Lord Knows I Can't Change

You know when the world has gone mad when you read a review of a simple rock concert and it forgets about the music and drones on and on about inexplicable connections to random things that 20 year old kids never thought about when they wrote them. This is the Globe and Mail:

"At the Toronto concert, which is part of an extended farewell tour, Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant (the much younger brother of Ronnie Van Zant, the singer who was killed along with two other band members in a plane crash in 1977) asked if there were any Americans in the audience. People booed at that instance, but otherwise lustily applauded a retiring group “singing songs about the South land.” They cheered the loudest for the show-closing Free Bird, a euphoric anthem, a defiant declaration of the band’s rebel spirit – “Lord help me, I can’t change” – and, ultimately, a farewell.

"There’s a certain romance to the band’s rebellious spirit. Nostalgia is a part of it as well. But, mostly, the material was the main appeal of the night. It stands up, even if some of its most important creators no longer do. Sweet Home Alabama still has the ability to “pick me up when I’m feeling blue,” all these years later."

This makes me wonder if the reviewer was actually there at the show or simply wrote an op-ed based on whatever crusade he was on at the time. For goodness sake, these tunes were written by a bunch of 20 year olds hoping against hope to make the big time. No political side to things. Actually the band is very good friends with Neil Young and this was a gentle piece of mickey taking ... according to another biopic on You Tube, that great encyclopedia of the modern day.

It was a great night except that Viv gave her ticket to one of our friends who was visiting us, Martin from Boston. She'd threatened this at each show but this time it was for real which was a shame as it was the best show of all.

I hadn't realized there'd be other bands as well as ZZ Top and was surprised when we turned up to find Blackfoot churning away. Then 38 Special, another 2nd or 3rd tier American band who are very, very accomplished. Both I'd never given much time to but I was looking forward to ZZ Top and boy did they deliver.

I'd watched yet another biopic on You Tube and learned like many bands from the 1970s who sort of quit at the beginning of the 1980s when they became dinosaurs, out of fashion with what was going on, they got back together largely because the people who were their fans in the 1970s were still their fans, but now had jobs, families and other responsibilities. I remember crying when The Who announced their break up in 1982, for example. Returning to ZZ Top they got back together again a few years later and discovered that they had both grown beards, well Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill had anyway. So they kept them and started playing once more.

Who even knows what they look like before those beards??

This is what they look like before they had beards. Or rather long beards

They were great!

As for Lynyrd Skynyrd, I'd seen them 8 or 9 times before. It was John Peel in England who introduced me to them and I remember buying their first album as an expensive US import when I was at college during a (one of many) rail strike in London. I had to lug the damn thing around with me for days before I could get it home and listen to it. 

The first show of theirs I saw was in Southend at the Kursaal when they supported Golden Earring, a fabulous Dutch rock band. They were fantastic however I was really disappointed that a girl I really fancied who wore a long Afghan coat (as I recall) ended up backstage snogging one of the guitarists... and I suppose did other things too. I dropped the notion of chasing her immediately.

The guitarist on the right, Allen Collins, was the guy snogging that girl I fancied at the Kursaal!

Others followed including one in the US sometime in the 1990s when they played the same set as they did tonight. Boy, am I glad some things don't change. Sounds like the title of this blog! Mind you their significant years were in such a short space of time before they went down in a plane crash when a number died. Only one is alive and in the band these days.

The sole survivor, Gary Rossington

The audience went wild throughout... including myself! I video'd the encore 'Freebird' all 14 minutes of it and can tell you that holding up that damn phone was hard work on some muscles in my arm that I didn't know that I had.

Thanks guys! You were and remain the best!! Oh yes and here of course is.... from Toronto 2018 in all its glory. Hope you like it!!

Watershed

Its been a week or so since Viv and I went to see the next band on our summer to do list in Toronto and that time has provided food for thought. I cannot say that it has been great thought or even very deep, just rambling thought.

Unlike the other shows, this day it rained. Poured in fact and all the way down to the concert as we trolled from the trolley stop to the venue at the Budweiser Amphitheatre on the lake shore, I was trying to remember when Viv started quizzing whether I had bought tickets under the roof or not. I couldn't remember so kept my fingers crossed and tried to keep changing the subject.

