ELVIS - BACK IN NASHVILLE

For Elvis Presley the start of 1971 saw him accepting an award which must have meant so much to him. He was named one of the 'Ten Outstanding Men' by the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) and accepted his award at a special banquet held in Memphis. The award recognised young men who had made great achievements in their particular field and over the years recipients had included John F. Kennedy, Orson Welles and Howard Hughes, so he was in good company. During his acceptance speech Elvis said, "I learned very early in life that, 'Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain't got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend, without a song', So I keep singing a song."

The previous two years had seen his career take a dramatic turn with sessions in Memphis in 1969 and Nashville in 1970 producing hit singles, including In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, Don't Cry Daddy, Patch It Up, I've Lost You along with a run of successful albums, From Elvis In Memphis, Back In Memphis, Elvis Country and That's The Way It Is.

RCA Records were keen to stick with the apparent 'winning' formula of recording as many tracks as possible over a short period of time resulting in enough product for the following year.

And so it was that Elvis returned to RCA Studio B in Nashville for another series of sessions to fulfill his contract with RCA for a new Christmas album, a gospel album and a pop album along with songs for single release.

With the critical acclaim of the material recorded in June 1970 producer Felton Jarvis hired the same musicians, the cream of the current Nashville studio scene including Chip Young (guitar), Norbert Putnam (bass), Jerry Carrigan (drums), David Briggs (keyboards) and Charlie McCoy (harmonica and organ). James Burton, lead guitarist from Elvis' live band was also present.

Jarvis had been told that in no uncertain terms the Christmas album was a priority followed by the gospel album. In an effort to create a festive mood he installed a Christmas Tree with presents in the studio!

Elvis and the band convened at 6pm on 15 March for the first of several days planned recordings. Elvis was looking to create a different sound, more folk than country, and with this in mind a different group of backing singers were employed. Gone were The Jordanaires and The Imperials and in their place were the seven-piece vocal group The Nashville Edition featuring Dolores Edgin, June Page, Hurshel Wiginton, Joe Babcock, Mary Holladay, Ginger Holladay and Millie Kirkham, most of whom had worked with Elvis previously.

Elvis had arrived at the studio with a bad cold but despite this they managed to record four tracks, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Amazing Grace, Early Morning Rain and (That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me. All four fitted the folk idea that Elvis was keen on pursuing. First Time Ever was tried as a duet with Ginger Holladay but was later rejected. By the end of the session it was obvious Elvis wouldn't be able to continue so the remaining sessions were cancelled/postponed.

With studio time booked for the next few days Felton took the opportunity to record an album with James Burton. Released later in the year on A&M Records The Guitar Sounds Of James Burton included several Elvis related tracks, Mystery Train, Polk Salad Annie, Fools Rush In and Hound Dog.

Sessions resumed on 15 May and would run every night until the 22 May. Further sessions were held between the 8th and 11th June to finish the gospel album and re-record a number of tracks. In the weeks following, a number of overdub sessions were held to add additional backing vocals and strings.

During the May sessions, and after most of the Christmas tracks were in the can, Elvis wanted to return to more folk material and recorded several songs including a jam on the Bob Dylan song Don't Think Twice It's Alright, which ran for over 9 minutes. It was unclear if the idea of a folk album was still a serious consideration or just a passing thought. The mixed vocal group that had worked so well on the tracks recorded in March were replaced on this session by The Imperials, a style more suited to the religious material required.

The sessions were a success and they laid down over thirty tracks, enough for the Christmas and gospel albums and the remaining tracks for the planned pop album and singles. However, as we will see later, most of the remaining tracks would be spread over two albums with material from other sessions. There seemed no logic behind this and it was a missed opportunity to release an album of the best non-Christmas and non-gospel tracks from the sessions.

Meanwhile RCA still needed a new album to follow the release and success of both That’s The Way It Is and Elvis Country. Scheduled for a June release any plans of it being the folk album had been dropped and they turned to left-overs from the 1970 sessions. The album was also renamed. The original title had been Festival but it changed to Love Letters From Elvis, due to the inclusion of the 1970 re-recording of Love Letters.

There were some good tracks but these were mixed with some really sub-standard recordings. As Jon Landua wrote in his review for Rolling Stone Magazine, it sounds like 'a bunch of left-overs.' After the success and critical acclaim of the two previous albums this was a real let-down and its sales figures and chart position reflected this. Even worse than some of the material was the sleeve design, especially the reverse which featured different colour envelopes with the song titles on, more than likely another of the Colonel's ideas! Why Elvis didn't insist on having more input into his album covers never ceases to amaze me.

Several songs from the 1971 sessions were released as singles. Until It's Time For You To Go, We Can Make The Morning, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, I'm Leavin', It's Only Love along with the gospel and Christmas singles, He Touched Me, Bosom Of Abraham, O Come, All Ye Faithful and Merry Christmas Baby. Unfortunately none managed to make much of an impression on the charts. 

Released on 20 October 1971, Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas was the first album released from the sessions and Elvis' second collection of festive tunes. The album featured well-known festive songs including O Come, All Ye Faithful, The First Noel and Winter Wonderland along with contemporary material, I'll Be Home On Christmas Day and It Won't Seem Like Christmas Without You. It was certainly no match to the 1957 Christmas album but did have one saving grace, a great performance of the blues classic Merry Christmas Baby, originally recorded by Charles Brown back in 1948. Originally running to over 8 minutes it was edited down for release on the album. Christmas albums seldom chart and this was no exception. However, it did go on to sell over 400,000 over the following few years.

With a title of Elvis Now fans would have expected an album of new and contemporary material but the album title couldn't have been more misleading. It featured one track from 1969, Hey Jude, two more from 1970, Sylvia and I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago, the recent single that had coupled Until It's Time For You To Go and We Can Make The Morning with just five more songs from the recent sessions. Of the five new recordings Fools Rush In, Early Morning Rain and Help Me Make It Through The Night were highlights. Released in February 1972 it just scraped into the Top 50 and, like the Christmas album, only sold 400,000 copies at the time.

