Jeff Beck - "Tallyman" b/w "Rock My Plimsoul" 45prm single, yellow vinyl, 1967/2015 (Epic/Sundazed)

Jeff Beck always appealed to me due to his clothes sense, physical looks, and of course, his guitar playing.  There is something no-nonsense concerning his approach to music-making.  I admire that and being a fan of The Yardbirds, I feel a devotion to his time in that band.  Still, in 1968, when I purchased his album "Truth" I was disappointed in its conservative approach to rock.  I loved the craziness and wildness of The Yardbirds singles and their manic quality.  Beck, on his own, was a tad tasteful.   He had a great band, with such talent as Rod Stewart, Ron Wood as the bassist, and Mick Weller as a drummer - plus the presence of the great Nicky Hopkins.  Still, there was something missing in the mix, and I think that was due that Beck is not a songwriter.  Also, he's not a great arranger like Jimmy Page, who by the way, I don't think he's a songwriter as well.  But he knows a great tune if you get my drift. 

"Tally Man" is an interesting record/song by Beck. Written by the great Graham Gouldman, who wrote hits for The Yardbirds as well as Herman's Hermits, and produced by Mickie Most.  I believe it's Beck on lead vocals, and it's a wonderful pop song done in that Beck manner to make it heavy.  A one-off single before the album, or before he got the band together.  

Joe Cocker - "Marjorine" b/w "New Age of the Lily" 45 rpm Single, 1968 (A&M)

Joe Cocker, the Britsh rhythm n' blues singer, who is an iconic figure in the rock n' roll world of the late 1960s and early 1970s also made a classic pop record as well.   "Marjorine" was my favorite cut on Cocker's first album "With a Little Help From My Friends."  I bought the album because the cover photo of Cocker was cool, and as a teenager into the product, I also liked the fact that famous musicians played on this album.  The range of talent is amazing, and I remember listening to the album, to notice the difference between Jimmy Page and Albert Lee on "Marjorine."  Throughout the album, you had musicians such as Tony Visconti, Carol Kaye (grand studio bassist), B.J. Wilson & Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum,  Steve Winwood,  and my favorite rock n' roll drummer Clem Cattini.  How can this album fail?

"With A Little Help From My Friends" is one of the first 'superstar' players on one album, that marketed itself in a fashion, where one is aware of the backing musicians behind Cocker. Also, this first album has many great versions of incredible songs, and the choices that were made were wise and totally practical in Cocker's manner and voice.   Still, the one song that impressed me the most was "Marjorine" which is a song co-written by Cocker.  It stands out compared to the rest of the album, because for one it is an original song, in an album of mostly covers, and those songs I was already familiar with, especially "Bye Bye Blackbird" (classic American songbook material), and "Feeling Alright" by Dave Mason when he was in Traffic.  Still, "Marjorine" had its own power, in that it's a beautiful melody, but performed with vigor by Cocker's voice, and the duo guitars of Page and Lee. Beautifully produced by  Denny Cordell. It's shocking to me that this song was not a radio hit of the time of its released.  I'm thrilled that I found this 45 rpm single in Rockaway Records here in Silver Lake. 

Terry Reid - "Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1968 (Epic)

Terry Reid has good taste in covers, and he has the voice that cuts through all his material.  Terry Reid is very much his voice/guitar, organ, and drums.  With some horn and what sounds like a stand-up bass on the song "Without Expression" which to me sounds like a classic Donovan song, but alas, a Reid song.  Legend has it that Jimmy Page asked Reid to be Led Zeppelin's singer, but he turned it down, but not before recommending Robert Plant.  And there is a similar sound to Reid's voice to Plant, but I think in 1968, Terry was a better singer.  Beside Plant, there is a Nina Simone touch, and he has a feminine approach to the words.  Without saying, he can sing the ABC's and make it into a moving experience.  

