"Buena Vista Social Club: Edición 25 Anniversario (25th Anniversary Edition)" by BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB – June 1997 (UK) September 1997 (USA) Album of Cuban Music on World Circuit Records with Ry Cooder and The Afro-Cuban All Stars featuring Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Rubén González, Omara Portmundo, Manual Mirabal and many more (September 2021 UK World Circuit/BMG 2CD Anniversary Reissue with Twelve Previously Unreleased Tracks and Bernie Grundman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

 

 

 

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"...Ediciones Musicales... "

 

There have been only a handful of genuinely mind-blowing world-conquering musical discoveries in my 65-year search for genre enlightenment (mainline those rhythms to my soul baby).

 

I suppose it started for me (and most everyone else) with Paul Simon's September 1986 African/World Music album "Graceland" that received a 25^th Anniversary Edition multiple-format reissue in June 2012 (see review). Then we got the Coen Brothers re-educating us all on old timey papa-biscuits music with their devastatingly funny and beautifully filmed "O, Brother Where Are Thou?" movie parable in September 2000. The CD was a hit, Americana and Traditionals and Country Music had a full-on resurgence and concerts followed in which much of the entire world joined up for the hootenanny rediscovery - all of this heady mix breaking old barriers down towards music considered by many to be the very definition of hick (run a hundred miles boy lest you and your progeny get infected).

 

The lads at reissue specialist Light In The Attic Records of America gave us the stunning "Cold Fact" and "Coming From Reality" albums from Rodriguez in August 2008 and May 2009 (originally issued in 1970 and 1971 on Sussex Records and thereafter descended into virtual unsold obscurity) that was followed by the movie-story of his life "Searching For The Sugar Man" - another joyous discovery. These new frontiers - along with Peter Gabriel and his Real World Records label - blew everyone away.

 

But in between all of that came 23 June 1997 in the UK (17 September 1997 in the USA) and the self-titled one-off album sensation that was/is Buena Vista Social Club – a collection recorded across three days at the end of March 1996 in Havana, Cuba by the then virtually unknown World Circuit Records. Helping hand and cool conduit came via Americana guitarist and Warner Brothers recording star Ry Cooder who had invited the cream of Traditional South American Music practitioners to a studio to go for it. The sideways aim/result was to bring music genres like Trova, Son, Tumbao, Danzón, Guajira, Canción and of course all manner of Afro-Cuban Bolero numbers and ballads to a new audience. The resultant album was and still is a joy – a lightning in a bottle moment captured and celebrated ever since (hell, even the artwork has become famous).

 

That Buena Vista Social Club was always going to receive a celebrationary reissue goes with saying. But man oh man and boys oh boys – the Remastered AUDIO on this sucker by Bernie Grundman is off the charts good. Culled from the original master tapes and featuring 12 new Previously Unreleased session outtakes on CD2 (including new songs, mostly rehearsals)  – both the CD and VINYL variants for this 25^th Anniversary hit next level audiophile. Even the obvious loose nature of "Chan Chan" that opens CD2 with a Monitor Mix where Cooder announces that prep is over and "...Cats, we're up!" sounds utterly amazing and alive in your living room. A warmth and feel that is at times hair-raising. Enough 5-star praise, to the details...

 

UK released 17 September 2021 - "Buena Vista Social Club: Edición 25 Anniversario (25^th Anniversary Edition)" by BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB on World Circuit/BMG WCD05025S (Barcode 4050538672206) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster that plays outs as follows:

 

CD1 (60:10 minutes):

1. Chan Chan

2. De Camino a La Vereda

3. El Cuarto de Tula

4. Pueblo Nuevo

5. Das Gardenias

6. ?Y Tú Qué Has Hecho?

