Power Pop - The Rembrandts - Greatest Hits (2006 Rhino Records) Flac & mp3@320

The Rembrandts' Danny Wilde and Phil Solem may have provided the world with one of the most excruciatingly catchy theme songs in the history of television ("I'll Be There for You"), but the Los Angeles-based duo were capable of writing some top-notch adult alternative/jangle pop as well. This excellent overview from Rhino features 20 original cuts -- do not confuse this Greatest Hits collection with 2005's re-recorded Choice Picks anthology -- including two culled from their original incarnation as Great Buildings. While the group did actually exist before Friends -- their 1990 debut boasted the Top 20 smash "Just the Way It Is, Baby" -- it took a sitcom about a bunch of New York City twentysomethings to give the band a place in popular culture. "I'll Be There for You" was originally a 45-second soundbite attributed to five co-writers, and it wasn't until a Nashville DJ looped the cut into a three-minute song -- prompting a flurry of requests -- that the studio asked the duo to record an extended version. What followed was both an albatross and a blessing, providing the group with a sizable income but hindering their attempts at getting anything else across to the public(allmusic.com)

In my mind Danny Wilde is one of the most gifted pop songwriters. This guy was in the Quick, Great Buildings, Rembrandts and was involved in so much great pop projects. A really great musician. And by the way, he is also a very fine guitarist.
 About the album there is nothing to say it speaks for itself.

Have fun
                 Frank   Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2  &  Flac part 3         mp3@320

Pop, Pop Rock, Power Pop: Gin Blossoms - No Chocolate Cake (2010 429 Records) Flac & mp3@320

Perhaps it’s the curse of Doug Hopkins, but the Gin Blossoms have rarely been able to strike gold on their own, with most of their biggest hits being written by someone outside of the band. First, there was co-founder Hopkins himself, who wrote “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You” before his alcoholism resulting in his dismissal from the group before either song was released. Then there was Marshall Crenshaw, who co-wrote the band’s first Top 10 hit, “Til I Heart It From You,” in 1995. When the Gin Blossoms returned in 2006 with Major Lodge Victory, they partnered up with the Rembrandts’ Danny Wilde, who wrote several of the album’s tracks. Wilde is back on board for No Chocolate Cake, this time in a more active role that finds him producing, co-writing, and playing on most of the album. That’s not meant to diminish the group’s own contributions, which retain much of the spunk from the Gin Blossoms’ mid-‘90s heyday. Robin Wilson’s voice is strong, if a bit nasal at points, and the songs have a familiar heartland hum to them, with Jessie Valenzuela and Scott Johnson filling each one with jangled guitar arpeggios and tasteful solos. None of these tunes can compete with the band’s singles, of course, but that’s not the point, since No Chocolate Cake sets its sights on maintaining the band’s audience rather than reclaiming a spot in the mainstream.(allmusic.com)

A lot pop songs full of ear candy. Surely mainstream pop but who cares. If i like a song, i like the song right?

Enjoy
         Frank                              Flac part 1 & Flac part 2        mp3@320

British psychedelic Folk-Rock: Circulus - Clocks Are Like People (2006 Rise Above Records) Flac & mp3

A fanciful blend of traditional British folk, prog rock, psychedelia, and folk-rock, with a cultural mindset that is rarely seen outside of a revival screening of The Wicker Man, Circulus is the brainchild of Michael Tyack, a songwriter and musician who has set out to create music that exists in the 20th and 16th centuries at once. Based in South London, with Tyack the only constant member after dozens of personnel shifts, Circulus incorporate the drums, guitars, and Moog synthesizers you'd expect from a rock band with a retro early-'70s approach, but also features a variety of medieval instruments, including crumhorns, recorders, and a reed instrument called the rauch pfeifer, whose intense volume Tyack declares "isn't really acceptable to modern ears." Circulus are nearly as well-known for their collective fashion sense as for their music, with Tyack costuming himself and his accompanists in thrift-shop capes, caftans, hats, and masks that are equally influenced by the British hippie scene and Tyack's self-proclaimed model in style, Philip the Good, who was the Duke of Burgundy in the 13th century. Add to this the stated belief of Tyack and his bandmates in pixies, fairies, and "old gods" and you get a group whose reputation for eccentricity precedes it, but Circulus have also won a loyal audience for the strength of their music, with fans ranging from traditional music enthusiasts to death metal addicts. Circulus made their recorded debut in 1999 with an EP entitled Giantism, but it wasn't until 2005 that the band found a sympathetic record label interesting in financing an album-length recording -- Rise Above Records, an extreme metal label that issued Circulus' full-length debut, The Lick on the Tip of an Envelope Yet to Be Sent. A second album, Clocks Are Like People, followed a year later.(allmusic.com)

