the missing credits to Joan Baez and Anne Bredon for the 'Traditional' "Baby I'm Gonna Leave You" and Bert Jansch for "Black Mountain Side" both on the explosive debut (his affection too for the band shines through on every page). And I liked hearing that the two kids Stefan and Samantha Gates (Stefan's older sister Samantha was aged 5 at the time of shooting in 1972) who featured on the "Houses Of The Holy" artwork in spray paint went on to better things - she to a BBC cooking show. It was even rumoured once that Samantha was in fact a young Samantha Fox - the famous UK Page 3 pin-up - but not surprisingly such salacious muck turned out not to be true.

 

It’s only another one of the stories and myths that have sprung up around this legendary hedonistic Rock band. How very Led Zeppelin! A tasty addition to their cannon and one that fans will love. Get physical and enjoy...

GUS DUDGEON - "Production Gems" – Featuring Tracks from 1964 to 1992 by The Zombies, John Mayall with Eric Clapton, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Sounds Nice, David Bowie, The Strawbs, Locomotive, Audience, Kiki Dee, Elton John (and Elton John with John Lennon), John Kongos, Joan Armatrading, Ralph McTell, Voyager, XTC, Lindisfarne, Chris Rea and more (December 2021 UK Ace Records/Right Recordings CD Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Sixty Years On..."

 

First up - this Friday, 3 December 2021 UK-released CD compilation by VARIOUS ARTISTS called "GUS DUDGEON: Production Gems" on Ace Records/Right Recordings CDTOP 1590 (Barcode 029667104227) is a looker (4 out of 5 stars).

 

It's only one of a few digipaks I've ever seen Ace do and has a jam-packed beautifully assembled 40-page booklet with huge contributions from many household names GUS DUDGEON touched base with (Ten Years After, The Settlers, Michael Chapman, Magna Carta, Marsha Hunt and Elkie Brooks are some of the notable exclusions not featured here).

 

Across 21 tracks and exactly 78:00 minutes playing time, you get the world-renowned producer's personally picked faves (the dates begin in 1964 and extend to 1992 with XTC but most are 70ts tracks). "Production Gems" was to be a tribute album for his 60th birthday before both he and his wife Sheila were lost in a car accident in July 2002 on his way home from a party. It subsequently languished for almost two decades, but now Ace Records of the UK in conjunction with The Gus Dudgeon Foundation have supplemented the original list with some extras and produced this lavish CD. There are exclusive written contributions in the last pages from Rick Wakeman, Ray Laidlaw of Lindisfarne, Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone of the Elton John Band, Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, John Reid, Elton, Bernie Taupin and many more.

 

So why am I so underwhelmed? I know I should like this, but I find the tracks choices and the 'overall' listen once you're away from the hits to be something of a terrible let down. Sure, big names are here; David Bowie, Chris Rea, Kiki Dee, John Kongos, The Strawbs, The Zombies, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers LP with EC giving it some turned up axe hero and of course three top tracks involving Elton John. And the booklet goes on and on about them what a genius GD was. But I'm talking about the actual listen.

 

You can't dispute "Space Oddity" or "Rocket Man" or "Tokoloshe Man" or "Fool (If You Think Its Over)" or even Lindisfarne's forgotten and lovely "Run For Home" - all wonderful - but stuff like Locomotive, Sounds Nice, Audience, Voyager, Armatrading's early tracks and the awful Larry Smith "Springtime For Hitler" pastiche are all very much skips. And despite my affection for The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, do I ever want to hear "I'm The Urban Spaceman" again – not really. I would have traded any of these hit tracks for lesser-heard GD-produced gems like "March Rain" from Michael Chapman's 1970 Harvest LP "Fully Qualified Survivor" (with Paul Buckmaster string arrangements) or even "Boogie Pilgrim" from Elton's underrated 1976 double-album "Blues Moves".

 

Clever choices do include the stunning "Sixty Years On" from Elton's second self-titled LP in 1970 and the CD opens with a crystal clear DUNCAN COWELL remaster of "She's Not There" by The Zombies (Cowell does the whole compilation, great audio throughout). But I've already got the Kiki Dee stuff on EMI and Edsel and the live John Lennon duet and the Ralph McTell remake of "Streets Of London" that charted in 1974 is far better than the '69 Transatlantic label original presented here.

