Like a plate (West Bruce & Laing) (LP 4847 - 4849)

West Bruce & Laing  Why Dontcha (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1972) *****  

West Bruce & Laing  Whatever Turns You On (Vinyl, 2 copies - Windfall/RSO Records, 1973) *****

West Bruce & Laing  Live n' Kickin' (Vinyl, RSO Records, 1974) **** 

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: Sydney's David Jones - music section, Marbecks Records, Amoeba Music, Bookshop in Leigh-on-sea, Real Groovy Records.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Love is Worth The Blues (Why Dontcha)

Gear costume: Shifting Sand (Whatever...) sadly not on Spotify, The Doctor (Why Dontcha)

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: West, Bruce & Laing were a blues-rock power trio super-group consisting of Leslie West (guitar and vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, harp, keyboards and vocals) and Corky Laing (drums and vocals).

The trio formed in early 1972. West and Laing's previous band was the great Mountain and Bruce, of course, notably came via Cream.

They toured extensively and released two studio albums, 1972's Why Dontcha and 1973's Whatever Turns You On. They disbanded shortly before the release of their live album Live 'n' Kickin' in 1974.

It's the first one that does it for me. Why Dontcha. No question mark required. My copy is an Australian one. My family and I went on an Australian holiday in 1973 and I had a shopping list of albums to buy which included: Houses Of The Holy (Led Zeppelin); Made In Japan (Deep Purple); Why Dontcha (West, Bruce & Laing).

When I got back home I was really disappointed with the latest Led Zep opus but Why Dontcha was seldom removed from the turntable.

It's a case of delivering on expectations. Leslie West plays guitar like he's chipping away at a mountain of granite with a sledgehammer, Jack Bruce is an amazingly distinctive and innovative bassist and Corky...well he plays rock drums.

It really is a great album, where the individuals combine into a stunning band performance. There are some great rock songs on the album (Why Dontcha and The Doctor are stand outs); some blues showcases for Jack (a la Cream), most notably on the harp fest that is Turn Me Over (think Rollin and Tumblin), a rolling piano lead workout Shake Ma Thing (Rollin Jack), the slowish blues of Third Degree; some wonderfully soaring vocals by Jack (Out Into The Fields), an acoustic guitar and piano driven ballad with more of those soaring vocal harmonies and some great dobro picking by West (While You Sleep) and then there is the classic heavy guitar wig out for Leslie West - Love Is Worth The Blues.

Their follow up, Whatever Turns You On was a different proposition for me back in 1973 because, although I loved the album, the NZ pressing (on RSO) was a muddy/ distorted mess. It wasn't until I found a clean US press on Columbia that I could really enjoy the album wholeheartedly for the first time. 

The songs are terrific. Sifting Sound and November Song make me swoon with pleasure every time, and the down and dirty blues tunes are brilliant. Two superb studio albums!

The live album is a nice to have as well. There are only four tracks, which lets the three guys expand outwards with some improvisations. For some reason they marry their Love Is Worth the Blues song lyrics from the Rolling Stone's Play With Fire. As such, it becomes an epic 12 minute long epic. Cream's Politician is revived in Jack's expert hands and the other two tracks are The Doctor and Powerhouse Sod.

Where do they all belong? Three crucial parts of my early seventies record collecting.

High roller (Leslie West) (LP 4844 - 4846)

Leslie West  The Great Fatsby  (Vinyl, Phantom Records, 1975) ***  

The Leslie West Band  The Leslie West Band (Vinyl, Phantom Records, 1975) **** 

Leslie West  Theme (CD, Passport Records, 1988) *** 

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: Amoeba Music

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Money (Whatcha Gonna Do) (The Leslie West Band)

Gear costume: Love is Forever (Theme) 

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: Solo Leslie West material and Mountain's early records blur considerably, and the repackaging is very confusing, as I mentioned when featuring my Mountain collection earlier. During that entry I included West's 1969 debut called Mountain (1969).

