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.

Death with dignity (Sufjan Stevens) (LP 3976)

Sufjan Stevens  Carrie & Lowell  (Vinyl, Asthmatic Kitty Records, 2015) *****  

Genre: Folk rock 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Should Have Known Better

Gear costume: Death With Dignity 

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 listened to quite a few of Sufjan's albums on Spotify but the only one I've felt driven to own a physical copy of is Carrie & Lowell. 

It's a quite extraordinary album - deeply personal. It resonates with me (my own mother passed away while I was in my mid-twenties and I still mourn her passing). The songs on this album haunt me. And somehow - entertain me. Extraordinary.

The sparseness of the sound is a key ingredient to my on-going enjoyment of Carrie & Lowell. For those unaware - lyrically, he uses the album to examine the psychological results from the 2012 death of his mother Carrie, and his relationship with Carrie's second husband Lowell Brams.

The AllMusic review sums up the album beautifully: 

While there's deep and genuine love in Carrie & Lowell, there's also uncertainty, sadness, and brief but jagged bursts of anger; these songs speak of loss and heartache and the difficult push and pull of familial relationships, but they're also full of random memories, both pleasant and troubling, and they leap from reveries of family vacations faded by the passing of decades, to the immediate regrets of what was or wasn't said and done in the aftermath of death. Carrie & Lowell is about memory as much as mourning, and Stevens has drawn these songs in a purposefully elegant manner, with his introspection accompanied by beautiful but homespun melodies, and the arrangements and production only magnifying their dreamlike, whisper-quiet drift that strikes with an emotional force that a louder, more violent approach could not achieve. Carrie & Lowell is a heartfelt expression of love that is devoid of the slightest hint of sentimentality, and with these songs, Stevens strips his emotions bare and allows us all to be the audience for his anger, shame, and sense of loss as he pages through his memories of his family.

Where do they all belong? An album that I keep returning to. It's a helpfully cathartic exercise for me, and countless others.

Trust (Georgia Lines) (LP 3975)

Georgia Lines  The Rose of Jericho (Vinyl, Nahla & Nala Records, 2024) ****  

Genre: NZ Music, pop 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Start of the Middle

Gear costume: Trust

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 picked this up in the JB Hi Fi sale bin, not knowing much about her or the album. The cover picture snagged me - hook, line, and sinker!

Turns out she's a fellow Kiwi, this is her debut, and it went to #1 in Nu Zild. It's also won tons of awards.

That just goes to show how out of touch I am with the modern pop world. Was a time when I would have known all that stuff.

The music is bright sheen pop. I was tempted to draw comparisons with Suzanne but that's not quite right, as Georgia co-writes each song. Still - both are poptastic NZ vocalists.

Here's what one gushy reviewer had to say: It’s an immersive experience; sonically creating a unique sense of both old and new, through moments of whimsical strings and soaring melodies, piano ballads and sparkling synths, stacked harmonies and hook-laden choruses. At the centre of it all is Georgia’s flawless vocals; skillfully intertwining raw and honest storytelling, drawn from her own life experiences.

I wouldn't go that far, but it's growing on me, and man - I LOVE that cover!!

Where do they all belong? A new talent. 

Wild world (Cat Stevens) (LP 3971 - 3974)

Cat Stevens  Tea for the Tillerman (CD, Island Records, 1970) *****  

Cat Stevens  Teaser and the Firecat (CD, Island Records, 1971) *****

Cat Stevens  Catch Bull at Four (Vinyl, Island Records, 1972) ***

Cat Stevens  Numbers (Vinyl, Island Records, 1975) ****    

Genre: Folk-rock, pop 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Little Red Bookshop

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Father and Son (Tea for the Tillerman)

Gear costume: Moonshadow (Teaser and the Firecat)

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 am mostly content with a compilation of the hits - he's had a lot of them! However, I am also keen to keep supplementing that compilation with his albums.

Along the way I've accumulated these four, beginning with two classics from the early seventies. Tea for the Tillerman was his fourth album and includes a fair portion of his best known songs: Where Do the Children Play?, Hard Headed Woman, Wild World, and Father and Son.

