If It Be Your Will

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 9

CLIFF RICHARD: The First Studio Album

Original Released on LP Columbia 33SX 1192 
(UK, November 1959)

Producer Norrie Paramor knew exactly what he was doing. Cliff Richard burst onto the British pop scene with a rocker - his first album, accordingly, rocked just as hard. But when he scored his first number one with a ballad, it only followed that album number two would follow suit. "Cliff Sings" is almost unrecognizable as the successor to the hottest live recording of the late '50s. True, the two sides of the original vinyl open with blistering intent - a vicious "Blue Suede Shoes"; a sneering rockabilly "Twenty Flight Rock." But the heart of the album lies in the biggest ballads, the warmest strings, the most dramatic arrangements - all the things, in fact, for which the veteran Paramor had been renowned before he was nipped by the rock & roll bug. It was not a complete disenfranchisement. A second Carl Perkins song, "Pointed Toe Shoes," a fluid "Mean Woman Blues," and the furious "The Snake and the Bookworm" rocked at least as hard as past 45s "Dynamite" and "High Class Baby." And when the last dance loomed at the youth club, George Gershwin's "Embraceable You" was always going to get a lot more couples smooching than some raucous one-two-three o'clock rocker. But a perfunctory "As Time Goes By" and an anemic "Here Comes Summer" were surely included as much because Paramor enjoyed rearranging them, than because they were crucial additions to Cliff's canon, and asked whether the album struck Cliff's existing audience as a disappointment, at the time, it probably was. Certainly the bright young things who sent "Move It" soaring up the British chart would have had little time for the likes of "Little Things Mean a Lot," "I Don't Know Why," or "I'll String Along With You"; might not have been instantly impressed by the newfound rich warmth of the Richard tones. But that audience hadn't exactly broken its neck buying Cliff's post-"Move It" rockers either, so what did they expect? Rock & roll was still young, but its heartiest practitioners were growing older by the day. Cliff knew that if he was to survive in show business, he would need to start adapting to a far wider audience than the rockers would ever allow him to embrace. "Cliff Sings" was the first day of the rest of his career.

The First One Was" Live"

Original released on LP Columbia (EMI) 33SX 1147

(UK, April 1959)

Cliff Richard was England's most successful 1950s homegrown rock & roll star, although his credentials have long been suspect, a result of his shift to a softer sound in the wake of "Livin' Doll" in late 1959. But on this album, newly reissued on CD in 1998 in both its stereo and mono versions on one disc, there's no credibility problem - he sings hard and the band plays even harder. Richard and the Shadows (who were still billed under their original name, the Drifters, on the first pressing's jacket, reproduced here) performed live at EMI's Studio No. 1 on February 9 and 10, 1959, in front of several hundred screaming fans, an audio precursor to the mock concert "played" by the Beatles at the end of "A Hard Day's Night", except that there's nothing "mock" about this show. White rock & roll's first professionally recorded live album is a red-hot document of England's first world-class rock & roll phenomenon. At his best here, which is 95-percent of the show, he sings like a hard-rocking Ricky Nelson with a little bit more power and depth than that description implies, while the Shadows show themselves to be the most professional, if not quite the wildest, rock band in England at that time. Lead guitarist Hank B. Marvin has a genuine American sound, with perhaps more embellishment and flamboyance than a lot of American players might have bothered with, while Bruce Welch, Jet Harris, and Tony Meehan reveal themselves as a solid rhythm section. They also rip through numbers like "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," not very much slower than a lot of punk bands 20 years later might have done it. Apart from the inclusion of Ritchie Valens' "Donna" (virtually a tribute, Valens having died a week earlier in a much-lamented plane crash), there isn't a slow or soft number here. Interestingly, the stereo mix (which only appeared as fragmentary tracks in countries other than England, most notably Holland) may be preferred - the stereo isn't primitive binaural, although the bass and drums, with Richard's voice, are centered in one channel, and the guitars on the other; obviously, this was a live recording, so there was bound to be some bleeding of the sound, thus making this concert disc a bit more "modern" sounding than many of EMI's other early stereo efforts. And Jet Harris' bass and Tony Meehan's drums are certainly more prominent on the stereo tracks. (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

BOB DYLAN: "New Morning"

Original released on LP Columbia KC 30290

(US 1970, October 21)

