Wax on Wax #8: New Lineups
Lineup changes can either make or break a band. They can be blessings as often as they are a curse, they could kill a band just as easily as they could inject fresh blood into a rotting corpse. There are too many horror stories to count (looking at you Squeeze and Doug Yule). But there are plenty of band members who didn't start with the band that it would be almost impossible to imagine the band without. Brian Jones with AC/DC, Dave Grohl with Nirvana, Ronnie Wood with The Rolling Stones, etc. The list could go on forever really. Here are four albums made by bands with either new additions, entirely new lineups, and even one that drops the pretense of even being a band and utilizing an army of session musicians instead. Let's dive in with some New Lineups.
I don't know how to describe Roxy Music, and I especially couldn't explain the first thing about Bryan Ferry. I'm late to the Roxy party, so to speak, and they're a band that I'm still chewing on as of this year. I absolutely adore their final album Avalon, but it is also a record that is divorced from their prior 70s sounds. It's much more accessible and is an album that any band would be proud to go out on. Stranded by contrast, is no less of a thrill to listen to, but it is a different experience. Roxy Music in the early '70s was the art-rock band, which is a label I still struggle with. To me, they sound like huge, bombastic, dramatic prog-rock. You can definitely hear the theatre kid that must lurk behind Bryan Ferry's hard to pierce facade. The band had just come off of what should have been a vital blow; the loss of keyboardist and sonic contributor Brian Eno. Their first two albums were landmarks of the time and huge influences on punk and alternative music that would emerge later in the 70s. Even with the loss of Eno, they maintained their momentum, didn't lose a step, and Stranded proved to be a big success for the band.
It's hard not to notice the provocative album cover, which features Ferry's then-girlfriend and recent Playmate of the Year, Marilyn Cole. She is sprawled out in some kind of jungle or desert island setting, nearly exposing herself, while dramatically draping her golden locks all over the forest floor. It's a remarkable cover that immediately draws you in, and it feels evocative of later disco and dance records that were still to come later in the decade. Nearly all of Roxy Music's album covers feature beautiful or otherwise dangerously evocative women on their cover, which perfectly encapsulates the band. For the longest time, growing up in record stores and always shopping around for new music, I'd see these Roxy album's and they would elicit a kind of fear in me. They kept me at a distance, in the same way, I'd later discover I kept myself when put in situations where I wanted to speak with or flirt with a girl. There is that overwhelming feeling of nerves and excited temptation of just approaching. The women on these covers were strange and beautiful in ways that seemed almost magical. They were the gatekeepers of a party that was going on right behind the gatefold. A party I always convinced myself was too hip for me when, in reality, it's one I very well could have thrown myself.
The music on Stranded is dramatic, ethereal, and alien to many of the rock sensibilities and trends of the time. But one thing it has in common is that it completely rocks. I want to say this is prog-rock, but it is nowhere near Pink Floyd, King Crimson, or any of the other groups of the time in that scene. It really is it's own thing, and if people want to call it "art-rock" I get it, but it really doesn't matter. Roxy Music was so completely original that labels were invented just to make their sound remotely approachable for regular music consumers. Listening to this album in context makes you realize how ahead of their time they were. Stranded came out in 1973, and only five years before we were in the deepest throws of flower power and psychedelic music. Five years after this record, you have bands like Talking Heads, and to the untrained ear, David Byrne sounds like a near-perfect Bryan Ferry clone. Roxy Music was the herald of the new generation of Rock Stars that were to come, and the first nail in the coffin for the 60s dinosaurs who were already beginning their last act.
Stranded is a fantastic album, but it is not an easy listen by any means. The music is eclectic, the songs can be very long, Bryan Ferry's voice is definitely an acquired taste, and there are not readily approachable hooks or melodies you can glomb on to like with other popular bands at the time. This album doesn't contain a hit single, and there are no stadium anthems to sing along to. Stranded asks the listener to think a little harder, dig a little deeper and to challenge your sensibilities and preconceived notions of what a rock band should sound like. Roxy Music were mavericks of their time, and by some miracle were wildly popular and went on to create many more fantastic albums. Even Brian Eno after just leaving Roxy Music called Stranded Roxy Music's finest. It's an album that commands your attention and doesn't reward idle ears. Call it art rock, call it proto-punk, call it prog, call it whatever you want. It's just art to me.
Larks' Tongues in Aspic is one of the wildest, most challenging listens I've had in a long time. Like a classic film which reveals itself over multiple viewings, so too will Larks' need many repeat listens to properly understand the insane tapestry on display. By 1973, King Crimson was already on its fifth lineup, and had yet to create anything as dynamic and arresting as their incredible 1969 debut In The Court of The Crimson King. That album was a landmark piece of work in nearly every way, from the music to the performances, and most certainly the artwork. In The Court of The Crimson King was one of the best debut albums of any band before or since, and proved very difficult to follow up. The constant and frequent lineup changes no doubt added to fan and critic confusion, not to mention King Crimson's rapidly evolving sound between each release. Nothing could have prepared audiences for Larks' Tongues in Aspic, and King Crimson had set the stage for themselves for complete and total reinvention.
