With the Beatles - Beatles - Review

Beatles - With the Beatles - 1963

Songs: It Won´t Be Long, All I´ve Got To Do, All My Loving, Don´t Bother Me, Little Child, Till There Was You, Please Mr. Postman, Roll Over Beethoven, Hold Me Tight, You Really Got A Hold On Me, I Wanna Be Your Man, Devil In Her Heart, Not A Second Time, Money.

Type of Music: Early Sixties Pop Music.

Comments:

Another mix of covers and original Lennon/McCartney compositions following their debut  Please Please Me. The covers are performed with mixed results. Both Please Mr. Postman and You Really Got A Hold On Me have become Beatles songs over the years. And you might argue the same goes for Money. But their version of Roll Over Beethoven pales next to Chuck Berry´s original. The songs written by John and Paul are more or less OK. Nothing here really impresses me. George makes his first contribution with Don´t Bother Me and indeed, it doesn´t bother me but that’s all.

One early Classic here namely All My Loving. That´s not enough to make this album worth owning unless you want to collect everything the Beatles ever produced. Which, by itself, is a very nice hobby!

Rating: ****** (6 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: Beatles Collectors Only.

Graham Nash - Songs For Beginners - Review

Graham Nash - Songs For Beginners - 1971

Songs: Military Madness, Better Days, Wounded Bird, I used to be a King, Be Yourself, Simple Man, Man in the Mirror, There’s only one, Sleep Song, Chicago, We can change the world.

Type of Music: Early Seventies Folk/Country/Pop

Comments:

Next to ambitious Stephen Stills and druggie David Crosby, the famous trio was completed by Mr. nice guy Graham Nash. And funny enough you can recognise that clearly on all three debut solo-albums. Stills I (One) is rocking and rough, David’s " If Only I Could Remember My Name" is almost self-explanatory when you consider the title and Songs for Beginners is a nice pop/country Album that won’t offend anybody’s ears.  

But those three albums do have something in common. They are pretty good!!

Graham got a lot of help from his friends here. You will enjoy Dave Mason’s guitar on the strong Anti-War Song Military Madness and the backing vocals from a.o. David Crosby and Rita Coolidge are pleasantly present. All up-tempo songs are good. Most people will recognise the aforementioned Military Madness and the other protest song Chicago. And in "I Used To Be a King", Graham reminds us in a friendly way that he did play an important part in not only the Hollies (Yes, he is King Midas in Reverse) but also in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young where he was responsible for tunes like Marrakesh Express, Teach your Children and Our House.

The more intimate songs vary in quality though. Better Days, There’s Only One and Sleep Song don’t do much for me. But Wounded Bird and Man in the Mirror are better and Simple Man is my favourite song on the Album.  

All in all a good though short debut album that clocks in at around 30 minutes.

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: Anyone who likes the sound of Crosby, Stills & Nash in songs like Teach your Children or Our House should buy this one. 

Neil Young - Neil Young - Review

Neil Young - Neil Young - 1969

Songs: The Emperor of Wyoming, The Loner, If I could have her tonight, 

I´ve been waiting for you, The Old Laughing Lady, String Quartet from Whiskey Boot Hill, Here we are in the Years, What did you do to my life, 

I´ve loved her so long, The last trip to Tulsa.  

Type of Music: Late Sixties Folk/Country Rock

Comments:

Somewhat incoherent debut effort from Singer Songwriter Neil Young , more or less in line with his earlier work with Buffalo Springfield. It´s a bit of everything on this album. You will find Country, Folk, Country Rock and sometimes even a dash of Psychedelic influences. And the almost Gospel-Like female background vocals on some of the songs show that Neil is not afraid to be called eclectic. After more than 40 years of Neil´s career we all know that to be true!!   

This album is not really bad but certainly not essential. It did gave us one early Neil Young Semi-Classic with The Loner. Special attention as well for The Old Laughing Lady.

Rating: ******(6 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: Only for Hard Core Neil Young Fans       

Beatles - A Hard Day' s Night - Review

Beatles - A Hard Day's Night - 1963

Songs: A Hard Day’s Night, I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, I’m Happy Just To Dance With You, And I Love Her, Tell Me Why, Can’t Buy Me Love, Anytime At All, I’ll Cry Instead, Things We Said Today, When I Get Home, You Can’t Do That, I’ll Be Back. 

 

Type of Music: Early Sixties Pop Music.

