Neil Young's First Album

Neil Young - "Neil Young" (1968) - Reprise Records

Hello Friends,

We've been on quite the rock & roll tear these days on Vinyl in the Valley.  

Released when Young was just 23 years old, this was his debut solo LP and first release since the breakup of Buffalo Springfield.  A bit more produced (overdubs!) than most of the classic records he would release in the Seventies, this album is a good bridge between the polished L.A.-inspired work in the Buffalo Springfield and the more visceral, raw-edged Americana material he would record with Crazy Horse.  

Still, every song on the LP is good with Neil Young's twangy rasp delivering lyrics about loneliness, longing, loners and long, dark nights with the occasional woman, Indian, drunk and cadaver thrown in for good measure. 

The album's single, "The Loner" has been a staple in his live shows for over 40 years.



Along with Bob Dylan, Neil Young helped paved the way for singers who couldn't really sing-- which we consider a good thing!  I mean could you picture Neil Young showing up on American Idol or The Voice or whatever else is out there and performing his Dylan-inspired, stream-of-consciousness, acoustic ballad, "The Last Trip to Tulsa"?  I'm thinking everyone would get a good laugh as Security has to drag him out the building and as he yelps, "No! Wait! I hafta go back! I dropped my harmonica holder!"  Hilarity ensues.

But we needn't worry about that, friends, good ol' Neil would have a long and epic career.   

RATING: 4.5 Old Laughing Ladies out of 5

"Happy Hump Day"

The Stars (Are Out Tonight)

2nd video from Bowie's latest album, The Next Day (out March 12, 2013)

Another weird video.

Have high hopes for the new album!

Plus, I think I have a "thing" for Tilda Swinton.

Gimmie Some Truth

Jeff Beck - "Truth" (1968) - Epic Records

Hello Friends,

Jeff Beck's first LP gets a little lost in the shuffle these days, but it is arguably one of the more important blues-rock records to come out of the last 60's.

Not only does it feature some proto-heavy metal blues guitar work by the innovative Beck, but its the first album to feature Rod Stewart on lead vocals.  Produced by legendary Mickie Most (!), with a young Ron Wood on bass(!!) and expert session drummer, Mick Waller, this album will rock your fucking socks off!

Beck left the Yardbirds in 1966, so what better way to kick-off his first solo LP with a hard rock, bluesy rearragement of the Yardbirds' hit, "Shape of Things"?  Not only is Beck's guitar virtuosity on full display, but a young Rod Stewart's prowess when it comes to interpreting a song lyric.  Boy, this guy might have a future in biz!  

The combination of Beck and Stewart breath life into more traditional covers like Bonnie Dobson's "Morning Dew", Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me" & "I Ain't Superstitious", Jerome Kern's "Ol' Man River", and the English instrumental, "Greensleeves".  (Three originals on the album are credited to "Jeffrey Rod"-- which, coincidentally, would also be my porn name!)

The highlight on the record is the instrumental, "Beck's Bolero".  Written by Yardbirder and session man, Jimmy Page, and featuring Beck & Page squaring off on lead guitars, John Paul Jones on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Keith Moon (credited on the sleeve as "You Know Who") on drums.  That's a shitload of talent on one song!

 

Pretty amazing record all around... a must-listen!  And if you can, listen to it the way it was meant to be heard... Loud and On Vinyl! 

RATING: 5 SHAPES OF THINGS TO COME OUT OF 5

Monkees Headquarters

The Monkees - "Headquarters" (1967) - Colgems

Hello Friends,

We got the third Monkees LP on the turntable tonight.  

In an earlier post, we listened to the first two records by The Monkees.  These two records are highly listenable and fun, but there was still some doubt about who was playing what, who was writing what, etc.   By 1967, The Monkees were no longer the "Pre Fab Four" and by all accounts a full-fledged band: writing, arranging and playing their own songs!  

If there's any doubt if the Monkees are a "real band" then just listen to the first track, the swingin', Nesmith-penned, "You Told Me." 

The fun continues on track's like "I'll Spend My Life With You", "Forget That Girl", "You Just May Be The One", "Shades of Gray", "I Can't Get Her Off of My Mind", "For Pete's Sake", "Mr. Webster", "Sunny Girlfriend", "No Time", "Early Morning Blues & Greens" and "Randy Scouse Git."  Jangly guitars, clever lyrics and fantastic harmonies all around!  Hints of psychedelia with even subtler hints at late 60's social awareness.  The direct influence of the Beatles is hard to deny, however-- "You Told Me" and "Sunny Girlfriend" would sound right at home on Revolver; "Mr. Webster" sounds like a Monkeefied version of "Eleanor Rigby"; "Randy Scouse Git" has a line referring to "The Four Kings of EMI... sitting stately on the floor"; Micky Dolenz even gives a shout out at the end of "No Time": "Rock on George for Ringo one time!" 

