Month: March 2021

Third Time’s The Charm: The Artists Whose Third Album Was The Breakthrough

~ kcorsini ~ 21 Comments

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*Only 5 LPs photographed because most of your intrepid blogger’s property is still in storage…

I don’t know if this is true or not, but it sure seems like bands have a lot more avenues to get their music out these days especially when compared to how they used to do it in the 70s or 80s… I’ve been sitting in the cheap seats watching my friend Drummer Blake work to establish his latest band the Sunset Sinners and those guys are a marketing machine. I don’t think they’re any different than any new band out there today. There are so many tools at a band’s disposal. Bands now have YouTube where they can release videos of live performances or just old school videos like Dirty Honey‘s latest. There’s so much more a band can do with social media today. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter new bands have a way of communicating directly with fans so when a record company comes calling, the band already has a built in fan base that can literally span the globe. And now with Tik Tok that social media reach may have even gotten broader… at least that’s what my friend James tells me, he loves Tik Tok. I’m only on a few social media platforms and Tik Tok ain’t one of them. Not yet anyway. I only got on Instagram to follow the bands I love…well that and to watch videos of cats and dogs doing adorable things. I’m like everyone else in that regard. 

In the old days a band’s social media consisted of the guys in the band wandering around downtown stapling cheap copies made at Kinkos to telephone poles to announce a gig. I think there was a scene in Motley Crue’s ‘The Dirt’ where they’re doing just that which had to be hot and exhausting in all that spandex. Typically to start a band a few like minded musicians who liked the same music might huddle together in a garage and start playing cover tunes. After a while and usually a few line up changes – often that involved someone answering an ad in the newspaper like Ace Frehley – the band might start doing gigs in front of actual people, not just distressed family members. A school dance here, a keg party there, it all helped the band to start to create a following. The band’s repertoire would expand and eventually they’d start to create their own, original music. Eventually some enterprising bar owner would let the band play on their stage… or perhaps give them a residency. Maybe Gene Simmons would show up and pay for a demo tape like he did for Van Halen…probably not but somehow  demo tapes would get made. If fortune and luck shone on the band, a record company would extend a contract… Oh, and a manager probably showed up somewhere in this process to take 10%.

When the record company would offer the band a contract you’d think all their dreams were answered. It’s the Cinderella story. Record companies today seem to only want bands who can deliver that mega-million dollar selling debut LP. Maybe record companies have always been that way? But for some bands that debut album fails to connect. Not every debut can be Boston or Appetite For Destruction (Pleased To Meet You… The Epic List of Our 40 Favorite Debut Albums). Some really classic debut LPs from the world’s biggest bands have been commercial failures. In meetings, the record company guys all act supportive, but the pressure is really on now. To make matters worse, there’s the sophomore slump that hangs over a lot of bands. Bono, in his Rock Hall of Fame speech was talking about being in a band and described the 2nd album (and he was speaking generally) as “the difficult second album.” The old saying, “You have your whole life to write your first album, and only a few months to write your second,” holds some truth. Even for bands whose debut LP had a hit single or two and sold well, a weak second album only brings more pressure. And there are a lot of weak second albums out there… U2’s October is a prime example. 

For a band whose first two albums hadn’t sold in big numbers, I can only imagine that the third album was a “make or break” situation. Today, I don’t think any current label would keep an act longer than two LPs if neither sold well. We live in an instant gratification world, and if a band’s first or second album doesn’t explode, it’s time to move on. Back in the 70s and even the 80s, record labels seemed to be slightly more patient. They would let a band develop, mostly by playing a shit ton of concerts on the road, but also in the studio and as songwriters. Sometimes all that was needed was a new producer. Maybe the band tweaks the line up. It just felt, without all the social media to help build in that fanbase, that record companies back in the day gave artists’ more time or a little more leash, if you will. 

Some of the world’s most renown artists took an entire three albums to break into that world wide fame and commercial success. If these bands were coming out today I’m not sure any record company would have stuck with them until that third album and that would be a damn shame. Here is my list of phenomenal third records that made the bands who recorded them famous. I consider each of these records essential rock and roll listening. 

Aerosmith, Toys In The Attic

While Aerosmith had the hit “Dream On” on their debut, the album didn’t make a dent. They moved in together so they could rehearse constantly and brought in renown producer Jack Douglas for their second LP Get Your Wings, which sold better. At that point Aerosmith became road warriors. They toured incessantly behind the 2nd LP which helped build their fan base but also improved their songwriting and chops. With the big singles “Walk This Way” (later redone with Run D.M.C. during their “comeback”) and my favorite “Sweet Emotion” Aerosmith became superstars. This, to me, is Aerosmith’s peak album. Even the deep tracks like “Uncle Salty” and “Adam’s Apple” kick ass. I love the first two Aerosmith LPs, but I can understand how this is the one that broke them wide and far. It’s telling that they re-released “Dream On” during this time period to try and boost sales of that debut. 

