TheCellarTapes

The Kinks - Something Else by The Kinks
(1967)



Tracks

1 David Watts 2:40
2 Death of a Clown 3:15
3 Two Sisters 2:03
4 No Return 2:03
5 Harry Rag 2:19
6 Tin Soldier Man 2:53
7 Situation Vacant 2:43
8 Love Me Till the Sun Shines 3:23
9 Lazy Old Sun 2:49
10 Afternoon Tea 3:25
11 Funny Face 2:29
12 End of the Season 3:00
13 Waterloo Sunset 3:16

It is pretty well known in Cellar Dweller circles that I am pretty smitten by the The Kinks’ 1965 to 1969 period. You can talk about your Beatles and Rolling Stones all you want, but for me there is only one band from England in the 1960’s whose whole catalogue from the decade I never get tired of, and for me that band can only be The Kinks. On these pages I have reviewed all but one of the five albums from The Kinks’ golden period, so I figured it was about time I addressed this missing piece.

Released in the rather apt autumn of 1967, Something Else By The Kinks was the follow up to the rather impressive Face to Face from ’66, and what another dazzler it was. In a year when The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Hollies went a bit adventurous and Trippy, The Kinks instead marched to their own tune, using traits gained from that previous record, which meant more of that typical Davies commentary, wit and cynicism from this album. But there is more going for this record than just that.

Produced once again by Shel Talmy, his last record with the band incidentally, as well as for the first time, a young Raymond Davies stepping in with production credits, this album marked yet another development in The Kinks’ career. As a result of these recordings, Ray Davies went on to solely produce two of the great albums from the 1960’s, Arthur and of course Village Green, and you can hear those glorious signatures starting to come through on Something Else.

The highlights from this album are well, all of the songs to be frank. Taking a more acoustic and that old East End pub style piano approach to the songs, Something Else by The Kinks gives the listener songs like Harry Rag, which are sharp tongued but still make you feel welcome. There are some outstanding contemplative songs too and I don’t mean just Waterloo Sunset. Songs like Two Sisters demonstrate that The Kinks really could paint a beautiful picture with their music and words, creations which leave you totally dumbstruck by what has been produced.



A special mention for what is probably the last time for a few albums must go to Dave Davies. Lets be honest, the best song on this album is one he penned and it is called Death of a Clown. This is a rather reflective number which really does tug on the old heart strings. This song is arguably the best on the album and is a truly wonderful, an outstanding piece of work for all concerned.

Its not all good though, despite widespread critical acclaim, like with all of The Kinks’ albums from 66 onwards, it sold poorly in the UK. And in the US, where its British themes and existing embargo on performing it live, ultimately saw this album do nothing as well. Saying that, you really do not need me to tell you that record sales are no measure of true greatness, and The Kinks will always be the case and point.



Lets be frank, this album is flawless, it has poppy numbers, thought provoking numbers, songs for the Summer, songs for the Winter, songs for the Spring and songs for the Autumn, there are love songs and there are sad songs, all of which are truly marvellous. But all that said, some things in life can cast long, long shadows over things which initially appear perfect. After 1967 and Something Else by The Kinks came true greatness.


Other Kinks Albums in The Cellar

The Kinks (1965) - The Kink Kontroversy

The Kinks (1966) - Face to Face

The Kinks (1968) - The Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks (1969) - Arthur (Or The Decline and Fall of The British Empire)

TheCellarTapes

Cellar Cast One



Highlights from the Cellar Tapes show aired on November 7th 2009. The featured album for this particular week was John Mayall Plays John Mayall from 1965. The review of which can be found here

As well as John Mayall, there were other delights from the likes of The Small Faces, The Kinks, The Monks, The Sonics and The Pretty Things. Enjoy!

