"Fun House" by THE STOOGES [featuring IGGY POP] (2005 Elektra/Rhino 'Deluxe Edition' 2CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Instant Mayhem..."

Rock has produced its fair share of talented loony bins - wild men born to upset and excite - Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Jim Morrison and Michigan's most famous front man - James Jewel Osterberg - IGGY POP to us mere mortals.

Even now in July 2016 as I write this - I look at the release date of 'December 1970' for "Fun House" by THE STOOGES and my jaw drops to the floor. I mean The Velvets were out there for sure as far back as 1967 - but not like this. Listening to the sheer sonic assault of "L.A. Blues" where the guitars threaten to bleed all over the Laura Ashley bed linen (its only five minutes of feedback but hard to take even now) or the fantastic hammer-down riffage of "Down On The Street" – The Stooges were so friggin’ PUNK before anyone even knew the meaning of the word – a band more likely to wear barbed wire in their hair than a flower.

In fact - if this early Punk jewel had arrived December 1977 in the UK – I’d argue it would have made Top 10 if not Top 5 - hailed as a genre masterpiece - and not suffered the ignominious fate of not even making the Top 200 in the USA on original release. I worked for Reckless Records in London for near 20 years as a Rarities Buyer and Mail Order head honcho – and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen an actual British-pressed 'EKS' red label Elektra original. It sold nothing and never got promoted. An odd thing considering that you can literally feel the template for four decades of Punk, Grunge, Hardcore and Alternative screaming out of these 1970 grooves – a staggering legacy for such an overlooked album. Let's get to the in-house details and allow some Detroit mayhem into our nice orderly Feng Shui living rooms...

UK and USA released August 2005 - "Fun House" by THE STOOGES on Elektra/Rhino 8122-73175-2 (Barcode 081227317522) is a 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' with a new remaster on CD1 of the album and outakes/singles first issued on the 1999 Rhino Box Set "The Complete Fun House Sessions". It plays out as follows...

Disc 1 (36:40 minutes):

1. Down On The Street

2. Loose

3. T.V. Eye

4. Dirt

5. 1970 [Side 2]

6. Fun House

7. L.A. Blues

Tracks 1 to 7 are their 2nd studio album "Fun House" - released December 1970 in the USA and UK on Elektra Records EKS 74071. Produced by DON GALLUCCI - it didn't chart in either country.

Disc 2 (73:28 minutes):

1. T.V. Eye (Takes 7 & 8)

2. Loose (Demo)

3. Loose (Take 2)

4. Loose (Take 22)

5. Lost In The Future (Take 1)

6. Down On The Street (Take 1)

7. Down On The Street (Take 8)

8. Dirt (Take 4)

9. Slide (Slidin' The Blues) (Take 1)

10. 1970 (Take 3)

11. Fun House (Take 2)

12. Fun House (Take 3)

Bonus Single Mixes:

13. Down On The Street

14. 1970

Tracks 13 and 14 were released December 1970 as the A&B-sides of a USA 7" single on Elektra EKM 45695

THE STOOGES was:

IGGY POP - Lead Vocals

RON ASHETON - Guitar

STEPHAN MACKAY - Tenor Saxophone

DAVE ALEXANDER - Bass

SCOTT ASHETON - Drums

The 20-page booklet is a pleasing affair - an introductory note by Jack White of The White Strips where he famously describes "Fun House" as 'the definitive rock album of America' - a quote they use on the jewel case sticker. PAUL TRYNKA supplies a truncated version of his "Fun House" liner notes from the 1999 six-disc blockbuster that included every take. It's accompanied by trade adverts, a facsimile of the Lester Bangs review in Creem Magazine and fantastic colour photos of Iggy and the band from the period (as well as the usual reissue credits).

DAN HERSCH and BILL INGLOT - long-time Audio Engineers whose history with Rhino and the vast WEA catalogue stretches back decades – have newly remastered the album onto Disc 1 (different to the 1999 issue) – and what a job they’ve done. The passion and sheer attitude captured by original Producer Don Gallucci (he let Iggy sing live into the mike to capture the energy) is amplified into something akin to The Ramones in your living room. This sucker ROCKS and the 1999 Remasters of the outtakes on Disc 2 perfectly distil the huge Box Set into one usable alternative chunk – giving the listener a cool yin-yang listen. Both CDs have the Elektra Butterfly label logo and beneath the see-through CD tray there’s even a garish colour picture of the band sitting obediently on a carpet as they look like altar boys out at the camera. Apparently Producer Gallucci removed the carpets and mufflers from the Elektra Studios for the song-a-day sessions to properly capture the sheer shock 'n' awe of the band...

