Lennon & McCartney: The Lost Albums

This is the second installment of a two-part mini-series about albums John Lennon and Paul McCartney planned and apparently moved along to an advanced stage before they pulled the plug. Part one, which I published here on Tuesday, looked at Lennon’s lost 1976 album Between the Lines. This post is about Return to Pepperland, which Paul McCartney envisaged as a follow-on to Press to Play, his sixth studio album from August 1986. Like in the case of Between the Lines, this post is mainly informed by The Beatles Bible.

Return to Pepperland ambitiously was supposed to become a new Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, timed to the 20th anniversary year of the Beatles album. The Beatles Bible notes the effort coincided with a slump in Paul’s career and his attempt to “capitalize on Beatles nostalgia”, following the soundtrack Give My Regards to Broad Street and the aforementioned Press to Play, which both had been dismissed by critics.

The recording sessions for the project began in June 1987 at Macca’s recording studio in Hogg Hill Mill, England. He had asked Phil Ramone to produce it. Some of the songs had already been recorded previously during the sessions for Paul’s single Once Upon a Long Ago, which would appear in November 1987. Other tracks came from his archives, home demos and outtakes recorded just prior to the release of Give My Regards to Broad Street, as well as the Press to Play sessions.

Plans included a duet with Queen’s Freddie Mercury on Once Upon a Long Ago, but scheduling conflicts on Mercury’s end prevented a collaboration. McCartney played all instruments on Return to Pepperland and sang all lead vocals, except for a tune called Beautiful Night, which featured Ringo Starr on drums. Paul’s wife Linda McCartney provided keyboards and backing vocals.

Once Upon a Long Ago, backed by a song titled Back On My Feet, was supposed to become the album’s lead single at the end of summer. July saw the addition of overdubs at Abbey Roads Studios, with none other than George Martin producing. Then, Paul got second thoughts.

He felt some of the tracks on Pepperland could be improved with a remix, while others needed to be recorded again. However, the release of a new album was already signed and Paul ran out of time. To meet his obligation, Return to Pepperland was changed to a compilation, All the Best, which included the single Once Upon a Long Ago.

But Macca wasn’t ready to give up on Pepperland (yet) and continued to work on the album. The next iteration included the songs Rough Ride and Figure of Eight. But he still wasn’t happy, and in April 1988, he pulled the plug on the project. Instead, Paul decided to work on what would become the Flowers in the Dirt album. Many of the songs that had been intended for Return to Pepperland ended up as single B-sides or on future albums.

In case you’d like to watch The Beatles Bible’s background clip on Pepperland, you can do so here. Following is how The Beatles Bible pictured the album. Interestingly, the songs and their order are different from the track lists they show in their background video. I don’t know how they came up with this particular version. Like they did with John Lennon’s lost album, it’s one long clip organized in chapters, which allows you to easily jump from track to track.

Here’s the tracklist with time stamps:

0:00 Return to Pepperland
04:52 Yvonne’s The One
09:13 Lindiana
14:57 P.S. Love Me Do
18:40 Love Mix
21:43 Suicide
25:30 I Love This House
29:13 Atlantic Ocean
36:04 Loveliest Thing
39:58 Your School

Similar to the previous installment, I’ll leave you with clips of some of the individual songs from the album I also found on YouTube. Let’s kick it off with the title track, which most closely resembles Sgt. Pepper. Unlike the Beatles Bible’s long clip, the following leaves out the crowd noise in the very beginning, which sounds identical to the way Sgt. Pepper starts.

Lindiana.

Suicide

Loveliest Thing

Your School

While for some reason it’s not included on The Beatles Bible’s version of Pepperland, here’s Beautiful Night featuring Ringo on drums. An updated version of the track was included on Paul’s 10th studio album Flaming Pie, released in May 1997.

The Beatles Bible concludes it was probably for the better that Macca didn’t release Return to Pepperland. I agree. While I like the title track and also think most of the other songs are okay, I think the critics would have had another field day.

To start with, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, my favorite Beatles album, was an impossible benchmark. I also have to be honest here, some of the tracks on Pepperland just weren’t good. P.S. Love Me Do, a mesh of P.S. I Love You and Love Me Do, is outright bizarre. Last but not least, one can easily picture Paul being criticized for attempting to profit from Pepper’s 20th anniversary.

Flowers in the Dirt, on the other hand, is a pretty decent solo effort by Paul – in fact, I would argue it’s one of his best. Among others, it includes Rough Ride and Figure of Eight, two decent tracks he had considered for Pepperland. And, of course, there’s also the Beatle-esque My Brave Face, one of my favorite tunes from Paul’s solo career. The album did the trick to revive Paul’s career, both in terms of chart and sales performance. So it all worked out well in the end!

Sources: Wikipedia; The Beatles Bible, YouTube

Song Musings

It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the last Wednesday in June and July is just around the corner! I’d like to welcome you to another installment of my weekly feature that takes a closer look at songs I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. This time my pick is Something More Than Free by Jason Isbell.

I first started paying closer attention to the singer-songwriter and guitarist in May 2020 when I covered his then-new album Reunions. Isbell got back on my radar screen earlier this month with his new album Weathervanes, which I also reviewed here. For this post, I’m going back to July 2015 and the title track of his fifth studio album Something More Than Free.

Like all of the remaining 10 tracks on the album, Something More Than Free was written by Isbell. While he was backed by the musicians of his longtime band The 400 Unit, the album is solely credited to him. At the time the songs were recorded Isbell’s wife Amanda Shires still was an official member of his band, playing violin and providing backing vocals.

