This Song’s Going Places

Recently, fellow blogger Dave from A Sound Day generously invited me back to pen another post for his recurring Turntable Talk feature, where he calls for contributions around a given topic. Following is my submission, which was first published on his blog last Saturday (April 15). The formatting of this post has been adjusted to fit my blog’s style. I also added the photos.

Another round of Turntable Talk is upon us – thanks for having me back, Dave!

With Easter and spring break season coming up, Dave asked us to share thoughts about a song or an album related to traveling, “geographically or even mentally.”

Once again, when thinking about the topic, I had an immediate idea. Unlike on some previous occasions where I doubted my spontaneity and conducted research only to come back to my initial idea, this time, I decided to go with my first thought right away – a song that instantly puts me in a holiday mood each time I listen to it!

Hmm-mm-mm
Hmm-mm-mm, yeah

There’s a wind that blows on the southern sea
And it whirls around deep inside of me
Always bringing me up, never letting me down
I had a dream I was on my way
To Bridgetown
Mm

Bridgetown, Barbados

It’s a tune about an island country, which according to Wikipedia is located in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands.

I’ve seen ships that sail each and every day
When they start up their engines
They steal my heart away

The beautiful island in the sun occupies an area of 432 km2 (167 sq mi) and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown.

Barbados
I’m another one born to run
Barbados
I need another sweet taste of rum
I’ve been sailing on this raging sea
The higher the venture
The better I’ll be

Inhabited by Kalinago people since the 13th century, and prior to that by other Amerindians, Barbados starting from the late 15th century was colonized in succession by Spain, Portugal and England. In 1966, the island became a sovereign state in the British Commonwealth of Nations with Elizabeth II as Queen of Barbados, before transitioning to a republic within the Commonwealth on November 30, 2021.

There’s a wind that blows on the southern sea
And it whirls around deep inside of me
Always bringing me up, never letting me down
I had a dream I was on my way
Oh, to Bridgetown, yeah, yeah

Barbados wasn’t a hit, so unless you happen to know the song, you may wonder who wrote and recorded it. Barbados was penned by Paul Cotton, guitarist and vocalist of American country rock band Poco, who included the tune on their 11th studio album Legend, released in November 1978.

Barbados
I’m another one born to run
Barbados
I need another sweet taste of rum
I’ve been sailing on this raging sea
The higher the venture
The better I’ll be

While the Eagles oftentimes are mentioned in connection with the emergence of country rock in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Poco and other groups like The Flying Burrito Brothers and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band predated them. Poco were formed in 1968 following the demise of Buffalo Springfield when that band’s former guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina came together with multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young, bassist Randy Meisner and drummer George Grantham.

Following multiple changes in their line-up, Poco retired from active touring in 2013 but did not break up officially. The group came to their final end in April 2021 when their last original member Rusty Young passed away at the age of 75. Cotton, who died only a few months thereafter in August 2021, had first joined Poco in 1970 to replace Messina. He was with them until 1987, from 1991-2010 and joined the band again one time in 2015, making him the longest member together with Young.

Barbados
I’m another one born to run
Barbados
I need another sweet taste of rum
I’ve been sailing on this raging sea
The higher the venture
The better I’ll be

Barbados: Carlisle Bay, Needham’s Point and Garrison Savannah

When Legend was released, Poco’s line-up in addition to Cotton and Young included Charlie Harrison (bass, harmony vocals) and Steve Chapman (drums). Poco’s most successful album reached no. 14 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 and no. 15 on the Top Country Albums charts. In Canada, the record climbed to no. 12 and no. 21 on the mainstream and country charts, respectively. In Australia, it peaked at no. 52. Legend also secured Gold certifications in the U.S. and Canada.

Whoa-whoa, whoa-oh, Barbados
Mm, yeah, yeah
Naked maiden girls hanging from the trees
Every Sunday morning now to come to me
Always bringing me up, never letting me down
I had a dream I was on my way
Yeah, to Bridgetown

While Barbados also appeared separately on a single, notably it was as the B-side to Crazy Love, Poco’s first top 40 song in the U.S. and their biggest hit topping Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart and climbing to no. 17 on the mainstream Hot 100.

