February 2019 – Classic Rock Review

George Harrison

Released in early 1979, George Harrison’s eponymous studio album is a light and breezy work of bliss and contentment by the ex-Beatle as he started a new family in his late 30’s. Adding to the overall atmosphere, much of this record was composed while on an extended hiatus in Hawaii, which followed a full year away from any activity in the music industry. Since it’s release 40 years ago, George Harrison has generally been received well as may be considered one of this artist’s top solo releases.

Harrison had immediate post-Beatles success with the 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass and, to a lesser extent with 1973’s Living In the Material World. Late in 1974, Harrison became the first ex-Beatle to tour North America in conjunction with the release of the album Dark Horse. However, Harrison considered this the least satisfactory of his three post-Beatles studio albums and this, combined with the demise of the Apple Records label, led Harrison to launch his own label called Dark Horse Records. The 1976 album, Thirty Three & 1/3, became the first album release for this label, and it produced a couple of minor hit singles; “This Song” and “Crackerbox Palace”.

Harrison spent much of 1977 following Formula 1 racing and traveled to Hawaii in early 1978 to begin writing for this album, which he would co-produce with Russ Titelman. Recording for the album took place at both Harrison’s suburban home studio and London’s AIR Studios and the sessions included cameos by contemporary artists Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and Gary Wright.

George Harrison by George Harrison
Released: February 20, 1979 (Dark Horse) Produced by: Russ Titelman & George Harrison Recorded: FPSHOT, Oxfordshire & AIR Studios, London, 1978
Side One	Side Two
Love Comes to Everyone Not Guilty Here Comes the Moon Soft-Hearted Hana Blow Away	Faster Dark Sweet Lady Your Love Is Forever Soft Touch If You Believe
Primary Musicians
George Harrison – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Dobro, Mandolin, Sitar, Bass Neil Larsen – Piano, Keyboards Willie Weeks – Bass Andy Newmark – Drums

The album begins with the single “Love Comes to Everyone”, a nice fusion of styles between Harrison’s signature slide guitar of the early seventies and the bass-driven bright pop of the late seventies led by Willie Weeks. The whole vibe of this song is accented nicely by Winwood’s sharp synth lead. “Not Guilty” is a track originally written for the Beatles’ White Album a decade earlier with lyrics referring to Harrison’s ever-straining relationship with his band mates following the failed pilgrimage to India to follow the Maharishi. Due to the tense subject matter, the original 1968 completed recording was not included on the Beatles’ double album. The late seventies version features a jazzy electric piano Neil Larsen and an overall feel that justifies giving this one ten years to mature.

George Harrison 1979

Another nod back to his Beatles’ years, “Here Comes the Moon” acts as a natural sequel to “Here Comes the Sun” from the Abbey Road album. This subtle, acoustic track features fine methodical accompaniment including vocal effects and a vocal chorus. Inspired by the hallucinatory effects of some Hawaiian “magic mushrooms”, the good-timey ragtime tune “Hard Hearted Hannah” features a fine acoustic lead and some call and response vocals. Perhaps the finest overall track, “Blow Away” features an exquisite combo of electric piano and slide electric guitar in the lead in along with a very catchy chorus hook and great guitar link back from chorus to verse. The song was the lead single from the album and became a hit in the United States and Canada.

The album’s second side starts with “Faster” an upbeat, celebratory tribute to Formula 1 racing which also served as the early title for this record. Next comes two subtle love songs, “Dark Sweet Lady” with a beautiful Caribbean style and the methodically strummed acoustic of “Your Love Is Forever”. A leftover from Thirty Three & 1/3, “Soft Touch” was re-written in Hawaii with a tropical theme and musical arrangement, while the closing track “If You Believe” wraps things up with an upbeat and positive message.

The feeling of bliss demonstrated on George Harrison would be shocked by reality during the production of Harrison’s follow-up album Somewhere in England, with the murder of former band mate John Lennon in December 1980. Harrison rewrote a track to pay tribute to Lennon and invited the remaining Beatles to play on the track “All Those Years Ago”, a Top Ten hit in 1981.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1979 albums.

Deep Purple’s 1974 albums

Buy Burn
Buy Stormbringer

In 1974, Deep Purple released their only two albums with the “Mark III” lineup, Burn and Stormbringer. With these records, the group not only replaced vocalist Ian Gillan (who quit) and bassist Roger Glover (who was fired), but also made a stylistic shift towards the popular early seventies style funk rock. Critical response to this new endeavor was mixed (Burn generally received more favorable reviews) while commercial sales remained strong for both albums worldwide.

