So 1971 was a remarkable year, but in terms of Live albums, it's 1972 and 1973 that reflect this as the artists who broke through in '71 went out and delivered the goods on stage during that period. Part 3 of the Live Album Odyssey covers these two years and specifically it will include:
Deep Purple In Concert - Deep Purple - Mar 72
Elvis At Madison Square Garden - Elvis Presley - Jun 72
Hot August Night - Neil Diamond - Aug 72Yessongs - Yes - Dec 72
On The Road - Traffic - Apr 73
It's Too Late To Stop Now - Van Morrison - Jul 73
Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture - David Bowie - Jul 73
The Song Remains The Same - Led Zeppelin - Jul 73
Brussels Affair - The Rolling Stones - Oct 73
Rock And Roll Animal - Lou Reed - Dec 73
19th February 1970 and 9th March 1972
Deep Purple
A double with the first disc coming from 1970 and the second from 1972, hence I've placed it in the latter date for chronology. It adds an interesting dimension in fact, because they were quite a different band in the 1970 performance to where they were in 1972, on the brink of releasing Machine Head. A bit of factual housekeeping first. This was pulled together from two BBC 'In Concert' performances and so features interjections from John Peel on the 1970 session and Mike Harding (not that one, some Scottish geezer) in 1972. Peel has not yet dialled the Liverpudlian irony up so far as he eventually did and so speaks like the well brought up grammar schoolboy he was. Harding has a slightly disapproving and absent minded air, seemingly disappointed by rowdy behaviour at the back of the room and tolerantly amused by those scallywags in the band and their wild rock n' roll ways. As is often the case there are myriad versions out there with different running orders and more or less of the chat between songs. What I hadn't quite appreciated about the Purps was that despite having arguably the greatest guitarist ever who created undoubtedly the greatest guitar riff ever, so much of their material is driven by Jon Lord's keyboards, and the 1970 material is particularly heavy on the old Hammond organ. The audience in 1970 is very respectful too, it's almost like a classical concert where, when the music almost stops in the middle of a piece, everyone knows that they need to wait and not applaud or make any noise, because they haven't finished yet. By 1972 the barbarians are at the gates and they're chanting out The Stripper like a bunch of footy hooligans. But it has to be said that the 1972 stuff is much more fun. 'Highway Star', 'Strange Kind Of Woman', 'Space Truckin'' (it's possible even *I* could play Roger Glover's bass intro to that) and of course 'Smoke On The Water'. I remind you that Machine Head wasn't out yet, so these must have been very early performances of a lot of these songs. Gillan deploys his banshee scream liberally. Oh, and there's nearly 22 minutes of Space Truckin'. I mean, I love it, but there was enough there in the first 5 minutes to establish the blueprint for an entire career for Metallica. With 'Smoke...', what you notice is that the intro builds from Blackmore's opening riff, adding in Paice's drums, and Lord's keys, then there's the low rumble of Glover's bassline before Gillan delivers the disapproving account of Zappa's close shave. They finish with 'Lucille' and Gillan delivers the immortal line "Here's a bit of Boogaloo!". Of course, this is great, and I have my eye on the Purps for when I move on to a fresh Odyssey.
Band Bantz: Gillan actually indulges in bantz with Blackmore's guitar on 'Strange Kind Of Woman', but I think it's clear that Ritchie will be holding on to the day job for a while yet. He puts on his "Hey, I know what I'm going on about here" voice when introducing 'Maybe I'm A Leo' and in general his spoken interludes feel a bit forced don't really fit with the Wild Man Of Rock persona that he has when singing.
Heckles And Coughs: Since he's not in the band, let's count Harding as audience for our purposes. Due to the nature of the recording we hear a lot from him, and even more on some of the alternative versions. He initially pronounces Gillan as Jillan, but gets it right later on (maybe someone had a word), but he does give the impression (and pretty much admits) that he's reading from a script. He runs through the lineup, noting that it hasn't changed for a while and invents a new word: "pyromanackery". One female member of the audience expresses approval that Frank and The Mothers lost their equipment in Montreux.I'm guessing she wasn't a fan.
