Sirius-ly Funny: Now I Remember Why I Miss Howard Stern




The following article was named an "Editors Pick" at http://blogcritics.org for the week ending November 2, 2006

In case you missed it, Sirius Satellite Radio offered a two-day long free internet preview of it's programming earlier this week. Millions of potential new listeners tuned in to what is being hailed by some as a revolutionary new vista of broadcasting unrestricted by commercial formats--but more importantly, unrestricted by an ever vigilant FCC.

The drawing card for most was the first chance to hear Howard Stern since he left the commercial airwaves for this brave new world well over a year ago.



If you believed the hype put forth by Stern during the two day free promotion, as many as 47 million people tuned in via the internet.

I was one of them.

And within minutes, I remembered just why, and just how much, I've missed hearing Stern on my radio.

I first got hooked on Howard in the early nineties back when I had my cushy music biz job in Los Angeles. Back then, our entire office would have their radios tuned in to Stern on L.A.'s KLSX Radio, one of the many major market stations which syndicated him (and in doing so demolished their competition in the arbitron ratings).

Our work in the morning often came to a standstill, as everybody from the top executives there to some of the artists themselves could be heard laughing out loud from behind closed office doors and cubicles.



Stern drew a fair amount of heat even back then. Always an equal opportunity offender--guilt ridden white liberals cried foul every bit as quickly as the right wing nuts you'd expect--his brand of "shock radio" seemed to piss just about everybody off. Longtime co-host Robin Quivers, as a black woman, in particular used to get hit pretty hard with both barrels by critics of bits branded as both sexist and racist.

Some people just don't get it.

Then, as now, Stern's brand of "shock radio" is one where everything and anything from wrestling midget lesbians to Ku Klux Klansmen playing Hollywood Squares is considered fair game. In other words, it is so ridiculously over-the-top, that anyone who would for a minute take it serious needs to pick their brains up off of the floor. Or at least, find a sense of humor.

Some of Stern's biggest fans back at my record company office were our rap artists. These guys would often ask us if bits featuring peripheral Stern characters like "The King Of All Blacks" could be legally sampled on their records. That is because stereotypes like that are so ridiculous they become the joke in and of themselves. And the joke is a laugh out loud, falling down funny one--especially to someone who knows what that stereotype means first hand.


It's no wonder that rap artists were some of Howard's most frequent guests.

So a few years after my experience in L.A., I found myself back home in Seattle working a job with an hour long commute. Seattle was one of the last major markets in the country to pick up Stern (so much for our "progressive" reputation), but FM Rock powerhouse KISW finally did so a few years back.

Thank God.

Between Stern in the mornings, and another "shock-jock", Tom Leykis on the drive home, I was probably saved from several convictions for road rage or worse. Stuck in the infamous rush hour gridlock of Seattle-Tacoma's I-5 corridor, it was quite therapeutic to be able to lose yourself by laughing your ass off at the radio.

Still, a lot of people were speculating that Stern had "jumped the shark" by then. For the last year we had him on the air here in Seattle I wouldn't totally disagree. Before he left so-called terrestrial radio for the bigger bucks (and censorship free) oasis of Satellite last year, Stern was clearly distracted trying to stay one step ahead of an FCC empowered both by Nipplegate and a sympathetic Republican administration. By this time last year, not only was Stern gone--here in Seattle, so was Leykis.

It's amazing how much you'll forget in a years time (especially when you are no longer making that ball-buster of a commute). I knew I missed Stern. But until this week's Sirius preview, I had no idea how much I missed him.

The last time I listened to Howard Stern a year ago, he frankly sounded tired. Not quite defeated, but tired. Those last few weeks he was on my car radio played more like a countdown to getting his get out of jail free card than the stuff that used to make me laugh out loud in standstill traffic. The bits by this time were censored to the point of being something of a joke themselves. In the words of Tom Leykis, Stern was clearly emasculated--which is basically a nice way of saying his balls had been cut off.

So the Sirius preview this week? Night And Day.

