An alternative to those predictable lists of 'classic' albums

As a brief glimpse at my blog posts will confirm, I love the classic rock albums as much as the next child of the 1960s and 70s. But who among us needs another list of what the consensus views as the greatest ever records - the classics {especially if it doesn't confirm my own subjective choices!}.

Wouldn't it be better to highlight some albums that are equally deserving of classic status, but remain underappreciated? 

I find it interesting how attitudes to classic records of the first vinyl era changed from decade to decade in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. 

The compiling of Classic Album lists (at least in the UK) began with the 1974 list of the 100 greatest albums voted on by the writers of the NME. Naturally, the list was heavy with albums from the mid to late 1960s. These were records that inspired so much of what has come after, especially the more adventurous sounds. 

So number one was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. No one doubted then that this was the high point of popular music. Sgt. Pepper changed not only the way people thought about music, but how they thought about albums. Right then, bands began to think much more seriously about what they were putting out. Concept albums, or at least albums with some kind of thematic heart, were the thing to produce.

Dylan's Blonde on Blonde was number two in the 1974 list, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds at three and The Beatles' Revolver at four.

By 1985, the post-punk hipsters had hijacked the NME listings, placing John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band - a raw, vicious confessional of an album that sold poorly - at number 9, two places above arguably The Beatles best album, Revolver. Sgt. Pepper was nowhere to be seen. That was a massive shift and a rejection of the sixties generation of writers who established the NME as a must-read for teenagers in the 1970s. The list contains some great additions, but the choices became decidedly hipper than thou. 

By 1993, the pendulum had swung back in favour of the 'classics', with Revolver up to Number 2 behind Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper back in at 33. 

The albums banned from the '99 poll

Ultimately, all these lists achieve is to reduce popular music to a set menu that requires no imagination on the part of the listener. Coming right up to date, and Rolling Stone magazine continues to undermine its underground beginnings by producing ill-informed and laughably tone-deaf lists for the current generation. 

More interesting, perhaps, was the survey that appeared in The Guardian newspaper in 1999, that forced respondents to ignore the classics. 

No Revolver or Sgt Pepper, no What's Going On or Astral Weeks, no Rumours, Thriller, Dark Side Of The Moon or Hotel California. 100 albums including classic Bowie, Joni's Blue, Never Mind The Bollocks, peak-Radiohead or Prince. All banned. 

click to read the write-ups

The result was a fresh, often startling and properly contentious list of really great records that would not have been on the radar of casual music fans.

At Number One? Nick Drake's terrific second album Bryter Layter, released in early 1971. Not a chance that was even considered for the NME's original 1975 list. The three albums Nick Drake released in his lifetime all failed commercially. Posthumously he become the cult artist par excellence and Bryter Layter is a truly great album. 

The Guardian survey asked 'is Bryter Layter as good as Revolver or Pet Sounds, really?' The writer concluded, "It certainly deserves to be heard by as many people, as do the other 99 albums here."

A quarter of a century later and the list will certainly be very different again. Nick Drake might still feature, but he's most unlikely to be at number one.

The Guardian's 1999 alternative top 100 list still leans on a few staples, with the Beatles represented twice in the top 10, despite having seven of their albums banned. Almost half the albums in the list were released in the 1970s.

But this alternative top 100, which you can view by clicking on the pages here, does the job it was intended to do, said The Guardian, "opening up the thoroughly unfashionable for reinterpretation."

Personally, I think it's great to see the likes of Nick Drake, Todd Rundgren, Big Star, Jeff Buckley, Scott Walker and Laura Nyro celebrated in this way. Proving, as the report concludes, "there's an equally fantastic pop canon lurking in the shadows, behind the ones we all know and eulogise."

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Below are listed the NME All Time Top 100 Album Lists from 1974 through to 1993.

