Category Archives: classic rock

RAY DAVIES – See My Friends

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Ray Davies is a man who needs no introduction. A national treasure, Ray will always be best known for his 60s work with The Kinks. It’s likely you stopped listening to The Kinks after the release of their ‘Percy’ album in 1971, only to reconnect with them in 1983 when ‘Come Dancing’ became an unexpected UK top 5 hit. Unless you’re a die-hard fan, it’s unlikely you’ve heard any of the albums The Kinks released from 1971 onward, even though they tirelessly plugged on, releasing an album a year for the remainder of the decade. From that point, they sporadically released albums up until as late as 1992.

Outside of The Kinks, Davies has released a handful of solo albums which have earned a cult following (the first of which, ‘Return To Waterloo’ released in 1985 during a break in The Kinks’ schedule). As with those less famous Kinks albums, each of Ray’s solo works have moments of greatness – 2007’s ‘Working Man’s Cafe’, in particular, is a gem.

Ray Davies’s 2010 album ‘See My Friends’ is a celebration of his Kinks work, allowing many people who’ve been influenced by him a chance to put their stamp on his songs. In duet with Davies himself, the album features contributions from some musical heavyweights, alongside some potentially more interesting cult performers. While the inclusion of Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Metallica are guaranteed to help the album shift a few units (or more likely a few iTunes downloads of those individual tracks), kudos must be given to Davies for choosing to work with some less obvious collaborators: it was a surprise to see Pixies man Black Francis and New York indie heroes Spoon on his roll-call of friends.

Naturally, most of the guest performers have played it safely by choosing classic Kinks tunes from the 60s, but there are a couple of exceptions. The first of these opens the album, as Ray Davies teams up with the legendary Bruce Springsteen for a fairly workmanlike run-through of ‘Better Things’ (a track from the 1981 Kinks album ‘Give The People What They Want’). The original version is superb, being an optimistic song driven by a particularly loud drum kit and featuring a brilliant stabbing piano intro. This re-recording is well suited to Springsteen with its slightly bombastic approach. Springsteen’s voice sounds fine on the chorus, but on the verses – where he trades lines with Davies – it sounds huskier than ever and clearly sounds like he’s struggling. Davies’s vocal, on the other hand, features as much wistful charm as ever. Overall, the end result is okay, despite Springsteen not being in the best of voices. [For a superb cover of this number, check out the version recorded by Dar Williams for her 1997 album ‘End of the Summer’.]

The Kinks’ original version of ‘Celluloid Heroes’ is a gorgeous, slightly melancholy affair featuring lavish harmony vocals against a piano-rock base. The recording included here features none of the originals piano greatness, but surprisingly doesn’t suffer for that. Jon Bon Jovi and his right hand man Richie Sambora make this their own; Jon’s voice has real presence and Richie offers some classic sounding, soaring guitar lines. Ray Davies’s harmony vocals round out the sound to make this one of the album’s greatest moments. I have very mixed feels about the version of ‘You Really Got Me’ featured here. I have a great amount of respect for Metallica – and naturally, the original Kinks riff was one they could easily beef up. However, I’m not entirely sure that making it ten times heavier is an improvement. James Hetfield’s distinctive growl feels a little heavy handed too. On the plus side, with the slightly quicker pace the track has been given here, Davies sounds really energized when it’s his turn at the microphone.

After an intro featuring a few bars from ‘Days’, Mumford and Sons lend their folk-rock chops to ‘This Time Tomorrow’, a track originally featured on the ‘Lola vs Powerman’ LP. The original Kinks version is delivered with a stomp and with a heavily accented twang, so it’s a natural choice for Mumford. Davies takes more of a back seat for this number, but Mumford and Sons fans should find plenty of entertainment as Marcus Mumford and Ben Lovett’s raggedy vocals tear through a rather spirited performance of this lesser-known Davies composition. For ‘Lola’, Davies chooses to share vocals with Paloma Faith, who’s old-styled, slightly wobbly voice sounds superb here. The band in turn gives this famous Kinks’ number a rather forthright arrangement, with rumbling bass and a (most welcome) heavy leaning toward the piano. Kinks enthusiasts may be interested to know that Faith chooses the cherry cola line in her vocal, as per the Kinks’ single release, as opposed to the “proper” coca cola line from the original album recording. [It’s still amusing that in 1970 the BBC were more concerned about the song advertising a product than they were about it featuring a man falling in love with a transvestite].

