"Keep An Eye On The Sky" by BIG STAR - A Box Set Containing A Selection of Tracks from their Three Seventies US Studio Albums "No. 1 Record" (April 1972), "Radio City" (January 1974) and "3rd" (March 1978) alongside 52 Previously Unissued Big Star Recordings, Solo Material by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, Songs from Previous Incarnations of the Band as Icewater and Rock City, Live Material from 1973 and the only known Video of the group as a Bonus Track on Enhanced CD4 (September 2009 US and UK Rhino 4CD 96-Song Box Set with Andrew Sandoval and Dan Hersch Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Unbelievable Odds..." 

You would have to call a 4CD 96-song blow-out given over to the plant-a-tune-in-a-film-darlings BIG STAR - a winner. With a whopping 52 Previously Unreleased and their only known video footage - "Keep An Eye..." was always a shoe-in for unsightly stroking of male goatees in scholarly abandon. It's not all genius in my books, especially that droning "3rd" album that dominates CD3, but there's more than enough goodies in-between the output cracks to warrant five-stars. 

 

Also, September 2009's "Keep An Eye On The Sky" has had its detractors because if you want to actually hear the 24 songs that make up their utterly brilliant first two albums - you get only four from "No. 1 Record" and nine from "Radio City" - all other cuts represented by Alternate Versions, Demos, Single Mixes or Live Material. That has irritated some, but Rhino have countered by saying that reissuing what is widely available in top notch George Horn Remasters elsewhere anyway was not part of the game. So they've gone for the unissued splurge instead. Luckily we get the whole of "3rd" (called "The Third Album" in the UK) - their rare and difficult third LP of original material recorded in 1975 but unreleased at the time only to see light of day in late 1978 on both sides of the pond (PVC Records USA, Aura Records UK). 

 

But make no mistake - this Rhino compilation is a labor of love - you can feel it in the presentation, the audio, trying to dissemble the notorious lack of documentation at Ardent Recording Studios, finding that footage on enhanced CD4. So let's deal with what we do have...details maestro please...

UK-released 15 September 2009 - "Keep An Eye On The Sky" by BIG STAR on Rhino 8122-79858-7 (Barcode 081227985875) is a 4CD Remastered Box Set with 98-Songs (52 Previously Unreleased Audio Tracks Plus One Video on Enhanced CD4) and a 102-Page Booklet. The original US Edition on Rhino R2 519760 (Barcode 081227985875) was also issued 15 Sep 2009. Both versions were subsequently reissued 24 Nov 2014 in the USA (Rhino RF2 519760) and 12 February 2015 in the UK (Rhino 8122-79562-0) with the same packaging and tracks. "Keep An Eye On The Sky" plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (79:32 minutes):

1. Psychedelic Stuff (Original Mix, 1968) - CHRIS BELL

2. All I See Is You - ICEWATER

3. Every Day As We Grow Closer (Original Mix) - ALEX CHILTON 

4. Try Again (Early Version) - ROCK CITY  

5. Feel 

6. The Ballad Of El Goodo 

7. In The Street (Alternate Mix) 

8. Thirteen (Alternate Mix)

9. Don't Lie To Me 

10. The India Song (Alternate Mix) 

11. When My Baby's Beside Me (Alternate Mix)

12. My Life Is Right (Alternate Mix) 

13. Give Me Another Chance (Alternate Mix)

14. Try Again 

15. Gone With The Light 

16. Watch The Sunrise (Single Version)

17. St 100/6 (Alternate Mix)

18. The Preacher (Excerpt) - ROCK CITY 

19. In The Street (Alternate Single Mix)

20. Feel (Alternate Mix) 

21. The Ballad of El Goodo (Alternate Lyrics)

22. The India Song (Alternate Version) 

23. Country Morn 

24. I Got Kinda Lost (Demo) 

25. Back Of A Car Demo (Demo) 

26. Motel Blues (Demo)

NOTES: 

All tracks by BIG STAR except where noted

Tracks 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22 and 26 PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED

Tracks 2, 3, 19, 24 and 25 first issued on the 2008 UK CD compilation "Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story" on Ace/Big Beat CDWIK2 273 (Barcode 029667427326)

Tracks 5, 6, 9 and 14 are from their debut album "No. 1 Record" released April 1972 on Ardent Records ADS-2803 in the USA (no UK release). 

CD2 (79:42 minutes):

1. There Was A Light (Demo) 

2. Life Is White (Demo) 

3. What's Going Ahn (Demo)

4. O My Soul 

5. Life Is White 

6. Way Out West 

7. What's Going Ahn

8. You Get What You Deserve

9. Mod Lang (Alternate Mix)

10. Back Of A Car (Alternate Mix) 

11. Daisy Glaze 

12. She's A Mover 

13. September Gurls 

14. Morpha Too (Alternate Mix) 

15. I'm In Love With A Girl 

16. O My Soul (Alternate Version)

17. She's A Mover (Alternate Version)

18. Daisy Glaze (Rehearsal Version)

19. I Am The Cosmos - CHRIS BELL 

20. You And Your Sister - CHRIS BELL 

21. Blue Moon (Demo)

22. Femme Fatale (Demo)

23. Thank you Friends (Demo) 

24. Nightime (Demo) 

25. Take Care (Demo) 

26. You Get What You Deserve (Demo)

NOTES: 

Tracks 4 to 8, 11 to 13 and 15 are from their second studio album "Radio City" released January 1974 in the USA on Ardent Records ADS-1501  

