"Sheet Music" by 10cc - June 1974 Second Studio Album on UK Records (April 2007 UK Cherry Red/7T's Records 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and 255 More Like It Can Be Found In My AMAZON e-Book 

 

PICK UP THE PIECES - 1974

 

Your All-Genres Guide To Exceptional 

CD Reissues and Remasters 

Classic Albums, Compilations, 45's...

All In-Depth Reviews From The Discs Themselves

Over 2,280 E-Pages

(No Cut And Paste Crap)

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B08CQ7QLV2&asins=B08CQ7QLV2&linkId=4a0921806bfd2d1d5d1a3ee8294a571e&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...Groomed To Enrapture..."

Although the self-titled debut LP "10cc" had numbers like the fabulous "Donna" and (for me anyway) the ultra-irritating No. 1 hit "Rubber Bullets" - as an album their July 1973 starter on UK Records always felt underwhelming to me. Having said that some fans love it and see that initial ejaculation as a bit of a forgotten gem...

But as Michael Heatley's excellent liner notes point out - while many bands blew their best tunes on their debut only to find following up with more musical goodies problematical - 10cc actually did get better with every album thereafter. And their second platter "Sheet Music" from July 1974 (again on UK Records) only hammers this point home with a pistol-slapper. Despite the LP's overly knowing launch single "The Worst Band In The World" tanking chartwise (the public seemingly not in on the joke) - "The Wall Street Shuffle" follow-up 7" smashed the Top 10 and with "Silly Love" hot on the heels of that - everyone knew 10cc was not just special – but this so very British band had arrived.

But what I love about "Sheet Music" is that it's not a record dominated by the hit singles but by stunning album tracks like "Hotel" and "Somewhere In Hollywood" - the complexity of such songs being a stepping-stone to the full-on brilliance of "The Original Soundtrack" LP and of course the dazzling "I'm Not In Love" in 1975.

Reissued with fabulous audio by '7T's Records' - they're part of Cherry Red's roster of labels and in April 2007 also reissued the debut "10cc" on CD with Five Bonus Tracks (7T's Records GLAM CD 25 - Barcode 5013929042520) and threw in a further 14-Track CD compilation of their early 45s called "The U.K. Records Singles Collection" for good measure (7T's Records GLAM CD 27 - Barcode 5013929042728). But for now let's get to the 18-Carat "Sheet Music"...

UK released April 2007 - "Sheet Music" by 10cc on Cherry Red/7T's Records GLAM CD 26 (Barcode 5013929042629) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Three Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (47:29 minutes):

1. The Wall Street Shuffle [Side 1]

2. The Worst Band In The World

3. Hotel

4. Old Wild Men

5. Clockwork Creep

6. Silly Love [Side 2]

7. Somewhere In Hollywood

8. Baron Samedi

9. The Sacro-Iliac

10. Oh Effendi

Tracks 1 to 10 are their second studio album "Sheet Music" - released June 1974 in the UK on UK Records UKAL 1007 and August 1974 in the USA on UK Records AUKS 53017. Produced by 10cc - it peaked at No. 9 in the UK LP charts and No. 81 in the USA.

BONUS TRACKS: 

11. 18 Carat Man Of Means - Non-album B-side to "The Worst Band In The World", a January 1974 UK 7" single on UK Records UK 57

12. Gismo My Way - Non-album B-side to "The Wall Street Shuffle", a May 1974 UK 7" single on UK Records UK 69

13. The Worst Band In The World (Radio Version)

You get a picture CD (the LP’s artwork) while the 16-page booklet reproduces the lyrics from the lyric-sheet insert that came with original copies of the 1974 vinyl LP - whilst Pages 3, 4, 5 and 6 have a cool display of no less than 12 different 7" single pictures sleeves - French, Dutch, German and European rarities for the album's three 45's - "The Worst Band In The World", "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love". Uber-fan MICHAEL HEATLEY provides the informative liner notes and the material is licensed from Jonathan King Enterprises (no Remaster Engineer named) - the Audio being superb - punchy and full.

