Diamonds In the Coal by The Badlees

Diamonds In the Coal
by The Badlees

by with 3 Comments Album Reviews

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Diamonds In the Coal by The Badlees At a time when many in the rock world were in the process of re-imaging from the slick 80’s hair band to the grungy 90s alternative, a young Pennsylvania band called The Badlees was forging their own path with a sound called “roots rock” with their first full length album, Diamonds In the Coal. The band, which had been steadily gaining popularity since the release of their initial EP It Ain’t For You in late 1990, had solidified their lineup with the addition of Paul Smith in 1991. With Smith’s addition, the Badlees had the core quintet in place that would drive them through their most productive years. The result is a well-crafted, entertaining, and thoughtful album with fine and exquisite details and quality of the songs that became the watershed of creative music on this band’s debut.

The album was co-produced by guitarist Bret Alexander and contains all original compositions which were mainly written by Alexander with about half being co-penned by band associate Mike Naydock. The songs are augmented by a structure of electric and acoustic guitars, solid rhythms, judicious use of ethic instruments, layered vocals, and thoughtful lyrics.

There are few things easier than to live badly and die well…”

This quote by Oscar Wilde was placed inner sleeve of Diamonds In the Coal, in an obvious play on the band’s name. Further, each song on the lyrics page contained its own special quote from philosophers and artists ranging from Aristotle to Andy Warhol, some of the extra attention to detail the band put into the atmosphere of the album. Topping it off were the authentic pictures that were used for the cover of early 20th century coal miners that drummer Ron Simasek found at a local Historical Society.

 


Diamonds In the Coal by The Badlees
Released: January 14, 1992 (Rite-Off)
Produced by: Bret Alexander & the Badlees
Recorded: Waterfront Recording, Hoboken, NJ / Susquehanna Sound, Northumberland, PA, 1991
Track Listing Band Musicians
Like a Rembrandt
Back Where We Came From
Just One Moment
The Real Thing
Heaven On Earth
Interlude / Badlee Rap
The Next Big Thing
Dirty Neon Times
Spending My Inheritance
Sister Shirley
Mystery Girl
Road to Paradise
Diamonds In the Coal		 Pete Palladino – Lead Vocals
Bret Alexander – Guitars, Mandolin, Harmonica, Vocals
Jeff Feltenberger – Guitars, Vocals
Paul Smith – Bass, Vocals
Ron Simasek– Drums & Percussion
 

Diamonds In the Coal by The Badlees

 

Thematically, Diamonds In the Coal is nearly sliced in half by the light intermission of “Interlude/Badlee Rap”, with the rap itself performed by Loose Bruce above some slight guitar and harmonica. Songs previous to this on the album are mainly pop-oriented, with basic structure and strong hooks. This all starts with the opener “Like a Rembrandt”, of which Alexander sets the scene as “a bunch of young kids partying out by an old coal breaker and realizing full well that this may be the greatest summer of their lives”.

“Back Where We Came From” (commonly referred to as “The Na Na Song”) follows with a strong delivery by lead vocalist Pete Palladino. This acoustic-driven tune with electric overtones, was the first single from the album and the first to receive significant airplay. It also shows that the Badlees had perfected a song template that the much more heralded Hootie and the Blowfish would replicate years later. Despite the Bon Jovi-ish hook at the onset, “Heaven On Earth” is still a song with good instrumentation lead by a solid, strummed acoustic while the lighter sound of “The Real Thing” contains serene and solid guitar riffs by Alexander with just a touch of the instrument which would become more predominant in the band, the mandolin. “Just One Moment” is another pop-oriented track with a bouncy and choppy riff, good vocals, and strong back beat by Simasek.

The Badlees

The second “half” of the album contains songs that explore deeper subject matter and richer musical structure. Guitarist Jeff Feltenberger provides good vocal interplay with Palladino during “The Next Big Thing”, while upbeat power-pop anthem “Dirty Neon Times” provides more fantastic vocal harmonies by Feltenberger in a pleasant, acoustic driven song.

Alexander’s “Spending My Inheritance” is a well composed, sort of “people’s anthem” tune with some harmonica intertwined with fiddle by guest performer David Rose. “Sister Shirley” is perhaps the most unique song on the album. It includes a picturesque lyrical narrative by Naydock and some sweet, jazzy guitar by Alexander – a rewarding listen, which shows the band’s musical and compositional range. Feltenberger wrote “Road to Paradise”, in an odd time, with steady acoustic strumming against slightly spastic drums all topped by intricate, three-part vocal patterns.

The closing title song is the true masterpiece of Diamonds In the Coal. Here, the listener is brought into the dark, forgotten patch towns of Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Region. The imagery in this song’s lyric is so vivid that you can almost feel the coal dust flying, while the music sets the perfect scene with a methodic, marching rhythm below and some authentic, ethnic instrumentation up above. This song showed the true promise of the band in 1992 and would be the primer for their breakthrough album River Songs three years later.

Diamonds In the Coal 30th anniversary edition

In recent years, Bret Alexander looked back with great fondness on the creation of this debut album, saying he had a tremendous amount of fun and creative fulfillment writing the songs and producing Diamonds In the Coal. Although he does lament that he doesn’t feel that the overall “sound” of the album has held up sonically through the years. There is a definite early-nineties, polished-up quality with the drum sound snare-centric, the rhythms contain little variation, and the well-compressed vocals always seeming to hang at eye-level. So in 2022, Smith remixed the record and re-released a special 30th anniversary edition of Diamonds In the Coal which gives a new generation a fresh perspective on this record.