I had also forgotten there were two bands that night: REO Speedwagon being the other. Now I'd never really had any opinion of them. They were just another 2nd or 3rd tier American rock band of the the 1970's when I was listening to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or 5th tier rock bands in England, so I never heard any of their songs. Tonight though they may have played a lot of them because the audience was very responsive. And of course truth be told they were very, very professional and very, very accomplished. Like every other band from that era.

Listening to them actually made me feel a little guilty. How had I missed them? Why would I have missed them? They were good. Distance of course made that happen but I'd heard of a host of other American bands, some of whom were pretty obscure, so why not them? I think it was because they released a single that was cloyingly sickly and put me off from day 1. Don't ask me what that song was as I don't remember but they probably played it.

Blame singles then. But that would be unfair as the headliner was one that I'd 'discovered' as a result of a single they released back in 1968 or 1969 that was a total killer in England. The song was 'I'm a Man' and the band was either 'Chicago Transit Authority' or just plain 'Chicago', the name of their first album as well and confusingly in the liner notes they referred to this as well. Subsequently they became just Chicago so lets stay with them there.

I had watched a documentary/biopic on the band a few days earlier on You Tube (and don't you just love You Tube for stuff like this) and the band had said that their earliest singles had flopped until... and then they named something else (forget which tune). But that was wrong I thought for they were unheard of in England until their I'm a Man single went into the Top 10 in January 1970 (I thought it was earlier than this). Anyway on the basis of this single I, or rather my brother Jan and I, went out and bought their first album. He has it now regrettably but in my view this is their best album.

The show was a replicant of their second album, Chicago II, and was just great. They played their music and it wasn't just songs. It was their album. The second section was in their words "the songs you hear on the radio all the time". Their greatest hits collection in fact and my goodness it made me wonder just when they had become a ballad band. That wasn't what I heard on their first album and again to get clarity on this we must return to the biopic.

Basically it happened all of a sudden without them noticing either. The first inkling they had was when their bass player departed for a solo career. He was the cute one with the voice that sang all those ballads. However, they are stuck with an amazing back catalog and that is what the punters want to hear. Hence the greatest hits.

I so wanted to hear their first album greats again but I suppose they have released 20 or so later albums so shouldn't be surprised. But for those longing to hear them in their pomp go back to You Tube and listen to their concert at Tanglewood in 1970. Here it is!! Anyway the audience went wild and Viv sang along to their ballads.

And if you want to know what it was that took England by storm back in 1969 or 1970 well here that is too!!

They were really good.

And if you've made it this far in the blog and want to know whether I had actually bought tickets under cover or not, well I'll tell you. You know the bit of the roof when it comes to the edge and sort of turns down? Well when it rains the drips keep on coming because of that design.

Sadly our seats were directly underneath this....

Does Bryan Adams look like Albert Steptoe?

A couple of days ago, we went to see Bryan Adams, the Canadian rocker, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto... OK its called the Scotiabank Centre these days but I still think of it as the ACC as do the signs heading in. Whilst it didn't confuse me, it apparently did Bryan Adams who was stuck in traffic a way away and decided it would be easier to walk and found himself confronted with signs to the ACC! Anyway we all made it, him 21 minutes late as the show started at 8.21 pm not the advertised 8 pm.

This is something I find inherently weird as rock concerts in the old days never ran on time. The time on the ticket was merely a first stab in the dark. I remember some venues simply saying "Doors Open at ..." instead of even trying to hazard a guess at what time things would kick off. I suppose it is all down to getting old and the venues themselves now having to adhere to health and safety standards, employment standards, cut off times and such. But anyway along with improvisation, things have changed.

It was a really great show. He got everyone up from the first song and kept it going for more than 2 hours with everyone on their feet, stomping, cheering and singing along.

I still cannot fathom why The Eagles didn't do the same only a couple of weeks ago at the same venue. They have a great catalogue and could easily have done so but seemed to actively chose not to.

Bryan has got older though. I remember him as a teenager I think in early MTV days doing 'Summer of 69', a great song on many levels. But he is in great nick.

There was a movie of him as backdrop walking through the Eaton Centre mall. Most people didn't recognize him but about half a dozen did and he stopped to shake hands or high 5 them. All in all he seems a thoroughly nice guy too. I like the fact that its still his original band from teenage days. Not many are like that. The first time I heard him live was at Live Aid in 1985. This set in fact... enjoy!

Anyway I still think he looks like Albert Steptoe. A bit.

