It's been an interesting two nights of rock & roll. Ian Lloyd of the band STORIES visited Boston on February 9th - Dorchester Massachusetts actually as the band he is working with, Social Hero, performed at the Emerald Isle. The fact that the guitarist/vocalist David Lloyd is Ian's son is no secret - Brandon Lotti on bass, his brother Griffin Lotti on guitar and drummer Roy Odabashian played a good, hard set at the Emerald Isle on Dorchester Ave. Material from their five song CD E.P. - "Under Control", "Adore (w/a Bullet), "Radioactive Man" and other songs were played to the twenty-something crowd. There's a lot of promise for this group - and they have the voice that backed up Lou Gramm on many hits from the band Foreignor providing a unique sound for a band. They've got stacks of gigs under their belt
http://socialhero.com/main.htmland a rock star mentor, so keep your eye on 'em.
On Saturday night, he who never goes out anymore (that would be me), missed the
Fox Pass/Third Rail/Totaro show at The Kirkland - rock journalist joe vig has yet to be cloned, but he did make it to The Regent Theater and get a tour of the room and the beautiful new downstairs while Brad Delp and Beatlejuice were rocking away in the main room. It was SOLD OUT, of course, for the lead singer of RTZ/Boston and his band as they played hours of Beatles songs, with Delp perfectly matching the voices of John, Paul, George and Ringo! It's one thing to have a rock star singing material by the Fab Four, but another thing to hear this amazing talent in a setting very far removed from the music of Tom Scholz. After the show Brad told RJJV (that would be this new blog) that he had "to learn all the harmonies in the old days" to teach his other bandmates, but he was being modest. Few people on the planet can vocally match one of the greatest music catalogs in history for rigorous hours on end - and be the voice with the dynamic vocal range on his own classic hits like "More Than A Feeling", "Long Time" and "Don't Look Back". Hearing the vocal work of Ian Lloyd and Brad Delp in these intimate settings over a Friday and a Saturday night is the kind of thing to inspire me to get away from the computer and back into the clubs.
The group Boston will be touring this year and Ian Lloyd's STORIES, a band I saw a couple of times oh about 35 years ago at the Stone Phoenix Coffee House and then The Boston Club (now THE PARADISE) will be returning to Boston, so 2007 promises some nice music in the future.
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Interesting how one's writings show up all over creation in this day and age of the internet. My reviews of Sky Saxon's SEEDS have shown up on the Lost-In-Tyme Blogs:
http://lost-in-tyme.blogspot.com/search/label/Lost%20In%20Tymewith more 60's ramblings on
http://xxxrockrula.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.htmlXXXRockRula.com including my Vanilla Fudge review - these bloggers are real psychedelic freaks, aren't they?, and another cosmic one, Akashaman's Kosmos
http://akashaman.blogspot.com/2006/12/paupers-ellis-island-verve-68.htmlhas some of my etchings on "The Paupers", a band which included an eventual member of Janis Joplin's FULL TILT BOOGIE BAND. Yes, we're deep inside a Janis Joplin kick these days and there's going to have to be an entire blog on that. The Texas International Pop Festival was kind enough to send me a DVD and CD of material from that major event, and John Till - from both Joplin's Kozmic Blues and Full Tilt Boogie Band - just did an interview with me for his biography on AMG
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E8BB0C65F68652DE39F670DAB73F08657A92961E65913E65CA46F68BA5DBB677AB78AFE02CA45A089FC2E457FAD662382DED93&sql=11:3b8j1vj8zzha~T1
Simultaneous with the Till bio I also wrote one on Steve Hunter, another of my guitar heroes. As I'm writing a book on the Rock & Roll Animal tour it was fun/work putting together Steve's AMG bio (as well as John Till's).
