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!

Gotta getaway (Stiff Little Fingers) (LP 3996)

Stiff Little Fingers  Nobody's Heroes (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1980) ****  

Genre: Punk, alt-rock

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: At the Edge

Gear costume: Nobody's 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: By now, any regular readers of this blog will have long realised that I have a very wide taste in music (my wife would say 'no taste') but I haven't included many actual punk albums (The Sex Pistols, The Ruts and The Clash are coming). Mainly it was singles for the late seventies punk bands, including Stiff Little Fingers (my earlier post documents the two I own)

First though - Stiff Little Fingers. The first side of Nobody's Heroes is superb - a series of vitriolic, spat out lyrics with riffing guitars, and a terrific series of inventive bass lines, all produced well by Doug Bennett.

Side two aims for some variety and only returns to side one's greatness for the final song - Tin Soldiers.

It's very much of its time in terms of its punk attitude, but the teenage angst and frustration is always relevant.

Where do they all belong? I prefer Nobody's Heroes to their debut Inflammable Material which I bought and sold.  

You wear it well (Rod Stewart) (LP 3987 - 3995)

Rod Stewart  An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down (a.k.a. The Rod Stewart Album) (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1969) *** 

Rod Stewart  Gasoline Alley (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1970) ***** 

Rod Stewart  Every Picture Tells a Story (Vinyl and CD, Mercury Records, 1971) ***** 

Rod Stewart  Never a Dull Moment (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1972) ***** 

Rod Stewart  Atlantic Crossing (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1975) *** 

Rod Stewart  A Night on the Town (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1976) ***

Rod Stewart  Blondes Have More Fun (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1978) ****  

Rod Stewart  Absolutely Live (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1982) ***

Rod Stewart  Unplugged...and Seated (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1993) ***    

Genre: Pop, rock

Places I remember: Spellbound Wax Company, JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records, Blondes Have More Fun was a gift from Ness at Marbecks., Shona Walding collection.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Maggie May (Every Picture)

Gear costume: Mandolin Wind (Every Picture), Blondes Have More Fun 

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: Rockin' Rod has already appeared in my catalogue countdown via his links to the Faces albums. 

Right from the start, he has always maintained a solo career as well as appearing for Faces and in other contexts. Often the same musicians appear and the music is often very similar.

His first proper solo album was named The Rod Stewart Album in America and An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down in the UK. Just as Rod has moved between solo and Faces assignments, so has Ronnie Wood. He appears here as well as Ian McLagan. Keith Emerson and Micky Waller are also on it. 

Rod's singing successfully marries folk, blues and rock on this debut. He also emerges as a highly effective songwriter. He's a talented lad! Key songs are his version of Handbags and Gladrags, his own Cindy's Lament, and Man of Constant Sorrow.

Gasoline Alley started a run of albums that included all Faces members and a golden run of success in commercial and artistic terms. 

The title song by Rod and Ronnie sounds like an instant standard. The rest of the album contains a mixture of covers and some originals - also something that would become a hallmark of Rod Stewart albums to come. Rod can do it all!

The high water marks would be this album, Every Picture Tells a Story and Never a Dull Moment.

Every Picture Tells a Story was the first taste of Rod that many of us got via Maggie May's success. He's a lovable rogue and Every Picture is a lovable album. 

Here's why: it's folk rock innit; there's brilliant use of the mandolin (by Lindisfarne's Ray Jackson); the whole thing is fresh, immediate and suitably unpolished - almost sloppy (That's All Right); Rod's singing is at its peak - soulful on Seems Like A Long Time, raucous on the title track, introspective on Mandolin Wind, folky on his peerless version of Reason To Believe, eerily sensitive on Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Faces' style rock on (I Know) I'm Losing You; his writing definitely peaked - Mandolin Wind (his best ever song), and co-writes on Every Picture and Maggie May.

Ah, Maggie May.

That's the one that did it for me in 1971.

The single was huge obviously, for him and for us. At the time I wasn't aware of Steampacket, Jeff Beck or Faces (Small Faces yes, but I didn't realise the connection to Faces in 1971). Nor did I know he'd already had two solo albums released. 

Maggie May came out of nowhere!! And it hit with a wallop and a half. Debauchery! Randy scouse git fersure! Right there on our radios. Oooo er. My sympathies were with him from then on. 

Never a Dull Moment continued the momentum superbly. Turned out it was his last album to amalgamate the folk and rock strands - a great example is You Wear It Well. The covers are excellent again - Hendrix's Angel becomes Rod's own.

Atlantic Crossing is next (I haven't bothered with Smiler) and the change is obvious from the cover. The Britt Ekland era was upon him (1975 to 77) and the glammed up slick jet set Rod was on full display. The music is divided into a fast and a slow side (which doesn't really work for me) - that would persist for the next few albums. In this case the slow side is the better one, crowned by a sublime version of Sailing.

Gone were Faces members, replaced by American session musicians for the foreseeable future. I get that he couldn't keep doing the same old same old but he lost some feel along the way. 

A Night on the Town continued the mainstream success with The Killing of Georgie Parts 1 and 2 being a standout on the slow side. I lost track of him with Foot Loose and Fancy Free (too slick, too glib for my tastes - I prefer it when he means it).

Blondes Have More Fun was a gift from a co-worker at Marbecks and I loved it. It's fun to listen to still, even though he has a go at disco - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy is terrific. The looseness on tracks like Attractive Female Wanted and Ain't Love a Bitch is welcome, and the title track rocks like crazy!

That's it for studio albums. I stopped before the rot set in in the eighties. Live is where Rod can come fully alive. I have two live albums and they present different looks. Unfortunately, they don't really capture the brilliance of his live show like his work with Faces does.