NME Writers All Time Top 100 - 1974

1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

2. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan

3. Pet Sounds - Beach Boys

4. Revolver - The Beatles

5. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

6. Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

7. Are You Experienced? - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

8. Abbey Road - The Beatles

9. Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones

10. Music From Big Pink - The Band

11. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones

12. Layla - Derek & The Dominoes

13. The Velvet Underground & Nico

14. Golden Decade Vol 1 - Chuck Berry

15. Rubber Soul - The Beatles

16. Tommy - The Who

17. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

18. Hunky Dory - David Bowie

19. Beggar’s Banquet - The Rolling Stones

20. Disraeli Gears - Cream

21. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn - The Pink Floyd

22. My Generation - The Who

23. Crosby, Stills & Nash

24. The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones

25. Imagine - John Lennon

26. Tapestry - Carole King

27. Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

28. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

29. Back In The USA - MC5

30. Deja Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

31. The Band - The Band

32. Gasoline Alley - Rod Stewart

33. A Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles

34. Every Picture Tells A Story - Rod Stewart

35. Led Zeppelin 4 - Led Zeppelin

36. The Doors - The Doors

37. In The Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson

38. Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones

39. The Beatles (White album) - The Beatles

40. The Soft Machine - Soft Machine

41. Hot Rats - Frank Zappa

42. Traffic - Traffic

43. Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart

44. Music From A Dolls House - Family

45. Talking Book - Stevie Wonder

46. Anthology - Smoky Robinson & The Miracles

47. Strange Days - The Doors

48. Led Zeppelin 2 - Led Zeppelin

49. Otis Blue - Otis Redding

50. Stand Up - Jethro Tull

51. The Impressions - Big 16

52. Love - Forever Changes

53. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

54. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James

55. The Byrds - Fifth Dimension

56. Wings - Band On The Run

57. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World

58.The Mothers Of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money

59. Rolling Stones - Get Your Ya-Yas Out

60. Jeff Beck Group - Beck-Ola

61. Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power

62. Beach Boys - Smiley Smile

63. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

64. Velvet Underground - Loaded

65. Aretha Franklin - Greatest Hits

66. The Beatles - With The Beatles

67. Joni Mitchell - Blue

68. The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out

69. Neil Young - After The Gold Rush

70. Stephen Stills

71. Johnny Winter And

72. Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends

73. Yes - The Yes Album

74. Van Morrison - Moondance

75. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star

76. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

77. Jefferson Airplane - Crown Of Creation

78. The Doors - L.A. Woman

79. Sly & The Family Stone - There's A Riot Going On

80. The Who - Who's next

81. Country Joe & The Fish - Electric Music For The Mind & Body

82. Robert Johnson - King Of The Delta Blues Singers

83. Best Of The Beach Boys Volume 1

84. Joni Mitchell - Song For A Seagull

85. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - with Eric Clapton

86. Traffic - Mr Fantasy

87. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home

88. Elvis Presley - Greatest Hits Volume 2

89. Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

90. Moby Grape - Moby Grape

91. Big Brother & The Holding Co. - Cheap Thrills

92. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon

93. Doctor John - Gris-Gris

94. Stevie Wonder - Music Of The Mind

95. Roxy Music - Stranded

96. Beach Boys - Surf's Up

97. Randy Newman - 12 Songs

98. Spirit - 12 Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus

99. Steve Miller Band – Sailor

100. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells 

 

NME Writers All Time 100 Albums - First Published On 30th November 1985

1. What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971)

2. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968)

3. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan (1965)

4. The Clash - The Clash (1977)

5. Marquee Moon - Television (1977)

6. Swardfishtrombones - Tom Waits (1983)

7. The Band - The Band (1969)

8. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan (1966)

9. Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon (1970)

10. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division (1979)

11. Revolver - The Beatles (1966)

12. The Sun Collection - Elvis Presley (1975)

13. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977)

14. Forever Changes - Love (1967)

15. Low - David Bowie (1977)

16. The Velvet Underground And Nico - The Velvet Underground (1967)

17. Solid Gold - James Brown (1977)

18. Horses - Patti Smith (1975)

19. Live And Lowdown At The Apollo - James Brown (1962)

20. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (1966)

21. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis (1959)

22. Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan (1965)

23. Otis Blue - Otis Redding (1966)

24. The Doors - The Doors (1967)

25. Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones (1972)

26. Anthology - The Temptations (1974)

27. Greatest Hits - Aretha Franklin (1977)

28. Are You Experienced - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)

29. The Modern Dance - Pere Ubu (1978)

30. King Of The Delta Blues Singers - Robert Johnson (1972)

31. Imperial Bedroom - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

32. Anthology - Smoky Robinson And The Miracles (1974)

33. The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)

34. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - Dexys Midnight Runners (1980)

35. White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground (1968)

36. Young Americans - David Bowie (1975)

37. The Poet - Bobby Womack (1982)

38. Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk (1977)

39. Darkness On The Edge Of Town - Bruce Springsteen (1979)

40. This Years Model - Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1978)

41. Another Green World - Eno (1975)

42. Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band (1969)

43. The Man Machine - Kraftwerk (1978)

44. The Mothership Connection - Parliament (1975)

45. The Cream Of Al Green - Al Green (1980)

46. Let’s Get It On - Marvin Gaye (1973)

47. There’s A Riot Going On - Sly And The Family Stone (1971)

48. Rocket To Russia - The Ramones (1977)

49. Greatest Hits - Sly And The Family Stone (1970)

50. Big 16 - The Impressions (1965)

51. Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan (1974)