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1992 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1992 albums.

Street Survivors by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Street Survivors by Lynyrd Skynyrd

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Street Survivors by Lynyrd SkynyrdThe fifth and final studio album during the brief classic era of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Street Survivors was released just three days before the crash of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s touring plane which killed six, including three group members. One of those who tragically lost his life was the newest member of the band, guitarist Steve Gaines, who wrote or co-wrote a majority of the material on this record along with providing much boogie rhythm and lead guitar along with some vocals. Despite the horrific conditions surrounding its release, Street Survivors forever cemented the group’s legacy status as one of finest Southern rock bands as it reached the Top 5 on the U.S. album charts.

Emerging out of Jacksonville, Florida, Lynyrd Skynyrd found immediate success with their 1973 debut album, Pronounced ‘Leh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd and their follow-up, Second Helping in 1974. The group’s drummer, Bob Burns, left the band in 1975 and was replaced by former US Marine Artimus Pyle prior to he band’s third album, Nuthin’ Fancy. Recorded in under 3 weeks, the album was less focused than the previous two despite becoming the group’s third consecutive platinum-seller. In 1976, guitarist Ed King became the second group member to depart in as many years and that year’s album Gimme Back My Bullets fared even worse that it’s predecessors commercially.

The recording of Street Survivors was no easy task as two distinct recording spans were needed for its completion. The group originally recorded a version of the record at Miami’s Criteria Studios with producer Tom Dowd but were dissatisfied with this version’s “fire and punch”. So Lynyrd Skynard reconvened at Atlanta’s Studio One for much rerecording, remixing, and rearranging to come up with the final version.


Street Survivors by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Released: October 17, 1977 (MCA)
Produced by: Tom Dowd; Jimmy Johnson & Tim Smith
Recorded: Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Muscle Shoals, AL, 1971; Criteria Studios, Miami; Studio One, Doraville, Georgia & Studio In The Country, Bogalusa, LA, February–August 1977
Side One Side Two
What’s Your Name
That Smell
One More Time
I Know a Little		 You Got That Right
I Never Dreamed
Honky Tonk Night Time Man
Ain’t No Good Night
Group Musicians
Ronnie Van Zant – Lead Vocals
Steve Gaines – Guitars, Vocals
Gary Rossington – Guitars
Allen Collins – Guitars
Billy Powell – Piano, Keyboards
Leon Wilkeson – Bass, Vocals
Artimus Pyle – Drums

Street Survivors starts with an instant, catchy Skynard classic “What’s Your Name”, co-written by guitarist Gary Rossington and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant. With a traditional, crisp Southern rock feel and a simple, direct message as an ode to rock groupies “What’s Your Name” peaked in the Top 20 in the U.S. and the Top 10 in Canada. This is followed by “That Smell”, the best overall song on the album as a true epic jam merged with a topical, anti-drug theme. This song is led by the crisp guitar riffing and multi-level leads by Allen Collins along with good melodic vocals by Van Zant and the backing of “The Honkettes” featuring JoJo Billingsley Leslie Hawkins and Cassie Gaines.

A truly unique track on the album is “One More Time”, added late when several other candidates were judged insufficient. The track was originally recorded during Skynyrd’s 1971 Muscle Shoals session (material later released on the 1978 album Skynyrd’s First and…Last). Musically, “One More Time” has a Grateful Dead-like arrangement with complex layers, a well-crafted 6/8 swing throughout and it features departed group members King, bassist Rickey Medlocke and drummer Greg Walker.

Lynyrd Skynrd in 1977

Much of the rest of the album is dominated by Steve Gaines, starting with the blues rock shuffle “I Know a Little”. While simple in structure, the song is also a real showcase for the talent in this band beyond Gaines, most especially the piano of Billy Powell and the bass of Leon Wilkeson. “You Got That Right” starts the record’s second side as an upbeat jam with a great slide guitar lead by Gaines, while “I Never Dreamed” features an acoustic country-rock rhythm with subtle but unique percussion. The Merle Haggard cover “Honky Tonk Night Time Man” features guest Barry Lee Harwood on dobro leading to the closer “Ain’t No Good Life” is a slow blues showcase for Gaines where he also provides lead vocals.

Just three days after the release of Street Survivors, Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines were killed along with the group’s assistant road manager and the plane’s pilot and co-pilot, while all the other band members were injured but survived. Ultimately, Lynyrd Skynyrd would go on hiatus for a decade before reuniting in 1987 with Johnny Van Zant (Ronnie’s younger brother) on lead vocals along with Rossington, Powell, Wilkeson, Pyle and King.

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1977 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1977 albums.

Bruce Springsteen 1992 albums

Human Touch & Lucky Town
by Bruce Springsteen

by with No Comment Album Reviews

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Buy Lucky Town

Bruce Springsteen 1992 albumsThe 1980s were incredibly successful for Bruce Springsteen, both commercially and critically. However, with the break-up of the E Street band in late 1989 and Springsteen’s relocation from New Jersey to Los Angeles, the next decade proved to be a more uneven decade for the boss musically. Human Touch and Lucky Town, the first two albums he released during the 1990s were released simultaneously on March 31, 1992. It had been nearly half a decade since Springsteen’s last studio album release in 1987. While these two works will be forever linked, they each had a distinct origin, approach, style and running length.  These differences were ultimately reflected in their differing sales and critical responses.

