The Byrds “Untitled” 

 

This is another of those one live lp and one studio lp lps. The live lp shows what a piss-poor live act The Byrds were. Weak vocals, uninspired rhythm section, tinny sounding lead guitar like it’s played through a practice amp with all the settings on treble. I do not know when and where it was recorded but surely they could have chosen a night when Roger McGuinn did not sound like he has a sore throat. 

 

They play some of their hits on the live side. “So You Want To Be a Rock’n’Roll Star” is, of course, the world’s most patronising song. They stumble their way through “Mr Tambourine Man” accompanied by some of the most inappropriate guitar accompaniment. On “Mr Spaceman” (and indeed on all the live tracks) the lead guitar imagines it is a shit-hot Nashville session pedal steel player. Unfortunately, it is mistaken in this belief. Worst of all, the whole of side 2 of the lp is taken up with a 16-minute version of “Eight Miles High”. A great and innovative single is turned into a miasma of fetid turgidness. It is thoroughly uninteresting. Unbelievably, it incorporates a bass solo. Amon Duul showed on “Yeti” how to make extended extemporising interesting. As did Cream throughout their live career. The Byrds show why you should need a government licence before being allowed anywhere near this sort of shenanigans. I have a theory that because of the influence of jazz, American rock musicians imagined themselves capable of similar flights of lengthy explorations. However, they lack the technical knowledge to base their improvising on any sort of modality or knowledge of harmony. Most importantly, they forget they are a rock band and the chief signifier of which is a knowledge of dynamics and how to employ them. That is why non-American bands are far better at any sort of extended work (longer than 5 minutes, basically). 

 

The studio side is better. “Chestnut Mare” is a strange song that shows the influence on its writing of Jacques Levy, a theatre director who would late collaborate with Bob Dylan on his “Desire” lp. The singer of the song compares the titular horse to being just like a wife, which is a tad strange to say the least. He also wants to make the horse/wife his brand which suggests an unwoke dynamic. However, the song does have a strong chorus and is memorable. The same cannot be said for most of the other songs on the lp. The tunes are forgettable, the playing is uninspired and the vocals are listless. The overall effect is soporific. Compare this with what The Rolling Stones were doing at the same time with similar material. Where The Byrds are polite and respectful of the material, wanting to play it well and make it sound good, the Stones attack the songs and sound the more convincing for it. The Byrds do not sound as if they believe in what they are singing and playing. It is forgettable in that you forget what you are listening to while it is still playing. A poor and pointless record. 

 

They look like wankers on the cover too.   

 

 Amon Duul II “Yeti” 

 

Quite surprised the first time I heard this as it is quite beat groupy. The vocals distinguish it by using a variety of techniques from atonality to spoken declaration to operatic. They vary in pitch and tone as does the group often in the middle of a song. The overall effect is very entertaining. 

 

The drums are given a good whack throughout the lp. The drummer is not a massively good time keeper but shows plenty of enthusiasm. The guitarists take a solo whenever they feel like it regardless of whether there is any singing going on or not. Then a violin appears but is used to complement the group’s efforts rather than used in a “hey look I can play violin” way that many other groups do. Similarly, the organ rarely features in the front of the group’s noise. The whole sound is very much a group effort with everyone contributing equally. It does not sound like the guitar player came in to rehearsals and said “I have a new song to teach you”. Each musician takes responsibility and ownership of their own parts. Fitting as the group came out of communal living. 

 

There is a Hawkwind feel to much of the material in the way the group improvises around a tonal centre, although the ‘Duul are better musicians than the ‘Wind. Interestingly, the bass player on “Yeti” (Dave Anderson) would leave the group straight after and join Hawkwind playing on the latters’ “In Search of Space” lp. He would later set up Foel Studios where The Fall would record “Fiery Jack” and Young Marble Giants “Colossal Youth”. Pink Floyd are the other group that springs to mind in listening to this lp, although the ‘Duul achieve more rhythmic interest than the ‘Floyd’s thump. 

 

“Yeti” consists of one lp of songs and one lp of improvisations although there is little difference between the two, other than length of performance. The improvisations are not free but maintain a tonal and rhythmic centre and could easily be inserted into the songs on the other lp.  

 

The production of the lp is a little bit murky, the drums in particular lose a bit of impact and power. But the sound is thick overall and careful listening enables the individual instruments to be picked out. The group display significant control over their dynamics. 

 

What else? It’s great. Fantastic cover too. 