Lenny Kravitz, Are You Gonna Go My Way

While Lenny’s debut is now considered a classic, you never heard much of it on the radio. Every woman I met in the 90s, even casually, put his debut on for me to hear. Despite his unending support among 20-something aged women, his second LP, Mama Said was pretty much invisible. Then suddenly, the title track of this album exploded on to radio and MTV with an iconic video of Lenny rocking in a circular room and flinging his dreds everywhere. There are so many classic tunes on this album – “Believe,” “Heaven Help,” “Black Girl,” and “Just Be A Woman” to name a few. Yes, Lenny tends to wear his influences on his sleeve, but he distills all of them into a fantastic album here. I’m not sure he ever did anything as good as this essential third LP. 

No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom

I had no doubt back in the day that I didn’t like this band. Then the Rock Chick took me to see them live on their reunion tour and I was blown away by them. Guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young were lean and muscular. I wasn’t prepared for how hard they rocked. Front woman Gwen Stefani who went on to totally disappoint me on her solo career was charismatic and energetic on stage… I was mesmerized by her performance…but I’m getting off topic. After that show, I went out and bought all their albums. Their eponymous debut LP got zero support from their record label and they asked to be dropped from their contract which the label refused to do. Their 2nd album, Beacon Street Collection can be thought of as songs about hating their record company. Finally on the third LP, they pierced the grunge consciousness of the era with Tragic Kingdom. Listening to this LP all these years later, it’s a staggering leap forward from the first two records. “Just A Girl” is a woman’s empowerment anthem for the ages and it actually rocks. From that to the ballad “Sunday Morning” this album is just about perfect. 

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Damn The Torpedos 

Petty’s first two albums had classic songs and hits – “Breakdown,” “American Girl,” “I Need To Know” and “Listen To Her Heart.” Listening to those albums today you could tell this was a band who was on the verge of breaking big. Damn The Torpedoes was that quantum leap forward and coincidentally the first Petty LP I ever purchased. My brother had it before I even did. “Here Comes My Girl,” “Don’t Do Me Like That” and “Refugee” were all monster hits but I like some of the deep tracks. “Even the Losers” (a personal anthem) and “You Tell Me” are stellar. I even dig “Louisiana Rain.” One of the greatest albums of all time. 

The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta 

Maybe some day someone will explain the title to me… I was in junior high when the Police’s debut album Outlandos D’Amor came out. We all loved “Roxanne.” I remember singing it like Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours, loudly, high-pitched and out of tune in study hall much to the chagrin of the teacher in charge. Outlandos was a classic despite the French title, but I didn’t know anybody who owned it. The second album, Regatta De Blanc boasted the hits “Walking On the Moon,” and “Message In A Bottle” but it didn’t seem to resonate with as many people. Frankly I thought both those tracks were on the debut. After a world wide tour, much like Aerosmith, that honed their playing and songwriting skills they returned with Zenyatta Mondatta and suddenly everyone was on the Police bandwagon. “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” about the nonsensical nature of speeches by politicians, teachers and lawyers was the first single and despite probably not understanding that, we all loved that song. I think my friend Doug saw the Police on this tour. Every song on this album could have been a hit. Between the Police and Aerosmith I think it could be argued every new band should be sent on the road for at least a year to play as many shows as they can. 

Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run

Springsteen’s first album Greetings From Asbury Park is now seen as a classic. Groups from Manfred Mann to Bowie to Greg Kihn have covered tracks from this album. Commercially though, it was largely ignored. His second disc, The Wild, The Innocent And the E Street Shuffle, which gave his backing band its name, is my favorite Springsteen album. Oddly, the great epics on that album like “Incident On 57th St,” “Rosalita,” or “New York City Serenade” were largely ignored. With his back to the wall, Springsteen wrote his greatest batch of songs. He wanted lyrics like Dylan with Phil Spector’s “wall of sound.” I’d say he checked both those boxes! Like Damn The Torpedoes this is one of the greatest albums of all time. I’m just glad Columbia Records let Bruce have a third shot at an album. They would have dropped him if this record failed… 

Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells A Story 

After his brief stint as “vocalist extraordinaire” for the Jeff Beck Group, Stewart recorded his debut, The Rod Stewart Album, or as it was known in the UK, An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down. It was part folk, part rock n roll which would set the template for the rest of Rod’s best work. It didn’t take off so he joined the Faces as their lead singer and after that, he’d release an album with the Faces and a solo album every year. It wasn’t until his third LP, Every Picture Tells A Story that he broke it big when a DJ in Cleveland flipped over the first single “Reason To Believe” to play the B-side, a little ditty named “Maggie May.” Rod became a superstar which was great for him, not so great for his mates in the Faces. I still hope Rod, Ronnie Wood and Kenny Jones can get a semi-Faces reunion together and do something. Rod was always better when he was working with a strong guitar player like Wood. 

