super groovy delicious bite: September 2014

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

blood, sweat & tears

Blood, Sweat & Tears reformed and found a directing sign on the straight and narrow highway and made us so very happy with their self-titled sophomore smash. Despite the critical acclaim of their debut 'Child is Father to the Man', the album sales were a disappointment. Tensions between members of the band over creative control came to a head as they tried to work out a solution with founding member and bandleader Al Kooper leaving the band, as well as Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss.

Bobby Colomby reveals: "It should be noted that our first album was a commercial flop. Around 40,000 records had been sold. I admit to initiating the movement that eventually led to the ousting of Kooper. I felt we needed a voice that was distinctive, powerful and even (was I asking for too much?) someone that could sing in tune. I felt Al could still contribute but not as lead singer. Quite honestly, Al had made such an impression, publicly, as the 'brains behind BS&T', that I felt losing him would make the long climb uphill even more difficult. However, I was willing to take that chance. There was no way success could come to a band with that whining voice singing over a powerful rhythm section and four horns. Al called a meeting backstage at the Cafe Au Go Go where he proclaimed he was leaving the band. 'All those that want to walk with me, can walk.' Much to Al's chagrin, only Fred Lipsius decided to join him. The rest: Steve, along with Dick Halligan (who surprised us by requesting that he play keyboards), Jimmy Fielder, Jerry Weiss and Randy Brecker agreed that we needed a new singer. Eventually, Jerry Weiss left to form his own band: Ambergris. Randy Brecker left to join HoraceSilver's Quintet with his brother Michael. After a few months of non-activity, Fred rejoined the band. He must have snapped out of his coma."

Lew Soloff, Chuck Winfield, and Jerry Hyman joined the band and David Clayton-Thomas (David Henry Thomsett) was brought in to replace Kooper as lead singer. Clayton-Thomas looks back: "You can't have nine superstars in one group. Mick and Keith, sure. John and Paul, fine. But not nine. They got rid of Kooper before I came and Katz always made sure I knew that he was the boss and I was his employee, even though I was making ten times the money he was ... I came in at Bobby Colomby's invitation and for the first few years, he was the boss, he ran the band. He’s a very successful and wealthy man, you can pretty must trust what he says, he has no axe to grind. Al had made a career out of being the creator of BS&T and it’s annoying for some of us who have been in BS&T to answer Al Kooper questions, who was only around for one album really. I don’t know Al Kooper, I think I bumped into him in a restaurant one-time. But from my perspective, this was Bobby Colomby's band, and it always was and to some degree it still is. Bobby was the only one who had the pure jazz background and the musicality to organize it. He had the vision. I'm not putting Al down, in fact I admire his work, especially the Lynyrd Skynyrd record that he produced, which is one of the best southern-rock albums of all time. I just know when I came into the band it was Colomby's, he was the driving force...I sort of gravitated towards the guys who were doing the jazz and rock thing because I had started doing that while still in Canada, and it was a natural fit. I was heading in that direction anyway...We played 2-3 nights a week [at the Café Au Go Go] , and developed the whole new show, like 'Smiling Phases' and 'God Bless The Child', 'You’ve made me so very happy'. I brought in 'Spinning Wheel', which I’d recorded once in Canada, I brought it down and we did it. When Jimmy Guercio was brought in, we basically took our set into the studio with us. I have to say, I'm grateful to Al for 'You've Made Me So Very Happy'. He picked it out to sing and left it behind. The chart was already written for it and I liked the tune, and that was Al’s present to me."

'Blood, Sweat & Tears' was recorded at a 16-track recording facility at CBS Studios in New York City with David Clayton-Thomas on lead vocals; Lew Soloff and Chuck Winfield on trumpet and flugelhorn; Bobby Colomby on drums, percussion, and vocals; Jim Fielder on bass; Dick Halligan on organ, piano, flute, trombone, and vocals; Steve Katz on guitar, harmonica, vocals, and lead vocals on "Sometimes In Winter"; Fred Lipsius on alto saxophone and piano; and Jerry Hyman on trombone and recorder. James William Guercio produced the sessions with engineers Fred Catero, Roy Halee, and Robert Honablue. Arrangements were done by Dick Halligan, Fred Lipsius, and Al Kooper.