 

I know GD was a genius and everyone in this huge booklet tells the same story of his perfectionism in the studio, but I just wish it would actually translate into an enjoyable playlist instead of a bunch of tracks a genius happened to produce. A good CD then, but I really, really wanted it to be so much better...

Always Jane - AMAZON's Four-Part TV Series Set in 2019 and 2020 About Transitioning From A Man Into A Woman - A Review

 "...They Were Broadminded People..." 

Always Jane: The TV Series

It's cliché to say that the importance of family is almost always underrated. But imagine if that support network (and let's call it what it is, love) isn't there when you spend all your life as a boy from the age of 3 reaching into mummy’s closet. And you are determined (come what may) that one day, you will actually be able to try on those lady clothes and they will fit – even look beautiful.

 

Amazon's TV series "Always Jane" comes at you in four parts and vividly and bravely shows what transitioning into a woman means for a teenage boy who has always known he/she was different. It's a real-world documentary about a real American family and its time frame spills over from 2019 into Covid-19 and Lock Down in 2020.

 

As you watch, you quickly begin to realize that Jane's family are in some ways in awe of their precocious girl-in-the-making son/daughter. For sure there's the jibes, the hurt, the shaming by the less enlightened in New Jersey's small towns - but her inner beauty and belief shines through always. It's take guts that many don't have to make this journey and there's going to be pain and ridicule no matter how shiny your home love is.

 

The family of two other daughters (who love their bro/sis to bits) along with Mum and Dad and ageing Granddad (who was part of the engineering crew that put Apollo 12 and its astronauts on the moon) are close knit and support each other in every way. Unusually, you also get to hear what it's like to be transitioning parents - what it means to stand up for your child when the monsters snarl from the sidelines. You take the journey with them - share their hopes - their fears - and their losses.

 

There are also scenes in NYC too when a group of trans get to do a collective photo-shoot and Jane can talk to like minds (and vice versa) from all walks of life and colour background. It’s incredibly moving stuff and you quickly pick up that this is not grandstanding on their part or some fad to grab attention in an online world that so craves such things – this is a deep biological need to go all the way over to the other side because they truly believe themselves to be women trapped in what creation gave them when they were born.

 

For sure there is hardly a moment when Jane is not flicking hair or gazing into the camera literally egging it on to tell her she is beautiful – and if you were cruel – you could laugh at this borderline narcissistic behaviour. But the program is smart enough to get across why – his DNA-deep need to be feminine – all the way to painful surgical procedures that will irretrievably alter the very anatomy of his being. 

And all the while Mum and Dad and his/her sisters are there backing up the bravery with a ferocity that will bring a tear to many eyes.

 

I thought "Always Jane" was beautiful - an eye-opener - and compassionate about a subject that in 2021 is still taboo to so many cultures. Love is all - and this program paints a hopeful and dare-to-be-yourself sketch of it. Well done to everyone involved...

"Benefit: The 50th Anniversary Enhanced Edition" by JETHRO TULL – Third Studio Album from April 1970 (USA) on Reprise Records and May 1970 (UK) on Chrysalis Records featuring Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Glenn Cornick, John Evans and Clive Bunker (5 November 2021 UK Chrysalis 'The 50th Anniversary Enhanced Edition' Six-Disc Reissue – 4CDs and 2DVDs in A Hardback DigiBook Presentation Pack with Stereo and Mono Previously Unreleased Material - New Steve Wilson Remixes and Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Alive And Well And Living In 2021..."

When the pudgy 2CD/1DVD 'A Collector's Edition' card digipak reissue of Tull's 1970 third studio album "Benefit" appeared in October 2013 - most fans loved it – even if it did feel a tad clunky on the visual front. 

But since the 'book' series has advanced (serious reissues seriously praised) - "Benefit" and its absence in that handsome rat pack has been a hole in a wall of hardback digipak editions most fans have longed to fill. 

Well, here on Friday, 5 November 2021 is the 'The 50th Anniversary Enhanced Edition' of "Benefit" by JETHRO TULL - a stunning six-disc visual and audio upgrade (4CDs and 2DVDs) that makes most other 50th Anniversary sets seem positively dowdy. Here are the actual benefits...

Chrysalis 0190295201616 (UK) is beautifully done (barcode is the same number) – 2CDs in the front hardback cover (the album Remastered and Remixed by STEVEN WILSON including associated Stereo and Mono mixes), Disc 3 in the first hard-card leaf (Live At Tanglewood 1970), Disc 4 in the final leaf (Live In Chicago 1970) and 2DVDS in the rear hardback cover (Steve Wilson Audio mixes of the album with bonuses in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound plus flat transfers on DVD1 with DVD2 being a visual of the Live At Tanglewood 1970 concert). 

