"Talking Heads: 77" by TALKING HEADS - September 1977 US and UK Debut Album on Sire Records featuring David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz with Guest Arthur Baker on One Bonus Track (January 2006 UK Sire/Rhino CD+DVD Reissue and Remaster with Five CD-Only Bonus Tracks, DVD Content Including a 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound Version of the Album, Two DVD-Only Bonus Tracks in 5.1 Mixes, Photo Gallery and Two Bonus DVD-Only Concert Videos - Ryan Smith and Ted Jensen CD Remasters – E.T. Thorngren and Jerry Harrison Surround Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Not Yesterday Any More..."

 

"Now I'm speaking out..." David Byrne sang on "New Feeling" in that weird half-hysterical preppy voice of his to a backdrop of tighter than tighten-up rhythms and marching drum patterns. It had lyrics that advised you talk to your analyst – raves about a book he read – ruminations on pine cones and teachers in the woods and buildings with every convenience and a nutjob who spoke French (Fa Fa Fa).

 

With its funky neck-jerking Art-Rock soundscapes - "Talking Heads: 77" arrived in September of that staggering New Wave Year like some snotty little nerd-kid intent on shaking things up in Squaresville, Suburbia.

 

I can vividly remember thinking (in a sort of quiet shock, as I took it all in), is this what The Velvet Underground would have sounded like if they'd embraced their inner Funk – Lou Reed going for the hips and the brain? A genuinely innovative yet so subtle debut album – 77 didn't sound like anyone else anywhere else and in some respect The Heads have remained that way. It was most definitely not yesterday any more. Sand In The Vaseline ahoy.

 

Which brings us to this CD+DVD reissue finally doing its extraordinary arrival in 1977 a proper pull-up. To the worrisome government and psycho killer...

 

UK released January 2006 - "Talking Heads: 77" by TALKING HEADS on Sire/Rhino/Warner Brothers 8122-73297-2 / R2 73297 – Barcode 081227329723) is a 2-Disc Multi-Chanel Edition CD+DVD Reissue. 

 

The CD Contains The Eleven-Track Album Remastered Plus Five CD-Only Bonus Tracks - three single sides, one Previously Unreleased and one compilation track issued in 1992. The DVD Features a 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound Version of the full Album, Two DVD-Only 5.1 Surround Mix Bonus Tracks, A Photo Gallery and Two Bonus DVD-Only Concert Videos (both Previously Unreleased). It plays out as follows...

 

CD (55:06 minutes):

Original Album

1. Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town [Side 1]

2. New Feeling

3. Tentative Decisions

4. Happy Day

5. Who Is It?

6. No Compassion

7. The Book I Read [Side 2]

8. Don't Worry About The Government

9. First Week/Last Week...Carefree

10. Psycho Killer

11. Pulled Up

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Talking Heads: 77" – released September 1977 in the USA on Sire Records SR 6036 and September 1977 in the UK on Sire Records 9103 328. Produced by LARRY QUINN, TALIMNG HEADS and TONY BONGIOVI – it peaked at No. 97 in the US and No. 68 in the UK. All songs written by David Byrne except "Psycho Killer" written by Byrne, Weymouth and Frantz

 

BONUS TRACKS (CD only):

12. Love Goes To Building On Fire

Track 12 is their Non-LP debut US 45-single released February 1977 on Sire SAA-737, A-side ("New Feeling" was its flipside) – also issued February 1977 with the same B-side, the UK 45 was Sire 6078 604

 

13. I Wish You Wouldn't Say That

Track 13 is the Non-LP B-side of their second US 45-single "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town" released October 1977 on Sire SRE-1002

 

14. Psycho Killer (Acoustic)

Track 14 is the Non-LP B-side of their third US 45-single "Psycho Killer" released January 1978 on Sire SRE-1013 (Arthur Baker guests on Cello)

 

15. I Feel It In My Heart

Tracks 15 is a Previously Unreleased Outtake from the LP sessions

16. Sugar On My Tongue

Track 16 first issued 13 October 1992 on the CD Compilation "Popular Favorites: 19776-1992 – Sand In The Vaseline" on Sire 26760

 

DVD (All Regions DVD-A)

Audio Content:

Tracks 1 to 11 are the "Talking Heads: 77" album as per the CD order, but in a Newly Mixed 5.1 Surround Sound Version

 

Tracks 12 and 13 are "Psycho Killer (Acoustic, 5.1 Mix, 4:14 minutes)" and "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town (Alternate 5.1 Mix, 2:48 minutes)"

 

Video Content (Both Previously Unissued):

