TOMMY SANDS – Sands Storm – (RCA) – 1959

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Franko

what Frank is listening to #47- TOMMY SANDS – Sands Storm – (RCA) – 1959

 

Tommy Sands was one of the million Elvis rip-offs in the late 50s (eg: Gene Vincent, Terry Stafford, Bobby Darin, Ral Donner, Dion, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Knox, Jack Scott etc). No offence to any of these artists because some of them were legends in their own right but still "rip-offs". OK, rip-offs is perhaps a bit too strong but Sands, like the others, was influenced by Elvis and Elvis' success. They all took aspects of Elvis' style in different ways and adapted it to their styles … by way of example, Gene Vincent took the histrionics and made a career out of that, whilst Darin took the ballads and went down the lounge path. Tommy Sands took the "clean" Elvis path. He had, however, been a credible soft rockabilly singer who had some minor hits ("Teenage Crush" was a #2 hit in 1957). By the time of this album (his third) the record label were trying to soften his image, perhaps scared of any anti-rock backlash (which never happened) after the Presley riots and moral outrage in 1956/57.

An interview:

Q. Tommy, you were once referred to as "One of the more talented of the Presley imitators." Were you, in any way trying to imitate Elvis?
A. I think there might have been a subconscious influence there, because I liked him so much. I can say that honestly now without any loss of dignity. When I met him, I was so young, and he influenced me so much, just as James Dean did as an actor. There were little pieces of Dean and Elvis in what I did, and that's quite normal. But, the people who managed me did a whole lot to take almost all of Elvis out of me, because they were much more conscious of it then me. They took away the guitar from early on. I never again after "The Singing Idol" appeared with a guitar that I remember. They had me cut my sideburns, cut my hair. It was a conscious attempt on their part to make me totally different. If I would've had my own way, I would have been even more identifiable as an imitator because I liked him so much.

 
I suspect the old record labels still did not really understand rock, so pairing a rock singer off with a old school orchestra was reasonably common place. Here, Sands is linked with the Bob Bain Orchestra. The album is subtitled "Tommy Sands Presents a Collection of Rock n' Roll Hits with the Music of Bob Bain"  and that surely isn't a lie. The tracks are all well known rock "hits" of the preceding 3 or 4 years so there are no surprises. The only interest then is incidental …  attaching those rock songs to an orchestra giving you a "lush pop" which isn't hard on the ears even if it is mildly forgettable. Pat Boone probably took that to the extreme, though Tommy is more raw than Pat and sometimes this is jarring as Sands vocals don't always compliment the lush orchestrations.
 
Best Tracks:
  • Maybelline – the Chuck Berry classic.
  • Oop Shoop – the Shirley Gunter doo wop track.
  • Hey Miss Fannie – The Clover hit.
  • Tweedlee Dee – the Lavern Baker hit.
  • Such a Night – Elvis later covered this track though it's generally assumed he was inspired by the Clyde McPhatter version.
  • Blue Velvet – a great song – it doesn't matter who does it.
  • Chicken and the Hawk – a shameless rip off of "Shake Rattle and Roll" by writers Leiber and Stoller no less.
It's hard not to like the album as the songs Sands covers are such good tunes and he does impart his personality onto the tracks …
 
Into the maybe pile.
 
btw: my LP cover is a "World Record Club" sleeve which is totally different to the one pictured.
 
Sounds:
attached
  
Teenage Crush – the big hit from the year before:
 
Internet:
 
Trivia: Sands is mainly famous for having fantastic taste – he married Nancy Sinatra in 1960 (be still my beating loins). He also had a reasonable film / acting career. And, Interestngly he also, subsequently, came under Bob Dylan's spell and made some committed folk music.
  
Tommy Sands (below) – Elvis influence?
 
 
(originally posted: 14/06/2009)
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GENE CHANDLER – ’80 – (20th Century) – 1980

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

what Frank is listening to #46 – GENE CHANDLER – '80 – (20th Century) – 1980

 

  

Rise and shine … a beautiful Sunday …
 
Gene Chandler's pop place in history is assured with the magnificent 1962 hit "Duke of Earl".
 