Tracks 19 and 20 are the A&B-sides of a 1978 US 45-single by Chris Bell on Car Records CRR6

CD3 (72:03 minutes):

1. Lovely Day (Demo) 

2. Downs (Demo)

3. Jesus Christ Demo)

4. Holocaust (Demo)

5. Big Black Car (Alternative Demo)

6. Manana 

7. Jesus Christ 

8. Femme Fatale

9. O, Dana 

10. Kizza Me 

11. You Can't Have Me

12. Nightime 

13. Dream Lover 

14. Big Black Car

15. Blue Moon 

16. Holocaust 

17. Stroke It Noel 

18. For You 

19. Downs 

20. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On 

21. Kanga Roo 

22. Thank you Friends

23. Take Care 

24. Lovely Day 

25. Till The End Of The Day (Alternative Mix) 

26. Nature Boy (Alternative Mix)  

NOTES: 

Tracks 7 to 12, 14 to 18 and 21 to 23 are their third studio album "3rd" due for release 1975, but belated issued March 1978 in the USA on PVC Records PVC 7903 as a 14-Track LP and August 1978 in the UK as "The Third Album" on Aura Records AUL 703 in different artwork and with a different rearranged track listing (only 12-songs).

 

The US 14-Track LP "3rd" can be sequenced using the following tracks from CD3:

Side 1: Tracks 17, 18, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 23

Side 2: Tracks 7, 8, 9, 14, 16, 21 and 22

The UK 12-Track LP "The Third Album" can be sequenced using the following from CD3:

Side 1: Tracks 10, 11, 7, 19, 20 and 22

Side 2:  Tracks 9, 8, 17, 16, 12 and 21

CD4 (69:53 minutes): 

Live at Lafayette's Music Room, Memphis, Tennessee, January 1973

1. When My Baby's Beside Me 

2. My Life Is Right 

3. She's A Mover 

4. Way Out West 

5. The Ballad Of El Goodo 

6. In The Street 

7. Back Of A Car 

8. Thirteen

9. The India Song 

10. Try Again 

11. Watch The Sunrise 

12. Don't Lie To Me 

13. Hot Burrito No. 2

14. I Got Kinda Lost 

15. Baby Strange 

16. Slut 

17. There Was A Light 

18. St 100/06 

19. Come On Now 

20. O My Soul 

 

ENHANCED CD Content:

1. Thirteen (Alternate Mix Video)  

 

 

Roughly the size of an oversized seven-inch single, the card box is admittedly way too flimsy for its own good. Inside is a foldout card slipcase with colour photos of the boys in the band on each flap (CDs inside slots) - ALEX CHILTON, CHRIS BELL, JODY STEPHENS and ANDY HUMMEL. But the meat is in a gorgeous 102-page booklet that goes for it - the grocery chain across the street from the studios called BIG STAR (complete with star neon) that they took their name from graces the cover. Inside are five distinctive parts - A Message From John Frey their Producer at Ardent (Page 3) - Big Star: The More You Learn, The Less you Know by Robert Gordon (Page 7) - The Great Crusade Birthing The Cult Of Big Star by Bob Mehr (Page 42) - A Certain Magic: Track Notes by Alex Palao (Page 67) and Credits (Page 96).

There are fantastic photos of heroes like Chilton by his Big Black Car in Tennessee's Shelby Forest in the summer of 1973, a promo photo as threesome in 1974 by Front Street - by the Mississippi River with the BIG STAR neon logo hanging from a tree, loads in the studio, outtakes from the Radio City cover photoshoot, Chris Bell's solo 45-single "I Am The Cosmos" and of course track-by-track annotation (where possible). But truthfully, the audio is what takes your breath away too when you clap ears on this ANDREW SANDOVAL and DAN HERSCH Remasters. Over on Disc 2, it opens with three demos - mostly acoustic - and they sound amazing. Or shuffle up to "What's Going Ahn" (Track 7, CD2) and the glorious production whomps your speakers with audio most bands would quietly kill a close relative to attain. They even have photos from the live stuff on Disc 4 at the Lafayette Room in 1973. It's a typically exemplary compilation from reissue champs Rhino of the USA doing their forgotten sons and their musical legacy proud. To the tunes...

 

While I will never want to hear the 1968 Chris Bell solo cack that is "Psychedelic Stuff" ever again - it's an indication of how good this release is that even a slight 'alternative mix' to "Try Again" on CD1 by the band is greeted by my soppy noggin with tears and chills. A version first showed on the July 2003 American CD compilation for Rock City as "Rock City" on Lucky Seven Records - a rare disc too. You can hear Chris Bell's serious melodic chops deep inside Icewater's rather good "All I See Is You" too. Then the count-in to an Alternate of the stunning "Thirteen" - it's acoustic picking clean and clear and gorgeous to behold. You can unfortunately hear why the Alternate of "My Life Is Right" didn't work, but then again you get a winner in the beautifully done "Give Me Another Chance" - a different mix that rivals the officially released version. 

 

You're then reminded of the first time you laid tired lugs on the strum of No.1's "Try Again" - wow! The audio on this sucker is astonishing - John Fry's production values shining like an Abbey Road Remaster. Fans will enjoy the 'Single Version' of "Watch The Sunrise" (issued February 1973 in the USA on Ardent 2904) - what a tune and why wasn't it a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young type crossover hit? And I wasn't prepared for good the No. 1 closer "St 100/6" would sound as an 'Alternate'. Fans will also notice that the Single Mix proper for "In The Street" is a Bonus Track on the 2009 CD reissue for "No 1. Record" only and is represented here in 'Alternate Single Mix' form.