52. Alan Vega/Martin Rev - Suicide (1980)

53. Another Music In A Different Kitchen - Buzzcocks (1978)

54. Closer - Joy Division (1980)

55. Mad Not Mad - Madness (1985)

56. For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music (1973)

57. The Scream - Siouxsie & The Banshees (1980)

58. The Harder They Come - Soundtrack featuring Jimmy Cliff

59. Entertainment! - Gang Of Four (1980)

60. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)

61. 3+3 - The Isley Brothers (1973)

62. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns - Joni Mitchell (1975)

63. “Heroes” - David Bowie (1977)

64. Meat Is Murder - The Smiths (1985)

65. Station To Station - David Bowie (1976)

66. Clear Spot - Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band (1972)

67. Get Happy! - Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1980)

68. Fear Of Music - Talking Heads (1979)

69. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop (1977)

70. Berlin - Lou Reed (1973)

71. 20 Greatest Hits - Buddy Holly & The Crickets (1967)

72. Music From Big Pink - The Band (1968)

73. Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles (1964)

74. Roxy Music - Roxy Music (1972)

75. Leave Home - The Ramones (1977)

76. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1957)

77. Golden Decade Vol 1 - Chuck Berry (1972)

78. The Very Best Of.. - Jackie Wilson

79. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis (1969)

80. Stranded - Roxy Music (1973)

81. Talking Heads ‘77 - Talking Heads (1977)

82. The Correct Use Of Soap - Magazine (1980)

83. Born In The USA - Bruce Springsteen (1983)

84. Court And Spark - Joni Mitchell (1974)

85. Strange Days - The Doors (1967)

86. More Songs About Buildings And Food - Talking Heads (1978)

87. L.A. Woman - The Doors (1971)

88. Chess Masters - Howling Wolf (1981)

89. Armed Forces - Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1979)

90. Steve McQueen - Prefab Sprout (1985)

91. Paris 1919 - John Cale (1973)

92. Forward Onto Zion - The Abyssinians (1977)

93. My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello (1977)

94. Rattlesnakes - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (1984)

95. Best Of - The Beach Boys (1968)

96. King Tubbys Meets The Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo (1976)

97. Rubber Soul - The Beatles (1965)

98. Suicide - Suicide (1977)

99. The Undertones - The Undertones (1979)

 

New Musical Express Writers Top 100 Albums - Published 2nd October 1993

1. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (Capitol, 1966)

2. Revolver - The Beatles (Parlophone, 1966)

3. Never Mind The Bollocks - The Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1977)

4. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye ( Tamla Motown, 1971)

5. The Stone Roses (Silvertone, 1989)

6. The Velvet Underground & Nico ( Verve, 1967)

7. London Calling - The Clash (Cbs, 1979)

8. The Beatles White album (Apple, 1968)

9. It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back - Public Enemy (Def Jam, 1988)

10. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1986)

11. Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones,1972)

12. Nevermind - Nirvana (Geffen, 1991)

13. The Clash (Cbs, 1977)

14. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1965)

15. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (Warners, 1968)

16. Sign 'O' The Times - Prince (Paisley Park, 1987)

17. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1966)

18. Forever Changes - Love (Elektra, 1968)

19. Three Feet High And Rising - De La Soul (Big Life 1989)

20. Closer - Joy Division (Factory, 1980)

21. Screamadelica - Primal Scream (Creation, 1991)

22. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones (Decca, 1969)

23. Automatic For The People - REM ( Wea, 1992)

24. The Elvis Presley Sun Collection (Rca, 1975)

25. The Doors (Elektra, 1967)

26. Marquee Moon - Television (Elektra 1977)

27. Psychocandy - Jesus & Mary Chain (Blanco Y Negro, 1985)

28. Blue - Joni Mitchell (Reprise 1972)

29. Are You Experienced? - The Jimi Hendrix Experience ( Track 1967)

30. Live At The Apollo - James Brown (London 1963)

31. Horses - Patti Smith (Arista 1975)

32. Innervisions - Stevie Wonder (Tamla Motown 1973)

33. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band - The Beatles ( Parlophone, 1967)

34. Songs For Swinging Lovers - Frank Sinatra (Capitol 1955)

35. Otis Blue - Otis Redding (Atco 1966)

36. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (Impulse 1967)

37. Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy (Def Jam 1990)

38. Hunky Dory - David Bowie (Rca 1971)

39. Blood And Chocolate-  Elvis Costello & The Attractions (Imp 1986)

40. Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars - David Bowie (Rca 1972)

41. Hatful Of Hollow - The Smiths (Rough Trade 1984)

42. Technique - New Order (Factory 1989)

43. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division (Factory 1979)

44. Surfer Rosa - Pixies (4AD 1985)

45. Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld - The Orb ( Wau Mr Modo1991)