Pulled Up (Live At Sproul Plaza, Berkeley, CA, 1978

I Feel It In My Heart (Live at The Kitchen, New York, 1976)

 

TALKING HEADS was:

DAVID BYRNE – Lead Vocals and Guitar

JERRY HARRISON [ex Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers] – Second Lead Vocals and Keyboards

MARTINA (TINA) WEYMOUTH – Bass

CHRIS FRANTZ – Drums

 

I have to admit that the 16-page booklet leaves me a bit cold – photos of handwritten lyrics and two bizarre testimonials on the band by Dave Eggers and Hilly Kristal – sided by album and detailed CD+DVD reissue credits. RYAN SMTH and TED JENSEN did the CD Stereo Remasters from original tapes – while E.T. THORNGREN and the band’s JERRY HARRISON handled the 5.1 Surround Sound Remixes and Remasters (Harrison talks a bit about it on Page 4). There are Sire Records promo photos of the youthful four plus some live shots from the period. 

 

But this release is all about the super clean and alive Remasters – key album tracks like "New Feeling", "Psycho Killer" and "Pulled Up" sound so much bigger now - the eccentric Byrne both shining and strangulating his words as Tina whacks the Bass, Chris keeps Drums time and Harrison does his support rhythms thing. Those acoustic strums and that Sax break in "First Week/Last Week...Carefree" in punchier. And I've always wanted a kick-ass CD version of the Acoustic Mix to "Psycho Killer" which I think is actually way better than the official LP version. There's more than a touch of 10cc-type-arrangements to "Don't Worry About The Government" when he sings "don't worry about me..." And I keep forgetting just how good (and even pretty) their debut 45 "Love Goes To Building on Fire" is (the booklet should really have featured the picture sleeves for it with that 'arrow' in the title on the rear instead of the words 'goes to').

 

When you play cuts like confused-confused "Tentative Decision" and the stop-start of the stunning "No Compassion" on the DVD-A – the 5.1 Mix feels like this weirdly re-worked beast with so many layers. That weird slide guitar he gets on "No Compassion" and the pace-break at 1:15 – in yer face like never before. And I wasn't expecting the three 45-single B-sides to sound the equal of the album tracks. The only let down on the Audio side for me is the weedy outtake "I Feel It In My Heart" – an ever lesser tune than the Sand In the Vaseline CD compilation song "Sugar On My Tongue" which in itself was only ever o.k. Very clever move though too to have the video content include the fantastic "Pulled Up" as one of the unreleased.

 

Talking Heads would go on to hit their Funk-Rock assaults out of the Art Rock Arena with their next run – June 1978 for "More Songs About Buildings And Food" and "Fear of Music" in August 1979 – never mind "Remain In Light" in October 1980.

 

This series of Talking Heads CD+DVD reissues have been deleted now a good few years and in some case have acquired nasty price tags - but seek it out. 

 

"Talking Heads: 77" is not my beautiful wife – but as a brilliant and innovative starter – My God how did I get here? Well, look no further...

"Stephen Stills" by STEPHEN STILLS - November 1970 US and UK Debut Solo Album [ex Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young] on Atlantic Records featuring guests David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG’s, Sidney George, Dallas Taylor and Calvin Samuels later with Manassas, Percussionist Jeff Whittaker of Akido, Drummers John Barbata of Jefferson Airplane, Conrad Isedor of One and later with Hummingbird and Ringo Starr of The Beatles (credited as Richie on Two Songs) - Plus Singers John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful, Mama Cass Elliott of The Mamas and The Papas, Rita Coolidge, Priscilla Jones, Claudia Lennear, Shirley Matthews, Cyrus Faryar and Henry Ditz both of The Modern Folk Quartet with String Arrangements on Two Songs by Arif Mardin (October 1995 UK Atlantic Records CD Reissue and Remaster – Joe Gastwirt Remasters)

 

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This Review And Many More Like It 

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LOOKING AFTER NO. 1 

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

 

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Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

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"...Old Times Good Times..."

 

"Now children, could it be a dream?" Stephen Stills sang on the bigger than valleys "Church (Part Of Someone)" – a chorus of four backing singers adding cathedral-like hugeness to the power of the song. Looking back 52 years now – it certainly felt like a dream.

 

Having blazed his singer-songwriter-guitarist way through three Buffalo Springfield albums and set the Harmony Vocals world on its West Coast head with two more absolute studio corkers from the super-group Crosby, Stills Nash & Young – Stephen Stills and his debut solo album was always going to be anticipated with a capitol ant. That preposterously talented foursome seemed incapable of doing any wrong in those first two years of the Seventies – we would have to wait for drugs and in-house warring to bring that on.

