Rock and roll springtime take 1 (Paul McCartney) (LP 3140 - 3150)

Paul McCartney  McCartney (CD and Vinyl, Apple Records, 1970) ***  

Paul & Linda McCartney   Ram (CD and Vinyl, Apple Records, 1971) *****  

Wings   Wildlife (CD and Vinyl, Apple Records, 1971) ***  

Paul McCartney & Wings   Red Rose Speedway (CD and Vinyl, Apple Records, 1973) ****  

Paul McCartney & Wings   Red Rose Speedway: Reconstructed (Double Vinyl, Capitol Records, 2018) *** 

Paul McCartney & Wings   Band On The Run (CD and Vinyl, Capitol Records, 2018) *****  

Paul McCartney & Wings   One Hand Clapping (Vinyl, UMC Records, 2024) ****    

Wings   Venus And Mars (CD, MPL Comms, 1975) ***

Wings   Wings At The Speed Of Sound (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1976) **    

Wings   London Town (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1978) **  

Wings   Back To The Egg (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1979) *** 

Genre: Apple records, pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, DJ Records, Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Little Lamb Dragonfly (Red Rose Speedway)

Gear costume: Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five (One Hand Clapping). And about 20 others - he's amazing and churns out gear songs like a tap!

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

Active compensatory factors: Clearly as a Beatles obsessive I also have to have every album each member released, so I'm going to have to split the McCartney albums up into decades (plus odds/sods and live albums) because this would be a monster post otherwise. Even so they are each going to be pretty expansive posts because he's been really prolific throughout his solo career!

The seventies Macca began with an album that just gets better as the years go by. The relatively homemade McCartney showed off his precocious talent. Everything he touches isn't always solid gold, but it damn near is!

This first solo album (with only some vocal contributions from Linda) has a lot of charm, and melodies to burn. I like the half-finished doodles as well as the well-formed, completed songs like Maybe I'm Amazed and Every Night. 

Yes, it's lo-fi and almost amateurish in approach but it was meant to be. Anyway, the world caught up with Macca and eventually appreciated this first album for what it was - an anti-Beatle album. By that I mean he attempts to distance himself from the other three and George Martin with an album recorded away from Abbey Road (even if it was a couple of streets away).

Second album and he's hitting top gear with the more polished, well-rounded Ram. This has always been one of my favourite albums - starting with Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey but including the snipes at John (Too Many People, Dear Boy). 

Other favourites are the Fab tunes like The Back Seat Of My Car, Monkberry Moon Delight. Five-star classic all the way!

Wildlife is credited to the newly created Wings. The cover is great, Tomorrow is great, but there are too many wobbly moments on it. Linda would eventually develop into a good backing vocalist, but she was never an assured solo voice. 

Dear Friend is interesting as another song directed at John but the album as a whole is dodgy.

I have a soft spot for Red Rose Speedway in its original format (the other version listed above is a 2018 release as a double album - apparently truer to Macca's original vision for the album).

First the original - it includes my favourite McCartney solo song of all time - Little Lamb Dragonfly. There are also a couple of other songs here that I love - One More Kiss and My Love (of course). I also don't have a problem with the suite of songs ending side 2.

The 2018 reconstructed double album version included Linda's Seaside Woman and I Would Only Smile and Denny Laine's Japanese Tears, various singles with their respective B-sides, early and rough mixes of several songs as well as previously unreleased studio and live recordings. It's as messy and incoherent as all that sounds. Fun to have though.

Band On The Run is a classic album. The story of how Denny, Linda, and Paul (especially) pulled this one out of the fire is well known. In adversity, genius emerged. The hits are well justified - the title track, Mrs Vandebilt, Bluebird, Let Me Roll It and especially Jet.

The Lennonism of Let Me Roll It has been mentioned before in despatches but I've also noticed how the song No Words sounds a lot like a George song - vocally and instrumentally. Eerie. 

