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Tag Archives: Rock n’ Roll

#149: Muziek Expres presents: Searching In The Wilderness (1966) Vinyl to MP3 Download: Or, How European Garage Rock Razed The Sutro Baths

In 1966, the same year the majority of these songs were recorded, the Sutro Baths in San Francisco burned to the ground. The Sutro Baths, built in 1897 on the Pacific Ocean shoreline, was a 3-acre collection of salt water pools, water slides, taxidermy exhibits, and curiosities from the world around. The main attraction was, as the name implies, the temperature-controlled salt water pools, which held up to 1.7 million gallons of water and 10,000 swimmers on any given day. The structure itself was a spiderweb of steel girders which supported over 100,000 window panes, allowing swimmers to enjoy sunlight while taking a climate-controlled dip. Surviving pictures of the Sutro Baths are both alluring and terrifying.

Sutro Baths 1897 San Francisco

I hope they had their tetanus shots. Oh wait, that wasn't invented yet. Bummer.

The Sutro Baths are even more horrifyingly awesome when you watch them on video, as is evidenced here in footage taken by Thomas Edison in 1897.

So why is any of this important? The artists in this band grew up in a time when places like the Sutro Baths still existed. They were surrounded by remnants of the European Industrial Revolution, be it the bridges they took across town or the musty warehouses in which they held band practice. I feel that the music contained on this album reflects this environmental influence at its core. However, it is not an ode to the manufactured trappings of the early 20th century but rather a full-throttle attempt to break free from its rigid sense of order and symmetry.

Yet I find it ironic that machines were necessary in order to rebel against their world; a world created by steam engines and diesel geargrinders. After all, electric guitars and amplifiers are nothing more than machines. Yes, they’re sound-producing machines, sound which is interpreted as art that in turn stirs the gamut of human emotion. But essentially they’re nothing more than wood, steel, and wires brought to life by a mysterious electric demon.

Furthermore, I have a gut feeling that these artists’ very simple machines had a direct role in the fire that burned Sutro Baths to the ground. It could very well be that every one of these bands was practicing at the same exact moment on June 26, 1966. With the overdriven amplifiers all running at once they could have sent a cataclysmic electric surge from Europe, past schools of dolphins under the Atlantic Ocean, past herds of cattle on the Great Plains, blew a few fuses in Hoover Dam during a detour, and into the water heaters at Sutro Baths, causing them to explode in a ghastly ball of fire.

Why would a power surge from Europe target one seemingly innocent bath house thousands of miles away and not instead, perhaps, something for the greater good like frying the USSR’s entire radar control system? First, it’s a well-known fact that every man, woman and child in Europe during the 60′s was a closet communist, so the previously mentioned scenario doesn’t hold water. Second, San Francisco’s a hot spot for European tourists. I can’t walk around on the weekends without seeing an Italian in a funny hat, a Pole wearing weird jeans with funny pocket stitching, or a group of Germans barking and hacking out what they call their native tongue.

When you think about it the answer is quite simple as to why these European rockers, and one Canadian, decided to destroy the Sutro Baths. Every one of them, throughout their childhood, visited the Sutro Baths on family holiday. They, being used to Europe’s nude beaches, didn’t pack swimsuits and were forced by Sutro Bath employees to rent one of their turn-of-the-century wool numbers. These, of course, were entirely itchy and unflattering.

swimsuit 1900s wool one-piece

Looking good. Not.

American swimmers, cocky as ever with their post-war short shorts and polka dot bikinis, harangued the European fashion misfits to no end. I mean, they really gave it to them. It didn’t end at calling them Soggy Bottom Bambinas or Frumpy Frogs. They kept it real by administering wet, woolly wedgies. I’m talking real ass-rippers here, folks. Blood and shit exploding everywhere in a frothy, briny foam–all set to a chorus of teenage American laughter. This is a trespass for which the Europeans never forgave the Americans and the site of their humiliation: Sutro Baths. Can you blame them?

I’m still gathering data from European energy conglomerates and PG&E before I bring my case before the International Court of Justice. As such, I must make the legal disclaimer that these opinions are most likely the truth and are probably not false. So kiss my ass, legal types.

What I can safely say is that these European garage rockers did succeed in kicking my ass with a six string blast. And then some.

>>>Click here to download Searching In The Wilderness on 320 kbps MP3 from vinyl

Artist and Track Breakdown (Preview vids at the bottom.)

Searching In The Wilderness Muziek Express Op Art '66 Serie

1. Namelosers – But I’m So Blue

Sweden’s Namelosers deliver a fine, aggressive folk-punker with “But I’m So Blue”, the B-Side of a very confused version of Rufus Thomas’ “Walking The Dog”. Propelled by a powerful rhythm track, with terrific harp, strong vocals, and a chaotic guitar break, this 1965 track captures the Namelosers evolution from a standard beat group into archetypical Euro-Punkers!

