Melancholia Vol. 8 - The K-Tel Generation

Back in the day I had a mixtape series called Melancholia. The basic running premise was that each song had a certain feel to them that took me somewhere else. The first volume was a collection of headphone friendly tracks from my cleanest vinyl. The series continued after the media format changed from records and tapes to CDs and playlists and has now run for 16 volumes.

The first four volumes were compiled from Vinyl. Volume five was made by dubbing from tape to tape. Volume six took me into the CD era and for a while it was a rotating tracklist on a 60 minute tape that I would recompile every few weeks where earlier volumes were all on 90 minute tapes. CDs were easier to work with and blank tape was starting to become harder to find so this worked better at the time. I later finalized volume six once CD burners were more affordable and all older volumes have been reconfigured to fit on CDs.

Later volumes often followed a theme. This CD here is based on volume 08. All of the songs are early to mid 70s AM Top 40 and all of them are songs I either first heard or only knew from various artist albums. Most, if not all, were on K-Tel records. K-Tel was the "That's What I Call Music" of its day. These albums were budget collections of the hits of the day. Somehow they managed to squeeze ten songs on one side of an LP.

Each one of these songs brings a smile to my face and an indescribable sense of nostalgia. While I might have heard them on the radio when I was younger, I discovered them listening to records. Sometimes at a friends house, sometimes they were found on a various artist album I bought for a completely different song. Each one seems to be part of a memory from somewhere.

I'm not going to do track by track notes for this one. None of these songs are rare or obscure in any way. Collected together they do create a unique and satisfying listen. I'll post more Melancholia volumes in the future.

01 Jonathan Edwards - Sunshine
02 Albert Hammond - The Free Electric Band
03 Sammy Johns - Chevy Van
04 Audience - Indian Summer
05 Bill Withers - Lean On Me
06 Dobie Gray - Drift Away
07 Five Man Electrical Band - Signs
08 Lobo - Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
09 Thunderclap Newman - Something in the Air
10 Jim Stafford - Spiders and Snakes
11 Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime
12 Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight
13 Looking Glass - Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
14 Mel & Tim - Backfield in Motion
15 Vanity Fair - Hitching a Ride
16 Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now
17 The Jaggerz - The Rapper
18 Freeda Payne - Band of Gold
19 R Dean Taylor - Indiana Wants Me
20 Rick Springfield - Speak to the Sky
21 Tommy James - Draggin' The Line
22 Steeler's Wheel - Stuck in the Middle with You
23 Sweet - Little Willie

The cover does its best to emulate those old K-Tel albums

The Small Faces - Afterglow - 1968

In 1968, The Small Faces released their post-summer of love concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Critically acclaimed, six weeks at number one in the UK, often described with words such as masterpiece and classic. So why does the album rub me the wrong way? The musicianship is superb. The songwriting is excellent. And Steve Marriot's voice is amazing. So what's my problem?

The album has two big things going against it for me. The first is that it starts with an instrumental. I can deal with instrumentals if they are buried within the LP or a short intro before the singing starts if it's not too long but two and a half minutes is too much for me to wait for the vocals to start. The second thing is side two. I'm not a big fan of concept albums or rock operas but a children's story with narration? Count me out. And then there is what Wikipedia describes as psychedelic cockney knees-up songs, not a fan.

I was ready to throw the album out when I started to wonder if it could be fixed. It just so happens that the band was working on a follow up before they split up. Along with a couple of B sides and the songs slated for the next album we have plenty of songs to make a great album.

Side One
01 Rollin' Over
02 Long Agos And Worlds Apart
03 Autumn stone
04 Wham bam thank you Mam
05 Red balloon
06 Lazy Sunday

Side Two
01 Call it something nice
02 Rene
03 Song Of A Baker
04 Donkey Rides, A Penny, A Glass
05 The universal
06 Afterglow

Reality Notes

I never got into The Small Faces. I was aware of them. I knew Itchycoo Park but not much else. I love Humble Pie. I love The Faces. I just never explored the band that spawned them. So when I started seeing other constructors putting together their versions of 1862, the abandoned follow up to Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake I got curious and downloaded Ogden's to give it a spin. I honestly thought I had a corrupted file and downloaded it again. I was a bit disappointed.

To fix the album I set two basic rules, no instrumentals and no story time. I dropped the title track on side one and discarded all but Rollin' Over from side two and utilized the B sides and leftovers which can be found on the compilation Autumn Stone to fill the album out. The album went through a few different iterations before I was happy with the results.

