The first entry of 2017 and it’s been a long time coming. The albums are still being listened to but actually writing about them has become increasingly difficult. Rest assured I intend to crack on with the task in hand and hopefully the next entry wont be too long in the making. In the meantime here’s how this week transpired….
Week 22 – 16th January 2017
Chuck Berry
The Great Twenty-Eight
Showmanship. Guitar licks. Songs that teenagers of the day could relate to. It’s safe to say that Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry is the epitome of what a Rock and Roll star was, is and should always aspire to be. Even John Lennon once said, “If you ever wanted to give Rock and Roll another name you could call it Chuck Berry”.
Released in 1982, this compilation album is a collection of Chuck’s recordings whilst signed to Chess Records between the years 1955-1965 and it contains some of the most famous Rock and Roll songs ever made. Twenty eight to be exact.
It opens with his first ever hit, “Maybellene”, which is all about chasing his unfaithful girlfriend around town whilst driving his V8 Ford. It’s an adaption of a 1938 Western Swing song called “Ida Red” by The Texas Playboys with the title coming from a box of mascara Chuck spotted on the studio floor whilst recording it. They changed the spelling slightly to avoid a lawsuit from the cosmetic company it was made by!
The Beatles were all massive fans of Chuck, with a lot of their Hamburg-era setlists containing several of his songs. They even included a couple of covers of his on their early albums, with “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Rock And Roll Music” appearing on Beatles For Sale and With The Beatles respectively. Both original versions appear hear, although I have to admit I prefer the rawness of Lennon’s vocal on the latter song as opposed to Chuck’s smoother, more laid back tones.
The standout track for me has to be the one and only “Johnny B. Goode”. Opening with arguably the most famous riff of all time, Chuck has said down that years that it’s a part-autobiographical song, and that the “country boy” mentioned was originally “coloured boy”, but the lyrics were changed to guarantee it being played on the radio. Personally it’s a song I’ve always loved ever since Marty McFly celebrated George and Lorraine finally getting together by playing it at the Under The Sea Dance in Back To The Future!
The song was even included on the Voyager Golden Record which was inside the Voyager Space Shuttle when it first launched in 1977 and was also voted No.7 in Rolling Stone magazines 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.
Not a bad way to start this week’s entry don’t you think?
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Listen To: Johnny B. Goode
Talking Heads
Stop Making Sense
Recorded over the course of three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in December 1983, this is the soundtrack to Talking Heads’ concert movie of the same name, directed by Jonathan Demme who later went on to win an Oscar for “Silence Of The Lambs” and also directed “Philadelphia”.
The tour was to promote the bands album released that very same year – “Speaking In Tongues” – which just so happens to be my favourite album by them so it’ll be no surprise to learn that this release is also high on my list.
I’m also the proud owner of the DVD copy of the film which is a must-have for any discerning Talking Heads fan, and it’s that concert in general rather than the individual songs featured on here that I’d like to focus on. We’ll talk more in depth about them as and when we get to listen to the albums they’re taken from, but to get a feel of how this really sounded I took great delight in settling down to watch my copy of this movie.
The title of the film gets its name from a lyric in the song “Girlfriend Is Better” which goes, “As we get older and stop making sense….” and it begins with a shot of lead singer David Byrne (from the feet up) on stage alone walking upto a portable cassette player, carrying just his guitar.
He opens with the immortal line, “Hi…..I’ve got a tape I want to play….” then proceeds to press “Play” on the tape machine. A drum loop introduces us to his stripped down yet upbeat acoustic version of the Talking Heads classic “Psycho Killer” and from here on in we are treated to one of best setlists I’ve had the pleasure of listening to.
As the gig progresses David is joined onstage by each member of the band – firstly by bass player Tina Weymouth for the beautiful “Heaven”, then drummer Chris Franz appears for “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel”, and the full Heads lineup is complete when guitarist Jerry Harrison joins them for “Found A Job”.
Various sound equipment, instruments and backing singers and musicians (including members of Parliament and Funkadelic) continue to be brought on stage until finally the whole lineup is complete in time for an excellent version of “Burning Down The House” before taking the roof of the gaff with a storming rendition of “Life During Wartime”.
At one point after this David Byrne leaves the stage to allow Tina and Chris to perform two songs from their side project also known as The Tom Tom Club, with their hit single “Genius Of Love” being another highlight of the show before Byrne reappears to finish the rest of the show.
Another memorable part of this gig is the business suit that Byrne wears that grows larger and larger on him as the show progresses. This was inspired by Japanese theatre and he stated later he wanted to give the impression that his head was getting smaller as the gig went on. The only way to do that was to make his body appear larger or to put it another way, his suit. It may come as no surprise to learn that Davey and the gang were balls deep into their coke habits during this period. Explains a lot I reckon don’t you….
