Lenny Kravitz: Black And White America

I've been listening to some of the CDs that have been piled on my desktop for a while, and Lenny Kravitz's "Black And White America" rose to the top of the pile recently. I'm glad it did.

First off, I'm a fan. I love Lenny; have ever since "Mama Said". I admire his ability to synthesize hard rock and soul groove into an amalgam that very few others have ever succeeded in creating. Not everything he's done has been a slam-dunk (2004's "Baptism" is particularly off the mark), but he's never let a misfire keep him down.

Far as I'm concerned, "Black And White America" is a masterpiece. First up is the title track, which essentially says "Stop dreaming about the day when the races are friends - it's already here, if you'll open your eyes." I find this refreshing when compared to the message of much of today's R&B, which seems intent on widening the racial divide rather than healing it."Life Ain't Ever Been Better Than It Is Now" reinforces the positive vibes with a message of thankfulness overlaid by one of L.K.'s patented guitar-driven grooves. "Rock Star City Life" is another relentless track that stands with any of Lenny's best. A couple of things are formulaic; there's a dance track with Jay Z. rapping about bumping and grinding (yawn). "Sunflower" is a retro-Disco throwback, complete with cowbell and penny-whistle -- not quite as retro as Jamiroquai, but you get the idea.Overall though, the disc is a stone winner.

If I have one complaint about this album, it's that it's too long. Yes, I know - I'm complaining about getting too much for my money; slap me now. But at 66+ minutes, too much of a good thing can be too much -- especially when the slow songs ("Dream", "Push") are loaded at the end.

But no complaints: put it on, turn it up, and let the groove take you. That's what Lenny's always been about, and this is a fine addition to an amazing lifetime of albums. Shame it didn't get played on the radio (but that says more about the state of today's radio than about Lenny). Listen, lather, repeat.

For Further Research:

• The official video for "Black And White America". Groovy, man.
• Lenny talks about the subject matter of "Black And White America" with HipHopDX
• Lenny's spiritual antecedent, Curtis Mayfield, with 1970's "We People Who Are Darker Than Blue"

Heart: Bebe Le Strange

Heart had a pretty amazing ride in the '70s. Coming from nowhere in 1976, they ripped up the charts with their debut Lp, "Dreamboat Annie", and the radio killers "Magic Man" and "Crazy On You". Fans were in love with Ann & Nancy Wilson, not only because they were smokin' hot, but because they were women who could rock. Ann's delivery was regularly likened to that of Robert Plant (it didn't hurt that a bootlegged concert cover version of "Battle of Evermore" leaked out from Heart fanboys). They were on fire.

Then came "Heartless", and "Little Queen" and "Barracuda", and "Dog And Butterfly". It seemed the band was unstoppable, but personnel changes behind the scenes were making things rough. By the time 1980 came around, Heart had already released 4 Lps; "Bebe Le Strange" would be their 5th, and it was the hardest rocking album to date.

The title track was an FM radio hit, played on every album-rocker from KMET to WMMS. And "Even It Up" was a Top 40 hit, but it only got to #33, a victim of the punk/New Wave tide that was sweeping over pop radio. The ladies tried to update their sound to match the trend, but it was a bust - songs like "Break" and "Down On Me" rocked hard and edgy, but the melodies were nowhere to be found. As a result, the record sounds unfocused and uneven, even with the presence of the two aformementioned radio hits and the gorgeous "Silver Wheels", which ends Side 1.

I think this album has aged poorly due to this lack of focus, but it's certainly not Heart's worst - that (dis)honor would come a couple of years down the road, when the Wilsons traded their guitars for synthesizers to regain radio play.

For further research:

• "Magic Man" performed live on The Midnight Special, 1977, with original guitarist Roger Fisher rippin' it up. Ann is at her most Plant-ish here.
• "Dreamboat Annie" recorded live on stage, but with no audience about the same time, 1976-'77 or so. This clip showcases Nancy fingerpicking her acoustic while the band harmonizes behind her.
• The controversy surrounding Heart's 2nd Lp, "Magazine", is not only the stuff of legend but an inside look at how the music industry works. Read about it on Wikipedia.

Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells A Story

Boy, talk about a moment in time... this was it. Rod Stewart was at the absolute top of his game in 1971, and if you need proof, simply reference this masterpiece, "Every Picture Tells A Story." Still working with his mates in Faces (who rocked hard behind him on this album), but so filled with creativity he had time to record 4 solo albums of his own for Chicago's Mercury Records between 1969 and 1972. This is the 3rd in the series, which began with "The Rod Stewart Album" and "Gasoline Alley" and ended with "Never A Dull Moment".

Just look at all of the amazing music piled into this one Lp: "Reason To Believe," " Mandolin Wind", "Maggie May", the wonderful title track, and his awesome cover of the Temps' "I Know I'm Losing You" (of which "Maggie May" was actually the B-side of the 45 at first). If there is only one Rod album you own from this period, this one should be it. Timeless music well worth searching out on vinyl, although easily available on CD these days.

These days, no longer the sex symbol in the leopard pants, Rod is comfortable in his suit and tie, crooning Andy Bennett covers with what's left of his gin-soaked voice. But I'll take my Rod straight up, thank you; no chaser needed or desired.

For Further Exploration:

• Rod and Faces doing "Maggie May" live in 1971
• Rod's official website
• A page devoted to Mercury Records, Rod's first label. I have a thing for Mercury, the first US independent to challenge the major labels after World War II. Trivia, but interesting.

Robert Palmer: Double Fun

You can tell from the cheese-eatin' grin on this dude's face that there's more going on off-screen than just some marshmallow toasting au naturel. In fact, there's some serious slap-and-tickle occurring just out of the frame. It's a metaphor for what was going on with Robert Palmer's music: someone's having an awful lot of fun, and he's not you. But if you mind your manners, he might be persuaded to let you peek behind the curtain.

Robert Palmer was one of those guys who dressed a little too nice, smiled a little too wide, and had women just a little too pretty hanging on his arm. Between him and Daryl Hall, they cornered the market on "hipster" before that word was in the buzz-of-the-month club. But despite his impeccable taste - or maybe because of it - Robert Palmer made some great records.

I hold that his early work, for Island, was his best. From 1974 to about 1980 (well before Power Station and "Simply Irresistable" came in and mucked up his career), Robert Palmer albums could be counted on to deliver precision-crafted white soul that kept you moving and grooving nearly automatically. "Double Fun", Palmer's 4th Lp, was notable for the awesome "Every Kinda People", a song that got radio play but should have been bigger; if not for the easy groove and Marvin Gaye vibe, then for the perceptive lyrics about rollin' with the flow. There's also the awesome "You're Going To Get What's Coming", the obvious shoulda-been-a-hit closer. Jamaican rhythms abound throughout, giving "Double Fun" an easy loping party feel from beginning to end.

If you were a fan of the "Addicted To Love"-era Palmer, this album might not suit your taste. On the other hand, it might open your eyes and ears to the work of an artist who knew how to woo an audience well before the video era.

Further Investigation:

• Live on The Midnight Special, 1978, doing "Every Kinda People". Dig the early analog synthesizer!
• The BBC's obituary on Palmer, 2003
• Short clip of Dick Clark interviewing Palmer on American Bandstand, 1978

Howlin' with Wolfman Jack

Back in the 70s, a lot of famous radio personalities (that's "deejay" to those of you what ain't got no respect) were recruited (no pun intended) by the US Armed Forces to do radio programs, playing current popular music, which were provided, free, to radio stations around the nation. These were used to help fulfill a station's "public service" programming commitment. Back in the day, you see, radio stations had to state that they would air a certain number of hours of news, community service and community access programming as a condition of their operators' continued licensing by the FCC to operate the station.

The programs were anywhere from a half-hour to an hour long, and contained no commercials except those for the branch of the Service they were produced for. For years, KHJ's Robert W. Morgan hosted "Robert W. Morgan For Today's Army"; the Navy had a show called "Navy Hoedown" hosted by a rotating cast of Country artists like Bobby Bare and Mickey Gilley; and the Air Force had Wolfman Jack. (I don't recall the Marines having a show, but it could just be faulty memory.)

