On The Subject Of:
Atlanta Rhythm Section...Funny how when a important player dies that we revisit their work and ARS is no different. The first 45 I've bought from ARS was not their big hit So Into You but Jukin, which popped out in the summer of 1976 and I bought up at the old Marion TV and Records. But I kept mispronouncing it as Junkin which showcased my Midwestern ignorance of Jukin, which was southern for going out to the bars and dancing to the jukebox and getting into fights and drinking or such. There's another term for Jukin in the urban dictionary which is a little bit different which is about popping and grinding on the dance floor. Amazing how the rappers tend to take it to a different style and graphic imaginary (thank God for Spell checker). Nevertheless, Jukin wasn't a major hit for the Atlanta Rhythm Section but it did pave the way for Polydor to keep the band going for the next album which So Into You gave them staying power in the FM field. For the most part, I have not heard their 2 MCA albums to which original lead singer Rodney Justo was on, but for the most part Ronnie Hammond was the more smoother. But like the majority of folk the only album I got was The Very Best of ARS in 1990 which had most if not all of their hits and choice album cuts although the showstopper Another Woman's Man is on Red Tape, an album on my want list. But the albums that I did get were the 1982 Columbia LP Quinella which rocked a lot harder than the failed 1980 Boys From Doraville or even Champagne Jam. Since the passing of Hammond, the CD has been commanding big bucks off Amazon for 40 dollars for the cheapest copy and 60 dollars for the Sony Special Products version which I can't figure out since that version features no liner notes. It did give them a hit with Alien, but the next album got shelved after a disagreement with CBS and they disbanded for a while and then reformed to make 1989's Truth In A Structured Form which came out on (guess where) Imagine/CBS records! It actually sounded too much like 38 Special with the big beats and keyboard sounds of that time but still worth a listen. For me the masterpiece was 1999 Eufaula to which Ronnie Hammond wrote about the happenings of that time. He was shot by a police officer in a fight but survive and was going through some personal problems and some of it came out in certain songs. But sadly their record label went bankrupt and it never got promoted right. To which eventually Hammond would retire from the Atlanta Rhythm Section in 2002. But for good late 90s southern rock Eufaula can't be beat, for it still sounds like ARS did back in the 70s. It was honest and it should have been a classic.
For Neil Diamond music contributions, he made his mark with The Bang Years, recently reissued and shows what happens when Neil was paired with sympathetic producers who knew how to make a song better by singing in the right spots. Ellie Greenwich sang backup along with Jeff Berry on these recordings and their contribution remains irreplaceable. Back in the 70's Bang Records repackaged the songs so many times that the ensuing albums made no sense outside of trying to get money from the public as his UNI hits were piling up (and later Columbia) which explains why Do It and Solitary Man managed to pop into the KCRG top 100 songs of 1970 even though they recorded four years earlier. At my time as I teenager I had a choice between a K Tel Compilation of Neil Diamond's Bang Hits and the 2 album set from Bang called Double Gold which the only difference was the K Tel album was a dollar cheaper. After that, they all disappeared, leaving us with the 1983 Columbia Classics-The Early Years but the songs were different than the versions I was familiar with on 45 or on the K Tel Best of. For the youngsters that didn't know the mono 45 versions could have cared less but to me, it was kinda sacrilegious to hear alternative takes of Cherry Cherry or Kentucky Woman or Shilo. At least I remembered but the album isn't a throwaway, even though The Bang Years you have the mono 45 recordings. But still, Classics reminds me of the colorization of black and white movies, that with different arrangements and strings and horns on Kentucky Woman smoothed out the rough edges and made it tamer than the original version. However, I'll grant them this, at least they edited in the first verse of Do It and it went from 1:52 seconds to 2:24.
When Neil moved over to UNI (later MCA) he kept the pop sensibilities but with Tom Catalino, Neil wrote some great pop songs (Memphis Streets, Brother Love's Traveling Show, Hurtin, You Don't Come Easy) but he started writing strange songs (Pot Smoker's Song which was anti pot judging by the voiceovers) Dig In, and perhaps his most WTF song title ever You're So Sweet Horseflies Keep Hanging Around Your Face (say what????) The weirdness that was Velvet Gloves & Spit has to be heard once to be believed and then traded in. In some ways Sweet Caroline and Brother Love's Traveling Show begin to show Neil going toward the bombastic and overblown (although not too much since 45's limit that to around 3 and half minutes) but they are still classic songs. Certainly by now, Neil knew his formula and knew it well to translate it into hits like Holly Holy (to the over the top ending) or Cracklin Rosie and Walk On Water, the calm leading to the buildup and then taking it home LOUD. The Neil Diamond Collection captures all the great UNI/MCA hits, plus a rocking remake of Cherry Cherry and makes a good bookend with The Bang Years.
