The SOUND – ” The Albums “

Posted: February 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Sound were an English post-punk band, formed in South London in 1979 and dissolved in 1988. They were fronted by Adrian Borland, and evolved from his previous band, the Outsiders. While never commercially successful, The Sound have long been championed by critics. The original lineup of the Sound consisted of Adrian Borland (vocals, guitar) and Graham Bailey (bass guitar), both ex-Outsiders, along with Mike Dudley (drums) and Benita “Bi” Marshall (keyboard, saxophone, clarinet). While not a member, ex-Outsider Adrian Janes would contribute ideas and co-write lyrics to the Sound’s music

The Sound made their debut with the EP Physical World in 1979, released on manager Stephen Budd’s Tortch label. It was favourably received by NME and received airplay from DJ John Peel. More of their early recordings were later released as the album Propaganda in 1999.

“Left all alone, I’m with the one I most fear,” Adrian Borland sang on “I Can’t Escape Myself,” the first and best song on The Sound’s 1980 debut album “Jeopardy”, and as conveyed in the 2016 Adrian Borland documentary Walking in the Opposite Direction which just became available to stream on-demand this year that line was more than your typical goth posturing. Adrian was truly his own worst enemy, and he battled serious mental health issues and was in and out of psychiatric hospitals for decades before ultimately taking his own life in 1999. His health issues were at least part of the reason that Adrian never gained the popularity that he truly deserved, but as his father Bob Borland said in Walking in the Opposite Direction, even if The Sound or any of Adrian’s other projects had hit it big, “I’m not sure that Adrian could’ve handled it.”

The documentary traces Adrian’s career from his days fronting the punk band The Outsiders in the late ’70s to fronting the post-punk band The Sound in the ’80s to his solo career in the late ’80s and ’90s, with which he dabbled in jangle pop, folk, alternative rock, psychedelic rock, and more. If you’re a fan of any of Adrian’s bands, I highly recommend watching the documentary and if you’re new to his music, read on for a little primer on Adrian Borland, a natural-born songwriter who really deserves to be better-known.

THE OUTSIDERS
Adrian’s first “real” band was The Outsiders (though around that same time, he apparently had a band with the late Tim Smith of Cardiacs that lasted for like two shows), and The Outsiders rivalled just about any of the great early punk bands. Their first album, 1977’s “Calling on Youth” recorded mostly by Adrian’s father in their home and released on their own Raw Edge label — wasn’t quite there yet, but the potential is overwhelming. Rippers like the title track and “Hit and Run” had all the speed and raw energy you’d expect from ’77 punk, and even that early on, you can hear the power and distinctiveness in Adrian’s voice. That’s really one of the major things that would set The Sound apart in the increasingly crowded post-punk genre, and that makes any Adrian Borland song hit you in the gut, even when it’s not his finest work. He just had one of those voices that stops you in your tracks every time he opened his mouth to sing.

The rippers were fine examples of early punk, but Calling On Youth also had stuff like the haunting acoustic jangle of “Start Over” and the ballad “Walking Through A Storm” that hinted at the music Adrian would make much later on in his career. It’s not exactly the most cohesive album, but it’s a solid teaser of the many sides of Adrian Borland’s music that would get perfected later on. The Outsiders‘ second and final album, 1978’s Close Up, was much more cohesive, and also a pretty major leap from the debut. It was done in a real studio, and it’s one of the true classic albums of ’70s punk. Like a lot of punk albums from that era, it opens with its best song — the catchy, anthemic “Vital Hours” — but the rest of the 11-song album wasn’t too shabby either, and it still sounds urgent and timeless today.

The Outsiders broke up in 1979, and Adrian went to form a few other projects. He and Outsiders bassist Graham Bailey formed the gothy minimal synth duo Second Layer, who released one great album (1981’s World of Rubber) and a couple cool EPs/singles during their short run. He also formed the even shorter-lived The Witch Trials, who were fronted by the Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra (and also included Morgan Fisher of Mott the Hoople), and who released one four-song EP that finds the middle ground between theatre, horror films, industrial, and political commentary (it’s wild to hear 1981’s “The Tazer” in the context of 2020’s protests against police brutality). And most significantly, he formed The Sound, also including Graham Bailey on bass as well as drummer Michael Dudley and keyboardist Belinda Marshall (who was also dating Adrian at the time). Their debut album, 1980’s “Jeopardy”, is among the finest post-punk records ever recorded, and it’s both confusing and criminal that it’s so overlooked today.

