THE SMiLE YOU SEND OUT...
Very saddened to hear of Brian Wilson's passing. A few days after the news was announced it felt right to listen again to 'SMiLE' and marvel once more at the beauty of the music, realising that although Brian was now no longer with us his spirit still remained. It's ironic that the creation of those intricate harmonies and melodies should leave Brian so troubled, but as he explained in the sleeve notes, this was due to the pressures of the music industry at that time, the competition and not having the time he needed to see it all through to completion. It must have been a similar situation for Pete Townshend just a short while later with 'Lifehouse'. In both cases, a line had to be prematurely drawn under both projects and a compromise made. It must have been very frustrating.
The complexity of 'SmiLE' was a little overwhelming for me the first time I heard sessions on a bootleg many years ago, but that was probably more a case of the haphazard sequencing of the music. How were the bootleggers to know what Brian had in mind? The official 2011 Beach Boys release featured his involvement and provides a better idea of his intentions. Now I just kick back and let the music lead me where it will, and those impenetrable lyrics written by Van Dyke Parks - 'Surf's Up and 'Heroes And Villains in particular? What the...? Well, I stopped caring about their meaning - they sound good don't they? The immediacy of 'Good Vibrations', Brian's co-write with Mike Love, is musical perfection and the summation of the good feeling 'SmiLE' always leaves me with, only now a lump comes to my throat whenever I hear Brian's 1967 solo version of 'Surf's Up' - just the sound of the piano and his voice, reaching for the heavens. Very emotional, but the 'good vibes' of 'SMiLE' continues in the work of others...
Peter Lacey is a UK songwriter very much influenced by the work of Brian. Prolific too - check out his Bandcamp page. When I was at Heyday it was always a pleasure to receive a letter from him together with an often personalised CDR of his latest release. After listening to 'SmiLE' again recently it's usually been followed by Peter's own pocket-size 'Teenage Symphonies to God' concept - that of 'Grinmace'. Released in 2012, a year after Brian and The Beach Boys finally released the original 'SmiLE' sessions, 'Grinmace' was Peter's imagining of the couple who ran 'The Smile Shop' and what became of them. Their story is presented very much in the style of 'SMiLE'.
Initially, some difficult circumstances force the couple to 'up sticks' to the West Coast, where they then set themselves up selling smiles and grins. Everything goes well for a while until hard times hit again and they sadly have to close the business down. Relocating, this time to a 'Paradise Cove' and '...a second childhood in the third degree...' the couple find themselves content once more and retire. It's a charming little story and happens in a musical suite of just under 12 minutes! There are sweet harmonies, instrumental passages and even a collaboration with the poet Stephen Kalinich ('Our Light') the name of whom will be familiar to followers of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.
'Grinmace', together with a number of Peter's other releases have been 'physically' released on Simon Felton's reliable, eclectic and positively inclined Pink Hedgehog label. Simon is another person I have only happy memories of dealing with over many years at Heyday. Oh, before closing, it's also worth mentioning the prefix of the catalogue numbers for releases on Pink Hedgehog - it's SMILE.
...Love and mercy.
SUMMERTIME BLUES?
Ain't no cure for? Why not try...
Southern Comfort / Same (2005 Sunbeam label CD)
Interesting blues album conceived in October 1968 by a couple of UK blues fans Peter Shertser and Ian Sippen with a similar concept to the then recent releases 'Electric Mud' by Muddy Waters and 'Free Form Patterns' by Lightnin' Hopkins, where established blues artists are teamed up with emerging blues influenced talent. Hastily, the pair managed to round up harp supremo Walter 'Shakey' Horton, bassist Jerome Arnold (Butterfield Blues Band), drummer Jessie C. Lewis (Otis Rush) plus mutual friend guitarist Martin Stone (Savoy Brown, Action and later Mighty Baby) in a dank Denmark Street studio for just one session before they all had to resume their current live commitments. Nothing rushed about the performances though, this is an assured blues album with an interesting twist.
