Certainly one of the classic country-rock records, Lost In The Ozone was Commander Cody’s first disc released back in 1971 (MCA). The original group formed sometime around 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Eventually they would relocate to San Fransisco and become a major live phenomenon. The group were led by pianist George Frayne (Commander Cody), vocalist/harp player Billy C. Farlowe, pedal steel player Don Bolton and lead guitarist John Tichy. At the time of the above debut other members included were guitarist Billy Kirchen, drummer Lance Dickerson, bassist Bruce Barlow and fiddle/saxophone player Andy Stein.
Lost In The Ozone was recorded during Commander Cody’s peak, which began in the late 60s and carried over til about 1976. During this period they gave the rock community many legendary live performances and left behind a handful of classic studio recordings. This debut sounded like nothing else in 1971, freewheeling, full of humor, great performances (some fine steel playing) and that special something that only comes around every so often, honesty. Included on the lp is their classic top 10 hit Hot Rod Lincoln, an outlaw anthem that’s still played on radio today and a song that has stood the test of time remarkably well. Cody’s strong point was melding old fashion 50s rock n roll with the emerging outlaw sound. By doing this they came up with a unique fusion of roots, country, soul and rock, a sound that became all their own.
The album is full of strong moments, whether it be group originals or well chosen covers. One song, Midnight Shift, sounds like a vintage Gene Vincent rockabilly side while the humorous title track became an anthem of sorts for the Airmen. Slow weepers Seeds and Stems Again, Family Bible, Wine Do Yer Stuff and Daddy’s Gonna Treat You Right are all Commander Cody classics that will give any other country-rock group a run for their money. The last three tracks of the album are live numbers in good fidelity showing the group in top form with their patent country-swing sound intact - What’s The Matter Now is a highlight in this respect.
Lost In The Ozone is really a neglected gem from the early 70s. It has a reckless, ramshackle feel that’s hard to describe to newcomers but still a very warm, friendly record that will not alienate its listeners. The Airmen had more punch and style than some of the more popular or critically acclaimed groups of the era. Their appeal was wide, rednecks, hipsters and hippies could relate to the Airmen’s music and their live shows were always a major production. If your into sounds like the Sir Douglas Quintet or Shiva’s Headband you need to check these guys out.
Here’s a great early track from around 1969/1970. This hard riffing country-rocker comes from the compilation Early Years 1967 - 1970: mp3:I’m Gonna Burn That Woman
John Prine has had a long and distinguished career as a songwriter working the line between folk and country. As is so often the case, he made his biggest mark with his first album, released in 1971. After a stint serving in the army (always a great source for song ideas) Prine began playing open mic nights in his native Chicago. He comes from the same folk scene that produced Steve Goodman (“Ridin’ on the City of New Orleans”). The first review of his work was penned by Roger Ebert, then a young Chicago critic. Other early supporters included both Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan.
It’s not hard to see why Prine so quickly won the respect of great songwriters. His own talents put him in the same ballpark. The All Music Guide describes Prine’s debut album as “a collection of standards,” which isn’t much of an exaggeration. The first song, “Illegal Smile,” is a clever and endearing tribute to smoking marijuana—not necessarily an easy feat. (“A bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down, and won. And it was twelve o’clock before I realized I was having no fun.”) “Spanish Pipedream” is another gem. It’s Prine’s daydream about running off to the country with a sly exotic dancer to blow up the TV and eat a lot of peaches. (“I knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve.”) “Hello In There” is a melancholy song about the loneliness of aging. What’s amazing is how it rings so true despite being written by a 25-year old. (“So if you’re walking down the street sometime and spot some hollow ancient eyes, please don’t just pass ‘em by and stare, as if you didn’t care, say, ‘Hello in there, hello.’”) “Sam Stone” is a classic tune about the hopeless struggles of a veteran returning from the war to his family. (“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes. Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose.”)
My favorite track on the album is “Paradise,” Prine’s loving tribute to the “backwards old town” in Western Kentucky where his parents were raised. The song combines his fond memories of visiting as a kid (“Where the air smelled like snakes and we’d shoot with our pistols, but empty pop bottles were all that we killed”), with realization that the place is now gone forever, “hauled away” by “Mr. Peabody’s coal train.” (“Then the coal company came with the world’s largest shovel, and they tortured the timber and stripped all the land.”) While it contains a strong environmental-protection message, it never sounds preachy.
