CARAVAN - "In the Land of Grey and Pink"

Original Released on LP Deram SDL -R1 (UK)
and on LP London Records PS 593 (US)
- 1971, APRIL 8 -

"In the Land of Grey and Pink" is one of the best albums of the 70's. The humorous and whimsical charm of 'Golf Girl' and 'In the Land of ...' are a sheer joy to listen to. The lyrics of the latter piece always remind me of Edward Lear, and help make this a very English album (despite Lear's extensive travels). 'Love to Love You' is rather naughty (as Caravan tended to be!) and a typical Pye Hastings composition. 'Nine Feet Underground' is a huge, rambling and ambitious piece which works brilliantly because of the band's ensemble playing, and in particular Dave Sinclair's keyboard work. But my favourite piece is 'Winter Wine', the absolute stunner of the set. It manages to create a happy-sad feeling, somehow, and makes you think of memories that you might have had ... It's hard to find another album that matches this one for variety and strength of song-writing. Although the band may not be the most accomplished musicians about, it doesn't matter as they play together so well. This album should be in everybody's record collection, if they have an interest in English rock/pop music of the 70's.

"In the Land of Grey and Pink" is the band's most magical album and it's a joy to have it on CD again, with a much better reproduced cover and a clutch of glorious bonus tracks. It was always perfectly produced, so the sound quality doesn't sound any better to me - in other words, even this remastered copy is perfectly recognisable from old. Another thing Caravan shared with the other Canterbury bands, apart from their jazzy leanings, is a joy in exquisite melody, and this album is smothered in the things as if there's no tomorrow. Though all their subsequent albums are excellent, Caravan would never sound quite this good again. I am madly in love with this album. Whenever I play it, it's like being with old friends, sharing a smile and a tear and all the enthusiasm of youth. There's room for you too.

NEIL DIAMOND FIRST ALBUM

Original released on LP Bang BLP-214 (mono)

(US, October 1966)

Neil Diamond's debut LP was issued in October 1966 just as "Cherry Cherry" - Diamond's first Top Ten hit - was peaking at number six on the singles chart. It's a fascinating document, and not just in hindsight: it has virtues of its own, separate from being an early chapter in a long career to follow. As a showcase for Diamond as both singer and songwriter, he fares well in both capacities, though his songwriting is more interesting here than his singing, but that's no surprise, as according to his own account, he'd just achieved a new level of seriousness and depth as a composer and was reveling in the best that he could do at that moment. As a singer, he needed more time to develop, though he obviously had a good deal of depth and expressiveness at his command, even in 1966. He does have some wonderfully transcendent moments here, and not just on the hits - "Solitary Man," "Cherry Cherry," and "Oh No No (I've Got The Feeling)" are familiar to most fans - but "Love to Love," "Someday Baby," etc. also show some of the power and range that Diamond would be able to muster more effectively in his singing as he moved toward his prime years, and show the new, very personal songwriting he was pursuing.

He's at his best on the original songs, the most personal of which (apart from "Solitary Man") are confined to the second side of the album: producers Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (who are all over this record with handclaps, backing vocals etc.) wanted to introduce his talent to the would-be purchasers gradually, book-ending the contents between the two hits ("Oh No No" didn't chart until a month after the LP's release) and offering Diamond doing a handful of covers of familiar hits. Given that he was still making the transition from songwriter to performer, he does very well by all of the latter, which include Paul Simon‘s "Red Rubber Ball" (done in the same arrangement used by the Cyrkle, but with Diamond's raw, personal singing a very different experience from that group's harmonies) and John Phillips‘ "Monday Monday" (with Ellie Greenwich very prominent on the vocals), as well as the Barry-Greenwich "Hanky Panky." As a debut effort, it has some flaws that one would expect; not all of Diamond's originals were jewels, and he would find some finer nuances to his singing in short order. But when his songwriting and singing were on target, which was well over half the album, this was one of the better pop/rock releases of 1966, as well as a kind of transitional work in a singer/songwriter mold. It sounds (and even often, on the covers, feels) like Brill Building pop, but the words and the singing are already evolving out of those origins and into something new.