Side 1
Speed King
Wring That Neck
Side 2
Child In Time
Mandrake Root
Side 3
Highway Star
Strange Kind Of Woman
Lazy
Never Before
Side 4
Space Truckin'
Lucille
Side 1
Also Sprach Zarathustra
That's All Right
Proud Mary
Never Been To Spain
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
Polk Salad Annie
Love Me
All Shook Up
Heartbreak Hotel
(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
Love Me Tender
Side 2
The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
Introductions By Elvis
Hound Dog
Suspicious Minds
For The Good Times
An American Trilogy
Funny How Time Slips Away
I Can't Stop Loving You
I Can't Help Falling In Love
End Theme
AS RECORDED AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
June 10 1972
Elvis Presley
To set an atmosphere of portent, The King comes on to Strauss' 'Also Sprach Zarathustra', but it's not a recording, I think the band are doing the best they can with the instruments at their disposal. It gets a bit shaky near the end. From the track listing, you might be forgiven for thinking that this was a double album at least, but no, the 22 tracks were crammed onto a single disc of vinyl, and that includes a medley of 'Don't Be Cruel' and '(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear', Here's the thing I've never quite got about Elvis, his success was always reputedly based on the fact that he was a white guy who sang like a black guy, but I've never really heard that in him. He just sounds like, well, Elvis, and he doesn't have that raw edge that characterises so many early bluesmen. Listening to this first time round I was convinced that this must contain the version of 'Love Me Tender' where he collapses in giggles over the warbling of the backing singer, because she's doing the same act on this too, but it isn't and this time he holds it together. There are some interesting cover versions, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'', 'Proud Mary' and 'The Impossible Dream (The Quest)'. This last might have been written for him as the ultimate Elvis song, but before I could look it up, serendipity found me watching the latest series of The Trip - this time to Spain, and Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon entered into a full throated version as they drove down some Spanish road and subsequently discussed how it came from the musical 'Man Of La Mancha' about Don Quixote. He barely breaches the 1 minute mark on the frenetic 'All Shook Up' and in fact the last six songs on Side 1, from 'Love Me' to 'Love Me Tender' come in at under 8 minutes in total. On Side 2 he does an interesting, wah-wah heavy version of 'Hound Dog'. In some ways he spoils it by not resisting urge to bring it home in a more recognizable Presley style. The inclusion of "shove it up your nose' during 'Suspicious Minds' seems to have been a fairly common occurrence as a follow up to the 'saw an old friend of mine' line. For me the biggest disappointment here is the performance of American Trilogy, which is spoilt by a squawk of "what!"from someone near the beginning. As with the Band and 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', it's another song that offers challenges around American history, by combining a blackface minstrel song with the Battle Hymn of the Republic and it being delivered by a modern icon of both America as a whole and the South at the same time. But, like Robertson's song, writer Mickey Newbury did manage to produce something majestic (and therefore fit for the King).
Band Bantz: "Thangyouladiesngennelmunyoureawunnderfulaudience". "I'll be up in a minute baby", he interjects near the end of 'Love Me Tender". He does a complete run through of the band and singers and he's got a good sized band up there with him. At the end, they really do announce "Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building"
Heckles and Coughs: High pitched screams whenever he so much as twitches his hips.
Also Sprach Zarathustra
That's All Right
Proud Mary
Never Been To Spain
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
Polk Salad Annie
Love Me
All Shook Up
Heartbreak Hotel
(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
Love Me Tender
Side 2
The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
Introductions By Elvis
Hound Dog
Suspicious Minds
For The Good Times
An American Trilogy
Funny How Time Slips Away
I Can't Stop Loving You
I Can't Help Falling In Love
End Theme
HOT AUGUST NIGHT
24th August 1972
Neil Diamond
Ladies, how would you feel about being referred to as a 'store bought woman'. Off the peg. Mass produced. Not exactly made-to-measure. As a romantic notion it falls rather short. So 'Cracklin' Rosie' is an odd proposition as a song. These little snatches of lyric sometimes send me scurrying to Wikipedia for explanations. On face value the song could be about a romantic attachment to a, shall we say 'female escort', but the real story seems rather more off-piste and suggests it was written specifically to prompt one DJ to play it on the radio (hence "play it now, play it now") and that the reference to 'Cracklin' Rosie' is actually about sparkling rose wine. On this the performance of the song is just a tad disappointing, since Diamond doesn't really make that massive key change in his voice for the "Oh I love my Rosie child"part. The Diamond voice may well have had the word "timbre" invented to be used in association with it. These days he could be accused of indulging in the recently identified phenomenon of 'vocal fry', i.e. putting a croak in your voice to convey some kind of emotion, but in his case I think it's genuine and it sets him totally apart from anyone else.At this point he's 31 years old, so his voice is well matured, and it is beautiful. He also comes across as quite a genuine chap on this too, if a little Mr Showbiz. He seems to be mainly concerned that the audience have a good time and, whilst his comments are somewhat cheesy, it feels warm and inclusive. Talking of cheesy, he has a food and drink obsession in his songs. 'Cherry Cherry', 'Porcupine Pie', 'Red, Red Wine', 'Soggy Pretzels', 'Cracklin' Rosie (OK, stretching now) and the opening 'Crunchy Granola Suite'. American friends, your breakfasts have always been a mystery to those of us in the old country, we're just about getting to grips with granola and have fully embraced hash browns, but 'grits' are things you spread on the road when you're expecting a hard frost. 'Red, Red Wine' is far better known in the UK for the UB40 cod-reggae version and most people would probably know 'Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon' from the Urge Overkill version that featured in Pulp Fiction. All the hits (up to the date of performance here) are present too, 'Sweet Caroline', 'Play Me', 'Song Sung Blue' (as a child I think I thought it was 'Song, Song Blue') and 'I Am..I Said'. It's all quite pleasurable stuff and the recording is outstanding too.