 

 

 

 

 

George Harrison "All Things Must Pass" 

 

George Harrison demonstrates how many of his song the other Beatles would not let him sing by recording a triple lp. This record seemed to be everywhere in the early 70s. I have not fact checked but it feels like the most successful triple lp ever in terms of sales and chart placings. I always wondered what it sounded like. 

 

I think all those purchasers of this record were just glad to have a Beatles-sounding lp again, after all the experimentation from "Sgt Peppers" onwards. Some of the songs are quite short and catchy with a solid 4/4 beat. So far, so gear. 

 

The lp was produced by Phil Spector, so most of the songs have roughly a thousand instruments and voices on them, rendering the, fairly weak, material overblown. Harrison sounds like he had been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, and even collaborating with him on some of the songs. "All Things Must Pass" is part of a series of albums from The Band's first two lps to Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" and "New Morning" to Derek and the Dominoes' "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" to probably lots of others that I cannot immediately think of that defined a strand of rock music formed on song-based material, often building up from strummed acoustic guitars. Lyric concerns could be specific, like The Band's, or general, like Harrison's here. This strand of rock ultimately led to The Eagles and adult-orientated rock and formed a sort of counter weight to the more outre ambition and general foolishness exhibited by the progressive rock bands.  

 

I think that if I had heard this record during the early 70s I would have liked it a lot more than I do hearing it now. There is nothing on the record that I find an exciting or a challenging listen. Even the more pleasant songs (and there are lots of these) leave me a bit meh. Although undoubtedly sincere, Harrison's voice always sounds diffident to me. It is a thin and weedy instrument. Overall, I am not convinced by the lp. A lot of the songs sound very Bob Dylan influenced or are actual Dylan covers. Much of the material is overblown and over long. 

      

 

Soft Machine "Third"

Miles Davis had jazz musicians attempting to play rock style music and The Soft Machine here offer the reverse; rock musicians essaying jazz-style music. In my view, the rock musicians win. There is more of interest occurring in this record than in Miles' "Bitches Brew" lp.

The album opens with the fingernails down a blackboard sounds of Mike Ratledge's keyboards being played through a fuzzbox and straight away we are worlds removed from the tasteful sounds of jazz-lite. This is followed by some skronking on the sax from Elton Dean before bass and drums join in and then there is an abrupt cut to what sounds like a different recording establishing the main theme of the piece. Robert Wyatt contributes some wordless vocals as well as accompaniment on drums. Then another cut into a faster riff section which includes additional sax playing. At this point Elton Dean briefly interjects the Laurel and Hardy theme. Feedback hovers ever present in the background, Elton Dean overblows on his sax causing his tuning and pitch to fluctuate. Then a cross fade into a whole new section featuring rhythmic cymbal useage to the front before this too fades into an organ drone and flute solo. The band then return playing over a simple bass riff becoming more strident. Next comes a section featuring tape manipulation involving speeding up and slowing down some sections and playing some backwards before a fade as the track ends.

Side 2 starts with a bass riff overdubbed with some harmonics before the twin horns come in to establish a theme while the harmonic and rhythmic centre of the piece shifts. Eventually the riff changes into a faster, more propulsive mood, enhanced by Robert Wyatt's cymbal work, and accompanied by a flute. A piano appears for the next theme, its chordal work echoing the earlier bass riffs. A further sudden edit brings in a relaxed theme with again cymbals to the fore while Ratledge appears to have located the volume control on his keyboards and has actually turned it down so it is not feeding back all the time. In fact, this is a nice and gentle reflective piece. Some quicker syncopation follows with sax and drums playing off against each other. The fuzz organ returns to see off the end of the piece with a nice flourish.

Side 3 is taken up by Robert Wyatt's "Moon in June" which may be the most structured composition on the album but is difficult to describe. There are a number of interlinked themes which occur but which also shift. A number of different performances of this song that the Soft Machine did suggest that the structure of the song was not fixed and that different sections were added or taken away from the piece as performance dictated. Similarly, the lyrics to the piece changed with performance which fits with Wyatt's conversational writing style. As with the other tracks on this lp. there are a number of sudden and severe edits into different themes and different instrumentation. Apparently, the final version of the song was assembled from a number of different recordings Wyatt made, sometimes just accompanying himself on all the instruments and sometimes along with Ratledge and Hugh Hopper on bass. The fact that there is no horn playing on this song suggests that it was created before Elton Dean joined the group and before they experimented as a septet with a full horn section which marked their final absorption of jazz playing. There is a striking organ and violin coda while Wyatt sings some lines from songs by former Soft Machine member Kevin Ayers. This is an extraordinary piece of extended songwriting moving across different musical and lyrical themes but which all feel organic and natural rather than contrived. Perhaps it is significant that it is the drummer who creates it, someone who does not feel the need to demonstrate compositional cleverness but focuses on mood and feel. There are some beautiful themes given brief exposure in this piece but which are not repeated.