  Circulus offers an intriguing, mystical, and very eccentric blend of British folk, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, and medieval music. One hears a lot of '60s and '70s influences, ranging from Jethro Tull to the Fairport Convention to Pink Floyd to the Moody Blues -- only Circulus is much more bizarre than any of those bands. This trippy effort doesn't run away from the stereotypes of either psychedelic music or medieval folk; instead, the London-based Circulus affectionately embraces those stereotypes, and the end result is a disc that is bound to be loved by some and mocked by others. But the band's odes to fairies, pixies, and scarecrows -- although highly self-indulgent at times -- still have a lot of meat on their bones and can be strangely charming and even ethereal. There is definitely a method to this madness, and the Londoners' ability to find some parallels between the '60s and '70s and the 13th and 14th centuries speaks well of them. Of course, that type of thing isn't unprecedented; Ian Anderson brought a strong medieval influence to Jethro Tull's psychedelic explorations long before Circulus existed. But again, Circulus is much stranger and offers considerable rewards to those who are broad-minded and patient enough to go along for the ride.(excerpts from allmusic.com)


Enjoy
         Frank

                            Flac part 1  &   Flac part 2            - mp3@320

Psychedelic Pop: Ultimate Painting - Dusk (2016 Trouble In Mind) Flac & mp3

After releasing two very fine albums of relaxed guitar pop in a two-year span and touring incessantly, one might expect the duo of James Hoare and Jack Cooper to kick back and take a break. It appears they don't operate that way, and Dusk, the third Ultimate Painting album in as many years, hit the stores in late 2016. By this time, Hoare and Cooper had perfected their writing and recording techniques, melding their two styles into a blend that makes it hard to tell when one guy stops and the other starts. Their voices and guitars twine together in perfect harmony and the richness of this fusion helps make the sound they get on Dusk to be the warmest and most welcoming of their short, busy career. Adding new drummer Melissa Rigby to the mix means a few more cymbals here and there, maybe a couple more fills too, but she's a sympathetic collaborator and never overshadows the guitar jangle or the wispily quiet vocals. Unlike the group's other albums, there aren't any talking blues rambles or uptempo rockers; the mood is steady, melancholy, and quite autumnal in nature. Tracks like the slowly unwinding "Song for Brian Jones," the calmly rollicking "Who Is Your Next Target?," or the lush "Set Me Free" could be triggering for those who are brought to tears by the smell of burning leaves. The addition of the occasional acoustic guitar and electric piano only adds to the sepia-toned, lost-in-thought, wrapped-in-sweaters mood. With the Clientele mostly out of operation, Ultimate Painting are making a bid here to take over their place as "the band most likely to drink mulled cider and glumly kick leaves as they walk the chilly streets." Most bands with such a brisk work rate run the risk of burning themselves out too soon or simply repeating themselves until their record deals dry up. Unlike those sad souls, Hoare and Cooper just keep getting better while giving their proven formula a little tweak here and there, just enough to make it feel like a progression. Ultimate Painting have quickly proven themselves to be masters of understated emotion and restrained production, and Dusk is another tiny work of quiet brilliance.(allmusic.com)

Very relaxed work with their third album. Just great!

Enjoy
         Frank                                                  Flac   &  mp3@320

Psychedelic Pop? : The Tingling Mother’s Circus - A Circus Of The Mind 1968 Vinyl (Musicor Records) Flac & mp3@320