Walter Horton had already played with many blues giants and arguably, by 1968, was already one of the top blues harpists ever. He'd even perfected the Noah Lewis technique of playing two harmonicas at the same time, blowing one through the nose and the other through the mouth! He was a maestro with wonderful tone and timing. For this album he took the lead initially with renditions of some of his most well known tunes - 'Easy', 'Sugar Mama' and 'Walking By Myself'. On 'Train Time' the interplay of harp with guitar is quite special. Arnold and Lewis then took turns on vocals for a few tracks, with Horton and Stone again complimenting each other particularly on Arnold's 'Paying Double'.
Unfortunately, just short of the number of tracks required to complete an album, Walter, already loaded with three or four bottles of Scotch passed out, leaving the rest of the band to complete the recording with a 12 minute improvised jam inspired by The Butterfield Blues Band's 'East West' – Netti-Netti'. It's probably the track the album is now most remembered for, mainly among fans of rare psych. It's worth hearing, particularly for the Hendrix inspired effects added after the recording session with John Pantry behind the controls. Myself, I still prefer listening to the blues tracks and Walter's sublime harp playing. Wonderful!
Jimi Hendrix / : Blues CD 1994
This release is not only a well put together collection of Jimi's blues pieces, including some rarities, but these are matched with a well researched set of sleeve notes by Michael J. Fairchild. Probably, despite the odd typo that I doubt to be the fault of Fairchild, the best I've read for any release. They're a potted history of the blues, its myths of crossroads pacts and other hoodoo, including many interesting facts and quotes along the way. The sometimes questionable recollections by various blues legends, of their interactions with and opinions of Jimi in themselves create new myths along the way and the folklore of blues continues on! The intention, in my mind, is to establish where Jimi fits into the legacy of the blues. The point is made of how he has been continually snubbed by some blues purists over the years - his only representation in the Blues Archives are copies of his first two albums donated to them from B.B. King's own record collection, otherwise there's not a trace of him!
The notes contain a little known story of how a 13 year old Jimi, already learning to play guitar, took a trip to the South, possibly with his mother, and underwent a 'transformation' echoing the experiences of Robert Johnson and (unrelated) Tommy Johnson, returning home to his father a vastly improved player. It'd be difficult now to confirm such an adventure, but this adds even more to the myths surrounding both Hendrix and the blues. Another link between Robert Johnson and Jimi is that Johnson recorded 'Crossroad Blues' on November 27th 1936 – exactly, to the day that six years later, Jimi was born. Ooooh!
The conclusion seems to be that, yes, Jimi should be considered a bluesman, but one who also wanted to create his own version of it. He was never a purist, more a musical pioneer, but blues was definitely his root music and I personally think his playing was loaded with blues licks. Tony Glover, writing for Rolling Stone magazine puts it best in the notes - '...Hendrix plays Delta blues for sure, only the Delta may have been on Mars...' Pretty much says it all in one sentence, but Fairchild's extensive notes are still a worthy read for anyone interested in blues music – very well written and informative.
What of the music here? The album begins with the well known acoustic 'Hear My Train Comin' recorded during an early photo session, proving he could also play acoustic guitar quite well too! There's a fine instrumental version of Albert King's 'Born Under A Bad Sign' featuring the Band Of Gypsys lineup that has a nice, 'easy' groove about it. Jimi's own 'hybrid' take on the music of Muddy Waters is featured in a much evolved blues classic in itself, 'Catfish Blues'. The number of subsequent Muddy songs that one 'spawned'! The original Experience lineup also appears on the familiar 'Red House' while Jimi adds further deep blues with 'Voodoo Child Blues' and 'Electric Church Red House'. The collection finally winds down with the Experience II lineup live in Berkeley and the twelve minute electric version of 'Hear My Train Comin'. Stellar!