One Hand Clapping was released last year, but it documents a short-lived iteration of Wings from the mid-seventies. Having just returned from Nashville and the superb Junior's Farm single, they are captured live in the Abbey Road studio in 1974. 

Geoff Britton is superb on drums and Jimmy McCulloch is in his element. They proved to be short-lived as Wings members but they added a lot of muscle to the band at the time.

They run through a staggering amount of songs on One Hand Clapping and as I listen, I'm just in awe of McCartney's seemingly unlimited ability to write catchy songs during this period. Wings were cool maan.

Venus And Mars is a good Wings album, but not a great one (unlike Band On The Run), because the material is inconsistent with real ups and downs. Downs are You Gave Me The Answer, Treat Her Gently, Crossroads theme.

But the ups are really up - Listen To What The Man Said, Letting Go, and even Magneto And Titanium Man is a lot of fun.

The return to the use of the Wings name is significant, as Macca tries to be generous with bandmates material. These emerge as good rock songs and fit the rock show remit. Sadly though, Macca is Macca! He's next level (with only John above him), and this isn't a democracy - let's not kid ourselves.

Wings At The Speed Of Sound was a second attempt at Wings as democratic band with everyone getting at least one lead vocal. Linda is still not a solo vocalist, Denny and new drummer Joe English (both of whom who can sing) seem a bad fit for the slight material somehow.

I refused to buy this album when it was released and only picked it up years later because I had to. I really don't like it. A lot of it makes me cringe (and, shock horror, I include Paul's songs in that statement). Of course, it was a commercial monster - which just goes to show.

The better songs would toughen up in a live setting (I'll get to Wings Over America later on) but here they are mild, soft rock versions. Beware My Love is the best song on the album, but it's markedly better done live.

Although the democratic experiments were over, London Town was not a return to form. Mull of Kintyre was the non-album giant hit but would have been completely incongruous on London Town.

Yikes - how the mighty were falling. It seemed to all get too cozy - I mean recording on a luxury yacht in The Virgin Islands? Pleeze. If soft yacht rock and laid-back Paulie is your thing then this is an album for you. 

That said, there were some positive signs: I've Had Enough has potential and gives a glimpse of what he's capable of when he's not coasting on silly love songs like Warm And Beautiful. His co-write/duet with Denny on Deliver Your Children is interesting as well, although the lyrics on this and elsewhere are terrible. 

Overall though, I'm more inclined to go with Back To The Egg. At least there are some rock songs on his last album of the seventies. Evidence: Getting Closer; Spin It On; even the ensemble Rockestra Theme.

Sadly though, the rest of the album is pretty forgettable. By the end of the seventies it appears he'd run out of steam, and all of the band changes in Wings had taken their toll as well.

Where do they all belong? In summary - a great couple of years at the start of the seventies but then diminishing returns at the end of the decade. Would the eighties see a return to greatness? Tune in for the next post for the answer.

Bigger than my body (John Mayer) (LP 3130 - 3139)

John Mayer  Inside Wants Out (CD, Columbia Records, 1999 (re-release version)) ***  

John Mayer  Room For Squares (CD, Sony Music, 2001) *** 

John Mayer  Heavier Things (CD, Columbia Records, 2003) **** 

John Mayer Trio  Try (CD, Columbia Records, 2005) **** 

John Mayer  Continuum (CD, Columbia Records, 2006) ***** 

John Mayer  Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles (2CD/ DVD, Columbia Records, 2008) ****

John Mayer  Battle Studies (CD/DVD, Columbia Records, 2009) ****

John Mayer  Born And Raised (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) ***

John Mayer  Paradise Valley (CD, Columbia Records, 2013) ***

John Mayer  The Search For Everything (CD, Columbia Records, 2017) ****

Genre: Pop, rock, blues

Places I remember: Virgin Megastores, Fopp, HMV, JB Hi-Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Something's Missing (Heavier Things)

Gear costume: Neon (Live); The Heart Of Life (Continuum); Assassin (Battle Studies)

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

Active compensatory factors: I think it was the Heavier Things album that got me started, I love Something's Missing, so, yes, it was Heavier Things. Or was it Continuum?

