Search And Destroy

It's kinda hard to believe that this violent, savage, proto-punk manifesto of an album, "Raw Power" by Iggy and The Stooges, is 40 years old this year. What's even more amazing is that Iggy, formerly one of Rock's more self-destructive personalities, is still tearing up stages and destroying PA systems 4 decades later. It is, however, way past time for him to at least put on a t-shirt, for cryin' out loud.

Any discussion of this album requires a little perspective of the times. The Stooges had released two earlier albums on Elektra Records in 1969 and 1970. Neither sold all that well, but the band got noticed for their primitive songs and often confrontational live performances. When "Raw Power" was released in 1973, music fans who liked Hard Rock were listening to the likes of Humble Pie, Deep Purple, Grand Funk and Led Zeppelin. The radio was playing softer groups like The Carpenters, America, and Bread, along with singer/songwriters like James Taylor, Carole King and Jim Croce. The only real shockers at the time were the arrival of Metal through the first 4 albums from Black Sabbath, and Glam, spearheaded by Alice Cooper, David Bowie and T.Rex. The only thing close to the sound of The Stooges were labelmates, The MC5. Neither the public nor the music press were ready for the double-barreled sonic assault of "Raw Power". To say that this pioneering album upped the ante considerably is an understatement. Given those circumstances, "Raw Power" was, on first listen, both exhilarating and frightening; not unlike a ride through a spook house that offers its share of fun, but is also a bit too real for comfort.

The Stooges: James Williamson, Iggy, Scott Asheton, Ron Asheton

The main point of controversy with the album was that, despite the fact that musically, it more than lived up to its title, the record was poorly mixed and sounded terrible. To be frank, the sound was bad to the point where the only way it sounded any good at all was to play it at a nerve damaging volume, which may have been the intent. The album was mixed by David Bowie, and was done fast, on the cheap, using sub-par equipment and in between other projects that Bowie had in the works, as time permitted. The poor sound quality quickly became a point of notoriety, and Iggy himself was hounded for decades by fans begging him to remix the album, which he finally did in 1997, with dubious results. Sony was going to do it with or without his involvement, so Iggy relented. The new mix is better in that it's definitely louder, but to a fault. Apparently, the mix is a settlement between Iggy and Sony engineers, who could not convince Iggy that digital distortion, which manifests as noise, is not the same as an overdriven analog signal, which usually provides that warm, fuzzy distortion we all know and love. In other words, louder is not better, especially during the mastering process.

Here's the remixed version of the album's opening grenade, "Search And Destroy". The stereo staging is better and the rhythm guitar and bass are more full sounding, but some digital distortion is obvious. Whatever you do, you must play this loud enough to frighten the cat. Otherwise, you miss the point.

The lyric of this song is a mission statement; both a threat and a warning, laying bare the volatility and inherent danger of the band and the messenger. You can't fake that. On a recent Facebook thread regarding a recent Iggy show, I saw this entry: "Iggy is rock's true id. He's the uninhibited, visceral incarnation of the primal roots of this music. He's the free spirit with his middle finger in the air. Maybe that's not everyone's cup of tea, but for me, it exemplifies the freeing aspect of rock 'n roll." I'd say that's about right. Bottom line: this music either works for you or it doesn't, but it is what it is. No progress happens in the arts without some iconoclast kicking a door down every so often.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

The same year that Sony issued the remixed edition of "Raw Power", a Stooges tribute album surfaced on the indie label, Royalty Records, entitled "We Will Fall". There's some good matches of performer to song on there, such as Joey Ramone doing "1969", Joan Jett's rendition of "Real Wild Child" and the Red Hot Chili Peppers covering our song of the moment, "Search And Destroy". While any number of bands could have done this song capably enough, the Peppers bring that extra spark of intensity that is necessary to give their performance the needed credibility. This band also has the dubious personal history to back that up as well. While I certainly don't condone such behavior, I also understand that it helped make them what they are. We are all the product of the sum of our experiences.

Here's the Red Hot Chili Peppers version. Yes, you have to play this one loud too! It's a rule around here.

