Fairport Convention “Unhalfbricking”

Country Rock,Folk,Pop

Unhalfbricking

I can’t tell why I waited so long. After dabbling into the Fairport Convention’s discography with their universally acclaimed Liege & Lief, I apparently had had my Fairport fill. Such a fool was I for stopping there. Unhalfbricking is at once interesting and satisfying, delicate and fierce, joyous and moving. Also, where Liege & Lief might sound saccharine to first time listeners, this one won’t.

This is an album that really appeals to my taste in sound. There’s a quality to some of my favorite produced albums that’s hard to explain. The best description comes from Robbie Robertson, describing the Band’s self-titled 2nd record: a ‘woody’ sound. To me, this descriptor evokes a loose and real recording quality, where the bass and guitar are dry, EQ doesn’t over-shape every sound, and the drums have this warm and hard bite – the sound is so nice you wish you could grab it and hold it in your hand. The hand clapping, for example, on Si Tu Dois Partir (a French language version of Dylan outtake If You Gotta Go, Go Now) and the carefree accordion sound so present it truly warms the heart.

Bob Dylan fans can’t afford to ignore this record. Three tracks come from outtakes that didn’t make his original albums, the others being Percy’s Song (from Times-a-Changin) (maybe the best song on this record) and the Basement Tape’s Million Dollar Bash. Original contributions from Sandy Denny, Autopsy and Who Knows Where The Time Goes, are outstanding. So much spirit in these numbers.

While Unhalfbricking has much more to offer than the 11-minute centerpiece, you’ve got to listen (loud) to the epic track below on your next commute, as it drives through the gamut of style the Fairport Convention honed mastery over, from Sandy’s soothing vocal, the solid ingrained folk background, a slowly building and unbridled groove, with classic Richard Thompson guitar riffage and David Swarbrick fiddling, and a few moments so perfect they’ll run chills through you.

“A Sailor’s Life”

:D CD Reissue | 2008 | Water | buy @ amazon ]
:) Vinyl Search | @ebay ]

Leonard Cohen “New Skin For The Old Ceremony”

Americana,Classic Rock

New Skin For The Old Ceremony

In 1974, Leonard Cohen hired producer John Lissauer to help him create the new sound for his songs. Moving away from the heavily reverberating, simplistic arrangements of Songs of Love and Hate (1971), Cohen uses large vocal ensembles, banjos, jews harp, heavy percussion, strings, and woodwinds to create a palate that is, in my opinion, finally equal to the depth of the writing itself.

The album opens with one of my favorite Cohen songs, Is This What You Wanted. The record is probably worth its weight in gold for the horn arrangements alone during the first verse (listen, kids, right channel). Once the chorus kicks, with the broken, funky backbeat and the monotone call and response chorus, you know you have stumbled upon something brilliant. Although Rolling Stone called this record not one of his best, I feel that it must be considered a classic. Coming in at track 2 is the controversial, beautiful, sex charged new york anthem, Chelsea Hotel #2. One of the few songs Cohen co-wrote, this track details the alleged sexual encounter between our Hero and the one and only Janis Joplin. Songs like There is a War bring out the louder, more politically charged side of this artist. While Who by Fire is a stunningly beautiful octave charged and simplistic male/female duet which borrows from traditional jewish prayer to ask the question of how will we all die.

Still want to listen? Good. Me too. Full of good funky 70’s folk-rock production with a knack for the depressed and the overly beautiful, this record sings about all the necessary topics you need to get you through the end of march and bursting into the spring. Also, the cover art is so awesome that Columbia refused to press it on the first release of the record. And if Angels want to screw to this music, it can’t be half bad.

“Is This What You Wanted”

:D CD Reissue | 1995 | Sony | mp3 Download | Buy from Amazon ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1974 | Columbia | search ebay ]

Los Brincos “Mvndo Demonio Carne”

Pop,Prog,Psych

This band hailed from Spain and started releasing singles and albums in the mid 60’s beat era. Some of their songs are sung in English but for the most part Los Brinco’s vocals and lyrics are Spanish. Some fans prefer the Contrabando pop album but I personally think Mvndo Demonio Carne (World Devil Body) is their best and one of the great, unsung Spanish progressive psychedelic albums.

