Big Ears

Mr Big - What If . . . (2010)

Mr Big live up to their name





Mr Big, the American band with that name, are a shred-supergroup, formed by bassist Billy Sheehan after leaving David Lee Roth's band in 1988. He recruited drummer Pat Torpey from Robert Plant's group, guitarist Paul Gilbert from Racer X and singer Eric Martin. Opening track on the first self-titled album (1989) is Addicted to That Rush, which received international airplay, but failed to chart outside the US. Three more studio albums, Lean Into It (1991), Bump Ahead (1993) and Hey Man (1997) followed with Gilbert on guitar. The first three were successful in the US and Japan, but less so in the UK (with the exception of Bump Ahead). The band also enjoyed a number of international hit singles in the early ninties. Despite the success, there was friction in the band, so Richie Kotzen replaced Gilbert for two more albums, but, following differences between Martin and Sheehan, the band split in 2002.

What If . . . [pigs could fly] became the title of the reunion album for good reason as Billy Sheehan had found himself fired from his own band. When the promoters learned of this, they refused to continue with the (then) current tour, forcing Eric Martin to ask Sheehan to return. Sheehan agreed, but only for a farewell tour, and Mr Big subsequently disbanded. A reunion of sorts occurred in 2008, when Torpey, Sheehan and Kotzen joined Gilbert on stage at The House of Blues in LA. The musicians enjoyed the experience so much, that, a few days later, they decided to ask Martin to join them in a reformation. He agreed and, in 2009, the original lineup of Mr Big undertook a tour to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the release of their debut album.

The first track begins with Billy Sheehan's busy bass and Paul Gilbert's complimentary guitar, given added punch by a crystal clear production. The overall impression is of Van Halen, with harmonised vocals in the style of Steve Perry-era Journey. Eric Martin is a better technical singer than David Lee Roth, but he lacks the character of 'Diamond Dave'. American Beauty even begins with a David Lee Roth-style spoken intro, "Here we go". It also references Van Halen's When Push Comes to Shove, from Fair Warning, in the lyrics. Gilbert may be a shredder and is not afraid to solo, but he never wastes a note.

After two barnstormers, Mr Big switch to a slow ballad about a returning soldier, Stranger In My Life. Martin varies his voice skilfully, from quiet opening to full-blooded balladeer with harmonies; the same applies to Gilbert in reverse, from excellent solo to quiet coda. Track four, Noboday Left to Blame, sounds like Led Zeppelin's version of Nobody's Fault But Mine, with loud bass and jangling guitar. It may be more than a coincidence, as Paul Gilbert covered the song with John Paul Jones for Guitar Wars. Eric Martin is too good a singer to need echo on his voice, but it is very effective on this piece.

There is more rock 'n' roll echo on the vocals of Still Ain't Enough Time, along with some Sheehan soloing. Once Upon a Time has one of the best endings, from Sheehan and Gilbert, that I have heard in a long time. As Far As I Can See has a sense of urgency from Martin and a great riff. Track eight, All the Way Up, is the second ballad on the album and, although extremely catchy, is a terrific song. Another infectious work is I Won't Get in My Way, which demonstrates Martin's soulful voice.

Around the World has more of Sheehan's soloing, which is always integrated. At times it seems as if Sheehan and Gilbert are trying to outdo each other and their symbiotic method of playing is a joy to behold. Surprisingly, the commercial I Get the Feeling was not the single. It has more phenomenal bass playing. My favourite track is probably the European and US bonus track, Unforgiven, which is full-on heavy rock, giving the band space to really let their hair down. Gilbert's guitar positively shimmers and Martin gives his best Plant/Hagar impression. The ending is very abrupt and the album is over before I am ready.

What If . .. is Sheehan's album, his bass dominates throughout, but Gilbert's guitar is always tasteful and never obtrusive. Eric Martin is able to vary his voice and the lyrics do not disappoint, yet, when I first heard the album, I thought it was let down by arrangements that are not memorable. I put this down to the production which, although pin-sharp, concentrates on the dynamism of the guitars and neglects variety in the melodies. What was needed, I felt, was a sense of the unpredictable. However, after repeated listenings, What If .. . has grown on me, insofar as it has made me want to seek out more Mr Big and Racer X material at the first opportunity. Billy Sheehan and Paul Gilbert are incredible!