Part of it was a little like catching up with old friends actually. I found out that former Stern writer Jackie "Jokeman" Martling, who had jumped ship to embark on a career which subsequently went nowhere was (at least sort of) back with his own one-hour show on one of Stern's two Sirius stations. I also learned that his replacement, the over the top substance abuser Artie Lang, had apparently overcome heroin.

But more importantly, over those two days Stern and company had me laughing out so loud from my desk at work (Thank God for headphones), my co-workers had to double-check to make sure I hadn't lost it. Stern, Robin, Artie and the rest have not only regained their edge, but are doing their most hilariously over-the-top work in years.

Some of it takes a little getting used to to be sure. I found myself wincing just a little at first at just how free the speech really is on satellite. If you thought Stern pushed the envelope before, the new material can be a downright shock (even by Stern standards). Hearing the F-bomb dropped this freely really takes you aback for a minute for one thing.

But over two days, I heard some great, great radio.

A mercilessly uncensored roast of Stern's producer, and longtime whipping boy Gary "Baba Booey" Delabate was probably the highpoint.

But the way they turned around a potential disaster--a heavily hyped appearance by The Who's Peter Townshend which he abruptly cancelled at the last minute when Robin brought up his dropped pedophile charges--was pure genius. Not only did they get Roger Daltrey to come on anyway, but they badgered him into actually singing. And that was after they called Townshend's girlfriend "Yoko." For the record, Stern also apologized to Townshend for the gaffe afterwards.

The point is you just can't buy radio like this. Well, actually you can.

Much as I still despise the idea of having to pay for radio, I may just be looking into Sirius after hearing this week's free broadcast. In addition to Stern himself, the two Howard channels also feature post Nipplegate terrestrial radio casualties like pro-wrestling mark Bubba the Love Sponge. There are also tons of other channels, including Little Steven's awesome Underground Garage format in a 24 hour version.

I may not have to commute in Seattle's gridlock anymore, but listening to Howard this week did help me out at my current job too. Because hearing Stern this week didn't just make me laugh my ass off and bring back memories of how much I miss great radio. In a job where I enter endless strings of metadata into a computer database for eight hours a day, listening to Stern actually upped my productivity.

Perhaps more crucially, it kept me awake.

Is Neil Young Finally Going to Start Releasing Those Archives?

Apparently the answer is yes.

Fresh off a summer long concert tour with bandmates Crosby, Stills and Nash, and his annual appearance with Willie Nelson at this year's Farm Aid, Neil will apparently have two new CD releases in record stores in time for the Christmas season.

Well okay, they are not exactly new - but at least one of them has been anticipated for something like twenty years.

According to reports published on Billboard Magazine's website, Young will first issue a new version of his controversial Living With War CD. The newly remixed version will reflect a "more accurate" version of the original CD, which was recorded live in the studio in about ten days and released last May.

The new Living With War - Raw (maybe Neil's a closet WWE wrestling fan) will also include a bonus DVD with videos, directed by Young himself, of every track on the album. The videos, which presumably will mirror the anti-Bush theme of the songs on the original album, contain footage from the Iraq war as well as from Al Gore's acclaimed documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

The new version of Living With War will be released first via iTunes November 7, to be followed by a traditional retail release December 19.

Perhaps of greater interest to long-time Neil Young fans however, is word that the long rumored Archives will finally begin to see the light of day. On November 14 — assuming everything holds — Neil Young will release the first of that series, Live At The Fillmore East 1970. Recorded at the legendary rock venue with the original lineup of Crazy Horse, the set has been rumored for official release at least since around the same time as the 3-CD retrospective set Decade more than twenty years ago.

Young — a notorious perfectionist when it comes to the remastering and re-packaging of his back catalog — has talked for years of putting out his "archives," but has thus far been frustratingly (for fans) slow in doing so. Several of Young's back catalog releases, including critically acclaimed albums such as On The Beach, were similarly unavailable for many years until Young finally put them out about two years ago.

This represents the first time an actual release date has been scheduled for any material from the infamously rumored Archives series. If all goes as planned, Live At The Fillmore East 1970 should begin a process of regular releases from that archive, much in the way Columbia has handled Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. However, while Billboard reports that Live At The Fillmore East 1970 will be a CD/DVD release, Amazon.com currently only has a CD release up at its site (the presumed cover-art can be seen by going to my Blogcritics article here).