The heady mix of classical, jazz, and rock was made more commercial with the interplay of brassy horns and the powerhouse voice of their new lead singer. It struck a chord with the buying public and the album was a pop sensation, going to the top of the US and Canadian album charts several different times in 1969. In the US alone it sold over four million copies and had three singles peak at number two on the pop chart. 'Blood, Sweat & Tears' went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Katz says: "The first album initially did not do well, so Kooper talked about leaving. Bobby and myself knew we could never be a commercial success with Al’s singing, so it worked out well. If Al continued in the band, we would only have wound up as a footnote in rock history. It was because of the second album that the first received acclaim and, eventually, sales ... When we put out the second album. It had reached sixteen in Cash Box and when I called to find out the next week’s chart position, the secretary there said she couldn’t find it so I thought the album dropped off the charts. She called me back to say that she hadn’t thought of looking at the number one spot and there we were. Very few things in this life feel that good."

Colomby considers: "Blood Sweat & Tears came into existence and defined a new category in popular music: Jazz/Rock. It was never embraced by critics as a pure art form but rather a hybrid. We also weren't considered either a 60's or a 70's band because our success came between decades. As a result, we are usually dismissed as an anomaly."

http://www.bloodsweatandtears.com/

"Spinning Wheel" went to number two on the US pop chart and number one on the easy listening chart. The song was nominated for three Grammys including Song of Year, winning for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK62tfoCmuQ

"You've Made Me So Very Happy" hit number thirty-two in the UK and number two in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpwXasI2IL4

"And When I Die" also went to number two on the US pop chart.

"God Bless the Child"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04rClGsbWp4

'Blood, Sweat & Tears'
full album:
https://myspace.com/bloodsweatandtears/music/album/blood-sweat-tears-8096022

Side 1
"Variations on a Theme By Erik Satie" (1st and 2nd Movements) – 2:35
Adapted from "Trois Gymnopédies"; arr. by Dick Halligan
"Smiling Phases" (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood) – 5:11
"Sometimes in Winter" (Steve Katz) – 3:09
"More and More" (Vee Pee Smith, Don Juan) – 3:04
"And When I Die" (Laura Nyro) – 4:06
"God Bless the Child" (Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.)– 5:55
Side 2
"Spinning Wheel" (David Clayton-Thomas) – 4:08
"You've Made Me So Very Happy" (Berry Gordy Jr., Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson) – 4:19
"Blues – Part II" (Blood, Sweat & Tears) – 11:44
Interpolating "Sunshine of Your Love" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Eric Clapton) and "Spoonful" (Willie Dixon)
"Variations on a Theme By Erik Satie" (1st Movement) – 1:49

Monday, September 29, 2014

the crack

The Ruts sussed out a reggae redemption from smoldering anxiety and savage human punk truth. Malcolm Owen and Paul Fox were friends in school and played with Paul Mattocks before joining up with Post Office telephone engineer John "Segs" Jennings and record shop manager Dave Ruffy, who were in a funk band called Hit and Run. They performed their first gig in September of 1977 and seven months later released their first single 'In a Rut' on the People Unite label. They played in benefit concerts for Rock Against Racism with reggae band Misty in Roots.

Malcolm Owen would relate: "I was really delighted when punk happened...I was into a lot of jazz...George Duke, Weather Report, Stanley Clarke...I never play them at all now. I was a regular at The Vortex. I used to be tied up in all sorts of...(bondage gear). I just totally went along with it. And it turned me on so much 'cause it was so energetic...We gigged solidly in the RAR clubs with bands like Misty...We played gigs like that for a year with virtually nothing else...they were giving us gigs when no one else was."

Ruffy remembers: "Malcolm and Paul lived in the Hayes/Southall which is very multicultural, and I think Malcolm got to know Chris Bolton who was one of Misty's managers. We did a few gigs together and quite a few Rock Against Racism gigs. It was hard times in England then and we (The Ruts) were not particularly political, but Misty were our mates, and music really does break down barriers. It was great to play gigs together and present a united front. I feel it was a good thing to present to the crowd. as there was a lot of hatred about what with the rise of the National Front, and the seemingly very racist SPG (Special Patrol Group)... a kind of riot police."

Jennings adds: "Malcolm used to live in a very strange row of squat cottages in Hayes, later to be dubbed Rut Row... a good friend of ours, Lizzie Cook, introduced us to Clarence Baker, who managed Misty with Chris Bolton, and we ended up doing a few gigs at first which at the time were very weird. This then progressed into the Rock Against Racism gigs, and from there we just became kinda like fellow warriors as it were. Finally, we did away with any banners and let the music and event speak for itself..."

