30 Days in the Hole 45 RPM single (promotional copy)
In late 1968, Steve Marriott, then a member of the Small Faces, formed Humble Pie with Greg Ridley (bass guitar, formerly of Spooky Tooth), Peter Frampton (guitar, formerly of The Herd), and Jerry Shirley (drums, formerly of Apostolic Intervention). Because all members had formerly been in high-profile groups, many considered Humble Pie a “supergroup”, and they were signed to Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate label. Their debut single, “Natural Born Bugie”, was released in July 1969 and eventually reached #4 on the U.K. singles chart. This was followed by the album “As Safe As Yesterday Is”, released in August 1969, which reached #32 in the U.K. The band was on tour in the U.S. when their second album, “Town And Country” (1969) was released later that year, and was a more acoustic-oriented album than its predecessor. Immediate Records was facing financial difficulties when the album was released, and without any promotional money to back it, the album was a commercial failure. In 1970, the band switched to A&M Records and Dee Anthony became their manager. Focusing on the U.S. market, the band abandoned its acoustic material, and recorded a louder, tighter and heavier-sounding follow-up to “Town And Country” – “Humble Pie” (1970), which, like its predecessor, failed to chart, as did a single from the album, “Big Black Dog”. The band started to gain a reputation as a solid live band, however, and the next album, “Rock On” (1971), was their most successful album up to that point, reaching #118 in the U.S. It was also Frampton’s last with Humble Pie, as he quit following the supporting tour. A May 1971 concert at the Fillmore East was recorded and became the basis for their subsequent live album, “Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore” (1971), a double album which reached #21 in the U.S. and became their first RIAA-certified gold record. Its popularity also helped “Rock On” reach gold record status as well. An edited version of “I Don’t Need No Doctor” reached #73 on the Billboard singles chart. Dave “Clem” Clempson replaced Peter Frampton, and the band recorded their fifth studio album, “Smokin'” (1972). This song featured two singles: “Hot ‘n’ Nasty” b/w “You’re So Good To Me” (U.S. #52), and “30 Days in the Hole” b/w “Sweet Peace and Time”. The latter is today’s featured single.
“30 Days in the Hole” was one of Humble Pie’s signature tunes, and in many ways defines their straightforward approach to heavy blues rock. It starts off with the backing singers singing “30 days in the hole” repeatedly, before the song starts in earnest about 30 seconds into the track. The chord progression is relatively simple: D-E-D-E-A-E-A-E during the intro; then A-E repeatedly throughout most of the verses (except D-E for the last line), and A-E during the chorus. The lyrics reference many types of illegal drugs: “Chicago green, talkin’ ’bout Black Lebanese/A dirty room and a silver coke spoon/Give me my release, come on/Black napalese, it’s got you weak in your knees/Just seeds and dust that you got bust on [borstal?]/You know it’s hard to believe”. The song title itself was supposedly inspired by a line in the 1938 Humphrey Bogart film “Angels With Dirty Faces”, and was also one of the first songs to which Clempson contributed. Ridley’s bass isn’t heard until almost a minute into the song, but when it does chime in, it fills out the sound quite nicely, adding to the track’s funky ambience, and the rhythm section does a good job on this track. Humble Pie isn’t afraid to stay close to their blues roots, and about 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the track, Marriott’s harmonica can be heard during the song’s only instrumental break. This break is followed by another Other countries, including the U.K., put “C’mon Everybody” and “Road Runner” on the flipside (both songs were tracks from “Smokin'”); the single did not chart in the U.S. Nevertheless, it became one of the band’s better-known songs, and has been covered by bands such as Mr. Big and Gov’t Mule.
The B-side of this single, “Sweet Peace and Time”, is a great rocker, and one of the reasons why this single gets the nod as today’s featured single over “Hot ‘n’ Nasty”, which admittedly is also a great song. The song is anchored by a simple riff, and simple-yet-contemporary lyrics: “Don’t want war, no/Don’t give me preachin’/Don’t want love/No fancy teachin’/All I want’s/Sweet peace and time/Wake up my mind”. An even heavier song than “30 Days in the Hole”, without that songs funky undertones, this song is pure, high-octane hard rock for which Led Zeppelin would have killed. The song boasts three instrumental breaks, the first occurring about 2 minutes into the song; the second, 3 minutes and 30 seconds in, and the third, occurring 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the song, takes up the remainder of the song, so there’s plenty of time for Clempson and Ridley (especially Clempson) to shine. On an album that contained several cover versions, “Sweet Peace and Time”, written by Marriott, Ridley and Shirley, stands out as one of the stronger of the band’s original compositions.
The single (catalog #: 1366) was released by A&M Records in September 1972. As far as I know, there was no picture sleeve. The label was typical of A&M single releases in this era, with the song title on the top, artist and production info on the bottom, and the A&M logo on the left side. The single shown in the picture accompanying this article is a promotional single which had “30 Days In The Hole” on both sides of the record (stereo on one side and mono on the other). The band followed up “Smokin'” with a double album, “Eat It” (1973), which featured 3 sides of studio tracks and 1 side of live material; it reached #13 in the U.S. Their next album, “Thunderbox”, featured a back-to-basics approach, and sold well, reaching #52 in the U.S. By now, both Marriot and Ridley had lost interest in Humble Pie, but they owed A&M another album, and thus one final studio album, “Street Rats”, was released in February 1975. The group disbanded afterwards, although Marriott would form a new lineup in 1979, bringing back Jerry Shirley on drums and adding Bobby Tench (guitar, vocals) and Anthony “Sooty” Jones”. The resulting album, “On To Victory”, reached #60 in the U.S., and a single from the album, “Fool for a Pretty Face”, reached #52. They released one more album, “Go for the Throat”, before disbanding again in 1982. Jerry Shirley formed a new Humble Pie lineup in 1989 in which he was the only original member; this band was briefly put on hold when it appeared that Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott were re-forming Humble Pie. Marriott died in a house fire in April 1991, however, and Shirley revived his band, which disbanded in 1999. He re-formed the band again in 2001 with original bassist Greg Ridley, bringing back Bobby Tench and adding new rhythm guitarist Dave Colwell. This lineup released an album, “Back on Track” (2002), and the response to live shows was encouraging, but Greg Ridley fell ill in late 2002 and the band split up. Ridley died of pneumonia and resulting complications in November 2003.