Either way, here is the track listing for the Live At The Fillmore East 1970 CD as it appears at Amazon.com:

1. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
2. Winterlong
3. Down By The River
4. Wonderin'
5. Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown
6. Cowgirl In The Sand

Curiously, the Billboard article also mentions such Young classics as "Broken Arrow," "Cinnamon Girl," and "On The Way Home" as possible inclusions on the set.

Assuming the planned Novenber 14 release date actually holds (and when it comes to Neil Young's Archives that could be a very big "if"), hopefully all will be revealed soon.

In the meantime, Neil Young will perform his annual Bridge School benefit shows this weekend near San Francisco, with a lineup that also includes Brian Wilson and Pearl Jam.

Bob Dylan "In Concert And In Show": The Song And Dance Man Returns

Music Review - Bob Dylan And His Band - October 13, 2006 at Key Arena, Seattle WA

When you've seen Bob Dylan live as many times as I have, you kind of come to expect the unexpected. Based on the ten or so Dylan concerts I've seen since 1974, the man largely runs hot and cold. From my experience at least, you are either going to get the quieter, introspective "detached" Dylan or the somewhat more energetic "song and dance man" model.

As old as I am (50 for those keeping score), I am not nearly old enough to have seen Dylan when he was pissing off the folkie purists at Newport by strapping on an electric guitar with Mike Bloomfield and the like. For those memories, I'll have to settle for my DVD of Scorsese's brilliant No Direction Home.

Nor was I old enough to witness his original groundbreaking shows in the sixties with The Band. My experience with Dylan live actually began when I was a high school senior in 1974. Eighteen years old at the time, I wandered down to the Seattle Center Coliseum on pretty much a lark and ended up accepting a free ticket to his sold out reunion show with the Band from the stoned out hippie who offered it up to me. Imagine my luck.

After witnessing that amazing show, which is captured on Dylan and The Band's live Before The Flood album, I became a fan for life.

Of the many Dylan shows I have witnessed, I've seen him through most of the more interesting phases of his career since that time. I saw the Vegas model Dylan introduced on the tour for Street Legal in 1978 (and later captured for posterity on the Live At Budokan album), where Dylan debuted his "song and dance man" routine in earnest.

I saw him on the Jesus tour where he pretty much pissed off every hippie and leftover sisxties radical still alive by performing a super-charged gospel revival show and refusing to play stuff like "Like A Rolling Stone." About a year later, I saw Dylan when he came back and played a "greatest hits" show that seemed almost like an apology for all of the hell and brimstone of that "Born Again" show--a rare artistic compromise in a career marked by so few of them.

Through it all, I can tell you that what they say about Dylan live is largely true. Not only does the man run either very hot or very cold, but you can pretty much count on him reinventing his songs in a concert setting every time. Usually to the point where it may take a minute to even recognize them--at least until the lyrics start to kick in.

Bob Dylan And His Band "In Concert And In Show" October 13, 2006 at Seattle's Key Arena, was no exception.

Taking the stage to one of the most bizarre self-depreciating introductions I've ever heard--the intro read more like a career bio mentioning everything from his "poet laureate" status to his Jesus years--Dylan and his amazing band played a dazzling near two hour set (long by Dylan's recent live standard). It was a show that was long on radically revamped versions of old hits, and surprisingly short on material from his brilliant new Modern Times release.

On the second night of an arena tour meant to promote that album, only three of it's songs showed up on the setlist in Seattle. The first of these, a poignant and lovely sounding "When The Deal Goes Down" found Dylan in fine voice for a version that remained true to the album. "Workingman's Blues #2," Dylan's most recent lesson on war and economics (and one of Modern Times many standouts), came a few songs later.

Surprisingly, "Thunder On The Mountain," the apocalyptic sounding blast which opens that album didn't come until the encores. It's opening wash of bluesy sounding guitars actually brought a high-five from the fifteen year old sitting behind me who'd been complaining about the lack of new songs all night.

Which begs the obvious question--when was the last time you heard people complain about so many hits and so little new stuff at a show by someone who's been around as long as Dylan? Certainly not at a Stones or McCartney show.