Fast forward to the present day. In an effort to recapture the magic of the 1968 album "Super Session", Stephen Stills' manager Elliot Roberts decided that Stills needed some hang time doing some writing with session veteran Barry Goldberg. "Super Session" had featured Stills and the late Mike Bloomfield swapping guitar parts. Bloomfield had founded The Electric Flag with Goldberg, who also played on "Super Session", as did Blood, Sweat & Tears keyboardist Al Kooper.

Stills then contacted blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, to whom he'd been introduced some years back. Shepherd brought his drummer, Chris Layton, and Stills called his bassist of the moment, Kevin McCormick, completing the lineup of The Rides. Shepherd (or his publicist) said this about the band: "The Rides are a perfect mix of generations; where three musicians who love and play the blues collide and create music that goes beyond all our other individual life experiences and career achievements." Stills calls the group "the blues band of my dreams.” Yeah sure, whatever. This press kit video will give you a more proper introduction to the band than the band members can, apparently.

Among the album’s highlights are four Stills/Shepherd/Goldberg co-writes including the barnburner "Road House", the CSN influenced "Don’t Want Lies", and the title track, a guitar anthem with a strong lead vocal by Stills. There’s also a cover of Neil Young's "Rockin’ In The Free World", which must have been fun for them to play, and 3 other covers on which Shepherd sings lead, including Elmore James' "Talk To Me Baby", "Honey Bee" by Muddy Waters, and inexplicably, "Search And Destroy" from our pals, Iggy and The Stooges.

I have no idea what inspired these old dogs to have a crack at that song. I can only guess that Shepherd brought it to the table, as he also working on an album of covers with his own band. But as we discussed earlier, the song is of the same vintage as when Stills was making Top 40 singles. At any rate, I think you'll find that The Rides' version of "Search And Destroy" has little of the snot-rocket attitude of the original. It reminds me very much of a well meaning white blues singer doing his rendition of a greasy, bawdy old R&B 78. The affection for the song may be there, but none of the nose-thumbing sass of the original recording survives the transition. It just sounds too cleaned up and is therefore, a lot less credible. That said, there are many of you who may enjoy this more mannered rendition better than the original, and that's fine by me. Again, I'm just sayin'.

So, here's The Rides with "Search And Destroy". The lyrics scroll by in the video, and yes, Kenny Wayne is indeed declaring himself to be a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm. Like we ever had any doubt.

Ok, enough talk. Time to go buy some music! You can easily find "Raw Power", along with the 1st two Elektra albums by Iggy & The Stooges, and Iggy's solo catalog as well, at The House of Amazon. Vinyl is available on all 3 of these classic albums, should that interest you.

The Iggy Pop tribute album, "We Will Fall", is also at Amazon, as a used CD, for a ridiculously cheap price. If you'd rather cherry pick the Mp3 version, have at it.

Should your music shelves be low on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you can address that as well.

The debut album from The Rides is available as a single disc, or a deluxe edition that includes a DVD with a minimum of worthwhile content, which makes it not really worth the extra 5 bucks.

Crazy Horses

If you ever visit Las Vegas, you can't help but notice the ads and billboards for shows in town that are everywhere in sight. Some of them are so huge, you can't ignore them, such as the ad for The Beatles' Cirque du Soleil "Love" show, which covers the whole top floor of the Mirage Hotel, or the amazing wrap job featuring the multi-floor visages of Donny and Marie Osmond, which is plastered over the entire south tower of the Flamingo Hotel, where they are appearing. In a way, an ad that size is saying that the performer has 'arrived' at the pinnacle of their success, and of their value as a performer, simply because they're in Vegas. It also must be a Vegas thing that every star performer is billed only by their first name, as it is assumed that the public already knows who Celine, Elton, Shania or Donny or Marie is. I won't quote numbers here, but suffice it to say that ticket pricing for any of these shows is beyond outrageous. The Beatles "Love" show is one that I did attend, and I would recommend it to everyone. "Love" is absolutely fantastic! Catch it if you can.