NOTE: All tracks are in original mono

THE MONKEES FIRST ALBUM

Original released on LP Colgems COM-101

(US 1966, October 10)

The Monkees' first album was a huge success, following on the number one single "Last Train to Clarksville." The Monkees spent 78 weeks on the Billboard chart including an astounding 13 weeks at number one. The record wasn't only a commercial juggernaut, it also stands as one of the great debuts of all time, and while the record and the group have faced criticism from rock purists through the ages, it stands the test of time perfectly well, sounding as alive and as much fun 40 years later. Prefabricated? Yes. After a fast buck? Yes. Exhilarating? Yes! Fab? Definitely! The music may have been created by studio cats instead of the band themselves but the pros weren't merely phoning it in. Listen to the aggressive guitars on "Saturday's Child," the raw romp of "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day," or the cascading wall of guitars and fiddles on "Sweet Young Thing," and you know they weren't just padding their bank accounts. They were playing some real rock & roll and you can credit the producers for that. Producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart aren't craftsmen on the level of Phil Spector (who was actually approached to produce the band but probably laughed the Monkees' team right out the door), but they knew how to craft razor-sharp and exciting pop tunes with lots of spark, soul, and the occasional psychedelic touch. 

And they knew how to get great vocals from their group. While the Monkees themselves didn't do much more than sing, the singing they did was first-rate. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better pop/rock vocalist than Micky Dolenz; his work on "Take a Giant Step" and "Last Train to Clarksville" is thrilling and bursting with life. The other lead vocalist, Davy Jones, thankfully doesn't get a chance to show off his full range of annoyingly whimsical mannerisms; Boyce and Hart keep him under wraps and his vocals on "I Wanna Be Free" and "I'll Be True to You" are achingly sweet, even a little soulful in a very British way. Boyce and Hart weren't the only great producers involved with the record, as a listen to "Papa Gene's Blues" and "Sweet Young Thing" show that Mike Nesmith also knew how to produce great pop music, despite what Don Kirshner may have thought. The various producers, supervisors, and coordinators were also savants when it came to both writing (in Boyce, Hart, and Nesmith's case) and picking songs for the group. Indeed, the only songs that feel like filler are the rudimentary rocker "Let's Dance On" and the silly "Gonna Buy Me a Dog," but even these throwaways are charming and stand up to repeated listens. It's easy to see why kids were buying this record as fast as the label could press them up. Despite the origins of the group and the behind-the-scenes machinations, the music itself is young, exciting, and free. Who cares who did what and who didn't do what when the results are as rock-solid as "Last Train to Clarksville" or "Sweet Young Thing"? You could stack the Monkees up against almost any record of 1966 and the competition would be fierce, with this record coming out on top except in only a few cases.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - VOLUME 13

CAT STEVENS - "Mona Bone Jakon"

Original released on LP Island ILPS 9118

(UK, April 1970)

Cat Stevens virtually disappeared from the British pop scene in 1968, at the age of 20, after a meteoric start to his career. He had contracted tuberculosis and spent a year recovering, from both his illness and the strain of being a teenage pop star, before returning to action in the spring of 1970 - as a very different 22-year-old - with "Mona Bone Jakon". Fans who knew him from 1967 must have been surprised. Under the production aegis of former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith, he introduced a group of simple, heartfelt songs played in spare arrangements on acoustic guitars and keyboards and driven by a restrained rhythm section. Built on folk and blues structures, but with characteristically compelling melodies, Stevens' new compositions were tentative, fragmentary statements that alluded to his recent "Trouble," including the triviality of being a "Pop Star." But these were the words of a desperate man in search of salvation. "Mona Bone Jakon" was dominated by images of death, but the album was also about survival and hope. Stevens' craggy voice, with its odd breaks of tone and occasional huskiness, lent these sometimes sketchy songs depth, and the understated instrumentation further emphasized their seriousness. If Stevens was working out private demons on "Mona Bone Jakon", he was well attuned to a similar world-weariness in pop culture. His listeners may not have shared his exact experience, but after the 1960s they certainly understood his sense of being wounded, his spiritual yearning, and his hesitant optimism. "Mona Bone Jakon" was only a modest success upon its initial release, but it attracted attention in the wake of the commercial breakthrough of its follow-up, "Tea for the Tillerman".