"Fun House" storms into your man cave with "Down On The Street" - Iggy grunting, growling and yelping behind a riff that intends to hurt your granny. Things continue on their 'destroy all in our path' mission with the fantastic "Loose" - a properly huge guitar sound blasting away in the slightly echoed distance - a garage band telling you how they 'stick it deep inside' (oh dear tell me we're not talking about those naughty drugs boys). Iggy screams "LORD!" at the beginning of "T.V. Eyes" - another fab riff that The Sex Pistols would have nobbled a close family member to attain. Side 1 of this organised mayhem ends with "Dirt" - seven minutes of slow Doors-like Blues meets a menacing Stooges Rock groove – Ron Asheton's guitar playing a total revelation.

Side 2 offers the genius of the 'I feel alright' riffage of "1970" where Steven Mackay’s wild Saxophone playing finally makes itself known – followed by everyone's crave – the title track "Fun House". The near eight-minutes of "Fun House" was chosen as the LP's representative track on the gorgeous 5CD Elektra Records "Forever Changing" retrospective in 2006 (see my full in-depth review of that amazing set) and it's easy to hear why. More angry guitars and screaming Saxophone take no prisoners as the band wig out like their lives depend on it. But in truth I find the final screaming feedback and general slaughtering of your eardrums of "L.A. Blues" just too much to take (forgive me punk overlords) - but it doesn't stop me from being blown away by the album overall...

As someone who couldn't afford the lavish 1999 Rhino Set "The Complete Fun House Sessions" - Disc 2 offers up a mouth-watering prospect - an edited variant I can actually use - a sort of alternate "Fun House". I immediately went to "Slide" which is essentially a run-through for "Dirt" but with Saxophone thrown into the mix. I'm totally loving the slow groove of "Lost In The Future" even if Iggy's vocals show that he's still grappling with the words. And my God but the 'demo' of "Loose" could easily have been a single there and then - release it - leave it alone mother (love that feeding back guitar). Take 2 of "Fun House" runs to 9:31 minutes while Take 3 goes even longer to 11:30 - both are amazingly good and the Audio Remaster full of punch for all the right reasons.

As the album "Fun House" was released in late 1970 and few wanted to know let alone buy it - Heroin reared its ugly head and everything went to pieces for The Stooges (Bowie would rescue Iggy and some say vice versa). But remember them this way - snotty, raw and doing it for the little guy. Genius and then some...

"The Garden Of Jane Delawney" by TREES (2008 Sony/BMG 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...The Great Silkie..."

Music historians have postulated that CBS had seen the huge commercial and critical success that Island Records was having with Sandy Denny at the vocal helm of FAIRPORT CONVENTION (turning English Folk on its head and making Folk-Rock) and wanted the same on their label.

Although her high voice was more in line with Apple's Mary Hopkins than Sandy Denny - Celia Humphris looked damn good (in a sexy Sonja Christina kind of way) and the four hirsute men of TREES played complicated Folk in a new Rock fashion - slightly Psych – bit Acid – but all very British and eccentric. CBS's Prog-Folk needs sorted! 

Original Acoustic Guitar player with the band DAVID COSTA has written the affectionate, illuminating and brutally honest liner notes to this elegant Sony/BMG CD reissue - enlightening us on the mysteries of their two highly revered Psych-Folk albums - April 1970's "The Garden Of Jane Delawney" and "On The Shore" which followed only 10-months later in February 1971. Both CBS LPs have been darlings of the Prog-Folk collecting scene for years (sold little at the time, deleted quickly) and listed at £300 and £350 respectively - but can sell for twice that and more in genuine Mint condition (they had flimsy sleeves and are notoriously difficult to find in good condition). Here is the garden of delights...

UK released September 2008 - "The Garden Of Jane Delawney" by TREES on Sony/BMG 88697356712 (Barcode 886973567128) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (62:39 minutes):

1. Nothing Special

2. The Great Silkie

3. The Garden Of Jane Delawney

4. Lady Margaret

5. Glasgerion [Side 2]

6. She Moved Thro' The Fair

7. Road

8. Epitaph

9. Snail's Lament

Tracks 1 to 9 are their debut album "The Garden Of Jane Delawney" - vinyl LP released 24 April 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 63837 (no USA release). Produced by DAVID HOWELLS and TONY COX - Track 1 by Trees - Tracks 3, 7, 8 and 9 written by Bias Boshell - all others are covers of Traditional English, Irish and Scottish airs. 