Psycho Killer picture sleeve
The Talking Heads had their genesis in a band called The Artistics formed by two students at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, David Byrne (vocals, guitar), and Chris Frantz (drums) in 1974. Tina Weymouth was a fellow student and Frantz’s girlfriend, and often provided the band with transportation. The Artisitics dissolved within a year, and in 1975, the trio moved to New York, eventually sharing an apartment. Unable to find a bass player, Frantz encouraged Weymouth to learn how to play bass by listening to Suzi Quatro albums. They played their first gig as the “Talking Heads” on June 8, 1975 at CBGB. Later that year, the band recorded demos for CBS Records, but was not signed by the label. In 1976, they added Jerry Harrison (guitars, keyboards, vocals), formerly of The Modern Lovers, to the lineup. The band quickly drew a following and was signed to Sire Records in 1977. Their first single “Love -> Building on Fire” b/w “New Feeling” was released in February 1977. Their first album, “Talking Heads: 77” was released in September 1977, and spawned two singles: “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town” b/w “I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” and “Psycho Killer” b/w “Psycho Killer” [acoustic]. The latter is today’s featured single.
On “Psycho Killer”, the Talking Heads seem to aim for the same nerd appeal as Jonathan Richman was around the same time, albeit with more menacing overtones. The song begins with Tina Weymouth’s driving bass line, joined in short order by Byrne’s guitar and Frantz’s drums. Byrne, as he begins singing, convincingly plays the role of an Anthony Perkins-like nerdy-but-dangerous sociopath, with the lyrics seeming to express the thoughts of a serial killer: “I can’t seem to face up to the facts/I’m tense and nervous and I can’t relax/I can’t sleep ’cause my bed’s on fire/Don’t touch me I’m a real live wire.” As the song progresses, its protagonist seems to edge closer to the breaking point, without actually getting there. The protagonist alternates between talking in first and second person in the song, seemingly exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia, and even slipping into French during the chorus (“Qu’est que-ce?”) and the bridge (“Ce que j’ai fait ce soir-là/Ce qu’elle a dit ce soir-là’/Réalisant mon espoir/Je me lance vers la gloire… OK”. The musical arrangement, especially the bass, seems to mirror his tense mental state perfectly. Byrne once claimed that when he wrote the song, he was thinking of “Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad”, and that seems to be a pretty succinct synopsis of “Psycho Killer”. Although the Talking Heads exhibit a higher degree of musical proficiency than most punk bands, the punk ethos is present, and as the song reaches its climax, it reaches a one-chord crescendo – shades of the Velvet Underground in “White Light/White Heat”. Clearly the bass line takes an unusually prominent role here, giving the song a somewhat funky undertone as well as setting the basis for the song’s minimalism. Although only a minor hit in the U.S. (reaching #92 on the Billboard Hot 100), the song reached #13 in Holland and became one of the band’s early signature tunes. This song has been covered by numerous artists, including Brand New, Velvet Revolver, Barenaked Ladies, Richard Thompson, Terrorvision and Two Sheds.
The B-side of the song is an acoustic version of “Psycho Killer”. Although this version subtracts one of the elements that makes the better-known version of the song so compelling – namely, Weymouth’s bass line – the song has such a minimalist appeal that an all-acoustic version seems almost inevitable. And this version works pretty well, although I personally liked the acoustic version from “Stop Making Sense” (1984) even better, with Byrnes doing an effective live acoustic version, backed only by a Roland TR-808 drum machine whose sound appears (in the film) to be issuing from a boom box, although admittedly the version included on the B-side of this single is much more polished. This single (catalog #: SRE 1013) was issued on Sire Records in January 1978. The single was produced by Tony Bonjiovi and Lance Quinn. A picture sleeve was issued with this single (shown on the left). This song was the beginning of a string of successes for the band. In 1978, the band began a multiyear collaboration with producer Brian Eno (Robert Fripp, Roxy Music), who produced their next three albums, starting with “More Songs About Buildings and Food”, which contained their cover version of “Take Me to the River” (U.S. #26). This album reached #29 on the Billboard album chart, eventually going gold. The next album, “Fear of Music”, was a critical success, containing the minor hit “Life During Wartime”, and also reaching gold sales levels. Next came “Remain in Light” (1980), which also went gold, and boasted two singles: “Once in a Lifetme”, which became another of the band’s signature tunes, and “Houses in Motion”. The band went on hiatus for the next three years, but returned in 1983 with “Speaking in Tongues”, which became their commercial breakthrough, reaching platinum sales levels and featuring the Top 10 single “Once in a Lifetime”. Next came the live film “Stop Making Sense” (1984) and the accompanying soundtrack album. Their next studio album, “Little Creatures” (1985), was an even bigger success than “Speaking in Tongues”, and contained the single “And She Was” (U.S. #54). “True Stories” (1986) did not do as well, receiving mixed reviews, although it contained one of their biggest radio hits, “Wild Wild Life” (U.S. #25). “Naked” (1988) would be the band’s eighth and final studio album, with the band dissolving after the album’s release and finally announcing their breakup in 1991.
Label from NRBQ's "Get That Gasoline Blues" single.
NRBQ was formed in 1967 in Miami, Florida from the remnants of several other bands. The original lineup was composed of Frank Gadler (vocals), Steve Ferguson (guitars), Joe Spampinato (bass guitar), Terry Adams (keyboards), and Tom Staley (drums). The acronym “NRBQ” apparently stood for “New Rhythm and Blues Quintet” (later to become “New Rhythm and Blues Quartet”. NRBQ was somewhat unusual in that all five members sang lead vocals at various times. They relocated to the northeastern U.S. and began to build a following. They were signed by Columbia Records and released their eponymous debut album in 1969. The following year, they collaborated with rockabilly legend Carl Perkins on the LP “Boppin’ The Blues” (1970). However, Columbia Records dropped NRBQ from its roster due to low sales. Between the release of the second and third album, Gadler and Ferguson and Staley would leave the band, to be replaced by Al Anderson (guitars, vocals). The lineup of Anderson/Spampinato/Adams/Staley would record “Scraps”, their third album (and first with new label Kama Sutra). This was the same lineup that recorded “Workshop”, NRBQ’s fourth album, and the one that spawned today’s featured single “Get That Gasoline Blues” b/w “Mona”.
“Get That Gasoline Blues” turned out to be NRBQ’s biggest (and only) chart hit to date, peaking at #70 on the Billboard singles chart in 1974. It might seem a bit odd that this was their biggest hit; over the years they have released many great songs. Nevertheless, their one hit is a novelty rave-up blues tune written by Terry Adams and C. Craig. What we get is a very simple chord progression similar to other blues songs, along with Anderson’s chorus of: “Get that gasoline/Get that gasoline/Get that gasoline/Oh, get that gasoline/Baby, your rest rooms sure are clean”. The sound is augmented by a horn section, presumably consisting of Keith Spring (saxophone) and Donn Adams (trombone) – Terry Adams’ older brother. The result is something that is quite unlike an other pop or rock record. The production is state-of-the-art (or at least state-of-the-art for 1973), but the song sounds as if it could have been released in the 1940’s. But even if the music seems almost like a by-product of the big band era, the lyrical content seems unusually prescient: “I’d like to see you Jane/But my car ain’t got no fuel/(Ain’t got, got no gas)/You know I tried to come over last night/But I ain’t got no fuel/(Ain’t got, got no gas)/You know the way things is goin’/I might as well get me a mule/(Get me an ass)” [I’ll disregard Terry Adams’ “Forty cents a gallon!” aside from the chorus following that verse.]