46. Surf's Up - The Beach Boys (Stateside 1971)

47. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop (RCA 1977)

48. Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan (Cbs 1965)

49. Warehouse: Songs And Stories - Husker Du ( Warners 1987)

50. Low-Life - New Order (Factory 1985)

51. Heaven Up Here - Echo And The Bunnymen (Korova 1987)

52. Parallel Lines - Blondie (Chrysalis 1978)

53. Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons (Reprise 1974)

54. Dusty In Memphis - Dusty Springfield (Philips, 1969)

55. Transformer - Lou Reed (RCA 1973)

56. Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic. 1971)

57. All Mod Cons - The Jam (Polydor 1978)

58. The Velvet Underground (Mgm 1969)

59. We’re Only In It For The Money - Mothers Of Invention ( Mgm 1967)

60. Harvest - Neil Young (1972)

61. Scott - Scott Walker (Philips 1967)

62. The Stooges (Elektra 1969)

63. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young (Reprise 1969)

64. Rubber Soul - The Beatles (Parlophone 1967)

65. Greatest Hits - Aretha Franklin (Atlantic 1971)

66. After The Goldrush - Neii Young (Reprise, 1970)

67. Low - David Bowie ( Rca, 1977)

68. Remain In Light - Talking Heads (Sire, 1980)

69. Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear (Island, 1975)

70. Raindogs - Tom Waits (Island, 1985)

71. Dry - PJ Harvey ( Too Pure, 1992)

72. The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1984)

73. Lazer-Guided Melodies - Spiritualized (Dedicated, 1992)

74. Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake (Island, 1969)

75. Clear Spot - Captain Beefheart (Reprise, 1972)

76. 16 Lovers Lane - The Go-Betweens (Beggars Banquet, 1988)

77. Pink Flag - Wire (Harvest, 1977)

78. Natty Dread - Bob Marley (Island, 1975)

79. Sound Affects - The Jam (Polydor 1980)

80. Slster - Sonic Youth (Blast First 1987)

81. The White Room - The KLF (Klf Communications, 1991)

82. Junkyard - The Birthday Party (4ad, 1982)

83. The Kick Inside - Kate Bush (Emi 1978)

84. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - Dexy's Midnight Runners (Parlophone, 1980)

85. Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan (Cbs, 1975)

86. Rum, Sodomy & The Lash - The Pogues (Stiff, 1985)

87. Give 'Em Enough Rope - The Clash (Cbs, 1978)

88. King Of America - Costello Show (F-Beat, 1986)

89. Talking With The Taxman About Poetry - Billy Bragg (Go! Discs, 1986)

90. Third/Sister Lovers - Big Star (Ardent, 1978)

91. Like A Prayer - Madonna (Sire 1959)

92. Reading, Writing And Arithmetic - The Sundays (Rough Trade, 1990)

93. Off The Wall - Michael Jackson (Epic 1979)

94. Tonight's The Night - Neil Young (Reprise, 1975)

95. This Nation's Saving Grace - The Fall ( Beggars Banquet 1985)

96. Metal Box - PIL ( Virgin 1979)

97. Blue Lines - Massive Attack (Wild Bunch, 1991)

98. Younger Than Yesterday - The Byrds (Cbs 1967)

99. Who's Next? - The Who ( Track 1971)

100. Happy Mondays - Bummed.

 Also on this blog:

My Woodstock 50th Anniversary Diary

A Wizard, A True Star - my all-time favourite album

Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan's Artistic Peak in the 1960s

 Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns2-Tone and possibly my best gig ever

Queen's 1976 Free Concert in Hyde Park

Memories of the Reading Festival, 1975

Five Days of High Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

From Pinner to LA - Elton's Big Breakthrough, 1970

Joni Mitchell's Dog Eat Dog and a chance meeting with Thomas Dolby

In August 1985, I had a chance meeting in Greece with electronic music pioneer Thomas Dolby. This was just after he'd co-produced Joni Mitchell's album Dog Eat Dog. The album hadn't yet been released and I got a preview of it while we both waited for a flight out of Athens airport.  

I've recently reacquainted with the album - much played by me back in the 1980s, but largely ignored since. I think there are two reasons for our estrangement.

Like many records produced in that decade, its use of electronic drums and all manner of digital keyboards gives it a shiny but rather impersonal feel.  

Also, because of Joni's preoccupations of the time, the album carries with it an unwelcome air of despondency. Which is a shame, because behind all that is some great music and writing. 

Dog Eat Dog marked a change of direction for Joni Mitchell in that, for the first time, she worked with a producer. Previously her engineer Henry Lewy served as producer in all but name; there to make it as easy as possible for Joni to get her musical ideas across. It was a partnership that yielded her entire catalogue of classics in the 1970s. 