Comments:

The Third Beatles Album and what a vast improvement over the first two!! The first seven songs are from the film but the rest isn’t just filler either. No Way!! And, also for the first time, all songs are written by John & Paul. The result is a Feel Good Album packed with excellent compositions and filled with memorable hooks. It’s difficult to point out highlights because A Hard Day’s Night, I Should Have Known Better, Can’t Buy Me Love, Anytime At All and the beautiful ballads If I Fell, And I Love Her, Things We Said Today and I’ll Be Back are all genuine Beatles Classics, at least in my book. Of course not all of the remaining songs are in that same league but they still aren’t bad!! A less brilliant Beatles song is still much better than most pop music around.     

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: An Excellent place to start your Beatles collection. Every Beatles Fan and every one else who enjoys good pop music should own this one. 

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - Review

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - 1977

Songs:  Second Hand News, Dreams, Never Going Back Again, Don´t Stop, Go Your Own Way, Songbird, The Chain, You Make Loving Fun, I Don´t Want to Know, Oh Daddy, Gold Dust Woman.

Type of Music: First Class Mid-Seventies Pop-Rock.

Comments: 

The Best Pop-Rock Album of All Times? Maybe. One of the best? For Sure!!

Amidst broken up relationships (Stevie and Lindsey), separations (Christine and John), tank loads of whisky and brandy (All) and truck loads of cocaine (Almost All if not All), the members of the Mac succeeded in writing and arranging a bunch of true pop-rock Classics.

The songs are almost evenly divided between Christine, Lindsey and Stevie. Most of these songs tell us most openly about the band´s problems at the time and have received constant airplay since 1977 but the majority of them still sound fresh today. And that tells you something about the quality of the Songs. The only song that I´ve heard enough by now is Bill Clinton´s favourite background music during his energetic meetings with Monica Lewinsky. I´m referring to Don´t Stop of course.

But I still love Go Your Own Way, You Made Loving Fun (Christine´s finest song so far) and Stevie´s Dreams. And let´s not forget the beautiful ballad Songbird that was the regular finale of all Live concerts until Christine left the band.

Really, there are no weak songs on Rumours. But two songs stand out for me and are two of my all time favourite Rock Songs. The first is Stevie´s mystical story of the Gold Dust Woman. And even better is the song that still opens each and every Mack Live Concert. And that´s The Chain, a song with at least three different hooks.

This Song rightly represents the story of the band. Despite all the problems, the Mac still exists, and, more importantly, still produces great music.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  What???? You don´t own it yet???

David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name- Review

David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name - 1971

Songs: Music is Love, Cowboy Movie, Tamalpais High (At about 3), Laughing, What are their Names, Traction in the Rain, Song with no Words, Orleans, I´d swear there was somebody there. 

Comments:

Listening to this album is like taking a trip. And you only have to listen. David already took his medicine when recording this album. And before it. And after it. And ….

This trip takes us out of the sixties and into the seventies. And we´re not travelling alone.

You will hear Graham Nash, Neil Young, Paul Kantner, Jerry Garcia,Jack Casady,Jorma Kaukonen, Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell and many others. All of those heroes of the sixties joint (LOL)  David on his personal trip that followed right after the recording sessions of Déjà Vu.

David is not a writer of songs like Neil Young. He creates an atmosphere and his excellent voice does the rest.

Take the opener Music is Love. It´s really a chant but it works just fine. And he doesn´t need words as well to create atmosphere. Just verify Song with no Words and his awakening from nightmare or bad trip in I´d swear there was somebody here. There are two slightly more up-tempo songs. Cowboy Movie is a bit overlong and barely manages to hold the attention. And Neil Young and Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia jam with David on What are their names, a rather strong protest song that hasn´t lost a lot of its power today.  

But the real highlights must be Laughing and Orleans, a song whose words are formed by naming famous French Cathedrals. Both songs are stunningly beautiful.

Tamalpais High (At about 3) is a nice instrumental. It has no words but tells the story of David´s life nevertheless. Finally, drug abuse would  destroy and almost kill him. He was saved just in time and is still touring  with Stills and Nash.

If I could only remember my name is not your average album and you´re not gonna listen to it every week. It´s an experience and a nice one for that. Just relax,pour yourself a GlenDronach Allardice 18 Years, turn out the light and let yourself be carried away from time to time. 

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: Anyone who misses the sixties and finds Celine Dion somewhat boring!

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River - Review

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River - 1969

Songs:  Green River, Commotion, Tombstone Shadow, Wrote a Song for Everyone, Bad Moon Rising, Lodi, Cross-Tie Walker, Sinister Purpose, The Night Time is the Right Time. 

Comments:

The third Creedence release in 1969. And a good one again! Way too short though with only 30 minutes of music. It helps to understand how they could manage those three albums within such a short time!

No long jams on this one as well. All short and to the point 3 minute Swampy Rock songs. Some are Great. Some are not.

We have four real classics here with great hooks. I like Lodi most but Green River, Bad Moon Rising and the fast and furious Commotion are equally good.

But, and that´s the problem of all three CCR albums so far, the rest of the songs are a lot less impressive. I guess that the bluesy Tombstone Shadow and the somewhat monotonous ballad Wrote a Song for Everyone are still okay, although this last song reminds me a bit too much of The Weight, that song made famous by The Band.

And I would prefer to hear someone like Gary Moore perform the pure blues The Night Time is the Right Time. And hear, say the Stray Cats perform the Rockabilly Cross-Tie Walker. And CCR would do a better creepy song in the future (Run through the Jungle) than Sinister Purpose that sounds almost silly to me.    

So, we are not quite there yet. However, Green River is certainly another step closer towards CCR´s Finest Hour.

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

 

Who should buy this Record:  Everybody who loves John Fogerty´s Swamp Rock and wants to look (and hear) beyond a Greatest Hits Album.  

Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour - Review

Songs:  Magical Mystery Tour, The Fool on the Hill, Flying, Blue Jay Way, Your Mother should Know, I am the Walrus, Hello Goodbye, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Baby You´re a Rich Man, All you need is love.

Type of Music: Mid Sixties Quality Pop with Psychedelic Influences.

Comments:

Sure, the first six songs on the Album form the Sound Track of the film of the same name. But actually this record sounds more like another Beatles Greatest Hits collection with some accidental filler in the form of the Psycho instrumental Flying or the Psycho George contribution Blue Jay Way. These two songs do nothing for me.

But the other songs,  all written by John and Paul are at least memorable and at best excellent.

Personally I would consider Scott McKenzie´s San Francisco, but to a lot of people All You Need is Love is the anthem of that famous Summer of Love. Psychedelics are certainly an important ingredient of the Magical Mystery Pie and I am the Walrus and above all Strawberry Fields Forever are among John´s finest work in this specific field.

And Paul is not far behind with the spooky Fool on the Hill and Penny Lane, a song Ray Davies would have loved to have written.

Actually Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane were written for Sgt. Pepper but were rejected because they would not fit in the context of that album.

So here it is, another Beatles album. Not very coherent but with some great songs.

 Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  Actually you can find most of the relevant songs on this album on one of the various Beatles Compilation Albums. Therefore Magical Mystery Tour is for Collectors Only.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy & the Poor Boys - Review

Creedence Clearwater Revival Willy and the Poor Boys (1969)  

Songs:  Down on the Corner, It Came out of the Sky, Cotton Fields, Poorboy Shuffle, Feelin´ Blue, Fortunate Son, Don´t Look Now, The Midnight Special, Side o´ the Road, Effigy.

Type of Music: Late Sixties Blues (Swamp) Rock.

Comments: 

CCR´s fourth album was released at the end of 1969 and was another huge commercial success. It tells the story of the imaginary blues/rock band Willy and the Poor Boys, four guys from California showing the world they can play Southern Music as well as anybody else.

And indeed, they took two American originals (Cotton Fields and Midnight Special) and made them sound as if they were written for CCR in the first place. And that says something about their qualities. Nevertheless, I never liked Cotton Fields as a song despite the nice harmony vocals and I assure you that I´ve heard a lot of versions through the years from artists ranging between Udo Jürgens and the Beach Boys.

No, I prefer the rockers on the Album. For sure Fortunate Son is one of the great Anti Vietnam-War Songs and John sounds really upset here. And let´s not forget It came out of the Sky, for me the best song on the album. It´s a great rocker in Chuck Berry style. Try it out in your car with the speakers as loud as you can stand!

Everybody of course knows Down on the Corner. You probably heard it on the radio today and yesterday and the day before yesterday and…..

Less known is the instrumental Side o´ the Road. In fact it´s John´s guitar solo set on a Booker T & the MG´s kind of groove.

The Blues shuffle Feelin´ Blue is a nice enough song but I took away half a point as it´s just a tiny bit too long. And if you´re curious if CCR could come up with their version of Jimi´s Hey Joe, listen carefully to Effigy.

Some filler here as well. I fail to see the relevance of the Poorboy Shuffle and Don´t look Now is an inferior re-write of Bad Moon Rising.

So what do I tell you. It´s not a bad album but it does not quite convince me. I consider it to be a step back when compared to Green River.      

Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  It´s not the first CCR Album you would want to buy. But Give it a Chance if you find it remastered and cheap!

Bruce Springsteen - The Wild The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle Review

Bruce Springsteen  : The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973)                  

Songs: The E Street Shuffle, 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy), Kitty´s Back, Wild Billy´s Circus Story, Incident on 57th Street, Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), New York City Serenade.   

Type of Music: Early Seventies Rock/ R&B Influences.

Comments:

Bruce´s second album is his own West Side Story, telling us Dylan like tales about the big city street life. With lots of Latin American influences both in words and in music. Living in a big city is like living in a great big Melting Pot. Lots of different cultures and influences. The same goes for the music on this Album.

Sometimes you will recognise bits and pieces of Dylan, Lou Reed, James Brown, Mink Deville or even Tom Waits. But all the songs have two common denominators: Balls and Soul!!

It is inevitable that one day all of this energy will lead to Born to Run.

It´s a very coherent album as well. Not really a bad song in sight although some songs are a bit overlong. I´m not too enthusiastic about the sound quality. Sounds a bit muddy.

The rhythms seem very odd from time to time during the songs but in the end it always just seem to work out fine. And that says something about the quality of the band although the drummer Vini Lopez is not always convincing.

On the other hand I really admire the organ and piano parts played by David Sancious. What a pity he left the band to start a career in jazz music. Absolute high point for me is his playing in Kitty´s Back, my choice for best song here. His playing reminds me of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Also very good is his piano part on New York City Serenade.

Like Greetings from Asbury Park NJ, I find it difficult to listen to the whole album in one time without losing interest after about 25 minutes. I suppose it is because of Bruce´s somewhat monotonous voice. However, on an individual basis the songs are all okay.  

It´s a pity that Bruce would abandon these story like songs later in his career and would concentrate on short and to the point musical statements. But I´m looking in the future. Let´s end this little story by concluding that The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle certainly is one of the best efforts by The Boss.        

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Review

Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles (1967)

Songs:  Sgt. Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help from my Friends, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, She´s Leaving Home, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Within You Without You, When I´m Sixty-Four, Lovely Rita, Good Morning Good Morning, Sgt. Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise, A Day in the Life.

Type of Music: Quality Pop with Psychedelic Influences.

Comments

It´s been called by some the greatest record ever made. Others consider it to be the first concept album. Many people regard it to be the best of the  Beatles Records.

Well, for me it´s non of the above. It´s not in my All Time Top 10 of Classic Rock Albums. And the fact that the title track is revisited at the end of the album is clearly not enough to consider Sgt. Pepper to be a Concept Album. There are too many styles represented here. And, for me at least, the best of the Beatles was still to come.     

Since we have now established what Sgt. Pepper is not, we can concentrate on what it does represent. First of all I consider it to be a Work of Art. Never before in my opinion was so much attention paid to the presentation of a record. I´m sure that many of you can at least partly describe the cover of the Album. The same attention was paid to the sound quality.

Sgt. Pepper is also a fine collection of songs. The variety of styles avoid the record to become boring even after many spins. There is the acid-rock of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the Indian Chant Within You Without You written by George, the Circus Music of Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, the Vaudeville of When I´m Sixty-Four, the power pop of Lovely Rita and the sad but lovely pop-ballad She´s Leaving Home.

There are a few minus points as well. Everybody who saw the Woodstock movie will agree that Joe Cocker made With a little help from my Friends his Song. Sorry Ringo!!

I also rate Good Morning Good Morning as a weaker song and the reprise of Sgt. Pepper is irrelevant.

And although I consider A Day in the Life one of the best songs on the record, there are inexplicable irritating flaws in the way John´s voice was recorded.

But these observations do not prevent Sgt. Pepper from being an essential Beatles Album. As such it should be part of any Pop/Rock collection.       

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Rating:******** (8 out of 10)

Who should buy this Record: Everybody.