The gospel album He Touched Me was released in April 1972 to capitalise on the Easter market and, despite a poor showing on the charts, would go on to sell more than a million copies in America and gave Elvis his second Grammy Award in the gospel genre, the only times he ever won. If not as strong as both His Hand In Mine or How Great Thou Art, the new gospel album did have some excellent material. Unlike Elvis Now, all the tracks were recorded during the recent sessions and included, Amazing Grace, An Evening Prayer, Reach Out To Jesus and A Thing Called Love, written by Jerry Reed and recently recorded by Johnny Cash. He Is My Everything was a new version of There Goes My Everything and two tracks were given a great uptempo gospel hand-clapping feel, I John and Bosom Of Abraham.

It would be over a year before another album of material from the sessions was released. In the meantime there were two live albums, At Madison Square Garden and Aloha From Hawaii, the concert film Elvis On Tour and the number two single Burning Love, which suffered the embarrassing fate of being the lead track on the budget album, Burning Love And Hits From The Movies. Well done again Colonel Parker!! How one of his best singles in years was allowed to end up on a budget release with movie songs was typical of how badly managed Elvis career was.

Originally planned with the title Fool, to cash in on the success of the recent single, the next album used the well-used title Elvis and was another thrown together collection with no direction. Along with both sides of the new single there was a live recording of It's Impossible and from the 1971 sessions, Love Me, Love The Life I Lead, Padre, (That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me and an edited version of Dylan's Don't Think Twice , It's All Right, edited down to just under 3 minutes.  Desperate for material to include, RCA also added the three tracks featuring Elvis alone at the piano. I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen, It's Still Here and I Will Be True. Whether they were ever intended for release previously, and there is no question that they are worthwhile songs and deserved a release,  their inclusion here just shows the lack of interest and thought in Elvis releases. Once again a live image adorned the cover, something that had become the norm and in no way represented the material included. The results... poor sales and a low-chart placing once again.

It is a shame that most of the non-gospel/Christmas material was thrown away on Elvis Now and Fool. The idea of a folk album was definitely a step in the right direction for Elvis and would have made a better follow-up to Elvis Country than the 'throw-away' Love Letters album.

Many of the tracks were songs that Elvis would sing at home with his friends including Fools Rush In and I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen. These tracks, along with those by Dylan, Kristofferson, Lightfoot and McColl all deserved a better fate.

In the years following Elvis' death in 1977 many alternate and unreleased tracks have appeared on albums and box sets including Walk A Mile In My Shoes - The Essential 70s Masters, Platinum - A Life In Music and A Hundred Years From Now.

With the advent of the Follow That Dream label the archives would be plundered for almost every piece of recorded sound available from the session tapes. Before the start of the 'Classic Album' series there were releases like I Sing All Kinds and Easter Special which included many outtakes from the 1971 Nashville sessions. When the original albums were reissued as 2-CD sets on the FTD label they included even more alternate and unreleased material.

The latest release to feature material from 1971 is Back In Nashville, the follow up to the critically acclaimed From Elvis In Nashville set from 2020. Once again it is a 4-CD set presented in a slip-case with a booklet. The tracks have been mixed and remastered from the original sessions tapes by Matt Ross-Spang.

CDs 1 & 2 of the set feature the pop, country and folk songs along with the gospel and Christmas tracks. The other two CDs bring together a selection of outtakes/alternate versions. There are many highlights... Fools Rush In, Until It's Time For You To Go, I'm Leavin', Early Morning Rain, Merry Christmas Baby and the unedited version of Don't Think Twice It's All Right. The three tracks with just Elvis at the piano are also great and when listening it is a shame he didn't record an album featuring him alone at the piano.

Like the previous release, From Elvis In Nashville, there are a handful of unreleased tracks, He Touched Me, An Evening Prayer, I'll Be Home On Christmas Day (remake) and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face although many are incomplete takes. A 15-second fragment of Are You Lonesome Tonight? is listed as unissued but was actually included, albeit not listed, on the FTD classic album release of Elvis Now.

One of the selling points of last years Elvis In Nashville set was the decision, on the masters, to show Elvis and the musicians how they actually sounded in the studio, minus the additional overdubs added later. Unfortunately on Back In Nashville they have also removed the backing vocalists who were present in the studio with Elvis when the masters were recorded. I feel it was wrong to remove them as Elvis wanted backing singers present during the recordings and so they should not have been removed. I cannot understand the reasoning behind this.

Throughout the seventies Elvis' recorded output suffered from over-production that did him no favours but at least on this release, despite my comments above, it is good to hear the songs minus the overdubbed strings.

Once again the packaging is excellent. Presented in an 8x8 slipcase with the four CDs housed in an eight-panel wallet with images of relevant tape boxes. The 28-page booklet includes liner notes by Ernst Mikael Jorgensen and David Cantwell, comprehensive track listings detailing recording dates, chart positions and a wealth of photos, album covers, record company ads and memorabilia.

Although Elvis would work with many of the musicians again, 1971 was the last time he recorded in Nashville. Future sessions would be held at Stax Studios in Memphis, the RCA Studios in Los Angeles and, when his touring schedule became so time-consuming and his refusal to go into the studio, RCA recorded his final two albums in the Jungle Room at his Graceland home in Memphis.

Despite my comments about the way the material is presented on this new release it hasn't spoilt my enjoyment of the tracks and it is a worthwhile and great follow-up to From Elvis In Nashville.

With thanks to David Cox (LD Communications)

ABBA - VOYAGE

I have been a fan of ABBA since they won the Eurovision Song Contest with the catchy Waterloo back in 1974 and have followed their career ever since. I bought all their albums on day of release including Arrival, ABBA The Album, Voulez Vous, Super Trouper and their final studio album The Visitors. Over the years I added the Greatest Hits and Gold albums along with the foreign language album Gracias Por La Musica.

Who could forget all the hits they produced between winning Eurovision and going their separate ways in 1982. Too many to list but here are just a few that are instantly recognisable from the first few bars, Dancing Queen, The Name Of The Game, Knowing Me, Knowing You, S.O.S, Fernando, Chiquitita, Does Your Mother Know and The Winner Takes It All. Every one a classic.