Gene is a stalwart of the Chicago soul scene along with Curtis Mayfield, The Chi-Lites, (the magnificent) Jackie Wilson, Jerry Butler etc and has travelled all the black soul music stops over the course of his career: doo wop, soul, pop, disco, smooth uptown soul, and early R&B. The only thing he didn't really touch upon (as far as I know) was funk.
 
 
This album is from his disco period where he had some minor hits for the 20th Century label. Unfortunately by the time of this album all the good songs must have been used up. That's not to say the album is bad … it's well played and well sung disco and uptown soul (smooth and slick soul with singers who tend to croon) with all the usual black disco themes – dancing, sex, making out, sex, heavy petting, sex, looking good, sex, strutting, sex etc. Tracks like: 
  • Does She Have a Friend for Me? (cause I want to fuck her)
  • Lay Me Gently (and fuck me)
  • Do It Baby (fuck me hard)
  • You've Been So Sweet to Me (now fuck me)
  • Let Me Make Love to You (I'd rather say "Let me fuck you" but I know you like the romance)

OK, the ad-libs are mine but if you have ever heard a disco album you know what I mean.

Unfortunately, its all a little predictable … the songs that is.
 
The album is produced by Gene and composer Carl Davis (famous for soul label Chi-Sound) with a song co-written by old friend Curtis Mayfield ("Rainbow 80") and a duet with Joni Berimon ("I'll be There"). Also soul singer Theresa Davis is in here somewhere.
 
Best Tracks:
  • Does She Have a Friend for Me – this is what uptown soul is all about.
  • All About the Paper – The Dells song.
  • Rainbow 80 – co-written with Curtis Mayfield.
  • Let Me Make Love to You – more uptown soul and slow dancing (horizontal?) in the Marvin Gaye mould.
chart success here was elusive:
 
Albums:
#11 "Black" albums,  #87 pop.
 
Singles:
"Lay me Gently" went to #73 in the black charts
"Does She Have a Friend" went to #28 in the UK
 
Sound:
 
Others:
Duke of Earl
 
Website:
 
(originally posted: 14/06/2009)
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CHRIS MONTEZ – Time after Time – (A&M) – 1966

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

what Frank is listening to #45- CHRIS MONTEZ – Time after Time – (A&M) – 1966

  

Boy voiced Chris Montez had been a rocker before hooking up with Herb Alpert and hitting the big time with some MOR Latin flavoured lounge pop.
 
I like my lounge and my pop (and my Latin) but I'm undecided about boy voiced singers (Montez is very soft in "the high tenor range" according to wikipedia).
 
Chris was the great hope of the LA Hispanic rock community after the death of Ritchie Valens and he did bridge the gap between Ritchie's death and the rise of Tex Mex rock with Sam the Sham and  the Sir Douglas Quintet etc. His step sideways to Latin flavoured pop was certainly popular and despite "Latin" being a a variety of distinct styles in its own right (Mariachi, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Samba and a multitude of variations on the theme) it also infected rock and popular music generally. In the 1960s, Elvis (the entire "Fun in Acapulco" soundtrack), The Beatles (Don't Bother Me), Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire), Frank Sinatra (the "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" LP) and countless others had Latin flavoured tracks.
 
This album was a quick follow up to the Montez album of the previous year which had a couple of Top 40 tracks and had reached #33. "Time after Time" reached #106 only. 
 
This and his other two albums from the 60s are cultish and for lovers of lounge pop.
 
The arrangements are excellent and the music certainly swings in a kind of full band, cool jazz, way.
 
Best tracks:
  • Time after Time – the Sinatra song from the 40s.
  • Sunny – the oft recorded Bobby Hebb track.
  • The Girl from Ipanema – a great track – can anyone do a bad version of this?
  • Lil Red Riding Hood – the Otis Blackwell R&B grind watered down but still suggestive.
  • Going out of my Head – the Little Anthony track – and a good version. It builds up to quite a emotional climax.
  • Yesterday – yup, the Beatles track.
All the tracks are good. The arrangements and Montez's voice almost make an other worldly sound … in fact it's all very dreamlike.
 
I might keep this one.
 
Sound:
 
Website:
 
(originally posted: 12/06/2009)
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MARY MacGREGOR – Torn Between Two Lovers – (Ariola) – 1976

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

   what Frank is listening to #44 – MARY MacGREGOR – Torn Between Two Lovers – (Ariola) – 1976 

 

This one is for Marc …
 
I have seen the odd Mary MacGregor album around over the years but I didn't know much about her. I just assumed she was part of the group of female singer-songwriters like Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Carly Simon, and the great Jackie DeShannon.
 
