Back Door Man, the B-side of Wang Dang Doodle

Chester Arthur Burnett was born on June 10, 1910 in White Station, Mississippi. His parents broke up when he was very young, and his mother threw him out of the house for refusing to work around the farm. He then moved in with his uncle, Will Young, who treated him badly. When he was 13, he ran away and claimed to have walked 85 miles to join his father, and he finally found a happy home with his father’s large family. A chance meeting with Delta blues legend Charley Patton at age 18 changed young Burnett’s life. Apparently it was Patton who first gave him the idea that he could pursue music as a career. In addition, two of the components of Burnett’s style (Patton’s distinctive growl and his talent for entertaining) were learned first-hand from Patton, although he did not master the subtleties of Patton’s guitar playing. Burnett farmed during the 1930’s (indeed, he might have been content with a life of farming if he had not met Patton), and also began his musical career in the early 1930’s as a Patton imitator. By the end of the decade, many remember seeing him rock juke joints with a neck-rack harmonica [Sonny Boy Williamson II had married his half sister and had begun to teach him the rudiments of the instrument] and one of the first electric guitars anyone had ever seen. Burnett served as a radioman in Seattle for four years during World War II, and after the war, started a band that by 1948 included guitarists Willie Johnson and M.T. Murphy, harmonica player Junior Parker, a pianist remembered only as “Destruction” and drummer Willie Steele.

Under the pseudonym Howlin’ Wolf, Burnett began broadcasting on KVEM in West Memphis, Arkansas and alternated between playing and pitching farm equipment. He auditioned for Sam Phillips in Memphis, who signed him to a contract. Phillips subsequently leased his rights in 1951 for the Bihari brothers at Modern/RPM Records and Leonard Chess’ Chess Records. His first release, “How Many More Years” b/w “Moanin’ at Midnight”, was released on Chess Records in October 1951. The single was also released on the Bihari’s Los Angeles-based RPM Records. “How Many More Years” was his first and biggest hit, reaching #4 on the Billboard national R&B charts. The B-side, “Moanin’ At Midnight” peaked at #10, making this first single a true double A-side. The success of this single set the stage for a bidding war between the Bihari brothers and Chess, with each seeking to have Howlin’ Wolf exclusively under contract. Chess Records finally won out, and for the rest of his recording career, Wolf was signed to Chess. In 1956, “Smoke Stack Lightning” b/w “You Can’t Be Beat” charted for three weeks, peaking at #8; that same year, “I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)” b/w “So Fine” reached #8. In 1959, Chess Records issued “Moanin’ in the Moonlight”, Howlin’ Wolf’s first album, which was actually a compilation of previously released singles. The single remained his primary medium, however, and in 1960, he released two more singles: “Who’s Been Talking” b/w “Tell Me” and “Howlin’ For My Baby” b/w “Spoonful”. The most memorable of these tracks is “Spoonful”, which would eventually find its way into the set lists of British Invasion (and American) bands enamored with Chicago blues. But Howlin’ Wolf unleashed an even more memorable single in 1961, when he released “Wang Dang Doodle” b/w “Back Door Man”. This is today’s featured single.

“Wang Dang Doodle” was written by Willie Dixon, and he stated in his autobiography that of all the songs he wrote for Howlin’ Wolf, this is the one that he hated the most. Howlin’ Wolf did not think much of it either, apparently. This song was written relatively late in Dixon’s career, at a time when Dixon’s songwriting had evolved from rural blues to a more sophisticated form, and “Wang Dang Doodle” is indicative of this more urban style; it is essentially a party song with a rolling, exciting beat, based around a relatively simple (three chord) riff. The lyrics tell of a party, and from what we can tell, it’s going to be quite a rave-up: “A we gonna pitch a ball/Down to that union hall/We gonna romp and tromp till midnight/We gonna fuss and fight till daylight”. As Burnett’s trademark growl dominates the sound, the guitar and piano plod along, punctuated by a tambourine, which provides percussion in place of drums. Although Dixon and Burnett may not have thought much of the song, it obviously made an impression on other musicians, as it was covered by many artists, including Booker T and the MGs, Savoy Brown, Love Sculpture, the Grateful Dead, Koko Taylor, ZZ Top, Ted Nugent, the Hindu Love Gods and PJ Harvey amongst others.