Something More Than Free became one of Isbell’s most successful albums. It topped three of Billboard’s charts: Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Top Rock Albums. It also reached no. 2 on the Independent Albums and no. 6 on the Billboard 200 charts. Elsewhere, it became his first charting album in the UK (no. 17) and Australia (no. 32). At the 2016 Grammy Awards, it won Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song for the tune 24 Frames.

According to Songfacts, Something More Than Free is about a blue-collar worker who is working hard to provide well for his family to the point where he can no longer enjoy life. Songfacts notes parallels to Outfit, a song Isbell wrote and recorded with Drive-By Truckers for their June 2003 studio album Decoration Day. Isbell was a member of that band from 2001 until his departure in 2007 to launch his solo career.

Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:

Uncut magazine asked Isbell to what extent his songs about ordinary hardship is a gesture of thanks that he escaped that kind of work? He replied: “These songs are inspired by conversations with my father. He’s worked very hard his whole life, as did his father and mother. I worked very hard myself, but there are obvious rewards to what I’m doing.”

“Dad’s only reward is a family that is well taken care of, and that seems to be enough for him. Those stories are the ones that interest me the most: work as a service, as a labor of love in the truest sense.”

Asked about the meaning of the song title by The Sun, Isbell replied: “Freedom is a means to the end. It can be the path to happiness, but it can also be enough rope by which to hang yourself. Once you’ve been granted the ability to make your own decisions, what then?”

“It’s a country song,” Isbell told Rolling Stone Country. “Not in the way that country songs sound like modern rock songs or hip-hop right now, but it’s got a country-sounding melody, and the images are about work and family.”

Jason Isbell explained how he wrote the track: “There were two things that happened at the same time that I thought were unrelated until I actually started the process of writing the song,” he said. “I was on the phone with my dad, and he works six days a week, sometimes seven days a week; he does maintenance at a hospital. And my sister, she and my stepmom go to church on Wednesdays [and] on Sunday mornings. Dad works all week, so you know, Sunday’s his only day to sleep past 5 a.m.”

“So I was on the phone with him, and he was saying, ‘You know, I wish I could go to church with them. I think I probably should be, but I’m just too exhausted every Sunday to do that,'” Isbell continued. “And it occurred to me, I thought, ‘Man, what kind of a position is that to be in – you know, where you’re really grateful for having this job that prevents you from being grateful in public about it in the way that people in my part of the country normally show their gratitude, by going to church and giving thanks with their community for something like that?'”

Isbell was struck by the thought of his father employed in a job that supports a life, which he doesn’t have time to appreciate. It also connected with a lyric idea that he’d come up with while on a plane. “The first line of the song … ‘When I get home from work, I’ll call up all my friends, and we’ll go bust up something beautiful we’ll have to build again’ – that came to me before the rest of the song did, and I was so thankful for that line.” Isbell said. “It was one of those lines, and I know these are going to work out well when I don’t have to record any sound, when I can just write it down on a piece of paper, and I don’t forget the melody.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Lennon & McCartney: The Lost Albums

Until recently, I had no idea that John Lennon and Paul McCartney each recorded an entire album only to abandon their projects. That changed last week when my longtime German music buddy told me he was listening to a “lost” Paul McCartney album on YouTube. The following day, he said the same thing about a previously unreleased John Lennon album. I thought, ‘What the heck going on here, where do all these albums suddenly come from?’

My friend’s back-to-back discoveries prompted me to conduct some research. It didn’t take long to get to the bottom of the mystery. The result is a two-part series, with each installment focusing on one album. I’m doing this in chronological order starting with Lennon and Between the Lines, an album he intended to release in 1976. My main source for this mini-series is The Beatles Bible, which recently posted background videos on YouTube about the making of the albums and imagined reconstructions of each.

In 1975, Lennon gave an interview to the British TV music program Old Grey Whistle Test, in which he said was planning a new album and TV special. At the time, John explained he got three-quarters of the new album “on paper” and now needed to do some “half-arranging” before heading to the studio. The TV show was supposed to revolve around the music of the album.

In her book Loving John, May Pang with whom Lennon had a relationship that had been “authorized” by Yoko Ono, recalled John had planned to work on a new LP after they had paid a visit to Paul McCartney in New Orleans who was recording his Wings album Venus and Mars in the Big Easy. Pang also mentioned two songs Lennon had penned for the album: Tennessee and Popcorn.

A 2007 book by John Blaney titled Lennon & McCartney: Together and Alone included an interview with Apple Records vice president Tony King, during which King said Lennon’s new album was going to be titled Between the Lines. King also confirmed that Puerto Rican guitarist and arranger Carlos Alomar, who had worked with Lennon on the song Fame for David Bowie, would hire a group of Black musicians for the album.

One of the other tunes Lennon had written for Between the Lines was Nobody Told Me, which eventually would be released in January 1984 on the posthumous album Milk and Honey. I’m leaving out some of the details of the background story. You can watch the entire corresponding Beatles Bible clip on YouTube here.

So what stopped the album? The Beatles Bible doesn’t give a definitive answer, but I think they rightfully conclude it’s quite plausible Yoko’s pregnancy with Sean and subsequent birth changed John’s recording priorities. Following is how The Beatles Bible imagines Between the Lines would have sounded like, based on all the pieces of the above puzzle. In other words, while there is obvious evidence Lennon had planned the album, I understand neither the tracklist nor the order of the songs is confirmed.

So here it is, Between the Lines, as imagined by The Beatles Bible. It’s one clip, but they skillfully included partitions (they call them chapters), so you in case you’d like to sample each song, you can do so easily.