The album spawned three singles – the first creeping out as early as January 1974 on UK Records UK 57. But despite its clever-clever title "The Worst Band In The World" combined with a non-album B-side in "18 Carat Man Of Means" – this primer was met with terrible indifference and even anger. The public it seems neither liked the in-joke or the song. But things changed radically when a month before the album’s release in June 1974 – UK Records tried "The Wall Street Shuffle" in May 1974 (UK Records UK 69) and again paired it with a non-LP B-side called "Gismo My Way". It worked. With its fab irresistible riffage and cool lyrics "The Wall Street Shuffle" peaked at No. 10 in the UK – giving the equally sophisticated Rock of the album a huge boost in sales. As a by-the-by - the word "Gismo" in the flipside song was famously about a contraption 10cc had placed over the guitar strings to give it more range and different sounds – a device they used on the indulgent 3LP Godley & Crème Box Set "Consequences" in 1977. They actually tried to sell the said Gismo as a new guitar innovation – but it didn’t take. Single number three was just as good and as hard rocking as money blitz in Wall Street. "Silly Love" was paired with "The Sacro-Iliac" from the album’s second side and arrived in late August 1974. But despite Top of the Pops appearances and heavy radio-play - it inexplicably stalled at No. 23 in the UK despite being just as good as its boogie predecessor.

As they sing "...here I am a record on a juke box...a little piece of plastic with a hole..." on "The Worst Band In The World" – the jokes about being the darlings of Rock and Roll who are too big to meet the roadies (left them in the van) suddenly feel so knowing and better than I remember them. "Hotel" has about forty different rhythms going on – Salsa, Bubblegum Pop, Rock and hell even a little Hawaiian – a genius little tune that surprises you every time as they sing about Americans and Islands and Riches and the ghost of Tarzan (gone over to the other side apparently). There is very 10cc sadness to "Old Wild Men" – a sideways ballad about forgotten musical heroes feeling the past-it pinch – dead strings and old drums (dig those doubled-up guitars ala Mike Oldfield). Side 1 ends with the tick-a-time-bomb of "Clockwork Creep" where the refrain "...Oh no you'll never get me up in one these again...” would reappear as the lead-in for "I'm Mandy, Fly Me" - the huge hit single from 1976's "How Dare You".

Side 2 opens with a killer – the takes-the-beauty-out-of-beautiful "Silly Love" – an acidic Rocker that takes the Royal Michael out of loved-up dudes. My favourite track on the album is the brilliant "Somewhere In Hollywood" - Queen in its scope and complexity - a sardonic look at casting couches and the pups Vaudeville threw up many becoming crazy dogs up in Beverley Hills. Again so many ideas going on - you can't help think that Tears For Fears were listening to this when recording "The Seeds Of Love". The album's final trio "Baron Samedi", "The Sacro-Iliac" and "Oh Effendi" continue on in that chop-change mode - flitting between Lounge Bop and Silly Dances and zippy wordplay like 'don't want to annoy ya with my paranoia'.

With 10cc newly signed to Mercury Records in 1975 for their third album "The Original Soundtrack" – UK Records tried a third themselves with the "Greatest Hits Of 10cc" compilation. Released May 1975 - the black-covered LP gathered up the obvious hits and placed them alongside those non-album B-sides – most of which have been provided as Bonus Tracks across these "10cc" and "Sheet Music" CD Remasters. Next stop would be the album glory days of "The Original Soundtrack" (1975), "How Dare You" (1976) and "Deceptive Bends" (1977).

But if you want to know why they caused a stir and are remembered with such affection forty-plus years after the event - pull back that "Sheet Music"...

"One-Way Glass: Dancefloor Prog, Brit Jazz & Funky Folk 1968-1975" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (August 2017 RPM Records 3CD Box Set) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Almost 300 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

Folk-Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Country Rock and more

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Out Of Nowhere..."

Weird, adventurous, cool, surprising yet forgotten, brilliant yet often unknown, sometimes crap and even risible - but at other times as Funky as a loved-up Bishop Curry on biblical-speed at a Royal Wedding. I love Box Sets like "One Way Glass..." – it’s not all undiluted James Brown vs. Deep Purple crossover genre-genius for sure - but when its Funky Breaks are good – man they’re shockingly so...

