CHRIS REA - The Return Of The Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes

(Jazzee Blue / Ear Books 978-3-940064-50-5, 2008)

"The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes" is the twenty-second studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 2008 by his own record label, Jazzee Blue. It comprises three CDs and double 10" Vinyl records in an 80-page hardback book. It is the second album of his project, the Hofner Blue Notes (2003). The project narrates the history of The Delmonts, an imaginary guitar instrumental band from the late 1950s, who in early 1960s evolved into blues band The Hofner Bluenotes. It also gives a brief history of the Hofner guitar, and its importance in the development of music in Britain. The book is lavishly illustrated with period photos and mocked up posters and newspaper cuttings about the band, together with some of Rea's paintings, and photos of Hofner guitars. The music was recorded by Rea (guitars), Colin Hodgkinson (bass) and Martin Ditcham (drums), who feature in the book, together with Niel Drinkwater and Robert Ahwai.

After the album was released, Rea started a European tour, including a show at London's Royal Albert Hall and Newcastle City Hall. He and his band would perform as a quintet The Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes. The concerts were divided in three sections: in the first, they would play only songs from Delmonts (CD1), then some blues songs from Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes (CD2), and in the third part Rea's greatest hits. In The Independent review was rated 3/5 stars. Alexander Cordas writing for laut.de gave it the same score, stating that The Delmonts music from the first CD is not for everyone because the homage "is entertaining, but rather in the sense of a winking glance towards the past", while The Hofners sometimes does not convince because it has "every now and then cliché-drenched" tracks which "sound neither dirty in the bluesy sense, nor exciting in their compositional aspect", concluding that "the overall package of the Hofner Bluenotes appeals with its appealing exterior".

Artist and painter, blues aficionado and self-confessed motoring nut, filmmaker and Italian-influenced classical music composer, eclectic and maverick are two terms that hardly come close to describing a man who has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide for just being himself. Recent years have seen Rea publicly celebrating many of his passions – including Santo Spirito, a release containing two feature-length films on DVD (written and directed by Rea), two accompanying CDs of the soundtracks, and one regular CD of studio album songs, Blue Guitars, an eleven CD collection of 137 blues inspired tracks with his own paintings as album covers, and La Passione – a deluxe box set featuring Rea’s extraordinary soundtrack to his own short films about the legendary motor racing driver Wolfgang Von Tripps (together with a documentary made up of Von Tripp’s personal cine film archive and a 70 page coffee table book including Rea’s photographs and paintings) – but 2017 sees Rea return to what he’s best known for: an album of gorgeous rock ballads which showcases Rea’s unique voice and a songwriting skill at the top of his game. The album is called Road Songs For Lovers and it is possibly his finest record to date.

Born in Middlesborough in 1951, Rea released his debut album, Whatever Happened To Benny Santini – the title is a nod to the stage name, Benjamin Santini, Rea sarcastically created to appease his record label – in 1978 and promptly had a huge US hit with the first track to be lifted off the record, Fool If You Think It’s Over. Whatever and Rea’s follow up Deltics were produced by Elton John’s main-man, Gus Dudgeon, and it was no doubt the sound that Rea and Dudgeon created together that led to Rea being widely regarded as an artist in the style of Elton John and Billy Joel. Naturally, Rea was unhappy with the misdiagnosis but he could do very little to prevent his next two albums, Tennis and Chris Rea failing to produce any hit singles. In 1983, Rea’s fifth studio album Water Sign sold over half a million copies after I Can Hear Your Heartbeat, a single lifted from the record, became a Top 20 hit all over Europe. Rea’s follow up, Wired To The Moon was also a huge success and attendant tours of Europe would ensure that Rea commandeered a significant fan-base. In 1985, Rea released Shamrock Diaries and two songs herein, Stainsby Girls (about an abandoned hamlet near Middlesboro and the school named after it) and Josephine, suddenly connected with British audiences: subsequent releases, On The Beach and Dancing With Strangers went platinum, the latter marooned at No.2 behind Michael Jackson’s Bad. Rea’s next two albums The Road To Hell and Auberge would become his first No. 1 albums in the UK whilst God’s Great Banana Skin and Espresso Logic quickly went Top 10.

1998 saw the release of the Top 10 album, The Blue Café, and the following year, Rea released an electronica album called The Road To Hell Part 2. In 2000, Rea’s, King Of The Beach reached the Top 30 but his well-documented illness meant that he took a brief sabbatical from recording before returning to his blues roots with Dancing Down The Stony Road in 2002. Rea then set up his own independent label, Jazzee Blue, and further blues-tinged releases included Blue Street (Five Guitars) and Hofner Blue Notes in 2003 and The Blue Jukebox in 2004. A year later he released the groundbreaking Blue Guitars album. In February 2008, for the release of The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes (comprising 38 new tracks on three CDs and two vinyl copies plus a hardback book of his paintings) Rea dreamed up a band – a pastiche instrumental group from the late 1950 called The Delmonts – and toured the UK (including the Albert Hall) introducing his band as The Delmonts. A year later, Still So Far To Go, a best-of compilation reached No.8, turning gold in the process, before Santo Spirito Blues cemented Rea’s place in the pantheon of musicians that follow their own artistic vision – think Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue/Imperial Bedroom period – at the expense of commercial concerns. A stunningly repackaged version of La Passione (initially released in 1996) would appear in 2016 accompanied by an exhibition of Rea’s hugely expansive paintings (inspired by the project) at the RAC in London.

It’s been quite some time since Rea released anything “mainstream” or non blues-oriented and the rather good news is that Road Songs For Lovers is Rea’s best record to date. Recorded with Rea’s own band at Metropolis Studios in London – in contrast to recent albums which have been self-produced in his home studio – the record continues Rea’s obsession with travel and motion; songs like The Road Ahead (the first single off the album), Happy On The Road, Last Train and title track, Road Songs For Lovers ostensibly suggest that we are constantly going somewhere in our lives and no doubt require a musical soundtrack to document this movement. Rea’s uniquely warm and distinctive sound is abundantly present and correct throughout the recording and on Angel Of Love he approaches greatness: “I’m the king of the highway code/I need a slow song so I can dance in your heart/ everybody got their tales of woe/everybody got their cross to bear/I’m a restless soul in a traveller’s tale” he gently opines and you are reminded just how beautiful Rea’s voice can be at times. The song is one of the most moving on Road Songs For Lovers but its heartbreaking nature is not out of place on an album that regularly tugs at the heartstrings: Breaking Point is a poignant tale of love gone awry – “Last time we saw him, he had nothing much to say/Now I guess we’ll never know – the breaking point” – whilst Beautiful is utterly compelling, piano and sax hugging Rea’s desolate though delicately nuanced vocal delivery. And we defy anyone to not be moved by these sentiments: “Beautiful that’s what you are to me/no matter what they say, it’s what you’ll always be/ love calls your name and I must follow where it goes/ Because you’re beautiful is all that I can see, although there is no chance for love and we must set each free/I’ll always hold you deep inside me, you’ll always be …Beautiful".

