Tigermilk - Belle and Sebastian

Tigermilk
Belle and Sebastian
Matador OLE-361-8
1996

This is the 1999 re-issue of the Belle and Sebastian debut album originally released on Electric Honey Records as a college student music project.  I recently read Stuart David's memoir of the formative years of Belle and Sebastian entitled "In the All-Night Café" which I loved.  He was the first person Stuart Murdoch recruited for the band and he provides an intimate account of the events leading up to this record (Murdoch's account of this in the album's liner notes is fiction.)  The book concludes with the record release party in which David describes fellow students taking their free copies of the album and using them as frisbees in the street which pains me greatly to envision.  It probably ought to pain them as well since original pressings of this album generally sell for hundreds of dollars.  Belle and Sebastian have long been one of my go-to bands when I am feeling down so during these painful times I have been listening to them often.  This is my second favorite of the band's albums (after "If You're Feeling Sinister.")  I think it is one of the great debut albums of all-time which is even more impressive considering the chaotic circumstances in which it was recorded - a true testament to Murdoch's artistic will and integrity.  The album opens with "The State I Am In" which is one of the quintessential early Belle and Sebastian songs.  With its clever and humorous vignettes describing youthful ennui and narcissism delivered by Murdoch in a low-key sensitive voice over a jangle pop/chamber pop music track that gradually builds in strength, it was the blueprint for their next three albums.  It floored me the first time I heard it and I still find it endlessly compelling.  "Expectations" continues in a similar vein, only more cutting and anguished.  It focuses on the suffering of an alienated female adolescent, when Murdoch writes in the third person he often chooses a feminine viewpoint.  Isobel Campbell on cello and Mick Cooke on trumpet expand the group's sound, giving it the chamber pop flavor that is a Belle and Sebastian trademark.  It reminds me of Love's "Forever Changes" which I consider high praise.  The jaunty "She's Losing It" likewise features a female protagonist and includes some lesbian references that are common with the early Murdoch.  Early Belle and Sebastian were often criticized as being "twee" but Murdoch can be pretty tough at times as demonstrated by "You're Just a Baby" which borders on being misogynistic.  It is the hardest rocking song on the record with a strong riff driven sound bolstered by Chris Geddes wailing on organ.  The side concludes with the uncharacteristic "Electronic Renaissance."  It has a disco beat and is driven by a synthesizer and organ with Murdoch's voice being electronically processed.  I always assumed Stuart David had something to do with the song since he pursued a similar sound with his solo project Looper, but in his book he says it was all Murdoch's idea.  Apparently synth-pop was a possible direction the band could have followed and which I am very glad they did not (although it has popped up on some of their recent albums.)   Side two gets off to a dynamic start with the propulsive "I Could Be Dreaming" which is driven by synthesizer and heavily reverberated electric guitar chords.  Murdoch shows his tough side again with numerous references to repressed violent impulses in his youthful protagonist.  The song concludes with a kinetic rocked up instrumental passage over which Campbell recites a passage from "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving for reasons that escape me.  I wouldn't argue if you called that pretentious but I still like it.  The record shifts direction with the melancholy "We Rule the School" which features some lovely cello passages from Campbell supporting yet another portrait of feminine adolescent angst.  The introspective "My Wandering Days Are Over" is another classic Murdoch song with strong support from Campbell on cello and harmony vocal as well as Cooke on trumpet that foreshadows the sound of the next three albums by the group.  If I was a whole lot younger "I Don't Love Anyone" would have been my personal anthem as an adolescent/college student.  I wish there had been a band like Belle and Sebastian back when I was that age, I would have loved Murdoch like a brother.  Even though I was a lot older than the protagonist of the song, it still resonated greatly with me when I first heard it.  It remains one of my favorite Murdoch songs and I adore the jangle pop that drives it.  The record concludes with the chamber pop sound of "Mary Jo" which is yet another portrait of an alienated young woman.  The song name checks the imaginary novel "The State I Am In" mentioned in the opening track which has a nice bookending effect.  It is a lovely song enhanced by Campbell's breathy background vocals that gives the record a moving finish.  I consider this a flawless album aside from the disruption in its flow caused by "Electronic Renaissance" which is nonetheless a good song.  Murdoch's vision is clear and compelling and the band's sound is surprisingly robust for what was an ad hoc production by a band that was barely even a band.  The group coalesced during the recording of the record but listening to it you would think they had been together for years.  Belle and Sebastian is my favorite band after the Beatles and this record is a big part of my love for them.  I have been playing it regularly for 20 years and it still thrills me.  I'm not sure I have ever heard a songwriter who reaches me as well as Stuart Murdoch and the band's sound pushes all my buttons.  They have helped me a lot these past few weeks.  Recommended to Zombies fans who dig the Smiths.