She briefly returned to music in 1999.
 
The album is pleasant enough – MacGregor can sing – though the music is a touch bland, which is surprising given it was recorded at Muscle Shoals with a batch of seasoned session musos. Despite its appearance on the country charts and country overtones the music is stretching the term "country" pretty far. Though having said that I am consistently surprised by what appears on the country charts. The album is pretty much straight out 70s pop with the aforementioned country overtones. It's also not singer–songwriter, country or otherwise. MacGregor only co-wrote one of the tracks – the rest seem to be songs written for her for this album, mainly by Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul & Mary fame). So rather than comparing her to the chick singer-songwriters a better comparison would probably be to early-mid 70s Olivia Newton-John or maybe Maureen McGovern.
 
Best Tracks:
  • I Just want to Love You –  a big emotive country flavoured ballad – like you'd hear Dolly or Lynn Anderson sing.
  • Torn between Two Lovers – aaahhh – once I put the song on I recognized it instantly – I haven't heard it in years … a gentle ballad about a woman fucking around on her husband.
Sound:

 

 (originally posted: 12/06/2009)   
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LEN BARRY – My Kind of Soul – (RCA) -1967

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko
what Frank is listening to #43 -LEN BARRY – My Kind of Soul – (RCA) -1967
 
 
OK, this was in another "pile" of records. I actually bought this almost 20 years ago, listened to it and liked it enough to put it in the "maybe keep" pile, where it has sat, till now. I thought I would listen to it again, and I did, 20 years later … cheap records are a double edged sword.
 
The reason I bought it "way back when" was because Len sang one of the best blue eyed soul* songs of the 1960s, or of any era, "1-2-3" (#2 US, 1965)
 
*Blue-eyed soul (aka white soul) is rhythm and blues or soul music performed by white artists. (wikipedia): "The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the raw, expressive music black music of the Motown and Stax record labels". Though, I might put a qualification on the quote and that is, a lot of it rocked harder than Motown, was more "frantic" than black soul generally and there was normally less emphasis on sweet backing vocalists. Blue eyed soul wasn't just about copying or covering black soul but fusing black soul with white rock 'n' roll.
 
There were many "blue eyed soul" acts that made the charts – The Box Tops,The Rascals,The Righteous Brothers, Mitch Ryder (the best IMHO), Lou Christie, Bill Medley (from The Righteous Brothers), some Phil Spector stuff,  and in the early 70s Hall & Oates. More recently the label has been used in reference to any piece of white shit covering a black soul song. That ain't enough. Vocals, though sweet, usually rock harder with the emotion quotient turned up. It's generally perceived to be working class in origins – I'm not sure why but I suspect because a lot of the acts were from places like Philadelphia and Detroit, many performers were from migrant families and ultimately the music was played and sung at small venues by working bands always on the road (weddings, parties etc) … ie: the music was their "job" not their "art" or "calling". Uni students at the time listened to Dylan not "blue eyed soul" (a broad generalization but …). British "blue eyed soul vocalists" were similar in status – Dusty Springfield, Eric Burdon, and Tom Jones the most obvious examples (I can think of).
 
Barry started with vocal group The Dovells in the late 50s before going solo. He only put out four albums – I also have the 70s one sitting in the pile somewhere – before retiring from music. By way of bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Barry
In relation to my observations in the paragraph above I note here the facts that Len Barry was born Leonard Borisoff, 6 December 1942, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
 
Though I liked the album when i first listened to it all those years ago I was (more) into the "louder, harder, faster" sound and Len makes Elvis sound like Black Flag. He has a great voice though he sings exclusively in the higher range and the music is all "sweet" "blue eyed soul". But, years have past and my palette has expanded. This isn't as rocky as Mitch Ryder or as catchy as Lou Christie but on hearing this album again … its great.
 