BONUS TRACKS:

10. She Moved Thro' The Fair (Demo Version) - recorded August/September 1969 with additional pipe organ - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

11. Pretty Polly (Demo Version) - recorded August/September 1969 with banjo - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

12. Black Widow (Recorded July 2008) - song from the album period newly recorded for the reissue with drummer Mark Roberts

13. Little Black Cloud Suite - a BBC version can be found on the CD reissue of "On The Shore" - this old Bias Boshell song is newly recorded June 2008 as a short Instrumental for this reissue

TREES was:

CELIA HUMPHRIS – Lead Vocals

BARRY CLARKE – Lead and Acoustic Guitars

DAVID COSTA – Acoustic and 12-String Guitar

TOBIAS 'BIAS' BOSHELL - Bass, Acoustic Guitar and Vocals

(STEPHEN) UNWIN BROWN – Drums

The 16-page booklet is beautifully put together (real effort) and is filled with great period photos of the band larking about in a park – live at Plimpton Festival in May 1970 – most photos featuring the clearly gorgeous Celia Humphris making the Prog boys look good. A team of three have handled the Remaster – NICK ROBBINS at Sound Mastering created the 24-Bit/96 Hz digital copy from original master tapes and that was further mastered by BIAS BOSHELL (original band member) and ADRIAN HARDY at Unit 2 in London (July 2008). Amidst the bonus tracks is "Black Widow" - a song written at the time of 'Delawney' but never properly recorded. The band reconvened in July 2008 and using drummer Mark Roberts to take the place of the sadly passed Unwin Brown (to whom the reissue is dedicated) - they recreated a new version of it. The audio is excellent especially on the longer more Prog pieces like the brilliant "Lady Margaret" and the very Fairports cover of the beautiful traditional "She Moved Through The Fair" - but the guitars on the diddly-idle dance-round-the-maypole "Glasgerion" are a bit grungy sounding in places. 

Costa’s liner notes come from the trenches and aren’t the least bit bossy or overreaching but funny and touching – Celia sat in a truck with throat lozenges because they’d been pushing her too much vocally (“Glasgerion”) while they contemplate buying a bigger PA to go even louder – CBS’s printed sticker campaign called “Trees March” that couldn’t be used because the album arrived on the market in late April and didn’t get reviewed in most cases until May or even June. Not even putting the impossibly pretty title track “The Garden Of Jane Delawney” on Side 3 of the popular CBS Records label-sampler “Fill Your Head With Rock” 2LP set seemed to shift more copies. As Costa admits – the album received ‘...mild reviews and even milder sales’. Which is a damn shame because there’s so much to love here.

It opens on the lovely guitar jangle of "Nothing Special" and the following electric leads immediately remind of the musicality Genesis got on "Nursery Cryme" tracks like "The Music Box" and "Harlequin". Mythical creatures abound in the Traditional cover of "The Great Silkie" that starts out all strummed English Folk but then goes seriously Prog half way through - guitarist Barry Clarke reaching for his inner Robert Fripp. The lovely harpsichord title track is probably the best-known song from the LP because of its exposure on compilations of the time and subsequently (it turned up on the superb "Dust On The Nettles" 3CD Box Set put out by Grapefruit in 2015 - see my review). It's a bit hissy for sure but that's on the tapes and it doesn't take away from the delicacy of Celia's vocals and the gorgeous playing. I suspect "Lady Margaret" is precisely the kind of track that gives this LP such value - a superb mixture of Acoustic Lead Guitar backed by Electric Lead that's pushed into the background like a tamed Richard Thompson. It's 7:11 minutes are brilliant - Celia giving the 'fair maid' story a wonderful wistful feel.  

Side 2 opens with the dodgy cod English "Glasgerion" which is followed by "She Moves Thro' The Fair" - a track some have derided as an obvious reach for Fairport Convention's fusion of Folk and Rock. But I've always loved its slow eight-minutes and seven seconds of melody – building Acoustic Guitar flourishes and that melody at it's drum-rumbling heart always slays me. We then get three-in-a-row from Guitarist Bias Boshell - the first called "Road" he handles as a duet vocal with Celia - and it works. Musically it's so interesting and still sounds fresh to me - even echoing the largely acoustic feel to Led Zeppelin III in places. "Epitaph" is only 3:23 minutes long and features a warm Celia vocal (little hissy in places) while one of the best is left to last - "Snail's Lament" - a sort of Byrds jangle that crosses swords with Fairport Convention (Bias and Celia sharing doubled vocals). Superb stuff...

I had thought the Bonus Tracks would be throwaway (as they can be on these reissues) – but they’re not. The two Previously Unreleased demos are hissy for sure – but musically they’re very good – especially the new “Pretty Polly” with a stunning vocal from Celia and Banjo playing adding a strange cowboy feel to a Folk song. The two new songs are excellent and show Celia's voice is still in fine fettle on "Black Widow" while the short but gorgeous instrumental "Little Black Cloud" is beautifully orchestrated with strings (more please Mister Boshell, much more).

Sure TREES were of their time and all that hippy-dippy ambling can grate – but I think it’s a beautiful 'overlooked' album and worth the dosh.