Signed by Roulette, the band debuted with the 1967 single "Face In My MInd" b/w "Isn't It Strange (Roulette catalog number 4758). While the single vanished without a trace, it attracted the attention of Musicor Records, which promptly signed them to a contract. Produced by Bob Schwartz, 1968's 'A Circus Of The Mind' is best described as an interesting mess. Musically the quintet was clearly trying to find a path between being cool and happenin' and top-40 commerciality. Interestingly, while they seldom managed to find that happy median (recalling The Mamas and the Papas with a fuzz guitar up there rectum, 'Sunday Kind Of Feelin'' was one of the few exceptions), the set has a goofy quality that makes it kind of engaging and worth a couple of spins. Randall had a decent voice and kicked in snippets of tasty fuzz guitar ('New York Mining Disaster 1941'). In contrast, given vocalist Andrea sounded like Minnie Mouse (check out her performance on the helium propelled "Sky Diver" and 'Positively Negative'), one had to assume her inclusion had something to do with physical attributes rather than musical talents.(clear spot-nl)

This is the kind of record where it seems that everything goes...or even not? I can't imagine what kind of concept was behind this. However

take it or leave it
                           Frank    Flac  &  mp3@320

Flat Earth Society - Waleeco & The Lost Space Kids 1967-68 (1993 Arf-Arf Records) Flac & mp3

A young group from the Boston area -- in fact, none of the members looked to be older than 15 -- Flat Earth Society recorded a rare album in 1968 that became a prime collectible two or three decades later. This was probably based more on its rarity than the actual music, as the record was marketed by Waleeco candy bars -- you could mail-order the album with half a dozen candy wrappers and $1.50. Those consumers that took advantage of the offer were rewarded with competent, but somewhat generic, psychedelic rock, with the prominent electric keyboards that were characteristic of much of the Boston sound. Some Doors influence could be heard, perhaps, in the minor-hued melodies, and some Jefferson Airplane in the harmonies; to throw in an obscure reference, it's a bit like a garage version of H.P. Lovecraft. The record has since been reissued, making the transition to CD in the 1990s.(Richie Unterberger, allmusic.com)

Having read the previous review of this album, it's time to set the record straight. Firstly, their cover of the midnight hour [all the other songs are originals] is a fair effort. I wouldn't call it either dreadful or fantastic.

But I would call the haunting, eerie "Dark Street Downtown" fantastic..a masterpiece with its distinctive vocals and piano accompaniment supported by lyrics of the finest order. Turn the lights out, light the candles and just listen.Breathtaking stuff!! Very Baroque and very beautiful.

This standard is maintained on "Prelude For The Town Monk", another Jack Kerivan composition and with equally thought- provoking lyrics.A young man in his late teens getting his message across in the most literate of ways and with a voice to match any before or since in Rock.

His third contribution is "Shadows", an uptempo, organ-driven number but with the same haunting mood of "Dark Street". The rest of the songs are written by Jack Kerivan and Phil Dubuque or Jack Kerivan and Rick Doyle. The latter collaboration contains two excellent instrumentals of a laid-back, psychedelic nature, "Portrait in Grey" and "Satori". Some nice phasing and experimentation that rounded off an excellent debut[and sadly only]album.

If you like Folk Rock, you'll like The Flat Earth Society. If you like Baroque, similarly.Psychedelic, garagey, quite a mix in this album..as the band themselves say "no particular bag at all''.(amazon customer)

Also here is an audio adventure called ''The Space Kids ''.  The space kids material, which features backing music from the seminal boston 60's outfit called The Lost. This was apparently never released, it was done for a local pbs station. This fine band, whose recordings i recommend, featured future members of bands such as ultimate spinach, listening, bagatelle, and even the latest, much derided, version of the Velvet Underground! Names like walter powers , lee mason, kyle garrahan, and willie alexander. The last is still well known in Boston today. (excerpt of a custom review at amazon)

The Waleeco album is a fine piece of psychedelic rock and i like it very much. Also great tracks are the songs for the audio adventure ''The Lost Space Kids''. Very different very good. I really recommend to give it a listen. 

Enjoy 
          Frank                Flac part 1 & Flac part 2 & Flac part 3          -   mp3@320  

Sunshine/Bubblegum: The Clique - Sugar On Sunday / The Definitive Collection (2006 Rev-Ola) Flac & mp3

The Clique had a medium hit in late 1969 with "Sugar on Sunday," a cover of a song from Tommy James' Crimson and Clover album, and a smaller hit with "I'll Hold Out My Hand," a song from their sole album. Emphasizing harmonies and carefully arranged light pop-rock tunes with horns, they were part of the scene that's now known as L.A. sunshine pop, except that they fell closer to bubblegum than some other acts in the genre.

