Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father - Various Artists

Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father

Various Artists

New Musical Express  NME PEP LP-100

1988

I picked this up several years ago largely because "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" has been the seminal album of my record collecting life.  I've worshipped it since I was a young teen.   I had my doubts about this album because I only knew about half the artists on it.  I'm a big fan of Sonic Youth and the Wedding Present and a fan of Billy Bragg, Michelle Shocked and the Fall so I figured it would at least be decent although I probably would have bought it even if it was full of covers by the likes of the Eagles, Kansas and Styx.   I feel like the original album is indestructible, it resists even the lamest of covers with its indomitable greatness . Actually the album is better than decent and I am happy I bought it.   It was a charity record benefiting a child welfare telephone line in England which seems like a very worthy cause although I bought my copy used so my money only benefited a record store.  It sticks to the original running order with the title track delivered by the British hip hop trio the Three Wize Men.   I don't think that hip hop is a suitable style for the song, but it is certainly different as well as adventurous and sounds better than I would have predicted.   The Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet performs "With a Little Help From My Friends" in a slick poppy style that I find even more disconcerting than the previous hip hop track, but it is done very well if you like that sort of thing.  The British soul group the Christians play "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in a manner that retains much of the psychedelic flavor of the original and it is largely faithful to the Beatles' arrangement.  I like it but it is one of the least memorable cuts on the album.  The Wedding Present are joined by the wonderful Amelia Fletcher (of my big faves Heavenly and Talulah Gosh) for "Getting Better."   Their hyped up version of the song sounds more like the Wedding Present than the Beatles but I love it anyway. It is my second favorite track on the album.  The Scottish duo Hue & Cry are given the task of interpreting "Fixing a Hole."   It is an interesting jazzy arrangement of the song that is far more dynamic than the original.  I'm impressed by it.   Billy Bragg is joined by his regular collaborator pianist Cara Tivey for the difficult job of covering "She's Leaving Home" which was a double A-side chart topping single in the U.K. backed with the Wet Wet Wet track (which I suspect drove most of the sales.)  Tivey's evocative piano lines carry the song and I consider them an improvement over the orchestrated arrangement of the Beatles' version.  Bragg's thick accent and heavy voice undercut the sentimentality inherent in the lyrics and I prefer this version to the Beatles's own version.  Chris Sievey's oddball alter-ego Frank Sidebottom closes out the side with "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite."   I have to admit I don't get the Sidebottom schtick and find his whiny voice irritating.   The arrangement of the song is similar to the Beatles' one minus the psychedelic sound effects, although Sievey inserts a bit of "Twist and Shout" into the middle of the song for some reason.   I'm utterly charmed by the way the song reproduces the run-off gibberish from the Beatles' original ending of the album only to be admonished with a sneering "that's on the other side, stupid!"   Side two opens with Sonic Youth's spectacular version of "Within You Without You" which is my favorite track.   The band is faithful to the original arrangement, but supercharge it with guitar noise and tribal-style drumming.   This thrilling track is one of my all-time favorite Beatles covers and the album is worth picking up for it alone (you can also find it on the wonderful deluxe edition of "Daydream Nation" but it will cost you a lot more.)  The British jazzers the Courtney Pine Quartet are a well-chosen choice for "When I'm Sixty-Four."  They do it as a swinging instrumental taken at a faster tempo than the original.  I find it very invigorating which is certainly not the case with the original version although it completely lacks the original's charm.  Michelle Shocked sings "Lovely Rita" as a low-key folk song which places the focus on her lovely vocal.  I find it very appealing but I do miss the psychedelic stylistics of the original.  The Australian alt-rock band the Triffids perform "Good Morning Good Morning" which sounds very 1980s with the mannered vocals and big drums people liked for some reason back then.   It sounds more like U2 than the Beatles but I like it anyway especially the rumbling bass line that drives the song.   The Three Wize Men return for the reprise version of the title track which sounds a lot like their title track version except that the vocals are heavily processed to the point of being almost indecipherable.   It is also more than twice as long as the original reprise version for no good reason that I can discern.  The Fall close out the album with my favorite song on the original album, "A Day in the Life."  The Fall stick pretty close to the original to my surprise only Mark E. Smith's distinctive voice and vocal style bare any resemblance to the Fall's typical sound.  There is yet another version of the run-out gibberish to finish the song, this time in the appropriate place.   I find the track a little disappointing yet I have to admit I'm pleased that the song is respectful of the original.   Although I would say this is actually a very good album, I feel it proves my theory that "Sgt.Pepper" is indestructible.   These tracks are all over the place, often wildly different than the original and yet the result is still coherent and compelling.   I think it validates the idea of the concept album since it can survive such a massive disparity of style and sound.  Also it is just plain fun to listen to.  It is made with love and spirit and I would recommend it to all Beatles fans with open minds and a taste for sonic adventure.