Whatever, John Mayer's music quickly put its hooks into me when I first heard it, and I needed to pick up the early releases, which included his first EP (Inside Wants Out) with Neon on it, and then his debut album, Room For Squares (which also has Neon on it). That album went on high rotation in our household because Jacky loved it too. A rarity.

The guy is super talented - superb voice, plays guitar like a dream and looks cool. I understand he may have some personality quirks but nobody's perfect and show me an artistic person that isn't a little different.

Heavier Things is where it got really interesting (or maybe it's that thing where your first exposure to something is the best?). It's not perfect - not every song is a gold-plated winner/ masterpiece, but it's close. 

Favourite songs: Something's Missing gets me every time, and Clarity kicks the album off on a high. Daughters was the third single and it's catchy but it's a bit too self-consciously clever to my way of thinking. Maybe that's a tad harsh.

Try! is a live album that showcases a bluesy power trio approach with Steve Jordan (drums) and Pino Palladino (bass). The cover and packaging all point to the classic jazz and blues covers of old.

Although he does include a few covers (Hendrix and Ray Charles), the songs mostly come from his previous albums, but with Vultures and Gravity they look forward to the giant leap that is Continuum as well (ironically titled as it is).

I think Continuum is the first album where he feels wholly comfortable in his musical skin. Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino probably have a lot to do with that, but he starts playing a lot more fluid guitar on this album.

His music has developed a more bluesy and soulful feel on Continuum (Slow Dancing In A Burning Room is a superb example), and it all works as a whole - hence my 5-star award. 

The whole album feels cohesive and a step forward. As one reviewer put it, Continuum is 'a devastatingly accomplished, fully realized effort that in every way exceeds expectations and positions Mayer as one of the most relevant artists of his generation'.

Special mention to the Hendrix cover of Bold As Love, which is a great vehicle for his guitar virtuosity and his soulful vocals. It certainly doesn't feel out of place on Continuum.

His second live album, Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles is a big double CD experience. I also have the separate DVD version of the concert.

He gives three looks - an acoustic set, the John Mayer Trio (with Jordan/ Palladino) and a band set. It's an epic journey!

The acoustic set includes an amazing Neon and a Tom Petty song, the trio performance is (I think) better than on Try! and the band set cooks! It's hard to fault the music. 

I do struggle with the spoken bit in Bold As Love. Makes little sense. But if you are after a well-rounded and career summation to this point, this is hard to beat!

Battle Studies took a while to emerge after the success of Continuum. It's an album about seduction/ love affairs/ and the fall out from same. Mayer is a playa, or was during the naughties (see what I did there?). So, in the grand wounded artist tradition (Madonna, Marvin, David Gray) he meditates on love's fallout.

He's good at this stuff too. Man, he's a talented guy! The first two tracks (Heartbreak Warfare, All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye) set the scene brilliantly. Then you just have to go with the flow and admire his approach.

Steve, and Pino continue their association with JM, and Ian McLagan provides some keyboards to effect, and is even, dare I say it, tastefully done. Taylor Swift also appears on Half Of My Heart. Plenty of highlights but I particularly like Assassin.

Studio album number 5, Born And Raised, took another lengthy time to emerge - 3 years in this case. After shooting himself in the foot with an ill-advised and nasty interview for Playboy, this time he was into an Americana approach with a folky tinge in an attempt to restore his credibility. 

He mostly does so with a (for him) more humble setting. Never a good idea having Tay Tay as an enemy though - a no-win situation if ever there was one. Lead off song Queen of California has some nice pedal steel and I like the judicious use of harmonica on a few tracks - he definitely has a Neil Young Comes A Time style album in him. 

