2/3 of a mile in 10 seconds (Jefferson Airplane) (LP 2750 - 2756)

BLɅϽKPIИK  Born Pink (Vinyl, YG Entertainment, 2023) ****  

Jefferson Airplane  Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 10/15/66 (CD, Sony Music, 2010) **** 

Jefferson Starship  Vinoy Park (CD, Elleu Multimedia, 2003) ***  

Jefferson Starship  Performing Jefferson Airplane @ Woodstock June 12 2009 (CD, Bear Records, 2009) **

Tony Williams Lifetime  (turn it over) (CD, Verve Records, 1970/ reissue 1997) ****  

Jimmy Buffett  Living and Dying in 3/4 Time (Vinyl, ABC Records, 1974) ****

Jimmy Buffett  You Had To Be There (Vinyl, ABC Records, 1978) *** 

Genre: K-Pop, rock, jazz fusion. easy going Americana (a.k.a. country rock)

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Slow Boat Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pink Venom (Black Pink)

Gear costume: Big Nick (Tony Williams Lifetime), Come Monday (Jimmy Buffett), Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett)

Active compensatory factors: A round up of new purchases for this post, thanks to recent visits to Slow Boat Records in Wellington and JB Hi Fi in Palmy.

Again, the eclectic nature of my interests is the main take away! From K-pop to country rock to sixties psychedelia and on to jazz fusion. I love 'em all.

Blackpink is a South Korean all girl pop group that have become huge outside of South Korea thanks to the hit song Pink Venom. It even was number one in Australia!

Recently, I was researching songs with pink in the title when I stumbled upon this song on Spotify. It's instantly infectious, so when I saw the album in the sale bins at JB Hi Fi it was a no brainer.

Pink Venom dominates the album but only just. There are plenty of other perfect pop songs on there. The Madonna, Lady Gaga influence is noticeable, but this is 2020's pop music with a shiny new sheen.

Next - it's back into the dim past for Jefferson Airplane's late show in October 1966 - the last show with Signe Anderson as part of the band.

It's pretty damn stunning! The sound is pristine and the performance is bang on. Marty and Paul are in great voice and although the band is in transition, they are tight! Incredible that they'd only been together for a year. Jack is forever cool - his bass lines drive the plane, even then.

Sound wise, these sound board recordings of the post 2000 versions of Jefferson Starship (Kantner and Balin plus others on Vinoy Park; Kantner and Frieberg on the 2009 version) are mostly* good as gold (a little bass heavy) and the performances are fine, but Kantner and Balin/ Kantner and Frieberg are far from their peak but still recognisably them.

The stand ins for Grace Slick - Diana Mangano and Cathy Richardson, are okay but there ain't nobody like Grace!

*Deal on the 2009 one cuts out vocals which is unfortunate as Know You Rider displays some fine harmonies.

Tony Williams Lifetime's Turn It Over, their second album, is from 1970 and features Larry Young on organ, Jack Bruce on bass and John McLaughlin on guitar. Phew! What a line-up. 

Those guys couldn't make a dud record if they tried! Intense sheets of sound rule the day as Tony Williams pounds the drums throughout with purpose and the John McLaughlin/Jack Bruce combo pin their ears back and go for it. Vital!

The opposite extreme is Jimmy Buffett and his easy-going laid-back dude routine that I also love! I picked up two of his seventies albums from Slow Boat (how appropriate is that?!).

Living and Dying in 3/4 Time was his fourth studio album, and You Had To Be There was his first live album (a double at that).

There is something extremely appealing about his country rock style. It's taken me a while to appreciate him, though. 

I was of course aware of Margaritaville back in the seventies, and Roger Marbeck was a big fan. For some reason I ignored the appeal until Jimmy's passing last September. Should have listened to Roger a long time ago. He's always right!

Nevermind, I'm making up for lost time now. These are both great for different reasons. And I'll even accept the yodeling at the end of Brand New Country Star.

Where do they all belong? Still keen to track down a copy of Emergency! by Tony Williams' Lifetime.

The last door (Bruce/Trower) (LP 2675)

Jack Bruce, Robin Trower  Seven Moons Live (CD, Ruf Records, 2009) ****  

Genre: Blues rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Last Door

Gear costume: Politician

Active compensatory factors: Even though his voice is showing signs of wear and tear, Jack is in good form on this live date from 2009 in Holland. He and Robin are joined by drummer Gary Husband in the power trio format that allows each musician room to maneuver.