After the pop/rock 1984 blockbuster Born In the USA, Springsteen released the more contemplative Tunnel of Love in 1987. The following year saw Springsteen headlining a concert in East Germany with 300,000 attendees as well as the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. Not long after the break up of the E Street Band, keyboardist Roy Bittan presented Springsteen with three instrumentals to which he later added lyrics. With this, Bittan was the sole E Street Band member involved in the production of either of the 1992 albums.

Human Touch was recorded through 1990 with Bittan, bassist Randy Jackson and drummer Jeff Porcaro joining Springsteen. Porcaro, a legendary session drummer and member of the group Toto, was asked by Springsteen to join him for the subsequent tours, but he declined due to scheduling conflicts (Porcaro would tragically die in 1992 of a heart attack). Human Touch was originally set for a early-to-mid 1991 release but Springsteen was not quite satisfied with the material at the time. He returned to the studio in September 1991 to record an extra “song or two” for the album. However, these sessions yielded ten new tracks, recorded in a more stripped-down fashion with Springsteen playing most of the instruments. Ultimately, he made the decision to package this newer material as a totally separate album, Lucky Town.

 

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Human Touch and Lucky Town by Bruce Springsteen
Released: March 31, 1992 (Columbia)
Produced by: Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Roy Bittan & Bruce Springsteen
Recorded: A&M Studios, Los Angeles and Thrill Hill, Colts Neck, NJ, September 1989 – January 1992
Human Touch Lucky Town
Human Touch
Soul Driver
57 Channels (and Nothin’ On)
Cross My Heart
Gloria’s Eyes
With Every Wish
Roll of the Dice
Real World
All or Nothin’ at All
Man’s Job
I Wish I Were Blind
The Long Goodbye
Real Man
Pony Boy		 Better Days
Lucky Town
Local Hero
If I Should Fall Behind
Leap of Faith
The Big Muddy
Living Proof
Book of Dreams
Souls of the Departed
My Beautiful Reward
Primary Musicians
Bruce Springsteen – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Harmonica, Bass (Lucky Town)
Roy Bittan – Keyboards
Randy Jackson – Bass (Human Touch)
Jeff Porcaro – Drums (Human Touch)
Gary Mallaber – Drums (Lucky Town)

 

Human Touch begins with it’s title track, an extended, six and a half minute journey into pleasant enough adult contemporary pop. Lyrically, the track explores a reflection on a failed romance, making it compatible with the previous Tunnel of Love album, and the song reached the Top 20 in the US and fared even better in Europe. “Soul Driver” features synth and guitar trade offs along with excellent vocals, both lead and backing, throughout. “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)” is an interesting track, driven by Springsteen’s bass line and chanting vocals, which really hone in on the hook. This amped-up, rockabilly screed on the (then) state of mass media is dripping with irony.

Next, the sparse, slow rocker “Cross My Heart” uses lyrics from a 1958 tune by Sonny Boy Williamson, followed by the upbeat rocker “Gloria’s Eyes”, with Springsteen’s blues-based lead guitar intermittent between the vocals. “With Every Wish” sees a switch to in Americana mode with slight flourishes of fretless bass by guest Douglas Lunn and trumpet by Mark Isham. The next pair were co-written by Bittan, with “Roll of the Dice” featuring a classic E Street vibe and “Real World” showcasing a great array of sonic effects, more great harmonies, and Springsteen’s finest guitar lead on the album.

"Human Touch" by Bruce Springsteen“All or Nothin’ at All” is rockabilly, retro fitted to a modern-day hook and offers nothing really groundbreaking. This may also apply to the tracks “Man’s Job” and “The Long Goodbye”. As Human Touch nears its conclusion, “I Wish I Were Blind” is the best track late on the record as a ballad with great melody and mood and a thumping bass by Jackson which finely contrasts the overall melancholy feel. “Real Man” features a soulful sound due to creative synths, leading to the closer “Pony Boy”, a traditional track scaled down as a simple folk duet between wife Patti Scialfa and Springsteen.

Moving on to Lucky Town, it commences with a perfect opener, “Better Days”, with lead vocals intensity amped up to ’11’ over a moderate rock beat with excellent backing vocals. The title track, “Lucky Town” is alt country with a dark folk feel initially and, in contrast to the opener, is mostly a solo recording by Springsteen, being joined only by drummer Gary Mallaber. This is an arrangement that will be predominant through much of the remainder of the album.

Lucky Town by Bruce Springsteen“Local Hero” starts with slight harmonica lead before settling into another upbeat storytelling tune, while “If I Should Fall Behind” is the best overall track thus far, as a folksy acoustic love song with just the right amount of accompaniment throughout. After the thumping “Leap of Faith”, we reach the heart of the Lucky Town record with “The Big Muddy” and it’s interesting, Delta-blues sound above an electric arpeggio, along with distinct acoustic slides and echo-laden vocals which guide the song along. “Living Proof” starts with a disco-like kick drum but the vibe is soon altered by jangly guitar in this moving song Springsteen wrote about becoming a father after he and Patti welcomed their first child in 1990.

“Book of Dreams” is a ballad with introspective lyrics, delivered with soft vocals and an even softer musical arrangement with synths and bass. “Souls of the Departed” has a sharp, jagged electric guitar sound with a slight harmonica which becomes more prominent as the tune advances, with lyrics offering commentary on the first Gulf War. Wrapping things up, “My Beautiful Reward” is an acoustic ballad with a good, folksy vibe.