Nerding Free

No apologies for this post but it is aimed at the trivia fan, and in particular those keen on trivia related to an English blues band of the late 1960's, Free.

It's only because of my recent nerding experience selling records at Kops combined with seeing Paul Rodgers playing his Free Spirit set last night that has prompted this. I could be wrong but it seemed to me that the 50/50 split of Free/Bad Company tunes was for the North American audience as I don't think Free made it that big over here, even with 'All Right Now', that albatross of a blockbuster single.

So I embarked on a forensic investigation of the two shows... and do note this post is a contemporaneous post in which I will first show last night's set list and then compare it to the UK tour setlist. Then we'll know and I'll be either right or wrong.

Last night's setlist first:

1. Little Bit of Love
   (Free song)
   Play Video
2. Can't Get Enough
   (Bad Company song)
   Play Video
3. Wishing Well
   (Free song)
   Play Video
4. Feel Like Makin' Love
   (Bad Company song)
   Play Video
5. My Brother Jake
   (Free song)
   Play Video
6. Ready For Love (Bad Company song)
   Play Video
7. Mr. Big
   (Free song)
   Play Video
8. Movin' On
   (Bad Company song)
   Play Video
9. Woman
   (Free song)
   Play Video
10. Fire and Water
    (Free song)
    Play Video
11. Shooting Star
    (Bad Company song)
    Play Video
12. Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy
    (Bad Company song)
    Play Video
13. Encore:
14. Cross Road Blues
    (Robert Johnson cover)
    Play Video

All Right Now

(Free song)

Apologies for the lack of being able to correct the margins, but as can be seen of the 14 tunes, 7 were Free tunes although it should be correctly noted that Free used to play Crossroads regularly as part of their live act and in the same arrangement as last night. At a stretch then this means 8 Free tunes and 6 Bad Company tunes.

No 'Bad Company' surprisingly and no 'Hunter' sadly either.

And now from the UK tour at the Royal Albert Hall:

1. Little Bit of Love
   (Free song)
   Play Video
2. Ride on a Pony
   (Free song)
   Play Video
3. Woman
   (Free song)
   Play Video
4. Be My Friend
   (Free song)
   Play Video
5. My Brother Jake
   (Free song)
   Play Video
6. Love You So
   (Free song)
   Play Video
7. Travellin' in Style
   (Free song)
   Play Video
8. Magic Ship
   (Free song)
   Play Video
9. Mr. Big
   (Free song)
   Play Video
10. The Stealer
    (Free song)
    Play Video
11. Fire and Water
    (Free song)
    Play Video
12. The Hunter
    (Albert King cover)
    Play Video
13. Encore:
14. All Right Now
    (Free song)
    Play Video
15. Wishing Well
    (Free song)
    Play Video
16. Encore 2:
17. Walk in My Shadow
    (Free song)
    Play Video
18. Catch a Train
    (Free song)

Aaaaaaaaaagggggghhhh! 16 songs, all Free classics! What a show that would have been. Rather than feeling sad about it though, remember there is always You Tube and the wonderful collection that can be found there.

Start here with 'Songs of Yesterday' and continue...

Music Nerds

It has been a while since I've given full rein to my inner nerd so far it runs to music but lately it has been picking up and I expect that by the time the next couple of weeks is over that it will be running at full blast as this is the time in which I will be seeing another three concerts of bands who are realistically towards the end of their careers as opposed to being in the early stages. Were you to suggest that I am ticking boxes, then to a certain extent you may be correct although these are bands that I will enjoy watching. 

However that isn't why this blog exists, that is because of a series of events that have taken place recently that haven't really shaken me as such as reaffirmed that somewhere there is someone who really does care who painted the goal posts for the 1959 FA Cup Final in England, for example. How or why I know that I do not know, but I do. His name won't mean anything to anyone, it is just trivia of the minutest sort. And that of course extends to music. All categories. All eras.

Were I to answer questions on my specialist subject for Mastermind (even if that show still exists), 20 years ago there would have been a toss up between 'The Lord of the Rings' and rock music between the years 1965 and 1975. If I could have gone to university on either of those subjects I would be classified a genius by now. Sadly both subjects are relatively useless in the real world... or so I thought until last week.

That was when I discovered Kop's Records in Toronto. And in particular Nick.