Cellar Cast One Download

TheCellarTapes

Silver Apples - Silver Apples
(1968)




Tracks

1 Oscillations 2:50
2 Seagreen Serenades 2:55
3 Lovefingers 4:11
4 Dancing Gods 4:08
5 Program 3:30
6 Velvet Cave 2:40
7 Whirly-Bird 3:41
8 Dust 5:57
9 Misty Mountain 2:43


The late sixties really was a hotbed for creativity and marvellous endeavour. Some of the leaps made in the latter half of this decade really were beyond the pale. When people talk about albums like Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper as albums which changed everything, they generally have a point. But the best thing about discovering music from this period is the striking records which lie far, far beneath the surface. Sure, in The Cellar we hold up bands like Os Mutantes and the Monks as bands who really deserve their work to be put on the same level as the aforementioned classic status albums, but there is not a chance we can stop there.

In the mid sixties, a standard five piece was formed in New York, nothing special in that you may think, and I would agree. Calling themselves The Overland Stage Electric Band, they were as normal as a normal band could be in 1967. A year later however, this five piece had become a duo, and were wooing crowds and critics alike with a sound genuinely never heard before. This duo called themselves the Silver Apples.



Before I get onto what this band actually created musically, I think its best we get a few things out of the way first, namely what was creating this unheard of music. The first thing to say about the Silver Apples is they were not really a conventional band, sure they had a drummer, a drummer who played on a eighteen piece drum kit granted, but a drummer all the same. As for the other instrument played in the band, this was christened The Simeon, after its player and inventor. What the cellar dweller is a Simeon? Well it’s an instrument seriously like no other, don’t believe me? The Simeon consisted of nine oscillators and eighty-six manual controls, the lead and rhythm oscillators were played with the hands, elbows and knees, the bass oscillators with the feet.

Now that that is out of the way, lets look at their self-titled debut album released in 1968 on Kapp records. Sure in sixties music, when we talk about bands who pushed the boundaries of the avant-garde, we can talk about The Mothers of Invention or The Soft Machine for hours, but at the end of the day these bands at their heart still have something familiar lurking beneath the surface with their music, with the Silver Apples you actually have none of that, particularly on this debut album.

Truly unique and special, the Silver Apples LP has some absolutely brilliant moments, obviously this often is of the experimental genius nature, but they maintain this feel whilst making it sound perfectly accessible, serving some beautifully trippy, eerie and haunting moments all the way through it, it’s a sixties album people, but not as we know it.



When you play songs like Seagreen Serenades for the first time, you instantly know you’re listening to something rather remarkable for its time of creation, nothing sounded like this in 1968, actually nothing sounds like this in 2010 either. But after a number of further listens, all thoughts of trying to place this album somewhere on a musical landscape is fully overtaken by the sheer beauty of it as a piece of music. And that Cellar Dwellers is what is so great about this album, it never asks to be labelled or put in a list with some other 1960’s efforts, it just stands quietly on its own just knowing its above all that.

Mojo

Ive had this on my list for a long, long time. I think i may just go and get it now.

__________________

Last.FM | Echoes and Dust

dankrsta

I've just followed your link from 'The 60's Psych Thread' and discovered this great journal. The more talk about Silver Apples the better.

TheCellarTapes

Cellar Cast Two




Highlights from the Cellar Tapes show aired on November 14th 2009. The featured album for this particular week was a Declaration of Independence by We The People. The review of which can be found here

As well as We The People, there were other sixties delights from the likes of Bob Dylan, The Standells, The Rokes, Lulu and The Yardbirds. Enjoy!

Cellar Cast Two Download

TheCellarTapes

The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
(1968)



Tracks

1 Care of Cell 44 3:56
2 A Rose for Emily 2:19
3 Maybe After He's Gone 2:33
4 Beechwood Park 2:43
5 Brief Candles 3:30
6 Hung Up on a Dream 3:01
7 Changes 3:19
8 I Want Her, She Wants Me 2:51
9 This Will Be Our Year 2:08
10 Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) 2:47
11 Friends of Mine 2:17
12 Time of the Season 3:33

Often heavily overshadowed by more illustrious names from popular culture; The Zombies from St Albans were in many ways one of the finest groups to come out of England during the mid sixties. Many people will know the band for their two enormous singles She’s Not There from 1964 and Time of The Season from 1969, and of course those people will be content with such knowledge and that empty five year space between songs. However we Cellar Dwellers know that there was more to this band than just two singles, we know of a piece of work called Odessey and Oracle quietly released in 1968.