Chris Rea is not alone in the company of musicians who found fame later in life – think Jarvis Cocker, Leonard Cohen – and indeed it is interesting to note that he didn’t achieve UK Top Ten single status until the release of The Road To Hell (pt2), a record that was actually his eighteenth chart entry. Perhaps it is this fact that makes Rea such a breath of fresh air and a man effortlessly in control of his own faculties as a singer songwriter. “I was never a rock star or pop star and all the illness has been my chance to do what I’d always wanted to do with music,” he says. “The best change for my music has been concentrating on stuff which really interests me.“ He is obviously referring to his love of motor racing, painting and the blues but if Road Songs For Lovers proves one thing it is this: you can add beautiful, poignant rock ‘n’ roll love songs to that pantheon of passions.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Classic Protest Songs From Smithsonian Folkways

(Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40197, 2009)

War, social injustice, personal plaints, and calls for action have long fueled musical creation and performance. In Classic Protest Songs, Mark Gustafson and Jeff Place tapped the historic Smithsonian audio collections to compile 22 songs favored by leaders of antiwar, civil rights, industrial labor, farm worker, and other struggles to air their grievances. Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Janis Ian, Big Bill Broonzy, Pete Seeger, Barbara Dane, Guy Carawan, Phil Ochs, and other marquee artists let their voices ring out with calls for peace and justice.
From the booklet: "Over the years, Folkways Records (now Smithsonian Folkways) has produced and distributed high-quality recordings of American folk music. Moses Asch, founder of Folkways, made a commitment to artists that their Folkways recordings would never go out of print. The Smithsonian keeps that tradition alive. This recording is intended as an introduction to many of these recordings, a chance for listeners to experience them, perhaps again, perhaps for the first time. The Smithsonian has subsequently acquired other fine small labels, and this disc includes recordings from the Monitor and Paredon labels. The songs presented here come mainly from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Many people mistakenly believe that "protest songs" originated with guitar-playing folk singers in the 1960s. It is highly likely that some form of protest lyrics have existed as far back as humans have made music. Songs have been associated with almost every human conflict in history. In the British Isles, ballads about the latest current events and issues were printed on pages of paper and sold for a few pennies, and these publications were called broadsides. Many songs and rhymes we all know well began as topical or protest songs, their original meaning now lost. "Froggy Went-a Courtin’" has been traced back to the 16th century and discusses a royal romance. "Little Jack Horner" is about a disreputable tax collector in the days of Henry VIII. In the United States, many complaints of the American colonists about the British were accompanied by associated songs. Since the invention of audio recording, many songs of protest have been recorded. Many of the early country and blues recording artists worked as sharecroppers or in factories. Support for labor struggles and feelings of anger were put into words and performed. There are songs of the sharecroppers, songs of the textile workers, songs of the railroad workers, songs of the miners—and the list goes on. Collections of these songs have been published, and many of these old 78s have been reissued on compact discs.

The 1930s found a group of academics, composers, journalists, and musicians in New York at the beginning of the great "folksong revival." These individuals came from the far left politically and championed the folklore and music of the people. Among this musical world were great popular songwriters, such as Earl Robinson, Yip Harburg ("Somewhere over the Rainbow," "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime"), and Lewis Allan (see track 12), and their lyrics frequently dealt with social issues. It was out of this environment that Folkways Records emerged. Some artists active in New York in the early 1940s were Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Josh White, and Lead Belly. In this environment, through Asch and then later Disc Records, they expressed themselves politically, and Moses Asch always felt that his records were a vehicle for his artists to speak. One of the great singing groups of the time was the Almanac Singers (Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bess and Butch Hawes, Sis Cunningham, Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, and others), whose repertory consisted of songs for the common people´s struggle.

Asch’s studio always involved a racially mixed group of musicians, and some of the black musicians present found it safe to express themselves openly in their lyrics in ways they could not in their places of origin. An integral part of the civil-rights movement was its use of song. As long as Africans had been in the United States, they have used song to communicate their response to their situation. When white owners banned drums because they felt the slaves might be able to communicate with each other by drumming, the slaves adopted Christian hymns, such as "Oh let my people go!" in which the images of imprisoned Jews became metaphors for their condition. The song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" was a veiled reference to the North Star and the path northward, to freedom. Worksongs and shouts included commentaries on bosses and owners. Country bluesmen included references in their songs to the problems they had living in the South. Charley Patton sang of the evil sheriff Tom Rushen. The civil-rights movement adapted a body of black traditional music and hymns to new uses (Bernice Reagon, notes to SFW 40084).

In the late 1950s, the folksong revival reached its apex. Folksongs became the most popular music in the United States until the great "British Invasion" of 1964 brought rock and roll back to the top. Students across the country took up guitars and banjos. Many of them built their careers on the work of the folksingers that had proceeded them, important figures such as Guthrie and Seeger. As the politically repressive times of the McCarthy years waned, the political left felt that it could express itself again, and many of these statements took the form of folksongs. Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen started Broadside magazine in 1962 to publish newly created "songs of conscience." Broadside was the first magazine that published songs by Janis Ian, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Eric Andersen, and others. The appearance of Bob Dylan on the music scene changed the musical approach of almost every current musician; many started writing and trying to sound like him, even though he had based his own persona on Guthrie. It’s the image of Dylan with a harmonica rack and a guitar that became the caricature of the "protest folksinger." As quickly as he had arrived, he moved on to other musical endeavors. Besides Broadside were individuals who published and supported topical music. The great bible of the folksong movement, Sing Out! magazine, published new and old protest songs (and still does). Former Sing Out! editor Irwin Silber and his wife, activist and singer Barbara Dane, opened Paredon Records in New York in 1970 to document the music of social political movements worldwide.

African-American folksinger Jimmy Collier pointed out that if you want to get your message across, it’s best to use the music of the community that you wish to communicate with. Collier found that the urban black community did not respond to new words to American folksongs, but it did respond to new words to rhythm-and-blues songs (personal communication, 2000). As the folk revival ended, hard-edged new songs began to be written using folk-rock and rock music. Punk rock exploded on the scene in the late 70s with the Sex Pistols and their attacks on Margaret Thatcher’s administration with "God save the queen and her fascist regime." Protest lyrics are easily found in rap and hiphop. The early 21st-century war in Iraq has led to a new round of antiwar songs. Much as Broadside and Paredon Records became an outlet for writers of political song, national networks of such writers still exist; there are newsletters, websites, house concerts, and self-produced cassettes. Seattle resident Jim Page is an example of this: he plays on the street and produces recordings that illustrate his feelings. Billy Bragg adapted Lead Belly’s "Bourgeois Blues" into "Bush War Blues" and distributed it through the internet.