Here’s the track list with the time stamps:

0:00 Here We Go Again
4:46 Nobody Told Me
8:20 Sally and Billy
11:44 Mucho Mungo
15:13 Rock and Roll People
19:28 Move Over Ms. L
22:03 I’m The Greatest
24:39 Tennessee

The above tunes can also be heard on other posthumous albums, compilations and bootlegs. Here are clips of some of the individual songs. The mellow Here We Go Again and the great rock & roll tune Rock and Roll People appeared in November 1986 on the posthumous Lennon compilation Menlove Ave.

Nobody Told Me, one of my favorite posthumous John Lennon songs, was included on Milk and Honey, as previously noted. Originally, John gave the tune to Ringo Starr in 1980 for his studio album, then titled Can’t Fight Lightning. But things got delayed when Ringo’s label Portrait Records withdrew support. By the time he signed with RCA subsidiary Boardwalk, Lennon had been shot, and Starr was too grief-stricken to record the tune. His album finally came out in October 1981 under a new title, Stop and Smell the Roses.

Move Over Ms. L, a soulful rock & roll song, initially was intended for Lennon’s fifth studio album Walls and Bridges, which appeared in September 1974. Instead, it was first released as the B-side of his March 1975 single Stand By Me, a tune off Lennon’s February 1975 covers album Rock ‘n’ Roll.

I’m the Greatest was another song Lennon wrote for Ringo Starr. In this case, his former bandmate ended up recording it as the opener for his 1973 album Ringo.

The last song for which I’d like to feature a clip is Tennessee, which appeared on a 1997 bootleg titled The Complete Lost Lennon Tapes – Volume 1 & 2.

For Sally and Billy, The Beatles Bible relied on a cover by Estefy Lennon (born Estefania Figueroa), a John Lennon tribute artist from Argentina. I found a demo version by Lennon, which appeared on The Complete Lost Lennon Tapes – Volume 5 & 6, evidently another installment of the above bootleg.

Look for part 2 of this mini-series on Thursday.

Sources: Wikipedia; The Beatles Bible; YouTube

Catching Up: Devon Allman & Donavon Frankenreiter and Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson

Happy Monday and once again, it’s time to catch on new music that didn’t make my most recent regular weekly feature. Today, I’m thrilled to present what I feel are two true gems! Both are collaborations and appeared on Friday, June 23.

Devon Allman & Donavon Frankenreiter – Rollers

My first pick is Rollers, a new EP by Devon Allman and Donavon Frankenreiter. American guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist, songwriter and record producer Devon Allman, who I previously featured here and here, has been active for more than 20 years. And, to address the big elephant in the room, yes, he’s related to a famous Allman: Devon is the son of Gregg Allman and his first wife Shelley Kay Jefts. After they divorced in 1972 when Devon was still an infant, he grew up with his mom. Fortunately, Devon reconnected and bonded with Gregg as a teenager and occasionally appeared as a guest musician for his dad and The Allman Brothers Band.

But while Devon acknowledges The Allman Brothers and his dad as being among his musical heroes, he has charted his own course. He founded/co-founded various blues rock, southern rock and Americana-oriented bands, including Honeytribe, Royal Southern Brotherhood and The Allman Betts Band featuring songwriter and guitarist Duane Betts, son of guitarist and Allman co-founding member Dickey Betts. Between these different bands and his solo efforts, Devon Allman has released 11 albums to date.

Donavon Frankenreiter has had an impressive career as well. He started out as a professional surfer before getting into music. After recording two albums with his jam band Sunchild in the ’90s, he launched a solo career starting with a self-titled album in May 2004. To date, he has released five additional studio and two compilation albums.

This finally brings me to the collaborative EP Rollers. Here’s the cool country-flavored opener Calling All You Riders. This sounds mighty sweet!

Other songs on the six-track EP I’d like to call out are the groovy See It All and the neat blues rocker Where Ya Gonna Run To?. Here’s a Spotify link to the entire EP:

BTW, on August 5, Allman and Frankenreiter will embark on a tour, including 50 shows in 50 U.S. states in less than 50 days. According to their website, if they succeed, they will break the current world record of 50 shows in 50 U.S. states in 50 days. I’m not really sure why anyone would do such gruesome touring in the first place. That said, you can find more info about their ambitious plans on their above website.

Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson – Loving You

Amanda Shires is an American singer-songwriter and fiddle player who has released seven solo albums since her 2005 debut Being Brave. Fans of Jason Isbell will likely be aware of Shires who has been married to him since February 2013. She frequently recorded and toured with Isbell’s band The 400 Unit until the birth of her and Isbell’s first child in September 2015. In 2019, she co-founded country music supergroup The Highwomen, together with Brandi Carlile and Maren Morris. Shires continues to collaborate with Isbell and can be heard on his latest album with The 400 Unit, Weathervanes, which I reviewed here.

The late Bobbie Nelson was an American pianist and vocalist, the elder sister of Willie Nelson and a member of his band Willie Nelson and Family. Bobbie started her career in 1953 when she met and subsequently married Bud Fletcher and became a member of Bud Fletcher and the Texans. Notably, Fletcher didn’t have instrumental abilities and, as such, his role was limited to directing the group. The band broke up in 1955 after Bobbie and Bud had divorced. At some point, Nelson began working for the Hammond Organ Company. In 1973, she joined Willie’s band and started touring with them. Bobbie Nelson passed away at age 91 in March 2022. This brings me to Loving You, her final album recorded together with Shires, a covers compilation.

