Odds and ends

"Odds and ends, odds and ends

Lost time will not come again"

So said the mighty Bob Dylan and he could have been talking about this permanently-late blog. I've got no real excuse for the lack of posts here, other than laziness and lack of imagination, but I hope to be back very soon with some thoughts on Mercury Rev's modern Psychedelia and some older stuff by a little-known band called The Beatles.....

While you're waiting you could check out a recent post over at The Glass Walking-Stick where I ramble on about seeing the reformed Big Audio Dynamite last Saturday.

Also, a very late "Hi!" to new Followers csmith2884 and Joanne Casey. Thanks for your support, guys!

Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin

As part of what seems to be a recurring theme on this 'ere blog, Led Zeppelin were one of those bands ( like the Beach Boys ) that I just didn't get when I was younger. To tell the truth I probably never gave them a chance.

I did go through a Heavy Metal / Rock phase as a teenager but Zeppelin were never a part of it. This was the era of the so-called New Wave Of British Heavy Metal when the singles charts were frequently raided by new bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, all incongruously competing for space on Top Of The Pops with the likes of Bucks Fizz and Spandau Ballet. The old guard metal bands had a resurgence too, with Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Motorhead and Gillan all having hits and appearing on telly - unlike Zeppelin who famously didn't release singles and didn't "do" TV. It didn't help that Led Zep had effectively died along with their heavy-drinking drummer, John Bonham, in 1980; although you wouldn't have thought that at the time, when the Zeppelin logo and "Swan Song" symbol was still covering T-shirts, jackets and schoolbags across the land. Around this time I discovered another defunct band, Deep Purple, whose compilation album Deepest Purple became a real favourite for head-banging and air-guitar. They, along with Motorhead, became the only Metal bands to outlive my short-lived 'ed-bangin' phase, at least until Metallica and Anthrax came along some time later.....

The only Led Zep songs I knew at the time were Whole Lotta Love which I quite liked and Stairway To Heaven which I thought was the worst kind of cod-mystical, hippy tripe. I also got it into my head that Jimmy Page's guitar was permanently out of tune ( that's how it sounded to me, anyway ) and decided to stick with Richie Blackmore instead.

Years pass, pages are ripped from the calendar, leaves fall from trees etc. etc.

After seeing old black and white footage of Zeppelin performing Communication Breakdown on some late-night rock programme, and realising i'd been missing something, I decided to shelve my age-old prejudice and give 'em a go. I bought the first two albums on dodgy old vinyl and was knocked out by their hard rockin', bluesy power: subtle as a flying brick but compelling and electric. Typically for me, I then became obsessed with the band and went out to buy as much of their music as I could find - even the DVD of The Song Remains The Same which I still haven't managed to watch all the way through.

All the Zeppelin albums have their great songs, riffs and performances ( especially Led Zeppelin IV, their most iconic record ) but my personal favourite is Physical Graffiti, because it's such a sprawling, confident document of a band at the peak of their powers. ( Not bad for a double album featuring seven songs left off previous records. )

What's it got? It's got the lot. To start with, you've got yer full-on, brutal rockers like Custard Pie, The Rover and The Wanton Song which could be the blueprint for an entire career for a lesser band ( Hi AC/DC! Hi ZZ Top! ) but are just the starting point for Led Zep. There are more chilled-out, mellow tracks such as the country-fied Down By The Seaside and the acoustic workout Bron-Yr-Aur - which I think is Welsh for "getting stoned in a cottage somewhere". And then you have the epics like Ten Years Gone, In The Light and the awesome, exotic Kashmir. After all that they still find time for some rock 'n' roll tomfoolery in Boogie With Stu, gritty funk-rock in Trampled Underfoot and the monolithic, slide-guitar blues explosion of In My Time Of Dying.

Needless to say the musicianship is faultless but never too slick or bland. The sheer power and variety of the music on display here is dazzling, with every member contributing something vital to the big picture. My only real complaint with this album, and Zeppelin's work as a whole, is the relative weakness of the lyrics.

( Not to mention the rampant sexism! )

Kashmir and Night Flight are the stand-outs for me, but a lot of the words of other songs don't stand up to much scrutiny. I tend to think of the lyrics as just another component of the overall sound, and just enjoy Robert Plant's lascivious, lung-busting vocals as if they were an instrument in their own right.

It took me a long time but I think I finally "get" Led Zeppelin, and they've "got" me. For life.