7. Veinta Años

8. El Carretero

9. Candela

10. Amor de Loca Juventud

11. Orgullecida

12. Murmullo

13. Buena Vista Social Club

14. La Bayamesa

Tracks 1 to 14 are the CD album (double-vinyl) "Buena Vista Social Club" – released 23 June 1997 in the UK on World Circuit WCD 050 and 16 September 1997 in the USA on World Circuit/Nonesuch 79478-2. Produced by NICK GOLD – it peaked at No. 44 in the UK and No. 80 on the US charts (hit No. 1 in Germany). This 25^th Anniversary Edition reissue charted and peaked at No. 100 in America and is Remastered by BERNIE GRUNDMAN

 

There is also a VINYL 2LP Remastered Set of this 25^th Anniversary Edition Reissue on World Circuit/BMG WCV05025 (Barcode 4050538629996). It adds five of the outtakes as Bonuses, comes on 180grams Vinyl and has an expanded 20-page booklet. The five bonuses included on the 2LP VINYL Set are Tracks 2, 3, 7, 10 and 12 on CD2)

 

CD2 (40:15 minutes):

1. Chan Chan (Monitor Mix)

2. Vicenta

3. La Pluma

4. Dos Gardenias (Alternate Take)

5. Mandinga

6. Siboney

7. A Tus Pies

8. El Carretero (Alternate Take)

9. Ensayo

10. La Cleptómana

11. Descarga Rubén

12. Orgullecida (Alternate Trio Take)

Tracks 1 to 12 are all PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

The 65-page Hardback Digibook for "Buena Vista Social Club: Edición 25 Anniversario" is a beautiful thing to look at and behold. The cream pages separate out every song including the new ones and even produce both Native language lyrics and English translations. There is a lead-in note from Cooder about the genesis of the project – a long list of musicians that is complimented by a further track-by-track player-by-player list at the rear (featuring artists include The Afro-Cuban All Stars - Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Rubén González, Omara Portmundo, Manual Mirabal, Alberto Valdés and many more). There is a colour photo of the joyous group towards the rear and a sense that pride has been taken in this celebrationary release. But the big news is a BERNIE GRUNDMAN Remaster that is simply glorious (as already outlined). Time to Bolero my friends...

 

Playing the album even from the opening number and you instantly realize how utterly locked into each other’s rhythms the band is – swaying and shuffling with big-room perfection while Ry underpins the Acoustics, Trumpets, Bongos and Shakers with a mean-as-a-rattle-snake Electric Slide Guitar. And a musically smart Cooder hovers with his guitar - never gets showy or in the way of Lead Vocalist Eliades Ochoa whose vocals are aged-in-brine gorgeous. When they do go into the initial Piano waltz that is "Pueblo Nuevo" and then up the pace half way through to a sexy dance of piano and guitars – you can imagine Angelina Jolie sashaying around some Taverna in lace making all the sweaty patrons drink deep and fan harder (sunny weather indeed).

 

Legendary South American vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer sings an emotional blinder with "Das Gardenias" – a lovely Bolero that makes you want to slow dance with your baby. And again truly gobsmacking audio comes roaring in with "?Y Tú Qué Has Hecho?" – Ry Cooder and Compay Segundo doing Acoustic Guitar battle on this 1920s Bolero. The all-male-ensemble is joined by the only woman to grace the album – Omara Portmundo (pictured in the booklet) - who duets in perfect subdued beauty with Compay Segundo on "Veinta Años" (beautiful Bouzouki-type guitars too). That lovely almost calming Bolero moment is followed by a gorgeous groove in "El Carretero" where Eliades Ochoa takes Lead Vocals. Next up the boys have some swaying and aye-aye-aye singing fun with a Son & Tumbao style song called "Candello" which at 5:27 minutes probably outstays its welcome just a tad.

