"If I Ever Get To Saginaw Again" -- 3/5 I like the song a lot, but the Monkees' version with Nez is far superior. While Davy does a passable job, this song doesn't really play to his strengths. Don't much like it in this key and arrangement, either.
I'm not really a fan of this song in any incarnation, but I do like the guitar on the Monkees version. Davy, though, misses the mark here. I like his approach, i.e. sparse, but it's just too slow and turgid. I think this would be better if it was a little bit more uptempo - not "Broadway rock" uptempo, but anything that moves along faster than this. Also, as noted, the key's all wrong. Davy's voice can handle it but if it were a few steps higher, maybe some more of his personality would come through. It's all a fine line - unfortunately, Davy's almost constantly on the wrong side of it with this one. 2/5
Here's one of the Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers tracks that Michael produced and you may be interested in. I've add some info if you know nothing about them. They came from a scene that produced the great Dr Feelgood, along with Kilburn & the High Roads and later, Elvis Costello and many more... In 1974 Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers were asked by their label for suggestions for a producer for their new album. Lenny Waronker, Ted Templeman and Geoff Muldaur were suggested after they had consulted their record collections but none were available, or interested. All was not lost though as Mike Nesmith, now a major figure on the American country rock scene, was. Nesmith arrived with “his ever present sidekick” Red Rhodes to play the ZigZag 5th anniversary fundraser at the Roundhouse and two days after the gig found himself and Red in Morgan Studios, Willesden with Chilli Willi. It didn’t turn out to be an enjoyable experience. According to David Wells (in the liner notes to I'll Be Home), between 30 April and 3 May they cut 6 tracks: Desert Island Woman, Friday Song, We Get Along, Truck Drivin’ Girl, Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie, and I’ll Be Home, before Nesmith stormed out. According to lead guitarist Martin Stone, “We got Mike Nesmith because we were fans of his, both for his work with the Monkees and his solo LPs but it was a difficult time for us – including Mr Nesmith, I imagine. He turned out to be a fervent Christian Scientist, had a bible on the mixing desk, and was generally the most po-faced and humourless producer we ever encountered. Red Rhodes, though, was a major laugh!” In 1996, bassist Paul Riley added more detail. “Unbeknown to us, somewhere between Monkeedom and taking-on our album, Mike had become a Christian Scientist. Professionally, perhaps, this should have made no difference to us at all: but it did – specifically Martin (Stone), Phil (Lithman) and Jake Jackman. After we’d cut 5 tracks, Jake came out of the control room, (where something had apparently “gone down” between Martin, Phil, and Mike), and announced to the rest that we were bailing out! True, I’d been a little disappointed with the results that we’d achieved but only because I’s hoped to be working with a minor deity who might transform us from plain ol’ “good” to “internationally mega”. As it was, we were now just “improved” and “enriched with extra Red Rhodes”. Two tracks were eventually released (without a credit to Nesmith, on Bongos Over Balham”. Martin Stone also adds, “We fiddled around with his mixes after he’d gone. But he was right, and we were wrong. His mixes were much better than ours. I realise now that we should have listened to him.” This all came out over a period of years. What I know for sure is that Chilli Willi were a superb live band and it’s a shame that they never completed the album with Mike. Years later, I read a piece in the NME with their former manager Andrew Jakeman, (and later renamed “Jake Riviera”( the one-time manager of Elvis Costello)) where he said the same as Martin Stone; he’d dug out the tapes and listened. They should have gone with the Nesmith produced tracks. Sometimes things are not meant to be.
If I Ever Get to Saginaw Again is 4/5 Giving it a big boost because I think it's great selection for Davy to take a stab and his voice sounds good on it.
I’ve read, including in Nez’s own book, mentions of his spiritual beliefs before (I don’t really know anything about it, just mentions of it). Never details like this though. Like, so devout that he had a Bible on the mixing board. Never heard that before. Perhaps the strangest part is hearing he was “humourless.” Nez? Really? Too bad this didn’t work out. Could’ve been interesting.
I give Davy credit for trying something outside his comfort zone. This is another indication, to me at least, that Davy had grown, and was still growing, as a musical entertainer.