Note: this album is also called Songs From the Road (with a different cover).

They play songs from their Seven Moons album, plus some sterling versions of some Cream classics: Sunshine Of Your Love; White Room, and best of all - Politician.

Lord knows how many times he's played this song live but he still manages to conjure up the magic. Remarkable.

Where do they all belong? I picked this one up recently from Real Groovy - I'm always looking to add to the Jack Bruce collection, regardless of format.

Powerhouse sod (Jack Bruce) (LP 969 - 970)

Jack Bruce  Spirit: Live At The BBC 1971 - 1978 (CD, Polydor Records, 2008) ****  

Jack Bruce  Live On The Old Grey Whistle Test (CD, Strange Fruit, 1998) *** 

Genre: Blues rock

Places I remember: EMI (Vienna); HMV (East Croyden)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: A Letter Of Thanks (Graham Bond on keyboards on the Spirit version but it's not available on Spotify)

Gear costume: Powerhouse Sod  

Active compensatory factors: There is a bit of crossover on these live session CDs. The first eight songs on Live on The OGWT from 1975 are replicated on Spirit disc 2, but it then adds a further eight songs that aren't on Spirit.

Spirit is a triple CD package and is the one to get if you want a more comprehensive wrap up of Jack's BBC dates in the seventies.

The sound on disc one (from 1971) takes a bit to adapt to - it's a bit lop-sided with the guitar by Chris Spedding heavily on one channel, but Jack is superb throughout - all impassioned lead vocals and his usual sublime bass lines. Once they've taken a couple of songs to warm up the band clicks into a mighty unit.

Disc two is that OGWT set from 1975. Mick Taylor is the featured guitarist this time out, with Carla Bley contributing as well, on keyboards. The sound is a lot calmer and less jazz fusion than the 1971 one - maybe the presence of Carla Bley and her mellotron? Whatever the case there's definitely more space around the instruments in this set.

What I love about Jack is that he was forever questing for different sounds, so the music is never formulaic or easy.

Disc three covers a 1978 concert with Simon Phillips and Tony Hymas as the rhythm section and Hughie Burns on guitar. It concentrates on tracks from Jack's How's Tricks? album. Times is particularly effective in this live version. 

Making up the numbers over the three CDs are songs from a trio - John Surman  on sax, Jon Hiseman on drums. It's a great vehicle for more musical experimentations.

Where do they all belong? And that is it for the Jack Bruce collection to this point! More Clapton is next up in this genre.

Reach for the night (Jack Bruce) (LP 888 - 889)

Jack Bruce  Shadows In The Air (CD, Sanctuary Records, 2001) ****  

Jack Bruce  Silver Rails (CD, Cherry Red Records, 2014) ***

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Slow Boat Records, HMV Oxford St.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Keep It Down (Silver Rails)

Gear costume: Out Into The Fields (Shadows In The Air).

A remake of the West Bruce and Laing song.

Active compensatory factors: These are late period solo studio albums. Silver Rails was his final album - he died seven months after it was released.

Shadows In The Air has a formidable cast, with Eric Clapton, Dr John, Gary Moore, Vernon Reid all making appearances during the album.

Clapton appears on the remakes of White Room and Sunshine Of Your Love. Of course musicians have every right to redo their songs in different settings but both of these revisits are nice to haves, not essentials. 

Silver Rails has a decidedly frail Jack on vocals which lends a weight and poignancy to the songs. 

Last ever sequenced final album track is No Surrender. That about sums up the attitude of this mighty bass playing G.O.A.T.

Where do they all belong? A slew of live albums to come yet. Plus I still have a few late period studio albums to collect: Monkjack; More Jack Than God and a 'lost' album that was finally released - Jet Set Jewel. There's also an excellent live album with Robin Trower that I need to find a physical copy of (it's on Spotify). Plus if I feel like a completist after all those - the synth album Automatic. He was prolific!