Best tracks:
  • The Moving Finger Writes – a touch of Motown.
  • Sweet Soul Music – the Arthur Conley classic that everyone has covered.
  • Rainy Side of the Street – written by Barry – a slower soul scorcher.
  • a medley of Holland -Dozier-Holland / Luther Dixon / Joe Tex songs – which is is pretty rocky … and a live recording by the sounds of it … I'm pretty sure it's not a "fake" live recording as its pretty rough but certainly soul-ful.
This music was pretty much over by 1967 and was normally singles based anyway so, needless to say, the album did not chart. Barry's most magnificent moment may be "1-2-3"  but this album is solidly good.
 
Sound:
attached
 
 
Here's"1-2-3"
For those who want some other twats opinion – "1-2-3" was one of the songs that appeared in John Lennon's jukebox.
 
Website:
 
And he wrote a book:

(originally posted: 10/06/2009) 

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RALPH McTELL – Water of Dreams – (Larrikin) – 1982

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

  what Frank is listening to #42 – RALPH McTELL – Water of Dreams – (Larrikin) – 1982  

This one's for Phil …I can see him in the front row with a lighter in the air. 

This album however is is 13 years and 10 albums after prime time. 
 
This is pretty much a schizophrenic album – its folk-ish with elements of singer-songwriter and folk pop though with contemporary instruments (bazooki, electric guitars, trumpets, synthesizers – the Prophet V and the CS 80 for people into that stuff) … 
 
Sometimes the instruments are quite jarring in that they are not what you expect to hear in the context of the song. I'm not sure of the logic behind this, possibly (simply?) to make the music more contemporary? If that was the reason it was never going to work as McTell is best as a straight folkie. Lyrically he covers all the usual folk bases – story songs, ruminations, topical songs … and that is his strength. The best songs on this album are the topical ones, of which there aren't many, though there are quite a few (average) "love" songs.
 
Backing him on various tracks are Dave Pegg and Bruce Rowland (Fairport Convention), Richard Thompson, Albert Lee, Phil Collins (slumming it?), and prolific session musos  Billy Livsey and Phil Palmer etc.

Best tracks:

  • Pykey Boy – a nice Celtic styled ballad.
  • I Want You – the only track not written by McTell – and he does a sweet, less obsessed version…. which misses the songs point but its still a good song.
  • Geordie's on the Road – probably the best song on the LP that recalls his early 70s material. If only Billy Bragg could be this gentle, or insightful (ha – sorry Bragg fans) … but then again McTell can sing.
To keep or not to keep ? No,  but I'll tape a song or two (or three)  –  any McTell collectors out there ?
 
(and to be totally anal – this is the Australian cover of the LP released on the Australian folk label Larrikin, the UK cover is different)
 
Sounds:
attached
 
Streets of London:
a cover:
 
Here's a piss take on poor McTell and the fact that he is so associated with "Streets of London" … I'm sure you musos out there know this feeling
 
 
(originally posted: 08/06/2009) 

 

 

  

 

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TERENCE BOYLAN – Suzy – (Asylum) – 1980

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

 what Frank is listening to #41 – TERENCE BOYLAN – Suzy – (Asylum) – 1980

Again … I had no knowledge of this artist though I assumed it was singer-songwriter stuff , though I knew 1980 was not a good year for singer-songwriters (qv: punk and new wave). Boylan also, vaguely, looks like singer-songwriter Jackson Browne (I shouldn't bag Jackson Browne because I haven't heard that much of his stuff though what little I have heard always leaves me wondering why he has a big rep).

As it turns out Boylan has a career going back to the late 1960s and has put out three LPs (this was his last to date), and he is indeed a singer-songwriter.  He has hob-knobbed and been critically applauded but has never made the sales.
 
A bio is here:
 
The best thing he did, apparently, is "The Appletree Theatre",  with his brother in 1968 … and from the bits I have heard on youtube it certainly sounds interesting. (His brother went on to "assemble" The Eagles … and produce them and a lot of others).
 
On this album there is a element of cynicism and some smart lyrics commenting on contemporary living but it is all low key and lost in the blandness of the instrumentation.
 
It's a pretty awful.
 
