"Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy: SACD Version" by ELTON JOHN - 1975 UK and US LP on DJM Records (June 2005 Island Chronicles/Rocket SACD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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CAPT. FANTASTIC - 1975

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"...Very Clearly A Case Of Cornflakes And Classics..."

Arguing the merits of a 1975 album that smashed the top spot in the USA is a mute point (it was the first LP to enter at No. 1 in American chart history). But which version does a punter buy on CD? In 2017 there are four or five variants and it's this I want to address...

Although Elton John's "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy" cropped up on British CD as early as 1984 (the very first vanguard of issues on the format) - the first decent Remaster is acknowledged as the 'Elton John The Classic Years' version by TONY COUSINS in July 1995. Mercury 528 160-2 (Barcode 731452816023) came armed with a massively expanded booklet, John Tobler liner notes and Three Bonus Tracks.

The UK and Europe 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' then followed as a '30th Anniversary Edition' in September 2005 on Mercury 0602498317242 (Barcode 602498317242). This upgrade offered the thirteen tracks of the 1995 issue in newly Remastered sound and a Previously Unreleased 12-song "Midsummer Music" concert on Disc 2 recorded at Wembley Stadium 21 June 1975. That Deluxe Edition 2-disc variant was itself reissued in Mini LP Repro Artwork on the (superior) SHM-CD format in Japan September 2008 on Universal UICY-93674/5 (Barcode 4988005525833).

But the one I want to concentrate on is the reissue in-between - the 2004 American SACD. Here are the Towers of Babel...

USA released June 2005 - "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy: SACD Version" by ELTON JOHN on Island Chronicles/Rocket B0003606-36 (Barcode 602498241202) is a 13-track SACD (Super Audio CD) that plays out as follows (62:40 minutes):

1. Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy [Side 1]

2. Tower Of Babel

3. Bitter Fingers

4. Tell Me When The Whistle Blows

5. Someone Saved My Life Tonight

6. (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket [Side 2]

7. Better Off Dead

8. Writing

9. We All Fall In Love Sometimes

10. Curtains

Tracks 1 to 10 are his ninth studio album "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy" - released May 1975 in the UK on DJM Records DJLPX 1 and May 1975 in the USA on MCA Records MCA-2142. Produced by GUS DUDGEON - it peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the USA.

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

12. One Day At A Time

Tracks 11 and 12 are the non-album A&B-sides of a 7" single recorded with JOHN LENNON. Released 15 November 1974 on DJM Records DJS 340 in the UK and on MCA Records MAC-40344 in the USA - Lennon is credited on some label A-sides as 'Dr. Winston O'Boogie & His Reggae Guitars'. The A-side is a cover of the famous "Sgt. Peppers" track from 1967 - while the B-side is a Lennon song from his 1973 Apple Records LP "Mind Games". It peaked at No. 1 in the USA and No. 10 in the UK on the singles charts.

13. Philadelphia Freedom

Track 13 is a non-album A-side of a 7" single released February 1975 on DJM Records DJS 354 and in the USA on MCA Records MCA-40364 (as The Elton John Band). It peaked at No. 12 in the UK and No. 1 in the USA.

The jam-packed 24-page booklet is the 1995 version that featured (then) new liner notes from noted British writer and musicologist JOHN TOBLER. The original vinyl album was a fantastically elaborate and fancy affair with no less than two substantial booklets, a huge foldout poster of the cover art and all of it housed in a stunning gatefold sleeve. The booklet makes a good fist of trying to repro much of this - you get the lyrics to every song spread across many pages, some of the memorabilia photos like the framed lyrics for "Your Song" and pictures of a young Reg Dwight at an electric piano giving it some "Empty Sky".

On the second-last page of the booklet are the Mastering credits (a team of four eventually) – TONY COUSINS did the original Stereo Mixes Remastering in 1995 – further to those are Digital Transfers by RICKY GRAHAM – DSD (Direct Stream Digital) Editing done by GUS SKINAS and finally Surround Sound Mixed, Produced and Mastered by GREG PENNY at Flower Sound in California. You get a SACD Stereo layer – an SACD Surround Sound layer and finally a simple Audio CD layer for play on all machines (the SACD and Surround variants require specific equipment). Whatever your machine is capable of – the disc will default to that once loaded. In short I find the Audio on this particular beast to be the best of them all.

I can recall my first listen to the title track "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy" and thinking 'sophistication' and given the extraordinary packaging - that this was an LP old Elton was clearly proud of. That fantastic guitar break with Davey Johnstone on rocking form - the autobiographical lyrics about a rocket ride from sessions on Top Of The Pops cover version LPs to international stardom. Following quickly are two winners - the Sodom meets Gomorrah of "Tower Of Babel" versus the grumpy musical agents in Denmark Street of "Bitter Fingers". I've always loved a bit of Rock-Funk and it comes in the slinky shape of "Tell Me When The Whistle Blows" (fabulous string arrangements by Gene Page). Side 1 then ends of the overwrought ballad "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" - a song I've always thought was too puffed-up on its own importance somehow.