The B-side of the single, “Back Door Man”, is probably even better known, thanks in no small part to the Doors’ cover version on their self-titled debut album. This song was also written by Willie Dixon, and it tells of infidelity, not from the perspective of the cuckold, but from the perspective of the interloper. The “back door man” of this song is a variant of a figure that has loomed large in folk and blues: a shadow-cloaked figure who does things he’s not supposed to do, a “midnight rambler” as it were. And our protagonist is not just there to explain himself, which he does, but to boast as well: “You men eat your dinner/Eat your pork and beans/I eat more chicken any man ever seen.” Dixon plays upon the appeal of a character that operates covertly, when everyone is asleep: And all your people/They’re trying to sleep/I’m out there makin’ with my midnight creep.” This version of the song features Otis Spann on piano, Abu Talib and Hubert Sumlin on guitar, Willie Dixon on bass, and Fred Below on drums – the lineup which recorded many of Wolf’s classic tracks. This recording of the song “Back Door Man” features a three-chord riff, a blues tune in A7, and the chord progression is similar to that of Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man” and dates back to work songs sung during the construction of train tracks. It is also similar to Wolf’s one-chord songs, such as “Spoonful”. Like the A-side, “Wang Dang Doodle”, “Back Door Man” appeared on the 1962 album “Howlin’ Wolf (The Rocking Chair Album)”, as well as on other compilation albums.

The single (catalog #: 1777) was issued by Chess Records in 1961. It had no picture sleeve, and features a dark blue background, with “CHESS” written in big letters down the left side of the label, the track information across the top, and the artist and catalog number across the bottom. Publishing information is on the right side. Now in his fifties, Howlin’ Wolf would remain prolific throughout the 1960’s, releasing 16 singles during that decade. In 1969, he released “The Howlin’ Wolf Album”, which featured psychedelic electric guitar re-recordings of some of his classic songs. He was active in the 1970’s as well, traveling to London in 1970 to record the “Howlin’ Wolf London Sessions” (1971) album with Eric Clapton, Stevie Winwood and others. “Message To The Young”, another album of acid rock, was also released that year. He recorded his last album for Chess, “The Back Door Wolf”, in 1973. He died at Hines VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois on January 10, 1976.

External link:
Howlin’ Wolf performing “How Many More Years” in 1966

Behind Blue Eyes 45

The Who began life as a traditional jazz band called The Confederates formed by Pete Townshend (banjo) and John Entwistle (French horn). Roger Daltry had a band called The Detours and suggested that Entwistle join as bass guitarist. Entwistle agreed and suggested Townshend as an additional guitarist. Doug Sandom (drums) and Colin Dawson (vocals) rounded out the lineup. Daltrey played lead guitar in the band and Townshend played rhythm guitar. When Dawson left, Daltrey became the lead vocalist and Townshend became the sole guitarist. When Sandom left in 1964, Keith Moon became the drummer. The Detours became The Who in 1964 with the arrival of Moon, and then briefly changed their name to the High Numbers for the release of their debut single, “Zoot Suit” b/w “I’m The Face”. They reverted back to The Who in time for their January 1965 single “I Can’t Explain”. The song became a Top Ten hit in the U.K. A series of successful singles followed, along with their first album, “My Generation”, in December 1965. Townshend wanted the albums to be thematically linked, and not just serve as collections of songs, and thus the second album, “A Quick One” (1966) contained a nine-minute long mini rock opera. The third album, “The Who Sell Out” (1967) was a concept album based around the idea of an offshore radio station, a la Radio Caroline, complete with jingles and fake commercials. This presaged the ambitious double album “Tommy” (1969), which was almost completely written by Townshend, and was a rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy who becomes the leader of a messianic movement.