The album has many more high points. “Pretty Good” is sort of an anthem to resignation. (Refrain: “Pretty good, not bad, I can’t complain, actually, everything is just about the same.”) “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” is an amusing anti-war song about empty patriotism. “Angel From Montgomery” is a classic tune which later became a hit for Bonnie Raitt. Musically, the album sounds great, with some nice pedal steel and organ in just the right spots. It’s a classic.
Mountain Bus is the kind of band you get into after you’ve exhausted all your major label heroes. They were one of Chicago’s great underground bands who were dealt a bad deck of cards. Mountain Bus were frequently cited as Chicago’s answer to the Grateful Dead, and indeed some of their songs on the above album sound like San Fransisco’s most cherished sons.
Mountain Bus’ roots extend way back to the early 60’s when Ed Mooney was fronting a band called the Moons and the Stars. Tom Jurkens was in another local group called Jurk & The Bushman and upon their demise formed a group with Mooney called Rhythms Children. This group took in Steve Titra, Joe Wilderson and Steve Krater. Eventually Rhythms Children dissolved when Wilderson left for Canada avoiding the Vietnam War draft. Bill Kees had formerly been in Fantasy and Hearts of Soul when he joined the struggling Rhythms Children. They began calling themselves Mountain Bus and playing as many live gigs as possible around the Chicago area. Mountain Bus never made alot of money during their day and always had low paying jobs. Their jobs funded the band’s equipment, activities and eventually, legal costs. Some of the group members worked at local record stores. One of the record stores, Round Records, ended up becoming the groups headquarters while owner David Solomon assumed Mountain Bus’ manager role.
In 1971 independent label Good Records released Mountain Bus’ only album Sundance. Good Records goal was to release good quality local music that could be sold to the public at reasonable prices. They also aimed to give the musicians a greater slice of the profit, unlike the major labels. Mountain Bus’ end was unfortunate and came very suddenly in November of 1971. Windfall Music slapped an ugly lawsuit on Mountain Bus and Good Records claiming that both entities were infringing on the established trade marks of Mountain (Leslie West’s band). Windfall Music demanded that all record sales, promotions, air play and so forth be halted and that such activities had hurt the sales of Mountain lps. Roger Maglio of Gear Fab records summed it up best, “It was a plain and simple matter that the major record labels at this time (Columbia owned Mountain) were not going to allow nor put up with upstart companies like Good Records or any others that offered good quality music at an affordable and lower price than the majors. Mountain Bus had never reaped any significant profits over these years - the band were paid very small wages and many of their performances were for benefits and other non-profit organizations. A record company founded with the express purpose of providing people with good quality music was run out of business. And a great band broke up as a result of these bully actions.” It’s funny to note that Mountain Bus had been together some years before Mountain had formed - 2 years to be exact. I guess it was a loss for the public and a big gain for the greedy record company executives.
These legal disputes should not overshadow the music though, which is often excellent and full of stunning guitar solos. Tracks like Sing A New Song and Rosalie are what the late 60’s Dead should have sounded like in the studio - they capture a good live outdoor sound. Rosalie is a superb jam rocker with lots of great melodic guitar work that is at once trippy but also laced with a C&W accent. Sundance is an awesome psychedelic folk-rocker that hits the 7 minute mark but never succumbs to any formless jamming - it’s a track that reminds me of 5th Dimension Byrds crossed with Live 69 Dead. Other highlights are a long but very good country-rock version of I Know You Rider and the psychedelic instrumental Hexahedron. “Deadheads” and fans of great rural rock sounds should not miss this mini classic. In the late 90’s Sundance was reissued by Gear Fab records with additional outtakes and live cuts. This package offers lots of good music for a cheap price.
With its more striking cover and impressive personnel (produced in Bearsville by Robbie Robertson with Levon Helm on drums and mando), Jesse Winchester’s self-titled debut is the go-to pick for newcomers to Jesse’s music. While I still consider it an absolutely essential disc for the strong songwriting, Robertson’s production is somewhat coarse and the record lacks a certain magic. Luckily, Jesse knew better how to present his tunes, and two years later delivered this special gem, co-produced by Todd Rundgren.