After an early burst of interest in the mid sixties, all went rather quiet on The Zombie front. Now being left for “dead” by bands like The Beatles, and pushed to one side by the likes of The Who and Cream; The Zombies initially sort to rediscover that initial single success. But by 67, priorities for some bands in British music had shifted somewhat from the need to create that sellable three minute single to the lust to craft the ultimate 35 minute album instead, and certainly The Zombies spotted this development and seized upon it.

Work began on Odessey and Oracle in Spring 67, the date and venue was very significant indeed for The Zombies and this album generally. Entering the EMI studio on Abbey Road straight after The Beatles had recorded a groundbreaking album of their own, using revolutionary techniques and equipment, conveniently saw The Zombies gain access to the most advanced recording methods and engineering team in the world at that time, an opportunity not wasted by St Alban’s finest.

It’s no overstatement to suggest that this album is one of those few albums that really manages to hold a consistency musically close to the mark of perfection. The band’s command of both Baroque Pop and Psychedelia on Odessey and Oracle is quite staggering. It should also be said that Colin Blunstone’s vocal style was always excellent for The Zombies, but added to this musical backdrop, he blossoms and excels himself to take the songs to unparalleled heights.



I have quite a number of songs which I genuinely adore on this record; the opening song is called Care of Cell 44 which cleverly puts the girl in prison and the boy writing the letter, this song’s style encapsulates all that is good about this album. The layers of sound and the way it just soars musically really does put you in a happy place. The next song is entitled A Rose for Emily, it’s a change of pace from the opener but is well worth a visit each time the album is played just for its beauty more than anything. This song alone demonstrates how wonderful The Zombies were at harmonising, but also gives Blunstone the chance to show the depth and quality of his voice.

At the moment I cannot get enough of track number six, entitled Hung Up On A Dream, it’s a remarkable effort, perhaps more so because you never really realised such a song could have been recorded. Sure I’ve become very fond of Psychedelia over the years, particularly the British form, listening to bands like The Kaleidoscope have ensured I will always have a taste for quality groovy tunes, but this song is something else. Sure the lyrics are typical ‘67, but the quality of the production and the structure of it takes this song to places I never really thought possible.

The last song recorded on this album was Time of The Season, this song is obviously brilliant, soulful and beautiful to the end, but it has much more significance than just its qualities. It was not only the last song recorded on the album, it was also the last the band recorded for a very long time, as they split soon after. This song was released as a single two years later following its unearthing inclusion on a compilation album featuring other artists too, and it proved to be a huge standalone and retrospective success for The Zombies.



It’s quite ironic that this single probably sold more in 1969 alone, than the album Odessey and Oracle had done for a good decade after its creation. Thankfully though Cellar Dwellers, 40 years on, we now know that Odessey and Oracle is the lasting legacy that The Zombies’ thoroughly deserved, and although a dud back in the day, it now can easily be entertained as one of the great albums of all time, which I happen to think it just might be.

TheCellarTapes

The Box Tops - The Letter Neon Rainbow
(1967)



Tracks



Formed in Memphis, Tennessee and beginning life as The Devilles, The Box Top were one of the finest blue eyed soul groups to come out of America during the 1960’s. In the four years they were around, they had one huge hit, a string of decent albums and the marvellous vocals of one teenage marvel Alex Chilton. Combining all the best elements of Soul, R&B and Pop, as bands go you can do far worse than this group and their debut wasn’t too shabby either.

Released in the November of 1967 on Bell Records, The Letter Neon Rainbow was one of those debut albums, which on the surface was quite a special piece, but sadly underneath there was a story of record label intervention and outside control. The band itself were quite the players and put on a very good show indeed when allowed off the leash, but their success left them at the mercy of outside forces.

Cellar Dwellers may know The Box Tops for their hit The Letter, which spent an unbelievable four weeks at number one spot in America, and was named Billboard Magazine’s single of the year, this in 1967 which to be fair was quite a year for music. However the sad truth is that this song was penned by one of a team of writers. As the material penned by this team grew in popularity with the record label, the more the label felt they were allowed to exert control over The Box Tops.