 

Ry and Joachim Cooder join the muchachos guitarist fray with subtle contributions to the short but deeply lovely "Amor De Loca Juventud" – a cellulite-reducing Americana shuffle with Gospel and Acoustic Blues influences. Old timey pre-war trombone and even Hawaiian steel convergences make "Orgullecida" a giggle and delight. But they pale when the voices and piano of "Murmullo" show up – Ibrahim Ferrer swooning and humming in a Romantic Casablanca kind of style while Rubén González plinks on a grand piano with a beautifully captured tone. A Danzon-style instrumental shuffles like a cheeky sea fog into view for the cha-cha-cha of the title track "Buena Vista Social Club" (wowser for the audio again). And it all comes to a sort of early-hours-cantina-on-the-brink-of-stupor moment – a Criolla-style sung ballad where the men are nearly weeping or too drunk to explain – whichever arrives first.

 

I suppose the only tiny complaint would be that it easy to hear why large numbers of the outtakes were left on the cutting room floor – they are good – but they are not the great stuff on the album. Having said that the up mood of "Vicenta" is damn cool while the Alternate of an album fave "Das Gardenias" is lovely even if the vocals go awry towards its end. Piano and Bongo chill-out fun comes in the shape of "Mandinga" where Rubén González gets the boys to stop talking and even join in the melody. Another lovely moment of acoustic sweetness comes with the song called Ensayo which is upended when piano rudely interrupts – it’s a segment more than a tune. But again – others have loved "La Cleptómana" – a Trova song about a Kleptomaniac who likes to burn pretty things (nice).

 

Buena Vista Social Club was and still is a beautiful thing and this 25^th Anniversary reminder has done its legend proud. And I got my copy in 2023 for under a tenner shrink-wrapped with its display sticker and looking perky. Time for me to re-join the waist-train as its shimmies across the retirement home – aye aye aye...

"Buddy Miles Live/A Message To The People" by BUDDY MILES - 2LP Live Set from October 1971 USA (February 1972 UK) Combined With An April 1971 USA Single Studio LP (June 1971 UK) both on Mercury Records - Buddy Miles, Stemsey Hunter and Herbie Rich all ex The Electric Flag, Buddy Miles also ex Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsies. Also featuring Hank Redd, David Hull, Charlie Karp (Karp later with White Chocolate and Dirty Angels), Donnie Beck (later with B & G Rhythm) and more (April 2023 UK Beat Goes On Records (BGO) Compilation - 3LPs onto 2CDs - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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Rating *****

 

"...Feelin' Alright This Evening..."

 

After decades in the digital wilderness, we of a Rhythm 'n' Blues meets Brassy Rock meets Soul and Funk persuasion finally get the last two pieces of the Buddy Miles Discography put out onto a quality CD reissue - and it's a twofer doozy. The ex Electric Flag and Hendrix's Band Of Gypsies Drummer and Singer has never sounded so good.

 

I have already reviewed the compilation "Expressway To Your Skull/Electric Church/Them Changes/We Got To Live Together" that England's Beat Goes On Records reissued onto 2CDs in January 2022 (Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1468 - Barcode 5017261214683). That Andrew Thompson remastered release contained four studio albums originally issued November 1968, June 1969, July and November 1970 in the USA on Mercury Records featuring Production by Jimi Hendrix on LP No. 2 ("Electric Church"). The first two were credited to Buddy Miles Express and everything after that to plain old Buddy Miles. 

 

Extra info: his 1968 American debut solo album "Expressway To The Skull" (1969 in the UK) is also on a rare mail-order only CD reissue out of the USA. Released December 2006 - "Expressway To The Skull" on Hip-O Select B0002976-2 came in an Oversized Mini LP Repro Artwork Hard Card Gatefold Sleeve and was limited to only 5000 copies worldwide (no Barcode, numbered on the rear - Hip-O Select was the mail-order wing of Universal). That gorgeous sounding version has been deleted years now but costs far more than its worth. I mention this by way of info, because you are frankly going to get far better value for money out of the superb BGO 2CD set highlighted above. Buy that first - then come to door number two...