In the aftermath of “Tommy”, Townshend started writing a new rock opera. It was based on a futuristic dystopia in which the world is collapsing and the only experiences people have are through test tubes. Savages in the woods have kept rock and roll alive. An old guru-like figure recalls rock and roll and how people responded to it and reckons it can be used to snap people out of their programmed environment, achieving liberation through the music. The Lifehouse was the place where the music would be played, and the new rock opera became known as the Lifehouse project. But Townshend intended to take it one step further. The rock opera would be performed live, and a personal profile of each concert-goer would be worked out, from the individual’s astrological chart to his hobbies, even physical appearance. All of the characteristics would then be fed into a computer at the same moment, leading to one musical note that would culminate in mass nirvana. Townshend’s inability to translate the ideas in his head to those around him eventually led to a nervous breakdown. Lifehouse was never completed in its intended form; instead, the band went into the studio with Glyn Johns to record a traditional album. But scraps of the project found their way onto the resulting album, “Who’s Next”, including the A-side of lead single from the album, “Behind Blue Eyes” (b/w “My Wife”). This is today’s featured single.

Few bands have mastered the light/heavy dichotomy as well as The Who. In their day they could churn out searing, hearing loss-inducing hard rock. Yet on occasion they were able to suppress the heavy guitar crunch – witness, for example, the acoustic guitar opening in “Pinball Wizard” and a number of other tracks on “Tommy”. Yet it was not until “Behind Blues Eyes” that The Who displayed real mastery of their ability to generate tension by holding back the proto-metal overdrive that embodied their earlier classics. This was probably not what you would have expected from the latest Who single in 1971: an acoustic guitar plays a minor-key melody, and Roger Daltry chimes in with the lyrics: “No one knows what it’s like/To be the bad man/To be the sad man/Behind blue eyes”. This song was originally written for the Lifehouse project, and tells the tale of one of the main characters. The character is a villain, and he tells us his story: he has been corrupted by the bosses he serves; he is a man with noble instincts who suppresses that nobility in the service of a corrupt regime – presumably the one that the upstart rock and roll enthusiasts who run Lifehouse seek to challenge. About two minutes into the song, Townshend crashes in with his electric guitar wail, and the music perfectly complements the lyrical content, in which the villain seems to be on the verge of bursting forth with his anger and rage. Yet in the end all he demands is that his rage be held in check: “When my fist clenches, crack it open/Before I use it and lose my cool/When I smile, tell me some bad news/Before I laugh and act like a fool.” The song ends with a reprise of the quieter first theme. The guitar riff at the end of the rock anthem section is also used as the bridge during the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, perhaps serving as a link between the two songs when the album was intended to be a rock opera. The version of “Behind Blue Eyes” on “Who’s Next” was actually the second version; a version with Al Kooper playing a Hammond organ was also recorded. “Behind Blue Eyes” is one of several classics to emerge from the failed Lifehouse project and is one of The Who’s most memorable songs.

U.K. music fans got “Going Mobile” on the B-side of this single. It’s not a bad song, but we can do better than that, and we did, with the American B-side of “Behind Blue Eyes”. “My Wife”, another track from “Who’s Next”, was not quite as good as “Behind Blue Eyes”, but the John Entwistle-penned tune was a great comic-relief piece. The concept is simple: a man had a few too many drinks, gets in trouble with the law, and now is afraid to face the wrath of his better half (a theme also explored in “Who Are You”). If she thought he just went out on a bender, it might have been alright, but she’s convinced that he’s seeing another woman: “Gonna buy a tank and an airplane/When she catches up with me won’t be no time to explain/She thinks I’ve been with another one/And that’s enough to drive her half insane”. The song rolls along with a great bluesy piano, but the best part of the song, in my opinion, is the chorus chant of “She’s coming!” punctuated by horn overdubs (provided by Entwistle himself). The song supposedly was based on a real-life experience of Entwistle’s, and in the song Entwistle’s hyperbole is extreme to say the least (he needs a bodyguard, a machine gun, a tank, and an airplane), and the song is all the more entertaining because of it. On the album, it is preceded by “Love Ain’t for Keeping”, which provides a great segue from the acoustic coda of that track into the thundering electric guitars of “My Wife”.