Thomas Dolby at the controls

By the mid-1980s, with electronic instruments dominating the sonic landscape, Joni and husband/bassist Larry Klein were keen to explore new sounds. Klein in particular was keen to understand the possibilities of the Fairlight CMI digital synthesiser, which by the mid-1980s had become fairly commonplace on albums from ABC to Yes.

British musician Thomas Dolby, considered one of the key exponents of electronic music at the time, was brought in to work as a co-producer. Apart from his own solo work, his most recent success was as producer of Prefab Sprout's debut album, Steve McQueen, of which Dolby was particularly proud, he told me when we met.

Our encounter began at the Greek shipping port of Piraeus. We were both waiting around for the bus to Athens airport. We got talking and since I knew that he had recently played as part of David Bowie's band at Live Aid, we chatted about that.

Dolby and Bowie during Live Aid

Bowie had promised Bob Geldof he would play at Live Aid, but he hadn't toured for a while and didn't have a band. Dolby was asked to gather a bunch of musicians who could rehearse at short notice. He drafted in guitarist Kevin Armstrong and drummer Neil Conti, Matthew Seligman on bass, Pedro Ortiz on percussion, Clare Hurst on saxophone, with Tessa Niles and Helena Springs on backing vocals.

As Dolby said, the fact that Bowie was willing to take a chance with a young band with very little rehearsal was a ballsy move on his part. And he rose to the occasion brilliantly, leading the line and catching the mood of that amazing day perfectly.

We arrived at Athens airport and were sitting on the floor leaning against a wall. Lengthy delays for flights out of Greece were par for the course in those days and the airport was packed. Dolby told me he had just produced an album with Joni Mitchell - and would I like to hear it? So I slipped the tape into my Walkman and gave him a tape of mine - Miles's Kind Of Blue and Sketches of Spain. 

Joni's record was instantly recognisable as Dolby's sound and far removed from her previous albums. The first track Good Friends was straightforward enough, probably designed as a single, with backing vocals from Michael McDonald. It was on the second track, Fiction, where things got real. 

Joni had never shied away from straight talking in her music, especially about relationships, but by this time she had become downright angry at the world. Suddenly she was railing against rampant consumerism - Fiction of the "buy me", "Watch me", "Listen to me". 

There followed some sharp-tongued critiques of neo-liberal idealogues, TV evangelists and the shallowness and dumbing-down of society at large, while children starved to death in parts of Africa. 

As such, lyrically the album remains one of her most compelling, addressing cultural and political topics that are just as resonant today. No better example of this is the track ‘The Three Great Stimulants’. It's another shiny and synth-draped Dolby production, but with a message that’s as up to date as you could get.

No tanks have ever rumbled through these streets
And the drone of planes at night has never frightened me
I keep the hours and the company that I please
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence

The track Tax Free is particularly bleak in outlook. An American preacher shouting "There's evil in this land! Cast down these dope fiends and their noisy bands! Damn their souls!"

Dolby told me they had a genuine recording of a fire and brimstone preacher from the southern states, but they couldn’t get his permission to use it on the record. So they hired the actor Rod Steiger to act it out for the album.

In those times when the African famine had inspired Live Aid, it was entirely appropriate that Joni would record a song like Ethiopia, where the repetitive piano motif and the Fairlight sound effects combine to startling effect. That must have been an intense session to be involved in.

Yours truly on a Greek island, 1985

Indeed, that was the feeling Dolby took from the whole experience of producing Joni. He revealed to me that the sessions for Dog Eat Dog were tense and that Joni spent long periods in isolation working on her music - his meticulous working methods at odds with her less structured way of composing. 

It wasn’t that Joni was resisting the new technology. She based Dog Eat Dog’s awful filler track Smokin' (Empty, Try Another) around the sound of the cigarette machine in the parking lot of A&M studios. One reviewer at the time said, "Why would anyone want to listen to a cigarette machine churn away for 15 seconds?”

As she had in the 1970s with her increasingly jazzy records, Joni took a lot of flak for daring to change. The same reviewer concluded that "Dog Eat Dog may not be the biggest bow-wow that Mitchell has taken for a walk in her 14-album discography, but it's certainly in the prize-winning category."

Rolling Stone magazine called it "an unpleasant listen - the music simulates the soullessness of our 'culture in decline' without revealing anything new about it. While Joni’s venom is an encouraging sign, its clumsy expression is unnerving."

Did the technology smother the music? Arguably yes, the rhythms on Dog Eat Dog are programmed and metronomic (surely a waste of Vinnie Colaiuta's talents); there’s no acoustic-ness, very little of Joni's trademark guitar. The uptempo track Fiction, though it's highly listenable, suffers from the stiffness of the rhythm programming and the tendency to saturate the mix with superfluous details, like the roboticised voices of Dolby and Klein. 