 

Which brings us in 2023 to this - another 2CD compilation from BGO that rounds up the remainder of his six-album discography for Mercury Records. Lots to yak on about ye pirates of the groove; so once more my Right On Funkadelics to the groin-gyrating details...

 

UK released Friday, 7 April 2023 - "Buddy Miles Live/A Message To The People" by BUDDY MILES on Beat Goes on Records BGOCD1493 (Barcode 5017261214935) offers 3LPs Remastered onto 2CDs. The first is a live double-album spread across two CDs (Sides 1 and 2 on CD1 etc), the second a single studio LP entirely on the end of CD2. It plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (43:03 minutes):

1. Introduction (0:42 minutes) [Side 1]

2. Joe Tex  (4:32 minutes)

3. Take It Off Him And Put It On Me (4:54 minutes)

4. Down By The River (12:55 minutes)

5. Wrap It Up (19:03 minutes) [Side 2]

Tracks 1 to 5 are the first LP (Sides 1 and 2) of the double-album "Buddy Miles Live" - released October 1971 in the USA on Mercury Records SRM-2-7500 and February 1972 in the UK on Mercury Records 6641 033. It peaked at No. 10 on the American R&B LP charts in the USA (No. 50 on Pop & Rock) - didn't chart UK.

 

CD2 (77:18 minutes)

1. Place Over There (5:03 minutes) [Side 3]

2. The Segment (12:18 minutes)

3. Them Changes (12:44 minutes) [Side 4]

4. Applause (1:00 minutes)

5. We Got To Live Together (12:18 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 5 are the second LP (Sides 3 and 4) of the double-album "Buddy Miles Live" - released October 1971 in the USA on Mercury Records SRM-2-7500 and February 1972 in the UK on Mercury Records 6641 033. It peaked at No. 10 on the American R&B LP charts in the USA (No. 50 on Pop & Rock) - didn't chart UK. 

 

The BUDDY MILES Live Band was:

BUDDY MILES – Drums and Lead Vocals

CHARLIE KARP – Lead Guitar and Vocals

DAVID HULL – Bass and Vocals

DONNIE BECK – Organ

HANK REDD – Tenor Saxophone

STEMSY HUNTER – Alto Saxophone

TOM HALL – Trumpet

BOB HOGINS – Trombone & Organ

 

6. Joe Tex [Side 1]

7. The Way I Feel Tonight

8. Place Over There

9. The Segment

10. Don't Keep Wondering [Side 2]

11. Midnight Rider

12. Sudden Stop

13. Wholesale Love

14. That's The Way Life Is

Tracks 6 to 13 are his fifth studio album "A Message To The People" – released April 1971 in the USA on Mercury SRM-1 608 and June 1971 in the UK on Mercury 6338 028. It peaked at No. 12 on the American R&B LP charts (No. 60 in the Pop & Rock LP charts) - didn't chart UK.

 

The BUDDY MILES Band for the Studio LP was:

BUDDY MILES – Lead and background Vocals, Guitar, Organ and Drums

ANDRE LEWIS – Organ, Clavinet, Piano and Background Vocals

CHARLIE KARP – Lead Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar and Backing Vocals

MARLO HENDERSON – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Uni-Vibe, Backing Vocals

DAVID HULL – Bass and Backing Vocals

FRED ALLEN – Drums and Percussion

MICHAEL FUGATE – Lead Trumpet and Flugelhorn

TOM HALL – Second Trumpet and Flugelhorn

HANK REDD – Tenor and Baritone Saxophones

STEMSY HUNTER – Alto Saxophone and Backing Vocals

 

The card slipcase is classy (as always), the original artwork for both LPs reproduced in the 16-page booklet with new liner notes from noted Music Historian and Regular Mojo Magazine contributor CHARLES WARING – whilst the Remasters are by BGO's resident Audio Engineer – ANDREW THOMPSON. You will probably have noticed that the order of the albums is reversed for this CD – the studio set should be first and the live double second. But probably because of timing issues, they are the other way around.