All of the renditions on Loving You are incredibly beautiful, so it’s hard to pick just one. Among my early favorites is Summertime, the timeless classic composed by George Gershwin in 1935 for the opera Porgy and Bess that was first performed in Boston on September 30, 1935, before moving to New York’s Broadway. The lyrics were written by DuBose Heyward, who authored the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, and Ira Gershwin. Here, Bobbie Nelson and Amanda Shires are joined by Willie Nelson. This is just priceless!

As previously noted, I find each track on this album is a gem, so it’s impossible to call out specific tunes. But to give you a sense, check out Always On My Mind, Dream a Little Dream of Me, Loving You and Over the Rainbow. Warning: If you’re prone to becoming emotional over music, which I am, the sheer beauty of these tunes may make you well up.

Here’s a Spotify link to the entire album:

Sources: Wikipedia; Devon Allman & Donavon Frankenreiter website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to the first Sunday Six of this summer, which officially started on Wednesday. It was also the longest day and shortest night in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope you’re up for another trip to visit some great music of the past and the present. The magical music time machine is ready to take off, so grab a seat and fasten your seatbelt while I set the controls for our first stop. And off we go!

Miles Davis/I Fall In Love Too Easily

Today, we start our journey in July 1963 and Seven Steps to Heaven, a studio album by Miles Davis. During his five-decade career, the trumpeter, bandleader and composer was at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz, making him one of the most influential and acclaimed music artists of the 20th century. On Seven Steps to Heaven, Davis worked with Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums), who became his regular sidemen for the next five years. I Fall In Love Too Easily, composed in 1944 by English-American songwriter Jule Styne, featured Davis, George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Victor Feldman (piano), Carter and Frank Butler (drums).

Dirty Honey/Heartbreaker 2.0

Our next stop takes us back to the present and a cool classic rock-oriented band I first came across in April 2021. Dirty Honey, founded in 2017 in Los Angeles, have a sound reminiscent of groups like Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and The Black Crowes. Heartbreaker 2.0, their most recent single released in January this year, is an updated version of Heartbreaker, a tune that first appeared on their eponymous debut EP, which came out in March 2019. This song nicely rocks and I look forward to more music by these guys!

Bo Diddley/Who Do You Love?

The beauty of the magical music time machine is it can take us to any year of any decade in an instant. So, how about the ’50s? Sure! Let’s go to 1956 and the man who became famous for playing rectangular electric guitars and a seductive signature beat: Bo Diddley, who played was instrumental in the transition from the blues to rock & roll, and influenced many artists, such as Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, The Animals and George Thorogood. Here’s Diddley’s classic Who Do You Love? written by him and first released as a single in 1956. Featuring his signature Bo Diddley Beat, the tune was also included on his eponymous debut album, which came out in 1958.

David Bowie/Life On Mars?

Since I saw a great David Bowie tribute band on Tuesday, the English singer-songwriter and actor has been on my mind. I’m particularly drawn to Bowie’s early phase. This particular pick leads us to December 1971, which saw the release of his 4th studio album Hunky Dory. Bowie was clearly intrigued with space exploration, as evidenced by tunes like Space Oddity, Starman and Life On Mars? Hunky Dory introduced Bowie’s new core backing band of Mick Ronson (guitar), Trevor Bolder (bass) and Mick Woodmansey (drums), who would soon become The Spiders from Mars. The piano part on Life On Mars? was played by Rick Wakeman, then a session musician and soon-to-be member of Yes.

Third Eye Blind/Semi-Charmed Life

Next, let’s pay a visit to the ’90s with a catchy tune I well remember hearing on the radio: Semi-Charmed Life by alternative rock band Third Eye Blind. The tune first appeared in February 1997 as the lead single of their eponymous debut album, which was released in April of the same year. Solely credited to frontman Stephan Jenkins (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Semi-Charmed Life became their most successful single. Third Eye Blind were formed in San Francisco in 1993 and are still around, with Jenkins remaining as the only original member.

Scorpions/Rock You Like a Hurricane

Once again, the time has come to wrap up another musical excursion. For our final stop, let’s go out with a bang by German pop metal rockers Scorpions and Rock You Like a Hurricane. The tune was included on their ninth studio album Love At First Sting, which solidified the band’s international popularity and became their biggest seller. Scorpions were formed in Hanover in 1965 by Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) who remains with the group to this day, as are two members who were part of the line-up that recorded the album: Klaus Meine (lead vocals) and Matthias Jabs (lead guitar, backing vocals). Scorpions are currently touring in Europe. I still love that guitar riff and Meine is a killer vocalist. And don’t you love his German accent? 🙂

This post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist of the above-featured tracks. Hope there’s something you dig and that you’ll join me again next Sunday for another trip!

Sources: Wikipedia; Scorpions website; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday and welcome to my latest new music revue. Lately, I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record. Once again, I found more releases than I can possibly cover – not sure whether this reflects an increased volume of new music, my evolving taste, or a combination of both. All featured tunes are on releases that came out yesterday (June 23).

Ayron Jones/Blood in the Water

My first pick is Ayron Jones, a guitarist and singer-songwriter from Seattle I first featured in a May 2021 Best of What’s New installment. Jones has been active since the age of 19 when he started performing at local bars. In 2010, he formed Ayron Jones and the Way, a trio influenced by the likes of Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and Prince and the Revolution. Their debut album Dream appeared in October 2013. Later Jones was signed as a solo artist and has since released two albums under his name, including his latest, Chronicles of the Kid. Here’s the cool-sounding Blood in the Water, credited to Jones, Blair Daly, Marti Frederiksen, Scott Stevens and Zac Maloy.

