Led Zeppelin – II

The "Brown Bomber"

Jimmy Page (b. 9 Jan 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England) Robert Plant (b. 20 Aug 1948, West Bromwich, Staffordshire England) John Paul Jones - birth name John Baldwin (b. 3 Jan 1946, Sidcup, Kent, England) John Bonham (b 31 May 1948, Redditch, Worcestershire England – d. 25 Sep 1980, Clewer, Windsor, Berkshire)

Oct 1969 Led Zeppelin II - (UK) Atlantic 588-198* Highest chart position 1
(US) Atlantic SD-8236/SD-19127 Highest chart position 1

1 Whole Lotta Love (Page, Bonham, Plant, Jones, Dixon)
2 What Is and What Should Never Be (Page, Plant)
3 The Lemon Song (Killing Floor)  (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham, Burnett)
4 Thank You (Page, Plant)
5 Heartbreaker (Page, Bonham, Plant, Baldwin)
6 Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (She’s Just a Woman)  (Page, Plant)
7 Ramble On (Page, Plant)
8 Moby Dick (Bonham, Page, Baldwin)
9 Bring it on Home (Dixon, Page, Plant)

Producer: Jimmy Page;  Executive Producer: Peter Grant; Director of engineering and mixing: Eddie Kramer

Engineers: Eddie Kramer; George Chiantz (1, 2); Andrew Johns (4); Chris Huston (3,8 ) Bob Ludwig (mastering)

Recorded: Olympic Studios, London; A&R Studios, NY;  Morgan Studios, London;  Juggy Sound, NY; Mirror Sound, LA; Atlantic Studios, NY

Other sources add – Mystic studios, LA;  Mayfair Studios, NY; Hut, Vancouver

Mixed: A&R Studios, NY

Jimmy Page electric and acoustic guitars, pedal steel guitar. backing vocals;  Robert Plant vocals, harmonica; John Paul Jones bass guitar, organ, backing vocals; John Bonham drums, backing vocals

Artwork: David Juniper

* K40037 from 1971

Burt Bacharach – Hit Maker

Hit Maker - remade

Burt Bacharach, composer, arranger, director, piano, vocals (b. 12 May, 1928, Kansas City, Missouri, USA).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the major songwriters of the Twentieth Century. Bacharach’s sophisticated, but easily memorable, melodies and sun-drenched arrangements define the 1960s as perfectly as anything by the Beatles.

Though Bacharach had a distinctly classical musical education – Martinu, Cowell and Milhaud were among his teachers – his allegiance was always with pop and jazz rather than the concert hall. Following spells working as an accompanist for Vic Damone and Marlene Dietrich his song writing abilities won him chart success in the USA.

Bacharach’s first impact on the British singles chart was with Michael Holliday’s cover version of “Story of My Life”. This success was cemented with “Magic Moments” by Perry Como. Both these songs were co-written with lyricist Hal David who became his regular song-writing partner.

Together they provided a stream of hits for many US artists, notably Dionne Warwick who worked with them so frequently she was almost a member of the team. Many of these records got into the British charts, but there were classy covers too, by Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Sandie Shaw.

The title Hit Maker! says it all and the album includes; “Don’t Make Me Over”, “Walk on By” (both originally recorded by Dionne Warwick), “Always Something There to Remind Me” (Warwick, covered by Sandie Shaw),  “24 Hours From Tulsa” (Gene Pitney) and “Anyone Who Had a Heart” (Warwick covered by Cilla Black).  Though his own hit single “Trains and Boats and Planes” is included, Hit Maker! is a compilation of greatest hits, only performed by the composer instead of the singers normally associated with them.  Even though vocals are missing the songs benefit from his further thoughts on their arrangements. 

During the decade Burt Bacharach also added his signature sound to movies and TV shows including  What’s New Pussycat, Casino Royale and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. His score for Butch Cassidy… won Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Song (“Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”) plus a Golden Globe.