Fans have come to have high expectations for these Tull digibook sets – fan involvement and historian contributions with rare picture sleeves, press announcements and reviews, concert posters, pictures of venues, timelines etc – and the 100-page attached booklet doesn’t disappoint (the 2013 version had 42-pages, so a massive amount of extra material). Every aspect of that 1969 to 1970 period is covered (even early Aqualung sessions for that 1971 magnum opus). There is an interview with Studio Engineer ROBIN WOOD, interviews with the band on recording sessions, lyrics to all album tracks and the stand-alone singles (which wasn’t on the 2013 issue), a day-by-day breakdown leading up the April (US) and May 1970 (UK) album release and beyond - and every possible catalogue number and chart position for the UK and USA. It’s truly a wonder and I cannot imagine how many man-hours it took to collate and typeset. 

And the STEVE WILSON Remixes and Remasters sound spectacular (not just good) – after decades of my battered Chrysalis LP – it is genuinely shocking to hear stuff like "Alive And Well And Living In" and "Sossity" sound this sonically empowered – Anderson’s vocals leaping out of your speakers with snotty intent. Here is a breakdown...

CD1 (76:19 minutes):

A Steven Wilson Stereo Remix

1. With You There To Help Me

2. Nothing To Say

3. Alive And Well And Living In

4. Son

5. For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me

6. To Cry For A Song [Side 2]

7. A Time For Everything?

8. Inside

9. Play In Time

10. Sossity: You're A Woman

Tracks 1 to 10 make up their 3rd album "Benefit" – released 20 April 1970 in the USA on Reprise RS 6400 and 1 May 1970 in the UK (delayed from 24 April 1970) on Chrysalis/Island ILPS 9123. Produced by IAN ANDERSON - peaked at No. 11 (USA) and No. 3 (UK). 

ASSOCIATED RECORDINGS (A Steven Wilson Stereo Remix):

11. Singing All Day (Stereo)

12. Sweet Dream (Stereo)

13. 17 (Stereo)

14. Teacher – (4:58 minutes, UK Single Version, Stereo)

15. Teacher – (4:03 minutes, US Album Version, Stereo)

16. My God (Early Version) - Studio Outtake from early 'Aqualung' sessions recorded 11 and 12 April 1970 – Extra Flute Passages – 9:06 minutes

17. Just Trying To Be - Studio Outtake from early 'Aqualung' sessions recorded 11 April 1970 – mostly Anderson and Acoustic - 1:39 minutes 

NOTES: Tracks 16 and 17 did not appear on the 2013 'A Collector's Edition'

CD2 – Original 1969-1970 Mono Mixes (77:37 minutes):

1. Singing All Day (Previously Unreleased 1969 Mono Mix)

2. Sweet Dream (Mono Single Mix)

3. 17 (Mono Single Mix)

Tracks 2 and 3 released 17 October 1969 as a UK 45-single on Chrysalis WIP 6070 (peaked at No. 7)

4. The Witch's Promise (EUR single double 'A' side; mono mix not used in the UK)

5. Teacher (UK Single Version - EUR single double 'A' side; mono mix not used in the UK)

6. Teacher (US Album Version - Mono Reduction Mix used for US single 'B' side)

7. Inside (UK Single 'A' Side) 

8. Alive And Well And Living In (Mono Reduction Mix for US single 'B' side)

9. A Time For Everything (Mono Reduction Mix for US single 'B' side)

ORIGINAL 1969-1970 STEREO MIXES 

10. Sweet Dream (Unused Stereo Mix prepared for the Side 'A' of an unissued US promo single for FM stereo radio)

11. 17 (Unused Stereo Mix prepared for the Side 'A' of an unissued US promo single for FM stereo radio)