The final side begins with more tape manipulation before an extended group workout which features perhaps the happiest sounding playing on the record.

This is an inventively satisfying lp. The fact that some of it is a bit creaky and some of the edits jar adds to the charm. It sounds like musicians enjoying what they are playing.

Bob Dylan "Self Portrait"

Dylan returns to the world of the double album after inventing the form with "Blonde on Blonde". And it is a disaster. One of the most famous record reviews in Rolling Stone magazine asked "What is this shit?" A shocking accusation given that Dylan at that time held a reputation amongst the Rolling Stone generation of a cross between Buddha, Gandhi, Socrates and Jesus. And that is not an overstatement. He was the single most important cultural figure under 30 coming out of the 1960s. His legend had been enhanced by his silence from late 1966 to 1968 when he had released no new music (a lifetime in terms of the accelerated development of the 60s). Vietnam, assassinations, drugs, South Africa, Kent State, man on the moon. An audience was keen to hear what the voice of their generation had to say about these and other pressing issues.

Unfortunately, the Gandhi/Jesus figure felt himself to be trapped by the demands and expectations that were being placed on him. He had gotten married, bought a house, started a family, stopped taking so many drugs. He was no longer speeding through life. He had time to reflect and consider himself and his place in the world. He also had time to think in more depth about the material that had inspired him to take up performing in the first place. It is possible that he also measured his own writing against his inspirations and found himself wanting. For whatever reason, when Dylan was ready to begin recording again he did not have a lot of top drawer material available.

The title of this lp seems to relate to its cover art rather than its musical content. Although it might be suggestive of a musical autobiography, the lp is more of a scrapbook, a collage of different elements that suggest something about their author's thoughts and current interests as well as his influences. Dylan records material like "Alberta", "Little Sadie", "Days of '49" that may or may not be traditional. He adds to this his own instrumental or mostly instrumental recordings such as "All the Tired Horses" and "Wigwam". There are then a number of poor (both in terms of performance and recording quality) songs from his appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969. Finally, he records items like "Blue Moon" and "Let It Be Me", songs more associated with middle of the road singers. These sort of performers were rife in the 60s and there was plenty of material created for them to perform. To Dylan's fans, these performers were the enemy - the purveyors and enforcers of a mass blandness that real artists like Dylan were intended to sweep away.

"Self Portrait" revealed Dylan to be as much of a fan of this sort of schlock material as any Minnesota housewife. He sings these songs in a crooner impersonation which could be ironic but is in fact sincere (I think Dylan sees irony as a waste of effort). And then his producer adds in saccharine strings, backing vocalists and other orchestral touches to the recordings. It is all very Dylan does Vegas.

Subsequent speculation was that Dylan brought out "Self Portrait" as a way of deflecting some of the unwanted attention away from him, as a way of losing the more fanatical part of his audience. Possibly as a smokescreen to hide the fact that he had no new material of any distinction and was in fact suffering from writer's block. At the time, that point of view might have had some attraction such is the confusion engendered by the latest recording from the man who had shortly before issued genuinely challenging and innovative works such as "Highway 61 Revisited", the man who had been the epitome of cool in 1966, who had taken on the establishment and called them out on their hypocrisy and lying and who had also taken on his own audience by going electric. Seen through the prism of Dylan's whole career, a less apocalyptic view can be taken of "Self Portrait". There is nothing in Dylan's career to suggest that he has ever wanted to put people off listening to him, on the contrary this most generous of performers seems only too keen to communicate and grateful for the opportunity to do so. His career does have its share of missteps and mistakes (and this lp is another of them) and he has followed his own muse as he sees fit but he hopes to take his audience with him (and seems genuinely surprised when they fail to appreciate his new ventures).

Miles Davis "Bitches Brew"

A difficult lp to write about, this one. I know that it is influential and ground breaking and an exploration of new musical territory and all that and this is the sort of thing that I usually like. I am not enough of a musician to understand why the shape and form of this music is held to be so innovative nor why Miles Davis' occasional farts and toots on his trumpet make people get so excited. Although I would like to give praise and recognition to this record, I can only express how it strikes me on listening to it.