May 1965 – Hit Maker! Burt Bacharach Plays the Bacharach Hits

- (UK) London HAR8233 Highest Chart Position 3

   (US) Kapp KS 3428 failed to chart

Re-released in USA as The Man! – Burt Bacharach – His Songs, Kapp KS3447 Oct. 1965, and as Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits Kapp KS3577 ? 1966 and again in ?, 1969 as MCA Records MCL 1738  with additional track “A House is Not a Home”

1  Don’t Make Me Over  (Bacharach, David)

2  Walk on By (Bacharach, David)

3  Don’t Go Breaking My Heart  (Bacharach, David)

4  Blue on Blue  (Bacharach, David)

5  The Last One to Be Loved (Bacharach, David)

6  There’s Always Something There to Remind Me (Bacharach, David)

7  24 Hours From Tulsa (Bacharach, David)

8  Trains and Boats and Planes (Bacharach, David)

9  Wives and Lovers (Bacharach, David)

10 Anyone Who Had a Heart  (Bacharach, David) 

Recorded: unknown (possibly Decca Studios, London)

Producer: Burt Bacharach

Burt Bacharach arranger, director, piano, vocals; unknown session orchestra and chorus

CD reissues:

      1997 Universal 83089

     2006 Universal 93063 (with What’s New Pussycat?/My Little Red Book (sung by Joel Grey/Tony Middleton)

     2003 What the World Needs Now A&M 000080002 contains tracks 6 and 8

The Pentangle – The Pentangle

Jacqui McShee - b 25 Dec 1945, Catford, London, England;  Bert Jansch - b 3 Nov 1943, Glasgow, Scotland;  John Renbourn - b 8 Aug 1944, Marylebone, London, England;   Danny Thompson - b 4 Apr 1939, Teignmouth, Devon, England;  Terry Cox - b 13 Mar 1937, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. 

 

Five highly gifted musicians who formed a unique band which, seemingly without effort, wove blues, jazz, and elements of rock and pop into a seamless garment.  

 

Pentangle formed in 1967 for impromptu gigs in London’s Horseshoe Pub on Tottenham Court Road, Jansch and Renbourn having built up enviable reputations as soloists and already recorded an album of duets  – Bert and John, 1966.  Thompson and Cox were well known on the blues circuit, backing Alexis Korner and Duffy Power.  Both men also worked regularly as session musicians. McShee was a relatively new girl on the block but had experience singing in folk and jazz clubs. She had also appeared on Renbourn’s album Another Monday earlier the same year.  Her crystal voice added the magic ingredient for mainstream success. 

 

The band was signed up very quickly by agent Jo Lustig, who propelled their elite status into multi-national success. As Colin Irwin wrote in the CD reissue sleevenotes: “In 1968 alone they had 11 Radio 1 sessions, played New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Paris Olympia, headlined at numerous folk and jazz festivals and destroyed dozens of rain forests with the acres of newsprint they’d consumed”. 

 

There is a real sense of excitement on The Pentangle as the quintet sets out on its musical exploration. Jacqui McShee proves herself very capable of injecting sexyness into the blues on “Way Behind The Sun” as well as providing a ’sixtiess take on the traditional song  “Let No Man Steal Your Thyme” .  She also sings a haunting version of the Staples Singers’ “Hear My Call“.  The interplay between Jansch and Renbourn is superb throughout, particularly on “Bells” and “Bruton Town”.  Danny Thompson provides bass soloing of a level rarely heard outside of the jazz sphere, as well as some very dark and menacing colourings. Terry Cox doesn’t merely provide the album’s pulse, it’s as if his percussion work is a commentary on the music and lyrics surrounding him. The Pentangle offers a true fusion of very different styles of music.

 

May 68   The Pentangle    UK Transatlantic TRA 162     Highest Chart Position 21   

                                      US Reprise RS 6315    Highest Chart Position 192 

 

1  Let No Man Steal Your Thyme  (Trad; arr. Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, McShee,

                                                          Thompson)

2  Bells  (Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, McShee, Thompson)

3  Hear My Call  (Westbrooks, Staples)

4  Pentangling  ((Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, McShee, Thompson)

5  Mirage (Jansch, McShee)

6  Way Behind The Sun (Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, Thompson)

7  Bruton Town  (Trad; arr. Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, McShee, Thompson)

8  Waltz (Trad; arr. Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, McShee, Thompson)

 

Producer Shel Talmy; Recorded: unknown (probably IBC studios, London)

 

Jacqui McShee vocals; Bert Jansch guitars, vocals; John Renbourn guitars; Danny Thompson acoustic bass; Terry Cox drums, percussion, backing vocals

 

Cover design: Peter Blake

Sleeve notes: John Peel

Photo: Studio Hans Feurer

 

CD Reissue 2001 Castle CMRCD131

 

Bonus Tracks

 