Like several such acts of the time, they were less a self-contained group than a vehicle for producer/songwriter Gary Zekley, who co-wrote much of their material with Mitchell Bottler and used session musicians on most of their tracks. If other such singer/producers in California at the time (like Gary Usher and Curt Boettcher) emulated the lightest aspects of The Beach Boys, then Zekley and the Clique were lighter still, sometimes sounding a little like the Monkees or bubblegum groups of the time like the Cuff Links, and at gutsier moments like Tommy James (who produced a couple of Clique cuts).

As it turned out, however, the Clique are not remembered today for "Sugar on Sunday," but for its B-side, "Superman." Out of the ordinary for the Clique in its cool paisley moodiness and forceful guitar strumming, it was covered in 1986 by R.E.M. on Life's Rich Pageant; their version has become far more famous than the original. The Clique's album was reissued on CD by Varese Sarabande, with bonus tracks.(allmusic)

The Clique, also a favourite band project of me. Producer and writers Mantler/Zekley have done a great job with this band. In this kind of pop music this was a first class work. It was all catchy as hell.
This collection is a wonderful piece of ''light'' pop music from the sixties. 5 stars  out of 5stars.

Enjoy
          Frank                Flac part 1 & Flac part 2            mp3 part 1       mp3 part 2

Garage/Psychedelic Pop: Whyte Horses - Pop Or Not 2016 (2016 CRC Records) Flac & mp3@320

As befitted one of the founders of the acclaimed crate-digging curios Finders Keepers label, Dom Thomas’ Whyte Horses were informed by a dizzying array of musical influences. This wide sonic palette of psychedelia, library music, acid-folk, Krautrock, Tropicália, yé-yé, and lounge was skillfully woven by "music-chronologist" Thomas into an accessible, hypnotic, dreamy psych-pop.

Whyte Horses’ first release was the single Snowfalls on the London-based label CRC in October 2014, followed by debut album Pop or Not in May 2016 (already released in a private pressing the previous year). Guesting on this brilliantly otherworldly debut was the Anglo-French vocalist Julie Margat (aka Lispector), who brought a healthy dose of Gallic cool to the proceedings. Thomas was also ably abetted on Pop or Not by the Doves’ Jez Williams, Ian Parton of the Go! Team, Belle & Sebastian’s Chris Geddes, and indie-psych maverick Jim Noir.(allmusic.com)

Very good debut by Whyte Horses with a lot of songs full of popsike candy...This is the 2016 release. Some songs are differently named as on the private 2015 release.

Enjoy
         Frank                            Flac part 1    &   Flac part 2        -  mp3@320

The Parlour Band - Is Your Friend? 1972 (2010 Esoteric by Cherry Red Records) Flac & mp3

Parlour Band's only LP is progressive rock-tinged mainstream early-'70s British album-oriented rock, competent but no more than that. Both keyboard and guitar parts take a strong role, and there's a bit of the multiple tempo changes and classical-tinged organ burble of bands like Yes in songs like "Forgotten Dreams." Some other songs steer well clear of art rock, though, "Pretty Haired Girl" coming across like prototypical early-'70s mellow California harmony rock. Even when it doesn't sound as Californian, though, the album's a pretty laid-back affair and, though it's agreeable, it's lacking in both power and first-rate songs.

"Little Goldie" sounds a good deal like the early-'70s work of Todd Rundgren in its bouncy pop optimism and relatively sophisticated keyboard-based arrangement, though it's not typical of the record. A bit, though no more than a crumb, of art rock pretension creeps into the final cut, the three-part, seven-minute mini-opus "Home."(Richie Unterberger, allmusic.com)

Pop prog !
Have  fun
                Frank                    Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2        mp3@320

Psychedelic Pop From Australia : Russell Morris - Retrospective '68-'72 1978 (2004 EMI) Flac &mp3

Russell Morris is one of Australia's most enduring singers. A major pop star in the late '60s, he went on to become one of the country's first singer/songwriters. Both ends of his career feature predominantly in the soundtrack to the movie The Dish.
Morris' career started in September 1966 with the formation of the Melbourne group Somebody's Image, which rose to prominence with a local hit version of the Joe South song "Hush." Morris was convinced to leave Somebody's Image for a solo career. His manager/producer, local music identity Ian Meldrum, spent unprecedented hours and money to create a seven-minute production extravaganza around a song called "The Real Thing." Once the result was released to shocked radio programmers who had never been asked to play such a long Australian single before, it was up to Morris' personality, singing, and performing talents to make the record work. It reached Australia's number one spot in June 1969. Without any promotional support from Morris, "The Real Thing" reached number one in Chicago, Houston, and New York.