Band Bantz: Diamond's patter is well represented, in fact the band intros merit a track of over 7 minutes of it's own, where Diamond affectionately runs through the players bona fides. There is discussion of men wearing dresses and whether anything should be worn underneath. Apparently people who wear dresses, such as women, sometimes wear something underneath and sometimes not. His colleague who is thus attired enjoys feeling the breeze.
Heckles and Coughs: The audience hardly come through on the recording, even when Diamond invites them to sing along. This was recorded at the open-air Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and it is clear that at least some folks have scaled the perimeter trees to get a free view. Diamond good naturedly congratulates them on their ingenuity.
Side 1
Prologue
Crunchy Granola Suite
Done Too Soon
Dialogue
Solitary Man
Cherry Cherry
Sweet Caroline
Side 2
Porcupine Pie
You're So Sweet
Red Red Wine
Soggy Pretzels
And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind
Shilo
Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon
Side 3
Play Me
Canta Libre
Morningside
Song Sung Blue
Cracklin' Rosie
Side 4
Holly Holy
I Am,,I Said
Soolaimon/Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show
YESSONGS
Feb - Dec 1972
Yes
I've spent a long time on this one. I like Yes and there are plenty of their best known songs on it. But I'm coming to the reluctant conclusion that it isn't really that great as an album. I think the problem is that Yes are the epitome of early-seventies prog rock noodlers and so spent an inordinate amount of time in the studio getting it right. That doesn't really chime with one-off, live performances in a big open space with lots of folks making background noise. The material is pulled from concerts throughout 1972. Wikipedia alleges Ontario, New York, Greensboro, Knoxville and the ultimate UK venue of the age, the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park. As ever with Yes, the fluidity of the line-up means that there are two drummers on this album, Bruford and White, but otherwise it's pretty much the accepted A-Team of Anderson, Squire, Wakeman and Howe. Anderson's voice is in good nick, in the full Yes Odyssey it became apparent that this was the aspect of the Yes sound that most set them apart from the competition, but as noted above, the rest of it is just a little ramshackle at times. In the middle of it all, Rick Wakeman gets his own little section with 'Excerpts from The Six Wives Of Henry VIII'. Maybe he'd stamped his foot and threatened to walk if he wasn't allowed to promote his own material. It's pretty annoying because as well as the Tudor-themed organfest, he indulges in quite a bit of showing-off. Doing classical bits and silent movie accompaniments. Was he really THAT important to the band at the time? And his keyboard parts seem to be the most clattery and unfocussed of the lot of them. Compare the opening of 'Heart Of The Sunrise' on here to the original on Fragile. The furious guitar parts should be set against the light delicacy of the keyboards, but here it sounds like Wakeman is running his instruments on a triple-A battery at the end of it's useful life. And while abrupt changes of pace are their stock in trade, here it borders on the disjointed.
Track 1 is an excerpt from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Bands of a certain type like doing this sort of thing as it establishes their musicianly chops. The upside is that, since it bears no relevance to the band themselves, once I’ve listened to it once I can immediately jump to ‘Siberian Khatru’. But, for all my complaints about the relative quality, they do at least pack this with all their best stuff, culminating in the truly uplifting ‘Starship Trooper’.