So, I regard The Great Fatsby as his solo launch in 1975 (after West Bruce & Laing who are coming up next). It's an interesting album as Leslie tries out some variations on his blues rock guitar hero status. Mick Jagger appears on rhythm guitar and there's a Stones rarity as High Roller is a cowrite between Jagger/ Richards and West/Laing/Palmer. 

Corky Laing is of course on drums, the two musicians go hand in hand, and Gary Wright is one of the keyboardists joining in on the fun. There are a number of covers on the album which are also designed to present Leslie in different ways. He's clearly a Free fan.

The Leslie West Band is a better, bigger, crunchier, funkier album. Corky is still a permanent fixture. Right from the opening track the sound is much more in-yer-face which suits the big fella.

Mick Jones (from Foreigner) is a big influence on The Leslie West Band; most of the songs are by West Jones & Laing, and Mick adds guitar. The covers of Dear Prudence and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place are excellent as well. An inspired album for the most part with Leslie still trying new things while knowing his strengths.

And so to the dodgy eighties for Theme, his next album after The Leslie West Band from 1975. He's back to a power trio formation, as Joey Franco occupies the drum stool (shock horror - no Corky), and Jack Bruce is back on bass and some vocals (wahoo!!). 

Like The Great Fatsby, there are a lot of cover songs (the pick of them being an interesting version of Red House) but the highlight for me is the one West/Laing song - Love is Forever. Jack does a nice job on his classic Theme from an Imaginary Western and the live version of Spoonful is good too, with Jack in great form.

Where do they all belong? West Bruce & Laing are next up.

Friday night (Wellington Heads) (LP 4843)

Wellington Heads  Midnight Down in the Jungle (CD, Wellington Heads music, 2005) ***  

Genre: Jazz, NZ music

Places I remember: Shona Walding's collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Food of Love

Gear costume: The Sheik of Araby

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: This was the third album (of six) from this NZ band, recorded live at Bar Bodega in 2005.

According to the band's website - Wellington Heads have evolved their own sound through the influences of Kansas style blue jazz, the swinging rhythm n blues of Louis Jordan and Ray Charles, Chicago blues and infused with Pacific/Hawaiian rhythms, New Orleans grooves and Latino feels.

One of my recent posts centred on Nick Waterhouse; Wellington Heads and Nick are very similar in feel and approach, with Neil Worboys sounding very similar to Nick. The line up on this album is: Neil Worboys – vocals, guitar, harmonica; Bill Wood – guitars; Geoff Keith – bass; Justin Hooper – drums. Sax, trombone and trumpet flesh out the sound. Worboys, Wood and Keith write all of the material aside from a deft cover of The Sheil of Araby.

Where do they all belong? The band are growing on me!

I love you (John Coltrane) (LP 4840 - 4842)

John Coltrane  Lush Life (Vinyl, Prestige Records, 1961) ****  

Charlie Hunter Trio  Bing, Bing, Bing! (Vinyl, Blue Note Records, 1995/ reissued 2022) ****  

The Dave Brubeck Quartet  Jazz at Oberlin (Vinyl, Fantasy Records, 1953/ reissued 2023) *** 

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Love You (Lush Life)

Gear costume: Bullethead (Bing, Bing, Bing!), Perdido (Jazz at Oberlin)

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: I picked up these albums from the $10 sale bin at Palmerston North's JB Hi Fi recently. 

Coltrane's Lush Life is a compilation of unissued tracks from earlier sessions in 1957 and 1958. How extraordinary is that! These are brilliant sessions with Coltrane in fine form. He's joined at various times by Red Garland (a favourite of mine) and Paul Chambers. I was also able to get two other early Coltrane albums on Prestige in the sale on vinyl that I already have on CD - Coltrane (his first session as leader) and Soultrane.

Lush Life features Coltrane in a trio with Earl May and Art Taylor on side one (my preference) and then as a quartet and quintet on side two.

Charlie Hunter has featured on my collection countdown previously (see here). Bing, Bing, Bing! was his first album for Blue Note and it features him with his trio. Charlie plays eight-string guitar (yes - 8 - the eighth creates the basslines), Dave Ellis is on sax and Jay Lane plays the drums.

