DAY 419.
Dire Straits..................................Dire Straits   (1978)











Have to say I wasn't looking forward to this one, probably tainted by latter day Dire Straits who fir me seemed rather up themselves, but in saying that, I didn't mind them when the started out. This being their first studio album made this a tad easier fir me to listen to, still far to much wanky guitar but accomplished wanky guitar I hasten to add.


Some of the tracks went on a bit too long for this listener (but anything over three and a half to four minutes will probably lose me) the pick outs for me were the first two tracks "Down To The Waterline" and "Water Of Love" and of course the classic "Sultans Of Swing."



I found this a decent enough album, but not an album I'd rush out and buy, so as a result this album wont be going into my collection.




Bits & Bobs;



Took the name Dire Straits because it represented their financial condition in the early days.


 
In 2001, British scientists named a dinosaur they discovered after Mark Knopfler. They named the dinosaur, which was discovered in Madagascar, "Masiakasaurus Knopfleri" as a tribute to Knopfler.


 
Mark Knopfler was a journalist and teacher before joining the band. One of his first assignments as a cub reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post was to write Jimi Hendrix' obituary.


 
Mark Knopfler's second wife is named Lourdes. They had twin boys in 1987.


 
The band's demo cost only $175 dollars to make. The record company was so impressed that they got Spencer Davis Group bassist Muff Winwood (brother of Steve) to produce their debut album.



 Illsley once donated $750,000 to a charity to raise children's awareness of the dangers of drugs.


 
At a concert in New Zealand, the Minister of Transport called off a National Stewards' strike so they could make it to their show.


 
Before Dire Straits, David Knopfler was a social worker, and Illsley was studying sociology.


  
Mark Knopfler is left-handed but he plays right-handed; he says that makes him strong at vibratos.



 
Call it the solo that sold the band. Mark Knopfler had written “Sultans of Swing” on his National Steel guitar in an open tuning, but he found the result “dull” until he bought his first Stratocaster in 1977, the year he joined brother David Knopfler (rhythm guitar), John Illsley (bass) and Pick Withers (drums) in Café Racer, the London quartet that would be rechristened Dire Straits.


Picking up the tempo and plugging in his red ’61 Strat, Knopfler crafted an iconic rock anthem capped by a two-part solo that was pivotal to the band’s breakthrough.The reworked version was one of five songs on the demo tape the band had submitted to MCA Records’ Soho offices, where it fell on deaf ears. Dire Straits then sought feedback from Charlie Gillett, author of a definitive rock ’n’ roll history, The Sound of the City, then helming his own program, Honky Tonk, on BBC’s Radio London, who did more than merely encourage them. Gillett played the demo on his show, and by the time “Sultans of Swing” finished airing, the studio’s phone was ringing with calls from numerous London A&R men clamoring to land the quartet.


 As a musical calling card, “Sultans of Swing” was immediately distinctive in both sound and story. Over the course of six verses, Knopfler paid tribute to a group of older English jazz musicians “blowing Dixie, double-four time,” playing from the heart while being ignored by a crowd of young boys who “don’t give a damn about any trumpet-playing band/it ain’t what they call rock ’n’ roll.” The band’s dedication to traditional “creole” jazz could only attract a sparse audience while reaping the younger listeners’ scorn. 


The fictional Sultans guitarist, Guitar George, “knows all the chords” but “doesn’t want to make it cry or sing,” yet it’s Knopfler’s magisterial playing that defines the song and remains indelible 40 years later: Against Pick Withers’ galloping “double-four” pulse, Knopfler’s finger-picked fills first step into the spotlight with a series of scales before he breaks for a verse, then returns for 40 seconds of even faster, more fluid arpeggios that instantly established him as a guitar hero.  


Phonogram won the bidding war for Dire Straits, with veteran producer Muff Winwood soon guiding the band through sessions at Basing Street Studios. Across the pond, however, the band was a tougher sell as multiple U.S. labels passed on the group. In Burbank, the Warner Bros. A&R team, which awarded contracts only when there was broad consensus, initially passed until Karin Berg, stationed in New York and working alongside Jerry Wexler, went to bat, arguing that the quartet’s unadorned yet sophisticated musicianship and Knopfler’s atmospheric songs set them apart from other bands, ultimately persuading her colleagues to sign them.  The initial skepticism posed by American A&R reps proved ironic given the full scope of the band’s music and its influences.


Dire Straits justified Gillett’s enthusiasm with four of the five demo songs all making the final cut on an LP that projected a timeless style that drew audibly from American rock ’n’ roll, blues, country and folk. While Mark Knopfler’s accent and the songs’ locations rooted the music in the British Isles, his melodies and arrangements clearly looked across the Atlantic, while his dusky vocal timbre and fondness for brisk country shuffles and slower, swampy grooves evoked a kinship with J.J. Cale



The set’s opening track, “Down to the Waterline,” illustrates Knopfler’s skill at visualizing his characters and settings with cinematic detail and sonic atmosphere. A muted guitar note evokes a foghorn, followed by a swift, rippling guitar line that echoes, rises and then spirals softly downward before the band kicks into a fast shuffle as Knopfler recalls “sweet surrender on the quayside” near the Newcastle docks. The young couple’s furtive encounters in the dockside shadows, on “dog leap stairways” and “darkened doorways” suggest erotic heat in the night’s damp chill.  


 If “Waterline”’s rhythmic thrust and fleet, fluid lead guitar point are earmarks shared with “Sultans of Swing,” “Water of Love” displayed Dire Straits’ equal ease with more subdued material as the song’s slower tempo stalks patiently beneath Knopfler’s sultry National steel motifs. “Setting Me Up,” meanwhile, serves as a cautionary reminder that romantic success can ultimately lead to unhappy endings while further highlighting the band’s debt to country in general and Cale in particular, spurred by another confident display of nimble, finger-picked country riffs.


 “Six Blade Knife” offers a hushed interlude that bristles with quiet menace, another slice of romantic torment that achieves its tension through Pick Withers’ economical drumming and Knopfler’s stabbing staccato accents.


 Knopfler’s fluent ease with country guitar returns with the exuberant fills and solos on “Southbound Again,” its title a playful wink given the song’s compass heading south across the Tyne River to London. (His affection for country would deepen with his later spin-off project, the Notting Hillbillies, and convincing collaborations with Nashville guitar god Chet Atkins and Americana queen Emmylou Harris.)




In retrospect, the romantic themes that dominated Dire Straits’ first LP side were pop boilerplate that revealed his growing pains as a songwriter. Opening side two, “Sultans of Swing” stretched out thematically with a narrative skill that would evolve on subsequent Straits albums and bloom on Knopfler’s prodigious solo work. “In the Gallery” reflected the songwriter’s experiences in Leeds through an homage to the city’s artist/sculptor Harry Phillips, while “Wild West End” and “Lions” both offered street level views of London peopled with characters and locations drawn from Knopfler’s early days in the city.





“Sultans of Swing” went on to become a top five U.S. single hit, laying the groundwork for successful tours. Dire Straits’ sophomore set, Communique, followed the debut album’s sonic template but the addition of Muscle Shoals keyboard veteran Barry Beckett was a signpost toward an expanded palette that would mark an ambitious shift on 1980’s Making Movies. Keyboards would be more fully integrated into the band in the wake of David Knopfler’s departure during those sessions, with John Illsley the only original member to join Mark Knopfler in subsequent lineups.




"Down To The Waterline"



This song, which runs to 3 minutes 55 seconds, was inspired by an early romance in the life of composer Mark Knopfler. The waterline in question belongs to the River Tyne. Knopfler and his brother David, who also played in the band, were born in Glasgow but grew up in Newcastle.




"Southbound Again"



According to Michael Oldfield's biography of the band "Southbound Again" was inspired by songwriter Mark Knopfler's "memories of trips to the capital." The lyrics give the impression that he left his Newcastle home after a love affair that had gone bad to seek fame and fortune in the capital, and that he had no money and no place to go. Things didn't happen quite like that. Knopfler worked as a reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post newspaper in Leeds, and studied for a degree at the city university then moved to the capital where he played in a band called Brewer's Droop, but he also underwent a teacher training course and landed a post as a lecturer at a college in Loughton, Essex, where he played in a band called Café Racers which had a floating line up. Dire Straits actually made their debut as Café Racers, in July 1977. Although money was tight at one point, this is true for most bands when they start out.


 
"Southbound Again" appears to have been first recorded for a demo in October 1977, for BBC Radio London. The album versions runs to 2 minutes 58 seconds.