What If . . . Tracklist

1. Undertow (4:49)
2. American Beauty (3:44)
3. Stranger in My Life (4:26)
4. Nobody Left to Blame (4:20)
5. Still Ain't Enough for Me (3:04)
6. Once Upon a Time (4:03)
7. As Far as I Can See (3:55)
8. All the Way Up (5:12)
9. I Won't Get in My Way (4:40)
10. Around the World (3:51)
11. I Get the Feeling (4:34)
12. Unforgiven (4:16) European & American edition bonus track

The Japanese & Korean edition has Kill Me with a Kiss (5:59) as the bonus, in place of Unforgiven. I have yet to hear a good quality post of this song, but it has Bad Co's Feel Like Makin' Love riff and a similarly leisurely pace. In spite of a strong guitar solo and some loose piano, the track is inferior to Unforgiven.


What If Lineup

Eric Martin: Vocals
Paul Gilbert: Guitars & backing vocals
Billy Sheehan: Bass guitar & backing vocals
Pat Torpey: Drums, percussion & backing vocals





Written in August 2012

Unknown Soldier

Great write-up for the Captain Beyond album which has already been discussed in the "prog club" so I won't go on about it here.

I didn't know that the Groundhogs had a 'best of' cd covering the crucial period upto 1972. Clive Brooks only joined I think in 1974 from Home, but I really keen on getting that cd.

Didn't know that Mr.Big had released a recent album, I need to revisit their stuff again. I liked Eric Martin when he was with the band, not that much as a solo artist.

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Big Big Train - English Electric (Part One) (2012)


BBT's Countryfile





English Electric Tracklist
1. The First Rebreather (8.32)
2. Uncle Jack (3.49)
3. Winchester From St Giles' Hill (7.16)
4. Judas Unrepentant (7.18)
5. Summoned By Bells (9.17)
6. Upton Heath (5.39)
8. A Boy In Darkness (8.03)
9. Hedgerow (8.52)

There is a list of albums that I did not on their release, but which are now among my favourites: For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music (1973), Burn (1974) by Deep Purple, Don't Look Back by Boston (1978) and others. Perhaps Big Big Train's English Electric is one such album. On the first few hearings, I did not like English Electric because, whereas Big Big Train had previously imitated the intricacies of Genesis, with David Longdon on lead vocals they were more closely copying their style. After all, if I want to hear Genesis, I can listen to Nursery Cryme (1971) and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974). In addition, the pace seemed far too languid for my tastes. On the positive side, Nick D'Virgilio, former collaborator of Kevin Gilbert, drummer with Genesis during the underrated Calling All Stations period and core member of the excellent Spock's Beard, is on drums and backing vocals. Indeed, Big Big Train is something of a progressive rock supergroup, with, in addition to NDV, Dave Gregory from XTC on guitar and mellotron and David Longdon from Gifthorse on lead vocals (he also auditioned for Genesis, but lost out to Ray Wilson), along with guests like Martin Orford on backing vocals and Andy Tillison on keyboards. Big big Train also have a fixation with the southern English landscape (as well as the countryside and characters), of which I am a resident.

According to the sleevenotes, The First Rebreather is about an heroic diver, Alexander Lambert, who worked for the creator of an early aqualung, Henry Fleuss, in closing a door in the flooded Severn Tunnel in 1880. It is an intriguing and little known story, which is used by the band in the manner of The Return of the Giant Hogweed on Genesis's Nursery Cryme album. More than any other on the album, this track is the most like Genesis. It opens with a slightly menacing riff, as befits the subject matter of a dark submerged tunnel, and David Longdon's overlapping vocal arrangement and harmonies are very similar Peter Gabriel's on I Know What I like in Your Wardrobe from Selling England by the Pound (1973). Like all the songs on the album, The First Rebreather has a very catchy vocal melody, with Andy Gregory's mellotron (or M-Tron Pro) which develops into a birotron-sounding solo and conventional synthesizer. Nick D'Virgilio is the driving force behind this track and throughout the album as a whole. There are even some Pink Floydian 'echoes' and Dag Stokke (Jorn Lande) synths in the fade.