It's an excellent album from some terrific master musicians. The AllMusic review that I consulted prior to purchase said, "The music on Bing, Bing, Bing! crosses over between straight-ahead jamming to '70s retro-funk (à la Eddie Harris) that is infectious enough to fit into an acid jazz setting. However, even at its funkiest, the rhythms are subtle and the improvising reasonably creative, making this a potentially popular group who should still interest jazz listeners".

Jazz at Oberlin is a 1953 album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. My Dad was a big fan of The DBQ, but he didn't have this one in his collection (which has passed to me), nor is it a featured album on any of the CD compilations that I own.

So, I was really excited to grab this for under $10 at JB Hi Fi along with those other albums. It's great getting a new pressing of an album that predates me by four years! There's the heavy cardboard cover and the heavy weight pristine vinyl before the needle even hits the grooves.

When it does the Quartet explodes into action with a superb The Way You Look Tonight. Paul Desmond is in firey form throughout. Perdido is one of my favourites from The Dave Brubeck Quartet and they include an excellent version on Jazz at Oberlin.

Some quibbles - the abrupt audience cut off after each track is off-putting and Dave's piano is low in the mix. I guess blame live recording techniques of the early 1950s? Apart from that this is a terrific record of their historic trip to Oberlin College.

Where do they all belong? Go JB! You've done it again!

Have you made up your mind (Paul Weller) (LP 4835 - 4839)

Paul Weller  22 Dreams (CD, Island Records, 2008) ****  

Paul Weller  Wake the Nation (CD, Island Records, 2010) ***

Paul Weller  Sonik Kicks (CD, Island Records, 2012) ****

Paul Weller  A Kind Revolution (CD, Parlophone Records, 2017) ****

Paul Weller  True Meanings (CD, Parlophone Records, 2018) ****

Genre: Indie rock

Places I remember: Kings Recording, Charity shops in Caterham, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Cold Moments (22 Dreams)

Gear costume: No Tears To Cry (Wake the Nation), Satellite Kid (A Kind Revolution)

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: I only have a smattering of his albums with The Jam and Style Council, but quite a few of his solo albums from 22 Dreams onwards. That's thanks to perusing the CD racks at a few of the charity shops in Caterham when we lived there.

CDs were out of fashion in the late 2000's so there were loads of good CDs going for a pound each. I bought the bulk of these Paul Weller albums that way.

I had bought 22 Dreams from my favourite CD shop in Abu Dhabi because of a stonking good review that I'd read in Mojo magazine. I loved the cover, the idea of 22 dreams in song form and the experimentation hinted at in the review. Sounded vaguely like a double album a la The Beatles.

It's certainly an eclectic collection and for the most part I enjoy the variety of songs on offer. Unlike the Fabs, Paul's voice is the consistent element to these 22 songs which encompass, rock, pop, electronica, soul, and jazz styles. Being a double album makes it ripe for further listens and exploration.

Wake the Nation came after 22 Dreams. It was a much more in-yer-face effort with Weller delivering his vocals with full on commitment. 

He still uses different styles for effect. I particularly like the Motown-ish No Tears To Cry and the sixties psych drama of Andromeda. Barking mad, but great! Not all of it works (Trees is a mess), but, like 22 Dreams, it's always intriguing.

Sonik Kicks came after Wake the Nation. It's another eclectic set of styles. It starts with a hiss and a roar and rarely lets up with the intensity. There is a lull for some psychedelic folk musing but generally it's a lush sound bed that Weller delivers on Sonik Kicks. His album titles are certainly accurate descriptors for the songs and sounds he delivers.

A Kind Revolution is an album that covers more mainstream pop territory, and I like it a lot for that very reason. It covers gentler ground than those last two albums and feels warm and cozy as a result. I particularly like Satellite Kid with its extended workout.

True Meanings is the final album on my list. It's a real change in pace for the sonic adventurer of Wake The Nation and Sonik Kicks. This time it's a pastoral, acoustic approach that really pays off. It certainly presents Weller in a more reflective, mellow mood (but not laid back!) It's about the only album here that I would recommend for the WTWMC album of the week.

Where do they all belong? He's prolific, but I don't live in England anymore, so I can't scoop up any further albums on the cheap. This will have to suffice.

Easy to fall (Bob Welch) (LP 4833 - 4834)

Bob Welch  French Kiss (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1977) **** 

Bob Welch  Three Hearts (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1979) *** 

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Ebony Eyes (French Kiss)

Gear costume: Precious Love (Three Hearts)

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: Bob Welch's work with Fleetwood Mac is undervalued I feel - eclipsed by other iterations of the band. After he left he started a band called Paris who recorded two undistinguished albums and then launched his solo career with French Kiss and the hit single Ebony Eyes.

The album is also notable for the inclusion of various Fleetwood Mac members -  Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie and Welch's successor, Lindsey Buckingham. With such company and such strong soft rock material, the album got his career off to a flyer.

His second, Three Hearts, repeated the formula with Mick and Christine again having cameo appearances but overall it wasn't as strong as the debut.

Where do they all belong? Smooth soft rock at its smoothest from the talented Bob Welch. Basically, anything that Christine McVie contributes to is classy and worthy of purchase.

In the garage (Weezer) (LP 4829 - 4832)

Weezer  Weezer (a.k.a. The blue album)  (CD, DGC Records, 1994) *****  

Weezer  Make Believe  (CD, Geffen Records, 2005) **** 

Weezer  Weezer (a.k.a. the red album)  (CD, Interscope Records, 2008) ****  

Weezer  Weezer (a.k.a. the white album)  (CD, Atlantic Records, 2016) *** 

Genre: Power pop, Indie rock

Places I remember: The Virgin Megastore

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Buddy Holly (blue album)

Gear costume: California Kids, (Girl We Got a) Good Thing (white album)

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: I've already written about Weezer's Six Hits EP (you can read it here). Weezer's power pop approach means they are a band that appeals to me immensely. However, I'm not exactly sure how I ended up with four of their albums.

Weezer's lineup has been reasonably consistent throughout their recording years with only some changes in bassist along the way. Basically, Weezer is made up of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar); Patrick Wilson (drums (1992–present); Brian Bell (guitar); and since the 2000's, Scott Shriner (bass).

The blue album is their debut from the mid nineties and it's a complete winner. Ric Ocasek, from The Cars, produced it and he knows what he's doing. He helps the band bring out the power and the pop and the fun!

Three big singles came from the album:  Undone – The Sweater Song, Buddy Holly, and Say It Ain't So, but there is no shortage of other singles potential. In the Garage is one example. It's their version of The Beach Boys' In My Room. Another is Surf Wax America.

AllMusic sums up the sound of Weezer on their debut by saying: [The band] skillfully fuses the raucous energy of punk, the loser-friendly geekiness of indie rock, the guitar power of grunge, and the huge hooks of radio rock -- then adds some heavy metal guitar heroics and Rivers Cuomo's oddball lyrical perspective. As I said - it's a winner!

Make Believe is their fifth album (they are prolific). Beverly Hills was the hit from the album (it would have fitted on their debut without any problem). The Weezer brand of muscly power pop continues to develop on Make Believe, with Rick Rubin producing.

The red album was their sixth. It's a different, mad, catchy, goofy, brilliant, fun album/sound. Each of the three coloured albums with the Weezer title have been relaunches of a kind. A new chapter to the Weezer story, if you will. Red album does the same as the band lighten up, share the lead vocals more than ever, and confidently dance to their own beat - which continues to be as catchy as all get out.

Their next reset, their tenth, was the white album from 2016. It's another great Weezer album with nods to The Beatles (the white album) and The Beach Boys (California Kids amidst others) and the blue album's goofy Weezer sound (Girl We Got a Good Thing). Yes - another winner!

Where do they all belong? Weezer consistently deliver power pop at its creative sweet spot.