By then when Neil Diamond moved over to Columbia in 1973 (and still remains) he became a adult contemporary pop star and didn't rock and roll anymore. By then I gave up after his chaotic 1976 Beautiful Noise album, produced by Robbie Robertson who would go on a chaotic career himself. Hated If You Know What I Mean but did like the title track a little. And Be from the Jonathan Livingston Seagull album was a fine track but I haven't heard it in years. His pop hits never spoke to me in the way Cherry Cherry or Solitary Man did and as much as Longfellow Serenade sounded okay on the radio it sounded odd on the stereo. And after his big number 1 1978 hit You Don't Bring Me Flowers, I ignored him till 2005's Rick Rubin Produced 12 Songs which should have returned him even more into the spotlight had Sony Music not installed those copy protect Rootkit CDs that killed off any momentum that he had. Rick Rubin did enabled a bit more control over previous producers while stripping Neil's sound down to simply guitar, piano and bass and 12 Songs is his best since the UNI years. However, the next album Home Before Dark didn't do much for me and it may have been the Natalie Maines duet or the fact that songs went on too long. I'll doubt if I ever make a effort to review his Columbia albums of the late 70's and 80s but I may in the future seek out his Three Chord Opera album of 2001 to which Peter Asher co produced or maybe even the Bob Gaudio produced country album 1997's Tennessee Moon but it's not high on my list of things to get. In the end, the early Neil will always have a home and some shelf space in my listening room. I hold those close to heart.
In my search for 45's this week, it was Leo Greco Rain Rain Polka and it is what it is, a decent polka number that doesn't overstay it's 2:10 mark. Dot Records back in the 60's was ran by Randy Wood and he seemed to not have much of a rock and roll liking although, he did release a bunch of surf numbers between the Billy Vaughn, the Lawrence Welk, the Pat Boone and so on. And when Dot got bought out by Paramount, Wood formed Ranwood and took Welk, and Vaughn with him it seems. But as everybody knows Polka doesn't sell very well and Greco's single and album Czech Time proved this. Greco would go on to host the Czech Party show Sunday mornings on WMT AM and Later 1450 K Memory and he may still be doing that. However I rarely am up that early on Sunday Mornings so I wouldn't know. The other was Vanilla Fudge Season Of The Witch Part 1 and 2 on Atco Records and it's one of the more silliest songs I've heard. The Vanilla Fudge is one of the bands that can move me or annoy me. The best stuff remains You Keep Me Hanging On, Take Me For A Little While probably the two biggest hits they have. Further research showed that Shotgun is a two and half minute song on 45 whereas it's over 6 minutes on their albums but Atlantic/Atco decided to give their version of Some Velvet Morning to a full 7:42 on a 45, twenty seconds longer than MacArthur's Park by Richard Harris! Season Of The Witch is about 8 and half minutes long but even the single version of part 1 and 2 is shorter than the album cut. And made no sense being issued as a single. And the public didn't buy it either. The Fudge did break up around 1970 only to reform and make the crappy Mystery in 1984 for Atco, in trying to be in with the times but sticking out like a sore thumb and none of the songs I liked much anyway. In the end, The Best of Vanilla Fudge (1982 version) is my go to album if I want to hear the craziness that was Vanilla Fudge. For their studio stuff Renaissance and side one of Near The Beginning I'd give nod over the still in print ATCO self titled but I really have no use of the 23 minute Break Song that sinks Near The Beginning from classic to relic of its time. The less said about their 2000's stuff and the Led Zeppelin Out Through The In Door tribute the better.
And so it goes.
More Time Wasters: I'm sure Bob Geldof has good intentions being the keynote speaker at SXSW and claiming rock and roll is dead but I have yet to hear a listenable Bob Geldof album, or for that matter Boomtown Rats. As for Glee the show, to which high school seniors break out in song, seems like if you slam the show, the creator slams you. But I'm sure the Glee dude isn't losing sleep over Geldof saying he won't perform in that show. Neither will Dave Grohl. But since Grohl is more bankable, I'm sure the Glee dude will be throwing a tantrum over that.....The fallout over Scott Walker and the Union up in Madison has made kinda hard to go take a stroll down State Street and seeing the college kids and wishing I was 25 years younger. Thought about going there last week but went to Davenport instead. However the The RS bargain hunting network will be Mad City bound probably around early April. So if you see a grumpy old crabb hanging around Half Priced Books or Mad City Music Exchange on some Monday that time, chances are you have encountered me. Hopefully the rainy season will not be upon us by then. But then again it's just about springtime so I'm sure it will be rain rain rain every week here, just like last year and the year before that and before that....Coming attractions: more Music Of My Years, more top tens, and whatever comes to mind but with the weather getting warmer it will mean I'll be out and about to enjoy it before the storms and bugs come out and they will. Stay tuned.
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