I had the opportunity to see them in concert at Wembley Arena in November 1979. An amazing show and one of the best concerts I have ever been to and just £7.50 for the ticket. Recently I added the ABBA Live At Wembley 2-CD set which was recorded during the concerts in 1979 and a great memory of an enjoyable night.

While their professional career was going from strength to strength their personal lives were suffering and following the collapse of both marriages the group split in late-1982. Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus continued writing music for musicals, most notably Chess with Tim Rice, while the girls pursued solo careers.

In the years since they split up their music has never been forgotten and still receives regular airplay on the radio. The 1992 compilation ABBA Gold was a worldwide hit selling over 30 million copies and reaching number one in the United Kingdom, USA, Austria, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and many more countries. The following year More ABBA Gold was released and while not matching the success of Gold it did sell over 3 million copies worldwide.

Their music has also appeared in many films including Johnny English (Does Your Mother Know), High Rise (S.O.S.), The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (Mamma Mia) and Muriel's Wedding (Waterloo).

In 1999 the jukebox musical Mamma Mia!, based on the songs of ABBA, premiered in London and would go on to be a major success not only in London's West End but also Broadway. It is reported that over 65 million people have seen the musical and it has grossed more than $4 billion worldwide.

Following the success of Mamma Mia! The Musical there were two films, Mamma Mia!: The Movie (2008) and Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again (2018) whose casts included Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Julie Walters.

Over the years there have been many rumours of an ABBA reunion or new material and now, 40 years since their last studio album, they have returned with a new album of brand new songs all written by Benny and Bjorn. Voyage features ten tracks with all but one recorded between 2017 and 2021.

The story of the album goes back to 2016 when the group reunited to work on a digital avatar concert. The concerts are scheduled to take place in 2022 at a newly built venue in London and although the band members will not be in the show they will appear virtually in what have been called 'ABBAtars.' Two years later they announced they were working on some new songs.

Released on 5 November 2021 Voyage was recorded at RMV Studios in Stockholm and produced by Benny Andersson with associate producer Bjorn Ulvaeus. 

The album is typical ABBA. A mix of great lyrics, beautiful melodies and harmonies, wonderful arrangements and production.

Opening the album is I Still Have Faith In You, a beautiful track with a haunting vocal from Anni-Frid. When You Danced With Me has an Irish folk song theme and works well with the blend of both voices and the backing.

The weakest track on the album is Little Things, a Christmas song that I feel doesn't really fit the album. It is the kind of track that would have been featured as a b-side back in the days of vinyl singles.

Both Don't Shut Me Down and Just A Notion are two of the strongest songs on the album and definitely the albums highlights. The former is about looking back at a past relationship and coming out of it stronger despite the pain and heartbreak.

Just A Notion is the oldest track on the album and has a fifties feel to it. Recorded back in 1978 during sessions for the Voulez Vous album it was unused at the time. It did appear, in a very short section, as part of the ABBA Undeleted medley on the Thank You For The Music box set in 1994. For the new album they have taken the original vocal track and added new instrumentation.

There are several themes covered on the album. Songs about relationships, break-ups, reconciliation, I Can Be That Woman and, as in Keep An Eye On Dan, co-parenting.

Bumblebee has an environmental theme while the uptempo No Doubt About It is an apology for a tendency for fighting.

The album is bought to a close with the beautiful, haunting and wistful Ode To Freedom that features a lush orchestral backing. A fitting end to the album.

Both I Still Have Faith In You and Don't Shut Me Down, songs that were first announced back in 2018, were issued as singles prior to the release of the album with a third single, Just A Notion, released a fortnight before the album hit the stores.

Voyage already had advance orders of over 40,000 in the first 24-hours following the announcement of it's release. This had doubled within three days and by October 2021 had passed the 100,000 figure. There is no doubt that Voyage will be 'one' if not 'the' best selling album of 2021 and is almost guaranteed to reach number one on the album charts. 

I love the new album which in places sounds like it could have been recorded during their final years together back in the early 1980s. Favourite tracks are Don't Shut Me Down, Just A Notion, I Still Have Faith In You and No Doubt About It. The only track I am not too keen on is Little Things but it does not spoil my enjoyment of an album that has been worth the 40 year wait.

There is only one way to end this article/review and that is to say ABBA... Thank You For The Music.

JOHNNY CASH AT THE CAROUSEL BALLROOM

On 13 January 1968 Cash played his legendary concert before an audience at the infamous Folsom Prison in California. Columbia were also there to record the concert for future album release. 

A few days before the release of the album Cash played a concert at the Carousel Ballroom in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The show was recorded by audio engineer Owsley Stanley and now, more than fifty years later, the concert has been issued through the Owsley Stanley Foundation and Renew Records/BMG.

Before we review the new release we take a look at the life of Owsley Stanley, the history of the Haight-Ashbury scene and the Carousel Ballroom.

Owsley Stanley

Owsley Stanley was born on 19 January 1935, affectionately known to his friends as 'Bear' and, depending on your point of view, was either a legend or a serious threat to society. He was one of the first citizens to mass produce large quantities of LSD during the early-sixties. Kicked out of Charlotte Hall Military Academy for smuggling alcohol on to the campus he was committed to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington. A spell at the University of Virginia saw him study engineering but he dropped out and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he served for 18 months before his discharge in 1958. Over the next few years he attended college, studying ballet, took a technical job at KGO-TV, relocated to Los Angeles and then returned to the Bay Area.

Owsley Stanley (Photo: Associated Press)

All the time he continued to manufacture LSD although several years later he would be arrested and served three years in prison. His lab was discovered with over 300,000 doses of LSD and in his defense he claimed it was for personal use, the authorities and the courts did not take this seriously.

He is more well known in the music business as the guy who developed the notion of concert PAs and sound systems during his work as a soundman with the Grateful Dead. He was always adding and improving on the bands sound system and started to record many of their shows, creating an impressive archive of concert recordings, many of which have been released on CD. Following his release from prison he continued to work with the Grateful Dead but in the 1980s he moved to Australia with his wife where, in 2011, he died in a car crash. As we shall discover later he also recorded other artists during his time in America, including Johnny Cash.