Odessey and Oracle - The Zombies

Odessey and Oracle
The Zombies
Big Beat  WIKD 181
1968

This is a 1997 English re-issue of the classic Zombies album originally released on CBS Records in England with lacquers cut from the original tapes.  It sounds terrific.  I saw a concert a couple of years ago where the four surviving members of the band played the album in its entirety from beginning to end.  It was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life, at times my eyes were in tears at the joy of hearing this music live.  As I mentioned in my post on "Time of the Zombies" this music thrilled me when I first heard it as a teenager.  This entire album is on the second record in that album.  For many years I figured that was a good enough format to have it in, especially since original copies of the album were so expensive and hard to find.  Then it started getting re-issued.  I still resisted buying it particularly since I had also acquired it on CD via the "Zombie Heaven" box set.  But ultimately I succumbed, it was just too important to me not to have it by itself.  As a teenager back in the 1970s I mostly learned about pop music from the radio.  At first I listened to top 40 AM radio and then when I finally got an FM radio I listened to album oriented rock, which we now call "classic rock."  Even as a young person I realized that this music was mostly crude and idiotic.  I heard an endless stream of stupidity that drove me back to the music of the 1960s.  In retrospect there was plenty of intelligent music in the 1970s, I just wasn't hearing it on the radio.  It was much later that I heard groups like Big Star, Roxy Music, King Crimson and Sparks.  That is why when I heard this album, it blew me away.  It was so unlike anything I had ever heard, even my beloved Beatles.  At first I didn't even know what to make of it, the lyrics were so unusual and the music was so delicate.  I was almost embarrassed that I loved it so much, it was so different from the music that my friends liked.  But ultimately I didn't care, this record spoke to me like no other.  I treasured it.  It is a flawless masterpiece, 12 brilliant and diverse songs that convey experiences and feelings with unwavering intelligence.  It begins with Rod Argent's upbeat "Care of Cell 44" which joyously recounts a person looking forward to the return of their imprisoned lover.  Swelling mellotron lines and a big bouncy bass riff drive this engaging song which also features a sweet vocal from Colin Blunstone supported by very appealing background vocals.  Somehow this song stiffed when it was released as a single but I find it endlessly enticing.  The record shifts gears for the melancholy of Argent's "A Rose For Emily," a tale of loneliness delivered with a sensitive vocal from Blunstone supported by simple piano accompaniment from Argent.  Chris White's "Maybe After He's Gone" displays a stimulating soft/loud dynamic with an atmospheric arrangement that expresses the confused emotions depicted in the lyrics.  White's "Beechwood Park" is a beautiful nostalgic song enhanced by a chamber pop arrangement that gives it extra resonance.  White also wrote "Brief Candles" which is one of the songs that most impressed me when I first heard this record.  The song's poetic portrait of a disintegrating relationship still sends me and I admire the exhilarating shifts from the piano driven chamber pop of the verses to the soaring mellotron bolstered choruses.  White, Blunstone and Argent all take turns at the mike.  Side one concludes with Argent's "Hung Up On a Dream."  This album is sometimes labeled as being psychedelic which I don't think is true, but this song is definitely in that vein.  The impressionistic lyrics are hallucinogenic and the dreamy music is driven by jangly guitars and surging mellotron runs.  The evocative lead vocal gives credibility to the flower power imagery of the lyrics and the beautiful background vocals enhance the atmosphere of the song in the best British psychedelic style.  This has always been one of my favorite Zombies tracks and when I first got "Time of the Zombies," I played this song over and over.  Side two opens with White's "Changes" which is a gloomy chamber pop track lamenting the changes money has made in a woman the singer used to know.  It is particularly notable for the elaborate ensemble vocal arrangement in the choruses.  The record perks up with Argent's ebullient "I Want Her She Wants Me."  The song is so catchy that it verges on sunshine pop and it inevitably perks me up when I hear it.  This is equally true of White's "This Will Be Our Year" which should have been a hit single.  The song's sunny optimism, cheerful piano runs and Blunstone's heartfelt vocal it make it the emotional highlight of the album.  The album takes a darker turn with White's creepy "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)."  It is an anti-war song with lyrics that vividly evoke the horrors of World War I sung by White in a shaky voice that conveys the pain expressed by the song.  It is driven by Argent's ghostly harmonium playing adding to the menace of the lyrics.  The song shocked me when I heard it as a teen and I still find it very powerful.  When I saw the band performing it live, White's vocal gave me chills.  Sunshine pop returns with White's jubilant "Friends of Mine" which celebrates the romances of the couples that the singer knows.  This charming song also should have been a hit single.  The album concludes with the band's actual hit single, Argent's "Time of the Season."  As you probably know the song has a hypnotic melody punctuated by Argent's jazzy keyboard runs which rank among the finest instrumental work in his Zombie career.  It is an outstanding finish to an outstanding album.  This record is now 50 years old but it still sounds fresh and innovative to me.  I loved it in my youth and I love it just as much now.  I consider it one of the most influential and important albums in my life.  I'm so grateful that I stumbled across that copy of "Time of the Zombies" all those years ago and decided to take a chance on it.  Hearing this album opened my eyes to the artistic potential of pop music and along with the Beatles changed my life for the better.  Recommended to people who believe that good music should have something to say.    

