"Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid: Original Soundtrack Recording" by BOB DYLAN – July 1973 US LP on Columbia Records and November 1973 UK on CBS Records – Featuring Guitarists Bruce Langhorne, Roger McGuinn, Carol Hunter, Bob Dylan and Stephen Bruton with Byron Berline on Fiddle, Gary Foster on Flute and Recorder, Booker T. of The MG’s and Terry Paul on Bass, Jim Keltner on Drums with Russ Kunkel on Tambourine and Roger McGuinn, Priscilla Jones, Donna Weiss and Brenda Patterson on Vocals (February 1991 UK Columbia CD Reissue) - A Review by Mark Barry

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"...Heaven's Door..."

 

Includes 2022 Update on CD Reissues Available

 

Strong silent types who let the pistolas do the jabbering as they gob beef jerky at lame horses and a trembling sheriff, while Claudine (a tired corporate hospitality employee) stands in the doorway of the saloon scratching her less than immaculate garter wondering if business is going to be slow tonight after the boys let off some Prairie steam, Yellowstone style.

 

Dylan's first soundtrack for a Western came as something of a happy accident – something to do between gigs in 1973. Director Sam Peckinpah was holed up in Mexico with his talented and gruffly photogenic MGM cast - Kris Kristofferson as Billy The Kid, James Coburn as Pat Garrett, Jason Robards as Governor Wallace, Richard Jaeckel as Sheriff Kip McKinney and Katy Jurado as Mrs. Baker. Established acting hands, future film stars and cool musical types also peppered the smaller roles – Dr. Strangelove's Slim Pickens as Sheriff Baker, "Paris, Texas" and "Repo Man" uber-dude Harry Dean Stanton as Luke and complimenting those are singer Rita Coolidge and her Keyboardist Donnie Fritts as Maria and Beaver. And of course perhaps coolest of them all – the old moocher himself Bob Dylan as the appropriately obscure character 'Alias' – looking like he fits right in with all the sputum, blood and brucellosis.

 

Sent to him by writer Rudolph Wurlitzer - Dylan had read the script and liked it and was even inspired. Sessions took place on location in CBS's Mexico City Studios and then back in Los Angeles with Warner Brothers producing a string of quietly majestic instrumentals that countered the bloody mayhem on screen. Even the front cover artwork seemed lean and uncluttered in keeping with the mean and moody themes - a bare black and white title complimented on the rear by sparse musician credits and a startling picture of Kris Kristofferson kneeling in the dirt – hand-cuffed - a show-me-some-mercy grimace on his face as Sheriff Richard Jaeckel points his shotgun down into his chest and cocks the trigger.

 

CD COST ISSUES:

But what of the CD you say... a little explanation is needed.

 

The UK 'public domain' CD Master for Dylan's 1973 soundtrack to Sam Peckinpah's film "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid" was issued as far back as February 1991 (even earlier in the USA, 1989) and has essentially remained that way for over 30-years. However, don't let that put you off; Pat Garrett is one of only a handful of first vanguard CD reissues that I listen to often and need no more. It sounds lovely.

 

But with that old original untouched by Sony in three decades as a stand-alone purchase – reissue companies have spotted a cult-album slot and a veritable slew of pricey audiophile alternatives have emerged to meet that need. In January 2022 (as I write this), there are actually three options, but unfortunately they will make your wallet feel queasy.

 

Japan did a Repro Artwork Paper Sleeve Mini-LP CD Reissue and Remaster in April 2014 on their BLU-SPEC 2 format (Sony International SICP-30487 - Barcode 4547366215977) that has received unanimous rave reviews. It can be played on standard CD players too and is available from various online sites for anything between £22 and £35 (use Barcode number above to locate).

 

Desirable too is the US-Only Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab SACD Version issued March 2019 as one of their Ultradisc UHR reissues, again in a card sleeve, and again playable on all machines. A limited edition of 2,500 copies worldwide, Mobile Fidelity DSACD 2202 (Barcode 821797220262) sells for anything between £40 and £55 all in - another pricey soon-to-be-a deletion.