Haight-Ashbury

Haight-Ashbury is an area of San Francisco on the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Street, from where it picked up its name. The streets commemorate two San Francisco leaders... Henry Haight, pioneer and banker, and Munroe Ashbury, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late-1800s.

Haight-Ashbury (Photo: Michael Ochs Archives)

The area was well known in the sixties as the centre of the hippie movement and counterculture. The Summer of Love in 1967 became synonymous with San Francisco and the Haight-Ashbury area. Media coverage of the area and the hippie lifestyle attracted the attention of youth from all over America. In the New York Times Magazine, Hunter S. Thompson labelled the area 'Hashbury' and the press covered the activities on a regular basis. Haight-Ashbury became a community of hippies based on counterculture ideals, drugs and music. It helped create a social experiment that soon spread across the country.

Psychedelic music was gaining popularity and with the success of Scott McKenzie's song San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) and the Monterey Pop Festival, local bands from the area were soon receiving attention. Bands included Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother And The Holding Company and the Grateful Dead. All the media attention popularised the whole hippie movement and counterculture not only in America but around the world.

However, in time the area deteriorated with overcrowding, drug problems, crime and homelessness forcing many to leave and continue their studies and life elsewhere.

The Carousel Ballroom

There were many venues that the locals would pack out when their favourite bands appeared and one such venue was the Carousel Ballroom, located at the southwest corner of Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue. It was originally known as the El Patio Ballroom in the 1920s and during the swing-era of the late-1930s and 1940s it became The Carousel Ballroom. The venue was owned by Bill Fuller who also had dance halls in New York, Boston as well as in England. It was promoted as 'America's Finest Ballroom'.

Back in 1966 concert promoter Bill Graham had opened The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard serving as his principal venue between 1966 to 1968. The economic decline of the neighborhood along with the fact that the venues capacity was modest forced Graham to abandon this venue after only two years.

The Carousel Ballroom (Photo: Unknown)

In July 1968 he moved his main concert location to the Carousel Ballroom, which was less than a mile from the original Fillmore. He called this new venue the Fillmore West, he already had a venue in New York City called the Fillmore East.

For the first few months of 1968, before Graham took over, the Carousel Ballroom had been operated by a collective formed by the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother And The Holding Company. The idea being to create a social/musical 'laboratory experiment.' It's six-month existence coincided with the height of the Haight-Ashbury scene.

Among the acts that appeared at the venue, during its time as the Carousel Ballroom and Fillmore West, included Chuck Berry, Tim Buckley, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Cash and the Grateful Dead who were regulars at the venue playing over sixty concerts between 1968 and 1971.

In 1971 Graham closed the Fillmore West with five nights of concerts featuring, among other acts,  Santana and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Johnny Cash

The previous few years had seen Johnny lost in the wilderness as far as his career was concerned but 1968 would prove to be a turning point, not only in his career but also his personal life.

In January he played a concert before the inmates at Folsom Prison, the show was recorded and the resulting album Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison would spend more than 90 weeks on the country charts with three spent at the top spot. A few weeks later, on 1 March, he married June Carter at a small, private ceremony in Franklin, Kentucky. It was the start of a successful year for Cash which would lead to the kind of success and achievements that a year earlier seemed out of reach.

Before the years end he would tour the United Kingdom twice, record a religious album, The Holy Land, play at the famous Carnegie Hall in New York and put on a benefit show for the Sioux Indians at the St. Francis Indian Mission in South Dakota before visiting the Wounded Knee Battlefield.

The year was also tinged with sadness though. In August Cash's long-time guitarist and original member of the Tennessee Two, Luther Perkins, died following a fire at his home. 

Country music fans, rockabilly fans, Native Americans, inmates... Cash had always attracted a diverse audience and on 24 April 1968 he attracted a new kind of audience when playing in front of the 'hippie' youths of San Francisco.

Recorded just a few days before the release of the Live At Folsom Prison album the CD finds Cash performing in the heart of Haight-Ashbury. A different kind of audience from his prison and regular concert performances saw him perform songs that were often overlooked in his live shows.

Backed by the Tennessee Three (Luther Perkins on guitar, Marshall Grant on bass and W. S. 'Fluke' Holland behind the drum kit) along with his new bride, June Carter-Cash, this concert was a departure from his normal set list.

Cash opens with Cocaine Blues, a song he recorded early in his career as Transfusion Blues and follows with Long Black Veil and Orange Blossom Special, all three also featured in his Folsom Prison concert and album.

As mentioned earlier Cash performed many songs not often included in his live shows. Highlights here include strong renditions of Goin' To Memphis, Old Apache Squaw, Bad News, Lorena and Rock Island Line.

From the Bob Dylan songbook comes One Too Many Mornings, introduced by Cash as, "a Bob Dylan song that hasn't been released yet," and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right.

Just before singing Forty Shades Of Green he mentions that it is a song he last performed there just before they toured Ireland and tonight it was a request from a 'very distinguished gentleman', Gordon Lightfoot. 

Following a duet with June Carter on Jackson he leaves the stage to Carter who performs Tall Lover Man and a medley of songs that included Wildwood Flower, Foggy Mountain Top, This Land Is Your Land and Wabash Cannonball.

Cash returns to perform another duet, Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man, before bringing the show to a close with Ring Of Fire, Big River and then an encore of Don't Take Your Guns To Town and I Walk The Line.

An enjoyable concert with a strong selection of songs and great performances by both Cash and June Carter. 

Apparently a second show was recorded but at the time of this release the tapes for the second show could not be located.

In the press release for the album they write, "On it's surface, Johnny Cash's visit to the heart of hippie San Francisco in April 1968 might have seemed unexpected, but with a rare performance of The Ballad Of Ira Hayes the deep kinship between performer and audience that evening comes into full focus." Along with the Folsom Prison and San Quentin albums, Live At The Carousel Ballroom is another example of Cash's ability to give voice to the downtrodden.

The way the concert was recorded by Owsley Stanley gave an entirely different perspective to Cash's live sound from that period and is probably as close as you can get to actually being there.