The band was signed to Virgin Records and set to work on their debut album. 'The Crack' was produced by The Ruts with Mick Glossop and Bob Sargeant. The sessions featured Malcolm Owen on vocals; Paul Fox on guitar and organ; John "Segs" Jennings on bass guitar, and piano on "Jah War"; and Dave Ruffy on drums; with Richard Mannah on backing vocals on "S.U.S" & "Criminal Mind"; Mick Glossop on synthesizer on "It Was Cold"; Gary Barnacle on saxophone; and Luke Tunney on trumpet. The album cover was done by artist John H Howard.

http://www.theruts.co.uk/

'Babylon's Burning' went to number seven on the UK singles chart.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1gtr3_ruts-babylon-s-burning-1979_music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erZxdX9enNQ

'Something That I Said' made it to number twenty-nine in the UK.

'Jah War'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zIS6oYqec

'The Crack'
full album:

All tracks written by The Ruts (Paul Fox, Malcolm Owen, Dave Ruffy, John Jennings).
1. Babylon's Burning 00:00
2. Dope for Guns 02:35
3. S.U.S. 04:45
4. Something That I Said 08:35
5. You're Just A...12:30
6. It Was Cold 15:25
7. Savage Circle 22:16
8. Jah War 25:23
9. Criminal Mind 32:15
10. Backbiter 33:50
11. Out of Order 36:55
12. Human Punk 38:46
13. Give Youth a Chance 43:17
14. I Ain't Sofisticated 46:25
15. The Crack 48:40

'In A Rut'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6ZkJBTyKg0

Sunday, September 28, 2014

brand new day

Sting turned the clock to zero and spent a year reworking the emotional explorations of this romantic renewal. After four albums recorded with producer Hugh Padgham ('...Nothing Like the Sun', 'The Soul Cages', 'Ten Summoner's Tales' and 'Mercury Falling'), Sting began work on a new project without him.

Sting reveals: "I pretended I wasn't working on a record. I pretended I was just gonna get some musicians together and have fun in the house and jam a little, and then pick the bones out of the jams in the mornings, and then adapt them a little bit. This was in Italy, in Tuscany. I converted a granaio, a big barn, into a playing space with a little desk in it. So I just jammed around for a month or two, and picked bits out and started to loosely structure songs without any lyrics. I finished and sequenced an hour of music without any idea of what it was about lyrically! This is not the normal way I work, which is to write lyrics first or second but always in the same period of time as the music. This was different. So I would take an hour of music away with me on my walks around the woods in Tuscany, and try and allow characters or stories to emerge, rather like the way I imagine sculptors work - they find a piece of rock and see a bit of a nose here, and a bit of an arm or leg there and end up with a body. Some days nothing would emerge out of the mist, and other days whole characters would emerge. So the music was telling me the stories. I had no plan that the songs would be connected in any way, because the music was quite disparate, but I ended up with twelve songs that were really love stories in the very traditional sense - but with "lover" always as a metaphor for something larger, some larger philosophical thought or religious view of the world. They're all connected in that sense, and I think it's quite a romantic record...I feel the millenium is very much part of this record - and as my strategy in life is to be optimistic, in art I want to be the same. We need to look positively toward the future and not be sucked in by the lunacy that this is the end of the world, or that everything's going to fall apart - trouble, strife, plague, all that stuff. All that becomes self-fulfilling. So my strategy is to be optimistic, naive maybe. But maybe that's my job...I didn't set out to write lyrics just above love, yet almost all the songs have the theme of broken lives that can be mended by love. My challenge was to write a happy love song without being banal or smug. For example, 'Brand New Day', the last song, begins with a jaundiced view and then moves toward acceptance, to diving back into love. It's basically the thought that falling in love is an act of optimism - and I think if the album has that tone, for me... it's an optimistic one...I think there's an optimism in just about all the songs...That love actually transcends not only lifetimes, it also transcends break-ups. There is meaning in a relationship even if it doesn't last. It's been a profound and useful part of living."

'Brand New Day' was produced by Sting and Kipper (Mark Eldridge) with engineers Simon Osborne, Neil Dorfsman, Geoff Foster, and Chris Blair. The process took place from summer of 1998 through the summer of 1999, starting and ending at Il Palagio in Tuscany; with string sessions recorded at Air Lyndhurst studios in London; overdubs at New York's Right Track and Avatar studios; and mixing in Paris at Studio Mega. The sessions featured Sting on guitar, bass, keyboards, vg-8 guitar synth, and vocals; Kipper on drum programming, keyboards; Dominic Miller on guitars; Manu Katché and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums; Jason Rebello on piano and clavinet; and Chris Botti on trumpet; with Stevie Wonder on harmonica; James Taylor on vocals and acoustic guitar; Cheb Mami on vocals; Branford Marsalis on clarinet; Mino Cinelu on percussion; Dave Hartley on string arrangements, conduction, and Hammond organ; B.J. Cole on pedal steel guitar; Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian pipes and fiddle; Don Blackman on Hammond organ; Sté on vocals; Ettamri Mustapha on darbouka; Joe Mendez, Janice Pendarvis, Althea Rodgers, Pamela Quinlan, Marlon Saunders, Veneese Thomas, Darryl Tookes, Ken Williams, Tawatha Agee, and Dennis Collins on background vocals; Gavyn Wright as string leader; Farhat Bouallagui on string arrangement, conductor, and leader; with string players Moulay Ahmed, Kouider Berkan, Salem Bnouni, and Sameh Catalan.