The hat, acoustic guitar and facial hair image is definitely a down homie change for him that he continues on his next album - Paradise Valley, which followed quickly afterwards. That cover has him out standing in a field with a pooch (the inner sleeve photo shows him with a fresh haircut and cool dude shades though, so who knows). 

Chuck Leavell reappears from Born And Raised, and there is a cover of JJ Cale's Call Me The Breeze (which is fine but I'm not sure why he's done it).

The final album on my list is The Search For Everything. Okay. Sure - the search for everything. That's vague as all get out as an album title but why not. He returns to Steve and Pino and the jazz/soul of Continuum after the Americana of the two previous albums and it's all the better for it. Some much needed muscle on what is essentially another break up album.

Where do they all belong? I haven't bothered with his latest album, Sob Rock, which is bizarre, and I have none of his albums on vinyl, so that has to change! 

Force of nature (John Mayall) (LP 3113 - 3129)

John Mayall  Back To The Roots (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1971) ***  

John Mayall  Memories (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1971) ***

John Mayall  Jazz Blues Fusion (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1972) ***** 

John Mayall  Moving On (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1972) *** 

John Mayall  The Latest Edition (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1974) ** 

John Mayall  New Year New Band New Company (Vinyl, ABC Records, 1975) ***

John Mayall  Notice To Appear (Vinyl, ABC Records, 1975) ***

John Mayall  A Banquet In Blues (Vinyl, ABC Records, 1976) ***

John Mayall  A Hard Core Package (Vinyl, ABC Records - test pressing/white label, 1977) ***

John Mayall  Return of The Bluesbreakers (Vinyl, Aim Records, 1985) **** 

John Mayall  Wake Up Call (Vinyl, Silvertone Records on blue vinyl, 1993) ****

John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers  Blues For The Lost Days (Vinyl, Silvertone Records, 1997) ***

John Mayall  Nobody Told Me (Vinyl, Forty Below Records, 2019) ****

John Mayall  Looking Back (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1970) *** 

John Mayall  The World of John Mayall (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1970?) ***

John Mayall  The Giant of The Blues (Vinyl, Karussell Records, 1970) *** 

John Mayall  Stormy Monday (CD, Karussell Records, 1994) ***

Genre: Blues 

Places I remember: Passionate About Vinyl, Real Groovy Records, The Vinyl Soulution (San Mateo), music shop in Melbourne, JB Hi Fi. Record Fairs.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Blue Fox (Back To The Roots)

Gear costume: Exercise in C (Jazz Blues Fusion)

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

Active compensatory factors: This is a roundup of all the John Mayall albums that I haven't mentioned so far on this blog and there have already been a number of those - just check on the search function.

In between times, the great man has passed away in July of last year, aged 90, so this post is a further tribute to his life and music.

In various ways, he looked back a few times during his career, and that's the great thing about the blues - there are plenty of great moments in the genre to look back on. Back To The Roots is one such example, a double album that has Mayall teamed up with alumni such as Mick Taylor, Keef Hartley and Eric Clapton.

It's a lavish package of a double album with a large colour booklet (no doubt designed by Mayall) which has a page each for the musicians who appear. It's impressive, and fitting.

The songs are all Mayall originals, played expertly, with feeling, by this collection of past members of his bands over the previous seven years (up to 1971). Highlights: Blue Fox (some great harmonica by Mayall and violin by Sugarcane Harris); Television Eye has beautiful separation between instruments and a great tenor sax solo by Johnny Almond.

Memories is also well named. Mayall uses his autobiography as a source for the lyrics on the album as he fashions a blues album. It's genuine and heartfelt (i.e. Grandad is about the influence his grandad had on him when he was young), but not an album I return to much.

Jazz Blues Fusion is a live album from 1971. Blue Mitchell (trumpet) and Clifford Solomon (alto and tenor sax) augment the basic blues group of bass, drums, guitar and all the various instruments Mayall plays.