Sandwiched in between the lone three Modern Times tracks was what can only be a charcterized as a fan's dream setlist. And from the opening "Maggies Farm" to the last encore of "All Along The Watchtower," nearly all of the songs were radically reworked to represent Dylan's more recent musical turn towards a darker, bluesier sound. They were also expertly played by a great band that seems to specialize in making these songs swing like the proverbial pendulum do.

Actually, save for Dylan's raspier croak of the past few years, "Watchtower" stayed pretty close to the original, as did "Rolling Stone," and a version of "Highway 61 Revisited" where the band blew the roof off of the place. "Positively 4th Street" and the opening "Maggie's Farm" on the other hand sounded so different it took many (myself included) a few minutes to even recognize them.

As great as Dylan's current band sounds onstage, it was Dylan's voice that was the star of the show here. With it's deeper resonance, and the way Dylan's been using his voice as more of an instrument lately, Dylan dramatically phrased certain words, going from a low croak to a high register often in an instant. It was like hearing these songs--many of them over thirty years old--for the very first time. Although he is most often recognized as being this generation's greatest songwriter, as a master of vocal phrasing Dylan likewise has few equals

This was displayed most dramatically during a wonderful new take on the Blood On The Tracks classic "Tangled Up In Blue" where Dylan's weathered and weary voice breathed new life into that song's famous lyrics about love and heartbreak. Some of the reworkings of classics were also a little cruel. Dylan teased the opening notes of "Every Grain Of Sand" (one of my all-time favorite Dylan songs), during an intro for what eventually became a new reading of "Just Like A Woman." Good as "Just Like A Woman" sounded, I had a hard time masking my disapointment when he failed to deliver on the initial tease.

But Bob Dylan was most definitely in "song and dance man" mode for this show. Dressed in black gamblers hat and suit (his band wore carefully color-coordinated matching duds), he displayed some pretty impressive dance moves (for an old codger) from behind his keyboards, and he smiled more often than I can ever remember seeing the man do onstage. Dylan seemed to be having a great time up there.

Sadly, this was the second Dylan show I've seen in the past couple years where he never strapped on a guitar--something I now suspect we're not going to see again anytime soon. There we're a few nice turns at the harmonica though.

For those who've seen some of the more withdrawn shows Dylan did with people like Merle Haggard on the so-called "Neverending Tour," I highly recommend getting out and seeing the man this time around. Rocking again like the born "song and dance man" he is, this is truly Bob Dylan "In Concert And In Show."

Hopefully, he'll work in a few more songs from Modern Times by the time he reaches your town too.

Bob Dylan And His Band
October 13, 2006
Key Arena - Seattle, Washington
Setlist:
1. Maggie's Farm
2. She Belongs To Me
3. Lonesome Day Blues
4. Positively 4th Street
5. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
6. Just Like A Woman
7. Highway 61 Revisited
8. When The Deal Goes Down
9. Tangled Up In Blue
10. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
11. Watching The River Flow
12. Workingman's Blues #2
13. Summer Days

Encores:
14. Thunder On The Mountain
15. Like A Rolling Stone
16. All Along The Watchtower

Bragging Rights: ABC Did Not Really Quote The World Wide Glen This Week Did They?

It's been quite a week for The World Wide Glen Blog and it is all due to the story you'll read directly beneath this one.

The hits to this site have doubled, and I am happy to report that for once, it's not due to that hot picture of Jamie Lynn Sigler we put up here some months ago.

When Blogcritics published our story When Are We Going To Let The Hippies Back Into The Record Store this past Monday, among those who took notice were the folks who produce the webcast for
ABC News.

As a result, I was interviewed for a piece, anchored by none other than Charles Gibson, on Tower Records closing it's stores. Think I'm kidding? Then check out the resulting video clip of the story by going
here.

So pardon me a little bit for exercising some bragging rights here okay?

As noted below, the article also received the highly coveted Blogcritic Pick Of The Week. And let me tell you, they don't call them Blog-"Critics" for nothin'! So allow me to bask a little okay? And check out the link.

And of course, as always, thank you stopping by our little corner of the Blogosphere.