Fortunately, the album drifts away from the overt Genesis stylings with Uncle Jack, which could be by Lindisfarne or String Driven Thing, with its banjo and mandolins. It describes a walk along an English hedgerow and closes with the imaginative device of using associated compound words or nouns that go together: hawthorn, blackthorn, (hazel) hedgerow, rosehips, hawberries, dry stone, dog rose, honeysuckle, blackbirds, redwing, song thrush, yellowhammer, lacewings, ladybirds, fox earths, rabbit warrens, badgers' sets and partridge nests. Sadly, the song, like the remainder of much of the album, is not evocative of the countryside, because the production, while clear and sharp, is rather cold and sterile. Contrary to what the lyrics might lead one to think, Winchester From St Giles' Hill is more concerned with the view of Winchester as an encapsulation of English history, rather than its physical geography or natural history. Considering the lyrical content it is a bit overwrought. The lullaby-type vocal arrangement is like those of Prefab Sprout and the the instrumental passage, about three minutes into the song, reminds me of Words by The Bee Gees, which is appropriate as the early Genesis were strongly inspired by the Gibb brothers. The guitar solo sounds like George Benson and is one of many leftfield masterstrokes on the album.

Like The First Rebreather, Judus Unrepentant tells the story of an individual, faithfully relating the tale of brilliant art restorer and forger, Tom Keating (1917-1984), who planted little clues in his works to reveal their lack of authenticity. Items such as lead white lettering or certain anachronisms may be the Judus of the title, although he was discovered when a suspicious number of Samuel Palmer watercolours simultaneously appeared for sale. On the other hand, he refused to name his forgeries and may have been seen as a Judus by the art-dealing establishment which he sought to undermine. Some busy piano playing and a funky keyboard solo recall D'Virgilio's Spock's Beard. At this stage I should apologise for not detailing which musician plays what instrument, but, as the band are multi-instrumental, I am unable to do so. As it is, it took me a while to figure out that the 'badger and sable' are the bristles in the brushes, not the animals! I can imagine audiences swaying with their lighters aloft during live performances of this lilting piece, although it has to be said that the strings are supremely elegant.

Summoned by Bells is my favourite track on the album. Greg Spawton's lyrics describe the Highfields 'houses in terraced rows' and are evocative of S. R. Badmin's famous Village and Town book. A variety of harmonies are utilised, including Prefab Sprout and Rolling Stones-type, with jazzy piano and keyboards. At the halfway mark, confusingly sounding like the intro to a new track, is a brass instrumental section, which cleverly splits trumpets and trombone between the stereo channels. It must be the most effective combination of rock band and brass insruments since Golden Earring's hay day. But, best of all, is where David Longdon finally cuts loose, with, "So come on now." Unfortunately, he does not necessarily take the band with him. On Upton Heath, Big Big Train manage to capture the atmosphere of the English countryside, paradoxically with shades of the American Negro spiritual, Swing Low Sweet Chariot. It is a beautiful song, wonderfully compulsive and touchingly sung.



A dark song indeed is A Boy in Darkness, about the Victorian practice of employing children in coal mines, although the instrumental section, representing the light, is bright and sprightly. Initially, the strings make this similar to Fairport Convention, while the later toe-tapping flutes are more like Jethro Tull. A heavy guitar solo concludes the track. A distorted intro and Searchers-style jangling guitars lead us back to Hedgerow, a continuation of Uncle Jack. D'Virgilio's drumming, the guitars and brass recall The Hollies' Jennifer Eccles, whie the strings are a conflation of Mostly Autumn and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending. Added to this is a punchy and original guitar solo with yet another catchy vocal melody. On the album's closing, David Longdon is back to his most Gabriel-like.

