Sunday, August 9, 2020

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2033 (starts 8/10/20)

<script id='prx-p334457-embed' src='https://exchange.prx.org/p/334457/embed.js?size=small'></script>
 
    This week we start the show by working backwards from 1972 to 1969 and finish it by climbing back up from 1968 to 1971. In between we present the concluding chapter of The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra from the Firesign Theatre, along with a bit of Pentangling from (who else?) Pentangle.  

Artist:    Sailcat
Title:    B.B. Gunn
Source:    45 RPM single B side
Writer(s):    John Wyker
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1972
    Sailcat was a studio band formed by John D. Wyker and Court Pickett that included several prominent members of the Muscle Shoals music scene. Wyker had been a guitarist and vocalist in the Rubber Band (with John Townsend), while Pickett was the bassist/vocalist for Sundown, a band based in Macon, Georgia. The duo cut a demo of Motorcyle Mama that was originally discarded by the band, but eventually led to a contract with Elektra Records. The resulting album, also called Motorcycle Mama, was a concept album with a biker theme that included songs like B.B. Gunn (sung by Wyker), which was also released as the B side of the band's second and final single.
    
Artist:    Audience
Title:    The House On The Hill
Source:    CD: The House On The Hill
Writer(s):    Werth/Williams/Connor
Label:    Caroline Blue Plate (original label: Elektra)
Year:    1971
    Audience was formed in 1969 from the remains of a semi-professional British soul band called Lloyd Alexander Real Estate that had issued one single in 1967 for the tiny President label. The band's original lineup, consisting of Howard Werth (nylon-strung electric acoustic guitar and vocals), Keith Gemmell (alto and tenor saxophone, flute and clarinet), Trevor Williams (bass guitar and vocals) and Tony Connor (drums and vocals) released three albums before exhaustion forced Gemmell to leave the group in 1972. The first two of these were not released in the US, making The House On The Hill their American debut album. Audience did have a successful US tour in support of the 1971 LP, appearing on the same bill as Rod Stewart And Faces and the original Cactus. The album itself is an eclectic mix of acoustic and hard rock, with the title track being a good example of the latter.

Artist:    Wishbone Ash
Title:    Blind Eye
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Wishbone Ash
Label:    Decca
Year:    1970
    One of the first bands to feature two lead guitarists working in tandem, Wishbone Ash rose to fame as the opening act for Deep Purple in early 1970. After guitarist Andy Powell sat in with Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during a sound check, Blackmore referred Wishbone Ash to MCA, the parent company of the US Decca label. The band's first LP came out in December of 1970, with Blind Eye becoming the band's first single. Although Wishbone Ash went on to become one of Britain's top rock bands of the 1970s, they were never as successful in the US, despite relocating to the states in 1973.

Artist:    Grand Funk Railroad
Title:    High Falootin' Woman
Source:    CD: Grand Funk
Writer(s):    Mark Farner
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1969
    One of the criticisms aimed at Grand Funk Railroad by the rock press was that their songs went on too long and were full of unnecessary jamming. In fact, only one track on their second LP, Grand Funk (also known as the Red Album) is under four minutes in length. That song is High Falootin' Woman. Oddly enough, it is one of the least commercially viable tracks on the entire LP, and was relegated to being the B side of the first single released from the album.

Artist:    Firesign Theatre
Title:    Part Two: Chicago; Chapter 6-The Electrician Exposes Himself
Source:    LP: The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra
Writer(s):    Proctor/Bergman/Austin/Ossman
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1974
    In the final chapter of The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra, the identity of the mysterious Electrician is finally revealed. Or is it? If Hemlock Stones knows the answer he isn't telling. But then, any astute listener has probably known who the Electrician really was since chapter 4, or perhaps even earlier. Still, as that other English guy said, all's well that end's well.

Artist:    Pentangle
Title:    Pentangling
Source:    LP: The Pentangle
Writer(s):    Cos/Jansch/McShea/Renbourne/Thompson
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1968
    Once in a while an album comes along that is so consistently good that it's impossible to single out one specific track for airplay. Such is the case with the debut Pentangle album from 1968. The group, consisting of guitarists John Renbourne and Bert Jansch, vocalist Jacqui McShea, bassist Terry Cox, and drummer Danny Thompson, had more talent than nearly any band in history from any genre, yet never succumbed to the clash of egos that characterize most supergroups. Enjoy all seven minutes of Pentangling.

Artist:    Cream
Title:    Politician
Source:    CD: Wheels Of Fire
Writer(s):    Bruce/Brown
Label:    Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year:    1968
    Despite its title, Cream's Politician, from the Wheels Of Fire album, is really not the kind of scathing indictment you might expect from a track from 1968. Indeed, the song's lyrics are actually gentle satire rather than overt criticism. Eric Clapton's guitar work, however, is always a treat, and on Politician he knocks out not one, but two overdubbed solos at the same time, along with his basic guitar track. Controlled chaos at its best!

Artist:    Johnny Winter
Title:    I'm Not Sure
Source:    LP: Second Winter
Writer(s):    Johnny Winter
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1969
    Johnny Winter had been performing for several years throughout the state of Texas before releasing his first full-length LP on the regional Sonobeat label in 1968. The album, which featured the trio of Winter on guitar, Tommy Shannon on bass and Uncle John Turner on drums, was strong enough for Imperial to pick up for national distribution, and soon led to Winter signing with Columbia records in 1969. After a strong debut album for the label, the group, which by then had added Johnny's brother Edgar on keyboards, went to work on a second album for the label. The band soon found itself with an unusual dilemma, however. They had recorded too much material for one LP, but not enough for a double album. Rather than sacrifice sound quality by making the grooves narrower, the band decided to issue a special "three-sided" LP, with the fourth side being nothing but shiny black vinyl with no grooves cut into it. The album, which is considered by many to be Winter's finest studio work, includes several original tunes such as I'm Not Sure, which features Johnny Winter on electric mandolin and Edgar on harpsichord; an unusual combination for a blues recording, to be sure, but it works.

Artist:    Derek And The Dominos
Title:    Key To The Highway
Source:    CD: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Writer(s):    Segar/Broonzy
Label:    Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year:    1970
    The longest track on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek And The Dominos came about entirely by accident. The band was recording at Miami's Criterion Studios at the same time Domingo Samudio, aka Sam the Sham, was working on an album called Hard And Heavy in one of the other rooms. After overhearing Sam's performance of Big Bill Broonzy's Key To The Highway, the band, consisting of Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Jim Gordon, Carl Radle and guest guitarist Duane Allman, started jamming on the song themselves. Producer Tom Dowd told the engineers to start rolling the tape and caught the last nine and a half minutes of the performance. For the album, Dowd faded the song in from where the tape began.

Artist:    Doors
Title:    Been Down So Long
Source:    LP: L.A. Woman
Writer(s):    The Doors
Label:    Elektra
Year:    1971
    L.A. Woman, the Doors' sixth and final studio album with vocalist Jim Morrison, is considered one of the band's finest, due to its stripped down production and return to the group's blues-rock roots. Nowhere are both these trends more evident than on the song Been Down So Long, the third track on the LP. The song, written by Morrison, but credited (as were all the tracks on L.A. Woman) to the entire group, was reportedly inspired in part by Morrison's own brush with the possibility of incarceration due to his arrest on charges of indecency for allegedly exposing himself on stage in Florida.
   

No comments:

Post a Comment