This is an awesome album - jazz fusion at its finest. Apart from the horns, Larry Taylor is the star of the show on bass (those bass runs are thrilling throughout) and the jazzy guitar textures on guitar are by Freddy Robinson. The whole band is cooking and all should take a bow.

John Mayall takes a back seat for the most part and even mildly rebukes an audience member for requesting Room To Move, saying they'd moved on from that, even though Exercise In C has a bit of chikka chikka in it.

Moving On is a second live album with the core of the Jazz Blues Fusion band intact (Keef Hartley in on drums this time), plus an additional horn section.

The increase in musicians tends to over-egg proceedings a tad and the material isn't as strong as Jazz Blues Fusion. A bridge too far I think.

The Latest Edition is from 1974 and incorporates jazz, funk, and pop elements. It's not that memorable, unfortunately, as Mayall seems a little lacking in inspiration during the mid to late seventies.

You can almost hear the sigh in the next album title - New Year New Band New Company (I think that's referring to a new record company, but it could also be John's latest lady - singer Dee McKinnie). This set veers more to the centre of the rock road (there's even prominent female vocals) and it's a competent set.

Notice To Appear is a second album from 1975 and Mayall is as restless as ever. This time he's teamed up with Allen Toussaint who writes the lion's share of the songs and plays on all of the album. John Mayall does the singing and playing along with the New Year band. 

Consequently, it has a max reading on the funk-o-meter. I think it's a valiant attempt, but it doesn't seem like a good fit. Weirdest moment is a cover of The Beatles' Hard Day's Night. John sings it unconvincingly (I think that's the kindest description).

A Banquet In Blues is way better! He's back in more familiar settings with the same players from his early seventies albums. People like Johnny Almond, Sugarcane Harris, Red Holloway, Jon Mark, Blue Mitchell, Larry Taylor and Soko Richardson. Even John McVie attends on one song. 

Favourite song: Sunshine (the one with John McVie on bass) gets the album off to a roaring start. The 14-minute Fantasyland ends this high-quality album in some prog fusion style. 

While in Monterey a few years ago I picked up a test pressing of A Hard Core Package from The Vinyl Soulution (sic) in San Mateo. It cost me $US14.89 (I've left all the stickers on the cover). It's a more mellow sound than A Bouquet In Blues, without the highs. Still a pretty good funky rock sound though. 

Sadly, I don't have information on who the musicians were who appeared on it, but special kudos to the lead guitarist for some stunning/stinging runs.

We jump forward a few years now to the dreaded eighties - 1985 to be precise, for The Return of The Bluesbreakers (featuring Mick Taylor). I went with friends to watch this band at Auckland Town Hall, and it was baaad (not in a good way). The sound was too loud and too thin so Mick Taylor and Mayall's strengths were buried as a consequence.

Return Of The Bluesbreakers points to what we missed. Side one is a studio set from the early eighties with Don Nix producing (more on him when we get to the Ns). It's great, with not one synth in sight.

Side 2 is a live set with Mick Taylor featured on guitar (he's not part of the studio set). He's in brilliant form and shows what we missed in the dodgy sound/ performance at the Town Hall. He provides some blistering guitar to Ridin On The Sante Fe.

A jump in time now to 1993 and Wake Up Call (I've previously included his 1990 album A Sense Of Place). Mick Taylor, Buddy Guy and Mavis Staples guest and provide some terrific sharpness to proceedings. The material is uniformly terrific with Mailorder Mystics, Maydell and Light The Fuse being favourites.

Blues For The Lost Days is an okay album but the material isn't that inspired, although the playing is fine. The 'limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on green marbled vinyl' gimmick is a bit of a giveaway. Mine is #001241.

Nobody Told Me is the most recent album I have of his (his final release during his lifetime was The Sun Is Shining Down - released when he was in his eighties). 

I always think he rises to the occasion when he has legendary guests. On board this time are Joe Bonamassa, Todd Rundgren, Alex Lifeson and Little Stevie Van Zandt among others. It's a strong album in every way: Mayall's voice is strong, so is the material and the band. Remarkably, this album could have come from the eighties, nineties, and so on. He still had it, right to the end!

