High Strung Guitar: Wild Horses

As we continue our look at the use of high strung guitar, I turn to another popular song that employed this technique – The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses.” Inspired by Gram Parsons, this Stones’ foray into a country influenced sound simultaneously was issued on two albums on two different labels in 1971.

Joining its fellow single “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses” was one of the two 45s from the album “Sticky Fingers” – their first release on Rolling Stones Records that was distributed by Atlantic’s ATCO division. Due to a contractual fight with their former manager Allen Klein, he claimed ownership rights to both singles and subsequently they also appeared on a London Records compilation known as “Hot Rocks 1964-1971.”

Keith Richard plays most of the guitar parts – a 12-string guitar in the right channel and the electric lead guitar; he also provides backing vocals on the chorus. Mick Taylor, however, was responsible for the high strung guitar that appears in the left channel. He does some nice accompanying parts as well as some 12th fret harmonics. The remainder of the line-up is straight forward: Mick Jagger on vocals, Bill Wyman on bass, and Charlie Watts on drums. They are joined by the late Jim Dickinson on piano.

Today’s feature also fulfills our Atypical Tuesday selection as “Sticky Fingers” was packaged with an Andy Warhol designed cover of a man’s jeans with an operational zipper. Behind the cover was a photograph of men’s briefs, but you had to pry apart a thin line of glue to get to the inner picture.

Bowing to complaints of record stores who returned a number of albums damaged in shipping, Atlantic began manufacturing the album with the zipper pull tab opened and centered over the label. This prevented damage in shipment to the playing surface of the LP – a hazard that occurred when the zipper was completely closed.

While “Brown Sugar” was a number one record, its follow-up “Wild Horses” was a mid-charter at #28. Selling over three million copies, “Sticky Fingers” was certified triple platinum. The album spent four weeks at the number one position on the US album charts and a total of 62 weeks on the charts.

The Doors: L.A. Woman

It’s an Atypical Tuesday and our unusually packaged album is The Doors’ “L.A. Woman” – the band’s last LP recorded with singer Jim Morrison before his untimely death in 1971. When released, the original version of the album had a die cut cover that had curved corners and a cut out window.

In the window, a monochromatic photo of the band appeared on a clear sheet of plastic. An inner sleeve gave the impression that the image was printed on the yellow insert. The design, however, had some flaws. When stored with other albums, the album next to front cover often got caught in the die cut window. This eventually took its toll on the cover by damaging the window’s outside frame.

Not only did the album sport a unique cover, it also took the Doors back to a blues influenced sound. The album charted at #9 and was lowest charting of The Doors’ six Top Ten albums; however, it was their second best selling album behind the band’s debut album. “L.A. Women” is certified as double platinum for the sale of two million copies.

With the exception of some keyboard overdubs, the album was recorded live in the studio – which necessitated the addition of two session players: Jerry Scheff on bass and Marc Benno on rhythm guitar. The album’s two best known cuts, “Riders on the Storm” and “Love Her Madly,” were both issued as singles and charted at #14 and #11 respectfully.

Many of “L.A. Woman’s” cuts also received additional album radio play and these included the title cut, “The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat),” “Crawling King Snake,” and today’s featured song “Cars Hiss By My Window.”

Led Zeppelin III

Our Atypical Tuesdays’ feature centers on albums that have unusual covers, and one of the more unique album packages was the original vinyl release of “Led Zeppelin III.” The album featured a die cut cover, but that, being unusual in itself, was not the only unique aspect of the package. The cover also featured a volvelle – a disc that provided different images in the die cut holes when it was rotated.

As with all of Led Zeppelin’s original album releases, “Led Zeppelin III” was extremely popular and was a #1 album in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Originally certified by Recording Industry Association of America as a gold record in October 1970 for 500,000 units sold, continuous sales propelled the LP to six times platinum status by 1999.

“Led Zeppelin III” produced one of more the enduring singles from their repertoire – “Immigrant Song.” While not quite 2 ½ minutes in length, “Immigrant Song” became one of their concert staples. The band’s visit to Reykjavik, Iceland inspired Jimmy Page and Robert Plant to pen a song about Viking conquests. The single charted at #16 in the US.

Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, sing and cry:
Valhalla, I am coming!

On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.

Ah, ah,< We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war,
We are your overlords.

On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.

So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing.

Asylum Records: Saturate Before Using

While many people, including myself, have referred to Jackson Browne’s debut album as “Saturate Before Using,” it was not the album’s title. It was officially named “Jackson Browne.” When designing the cover, Gary Burden and his company R. Twerk received cues regarding the cover design. Browne wanted it to resemble a canvas radiator water bag that, when saturated with water, cooled the contents via the process of evaporation. It really is an ingenious device.

Browne was hesitant to put the words “Saturate Before Using” on the front of the album for fear that it would be mistaken as the album’s title. So he suggested placing it on the reverse, but Burden insisted it remain on the front and dismissed any concern that Browne might have. Even the label initially rejected the cover art for the same reason, but Burden’s creation remained intact. And yes, everyone thought it was the album’s title. Even when the album was released on CD, Asylum put “Saturate Before Using” on the tray card so that it showed as the CD’s title. While it never was the title, perhaps it should have been.