I did do one "clever" little edit. Autumn Stone has an alternate version of Afterglow which I preferred so I took the intro from the album version and tacked that on to Rollin' Over to open the album and closed the album with the alternate version. I kept Lazy Sunday as the closer of side one.

All-in-all I have been enjoying this construction very much, even the psychedelic cockney knees-up songs. I didn't actually throw out side two. After taking out Rollin' Over, I split The Journey into two parts and created an EP. It's a good story and seems to work much better in the smaller, stand alone format.

Happiness Stan

Side One
01 Happiness Stan
02 The Hungry Intruder
03 The Journey Pt 1

Side Two
01 The Journey Pt 2
02 Mad John
03 Happy Days Toy Town

I'm imagining that the EP was released first as a stopgap while they finished recording the rest of the album. I do feel that this gives the band a much better ending than splitting up in the middle of recording a new album. And there's still some leftover tracks for you kids to gather together if you feel the need.

For the cover of Afterglow I went with the full front portrait with no text. Similar to Abbey Road or Badfinger's Straight Up. For the EP I imagined they licensed an illustration from John Lennon's In His Own Write.

John & Yoko's Double Milk & Honey Fantasy Box - 1980

I've been seeing a few other attempts at constructing a John Lennon solo album out of John and Yoko's Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey albums. I've tried this myself on several occasions but was never really happy with the results. Inspired by the others I decided to take another try and see what happens. What I came up with is a box set of three albums, one for John, one for Yoko and a disc of my favorite demos from the project.

Early on I came to the conclusion that the best approach was a hybrid of official versions and alternate mixes and remixed versions. For some of John's songs I had up to ten different versions ranging from demos to the finished product. While the demo disc comes from a variety of sources the two albums are derived from five sources. The two official albums, Double Fantasy Stripped Down, John Lennon's Anthology box and a bootleg called Double Fantasy [Working Version] which contained early mixes of John's Milk and Honey Tracks.

The version of each song was chosen simply because that was the one I liked best and felt would best blend with the other tracks. My biggest issues with John's Milk and Honey tracks have always been the mixes. They put way too much reverb and other effects on John's vocals. John's voice has always sounded best mostly dry with a touch of chorus or flange if not actually double tracked so it was nice to have some early alternate mixes to fall back on. That said I did default to the official versions more often than alternate versions.

John Lennon - Watching The Wheels

Side One
01 (Just Like) Starting Over *
02 Cleanup Time ***
03 I'm Stepping Out +
04 Nobody Told Me **
05 Dear Yoko ***
06 I Don't Wanna Face It **
07 Watching The Wheels *

Side Two
01 Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) */***
02 I'm Losing You ***
03 Borrowed Time **
04 Woman *
05 (Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess +++
06 Grow Old With Me +

Reality Notes

I was really surprised at how much more I could connect this John with pre-househusband John. For some reason my mind has always compartmentalized Double Fantasy John as a unique and separate entity from even Walls and Bridges John.

For Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) I edited the intro and outro of the official version onto the Stripped Down version. I preferred the Stripped Down version but I missed the intro and outro from the Double Fantasy version which give it a bit more polish. I also edited out most of the count ins and studio chatter.

The cover features a self reflecting John watching a sunset.

Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice

Side One
01 Walking On Thin Ice +++
02 Don't Be Scared **
03 Sleepless Night **
04 O' Sanity **
05 Beautiful Boys *
06 Your Hands **
07 Kiss Kiss Kiss *

Side Two
01 Yes, I'm Your Angel *
02 Give Me Something *
03 I'm Moving On +++
04 You're The One **
05 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him *
06 Hard Times Are Over *

Reality Notes

Everyone always seems to ignore or throw away Yoko's side of this project. While I can't call myself a fan, I have never been in the anti-Yoko camp. I proudly admit to listening to and enjoying Yoko's Plastic Ono album on more than one occasion.

Walking on Thin Ice is an early mix and is half the length of the released single version. I toyed with swapping them out but I stuck with this version. While I passed on the Cheap Trick version of John's I'm Losing You, I did use the Cheap Trick version of Yoko's I'm Moving On.

For the cover I reconstructed (to my liking) the cover for Yoko's best of compilation of the same name.