U2, War

Boy, U2’s debut boasted the fabulous song “I Will Follow” that they still play in concert but it only made a little dent on the charts. The “difficult second album,” October didn’t do them any favors. Like Springsteen, with their backs against the wall, they retreated to Hawaii and recorded their breakthrough album. Sure, they had bigger and perhaps better albums, but War is the LP that broke them wide open… it’s also the first LP from them I purchased. The anthems “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “New Year’s Day” moved them in a political direction that I always loved. It’s amazing how many of these third LPs ended up being some of the greatest music ever recorded… Maybe it’s the pressure? 

The White Stripes, White Blood Cells 

Like a majority of people, this was the LP where I first discovered the White Stripes. I ended up going back and buying their previous 2 LPs almost immediately upon buying White Blood Cells. The eponymous debut was all garage-rock, meaning it sounded like it was recorded in a garage. It was raw and ferocious, naturally I loved it. Even I will admit however, I can see why that wasn’t an international sensation. Their second LP, De Stijl was, like Springsteen’s E Street Shuffle, my favorite Stripes album. It’s bluesy and punk… its blues punk. However, it also failed to resonate far and wide. White Blood Cells had the big hits that made them famous “Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground” and “Fell In Love With A Girl” that likely drove a lot of people like me to their first two records. They may have had bigger albums but this one is almost perfect. “We’re Going To Be Friends” is the best acoustic track they ever did. “I’m Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman” has always been a personal fav. The Stripes just released a wonderful Greatest Hits album if you’re not obsessive about owning every LP but White Blood Cells is the perfect place to start with the Stripes. 

 

Most, if not all of these bands went on to storied, long careers. They all had “bigger,” better selling albums but these are such critical pieces of that later success. These are some of the greatest albums ever. I urge everyone who hasn’t heard these “third” records to do so immediately. Because as we’ve just learned, sometimes the third time is the charm. 

Cheers! Be safe out there, we’re getting closer every day to being able to some of this great rock n roll played live! 

 

 

Album Lookback: Triumph’s ‘Allied Forces’ – Canada’s Other Power Trio’s Greatest LP

~ kcorsini ~ 7 Comments

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Over time I have often cited what the source of my inspiration for a particular post was. Most often I think I’m prone to writing about what inspired me when I do a playlist, like the one I recently did about songs that can only be found on soundtracks. A few weeks ago I put Canadian power-trio Triumph’s LP Allied Forces on the stereo and thought to myself, I’ve got to write about this sensational album. It’s a record that will always hold a special place in my rock n roll heart… After that initial thought, like magic (or perhaps more appropriately like “Magic Power”) almost immediately I started seeing posts that 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of Allied Forces and there’s an anniversary box set coming out. I never made that 40-year connection… Dylan is right, “Time is a jet plane, it moves so fast.” Also, and I thought this was weird, the day I started writing this post someone on the music forum I’m a member of started a Triumph thread. I couldn’t help but think maybe I was right and the time to write about this album was at last at hand. This was inspiration in reverse. The universe was telling me, “Crank the Triumph, son.” Why argue with that?

In the early 80s rock n roll dominated the radio. Well, it dominated the radio in any room or car I was in. Unlike today there were so many rock bands to choose from. I guess looking back pundits or critics would classify certain bands as “top tier” or “tier 1.” I’m not sure I ever really thought about it like that. I don’t know if people consider Triumph a top tier band or not but I always really liked them. I’m guessing they were huge in Canada. And let’s all admit, Canada has produced some fantastic rock bands. Everybody talks about Rush but Triumph was a great band and frankly I always liked April Wine. I’m not even getting into the Neil Young, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell thing. Triumph was Rik Emmett on guitar/vocals, Mike Levine bass/keyboards and Gil Moore on drums and vocals. They were a power trio like Rush and they had a singing drummer like Genesis… what’s not to love here? Although I will admit right up front I preferred the songs when guitarist Rik Emmett was the lead singer. Emmett also wrote most of their bigger songs. 

As soon as I got into rock n roll I feel like I was always aware of Triumph. They got airplay on KY/102 my local rock station. The first thing I really remember hearing from them was a great cover of Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way,” from their LP Rock N Roll Machine. I always thought that was a weird choice of a tune to cover but they pulled it off. My old roommate Stormin’ loved that album, or so I seem to remember him telling me he did. Triumph were indeed a power trio and they played powerful, hard rock. I’ve seen them characterized as heavy metal, but I always thought they were too melodic to be thought of as strictly metal. I also think they had just a touch of prog rock in their sound. Any band with a song title divided by Roman numerals checks the prog rock box for me… They just played great, straight up rock n roll. They really started to take off and to pierce my teenage consciousness in 1979 with Just A Game. There were two stellar tunes on that LP that got a lot of airplay in KC, “Hold On” and my personal favorite “Lay It On the Line.” “Hold On” starts off acoustic, almost a ballad, and then builds to a soaring rock song. “Lay It On the Line” is just straight up riff rock. Emmett’s playing on that song was exceptional. 

