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Second Album by Roy Buchanan (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Second Album
  • Artist name: Roy Buchanan
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Polydor
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $79.99

Second Album by Roy Buchanan

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard this record before, but I listened to Roy Buchanan (1972) last fall and loved it.

What I expected

More electric blues and psychedelic rock with very good guitar.

What it was actually like

Like the previous Roy Buchanan record, this one was an outstanding display of electric blues guitar mastery, with some piano backing and vocals, and I was consistently amazed that he could pull so many different kinds of sounds out of his guitar.

The guitar repeatedly sang like a real person singing, and on multiple songs, such as Filthy Teddy, it sounded like a saxophone or a trumpet.

Five String Blues was much slower than I preferred, and its vocal part was totally unnecessary, but I was still awed at what he could do, and even its piano solo was wild.

Like John’s Blues on the previous record, Treat Her Right on this one was much more of a rock song, and I thought it was great, though not exactly the most consistent with the rest of the record. My favorite, though, was Tribute To Elmore James, which may have been exactly why the electric blues was invented in the first place.

She Once Lived Here was more of a country song, and slower, but still great.

The only song that I did not really enjoy was Thank You Lord, which was kind of a waste of a track, with very little to it and no searing, singing guitar like the others had.

Grade

5/5: love it

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
  • Group name: Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $6.00

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of this record before, but I recalled Al Kooper’s name from when I reviewed his solo record I Stand Alone (1969) four months ago. I did not like it.

What I expected

This is a live double album, so I’m optimistic that it will not annoy me in the way that Kooper’s studio record did, with all the absurd sound effects and whatnot; it’s pretty difficult and generally perceived as a waste of time and money to recreate all of that crap at an actual concert.

The back of the album also states: “Also featuring Elvin Bishop, Carlos Santana”. Last summer, I reviewed Let It Flow by Elvin Bishop (1974) and thought it was excellent, as well as Abraxas by Santana (1970) and thought it was very good, so that’s promising.

What it was actually like

This was a really excellent hard rock and electric blues record. In general, most of the songs were pretty slow, with minimal or no vocals, multiple (and sometimes elaborate) electric guitar solos, riffs, bass lines, &c, &c.

Several of the songs were too long: I’m not sure, for example, that Her Holy Modal Highness needed to last for nine minutes and eight seconds, that No More Lonely Nights needed to be 12 minutes and 27 seconds, or that Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong needed to be 10 minutes and 56 seconds. Besides being too long, the latter two were also too slow, though I was satisfied with the length of Dear Mr. Fantasy (eight minutes and four seconds), because apparently that was how long it needed to be to incorporate a great guitar solo and the weirdest, most psychedelic (and superior) version of Hey Jude that I’ve ever heard.

On that note, I listen to Green Onions pretty often, but the version on this record was the most rocking one that I’ve ever heard. I also really liked the Simon and Garfunkel song The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy), which I would have heard it when I listened to Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme by Simon and Garfunkel (1966) half a year ago, but I guess it didn’t make an impression on me then. It sure impressed me now, though (and just think of how lucky we all are that it was not “the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge song”).

The Band song The Weight was quite strong, but I wish that they had done it with vocals. I also really liked the outstanding electric blues version of the Elvis Presley song That’s All Right.

Another great one was Sonny Boy Williamson, and Finale-Refugee was pretty short, but it had the best guitar riff on the record.

Overall, despite the excessive length of some of these songs that easily could have been cut in half, I was very positively surprised by this.

Grade

5/5: love it

Heart Like a Wheel by Linda Ronstadt (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Heart Like a Wheel
  • Artist name: Linda Ronstadt
  • Year: 1974
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Capitol Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Hole drilled through top right corner of album
    • Scratched into side one of LP: ST-1-11358 25
    • Scratched into side two of LP: ST-2-11358 25
  • Buy it on Amazon: $38.73

Heart Like a Wheel by Linda Ronstadt

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard this record before, but it will be my ninth review of a Linda Ronstadt record. The previous eight were:

What I expected

This appears to be another country and soft rock style record of cover songs, and I don’t anticipate anything nearly as bad as What’s New.