Spanning 1968 to 1975 and offering 58 tracks across 3CDs - "Dancefloor Prog, Brit Jazz & Funky Folk" is a catchall that goes so deep that even fairly knowledgeable types like yours truly here might look at the artist names on any of these near-eighty-minute CDs and shout 'who the hell are they?' Most are British Rock bands with great players that tapped into their Bad Soulful American Selves on throwaway B-sides and album fillers – getting down with the Groove be it on Mellotron or Wah Wah Pedal. Some are well known names but most were very much on the fringes and get a long overdue outing here.

But for me that's what makes this superb RMP Records anthology such a winner is the dip and discover factor - and all of it presented with knowledge, enthusiasm and even glee (a 42-page jam-packed booklet) and Audio that does well with ancient tapes. There is a heap of Hard Stuff to wade through - so once more my Burning Red Ivanhoes unto the Fat Mattress, Skin Alley and Jody Grind (and that's just the Pesky Gee)...

UK released 25 August 2017 (1 September 2017 in the USA) - "One Way Glass: Dancefloor Prog, Brit Jazz and Funky Folk 1968-1975" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on RPM Records RPMBX 537 (Barcode 5013929553705) is a 58-Track 3CD Clamshell Box Set of Remasters with a 42-Page Booklet and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (79:04 minutes):

1. One Way Glass - TRIFFLE (from the December 1970 UK LP "First Meeting" on Dawn DNLS 3017 – a Manfred Mann Chapter Three cover version – for Triffle see also Track 11, Disc 3)

2. Elegy - COLOSSEUM (from the November 1969 UK LP "Valentyne Suite" on Vertigo VO1)

3. Man From Afghanistan - CURTISS MULDOON (from the October 1971 UK LP "Curtiss Muldoon" on Purple Records TPS 3501)

4. 3D Mona Lisa - PAUL BRETT'S SAGE (from the October 1970 UK LP "Paul Brett Sage" on Pye NSPL 18347)

5. Home Is Where I Belong - QUICKSAND (from the 1973 UK LP "Home Is Where I Belong" on Dawn DNLS 3056)

6. Somethin' You Got - SECOND HAND (from the April 1971 UK LP "Death May be Your Santa Claus" on Mushroom 200 MR 6)

7. Get One Together - PALADIN (from the April 1972 UK LP "Charge!" on Bronze ILPS 9190 - see also Track 2 on Disc 3)

8. Cold Wall Of Stone - FAT MATTRESS (Recorded 1969 and Previously Unreleased at the time - first appeared in 1992 on Sequel NEX CD 192 as a Bonus Track - a UK CD Reissue of their 1969 Polydor Records debut album "Fat Mattress" - see also Track 5 on Disc 3)

9. Libel - HARD STUFF (from the March 1973 UK LP "Bolex Dementia" on Purple TPSA 7507)

10. Sanctuary - GRAVY TRAIN (Non-album B-side to "Climb Aboard The Gravy Train (And Get On To A Good Thing)", a stand-alone July 1975 UK 7" single on Dawn DNS 1115)

11. City Of Darkness - THE WEB (from the August 1968 UK Stereo LP "Fully Interlocking" on Deram SML 1025 - see also Track 15 on Disc 3)

12. Out Of Nowhere - PATRICK CAMPBELL-LYONS (from the February 1973 UK LP "Me And My Friend" on Sovereign SVNA 7258)

13. The Bitch - THE GASOLINE BAND  (from the May 1972 UK LP "The Gasoline Band" on Cube HIFLY 9)

14. I Saw An Angel - PENTANGLE (B-side to the May 1969 UK 7" single "Once I Had A Sweetheart" on Big T Records BIG 124)

15. Ricochet - JONESY (and abridged edit of a track on their "On This New Day" LP issued as an A-side in January 1973 on Dawn DNS 1030)

16. Revolution's Death Man - EDWARDS HAND (from the 1970 UK LP "Stranded" on RCA Victor SF 8154)

17. Macumbe - BOND & BROWN [Graham Bond and Pete Brown] (Track 2 on Side 1 from the July 1972 UK 3-Track 7" EP "Lost Tribe" on Greenwich Gramophone Company GSS 104)