‘Waterloo Sunset’ is one of those Kinks songs you’ve heard so often that it’s become part of our British musical heritage. While The Kinks’ 1967 original will always be the absolutely definitive version, the duet here with Jackson Browne is just superb. Featuring Davies, Browne and two acoustic guitars, the intimate nature of this recording captures both musicians in great form. With absolute professionalism, hearing Davies in close harmony with Browne just highlights what a beautifully written and arranged number ‘Waterloo Sunset’ is. While ‘Long Way From Home’ was never really one of my favourites, Ray’s duet with alt-country performer Lucinda Williams is somewhat dreary. I must confess, I’m not a fan of Williams’s heavily affected, drawling voice and the pace of this track just makes it worse. Her voice is really high in the mix too, almost drowning Davies out in the process.

Power pop legends Big Star recorded a storming version of ‘Till The End of the Day’ in the early 1970s as part of the sessions for their ‘Third/Sister Lovers’ album. Here, Chilton has been given the opportunity to perform that classic Kinks number alongside Davies. Naturally, Chilton’s delivery sounds supremely confident. The band are suitably punchy too: the drums loud and energetic, the organ work (although low in the mix) comes in heavy swirls. In addition, an angular guitar solo and a couple of complex bass runs help recreate the energy of the early Kinks sound. If you’re a Chilton enthusiast and like the Big Star rendition of ‘Till The End of the Day’ from ‘Third/Sister Lovers’, you won’t be disappointed. As a rather sad footnote, Chilton passed away a few months before the release of this album. While his death was far too premature, I’m sure he would have been delighted at being one of this album’s featured guests.

A take on ‘Dead End Street’ with Amy MacDonald is best described as ordinary. While the bar-room piano is quite fun, generally, little has been done here to add anything to the original performance. The warmth of the recording just doesn’t have the same vibe as the Kinks’ trebly 1966 recording and a spoken exchange between Davies and MacDonald at the close of the song is guaranteed to grate after a few listens. I can’t help but think this could have worked out better with KT Tunstall instead…

Since The Kinks’ 1965 single ‘See My Friends’ has a droning, psychedelic vibe (often credited as being one of the first releases to incorporate Indian raga sounds), it’s a perfect vehicle for the alternative rock band Spoon, whose own work features a strong basis of jangly vibes and lo-fi quirks. With lots of reverb, Britt Daniels’s vocal meshes with Davies’s against a wall of ringing guitars. The musicians involved choose (rather wisely) to play things as faithfully to the original as possible. Nothing here sticks out as being exceptional, but if you’re a fan of Spoon, you’ll probably want to check out this collaboration. During ‘This Is Where I Belong’, the guitars chime and the drum provides a solid backbeat. Black Francis’s very distinctive vocal is the main feature here, but he’s offered suitable backing harmonies from Davies. Factor in the slabs of organ work and this is very well suited to Black Francis, the sound here very much in keeping with the more rootsy styles he experimented with in the mid-’00s.

Ray Davies’s voice is the only real saving grace with regard to a re-working of ‘David Watts’, featuring Californian indie-rock band The 88. While the great piano part from the original is given plenty of volume in the overall mix, when combined with staccato guitar work and the general oomph The 88 insist on playing with, it’s really tiring. [For the definitive cover version of this, look no further than The Jam’s respectful version from 1978]. Following The 88, ‘Tired of Waiting’ sounds incredibly…tired. Snow Patrol’s frontman Gary Lightbody joins Davies here and while the track is tackled at a similar pace to the Kinks original, it just seems to sag under the weight of Gary Lightbody’s uninspired vocal.