NEIL YOUNG - "On The Beach"

Original released on LP Reprise R 2180

(US 1974, July 29)

Following the 1973 "Time Fades Away" tour, Neil Young wrote and recorded an Irish wake of a record called "Tonight's the Night" and went on the road drunkenly playing its songs to uncomprehending listeners and hostile reviewers. Reprise rejected the record, and Young went right back and made "On the Beach", which shares some of the ragged style of its two predecessors. But where "Time" was embattled and "Tonight" mournful, "On the Beach" was savage and, ultimately, triumphant. «I'm a vampire, babe,» Young sang, and he proceeded to take bites out of various subjects: threatening the lives of the stars who lived in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon ("Revolution Blues"); answering back to Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose "Sweet Home Alabama" had taken him to task for his criticisms of the South in "Southern Man" and "Alabama" ("Walk On"); and rejecting the critics ("Ambulance Blues"). But the barbs were mixed with humor and even affection, as Young seemed to be emerging from the grief and self-abuse that had plagued him for two years. But the album was so spare and under-produced, its lyrics so harrowing, that it was easy to miss Young's conclusion: he was saying goodbye to despair, not being overwhelmed by it.

SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN

Original released on LP Columbia CS 9533

(US 1967, December 27)

At a time when a growing number of pop songwriters were embracing a more explicitly poetic approach in their lyrics, the 1967 debut album from Leonard Cohen introduced a songwriter who, rather than being inspired by "serious" literature, took up music after establishing himself as a published author and poet. The ten songs on "Songs of Leonard Cohen" were certainly beautifully constructed, artful in a way few (if any) other lyricists would approach for some time, but what's most striking about these songs isn't Cohen's technique, superb as it is, so much as his portraits of a world dominated by love and lust, rage and need, compassion and betrayal. While the relationship between men and women was often the framework for Cohen's songs (he didn't earn the nickname "the master of erotic despair" for nothing), he didn't write about love; rather, Cohen used the never-ending thrust and parry between the sexes as a jumping off point for his obsessive investigation of humanity's occasional kindness and frequent atrocities (both emotional and physical).

Cohen's world view would be heady stuff at nearly any time and place, but coming in a year when pop music was only just beginning to be taken seriously, "Songs of Leonard Cohen" was a truly audacious achievement, as bold a challenge to pop music conventions as the other great debut of the year, The Velvet Underground & Nico, and a nearly perfectly realized product of his creative imagination. Producer John Simon added a touch of polish to Cohen's songs with his arrangements (originally Cohen wanted no accompaniment other than his guitar), though the results don't detract from his dry but emotive vocals; instead, they complement his lyrics with a thoughtful beauty and give the songs even greater strength. And a number of Cohen's finest songs appeared here, including the luminous "Suzanne," the subtly venomous "Master Song" and "Sisters of Mercy," which would later be used to memorable effect in Robert Altman's film McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Many artists work their whole career to create a work as singular and accomplished as "Songs of Leonard Cohen", and Cohen worked this alchemy the first time he entered a recording studio; few musicians have ever created a more remarkable or enduring debut.

"A princípio é simples, anda-se sózinho..."

Edição original no LP Orfeu STAT 062
(PORTUGAL, Maio de 1978)

A Sassetti, que integrava a etiqueta Guilda da Música onde tinha lançado os seus quatro primeiros albuns, estava longe de, em 1977, responder aos desejos de Sérgio Godinho, então com uma carreira que crescia em solidez e popularidade. Entre a concorrência, na altura, a Arnaldo Trindade era, a par da Valentim de Carvalho, quem tinha o maior acervo de artistas portugueses, o maior catálogo. Para lá gravavam, então, nomes como os de José Afonso, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Fausto ou Vitorino, aos quais a partir daquele ano se juntou o nome de Sérgio Godinho. Primeiro trabalho, portanto, a ser editado pela Orfeu da Arnaldo Trindade, em Maio de 1978, “Pano Cru”, o quinto album de originais do Sérgio é ainda hoje, quase 40 anos depois (!), o meu favorito entre todos. Com um som de Moreno Pinto em que os graves, predominantes, conferiam logo desde a primeira faixa («...muito boa noite, senhoras e senhores...») um impacto sonoro de grande profundidade, “Pano Cru” concretiza os sinais de mudança indiciados no trabalho anterior. É um album-charneira na discografia de Sérgio Godinho que contém dez temas de grande qualidade. Como se costumava dizer, no tempo do vinil, um album em que só era necessário levantar a agulha para mudar de lado.