Three Demos open CD2 of which "Life Is White" is gorgeous, but its the audio bringing out their musicality that gets you time and time again - "Radio City" track "You Get What You Deserve" being a primo example of all these elements colliding in one glorious racket (dig that so subtle guitar solo and the crystal clear drums) - 10cc mates with Todd Rundgren and The Byrds and its offspring is playing in your living room. There's a great gruff guitar nastiness to the Stonesy Alternate Mix of "Mod Lang" and a huge almost overwhelming jangle to the Alternate of "Back Of A Car". Deep LP cuts like the so-pretty yet so-sad "Daisy Glaze" sound anew while who can deny the sheer Power Pop glory that is "September Gurls". And is there a more beautiful song - "I'm in Love With A Girl" flooring all the pretenders in its acoustic path - finest girl in the world indeed. 

 

I must admit that I never know what to do with "I Am The Cosmos" - it's swirling production and stoned faraway Chris Bell vocals - half of me thinks its a glorious mess while the other half wants the song to get its act together. No complaints about the acoustic guitars in the B-side "You And Your Sister" - stunning audio and more than a touch of that old Big Star magic shuffling around its 1978 Beach Boys soundscape. Fans with lose it for Tracks 21 to 26 that tail-end CD2. Both the Demos of "Blue Moon" and their cover of The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" are thrilling stuff and again with shocking audio clarity. Each is just acoustic ditty essentially (no dates are given) but with intimacy abundant - emotion raw - stuff like "Nightime" as lovely as you could want a Demo to be. 

After the abject and hurtful commercial failure of "No. 1 Record" in 1972 and its follow-up "Radio City" in 1974 - it was hardly surprising (though no less gauling) that the band found themselves with record number three and no one wanting to release it. Recorded n 1975, Page 89 of the booklet devotes a whole page to the Ardent Recording Studios letter from John S. King to Martin Cerf at the Phonograph Recording Magazine telling him that test pressings for their latest offering are enclosed (probably done February 1975 with white labels and Stax matrixes) which they would 'peddle' in the L.A. area the second week in march. But the wildly unimaginatively titled "3rd" (or "The Third Album" as it was known in the UK) would have to wait until 1978 to see the light of day. I mention all of this because CD3 is dominated by its darker disjointed presence. 

 

Opening CD3 on a lighter note is another gorgeous acoustic demo - "Lovely Day" which first surfaced on the "Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story" CD set from 2008. The demo of "Downs" introduces the electric guitar - choppy strums and harsh lyrics. Twelve-string opens an unrecognisble "Jesus Christ" (a lighter song than its title suggests) while piano and melancholy vocals fill the deeply sad "Holocaust" - Chilton's voice a mixture of child/adult hurt. The Previously Unissued Alternate Demo to "Big Black Car" features both acoustic and light electric guitar with doubled vocals. Tracks 6 to 25 are essentially the duo of Alex Chilton and Jody Stephen accompanied by additional musicians. The shimmering cover of the Velvet's debut album classic "Femme Fatale" is nice, but stuff like "O, Dana" and "Kizza Me" feel like they don't fit in anywhere and it's not surprising to me that no-one wanted to release this. 

"You Can't Have Me" is inflicted with awkward horns flitting in and out - "Nightime" softening the scene with acoustics and echoed slide guitar notes that 'dance' like the eyes of the girl he's admiring. "Dream Lover" comes off the 1985 PVC CD for "3rd/Sister Lovers" - a druggy heavy love song with deft string-arrangements that grows on you every time you hear it. The general aimlessness of the album is summed up in the drippy "Big Black Car" while the almost unfinished demo sound of the piano in "Stroke It Noel" feel like a man far too close to death. The second of the "3rd/Sister Lovers" takes comes in the Tom Waits-sounding "Downs" - a depressing fall from the musical grace of before. Love the distorted electric guitars of "Kanga Roo" that then combine with acoustic strums and floating mellotron notes - the song almost like a drunk let loose in the studio. "Thank You Friends" at least does a stab at a hit - its Pop feel undermined by openly antagonistic lyrical jabs. 

 

"3rd" comes to a close with "Take Care" - but again Chilton sounds like Kevin Ayers too stoned to concentrate. A decidedly mixed bag - CD3 ends on two differently paced cover versions - a raucous very Big Star-sounding stab at The Kinks' 60ts anthem "Till The End Of The Day" - an Alternate Mix that is Previously Unreleased - while the 50ts standard "Nature Boy" gets a piano and voice-only jab. I'll admit straight up that "3rd" has always been a blot on their copybook legend for me - an album that just doesn't work because it feels like falling apart disgracefully. Which brings us to the uplifting live set...

 

The live set (recorded 1973) opens up with a 'Thank You' and they're off into "When My Baby's Beside Me". Although Chris Bell isn't in the line-up, Rhino offers up two explanations for its inclusion. This is the only known live recording apparently out there that features the band that made the first two albums - the second reason being its intact audio quality (not audiophile, but not bootleg either). BIG STAR was a support act to Atlantic's Soul artists Archie Bell & The Drells - so the audience's palatable silent disinterest to a Rock band they don't know is present as they count in tunes without any audience fanfare. You can hear punters talking throughout "The Ballad Of El Goodo" as Chilton slowly grabs their attention with its lovely musicality. There are claps after "Back Of A Car" and even though there's incessant talking throughout the gorgeous "Thirteen" - you can feel the crowd beginning to notice the quality of the songs and the playing. The big twelve-string and tambourine of "Watch The Sunrise" are a little too far back in the mix - which is a shame because the audience noise overwhelms this precious artifact. And on it goes...