Bruce Springsteen 1992

Both Human Touch and Lucky Town fared well commercially, each reaching the Top 5 on the album charts and each respectively reaching platinum in sales. However, Springsteen’s first albums without the E Street Band have come to be known as the “bastard children” of his pristine discography and, since reuniting with his old band at the end of the century, he has rarely revisited any of this material during live shows.

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1992 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1992 albums.

Younger Than Yesterday by The Byrds

Younger Than Yesterday
by The Byrds

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Younger Than Yesterday by The ByrdsThe fourth album by The Byrds, 1967’s Younger Than Yesterday saw a continued evolution of the quartet’s sound towards a mature fusion of jazz and psychedelia and jazz into their root folk/rock sound. This album has grown to be considered among the group’s strongest by critics, in spite of the fact that it initially had mixed reviews and it only achieved moderate chart success upon it’s release.

The Byrds reached international prominence in 1965 with several hit singles and a pair of #1 albums. However, their 1966 third album, Fifth Dimension, was less commercially successful than their first two following the departure of Gene Clark, who had previously been the group’s chief songwriter. The group also found themselves seeking a new a record producer as they prepared for the recording of this fourth album. Bassist Chris Hillman and guitarist David Crosby took a more active role in songwriting for this record with the pair having a hand in writing or co-writing 10 of the 11 originals on the album.

Following an intensive period of rehearsal, the entirety of Younger Than Yesterday was completed in 11 days with producer Gary Usher in late 1966. While the original working title for this LP was Sanctuary, they later exchanged this for a title inspired by the lyrics of the Bob Dylan cover, “My Back Pages”, the only cover song on this album.

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Younger Than Yesterday by The Byrds
Released: February 6, 1967 (Columbia)
Produced by: Gary Usher
Recorded: Columbia Studio, Hollywood, November–December, 1966
Side One Side Two
So You Want to Be a Rock n’ Roll Star
Have You Seen Her Face
C.T.A.-102
Renaissance Fair
Time Between
Everybody’s Been Burned		 Thoughts and Words
Mind Gardens
My Back Pages
The Girl with No Name
Why
Group Members
Jim McGuinn – guitars, vocals
David Crosby – guitars, vocals
Chris Hillman – bass, vocals
Michael Clarke – drums

The album’s opening song and lead single, “So You Want to Be a Rock n’ Roll Star”, was co-written by Hillman and Jim McGuinn and it became a Top 40 hit for the group. Meant as an ironic but good-natured comment on the recent success of the manufactured rock band The Monkees, the song was innovative with the inclusion of trumpet by Hugh Masekela as well as some crowd noise effects. “Have You Seen Her Face” follows as a contemporary love song released as another single from the album, while “C.T.A.-102” takes a turn as it explores the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Co-written by Crosby and McGuinn, “Renaissance Fair” is a short folk song with medieval ambiance and it features saxophone by guest Jay Migliori. Hillman’s country / pop influenced “Time Between” is followed by Crosby’s jazz-influenced “Everybody’s Been Burned”, a song he wrote in 1962, a few years before the formation of the Byrds. “Thoughts and Words” kicks of the original Side Two as an LSD-influenced, metaphysical meditation on human relationships with plenty of effects. “Mind Gardens” was a contentious track which was written by Crosby but disliked by the other band members because if its lack of traditional compositional form. Crosby’s ambitions for artistic control within the band would ultimately lead to his dismissal from the group later in 1967.

The Byrds in 1966

The group’s version of “My Back Pages” harkens back to their smash hit Mr. Tambourine Man a few years earlier as a pared-down and electrified version of a Dylan folk song. It would ultimately be the last single by the Byrds to reach the Top 40. Following the county-flavored “The Girl with No Name”, the album concludes with “Why”, an Indian-flavored, re-recorded version of a song first released as the B-side of the band’s “Eight Miles High” single in March 1966.

While Younger Than Yesterday charted in the Top 40 in both the US and the UK, it would be the last to feature all original members of The Byrds as both Crosby and drummer Michael Clarke would soon depart the group and various lineup ships would occur in subsequent years.

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1967 Images

Part of Classic Rock review’s Celebration of 1967 albums.

Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane

Surrealistic Pillow
by Jefferson Airplane

by with No Comment Album Reviews

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Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane reached an early peak with their second LP Surrealistic Pillow. The album was the first album to feature vocalist Grace Slick, who made an immediate impact by bringing with her a couple of songs from her former group, The Great Society. Combined with these indelible tunes is a fine mix of folk, rock and psychedelic experimentation which made this record a quintessential work of the 1960s counterculture.

After the Beatles-led British Invasion of 1964, folk singer Marty Balin decided to open a club in San Francisco and start a folk-rock band in residency. The first to sign on was guitarist Paul Kantner and a multitude of shifting lineups followed. When blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen joined he came up with the group name based on his own nickname “Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane”, which in turn was influenced by one of Kaukonen’s blues influences, Blind Lemon Jefferson. The group performed its first public show in August, 1965 and within months they were fielding offers from recording companies, signing with RCA Victor in November 1965, The group’s debut, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off was released in September 1966 with a mix of covers and folk originals, but it did not make many waves outside of the San Francisco Bay area.

In late 1966, the group’s lineup shifted once again as Spencer Dryden replaced original drummer Skip Spence and Slick replaced vocalist Signe Anderson at the invitation of bassist Jack Casady. This new lineup entered the studio late in the year to record to record Surrealistic Pillow.