Track 1 is an excerpt from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Bands of a certain type like doing this sort of thing as it establishes their musicianly chops. The upside is that, since it bears no relevance to the band themselves, once I’ve listened to it once I can immediately jump to ‘Siberian Khatru’. But, for all my complaints about the relative quality, they do at least pack this with all their best stuff, culminating in the truly uplifting ‘Starship Trooper’.
Band Bantz: Due to the nature of how this has been stitched together from so many different performances, they appear to wind up the show after track 8, 'Roundabout' and then proceed to continue with about an hour more of material, an encore, had it been real, to rival even some of Bruce’s most generous evenings. Anderson warbles something classical in advance of introducing Wakeman for his 6 or so minutes in the limelight.
Heckles And Coughs: The crowd take the opportunity to whoop, holler and generally make their mark on the recording during the quiet bits of ‘The Fish’
Side 1
Opening (Excerpt from the Firebird Suite)
Siberian Khatru
Heart Of The Sunrise
Side 2
Perpetual Change
And You And I
Side 3
Mood For A Day
Excerpts from The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Roundabout
Side 4
I've Seen All Good People
Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Praemeturus)
Side 5
Close To The Edge
Side 6
Yours Is No Disgrace
Starship Trooper
IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW
24th May to 24th July 1973
Van Morrison
Now then. I own a Van Morrison album (Enlightenment) and I've seen him live (The Fleadh Festival in Finsbury Park in 1995. He wasn't headlining, that was The Beautiful South, whose performance I barely recall. The other major artist on the bill was Sinead O'Connor, whom I have to tell you, was excellent), so you can expect me to generally look on Morrison with a benevolent eye. But I'm afraid I do increasingly find myself viewing him as a one-trick pony. Positives first. Let's return to a recurring RockOdyssey trope, the false American singing voice. You might be tempted to accuse Van Morrison of it, but I'm convinced that his natural Ulster tones generally lend themselves to an authentic white soul sound. On 'Help Me' he sings about his "nightshoyte", but you don't feel he's trying to be Noo Yoik. So that's good. And no doubt he's a great musician and singer. On this journey through live recordings there are two general types of album under consideration. They are either great performances of artists at their peak, or they are exquisite examples of the live recording engineer's work. I feel that the reputation of this album is in no small part due to the almost perfect sound quality of the recordings that have been used to assemble it. It's all crystal clear. For me, the downside is that Morrison is too technical and too studied. I tore into Joe Cocker for a lack of authenticity, well, to paraphrase David St. Hubbins, Van Morrison has too much fucking authenticity. Taken as a whole, the album is a good listen, but it's background music and the songs really just run into each other. Maybe it's just not my thing. There are recognizable classics on here - 'Domino', 'Here Comes The Night' and 'Gloria' - which I remember from the Finsbury Park concert because it went on and on and on, maybe that's where he lost me all those years ago. I think, what I'm trying to say is that I find him a bit of a boring bastard.
Band Bantz: He introduces his band but otherwise it's fairly efficient progress through the songs with no idle chat.
Heckles And Coughs: Nothing significant. Gloria, of course, is audience participation time. I think that's what annoyed me about it back in 1995.
ON THE ROAD
April 1973
Traffic
OK. Not what I expected. I think in my head Traffic means moderately comical psychedelia in the mould of 'Hole In My Shoe'. There is also some conflation between Traffic and The Scaffold afflicting me too. Hey, a shared syllable can confuse a guy! So I was kind of expecting some quaint English hippy-dippy shit and instead you get full on jazz-rock fusion. Research was required. So this represents a second incarnation of Traffic, in which Winwood, Capaldi et al have reconvened following the Blind Faith excursion. On percussion is the magnificently named Rebop Kwaku Baah. By now they are taking themselves much more seriously than the days of hit singles, which means we are served up a double live album consisting of just 6 tracks. Like some that have gone before, much of it has washed over me, despite several runs through. But, I did enjoy this, the musicianship is very good and I can imagine that sitting quietly with a glass of Glenmorangie in hand late at night with this on would be a very rewarding experience. It's pretty short on vocals, we don;t hear much from Winwood throughout, but there is a fair bit of experimentation going on as well - in the middle of Side 1 you'd swear someone's ringtone has just gone off. I like the artwork, very moddren.
Band Bantz: On timbas and congas Rebop Kwaku Baah! Isn't that from The Lion King? And it's wound up very quickly with a 'Thank you and goodnight' No encores, real or manufactured on this recording.