 

Why did they fail? I think the naff artwork didn't help, the name of the group you couldn't quite work out from the first LP's front cover, the piss-poor distribution and the dissolution of Stax adding to it all. A sound that was not the Prog, Funk or Heavy Rock of 1972 - diminishing songs and a third LP that didn't capture the magic of the first two? Whatever you look at it and despite my niggling feelings that I'll never play CD3 or 4 very much at all - "Keep An Eye On The Sky" does more than enough on its other fabulous parts to warrant our adoration.

 

What could have been - I say buy into what is - and marvel at music that still amazes 50-years after it was laid down by a combo of geniuses in front of and behind the glass booth... 

"This Was: The 50th Anniversary Edition" by JETHRO TULL – October 1968 UK Debut Album on Island Records in both Mono and Stereo, February 1969 US on Reprise Records in Stereo Only – Featuring Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams, Glenn Cornick and Clive Bunker (November 2018 UK Chrysalis/Parlophone 'The 50th Anniversary Edition' Reissue with Mono and Stereo Versions of the Debut Album – Includes 3CDs, 1DVD with Previously Unreleased Mono/Stereo Material, Steven Wilson Remixes, Remasters and 4.1 Surround-Sound Versions) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"…Won’t Somebody Tell Me Where I Lay My Head Last Night…"

 

The Jethro Tull catalogue has been steadily receiving these fabulous Hardback Digibook Versions for some years now – but their mighty British debut album "This Was" from October 1968 on Island Records (February 1969 in the USA on Reprise) has been a rather obvious and large hole in the run.

 

I've reviewed its predecessor, the April 2008 '40th Anniversary 2CD Collector's Edition' on EMI/Chrysalis 206 4972 (Barcode 5099920649722) – a worthy reissue for its time. But it's absolutely demolished by this 2018 '50th Anniversary' variant which once again has had the master-hand of Audio Engineer STEVE WILSON poking about in its Sixties innards. A lot to catalogue, so let's get sonically impressed...

 

UK released 9 November 2018 - "This Was: The 50th Anniversary Edition" by JETHRO TULL on Chrysalis/Parlophone 0190295611484 (Barcode 0190295611484) is a 3CD and 1DVD Hardback Digibook that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (57:53 minutes):

A STEVEN WILSON STEREO REMIX

1. My Sunday Feeling [Side 1]

2. Someday The Sun Won’t Shine

3. Beggar's Farm

4. Move On Alone

5. Serenade To A Cuckoo

6. Dharma For One [Side 2]

7. It's Breaking Me Up

8. Cat's Squirrel

9. A Song For Jeffrey

10. Round

Tracks 1 to 10 are the STEREO VERSION of the debut album "This Was" released 4 October 1968 in the UK on Island ILPS 9085. February 1969 saw the album released in the USA on Reprise RS 6336 in Stereo only. The UK had a MONO variant of the Vinyl LP (Island ILP 985) which is presented on CD3 in its 40th Anniversary 2008 Remastered CD form.

 

ASSOCIATED RECORDINGS

A STEVEN WILSON STEREO REMIX:

11. Love Story

12. A Christmas Song

Tracks 11 and 12 were (originally) Non-LP A&-B sides of a 29 November 1969 UK 45-single on Island WIP 6048 in Mono – here they are presented in STEREO – for Mono Originals see Tracks 13 and 14 on CD2

 

Tracks 13 to 16 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

13. Serenade To A Cuckoo (Take 1, Studio Outtake)

14. Some Day The Sun Won't Shine For You (Faster Version, Studio Outtake)

15. Move On Alone (Flute Version, Take 6, with Vocals Added, Studio Outtake)

16. Ultimate Confusion (Take 1, Studio Outtake – no other version exists)

 

CD2 (59:53 minutes):

FURTHER ASSOCIATED RECORDINGS (BBC Sessions, Original Mixes & Ads)

BBC Sessions Tracks 1 to 9

1. So Much Trouble

2. My Sunday Feeling

3. Serenade To A Cuckoo

4. Cat's Squirrel

5. A Song For Jeffrey

Tracks 1 to 5 are live-in-the-studio Mono recordings made for John Peel's "Top Gear" Radio program on BBC 1, recorded 23 July 1968 in London (broadcast August & September 1968)

 

6. Love Story

7. Stormy Monday

8. Beggar's Farm

9. Dharma For One

Tracks 6 to 9 are more live-in-the-studio Mono recordings as per 1 to 5 recorded 5 November 1968 in London (broadcast December 1968)

 

Original Mixes and Radio Adverts:

10. A Song For Jeffrey

11. One For John Gee

Tracks 10 and 11 are their second 45-single released 13 September 1968 on Island WIP 6043 in the UK in Mono, both tracks Non-LP at the time

 

12. Some Day The Sun Won't Shine For You (Faster Version)

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Mono Version (Stereo variant, Track 14, CD1)

 

13. Love Story

14. A Christmas Song

Tracks 13 and 14 are their third 45-single released 29 November 1968 in the UK on Island WIP 6048 in Mono, February 1969 in the USA on Reprise 0815 with A Song For Jeffery on the B-side (there are STEREO remixes of 13 and 14 on CD1)

 

15. Sunshine Day

16. Aeroplane

Tracks 15 and 16 are their debut UK 45-single issued 16 February 1968 on MGM Records 1348 with the band miscredited as Jethro Toe – both sides Non-LP