THE DEACON STEVE HUNTER
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E8BB0C65F68652DE39F670DAB73F08657A92961E65913E65CA46F68BA5DBB677AB78AFE02CA45A089FC2E457F5D6633B2DED93&sql=11:cnen97r7krjt~T1
You can get many of my biographies here:
http://jvbiographies.blogspot.comThis new Blog will have my current ramblings and explore a little more of my Top 40 from the Varulven website:
http://www.varulven.com Music Business Monthly/Joe Vig Top 40
A terrific find is comedian Dave Schwensen's THE BEATLES IN CLEVELAND
http://www.beatlesincleveland.com/
Dave Schwensen is the author of Comedy FAQ's And Answers: How The Stand-Up Biz Really Works, (Allworth Press, NYC), and How To Be A Working Comic: An Insider's Guide To A Career In Stand-Up Comedy, (Back Stage Books, NYC), so one wouldn't expect him to come up with a book on the Fab 4, but a chance page on his website a couple or three years back regarding John, Paul, George & Ringo got him instant karma...instant feedback actually, and as this writer supervises the Bobby Hebb webpage, well, the eventual Schwensen/Hebb interview happened and this book found its way into my hands.
It's impressive! Combining the 1964 and 1966 Cleveland Beatles performances and all the drama and trauma that surrounded them makes for great reading. Conspiracies between radio stations, the crowds going beserk in the early days, and the controversy created by the band's album cover and comments in the press make for a pure investigation of 60s pop culture and the major phenomenon that spearheaded it.
There are some incredible books on the Beatles, initiated by Kris Engelhardt's sublime BEATLES UNDERCOVER, Geoff Emerick's brilliant "Here, There and Everywhere", Tim Riley's "Tell Me Why", Richie Unterberger's new "The Unreleased Beatles: Music & Film", and to a lesser degree The Beatles by Bob Spitz and Ticket To Ride by Larry Kane. There are a few books on Sgt. Pepper including the one by Allan F. Moore
http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Peppers-Lonely-Cambridge-Handbooks/dp/0521574846/sr=1-4/qid=1171157665/ref=sr_1_4/104-1842449-4106366?ie=UTF8&s=books
...no shortage of work on the music that is the soundtrack to many of our lives. Which is why when a thorough effort on a major part of that band's career is put together, a companion piece to Barry Tashian's "Ticket To Ride" (a different - and better book - than Larry Kane's one with the same title), well, it gets a tip of the hat.
1)The Beatles In Cleveland by Dave
2)James Brown performing "SUNNY"
3)Rain On The Roof CD by Margaret MacDonald
4)The Shirts: Only The Dead Know Brooklyn CD
5)Barre Phillips Live In Vienna
6)Social Hero CD from Social Hero
honorable mention
Karen Grenier LIVE CD
Atlantics
BARRE PHILLIPS is a genius, and this DVD from Music Video Distributors is really terrific.
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E8BB0C65F68652DE39F670DAB73F08657A92961E65913E65CA46F68BA5DBB677AB78AFE02CA45A089FCDE453F8D6653D2DED93&sql=10:9r548qmcbtz4
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Contact:
http://myspace.com/joeviglionelast edited 2/10/07, 6/2/07
DORIS TROY JUST ONE LOOKOK, everyone, it is 1/25/08 and some of these links have changed! It's a drag, I know, as I have to go in and find the songs and re-post them.