 

There is also a Remaster in November 2013's 43-CD Box Set "The Complete Album Collection Vol.1" on Sony/Legacy 88691924312 (Barcode 886919243123). "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid: Original Soundtrack Recording" was one of the 14 Newly Remastered Titles for that fabulous Box Set - but again – sellers now know it is deleted and rare and therefore 'tis well over two-hundred spackaroonies to find one. So let's get back to single-disc reissue basics...and deal with what we can get easily and without costing a limb...

 

1. Main Title Theme (Billy) – Side 1

2. Cantina Theme (Workin’ For The Law)

3. Billy 1

4. Bunkhouse Theme

5. River Theme

6. Turkey Chase – Side 2

7. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

8. Final Theme

9. Billy 4

10. Billy 7

Tracks 1 to 10 are his twelfth studio album "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid: Original Soundtrack Recording" (First Soundtrack) – released July 1973 in the USA on Columbia KC 32460 and November 1973 in the UK on CBS Records S 69042. Produced by GORDON CARROLL – it peaked at No. 16 in the USA and No. 29 in the UK.

 

UK-issued February 1991, Columbia CD 32098 (Barcode 5099703209822) sports a puny gatefold-slip of paper as an inlay with ne'er a mastering credit in sight anywhere (35:25 minutes). And yet when you slap on "Main Title Theme (Billy)" - adopted by the public as a walk-in theme song to many a bride arriving for her wedding day - the audio clarity is gobsmacking. This CD may be old and dull to look at (like the original LP with its simplistic artwork and frankly bugger all info front or back) - but it delivers on the audio front with a simple hiss-less beauty that sends this mainly-instrumentals album rattling around your room with impressive power.

 

The album opens with the beautiful and moving instrumental "Main Title Theme (Billy)" – Russ Kunkel shaking a Tambourine (like a backdrop of crickets at night) against one of the true heroes of the album – Guitarist Bruce Langhorne. Langhorne had met Dylan back in 1961 as a young pup hustling his song wares and had a large drum kit that sounded like a tambourine – hence he became the inspiration for "Mr. Tambourine Man". The sheer musicality of his playing here is magical, a subtle Bass line from Booker T. of the MG’s giving a bottom end to the six minute linger. After another instrumental called "Cantina Theme (Workin' For The Law)" that's decidedly less impressive than what went before it, we get Dylan's first vocal on "Billy 1" - our gunslingin' hero playing cards while guns across the river threaten in the distance. 

 

At only 2:13 minutes "Bunkhouse Theme" has only Carol Hunter and Bob Dyan dueling on Acoustic Guitars (although they make it sound like there are two more) and again, a gorgeous audio. "River Theme" has a wall of three humming voices 'la-la-la-ing' their way into your heart (Byron Berline, Priscilla Jones and Donna Weiss) - whilst Booker T. Jones (Priscilla is his wife) holds the Bass and the acoustics of Bruce Langhorne and Bob set the slightly doomy mood for this faraway-getting-too-near chant.

 

Side 2 opens with Byron Berline on fiddle while Roger McGuinn posing as Jolly Roger plucks a banjo on "Turkey Chase". It's never been a fave instrumental on the album for me, but it is followed by a barnstormer - "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" smooching into your air with a brilliantly placed Harmonium (played by Carl Fortina). Roger McGuinn of The Byrds doubles with Bruce Langhorne on guitars for "Knockin'..." - the ooh-ooh-ing ladies including Carol Hunter, Priscilla Jones, Donna Weiss and Brenda Patterson. Terry Paul plucks his Bass, Jim Keltner taps his Drums while Dylan sings of the darkness getting too thick to see. Even now, it's a stunner.

 

I can't be the only listener who thinks Dylan could have called Billy 4 "So Far Away From Home" and Billy 7 "Might Be Thunder" instead of the lazy numbers system he applied. And speaking of re-arrangements, surely the magisterial flute and instrument-building instrumental "Final Theme" should indeed have been the finale song? I often program the CD to run Tracks 9, 10 and then 8 – just sounds more coherent that way.

 

Dylan would do two on Asylum of a frankly ho-hum nature in 1974 – "Planet Waves" in January and the live double "Before The Flood" in June – both in collusion with his old muckers The Band (the less said about the contractual 1973 "Dylan" album, the better). But it wouldn't really be until the monumental "Blood On The Tracks" album in January 1975 that he would regain the awe he was held with in the 60ts – a musical and lyrical milestone ever since.

