One of the contemporary bands I’ve been grooving to lately is the British band Black Country, New Road. The seven-piece band (4 men and 3 women) has a sound that fits somewhere between ‘70s progressive rock, Gang of Four styled post-punk, and Arcade Fire-like anthems. (You can throw in some jazz influences too.) But what would you expect from a band that features the traditional two guitars, bass, and drums – but then mixes in keys, violin, and sax?
Their debut album – For the First Time – was released last February and contains the entertaining “Athen’s, France” and “Science Fair.” A couple of weeks ago they released their newest single, “Chaos Space Marine.”
Chaos Space Marines are characters in the popular wargame Warhammer 40,000. Not being a gamer myself, there’s not more for me to share on the subject. (I just like the music!) But I can only imagine that some of the lyrics directly tie into the game:
So I’m leaving this body And I’m never coming home again, yeah I’ll bury the hatchet Between the window, and the kingdom of men Oh, I’m becoming a worm now And, I’m looking for a place to live, yeah Here I come now
The single is an advance on the band’s sophomore effort, Ants from up There, which is scheduled for release in February 2022. It should be good!
Today’s SotW was written by guest contributor, Michael Paquette. Michael has become a regular!
Doug Sahm began his career as a country singer as a young boy, performing at age eleven with Hank Williams Sr. in one of his last appearances. He crafted his musical skills and style in the barrios, dance halls, juke joints, and parking lots across the Lone Star State. He formed his first band, the Knights, in high school when he realized he’d rather play music than football. He assembled the Sir Douglas Quintet with his childhood friend Augie Meyers and original band members Jack Barber, Frank Morin, and Johnny Perez, in 1964. Their musical style was heavily influenced by the sound of bluesmen Jimmy Reed, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Lightnin Hopkins. Sahm had listened to these artists and their ilk laying down their blues styles in Fort Worth and San Antonio as had many others who would go on to perform authentic Texan music and refused to compromise their style to become top 40 artists. The music scene at that time included Boz Scaggs, Johnny Winter, Freddie King, and Janis Joplin. This was an emerging blues and TexMex sound that was also influenced by the Texas swing of Bob Wills, the guitar blues of T-Bone Walker, and the Mexican-American rockers like Don Santiago Jiménez of San Antonio which was Doug Sahm’s hometown.
Much of the music of the Sir Douglas Quintet was a bit too far out to be classified as Pop. The band had a couple of hits with their first single “She’s About a Mover”, and the classic “Mendocino” from the album of the same name which they recorded after moving to San Francisco in the mid-‘60s. The song I have chosen from their pantheon of great blues and white soul material is “At the Crossroads.”
This song was from the album as Mendocino (#27 in 1969) and peaked on the charts at #104. It contains the great line, “You can teach me lots of lessons; you can bring me a lot of gold; but you just can’t live in Texas if you don’t have a lot of soul.”
I lived in Texas for many years and ran across some people from all walks of life who loved Doug Sahm. He was a beloved artist whose band performed in venues and rooms for a mix of Black, Latino, and White audiences where the only color in the room was the music. I had the pleasure of enjoying musical acts in clubs, bars, Christmas craft shows, dance halls, concert halls, and arenas. I heard several artists whose music was clearly influenced by SDQ including Marcia Ball, Carolyn Wonderland, Alejandro Escovedo, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and even the longtime county act Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys. With its rolling Chicano rhythms and pumping Farfisa organ SDQ influenced numerous new wave acts including Elvis Costello who patterned both his band and his vocals after the SDQ.
Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers formed the conjunto band Texas Tornadoes in 1989 with Flaco Jiménez, and Freddy Fender, a band that continues to tour today. Sadly, Doug Sahm died of a heart attack in 1999 in his sleep in Taos, New Mexico. He was 58. But his fusion of Texas C & W, Western Swing, Texas Blues, South Texas German polkas, and Tex Mex music lives on in artists who remain devoted to his sound.
In the late ‘60s heyday of Southern soul, there was a recording artist out of Memphis named Don Bryant. In 1969 he released an album on Willie Mitchell’s Hi label (later the home of ‘70s soul great Al Green) called Precious Soul.