18. Henry - CMU (from the June 1971 UK LP "Open Spaces" on Transatlantic TRA 237)

19. Sunburnt Virgin Trousers - KNOCKER JUNGLE (from the 1970 UK LP "Knocker Jungle" on Ember NR 5042)

20. Cubano Chant - CLIMAX CHICAGO BLUES BAND (from the November 1969 UK Stereo LP "Plays On" on Parlophone PCS 7084)

21. She's My Sister - OPEN ROAD (from the August 1971 UK LP "Windy Daze" on The Greenwich Gramophone Company GSLP 1001)

22. The Lord Doesn't Want You - THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN (Recorded 1969, Previously Unreleased at the time)

Disc 2 (79:29 minutes):

1. I've Got My Mojo Working - MELANIE (from the October 1975 UK LP "Sunset And Other Beginnings" on Neighborhood NBH 69168)

2. Eyeballs - BLUE MINK (from the April 1974 UK LP "Fruity” on EMI Records EMC 3021)

3. Celebration - CHILLUM (Recorded 1971, not originally released)

4. Confusions About A Goldfish - JOHN KONGOS (from the 1969 UK LP "Confusions About A Goldfish" on Dawn DNLS 3002 - see also Track 1 on Disc 3)

5. Skin Alley Serenade - SKIN ALLEY (from the December 1972 UK LP "Two Quid Deal?" on Transatlantic TRA 260 - see also Track 10 on Disc 3)

6. Little Message - JODY GRIND (from the November 1969 UK LP "One Step On” on Transatlantic TRA 210)

7. Weren't Born A Man - DANA GILLESPIE (from the December 1973 UK LP "Weren't Born A Man" on RCA Victor APL1 0345)

8. Drinking My Wine - HARDIN & YORK (from the November 1969 UK Stereo LP "Tomorrow Today" on Bell SBLL 125)

9. She's Mine, She's Yours - JUICY LUCY (from their November 1969 debut UK LP "Juicy Lucy" on Vertigo VO 2 - see also Track 12 on Disc 3)

10. Avez-Vous Kaskelainen? - BURNIN' RED IVANHOE (from the November 1971 UK LP "W.W.W." on Dandelion 2310 145)

11. Message To Mankind - DEMON FUZZ (from the November 1970 UK LP on Dawn DNX 2504)

12. Closer To The Truth - ALAN JAMES EASTWOOD (A-side of a September 1972 stand-alone UK 7" single on President PT 379)

13. Wake Up My Children - SIREN (from the December 1969 UK LP "Siren" on Dandelion S 63755)

14. The Devil Made Me Do It - CURTIS KNIGHT ZEUS (A-side of January 1974 UK 7" single on Dawn DNS 1049 - also on the German-only LP "Sea Of Time")

15. Hilary Dickson - ATLANTIC BRIDGE (Track 2 on Side 1 of the 3-Track January 1971 UK 7" EP "I Can't Lie To You” on Dawn DNX 2507)

16. Sly Willy - BLUE BEARD (from the 1971 UK LP "Blue Beard” on Durium D 30-214)

17. Mean Old Man - JOAN ARMATRADING (from the November 1972 UK debut LP "Whatever's For Us" on Cube HIFLY 12)

18. Funky - THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP (from the withdrawn 1970 US LP "Funky" on Date Records TES 4021)

19. In The Beginning - THE FOUNDATIONS (A July 1970 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 17956, instrumental B-side to "I'm Gonna Be A Rich Man")

Disc 3 (79:12 minutes):

1. He's Gonna Step On You Again - JOHN KONGOS (from the November 1971 UK LP "Kongos" on Fly Records HIFLY 7, also a UK chart single that peaked at No. 3)

2. Bad Times - PALADIN (from the May 1971 UK LP "Paladin" on Bronze ILPS 9150)

3. Instant Whip- THE TREMELOES (Non-Album B-side of "(Call Me) Number One", an October 1969 UK 7" single on CBS 4582)

4. The Rock - ATOMIC ROOSTER (an Instrumental from their September 1971 album "In Hearing Of" on Pegasus PEG 1 - also the B-side to the No. 3 chart UK 7" single "The Devil's Answer")

