Shelter From The Storm

When I was younger I used to move around quite a bit. I left home for college when I was 16. Just before my 18th birthday I dropped out and took off for Europe. Between the time I left home and when I bought my first house in San Marcos, Texas about fifteen years later I lived in places like Los Angeles, CA, Key West, FL, Syracuse, NY, Austin, TX, Houston, TX, Lancaster, CA, Cupertino, CA, Eugene, OR and lots of places inbetween. Some for only a few weeks or months at a time. I hitchiked back and forth across the US at least five or six times during those years, usually from coast to coast. I once hitchhiked non-stop from New Haven, CT to Los Angeles in four and a half days with only $2.00 in my pocket (I still had 20¢ left when I got back home). I once figured out I had lived in over sixty different houses and/or apartments over a ten year period.

“Have you ever been lonely in the middle of the night
Even though the one you love got her arms around you so tight
And a far-off freight train makes a hollow sound
And the mockingbird singing a sweet sad song as your feet hit the ground

“I gotta move, that’s all I know
I gotta move, gotta hear the west wind blow
I gotta move, but I’m running out of somewhere to go
So I just move…”

When I heard those opening lines from “Gotta Move” on Tom Jans‘ The Eyes Of An Only Child album I was completely hooked. It’s still one of the saddest, sweetest songs I’ve ever heard. I’ve never come across a song that so eloquently captures the “sweet sorrow” contradiction of moving and traveling. I had heard Tom Jans before. I first became aware of him when I saw him open for Cat Stevens at the Greek Theatre (Los Angeles, CA) in November 1971 with his singing partner Mimi Farina (Joan Baez’s younger sister). Jans and Farina put out a wonderful album in 1971 titled Take Heart. Tom wrote the classic song “Loving Arms” that’s been covered by everyone from Elvis Presley to Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge to Petula Clark to Dobie Gray to Olivia Newton-John to the Dixie Chicks. He released a stellar self-titled solo album on A&M in 1974. The Eyes Of An Only Child appeared a year later. This collection of ten songs was the high point of his career and it remains a real treasure in my LP collection. Every song is a gem, but the real standouts are “Gotta Move” (co-written with Lowell George), “Once Before I Die,” “The Lonesome Way Back When” and the title track. “Out Of Hand” was a smash country hit for Gary Stewart in 1975. Lowell George is listed as the “Executive Producer” and musicians include Bill Payne and Sam Clayton (also from Little Feat), Jesse Ed Davis, Fred Tackett, David Lindley, Jeff Porcaro, Jim Keltner and Mike Utley. They just don’t get any better than that and the playing throughout this album is just faultless. Valerie Carter and Herb Pedersen are along for background vocals.

Jans made one more album for Columbia, Dark Blonde (released in 1976). While it contained some terrific songs, it didn’t quite measure up to its predecessor, though it was certainly close. After that he dropped out of site. A new album, Champion, was released in a very limited edition on a Japanese label in 1982. I’ve never been able to find a copy (and believe me I’ve tried). He was in a very serious motorcycle accident in 1983 and then died in 1984, it’s said from a drug overdose (but don’t they always say that when they don’t know how a musician dies?). I was really saddened when I heard of his death. He was such a great, unique songwriter. He had the ability to write such personal, emotional, passionate songs without ever being sentimental or sappy. Not too many songwriters can do that. Joni Mitchell is another that comes to mind.

“Wondered in my heart of hearts if I’d been here before
Trembled when the winter wind would blow against my door
Been so far at sea I could not find the shore
Got down on my knees and prayed I would see more
With these eyes of an only child”

Tom Waits wrote a song, “Whistle Down The Wind,” for Tom Jans and it’s included on his 1992 album Bone Machine. Unfortunately, none of Tom’s albums have ever been released on CD in the US. I, of course, have ripped all four of them from vinyl to CDR, but it sure would be nice to get these on real CDs. The Eyes Of An Only Child and Dark Blonde were released in Japan in 2007, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to shell out the $35+ for each one. Take Heart and Tom Jans have never been released on CD anywhere in the world that I know of. It’s a crying shame. All of these albums are well worth searching out on vinyl if you can find them. Tom Jans remains one of the great “lost” songwriters of a generation. Today very few seem to know of him, but those that are familiar with his work hold his songs and music very dear.

Other Listens on June 24th:
Midnight On The Water by David Bromberg
New Skin For The Old Ceremony by Leonard Cohen
Book Of Dreams by The Steve Miller Band
Beautiful Loser by Bob Seger
Garcia by Jerry Garcia
Heart Food by Judee Sill 
Matthew & Son by Cat Stevens 

I try to go to France at least once a year. If there are such things as “past lives” I think I must have lived in France during one of them. I just can’t explain why I feel so at home there, so connected, but I do. It’s like being home. I first went to France when I was 18. I had dropped out of my second year of college, took what was left of my student load and bought a plane ticket to London. I think I had about $150 when I landed. I spent a couple of weeks hitchhiking around England and then headed over to the “continent.” Eventually I landed in Paris staying in a cheap youth hostel. I spent a few months there before coming back home. I used to dream all the time about being in Paris and France. It was actually 20 years before I made it back, on my way to a music convention in Berlin. Since then I’ve gone over almost every year. For awhile, when I worked for record labels, it was to attend the MIDEM convention ever year in Cannes. Then five years ago my friend Les and I went over for a two week cycling trip and we’ve since gone back three more times. I’d move to France in a second if only my wife would agree, but it seems I’ve married the only woman in America who isn’t interested in living in Paris. 