When Are We Going To Let The Hippies Back Into The Record Store?


The following article was named an "Editors Pick" at http://blogcritics.org for the week ending October 12, 2006

So let me go ahead and say out loud what everybody has known for at least a couple of years now.

The music industry is officially dead.
What blows my mind is not only the way nobody will come right out and acknowledge the obvious, but the way those who do sort of see the writing on the proverbial wall try to rationalize just what the hell happened.

In case you haven't heard Tower Records this weekend became the latest casualty of the music business, and will soon close some ninety stores, costing some three thousand record store clerks their jobs.

Now, you've gotta understand something about Tower Records. For at least a couple of decades now, Tower has represented the very epitome of the ultra-hip record store.

When you think of the type of snotty, hipper than thou record store employees sitting behind a counter with their green hair and multiple piercings snickering as you bring your copy of the new Kenny G album up to the register, nothing comes to mind quicker than Tower. Admit it. You've been there, and so have I (though in my case it was probably something by Genesis rather than by Kenny G).

Pain in the ass that these ultra-hip, underpaid record store jockeys could be, they were essentially a big part of what made the wheels turn for the record industry at large. They were the proverbial oil in the grease. Simply put, they were record guys (and gals). You see, the record business up until very recently was a very unique animal. It was the one job in the universe where you basically didn't have to worry about showing up to work hungover, because the chances were pretty damn good that your co-worker was out checking out the same band as you in some club the night before.

Record stores like Tower--but to a much greater extent the smaller Mom And Pop indies--used to be a place you could go to not only get good recommendations on the latest music, but maybe even a leftover promo poster or bumper sticker. Once you got past the snotty, hipper than thou persona of the underpaid guy behind the counter with the green hair, chances were pretty good you could make a valuable connection with a music expert. Especially if you connected with that person on a common ground of musical interest. I mean these guys didn't work for minimum wage for nothing.

They did it because they loved the music--man.

To a much larger extent, this extends all the way up the ladder up to the guys running the show in their ivory towers at the record companies in New York and L.A. You see, once upon a time the guys who sat in these offices were music fans just like you and me. Bands were signed based on actual talent and potential rather than marketable good looks and the ability to draw a quick nickel based on a good gimmick.



Today, a band like Cheap Trick for example (who were nearly dropped by Epic Records back in the days of a much more music friendly climate) wouldn't make it past their first record if it failed to move 250,000 or so units. Record companies today have become so concerned with the bottom line that long-term careers are no longer allowed to develop. Of course there are exceptions to this--the folks at Capitol for example are no doubt pleased with the way Coldplay turned out even as they wring their collective heads over Radiohead's more "experimental work" of the past couple years.

But by and large, the attention spans of the folks calling the shots at the record labels have become as short as Prince on his worst day. Artists are no longer looked at as long term investments. Which means that yesterday's pretty face like Britney Spears is simply shoved aside to make way for tommorrow's Justin Timberlake. Say what you will about guys like Dylan, the Stones, or Pink Floyd. But nobody could rightfully ever accuse them of being pretty faces.

But what is really killing the music business is all this downloading right? Think again. I heard this very same argument about home taping some twenty years or so ago and it holds as little water now as it did back then. The bottom line is your every day average music fan--who usually can't hear the cool new bands on the radio anyway--will check out a song or two, and if he likes what he hears will probably end up buying the whole damn album.



Which brings us back to that green haired record store geek sitting behind the counter at Tower. Music is a very personal business, and forging a personal relationship with your local record store jockey can make all the difference in the world. Sadly, the apparent demise of Tower is just one more nail in the coffin of that dead horse. But then you could always take your business over to the cellphone kiosk at the Supermall.



Because cellphones are apparently the delivery system of choice for music fans today. At least if you are buying into the bill of goods the record industry wants to sell you. When it comes to choice, I suppose this could even be considered a good thing. Since the blow-dried pop idols the record industry chooses to shove down our collective throats these days might have one or two decent tracks on an album, you can pretty much pick and choose your song choices.

But the question simply has to be asked here. What motivation does that leave an artist with to create work that reaches further than the three minute pop tune or flavor of the minute gangsta rap song?

