Reviews of underground and indie music and films, 60s/70s pop and soul music and cult movies. And the occasional wacky tale about life in the Hollywood flatlands.
Cosmic Partners: The McCabe Tapes captures Michael
Nesmith at the height of his powers as a country rock pioneer. In the early
1970s, Nez released classic LPs, including Nevada
Fighter, Loose Salute, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash, and Magnetic South.A few songs from those
albums are featured on this CD, a Nesmith/Red Rhodes show recorded at McCabes
Guitar Shop in Santa Monica on August 18, 1973.
Several other concerts have been released as live albums,
including shows by Mike Bloomfield, Townes Van Zant and Henry Rollins. McCabe’s
is still going strong today.
This CD features a show as it was recorded, directly from
the soundboard. The show was transferred from analogue tapes and cleaned up for
McCabe Tapes. The sound is clear and crisp the instruments have retained
their vibrancy from almost 47 years ago.
The show opens with “Tomorrow and
Me”, a dirge to broken love. Rhodes’ pedal steel cushions the despair of Nesmith’s bittersweet
lyrics with blips of vibrancy.
Red Rhodes
The band then picks up the groove with “Grand Ennui”,
followed by “Some of Shelly’s Blues”. Nez introduces
“…..Blues” by saying it’s been covered by “374” people. (And that was in 1973.
You could imagine what the number is now.)
The band consists of Colin Cameron on bass, Danny
Lane on drums, Red Rhodes on pedal steel guitar.
Nez provides vocals, acoustic guitar and between song stage banter..
The banter includes Nez’s story about the Monkees’ infamous Cincinnati
incident. (The band evaded their security and took an elevator to the ground
floor, where they were chased by fans.)Nez gives some topical banter about Alice Cooper and glam rock, which
was popular at the time of the McCabe’s show.
Rhodes takes the spotlight mid-show,
showcasing his pedal steel mastery on three instrumentals - the Ernset Tubb
favorite, “Rose City Chimes”,the lush
“Poinciana” (from Rhodes’ solo album Velvet Hammer in
a Cowboy Band)and“Crippled Lion”.
Nez lends some yodeling to the lovely, old-school country
song “One Rose” and ends the set with his biggest solo song “JoAnne” (wait for
that high note) and “Silver Moon.”
There’s only one problem with Cosmic Partners – the
set goes by too fast.
The CD package includes liner notes by Christian Nesmith (who co-produced the CD ), Circe Link, and original producer Ed Heffelinger, along with Joe Alterio’s essay
on Red Rhodes. There’s a note from Nez, too, about his musical collaborations
with Rhodes, and how the steel pedal guitar player “made the instrument sail, and
take off on its own.”
A poster of the gatefold sleeve for Not Your Standard Ranch Stash,
with topless sirens in a swimming pool/makeshift lake, is also included.
Cosmic Partners is also available as an 180g vinyl
picture disc. This CD is another Monkees-related release from 7A Records out of
the UK.
This September marks the 50th anniversary of the
Monkees TV show, and the introduction of Davy, Micky, Mike and Peter into music
and pop culture history. The TV show’s two year run is the most beloved
creation featuring the guys, but the following 48 years the guys stayed active,
recording and touring either solo or together in various formations. The causal
fan on the street may only remember the various reunion tours, Mike’s solo
career, and have a vague recollection of “Pool It” orDolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart You’d really need to be a hardcore fan to
remember the other projects Davy, Peter and Micky participated in between the
end of the 60s’ Monkees and their reunion in the ‘80s.
England’s 7A Records, the brainchild of broadcaster Iain Lee and music executive Glenn Gretlund, both
long-time Monkees fans. The label’s name comes from the spoken intro at the
beginning of “Daydream Believer”, when Davy asks, “What number is this, Chip?”,
and receives the curt response “7A!”The label is dedicated to releasing long-lost Monkees related gems, including music by affiliated artists. 7A recently released The First Bobby Hart Solo Album by songwriter Bobby Hart of Boyce and Hart fame.
The label’s first release, Micky Dolenz--The MGM Singles Collection arrived on July 15th ,
2015, and is available as a vinyl
LP and digital download. Most songs on this collection have been floating around Youtube
and been shared as MP3s on various message boards for years. Thanks to 7A,
they’ve finally gotten a proper release.