12. The Witch's Promise (UK single version double 'A' side – disc transfer)

13. Teacher (UK single version double 'A' side – disc transfer)

14. The Witch's Promise (US promo single 'A' prepared for FM stereo radio)

15. Teacher (US Album Version – Us Promo Single 'B' side prepared for FM stereo radio)

1971 STEREO REMIXES 

16. Singing All Day 

17. Sweet Dream 

18. The Witch's Promise

19. Teacher (US Album Version)

ORIGINAL RADIO SPOTS 

15. Benefit AM Radio Spot No. 1 (Mono)

16. Benefit FM Radio Spot No. 2 (Stereo) – issued to US Radio Stations May/June 1970 on Reprise PRO 395

Notes: Although the running order is rejiggered, CD2 is the same 16 tracks that were on the 2013 reissue; three here were Previously Unreleased Mixes at that time – Tracks 1 (Mono), 10 and 11 (Stereo) 

CD3 (69:19 minutes) and DVD 2 (Previously Unreleased)

LIVE AT TANGLEWOOD 1970 – A Steven Wilson Stereo Remix 

(Recorded 7 July 1970 for Bill Graham’s ‘Fillmore At Tanglewood’ Show)

1. Introduction And Tuning 

2. Nothing Is Easy 

3. My God (incl. Flute Solo)

4. With You There To Help Me / By Kind Permission Of 

5. Dharma For One (incl. Drum Solo (edited on CD))

6. We Used To Know 

7. Guitar Instrumental 

8. For A Thousand Mothers 

CD4 (75:19 minutes, Previously Unreleased):

LIVE IN CHICAGO 1970 (Recorded in Mono directly from the soundboard by John Burns at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois on 16 August 1970)

1. Introduction And Tuning 

2. My Sunday Feeling 

3. My God (incl. Flute Solo)

4. To Cry You A Song 

5. With You There To Help Me / By Kind Permission Of 

6. Sossity: You're A Woman / Reasons For Waiting 

7. Nothing Is Easy 

8. Dharma For One (incl. Drum Solo (edited))

9. We Used To Know

10. Guitar Instrumental 

11. For A Thousand Mothers 

DVD 1 (Audio Only - As per 2013 Reissue) 

Steven Wilson's 2013 Stereo Mixes of "Benefit" and 5 Extra Tracks in DTS and Dolby AC3 5.1 Surround & Stereo 96/24 LPCM (65:06 minutes)

Flat transfers of the Original UK and US LP Master in 96/24 LCPM (59:59 minutes)

Additional Tracks "Sweet Dream", "17" and "The Witch's Promise"

DVD 2 (Video, NTSC, All Regions (0) – Previously Unreleased)

The 1970 Tanglewood Concert on video with Steven Wilson’s 2020 audio Remix in DTS and Dolby AC 3 5.1 Surround and Stereo 96/24 LPCM

More than a year and a half late for a 50th Anniversary celebration of the original LP (1970 to 2020) and pandemic delays aside, the packaging and audio upgrades here in 2021 are both fantastic. But I must admit that non-fans will probably tire of the multiple versions of Teacher, Sweet Dream, 17 and of course The Witch's Promise on CD 1 and 2 (never mind live versions) - but that 9:06 minute outtake of "My God" with the wild flute soloing in the centre is an absolute blast and shows more clearly than anything before how fast Anderson and his songwriting was racing ahead (one of two new extras dovetailing CD1). And that Just Trying To Be may only be 1:39 long, but its ethereally beautiful. 

Come the Tanglewood live set, you can hear how tight the band is, eager, sharp, taking on America and doing it bravely too with material the audience clearly doesn't know. I was impressed at the live sets and their sound (CD 3 in Stereo and Remixed by whiz Wilson, CD4 in Mono but still punchy and with a few cuts we didn’t have before. For Tull nuts, the live sets are another sneak preview into their band in primo-form - hitting the crowd right in the eyes with old chestnuts and newbees that would quickly become celebrated the following year as classics. 

Jethro Tull would go global in 1971 with "Aqualung" and rightly so. And it has to be truthfully said that Benefit's illustrious follow up is a better crop of songs and a more coherent LP in every way. But this fabulous reissue of 1970's "Benefit" should surely mean that this forgotten bow in Tull's arsenal of strings should be reappraised. Well done to all involved...

I know it's not for everyone, but this lavish go at "Benefit" again is a reissue winner (six discs for under thirty-five quid). Hell, at this rate, we might even get my all-time Tull-crave - 1972's "Living In The Past" double-album which in 2022 will reach its 50th anniversary (a super-duper deluxe edition with the double LP in that hardback book packaging please and shed loads more).

'Nothing is easy' with Tull, but they sure do it right for their fans. A reissue of the year for 2021 without hesitation...