all together now - the abc of the Beatles songs and albums

by David Rowley -is there anything else to say about the songs of the Beatles ? David Rowley has already written one book "Beatles for Sale" in 2002, but he has started afresh with a new account dismissing his old book as naive.  A jolly good light read for anyone who has ever listened to the Beatles.

Falling Down

Lovely tune by Joe Walsh and Don Henley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DzsdcwVpyo

if you could read my mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ij_iTQt2w

Country Joe and the Fish

http://www.countryjoe.com/uncut.htm

The Staves

The Staves are a band composed of three sisters form Watford.   Jessica is the one who plays guitar, Camilla plays the Ukelele (don't panic, it's not George Formby) and Emily gets to do the occasional keyboard or drum.

A review in the Guardian described them as like Angels forced to make their way in the music business.

The songs are all credited to the Staves, so it is not possible to disentangle who wrote what or how the writing partnership works.

It is difficult to describe who they sound like - I would suggest they are like singer-song writers form 70's California (in a  good way) - Crosby Stills and Nash ? Peter Paul and Mary ? but with the voices of three women.

The harmonies are Divine - who knows they could go on to be massive stars, have a cult following or just fade away.  I suspect they haven't yet written a chart hit - but who cares ?

and perhaps the best way to find out is to listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q-CePet15s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvtT8i8rOJY

Richie Havens RIP

When I first watched Woodstock, many years ago I didn't really appreciate this song, now it is one of my faves.  He only improvised this song as he had played every other song he could think of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA51wyl-9IE

Not the rolling stones

I went to see "former members" so called because they are former members of various groups.

This band are absolutely phenomenal. Bruce Barthol bassist from Country Joe & The Fish, Greg Douglass - lead guitarist of Steve Miller Band, Roy Blumenfeld - drummer of Al Kooper's Blues Project - and David Bennett Cohen, Grammy nominated piano player from Country Joe & The Fish.

The youngets of these Bruce Barthol about 68 years old,  all of them having played and performed profesionally for over 50 years.

They were fantastic - it was a privilege to watch them play and a delight to see their enjoyment at playing.   They have all played at massive rock festivals and with a host of other great musicians - here they were at a small pub with a small audience and giving a masterclass in playing.  You got the impression they could play anything anywhere.

The musicians in the audience were just blown away, I overheard one person describe it as like being in the presence of a jazz or blues great in the 20th century.

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Another historic 1960's band. It started when Sam Andrews (guitar) heard the sound of Peter Albin (bass) playing guitar coming out of a high up window. in the spirit of the times he went up to speak to him, and that's how the band started.

James Gurley has been described as the father of psychedelic guitar. I don't think this is disputed. Before Janis Joplin joined the band, he was the star with his unique sound, due in part to being entirely self taught.

BBTHC had a raw, powerful sound that complimented Janis Joplin's raucous vocals. In the recording studio they suffered from trying take after take but, the very essence of their live performance had always been the impact of their sound, not being note perfect.

The irony is that Janis was persuaded to leave the band to be backed by technically better musicians, and perhaps had greater commercial success, but for most fans the BBTHC years (months?) were the best and most enjoyable. Perhaps she was right, she felt she needed a brass
section so help her sing. 3/5 of the band is still going now, had Janis lived, would she still be touring ? or retired like Grace slick from Jefferson Airplane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItLi2rVaIzo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7doZskLFTq8

Great Bands No 2 - The Great Society

The Great Society was Grace Slick band before she joined Jefferson Airplane.

Ironically it was the two Great Society songs "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" that became Jefferson Airplanes biggest and probably best known hits.

The Great Society versions are quite different.

Somebody to Love, written by Darby Slick, is much slower and melancholy.

As Darby says; "Our version was sadder. I'm not saying it was better ...."

White Rabbit is also slower and has a long instrumental intro.

Undoubtedly Jefferson Airplane were the better musicians but the Great Society recordings perfectly capture the transitional evolving folk-rock sound of 1965/66

Great Bands No 1 - Country Joe and the Fish

Country Joe and the Fish are one of the great bands to come out of San Francisco in the 1960's. They never made a big impact on the charts - their first single got to about number 98 in the American hot hundred, but they were a truly innovative group. As bassist Bruce Barthol said recently, ""It was real easy to be a genius, there were probably some folk songs that I was the first guy in the world to play electric bass on." Although they are sometimes viewed as a hippie band - Country Joe and the Fish weren't really hippies in that they all seemed to have shared left-wing political views, whereas the hippie view was against politics. Their first (and to most people, best album) was called "electric music for the mind and body". It ranged from the politics to folk - instrumentals to rock.

When they were making their 'difficult' third Album, the band almost split up. Indeed Country Joe left for a short while. The reason Joe gave for leaving was that he and lead guiaterist Barry Melton were arguing, Barry could "play anything" while drummer "Chicken" Hersh didn't want to play repedative beats while Bassist Barthol emulating Paul McCartney was strugglingto stay in tune. but, these were the very things that made them such an interesting band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk3-elEqUZs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doFD0poaYwA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ds5ErXQdAg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV7mDnI16h8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3w3v_DsPXQ&feature=related

Great Bands No 3 - Moby Grape

Rock music has it's fair share of bands that wow the critics but don't sell the records.

Moby Grape is one such band. Their first album, Moby Grape, is usually described as the perfect debut. Five members all of whom could sing, play and write songs produced a masterpiece.

After that everything seemed to go wrong for the band. The record company knowing the album was great released all the tracks as singles at the same time - thus ensuring that people thought the band was over hyped and that none of the records got enough coverage to be a hit.

Management problems, drug busts, a not quite so good second album, an even less good third album, members leaving, a trio struggling on, disbanding, occasional reunions, etc etc
Two band members ended up homeless and destitute.

It is one of the sad stories of rock music but the best music the band created still sound great.

Amazingly the 4 surviving members of the band reunited for the summer of love festival in San Fransico in September 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioKodbNTljg&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMvIIHFr4dA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_FlNwQlBmU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByNv3P4TT34