The cover had an atypical design as it was textured to give it the feel of canvas. Later editions of the album mimicked the canvas design by printing lines on the cover and thus saving the company manufacturing costs. In addition, the original cover was darker than the eventual faux canvas versions.

It’s a great album that I didn’t get until 1976 or so, but I remember buying the single, “Doctor My Eyes,” at a Gimbels in the Monroeville Mall. One Saturday, my friend Regis Franko and I decided to set off for the mall. We walked to East McKeesport and took the bus to Wilmerding, but missed the connecting bus to Monroeville and we decided to walk the remaining miles to what was once considered the largest shopping mall in the US. It also was the location for the shooting of George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead.”

I always liked to look at the singles at Gimbels, as the prices were a little cheaper than National Record Mart – our local music retailer. That day, I picked up Emerson, Lake, & Palmer’s “From the Beginning,” Sailcat’s “Motorcycle Mama,” and Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes.” It obviously was a good day for WEA.

The Browne single? Well, I loved the whole thing – Jackson’s piano, the congas, Jesse Ed Davis’ guitar leads, and the harmony vocals by David Crosby and Graham Nash. To nudge radio into playing the single, Asylum listed both Crosby and Nash on the label – something that was not done on the commercial releases. Perhaps it worked, as “Doctor My Eyes” peaked at #8 in 1972.

While Jackson Browne was the catalyst for the founding of Asylum Records, “Doctor My Eyes” was the label’s fifth release with a catalog number of AS-11004.

Captain Beyond

Take two parts of Iron Butterfly, one part of Deep Purple, and one part of Johnny Winter And – the result is Captain Beyond. The concoction was created in 1971 when Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt, Lee Dorman, Rod Evans, and Bobby Caldwell joined forces in one of the most underrated rock bands of all time. Their self-titled debut album fits our Atypical Tuesday category as the original album cover sported a lenticular 3D effect that included floating circles in the design.

Dedicated to the passing of label mate Duane Allman, the band’s first LP was released on Capricorn Records in 1972. It was hoped that the star-studded lineup and 3D cover would enamor the record buying public. It didn’t, and the album stalled at the #134 spot for two weeks in October 1972. Unfortunately, most folks were never exposed to this particular band.

Detail of the 3D cover.

Today’s featured cut is the “A Thousand Days of Yesterday (Time Since Come and Gone),” which appeared in the first of two suites of music on side two of the album. This particular cut was end of the suite that also featured “Thousand Days of Yesterday (Intro)” and “Frozen Over.”

 Captain Beyond’s lineup would change after the release of this album as Bobby Caldwell would join forces with his former Johnny Winter And colleague Rick Derringer and was ultimately replaced by Brian Glascock. In addition, percussionist Guille Garcia keyboardist Reese Wynans joined the band in 1973.

Gentle Giant: Octopus

Well I’m back from my reunion and a return to blogging as we head toward our fourth anniversary and our 1300th post – both of which occur next week. A few weeks ago I introduced a new feature called “Atypical Tuesdays” which looks at unusual packaging of albums. About a week ago someone on a Facebook site that deals with classic concerts in Charleston, West Virginia mentioned that Gentle Giant had once played there as well in Morgantown, WV. Since I’ve never featured this largely unknown prog rock band, I thought I would give it a shot.
 

Today, we feature a cut from their fourth album titled “Octopus.” It is said that Roberta Shulman, wife of horn player and vocalist, named the album as a pun on “octo” – eight and “opus” – musical numbers, as the album had eight tracks. While the European release of the album had a standard gatefold cover featuring the characteristic artwork of Roger Dean, the North American release was radically different.

While Columbia picked up the option from Vertigo to release two albums, “Three Friends” and “Octopus,” they decided on alternate covers for both. The North American release of “Three Friends” took the artwork from the band’s first album, as it had never been released here. The iconic image of a “gentle giant” was probably a good move.

I am not so sure on the choice of covers for the American and Canadian issues of “Octopus.” Dean was a rising star in the album cover business by the 1972 release of “Octopus” and certainly the art department at CBS should have recognized this.

He had already designed 20 album covers that included “Fragile” and “Close to the Edge” by Yes and Uriah Heep’s “Demons and Wizards” that were recently ingrained in the minds of the record buying public. His covers of “Octupus,” the debut album by Osibisa, and Uriah Heep’s “The Magician’s Birthday” rank as my three favorite Dean album covers of all time.

For North America, Columbia turned to John Berg for a cover concept and design that utilized an illustration by Charles White, III. The artwork was coordinated by Fluid Design and employed Kenny Kneitel’s design and Michael Doret’s lettering. The finished product was a die cut album cover that resembled an octopus in a jar. The die cut cover contributed to the overall 3D effect for the cover.