Heckles And Coughs: Just a lot of cheering at the end. The audience is German after all.
Side 1
Glad/Freedom Rider
Side 2
Tragic Magic
(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired
Side 3
Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory
Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
Side 4
Low Spark Of The High Heeled Boys
24th May to 24th July 1973
Van Morrison
Now then. I own a Van Morrison album (Enlightenment) and I've seen him live (The Fleadh Festival in Finsbury Park in 1995. He wasn't headlining, that was The Beautiful South, whose performance I barely recall. The other major artist on the bill was Sinead O'Connor, whom I have to tell you, was excellent), so you can expect me to generally look on Morrison with a benevolent eye. But I'm afraid I do increasingly find myself viewing him as a one-trick pony. Positives first. Let's return to a recurring RockOdyssey trope, the false American singing voice. You might be tempted to accuse Van Morrison of it, but I'm convinced that his natural Ulster tones generally lend themselves to an authentic white soul sound. On 'Help Me' he sings about his "nightshoyte", but you don't feel he's trying to be Noo Yoik. So that's good. And no doubt he's a great musician and singer. On this journey through live recordings there are two general types of album under consideration. They are either great performances of artists at their peak, or they are exquisite examples of the live recording engineer's work. I feel that the reputation of this album is in no small part due to the almost perfect sound quality of the recordings that have been used to assemble it. It's all crystal clear. For me, the downside is that Morrison is too technical and too studied. I tore into Joe Cocker for a lack of authenticity, well, to paraphrase David St. Hubbins, Van Morrison has too much fucking authenticity. Taken as a whole, the album is a good listen, but it's background music and the songs really just run into each other. Maybe it's just not my thing. There are recognizable classics on here - 'Domino', 'Here Comes The Night' and 'Gloria' - which I remember from the Finsbury Park concert because it went on and on and on, maybe that's where he lost me all those years ago. I think, what I'm trying to say is that I find him a bit of a boring bastard.
Band Bantz: He introduces his band but otherwise it's fairly efficient progress through the songs with no idle chat.
Heckles And Coughs: Nothing significant. Gloria, of course, is audience participation time. I think that's what annoyed me about it back in 1995.
Side 1
Ain't Nothin' You Can Do
Warm Love
Into The Mystic
These Dreams Of You
I Believe To My Soul
Side 2
I've Been Working
Help Me
Wild Children
Domino
I Just Want To Make Love To You
Side 3
Bring It On Home To Me
Saint Dominic's Preview
Take Your Hand Out Of MyPocket
Listen To The Lion
Side 4
Here Comes The Night
Gloria
Caravan
Cyprus Avenue
ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (THE MOTION PICTURE)
2rd July 1973
David Bowie
Is it acceptable to write one of these while stocious? Well, yes. Of course. There are no rules on the internet. You don't have to nominate someone while you list out your 7 favourite colours in 7 days if you don't want to. And listening to and reviewing this while half cut actually makes sense. It probably adds all kinds of different dimensions to any of Bowie's output if you are indulging in some kind of chemical mood alteration.This is a magnificent thing, even if stone cold sober. I was tempted to view the whole movie, but those robbing bastards at YouTube want £3.25 for the privilege! Well they can go whistle. And anyway the audio is spectacular enough that you don't need the visuals. Mick Ronson's guitar grunts, squishes, farts and howls all the way through this in a way that makes you wonder how it is possible to conduct your life without this being fed directly to your brain via your earbuds. There's no messing about, 'Hang On To Yourself' just starts, ploughs forward and finishes before they launch straight into 'Ziggy Stardust' itself, with Bowie's opening 'OOOOOH, Yeh!"grabbing you by the throat. The recording is nigh on perfect, as you might expect for a concert recorded for a movie. There's a terrific version of 'All The Young Dudes' but I was expecting "Wendy's stealing clothes from Marks and Sparks" instead of "unlocked cars". The former is a better lyric, but maybe that's my preference for British cultural references coming through. 'Moonage Daydream' becomes a massive, monolithic presence in the middle of side 1 and then he blithely knocks out 'Changes' and 'Space Oddity' - a novelty record with meaning and depth. Now THAT'S a hard trick to pull off. Side 2 starts with Jacques Brel's 'My Death', a song that takes on several layers of meaning in the context of Bowie since that event has now occurred for him. 'Cracked Actor' leads to the moderately obscene 'Time' and then there is an extraordinarily visceral, 16 minute version of 'The Width Of A Circle' which is mostly a wild, but somehow tightly controlled freak out. God knows what Bowie was doing through most of it (although I guess the movie provides some answers) but the rest of the band spend the vast majority of the song making a mad cacophony.