After being
on a highly rated TV show, with a whirlwind ofhit songs and tours, Dolenz had to start over from square one (as did
Peter and Davy), given how ex-teenie bopper idols were typecast in the 70s (or anytime, really.) Writing and
recording at his home studio and at other locations throughout L.A., he began recasting his music career.
Admittedly, the songs on the MGM Singles Collection aren’t the cream
of the crop, but Micky still had the vocal chops of his Monkees days. Any
extracurricular activities with the Hollywood Vampires didn’t diminish it.
Speaking of the notorious party animals, Dolenz’s Hollywood Vampire
partner-in-crime, Harry Nilsson, wrote “Daybreak” a vibrant calypso number, and
the album has four different versions of the song.
There's the traditional, bouncy pop of "Easy on You", and the plaintive commentary on human nature in "It's Amazing to Me", songs that are easy on the ears, but not particularly memorable. The quirky “Unattended in the Dungeon” has some dicey lyrics, but, after all, it was the ‘70s, the decade of “Angie, Baby” and “Run, Joey, Run”
Dolenz and producer Michael Lloyd formed a duo they dubbed
Starship in 1972, and worked together on their version of “Johnny B. Goode”, (the
song Dolenz performed during his audition with the Monkees) and several other
tunes.
In the audio interview included with the download, Dolenz tells
Lee says he recorded the songs just for fun, without any expectations of having
a hit single. Mike Curb and MGM promoted the songs just the same, but despite
the PR efforts, the records sank without a trace.
The accompanying booklet reveals some interesting tidbits
abut the sessions. Among, them - the late, great Cozy Powell played drums on
some of the recordings (which ones aren’t indicated), and Dolenz recorded
“Family of Man” (later a hit for Three Dog Night) and “Since I Fell for You”
and other American standards.
7A Records promises more Monkees-oriented releases, including (fingers crossed) a DVD release of Keep Off My Grass, a marijuana themed comedy from 1975 starring Dolenz. You can find
more info on their website. (See links at the end of the review.)
Micky Dolenz- The MGM Singles Collection is an interesting addendum to Monkees
history, sure to be enjoyed loyal Monkees fans and collectors of lesser-known
musical side trips.
The First Bobby Hart
Solo Album
7A Records
You’ll do a double take when you hear “Funky Karma” the
first song on the re-release of The First
Bobby Hart Solo Album. When you think of Bobby Hart you think of “I Wonder What
She’s Doing Tonight” and other Boyce and Hart hits, or “Last Train to Clarksville”
and other Monkees hits, so it’s a surprise to hear the R and B tinged songs on
this album, originally released in 1980. Boyce and Hart wrote hundreds of pop
songs, but left to his own devices, Hart’s material is urban R & B, with an
equal mix of funky grooves and tender ballads. The album opener “Funky Karma”
would be right at home on any R & B playlist. “I’m On Fire” is a sexy
dance floor track, and “I Can’t Fight It” draws from the the soul hits of the
Moments and Delfonics with disco on the side. “You’re Breaking My Heart/Street
Angel”, about a carousing lover, is underscored with a slinky rhythm. “First
Impressions” deals with the hopefulness of new love.
“Hurt So Bad,” penned by Hart,
Randazzo and Weinstein, was a big hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in
1965, and has been covered by Linda Ronstadt and many other artists. The
composer’s take is pure slow jam as evidenced in this clip from a TV show in Hong Kong.
The re-release has three
previously unissued tracks –“Runnin”, “I’m Just Takin’ the Long Way Home”, and
the upbeat disco of “You Can’t See Thunder”. All of the tracks were written or co-written by Hart, with
collaborators Bobby Weinstein, Teddy Randazzo and Barry Richards. The 24 page booklet included with the CD contains many
photos from Hart’s personal collection, lyrics, album credits, and an interview
Iain Lee conducted with Hart.
Produced by Hart, with Richards as associate
producer, the album was recorded in Hollywood
in 1980. It initially received a limited release in a few countries, including Germany,
Scandinavia and Italy.
This 7A release marks the first time the album been officially available in the
U.S. and UK.