Corvair/Shady Town

Portland, Ore.-based Corvair are an indie rock duo and married couple of Brian Naubert and Heather Larimer. According to their website, between the two, they have played in various bands and can be heard on more than 20 albums. They started Corvair in 2019 and have released two albums to date. The new one is titled Bound to Be, which their website characterizes as veering “from muscular rock songs to languid pop confessionals, from stunning atmospherics to raw intimacy, held together by sharp lyrics and potent imagery.” Based on what I’ve heard thus far, I like their music. Here’s the opener Shady Town, which first appeared as the second single on May 19.

Emily James/New Name to Heartbreak

Emily James is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter. From her website: Singer-songwriter Emily James began writing her own music when she was 10 years old, inspired by such musical influences as Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, and Adele. At 16, James moved from New York to Nashville and, a year later, released her self-written EP, Emily James, produced by Grammy award winners Ian Fitchuk (Kacey Musgraves) and Jacquire King (Kings of Leon). She relocated to Los Angeles in 2017 and, soon after, put out her project, Til the Morning, written by James and produced by Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Vance Joy). Off her new release, her third EP called Grey, here’s New Name to Heartbreak, a lovely-sounding ballad about a less-than-cheerful topic.

Pecos & The Rooftops/Bricks

While Pecos & the Rooftops have a website, unfortunately, it doesn’t include any background. According to a recent review by The Music Universe, this Lubbock, Texas-based country rock band was formed in 2019 by college friends and includes frontman Pecos Hurley, Zack Foster (lead guitar), Brandon Jones (rhythm guitar), Hunter Cassell (guitars & keyboards), Kalen Davis (bass) and Garrett Peltier (drums). Their self-released debut single This Damn Song appeared in April 2019. The group’s first EP, Red Eye, came out in January 2020. The latest release is their self-titled full-length debut album. Here’s Bricks, co-written by Hurley, M. Wallace, producer Andrew Baylis and frequent collaborator Michael Whitworth.

Nat Myers/Pray For Rain

Nat Myers is a Korean-American blues poet, according to his website. When he was a child, his mother gave him a guitar, trying to keep him away from his rowdy friends. While Myers developed “a deft picking style,” he didn’t intend to become a musician and was much more interested in poets like Shakespeare and Homer. He ended up studying poetry in New York City while playing music on the side in the subway and on street corners. After COVID had put an end to his public performances, Myers began uploading videos to social media. Eventually, these clips caught the attention of Black Keys frontman and record producer Dan Auerbach who produced Myers’ new debut album Yellow Peril. Let’s listen to Pray For Rain. I love everything about this story and the tune!

Trophy Eyes/Life in Slow Motion

Wrapping up this post are Australian pop punk rock band Trophy Eyes. Formed in 2013, they currently consist of co-founders John Floreani (lead vocals) and Jeremy Winchester (bass, saxophone backing vocals), along with Josh Campiao (lead guitar) and Blake Caruso (drums). Since their November 2014 full-length debut Mend, Move On, Trophy Eyes have released three additional albums including their latest, Suicide and Sunshine. Off the latter, here’s Life in Slow Motion. The song is credited to the group’s former and recently departed lead guitarist Andrew Hallett, Caruso, Winchester and Floreani, as well as producers Fletcher Matthews and Shane Edwards. It’s an edgy, yet quite catchy song!

Last but not least here’s a Spotify playlist of the above and a few additional tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; Corvair website; Emily James website; The Music Universe; Nat Myers website; YouTube; Spotify

A Song About My Hometown

This post first appeared as a contributed piece on A Sound Day, a great blog by Dave who hosts a fun monthly feature titled Turntable Talk where he invites fellow bloggers to write about a topic he suggests. This time, he asked participants to write a song about their hometown, adding, “it can be your literal one, or one you live in now or somewhere close by that you associate with.” Following is my contribution, which ran on June 10. The post has been slightly edited to fit the style of my blog.

It’s Turntable Talk time again, which in my book means a fun occasion where I get to contribute thoughts about a topic suggested by Dave who pens the great A Sound Day blog and since April 2022 has been the fearless host of this monthly recurring feature. Thanks, Dave, for having me back and keeping Turntable Talk spinning!

For this 15^th round, Dave asked us to write about a song or artist related to our hometown. Quoting from the instructions: “Likewise, I leave it up to you to define what your hometown is – it can be your literal one, the one you live in now, or one you live in now or somewhere close by that you associate with…”

Okay, I guess you get the picture.

When you grew up in the countryside in a small village, which probably had as many cows and pigs as two-legged residents, finding a dedicated tune becomes a tricky proposition. Milk Cow Blues wasn’t exactly invented in Swisttal-Buschhoven, the German village, in which I lived from the age of seven to 23 when I left the nest to continue my university studies in the old university city of Tübingen in the southwestern part of Germany.

Given the circumstances of my upbringing, I decided to take some liberties with the topic. I drew a broader circle to the region where Buschhoven is located, which is the Rhineland. If you’re a frequent visitor of my blog, you already may have an idea where I’m going with this.

Germany (left) and area map of my home region

The closest bigger cities to Buschhoven are Bonn (population: 332k), about 16 kilometers (10 miles) to the northeast, and Cologne, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the north (population: 1.07 million). There’s also the small town of Rheinbach (population: 27k) about 8 kilometers (5 miles) to the south of Buschhoven. And, yes, there’s a reason why I called it out, as you will see shortly. The map above gives you an idea about the geography.