Side 2 opens with a fantastic bit of guitar riffage "(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket" - a song about losers hoping to strike lucky on Skid Row - where in order to survive you've gotta find a way towards that meal ticket - rise about the King’s Road pimps. The barrelhouse piano on "Better Off Dead" sounds huge and again Tauzin’s lyrics are amongst his best - cigarette hazes and greased-streaked windows of all-night cafes - characters come and go - live and die - then go out and do it all over again. The whimsical "Writing" offers a respite with its salsa beat - affectionately remembering stifling yawns on Sunday morning - will the things we wrote today still sound good tomorrow  (yes they will boys). The album ends on a duo of big-ballads - "We All Fall In Love Sometimes" and "Curtains". I prefer the near seven-minute "Curtains" of the two - the kind of epic tune Elton seemed able to tap into once given the Taupin words - cultivating flowers and thinking of treasure-children and the future...

Like Paul McCartney & Wing's "Venus And Mars", 10cc's "The Original Soundtrack", Bob Dylan's "Blood On The Tracks" and Joni Mitchell's "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" - Elton John's "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy" seemed to confirm 1975 as Rock's most sophisticated and musically productive year. And this glorious-sounding SACD of it only hammers than point home.

"...Very clearly a case of Cornflakes and classics..." – The Captain and The Kid from Putney sang on the title track. Nicely put boys... 

"Sticky Fingers" by THE ROLLING STONES (Differences between the 2010 and 2013 Japan-Only SHM-CD Reissues) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…Got Me In Its Sway…"

When the first four re-reissues of the Stones' Label catalogue arrived in May 2009 with their spangly 'new' remasters - I snapped them up (as I'm sure the Glimmer Twins knew I would). "Goat's Head Soup", "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll", "Black and Blue" and of course the mighty "Sticky Fingers". Four more came in June - "Some Girls", "Emotional Rescue", "Tattoo You" and "Undercover".

The rounded jewel cases seemed cool but the miserable 8-page inlays smacked of the usual fan-disrespecting laziness that seems to be associated with all things Rolling Stones reissue. But that aside - I couldn't believe just how good the Stephen Marcussen and Stewart Whitmore remasters were - hugely improving to my ears the rather restrained UV22 Virgin CDs from 1994 (done by Bob Ludwig). And despite losing all that gorgeous original artwork to a truly dreadful 'underpants' rear sleeve of the CD of "Sticky Fingers" - I was digging the music of my favourite Stones album blasting out of my speakers with a clarity and power that I'd not heard before. That is until the Japanese used that 2009 remaster and put out an SHM-CD with perfect repro artwork the following year - and I knew it had to be mine - again.

There have been other reissues since - so to disperse confusion lets try to clarify what's what and what not to buy. 

This review is for the first version of "Sticky Fingers" on SHM-CD (Super High Materials) released 30 June 2010 on Rolling Stones/Polydor UICY-94571 (Barcode 4988005613943) in Japan only. It's a straightforward transfer of the 10-track album with an exact repro of the famous 1971 Andy Warhol 'Zipper' sleeve artwork (46:27 minutes). But more importantly it uses the 2009 Stephen Marcussen/Stewart Whitmore remaster. A SHM-CD doesn't require a special CD player to play it on (compatible on all) nor does it need audiophile kit to hear the benefits. It's a new form of the format that picks up the nuances of the transfer better (top quality make). I mention the 2009 remaster because there's another.

Fans should note that a 'second' SHM version appeared 30 October 2013 in Japan but this time reissued on two formats (SHM-CD and PLATINUM SHM-CD) 'both' of which use a 'different' remaster. Those issues feature a 2011 'flat transfer' that I hated (dull as dishwater). The SHM-CD version is on Rolling Stones/Polydor UICY-75886 (Barcode 4988005788467) and the PLATINUM SHM-CD version in a beautiful presentation box is on Rolling Stones/Polydor UICY-40001 (Barcode 4988005788368). I've reviewed the Platinum SHM-CD variant separately (use the Barcode to locate it on Amazon). 

But let's get back to the 2010 SHM-CD version with the 2009 Remaster...