What it was actually like

Ronstadt’s rendition of the Dee Dee Warwick song You’re No Good was great, but I did not love some of the instrumentation choices. I did, however, love everything about her outstanding rock version of the Everly Brothers song When Will I Be Loved, with an electric blues sound and great guitar.

The highlight of the record, however, was her cover of the Hank Williams song I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You), with great harmonies and steel guitar (and I think this was the definitive version of that song).

Her version of the Buddy Holly song It Doesn’t Matter Anymore was much more country than his, and I thought it was really good, but that it could have been faster. Several other songs were also, in my opinion, too slow: Keep Me from Blowing Away; The Dark End of the Street, which has been performed by many artists, and this version was pretty much average; and Faithless Love, which had some banjo that I enjoyed, but I was definitely not a fan of the soaring vocals.

Willin’ was a totally ok country song, but nothing special.

You Can Close Your Eyes was not one that I recognized, but was credited to James Taylor, and in my view it should have been a rock song.

The title track Heart Like a Wheel was a bit of a train wreck, with piano at the beginning, bad violin, vocals that sounded excessive, and an annoying vocal harmony.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Wild Life by Wings (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Wild Life
  • Group name: Wings
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Apple Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • 99¢ sticker on front of album
    • Scratched into side one of LP: SW-1-3386 2112
    • Scratched into side two of LP: SW-2-3386 Z 103 #3
  • Buy it on Amazon: $35.49

Wild Life by Wings

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this record before, but the album art reminded me of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, which was worrying.

It will be my seventh post-Beatles McCartney record, and the previous six have shown a clear trend, which is that up until the mid 1970s, his solo work was not good, but not terrible, either, and that after the mid 1970s, it got much worse:

What I expected

Rock, soft rock, maybe some blues.

What it was actually like

Mumbo was a rock song that seemed to be putting a lot of effort into channeling Chuck Berry with an electric blues sound, but did not succeed.

Bip Bop was a very strange tribute to the Korean rice dish, using an Oompa Loompa sound with weird, whispery vocals.

Love Is Strange was a reggae style cover of the classic Mickey and Sylvia song that was nowhere near as good as the original, but which did have a good guitar solo.

The title track Wild Life sounded like a waltz, and I did not like its vocals, but thought it was a good song overall.

I Am Your Singer was boring song that introduced a recorder (yes, like you learned to play in your elementary school music class), and the recorder gambit failed.

Tomorrow seemed like it had inside it the germ of an interesting song, but was ruined by the oppressively terrible backing vocals.

Dear Friend would have been good as a rock song, but as a piano ballad was not good.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

The Inner Mounting Flame by The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Inner Mounting Flame
  • Group name: The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: almost certainly my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $64.99

The Inner Mounting Flame by The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

Issue one! Ok, that’s going to be my first and last John McLaughlin joke. I have never heard of this group and don’t have any idea what it is.

What I expected

There’s no justification whatsoever for me to know even a single word of Sanskrit, but I do happen to know that “maha” is the Sanskrit word for “great” (cognate with the Greek “mega”) and Vishnu is the preserver god in the Hindu trimurti, whose name means “all pervasive” or “he who is everything and within everything.” Could this maybe be Indian-style music? I love some ragas, but I’m going to guess soft rock.

What it was actually like

Wow. This was… maybe acid jazz? I didn’t really hear much Indian influence at all, though what I heard was so unlike what I’m accustomed to hearing that I don’t even know what I might have missed, or what might have been too subtle for me to pick up.

Parts had a very traditional electric blues sound like The Dance Of Maya, and other parts were more progressive rock and even hard rock, with electric guitar solos that I might expect of heavy metal (and recall that this was recorded in 1971), but the dominant sound was psychedelic, jazzy, and heavy. I loved it.

Vital Transformation was fantastic, and the beginning of it especially was incredible.

A Lotus On Irish Streams sounded a bit like my nature sounds playlist, pretty unlike the rest of the record (but ironically more like what I expected the whole record to be), and I’d say it was the worst song.

I really tend to prefer music that’s melodic and rhythmic, but “The Inner Mounting Flame” had a certain unmistakable excellence that really set it apart from… pretty much everything.

Grade

5/5: with absolute metaphysical certitude, you should check out the Mahavishnu Orchestra