 

Audio-wise, they are a tale of two cities. The live set is good, at times great, but at other times showing its age and crudity of recording. The studio album just leaps out of your speakers and sounds frankly Funkily amazing. Live is 3 to 4-stars – Studio is five-alive. Waring does his usual thorough exploratory when it comes to the history of the songs and notes, that although forgotten now – back in the Seventies day, Buddy Miles was a voice and a chart presence to be reckoned with. After the funky one-two sucker-punch of the "Them Changes" and "A Message To My People" studio sets – it was time to give the public the incendiary live performances he had become rather well known for. In late 1971 his double "Buddy Miles Live" went up to No. 10 on the US R&B LP charts and had a 22-week run – impressive for such a release. The audio on the studio LP is HUGE (all that instrumentation going on) but in a good way. There are tracks on this album (those two Allmans covers especially) that I've been after for Funky-Funky Cover Version CD compilations for years. Good job done - to the big guns...

 

Side 1 offers a devastating live trio that must have pretty much knocked the crowd for six. He urges the gang to boogie in their seats, then the band launches into a sort of Manic Blues Brothers Brass-Band assault that segues from Track 2 into Track 3. "Take It Off Him And Put It On Me" had been a January 1970 US 45-single for American Soul Singer Clarence Carter on Atlantic 2702 (A-side). For his live-and-in-yer-face take, Buddy Miles takes the tune's inherent funkiness and throws in loads more brass and hip-shakin' mama-ness to a point where you can feel the audience getting lewd with the row of seats in front of them.

 

Quieting down the pace and mellowing out the mood comes with "Down By The River" - the Neil Young classic from his debut solo album "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" after leaving Buffalo Springfield. Miles smartly hooks into its deeply adaptable nature by turning what was a Guitar-Rock workout on the Young Reprise LP into a Soulful church organ and brass soloing showcase. Slow at first, the band cleverly melts its harmony vocals and begins building to a place where varying horn instruments do battle with a Church Organ (Donnie Beck) like a cool Miles Davis workout. Charles Warring quite rightly praises its astonishing transformation from Rock murder creep into a Soul Aria. Tom Hall on Trumpet and Bob Hogins on Trombone blow the thing out of the water while Donnie Beck gets all testifying Georgie Fame on the organ. Overall it is a fantastic near-thirteen minute crowd-winner and is the first tune on Live to cement the double's greatness in your mind.

 

Miles seriously funks things it with a cover of the Isaac Hayes and David Porter penned "Wrap It Up". About 7:40 minutes in after what seems like the Guitarist going all Hendrix on the night – the band stops – only to have a incessant beat return only this allowing Donnie Beck to go nuts on the organ – soon joined by Brass. Then of course you have to get through the obligatory drum solo. This is the whole Brass-Soul-Rock genre in a live nutshell and even if it does overstay its endless boogie stay at nineteen minutes – hard not to be impressed with the virtuosity of a band this hot whipping the crowd up into frenzy with their sheer showmanship.

 

The studio LP "A Message To The People" was an R&B album smash on release in April 1971 - certainly in the USA where it hit No. 12 before the live double came on the back of that tour in October 1971 and went two chart places further to No. 10 (neither album barely made any headway in the UK - in fact the live 2LP set wasn't released in Blighty until February of 1972 where it promptly died). As Buddy Miles did with the 1970 "Them Changes" LP and The Allman Brothers Band song "Dreams" from their "Idlewild South" album of 1969 - Miles tapped two more from the same platter for his "A Message To The People" set - the fabulous "Midnight Rider" and "Don't Keep Me Wondering". I don't quite know why such a marriage works - but Buddy Miles rearranging and doing Allman Brothers Southern Rock songs with a Soul-Funk twist worked - like say Leon Russell doing a Tony Joe White tune. 

 

The 'Message' album also worked that other Funky-Funky seam - Stax stalwart Otis Redding for his "Wholesale Love" - all those Brass and guitars. The instrumental (which turned up on the live set) "The Segment" is a co-write between Miles and his Saxophone player Hank Redd. Even the Bobby Russell-penned "Sudden Stop" which had been a hit for Percy Sledge on Atlantic Records in July 1968 gets a good old working over. All in all - a very cool album with huge audio from the Remaster.

 

It seems unfair in 2023 that Buddy Miles is such a footnote in Soul and Funk Music History. Because this crossover dude with his great hair, his soulful voice, his hammer-down sticks and even his knack for penning a tune or picking the greats of others - should be remembered with more genuine respect for bringing crossover music to his peeps. 

 

Fans will absolutely have to have to it and newcomers are eagerly advised to give the rather cool double-header (Beat Goes On BGOCD1493) a whirl - immerse yourself in the heady 1971 of it all - all over again. "Feelin' alright this evening..." Indeed I am...

"Vertigo" by GRAHAM PARKER (and THE RUMOUR) – A 40-Track 2CD Mercury/Vertigo Records Anthology - Album And 45-Single Tracks from his April 1976 UK Debut "Howlin Wind" to his Fifth Studio Album "Squeezing Out Sparks" in March 1979 – Featuring Brinsley Schwarz, Bob Andrews, Martin Belmont, Andrew Bodnar and Steve Goulding of The Rumour with Guests Dave Edmunds, John Earle and Producer Jack Nitzsche - Includes the 1976 UK Promotional LP "Live At Marble Arch" Produced by Nick Lowe - First Time on CD Here (October 1996 UK Vertigo/Mercury 2CD 40-Track 'Chronicles' Anthology with Roger Wake Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Dodged All The Turnpikes..."

 

Tales of boozy anguish in hotel rooms with frisky chambermaids and a search the world over (well mostly in Dagenham) for that special lady. Graham Parker and his kickass band The Rumour should have been huge - what with their edgy songs that fused 60s R&B with Punk Rock lyrics about the frustrations and exhilaration of dole-ridden young life in New Wave England. And in some kind of curiously begrudging non-commercial 'stop reminding us of our predicament' way – they were. At least among my Dublin mates and I, GP & Crew were the Super Unleaded nozzle to us. 

 

I suppose as someone who lived through Punk and New Wave (and bought the safety pins and buttons) – I kind of thought that as each new record seemed to get demonstrably better than the last – the public would embrace him like they had say Elvis Costello or Nick Lowe or Hell, even Dave Edmunds. But the right worshipful Graham Parker (a gent from Chobham in Surrey) always seemed to struggle to rise above the music pulpit to be heard.

 

Still – this unwieldy CD twofer from the forgotten hills of England in 1996 (and one of those splurges the industry used to call 'A Chronicles Anthology' on the sticker) is here to remind us of our mistakes and emotional misdemeanors and offer up forty acts of suburban contrition so we can reassess and forgive ourselves for our many colored-vinyl trespasses. Here are the howlers...

 

UK released October 1996 - "Vertigo" by GRAHAM PARKER (and The Rumour) on Vertigo/Mercury 534 100-2 (Barcode 731453410022) is a 2CD 40-Track 'Chronicles' Best-Of Anthology covering his stay at Mercury and Vertigo Records between 1976 and 1979. It has Roger Wake Remasters from Original Tapes and also includes the 10-Track Promotional LP "Live At Marble Arch" (Tracks 6 to 15 on CD1) issued in 1976 in the UK and is first time on CD here. "Vertigo" plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (73:01 minutes):

1. Between You And Me

2. I'm Gonna Use It Now

3. You've Got To Be Kidding

4. Howlin' Wind

5. Back To Schooldays

6. White Honey (Live)

7. That's What They All Say (Live)

8. Back Door Love (Live)

9. Back To Schooldays (Live)

10. Silly Thing (Live)

11. Chain Of Fools (Live)

12. Don't Ask Me Questions (Live)

13. You Can't Hurry Love (Live)

14. Soul Shoes (Live)

15. Kansas City (Live)

16. Heat Treatment

17. Hotel Chambermaid

18. Black Honey

19. Fool's Gold

20. Hold Back The Night

21. (Let Me Get) Sweet On You

NOTES ON CD1:

Tracks 1, 3, 4 and 5 are from his debut album "Howlin Wind", April 1976 in the UK on Vertigo 6360 129 and Mercury SRM-1 1095. Track 5 features Dave Edmunds on Rockabilly Guitar

Track 2 is the Non-LP B-side to "Silly Thing", his UK Debut 45-single in March 1976 on Mercury 6059 135

Tracks 6 to 10 are Side 1 whilst Tracks 11 to 15 are Side 2 of the Promotional Only UK LP "Live At Marble Arch" issued in 1976 on Phonogram G.P. 1. It is issued here in its entirety for the first time on CD. Note: The two Promo-Only Live Tracks "Silly Thing (Live)" b/w "Kansas City (Live)" were offered as a FREE SINGLE with initial copies of his second British album "Heat Treatment"

Tracks 16, 17, 18 and 19 are from his second studio album "Heat Treatment", October 1976 in the UK on Vertigo 6360 137 and in the USA on Mercury SRM-1 1095

Tracks 20 and 21 make up Side 1 of a 4-track Extended Play EP - "The Pink Parker – Hold Back The Night" released March 1977 in the UK on Vertigo PARK 001. The other two tracks on the B-side were "White Honey" and "Soul Shoes" - both of which were on the preceding "Howlin Wind" album. "Hold Back The Night" is a cover of a TRAMMPS US Soul hit originally on Buddah Records in February 1976 – the other songs are Graham Parker originals with both "Hold Back The Night" and "(Let Me Get) Sweet On You" being exclusive to the EP.

 

CD2 (69:55 minutes):

1. The New York Shuffle

2. Watch The Moon Come Down

3. The Raid

4. Lady Doctor

5. I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down

6. The Heat in Harlem

7. Gypsy Blood

8. Discovering Japan

9. Local Girls

10. Nobody Hurts You

11. You Can't Be Too Strong

12. Passion Is No Ordinary Word

13. Saturday Nite is Dead

14. Love Gets You Twisted

15. Protection

16. Waiting For The UFOs

17. Don't Get Excited

18. Mercury Poisoning

19. I Want You Back (Alive)

NOTES on CD2:

Tracks 1, 2 and 3 are from his third studio album "Stick To Me" – released October 1977 in the UK on Vertigo 9102 017

Tracks 4, 5, 6 and 7 are from his fourth album "The Parkerilla" – released May 1978 as a 2LP set on Vertigo 6641 797 – it was all recorded live in the studio

Tracks 8 to 17 are the entire album "Squeezing Out Sparks", his fifth album released March 1979 on Vertigo 9102 030

Tracks 18 and 19 are the A&B-sides of a March 1979 US-only 45-single on Arista AS-0439

 

GRAHAM PARKER – Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and Rhythm Guitar on

 

THE RUMOUR was:

BRINSLEY SCHWARZ – Guitar, Hammond Organ, Tenor Saxes and Backing Vocals

BOB ANDREWS – Lowrey And Hammond Organ, Piano and backing Vocals

MARTIN BELMONT – Guitar and backing Vocals

ANDREW BODNAR - Bass

STEVE GOULDING – Drums and backing Vocals

 

The 12-page booklet splits its details between JOHN TOBLER and GRAHAM PARKER – Tobler concentrating on the track-facts and scene-setting history while GP reminisces on his beginnings with the British Pub Rock band Brinsley Schwarz, his musical influences and where it all eventually led – to the USA on a bus hearing their latest single on American Radio and being duly impressed (not even the slightest bit repulsed). You would not say the lack of Discography or even half-decent photos or memorabilia helps (it all feels too slight even for a Chronicles twofer in 1996) – but thankfully the ROGER WAKE Remasters lift proceedings and leave it all on the page – the music. These Remasters jump and snarl - "Saturday Nite Is Dead" on the "Squeezing Out Sparks" album has huge guitars now – riffage and power galore (the whole album is included, and as many feel it his best, that is a good thing). To the tunes...

