Sunshine through a prism (Suzanne) (LP 4021 - 4025)

Suzanne  Walk a Little Closer (Vinyl, Philips Records, 1971) ***  

Suzanne  Oh Suzanne (Vinyl, Philips Records, 1971) ***

Suzanne  Stand By Your Man (Vinyl, Philips Records, 1973) ****

Suzanne  Just Suzanne (Vinyl, Karussell Records, 1973) ****

Suzanne  Everything I Want To Do (Vinyl, Karussell Records, 1974) ****

Genre: NZ Music, pop 

Places I remember: Spellbound Wax Company, Vinyl Countdown, Little Red Bookshop.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Let It Be (Oh Suzanne)

Gear costume: It's Too Late  (Walk a Little Closer)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Cat Stevens fans or Ladykillers fans who know the name Suzanne Lynch, may be unaware of her considerable career in the sixties (in The Chicks) or seventies (as Suzanne). She has been around since the dawn of time and always part of my musical history. The Chicks on C'Mon and Suzanne on The Loxene Golden Disc record with Sunshine Through a Prism are seminal moments.

Alphabetically, Suzanne comes before The Chicks in my countdown, so we start in 1971 with Suzanne's solo career away from her sister Judy.

She was busy in 1971 - three albums in total* - Walk a Little Closer is her second and Oh Suzanne her third. She is hit and miss over these two albums, thanks to a lack of control over the choice of material. The hits on Walk a Little Closer: It's Too Late (she suits Carole King, and Joni songs); and maybe surprisingly - I Don't Know How To Love Him. I'm not crazy over things like Husband Hunting though.

Maybe I'm doing them a disservice, but the backing musicians don't appear to be heavily invested throughout Walk a Little Closer. The brass and strings date this record and fix it in place as well (NZ was not a hot recording destination).

Things improve a lot on Oh Suzanne. Her vocals are recorded better, and the backings are more sympathetic. Let It Be is given a folky approach with some lovely strummed guitar, bass and judicious drums. Suzanne sings it well, doing justice to McCartney's best ever song (IMHO).

There are an inordinate number of budget compilations out there for a relatively few years and studio albums. I have three, and need to find two more.

Stand By Your Man and Just Suzanne are both from 1973, Everything I want To Do came a year later. All three come with el cheapo covers - which is fine - budget is budget. Karussell don't pretend to be anything other than completely mercenary in their approach to marketing.

Where do they all belong? Still looking for her other albums: *Suzanne (1971); Friends with You (1973); further compilations I Don't Know How to Love Him (1972), Sunshine Thru a Prism - The Best of Suzanne (1972), and her last studio album - Colour of Summer (2006). She is well deserving of a comprehensive career retrospective CD. Karussell? Are you listening?

Bloody well right (Supertramp) (LP 4015 - 4020)

Supertramp  Crime of the Century (CD, A&M Records, 1974) ***  

Supertramp  Crisis? What Crisis (CD, A&M Records, 1975) *** 

Supertramp  Breakfast in America (CD, A&M Records, 1979) *****   

Supertramp  ...Famous Last Words... (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1982) *** 

Supertramp  Live 1997 (CD, Audio Culture, 1999) ***  

Supertramp  Retrospectacle - The Supertramp Anthology (CD, A&M Records, 2005) ****  

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: HMV, Fives, Marbecks Records, The Warehouse

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: School (Crime...)

Gear costume: Child of Vision (Breakfast...)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Supertramp is a prog band who also had a lot of chart success with some catchy singles. I've always thought there were similarities between Supertramp and 10CC. Both had clever clogs writing weirdly commercial songs and an eccentric English take on things. Other bands like Pink Floyd and The Beatles were clearly inspirations for the band members of Supertramp.

Amazingly, the band's membership was consistent for a decade and cover all of their albums in my collection. Supertramp were: Rick Davies (vocals, keyboards); Roger Hodgson (also vocals, keyboards, guitars); Dougie Thomson (bass), Bob Siebenberg (drums) and John Helliwell (saxophone).