Carne found the band experimenting with a different sound and is one of the earliest Spanish albums of its kind. Many good experimental albums came out of Spain throughout the early to late 70’s, in the wake of this great record. Brincos made it possible for these artists to experiment with different forms of pop/rock music and be taken seriously . The album’s lead off title track is an engulfing psychedelic opus that goes through all different kinds of movements before its 12 and a half minutes has ended (with English lyrics/vocals). It’s an excellent piece of music and probably Los Brincos’s greatest achievement.

There are a trio of superb Spanish folk songs in Hermano Ismael, Carmen and Esa Mujer. The later two are notable for beautiful mellotron and string passages while Hermano Ismael is so wonderfully unpretentious and simple that it almost sounds out of place on the lp. Other winners are the funky progressive rock of Emancipacion and Jenny, La Genio (Jenny, Miss Genuis), a neat slice of Beatles inflicted power pop.

Mvndo Demonio Carne has been released on cd many times but the 2001 BMG disc is highly recommended. This disc has the original album along with alternate tracks sung in English and rare singles.

“Jenny Miss Genius”

More info:

There are three versions of this album and all are terrific. The BMG release is the Spanish lp with a bunch of bonus tracks, some of which are on the other two releases. The English version of World Devil and Body has a different cover and trades Butterfly, Kama-Sutra, Jenny, Miss Genuis, Carmen, Hermano Ismael, and Vive La Realidad for 4 different tracks – Promises & Dreams, If I Were You, Misery and Pain, and Body Money Love/Cheap, Cheap, Cheap. All four tracks are excellent, particularly the beatlesque power pop of Body Money Love and the hard charging raga rocker, If I Were You. Once again, this album is certainly mandatory listening for fans of psychedelia and progressive pop.

“Body Money Love”

:D CD Reissue | 2001 | BMG Spain | Search Amazon ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1970 | Search ebay ]

Split Enz “Mental Notes”

Art,Pop,Prog

Mental Notes

Split Enz, a band that Australia would dearly love to call its own, was formed in New Zealand in 1973. Their early albums and legendary live performances conjured a dedicated fan base that fed and clothed the band until radio friendly unit shifters like I See Red and I Got You made the band a household name. Their influence and legacy in the Antipodes cannot be underestimated.

The nucleus of the group in 1975 was Tim Finn and Phil Judd, who share vocal duties on Mental Notes and are credited with forming the band two years earlier. The line-up waxed and waned over the lifetime of the band with only two members who played on Mental Notes being present for the final iteration of the band in 1985.

Firmly founded in a progressive art rock/pop base Mental Notes cuts itself a niche that could only have existed outside Europe or America. This album is the pinnacle of Split Enz early period. The style, complexity, musicality, and grace that earmark Mental Notes would underpin the music of Split Enz (and all the braches of the Enz family tree) for decades to come.

There are so many elements present in the tracks of Mental Notes that only exceptional musicianship and hours upon hours of rehearsal could make this album sound as tight and bright as it is. Mental Notes nods its head to the music of the time but only as a sort of passing farewell, as the band heads off at full throttle into uncharted territory.

Crafted into sonically complex layers, patterns and textures, the sound nonetheless rides on a melodic base that makes it music that your Grandmother could tap her foot to, but lurking just under the surface is an aural landscape akin to an underwater dream. Mandolin picks a melody underscored by synthesized strings, vocals glide by on wings while drums punctuate a pattern that turns left and right and leaves you in a head space totally new but uncannily familiar. Musical Déjà vu.

Beautiful, captivating, dynamic, challenging, invigorating, rich and fulfilling. Mental Notes deserves headphones or at least a decent level of volume. As one famous Australian music critic said, Do yourself a favor¦

“Walking Down A Road”

:D CD Reissue | 2006 | Digipak | Mushroom Records | Buy @ Amazon ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1975 | Search @ eBay ]

Bernie Schwartz “The Wheel”

Country Rock,Folk,Pop

Bernie Schwartz The Wheel

Bernie Schwartz’s first classic single, Her Name Is Melody was released off Warner Brothers in late 1966 under the name Adrian Pride. This record is an excellent, early stab of raga rock that was perhaps too adventurous for pop audiences though its interesting to note that both Don and Phil Everly produced this fabulous single.