 

US released 16 November 1970 on Atlantic Records (27 November 1970 in the UK) - "Stephen Stills" also featured the stunning lead off 45-single "Love The One You're With". Backed everywhere by Side 2's "To A Flame", his radio-friendly message of universal cuddle-ship helped the parent LP hit No. 3 in the USA and a surprisingly modest No. 30 in the UK. 

 

Also released November 1970, the US 45's flip-side had Ringo Starr of The Beatles on Drums (masquerading in the credits as Richie) with String Arrangements co-charted by the legendary Arif Mardin (the UK single on Atlantic 2091 046 wasn't issued until January 1971 as a 45 where it climbed to No. 37 - the US single had hit No. 14).

 

Impressive guest names and contributions also included Jimi Hendrix (just before his sad passing later that year – the LP is dedicated to him) and Eric Clapton on Guitars, his fellow muckers in CSNY David Crosby from the Byrds and Graham Nash from The Hollies, Keyboardist Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG's, Flutist and Saxophonist Sydney George with an un-credited Memphis Horns, Dallas Taylor and Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels later with Stills in his supergroup Manassas, Percussionist Jeff Whittaker of Akido, Drummers John Barbata of Jefferson Airplane, Conrad Isedor of One and later with Hummingbird as well as the already mentioned Ringo Starr of The Beatles Drumming on Two Tracks ("To A Flame" and the other is "We Are Not Helpless"). The Backing Vocals list was just as impressive too - John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful, Mama Cass Elliott of The Mamas and The Papas, Rita Coolidge, Priscilla Jones, Claudia Lennear (of "Brown Sugar" lyrical fame), English Vocalists Judith Powell, Liza Strike, Larry Steel and Tony Wilson with Americans Cyrus Faryar and Henry Ditz both of The Modern Folk Quartet. Throw in String Arrangements on two songs with Arif Mardin ("To A Flame" and the second is "Church (Part Of Someone)") and you have to say - what a cast...

 

But even in May 2022 – its journey to digital has been a surprisingly singular affair – this 1995 digital remaster of the whole record stands alone. Subsequent packages have thrown up some updates - four newly remastered tracks on the February 2013 "Carry On" 4CD Book Set with a rare Mono single version of "Love The One You're With" (December 1970, Atlantic 45-2778, A-side) and a short Previously Unreleased March 1970 jam with Jimi Hendrix. There must be outtakes too. So it won't take fans spinach tins to work out that this cracking solo album start is long overdue for a 2CD Deluxe Edition that wraps up the lot. But until then – let's deal with what we do have. To the newish old times good times...

 

UK released October 1995 - "Stephen Stills" by STEPHEN STILLS on Atlantic 7567-82809-2 (Barcode 075678280924) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Digital Remaster of his 1970 Debut Solo Album that plays out as follows (39:03 minutes): 

1. Love The One You're With [Side 1]

2. Do For The Others 

3. Church (Part Of Someone)

4. Old Times Good Times 

5. Go Back Home 

6. Sit Yourself Down [Side 2]

7. To A Flame 

8. Black Queen 

9. Cherokee 

10. We Are Not Helpless

Tracks 1 to 10 are his debut solo album "Stephen Stills" - released 16 November 1970 in the USA on Atlantic SD 7202 and 27 November 1970 in the UK on Atlantic 24001 004. Produced by STEPHEN STILLS and BILL HAVERSON - it peaked at No. 3 in the USA and No. 30 in the UK. 

Players: 

STEPHEN STILLS - Lead Vocals, Guitars, Organ, Piano, Steel Drum & Percussion

(Track 9 "Black Queen" recorded Live featuring only Stills on Guitar)

JIMI HENDRIX - Lead Guitar on Track 4 

ERIC CLAPTON - Second Lead Guitar on Track 5

BOOKER T. JONES - Organ on Track 9

SIDNEY GEORGE - Flute and Alto Saxophone on Track 9

CALVIN "Fuzzy" SAMUELS - Bass 

CONRAD ISEDOR - Drums on Tracks 3 and 4

JOHN BARBATA - Drums on Tracks 5 and 6

DALLAS TAYLOR - Drums on Tracks 5 and 9 

RINGO STARR (credited as Richie) - Drums on Tracks 7 and 10

JEFF WHITTAKER - Congas on Tracks 1 and 4

ARIF MARDIN - Co-Arrangement (with Stills) of Strings on Tracks 3 and 7

THE MEMPHIS HORNS - Uncredited on Track 9

 