While ‘All Day and All of The Night’ is a Kinks number familiar to all, it’s 1981 semi-reworking ‘Destroyer’ will possibly not mean a lot to many of you. In an attempt to be edgy in a post-punk way, Davies reworked ‘All Day…’s influential riff into a song which features a partly spoken word delivery. The level of anger on that original recording of ‘Destroyer’ may have sounded a little unnatural in the hands of The Kinks, but reproduced here as a duet between Davies and Smashing Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan, it sounds great. Corgan’s guitar work concentrates on the simple chord pattern and his loud, nasal vocal style is an effective contrast to Davies. Davies, in turn, when delivering the spoken word parts, sounds better here than he had back in ’81. Corgan replaces the original pre-chorus from ‘Destroyer’ with the famous lyrics from ‘All Day and All of the Night’ to create a very effective medley, ending the disc on a high note.

As you may expect given the selection of featured performers, ‘See My Friends’ is a mixed bag. In some places, it sounds more like an album of people covering songs by The Kinks as opposed to an album of Ray Davies performing duets. In that respect, it’s almost certainly been geared to entertain fans of the guest performers rather than fans of Davies himself. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. If those listeners enjoy this album, that’s great. If it means they get exposed to Davies’s songs and then choose to explore The Kinks’ back catalogue…even better.

See the official EPK for the album here.
See Ray with Mumford & Sons on ‘Later…With Jools Holland’ here.
See Ray interviewed by Jools Holland here.
See Ray talking about the album on BBC News 24 here.

November 2010

THIN LIZZY – Thin Lizzy

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Thin Lizzy’s debut LP is a curious affair. The original group, comprised of Phil Lynott (vocals/bass), Eric Bell (guitar) and Brian Downey (drums) were supposedly conceived as a power trio – a hard rock format which had gained popularity in the late 60s with the likes of Cream – yet very little from their 1971 self-titled offering reflects that. It’s not weak, by any means, but overall it’s more ‘trio’ than ‘power’ and musically, much of it bears little resemblance to the band Lizzy would later become.

Despite most of the material not sounding much like classic Lizzy, it’s clear, even here, that Lynott is a charismatic frontman, an emotive vocalist and superb bassist. All of which are qualities which have a strong presence during ‘Honesty Is No Excuse’, a mid paced, soulful number. Lynott’s vocal delivery sounds like a man making an honest plea, with his voice almost cracking on the longer notes. While his bass work on this track is never flash, it’s got warmth, pinning the song down but never becoming intrusive. ‘Eire’ and ‘The Continuing Saga of The Aging Orphan’ are very fragile: ‘Eire’ features some simple bass playing from Lynott, while colourful guitar flourishes from Bell push what would’ve been a simple folk tale into folk-rock territory. During ‘Aging Orphan’, Bell and Downey are reduced to little more than backing for Lynott’s vocal, which is full of sadness.

‘Ray-Gun’ and ‘Look What The Wind Blew In’ are outright rockers, which are surprisingly enjoyable. ‘Ray-Gun’ showcases bluesy electric work from Eric Bell. The main groove is provided by his wah-wah riff, over which Lynott plays an incredibly funky bass. It’s one of the only moments where the three guys get close to the typical power trio style. ‘Look What The Wind Blew In’ feels simpler; it has a looser groove which ends up feeling a little messy, especially on the chorus, where Lynott chooses a smooth vocal style which doesn’t suit the tune…and then uses that to sing something which doesn’t really scan properly. ‘Return of the Farmer’s Son’ also demonstrates the band’s rock side. Brian Downey’s drum fills are excellent; Phil’s bass and vocals are aggressive and Eric’s blues-rock soloing gives the piece a decent edge. If Lizzy had looked towards this blues-rock style more instead of concentrating on a non-specific blend of psych, folk and blues, this would have been a very different record indeed. (Although, it clearly didn’t always work: ‘Remembering Part 1’ attempts to get tough, but ends up rather muddled).

