Mick Clarke on CD and Vinyl #275

 Mick Clarke on CD and Vinyl

I'm not the downloading type. As in almost never. And the few times I did it was either for a piece I'd written on rockzirkus.de (which has been taken off the net just recently and I have no idea wether it'll be back) or just a plain test (coupon inside the LP-sleeve - but I never used the downloaded file). That's me.

Now, Mick Clarke. I've been on board the MC-train since around the end of the 80s. And I didn't pay any attention wether it was the Mick Clarke Band or the man on his own. Up until around 2007, the releases came from labels such as Taxim, Appaloosa or Line. Taxim was probably the label who really pushed Mick Clarke into awareness (at least on the European circuit). Around the end of the 2010s, there was a cut in labels and most seemed to have gone to Rockford, which I take now as being Mick Clarke's own imprint. 

There was a catch, however. While not impossible, the releases were quite hard to get. At least I couldn't find any in my neighbourhood shop. At the time, I probably relied on the big river, but I can't really recall this any more. But it got even worse. For a while all you had to listen to, was new music on downlaods. No LPs, no CDs, just files from wherever you where pointing your browser at. And not too far in the past, I realized that there was mention of CD and LP releases on his website (see Mick Clarke - British Blues Guitar) who release the new music of Mick Clarke.

The media seems to be CD-rs and lathe cuts. Now, I never had problems with lathe cuts, but apparently they are not as sturdy as proper vinyl pressings. The fact that I was handling lathe cuts and CD-rs never occured to me as it was never a benchmark for me. From the production side, this is as good as can be. Slight problems with the sound originate probably from the studio side. Judging the CD "Blues Before Sunrise", it's clear, that this is not a polished to death item. And quite rightly so. Maybe a touch of more brightness would have done the trick, but overall, this is what I want. 

elasticStage are not doing any fiddling with the files they get, what you hear is what their client has recorded or got his paws on. So it's fair to say, you get what the artist wants you to hear. Maybe limited by their home studio or, if they went to the length, an external studio. When you order from elasticStage, be prepared to wait a few weeks, but don't get nervous, it'll all get to you in time. The sleeves and inners are excellent, no cheapo stuff there.

As for me, I'm very glad that the break in releases had an end for me and that I can again listen to Mick Clarke's output in a decent way (and I do not call downloads decent, wether mp3, flac, wav or whatever fancy file comes down the line). And "Blues Before Sunrise" brings back Blues and Bluesrock at its best. 

If you're interested in elasticStage, here's the way to go: Create, Buy & Sell Custom Vinyl & CDs | elasticStage

Cheers

Roland

Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City - #274

Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City (CD)

I bought this CD (sealed) in a thrift shop just about two weeks ago for the grand total of the equivalent of one Euro. Sometimes I just buy items in these shops to check the music out, not because I'm a fan of their output. I then realized, I had a previous album (LP) of theirs sitting in my collection and that was a "Best Of" and I remembered I had a conversation about a month ago, where we talked about folks claiming the 60s were the best decade for Pop/Rock ever ... at least up to this point in time. My take, people claiming this know their charts from that time and that's it. They never dove into the deep end of the 60s and just dismiss everything that didn't make the top ten at that time.

And truth be told, there were a lot of substandard releases that didn't rightfully go anywhere. And this is where I come in. I realized just now, that I know the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City" and that's all folks, all I ever needed to know. I must have wiped the presence of the "Best Of" LP from my mind. Fast forward to 2026 and I'm listening to the CD mentioned above (and shown here) and ... seldom there was a more boring and helpless offering on CD by a totally untalented boygroup. Apart from the title song (and as far as I'm concerned only hit and worthwhile song), I began to ask myself, who on earth would record the other nine tracks that can be found here.

This is like almost all fillers and no killers (save the "Summer In The City" which has its merits even now). Nine of these tracks are a showcase of someone trying to fit musically in to the scene as it were back then and failing miserably. I've no idea wether the selection here is representative and I don't want to further inquire. Give it a miss, except when disaster is your middle name.

Cheers

Roland

R.I.P. # 273

R.I.P.

Two that have passed recently.

Joe Ely

It was July 4, 1991 when I witnessed the Flatlanders (including Joe Ely) on stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival. One of the best gigs I've ever seen at the lake. And if memory serves, Doug Sahm joined them on stage. From then on, I was a lifetime fan of the band. And there are even a few Solo Joe Ely CDs in my collection. 

Raul Malo

The Mavericks. Great, great band (in the beginning). Let's say, the first four albums and then it went all downhill and they became a MOR Pop band. But they will be forever a light at the end of the tunnel for me. I didn't like the fact that they took a hiatus for a couple of years, even though this was during their depression era, and popped up unexpectedly again (probably the money was in short supply). But they never caught up with their earlier success again. Still, when it mattered, they were a great band.