On the plus side, there is great subtlety and control expressed in the playing and the album is extremely well recorded. Considering how many musicians are all playing at the same time on some of the tracks (two or three drummers, two bassists, guitar, two keyboards, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet) and that much of the music is being created spontaneously, it is impressive that things do not sink into chaos. There is a strong tonal and rhythmic centre to all of the tracks and the musicians all appear to be playing with sufficient space not to get in each other's way. There is considerable organisational skill involved in bringing together musicians who have not played together much before and have them create a detailed, delicate backdrop for the lead instruments to play over.

However, I do not find the end result to be interesting, while acknowledging that it is skilful and clever. If this is an early example of jazz musicians being influenced by the rock style then they have failed to learn the one thing that makes rock music compelling, namely excitement. There is no dynamism to this music, no progression, no heading towards a climax, nothing that compels listening. It just exists. The consistent tonal and rhythmic centre mean that it is not that much of a challenge to listen to. To be honest, the biggest enemy is boredom. Nothing happens that makes this music hold my attention.

Particularly when John McLaughlin's guitar is audible, I am reminded of some of King Crimson's musical interludes (like those in "Pictures of a City" and "Moonchild"). However, being a rock group, Crimson remember to surround their outre musical exploration with actual songs. "Bitches Brew" sounds like Miles Davis got a group of musicians together and said I want to record an album that sounds like the middle section of "Pictures of a City".

Last thing, I was never that over keen on the title of the lp either.

Love "Out Here"

Arthur Lee goes country. Arthur Lee goes folk. Arthur Lee goes heavy rock. Nice playing over genteel songs, if this was put together by a group of college age kids any time over the last 25 years or so it would probably sound pretty good. Even now, it is a tolerable listen.

However, it was written by the man most responsible for one of the greatest lps of all time. After recording the "Forever Changes" masterpiece, Arthur Lee broke up his group and a couple of years later put together a new line up that recorded three lps worth of material released as this double album plus a single lp ("Four Sail"). Gone are the baroque writing and arrangements of the earlier lp. Lee attempts nothing as ambitious. Perhaps having released an lp that is nearly as good as "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" Lee felt he should go back to producing more basic material or perhaps he did not want to repeat himself. The overall impact is that this record pales in comparison with its extraordinary predecessor.

The weirdest moment on the record is when the pretty little tune of "Doggone" gives way to a 10 minute drum solo. Although it is a good and enjoyable solo, it does not fit in with the rest of the song. Usually groups use their more dynamic material for punctuation by a drum solo rather than a featherlight piece of tenderness, and there is some heavier style material on this record which could have stood in for this. For instance, another song on the album features a 10 minute guitar solo and they could well have stuck the drum solo in this. This highlights part of the problem with the album - it all feels a bit random. Epic 12 minute guitar pieces could form a dramatic finale to a set of coherent songs. But here it just occurs in the middle of side three surrounded by OK but not great supporting material.

Timing is everything, after all. If Arthur Lee had recorded this on the way to making "Forever Changes" it would be a fascinating example of his desire to experiment and create unique and inspiring music. Recording it after his masterpiece means it only serves as an example of how his talent could not sustain itself, and of it being too diverse and too ambitious. Perhaps if he had been given a group of musicians able to keep up with the sounds in his head he could have kept making extraordinary music. Or perhaps if he could have kept his sparring partner Bryan MacLean in the group inspiring him to produce more challenging and innovative material - Lee seems someone for whom writing quirky pop comes too easily. Perhaps he needed to be pushed to achieve greatness.

 

The songs on the album mine furrows such as blues, country, folk and more usual rock and pop. A couple are exceptional - "Listen to my Song" and "Willow Willow". The latter in particular sounds like something an 80s indie band would record - extraordinary for someone writing in the late sixties and a later taste of how far ahead of his time Lee was. Ultimately, "Out Here" does nothing to advance the double album form. It could have been released as a single lp with no appreciable difference in terms of quality and impact. Occasionally, Lee's writing becomes self-referential like the best of his material on "Forever Changes". In "Doggone", he sings "Once I had a singing group, singing group been gone. Now I've got another group, didn't take too long" in reference to his abandonment of the previous incarnation of Love and his establishing of a new group of that name. In "Gather 'Round" he sings "If you don't like my story then don't buy my songs" which shows a lot of front given that this song lifts its melody from Dylan's "The Times They are a-Changin'". Poor Arthur, sadly people did not like his story.