Vocalists:

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, JOHN SEBASTIAN, DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH - Backing Vocals on Track 1

JUDITH POWELL, LIZA STRIKE, LARRY STEELE and TONY WILSON - Backing Vocals as "The Chorus" on Track 3

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, CLAUDIA LENNEAR, JOHN SEBASTIAN, MAMA CASS ELLIOTT with DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH - Backing Vocals on Tracks 5 and 6

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, CLAUDIA LENNEAR, JOHN SEBASTIAN, MAMA CASS ELLIOTT, DAVID CROSBY, GRAHAM NASH, SHIRLEY MATTHEWS, BOOKER T. JONES with CYRUS FARYAR and HENRY DILTZ - Backing Vocals on Track 10 

The gatefold slip of paper that acts as an inlay gives you the track-by-track musician credits and that silly Charles John Quatro poem on the rear, but nothing else - no annotation - no history - no extras - just the bit that tells us the transfer is a JOE GASTWIRT Remaster done from original tapes at Ocean View Digital. Giving your CD some welly, you will get muscle out of this - but when I play it against my "Carry On" tracks - the improvement is noticeable. To the tunes...

 

Apparently inspired by a casual comment Apple Artist Billy Preston made at a London party about a particularly pretty girl - "Love The One You're With" has that almost Steve Winwood and The Spencer Davis Group magic about it that just doesn't diminish with the years. What a fantastic winner "Love The One..." is and as you can see from the Backing Vocalists list provided above - contains some seriously stellar names. Stills also plays Steel Drum on it ably aided by future Manassas hand Calvin "Fuzzy Samuels on Bass and Jamaican Percussionist Jeff Whittaker on Congas - Whittaker would join the Africa-Beats group Akida in 1972 (Mercury Records) and later hooked up with Peter Green's Katmandu band. 

Stills plays everything on the highly produced "Do For The Others" - the acoustic guitars and his vocals swirling around your room - lyrics singing of lies and betrayal and borrowing light from others just to survive the emotional trauma (the audio is gorgeous). We then enter the heavy-on-the-piano-and-organ-melodrama of "Church (Part Of Someone)" - the foursome backing vocalists sounding like a choir of twenty. Just short of two-minutes in, Arif Mardin's string arrangements (co-written with Stills) kick in with gorgeous effect lifting the song into an epic sweep. For those who want more, there's a very pretty Previously Unreleased Live Version of "Do For The Others" on the 4CD "Carry On" Book Set (Track 19 on Disc 2) that features duet acoustic guitars only between Stills and Steve Fromholz recorded at Madison Square Gardens in July 1971.

 

Probably the single greatest disappointment for me about the album is the appearance of Jimi Hendrix on Lead Guitar which should have been a cause for knicker-wetting excitement – but turns out to be one long barely audible aimless solo that is hardly genius or Rock God – Stills and his Organ playing far out-playing everything else that is going on. Way better is the other big axe man – Eric Clapton on the slyly Rock-Funky groove attained in "Go Back Home" – a near six-minute sexy beast that plays out Side 1 on a high. 

 

Side 2 opens with the superb "Sit Yourself Down" – a very I-gotta-quit-this-running theme where our Stephanie needs to take some time out – it's the kind of tune that could easily have made "Déjà vu" released earlier in March of 1970. Always dismissed as a 5 or 6-star rating flipside to its more illustrious A ("Love The One You're With"), I like "To A Flame" a lot. It features Stills, Ringo Starr on Drums and String Arrangements from Arif Mardin and bears returning to (there is also a Previously Unreleased Mix of "To A Flame" on the "Carry On" 4CD set). Very cleverly segues into the huge slide Acoustic Guitar Blues jaunt of "Black Queen" - Stills grunting along to the notes much like Rory Gallagher used to do when he blew everyone away. 

 

We then go into the slightly out-of-kilter Lounge-Soul-Jazz arena of "Cherokee" with Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG's giving it some organ alongside the Flute and Alto Saxophone soling of Sydney George - Stills playing a highly effective Coral Sitar (the "Carry On" Box Set also confirms that Sydney George is joined with The Memphis Horns too). It's so out of step with the feel of all the other songs on the album - I can't help thinking that it would have made a killer Non-LP B-side to "Love The One You're With" and should have been replaced with something else like say the gorgeous outtake "My Love Is A Gentle Thing" for instance (on both the "Pieces" compilation from 2009 and the 2013 "Carry On" Book Set). And just as you were getting into the flow, "Stephen Stills" the LP finishes with a jagged immediate segue into "We Are Not Helpless" - a similar big subjects vibe to "Church (Part Of Someone)" and featuring that massive backing chorus.  