The single (catalog #: 32888) was issued by Decca Records in the United States. It had a picture sleeve in the U.K., but not in the U.S. The label is the typical Decca label from this period, with a black background across the top and bottom, and a multicolored rectangle (the Decca logo) in the middle. Track/production information is across the top and artist information is across the bottom. Some countries got creative with this release; for example, in Thailand, “Behind Blue Eyes” was issued as an EP with “Behind Blue Eyes” and “See Me, Feel Me” (from “Tommy”) on side one, and the album version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” on side two. The Who would continue to record and release albums throughout the 1970’s, although the death of drummer Keith Moon seemed to be a watershed event. Although The Who replaced Moon with Kenny Jones and released two successful studio albums in the 1980’s – “Face Dances” (1981) and “It’s Hard” (1982), fans were not receptive to the new sound and, after a 1982 farewell tour, the band called it quits. They reunited briefly in 1985 for Live Aid and for a longer period of time in 1989 for a 25th anniversary tour. Entwistle died in 2002, but Townsend and Daltry reunited for Live 8 in 2005 and for The Who’s first album of new material in almost 25 years, “Endless Wire” (2006).

Looking for a Love picture sleeve (France)

The J. Geils Band started life in Worcester, Massachusetts in the mid-1960’s as an acoustic blues trio with guitarist John Geils, bassist Danny Klein (a.k.a. Dr. Funk), and harmonica player Richard Salwitz (a.k.a. Magic Dick). They originally went by the name Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels. In 1967, the band changed focus, starting to play electric guitar and bass and adding drummer Stephen Jo Bladd and fast-talking ex-disc jockey Peter Blankenfeld (a.k.a. Peter Wolf). They rechristened themselves the J. Geils Blues Band (later dropping “blues” from their name). About a year later, Seth Justman was added to the lineup as keyboardist. In 1970, they signed a contract with Atlantic Records. Their first album, “The J. Geils Band” (1970), barely dented the charts, but they garnered significant FM airplay with “First I Look at the Purse”, a track off this album. While the band’s first three singles, “Pack Fair and Square”, “Homework” and “Wait”, all failed to chart. Their second album, “The Morning After”, was more successful, peaking at #64 on the Billboard album chart and spawning the J. Geils Band’s first chart hit: “Looking for a Love” b/w “Whammer Jammer”, which not only charted, but cracked the U.S. Top 40, peaking at #39. This is today’s featured single.

Looking For A Love” may not rank as the typical J. Geils fan’s ultimate favorite (although I wouldn’t be surprised if it ranks pretty high), yet in the early days, this cover of a J.W. Alexander/Zelda Samuels song was their signature tune. It barely cracked the Top 40 (peaking at #39), but for a time it was their most popular song both in record sales and in live shows, where their live renditions were even more driving and catchier. [With the release of “Give it to Me” in 1973, the band escaped the distinction of being a one-hit wonder, and several more hits were to follow.] As one reviewer noted, the song starts off with a drum beat which is essentially the drum beat from Janis Joplin’s “Move Over”, only in triple time. Peter Wolf alternates with the band; he makes his case with one line, and the band responds with a line that incorporates the song title: “Stay in my corner/All the way, yeah/I`m looking for a love/To call my own/Stick by me, baby/No matter what they say/I`m looking for a love/To call my own”. The studio version of the song zips along, making it seem shorter than 3 minutes and 45 seconds. A version of the song was included on the live double album of the Mar Y Sol concerts in Puerto Rico (recorded in April 1972), and we also get a great live version on the “Live: Full House” LP. A slowed-down (but much shorter) version of the song is included on “Live: Blow Your Face Out”.