FUN FACT: Hey kids! Headquarters was produced by Chip Douglas, former member of the Modern Folk Quartet and The Turtles.  He wrote the great track "Forget That Girl" for this album!

FUN FACT # 2: Hey kids! In June of 1967, Headquarters was the Number One record on the Billboard charts.  Can you guess what album usurped its Number 1 spot?  (Hint: It rhymes with "Argent Lepers Roaming Farts Stub Hand"!)
  
RATING: 4.5 EARLY MORNING BLUES & GREENS OUT OF 5

Music for the Love Hours

Jackie Gleason - "Music For the Love Hours" (1957) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

More like "Music for the Love Minutes"... am I right?

Once again, this Jackie Gleason LP is like audio dilaudid.  Lush, soothing arrangements that flow into one another like a hypnotic stream.  String arrangements aplenty, punctuated by Bobby Hackett's trumpet-in-the-fog cornet.

Its the perfect soundtrack for a lazy, snowed-in Saturday!

Why is the nightgown lady with the piercing blue eyes smoking a cigarette on the cover of this LP? Doesn't she know that that can be dangerous?  That nightgown looks flammable!

RATING: 4 Serenades in Blue out of 5

Lace and Whiskey

Alice Cooper - "Lace and Whiskey" (1977) - Warner Bros.

Hello Friends,

From 1969 thru 1976, singer and songwriter Vincent Damon Furnier had quite the run. 

As the frontman for the band, Alice Cooper, young Vincent released seven classic records (including Pretties For You, Love It To Death, Killer, School's Out & Billion Dollar Babies) before ditching the band and forming a successful solo career as Alice Cooper.

His first album as a solo artist is the legendary, Welcome to My Nightmare; this was followed-up by his nearly-as-good sequel, Alice Cooper Goes to Hell. 

Quite the run, indeed.

A lot of people-- critics and fans-- were disappointed in his next release, 1977's Lace and Whiskey.  Its certainly not a bad album by any stretch, but it falls short of some of his much more interesting, harder-edged stuff.

Slickly produced once again by Bob Ezrin, the album is definitely more middle of the road than anything that had come previously.  We definitely like Side One better and think songs like "Its Hot Tonight", "Road Rats", "Damned If You Do" and the title track are pretty rockin'.  The Top 20 single that ends the side, "You and Me" is a slow rock ballad that is definitely a little too vanilla sounding for our tastes.  (its no "Beth".)

Side Two goes off a rails slightly.  "King of the Silver Screen" , "(No More) Love at Your Convenience" and "My God" come off as sounding very over-produced.  A cover of the rockabilly classic, "Ubangi Stomp", comes off sounding pretty silly.  

Side Two is saved by the power ballad, "I Never Wrote Those Songs".  With introspective lyrics like, "I've been livin' in my own shell so long / The only place I ever feel at home"-- you can tell that Vincent Furnier was by now deeply entrenched in his "Alice Cooper" persona and there was no turning back.

Before the end of 1977, Cooper would embark on a U.S. tour, record the Alice Cooper & Friends television special in Las Vegas and check himself into a New York sanitarium to help treat his severe alcoholism.  Bottoms up!

  

RATING: 3.5 Kings of the Silver Screen out of 5

Happy Birthday Alice Cooper!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

David Bowie - "Changesonebowie" (1976) - RCA

Hello Friends,

We know that this is a 'greatest hits' album but who cares?  We were in a David Bowie mood tonight so we dropped this LP on the turntable and rocked out with our androgynous c*cks out!  Figuratively speaking, of course.

This was Bowie's first (of many) "Greatest Hits" collections.  Featuring songs like, "Space Oddity", "Ziggy Stardust", "Suffragette City", "Diamond Dogs", "Rebel Rebel", "Young Americans"... et cetera.  Even in 1976-- just preceding his ground-breaking "Berlin trilogy" of albums-- it must have been hard to narrow his "best" songs down to a single record.

FUN FACT: Hey kids, did you know that the black & white photo that graces the cover of this LP was taken by Tom Kelley, an American photographer who took tons and tons of celebrity photos including iconic nude photos of Marilyn Monroe featured in Playboy Magazine's inaugural issue!  Nice!

RATING: 5 screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdos out of 5