"Live Dates" by WISHBONE ASH – November 1973 US Live Double-Album, December 1973 in the UK Both on MCA Records - featuring Martin and Ted Turner, Andy Powell and Steve Upton (November 1995/July 2002 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) CD Reissue – 2LPs onto 1CD - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

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"...Blowin' Free... "

 

Ah! the classic Live Double Album from your favourite Rock Band of the Seventies – their prowess in front of an enrapt audience not so politely slaughtering the mildly tepid studio versions that preceded them. Deriguer in those days baby...

 

And so it was no different with the Flying V duo of Wishbone Ash – their "Live Dates" 2LP bonanza from late 1973 (after four studio albums) holding a hot-water bottle comforting place in the aging tickers of (well) aging tickers. To the Kings and Pilgrims and Phoenixes and girly types with Whiskey on their breath and a glint in their eye for the guitar player (and his Bassist brother)...

 

UK released 24 November 1995 (reissued 25 July 2002 and 2007 with same catalogue numbers and Barcodes) - "Live Dates" by WISHBONE ASH on Beat Goes On Records BGOCD293 (Barcode 5017261202932) offers a full 2LP Live Set Remastered onto 1CD that plays out as follows (79:52 minutes):

 

1. The King Will Come (7:50 minutes) [Side 1]

2. Warrior (5:50 minutes)

3. Throw Down The Sword (6:00 minutes)

4. Rock 'N Roll Widow (6:0 minutes) [Side 2]

5. Ballad Of The Beacon (5:20 minutes)

6. Baby What You Want Me To Do (6:33 minutes)

7. The Pilgrim (9:15 minutes) [Side 3]

8. Blowin' Free (3:28 minutes)

9. Jail Bait (4:39 minutes)

10. Lady Whiskey (6:15 minutes) [Side 4]

11. Phoenix (17:13 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 11 are their fifth album release (first live) "Live Dates" – released November 1973 in the USA on MCA Records MCA2-8006 and December 1973 in the UK on MCA Records ULD 2-1/2 (MAPS 7169). Produced by WISHBONE ASH – it peaked at No. 82 on the US Billboard LP charts (didn’t chart UK).

 

Recorded live at four British locations – Fairfield Hall in Croydon on 17 June 1973 (Tracks 1, 8, 9 and 11), Portsmouth Guild Hall on 21 June 1973 (Track 6), Reading University on 23 June 1973 (Tracks 4, 5, 7 and 10) and Newcastle City Hall on 24 June 1973 (Tracks 2 and 3) - all songs are Wishbone Ash originals except "Baby What You Want Me To Do", a Jimmy Reed Rhythm and Blues cover version exclusive to this release.

 

WISHBONE ASH was:

ANDY POWELL – Lead Vocals and Guitar

TED TURNER – Lead Vocals and Guitar

MARTIN TURNER – Lead Vocals and Bass

STEVE UPTON – Drums

 

This BGO release originally issued in November 1995, was reissued in July 2002 with a slightly different back inlay and that version again sometime in 2007 (appears to be on their catalogue roster ever since). The 8-page booklet keeps the DOUG LING liner notes of 1995 reproducing the photos of the band on stage that graced the inner gatefold. Ling gives a brief history of the band, but it might have been nice if BGO used the 2002 reissue as a reason to include the 4-page booklet that came with original American vinyl copies. And although it doesn't say so specifically - a Remaster is evident – probably ANDREW THOMPSON their resident Audio Engineer. Either it rocks like the proverbial hairy-man it is.

 

Quickly establishing their twin-guitar assault on the audience, not surprisingly "Live Dates" opens Side 1 with three from their most popular platter "Argus" – their third studio album issued April 1972 in the UK on MCA Records (June 1972 in the USA on Decca). After a short drum roll and barely-spoken Good Evening - "The King Will Come", "Warrior" and "Throw Down The Sword" all share Martin Turner and Andy Powel handling Lead Vocals and Guitars - whomping the party faithful in front of them with a group that has clearly become tight, tight, tight. The audio is full and really good for the time frame involved – those flicked guitar notes that open "Warrior" alarmingly clear. And I've always loved the slow slightly Proggy vibe to "Throw Down The Sword" – Upton's symbol swishes and the crowd's clapping - well recorded.