1. Brown Sugar

2. Sway

3. Wild Horses

4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking

5. You've Got To Move

6. Bitch [Side 2]

7. I Got The Blues

8. Sister Morphine

9. Dead Flowers

10. Moonlight Mile

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Sticky Fingers" - released 23 April 1971 in the UK and USA on Rolling Stones Records COC 59100

Right from the opening riffs of "Brown Sugar" (slightly distorted it has to be said) - you know you're in the presence of a different beast. This thing rocks - the guitars and rhythm section filling your speakers with incredible energy. I can hear the 'loudness wars' naysayers already - sure these things are loud and sure they're hissy in places too - but at least I feel like I'm in the presence of the real master tape. The power and clarity of instruments on say "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "Dead Flowers" is astounding. Ry Cooder's Slide Guitar and Jack Nitzsche's Piano on "Sister Morphine" is so good too, Paul Buckmaster's gorgeous Strings on "Moonlight Mile" and Keith's beautiful acoustic playing on "Wild Horses" - all fabulous. But if I was to isolate one track that shows massive improvement on this SHM - it's the Side 2 nugget "I Got The Blues". Everything about it rocks - Keith Richards and Mick Taylor on guitars, Bobby Keys and Jim Price on Horns, Jimmy Miller's Percussion and especially the Billy Preston Organ solo - it sounds truly fabulous. There's just that little more pep in the step of every track on this format - and somehow that amazing Cooder Slide on "Sister Morphine" seems more in your face (but in a good way), the sexy Saxophones on "Bitch" - the guitars on their fantastic bluesy cover of the Mississippi Fred McDowell/Gary Davis dead-and-dying tune "You Gotta Move".

OK - you could argue that spending over twenty quid on a fancier form of the CD with original repro artwork and a natty plastic outer is a bit of a luxury - especially with the 2009 standard CD costing as little as four round ones in some places. But this is one of my favourite albums of the Seventies and I want the best version of it I can get my hands on.

I'd argue - if you go the few extra pounds of brown sugar for the 2010 SHM-CD out of Japan - you'll love the difference...

"Some Girls: Deluxe Edition 2CD Version" by THE ROLLING STONES - May 1978 Album on Rolling Stones Records (November 2011 USA Universal Republic Records 2CD Reissue) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Party Like We Used To..."

Recorded in Paris in October 1977 and March 1978 but rooted in the insanity of a financially crumbling New York City over 3500 miles away - the Stones embraced Punk like they were born to the manor - albeit a more grotty manor than the ones they were used in tax exile. "Some Girls" rocked – two fingers up to everything – ludicrously un-PC – so Rolling Stones – and I loved it.

But for me this November 2011 Universal Republic Records 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' is a mixed bag of great music and truly lacklustre presentation (why is any fan of The Stones surprised by this). Here are the far away eyes, beasts of burden and respectable reconstruction details...

USA released 21 November 2011 - "Some Girls: Deluxe Edition 2CD US Version" by THE ROLLING STONES on Universal Republic Records B0016235-02 (Barcode 602527840550) is a 2CD Reissue with 12 New Tracks on Disc 2 that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 - "Some Girls" (40:44 minutes):

1. Miss You [Side 1]

2. When The Whip Comes Down

3. Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)

4. Some Girls

5. Lies

6. Far Away Eyes [Side 2]

7. Respectable

8. Before They Make Me Run

9. Beast Of Burden

10. Shattered

Tracks 1 to 10 are their 14th British (16th American) album "Some Girls" - released 19 May 1978 in the UK on Rolling Stones Records CUN 39108 and the same day in the USA on Rolling Stones Records TP 39108. Produced by THE GLIMMER TWINS - it peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the USA. All songs written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards except "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" which is a cover version of a Temptations song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.

Disc 1 THE ROLLING STONES were:

MICK JAGGER - Lead and Backing Vocals and Rhythm Guitar

KEITH RICHARDS - Lead Guitars, Keyboards, Bass and Backing Vocals

RON WOOD - Lead Guitars, Pedal Steel Guitar (Tracks 2, 6 and 10) and Backing Vocals

BILL WYMAN - Bass

CHARLIE WATTS - Drums

Guests:

SUGAR BLUE (James Whiting) - Harmonica on Tracks 1 and 4

IAN McLAGAN - Piano on Track 1 and Organ on Track 3

MEL COLLINS - Saxophone on Track 1

REEBOP KWAKU BAAH, JIMMY MILLER and SIMON KIRKE – Percussion on Track 10

Disc 2 - Bonus Material (41:30 minutes):

1. Claudine

2. So Young

3. Do You Think I Really Care

4. When You're Gone

5. No Spare Parts

6. Don't Be A Stranger

7. We Had It All

8. Tallahassee Lassie

9. I Love You Too Much

10. Keep Up Blues

11. You Win Again

12. Petrol Blues

Disc 2 Guests:

IAN STEWART – Piano on Tracks 1, 2, 3, 8 and 11

CHUCK LEAVALL – Piano Solo on Track 2

SUGAR BLUE (James Whiting) - Harmonica on Tracks 1, 4 and 7

DON WAS – Bass on Track 6

MATT CLIFFORD – Percussion on Track 6

JOHN FOGERTY and DON WAS – Handclaps on Track 8

All songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards except for "We Had It All" - written by Troy Seals and Donnie Fritts (a Waylon Jennings cover from 1973) and "Tallahassee Lassie" and "You Win Again" which are Freddie Cannon and Hank Williams cover versions.

