Nature's way (Stray) (LP 4936 - 4940)

Stray  Suicide (Vinyl, Transatlantic Records, 1971) ****  

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

The Dillards  Copperfields (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1970) **** 

The Doobie Brothers  The Doobie Brothers (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1971) ****

The Hollies  Would You Believe? (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1966) ***

Genre: Rock, prog rock, pop, NZ music

Places I remember: Brian Smith Collection, The Little Red Bookshop, JB Hi Fi, Vinyl Room, Vinyl Vault Plus 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Nobody (The Doobie Brothers)

Gear costume: Feelin' Down Further (The Doobie Brothers) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Stray were a band of four blokes from London, active in the seventies with a solid emphasis on guitars, with some mellotron on the side. That said, they had quite an original and multi-faceted sound. 

Suicide (dumb title) was their second and it's a great combination of quieter proggy songs and harder edged riff-a-rama hard rock.

Suzanne was the title of Suzanne Lynch's first solo album. The aim was clearly 'all around entertainer' so there are a lot of bases covered on the album - not all to my taste. She is so great as a pop/ rock singer but instead she's given quite a lot of middle-of-the-road material. Whatever the case, Suzanne's distinctive vocals still elevate everything thrown at her. I just wish they'd given her a proper pop/rock band as back up, as they did with Dinah Lee.

The highlights are the pop moments like Yesterday When I was Young and the big belting showband treatment for Goodbye - think Cilla Black (Mary Hopkins still owns the best version of this Paul McCartney song). 

The Dillards' Copperfields album was their fifth. It combines elements of bluegrass, rock, folk and country music to create an Americana album before it was called Americana. They even have a pop at Yesterday (an acapella version). It's very clear that various members of The Eagles were listening closely to those Dillard vocal harmonies. The legacy of many other bands, and people like John Denver, can be traced back to The Dillards as well. Not to mention The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band - one of my favourite bands of all time.

The Doobie Brothers first album came out in 1971 and the sound is right there from the first song on side one - Nobody, onwards. Nobody was released as a single but didn't do much, nor did the album, which is a bit of a mystery. I guess it took folk a while to wake up to the relaxed country rock vibe the band was putting down. 

Tom Johnson and Patrick Simmons have those great harmony vocals locked in already! Crazy that no one was listening in 1971, but then the world eventually caught up.

The Hollies' Would You Believe? was their fourth album, released in 1966. It was released in the US in a variety of other formats, which can drive a collector crazy. These tend to be bastardised versions where B sides and singles are added willy nilly to some tracks from Would You Believe?

Thus: in the US it became either Beat Group! or Bus Stop or I Can't Let Go/Look Through Any Window in Canada. Each with a different track listing. All up, I'll stick with the original UK one - Would You Believe? 

This is a New Zealand pressing and I was happy to pay Vinyl Vault Plus $50 for it, as I've been after a clean copy of it for ages. Musically, it's not a particularly strong set, which is one reason that studio execs decided it needed supplementary hits to sell it. AllMusic selects three highlights -  'the surprisingly tough folk-rockers' Hard, Hard Year and I've Got a Way of My Own, plus 'the ultra-catchy' Don't You Even Care. 

Where do they all belong? One final batch of catch-up albums to go before I get back on track with a return to the W's.

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?

That was another place and another time (Suzanne) #392 - 393

Suzanne Sunshine Through A Prism/ Willie And Laura May Jones (Polydor, 2069 020, 1972)
Suzanne You Really Got A Hold On Me/ You Could Be Right This Time (Ring O'Records, 2017 111, 1978)

Suzanne may lust have given Adele the idea - just the first name love, that's all you need.

In this case Suzanne is Suzanne Donaldson (later Lynch) so you can see why she went with the first name only.

Suzanne started her New Zealand show biz career with her sister Judy in The Chicks but in 1969 she went solo and had loads of local success before working with Cat Stevens in the UK as a backup vocalist.

Sunshine came from Shade Smith - you'll remember him from my entries on The Rumour. He wrote some great tunes and Sunshine is one of them.

Suzanne's rendition of the Smokey Robinson song has a couple of Fabs connections. It was of course covered by The Beatles and Ring O'Records was Ringo Starr's brief record company from 1975 to 1978. This single was one of only 17 singles released by the label. 

Hidden gems: Suzanne didn't write her own material (are you listening Zuni?) so she chose songs from others. These two B sides aren't clever choices from my p.o.v. (whaddaIknow right?). Let's just say Tony Joe White and someone calling themselves Cerney are probably hard sells for a Nu Zild girl.