 

Stephen Stills" is a good-to-great debut album that just slightly misses the mark - but it's one that fans love and have loved for over 50-years. But as I said earlier, this 1995 Digitally Remastered 'that'll do' CD variant may sound wicked, but is surely due for a major boo-ya upgrade. We are not helpless Steve; we are just waiting...

"Soul Mining" by THE THE - October 1983 UK Debut Album (as The The) on Epic/Some Bizarre Records featuring Matt Johnson [ex Gadgets] with guests Thomas Leer, Camelle G. Hinds, Andy Duncan, Zeke Manyika, Wix, Paul Boyle and Jools Holland (July 2002 UK Epic/Lazarus CD Reissue - Howie Weinberg Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

 

 

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This Review And Many More Like It 

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

 

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1 

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

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"...Under My Skin..." 

 

Technically, Matt Johnson's ex-Gadgets solo offering "Burning Blue Soul" from August 1981 on England's 4AD Records is often cited at the real THE THE debut album (in all but name). But October 1983's "Soul Mining" is the first LP to bear that famous moniker (and my starting point with him and his difficult releases). 

What we have here is the 2002 bare-bones Reissue/Remaster from Epic/Lazarus with its altered Matt Johnson's Face outer slipcase artwork - his own original painting artwork being on Page 3 of the booklet (folded back on itself, the booklet will allow fans to display that on the inner jewel-case). Let's get to the diluted polluted...

UK released July 2002 - "Soul Mining" by THE THE on Epic/Lazarus 504465 2 - 5044652000 (Barcode 5099750446522) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster of the original 1983 7-track album that plays out as follows (41:48 minutes):

1. I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow (All Of My Life) - Side 1

2. This Is The Day 

3. The Sinking Feeling 

4. Uncertain Smile 

5. The Twilight Hour - Side 2

6. Soul Mining 

7. GIANT 

Tracks 1 to 7 are their debut album "Soul Mining" (as the band THE THE) - released October 1983 in the UK on Epic/Some Bizarre Records EPC 25525. The US LP on Epic FE 39266 featured an extra track at the end of Side 2 called "Perfect" which unfortunately isn't on this 2002 CD Reissue/Remaster. 

 

I like the outer card slipcase and its tinted new facia, while the 12-page booklet does its functional best (lyrics, that original artwork and album/reissue credits). But you can't help thinking that the absence of any kind of historical appraisal or liner notes (there are quotes on the rear which are all conveniently positive) and the absence of the American LP's "Perfect" track as a Bonus is a bit of a let down. 

 

And some fans that have worn out 1983 original LPs have complained that the 2002 HOWARD WEINBERG Remaster is almost too clean - I disagree. The Audio is incredibly detailed now - take Paul Boyle's subtle and sweet Fiddle playing on "This Is The Day" - the E.L.P. esque keys on "The Sinking Feeling" - and speaking of Prog Rock - those almost Jon Anderson synth notes in the finisher "Giant" - the clean drum whacks of Zeke Manyika on "The Twilight Hour" - all have real presence now - up and proud. To the airs of despair... 

 

Matt Johnson's all-encompassing moody misery will admittedly not be for everyone wanting to get up and party baby. But the intelligence of the lyrics, his knack with a hook that gets under your skin and just won't let go have all earned him legions of devoted followers. I will willingly admit that I always start "Soul Mining" on Track 2 "This Is The Day" (can't take this discord in "I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow...") - watching the whites of your eyes turning red - all the money in the world unable to buy back those days of old - will this be the 24-hours where it all falls into place? 

 

"The Sinking Feeling" has Johnny Meeks on Bass supplementing all instruments played by Matt Johnson, but the album surely steps up to greatness with the near seven-minutes of "Uncertain Smile" - Jools Holland [ex Squeeze] playing an absolute blinder on Piano (comes in about 3:30) - allowed to solo and crescendo for near half of its duration. This is epic THE THE - clever as Elon THE THE - howling winds - watering eyes - uncertain emotions forcing an uncertain smile - brilliant. 

Introspection and personal relationship damming are never far from "The Twilight Hour" the truly excellent "Soul Mining" title track has our hero enveloped in fog with fool's gold wedged in his heart (this lad needs to get out more and be chaperoned when he does). And it all comes to a very classy and satisfying ending with "GIANT" - a near ten-minute litany of things Matty needs to forget but can't - Thomas Leer guesting on Bass Synth with Jim Thirwell on Sticks and Tins. 