 

17. Blues For The 18th

Track 17 recorded 22 October 1967 for The John Evans Smash in London; first issued 1991 as Track 1 on the German-only Maxi CD-Single "The Derek Lawrence Story: The Sampler" on Line Records LICD 9.01138 E

 

18. Love Story

Track 18 is a US-only Promo 45-single in Stereo for FM Radio airplay

 

19. US FM Radio Spot No. 1

20. US FM Radio Spot No. 2

Tracks 19 and 20 on the American promo-only 45-single on Reprise PRO 312

 

CD3 (76:41 minutes):

ORIGINAL UK ALBUM MIXES

1. My Sunday Feeling [Side 1]

2. Someday The Sun Won’t Shine

3. Beggar's Farm

4. Move On Alone

5. Serenade To A Cuckoo

6. Dharma For One [Side 2]

7. It's Breaking Me Up

8. Cat's Squirrel

9. A Song For Jeffrey

10. Round

Tracks 1 to 10 are the Original UK STEREO MIX prepared in August 1968 for the Vinyl LP Island ILPS 9085 – Tracks 11 to 20 is the MONO MIX

 

DVD (NTSC, Region 0 (All Regions):

Tracks 1 to 10 - Original Album remixed by Steven Wilson to 4.1 DTS and AC3 Dolby Digital Surround

Tracks 11 and 12 - Love Story and A Christmas Song in 5.1 Surround

Tracks 13 to 16 are 96/24 LPCM Stereo

Tracks 17 to 26 are 1969 US Stereo Mix at 96/24 LPCM Stereo

 

I have had the 2008 UK-issued 40th Anniversary Edition 2CD set for years now and the Peter Mew Remasters for that done at Abbey Road were sensational – amazing clarity on both the Mono and Stereo versions. Here, revered Audio Engineer STEVE WILSON has done his twiddling magic with the Stereo variants and again – a noticeable upgrade with huge feel and breathing around the instruments. Although in truth there isn't a whole lot of new for diehard fans, the Stereo and Mono variants of "Some Day The Sun Won't Shine" are blistering and audiowise – up there with the best of them. I would have to agree that CD3 feels a teeny weeny bit superfluous to requirements - an original Stereo mix of the LP you don't really want and a Mono Mix you probably won't play over the richer Steve Wilson Stereo remix. But it is cool to have them.

 

The packaging though – oh my God – a 96-page booklet inside the Hardback Digibook that makes many other reissues look like whimpering brats. You would expect the UK and American LP labels to be reproduced (they are as is every 45-single), but this thing has discographies, trade adverts, band chronology, day-by-day movements and gig dates, rare concert posters, photos from Ian Anderson's own archive, memorabilia from around the world – the kind of splurge to make fans weak at the knees. They even produced the lyrics not just to the LP but the 45s including their mega-rare debut Sunshine Day. There are notes from Steve Wilson, photos of a 2008 reunion with Mick Abrahams (who left after the album and formed the much-loved Blodwyn Pig) and Ian Anderson explains all the songs – even the outtakes. Wow. To the music...

 

Highlights - the opening track "My Sunday Feeling" (lyrics above) is classic Tull - rock with a flute jazz tint. Speaking of which - the track "Serenade To A Cuckoo" first appeared on Rahsaah Roland Kirk's 1964 album "I Talk With The Spirits". Kirk's flute technique of humming and mouthing as you play the instrument clearly blew away the young Ian Anderson, because he's been aping that style ever since (it's also the only time a cover version has appeared on a Jethro Tull album).

 

The bluesy "Beggar's Farm" is so clear now as are Clive Bunker's drums on "Dharma For One". The Stereo Mix of "Some Day The Sun Won't Shine" absolutely leaps out of the speakers, while the harmonica and guitar duo intro on "It's Breaking Me Up" perfectly compliments the slinky bass line by Glenn Cornick. "Cat's Squirrel" just rocks like a monster too. The additional BBC stuff is very good (the band was still fresh) as are the properly remastered versions of the early Tull singles (most of which were non-album until the 2LP set "Living In The Past" in 1972).

 

The Blues-Rock sound that permeates much of this forgotten debut was never going to be enough for a mind like that of band-leader Ian Anderson and on their next platter "Stand Up" in 1969 (a No. 1 LP) – the JT sound and their particular brand of Prog Historical Rock was born.

 

For sure there are far better albums in their voluminous back catalogue (hence the four stars), but it is only the churlish begrudger that would say "The 50th Anniversary Edition" of Jethro Tull's debut "This Was" isn't anything other than exemplary. Love Story indeed...

"The Complete Album Collection" by TIM BUCKLEY – Seven Studio Albums Plus One Outtakes Compilation Covering 1966 to 1972 - Includes the albums "Tim Buckley" (October 1966 US Debut), "Goodbye And Hello" (September 1967), "Happy Sad" and "Blue Afternoon" (March and November 1969), "Lorca" and "Starsailor" (June and November 1970), "Greetings From L.A." (August 1972) and "Works In Progress" (October 1999 Rhino-Handmade CD-Only Compilation of Outtakes Recorded May 1967 to July 1968) - musicans featured include Lee Underwood, John Balkin, Joe Falsia, Maury Baker and many more (October 2017 UK Elektra/Rhino 8CD81-Track Clamshell Box Set with New Remasters and Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Happy Sad..."

First up – any self-respecting Tim Buckley fan will cringe at the word 'Complete' used in the title of this Clamshell Box Set from Rhino.