The B-side of the single, “Mona”, is a Joey Spampinato-penned acoustic ballad. The entire musical accompaniment consists of two acoustic guitars and, appearing about 1 minute and 9 seconds into the track, an accordion. The accordion compliments the sound well without compromising the minimalist feel of the track, playing the same melody as the lead guitar. Even the lyrics have an unusual economical feel: “Mona/Mona/Don’t worry/No, don’t worry/Because you’re not alone/Anymore/Don’t you worry”. Although the track has a Spartan feel to it, there are some interesting chord changes here, especially the bass parts. Spampinato would later refine his songwriting and write even more compelling ballads; still “Mona” definitely ranks as a lost classic.The single (catalog #: KA-586) was issued by Kama Sutra records; there was no picture sleeve. Note that the label has been completely redesigned since the 1960’s. [I previously featured KA-219, The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Nashville Cats”, in this blog, and that single had the Kama Sutra label with a logo featuring three guys, with two of them waving their arms.] This label features an image of Adam and Eve (with Adam accepting the apple) across the top, and the track/artist information across the bottom. The song length is on the left side and catalog number is on the right side. Kama Sutra Records would cease to exist in 1976, although it would re-emerge in 1982 as Sutra Records. As a result, NRBQ once again switched labels to Rounder Records (which distributed the NRBQ vanity label Red Rooster Records). Although NRBQ would never again have a hit single (although they came close with “Ridin’ In My Car” in 1977), their musicianship and wacky sense of humor has endeared them to generations of fans.External links:
External links:
Another blog posting on “Get That Gasoline Blues” b/w “Mona”.
There are no YouTube links directly relevant to this single. But how about:
NRBQ blowing up a New Kids On The Block album
NRBQ perform I Got A Rocket In My Pocket
Label from a 78 RPM copy of "Mannish Boy" Note the misspelling of "Mannish" on the label.
McKinley Morganfield (a.k.a. Muddy Waters) was born April 4, 1913 in Issaquena County, Mississippi. His grandmother raised him when his mother died shortly after his birth. His fondness for playing in the mud earned him the nickname “Muddy” at a young age, which he eventually changed to “Muddy Water” and “Muddy Waters”. He took up the harmonica, and started playing the guitar at age seventeen, emulating two popular blues artists of the day, Son House and Robert Johnson. In 1940, Muddy moved to Chicago; a year later, he returned to Mississippi, where he ran a juke joint, complete with gambling, moonshine, and a jukebox. In the summer of 1941, musicologist Alan Lomax came to Stovall, Mississippi to record various country blues musicians; he recorded Muddy in his house. Lomax would return and record Muddy a second time. In 1943, Morganfield returned to Chicago with the hopes of becoming a full-time musician. Big Bill Broonzy became an early supporter, allowing Muddy to open for him in rowdy clubs. In 1945, Muddy got his first electric guitar; in 1946, he recorded some tracks for Mayo Williams of Columbia, but these tracks went unreleased at the time. Later that year, he started recording for Aristocrat, a label formed by two brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess. In 1947, he played guitar on two tracks he recorded with Sunnyland Slim: “Gypsy Woman” and “Little Annie Mae”. These were shelved, but in 1948, “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and “I Feel Like Going Home” were released became hits, and Muddy’s popularity began to rise. Soon afterward, Aristocrat changed its name to Chess, and Muddy’s signature tune “Rollin’ Stone” became a hit.
At first, the Chess brothers did not allow Muddy to have his own band, but by 1953, they relented, and soon he had assembled a band consisting of Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds on drums, Otis Spann on piano, and Big Crawford on bass. Soon the band recorded a series of blues classics, many penned by bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon. Not all of them were; however, and his hit “Mannish Boy” (with “Young Fashioned Ways” on the flip) was written by Morganfield, Mel London, and Elias McDaniel (a.k.a. Bo Diddley). This is today’s featured single.
“Mannish Boy” takes the classic stop-time riff from Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man”, employed with even greater effect here, distilled and refined and augmented with some catchy hooks. From the “whoa, yeah” opening, the song commands the listener’s attention, and soon we have a song that epitomizes male braggadocio as Muddy unleashes his chorus of “I’m a man…I spell M-A-child-N” accompanied by a chorus of “yeah”. Morganfield even invokes the title of his previous hit when he sings “I’m a rolling stone”. The lyrics are more explicit than in the Willie Dixon song, with Muddy singing “[t]he line I shoot/Will never miss/When I make love to a woman/She can’t resist”. And just when you’re getting into the song, it ends, clocking in at a modest 2 minutes and 56 seconds. This song is a classic, and has been covered by artists as diverse as The Band, Junior Wells, Hank Williams, Jr. and the Rolling Stones. Bo Diddley would rework it into “I’m A Man”, which appeared on the flipside of “Bo Diddley”, which sounds comparatively restrained, with McDaniel exhibiting more of a quiet cool on the track.
The B-side, “Young Fashioned Ways”, is an upbeat blues tune, punctuated by Spann’s piano. Think of this as Muddy Waters’ manifesto for the aging: “I may be getting old/But I have young fashioned ways”. Years before songs like The Who’s “They’re All In Love”, Morganfield made it clear that age isn’t going to condemn him to irrelevance, at least when it comes to women. The song contains a great sexual innuendo: “There may be snow on top of the mountain/But there’s a thaw down under the hill”. And let’s not forget an excellent harmonica solo about 1 minute and 20 seconds into the song. “Young Fashioned Ways” may not be the classic that “Mannish Boy” is, but it stands out as a great song about the wisdom that comes with age, released in 1955 – the year of rock and roll, a genre that was strongly identified with youth, at least in its early days. In its own way, I like to think it presages songs that contain an “aging rocker is still relevant” theme.