The Wolf hosted these half-hour shows throughout the 70s, lending a touch of his howling madness to the Top 40 hits that were current at the time. Each box had 2 Lps, containing a total of 4 shows. This particular set hails from 1976, and features Wolf introducing songs like "Afternoon Delight" and "Heavy Makes You Happy", interspersed with hip Air Force spots selling the advantages of learning computer technology by joining the flyboys.

These are great time capsules. Thousands of them were pressed over the years and sent to radio stations around the country (your tax dollars at work!); if you find one at a swap meet, buy it and drift back in time for a couple of hours, courtesy of Uncle Sam. And if you don't want to keep it, send it to me - I'll gladly cover the postage ;)

More research:

• Listen to Wolfman Jack host an Air Force show from 1971, courtesy of Airchexx.com
• Hear Robert W. Morgan for Today's Army from 1976, courtesy of the AFRTS Archive
• Listen to Wolfman Jack in vintage airchecks from the 60s, on Southern California's Soul Giant, XERB 1090

Eric Clapton: Crossroads

"Clapton is God" went the London graffiti of the Sixties, and he was a guitar god indeed, one of the most influential and prolific of his time.

This 6-Lp set (or CDs, if you prefer) was released in 1988 as a 25-year retrospective on Clapton's prolific career. It's a pretty great effort, and covers his stints with several different record companies, working with many different groups. The first side is dedicated to Yardbirds material; the second side is John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Lp #2 covers Cream and Blind Faith; disc #3 and half of #4 is dedicated to Derek & The Dominos. After that, the material seques to Eric's 1970 solo Lp, throwing in amazing live versions of familiar tracks, alternate cuts, 45-only A- and B-sides, and ending with a live acoustic version of "After Midnight" that smoulders along until you, not it, finally catch fire.

It took me about 5 days to listen to this set straight through. It's a great collection. I've owned it on CD and vinyl, and I prefer the vinyl - it's one of the most sonically beautiful pressings that PolyGram ever did. There is not a tick, pop, bubble or imperfection anywhere on it.

It's not easy to cram 25 years worth of music into one cohesive retrospective, but this is an excellent collection that will pay you back, whether you're a Clapton fanatic or just starting to dig in. I wonder if there will ever be a companion piece -- after all, it's now been another nearly 25 years since this set was issued. But I urge you to seek it out, especially if you've got a good turntable.

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Southern Surroundings

I know, I know - there's about 15 bazillion Skynyrd comps out there. So why care about this one? Well... it's special.

A few years back, this thing called DVD-Audio made the scene, along with SACD and DTS CDs. Never heard of any of them? Well, you're probably not alone. But here's the deal: you know how the DVDs and Blu-Ray movies you buy have multiple audio channels? 5.1 or 7.1 Surround Sound. They let you hear all that cool movie surround audio from your home theater system.

Well, some bright guys at the record companies thought "what if we could listen to music in 5.1, too?" And so Sony, Warner Brothers, Universal and other set about putting 5.1 music onto CDs and DVDs. And it really does sound amazing! Until you've heard Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" in 5.1 surround, you haven't lived.

Unfortunately, they did a bad job of marketing these discs. No one cared. And they stopped making them (for the most part). But every now and then, a new one sneaks out.

That's what makes this Skynyrd comp special: It's in 5.1 surround. In fact, it's a 3-disc set: a stereo greatest hits, the 5.1 DVD-Audio disc, and a video DVD of Skynyrd performances on BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test" programme (UK spelling for my Brit friends).

Here's the thing: It's only available at Wal-Mart, and in limited quantities. So if you want to get it, do it now. The price is right: Only $11.99.

There's a lot that's great about this disc. First, it's Skynyrd, in Surround! Hearing "Curtis Loew" and "Gimme Three Steps" in 5.1 Advanced Resolution audio is pretty danged amazing. And the remix was done by the legendary Elliot Scheiner, the guy who did Surround Sound mastering for Roy Orbison and Porcupine Tree, among others. It's quality stuff.

The downside is that only 10 tracks are on the 5.1 disc, and "Sweet Home Alabama" is not among them. (Word in the multichannel audio underground is that this surround set was part of a more comprehensive remix project begun in 2008 when 5.1 Surround was in full flower at Universal Music, so we're just lucky that this music made it out into the wild.)