While I would have stuck with the Dean cover, the North American artwork was quite good and certainly a cover “to be reckoned with.” Like all Gentle Giant albums in the US, its chart activity was dismal at best. Of the albums that charted (and there were some that didn’t), “Octopus” and its die cut cover had one of the poorest showings on the album charts as it only peaked at #170.

Way ahead of their time, Gentle Giant just never developed a following on this side of the pond – even though critics lauded them as one of the more innovative progressive rock bands. Today’s feature is “A Cry for Everyone” which sounds more like an 80s rock tune rather than 1972 prog rock song. It features the following Gentle Giant members:

• Derek Shulman: lead vocals;
• Phil Shuman: backing vocals;
• Ray Shulman: bass, tambourine, and backing vocals;
• Gary Green: electric guitars;
• Kerry Minnear: piano, Hammond organ, and Moog synthesizer;
• John Weathers: drums and bongos.

Although it is not credited, I swear there is a tubular bell hit on the last note. Take a listen and see what you think about this largely unknown band that had a very loyal and distinct following.

Traffic: The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Back to our Atypical Tuesday feature of unusual album packaging. Two weeks ago, I featured Grand Funk Railroad’s “E Pluribus Funk” that was shaped like a coin. Today, we travel back to 1971 when a six-sided die cut cover when combined with the album’s artwork gave the visual impression that the cover was actually a cube.

The band would repeat the effect with their next album, “Shoot out at the Fantasy Factory.”  Although the LP did not have a high charting single release, “Low Spark” did quite well charted at #7 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart.

Traffic’s sixth LP “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” is, in my opinion, one of their best albums. It features a reconstituted lineup of Traffic that was introduced on the preceding album, “Welcome to the Canteen.” It doesn’t feature Dave Mason, however, as he again left the band shortly after the previous tour and would never again return to the band.

By the recording of “Low Spark,” Traffic had grown from its core membership of Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood with the additions of bassists Ric Grech, drummer Jim Gordon, and percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baaha.

This allowed for a number of things to occur, but most importantly the band could replicate on stage much of what they recorded. It took Winwood off of the bass, as if he still didn’t have too much to do playing guitar and keys. Capaldi moved out from the drum kit to a more visual role with vocals and percussion. The Latin percussion of Rebop added a new flavor to a band with an already mature sound.

“The Low Spark of High Heeled” boys features Capaldi on lead vocals on two cuts: “Rock & Roll Stew” and today’s feature “Light Up and Leave Me Alone.” Capaldi was the sole author of this cut. Even though he is prominently featured as the lead vocalist, Winwood still contributes greatly to this song with what appears to be double tracked rhythm guitars, electric piano, a killer lead guitar, and perhaps more that I’m missing. He also is using a wah-wah pedal on one of the guitar tracks and on the electric piano. Good stuff from one of my all time favorite bands – Traffic.

Grand Funk Railroad: E Pluribus Funk

Today we begin a new series called Atypical Tuesday which will explore album packaging that is a little different than the norm. I had been toying with this thought for about a year when my friend Greg Rector resurrected the idea to feature albums that had unusual packaging. In fact, Greg selected the first choice – Grand Funk Railroad’s “E Pluribus Funk.” As I had several things already planned, I appreciate his patience with me being able to get to it at this late date.

The album was released in 1971 and had a die cut cover that resembled a US coin. The album had five aspects to it that increased the cost of its production: its cover was circular and not the typical square pattern that was used 99.9% of albums, the inner sleeve was also circular, it used custom label blanks and not the typical green Capitol label of the period, it sported a shiny silver foil on both the obverse and the reverse of the jacket, and the cover was embossed to look like a real coin.

Producer Terry Knight envisioned the idea for the cover and its design was fulfilled by Craig Braun. The front cover depicted the three band members: Mel Schacher, Mark Farner, and Don Brewer. The reverse depicted New York’s Shea Stadium, as the band had eclipsed The Beatles previous record for selling out the venue in less than 72 hours.

The only down side of the cover was that the foil scratched easily and tended to wear off in the embossed areas. Thus, it took on the appearance of a circulated coin. Because it was circular, sometimes the album would roll off of a shelf when pulling out an adjacent album. The title was a play on one of the mottos of the US, “E Pluribus Unum” – one out of many. “E Pluribus Funk” = funk out of many.

It was the last album that Terry Knight produced for Grand Funk, as the band would fire Knight as their manager and producer. “E Pluribus Funk” peaked at #5 in 1972 and eventually was awarded platinum certification by the RIAA.

“E Pluribus Funk” produced three singles: “Sin’s a Good Man’s Brother,” which failed to chart; “Footstompin’ Music” that peaked at #29 in 1972, and “Upsetter” that only made it to #73 position. As requested by Greg, I’m featuring the driving “Footstompin’ Music.”

Although Grand Funk was often panned by the critics, this recording should dispel any rumor that this band lacked talent. For three guys, they produced a lot of sound. I love Mel Schacher’s driving bass and Mark Farner’s fantastic organ chops – not to mention his tasty leads. Lest we forget, Don Brewer holds down the beat and provides the needed harmonies to Farner’s lead vocals.