It was fall of 1981 that I started hear about “this new Triumph album,” Allied Forces. I was fairly new to collecting albums and back then I was never completely sure what songs were on what albums until I was holding the record in my hand in the record store. I was under the impression that “Lay It On the Line,” which was still getting heavy airplay, was on Allied Forces a mistake I continue to make to this day. The song had been around for 2 years, I’m not sure how that mistake got written in stone in my mind. The title track was the first single, but I don’t remember ever hearing that on the radio. It was the second single “Magic Power” that grabbed me and sent me to the record store to buy this album on vinyl. I always loved the silver flying-V guitar on the cover. When I play air-guitar, that’s the guitar I’m playing. And yes, I still air guitar, much to the Rock Chick’s disgust and amusement. 

I not only bought the vinyl, I put this thing on cassette so I could listen to it in the car. I was about to leave high school and start that difficult transition to adulthood and college. When you’re a senior in high school you’re at the top of the food chain. When you become a freshman in college – or you start a new job out of high school – you’re the low man on the totem pole. It’s a narrow, slippery bridge we cross to transition to adulthood. Its a transition many people struggle with and I was no exception.  In fact, I struggled so mightily my freshman year you might say, I was the prime example of failing to launch. It was my own damn fault. By the end of my freshman year I was pretty demoralized. I remember getting in my car to head home from college, ready to turn the page and move on when I spotted that Triumph cassette. I plugged it in and as cheesy as this sounds, the “Magic Power” lyric, “I’m young, I’m wild and I’m free” really hit me. The song transported me away from my despair. I was indeed young and if you were to ask my mother she’d probably testify to how wild I was back then. She probably did have to testify for me, but uh, those records are sealed… Little did she know… Most importantly, I was free. Free from all the self-inflicted pain and heartbreak I’d caused myself. I still smile when I hear that great, great rock song. It’s one of those moments in life when certain rock and roll comes along and can not only lift you up, it can literally save you. I know Allied Forces helped lift me out of a dreadful mindset. 

There’s so much more on this record beyond “Magic Power.” Side 1 (on vinyl anyway) not only had that song, it had a great rocker as an opening track “Fool For Your Love,” which is an apt description of me at the time. Drummer Gil Moore sings on that track and it reminds me of “Lay It On the Line” in that it’s straight up riff-rock. The title track was also on the first side of the record. It’s preceded by a sound effects/keyboard thing, “Air Raid” which again is evidence of a little bit of prog rock in the wood pile. “Allied Forces” was a great rock n roll statement of purpose. Lets band together international rockers and “take control.” The first side concludes with another big rocker in “Hot Time (In The City Tonight)” that starts with a riff that is reminiscent of Chuck Berry. It quickly turns to a heavy rock thing but man is Rik Emmett ever nimble on guitar. And yet we never talk about Emmett when discussing great guitar players? 

The second side kicks off with “Fight The Good Fight” which was another song that resonated with me. It’s probably one of the most encouraging rock songs ever recorded. It became my roommate’s and my pre-exam tune. After cramming for a test, no matter what subject, when it was time to leave and head to campus, we’d crank “Fight The Good Fight” for luck. I love Emmett’s vocal on this song. Its followed by the quasi-politcal epic “Ordinary Man” that starts with what sounds like a choir. I’m telling you, these guys were more prog than I realized. “Ordinary Man” had lyrics I could really relate to, “You want to think you’re different, but you know you never can, You’re just another ordinary man.” God knows I never wanted to be “ordinary.” It goes on to get topical, calling out politicians and the media. After a brief acoustic guitar solo a’la Eddie Van Halen (“Petit Etude”), comes my other favorite track, “Say Goodbye.” It’s a classic, babe you’ve done me wrong and I’m leaving song. While I had actually gone through a brutal break up, for me “Say Goodbye” was more about leaving behind some bad circumstance than an actual person. Although, I won’t lie the lyric “but now the party’s over… and you just don’t sound the same,” certainly resonated on a more visceral level back then… but all of that is a foggy, distant memory. It’s a big strummer type of a tune. The chorus is almost a sing along. It’s the most upbeat break up song of all time and the perfect ending for this album. 

I got to see these guys on the tour for this album. They played Arrowhead Stadium at a very rainy Summer Jam that featured Foreigner, 38 Special and yes, Loverboy. They killed it and were by far my favorite performer of the day. I saw them again on the tour for the follow up LP, Never Surrender. That LP didn’t grab me in the same way as Allied Forces but a few years later I was back on the bandwagon for The Sport of Kings. I don’t know if Rik Emmett or Triumph ever got their due praise and attention. But for almost a year I listened to this album virtually non-stop. If you haven’t checked out Triumph, I urge you to start with this album. Any track of Triumph I mentioned in this post is definitely worth a spin. The world needs more solid hard rock bands like Triumph these days…

Turn this one up loud! Cheers!  