Backing comes from experienced session musos … guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Larry Carlton, pianist Paul Harris, Russ Kunkel on drums (he did session work for everyone in the 70s), and Chevy Chase (!) (yep that one apparently) playing Fender Rhodes on the quirky "Miso Soup"
 
Best tracks:
its hard – none of this is offensive its just awfully dull – probably:
  • "College Life"
  • "50 an Hour"
Sounds:
see attached:
 
I'm ditching this album ASAP
 
Clips:
"The Appltree Theatre
 
Website:
 
(originally posted: 07/06/2009)originally posted: 07/06/2009)
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MICK RONSON – Slaughter on 10th Avenue – (RCA) – 1974

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

what Frank is listening to #40 – MICK RONSON – Slaughter on 10th Avenue – (RCA) – 1974

Well of course I knew who Mick Ronson was … Bowie's guitarist and collaborator. I also have his 1975 album " Play Don't Worry" which was a little patchy but had some magnificent tracks on it. I also knew that he was enamoured with 50s rock and American culture (like Bowie).
 
So, when I found this album there no way I was going to pass it up.
 
Ronson was a legend and certainly influential – one could ask, how much of Bowie is Ronson? Apart for playing with Bowie he played with Bob Dylan, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed (he co-produced Lou's best solo album "Transformer"), Slaughter and the Dogs, The Rick Kids, Mellencamp, Morrissey, Roger McGuinn, (the underrated) Iron City Houserockers … hello … that's enough to qualify as legend here.
 
A thorough bio can be found here:
 
This is his first solo album, and he only put out three during his life (a proud English northerner he died at 46 from cancer). He was named the 64th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine (for what that's worth, which is very little) ... they said this:
 
This working-class lad from northern England lent musical substance to David Bowie's theatrical conceits in the Seventies. Ronson, who died in 1993, was the archetypal flash Brit guitarist, known for wrenched, physical solos that favour his hero, Jeff Beck. A sharp, sensitive accompanist, he worked with everyone from Bob Dylan to Morrissey.
 
The music here still has the glam rock excesses which are sometimes funny but he also has rock  and verve. In a lot of ways he was to the English music scene what the "New York Dolls" were to the US. Maybe not as all out rocky as the Dolls but like them he did straddle the divide between 70s rock guitar and punk. For that alone he is interesting, but even more so, what I like is that he takes chances, many chances …. I said his other album "Play Don't Worry" is patchy, which it is, but it is patchy 'cause he is right out there taking chances and doing whatever he wants, or whatever he likes. And this album is much the same (though it holds together better)  – there are crazy guitar breaks and riffs, melodramatic operatic vocals, big band horns, hard rock, and crazed covers ("Love Me Tender" – yes the Elvis song, and "Slaughter on 10th Avenue" – the Richard Rodgers opus from the 1957 film)
 
Backing him is Aynsley Dunbar (Frank Zappa, John Mayall), Trevor Bolder (Bowie's bassist), Mike Garson (piano for Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins) etc.
 
Best Tracks :
  • "Love Me Tender" – of course – a interesting, LOUD, interpretation but it suits the mood of the album.
  • "Growing Up and I'm Fine" – I thought it had very Bowie vocals until I looked at the credits and i saw it was co-written by Bowie. This would easily fit on "Hunky Dory" if the electric guitar was turned down a tad.
  • "Only after Dark" – another "Bowie could have sung this track" song. 
  • "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" – just plain weird on a rock album – it covers all the rock bases but also.
  • actually all of the songs (there are 7) are varying shades of good.
The LP went #156 in the US and #9 in England
 
A keeper and I might have to dust off "Play Don't Worry" and give it another listen … almost as good as anything Bowie was doing around the same time (sometimes better)  … and Bowie was pretty much perfect 1970 – 76
  
Sound:
"Slaughter on Tenth Avenue"
the promo clip for "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" … a hoot:
"Gowing Up"
"Only after Dark"  promo clip
+ attached Elvis cover
 
Some other useful bits:
 
Website:
 

(originally posted: 04/06/2009)

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MARLON McCLAIN – Changes – (Fantasy) – 1981

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

 what Frank is listening to #39 –  MARLON McCLAIN – Changes – (Fantasy) – 1981

The front and back cover artwork would indicate some sort of Afro-American rock or funk guitar virtuoso. And, McLain is a guitarist but an incredibly banal one. He calls himself "The Magician"… God knows why … I heard no magic on this LP whatsoever … the only magic I would like to have seen is McLain sawing his guitar in half.