 

Up next is the fourth studio platter "Wishbone Four" from only five months earlier in May 1973 – that album represented by two - "Rock 'N Roll Widow" and "Ballad Of The Beacon". The slide guitar sound that opens "Rock 'N Roll Widow" gets that concert distance it needed – an album that wasn't really loved after "Argus", I have always held a candle for it. The pretty "Ballad Of The Beacon" slows down the mood – leaving this town in the morning – it sounds great and as a song is actually a genuine grower (dig that guitar solo too).

 

We get a weird one in the shape of a Jimmy Reed cover version – "Baby What You Want Me To Do" - the only cut recorded at the Portsmouth gig on 21 June 1973. Maybe because the Audio quality feels a little bootleg-plus – it's good but just a tad unconvincing if I'm honest. Faith is very quickly restored with a fantastic nine-plus minute version of the builder that is "The Pilgrim" – their control and playing subtly on fire – notes building – symbols shimmering – Pilgrim is the kind of stoner track so few bands would do nowadays – but when that change and dual assault kicks in at three minutes – it's like Todd Rundgren's Utopia on a great night out. And on it goes via the youthful "Blowin' Free", the almost Danny Kirwan Fleetwood Mac 1970s riffage chug of "Jailbait" to the monstrous seventeen-minutes of "Phoenix" which I would admit may test my staying power at the age of 64.

 

Back in the day Wishbone Ash fans would have been lucky to get their hands on Live material by the band - with one exception - the famous "Live From Memphis" 3-Track EP put out by Decca in the States in 1972 as a sort of mini Promotional LP (Decca Records DL 7-1922) to promote the group amongst US Radio Stations and their Rock-friendly jocks. Recorded 21 August 1972 in the studios of WMC-FM Radio in Memphis, Tennessee – MCA used one of its cuts – the 17-minute "Phoenix" as a Bonus Track on the 2CD Remaster of "Live Dates" in 1992 (MCA Records MCAD2 10396). Beat Goes On have never used that song nor any of the others, but the Promo EP’s three can be found on both the single CD remaster of "Argus" from March 2002 or on the 2CD Deluxe Edition of "Argus" from November 2007. And as recently as 2020, "Live Dates" was repressed on a Vinyl Is Beautiful 2LP set in the USA – MCA Records 410012/13 being a Limited Edition of 1,500 copies in (wait for it) Yellow and Blue Translucent pressing aping of course the original Hipgnosis cover-scheme artwork. And we are back to what rocked then and now.

 

April 2018 saw a ginormous 30CD Box Set on Madfish Records called "Wishbone Ash The Vintage Years 1970-1991" – one for the uber-fan with more money and real estate in Cornwall than sense. And in 2022 and 52-years burning down the Rock and Roll Road – original guitarist Andy Powell keeps a version of a four-piece Wishbone Ash ticking over.

 

But this is where the rep for and legend of Wishbone Ash was hewn – "Live Dates" - with the wind in your hair, blowin' free. Enjoy...

"Pipedream" by ALAN HULL of LINDISFARNE - July 1973 UK Debut Album on Charisma Records (March 1974 USA on Elektra Records) featuring Members of Lindisfarne Ray Jackson, Ray Laidlaw and Ken Craddock along with John Turnbull and more (October 2005 UK EMI/Virgin/Charisma 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Six Bonus Tracks) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Back On The Road..." 

 
I've always struggled big-time with the idea that Alan Hull's debut solo album after splitting from Lindisfarne is some kind of lost masterpiece - it just isn't. And re-listening to it nearly 50-years down the line - despite the gorgeous Remaster from Kathy Bryan from original tapes - I'm still largely unconvinced. Sure there are moments of melodic genius - three of the expert players are his muckers from Lindisfarne anyway (Ray Jackson, Ray Laidlaw and new boy Ken Craddock)...
 
But to the good - what gets me about this CD Reissue and Remaster is the six extras - two rare B-sides and four from Bob Harris' Radio 1 Sessions that offer Hull unadorned and raw and really well produced too - two of which could easily have replaced the more rowdy cack on the original LP. To the beers and wines and tequila and whatever else is at hand...

