One of the key missions of this blog is to introduce readers to great music that they have never heard. In keeping with that mission I have a real treat for you today. Take a listen and then we will chat…
it was 1977 and the Steve Gibbons Band was cool…the music, Steve’s voice, the Band’s look, and the songs all way cool. Their coolness helped me make it through graduate school and I loved the music from their first two albums (Any Road Up and Rollin On). Unfortunately, that coolness never translated into sales, especially in the US. They had a minor hit with Chuck Berry’s Tulane from the Rollin On album and that was pretty much it with regards to commercial success.
To put things in perspective, it’s not like they didn’t get a fair shake, they did. They were managed by the Who management team, Pete Entwistle produced their first album, and they toured with the Who but for some reason they never broke through commercially. As with Elliott Murphy (discussed in an earlier post) the lack of commercial success does nothing to diminish the value of the music of the Steve Gibbons Band. The first two albums for Polydor were excellent and represented their artistic peak. The band soldiered on for a number of years and Steve continues as an active performer to this day but, in my opinion, the magic of those first two albums was never equaled.
I have the two albums on vinyl but luckily for you the two albums are available on Amazon in a two CD re-release by RGF Records. I strongly suggest you pick it up. I think you will enjoy the music as I have over the past 30 years. If you are lucky, some of their coolness might rub off on you.
So today we have something a little different for you. Last weekend we previewed a few of the groups scheduled to perform at South by Southwest. Today we are going to check in on one of the most week’s most anticipated events at the festival…..no not a concert but the keynote address by Bruce Springsteen. Watch the video and I guarantee you will be entertained and, if you aren’t careful, you might actually learn something about rock history. Enjoy!
My favorite part of Bruce’s address was his comments about the Animals. In his words the Animals produced the first records with class consciousness that he had heard. After playing a little bit of We Got To Get Out of This Place during the Keynote Bruce states that it is every song he has ever written. Considering the source, this is the highest musical praise anyone could ever receive. To let you see exactly what Bruce was talking about, here is a 1965 live performance of that song by the Animals.
After posting the Beatles rendition of Blackbird I am worried that many of you may be wondering who the fuck is the guy singing the song. This worry was triggered by the Twitter reaction to Paul McCartney’s appearance on the Grammy’s. Thanks to the History Channel for putting this video together to answer the question, Who the fuck is Paul McCartney?
So why did the Beatles break up? After more than 40 years no one knows the real story. At one time or another I think I have heard all four of them claim that they were the one that walked away first but I think I might have found the real answer and I will present evidence to make my case. First a little background.
A quick review of the Beatles catalog shows that John and Paul were responsible for the majority of songs on every album while George was given only one or two songs per album. The casual listener was led to believe that this was because that was all the songs he had that were “worthy”. This belief was of course blown to smithereens once the Beatles broke up and George’s first solo offering was All Things Must Pass, a stunning three record album completely written by George. How was that possible?
It was possible because George was a much bigger talent than John and Paul wanted us to believe. I expect that he had been bringing more to the table than they were prepared to put on “their” Beatle albums. To support this position I would like to point out that All Things Must pass, the title song on George’s first solo album had been pitched to the Beatles during the Twickenham sessions leading up to the Let It Be album. In listening to these sessions we hear take after take of the Beatles playing All Things Must Pass and guess what….they all suck! It seems pretty clear to me that John and Paul really did not have their heart in playing George’s song. Take a listen to this take that provides one example of the point I am making:
This take was made on Day 5 of the sessions…George walked out on Day 8 but was eventually talked into returning (read more about the Twickenham Sessions in this article on Wikipedia). I suspect that his mind was already made up to end the Beatles even when he returned. It must have been clear to him that he had outgrown the Beatles. Take a listen to this solo demo of All Things Must Pass (from my personal stash) that George was working on and compare and contrast the two versions yourself.
I feel compelled to offer up my “This coffee is served hot” disclaimer and state for the record that I am speculating here and don’t really have first hand knowledge of how the Beatles fell apart. You look at the evidence and make up your own mind and as always, let me know what you think.
I have always been interested in understanding how great songs, or more generally great ideas, come about. There is a tendency to believe that great songs and ideas spring to life, fully formed, but I know that this is not true.
For those that might be interested there are a number of great business books on this topic. I highly recommend:
Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
Dealers of Lightning by Michael Hitzik
The latter, one of my favorite books ever, captures the story of how most of the computer innovations that we take for granted today (Graphical User Interfaces, the mouse, and Ethernet among others) came about as part of the Xerox PARC project.
Bringing this post back to topic of music lets travel back in time to the mid-1970s. Bruce Springsteen is hard at work on a follow-up to Born to Run. He has lots of ideas, all at different stages of development. Some don’t have real lyrics yet or even titles. Even so, he and the E-Street band are putting them all on tape. Lets take a listen to a couple of them.