A 1972 ad for the album "Crazy Horses"

So, back to the Osmonds. In the early 1970's, Donny Osmond and his brothers were very successful as a live act and sold a ton of records; no small thanks to Donny's status as the Justin Bieber of his day, except that Donny managed to avoid becoming the entitled jerk that Bieber has proven to be. Most of The Osmonds' songs fell squarely into the Pop sub-category of Bubblegum, which was still producing bands like The Sweet and The Bay City Rollers at the time. But their 1972 single, "Crazy Horses", was something of a departure for The Osmonds, as it rocked considerably harder than 95% of their repertoire. It's comparable to when Bread, a band whose music was as soft as their name, released "Mother Freedom", which had the same effect of out-rocking the rest of the band's catalog. "Crazy Horses" reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 in the UK Singles Chart. The song is allegedly a protest about the amount of pollution created by cars, but I can't vouch for that.

This video is SO much of its time, and was probably made for one of the "In Concert" shows that were so popular then. It's a hoot and a half seeing the singing, dancing Osmond brothers pretending to be a real live rock band. They're lip-synching to the record for sure, but at least the guitars and mics are plugged in. Enjoy!

Over the years since this song was popular, many cover versions and tribute albums that feature 70's Teen Pop music have surfaced; mostly done by bands that normally play Power Pop. This is fitting, as Power Pop bands have long cited 60's and 70's Bubblegum singles as an early influence. So, who do you think has covered "Crazy Horses" more than anyone? Would you believe Techno and Prog/Metal bands? I didn't either, but that's the clear case.

So far, "Crazy Horses" has been recorded by the likes of The Mission, Tank, Lawnmower Deth, Westlife, The Frames, KMFDM, Tigertailz, Electric Six, Lifescreen, and today's feature artists, Morse, Portnoy and George.

"Cover 2 Cover" is the second CD of covers from Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy and Randy George. Morse and bassist George have played with prog bands such as Transatlantic, Spock's Beard and Flying Colors. Drummer/vocalist Portnoy is late of Dream Theater.

Portnoy describes the process of selecting songs to cover: "One of the first things myself, Neal and Randy usually start talking about when we gather for one of Neal's solo albums is what we can cover should we have some leftover time at the end of the session. And now, over the course of 2 CD's, we've covered 28 songs ranging from the obscure to the classics. Like the first "Cover To Cover" album, most of the song choices on this CD are rooted in the 70's and are songs and bands we grew up with".

Here's a promo video of Morse, Portnoy and George recording their rendition of "Crazy Horses". I honestly don't think they did this as a joke. They're approaching it as a hard rock song that may have moved them as kids, much as Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters has said how he loved Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" when he was young. Of course, some of our readers haven't taken Metal seriously since Spinal Tap, so they may find this just as funny as The Osmonds!

Surprisingly, or maybe not, most of The Osmonds recorded work from the 70's is still in print, although there are a couple of decent 'best-of' collections available that should satisfy all but the most dedicated Osmondphile. You know they're out there, too.

Music from Morse, Portnoy and George can be found on the Radiant Records website, along with lots of other proggy metal custard. It's always best to buy direct from independent artists, wouldn't you say?

I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know

Al Kooper

Al Kooper has one of the coolest pedigrees in the history of rock music; mostly because his career spans nearly that entire history. We first heard him playing the Hammond organ on Bob Dylan's recording of "Like A Rolling Stone". Kooper later gained notice as a member of The Blues Project and, in the 70's, as the producer of Lynyrd Skynyrd. To list all or even most of his accomplishments here would be impossible, so for today, we will focus on one of his better known projects; a little band known as Blood Sweat and Tears.