John Hammond / Wicked Grin CD
2001 album by blues revivalist Hammond featuring the songs of Tom Waits plus some others co-written with his wife Kathleen Brennan. Waits produces and plays on the tracks, with Charlie Musselwhite also on board to contribute occasional harp and a small, tight musical combo to back things up. The feel of the album reminds me a little of what Daniel Lanois created for Bob Dylan's 'Time Out Of Mind' album - intimate and stripped back - more concerned with the interaction of the natural ambience of the studio with the players. Now and then I can even hear fingers lightly touching strings. Hammond manages to contain the 'wildness' of some of the original Waits performances, smoothing out those sometimes rough edges that can make listening to Waits difficult for some. Hammond's voice also gives more focus to the lyrics, always in my opinion the strength of a Tom Waits song. What imagination!
Where the album really brings out the blues is on 'Buzz Fledderjohn' where Hammond plays a mean slide guitar and harp while Waits plays plucked (!) piano. The lyrics tell of the surreal scene where the narrator peeps over his neighbour's yard and describes some of the scary things they see there, concluding how '...I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard...' just to add to the overall spookiness. 'Shore Leave' from 'Swordfishtrombones' has always been a favourite Tom Waits track of mine, and I can easily picture the seediness of the Hong Kong port the seaman explores, Hammond gently crooning the spoken dialogue of the original. 'Get Behind The Mule', taken from a quote by Robert Johnson's father (suggesting that the problem with his son was preferring playing guitar over getting some 'real' work done) conjures the ghosts of old work songs, the source of many blues classics, as is Gospel, the album closing with the traditional 'I Know I've Been Changed', made popular by The Staple Singers. For this track Waits even gets the chance to join in on vocals and handclaps! An album recommended not only to hear some solid blues musicianship, but some supreme storytelling too.
Southern Comfort / Same (2005 Sunbeam label CD)Interesting blues album conceived in October 1968 by a couple of UK blues fans Peter Shertser and Ian Sippen with a similar concept to the then recent releases 'Electric Mud' by Muddy Waters and 'Free Form Patterns' by Lightnin' Hopkins, where established blues artists are teamed up with emerging blues influenced talent. Hastily, the pair managed to round up harp supremo Walter 'Shakey' Horton, bassist Jerome Arnold (Butterfield Blues Band), drummer Jessie C. Lewis (Otis Rush) plus mutual friend guitarist Martin Stone (Savoy Brown, Action and later Mighty Baby) in a dank Denmark Street studio for just one session before they all had to resume their current live commitments. Nothing rushed about the performances though, this is an assured blues album with an interesting twist.
Walter Horton had already played with many blues giants and arguably, by 1968, was already one of the top blues harpists ever. He'd even perfected the Noah Lewis technique of playing two harmonicas at the same time, blowing one through the nose and the other through the mouth! He was a maestro with wonderful tone and timing. For this album he took the lead initially with renditions of some of his most well known tunes - 'Easy', 'Sugar Mama' and 'Walking By Myself'. On 'Train Time' the interplay of harp with guitar is quite special. Arnold and Lewis then took turns on vocals for a few tracks, with Horton and Stone again complimenting each other particularly on Arnold's 'Paying Double'.
Unfortunately, just short of the number of tracks required to complete an album, Walter, already loaded with three or four bottles of Scotch passed out, leaving the rest of the band to complete the recording with a 12 minute improvised jam inspired by The Butterfield Blues Band's 'East West' – Netti-Netti'. It's probably the track the album is now most remembered for, mainly among fans of rare psych. It's worth hearing, particularly for the Hendrix inspired effects added after the recording session with John Pantry behind the controls. Myself, I still prefer listening to the blues tracks and Walter's sublime harp playing. Wonderful!
Jimi Hendrix / : Blues CD 1994
This release is not only a well put together collection of Jimi's blues pieces, including some rarities, but these are matched with a well researched set of sleeve notes by Michael J. Fairchild. Probably, despite the odd typo that I doubt to be the fault of Fairchild, the best I've read for any release. They're a potted history of the blues, its myths of crossroads pacts and other hoodoo, including many interesting facts and quotes along the way. The sometimes questionable recollections by various blues legends, of their interactions with and opinions of Jimi in themselves create new myths along the way and the folklore of blues continues on! The intention, in my mind, is to establish where Jimi fits into the legacy of the blues. The point is made of how he has been continually snubbed by some blues purists over the years - his only representation in the Blues Archives are copies of his first two albums donated to them from B.B. King's own record collection, otherwise there's not a trace of him!