Kipper says: "He's got this place called Il Palagio, which is literally a palace with three hundred acres of olive groves and vineyards. He bought that about a year and a half ago and has been getting it up to scratch. He's only lived there for the period of time we were working on this album. He wanted to be in a different environment for the summer, and it's beautiful in Tuscany...We would jam every evening for about four or five hours and experiment. We did that for about four weeks, and then each morning we'd listen to the work we'd done the night before and write down the timecode of where we thought there was something good. Then we'd work that bit out and develop it to the next level...Even three or four months in, we were just doing demos. Of course, in the back of your mind, you know you're making a record, but you free yourself from the pressure of having to make something amazing. It's a really valuable approach for Sting, because obviously there is a lot of pressure on Sting to write another hit song and do something that's better than Ten Summoner's Tales, or The Police...He's always used Hugh Padgham in the past, and I think he thought Hugh might come in to produce at some stage, but when he started doing vocals and coming up with vocal arrangements, I was helping with that and being a sounding board - so I fulfilled a new role. I'd worked with it to that point doing the programming, making the tracks sound full and finished, so I just stayed with it...I'd bought into Sting's way of working where you open yourself up creatively and don't get attached to things, so we put a little additional track in halfway through the album from something we'd lost during the year, as a musical interlude. Then we edited out a chorus and changed the track order of a couple of songs. It was probably the middle to end of July when we decided it was time to stop thinking about the album and move on."

'Brand New Day' rose to twenty-one in Australia; nineteen in Canada; sixteen in New Zealand; nine in the US; seven in Denmark, Japan, and the Netherlands; five in Spain and the UK; four in Belgium and Sweden; three in France; two in Switzerland; and number one in Austria, Finland, Germany, and Norway. The album won two Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

http://www.sting.com/

"Brand New Day"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA46ZNjrzeY

How many of you people out there
Been hurt in some kind of love affair?
And how many times did you swear
That you'd never love again?
How many lonely, sleepless nights?
How many lies, how many fights?
And why would you want to
Put yourself through all of that again?
Love is pain I hear you say
Love has a cruel and bitter way of
Paying you back for all the faith you ever had in your brain
How could it be that what you need the most
Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?
You never want to feel so sad and lost again
One day you could be looking
Through an old book in rainy weather
You see a picture of her smiling at you
When you were still together
You could be walking down the street
And who should you chance to meet
But that same old smile you've been thinking of all day?
Why don't we turn the clock to zero honey
I'll sell the stock we'll spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock all the way back
I wonder if she'll take me back
I'm thinking in a brand new way
Turn the clock to zero sister
You'll never know how much I missed her
I'm starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock to zero boss
The river's wide we'll swim across
We're starting up a brand new day
It could happen to you,
Just like it happened to me,
There is simply no immunity
There's no guarantee.
I say love is such a force if you should find yourself in it
You need some time for reflection
You say, baby wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Turn the clock to zero honey
I'll sell the stock we'll spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock to zero Mac
I'm begging her to take me back
I'm thinking in a brand new way
Turn the clock to zero boss
The river's wide we'll swim across
Starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock to zero buddy
Don't wanna be no fuddy duddy
We're starting up a brand new day
I'm the rhythm in your tune
I'm the sun and you're the moon
I'm the bat and you're the cave
You're the beach and I'm the wave
I'm the plough and you're the land
You're the glove and I'm the hand
I'm the train and you're the station
I'm the flagpole to your nation
I'm the present to your future
You're the wound and I'm the suture
You're the magnet to my pole
I'm the devil in your soul
You're the pupil I'm the teacher
You're the church and I'm the preacher
You're the flower I'm the rain
You're the tunnel I'm the train
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
We're starting up a brand new day
You're the crop to my rotation
You're the sum of my equation
I'm the answer to your question
If you follow my suggestion
We can turn this ship around
And go up instead of down
You're the pan and I'm the handle
You're the flame and I'm the candle
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
We're starting up a brand new day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu9R4egeg_I

"Desert Rose"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3lWwBslWqg

"A Thousand Years"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQGgFCCPOrY

"After the Rain Has Fallen"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLvZbR0R3CA

'Brand New Day'
full album:

All songs written by Sting, except where noted.