Um desses temas, “O primeiro dia”, tornou-se numa espécie de cartão de visita, e ainda hoje é apontado como um dos mais evidentes temas de referência da sua obra (talvez apenas suplantado, uns anos mais tarde, pelo também emblemático “Com um brilhozinho nos olhos”). Em Janeiro de 2000, numa lista de Canções Portuguesas do Século, segundo os leitores do DN, a canção surgiu em terceiro lugar, logo depois de “Povo que lavas no rio” por Amália Rodrigues e “Grândola vila morena” de José Afonso. «"Hoje é o primeiro dia do resto da tua vida" é uma frase que me é naturalmente atribuída, mas o que é irónico é que nem sequer é minha», lembra Sérgio Godinho - «existia desde há muito e eu, aliás, faço questão de assumir isso na canção: “...e vem-nos à memória uma frase batida...”. É uma canção que fala da regeneração dos afectos e das forças numa situação de ruptura. Poderá ser o final de um amor, ou ter interpretações mais latas, o final de um qualquer ciclo.» Anos mais tarde, em 1995, Sérgio Godinho interpretou ao vivo uma versão italiana traduzida por ocasião da atribuição do prestigiado Prémio Tenco, entregue por um evento anual de grande projecção em Itália, a Rassegna Della Canzone d’Autore. Uma preciosa raridade em disco, “Roba di Amilcare”, esta versão encontra-se apenas editada no país de origem do certame. «“O galo é o dono dos ovos” é uma canção que tem muita carpintaria. Procurei ser conciso a nível das metáforas, algo que aprendi com tipos como o Brassens, mais tarde o Chico Buarque. Gosto que uma canção seja bem carpinteirada, o que não impede que não tenha depois surpresa, irreverência, desvarios, e de repente uns pregos de fora.»

“Pano Cru” tem, como habitualmente, a presença de grandes músicos: Pedro Osório (piano, acordeão), Carlos Zíngaro (violino, cavaquinho), Paulo Godinho (baixo) e Guilherme Scarpa (bateria), para além do próprio Sérgio (viola) e de algumas outras colaborações esporádicas, como Carlinhos Tumbadoura (ferrinhos) ou Armindo Neves (viola-solo em “Feiticeira”). Nos coros destaque-se o suporte de Fausto, Shila e Eugénia Melo e Castro. A capa do disco surpreendeu então muita gente. «Era uma fotografia retocada à mão pelo gráfico Zé Brandão, e a foto de dentro uma brincadeira durante a sessão de estúdio, que serviu também para quebrar qualquer imagem mais séria. Era preciso, nessa altura...» Em Espanha o album conheceu edição, todavia com capa diferente e título traduzido para espanhol: “Retor”. «Foi uma iniciativa simpática, mas que não teve repercussão nenhuma. Para mim, e para três ou quatro espanhóis, é apenas um objecto de colecção.» Aliás raríssimo, difícil de encontrar nas feiras do disco que correm a Península Ibérica.

«A princípio é simples, anda-se sózinho,

passa-se nas ruas bem devagarinho

está-se bem no silêncio e no burburinho

bebe-se as certezas num copo de vinho

e vem-nos à memória uma frase batida:

hoje é o primeiro dia do resto da tua vida!

Pouco a pouco o passo faz-se vagabundo

dá-se a volta ao medo e dá-se a volta ao mundo

diz-se do passado que está moribundo

bebe-se o alento num copo sem fundo

e vem-nos à memória uma frase batida:

hoje é o primeiro dia do resto da tua vida!

E é então que amigos nos oferecem leito,

entra-se cansado e sai-se refeito

luta-se por tudo o que se leva a peito

bebe-se e come-se se alguém nos diz bom proveito

e vem-nos à memória uma frase batida:

hoje é o primeiro dia do resto da tua vida!

Depois vêm cansaços e o corpo fraqueja

olha-se para dentro e já pouco sobeja

pede-se o descanso por curto que seja,

apagam-se dúvidas num mar de cerveja

e vem-nos à memória uma frase batida:

hoje é o primeiro dia do resto da tua vida!