"Bang, Bang, You're Terry Reid" is a fantastic album.  It's very 1968, and it's produced by pop music golden ears Mickie Most, who at this time seemed to be into a heavy sound, for instance, he produced the Jeff Beck Group at this time as well.  The thing is Reid is heavy, but he treats his songs and his covers as delicate pieces of glass.  He knows how to press hard, but he gives each song a tension that is never cliche, and like my Simone comparison, he knows how to stretch, pull, and focus on the melodic dynamic of the song.   The covers here are Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)," Donovan's "Season of the Witch," the great Gene Pitney ballad "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," and Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues."  "Writing on the Wall" reminds me very much like The Yardbirds' "Still, I'm Sad," which they share the same producer (Most).   His version of the Cochran song has a Keith Emerson (The Nice) approach, which is unusual.  I should note here because there's no credit at all on the album that Eric Leese plays the organ and Keith Webb on the drums.  I suspect as a live act, they must have been magnificent.  Special thank you to Robert Newman for bringing Terry Reid to my attention.  

Led Zeppelin "Led Zeppelin" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1969 (Atlantic)

I bought the first Led Zeppelin I think very close to the day of its original release.   My educated guess, because I have no memory of the details, I must have heard "Good Times Bad Times"

 on the FM radio, and that's a type of record I have always liked.  Over time I learned to hate Led Zeppelin.  The funny thing is I 'm a huge fan of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones' studio work of the 1960s.  I love what Jones did with Immediate recordings, as well as Herman's Hermits.  And Page's work on Dave Berry's "The Crying Game" (if that is him?) is superb.   He also played guitar on John Barry's "Goldfinger."  How great is that?  And to this day, I think his best work is when he was an overly busy studio musician.  Still, there is something about Led Zeppelin that I can't fully dismiss. 

There are a lot of practical reasons for disliking Led Zeppelin.  Their horrible behavior toward groupies and people who work in the theaters, as well as them ripping off songwriters left and right - including the great song "Dazed and Confused," which is an amazing record. Jake Holmes wrote it, and when you hear the original compared to the Zep's version, it's outrageous that Page took songwriting credit on that song.   The truth is, Led Zeppelin is more in the lines of The Cramps, with respect how they re-arrange other material to suit their aesthetic.  And Jimmy Page is a brilliant arranger.  I also suspect Jones did a lot of the arranging as well, but it seems he's pushed aside with respect to crediting his arrangement work.  Nevertheless, that's Led Zeppelin in a nutshell, and one shouldn't dwell on the negativity of the situation.

What I do like about this album is that Page and company arranged these songs in a very textural and sonically powerful presence, especially when one puts up the volume.  Led Zeppelin is not about originality, but the way they present their (or whoever wrote the damn) songs in a manner that is magical.  The band is basically a trio, plus singer, but the big sound is the drumming of John Bonham who is a great drummer, and the layers of Page's guitars.  It's a joy to closely listen to his multiple layering of guitar sounds.  Page is technically a fantastic guitar player, but his genius is that he can think and play his instrument as if it was the lead player in a Wagner or operatic piece.  There are the riffs, but his playing is very subtle as well as being over-the-top. He knows how to balance the two and make it spectacular for that song, or album.   

Robert Plant has a voice.  A really good voice, but I don't think he's a great singer. He knows how to bend the notes, and play his voice as a fellow instrument with Page's guitar, but his delivery is always flat to me.  I think now, he is a much better singer as he got older, but as a teenager, a powerful voice but with no taste.  Led Zeppelin is very much a teenager's aesthetic.  Re-listening to this album after 39 years doesn't take me back to my youth, but now, I can appreciate the way the puzzle was put together, and Jimmy Page and band were very good in making this album as a statement at the time. I like it when "You Shook Me"goes right into "Dazed and Confused" and the same goes of the blending of "You're Time is Gonna Come" into the instrumental "Black Mountain Side, " which he originally recorded for The Yardbirds.   To me, Led Zeppelin is not a great album, but a work that is very much suited to its original era.  Skillful music that is tasteful, yet never went far enough.

