O/T Pleasurable Listening XIII

[Pacman1903]

How to clear a bar and enjoy a quiet pint

Nijmegen

[57vintage]

One of my favourite albums of all time was released in 2003. I gave it 5 (five) stars in a review, where the unwritten agreement is naebody gets a '1', and naebody, except for rock n roll DNA re-issues gets a 5.

I lent it to a workmate over a decade ago, who crashed his car and the CD was towed away, presumably to be crushed with his written-off Clio.

A good copy of it came up on eBay last week, and it arrived today. It is magnificent, and will be getting lasered to death in the coming days.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBiT0mtu3-4

Bobby Charles: Last Train To Memphis. [Proper Records/Rice ‘n’ Gravy Records]

From the man who wrote “Walking To New Orleans”, “But I Do” and “See You Later, Alligator” comes this joy-inducing collection of songs, so evocative of New Orleans that I swear there is Delta mud caking the carpet below the speakers. With nuances of Fats Domino, Lee Dorsey, Lazy Lester, Dr John and a litany of others and Zydeco, swing, Cajun and country licks fading in and out, all of the Delta is in here. This album could only be the product of one geographical and cultural US region

Last Train To Memphis opens with the title track, inspired by the title of Peter Guralnick’s magnificent Elvis biography, and is Charles’ own tribute to the Tupelo Mississippi Flash. Its sparse, chugging simplicity sets the tone for what is one of the must-have CDs of 2004.

There follow a further four**** spirit-affirming tracks of yearning, of joy, of sadness, but always of simple beauty, with hooks that suggest that these are songs we’ve always known. Charles is hardly prolific, though, the recording dates listed ranging from 1975 till 2001, but quality of this standard is always worth waiting for. And then there’s a 19-track bonus disc of similar content and on which the standard dips not a notch. I swear that I nearly danced. No mean feat in a car travelling at 60mph (officer).

The digi-packaging too, is beautiful and the photography first class, all adding to the overall impression of a labour of love bought into by all involved.

The guest list includes Fats Domino, Sonny Landreth, Neil Young, Delbert McClinton, Muldaurs Geoff and Maria and Willie Nelson. Add to these and Charles’ own considerable talent, empathetic sessioneers whose sure-footedness and desire to embellish tastefully the main man’s offerings and what is delivered is a blissful melange of good-time roots Americana destined to stay on my playing favourites list until Charles’s next offering is laid before us.

[57vintage]

i just met a couple of mates who are off to see Savoy brown in burgh tonight. Knew nuthin of them so checked them out. Wish I was going now! I’m guessing some of the older posters will know them..

They supported Quo at the Music Hall in October 73, although they were on their way down in the UK by then. They're still going, with Kim Simmonds, in his 70s still writing great stuff and performing like he's 19 year aul. I've reviewed a couple of Kim and the boys' albums in recent times. Nae-nonsense Proper Mannies' Blues. Yas.

SAVOY BROWN
***
Witchy Feelin’
(RUF RECORDS) www.savoybrown.com

Kim Simmonds’ fifty two year longevity in the business has not only earned him the respect of his contemporaries in the twin UK blues booms, but also hat-tipping homages from current young hopefuls, influenced by his entire half-century recorded canon.

Once again supported by bassman Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnett Grimm, Witchy Feelin’ continues the exemplary blues trio sound of 2014’s Goin’ To The Delta. If that collection demonstrated Simmonds’ desire to burrow into the very roots of the blues that has always been his home territory, Witchy Feelin’ is very much a companion piece, but with a focus, intended or otherwise, on the darker, supernatural side of the devil’s music. “At least three of the songs...have that hoodoo vibe”, Simmonds asserts.

That aura of menace permeates and saturates the album’s eleven tracks, with Simmonds vocally and instrumentally, in tone and delivery, evoking the spirit of the Delta. Bad whiskey and women, the Gothic imagery of ‘Thunder, Lightning & Rain’ and ‘Why Did You Hoodoo Me?’ all serve to apply shades of grey to a faintly disturbing monochrome landscape, where space, essential to top notch three-piece playing, is as ***** and evocative as the music.

KIM SIMMONDS AND SAVOY BROWN
****
Goin’ To The Delta
(RUF RECORDS) www.savoybrown.com

During the early 1970s, the UK was blessed with a range of gifted, hard-working blues and boogie bands. Among these, only Fleetwood Mac and Status Quo achieved much domestic success, but In the US, contenders such as Humble Pie, Foghat and Savoy Brown worked incessantly, were sell-out live acts, and frequently troubled the album charts.

Over forty years on, main man Kim Simmonds continues to front a three-piece incarnation of Savoy Brown with Pat DeSalvo and Garnett Grimm, and Goin’ To The Delta is as fine a collection as the band has released in its history. Simmonds says, “The songs and playing on this album are straightforward in focus and as basic as blues should be”. He’s right.

The three-piece format, by its own limitations, has to keep things basic and to the band’s credit, if there are any sound-fattening overdubs, they are indiscernible. All twelve tracks are compact, lean and economical, only two straying over six minutes, but each, in its way allowing Simmonds’s well-developed impassioned voice and better-than-ever guitar attack to perfect the emotion and bravado which, in equal part, drive the blues.

[mondo_notion]

Ended up with a Gaberlunzie album on my Ipod. Used to hate them when the parents blasted it out back in yonder day.

Listened to it twice rolling down the mountains to the coast in Spain this morning.

Gets you right in the mood to take on 40,000 Sassenach horse and long bows.

[Pacman1903]

First een in ten years. Nae their best(its impossible to top Earth versus the Wildhearts anyway) but got three or four crackers on it. A lot darker than usual. Decent listen

As I said, nae their best, but they are back(minus one of Dannys legs). that's the main thing

Glasgow bandstand next month should be good

[Pacman1903]

This is f@cking ace. Ive seen them before but never bought the album. Quality stuff from an affa talented dude. John Poole

[xtrmntr75]

Heard a song by Simple Minds called Themes For Great Cities on the wireless. Fantastic, had never heard it before

[Aldo1983]

Heard a song by Simple Minds called Themes For Great Cities on the wireless. Fantastic, had never heard it before

Great instrumental.

[xtrmntr75]

A boy I went to college with always maintained SM were weaker after Derek Forbes left. With kind of stuff with Forbes, I see his logic.

[Pacman1903]

Listened to this a few times this trip. Decent.

Saw them in 97 at the Barrowlands but never really got into them until recently