Stanley's son, Starfinder, recalls, "There's an idiosyncrasy to this recording; on every other Johnny Cash record you've ever heard, Johnny is centered in the stereo soundstage. But on this one, Johnny is entirely on the right channel, and the Tennessee Three are all on the left. That's a bit weird until your brain adjusts, but you quickly realise that you've been set right between Johnny and his band."

Despite the totally different perspective from other live recordings it doesn't take long for the listener to appreciate this unusual recording technique. The sound which is excellent for a live recording and only suffers from the occasional drop-out and technical hitch. Part of June's performance of Tall Lover Man is cut short and according to the liner notes this was due to the tape running out mid-song. 

One thing I did notice is that the CD starts with Cash announcing, "Here's another song from our show we did at Folsom Prison..." This would suggest the start of the concert is missing as it would be strange to open a concert with this statement and it is likely Cash opened with Folsom Prison Blues but this is only guesswork on my part. 

Released in both CD and vinyl formats the accompanying booklet includes liner notes by Starfinder Stanley, Bob Weir from Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic's Dave Schools and John Carter-Cash. New artwork by Susan Archie and a reproduction of the original poster complete the set.

We have been starved of any previously unreleased material for several years now, I'm not counting the awful RPO pile of ****, and this is a welcome release and an essential addition to the collection.

PARADIS REGAINED

I first heard Vanessa Paradis back in 1987 when the song Joe Le Taxi was receiving a lot of airplay and attention. I bought the single and her first album M & J and at that time they were seldom off the record player. Over the years I have followed her career, collected all her albums (now on CD), a few of her films (despite being in French) and an archive of photos.

I hoped one day to see her live in concert and maybe even get an interview with her. The interview never happened, despite my best efforts, but I finally saw her in concert in 2014 at The Forum, Kentish Town in London and it was a great show. I was due to see her again last year but the Covid pandemic put paid to that and as of now the concert hasn't been rescheduled. 

Back in 2004 I wrote an article on Vanessa Paradis for the music magazine Record Collector which covered her career up to 2001 and I am reprinting the article here exactly as originally published, with additional images.

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Fifteen years after her 'Lolita'-like launch, Vaness Paradis is one of only a handful of French Singers who have had chart success in the UK. Peter Lewry celebrates her career.

Photographer Unknown

Until the success in recent years of dance acts like Daft Punk and Air, few French artists had ever graced the UK charts, particularly the Top 30 singles. A look back over the past 25 years shows Mireille Mathieu at No. 26 in 1967 with La Derniere Valse, Sacha Distel's No. 10 hit Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, and Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, who scored a No. 1 single with the controversial Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus. And there's always Jean-Michel Jarre...

To this exclusive list can be added Vanessa Paradis who, at the tender age of 14 reached No. 4 with Joe Le Taxi, the first Top 5 French single in nearly 20 years. Interestingly, it wasn't an overly ambitious mother who steered her in a musical direction but her uncle, producer Didier Pain, who would also become her manager.

Born on 22 December 1972 in the Paris suburb of St. Maur-des-Fosses, by the age of seven she had made her first public appearance on French TV on the amateur talent show L'Ecole Des Fans, singing Chanson d'Emilie Jolie. It was Didier Pain who entered her in the contest and then, six years later, recorded her singing La Magie Des Surprises Parties which, although not released as a single at the time, led to a meeting with the composer/lyricist team Franck Langolff and Etienne Roda-Gil.

The due promised to a write a song for Vanessa and eventually came up with Joe Le Taxi, about a Parisian taxi driver with a penchant for rum and Latin music, who knows where all the bars are. The song had to be re-written slightly to be more appropriate for her tender age.

Pain took a demo of the song to both Virgin and Pathe with no success and finally received a positive response from Polydor. They were interested, provided they could first meet Vanessa and be sure she wasn't being pushed into showbusiness by her parents. It only took her five minutes to convince them and in February 1987, just a couple of months after her fourteenth birthday, she signed with the label and went into the studio to record the song.

Released in April, the song reached No. 1 on the French charts and not even Madonna could dislodge the single. Available in several formats, the UK issue with a poster picture sleeve is valued at £25, while the French four-track CD/video single, that included a Spanish language version of the song and video performance, is highly sought-after and commands a £35 price tag.

The song immediately became a hit throughout Europe, staying at No. 1 in France for 12 weeks and a Top 5 hit in the UK, and pushed Vanessa firmly into the spotlight. "Finally, success gave me the freedom to say what I liked... and what I didn't like."

She followed this with a string of successful records including Manolo Manolette, Marilyn Et John, a song about the rumoured romance between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy, Maxou, about her idol James Dean and Mosquito all penned by the winning combination of Langolff and Roda-Gil.

Following the success of Joe Le Taxi, and not wanting to miss a marketing opportunity, the record label AB released her recording of La Magie Des Surprises Parties, although copies were scarce and the single now fetches anything up to £120 for a mint issue.

Fame had a price though. Despite her success, the French public refused to accept this precocious schoolgirl and she found herself at the receiving end of hatred and jealousy, and was often spat at in the street or called a 'slut' and a 'whore'. During her time at school she had to suffer regular insults from other girls and in an interview in 1988 she recalled that "I no longer wanted to see anyone. I was crying every five minutes."

Photographer Unknown

A few years later, during an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival where she performed Joe Le Taxi, she was jeered at. Even recent glossy magazines have run headlines like 'Why Do Women hate Vanessa?' stating that she is 'vain, pampered, dissolute and precociously sexy.' Her Lolita schoolgirl image, while  being a major selling point, was also proving to be a downside to her fame.

The success of the single, not only in France, but throughout Europe necessitated an album. The result, M & J, released in 1988, was a collection of Langolff/Roda-Gil compositions that demonstrated that she was far from a one-hit wonder. Despite pop music never being taken seriously in France the album was widely acclaimed as a French masterpiece, qualified for a platinum disc and was voted one of the five best domestic albums by the daily paper Liberation.