The Texas Campfire Tapes - Michelle Shocked

 

The Texas Campfire Tapes

Michelle Shocked

Mercury 834 581-1

1986

I was mortified and mystified when I read in the newspaper how Michelle Shocked committed career suicide by allegedly making homophobic comments and denouncing gay marriage on stage in San Francisco of all places.  As a result of the controversy her tour was cancelled and a bunch of journalists who probably had never even heard of her dragged her through the mud for a while until they lost interest.  I was flabbergasted by the whole thing for several reasons.  Firstly I had recently seen her in concert myself and she seemed completely normal.  Secondly I had no idea she had become a born again Christian, I basically thought of her as a left-wing activist (she made a lot of comments about the Occupy movement at the show I saw.)  Finally I always thought she was a lesbian herself.  I despise homophobia and I don't condone her remarks although I'm not entirely sure exactly what she said.  I've read descriptions of the event and excerpts of her stage patter and it does not make much sense to me.  I think I get what she was trying to say though and I do believe it was just a case of miscommunication and a misguided attempt at ironic humor.  I don't believe she meant any harm and though I find her explanations confusing, I accept her apologies.  I'm a fan of her work and I'm not going to dismiss it on the basis of her saying some stupid things at a show.  This album is one of my favorites.  The record is taken from a tape recorded on a Sony Walkman as Shocked ran through some of her songs accompanied only by her acoustic guitar while sitting at a campfire on the grounds of the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1986.  You can hear the persistent chirping of crickets throughout the recording as well as the occasional passing car or truck.  The album begins with the moody "5 a.m. in Amsterdam" which is about being alone in Amsterdam and hearing the church bells toll.  The mood brightens with the rollicking "The Secret Admirer" which dissects a sex symbol with a "sweet little asset."  Shocked says that the next song "The Incomplete Image" sounds unfinished but she calls it finished.  It alternates a lively instrumental section with quasi-spoken verses about a couple of vagabonds, one male and one female.  Shocked introduces "Who Cares?" as her most recent song.  It is a narrative of a visit to a spooky ghost town with Shocked picking out a compelling, atmospheric melody on her guitar.  The swinging "Down on Thomas St." is about a jazz club.  The jazzy mood continues with "Fogtown" which paints a dark portrait of San Francisco.  It describes the seedy nightlife of the city and the story of a hooker who dies from a heroin overdose.  It is one of my favorite songs on the record.  Shocked re-recorded the song as a rocker on her subsequent album "Short Sharp Shocked."  Shocked introduces "Steppin Out" by describing how she worked at a "non-commercial" radio station in Amsterdam where she wrote this song for a program about the reasons why people go out.  The song has an uptempo folk-blues flavor to it.  "The Hep Cat" is another one of my favorite songs on the album.  It is a jazzy, retro style tune and Shocked's sexy vocal is full of charm and personality as she describes her attraction to the cool cat of the title.  Shocked introduces "Necktie" as being an older song.  It is a jumping tune that reinforces the axiom about clothes making the man (or woman.)  I like the line about cultured pearls being "the kind that sips lots of tea and reads lots of poetry."  Shocked keeps up the fast tempo as she jumps right into "(Don't You Mess Around with) My Little Sister."  It is a rock and roll style song about her sister who is "a real gone twister" but too young for boys to mess around with.  She slows down for "The Ballad of Patch Eye and Meg" which is about an old sailor who tells tall tales but won't talk about the woman he loved.  The album concludes with "The Secret to a Long Life (Is Knowing When It's Time to Go)" which is a narrative ballad about an outlaw on the run in the old west.  The song sounds pretty worldly for a 24 year old.  That is true of the entire album, it has a timeless, folksy quality that seems way beyond her years.  I find listening to the album to be soothing and relaxing.  If you turn the lights down low and spin the record, Shocked's engaging and intimate performance will almost make you feel like you are sitting at that campfire next to her.  I defy anyone to play it and then proclaim that Shocked is a bad person who should not be allowed to perform.  Recommended to people who like to listen to demos.

Short Sharp Shocked - Michelle Shocked

Short Sharp Shocked
Michelle Shocked
Mercury  834 924-1  
1988

I was a fan of Michelle Shocked in the early 90s but she dropped off my radar after the release of "Kind Hearted Woman."   It wasn't that I no longer liked her music, I just didn't notice it anymore, which is one of the consequences of going the independent route I suppose.  Over the summer I saw she had a local gig so I decided to check it out and see what she has been up to.  It was a fun show, she did a lot of the older tunes that I knew and I liked the newer stuff as well.  Much of her repertoire was drawn from this, her second album, and I liked the show so much that I pulled out this album for the first time in many years and gave it a spin.  It was the first record of hers that I bought and I mostly bought it because I was so taken by the cover photograph which shows her getting arrested at the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco.  I remember the Convention quite well, I had a summer job in the city at the time, but I didn't participate in the protests which practically paralyzed downtown, in fact I went to Russian River with my girlfriend to escape all the hubbub.  Given the cover photo and her punky haircut, I was expecting something militant and something rockish, so I was surprised when I first played it to find that the music was folksy and country-flavored as befits a woman from East Texas I suppose.  The only real rock song is her collaboration with the punk band M.D.C., the unlisted track "Fogtown" which is a description of the seedy underbelly of San Francisco.  This song first appeared as a folk song on "The Texas Campfire Tapes."  The only militant song is "Graffiti Limbo" which is about police brutality.  There is also a cover of Jean Ritchie's "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore" which has elements of social commentary to it but I think it is more of a lament than a protest song.  "If Love Was a Train" is a swinging, bluesy love song and "When I Grow Up" is a silly love song with a driving beat.  The lovely "Memories of East Texas," "V. F. D" and the rollicking "(Making the Run to) Gladewater" are unsentimental reminiscences of her life in Texas.  My favorite song is "Anchorage" which is about an old friend from Texas and the different paths their lives have taken since they left Texas.  It was the highlight of her live show for me.  Musically this is mostly tasteful country rock well-played and arranged by a solid bunch of musicians.  Shocked has a warm and inviting voice and the music is personal enough to keep me interested.  Recommended to fans of Lucinda Williams and Shelby Lynne.