With delicate and soulful production, mostly adding only the scarcest accompaniment, Jesse Winchester offered an album with 12 fine songs short and sweet. Side one of the record is mostly acoustic, barely spicing it up with tasteful electric guitar leads on the grooving opener and even what sounds to be synthesized clarinet on the instrumental Lullably For The First Born. But the lack of a full band is apt, especially combined with harmony lines withheld for all but the right moments. Side two features some trademark Rundgren production: listen to the elements of Midnight Bus build into a gnarly little rythmn section, worthy of the Stage Fright era Band’s finest.
A gift sent from the north. Jesse lived in Canada while recording this album having dodged the Vietnam draft, leaving his home state of Mississippi in the late 60s (one of my favorite Jerry Jeff Walker performances, Mississippi, You’re On My Mind was penned by Jesse Winchester). You might think he’d have a political message, but it’s more like sweet nothings. Sometimes bordering on cutesy, it’ll be ok to let this album hit your soft spot. Just know it’s likely to hit the right spot, whatever that is.
Having always been partial to Ian Matthews era Fairport Convention, I remember being more than elated upon the discovery of his prolific solo career. From 1969 to 1972 he managed to release at least seven LPs as a solo artist and member of Matthews’ Southern Comfort and Plainsong. In many ways his debut is only partly a solo outing. Help from his fellow Fairporters Simon Nicol and Richard Thompson create an overall feel that is not far removed from the first two FC albums. But while a few tracks such as “Commercial Proposition” and “A Castle Far” sound like top-quality leftovers from his former band, a distinctive Matthews sound was certainly emerging. This is especially evident in the country leanings (hinted at in the first two FC records) that are much more pronounced and tastefully accentuated by Gordon Huntley’s steel guitar playing.
Surprisingly the album does not suffer much from Matthews’ minimal writing contributions as co-producer Steve Barbly provides excellent material in “Fly Pigeon Fly,” “Sweet Bread” and the agonizingly plaintive “I’ve Lost You.” But Ian does deliver some exceptional writing in the steel-guitar-driven “Please Be my Friend” and the irresistible folk epic (co-written by Barbly) “Once Upon a Lifetime.”
What makes this album so timeless and enjoyable is the way it explores country music without deliberately trying to be country—a highly commendable feat that many American bands were not able to achieve. Free from any phony southern twang, Ian’s fragile, emotionally-charged vocals enrich every song with a genuineness that is perfectly complemented by the warm, rural landscape that’s successfully captured by the band. Not only is this one of the first British country-rock records, but it is also an unrecognized benchmark for the entire then-burgeoning genre. BGO has made this available on CD as a twofer which includes MSC’s slightly less impressive sophomore effort Second Spring.
Sings Hank Williams began a string of excellent albums by Del Shannon that culminated with The Further Adventures of Charles Westover from 1968. Not only is this a great country album but many consider this one of the best records from the time. This disc was released in 1964 and predated the country-rock boom by a good 4 or 5 years. That alone makes it a significant release and a must listen for fans of early country-rock. But it’s Del’s performances and the group’s backing that make this a special show.
Throughout Shannon’s career he had reinvented himself many times over. In the early 60s he was a teen idol with the unforgettable hit Runaway. Total Commitment and This Is My Bag, two mid 60s records, saw Del turn in two fine roots rock efforts. From 1967 to 1968 Shannon did the unthinkable, he went psychedelic, with two great, unsung records, 67’s And The Music Plays On and 68’s Charles Westover. During this time he proved that an early 60s rocker could survive into an experimental late 60s environment and still make great albums with artistic value. An amazing career no doubt but who would have ever expected Shannon to release a hard core country album?
Every track on this lp is worth listening to. Shannon and his group give Kaw-Liga an updated, swinging rock n roll feel. That Lonesome Whistle, possibly my favorite track on the album, is a superb down and out country track with fantastic vocals - a real young man’s blues. The arrangements on the lp are very basic, with steel guitar leading the way - just listen to the great version of Your Cheatin’ Heart which opens this disc. There was a reason for the sparse, simple arrangements: Del was trying to capture the mood of Hank Williams’ original band, The Drifting Cowboys. Even more interesting is Del Shannon’s group, many of whom, such as Dennis Coffey, were well known Motown session players. Ramblin’ Man, another gem, is given Del’s soaring, minor key vocal treatment.
Del sang his ass off all throughout the lp, giving us performances full of faith and honesty. So in this respect it was a shame that nobody was listening. Neither the rock n roll community or C&W crowd took a liking to this album. It was probably lost amongst albums by the Beatles and Rolling Stones during the first wave of the British Invasion. Sings Hank Williams is stripped down, raw and genuine. There are none of the hokey strings or sappy arrangments that plagued so many country records from this period. This is a great record that shows the true artistry of Del Shannon. Check it out!