In the UK the album stalled at No. 45 and she was unable to capitalise on the success of Joe Le Taxi. It would be another four years before she would have another hit on this side of the Channel. Vanessa was happy with most of the album but felt that tracks like Chat Annas, which features her serenading a kitten, was too childish. Even at the early age of 15 she wanted to record material with a harder edge.

In 1989, in a move away from the music business, she made her film debut in Noce Blance (White Wedding), playing a Lolita-like pupil who seduces her teacher. Her performance won over her critics and she was awarded two of the most sought after French awards -- a Cesar for Most Promising Actress and the Prix Romy Schneider for the Most Promising Debut Performance on screen. Many more films would follow including Elisa, based on a song written by Serge Gainsbourg, The Girl On The Bridge and the romantic comedy Un Amour De Sorciere.

She also signed a three million franc contract with the perfume company Chanel to be the face of their perfume Coco. In the advert, filmed by Jean-Paul Goude, ex-husband of Grace Jones, she appeared as a bird in a gilded cage, complete with a set of feathers, while a white fluffy cat looked on! Once again Vanessa found herself the centre of more controversy. Many people thought the idea of a woman displayed in a cage to be sexist.

Despite a successful film career, her singing was not forgotten. Vanessa concentrated on her music and during this time she met up with Serge Gainsbourg, best known for his hit single with Jane Birkin, Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus. He was taken with this new French sensation commenting that "She has a little bit of Bardot in her."

Her second album Variations Sur Le Meme T'Aime, produced by Gainsbourg and released in 1990, was a fine collection of music by Frank Langolff and the lyrics of Gainsbourg. With the exception of one track, the album was recorded entirely in French, the exception being a cover of the infamous Lou Reed song Walk On The Wild Side. It was proof that Vanessa was now a mature 17-year-old who was ready to handle harder material with stronger feelings. Even the music leaned towards a bluesier, rockier feel.

Three singles were lifted for the French market, Tandem, the beautiful Dis-Lui Toi Que Je T'Aime and L'Anour En Soi, all accompanied by promotional videos. Released in several different formats these singles fetch between £9-£18.

In the UK the failure to capitalise on the success of Joe Le Taxi and the follow up singles meant that nothing from her new album would be issued in that format in the UK. Following the release of the album Vanessa, once again, found her private life splashed across the pages of many tabloids, most seemed to concentrate on her supposed affair with Gainsbourg.

Her third album found her working with yet another producer/songwriter in a different country. Sessions for Vanessa Paradis, released in 1992, were held at Waterfront Studios in New Jersey with Lenny Kravitz producing and arranging all the tracks. She had met Kravitz backstage at a concert given by him in May 1991 where he told her "If you need me, just give me a call." The years of verbal abuse that she had endured in recent years finally drove Vanessa to leave her flat in Paris and move to New York. It was there that she made contact with Kravitz, and they hit it off straight away. The rumour mill was working overtime yet again with stories of an affair between Vanessa and Kravitz, fuelled by intimate photographs of them on holiday in the Caribbean.

Be My Baby, the first single to be lifted from the album was a hit in both France and the UK where it reached No. 6. Two more singles were released for the UK market Sunday Mondays and Just As Long As You Are There reaching No. 49 and 57 respectively -- disappointing, especially after the success of Be My Baby. In France both Natural High and Gotta Have It were issued as singles. As with the previous album, she turned to Lou Reed for a song. On his I'm Waiting For The Man she perfectly fulfilled the role of siren with a dangerous edge -- a marketable combination.

Since the release of Joe Le Taxi she had been a regular on French television and had made appearances in the UK on Top Of The Pops and the chat show Wogan but had not toured to promote any of her albums. In 1993 she finally undertook the massive 70-date Natural High Tour of Europe, with appearances throughout France as well as a one-off concert in London. A show at the Olympia in Paris in April 1993 was recorded and released as Vanessa Paradis Live the following year.

The concerts and subsequent album showcased songs from her previous three albums and one of the highlights of this set is As Tears Go By, originally recorded by Marianne Faithful and performed by Paradis in an almost breathless whisper. She also performed La Vague A Lames as a tribute to the late Serge Gainsbourg.

It would be six years before she released a new album. her film career went from strength to strength and she met and moved in with actor Johnny Depp, falling pregnant and enjoying life with her daughter Lily-Rose.

Bliss, released in 2000, was another collection of mainly French language recordings recorded in Los Angeles. She had more involvement in the making of the album, contributing lyrics and music to many of the songs and producing or co-producing most of the album. The track Commando was lifted for single release in France and was issued in several formats.

In 2001 she went out on the road again for only the second time in her career and, in November 2001, a live album was recorded during her Bliss Tour at the Zenith in Paris. Au Zenith included two Serge Gainsbourg songs that she hadn't recorded before, L'eau A La Bouche and Requiem Pour Un Con. There was also a cover of the old Zombies track, This Will Be Our Year.

As a sellable product and sex symbol her picture has appeared on countless magazine covers and in recent years she has featured in a variety of French magazines including Photo, Tele Cable, Femme and Paris Match as well as making the cover of the US publication Rolling Stone.

Photographer Unknown

So what of the future for Vanessa? With the addition of a young son to the Depp/Paradis family and a successful film career it might be that her music career takes a back-seat for a few years but there is no doubt that music is a major part of her life and fans of this talented French singer hopefully look forward to more albums in the future.

THE BEACH BOYS - FEEL FLOWS

By the late 1960s the Beach Boys popularity was at an all-time low due partly to their cultural standing and public image. They were dealing with financial issues caused by two disastrous tours in 1968 and record sales had shown a steady decline since the days of surf, cars and girls. Their current album 20/20, released in February 1969, had sold better than the previous years Friends album but neither matched the success of their earlier albums. Brian Wilson was also suffering from erratic behaviour and had become a recluse, often not leaving his house for months on end. All this affected his reputation within the music business. Of course, there was also Dennis Wilson's friendship with Charles Manson, the Manson Family and the Sharon Tate - LaBianca murders which grabbed unwanted media attention. Their final tour of the year was a dismal affair with crowds often struggling to reach two or three hundred resulting in several cancelled dates. Things needed to change.