"...It will not be long now until my wedding day..." - Celia sings on the melodious "She Moved Thro' The Fair". 

You don't have to marry to get this 1970's British magic in your life or even commune with a great Silkie - "The Garden Of Jane Delawney" is online for less than a fiver in most places and worth every Folk Roots penny of it. Dig in and enjoy...

"Gasoline Alley" by ROD STEWART (Inside 2002's The Universal/Chronicles 3CD Set 'Reason To Believe: The Complete Mercury Studio Recordings' - Suha Gur Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…Take Me Back To The Gasoline Alley…"

Arguing the merits of Rod Stewart's 'Mercury Records Years' albums (1969 to 1974) is like saying a few of the Beatles albums from the Sixties were 'pretty good' and you should 'probably' buy some. What I'm getting at here is 'which' version of "Gasoline Alley" should you buy? And while I'm at it what about 1971's "Every Picture Tells A Story" or 1972"s "Never A Dull Moment" or even the lesser-seen "Sing It Again Rod" LP compilation from June 1973 that went to No. 1 but never seems to show on CD? I want to argue that the whole period was magical musically (even the disappointing "Smiler" from 1974 had its fab moments) and this is one of those occasions where you should forego the individual purchase and buy the bleeding lot.

There's a Remastered stand-alone CD for "Gasoline Alley" from 1995 with just the 9-tracks and the gorgeous UK artwork inside and out – an expensive but audiophile Mobile Fidelity Gold CD release from 2011 and a beautifully done Japanese SACD from 2014 - as well as a dizzying array of '5 album collection' Mini Box Sets - most of whom use the 'US' artwork. But I say go for this instead...

US and UK released in November 2002 (reissued January 2005) – "Reason To Believe: The Complete Mercury Studio Recordings" by ROD STEWART on Mercury/Universal/Chronicles 440 063 422-2 (Barcode 044006342221) is a 3CD set of Remasters that offers fans all six albums from the period along with rare 7" single edits and five outakes first released on a 1995 2CD retrospective. 

This 3CD set will allow fans to sequence his six albums (5 studio and 1 compilation) - "An Old Raincoat Won’t Let You Down" (known as "The Rod Stewart Album" in the USA), "Gasoline Alley", "Every Picture Tells A Story", "Never A Dull Moment", "Sing It Again Rod" (compilation with one new track "Pinball Wizard") and finally "Smiler" – his last studio LP for Mercury Records.

Disc 1 contains the first two LPs including "Gasoline Alley" (79:19 minutes):

1. Street Fighting Man

2. Man Of Constant Sorrow

3. Blind Prayer

4. Handbags And Gladrags

5. An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down [Side 2]

6. I Wouldn't Ever Change A Thing

7. Cindy's Lament

8. Dirty Old Town

Tracks 1 to 8 are his debut LP "An Old Raincoat Won’t Let You Down" – released February 1970 on Vertigo VO 4 in the UK. It was called "The Rod Stewart Album" in the USA and its September 1969 release on Mercury SR-61237 featuring different artwork to the UK issue (same tracks). As this is effectively an American release – the booklet doesn’t picture the lovely 'photograph' gatefold of the UK artwork.

9. Gasoline Alley

10. It's All Over Now

11. Only A Hobo

12. My Way Of Giving

13. Country Comforts [Side 2]

14. Cut Across Shorty

15. Lady Day

16. Jo's Lament

17. You're My Girl (I Don’t Want To Discuss It)

Tracks 9 to 17 are his 2nd solo LP "Gasoline Alley" – released May 1970 in the USA on Mercury SR-61264 and September 1970 in the UK on Vertigo 6360 500. Produced by ROD STEWART and LOU REIZNER.

18. It's All Over Now – issued as a 7” single edit in the UK on Vertigo 6086 002 in September 1970 (the album track "Jo's Lament" was its B-side).

As you can see - with this set you also get the 7" single edit of "It's All Over Now" - something none of the individual "Gasoline Alley" CD releases offers. The packaging is tasty too and the Audio stunning. The 24-page booklet is housed in a three-way foldout card digipak with each flap featuring live photos (pictures beneath the see-through plastic trays also). AMY LINDEN provides the liner notes and there’s discography info on each track and overall recording credits. But the big news is the SUHA GUR remasters which are fantastic – full of presence and life and that raunchy feel Stewart got at the time. Lyrically and musically – there is so much richness here. Armed with a God-given set of tonsils, melodies that haunt and a way with observation - song after song smacks you over the head with greatness and smart choices. And all of it with that fantastic band of his - Ronnie Wood, Martin Quittenton, Ronnie Lane, Mick Waller, Kenny Jones and Ian McLagan - all dripping British Rock’n’Roll swagger that seemed to come so easily to them. The only real disappointment for me - especially with regard to artwork - is that this 3CD compilation is essentially an American release and therefore uses the 'US' artwork for "Gasoline Alley" and unfortunately the lovely British artwork (inside and out) is AWOL.