The albums directly preceding Larks' were a mixed bag of jazzy influenced prog albums and inconsistent collections of great musicianship that couldn't quite gell as they should have. Robert Fripp was a genius and anchored the group in a way that kept it alive despite its tumultuous lineup changes. Most bands couldn't survive this kind of constant flux, but I look to Josh Homme and Queens of the Stone Age as a modern example of what Fripp was possibly trying to accomplish with King Crimson. Like Homme, Fripp no doubt wanted to keep King Crimson fresh and interesting, and the best way to do that is to constantly inject new and diverse talent into the lineup. Fripp spent all of the 70s as the guitar muse for Brian Eno and made incredible contributions to both "Heroes" and Scary Monsters by David Bowie. Fripp has a way of channeling his virtuosity into incredible soundscapes and doesn't fall into the typical 70s guitar hero traps. His guitar is just another tool in the toolbox in recording situations. While he had great success collaborating with other artists, consistent releases with King Crimson were a challenge. Until Larks' Tongues in Aspic.
It's an album that draws as much on jazz and rock as it does eastern music and free improvisation. There are heavy Sabbath-like guitar riffs preceded by entirely acoustic sequences anchored by thumb pianos. Where some 70s prog artists would use synthesizers to carry instrumental passages, King Crimson looked the other direction entirely and employed extensive use of violin, violas, and flutes. All of these very eclectic melodic timbres were paired with wild changes of rhythm, meter, and tempo by the new rhythm section of Bill Bruford, John Wetton, and Jamie Muir. These musicians all bring incredible character and complexity to this music, and paired with Fripp it is a match made in heaven. It's a shame this lineup only lasted for this one album. Now it should be noted that Larks' Tongues in Aspic is an extremely challenging listen. It's not for the musically faint of heart, and it's best to listen to this music with no expectations of what it should or shouldn't sound like. It is not something that you could play at a party, or even in front of other people at all for that matter. It's completely dissonant compared to most typical rock releases from the time, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if most people who listen to it will hate it the first time. But you can't argue that it doesn't put the "progressive" in Prog-Rock.
Larks' Tongues in Aspic is a landmark album in 70s rock, and returned King Crimson to their rightful court. It's an album that challenges the notion of what a rock album should sound like and is completely littered with immaculate playing, fantastic improvisation, and captivating clashes of styles. It looks to the future while relying on the past, and pushes the boundaries of acceptability. I can't really compare it to any other modern rock album, and I believe you'd have to look back at Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring to find instrumental music that provoked such fright and awe in its listeners. This is an album you'll want to listen to with the lights off, and headphones in. The assault your ears will be under requires you to dull your other senses to focus and appreciate how insane this music is. Any distraction at all is the enemy of this music, it requires you to participate but don't even bother trying to anticipate. If you want to hear something truly different, look no further than Larks' Tongues in Aspic.
Bananamour is nearly equal parts Lou Reed and Otis Redding. It's a fantastically hip dirge of fantastic songs by Soft Machine alumni Kevin Ayers. The album has blues, psych, and proto-punk vibes in spades, and every track has an immeasurable coolness behind it. Ayers had formed an all-new band for this album with the intent of more straightforward material. That is not to say there isn't plenty of wild music on this album, the mixing, in particular, is very creative and unorthodox at times. Ayers sounds like a psychedelic John Cale, subbing synth for viola on the album's centerpiece "Decadence." That tune is supposedly even about one time Velvet Underground member Nico. As it happens, Bananamour has a very peculiar quality to it that I could only compare to some Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, and John Cale albums. It should be no surprise that Ayers ran with that exact crowd, along with Brian Eno and other outsider artists. Bananamour has laid back drones dispersed amongst rock and protopunk tracks, while also adding flourishes of Soft Machine-Esque psych throughout. There is even a song called "Oh! Wot a Dream" which is a tribute to acid victim and one time Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barret who was an occasional collaborator with Ayers. The Velvet Underground meets Syd Barret is a dream indeed, and one I never realized I wanted so badly. If you find yourself listening to the Spotify version of this album, be sure to check out the bonus song "Connie on a Rubber Band" which is a brief reggae-influenced foreshadowing of Ayers signing with Island Records. It's a very unique listen, full of varied styles and eclectic songwriting.