THE SOUND

“Jeopardy”, their debut album, was recorded inexpensively and released in November 1980 to critical acclaim; it received 5-star reviews from three major music publications, NME, Sounds and Melody Maker. Jeopardy is a caustic jolt of a debut that startles and fascinates. With the plaintive intro of the rhythm section, a spidery guitar, and incidental synth wobbles. “I Can’t Escape Myself” begins the album unassumingly enough until reaching the terse, one-line chorus that echoes the title of the song; suddenly, from out of the blue, all the instruments make a quick, violent, collective stab and retreat back into the following verse as singer Adrian Borland catches his breath.

The reverb placed on his voice is heightened at just the right moments to exacerbate the song’s claustrophobic slant. The ecstatic onward rush of “Heartland” forms the back end of a dynamic one-two opening punch, with a charging rhythm and blaring keyboards leading the way. Much later on, near the end, “Unwritten Law” comes along as one of the Sound’s best mid-tempo mood pieces –  If you’re thinking this sounds like someone’s telling you that you need Jeopardy just as much as you need Kilimanjaro or Unknown Pleasures or Crocodiles, you’re right again.

Following the album, Marshall left the band and was replaced by Colvin “Max” Mayers, previously in The Cardiacs. For their second album, the band worked with producer Hugh Jones.

“From the Lions Mouth” was released in 1981, to further critical acclaim, though their fanbase hadn’t extended beyond a cult following. The Sound went into the studio with talented producer Hugh Jones on board to accentuate the band’s winning atmospherics. As a result, the sound is fuller, less pungent. And speaking of winning, the snake-charming opener “Winning” is like a dash of cold water in the faces of all the bands that were wallowing and withering away at the weeping well: “I was going to drown/Then I started swimming/I was going down/then I started winning.”

This, in a sense, exemplifies the point that the Sound were not mopes. Most of the record has an effortless thrust to it, and only occasionally — for maximum effect — does the Sound whip out the heavy artillery. If “The Fire” sounds too bombastic and pummeling, listen closer. The bass is the lead instrument, the keyboards are just as prominent as the guitars,

Borland also released a collaborative EP that year with Jello Biafra under the name the Witch Trials.

During the early 1980s, The Sound toured throughout Europe, covering the UK and much of the continent. Like their contemporaries the Comsat Angels (whom they toured with in 1981),  The Sound recorded several Peel sessions and performed the single “Sense of Purpose” on the TV show Old Grey Whistle Test.

In the same year, The Sound released a live EP titled Live Instinct.

Korova Records pressured Borland and his bandmates to come up with a more commercially successful third album, in addition to shifting the Sound from Korova to WEA proper. In an act of rebellion, they responded with “All Fall Down” in 1982, an album that took them even further away from the mainstream. Drummer Mike Dudley explained:
We thought [the label wasn’t] giving us the support that we were due and that if they really wanted a commercial album, they had got to put plenty of money behind it, which with both “Jeopardy” and “From the Lions Mouth” they hadn’t really done .So when they turned around and said, ‘The solution is for you to write more commercial songs’, we thought, ‘Fuck you’, and went ahead and produced All Fall Down.

“All Fall Down” was panned by critics upon its release. Upon receiving the album, WEA decided not to promote it, and the band and the label parted company. The Sound responded to label demands and simmering internal pressures with a record that challenged devout fans as well. All Fall Down is one of those maligned records where some fans bailed but a select few.

In 1983, The Sound released a joint EP in collaboration with singer Kevin Hewick “This Cover Keeps Reality Unreal”, on Cherry Red Records.

The band were approached by several labels, ultimately signing with independent label Statik in 1984. They released an EP, Shock of Daylight, which received favourable coverage from the music press. This was followed a year later by the full-length Heads and Hearts which finds them riding the wave of optimism — or maybe it would be better to say enthusiasm, that shot through them as they found themselves revitalized after parting ways with a major label. While nothing here is as sparklingly “up” as the Shock of Daylight EP’s “Golden Soldiers,” and while the lyrics don’t exactly deal with the happier elements of romantic relationships, there’s a sweepingly hopeful sensibility apparent through the arrangements and Wally Brill’s bold, crystalline production.

