RIP Jack Bruce (1943 - 2014)

Hello Friends,

We're living in a day and age where our rock star idols are going to all start dying off in non-rock & roll fashion.  

Like the rest of us, they're gonna start dropping like flies in hospital rooms (and if we're lucky) surrounded by family and friends.  

Jack Bruce, one of rock and roll's greatest bass players, passed away a couple of weeks ago due after losing his battle with liver disease.

In addition to fronting the legendary supergroup trio, Cream, Jack Bruce also played bass for a who's who of rock n roll, ranging from Zappa (Apostrophe) to Lou Reed (Berlin).

Obviously Bruce will be remembered first and foremost as a bassist whose playing style infused rock, jazz, soul and classical influences.  The thing we love most about Jack Bruce is his voice on all those great Cream songs.  Constrained, dark and ethereal like a confused choir boy who's struggling to sing the blues! 

RIP Jack Bruce!

Movie Night: Beware of Mr Baker

Hello Friends,

Grab your popcorn and pull up a stool, its Movie Night again on Vinyl in the Valley!

Tonight we're watching a documentary on the extraordinary rock & roll life of Cream drummer, Ginger Baker, Beware of Mr. Baker.

Hey kids, how many times have you wondered to yourself, "Hey, I wonder what happened to Ginger Baker after Cream and Blind Faith broke up?  What's he been up to?" 

WHAT? You've never pondered the fate of one of rock's greatest drummers?  Whether you have or not, the 2012 documentary, Beware of Mr. Baker, is here to answer all of your questions and get you caught up to speed!

Basically, Ginger Baker was one of rock's greatest drummers.  Technically speaking, he was vastly superior to Moon or Bonham.  The problem was he was a huge dick on a steady diet of drugs and booze!  Pissing bandmates off and burning bridges right and left!  In the Seventies, after the dissolution of both Cream & Blind Faith, Baker retreated to Africa and became good friends with Fela Kuti, whose band he would often be found sitting in with. Every couple of years, Baker would come out of hiding in order to pay some bills with a new band or a reunion of some sort.  Usually, because of his short-fused temper and codgery demeanor, these would be short-lived as well!

Directed by Jay Bulger, the film centers around the director's quest to go to Baker's South African compound and get a tell-all interview that documents all the ups and downs of his career.  At one point the director even gets knocked in the noggin by Baker's can! 

Good interview footage with Clapton, Jack Bruce, Carmine Appice, John Lydon, amongst others.  Its an interesting little film about an oft-overlooked rock icon who peaked, historically, over forty years ago and whose influence is still felt today!

We give this one two raised cocktail glasses!

We'll see you next time, friends, until then the Tiki Bar is closed*.  

(* not really)

Disraeli Gears

Cream - "Disraeli Gears" (1967) - ATCO

Hello friends,

Even though its Fall outside, its the Summer of Love tonight on Vinyl in the Valley!  Tonight we're cranking Cream's second (and best) LP, Disraeli Gears.  Psychedelic blues at its absolute best!

In 1966, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce & Eric Clapton formed the first rock & roll supergroup; a heavy-sounding British trio with roots planted firmly in traditional blues and jazz music.  Big egos would eventually win out and the band would break-up just two years later, but not before leaving a giant mark in rock & roll history!   

The album opens with an amazing one-two punch: "Strange Brew"-- a trippy blues tune featuring Clapton on lead vocals-- and the iconic "Sunshine of Your Love"-- featuring one of classic rock's most famous riffs.  

There's some great wah-wah pedal work on "World of Pain" and more great guitar-bass-drums interwining on the Bruce-helmed, "Dance the Night Away".  Ginger Baker's "Blue Condition" (probably the album's weak link) finishes off Side One.

Side Two begins with the awesome "Tales of Brave Ulysses"-- a psychedelic-blues ballad based on Homer's Odyssey with some more killer wah-wah playing. The equally excellent, "SWABLR" (aka "She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow") follows.  Not sure exactly what's going on in this song, but it may be about having sex with a transvestite!  Hey, don't judge! 
     

Next up is Jack Bruce's absolutely haunting, "We're Going Wrong".  With spare, falsetto vocals and tribal drumming, its a song that would not be out of place in some 1967 teenager's Vietnam nightmare or acid flashback!    

Clapton sings and arranges a version of "Outside Woman Blues"-- an obscure call-and-response blues tune written by Blind Joe Reynolds.  Not to be outdone, Bruce comes back with a raucous honky-tonk blues number, "Take It Back"-- which may or may not be about kids burning their draft cards.  The album concludes with the barroom diddy, "Mother's Lament"-- a perfectly silly and nostalgic conclusion to such a bold and ground-breaking album!  

Fun Fact: Hey kids, did you know that the title of this album is a malapropism?  When Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker were talking about bicycles, a roadie chimed in with the statement that "yea, its got them disraeli gears" mistaking the 19th Century British Prime Minister for "derailleur gears". 

In a similar story, one time on Election day I saw two sassy ladies at Walmart discussing the possible outcome of the Presidential Election and one turned to the other and said, "It don't matter who wins the popular vote, its the electrical vote that counts!"  ZAP! 

RATING: 5 Tales of Brave Ulysses out of 5

Prog Rock Saturday: Shades of Deep Purple

Deep Purple - "Shades of Deep Purple" (1968) - Tetragrammaton

Hello friends and welcome to another installment of Prog Rock Saturday!

We're enjoying this midsummer's weather with a few cool cocktails and the sounds of Deep Purple's debut LP.

Now don't get your wizard hats all in a bunch!  Shades of Deep Purple definitely qualifies as an early example of prog-rock.  With long jam-filled songs and a big emphasis on classically-inspired organ, Deep Purple started out as an English proggy-psychedelic band in 1968 and, rather wisely, evolved into a more hard rock outfit by the early 70's.  Plus, founding member and organist, Jon Lord passed away this week at the age of 71 after a bout with pancreatic cancer.  So hush up and enjoy a killer of a debut album!

The LP opens with the bluesy instrumental, "And the Address", which sets the tone for the rest of the album which might be described as "Cream meets the Hammond Organ!" 

Next is the band's earliest hit, the classic, "Hush".  With its howling wolf intro, killer organ solo and lyrics about an extremely obsessed ex-boyfriend, "Hush" helped put this quintet on the map and, to this day, remains a classic of late 60's British rock. 

"One More Rainy Day" is a melodic, yet heavy ballad that sounds not too different from early Zeppelin (think: "Your Time is Gonna Come", also from '68!)       

Side One concludes with a monster Hammond organ solo-- a heavy interpretation of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade-- that morphs into the Skip James song, "I'm So Glad" (previously covered by the aforementioned, Cream, on their debut LP, Fresh Cream.

Named for a hallucinogenic plant that is often used in witchcraft and demon conjuring spells, Side Two opens with the Ritchie Blackmore-penned, "Mandrake Root".  In fact, their six minute cover of The Beatles' "Help"-- which follows-- sounds slowed and stoned as if recorded under the influence of a little Mandragora officinarum!  

Following "Help" is a driving, trippy little tune called, "Love Help Me".  

The last song on the album begins with a Bolero-style dueling guitar/Hammond B-3 organ intro (which as Tiki T. points out, reminds her of the Patti Page song "Conquest", also covered by the White Stripes!)  The bolero breaks and a heavy cover of the garage rock standard, "Hey Joe" closes out the album.  Great, great version of the song to close out one of rock & roll's greatest debut albums!

Here's an awesome video of the band performing "Hush" on "Playboy After Dark" in 1969...

  
  
RATING: 4.5 Dancing Playmates out of a possible 5