In 1987, Ralph Rinzler, folk musician, record producer, and talent scout for the Newport Folk Festival, and then Assistant Secretary for Public Service at the Smithsonian Institution, negotiated the donation of the Folkways label to the museum; the following year, the Smithsonian Folkways record label was founded. Rinzler had been involved in earlier Folkways albums, and he knew the value of the collection. Smithsonian Folkways has always set out to reissue material from its archives with expanded liner notes and updated sound. It has since acquired other smaller, like-minded record companies: Cook, Paredon, Dyer-Bennet, Fast Folk Musical Magazine, Monitor, Collector, and M.O.R.E. These labels comprise what is called the Smithsonian Folkways Collection, and they include folk recordings in their catalog. More than three thousand titles are available through Smithsonian Folkways via on-demand compact disc and on-line digital download. This recording hardly breaks the surface of the repertory of songs that are out there. Some "classic" protest songs are not on this disc because this collection draws exclusively, as do all of the releases in this series, from the body of material in the Smithsonian Folkways Collection. This collection is meant to be a series of doors to lead listeners into full recordings by these artists. If you enjoy it, many more great recordings are out there".

BERND WITTHÜSER - Lieder von Vampiren, Nonnen und Toten

(Ohr Records OMM 56002, 1970)

"If I’d perform in front of miners and sing about how we’d sweat because of the exhausting mining-work the miners they’d laugh about me, since I haven’t gone to work for more than two years". Bernd Witthüser refused to be received as a political folk-singer for the working class. From 1964 up to 1969 the folk-festival at Burg Waldeck (in the Hunsrück mountains) played an important role for the development of a musical underground in post-WW-II-Germany. The music performed there offered an alternative to the German Schlager and was influenced by the American and French folk music, but even more important than that musical references was a very strong Marxist tradition that the new generation connected with (Bertolt Brecht functioned as an important role model). Not unlike Pete Seeger in the U.S., folk music was considered to be not only the voice of the people but something to educate people with, raise people’s consciousness, teach them about society etc. "We shall overcome".

That highly political (and arrogant at times) approach often led to controversial events. Not unlike Pete Seeger attacking Dylan’s amplification with an axe, there were similar incidents at Burg Waldeck. For example there was the time Rolf Schwendter disturbed Reinhard May’s concert with a snare drum, because May’s songs weren’t political enough for Schwendter’s taste. As a result to the politicised/political climate during the late 1960’s the festival turned out to be dominated by discussions and teach-ins and all these incidents/discussions during these years were as necessary as self-centered: On the one hand the festival and its music/musicians worked as an instrument to politicise people – on the other hand the privileged middle-class kids had to learn that the “revolutionary subject” (i.e. the working class) they were talking about/looking for was somewhere else: at work, and not at a hippie-festival in the Hunsrück mountains. As a consequence in 1969 the preaching to the converted came to an end (the festival was put on hold until 1973) and the folk-music-scene disbanded and headed off to different shores.

Some of the folk musicians referred to the psychedelic music as a druggy escape-route from a reality that needed to be changed (and because of drug-use remained unchanged), some referred to the psychedelic aesthetics as a way to enter the doors of perception, as a first step towards a new society. The crucial point (still): s smoking pot revolutionary or counter-revolutionary behaviour ? By 1968 Bernd Witthüser had already had some local success as a protest-singer, but he didn’t want to sing about mining when his everyday life was more about smoking pot and reading poetry. It seemed ridiculous to him.

Instead of performing the working class hero he chose to sing about vampires, nuns and the dead. Influenced by medieval and romantic poetry (like Novalis and Heinrich Heine) he recorded a gothic-folk or folk-noir record for Rolf Ulrich Kaisers Ohr-label (with whom he had also worked before when he managed the “Essener Songtage” in 1968). But it wouldn’t be a Witthüser (& Westrupp is on board already, too) record without a good measure of goofy jokes included: The last song on the record is an adaption of the theme tune from the TV-series 'Flipper' and until that last song a lot of - more or less - funny wordplays and gags come with a lot of the songs on "Lieder von Vampiren, Nonnen und Toten". But the all in all frivolous approach is a good thing, actually. Otherwise "Lieder von Vampiren, Nonnen und Toten" would be an unbearable proto neo folk disaster. But Bernd and Walter had a reefer once in a while and their daily dose of Marihuana kept them away from turning into morbid youngsters longing for death.

It’s quite difficult to write about the music on "Lieder von Vampiren, Nonnen und Toten" without thinking of the lyrics all the time. And being a native speaker of the German language I wonder how the record is received if you don’t get the lyrics (which is - the other way round - in 99,9% the case for all the Anglo-American music Krauts listen to). "Lieder von Vampiren, Nonnen und Toten" is a lovely, unadorned folk music record garnished with a lot of humour and a slightly psychedelic vibe. Mostly guitar and voice, with a bit of percussion, a flute, a trombone and stuff like that here and there. Imagine Cheech & Chong singing Current 93.

After "Lieder von Vampiren, Nonnen und Toten", Witthüser & Westrupp went on to perform and record as a duo and they released three studio-records ("Trips und Träume", "Der Jesuspilz" and "Bauer Plath") and a live-record ("Live ’68-’73"). It’s all about smoking pot, making fun of authorities, daydreaming and enjoying life, basically. Not sure, if this can be considered as a revolutionary agenda, but for a few years it seemed to work - and they both remain swinging until this day.

COLDWATER ARMY - Peace (Agape Records AS 2600, 1971)

Singer/guitarist Bobby Golden and his older brother/bassist Kenny Golden grew up outside of Macon, Georgia. While in their teens, they started forming and playing in local bans such as The Golden Boys and The Golden Arcade. By 1969 they'd expanded their repertoire beyond top-40 covers and soul revue, to include original material as the Coldwater Army.  I'm guessing the name was inspired by the American temperance movement, though it was interesting name choice for a band that was formed near Warner Robbins Air Force Base.

1971 found Coldwater Army signed to the Nashville-based Starday-King affiliated Agape label. With a line-up consisting of singer Bob Garrett, lead guitarist Bobby Golden, bassist Kenny Golden, drummer Richard Hughes, trumpet player Nick Jones, sax player Dale Miller, and keyboardist Bob Spearman, the band went into the studios with producer Bobby Smith.  Allowing an unknown band to record an album of original material seemingly reflected one of two things- Agape had significant faith in the band's commercial potential or, 2.) Agape had no interest in the band. Having listened to Coldwtaer Army dozens of times over the years, my guess is the latter category.