Al Kooper formed the band in 1967 with Jim Fielder, Fred Lipsius, Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss, Dick Halligan, Steve Katz and Bobby Colomby. Al, Bobby, Steve, and Jim did a few shows as a quartet at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City in September 1967, opening for Moby Grape. Fred Lipsius then joined the others two months later. A few more shows were played as a quintet, including one at the Fillmore East in New York. Lipsius then recruited the other three, who were New York horn players. The final lineup debuted at the Cafe Au Go Go on November 17–19, 1967, then played again at The Scene the following week. The band was a hit with the audience, who liked the innovative fusion of jazz with acid rock and psychedelia. After signing to Columbia Records, the group released the album "Child Is Father To The Man" in February of 1968. It featured Kooper's memorable blues number, "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know". The album eventually peaked at #47 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart, but has continued to sell well through reissues on CD and audiophile vinyl.

In Al Kooper's autobiography, "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards", he tells us that "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" was a split tribute to Otis Redding and James Brown. Al says "The lyrics were a nod to Otis' song "I Love You More Than Words Can Say", and the melody was reminiscent of James Brown's "It's A Man's World". On December 6, 1967, Otis died in a plane crash and it really f***ed me up. The next night, we began recording the album. I insisted we record "I Love You..." first. Nobody objected. We put down a blistering track and it looked like this was gonna be an easy album to make. We overdubbed Freddie Lipsius's solo and Steve Katz's fills, and then it was time to put a vocal on it."

Al goes on to say that the band was so nervous about his vocal skills that he prepared a practical joke to ease the tension. On the first take, he started singing the lyrics in French, having memorized them that way beforehand. When everybody stopped in shock, he innocently smirked "Oh, you wanted me to sing it in English?" Then, there was Take 2.

Kooper continues, "Now my eyes were screwed shut, and I was thinkin' about Otis and this sounds cliched as hell, but it's true. I was saying to myself, "This is for you". And I was singing. One take. They called me into the booth for playback, and everyone was smiling."

In spite of this song's success, the band eventually did kick Al Kooper out. It was a cross between wanting a different lead vocalist and creative differences with the rest of the band, who objected to Kooper's tight control. The chief rivals here are Kooper and Bobby Colomby, who continue bitter feuds to this very day over whose idea was what and who gets the money from "Child Is Father to the Man". It's always the money.

Joe Bonamassa and Beth Hart

Nonetheless, a good song remains a good song, no matter what the circumstances. Although the song has since been given affectionate workouts by both soul singer Donny Hathaway and British blues guitarist Gary Moore, "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" was certainly ripe for a solid reinterpretation, but needed the right band and just the right vocalist.

Guitarist Joe Bonamassa has carved quite a career for himself. It's exceptional in the sense that he has managed to become an arena-filling success as an independent artist, using hardly any help from major corporate record labels. A child prodigy, Bonamassa was finessing Stevie Ray Vaughan licks when he was seven and by the time he was ten, had caught B.B. King’s ear. After first hearing him play, King said, “This kid’s potential is unbelievable. He hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface. He’s one of a kind.” By age 12, Bonamassa was opening shows for King himself and went on to tour with the likes of Buddy Guy, Foreigner, Robert Cray, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker and Gregg Allman. An avowed road dog, Joe Bonamassa tours hard; playing an average of 200 shows a year. His mind-blowing guitar wizardry and electrifying stage presence are selling out progressively larger venues.

A Los Angeles native, Beth Hart began playing the piano at age 4, and has made music all her life. She attended L.A. High School for the Performing Arts and released her first album, "Immortal", in 1996. Hart is known for the passionate conviction of her soul-baring performances, on record and onstage. The strength of her vocals is matched by what she conveys in her lyrics, making her take on confessional songwriting both authentic and heartfelt. She also adds a new tenderness to her powerful blues-rock sound that intimately draws listeners in. Hart is raw and emotionally immediate; singing of life's travails, lessons learned, and contentment gained.

Here is Beth Hart with Joe Bonamassa, and their scorching rendition of "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know". I'll bet Al Kooper is diggin' this.

If you enjoyed this track, then I will remind you that Hart and Bonamassa are independent artists who are very worthy of your support, so I encourage you to do so by purchasing their music, which you can do at their official website, or your local indie purveyor of musical wonderment. There's also online corporate giant Amazon, where you can find "Seesaw" and other recordings by Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa, both together and individually.