Anyway, be on the lookout. If you've got a home stereo, and you're a Skynyrd fan, find a copy and play it loud. It's great stuff.

More research:

• "Free Bird" live at the Oakland Colliseum, 1977
• Elliot Scheiner talks about Surround Music
• Quad, alive and well in 2012 (and 5.1 too) at the QuadraphonicQuad Forum

Burger Run with the Guess Who: Road Food

The album o' the day is one from relatively late in the Guess Who's career as a band. Their hitmaking days were largely over by the time Road Food was released (1974), but there was one last, great hit from this Lp, "Clap For The Wolfman", an homage to the howlin', prowlin' Wolfman Jack which wrapped a narrative of thwarted love around interjections from the Fanged One via the dashboard radio speaker.

At the time, the band had already gone through some major changes, with the departure of Randy Bachman and his brother to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and the band was down to 5 guys at this point. Although widely panned by critics at the time, it was still a much better album than, say #10, from the year before, or Power In The Music from a year later. In fact, it sounds more like a Burton Cummings solo album than any of the Guess Who records that came before, with Cummings front-and-center on the vocals, and his piano moved into the spotlight as well. (Burton himself might just have regarded this as a warm-up, as his amazing solo debut came in 1976, just two years later.)

In addition to "Wolfman", "Star Baby" was a highlight, one of those "should've been a hit" moments that inexplicably didn't get airplay... probably because no one was taking the Guess Who seriously by this time. It's not the Guess Who album I'd direct folks to who'd never heard them before, but it's a great period piece and if you love "American Woman", you'll love this too.

For further investigation:

• Performing "Clap For The Wolfman" live on The Midnight Special, with Wolfman Jack rapping on the song - priceless!
• Burton Cummings' personal website
• Live performance of "Star Baby" from 1973 - sounding great!

Bang! Neil Diamond shoots a bull's-eye

I've been a fan of the early Neil Diamond for a long time. Note that I say "early." After he went to Columbia in the early '70s and began cranking out soft-rockin' smoothies for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull self-help crowd - not a fan so much! But his early work for Bang Records was pretty awesome.

A little history: Bang was a New York label whose name was actually an anagram of the first names of its owners, who were Bert Berns, a talented producer for Atlantic Records, Atlantic co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, his brother Nesuhi Ertegun, and Atlantic's top gun producer Jerry (Gerald) Wexler. They'd had a lot of early hits with The Strangeloves, The McCoys (with a young Rick Derringer) and had re-invented Johnny Cymbal (remember "Mr. Bass Man"?) as Derek and had a hit with a song called "Cinnamon". Van Morrison's first U.S. solo release after disbanding Them was on Bang, and it was a killer - "Brown-Eyed Girl".

Diamond was just a songwriter at the time, and not a particularly good one, but he was friends with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, two of the hottest songwriters of the '60s, and they convinced the Bang boys to record Neil. It seems that when Neil wrote songs for other people, they were just mediocre, but when he wrote songs for himself - they were spectacular. "Cherry, Cherry" was a huge radio hit, and his career took off from there.

Diamond cut a total of 23 tracks for Bang from 1966 - 1968, when he departed for MCA's new Uni. label. Of those 23 cuts, about half were original songs, and they were amazing: "Solitary Man", "Cherry, Cherry", "Kentucky Woman", "Shilo", "Thank The Lord For The Night Time"... great stuff.

"Neil Diamond: The Bang Years" is the first-ever collection on CD of Neil's Bang masters in their original mono versions, cut for 45-RPM release and unsullied by overdubs and other strings-n-things that got added to some of the stereo album versions. It's a really great collection with a lengthy booklet written by Neil telling his own story of what it was like to be a hitless songwriter living on a shoestring in 1960s New York, and I was pleased as punch to find it at my local Fry's. A truly great collection of music, and one I will be playing in the Studebaker quite a lot while I drive around :)

For further research:
The Bang Records Story
Neil performing "Cherry, Cherry" on "Where The Action Is", 1966
   (the lip-synching is awful, but it's cool to see Neil doing his stand-up on location)
Promo video for "The Bang Years" collection