Let's start with JUST ONE LOOK:
Song Review by Joe Viglione
"Just One Look" is as magic a pop tune as you'll ever hear. Bass, piano and drums open Atlantic Records 45 RPM #2188 with an unforgettable riff which embraces the immediate chorus and Doris Troy's incredible voice. The song captures that moment of love at first sight with commanding power - a Gospel vocal way out front with a tonal quality that is so appealing one wonders why Doris Troy didn't own the radio waves in the sixties and seventies and beyond. Yes, it's the same voice heard in the grooves of The Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want", Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and scores of other recordings that Troy performed on, but it is this two minute and twenty-eight second classic that she is most identified with. Top 10 in the summer of 1963, the reggae guitar is like so much of this song - one of the elements but not the resulting style. Reggae guitar, raspy gospel vocals, bluesy bassline and shuffling drums all combine to make for perfect power pop. On The Demo That Got The Deal radio show, July 1, 2000 - the 37th anniversary of "Just One Look's" chart action - Doris told this writer that the demo tape was the recording which was pressed and distributed by Atlantic. In David Nathan's excellent book, The Soulful Divas, he notes "In 1998 the song was used once again in a television commercial (for Direct TV)". Along with other advertisements the tune's been covered by many, many artists including Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Linda Ronstadt, twice by The Hollies with Graham Nash, and is irresistable whenever someone works that timeless melody and sentiment which almost everyone can relate to. It's the quintessential song for hopeless romantics because Doris Troy inpsires in her determination to "get you, someday." Just one listen is all it takes to fall in love with the singer and her song, especially when the "I thought I was dreaming" bridge comes in. Immaculate. Written by Gregory Carrol/Doris Payne
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E89B2C45F6A672FE19D650DA971F28455A92B63E45913E65CA46F68BA5DBB674AB7BAAE02CA45A079FCBEE5CF8DF6C3F3F9D8EDB&sql=33:fifixcejldse
Joan Baez DIAMONDS & RUST
Song Review by Joe Viglione
A & M Records single #1737 is a haunting four minutes and forty-four seconds of music from Joan Baez which stands as a classic epic translating a love affair by two legends into equal parts paean/spiritual revenge. Calling her ex the "unwashed phenomenon" and someone good at keeping things "vague", she tells Bob Dylan and the world she needs "some of that vagueness now." "Now" is the end of 1975 and urban legend has it that this Top 35 hit (not nearly as big as her Top 3 "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" from 1971) was the product of some record company ultimatum to deliver a chart song or else. Much like the alleged demands put on Garland Jeffries which resulted in "Wild In The Streets" on Atlantic (and the "or else" anyways, or else being termination of residence at that particular label). If the myth is true, this is a pure pearl from the oyster's irritation, recorded between January 21-24 1975, it would gain momentum in October and November of that year. A truly magical excursion into the relationship between Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, the songstress has to deliver words on par with her stunning voice, and she does, matching her famous ex-lover and capturing a "Hollywood" relationship brilliantly. Bernie Gelb's liner notes shed some light on the creation of "Diamonds & Rust", noting it was the first track cut at the sessions. Baez equates gems and tarnish with thinking about the past, and concludes the ode/attack with the notation that she's already purchased that luxury, paid in full. Reading between the lines is half the fun, and Dylan's friend Buzzy Linhart says he can go on and on about the significance in these grooves, as can most fans of Dylan...and Baez. A classic in the truest form of the word, produced by Joan and David Kershenbaum with the singer on guitar as well as Moog and Arp Synthesizers. Exquisite, and the title of a superb and important album from this artist. Read more here:
http://wm04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:axfrxzejld0e JERRY LEE LEWIS Another Place, Another Time
Written in April 0f 2003...yikes, does time fly...