Regular band members were swapped for session men on certain songs and sometimes even the whole band would be asked to leave, and although Chilton is the singer throughout, not one of the songs on this debut is penned by the band. Obviously such arrangement would eventually end in tears, but for 1967, all parties seemed to be content enough to create a piece of magic.



The Letter Neon Rainbow begins with The Letter, that huge bluesy, gritty, soul drenched single which obviously dwarfed the band’s future output to the very end. But that said what a marvellous song it is; the album version of this song has a few noticeable musical additions to the single version which improves the song no end in my humble opinion.

The next highlight is the Burt Bacharach song, Trains and Boats and Planes. Now it’s a given that this is a good song, but I will say that Chilton gives a mighty fine performance on vocals, for a song which he could have easily been lost in. In fact there are a number of quality delightful songs on this LP where Chilton is king; Everything I Am for example is a beautiful swirling song which Chilton just excels in.

Strangely, the band that once was overshadowed by The Letter are now seemingly more famous for the song which makes up the second half of this album’s title. Yes Neon Rainbow has been getting played quite a bit of late thanks to its inclusion on a mobile phone company’s advertising campaign, which included a lucrative sponsorship of ITV’s The X Factor. It’s probably a shame it has been overplayed so much because it’s actually a very charming song, here this song can be found on track 7.



Now subject to a reissue from the good people at Sundazed Records with extra bits added on, The Letter Neon Rainbow provides an opportunity to listen to some nice music for 45 minutes of your life. Alex Chilton, despite his years, is rightly singled out for praise for his sensational vocals on this album. Outside of how the album was made, which is quite depressing to be honest, The Box Tops in name serve up a lovely piece of work which is as exquisite and sweet as any album I could care to mention, I think it’s a gooden Cellar Dwellers.

TheCellarTapes

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
(1969)



Tracks


In the summer of 1968, one the great chapters from the previous decade was sadly coming towards its inevitable close, but thankfully a new one was just about to begin.

Yes, The Yardbirds whose members once included Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton were on their last legs. Joining the band in these uncertain times was a young Jimmy Page, who in August of 1968 found himself in the bizarre position of being the only one left and had possession of the name rights plus all remaining contractual obligations surrounding The Yardbirds, this included a series of gigs in Scandinavia the following month. In a matter of weeks, Page had recruited the services of three musicians to fulfil The Yardbirds’ touring commitments, had arrangements for a set combining new songs with old favourites, and crucially opted for a minor addition to the existing name with The “New” Yardbirds now being used.



No longer signed to any label, in October of 1968, The New Yardbirds entered Olympic Studios in London and recorded an album, funded by Page and band manager Peter Grant. This album actually only took 36 hours to record and mix, this was due to the nature of how the band was formed, choosing to do their album rehearsals and fine tuning on the stage in Sweden; this in turn gives the album a really raw and honest feel. The sound and nature of the music was very much the brainchild of Page, a man who knew exactly how he wanted the album to turn out and probably got his wish.

Following heated correspondence with former members of The Yardbirds who were a little unhappy with the name Page had originally opted for, and before the release of their debut LP, The New Yardbirds went for one final name change, going with Led Zeppelin instead. And finally, after signing an agreement with Atlantic Records, the self titled debut album from Led Zeppelin was released in January 1969, making history as one of the finest landmark debuts ever conceived.

The heaviness on this album is quite abundant throughout but there is also a healthy mix of songs and moments with more subtle tones. Sure the album contains standard Led Zeppelin notoriety, songs like Communication Breakdown, Good Times Bad Times and Dazed & Confused really do set this album apart, and such songs really do stand the test of time for their quality and intensity. But on the flip side there is the sheer beauty of Black Mountain Side to counter, which is just lovely.