The single (catalog #: 1602) was released on Chess Records in April 1955. It featured the classic blue and white Chess label (solid blue on the top, white on the bottom). Since this was the era when 78 RPM records were still being issued, this single was released as both a 10-inch 78 RPM record and a 7-inch 45 RPM record. [This practice would continue for a number of years, with the last Chess 78 RPM release apparently being Chuck Berry’s “Too Pooped To Pop” in February 1960.] Muddy Waters would reach the peak of his success in the years 1952 to 1956; after his last major hit, “I’m Ready” in 1956, he was put on the back shelf by Chess Records. He went to the U.K. in 1958, where he exposed audiences to electric blues for the first time. In 1960, he played the Newport Jazz Festival and enjoyed a revival in popularity. Yet for most of the next two decades (1956-76), he largely kept a low profile. This would change with his appearance onstage with The Band at their final concert at Winterland, where he performed “Mannish Boy” with The Band. Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign him in 1977, and Morganfield released a comeback album, “Hard Again”. The comeback continued with a live album in 1979, and Muddy continued to perform live until declining health in 1982 caused him to cut back his touring schedule. He died in his sleep on April 30, 1983 at his home in Westmont, Illinois.
Picture sleeve for The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" EP
The Undertones formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1975. The initial lineup consisted of Feargal Sharkey (lead vocals), John O’Neill (guitar), Damian O’Neill (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Michael Bradley (bass, vocals), and Billy Doherty (drums). They were friends from Creggan and the Bogside who drew inspiration from such bands as The Beatles, the Small Faces, and Lindisfarne. The band original rehearsed cover versions in the home of brothers John and Damian O’Neill, and in the shed of a neighbor. By the following year, the band was playing gigs at minor local venues such as schools, parish halls and scout huts. When the band played a gig at Saint Joseph’s secondary school in Derry, Sharkey was asked the name of the band, and he replied, “The Hot Rods”. Later that year, drummer Doherty suggested an alternate name for the band, “The Undertones”, which he discovered in a history book, and the other members agreed. With the arrival of punk rock in 1976, the artistic focus of the band shifted, and artists such as the Adverts, the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks, and the Ramones became major influences on The Undertones.
By 1977, the band was playing their own three-chord pop punk material, performed alongside cover versions at venues such as The Casbah, which was where they played their first paid gigs in February (£40/week). This inspired the band to write and rehearse further material as a means of remaining a popular act at this venue. By the summer of 1977, they added “Teenage Kicks” to their setlist. In June 1977, they played outside of Derry for the first time, opening for the Dublin punk rock band The Radiators From Space. In March 1978, The Undertones recorded a demo at Magee University in Derry, and sent copies to record companies, hoping to secure a recording contract. All they received, however, were official letters of rejection. They also sent a copy to BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who was so impressed with the band that he offered to pay for a recording session. On June 16, 1978, they recorded their “Teenage Kicks” EP on a budget of only £200. The Undertones were signed to Sire Records in September 1978 on a five-year contract, and “Teenage Kicks” was released as a single in October with “True Confessions” on the B-side. This is today’s featured single.
“Teenage Kicks” is built around a relatively simple (the main riff is based on three chords – D, A, and E) hook-laden melody and angst-ridden lyrics. The production is relatively crude but is decent for a punk record. As mentioned, John Peel paid for the recording session, and he loved “Teenage Kicks” so much that until his death in 2004 he maintained that it was his favorite pop record. “I can’t listen to it now without getting all dewy eyed,” he once said. Although I noticeably failed to have the same reaction upon hearing this song – even after listening to it repeatedly – I must admit that it has many of the elements of good pop composition – the melody is catchy, the lyrics are pure rock and roll (especially the infectious chorus of “I wanna hold you wanna hold you tight/Get teenage kicks right through the night”), Sharkey’s quavering vocals convey the teen angst of the song’s protagonist perfectly. Moreover, the song was perfect for the punk era, clocking in at a mere 2 minutes and 25 seconds. The Sire Records release of this song reached #31 on the U.K. charts. It was also featured on their eponymous debut album, released in May 1979, which reached #13 in the U.K., but tanked in the U.S. Nevertheless, on both sides of the Atlantic, “Teenage Kicks” has come to be regarded as a punk pop classic.
The B-side of the single, “True Confessions”, features somewhat cleaner production, but similar distorted guitars and Sharkey’s trademark tremolo vocals. It is sung from the perspective of someone who’s been cuckolded by his significant other, and is confronting her: “Don’t look so surprised/You’ve been telling me lies/True – true – true – confessions”. He has evidence to back up his accusations (“I got a picture from your sister/There was writing on the back”, but in spite of it all, he wants to “sit down and sort this out”. It uses the same chords as “Teenage Kicks”, which makes one wonder just how broad the band’s musical palette was, but it stands out as a catchy, if somewhat less memorable, song.
The single (catalog #: C008-62177) was released on Sire Records in October 1978. It was issued with a picture sleeve displaying the name of the band and the name of the song. The original September 1978 release of the single on the independent Good Vibrations label featured a somewhat cruder – but far more interesting – picture sleeve: the full track listing was included (there were four tracks: “Teenage Kicks”, “Smarter Than U”, “True Confessions”, and “Emergency Cases”), along with pictures of all five band members, and a picture of a door defaced with graffiti boldly proclaiming that “THE UNDER TONES ARE SHIT PISH COUNTY WANKERS”. The success of “Teenage Kicks” led to the band’s first U.K. tour (supporting the Rezillos). The Undertones would release several successful singles and their debut album, “The Undertones”, in 1979, and would also tour the U.S. in support of The Clash. The second album, “Hypnotised”, was released in April 1980, and reached #6 in the U.K., remaining in the Top 10 for one month. They also performed on five major tours between February 1980 and December 1980, including their second tour of the U.S., this time as headliners. In April 1980, The Undertones released “My Perfect Cousin”, their highest-charting single in the U.K. (#9). Unhappy with the level of promotion they were getting from Sire, they split with the label in December 1980, signing with EMI in January 1981. Their third album, “Positive Touch”, was released in May 1981, and received favorable reviews; it was the first album whose lyrical content touched upon political issues, including troubles in Northern Ireland. The Undertones toured Europe from May to October 1981. 1982 saw a lull in activity for the band, who only performed a tour of continental Europe in August. They released two singles that year that failed to make much of an impact on the U.K. charts. The band returned with their fourth album, “The Sin of Pride”, in May 1983, but the album only reached #43 on the U.K. charts. Increasing tensions between Sharkey and John O’Neill helped precipitate the demise of the band, and The Undertones disbanded after a European tour in July 1983. The band would remain dormant for over sixteen years, until four-fifths of the band would reunite, recruiting Paul McLoone as the new lead vocalist (Feargal Sharkey declined to participate).