"Soul Mining" was so pointing towards the genuine brilliance of 1986's "Infected" - probably everyone's favourite THE THE album and easily in the Top Ten of greatest ever releases in that decade or any other for that matter. But this 1983 starter is the Mind Bomb to come being fashioned...

"The Hurting" by TEARS FOR FEARS - March 1983 UK Debut Album on Mercury Records [April 1983 USA] featuring Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith, Manny Elias and Ian Stanley with Guests Chris Hughes, Ross Cullum, Mel Collins and Phil Palmer with Producer Chris Hughes (June 1999 UK Mercury UK CD Reissue Digitally Remastered with Four Bonus Tracks - Jon Astley Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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This Review And Many More Like It 

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

 

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1 

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

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"...Intrusion In My Illusion..." 

This early March 1983 debut album takes me back, and how. I can remember standing in a Dublin chart shop hustling to hear what was new and this excited 20-something hipster (so 80ts hair day) queued up Track 3 on Side 1. He plopped the startlingly honest and uncluttered album artwork in front of me like it was important but he didn't know how. It had some mopey Muppet on the cover with his hands up to his traumatized eight-year-old mush. The song was the hugely sophisticated "Pale Shelter" by Tears For Fears and the March 1983 LP was "The Hurting". I was quietly taken aback. Then he flipped Sides and I heard the manic but sensationally good "Change" and I was done for. 

For certain - England's TFF sounded like Depeche Mode, New Order, The Thompson Twins or The Human League and all those in-yer-face bands grasping technology and going forward with the Synth revolution. But while all of them would cut out their own mazes and paths of glory, there was (dare we tread on dangerous ground here) - just something that bit more brilliant about Tears For Years that engendered cult feelings at the time and lifelong allegiance ever since.

 

I remember too that I was so on a Peter Gabriel 3 (1980) and Peter Gabriel 4 (1982) tip in those years - the weirder it was - the better - challenge my ears and my brain why don't you nutty Brits. I loved Talk Talk too for those reasons, the genre-bending Talking Heads out of America with their Rock-meets-Funk jerkathon tunes. 

 

But there was just something about Bath's Tear For Fears and its troubled duo that made you feel there's someit-special going on here my dear - magic that would only get better as the years went on. And when you think about the huge leaps made with March 1985's "Songs From The Big Chair" and especially the hypnotic opus that is "The Seeds Of Love" from September 1989 - our gut instincts back in the day proved right. Besides, any band who penned a tune called "Ideas As Opiates" gets my vote.

Which brings us to this beautifully transferred CD Remaster of "The Hurting" tastefully bolstered up with Four period-relevant Bonuses. Let's get to the mad world and those intrusions in all our illusions...

 

UK released 28 June 1999 - "The Hurting" by TEARS FOR FEARS on Mercury 558 104-2 (Barcode 73145810424) is an Expanded Edition Digitally Remastered CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (66:20 minutes):

 

1. The Hurting [Side 1]

2. Mad World 

3. Pale Shelter

4. Ideas As Opiates

5. Memories Fade 

6. Suffer The Children [Side 2]

7. Watch Me Bleed 

8. Change 

9. The Prisoner 

10. Start Of The Breakdown 

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "The Hurting" - released March 1983 in the UK on Mercury MERS 17 and April 1984 in the USA on Mercury 422 811 039-1. Produced by CHRIS HUGHES - it peaked at No.1 in the UK and No. 73 in the USA on the LP charts. 

 

BONUS TRACKS: 

11. Pale Shelter (Long Version, 7:09 minutes) 

12. The Way You Are (Extended, 7:44 minutes)

13. Mad World (World Remix, 3:43 minutes)

14. Change (Extended Version, 6:00 minutes)

 

The 12-page booklet contains 1999 interviews with both boys about the beginnings of the band - how they were essentially a duo of songwriters with other musicians satelliting around them. IAN CRANNA - who did a press blurb on TFF back in 1982 Smash Hits days - provides great liner notes that are smart enough to get out of the way and allow Curt and Roland tell it like it was. The lyrics are here too, original LP credits and the fact that original Producer CHRIS HUGHES has done the incredible Remaster with Audio Engineer (and part-time Pop Star himself) JON ASTLEY at his Close To The Edge Studios. Astley has handled huge amounts of The Who catalogue, Level 42 and Wishbone Ash and if you know any of those clean and your living-room Remasters, then you will know what to expect here. The Audio is fantastic - hiss-less but still alive - even the Bonuses kick ass. To the tunes...  