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Surrealist Pillow by Jefferson Airplane
Released: February 1, 1967 (RCA Victor)
Produced by: Rick Jarrard
Recorded: RCA Victor’s Music Center, Hollywood, October-November, 1966
Side One Side Two
She Has Funny Cars
Somebody to Love
My Best Friend
Today
Comin’ Back to Me		 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds
D.C.B.A.–25
How Do You Feel
Embryonic Journey
White Rabbit
Plastic Fantastic Lover
Group Members
Marty Balin – guitars, vocals
Grace Slick – piano, keyboards, recorder, vocals
Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitars, vocals
Paul Kantner – guitars, vocals
Jack Casady – bass, guitars
Spencer Dryden – drums, percussion

Dryden’s drum pattern borrowed from Bo Diddly introduces the opener “She Has Funny Cars”, with later sections featuring a duet between Balin and Slick. Grace’s brother-in-law Darby Slick composed the pop hit “Somebody to Love”, while both were members of The Great Society in 1965. This song became Jefferson Airplane’s first and biggest charting single as it reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. “My Best Friend” is sing-songy and laid back with rich vocal harmonies and subtle lead guitar throughout, while “Today” features beautiful, layered guitars and great vocals by Balin.

The mellow mood continues on the extended “Comin’ Back to Me”, a laid back folk ballad sans rhythm section, In contrast, “3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds” is Balin’s driving rocker which features some great lead guitar by Kaukonen and nice bass interplay by Cassady. Kantner’s “D.C.B.A.–25” is a pleasant folk rocker with intricate rhythms and dual vocals, followed by the uplifting love tune “How Do You Feel” and Kaukonen’s Celtic-flavored acoustic piece, “Embryonic Journey”.

The album’s highlight is Slick’s “White Rabbit”, a single direction vector of a song which builds from a simple thumping rhythm and builds into a a strong crescendo as a definitive icon of the late 60s sound. The lyrics draw from the Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland series and the single and became another Top 10 hit from the album. Balin’s “Plastic Fantastic Lover” closes the record with an almost Velvet Underground feel to it, an edgy vibe which ends a bit abruptly.

Surrealistic Pillow peaked at number three on the Billboard album chart and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. Soon after it’s release, Jefferson Airplane performed at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, further solidifying their legacy as a central act in the Summer of Love.

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1967 Images

Part of Classic Rock review’s Celebration of 1967 albums.

Jackson Browne 1972 debut

Jackson Browne

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Jackson Browne 1972 debutSometimes referred to as “Saturate Before Using”, Jackson Browne‘s 1972 self-titled debut showcases his early style of composing and performing reflective ballads. This album achieved a healthy measure of commercial success and received critical acclaim which has expanded through the decades as its original compositions communicate a romantic sensibility and employ a subtle arrangement and production style. Further, while only 23 at the time of it’s release, Browne was already a quasi-veteran in the Southern California music scene, which gave him the opportunity to enlist A-list musicians and singers to back him up on this debut.

Jackson Browne was born in Germany to American parents but spent most of his childhood in California. He began performing folk songs in his teens and joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band shortly after graduating high school (while Browne was only in the band for a short time, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band would later recorded a number of his compositions). After leaving the Dirt Band in 1967, Browne moved to New York City and became a writer for the publishing company Nina Music, where he had various connections with people in the folk scene. Browne contributed to Nico’s debut album Chelsea Girl and some of his songs were recorded by Tom Rush, Gregg Allman, Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt and the Byrds before he ever recorded his own versions. After moving back to LA, Browne signed with his manager David Geffen’s new Asylum Records in 1971.

Browne’s first album featured several guest performers, including the vocal harmonies of David Crosby and Graham Nash and the guitars of Jesse Ed Davis and Albert Lee. The sessions were spearheaded by producer/engineer Richard Sanford Orshoff and recorded at Crystal Sound Recorders in Hollywood.


Jackson Browne by Jackson Browne
Released: January 1, 1972 (Asylum)
Produced by: Richard Sanford Orshoff
Recorded: Crystal Sound Recorders, Hollywood, 1971
Side One Side Two
Jamaica Say You Will
A Child in These Hills
Song for Adam
Doctor, My Eyes
From Silver Lake		 Something Fine
Under the Falling Sky
Looking Into You
Rock Me on the Water
My Opening Farewell
Primary Musicians
Jackson Browne – Lead Vocals, Piano, Guitar
Jim Gordon – Organ
Leland Sklar – Bass
Russ Kunkel – Drums, Percussion

The record begins with “Jamaica Say You Will”, a melodic piano tune with the fine accompaniment of bass and drums by Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel respectively. This song was inspired by a gardener who worked across the street from the Pacific Ocean and it had been previously released by The Byrds on their 1971 album Byrdmaniax. “A Child in These Hills” follows as an acoustic folk tune with great electric interplay by Albert Lee throughout, along with fine harmonica textures by Jimmie Fadden, especially during the train-like unique outro. The somber “Song for Adam” is pure acoustic folk with a very slight arrangement, written in memory of Browne’s friend Adam Saylor, who died in 1968 either by accident or suicide.

The upbeat pop/rocker “Doctor, My Eyes” features a thumping piano, a fine melody and layered textures of sounds which made it a Top 10 hit for Browne. The song’s lyric is a statement of a man who had stoically endured life’s hardships with a slightly optimistic view moving forward and its unique arrangement features electric guitar by Davis and congas by Kunkel. Both “From Silver Lake” and “Something Fine” are sparsely arranged folk ballads, followed by the interesting “Under the Falling Sky”, a rhythmically intense song with a lyric which paints an image of deep human connection.