UK released 24 October 2005 - "Pipedream" by ALAN HULL of LINDISFARNE on EMI/Virgin/Charisma CASCDR 1069 (Barcode 094633695320) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Six Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (56:29 minutes):

1. Breakfast [Side 1]
2. Justanothersadsong 
3. Money Game 
4. STD 0632 
5. United States Of Mind 
6. Country Gentleman's Wife 
7. Numbers (Travelling Band) [Side 2]
8. For The Bairns
9. Drug Song 
10. Song For A Windmill 
11. Blue Murder 
12. I Hate To See You Cry
Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut solo album (after Lindisfarne disbanded) "Pipedream" - released July 1973 in the UK on Charisma CAS 1069, March 1974 USA on Elektra EKS-75075. Produced by MICKEY SWEENEY and ALAN HULL (mastered by KEN SCOTT) - it peaked on the UK LP charts at No. 29 (didn't chart USA).

BONUS TRACKS: 
13. Drinking Song 
14. One Off Pat 
Tracks 13 are 14 were the Non-LP Alan Hull original song B-sides of the album's first UK 45-single "Numbers (Travelling Band)" released 15 June 1973 on Charisma CB 208. 

15. Down On The Underground 
Track 15 is a Bob Harris Radio 1 Session for the BBC, first transmission 6 August 1973
 
16. Gin And Tonics All Round 
17. One More Bottle Of Wine
18. Dan The Plan
Tracks 16 to 18 are Bob Harris Radio 1 Sessions for the BBC, first transmission 14 January 1974
 
Musicians: 

ALAN HULL - Guitars, Piano, Harmonium and Lead Vocals
KEN CRADDOCK - Piano, Organ, Harmonium, Electric Piano and Guitars 
RAY JACKSON - Harp, Mandolin and Vocals 
JOHN (JON) TURNBULL - Guitars 
RAY LAIDLAW - Drums  
Guest: 
Dave Brooks - Saxophone on "For The Bairns"

The UK LP came in a gatefold sleeve with an elaborate 8-page booklet, but clearly neither Hull nor Lindisfarne were making much headway in the USA at that time. The US LP turned up as late as March 1974 on Elektra Records with a single sleeve and no insert. In fact, I suspect it sold so poorly that in 2022 you generally only ever see Promo-copies of the LP up on Auction sites - stock copies being the real rarity. I mention all of this because without saying so, the 12-page booklet reproduces most all of it (photos and lyrics) which in some ways makes up for the complete lack of new liner notes outside of reissue credits.

 

Fans have been down the digital rabbit-hole before with "Pipedream" - 1994 and 2000 on CD with no bonuses or Remaster - so the KATHY BRYAN audio on this 2005 sucker will blow them away (done at Abbey Road). Bowie's Ken Scott was the Engineer on the original sessions and clearly Charisma gave Hull enough room and money to produce this LP to buggery - it sounds alarmingly audiophile in most places. It's just sloppy to use the All-Pink Scroll Logo for Charisma Records on the CD label (that's 1970 to 1971) - it was the Mad Hatter Charisma label variant by 1972 and 1973 and that's what should be on here (Virgin is like this at times, slapdash when it's mid-price reissues). To the music...
 
Before the album hit the shops - Charisma picked what they clearly thought was the most commercially catchy of tunes on the forthcoming LP. "Numbers (Travelling Band)" was released 15 June 1973 in the UK on Charisma CB 208 with two Hull non-LP originals shoring up the B-side - "Drinking Song" and "One Off Pat". The first is awful, but that second is an acoustic winner in my book and one of the genuine highlights on this CD reissue. If you were looking for an example of great sound, you could also go to the out-of-place almost elevator-ish instrumental "STD 0632" from Side 1 - check out that Mandolin break half way through its four-minute duration. 
 