Cheers

Roland

Remaster Or Remix # 272

Remaster Or Remix

Personally, I shy away from each remix and rather look for an original copy. I truly believe it's a joke when someone who's just out of his/her diapers thinks he/she can put their stamp on decades old recordings, when they were not part of the initial process (and in most cases weren't even born). Although I don't collect the Beatles, I think the remixes (of which I haven't heard one) is one of the cheats that need to be pointed out. I put myself into the position of a collector of the releases of said group and I want the original sound. Not someone's interpretation of it.

Remasters are a different topic and tastefully done, are actually quite welcome to me. They don't really alter what the original product is and the changes are mostly quite subtle. But the real spirit of the music recorded and produced is still there and I don't have to listen to some Steven Wilson (to name but one) crap, "reinventing" stellar records with an updated mix half a century after the fact. Of course, I know this is all marketing and the labels would like to sell you the same old same a hundred times over. Ultimate remix! Just like it should sound! In glorious forest green wax! With new liner notes by the butcher down the street! With a hole in the exact middle of the record!

I believe, I own only one remix and that is a Deep Purple one. As in the band Deep Purple, in case you'll ask. And frankly, I either saw it too late or it's actually a set with a remastered and a remixed version. I can't remember exactly and I'm too lazy to dig for the item now. Which brings me to an interview I've read in the German language Classic Rock with Roger Glover of Deep Purple (the band) fame. The first page about Remaster and Remix can be seen in full. It's a case of opposition to remixes and Roger Clover is very clear about it, there is no reason for a "remix". It was done the way it was done and it should stay that way. To read between the lines, one can easily extract that noone has the right to do a remix (legal matters notwithstanding).

The very short version:
How well do you know Steve Wilson? I've never met him.
Have you ever heard his music before? No.
What do you think about his new version of "Made In Japan"? Paice and I have chosen the tracks on the original album and it's kind of sacrosanct to me.
So, the Original version is the best? Yes, that's the one who's catapulted us into stratosphere.

I know, it's all about money. Used to be and still is. But I don't buy one word the marketing gurus try to push at me. And, I hope for the sake of Steven Wilson, he's doing this for his bankaccount only. Which is okay with me, you have to pay the bills somehow. As for any value in artistic expression, you might as well sell snakeoil in the old West.

Cheers

Roland

Dr Feelgood Remasters 2025 (CDs and LPs) - # 271

 Dr Feelgood Remasters 2025 (CDs and LPs)

"News" from the Dr Feelgood release front. The first four albums will be on the market in a remastered form. That's all folks!!! There's absolutely nothing for a Dr Feelgood fan to get excited about. I checked some of the websites that announce the upcoming release and the general view is like, you don't need it. Not if you already own the albums. I'll give it a pass, but that's me.

And a couple of the following albums are on the web as being released for the 50th anniversary, albeit with the same release date as the remastered ones, that is late July 2025. Excuse me? In any case, this seems like a typical moneygrabbing exercise. Thank you, but, no, thank you.

Cheers

Roland

Desert Wind - Rider In The Rain - # 270

Desert Wind - Rider In The Rain - 270

I'm shifting records from one room to the other and back and think "I might as well put some CD in the player" and the first one that's in my grip is the Desert Wind's "Rider In The Rain". Normally I would take it out of the slot and dispose it in the trash, never to be seen again and never bother my tired old soul. But then, I'm staunch supporter of the local music scene. In my case, local is the whole country (others would call it their backyard).

Country music (or what's called Americana for the xxx years) and it's so bad, it doesn't even qualify for the weird section. I don't doubt that the band is pretty much qualified on their instruments and on the mics. But, Jesus Christ on a bike, I've never heard such a slick and boring presentation of C&W. Or rather it's what the band was thinking it sounded like and the way it's needed to be presented in the land of Cows ... and I'm not talking about the US of A. When they try their luck at the biggies, say "Folsom Prison Blues" or worse still "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys", you really have an idea what the term "To Whom The Bells Toll" really means.

This is not music for a rowdy bar, it's more like something to be found in a Sunday afternoon matinee while you nod off on a diet coke. It has zero street credibility and it sounds like this. But what can you expect coming from a band with their personnel raised on the sunny side of life. I mean, they've not been to (or in) Hindelbank, much less to Folsom Prison. Aside to being one of the most unbelievable CDs I ever heard, this is boring as well. After a few tracks your feet will go to sleep and you start longing for Motörhead.

There's nothing I could find on the internet about Desert Wind, but do believe that the band doesn't exist anymore. The CD was recorded in 1998/1999 and the outfit seems to be hailing from a nearby hamlet. Maybe, just maybe, I could have seen and heard the band at a local village event and wonder, would I have stayed throughout the whole gig? It will forever be a question without an answer.