"In The Gallery"



Long before Tracey Emin had the temerity to exhibit an unmade bed as a work of art, many people treated so-called modern art with contempt. "In The Gallery" runs to 6 minutes 16 seconds, and is an emphatic statement by Mark Knopfler to the effect that this contempt is well deserved. The song is also a tribute to his friend, Leeds artist Harry Phillips, who died in 1976, two years before Dire Straits released their eponymous debut album.


 
How Knopfler came to write this is revealed in Michael Oldfield's 1984 illustrated biography Dire Straits. After graduating from Leeds University, Knopfler moved to London to pursue a career in music. While there he spent quite a lot of time in the West End, and two other tracks from this album - "Wild West End" and "Lions" - had their genesis in his visits there. One day he visited an art gallery in Shaftesbury Avenue, and was not impressed by what he saw. According to band member John Illsey, the exhibits were laughable, and on the way back to their South London flat, Knopfler sat in the back of the car writing furiously. "I've just got to finish something off" he said as they arrived. He sat there for a further hour and a half, but it took a little longer to work out the music. According to Knopfler, it's all a big con which is subsidized by the public purse for "all the phonies and all of the fakes" while genuine artists like Harry Phillips are "Ignored by all the trendy boys in London and in Leeds" and live - and die - in obscurity.




"Sultans Of Swing"


This song is about guys who go to a club after work, listen to music and have a good time. They are there for the music, and not for the image presented by the band. The song was a marked change from the waning disco style and the nascent punk movement. 


 
Group leader Mark Knopfler got the idea for song this from watching a lousy club band perform. As the story goes, Knopfler was in Ipswich on a rainy night. He ducked into a bar where a mediocre band was closing out the night to an audience that was maybe four or five drunks unaware of their surroundings. The hapless band ended their set with the lead singer announcing, with no apparent irony, "Goodnight and thank you. We are the sultans of swing." Said Knopfler: "When the guys said 'Thank you very much, We are the Sultans of Swing,' there was something really funny about it to me because Sultans, they absolutely weren't. You know they were rather tired little blokes in pullovers."




Knopfler got a lot of songwriting ideas from observing everyday people, something that got harder to do when he became famous.


 
This was Dire Straits' first single. It was one of five songs on a demo tape they used to get their record deal. The tape got played on London radio and started a bidding war for the band.


 
Despite the title, the song is not played with a swing rhythm.



 
A singer-songwriter from Indiana named Bill Wilson, who died in 1993, claimed that he wrote the lyrics to this song. He would often tell the story in concert, which was recorded for a 24-track CD that was released by a production company which recorded various artists between 1989-1995. One of the tracks is Wilson (identified only as "B. Wilson") performing "Sultans Of Swing."




There is an asterisk after his name and on the CD it says that this was from a live show performed at The Warehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Before Wilson plays the song he says the following: "I do this thing I co-wrote about, I guess, it's been about 12 years ago I wrote the lyrics and a friend of mine used to work a lot of sessions for my old producer, Bob Johnston, and worked a session with this fellow from England by the name of Mark Knopfler. Has his own group over there called Dire Straits. He had this little melody. It sounded like 'Walk, Don't Run.' And he had this little story concerning a band that nobody wanted to listen to. Only a few people show up to hear. So we got together one night after the session and tossed these lyrics around on a napkin and I guess I wound up writing most of the lyrics to the tune. Made enough money to buy a new Blazer that year I remember, so... didn't do too bad. It goes like this..."


Then he starts playing an acoustic guitar, strumming Spanish style and singing "Sultans." The lyrics are pretty close to what Mark Knopfler recorded but are slightly different.


It is unlikely that Wilson's account is true. Knopfler has never made mention of him, and Wilson is not credited for any contribution to the song. Also, the timeline doesn't sync: Mark Knopfler didn't come to America until after the album was released. The session work he did in Memphis was in the late '80s and early '90s when he was on a break from Dire Straits.


 
Regarding the line, "The band was playing Dixie double four time," Dixie double is a style popularized by Django Reinhradt (and Les Paul in his early years) where the guitar goes quite fast and plays bass as well, all together.


 
Knopfler has said that he is sick of this song because he had to play it thousands of times.


 
The "Guitar George" and "Harry" who are mentioned in the lyrics are George Young and Harry Vander, who were guitarists in the band The Easybeats. George Young is Angus Young's older brother and Harry and George helped get AC/DC recorded.


 
Dire Straits played a nearly 10 minute version with lots of saxophone at Live Aid in 1985. This performance is available on the Live Aid DVD.


 
Their 1998 Greatest Hits compilation Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits was named after this song.


  
According to Rolling Stone magazine in their "100 Greatest Guitar Songs" issue, Mark Knopfler wrote the song on acoustic guitar, then switched to a Fender Stratocaster.



 
Alan Freed played trombone in his band named Sultans of Swing. He is credited with coining the term "Rock and Roll" on his radio show in Cleveland in the early '50s. It is ironic that the lyrics, "They don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band, it ain't what they call rock and roll" references the type of band Alan Freed led.


 

Last edited by arabchanter (07/10/2018 7:26 pm)

DAY 420.
The Saints.............................................Eternally Yours   (1978)











Woke up this morning wi' a bit of a hangover, went doonstairs, got a couple o' paracetamols and a couple of nurofens washed them down with some fresh orange juice, jumped in the shower, had a wash, ended it with a quick run aboot wi' it on cold, toweled down, still no' feeling 100% (be patient I'm getting there) the other half had just made me a fried breakfast then went oot wi' the kids and the doags, so thought I'd listen to this while eating, stuck it up as high as I thought I'd get away with to start with, then kept cranking it up little by little.


And if you have a neighbour who complains, do what I've just done, tell him to "fuck off and get off your property, and while you're out there fuckin' off, see if you could find a life, you prick," sweet talkin' guy eh, I had to do the same a couple of weeks ago it was about half ten on a Sunday night, and this cunt comes knockin' my door, asking me to switch the music off, now I try not to have it on too loud after 11 O'clock, i'm not a monster after all, but half ten? then he comes out with "Some people have to work you know"  the cunt's never worked since he moved in and rented the hoose over the wall, I said "Work! me and my other half are working oor arses off to pay for your rent and benifits, you better fuck off before I start getting angry" I live in a detached house, he wouldn't be able to hear the music in his hoose, must just pass by and think "I'm going to play neighbourhood watch" I just don't get some people.




What hangover? I wouldn't say it was just this album, more a combination of all the above but it didn't half help, an absolute stormer of an album, opening up with "Know Your Product" which with me only hearing "(This) Perfect Day)" a sort of punkish record, took me by surprise a little, this had a lot of brass in it which isn't often found in punk tunes, but after listening to the whole album I wouldn't say The Saints were exclusively punk, in fact some of the tracks put me in mind of Flamin' Groovies, which at the moment is still my favourite find on this journey, and found them all the better for the variety. The majority of the tracks are high energy, maybe the dancin' aboot on my jack helped the tablets get into my system a lot quicker, but one things for sure I felt ready to get on it again after I heard this.


I enjoyed the whole album, but if pushed I really liked, "Know Your Product," "(This) Perfect Day," and "International Robots" which fir me had a bit of "White riot" and "C'mon Everybody" about it, but my favourite track was "A Minor Aversion" absolutely superb.


I think this is going to be one of the gems that I haven't heard before, although I liked this at the first time of playing, I promise you it gets even better the more you play it, this album will definitely be going into my collection.



Bits & Bobs;



Here's a few pieces I enjoyed;  


Let’s talk about the Big Three.


 But first: I advocate a fairly rigid definition of punk rock. The term “Punk Rock” should identify a distinct type of music; it shouldn’t just be a catchall for artists only connected by a “movement” or a period in time. For instance, it’s exceedingly clear that Suicide, the Ramones, Blondie, Television, and the Tuff Darts each played radically different kinds of music (and the same goes for the Damned and the Motors, or Elvis Costello and Eater). Not all bands during the “punk era” played punk rock; to throw them all under one moniker is inaccurate and misleading.


 Likewise, although the word “punk” has been fluidly applied to artists as diverse as the Sonics, the Stooges, and the Strangeloves, I maintain that it should be applied specifically to bands that emerged in (and after) the mid-1970s and played barre-chord-driven, downstroke-based minimalist rock and roll. To extend that definition to groups that were only retroactively labeled as punk encourages revisionism and confusion.

 Uh-huh.


 And even if I do not consider Blondie, Television, or Talking Heads (to name three) “Punk Rock” bands, they were a key part of a great blossoming of underground music in the mid-1970s, and it’s sensible to refer to them as bands that emerged in the Punk Era; but for “Punk” to be an effective moniker, I think it has to restricted to bands that sounded like, well, punk bands.


 The emergence of punk qua punk dates from the first live performances of the Big Three.