 

The Original Soundtrack to "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid" could be construed in a Dylan Multi-Verse as a chucked-together quickie with one huge hit on it whilst the rest of it is just a bunch of lumbering guitar, vocal and fiddle noodling. But I suspect that for many fans of the enigma that is the Bobster and his sparing 'Mr. Tambourine Man' guitarist partner-in-crime Bruce Langhorne – this a regular port of call when many others have lain on their bulging CD shelves, untouched for years.

 

"Billy, they don't like you to be so free..." Well my crazy faces, bullet holes and four more aces - feel free to investigate this forgotten corner of the Zim's incredible Seventies legacy - because it's never too dark to see new light in old windows like these (and it's cheap too)...

"On Track...STATUS QUO: The Frantic Four Years" by RICHARD JAMES - 1968 to 1984 Studio Album and Single Reviews (December 2021 UK Sonicbond Publishing Paperback Book) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Whatever You Want..."

 

The problem with fans is that they're fans. And if you're an old mucksavage like me (soon to be a pensioner with a hairstyle that should know better) - you look back on really great Seventies Rock Bands with such rose-tinted hues that it's hard to separate out the Weetabix from the Crapabites.

 

I've enjoyed the Led Zeppelin and Electric Light Orchestra books in this on-going "On Track..." series from Sonicbond Publishing of the UK precisely because they've been written by people who love and know their chosen poison and can relay that with good writing. These books also dig in where it matters – the actual songs, the albums, the music – even if that critique is not all milk and cookies.

 

Richard James is the same when it comes to the England's Mighty Status Quo. But James' problem is that he's honest about the song-quality of their output after the March 1977 "Live" Double (which defined them like Lizzy's stunning "Live And Dangerous" did in 1978) - it went downhill or even off a cliff edge. Truth is that most of us Rock kids who were Punk/New Wave embracers had moved on and would never come back. 

 

Also, because this paperback series concentrates on studio sets, the "Live" double of March 1977 that went to No. 3 in the UK LP charts is 'not' reviewed here. That alone kind of negates their impact in their natural arena - a place they were king. With Quo, it was always about how good they were on stage (saw them in Dublin - fabulous stuff) when all that riffage came to life. So the book loses out a little on that. Let's get to what is good...

 

I suspect like most Seventies Quo fans, I'm a "Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon" starter in 1970 with crackers like "Shy Fly", "Junior's Wailing" and the cool chugging boogie single "In My Chair" through to 1976's "Blue For You" with the full length album version of "Mystery Song". What a tune - a rocker that like the best of 1976 and 1977 Thin Lizzy - it could awaken a dead man and make a preacher lay his good book on the pew for a moment and get, well, "Down Down - Deeper And Down".

 

Across the 142 A5-pages of this 31 December 2021 paperback (published 25 February 2022 in the USA) - "On Track... STATUS QUO: The Frantic Four Years" by RICHARD JAMES also supplies 16-pages of colour photos. There are period live shots from each of their decades (including the reunion tour), Album Sleeves, the four principal culprits - Francis Rossi (Lead Guitar), Rick Parfitt (Lead Guitar), Alan Lancaster (Bass) and John Coghlan (Drums) with their two long-time song collaborators and part-time/full-time fifth and sixth band members - Bob Young (Harmonica) and Andy Bown (Keyboards).

 

I loved albums like 1971's "Dog Of Two Head" on Pye Records with classics like "Gerdundula" and "Railroad" through to 1972's Vertigo Records debut LP "Piledriver" with that great attacking stance cover and tunes like "Don't Waste My Time", their blistering cover version of The Doors "Roadhouse Blues" and sleepers like "O Baby" and the slow blues of "Unspoken Words". Worst sleeve design in the world didn't stop 1973's "Hello" going to No. 1 - something that 1975's "On The Level" did followed by 1976's Levi-Jeans covered "Blue For You" (were you a Wranglers kid or a Levis one?). In fact if you look in the Guinness Book of Chart Hits - the three-chord wonder boys have clocked up a huge page and half of entries from 1968 to the present day - over 50 years of defying their detractors.