‘Diddy Levine’ is a track that showcases the range of styles played by the original three-piece line-up in just over seven minutes. The verses are wordy and wistful, there are acoustic folk stylings, but as the song progresses, a hard rock riff develops. While there’s nothing wrong here, its folk elements aren’t as good as some of the album’s other gentler moments and any attempt to rock out doesn’t match the excitement generated by ‘Return of the Farmer’s Son’.

Thin Lizzy followed their debut with ‘Shades of a Blue Orphanage’, an album which showcased Lizzy’s growing confidence. That confidence manifested itself in a set of songs which showcase a slightly broader set of influences. As a result, the album feels rather unfocused. This second album also sold poorly. However, by the beginning of 1973, with two non-charting albums to their name, Thin Lizzy’s fortunes were about to change.

[A remastered version of ‘Thin Lizzy’ features bonus tracks culled from the Irish ‘New Day’ EP and another non-album single, ‘The Farmer’. Also included are overdubbed and remixed versions of four of the debuts songs – all of which were previously available on the 1979 Decca compilation ‘The Continuing Saga of the Ageing Orphans’.]

January 2010

THE QUIREBOYS – A Bit Of What You Fancy

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Although the exact date has been forgotten, back in 1990, I heard a half-hour broadcast of a Quireboys live show on BBC Radio 1. It was recorded in November ’89, during the band’s stint supporting Aerosmith. For those thirty minutes, Spike and co pulled out all the stops. Remembering how great that live set had been, I checked out their debut album ‘A Bit of What You Fancy’, only to be initially disappointed.

Time is a funny thing. ‘A Bit of What You Fancy’ still may not be completely representative of The Quireboys I remember from that live broadcast, but in reality, although not perfect, it’s far from being a bad record.

The opening number ‘7 O’clock’ represents the band’s manifesto in four minutes with its bar-room trashiness. Musically, it rests somewhere between a slightly heavy handed version of The Faces and mid-period Rolling Stones. Guy Bailey & Guy Griffin’s three chord R’n’R guitars provide the perfect accessory for Spike’s whiskey-soaked rasp and the piano and harmonica add a much needed flourish. The anthemic ‘Hey You’ follows suit and manages to stay memorable a long time after the album has finished. It’s hardly surprising that between these couple of singles and a lot of touring, The Quireboys managed to gain a substantial fan base of rock fans looking for something retro and familiar.

Surprisingly, those singles are nowhere near as good as a couple of other tracks on the album. ‘Man on the Loose’ takes the tried and tested bar room formula and turns it up a notch, adding gospel styled backing vocals and ‘Whipping Boy’ represents a slower, bluesier band. The latter, in particular, stands up well with its brooding style, making for something altogether less disposable, and again, the female backing vocals are put to good use. The swaggering ‘There She Goes Again’ is timeless with its cocky Faces influence. Good use of a horn section coupled with a memorable (if somewhat simplistic) chorus makes it a standout.

Their Rolling Stones fixation comes to the fore for ‘Misled’, which sounds like a poor imitation of something like ‘It’s Only Rock N Roll’, but sang badly, and the album sags drastically during ‘Sweet Mary Ann’ and ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’. On the latter, it becomes especially obvious that Spike’s vocal style, most of the time, isn’t especially cut out for slower numbers. It occasionally works outside the Faces-style stompers though, since it sound fine on the country-tinged ‘Roses & Rings’; here, Chris Johnstone provides good accompaniment on the piano – an undervalued member, most of his contributions lend this album its long-lasting charm.

Hit ‘n’ miss as it may be, but ‘A Bit of What You Fancy’ is far better than I ever gave it credit for back in 1990. It mightn’t always have the all round perfection of the Black Crowes debut issued at a similar time, but its best moments are a fine example of classic rock and an always welcome reminder of Tommy Vance’s Radio 1 Rock Show…and for that, I’ll always be glad of existence and give it a spin every so often.  It still doesn’t match the brilliance of the Quireboys live shows of the time – as any fan knows, it’s in the live setting they really shine. Now, if only the Beeb would issue that performance from ’89 and their Donington set from 1990 officially, that would be fantastic!