The title track of the 1968 release on Smash Records from the album that unleashed &"What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)", "Another Place, Another Time", is a two minute and twenty-five second rendition by Jerry Lee Lewis of a song originally recorded by Del Reeves.According to the excellent liner notes by Keith Glass in the Raven Records re-release "The Killer's" version went Top 5 while Reeves earlier attempt was "unsuccessful." Written by Jerry Chesnut before he joined television's Hee-Haw program, the former Kentucky railroad conductor/vacuum cleaner distributor turned songwriter garnered his first #1 and a Grammy nomination with this title, (according to the Nashville Songwriter's Foundation hall of fame). The simple drumbeat, bassline and piano accompaniment was produced by a third Jerry, Jerry Kennedy, a fact which might inspire another country/pop crossover artist, Bobby Hebb, to remark that everyone on the record had to be named Jerry in order to participate. Keith Glass ponders in his liner notes why this success didn't last longer for Jerry Lee. Perhaps the format was too limiting - when he wails "Won't that old stairway be hard to climb/To a lonely room waiting for another place, another time" it almost sounds like Tom Jones going into his "They'll all come to see me" line on "Green Green Grass Of Home", a country song that crossed over with the help of a pop crooner. Read more here:
http://wm04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E89B2C45F6A672FE19D650DA971F28455A92B63E45913E65CA46F68BA5DBB674AB7BAAE02CA45A079FCBEF5CFED46C3D399D8EDB&sql=33:kcfuxq8rldfe
Jerry Lee - What Made Milwaukee Famous written by Glenn Sutton
Song Review by Joe Viglione
Covered by Rod Stewart, Nat Stuckey, Hank Thomas, Commander Cody, Del McCoury, Liz Anderson (as well as her daughter Lynn Anderson ) the Nashville Songwriter's Foundation calls this title "the Jerry Lee Lewis trademark." One might take some kind of issue with that honor since the tune was written by Glenn Sutton, not Jerry Lee, and it doesn't take a film biography entitled Great Balls Of Fire to clarify that the rock & roll side of the singer's career is the identity best perceived by the world at large. What is significant is that a singer so explosive could calm down and issue this lament resplendent in rippling piano which adds infinitely to the Jerry Kennedy production, Lewis' keyboards taking over from the guitar lines which sound like they were cloned off of a Kitty Wells recording.The two minutes and thirty-six second tune which appeared on "The Killer's" 1968 lp, Another Place, Another Time, takes from another trademark, Schlitz Beer, and tells a tale of life on the skids via love lost - lost after drinking night after night after night. The lyric is simple with the chorus repeating the title of the song - and not in the same way that The Hilltop Singers and The New Seekers shamelessly endorsed Coca Cola with "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing". The negative connotation surely didn't hurt Schlitz sales, though the brand is pretty much obsolete with the song outlasting its inspiration to become a country classic. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the performance is that Jerry Lee Lewis is absolutely authentic - none of the questionable country of Olivia Newton-John or even Kenny Rogers when those artists added more pop to the music form than purists were comfortable with. Read more here:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E89B2C45F6A672FE19D650DA971F28455A92B63E45913E65CA46F68BA5DBB674AB7BA9E02CA45A079FCFE453FBD667342DED93&sql=33:0cfuxq8rldfe
CHER BELIEVE
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3062830CHER BANG BANG
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X4295951J GEILS Looking For A Love
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X1164551WHAMMER JAMMER
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X2624123J GEILS LOVE STINKS
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X4221695FREEZE FRAME
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3096149CENTERFOLD
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3096151DETROIT BREAKDOWN
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X2721005ANGEL IN BLUE
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3096156Pack Fair & Square
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X906080One Last Kiss from Sanctuary lp
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X5211723Must Of Got Lost Blow Your Face Out lp
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X60447
Bette Midler FRIENDS composed by Mark "Moogy" Klingman/Buzzy Linhart
Atlantic single #2980, "Friends" by Bette Midler, is a different vocal and mix of a magical song which opens and closes side two of the singer's sensational 1972 debut, The Divine Miss M. The first version on the lp is campy with tons of off-the-cuff vocalizing by the soon-to-be superstar. After the first chorus she says touchingly "Standing at the end of the road, Buzz" instead of "boys", a nod to co-songwriter and friend Buzzy Linhart. The second go round on that version she says "Standing at the end of a real long road, Jack." This version is an entirely different take with different musicians save for pianist/rhythm track arranger/co-producer Barry Manilow. It features David Spinozza on guitars, Ron Carter on bass, Ralph MacDonald on percussion with Ray Lucas on drums.
All the vocals are by Bette, and they get quite energetic and wonderfully chaotic.