Double Milk and Honey Fantasy Demos

01 Borrowed Time [DT] ###
02 Beautiful Boy [DT] ###
03 Dear Yoko [DT] ###
04 Watching the Wheels +
05 I Don't Wanna Face It [DT] ###
06 I'm Losing You [DT 2] ###
07 Let Me Count The Ways (Yoko) **
08 (Just like) starting over #
09 I'm Stepping Out [TT] ###
10 Nobody Told Me [DT] ###
11 Woman [DT 2] ###
12 My Little Flower Princess [take 3] ###
13 Grow Old With Me **

Home Demos '75-'80

14 The News Of The Day ##
15 Serve yourself ##
16 Gone From This Place ##
17 Whatever Happened To [take 2] ###
18 One Of The Boys [take 2 edit] ###
19 Life Begins At 40 ###
20 The Happy Rishikesh Song ###
21 Real Love ##
22 Dear John [edit] ###
23 I Don't Know Why (Yoko) ++

Reality Notes

I've gathered the demos into two groups. Tracks 1-13 are all related to Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey. Tracks 7 and 13 were released on the Milk and Honey album as they appear here.

Tracks 14-22 were all recorded during John's househusband days from '75 - '80. Track 23 was recorded by Yoko the day after John was taken from us.

If this were a vinyl box both groups will fit on separate albums with the first LP splitting between tracks seven and eight and the second group having five songs per side. Both groups will fit on one CD.

Editing for the most part was limited to trimming the beginnings and endings taking out count ins, intros and chatter. One Of The Boys and Dear John received multiple internal edits to trim redundant verses and stumble points to create smoother tracks.

For the cover I added text to a print of one of John's drawings.

Sources
  * Double Fantasy
 ** Milk and Honey
*** Double Fantasy Stripped Down
  + John Lennon Anthology
 ++ Season Of Glass (Yoko)
+++ Double Fantasy [Working Version] (bootleg)
  # Double Fantasy [Alternate Version] (bootleg)
 ## Complete Lost Lennon Tapes (bootleg)
### Complete Home Recordings 75-80 (bootleg)

The Originals - Various Artists

So many songs we know and love are not the original versions. They are either covers or remakes (there is a difference though off the top of my head I can't remember). For this compilation I have gathered 20 of the more interesting original versions of songs that became better known as covers. Some of these songs have histories that go beyond the recording era. Others were written and recorded about the same time as the definitive versions. Still others were written and recorded years before the hit version we know and love.

If you find this as interesting as I do head on over to Any Major Dude's site where he has done a great series that explores the origins of many songs which we take for granted that the defacto versions are the original version when in fact they were one version in a long line of previous version. His song swarm series looks at one song and gathers as many versions of that song as possible.

There are a couple of songs here that I did not have the original but did have the first charting version so I provided a link to the YouTube video of the original.)

Track by Track

01 Richard Berry & The Pharoahs - Louie Louie (1955)
Definitive version: The Kingsmen (1963) One of the most covered songs ever (I have almost 50 and that is a small fraction of what's out there). The Kingsman version is notable not only for being the most recognizable but also for how it was recorded. Recorded for $50 in a small studio in one take along with the B side - also only one take. The vocalist had to scream into a microphone hung above the band which rendered his vocal nearly unintelligible leading many to assume the lyrics were dirty. This prompted an FBI investigation into the matter. Weirdly, most missed the actual expletive yelled by the drummer about a minute into the song after dropping a drumstick.

02 Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog (1953)
Difinitive version: Elvis Presley (1956) The first of several Elvis related songs included here. Written by Leiber and Stoller, Thorton's version spent 14 weeks on the R&B charts with seven weeks at number one and was listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" but for some reason everyone only remembers Elvis' version

03 Bessie Banks - Go Now (1964)
Definitive version: The Moody Blues (1964) While I was more familiar with the version on Wings Over America I later found out about Denny Laine's tenure with the Moody Blues who had a hit with this song before he left that band. The Moody's version was released in the UK ten months after Bessie's version and two months later in the US where it peaked in the charts at #10.

04 Arthur Alexander - Anna (Go to Him) (1962)
Definitive version: The Beatles (1963) supposedly a favorite of John Lennon's the song was a regular in The Beatles live sets and appears on their first album.

05 Mark James - Suspicious Minds (1968)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1969) Written by Mark James, his version failed to chart. The song was given to Elvis which became his last #1 single.

06 Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept A Rollin (1956)
Definitive version(s): The Yardbirds (1965), Aerosmith (1974) First recorded by Tiny Bradshaw in 1951 the original, with lyrics borrowed from an earlier song, done in the jump blues style but it was Burnette's version that inspired The Yardbirds who inspired everyone else after.

07 Betty Everett - You're No Good (1963)
Definitive version: Linda Ronstadt (1975) Dee Dee Warwick, the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston and the first cousin of Whitney Houston, cut the song a few months before Betty Everett in 1963 but it was Everett's cover that was the first to chart. The Swinging Blue Jeans version hit the charts the following year. Linda Ronstadt started performing the song in 1972 and recorded her version in 1975 which hit the #1 spot.

08 Leadbelly - Gallows Pole (The Gallis Pole) (1939)
Definitive version: Led Zeppelin (1970) This song has a long history going back before the advent of recording technology. Originating in Holland it exists in many forms as a traditional folk song. This Leadbelly version is the first known recorded version. It has been recorded many times since then by a variety of artist including Bob Dylan and Judy Collins. The content of the song differs according to what version the artist was familiar with. Led Zeppelin was inspired by the version by American Fred Gerlach, included on his 1962 album Twelve-String Guitar for Folkways Records. Zep credited the song as Traditional: Arranged by Page and Plant.

09 Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats - Rocket 88
Definitive version: Ike Turner & His Kings of  Rhythm I kind of cheated on this one. Rocket 88 is considered to be one of, if not the first, Rock and Roll songs and features what is believed to be the first recorded instance of "fuzz" or distorted guitar and it's a song about a car. It was originally released by Chess Records under the name of Ike's sax player as Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats.

10 Mort Shuman - Viva Las Vegas (1963)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1964) Another slight cheat. Elvis recorded the first and definitive version of this song but this is the songwriter's demo that Elvis' producers used to make their arrangements from. Elvis' version was recorded shortly after this demo but was not released until the following year in conjunction of the movie release.

11 Irma Thomas - Time Is On My Side (1964)
Definitive version: The Rolling Stones (1964) Written by Jerry Ragovoy (using the pseudonym "Norman Meade") it was first recorded by jazz trombonist Kai Winding and his Orchestra in 1963 but that version only had the lines "Time is on my side" and "You'll come runnin' back". Irma's version was the first to include the full lyrics written by Songwriter Jimmy Norman for her just before Irma recorded her version which served as the template for the Stones version..

12 Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - That's All Right (1947)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1954) Presley's first single for Sun Records reaching #4 on the local Memphis charts but failed to chart nationally. Eventhough Crudup was credited as the composer he reportedly never received any royalty payments.

13 Earl Jean - I'm Into Something Good (1964)
Definitive version: Herman's Hermits (1964) Written by the songwriting team of Goffin & King, Earl Jean's version peaked at # 38, Herman's Hermits version hit #1 in the UK and #13 in the US.

14 Lou Johnson - (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me (1964)
Definitive version: Naked Eyes (1983) Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David this was one of the few Bacharach songs where Burt had no role in the production of the definitive version.

15 Lavern Baker - Jim Dandy (1956)
Definitive version: Black Oak Arkansas w/ Ruby Starr (1973) Whether or not you can consider Black Oak Arkansas' version definitive is debatable but it was the first version I heard. The cover seemed natural for B.O.A. as their lead singer had been using the stage name Jim Dandy for some time.

16 Dennis Linde - Burning Love (1972)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1972) The first recorded version is actually by Arthur Alexander who is featured here with Anna (Go to Him) but this is the original songwriter's demo that both Alexander's and Presley's were modeled after. Linde also played the guitar opening and riffs on the Presley version.

17 Jake Holmes - Dazed and confused
Definitive version: Led Zeppelin (1969) This one kind of hurts. Jimmy Page has a reputation for not giving credit to the original writer's of many of their songs. While one could argue in most cases that Zep's versions are more reworkings and sound little like the originals That does not hold up for Dazed and Confused. On the 1967 Yardbirds tour, they shared the bill with Jake Holmes. After hearing Holmes perform the song, drummer Jim Mcarty encouraged the band to add the song to the Yardbird's set. The song quickly became a jamming vehicle with Page experimenting with the violin bow. With the crash of the Yardbirds and the rising of Led Zep from the ashes Page and crew continued to play the song live. When Page recorded the song (albeit with altered lyrics) for the first Zep album Jake's name was nowhere to be found. Holmes sued but not until 2010. The suit was dismissed after Page and Holmes reached a settlement afterwhich remastered versions of the song are credited as "By Page – Inspired by Jake Holmes".

18 The "5" Royales - Dedicated to the One I Love (1957)
Definitive version: The Mamas and The Papas (1967) The Royals' original release failed to chart but reached #81 on re-release in 1961. The Shirells cover hit #83 in 1957 and #3 in 1961. The Mamas & The Papas recorded the song for their The Mamas & The Papas Deliver and released as a single which reached #2.

19 Helen Kane - I Wanna be Loved by You (1929)
Definitive version: Marilyn Monroe (1959) Written by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar for the 1928 musical Good Boy, it became Helen Kane's signature song. Helen had based her vocal style on "Baby" Esther Jones. Kane had seen Esther perform at The Cotton Club in Harlem some years earlier. Kane was also one of the inspirations for the cartoon character Betty Boop who also performed the song. And of course, my favorite version is by Ginger Grant of Gilligan's Island fame.

20 Harry Champion - I'm Henery The Eighth (1910)
Definitive version: Herman's Hermits (1965) Written by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston it became a signature song of Brittish music hall performer Harry Champion. It was revived in 1961 by Joe Brown before being recorded by Herman's Hermits and becoming their second UK #1.

The cover illustration drawn by one of my favorite comic book artists Donald Simpson comes from the cover of the anthology comic Wasteland

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Chinese Christmas Music

The first job I ever had I worked at an Italian restaurant as a dish washer/line cook. We had a boombox in back that we could play cassette tapes and I used to bring in all kinds of stuff to listen to. One night I was playing Tyrannosaurus Rex and a waitress came in and asked the dishwasher on duty what we were listening to and he replied "I don't know, some kind of Chinese Christmas Music." I laughed and smiled to myself and since that day I have named every Tyrannosaurus Rex comp I make Chinese Christmas Music.

For this construction I have gathered every stray song that did not appear on an album. The sources range from non-album singles and B sides to BBC recordings and session outtakes and cover the period from 1967 to 1969.

Side One
01 Beyond The Risin' Sun
02 Pewter Suitor
03 Lunacy's Back
04 Sara Crazy Child
05 Find A Little Wood
06 Misty Mist (Highways)
07 Pictures Of Purple People
08 Rings Of Fortune
09 One Inch Rock

Side Two
01 Sleepy Maurice
02 Once Upon The Seas Of Abyssynia
03 Sally was an Angel
04 Ill Starred Man
05 The Beginning of Doves
06 Blessed Wild Apple Girl
07 For the Lion and the Unicorn/Hot Rod Mama
08 Deep Summer

Reality Notes

Marc Bolan was my first true musical obsession. The Slider was among the first albums I ever owned. In previous posts I examined Marc's early pre-pre-fame days, his last days and his peak hit period. But, if I had to pick a period that really struck deep into my psyche it would be the first three albums as Tyrannosaurus Rex (I'll address the fourth album and first T.Rex album in a moment).

There is something about the interplay between Marc's warbled fantasy driven lyrics and acoustic guitar and Steve Took's percussion and distinct and imaginative backing vocals that draws me in. When Steve left, producer Tony Visconti and Marc did their best to emulate Steve's quirky backing vocals with marginal success. The two albums that followed Took's departure were transition albums for Marc as he morphed from Tyrannosaurus Rex the underground folky duo to T.Rex the mega star electric guitar slinging glam rockers.

While this comp does focus more on the Marc and Steve lineup, it does include a few songs from the Beard of Stars period with Micky Finn replacing Steve Took. The instrumental Deep Summer and Ill Starred Man are outtakes from the Beard of Stars album sessions.

I'm not sure where the song For the Lion and the Unicorn/Hot Rod Mama comes from. The bootleg I took it from had no info at all. It's obviously a live track from the Steve Took days. I almost didn't include it because of the Hot Rod Mama bits but they were minimal enough to make the song unique.

I have not addressed two periods in Marc's carreer. The first T.Rex album is best treated as a single entity and include any non-LP tracks as bonus tracks on an expanded version. This album has always been one of my favorites and is barely surpassed only by Unicorn as the best Marc album in my opinion.

The other period is from 1974 through 1976. I call this Marc's lost period. Marc began producing his own albums. There are very few artists that can do this successfully. It's a delicate balancing act to be able to suppress the ego enough to be honest with yourself and focus on the needs of the song. It took a few albums for Marc to get the hang of it and give us Dandy In The Underworld. There may be enough non-LP tracks and outtakes to make an album from this period but I'm not sure if I would want that album.

There may be more Marc Bolan related posts in the future but this one completes the short list of material I felt needed addressing. The cover features my favorite picture of Marc and Steve Took with Marc holding what at the time was his brand new white stratocaster guitar before he added the teardrop sticker.

Sources
The Beginning Of Doves
Across the Airwaves
Smashed And Frocked
A Beard Of Stars [Expanded Edition]
Non LP Singles & B-Sides
Beyond the Rising Sun