Jackson Browne concludes with three fine compositions, starting with the ballad “Looking into You”, which features guests David Jackson on piano and Flying Burrito Brother Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel guitar. “Rock Me on the Water” is a gospel-like composition with a solo piano break by Craig Doerge before the tune grows more uplifting as it reaches its climax. The album concludes with the slightly melancholy and beautifully constructed “My Opening Farewell”, featuring intricate interplay between Browne’s acoustic guitar, Sklar’s bass and Doerge’s piano.

Jackson Browne

Browne set high standards with this eponymous debut but found the success hard to replicate on his subsequent albums For Everyman (1973) and Late for the Sky (1974), before he once again found commercial success starting with 1976’s The Pretender and continuing through the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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1972 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1972 albums.

The Monkees 1966 debut

The Monkees

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The Monkees 1966 debutIn October 1966, The Monkees released their self-titled debut record, which would become the first of four consecutive number one albums in the US. The album debuted one month after The Monkees television series first aired. While the group was visually portrayed as a traditional four-piece rock band on TV, on this debut record the four members provided nothing but vocals on all but two of the twelve album tracks and no tracks featured all four members of the Monkees.

The initial concept for the Monkees dates back to 1962 and and an unsuccessful attempt to sell the series by filmmaker Bob Rafelson. Two years later Rafelson and Bert Schneider formed Raybert Productions and that year’s success of the Beatles’ debut film A Hard Day’s Night inspired the team to revive the idea for The Monkees. In April 1965, Raybert sold the show to Screen Gems Television with the original idea of casting the New York folk rock group, The Lovin’ Spoonful. After that initial plan fell through Davy Jones, a then-current actor at Screen Gems, was cast as the first member of a new fabricated group, with a call for the remainder of the band/cast members put out in September 1965. Out of more than 400 applicants, Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork were signed on to The Monkees. All three had previously worked as musicians at differing levels and, once The Monkees was picked up as a series, development of the musical side of the project accelerated.

Producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were enlisted as chief songwriters for the project and Columbia and Screen Gems entered into a joint venture called Colgems Records as a label and distributor of Monkees records. While the newly formed group did practice playing as a group, Boyce and Hart decided to use top session players for the recording of two albums that were the soundtrack of the TV show’s first season. Music for the debut album was recorded over several sessions in Los Angeles during the summer of 1966.

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The Monkees by The Monkees
Released: October 10, 1966 (Colgems)
Produced by: Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Jack Keller & Michael Nesmith
Recorded: Los Angeles, June-July 1966
Side One Side Two
(Theme From) The Monkees
Saturday’s Child
I Wanna Be Free
Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day
Papa Gene’s Blues
Take a Giant Step		 Last Train to Clarksville
This Just Doesn’t Seem to Be My Day
Let’s Dance On
I’ll Be True to You
Sweet Young Thing
Gonna Buy Me a Dog
Group Members
Micky Dolenz
Davy Jones
Mike Nesmith
Peter Tork

Beginning with the signature television opening “(Theme From) The Monkees”, the debut record features Dolenz on lead vocals for most tracks, including the rather hard rock turn on the Davis Gates-penned “Saturday’s Child”. “I Wanna Be Free” is the first of a trio to features Jones on lead vocals with Nesmith taking lead on the pair of tracks he composed, “Papa Gene’s Blues” and “Sweet Young Thing”. While Tork does not sing lead on any tracks, he is the only Monkee to play an instrument anywhere on the album, providing guitar on the two aforementioned Nesmith tracks.

“Last Train to Clarksville” was the album’s biggest hit as it topped the US pop charts and was subsequently featured in seven episodes of the TV series. This jangly folk/rock tune was musically inspired by the Beatles’ recent hit “Paperback Writer”, with lyrics of a man phoning the woman he loves and urging her to meet him at a train station before he must leave, possibly on his way to war.

The Monkees

The Monkees was a worldwide success, topping the charts in several countries, including the US where it remained at number one for a quarter of a year. The album only lost it’s top spot when the group’s follow-up album More of the Monkees, recorded it late 1966 and released in January 1967, took over the number one spot, Combined, the Monkees held the number one album spot in the US for over 30 consecutive weeks.

As swiftly as this success was obtained, the group’s television and recording popularity did not last all that long. After just two successful seasons, the Monkees’ television series was canceled in 1968 as the group members wanted to take a more personal stake in their music and film output. Head, their one and only feature film, was a commercial disaster as it directly challenged the Monkees’ curious stardom but this only served to disconcert their strongest fan base.

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1966 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1966 albums.

Fifth Dimension by The Byrds

Fifth Dimension by The Byrds

by with No Comment Album Reviews

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Fifth Dimension by The ByrdsThe Byrd‘s third album, released in the summer of 1966, Fifth Dimension saw a change both in style and personnel for the folk-rock group. Earlier in the year Gene Clark, who had previously been a chief songwriter, departed. The remaining quartet picked up some of the compositional slack while also moving the overall sound in a more psychedelic direction. The result was a record which was both uneven yet highly influential in the overall progress of rock and roll.