5. Margarita - FAT MATTRESS (Recorded 1969 and Previously Unreleased at the time - first appeared in 1992 on Sequel NEX CD 192 as a Bonus Track - a UK CD Reissue of their 1969 Polydor Records debut album "Fat Mattress" - see also Track 8 on Disc 1)

6. Gesolreut (Live) - SOFT MACHINE (from the February 1973 2LP set "Six" on CBS Records S 68214)

7. Some Kind Of Beautiful - BRIDGET ST. JOHN (from her July 1974 UK LP "Jumble Queen” on Chrysalis CHR 1062)

8. House On The Hill - AUDIENCE (from their November 1969 UK Debut LP "Audience" on Polydor 583 065)

9. Indian Rope Man - NOIR (from the November 1971 UK LP "We Had To Let You Have It" on Dawn DNLS 3029 - a Richie Havens cover)

10. So Many People - SKIN ALLEY (from the December 1972 UK LP "Two Quid Deal?" on Transatlantic TRA 260 - see also Track 5 on Disc 2)

11. Alibi Annie - TRIFFLE (from the December 1970 UK LP "First Meeting" on Dawn DNLS 3017 - see also Track 1 on Disc 1)

12. I'm A Thief - JUICY LUCY (Non-Album B-side to "Pretty Woman", a stand-alone UK 7" single released December 1970 on Vertigo 6059 015 - see also Track 9 on Disc 2)

13. Travelling Like A Gypsy - HANSON (from the December 1973 UK LP "Now Hear This" on Manticore K 43507)

14. Looking For The Red Label - FAIR WEATHER (B-side to "Lay It On Me", a May 1971 UK 7" single on RCA Neon NE 1001)

15. I'm A Man - THE WEB (1968 Recording Previously Unreleased at the time - a Spencer Davis Group cover - see also Track 11 on Disc 1)

16. Pigs Foot - PESKY GEE (from the August 1969 UK LP "Exclamation Mark" on Pye NSPL 18293)

17. One Way Glass - JOHN SCHROEDER ORCHESTRA featuring Chris Thomas (a November 1971 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 45108, Non-Album Track, A-side, a Manfred Man Chapter Three cover version)

Compiled and co-ordinated by JOHN REED and MARK STRATFORD (with help from good eggs like Dave Timperley over at Cherry Red Records) – the 44-page booklet is amazing – a feast of knowledge, album covers, 45 label repros, trade adverts and of course rare photos of artists who are so underground they may have dirt in their mouths. Fluid Mastering has done the transfers and as Cherry Red has remastered much of this in the last ten years – it’s not surprising to find that the music audio is uniformly great. To the music of hairy-men secretly longing to be the Average White Band...

Disc 1: Triffle and their brass-funky "One Way Glass" give the anthology its name - an in-the-background guitar suitably distant as the backbeat gets laid down. Jon Hiseman and Dick Heckstall-Smith trade licks in the bopping Colosseum track "Elegy" while somebody with an itch in Curtis Maldoon is waiting for the "Man From Afghanistan" - a surprisingly cool 'waiting for the man' groove. Flute-Folk-Rock drives the excellent "3D Mona Lisa" - a guitar-chugger by Paul Brett Sage featuring some great fretwork and frantic Small Faces-type vocals. (Songwriter and Guitarist) Terry Davis features prominently on "Home Is Where I Belong" - a genuine highlight on a jam-packed Disc 1. We enter the valley of weird and silly voices tagged onto a Prog Funky beat with the very Greenslade-sounding Second Hand. Another winner on here is Noel Redding's Fat Mattress and their sexy "Cold Wall Of Stone" - Steve Hammond's guitar and Neil Landon's vocals highlights on an outtake from the first album that only saw the light of day in 1992 as a CD Bonus Track. Other notables are the piano-funky instrumental "Out Of Nowhere" by Nirvana’s Patrick Campbell-Lyons (entirely unrepresentative of the album’s overall singer-songwriter sound – see separate review) and the Folk-Rock cool of Pentangle’s groovy double-bass rhythms in "I Saw An Angel".