 

James is aware that Status Quo and their same-song rawk elicits ridicule in some circles, but is smart enough to dismiss that as unwarranted snobbery and instead concentrates on the tunes within those confines. He will rightly highlight for instance "Lonely Man" on 1974's "Quo", "Long Legged Linda" on 1978's "If You Can't Stand The Heat" and even find something in "Ol' Rag Blues" on the piddle poor "Back To Back" album of 1983.

 

Changes in musical direction, the relentless grind of touring demands and a copious amount of chemical intake eventually took its toll and they imploded after poor albums like "Never Too Late" and "1.9.8.2." - a record with even worse artwork than "Hello". His track-analysis ends at their workmanlike cover version of that Dion & The Belmonts classic "The Wanderer" in 1984. Quo reformed in 1986 and a variant of that old school sound/band existed until The Frantic Four's Final Fling Tour in 2014. Frontman and all-round handsome guy Richard Parfitt sadly left us Christmas 2016 and Bassist Lancaster passed in 2021 (then living in Australia).

 

Status Quo have sold over 110-million records (probably three times that if truth be told when it comes to used vinyl), been inducted into all manner of Halls of Fame – Rossi and Parfitt were given the Royal OBE nod for Contributions to Music and Charitable Work and the band was the perfect raucous act to open the monumental 'Live Aid' Concert in July 1985 with John Fogerty's "Rockin' All Over The World". That show reminded everybody of what they had missed and gave the group a whole new lease of life.

 

Status Quo are held in affection for a reason and it's nice for old codgers like me to read track-by-track reminiscences of those songs we tapped feet to - those gorgeous Vertigo Records gatefold sleeves we held under our arms with pride. It isn't perfect, but then neither were they!

 

Time for me to get my head down, push aside the Zimmer Frame and give it some boogie with a tennis-racket. God bless ye boys and Rock In Peace...

"Blessed Are..." by JOAN BAEZ – August 1971 US and UK 2LP Studio Set on Vanguard Records with a Bonus 45-Single (US Copies Only) – band featuring Norman Blake and Pete Wade on Guitars, Charlie McCoy on Harmonica, Norbert Putnam on Bass and Production, Kenneth Buttrey on Drums with Back Up from The Memphis Horns, The Holladay Singers and The Town And Country Singers (September 2005 UK Ace/Vanguard Masters 2CD Expanded Edition Reissue in the Original Masters Series – Jeff Zaraya Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Salt Of The Earth..."

 

Joan Baez needed (in some respects) to re-establish herself with the buying public as not just that 60ts protest singer of old, but a contemporary artist in the emerging singer-songwriter scenery of 1971.

 

And for platter number fourteen on Vanguard Records – her studio double album "Blessed Are..." released in August of that huge year for Rock Music and its adjoining genres, did just that - it went to No. 11 in the US Billboard Rock LP charts- something many Folkies hadn’t been able to do. Amongst the ten cover versions of contemporary Country-Rock and Folk-Rock hipsters like Mickey Newbury, The Band, Kris Kristofferson and Jesse Winchester – were ten new originals and even a free 2-Track 45-single for first callers.

 

This sweet-sounding 2CD Remaster has done that urge-to-splurge proud – even including both sides of that 45-single on a separate CD and throwing in a previously unreleased throwback to 1969 as a Bonus. To the hungry and the broken...

 

UK released September 2005 - "Blessed Are..." by JOAN BAEZ is on Ace/Vanguard Masters VMD2 79760 (Barcode 029667016728). This 'Original Master Series' 2CD Reissue offers the full August 1971 US double-album Remastered onto CD1 with its accompanying 2-Track 7" bonus single remastered onto CD2 as Plus One More, a Previously Unreleased Performance from the 1969 Woodstock Festival as Track 3. It plays out as follows:

 

CD1 "Blessed Are..." (78:06 minutes):

Side 1

1. Blessed Are...

2. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [Band cover]