February 2010

HEART – Red Velvet Car

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Back in 2004, I was quite excited by the idea of Heart returning. The release of that year’s ‘Jupiter’s Darling’ marked the first new material released under the Heart name for nearly a decade. Ann and Nancy Wilson worked with regular collaborator Sue Ennis in the interim under the name The Lovemongers, concentrating on folky and pop-rock styles, but sadly, their one proper album release did little for me despite having been a fan of the Wilsons for many years. Heart’s ‘Jupiter’s Darling’ was a return to the band’s heavy Led Zeppelin influenced sound from the 70s, but tweaked slightly for the 90s. While it was great to have Heart back (even if in name only), the album contained little in the way of memorable material (it flopped, supposedly only shifting 100,000 copies). The supporting tour – which saw the band returning to the UK after many years without a visit – was absolutely cracking though, so that reunion wasn’t without merit. Heart continued to play sporadic live shows after that, but Nancy’s main focus became scoring her husband Cameron Crowe’s movies, while in 2007 Ann recorded her first full solo album.

Six years after ‘Jupiter’s Darling’, ‘Red Velvet Car’ continues to plough Heart’s seventies rock roots. Those looking for the eighties style power ballads which made Heart megastars outside of the US in the 80s will undoubtedly be disappointed, since bluesy Zeppelin-isms are the main order of the day here. Sadly, although the style is in keeping with Heart’s earliest work, a good chunk of the material lacks the spark and immediacy of Heart’s best 70s outing. The arrangements feel somewhat leaden in places (though nowhere near as much as those on ‘Jupiter’s Darling’) and rather more worryingly, Ann Wilson’s once matchless vocal shows signs of wear It’s slightly husky edge is well suited to the bluesier moments of ‘Red Velvet Car’, but her trademark wail appears to struggle on the rockier cuts. For the most part, Ann’s voice just doesn’t stretch beyond what sounds like an untrained mid-range any more…

This is obvious from the single release, ‘WTF’ which appears to be a deliberate attempt to give the album a hard rocker in the style of ‘Barracuda’. While it’s musically okay, Ann’s vocal has been fuzzed up to make it sound grittier (though most likely it’s an attempt to mask her inabilities to hit the huge notes the way she once did). While the main riff shows great promise, there’s no hook to back it up. Similarly, the deliberate driving nature of ‘Wheels’ is empty once you get past a promising heavily percussive rhythm. Also with a percussive nature, the slide guitar blues-rock of ‘There You Go Again’ works better due to a more understated arrangement – making decent use of Ann’s slightly cracked vocal in the process. You’d think that ‘Bootful of Beer’, echoing the bar-room rock of The Quireboys and The Faces would be well suited to Heart’s retro blues-rock shoes, but the end result is painful. Craig Bartock’s twangy guitars and Ben Smith’s simple drum work lay a decent foundation, but the song otherwise feels forced. There’s not even a boogie piano line to help sweep things along. While Heart were always first rate at Led Zeppelin style hard rock, whiskey soaked blues-rock just doesn’t work for them. Maybe this would have worked for Alannah Myles in the 80s or Sass Jordan in the 90s, but for Heart in the 21st Century…nah.

The high points of the album the ones with pastel shades, as Ann’s voice doesn’t take a hammering and the band sound far more natural. Particularly good are the couple of tracks where Nancy takes lead: ‘Hey You’ is an upbeat acoustic number which would have fit snugly on to any of Heart’s 70s masterpieces. The spirit of classic Heart is further strengthened once Ann provides accompaniment on the autoharp. ‘Sunflower’ has a semi-acoustic bluesy swagger, with Nancy’s acoustic work counterbalanced by Craig Bartock’s subtle electric lead. Not as sublime as ‘Hey You’, but another definite reason to check out the album. The gentle acoustic ‘Sand’ echoes ‘Dog and Butterfly’, with a soft summer feeling as Ann’s understated vocal really carries the song. The quiet moments are proof enough that Ann’s voice is still there, but midway as she attempts one of her Robert Plant inspired wails, the cracks appear again. Luckily, she’s backed by Nancy providing a great harmony vocal.