 

Lookback: My Mixtape Days – Inventor of the Cassette Tape Dies at 94

~ kcorsini ~ 20 Comments

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I got up one day last week, as I thankfully do every day, and I checked the news. I’m not a morning person so there’s no TV involved. I prefer a lot of silence in the morning so I just checked on-line. I was scrolling through headlines and I noticed a Dutch gentlemen named Lou Ottens had died at the age of 94. He was a scientist and inventor for the Philips company. In my still sleep riddled mind I couldn’t help but think, big deal some scientist passed in the Netherlands. I kept scrolling, still half-asleep drinking hot coffee as quickly as the scalding liquid would allow, when I stopped and went back to the Ottens’ article. It was then that I saw that Lou was the inventor of the cassette tape. Oh man, that took me back. In this age of streaming and MP3s people forget what a revolution cassettes were. Portable music was a reality. We weren’t all chained to the home stereo any more. 

Prior to Mr. Ottens’ invention, other than vinyl the only way to consume music was on those bulky reel-to-reel tapes, but lets be honest only beatnik, jazzbo types owned reel-to-reel tapes. I have an image of groovy dudes in black turtlenecks and shades even though they’re indoors, smoking joints and talking about Miles Davis’ feel as In A Silent Way spools through the reel-to-reel player. Although as I type that sentence I’m reminded that my father-in-law owned a reel-to-reel player and as a rancher/farmer he was only into country music like C.J. McCall…”Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy…” Gads. His reel-to-reel gear was long gone by the time I came along but I would have loved to hear what that sounded like. 

In an attempt to make music more portable, the industry had tried a more “compact” tape version of the album on the now legendary 8-track tape. If you couldn’t get a turntable into a car, by God, lets try 8-tracks. A lot of people jumped on the 8-track bandwagon, thankfully I was not one of them. First of all, I never thought they were very compact. They were the size of a small paperback novel. My buddy Brewster had an 8-track player in his car and we’d listen to Cheap Trick’s Live At Budokan all the time. I thought it was because Brewster loved that album but looking back it may have been the only 8-track he owned. I could never figure out 8-tracks. It was years before I learned what the actual playing order of that Cheap Trick live album was. 

Enter Mr. Ottens and his magic cassettes. I’ll be honest, I was a vinyl guy from the start. I only purchased two albums on proper cassettes. I purchased AC/DC’s Highway To Hell on cassette because I wanted to listen to that album in the car. I actually bought that LP on cassette for the reason they were invented – so you could take your music anywhere and you were free from having to have a turntable which would have been hard in the car considering what a reckless driver I was (am?). I also bought Pete Townshend’s Empty Glass on cassette prior to that because I saw that was how a lot of people were buying albums and I thought I was missing out on some sound sensation. Was there something I was missing? Well, no but it was still a nice portable way to consume music. If you were tired of your local radio station – or if you lived in a godforsaken place like Ft. Smith, Arkansas with terrible radio – you could just pop in a cassette and magically you were listening to your own music, arranged how you wanted it. 

The real magic in cassettes were the blank cassettes that allowed you to record anything you wanted to. It was indeed, a blank canvass. There were so many different brands of cassette tapes. Early on I purchased strictly TDK brand but quickly “upgraded” to Maxell who had an infinite number of different types of cassette tapes, each one of a higher quality than the last. Cassettes would hold 90 minutes of music – 45 minutes on each side. The average album back then was around 40 minutes, usually less. If it was a Van Halen album it was more likely 30 minutes long. You could put 1 album per side and leave the last bit of tape blank or you could add your own “bonus tracks” by the same artist at the end. Each tape had a small lead tape that wouldn’t hold music but was there to protect the cassette when fully rewound. You had to be careful if you were recording on vinyl that you’d gotten past those 10 seconds of lead tape or you’d cut off the first few seconds of the first track. The struggle was as real as the skills you needed to create a good tape recording. 

In the early days of my cassette taping, I was merely trying to collect music that I hadn’t purchased (for free). Cassette tapes were the early Napster, I suppose. My brother who had a crate full of albums before I’d even purchased my first album was my first source. I remember going into his room and plugging a cassette into his stereo – it was a turntable/radio/cassette tape all in one – and declaring I was going to tape some Beatles, but only the “good songs.” After filling up two whole cassettes to quote the movie Jaws, I realized, “you’re gonna need a bigger boat.” My mother had a friend, who  I’ll call Mrs. Smith, who had kids my age and my brother’s age. She brought over a stack of albums for me to tape that her kids owned. I’m still unsure why that happened. I think Mrs. Smith was trying to be cool. She appeared one day holding a can of beer with a cigarette dangling from her lips and handed me a stack of the heaviest metal I’d ever heard. Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Judas Priest… it was all too heavy. I was listening to blues rock… the Stones, ZZ Top, Foghat. I’ve always wondered what the hell was happening over at the Smith’s house. It was extraordinarily nice of her to share her kids’ music even though they were probably using it during human sacrifices, or so I wondered back then. I’ve grown to love metal but hey, I was 13 years old. 