By 1985, Borland had begun to exhibit symptoms of mental illness, perhaps worsened by the frustrations of his career.

Not long after the 1985 release of a live album, “In the Hothouse”, Statik went into bankruptcy. The band produced one more album, “Thunder Up”, on the Belgian label Play It Again Sam.While touring Spain in 1987, they had to cancel several appearances after Borland suffered a complete breakdown. Dudley recalled bringing an incoherent Borland home on a plane.

The band split up in early 1988.

FRANCES QUINLAN – ” Likewise ” Album Of The Week

Posted: February 1, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It’s the beginning of November, and the thirty-three-year-old Hop Along Frances Quinlan is sitting in her living room, having just come from voting in a local election. She’s originally from North Jersey, and while careful to emphasize that she’s not a native Philadelphian, the affection for her adopted hometown is evident. “Philly is an incredible city full of people doing their best, who’ve lived here all their lives, and who want it to be a happy, healthy place. It’s cool to be around that.”

Quinlan’s new album, Likewise, is set for release January 31st, and while fans might regard it as her debut solo effort, that distinction actually belongs to 2005’s Freshman Year. Credited to Hop Along, Queen Ansleis, the self-released album—recorded in her parents’ basement—now serves as an overture to the spectacular trio of Hop Along albums that followed. Though a few friends played drums and banjo on some tracks, the record was effectively a solo endeavor, and if it doesn’t sound like one, that’s by design. “I just wanted so badly for it to sound like a band,” she laughs, “so I literally played bells and whistles, and tried to make it sound like more than just me.”

A decade later, Quinlan supervised a new vinyl pressing of Freshman Year, which proved tricky—though it wasn’t nearly as nerve-wracking as the initial release. “I was stamping burned CDs,” she recalls, “and the stamp I’d made was so bad, I decided to paint back onto the CDs with the same ink and a brush, because I wanted so badly for them to be special, to have meaning for people.” She has no idea how many of those hand-made treasures exist, but in the fifteen years since she assembled that first recording, she’s still enamored with experimentation. 

On Likewise, Quinlan enlisted the help of longtime bandmate and producer Joe Reinhart, who helped her flesh out the arrangements, and she’s animated as she describes the sessions. “Collaboration is so different when it’s you, the songwriter, and a producer, and you’re kind of producing together,” she explains. “For this project, we could do whatever we wanted—I even play drums on a couple of tracks,” she laughs before admitting, “I can’t play bass.” The pair’s crackling chemistry is apparent in every note, and across nine songs, a bevy of strings, chorals, and electronic elements telepathically track Quinlan’s magical, mercurial cadence.

As a lyricist, Quinlan is a poet, and reading through the verses which comprise Likewise, it’s tempting to see the tracks as a loosely connected narrative. Squint, and you can make out the telemetry of a rocky relationship. But Quinlan says the stories here are all abstract bits—which isn’t to say there’s no overarching theme. “A common thread would be attempts at discourse between loved ones,” she explains. “The people you’re closest to, you want them to understand you the most, right? And that can be so harrowing. It’s a hard thing to let go of who you were before, and not feel a sense of regression, not feel held back by the perception that others have of you. I don’t think it’s a hopeless record, by any means. But I do think it’s a challenge to speak your mind to the people you’re closest to.”

On the lead single “Rare Thing,” she recalls a surreal dream where barbs like, “I know there is love that doesn’t have to do with taking something from somebody” sting against a stippled synth. For “Detroit Lake,” she conjures images of a hawk striking prey, blooming algae, and words left unspoken, while the plaintive notes of “A Secret” mirror her lyrics’ portrait of geographical and emotional distance. At times, the syncopation between her vocals and the instrumentation is so effortless that it feels like she’s dynamically bending the instruments to her will. During the sessions, “I was thinking, in a different way, what the song needed,” Quinlan says. “I had no concrete, instrumental goal, and that kind of left the songs room to really wander and get strange.” She may call them “strange,” but overall the tracks are compulsively captivating, and with the spotlight on her fantastic voice, it seems like she’s present in any room where they’re played.  