Dolby said his guidance was often disregarded and Joni herself is on record as saying the sessions were one long fight to get her way, with not just Dolby but Klein as well. The final insult was that Dolby, hired for his expertise and credited as a co-producer on the original album, was demoted to "sound file assistance" on the version of Dog Eat Dog released as part of 2003's The Complete Geffen Recordings.

That was more than a little ungracious of Joni and tells of perhaps a quite serious falling out. Whatever happened, it was clearly not a great match-up on a personal level, and Dolby made no secret of it when we met. 

More recently, in an interview with the Washington Independent, he said it was still a huge honour to be asked to work with her. "It ended up not being that great an experience. I was probably a bit of a brat at the time and things didn't work out too well. The album was quite electronic and I think that her fans didn't receive it well and they wanted someone to pin the blame on, and that was me. I'm still glad to have done it. To be touched by that much grace and genius was very fortunate." 

For her part, Joni moved on and her next albums were less experimental, with her anger more contained. "I was out of sync with the ’80s," she said. "Thank God! To be in sync with those times, in my opinion, was to be degenerating both morally and artistically. Materialism became a virtue; greed was hip." 

Joni Mitchell - 'Shiny Toys', from Dog Eat Dog (1985)

 
IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL THANKS

Also on his blog:

Joni Mitchell tames the tiger at the Isle of Wight 1970

Dylan, Joan and Joni on The Rolling Thunder Tour

Joni In the 1970s - Blue

Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell interview from 1974

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Joni Mitchell - Hejira

Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter 

1966 - The Beatles escape the madness of the road to create Revolver

The Beatles in '66

"You clink a couple of glasses together, or take bleeps from the radio, then you loop the tape to repeat the noises at intervals."

By 1966, the Beatles' music was starting to reflect their indulgence in marijuana and LSD. The extra time the band would have in the studio led to a much greater level of experimentation. The first fruits of this psychedelic vision appeared on Revolver in August 1966. It has come to be seen as their high point, musically. 

The band had begun recording sessions in the Spring of 1966, at a time when they were still playing live. They played their final show on August 29 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, concluding that they were stagnating as a band because they couldn't be heard above the screaming.

In his interview for the 20th anniversary of Rolling Stone magazine, George Harrison said he had wanted to stop touring in 1965.

The NME's reappraisal in 1976

"I was getting very nervous. They kept planning these ticker-tape parades and I was saying I absolutely do not want to do that. I didn't like the idea of being too popular."

On one occasion, he said the Beatles landed in Houston. "There were thousands of kids - and four policemen. The kids were actually running along the runway. The pilot brought the plane to a stop and within minutes they were all over the outside of the plane, knocking on the windows and all over the wings. It was ridiculous."

The retrospective review of Revolver by the NME's Steve Clarke in 1976 (pictured here - click on it to read the clipping) reflects a growing appreciation of it as "their most listenable and durable work".

Revolver was still largely a Lennon and McCartney show, but George was tangibly more involved at this point, contributing three songs including the opening track 'Taxman' - "a tight, spare rocker," said the NME. Clarke notes how the band had evolved as players, with Paul's bass lines being "vibrant and imaginative" and the guitars harder and louder.

In the mid 60s, the majority of vinyl albums were still released principally in mono. Stereo was emerging but for bands like The Beatles it was still an afterthought. There were mono and stereo versions of Revolver released and the mixes were often very different between the two formats. 

For example, on Taxman, the mono version gives more prominence to the bass guitar and John's rhythm guitar has more attack. A cowbell appears prominently in mono but is buried in the stereo version. 

While John's songs reflected his increasingly cerebral preoccupations, Paul's work on Revolver showed a classic songwriter in the making. Songs such as Here, There and Everywhere, For No One and Eleanor Rigby would become standards covered by many other artists.

Eleanor Rigby is such a unique but assured piece of work, really one of their best compositions - probably more Paul than John but once again proof of their potency as a writing partnership. 

The psychedelia is turned up a notch for John's 'I'm Only Sleeping', with its dreamy feel the result of vari-speeding of the vocals and rhythm track, and some 'backwards' guitar (actually written out backwards and played as a melodic run by George).

The Fabs pay the price for standing up Imelda

World tours interrupted the sessions. On one leg of the tour, in the Philippines, the band failed to attend a reception arranged for them at the Presidential Palace by Imelda Marcos. "I'm very pleased to say that we never went to see those awful Marcoses," said George. 