A lot of times the comments folks leave here blow me away. Many have been the equal of any professional music writing I’ve encountered elsewhere, while others relate from a casual or personal level that you can’t find in corporate mags or journals. And as we’ve said before, your comments are why this site exists.
For a “uReview” review we’ll take a look at some classic and contended albums and leave it up to commenters. We’re starting out easy with Big Pink. So, what do you think?
Unable to get over my Ernie Graham addiction, I set out in search of more from the ilk of rootsy pre pub rock and stumbled across this gem from 1971. Help Yourself formed in the wake of Brinsley Schwarz but with a strong ear to The Band, forging a raw and honest Americana sound on their first LP. Not nearly as dippy as the cover art suggests, this is a fine sample of straight California rock that’s really from the UK.
Recorded at The Grange in Headley, previously used by Led Zeppelin to record the Four Symbols album, the Helps were trying to let the rural environment to influence their music. If this is the case, the landscape in Headley must be no different than the piece of earth Neil Young was treading around the same time. The Help Yourself album is eerily similar to Young’s sound in almost every regard; they even have a song called Old Man, which is a really fine but totally different song.
The record opens with a feel good gospel track, I Must See Jesus For Myself, that I can’t help but think was meant to be ironic. This is sure to throw off listeners, but maybe attract those who don’t mind a little Jesus in their tunes. In any case, you might want to start this record from the 2nd groove. From there on the tunes showcase great melodies, great double guitar noodling (to great effect with acoustic and electric on separate channels), great songcraft, great CSNY influenced harmonies, and great overall sound. There you have it: six greats for this easily overlooked LP that could and should sneak its way into the playlist of any Neil Young friendly DJ.
The second album, attached in the BGO 2fer, adds a clean, phased sound to the recording that gets a little cheezier. Not to say this is a discountable record, just that it maybe draws too near the Ducks Deluxe pub rock approach for my tastes.
Stone Country’s only album contains some of Steve Young’s earliest known recordings. RCA released this strange melange of psychedelia, country, soft-pop and jangly folk-rock back in 1968. This record is by no means a cohesive effort as it sounds like the work of 5 different groups. At first I wasn’t so sure about the album but multiple listens reveal a good record with very solid performances. So while the album itself might not gel together as a finished product, about 90% of the songs are strong and hold up well individually.
Stone Country were a Los Angeles CA sextet that only existed for a little less than 2 years. Steve Young had headed out to LA from Alabama in 1963, looking to secure a recording contract. The group was founded in 1967 when the management company of Denny Bond and Ken Mansfield were in the beginning stages of putting together a new group that would combine elements of both country and rock n roll. Steve Young was chosen as lead guitarist and vocalist while the rest of the group’s lineup looked something like this: banjo player Don Beck, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Doug Brooks, drummer Dennis Conway, vocalist and bassist Dann Barry, and guitarist Richard Lockmiller.
The album, while not a lost classic is very solid and thoroughly enjoyable. It was clear from the beginning that Young was the group’s most distinctive songwriter and vocalist. Magnolias, a Young original, was one of the lp’s highlights and a unique mixture of Southern soul and swamp rock that only he could deliver - a very gritty vocal performance too. Woman Don’t You Weep was more of the same, another good Young roots rocker with a driving beat and an attractive string arrangement. Two raga rock gems, Love Psalm and Mantra have nice fuzz guitar work and could easily fit in on the Byrds classic Notorious Byrd Brothers lp. Other tracks hit more of an Association soft-pop sound (’Lizabeth Peach and Everywhere I Turn - both very good) while Why Baby Why (a George Jones cover) and Life Stands Daring Me show off the group’s country roots. The latter is a particularly imaginative slice of psychedelic country-rock with its soaring vocals, glittering guitars and wild banjo picking. Stone Country’s only mistake was including Angelica, a horrible bland pop number that had no business being on the lp.
Rev-Ola just recently reissued Stone Country for the first time on cd. Stone Country hits all the right bases that were common in 60’s American rock music: psychedelia, country-rock, folk, blues, airtight harmonies, adventurous arrangements, and great musicianship. This record is well worth a spin.
CD Reissue | 1990 | MCA | Lost in the Ozone
Original Vinyl | 1971 | Paramount | search ebay ]
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