 Almost indisputably, three bands laid the foundations for English-speaking punk rock: the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and The Saints. Completely ignorant of each other and working more-or-less simultaneously on three different continents, these groups arrived at remarkably similar sounds. The Ramones began performing in the summer of 1974, and commercially released music in February of 1976; the Sex Pistols began performing in November of 1975, and released music in November of ’76; and the Saints began playing in Brisbane, Australia, in late 1973, and released their first music in September of 1976.

 Now, the Saints aren’t as well known as the other two (at least in the States—it’s a different story in Australia and Britain), which is a damn shame, because the Saints’ second album, Eternally Yours, is not only one of the best albums to come out of the whole first wave of punk, it’s also one of the best albums of the decade.



 There had been hints of greatness—well, more than hints—on the band’s first album, I'm Stranded (recorded in late ’76, released in early ’77). That landmark LP featured some first-rate material wrapped in a blubbering, charging, cavernous roar. The Saints hinted at an awareness of r&b vernacular, but wedded it to a quadruple-timed fanaticism and buzz-saw guitars.



 Eternally Yours (released in May 1978) takes all that and dials it tighter, twists up the riffs, and takes the production out of the garage (laying it down with a fatback Funhouse meets-AC/DC quality). There’s virtually nothing wrong with Eternally Yours; although it rarely strays from the full-tilt amphetamine boogie of punk, there’s a depth and almost Beatle-esque style to it, thanks to fantastic songs that are an amalgamation of hoarse and hooky melodicism, r&b tear-jerkery, and dive-bombing serpentine riffs, all sung in Chris Bailey’s mighty, pleading, passionate Van Morrison-meets-Johnny Rotten voice. Both Paul Weller and Elvis Costello aspired to the kind of whiskey-warmed soul’n’sob that Chris Bailey dispenses so naturally on Eternally Yours, but neither came remotely close.



 Just as noteworthy is Ed Kuepper’s guitar, which is an ugly/pretty horseradish and buttercream slash, a shred, a rending of garments, a rip of electric construction paper, one of the great rhythm guitar sounds of our time; and when wedded to the fallen angel sob of Chris Bailey’s voice, you had one of the most magical combinations in rock history.



 I’ll also of note that the Saints’ habit of playing very on-top of the beat, when combined with their rapidly circulating and changing riffs, actually anticipates the Bad Brains, and that’s not just idle conjecture: in their earlier days, the Bad Brains frequently covered Eternally Yours’ "Privat Affairs



 And (and this is a very big freaking “and”) Eternally Yours contains the greatest single of the punk era, and one of the ten greatest 45 A-sides of all time.


 “Know Your Product,” which opens the album, features a ferociously hooky slab of Stax horns on top of a Ron Ashton/Johnny Ramone slammawhirr and a Tartars-Marching-Across-the-Steppes rhythm, with Chris Bailey testifying on top like a Safety-Pinned Al Green. On “Know Your Product” Sam & Dave and Sex Pistols meet as they never did before and never will again, at least until the last dawn of man and Ramone, when the macadam of Bowery and Beale Street will shatter under the weight of God’s judgment, and seven angels, borrowed perhaps from the original lineup of Dexys, sounds seven trumpets, and mountains bursts into flames and the sea turns blood red, at which time I will still be clutching my 45 of “Know Your Product.”



 It so happens the rest of Eternally Yours would have been a magnificent document of heart-bleeding, slinky-riffing punk even without “Know Your Product,” but with it … dear God.




 The Saints only lasted one more album before Ed Kuepper split for the Laughing Clowns; Chris Bailey kept the Saints’ name afloat (and still does), frequently producing some staggeringly good music and asserting himself as one of the only truly great vocalists to come out of the first wave of punk; he still has the heart of Strummer, the throat of Van Morrison, and the keen eye of Leonard Cohen. A lot of Saints music is (very) worth looking into, but start with Eternally Yours.



 And please don’t tell me Blondie is a punk rock band.




 Sir Bob Geldof famously stated that rock music in the ’70s was altered by three bands: Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and The Saints. While the first two names have become synonymous with the word ‘punk’, The Saints remain the black sheep of the lineup – the under-recognised misfits from Brisbane who helped shape punk as we know it.


 The Saints formed in Brisbane in the mid-’70s. Under a heavily conservative State Government, four high school friends took to their living room to bash out song after song. Inviting their friends into the house for makeshift gigs, the band was building a following around the city, much in the same way Radio Birdman were rising up in Sydney.


  In September 1976, The Saints booked a few hours in a recording studio, and left with their first single. 500 copies of the ‘(I’m) Standed/No Time’ were made on the band’s own label, Fatal Records.

 

 It wasn’t until two months later that the Sex Pistols would make history with their first single ‘Anarchy In The U.K.’, and six months until The Clash released ‘White Riot’. The self-titled debut from The Ramones had only been on the shelves for a few short months. The Saints’ single ‘(I’m) Stranded’ was at the forefront of the ubiquitous explosion of punk music.

  The Saints were not only Australia’s first punk band, they were one of the first punk bands. Period.



 In 2007, the song was added to the National Film and Sound Archive’s Sounds of Australia Registry – a testament to the timelessness of the track. From the manic pace to the buzzsaw guitar, it borrowed from its predecessors, but had a grit that groups like MC5 and New York Dolls just didn’t have. The energy of the band was counterpointed by frontman Chris Bailey’s delivery; vicious and apathetic at the same time.

  The video clip fittingly starts with guitarist Ed Kuepper kicking a door in, and his guitar follows suit a few seconds later. The footage was filmed in an abandoned hosue in Paddington – the same house that adorns the cover of their debut album.

  ‘(I’m) Stranded’ was sent to the local and international press (500 copies were made; 400 were sent away), and the UK was where it was first picked up. Sounds Magazine proudly declared it the “Single of this and every week”, which led to the powers at EMI telling their Australian division to sign the band immediately (following a trend across the world where labels scrambled to sign any punk band that formed).

  The rest of 1976 went by in a blur. The Saints were signed to EMI in November, moved to Sydney, supported AC/DC, and then recorded their debut album, also titled (I’m) Stranded. They spent a whopping two days in the studio recording the ten-track album.

  The album was released (alongside a reissue of their first single), on the cusp of punk breaking through pop culture. The Saints went on to tour Australia, with varying degrees of success. Their live show was as raucus and unpredictable as their album. The story goes that Kuepper was using a public address system as his guitar amp, destroying the ear drums of all that stood in its path. The band members eventually made their way to England, where they appeared on Top Of The Pops to perform their new single ‘This Perfect Day’. The Saints also played their first ever U.K.gig on a bill with Talking Heads and The Ramones. (gotta have been some gig)



 The Saints were temporarily the darlings of the UK punk scene, but this was not long-lived. Frontmen like Johnny Rotten and Joe Strummer had a visual and physical style that become synonymous with punk, a style which The Saints frequently rejected; Bailey often holding a cigarette and singing behind a mop of tussled hair onstage.

 Their subsequent releases saw the band explore their sound, including a cover of Tina Turner’s ‘River Deep Mountain High’ on one of their singles, and adding Stax-esque horn parts on songs like ‘Know Your Product’. Their next album Eternally Yours was just as passionate and defiant as their last release, but it was a step away from the scene that had praised them only a year beforehand.



 By the beginning of 1978, The Saints (or at least the first incarnation of The Saints) was no more. The band had been dropped from their label after the release of their third album Prehistoric Sounds; an album that further built the gap between The Saints and their original sound, with a series of songs more influenced by jazz, soul and the blues than any punk record. The songwriting partnership of Kuepper and Bailey had disintegrated, with both looking to explore different sounds.

 Music history is filled with bands that burn out, not fade away. The Saints released their groundbreaking single, as well as three full-length albums, in the space of two years. In a manner similar to the Sex Pistols (but much less disastrous), they came in and made a statement, and then were gone before you knew it. But their legacy lives on in the sea of Australian punk bands that followed, from The Victims and The Meanies, to Clowns and Grenadiers. Australians know in their heart that The Saints were one of the only bands that mattered.





Johnny Ramone once said "If you ever hear The Saints from Australia, they're just like us". This is The Saints' second album and is an album that would recommend to anyone who is looking for a unique punk record. While the songs are written with the same amount of energy as your average punk album, the band uses of horns and writes acoustic inspired songs. The songs talk about the corruption and dullness in the society of Australia. The second track "Lost and Found" is an example of this album expressing these political messages. The lyrics say that Australian leaders ignore problems and exploit individuals. "Memories are made of this" is a track about Australian's lack of action against the government during the late 70s. The vocals on this album match the feeling of the songs  very well. Emotions such as anger, excitement and even playfulness on the songs like "International Robots". A very funny track with humorous backing vocals that even includes the lead singer actually laughing at some points. As serious as the topics are, this is just a very fun record. The sound of the guitar changes frequently, at times sounding eerie, crisp and melodic. The song "New Centre of the Universe" incorporates these sounds and the track opens up with a quiet guitar riff that progressively gets louder. The track "(I'm) Misunderstood" has a very energizing outro with very good performances. Well, the very good performances part basically is true for the entire album. It isn't surprising to me that this band has inspired acts such as The Hives and Dead Kennedys because this album is very well done. As I said before, if you are looking for a unique punk record, please give this album a listen.