Likewise closes with a cover of Built to Spill’s “Carry the Zero,” a song Quinlan has adored for years. As she relays that Doug Martsch is “cool” with her interpretation, our conversation shifts to the singers who’ve influenced her, and after quickly citing Kate Bush, Fiona Apple, and Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, she turns pensive. “It’s tough, because you have people you love, but you’ll never in a million years sound like,” she considers. “There are so many vocalists I revere, that I wish I could emulate.

ANDY GILL GANG of FOUR – Founding Member Dies Aged 64

Posted: February 1, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Andy Gill, a founding member and guitarist for the British post-punk band Gang of Four, has died. He was 64.

Formed in Leeds in 1976, Gang Of Four’s career spanned five decades, from their first single Damaged Goods to last year’s studio album Happy Now. In 1979, they made their Top 60 chart debut with At Home He’s A Tourist – despite the song being banned by the BBC for a lyrical reference to condoms.

Their debut album Entertainment!, released in September of the same year, has frequently been cited as an influence or inspiration by aspiring musicians, Combining Marxist politics with punk, dub, funk and disco, the “stiff, jerky aggression of songs such as Damaged Goods and I Found That Essence Rare invented a new style,

Gang Of Four never had a hit single (1982’s I Love A Man In Uniform came close, before it was banned from the airwaves during the Falklands War) but their first three albums are considered indispensable. They split in 1984, but reformed several times over the years, with a variety of line-ups. They released 10 albums in all, with a couple of periods of hiatus during their 40-year history Gill was the only constant throughout their career.

Gill’s death was announced Saturday (February. 1st) on Twitter by his current bandmates Thomas McNeice, John Sterry and Tobias Humble. A cause of death was not given. Gill had developed a “respiratory illness,” after finishing an Asian tour with Gang Of Four last year, they said. “This pain is the price of extraordinary joy, almost three decades with the best man in the world,” wrote his wife, Catherine Mayer, on Twitter.

Gill was a founding member of Gang of Four since the band’s inception in the late 1970s, and served as guitarist and producer of the group’s nine albums, including Happy Now in 2019. The musician’s scratchy, staccato riffs provided the band with their signature sound, and influenced the likes of Nirvana, Fugazi and Franz Ferdinand.

“This is so hard for us to write, but our great friend and Supreme Leader has died today,” Gang of Four wrote in the statement. “Andy’s final tour in November was the only way he was ever really going to bow out; with a Stratocaster around his neck, screaming with feedback and deafening the front row.”

The group called Gill “one of the best to ever do it,” adding that his “influence on guitar music and the creative process was inspiring for us, as well as everyone who worked alongside him and listened to his music.” His bandmates ended their post asking fans to “go give ’em a spin for him.” He had just finished a new studio album with Gang Of Four, they added.

As a producer, Gill worked on many high-profile music projects, including Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ 1984 self-titled debut album. He also worked on music by the Stranglers, Michael Hutchence, Killing Joke, Therapy?, the Jesus Lizard and the Futureheads.

In 2018, Gill spoke about his never-ending interest in creating music. “These days I get up early at 6:30, I get a cup of tea and I go straight down the studio and start working … I get a buzz out of it. I’m not in any hurry to stop,” he said.

Gill is survived by his wife, Catherine Mayer; his brother Martin; and “many family and elective family members who will miss him terribly” . His uncompromising artistic vision and commitment to the cause meant that he was still listening to mixes for the upcoming record, whilst planning the next tour from his hospital bed.

But to us, he was our friend – and we’ll remember him for his kindness and generosity, his fearsome intelligence, bad jokes, mad stories and endless cups of Darjeeling tea. He just so happened to be a bit of a genius too.

One of the best to ever do it, his influence on guitar music and the creative process was inspiring for us, as well as everyone who worked alongside him and listened to his music. And his albums and production work speak for themselves. Go give ‘em a spin for him…Love you mate.

John, Thomas and Tobias
GANG OF FOUR

WILD NOTHING – ” Laughing Gas “

Posted: January 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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jack tatum of wild nothing seated

On Laughing Gas, the third EP from Wild Nothing, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jack Tatum delves deeper into the territory where he thrives: namely, the synth and sophisti-pop of the 1980s. Working within a more mechanical and synthetic framework than his previous releases, Wild Nothing continues to delicately toe the line between the organic and the unnatural. These are still pop songs, but there’s an underlying sense of uneasiness that threads the music together.