The single is actually taken from the second version which concludes the album, featuring a new vocal by Miss M. on at least the first half of the 45 rpm where she goes up an octave. It is one of the interesting and cool aspects of the single version. Another important component is arranger, conductor and co-producer Barry Manilow's gorgeous harmony vocals up in the mix(on the album the instrumentation is in front of Barry's voices). It's a stunning production by Ahmet Ertegun, Geoffrey Haslam and Manilow which has a fade nine seconds longer (2:59) than the two minute and fifty-second version that concludes the album. The song hit the Top 40 in November of 1973, the third hit for the singer that year, but it should have been much, much bigger. Barry Manilow covered it on his Bell Records debut, also in 1973, and though Manilow would prove to be an incredible interpreter - how can this be said with respect - his version on Barry Manilow I is absolutely dreadful. Those delicious harmonies he added to the Midler disc are replaced by neo-disco. Just imagine this wonderful tune transformed into some sort of prototype for his 1978 Top 10 hit "Copacabana (At The Copa)". If that combo sounds bad on paper, rest assured the end result is even worse. Barry has 2/3rds of The Harlettes on his version, Gail Kantor and Merle Miller (then girlfriend of co-writer Moogy Klingman ). Laurel Masse is the third backing vocalist on Manilow's version while Melissa Manchester is the original Harlette with Bette and appears on the hit. Steve Gadd plays drums on Barry's rendition, Utopia drummer Kevin Ellman is on the Midler smash while the guitar on both Bette (model 2 and 3) and Barry's is by Dickie Frank with pianos by Sir Barry.
Read lots more here:
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E89B2C45F6A672FE19D650DA971F28455A92B63E45913E65CA46F68BA5DBB674AB7BA9E02CA45A079FCCE452FBD663352DFC93&sql=33:kvfwxct0ldte
Bette Midler Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
Hughie Prince/Don Raye
Song Review by Joe Viglione
The two minutes and twenty-six seconds regenerating this energetic Andrew Sisters hit from 1941 became a #1 Adult Contemporary hit for Bette Midler in the summer of 1973. Atlantic 45 rpm #2964 was her second hit single and first Top 10 on the pop charts, beating the Top 15 showing of the version that was popular 32 years before. It's a real period piece produced by Barry Manilow, Ahmet Ertegun and Geoffrey Haslam, arranged by Arif Mardin, with a vocal arrangement by Marty Nelson. But here's the clincher, it is The Divine Miss M herself on all vocals! Despite having her Harlettes available the song becomes a brilliant vehicle to silence any criticism of Bette's ability to sing with the best of them. This isn't a modernization, it's a period piece with ette Midler as The Andrews Sisters backed by drummer Ted Sommer on those great horn parts, Don Arnone on guitar, Dick Hyman playing the old-style piano with Milton Hilton on the essential bass. "He was a famous trumpet man from old Chicago way" the serious musician turned into a clock who has to wake the boys up with reveille. The camp is not in its reverence, it is in the audacity to tackle such a selection, the vocal sound straight out of an old Victorola with big band jazz embracing the old world pop. Read more here:
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E89B2C45F6A672FE19D650DA971F28455A92B63E45913E65CA46F68BA5DBB674AB7BA9E02CA45A079FCCE452FBD663352DFC93&sql=33:3vfexct0ldte
The Rose Bette
Song Review by Joe Viglione
There was, as songwriter legend has it, a frantic rush to compose music for the soundtrack to Bette Midler's film character, heavily based on the life of Pearl, Janis Joplin. Reportedly Donnie Fritts (a musician on Barbara Streisand's 1977 soundtrack A Star Is Born )and other writers were holed up in a hotel room for a few months cranking out songs, Buzzy Linhart writing some as well, though much or all of that material doesn't appear to have been utilized on the final cut. This slow ballad by Amanda McBroom did get the nod and the composer's harmony vocal appears on the record with along with Bette's lead. The musicians in the film and on the soundtrack feature members from Lou Reed's Rock 'n' Roll Animal band, but it is this close to solo piano/vocal performance that would become the signature tune to the film and album. On the long player is a stripped down version - Bette's voice accompanied only by "The Rose Ensemble" of songwriter Amanda Bloom on harmony vocal and Lincoln Mayorga on piano. Much like the original "The Sounds Of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel which eventually got Joe South's electric guitar and other frills to
