Major news of the day is the passing of Earl Scruggs at age 88. Country bluegrass lost a giant today, but he's up in the great beyond jamming with Lester Flatt again. *cues up Beverly Hillbillies Theme*
Songs of the week that matter:
1. Two Lane Highway-Pure Prairie League 1975 One of many singles that I collected from the place that used jukebox 45's. By this time, Craig Fuller left and Larry Goshorn and George Powell were trying to pick up the pieces left behind. Amie, was a belated release that got plenty of airplay in 1974 but not much so when it originally came out. 2 Lane Highway was a decent charting single although classic rock radio doesn't play it. Hard to figure how RCA back then stuck with this band up till 1979 when Vince Gill joined up but after the lackluster Can't Hold Back, PPL moved to Casablanca with the MOR hit Let Me Love You Tonight and Poco wannabee I'm Almost Ready. The Casablanca albums are snoozers,(Something In The Night keeps putting me to sleep) but Two Lane Highway the album actually has held up over time. Your opinion will vary (see comments below) Still country radio still won't play them regardless, Amie or no Amie.
PS: I may have been a bit harsh on some of the observations of this classic song but it all goes to show that back in the 70's RCA did let PPL grow and flourish through the 70s. In this day and age Sony Music would have shown them out the door after two albums.
PPS: I still can't get into Firin' Up so does it make me a bad reviewer? Donno but I think All Music had it right when they gave it a 2 and half star rating.
2. Lycra Too?-Elvin Jones 1967 The return of vinyl is evident if you know where to look or if you have a record store in your neighborhood. The death of Borders made way for BAM (Books A Million) and they have a surprising good vinyl selection with some decent rock, blues and jazz for around 13 bucks or less. Picked up a few things, It Is Finished by Nina Simone for one, Richard Hell And The Voidods Blank Generation and an Atlantic album by Elvin Jones, the greatest jazz drummer ever. (John Coltraine anybody?) Midnight Walk came out in 1967 after Jones, tired of the avant garde direction and Rasheed Ali moved on to do this album with Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd overseeing the project. Don't think this album seen CD reissue but Rhino/Scorpio has quietly put this out on 180 gram vinyl. Excellent sound if I do believe.
3. Get Me Outta Here-Jet 2003 After being together for over 10 years and a great leadoff rock album and two turds afterward, Jet has called it a day. Budweiser was very kind to them and used one of their song in a beer commercial and modern rock radio still plays the hits off Get Born. They were supposed to catch fire but Elektra folded into Atlantic and Shine On was dull and unmemorable. Shaka Rock pretty much killed it for me and if I want to hear Jet, it will be Get Born or nothing at all.
4. Don't Let Nobody-Baby 1974 More fun rock goodness from a band from Texas whose commercial for their S/T album was played regularly on Beaker Street on KAAY back in the 70s and I wouldn't find a copy of that album till I came across a scratchy copy for a dollar at Record Realm in 77. Sold well enough that Mercury released it in 1975. I have more luck finding the Lone Starr LP than Mercury. Your typical boogie blooze from Texas, which critics and kids of today can't understand the fascination. Produced by none other than Norman Petty of Buddy Holly and The Fireballs fame.
5. No One Came-Deep Purple 2011 Original is on Fireball and better heard that way I guess but Ian Gillan seems to have fun singing this since this makes a second appearance on the Montreux Live albums (1996 too).
6. Graceland-Willie Nelson 1993 From Across The Borderline with Paul Simon and Roy Halee helping out and producing as well. Very faithful to the original Paul Simon song. The album goes on too long (Xnay on Sinead O'Connor on Don't Give Up, the Peter Gaberial copy) but it does earn it's kudos on being of Nelson's better and final albums for Columbia before moving over to Island/Lost Highway. Nelson has return to Sony Music and Legacy for a new album in May. He'll be recording into his 90s. Hell he outlive us all.
7. Ghouldiggers-Ministry 2012 After a five year hiatus, Al Jourgenson has regroup Ministry and his beat boxes from hell, turn them up to double tap times 2 beats and throwing out industrial metal like it was 1991 all over again. The reviews call it his best since Land Of Rape And Honey but that's a bit far back to even consider that. This time Al takes on former labels, managers, ex band mates, girlfriends, wives. Moral of song: things sell better after your dead, just ask Jimi, Janis, Kurt, Jim Morrison and Amy Winehouse to which Al name checks. Relapse, the new Ministry is Al's best since Houses Of The Mole. Well it was either that or the new Madonna, and Lord knows I'm not that desperate to hear the old dance queen. Heard she zings Lady Gaga good on a song.