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA and Richmond, VA with the help of Jorge Elbrecht, these five songs were originally imagined alongside last year’s Indigo and were written and tracked simultaneously with the album. When work on the full-length was nearing completion, Tatum set these ideas aside; they seemed to fit better on their own. In spare moments between tours, Tatum began to look back and piece the songs together at his home studio in Richmond, reconnecting with Elbrecht to mix the EP. With Elbrecht in Denver and Tatum in Richmond, the two went back and forth on the final touches, molding a common thread from the Lo Borges inspired new wave of Sleight Of Hand to the propulsive, icy synth funk of Foyer.

Often considered a secondary or transitional format, Wild Nothing has always used the EP to further explore new ideas and influences. Laughing Gas is no exception.

This May we’ll also be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of our first record “Gemini” with a string of shows with our friends Beach Fossils. Both of us will be playing our first records in full!

The PRETTY THINGS – ” S.F Sorrow ” 50th Anniversary Box Set

Posted: January 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Pretty Things started as blues-rock band in the early 1960s, and they’re often described as being “meaner, louder, uglier and with longer hair” than the Rolling Stones. (Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor originally played bass in the Stones). Their gritty, primitive R&B sound was heavily influenced by Bo Diddley’s beat.

Their fourth album, S.F. Sorrow , the Pretty Things decided to shake it up a bit and create a psychedelic rock opera that some regard as a masterpiece . It’s held in the same high regard as another lost 60s classic, Odessey and Oracle   by the Zombies. In fact, S.F. Sorrow  was the first rock opera, not Tommy.

S.F. Sorrow  was recorded between December 1967 and September 1968 at Abbey Road Studios. The sound incorporates the sitar, Mellotron, flute, dulcimer and tripped out sound effects.. At the same time, the album’s producer, Norman “Hurricane” Smith was working with Pink Floyd on their A Saucerful Of Secrets album and The Beatles were recording their White Album. (S.F. Sorrow came out the same week as the White Album and The Stones Beggars Banquet).

The 50th anniversary box set edition of the Pretty Things’s groundbreaking 1968 concept album (featuring the 1998 ‘Live At Abbey Road’ recording – with David Gilmour and Arthur Brown described as “A psychedelic masterpiece.”The Pretty Things,  were iconic 1st wave cult heroes, created some of the most exciting and innovative records of the 1960s and 1970s. Winners of the Hero award at the 2009 Mojo Honours, the band have been a huge influence on artists as diverse as David Bowie, Aerosmith, The Ramones, Bob Dylan, The Sex Pistols, The White Stripes, Kasabian and many, many more.

In 2018 The Pretty Things celebrate their 55th anniversary as a band with their final live tour and final studio album. 2018 also marks 50 years of the world’s first Rock Opera, S.F. Sorrow. The album stands favourable comparison with Sgt Pepper and Piper At The Gates Of Dawn as one of the defining records of the Psychedelic era. Originally recorded at Abbey Road in 1967 and 1968 it was one of the first true concept albums.

The S.F. Sorrow deluxe vinyl box set features four 12″ LPs, four rare European 1960s picture sleeve 7” singles, and handwritten recollections from Phil May, Dick Taylor, Jon Povey and Wally Waller on individually signed inserts.

The first two LPs feature the mono and stereo versions of the album cut from the original Abbey Road master tapes packaged in facsimile versions of the original UK gatefold and USA ‘Tombstone’ sleeves respectively. The third and fourth LPs comprise a 2LP set of the 1998 Live At Abbey Road anniversary recording with Gilmour and Brown on vinyl for the very first time.

The opera’s libretto came in the form of liner notes that told the story of one Sebastian F. Sorrow, an ordinary fellow who works at the “Misery Factory” and is drafted into World War I. His life descends into meaninglessness after he witnesses a hot-air balloon carrying his fiance crash and burn. Along the way he has an encounter with a mysterious whip-cracking character called “Baron Saturday”.

Saturday “borrows his eyes” and takes Sorrow on a trippy trip through the Underworld (something that seems to mirror the Acid Queen’s unorthodox therapy in Tommy, The opera ends on a sad note as the desolate Sorrow realizes that he can trust no one and that he will die alone.