Underachievers Please Try Harder - Camera Obscura

Underachievers Please Try Harder
Camera Obscura
Merge MRG 239
2003

I was very unhappy to read that Carey Lander died of cancer a few weeks ago.  She was the keyboard player for Camera Obscura (she is wearing the white hat in the cover pictures for this album.)  She also did the string arrangements and sang back-up vocals on this record.  I admire this band and have ever since I first heard "Suspended From Class" from this record on KXLU a decade ago.  I bought the CD and loved it so much that I bought it on vinyl as well.  I like all their albums but this is by far my favorite and I have to admit the main reason I love it so much is that it reminds me of their fellow Scots, Belle and Sebastian.  I've never heard any record that sounds more like Belle and Sebastian without actually being by Belle and Sebastian.  Even the cover art looks like a Belle and Sebastian record, hardly a surprise since head Belle, Stuart Murdoch, snapped the pictures.  I don't mean to imply that the album is blatantly imitative of the Belles, it is more that it shares common themes and the splendid chamber pop sound that made those early Belle and Sebastian records so magical.  The record opens with "Suspended From Class" which with its school metaphor, romantic awkwardness and self-deprecating lyrics immediately evokes early Stuart Murdoch.  Tracyanne Campbell has a low key, reserved style of singing but her voice is extremely lovely and sucks me right into the song.  Lander's graceful piano solo is supplemented by Nigel Baillie's delicate trumpet lines giving the song a delightful sound that is right out of the Belles' playbook.  "Keep It Clean" manages to be twee and coolly cutting at the same time, another early Murdoch trait.  The song is propulsive but retains a chamber pop flavor driven by Lander's organ and Kenny McKeeve's reverb laden guitar runs.  "A Sisters Social Agony" is a tender portrait of an indie-minded adolescent with all the corresponding angst that comes with.  You don't hear many pop songs that mention the film director Mike Leigh.  The music evokes early 1960s girl groups and 1950s doo-wop.  Campbell's dreamy vocal carries the song.  "Teenager" is one of my favorite tracks on the record.  It is addressed to a boy who is infatuated with a self-centered girl and the singer's attempt to woo him back.  The song opens with a beat group style guitar run before assuming the shuffling melody that drives the song.  Campbell's vocal is particularly compelling on this tune.  "Before You Cry" is a laid back break-up song.  It has a jaunty country-flavored melody which suits its rather callous lyrics.  John Henderson takes the vocal on the early part of the song before being joined by Campbell for the chorus.  She sings the final verse.  "Your Picture" critiques a narcissistic friend.  Henderson sings this one as well with a lugubrious vocal given extra depth with reverb.  Campbell sings a subdued harmony vocal in parts of the song.  The song is mostly supported by acoustic guitar.  It reminds me of early Leonard Cohen.  Side two opens with "Number One Son" which describes more adolescent romance woes.  It is another one of my favorite cuts.  It is a joyous track with a propulsive beat and a catchy melody that is fleshed out with strings and Baillie's trumpet.  It is the song that sounds the most like Belle and Sebastian on the record.  The poppy, upbeat sound continues with "Let Me Go Home" which is about a wild party with Motown records spinning, guests drinking and couples making out on the stairs.  Henderson sings lead and Lander's piano and McKeeve's jangly guitar runs carry the song which is the happiest track on the album.  Pure pop bliss.  The album slows down for "Books Written For Girls" which chronicles a mismatched romance with misleading appearances and false expectations.  Campbell's plaintive vocal is more emotional than is typical on this record.  I find it entrancing.  There is a lovely steel guitar solo from Wullie Gamble and some sensitive piano playing from Lander.  "Knee Deep at the NPL" describes a fun winter's night out dancing that ends with a couple falling in love.  The NPL refers to National Pop League which was a revered music club in Glasgow.  Campbell has another evocative vocal on this track which is bolstered by a gentle flute solo from Americo Alhucena.  Henderson joins the vocal at the end of the song for a charming polyphonic section.  The album concludes with "Lunar Sea" which is a poetic love song.  Campbell and Henderson sing this gentle song as a duet.  I enjoy McKeeve's rolling guitar riffs throughout the song and the chamber pop sound that makes this track a lovely conclusion for the album.  I adore this album, it is one of my favorites of the 2000s.  I've listened to it a lot in the past ten years and I still find it intensely engaging and charming.  I understand why Camera Obscura moved away from this style as their career progressed, they weren't going to get anywhere sounding so much like Belle and Sebastian.  Heck even Belle and Sebastian do not sound this much like Belle and Sebastian anymore.  I don't consider it a derivative record though, I think the band absorbed the Belles' distinctive style and gave it their own interpretation.  The record is made with intelligence and grace and even though I'm far removed from the youthful perspective that permeates the lyrics, I still find that I relate to it deeply.  Some of that can be attributed to the Tracyanne Campbell's voice which makes the words seem more significant and touching than they might be on paper.  The musical setting also enhances the lyrics, it invests them with feeling and sensitivity.  Carey Lander was a big part of this.  I think her keyboards were the heart of the band's musical sound.  Much of the beauty of their music comes from the tender and thoughtful expressiveness in her playing.  It will be an difficult hole to fill now that she is gone, but I do hope they find a way to carry on.  This one is obviously recommended for Belle and Sebastian fans.

Stories - Stories

Stories
Stories
Kama Sutra Records KSBS 2051
1972

I'm beginning to dread looking at the obituaries in the newspaper (yes I'm the kind of dinosaur who still reads print media.)  It seems like every day another rocker appears in there.  There are a bunch of them I've yet to comment on.  However seeing Michael Brown's obituary in the "LA Times" on Saturday, really hit hard.  Despite his small discography the man was one of my musical idols.  His album with the Left Banke "Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina" is one of my all time favorite records. This album can't compete with that masterpiece, but I still love it.  It was the debut album by Stories the band Brown formed with vocalist/bassist Ian Lloyd after leaving Montage.  Brown and Lloyd co-wrote all the songs on the album.  It begins with "Hello People" which is a hippie utopia song driven by Brown's piano.  Lloyd has a strong vocal on the song supported by some enthusiastic gospel style back-up singing.  It gets the record off to a bright start.  "I'm Coming Home" is an upbeat song with a ragtime feel until the chorus which sounds like Badfinger.  Brown plays energetic piano throughout with a nice solo.  The song rocks out winningly at the end.  It was released as a single but didn't crack the top 40.  "Winter Scenes" is pure chamber pop with sensitive and evocative lyrics using winter imagery to describe a love affair.  Halfway in, the song abruptly shifts into a boogie with frenetic keyboard work from Brown and then alternates between chamber pop and rocking out.  "Step Back" is more of a conventional rock song with Steve Love's guitar licks out in the forefront.  Lloyd's forceful vocal carries the song.  "You Told Me" is another chamber pop song that features Brown and Lloyd's fathers playing violin (they are depicted on the back cover with their sons.)  Both violinists were professional musicians and their playing largely drives the song and gives it a baroque sound.  The song is about breaking up and heartbreak with an emotional vocal from Lloyd.  Side two opens with "St. James" which is a propulsive rocker displaying dynamic interplay between Brown's piano and Love's guitar.  It is the most exciting track on the album.  The album slows down for "Kathleen" which is a chamber pop love song.  It boasts a pair of harpsichord solos from Brown and violin support from Brown and Lloyd's fathers.  "Take Cover" is riff driven with a lumbering guitar solo from Love who also offers effective vocal harmonies backing up Lloyd.  "Nice to Have You Here" is a delicate chamber pop song dominated by Brown on harpsichord and organ.  The song allows Lloyd to demonstrate his vocal range and emotional expressiveness.  The album concludes with "High and Low" which is loaded with pop smarts - creative vocal harmonies, swelling shifts in tempo, stinging guitar solo, multi-tracked keyboards.  This effervescent, shimmering song about the turbulence of love gives the record an ebullient finish.  This is a wonderful record, one of the best of its era.  Ian Lloyd was the most talented vocalist Brown ever recorded with and his vocal strength greatly enhanced Brown's music.  He could rock out or gently croon with equal authority and grace.  His voice has an appealing grain to it, a slight raspy quality that reminds me of Robert Plant or the young Rod Stewart.  The music sounds great, brilliantly arranged and loaded with texture and density.  Like Badfinger and Big Star, Stories brought the best qualities of the music of the 1960s into a 1970s sound - short songs, creative arrangements, melodic hooks and elaborate vocal harmonies.  43 years later it still sounds great to me.  These guys should have been huge and Michael Brown should have made dozens of albums instead of a mere five.  How is it possible that guys like Don Henley and James Taylor made more records than Brown did?  How did Carly Simon and Chicago sell millions more records than Brown did?  I was around back in the 70's and I haven't a clue.  Most of the music on the radio back then was mediocre, even awful.  I hated it so much that I fled back to the 1960s for my music.  Later I realized that good music was out there in the early 1970s, it just wasn't on the radio and maybe we were just too dumb to appreciate it.  A generation that preferred to listen to the Doobie Brothers, America or the Eagles instead of Badfinger, Big Star or Stories basically got what it deserved.  It is tragic that Chris Bell, Tom Evans and Pete Ham died before they were rediscovered by a new and smarter generation of music fans, at least Alex Chilton and Michael Brown lived long enough to see their music finally embraced and celebrated.  They are both gone now, but their music will live on and if you've never heard any of it this album is a good place to start.  Recommended to fans of early Todd Rundgren.