The album didn’t make much noise, even though Bryant was a very good singer. Perhaps the reason was for lack of originals – the album contained 12 cover versions of songs written by the likes of Isaac Hayes, James Brown, David Porter, Eddie and Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Chris Kenner.
Bryant’s vocals are in the soul shouter style of Wilson Pickett. That leads me to choose “She’s Looking Good”, a cover that reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 for Pickett, as today’s SotW.
About a year after the release of Precious Soul, Ann Peebles arrived at Hi and captivated the attention of Mitchell. Bryant’s reaction was to concentrate on songwriting rather than performance. Along with Peebles (and DJ Bernard Miller), he co-wrote her classic hit “I Can’t Stand the Rain.” (That song was ranked at #197 in the recently published list of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.) Soon after, Bryant and Peebles married. They are still together after almost 50 years, though Peebles suffered a stroke in 2012 that caused her to give up performing.
In 2017, after 48 years, Bryant was given another shot at performing. He recorded and released Don’t Give Up on Love for the Eat Possum label. His next album, You Make Me Feel (2020), earned the 79-year-old Bryant his first Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album.
The Watersons was a famous English folk group that originally consisted of siblings Norma, Mike, and Elaine (known as Lal) along with their cousin John Harrison. Their mid-60s albums received significant critical acclaim. Their recordings were in the same general genre as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.
This music isn’t for everyone, but I’ve always enjoyed the simplicity of folk songs that tell interesting stories that survive because they are handed down from generation to generation.
In 1996, Lal collaborated with her son, Oliver Knight, to record and release the album Once in a Blue Moon. Its songs, written by Lal, receive guitar accompaniment from Knight that is a perfect complement to each one’s mood.
My choice for the SotW is the lead track, “At First She Starts.”
In addition to Knight, Charles O’Connor provides fiddle accompaniment. I interpret the lyrics to be about stage fright, or a singer’s struggle to interpret a song, but I could be wrong.
First she starts and then she’s startled. I see that light in her eyes Didn’t you realise you were a bird, At dawn when you woke with air in your throat.
Chorus: So far doe-ray-me Sing to me loudly, Serenade me, Mess with the melody. Light and shade All my eyes can see.
Oh but you are the phrase at the end of the bar, a long and high refrain. Hanging around for the choir to strike sound, So’s you can holler your joy and your pain.
In a recent Last Night a Record Changed My Life column in MOJO, Cathal Coughlan of the Irish band Microdisney was quoted saying that Once in a Blue Moon reminds him “… how the finest work can exist independent of ornamentation and commercial fanfare.” That is so true!
Waterson died in 1998 of cancer at age 55, just a couple of years after the release of Once in a Blue Moon.
You can follow the link above and read the full story but I’ll provide a thumbnail summary here.
It turns out Burton Silverman had a long and successful career as a well-respected realist artist. But all that takes a back seat to what he is most famous for – painting the cover to Aqualung.
To add insult to injury, Silverman was paid a flat fee of $1,500 for the three paintings that made up the front and back covers and the gatefold of the album. (The artwork was also in the background of the lyric sheet insert.)
Silverman’s paintings were inspired by the lyrics to the title cut, “Aqualung.”
Sitting on a park bench Eyeing little girls with bad intent Snot’s running down his nose Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes
Silverman “decided to place the figurant of Aqualung in a lonely, dank doorway, gripping his shabby coat for warmth and menacingly warding off all comers like a cornered animal.”
The artwork adds a visual dimension to the song and album that enhances how the music is perceived and can’t be separated from the enduring popularity of the record.
From here the story strays into the details of legal considerations due to Silverman’s resentment that he was paid so little for the artwork he created that is now plastered on all sorts of merchandise, earning money for lots of people, but not him!
I was a big fan of Aqualung when it came out 50 years ago. I first heard it when my brother brought it back from college in May 1971. I confiscated his copy, never to be returned. As I think about it, that’s almost a metaphor for the Silverman story.
