Anyone who wrote and sang "It Never Rains in Southern California" has to be cut some slack. Surely it's one of the best songs to come out of the California singer-songwriter movement in the early 70s. That it was sung and written by a London born Gibraltarian lad is surprising but also a testament to the seductive charms of California – sun, sand, sex. London at its most swinging-est never really competed and could not soothe the nerves like the aphrodisiac that is California. Hence the ode to California in Hammond's hit "It Never Rains in Southern California"… get it?
That's not to say he doesn't sound English and the music has less singer-songwriter trappings than normal.
Also, that's not to say the songs on this album don't have some English concerns, they do, though those concerns are filtered through a boy growing up in Gibraltar and experiencing Spanish culture as well as English culture. After all you cant escape your past. Hammond's concerns, anyway, are less regional and more global. Themes of leaving for a better place (whether it be England or the city generally) are abundant.
All the songs are written with fellow Brit Mike Hazlewood (Hazlewood was a prolific writer (see link below)), who also co-wrote all of Hammonds first album with the "It Always Rains In Southern California" hit.
Hazlewood and Hammond had been in a band together in the 60s, Family Dogg, with American Steve Rowland, who was a Hollywood brat. Perhaps (probably) he led both Hammond and Hazlewood to LA.
Also despite the cover art there are a lot more instruments here than just the singer and the guitar. This album is quite lush in its instrumentation.
Hammond, a Gibraltarian (born in London because his family were evacuated there during World War 2 but returning to Gibraltar immediately after) had been banging around the music scene from the early 60s and vacillated between England and Gibraltar, which probably explains his easy relocation to L.A. later. I would think L.A. resembles (climate wise) Gibraltar more than London. Hammond has also released albums (and recorded many of his songs) in both English and Spanish. Again, L.A. with it's sizeable Hispanic population may have appealed to him.
A quick google gave me this: "A common misperception of me is … Probably where I’m from. I was born in London but raised in Gibraltar and I guess both places try to claim me. I often ask myself, ‘if I wasn’t famous, who’d want me?’ but I feel very Gibraltarian and really identify with the place. It was great to grow up there and it taught me to be instinctive – almost like a street kid. I learned to speak on the streets, both in Spanish and English".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-five-minute-interview-albert-hammond-singer-and-songwriter-1544687.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-five-minute-interview-albert-hammond-singer-and-songwriter-1544687.html
There is much to like about this album. The most obvious points of comparison on the musical scene is Elton John (you can also hear Paul Simon, Jerry Jeff Walker and Leonard Cohen), though here the lyrics are more potent and the themes more coherent. What Elton has is simple though admittedly catchy songs and a nice clean, crisp sound (with Elton's distinct clean vocals) which doesn't date quickly, whilst Hammond experiments a bit with instruments and song structure and his themes are darker and/or more complex. Despite a couple of big hits in he US including a Top 10 (he only had one Top 20 in England for the single "Free Electric Band (#19)) he never graduated to the fame of Elton. Which is a pity because on the back of this album I think we could have used a little more Hammond/Hazlewood and a little less John/Taupin.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Smokey Factory Blues – I've always liked this tune from the first time I heard it on Steppenwolf's 1974 album "Slow Flux", Steppenwolf add their hard rock grit to it but the original here is just fine and very Ray Davies in theme. (Johnny Cash has also covered it).
Early in the misty, misty morning
Headin' for another freeway jam
Sleepy eyed and shivering
Waking up and wishing it was Sunday
I wish it was Sunday.
On the radio they're playin' love songs.
Songs that make me want to turn around
Fact'ry gates are up ahead
I wish that I was home in bed with you, my love,
Back home with you, my love.
Headin' for another freeway jam
Sleepy eyed and shivering
Waking up and wishing it was Sunday
I wish it was Sunday.
On the radio they're playin' love songs.
Songs that make me want to turn around
Fact'ry gates are up ahead
I wish that I was home in bed with you, my love,
Back home with you, my love.
But I work to make a living
And I work without a break
And I work when I am sleeping
And I work when I'm awake
Yes, and I'd like to leave the city
But I can't afford the move
And I think I'm goin' under
With those way down low down
Smokey fact'ry blues.
And I work without a break
And I work when I am sleeping
And I work when I'm awake
Yes, and I'd like to leave the city
But I can't afford the move
And I think I'm goin' under
With those way down low down
Smokey fact'ry blues.
I was born a lover not a worker.
Money doesn't smell like sweet perfume
Some of us feel out of place
With engine oil upon our face.
Believe me, you better believe me.
Money doesn't smell like sweet perfume
Some of us feel out of place
With engine oil upon our face.
Believe me, you better believe me.
- The Peacemaker – this sounds like a sequel to Cat Stevens "Peace Train" in theme as well as delivery … intentional or not I have no idea. Here Hammond mixes a big picture song title and big picture themes with a narrative that is about the personal.