Butterfly/Dear Eloise/King Midas in Reverse - The Hollies

Butterfly

The Hollies

Parlaphone PMC 7039/PCS 7039

1967

 

Dear Eloise/King Midas in Reverse
The Hollies
Epic BN 26344
1967

"Butterfly" is my favorite Hollies album.  This is the 2016 reissue that contains both the mono and stereo versions of the album.  To be honest I don't need to have both versions, I can't really hear much difference between them and I would be happy with either.  I first acquired this record in its American version released on Epic.  It is decidedly inferior to "Butterfly."  The butchers at Epic removed three songs from "Butterfly" and changed the running order on this album.  Those three missing songs, the lovely "Pegasus" and the psychedelic "Try It" and "Elevated Observations," were among the best songs on "Butterfly."  They were replaced with the single "King Midas In Reverse" and "Leave Me" which had been on the British version of the Hollies' previous album "Evolution" which Epic had also chopped up.  "Leave Me" is a good song but it doesn't fit in with the rest of the album.  Its harsh lyrics encourage a lover to leave the singer.  It is a riff driven rocker with prominent bass and organ.  Its vindictive attitude and rough sound are the opposite of the good vibes, refined tone and colorful visions that permeate "Butterfly."  "King Midas in Reverse" is about a guy who destroys everything he touches and the lyrics alternate between first and third person.  Although not part of "Butterfly," it fits in quite well with its rich harmonies and orchestration.  I think it is one of the best songs Graham Nash ever wrote and I can see why its commercial failure as a single upset him so much.  It is really the only reason to buy the Epic version of "Butterfly" but you can get it on Hollies compilations too so why bother.  Stick with "Butterfly."  The songwriting on the entire album is credited to Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Graham Nash.  The record is an enticing mix of chamber pop and sunny British psych that makes me feel good whenever I play it.  It opens with "Dear Eloise" which features Nash and Clarke sharing the lead vocal.  It is a poppy tune in the Hollies tradition with some psychedelic touches.  The band's trademark harmonies are evident throughout.  It is kind of a creepy song in which a guy sends a letter to a woman who has lost her lover feigning condolence while smugly saying I told you so and gleefully anticipating having the woman for himself.  "Away Away Away" is a description of a pair of lovers escaping their problems with a blissful vacation by the sea.  It is an upbeat chamber pop track given a twee feel by the woodwinds and horns.  "Maker" is a trippy account of escaping reality through what sounds like a religious retreat but it could also be a drug trip given the vague but colorful descriptions that are used throughout the song.  The song features a sitar and exotic percussion making it one of the most overtly psychedelic tracks on the album.  I'm surprised that Epic didn't remove it and keep the more pop oriented "Pegasus" instead for their version of the album.  "Pegasus" comes next.  It is a delicate chamber pop song with idyllic imagery that I find enchanting.  "Would You Believe" is about a guy in love with a girl who is out of his league.  It is a heavily orchestrated ballad with a powerful vocal from Clarke.  Side one concludes with "Wishyouawish" which is a jaunty song that features a pied piper type character describing a blissful walk through the countryside.  It sounds a bit like Simon and Garfunkel and is bolstered by some tasteful brass accompaniment.  Side two opens with the propulsive "Postcard" which is one of my favorite tracks.  It is an invitation to join the singer and experience the joys of living by the sea.  It is an extremely catchy and atmospheric song.  "Charlie and Fred" is about an impoverished rag man and his horse.  Despite the humble subject of the song, it is a majestic tune with a soaring vocal from Clarke and robust support from the horns.  The tone of the album shifts dramatically with the psychedelic "Try It" which is a thinly veiled invitation to get high with trippy flower power language and swirling music driven by a hypnotic bass riff.  "Elevated Observations?" continues in the same vein although the music has a slightly jazzy flavor to it.  When you hear Graham Nash crooning "ego is dead" you know this is not your typical Hollies song.  There is another dramatic shift in tone with the poppy "Step Inside" which is an invitation to a former lover to come and enjoy the singer's hospitality.  It is a joyous song with an engaging melody and wonderful vocal harmonies.  The album concludes with the chamber pop "Butterfly" which is an idealized portrait of the countryside that reminds me of Donovan.  The song is a quiet ballad gently sung by Nash backed by an orchestra.  It gives the album a lovely graceful finish.  This album offers the typical Hollies amenities of delightful vocal harmonies and superb production and supplements them with ambitious lyrical content, adventurous programming and a startling eclecticism that makes it a stimulating and rewarding listening experience.  This album represents the pinnacle of the Hollies' artistic development.  They would never come close to making a record this good again.  Regrettably the album's lack of sales convinced the band to assume a more commercial direction.  They would follow this up with the disastrous "Words and Music by Bob Dylan" album and drive Graham Nash out of the band setting them out on the steep downward slope to irrelevance.  Of course Nash himself would never make a record this good either and that includes the ditties he composed for Crosby, Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young.)  This record is so enjoyable and appealing, it makes me regret that the band couldn't continue in this vein a little longer.  Although not as far out as Pink Floyd, Tomorrow or Tinturn Abbey, the album is definitely in the spirit of its time.  It embodies British psychedelia in the lushness of its sound, its colorful imagery, its whimsy and its preoccupation with escape from reality.  I consider it to be one of the best albums of its era.  Recommended to fans of Kaleidoscope and the psych-era Small Faces.