A word about the original artwork versus this reissue - I've 14 vinyl copies of the British "Some Girls" album bought across the decades in a failed attempt to get all the different colour-coded sleeves in the one place. In fact I'm certain no one seems to know the truth about how many different sleeves there is for this 1978 LP (six, seven, eight who knows?). Perpetuated by the hardback book in the ludicrously overpriced Super Deluxe Edition - the common consensus is that there are six variants - five of the original Peter Corriston 'Rolling Stones As Drag Queens' die-cut sleeves and a further sixth 'Pardon Our Appearance – Cover Under Reconstruction' second-pressing variant because the offending originals had to be withdrawn due to legal pressure.

As ever our entirely angelic celestial-choir of misogynistic British ne're-do-wells had deliberately courted controversy with their saucy artwork and less than subtle songmanship - especially on the truly incendiary lyrics to the title track that names the sexual peccadillos of women from all sorts of racial backgrounds (black ladies come out best although Michael may not have enough Huntley's Jam for them). So why the legal recall - under the lurid adverts for strapless bras with elasticised inner pockets, perma-styled and care-free wigs (boy cuts an option) were die-cut holes on the front sleeve under which could be seen smiling mugshots of very famous ladies. But Raquel Welch, Lucille Ball, Farah Fawcett-Majors and the estates of Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe were all amongst the celebrities who didn't dig the artistic joke and filed against their images being used on what was then perceived as being a platter of schoolboy sexism railed loudly against by upstanding society types like the Reverend Jesse Jackson. American artist Peter Corriston had done Led Zeppelin's magnificent "Physical Graffiti" double-album die-cut sleeve in 1975 and would do the next three Stones albums too - "Emotional Rescue", "Tattoo You" and "Undercover".

I mention the sleeve's history because this particularly gutless American-based Deluxe Edition uses the 'Under Reconstruction' reissue artwork instead of the different coloured originals – a sanitised image that is about as shocking and appealing as a smelly sock in a University Student’s laundry basket. All four of the gatefold flaps on the inside of the 2CD set are the same – insanely dull snippets and close-ups of the reconstructed artwork that show little or no imagination. So what do you get? There are a couple of new black and white photos of the band in the studio in the 24-page booklet - the witty assessments of each band member as if Mick, Keith, Ron, Bill and Charlie were women around the edges of the back cover and the song titles that were in tiny print beside the garish Magazine Ads for lady products are blown-up to take a page each. And finally there are some excellent but short liner notes called "Love And Hope And Sex And Dreams" by ANTHONY DeCURTIS (the title is a lyric from "Shattered"). DeCurtis explains about the backdrop to the LP's inspiration  – New York City – a town in the grips of serial killer Son Of Sam, financial ruin with landlords torching slums for the insurance money (the Big Apple was famously bailed out by President Ford) while a strange mix of decadent Disco, bare Punk and bloated Rock music filled the nightclubs, stadiums and bars. But again the liner notes sloppily miss out guest credits for the album on the final pages like they didn't exist (see my list above for details) and there's zip discussion of the new recordings. And why didn't someone print the lyrics for an album that was in part defined by its radical and no-holes-barred words? It all feels like less instead of more somehow. The Rolling Stones used to be so Rock 'n' Roll - but now they're so corporate-safe. Thankfully there's the music that includes some very cool new entries...

Disc 1 is the STEPHEN MARCUSSEN and STEWART WHITMORE Remaster done in 2009 and doesn't pretend to be anything new even though some hated it (I think it's brilliant). The second CD of new tracks (supposedly outtakes) was done in Paris and New York in 2011 and mastered by the same duo. Both sound storming to me.

The first Rolling Stones LP to benefit from Ron Wood's official presence in the five-piece band turned out to be a barnstormer. Side 1 opens with the irresistible "Miss You" – that fantastically sexy rhythm that's neither Rock nor Disco but somewhere in-between – Jagger's Puerto Rican girls lyrics so racy yet so true - Sugar Blue and his slinky Harmonica part and the Mel Collins Saxophone solo that seals the deal. What a bloody winner. With the brilliantly funny and knowing "Far Away Eyes" on the B-side – the US 45 of "Miss You" on Rolling Stones 19307 went to No. 1 in June 1978 and deservedly so. "When The Whip Comes Down" is the first sign of Punk - a fantastic little rocker that took on a life of its own when they did it live. Quite why they follow Whip with a Temptations cover version is anyone's guess - but their very Stones take on the 1971 R&B No. 1 of "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" fits perfectly. You also hear those duelling guitars on this incredibly muscular remaster with Ian McLagan's Hammond Organ contribution barely audible.