I wonder how Barbados would have fared as an A-side. The tune’s smooth sound and laid-back feel spoke to me right away when my former bandmate and longtime music buddy from Germany introduced me to the song and the album in the late ‘80s. I’ll leave you with a live version included on Poco’s 5th live album Bareback at Big Sky, which appeared in September 2005. That recording featured both Cotton and Young.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

What I’ve Been Listening to: The Jayhawks/Rainy Day Music

How many times has it happened to you that you come across a great song by a band or music artist you don’t know at all or you’re not well familiar with and tell yourself, ‘I definitely want to further explore them’? With so much music being out there and only limited time to listen, I seem to find myself in this situation all the time! Case in point: The Jayhawks.

I’ve featured a few songs by this American alternative country and rock band on the blog before, for example here or here, but until now haven’t dedicated a post to them. Somewhat randomly, I decided to pick one of their albums titled Rainy Day Music, and started listening. While I have no idea whether the group’s seventh studio album from April 2003 is their best, I pretty much immediately dug what I heard.

The Jayhawks started out as a short-lived trio in 1984 in Minneapolis, Minn. when local musicians Mark Olson (guitar, vocals) and Caleb Palmiter (bass) got together and added Tommy Rey (drums) for their first gigs. The following year, Olson relaunched the group with Steve Retzler (guitar), Marc Perlman (bass) and Norm Rogers (drums). Retzler was replaced later that year by Gary Louris (guitar, vocals). This formation recorded the band’s 1986 eponymous debut album.

The Jayhawks in 2003 (from left); Marc Perlman, Tim O’Reagan, Gary Louris & Stephen McCarthy

By the time The Jayhawks went into the studio to start work on Rainy Day Music, only Louris (guitar, harmonica, vocals) and Pearlman (bass, mandolin) were left from the above line-up. Tim O’Reagan (drums, percussion, guitar, congas, vocals) and Stephen McCarthy (pedal steel guitar, banjo, lap steel guitar, vocals) completed the group.

Rainy Day Music was executive-produced by Rick Rubin, usually a good indicator for quality, with Ethan Johns serving as producer. Like Rubin, Johns has impressive credits, such as Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Crowded House and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

In addition to a top-notch production team, Rainy Day Music had notable guests, including Bernie Leadon, Jacob Dylan and Matthew Sweet. The album’s initial release encompassed a bonus CD of six songs, titled More Rain, which among others includes a solo live performance by Louris of Waiting For the Sun, the opener of The Jayhawks’ third studio album Hollywood Town Hall from September 1992.

I’d say the time has come to take a look at some of the goodies! I’m focusing on the main album, but the bonus CD is included in the Spotify list at the end of the post. Here’s the beautiful Byrdsy-sounding opener Stumbling Through the Dark. It was co-written by Louris and Sweet. My kind of music!

Tailspin is another great track I’d like to call out. Penned by Louris who wrote most of the songs by himself, the tune features Bernie Leadon on banjo. Leadon, a multi-instrumentalist, is best known as a co-founder of the Eagles and a member of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Tailspin also became the album’s second single. Man, I love that sound!

Next up is Save It for a Rainy Day, another track that was solely written by Louris. This tune also appeared separately as the album’s first single. I really dig the harmony singing here – so good!

While as noted, Gary Louris, who had become the band’s principal songwriter following the departure of Mark Olson in 1995, wrote or co-wrote most of the album’s songs, there were some exceptions. Here is Don’t Let the World Get in Your Way, one of two songs penned by Tim O’Reagan.

With so many great songs, I easily could go on and on, but all things must pass – hmm, I wonder who said that before! The last track I’d like to highlight is titled Come to the River. Yet another song written by Louris, it features Jacob Dylan on vocals – great tune!

Here’s the Spotify version of the album including the above-noted bonus disc.

Rainy Day Music was generally well-received by critics. Usually, I don’t care much about music critics, but if they support my opinions, I have no problem shamelessly referencing them. In 2009, music and entertainment digital magazine Paste ranked the record at no. 44 on their list of The 50 Best Albums of the Decade.

Rainy Day Music is also among The Jayhawks’ albums with the best chart performance. In the U.S., it reached a respectable no. 51 on the Billboard 200, making it the group’s second-highest charting record there after Mockingbird Time, the successor from September 2011, which climbed to no. 38. Rainy Day Music also charted in the UK, reaching no. 50 on the Official Albums Chart.

Sources: Wikipedia; Discogs; YouTube; Spotify

A Rolling Stones Classic Hits a Big Milestone

While fans of The Rolling Stones may have different opinions which is the best album by the ‘Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World’, I think most agree Sticky Fingers ranks among their top records. If I would have to pick one, it would be this gem that was released on April 23, 1971. This Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the record by a band that has existed for some 59 years and whose key songwriters became childhood friends in 1950. It’s just mind-boggling!