"They sent people out there to beat us up. We couldn't even get a car ride to the airport. After half the people with us were beaten up, we finally got on the plane. Then they wouldn't let it take off. They announced that Brian Epstein and our road manager Mal Evans would have to get off the plane. 

"We sat there for what seemed like eternity. Finally they got back and they let the plane go. But they took all the money we earned at the concerts from us."

George and sitar master Ravi Shankar

On their return from Manila, The Beatles made their first brief visit to India, where George pursued his interest in the sitar, first used on Rubber Soul's Norwegian Wood. This resulted in the Indian raga-influenced track 'Love You To'. 

It is the wide variety of styles and the sheer quality of the songs that is so remarkable about Revolver. Even Yellow Submarine was "perfectly in tune with Ringo's persona," said Clarke. "It's simplicity was engaging, rather than dumb."

Yellow Submarine certainly captured the imagination of a younger audience. I started junior school in the Autumn of 1966 and one of my abiding memories is sitting next to the window in my classroom and hearing a young pre-schooler in his back garden singing "We all live in a Yellow Submarine" over and over again. 

The American version was significantly shorter

Three tracks from the Revolver sessions - I'm Only Sleeping, And Your Bird Can Sing and Dr. Robert were omitted from the North American release of Revolver, having been used on a US release 'Yesterday..And Today'. This definitely spoils the flow of the album for those of us who were used to the UK original release. 

Yellow Submarine aside, there was a maturity about the songwriting and the subject matter. The extra time in the studio allowed the band to work on arrangements and to get the bass and drums sounding more solid. Most importantly, it gave them the freedom to experiment, which culminated in the album's final statement, Tomorrow Never Knows.

Ringo created an iconic drum track

This was where the various influences - psychedelia, Indian raga, electronic music, came together. It starts with a drone and Ringo's drum pattern, which is absolutely essential to the atmosphere and feel of the song. The seagull-like noise is a distorted and sped up guitar. John said he wanted the vocals to sound like he was singing from a Himalayan mountain top.

There is all manner of sound effects, sped up and run backwards - primitive stuff by today's standards, but an act of true artistic creation in the context of the very basic analogue recording techniques they had at their disposal.

The willingness to not only try new ideas, but work out a way of getting the required sounds, is credited to Geoff Emerick, then just 20 years old and newly installed as The Beatles engineer, working under producer George Martin's direction. 

According to Mark Lewinsohn's book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, "Geoff walked in green, but because he knew no rules, tried different techniques. The chemistry of George Martin and Geoff was perfect. With another producer and engineer, things would have turned out quite differently."

The Beatles all had their own home tape machines and Emerick recalled that Paul in particular would come into studio 3 at Abbey Road with little reels of tape saying 'listen to this'.

"We did a live mix of all the loops," remembered George Martin. "All over the studios we had people spooling them onto machines with pencils, while Geoff did the balancing. There were many other hands controlling the panning". 

This was a performance in itself. "I laid all the loops onto the multi-track recorder and played the faders like a modern-day synthesiser," said Emerick.

The solution to John's request to sound like the Dalai Lama on top of a mountain was to feed his vocal through a Leslie speaker. "It meant breaking into the circuitry," said Emerick. "I remember the surprise on our faces when the voice came out of the speaker. After that, they wanted everything shoved through the Leslie!"

The lyrics left no doubt as to the direction The Beatles were headed.

But listen to the colour of your dream
It is not living
It is not living

In the 1970s, after their break-up, the Beatles were still held to be at the pinnacle of pop music. The 1975 list of the 100 greatest albums, voted on by the writers of the NME, had Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band  at number one, Blonde on Blonde at two, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds at three and Revolver at four. 

Sometime in the 1980s, this hierarchy changed and Revolver eclipsed Sgt. Pepper, to judge from lists compiled of the greatest all-time records. 

In 1985, hipsters had hijacked the NME listings, placing John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album at number 9, two places above Revolver. (Yeah, right. I mean, come on). And Sgt. Pepper? Nowhere to be seen in the '85 top 100.

But by 1993, a degree of sanity had been restored to the NME writers' list, with Revolver up to Number 2 behind Pet Sounds. Sgt. Pepper was back in at 33.

It's all down to personal taste, of course, but it's hard to disagree with the view that Revolver is their high point, when you consider the scale of their musical maturity in 1966.

However, this new mature and experimental sound was something many Beatles fans found less appealing. This was a long way from "She Loves You, yeah yeah yeah!" though it would be a few more months before their loyalty was severely tested.

The following year, during the making of Sgt. Pepper, a Life Magazine profile noted that the group "are stepping far ahead of their audience," but the possibility of losing support "does not bother them in the least."

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Elsewhere on this blog:

My visit to Abbey Road Studios

LIFE magazine reports on 'The New Far-out Beatles', 1967

Sgt. Pepper Is The Beatles - Who Knew?
 