 

Without saying so, it covers his output only between 1966 and 1972. Worth pointing this out because Buckley issued two further albums that are not here and hard to find on CD Reissue - "Sefronia" and "Look At The Fool" originally released September 1973 and September 1974 in the USA on Discreet Records – the latter being his final studio set before his tragic passing in June 1975. A more accurate subtle would read – the Straight/Warner Brothers Years.  

 

Blessed with an angelic ring-them-bells voice that would literally make women swoon and Male Sopranos nervous - Tim Buckley's artistry has nonetheless always been a strange thing in collecting circles. Despite his stunning set of pipes and beautiful song arrangements across the first five albums – his catalogue especially after 1970 has been dubbed difficult, un-listenable and even sexist (the lyrics on his 1972 set "Greetings From L.A." will make you both blush and reach for the vomit bag). Like Nick Drake or Jo Ann Kelly or Duncan Browne – Tim Buckley is the very definition of a cult artist beloved by fans and put in a shrine (if some had their way).

 

And yet I've seen the superlative March 2001 Rhino 2CD Anthology "Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology" fall as low as 75p on some online sites – which if juxtapositioned against his original British sixties vinyl albums - they easily command fifty, sixty, seventy pounds. Masterpieces like "Happy Sad" on orange-Elektra, the gorgeous shimmering hurt of "Blue Afternoon" on Straight that has influenced every Alt Band ever and the wildly uncompromisingly difficult Jazz-Rock madness of "Starsailor" when our Tim was mainlining Captain Beefheart and slapped Double-Bass mayhem are so hard to find clean copies of. But let's deal with what we do have...

 

UK released October 2017 – "The Complete Album Collection" by TIM BUCKLEY on Elektra/Rhino 081227933852 (Barcode 081227933852) is an 8CD 81-Track Clamshell Box Set (no Booklet) with Mini LP Artwork Card Repro Sleeves for Seven Studio Albums and One CD compilation of Outtakes. 

It plays out as follows:

CD1 (34:33 minutes):

1. I Can See You [Side 1]

2. Wings

3. Song Of The Magician

4. Strange Street Affair Under Blue

5. Valentine Melody

6. Aren't You The Girl [Side 2]

7. Song Slowly Song

8. It Happens Every Time

9. Song For Jainie

10. Grief In My Soul

11. She Is

12. Understand Your Man

Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut album "Tim Buckley" – released October 1966 in the USA (December 1966 in the UK) on Elektra Records EK-4040 (Mono) and Elektra EKS-74040 (Stereo) - same LP catalogue numbers for both countries. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD.

 

CD2 (42:47 minutes):

1. No Man Can Find The War [Side 1]

2. Carnival Song

3. Pleasant Street

4. Hallucinations

5. I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain

6. Once I Was [Side 2]

7. Phantasmagoria In Two

8. Knight Errant

9. Goodbye And Hello

10. Morning Glory

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 2nd studio album "Goodbye And Hello" – released September 1967 (December 1967 in the UK) in the USA on Elektra EKL-318 (Mono) and Elektra EKS-7318 (Stereo) - same LP catalogue numbers for both countries. Reissue copies (about October/November 1967) have the catalogue number Elektra EKS-74028. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD

 

CD3 (44:41 minutes):

1. Strange Feelin' [Side 1]

2. Buzzin' Fly

3. Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)

4. Dream Letter [Side 2]

5. Gypsy Woman

6. Sing A Song For You

Tracks 1 to 6 are his 3rd studio LP "Happy Sad" – released March 1969 in the USA on Elektra Records EKS-74045 (Stereo only), July 1969 UK with the same Catalogue Number.

 

CD4 (39:47 minutes):

1. Happy Time [Side 1]

2. Chase The Blues Away

3. I Must Have Been

4. The River

5. So Lonely [Side 2]

6. Café

7. Blue Melody

8. The Train

Tracks 1 to 8 are his 4th studio album "Blue Afternoon" – released November 1969 in the USA on Straight STS-1060 in Stereo - reissued January 1970 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS-1842. Issued February 1970 in the UK on Straight STS-1060 in Stereo.

 

CD5 (39:30 minutes):

1. Lorca [Side 1]

2. Anonymous Proposition

3. I Had A Talk With My Woman [Side 2]

4. Driftin'

5. Nobody Walkin'

Tracks 1 to 5 are his 5th studio album "Lorca" – released June 1970 in the USA on Elektra EKS-74074 (Stereo) and October 1970 in the UK on Elektra 2410 005 (Stereo). Although it doesn’t say so on the artwork, Side 2 of the album was recorded live at The Troubadour in West Hollywood on the 3^rd and 4^th of September 1969.

 

CD6 (36:06 minutes)

1. Come Here Woman [Side 1]

2. I Woke Up

3. Monterey

4. Moulin Rouge

5. Song To The Siren

6. Jungle Fire [Side 2]

7. Starsailor

8. The Healing Festival

9. Down By The Borderline

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 6th studio album "Starsailor" – released November 1970 in the USA (January 1971 in the UK) on Straight STS 1060 (Stereo) – reissued July 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS-1881.