The second single -- "Part Three Into Paper Walls" ("The Real Thing" revisited) and "The Girl That I Love" (a pop ballad more indicative of what was to come) -- became a double-sided number one hit, the first time an Australian artist had scored consecutive number ones with their first two singles. Morris, in the meantime, had traveled to the U.K. to help promote the release of "The Real Thing."
Morris had now decided to concentrate on his own songwriting and with the cream of Australian musicians, spent almost a year painstakingly recording and re-recording what became the Bloodstone album. It was one of the first Australian albums of its kind, the first from an Australian singer/songwriter, and a whole world away from the extravagant "The Real Thing." The hit single from Bloodstone was the resonant, romantic "Sweet Sweet Love." The following year, in 1972, Morris delivered the equally beautiful "Wings of an Eagle."
In 1973, Morris moved to London to record an album only to discover there was no record contract waiting for him. He relocated to New York and set to work on an album there, including new versions of both "Sweet Sweet Love" and "Wings of an Eagle" and the single "Let's Do It." A second American album appeared in 1976. It was two more years before Morris was granted his green card, enabling him to tour America. But by then, any chance of an American career had bolted. Instead, Morris returned to a very different Australia than the one he had left behind five years earlier.
During his solo career, Morris had done limited live performances without a band of his own. He then formed the Russell Morris Band and threw himself into a busy round of live performances, writing songs designed to be played live rather than chasing radio airplay, but scoring a couple of minor hits on the way. Eventually, the band played and recorded as Russell Morris & the Rubes.

In 1991, Morris released another solo album, A Thousand Suns, and he spent the subsequent years as part of a highly successful performing trio with fellow '60s heroes Ronnie Burns and Darryl Cotton of the Zoot, with a repertoire made up of their individual hits from yesterday, as well as new songs. In 2001, Jim Keays of the Masters Apprentices replaced Burns. Also in 2001, Morris' "The Real Thing" and "Wings of an Eagle" featured prominently in the Australian-made movie The Dish (centered around man's landing on the moon) and Midnight Oil released their version of "The Real Thing" as a one-off single, the first time this highly regarded band had chosen to record a cover.(allmusic.com)

This is a very fine collection of works by Russell Morris who was already in the sixties a star in Australia. This are truly fine psychedelic pop songs and i think you should give it a try.

Have fun
               Frank        Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2           mp3@320

At Request: Jerry Lee Lewis - Jerry Lee Lewis Live At The Star Club Hamburg 1964 (1989 Bear Family Records) Flac & mp3@320

Is there an early rock & roller who has a crazier reputation than the Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis? His exploits as a piano-thumping, egocentric wild man with an unquenchable thirst for living have become the fodder for numerous biographies, film documentaries, and a full-length Hollywood movie. Certainly few other artists came to the party with more ego and talent than he and lived to tell the tale. And certainly even fewer could successfully channel that energy into their music and prosper doing it as well as Jerry Lee. When he broke on the national scene in 1957 with his classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he was every parents' worst nightmare perfectly realized: a long, blonde-haired Southerner who played the piano and sang with uncontrolled fury and abandon, while simultaneously reveling in his own sexuality.

He was rock & roll's first great wild man and also rock & roll's first great eclectic. Ignoring all manner of musical boundaries is something that has not only allowed his music to have wide variety, but to survive the fads and fashions as well. Whether singing a melancholy country ballad, a lowdown blues, or a blazing rocker, Lewis' wholesale commitment to the moment brings forth performances that are totally grounded in his personality and all singularly of one piece. Like the recordings of Hank Williams, Louis Armstrong, and few others, Jerry Lee's early recorded work is one of the most amazing collections of American music in existence.
He was born to Elmo and Mamie Lewis on September 29, 1935. Though the family was dirt poor, there was enough money to be had to purchase a third-hand upright piano for the family's country shack in Ferriday, LA. Sharing piano lessons with his two cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Lee Swaggart, a ten-year old Jerry Lee Lewis showed remarkable aptitude toward the instrument. A visit from piano-playing older cousin Carl McVoy unlocked the secrets to the boogie-woogie styles he was hearing on the radio and across the tracks at Haney's Big House, owned by his uncle, Lee Calhoun, and catering to blacks exclusively.