The notes contain a little known story of how a 13 year old Jimi, already learning to play guitar, took a trip to the South, possibly with his mother, and underwent a 'transformation' echoing the experiences of Robert Johnson and (unrelated) Tommy Johnson, returning home to his father a vastly improved player. It'd be difficult now to confirm such an adventure, but this adds even more to the myths surrounding both Hendrix and the blues. Another link between Robert Johnson and Jimi is that Johnson recorded 'Crossroad Blues' on November 27th 1936 – exactly, to the day that six years later, Jimi was born. Ooooh!
The conclusion seems to be that, yes, Jimi should be considered a bluesman, but one who also wanted to create his own version of it. He was never a purist, more a musical pioneer, but blues was definitely his root music and I personally think his playing was loaded with blues licks. Tony Glover, writing for Rolling Stone magazine puts it best in the notes - '...Hendrix plays Delta blues for sure, only the Delta may have been on Mars...' Pretty much says it all in one sentence, but Fairchild's extensive notes are still a worthy read for anyone interested in blues music – very well written and informative.
What of the music here? The album begins with the well known acoustic 'Hear My Train Comin' recorded during an early photo session, proving he could also play acoustic guitar quite well too! There's a fine instrumental version of Albert King's 'Born Under A Bad Sign' featuring the Band Of Gypsys lineup that has a nice, 'easy' groove about it. Jimi's own 'hybrid' take on the music of Muddy Waters is featured in a much evolved blues classic in itself, 'Catfish Blues'. The number of subsequent Muddy songs that one 'spawned'! The original Experience lineup also appears on the familiar 'Red House' while Jimi adds further deep blues with 'Voodoo Child Blues' and 'Electric Church Red House'. The collection finally winds down with the Experience II lineup live in Berkeley and the twelve minute electric version of 'Hear My Train Comin'. Stellar!
John Hammond / Wicked Grin CD2001 album by blues revivalist Hammond featuring the songs of Tom Waits plus some others co-written with his wife Kathleen Brennan. Waits produces and plays on the tracks, with Charlie Musselwhite also on board to contribute occasional harp and a small, tight musical combo to back things up. The feel of the album reminds me a little of what Daniel Lanois created for Bob Dylan's 'Time Out Of Mind' album - intimate and stripped back - more concerned with the interaction of the natural ambience of the studio with the players. Now and then I can even hear fingers lightly touching strings. Hammond manages to contain the 'wildness' of some of the original Waits performances, smoothing out those sometimes rough edges that can make listening to Waits difficult for some. Hammond's voice also gives more focus to the lyrics, always in my opinion the strength of a Tom Waits song. What imagination!
Where the album really brings out the blues is on 'Buzz Fledderjohn' where Hammond plays a mean slide guitar and harp while Waits plays plucked (!) piano. The lyrics tell of the surreal scene where the narrator peeps over his neighbour's yard and describes some of the scary things they see there, concluding how '...I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard...' just to add to the overall spookiness. 'Shore Leave' from 'Swordfishtrombones' has always been a favourite Tom Waits track of mine, and I can easily picture the seediness of the Hong Kong port the seaman explores, Hammond gently crooning the spoken dialogue of the original. 'Get Behind The Mule', taken from a quote by Robert Johnson's father (suggesting that the problem with his son was preferring playing guitar over getting some 'real' work done) conjures the ghosts of old work songs, the source of many blues classics, as is Gospel, the album closing with the traditional 'I Know I've Been Changed', made popular by The Staple Singers. For this track Waits even gets the chance to join in on vocals and handclaps! An album recommended not only to hear some solid blues musicianship, but some supreme storytelling too.