After Gillan and Glover joined Deep Purple in late 1969, the group’s popularity exploded with each of the initial three “Mark II” albums – Deep Purple In Rock (1970), Fireball (1971), Machine Head (1972) – being more popular and better received than the last. An extensive world tour in 1972 resulted in the double-live album, Made in Japan, which went on to become one of rock’s highest selling live-concert recordings. The 1973 studio album Who Do We Think We Are was an instant gold record but ultimately is a less than spectacular record overall. Exhausted with the frantic pace, Gillan requested a break, but was pushed by management to complete another tour. The resulting tensions ultimately led to Gillan quitting Deep Purple in the summer of 1973, shortly followed by the dismissal of Glover.

In August 1973, former Trapeze bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes joined the group, originally intended to take on the duo roles vacated by Gillan and Glover. However, the band came close to bringing in former Free vocalist Paul Rodgers, before he decided to start Bad Company. The idea of remaining a five-piece but with dual lead vocalists persisted and, after several auditions, the group chose David Coverdale, a then-unknown vocalist from Northeast England.

Burn by Deep Purple
Released: February 15, 1974 (Warner Bros.) Produced by: Deep Purple Recorded: Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, Montreux, Switzerland, November 1973
Side One	Side Two
Burn Might Just Take Your Life Lay Down, Stay Down Sail Away	You Fool No One What’s Goin’ On Here Mistreated ‘A’ 200
Stormbringer by Deep Purple
Released: November 1974 (Warner Bros.) Produced by: Martin Birch & Deep Purple Recorded: Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany & The Record Plant, Los Angeles, August-September 1974
Side One	Side Two
Stormbringer Love Don’t Mean a Thing Holy Man Hold On	Lady Double Dealer You Can’t Do It Right High Ball Shooter The Gypsy Soldier of Fortune
Group Musicians (Both Albums)
David Coverdale – Lead Vocals Ritchie Blackmore – Guitars Jon Lord – Keyboards Glenn Hughes – Bass, Vocals Ian Paice – Drums

The self-produced album Burn was recorded in Montreux, Switzerland during November 1973. All members of the group participated in the songwriting but Hughes was not initially given any credits due to past contractual obligations. The title track kicks things off as a hyper-paced mini-epic which frequently returns to the signature riff by Ritchie Blackmore, who later trades off leads with keyboardist Jon Lord. “Might Just Take Your Life” was the lead single from the album and it starts with Lord’s sloshy organ riff before settling into a fine rock groove topped by Coverdale’s soulful vocals.

On the upbeat “Lay Down, Stay Down” Coverdale and Hughes trade off lead vocals resulting in a heavy Doobie-Brothers-like song, while “Sail Away” is a clavichord-driven rocker with contrasting vocals by the two singers and a later psychedelic-type synth by Lord. “You Fool No One” features a wild drum and percussion ensemble by Ian Paice before it breaks into a pure classic rocker with some sixties influence.

The album concludes with three songs of very differing styles. The blues rocker “What’s Goin’ On Here” features thumping rhythms, a generous use of piano by Lord and crisp guitars by Blackmore for an overall effect that should’ve made this track a hit. “Mistreated” is an extended, droning song that only really comes to life later with another fine guitar lead. The odd, synth driven instrumental “‘A’ 200” closes things out with a rhythm making this sort of a more modern adaptation of the Jeff Beck classic “Beck’s Bolero”.

Burn sold over a million copies worldwide and fared well on the charts, hitting the Top 10 in the UK and the US and reaching #1 in several European countries. In April 1974, this lineup of Deep Purple co-headlined the California Jam festival in Ontario, CA, which drew an audience of more than a quarter million and was broadcast on national Television in the US.

Following another world tour, the group returned to the studio in the late summer of 1974 to record Stormbringer. Co-produced by Martin Birch, the album was recorded in both Munich, Germany and Los Angeles and it musically displays Deep Purple even more fully embracing soul and funk elements with Hughes and Coverdale exerting much more influence and Lord providing an exceptionally strong and versatile effort.

The title track “Stormbringer” opens the album strongly as a perfect junction where Coverdale’s and classic Deep Purple’s styles intersect. The song features heavy rhythms, judicious synths, a soaring guitar lead and doomy lyrics to make it a mid-seventies metal classic. The second track, “Love Don’t Mean a Thing”, offers a sharp contrast to the first with duo lead vocals and a cool, bluesy vibe overall. The next two songs are the only not to include Blackmore in composing and they show this stylistically. “Holy Man” is, perhaps, furthest away from Purple’s core – a pleasant enough ballad with plenty of mid-seventies ear candy – but it sounds nothing like traditional Deep Purple. The keyboard-driven “Hold On” closes the original first side by displaying Lord’s skills at both electric piano and clavichord.