Lewis mixed that up with gospel and country and started coming up with his own style. He even mixed genres in the way he syncopated his rhythms on the piano; his left hand generally played a rock-solid boogie pattern while his right played the high keys with much flamboyant filigree and showiness, equal parts gospel fervor and Liberace showmanship. By the time he was 14, by all family accounts, he was as good as he was ever going to get. Lewis was already ready for prime time.
But his mother Mamie had other plans for the young family prodigy. Not wanting to squander Jerry Lee's gifts on the sordid world of show business, she enrolled him in a bible college in Waxahatchie, TX, secure in the knowledge that her son would now be exclusively singing his songs to the Lord. But legend has it that the Killer tore into a boogie-woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly that sent him packing the same night. The split personality of Lewis, torn between the sacred and the profane (rock & roll music), is something that has eaten away at him most of his adult life, causing untold aberrant personality changes over the years with no clear-cut answers to the problem. What is certain is that by the time a 21-year-old Jerry Lee showed up in Memphis on the doorstep of the Sun studios, he had been thrown out of bible college; been a complete failure as a sewing-machine salesman; been turned down by most Nashville-based record companies and the Louisiana Hayride; been married twice; in jail once; and burned with the passion that he truly was the next big thing.

Sam Phillips was on vacation when he arrived, but his assistant Jack Clement put Roland Janes on guitar and J.M. Van Eaton on drums behind Lewis, whose fluid left hand made a bass player superfluous. This little unit would become the core of Lewis' recording band for almost the entire seven years he recorded at Sun. The first single, a hopped-up rendition of Ralph Mooney's "Crazy Arms," sold in respectable enough quantities that Phillips kept bringing Lewis back in for more sessions, astounded by his prodigious memory for old songs and his penchant for rocking them up. A few days after his first single was released, Jerry Lee was in the Sun studios earning some Christmas money, playing backup piano on a Carl Perkins session that yielded the classics "Matchbox" and "Your True Love." At the tail-end of the recording, Elvis Presley showed up, Clement turned on the tape machine, and the impromptu Million Dollar Quartet jam session ensued, with Perkins, Presley, and Lewis all having the time of their lives.
With the release of his first single, the road beckoned and it was here that Lewis' lasting stage persona was developed. Discouraged because he couldn't dance around the stage strumming a guitar like Carl Perkins, he stood up in mid-song, kicked back the piano stool and, as Perkins has so saliently pointed out, "a new Jerry Lee Lewis was born." This newfound stage confidence was not lost on Sam Phillips. While he loved the music of Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, he saw neither artist as a true contender to Elvis' throne; with Lewis he thought he had a real shot. For the first time in his very parsimonious life, Sam Phillips threw every dime of promotional capital he had into Lewis' next single, and the gamble paid off a million times over. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" went to number one on the country and the R&B charts, and was only held out of the top spot on the pop charts by Debbie Reynolds' "Tammy."

Suddenly, Lewis was the hottest, newest, most exciting rock & roller out there. His television appearances and stage shows were legendary for their manic energy, and his competitive nature to outdo anyone else on the bill led to the story about how he once set his piano on fire at set's end to make it impossible for Chuck Berry to follow his act. Nobody messed with the Killer.
Jerry Lee's follow-up to "Shakin'" was another defining moment for his career, as well as for rock & roll. "Great Balls of Fire" featured only piano and drums, but sounded huge with Phillips' production behind it. It got him into a rock & roll movie (Jamboree) and his fame was spreading to such a degree that Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins left Sun to go to Columbia Records. His next single, "Breathless," had a promotional tie-in with Dick Clark's Saturday night Bandstand show, making it three hits in a row for the newcomer.
But Lewis was sowing the seeds of his own destruction in record time. He sneaked off and married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass-playing uncle, J.W. Brown. With the Killer insisting that she accompany him on a debut tour of England, the British press got wind of the marriage and proceeded to crucify him in the press. The tour was canceled and Lewis arrived back in the U.S. to find his career in absolute disarray. His records were banned nationwide by radio stations and his booking price went from $10,000 a night to $250 in any honky tonk that would still have him. Undeterred, he kept right on doing what he had been doing, head unbowed and determined to make it back to the bigs, Jerry Lee Lewis style. It took him almost a dozen years to pull it off, but finally, with a sympathetic producer and a new record company willing to exact a truce with country disc jockeys, the Killer found a new groove, cutting one hit after another for Smash Records throughout the late '60s and into the '70s.