Absolutely Live is first. It got a bad press at the time, but I like it - mainly because it reminds me of a time working at Marbecks and playing this in the shop. It's not brilliant but it has its moments.

Unplugged...and Seated was part of the MTV series where rockers returned to their back catalogue in a relaxed acoustic setting. Rod reunites with old mucker Ron Wood for his set. It's a pleasant journey with their easy rapport together part of the appeal. 

Where do they all belong? I'm fairly comfortable with my Rod Stewart albums. I do also have five or six compilations that have accumulated over the years.

Life and life only (Al Stewart) (LP 3977 - 3986)

Al Stewart  Love Chronicles (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1969) ***  

Al Stewart  Zero She Flies (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1970) *** 

Al Stewart  Orange (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1972) *** 

Al Stewart  Past Present and Future (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1973) **** 

Al Stewart  Modern Times (Vinyl, Janus Records, 1975) *****

Al Stewart  Year of the Cat (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1976) *****

Al Stewart  Time Passages (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1978) *****

Al Stewart  24 Carrots (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1980) ***

Al Stewart  Live/Indian Summer (2Vinyl, RCA Records, 1981) ***

Al Stewart  Russians & Americans (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1984) **

Genre: Folk-rock, pop 

Places I remember: Record shop in San Luis Obispo, Amoeba Music, Real Groovy Records, Record shop in Denver Colorado.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Year of the Cat

Gear costume: Post World War Two Blues (Past Present and Future), Carol, Apple Cider Re-Constitution (Modern Times)

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: In terms of collecting, I have circled back to the start of Al Stewart's recording career. Yes, it was Year of the Cat (the song and album) that originally kick started me. The great thing is that his music is easily found in the sale bins at Real Groovy Records in Auckland and elsewhere - so he's one of the artists in my collection where I only have vinyl. No CDs.

I don't have his first album (yet), so we start with album number 2 - Love Chronicles (named folk album of the year in 1969 by Melody Maker). The album is named after the 18 minute song/story of his love life. It's pretty damn fine as a song and album.

Given it's only his second album, he has a pretty amazing set of musicians appearing on it - Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones plus four members of Fairport Convention. That helps create a really cool folk-rock album.

Zero She Flies is in the same style, although he does feature the first of his historical reference songs - Manuscript. This was a style he'd continue on subsequent records. Orange (his next album) expanded on that idea with The News from Spain - a breakthrough kind of a song.

Orange (his fourth album) has input some more fantastic supporting musicians including Rick Wakeman, Tim Renwick and Brinsley Schwarz. A cover version of Dylan's I Don't Believe You is pretty cool.

Stewart believes that Past Present and Future was his first major album. It's not hard to see why. As he said, "My first four albums have been, for me, an apprenticeship. The new album.....is my thesis". 

There is a lovely variety to the arrangements and the concentration on the historical subject matter feels more solid than the love songs of the earlier albums, good as they are. There is also some fun word play mixed in with the sober historical stuff.

Modern Times is his sixth album. Alan Parsons was the producer so it's sonically great! Critics saw this album as the start of his 'classic period' and he certainly hits on a winning formula on this album - poetic stories, great production and lush arrangements that develop melodically into songs that captivate my attention.

That all starts with first song Carol and he just keeps that high standard of song-writing going. Oh, and Al plays some beautiful guitar throughout as well.

Side note re the front cover - the woman in the picture is David Gilmour's first wife, Ginger. The car Stewart is sitting in belonged to Jimmy Page.

Year of the Cat was the big one in 1976 - that title song became huge and certainly overshadows the rest of the album. Smart move by Al putting it as the last track.

Alan Parson's expertise is also well evident on the sonic texture (he produced and engineered). The songs are all of high quality and On the Border, also released as a single, was another classic slice of Al Stewart. The AllMusic critic sums things up well: "Stewart is detached from his music, but only in the sense that he gives this album a stylish elegance, and Parsons is his perfect foil, giving the music a rich, panoramic sweep that mimics Stewart's globe-trotting songs".

The follow up to what many believe was Al's masterpiece was the equally impressive Time Passages in 1978. No long layoff as the artist agonises over what to do next for Al.

Alan Parsons was again the producer, and again, together, he and Al make a terrific combination. The songs were also still flowing. The title track was another big hit. The album has a more rock feel, so it feels like a progression. Al's philosophy is to never consciously repeat something. He'd moved from love songs to historical dramas very successfully. On Time Passages, Al makes it four great records in a row. Impressive!

24 Carrots found Al with a new band - Shot in the Dark, plus a plethora of drummers. It also was his first for a while without Alan Parsons. No matter - Al continues the momentum built up from those last three albums on 24 Carrots. While it's not quite up there with those ones, it is still a good collection with Running Man, Midnight Rocks being standouts.

His association with Shot in the Dark continued with the hybrid live/studio album - Live/Indian Summer. Side one has the studio tracks. All songs were recorded in 1981 and yes - there are synths on the studio set. 

The whole thing feels a little flat. The studio tracks are okay but nothing great and the live workouts don't feel particularly inspired. So, this album is interesting, but it's not an essential part of his catalogue.

If the Indian Summer tracks had some synths, then Russians & Americans is awash with them, and the dreaded eighties drum sound rears its head. All conspire to drown these songs in unnecessary and obsolete tech. The subject matter is the (bad) relationship between Russia and America in 1983. Given all that, it has dated mightily. Luckily, I paid $5 for it at Real Groovy Records. It has made me wary about his later albums.

Where do they all belong? I have yet to come across his last few records from 1988 onwards (as well as that first one - Bedsitter Images). So, I will keep an eye out for cheap editions of Last Days of the Century, Famous Last Words, Between the Wars, Down in the Cellar, A Beach Full of Shells and Sparks of Ancient Light.