3. The Salt Of The Earth [Rolling Stones cover]

4. Three Horses

5. The Brand New Tennessee Waltz [Jesse Winchester cover]

Side 2

6. Last, Lonely And Wretched

7. Lincoln Freed Me Today [David Patton cover]

8. Outside The Nashville City Limits

9. San Francisco Mabel Joy [Mickey Newbury cover]

10. When Time Is Stolen

Side 3

11. Heaven Help Us All [Ron Miller cover]

12. Angeline [Mickey Newbury cover]

13. Help Me Make It Through The Night [Kris Kristofferson cover]

14. Let It Be [Beatles cover]

15. Put Your Hand In The Hand [Gene MacLellan cover]

Side 4

16. Gabriel And Me

17. Milanese Waltz/Marie Flore

18. The Hitchhiker's Song

19. The 33rd Of August [Mickey Newbury cover]

20. Fifteen Months

Tracks 1 to 20 are her fourteenth album "Blessed Are..." - released August 1971 in the USA on Vanguard VSD-6570-1 - same catalogue number in the UK but minus the bonus 2-track 7" single that came with original US copies (see CD2). Produced by NORBERT PUTNAM and JACK LOTHROP - all songs written by Joan Baez (except the cover versions noted above). It peaked at No. 11 on the US Billboard Rock Charts (didn't chart UK).

 

CD2 "Blessed Are..." Bonus Tracks (12:56 minutes):

1. Maria Dolores

2. Plane Wreck At Los Gatos (Deportee)

Tracks 1 and 2 were issued as 'Bonus Disc' 7" single with original copies of the US double album

3. Warm And Tender Love (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED performance from the 1969 Woodstock Festival)

 

The 12-page booklet has dense new liner notes (done in 2004) by Grammy-nominated music historian ARTHUR LEVY. Levy explains that a suggestion to relocate sessions to the newly kitted out Quadrafonic Studios in Nashville by Maynard Soloman (a Producer at Vanguard) opened up a whole new level of creativity for her. Perhaps more importantly, it sided Baez's beautiful voice and poise with top session-players like Norman Blake and Pete Wade on Guitars, Charlie McCoy on Harmonica, Norbert Putnam on Bass and Production, Kenneth Buttrey on Drums with Back Up from The Memphis Horns, The Holladay Singers and The Town And Country Singers. Blake had played for Johnny Cash for years while Norbert Putnam and Kenneth Buttrey were in Area Code 615.

 

The Remaster is by JEFF ZARAYA using original analogue tapes and is gorgeous - clean and full - and with much of the music acoustic-based - has a sweet clarity to it.

 

She smartly chooses three Mickey Newbury tunes all from his "Looks Like Rain" album issued in the USA on Mercury Records SR 61236 in September 1969. She taps 1968's "Beggars Banquet" for a cover of The Stones "Salt Of The Earth" and you can so see why her heart would be with the lyrical and musical sophistication of The Beatles' beautiful "Let It Be". Matthews Southern Comfort also saw the beauty in the Country sway of "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz" - probably Jesse Winchester's most popular tune.

 

While I kinda cringe at the overwhelming earnest in the title track "Be Blessed..." and stuff like "Last, Lonely And Wretched", Baez was no slouch on quality with songs of her own like the seven-minutes of "Three Horses" (a stallion on the hill tale), the horse-trot acoustic jaunt in "Outside The Nashville City Limits" (a local with a slow drawl shows her the most beautiful place in Tennessee), the sad and plaintive "When Time Is Stolen" (laughter riddled with tears) and the grey quiet horse that nobody sees except "Gabriel And Me".

 

The Spanish Language "Maria Dolores" 7"-single track over on the short CD2 comes complete with hacienda swaying strings and ladies – while lettuce is rotting in the five-minute Mexican Border deportation tale of woe - "Plane Wreck At Los Gatos" – a Woody Guthrie lyrical gem. But best surprise of all is the pretty love-in vibe of Bobby Robinson's "Warm And Tender" (a song he gave to Percy Sledge on Atlantic Records). Recorded live at Woodstock in August 1969, it's actually a gorgeous Baez and Harmony Vocalist rendition – a slow and heartfelt melody ballad and a clever way of tying-up this themed double.

