Joe Byrd & the Field Hippies: Guest Post

Guest Post - by Spencer Corwright. Back in the 70's when I was in college in St. Louis, the radio station of choice was KSHE-FM. Late at night they would sometimes play really weird stuff. If we liked it, we'd scour the local used record store to find the LP. That's how I happened on Joe Byrd & the Field Hippies and their ablum "The American Metaphysical Circus" (other bands we found were Aphrodite's Child, McKendree Spring, and It's a Beautiful Day). While electronic music had been around since at least the 1920's with composers such as Varese and with the invention of the theremin and such, the 1960's and parts of this album seemed to be a peak of electronic composition. This album is divided into four parts with kooky names such as "The Sub-Sylvian Litanies" and "The Southwestern Geriatrics Arts and Crafts Festival". Far and away the best part is right at the start, the spooky electronic opener "Kalyani" with vocals that finally come together repeating the words "waiting to die", which immediately segues into a great rocker "You Can't Ever Come Down". The rest of the album is DIVERSE to say the least if not less, way before being diverse was politically cool. I see on Amazon.com that used copies of the original pressing go for $60-85!

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience

This is Led Zeppelin II (aka The Brown Bomber).  Nancy and I were at a Led Zeppelin concert last night.  What!  How could that be?  Well, the music was pure Zeppelin.  Thanks to genetics and heredity, Jason Bonham is on tour marking the 30th anniversary of his dad's passing, with an assembly of a terrific, albeit mostly unknown, group of musicians, as Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience.  It was a memorable, must-see show.  At a tired and odd venue (last time I was at the Star Plaza Theater (Merrilleville, IN) was 25 years ago for Hank Jr, The MTB, and the Allman Bros.) this show should have been somewhere in Chicago; at the Vic, the Brawlroom, the Park West, or the Chicago Theater.  Sadly, the place was a third empty - maybe 1,000 people.  No matter.

We were utterly astonished how great the sound was and how glad we were to have attended.  Jason was humble, funny, and poignant - but not melancholy.  During songs like Thank You (the one where Jason told us he tries the most to not cry) grainy footage was projected on the huge display screens backing the state, home movies of little Jason on the drum kit or playing in the garden, or of his dad clowning for the camera at the beach.  Coming out from behind his clear yellow Ludwig drum kit to front stage often during the show, Jason told us some of the home movie footage was taken just a week before Bonzo passed away.  He also told us of him hearing spooky bedtime noises down the hallway from his little bedroom that he thought was church music.  It was rehearsals for Your Time is Gonna Come, from the first album, which Jason's band played forthwith.  So where we witnessing the world's great LZ cover band of all time or peering into the living room of the Bonham house while Jason thumbed through the family scrapbook with Zeppelin cranked?  How about both!  An intimate rock concert is an oxymoron.  But it was almost too intimate.  Jason's not the first guy to lose a dad at 14 - but we felt a unique compassion and bond.   It was if Jason opened up a vein for us and poured out love, emotion, British Midlands humor, and some killer thumpity thump.  We got to hear and feel what it was like to grow up the son of a rock god.  Jason was born in 1966, and John passed away in Sept. 1980, when he was 14.

Before deciding to do this (tour and play LZ music), Jason told us some "music industry folks," mentioned that, "ah - maybe this is not the right thing to do."  In no way needing to defend this effort, Jason explained that they (him and this band he's assembled), like all of us, are fans of the music.  He picked a set list.  With an overwhelming canon from which to choose, he started of course with Rock and Roll, then almost everything from LZII, and yes - Stairway at the end, closing with Whole Lotta Love.  During Moby Dick, through the magic of technology, Jason was "accompanied" by his pop, with Bonzo shown playing along up on the big screen.  Jason told us that since there was only one drum kit in the house - he never had the chance to play live along side his dad.  That's just crushing to me.  The JBLZE band lineup was this: guitarist Tony Catania (Les Pauls and the SG double-neck for STH), spot-on vocalist James Dylan, bassist Michael Devin, and keyboardist/pedal-steel guitarist Stephen LeBlanc.