8. Windy City Breakdown-Johnathan Cain Band 1977 I think he did his best work in The Babys more than Journey to which he would join four years down the road but at this time, he was fronting his own band and singing lead. Bearsville released this on vinyl and Wounded Bird put it out on CD in 2006 but you can probably live without it. Sounds like The Babys but he could have used John Waite on this album.
9. Leaving Here-Eddie Holland 1964 Ace Records has issued It Moves Me, the complete recordings of Eddie Holland when he was trying to make it as a solo artist. His vocal style was more Jackie Wilson and Little Willie John but on this number he turns it up notch. This has to be the hardest rocking Motown song ever recorded, The Funk Brothers playing speed metal and the chick singers counterpointing Holland at the chorus. Later covered by The Who and Motorhead but even they couldn't outrock Earl Van Dyke and The Funk Brothers on this song. Holland later gave up a solo career to be a hit songwriter with Holland, Dozier and Holland and had major hits by The Motown artists of that time.
10. Cabin In The Hills-Flatt & Scruggs 1959 It's tough to say goodbye to another legend, seems like I do this on a Top Ten Of The Week every month, lose a influential artist and pay respects with a song. Foggy Mountain Breakdown will forever enshrined Earl's banjo picking but this might be my favorite song from Lester and Earl. 88 years is a long time and Earl lived a great life. He's not really gone, he just Gone Home to The Cabin On The Hills. Like we all will some day.
PPL Point/Counterpoint to follow. Everybody has opinions.
2 comments:
PPL's Two Lane Highway was a great LP, hailed by Rolling Stone as one of the gems of the genre. It was this lineup that resulted in the reissue of their 1st two LP's and Amie as a single, that tune becoming a hit about two years after Bustin' Out was released.
RCA "stuck" with them because other than The Eagles, they were the most successful country rock group out there, with 5 straight Lp's on the Billboard Top 40 charts and a 6th in 1980 with Vince Gill.No other country rock band can make that claim. The better question is why did PPL stick with RCA who didn't do much promotionally for them.And when they finally did leave RCA they experienced some major success under Casablanca. Their music made it happen for them regardless of RCA's lack of support as they toured into 1988 doing over 200 shows a year.
The self titled debut LP, Bustin’ Out, Two Lane Highway, Live ! Takin’ The Stage, Firin’ Up and the most recent, All In Good Time, are among the PPL releases hailed as classics by varios well known and respected critics
The Firin' Up LP for Casablanca, like it or not, was very succesful with Gill doing most of the writing and singing. It was another top 40 LP, something any other country rock band would love to have at that point in time. Like many PPL releases, it received much critical and fan acclaim.
These guys set the pace in the 70's.There were no "wannabe" moments ( I'm Almost Ready a Poco wannabe? A bit ridiculous.)for them, if anything it was the exact opposite as other country rock groups looked at PPL's rise to the top and followed their path. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band even recorded Too Many Heartaches fron the Firin' Up LP. Let's give some credit where credit is due ! You can't rewrite history no matter what your taste in music may be.
Thanks for the opinion and counterpoint.
Certainly while it's true that RCA didn't promote them to the best of their abilites, they seem to sell enough copies to get the label to commit for another album. Moving over to Casablanca may have gotten them some hits but I think that label was having problems of their own since Neil Bogart sold them to Polygram.
The comment of I'm Almost Ready was not taken to be a slam on them nor Poco, it may be one of their best moments for Firin' Up. Even if Craig, or Vince or Larry was doing the lead vocal, PPL always had great backing vocals in the background to make the song memorable. Like their country rock brothers The Eagles or Poco, the harmonies made them fan favorites. I'm guessing that your a big fan of PPL as well. And all for the better of it.
The basics of review and comment is what is said at the moment for the moment. Although the Casablanca albums have their moments I still can't get into Firin' Up, even after Mercury reissued the albums. Certainly i can't rewrite music or history, I go by what my ears tell me. It still remains a C Plus for these ears, it doesn't do much for me, even 30 years after the fact. I love some of the PPL albums of the past (Bustin Out is a classic, The first album is a lost classic, Two Lane Highway is a underrated classic and Live Taking the Stage is a fun romping good time) but some of the later albums just didn't do much for me (the Casablanca Years, and in all fairness I never did listen to Can't Hold Back although HP Books had some copies in the cut out bins). When they were on, they were equally as good as The Eagles or Poco or CSNY and sometimes better and they have shaped country radio in the process for better or worse although PPL would wipe the floor over most of these bad country rock country artists of the day. I think that's where giving credit where credit is due.
Thanks for writing. Good music is timeless.
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