My home region (clockwise, from upper left corner): House in Buschhoven, in which I grew up; center of Buschhoven; central post office, Bonn; Cologne on the Rhine with the cathedral on the right side

Since I couldn’t find a decent song about Bonn, tragically, I had to look to Cologne. And guess what, Cologne happens to be the city associated with my longtime favorite German rock band, Niedeckens BAP.😊

The group around singer-songwriter Wolfgang Niedecken was formed in Cologne in 1976, and for many years, they were known as BAP. Since September 2014, following the departure of two longtime members, the band has performed as Niedeckens BAP. Niedecken (born in Cologne in Mach 1951) spent most of his school time in Rheinbach and played in two student bands there between 1966 and 1969 – another regional reference that makes BAP the perfect choice, don’t you agree?

While BAP have had many line-up changes over the decades, two things have stayed the same: bandleader Niedecken who remains their lyricist, lead vocalist and only original member, and the fact they perform their songs in Kölsch, the regional dialect spoken in the area of Cologne. If you’re curious to learn more about BAP, I’ve covered them multiple times, for example here, here and here.

Finally, this brings me to the “song about my hometown” I’d like to highlight. And, yes, you guessed it correctly, it’s a BAP tune about Cologne titled Stadt Em Niemandsland (city in no man’s land).

Co-written by the band’s then-guitarist Klaus Heuser (music) and Niedecken (lyrics), the song was included on BAP’s seventh studio album Da Capo, which appeared in August 1988. The catchy rock tune features neat harmony guitar action that has always reminded me a bit of Boston. Niedecken’s singing, which oftentimes sounds closer to speaking, is pretty typical of his vocal style.

Lyrically, I would characterize Stadt Em Niemandsland as a tough love song. On the one hand, Niedecken criticizes Cologne for selling out to commercial interests. On the other hand, he notes that for some reason he has come to love its people and places. He also acknowledges the long history of the city whose origins date back more than 2000 years. Here’s a live version of the tune, captured in 1991.

Last but not least, here are the lyrics – of course, in original Kölsch dialect!

Die Parkbänk sinn zem Övverwintre enjelajert
Un wie’t schingk, passiert datselve für die nähxte Zick met mir.
Hann mich schon lang dodrop jefreut, ens widder Woozele ze schlaare,
Nit, da’ ’sch sesshaft weede wollt, ich will mich opwärme bei dir.
Ich hann mich römjedrivve, ich hann mich ömjeluhrt,
Du bess he jeblivve, klar – du bess he fessjemuhrt.

Du bess die Stadt, die ’sch nit als Stadt sinn, du bess Minsche, du bess Stelle,
Die uss irjendenem Jrund mir ahn et Häzz jewaaße sinn.
Du bess Jeseechter, junge, ahle Lück, bess Zemmer, häss kein Strooße,
Für mich sinn dat alles Strecke, die ’sch erlevve sick ich Kind.
Du häss mich ussjedraare, du häss mich ussjespeut,
Ich hann mich affjenabelt, dat hann ich nie bereut.

Stadt em Niemandsland vun Preußen, off erbaut un off zerstört,
Zweimohl dausend Johr möht heiße: „Dann un wann dozojeliert“.

Ahl Diva, egozentrisch, eitel, komplimentesüchtig,
Selvsverlieb, jraad su, als ob du’t wirklich nüüdisch hätts,
Met dingem Dom vun Kaisers Jnaden, dinger Altstadt,
Die du „tüchtig“ ussverkäuf häss, treudoof läufste jedem Stenz enn’t offne Mezz.
Dat fingkste och noch clever, du denks, dat möht mer jetz,
Hühr zo: Dat jeht donevve, su wie du dich affhetz.

Stadt em Niemandsland vun Preußen, off erbaut un off zerstört,
Zweimohl dausend Johr möht heiße: „Dann un wann dozojeliert“.

Do ’ss unsre Karneval, enn däm du – zur Unkenntlichkeit verstümmelt –
Dich ahn Bonze ranschmieß, Ostermann ahn Elferrööt verrööts.
Wat ich met der decke Trumm verbinge, besste stekum weg ahm Klüngle,
Et ess schon hatt met ahnzesinn, wie du öm Weltstadt-Flair bemöht bess.
Häss du dich opjejovve, dat, wat ding Seel ussmäät?
Du häss dich schwer verhovve, dieh Lächeln wirk jequält.

Jläuv mir, ahl Mädche, eij’ntlich sollt dat Leed he saare,
Da’ ’sch dich jähn hann, dich un ding Pänz, jrooß un klein.
Doch „… wenn ich ahn ming Heimat denke“, rebelliert jet bei mir ’m Maare –
Wenn ’sch op Stromlinie affführ, wöhr ich anderswo doheim.
Du häss mich ussjedraare, du häss mich ussjespeut,
Un wenn ’sch op Heim ahnfahre, hann ich dat noch nie bereut.

Stadt em Niemandsland vun Preußen, off erbaut un off zerstört,
Zweimohl dausend Johr möht heiße: „Dann un wann dozojeliert“.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

Song Musings

Happy Wednesday! The other day while driving in my car, I was listening to the radio, and on came a song by Natalie Merchant, a name I hadn’t heard for many years. It inspired this latest installment of Song Musings where I take a closer look at tunes I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date.