Not that you're going to find a lot of on-line reviews for this obscurity, but the ones you'll stumble across routinely tag this one as Southern rock. On tracks like "Dreams" and "Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday" there were clearly Southern rock influences, but don't be mislead, this really wasn't a Southern rock album. Remember that when the album was recorded, the majority of the band members were still in their late teens. They had come out of bands that focused on top-40 and soul covers so originality wasn't something they'd necessarily gotten around to. That made much of this album one of those fun, spot-the-influences collections.  It's all here - Blood, Sweat and Tears horn charts, Chicago blues-rock ("Away"), even Paul Revere and the Raiders top-40 ("Smiling Faces").  

"Dreams" starts with a funky little guitar riff, "Dreams" found the band dipping their collective toes into the blues-rock arena - imagine a hybrid of The Allman Brothers and The Atlanta Rhythm Section, awesome track. "To Pamela" is a hyper-sensitive ballad that included a touch of Cream influence in the middle of the song. The bouncy, blue-eyed soul-ish "Hey People" is most commercially feasible song. Imagine The Young Rascals had they grown up in Macon, Georgia rather than New Jersey. I'm not a big fan for social relevancy, but I'll make an exception for this one. The lyrics may not have been the most subtle you've ever heard, but kudos to an early '70s  Southern band being willing to taken on the subject of equality. Always liked Golden's melodic solo on this one.

"Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday" was a nice baseline for another sound of spot the influences - My answer was Spooky Tooth's "Evil Woman" meets The Dixie Dregs. Again, not particularly original, but I liked Garrett's growling vocals and the song's jamming flavor. "Smiling Faces" was a radio-friendly pop ballad that could have easily slotted on a Paul Revere and the Raiders album. Seriously, the lead vocal actually reminded me of Mark Lindsay. Very catchy refrain. Penned by drummer Hughes, "In Thought" was another Bobby Golden and Bill Spearman-powered rocker. Complete with lots of church organ, the lyrics also seemed inspired by the loss of their friend David Allen.

Powered by some of Spearman's prettiest keyboards and Golden's sustained fuzz guitar, "Time For Reason" probably came the closest to showing off the band's true musical orientation. With a haunting, slightly lysergic edge, once again, Dale Miller's jazzy, discordant sax solo was at odds with the rest of the song, but it was such a strange juxtaposition that it was kind of neat. Shame the song faded out so early. With little promotional support from their record label, shortly after the album was released, the band split up.

SQUEEZE - Ridiculous (A&M Records 540 440-2, 1995)

It's 1973 in South London. Teenage friends Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook form the band that will see them dubbed 'The New Lennon and McCartney'. Over 35 years later, with their legacy intact and as vital as it has ever been, Squeeze are still touring and reminding fans worldwide just why they have left such an indelible impression on the UK's music scene. As teenagers on the South London scene, Squeeze - setting out their stall early on by facetiously naming themselves after a poorly-received Velvet Underground album, comprised of Jools Holland on keys, Harry Kakouli on bass and Paul Gunn on drums. They became a fixture of the burgeoning New Wave movement. When Gilson Lavis replaced Gunn on drums everything seemed to fall into place, and word of mouth soon spread about the band - ironically, it was none other than Velvet Underground man John Cale who caught wind in 1977 and offered to produce their debut EP "Packet Of Three" and much of the ensuing album.

Yet it was second album "Cool For Cats", released in 1979, which cemented their place as one of Britain's most important young bands. Featuring the classic single "Up The Junction" as well as the title track, it was many listeners' first introduction to the witty kitchen-sink lyricism and new-wave guitar music that has become the band's trademark. With albums "Argybargy" and the Elvis Costello-produced "East Side Story", Squeeze even started to make waves across the pond, although in 1980 former Roxy Music and Ace - and future Mike & The Mechanics - man Paul Carrack would replace Jools Holland, going on to lend his unmistakeable vocals to the smash hit "Tempted". By 1984 Squeeze had disbanded. The chemistry between Tilbrook and Difford could not be as easily dismissed however, and the ensuing record they made together has become the 'lost' Squeeze album for many fans. But the band couldn't lay dormant for long, as Squeeze reformed the next year for "Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti", along with Holland, Lavis and Keith Wilkinson, Squeeze's longest serving bass player. Over the next 12 years Difford and Tilbrook remained the only constant element as Squeeze continued to receive critical acclaim, release albums and tour, with the likes of "Hourglass" becoming their biggest ever hit in the USA.

Metcalfe left the band in 1988, leaving the Difford / Tilbrook / Holland / Wilkinson / Lavis line-up to record 1989's "Frank". The LP was a commercial disappointment, from which no charting singles were taken in the UK, and the band was dropped from their long-time label A&M. Adding a new second keyboard player in the person of Matt Irving, the band issued the live album "A Round and a Bout" on I.R.S. Records in March 1990. Jools Holland left Squeeze again in early 1990, and was not immediately replaced. In his stead, the band used session musicians such as Irving (who was no longer an official band member), Snow, Steve Nieve, Bruce Hornsby and Carol Isaacs for the 1991 release "Play", which came out on the Reprise label. This release again spawned no UK hits, although in the US the singles "Satisfied" and "Crying in My Sleep" received significant airplay on modern rock stations, and in Canada "Satisfied" was a top 50 hit. However, Reprise dropped the band after this album. Following this, drummer Gilson Lavis was let go in 1992, and replaced by Nieve's Attractions bandmate Pete Thomas. Paul Carrack also returned to the band in 1993, although by this point Squeeze was not so much a band as it was a trade name for Difford and Tilbrook plus sidemen.

Squeeze re-signed to A&M in time for 1993's "Some Fantastic Place". After a period of commercial decline in the UK, lead single "Third Rail" hit No. 39, becoming Squeeze's first UK Top 40 hit in six years. Squeeze's line-up during the mid-1990s changed constantly. Though not an official Squeeze member, Aimee Mann was featured on vocals and guitar at many Squeeze shows during 1994. Thomas also exited the band that year, and Carrack doubled on snare and keyboards for a few gigs before session drummer Andy Newmark was brought in. Then, still in 1994, Carrack left, which allowed keyboardist Andy Metcalfe to return to the band for a short spell, playing on some live dates. Drummer Kevin Wilkinson (no relation to bassist Keith), formerly of The Waterboys and China Crisis, was also added around this time, replacing Newmark. He lasted through the 1995 album "Ridiculous", which was recorded by the quartet of Difford, Tilbrook, Wilkinson and Wilkinson. The album spun off three minor hits in the UK: "This Summer", "Electric Trains" and "Heaven Knows". ("Heaven Knows" was used as the closing song in the 1995 film Hackers starring Angelina Jolie.) In addition, a minimally remixed version of "This Summer" became a No. 32 UK hit in 1996, a year after the original version peaked at No. 36. Despite this, A&M Records once again dropped Squeeze from their roster in late 1996.