On the other side of the record is the original (studio) version of “Whammer Jammer”. And while this is not the live version of the Juke Joint Jimmy that was the more memorable version of the song, it’s still a great song, and a fitting showcase for Magic Dick’s harmonica-playing talent. Peter Wolf and J. Geils stay back so that Magic Dick can strut his stuff (he is accompanied by Seth Justman’s honky-tonk piano), and the end result is a series of harmonica riffs as memorable as any classic guitar riffs. This is not only a great song, but was the one that ultimately put Magic Dick on the map as the prototypical rock and roll harmonica player, and also served to turn Juke Joint Jimmy (who also wrote “Cruisin’ for a Love”) to something of a legend amongst fans of the band.

This single (catalog #: 2844) was issued by Atlantic Records in 1971. As far as I know, it had the red and black Atlantic label typical of Atlantic singles issued during this era, with the Atlantic logo in red lettering against a black background on the upper half of the label and artist and track information on the bottom half of the label. No picture sleeve was issued with this single in the United States, but some countries got a picture sleeve, as demonstrated by the accompanying picture of the French picture sleeve. The success of this single laid the foundation for a string of successful albums and singles in the 1970’s, with their next studio album, “Bloodshot” (1973), reaching the Top Ten in the U.S., an album which also spawned their second Top 40 hit, “Give it to Me”. While they followed this up with several successful albums, “Monkey Island” (1977), their last album on Atlantic Records, was not as successful as its predecessors, suggesting perhaps that their popularity was on the wane. They responded by adopting a more commercial sound for their debut album with EMI America (without abandoning their blues/rock roots) and recruiting Joe Wissert (producer of Earth, Wind and Fire) as producer. The result was “Sanctuary” (1978), an album that spawned “One Last Kiss”, their first Top 40 hit in four years. They continued moving in this direction with “Love Stinks” (1980), which was even more commercial than its predecessor (and features a more synthesizer-laden sound), and which spawned another pair of Top 40 hits (“Love Stinks” and “Come Back”). This trend culminated in the release of “Freeze Frame” (1981), which saw the band topping the album charts and single charts for the first time (with the single “Centerfold”). Now that they had reached the apex of their commercial success, the band began to fissure from within. The live album “Showtime” (1982) served as a stopgap measure until the band recorded a new studio album, and spawned another Top 40 hit (a live version of “I Do”). Peter Wolf left the band in 1983, citing creative differences. The band did not attempt to replace him; instead Seth Justman took over lead vocal duties. The resulting album, “You’re Gettin’ Even While I’m Gettin’ Odd” (1984) was a commercial disappointment, and by 1985, the J. Geils Band disbanded. Since then, the original six members have reunited three times: once for a 13-date tour of the east coast and upper mid west in 1999, again for bassist Danny Klein’s 60th birthday party in 2006, and for the opening of the House of Blues in Boston in February 2009.

Hello Hurray/Generation Landslide 45

Vincent Furnier (a.k.a. Alice Cooper) was born in Detroit, Michigan on February 4, 1948. After some childhood illnesses, Furnier and his family moved to Pheonix, Arizona. There, Furnier attended Washington Elementary School and Cortez High School. At the age of 16, he was eager to participate in the local Letterman talent show, and thus formed a band with his fellow cross-country teammates: Glen Buxton (lead guitar), John Tatum (rhythm guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass guitar), and John Speer (drums). Furnier would furnish lead vocals and play the harmonica. The band was initially dubbed the Earwigs and although they mimed their performance at the talent show, as a result of winning the show and loving the experience of being onstage, they acquired instruments at a local pawn shop and soon renamed themselves the Spiders. For about a year they played in the Phoenix area and even released two singles. The second of these, “Don’t Blow Your Mind”, became a local #1 radio hit. By now, the Spiders had graduated from Cortez High School; also Michael Bruce replaced John Tatum on rhythm guitar. By 1967, the band was making regular road trips to Los Angeles to play shows, and the band once again renamed themselves – they were now known as the Nazz. In addition Neal Smith replaced John Speer on drums. By the end of 1967, the band had relocated to Los Angeles permanently.