Epitaph b/w 21st Century Schizoid Man single
King Crimson had its genesis in a collaboration between Dorset, U.K. residents Michael Giles, a drummer, his brother Peter, a bassist, and guitarist Robert Fripp. In August 1967, the Giles brothers advertised for a singing keyboardist to join their new musical project. In spite of the fact that Fripp was not a singer and not a keyboardist, the trio joined forces to form Giles, Giles and Fripp. Based on a format of eccentric pop songs and complex instrumentals, Giles, Giles and Fripp recorded a series of unsuccessful singles and one album. The band had several radio sessions and television appearances, but never achieved a commercial breakthrough. Attempting to expand their sound, the band recruited multi-instrumentalist Ian MacDonald on keyboards, along with MacDonald’s then-girlfriend, singer Judy Dyble. Dyble’s tenure with the band was brief, but MacDonald recuited lyricist Peter Sinfield. Fripp then recommended his friend Greg Lake for recruitment into the band, with the suggestion that Lake replace either Peter Giles or himself. Ultimately, Peter Giles stepped aside and the first incarnation of King Crimson came into existence in late 1968. The band made their live debut on April 9, 1969 and achieved a breakthrough by playing the free concert staged by The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, London in July 1969. They released their debut album, “In the Court of King Crimson”, in October 1969, on Island Records (distributed by Atlantic in the U.S.). The album was a commercial and critical success, and soon the band was touring the United States alongside many contemporary popular bands. McDonald and Giles, however, chafed at Fripp’s creative control, and wanting to record a lighter and more romantic style of music, quit the band during a tour of California in late 1969. Greg Lake was the next member to leave, departing in early 1970 to join Emerson, Lake and Palmer. This left Robert Fripp as the only remaining original member. For the next eighteen months or so, the band was in flux. Fripp convinced Lake to sing on the next studio album, “In The Wake of Poseidon” (1970), in exchange for the band’s PA equipment, got his former band mate Gordon Haskell to sing on one track, and also recruited Michael and Peter Giles to play on the album. Mel Collins played saxophone and flute. For the next album, Fripp retained Collins, as well as Haskell, who would now play bass as well as sing. Andy McCulloch, another Dorset musician, rounded out the new lineup on drums. This lineup recorded “Lizard”, released in December 1970.
But this lineup would prove to be a transitional one. In 1971, Fripp started auditioning new band members. Ian Wallace (who had played with Ian Anderson) became the new drummer, and was soon joined by Raymond “Boz” Burrell. Unable to find a new bass player, Fripp taught Burrell to play bass (Burrell had never played bass before, but had played rhythm guitar). This band became the first incarnation of King Crimson since 1969 to tour. This lineup recorded “Islands” (1971), an album which received mixed reviews. After the release of this album, Fripp ousted Sinfield as his songwriting partner, and the remaining band broke up acrimoniously as a result of Fripp’s unwillingness to incorporate his band mates’ ideas into the songwriting process. This lineup would reunite to fulfill King Crimson’s 1972 tour commitments (recordings from this tour would surface on the “Earthbound” live album). Fripp recruited free-improvising percussionist Jamie Muir, who was paired with former Yes drummer Bill Bruford in the first lineup of King Crimson to feature two drummers. John Wetton became the new singer/bass player, and David Cross became the new keyboardist. Wetton’s friend Richard Palmer-James became Fripp’s new lyricist. Rehearsals began in late 1972, and the work ultimately paid off, as the resulting album, “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” (1973) was hailed by many critics as revolutionary, drawing from influences as varied as Bartok, Vaughan Williams, and heavy metal. Muir departed the band after the release of this album, and King Crimson continued as a quartet. Their next album, “Starless and Bible Black” (1974), was released to mostly positive reviews. The band soon began to fracture again, with Cross being voted out of the band in 1974 after a tour of Europe and America. The remaining trio reconvened to record their next album, “Red” (1974); unbeknownst to Buford and Wetton, Fripp was undergoing a spiritual crisis and thus largely withdrew from the sessions, leaving Buford and Wetton to direct them. Nevertheless, “Red” turned out to be one of King Crimson’s strongest albums, and although it achieved only moderate commercial success, it remains very popular with fans and critics. After the release of this album, Fripp disbanded King Crimson. A posthumous live album, “USA”, was released the following year. Fripp embarked on a solo career; in the meantime, Island Records reissued two of the band’s classics from the first album, “Epitaph” and “21st Century Schizoid Man” as a single. This is today’s featured single.
“Epitaph” is a musical triptych that runs almost 9 minutes. [The single version is the album version, and the single is played at 33 RPM to accommodate the length of the song.] The chord progression is not overly complex: during the verses we get Em/D/Am/B, and during the chorus, it’s Em/Bm repeated three times, followed by C/Am/Bm. The song showcases a haunting, minor-key melody with image-laden lyrics: “The wall on which the prophets wrote/Is cracking at the seams/Upon the instruments of death/The sunlight brightly gleams”. The lyrics seem to reach an apocalyptic fury with the proclamation at the end of the second verse that “[t]he fate of all mankind I see/Is in the hands of fools”. This gives way to a lengthy instrumental break that starts about 3 minutes and 40 seconds into the song (the second part of the song, subtitled “March for No Reason”), and which showcases Ian MacDonald’s clarinet-playing. This section lasts 1 minute and 35 seconds long and is followed by a reprise of the first verse and the chorus. Greg Lake mournfully repeats the final line of the chorus “I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying” during the song’s soaring, ethereal fade-out. “Epitaph” stands as not only one of the better songs from a classic album, but as a symbol of the best of what progressive rock had to offer when the genre was still in its infancy.
The B-side of this single, “21st Century Schizoid Man”, opens with some bizarre, cavernous noises before the guitars and other instrumentation thunders in 29 seconds into the track. It’s another 18 seconds before Greg Lake delivers the lyrics that delineate King Crimson’s vision of a futuristic dystopia: “Cats foot iron claw/Neurosurgeons scream for more/At paranoias poison door./Twenty first century schizoid man”. The song is buildt around a lumbering main riff, that swirls around the intricate lyrics. But more than anything else, the song provides a framework in which Fripp and company can engage in an extended instrumental break, which is supposed to mirror musically just how off-kilter the 21st century mind is, an up-tempo section of jazz rock, and one which showcases the musicianship of its members – MacDonald’s saxophone work stands out quite well here, although the guitar solo is quite memorable as well. The third and final lyric is sung about 6 minutes into the track, and while the lyrics aren’t that elaborate by King Crimson standards, the idea of a dysfunctional world in which rampant paranoia is the only way in which to survive, in which violence and greedy consumerism (“[n]othing he’s got he really needs”) are the norm, is particularly haunting. After the jazzy mid-section, guitarist Robert Fripp plays a guitar solo, who uses different amplification effects to create dissonance, further mirroring the paranoia of the song’s subject matter. The guitar chords are distorted (as is MacDonald’s backing Mellotron chords) as King Crimson lays out a post-psychedelic sound that is more heavy metal-sounding than anything else on the first album. “21st Century Schizoid Man” is not everyone’s cup of tea, and undoubtedly it will strike many fans and critics as too self-indulgent, but I give the song a thumbs-up. The single version clocks in at 6 minutes and 52 seconds long, while the album version is 7 minutes and 23 seconds long – presumably the single version omits the eerie opening.