Candy’s Boy
The Fast Song
The second of these songs immediately catches everyone’s attention in the studio. It doesn’t have a real title yet but everyone calls it The Fast Song. The bones of the song are strong but Bruce is not happy with the lyrics other than some towards the end:
“She has men who’ll bring her anything she wants but they don’t know that what she wants is me”
Unfortunately there isn’t a story to support these lyrics. Who is this girl?
The first song is slow, some might say plodding, but it appears to have some personal meaning for Bruce so he keeps working on it. It is tentatively called Candy’s Boy. The lyrics hint at a back-story that is left untold but everyone fills in the gaps with their own interpretation:
“To get to Candy’s room you have to walk the darkness of Candy’s hall. Strange men from the city call Candy’s number and bring Candy toys but when I come knocking she smiles pretty…”
At some point Bruce has a peanut butter and chocolate moment, if you will, with these two songs. “Hey…lets take the beginning lyric from the slow Candy’s Boy and make it work in that Fast Song that everyone likes.” Boom! The magic happens and an incredible new song called Candy’s Room is born. Take a listen
Now..lets be truthful. I don’t have any idea if this is the way things actually happened but I do have some evidence in the form of the demos provided above. I think my interpretation of the evidence might be the way it really happened but, as always, let me know what you think.
So….any opinions on the question I posed in the last post? Let’s provide some more background information in the form of a story and see if the answer becomes any clearer.
It’s 1973, the height of the singer/songwriter era, and you have just released your first album called Aquashow on the Polydor label. The headline for the Aquashow review in Rolling Stone magazine is: “He’s the Best Dylan Since 1968”. Here, let’s take a listen.
Great news? Nope….you are officially fucked because you have just been hit with the “Dylan comparison”.
But wait, you aren’t alone. Another young singer/songwriter name Bruce Springsteen has also recently been hit with the same comparison in the April 26, 1973 issue of Rolling Stone in an article titled “Bruce Springsteen: It’s Sign Up a Genius Month”. To quote the first paragraph of the article:
“It’s more than a decade since John Hammond Sr. of Columbia Records signed Bob Dylan to a recording contract. Since then, Hammond has signed a number of other successes and, by his own admission, a number of “stiffs”. Now he has signed Bruce Springsteen, 23, of Asbury Park, New Jersey, and Hammond says. “He’s much further along, much more developed than Bobby was when he came to me.”
As it turns out, despite all of the critical acclaim, neither your first album nor Bruce’s first album has significant commercial success. Strike one
Move ahead to your and Bruce’s second albums (Lost Generation and The Wild, the Innocent, and E Street Shuffle). For this album you decide to jump to RCA, perhaps with the hope that they will promote you better. Bruce sticks with Columbia. To quote Paul Nelson’s Rolling Stone review for Lost Generation,
“Elliott Murphy’s first album, Aquashow (Polder), released 18 months ago, showed exceptional promise and intelligence, prompting many, myself included, to ready a place in the higher echelons of rock & roll for the talented Long Islander. Now after a lengthy season of hard times – new label, new manager, new producer – Murphy returns to stand, deliver, and collect. On Lost Generation, a brilliant but extraordinarily difficult LP, the artist is hurt, angry and confused by the shifting role of the hero in modern times and the growing division between intoxicating myth and sobering reality in his personal and public lives.”
Wow, commercial success seems to be a certainty, but once again, your hopes are dashed. Bruce’s fate with The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle is similar. Strike two
You and Bruce both recognize that your careers are behind with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. It is time to swing for the fences or go home. For brevity we will skip the story of Bruce’s third record here especially since everyone already knows it. Bruce did swing for the fence and produced Born To Run, an absolutely stunning album. Rolling Stone ranked Born to run as the 18th best album of all time, it was a huge commercial success, and Bruce’s was launched into superstardom.
You also took your best shot with your third album, Night Lights, but its receptions by critics and listeners was mixed. Dave Marsh’s review of Night Lights in Rolling Stone touched on what he considered to be a key difference between you and Bruce,
“In 1973 and 1974 it seemed to many of us in New York that it was a tossup whether Bruce Springsteen, the native poet of the mean streets, or Elliott Murphy, the slumming suburbanite with the ironic eye, would be come a national hero first. Well we all know how that turned out, and while Murphy must be almost as sick of being compared to Springsteen as to Bob Dylan and Lou Reed, their careers have such interesting parallels that it is almost unavoidable.
The crucial difference is that Springsteen’s genius was first perceived as lyrical and turned out to be musical, while it was Murphy’s music that was originally found compelling even though his literary qualities have come to dominate.”
The only positive in Marsh’s review had to do with the first song in the album named Diamonds by the Yard. Marsh noted: “Diamonds by the Yard is such a complete success as a spooky post-Velvet Underground mood piece that it would be a mistake to write off Murphy’s career. “ This ended up being a very insightful comment since Diamonds by the Yard became a cult hit…in France, as the album bombed in the US like your first two. It was indeed too early write off your career as you later decided to move to France where you have had a “successful” European career ever since. Just A Story From America indeed.