In 1968, they learned that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, and they subsequently changed their name to Alice Cooper, with Furnier changing his name to Alice Cooper. Soon they were approached by Shep Gordon, who became their manager. Gordon secured the band an audition with Frank Zappa, which led to a three album contract with Zappa’s Straight Records. Alice Cooper’s first LP, “Pretties for You” (1969) was ultimately a commercial and critical failure. The band appeared at the Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival concert in September 1969. While they were performing, a chicken somehow made its way onto the stage. Cooper, assuming that since the chicken had wings, it must be able to fly, picked up the chicken and threw it out over the crowd; instead of flying away, the chicken plummeted into the first few rows, where the audience proceeded to tear the chicken to pieces. A rumor started that Cooper bit the head off the chicken and drank its blood onstage, and the notoriety the band gained from this incident inspired them to capitalize on tabloid sensationalism, in the process creating a new subgenre, shock rock. In spite of the publicity garnered from the incident, the band’s second album, “Easy Action” (1970) was just as unsuccessful as the first. Still, two occurrences would be instrumental in reversing the fortunes of the band. The first was Warner Brothers’ acquisition of Straight Records, which meant that the band was set to receive a higher level of promotion from a bigger label. The second was the decision by the band to relocate to Detroit, Michigan, where their bizarre stage act was much better received. They teamed up with fledgling producer Bob Ezrin to record their next album, which would also be their last under the Straight Records contract. The next single, “I’m Eighteen”, released in November 1970 in advance of the album, reached #21 on the Billboard charts, and the LP, “Love it to Death” (1971), proved to be their breakthrough album, reaching #35 on the U.S. album charts.

The band followed up this initial success with “Killer” (1971), which spawned two hits, “Under My Wheels” and “Be My Lover”. By mid-1972, Alice Cooper’s stage show had become infamous, and they seemed poised for even greater success. In June 1972, they released the appropriately-titled “School’s Out”, which reached #2 on the Billboard album charts. The title track was released as a single and reached the Top Ten in the U.S. and #1 in the U.K. Soon they reached their commercial – and arguably, creative – peak, with the release of “Billion Dollar Babies” in February 1973, which reached #1 in both the U.S. and U.K. The album spawned four chart hits, the second of which was “Hello Hurray” b/w “Generation Landslide”. This is today’s featured single.

“Hello Hooray” is the first song on “Billion Dollar Babies” and is has an anthem-like quality to it. The song opens with a bombastic-sounding riff from Buxton, anchored by the rhythm section. After this intro, Cooper’s lead vocals chime in: “Hello! Hurray!/Let the show begin, I’ve been ready”. The song works on two levels: both as an individual track and as an intro to the album, to get us psyched up to listen to the record. And what better way to get his listener’s psyched up than to indicate that he knows what it is like to be a fan? “Ready as this audience that’s coming here to dream/Loving every second, every moment, every scream.” It may not be Proust, but as a prelude to about 40 minutes of Alice Cooper in their prime, it’s not bad. It represents a worthy addition to the classic Cooper catalog.

But turn over the record, and we get a pleasant surprise. “Generation Landslide” is not only superior to the average B-side, but one could easily make the case for “Landslide” being the stronger side. It is an often-overlooked gem about the problems faced by the billion dollar babies from the title track. It starts off with a melody being played on a acoustic guitar, before Cooper sings “la da da dada” and the electric guitars thunder forth. The song has a simple, driving melody and is pregnant with profound lyrical content and a number of early 1970’s pop culture references: “Sister’s out ’til five doing banker’s son’s hours/But she owns a Maserati that’s a gift from his father/Stopped at full speed at one hundred miles per hour/The Colgate invisible shield finally got ’em”. During the instrumental break in the second half of the song, we get a harmonica solo, which serves as a refreshing novelty. And the guitar interplay between Buxton and Bruce plays no small part in making this song one of the more memorable tracks from the album. The impact of the song was not lost on Cooper himself, who included an updated version of the song (“Generation Landslide ’81”) on his 1981 release “Special Forces”.