The single (catalog #: WIP 6274) was issued on Island Records in 1976. It had no picture sleeve; the label was the orange and red Island label with the island and palm tree on the left side. The artist info is printed across the top and the track info is printed across the bottom. Fripp would eventually re-form King Crimson in 1981, with Adrian Belew as lyricist and co-guitarist. This incarnation lasted three years and resulted in three albums, but King Crimson split again in 1984. Fripp and Belew joined forces again in 1994; this incarnation lasted about ten years, after which Fripp again put King Crimson on hold, but he returned in 2007 with a new lineup, again teaming up with Adrian Belew and drummer Pat Mastelotto from the previous incarnation, bringing back bassist Tony Levin, who had played with the band in the 1990s, and a new second drummer, Gavin Harrison. The new lineup began rehearsals in the spring of 2008, in preparation for a brief four-city tour that in turn would be preparation for the band’s fortieth anniversary in 2009.
(Don't Fear) The Reaper 45 RPM single
Blue Öyster Cult originated as a band called Soft White Underbelly in 1967, playing gigs in the vicinity of Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York at the prompting of critic and manager Sandy Pearlman. The original lineup consisted of Les Braunstein (vocals), Allen Lanier (guitars/keyboards), Andrew Winters (bass), and Albert Bouchard (drums). This lineup recorded an album’s worth of material for Elektra Records in 1968. When Braunstein left the band in 1969, Elektra shelved the album. Eric Bloom, formerly the bands acoustic engineer, replaced Braunstein, and the band continued to perform as Soft White Underbelly. However, a bad review of a show at the Fillmore East caused Pearlman to change the band’s name, first to Oaxaca, then to Stalk-Forrest Group. The band recorded yet another album’s worth of material for Elektra, but only one single was released: “What Is Quicksand” b/w “Arthur Comics”, and only as a promo edition of 300 copies. Joe Bouchard replaced Andrew Winters on bass in 1970. After a few more name changes, the band settled on Blue Öyster Cult in 1971. Pearlman was able to get Blue Öyster Cult another audition with Columbia Records. Clive Davis liked what he heard and signed them to the label. Their debut album, “Blue Öyster Cult” (1972) was issued, reaching #172 on the Billboard album chart. The next album, “Tyranny and Mutation” (1973), was issued while the band was on tour in support of their first album. The third album, “Secret Treaties” (1974), reached #53 on the Billboard album chart and was eventually certified gold. As a result of constant touring, the band was now capable of headlining arenas. The band’s first live album “On Your Feet or on Your Knees” (1975), was a double album that also went gold. It was followed up by their first platinum album, “Agents of Fortune”. This album contained the hit single, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” b/w “Tattoo Vampire”, which reached #12 on the Billboard singles chart. This is today’s featured single.
“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” was written by Donald Roeser and is anchored by a relatively simple minor-key melody (a total of 4 chords) played in the key of C. It is a throwback to the jangle/power pop of the 1960s, albeit with more menacing overtones that make this one of Blue Öyster Cult’s most powerful songs, even though it sounds much more restrained than most of their other songs. One can see why Hubbs in “The Stöned Age” referred to this song as a “p**sy song”, but few songs capture the sense of impending doom as well as this song. The lyrical content complements the music well: “All our times have come/Here, but now they’re gone/Seasons don’t fear the reaper/Like the wind and the sun and the rain”. There are two brief solo breaks in the first half of the song; then about 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the track, we get the main solo, which starts off with a single guitar before a thunderous crescendo bursts forth, before we get the final verse and the resonant fade-out. This is one of Blue Öyster Cult’s signature tunes, and certainly one of their most powerful ones.
The B-side of this single, “Tattoo Vampire”, is a more straightforward rocker. The first 11 seconds feature Lanier moving his hand along the neck of his electric guitar (generating a rather unusual sound) before the main melody starts. The lyrics are pure heavy metal imagery: “I went down last night with a tattoo madam/To a nude dagger fantasy domain/Wrapped in hell, I lost my breath/Chest to stimulating chinese breast”. Although the song is only 2 minutes and 41 seconds long, we do get a very cool guitar solo 1 minute and 39 seconds into the song (although it only lasts 23 seconds). This song lacks the subtlety of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, making the latter the more enduring song. “Tattoo Vampire”, on the other hand, is more like an assault on your (auditory) senses, but it is nonetheless a good song, and one that fans of the genre will enjoy.
This single (catalog #: 4483) was released on Columbia Records in June 1976. The single version is 3 minutes and 45 seconds long (as opposed to the 5 minutes and 8 seconds of the album version), omitting the spooky-sounding guitar solo. No picture sleeve was issued with this single, but a Columbia paper sleeve was issued with the single (with the Pacman-style Columbia logo). The label was the red and orange Columbia label typical of singles issued during this time period. The length of track is on the left side, the catalog number is on the right side, and the artist/song information is on the bottom. The band would continue to release albums throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s. The next album, “Spectres” (1977), was not as popular as its predecessor, but their next live album, “Some Enchanted Evening” (1978), went double platinum. “Mirrors” (1979) was a commercial disappointment, but “Cultösaurus Erectus” represented a comeback of sorts, reaching #14 in the U.K. and leading to a co-headlining tour with Black Sabbath. “Fire of Unknown Origin” (1981) generated the Top 40 single “Burnin’ for You” and went platinum. After this album was released, Albert Bouchard left, to be replaced by Rick Downey. “Extraterrestrial Live” (1982), the band’s third live album, went platinum, but the following album, “The Revölution By Night” (1983), was a commercial disappointment, in spite of having Bruce Fairbairn as the producer. Albert Bouchard returned for a 1985 tour, but left again after the tour, as did longtime keyboardist Allen Lanier. They brought in drummer Jimmy Wilcox and keyboardist Tommy Zvoncheck to complete the upcoming “Club Ninja” (1986) album, which was not the comeback they had hoped it would be. Bassist Joe Bouchard left after a tour of Germany and was replaced by Jon Rogers. BOC toured Greece in the summer of 1987, this time with Ron Riddle on drums, and the following year, they released “Imaginos” (1988). Promotion by the label was nonexistent and the album was a commercial failure. When Columbia was acquired by Sony Music, BOC was dropped from the label. They would re-emerge about a decade later, releasing two albums, “Heaven Forbid” (1998) and “Curse of the Hidden Mirror” (2001) both released on CMC Records (later purchased by Sanctuary Records). BOC later had a falling out with Sanctuary, and is currently without a record deal.