The opening song "Gasoline Alley" (co-written by Rod with Ron Wood of The Stones) is likely to reduce most ardent Rodders fans to mush within seconds - a plaintive and heartfelt ache for the simple times and even the grimy streets of old as depicted on the stippled gatefold cover. It's trite I know to call songs 'beautiful' but this one is and its been covered many times as proof (Elkie Brooks reminded people of its beauty in 1983 with synth version on A&M Records). And that Ron Wood bottleneck guitar and Stanley Matthews on Mandolin add so much too.

Recorded at Morgan Studios in London - there's a ramshackle feel to the "Gasoline Alley" LP from the off - an unplugged feel that lends the music an authenticity that the later polished Riva material abandoned (different times, different approaches). A nice addition on this set is the 3:37 minute 7" single edit of Bobby Womack's witty and caustic "It's All Over Now" - shorter and punchier that its 6:24 minute big brother on the album (Ian McLagan and Pete Sears plink away on the piano). Written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane for the Small Faces self-titled Immediate Records LP in 1967 – both Ronnie Lane and Kenny Jones join Rod on Vocals and Drums for his clever cover of "My Way Of Giving".

Another clever choice is his Side opener - Elton John's "Country Comforts" taken from his "Tumbleweed Connection" album of October 1970. Rod makes the ballad feel like his own and is ably abetted by wonderful counterpoint vocals from Jack Reynolds as the song winds its way to the end. Rod's brilliant cover of "Cut Across Shorty" (written by Marijohn Wilkin and Wayne Walker) - an Eddie Cochran classic made almost unrecognisable with rattling acoustic guitar strings, Dick Powell on Violin and chunky Ron Wood Rock 'n' Roll guitar licks (and I love that acoustic fade out). "Lady day" is a wickedly good Rod Stewart original ballad with his 'north winds have made my face a little older' lyrics confessing. But there's a warmth to his affection towards his lady that's intensely moving - 'scared when I remember too much' - it's the kind of wonderful overlooked album gem that needs to be in your life - a 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' song I never tire of. And "Jo's Lament" is the same - another RS original that shows his amazing knack for a melody - all those acoustic guitar strums and bottleneck slides that warm your bones like an afternoon on a river. It ends on the fantastic Funk-Rock of "You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Discuss It)" - a Dick Cooper, Beth Beatty and Ernie Shelby song that was done by Little Richard in 1967 on Okeh Records and Rhinoceros in 1968 on their self-titled debut LP on Elektra Records. A great way to end a great album...

To sum up - six whole albums, rare single sides and a batch of previously unreleased for under nine-quid is a bit of a no-brainer really.

Carry yourself back to the "Gasoline Alley" with the "Reason To Believe” 3CD set - a rare instance of quality and quantity combined - and of all of it wrapped up in that top-quality remastered sound…

PS: The first album gives you a superb keyboard contribution from a pre ELP Keith Emerson on "I Wouldn't Ever Change A Thing" - a brilliant song added to hugely by his playing. RIP Keith...

"Sunflower/Surf's Up" by THE BEACH BOYS (2000 Capitol/Brother '2LPs on 1CD' Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Get Yourself Some Cool, Cool Water..."

In 2016 - both 1970's "Sunflower" and 1971's "Surf's Up" are considered the best of The Beach Boys 70's output - and rightly so. But at the time America’s Joe Public couldn't have cared less about the first and showed only casual interest in the second - especially considering how big and influential the band had been only years earlier.

Having jumped contractual ship from their spiritual home since 1962 (Capitol Records) - and especially given the melodic strength of the new material - big things was expected of The Beach Boys and their clean break to Brother Records in 1970 (distributed by the then mighty Warner Brothers). But it just didn't happen. Released Monday 31 August 1970 - "Sunflower" lasted only four weeks on Billboard's Top 200 peaking at a miserable No. 151. Apparently its sales figures were embarrassing in the USA (it fared better in the UK on EMI's Stateside label where it made No. 29 on the LP charts). 

Maybe "Sunflower" was perceived as being out-of-sync girly surfin' music - their Beach Boys sound 'old hat' against the emerging Hard Rock explosion that was engulfing music towards the end of the Sixties and into the first two years of that redefining decade - the Seventies. 

At least 1971's follow through "Surf's Up" cracked the USA Top 30 - finally landing at No. 29 - and managed a four months stay on the LP charts as opposed to one. With a weary warrior crouched over his beaten horse on the front cover and song titles like "Student Demonstration Time" and "Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)" - at least "Surf's Up" seemed more in step with a fractured and hurting America - so it did better.