That just leaves some compilations to discuss. I've got five and they all stand up. I'll start with Looking Back which came out in 1969.

This compilation looked back at 9 different groups. Settled lineups were never his thing. The photomontage on the inner sleeve is worth the price of admission on its own. It's made up of non-LP singles from 1964 to 1968, featuring almost all of the notable musicians that passed through the Bluesbreakers throughout the decade. Sitting in the Rain is with Peter Green, and Stormy Monday is one of the few songs from 1966 that briefly featured both Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce.

The World of John Mayall is next. This turned out to be Volume 1, The World of John Mayall Vol. 2 I've mentioned previously here. This and Stormy Monday (CD) and The Giant of The Blues (vinyl) cover similar territory - non-album tracks mixed with album tracks from the sixties. 

The more budget the better is my philosophy with these things. So, I'm especially fond of the two volumes of The World of John Mayall and The Giant of The Blues.

If, like me, you find his album output a tad bewildering, a how-to-buy guide can be found on the interweb. 

The following are my recommendations.

First a list of essentials, IMHO.

Five-star classics:

• Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton 
• A Hard Road 
• The Turning Point  
• Jazz Blues Fusion

Four-star not quite essential but near as dammit:

• Bare Wires
• Blues From Laurel Canyon
• Empty Rooms
• USA Union
• A Sense Of Place
• Return Of The Bluesbreakers
• Wake Up Call
• Nobody Told Me

Where do they all belong? He was prolific and he never stopped, so there are plenty of other albums to collect from his catalogue.

Right before my eyes (Ian Matthews) (LP 3110 - 3112)

Matthews' Southern Comfort  Matthews' Southern Comfort (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1970) ***  

Ian Matthews  Tigers Will Survive (Vinyl, Vertigo Records, 1972) **** 

Ian Matthews  Some Days You Eat The Bear...Some Days The Bear Eats You (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1974) **** 

Genre: Country rock, folk rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Only Dancer (Tigers Will Survive)

Gear costume: Please Be My Friend (Matthews' Southern Comfort). A second version appears on Tigers Will Survive.

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

Active compensatory factors: I have been after a vinyl copy of the first album by Ian Matthews/ Matthews' Southern Comfort for a loooong time. It joins their second and third album in my collection. 

Both of those are four star efforts. I'm a big fan of Ian's peculiar English take on country rock.

Matthew's Southern Comfort was his first solo album and it's more folk rock than country, even though Gordon Huntley's pedal steel makes a welcome appearance on a few tracks (he and Matthews were the only carry over when Matthews' Southern Comfort became a band for the next albums). 

That's to be expected, given Ian had just left Fairport Convention. Some of his colleagues from that band appear here, namely Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol and Richard Thompson.

The first thing you notice with this album is the rich vocal from Ian Matthews. He has an amazing voice! Please Be My Friend, a Matthews' song, provides a clue about where he was heading next. That pedal steel sound is glorious.

Tigers Will Survive was one of two albums he recorded in 1971 (I don't have the first - If You Saw Thro' My Eyes) and before he formed Plainsong with Andy Roberts (I'll come to their album In Search of Amelia Earhart in due course). He was a busy boy! 

Tigers Will Survive is an excellent album - full of superb country rock songs played well. As is Some Days You Eat The Bear. Those warm acoustic guitars and his honeyed voice are a winning combination.

Some Days is more commercial sounding with some big names helping out - Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter and David Lindley among them. There are quite a few covers too - Tom Waits, Crazy Horse, Steely Dan. Like that first solo album it's a bit of a transition album from the country rock to a more pop/ rock approach.

Where do they all belong? Okay, I'm up to date with Ian Matthews. I've written about a couple of his other albums, Valley Hi and Stealin' Home already - I'm always keen to collect more of those earlier albums.