Dancing on air (Jack Bruce) (LP 820)

Jack Bruce   Live In America (Vinyl and CD, Let them eat vinyl/The store for music, 2007) ****  

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Vinyl copy from Amoeba Music San Francisco. CD copy The Warehouse.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hit And Run

Gear costume: Born Under A Bad Sign  (this version features Rory Gallagher on guitar)

Active compensatory factors: A great band on this set as Billy Cobham (drums), David Sancious (keyboards) and Clem Clempson (guitar) join the GOAT on bass - Jack Bruce.

The set list takes in some hits (White Room, Politician, Theme for an Imaginary Western) and some deep cuts. 

The band is tight/loose (these guys just lean and produce). Loads of impromptu improvisation makes this feel like jazz.

The packaging of both is terrible though - it makes it feel like an upmarket bootleg. Because of the different covers I mistakenly bought the vinyl version without realising I had the CD at home. Doh!

It actually plays better as a CD - as it provides a natural flow without the need to get up to flip sides (double album, single CD).

Where do they all belong? A few more CDs to come in the Jack Bruce collection.

Peaces of mind (Jack Bruce) (LP 796 - 797)

Jack Bruce  Out Of The Storm (CD, Polydor Records, 1974) **** 

Jack Bruce  Somethin Els (CD, Silva Screen Records, 1993) ***

Genre: Blues rock

Places I remember: Fopp (Covent Garden)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Peaces Of Mind (Out Of The Storm)

Gear costume: Waiting On A Word; Ships In The Night (Somethin Els)

Active compensatory factors: Amazingly, this album came out after the hard rocking West Bruce and Laing power trio finished up (I love their three albums). Even more amazingly given the drug use that continued into this album (JB was a heroin addict during this time), it's a brilliant album.

This is another album of Pete Brown/Jack Bruce songs and like the early solo albums it's the songs that are the stars here. Plus, his singing is a real highlight - that slight falsetto style he has just makes these songs float in space. Oh, and the bass sounds are out of this world as well.

Jump forward to his 10th solo album - Somethin Els and Jack gets Eric Clapton on board (as well as a slew of other guitarists it should be said). It's a mellower set of songs and sounds, but no less inventive and enticing. I could do without the synths though (Criminality is the worst, haha, offender).

Where do they all belong? A few more albums to come from Jack Bruce - the greatest rock bass player of all time!

Blues you can't lose (Jack Bruce) (LP 750 - 752)

The Jack Bruce Band  How's Tricks (Vinyl, RSO, 1977) ***

Jack Bruce and Friends: Clem Clempson, Billy Cobham, David Sancious  I've Always Wanted To Do This (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1980) *** 

Jack Bruce  A Question Of Time (Vinyl, CBS, 1989) ***

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records, Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Flying 

Gear costume: How's Tricks

Active compensatory factors: I picked up How's Tricks from Chaldon Books and Records - a great little shop in Caterham-on-the-hill when we lived in Caterham. I miss walking up that hill and thinking about what records I'd buy this time. I managed to get some Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce records at various times. 

The other two are promo copies that came from Real Groovy.

All three have their respective charms, but they wouldn't be considered essential purchases in the canon. Nice to haves, not must haves.

How's Tricks (sic) is a transitional record. It was Jack's last record for RSO as the company refused to release the next album - citing it as not commercial. Hello! Did they listen to the back catalogue? I think not.

Jack and the band sound good (Tony Hymas, Simon Phillips, and Hughie Burns round out The Jack Bruce Band) but it's fairly restrained and doesn't quite fire on all cylinders. Maybe they were trying to be too commercial?

Jack Bruce and Friends is commercial on Jack's terms. It sounds amazing - again, with musicians of this calibre it's hard not to make a great sounding record. Jack and Billy Cobham fuse together particularly well, his singing is terrific and the songs are quirkily Jack sounding songs. Unfortunately they don't linger long in the memory but this album isn't as bad as critics would have you believe.

A Question Of Time is another quality effort. Jack surrounds himself with a large number of musician (even including Ginger on a couple of tracks - Obsession is noteworthy). I like the album - it's pretty heavy in places (No Surrender) but poetic and delicate in others (Flying).

Where do they all belong? A lot more to come from the greatest bassist of all time.