"A Thousand Years" (Kipper, Sting) – 5:57
"Desert Rose" (featuring Cheb Mami) – 4:45
"Big Lie, Small World" (featuring David Hartley) – 5:05
"After the Rain Has Fallen" – 5:03
"Perfect Love... Gone Wrong" (featuring Sté Strausz) – 5:24
"Tomorrow We'll See" – 4:47
"Prelude to the End of the Game" – 0:20
"Fill Her Up" (featuring James Taylor) – 5:38
"Ghost Story" – 5:29
"Brand New Day" (featuring Stevie Wonder) – 6:19

bonus tracks
"The End of the Game"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqCIMKmQSu0

"Windmills of Your Mind" (Michel Legrand, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman)　
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj7KZRMAIxQ

Saturday, September 27, 2014

some great reward

Depeche Mode made a lasting impression with the gothic melodrama and blasphemous rumours of this industrial synth pop classic. Building on the sound of their previous album 'Construction Time Again', 'Some Great Reward' shows the band moving toward more personal subject matter.

Recorded from January through August of 1984 at Music Works in Highbury, London and Hansa Mischraum in Berlin for Mute Records, the sessions for 'Some Great Reward' were produced by Depeche Mode, Daniel Miller, and Gareth Jones and featured Dave Gahan on lead vocals and sampling; Martin L. Gore on synthesizer, guitar, sampling, backing vocals, and lead vocals for "It Doesn't Matter" and "Somebody"; Andrew Fletcher on sampling and backing vocals; and Alan Wilder on synthesizer, sampling, programming, backing vocals, and piano.

Wilder looks back: "By the time we came to record Some Great Reward we not only had the Emulator, but Daniel Miller had invested £60,000 in a Synclavier which rarely worked -- although when it did it sounded great...We used a PPG Wave, which was our first digital synth, although we also had the Synclavier and the Emu Emulator I by this point. What people forget about the Synclavier is that it's also a very powerful synthesizer. A lot of the synth sounds on Construction Time Again, Some Great Reward and Black Celebration were actually generated from the Synclavier. Once the samplers appeared, though, our setup didn't change very much. Actually, a lot of the changes to the band's gear happened so that we could take songs out on the road. For example, the Emu Emax was a very rugged, user-friendly keyboard which would hold a lot of our sounds and was ideal for live work."

Jones reveals: "Martin made a demo for 'People Are People' — it was also the first time the band had done a pre-production session — and this had one ambient sound that he'd recorded with a Walkman on an airplane; a bit of laughter and noise. He looped this up on the demo, and we decided to somehow recreate that sound, but it was impossible to recreate because it was a 'found sound', full of texture and rhythm, so we ended up using what was on the demo. Nobody thinks anything of that now — found sounds are used all the time — but back then it was a bit of a breakthrough for us. The demos were all very lo-fi, recorded on four-track or whatever, yet somehow a tiny snippet of this sound still existed in the Emulator and it became a big part of the chorus. I remember that very clearly, because there was a moment's confusion when we thought, 'How are we going to recreate that?' and then suddenly we realised we didn't need to recreate it, we'd just use it. One of the big things we were using samplers for at that time was to sample the world and make our own melodies and rhythms out of it. In my work with Depeche and others, I've never been that interested in using samplers to recreate conventional instruments. Instead, when the sampler came out it was like opening a door of perception. We could sample almost sound and turn it into a rhythm or melody, or even use the intrinsic rhythm within a sound — during that period there were lots of sounds on Depeche Mode records that consisted of spinning saucepan lids, things falling downstairs, ping-pong balls bouncing, and loads of things with inherent rhythm that we twisted and warped into Martin's songs. The fragment of sound from the aircraft cabin was part of that."

'Some Great Reward' went to fifty-four in the US, thirty-four in the Netherlands, thirty-two in Italy, nineteen in Australia, seven in Sweden, five in Switzerland and the UK, and number three in Germany.

http://www.depechemode.com/

"People Are People" was a breakthrough hit around the world, going to number thirteen in the US, eight in the Netherlands, four in Sweden and the UK, two in Ireland, and number one in Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErnMC7xokQ8