The first thing that wallops you is the SOUND - it's huge and clean as a whistle. The punch off the synths, guitar and drum whacks. Also I'd forgotten how good the subtle underplay of pain is in "The Hurting" - that child-in-pain image even more haunting in 2022 (and dig that break at about two minutes in - brilliant). Mercury had slipped out "Mad World" in September 1982 (months before the LP) after "Suffer The Children" and the original "Pale Shelter" had failed to chart in November 1981 and May 1982 respectively. The remaster for "Mad World" is fantastic - those chimes, drums and tambourine as it fades out and segues into the sublime "Pale Shelter" - such a winner.   

Roland says TFF took "Ideas For Opiates" from the thoughts of psychotherapist Arthur Janov - a chapter in one his books - Mel Collins blasting away on Saxophone to the bare drone backdrop. "With hungry joy, I'll be your toy...memories fade but the scars still linger..." Roland sings with real sincerity in the deeper-than-deep hurt of  "Memories Fade" - surely one of the debut's highlights (the Remaster is fantastic). Their debut 45-single in late 1981, "Suffer The Children" is personal chains dressed up in Pop Bop - an only child in an only room able to get out through a song. But again you're hit with the LP's other forgotten nugget "Watch Me Bleed" - all the deeds of yesterday paving the way (love that guitar and those big chunky chorus moments). Although I don't personally like "The Prisoner" - the ridiculously cool bop of "Change" is absolute genius and a perennial oldies radio fave to this day. And on it goes... 

 

I had completely forgotten about those Extended Versions and Remixes - especially at a time when those things tried your patience way more than they tickled your fancy. At least three of them  - "Pale Shelter", "Mad World" and of course the stunning "Change" are brilliant and in my opinion, the Long Version of "Pale Shelter" is actually better than the LP (I'm sure it's the re-recorded version).  

Currently languishing in a digital dosshouse near you for only one of her Majesty's skydiver banknotes - "The Hurting" is one of those fab LPs you've forgotten about. And here it's reissued on a CD Remaster that sports both kick-ass audio excellence and decent annotation for less than a Movie Voucher. Vistas and joy...I like it...

Two Other Titles in this UK 28 June 1999

TEARS FOR FEARS Digitally Remasters CD Series 

Each with Four Bonus Tracks and Expanded Booklets 

 

1. "Songs From The Big Chair (Mercury 558 106-2 - Barcode 731455810622)

2. "The Seeds Of Love" (Mercury 558 105-2 - Barcode 731455810523)

"Bonnie Raitt" by BONNE RAITT – November 1971 US Debut Album on Warner Brothers Records featuring Willy Murphy of Willie & The Bees with guests Junior Wells, A.C. Reed and Paul Pena (October 2001 UK Reissue in the Warner Remasters CD Series with a Patrick Kraus Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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This Review And Many More Like It 

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

 

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1 

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

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"...Since I Fell For You..."

 

As a lifetime fan (I'm nearly 64) and for an artist so steeped in the Traditions of the Blues and Rhythm 'n' Blues - I have to admit that our hero's self-titled debut album "Bonnie Raitt" is (in the main) something of a disarmingly ordinary affair. 

 

It was an import in Blighty and Ireland originally - in fact, the UK wouldn't see a Vinyl issue of "Bonnie Raitt" until June 1976 when WEA finally gave it a release on the Warner Brothers Kinney Series K 56255 (her second and third studio LPs from 1972 and 1973 "Give It Up" and "Takin' My Time" were also issued in June 1976 in the UK in that series).

 

Sure, as you would expect from a class act like her, there are moments on 'BR' - the fantastic Harmonica chug provided by Junior Wells in "Finest Lovin' Man" accompanied by her slide acoustic and cool piano fills by Willie Murphy of Willie & The Bees - plus a brilliant unplugged-type cover of Robert Johnson's "Walking Blues" where she trashes the slide with sexy abandon with Junior Wells on Harmonica and Peter Bell hand-slapping the Ham Bones. "Since I Fell For You" is tasty too. But as an overall groove or an opening statement, 'BR' underwhelms more than it uplifts (a four-star affair). 

 

Still, at least this Warner Remasters CD Reissue Series from 2001 sounds better than my battered American Tan Label vinyl LP copy. Here are the heartbreaks and dangers, dead ahead baby...