Tickets to water falls (Jack Bruce) (LP 717 - 718)

Jack Bruce  Songs For A Tailor (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1969) *****

Jack Bruce  Things We Like (CD, Polydor Records, 1970) *****

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Flashback Records (Essex Road, Islington) and FOPP (Covent Garden)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Theme From An Imaginary Western (Songs For A Tailor)

Gear costume: Never Tell Your Mother She's Out Of Tune (Songs..), Over The Cliff (Things...)

Active compensatory factors: Songs For A Tailor was the second solo album that recorded by Jack Bruce, though he did not release his first solo album, Things We Like, for another year (which is why I've bracketed them together for this post).

The two albums are chalk and cheese. Things We Like (featuring John McLaughlin and Dick Heckstall-Smith) is a firey blast of instrumental jazz rock fusion and Songs For A Tailor is more blues rock in style (albeit in an off kilter way) featuring Jack's brilliant vocals. Both are master classes in each form.

Dick and Jon Hiseman on drums appear on both albums and are both unbelievably great foils for Jack.

The other name I should celebrate here is Pete Brown's. His lyrics are a constant source of smiles, bemusement, frowns, and nods.

Where do they all belong? As I've turned into a Jack Bruce completist, there is a stack of Jack to come on both CD and record in this genre.

I'm so glad (Cream) (LP 220 - 226)

Creme de la Cream vinyl box set (1980)

Cream Fresh Cream (Vinyl - RSO, 1966) ***
Cream Disraeli Gears (Vinyl - Polydor, 1967) *****
Cream Wheels Of Fire: In the studio (Vinyl - RSO, 1968) **
Cream Wheels Of Fire: Live at the Fillmore (Vinyl - RSO, 1968) ***
Cream Goodbye Cream (Vinyl - RSO, 1969) ****
Cream Live Cream (Vinyl - RSO, 1970) ***
Cream Live Cream Volume II (Vinyl - Polydor, 1972) ****

Genre: Blues (a stretch, I know, but it keeps all the Clapton material roughly in one place)  

Places I remember: Roger Marbeck's Cannongate St house, early eighties.  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sunshine Of Your Love (Disraeli Gears), Crossroads (Live)




Gear costume: Badge (Goodbye), Strange Brew (Disraeli Gears) 


Active compensatory factors: Welcome to the longest Goo Goo entry for ages. That's because I'm tracking through the contents of my Creme De La Cream vinyl box set.

But first: some context.

It all started with I'm So Glad on an el cheapo knock off Cream compilation album (called Swlabr) on Polydor's el cheapo knock off Karussell label, bought from a supermarket back at the dawn of time. 

I'm So Glad, as featured on that album in long/live form, hooked me. Forever.

Fast forward to 1980 and I'm helping Roger Marbeck dig out wet clay from under his house. As a thank uou, Roger gives me this box set: all the studio and live albums together, along with Extra Cream (a bonus 12 inch single). He's a great guy is our Roger!

In a four year whirlwind of activity, the Cream super group juggernaut conquered the world and then flamed out. 

Here's everything they recorded!

Things began with Fresh and my copy's crazy stereo separation (Ginger and the bass on the right, Eric and vocals on the left) is the first bizarre aspect of note (it was also released on mono but quickly deleted - shame coz it's probably the better way to hear this).

Maybe it's done to showcase the three master musicians' individual genius and Eric's guitar pyrotechnics are, indeed, mind blowing, but it sounds weird and on the tinny side at times (especially on Four Until Late).

Highlights:  Spoonful still sounds remarkable, Rollin' and Tumblin' is an extraordinary firestorm thanks to Bruce's gob iron and vocals (my mother always hated this song!), and I'm So Glad retains its, erm, freshness.

Disraeli Gears is by far the best of the two studio albums (double album Wheels Of Fire and Goodbye are mixtures of live and studio tracks), even though it includes the weak Blue Condition and bizarre Mother's Lament to end each side.

Highlights aplenty: apart from the amazing riff at the heart of Sunshine Of Your Love, take your pick from Strange Brew, Tales Of Brave Ulysses (Clapton on spectacular wah wah) or SWLABR, or We're Going Wrong or Take It Back and Dance The Night Away is a psychedelic musical representation of the cover all on its own.

Third offering was the double Wheels Of Fire - one studio album and one live (it was released as a double at the time but the Creme de la Cream set presents them as the two individual albums that were later released).