Three Dog Night - Radio Dave's Liner Notes

This is a plug for my pal Radio Dave's live, weekly FM radio program called Liner Notes coming up next week.  You may have heard me guest host with Dave back in September.  You've read here before about Dave's cool rock and roll radio program.  It's on WSLR, LPFM 96.5, out of Sarasota, FL.  It's an LPFM station - that stands for low power, not long playing, as in LP.  I listen to Dave's show on my computer with a free radio tuner program like Winamp, http://www.winamp.com/  This coming Wednesday, Oct. 27th - listen in as Radio Dave features Three Dog Night.  He will play lots of their hits of course, but he will also tell us the back story about the band and their songs - stuff you just can hear anywhere else.  http://wslr.org/listen-live/   I am on a personal crusade to get TDR into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  They were unabashed song coverers, but so what?  Their website claims that from "1969-1974, nobody had more Top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets."   During this period, Three Dog Night was undoubtedly the most popular band in America with twenty-one consecutive Top 40 hits and twelve straight gold LPs. By late '75, they had sold nearly 50 million records."  Any questions???

Guest Post: Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding - by my pal John Bernstein

Guest Post by John Bernstein: "Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding.  Released in late December, 1967 - John Wesley Harding is unlike any other Dylan album.  In ten of the 12 songs, he wrote the lyrics first and then later supplied melodies.  It came out in the middle of Sgt. Pepper era of the lush and full-sounding records and this marked Dylan's return to simple, acoustic music.  I love this record mainly because his voice here is smooth and the lyrics are introspective, filled with biblical images.  Watchtower of course was covered by seemingly everyone, and Dear Landlord by Joe Cocker.  Drifters Escape, Patti Smith.  It reached #2 in the US Charts (His first number one was Planet Waves in 1974).  The songs here have a sad and reflective feel, but with hope for redemption and empathy for those down on their luck, which can be heard in Dear Landlord.  I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine feels like a dream or bible story brought to life.  More than other Dylan album, this is highly spiritual music, presenting images, much like that of a painting, with many layers.  I've listened to it hundreds of times over many years and still discover new things in the words and music.  Give (or play) this album to anyone who may think Bob Dylan can't sing.  The power of the words, music and voice all shine equally, with each track nicely flowing to the next.  Short stories from hopelessness to love and romance, like Down Along Cove - this is a masterpiece like no other and remains timeless well over 40 years latter."

Nice going, John - very well done.

461 Ocean Boulevard - Eric Clapton

I remember buying this record at a place called E. J. Korvette's - a department store in North Riverside.  The record department was upstairs.  And the record as a "price tag" only had a letter (A, B, C, D, E, F, G etc.) as a "price" and you'd have to look on large poster on the wall to figure out the actual price.  Contrary to Urban Legend - the store name was NOT short for "Eight (or Eleven) Jewish Korean Veterans."  As for the record - it is produced by the legendary Tom Dowd - my favorite record producer.  This might have been the first lp I ever bought retail.  My first 45 was One by Three Dog Night.  Can this really be Eric's second ever solo record?  This period of Eric's life in south Florida is well documented in his excellent autobiography that I read a couple of years ago.  Eric wrote that the guys in the Dominoes (Carl Radle, Jim Gordon & Bobby Whitlock) were his favorite backing lineup with whom he ever played.  Eric also wrote in the book that while living down in Florida during this phase of his career, and after he disbanded the Dominoes, that he basically "stole" George Terry, Dick Sims, and Jamie Oldaker (who all play significant roles on 461OB) from what was then Bob Seger's band.

The Temptations: Psychedelic Shack

The Temptations: Psychedelic Shack.  I got this along with a box of other records at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago.  And this fall here in Chicago we have had some excellent weather for late season garage sales.  But this past Saturday I found no vinyl, but if was fun anyways.  I don't use a map or check the local classifieds - I just look for signs on Ogden Ave. the way to my dry cleaner in Brookfield.  This record is not The Temptations with whom I am familiar.  This record has an edge and attitude.  The song Hum Along and Dance is very catchy. This 1970 album on the Gordy (Motown) label, is the group's brief foray or drift into psychedelia.  The songs were all written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.  You are familiar with the song "War,"  - the Edwin Starr version is more famous.  But click on the post title to sample The Temptations version.  I like it better - it has a short burst-like one bar lead guitar solo repeated each time at "what is it good for?"  The musicians playing on the record are still the Funk Brothers - with the all-time great James Jamerson on bass.