Anyway, apart from wide eyes, jittery dancing and giant suits, we’re also treated to some of the greatest songs ever made by one of the most forward thinking artists to have walked the earth(in my humble opinion) and American film critic Leonard Matlin even called it, “One of the greatest rock movies ever made.” A must own.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Listen To: Life During Wartime
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
I’ve stated previously in these Diaries that one of the most satisfying things about it all is being introduced to and learning all about some fascinating and inspirational artists whom I would otherwise have not heard of and here we have another example of this in the wonderful Miriam Makeba.
Born in Johannesburg in 1932 Miriam became well known in her home country in the mid 1950’s and this is her debut studio album, released in 1960.
It contains a cover of “House of The Rising Sun” and also one of Miriam’s most famous songs “The Click Song” which is a traditional song of the Xhosa people of South Africa and is usually sung at weddings to bring good luck to people.
It was after this release that she became close friends with Harry Belafonte and as as result of this friendship even got to sing at Madison Square Garden for John F. Kennedy’s birthday.
A fierce Anti-Apartheid protester, she was forced into exile from her home country and refused entry to attend her own mothers funeral in 1963, even having her passport revoked at the same time. Several countries including Ghana and Belgium showed sympathy to her and issued her with international passports. During her lifetime she actually held passports for 9 different countries, making her in effect a citizen of the world.
After touring with Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Simon’s 1986 Graceland Tour, Miriam was invited to play at Nelson Mandelas Birthday Concert at Wembley in 1988, thus introducing her music to a whole new worldwide audience and increasing the pressure on her home country to end her exile.
On June 10th 1990, almost four months to the day since Mandela was released, Miriam entered South Africa (on her French Passport!) after almost 30 years and was finally able to justify her nickname of Mama Africa.
She continued to tour the world singing her unique brand of Marabi African Folk Music whilst at the same time championing various Peace Movements and Civil Rights Protest right upto her death at the age of 76 in 2008 of a heart attack which she suffered after performing at an Anti-Mafia Concert at Cacerta in Italy. What a woman.
Rating: ☆☆☆
Listen To: The Click Song
Goldfrapp
Black Cherry
There was a period at the turn of the century when you couldn’t get away from Goldfrapp. It seemed like their songs were everywhere and at the time I thought they were alright too, although I’ve never taken the time to listen to any of their albums.
Formed in London in 1999 by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, this is their 2003 second album, released 3 years after their debut, Felt Mountain, and with its retro-disco/electropop sound it was seen as somewhat of a departure from its more ambient sounding predecessor.
For the making of the album the duo locked themselves away in a darkened studio with only neon lights on the walls to give them a more disco feel as they were writing and recording.
On the majority of songs here Alisons voice is akin to the kind of sultry, synth-pop, that Kylie Minogue has become the Queen of in the latter stages of her career and added to a stomping glam-rock beat for parts of the album I can honestly say this was a really enjoyable first listen.
The best and most well-known track on here is the UK Top Twenty hit “Strict Machine” which Alison wrote after reading about laboratory rats that had their brains rewired to feel pleasure when following commands. She decided to write about it from a human perspective incorporating “humans, sex and control.” It went on to become the bands biggest hit on both sides of the Atlantic until the release of “Ooh La La” a couple of years later.
I had a feeling I was gonna enjoy this album and I’m pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed. I look forward to hearing a lot more from Alison and Will in the future.
Rating: ☆☆☆
Listen To: Strict Machine
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II
Following on the heels of both “Led Zeppelin IV” and “Physical Graffiti”, here we have the third Zep album to feature in these Diaries and its the imaginatively titled “Led Zeppelin II”, which was released just nine months after their 1969 self-titled debut.
It was written, rehearsed and recorded whilst the band were out on the road touring meaning it was recorded in several different studios either here in the UK or in North America. The band would try out their new material during the soundchecks, book a studio(wherever the nearest one may be) record parts of songs and move on to the next town.
Whilst Jimmy Page is recognised as the sole producer of the record, enormous credit must also go to legendary sound engineer Eddie Kramer, who was working with the band for the first time here but subsequently went on to engineer a further four albums with them in later years.
The album cover was designed by David Juniper who was a fellow art student of Jimmy Page at Sutton Art College and its based on a photograph of the Jagdstaffel 11 German Air Force from the First World War, made famous by The Red Baron.
Juniper edited the faces of all four band members onto the photograph and included the Zeppelin outline from their first album onto a brown background, thus earning the album its nickname, “The Brown Bomber”.