Formed in Los Angeles in 1964, the group found immediate success in 1965 with the albums Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn Turn Turn, both of which featured corresponding title songs that reached #1 on the American pop charts. With this, The Byrds were being promoted as “America’s answer to the Beatles”. The stress of this sudden success, along with a fear of flying, led Clark to depart the group in February 1966, shortly as they had begun recording tracks for the Fifth Dimension album.

Guitarists and vocalists Jim McGuinn and David Crosby stepped in to increase their songwriting efforts for this third album, but the group still needed to record four cover songs to complete the project.

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Fifth Dimension by The Byrds
Released: July 18, 1966 (Columbia)
Produced by: Allen Stanton
Recorded: Columbia Studios, Hollywood, January-May 1966
Side One Side Two
5D (Fifth Dimension)
Wild Mountain Thyme
Mr. Spaceman
I See You
What’s Happening?!?!
I Come and Stand at Every Door		 Eight Miles High
Hey Joe
Captain Soul
John Riley
2-4-2 Fox Trot (The Lear Jet Song)
Group Musicians
Jim McGuinn – Guitars, Vocals
David Crosby – Guitars, Vocals
Chris Hillman – Bass, Vocals
Michael Clarke – Drums, Harmonica

The album begins with “5D (Fifth Dimension)”, a very Dylan-esque folk song by McGuinn which is short but builds in intensity towards it’s end. The lyrical theme explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and the recording features guest Van Dyke Parks on organ. “Wild Mountain Thyme” follows as one of a pair of traditional folk songs repurposed with the Byrds 12-string signature sound on this album. The other is “John Riley” on side two, with both being introduced to the band by McGuinn. “Mr. Spaceman” is an upbeat folk/rock with a more earthy sound than the previous tracks, whimsical but very melodic lyrics and an interesting lead guitar.

After the disjointed psyche-rocker “I See You” comes Crosby’s best composition on this album, “What’s Happening?!?!” This features a moderate folk/rock vibe but with slight psychedelic overtones as it consistently alternates between verse lines and instrumental passages. The first side ends with the dark “I Come and Stand at Every Door”, written about a child who perished at Hiroshima with graphic details. Starting the flip side is “Eight Miles High”, the most popular song on the album and the only one composed and recorded while Gene Clark was still a bandmember. It features a good rockin’ intro with fine, harmonized vocals delivering lyrics written about the group’s flight to London in 1965, which can be interpreted as a blatant allegory about an LSD trip. With this, the song was both influential in developing the emerging musical style of psychedelia while failing to reach it’s commercial potential (although it did still reach the Top 20 in both the US and UK) as many radio stations refused to play it.

The Byrds in 1966

Unfortunately, most of the rest of side two is simply album filler. There’s a forgettable version of the oft-covered “Hey Joe”, the uninspiring cover of “John Riley” and the weird closer “2-4-2 Fox Trot (The Lear Jet Song)”, which features heavy sound effects above a simple repeating country/folk trope. The only somewhat interesting track here is the instrumental “Captain Soul”, composed by all four group members including bassist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke with Clarke overdubbing harmonica above an entertaining surf-rock like backing rhythm.

Fifth Dimension peaked in the Top 30 in both the US and UK albums charts, making it less commercially successful than its 1965 predecessors. Later in 1966, The Byrds recorded their fourth album, Younger Than Yesterday, with a similar approach integrating elements of psychedelia and jazz. It was  released in 1967.

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1966 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1966 albums.

Into the Great Wide Open by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Into the Great Wide Open by
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

by with No Comment Album Reviews

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Into the Great Wide Open by Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersTom Petty continued his impressive commercial success as a new decade unfolded with Into the Great Wide Open, the eighth studio album by Petty and The Heartbreakers. This album combined the group’s traditional rock sensibilities, dating back to the mid 1970s, with the mainstream production techniques of his various projects of the late 1980s. With this combination, Into the Great Wide Open received various bits of warm critique to go along with its pop success in 1991.

Petty’s previous album with the Heartbreakers, 1987’s Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough), received mixed reviews and was the first album by the group not to reach the Top 10 of the US album charts in nearly decade. The following year Petty formed the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys along with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne and their debut album, Volume One, had great success. Even greater success followed in 1989 when Petty released his debut solo album, Full Moon Fever, which was co-produced by Lynne and included four Top 40 singles. Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell was the only member of the backing group to play on Full Moon Fever.

With expectations very high, Petty once again enlisted Lynne as co-producer for Into the Great Wide Open and the pair employed a methodical, nearly formulaic approach to the compositions. Lynne also played various instruments throughout, which seemed to limit much of the Heartbreakers’ expressiveness and offered the group members sparse moments to shine musically and rhythmically.

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Into the Great Wide Open by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Released: July 2, 1991 (MCA)
Produced by: Tom Petty, Mike Campbell & Jeff Lynne
Recorded: Rumbo Recorders, Studio C, Canoga Park, CA, 1990 – 1991
Track Listing Group Musicians
Learning to Fly
Kings Highway
Into the Great Wide Open
Two Gunslingers
The Dark of the Sun
All or Nothin’
All the Wrong Reasons
Too Good to Be True
Out in the Cold
You and I Will Meet Again
Makin’ Some Noise
Built to Last		 Tom Petty – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Mike Campbell – Guitars, Vocals
Benmont Tench – Piano, Keyboards, Accordion
Howie Epstein – Bass, Vocals
Stan Lynch – Drums, Percussion

Into the Great Wide Open by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

The album’s first three tracks were the most radio-friendly. “Learning to Fly” features moderately picked harmonized chords to leave an indelible musical impression, along with with Campbell’s later slide guitar expertly cutting through the pristine soundscape. The song became one of the top hits for Petty and the Heartbreakers. “Kings Highway” follows as a crisp, driving rocker with subtle guitar layers and a simple hook and message with the promise of better days. The album’s title song is a slightly dark folk storyteller with more fine slide guitars and some memorable rudiments that drive the song along.