Even prior to this, Schwartz had been releasing obscure singles under the stage name Don Atello in 1963/1964. Around 1967/1968 Schwartz joined psychedelic pop band Comfortable Chair who released a solid lp in 1968. The Wheel, released in 1969 off Coburt/MGM was quite a departure from Schwartz’s earlier psych pop leanings. The Wheel is an excellent album, mixing hard rock, country-rock and folk-rock into something similar to Euphoria’s sole album or Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The Euphoria duo of Wesley Watt and Bill Lincoln actually appear on this disc and one can hear Watt’s wild fuzz guitar playing on Schwartz’s epic cover of Sunshine Woman. There are also a few more ace fuzz rockers in Follow Me and a brutally intense reading of Fred Neil’s Candy Man.

Everything about this album is on target from Schwartz’s superb vocals to the songwriting, production and tight musicianship. This is one of the best 60s albums never to make it onto cd without a doubt. The Wheel’s leadoff track, Where Can I Hide is a country folk-rocker with lyrics that deal with disillusionment, depression and escapism. It’s a brilliant track that had strong hit potential though its deep, world weary tone could have thrown off more than a few listeners. Another track with similar lyrical concerns is the awesome country-rocker Lost My Wings. It’s a classic of the genre with wonderful steel guitar playing and a righteous bridge that symbolizes everything that is great about 60s rock n roll. Other mellower tracks such as Randy Newman’s Think It’s Gonna Rain Today, Don’t Make It Bad, Can’t Go On, and the beautiful rural rocker Peace On Earth are just as good and grow on the listener with repeated plays.

Sometime after the release of the Wheel, Bernie Schwartz quit rock music to focus on writing psychology books. The Wheel is proof that there are many rare, great recordings that have not been reissued on cd. I found a near mint copy on ebay for about $25 and would recommend this lp to anyone with an interest in 60s rock.

mp3: Where Can I Hide
mp3: Peace On Earth

:) Original Vinyl | 1969 | Coburt/MGM | search ebay ]

**********************************************************

Adrian Pride

mp3: Her Name Is Melody

Euphoria’s 1966 single No Me Tomorrow proved this Texas duo was great from the start. This was an early excursion into psych rock with an unusual dark edge, trippy lyrics and bizarre vocals. Euphoria recorded quite a bit during the 60s though most of these sessions were shelved or released under a different band name. Supposedly these lost recordings will see a 2 volume cd release sometime in 2008.

mp3: No Me Tomorrow

Classic Gear: The Rickenbacker 12-String

Classic Gear

This Is What I Want For My Birfday

This is that thin wild sound. The one and only instrument to associate with terms like Byrdsian and jangly. An unmatched guitar in design, craftmanship, innovation, and sound. Rickenbacker makes a fine guitar with six strings, but 12 is the magic number.

Playing a 12-string guitar doesn’t mean you have to learn how to play with six more strings, it’s just that the strings are set in pairs. It’s played exactly the same as a regular guitar, but your finger is pressing down two strings at once, each tuned to different octaves.

Opposed to acoustic 12-string guitars (and mandolins, which are similarly designed with 4 pairs of strings), Rickenbackers are designed with the lower string on top of the high string, lending to its characteristic sound.

One of the lesser known features of these guitars is the Ric-O-Sound kit, which allows the pickups to split the signal of the guitar to two different outputs. Imagine plugging into a rich Fender Twin Reverb and patching the 2nd line through a Space Echo or a cheap old fuzzbox. The effect is like having two distinct guitar tones playing in exact synchronicity.

Lastly, just look at the thing. Damn beautiful. The twisted and tech-looking headstock, modernist slash f-hole, tiered white pick guard, and the signature “R” in the bridge. Pictured is the classic red Fireglo color scheme, one of many often changing themes in the Rickenbacker legacy, the other more famous colors being Mapleglo (Byrds) and Jetglo (Lennon).