After hearing this album many times, the band have won me round. However, bearing in mind the Genesis connection, my criticism remains that the album is too sedate and I find myself yearning for them to suddenly burst into a Steve Hackett style passage. Perhaps what is needed is a Rickenbacker bass player like former BBT collaborator Dave Meros. Also, are Andy Tillison and his sparkling keyboards set to join BBT on an official basis? Whether English Electric will Join For Your Pleasure, Burn and Don't Look Back in my affections remains to be seen. Watch this space . . .

Big Ears

Big Big Train - English Electric (Part One) (2012)

BBT's Countryfile Part Two


English Electric Lineup (From Wikipedia)
David Longdon: Lead and backing vocals, flute, vibes, tambourine, banjo, accordion, melodica, keyboards, acoustic guitar, birds and bees, mandolin
Andy Poole: Acoustic guitar, keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals, baritone bee
Gregory Spawton: Bass, guitar, slow moog, backing vocals, mandolin, acoustic guitar, keyboards
Dave Gregory: Guitar, voice of the court usher, banjo, mellotron
Nick D'Virgilio: Drums, backing vocals

With (From the Sleevenotes):
Abigail Trundle (cello)
Andy Tillison (organ, Moog, keyboards)
Ben Godfrey (cornet,trumpet,piccolo trumpet)
Danny Manners (piano,double bass)
Daniel Steinhardt (electric guitar)
Dave Desmond (trombone)
Eleanor Gilchrist (violin)
Geraldine Berreen (violin)
Jan Jaap Langereis (recorders)
Jon Truscott (tuba)
John Storey (euphonium, trombone)
Lily Adams (backing vocals)
Martin Orford (backing vocals)
Rachel Hall (violin)
Sue Bowran (violin)
Teresa Whipple (viola)
Verity Joy (backing vocals)
Violet Adams (backing vocals)

Produced by Andy Poole
Recorded by Big Big Train at English Electric studios
Double bass on Upton Heath, Judas Unrepentant and Summoned By Bells, drums, brass band, classical guitar and violin recorded by Rob Aubrey at Aubitt studios
String section and double bass recorded by Ken Brake at Regal Lane studios
Recorder on Summoned By Bells was recorded by Edo Spanninga at Studio Aurelia
Mixed and mastered by Rob Aubrey at Aubitt studios
Cover and booklet photography by Matt Sefton
Portrait photograph by Pete Callow
Design by Andy Poole
Curator: Greg Spawton

From: English Electric (Part One) | bigbigtrain.com
Big Big Train: Dave Gregory with Big Big Train
Big Big Train

Big Ears

Thanks as always, US. Clive Brooks joined from Egg and is on the Hogwash tracks. Take care with the Best Of on CD, as tracks can be missing. Since writing the review, I think What If . . . is probably Mr Big's best album, although Billy Sheehan has done some great jazzrock with Mike Portnoy.

Unknown Soldier

As I've just reviewed this album on the prog rock club, I really enjoyed reading this review. It's great how you've tied in a lot of other artists to explain your viewpoint.

As a footnote, interesting that you really rate Boston's second album, I've always seen it as the weaker link between the excellent first and third albums.

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Trollheart

Yeah, well done indeed. You certainly analysed it well, with plenty of references and certainly information I couldn't put my hands on (I don't have a physical copy of the disc, which it seems you do). But my own review, both in my journal and in the PRAC contest your claim that the music is sterile and cold. I don't find it so at all. An interesting review and much different to mine I must say.

If you're planning to get into BBT after this I'd recommend, in order, "Bard", "From the river to the sea" and "Gathering speed", followed by "Goodbye to the age of steam" and then "The underfall yard", to get a better overall idea of what the band are like.

Oh, and I agree with US: "Don't look back" was a big disappointment after the s/t and only "Third stage" restored my faith in Boston...