An earlier track I really enjoyed;





 

 






 

DAY 421.
Marvin Gaye.............................................Here, My Dear   (1978)











This is definitely gonna be short and sweet, Fuckin' grow a pair Marvin!

This has to be the most groveling, "kick me in the bollocks, cause I love it" piece of shite I've ever had the misfortune to listen to. Fuckin' "man up" Marvin, shit happens, as my old mum used to say "dust yourself down, and get back in the game" not her exact words, I'm paraphrasing her but I hope you get my drift.


This is so crawly, and woe is me I can't see how anyone would want to buy this, which might have been Marvin's plan all along, seeing that his ex was going to profit from this album?



Anyways this wont be purchased or coming anywhere near my gaff.




Bits & Bobs;


Have written about Marvin already (if interested)


There must be parallel universes in which it's a good idea to marry the boss's sister. There must be universes where it's a good idea to marry the boss's sister when you're in your twenties, she's 17 years older, and the boss is the owner of the biggest black music corporation in the world. It certainly must have seemed like a fantastic idea at the time to Marvin Gaye, when he hitched his wagon to Anna Gordy in 1964 with the blessing of the ruler of the Motown corporation, her sibling, Berry. At that stage, Gaye had only a handful of hit records to his name.


 The divorce petition was duly filed by Anna 12 years later, by which time Marvin was a deeply conflicted international superstar, trailing bad habits and two small children by another woman with whom he was distractedly in love. We may presume that, by then, Anna was thoroughly browned off.


 The unhealthiest of Marvin's habits was the cocaine one, and coke habits can be expensive. So when Anna demanded a million dollars in settlement, Gaye could only plead poverty. He just didn't have the cash.


 Instead, his lawyer came up with the idea of offering Anna the $305,000 advance made by Motown against Gaye's next album, plus the first $295,000 it would inevitably turn in profit. Anna bought the deal. The judge duly wrote the order and the weirdest album deal in history was struck. What followed was even weirder.


 Let us put ourselves in Gaye's shoes. Faced with such an imperative, most of us might well quail, utter a few resentful oaths and then knock out a routine piece of work in double-quick time, fulfilling the letter of the contract but no more – not least because there'd be no financial reward for whatever work was done.


 Not Marvin. Gaye decided that the righteous thing to do was use the opportunity to write a "poison pen" missive in musical form to punish the missus in public. He would warrant himself emotionally with the indignant thought that Anna was denying him access to their child. The album he would make would give a detailed account of the breakdown of the marriage, calculated to cause maximum hurt to Anna and embarrassment to Berry. He got down to work in 1977.




"In the course of creating this ode of rebuttal and revenge," he writes, "something very different happened. Art overwhelmed anger, and healing, the by-product of courageous introspection, was miraculously achieved." Which is another way of saying that what came out at the end didn't exactly match up with what went in at the beginning.


 Here, My Dear is about as self-pitying and self-serving as a work of art can get. It is inconsistent in its perspectives, indulgent of its author's religious sentimentalism, deluded in its prospectus of what a marriage can be. Some of it is juvenile. It's saved from being pusillanimous only by the determination of the wounded Gaye to be as big-hearted as he could bring himself to be in the circs, and by the courage he exhibited – perhaps unwittingly – in revealing his own weakness of mind.


 The album is one long baroque non sequitur. It is also fantastically beautiful. If nothing else, Here, My Dear represents the apotheosis of the gospel-soul tradition, in which sophisticated, shudderingly elaborate vocal harmony stands for the outreach of the human spirit in the general direction of the ineffable.


 One of the many musicians hired for the project was the guitarist Gordon Banks. It's not clear how much of Here, My Dear he actually played on – he can't remember. Furthermore, he was young (22) in 1977 and of relatively low status and so was not granted much access to Gaye's creative sanctum. "He was the captain of the ship," he says bluntly, 30 years later. "He gave orders about how he wanted things played."


 Which basically entailed dispatching the captain's handpicked ensemble of groovers off to work up rhythm tracks, over which the skipper would then create his multitracked vocal empyrean in private. Once something acceptable had been achieved with the microphone, the instrumental parts were erased and sent away for re-recording with more precise specifications. It was an incremental process and Gaye, being Gaye, only worked in bursts.


 Banks went on to become close friends with Gaye, a key creative collaborator ("Sexual Healing" bears his mark) and the confidant with whom the singer went into exile in Belgium as he began the long slide into paranoia and death at the hands of his own father in 1984. Banks owns the rights to film of Gaye's final concert. Unsurprisingly, the guitarist won't hear a word against him.


 Was he aware at the time of Marvin's vulnerability? "Not in the beginning. I didn't get to know him properly until after the Here, My Dear thing. Gaye was a pure musician – even sitting around watching TV he was planning music; in the loo he was planning music. He planned music every single day. Music came out of him [all the time]. That's what he was. He was just a genius."


 Which might perhaps explain why what began as a vengeful act became in the end, in its creator's mind at least, a votive act of self-mortification and prayer – an act of self-rescue. What really drives Here, My Dear is not a weak man's need to get even but his need to feel better. All that stacked-up, improvised, lambent beauty, all those trailing sad voices, do, in the end, say something worth hearing: they say: I may be many things of little or no value to you or to anyone else for that matter, but at least I can do this.


 Gordon Banks has another take.


 "He'd met someone else. Anna was over for him and it was time to move on. He was planning on Here, My Dear to leave Motown. It was, like... the nepotism thing? He wanted to prove that he could succeed on his own without Motown. And his tie to Motown was Anna." So you're saying that the divorce album was partly about the pain of divorcing his wife but also about the pain of divorcing his record company?


 Banks leaves a half a beat's pause, as all good musicians do, and then hits the note.


 "Riiiight."


 It is not recorded whether every last penny of the divorce settlement was delivered. Nevertheless, Here, My Dear was only a succès d'estime at the time of its release – it yielded no hits and was bought in relatively modest quantities. As for Anna, it was reported at the time that she was poised to file an invasion-of-privacy suit. "Does this album invade her privacy?" wittered Gaye in response. "I'll have to give it another listen... but all's fair in love and war." The suit did not, in the end, transpire.


 Later, Anna told David Ritz that she was embarrassed and humiliated by the album. "It hurt. For a long time, I wouldn't listen to it again. But with the passage of time I've come to appreciate every form of Marvin's music, even songs written in anger. In the end, you know, when Marvin was very sick, he came to see me often. We stayed close."



"Here My Dear"


 The ultimate divorce record, Marvin Gaye recorded Here, My Dear as part of his alimony obligations to Anna Gordy. He initially intended to record a crap album, but his intense emotions soon bled through to the record. Gaye initially held back the record, fearing it was too personal, and was nearly sued for invasion of privacy by Gordy.


 Although the album was initially a commercial failure, it has subsequently been critically acclaimed as a masterpiece.


 What have the artists said about the song?
Here, My Dear’s influence has only grown with time as artists such as Nas, Beyonce and Jay-Z have all released records reflecting on divorce and the trials of marriage.


 Nas’s most recent album, Life Is God, was influenced by Here, My Dear and the legendary MC even noted that he got Jay-Z listening to the Marvin Gaye album for inspiration.




“I thought Here, My Dear was brave, beautiful, honest, scary and daring. I remember putting several artists on to it, from Maxwell to Jay-Z,” he recalled. “I couldn’t imagine what Marvin was going through when he was recording it. And I couldn’t imagine me being in a similar position, years later…when I started working on the record, I tried to avoid [getting too personal]. The timing was just calling for me to not avoid all the shit that was going on out there. It was like a 10,000-ton gorilla in the room watching me. This is the way I got it off of my chest. This album talks about life, love and money. It talks about the fact that marriage is expensive. Life Is Good represents the most beautiful, dramatic and heavy moments in my life.” – Nas



"I Met A Little Girl"



In this song Marvin croons in his falsetto about how he fell for Anna and how their love died out, chronicling the years between their wedding and their impending divorce. The conclusion can be drawn that Marvin wasn’t exactly happy about what happened at the end of the song and his love story with his ex-wife Anna.




"Anger"


 One of Here, My Dear’s most honest moments of self-reflection arrives in the fourth track, “Anger”. In it, Marvin sings of the regret he feels when he allows rage to overwhelm him and call the shots.


 Not only is anger poisonous to the decisions you make, Marvin warns, it makes you “sick”, “destroys your soul” and comes with actual physical side effects like the fiery waves of hatred one feels “up and down my back, in my spine” when they give in to it.




“It doesn’t quite get you the first time,” Jay Kay told Q. “And a lot of the songs are quite similarly paced. It’s almost like the same song being subtly changed ten different ways. A lot of it, lyrically, is about the break-up of his relationship. There’s a track called ‘Anger’, which is lyrically really brilliant; and there’s a track called ‘Time To Get It Together’ using, I think, a marimba, and it’s just dreamy and lovely. He was a deep man at the time, but I think the charlie was eating him up. It’s all about struggling and fighting, and you can feel it.”




"Is That Enough"


 Here, My Dear segues from “Anger”, a song detailing the physical and spiritual anguish that comes hand in hand with the life and trials of Marvin Gaye, into a question he poses to his ex-wife, is that enough?


 Towards the end of the 1970s, drug abuse and tax issues were taking their toll on Marvin’s fortune. The troubled star saw Anna as swooping in to take what she could while he was down in order to finance her own lavish lifestyle.


 To get back at her, Marvin airs his feelings about their relationship to the world, claiming Anna’s “possessive” nature and her refusal to fulfill her wedding vow of “loving and obeying” her husband led to their divorce.




"Time To Get It Together"


 
Marvin often spoke of his own demise with startling, prophetic self-awareness. In “Time to Get it Together”, he addresses his mortality and sins and the time he has left to turn his life around.


 Sadly, the cocaine habits he confesses to and the hellish lifestyle that consumed and depressed him led to his downfall. Six years after this song’s release, Marvin’s time was up.





“I like the feeling,” Marvin admitted when discussing his use of cocaine. “No one will ever tell me it’s not a good feeling. A clean, fresh high, ‘specially early in the morning, will set you free—at least for a minute. There are times when blow got to me, and sometimes I know it built up bad vibes inside my brain. I saw coke, though, as an elitist item, a gourmet drug, and maybe that was one of its attractions. Was I corrupting myself? Slowly, very slowly.”



"Sparrow"


Sparrow” is Marvin Gaye’s mid-album respite from the woes of his devastating divorce from Anna Gordy. In Sparrow, Gaye reflects on a divine symbol, a bird that represents his endless creativity; the sparrow that sings to him drives his music with its messages of peace, love and even saving the environment found in many of his lyrics.












"Anna's Song"


 While most of Here, My Dear is blatantly acrimonious commentary on his broken marriage to Anna Gordy and the legal fallout the divorce battle caused, “Anna’s Song” sees Marvin Gaye appear to roll back the years to happier times with his ex-wife. However, much of it comes across as bitter and sarcastic as Marvin croons to his ex-wife of the lavish lifestyle he provided, insinuating that that was all that mattered to her.


 The song isn’t without its direct shots at Anna (“Worked so hard, see me make a dollar.”) but it gives an intimate history of their relationship through Gaye’s beautiful soft-spoken poetry and powerful vocals.




"A Funky Space Incarnation"


 In the midst of a divorce album, Marvin takes listeners on a trip to the distant future where he meets his estranged ex-wife Anna in a place outside time and space. In this new world, music transcends race and identity but despite this ideal creative environment, Marvin has still not escaped Anna.


 The song takes inspiration from George Clinton’s P-Funk (Marvin’s style with subtler, softly synthesized rhythms and instrumental) and offers comic relief as Marvin and Anna meet at a party, share a joint from Venus and make love in a space machine.



"You Can Leave But It's Going To Cost You"


 Marvin Gaye’s marriage with Anna Gordy began to fall apart in the early 1970s, around the time he met his second wife, Janis Hunter.


 Marvin and Janis moved in and had two children together while he was separated but not officially divorced from Anna, causing a great deal of strife and public embarrassment for her.


 In “You Can Leave, But It’s Going to Cost You”, Marvin paints a picture of an embittered Anna vowing to drain him financially for leaving him to be happy with another woman. All of this, as he notes in the beginning of the song, happened in full view of their friends some times.


 The song is littered with shots at Anna, “Her lawyers worked so hard tryn'a take my riches”, while Marvin claims that he simply wants “to be free” of her.


 As Here, My Dear was a musical form of payment and tribute to their marriage and divorce, the song reflects the mindset Marvin had throughout its entirety: one where he therapeutically transformed his pain into art to finally get over Anna.




"Falling In Love Again"




The concluding track of a journey of self-reflection and woe over the disintegration of Marvin Gaye’s marriage with Anna Gordy ends on a regenerative note. Marvin sings of his newfound love with Janis Hunter, whom he married shortly after his divorce with Anna was finalized. Although he has been beaten down time and time again by love, the final song on the album is Marvin’s way of saying he’s ready to do it all over with Janis.




 

love that Marvin Gaye review chanter  listened to this in car driving to ayr.  knob jockey

DAY 422.
Willie Nelson.......................................Stardust   (1978)











This is an album of older, classic, standards, all well sung and produced, but not an album I would play very often.
The tracklist sounds like a party in my mum and dads house back when I was a kid, all the relations and friends had their own party piece, with some good singers and some very dubious ones, but this is what this record reminds me of.


Although this is a good enough album, and evokes some good memories, this album wont be going into my collection.




Bits & Bobs;



Have posted about Mr Nelson before (if interested)




Just a quick review;

As ‘Stardust’ Turns 40, Willie Nelson Talks About the Great American Songbook
Says the country icon: “Good songs never die. If it was good a hundred years ago, it’s still good today.”
It will likely come as no surprise that, 40 years after the release of his classic album of standards “Stardust,”Willie Nelson" will be releasing another standards-filled new collection, this one devoted to the repertoire of Frank Sinatra.

 “Sinatra and I were very good friends,” Nelson says by way of explanation. “He was my favorite singer, and he had written one time in an article that I was his favorite singer, so we kinda kicked it off good together, and we worked a few shows together, did a couple of albums together, and a video. He was just a buddy.”


 Nelson expects that the Sinatra project, titled “My Way,” will be released on the heels of  of his 85th birthday. Buddy Cannon, who has produced most of the singer-songwriter’s recent records, recorded the horn- and string-laden backing tracks for the upcoming release in Nashville, with Nelson laying down vocals in his Austin studio. The album was co-produced by Matt Rollings.  “My Way,” like “Stardust,” will comprise evergreens from the Great American Songbook like “Night and Day” (which Nelson previously cut for a like-titled 1999 collection of instrumentals) and “A Foggy Day.” He continues to view standards as a timeless source of repertoire.





It is a deep well,” Nelson notes, “because good songs never die. If it was good a hundred years ago, it’s still good today.”


 When Nelson set about recording “Stardust” in late 1977, collections of standards were hardly a commonplace, especially for late-blooming country talents. In fact, during that era, even Sinatra had largely abandoned the standard book for compositions by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder and Jim Croce.


 Nelson’s status had only recently changed from that of a gifted, hit-penning songwriter who didn’t sell many records. The one-two punch of 1975’s “Red Headed Stranger,” the product of what was inked as a one-off deal with Columbia, and the 1976 RCA anthology “Wanted! The Outlaws” had established his profile as outlaw country’s major act.


 The success of “Stranger” had been followed up by a pair of relatively conservative LPs, one of them a tribute to ‘50s country star Lefty Frizzell. But Nelson, who was enjoying artistic carte blanche at Columbia as a result of his double-platinum hit, had an idea for a move into stylistic terra incognita.



 His previous labels had shown little patience with their intransigent artist’s desire to record anything resembling a standard. Nelson had essayed a string-laden, Patsy Cline-like interpretation of the 1929 pop chestnut “Am I Blue” at Liberty in 1963. During a long, unproductive stay at RCA, he’d slip the occasional oddball number in among his own compositions and various country covers, such as “Don’t Fence Me In,” Cole Porter’s “cowboy song” (1964) and Frank Loesser’s “Have I Stayed Away Too Long” (1966), also essayed by Tex Ritter and Charlie Rich. 
 But recording an album-length set of American standards was a notion that had continued to percolate within him.He says, “The idea was, a good song will always be good, and I played these songs all my life, practically – ‘Stardust,’ ‘Moonlight in Vermont.’ All those songs my sister [pianist and longtime accompanist Bobbie] and I used to sit around the house and play when we were growing up in Texas. It wasn’t a big stretch for me to do these songs.”



 In 1977, Nelson was spending a good deal of time in Los Angeles, scoping out the movie business. (His breakthrough acting roles would come in 1979’s “The Electric Horseman” and 1980’s “Honeysuckle Rose.”) But his long-contemplated standards project would get a liftoff from one of his Malibu neighbors: Booker T. Jones, the former keyboardist of Booker T. & the MG’s, the potent instrumental combo and house band of Memphis’ Stax Records.



 “Actually,” Nelson recalls, “we wound up living in the same apartment building in L.A. He was above me a couple of stories. We hung out together, and we started talking about making records. It was just kind of a natural thing to do. We wanted to do some great standards, and he’s an incredible musician, arranger, producer. So me and Booker just kind of went to work.



 “There were a lot of [the songs] I knew I wanted to record. There were a few he wanted to introduce and let me see if I wanted to do ‘em. It didn’t take long to come up with 12 or 15 songs.”



 Ultimately, 10 tracks were selected from tunes recorded at Brian Ahern’s home, employing the producer-engineer’s Enactron Truck mobile studio. They included Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust,” originally an instrumental and later augmented with lyrics by Mitchell Parrish, Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind,” Kurt Weill’s “September Song,” Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and George and Ira Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me.” 
 Columbia’s country division had meager expectations for Nelson’s lean, subdued collection of classic songs, which didn’t sit comfortably with the outlaw image formulated on “Red Headed Stranger.” So the execs were not holding their breath for the first sales reports after “Stardust” was issued in April 1978.



 And then, suddenly, the label had a smash hit on its hands – one that proved to be the bestselling album of Willie Nelson’s recording career. The surpassing warmth and sensitivity of his interpretive singing won him legions of new fans, many of whom may have been only vaguely aware of his country recordings.


 “Stardust” spawned two No. 1 country singles, “Georgia On My Mind” and a stunning minor-key interpretation of “Blue Skies,” and the No. 3 entry “All of Me.” The album spent a staggering 117 weeks on the pop albums chart, peaking at No. 30, and reached the top of the country LPs chart. In 1979, Nelson’s “Georgia” collected a Grammy Award as best male country vocal performance.



 Ultimately certified for sales of five million copies, the album was the pivotal moment in Willie Nelson’s career, in which the performer morphed from one of country music’s most gifted practitioners to an artist who was beyond genre and category.



 Nelson has frequently returned to the “deep well” he has drawn from so successfully and expressively. Among his many other excursions into standard terrain, he cites as his own personal favorites “Without a Song,” the 1983 sequel-of-sorts to “Stardust” that reunited him with producer Jones, and “American Classic,” a jazz-based set produced by Tommy LiPuma featuring the arrangements of Crusaders keyboardist Joe Sample.



 The possibilities of the Great American Songbook – which will play out again on “My Way” – are endless, Nelson says: “‘Stardust’ was a good album. It had all those standards in it, but there’s also hundreds more of those standards that can be recorded.”



 

arabchanter wrote:

PatReilly wrote:

What's round at the ends and high in the middle?

.

O-HI-O
 

Aye! From Jocko Homo. In their early gigs DEVO would play this to cool hippie/freak audiences, never ending until the listeners lost their cool and would forget their peace principles, throwing stuff at the band and even attempting to assault the members of DEVO. 

DEVO are the last famous band I saw, and just having looked out the ticket, it was over 10 years ago (they've not been back in Scotlnad since). Bob Casale and Alan Myers, although he'd left the band, have died since then.......

Here's the ticket>



And here's the set listing, which includes almost all the songs from 'Are We Not Men?':

That's Good • Going Under • Peek-A-Boo • Girl U Want • Whip It • Secret Agent Man • Satisfaction • Uncontrollable Urge • Mongoloid • Blockhead • Jocko Homo • Smart Patrol • Mr. DNA • Gates Of Steel • DEVO Corporate Anthem • Freedom Of Choice • Gut Feeling • Slap Your Mammy • Beautiful World

They performed in the yellow boiler suits, and tore them off during Jocko Homo, as is their norm.

I'm trying to think how I got into DEVO, for I bought the 'Are We Not Men?' album as soon as it came out. Whta I've got in my head is I saw them on a TV music programme, but cannae recall which, if that was even the case.

Or maybe it was the Eno and Bowie connection? 

In any case, this would be in a Top Ten of all time albums for me, it was exciting and different when I first heard it, and it remains that way. Still love it, 40 years on from the release, and that concert in 2007, the band performed the songs exactly as they had appeared and sounded on that first album. Four out of the five original members were playing, right enough. 

When I think of some of the stuff that's been on the 1001 list so far, this is a breath of fresh air.

DAY 423.
C'est Chic..............................................................C'est Chic   (1978)











I'm sorry, but I was never really into disco music back in the seventies, and even less interested now.This album is very dated, even the album cover seems ancient, one thing I can't slag is the guitary stuff from Niles Rodgers and Bernard Edwards which was more than decent.


The tracks in my humbles were far too long, which made even the familiar ones feel like a bit of a chore to listen to, I can't remember any of my crowd at that time being into disco, It wasn't like you went to somebody's hoose or got in their motor, and they said "I just bought this" and they would slap on a bit of Chic, I don't think anybody I know ever bought a Chic record, and I always thought it was more  the fairer sex's kinda thing.



Anyways this offering for me should be left in the 70s, this album wont be getting added to my collection.




Bits & Bobs;

Among music legends, Nile Rodgers is truly exceptional. He amplifies his legacy as a Grammy-winning composer, producer, arranger, and guitarist by constantly traversing new musical terrain and successfully expanding the boundaries of popular music. As the co-founder of CHIC, Rodgers pioneered a musical language that generated chart- topping pop hits like "Le Freak," sparked the advent of hip-hop with "Good Times," and won CHIC nine Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations. His work in the CHIC Organization and his productions for artists like David Bowie and Madonna have sold over 200 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide while his innovative, trendsetting collaborations with Daft Punk, Avicii, Disclosure, and Sam Smith reflect the vanguard of contemporary music. Fueling four decades of pop anthems with more than 200 production credits to his name, the scope of Rodgers' peerless influence is undeniable.



 If 2015 is any indication, Nile Rodgers is about to set more precedents in his own illustrious career. While "Le Freak" will be inducted into the 2015 Grammy Hall of Fame, Rodgers will receive the President's Merit Award during the Recording Academy's 8th Annual Grammy Week Celebration for the Producers & Engineers Wing of NARAS. He'll also appear on the new PBT series Speakeasy for a 60-minute interview with Valerie Simpson. Signed to Warner Bros. Records, Rodgers is currently preparing the first new CHIC album in nearly 25 years. It's an historic undertaking that bridges two generations of CHIC, including late co-founder Bernard Edwards, drummer Tony Thompson, and Luther Vandross. The first single "I'll Be There" is slated to drop in March 2015 and will be followed by an album release later in the year. One of the world's most dazzling headliners, Rodgers will take CHIC on the road throughout the year and offer the keynote address at LEAF (London Electronic Arts Festival) in March 2015.



 Long before Rodgers brought the "CHIC Mystique" to audiences across the globe, he cultivated his talent amidst the manifold music scenes that shaped New York. From a very early age, Nile was immersed in the city's thriving bohemian subculture by his mother Beverly Goodman, a hip, stylish woman who delivered him at 14 years-old, and his stepfather Bobby Glanzrock, a white Jewish "beatnik Ph.D." Towering avant-garde figures like Andy Warhol and Thelonious Monk populated his childhood in Greenwich Village, Alphabet City, and the South Bronx. Between his culturally rich home life and his proficiency on clarinet in the school orchestra, Nile was equally versed in the stylings of Bach, James Brown, and Billie Holiday while his father Nile Rodgers, Sr. was a skilled percussionist who exposed him to Afro-Cuban rhythms. A couple of stints in Los Angeles further exposed Nile to the burgeoning counterculture of the 1960s. He joined the Harlem branch of the Black Panthers, volunteering his time for the organization's "Breakfast Program," and capped the decade by attending Woodstock where he'd first conceive the melody for one of his most enduring compositions — "We Are Family."



 However, picking up the guitar at 15 years-old forever changed the course of Nile's life. He studied with Ted Dunbar and Billy Taylor at New York's prestigious Jazzmobile program and even jammed with Jimi Hendrix after forming his first band, the jazz-blues- rock outfit New World Rising. Rodgers landed his first professional gig in the road show for Sesame Street and subsequently joined the Apollo Theater's house band where he backed R&B powerhouses like Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. During his tenure with the Big Apple Band, which accompanied R&B vocal quartet New York City in concert appearances, Rodgers struck a partnership with music director and bassist Bernard Edwards. The Big Apple Band's blend of jazz, funk, and disco evolved into a unique style that formed the heart of CHIC, a name that Rodgers and Edwards adopted when Walter Murphy and a completely different Big Apple Band scored a number one hit with "A Fifth of Beethoven" in October 1976.



 Rodgers and Edwards' concept of CHIC took cues from Roxy Music's hybrid of high fashion and eclectic musicality, the anonymity of KISS sans makeup, and the notion that imagery was just as important as music. They infused each song with the principle of DHM (Deep Hidden Meaning), or understanding a song's DNA and relaying it through different levels, yet still preserving its fundamental truth. The burgeoning disco movement catapulted CHIC's soulful, sophisticated sound to the pop charts with "Everybody Dance" and the Grammy-nominated Top 10 hit "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)." Released in 1977, the group's gold-selling eponymous debut began a seven-year association with Atlantic Records.



 Streamlined yet sumptuous grooves became synonymous with CHIC Organization Ltd., the company that Rodgers and Edwards established for their productions within CHIC and with outside artists. C'est CHIC (1978), which Billboard selected as "#1 R&B Album of 1979," featured another Top 10 gold single with "I Want Your Love" while "Le Freak" topped the pop, R&B, and disco charts, earning the distinction of the biggest-selling single in the history of Atlantic Records. Rodgers and Edwards received their second Grammy nomination for "Best R&B Song" with the title track to We Are Family (1979) by Sister Sledge. "We Are Family" became a massive worldwide anthem as the album topped the R&B chart and spawned dance floor favorites like "Lost In Music" and "He's the Greatest Dancer." A wall of gold singles and platinum albums grew with CHIC's third release, Risqué (1979). "Good Times" not only scored another crossover number one hit for the group, and would influence hits by rock acts like Queen, Blondie, INXS, and the Clash, it kindled the hip hop movement when Sugar Hill Gang memorably sampled the track on "Rapper's Delight."



 The 1980s commenced with Rodgers and Edwards writing and producing their first album for a bonafide legend, Diana Ross. Their work ondiana (1980) powered the best- selling album of Miss Ross' career. It soared to the summit of the R&B albums chart for eight weeks on the strength of "I'm Coming Out" and the chart-topping "Upside Down," which also gave the star producers another Grammy nomination for "Best R&B Song."



 Throughout the early-'80s, CHIC released four more albums as Rodgers and Edwards helmed Debbie Harry's gold-certified solo debut KooKoo (1981), scored the soundtrack to Soup for One (1982), and produced sides for Carly Simon, Johnny Mathis, and Teddy Pendergrass before dissolving their partnership in 1983.



 Nile Rodgers achieved no shortage of commercial and critical triumphs between 1983 and 1985. Smash Hits rated his first solo album Adventures in the Land of the Good Groove (1983) a "10 out of 10" while his production for David Bowie on Let's Dance (1983) was a worldwide sensation. From the number one title track to infectious cuts like "Modern Love" and "China Girl," Let's Dance further positioned Rodgers as a galvanizing force in pop, dance, and rock. Later that year, INXS enlisted him to produce "Original Sin," which then prompted Duran Duran's invitation for Rodgers to retool "The Reflex." Released in 1984, Rodgers' remix of "The Reflex" topped the Hot 100 and became Duran Duran's biggest-selling single, preceding other hits that Rodgers produced for the group like "The Wild Boys" and "Notorious." Rodgers hastened the rapid ascent of Madonna to pop royalty when he produced the singer's second album, Like A Virgin (1984), winning Madonna her very first number one album and single ("Like a Virgin"), plus the career-defining "Material Girl." Following Rodgers' string of smashes with Mick Jagger, the Thompson Twins, Jeff Beck, and Sheena Easton, Billboard duly selected him "Top Pop Singles Producer of 1985."



 After releasing his second solo album B-Movie Matinee (1985), Rodgers remained on the cutting edge of pop music as the '80s and '90s progressed. He produced, recorded, and/or performed with countless icons like Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Steve Winwood, Robert Plant (the Honeydrippers), Grace Jones, Bryan Ferry, Peter Gabriel, Slash, the B-52's, Eric Clapton, the Vaughan Brothers and even formed the experimental band Outloud with Felicia Collins (Late Show with David Letterman) and Philippe Saisse. In 1992, he and Bernard Edwards reformed CHIC, releasing CHIC-ism (1992) on Warner Bros. and the Japan-only CHIC Freak and More Treats (1996). The band's resurgence foretold a crop of hip hop artists introducing classic CHIC tracks to a new generation. MC Lyte and Salt-N-Pepa each sampled "Upside Down" in 1996. The Notorious B.I.G. incorporated "I'm Coming Out" into the chart-topping "Mo Money Mo Problems" (1997). A year later, Will Smith took the irresistible hook of "He's the Greatest Dancer" to number one on "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It," Sadly, Rodgers and Edwards performed together for the very last time in April 1996. Just hours after CHIC's concert at Budokan in Tokyo, Edwards passed away from pneumonia at 43 years-old.



 Complementing his endeavors on stage and in the studio, Rodgers has boldly conquered many other mediums. He scored the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy blockbuster Coming to America (1988) and followed up with original music for White Hot (1989), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), Thelma and Louise (1991), Blue Chips (1994), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Rush Hour 2 (2001), Snow Dogs (2002), and Semi-Pro (2008), to name a few. In 1998, Rodgers launched Sumthing Distribution and Sumthing Else Music Works, a boutique national distribution company and record label that's found considerable success in soundtracks for popular AAA video games such as Gears of War, Borderlands, and the franchises to Halo and Resident Evil.



 Rodgers has often united the global community through his music and humanitarian work, whether participating in the session for "We Are the World" (1985), performing at Live Aid (1985), guesting on the Red Hot Organization's Red Hot and Riot (2002), or re- recording "We Are Family" (2001) with more than 200 musicians and celebrities in response to the tragedies of 9/11. Spike Lee directed a music video for "We Are Family" while Danny Schechter documented the recording session in The Making and Meaning of We Are Family, an official selection of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.



 That same year, Rodgers founded the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF), a non-profit organization that's dedicated to the vision of a global family by creating and supporting programs that promote cultural diversity while nurturing the vision, talents, and ideas of young people who are changing the world. Through initiatives like Three Dot Dash and TEDxTeen, WAFF has mentored and empowered extraordinary teens from more than 50 countries by giving them a platform to share their messages, tell their stories, inspire others, and foster respect and understanding across cultures. As Founder and Chairman of WAFF, Rodgers was honored with the "2011 We Are Family Foundation Humanitarian Award" for his exemplary leadership and groundbreaking work in expanding the mission and reach of WAFF. Most recently, he released "Do What You Wanna Do (IMS Anthem)" (2014), a track he recorded at the International Music Summit in Ibiza that benefits WAFF with each download purchase.



 Nile Rodgers reflected on his extraordinary life and career in his completely self-penned autobiography Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny (2011). Rolling Stone slotted the best-selling book in the Top 10 of the magazine's "23 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time." He published the book shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in 2010. Rodgers documented the journey of treatment and recovery on his blog Walking on Planet C and was declared cancer-free in 2011. After successfully surviving cancer, he was subsequently the subject of two documentaries, BBC Radio 4's Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker (2013) and TV One's Unsung: Nile Rodgers & CHIC (2014). Coming full circle from CHIC's appearances on classic shows like Soul Train, American Bandstand, and Top of the Pops, Rodgers continues to be a frequent guest star on television shows in the U.S. (CBS This Morning, Tavis Smiley, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) and the U.K. (The X Factor, Sunday Brunch, The One Show).



 More than 35 years since Nile Rodgers and his prized '59 Fender Stratocaster (aka "the Hitmaker") helped create a new vernacular for rhythm guitarists, his signature sound is flourishing in progressive dance music. His work with Daft Punk on the duo's Random Access Memories (2013) won a Grammy for "Album of the Year." The album's lead single "Get Lucky" marked a watershed victory for Rodgers, Daft Punk, and co-writer Pharrell Williams. It topped the charts in no less than 35 countries and earned Rodgers two more Grammy Awards for "Record of the Year" and "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance." Evidenced by his astounding success with Daft Punk, Rodgers has long been a respected figure among artists in the EDM community. Years earlier, French house duo Modjo won a chart-topping U.K. single when they sampled Nile's guitar riff from "Soup for One" on "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" (2000), further distinguishing CHIC as the "most sampled band in history" (The Guardian, 2011). Rodgers' recent collaborations with acts like Avicii, Sam Smith and Disclosure, Tensnake, and David Guetta underscore his passion in exploring and mastering new EDM technology. "The full scope of Nile Rodgers' career is still hard to fathom, and it's not just ongoing, it's in overdrive," remarked Rolling Stone, who named Rodgers one of "the 50 Most Important People in EDM" (2014).