Sticky Fingers, the ninth British and the eleventh American studio album by the Stones, was the first they released under Rolling Stones Records. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts decided to form their own label in 1970 after the band’s recording contract with Decca Records had expired. Ten additional Stones albums appeared on that label until its discontinuation in 1992 when the Stones signed to Virgin Records.

The Rolling Stones in 1971 (from left): Charlie Watts, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger

Sticky Fingers also had a few other firsts. It became the Stones’ first studio album without any contribution from founding member Brian Jones who had been fired in June 1969 over his increasingly erratic behavior due to drug use. As we know, the story didn’t end well. Less than one month thereafter, Jones was found dead in his swimming pool – yet another great music talent tragically lost to drugs! Moreover, Sticky Fingers introduced the iconic tongue and lips logo of Rolling Stones Records, which has appeared on all Stones albums ever since.

The album’s original cover art work depicting a close up of a jeans-clad male crotch with a visible outline of a penis was conceived by none other than Andy Warhol. Unlike many fans assumed, it wasn’t Jagger’s crotch. Instead, Warhol “superstar” Joe Dallesandro claims to have been the model, though apparently this hasn’t been confirmed. Initial editions of the cover had a working zipper and perforations around the belt buckle that opened to reveal a sub-cover image of cotton briefs. Following complaints from retailers that the zipper damaged the actual vinyl records during shipping, the zipper was slightly pulled down toward the middle of the record to minimize the problem. Later reissues eliminated the working zipper and simply showed the outer photograph of the jeans.

In terms of the music, Sticky Fingers marked a return to a more basic and traditional Stones sound that mostly relied on guitar, bass, drums and percussion provided by the band’s key members: Mick Jagger (lead vocals, percussion, rhythm guitar), Keith Richards (guitar, backing vocals), Mick Taylor (guitar), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums). Long-time collaborators included Bobby Keys (saxophone) and keyboarders Billy Preston, Jack Nitzsche, Ian Stewart and Nicky Hopkins. The album was produced by Jimmy Miller, who had started to work with the Stones for Beggars Banquet from December 1968 and produced all of their albums until Goats Head Soup released in August 1973.

Time for some music. Unless otherwise noted, all tracks are credited to Jagger and Richards. Here’s the opener Brown Sugar. Songfacts notes that while the tune comes across as “a fun rocker about a guy having sex with the black girl,” the lyrics written by Jagger are actually “about slaves from Africa who were sold in New Orleans and raped by their white masters.” The Stones recorded the tune in Sheffield, Ala. in early December 1969 and performed it for the first time live during the fateful Altamont Speedway concert on December 6 that same year. Brown Sugar backed by Bitch also became Sticky Finger’s lead single on April 16, 1971.

Wild Horses is one of my long-time favorite tunes by the Stones. Referencing the liner notes from their 1993 compilation Jump Back, Wikipedia quotes Jagger: “I remember we sat around originally doing this with Gram Parsons, and I think his version came out slightly before ours. [It did, in April 1970 on The Flying Burrito Brothers’ sophomore album Burrito Deluxe – CMM] Everyone always says this was written about Marianne [Faithfull – CMM] but I don’t think it was; that was all well over by then. But I was definitely very inside this piece emotionally.” Added Richards: “If there is a classic way of Mick and me working together this is it. I had the riff and chorus line, Mick got stuck into the verses. Just like “Satisfaction”, “Wild Horses” was about the usual thing of not wanting to be on the road, being a million miles from where you want to be.” Wild Horses, with Sway as the B-side, was also released separately as the album’s second single on June 12, 1971.

Another highlight on Side One of Sticky Fingers is Can’t You Hear Me Knocking. At 7 minutes-plus, this is an unusually long track for the Stones. One of the song’s distinct features is a lengthy saxophone solo by Bobby Keys. Rocky Dijon and Billy Preston contribute percussion and organ, respectively. “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” came out flying,” Richards said, as quoted by Rolling Stones fan site Time Is On Our Side. “I just found the tuning and the riff and started to swing it and Charlie picked up on it just like that, and we’re thinking, hey, this is some groove. So it was smiles all around. For a guitar player it’s no big deal to play, the chopping, staccato bursts of chords, very direct and spare.”