Whatever way you interpret history - re-listening to these two remarkable albums on this wickedly good CD Remaster and I’m reminded in emphatic style that sometimes Joe Public needs to be just that - reminded. I say knob to those original embarrassing sales numbers – the musical brilliance on display here is indeed embarrassing - but for all the right reasons. Let's break down those brilliant harmonies...

UK released 14 August 2000 - "Sunflower/Surf's Up" by THE BEACH BOYS on Capitol/Brother 525 6922 (Barcode 724352569229) offers up 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (70:22 minutes):

1. Slip On Through

2. This Whole World

3. Add Some Music To Your Day

4. Got To Know The Woman

5. Deirdre

6. It's About Time

7. Tears In The Morning [Side 2]

8. All I Wanna Do

9. Forever

10. Our Sweet Love

11. At My Window

12. Cool, Cool Water

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "Sunflower" - released 31 August 1970 in the USA on Brother Records/Reprise RS 6382 and November 1970 in the UK on Stateside SSL 8251.

13. Don't Go Near The Water

14. Long Promised Road

15. Take A Load Off Your Feet

16. Disney Girls (1957)

17. Student Demonstration Time

18. Feel Flows [Side 2]

19. Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)

20. A Day In The Life Of A Tree

21. 'Til I Die

22. Surf's Up

Tracks 13 to 22 are their album "Surf's Up" - released 30 August 1971 in the USA on Brother/Reprise RS 6453 and November 1971 in the UK on Stateside SSL 10313.

The properly chunky 22-page booklet offers fans liner notes from Beach Boys authority TIMOTHY WHITE adapted from his acclaimed book "The Nearest Far Away Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys And The Southern California Experience". His song-by-song analysis and critique is both honest and affectionate and much of it peppered with Brian's 'selective' memories. There's the inner gatefold sleeve for "Sunflower" (no lyrics unfortunately), period photos, alternate artwork, original recording and reissue credits as well as lyrics to the "Surf's Up" album. But the big news is 24-Bit Digital Remasters from original tapes by two hugely respected Audio Engineers - ANDREW SANDOVAL and DAN HERSCH. Sandoval handled the acclaimed 2CD 'Deluxe Editions' of The Kinks and Small Faces (amongst many others) - whilst Dan Hersch (along with Bill Inglot) has been at the heart of Rhino's Vinyl and CD Reissue machine for over two decades - having handled literally hundreds of prestigious catalogues across a huge range of genres. These guys know their way around tape boxes and it shows. Beautifully and carefully recorded at the time - all that technical expertise and innovation comes shining through on these wonderful-sounding transfers. Top stuff...

Released towards the end of June 1970 on Brother 0929 - the second 45 from the "Sunflower" LP was the Side 1 openers "Slip On Through" b/w "This Whole World" - Dennis Wilson writing the A and Brian the flip-side (no UK issue). But despite the edgy groove - it tanked. Earlier in February 1970 - Brother had issued the Beach Boys debut 45 on the label - the pretty "Add Some Music To Your Day" b/w "Susie Cincinnati". At one point it appears that "Add Some Music..." was considered as an album title. Even better is the gorgeous "Deirdre" - a happy song with wonderful layered vocals and an almost jingle-bells Christmas feel to it (when Brother put out "Long Promised Road" in June 1971 as a single off "Surf's Up" - they used "Deirdre" as its B-side). The straight up bopper and "...I used to throw my mind sky high..." confessions of "It's About Time" (the Side 1 ender) give it incredible edge - and that Bass/Vocal middle-eight break is pure Beach Boys genius (Dennis Wilson, Bob Burchman and Alan Jardine wrote it).

Side 2 opens just as strongly with Bruce Johnston's hurting but beautiful "Tears In The Morning" where he keeps a hold on his sorrow as those string arrangements soar behind his 'missing you' vocal pleading. Brian Wilson and Mike Love's "All I Wanna Do" is the closest the LP gets to a "Pet Sounds" outtake (Todd Rundgren was surely listening to this). "Forever" is probably the album's most revered and beloved song - yet when Brother Records put out another 45 in February 1971 (Brother 0998) - they relegated "Forever" to the flip-side of "Cool, Cool Water" - a commercial mistake methinks. The 'sparrow came flying down' song "At My Window" is a fitting lead-in to the amazing "Cool, Cool Water" - a song that's synonymous with Beach Boys melodic brilliance. That build-up of trippy voices as the song makes its way to those ‘now now now’ chants – like Sigur Ros 30 years before the event - wow...