Yeah, I got to meet him one-to-one and chat twice during this period, just the two of us. He was charming and I have only good things to say about it. I never saw any bible and I have never read anything about that in any of the UK rock papers or magazines. The Chilli’s (and I never met them) were, from what I can tell, a more, how shall we say, wisecracking bunch of lads from the London pub rock scene. Seeing Michael in this period in the LA Turnaround film, I can imagine that there might be some “differences” but that is all supposition on my part. I will add that seeing him live quite a bit during this period that he was very funny at times but in a dry and not frivolous way. Oh well, we all manage to rub someone up the wrong way at some point in our lives. And move on.
Saginaw is a nice song, done well. It would have fitted into one of the later Monkees albums quite well. 3/5
Two other little things that just came to mind.... The NME had a full page piece the week after the Roundhouse gig by Charles Shaar Murray which included a short interview with Michael. It pointed out that backstage were various people who were there just to see Nez perform. They included big fans Steeleye Span bassist Rick Kemp and Deke Leonard of Welsh rockers, Man. The piece was headlined: God’s Name Begins With “N”. Apparently During the chat Michael invited Deke to “hang out” later in the week but he felt too nervous to take him up on it. The story doesn’t be end there though as one of Deke’s most popular songs was titled 7171 551.... an anagram of Papa Nes’s phone number. Wow. Rock roll !
I also found it strange. Mike has often been a contradition of himself, and this might be one of those cases. I mean if he was heavily into the Christian Science Faith at the time, and yet was partaking in pot-smoking and getting Red to use "medicated Jif", that's all definitely contradicting things. One does not walk hand in hand with the other.
Today we will discuss the album L.A. Turnaround: I was back at work today, so will have to post my thoughts when I've listened to this album again. Post away...
One of my all-time favourites - by anybody. The above isn't the best needledrop but it does contain the ten seconds of birdsong at the beginning that to my ears sets the scene for one of Bert's great compositions. It was (no doubt accidentally) missed off the CD reissue but was included on the Three Chord Trick compilation in 1993. With apologies to Turk, I've added that version as I think the song includes some of Red's finest sounding playing. I love it. Play it loud.
Great Album! Nex & Red are the secret ingredient. Jansch's songwriting is the forerunner though. Red's playing is so haunting at times. Gives me goosebumps. Such a talented man. L.A. Turnaround 5/5 Probably my fav track ..
This is how I like to imagine an album being recorded, the artists playing and singing together. No vocal trickery. Just straight singing and good playing; Not 100 players (or 1 drum machine and a synthesizer/computer) on a song written by 10 people. AND not adding autotune to the vocals.
LA Turnaround is 4/5 Really good pretty much all the way thru, the pedal steel adds a lot to the tracks it’s on. I’m not familiar with Jansch's catalog to say how much Nez influences things but the end result is pretty good to me.
For anyone interested I've just put a video together for an outtake from LA Turnaround. It was on the CD release but didn't appear to be on YouTube. If you like Red, check it out.
L.A. Turnaround - I don’t have this album in my collection, so I really appreciate hearing these tracks. Bert Jansch’s singing style reminds me of ‘Michael Blessing’ era Nesmith. Red Rhodes playing really compliments the songs, and you can Nesmith’s touch in the production. I like what I’ve heard, and I found that I can stream it on Amazon Music, so I'll definitely check it out. 5/5. P.S.: I found the the BBC Radio 4 Music Podcast has a episode on Bert Jansch. Here’s the link to the podcast which can be downloaded: Link: BBC Radio 4 - Radio 4 on Music, Bert Jansch
Bert Jansch is one of those names that I have heard of, but I'm not familiar with his music. I had a look on Spotify but can't find the whole album. So, today I won't rate the current album, but I'll have a listen to some of his music. I was intrigued by the album title 'Three Chord Trick', so I'm going to give that a listen. Before that, I'm listening to Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning above, and it's a nice track, well performed and well produced. EDIT: Confused - Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning is on Three Chord Trick. EDIT: Got it, Three Chord Trick is a compilation, and the single track in the post in this thread is the first one in a playlist of the whole album.
When I was at college, my group of friends were all into music. I (obviously) pushed the FNB whist others each had their own artists. They were: The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Elvis Presley and Pentangle! Quite a mix. Funny how I can so clearly remember that from all those years ago. Anyway, Bert Jansch was something of an English folk superstar before he formed Pentangle. Every member in that band has quite some history! If you like LA Turnaround - (Bert thought it came out a little too country. I disagree ) - try this, I think it's great.