Band Bantz: Ooh. There's lots of good stuff here. At the end of 'My Death', the announcement goes "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the part of the performance, we call 'The Interval'. At the end of 'The Width Of A Circle, he introduces the band. WoodyWoodmansey is on 'percussive instruments' if you don't mind. No mere drummer he. After introducing Ronson, they gallop through 'Let's Spend The Night Together' for his benefit apparently. Of course, this includes one of the most famous stage announcements of all time. After an efficient execution of Lou Reed's 'White Light/White Heat' Bowie announces that this is not just the last night of the tour, but their last performance ever. The ambiguity of his statement was the real problem here. Was The Dame indicating that he was retiring for good, or was it just the end of this incarnation and, more specifically the Spiders From Mars? (the coolest band name ever btw). Rock music was young at the time, so it was possibly conceivable that Bowie might withdraw at the ripe old age of 27? The rest of the band may or may not have known that their P45s were in the post.
Heckles And Coughs: At the commencement of 'My Death' on side two. Dave insists that everyone has to shut the fuck up. He has limited success, some of the audience shout out despite his efforts to establish a mood. At the end of the song the final lyric is: "For in front of that door there is..." and it seems that every member of the audience squeaks "me!". At the very end of the concert, not the national anthem, like Dylan, but Land Of Hope and Glory
Side 1
Hang On To Yourself
Ziggy Stardust
Watch That Man
Wild Eyed Boy From Freehold/All The Young Dudes/Oh You Pretty Things
Moonage Daydream
Space Oddity
My Death
Side 2
Cracked Actor
Time
Width Of A Circle
Changes
Let's Spend The Night Together
Suffragette City
White Light/White Heat
Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME
27th -29th July 1973
Led Zeppelin
The VHS of the movie of this knocked around our house all those years ago. I don't think I ever watched it through, the opening sequence was sufficiently bizarre that it prevented me from wanting to investigate further. I did occasionally fast forward to Stairway but, until now, it remained an experience that I had not indulged in in its entirety. There is also the matter of Planty's religion-revealing flared jeans. No wonder he squawked so much. Anyway, Amazon will let you rent the movie for a very reasonable £3.50 (I could probably have done the same with Ziggy, but that album stands up on its own without the visuals) so it's time to remedy this omission from my roster of life experiences. So let's get that opening sequence out of the way first of all. Gangsters, faceless men, a wolfman of some sort, that bloke's head falling off and streams of coloured paint spurting from the neck stump. Then we seamlessly move, via the opening credits complete with each member's symbol, to a sequence as we see our heroes enjoying the bucolic benefits of being a global mega-rock star until their tour dates arrive on what looks to be pieces of parchment. Cut to arrival in New York and police escort to the venue. As Bron-Yr-Aur swells up, we finally get to the concert, which kicks off with 'Rock and Roll'. Besides his circulation-limiting trousers (with attention drawing applique), Plant is wearing a shirt that must have shrunk in the wash. At every opportunity he stands with hands on hips, pelvis (and groinal-cuke) thrust forward and clearly adores himself. Page is star-spangled and energetic. On 'The Song Remains The Same' Page breaks out his double neck guitar and, all joking aside, you have to say that the song performances themselves are great. Plant DOES try too hard. All the vocal mucking about on things like 'Dazed and Confused' just gets annoying. And Page really does play guitar with a bow - which he ruins in the process. Plant introduces 'Stairway To Heaven' as "a song of hope", he interjects after "and the forests will echo with laughter" with a rather pathetic "does anyone remember laughter?". Satire lives. Iconic Rorschach effects of Page and the double neck are deployed during the guitar solo while Planty taps away on a tambourine and gets his own Harry Worth mirror moment near the end. It's kind of era-defining and ridiculous all-at-once. Led Zep may be an over-rated blues band, but Stairway has earned its place in the top 10 of any rock song list anybody ever compiled. Bonham's drum solo on 'Moby Dick' appears to be an excuse for his bandmates to go and have a cuppa and a comfort break. By the time he gets to playing them like tom-toms with his hands, you kinda wish we could move on, although the noise he makes just before the band cut back in is extraordinary. The performance ends with 'Whole Lotta Love' where they all go trough their paces and Page mucks about with a theremin. As a piece of Rock and Roll excess the whole thing cannot be beaten, but I'd challenge anyone to feel the need to watch it twice. The album has a lot more on it and is probably better simply because you don't get distracted by all the nonsense.