Dave Berry - "The Crying Game...The Best Of Dave Berry

The beauty of pop music for me is the strangeness and eccentricity that sneaks into the format.  I used to watch "Shindig!" every week because it was my window to the rock n' roll world of the 1964/1965 years.   Once in awhile, the British singer Dave Barry would make an appearance, and it was a total foreign object in front of my eyes.  As he sang, he would use his hand microphone as a visual tool and use the long cord as an extension to another world.   He would move slow-motion as he used the cord to slowly swing the microphone from one hand to the other.   I was amazed how he could fit his songs into that extra slow movement of his body.  I never have seen anyone like that on stage or screen that can move in that fashion.   His biggest hit in the United States was this beautifully haunting song "The Crying Game" which reeks of sadness and regret.  Perhaps the first "Emo" song in teenage pop that wasn't about a car or motorcycle crash, but about sadness itself.  It's either Jimmy Page or Jim Sullivan on electric guitar, but the echo is not one of rockabilly, but more likely from within the echo walls of one's brain or heart. 

Berry as far as I know never wrote his own songs.  The material is very much the songs that a lot of British Rn'B artists were doing at the time.  For example Chuck Berry's "Memphis, Tennessee," and so forth.  Again what is unique is that Berry used this song not sounding like a bluesman from the American South, but almost like an alien who discovered the joys of such songs.   His version of "Memphis, Tennessee" is very different from Johnny Rivers or Chuck Berry or even the Rolling Stones.   The other great song he recorded was a Ray Davies' (The Kinks) "This Strange Effect."  Which like "The Crying Game" has an oddness that is appealing but also profoundly moving in tone and gesture.   Written in the height of the Ray Davies great songbook, this like his other songs deal with feeling in such an intimate nature.

Decades later I went to a Shinto ceremony in Japan, and there was a parade which featured women from the court that goes down a walk away but moves in a very stylized manner.  It was at that moment when I saw this, that I was immediately reminded of Dave Berry's stylized movements on stage.   These women would move in a very slow manner, and when the music stopped or changed, they would freeze frame.   It was to me at the time a mixture of old Japanese culture (of course), voguing done in gay clubs of the 1970s and 1980s, and Dave Berry.  On top of that, Berry had the wonderful taste in doing a version of Barbara Lewis' "Baby, It's You" and "Little Things."  "The Best of Dave Berry" is very much music that is tattooed on my brain and DNA. 

Manfred Mann - "This Is... Manfred Mann" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, 1970 (Philips)

The Paul Jones era of Manfred Mann is what I know best of this band.  When Mike D'Abo took over as the lead vocalist, I either lost my attention to them, or more to the fact, that they became very European orientated with respect to marketing and didn't follow them just due to that fact. Although they had a massive hit here in the States with Bob Dylan's "Mighty Quinn" it was a one-shot deal for me and my ears.  Alas, there are hidden treasures in the later Mandred Mann world.  

At heart, and what makes Manfred Mann the band interesting is that they are basically blues players with a healthy appreciation for jazz. Mann was always a jazz keyboard player who happened dip his toes into the world of pop.   Paul Jones (to this day) had an organic appreciation of the blues and was once considered to be the lead singer for the Rolling Stones, due to his friendship with Brian Jones.  When D'Abo took over vocal duties, this led the band to a more pop format.   And here on this compilation album is the highlights of the D'Abo years with Manfred Mann.  I, for one, is a huge fan of the song "Ha Ha! Said the Clown."   The Yardbirds (with Jimmy Page) also recorded this song around the same time that Manfred and crew recorded it.  There is not a huge mega difference between the two recordings, except Manfred does have a jazz feel for his material, even if it's a straight ahead pop song. 

Side two is the real deal for me.  For the sole reason, there are three Manfred Mann instrumentals.  I suspect that these were recorded between lead singers, and they had to release something in the meantime.   They do "Sweet Pea" (by Tommy Roe), "Wild Thing" (the Troggs legendary song), and the French classic "Autumn Leaves."  Here we get the hardcore Soho London jazz version of the band, which I suspect is the real Manfred at work and play.  I wrote about their EP that they released in 1968, that was all instrumental.  "Wild Thing" was part of that package, but the other two were not on the EP.   Their version of "Sweet Pea" is essential Manfred listening experience.  Mann is an excellent organist, and the band is having a great time exploring this song up, and then putting it back in its proper pop mode.    The British Invasion Manfred Mann was a great band.  They also had inside track into Bob Dylan songs, and I think that when they handle a Bob piece, it's the best version of that song.    Not the easiest album to find, but worth while, if only for their jazz instrumentals.  And yes, of course, "Ha Ha!, Said The Clown." 