After cannibalizing other people’s albums on cassette the thing that probably accelerated my cassette use was the Sony Walkman. I got a Walkman for Christmas one year and it really changed the way I listened to music. I had headphones on my home stereo, but to be able to pop a cassette in the Walkman and actually leave my room to wander around while tunes played was mind blowing back then. I remember walking around in a snow storm, we’d been let off school, and listening to Yes (The Yes Album) and feeling my brain expand. 

Pretty soon, with my cassettes I realized you didn’t have to be so linear in your thinking. You could mix up artists or songs from one artist on the cassette. You could mix music… ie, the mixtape finally occurred to me. My music collection had expanded to the point where I had enough Aerosmith LPs or Skynyrd LPs that I could cherry pick the tracks I liked from them from each album and put them on 1 cassette. I was making my own “greatest hits” album. I remember sitting in front of my first stereo, surrounded in a semi-circle of albums resting gently on their sleeves and rotating albums on and off the turntable as I carefully hit “record” or “stop.” If a band had a double-live LP, I’d typically use that as my guide to building a 2-sided 90 minute collection of their music. I had friends who made copies of my “greatest hits” mix tapes as by then the cassette industry had created the dual tape deck that allowed you to copy a cassette to another cassette… 

Eventually, even rock and roll nerds get girlfriends. By the time I was in college I was making the dreaded mixtapes for girlfriends. You always tried to find a song that said what you didn’t have the courage to say yourself. “You’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel…” as the movie says. Mind you, my mixtapes were never terribly sappy. Often times it was just stuff I knew the lady liked. She’s into Sting, here’s a mix of Sting and the Police. I often tried to turn women onto the music I dug. It was always important. If she rejected my music, wasn’t she rejecting me? I know people think they’re doing much the same when they were burning CDs or putting together playlists on Spotify, but there was nothing like the engineering the perfect mixtape. There was no shuffle. The order you put the songs in was really, really important. I’ve always loved the scene from the movie High Fidelity where John Cusack explains the theory behind a great mixtape because it’s so accurate…

Nick Hornsby who wrote the novel this movie is based on is a real hero to the music nerd in me. 

I have an ex out there somewhere who now teaches yoga who occasionally emails me to thank me for turning her onto good music. I did a lot of that with the dreaded mixtapes. I actually used a mixtape to break up with someone in the early 90s… As I recall I started that tape with B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone.” Not my finest moment. I’ve even made tapes for some friends of mine way back when. I have a friend I met when I first moved to Arkansas who had no money and coveted my deep album collection. I’d tape stuff I thought he’d dig – Clapton, the Band, the Allman Brothers – and so on… I wonder what ever happened to those things… Although if I had one of those mixtapes, I couldn’t play it. As times have changed and technology has shifted, the Rock Chick forced me to finally give up the cassette player. The only cassettes I still own are some Springsteen bootlegs from the way back machine. Oh, but I do miss those wonderful afternoons in front of the stereo with a stack of vinyl on the floor and a blank cassette in the stereo… Simply glorious. 

I’m glad Mr. Ottens came along and invented the cassette. It gave me many countless happy hours. I try and share music now via playlists but there was something so intimate and personal about sharing your music with someone back when I was younger and the mixtape was my medium. The mixtape was the way I took something that was so personal – listening to music – and turned it into something more public to be shared, to help bring me closer to people, friends and lovers. Maybe I was just practicing for this blog. The mixtape will always be a part of my rock and roll experience and enabled me to start sharing music and my experiences with it that I will hold onto fondly for as long as I’m able to hit “play.” 

R.I.P Mr. Lou Ottens. Cheers! 

Review: Dirty Honey, New Track “California Dreamin'” – Crunchy Hard Rawk!

~ kcorsini ~ 6 Comments

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I was delighted to see this week that it appears there might be a light at the end of this pandemic tunnel we find ourselves in and for once I’m beginning to believe it’s not an on-coming train. While we all need to exhibit caution, perhaps even an abundance of caution, we might actually have a summer this year. I can’t believe it was a year ago this very weekend that we realized “the shit has hit the fan,” to quote Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money.” It was one year ago this weekend that my daughter and her beau came back to Kansas City for our annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration, a big deal here in town. We’d all heard of the dreaded Covid, but nobody clearly understood what was happening. At the last minute they cancelled KC’s famous St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which was a painful, personal blow to me and I’m not even Irish, not an ounce. Despite that, St. Patty’s is the only religious holiday I still observe. Wearing green and drinking in the streets is a critical “Rite of Spring.” That Sunday, a year ago, is when the news broke that we needed to start distancing ourselves and that we had a real problem on our hands… I quickly retreated to my attic, where I have remained ever since.