Band Bantz: Let's treat the 'fantasy sequences' as Band Bantz for our purposes here. First up, during 'No Quarter' we get John Paul Jones in a grotesque mask doing some kind of Hammer Horror/The Devil Rides Out pastiche.
Plant is a bouffant knight, natch, sailing in from the sunset to the strains of the title track, big sword in hand (too much hilt-fondling Bob). He looks intense in the firelight. He inexplicably acquires a falcon at some point in his quest, pushes his foe into the moat (not very chivalrous) but eventually gets the girl after seeing off a few inept men-at-arms.
Page climbs a mountain by moonlight to the rather tedious improvised section of Dazed and Confused and meets Gandalf-Wan-Kenobi at the top (its supposedly The Hermit from a tarot pack). There's a bit of light-saber work before we transfer back to Madison Square Garden to wind up D&C.
Meawhile, during 'Moby Dick' Bonzo plays with some of the Rock-star accoutrements he has acquired, some kind of vintage-hotrod hybrid, a Triumph motorcycle, a dragster and a Hereford bull. Oh, and a bit of DIY. According to Plant he is "130 lbs of glory"
Heckles and Coughs: The movie shows us plenty of the punters, including 3 lads who the cops seemingly let into the gig via the back door. There are also some extremely Tappish moments as manager Peter Grant berates a local concessions provider for allowing knock-off merch at the venue. In fact, it is clear that this is the primary inspiration for This Is Spinal Tap. The inclusion of the news footage of the theft of the band's cash from their hotel's safe-deposit box is a bit inexplicable. Wikipedia thinks a staff member subsequently fled to Jamaica. Figure that one out Miss Marple.
Plant is a bouffant knight, natch, sailing in from the sunset to the strains of the title track, big sword in hand (too much hilt-fondling Bob). He looks intense in the firelight. He inexplicably acquires a falcon at some point in his quest, pushes his foe into the moat (not very chivalrous) but eventually gets the girl after seeing off a few inept men-at-arms.
Page climbs a mountain by moonlight to the rather tedious improvised section of Dazed and Confused and meets Gandalf-Wan-Kenobi at the top (its supposedly The Hermit from a tarot pack). There's a bit of light-saber work before we transfer back to Madison Square Garden to wind up D&C.
Meawhile, during 'Moby Dick' Bonzo plays with some of the Rock-star accoutrements he has acquired, some kind of vintage-hotrod hybrid, a Triumph motorcycle, a dragster and a Hereford bull. Oh, and a bit of DIY. According to Plant he is "130 lbs of glory"
Heckles and Coughs: The movie shows us plenty of the punters, including 3 lads who the cops seemingly let into the gig via the back door. There are also some extremely Tappish moments as manager Peter Grant berates a local concessions provider for allowing knock-off merch at the venue. In fact, it is clear that this is the primary inspiration for This Is Spinal Tap. The inclusion of the news footage of the theft of the band's cash from their hotel's safe-deposit box is a bit inexplicable. Wikipedia thinks a staff member subsequently fled to Jamaica. Figure that one out Miss Marple.