Chelsea Girl - Nico

Chelsea Girl
Nico
Verve V-5032
1967

A mono pressing of Nico's debut album.  I was watching a dvd of a Nico concert from much later in her career and after the show some college kid interviewed a bored Nico in her dressing room.  He asked her why there were no songs from this album in her repertoire.  Her response was something like they weren't her songs, although that did not stop her from performing in her concert all of the Velvet Underground songs she sang on their debut album.  I know what she meant though, this record is completely unlike all her other records, it attempts to mold her into a pop chanteuse with commercial appeal.  Good luck with that.  The liner notes compare her to Mary Travers (which is ludicrous) but I think the real role model here for producer Tom Wilson and arranger Larry Fallon was Judy Collins.  This record sounds a lot like the chamber pop and genteel folk rock albums Collins cut with Joshua Rifkin in the mid-1960s.  That is practically the opposite of Nico's personal style which emphasizes minimalist rock and roll and moody drones.  Despite Fallon and Wilson's meddling, the presence of Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison and John Cale both as musicians and as songwriters throughout the record still gives it the feel of an extension of "The Velvet Underground & Nico" although much less charged.  The album begins however with the first of three songs written by Jackson Browne who had a romantic relationship with Nico for awhile.  "The Fairest of the Seasons" was co-written with Gregory Copeland and features a delicate guitar accompaniment from Browne bolstered by strings.  The song is typical of Browne as he verbosely considers commitment issues.  If he were singing it I'd be bored, but the inherent drama in Nico's deep voice makes the song seem profound, even moving.  The string arrangement is heavy-handed, but I think the instrumental color it provides greatly enhances the feeble tune.  Browne also wrote "These Days" which has identical accompaniment.  I'm no fan of Browne's own version of this song, it sounds phony to me, but Nico's worldly persona and the heavy grain of her vocal give the song the gravity and feeling it needs to overcome Browne's glib cleverness.  It is one of my favorite songs on the album.  "Little Sister" was written by John Cale and Lou Reed and its dark, romantic lyrics are more consistent with Nico's gothic persona.  Cale's droning organ is also more in keeping with Nico's personal style although the song also features strings and a flute that apparently Nico found very upsetting.  Admittedly the cheery chamber pop that results works against the dark tone of the song, but it does not bother me too much.  This is more of a problem with John Cale's bleak "Winter Song" where the flute and strings are truly obtrusive and completely undermine the feeling of the rest of the song.  This is unfortunate because the song is otherwise perfect for Nico.  Side one ends with "It Was a Pleasure Then" by Cale, Reed and Nico.  This is the song on the album that is truest to Nico's style.  It is a minimalist tune featuring Nico solemnly intoning the gloomy lyrics with Reed noodling around on guitar emitting occasional shrieks of feedback and Cale brutally sawing away on his viola.  No chamber pop on this one, it reflects both Nico's past with the experimentally minded Velvet Underground and the uncompromising and personal music she would make in the future.  A great song.  Side two opens with Reed and Sterling Morrison's "Chelsea Girls" which is based on the Andy Warhol film of the same name that Nico appeared in.  It is the song that sounds most like Nico's work on "The Velvet Underground & Nico" aside from the string arrangement and flute which once again undermine the dark lyrics of the song.  The song sticks pretty close to the film, but you don't need to have seen the film to understand the lyrics which are typical of the detached descriptions of decadence favored by Reed in songs like "Venus in Furs" and "Femme Fatale" and it ranks with Reed's best work from that period.  Nico's vocal is mesmerizing, I wish I could erase the strings and flute from it, it would be a masterpiece.  "I'll Keep It With Mine" was written by Bob Dylan another paramour of Nico's.  According to her, he wrote the song about her and her baby and gave her an acetate of it to record.  She waited too long though and Judy Collins beat her to it.  It was also sung by Sandy Denny with Fairport Convention on their second album, "Fairport Convention."  Nico's performance is surprisingly energetic, she sounds very inspired.  Nico is a far more limited singer than Denny or Collins but I think this is the definitive version of the song.  "Somewhere There's A Feather" is another Jackson Browne song which Nico sings with engaging enthusiasm.  The optimism expressed by the lyrics couldn't be further from Nico's oeuvre, but she sounds very convincing crooning it and to his credit Browne manages to restrain his usual long-winded approach to write a direct and lovely song.  "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" was written by Lou Reed for the Velvet Underground.  If you think Nico is a bad singer you should check out the Velvets' demo on the box set, "Peel Slowly and See" featuring John Cale on lead vocal.  The song sounds dreary and lifeless in the Velvets' version, Nico's version is so much more vibrant and appealing.  On this tune the string arrangement makes the song stronger.  The album concludes with Tim Hardin's "Eulogy to Lenny Bruce."  This song has a very minimal arrangement relying on the intimacy of Nico's vocal to carry the song much like most of her later solo work.  The song is about Lenny Bruce who had recently died and the song decries his drug use which seems pretty ironic coming from Hardin, a longtime junkie who would also die from a drug overdose (and of course Nico herself was no stranger to drug addiction either.)  I think this album is largely a betrayal of Nico as an artist, but I still like it.  Yes it is over-produced, but the songs are terrific and suit her voice and persona extremely well.  In contrast to the gloom and doom she projected on her later records, on this album Nico sounds lively, even charming at times.  As a big chamber pop fan, I often like the sound of the record even when it works against Nico's vision.  Besides the compelling quality in Nico's deep dramatic voice ultimately transcends Wilson's attempt to smother her with pretty music, her inner darkness can't be suppressed.  Unlike her later records where the unrelenting gloom of the music can be wearying (to me at least), this album, with its dynamic tension between the singer and the music, is consistently interesting and stimulating.  Recommended to people who prefer "Femme Fatale" over "Heroin."