US released August 2001 - "Bonnie Raitt" by BONNIE RAITT on Warner Brothers/Rhino R2 783277 (Barcode 081227837723) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster in the Warner Remasters Series (the UK CD reissue is Warner Brothers 8122-78377-2 - Barcode 081227837723) that plays out as follows (37:44 minutes): 

1. Bluebird Revisited [Side 1]

2. I'm A Mighty Tight Woman 

3. Thank You 

4. Finest Lovin' Man 

5. Any Day Woman 

6. Big Road [Side 2]

7. Walking Blues 

8. Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead 

9. Since I Fell For You 

10. I Ain't Blue 

11. Women Be Wise 

Tracks 1 to 11 are her debut album "Bonnie Raitt" - released November 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1953 (eventually issued June 1976 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56255). Produced by WILLIE MURPHY (recorded August 1971) - it didn't chart. 

MUSICIANS: 

BONNIE RAITT - Lead Vocals, Acoustic and Slide Guitar 

PETER BELL - Electric Guitar 

WILLIE MURPHY (of Willie & The Bumblebees) - Piano 

A.C. REED - Tenor Sax - DOUGLAS "Toad" SPURGEON - Trombone

JUNIOR WELLS - Harmonica 

FREEBO - Fretless Bass 

 

The Bumblebees: 

Russell Hagen - Electric Guitar 

Steven Bradley - Drums 

Voyle Harris - Trumpet 

Maurice Jacox - Baritone Sax and Flute 

Eugene Hoffman - Tenor Sax (Tracks 4, 8 and 9) and Cowbell (Track 1)

John Beach - Piano (Tracks 2 and 10)

Paul Pena - Bass Vocals only on "Bluebird"

Reeve Little - Backing Vocals on "Bluebird"

Chris Rhodes - Backing Vocals on "Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead"

The 8-page inlay is a basic affair offering only the original LP's liner notes, a center black and white photo of her fifteen-or-so-strong musical crew and some reissue credits - GREGG GELLER for the Warner Remasters Series with PATRICK KRAUS carrying out the actual Remaster from original tapes. This CD sounds great - daintiness in the piano notes and drum shuffles for "Any Day Woman" - her slide playing up in the mix of "Walking Blues" - all tasty. To the tunes... 

Her debut album opens with "Bluebird" - a cover of the Stephen Stills song on the second Buffalo Springfield album from October 1967 originally on Atco Records ("Buffalo Springfield Again"). It features A.C. Reed, brother of the legendary Blues Shouter Jimmy Reed playing Tenor Sax with deep 'Bass' vocals from Paul Pena towards he end that practically makes the funky little number. Warner Bros tried it in January 1972 as her debut US 45-single with Side 2's finisher "Women Be Wise" on the flipside - but Warner Brothers WB 7554 didn't make too many waves and that was it as far as 7" singles went for the BR album. 

 

Bonnie delves back into the Blues for her version of "I'm A Mighty Tight Woman" by Sippie Wallace, but it's only OK to me. Prettier is the first of two originals - a taught-me-how-to-love-you sweetheart melody called "Thank You" - the tune unfortunately a little let down by weedy Flute and Trombone playing. The album then offers up what has to be the first of its two best Bluesy-Funk crackers - her own "Finest Lovin' Woman" - Junior Wells giving it some on the slinky Harmonica while Willie Murphy pinkers on the old Johanna to great effect. I'm not so convinced by the Dixieland Jug Band approach to the Tommy Johnson tune "Big Road" – but I love her frantic cover of the Robert Johnson classic "Walking Shoes" – feel like blowing my lonesome horn. Junior Wells plays an absolute blinder on Harmonica warbling in the left speaker while Bonnie attacks a Slide Acoustic like her life depends on it. Great stuff. 

 

She goes back to Motown in July 1965 for a brassy Seventies Blues and R&B cover of The Marvelettes "Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead" (Tamla 54120), but I prefer the softer and pretty Buddy Johnson song "Since I Feel For You" - a late-night on the dancefloor shuffler that let's her stretch out vocally - misery and pain sounding enticing and not dicing. "Spider" John Koerner and Willie Murphy had done "I Ain't Blue" on their June 1969 cult Elektra Records LP "Running Jumping Standing Still" - Bonnie keeping it simple with Acoustic, Flute and Fretless Bass - each instrument in-yer-face with a very clear Remaster. The record ends on another Sippie Wallace cover - "Women Be Wise" - John Beach on Piano - but it feels like an anti-climax to an album that is just too sedate for its own good.

 

Her May 1972 "Give It Up" and November 1973 "Takin' My Time" LPs would improve and refine her Blues Rock with Soul formula better, but if you want a sweet sounding start to her extraordinary career - this Warner Remasters CD is the wise choice...