Following the release "of Ridiculous", Don Snow (now known as Jonn Savannah) returned to Squeeze yet again as their touring keyboard player, but by 1997, the Squeeze line-up had officially dwindled down to just Difford and Tilbrook. That year the duo, billed as Squeeze, released the non-album single "Down in the Valley" as a fundraising single for Charlton Athletic F.C. Tilbrook formed the Quixotic label for this and future Squeeze-related releases, as well as releases by other artists. For the 1998 album "Domino", the band was again a quintet consisting of Difford, Tilbrook, bassist Hilaire Penda, ex-Del Amitri drummer Ashley Soan, and yet another returning keyboardist in the person of Christopher Holland. Nick Harper often performed with this version of Squeeze, providing additional guitar and vocals. In January 1999, just days before a planned tour, Chris Difford suddenly announced that he was taking a "hiatus" from Squeeze. The last venue at which Squeeze played with Difford was at The Charlotte, Leicester, England. The band subsequently continued as a quartet led by Tilbrook, with Jim Kimberley replacing Soan on some tour dates, and Christopher Holland exiting in the autumn to be replaced by Tilbrook's other frequent writing partner Chris Braide.

On 27 November 1999, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Squeeze played their final gig before breaking up again. Difford and Tilbrook embarked on separate solo careers shortly thereafter. Despite this official Squeeze break-up in 1999, Difford and Tilbrook continued to make music and gig with the same enthusiasm and abandon that they brought to Squeeze's first EP, either with their own solo projects or with each other. As befits one of the UK's much-loved acts, there is no end of Squeeze fans currently wearing their influences firmly on their sleeve, whether it be Mark Ronson, Kasabian, Supergrass, Lily Allen, The Feeling or Razorlight. With their fingerprints keenly felt throughout the fabric of popular music, it is only right that these songs, with their evergreen and popular sound, continue to be played and enjoyed live. And so since 2007, a newly reformed Squeeze have been slowly finding time to play a series of gigs and festival dates, preferring to reaffirm their abilities as a band rather than follow some of their peers who have come out in a blaze of publicity, only to be met with disappointment.

The new Squeeze line-up, their most able yet, is completed by Squeeze veteran John Bentley and Tilbrook's Fluffers cohorts Simon Hanson and Stephen Large, and has become an instant favourite on the festival circuit since reforming with appearances at V, Oxegen, T in the Park and Latitude. Squeeze's contribution to music has been noted in 2010 with the site of their first gig being awarded a prestigious PRS For Music Heritage Plaque, which has so far commemorated the debuts of Blur and Dire Straits. It joins an ever-increasing list of Squeeze accolades ,alongside their recent Ivor Novello for Outstanding Contribution to British Music and their Nordoff-Robbins Icon Award. Chris Difford's lyrics and Glenn Tilbrook's music have survived everything over the years, from the ever-changing musical landscape to their own internal reshuffles and acrimonious breakups - but Squeeze is here to stay, still going strong and still loving every moment.

THE DEVIL MAKES THREE - I'm A Stranger Here (New West Records NW5080, 2013)

"There’s a road that goes out of every town. All you’ve got to do is get on it", Pete Bernhard says. The guitarist and singer and his cohorts in the raw and raucous trio The Devil Makes Three have found their way onto that road numerous times since they first left their picaresque rural hometown of Brattleboro, Vermont. Back then, they had no idea it would lead them to such auspicious destinations as the Newport Folk and Austin City Limits Festivals, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, and on tours with Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell and Trampled By Turtles. Along the way, they drew numerous accolades from a growing fan base and press alike. The Devil Makes Three's travels and travails serve as inspiration for their fourth album and their New West Records debut, "I’m a Stranger Here", produced by Buddy Miller and recorded at Dan Auerbach’s (Black Keys) Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville.

With upright bassist Lucia Turino and guitarist Cooper McBean, Bernhard crafted a dozen tunes, part road songs, part heartbreak songs and part barnburners. While most bands are propelled from behind by a drummer, The Devil Makes Three builds exuberant rhythms from the inside out, wrapping finger-picked strings and upsurging harmonies around chugging acoustic guitar and bass, plying an ever-growing audience onto its feet to jump, shake and waltz. The Devil Makes Three’s sound is garage-y ragtime, punkified blues, old n’ new timey without settling upon a particular era, inspired as much by mountain music as by Preservation Hall jazz. “We bend genres pretty hard,” Bernhard says. The combination could only have happened via the circuitous route each of them took to forming the band. As kids in Vermont, “all raised by sort of hippie parents” who exposed them to folk, blues and jugbands, Bernhard says, they blazed a path to nearby Boston, Massachusetts in search of punk rock shows. They found venerable venues like The Rat and The Middle East, drawn to east coast bands like the Dropkick Murphys and Aus-Rotten.

“It would be like 6 bucks for 13 bands, everyone playing for 20 minutes,” Bernhard says. “I had so much fun going to shows like that. The energy coming off the stage makes a circle with the crowd and comes back. We were really attracted to that energy.” Bernhard and McBean, a multi-instrumentalist who plays banjo, musical saw and bass, forged a particular bond. Unlike most of their mutual friends, they both liked to play acoustic music, with McBean showing Bernhard the wonders of Hank Williams and Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys. They kept in touch after high school, when nearly everyone in their clique relocated to the west coast like the characters in Delbert McClinton’s song “Two More Bottles of Wine". "It was a mass exodus of kids who went out to start bands and be creative, searching for the unknown, dreaming of something different,” Bernhard says. “We wanted to get away from where we were from, as many kids do, and California was the farthest we could get.” Eventually they landed in sunny Santa Cruz, California, where The Devil Makes Three took shape in 2001. Their early gigs were house concerts, then small bars, punk shows, bigger rock clubs and theaters and festivals, all the while defying genre and delighting whomever turned up to listen.

Turino learned bass to join the band, but her unremitting sense of rhythm comes naturally from being raised by parents who were dance teachers, and from her own dance background. Attacking the strings of her upright, she understands how to infuse songs with the force it takes to get a crowd moving. And the songs on "I’m a Stranger Here" tell the rest of the story, with the music often joyously juxtaposed against lyric darkness, the rootless nature of being in a touring band, traveling from town to town with little sense of community, represented by a devil-like character (“Stranger”), thorny transitions into adulthood, struggling with relationships (“Worse or Better”), watching friends succumb to addiction (“Mr. Midnight”), coming to terms with mortality (“Dead Body Moving”), nostalgic notions of childhood (“Spinning Like a Top”). Bernhard even considers the destruction of changing weather patterns, inspired in part by Hurricane Katrina as well as a flood that wreaked havoc in Brattleboro (“Forty Days,” a gospel rave-up recorded with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band).

Bernhard wrote more than 20 songs for the album and turned them over to producer Buddy Miller, who gravitated toward the darker material but insured that the recording was lit up by the band’s innate ebullience. It was Miller’s idea to record at Easy Eye rather than his renowned home studio. “Easy Eye is like Sun Records,” Bernhard says. “There’s one live tracking room filled with amazing gear, and that defines the kind of record you’re going to make. That was exactly the record we wanted to make, and we knew Buddy was the one who could capture us playing together like we do. For a band that made its bones with dynamic performances, recording an album is almost like coaxing lightning into a bottle, but Miller and The Devil Makes Three succeed on I’m a Stranger Here. Now they’re continuing the journey that began when they found their way to the road that led them out of Vermont. “I can’t wait to get onstage, I love it,” Bernhard says. “Playing music for a living is a blessing and a curse, but for us there’s no other option".

DURAND JONES & THE INDICATIONS - American Love Call

(Dead Oceans Records DOC177, 2019) 

Durand Jones & The Indications aren’t looking backwards. Helmed by foil vocalists in Durand Jones and drummer Aaron Frazer, the Indications conjure the dynamism of Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions. This young band of twenty-somethings are students of soul, including guitarist Blake Rhein, who moonlights doing research for The Numero Group. Even with that background, and an aesthetic steeped in the golden, strings-infused dreaminess of early ‘70s soul, the Indications are planted firmly in the present, with the urgency of this moment in time. On "American Love Call", Durand Jones & The Indications’ soulful sophomore LP, the band reckons with how to balance love and fury of modern day America. A fierce, fully-formed thesis, "American Love Call" is as grand and cinematic as it is focused on fleeting details.

Recorded for $452.11, including a case of beer, the Indications’ 2016 self-titled debut was the product of five friends who met as students at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Having met in 2012, the project was initially intended as a standalone recording project, with vocalist Jones, a native of rural Louisiana, joined by Frazer, Rhein, bassist Kyle Houpt, and keyboardist Steve Okonski. The album was released by renowned Midwest soul label Colemine Records, and quickly picked up steam on the back of the band’s booming live show and the enthusiastic recommendation of independent record store clerks across the country — who moved thousands of copies by simply playing the hell out of the LP in their shops for their discerning customers. The album was given another boost in early 2018 when Dead Oceans teamed up with the band and Colemine to bring the Indications to global audiences. "Did I expect to do this shit once I got out of college ? Hell no," Jones relays, laughing. "Totally not. But this is what God is telling me to do, move and groove. So I’m gonna stay in my lane".

"American Love Call" is the sound of Durand Jones & the Indications arriving. Opener "Morning in America" traverses the bleakest motifs of modern American life, channeled through the band’s own bold vitality: an old-soul croon made new, a glimmer of youth and hope burning at its core. Continuing into American Love Call’s widened scope, "What I Know About You" offers a true-blue, platonic love song while the dreamy, bossa nova groove of "Sea Gets Hotter" is about finding the person you want to be with at the end of the world. "Long Way Home" undulates with a funky bass line, sonics at odds with its somber subject, while "Court of Love" ripples with heartbreak, brooding and swaying. Jones oscillates between high-energy soul, pensive deep ballads, and harmonies, a sharp contrast to Frazer’s falsetto. A vibrant through-line helping flesh out the Indications’ sound is the band’s love of sonic mish-mashes. Rhein and Frazer initially bonded over a love of crate-digging for rare 45s, and that vast musical appreciation and flexibility injects an accessibility into the veins of "American Love Call". Frazer is as quick to point to Nas’ Illmatic and Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt as formative listening as he is to gospel, while Rhein is as likely to pull influence from a ‘70s folk-rock song, and Jones has a background in classical music paired with a longtime love of soul, Rhythm'n'Blues, and pop.

"Soul music’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember," Jones says. "I remember being a little kid and being in my dad’s truck, and whenever "Devotion" from Earth, Wind & Fire would come on the radio, he’d swerve into the left lane, then into the right lane". He laughs, pausing to clarify just how rural the part of Louisiana they’d be driving in was. "I remember that just being the most fun experience, when that song’d come on the radio, because he’d do that every single time. Soul music’s just always been present". Rhein explains that the Indications use their inspirations the same way hip-hop producers do, borrowing from the sampling mentality. Rhein and Frazer, along with bassist Houpt, all studied audio engineering at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and Frazer credits that to how they craft the Indications’ sound: the ability to listen at a component level, to zero in on what makes a record electrify the listener, and synthesize that with their own work.

As much as the diversion in taste is responsible for "American Love Call", it’s where the Indications come together that’s just as vital to their songwriting. From a shared Dropbox the band used to circulate music in 2012 to their current Indications Inspiration streaming playlist, that group-think mentality and collective brain trust is what makes the Indications work, with each song proving a collaborative process. The resulting "American Love Call" is a record made the way the Indications dreamed it’d sound, a sprawling and limitless equation. Recorded at Brooklyn’s Studio G throughout a few sessions last July and August, the focus here is on vocals as much as it is a newfound confidence in songwriting. The split leads between Jones’ husky howl and Frazer’s dulcet falsetto and a chorus of backing vocals lend a dynamic punch to the sound, fleshed out by the elegance of strings and an ambition to prove and push themselves.

"American Love Call" may make sprawling strides both stylistically and sonically from its debut, but thematically, the songwriting is a leap, too. Its title harkens back to "Creole Love Call", a 1927 jazz standard popularized by Duke Ellington. "We’re in a time when so many in this country romanticize the past, wishing to return to a place of simplicity and former glory. But the reality of our history can be disillusioning", Frazer explains. "For so many in America, the past represents violence, oppression, fear and colonialism". As America grows more diverse, we have the opportunity to form the strong, interwoven tapestry that we’ve long claimed. When we find a way to unite across our various movements and see the commonalities of our struggles, we can begin to push forward together. We can begin to see the threads connecting our goals as disparate rallying cries blends into a single song. An "American Love Call". What a great record to explore!

URAL THOMAS & THE PAIN - The Right Time

(Tender Loving Empire Records TLE-077, 2018)

If life was at all fair Ural Thomas would be a household name, his music slotted into countless sweet, seductive mixtapes between James Brown, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder (all of whom Thomas has performed with.) Straddling the line between hot soul shouter and velvety-smooth crooner, Thomas released a few singles in the late 60’s and early 70’s; most notably "Can You Dig It", which featured backing vocals from soul luminaries Merry Clayton, Mary Wells and Brenda Holloway. Thomas played over forty shows at the legendary Apollo Theater before turning his back on an unkind business and heading home to Portland, Oregon.

It goes without saying that a man practically built out of rhythm would never stop playing music. Thomas began hosting a regular Sunday night jam session at his home that ran for nearly twenty years. A de facto mentor to many of the younger players, Thomas reminds us all that "If you care about what you’re doing, you need to build those muscles and do the work. Don’t get discouraged, do it for love. Even if you’re digging ditches, do it with passion". In 2014, local soul DJ Scott Magee sat in on drums. The two became fast friends and at Magee’s urging Thomas decided to give his musical career another shot. Magee became the musical director, they put together a band, and in 2016 released a self-titled album on Mississippi Records. In 2017 Thomas signed with Tender Loving Empire Records and began work on what, in many respects, will be his debut full length. Diving deep into lifetime of melodic creativity, Thomas and his band got to work. Recorded in Magee’s Studio Arthur’s Attic, "The Right Time" features the air-tight work of Magee on drums, percussion, and backing vocals, Bruce Withycombe (The Decemberists) on baritone sax, Portland jazz scene fixture Brent Martens on guitars and vibraphone, Arcellus Sykes on bass, Steve Aman (Lady Rizo) on piano and organ, Dave Monnie on trumpet, Willie Matheis (Cherry Poppin’ Daddies) on tenor sax, and Jasine Rimmel, Joy Pearson, Sarah King, Rebecca Marie Miller on backing vocals. The Arco Quartet performed the strings, and the record was engineered and mixed by Jeff Stuart Saltzman (Blitzen Trapper) and mastered by JJ Golden (Sharon Jones, Ty Segall).

One might think after a sizeable taste of early success Thomas would be more than a touch bitter - yet the opposite is true. "We have to be positive if we want the world to get better" Thomas advises. "We’ve come a long way, but if you carry a grudge with the whole world you’ll stop your growth. We’re a family, all just brothers and sisters, descendants of Adam. You can’t get anywhere without an open heart". A developing artist at nearly eighty years old, for Thomas music has always been about bringing people together. "If we play for twenty people we cook it like it’s twenty thousand" says Thomas. "If we make someone smile we’re satisfied. They’re ain’t no difference between us. It’s all love and brotherhood. If folks listen to my record and feel that, I’ll feel very blessed". Standing in bold defiance of the idea that aging is a reason to slow down and stop living, for Thomas the right time to get down is the next time someone plugs in a guitar or puts on a record. Ural is ready - are you too ?

The soul revival of the last decade or two has brought the blessing of exciting new sounds from a once nearly dormant genre. That the movement has been driven by older artists getting a fresh start has made it all the more appealing. When singers like Sharon Jones or Charles Bradley appeared to come out of nowhere late in life, their stellar music raised questions about why we'd never heard them until so late. The latest entry into that scene, such as it is, Ural Thomas has a now-obvious biography: a few singles 50 years ago, decades of silence, a surprisingly good record. "The Right Time", technically the debut from Ural Thomas and the Pain, offers a less obvious breadth of sound, showing a star happily still at his peak even as he nears 80.

The drums and the James Brown-y horn hits that open the album suggest Thomas is a certain kind of performer. He's got a little funk to him and a willingness to get deep into the groove, all in line with his biggest single from the past, 1967's "Can You Dig It ?" New cut "Slow Down" might be about Thomas's experience of how fast things move, but he doesn't sound like someone interested in pacing himself, no matter what he sings. When he shouts "Money...money...money! / Time...time...time..." and moves onto other happy topics before finally breaking into a shrieking, it sounds like force of a pent-up soul career letting loose. But Thomas moves from there into "No Distance (Between You And Me)", a track more grounded in Motown (though lacking the sort of bass playing the Funk Brothers would have ridden), touching on the sensibilities of a group like the Temptations. Just two tracks in, and it's hard to figure if Thomas comes from a harder funk tradition like Brown or a smoother pop place, somewhere more like Smokey Robinson. As the album progresses, it becomes clear that Thomas has no intention of being pigeonholed, moving from those sounds more toward later Stax, earlier doo-wop, and whatever else suits him. Likewise, while it's fair to put him with other late-noticed soul singers, he wouldn't be an easy fit on Daptone. The doo-wop influences make for some of the most striking moments on "The Right Time", not least because they reveal an artist willing to reach into every corner of his toolkit.

On "Smoldering Fire", Thomas uses his falsetto to good effect, revealing his range. His tone on this track might not be as clear as it could be (making for the rare wondering what a younger Thomas might have done), but his phrasing and expressiveness more than make up for it. Of course, right after that cut, Thomas moves into the more rocking title track, closer to James Brown territory. That versatility makes Ural Thomas and the Pain hard to pin down. Thomas could have been a crooner, a funk singer, a smooth R&B artist. He could have bounced between Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. Instead he disappeared for decades. Fortunately, his reemergence shows roots across the Rhythm & Blues spectrum, but isn't indebted to any of them. Instead of a throwback to a given line, we get simply Ural Thomas in the present, something that's easy to dig.

BONNIE DOBSON - Bonnie Dobson (Radio Canada International 348, 1969)

Bonnie Dobson Had already acquired legendary; status by the time she recorded this, her eponymous album in 1969. In the ten years since she wrote it, her song "Morning Dew" had long taken on a life of its own and flown far beyond the cafes of Greenwich Village, where the era's emergent troubadours turned out to see her play. Joan Baez may have taken inspiration from Bob Dylan; but Dylan dug Dobson the flame-haired Canuck who had toured with Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee. He even turned out to see her at Gerde's Folk City, using her arrangement of "The Ballad Of Peter Amberly" for his own "Ballad Of Donald White". Fred Neil unleashed his wild fret board mercury on "Morning Dew", in the process creating an arrangement that Tim Rose took and turned into his signature song. By the time Dobson got around to putting this collection of songs together, The Grateful Dead had also recorded "Morning Dew" for their debut album.

It made sense for her to reclaim it. Hence the appearance of Dobson's most famous tune, re recorded for her first album in five years, with Ben McPeek's elegant strings rising with the threat of imminent devastation. "When I saw a film called On The Beach," she said, explaining the song's genesis, "it made a tremendous impression on me, particularly at that time because everyone was very worried about the bomb and whether we were going to get through the next ten years. I was singing in Los Angeles and staying with a girl named Joyce. She went to bed or something and I just say and suddenly I just started writing this song. I had never written anything in my life. Really it was a kind of re-enactment of that film in a way where at the end, there is nobody left and it was a conversation between these two people trying to explain what's happening."

Reconfigured by producer Jack Richardson for a world in which folk had forged myriad tributaries into pop and rock, Bonnie Dobson never sounded better than she does here. In what amounted to a soft-rock setting, her new songs held their own magnificently. "Rainy Windows" is a pensive itinerant's paean to heartbreak in the windy city: "Chicago seen through rainy windows/Always makes me wanna cry." "I'm Your Woman" ventures more emotional uncertainty before giving way to a baroque pop sunburst. Less than twenty seconds into "Winter's Going", a sitar serves notice of its arrival with soft, strident chords of portent. Dobson steers a straight course through her own paean to the decay of nature and, with it, romance while the inspired arrangement envelopes her It isn't difficult to see why RCA saw manifold pop possibilities in Dobson's return. Her cut-glass tones made the sort of sublime sense that calls to mind similar practitioners of the art: Eclection's Kerrilee Male, The Sunshine Company's Mary Nance.

In terms of releasing a single from the album, "I Got Stung" picked itself. Framed by tumbling drums, bonkers strings and dive-bar piano, this potent dose of woman scorned was none the worse for its passing resemblance to "He Quit Me", the song written by a then-unknown Warren Zevon and sung by Leslie Miller for the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack. Also featured on that soundtrack, of course, was Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'" a song Dobson would have known through her association with its writer Fred Neil. Thanks to its bustling rhythmic clatter, her version on the song here has long been a bona fide "results" record for clued-up DJs. If "Morning Dew" instantly established Dobson as a songwriter, it does no harm to reiterate her credentials as a fine interpreter of other people's material. Her version of Jackson C Frank's "You Never Wanted Me" radiates warm empathy. No less arresting are Dobson's versions of J P Bourtavie and Hal Shape's "Time", the sort of fragrant pop chanson that loaf-haired lovelies of the French-speaking countries used to sing on '60s Eurovision Song Contests. Better still is Gilles Vigneault's "Pendant Que", an exquisite study in autumnal sadness piloted from floral harpsichord intro to sitar freakout in exactly three minutes.

Thirty-seven years on, Dobson's own ambivalent feelings towards the album may be informed by the fact that, ultimately these songs, offered no new commercial dawn for her. Of Richardson's opulent production, she says, "I suppose that's what I wanted [at the time]". But by the time Bonnie Dobson made its way into the world, the pop climate was already getting hostile to soft rock, no matter what the pedigree of its creator. Dobson herself raised her kids and settled down in London where she became head administrator in the Philosophy department at the University Of London's Birkbeck College. Thanks to that one song, her place in the corpus of popular music is assured. Bonnie Dobson gives you eleven more reasons to keep her name alive.

MERKIN MANOR - Music From Merkin Manor (Windi Records WLPS-1003, 1973)

Provo, Utah in March 1967 was not like the many other American towns during this period. While the air was a buzz elsewhere with new sounds of garage, psychedelic, and hard rock music and long hair was becoming the norm amongst rebellious youth, the small town of Orem remained staunchly Mormon and Conservative. Rocky Baum and Ralph Hemingway were buddies in High School and from time to time, Ralph would vocalize tunes to Rocky's accompaniment. But there was something missing; They sorely needed a beat and other instruments to complete their sound. By the summer of 1969, they enlisted the services of Alan Newell on drums, Kent Balog on bass, and Doug Hinkins on lead guitar. And they needed a name: Rocky tells me this came from flipping through countless pages of an unabridged dictionary until the name “Merkin” jumped out at the band; Rod conveys quite a different story; the name was derived from an obscure offbeat movie,"Can Huronyomous Merkin Succeed with Mercy Hump ?".

As in the case in any developing band, someone's parents house became the rehearsal hall for the band; in this instance it was Doug's living room. Despite all the antics that teenagers would go through (like a friend sticking his head in the bass drum to hear better), it wasn't long before they realized playing original music was much more exciting than copying the popular songs of the day. It was soon after this that their high school friend Rod Olsen assumed the part of manager, getting them jobs at the local schools, colleges, bowling alleys, etc. He also got the band more structured by providing them business cards, posters, flyers, promo tapes, and all the other things to promote a band.

It was obvious as things progressed that Ralph was the consummate entertainer. As lead vocalist, he became the conduit between the band and the audience. His rapport with the audience was outstanding and engaging. He had an uncanny ability to entertain(and shocking with the ad lib song about Mary Ellen walking under a bridge at a Halloween dance). Ralph would swing the mic over his head wildly never losing control.One time he had himself auctioned off as a door prize and dressed up inside a wrapped box wearing leotards and big lips!!

In 1970, Al was replaced by Kent's twin brother Gary to continue on as their drummer and Doug was replaced by Robert Barney as their lead guitarist. They then added a sixth member, Richard Leavitt, on keyboards through a want ad. Merkin was now emerging with a new and fuller sound, and the close bond between the Balog twins gave them a stronger foundation. It was becoming evident that Robert, though youngest & smallest, was the best musician and Richard had been trained as a classical pianist. It was at this time the bonus and previously unreleased tracks "Maybe Someday" and "Cry On My Shoulder" were recorded at Brigham Young University Recording Operations Department on a 4 Track system.

By 1971,Rod felt it was time to get them more exposure, and soon after embarked on a project to record them live, and send out tapes to potential producers and record companies. In late January that year, they were contacted by gay Young of Kommittee Productions and were on their way to Los Angeles for a recording session at Walden Sound Recorders in Redondo Beach. It was an exciting experience tor them; all the instruments, recording gear, and talented engineers, etc. Rocky recalls an engineer by the name of Rolf who did an outstanding job on special effects. The sessions were completed in just 4 days and the band did their best to minimize the drug intake. The first documented airing of the LP came soon after in San Francisco. Sundaze Music arranged a tour of Colorado which included stops in Vail,and Leadville.

New Year's Eve 1972 was the crowning moment of their trip;20 below outside, bikers, local, tourists, and even a few friends from Utah showed up-the place was packed! Rocky thinks someone may have slipped something into the kegs of beer, as everyone was dancing wildly and the girls were climbing onstage to dance with the band. The band returned to Utah and began playing the ski areas (Snowbird), local colleges and clubs. In February 1973 the Merkin Manor album was finally released. When the band reviewed the song writing credits, it became apparent that the other members were upset that Rocky was solely given this credit. 

To this day, Rocky believes he did nothing wrong; he had written the lyrics and melodies but never intended the other members to be left out. However the band's feelings were could not be changed, and Rocky was asked to leave the band. Rocky's pending prediction of this sentiment can be heard on Track 9 "We're all here together., through all this bad weather". The band played on for a few years under the name Merkin but broke up in 1974. Ralph, Kent and Gary started a new band, Robert started his own group. Rocky went back to school, Robert returned to the church, and Rod became a ski bum at a local ski resort. The final track on this record, "A Father's Song" was written by Rocky during the recording sessions but not included on the LP. Rocky recorded this in 1983 with "The Rocky Baum Project". It is a stunning recollection of his relationship with his father. Rocky put it very eloquently "A Father's Song" exemplifies some of the emotions that arose between fathers and their hippie sons during that very difficult time of social realignment.(i.e., long hair, loud music, differing political views, and recreational drugs).