Even now I can recall the first time I heard the utterly astonishing title track "Some Girls" - shock and awe and just a little appalled too. How could anyone be saying this stuff? You know you're in trouble when it opens with Sugar Blue's fantastic Harmonica warble. With lyrics like "...some girls give me children I never asked them for..." and "...some girls take the shirt off my back and leave me with a lethal dose..." - the song was never going to get on the Sunday Hymn Sheet for Westminster Abbey. But in its defence (if that’s the right way to phrase it) the words were true in Jagger's brain and many didn't like that in-your-face stance. But re-listening to it now and that stunning Harmonica/Guitar combo makes it a bit of an angry masterpiece for me. The rip-roaring and equally snarling "Lies" ends Side 1 with the core five-piece band sounding more vital than they had in years.

Side 2 opens with the countrified preaching song "Far Away Eyes" – Ron Wood's Pedal Steel Guitar perfectly complimenting Jagger's hilarious song-on-the-radio story (send 10$ to the church of bleeding hearts in Los Angeles). Back to Punk and heroin with the President on the White House lawn and no problem that can't be bent - "Respectable" became a single too and another live thriller. Keith's "Before They Make Me Run" is the forgotten song on the album and while it's a half-decent bopper you can't help think that Jagger's vocals would have lifted it out of the ordinary. But all is redeemed with a lethal one-two of "Beast Of Burden" and "Shattered" - the two aspects of the Stones I love - melody one moment - snotty rockers the next - and brill at both.

I genuinely hadn't expected much of Disc 2 - but it's got some corkers amidst the good and merely ordinary. Ian Stewart gives it some Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano-pumping bopper "Claudine" where a wee bit of instrument-echo makes the song feel Fifties. But then we're hit with a total gem and something you can't help but feel should have been on the album or at least a B-side to say "Miss You" - the Punky and very un-PC "So Young" where Mick is clearly tempted by the flesh of girls on the school run rather than the office pool (it's a federal offence). They Countrify "Do You Think I Really Care", Blues Boogie "When You're Gone" (with Jagger on Harp) and Piano Ballad "No Spare Parts". Of the others I like the raw "Keep Up Blues" about Italian Suits and keeping up with the fashionistas and their take on the hank Williams classic "You Win Again" is the best of the covers. Jagger brings it all home with a Piano and Vocal on "Petrol Blues" - a track that suspiciously sounds like an actual demo from the period.

The album "Some Girls" still stands up and in 2018 amazingly will be 40 years young. But while there are moments on that second disc that evoke the old Stones magic - I still wish the packaging wasn't so utterly lame.

Time to get up and get into something new which they and artist Peter Corriston would do on 1980's "Emotional Rescue". In the meantime don a 100% miracle fibre wig, slip on those red leatherette stilettos and get whipped by this Rolling Stones bad boy. In the comfort of your own home of course...

"On The Level: Deluxe Edition" by STATUS QUO (March 2016 Universal/Mercury 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' Reissue - Andy Pearce Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Deeper And Down..." 

Universal and Mercury have been giving it some welly on the Status Quo 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' reissue front of late. So it's hardly surprising to see the British band's beloved seventh album of no-nonsense Rock (and their first UK No. 1) get that same tickle-tastic sonic upgrade and presentation booty call. And while it's very, very far from perfect (the bootleg feel to the Maine tracks on Disc 2 leaves a decidedly nasty taste in the mouth) – this DE of 1975's "On The Level" is a winner on several other fronts – namely the amazing new Audio for the core 10-track album that for fans will absolutely be worth the price of admission alone - and of course better presentation.

First up - "On The Level" gets deeper and down with a stunning new Andy Pearce Remaster on Disc 1 and an hour’s worth of Quo Boogie as a Bonus on Disc 2 (some of which is Previously Unreleased). You get the "Down Down" 7" single edit from November 1974 that preceded the album's release (also a UK No. 1) as well as a rare demo version of the song - the May 1975 3-Track "Status Quo Live!" EP with "Roll Over Lay Down" as the lead track (a UK No. 9 chart hit) - a cover of The Doors' classic "Roundhouse Blues" first issued on the "Rockers Rollin'..." 4CD Box Set in 2001 - and finally six new Previously Unreleased versions recorded live in Maine, Germany in February 1975 at the height of their popularity.

Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham have handled the Remasters of Thin Lizzy, Budgie, Free, Wishbone Ash, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Uriah Heep and Rory Gallagher to name but a few (currently working on Deep Purple apparently) – and all to mucho praise. I've personally never heard this Status Quo album so kicking and alive and that applies to all of it. Secondly this DE has recently dropped in price – so is all the more tempting for those wanting to revisit those heady days of Hair and Levis. Here are the level-headed details...

UK released 25 March 2016 (1 April 2016 in the USA) - "On The Level: Deluxe Edition" by STATUS QUO on Universal/Mercury 4766972 (Barcode 602547669728) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "On The Level" (38:40 minutes):

1. Little Lady [Side 1]

2. Most Of The Time

3. I Saw The Light

4. Over And Done

5. Nightride

6. Down Down [Side 2]

7. Broken Man

8. What To Do 

9. Where I Am

10. Bye Bye Johnny

Tracks 1 to 10 are their seventh studio album "On The Level" - released late February 1975 in the UK on Vertigo 9102 002 and April 1975 in the USA on Capitol ST-11381. Produced by STATUS QUO - it peaked at No. 1 in the UK (didn't chart USA)

Disc 2 BONUS TRACKS (60:43 minutes):

1. Down Down (Single Edit)

November 1974 UK 7" single on Vertigo 6059 114 - a UK No. 1 - "Night Ride" was its B-side

2. Roll Over Lay Down (Live)

3. Gerdundula (Live)

4. Junior's Wailing (Live)

Tracks 2 to 4 are the "Status Quo Live!" 3-Track EP UK released May 1975 on Vertigo QUO 13 (Roll Over Lay Down (Live) is the lead track)

5. Roadhouse Blues (Live 1975) - First appeared on the 2001 "Rockers Rollin' Quo In Time 1972 - 2000" 4CD Box Set on Universal 589 216-2

6. Backwater (Live)

7. Just Take Me (Live)

8. Claudie (Live)

9. Little Lady (Live)

10. Most Of The Time (Live)

11. Bye Bye Johnny (Live)

Tracks 6 to 11 recorded "Live in Mainz, Germany 22/06/1975" and are Previously Unreleased

12. Down Down (Demo)

STATUS QUO was:

FRANCIS ROSSI - Lead Guitar and Vocals

RICK PARFITT - Lead Guitar and Vocals

ALAN LANCASTER - Bass

JOHN COUGHLAN - Drums

ROBERT 'Bob' YOUNG - Song Co-Writer

The gatefold card digipak is the usual flimsy effort from Universal with a 'Deluxe Edition' sticker on the shrink-wrap instead of those protective plastic slipcases they used to issue. The inner flaps sport two fabulous 7" picture sleeves for "Down Down" - one from Japan and another from Europe (Germany I suspect) - beneath the see-through CD trays is the collage of photos that adorned the original 1975 LP's inner sleeve - loads taken by the Quo fan club and mates. The CDs have those dark Vertigo labels with the two spaceships or floating jellyfish while the 16-page booklet has liner notes from DAVE LING of the Classic Rock and Metal Hammer magazines. Francis Rossi is newly interviewed for the release and his witty dry remarks show a self-effacing bloke who kept his head (although not his hair) when the whole of England was worshipping at his feet – and someone smart enough to know and acknowledge four decades later that spreading the writing to Parfitt and Lancaster as well made the whole album tighter. Long time band associate and associate songwriter Bob Young and the others throw in their recollections too. There are more rare 7" picture sleeves with great looking live shots - a Top 30 Best Selling Albums list with the Quo at No. 1 trumping Engelbert Humperdinck's "Greatest Hits" at No. 2 (thank gawd for that) - trade reviews on the hysteria surrounding the band after years of hard slog - an advert for the "Status Quo Live!" EP that featured the growing ‘From The Makers Of’ list of album-cover images at the bottom (always a feature at the base of their rear album covers) - and finally several shots of the boys in their trademark heads-down pose – guitars out front - tearing it up across the stages of the UK. It's all very tastefully done.

Rick Parfitt's "Little Lady" still stands up as a great little rocker that cleverly segues into the pretty opening for Francis Rossi and Robert Young's "Most Of The Time". Soon that sweet melody is replaced with monster riffage - taking the one-two sucker punch of the Side 1 openers romping home.  "I Saw The Light" and "Over And Done" are great Quo - short and to the boogie point - but the wicked groove of "Nightride" has always been Side 1 poison. And what you also notice is the amazing power the new Remaster has given all these rockers - fantastic. Side 2 opens with the song that put them at No. 1 - the jangle of "Down Down" - a tune that also brought derision later when it became fashionable to slag off the simplicity of it as something less than worthy. It sounds amazing here - again and again.