At Home With the Lennons, 1967

A Night With John Lennon - The Fab Faux at Radio City Music Hall

Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan's artistic peak in the 1960s 

Neil Finn - New Zealand's own Beatle

Neil Finn is almost certainly New Zealand's greatest popular music export. For the sheer quality of his songwriting over a 40-year career, there's no one to touch him. Finn is New Zealand's Paul McCartney, the creator of a great many memorable tunes, including 'I Got You' for Split Enz, 'Don't Dream It's Over', 'Weather With You' and many others for Crowded House.

Me with Neil messing about on the river in 2008

Comparisons with McCartney are not so far-fetched. Neil's melodies are clearly influenced in some ways by The Beatles and Neil is a big fan of Paul. On my one meeting with Neil, on a boat cruise along the River Thames in 2008, he talked about McCartney and in particular how much he loved the album 'Ram', Paul's 1971 solo album. 

In his solo career, Neil has also collaborated with his brother Tim and American songwriters such as Shawn Colvin, Jeff Tweedy and Wendy & Lisa. 

 

I first saw Neil live in 2001, just a few weeks after my family and I had emigrated to New Zealand. He was promoting a new solo album, One Nil, which featured songs he had created with Prince's former associates Wendy & Lisa. It's a great album and you can hear the positive influence that Wendy & Lisa had on his music. I wish he had done more work with them. The Beatle influences are there too, on songs such as Wherever You Are, Last To Know, and Turn And Run. The whole album is rich in melody and harmony, it deserves to be better known.

The live shows in Auckland to promote One Nil, at the St James Theatre, were billed as '7 Worlds Collide, Neil Finn & Friends', featuring Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Johnny Marr from The Smiths, with Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway from Radiohead. Neil was clearly very comfortable in this collaborative setting and the concept was extended in 2008 when he convened a second '7 Worlds Collide' project. 

This yielded the double CD 'And The Sun Came Out'. Singing and songwriting contributions were divided amongst the group, which featured Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of Wilco, Radiohead's Phil Selway, Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and New Zealand songwriters Don McGlashan and Bic Runga. 

I mentioned to Neil when I met him on the Thames that I have enjoyed these collaborations, including the work with Wendy & Lisa, almost as much as his regular solo gig and the Crowded House albums. He said it was all part of keeping things fresh and interesting, for him as much as for the listener. 

When Crowded House reformed in 2007, I saw them play at Hyde Park in London. The show was notable for the fact that when they played 'Weather With You' Neil was rapping with the crowd about how the sun was shining in Hyde Park, while it was raining at Glastonbury - huge cheers. Soon enough, the dark clouds loomed overhead. A little later, after Neil had told the black clouds to go away (he didn't say it as politely as that..) the heavens opened.

I've seen him a few times since then, on the boat in London, playing with his wife and son Liam as the group 'Breakfast Club' - and back in Auckland with Tim when they had an album out together. 

Then he joined Fleetwood Mac in 2018, which came right out of the blue. He wouldn't have been on anyone's list of people likely to replace Lindsey Buckingham - except for the one person who mattered, Mick Fleetwood. 

Here's TVNZ's interview with Neil about how he got the gig.

When the live shows were announced for Auckland, I grabbed some tickets, mainly because I wanted to see Neil coming home to play in NZ. 

And it was emotional. On the Thursday night, the first of four shows at Auckland's Spark Arena, Fleetwood Mac - with NZ boy Neil Finn fronting them - put on a great show. From the moment he first engaged the crowd with "Kia ora, Auckland!" and launched into a hearty version of 'Second Hand News' it was clear Neil was fired up for this homecoming. 

He got a lovely reception from his home crowd and it really was emotional to see him fronting the Mac, belting out the Split Enz classic ‘I Got You’ and the wonderful ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ - watch this clip:

In their between-song chat, Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks showed the utmost respect for Neil, his songs and what they meant to audiences around the world. Referring to 'Don't Dream It's Over', Fleetwood said, "Many years ago, I heard the most beautiful song. I had no idea who was singing it ... or from whence they came ... but it stayed right in my heart and all these years later, we play it together, now with a dear, dear friend of mine, who came from these parts here."

What a proud moment.

Here are two different views of 'I Got You' in Auckland:
Part 1

and Part 2

IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL THANKS

Also on this blog:

2-Tone and possibly my best gig ever

Queen's 1976 Free Concert in Hyde Park

Memories of the Reading Festival, 1975

Five Days of High Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

From Pinner to LA - Elton's Big Breakthrough, 1970

A Wizard, A True Star - my all-time favourite album

Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan's Artistic Peak in the 1960s

 Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns