The Top 5 Sun Records Songs Not Released As Singles.

 

Sun Studio, universally hailed as The Birthplace Of Rock & Roll, was an embarrassment of 1950s riches. Their roster formed a Mount Rushmore of rockabilly--Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, & Johnny Cash--& even their second-stringers were future American musical masters like Roy Orbison & Charlie Rich.

But when you start stacking up what was actually released by each artist while they were on the label, the results are surprisingly small. Elvis released only 10 sides while he was at the label, while Carl Perkins only put out 19. Even Jerry Lee Lewis, who recorded the most extensively at Sun--a recent box set of his Sun output clocks in at 18 discs--only released about 2 CDs worth of material while he was employed as an artist there.

So what to do with all of the leftovers? Budget labels & bootleggers have been releasing this ever since, elevating some of these to minor classics in their own right. Everyone may know "That's All Right," "Blue Suede Shoes," & "Great Balls Of Fire," but these ones are arguably as worthy in their own way.

& before we begin, an honorable mention goes out to Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby," which was left off of the list because although it was never released as a single, it was put on his 1957 Sun LP; all of the songs on this list were never released in any format on Sun Records.

5. "Trying To Get To You" by Elvis Presley.

Elvis famously released 10 sides on Sun Records between 1954 & 1955--5 bluesy A-sides backed by 5 country B-sides--& "Trying To Get To You" would've been the 11th side, if only Sam Phillips had a country song to back it with. Unfortunately for Phillips, Elvis signed with RCA before he could record one, which stipulated that Phillips hand over all of Elvis's masters to the new label. (Phillips was sure not to make this mistake again when Columbia signed Johnny Cash, allowing himself to have several years' & albums worth of Cash material ready despite his departure.) Sun's loss is Elvis's first album's gain as his cover of an R&B hit by The Eagles (no, not THAT Eagles--this one was an African-American doo-wop group who are so mysterious that I literally cannot even find a listing of the members' names) was a standout track on an already near-perfect album. It is Elvis's capstone at Sun, singing with all of the confidence & charisma that would carry him through the coming years--although some would argue with increasingly diminishing results.

4. "Domino" by Roy Orbison.

I've always had a soft-spot for Roy Orbison's work at Sun. Although it is overshadowed by his more influential subsequent work at Moment Records (& with ballads like "Cryin'" & rockers like "Oh, Pretty Woman" it's easy to see why), one can hear an eagerness & vulnerability all but absent from his peers. Elvis was the hot one, Jerry Lee Lewis was the crazy one, Johnny Cash was the tough one, Carl Perkins was the quiet one--& Roy Orbison was the awkward one. He didn't have the bravado of the others & to his credit, he didn't try to. Phillips didn't quite know what to do with him but Roy also didn't know what to do with himself either (how else can one explain the coupling of "Chicken Hearted" & "I Like Love" as a single?). In a sea of rebels, Roy was the guy you could relate to. "Domino," his finest Sun cut outside of "Ooby Dooby" & "Go! Go! Go!," was better than nearly all of the other sides he would release during his short stint at the label. One only has to listen to the likes of "Chicken Hearted" & "I Like Love" to get an idea of what people should've been hearing instead.

3. "Wild One" by Jerry Lee Lewis.

"Wild One" was originally written by Johnny O'Keefe, the first major Australian rock & roll star. It kicks, it's cute, it's got lots of saxophone. Enter The Killer. He doesn't so much cover the song as he does eat it up & spit it out as fire in his own image. Gone are the original lyrics, in its place are rushed, half-improvised new ones that allude to his own hits & style. Recorded in 1958, it wouldn't see the light of day until the 1970s, which is a shame because it out-classes "High School Confidential" & most other things that would follow. It's tempting to say it would've provided him with that comeback hit in the wake of his marriage scandal, but if the similarly excellent rave-up "Lovin' Up A Storm" couldn't crack the Top 80, this probably wouldn't have been able to either. Regardless, "Wild One" should with Aretha Franklin's "Respect" & Jimi Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower" as one of rock's finest covers, but Jerry Lee Lewis so effectively makes it his own that few are even aware that it's a cover in the first place--because after all, Jerry Lee Lewis will always be rock & roll's most wild one.


2. "A Red Cadillac & A Black Mustache" by Warren Smith.

Of all the ones who shoulda-coulda-woulda made it at Sun but didn't, my vote for the least well-known with the best back catalog is Warren Smith. A country singer by trade, he took to the rock music much more naturally than, say, his Sun label-mate Johnny Cash. It was Cash who wrote (or bought for $40 from George Jones) Smith's first single, "Rock & Roll Ruby," which did well enough locally to ensure a few more sides. Despite rockabilly that was equal parts tough & driving (the classic "Ubangi Stomp") & strange & folksy (the "Old, Weird America"-invoking B-sides "Black Jack David" & "Miss Froggie"), the only national hit he ever got was "So Long, I'm Gone," which petered out at #74. Left in the can was this song, a haunting & moody evocation of lost love shrouded in jealousy & suspicion. Only one known take of it exists, placing it in the category of one-known-take wonders like Robert Johnson's "Hell Hound On My Trail" & Elvis's own "Mystery Train." This song alone stands as proof not only as Sun's depth of quality as a label, but of Warren Smith's effortless--& largely forgotten--talent.


1. "Put Your Cat Clothes On" by Carl Perkins.
 

 
On December 4, 1956, the most famous jam session in rock history took place at Sun Studio, where Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, & Johnny Cash sang old gospel, country, & pop songs, over an hour of which made it onto the legendary "Million Dollar Quartet" tape. What is often overlooked is why half of The Million Dollar Quartet (Perkins & Lewis) were there in the first place--to cut a regular session. Perkins was on his way down--it was a little under a year since "Blue Suede Shoes" became a breakthrough smash & he was still looking for that elusive follow-up hit; Jerry Lee Lewis was on his way up--his first single, "Crazy Arms," was just newly released where it would become a local hit & launchpad to a year of glory. But for now, Perkins was the bigger star & this was his session--Lewis was there as an anonymous session man, reportedly to earn some money for Christmas presents. Out of this session came Perkins' masterpiece "Matchbox," which managed to make #67 on the pop charts as the B-side to the inferior "Your True Love."

But arguably better than both songs is "Put Your Cat Clothes On," one of the toughest & most exciting rockabilly record ever cut. Perkins sings with a force & fun that he only ever really matched with "Dixie Fried," rushing lines & keeping the festivities rocking. Also unique for a Perkins record is Lewis's piano solo. Usually Perkins' tight, well-measured electric guitar would play during the solos (as it does during the second musical break), but here a young Lewis takes center stage, with an offhand & breezy, carefree solo. His energy helps to fuel the song's drive & is what arguably pushes Perkins to such a rocking, memorable performance.

It unusual for two rock legends (one past & one future) to collaborate so organically, but therein lies the magic of "Put Your Cat Clothes On"--& by extension, Sun Studio.

Red Headed Stranger: An Appreciation.

This past week, I had the honor of seeing Willie Nelson receive The Gershwin Prize For Popular Song from The Library Of Congress. As is usually the case, a long parade of music stars sang his songs & praises in a display of the songwriter's breadth & influence.

Midway through the show, Paul Simon paid tribute to Nelson's vastly influential 1975 LP, Red Headed Stranger, & called out Edie Brickell to sing a duet with him on one of its most famous songs: "Remember Me." It was a lovely rendition & the vibe of the crowd definitely dug it.

There was only one problem. As the song ended, I turned to my wife & said, "Am I jerk to point out that Willie Nelson didn't actually write that song?"

Indeed, Willie Nelson has written countless country standards & was long overdue for the Gershwin Prize. But he is also the rare songwriter where for every classic song he's written--"Crazy," "Funny How Time Slips Away," "On The Road Again"--there's another classic he's associated with that he didn't actually write--"Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," "Always On My Mind," "Georgia On My Mind"; & "Remember Me" falls into the latter category.

This distinction was probably missed by most of the crowd (especially as other non-penned Willie classics like "Pauncho & Lefty" & the aforementioned "Georgia On My Mind" were performed),  but it lies at the heart of Willie's finest music: His work is so simple & so classic, that he can take any song & make it his own in a way that is nearly unique among American singers. Others who had this ability--Frank Sinatra & Elvis Presley, as well as Nelson's close friends & frequent duet partners, Johnny Cash & Ray Charles, among others--often did so with a sense of bombast & flair, a voice that reached to the back of the crowd or was filled with dazzling accentuations.

Willie Nelson is not like that. He has a fine voice, but not what you might call an outstanding one, & even as he draws you in, it's not with the intrigue of a Billie Holiday or a Bing Crosby. He simply sings the way he feels, & you can take it or leave it.

Red Headed Stranger is his finest album & it epitomizes this trait. Out of the 11 songs on the LP, Nelson wrote only 4 of them & none of them are a complete song in a traditional sense: "Time Of The Preacher" is broken up into themes, "Blue Rock Montana" & "Denver" are little more than 1-minute sketches that set the scene for the story, & the closing "Bandera" is an instrumental. All the other songs on the album, which includes its most famous songs--"Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," "Remember Me," & even the title track--came from the pen of others. Yet Willie Nelson makes each song his own such that learning this fact is not just an interesting aside, it's a jarring shock.

* * *

Red Headed Stranger is a very special album. Coming at a time when the concept album was self-imploding less than a decade after the course was charted by The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds & The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Red Headed Stranger beat the game by sidestepping it. The LP had all of the hallmarks of a concept album--a central story, musical themes, a consistency of quality that held for its length--but left the synthesizers, orchestras, & other histrionics for the fools. A month before Red Headed Stranger was released, progressive rock reached its nadir with Rick Wakeman's The Myths & Legends Of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table, which he infamously staged as a live rock & roll ice show.

If Red Headed Stranger had any precedent in rock, it was Bob Dylan's 1967 LP, John Wesley Harding. Dylan's first release since Sgt. Pepper, he hired Gordon Lightfoot's backing band & lay down 12 stripped-down tunes that played like a set of mysterious parables with no refrains to hold onto. He would later call it the first Bible-rock album, but critic Paul Williams would be just as telling when they wrote that it was as though Dylan had gone back down South & re-imagined how rock & roll might have sounded just days before Elvis made his first record. Indeed, this is the mood that frames Nelson's record; just listen to how the opening notes of "Bandera" echo Elvis's "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')," his final exercise in that weird pre-rock sound of "Harbor Lights" & "I Love You Because."

But even more than any album that either Dylan or Elvis would ever cut, Red Headed Stranger holds together conceptually. To my ears, it easily outclasses the muddled studio version of The Who's Tommy & Pink Floyd's overrated The Dark Side Of The Moon, & has a fair shot at being the finest concept album ever conceived. Probably only Marvin Gaye's What's Going On & Frank Zappa's We're Only In It For The Money could beat it.

This is because, unlike even those two albums, Red Headed Stranger is a statement of rare focus & restraint. The band never grows to more than 4 or 5 people & all of it could be performed onstage with no tricks & little amplification. Built around a song cycle of a preacher-turned-murderer, it sounds remarkably timeless; when the opening describes the setting as "The year of '01," it could be 1901 just as easily as 1801.

* * *

At its heart, Red Headed Stranger is that all-American form of storytelling, a western, told as a badman ballad folktale. Like the American West in the time of cowboys, it is incomplete, some parts seem finished while others seem fleshed out, but there is more than enough to get the story, which is a basic one. A preacher wife's leaves him for another man ("The Time Of The Preacher"). At first he is in denial ("I Couldn't Believe It Was True"), but then resolves to go to town where he shoots them both ("Blue Rock Montana/Red Headed Stranger"). At this point the preacher becomes the Red Headed Stranger, at first reflecting on his lost love ("Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain") & then riding into a new town, where he shoots a woman who tries to steal his late wife's pony ("Red Headed Stranger"). The preacher seems to return, as an instrumental version of the hymn "Just As I Am" closes out the album's first side.

The second side opens in the bright lights of "Denver," where the plea of "Just As I Am" is answered by an outlaw's code:

& it ain't nobody's business
Where you're going or where you come from
& you're judged by the look in your eye.

It is there that the Red Headed Stranger meets a lady ("Denver") & proceeds to dance with her, first a waltz ("O'er The Waves"), followed by a country stomp ("Down Yonder"). He asks her to spend the night with him ("Can I Sleep In Your Arms"), before they part ways the next morning ("Remember Me"). Or do they? The album ends with the mysterious "Hand On The Wheel," a song of love & faith that seems to take place in the distant future, its central verse finding an old man & boy fishing together "with a lady that they both enjoy." Is the old man the Red Headed Stranger, the boy his grandson, & the lady the woman he met in Denver? Or is this just a vision the Red Headed Stranger imagines, like he did in "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain"? The album is unclear, & therein lies at least some of its power. It implies to me that one day this may play out, but it will take a few more affairs & murders before it does. In other words, Side 1 will have to repeat itself before Side 2 can come true. The story can never resolve because the album that contains it is unresolved. It is the rare pop music "song cycle" that is actually a cycle, as continual as the 12-inch vinyl circle it was released on.

Many of the album's elements reinforce this sense of unity. The tale of Red Headed Stranger is rooted in threes--over the course of the LP, the "Time Of The Preacher" theme appears 3 times, the Red Headed Stranger kills 3 people, & the 3 named characters--Red Headed Stranger, Little Lost Darling, & Yellow Haired Lady--have 3 words each. Even the Red Headed Stranger's home--Blue Rock, Montana--is always given as 3 words. Furthermore, sets of 3 fill the album. "Time Of The Preacher" begins with the love triangle of the Red Headed Stranger, the Little Lost Darling, & her lover, all of whom are brought together in the "Blue Rock Montana/Red Headed Stranger," where the Red Headed Stranger kills them both. The Red Headed Stranger travels in 3, with himself, the Raging Black Stallion, & the Dancing Bay Pony (even the horses have 3 names). & the album ends with a vision of an old man, a little boy, & a lady that they both enjoyed in "Hands On The Wheel."

Just as important as threes is the use of eyes. From the album's biggest hit--Nelson's signature "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain"--down through the subtle actions in the songs, eyes are everywhere. In "I Couldn't Believe It Was True," tears fill the Red Headed Stranger's eyes; in "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," the tears are now in his Little Lost Lady's eyes; the title track finds the Yellow Haired Lady casting greedy eyes on the Dancing Bay Pony; in "Hands On The Wheel," the Red Headed Stranger looks into a woman's eyes & finds himself in her. & of course in "Denver," the land is celebrated for the ability to judge someone by the look in their eye.

The simplicity of the music & the straightforwardness of the lyric convincingly tell the story of the Red Headed Stranger, which in turns seems to tell a story about the album's artist, Willie Nelson, as implied by the Red Headed Singer's face on the cover. His understated style makes it feel like he is singing right to us, & much of the album is just voice & acoustic guitar. When there are flourishes, they are often appropriately thought out. Take the piano in "Red Headed Stranger," which appears immediately after the word "tavern" & continues through the part of the song that takes place in the tavern, as though it is a soundtrack to embellish the lyric; by the song's final refrain, which takes place outside of the tavern, the piano has disappeared.

This sense of unity & directness is all the more impressive when one considers that Nelson wrote only a third of the album's songs, none of which were complete or except for an instrumental. "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" was a Roy Acuff song from 1945 that Hank Williams would record in 1951. "I Couldn't Believe It Was True" was penned by Eddy Arnold, "Can I Sleep In Your Arms" was written by Hank Cochran, & "Remember Me" was written by Melba Mable Bourgeois. All of the instrumentals except for Nelson's own "Bandera" were at least 50 years old; "Just As I Am" & "Over The Waves" both dated from the 19th Century. & most astonishingly, "Red Headed Stranger was released in 1954 as a single by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith.

So in the end, Nelson didn't so much write a song cycle as he did cobble one together from existing parts--a patchwork quilt that looked like a tapestry. Tellingly, it was his flourishes--"Time Of The Preacher," "Blue Rock Montana," & "Denver"--that held it all together, moving the story along through songs that otherwise came from very different places, styles, & perspectives. By taking old existing parts & reinventing them in his own image, Willie Nelson made an album that was not only American in sound but also in its execution.

E pluribus unum reads The Great Seal Of The United States--out of many, one. The same could be said of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, the album, & the singularity through which he focuses its outlaw tale.

The 100 Greatest Beatles Songs Of All-Time.

Picking a favorite Beatles song is like picking a favorite child.

No other rock band--not The Rolling Stones, not Led Zeppelin, not The Beach Boys, not The Who--come close matching The Beatles in terms of quality of output. Every song is great because every song is a classic.

Yet in my most recent rekindling of my lifelong affair with The Beatles, I began to think about which songs can be put above others--in terms of influence, in terms of quality, in terms of all-around greatness, whatever that means.

I scanned the Internet for a dozen lists, then added my own The 50 Greatest Beatles Songs, as previously published on this blog, to make a baker's dozen:

Rolling Stone: 100 Greatest Beatles Songs (2011)

Mojo: 101 Greatest Beatles Songs (2015)

NME: 100 Greatest Beatles Songs (2015)

Digital Dream Door: 100 Greatest Beatles Songs (2015)

Entertainment Weekly: The Beatles' 50 Best Songs (2009)

Ultimate Classic Rock: Top 50 Beatles Songs (2013)

Paste: The 50 Best Beatles Songs (2015)

Uncut: The Beatles' 50 Best Songs (2001)

USA Today: 20 Best Beatles Songs (2012)

Dave Marsh: The Beatles' Top 40 Greatest Hits (1981)

Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Songs Of All-Time (2004)

Spignesi & Lewis: 100 Best Beatles Songs: A Passionate Fan's Guide (2004)

These lists ranged from 101 entries (Mojo) to just 20 (USA Today); from formal treatises (A Passionate Fan's Guide) to 23 songs culled from a larger list (The Beatles' songs on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time). All can be found by following the links above except for the one by Dave Marsh, which can be found in his classic Rock Lists, which if you don't have, you probably should. (It was Marsh who was responsible for keeping "Hey Jude" out of the Top 3).

Overall, there were 167 songs that made the initial list. (#167, by the way, is "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," which made #101 on a single list.) By my count, there are 217 songs released by The Beatles while they were together, meaning that about 75% of their catalog were decent enough to make the reaches of somebody's list. Think about that for a second. That stat alone should prove the quality of the work we are looking at here.

Among some personal surprises that didn't make any list: "I'm Looking Through You," "All Together Now," & "Old Brown Shoe" (that said, my pick for the worst Beatles song, "Don't Pass Me By," also missed every list). Among some personal surprises that did make a list: "Revolution 9," "Flying," "Wild Honey Pie," & "Real Love." (& even more surprising: "Revolution 9" is only 5 spots away from making the Top 100.) Finally, the most "classic" song to do poorly in the Top 100: #86 "Michelle," which won Grammys & made the 1st Beatles greatest hits LP, A Collection Of Beatle Oldies, despite never being released as a single.

Only 5 songs appeared on every list; not coincidentally they comprise the Top 5 of the list: "A Day In The Life," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," "Ticket To Ride," & "A Hard Day's Night."

The album with the most songs on it is "The White Album," which makes sense because it has more songs on it than any other. Of its 30 songs, 15 made the Top 100.  (Perhaps this is the half that should've been used had they made the album 1 LP instead of 2?) However, in terms of an album being represented, Revolver has 11 of its 14 songs in the Top 100, which is nearly 80% of its contents. This too makes sense because in recent years Revolver has overtaken Sgt. Pepper as their song-for-song, finest album. (That said, Sgt. Pepper has the next most songs represented, with 8 cuts--assuming we count the "Abbey Road Medley" as one song.)

What follows is the full Top 100 list, followed by Top 5 best-ofs for each Beatles album. If you need a place to start, these are the song to go with; but before long you'll find that you'll need them all.

Alright, here's The Top 100:

1. A Day In The Life

2. Strawberry Fields Forever

3. Penny Lane

4. Ticket To Ride

5. A Hard Day's Night

6. Hey Jude

7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

8. I Want To Hold Your Hand

9. Let It Be

10. She Loves You

11. Eleanor Rigby

12. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

13. Come Together

14. Help!

15. I Saw Her Standing There

16. In My Life

17. Yesterday

18. Something

19. Tomorrow Never Knows

20. All You Need Is Love

21. Here Comes The Sun

22. Paperback Writer

23. Can't Buy Me Love

24. Revolution

25. Abbey Road Medley

26. I Am The Walrus

27. Please Please Me

28. We Can Work It Out

29. Rain

30. Helter Skelter

31. Get Back

32. Happiness Is A Warm Gun

33. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

34. Eight Days A Week

35. Nowhere Man

36. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

37. Blackbird

38. I Feel Fine

39. Across The Universe

40. All My Loving

41. With A Little Help From My Friends

42. Day Tripper

43. The Long & Winding Road

44. Taxman

45. Drive My Car

46. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

47. I'm Only Sleeping

48. Dear Prudence

49. Back In The USSR

50. Here, There, & Everywhere

51. She Said She Said

52. & Your Bird Can Sing

53. Don't Let Me Down

54. If I Fell

55. Got To Get You Into My Life

56. I Should Have Known Better

57. Lady Madonna

58. I've Just Seen A Face

59. Love Me Do

60. Yellow Submarine

61. Julia

62. Hello Goodbye

63. Twist & Shout

64. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

65. The Fool On The Hill

66. For No One

67. From Me To You

68. & I Love Her

69. Girl

70. Getting Better

71. You're Going To Lose That Girl

72. I'm So Tired

73. She's Leaving Home

74. The Ballad Of John & Yoko

75. I'm Down

76. This Boy

77. Hey Bulldog

78. Sexy Sadie

79. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me & My Monkey

80. I'm A Loser

81. No Reply

82. Oh! Darling

83. It Won't Be Long

84. Yer Blues

85. Baby, You're A Rich Man

86. Michelle

87. Lovely Rita

88. Mother Nature's Son

89. You Won't See Me

90. Long, Long, Long

91. Two Of Us

92. I'll Be Back

93. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!

94. I'll Follow The Sun

95. Because

96. All I've Got To Do

97. Glass Onion

98. It's All To Much

99. Birthday

100. Good Day Sunshine

Please Please Me Top 5:

1. I Saw Her Standing There

2. Please Please Me

3. Love Me Do

4. Twist & Shout

5. Do You Want To Know A Secret (#114)

With The Beatles Top 5:

1. All My Loving

2. It Won't Be Long

3. All I've Got To Do

4. Money (That's What I Want) (#104)

5. Hold Me Tight (#138)

A Hard Day's Night Top 5:

1. A Hard Day's Night

2. Can't Buy Me Love

3. If I Fell

4. I Should Have Known Better

5. & I Love Her

The Beatles For Sale Top 5:

1. Eight Days A Week

2. I'm A Loser

3. No Reply

4. I'll Follow The Sun

5. Rock & Roll Music (#136)

Help! Top 5:

1. Ticket To Ride

2. Help!

3. Yesterday

4. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

5. I've Just Seen A Face

Rubber Soul Top 5:

1. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

2. In My Life

3. Nowhere Man

4. Drive My Car

5. Girl

Revolver Top 5:

1. Eleanor Rigby

2. Tomorrow Never Knows

3. Taxman

4. I'm Only Sleeping

5. Here, There, & Everywhere

Sgt. Pepper Top 5:

1. A Day In The Life

2. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

3. With A Little Help From My Friends

4. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

5. Getting Better

Magical Mystery Tour Top 5:

1. Strawberry Fields Forever

2. Penny Lane

3. All You Need Is Love

4. I Am The Walrus

5. Hello Goodbye

"The White Album" Top 5:

1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

2. Helter Skelter

3. Happiness Is A Warm Gun

4. Blackbird

5. Dear Prudence

Yellow Submarine Top 5:

1. All You Need Is Love

2. Yellow Submarine

3. Hey Bulldog

4. It's All Too Much

5. Only A Northern Song (#148)

Abbey Road Top 5:

1. Come Together

2. Something

3. Here Comes The Un

4. The Abbey Road Medley

5. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

Let It Be Top 5:

1. Let It Be

2. Get Back

3. Across The Universe

4. The Long & Winding Road

5. Two Of Us

Past Masters, Vol. 1 Top 5:

1. I Want To Hold Your Hand

2. She Loves You

3. I Feel Fine

4. From Me To You

5. I'm Down

Past Masters, Vol. 2 Top 5:

1. Hey Jude

2. Paperback Writer

3. Revolution

4. We Can Work It Out

5. Rain

The Beatles 1 Top 5:

1. Penny Lane

2. Ticket To Ride

3. A Hard Day's Night

4. Hey Jude

5. I Want To Hold Your Hand

The Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies: An Appreciation.

A few years ago now, a friend gave me a copy of The Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies, telling me it was an incredible album. I then proceeded to put it aside because it fell out of what I perceived of the "klassik" Kinks period of 1964-1970.

Big mistake.

As I have often said before, The Kinks are the rare example of a great band who never produced a truly great front-to-back masterpiece album. The closest contenders are the classic string of 1967's Something Else By The Kinks, 1968's The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, 1969's Arthur, Or The Decline & Fall Of The British Empire, & 1970's Lola Vs. Powerman & The Moneygoround (&, as some like to tell it, 1966's Face To Face, although I honestly don't quite hear it--maybe I needed to hear it at the time). All are in varying degrees ambitious, brilliant, & revelatory, & all deserve seeking out by the serious student of modern rock & roll.

But all fall about 3-4 songs short from being a masterpiece. Something Else has some cloying-to-mediocre tracks at its core, Village Green loses its way in the middle of the second side, Arthur has the drawn-out pointless jam of "Australia," & Lola is a brilliant concept album that's held together by half-brilliant songs, literally--about half of the songs are brilliant, the other half, well, less so.

All are solid triples, but none are home runs. Or whatever the equivalent analogy is in cricket.

Seeing as Muswell Hillbillies fell out of the scope of the "klassik" period & contained no big hits or staples-in-retrospect (except perhaps "20th Century Man"), I wrote it off as a cult (sorry, kult) fetish, celebrated by people who would defend any of The Kinks' series of diminishing returns--I mean concept albums--of the 1970s.

But although it was released by one of rock's biggest cult bands at the transition from when they went from mainstream ("Lola"!) into the marginalized ("Sleepwalker"?), Muswell Hillbillies is a well-rounded achievement that all but sums up the history of rock up to the point of its release.

I dare also say that in doing so, it makes a strong case for being The Kinks' masterpiece.

Rarely have I heard an album that evoked so many other major rock artists so effortlessly & sincerely. Various melodic turns, production touches, & instrumentation evoked a tremendous array of The Kinks' peers: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Band, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Gram Parsons, Chuck Berry, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, & many more. The closest album I can liken it to in this regard is The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, which creates an instant history of rock music by using samples of the music literally.

Muswell Hillbillies pulls off the subtler trick of calling these artists to mind organically, in songs that might hint at their sound or style while still creating something wholly new. It's as though The Kinks built their Muswell Hillbilly shack from the dust & chords of their friends' records.

The other thing going for it is its uniquely American identity. The Kinks have been called the most British band of the British Invasion, which their classic period more than bears out. Theirs is a nostalgia for a decidedly British countryside, which speaks in part to how much of this music was lost on America on the first go-around. But Muswell Hillbillies is different. Its trappings & locations might be British, but it beats a solidly American heart. The album is in that rare pantheon of albums about America by outsiders--The Band's self-titled "Brown Album," The Clash's London Calling, & U2's The Joshua Tree, to name 3 others. Each present an America that is in someways even purer than the albums by their American peers because each contained a band on the outside looking in; or, as U2 so elegantly put it, "outside is America."

If there is a theme in Muswell Hillbillies besides America, it is probably, of all things, health. On one hand this might seem random, but on the other, isn't that just a more tangible side of the American obsession with reinvention through self-improvement? Over the course of the album, we find physicians, psychiatrists, & quacks; remedies ranging from holidays to sleeping pills to dieting to tea; people dealing with paranoia, obesity, chest pains, & alcoholism. & those are just the ones that are actually specified--dozens more could be implied or alluded to. (& that also isn't counting the litany of ailments chronicled in "Have A Cuppa Tea").

The album starts with "20th Century Man," a song that is as subtle a declaration of purpose as anything that Ray Davies has ever written--which is to say that it is a subtle as a ton of bricks. "You take all of your smart modern writers," the singer says at one point, "Give me William Shakespeare." "You take all of your smart modern painters," goes the next line, "I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, da Vinci, & Gainsborough." The singer's song is a world that has become a paranoid living hell, overpopulated by nameless mechanical machines & visions of napalm. It is all told as strutting, acoustic-centered rocker, & is perhaps the most Kinks-esque sounding thing on the LP.

Focusing in on the paranoia theme of "20th Century Man" is "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues," one of the album's finest moments. It sounds like Jimmie Rodgers when he isn't doing his blue yodel--or the exact moment in which minstrelsy turned into country music, somewhere on a distant medicine show stage. The trappings are all vaudeville-era jazz & the mood evokes an early Bessie Smith recording, albeit with fully-rounded out band. It is also one of the funniest songs on the album, taking its placement as a steppingstone between Dylan's "Talkin' John Birch Paranoia Blues" & Radiohead's "Paranoid Android."

The following "Holiday" takes these issues & treats them with a doctor-prescribed trip to the beach. The song plays like a variation on The Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" in terms of its melody, but all similarities end there. Instead of a young American singing about a daytime reverie, we have an old British man crooning about his presumably doctor-ordered escape. He sounds silly & more than just a tad bit resistant, breathing through his mouth so that he doesn't have to smell the salt air.

The rocker "Skin & Bone" comes next takes one of rock's great archetypes--Annie, from Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' "Work With Me, Annie"--ages her 20 years, gives her 200 pounds, & then has her lose it dramatically thanks to a fake dietitian. It's a ridiculous song, but one carried by the singer, who seems to be reveling in the asides, which sound like they could be uttered by Paul Simon off of one of his early solo albums. Complete with exercise instructions, it beats Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" (in its video form anyway) by over a decade & is infinitely more listenable to boot. It is also about 35 years ahead of its time--championing a carbohydrate-free diet to lose weight fast. Whoever this fake dietitian is must be a millionaire today.

"Alcohol" picks up on the vaudeville/music hall sound of some of the earlier songs on the album, a tuba-powered 2-step about the perils of the title self-medication. It would be a novelty if the verses weren't so packed with clever description & the refrain wasn't so full of wistful regret. It is also the kind of thing that no one writes anymore, except for Randy Newman. & even he hasn't written a song like this in close to 40 years.

"Complicated Life" closes out the first side with fatherly advice given over ringing slide guitar & grand choruses. Thematically, it plays like the inverse of the rest of the album, taking suggestions provided elsewhere (such as exercise) & eschews them all in favor of simply slowing down & uncomplicating one's life. Warhol once said of his interminable 12-hour films of daylight slowly moving across buildings that being boring was the point--the more bored you are, the emptier you become, & the more beautiful you feel. "Complicated Life" seems to strive for a similar thumb-twiddling goal, albeit one that charmingly plays like a dry-run for an Exile On Main St. outtake.




Side 2 opens with "Here Come The People In Grey," which like "20th Century Man" begins the proceedings with an ode to paranoia. Only unlike the latter, "Grey" comes with a solution--albeit one that comes from the outside world--the people in grey. It is as though Napoleon XIV kept writing successively more realistic follow-ups to "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" & finally came up with a song that didn't have to be vetted by Dr. Demento. Sung in Davies' hollowly-mocking "Arthur" voice of "Victoria," it speaks to the sense of self-removal that is quietly the core of all madness.

Next comes the most British song on the album, "Have A Cuppa Tea." Or at least, it would be if not for the American-style hoe-down that appears as its bridge. (Who else but The Kinks can write a hoe-down about tea?) The song takes tea & elevates it to the level of medicine show snake oil--a cure-all for any ailment or disease. & like any advertising jingle, the song gets stuck in your head like few others. Perhaps because of its British-ness & natural whimsy, it too feels like one of the most "Kinks-like" songs on the album, fitting somewhere between Something Else By The Kinks & Arthur.

"Holloway Jail" is another one of the finest songs on the album. Beginning with a John Fahey-style finger picking rag, it morphs into an electric-slide blue rocker that grows in scope & production values until it sounds remarkably like a post-psychedelic Beatles song around the period of "The White Album." Capturing that sound is not something that can be taken lightly & it speaks to the simple beauty of the trappings & the honesty of the material. & in the great tradition of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," Lead Belly's "Midnight Special," & The Byrds' "Life In Prison," it discovers that sometimes the truest American heartland (or, come to think of it, madness) can be found in the confines of a cell.

It can also be found in Oklahoma. Not just the state, but the state of mind, scored by Rodgers & Hammerstein & imagined by a girl in England. "Oklahoma, U.S.A." covers all of this ground & more, paying direct due to stars Shirley Jones (the future Mrs. Partridge in her screen debut) & Gordon MacRae (no rock fun facts about him that I'm aware of). Here the grand tradition of the American Broadway gets its due, complete with a name-check of the musical's classic chestnut "Surrey With The Fringe On Top." But more importantly, in presenting a make-believe American home for the British girl who is the subject of the song, it plays as Muswell Hillbillies' soul, a tale of love & escape into a dream of the American wilderness.

"Uncle Son" is perhaps the weakest song on the album, but that's saying something considering it's built around a lilting rhythm that sounds like it could be played by The Band. (That nearly-falling-apart-tripping-over-itself drumming could be Levon Helm, but it's definitely The Kinks' vastly underrated drummer Mick Avory, showing off his chameleon-like chops.) I assumed at first it was a joke on incest, but now I know otherwise; in its talk of preachers & morals, it is the closest thing the album has to a religious song. Because when the doctor fails, you have to get a priest.

The finale title track "Muswell Hillbilly" takes the plays like a faster variation on Robbie Robertson's lead guitar part on the legendary 1966 "Albert Hall" concert on Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues," & then fleshes it out with the best Flying Burrito Brothers song that Gram Parsons never wrote. It further takes Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" & flips it on its head--instead of showing pride for their homeland, they instead list all of the southern states they've never seen because they're from Muswell Hill, England. In other words, it ends the album with the same dream visions that drove it all along.

Taken altogether, the album shifts in genre & style--country, rock, blues, rhythm & blues, pop, showtunes, ballads, jazz--just as much as it shifts in subject-matter--doctors, holidays, alcohol, jail, country, home. & insanity. All that's missing is a song about trains, but The Kinks already checked that box with "The Last Of The Steam-Powered Trains" from the Village Green album. (Or is that among the modern machines implied by "20th Century Man"?)

A sense of dissatisfaction has driven The Kinks' music since their earliest singles through their "Village Green" classic period, but never before has their music provided a cause or solution. In examining paranoia & the ability to escape into American culture, Muswell Hillbillies is the rare Kinks statement to provide both.

The Kinks' Memory Castle.

In 1972, an album appeared with little acclaim or fanfare, let alone notice: A two-record set from Reprise Records titled The Kink Kronikles.

It was a strange release for what had become a rather strange band: Best known for their early overdriven, proto-punk stompers like "You Really Got Me" & "All Day & All Of The Night" in the mid-'60s, by 1966 The Kinks had begun to trade their fuzzy riffs in for a quieter (& weirder) brand of nostalgia.

As led by Ray Davies, who followed a romance for how things used to be (or, perhaps, how they never really were), the group helped him chase his muse through the English countryside: the twisted voice & stark visions of lead guitarist & eager kid brother Dave Davies, the restless hammering of drummer Mick Avory (who played like a cross between Ringo on uppers & Keith Moon on downers), & the tuneful basslines but increasingly resistant personality of Peter Quaife, who quit in 1969 & was replaced by the tuneful basslines but always gung-ho personality of John Dalton.

The result was a series of masterful LPs—Face To Face (1966), Something Else (1967), The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (1968), & Arthur (Or The Decline & Fall Of The British Empire) (1969)—that were largely overlooked, hitless affairs, both in their native UK as well as the US. Each was great in their own right, although none were a flat-out, front-to-back masterpiece like The Beatles' Revolver, Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde, or The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed. They were each 3/4 of a great album with an additional quarter of filler; perhaps this more than anything else is what ultimately kept them underground in these years. (Ironically, the album that comes closest to greatness, Village Green, is the sole LP from this run that did not chart in the UK or US whatsoever.)

Regardless, it wasn't until the transatlantic hit of 1970's "Lola," from the underrated Lola Versus Powerman & The Moneygoround, Part One, that The Kinks began to restore themselves to their former glory; at the time, it must've seemed like a surprise fluke, but hindsight shows that The Kinks had spent those years honing their craft until it was simply too great to remain unnoticed.

The Kink Kronikles has become the seminal document of this period, completely forgoing the early hits like "You Really Got Me," "All Day & All Of The Night," "Tired Of Waiting For You," "Set Me Free," "A Well Respected Man" & the rest in favor of the village green golden years of 1966-1971. In the US, the hits were few (just 2 in the Top 40—"Sunny Afternoon" & "Lola"), while in the UK, it seemed for every great song that hit ("Waterloo Sunset" at #2) there was an equally great one that missed ("Victoria" at #33). & with the UK market still largely segregating album tracks & single tracks, there were a flood of great B-sides that got lost in the shuffle.

The Kink Kronikles, then, came along to address the problem. It was largely the passion project of one man, rock journalist John Mendelsohn, who essentially programed a mixtape of his favorite Kinks songs & released it as a two-disc set with a catchy name (& no input from the band).

In so doing, Mendelsohn is to The Kinks what Harry Smith is to American folk music: He saw a world within that music & set out to build his own version of it. It is said that the epic poets of ancient times remembered their tales by creating what became known as a "memory castle," a large mental estate that they would picture themselves walking through as they told their tales, to help remember the greater structure of their titanic story. Harry Smith's stream-of-conscious Anthology Of American Folk Music programming has been compared to this technique, as should Mendelsohn's Kronikles.

The Kink Kronikles is comprised of four 7-song sides, each of with has a different theme: Side A is places, Side B is ambition, Side C is character studies, & Side D is love songs.

That The Kink Kronikles succeeds overall is a credit both to The Kinks' music & Mendelsohn's vision. However, like the studio albums, to my ears it's only about 3/4 perfect, with a couple of bum tracks standing in the way of true greatness.

 

Side A [Places]

1. Victoria

2. The Village Green Preservation Society

3. Berkeley Mews

4. Holiday In Waikiki

5. Willesden Green

6. This Is Where I Belong

7. Waterloo Sunset

The Good: The album opens exactly where it should, with the epic "Victoria," a survey of where Ray Davies' romanticism intersects with the dream of a nostalgic reality. "The Village Green Preservation Society" makes a shockingly good second cut, taking the landscape of "Victoria" & crafting a more immediate vision. This is contrasted by the American superficiality of a "Holiday In Wakiki" (Key line: "& even all the grass skirts were PVC"), which makes songs like "Berkeley Mews" all the more poignant in their effortless scenery. Everything peaks with the cool nostalgic rush of "This Is Where I Belong" & "Waterloo Sunset," two of the most stunning songs The Kinks ever cut.

The Bad: "Willesden Green." Although I love this song & of itself, it is weird--really weird--& simply isn't up to par with everything that surrounds it. The song works as a curiosity from the neglected (& itself weird) Percy soundtrack, but doesn't deserve to be on this otherwise near-definitive sampler of the era; tellingly, it has not appeared on either of The Kinks' recent box sets, 2008's Picture Book & 2014's Anthology: 1964 - 1971.

The Solution: Replace "Willesden Green" with "Picture Book." While it is not about places per se, it fits into the same theme of nostalgia. It also fits neatly between the vacation of "Holiday In Wakiki" & the homecoming of "This Is Where I Belong" (giving the effect of sorting the photos from your trip as you return home) & gives the underrepresented masterpiece of Village Green another classic on the collection (Mendelsohn only had a single track off of this album on his original collection, whereas the inferior Face To Face received 3).

Side B [Ambition]

1. David Watts

2. Dead End Street

3. Shangri-La

4. Autumn Almanac

5. Sunny Afternoon

6. Get Back In Line

7. Did You See His Name?

The Good: This is the album's most nebulously-themed side, yet for the most part it makes perfect sense: The high school idolizing of "David Watts," the young adult poverty reality of "Dead End Street," the mansion-on-a-hill adulthood of "Shangri-La," the neighborhood pride of "Autumn Almanac," the rich man's sloth of "Sunny Afternoon." The juxtapositions of naive & jaded, poor & rich, & community & individualism all make for a virtual cross-section of the British class system—or at least, one weird rock band's version of it.

The Bad: The album side ends, then, with "Get Back In Line," which I've always found to be a listless track from Lola, & "Did You See His Name," a chipper stab at gallows humor that Mendelsohn calls the most obscure song on the album. It very well may be, but there are other tracks that would work better.

The Solution: Replace "Get Back In Line" & "Did You See His Name" with the superior vignettes "Two Sisters" & "Do You Remember Walter." Both continue the ambition theme far better than the original songs ("Two Sisters" in particular may be the most evocative portrait of ambition in the Kinks' canon, with the housewife in curlers up against her luxurious single sister) & pick up where the previous "Sunny Afternoon" leaves off.