Before we leave this story let’s once again revisit the question that was posted in the previous post. I think that some of the answers are highlighted in the background details provided above. Elliott’s music did indeed focus on literary themes as highlighted by Dave Marsh and it was indeed difficult as highlighted by Paul Nelson, too much so, in both cases, for the typical American listener. As in many cases, a genius is not appreciated in his own time or in his own homeland. Jerry Lewis….anyone?
As an epilogue, it is worth noting that Elliott produced Just a Story From America, which many consider to be his masterpiece, as his forth album after switching to Columbia. It was too late to resurrect his US career but it is indeed a wonderful album.
If this post has made you interested enough to explore Elliott’s music as captured in his first four albums, I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that all of these albums are out of print and unavailable at any reasonable price. A quick scan of Amazon indicates that your best option might be a greatest hits CD named Diamonds by the Yard. Only one used CD is listed as being available for this album and it is priced at $99.99! Now the good news. Elliott Murphy has a wonderful website that lists his complete discography, well over thirty albums at this point, and provides in depth detail on each album. More importantly it allows you to listen to the songs for free. Enjoy! As always, let me know what you think.
Change was in the air in early 1968 for David Crosby. He had quit (or been kicked out of) the Bryds in late 1967 at least in part due to the bands refusal to include his song “Triad” on the Notorious Byrd Brothers album (we will talk more about Triad in a later post). His relationship with his Byrd band mates had been deteriorating for some time but it hadn’t helped matters when David decided to play with Buffalo Springfield at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival.
Stephen Stills, of Buffalo Springfield fame, was also dealing with change in 1968. Buffalo Springfield was in the process of falling apart. Neil Young had quit the band (for the first time) prior to Monterey which is why David was asked to fill in for the festival set. This unplanned initial collaboration between Stephen and David was the start of a musical friendship that would shape the remainder of both men’s musical careers.
Jefferson Airplane, a stalwart in the burgeoning San Francisco psychedelic music scene, was another major group headlining the Monterey Pop Festival. The San Francisco scene seemed to better suit David’s lifestyle and musical taste and he was starting to gravitate away from LA and towards Northern California. He was already friends with Paul Kanter and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane. While his Byrd band mates had refused to release Triad, Jefferson Airplane embraced it, releasing a version on their Crown of Creation album.
The Birth Of Wooden Ships (On The Mayan)
Freed of the Byrds and other entanglements, David purchased a yacht, the Mayan, in Florida.
The Mayan
He had learned to sail at the age of 11 and was happiest while on the water. He invited friends Stephen Still and Paul Kanter to join him for some quality time on the Mayan and, of course, some music.
David had been working on a set of changes on the guitar that he really loved but didn’t have any lyrics to go with the music. Listen to the demo using the link below:
As he played those changes for Stephen and Paul on the Mayan the magic happened quickly. Paul came up with the opening line “Wooden ships on the water very free and easy” while Stephen helped with the musical arrangement and contributed the lyric “Horror grips us as we watch you die”. By the time they were done the basic song had taken shape.
Stephen Still Wooden Ships Demo
A month later Stephen was in a New York studio working on Judy Collin’s album. At the end of one session, he stayed in the studio and recorded demos of a few songs, among them was Wooden Ships as written on the Mayan. Listen to the Wooden Ships demo using the link below:
This recording represents the first recorded version of the song with lyrics. The demo recording was finally released in 2007 as part of Stephen’s Just Roll Tape album. This recording was the genesis of the song that eventually found its way onto the first album of the yet to be formed Crosby, Stills, and Nash (CSN) which was released in early 1969. Paul Kanter was not credited as a writer on Wooden Ships on that first CSN album due to contractual issues that he and Jefferson Airplane were having.
Jefferson Airplane Wooden Ships In Haight Asbury
Although not initially credited as a writer on Wooden Ships, Paul Kanter continued to work on the song including the addition of a significant number of new lyrics not included on the song as completed on the Mayan. You can get a sense of these additions on an incredible historical video relic from 1968 that Marty Balin posted on You Tube. This video shows key members of Jefferson Airplane, along with David Crosby, playing Kanter’s updated version of Wooden Ships in 1968 in the basement of the Jefferson Airplane house in Haight Asbury. Watch the video at the following link:
The finalized version of this Jefferson Airplane version of Wooden Ships was completed and released on their classic album Volunteers in late 1969.
Summary
Wooden Ships surprisingly was the only song written by Crosby, Stills, and Kanter. But lets give them credit, if you are only going to write one song make it a great one. Put the banner up on the Aircraft Carrier….Mission Accomplished.
So…now that you know the story behind Wooden Ships and have heard versions of the song from its first inception by David Crosby through early versions by Stephen Still and Jefferson Airplane I encourage you to buy the CSN and Jefferson Airplane released versions of the song. Both versions are great in their own way. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. Let me know what you think.
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 