It opens with one of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time in “Whole Lotta Love”, a song that seen the band dragged into a court case in 1985 due to the similarities between it and the Willie Dixon song “You Need Love” which was recorded by Muddy Waters in 1962. The court found in favour of Dixon for an undisclosed amount and all subsequest releases of the song co-credit him.
Despite the band famously never releasing any singles here in the UK, “Whole Lotta Love” was certified Gold in America, peaking at No.4 on the Billboard Charts. It also reached No.1 in Germany, and was a hit in France, Holland and Japan. It was also the last ever song the band played live.
Also appearing here is another favourite of mine in “Heartbreaker”, which tells the tale of a man once hurt but now wise to the tricks of an arl brass named Annie. Jimmy’s now legendary guitar solo was apparently improvised on the spot, recorded after the song was finished and simply shoved slap bang in the middle of it. Genius.
My highlight on Led Zep II has to be the mystical, poetic, folk-rock belter that is “Ramble On” with its lyrics influenced by Tolkein and “Lord Of The Rings”. Robert Plant sings about Golum and Moldor but its the sound of the song as a whole that I’m drawn to and its quite possibly my favourite Led Zep song ever. The album isnt too shabby either. Another must.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Listen To: Ramble On
The Police
Synchronicity
Following on from 1978’s “Outlandos D’Amour” that we listened to way back in Week 10 of these Diaries, we fast forward five years to the summer of 1983 for The Police’s fifth and final album. A record released at a time when Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland were arguably the biggest band on the planet.An argument strengthened by the fact that this album got to No.1 on both sides of the Atlantic and sold over 8 million copies in the U.S alone.
The title of the album was inspired by the book “The Roots of Coincidence” by the Hungarian/British author Arthur Koestler. In it he tries to explain Carl Jung’s theory of Synchronicity that states, “Events are meaningful coincidences if they occur with no casual relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related.” So erm…. now ya know! Anyway it appears Sting was an avid reader of Koestler as he even named the predecessor to this album – “Ghosts In The Machine” – after another of his books. Also if you look closely on the front cover of this record you can see Sting reading a copy of Jung’s “Synchronicity”.
As for the record itself well I guess you could say its very hit and miss. An album of two halves if ever there was one. Its a removal from the reggae-tinged sound of their debut and is(in parts) a more pop-driven, synth-led sound. It opens with the fast paced title track which I enjoyed, but the rest of Side One is, in my opinion, a lot of filler. “Walking In Your Footsteps” is ok but the Copeland penned song “Miss Gradenko” and in particular, Summers’ truly awful “Mother” should definitely be avoided.
Which brings us to Side Two, and some of the bands finest singles, including their most famous and successful one in “Every Breath You Take” which begins the second half of the album.
Sting wrote the song after he seperated from his wife at the time, the Northern Irish actress Frances Tomelty and began a relationship with her best friend Trudie Styler. Its dark lyrics are about a possessive and jealous ex-lover and the bitterness and surveillance that follows a break-up.
The recording of this track in particular was fraught with arguments and at one point Sting and Copeland had to be separated as they almost came to blows in the studio. Legendary UK producer Hugh Padgham stated years later that the band appeared to “really hate each others guts” during this period.
The song went on to top the UK charts for four weeks, was top of the US Billboard for nine weeks, won two Grammys and also an Ivor Novello award. Not bad for a song about a stalker!
Two other well known singles on here are “King Of Pain” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, which are always worth a listen, before the album comes to a close with the softly sounding “Tea In The Sahara” – a song which if anything gives us a clue as to how Stings soon to be solo career would sound like just a few years later.
Rating: ☆☆☆
Listen To: Every Breath You Take
Manic Street Preachers
The Holy Bible
I’ve always had a huge amount of respect for the Manics. Whether it be their support of the striking Liverpool dockers in 1995 or their backing of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign way back when it wasnt just a fashionable thing to do, they’ve always struck me as the type of lads I’d get on with and if by chance I ever did bump into them, then rest assured the first pint is on me just as a little “Nice one” for all their efforts.
Having said all that I cant admit to being a fan of any of their albums. I dont own any and the songs I do know are by and large just the ones that get played on the radio now and again. The notable exception being “S.Y.M.M.” which stands for South Yorkshire Mass Murder and was inspired by Jimmy McGoverns Hillsborough documentary. Again, nice one lads.
Anyway, released in August 1994, this is The Manic’s third album and the last to feature lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards before his mysterious disappearance on Febuary 1st 1995(He was sadly officially presumed dead on 23rd November 2008).
The majority of the songs on here have themes referencing politics and human suffering and point to Richeys fragile state of mind during this period. He was suffering from depression, anorexia, alcohol and drug dependency, and was also self-harming. He wrote around 7o% of the lyrics for this record and I have to say it’s one of the darkest albums I’ve listened to in a long long time.
Even the album cover is bleak, showing an obese woman in her underwear. It’s a triptych painting by the artist Jenny Saville who agreed the band could use her work for free after speaking to Richey about each song on the album.
It opens with “Yes”, a song about prostitution and exploitation which pretty much sets the tone for the whole record.
We then have songs about America consumerism in “Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart”, and the media fascination with the celebrity of serial killers in “Archives Of Pain”, which opens with a snippet from a TV report from Peter Sutcliffe’s trial and words from the mother of one of his victims.
Then there’s the Holocaust inspired “Mausoleum” and “The Intense Humming Of Evil”, which were written after the band visited the concentration camps in Belsen and Dachau.
Despite claims to the contrary, Richey Edwards argued “Die In The Summertime” was not autobiographical but in fact written about an old age pensioner thinking about his younger years and being ready to die. Whilst “4st 7lbs” is so called because that is the weight that reputedly makes death unavoidable for anorexia sufferers. Like I said above, pretty heavy going isn’t it?
The song I enjoyed most on here is “This Is Yesterday” which is all about how people look back on their youth as being the best years of their lives. It’s probably the easiest song to listen to on the whole record and for want of a better phrase, the most radio-friendly.
If you’re a fan of the likes of Wire, PiL or to a lesser extent Joy Division then I’m sure you’d appreciate this album more than I did. It’s been labelled a masterpiece and hailed as one of the great British albums ever. What I woukd say is that it’s certainly a record everyone should listen to once in their lives if only for it’s lyrical content but for me personally I probably won’t be going back to it. The songs just made me a bit uncomfortable and I dont listen to albums for that. Having said that though, I’m interested as to what the Manics albums sound like in the years after Richeys disappearance. All in good time I suppose.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Listen To: This Is Yesterday
Lou Reed
Transformer
The final album in this weeks entry and it’s another personal favourite of mine – Lou Reed’s Transformer. Released in 1972 its Lou’s second solo album, coming just seven months after the release of his eponymous debut and a full two years after leaving The Velvet Underground.
It was produced by David Bowie and his cohort Mick Ronson who were both massive fans of The Velvets and Lou has stated down the years just how important the pair were in the making of the album, with Ronson in particular receiving praise.
Like it’s predecessor, Transformer contains a handful of songs that Lou had written and demoed whilst still in the Velvets, including the opening track, which he wrote after his friend Andy Warhol asked him to write a song about someone vicious. When asked to explain what he meant, Andy replied, “Oh you know, like I hit you with a flower.” Hence the opening line to the song “Vicious”.
The Warhol connection continues with “Andy’s Chest”, and if you listen carefully you can hear the distinctive tones of Bowie on backing vocal duties. It’s title is a reference to the large scar across Warhol’s torso after an attempt was made on his life in 1968. Feminist Valerie Solanas pulled a gun on him, fired 2 shots which missed and a third which went through both lungs, liver and spleen. The bizarre lyrics in the song are a homage to the wild and wonderful characters that would regularly frequent Warhol’s famed Factory studios in New York.
Famously several of these characters are actually mentioned by name in “Walk On The Wild Side”, a song that became synonymous with Lou in later years and is one of his signature tunes. These include transgender actresses Holly Woodlawn and Candy Darling, bisexual actor Joe Dellasandro AKA “Little Joe”, drag artist Jackie Curtis, and the actor Joe Campbell who was better known as the”Sugar Plum Fairy” – a euphemism for drug dealer.
A nice little fact I disovered for myself here is that the saxophone solo on this song was played by the famous baritone sax-man Ronnie Ross who had in fact taught a young David Bowie to play the instrument some years earlier. Love that.
For me the highlight of Transformer can only be the sombre yet beautifully nostalgic “Perfect Day”, a song that I first fell in love with when it appeared in the 90’s film Trainspotting – which coincidentally has the long awaited premier of its sequel this week!
It was apparently written after Lou and his then fiancée Bettye Kronstad spent a day in Central Park, but it has since drew other connotations and its simple romantic lyrics are thought by some to be Lou’s casual approach to his very own heroin addiction. Which probably explains why it was used to great effect when Renton got swallowed up by that rug after taking a hit of Edinburghs’ finest brown stuff!
Regardless of what its about just listen as it builds to it’s beautifully orchestrated chorus, with Mick Ronson earning all the plaudits from Lou for his string arrangement and piano playing. Especially when listened to on headphones can you fully appreciate just what a beautiful song it is. Another must own album for me.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Listen To: Perfect Day
That’s it for another week. Thanks for reading and hopefully it wont be too long before we have another entry. Feel free to click on the links below each album to give them a listen. I hope you find something you love.
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