9   Koan (Alternate Version)  (Sullivan)

10 The Wheel (Alternate Version)  (Jansch)

11 The Casbah  (Alternate Version)  (Jansch)

12 Bruton Town (edit 1/5/3)  (Trad; arr. Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, McShee, Thompson)

13 Hear My Call (Alternate Version) (Westbrooks, Staples)

14 Way Behind The Sun (Alternate Version)  (Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, Thompson)

15 Way Behind The Sun (Instrumental) (Jansch, Renbourn, Cox, Thompson)

 

 

 

The Cliff Adams Singers – Sing Something Simple

Cliff Adams: leader, arranger, director. vocals, trombone (b. 21 Aug 1923, London, England – d. 22Oct 2001).

Musician, broadcaster and entrepreneur, Cliff Adams carved a niche for himself in British broadcasting history. 

During the 1950s, while working as a trombonist and arranger with various big bands, Cliff Adams formed a vocal group called The Stargazers to provide musical interludes for popular radio shows – they were regular guests on The Goon Show for example. The group went on to have hits with novelty songs like “I See the Moon“, 1954 and “Twenty Tiny Fingers“, 1955.

Adams quickly established himself as a composer of jingles for the brand new TV advertising industry. Examples of his work can be seen here   here and  here  This work led directly to another hit single in 1960 – “The Lonely Man Theme” – an instrumental taken from a campaign for Strand Cigarettes. As moodily atmospheric as the dark, rain-soaked London street featured in the commercial, the tune has had a much longer shelf life than the cigarettes it was meant to promote. The theme turned up briefly in Cliff Richard’s movie “The Young Ones” and was rearranged for guitars and recorded by The Rapiers in 2000.

During the early 1960s Adams became part-owner of the Olympic recording studios, in London, which was to become one of the most prestigious studios in the world.

Formed in 1959 The Cliff Adams Singers was a sixteen strong vocal ensemble which backed solo artists on radio and TV. They also had their own show “Sing Something Simple” which ran each Sunday on the BBC Light Programme from 1959 to 1967, then on Radio 2 until Cliff Adams’s death, by which time it was the longest running, continuous music programme in the world. 

The programme included traditional songs, nostalgic numbers from past decades and more recent hits in sing-along arrangements.  A spot for unaccompanied male voices became a regular feature, as did a piano solo by Adams.

In the early days of “Sing Something Simple” each individual show was recorded between five and seven weeks in advance. The Adams Singers, together with the Jack Emblow Quartet, would assemble in the BBC’s studios at 201 Piccadilly - at 9.30 on Sunday mornings - for three hours of rehearsal. Recording would then take place between 12.30 and 1.30p.m. After an hour lunch break rehearsals would commence for the next edition, which would be recorded between 5.30 and 6.30. 

Ten of the singers were paid four pounds and five shillings (£4.25) for their services in each edition, while six received six pounds. The Jack Emblow Quartet’s collective fee was twenty six pounds eighteen shillings (£26.90).

The group’s chart entries, an original release from 1960 and its 1962 reissue, demonstrate the relaxed, undemanding style of this Sunday evening institution.

April 1960 Sing Something Simple - (UK) Pye NPL 28013 Highest position 15
                                                               (US) unreleased

1 Sing Something Simple (Adams, Logan, Barnes)
2 Hometown (Carr, Kennedy)
3 Underneath The Arches (Flanagan)
4 Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes (Jonson, Trad.)
5 Cruising Down the River (Beadell, Tollerton)
6 Home on the Range (Higley, Lomax, Kelley)
7 Wheezy Anna (Sarony)
8 Little Dolly Daydream (Stuart)
9 Lily of Laguna (Fiorito, Stuart, Francis Webster)
10 I Love You Truly (Jacobs-Bond)
11 Me and My Shadow (Dreyer, Jolson, Rose)
12 My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (Trad.)
13 Let the Great Big World Keep Turning (Anon.)
14 Ferry Boat Serenade (Adamson, diLazzaro, Panzeri)

Recorded:unknown – (probably Pye Studios, London)

16 member vocal ensemble (12 male, 4 female); Cliff Adams arranger, director, piano;  Jack Emblow accordion; unknown guitar/bass/drums

November 1962 Sing Something Simple - (UK) Pye Golden Guinea GGL 0150    Highest position 15
                                                                        (US) unreleased

 

Details as above.

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