 

Choice shavings from his five albums for Vertigo Records are all here in spiffing audio - "Howlin Wind" (April 1976), "Heat Treatment" (October 1976), "Stick To Me" (October 1977), the double album "The Parkerilla" (May 1978) and finally "Squeezing Out Sparks" (March 1979). Inbetween the cracks are rare B-sides, stand-alone 45s and the big prize for diehard fans – a first-time on CD outing for the legendary "Live At Marble Arch" Promo-Only album issued by Phonogram to keep journos and industry insiders thinking about GP before the second LP of 1976. To that...

 

After the critical rave-ups and warm public response the debut album "Howlin Wind" received on release in April 1976 and before the issue of his second studio album "Heat Treatment" in October of that mercurial year – Phonogram decided to record a Live LP inbetween and release it as mock-bootleg to keep the momentum going with journalists and insiders alike. Again produced by Nick Lowe (like the debut), the resulting 10-track set "Live At Marble Arch" was probably circulated August/September of 1976 (no one seems to now its exact release date) in its stamped Bootleg-looking sleeve. It included live versions of five tracks from the "Howlin Wind" debut (Tracks 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12 on CD1) whilst the second LP "Heat Treatment" (which had yet to appear at the time the live set was recorded) got two outings (Tracks 7 and 8 on CD1).

 

The other three cuts (Tracks 11, 13 and 15 on CD1) were covers from his first passion – American R&B and Soul artists - "Chain Of Fools" originally done by Aretha Franklin on Atlantic Records in 1967, "You Can't Hurry Love" by the Supremes on Motown in 1966 and the old Fifties Rhythm and Blues stalwart "Kansas City". The remastered Audio does its best with what Nick Lowe produced – get it down and stack it loud. Personally I love his tighter-than-tight Rumour band as they trash through one of my faves - "Back To Schooldays" (dig that twanging guitar solo while the old Joanna boogies along). The same can be said of a fantastic "Soul Shoes" and "Kansas City". Saxophone and sheer bombast carries the single "Silly Thing" to. In fact the overall impression is not of an angry young man or even a Punk/New Waver about town scowling at the powers that be – but that of a great band having a Pub Gig blast.

 

But the key to a 40-track spurge like this is the deep dives (or if you are new to GP, the discoveries). You could argue that the album "Squeezing Out Sparks" from 1978 (included on CD2 in its entirety) warrants serious rediscovery – stunners like the riffage of "Protection" and the aching real-world ballad "You Can't Be Too Strong" being genuine standouts. Spit and snarl and a certain world-weariness course through the veins of tunes like "Watch The Moon Come Down" and his rant at his American record label in "Mercury Poisoning" not doing him a solid – but I could honestly do without that cover of The Jackson 5 that ends CD2 on a bit of a too frivolous note.

 

Rhino had issued their superlative goody two shoes in 1993 called after a track on "Squeezing Out Sparks" – "Passion is No Ordinary Word: The Graham Parker Anthology 1976-1991" which also explored the Stiff Records and RCA 1980s albums that followed (personally I dug those even more) – so that compilation is worth seeking out too although in 2023 – it is deleted decades and has become pricey.

 

But in the meantime get dizzy on "Vertigo" – visually it may not look like much – but content/audio-wise – Graham Parker and The Rumour will tickle your inner gyro mechanisms as any good British Petrol Pump Attendant and his oily rags should...