It became a hit album for Cat Stevens - making him a pop star again (even though he was beginning to reject mass adulation in favour of a more spiritual path). Quite a quandry. 

Teaser and the Firecat was an even bigger seller! More great Cat Stevens songs were on this album - among them Morning Has Broken, Moonshadow, and Peace Train. The musicians on these two albums were totally in sympatico with Cat Stevens. Most notably his fellow guitarist Alun Davies.

The follow up to these two extraordinary records was Catch Bull at Four. Sitting, and Can't Keep It In continued the hits on a set of songs that hinted at his dissatisfaction with the pop world. It must be said, it doesn't have the inspired pop songs of his previous albums.

Numbers is a concept album from 1975. It is subtitled A Pythagorean Theory Tale (yes, really), and is based on a fictional planet in a far-off galaxy named Polygor. The story is set in a castle that has a number machine and at that point my eyes glaze over. 

But wait! Don't write this album off - although Banapple Gas is the only really catchy song to emerge from the confusing concept, the music is gorgeous and the singing by Cat and his choir is sublime. This is an under-rated gem in his catalogue.

Of further note: the one, the only, Suzanne Lynch appears on backing vocals. Yay! Suzanne!!

Where do they all belong? A few to catch up on at some stage - Mona Bone Jakon, Foreigner, Buddha in the Chocolate Box.

Shackles and chains (Steppenwolf) (LP 3967 - 3970)

Steppenwolf  For Ladies Only  (Vinyl, ABC Dunhill Records, 1971) ***  

Steppenwolf  Slow Flux (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1974) **** 

Steppenwolf  Hour of the Wolf (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1975) **

John Kay & Steppenwolf  Live in London (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1981) *** 

Genre: Hard rock 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Jeraboah (Slow Flux)

Gear costume: Straight Shootin' Woman (Slow Flux)

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: After a live album in 1970 and a greatest hits compilation earlier in 1971, comes their sixth studio effort - For Ladies Only. The title gives away the content - this is a concept album about feminism.

The expectation after a live one and a hits compilation is that a new phase is beginning for a band. Sure enough Steppenwolf try to step away from expectations built up from their old macho sound. But with limited success. The songs tend to retain the uneasiness they show on the back cover 'reading' feminist literature and the gatefold cover with the giant phallic symbol also tended to reduce their sincerity factor.

The band moves towards a more progressive rock sound with more complex arrangements and sophisticated keyboard playing at times (the title track for instance). By this time Kent Henry had replaced Byrom and that influences the sound as well as the more democratic approach to singers (John Kay's distinctive vocals are a real strength of Steppenwolf and are always missed).

In any event, Steppenwolf disbanded in 1972 and then reformed two years later with their next album - Slow Flux. There was yet another new lead guitarist (Bobby Cochran) on board for the reformed Steppenwolf.

In some ways it's a pity Steppenwolf missed 1972 and 1973 - prime rock years, but by 1974 they sound pretty rejuvenated. The hard rocking band, America's Deep Purple, were back. I say Deep Purple because both bands' set up was similar - 5 members - drums, bass, organ, guitar and a vocalist (although John Kay did also play guitar) and the music's power base was the same - the interplay between guitar and organ. Slow Flux was Goldy's last album with Steppenwolf. He'd be missed.

Slow Flux is a powerful reboot with the band trying new sounds with the inclusion of horns, acoustic guitars (shock horror) and an Albert Hammond cover. It mostly works and is, for me, their best album since The Second.

Sadly, that wasn't sustained into The Hour of the Wolf. It has a great cover but the sound is much more mainstream rock without the Steppenwolf edge. It's still a worthwhile record, just that it falls short of that hard rock of old, making Slow Flux the last great Steppenwolf album*.

Live in London is a good album - amply showing that live the new boys could represent the past well (only John Kay remains from the glory years). The new songs are okay; the stand outs happen to be the old hits (funny that): Sookie, Sookie; Magic Carpet Ride; The Pusher: Born to be Wild (naturally).

Where do they all belong? *I'd buy their last album before they became John Kay & Steppenwolf - 1976's Skullduggery, if I saw it, but aside from that their eighties album don't hold much of an appeal.