Examples
George Harrison got his hands on the 2nd 12-string Rickenbacker ever made. The Beatles had access to every instrument their imaginations could conjure up so it’s no surprise they’re on top of the classic gear front again. Leads like the one in Hard Day’s Night tuned everybody in to the Rick’s wild sound:

The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night

Pete Townshend was an avid Rickenbacker user and one of the best rhythm guitarists of all time. This is a full example of the raucous rhythmic power of the 12er, with an excellently brief solo. The Who’s debut is too great for words:

The Who – I Can’t Explain

The Byrds are the quintessential Rick band. Roger McGuinn is widely known as the king of the Rickenbacker 12-string. John Coltrane’s saxophone was inspiration to the devastating solo on this classic Byrds cut. Is he using the Ric-O-Sound on this one?

The Byrds – Eight Miles High

The Byrds may have owned the gleaming mercury sound of this guitar (actually a key component in defining the word ‘jangle‘), but they didn’t trademark it, dammit! Let’s dive back under the radar with a great song from Instant Orange’s excellent 1973 lp:

Instant Orange – Plight of The Marie Celeste

PODCAST 2 Begin

Podcast

TRS Podcast Logo

Running Time: 60 Minutes | File Size: 54.5 MB
Download: .zip | .mp3
To subscribe to this podcast: https://therisingstorm.net/podcast.xml [?]

PLAYLIST
John Hartford “Station Break” [1971]
Clip from Moby Grape “Changes” [1967]

The Millennium “Prelude” [1968]
The Millennium “To Claudia On Thursday” [1968]

Dr. John “Glowin'” [1969]

<station identification>

SPONSOR
Stage Fright Promo [1970]

The Band “Time To Kill” [1970]

The Sonics “He’s Waitin'” [1966]

Tony Schwartz “Moondog” [1954]

Them “You Just Can’t Win” [1965]

Dale Hawkins “La la, La la” [1969]

Fraser & Debolt “David’s Tune” [1971]

EYE OF THE STORM
Clip from: Radio Show – Theater Five “The Eye of the Storm” [1965]

Mickey Newbury “San Francisco Mabel Joy” [1969]

Sly & The Family Stone “Family Affair” [1971]

The Soft Machine “We Did It Again” [1968]

The Pagans “Not Now No Way” [1979]

<station break>
Clip from: Euphoria “Young Miss Pflugg” [1969]

Sir Douglas Quintet “Are Inlaws Really Outlaws” [1968]

Doug Sahm “It’s Gonna Be Easy” [1973]

CLASSIC CLOSER
Bob Dylan

The Baroques (self-titled)

Garage

The Baroques

If Leonard Cohen barged into an Electric Prunes recording after obliterating his mind in an all-night glue-sniffing binge it might have sounded something like this.

With song titles as preposterous as A Musical Tribute to the Oscar Meyer Weiner Wagon, who knows what the famed RnB label Chess Records was thinking when they decided to sign Milwaukee’s The Baroques in 1967. They did manage to stir up a little controversy with their anti-drug (so they claimed) song, Mary Jane, but besides that it looks like Chess was stuck with a very strange, unmarketable record. And don’t expect an onslaught of spacey sound effects and weird noises a la the early Pink Floyd, this is a less overt type of psychosis that slowly but surely embeds itself under your skin.

The Baroques had a fuzz-guitar/keyboard-damaged sound that retained much of the garage intensity of ’66 while plunging into the experimentation that marked the latter part of the decade. Sure, there are traces of the Byrds and the Zombies, but by the time the Baroques have had their way with a pop song, it’s like the deformed bastard child of those bands hobbling around on one leg. As on Rose Colored Glasses, where Jay Berkenhagen’s odd, deep vocals bounce along with awkward (yet insanely catchy) riffs until settling into a gorgeous, harmony-laden chorus. Nothing To Do But Cry is an exceptional folk-rocker that’s dirtied up with some nice distorted jangling and raw power-chording. At times they veer into chaotic fits of noise that wouldn’t sound too out of place on a Scientists album (Iowa, A Girl’s Name Musical Tribute¦). But what really sets them apart from other similarly-minded bands is the excessively glum atmosphere which pervades most of the album. The sludge-folk of Purple Day and Seasons may come off too monotonous for some, but there is something absolutely hypnotizing lurking in the uncommonly dark textures of these songs.