The Surf's Up" opener "Don't Go Near The Water" warns of polluted oceans and the same pouring out of your facet. An animated Carl Wilson fronts "Long Promised Land" wanting to throw off 'shackles that are binding me down' (lyrics he sings with a passion and desperation you can literally feel). The hippy wistful 'take good care of your feet' and 'watch what you eat' lyrics in "Take A Load Off Your Feet" feel like the theme song to a Californian whole-food store that sells any manner of mushrooms. Better is "Disney Girls (1957)" - a genuinely lovely melody beautifully played and sung by Brian Johnston where he pines for 'Patti Page and summer days...' Things take a decidedly heavy turn with the out-and-out Neil Young guitar rock of "Student Demonstration Time" where they incorporate 'there's a riot going on' and change 'cell block number nine' into 'student demonstration time'. It's brilliant and the kind of song CSYN might have produced on a third studio album if they'd made one...

Side 2 opens with the fazed vocals of "Feel Flows" where we're 'unbending never-ending tablets of time' - a fab yeah man moment with brilliant guitar laced with flute. I often cite "Feel Flows" as one of the album's layered masterpieces. The hurt disconnectedness of returning war-vets fills the equally trippy and acoustic-driven "Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)" - where men can't find work sweeping floors but can find substances on the street corner to dull the ache. Tweeting birds and a seaside/church organ fill the equally trippy "A Day In The Life Of A Tree" - a plea for the environment choking on 'pollution and slow death'. The beautiful but damaged "'Til I Die" has Brian wondering 'how long will the wind blow' before something darker takes him (he fought to have the song's dark subject matter on the album). The 'Smile Sessions' 2CD set showed us four variants of the album's centrepiece "Surf's Up" - one of them stretching back to a lovely 1967 piano demo. The finished "Surf's Up' is simply exquisite in its arrangement and delivery - where you can 'so' hear Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates and so many other melody giants in its 4:11 minutes.

For me "Surf's Up" is a huge leap forward and "Sunflower" was great anyway - so any listener is on a winner either way. In fact some have argued that this Beach Boys twofer may indeed be the best '2LPs onto 1CD' value-for-money remaster ever released. And damn - but I think they're absolutely on the harmony money...

"Taking Some Time On – The Parlophone-Harvest Years (1968-73)" by BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST (2011 EMI/Harvest 5CD Box Set) - A Review by Mark Barry...

BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST and bands like them are part of my Series "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters 1970s Rock And Pop" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

"…Come On Let's Get Together…"

Contains the "Their First Album" from 1970

UK released 18 July 2011 - "Taking Some Time On: The Parlophone-Harvest Years (1968-73)" by BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST features 69-tracks across 5CDs and is housed in a double jewel case (with fold-out flaps on the inside for some of the discs). Here's a detailed breakdown of EMI/Harvest 5099908378826 (SHTW 802)…

Disc 1 (60:56 minutes)

Tracks 1 & 2 are "Early Morning" and "Mr. Sunshine" – the non-album A&B-sides of the band’s debut UK 7” single released 26 April 1969 on Parlophone R 5693

3. So Tomorrow

4. Eden Unobtainable

5. Eden Unobtainable (May 1968 Version)

Tracks 3 to 5 are a 'BBC Top Gear Session' recorded live 23 April 1968

6. Night

7. Pools Of Blue

8. Need You Oh So Bad

9. Small Time Town

10. Dark Now My Sky

Tracks 6 to 10 are a 'BBC Top Gear Session' recorded live 30 July 1968

Tracks 11 and 12 are "Brother Thrush" and "Poor Wages" – the non-album A&B-sides of their 2nd UK single on Harvest HAR 5003 (released 20 June 1969)

Track 13 is "Mocking Bird" (May 1970 version at 6:17 minutes)

[Another version at 6:39 minutes is on the "Once Again" album on Disc 2]

14. Taking Some Time ON

15. Mother Dear

16. The Sun Will Never Shine

17. When The World Was Woken

Tracks 14 to 17 are Side 1 of their debut LP "Their First Album" released 5 June 1970 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 770

Disc 2 (62:42 minutes):

1. Good Love Child

2. The Iron Maiden

3. Dark Now My Sky

Tracks 1 to 3 are Side 2 of "Their First Album" (as per 14 to 17 on Disc 1)

Track 4 "I Can’t Go On Without You" was a 'Bonus Track' on the expanded 2002 CD of "Their First Album"

5. She Said

6. Happy Old World

7. Song For Dying

8. Galadriel

9. Mocking Bird

10. Vanessa Simmons

11. Ball And Chain

12. Lady Loves

Tracks 5 to 12 are their 2nd album "Once Again" released 5 February 1971 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 788

Disc 3 (66:39 minutes):