Crime of the Century was their big breakthrough record with three great songs - Dreamer, Bloody Well Right and School. The follow up - Crisis? What Crisis also has some nifty songs on it - Ain't Nobody But Me, and Lady.

I didn't buy Even in the Quietest Moments. I'd borrowed a copy from a friend and wasn't that impressed. So, the next album for me is Breakfast in America - their prog/pop masterpiece. In truth it was more pop than progressive rock by this stage, but that just meant it reached more people. It sold on a massive scale.

The four singles did the business: The Logical Song, Goodbye Stranger, Breakfast in America, and Take the Long Way Home. Although it wasn't intended to be a concept album, the satirising of America is a theme that does run through the album and gives it a nice spice.

...Famous Last Words... was their last album with Roger Hodgson before he went solo. It's the one with My Kind of Lady and It's Raining Again on it. The sound leans toward the poppier end of their continuum and as such it's quite a successful album. I don't hear the band tensions between Roger and Rick that must have been happening. It's not their best album, but it's also not a bad one.

The band that appears on the live set from 1997 is different to the 'classic' Supertramp band. Mark Hart is the Roger Hodgson stand in. Rick Davies, John Helliwell and Bob Siebenberg remain from the 'classic' years.  

This is a one CD version of the double live album It Was the Best of Times (also released in 1999). I much prefer the truncated version.

The performance is fine - very professional. It almost sounds like a studio recording with applause added after the fact. They come into their own when they launch into those hits in the second half of this CD.

The double CD compilation Retrospectacle is a comprehensive overview of the band. It covers their career from 1970's debut Supertramp to their last album in 2002 - Slow Motion. It includes the hits, live versions and album cuts. 

Where do they all belong? Retrospectacle is your best introduction, then you'll want Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America.

Goodbye good fortune (Streettalk) (LP 4013 - 4014)

Streettalk  Streettalk (Vinyl, WEA Records, 1978) *** 

Streettalk  Battleground of Fun (Vinyl, WEA Records, 1980) *** 

Genre: NZ Music, pop, rock, blues 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records
 
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Leaving the Country (BoF)

Gear costume: Feminine Minds (BoF)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I first heard Streettalk on Radio Hauraki in the mid seventies. Barry Jenkins, a.k.a. Dr Rock, played a recording of Hammond Gamble and the boys playing a wonderful live in Albert Park version of Crossroads. A new guitar hero had arrived.

American whiz kids Chris Hillman (yes - that Chris Hillman) and then Kim Fowley knew quality when they heard it. They got involved - Chris did the first single - Leaving The Country, Kim produced the first album, and then finally a sympatico Nu Zilder, Bruce Lynch, gave the boys a more honest sound on the second album - Battleground Of Fun.

Unfortunately, early on, that wonderful raw guitar sound of Hammonds never quite made it to vinyl as producers produced and knocked the edges off the band. Having said that I still love Battleground Of Fun especially.

Leaving The Country (not the single, but a re-recorded version on BoF) still rips into things in a patented Streettalk way with guitars to the fore. 

Where do they all belong? Hammond Gamble albums have already been discussed here.

Drive (Strawpeople) (LP 4012)

Strawpeople  No New Messages (CD, Epic Records, 2000) ***  

Genre: NZ Music, pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Drive

Gear costume: Scared of Flying

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: By 2000, NZ synth pop band Strawpeople was Paul Casserly and Victoria Kelly. No New Messages was their second album together and Strawpeople's fifth overall (co-founder Mark Tierney left in 1996).

It's a good example of how to put laid back techno beats against some smooth female vocals. From my pov it does mean a coldness in a clinical sort of way. I think that's why I don't tend to gravitate towards synths/electronica albums generally.

I'd read a really positive review of No New Messages and decided that I should have a copy. I've listened to it a lot and have tended to compare it to music by Everything But The Girl. Tracey Thorn's voice is warm and comforting and very human, whereas the voice in Strawpeople is cooly distant by comparison. I'll stick with EBTG.

Where do they all belong? An album I often think I should like more than I do. I've flirted with the idea of using it for the WTWMC album of the week but each time decided against it.

Young again (Strawbs) (LP 4009 - 4011)

Strawbs  Dragonfly (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1970) ****  

Strawbs  Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1970) ***  

Strawbs  Hero and Heroine (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1974) ****  

Genre: Folk, folk rock, prog rock

Places I remember: In Sheep's Clothing Hi Fi (LA), Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Where is This Dream of Your Youth? (Just a collection...)

Gear costume: Lay a Little Light on Me (Hero...)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I have a passing interest in Strawbs - mainly centering on albums with Rick Wakeman's contributions. he appears on the epic Dragonfly track - The Vision of the Lady of the Lake. The rest of the album is beautiful, gentle folk rock (this was their second).

Their third album, also from 1970, Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios, wasn't a compilation, but a (mostly) live recording that utilised Rick's skills more coherently. Dave Cousins is Strawbs' main man and his singing is great on both of these early albums.

Band members came and went throughout their history. There was a major split with three members leaving before my third album, Hero and Heroine came out. Never mind, Cousins and Dave Lambert dusted themselves off, got some new musicians onboard and produced a pearler (that mellotron sound is superb - just saying!)

Where do they all belong? I'd be keen to find their debut - just called Strawbs, and From The Witchwood - the last album with Rick Wakeman as a band member.

Driven to tears (Sting) (LP 4007 - 4008)

Sting  The Dream of the Blue Turtles (CD, A&M Records, 1985) ****  

Sting  Bring on the Night (CD, A&M Records, 1986) ****  

Genre: Jazz, jazz rock, pop

Places I remember: Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (The Dream...)

Gear costume: Bring on the Night/ When the World is Running Down...(Bring on the Night)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: One way to beat the eighties traps in music is to veer away from expectations into a different genre - jazz in Sting's example.

He'd built a lot of momentum through the Police years with a continued string of hits. So, his solo debut was widely anticipated. And he delivered!

There were five successful singles lifted from the album - If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, Fortress Around Your Heart, Russians, Moon Over Bourbon Street, and Love Is the Seventh Wave.. 

The double live album followed - Bring on the Night. I played this a lot while living in The Middle East. The touring band never put a foot wrong on this set. No surprise as it features jazz musicians Branford Marsalis on tenor and soprano saxophones, Darryl Jones (bass), Kenny Kirkland (keyboards), and Omar Hakim (drums).

Where do they all belong? Sting has released a lot of albums but this jazz diversion was the only part of his career that I was interested in.

Old times good times (Stephen Stills) (LP 3997 - 4006)

Stephen Stills  Just Roll Tape April 26 1968 (Vinyl, Everest Records, 2007) ****  

Stephen Stills  Stephen Stills (Vinyl and CD, Atlantic Records, 1971) *****

Stephen Stills  Stephen Stills 2 (Vinyl and CD, Atlantic Records, 1971) ***

Stephen Stills - Manassas  Manassas (Vinyl and CD, Atlantic Records, 1972) *****

Stephen Stills - Manassas  Down the Road (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1973) ***

Stephen Stills  Stills (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1975) ***

Stephen Stills  Stephen Stills Live (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1975) *****

Stephen Stills  Illegal Stills (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1976) ***

Stephen Stills  Still Stills: The Best of Stephen Stills (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1976) ****

Stephen Stills  Right By You (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1984) **

Genre: Rock, pop 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records, Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Jet Set/Rocky Mountain Way/Jet Set (Sigh) (Stephen Stills Live)

Gear costume: Isn't it About Time (Down the Road) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1

; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Stephen (never abbreviated) Stills has appeared already through his involvement with Buffalo Springfield, and Crosby Stills, Nash & Young, now it's time for solo Stills, and Manassas (pretty much a couple of quasi solo albums).

Stephen Stills came after CSN&Y's Deja Vu (all four members released high profile, and successful, solo albums around this time). It wasn't solo in that Stills doesn't play all the instruments, but all of the songs are his compositions. He did have a load of superstar guests appearing on various tracks. These included Crosby and Nash, John Sebastian, Cass Elliot, Rita Coolidge, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

Given all the talent available and Still's brilliance, it's a superb debut. Love the One You're With was a big hit but the other songs are also superb. It's a confident start, audacious even.

A few years before the debut emerged, he'd recorded a bunch of solo demos (just him and his acoustic guitar) after a Judy Collins session. The tape was lost and then found and released in 2007. It is amazing! A bit rough at times (it's an after-hours demo after all) but a crucial link to his first album and the Crosby Stills Nash album. The Black Queen version is worth the price of the album on its own.

Change Partners is also on the demo, and it would eventually come out on Stephen Stills 2. It's a terrific lead off song (like Love The One You're With on his debut). Number 2 also has a few misses on it - showing that he actually did need some quality control via his CSN&Y bandmates.

His next project was Manassas. It's hard to know if this should be credited to Stephen Stills or Manassas so I've gone for both. There's only one song on the double album not written by, or part written by Stills. He is definitely the main man here. Stills calls the shots fersure and again used the marathon recording approach from previous solo efforts.

The album's four sides are themed - The Raven, The Wilderness, Consider, and Rock'n'Roll Is Here To Star. It's a sprawling set as Stills plus Chris Hillman from The Byrds and Still's preferred players (Dallas Taylor, Fuzzy Samuels, Joe Lala) display their considerable abilities across a variety of genres - rock, folk, folk-rock, blues, country, country-rock, Latin, and bluegrass.

Down the Road was the unhappy follow up, using the same cast. Drug use, Stills' marathon recording approach, a variety of recording locations, and some below par songs mean it was a patchy effort. It was no surprise that this was the final Manassas album. It does have a (should have been a) hit single on it - the groovy protest song - Isn't It About Time.

Stills was even worse than Down the Road. It was again a collection of songs dating back to 1971. Stills was in a poor run of form in the studio by 1975. It's soft rock and not even good soft rock. It's one bright spot is a CSN song with Ringo Starr on drums - As I Come of Age. Thankfully he was still a dynamite live act as Stephen Stills Live demonstrates.

It's a terrific set - one side acoustic and the other electric, with Donnie Dacus playing the Neil Young (guitar foil) role. Superb throughout - it is Stills in prime form.

Recorded in 1974 on his first solo tour after Manassas fell apart, Stills manages to segue in various covers that liven up the set - Crossroads, You Can't Catch Me. Everybody's Talkin' At Me and Rocky Mountain High. Wow! This would be the Stills album that I play the most.

Illegal Stills is better than Stills in that most of the songs are working to his strengths, but there are still a few duds. 

He clearly missed Crosby and Nash - many of these songs are crying out for their combined CSN harmonies. To offset that he used Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (otherwise known as Flo & Eddie and former Turtles) to provide the Crosby Nash element.

Maybe Atlantic could sense a drying up of his talent, as they chose to release a greatest hits compilation, clumsily titled Still Stills: the Best of Stephen Stills.

It includes material from the first four solo studio albums and the two Manassas albums, but nothing from his Buffalo Springfield or CSN years, so it is a long way from being a definitive collection.

In 1976 it merely served to show how far his standards had slipped on the two CBS albums. Could it get any worse? Probably, so I stopped buying his solo albums. Until...

Against my better judgment I bought Right By You - in 1984. I don't know what I was thinking - except I didn't have the benefit of hindsight, so I wasn't aware how dire this eighties album would be.

Although Jimmy Page appears on some tracks, this is as low as it goes for Stills - ironic that the cover has his speedboat zooming into space. All of the worst aspects of eighties sound production and instruments are right here on this album. And that's pretty bad. You have been warned!

Where do they all belong? A case of diminishing returns after that first Manassas album - you have been warned!