Heaven/Earth - The Free Design

Heaven/Earth
The Free Design
Project 3  PR 5037SD
1969

The third album by the Free Design.  I'm a big 1960s buff, but I was not aware of this group until I heard Dressy Bessy's cover of one of their songs on "The Powerpuff Girls" soundtrack CD.  I liked the song and looked up its origin and thus discovered this band that really I should have known about much earlier.  They didn't appear in any of the rock encyclopedias or histories I used when forming my record collection.  They toiled in undeserved obscurity during their existence from 1967 to 1972.   The band enjoyed a modest resurgence of interest in the past decade fueled by the admiration of bands like Stereolab and the reissuing of their original albums.  The band consisted of four siblings, the Dedricks, led by brother Chris who wrote the band's original material and did their elaborate arrangements. The band's style was a mix of arty soft rock and chamber pop akin to Orpheus or the Millennium.  I'm not a big soft rock fan, but this group really appeals to me.  I like all of Chris Dedrick's original songs which comprise most of side one.  My favorite is "2002 - A Hit Song" which is about how to write a hit single and the band's failure to achieve one.  Dedrick is mocking hit singles, but really this song should have been one.  It has a big hooky bass line, a solid beat, a catchy chorus and the band's characteristically complex vocal harmonies driving it, a terrific song.  The album's closing tune "Dorian Benediction" is Dedrick's most interesting song.  It blends a vocal line that sounds derived from Medieval liturgical music with a jazzy instrumental backing with remarkable results.  "Now Is The Time" is upbeat sunshine pop that is highly engaging and the most propulsive tune on the record.  "You Be You and I'll Be Me" is in a similar vein and almost as good.  I like the lyrics about keeping one's identity in a relationship.  "My Very Own Angel" and "Girls Alone" are slight but very lovely thanks to the delicate instrumental arrangements and enchanting vocal harmonies.  I like the cover songs on the album much less.  They make up most of side two.  My favorite is their cover of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" which is very slow and deliberate.  Normally I would object to the lethargic pace of the song, but the vocals are so gorgeous I find that I appreciate the slow tempo.  They do a jazzy version of Gershwin's "Summertime" which has an impressive arrangement and the studio band really cooks, but I find the vocals kind of weak.  The song needs a stronger lead singer than the band can provide.   There is a chamber pop version of "Where Do I Go" from the musical "Hair."  I like the strings which make the song seem less like a show tune.  "Hurry Sundown" was a flop single for Peter, Paul and Mary.  I like the Free Design's version a lot better both for its superior arrangement and for the quality of the vocal harmonies.  The worst of the cover songs is the group's version of "Memories" which was a hit for Elvis.  They dress the song up pretty nicely but I still find it nauseatingly sappy although definitely an improvement on Presley's record.  The Free Design and "Heaven/Earth" deserve to be better known.  Side one of this album is about as good as any soft rock I've ever heard, I listen to it quite a bit.  Recommended to fans of the Cowsills and Spanky and Our Gang looking for something a little smarter.       

Tape From California - Phil Ochs

Tape From California
Phil Ochs
A&M  SP 4148
1968

Here's a Labor Day post for one of the most ardent unionists in American rock music, Phil Ochs.  This is my favorite Ochs album in which, as the liner notes say, Ochs drops us "a line from the beautiful people coast."  It is a satiric yet heart-felt album that represents Ochs at the height of his creative power.  The opening song "Tape From California" is one of the best songs Ochs ever wrote.  It uses a propulsive folk-rock structure with a piano and a harpsichord layering a chamber pop melody line on top while Ochs sweetly croons stunningly surreal and evocative lyrics.  It captures the anxiety and craziness of the late 1960s as well as any song you will ever hear.  It is followed by "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land" which is a scathing anti-Vietnam War song.  The song is a return to Ochs' folk roots in style and content although it is less overtly didactic and more poetic than his earlier work.  It is mostly just Ochs and his acoustic guitar with some brass overdubs.  "Half a Century High" rips television regarding it as a quasi-drug that distorts perception and reality.  It returns to the sound of "Tape From California" mixing folk-rock with chamber pop courtesy of a harpsichord.  "Joe Hill" is another folk song which describes the life and death of the labor hero.  It is a different song than the Alfred Hayes/Earl Robinson song that Joan Baez sang at Woodstock.  It is a lot longer and more detailed, an epic narrative ballad.  Ochs and Ramblin' Jack Elliott play guitar on the song.  Side one ends with "The War Is Over" which is yet another folk-rock/chamber pop hybrid with an elaborate arrangement and supplemented by brass and winds.  At the end of the song the band plays the theme from Ochs' "I Ain't Marching Anymore."  This is a classic protest song in which Ochs attacks the Vietnam War to the point of likening it to America committing suicide and urging the opposition to declare the war over, in essence beating John and Yoko to the "war is over if you want it" idea.  It is a very powerful and inspiring song that Ochs sings with a soaring optimistic vocal.  This brilliant song transcends agit-prop to achieve anthemic status.  Side two opens with "The Harder They Fall" which has strings and a piano giving it a chamber pop flavor.  The song uses nursery rhyme characters to make cynical and bitter observations about contemporary life.  It is a bit heavy-handed for my taste but he certainly lands a lot of punches.  It is followed by 13 minutes and 15 seconds of "When In Rome" in which Ochs takes a sociopath on a journey through the decadence of contemporary American society which is pointedly compared to the fall of the Roman Empire.  It is a grim song but Ochs' vivid imagery and poetic language make it really compelling.  It is just the man and his guitar but I find the song completely gripping.  Ochs follows this hellish song with the sweet chamber pop of "Floods of Florence."  The song appears to be about the transience and fragility of art and mentions the silent film director D. W. Griffith which surely must be a rock first.  Ochs would learn about the transience of art first hand in a few years when his career would go into a nosedive, but fortunately for those of us who admire him, his work would grow in stature after his tragic death.  This marvelous album really captures the 1960s for me.  What I find interesting about it, is the dynamic between the anger and turmoil in the lyrics and the beauty and lyricism of the music.  In contrast to other 1960s politically charged albums like "Volunteers" or "Kick Out The Jams" where the music is loud and abrasive, this album is almost soothing in its sound.  The other thing I find impressive about it, is that although on the surface Ochs expresses anger and anguish about the state of the world, his basic decency, idealism and patriotism are always evident beneath the surface.  The man clearly loved America and what it is supposed to represent.  Recommended for people who think that there is more to patriotism than waving a flag and blindly following leaders.