Yes, I know it's the wrong single but bear with me.
What have I accomplished by selecting the Paul Butterfield Blues Band for the featured single of the day? Apart from coming up with yet another blog entry, I also have come up with a single that’s marginally older than “One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later” – the Dylan single was released in February 1966, and this single was released in 1965. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (Paul Butterfield – harmonica and vocals; Mike Bloomfield – lead guitar; Elvin Bishop – guitar; Mark Naftalin – organ; Jerome Arnold – bass; Sam Lay – drums) started not too long after Butterfield met Bishop (then a University of Chicago physics student); the two shared a love for the blues and began hanging out with blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Junior Wells. Soon, the pair formed a band by adding Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay from Howlin’ Wolf’s band. The band was signed to Electra Records after adding Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar, and before the first album was recorded, they recruited an organ player, Mark Naftalin.
“Born In Chicago” is a Nick Gravenites-penned tune, and is the first track off the first album. The song is a simple 12-bar blues arrangement, with Butterfield’s harmonica and Bloomfield’s guitar being the most identifiable characteristics (Lay’s drum plods along nicely as well). The lyrics are very simple: I count a total of seventeen lines, and four of the seventeen are simply the previous line repeated. The lyrical content is appropriately bleak: “I was born in Chicago in nineteen forty-one/I was born in Chicago in nineteen forty-one/Well my father told me/Son you had better get a gun”. [This probably didn’t reflect the reality of living in Chicago for Butterfield, the son of an affluent lawyer, but he nonetheless does an effective job in laying down the vocal track.] As the song winds down, Butterfield really wails away on the harmonica; indeed, his harmonica dominates the rest of the track up to the fade-out.
“Shake Your Moneymaker” is a cover version of the old Elmore James tune (originally included on the B-side of his 1961 single “Look On Yonder Wall”), and this version is pretty much faithful to the original, with a few notable differences. (1) The Elmore James version starts with the chorus (this one doesn’t). (2) This version has a slightly different chord progression than the original. (3) The guitars are more restrained on the James version (the original had James playing his celebrated slide guitar) and of course Paul Butterfield wails away on the vocal track on the cover version. (4) Check out this lyrical modification: the original first verse goes: I got a girl who lives up on the hill/I got a girl who lives up on the hill/Talk she gonna love me/But I don’t believe she will”. The second couplet is modified to “Sometimes she won’t/Sometimes I think she will”. The second lyric is changed from “I got a girl and she just won’t be true/I got a girl and she just won’t be true/She’s locked to the bridge/She won’t do a thing I tell her to do” to “Go on baby, go on back to school/Go on baby, go on back to school/Your mama told me/You’re nothing but a fool”. It’s not Shakespeare, but it is interesting that the band took such poetic license (more than that maybe: they practically rewrote the lyrics) with the words, perhaps a sign that the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, one of the first blues bands to be fronted by whites, was a force to be reckoned with. Or perhaps they just felt like changing the words. Anyhow, it’s a good tune.
Paul Butterfield performing Born In Chicago live in 1985
Paul Butterfield and Foghat performing Shake Your Moneymaker live in 1978
Rock and Roll picture sleeve
Today’s featured single is a rare instance in which the B-side is as good (or even slightly better) than the A-side because it’s the same song. Well, it’s not quite the same song…but it’s pretty close. The B-side of today’s single is the A-side plus a vocal track (with lyrics). We all have heard about the tragic downfall of Gary Glitter (a.k.a. Paul Francis Gadd): the conviction in the U.K. in the late 1990’s for possession of child pornography, and his subsequent conviction in Vietnam for child sexual abuse. Although his fall from grace has not really been an issue in the U.S., where “Rock And Roll Part II” was his only real hit (and where that song continues to be played at sporting events), in the U.K. he has been virtually purged from radio, even though he had a string of hits over a five-year period over there. But I have not come here to bury Gary Glitter; rather, I am here to praise him; after all, he did record today’s featured single: “Rock and Roll Part 1” b/w “Rock and Roll Part 2”.
Gadd was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England in 1944 and had been performing at London clubs since the age of sixteen. By the time he was eighteen, he had adopted the stage name Paul Raven and had released his first album on Decca Records. A recording contract with Parlophone resulted in two Paul Raven singles being released, but neither of them made an impact commercially and Raven’s career reached an impasse. By 1965, he had joined the Mike Leander Show Band, the brainchild of Michael George Farr (a.k.a. Mike Leander); this would be the beginning of an on again/off again professional relationship between Gadd and Leander that would continue until the latter’s death in 1996. Gadd then formed Boston International, which would tour the U.K. and Germany for the next five years. With the rise of glam rock in the early 1970s, Gadd decided to change his name to Gary Glitter. Signed to Bell Records, both the album “Glitter” and the single “Rock and Roll (Part One)” were released in March 1972, his first releases under the Glitter pseudonym.
“Rock and Roll Part 2” is yet another one of those songs that has reached such an iconic status that one barely knows where to begin a review of the song. Is it even possible to attend a sporting event in the United States without hearing at least a sound byte from the song? The pounding rhythm section is the real strength of the song, but let’s not forget the memorable lead guitar riff. Yet for all of this, what gives the song an edge is the chorus of “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!”. Apparently, the song had its origins in a failed composition by Mike Leander (Glitter’s co-writer and producer) called “Shag Rag, That’s My Bag”. Glitter, Leander and others began jamming to that track, ad-libbing lyrics along the way. Glitter and Leander played the tapes back and found they had essentially created, in the words of Leander, the sort of song they had loved to listen to when they were teenagers. They edited down the lengthy jam to 15 minutes, and then further edited it down into “Rock And Roll” parts one and two. One has to wonder if the success of “Rock And Roll Part 2” (as opposed to part 1) is because the vocals have been stripped from the song; it’s essentially an instrumental with “hey” being the only intelligible word in the entire song. The song eventually was used at a Colorado Rockies hockey game; it took off from there, eventually being used at sporting events throughout the country.
The A-side of this single, “Rock And Roll Part 1” is very similar to part two, but a vocal track has been added with lyrics and parts of the lead guitar track have been stripped out. A horn section has been added (it can first be heard about 1 minute and 40 seconds into the song and it can be heard until the end) to give the track a slightly fatter sound. The chorus of “rock and roll/rock and roll” is the epitome of simplicity – who needs Bob Dylan when you can just listen to “rock and roll” over and over again? The lyrics essentially celebrate the history of rock and roll (Can you still recall in the jukebox hall when the music played/And the world span round to a brand new sound in those far off days”), with an optimistic view of the future of the genre: “Times are changing fast, but we won’t forget/Though the age has past, we’ll be rocking yet”. “Rock And Roll Part I” is a very simple but effective rocker, and it was the even simpler “Rock And Roll Part 2” that would carry the day, but part one is worth a listen.