Alan Lancaster's "Broken Man" is the record's pop tune - a happier musical jaunt than its lyrics would suggest (he'd envisaged it as more bluesy to begin with). With its opening couldn't-give-a-monkees in the studio dialogue - "What To Do" features Rossi's mixture of Rock and Pop and I've always liked it. "Where I Am" is the love song amidst the thorns - a tune I've always thought showed their greatness - they could lull as well as rock. It ends on their brilliant cover of Chuck Berry's "Bye Bye Johnny" - a live-in-the-studio boogie blaster Capitol tried as a 45 in the USA but to no luck (the British No. 1 album meant nothing over there). The overdubbed Quo Army singing, "You'll Never Walk Alone" as the song fades out brings a great record to a clever close.

The 7" single edit of "Down Down" runs to 3:51 as opposed to the 5:24 minutes of the full album version - but it's properly trounced by the live version of "Roll Over Lay Down" recorded at the Kursaal in Southend in 1975. That's followed by of the wonderfully catchy "Gerdundula" from "Dog Of Two Head" that is described as 'live' but turns out to be a live-in-the-studio re-recording. Back to the 'get it moving' geezer rock of "Junior's Wailing" and the sheer power of the band as a live event is screaming out at you. Their near 13-minute version of the Doors classic "Roadhouse Blues" (Quo's shorter studio cover of it ends Side 2 of the 1972 "Piledriver" album) was also recorded at the Kursaal in Southend in 1975 and first appeared on the "Rockers Rollin'..." Box set and was used as a Bonus Track on the previous "On The Level" CD Remaster. It's a worth inclusion if not a little overly long. Some have complained that the Mainz tracks are bootleg quality at best - good bootleg mind you - but bootleg nonetheless - unfortunately they'd be right. You can hear tape wobble and bluntly I'm not sure I'd want to inflict my ears with these versions ever again (docked a star for that). The near six-minute "Down Down" demo is hissy and crude - interesting only in a historical context but not a lot else and will surely test even a die-hard fan's patience.

Admittedly Disc 2 lets the Side down badly when it's obvious that the keepers (the singles and maybe "Roadhouse Blues") would have fit easily onto an 'Extended Version' of Disc 1. But at least that brilliant remaster of the core album and presentation live up to expectations and its new reduced 2017 price now makes it worth the buy. Toilet Rolls and Mars Bars as Francis Rossi says - heads down everybody... 

"Inflammable Material" by STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (2001 EMI 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Try To Put It Right..."

I was in Dublin (probably late 1979) and went to see STIFF LITTLE FINGERS in a city club that hosted Punk Bands. Big mistake and a genius move.

SLF live was easily the most terrifying musical spectacle I'd ever seen and the most exciting. I was 21 and a Southern Irish Catholic and like everyone around me pogoing up and down and spitting at everything that moved - I was taken by a visceral storm - the volume - the no-holes-barred lyrics - the incendiary riffage that felt like a motorbike hurtling at you with its handlebars intent on doing some damage. Lead singer Jake Burns was an animal unleashed on stage (he was the same age as me) - snotty, arrogant and insanely truthful about things we didn't hear nor see on Irish or English tele.

And above the fear I also recall feeling a certain sense of shame at just being Irish. People forget now how the 'troubles' were at that time. Down South of the Border - except for the odd overturned car by rambunctious youths down from the North on a day pass or a beer-fuelled punch-up in a Baggot Street pub over dumb and poisonous ancient political loyalties - we Dubs didn't experience much of the Catholic and Protestant horror that the populous of the Six Counties did on an increasingly horrific basis. We knew of it - saw it on the news - read the lurid headlines - hurt for them - even prayed for them - but never really physically felt that loss and the rage at authority that follows it. Then I saw Stiff Little Fingers...

With their 'f' words and genuinely substantive attack-the-hypocrisy lyrics - both of their initial 45s "Suspect Device" and "Alternative Ulster" had shifted copies - moved - impressed - made us curious if not a little wary. After the gig (which had a fight too half way in as I remember hence the mistake comment earlier) and that constant stream of three-minute kick-him-in-the-goolies moments - I was hooked and bought the nine-flames dark-covered album soon after. Back home in leafy Clontarf with the safety of my Garrard SP25 and Dustbuster to protect my delicate middle-class posterior - I found the album was filled with songs about living in the physical reality of 35% unemployment – walls with murals and footbridges decked in barbed wire blocking out river views – soldiers and paramilitaries caught up in an endless cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation and always with innocents in the firing line. They sang of too many wasted lives and those in charge only exasperating and maintaining the political misery. But through the growls - it was also articulate and relevant in a way that so much of the bloated Rock scene wasn’t.

Our daughter Julia was born 1 September 1994 - the day of the IRA ceasefire (the subsequent UDA/UVF cessation came in October 1994 and effectively brought the 30 year war to an end) - so we gave her the middle name of 'Hope'. 1 September 1994 is also the release date for "The Shawshank Redemption" – in my opinion – the greatest and most hopeful film ever made. Barbed wire love indeed.