Mojo Magic - Mojo

Mojo Magic
Mojo
GRT 10003
1968

The Mojo Men were part of the first generation of San Francisco bands that paved the way for the San Francisco Sound without ever really being a part of it.  I first encountered them on the original "Nuggets" comp which featured their classic 1967 single "Sit Down I Think I Love You."  That song's delicious blending of chamber pop and sunshine pop resulted in one of the most infectious and delightful songs of its era.  I loved it so much I sought out the original Reprise Records 45 just to hear the B-side, the very fine "Don't Leave Me Crying Like Before."  It remains one of my favorite singles of all time.  This is the sole album by the Mojo Men although by this time they had shortened their name to Mojo.  Like their fellow early San Francisco band, the Charlatans, their album came out too late, after the band was already on the downside of their career.  I'll never understand why Reprise never released an album by them earlier than this.  Anyone who has heard the Sundazed comps of the Mojo Men's Reprise material knows how good that music was.  Warner Bros. saw fit to release 3 albums by their Autumn Records contemporaries The Beau Brummels and no less than 4 albums by the far less talented Harper's Bizarre (known as the Tikis on Autumn) but just a few singles by the Mojo Men.  Some of the Reprise material ended up on this album and if you have the Sundazed CD "Sit Down...It's The Mojo Men" you will have heard eight of the ten tracks on this album already, only "Candle To Burn" and "I Can't Let Go" are not included on it.  That is unfortunate because "Candle To Burn" is an excellent song with some lovely orchestration.  I consider it one of their best songs. "I Can't Let Go" is a weaker song but like "Candle To Burn" it features an impressive arrangement with orchestration that makes it sound more sophisticated than it really is.  Parts of this album sounds like the Mamas and the Papas which might have been a good idea in 1966 but a dubious choice in 1968.  Their influence is evident in the arrangements and harmonies on "Make You At Home," and especially "New York City" which could be an answer song to the Mamas and the Papas" "Twelve-Thirty."  "New York City" is a memorable song, but it is so derivative that it doesn't do much for Mojo's artistic credibility.  "Evelyn Hope" is the most interesting song on the record with a compelling guitar line from Paul Curcio and a psychedelic feel to it that is the closest they come to the San Francisco Sound on this album.  When Jan Errico starts wailing at the end I'm reminded of Grace Slick with the Great Society.  The gothic lyrics are derived from the poem of the same name by Robert Browning (although he is given no credit.)  "Beside Me" is one of my favorite songs on the record.  Errico's haunting vocal on this alluring chamber pop song really sends me.  It is a slow, smoldering song reminiscent of "Don't Leave Me Crying Like Before."  There is also a chamber pop feel to "Flower of Love" which has a complex structure with numerous tempo changes.  "Not Too Old To Start Crying" is a mix of folk-rock and chamber pop.  It is a conventional pop song but it has a compelling beat, a passionate vocal from Jim Alaimo and an arrangement that gives it some depth.  "Free Ride" is one of the punchier songs on the record with a soulful brass arrangement and I like the flower power lyrics.  "Whatever Happened to Happy" is the only song on the album that was not written by the team of Jim Alaimo and Jan Errico, it was written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon of "Happy Together" fame.  It is first rate commercial pop and I don't know why it wasn't a hit.  Even though it doesn't represent the band as well as the Sundazed CDs do, I really enjoy this record, there isn't a bad song on it.  Alaimo and Errico had a lot of chemistry as singers and the arrangements are consistently interesting and appealing.  This album deserves to be better known, as do the Mojo Men, they had a lot of talent.  "Mojo Magic" isn't all that easy to find but the Sundazed comps are and the two that feature the post-Autumn recordings with Jan Errico are both excellent.  If you are a fan of the early San Francisco Sound, chamber pop or sunshine pop, you will probably enjoy these recordings.  Recommended for people who prefer "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" to "Crown of Creation."

Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina - The Left Banke

Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina
The Left Banke
Smash MGS 27088
1967 

The Left Banke did not invent chamber pop but I think there is little doubt that this is the definitive chamber pop album of the 1960s (or as the liner notes label it, "baroque" pop.)  I think its only real competition would be the Zombie's "Odessey and Oracle" and this one came first.  1967 was the greatest year in pop music in my opinion, so many wonderful albums came out that year, but I would assert that of all those albums, this one is among the freshest and least dated.  It has influenced countless modern indie rock bands from Belle and Sebastian to the Ladybug Transistor and I think it is just as relevant and meaningful now as the day it was issued.  The album begins with my favorite of all their songs, "Pretty Ballerina."  The song is driven by a hypnotic piano line by Michael Brown supplemented by the drone of a tasteful string arrangement and a nice oboe solo.  Steve Martin's delicate and tender vocal helps make this one of the most beautiful songs of its era.  It is followed by "She May Call You Up Tonight" which sticks to conventional rock instrumentation, but the interplay between Brown's piano and the jangly folk-rock style guitar has a baroque feel.  The song features some stunning vocal harmonies singing the memorable lyrics of jealousy and unrequited love.  With both a lute and a harpsichord, the baroque sound is heavy on the extraordinary "Barterers and Their Wives."  This courtly song's lyrics attacking businessmen are gorgeously sung by Martin, George Cameron and Tom Finn.  It demonstrates how distinctive and unique the group's music was.  "I've Got Something On My Mind" continues in the same vein with a harpsichord and strings supporting another delicate vocal of frustrated romance.  Brown switches to a clavinet for "Let Go Of You Girl" and group members, Rick Brand, Cameron and Finn are finally allowed to play after being replaced by session men for most of the album.  It is the only song on the album that features the band pictured on the cover.  It is a simple pop song with banal lyrics, but the sophisticated vocals and the clavinet raise it to a higher level.  Brown uses both an electric piano and a harpsichord on the rollicking and sexy "Evening Gown" which demonstrates that Martin was also adept at rocking out.  It may be the hardest rocking song ever to mention butlers, parlor doors and evening gowns and contradicts the stereotype that the Left Banke was a wimpy band.  Side two kicks off with the song that is primarily responsible for that wimpy stereotype, the eternal classic "Walk Away Renee."  Dominated by strings and harpsichord with a flute solo, the song's weepy lyrics of heartbreak and unrequited love are sung in high quavering vocals, it is both a quintessential landmark for chamber pop and twee indie rock.  If you have a problem with that, this is not the blog for you.  I worship this song and all it has wrought.  "What Do You Know" takes a very different direction.  It is country rock featuring a rare lead vocal by Michael Brown, it is one of the odder songs in the Left Banke catalog.  It is not all that great, but it is indicative of the band's versatility.  The opening strings of "Shadows Breaking Over My Head" signal a return to normalcy.  This is one of the prettiest and most haunting songs on the album.  "I Haven't Got the Nerve" is the only song not written by Michael Brown on the album, it was written by George Cameron and Steve Martin and they share the lead vocal as well.  Brown plays a mambo/samba style riff on the harpsichord which works surprisingly well.  The record ends with "Lazy Day" which features original group guitarist Jeff Winfield playing some stinging fuzz guitar, no chamber pop here, this is as close as the Left Banke got to playing straight ahead rock and roll.  This is a great record, one of my all time faves.  Recommended to lovelorn music students.