Somewhere out there is a Bruce Springsteen waiting to create the next Born To Run. God willing, there may even be a future Brian Wilson with a work as artistically expansive as Pet Sounds lying in wait. But consider this...

If there are actually guys like that still out there (and I have little doubt that there are) banging their craft away in some garage, what motivation do they actually have? First of all, chances are they wouldn't make it past their first record assuming they actually got signed to a deal at all unless it moved a zillion or so copies. Second, if they have anything in them with a creative reach beyond that of your average housewife, what good will it do if your potential listener is most likely going to end up hearing it on a speaker smaller than your thumbnail? And finally, what difference does it make when the idea of creating pop music that goes anything beyond the reach of a hooky single has become as obsolete as the fifties?

Oh wait a second. The music industry has gone back to the fifties hasn't it?

And people wonder why records aren't selling anymore.

R.I.P. Tower.

Jeff Beck's Truth And Beck-Ola Reviewed: They Coulda Been Led Zeppelin

Music Review: Jeff Beck Truth and The Jeff Beck Group Beck-Ola Enhanced Editions

In light of the curcuimstances surrounding the making of the first two--now classic--Jeff Beck albums, it's not only amazing just how good they turned out, but that they were even made at all.

Jeff Beck, considered even back then a Guitar God on a par with Hendrix, Page, and Clapton, had just left an eighteen month stint as guitarist for the Yardbirds. One that just happened to coincide with the band's most commercially successful period.



The most notable single from that period, "Shapes of Things," shows up as the lead-off track to Beck's first solo record Truth in a much heavier, rocked-up version highlighted by the throaty vocals of a then unknown young singer named Rod Stewart.

Jeff Beck's original vision of his new group was to make as heavy a noise as humanly possible. But not everyone involved agreed with Beck's idea. Record Producer Mickie Most, who saw dollar signs in Beck's good looks and already established "name", wanted more of a pop direction for the Jeff Beck Group (and there are some hilarious examples of that "direction" included here as bonus tracks). Most also was not fond of "that poof" Rod Stewart.

But there was also the little problem of actual songs. Without a clearcut songwriter in the band, enough material to fill a single disc, let alone the two they eventually made, would prove no small hurdle for Jeff Beck's first recordings as a solo artist.



Amazingly, not only did both records eventually get made and released--they have also both stood the test of time remarkably well. 1968's Truth is in fact today considered something of a classic. The new enhanced version of Truth which is released next Tuesday along with 1969's followup Beck-Ola, sounds just as good now as it did way back then.

Before Led Zeppelin became the biggest band in the known universe, most of the industry and critics buzz was already on Beck (with Stewart on vocals) to be the next big thing in what would later be termed 'heavy metal." Its not hard to see why here. Although I still prefer the Yardbirds original version over the one found on Truth, "Shapes Of Things" starts things off with a nice burst of power as Beck expands the dimensions of the guitar sound and Stewart turns in a vocal performance which quickly establishes his own credentials.

Its actually amazing just how good Rod Stewart sounds here. Young and obviously hungry, Stewart's performances on songs like "You Shook Me" (later covered on Led Zeppelin's debut album) and "Blues Deluxe" display a range of raw emotion that quickly served notice to the rest of the British Rock world just who the new young lion on the block was.

That Stewart pushes his limited range to the max throughout this disc (something Beck himself has complained about) is of no small consequence. The bottom line is that the young blues shouter who belts the songs on Truth out for all their life, bores little resemblance to the man we find pimping his soul to everything from Disco to Broadway today. Stewart's now trademark whiskey rasp sounds rawer and dirtier here than ever.

As with Stewart, Beck's guitar is much more raw and guttural sounding here than the jazz-fusion technician he would evolve into in later years. The sustained notes which open a fine cover of Willie Dixon's "Aint Superstitious" give the song a feel of dark menace right away, that soon gives way to growling wah-wah's that prowl alongside Stewart's own black cat moans. Future Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, relegated to bass duties here, rounds out the rock steady rhythm section with drummer Micky Waller.