1. Introduction-White Sails (A Seascape)

2. Too Much On Your Plate

3. Galadriel (Non Orchestral Version)

4. Happy Old World (Take One)

5. Song For Dying (Full Un-edited Version)

6. Mocking Bird (Extended Non-Orchestral Version)

7. Dark Now My Sky (Live March 1971)

Tracks 1 to 7 are bonus tracks on the CD of "Once Again"

8. Galadriel

9. She Said

10. Someone There You Know

11. Ursula (The Swansea Song)

12. Medicine Man

Tracks 8 to 12 are a 'Bob Harris Session' recorded for the BBC on 29 June 1971

Disc 4 (67:06 minutes):

1. Medicine Man

2. Someone There You Know

3. Harry’s Song

4. Ursula (The Swansea Song)

5. Little Lapwing

6. Song With No Meaning

7. Blue John’s Blues

8. The Poet

9. After The Day

Tracks 1 to 9 are their 3rd album "And Other Short Stories" released 5 November 1971 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 794

Track 10 is "Brave New World (Demo Version)" – a bonus track on the "And Other Short Stories" CD of 2002

Track 11 is "Child Of Man" recorded for a 'Bob Harris Session' on 15 March 1972

Tracks 12 and 13 are "I'm Over You" and "Child Of Man" – the non-album A&B-sides of a UK 7” single released 28 April 1972 on Harvest HAR 5051

Tracks 14 and 15 are "Breathless" and "When The City Sleeps" (with the band credited as BOMBADIL) – the A&B-sides of a UK 7" single released 29 September 1971 on Harvest HAR 5056

Track 16 is "Medicine Man" – released 20 October 1972 as the non-album B-side of "Thank You" on Harvest HAR 5058

Disc 5 (60:41 minutes):

1. One Hundred Thousand Smiles Out

2. Delph Town Morn

3. Summer Soldier

Tracks 1 to 3 are a 'Bob Harris Session' for the BBC recorded 9 October 1972

4. Crazy Over (You)

5. Delph Town Morn

6. Summer Soldier

7. Thank You

8. One Hundred Thousand Smiles Out

9. Moonwater

Tracks 4 to 9 are their 4th LP "Baby James Harvest" released 10 November 1972 in the UK on Harvest SHSP 4023

Track 10 is "Thank You (Alternate Version)" is a bonus track on the 2002 expanded CD of "Baby James Harvest"

Track 11 and 12 are "Rock And Roll Woman" and "The Joker" – the A&B-sides of a UK 7" single released 4 May 1973 on Harvest HAR 5068

The discs themselves all have the distinctive 'Harvest' label logo and there are pictures of the band beneath the see-through trays (a nice touch). But its also one of those fiddly and easy to break double jewel-cases - so you need to be a tad careful handling it. The booklet has excellent liner notes by MALCOM DOME, but at 12-pages is a fairly slight affair. However it does picture concert tickets, flyers, badges, posters, small shots of the four album sleeves etc…and of course full discography info.

But the really great news is the superb new remastered sound. Done by PETER MEW at Abbey Road Studios, I've praised his exceptional transfer work before (see reviews for the Deluxe Editions of Dr. Feelgood's "Down By The Jetty", David Bowie's "David Bowie", Free's "Fire And Water" and Jethro Tull's "This Was") – here it's the same. The audio is very clear despite the denseness of the instrumentation, powerful without being over-trebled for effect and full of presence. (See the 'tag' marked "Peter Mew Remasters" above this review and it will give you a pictorial of 40 great reissues he’s been involved in).

The music as you can imagine is a mixed bag of the great and the merely good. Comparison-wise BJH were actually hard to pin down (constantly experimenting with their 'sound' as the liner notes explain). The Mellotron gives a song like the lovely "Mocking Bird" a sort Moody Blues feel with a faint hint of Nick Drake's melancholy – while the compilation’s title track "Taking Some Time On" (lyrics above) rocks it up with the best of them (albeit in a very Seventies Prog Rock kind of a way). The early BBC stuff (expertly engineered by the greatly missed BBC engineer and character BERNIE ANDREWS) is tight and impressive. It's all very inviting somehow. And you can feel them inching towards "Time Honoured Ghosts" and "Octoberon" (their popular 1975 and 1976 Polydor LPs) by the time you get to the strings and acoustic bedroom melodrama of "Medicine Man" and "Song With No Meaning" on Disc 4. 

To sum up - die-hard BJH fans will know that the 2002 remasters for the first four LPs - "Their First Album" [aka "Barclay James Harvest"], "Once Again", "And Other Short Stories" and "Baby James Harvest" - are all here along with their large number of bonus tracks (64 songs in total). So there are only 5 new additions. But for the casual buyer however - you get 4 whole albums worth, 5 rare non-album 45s (A&B-sides) and a slew of live BBC Sessions and other rarities. A huge haul in great sound and all at a very reasonable cost…