Cheers

Roland

The Lords - And At Night (7") - # 269

The Lords - And At Night (7") - # 269

The Lords, a band from Germany I've been obsessed with since the days I couldn't even spell their name properly. They started off in 1959 as the Skiffle Lords and it was an eventful journey. They disbanded in the early 70s and the singer (Lord Ulli) set our for greener fields with a new outfit, named "New Lords". Just to reform The Lords sometime later. But this is not the story about the band (who's still a working outfit after many line-up changes and sometimes they even play live but are really in their final stages. For people of a certain age having had the fortune to listen to Beat music from Germany (a very good scene) when it was en vogue, the name means a lot.

I'm still after some of their rather hard to get 7"s and a special Cover for the "IV" LP, otherwise known as "Good Side Of June". This 7" I'm talking about is actually one of their best known tracks (of which there is no shortage) and is usually to be found in the retail version, with this sleeve.

I just came across a seller, who's dealing in 7"s for which he produces custom made sleeves of high quality and this one had me up in a second. I've never seen this picture (although I'm not 100 % sure, might have been in a Bravo magazine back in the 60s). I just had to buy it, despite the fact that I have the single several times over. There's even a Typo, the A-side track is called "And At Night" and not "And The Night". How I love these quirks.

Cheers

Roland

Give The Beat, Maestro! - Archie Hämäläinen Special - LP - #268

 Give The Beat, Maestro! - Archie Hämäläinen Special - LP

Subtitled "Story Of Järvenpää Rock-A-Billy 1981-92, Finland", this is really the musical story of one Arto Hämäläinen, aka Archie and on this release also Artcien and a ton of monikers like Grande Archie or even Lil' Archie. Don't ask me! Calling him Archie seems to be the way to go. At least, I've never heard anybody call him by any other variation of the name.

We recently had the Black Slacks release on HT Production and I've heard it through the grapevine (actually, it was Ari again - kiitos), that there was a 12" in the making, collecting Archie Hämäläinen's musical adventure throughout the decades. I did place an order, I believe sometime in mid-2024 and it got here around the end/beginning of 2024/2025. And it occurs to me, something like this can only happen in Finland. A label releases a 12 " (although very limited and if I'm not completely mistaken, already sold out) of music that was very local. I can't go to any length about the scene in Finland in the 80s, as I have zero idea. All I know, each and every person there is born with a musical instrument in hands and take it from there. Kiitos to Archie and to HT Production for making this possible.

Archie was of course the axe man of Doctor's Order and keeps on going with other bands, still releasing CDs and LPs and seemingly not slowing down. The fact that he had a musical life before Doctor's Order, was actually known to me. I've heard bits and pieces and the road stories were few, but they sounded believable. I need to point out, they never came from Archie, he did keep quiet about what went on before, it was always well informed sources that spilled the beans. Archie wasn't always a guitar player, that much was clear from the tales heard. He did his stint as a drummer and as a saxophone player (the latter is not confirmed).

I hope the scan showing the reverse of the 12" cover is large and clear enough to get all the information across, the bands, the line-ups, the tracks etc. If you think now that you've bought the Black Slacks 12" that came out recently and you didn't need a rehash of the same, think again. The Black Slacks songs here are not the ones you've got on the earlier release on HT Production (except "Love Me") and with the latter, I'm not sure it's the same take. I'm quite bad at analyzing musical matters so deeply. My short term memory doesn't work this way. I can actually do it, but it takes out all the fun in what I'm listening to.

What is it you are listening to on this 12"? It's mainly Rock'n'Roll in one way or the other (with shades of R&B) and something I didn't expect. Lil's A. Big Band with two tracks are flying the experimental flag. First I thought that my copy of the record was somehow damaged or that it had non-fills, but apparently not. I still don't know where those two tracks go. And that's me with a rather large collection of Noise, Industrial, Free, Experimental etc., just flabbergasted. Especially the track "Nivram", by a guy called Hank Marvin (of course, Shadows). Although I don't know the finnish language, even I can make out what C-Kasetit means. Cassettes and in amazingly good shape (more than thirty years after the fact). Sure there are some drop-outs, but the overall condition seems to have been good. The sound is mostly much better than what you'd expect from four decades old tapes.

Another track where it's quite obvious that the tape has had some problems, is Black Slacks "Blue Days-Black Nights", you'll hear it towards the end of the song, a complete change in sound. However, overall the audio is much better than I expected (and I wouldn't have complained if it were worse) and doesn't take away from your listening pleasure.

Although this is a "Archie Hämäläinen Special", the focus back then, wasn't on the man. Archie was part of the bands offered here and there wasn't any reason to shine on these recordings. They sound all like group efforts (except a few where Archie is mentioned as vocal/all instruments). Speaking of which, there are a few instances where he plays the bass as well. One other fact that's worthwhile to mention, the number of originals is outstanding. Of the 22 tracks presented here, 13 are covers and 8 are copyright Arto Hämäläinen (plus one to a Kolmas Nainen).

Why there were only 88 copies released, beats me! I could imagine that this is because of tax exemption purposes, much like the U.K. with their private pressings of up to 99 copies. In any case, it's very worthwhile to keep an eye on the finnish scene, past, current and in future.

Cheers

Roland