 Nile Rodgers has also burnished his renown as one of the industry's most prolific band leaders and music directors on the touring and music festival circuit. Over the last two decades, he's revamped CHIC's stage show to become a thrilling, hit-filled event for audiences of every musical persuasion. Their performance at Glastonbury 2013 was heralded by critics and fellow musicians alike, spurring Oasis front man Noel Gallagher to exclaim, "My favorite act at this year's Glastonbury was not the Rolling Stones, as good as they were; was not the Arctic Monkeys, as good as they were; was not Disclosure, as good as they were; but it was CHIC. They were fucking mega. Absolutely out of this world." Rodgers has also received plaudits for staging unforgettable concerts at Montreux Jazz Festival, including 2006's star-studded tribute to Ahmet Ertegün, the legendary founder and chairman of Atlantic Records. Six years later, Rodgers conceived and presented Freak Out! Montreux, an eight-hour concert that traced the history of dance music through performances by artists and DJ's like Grace Jones, Cerrone, Martha Wash, La Roux, Mark Ronson, and Dimitri from Paris.



 Around the world, Rodgers regularly gives keynote talks at noted media and music industry conferences. Through sharing his expertise and musical accomplishments, he helps impart salient life lessons as well as his philosophies about the creative process. In 2015, Rodgers presented at Google Zeitgeist and gave the keynote address at LEAF (London Electronic Arts Festival). Just a year before, he was the featured speaker at events sponsored by FremantleMedia and Advertising Week, including an interview with Pandora founder Tim Westergren. For two consecutive years, Rodgers was the keynote speaker at the 2012 and 2013 International Music Summit (IMS) in Ibiza. He also helped launch Nokia MixRadio (2013) during a Q&A with Billboard’s editorial director Bill Werde, presented at the Edinburg International Book Festival (2012), and lectured at Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid (2011).



 There's no shortage of superlatives or accolades to convey the impact Nile Rodgers has made in popular music. He's been honored the world over by some of the industry's most respected institutions. In addition to his multiple Grammy Awards and RRHOF nominations, he's received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Goldene Kamera Awards (2015), Ivor Novello Awards' "Special International Award" (2014), the IMS (International Music Summit) Legends Award (2014), Canadian Music Week Festival's inaugural "Nile Rodgers Global Creator's Award" (2014), the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Urban Music Awards in London (2013), an induction into the Dance Music Hall of Fame (2005), and the Lifetime Achievement Award and Heroes Award from the New York Chapter of NARAS (2003). As a cultural icon and music innovator, Nile Rodgers transcends all styles of music across every generation. From "Good Times" to "Get Lucky," Rodgers' unrivaled track record is a mere glimpse of what's yet to come.




"Le Freak"


 
Chic was a group led by bass player Bernard Edwards and guitarist Nile Rodgers. Both were very successful writers and producers, combining to work on hits for Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. Edwards went on to produce for The Power Station, Joe Cocker, and Robert Palmer, while Rodgers has worked with Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and Madonna. Edwards died of pneumonia in 1996.





Rodgers and Edwards wrote this after they were denied admission to a nightclub, even though their song "Dance,Dance,Dance,Yowsah,Yowsah,Yowsah" often played inside.



It was New Year's Eve, 1977, and they were invited to Studio 54, a very popular club in New York City where many celebrities and trendsetters were known to hang out. A singer named Grace Jones wanted Rodgers and Edwards to do some production work for her, and asked them to come down to the club as her guest. When they got there, they were not on the list, and couldn't convince the doorman that they were the group Chic. All dressed up and nowhere to go on New Year's Eve, they left and started writing this song as a reply to the doorman. They called it "F--k Off," but when they decided to record it, Edwards wasn't comfortable with the cursing, so they tried it as "Freak Off." That title sounded lame, but when they made the opening lines "aaaahh Freak Out!" instead of "aaaahh F--k Off!", they came up with a better title: "La Freak."


They ended up not working for Grace Jones, although Rodgers produced her comeback album in 1986.




Studio 54 is mentioned in the last verse: "Come on down to 54." A year after Rodgers and Edwards couldn't get into the club, this was included on an album of dance songs called A Night At Studio 54. They had no trouble getting in at this point.




This was #1 in the US for six weeks. After a while, they stopped distributing it as a single to encourage people to buy the album.



"C'est Chic" (which was not just the name of the album but also part of the lyrics to the song) is French for "It is Chic."




This is the best selling single of all time for Atlantic Records with 13 million sales, including 2 million in the USA.




This was the first single to be displaced from the US # 1 twice, each time regaining the top position. It first hit the top spot in December 1978, then dropped to #2 for a week to make way for "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." After reassuming the #1 position for a second week, it then dropped to #2 again for two more weeks, this time to make way for the Bee Gees' hit "Too Much Heaven." In January 1979, "Le Freak" then moved back into the #1 spot for a third time, holding down the top spot for four more weeks.




This song returned, remixed, to the UK Top 20 in 1987 as "Jack le Freak."




Nile Rodgers told Billboard that the song "was our homage to a Chubby Checker song called the 'Peppermint Twist.'"




Nile Rogers told the Big Issue that he knew "Le Freak" was going to be a monster record even though the record company hated the song. He recalled:"By the time the song ended, after about seven and a half minutes, we'd cleared the conference room. We were just sitting there by ourselves - myself, Bernard Edwards and our attorney. Everybody else was outside trying to figure out how to tell us how much the song sucked, and wondering did we have anything else on the album that was better."



"I Want Your Love"




Nile Rodgers dreamt every note of this bittersweet lament about an unrequited love - he says it's the only song he's ever dreamt note-for-note. He recalled to Uncut in 2015: "I used to sleep with score paper next to the bed, and I wrote out the whole score paper next to the bed, and I wrote out the whole score the next day. We went in and played what I dreamt."


"The only thing that appears on the record that I didn't dream was when the horns come in, I put the strings up an octave," he continued. "That was the idea of the concert master. He said, 'Nile, since we're going this long amount of time, why don't the strings up an octave for the second part?' We tried it in the studio and it sounded great."




Originally intended for Nile Rodgers and Bernie Edwards' then-protégés, Sister Sledge, this was eventually recorded as a follow-up to Chic's classic hit single, "Le Freak."




Jody Watley covered this for her 2006 album, The Makeover. Released as a single, it reached #1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart for the week of June 16, 2007. Watley's version featured Nile Rodgers on guitar.




Lady Gaga recorded this with Nile Rodgers in 2015 for a campaign for the designer Tom Ford. The video, directed by Nick Knight, shows Gaga and various models wearing items from Ford's collection. The clip quickly racked up over a million views on YouTube.

arabchanter wrote:

   ......... I don't think anybody I know ever bought a Chic record, and I always thought it was more  the fairer sex's kinda thing.

Exactly!

I used to borrow it from an older neighbour in an attempt to impress the 'fairer sex'. 

But to be fair, I've always like 'Le Freak', and tried and failed to imitate Nile Rodgers style of playing. 

And of course, tried and failed to impress the 'fairer sex' with the record too. 
 

DAY 427.
AC/DC........................................................Highway To Hell   (1978)











Will add text later, as I've got to run.

arabchanter wrote:

LocheeFleet wrote:

love that Marvin Gaye review chanter  listened to this in car driving to ayr.  knob jockey

pardon my french madam, but that must have been a cunt of a trip!

no a wee bit blow eased the journey and i picked up a utd mad poster.  He thinks im a bloke too xx

LocheeFleet wrote:

PatReilly wrote:

arabchanter wrote:

   ......... I don't think anybody I know ever bought a Chic record, and I always thought it was more  the fairer sex's kinda thing.

Exactly!

I used to borrow it from an older neighbour in an attempt to impress the 'fairer sex'. 

But to be fair, I've always like 'Le Freak', and tried and failed to imitate Nile Rodgers style of playing. 

And of course, tried and failed to impress the 'fairer sex' with the record too. 




 

fairer sex record!? really? we need to talk

ok, but wha am eh gonna be talkin' to?

arabchanter wrote:

LocheeFleet wrote:

PatReilly wrote:

Exactly!

I used to borrow it from an older neighbour in an attempt to impress the 'fairer sex'. 

But to be fair, I've always like 'Le Freak', and tried and failed to imitate Nile Rodgers style of playing. 

And of course, tried and failed to impress the 'fairer sex' with the record too. 




 

fairer sex record!? really? we need to talk

ok, but wha am eh gonna be talkin' to?

ah you know me too well.  Am i really that bad on here? Seriously just trying to have banter but appear to rub some up the wrong way.  Anyway too arrogant to leave so I will keep looking in as this thread is one of the new wonders of the world Chanter!! brilliant x