Deep Purple 1974

Side two starts with a return to thumping hard rock on “Lady Double Dealer”, along with some funk elements in the bridge. “You Can’t Do It Right (With the One You Love)” is so funk that it is almost pre-disco, while “High Ball Shooter” is a hybrid of harder blues rock and soulful vocals along with a fine extended organ lead and “The Gypsy” features harmonized guitars and lead vocals. The album concludes with the straight-forward acoustic ballad “Soldier of Fortune”, a quiet and haunting way to wrap things up.

Unhappy with the stylistic shifts in the band he co-founded and named in 1968, Blackmore left Deep Purple following the subsequent Stormbringer tour in 1975. Blackmore then formed Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio while Deep Purple replaced him temporarily with guitarist Tommy Bolin and recorded the forgettable Come Taste the Band. They called it quits in early 1976 and would not reunite for nearly a decade to come.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1974 albums.

Dosage by Collective Soul

Buy Dosage

Collective Soul finished their nineties output by making a return to the mid nineties sound that brought their greatest success. In early 1999, the group released their fourth album, Dosage, with both a step back towards familiar styles and some addition of slight sophistication in the song composition and arrangement. The results of this strategy were somewhat mixed as the album was not quite as successful commercially as past releases, but it did pose as a bit of a comeback critically.

Collective Soul was formed after the production of a high quality demo by guitarist/vocalist Ed Roland made some serious waves, eventually becoming the group’s 1993 debut, Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid. Collective Soul’s self-titled sophomore record became their pinnacle of success, spawning several radio hits and spending over a year on the album charts. However, 1997’s Disciplined Breakdown, which followed a split with management and some legal wranglings, fared significantly lower critically and commercially.

Roland produced Dosage and derived the title from a common catchphrase the group used to describe burnout from touring. The album was meticulously recorded in Atlanta and Miami over a six-month period in 1998 and was the first to feature keyboardist and orchestra arranger Anthony Resta, who played a significant role in forging this record’s sound.

Dosage by Collective Soul
Released: February 9, 1999 (Atlantic) Produced by: Ed Roland Recorded: Tree Studios, Atlanta & Criteria Studios, Miami, 1998
Track Listing	Primary Musicians
Tremble for My Beloved Heavy No More, No Less Needs Slow Dandy Life Run Generate Compliment Not the One Crown	Ed Roland – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards Ross Childress – Guitars, Vocals Dean Roland – Guitars Anthony J. Resta – Keyboards Will Turpin – Bass, Vocals Shane Evans – Drums, Percussion

Dosage by Collective Soul

Released: February 9, 1999 (Atlantic)
Produced by: Ed Roland
Recorded: Tree Studios, Atlanta & Criteria Studios, Miami, 1998

Track Listing

Primary Musicians

Tremble for My Beloved
Heavy
No More, No Less
Needs
Slow
Dandy Life
Run
Generate
Compliment
Not the One
Crown

Ed Roland – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Ross Childress – Guitars, Vocals
Dean Roland – Guitars
Anthony J. Resta – Keyboards
Will Turpin – Bass, Vocals
Shane Evans – Drums, Percussion

The album’s opening track, “Tremble for My Beloved”, was also one of the first songs written for the album. Ironically, this would take nearly a decade to find widespread fame after it was featured in the 2008 film Twilight. “Heavy” was a more immediate hit, as rose to the top of the Mainstream Rock Tracks for nearly four months in 1999. With a theme about outside pressure, “Heavy” features a catchy guitar riff and fine lead by Ross Childress. The intro to “No More, No Less” is driven by electronic percussive effects along with fine bass riff by Will Turpin, while “Needs” starts with finger picked acoustic and strings and picks up intensity from there.

“Slow” was co-written by Ed’s brother and band guitarist Dean Roland, featuring a wild main riff with barked out vocals during the verses, making this tune very catchy and entertaining overall. Conversely, “Dandy Life” was penned by Childress, who also takes over lead vocals on this sticky-sweet dance-styled pop tune. The hit track “Run” follows, featuring steady acoustic strumming guided by piano leads and a strong but short guitar lead.

Collective Soul

As the album winds down there are a few more interesting moments. The synth-driven track “Generate” features an odd-time percussive effect and a very mechanical vibe throughout, making this unique on the album and one of the better tracks on it’s latter half. “Compliment” starts with cool synth arpeggio before breaking into a standard moderate rocker, much the same as “Not the One”, a ballad driven by the steady beat of drummer Shane Evans. “Crown” is the last official track as a slow and methodical acoustic ballad with plenty of electronic décor and a fine guitar lead. After this fades and about a minute of silence, the “hidden” track “She Said” kicks in as a quality song with nice, alternating use of synths in chorus.

Dosage peaked at near the Top 20 on the Billboard albums chart, making it a moderate overall hit for Collective Soul. This album would find temporary new life in 2012 when the group performed the album in its entirety during their “Dosage” tour.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1999 albums.