The Pretty Things were really out there. With ‘SF Sorrow’ they really were pushing it to the absolute mac. They were pushing it just as hard as The Beatles but in a different direction. They recorded it at Abbey Road. It’s a record you go back to if you need to be reminded what being in a rock’n’roll band is all about.”

ALL NIGHT RADIO – ” All Night Radio “

Posted: January 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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All Night Radio was an American band formed in Los Angeles, California. by Dave Scher and Jimi Hey. The connection led them to playing music together in Bee Venom and later resulted in the formation of the more psychedelic country-minded Beachwood Sparks.  After The Beachwood Sparks broke up in 2001, Dave Scher iniatially formed this band. The connection led them to playing music together in Bee Venom and later resulted in the formation of the more psychedelic country-minded Beachwood Sparks. The two have also moonlighted as members of The Lilys.

It’s a modern psychedelic record. The album began as a concept which became progressively more difficult to achieve. They wanted it to be an actual radio station, one far left of the dial, and you could just tune into it and they would constantly be creating new music. Whenever you would tune it would either be them having a conversation, or jamming, or writing a song, and it would only happen at night. The idea was of tuning into a spiritual frequency.

With the help of a deranged assortment of modern and primitive equipment, the boys tuned in to the Spirit Stereo Frequency…an Omnichronistic Music Source coming in non-stop, on bandwidth signals from the sun, in a collision of displaced sound styles from the present, past, and future.

ORPHAN BOY – ” Shop Local “

Posted: January 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The debut Orphan Boy album is one of the most interesting and unique records of all time. An arsenal of post-MDMA, post-post-punk, anti-love songs. It launched a thousand stage invasions across East Lancashire and North Lincolnshire; each song is like a Bukowski short story, upended and restaged in Grimsby, set to the sound of a dodgy amp and out tune Squire Telecaster. The die hard few who decided they were not content with the rubbish took these songs to their hearts.

Orphan Boy hail from the unheralded seaside town of Cleethorpes, on the East coast of England. Originally a three-piece (comprising Rob Cross Paul Smith and Chris Day) they moved to Manchester in 2005 and signed to independent label Concrete Recordings early the following year. After a series of well-received singles, they followed up with their 2008 debut album “Shop Local”.  In 2011, after a riotous ‘final show’ in their hometown, Orphan Boy went on indefinite hiatus. Less than twelve months later, and with all of the band members now living back in Cleethorpes, Orphan Boy began writing and rehearsing again.
Band Members
Chris Day,
Bobby Cross,
Sam Carlton,
Paul Smith

HOWLIN WOLF – ” This is Howlin’ Wolf’s New Album. He doesn’t like it. He didn’t like his electric guitar at first either “

Posted: January 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Jim Sclavunos of Grinderman says: “It is one of rock history’s more baldly self-explanatory album titles; and any lingering doubt as to the artist’s disdain for the project is abundantly clarified by Howlin Wolf’s subsequent summary of the album as “dog shit”. Howlin’ Wolf was one of the first Mississippi Delta blues musicians to make the transition from acoustic to electric guitar, and he led one of the first all-electric blues combo in fifties; but This Howlin’ Wolf’s album finds him well outside his comfort zone.

The same session musicians from classic Electric Mud made this album, so it’s just as good.

The acclaimed bassist Phil Upchurch played with jazz greats and the blues legends BB King and John Lee Hooker, and even starred on Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall. But he counts as his strangest sessions the two he did in the late 60s with Muddy Waters (Electric Mud) and on The Howlin’ Wolf Album, for Chess Records subsidiary Cadet Records.

In 1968, Marshall Chess, the innovative son of label owner Leonard Chess, placed Waters, and then Wolf, in a setting of psychedelic sounds. Chess Jr wanted “to get them out with the hippie crowd”, according to Upchurch, and brought in the Chicago psychedelic soul group Rotary Connection as the backing band. The results in both cases were controversial. Waters described his album as “dogs__t”, while the Wolf fell out with his fellow musicians.

The blues legend born Chester Arthur Burnett, does his best to sing the Delta blues over a backdrop of wah-wah and fuzz effects. Singer and band certainly synch on a new version of ‘Smokestack Lightning’, a song Wolf used to sing as a boy watching the trains go by in the Mississippi town where he was born, on 10th June 1910. His old musical partner Hubert Sumlin, who played on the magnificent 1959 Chess album Moanin’ In The Moonlight, joins him on this track, recorded in November 1968.