Time of the Zombies - The Zombies

Time of the Zombies
The Zombies
Epic KEG 32861
1974

Kind of a creepy album cover for a record that is so sweet and sensitive, but I guess it fits with the irony of the Zombies name itself - the most erudite and tenderest of the British Invasion bands chose to name themselves after mindless monsters.  "Zombie Heaven" basically rendered this obsolete, but as much as I love that CD box set, I still have a lot of regard for this double album.  I knew very little about the Zombies when I bought it as a teenager aside from their hit singles, but you couldn't ask for a better introduction to the group, every song is great, this record was compiled with a lot of care and intelligence.  At first I was a little perturbed that the group was so nerdy looking and that the liner notes were going on about how educated they were, but when I gave it a spin all my doubts vanished.  The band played with so much style and verve, Rod Argent's keyboard work was inventive and exciting, Colin Blunstone had such a heart breaking and expressive voice.  I'd never heard pop music like this.  Instead of the raw, driving, rhythm and blues inspired music I was accustomed to hearing from the British Invasion bands, I heard music from the hearts of poets - melancholy, observant, aching, yearning.  These songs really spoke to me, I related to the Zombies the way I never could to the Yardbirds or the Animals or the Stones.  I shared their world view, their cultural values, their middle class background.  Groups like the Eagles and Led Zeppelin might as well be from Mars as far as I was concerned, but these guys I could imagine talking to or hanging out with.  This was well before college rock, it was so refreshing to encounter a group I could identify with, one so unlike the macho pretty boys, hippie half-wits and drug-addled neanderthals that populated the rock scene of the 1970s.  Such great songs.  Side 3 and 4 feature "Odessey and Oracle" in its entirety, restoring that lost masterpiece to the catalog that it never should have left.  It is now justly recognized for its greatness, but back in the 1970s it was little known aside from "Time of the Season."  I was amazed by it.  The music was so eclectic, it was so different from every other record I had heard, it was my first serious encounter with chamber pop, aside from the occasional Beatles effort in that vein.  The lyrics were so intelligent - songs about World War I and convicts and loneliness and alienation.  I was dazzled by the imagery and atmosphere of songs like "Hung Up On A Dream," "Maybe After He's Gone," and "Brief Candles."  What other 60s band would do a song ("Friends of Mine") about how happy they are that their friends are in love and then actually name the friends?  "Odessey and Oracle" is chock full of these unusual and heartfelt songs.  A great, great album.  Side one and two cherry pick through the rest of the Zombies catalog including the hits "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" and adding such wonderful lesser known tracks as "Imagine the Swan," "I Know She Will," "Is This The Dream," "She Loves The Way They Love Her" and so many more.  I could just go on and on about how every song is terrific.  The liner notes by Pete Frame are first rate, with some vintage clippings and comments from the group.  One of my all-time favorite albums.  Recommended to anyone who ever wished that rock wasn't so stupid sometimes.

Cucumber Castle - The Bee Gees

Cucumber Castle
The Bee Gees
Atco SD 33-327
1970

Reduced to a duo with the departure of brother Robin for his ill-fated solo career, Maurice and Barry Gibb don't seem to have missed him too much.  They co-wrote all of the songs on the album most of which are the whiny, sappy ballads that made the Bee Gees so successful, like "If Only I Had My Mind On Something Else," "I Was the Child," "I Lay Down and Die," "The Chance of Love" and "Turning Tide" which would fit quite nicely on "Odessa" or "Trafalgar".  My favorite of the ballads is the soulful "Bury Me Down by the River."  The worst is "Then You Left Me" which ranks among the most maudlin songs that they ever produced.  There are a few unusual songs however, most notably the country influence on such songs as "Don't Forget to Remember," "Sweetheart" and "The Lord".  The first two are mildly interesting, sappy as ever but at least they depart from the usual formula, but "The Lord" is so awful, I wondered if it was a joke.  These guys aren't known for their sense of humor though so I assume it was meant seriously.  "My Thing" is a slight song but it has a sunshine pop flavor that briefly brightens up this gloomy record.  Then there is "I. O. I. O" which might be compared to the music of groups like Mungo Jerry or Marmalade, a quasi-world music sound that is engaging and results in my favorite song on the record.  I've never seen the television special that generated five of the songs on the album and since they are mostly the worst ones I'm pretty sure I never want to.  If you are a fan of the pre-disco/post-teen idol Bee Gees, you will probably find stuff to like on this album.  Recommended for people who think "Odessa" was too short.