Disc 2 opens with a shocker - Melanie Kafka getting Funky as she gets her Mojo working (even if it won't work on the man she wants) - a fantastic groover from 1975 when her albums were probably being ignored. Equally shocking is the hard-hitting Labelle meets Sly Stone Funk of Blue Mink's "Eyeballs" - a truly brilliant Bass-Pounding Beast as inspirational singers Roger Cook and Madeline Bell get up to their eyeballs in backbeats and love. Chillum's "Celebration" is certainly funky but as a five-minute instrumental it feels a tad laboured. South African John Kongos gets the first of two entries - the title track from "Confusions About A Goldfish" being his intro - with lyrics flitting about wildly - from Thalidomide to Thanksgiving to the worries of a goldfish in a room we call the World (it's a good groove but "He's Gonna Step On You Again" over on Disc 3 annihilates it). Skin Alley's "Skin Valley Serenade" also promises much but like Chillum's entry feels overly-long and tired. Jody Grind's "Little Message" on the other hand has a fab organ vs. guitar battle going on throughout its pounding stay. Things also pick up with Dana Gillespie's 'Son Of A Preacher Man' groovy "Weren't Born A Man" - as cool as Lou Reed in 1973. Another Disc 3 highlight surely has to be superbly groovy "Drinking My Wine" by Hardin & York - Eddie Hardin and Pete York - both ex The Spencer Davis Group. And I've always been a sucker for the fantastic slide-guitar Blues Boogie sound of Juicy Lucy - vocalist Ray Owen howling and snarling out those sleazy lyrics while ace-supremo Glenn Ross Campbell goes all Johnny Winter on his guitar to truly hair-raising effect. Other notables include the go-go 60ts throwback chug of "Sly Willy" by Blue Beard – the acoustic attack of a young and angry Joan Armatrading on "Mean Old Man", the Flute-Cool Richie Havens-sounding emotional world of "Closer To The Truth" by Alan James Eastwood and a rare outing for the Chicago/BST sounding Jazz-Rock album you never see by The Spencer Davis Group – the withdrawn "Funky" LP on America's Date Records.

Disc 3 features the fantastic Malo/Santana Latin-Rock Fusion of Paladin's frantic "Bad Times" - a huge nine-minute Funk Monster that starts out slowly in 'Oye Coma Va' mode but then builds into a full-on tearaway Boogie with Drums and Guitars battling it out. Shocker-city comes with a B-side from The Tremeloes of all things - the funky instrumental "Instant Whip" with Drummer Dave Munden letting rip on some strangled Screaming Jay Hawkins yelps whilst guitarist Rick Westwood gives it some fantastic guitar chops throughout. I've raved before about the superb Atomic Rooster B-side "The Rock" (flip to "The Devil's Answer") - an instrumental guitar/keyboard/brass groover that's tucked away on one of the era's biggest Prog Rock LPs - 1971's "In Hearing Of..." Surprises come at you in the shape of Soft Machine finding their inner Mahavishnu Funk on the instrumental "Gesroleut" but Bridget St. John's "Some Kind Of Beautiful" is a tad too fey for its own good. Better is "Indian Rope Man" by Noir - a Richie Havens song from his 1969 double-album "Richie P. Havens, 1983" that seemed to produce a long line of covers that rocked as much as the original. And Skin Alley don’t disappoint with their Focus-sounding Flute-Rock-Funky "So Many People". And on it goes...

A huge haul and even for a know-all like me – some amazing finds in genres I love – music I make CD compilations of when Beelzebub is not looking.

Don’t let the vertigo-inducing up-the-side-of-glass-tower-buildings-artwork put you off – there is so much in here to savour and discover. And I'm thinking that somebody in Royal Circles should drop a sword on John Reed’s shoulder for his musical services to ageing Prog hooligans everywhere and their groove-aroused Zimmer frames. Or better still – punish him with four days chained to the pulpit of Bishop Curry after he’s read the Financial Times. That'll teach the little Funky Folker...

Fabtastic Flutes and then some. Recommended...