bring it to #1 in December of 1965, "The Rose" rose up the charts with additions to the performance that appeared on the album. Read more here:
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47319DD49A87520E89B2C45F6A672FE19D650DA971F28455A92B63E45913E65CA46F68BA5DBB674AB7BA9E02CA45A079FCCE452FBD6633C2DFC93&searchlink=BETTE|MIDLER&samples=1&sql=11:aifwxqw5ldhe~T3
Carly Nobody Does It Better
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X2455628Carly Simon Anticipation
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X829566Carly Simon Haven't Got Time For The Pain
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X829562Carly Simon The Right Thing To Do
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X2042794Mockingbird
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X829560That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X829558Joe South Don't It Make You Want To Go Home
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264160Mirror Of Your Mind
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264166Rose Garden
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264155Untie Me
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264157Walk A Mile In My Shoes
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264156Down In The Boondocks
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264159Games People Play
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264153Hush
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305221859&sql=X3264154
LOST JOE VIG REVIEW OF STORIES
http://uk.music.yahoo.com/read/review/14179371About Us Review
07/13/2005 4:22 AM, AMG
Stories had a minor hit off their debut album, "I'm Coming Home" getting substantial airplay in Boston circa 1972. Michael Brown and Ian Lloyd had the luxury of producing their own self-titled debut, no doubt due in part to the success of Brown's days with Left Banke. Eddie Kramer co-produces five of the initial 12 songs on this wonderful follow-up album entitled About Us -- initial because the recording had two lives. Michael Brown left the band and the new Stories went into the studio with former Music Connection magazine editor and producer of Gladys Knight, Kenny Kerner. He and Richie Wise recorded a song written by Errol Brown/Tony Wilson and released by their British band Hot Chocolate. The song was "Brother Louie," a strange concoction of the Hot Chocolate sound found on their latter-day hit "Emma" and the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie." Kama Sutra later put the 45 in the original pressing's sleeve before adding it as a 13th track on About Us. That unique Hot Chocolate song was a far cry from the Paul McCartney-ish pop of opening track "Darling" or closing track "What Comes After," and the hit song's production was a lot heavier than the light pop which was Michael Brown's trademark, something Ian Lloyd translated very nicely. It's interesting that with "Brother Louie"'s success in the summer of 1973, masterful pop songs like "Love Is in Motion," so very Beatlesque, and "Don't Ever Let Me Down" couldn't find a huge audience. Though from New York City, the album sounds like Britain's answer to David Gate's Bread. Had Kama Sutra pursued that avenue, the band may have had a number of hits that their hard work and superb musicianship deserved. Instead they created Traveling Underground as a followup, with the "Brother Louie"-sounding "Mammy Blue," again, removed from the pure pop that was "Hey France" on this disc. Guitarist Steve Love leads off side two with his "Changes Have Begun," and it continues the early formula the band was working on. The piano-heavy instrumental "Circles" and out-and-out heavy pop/rocker "Believe Me" all pointed toward a music that should have at least been as big as the Raspberries with Eric Carmen. "Words" almost sounds like the Moody Blues with both Denny Laine and "Justin Hayward." Stories did release a followup to "Mammy Blue," a single entitled "Another Love." Rather than explore the interracial theme of Janis Ian's "Society's Child" again, "Another Love" was about a gay relationship. It should be included on a Stories compilation. Till then, the rock & roll pop of "Top of the City" is indicative of most of the music on About Us. Michael Brown would go on to produce Boston's Reddy Teddy, and the Cars' Ric Ocasek would help Ian Lloyd attempt a solo career; however, About Us is representative of the two sides of Stories and, despite all the changes happening to the group at the time, is a very fine record. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
http://joevlostreviews.blogspot.com/
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