As 2020 passed into the history books I couldn’t help but reflect on what a great year for music releases it had been (B&V’s Best of 2020: New LPs And Live/Vault/Archival Releases, Bad Year/Good Music). But in truth my focus even as 2020 waned was on the future. I was banking on the fact that 2021 was going to give us a slew of new releases. All of these bands couldn’t tour, I was hoping they were writing and recording. I think we’re beginning to see some of my hopeful thinking confirmed with some strong vault releases from Neil Young and the Black Crowes, reviewed in earlier posts. I know those particular releases were scheduled for 2020 but who knew what would happen with the delays. As we shrug off the brutal winter and ease into spring, I’m starting to see some new releases popping up for us. Just a few weeks ago Cheap Trick dropped a single “Light Up The Fire” from their new upcoming album. We loved their last LP (not counting live stuff or that Xmas LP) ‘We’re All Alright’. 

I discovered last weekend while I was listening to Petty’s new vault song “You Saw Me Coming” that a band I stumbled across in the depth of the pandemic Dirty Honey has released a new single, “California Dreamin’.” And no, this is not a Mamas and the Papas cover song. Last summer when I was never leaving the house, I finally ran out of reading material and convinced myself to risk a trip down to Barnes & Noble where I found something called ‘Classic Rock’ magazine. I was attracted to the the magazine because of a cover article on the Black Crowes. As I poured over every page, I stumbled upon this L.A. based band Dirty Honey: Marc Labelle on vocals, John Notto on guitar, Justin Smollen on bass and finally, Corey Coverstone on drums. I don’t why drummers always get listed last… I’ve gotta work on that. These guys are an old school guitar rock band. You just don’t hear new bands playing this great kind of music any more. They’ve got a real Guns N Roses or Aerosmith feel to them. I was absolutely knocked out by their EP released in 2019, which I quickly snapped up after reading about them, simply entitled ‘Dirty Honey – EP’. I had heard they were recording a new LP for 2020 but I’m sure they were forced to slow their plans up like, well, the rest of the planet did.

I’ll admit right off, a new LP from Dirty Honey is one of our most anticipated LPs down here at B&V. And, it appears last week they’ve dropped their new single, “California Dreamin'” and it’s another, great crunchy rocker. This L.A. band really takes me back to the Sunset Strip. “California Dreamin'” starts with a small drum roll and then the riff kicks in. I really like Labelle’s voice. The guitar solo reminds me of Slash, Notto shreds here. I think the lyrics capture the existential angst we all feel, “I’m California dreamin’, and it’s tearing us apart, it’s paranoia season, it’s in our minds and our hearts.” Amen, brother. And besides, who isn’t dreaming of travel right now… I’d love to jump in my car with the top down (if I had a convertible), crank up this tune and tear across a desert only to end up in California. While Dirty Honey get compared to Aerosmith, I get a real GnR vibe from these guys. It might be the trippy video they’ve released for the song which reminded me of GnR’s video for “Estranged.” Well, if “Estranged” had been made by happy, well adjusted people. As the band rocks out, we follow a fetching young woman through a magical doorway…

While this song didn’t grab me as hard as “Dirty 7s” or some of the other stuff on their EP, it did grab me. The more I listened to this the more I like it. I mean, who doesn’t love good ol’ guitar rock n roll. The album doesn’t come out until April, so we’ll have to just crank this tune as part of our B&V spring soundtrack until then. I would also tell you they’ve recently released a pretty faithful version of Aerosmith’s “Last Child” that is also quite tasty! I urge you all to check this tune out and turn it up!!

Happy St Patrick’s Day and stay safe out there! Rawk on!

Tom Petty: New Single The Sublime “You Saw Me Coming” From The “Upcoming” ‘Finding Wildflowers’

~ kcorsini ~ 3 Comments

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As long time readers of B&V know, I am a huge fan of Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers. I’m not sure any of his true fans are really over his sudden, tragic passing (RIP Tom Petty, 1950 – 2017, A Devastating Loss: The Composer of the Soundtrack to My Life Is Gone). Heaven knows, I’m not over it. And, as many of you know, all of us down here at B&V were anxiously awaiting for the Petty camp, his daughter and the band, to release the expanded version of Wildflowers, (Tom Petty: ‘Wildflowers & All The Rest – Deluxe Edition (4 CDs)’ – A Petty Masterpiece Lovingly Revisited). The box set, for a time anyway, became my “White Whale” as it seemed like I’d never get my hands on it…

As early as its November 1994 release, Petty had made comments in the press that he had originally intended Wildflowers to be a double album. His first marriage was crumbling and there had been conflict between Petty and some of the members of the band (notably drummer Stan Lynch but also bassist Howie Epstein) over Petty’s decision to “go solo” in recording Full Moon Fever. All of that turmoil led to a creative tsunami for Petty. He holed up in a studio with producer Rick Rubin and guitarist Mike Campbell with Benmont Tench close by and recorded what could arguably be called his greatest album. From quiet acoustic tracks like the title track to explosive rockers like “You Wreck Me” it covers the Petty waterfront. It is probably my favorite Petty album in a career chock full of great albums.