The single (catalog #: WB 7673) was issued on Warner Brothers Records in 1973 and peaked at #35 on the Billboard singles chart. There was no picture sleeve for this single in the U.S., although it was issued with a picture sleeve in some countries. This, of course, was the second to last album for the classic Alice Cooper lineup. “Muscle of Love”, released in November 1973, was not as successful as its predecessor, and the band members argued over the future of the band, with Furnier wanting to continue to do elaborate stage shows and concept albums, and the rest of the band wanting to scale back the stage shows in order to concentrate on their music, which in their eyes was what gave them credibility in the first place. This led to the breakup of the original Alice Cooper band in 1974, with Cooper continuing as a solo artist, and Dunaway, Bruce and Smith forming the band Billion Dollar Babies (they issued one album before disbanding). Buxton, on the other hand, kept a low profile, playing only occasional club gigs and living on a farm in Iowa until his death in 1997.

In Color

Cheap Trick’s second album had the same power pop appeal of its predecessor, only with a somewhat more radio-friendly sound, probably thanks in no small part to producer Tom Werman. The album starts off with “Hello There”, not so much a song as an one and a half minute introduction to the album, a kick-ass tune with punk appeal. “Big Eyes” is built around a heavy metal riff that could go toe to toe with the best that Black Sabbath and Deep Purple had to offer. “Downed” is a dreamy, psychedelic number with existential lyrics (“I’m gonna live on a mountain/Way down under in Australia/It’s either that or suicide/Its such a strange strain on you”). This gives way to the original version of “I Want You To Want Me”, a Beatles-esque music hall-inspired track that has a refrain that could rival any British Invasion song: “Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying? Oh-oh, didn’t I, didn’t I didn’t I see you crying?” This gives way to the harder-edged “You’re All Talk”. Other highlights include “Oh Caroline”, the albums entry in the “Oh” trilogy (other entries were “Oh, Candy” on the previous LP and “Oh, Claire” on “Heaven Tonight”), “Clock Strikes Ten”, a sort of updated version of “Rock Around the Clock” about going out and having a good time, and “Southern Girls”, a homage to the Beach Boys’ “California Girls”. “In Color” follows the same template as Cheap Trick’s debut self-titled album, and the songs on this album are as good as the songs on the first album, and the band’s comprehensive knowledge of pop, as well as their sense of humor, is omnipresent.

Picture sleeve for All Aboard b/w Cincinnati Fatback (BUY 3)

I recently did a retrospective on Stiff Records on one of my podcasts, and I made a mistake that I shouldn’t have. I played “both sides of the classic Stiff Records single, ‘All Aboard’ b/w ‘Cincinnati Fatback’ by Roogalator.” What I didn’t realize is that while I had the right version of “Cincinnati Fatback”, the version of “All Aboard” that I played was actually a re-recording of the song done for the band’s debut album, “Play It By Ear” (1977). So as a means of making amends for my error, I decided to make today’s featured single “All Aboard” b/w “Cincinnati Fatback”.

Roogalator was formed in 1972 by guitarist Danny Adler, an Ohio native living in the U.K. They played their first gig in November 1972 at a talent night at the Marquee Club in London. Response was lukewarm, and Adler eventually went to Paris to study jazz theory, putting Roogalator on hiatus indefinitely. When he returned to London in 1975, he formed a second Roogalator lineup with Bobby Irwin (drums), Steve Beresford (pianos) and Nick Plytas (keyboards). This lineup recorded a demo that resulted in a booking agency deal, but neither Irwin nor Beresford wanted to take things any further, so Adler and Plytas put together another lineup. They recruited Dave Solomon (drums), a former band mate of both Plytas and Beresford. Irwin, noting that the band was still missing a bass guitarist, gave the Roogalator demo to Paul Riley, a member of the successful pub rock band Chili Willi and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Riley joined the band just before their September 1975 (re-)debut, completing the lineup. Riley’s presence in the lineup helped attract press attention in the early days. Roogalator quickly became a fixture on the London pub rock scene, and the minimalist funk sound of the band gained a following, in spite of the fact that it was at odds with the country, blues, and early rock sound normally heard on the scene – or perhaps because of it. In November 1975, they recorded demos for United Artists Records and met Robin Scott, who would become their manager and producer, and the band continued to play gigs for the remainder of the year. In January 1976, they supported Dr. Feelgood in a show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The show was by their own admission a disaster, and it led to the departure, several weeks later, of Dave Solomon. Paul Riley also quit the band. Solomon was replaced by Bobby Irwin, and Jeff Watts was recruited to be the new bassist. In May 1976, Roogalator recorded a John Peel session, and embarked on a European tour. This tour was marred by the band having all their possessions stolen from the van, and both Watts and Irwin left the band. Encouraged by Robin Scott, Adler recruited a new rhythm section of Julian Scott (Robin’s brother) on bass and Justin Hildreth on drums. With this lineup, Roogalator signed a one-off single deal with Stiff Records early in the summer of 1976 and released “All Aboard” b/w “Cincinnati Fatback”.