Jimi Hendrix is well known as the GOAT of rock guitarists. And I don’t disagree with that. But I will argue that he was much more. He was a total artist that had insights and sensitivities that he expressed through his lyrics.
One of the best examples is “Castles Made of Sand” from Axis: Bold as Love (1967).
(Sorry, no full Hendrix version on YouTube!)
“Castles…” is one of Hendrix’s most biographical compositions. Verse 1 describes the turmoil that led to his mother’s and father’s divorce.
Down the street you can hear her scream you’re a disgrace As she slams the door in his drunken face And now he stands outside And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool He cries oh, girl you must be mad, What happened to the sweet love you and me had? Against the door he leans and starts a scene, And his tears fall and burn the garden green
Verse 2 is about his brother Leon, who was often in and out of foster care and separated from Jimi. The “little Indian” reference comes from his maternal grandmother who was half Cherokee, making Jimi and his siblings part Native American.
A little Indian brave who before he was ten, Played war games in the woods with his Indian friends And he built up a dream that when he grew up He would be a fearless warrior Indian Chief Many moons passed and more the dream grew strong until Tomorrow he would sing his first war song and fight his first battle
But something went wrong, surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night
The familial distress of the first two verses is redeemed in the final verse where a suicidal girl in a wheelchair sees a “golden winged ship” and is inspired to have a change of heart and not go through with it.
There was a young girl, who’s heart was a frown Cause she was crippled for life, And she couldn’t speak a sound And she wished and prayed she could stop living, So she decided to die She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore And to her legs she smiled you won’t hurt me no more But then a sight she’d never seen made her jump and say Look a golden winged ship is passing my way
And it really didn’t have to stop, it just kept on going…
And so castles made of sand slip into the sea, eventually
The imagery of sandcastles slipping into the sea is an apropos metaphor for the fragility and impermanence of the relationships in Hendrix’s youth.
The music by Hendrix and his band – bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell – perfectly support the sentiments expressed in the lyrics.
So was Hendrix more than just a great guitarist? I vote yes!
BoDeans formed in 1980 when high school friends Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas decided to get serious about their music and write songs together. They were initially called Da BoDeans.
By 1985 they had a recording contract and were in the studio recording their debut album with star producer T-Bone Burnett. Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams (1986) took its name for the lyrics to The Rolling Stones “Shattered” and contained the FM radio hit “Fadeaway.”
BoDeans roots-rock sound on this album is simple and slight, but very catchy. The guitar interplay and vocal harmony overcome the thin, repetitive lyrics to make the song a very enjoyable listen.
Unfortunately, around 2010 things went bad between Neumann and Llanas, with some very ugly allegations of misconduct. Llanas quit the band and Neumann has continued the band without him.
Today we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrible terror attack on the United States. In reaction, many music artists wrote songs about the horrible 9/11 events.
In November 2001, Neil young released “Let’s Roll”, a phrase that was attributed to Todd Beamer, one of the heroes on Flight 93 that crashed in PA. Todd was heard on a phone uttering the words as he and other passengers took action to take control of the flight to prevent the hijackers from using the plane to crash into its target.
This wasn’t the first time Young quickly released a record in response to a news event. In 1970, Young wrote “Ohio” after the May 4 shooting of students at Kent State University. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded the song and released it in June 1970.
Tori Amos gave us the haunting “I Can’t See New York.”
Thirteen thousand and holding Swallowed In the purring Of her engines
But I can’t see new York As I’m, circling down Through white cloud Falling out And I know His lips are warm But I can’t seem To find my way out My way out I can’t see Of this hunting ground
Bruce Springsteen devoted an entire album – The Rising (2002) – to songs that addressed the aftermath of events of 9/11 from various perspectives. This was an ambitious project that only someone with Springsteen’s perception could handle so deftly. “My City of Ruins” is a hymn in the mold of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready.”