Wolf’s own composition ‘Evil’, in which the blues man sounds like a ghost of Tom Waits’ future, growling and rasping his way through some potent lyrics. Waits, incidentally, was inspired by Wolf’s “otherworldly singing.

The band members, aware of Wolf’s status, did their best to make The Howlin’ Wolf Album work, as they recorded new versions of some of his most memorable songs, including ‘Spoonful’, ‘Red Rooster’, ‘Moanin’ At Midnight’ and ‘Built For Comfort’. Gene Barge, who was well known in the music world as Daddy G – he had played on ‘Rescue Me’ by Fontella Bass and was the man who persuaded Chess to take a chance on the young Buddy Guy – played electric saxophone on the album. He recalled, “Howlin’ Wolf didn’t like it, didn’t want to do it. He would cuss and fuss the whole time. He questioned the fact that we were taking him out of his orbit. He was a traditional blues boy, with traditional music, and he was concerned about whether he could do it or not. We told him, ‘Regardless of all this stuff, don’t change your style. We’ll just drop this stuff in all around you.’”

Howlin Wolf’s unease about the project prompted a bold marketing gamble by Marshall Chess, who addressed the issue on the album’s sleeve. The design, with black text on a white background, stated: “This is Howlin’ Wolf’s new album. He doesn’t like it. He didn’t like his electric guitar at first either.”

FANNY – ” Mothers Pride ” Classic Albums

Posted: January 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Fanny was founded by guitarist June Millington and her sister, bassist Jean, who had been playing music together since they moved from the Philippines to California in the early 1960s. After playing through several variations of the band, they attracted the interest of producer Richard Perry who signed them to Reprise Records in 1969 as Fanny. The band recorded four albums together before June Millington quit the group, leading to the original line-up splitting. Following a final album, Fanny disbanded in 1975. The Millington sisters have continued to play music together since the split, and with a former drummer, Brie Howard Darling, formed the spin-off group Fanny Walked the Earth in 2018.
Photo ( clockwise from left ): Jean Millington; June Millington; Alice de Buhr and Nickey Barclay.

Stella Mozgawa, Warpaint: “Fanny were pioneers, one the first rock bands to feature all women, and the second ever to be signed to a major label when they signed to Reprise in 69. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren. They featured two sisters by the name of June and Jean Millington. They came from California and played dirty rock’n’soul. David Bowie called them the great lost band of the 70’s. This album is filthy, with a really dirty sound.”

With the release of Fanny’s 1973 album Mother’s Pride, Real Gone Music concludes its reissue campaign of the groundbreaking female rock group’s classic Reprise catalog. And while there might be some argument as to whether or not we have saved the best for last . All four Reprise albums the band put out have their champions among Fanny followers there is no question that we have saved the biggest for last, as this expanded edition clocks in with no less than eight bonus tracks! Indeed, Mother’s Pride is perhaps the most controversial entry in the Fanny catalog, as Todd Rundgren agreed to produce the album on the condition that he and he alone oversee the album mix. The result was a record that cemented Fanny’s popularity in the U.K. but failed to make a dent in the charts here in the States. Like our previous Fanny reissues, this release features track-by-track annotation from the band as well as rare photos. Another seminal ’70s rock record from everybody’s favorite “forgotten” all-female rock group, supplemented with rare demos and lost tracks!

MORRISSEY – ” Love Is On Its Way Out “

Posted: January 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Morrissey has debuted ‘Love Is On Its Way Out’, the latest track from his 13th solo album. The new offering from The Smiths legend’s forthcoming record ‘I Am Not A Dog On A Chain‘ hears him show off his sombre side as he laments the state of the world.

“Did you see the nerve gas? Children crying / Did you see the sad rich, hunting down, shooting down elephants and lions?” he croons on the new track.

It comes ahead of Morrissey’s album on March 20th, which marks the artist’s latest collaboration with producer Joe Chicharelli. The LP was recorded during sessions at Studio La Fabrique in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France, and Hollywood’s Sunset Sound.

‘I Am Not A Dog On A Chain’ will be Morrissey’s first album of original material since 2017’s ‘Low In High School‘ and follows his 2019 cover album ‘California Son‘, which featured collaborations with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste.

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