“All Aboard” starts off with a drum fill, which gives way to a funky-sounding riff, and soon Danny Adler’s lyrics transport us back to the Ohio of his youth: “Well it was evening time when the train came rolling through/And we flagged it down with the flame held in the midnight blue”. This eventually gives way to the chorus: “Hello Cleveland, it’s a beautiful evening/Shine your light on me/Deep In your smoky soul/I know there’s rock and roll”. The verse and chorus are repeated twice before giving way to an instrumental break which includes a piano solo followed by an extended guitar solo (accompanied at one point by a chorus of “hey! hey! hey!”). The conclusion of the song has Adler speaking and imploring us to get the record stores to carry records “with those nice crazy sounds that are filling the town.” The song is quite unlike some of the early punk and new wave records issued by Stiff, but in many ways the iconoclastic Stiff Records was the perfect home for a band like Roogalator; it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the band had continued their association with the label. This song was, as mentioned earlier, re-recorded for Roogalator’s debut album, but the original version is better in my opinion.

“Cincinnati Fatback” was the flip side of this single, but this was in many ways Roogalator’s signature tune, and has found it’s way onto many Stiff Records compilations. The funky guitar is there, just as it was in “All Aboard”, but this time, it’s accompanied by an equally funky-sounding keyboard, as Adler tells the tale of a riverboat cruising the Ohio River: “Cincinnati fatback/Cincinnati fatback/That ass-kicking, finger-licking, chicken-picking Cincinnati fatback/And talkin’ about poontang/Right down to your ying-yang/Down on the banks of the Ohio”. What follows is several minutes of funk not unlike that of the Meters; moreover, the rhythm of the music mimics a riverboat cruise with its easygoing tempo. Once again, the ending of the song is not necessarily what you would expect: we get a music bridge, with Adler waxing poetically: “Yes I can still see/How it used to be/Watching those big maroon streamliners/Ease off into the sunset”. This gives way to a reprise of the song’s main riff before the song comes to an end, after one last crescendo from the keyboard. “Cincinnati Fatback” is a great song that gives this single a legitimate claim to being a “double A-side,” at least in the sense that both sides of the single are equally good.

This single (catalog #: BUY 3) was issued by Stiff Records in late summer/early fall 1976. Stiff Records was known for having interesting picture sleeves for many of their singles, and this was no exception: the picture sleeve was a parody of the “Meet The Beatles” cover, only with the members of Roogalator instead. This single was also issued in Holland by Dynamite Records, and the picture sleeve there was essentially the same, only without the “Stiff” logo in the upper left hand corner. Roogalator would issue another one-off single, this time on Virgin Records, in 1977: “Love and the Single Girl” b/w “I Feel Good (I Got You)”. Their debut album, “Play It By Ear”, was issued on Robin Scott’s Do It Records, also in 1977. That year, they played the “Front Row Festival” in November and December 1977, but soon afterwards, Nick Plytas left the band. Roogalator continued as a trio for awhile. Justin Hildreth was the next to leave, and was replaced by Nick Monnas. Feeling that Roogalator had run its course, Adler disbanded Roogalator in July 1978.