Week 33
11th January 2021
Has it really been almost a year since the last entry? Another lockdown means another chance to get stuck into the Playlist and some great music. Here’s how the first – and hopefully not last – entry of 2021 panned out….
Johnny Cash
At San Quentin
(Legacy Edition)
“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash…”
Ironic isn’t it that here we are in the middle of another incarceration and the first album that pops up is this – the second of the great man’s live albums recorded in a prison.
Hot on the heels of his enormously successful 1968 album “Live At Folsom Prison”, this was recorded on February 24th 1969 at San Quentin State Prison, Marin County California and was even filmed for UK audiences by Granada Television.
As opposed to the eleven songs on the albums original tracklist, this Legacy Edition from 2006 contains thirty one songs including different versions of some, outtakes of others, and even a few performances from June Carter and Carl Perkins.
This then is widely considered to be the definitive version of which to listen to and it comes in at just under two and a half hours.
Sadly this is the first album Johnny recorded without his good friend and long-time lead guitarist Luther Perkins, who was tragically killed several months earlier as a result of a house fire started by a lit cigarette as he slept in his armchair and Johnny pays tribute to his much-loved bandmate during this performance.
There’s a handful of Johnny’s most well-known songs on offer here including his 1956 ode to newly-married life “I Walk The Line” which he wrote as a vow to his first wife Vivian shortly after they tied the knot.
Cash famously hums throughout the song in between verses in order to reach the desired key-change and it was during this very performance that we see the now iconic image of him giving the middle-finger in an angry looking gesture towards the British film crew after they repeatedly ignore his request to stop blocking the prisoners view.
Although it has since been claimed by photographer Jim Marshall that he in fact asked Johnny to express what he thought of the prison authorities during the show, which led to the famous image.
The song has since gone on to be one of the most recognisable in music history and in 2014 was named by Rolling Stone Magazine as “The Greatest Country Song Of All Time”.
Alongside the albums title track “San Quentin” which Cash wrote especially for this performance, there is also another song being performed live by him for the first time in his career and its a cover of Shel Silverstein’s “A Boy Named Sue” which was only included in the set list at the very last minute.
Such is the spontaneity of the songs performance, Johnny performed it with a lyric sheet placed in front of him and his band improvised with a sparse, rough accompaniment.
Johnny was surprised at how well the song was received during the show and decided that was to be the lead single on the album and not the intended one – “San Quentin”.
It ended up being one of his biggest hits and won him “Best Country Male Vocal” at that years Grammy Awards.
For me, the main endearing quality about this whole record is not the songs themselves but the whole immersive feeling of it being a gig recorded in a prison in front of 1000 raucous inmates and just like it’s predecessor “Live At Folsom Prison” you get a sense from his on-stage banter in between songs that he really feels at home amongst them and that feeling is certainly reciprocated right back at him.
Johnny has never sounded as raw or as good as he does on this record.
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Listen To: A Boy Named Sue
MGMT
Oracular Spectacular
Summer 2008. The last year of my twenties. Working in a bed shop in Birkenhead. Countless Lost Weekends spent in Bumper, Lago and The Magnet. Fernando Torres making us all question our sexuality. Then lo and behold, my wife Emma and I finding out she was pregnant with our James!
Personally, this album was the soundtrack to that whole period and I can honestly say it brings me nothing but good memories whenever I hear any of the songs featured on it.
Originally calling themselves “The Management”, MGMT were formed in 2002 by two college mates, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngarden during their Freshman year at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, and Oracular Spectacular is their debut release.
After experimenting with Rock and then Electronica they finally found their own sound which Paco Alvarez of Spin Magazine called “shape-shifting psychedelic pop”.
Incidentally, take a look at this early performance from them at Uni doing a cover of the Talking Heads classic “This Must Be The Place”. As equally raw as it is endearing.
The album opens with their self-proclaimed mission statement of a single in “Time To Pretend” and if you want my opinion then you would be hard pressed to find a better 1st song on a debut album that decade.
Mocking the cocaine/prostitutes/choking-on-vomit cliche lifestyle of becoming a Rock Star, the song was widely praised by critics everywhere and whilst it only hit No.35 in the UK Charts, it was still named “2nd Best Song Of The 2000’s” by NME. (Beyonce “Crazy In Love” was No.1 in case you were wondering. It is a belter to be fair.)
Personally I will forever associate it as the soundtrack to that years Creamfields video and one of the greatest weekends of my life. Take a look HERE and feel the pain of nostalgia kick in whilst looking at those crowds of shiny, happy people.
Another favourite is the catchy “Electric Feel” which was allegedly the first song the duo wrote that contained lyrics and according to Andrew is “…about a woman who comes from the Amazonian rainforest that has the power to shock people with the electricity that is running through her vains. She could be an alien or part-eel or something.”
Finally we have another gem in the albums third and final single “Kids” with its now instantly recognisable intro and insanely horrific accompanying VIDEO.