Side C [Characters]

1. Fancy

2. Wonderboy

3. Apeman

4. King Kong

5. Mister Pleasant

6. God's Children

7. Death Of A Clown

The Good: I mistakenly thought of this as the "men" side, until I read Mendelsohn's liner notes, which expresses them as characters. In this regard, it works, especially with "Wonderboy" becoming the "Apeman," the cloying "Mister Pleasant" balanced by the lovely "God's Children," & the oddball "Death Of A Clown" as the finale.

The Bad: In a word, "Fancy." Until I read Mendelsohn's liner notes, I had wondered if "Fancy" was a mistake on the part of the record label as a substitute for "Dandy." The titles of the songs look alike & are from the same album, so it was possible, it seemed. However, after reading Mendelsohn's notes, it is clear this is no mistake at all. In "Fancy" is the thesis to the entire project for him: "No one can penetrate me / They only see what's in their own fancy." OK, a nice & telling line, but unfortunately, it's trapped inside a completely boring & dated Eastern-influenced song that makes "See My Friends" sound as sprightly as "You Really Got Me." The beauty of The Kinks' music in this period is how it served as a retreat from head-on psychedelic rock; here is a misbegotten relic that throws everything back into the sunshine daydream of a time that The Kinks seemed to be seeking shelter from. (He further admitted that he tipped the scale towards the Face To Face songs because at that point the album was about to go out of print. I respect his concern, but this should be no consideration on what songs belong on a definitive anthology as this.) Less pressing is "King Kong," which is certainly not horrible, but I've always found more annoying than enjoyable.

The Solution: Replace "Fancy" with "Dandy." "Dandy" is a vastly superior song & a quintessentially British song by the most quintessentially British rock group. Plus, I love the segue-way from the adolescent womanizing of "Dandy" into the dedicated fatherhood of "Wonderboy." As for "King Kong," I would replace it with Dave Davies' artfully melancholic B-side "This Man He Weeps Tonight." Sure, it doesn't pull the cute "Apeman"/"King Kong" trick of the back-to-back monkey songs, but it is a better song & seems to serve as a perfect transition between the primal, dedicated love of "Apeman" & the facade love of "Mister Pleasant." It is also simply a beautiful song.

Side D [Women/Love]

1. Lola

2. Mindless Child Of Motherhood

3. Polly

4. Big Black Smoke

5. Susannah's Still Alive

6. She's Got Everything

7. Days

The Good: The transition from "Lola" to "Mindless Child Of Motherhood" is so masterful that Freud could write an entire volume about it. Similarly, pairing "Polly" & "Big Black Smoke" call attention to Ray Davies' theme of the girl leaving the countryside for the city (although it makes me long for the third in the girl-leaves-home "trilogy," which would be the equally stunning "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home"); Ray writes the songs with a knowing eye for detail (the purple hearts & cigarettes) & with the hint that maybe, just maybe, the girl is led into prostitution (a half a million people can't be wrong...). &, of course, "Days" ends the album as perfectly as "Victoria" began it: In the wistful bosom of nostalgia.

The Bad: "She's Got Everything." This is a decent song (& B-side for "Days), but ultimately does not fit in here. It was recorded outside of the scope of the other songs in early 1966 & sounds like it. If the album had included other stark B-sides like "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" or "Sittin' On My Sofa," "She's Got Everything" would fit in fine. However, here it sticks out like a sore thumb almost as badly as "Fancy," only with a sound that is closer to "Till The End Of The Day" than anything else here. Granted, it's a great sound, it just doesn't fit with its surroundings. & it would've been nice to get "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home" in there to gather all of Ray's affecting girl-leaves-home trilogy in one place.

The Solution: Take out "Susannah's Still Alive," put "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home" after "Mindless Child Of Motherhood," followed by "Big Black Smoke" & "Polly" so that the girl-leaves-home trilogy is completed in chronological order. It's just such a lovely set of songs & anchors the center of the women/love theme. (For the record, "Susannah's Still Alive" is a GREAT song that is worthy of this set, but ultimately I find the girl-leaves-home trilogy so special that it merits inclusion over "Susannah." Plus, although that means where down a Dave Davies song, the fact that "This Man He Weeps Tonight" was included elsewhere keeps the score even. & it also gets another song from Face To Face on here, as Mendelsohn would've liked.) Finally, replace "She's Got Everything" with "Village Green." I love "Village Green" (you can read my appreciation of it here); for me, it is The Kinks' finest exercise in nostalgia. Also, it bridges the "girls" theme of this side & the memories-filled "Days," as it is a song about visiting a former love in a country home that has been left & missed, among many, many other things. (& throw in the fact that "Polly" ends with the line "I think that Pretty Polly should've gone back home" & "Village Green" is all about returning to the girl you left behind & you have a smooth thematic transition.) It also sets up a nice balance for the set: The second song is "The Village Green Preservation Society" & the second-to-last song is "Village Green." Done.

 

Here, then, is my own perfected running order for The Kink Kronikles, with apologies to John Mendelsohn & respect to The Kinks:

1. Victoria

2. The Village Green Preservation Society

3. Berkeley Mews

4. Holiday In Wakiki

5. Picture Book

6. This Is Where I Belong

7. Waterloo Sunset

8. David Watts

9. Dead End Street

10. Sangri-La

11. Autumn Almanac

12. Sunny Afternoon

13. Two Sisters
14. Do You Remember Walter?
15. Dandy

16. Wonderboy

17. Apeman

18. This Man He Weeps Tonight

19. Mister Pleasant

20. God's Children

21. Death Of A Clown

22. Lola

23. Mindless Child Of Motherhood

24. Rosie Won't You Please Come Home

25. Big Black Smoke

26. Polly
27. Village Green

28. Days

At least until I switch something around again.

(For John Mendelsohn's original running order & liner notes, you can check them out right here: http://www.kindakinks.net/discography/showrelease.php?release=613).