I primarily know the singer-songwriter because of certain tunes I’ve heard on the radio and her previous connection with 10,000 Maniacs. In 1981, Merchant co-founded Still Life, the band who later that same year became 10,000 Maniacs, in which she served as lead vocalist and primary lyricist until her departure in 1993. My song pick, Wonder, appeared on Merchant’s first solo album Tigerlily released in June 1995.

Like all other tracks on the album’s first release, Wonder was penned by Merchant. It also became Tigerlily’s second single and is one of her best-known and most successful songs. The tune climbed to no. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also entered various other U.S. charts. It did best on Adult Pop Airplay where it peaked at no. 2. Elsewhere, it also charted in Australia (no. 71) and the UK (no. 96).

Tigerlily was an impressive debut, reaching no. 13 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200, no. 14 in New Zealand, no. 18 in Australia and no. 39 in the UK. It ended up becoming Merchant’s best-selling album, hitting 5X Platinum certification in the U.S. (5 million certified units) as of November 2001. It also secured Gold certifications in Australia (35,000 units) and Canada (50,000), as well as Silver in the UK (60,000).

Wonder is a great tune musically speaking, and I also dig Merchant’s vocals. But what truly makes it a gem are the lyrics and the background story. The latter involved Merchant’s work at a day camp for children with special needs during her teenage years. Many of these kids had been in institutions since infancy and had been abandoned by their parents. The world can be so cruel, it’s truly heartbreaking!

Doctors have come from distant cities, just to see me
Stand over my bed, disbelieving what they’re seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation

Newspapers ask intimate questions, want confessions
They reach into my head to steal, the glory of my story

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation

Ooo, I believe, fate smiled
And destiny laughed as you came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience, and with faith
She’ll make her way, she’ll make her way

People see me I’m a challenge to your balance
I’m over your heads how I confound you
And astound you
To know I must be one of the wonders
God’s own creation
And as far as they see, they can offer
Me no explanation

Ooo, I believe, fate smiled
And destiny laughed as she came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as she came to my mother
Know this child will not suffer
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience and with faith
She’ll make her way, she’ll make her way
She’ll make her way, she’ll make her way

Following are some great additional insights from Songfacts:

[Merchant] explained on a VH1 Storytellers appearance: “When I was 13 years old, we’re talking 1976, I spent my summer working as a volunteer for a bunch of hippies, basically, that got a seed grant from the Carter administration, which had a lot of really wonderful programs for the arts. These people started a day camp for handicapped children, and I worked for them the whole summer.

A lot of these children were institutionalized – their parents had left the scene a long time ago. They didn’t function so well in a conventional sense, but it seems that a lot of the children had developed like a private language or new senses so they could navigate through the world, especially the blind and the deaf children that we worked with.

From an early age, I had that contact with children who had special needs. I had lost my fear of intimacy with them – especially with Down syndrome kids, they could be really unpredictable and up to that point I had been a little frightened of them. I maintained some of the friendships with those kids and I was always open to meeting children with special needs.

So when I wrote the song ‘Wonder,’ I wrote the song about a woman who was born with handicaps that seemed insurmountable, but she did overcome them, greatly because she had a loving family, especially her adoptive mother – she had been given up to an institution at birth.”

This is a very meaningful song to many people who grew up with special needs and their caretakers. The song views these people as “wonders,” with doctors having no explanation for their condition, but seeing the work of God in the creation.

“I’ve met a lot of people through this song, and they’ve told me that they’ve taken it on as their song, that it describes them,” Merchant said. “It describes their strengths in spite of what others would see as deficiencies.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

John Mellencamp Releases Most Socially Conscious Album of His Long Career

John Mellencamp seems to be on a roll. Only 17 months after Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, the 71-year-old heartland-rock-turned-roots rocker from Seymour, Ind. is back with a new album of all original music. Orpheus Descending, released on June 16, isn’t exactly cheerful listening and in many regards mirrors its predecessor, but it’s not all doom and gloom. That said, while I dig the album overall, especially from a musical perspective, I would advise against listening to it if you’re feeling down.

Mellencamp has always been known for writing outspoken songs, whether it’s about the hardship of American farmers (Rain on the Scarecrow), the crumbling state of the American dream (Pink Houses) or gun violence (Easy Target). But in the past, he typically combined socially conscious tunes with other, oftentimes more upbeat songs. By contrast, Orpheus Descending mostly has a dark vibe, with Mellencamp addressing some of the toughest challenges in present-day America, such as gun violence, homelessness and political division.

During a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, John Mellencamp noted he won’t quit smoking, which he has done since the age of 10, adding he’s “proud to say that I just had my lungs MRI’ed and they look like kids’ lungs,” he said while puffing on a cigarette. “The doctors don’t understand it.” Well, I wish you good luck and good health, John!

Musically, Orpheus Descending is great, though it doesn’t present anything new we haven’t heard from Mellencamp in the past 20 years. I’ve listened to him since the days of the little ditty ’bout Jack & Diane, and he’s come a long way. I love his gradual transition from straight heartland rock to rough, often stripped-back roots-oriented music. Thanks to a chain-smoking habit, Mellencamp’s voice has also changed a lot along the way and now sounds pretty weathered, a bit like Tom Waits or Bob Dylan in more recent years.

One of the exciting things about Orpheus Descending is the return of violinist Lisa Germano, who first could be heard in 1987 on what I would consider my favorite Mellencamp album, The Lonesome Jubilee. She became a regular for the next 11 years until John Mellencamp, his 15th album. Other musicians on Mellencamp’s latest album, as listed by AllMusic, include Andrew York (bass, guitar, music direction, backing vocals), Troye Kinnett (harmonica, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals) and Dane Clark (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Each has worked with Mellencamp for at least 10 years.