This brings me to Side Two of the album. The first track I’d like to highlight here is Bitch, a tune with a great guitar riff and horn line. Like many other songs on the album, the Stones recorded it at the Stargroves estate in Hampshire, England, using their mobile recording unit. Songfacts points out Mick Jagger had multiple relationships, so the tune is not about Marianne Faithfull or any other specific woman for that matter. It’s safe to assume the song’s lyrics could not be written today without triggering a political fire storm. “When we were doing Bitch, Keith was very late,” recalled recording engineer Andy Jones, according to Time Is On Our Side. “Jagger and Mick Taylor had been playing the song without him and it didn’t sound very good. I walked out of the kitchen and he was sitting on the floor with no shoes, eating a bowl of cereal. Suddenly he said, Oi, Andy! Give me that guitar. I handed him his clear Dan Armstrong Plexiglass guitar, he put it on, kicked the song up in tempo, and just put the vibe right on it. Instantly, it went from being this laconic mess into a real groove. And I thought, Wow. THAT’S what he does.”

Next up is a track I’ve come to increasingly love over the years, even though it’s not a traditional Stones rocker: Dead Flowers. Nowadays, I would go as far as calling this must-play tune for every bar band my favorite Stones song – so much for a guy who used to dismiss country as hillbilly music for the longest time! Recorded at Olympic Studios in London in April 1970, Dead Flowers was written during a time when the Stones were embracing country and Richards’ writing was influenced by his friendship with Gram Parsons. “The ‘Country’ songs we recorded later, like “Dead Flowers” on Sticky Fingers or “Far Away Eyes” on Some Girls are slightly different (than our earlier ones),” Jagger observed, per Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of The Rolling Stones, a 2013 book by Bill Janovitz. “The actual music is played completely straight, but it’s me who’s not going legit with the whole thing, because I think I’m a blues singer not a country singer – I think it’s more suited to Keith’s voice than mine.” Be that as it may be. What I particularly love about Dead Flowers are the great guitar fill-ins by Richards and Taylor throughout the song.

Let’s wrap things with one more tune: Moonlight Mile, the album’s excellent closer! Another track recorded at Stargroves at the end of October 1970, Moonlight Mile came out of an all-night session involving Jagger and Taylor. Notably, Richards was absent for the recording of this tune, so Taylor handled all guitar work. Songfacts also calls out contributions from Jim Price (piano) and Paul Buckmaster (string arrangements). “That’s a dream song,” Jagger reportedly said in 1978. “Those kinds of songs with kinds of dreamy sounds are fun to do, but not all the time – it’s nice to come back to reality.” BTW, even though Richards was nowhere to been when the tune was recorded, it still was credited to Jagger and him.

Sticky Fingers became the first Stones album to top both the U.S. and the UK albums charts. Based on a January 2020 article by news and entertainment outlet The Talko, it is the band’s best-selling record with about 21.7 million units sold, followed by Let It Bleed (21.3 million) and Aftermath (19.6 million). Sticky Fingers was ranked at no. 63 in Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. While it lost some ground in the most recent revised list from September 2020, it still came in at a respectable no. 104. Sticky Fingers was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Given the album’s significance, you might think the Stones are celebrating the 50th anniversary with a major reissue. Not so. Instead, in early December, the band announced on Twitter a Red Limited Edition LP: Introducing… the Sticky Fingers Stones Red Limited Edition LP. 500 will be available in the Stones Carnaby  Street store from Thursday Dec 3rd & 500 available online later that day at 8pm GMT / 12pm PST. Sign up for reminders: https://the-rolling-stones.lnk.to/StonesSignUpSo. More Stones Red to come! While at first sight, this may be a bit disappointing, it’s important to remember that Sticky Fingers already saw a reissue in 2015. Plus, there’s Sticky Fingers Live At The Fonda Theatre 2015, a great 2017 release the Stones put out as part of their From the Vault series.

How about a little encore? Ask and you shall receive, and it’s a true gem: a killer rendition of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking from the aforementioned Sticky Fingers Live At The Fonda Theatre 2015, which captures a gig before a relatively tiny audience of 1,200 people. It marked the opening of the Stones’ two-month Zip Code Tour in 2015 and also celebrated the above noted Sticky Fingers reissue. The band was truly on fire that night. I would argue that performance reaches the level of the legendary Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out. If you haven’t seen this clip before and dig the Stones, I’d highly encourage you to watch it. This is rock & roll at its best!

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; Time Is On Our Side; The Talko; Rolling Stones Twitter feed; YouTube