It's my least favourite Cream album. The studio sides are patchy and the live tracks bloated.

Highlights: Crossroads is, of course, a highlight of Clapton's entire career and Traintime on the live album is worth your time (still can't get through all of Spoonful or Toad without getting distracted). Studio album highlights are even less plentiful - White Room is barking mad and shouldn't work but somehow does;  and Born Under a Bad Sign is energetic.

As  a final statement (the remaining two live albums come from roughly the same source as those that appear on Wheels Of Fire), Goodbye Cream is a doozy!

Highlights: That brilliant version of I'm So Glad that I heard first on the Karussell album is here (the sound of three great musicians kicking the shit out of the blues), the best version of Politician (great guitar by Slowhand), and Badge with George Harrison on rhythm guitar. 

The two live albums are enjoyable without being essential. Curiously, even though it seems a cash in two years after the first collection, Volume II is much the better album thanks to the greater brevity and variety 0n show.

Rather than a full concert, we get individual tracks - never my favourite approach, as you know.

Live Cream highlights: A Lawdy Mama that sounds like Strange Brew, an epic Sweet Wine that takes in some interesting side roads and a less frenetic but worthy Rollin' and Tumblin'. 

Live Cream Volume II highlights: muscular versions of Deserted Cities of the Heart, White Room, Politician, and Hideaway. The version of Sunshine Of Your Love ain't too shabby either!!

Where do they all belong? More Clapton related material when we roll around to the CD collection again - specifically Journeyman.

I'm the greatest and you better believe it baby (Ringo Starr)

It's been raining a lot in Stratford lately. That means only one thing - time to re-sort the collection.

I've thought about splitting off all the Greatest Hit compilations from the rest for some time now. The Best Of compilation has always seemed a superfluous part of a band's history in many ways. Until recently, they contained no new material that would add to the legend. Instead they are, too often, a cynical way of generating revenue for the man. For music fans though, they are also a short cut to the hits. I wanted an album of just the hit songs of The Beach Boys so that I didn't have to keep changing albums or make a tape. But really - how many times can you compile The Beach Boys? Seems to be (an) endless (summer). It seemed to me my collection would be streamlined by the relocation of these compilations.

So I did the re-sort and was a tad shocked by how many I had (199 of them on CD and I haven't started on the vinyl yet). Also shocked by how many variations of title there are. Here's a selection of what the marketers have used over the years.

Essential... The Best Of...The Very Best Of...Greatest Hits...The Collection...The Ultimate Collection...A Short Cut to...Anthology...Hit Single Anthology...The Hits Collection...A Stack Of...Remember...Classic...The Classic Years...The Essential...Golden Greats...Hits and History...The Definitive...

My favourite titles are the bespoke ones like Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy (The Who), Last Chance For A Thousand Years (Dwight Yokam), Strictly Commercial (Zappa), Everything and Nothing (David Sylvian), The Beast of Alice Cooper, and Echoes (Pink Floyd)

I've decided to play my way through them too. Just listened to Jack Bruce's collection called Willpower (a twenty year retrospective). It's an excellent collection with unreleased songs, a brace of Cream songs, and a judicious selection from Jack's excellent solo career up to 1987. I also like how it's set out chronologically for the most part. You get to trace a career. One of my fav's is Jack's original version of Theme From An Imaginary Western that Mountain performed in a different but also brilliant way.



Currently up to Retrospective - The Best Of Buffalo Springfield. 12 tracks of gold! All killer, no filler. Generally I like these early compilations much more than the later exhaustive collections.

I must say the less is more philosophy definitely applies to Best Of.. compilations. Usually, I just want the hits. The Very Best Of Cher is a case in point. I just wanted Gypsies Tramps and Thieves, Half Breed and a couple of the Sonny & Cher hits like The Beat Goes On. Instead I get a double CD of 42 tracks!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Massive delusions of grandeur here girl. 42 tracks !! Yeech. This should have been cut down to a single album size - 12 tracks like the Springfield. Instead we get swathes of trendy dance music in the wake of Believe that I have to skip dross to get to the good bits. I remember playing it in the car in Doha and Jacky couldn't believe I'd bought it coz I only listened to a fraction of it.