The single was issued on Bell Records (catalog #: Bell 1216) with the silver-gray Bell label of the early 1970’s (with the Bell logo – a picture of a bell – on the left side, and a monochrome rainbow on the top). As far as I know, no picture sleeve was issued with the single, at least in the U.S. (although it did come with a nice dark-red Bell paper sleeve). However, some foreign counties did get a picture sleeve, as the accompanying image demonstrates.
Gary Glitter performing Rock And Roll Part II (1972)
Gary Glitter performing Rock And Roll Part I
Panama Red picture sleeve
The roots of New Riders of the Purple Sage (NRPS) can be traced back to the early 1960s folk/bohemian/beatnik scene in San Francisco, where future Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia (then considered one of the best banjo players of the folk revival movement) often played gigs with like-minded guitarist David Nelson. The young John Dawson (nicknamed “Marmaduke”), from a well-to-do family in upstate New York, also played some gigs with Garcia and Nelson while visiting on summer vacation. Dawson went on to college, and Nelson moved to Los Angeles with future Grateful Dead/New Riders lyricist Robert Hunter and tape archivist Willy Legate, while Garcia went on to form the Grateful Dead (then known as the Warlocks) with Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. Nelson returned to the Bay Area in 1966, and the Grateful Dead briefly considered replacing Bob Weir with Nelson. When this failed to materialize, Nelson worked as a journeyman musician, playing anything from electric psychedelic rock to contemporary bluegrass.
Dawson returned to the Bay Area around the same time, where he worked as a solo folksinger for a time. Soon he decided it was his life’s mission to combine the psychedelia of the San Francisco rock scene with his beloved electric country music. By 1969, Dawson and Garcia (who by this time had taken up the pedal steel guitar) were playing coffeehouse concerts when the Dead was not touring. By the summer of 1969, it was decided that a full band would be formed to satisfy Garcia’s creative impulses in this outlet. Dave Nelson, who by this point was a member of Big Brother and the Holding Company, was recruited to play electric lead guitar. Dawson would play acoustic guitar. Robert Hunter was recruited to play electric bass and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart rounded out the lineup on drums. Hunter was replaced by Bob Matthews, who did not last long – eventually Phil Lesh replaced him. Thus for the cost of two extra plane tickets, the cash-strapped Dead had a unique opening act.
The New Riders began to tour as the opening act for the Grateful Dead in May 1970. This relationship continued on a regular basis until December 1971. Before the New Riders recorded their debut album in late 1970, Dave Torbert replaced Lesh on bass. After Mickey Hart took a sabbatical from music in early 1971, Spencer Dryden (ex-Jefferson Airplane) replaced him, beginning a ten-year relationship with the band, both as drummer and eventually manager. Their eponymous debut album, issued on Columbia Records in 1971, was a moderate success. In November 1971, Jerry Garcia parted with the group and was replaced by Buddy Cage. With the last of the remaining Dead members now replaced, New Riders could tour independently of the Grateful Dead. Their second album, “Powerglide” (1972), was their first album with the Dawson–Nelson–Cage–Torbert–Dryden lineup, which is considered by many to be the classic NRPS lineup. The New Riders managed to nearly eclipse the Dead in popularity, thanks in part to rampant touring with the parent band. The band released their third album, “The New Adventures of Panama Red” in December 1973, and this became regarded as one of the better country-rock albums of the decade, and “Panama Red” became a staple of FM radio; it was also released as a single with “Cement, Clay And Glass” on the flipside. This is today’s featured single.
“Panama Red” is a Peter Rowan composition which features a relatively simple melody that utilizes a grand total of six chords (Bm/A/G/E7/F#/D) and drug-influenced lyrics (the title refers to a particularly potent cultivar of cannabis). We are informed that Panama Red will “steal your woman/Then he’ll rob your head”. He comes to town “[o]n his white horse, Mescalito” and “[h]e keeps well hidden underground.” There is a brief instrumental break 1 minute and 9 seconds into the song (lasting about 20 seconds) before Dawson sings the last verse, in which he delivers the ultimate double entendre, announcing that he’ll be “searching all the joints in town for Panama Red.” Clocking in at 2 minutes and 49 seconds, the song races along quickly, and soon we have reached the fade-out. Musically this is not an overly complex tune; it’s just the easy-going country rock that defined the early NRPS.
The B-side, “Cement, Clay and Glass”, is a Spencer Dryden/David Nelson composition that seems to be a musical diatribe against development. At least that is the initial impression I got from the opening lyrics: “I live by the side of Rolling Oaks Road/Tract 25, just like the man showed it to me/Nothin’ to hide it, nothin’ beside it/I really can’t fight it, the whole place is blighted/With cement, clay and glass”. The song opens with an acoustic guitar, and has a much slower tempo than “Panama Red”. In addition, the NRPS sound is augmented by a harmonica and a horn section (actually The Memphis Horns, whose claim to fame was their many appearances on Stax Records, and have been called “arguably the greatest soul horn section ever”). Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is also on hand to provide backing vocals. The song amply demonstrates that the New Riders clearly understand that being purveyors of a more accessible brand of music than the Dead does not mean that they cannot add additional layers to their music to give it a more nuanced sound. In many ways, “Cement, Clay and Glass” is the perfect counterpoint to “Panama Red”, and it is perhaps telling that the band chose “Panama Red” to open the album and “Cement, Clay and Glass” to close it.
This single (catalog #: 4-45976) was issued on Columbia Records in November 1973 (in advance of the album). It was issued with a picture sleeve, and features the same cover artwork as the album, with the band’s name across the top and the track listing. The band would continue touring and releasing albums throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Dave Torbert left the group the following year, to be replaced by Skip Battin. Stephen A. Love would replace Battin in 1976. Spencer Dryden stepped down as drummer to become the band’s manager in 1978 and would be replaced by Patrick Shanahan. In 1982, both Nelson and Cage left the band, leaving Dawson as the only member from the band’s classic lineup remaining. For the next 15 years, Dawson and multi-instrumentalist Rusty Gauthier were the core members of NRPS, working with an evolving lineup of musicians. In 1997, NRPS retired from music and Dawson moved to Mexico to become an English teacher. In 2005, shortly after the death of Spencer Dryden, the New Riders resurfaced, spearheaded by David Nelson and Buddy Cage. An ailing John Dawson, too ill to participate in the reunion, nonetheless gave his blessing to the project. On July 21, 2009, John Dawson died of stomach cancer in Mexico.
The Dave Nelson Band performing Panama Red in 2004