Of the few originals included here however, none have stood the test of time like the brilliant instrumental showcase for Beck's guitar prowess, "Beck's Bolero." Recorded with an all-star lineup that includes Keith Moon and what would become half of Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page on twelve string guitar, and John Paul Jones on bass respectively), "Bolero" is one of rock's all-time instrumental classics. In it's roughly three minutes, "Bolero" goes from classical staccato to a hypnotic, almost Hawaiian like twang, to a full throttle rock assault and then back again. It remains just a gorgeous piece of music.

Moon shows up again banging the tympanis on "Ol Man River" in a way that anyone who has ever heard The Who's rock operas will instantly recognize. Session giant Nicky Hopkins turns in some fine piano work throughout the album.

As for those bonus tracks? There are alternate takes of "Bolero" and "Blues Deluxe", as well as those previously mentioned "poppier" tunes Mickey Most wanted Beck doing full time that were issued as singles. The less said about "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman" the better--though their inclusion here pretty much brings home the point that we can thank Jeff Beck for standing his ground, and winning the argument against Mickie Most way back then.

Not everything on "Truth" is perfectly executed--the canned audience noise on "Blues Deluxe" for example sounds a little corny here. But for an album recorded this quickly, with a lack of original material to boot, the classic status of "Truth" all these years later is a deserved one.



1969's followup record Beck-Ola doesn't work quite as well. By this time, Rod Stewart and Ron Wood were already halfway out the door to form the Faces with Ian McLagan, Ronnie Lane, and the rest of the leftovers of the Small Faces. The band would later end up essentially blowing off a potentially star making appearance at the Woodstock festival. And the lack of a principal songwriter was also still a big problem.

As a result, Beck-Ola in ways sounds like a largely pieced together effort tying raucously played Elvis covers like "All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock", with a few originals like "Plynth (Water Down The Drain)." The good news is the band sounds looser than ever, and especially on the Elvis covers they rock far harder than they do on the bluesier sounding Truth

For all the in-fighting said to have been going on within the band at the time, Beck, Rod, Woody and the rest of the boys sound like they are having a great time in the studio here. Of the few originals included on Beck-Ola's seven tracks, "Plynth" is the clear standout, anchored by a great Jeff Beck guitar riff and some nice piano work from Nicky Hopkins.

Hopkins, who had by this time been recruited as a full time member, actually bangs the hell out of the keys throughout. Beck, for his part displays more of the pyrotechnics that would later help earn him the nickname "guitar mechanic." Perhaps reflecting the looser feel, Ron Wood even gets to shine for a brief, but tasty bass solo on "Spanish Boots."

Bonus Tracks on Beck-Ola include early versions of "Jailhouse Rock" and "All Shook Up," as well as a cover of B.B. King's "Sweet Little Angel". On the King song, mysteriously left off the original album, they pick up the blues explorations right where Truth left off and expand upon them. Although the track might have been a little out of place on Beck-Ola it could stand alongside any of Truth's great blues-rock workouts.

Both of these discs also feature extensive liner notes from U.K. journalist Charles Shaar Murray, and in the case of Beck-Ola, extensive commentary from Jeff Beck himself.

Although today, these two albums can probably be looked back upon as springboards for a group of guys who would later go on to bigger, better things--Beck as a guitar legend, Wood as a Rolling Stone, and Stewart as, well as Rod Stewart--they shouldn't be overlooked in their own right. The original Jeff Beck Group could more than hold a candle up alongside the other british blues rockers of their sixties heyday.

Hell, in another life they could have well turned out to be Led Zeppelin.

Music/Movie Review: The US vs John Lennon

I have to be honest here, and somewhat reluctantly admit I was a little bit disapointed with the much ballyhooed John Lennon documentary film The US vs John Lennon after finally going out and seeing it last week.


Not that it isn't a good film. Because it most certainly is.

I'm not sure how long this movie actually is, but it's got a great pace to it. It tells it's story both succinctly and well in what seems to go by like about ninety minutes.

Which is actually my one relatively minor beef with the film. Given it's rather weighty subject, and in particular the period of his life this film zeroes in on--when Lennon was the subject of some very dubious political hijinx because of his outspoken views--the movie just seems to zip by not unlike the way a VH1 Behind The Music does.