Distortions reissued the LP with plenty of interesting extras.

“Rose Coloured Glasses”

:D CD Reissue | Distortions | Order ] (click order ‘info’ link at top right)
:) Vinyl | search ]

Bob Martin “Midwest Farm Disaster”

Americana,Folk

Midwest Farm Disaster

Bob Martin is a highly talented singer songwriter from Lowell, Massachusetts who released Midwest Farm Disaster in 1972. Martin is still making records today but this one is generally acknowledged as his masterpiece and is perhaps one of the finest singer songwriter albums ever recorded.

Martin’s voice is gravelly and weathered but soulful. Think of a strange Kevin Coyne, Van Morrison, and Bob Lind blend and you’d be right on target. The lyrics are top shelf too, the equal or better of most major or critically acclaimed artists out there. The album’s sound is very close to Gene Clark’s White Light or Bob Lind’s Since There Were Circles LP, a stark, beautiful blend of folk and country that reveals its depth with repeated listens. Each song has something new to offer, and Bob brings us into his working class world with great American stories about local drunks, small town farm life, hard times, prison convicts, and working on the mill.

“Blind Marie” is a moving singer songwriter track that sounds like a classic, it also happens to be the album’s most accessible song that should have gained Martin commercial notoriety. Tracks like the Woody Guthrie influenced “Third War Rag” and “Frog Dick, South Dakota” are coloured by a distinct sense of humor but are also packed with good, catchy melodies and wonderfully sarcastic lyrics. Other songs like the intense “Mill Town” and the title track are dark tales that relate to Bob’s earlier life on the farm and are superb examples of real Americana. The album ends with “Deer Island Prison,” which might be thought of as the album’s centerpiece. Martin turns in a stunning vocal and lyrical performance that must surely rank as one of the great, unsung confessionals.

This is an excellent and unforgettable LP full of rich drifter music and mandatory listening for those who are into deep, rustic singer songwriter albums. In 2007, Midwest Farm Disaster was reissued by Bob’s own Riversong Records and can be purchased on the CD Baby website.

“Deer Island Prison”

:D CD Reissue | 2007 | RCA/Sony | Buy @ CDBaby ]
:) Original Vinyl | RCA | Search eBay ]

VA “Tropicalia: Ou Panis Et Circenses”

Tropicalia

Tropicalia

Tropicália, or Tropicalismo, was at once a response to military dictatorship and an attempt to expand Brazilian music by infusing ideas from all parts of the globe, even so far as an attempt to create a ‘universal music.’ This monumental compilation is the work of a like minded collective – radicals that would subvert and forever change the art and politics of Brazil, specifically Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Tom Ze, Nara Leao, and Os Mutantes. Leaders of the movement, Gil and Caetano, would be imprisoned and exiled for 4 years because of this record.

You can hear their urgency in the music itself. I can’t understand Portuguese, but this sound communicates through the language barrier. It’s a sound to make your eyes drop back in your head and swirl: a stirring blend of American psychedelia, traditional Brazilian music, African popular music, and English pop rock. Taken in by the rhythms and growingly addictive melodies, you will find yourself singing along in pidgin Portuguese before long.

The title of this record translates to “bread and circuses,” a phrase denoting cheap political handouts used to gather support. Makes me imagine the music was probably just an amusing distraction aiming listeners towards some higher cause. Regardless of your interest in the social importance of this record, I suggest you take the handout – it’s unlikely you won’t be carried away with Tropicália’s drama, intensity, stylistic range, and irresistible rhythms.

If you have any interest in the Tropicália movement, which was more recently popularized in the states by artists like Beck and David Byrne,  Panis Et Circenses is the place to start. I highly recommend you grab the 4 Men With Beards 180-gram vinyl reissue and spin it loud. Even if you balk at compilations, this is more, it’s the original and essential Tropicália comp. One that changed the world.

Gilberto Gil – “Geleia Geral”

:) Vinyl Reissue | 2008 | 4 Men | Order | Search ]
:D CD Reissue | 2002 | Universal | Buy ]