Photo (c) Annie Leibovitz

In April 1969 they filed a $2 million lawsuit against Capitol Records for unpaid royalties and production duties and also announced they would revive their Brother Records Label with records to be distributed by Reprise/Warner records.

Sessions for their next album began in January 1969 and would continue, on and off, throughout the year. Over 40 tracks were recorded and early working titles for the new album included Reverberation, Sun Flower, The Fading Rock Group Revival and Add Some Music To Your Day. The sessions were produced by The Beach Boys as a group but also individually by Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine and Dennis Wilson individually.

The album would go through many changes of track listings as the record was rejected several times. A short while before signing with Reprise the band compiled a 14-track acetate for the label with the title Sun Flower, it was rejected. Renamed Add Some Music (An Album Offering from The Beach Boys) and submitted again it was also rejected. The label felt the album wasn't strong enough. From February through June the band worked on overdubbing and recording new material. Another batch of songs were offered but rejected once again. However, during this time two tracks were selected as single pairing Add Some Music To Your Day with Susie Cincinnati. In July a final master of what would become Sunflower was finally submitted to Reprise and accepted.

Released in the USA in August 1970 and November in the UK it only reached number 151 on the US charts, their worst selling album up to that point, while in the UK it peaked at number 29. Two more singles were released, Tears In The Morning/It's About Time and Cool, Cool Water/Forever, neither charted.

The album included several Dennis Wilson compositions, Slip On Through, Got To Know The Woman and the beautiful Forever while Bruce Johnston provided Deirdre and Tears In The Morning. Other songs, written by combinations of the band members included, Add Some Music To Your Day, All I Wanna Do, Our Sweet Love and At My Window. The closing track, Cool, Cool Water had evolved from the Smile track I Love To Say DaDa and had been attempted several times during sessions in 1967 for the Smiley Smile and Wild Honey albums.

Close to three dozen tracks were never used on the album and  remained in the vaults although over the years several have found a release as we will discover later.

The album cover featured all six members and was taken by Ricci Martin, Dean Martin's son, at a golf course on Dean Martin's Hidden Valley Ranch in Ventura County, California. The inner gatefold sleeve featured more images, this time by photographer Ed Thrasher on the Warner Bros. studio back-lot.

Despite it's poor showing on the chart the album did receive positive reviews. Writing in Rolling Stone, Jim Miller considered the album, "...without doubt the best Beach Boys album in recent memory, a stylistically coherent tour de force." Although he did end by saying, "It makes one wonder though whether anyone still listens to their music, or could give a shit about it."

Robert Christgau, in The Village Voice, felt that, "...as a coming-of-age record from the Beach Boys, Sunflower is far more satisfying, I suspect, than Smile ever would have been."

Regarded by many as the best Beach Boys album since Pet Sounds this was reflected in other reviews. "The strongest album they released post-Pet Sounds." (Pitchfork), "It stands as the definitive post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys album" (Popdose) and "... in many respects their Abbey Road - a lush production that signaled an end to the 1960s, the decade that gave them creative flight." (Paste).

Sunflower has also done well in various polls, In 1997 it was voted number 66 in the '100 Best Albums Ever' by The Guardian and in 2003, number 380 in Rolling Stone's '500 Greatest Ever Albums of All Time'.

Bruce Johnston, talking in the 1970s, named Sunflower as his favourite Beach Boys album and considered it the last true Beach Boys album as it was the last to feature Brian Wilson's input and involvement. 

Back in July 1969 Brian Wilson, along with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, held an interview with Jack Rieley, who would become the bands manager. During the interview Brian spoke about the band and his feelings saying, "I'm proud of the group and the name but feel the clean American thing has hurt us. And we're really not getting any kind of airplay today." He also felt they hadn't done enough to change their image. With their new album, and input from Rieley, they would write and record a selection of songs which dealt with environmental, social and health issues. It was a plan to restore the bands image and reputation. It would also see Carl Wilson become 'leader' and marking his first major contributions to a Beach Boys album.

After the release of Sunflower, Stephen Desper, the bands engineer, had assembled a selection of tracks, mainly outtakes, for a follow-up which he called Second Brother Album. Rieley hated the tracks and called them "forgettable" and at a meeting with Mo Ostin, a Warner Brothers executive and massive Brian Wilson fan, took one listen and said, "No way."

With the exception of a handful of tracks the new album was recorded at sessions running from January through to July 1971. However, Brian was less involved in the production.

The original planned title of the new album was Landlocked but this changed and it would take it's name from the closing track Surf's Up.

Released in August 1971 on Brother/Reprise Surf's Up was the Beach Boys 17th studio album and the follow-up to Sunflower. In the UK it was issued two-months later.

The album featured two of Carl Wilson's first important solo efforts, Long Promised Road and Feel Flows and was an indication of what was to come from him in the future. Mike Love took the old Leiber & Stoller classic Riot In Cell Block Number 9 and reworked it as Student Demonstration Time, which apparently disgusted Dennis Wilson and embarrassed Carl. Brian felt the lyrics were too intense. Till I Die was a track that Brian had been working on for a few months while Take A Load Off Your Feet was written with Al Jardine, who also contributes Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song) and co-wrote A Day In The Life Of A Tree with Rieley and Brian. Bruce Johnston's only composition on the album was Disney Girls, a song he wrote  "...because I saw so many kinds in our audiences being wiped out on drugs" and he wanted to recreate a time when people were more naive and healthier. Brian loved the harmonies on the song.

Surf's Up bought the album to a close and originally Brian didn't want it included and on giving in insisted Carl sing the lead vocal. When this didn't work they went back to the original 1966 recording and overdubbed a new vocal from Carl. Brian appeared as the session was ending and added the songs final lyrics.

Dennis Wilson had none of his songs on the album and was keeping them for his own solo album which he planned to release in 1971 but the project, to be provisionally titled Poops/Hubba Bubba, was shelved.

Once again there were many songs recorded and left on the shelf including Wouldn't It be Nice (To Live Again), My Solution, H.E.L.P. Is On The Way and an attempt at Seasons In The Sun, a song written by Jacques Brel and Rod McKuel which would become a hit in 1974 for Terry Jacks. Mike Love was quoted as saying their version of the song was so wimpy they had no choice but to throw it away.