The LP opens with loveliness - "Breakfast" - but a heavy-handed Rock-Guitar break soon wrecks it for me. With the album having spent nearly a month on the UK LP charts, Charisma tried another 45 in early September 1973 (Charisma CB 211) with Track 2 on Side 1. But "Justanothersadsong" b/w "Waiting" did no business (despite being Non-LP at the time of release and therefore a shoe-in for a Bonus Track on this CD, "Waiting" would eventually show up on his second studio album "Squire" in 1975 - so its on the CD Remaster of that). I think their mistake was not to issue the gorgeous "United States Of Mind" as a 7" single - it's more suited to Radio and the one I play most in retrospect.  Despite the obvious wit in "Country Gentleman's Wife", I find it kind of insufferable game nowadays. 
 
You can hear why the guitar-boozing "Numbers (Travelling Band)" was picked as 45 number one - cool Production values - getting-drunker-by-the-minute harmonica punctuating the acoustic strums. But then that's followed by the unbearable jaunt of "For The Bairns" - awful stuff - itself flowing into crystal clear acoustics picking out misery in "Drug Song". Again great audio for "Song For A Windmill" - but they are all bettered by "Blue Murder" - fuzzed-up electric guitar siding with acoustic and layered voices in one Production wallop. The album ends on Hull vs. Piano on the unbearably sad "I Hate To See You Cry". The bonuses feature songs (not surprsingly) about boozing, but the admittedly short "One Off Pat", the beer-stained hurt in "Down On The Underground" and especially "Pat The Plan" are shockingly good acoustic ditties and elevate this CD up majorly in my books. 
Ray Jackson and Ray Laidlow made their presence felt on "Pipedream" while the multi-instrumentalist Ken Craddock had come up through Ginger Baker's Airforce and alongside John (Jon) Turnbull (also on "Pipedream") came via the obscure one-album band Bell + Arc who were also on Charisma Records. 
 
The bottom-line is that any Hull/Lindisfarne fan who has affection for the band or him will have to own this wonderful sounding EMI CD Remaster. And then whilst listening to Alan Hull's so-English melodies, raise a glass to their hero who's moved on to a better watering hole - bendy nose and all...

"Crooked Piece Of Time: The Atlantic & Asylum Albums (1971-1980)" by JOHN PRINE - Including The Albums "John Prine" (October 1971 USA, February 1972 UK), "Diamonds In The Rough" (October 1972 USA), "Sweet Revenge" (October 1973 USA, May 1974 UK), "Common Sense" (April 1975 USA), "Bruised Orange" (July 1978 USA), "Pink Cadillac" (August 1979 USA) and "Storm Windows" (August 1980 USA) - Guests Include Steve Goodman, David Bromberg and Wayne Perkins on Guitars with Producers Arif Mardin, Steve Goodman, Steve Cropper and many more (October 2020 UK Rhino/Atlantic/Asylum 7CD Remasters in a Clamshell Box Set with Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves and Replica Inserts for Each Release - Dan Hersch, Dave Schultz and Bill Inglot Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Reading Old Love Letters..."

What a trip – the memories! I'm playing the stripped-back bareknuckle acoustic guitar and voice of John Prine's "Sour Grapes" from his second album "Diamonds In The Rough" in 1972. Can it really be 50-years on. He was wise, articulate, funny as Robin Williams and such a great chronicler of life in all its weird screwed up cradle to the grave lunacy – it hurts. Laugh and stare, I don't care...Prine moans in "Sour Grapes" - his mannerisms and head so young and full of promise and songs - his uniquely touching music sailing out of my speakers in gorgeous clarity. "The Great Compromise" is the same, a track I reckon will slaughter many a nostalgic heart in its beautiful simplicity. "Angel Of Montgomery" from the debut LP too that so many have covered...

 

Having said all that, I'd be the first to admit that Prine and his world-weary whine is an acquired taste and albums like "Common Sense" and the awful mess that is "Pink Cadillac" drop a star straight away. And I also think (perhaps controversially) that like John Martyn, his albums from the 90s only saw him get better and better, defying the rep that his best work all came from the Seventies. I mean check out Prine's "The Missing Years" from 1991 and "Lost Dogs + Mixed Blessings" from 1995 on his own Oh Boy Records – each a quiet CD masterpiece few know about and should. But man Rhino has done right here by his starting legacy with this gorgeous sounding mini Box Set. Lots to cogitate...details... 

 

UK, EUROPE and USA released 23 October 2020 - "Crooked Pieces Of Time: The Atlantic & Asylum Albums (1971-1980)" by JOHN PRINE on Rhino/Atlantic/Asylum R2 643404 - 603497846504 (Barcode 603497846504) is a 7CD Remastered Clamshell Box Set with Seven Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves each with Fold-out Replica Lyric/Credits Inserts that plays out as follows:

CD1 "John Prine" (44:44 minutes):

1. Illegal Smile [Side 1]

2. Spanish Pipedream

3. Hello In There 

4. Sam Stone

5. Paradise 

6. Pretty Good 

7. Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven No More [Side 2]

8. Far From Me

9. Angel From Montgomery 

10. Quiet Man 

11. Donald And Lydia 

12. Six O'Clock News 

13. Flashback Blues 

Tracks 1 to 13 are his debut album "John Prine" - released October 1971 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 8296 and February 1972 on Atlantic K 40357. Produced by ARIF MARDIN - guest musicians include members of Elvis Presley's house band - Reggie Young and Steve Goodman on Guitars, Bobby Emmons on Organ, Leo LeBlanc on Pedal Steel Guitar, Mike Leach and Gene Chrisman on Bass and Drums. 

CD2 "Diamonds in The Rough" (38:40 minutes):

1. Everybody [Side 1]

2. The Torch Singer 

3. Souvenirs 

4. The Late John Garfield Blues 

5. Sour Grapes 

6. Billy The Bum

7. The Frying Pan

8. Yes I Guess They Oughta Name A Drink After You [Side 2]

9. Take The Star Out Of The Window

10. The Great Compromise 

11. Clocks And Spoons 

12. Rocky Mountain Time 

13. Diamonds In The Rough

Tracks 1 to 13 are his second studio album "Diamonds In The Rough" - released October 1972 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 7240 and November 1972 in the UK on Atlantic Records K 40427. Produced by ARIF MARDIN - guest musicians included Steve Goodman and David Bromberg on Guitars, Dobro and Other Instruments with Steve Burke of Jacob's Creek on Bass and Drums.

CD3 "Sweet Revenge" (39:01 minutes):

1. Sweet Revenge [Side 1]

2. Please Don't Bury Me 

3. Christmas in Prison 

4. Dear Abby 

5. Blue Umbrella 

6. Often Is A Word I Seldom Use

7. Onomatopoeia [Side 2]

8. Grandpa Was A Carpenter 

9. The Accident (Things Could Be Worse)

10. Mexican Home 

11. A Good Time 

12. Nine Pound Hammer

Tracks 1 to 12 are his third studio album "Sweet Revenge" - released October 1973 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 7274 and May 1974 in the UK on Atlantic Records K 40524. Produced by ARIF MARDIN.

CD4 "Common Sense" (32:05 minutes):

1. Middle Man [Side 1]

2. Common Sense  

3. Come Back To Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard

4. Wedding Day In Funeralville 

5. Way Down 

6. My Own Best Friend [Side 2]

7. Forbidden Jimmy 

8. Saddle In The Rain 

9. That Close To You

10. He Was In Heaven Before He Died

11. You Never Can Tell 

Tracks 1 to 11 are his fourth studio album "Common Sense" (last for Atlantic) - released April 1975 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 18127 and July 1975 in the UK on Atlantic Records K 50137. Produced by STEVE CROPPER - guests include J.D. Souther, Glenn Frey of The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Wayne Perkins.