The title "Bananamour" makes you think immediately of The Velvet Underground & Nico once you get into the bulk of the album. Ayers like many who heard that album was no doubt profoundly influenced by it but was in the rare circumstance to actually be able to seek out and perform with the members of The Velvet Underground. Ayers' ability to exist between the worlds of Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed is unique, and he acts as a perfect bridge between those two wildly different scenes and sounds. Ayers left Soft Machine a bit early in their career after a tour with The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He sold his pearl white bass to Noel Redding after that tour, started his solo career, and never looked back. It's not clear exactly how or when Ayers was accepted into the Eno and John Cale fold, but what that association resulted in is a fascinating live album simply called June 1st, 1974. The album featured Kevin Ayers, Brian Eno, John Cale, Nico, Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells), along with Robert Wyatt and Ollie Halsall from Soft Machine and Ayers solo work respectively. The show may have suffered a bit from too many, albeit incredible, cooks in the kitchen. But what really harshed the vibes was that Ayers was caught sleeping with John Cale's wife the night before the performance. Oops. Such was the incestuous nature of rock 'n roll in the 1970s.
Ayers is a really unique figure in rock history. He straddles two wildly different music scenes with ease and weaves between them with his music like no one else I've ever heard. Ayers balances his psychedelic tendencies with heavy soul, and rock-solid songwriting and performances. He's a really underrated songwriter in my book and is another artist I've discovered during this series of blogs that makes me a bit embarrassed that I haven't been listening to him my whole life. I'm a diehard Velvet Underground fan, and anything even tangentially related to them usually commands my attention with ease. Ayers was a mercurial person, who often spent long periods hiding out, away from the prying eyes of fans and the press. He took a short break, absconding to Ibiza, after leaving Soft Machine, and similarly hid away in Mallorca for most of the 80s. He's a hard artist to pin down but lived in a way that I think more rock stars could have benefitted from. You don't need to live your life on the cover of every magazine to be a successful or interesting musician. Bananamour shows how different journeys can contribute immensely to the sound of an artist's musical footprint, be they personal or geographical.
Steely Dan is more of an idea than a band. The band is a loose collection of some of the world's top session musicians, engineers, producers, arrangers, and technical wizards that are all striving for an ideal under the guise of a band. Not that it was always that way; up until Katy Lied Steely Dan was an actual rock band who had created great records. It's just that none of those great records are as remembered or revered as the science experiments that were Aja and Gaucho. For a short while, there was a period in their history where they were in transition from rock band to rock experiment, and that is captured beautifully on their 1975 album Katy Lied.
Katy Lied is an album of impeccable musicianship which features the incredible playing of 20-year-old genius/phenom, and Toto drummer Jeff Pocaro, not to mention contributions by legendary session musicians Dean Parks, Larry Carlton, and Hal Blaine. Michael Mcdonald makes his first appearance on a Steely Dan record here as well, singing backup vocals. You would be forgiven if you skipped right past Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and instead scanned the credits to see who else plays on this or any other of their post touring albums. Steely Dan, in their later period, was infamous for spending years in the recording studio, using multiple engineers and up to 40 session musicians on their albums recording dozens of overdubs only to overdub all of the overdubs. That meticulous tinkering largely began here, and really reached its zenith a few years later on 1977's Aja.
Though for all of the effort that clearly went into Katy Lied, you almost can't hear it. The funny thing is, the playing on this album is so perfect that it basically sounds effortless, and because of that, you would be hard-pressed to find a casual listener who doesn't hear Katy Lied as a run of the mill 1970s jazz-rock album. At best, you'll have plenty of millennial hipsters looking to redefine Steely Dan as their own with labels like yacht rock. Steely Dan feels a bit too cynical and in on the joke, but it's a label that will stick for better or worse. They are incredibly smart musicians who infuse jazz into places where it otherwise might not be, and what you get from that is some relatively smooth rock that is rarely produced in that same way anymore. I think Steely Dan knew exactly what they were doing. In making waiting room music that actually rocked, they showed you don't have to be Led Zeppelin to kick ass. You don't have to ooze drugs and sex to be rock n' roll. You can be thorough, meticulous, intentional, and direct and still make rebellious music. This is rock music for nerds. Dorks, if you will. Middle-aged… Ok, I’ll stop. I promise I actually really like this album.
Katy Lied is not the best Steely Dan album, but it is very good. It’s everything you could expect from a group of people so dedicated to making music that transcends the limitations of the technology it was made on. Likewise, the goal for the musicians on the album was not to sound not human, it was to sound superhuman. Steely Dan is the side project of every working session musician who stole all the gigs from everyone else. Ironically for as seemingly perfect as this album sounds, a technical error in the DBX noise reduction system late in the process nearly crippled the album. The producers and engineers had to work overtime to restore the tapes to their previous sound, and according to members of the band did not quite hit the mark. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker swore off ever listening to the final released version of Katy Lied and swear that the original tapes sounded even better and more pristine than Aja before the DBX catastrophe. Striving for perfection is something attributed to many artists, but I don’t think any of them come close to the extremely high standards of Steely Dan. And yet, the point is not to make perfect music, perfect recordings, or perfect anything. The point is to push the boundaries of music and technology to its limits. How far before it all breaks? What is more funny than a yacht rock band discovering the answer?
Check in next week, we’ll be covering Electronic Oddballs.
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