You can also find the music of Blood Sweat & Tears at Amazon, including a spiffy little 5 disc boxed set, which contains all the BST you'll ever want, nicely remastered with bonus tracks, for well under $20. Such a deal.

Fame

"If it makes your neck muscles tighten, it's probably not funky. But if it makes your butt shake, then it might be." - Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

David Bowie and James Brown, circa 2000. All is forgiven?

Although the primary focus of this blog is on cover versions, occasionally a song comes along that turns out to be a bit more than a cover. In this case, it's a blatant ripoff. But as Nick Lowe once said, "If you're going to pinch something, do it from a good source".

James Brown was often called “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business”. He was also, far and away, the most sampled and therefore, the most ripped off man in show business. Snippets of James Brown’s music have been sampled and used, often unlicensed, for many Top 40 hits and countless other tracks since the earliest beginnings of rap and hip-hop.

However, Brown, like others who were influenced by his music, did his own share of borrowing. His 1976 single "Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved)" used the very same distinctive main riff from "Fame" by David Bowie, and NOT the other way around, as is often believed. The riff was provided to "Fame" co-writers Bowie and John Lennon by Bowie's guitarist Carlos Alomar, who had briefly been a member of Brown's band in the late 60's. This happened late in the sessions for Bowie's 1975 album, "Young Americans". The album sessions in Philadelphia were cut short in favor of moving the operation to New York, so Bowie and Lennon could work together. Two songs from that collaboration ended up on "Young Americans"; significant for a record with only 8 songs on it.

My own online research on recording and release dates for both "Fame" and "Hot..." appears to confirm this, so it seems that James was not above some creative appropriation himself. Perhaps it was a way for James to get back at Carlos Alomar for some undisclosed disagreement. Maybe James just dug the riff enough to swipe it, even though he about made off with the whole song. Despite Brown's rewriting of the entire lyric, I think you'll find that the hook, the chord changes, and the rhythm breaks are the same. Only those involved know for sure. I can't find any record of any legal proceedings regarding this matter, and so I must assume that all parties decided to leave it be.

You be the judge. Here’s David Bowie with "Fame" from the "Young Americans" album. John Lennon's vocals can be clearly heard throughout the song.

Now, here's James Brown's "Hot...". The lyric is different, but that hook is in full effect! This song was released as a single in December of 1975, reaching #31 on the Billboard R&B chart, and later appeared as the lead track on Brown's 1976 album, "Hot".

 

Whatever you decide, both recordings belong in your music library. Most of the David Bowie catalog is still in print; often featuring nicely upgraded mastering and packaging. However, sorting through all the funky greatness by James Brown that's available is a formidable task; one best left to the serious collector. As a reasonable alternative, I will highly recommend that, without hesitation, you avail your bad self of the box set, "Star Time", which can be had, used, for under 20 bucks. It contains all the hits, big and small, along with all of the essential album cuts; a 'must' for any respectable collection.

They Don't Know

Mugshot of Gen. Manuel Noriega 

Back in 1984, during my Air Force years, I had a 30 day temporary assignment in Panama to fill a vacancy until the scheduled permanent person showed up. This was during the time when a guy named Noriega was stirring up the poo down there. Well, shortly after I arrived, that 30 days was turned into 90. I was stuck there. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that this was a very bad development. That 3 months was one of the toughest periods of my life. I was in for one big bummer of a summer.

One day, I decided to grab a meal in what was the overseas military base equivalent of a Dairy Queen. By this time, I was a mess; low on money and morale, and heavily self-medicating with alcohol just to get through it all. As I was waiting for my burger or whatever to be prepared, I heard this blast of musical sunshine that came roaring out of a nearby radio. It stomped the synthetic pablum of all the Duran Duran soundalikes that permeated 80's music into the ground. It had such a gloriously happy sound that it shocked me right off my bummer cloud, at least for the 3 minute duration of the song. So, of course the radio didn't say the song's title or who it was. But as soon as I got back to civilization, I went to a record store to find it. Keeping that silly song in the back of my head really helped me make it through that difficult time.

Tracey Ullman, with Emmy award

Make fun of me if you will, but I file this one under 'Guilty Pleasures'. The record I had heard was by British comedienne Tracey Ullman, and the song was called "They Don't Know", which had been a hit for its author, Kirsty MacColl, in her native Britain. Both the song's structure and the record's production are so evocative of the classic 60's Girl Group sound, that it almost defies re-invention. It seems like Tracey's way of covering the song was to make it sound even bigger than before, rather than stripping it down. Thinking about all that stuff from that time now, it confirms that not only am I really just a pop junkie at heart, but also that music has the power to lift the heaviest of hearts.

From the early days of MTV, here's Tracey Ullman in the original, totally 80's, video version of "They Don't Know", featuring a cameo at the end from her 'dream date', Paul. Enjoy!

Tracey Ullman also recorded three more of Kirsty MacColl's songs, "You Broke My Heart In 17 Places" and "You Caught Me Out", as the title tracks of her first and second albums, and "Terry" which was released as a single in 1985.

Kirsty MacColl

Although Kirsty MacColl is probably most recognizable as the writer of "They Don't Know", she first came to notice in 1978 when an EP by a local punk rock band, Drug Addix, with MacColl on backing vocals (under the pseudonym Mandy Doubt), was released on the Chiswick label. Another record label, Stiff Records, was not impressed with the band, but liked Kirsty, and subsequently signed her. Her debut solo single, "They Don't Know", was released in 1979 and peaked at number two on the Music Week airplay chart. However, a distributors' strike prevented copies of the single getting into record stores, and the single consequently failed to appear on the sales-oriented UK Singles Chart. MacColl recorded a follow-up single, "You Caught Me Out", but felt like she lacked Stiff's full backing and left the label shortly before the song was to be released.

Here's Kirsty MacColl's recording of "They Don't Know", from that 1st Stiff single.

When Stiff went bankrupt in 1986, MacColl was left without a label and unable to record in her own right, as no other record company had picked up her contract. However, she had regular session work as a backing vocalist, and she frequently sang on records produced or engineered by her husband at the time, Steve Lillywhite, including tracks for Robert Plant, The Smiths, Alison Moyet, Shriekback, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Big Country, and The Wonder Stuff among others.

In 2000, following her participation in the presentation of a radio program she had done for the BBC on Cuba, MacColl took a vacation in Cozumel, Mexico, with her sons and her partner, musician James Knight. On December 18, she and her sons went reef diving at a part of the National Marine Park of Cozumel, in a designated diving area that watercraft were restricted from entering. With the group was a local veteran divemaster. As the group was surfacing from a dive, a speeding powerboat entered the restricted area. MacColl saw the boat coming before her sons did. Louis, then 13, was not in the boat's path, but Jamie, 15, was. She was able to push him out of the way, (he sustained minor head and rib injuries), but in doing so, Kirsty was hit by the boat and killed instantly.

Michael Carpenter

In 2001, a bench was placed by the southern entrance to London's Soho Square as a memorial to her, with a plaque inscribed with a lyric from one of her songs: "One day I'll be waiting there / No empty bench in Soho Square". Every year on the Sunday nearest to MacColl's birthday, October 10th, fans from all over the world hold a gathering at the bench to pay tribute to her and sing her songs.

The Tracey Ullman version is the one that most people remember, but that doesn't mean that the song is the exclusive province of female vocalists. Far from it! As a bonus, here is yet another version that I just could not ignore. From the land down under, representing the song from a male point of view, here is friend of the blog, Michael Carpenter with his version of "They Don't Know". Michael is something of a recording wizard, as he handles all of the vocals and instrumentation here. How he does it, I don't know. Enjoy!

The albums that Tracey Ullman recorded for Stiff Records are long out of print, but there is an excellent Best-of compilation from Rhino Records, available used, for a reasonable fee. There are at least a couple of decent collections of music by Kirsty MacColl in print, along with most of her catalog. And of course, I will encourage you to investigate the music of Michael Carpenter online at Bandcamp. Michael has a neat digital sampler available as well. Please support independent musicians!