 

CD5 "Bruised Orange" (32:50 minutes):

1. Fish And Whistle [Side 1]

2. There She Goes 

3. If You Don't Want My Love 

4. That's The Way The World Goes Round 

5. Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow)

6. Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone [Side 2]

7. Aw Heck

8. Crooked Piece Of Time 

9. Iron Ore Betty 

10. The Hobo Song

Tracks 1 to 10 are his fifth studio album (first for Asylum) "Bruised Orange" - released July 1978 in the USA on Asylum Records 6E-139 and August 1978 in the UK on Asylum Records K 53084. Produced by STEVE GOODMAN - guests include John Burns and Diane Holmes

 

CD6 "Pink Cadillac" (37:26 minutes): 

1. Chinatown [Side 1]

2. Automobile

3. Killing The Blues 

4. No Name Girl

5. Saigon

6. Cold War (This Cold War With you) [Side 2]

7. Baby Let's Play House 

8. Down By The Side Of The Road

9. How Lucky

10. Ubangi Stomp 

Tracks 1 to 10 are his sixth studio album (second for Asylum) "Pink Cadillac" - released August 1979 in the USA on Asylum 6E-222 and October 1979 in the UK on Asylum K 52164. Produced by KNOX and JERRY PHILLIPS -  

CD7 "Storm Windows" (32:55 minutes):

1. Shop Talk [Side 1] 

2. Living In The Future 

3. It's Happened To You 

4. Sleepy Eyed Boy 

5. All Night Blue 

6. Just Wanna Be With You [Side 2]

7. Storm Windows 

8. Baby Ruth 

9. One Red Rose 

10. I Had A Dream

Tracks 1 to 10 are his seventh studio album (final for Asylum) "Storm Windows" - released August 1980 in the USA on Asylum 6E-286 (no UK release). Produced by BARRY BECKETT. Wayne Perkins and Barry Beckett are guest musicians.

 

The Clamshell Box Set has a gorgeous painting by JOSHUA PETKER on its cover and a really clever inclusion is fold-out two-side paper replica pages for each album that offers punters those all-important lyrics. The Mini LP Repro Artwork Card sleeves are full versions front and rear - no borders like those 5CD capacity wallet versions in the "Original Classic Album" series. The 20-page booklet sports new liner notes from writer/fan DAVID FRICKE with tracks lists at the rear for each album (no credits or catalogue numbers). It's nicely done, but the big game hunter goes to the Audio provided by a team of three Sound Engineers - the deeply experienced duo of DAN HERSCH and BILL INGLOT (long-time associates with Rhino) and DAVID SCHULTZ. Take a track like "Storm Windows" (his last album for Asylum) - it rises and falls like "The Last Resort" by The Eagles and needed clarity in the quiet passages and muscle for the big crescendo chorus - and it gets both. To the tunes...

Many will reach for the doped-up classics of "Illegal Smile", "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven No More" or the kicked-off Noah's Ark "Sweet Revenge" and the brill live name-check of "Dear Abby" for a bewildered giggle, but a box set like this allows you to soak up deep album cuts like the raw and lyrically astute "Pretty Good", the country-jaunt of the strangely sunny "Blue Umbrella" or the duo that end his superb stripped-back second LP - both "The Rocky Mountain Time" and his Acapella cover of the 1920's Gospel song "Diamonds In The Rough" impressing so much. You have to love a singer who tells you that Venus De Milo can have his arms when he goes even if his country-fied cover of Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" stills feels like a mistake. 

The title track "Common Sense" offers us a fabulous threesome backing vocals crop of legend - J.D. Souther with Glenn Frey of The Eagles and Jackson Browne while the witty "Come Back To Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard" has Bonnie Raitt doing the cool b-vox. Glenn Frey also plays Guitar on "My Own Best Friend" while Producer and pal Steve Goodman does guitar on "Forbidden Jimmy" alongside Booker T & The MG's bassist Donald "Duck" Dunne. Diane Holmes puts in some lovely support vocals on the pretty "That's The Way That The World Goes Round" from "Bruised Orange", Mike Utley on Organ with Corky Siegal on Piano add loads to the title track of that underrated album and "Sabu Visits..." has an almost Tom Waits world-weary sadness about its hard-done-by characters. 

The "Pink Cadillac" album from 1979 is largely awful to me, that distorted guitar on "Saigon" where Prine barely seems able to hold a note and that cod Rock 'n' Roll palsy-walsy shit with Sun Records legend Billy Lee Riley on "No Name Girl". At least stuff like the shuffling "Cold War" over on Side 2 has something in it, but again his Rockabilly stab at "Let's Play House" sounds like a drug-addict was given the microphone. Howard Levy and Leo Le Blanc both put in some lovely Organ and Pedal Steel playing on the pretty "Down By The Side Of The Road" and "How Lucky" feels like the acoustic sparseness of the debut and in a good way. A patchy album ends however on the echoed Harmonica "Ubangi Stomp" and Asylum Records must have been wondering why they signed up for this copycat rendition any fool could do.  