 

I would be the first to admit that this kind of Folk/Folk-Rock is very much of its time – but the quality of the songs, playing and the CD transfers makes "Blessed Are..." a must-buy for fans...

"The Real Thing" by TAJ MAHAL – June 1971 US 2LP Live Set on Columbia Records (CBS Records in the UK) – band featuring Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart, Joseph Daly, Earle McIntyre, Bill Rich, John Simon, John Hall, Greg Thomas and Kwasi DziDzournu (September 2000 UK Columbia/Legacy Expanded Edition CD Reissue – Vic Anesini Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 352 Others Is Available In My

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GET IT ON - 1971

 

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Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

50th Anniversary Issue for 2021

A Huge 3,040-Plus E-Pages 

All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

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"...Fishin' Blues..."

 

Apart from the largely laid-back Brass 'n' Blues band nature of this live double-album (recorded February 1971 at the famous Fillmore East venue in New York with a backing band that included four Tuba players) - what blows you away here is the gorgeous in-yer-face CD Remaster done in 2000 by Sony/Columbia Tape Engineer Supremo VIC ANESINI.

 

The Vicster has done huge names in the Sony/BMG cannon - Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Santana, Elvis Presley, Billy Joel, Mott The Hoople, The Jayhawks, Jeff Beck, AerNilsson, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Mountain and so many more. I seek his work out. Well add Taj Mahal to that list because the "Taj Mahal" self-titled Blues Rock debut and this Americana live double are barnstormer transfers - exemplary. To the big kneed tubby tuba details...

 

UK released September 2000 - "The Real Thing" by TAJ MAHAL on Columbia/Legacy 498174 2 (Barcode 5099749817425) offers a 1971 Double-Album Plus One Bonus Track Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (66:56 minutes):

 

1. Fishin' Blues (2:58) [Side 1]

2. Ain't Gwine To Whistle Dixie (Any Mo') (9:11)

3. Sweet Mama Janisse (3:33)

4. Going Up To The Country And Paint My Mailbox Blue (3:24) [Side 2]

5. Big Kneed Gal (5:34)

6. You're Going To Need Somebody On Your Bond (6:14)

7. Tom And Sally Drake (3:39) [Side 3]

8. Diving Duck Blues (3:46)

9. John, Ain't It Hard (5:30)

10. She Caught The Katy And Left Me A Mule To Ride (4:08, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

11. You Ain't No Sweet Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff (18:56)

Tracks 1 to 9 and Track 11 are the double-album "The Real Thing" – released June 1971 in the USA on Columbia G 30619 and in the UK on CBS Records S 64385. Produced by DAVID RUBINSON – it peaked at No. 84 in the US Billboard Rock LP charts (didn't chart UK).

 

Part of their 'Columbia High Fidelity "360 Sound" Series' (mimics the '360 Sound' logo that came with all American Columbia records originals) - the 12-page booklet is a tasty affair with period photos of the huge band and new liner notes from STANLEY CROUCH quite rightly praising the 'chances' Taj took with the Blues medium. This was a different sound with Tubas and Brass thrown into the audio mix. Most tracks still had that same Blues and R&B backbeat - but of course not all purists and their one-way-only-taste-buds would have been impressed. But anyone hearing the juxtaposition of the guitar-only opener "Fishin' Blues" and the Canned Heat meets Taj Mahal 19-minute finisher could only be impressed. And that Remaster is fantastic.  

 

I've typed in the playing times for the tracks above because I'd swear that two are considerably extended cuts without saying so - "Ain't Gwine..." up from 8:17 to 9:11 minutes and "Big Kneed Gal" up from 4:45 to 5:34 minutes (some of the others have maybe 10 or 12 more seconds, but not as noticeable as those two).

 

When the four horns come crashing in during "You're Going To Need Somebody On Your Bond" - it has a huge power and that cool mention of Mavis Staples in the lyrics. Taj Mahal on Banjo with Bob Stewart on Tuba for the Side 3 instrumental "Tom And Sally Drake" comes out beautifully - virtually no hiss - but full of that 'live warmth' the recording is famous for. Their cover of the Sleepy John Estes classic "Diving Duck Blues" is turned into a rollicking R&B meets Rock driver.