Nico -"The Last Mile/I'm Not Sayin'" 7" 45 rpm single, vinyl, 1965 (Immediate)

Nico before The Velvet Underground is very much Nico.   The voice.  There is only one woman with a voice like that, and she with her "it" looks is pretty wonderful.   The A-Side is a song by Gordon Lightfoot, with production by the great Andrew Loog Oldham, with arrangement by David Whittaker.  Nico, on this record, and at that time, must have been a darker version of Marianne Faithful.   Or maybe that was in the thoughts of Oldham?  The b-side is much more of an interesting piece of recording.  Jimmy Page produced and co-wrote (with Oldham) "The Last Mile."  Just Page which sounds like a 12-string acoustic guitar and Nico's voice.   This would not be out of place in a future Nico album.  The beauty of Nico is whoever writes the songs, they lose that identity to Nico because her presence and voice are so prominent.    This is not the greatest Nico single/songs but for the completist a must-have.  Now, if I can get the Gainsbourg "Striptease" single by Nico - that will be something. 

Donovan - "Sunshine Superman" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono, 2005, Originally 1966 (Sundazed)

"Sunshine Superman," I think is the first Donovan album that I purchased in the year of its release 1966.   You can't get more 1966, than "Sunshine Superman."   The song was a big hit on the radio and very hard to avoid if one even dared to do so.  Everyone loved that song.  I clearly remember driving with my dad on Sunset Boulevard and hearing this song in another car's AM radio speaker.  Once on the radio, everyone put the volume up.   Very summer-like soundtrack. 

Donovan always had that ultimate hippie white robe thing going, but the truth is, he's a masterful pop songwriter and an incredible singer.  His appeal for me is that he has a jazzy vocal, but that is blended into his beautifully orchestrated pop music mode.  He has a very unique sound, that goes beyond the image of flute, guitar and bongo drum.  Even his earlier folk recordings had more of a jazz cafe quality than New York's Washington Square.   The other great ingredient in his overall sound of his albums is the talent of hitmaker Mickie Most.   He often used Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones on his recordings, and I suspect (especially Jones) are on "Sunshine Superman."

"Season of the Witch" is the other outstanding track beside the title that is iconic like. Druggy, groovy, and hypnotic; one would think this would be the ultimate laid back garage rock recording of all time.  It hints of exotic overtures, which makes it irresistible.   The truth is, the whole album is on that train of thought.  It flows like pouring a beautiful glass of wine into a large wine glass.  The other highlight is the closing song "Celeste" which is Donovan's most beautiful melody and delivery.  

The Yardbirds - "Little Games" Vinyl, LP, UK, 1967 (Fame)

I have been avoiding The Yardbirds' album "Little Games" due that I love the b-sides of the singles of the Jimmy Page era Yardbirds.   To my surprise, I found another version of the album with the additional b-sides on it.  Bingo! Now my life is complete (in theory).  The band at this time was in a weird frame of mind.  I think everyone was thinking about their future while recording this album.  That is expressed by the duality of the songs on the album.  On one end of the spectrum you have the rockin' blues Yardbirds that is very close to their R n B roots, but then there are the sneaky ultra-pop songs of that year (1967) as well.   Me being perverse, prefer the pop material.  "Ha Ha Said the Clown" and "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" (both written by a Tony Hazzard, must make a note to check him out) are works of genius.  The muscular sound of the Yardbirds (especially Jimmy Page) adds a nervous tension to these pair of melodic songs. 

"White Summer" is Led Zeppelin just right around the corner, as well as "Think About It," but then you have Nilsson's "Ten Little Indians" or "Little Soldier Boy."  Mikie Most produced the album and b-sides, and it's interesting to note the sonic and aesthetic difference from the Jeff Beck years to this.  Which is confused, but that's OK.   In parts, the album reminds me of being a little bro to the Stones' "Between the Buttons."  I think 1967 was a year where musicians didn't only stretch out in the studio but also brought variety to the album package/sound.  Which can work, but I think The Yardbirds true nature is to have a guitar rave-up than say a retro British Music Hall "I Remember the Night."   By no means a masterpiece, but a splendid album.