After the debacle of the second Asylum album and with not even one cheap assed cover version in sight, his last set of originals for the label "Storm Windows" does a lot to reestablish faith in his songwriting prowess. Tracks like the witty "Living In The Future" and the longing in "Sleepy Eyed Boy" show his lyrical and musical chops had only taken a sabbatical the year prior. "All Night Blue" is a straight-up Country Rock tune - his band of players in John Burns on Guitars and Leo LeBlanc on Pedal Steel once again doing the classy-players business. Rocker "Baby Ruth" gets a muscular makeover - cool.And on it goes...

 

John Prine was lost to us in April 2020 aged 73 to a battle with Covid-19 that left him ravaged in his final year - something he didn't hide (maybe in order to raise awareness). His Irish wife Fiona Whelan (as per his wishes) spread half his ashes in the Green River in Kentucky. 

 

Rhino have done warm reissue compilations before, but there feels like an earnest effort with this John Prine one to honour his great storytelling ability. Float away on this one...

"It Never Rains In Southern California/The Free Electric Band" by ALBERT HAMMOND - October 1972 US Debut Album (January 1973 UK) and August 1973 (US and UK) Second Album on Mum Records - featuring Keyboardist Michael Omartian, Guitarists Jay Lewis and Larry Carlton, Bassists Joe Osborn and Ray Puhlman, Drummers Jimmy Gordon and Hal Blaine and more (April 2004 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) Compilation - 2LPs onto 1CD - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Orange Juice And Pills..."

When I worked at Reckless Records in both Islington's Upper Street and the Soho's Berwick Street (20 years penal servitude) - Albert Hammond albums were pretty much a no-no. They were the kind of Seventies platters that just didn't sell - or if they did - went for small beer. And a check on Auction Sites confirms that with £2 values, nothing's changed fifty-years down the line (1972 to 2022). 

 

But I know this multi-faceted British singer-songwriter has his Jimmy Webb-type admirers and they will absolutely want this tasty sounding BGO Remaster of his first two albums - both of which charted Stateside (albeit in the lower regions). The first contained his biggest hit single - the very Matthews Southern Comfort-sounding "It Never Rains In Southern California" (a winner they loved in America in late 1972) - whilst platter number two gave us the funkier "The Free Electric Band" (his only UK hit in 1973). Thinking about it now, I recall that 45-single freedom/happiness/vibe thing that oozed from "Free Electric Band" - blinding synth intro - a sort of pre-Punk precursor to John Mile's similarly themed "Music" a few years later on Decca. 

 

The first album even contains AH's claim to immortality in "The Air That I Breathe" - a song Albert Hammond wrote with long-time collaborator Michael Hazelwood - which The Hollies would of course take to Musical Valhalla in 1974 on Polydor Records. "The Air That I Breathe" is one of the most effecting love songs of that great decade and a tune that's been tapped in many movies ever since to elicit a wee heart tingle and lovy-dovey teardrop fall into your Cornflakes. To the legacy of the free electric man...

 

UK-released 7 April 2004 (3 August 2004 in the USA) - "It Never Rains In Southern California/The Free Electric Band" by ALBERT HAMMOND on Beat Goes On BGOCD611 (Barcode 5017261206114) offers 2LPs from 1972 and 1973 (originally on Mum Records) Remastered onto 1CD that plays out as follows (69:53 minutes):

 

1. Listen To The World [Side 1]  

2. If You Gotta Break Another Heart 

3. From Great Britain To L.A.

4. Brand New Day 

5. Anyone Here In The Audience 

6. It Never Rains In Southern California [Side 2]

7. Names, Tags, Numbers And Labels 

8. Down By The River 

9. The Road To Understanding

10. The Air That I Breathe

Tracks 1 to 10 are his debut album "It Never Rains In Southern California" - released late October 1972 in the USA on Mums Records KZ 31905 and late January 1973 in the UK on Mum Records S MUM 65320. It peaked Stateside in December 1972 and rose to a chart high of No. 77 (didn't chart UK). 