Which brings us to this kick-ass 2001 CD from EMI. Let's get to the rough trades... 

UK released 22 January 2001 - "Inflammable Material" by STIFF LITTLE FINGERS on EMI 535 8862 (Barcode 724353588625) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster of their 1979 debut LP with Three Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (64:01 minutes):

1. Suspect Device [Side 1]

2. State Of Emergency

3. Here We Are Nowhere

4. Wasted Life

5. No More Of That

6. Barbed Wire Love

7. White Noise

8. Breakout

9. Law And Order [Side 2]

10. Rough Trade

11. Johnny Was

12. Alternative Ulster

13. Closed Groove

Tracks 1 to 13 are their debut album "Inflammable Material" - originally released February 1979 in the UK on Rough Trade Records ROUGH 1 and 1980 in the USA on Rough Trade ROUGH US 5. Produced by GEOFF TRAVIS and MAYO THOMPSON – it peaked at No. 14 on the UK charts (didn't chart USA).

BONUS TRACKS:

14. Suspect Device (Single Version) - March 1978 debut UK 7" single on Rigid Digits SRD 1, A-side (Privately Pressed, 500 Copies)

15. 78 RPM (aka 78 Revolutions Per Minute) - October 1978 2nd UK 7" single on Rough Trade/Rigid Digits RT 004, Non-album B-side of "Alternative Ulster"

16. Jake Burns Interview by Alan Parker (13/6/01) Part One

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS was:

JAKE BURNS - Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals

HENRY CLUNEY - Second Guitar and Lead Vocals on "No More Of That" only

ALI McMORDIE - Bass

BRIAN FALOON - Drums (Jim Reilly is mistakenly credit as the drummer but he joined the band later)

Although the 8-page booklet features an intro from lead singer and songwriter Jake Burns and the near 18-minute CD interview conducted with him by ALAN PARKER is hugely illuminating (and fun) – the original lyric inner that came with the Rough Trade album is missing. And as words are so important with this most political of bands – that comes as a bit of a disappointment. The CD Remaster appears to be by NIGEL REEVES and was done at Abbey Road – so the power and punch is there – only amplified. Nice to have those rare single-sides too...

Taking their name from a track on The Vibrators 1977 "Pure Mania" debut album on Epic Records – Stiff Little Fingers open their debut with the re-recorded "Suspect Device" and immediately your listening to Northern Ireland’s answer to The Pistols and The Clash (huge influences on the young Belfast band). Other winners include the great guitar opening to "State Of Emergency" and the short but devastating "White Noise" with those GORDON OGLIVIE lyrics that floor you. While their own "Here We Are Nowhere" and "Wasted Life" talk of the despair kids felt at the time - Ogilvie adds lyrical polish to "Barbed Wire Love" and "Law And Order". The band's second guitarist Henry Cluney gets a rare vocal lead on "No More Of That" - while all the others are handled by Jake Burns. Like the first Clash, Damned and Pistols albums - it's a perfect slice of truth from the day and still sounds relevant 40 years after the event...

The June 2001 Jake Burns interview is revelatory, funny and full of great reminiscences. He talks of Taste with Rory Gallagher and watching their farewell show in 1970 at the age of 12 and realising that being a guitarist was what he really wanted to do. Initially turned on by the early Seventies heavy metal of Sabbath and Zeppelin – he formed a covers band called Highway Star (named after a Deep Purple song). But Burns bored of that and quickly moved on to the British New Wave of Dr. Feelgood, Graham Parker, the Damned and The Sex Pistols. But then the first Clash album happened and his future as a songwriter with songs that had meaningful lyrics was set.

Later in the interview he talks of the cancelled Clash gig at the Europa Hotel in Belfast when the London band couldn't get insurance to play – but the disappointed and angry crowd rioted outside and Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon tried to pacify the mob. We get background on Gordon Ogilvie – Manager and Lyricist - John Peel's invaluable and timely support on the BBC's Radio 1 – making the covers of the "Suspect Device" single in their flats on the kitchen table (500 copies only) – the £35,000 Island Records offer in London that fell through (the subject matter of the "Rough Trade" song and not the indie label as many wrongly think) – the Tom Robinson tour and support his entourage gave them – the first Rough Trade independent LP breaking the English Top 20 and so on. Part 2 of the interview can be heard on the CD reissue for their 2nd LP "Nobody's Heroes".

Always a great band rather than a good one – you can’t help feel that their blistering debut is sidelined nowadays for the more obvious markers of the day. An overlooked flame. Time to step out of the shadows – again.

"...I've got very strong views..." - Stiff Little Fingers sang on "Closed Groove". Well thank God for that I say...