The album cover artwork was based on an early 20th-century sculpture 'End Of The Trail' by James Earle Fraser. Located in Waupun, Wisconsin it depicted a weary Native American hanging limp as his tired horse approaches the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It embodied the suffering and exhaustion of people driven from their native lands. It was an appropriate cover image for the album. However, it wasn't the first choice for an album cover. With it's original working title Landlocked a cover was designed featuring white lettering printed over a photograph of a dark field. Thankfully this was discarded in favour of the cover we now know.

Chartwise it performed better than Sunflower, reaching number 29 on the US charts, their highest placing since 1967, and number 15 in the UK.

Two singles were released in America Long Promised Road b/w Deirdre and Surf's Up b/w Don't Go Near The Water the former becoming the bands sixth consecutive US single that failed to chart.

Rolling Stone wrote, "The Beach Boys stage a remarkable comeback. An LP that weds their choral harmonies to progressive pop and which shows youngest Wilson brother Carl stepping into the fore of the venerable outfit." In Time the reviewer described it as, "One of the most imaginatively produced LPs since last fall's All Things Must Pass by George Harrison and Phil Spector." Other reviews praised the album with comments including, "This is a good album, probably as good as Sunflower, which is terrific...It is certainly the most original in that it has contributed something purely its own." and "It won't disappoint anyone at all. They've produced an album which fully backs up all that's recently been written and said about them."

Of course, not everybody was so positive. The Rag felt that all the press furor over the groups reputed comeback was rubbish and the album suffered from horrendous production and engineering and a lack of focus. Writing in The Guardian, Geoffrey Cannon felt the album was inconsistent while Robert Christgau, in The Village Voice, liked Disney Girls and Take A Load Off Your Feet but found most of the other songs forgettable and the album the bands worst since Friends in 1968. He put a lot of the blame on Van Dyke Park and Jack Rieley commenting that, "Van Dyke Park's wacked-out lyricist meandering is matched by the sophomoric spiritual quest of Jack Rieley, and the music drags hither and yon." Fortunately most people disagreed.

Surf's Up has appeared in many polls with New Musical Express ranking it number 96 in their 1974 list of 'Top 100 Albums Of All Time' and in 1993 it had risen to number 46 in their list. In the 2000 book All Time Top 1000 Albums it was ranked at number 230. It was also listed in the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Interestingly Bruce Johnston, who wouldn't work with the group again until the L.A. (Light Album) in 1979, would later criticize Surf's Up saying, "To me, Surf's Up, is and always has been, one hyped-up lie! It was a false reflection of The Beach Boys and one which Jack (Rieley) engineered right from the start. It made it look like Brian Wilson was more than just a visitor at those sessions. Jack made it appear he was there all the time." Although he would also state about Rieley, "All I can say is that at the beginning, I thought that what he was trying to do was absolutely right on the money. He helped the band become aware of what our niche was in pop music."

This all brings us to the latest Beach Boys compilation/release... Feel Flows.

Released in August 2021 this 5-CD set, presented in a 48-page 12" x 10" hard-backed book, is sub-titled, The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969 - 1971, and was compiled/produced by Beach Boys archivists Mark Linett and Alan Boyd. It includes 133 tracks with 108 previously unreleased. A mix of live recordings, outtakes, alternate versions, remixes, backing tracks and vocal only tracks which helps the listener understand the creative process which resulted in both Sunflower and Surf's Up.

Released with the full co-operation of the surviving band members it proves that the Beach Boys were not a spent force at this time and shows them at a critical stage of their careers. Every member appears to be overflowing with ideas and with a new sense of liberation. It also marks the return of Brian Wilson as an active member of the group following his physical and mental deterioration following the Smile sessions.

Disc one features the original Sunflower album along with previously unreleased tracks from the period and live recordings. The second disc covers Surf's Up, with the original album supported by more unreleased live recordings and unreleased tracks from the sessions. Discs three and four cover the Sunflower and Surf's Up sessions respectively and also features a number of A Capella tracks. The final disc contains various tracks from 1969-1971 some of which were recorded but eventually dropped from the albums.

Among the unreleased tracks from both album sessions are Susie Cincinnati, Two Can Play, San Miguel, H.E.L.P. Is On The Way, My Solution, Big Sur and Seasons In The Sun. In 1973 a new recording of Big Sur would find a release as part of California Saga on their Holland album.

We get to hear A Capella versions/backing vocals of many of the tracks including Break Away, Add Some Music To Your Day, Cotton Fields, the beautiful Forever, Surf's Up and Long Promised Road. Work in progress recordings gives the listener the opportunity to hear alternate versions of Don't Go Near The Water, Take A Load Of Your Feet along with session highlights including Loop De Loop, At My Window, Cool, Cool Water, Deirdre and much more.

Of particular interest is the wealth of material written by Dennis Wilson and intended for his first solo album, Poops/Hubba Bubba, but never released. Tracks include I'm Goin' Your Way, Old Movie (Cuddle Up), All Of My Love/Ecology, Barbara, Hawaiian Dream, I've Got A Friend and Behold The Night. Many of these were co-written with Daryl Dragon of Captain and Tenille fame who scored hits with Do That To Me One More Time, Muskrat Love and Love Will Keep Us Together.

The set also shows what a dynamic live act they were and on this set we are treated to eleven live recordings covering the period 1970 to 1993. Highlights include Add Some Music To Your Day (1993), Riot In Cell Block Number 9 (1970), Surf's Up (1973), Disney Girls (1982) and Student Demonstration Time (1971).

The set ends with two tracks which would eventually be recorded for the 1972 album Carl And The Passions - "So Tough", You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone and Marcella.

My only complaint about the set is the book which is mainly a collection of old quotes from band members taken from various interviews supported with some basic text. A set like this deserved a more informative liner note detailing the recordings etc along with studio shots, memorabilia and sleeves. A minor point that doesn't distract from the quality of the music.

Feel Flows is proof, if any was needed, that the Beach Boys never stopped creating great music. Sit back, relax, turn the lights down and Add Some Music To Your Day.