"Self Portrait" had been in the shops for only four months when another Dylan album hit the racks. The story behind its inception was full of twists and turns. In early 1970, Dylan was approached by the poet Archibald MacLeish to work on "Scratch", a musical version of The Devil and Daniel Webster. He wrote three songs for this project - "New Morning", "Time Passes Slowly" and "Father of Night" - before MacLeish pulled the plug and used older Dylan songs instead. These became the fulcrum of the new album. To complete the project it took seven recording sessions at Columbia's studios B and E in New York, from 1 May to 4 June, plus a final unspecified session to produce an acceptable version of "Day of the Locusts". The original plan was "Self Portrait II", combining cover versions and new songs. An early track listing includes "Mr. Bojangles" and "Ballad of Ira Hayes" - both ressurrected on "Dylan" - and "Tomorrow is a Long Time", first recorded as a Witmark demo circa 1963. A studio session with George Harrison, consisting mainly of two old friends jamming on rock 'n' roll classics was aborted. Dylan never worked with Bob Johnston again. Al Kooper complained that Bob changed his mind about every three minutes. The album attracted ecstatic reviews, although the critical consensus now is that it is more of a holding operation, a far more genuine self portrait of a man happy in his domesticity, but with his creativity in limbo. The cover is all of a piece, a photograph by Len Seigler in which Bob glances up quizzically. The pose is mirrored on the back, a youthful Dylan standing with blues legend Victoria Spivey in the Cue Recording Studio New York, 2 March 2962. A mono version was issued in Brazil only. (Brian Hinton)

Feitiços

MIKEL ERENTXUN: "Naufragios"

Edição original em CD GASA 9C0497 C

(ESPAÑA, 1992/07)

Con una portada diseñada por Javier Aramburu (mucho antes de sus cotizadas creaciones para La Buena Vida o Los Planetas) se presentó en solitario Mikel Erentxun en 1992. Tras el pequeño paso atrás en críticas que supuso "Supernova" (1991) frente a la magnitud de un trabajo como "Autobiografía" (1989), Mikel y Diego decidieron tomarse un descanso para meditar el rumbo que Duncan Dhu debería seguir en lo sucesivo, tiempo que aprovecharon para reactivar sus proyectos paralelos. Eclipsadas por la enorme popularidad (y calidad) que aportaba "A Un Minuto de Ti", primer single y una de las composiciones más Duncan Dhu que Mikel ha publicado en solitario, vieron la luz estas trece canciones de desigual factura. Con soberbios temas como "No Arranques Más Flores", "Lentamente" o "Jugando Con el Tiempo" conviven piezas más tibias como "Gritar al Viento" o un "Miénteme" que finalmente no pudo (o no se atrevió a) interpretar Miguel Bosé. El sonido del disco es muy similar en esencia al de los Duncan Dhu más clásicos, con una fuerte presencia de guitarras acústicas que potencian la voz de Mikel, llegando sin embargo a ahogarla en alguno de los temas. Se aprecia, en cualquier caso, una producción menos cuidada que en ningún otro álbum del donostiarra, haciendo pasar grandes composiciones por simples temas de relleno. Sube significativamente la calificación del álbum la inclusión de dos grandes canciones, como son "A Un Minuto de Ti" y "Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagará". La primera, santo y seña de una carrera en solitario con algunos altibajos, es una de sus creaciones más conocidas y destaca por un fantástico estribillo que entronca perfectamente con la mejor tradición Duncan Dhu. "Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagará", por su parte, fue el segundo single extraído de "Naufragios" y cosechó casi el mismo éxito que el primero. Es una brillante adaptación al castellano del tema "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out", original del grupo británico The Smiths, aparecido por primera vez seis años atrás en el magistral álbum "The Queen Is Dead". Mikel nunca ha escondido su predilección por la banda y, especialmente, por la carrera en solitario de Morrissey, a la que se acercó en "Acróbatas" (1998) para adaptar "Everyday Is Like Sunday". (in RateYourMusic)

TANITA TIKARAM Debut Album

Original released on CD WEA 2292-43877-2

(GERMANY 1988, September 13)

Singer/songwriter Tanita Tikaram's debut album, "Ancient Heart", stands as one of the most underappreciated albums of the 1980s, and she, along with Tracy Chapman, preceded the 1990s' onslaught of female singer/songwriters by almost a decade. Tikaram, who was only 19 when this album was released, created a melancholy and wistful work, mature beyond her years, of startling originality and honesty. While this album may be considered folkish and artsy, it never stoops to the clichés that dominated those styles of music in the later Lilith Fair years. Her near perfect signature song "Twist in My Sobriety" is a stark, sinuous, desperate torch song that managed to garner a bit of radio and video airplay in its day and sounded like nothing else then or since. Other highlights include the lovely and more upbeat "Cathedral Song," "World Outside Your Window," and "Good Tradition", as well as the jazzy "For All the Years" and the haunting "I Love You" and "Valentine Heart" - the latter being one of the album's true highlights. "Ancient Heart" is a smoky, world-weary album, that, years after its initial release, does not sound one bit dated and has effortlessly stood the test of time. The definite highlight of Tanita Tikaram's career. (Jose Promis in AllMusic)