E enfim duma escolha faz-se um desafio

enfrenta-se a vida de fio a pavio

navega-se sem mar sem vela ou navio

bebe-se a coragem até dum copo vazio

e vem-nos à memória uma frase batida:

hoje é o primeiro dia do resto da tua vida!

E entretanto o tempo fez cinza da brasa

outra maré cheia virá da maré vaza

nasce um novo dia e no braço outra asa,

brinda-se aos amores com o vinho da casa

vem-nos à memória uma frase batida:

hoje é o primeiro dia do resto da tua vida!»

GUESS WHO - "American Woman"

Original released on LP RCA Victor LSP 4266

(US, January 1970)

The Guess Who's most successful LP, reaching number nine in America (and charting for more than a year), has held up well and was as close to a defining album-length statement as the original group ever made. It's easy to forget that until "American Woman," the Guess Who's hits had been confined to softer, ballad-style numbers - that song (which originated as a spontaneous on-stage jam) highlighted by Randy Bachman's highly articulated fuzz-tone guitar, a relentless beat, and Burton Cummings moving into Robert Plant territory on the lead vocal, transformed their image. As an album opener, it was a natural, but the slow acoustic blues intro by Bachman heralded a brace of surprises in store for the listener. The presence of the melodic but highly electric hit version of "No Time" (which the band had cut earlier in a more ragged rendition) made the first ten minutes a hard rock one-two punch, but the group then veers into progressive rock territory with "Talisman." 

Side two was where the original album was weakest, though it started well enough with "969 (The Oldest Man)." "When Friends Fall Out," a remake of an early Canadian release by the group, attempted a heavy sound that just isn't sustainable, and "8:15" was a similar space filler, but "Proper Stranger" falls into good hard rock groove. In August of 2000, Buddha Records issued a remastered version of this album with a bonus track from a subsequent session, "Got to Find Another Way." Ironically, "American Woman" was the final testament of the original Guess Who - guitarist/singer Randy Bachman quit soon after the tour behind this album; the group did endure and even thrive (as did Bachman), but "American Woman" represented something of an ending as well as a triumph.

ETTA JAMES - "Tell Mama"

Original released on LP Cadet LPS 802

(US, January 1968)

Leonard Chess dispatched Etta James to Muscle Shoals in 1967, and the move paid off with one of her best and most soul-searing Cadet albums. Produced by Rick Hall, the resultant album boasted a relentlessly driving title cut, the moving soul ballad "I'd Rather Go Blind," and sizzling covers of Otis Redding's "Security" and Jimmy Hughes' "Don't Lose Your Good Thing," and a pair of fine Don Covay copyrights. The skin-tight session aces at Fame Studios really did themselves proud behind Miss Peaches.

THE J. GEILS BAND FIRST ALBUM

Original released on LP Atlantic SD 8275

(US 1970, November 16)

The J. Geils Band's self-titled debut serves notice that rock & roll wasn't dead in 1970 despite the best efforts of the singer/songwriter brigade. Though it sounds a bit reserved in the light of the albums that followed, compared to the majority of bands on the scene, it was a nonstop blast of energy, fun, and sweat. Featuring the hipster jive of singer Peter Wolf, the amazing afro and harp chops of Magic Dick, the fret-burning work of J. Geils, and the jack of many trades Seth Justman (keys, compositions, backing vocals), the Geils Band rips through some classic blues by the likes of Otis Rush ("Homework"), Walter Price ("Pack Fair and Square"), and John Lee Hooker (a slow-burning "Serves You Right to Suffer"), old Motown gems ("First I Look at the Purse"), and originals that stand up well next to the covers ("Wait," "What's Your Hurry," and future live favorite "Hard Drivin' Man"). A nice mix of nostalgia, intensity, and bar band excitement, the album serves as fair warning that the Geils Band was on the scene and was ready to bring back the good-time spirit of the juke joint, the abandon of the early rock & roll scene, and the high energy of the late-'60s concert halls.

VARIAÇÕES DO FADO - VOLUME 3

JACQUES BREL - "Ne Me Quitte Pas"

Ça c'est du génie...

THE BEAT OF THE POPS - VOLUME 13