When I was in Paris last year I picked up a book titled Bob Dylan Album File & Complete Discography. I’m always interested in Dylan books and this was one I hadn’t seen before. Turned out it was only published in England, so I figured I might as well grab it. It’s the size and shape of a CD, though much thicker. The author goes through each Bob Dylan CD and writes about the album and the songs. He give notes about the recording process, stories, his take on the songs, etc. It’s nothing new, this stuff has been gone over dozens of times, but it is a interesting little book. So, I’ve been making my way through the book, listening to each album (in chronological order) as I read what he has to say. Today it was time for New Morning.

New Morning is one of those Bob Dylan albums that never quite seems to get the respect or attention it deserves. It’s not that it’s generally regarded as a “bad” album (like say Under The Red Sky, Knocked Out Loaded or Down In The Groove), it just kind of falls through the cracks. In 1993 Sony began reissuing the entire Dylan catalog, remastering the albums and releasing them as hybrid CD/SACD digipaks (usually with a few unreleased photos). The first batch contained fifteen albums, apparently what SONY and/or Dylan considered to be the best of his catalog. New Morning was not one of them. We’re still waiting for the second batch. It’s probably never coming as SACD is dead in the water. There is still hope the remaining albums will be remastered and reissued, though some fans and collectors think it might not happen. With Dylan, you just never know.

New Morning was released in October 1970, just four months after the disastrous reception that Self Portrait received. Some say Dylan was so stung by the scathing reviews for Self Portrait that he immediately felt he had to get something else out into the marketplace to redeem himself. I have no idea whether this is true or not, but it’s actually quite a fine CD, and it certainly did help to reestablish his reputation after Self Portrait. The opening track, “If Not For You” was co-written with George Harrison (who actually released a version of the song on his own album, All Things Must Pass, before New Morning even came out). It sets the mood for the album: cheerful, satisfied, fulfilled, warm and happy. This is as close to a “family” album as Bob Dylan ever came, said to be written and recorded when he was the most content with being a husband and a father. As we all know, that period of contentment didn’t seem to last too long. But New Morning is full of songs about comfort, peace, tranquility and general domestic bliss. Standout tracks include “The Man In Me,” “New Morning,” “If Not For You” and “Three Angels.” The title track is especially cheeful and energetic with Bob proclaiming how happy he is “just to be alive on this new morning with you.” Dylan did, however, take a few left turns with tracks like “Winterlude” and, especially, “If Dogs Run Free” (which is probably one of the most detested songs in his catalog. “Father Of Night” seems almost a decade early preview of his Christian conversion. “Three Angels” is more a spoken poem set to music than a song. With it’s swirling organ and background vocals it’s just one or two steps away from something Hank Williams could have done.

After New Morning Dylan was enticed by David Geffen to leave Columbia Records (his long time record label) and sign with Asylum Records where he released Planet Waves and the live Before The Flood (from his 1974 tour with the Band). The story is that Columbia was not about to let him go without a fight and to show him what was coming if he continued this route they released the famous Dylan album, a collection of ten outtakes from the New Morning and Self Portrait sessions. It’s an album whose only function certainly seems to embarrass Dylan. It’s generally regarded by many to be unlistenable (though it’s not that bad). Sure, enough Dylan was back on Columbia for his next release, Blood On The Tracks. And, before too long Dylan was out of print. Today it’s the only Bob Dylan album ever released that is not available on CD. Blackmail plain and simple? Sure seems that way. 

An alternate version of “If Not For You” from a full day’s session with George Harrison was released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 box set. But the real treats, if you can find them, are alternate versions of “Went To See The Gypsy,” “If Not For You” and “Sign On The Window” from the bootleg The Third One Now: Genuine Bootleg Series Volume Three. All three songs are dramatically different than the released versions and show completely different sides of the compositions. “I Went To See The Gypsy” is much slower, much more dramatic, just Dylan, a bass and a piano. It’s beautiful. “If Not For You” is also much slower, this time with a very prominent, almost symphonic, violin. Dylan sings each line with real passion, much more seriously than on the official version. It’s quite stunning. “Sign On The Window” adds dramatic strings (and a harp!) throughout, to mixed results.

New Morning may not be one of Dylan’s best albums, but it’s certainly worthy of a place on any music lover’s CD shelves. With Dylan almost every album has it’s own distinctive sound, feel and vibe, different from any of the others. This is no exception. I find something new almost every time I listen to it.

Other Listens on June 23rd:
Magic by Bruce Springsteen
With Friends And Neighbors by Alex Taylor
Writer by Carole King
All This Tangled Rope by Bob Dylan
Dusty In Memphis by Dusty Springfield
Abandoned Luncheonette by Daryl Hall & John Oates
The Very Best Of The Sutherland Brothers by The Sutherland Brothers 

In September 1976 I left Syracuse, New York with my girlfriend, Anne, headed for Boulder, Colorado. We never made it there. We hitchhiked down the East coast, all the way to Key West, Florida (where I’d lived for a short while in 1975). Anne had never travelled much so we decided to see the states on our way to Boulder. From Key West we hitchhiked up to Nashville. From there we headed to Austin, Texas. And that’s where we ended up. We loved Austin. We stayed for a few weeks and decided, hey this is great, let’s just stay here. And to be honest, at that point, we were getting a little tired of the road. Little did I know I’d be in the Austin area for the better part of the next 20 years. My only goal in life at that point was to get a job at a record store. Before too long I was working at Disc Records in Highland Mall. I was in heaven. Those were the days when every record was a potential friend. I’d pour over album covers reading liner notes, looking at musicians, producers, songwriters, trying to get as much information as I could about each record that caught my interest. 