Which I guess shouldn't be too surprising given VH1's name being prominent in the production credits.

But most of the information revealed here in interviews and stock footage, is hardly new to anyone who has followed Lennon (or this story) through the years. It's pretty much a matter of public record nowadays that Lennon was harrassed by the FBI, through every means from surveillance to wiretaps because of his associations with figures of the radical left. People like John Sinclair, Abbie Hoffman, and Jerry Rubin.



It also eventually came to light in the post-Watergate years that Lennon's much publicized Immigration problems (until he finally got his green card) could be directly traced to people close to Richard Nixon and the Republican Party.



So none of this is exactly new. In fact, for those of you really interested in the conspiracy theories this movie only scratches the surface of, I'd reccomend reading Fenton Bresler's bizarre, yet riveting book "Who Killed John Lennon?".

Still, as an insight into a fascinating historical period, and into one of the most truly enigmatic and influential men of his time, The US vs John Lennon is an absolutely fascinating and entertaining ride.

Part of what makes the trip worthwhile is the rare footage from Lennon's family life with Yoko and Sean. There is also footage from the 1971 Concert/Rally to free John Sinclair in Ann Arbor.

The story is further told through interviews with people from both sides--right and left--who were there in the sixties. Former Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy tells a particularly funny story about how he made practical use of a candle carried by one of those no-good peaceniks during a protest march.

That one made me laugh so loud I got a few stares in the theatre.


But what really makes The US vs John Lennon a good, if not quite great, movie is it's soundtrack. And despite the fact that I was able to sneak a quickie review (okay, maybe not-so quickie) of the movie in here, the soundtrack to The US vs John Lennon, now out on CD, is what we are really here to talk about.

Are there better career retrospectives of John Lennon out there? Sure. Look no further than Working Class Hero:The Definitive John Lennon or even Shaved Fish. For the completist, I'm sure there is also one of those pricey boxed sets out there. But as a soundtrack to a film about John Lennon's so-called "political years" from the late sixties to the mid-seventies, this CD wraps things up in a very nice little package, thank you very much.


All of the obvious choices are included here, from "Power To The People," to "Instant Karma," and of course, the anthem "Give Peace A Chance" itself. The Beatles of course are also represented here with "The Ballad Of John & Yoko."

But there are also some choices here from that period which, while far less obvious commercially speaking, really complete the picture of just who John Lennon really was at that time. While "Working Class Hero" and "I Don't Wanna be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die" leave little room for doubt as to Lennon's political leanings, a song like "God," from his so-called Primal Scream Therapy period reveals so much more about Lennon the man it's almost painful to listen to.

The choice of the song "Scared" here is even more interesting, especially in the context of how it is used in this film. Here the song becomes a backdrop for Lennon discussing his growing paranoia over the US government which was by this time shadowing his every step.
The rarities are of course what the diehard Lennon fan will seek out here, and they are an interesting, if not exactly earth-shattering lot. From the 1971 Sinclair Rally we get Lennon's live performances of "Attica State" and "John Sinclair."



But perhaps most interesting to the hardcore Lennon fan, is the alternate instrumental track for "How Do You Sleep," a song widely believed to be a scathing attack on his former songwriting partner Paul McCartney when originally released. The track, when stripped bare, is both sparse and minimal. There is a haunted sort of quality to the music as revealing in it's own way, as the lyrics about his old Beatles feud would later prove to be.

In the relatively brief history of pop music, there has rarely, if ever, been a figure as simultaneously polarizing and influential, while at the same time being as wildly popular as John Lennon.

Let's look at the competition. Paul McCartney was too busy being the "cute one." Mick Jagger, for whatever lip service he paid to the sixties revolution on "Street Fighting Man," was far more interested in playing a Satanic popstar role that eventually bit him on the ass at Altamont.

And Bob Dylan? Both the press and the heartstruck teens of the sixties found Lennon far more interesting. That is unless you count a lot of girls in berets (and a few guys in turtlenecks), who followed Dylan around at the time.

As soundtracks go, The US vs John Lennon compliments it's celluloid counterpart perfectly and serves as a brief, but very effective snapshot of where Lennon's head was during those volatile years when some viewed him as a national threat.