- Woman of the World – blah – the song not the sentiment.
- Everything I Want to Do – the re-curring carnival "all the fun of the fair" atmosphere that's apparent on so many mid-70s albums from English acts – though here the carnival has a Caribbean twist.
- Who’s for Lunch Today? – of course the song is not just about inviting someone over for lunch … a pity. Big picture theme/ personal narrative again.
- The Free Electric Band – another song with a going to California theme … and a corker … there are some great lines in here …
My father is a doctor, he's a family man,
My mother works for charity whenever she can,
They're both good clean Americans who abide by the law,
They both stick up for liberty and they both would go to war
My happiness was paid for when they laid their money down,
For Summers in a Summer camp, and Winters in the town,
My future in the system was talked about and planned,
But I gave it up for music and the free electric band…
My mother works for charity whenever she can,
They're both good clean Americans who abide by the law,
They both stick up for liberty and they both would go to war
My happiness was paid for when they laid their money down,
For Summers in a Summer camp, and Winters in the town,
My future in the system was talked about and planned,
But I gave it up for music and the free electric band…
I went to school in hand-washed shirts with neatly oiled hair,
The school was big and newly built and filled with light and air,
And the teachers taught us values that we had to learn to keep,
And they clipped the ear of many idle kids who went to sleep,
Then my father organized for me a college in the East,
But I went to California, the sun-shine and the beach,
My parents and my lecturers could never understand,
Why I gave it up for music and the free electric band…
The school was big and newly built and filled with light and air,
And the teachers taught us values that we had to learn to keep,
And they clipped the ear of many idle kids who went to sleep,
Then my father organized for me a college in the East,
But I went to California, the sun-shine and the beach,
My parents and my lecturers could never understand,
Why I gave it up for music and the free electric band…
Well, they used to sit and speculate upon their son's career,
A lawyer or a doctor or a civil engineer,
Just give me bread and water, put a guitar in my hand,
'cause all I need is music and the free electric band…
A lawyer or a doctor or a civil engineer,
Just give me bread and water, put a guitar in my hand,
'cause all I need is music and the free electric band…
My father sent me money and I spent it very fast,
On a girl I met in Berkeley in a social science class,
Yes, and we learned about her body, but her mind we didn't know,
Until deep rooted attitudes and morals began to show,
She wanted to get married, even though she never said,
But I knew her well enough by now to see inside her head,
She'd settle for suburbia and a little patch of land,
So I gave her up for music and the free electric band…
On a girl I met in Berkeley in a social science class,
Yes, and we learned about her body, but her mind we didn't know,
Until deep rooted attitudes and morals began to show,
She wanted to get married, even though she never said,
But I knew her well enough by now to see inside her head,
She'd settle for suburbia and a little patch of land,
So I gave her up for music and the free electric band…
- Rebecca – I love "name" songs … this is a "rich girl, poor boy" story with a counter culture twist of choosing against safety and the "establishment".
- The Day the British Army Lost the War – Not sure what this is about though again Hammond uses the big picture / personal narrative structure here. Here those personal things are obscure but inter-generational family strife seems to predominate.
- For the Peace of All Mankind – You guessed it "big picture / personal narrative structure" … but a great track (and a little Lennon like)
For the peace,
For the peace,
For the peace of all mankind
For the peace,
For the peace of all mankind
Will you go away,
Will you go away,
Will you vanish from my mind
Will you go away,
Will you vanish from my mind
Will you go away and close the bedroom door
And let everything be as it was before
- I Think I’ll Go That Way – another leaving the city song.
And …
I wasn't sure if I would like this album … but I do … I'm keeping it.
Chart Action
US
Singles
The Free Electric Band #48 1973 The Billboard Hot 100
The Peacemaker #80 1973 The Billboard Hot 100
Album
The Free Electric Band # 193 1973 Billboard
Singles
The Free Electric Band #48 1973 The Billboard Hot 100
The Peacemaker #80 1973 The Billboard Hot 100
Album
The Free Electric Band # 193 1973 Billboard
England
Singles
The Free Electric Band # 19 1973
Album
no action
Singles
The Free Electric Band # 19 1973
Album
no action
Sounds
Smokey Factory Blues
and attached
The Peacemaker
live
Everything I Want to Do
live
The Free Electric Band
live
live 2004
and attached
Rebecca
For the Peace of All Mankind
Others
It Never Rains in Southern California
Review
Bio
Website
Trivia
- ( for you yung uns) … His son, Albert Hammond, Jr. is a successful solo musician and also a member of The Strokes.
- In 1970 he produced the album "Coming From Reality" for Detroit folk-rock star Rodriguez.
(originally posted: 08/08/2010)