"Captured Angel/Nether Lands" by DAN FOGELBERG (July 2007 Beat Goes On 2CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 300+ Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 2 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Folk, Folk Rock, Country Rock, Reggae, Punk and New Wave

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Oil On Canvas…Couplets And Stanzas..."

I have to say that Beat Goes On of the UK have done a solid by Dan Fogelberg’s excellent recorded output – their remasters of his Seventies classics have been utterly superb – and this 2nd volume in that series is no different.

UK released July 2007 - "Captured Angel/Nether Lands" by DAN FOGELBERG on Beat Goes On BGOCD 764 (Barcode 5017261207647) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster that comes in a card slipcase and features Dan Fogelberg's third and fourth studio albums from the Seventies "Captured Angel" (1975) and "Nether Lands" (1977). It plays out as follows...

Disc 1 (38:04 minutes):

1. Aspen/These Days [Side 1]

2. Come And Goes

3. Captured Angel

4. Old Tennessee

5. Next Time [Side 2]

6. Man In The Mirror

7. Below The Surface

8. Crow

9. The Last Nail

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 3rd album “Captured Angel” first issued in the USA in September 1975 on Full Moon PE 33499 and November 1975 in the UK on Epic S EPC 69189.

Disc 2 (45:31 minutes):

1. Nether Lands [Side 1]

2. Once Upon A Time

3. Dancing Shoes

4. Lessons Learned

5. Loose Ends

6. Love Gone By [Side 2]

7. Promises Made

8. Give Me Some Time

9. Scarecrow’s Dream

10. Sketches

11. False Faces

Tracks 1 to 11 are his 4th LP released May 1977 in the USA on Full Moon Records PE 34185 and June 1977 in the UK on Epic EPC 81574.

The 20-page booklet is excellent – all artwork reproduced, lyrics to both albums, full credits and liner notes by noted writer JOHN TOBLER. With the outer card wrap – it’s a classy presentation. But the big news for fans is the fabulous remasters. ANDREW THOMPSON at Sound Mastering in London has done the deed (he’s handled large numbers of BGO’s reissues) and his transfers on this 2CD set are beautifully handled. But to the music…

Following the stunning Joe Walsh produced “Souvenirs” in 1974 was always going to be hard (it charted at 17 in the States) and in some ways I still remember “Captured Angel” as being a disappointment when I bought it as a teenager (it reached Number 23). It opens however with a strong double – the strings of "Aspen" segueing into the Country Rock of "These Days" which is followed by the very pretty "Comes And Goes" (a firm fan fave). The title track and its Side 1 finisher "Old Tennessee" sound nice but lack any real killer melody for me.

Things pick up with the piano and Al Perkins Pedal Steel of “Next Time” which could have been an Eagles song. Both “Man In The Mirror” and “Below The Surface” go down the countrified route again - while “Crow” really benefits from the remaster with slide guitars beautifully alive in the mix all of a sudden. “The Last Nail” goes all Eagles again and the remaster brings his stunning multi-instrumental prowess out of the mud – very good indeed.

Things got very melodramatic with 1977’s “Nether Lands” – and not in a good way. The opening title track is swamped with huge strings and orchestral stuff that just feels heavy handed. Things improve with the Country Rock of “Once Upon A Time” now sounding so good and the pretty accordion piece “Dancing Shoes”. Again the shadow of the Eagles surfaces with “Lessons Learned” which sounds like “The Best Of My Love” (fabulous remaster too). “Love Gone By” is trying too hard with its pseudo Rock and Roll franticness - but “Promises Made” which sounds ‘so’ Dan Fogelberg redeems things. It ends with the echoed piano of “Sketches” and the excellent big finisher “False Faces” (a true nugget in his song catalogue – lyrics from it title this review). 

He would hit paydirt with 1979’s “Phoenix” and really open out with “The Innocent Age” double in 1981 (featuring a rare duet vocal appearance by Joni Mitchell on the track "Nexus").

I posted a note on Fogelberg’s website when he sadly succumbed to cancer in December 2007 - yet another teenage hero of mine gone to the great gig in the sky.

Well - now Dan is free - and this beautiful-sounding 2CD reissue does his musical legacy proud...