Like Heart’s 70s albums, ‘Red Velvet Car’ isn’t without it’s mandolin moment, as ‘Safronia’s Mark’ has moments which – as is quite often the case – sound like a direct lift from Led Zeppelin’s ‘Battle of Evermore’. While one of the album’s better moments, there’s still no doubt that Heart have done this before…and much better. And that, on the most base level is the album’s greatest fault. Like ‘Jupiter’s Darling’, ‘Red Velvet Car’ really doesn’t represent Heart’s brilliance.

While it was never going to be a release to pull in casual listeners, I have a feeling that lots of long-term fans are likely to also greet this with indifference. There are some good songs here – and even a couple of excellent ones (despite my mixed feelings, it’s certainly better than ‘Jupiter’s Darling’) – but it’s hugely unlikely anyone would choose to listen to this album when there are so many superior albums in Heart’s back catalogue.

August 2010

RICK DERRINGER – All American Boy

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Rick Derringer has had a long career. From being a member of the McCoys (of ‘Hang On Sloopy’ fame), to sterling work with Edgar and Johnny Winter during their glory years, to releasing many solo albums, there’s plenty to enjoy. ‘All American Boy’, Derringer’s first solo outing from 1974 is one of his best (though I would argue that the first half of his solo career, up to 1980 is well worth investigation).

Kicking off with the evergreen classic ‘Rock N Roll, Hoochie Koo’ (Derringer’s best known solo recording), you’ll have a fair idea of where the next forty minutes is headed.
‘Joy Ride’ is a short high-gear instrumental. The drum sound here is excellent and while the overall effect is unashamedly 70s, this is the sound of a band of musicians at the top of their game. On the other hand, ‘Cheap Tequila’ is never a track I find myself eager to listen to. It sounds like it was designed as fun, but in the end, takes itself too seriously. It has a southern rock meets country feel and although jaunty, is never destined for classic status.

‘Teenage Queen’ is soft around the edges with a slightly west coast appeal. It’s typical of other songs Derringer released in this vein, but it’s still great listening, with beautiful vocals, subtle guitar work and nice orchestration to flesh out the sound. ‘Hold’ follows a similar pattern, again beautifully orchestrated, but the final product seems more polished, with a definite nod to the genius of Todd Rundgren. Definitely a contender for the album’s best track.

‘Uncomplicated’ is simple, stompy American rock, following a similar path to ‘Rock N Roll, Hoochie Koo’ and while ‘The Airport Giveth’ follows a similar formula to the Todd Rundgren inspired material, there’s something a bit less focused, giving it a slightly dated feel. Though somehow, possibly due to exposure to a fair amount of Rundgren, Carole King et al, I still quite like it. ‘Jump Jump Jump’ is pure genius, seeing Derringer explore a more spacious, bluesy style, though not up to the blues levels he’d go to after his early 80s sabbatical. For best results, check out the blistering live version of this from 1980’s ‘Face To Face’ LP.

The quirkiness of ‘Teenage Love Affair’ again goes for the same effect as ‘Uncomplicated’, but remains one of the rare times where this collection of songs misses the mark. ‘Time Warp’ is a driving instrumental clocking in at just under three minutes, though due to the intensity of the arrangement it feels longer. It sounds like the underscore for a car chase in a 70s cop film, merged with guitar riffs which tip the hat to ‘Heart Of The Sunrise’ by prog-rock behemoths Yes. ‘Slide on Over Slinky’ a pop-blues, the kind at which Derringer often excelled throughout the decade, is a welcome addition here.

‘All American Boy’ is a great solo debut, paving the way for other Derringer releases throughout the 1970s, most of which have something to recommend them. If you’ve enjoyed this and haven’t yet done so, check out 1980’s ‘Face To Face’: which although patchy, contains the aforementioned superb live take of ‘Jump Jump Jump’ and the wonderful pop of ‘Runaway’.

November 2007