In all areas, like with the band itself actually, this album just ticks all boxes, and that is thanks to the people involved in its making. Jimmy Page is a given, it’s Jimmy Page, but the rest of the band weren’t bad either. When we talk about vocal power, one name always springs to mind and that is Robert Plant, not many voices can match his range of moods and quality, just marvellous. John Bonham is rightfully heralded as one the greatest drummers ever and when I think of musicianship, I automatically think of John Paul Jones.



As an album, this debut must rank with the all time greats. Combining the rough edges of any of its 68/69 counterparts (The Stooges, White Light/White Heat etc), but at the same time it still remains very sophisticated and in line with albums like Abbey Road and The Village Green. Not only that but it manages to take all the best elements of folk and injects it with a reinvention of the Blues not heard before, cracking stuff! And it has a happy ending too, following a solid groundwork tour in the US and much hard work generally during its launch period, this album has grossed considerably more than it cost to produce. And not only that Cellar Dwellers, it also proved to be the perfect debut for setting up what was to come, a decade filled with more beauty wrapped in a blanket of rawness and heavy blues. This album has literally taken what Clapton started in 63 and has took it up a gear, quality, quality stuff!

TheCellarTapes

The Third Rail - Id Music
(1967)



Tracks


Most Cellar Dwellers will know of The Third Rail for the inclusion of their minor hit from 1967, Run Run Run, on the marvellous Nuggets compilation. The single itself reached the dizzy heights of number 53 in the US Billboard Chart, not too bad considering how unpatriotic the lyrical content appears to be. The Third Rail themselves were not a standard band, a slightly manufactured three piece who never really toured, who can only claim one album and a few unremarkable single releases during their time as a band. However as three individuals away from the band, they can claim credit for a few noteworthy musical moments during their careers.

The Third Rail were husband and wife team Artie and Kris Resnick (Artie incidentally co-wrote Under The Boardwalk), and teenage prodigy Joey Levine, who was actually still in High School when recording this only LP. All three would go on to play integral parts within the Bubblegum Rock movement, however in 1967 they found themselves together recording an album.



Originally released on Epic in 1967, and now available on Rev-Ola, Id Music remains to this day an album which is very underrated indeed. Containing lyrical content that would make Barry McGuire sit up and take note, whilst musically fixed in a framework of easy on the ears warped Psychedelic Pop and the odd classical arrangement, this album is not bad at all.

The opening and stand out track on the album is obviously the hit single that The Third Rail is predominantly remembered for amongst us Cellar Dwellers. It should be said that the inclusion of Run Run Run on Nuggets is slightly at odds with the rest of the songs found on that particular compilation. Stalwarts of the US Garage and Psyche scene of the 1960s like The Electric Prunes and The Chocolate Watchband really do not stylistically compare well to this song and what else can be found on Id Music. That of course is no criticism of the song itself; it’s just not strictly a Garage Psyche effort.

Instead Run Run Run is a clever dose of political satire mixed with catchy hooks and good humour. The amazing thing (and it should be said depressing thing too) about this song from 1967 is that it is still very applicable for today’s society 40 years on.

Run Run Run, despite its merits, should not distract you dear reader from the other glorious songs which can be found on this album. Songs like Jack Rabbit are fine examples of underground sixties pop; ticking all the boxes for what is actually just a good pop song which is just lacking the publicity it craves.

Another good song which meets the criteria as a good sixties pop song is Boppa Do Down Down which incidentally was the follow up single to Run Run Run back in ’67. The best pop song though on this album must easily go to Overdose of Love, which judging by the lyrical standards set throughout the rest of the album, must surely have a darker meaning than it initially appears to have.

But aside from the pop, this album is still a hive for excellent material of a US Ray Daviesesque social commentary nature. My favourite song on this album is actually track number nine, Invisible Man, the music and structure of this song is truly world class, with Levine giving an exceptionally sweet vocal performance.



Id Music by The Third Rail remains one of the great undiscovered gems of the 1960’s. This album has been unquestionably polished to the highest standards possible, which despite being a massive drawback to other albums and bands, here is countered by a real feeling of honesty and craftsmanship running throughout. Easily a must have for any Cellar Dweller, this album is seriously pleasant and rather marvellous, a pop album which you certainly won't feel dirty for owning.