As the Heartbreakers neared their 40th anniversary, Petty began to talk more and more about how he wanted to revisit and release all the material from Wildflowers in its original double-LP configuration. I heard an interview during the 40th anniversary tour, which I was lucky enough to see (Concert Review: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Kansas City, 6/2/2017), and he mentioned it even then. I could feel it, the expanded Wildflowers was getting close to becoming a reality! At the time the only track I had from those sessions, outside the original LP, was a bootleg version of “Girl On L.S.D.” It’s a novelty song, much like “Boy Named Sue,” but it always makes me smile. It’s lighthearted and funny. I wanted an official copy of that and I wanted whatever other brilliant songs he’d left in the can… and then, sadly Tom left us.

As seems now typical with rock stars, I don’t think he had his estate properly buttoned up. After his first marriage ended he remarried… the second wife thing often causes conflict on these music estates. His daughter got into the fray as well and thus the box set for Wildflowers was again pushed out… so close, so out of reach. Finally, in 2019, all of the legal issues were settled. Petty’s daughter Adria was at the helm of his catalog and along with a great box set, American Treasure (LP Review: Tom Petty, ‘An American Treasure’ – A Different Path Through a Brilliant Career) it appeared Wildflowers – All The Rest was set to finally see the light of day. Singles began to trickle out and I was delighted. I placed my order for the big 4-CD package and sat waiting by the mailbox staring at the postman like he was bringing me a birthday card from my grandmother, which was usually stuffed with currency. The due date for my box came and went and nothing… It turns out the US Postal Service delivered my box to the wrong address and the scoundrels who got it, kept it. I can’t begrudge them too much, it’s rock n roll. The second order came in scratched… completely unplayable. I should have gone with vinyl but for some reason I wanted this on CD… maybe because I’d bought the original on CD…

Eventually, I finally got a workable copy of the album and really loved it. I was surprised that the All The Rest disc was a mere 10 songs. When I realized the studio version of “Girl On L.S.D.” was not on the album I was distraught all over again. There was a fine live version where Petty chuckles as he introduces the song, but it wasn’t that studio version I was hoping for. There were a couple of other tracks I was familiar with, notably “Drivin’ Down To Georgia,” that were also missing. It was then that I found out that there was a 5-CD version of All The Rest. Despondent, I couldn’t help but think, “Fuck, I can’t win for losing here.” The 5-CD thing was an extra $100 and I couldn’t help but think, Tom Petty who once threatened to name an album ‘$8.98’ when his record company threatened to increase the LP price a dollar to $9.98 would not have stood for this douche fuckery. I had heard he’d wanted to make the bonus material available for purchase without having to re-buy the original, but that might just be rumor. Regardless, in the ‘Super Deluxe,’ 5-CD version of All The Rest the fifth disc, entitled Finding Wildflowers had 16 additional songs on it. And yes, for those of you keeping score, “Girl On L.S.D.” is on the fifth disc. So is “Drivin’ Down To Georgia” among others. I was so close, and yet I’d purchased the wrong version. I put the music in and let it soothe my rattled nerves over the experience. I really did love the disc of live tracks from All The Rest so I just turned that up loud.

This week, I’m slowly coming out of my Black Crowes (Review: The Black Crowes, ‘Shake Your Money Maker – 30th Anniversary’ – Revisiting Their Classic Debut) and Neil Young (Review: Neil Young, ‘Archives Vol. 2 (1972 – 1976)’ – An Epic Deep Dive Into The Ditch Trilogy And Beyond) immersive, addictive fog and discovered that the Petty camp has relented and is releasing the fifth disc as an album in its own right, Finding Wildflowers. It seemed at first to me to be a cash grab. But if its only $20 instead of the additional $100 the 5-CD version of All The Rest would have cost me, I figured, why argue with this? As part of this last bit of Wildflowers they’ve released a new song “You Saw Me Coming” and holy crap, after about 20 listens this afternoon, I felt compelled to write about this song immediately. It’s amazing.

I ran down and played this song for the Rock Chick and she looked over at me and said, “This song is amazing… how did they leave it off the original album?” I married well above my station folks, a truly brilliant woman. This song has an almost ethereal quality to it. The drums/bass drive the song forward. It’s not hard rocking, it’s not mellow… its just intense. There’s a guitar figure that Mike Campbell plays through out the song that bores into your ear and seemingly into your soul. “You saw me coming… then you watched me go…” Ben Tench’s piano insistently plays throughout the track. It’s a classic “good riddance” track. If you like Petty or you dug Wildflowers but did’t jump in on the box set, I urge you to check this track out. It comes with a beautiful video of landscapes – desert scenes, ocean scenes etc – but no images of Petty or the band. I’ll leave it here so you can take it in and hear the track:

It’s unclear to me why the label “alternative version” is slapped on each of the tracks on Finding Wildflowers as there are a handful of tracks that have never been released, but hey, who am I to quibble. The album comes out in early April but I hope you spend your beautiful early spring day with this tune cranked up.

Cheers!