Rock and Roll
Celebration Day
Black Dog/Bring It On Home
Over The Hills and Far Away
Misty Mountain Hop
Since I've Been Loving You
No Quarter
The Song Remains The Same
Rain Song
The Ocean
Dazed and Confused
Stairway To Heaven
Moby Dick
Heartbreaker
Whole Lotta Love
BRUSSELS AFFAIR
17th October 1973
The Rolling Stones
This one comes laden with baggage before I even start. It has been recommended as one of the, if not THE best live recording ever made - so what if I don't rate it? And can I do it justice either way? It's also hard to come by, since it has knocked around as a bootleg for most of it's life until it gained an official release in October 2011. It's rare and expensive however. Not on Spotify and you can't get it on Amazon for anything significantly below one hundred nicker. That means our old, unsatisfactory friend YouTube comes into play and the 'Definitive Edition' can be located and played with the odd interruption by ads. When the entire live album list was being put together, I asked of this was great just because it captures the Stones at their peak (certainly the date corresponds to that astonishing run of albums from Beggars Banquet to Exile) or is it just an almost perfect quality recording? The answer I got was that it was both, which I might have been able to predict. Funny thing is, when you do start searching around YouTube, there are various versions where the setlist is taken from other concerts on the tour, including a second one in Brussels, and the quality on those can be pretty ropey in places. However, this 'definitive version' certainly doesn't sound like it was recorded on magnetic tape from row CC of the balcony. It's crisp and all the instruments are present, correct and well balanced (although if any is sitting back in the mix, then it's Wyman's bass, but then I guess his genius was never being noticed unless he wasn't there), so I'm willing to believe it came "straight off the board" as I have been advised. The other thing that sets it apart is that this is indeed the Stones in their pomp and with them playing their very best songs to date. 'Brown Sugar' is quick and immediate, setting the scene and then there's that intro to 'Gimme Shelter'. The guitar solos in 'Dancing With Mr D.' form a minutely controlled contrast to Jagger's vocals. Billy Preston (who else) tinkles away exquisitely during 'Angie' and there are soft mournful horns at the opening of 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' and soaring saxophone at the end. 'Midnight Rambler' becomes a 13 minute movement of fuzzily distorted blues and Jagger pretty much making it up as he goes along, squawking and roaring depending on how the mood takes him. In fact 'You Can't...' and 'Midnight Rambler' form the centrepiece of the whole show (as represented here - I'm sure there must be edits), taking up the middle 25 minutes of the recording. After that it's efficient runs-through of the likes of 'Honky Tonk Women', 'Jumping Jack Flash' and 'Street Fighting Man' (with frenzied guitars and drums at the death). On the 'definitive' version I listened to, the closing 'Starfucker' just does not belong, it's quality is nowhere near good enough to stand with the rest. The artwork speaks for itself. Almost literally. So it is the greatest ever? I reckon it must be a contender for the greatest bootleg ever, just on the basis of the quality of reproduction, and it beats Live at Leeds for being totally genuine. Maybe not quite as viscerally exciting as Johnny Winter, but it does live up to its reputation.
Band Bantz: Mick practices his Franglais as he addresses the crowd, but he doesn't stretch himself. If he's fluent, it doesn't show and the "ooh la la"'s are borderline offensive. Keef is dragged front and centre early on for ''Appy' and even he is in halfway decent voice (well, relatively speaking), although Mick seems to take pity and picks up quite a lot of the vocal as it goes along. "Merci Keef. That was a good one" he sez at the end.
Heckles and Coughs: Mick gets 'em going during Midnight Rambler, but it's no more than a call and response of blues howling.
Brown Sugar
Gimme Shelter
Happy
Tumbling Dice
Dancing With Mr D.
Angie
You Cant Always Get What You Want
Midnight Rambler
Hony Tonk Women
All Down The Line
Rip This Joint
Jumping Jack Flash
Street Fighting Man
Starfucker
ROCK AND ROLL ANIMAL
December 21st 1973
Lou Reed.
Hmm. Lou Reed. Not an artist I've ever really felt the need to get to know. I'm too young to be significantly impressed by the Velvet Underground and their influence. Received wisdom is that he's a experimental grump who took too many drugs. Reductive? Me? Anyway, I will say this, he either cannot sing or doesn't feel the need to try. Probably the latter. So the Reed delivery is a kind of chanted declamation, regardless of the song. What did surprise me about this was quite how conventional it is for the time. The music itself is mainly well performed glam-rock riffs and not a little prog-style intricacy and Reed is just on vocals. So while these are great songs composed by him, the credit for the greatness of the performance has to lie largely with his band. Maybe his stage presence made up for it, but I just can't tell (there is little Band Bantz nor Heckles and Coughs to provide clues). I was struck by some similarities between 'Heroin' and 'Get The Message' by Electronic, however, if your vocal delivery is as much on the stave as both Reed and Bernard Sumner then it might be enough to render most of your songs as soundalikes.
Band Bantz: Does he have a little chuckle during 'Heroin'? He needs reminding that he has an image to maintain.
Heckles and Coughs: Just general enthusiasm. It was recorded at Howard Stein's Academy of Music in NYC and it sounds like it's a fairly intimate venue.
Side 1
Intro/Sweet Jane
Heroin
Side 2
White Light/White Heat
Lady Day
Rock and Roll
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