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Big Ears

Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill (UA 1974)

Wind of Change




Hall of the Mountain Grill Tracklist
(All songs written by Dave Brock, except where noted)

Vinyl Side One
1. The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) 6:50
2. Wind of Change 5:08
3. D-Rider (Nik Turner) 6:14
4. Web Weaver 3:15

Vinyl Side Two
5. You'd Better Believe It 7:13
6. Hall of the Mountain Grill (Simon House) 2:24
7. Lost Johnny (Ian Kilmister/Mick Farren) 3:30
8. Goat Willow (Del Dettmar) 1:37
9. Paradox 5:35

Bonus Tracks on the 1996 Remaster
10. You'd Better Believe It (Single Version Edit) 3:22
11. The Psychedelic Warlords (Single Version) 3:57
12. Paradox (Remix Single Edit) 4:04
13. It's So Easy 5:20

Hall of the Mountain Grill Lineup
Dave Brock: Lead guitar, 12-string guitar, synthesizer, organ, harmonica, vocals
Simon House: Synthesizer, mellotron, violin
Nik Turner: Saxophone, oboe, flute, vocals
Del Dettmar: Keyboards, synthesizer, kalimba
Lemmy Kilmister: Bass, vocals, guitars
Simon King: Drums, percussion


Hall of the Mountain Grill is Hawkwind's fifth album (including the live Space Ritual), recorded and released in 1974. It is to the band's credit that they made their best album following the departure of two key musicians, lyricist/vocalist Bob Calvert and electronics player, Michael 'Dik Mik' Davies. However, classically-trained Simon House, from Third Ear Band, joined on synthesizer, mellotron and electric violin, adding a new lush symphonic dimension to Hawkwind. The album's title is a conflation of The Mountain Grill, a cafe in Portobello Road, and Edvard Grieg's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'. A strange paradox is formed by the group's comic album title and Barney Bubbles' atmospheric painting of a derelict spaceship in the mists of an alien lagoon.

The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) is one of Hawkwind's best tracks, to rank alongside Silver Machine and Orgone Accumulator, and it has all of their trademark elements: a heavy rock riff, space-y electronic effects, multi-tracked vocals, Nik Turner's sax playing, distorted voices, sweeping mellotron, wah-wah guitar, instrumental passages and driving percussion. The lyrics are firmly anti-establishment with, 'We're sick of politicians harassment and laws/ All we do is get screwed up by other people's flaws/ World turned upside down now there's nothing else to do/ But live in concrete jungles that just block up the view/ And that ain't no joke, you can disappear in smoke'. Most important of all it has Lemmy on driving bass, providing the backbone to the band on his penultimate album with them. Wind of Change is an atmospheric instrumental, featuring Simon House on violin, guaranteed to make you sit up and listen.

Most of the vocals on the album are by Dave Brock, but Nik Turner handles the duties on D-Rider, on which he uses a pronounced English accent. It provides a touch of psychedelia with phasing, swirling voices and reeds. Brock's chunky chords continue throughout, with Lemmy providing intricate bass lines. Web Weaver is a short song which continues the psychedelic feel, with space-y guitar on top of acoustic guitar and piano, but at around the two minute mark, the band cut loose on a jaunty instrumental passage that takes us to the fade. You'd Better Believe It is probably my least favourite track on the album, with its shuffling drums, chugging bass, persistent violin and chanted vocals. Nevertheless, it was an enormous influence on the so-called new-wave bands, which came in its wake, like Magazine and New Order.

Hall of the Mountain Grill is another impressionistic instrumental with piano, mellotron and violin. It is reminiscent of King Crimson, although Hawkwind are always unique, and Eddie Jobson must have been aware of this track before UK's first album. Lemmy finally takes lead vocals on Lost Johnny, a song he later developed with Motorhead. It certainly sounds like prototype Motorhead with Lemmy singing about a street kid, Dave Brock's soloing fuzz guitar and the short inconsequential nature of the piece. Lost Johnny promises more than it delivers, as if the band could have taken the song further, but Lemmy decided to stop after the guitar solo. Goat Willow is the third and final short instrumental, a gentle piece featuring Nik Turner's flute.

Recorded three years before Animals, the guitar on Paradox now sounds like a template for Dave Gilmour's work on Pink Floyd's tenth album. The 'down, down' lyrics also pre-dates Nektar's Recycled album by two years. Paradox is no Lost Johnny and Hawkwind close the album on a fully developed 'high'. Simon House and Del Dettmar's keyboards are majestic and Lemmy's bass is dynamic. Nothing more than Paradox emphasies Dave Brock's determination to maintain his English accent and folk music style of delivery.