There’s a blood red circle on the cold dark ground And the rain is falling down The church door’s thrown open, I can hear the organ’s song But the congregation’s gone My city of ruins
Now the sweet bells of mercy drift through the evening trees Young men on the corner like scattered leaves The boarded up windows, the empty streets While my brother’s down on his knees My city of ruins
Now there’s tears on the pillow, darling, where we slept And you took my heart when you left Without your sweet kiss my soul is lost, my friend Tell me how do I begin again My city’s in ruins
The song’s sadness of the verses change to healing in the final section:
Now with these hands, with these hands With these hands, with these hands I pray, Lord (with these hands, with these hands) I pray for the strength, Lord (with these hands, with these hands) I pray for the faith, Lord (with these hands, with these hands) I pray for your love, Lord (with these hands, with these hands) I pray for the strength, Lord (with these hands, with these hands) I pray for your love, Lord (with these hands, with these hands) I pray for the faith, Lord (with these hands), alright (with these hands) I pray for the strength, Lord (with these hands), come on (with these hands), come on Come on rise up, come on rise up Come on rise up, come on rise up
May all we Americans heal together as we mourn on this solemn day.
Two weeks ago, Connie Hamzy died. She was 66. What band was she in? Well, she wasn’t in any band – she was a real life “Penny Lane”; a Groupie based in Little Rock, AR, and the “sweet, sweet Connie” made (almost) famous by Grand Funk.
Out on the road for forty days Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze Sweet, sweet Connie, doin’ her act She had the whole show and that’s a natural fact
She also earned a mention in a less well known song about life on the road – “Pleasin’ For Reason” — by The Guess Who.
Order some cash, we’ve got another tour to make Workin’ so hard, just to pass the time away Connie my love, our movie was great and so was the taste It was pleasin’ for reason
And she scored a trifecta, getting name-checked in yet another song, by Cheap Trick!
I had a vision That was bigger than life Oh Connie likes nighttime, every night Connie likes candy, every bite All day sucker, Connie might Swallow that thing ’cause she does it right
The enterprising Connie was so determined to become a famous Groupie that she made round, pink stickers that she gave to the bands and roadies. They read “Call Connie in Little Rock” and included her phone number. I searched the internet for a picture of one but couldn’t find it.
Connie’s connections to members of The Allman Brothers, The Who, ZZ Top, The Doobie Brothers, Rush, Eagles, KISS, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac make her one of the most famous Groupies of all time.
Connie was unapologetic about her lifestyle. And I’m not here to judge. But I read comments from many of the people that knew her, published in The Lefsetz Letter, and they were all respectful and mentioned how sweet she was and how well she treated the bands.
She wrote a memoir titled Rock Groupie: Intimate Adventures of ‘Sweet Connie’ that was published in 1995. She also spent a considerable number of years in a very different occupation… as a substitute teacher in Little Rock!
Tommy Bolin was a great guitarist. He would be much better known and recognized if he hadn’t died 45 years ago at the age of 25. Yes, that’s right – he was only 25. He didn’t even make it to the 27 club with Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison and Cobain!
When you read reviews of the groups he played with (Zephyr, The James Gang, Deep Purple) they often comment on the lack of top notch material but always acknowledge Bolin’s guitar playing as a highlight. It didn’t help that his stints with The James Gang and Deep Purple followed the departure of other well-known guitarists (Joe Walsh, Ritchie Blackmore) at times when the bands were in decline and receiving much less attention from the press and fans alike.
But even at his young age, he had the chops to play and record with fusion giants such as Billy Cobham and Alphonse Mouzon.
Bolin also released two high quality solo albums — Teaser (1975) and Private Eyes (1976) – before he died in December 1976.
Here’s a sampler of his recordings through the years:
Zephyr was a pretty tight band that could move in and out of straight rock and jazz influenced music, as “Sail On” demonstrates. But the band suffered from Candy Given’s overwrought, screechy vocals.
“Alexis” begins as a ballad but just before the 3 minute mark it turns heavy and becomes a vehicle for Bolin to solo and squeeze gallons of emotion from his fretboard.
“Post Toastee” has a cool riff and acts as a vehicle for some extended soloing by Bolin that show off both his fusion and rock influences. It was a favorite show closer on his last tour.
So, my ultimate goal here was to bring some notice to an overlooked and often forgotten guitar talent. I hope I succeeded.