 

There is almost total audience silence preceding "John, Ain't It Hard" – a stunning National Steel Blues lurch – his lady all dressed up in red and talking trashy. You can feel the crowd loving the vibe and their hollers increase as the Tubas come sailing in – gorgeous audio. And that Previously Unreleased track "She Caught The Katy..." slots in before the near 19-minute Side 4 finisher "You Ain't No Sweet Walker Mama..." like it was always meant to be there - impressive.

 

"The Real Thing" by Taj Mahal is a fab little CD Reissue and one that in January 2022 is increasingly hard to find. Seek it out and enjoy a clap-along yourself...

"On Track... ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA - Every Album, Every Song" by BARRY DELVE (November 2021 UK Sonicbond Publishing Paperback Book) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Mr. Blue Skies..."

I enjoyed the Led Zeppelin entry in this "On Track..." series of paperbacks (see separate review - Sonicbond Publishing have maybe 50 or so titles under this generic name) - a really good book written by someone who knows the music, the band and their recorded output.

So I was kind of expecting more of the same from Barry Delve's go at ELO and that’s exactly what you get – a genuinely excellent take on the band and where it hurts – the actual music.

Published 26 November 2021 (31 December 2021 in the USA) - this Sonicbond Publishing paperback "On Track... ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA - Every Album, Every Song" by BARRY DELVE follows the same layout format as all the others - 160-ish A5 pages of text - 16-pages of colour illustrations (album artwork, singles, posters, live shots etc) and song-by-song reviews. You get full Personnel lists, release dates (no catalogue numbers) and chart positions.

Delve has been a lifelong fan of Roy Wood's and Jeff Lynne's multi-headed Rock-orchestral beast since their inception back in the days of The Move and The Idle Race. You know you're in the space of a proper fan when he explains the Brummie scene from whence they came, the debut self-titled album issued in the UK in November 1971 on Harvest Records forever being called "No Answer" in the USA by United Artists because the secretary that called from the States and asked for the LP title got those words as a reply and literally took it verbatim. Hence the American debut has always been "No Answer". Delve isn't delusional about his stringy crave either, rightly deriding the stink bomb that was the "Xanadu" film, but noting that ELO's June 1980 soundtrack LP on Jet Records wasn't a dog musically and duly achieved a No. 2 UK and No. 4 USA chart placing on the Rock LP lists with ease.

In fact as you wade through these typically in-depth ruminations on the songs and their slow growing chart successes - you begin to notice that ELO were so much bigger Stateside than they ever were in the UK - each of their albums consistently released in America as much as two months in advance of the British issues. The first two on Harvest UK established the String vs. Rock template both Wood and Lynne wanted for ELO - "The Electric Light Orchestra" in 1971, "ELO 2" in 1972 and "On The Third Day" followed by "Eldorado – A Symphony By" in 1973 and 1974, both for Warner Brothers.

ELO then went on to a hugely successful run on Jet Records - "Face The Music" (1975) and "A New World Record" (1976) - each release becoming ever more sophisticated and hit-obsessed. The onslaught to win hearts and ears culminated in the 1977 double-album monster "Out Of The Blue" and the equally prolific five-singles "Discovery" album in 1979 – the late Seventies being their zenith. After "Time" in 1981 (went to No. 1 in the UK though few remember it and unfairly so according to the writer), their fortunes waned badly and it is with no small amount of pride that Delve tells us that 2019's "From Out Of Nowhere" credited to Jeff Lynne's ELO went in at No. 1 in the UK – their first decent chart showing in a quite a while and showing they were no longer perceived as just an oldies band.

There are reminiscences and interview quotes - all key players and musicians are listed like Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, Michael de Albuquerque, Kim Kaminski, Richard Tandy etc as well as Lynne solo - and each outtake or period straggler song that turned up after the event on CD reissues and remasters are also discussed at the end of each LP review.

Delve's book is thorough, informational and above all feels like a genuinely good appraisal of an often unrated band celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2021.

"On Track...ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, Every Album, Every Song" does for E.L.O.'s legacy where it matters - discussing the actual songs and albums.

Priced at £14.99 - I've seen it on sale at just above ten quid. So, if you're a fan, it's a must own and for the music/history curious - a big recommend too...