Still playing rock & roll on-stage whenever the mood struck him (which was often), while keeping all his releases pure country, Lewis struck a creative bargain that suited him well into the mid-'70s.
But while his career was soaring again, his personal life was falling apart. The next decade-and-a-half saw several marriages fall apart (starting with his 13-year-long union with Myra), the deaths of his parents and oldest son, battles with the I.R.S., and bouts with alcohol and pills that frequently left him hospitalized. Suddenly, the Ferriday Fireball was nearing middle age and the raging fire seemed to be burned out.

But the mid-'80s saw another jump start to his career. A movie entitled Great Balls of Fire was about to be made of his life and Lewis was called in to sing the songs for the soundtrack. Showing everyone who the real Killer was, Lewis sounded energetic enough to make you believe it was 1957 all over again with the pilot light of inspiration still burning bright. He also got a boost back to major-label land with a one-song appearance on the soundtrack for Dick Tracy. In 2006, Lewis released Last Man Standing, which featured duets with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, and others. He followed it up in 2010 with another album of duets, Mean Old Man, which saw him teaming with Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, John Fogerty, and Kid Rock, among others. Four years later came Rock & Roll Time, another record co-produced by Steve Bing and Jim Keltner; it also had superstar cameos but generally they were musical, not vocal. Released alongside the album was Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, an as-told-to autobiography written by Rick Bragg. With box sets and compilations, documentaries, a bio flick, a memoir, and his induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame all celebrating his legacy, Lewis continued to record and tour, delivering work that vacillated from tepid to absolutely inspired. While his influence will continue to loom large until there's no one left to play rock & roll piano anymore, the plain truth is that there's only one Jerry Lee Lewis, and American music will never see another like him. (allmusic)

The marriage with his 13 year old cousine was too much for the middle class morality of that time then and it stopped the career of the rock'n'roll animal. I ask myself on the other side how it was actually possible that he could marriage a 13 year young child? What kind of judicial authority made that possible? However, to me this man is a rock'n'roll legend. The concerts in Hamburg happened one year after he gets a new recording deal with ''Smash''. The recordings here sounds truly great and it's a fantastic happening of rock'n'roll. Hope you like it.

Have fun
                Frank     Flac part1  &  Flac part2          mp3@320

More by Mickey Newbury! Mickey Newbury - Nights When I Am Sane (1994 Winter Harvest) Flac & mp3@320

Released by the tiny Nashville label Winter Harvest, Nights When I Am Sane was Newbury's first album in six years and his first live album since Live at Montezuma Hall 20 years earlier. Those decades may have deepened Newbury the singer's voice a bit, but it only made him a more powerful performer. As one would expect, Nights When I Am Sane is comprised of a batch of Newbury's most well-known songs, but the power these performances hold make them the definitive versions. With one guitar or at most one accompanist, Newbury has always been able to convey what most others would need an entire band to try to get to. Songs like "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" (bet you didn't know he wrote that, did ya?) come across with so much feeling, pathos, and depth that it's possible to see clear into the darkness in the soul of the man when he wrote it. When Newbury gets to his famous refrain on "Nights When I Am Sane," he's telling a hidden truth, one so obscured by legend and the grime of time and music-business bullsh*t that it almost slips though in its gentleness. "We would sweat and moan/Until the need in us was gone/In one another's arms all through the night," begins "What Will I Do Now," the track that ends this set. A song of a lover left to bear his grief in the darkness now that she's gone, Newbury's falsetto conveys the grief with so much empathy, it's hard to believe this isn't some man crying on his best friend's shoulder. Only Newbury would have the naked, unpretentious honesty to end a concert with a song like this, and only he could get away with it.

I know some of you might think why a singer/songwriter on this blog. It's easy to answer: I like Newbury and that's reason enough to me to make an ''exception''. And this guy is just great. Maybe you give it a try and take a listen to this very fine performance.

Frank                                    Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2      -  mp3@320