I came across an album by a guy named Sammy Walker. There was a great black and white photo on the front of this young, country looking kid with a cigarette in his hand. It was produced by Nikolas Venet, so that immediately gave him credibility with me. Nik had produced some of my favorite records, including California Bloodlines by John Stewart. James Burton played dobro (he’d played with Elvis Presley and Gram Parsons, along with so many others), Dan Dugmore (John Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, etc.) played pedal steel, Waddy Wachtel (Warren Zevon and others) played guitar (though he was listed as Robert Wachtel). The liner notes said his first album had been produced by Phil Ochs. That was enough right there. I was a huge Phil Ochs fan. I bought the album, titled Sammy Walker, and I’ve been playing it in regular rotation for the last 30 years. It’s one of my all-time favorite albums, just a wonderful collection of Seeger/Ochs/Dylan/Guthrie influenced songwriting that I never get tired of. Sammy’s influences show in all the right ways but his songs are all his own. Extraordinary, unique, distinctive songs with spellbinding lyrics and irresistible melodies. I could compare him to a lot of other singer-songwriters but there’s really nobody else quite like him. 

As I often do when I discover a new artist, I began to look for what else there was by Sammy Walker out there. I found the previously mentioned “first album” titled Song For Patty on Folkways Records and picked it up. Songs For Patty is a more sparse affair than the self-titled album. It’s mostly just Sammy, his guitar and harmonica (with maybe a second guitar here and there, there are no musician credits on the album). Sammy wrote ten of the twelve songs on the album (it also includes one Guthrie song and one Ochs song). Two of the best songs (”Catcher In The Rye” and “Little New Jersey Town”) would be rerecorded for the self-titled album. Overall, it’s a very strong effort, an exceptional debut album. Other highlights include the title song (a great piece about Patty Hearst), “Ragamuffin Minstrel Boy” and “Closin’ Time.” A few of the songs, notably “The Ballad Of Johnny Strozier” and “Testimony Of A Dying Lady” reflect Sammy’s topical, folk, protest roots (though he was about a decade late to the party). Sammy was a “discovery” of Broadside Magazine, the famous 60s publication which had published the first works of Dylan, Ochs, Janis Ian, Peter La Farge and many others. The original vinyl album came with an eight page insert, “Broadside #127,” which contained all the lyrics, sheet music, various short articles and photos. I don’t play this album as much as his two Warner Brothers albums, but I do come back to it on a regular basis.

Sammy made a second great album for Warner Brothers, Blue Ridge Mountain Skyline, which was released in 1977. He followed that with another album for Folkways, Songs From Woody’s Pen, in 1979. And that was pretty much it for a long time. He released a live album in 1990 (Sammy Walker In Concert) and a studio album in 1994 (Old Time Southern Dream). Both were released only in Europe on a Swiss label. Both had their moments but neither lived up to the stellar quality of his releases in the 70s. There are rumors that he will release a new album soon on the Ramseur Records label, but I haven’t seen anything concrete yet. But rest assured, I’ll give anything he puts out a spin as soon as it’s available.

Song For Patty has never been released on CD in the US. There is an import version on Amazon that sells for $51.99. Probably from Japan. His two Warner releases were also released on CD in Japan for a very brief period but I was only able to ever find the second one. They’re nowhere to be found these days. The two 90s albums are not available anymore either, at least at Amazon. Much to my amazement though, I recently discovered that Song For Patty is available as a download at Amazon. Not sure why, but there it is. It’s the only album of his that is available as a download. And both Songs For Patty and Songs From Woody’s Pen are available at iTunes. It’s ridiculous that so many great albums are still not available in this day of digital downloading. It’s the one area where I truly believe the record labels are missing the boat. It would cost practically nothing to transfer these over to digital files and make them available. No inventory, no manufacturing, no storage. I could list 100 albums (at least) that I would buy right now if they were only available as downloads.

Other Listens on June 19th:
Hollywood Pocketknife by Eric Taylor
Where I’m Bound by Bob Gibson
Yer’ Album by The James Gang
Elton John (Deluxe Version) by Elton John 
Children Of The Future by Steve Miller Band 
The Essential Lee Clayton: 1978-1981 by Lee Clayton 

I have two close friends whose musical opinions and tastes I value very much, both of whom just can’t stand Leonard Cohen. He’s one of those artists that people seem to love or hate (no pun intended). There’s not a lot of middle ground when it comes to Leonard. Personally, I can’t get enough of the guy. He’s been one of my very, very favorite songwriters since I was in high school. You can’t compare Cohen to anyone. He’s one of a kind. A true poet. Some people have a problem with his voice and his singing, but not me. But then again, I tend to love singers that others don’t seem to appreciate: Bob Dylan and Neil Young come to mind. I discovered him via his second album, Songs From A Room (still one of my favorites). That album, along with his first (Songs Of Leonard Cohen) and third (Songs Of Love And Hate) have recently been reissued by Columbia in limited edition, deluxe, hard-cover digipacks with new liner notes, unreleased tracks and rare photos. I was looking through my Cohen CDs the other day searching for something to listen to. I’ve got all his albums (including a couple that have never been released in the US, only in Europe) and a dozen or so bootlegs. But the one I was looking for wasn’t there. New Skin For The Old Ceremony. Hmm. Maybe I never got that on CD for some reason. I’ve got two copies on vinyl. It was one of those albums that was released with one cover originally and then the cover was changed on subsequent pressings (Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks is another great example of this). So, of course I had to have both pressings. So I checked on Amazon and found the CD for $5.97. Sign me up! Hell, I’ll buy almost anything for $5.97. 

New Skin For The Old Ceremony was Cohen’s fourth studio album (he followed the third with a fantastic live album, Live Songs). It doesn’t seem to be one of his better known albums though. I find it downright mesmerizing. The songs themselves were not much of a departure from his earlier writing, but the production certainly was. While his first three albums had been sparse “folk” efforts, mostly just him and a guitar, this was a much more realized affair with a full band (and even horns). Songs like “Lover Lover Lover,” “There Is A War,” “Who By Fire” and, especially “Is This What You Wanted” were direct, in your face performances, unlike anything Cohen had done before. Lyrically he was mining familiar territory, relationships of the heart, soul and body (”You were KY jelly, I was vasoline”), but there was a new sense of energy and forcefulness, not just in the music but the words as well. “Chelsea Hotel #2″ is probably the best known song from this album, an almost “throwaway” piece about Janis Joplin (”I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel, that’s all I don’t even think about you that often”). I have no idea where this album stands in the ranks of the true Cohen followers (which are legion), but I listen to it a lot more than his more well known first or third albums.

I always thought it would be fun to be a DJ. I could play the music I loved and cherised and people would have to listen to it. I have a sort of “missionary” side to me when it comes to the music I love. I want to turn everyone I know onto it. I want them to like it as much as I do. I want them to see the magic and the salvation in it. A good song can save your life. Of course I found out a long time ago DJs these days don’t get to play the music they want. Maybe back in the 60s it was different. But it certainly hasn’t been that way for a very long time. I did spend part of a summer once in Telluride, Colorado, working as a dishwasher and living in a tent on the side of the most magnificent mountain I’d ever seen. There was a little “community” radio station and I managed to get signed up as a DJ for a short time, mostly filling in for other people who couldn’t make a shift. It was great. I played exactly what I wanted, no one told me what to do or what to play. I played everything from Bob Dylan to the Eagles to John Prine and a lot of stuff I was certain no one had ever heard before, stuff I can’t remember anymore. That was almost thirty years ago. And of course, Leonard Cohen. Only to have my good friend Bill (one of the two I mentioned at the beginning of this post) come up to me later and ask why in the hell I was playing that crap. What crap I asked innocently, all the time knowing he was speaking about Cohen. He described it as the sound of animals dying. There you go. Just like the religious missionaries know, you can’t save them all. But at least I tried.

Cohen has continued to release new albums on a semi-regular basis. Most of them would get five star ratings from me. I still listen to almost all of them. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year and is touring this summer for the first time in fifteen years.  

Other Listens on June 18th:
Byrd Parts 2 by Various Artists
Toys In The Attic by Aerosmith
The Desert Rose Band by The Desert Rose Band
Evening Of The Magician by Randy Burns 

In the mid-90s Rocket/Island Records reissued the first twelve Elton John albums as “The Classic Years.” Each one was remastered, included the original album artwork, a nice essay and usually a few bonus tracks. These were perfect for me as this is my favorite Elton John period. I snapped them all up pretty quickly. Well, actually I got nine of them right away. I didn’t pick up Caribou, Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock Of The Westies for several years. There’s not a single album after Hear And There that I ever listen to. I don’t think I even have any of them on CD. Oh, I did buy Songs From The West Coast when it was released in 2001, received great reviews and was hailed as his “return to form.” What a sucker I am. Like almost every other time I can think of when a similar situation has occurred with other artists I was mightily disappointed in the album. I think I listened to it a few times hoping against hope that the magic had indeed returned. Nope. I haven’t listened to it in years.

A year or two ago Universal released a Deluxe Edition of Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy. It’s always been my least favorite of these first twelve “classic” albums, but I’m a sucker for these Deluxe Editions, so I waited until it was on sale at Tower Records (rip) for $19.99 and I picked it up. Still didn’t do much for me, though I gave it quite a few good listens. The live bonus disc was a nice addition though. Now along comes the Deluxe Editions of the Elton John and Tumbleweed Connection albums. Tumbleweed Connection is probably my favorite Elton John album (actually, it might be tied with Madman Across The Water), and the self-titled album is not far behind. So there was no question I’d be getting these. It was just a matter of when. I buy almost all my CDs at Amazon these days. Sooner or later they put almost all of these Deluxe Editions on sale for $19.99. I just try to stay patient, check back frequently and then scoop them up when the price is right. They reduced the price on these last week so I put in my order.

Tumbleweed Connection was the first album that I ever wrote a “review” of. A couple of friends and I started an underground newspaper at our high school in Quartz Hill, California in 1971 and I wrote a review of the album for one of the issues. I was waiting for this album. I’d really loved the self-titled album and was excited to hear more from Elton. Tumbleweed Connection did not disappoint. Lots and lots of great songs. Elton and Bernie were really close to their peak here. “Country Comfort” is probably the most well known, but “Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun,” “Come Down In Time,” “Where To Now St. Peter,” “Burn Down The Mission” and “Amoreena” are all favorites. Elton’s producer Gus Dudgeon and arranger Paul Buckmaster had a real knack for sculpting the sound to fit each of these songs perfectly. It still sounds great today.

Much has been made of the “western” theme of this album. Apparently Bernie Taupin had a fascination with the American west and it certainly shows in several of these songs. It’s not quite a concept album, though Dudgeon notes in his liner notes to the 1995 reissue that it seems the Eagles were listening (Desperado was released a year or two later). The sepia tinged old-time photographs and artwork add to the western feeling. Tumbleweed Connection didn’t have any hits. It did well on the charts at the time I think, based on the strong sales of the previous album, but it wasn’t a “single oriented” album. It also contained the only (I think) song Elton has ever recorded by another artist, Lesley Duncan’s classic “Love Song.” Duncan recorded a few albums herself in the nineties (probably as a direct result of this cover). I have a few on vinyl and one on CD and they’re actually fairly good.

The 1995 reissue of Tumbleweed Connection included two bonus tracks, the previously unreleased “Into The Old Man’s Shoes” and an early version of “Madman Across The Water.” Both are included on this new Deluxe Version, along with 11 more bonus tracks. “Into The Old Man’s Shoes” is an excellent song and would have been right at home on the album. I’m just guessing, but I wonder if it might have been left off because of the “father” reference and the fact that another song was titled “My Father’s Gun” and they both cover similar territory. The early version of “Madman Across The Water” is 9 minutes long, almost twice as long as the official version released the following year on the album of the same name. The Deluxe Version also includes 5 “piano demos,” a couple of alternate versions and 4 songs cut live for the BBC. They’re all of great interest if you’re a real fan of Elton or this album. “Sisters Of The Cross” is a song I’ve never heard before, not even on bootlegs. Great stuff. A nice essay from John Tobler, lyrics, original artwork, credits and unreleased photos round out the package, making it another very welcome addition to the continuing Deluxe Version series. I’m assuming there will be Deluxe Versions of more early Elton John albums, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. 

Other Listens on June 17th:
Grateful Dead by Grateful Dead
Santana by Santana
Rose by Rose
These Four Walls by Shawn Colvin 
Of Love And War by Randy Burns 

I missed the Rolling Thunder Review by one day. One day. It’s one of the great disappointments of my life. I was living in Syracuse, New York in the winter of 1975. This, of course, was WAY before the internet and email, so news and information didn’t travel the way it does now. I didn’t even have a phone. Dylan and company began their barnstorming tour in late October. They would announce shows just a few days in advance, mostly playing small theaters throughout the Northeast. I’d hear and read about the shows in the news. Were they going to come to Syracuse? No one knew. I asked around alot, people who I thought might know something the general public didn’t know, but there was no info. I didn’t have a car. I didn’t have much money. In November I was renting a room in a house from a crazy old man for $15 a week. I had a friend who was going to school in Oswego, New York which is just under an hour north of Syracuse, situated right on the shore of Lake Ontario. I would hitchhike up to visit her on weekends and days off from work. I hitched up on Tuesday, November 18th to visit see her. As soon as I walked in the door she blurted it out: “We went to see Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Review in Rochester last night!” “What!” I screamed. “Without me?” “We didn’t have any way to get in touch with you, it was a last minute thing, we just found out about it yesterday.” Boy, was I bummed. Still am.

I dare say that Diamonds & Rust is Joan Baez’s best known album. And for many, her best. It’s the “commercial” album that finally took her “mainstream” after more than fifteen years playing music and making records. She’d been a “star” of the folk movement and had a pop hit with “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” in 1971, but this was the album that really took her another step. It’s a remarkable album if only for two songs: the title track and “Winds Of The Old Days.” Joan Baez was never really known as a songwriter. She was an interpreter. And for many years no one was better. She championed Dylan long before the rest of the world caught on, asking him to appear with her on stage and open shows for her. He, of course, dumped her by the side of the road on his jet fueled streak through the mid-sixties. Diamonds & Rust contained two self-penned tunes that were miles ahead of anything she had ever written before (and to be honest, since). Both were about Dylan. “Diamonds & Rust” is, quite simply, a masterpiece of a song. Detailing her relationship (then and now) with Dylan in a powerful, emotional and confessional outpouring, it was like a secret glimpse into one of the most famous relationships of the sixties. Where “Diamond’s & Rust” was personal, “Winds Of The Old Days” put the same relationship into a much grander setting, detailing Dylan’s “defection” from the protest movement (and her). Her excellent version of Dylan’s recently released “Simple Twist Of Fate” tied everything together. Whereas Dylan’s version is all mystery, uncertainty, regret and sorrow, hers is a rollicking, driving, forceful headlong plunge into fate and abandonment. The album also featured fine versions of Jackson Browne’s “Fountain Of Sorrow,” Dickie Betts’ “Blue Sky” and John Prine’s “Hello In There” along with a few other covers and original compositions. A great studio band and flawless production by David Kershenbaum helped make this a Gold album.

Six months after the release of this album (April 1975) Bob, Joan and a cast of thousands were swooping through the Northeast on what would be one of the greatest tours of either of their lives, The Rolling Thunder tour. Bob and Joan hadn’t played together in many years. Yet, there they were, together on stage singing “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “I Shall Be Released,” “Mama, You Been On My Mind” and more. No one ever imagined they’d see that again. The tour is wonderfully documented on the Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Review double CD (though one wishes they might have seen fit to include some of the songs from Baez and other cast members). Bootlegs exist of almost every single performance from that tour, some soundboard recordings, but mostly audience recordings. I have most of them. The shows were just pure magic. As good as it gets. Dylan was on fire, his performances were razor sharp and deadly intimate. The band was structured chaos, perfect for Dylan’s songs, both old and new. Baez, McGuinn, Neuwirth and lots of guests also turned in remarkable showings as well.  I can’t help but think that Diamonds & Rust had a lot to do with that tour coming together the way it did.

Other Listens on June 14th:
Unearthed by Johnny Cash 

I can’t explain what makes an album (or a song) “immediately accessible.” I don’t think anyone can. Some music is and some music isn’t. What I find “immediately accessible” may not be so to you and vice versa. Music is just too personal.

What do I mean by “immediately accessible?” The kind of record you put on and it just connects with you right from the first listen. We all have records like that. The first time I heard Lucinda Williams’ self-titled 1988 album I was hooked. The first time I heard John Stewart’s live Phoenix Concerts album I was blown away. The first time I heard Guy Clark’s Old No. 1 I was a fan for life. Some records, songs and/or artists just hit you like that. But then there are others that seem more like puzzle boxes. You know there’s something there the first time around, but you’re not quite sure what it means. So, you keep coming back and with each new listen the music reveals more of itself to you. It’s like working your way through a series of gates and with each one you see and learn more. Some of these records are my all time favorites. You have to do some work to get to the essence of the music, but in the end it is so worth it. People are like that too. Some people you just connect with immediately and become fast friends. Others not so much. But as time goes by and you get to know each other the bond that develops and grows can be even stronger than those instant connections. Hell, sometimes you don’t even like a record or a person the first time around and then you find later your feelings have changed considerably. 

I’m a huge Bob Dylan fan, but I have to admit the first time I heard Blood On The Tracks I didn’t really get it completely. It’s a complicated album. The songs are not your straightforward “pop,” “rock” or even “singer-songwriter” songs. They’re thorny, knotty and yes, tangled. A song like “Idiot Wind” takes multiple listens to even begin to relate to. Thirty years later it’s my all-time favorite album by any artist. The music didn’t change. Must have been me. 

Drastic Fantastic was not an “immediately accessible” album for me. Not at all. I had picked up KT Tunstall’s first album, Eye To The Telescope, back before she broke. I think it was on sale at Circuit City for $7.99 (the label was really trying to break her) and I’d read a good review somewhere, so I decided to give it a try. Shortly after that she even did an in-store at the Border’s bookstore here in Nashville. I wasn’t able to make it to the in-store, but it wasn’t long before “Black Horse And The Cherry Tree” and the seemingly ubiquitous “Suddenly I See” shot her into the limelight. It’s a good album (those are the two best songs) and suddenly she was a critic’s darling with lots of “promise.” Well, second albums rarely seem to fulfill the “promise” that many critics see in a first album. Such seemed to be the case with Drastic Fantastic. It didn’t seem to sell as well as the first album and several reviews I saw were not very good. But, hey, I picked it up anyway. I gave it a listen, and it didn’t really reach me. I didn’t listen again for four months. Just too damn much other stuff to listen to. When I finally got around to giving it another chance it began to open up to me. Now, I’m listening to it on a regular basis and I like it even better than the first album. ”Little Favours” and “If Only” just plain rock. “I Don’t Want You Now,” “Beauty Of Uncertainty” and “Someday Soon” grow on me more and more with each listen. 

I learned a long time ago to give most records more than one serious listen. I say most. I have to admit there are some that I can listen to once and it’s quite clear they don’t deserve another listen. There’s a lot of really bad music out there. The thing I hated most about doing A&R when I used to work at record labels was the fact that I had to listen to a LOT of bad music which meant that I had much less time to listen to good music. Nowadays I try to listen to a new album at least three times before I shuffle it off to either the library, or if I like it enough, my “current favorites” shelf. Which is where Drastic Fantastic is currently residing.

Other Listens on June 11th:
The Best Damn Thing by Avril Lavigne
The Essential Collection by Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band
Castles In The Sand by David Allen Coe
Midnight On The Water by David Bromberg Band
A Natural Woman: The Ode Collection (1968 - 1976) by Carole King 

This is one of those albums which seems to be ingrained in my DNA. I’ve been listening to it since I was 15 years old. I know every word, every note by heart. I remember that is was one of the few albums that I had that my mom actually liked as well. It was one of her favorites. We used to listen to the 8-Track tape in the car all the time. I’m on a Carole King tear right now. To start with Epic/Legacy just released this new Legacy Edition version of Tapestry. Which would make it at least the 4th time I’ve bought this album. First on 8-Track tape, later on vinyl, then CD and now the Legacy Editon CD. The previous CD version was released in 1999, was remastered from the original ODE tapes and featured two bonus tracks, one of which, a studio outtake titled “Out In The Cold,” is not included on this new Legacy Edition, so I guess I’ll be hanging on to that version as well. Additionally, I started reading a book titled Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller which is a great biography of King, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell. Of the three Joni is probably my favorite with Carole and Carly close behind. Right now I’m revisiting Carole but before long I’m sure I’ll be digging out all my Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon LPs and CDs.

Carole King occupies ae very odd place in my musical world. She made one album, this one, that I absolutely love, play all the time, know inside and out, couldn’t imagine living without. And yet, though she released many, many other albums in her career, this is the only one I’ve ever spent much time with. Hard to explain. Normally, when I find an album that I really like I buy every other album I can from that artist. I’m much more of an “artist” listener than I am an “album” listener. I have every one of Joni Mitchell’s albums (I think). Somehow, Carole slipped through the cracks. I think I bought Music, the follow up to Tapestry, when it was released and I never really liked it for some reason. And maybe the same thing with Rhymes & Reasons, the next album. Maybe Tapestry was just too good and nothing could really live up to it. After that I didn’t buy or listen to any more of her albums. Well, I do have some of the others on vinyl, promos I got for free when I worked in record stores, but I never listened to them. I did buy Carnegie Hall Concert: June 18, 1971 when it was released in 1996, a wonderful show recorded three months after Tapestry was released. And I have A Natural Woman: The Ode Collection (1968-1976) which was released in 1994. But reading Girls Like Us is making me want to dig deeper, to go back to those earlier albums and give them another chance, so now I’m relistening and reevaluating. I was able to buy five of her CDs on Amazon.com for $7 each: Writer, Music, Rhymes & Reasons, Fantasy and Thoroughbred. So, like I say, I’m on a tear right now, because, except for the hits on these, the songs are basically all new to me. So far Writer and especially Music are much, much better than I remember. Don’t know why I never got them the first time around. Funny how that happens.

The new Legacy Edition of Tapestry features the original album on Disc One and live versions of each of the songs on Disc Two (though “Where You Lead” is missing, as apparently she never played that live in those days). The live versions are all just Carole and her piano, mostly recorded in 1973, though a few are from 1976. Beautiful, intimate, emotional versions. Very nice. The songs on Tapestry are perfect in this setting.  There’s also a nice booklet with credits, lyrics and an essay by Harvey Kubernik. It’s a worthwhile addition to the catalog and for anyone who loves this album I’d highly recommend it, especially if you don’t already have it on CD. Even if you do, it’s worth picking up this version. Amazon has it on sale right now for $12.99, a great price.

Other Listens on June 5th:
Suzi… And Other Four Letter Words by Suzi Quatro
Texas Gold by Asleep At The Wheel
Live At Woodstock by Jimi Hendrix
Highway To Hell by AC/DC
Aoxomoxoa by Grateful Dead
Summertime Dream by Gordon Lightfoot 

Jackson Browne is one of the only artists to ever release a live album of completely “new” material, Running On Empty. The most famous other example is Neil Young’s Time Fades Away (still not available on CD!). Emmylou Harris did something almost the same with Last Date (the songs weren’t “new” though she had not recorded them before). Most artists take the opportunity to release live albums as a kind of “greatest hits” package. It takes a lot of courage to put out a live album with songs your audience has never heard previously. Yet for Jackson and Neil it paid off quite well. Running On Empty is one of Jackson’s best loved albums and Time Fades Away is a classic, though not as popular with Neil’s mainstream following as it is with the die hard fans. Jackson, either solo, with David Lindley as a duet, or with a full band, is a great performer. (I have an absolutely fantastic four disc bootleg of various live performances from 1973 to 1997 of just Jackson and David titled For Everyfan. Drop me an email if you’d like a copy, I’m always happy to share this kind of stuff.) I first saw him live with the Pretender band in 1977 in Austin, Texas at the old Palmer Auditorium (it’s gone now).

Solo Acoustic Vol. 1, released in 2005, was a treasure trove of intimate Jackson Browne performances. Jackson as a unique rapport with his audiences. They love him. He can pretty much do nothing wrong as far as they are concerned. Check out the customer reviews of Solo Acoustic Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 on amazon.com: 88 of the 121 reviews are 5 star with another 22 coming in at 4 star. Vol. 1 featured a well balanced selection of some of his most popular songs from throughout his career (though mostly featuring songs from the 70s and 80s albums). “These Days,” dates back to the very beginning of his career (famously covered by Nico on her album Chelsea Girl in 1967). It was clear from the title (Vol. 1) that more was to come, and now we have Vol. 2. It’s a perfect companion to the first volume though not quite as fulfilling due to the song selection. Vol. 2 concentrates more on the later half of his recorded output (only two of the songs date back to his classic 70s albums). Every artist has their own idea of what constitutes their best material and Jackson may well have had specific reasons for including some of the songs on this one, but he has many far, far better songs in his catalog that some of those represented here. Still, it’s a welcome collection and there aren’t really any bad songs on the disc.

The solo acoustic versions of “Never Stop,” “The Night Inside Me” and “My Stunning Mystery Companion” actually renewed my interest in his latest album, The Naked Ride Home, which didn’t have that big of an impact on me when it was originally released in 2002. But hearing those three songs in this intimate setting opened them up to me and made me give the album another chance.

OK, it’s been 6 years since The Naked Ride Home and now we’ve had two CDs worth of acoustic, live performances. I’m ready for a new studio album now. It’s way overdue.

Other Listens on May 27th:
Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 by Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield

It took a long time for this album to reveal itself to me. More than 30 years. I’ve always been a very big CSNY fan. And a big fan of all the various incarnations and solo careers. The first concert I ever saw was Stephen Stills at the LA Forum. I think it was 1971. Neil Young is one of my all time favorite artists. In addition to Crosby, Stills & Nash, Deja Vu and 4 Way Street, Graham Nash’s first album, Songs For Beginners, had a huge impact on me. I love the first collaboration between Graham and David, Graham Nash & David Crosby (which for some unknown reason is still not available on CD in the US, though import copies are easy to find and reasonably priced). I bought If I Could Only Remember My Name…. when it was first released, but I never listened to it very much. It was a difficult album for me to find my way into. This is a different kind of music, especially for someone like me who is anchored in typical “pop” music and song structure. These are not typical pop songs. They’re not even typical “David Crosby” songs. Crosby has always had a very distinctive, unconventional songwriting style, even back in his days with the Byrds. The songs on If I Could Only Remember My Name… really took everything to a new dimension for him. “Laughing” was probably the only song I could really remember after I’d played the album. Everything else just kind of blended together into one long piece of music.

I probably didn’t listen to this album for 25 years or so. Occasionally I’d read a review or article which referenced it as one of the great albums from the 70s. I never saw it that way. Finally, I started giving it another chance, throwing it on occasionally. Gradually (and slowly) it began to open up to me. Or I began to open up to it. A remastered, expanded version was released in 2006 which contains both a CD version and advanced resolution stereo and surround sound versions on DVD. I picked this up and began listening even to it even more. Now it’s one of my favorite albums to listen to. 

It’s funny how that works. There are some albums that hit me the first time I listen to them and become all time favorites. Darkness On The Edge Of Town was like that. Blood On The Tracks is my very favorite album of all time, and though I loved it from the beginning, it took several years before it really found its way to that place. Sometimes it really takes time and repeated listening for me to find my way into certain albums and pieces of music. Which is why reviews that appear as soon as an album is released always need to be taken with a grain of salt. Other times no amount of repeated listenings will bring an album into my favor. There are certain albums I’ve tried and tried to find the magic in that some others see so clearly and I just can’t. And sometimes it just takes 30 years.

Other Listens on May 26th:
Hurry Sundown by The Outlaws
Live In Europe by Otis Redding
Self Portrait by Bob Dylan
Gimme Back My Bullets by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Diamonds & Rust by Joan Baez
Young Brigham by Ramblin’ Rack Elliott 

Cat Stevens was one of the first “singer-songwriters” I fell in love with. Tea For The Tillerman was an important album for me. I listened to it a lot when it was first released. I saw Stevens at the Greek Theatre in November 1971. I remember Tom Jans and Mimi Farina opened the show. (Tom Jans is one of the great unheard singer-songwriters of the 70s. I’ll blog one of these days about his Eyes Of An Only Child, one of my favorite albums.) Teaser And The Firecat followed, and while not quite as good as Tea For The Tillerman, it too was a great album. I saw the movie Harold And Maude around this time which featured a lot of music from Mona Bone Jakon and so went “backwards” and picked up that album which has some great songs on it.  Just recently I finally picked up import copies of his first two albums on CD (expanded with lots of bonus tracks), Matthew & Son and New Masters. I decided to put together a comprehensive iTunes playlist of all his music. So I began listening to each album one after another. I had most of them, including the box set, on CD, but I was missing the last three CDs (from his “Cat Stevens” career), Numbers, Izitso and Back To Earth. I found them all at Amazon pretty cheap. For some reason Izitso must be out of print in the US now, as it took them a long time to ship me a copy and when it finally came it was a UK printing.

Well, there was a reason I hadn’t gotten around to buying those three albums on CD (I have old vinyl copies). They’re just not that good. A far, far cry from his best work. It’s really just the material. His voice is still in fine shape, there’s nothing wrong with the production or sound. It’s just the songs. They aren’t that good. The only thing that will make it onto my iTunes playlist from this is “(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard,” and that just barely. Well, I might also include “(I Never Wanted) To Be A Star” which has a certain charm to it though his “gimmicky” use of earlier song titles tends to annoy me. The rest of the songs are all adequate, but they aren’t songs that stick with me. They aren’t songs that I want to hear over and over again. They’re not “bad.” They’re just not memorable. The two instrumentals do next to nothing for me.

By the way, I was very pleasantly surprised with his newest album, released in 2006 under the name Yusuf, An Other Cup. It’s really pretty good and I’ve listened to it repeatedly. I recently picked up a DVD titled Yusuf’s Cafe Session but I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. I know there are a few “Yusuf Islam” CDs out there and as much of a collector as I am and as much of a fan of Cat Stevens as I am, I doubt I’ll ever get around to picking those up. There’s just too much other stuff, and as I keep realizing as I get older, not near enough time to listen to it all.

Other Listens on May 24th:
Rhymes & Reasons by Carole King
Tumbleweed Collection by Elton John (bootleg)
Drifter’s Escape by Various Artists (an Uncut Magazine giveaway)