My version of Mountain Grill is the 1996 remaster, which has four bonus tracks; none are essential, but collectively they serve as a useful overture to the album. The first of these is a single edit of You'd Better Believe It, which, at half its full length, sounds even more like the coming 'new-wave'. It could be my imagination, but the single edits of Psychedelic Warlords and Paradox sound snappier than the originals and, in any case, I never tire of hearing these songs. It's So Easy is a live-in-the-studio recording from Edmonton Sundown, dominated by Brock's voice and appropriately Lemmy's ever-reliable bass.

A writer once described Lemmy's sacking as a case of Hawkwind cutting off their nose to spite their face. If Hawkwind are the first and best space-rock band, then Hall of the Mountain Grill is the greatest space-rock album ever recorded. Indeed, the classic-era Hawkwind is an outstanding progressive rock band of the seventies, holding their own among contemporaries like King Crimson and Pink Floyd. It is therefore an irony that, during work on Hawkwind's next and last great album, Warrior On the Edge of Time, one of their best musicians fell out of favour and went on to greater solo success with (IMHO) an inferior band, but, thoughts of what could have been aside, Hall of the Mountain Grill stands as a monument to the band at their creative peak.

Big Ears

In Search of Barney Bubbles

Radio progamme on the artistic genius who gave Hawkwind their image




The front cover painting for Hall of the Mountain Grill was by Barney Bubbles, who was associated with Hawkwind and had produced designs for the X In Search of Space, Doremi Fasol Latido and Space Ritual albums. As Roger Dean did for Yes, Bubbles gave Hawkwind an image and style, which lifted them out of the ordinary. He went on to work for Jake Rivera's Stiff Records and musicians of the new wave as well as those of the early nineteen-eighties. Bubbles' graphic approach complemented the artists particularly well, although he was a painter and concealed symbols in his work. Indeed, he was an intelligent man who attended grammer school, but he suffered from deteriorating mental health, combined with business problems.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast a programme called In Search of Barney Bubbles on Monday 2nd January 2012. Below is a link to a BBC recording, which includes interviews with his family, friends and business associates, including his sister and Nik Turner. I have also included the BBC's accompanying blurb. I should warn anyone considering listening to the story, that it is a very sad tale. Barney Bubbles committed suicide in 1983, aged only 41, in unpleasant circumstances, which did not befit his unquestionable artistic genius.


"Mark Hodkinson goes in search of the truth about one of the most influential and enigmatic of graphic designers - Barney Bubbles who changed the way record sleeves looked.

Barney Bubbles worked with some of the biggest names in popular music in the 1970s and 80s. He created album sleeves of cryptic intricacy, giving a depth of detail that was new to the medium. But he hardly ever signed his work and often operated under obscure pseudonyms, so his creations are still being uncovered.. With some difficulty as Barney took his own life nearly 20 years ago.

Mark Hodkinson speaks to Barney's family and colleagues to uncover his genius and the reasons for his tragically early death."


In Search of Barney Bubbles BBC Radio 4 link:

BBC Radio 4 - In Search of Barney Bubbles


Other interesting links:

Reasons to be Cheerful» Blog Archive » In Search Of Barney Bubbles on BBC Radio 4

Barney Bubbles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unknown Soldier

I'd agree that Hall of the Mountain Grill might well be the finest space rock album ever recorded, I think the reason for its greatness to be the fact that their previous studio effort Doremi Fasol Latido lack the excellence on In Search of Space, so the band I think were determined to release something special as I'm sure they knew they were at their creative peak around this time. Their live album Space Ritual was pure evidence of this as well. Despite all the highly talented individuals with the band, Hawkwind were very much Dave Brock's band in most aspects, like King Crimsons were with Robert Fripp and Jethro Tull were with Ian Anderson. "The Psychedelic Warlords" certainly ranks up there with "Silver Machine" as one of the definitive Hawkwind songs.

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