Song to play when you book that package holiday: Kashmir

Exodus by Bob Marley and The Wailers

Exodus is the first album from my 15 Albums list that nearly didn't make the blog. Not because it's not good enough ( far from it! ) but because I was torn between Exodus and Uprising, the first Bob Marley album I ever owned. Uprising has that iconic cover, a very sharp, bright sound and such wonderful songs as Could You Be Loved?, Redemption Song and Coming In From The Cold. BUT Exodus was the first Marley album to pop into my head when compiling the list and, thanks to my hard and fast rules, had to be the one.

Exodus was mostly recorded in England in 1977, when Marley was hiding out in London after a failed assassination attempt on him and his family. Bob was far more than just a reggae star in Jamaica; he was also an important, if controversial, political figure, who was seen to represent the ghettos and the rastas - and so had made himself a target. Unknown gunmen ( possibly opponents of Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley ) attacked Marley's home, wounding Rita Marley, manager Don Taylor and Marley himself. Amazingly, after all this chaos and upheaval Marley still produced, in a harsh environment thousands of miles from home, a true masterpiece of Jamaican music, Exodus.

The album alternates between the religious, Rastafarian themes in songs like the title track, Natural Mystic and The Heathen, and the more Lovers' Rock-orientated songs such as Waiting In Vain and Turn Your Lights Down Low. Not as angry and militant an album as Natty Dread, for example, but still righteous, Exodus is a classic of roots reggae, with Marley searching for meaning and finding it in love, friendship and Jah.

"Open your eyes and look within

Are you satisfied with the life you're living?"

The singles from this album took Bob's career to the next level and became some of his most popular songs, with the poppier tracks like Jamming and Three Little Birds being inescapable in the summer of 1977. The Wailers were on top form throughout, locking into some serious, laid-back grooves and generating much positive vibes, especially on the anthemic One Love / People Get Ready and the beautifully summery Three Little Birds. With sublime vocals from the I Threes and the "Tuff Gong" himself, the album is pure class.

Exodus itself is the killer track, an epic of Rastafarian empowerment in which Marley casts himself as a Black Moses

( shades of Isaac Hayes! ) leading his people out of oppression in "Babylon" and delivering them to "Zion" and Utopia:

"We know where we're going

We know where we're from

We're leaving Babylon

Heading to our fathers' land"

Time magazine even named Exodus the Best Album Of The Century, something which is obviously debatable, but it's easily up there with the greats of 20th century music. Even though it's hard to believe that Bob Marley will have been gone for thirty years this May, his legacy lives on.

Song with probably the best bass guitar riff in history: Exodus

Are You Experienced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Unusually for me, I can pinpoint the exact moment I first, er, experienced the music of Jimi Hendrix. Well, I say "exact", but it was actually some time in 1980, so not that exact but I know it was on BBC 2, on the Old Grey Whistle Test and it was this awesome demolition of the Troggs' Wild Thing. What I wanted to know was - who was that flamboyant, exciting guitarist, and why was he shagging his guitar..... and not getting arrested?

I'm pretty sure that piece of footage showed up a few times over the years and I even managed to record it on audio cassette ( yes, it was the dark ages! ) and played it until the tape wore out. I had to find more of the man's music. Luckily for me Radio 1 produced a few documentaries like 25 Years Of Rock, which featured more of Jimi's music, and a special on the Hendrix story by legendarily gravel-voiced DJ, Tommy Vance. I was hooked! I went out and bought all the second-hand Hendrix singles I could find, then it was album time.....

Sadly, Hendrix only released three studio albums in his tragically short life. In reverse order they are:

Electric Ladyland - the ambitious, self-indulgent but brilliant double-album, showcasing Jimi's new-found recording-studio skills ( in his brand-new studio! ), long trippy jams, and lyrics about voodoo children and mermen.....

Axis: Bold As Love - Jimi as High Priest of psychedelia and Hindu love god (!) ( see album cover ) dispensing beautiful songs of love 'n' peace 'n' good vibes.....

Are You Experienced ( no question mark required ) - the album in, er, question, one of the greatest debut albums ever, the Experience seemingly fully-formed and firing on all four cylinders.....

Although hinting at the full-on psychedelia to come, with plentiful distorted, backwards and feeding-back guitar, this album is much harder and angrier than its successors, with a distinct lack of mellow good vibes. Hendrix was still indebted to his previous employers from his hired-hand days on the "chitlin' circuit" and beyond - Jackie Wilson, The Isley Brothers, Little Richard, Curtis Knight and more. From these hard-working days for tough bosses in front of wild audiences Jimi acquired his stage-moves, showmanship and an understanding of r 'n' b and the blues.

The blues permeates Are You Experienced, giving the album its bite. Song titles like Manic Depression, Love Or Confusion and I Don't Live Today tell their own tales, hard luck stories of the pitfalls of life and love. The classic Red House is an out-and-out blues, albeit one with a sense of humour - after returning to the "red house over yonder" to find his girl vanished, Jimi concludes:

"If my baby don't love me no more

I know her sister will"

Apart from hard times the other main preoccupation of the blues is, of course, sex. And this album has that in spades. From the suggestive album title itself, through Hendrix's sensual, smouldering guitar playing and on through his languid, laid-back vocals, this album is one big come-on, playing on Jimi's sex-symbol status and his perceived "threat" - at least as far as the institutionally-racist media of the day were concerned.

"Listen here, baby / Stop acting so crazy

You say your mom ain't home / that ain't my concern

Just don't play with me / And you won't get burned

I have only one burning desire / Let me stand next to your fire"

A melting-pot of soul, r 'n' b, blues and the new psych-rock, Are You Experienced was so far ahead of the rest of the rock world in 1967 ( yes, even the Beatles too ) that it was as if its creator had just landed from some distant, freaked-out planet in a far-off, multi-coloured universe. And maybe he had.....

"Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful....."

Song to remind you of Wayne's World: Foxey Lady

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels by Dexy's Midnight Runners

"Geno! Geno! Geno!"

For many of us in 1980 this was our introduction to the crazy world of Kevin Rowland and Dexy's Midnight Runners - a stabbing horn riff, a chanted name, and a leap into a new world of turbo-charged, Punk-inflected Northern Soul.

Amazingly, this tribute to ancient Soul man Geno Washington was a UK Number One hit and became an anthem for a new generation of soul boys ( and girls ).

Dexy's were basically doing a "2-Tone" - that is, injecting Punk energy and attitude into Soul music in the same way the Specials, The Beat and The Selecter had given ska a kick up the arse. Coupled with Rowland's distinctive voice, soulful and angry in equal measure, and his uncompromising, arrogant personality, Dexy's were a blast of Soul excitement at the dawn of the depressing Thatcher decade.

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels starts with the sound of a radio being tuned: first static, then snatches of Smoke On The Water, Holidays In The Sun, orchestral music, and Rat Race, before Kevin calls out to his bandmates "For God's sake, burn it down!" No sacred cows are safe here! Birmingham-born but of Irish ancestry, Kevin here defends his heritage from "thick Paddy" stereotypes by listing Emerald Isle luminaries ( Brendan Behan, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw etc. ) before concluding with "Shut your mouth 'til you know the truth!", the exuberant music blasting out behind him. The Dexy's brand of Soul comes complete with a fierce, questioning spirit, as well as an earthy, working-class passion.

"How can a small town big shot boy get enough to eat?"

The pace occasionally slows down for slow-burning, intense songs like I'm Just Looking and I Couldn't Help If I Tried, where Kevin's voice and the horn section compete to create the most melancholy, wounded sound. And what a voice it is! From a deep baritone to a hiccupping, chirping take on Chairmen Of The Board's General Norman Johnson, Kevin Rowland's astonishing vocal performance on this album is a tour de force which he never quite matched again.

( And let's not forget that the original Dexy's were a band, very tight and powerful, not just a frontman and some hired hands. That came later when Kevin fell out with just about everybody else, but crucially with co-founder Kevin "Al" Archer who moved on after personality clashes..... )

The Dexy's ensemble show off the range of their music as the album concludes with the mutant-Stax sounds of Keep It, the jazzy spoken-word lament Love Part One, and the full-on Soul power of There, There, My Dear - Kevin lambasting phonies and trendies:

"You're so anti-fashion so wear flares

Instead of dressing down all the time"

..... before reaching the conclusion that

"Maybe we should welcome a new soul vision"

Maybe? Definitely!

Song to dance to in a "sweaty club": Geno

The sounds of the Underground

Hi to new Follower, Colin Lorimer, blogger extraordinaire ( see here ) and talented creator of post-apocalyptic comic book UXB - check it out!

And coming up on this highly irregular blog: Punk meets Soul with Dexy's Midnight Runners

( When I can get my lazy arse into gear..... )

Was it something I said?

I think this is the first time I've actually lost a Follower. Perhaps I should have posted about the mighty Klams? ;-)

Anyways, this 'ere blog has been a bit quiet of late I know, but I do plan further rock 'n' roll witterings here as soon as inhumanly possible. ( Next up: New Day Rising by Husker Du - stay tuned!! )

Soundtrack: wailing and gnashing of teeth.