The usual sites have little information on him, though he seems to be associated with the Portland, Oregon music scene. In between solo stints he was guitarist for soul-funk band "Pleasure" in the 70s (who actually were OK if you like your funk disco-fied), later in the 80s he was in a funk-r&b (modern R&B) band called Dazz Band, and then in the 90s he was in another soft funk band called "Shades of Soul". Jeff Lorber (a white guy who plays this kind of crap) plays keyboard for him here also – him and Lorber have often played in bands together and done session work ("The Magician" has done session work for Kenny G amongst others). The Magician has also done a fair bit of producing (though I am yet to find a familiar artist he has produced … I leave it to others to research that if they wish).
 
Here, the drums are of that 80s reverbed gated snare sound – capital punishment should be used for that alone (that drum sound has its place in futuristic film soundtracks but that's about it). There are also lots of funky horns (but not good 70s funky), a vocoder, keyboards and synths. "Pleasure" put out 10 or so albums so I assume The Magician can play guitar though on this album his guitar virtuosity, if he has any, is kept to a minimum … there are lots of gentle soft smouldering jazz breaks, tbut nothing which would separate him out from a thousand others (though it seems he has always had a smooth jazz bent regardless of who he plays with).
  
The Magician, though, wrote most of the tracks, sings (lead and background), plays guitar (lead and bass), plays the vocoder, handles the percussion, and co-produces.
 
He cannot blame anyone else for the results.
 
The soul / funk / R&B is all too smooth – in fact it's fucken awful … why am I doing this to myself? This is the background music during the rooting scenes of some bad 80s "erotic thriller"… there is a track called "Pastel" which really sums up this album … this is the music that all the coked up, middle-aged Hollywood music wankers loved in the 80s … a pox on them. When people go on about black music, as if can do no wrong, why doesn't someone wave this album around (and about 200 others in the same genre).
 
The only thing that surprises me, and no doubt surprised The Magician, is why this wasn't a hit in 1981. The Magician has painted by numbers to the littlest detail, all to no avail. This didn't even make the pox ridden R&B charts.
 
Best tracks:
  • "Shake it up" – at least its up-tempo.
  • "Can we Still be Friends" is awful but it was written by Todd Rundgren.
 It will be on eBay asap.
 
Sound:
 
From his other bands:
 
 
Arr you pricks reading any of this … just checking.
 
 
(originally posted: 01/06/2009)
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JESSE COLIN YOUNG – Songbird – (Warner Brothers) – 1975

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Franko

 what Frank is listening to #38 – JESSE COLIN YOUNG – Songbird – (Warner Brothers) – 1975

Jesse Colin Young was a folkie who formed the legendary band "The Youngbloods" before going solo again. I have all the Youngbloods albums (about seven … their masterpiece is "Elephant Mountain" (1969) which is one of the best albums of the late 60s IMHO – it was a op shop special I bought in the mid 80s, which totally blew me away and sent me off looking for their other albums, which, in the days before the internet, were as rare as hens teeth over here in the antipodes ... I found most of them in the States when I was over there (though none were as good as "Elephant Mountain")).

Young resurrects "Josianne" and "Sugarbabe" from his Youngbloods days (the latter track is a bona fide classic) and does them well here in these "solo" versions. Lyrically, some of the songs are topical, like "Before You Came" (about Native Americans), whilst some are personal like "Slick City" (a response to the critics) and "Again" (about a failed romance) but what I like most about his lyrics are they are deceptively simple, even innocent, but not necessarily naive.
 
The album went to #26 in the US – his highest solo LP placing.
 
Best Tracks:
  • Before You Came
  • Again
  • Slick City
  • Till You Come Back Home (some nice fiddle)
  • Sugar Babe – a stripped back version
  • Motorhome – a bit "jug band" like the early "Youngbloods" LPs … and lyrically it's like something from The Kinks 1972 opus "Everybody's is Showbiz"
Sound:
 
The Youngbloods:
their most well known track, though a bit to "give peace a chance" for me (this is from 1967 and it charted again in 1969 – #5US)
(live late 70s"No Nukes")
 
Others:
 
And a cover:
 
Website:
you can see from his site he is still a committed 60s activist – back to the earth, hand made and not machine made, organic,  yadda yadda (all noble)
 
I'm a keepin this one … peace brother. 
 
(originally posted: 30/05/2009)
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