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 8

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 7

Somewhere In Time

ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS: "Winds Of Change" (mono + stereo)

Original released on LP MGM CS 8052

(UK, October 1967)

"Winds of Change" opened the psychedelic era in the history of Eric Burdon & the Animals - although Burdon's drug experiences had taken a great leap forward months earlier with his first acid trip, and he and the group had generated some startlingly fresh-sounding singles in the intervening time, it was "Winds of Change" that plunged the group headfirst into the new music. The record was more or less divided into two distinctly different sides, the first more conceptual and ambitious psychedelic mood pieces and the second comprised of more conventionally structured songs, although even these were hard, mostly bluesy and blues-based rock, their jumping-off point closer to Jimi Hendrix than Sonny Boy Williamson. The band's new era opened with waves washing over the title track, which included sitar and electric violin, while Burdon's voice, awash in reverb, calmly recited a lyric that dropped a lot of major names from blues, jazz, and rock. "Poem by the Sea" was a recitation by Burdon, amid a swirl of echo-drenched instruments, and it led into one of the group's handful of memorable covers from this period, "Paint It Black" - driven by John Weider's electric violin and Vic Briggs' guitar, and featuring an extended vocal improvisation by Burdon, their approach to the song was good enough to make it part of the group's set at the Monterey International Pop Festival that June, and also to get a spot in the documentary movie that followed. "The Black Plague" opens with a Gregorian chant structure that recalls "Still I'm Sad" by the Yardbirds, and was another vehicle for Burdon's surreal spoken contributions. There were also, as with most of the group's work from this period, a few easily accessible tracks that could make good singles, in this instance "Good Times" and "San Franciscan Nights," a Top Ten record in various countries around the world in the last quarter of 1967, although, as Alan Clayson points out in his notes, the latter song was overlooked in England for nearly 12 months after its release elsewhere, and then appeared as the B-side to the relatively straightforward, brooding, moody rocker "Anywhere." Burdon was so inspired by Jimi Hendrix's music that he wrote one of the psychedelic era's rare "answer" songs, "Yes I Am Experienced," as an homage to the guitarist; the latter's influence could also be heard in "It's All Meat," the LP's closing track, and a song that calls to mind an aspect of this band that a lot of scholars in earlier years overlooked - the fact that Briggs, Weider, et al. had the skills to make music in that style that was convincing and that worked on record, on their terms. (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

MUSEO ROSENBACH: "Zarathustra"

Original released on LP Ricordi SMRL 6113

(ITALIA, 1973)

Museo Rosenbach was formed in the early '70s in Italy. The group's debut, "Zarathustra", was released to critical acclaim in 1973. Unfortunately, the group broke up the following year. The group re-formed in the 1990s and released the album "Exit" in 1999. This is probably the most impressive Italian progressive rock album ever, with an astonishing blend of hard and symphonic progressive rock, it is at the same time the most comprehensive guide on 40 minutes on Nietzsche's filosophy, specially on "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", his last masterwork. Lyrics resume Nietzsche's whole filosophy with powerful words and musical pictorical resourses that made more powerful his filosophical though. A perfect example of this is the final piece, "Dell' Eterno Ritorno", which concludes with an inverse triple rumble on the drums, before the epic symphonic tutti at the end. Released on vinyl in 1973, it's still a perfect example of Italian powerful idiosincrathic musical creativity. The album was reissued in the 80's by King Record in Japan, whose later on realesead a replica vinyl issue. In 2009 Sony Music pressed a new numbered vinyl reissue, first Italian since 1973. Today there are very few surviving vinyl albums on private collections. Best preserved original 1973 albums are avaliable in the US, and in Mexico City there is one that has never been played, almost brand new, probably one of the fewest in that condition. (José Recillas in AllMusic)

THE MOTELS: "Shock"

Original released on LP Capitol SJ-12378

(US, August 1985)

With this final album, the Motels attempted to move squarely into the MTV-sponsored pop/rock mainstream, adding harder guitars and bigger hooks. Although their makeover isn't entirely successful, the best moments on the album - "Shame," "Cries and Whispers" and the title track - are enjoyable mainstream rock. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)