I was looking to sell some of my old vinyl records and found them on the internet. I liked the FAQ part in particular as those were clearly written by a sage of some sort. So I stuffed a bunch of records into my carry on and ultimately made it there where I met Chris first (Nick's dad) who spoke non-stop for 10 minutes about northern soul (English northern soul that is, not the generalist stuff) which amazingly I happen to like but Chris told me that his passion lay in the 1965-1969 era...

But that wasn't why I was there, I had mainly rock and blues music albums hence Nick. One thing throughout this that amazed me was Nick's knowledge of arcane details (I have the same disease) for one so young but even though the music was the same, i.e. the band would be say Savoy Brown, a relatively obscure English blues band from the 1960's, he would know stuff about them from a North American perspective whilst I had no knowledge of that, rather a knowledge of arcane details about Savoy Brown from an English perspective. I think I was able to impress him with my having seen the band at the Royal Albert Hall in 1971 when they were supporting Captain Beefheart. 

(Also this is my excuse to include a Beefheart tune!!)

It carried on from there. The first day, Viv and I dragged a bag each containing Cliff Richard, Dionne Warwick, The Eagles, Beach Boys, Beatles, Byrds, Yes, Steve Miller and more with the stand out top of the line album being ... 'Roll 'Em, Smoke 'Em' performed by those luminaries Patto. Yes, the exact same album that I found in that record shop in Tokyo with Indy a couple of years back which was the, sorry THE most expensive album in the store. Bar none. That made me listen to it again to see if it was any better second time around (for I had only ever listened to it the once and I thought it was rubbish). It was still rubbish. So that record which I bought probably in 1973 and played twice was THE standout in all the records I was selling!

It irked me quite a lot, I must say for Nick compounded it by droning on about the progressive guitarist that was very popular with the collectors, namely Mike Patto. And this record was rare in this condition too. 

This is what I found throughout the sale process. The sole Captain Beefhart record I was selling 'Bluejeans and Moonbeams', was a shocker. The concert to promote the album was also a shocker. No Rockette Morton or Winged Eel Fingerling. No Drumbo, just a bunch of hacks playing what sounded like Carpenters music. No matter, Nick said, people will buy ANY Beefhart album. No way were they going to touch any of my other classics, I thought. Anything you think may not sell, will and things that you think will, won't. And its nothing to do with how good the music is. It is all about whether the pressing is original, if its English (in North America that is rare), and so on. So my Spooky Tooth albums also sold well.

It all came as rather a wrench actually to see my treasures leave me like this however I consoled myself in the knowledge that they would in all likelihood go to a good home. The top sellers can run above $500, say for a Led Zeppelin 1 first day release which had unique identifiers on every album cover. So I went back a second day with some more treasures where I met along with Nick another guy who seemed to spend all his time poring through the entire collection of thousand of albums looking for that one.

No idea where the identifier was meant to be, I'm afraid

Unlike Nick, he didn't like to share stories. He just liked to talk and you know when you reach that point when you are with a subject matter expert, and he/she knows waaaay more than you do about that subject, but he/she keeps droning on for sooooo long that along the way even though you are really interested in that subject... you really just don't give a damn any longer? Well I reached that point and I couldn't even be bothered to correct him about his errors to do with The Voice, Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company (artful connection with previous post here!) which he just couldn't bring himself to stop making. So it came as quite a pleasant surprise when just as I was leaving he was bragging about finding a really old, original Beatles record and waved it around for at the top of it was Viv's name dated 1964, a present from her dad. I just told him that it was a Hong Kong pressing and as I left the shop I could see him examining the record from all different directions and just knew the old microscope would be coming out soon.

All in all though it was a great experience to just nerd up again and spend time talking absolute pointless trivia with someone who actually was prepared to share knowledge. Thanks Nick. Great to meet you and I will contact my brother who has an even more eclectic collection than I do.... did.... even though I still have more than 200 vinyl albums just lying around.

Is Three Really Better Than One?

In the sixties (and likely before that too), it was commonplace for groups to go out on the road en masse. Three or four different acts on a single bill. According to Steve Winwood, his then band, the Spencer Davis Group, went out under his record label's aegis with Jimi Hendrix, The Who and 2 other bands that would soon sell out stadiums. So when I saw the advert for the Stars Align tour I was all for it.