 

CD7 (39:39 minutes):

1. Move With Me [Side 1]

2. Get On Top

3. Sweet Surrender

4. Nighthawkin' [Side 2]

5. Devil Eyes

6. Hong Kong Bar

7. Make It Right

Tracks 1 to 7 are his 7th studio album "Greetings From L.A." – released August 1972 in the USA on Straight/Warner Brothers BS-2631 and October 1972 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 46176. Produced by Jerry Goldsmith – it didn’t chart. Session players included Kevin Kelly on Keyboards, King Errison and Carter C.C. Collins on Bongos, Strings Arranged by Joe Falsia with Vocalists Clydie King, Lorna Maxine Willard and Venetta Fields

 

CD8 (66:32 minutes):

1. Danang (Takes 7 and 8 Intercut) – 6:31 minutes *

2. Sing A Song For You (Take 11) – 5:44 minutes

3. Buzzin' Fly (Take 3) – 6:44 minutes

4. Song To The Siren (Take 7) - 3:28 minutes

5. Happy Time (Take 14) – 3:14 minutes

6. Sing A Song For You (Take 8) – 2:40 minutes

7. Chase The Blues Away (Take 3) – 4:01 minutes

8. Hi Lily, Hi Lo (Take 7) – 3:37 minutes

9. Buzzin' Fly (Take 9) – 5:07 minutes

10. Wayfaring Stranger (Take 4) – 4:24 minutes

11. Ashbury Park Version 1 (Take 8) – 2:47 minutes *

12. Ashbury Park Version 2 (Take 14) – 3:22 minutes *

13. Ashbury Park Version 2 (Take 25 Labelled Master) – 3:28 minutes *

14. Dream Letter (Takes 17-16 Intercut) – 5:13 minutes

15. The Father Song (Take 3) – 2:45 minutes

16. The Fiddler (Rough Mix) – 3:26 minutes **

NOTES: 

Tracks 1 to 16 are the US-only CD Compilation of Previously Unreleased Outtakes called "Works In Progress" – released October 1999 on Rhino Handmade RHM2 7705 (Barcode 081227770525) – initially a numbered limited edition of 2,500 copies (reissued as a 7,500 numbered edition). These outtakes were Produced by JERRY YESTER, ZAL YANOVSKY and JAC HOLZMAN - Tracks 1 and 2 recorded 4 March 1968; 3 and 4 recorded 5 March 1968; 5 to 7 recorded 17 June 1968; 8 recorded 19 June 1968; 9 to 11 recorded 18 June 1968; 12 to 14 recorded June 1968; 15 recorded 14 July 1968; 16 recorded 22 May 1967. All Remixed and Remastered by BILL INGLOT and DAN HERSCH.

* = Tracks 1, 11, 12 and 13 are Fragments from the song that ends Side 1 of the "Happy Sad" album - "Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)"

** = Track 16 is an Instrumental Version of "Phantasmagoria In Two" from the "Goodbye And Hello" album  

 

As there is no booklet – let's talk about what's here and what isn't. The inclusion of "Works In Progress" is a seriously good bonus, really showing his genius in the best of lights. But any fan would also crave the "Dream Letter/Live In London 1968" set put out by Demon Records of the UK in June 1990 as a double-album (DFIEND 200) and 2CD Set (DFIENDCD 200). Recorded 7 October 1968, but unreleased until 1990 by Demon, it caused a major stir as a historically important find. A huge collectable among fans ever since, Rhino quite right included three tracks from it on their "Morning Glory..." 2CD Anthology in 2001. Having it here as a gatefold 2CD Mini LP Card Repro Sleeve would have been a 'dream' for many.

 

Also M.I.A. - Rhino Handmade did a 2CD Reissue of his 1966 debut "Tim Buckley" issued in January 2011 in the USA. That gem gave us the Stereo and Mono Mix of the album for the first time and a very tasty 22 unreleased on Disc 2 that included rough recordings of his first band The Bohemians. I have reviewed this sexy little beast – but again - sadly not here. There were also rumours of multiple-disc Deluxe Editions for both "Happy Sad" and "Blue Afternoon" due from Rhino Handmade, but after that branch of Rhino shut – no more was heard. There is a Mono Mix for "Happy Sad" that is unavailable anywhere – and again – no show. 

 

So what do we have? The Clamshell Box Set houses 8 Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves – none have inserts, but three are gatefold sleeves as per their original albums - "Happy Sad" (March 1969), "Blue Afternoon" (November 1969) and "Greetings From L.A." (August 1972). The last of those three came with a Postcard punch-out die-cut sleeve on original 1972 issues, so not surprisingly that difficult to reproduce original style has not made the transition. But, these are full LP artwork – front and rear – and not like those bordered single sleeve versions you get in the cheap "Original Classic Albums" 5CD capacity wallets. The CD labels too try to ape their originals, but "Blue Afternoon" and "Starsailor" both have a Warner Brothers label (the reissue) rather than the proper Straight Records original.  

 

The sticker on the cover (and no where else) states Newly Remastered – and they sound it too – probably the Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch Remasters used for the "Morning Glory..." Anthology – or Bruce Botnik versions - the Audio Engineer used for the Rhino Handmade debut? Who knows – but they sound great. There is a huge leap in the Audio quality when you go from the self-titled debut to "Happy Sad" and although "Blue Afternoon" is a notoriously quiet album – here it feels fuller – those lovely Bass Notes and Six-String Acoustic Strums – his vocal acrobatics – yum yum. To the tunes... 

 

It's thrilling after all these years to hear gems like "Once I Was" and "Buzzin' Fly" sound this good. Sure there's hiss on some tracks, but the music is alive and clear and tracks like "Happy Time" and the ethereally atmospheric "Song To The Siren" make the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. You can chart his journey from straight-up Folky on the lovely "Wings" through the Harpsichord 60ts Pop of "Pleasant Street" on to his exploration of vocals and jazz rhythms on "Strange Feelin'". Buckley's 12-String Guitar and Lee Underwood's Lead Electric underpin the mournful "Chase The Blues" (a little hiss on this one), while the duo appear again on the beautiful live cut "I Had A Talk With My Woman" recorded at the Troubadour in West Hollywood in September 1969 for the "Lorca" album. I can only imagine what it must have been like for that audience to hear this extraordinary vocal come out of that microphone – "I Had A Talk With My Woman" is showcase - amazing stuff.  

 

Side 1 of "Happy Sad" cemented his young brilliance in my mind – the stunning threesome of "Strange Feelin’", "Buzzin’ Fly" and the huge near eleven-minutes of "Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)" – four outtakes/fragments of which turn up on Disc 8 - "Works In Progress". The sound effects on "Carnival Song" are very clear, the bass and instruments really warm as are the so-quiet acoustic notes that open "Hallucinations" – both from the "Goodbye And Hello" – a record that saw him experimenting with instruments and his vocal phrasing. "Once I Was" is a wee bit hissy in places yes, but how pretty is its wailing Harmonica ache – so very Fred Neil (a high compliment). Even though its very left-speaker concentrated (as it was originally Produced) – the sonic attack of all those acoustic strings and conga rhythms on the fabulous "I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain" is amazing – a truly glorious racket and all of it imbibed with the feeling that something sensational is going on here. And in December 1967 in the USA, Elektra put out what is my fave 45-single by Buckley – the magisterial anthem to homelessness called "Morning Glory" with the lovely "Once I Was" on the flipside – EK-45623 in my Top 100 best singles lists with a bullet ("...tell me stories...I call to the hobo...")  

 

I know people rave about it, but I have to come clean about the extraordinarily difficult "Starsailor" LP – a wild Jazz-Fusion Avant Garde set that I feel did for him. Despite its smiling/beguiling photograph front cover of the handsome marriage-age troubadour, what waits within is anything but pleasant valley Sunday. I have always found "Starsailor" to be bloody hard work - listenable pieces including the cod-French "Moulin Rouge" and the Zappa-esque "Monterey" - all sounding great as the remaster really lifts them up. As much as I find the whole LP an avoidance I must make ("Come Here Woman" and "I Woke Up" feel like they are deliberately trying to grate) – there are some who worship at its Trout Mask Replica feet. Having said that you have to acknowledge the beauty of the uncharacteristic "Song To The Siren" that ends Side 1 - among his most ethereal of songs – a gorgeous magical swooping acoustic track that has influenced songwriters for decades since. 

 

Like Springsteen's "Nebraska" or Jackson C. Frank's self-titled debut from 1966 or Terry Callier's "New Folk Sound" also from the mid 60s on Verve Folkway - I like stripped back and bare-lonesome. Although there are instruments on both "Lorca" and "Blue Afternoon" - both LPs feel 'light' on the ear - a sort of trippy peacefulness about the music. I would say that with stuff like "The River", "So Lonely" and "The Train" from "Blue Afternoon" - it's a near perfect Tim Buckley album. Hardly surprising then that Rhino picked no less that 6 of its 8 tracks for representation of their "Morning Glory" 2CD Anthology. 

 

But then you get the loverman Funk of "Greetings From L.A." which has amazing grooves on it and top class Production values - until you clap ears on the lyrics which are all sex-obsessed and not in a good way. The band is on fire for "Move With Me" - the opening cut on Side 1 (Clydie King, Venetta Fields and others ladies of distinction providing the Soulful backing singers). In fact with its radio-friendly saxophone Al Green Funk-groove, Warner Brothers tried it as a US 45-single in October 1972 with Side 2's "Nighthawkin'" on the flipside, but both it (WB 7623) and the album tanked. The crying shame is that tracks like the six-and-a-half minute "Sweet Surrender" and "Nighthawkin'" have great guitar groove ideas and fantastic vocal gymnastics, but the lyrics about lady's reputations and hurting each other as a turn-on and hunting redneck blood thrills in taxis feel oddly like they're on the wrong side of the argument. The acoustic clap-and-chug of "Hong Kong Bar" lifts things somewhat – and even at seven-plus minutes doesn't feel like it's overstaying its groove-driven welcome. But the LP ends on the whip-spank-beat me lyrics of "Make It Right" which again musically sounds like a great Rock-Soul-Funk discovery - until you hear the deeply disturbing words.

After the mishmash of 1972, Disc 8 that cuts back to 1967 and 1968 Elektra recordings is an embarrassment of riches that lifts up this Box Set big time.  The gorgeous 5CD "Forever Changing..." Box Set (issued 1999 in Hard Back Book Form and LP-Sized Super Deluxe) covering the history of Elektra Records uncovered the magnificent 1967 outtake "Wayfaring Stranger" – a Traditional song Buckley covered. Well it is here in all its glory on CD8 "Works In Progress". Tim strums – he soars – he wails - I can say one word on this fantastic find – wow!  

 

Tim Buckley was a musical genius, a mercurial talent, a song-smith and truth be told probably a bit of an idiot when it came to career choices and substances that would take such a light so quickly.  

 

But flawed or not and even it this 8CD missing too much variant - "The Complete Album Collection" is a winner. Hopefully in the future, we will see the real Complete Box Set and man will that be something to behold... 

 

PS: Vinyl lovers should know that Elektra/Rhino reissued this Box Set in the USA and EUROPE on 7 VINYL LPS in July 2019 - but Warner Brothers 603497856268 controversially didn't include the "Works In Progress" set (CD8).