11. Smokey Factory Blues [Side 1]

12. The Peacemaker 

13. Woman Of The World 

14. Everything I Want To Do 

15. Who's The Lunch Today?

16. The Free Electric Band [Side 2]

17. Rebecca

18. The Day The British Army Lost The War

19. For The Peace Of All Mankind 

20. I Think I'll Go That Way 

Tracks 11 to 20 are his second studio album "The Free Electric Band" - released August 1973 in the USA on Mums Records KZ 32267 and August 1973 in the UK on Mums Records S MUM 65554. It peaked at No.193 on the US Billboard LP charts (didn't chart UK).  

The outer card slipcase lends these Beat Goes On reissues a look of class while the 16-page booklet with new JOHN TOBLER liner notes explores his songwriting history back to lucrative Pop schlock like "Gimme Dat Thing" and "Leapy Lee". There are the gatefold's artwork and lyrics and those guest musicians like Keyboardist Michael Omartian, Guitarists Jay Lewis and Larry Carlton with Drummers Jimmy Gordon and the legendary Hal Blaine. It's very nicely done. ANDREW THOMPSON has transferred the original tapes and the CD sounds great - especially that second album. Take the vocal singers and strings on "I Think I'll Go That Way" - the Side 2 ender of "The Free Electric Band" album - so clean and clear - giving that soundscape a real punch when it needs it as the music softens and lifts.

 

Such is its popularity and catchy hum-along chorus, "It Never Rains In Southern California" received four single issues - 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1978 (the last two outings with the track "A Job Is A Home To A Homeless Man" as its flipside. Released Stateside first in September 1972 just before the LP hit the shops, British Mums Records waiting until January 1973 for both the 45 and LP. It's a little surprising even now to see that something as radio-friendly as this signature song for him 'didn't' hit the Top 40 in the UK? Still, debut album deep cuts like "Brand New Day" and "Names, Tags, Numbers And Labels" show a natural ability towards melody - and you can so hear why people rate Hammond's "Anyone Here In The Audience" - the Side 1 finisher that turned up as a melodic lyrically astute flipside to "It Never Rains In Southern California". There's more than a touch of Colin Blunstone and Phillip Goodhand-Tate in "The Road To Understanding" even if there's just a tad too much Neil Diamond melodrama in its string arrangements. And it's downright disconcerting to hear his lighter-than-light acoustic guitar vs. a cello original of "The Air That I Breathe" where you would have to say that The Hollies took a delicacy and turned it into a full-on dessert you want to gorge on (he ruins it with an overly noisy ending). The Audio too is gorgeous.  

The second album ups the Production a notch and it shows as Side 1 kicks in. Early in the misty morning, our hero is heading for another thankless jam, the radio playing love songs with the factory gates looming in the distance. So he works to make a living in the funky "Smokey Factory Blues" - broke but still hoping for love and some cash in tow. His record label obviously figured "The Peacemaker" might make radio waves with its Cat Stevens acoustic strums, so they issued it as a 45-single in July 1974 with the searching-for-meaning "Who's For Lunch Today" as its B-side, but MUMS Records ZS7 6021 didn't click. Awful is the only word to describe the plodding "Woman Of The World", while the excellent synth funk of "The Free Electric Band" gave him his only UK 7" single hit - entering the charts in June 1973 thereafter rising to No.19. Weaker cuts include the weedy "For The Peace Of All Mankind" and some sort of guitar wig-out in "The Day The British Army Lost The War" that doesn't really suit. Still, it ends on that lovely-sounding "I Think I'll Go That Way". 

 

In truth these forgotten Seventies albums are three-star efforts musically and some collectors I know don't even rate them as that. But England's Beat Goes On Records has done Hammond's legacy proud with really great Audio and quality Presentation, the deep album cuts too reminding why his hit-making chops would be covered by so many Easy Listening artists across the decades that followed. 

 

Either way – another typically classy reissue from BGO...