This tour combined the talents of Ann Wilson from Heart, Paul Rodgers late of Bad Company and Free with his new band called Free Spirit, and the last was Jeff Beck. I thought wow, this would be great so bought tickets for the show which was held last night at the Budweiser Auditorium down on the lakeshore in Toronto.

I didn't think much about whether the three acts would coalesce at all as in the past Paul Rodgers had made albums which Jeff Beck had played on, notably blues albums on which he'd done a marvelous job backing The Voice. So I thought that maybe they'd play together for some songs... but they didn't. It was three separate sets.

The event was very well staged, organized and all logistics well thought out so when the ticket said they started at 7 pm, that's exactly what happened.  So we missed Ann Wilson's first song and seemingly her only Heart tune called 'Barracuda'. However the rest of the set was pretty good and pretty well immediately she started showcasing her new album which is a batch of covers of old songs done anew.

Final song was 'Won't Get Fooled Again' which had the big crowd on their feet howling and screaming and by 7.45 pm she was off.

What exactly do rock stars do at 7.45 pm in an evening having played their one and only set? In the old days, she'd have been on around 9 or 9.30 pm and probably wouldn't have finished until past midnight, in those days there being no curfews like now.

This is the second time that I've seen AW, first was with Heart a few years back, and I did enjoy it although would have loved to have heard a couple more original Heart tunes. Like this one!

I love that song. Becoming a music nerd for a moment, I heard of the band pretty much as soon as Jefferson Airplane broke up and I was heartbroken at the thought of never hearing Grace Slick play again. I read a review of their first album in the English music paper, New Musical Express, and went out and bought it.

**

For some reason I thought Jeff Beck would be on next but I was totally wrong as it was Paul Rodgers and he came out with a 5 piece band and played a terrific set. I sang along and clapped happily but as I love Free so much, I will further descend to nerd-dom and write a single post in adulation of these guys. Well the original guys actually even though the band was pretty good and rocked on well.

I did wonder though whether for the North American tour, they had to add more Bad Company tunes to the set as it was pretty much 50/50 Free/Bad Company tunes. I know that Free never really made it in the US back then. Their first tour was supporting Blind Faith and the band acknowledged it was terrible and finally it was the prospect of another tour that broke the band up entirely.

It didn't matter to me much though as using my nerd hat yet again, I can claim to have been there when Bad Company played their first show. Charlton in south east London in May 1974. Bad Company opened. It was only a short while after Free had finally broken up and nobody knew any of the tunes at all. You can hear it when you listen to the concert tapes (which I have). They were really good though.

I'd seen The Voice again in Virginia at some point in the 1990's (can't remember exactly) and it was more a Bad Company set then although they did play 'Mr Big' as they did last night. But that time you couldn't here anything but feedback, this time was a bit better. And I do say a bit better for it was still a bit fuzzy.  Just listen to this one and see what the song should sound like!

The Voice is doing great though. He must be late 60's by now and is trim and in fine voice. Loved the show!

**

First let me state here that I think Jeff Beck is a great guitarist. Some of the things he does for a man of his age (into his 70's now) are truly incredible. I don't they should be allowed personally. But after the 4th tune into his set I was thinking that this must be the most difficult series of tunes to listen to as they were all improvised and all over the place. Self indulgence was the phrase that came to mind. I nearly suggested to Viv that we should leave ... but the rest of the huge crowd were going wild and as I thought these people are both my age and clearly old time rockers, there has to be something in this at some point that I will enjoy and well the more I listened, the more I did. Enjoy.

Actually it was mind boggling. Viv said her heart was palpitating out of control during the set. I wasn't that far but after a while I was able to pick up themes within each piece... not tunes yet. Not quite melody even. But themes. And then... I recognized a tune!!! I was pretty pleased with myself. It was 'Little Wing' by Jimi Hendrix without the original melody and lick, but with a vocalist and a theme that was Hendrix all the way through it.

So the set started pretty much for me at that point and I was able to recognize some other tunes too as the set progressed. 'Superstition' was a song written by Stevie Wonder that Jeff Beck had said at a concert I had been to of his with a band called Beck, Bogert and Appice back in 1972 or 1973, I forget which. They finished with 'Day in the Life' by the Beatles and 'Down, Down' a Beck blues reworking.  The crowd went nuts.

I still think though that I prefer him in a band. Like the Yardbirds, with Eric Clapton, or...

Like this!!!

All in all, this was a great Toronto night!!