Time for some music. I’m skipping the first two tracks, Hey God and The Eyes of Portland, which I previously reviewed here and here, and go right to The So-Called Free, a great bluesy tune. Lisa Germano’s fiddle sounds as sweet as ever. Regarding the song’s topic, I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory.

Amen is not a prayer, though with all the tough topics Mellencamp addresses, one cannot escape the thought the country could use some. In this case, Mellencamp appears to refer to political division. Quoting from the lyrics: There are people out in the alleys/There are people across this land/There’s a sadness across this country/With people who just don’t give a damn/We continue on with the sickness/Like we have so many times before/Amen, and Amen, and shut the door…

At the outset of this review, I noted Orpheus Descending isn’t all doom and gloom. On the title cut, Mellencamp injects a bit of hope. While the tune starts on a down note, seemingly criticizing the police over heavy-handed crowd control tactics, Mellencamp also sings, I don’t care what they say/If there’s a will/There’s got to be a way/If there’s a will/There’s always a fucking way…Not exactly cheerful, but at least a hint that not all may be lost!

Understated Reverence is a piano-driven ballad, which presents a nice contrast to the otherwise rootsy and bluesy music. Lyrically, Mellencamp appears to sing about death, but not in a threatening way. He name-checks Bukka White, a delta blues guitarist and singer who is best known for the songs Shake ‘Em on Down and Po’ Boy.

The last track I’d like to call out is the only song on the album that wasn’t penned by John Mellencamp: Perfect World, by Bruce Springsteen. If you’re following Mellencamp’s music, you probably recall The Boss also appeared on Strictly a One-Eyed Jack where he collaborated with the man from Indiana on three tunes and sang on two (Wasted Days and Did You Say Such A Thing). In this case, Springsteen’s role focused on the writing, though the harmonica part, presumably provided by Troye Kinnett, sounds like something you could picture Springsteen playing.

Here’s a Spotify link to the album:

Orpheus Descending was recorded at Mellencamp’s Belmont Mall Studio in Belmont, Ind., like its predecessor and Sad Clowns & Hillbillies, his excellent 2017 collaboration album with Carlene Carter. Mellencamp also produced the album, and as a serious painter, he provided the cover painting as well.

Strictly a One-Eyed Jack barely made the Billboard 200, reaching no. 196, though it climbed to no. 5 and no. 30 on Billboard’s folk and rock charts, respectively. Interestingly, it did much better on the Swiss and German pop charts where it reached no. 6 and no. 24, respectively. I think it’s safe to assume with Orpheus Descending, Mellencamp won’t win a popularity contest either, particularly in the U.S. But I also suspect he doesn’t care at this stage in his career.

Sources: Wikipedia; Los Angeles Times; AllMusic; YouTube; Spotify

Catching Up: Bettye LaVette and Son Volt

Last week brought a lot of neat new music. Here are two great albums I didn’t include in my Saturday feature. Both were released on June 16.

Bettye LaVette – LaVette!

Soul vocalist Bettye LaVette first entered my radar screen in 2018 when I included her in a post about great female blues singers. I immediately liked how she makes songs she covers truly her own. While LaVette already recorded her first single as a 16-year-old in 1962, it took her more than 40 years until 2005 and the album I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise to gain the broad recognition she deserved. Her latest album is titled LaVette! and it’s a true gem by an incredible vocalist.

All of the album’s 11 tracks were written by Randall Bramblett, some together with his longtime songwriting partner Davis Causey. Apart from having released albums under his name since 1975, Bramblett has worked with the likes of Gregg Allman, Bonnie Raitt, Robbie Robertson, Elvin Bishop and Steve Winwood. Guitarist Davis Causey over a 60-year career has accumulated impressive credits as well, which among others include Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman and Derek Trucks. Here’s Don’t Get Me Started, penned by Bramblett who also first recorded it for his 2020 album Pine Needle Fire. LaVette’s great rendition features Winwood on keyboards!

The soul and blues-oriented LaVette! doesn’t have any fillers. If you’d like to get a feel, also check out See Through Me (feat. Pedrito Martinez), Lazy (And I Know I), Plan B, In the Meantime (feat. John Mayer) and Hard to be a Human. Here’s a link to the entire album on Spotify.

Son Volt – Day of the Doug

Since I listened to Son Volt’s album Electro Melodier when it came out in July 2021, I’ve dug the alternative country and Americana rock band. They were formed by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jay Farrar in 1994 after the breakup of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo, who Farrar had co-founded with Jeff Tweedy in 1987. Tweedy subsequently formed Wilco.

Son Volt’s new album Day of the Doug is a tribute to the late Doug Sahm, a singer-songwriter who according to Wikipedia is “regarded as one of the main figures of Tex-Mex music, and as an important performer of Texan music”. Sahm gained initial prominence with country and roots rock band Sir Douglas Quintet. After they disbanded in 1973, he launched a solo career and also played in Tejano supergroup Texas Tornados. Sahm died from a heart attack in November 1999 at the age of 58.

Off Day of the Doug, here’s the great Sometimes You’ve Got to Stop Chasing Rainbows. Written by Sahm in 1973, the tune also appeared on May 10 as the lead single of Son Volt’s album.

While I’m not familiar with Sahm’s original music, I like the renditions Son Volt included on their album. Float Away, Yesterday Got in the Way, Dynamite Woman, Juan Mendoza and Segiun are some I’d like to call out. These covers actually make me curious to check out Sahm’s catalog. Here’s a Spotify link to the album.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify