I've got my Mojo working (Muddy Waters) (LP 849 - 850)

Muddy Waters Muddy Waters at Newport 1960 (Vinyl, Waxtime Records, 1960 - 2013 repress) ***** 

Muddy Waters  Folk Singer (Vinyl, DOL, 1964 - 2013 repress) ***** 

Genre: Blues

Places I remember: My Music (Taupo)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Got My Mojo Working (Fantastic footage from Newport on that clip)

Gear costume: That Same thing

Active compensatory factors: Many years ago, in the early eighties, some good friends of mine - Clay and Margo, gave me a cassette copy of Folk Singer. 

Woh! It was a revelation. I knew about Muddy Waters from the Band's Last Waltz, some blues compilations, and my music books, but I hadn't experienced anything like Folk Singer before.

Initially I thought this album of acoustic blues was a kind of field recording from the thirties or forties - it was a shock to learn years later that it was from 1964!

On a recent trip to Taupo I saw these two reissues and snapped them up.

The Newport album is beyond superlatives. The band is smokin' and Muddy? Incredible! Muddy at his best is as good as it gets! Just check out those dance moves at the end of that Mojo Workin' clip!

How good is that version? So good he does two incendiary versions of Got My Mojo Working back to back!!

Where do they all belong? Genius level music. Authentic genius. Muddy is the man!

Pass it on (Lone Justice) (LP 848)

Lone Justice  Lone Justice (Vinyl, Geffen Records, 1985) ***  

Genre: Country rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records (Auckland))

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Ways To Be Wicked

Gear costume: Pass It On

Active compensatory factors: Based on their appearance in a documentary on Route 66, I bought this back in '85, subsequently sold it, then, just lately, had an itch to scratch so bought it again.

And was underwhelmed all over again - it's good, but I want it to be better than it is! 

This is not a rare occurrence for me - selling a record and buying it back years later. Mostly I have a different reaction because the songs are usually like old friends I haven't seen for ages. But on rare occasions, as with Lone Justice, I realise anew why I sold it on.

Maria McKee is a passionate lead vocalist, she looks the part, and she sounds appropriate on these country rock stylings but there's something strident and forced that still sticks in my craw, unfortunately. 

Where do they all belong? I'll keep it (I don't sell anything anymore) but I can't see too many repeat listens in the future.

Anytime (Arlo Guthrie) (LP 847)

Arlo Guthrie   Hobo's Lullaby  (Vinyl, Reprise Records, 1972) ***

Genre: Folk rock

Places I remember: Spellbound Wax Company (Gisborne)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: City Of New Orleans

Gear costume: Mapleview (20%) Rag

Active compensatory factors: I guess Arlo is best known for Alice's Restaurant - a shaggy dog story that remains an endearing artifact from the sixties.

This album has a stellar cast of musicians: Ry Cooder; Jim Keltner; Doug Dillard; Chris Ethridge; Linda Ronstadt; Spooner Oldham; Clarence White - just some of those helping Arlo out.

So, it sounds great! Arlo's vocals are very distinctive and you either lean into them or you don't. I find him a delight but there are many who would be turned off.

Paradoxically, there is both a keen sense of the sixties surrounding an album like this, and a sense of foreshadowing the Americana movement of the last 20 years.

Where do they all belong? This joins a compilation in my collection and really, a compilation is all you really need, unless you are a super Arlo fan.

The salt of the earth (Jagger/Richards) (LP 845 -846)

Joan Baez   David's Album (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1969) ***  

Joan Baez   Blessed Are... (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1971) ***

Genre: Folk

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Let It Be (Blessed Are...)

Gear costume: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Blessed Are...)

Active compensatory factors: These two albums represent the start and the end of her country phase on Vanguard - and Blessed Are... was her final album for the label.

They don't have the genius touch that One Day At A Time has but they are full of great songs and Joan's powerful in-the-pocket vocals.

Blessed Are...is a double with a lot of Joan's own excellent songs - she's definitely underrated as a composer. Probably because she is so gifted as an interpreter of others' songs.

Here she takes Let It Be,  The Beatles gospely edged song that Aretha does so well, and makes it a folk song! Stunning!!

Where do they all belong? I've only bought these recently in the Joan Baez rediscovery phase. She is a marvel!

Can't get it out of my head (Electric Light Orchestra) (LP 844)

Electric Light Orchestra  Eldorado (Vinyl, Jet Records, 1974) ***  

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: Godfrey's (Basildon)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Can't Get It Out Of My Head

Gear costume: Illusions In G Major 

Active compensatory factors: This one is subtitled A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra. And it is - complete with Overture and kitchen sink.

It's a brave attempt at that prog staple: a concept album. Jeff Lynne's story of a Walter Mitty style fantasist runs throughout but I don't really pay much attention to it as I listen. I find myself drifting off too many times during the album, actually.

The Beatles' influence is alive and well (as it would be throughout their career) and it's fun listening for the fabs' touches along the way.

Where do they all belong? A transitional album for me - bridging the heavy prog ELO of their first three albums and the commercial juggernaut albums that would come after it. The sumptuous Can't Get It Out Of My Head was pointing the way.

Bitter taste (Billy Idol) (EP 843)

Billy Idol  The Roadside EP (Vinyl, Dark Horse Records, 2021) *** 

Genre: Dark Horse Records, pop/rock 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Bitter Taste

Gear costume: Rita Hayworth

Active compensatory factors: Strictly speaking this doesn't belong in this countdown of my album collection but it came out recently and it lives in my Dark Horse Records section. Plus - I make the rules!

I'm not a particular fan of Mr Idol, but it's well done and pleasant and it's on Dark Horse, so it had to happen.

All four tracks are catchy pop songs. Bitter Taste is a standout. He winds up the vocals nicely on that one. The other three are okay and Rita Hayworth would have been a contender for the 2021 slot on the Names playlist on Spotify that the three amigos made recently.

Steve Stevens appears on all four tracks, so the sound is recognisably Billy Idol.

Weirdly, all four tracks are on one side of the vinyl (and repeated on the second side). 

Where do they all belong? Unless Dhani Harrison decides to act as patron for Billy again - that's it for him in the collection.

Melodrama and pantomime (John Tavener) (LP 841 - 842)

John Tavener   The Whale (Vinyl and CD, Apple Records, 1970) *

John Tavener   Celtic Requiem (CD, Apple Records, 1974) *

Genre: Apple Records, Classical

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records 

Active compensatory factors: Ringo is responsible for this appearing on Apple Records. He must have genuinely liked it, because he re-released it on his own Ring 'O Records seven years later. Amazing.

If you like this sort of thing, like Ringo, then fair play to you but I have no taste for this modern classical music. I only own them because of my obsession with Apple Records (I don't have the same obsession for Ringo's label so I only own the one copy).

Note - there are no fab/gear selections I can find from these two albums.

Where do they all belong? Apple Records was an eclectic collection of artists - partly why we all love the idea of Apple but also a reason why the label lost money outside of The Beatles and their solo careers.