It was named “Best Single of 2008” by NME and was then sampled magnificently by one third of the Swedish House Mafia, Sebastian Ingrosso for his 2009 single Kidsos.
There’s those pangs of nostalgia again.
The one minor issue I have with this album is I feel the second half of it tails off slightly compared to the more enjoyable first half, although it is still a lot of fun to listen to even after all these years.
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Listen To: Time To Pretend
David Bowie
“Heroes”
Following on from “Scary Monsters” in Week 7 and “Aladdin Sane” in Week 20, here we have the third Bowie album to appear in these Diaries and we had the pleasure of listening to it just a couple of days after the fifth anniversary of his death on 10th January 2016.
Released in October 1977, this is Bowie’s 12th studio album and the second in what would become known as his “Berlin Trilogy”, having released “Low” in January of that same year, although this is the only one of the three that was recorded entirely in Germany.
As with “Low” it was once again a collaboration with Brian Eno and produced by Tony Visconti whilst they were joined this time by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp who joined the fold after an invitation by Eno.
The front cover is a shot taken by Japanese photographer Masayoshi Sukita and was inspired by the painting “Roquairol” by German artist Erich Heckel (see also the front cover of Iggy Pop’s “The Idiot” for the same reason).
The famous Hansa Studios where it was recorded was a former concert hall that was used as a ballroom by Gestapo officers during World War II and was situated about 500 yards from the Berlin Wall.
When asked how this situation affected the recording process, producer Visconti said, “Every afternoon I’d sit down at a desk and see three Russian Red Guards looking at us with binoculars, with their Sten guns over their shoulders, and the barbed wire, and I knew that there were mines buried in that wall, and that atmosphere was so provocative and so stimulating and so frightening that the band played with so much energy”
Album opener “Beauty And The Beast” has been suggested by some to be about Bowie’s mood swings whilst in the throes of his cocaine addiction and living in L.A between 75-76, and Robert Fripps guitar work on the song was apparently done in one single take on his immediate arrival into the studio. How’s that for making a first impression!
“Joe The Lion” is a stomping Krautrock-influenced song inspired by performance artist Chris Burden and its here where Fripp’s talent really comes to the fore.
If that wasn’t enough then what follows next has surely cemented Fripps place in Rock and Roll history.
By simply sitting at different positions in the room to alter the pitch of his feedback, he allowed his guitar to create that unusual sustained sound we hear throughout one of my favourite songs of all time.
With a nod to the song “Hero” by German Krautrock band Neu! and influenced musically by the Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting For The Man”, the title track of this album was originally just meant to be an instrumental number (of which there are several on Side B of this record) until Bowie looked out of the Hansa Studios window one day and seen Tony Visconti and his then-girlfriend, backing singer Antonia Maass kissing “…by the wall”.
Eno has gone on record to say that musically he always felt the song had a heroic sound to it even before Bowie approached him with the lyrics, whilst Bowie explained that the song is about “Facing reality and standing up to it…finding joyness in life.”
Whilst it wasn’t a massive hit on its release it has since gone on to become one of Bowie’s signature tunes and NME recently voted it the “15th Greatest Song Of All Time” with David Buckley calling it “Perhaps pop’s definitive statement of the potential triumph of the human spirit over adversity.”
Another favourite of mine is the largely instrumental track “V2-Schneider” which Bowie wrote as a tribute to Kraftwerk co-founder Florien Schneider who were a massive influence to him throughout his whole stay in Germany.
The title is also a reference to the V-2 ballistic missile which was first developed by the Germans during World War II but whose design and engineers ended up playing a major role in the American Space Programme.
If I was pushed to pick one then its quite possible I would have this album as my favourite one of Bowie’s although that can change on an almost daily basis but listening to this again in all its glory has made me appreciate just how good it is.
A long-forgotten favourite.
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Listen To: Heroes
The Who
Live At Leeds
Extended Edition
The second Live Album in this weeks entry and its one widely regarded as The Greatest Live Album of All Time. Yes, it’s none other than The Who’s “Live At Leeds”, recorded at Leeds University and released in 1970. A gig so revered they erected a Blue Plaque at the venue to commemorate it happening there.
Originally containing a meagre six tracks, I was fortunate to be listening to the 1995 Extended Edition which stretches to fourteen and personally this is the version I urge you to dive into because trust me you will not be disappointed.
The song introductions and on-stage joking amongst the band in between songs really add to the feel of the album and make it a more enjoyable listen than the original release.
Sandwiched in between their 1969 “Tommy” album and “Who’s Next” which came out in ’71 this captures the band in what many fans class as their true golden period, and writing a retrospective review for All Music, Bruce Eder said, “There is certainly no better record of how this band was a volcano of violence on-stage, teetering on the edge of chaos but never blowing apart.“
The majority of the bands hits up until this point are included here and speaking as a fan of the band you will never hear them sound better than right here on this album.
The likes of “I Can’t Explain”, “Substitute” and “Happy Jack” are included in the set list alongside a handful of covers including Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” and Johnny Kidd’s “Shakin’ All Over” and Keith Moon’s drumming in particular is at times simply breathtaking, especially on the mid-section of “A Quick One While He’s Away”.
I was lucky enough to catch The Who in Manchester a year or so before John Entwistle died from a cocaine-induced heart attack in the arms of a stripper in a Las Vegas Hotel Suite (I mean if you are gonna go, go in style!) so I can say I have had the honour of watching the greatest bass player of all time play the greatest bass solo of all time in “My Generation”.
But…
What I would give to have been amongst that crowd in Leeds to witness that mad bastard Keith Moon at work behind a drum kit. What a fella.
Another cover here is the Mose Allison track “Young Man Blues” which Pete Townshend has gone on record saying was one of the main inspirations behind said classic “My Generation” and that also gets the Live treatment here in the form of a fifteen minute medley involving “See Me, Feel Me”, “Sparks” and “Naked Eye” with Pete’s Gibson SG Special (according to Who biographer Dave Marsh) “….so molten with energy at times it resembles the heavy metal of Deep Purple and the atomic blues of Led Zeppelin absolutely non-stop Hard Rock.“
It all draws to a conclusion with an 8-minute extended version of “Magic Bus” that includes Roger Daltrey on harmonica and all four members jamming right to the very end.
History in the making and – according to “The Daily Telegraph”, “The Independent”, “The BBC”, “Q Magazine” and “Rolling Stone Magazine” – has never been bettered.
A must own.
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Listen To: My Generation
Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Way back at the beginning of these Diaires in Week 3 I had my reservations about listening to Kanye and his “Late Registration” album, and despite having to admit it was a very, very good album to listen to, I still thought he was “The Biggest Divvy On The Planet” – albeit a supremely talented one.
In the years that have past since then he has done absolutely nothing to change my opinion of him although he most definitely has some contenders to knock him off his lofty perch, in fact he would be lucky to make a Champions League spot in the current climate. I’m looking at you Matt Hancock you little twerp.
Released in 2010, this is the fifth album from Kanye and it was recorded during his self-imposed exile in Oahu, Hawaii after a period of controversy in his life, namely the end of his relationship with model Amber Rose and then his storming of the stage at the 2009 VMA’s during Taylor Swifts acceptance speech whilst collecting her award for “Best Female Video”.
To help with the recording of this album Kanye roped in a who’s-who of the Music Industry to produce and collaborate on it which seen the likes of Mike Dean, RZA, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Rihanna performing alongside Elton John, Bon Iver and John Legend to name but a few.
The running theme of the album is the failed idealism of The American Dream, consumer culture, sex, race, celebrity and everything that goes with it when your name is Kanye West.
It opens with “Dark Fantasy” and Nicki Minaj narrating a reworking of Cinderella in an English accent before a sample of Mike Oldfields “In High Places” takes over and gets us underway.
Samples play a huge part throughout this album and they are used to great effect in “POWER” with that now unmistakable intro sampling “Afromerica” by Continent No.6 and even our old mate Robert Fripp (see above) and his band King Crimson get a look-in with their track “21st Century Schizoid Man” being the premise for the whole song.
“All Of The Lights” was called the “sleb-studded centrepiece” of the album by NME, with its grandiose production and none other than Elton John on piano it tells a story of a parolee hoping to be reunited with his estranged daughter despite a restraining order put in place by the child’s mother, with Kitty Empire of The Guardian calling it “The album’s most magnificent high, that backs up operatic levels of sound with great drama.”
It was also one of the songs that Jordan Henderson and his team chose as part of their trophy presentation when Liverpool Football Club became Premier League Champions at the end of the 2019/20 season. (I had to get it in somewhere.)
“Devil In A New Dress” features a cameo by Rick Ross and a beautiful use of Smokey Robinsons version of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” whilst Kanye touches on love, lust and religion whilst speaking of the women that have wronged him in the past.
The highlight for me has to be the 9-minute piano-driven epic that is “Runaway” which was allegedly inspired by Taylor Swift and what happened at the VMA’s and whilst it isn’t a full blown apology, Kanye wrote on his Twitter account on its release that he had “Written a beautiful song for her”.
Self-reflective and admitting to us and the world that at times he can be a “douchebag”, the song can be interpreted as a take on his relationship with a girl, the media or society in general and one critic labelled it, “An agonizing portrait of a man trying to exit the black hole of his own implacable ego”.
The album went on to win “Best Rap Album” at the 2012 Grammys but remarkably, in what seemed like a monumental snub, it wasn’t even nominated for “Best Album” despite it being hailed by almost everyone in the industry as Kanye’s career-defining work.
It has since gone triple-platinum, shifting over three million copies in the US alone, whilst Spotify announced in November 2020 that the whole album had been streamed one billion times on their site.
Make that one billion and one. Cracking album.
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Listen To: Runaway
Thats it for another week. Thanks for reading and hopefully you find something to listen to that you’ll enjoy. Don’t forget to click on anything highlighted in blue to watch or listen to any of the links.
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