“Two Gunslingers” is actually a song of peace with much allegory and the lyrical epiphany of “taking control of one’s life”, while “The Dark of the Sun” has a quasi-pop-country feel which morphs into harder rocking later, making for a potent and diverse track. “All or Nothin'” is an intense, dark rocker with Campbell’s slide topping a steady thumping rhythm by bassist Howie Epstein, while “All the Wrong Reasons” leans towards more traditional folk lyrically with Benmont Tench adding some accordion for color and Byrds’ legend Roger McGuinn providing backing vocals.

After the forgettable track “Too Good to Be True”, the album’s second side becomes more interesting starting with the refreshing hard rocker, “Out in the Cold”, featuring Petty’s more expressive and strained vocals. “You and I Will Meet Again” is solo composition with a classic Petty feel that leaves plenty of room for musical chops by each lead player, while “Makin’ Some Noise” features interesting, rockabilly-style riffs that are later contrasted by a short but effective wah-wah fused lead by Campbell. The closer, “Built to Last” has an overall sound different than anything else on the album, rhythmically deadened but pleasant throughout.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Into the Great Wide Open would turn out to  be the final studio release on the MCA label as well as the final with drummer Stan Lynch, who was replaced by Steve Ferrone in 1994. To wrap up their decade and a half with MCA, the group released a Greatest Hits album in 1993, which became their top seller over all and went platinum a dozen times over.

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Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1991 albums.

1991 Images

The Runaways 1976 debut

The Runaways

by with 2 Comments Album Reviews

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The Runaways 1976 debutThe Southern California all-female teenage rock group The Runaways had a short and tumultuous career during the mid 1970s, a career which commenced with their 1976 self-title debut album. In spite of being recorded and released very shortly after the quartet was compiled and signed to a record deal, this album has long since been critically praised due to its raw power, originality and in-your-face lyrics about teenage angst, rule-breaking and sex.

The Runaways were formed in August 1975 by drummer Sandy West and guitarist Joan Jett. After being introduced to producer Kim Fowley, the group went through many rapid formations and lineup changes before adding lead guitarist Lita Ford. West and Ford were both big Deep Purple fans and formed a solid rock foundation along with Jett, who switched to rhythm guitar and began composing original music. Lead vocalist Cherie Currie was later recruited by Fowley (who intentionally forged a “jailbait” image for the group) after he spotted her at a local teen nightclub.

Early in 1976, The Runaways were signed to Mercury Records with Fowley staying on as producer for this debut album. Although bassist Jackie Fox was a member of the group at the time of recording, session musician Nigel Harrison was enlisted to play bass on the album, with Fox only contributing backing vocals on select tracks.

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The Runaways by The Runaways
Released: June 1, 1976 (Mercury)
Produced by: Kim Fowley
Recorded: Fidelity Recorders & Criterion Studios, Los Angeles, 1976
Side One Side Two
Cherry Bomb
You Drive Me Wild
Is It Day or Night?
Thunder
Rock and Roll		 Lovers
American Nights
Blackmail
Secrets
Dead End Justice
Group Musicians
Cherie Currie – Lead Vocals, Piano
Joan Jett – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Lita Ford – Lead Guitar
Sandy West – Drums, Vocals

The album’s opening track, “Cherry Bomb”, was written on the spot by Jett and Fowley as an audition song for Currie to sing during her first interaction with The Runaways. This short track is filled with lyrical innuendo from a teenage girl’s perspective with the simplest of rock riff motifs. Despite it’s make shift origins, the track persisted as one of the group’s most popular and it was later recorded by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as well as Cherie and her sister Marie Currie. Jett takes lead vocals on “You Drive Me Wild”, another track with overt sexual references but with more bluesy, sloshy riffing than the opener.

“Is It Day or Night?” is interesting in how the choruses incorporate the verses with unusual rudiments, while “Thunder” enlists a new writing team who deliver a pretty standard rocker with pleasant vocal melodies. Next comes a cover of the Velvet Underground classic, “Rock and Roll”, with Jett and the group delivering great rendition which stands as a real highlight on this record.

The Runaways

The second side starts with the interesting composition, “Lovers”, highlighted by excellent drumming patterns by West and good lead vocals by Jett. This is followed by another solid rocker with good riffs and hook, called “American Nights”, which also features some decent piano by Currie. “Blackmail” uses retro, fifties-style rock motifs while maintaining a modern seventies rock edge, as “Secrets” teases lyrical intrigue as its title suggests. The extended closing suite is a duet between Jett and Currie featuring a long dramatic dialogue over the intense, marching drumming of West along with a couple of excellent guitar leads by Ford. “Dead End Justice” seals the record with an unexpected complexity to tie up the musical experience finely.

While far from a commercial success in 1976, The Runaways has long earned its place in rock history as a genre-smashing release. The band found itself on major tours in support of the record with headlining groups such as Cheap Trick, Van Halen and Talking Heads. However, tensions within the band escalated during the recording of their 1977 sophomore album, Queens of Noise, leading to the departure of Currie and Fox soon afterward.

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1976 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1976 albums.