Searching In The Wilderness "Muziek Express"

A2. Red Squares – You Can Be My Baby

The Red Squares “You Can Be My Baby” stands as one of the most powerful and well produced Mod Ravers of the sixties, in a league with the best releases by the Birds, Eyes, Creation, or Small Faces. Transplanted Englishmen, the Red Squares enjoyed much greater success in Sandanavia than in their native England.

Slashing guitar chords open this 1967 release, with strong, melodic vocals and chorus leading into the wild, Pop-Art style rave-ups, the vocals sounding clearer and convincing as mayhem occurs on the instrumental front.

An alternate version of “You Can Be My Baby” was also released, this take being much slower, with a thin, sparse production, almost demo quality, lacking most of the power and excitement for this issue, which stands as one of the best Swedish records of the sixties!

Searching In The Wilderness muziek express

A3. Motions – For Another Man

Holland’s Motions are generally considered to be one of the finest European sixties bands, sort of continental Remains. Led by songwriter-guitarist-singer Rob Van Leeuwen, their reputation rests on a handful of singles and E.P. tracks, and one fabulous album, Introduction to The Motions, from which this track is taken. Their range of styles was impressive, from Beatles style uptempo ballads to the full-throttle pop auto-destruct of “Everything That’s Mine”, a 1966 non-L.P. single. “For Another Man” is a good example of their more melodic style, with punchy acoustic guitar, irresistible hooks, and great vocals.

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

A4. Sean Buckley and The Breadcrumbs – Everybody Knows

This 1965 U.K. Release is distinguished by Shel Talmy’s solid production, and is highlighted by some startling guitar work by Jimmy Page. The song and band performance merely serve as a springboard for an electrifying guitar break, as exciting as any session playing Page is credited with in the 60′s. See the excellent James Patrick Page – Session Man double LP for further examples of  some of his most inspired work.

A5. The Boys Blue – You Got What I Want

The Boys Blue were an early incarnation of the Sorrows, and released this version in late 1965.

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

Ferocious, mutated post R&B guitar mayhem characterizes the In Crowd’s monumental 1965 feedback and overload orgy of strangled guitars, howling vocals, wailing harp, a truly brutal rhythm attack, compression, leakage, demented 6-string axe murder, and the Parlophone kitchen sink, all combined into a sage witch’s brew of HELL RAISING FURY!

Steve Howe joined the In Crowd (the embryonic Tomorrow) in mid 1965, apparently in time to play guitar on this track.

“Things She Says” is certainly one of the greatest records of the entire R&B/Beat explosion, and is re-issued here for the first time ever. Roll over Beethoven, and tell Crawdaddy Simone the news!

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

A7. Cherokees – Little Lover

“Little Lover” is a track off of The Cherokees scarce 2nd Australian LP, a rare example of the band favoring hard-driving, aggressively electric approach. Fuzzy guitar, upbeat vocals and an enthusiastic performance lead into a wild guitar break, perhaps offering future members of Radio Birdmen early inspiration.

A8. Outsiders – Won’t You Listen

How great are the Outsiders? One listen to this and one look at the cover photo should give you a good idea!. “Won’t You Listen” is off of the Outsiders absolutely outrageous first LP on the Dutch “Relax” label. Amphetamine guitar leads over a pace, changing tempo almost at random, with Wally Tax’s vocal and harp somehow keeping pace with the instrumental pandemonium.

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

A9. Muswell Ravens – All Aboard

The Muswell Ravens entertain with this previously unissued 1965 studio recording. “All Aboard” is distinguished by sloppy, exciting guitar breaks and a drunken, leering vocal delivery. This track is straight ahead rock’n'roll oiled up by liberal applications of Nut-Brown Ale.

B1. A Passing Fancy – I’m Losing Tonight

Brutal Detroit-style electric guitar kicks off this Bo Diddlin’ pounder. “I’m Losing Tonight” is rivalled only by the MC-5′s “Looking at You” and the Underworld’s “Go Away” for sheer electric intensity and attack.

Hailing from Canada, A Passing Fancy released a crappy psychedelic styled album in 1967, including a truly awful version of this track. Fortunately, it was re-recorded for 45 release, and stands today as one of the best Canadian releases of the 60′s.

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

B2. Outlaws – Keep A Knockin’

England’s Outlaws contribute a Scream Lord Sutch style version of “Keep A Knockin’”, a 1964 Joe Meek production, highlighted by a succession of stunning guitar breaks contributed by a teenage Ritchie Blackmore, heard here displaying the technique that made him, along with “Little” Jimmy Page and “Big” Jim Sullivan, one of London’s most in demand session guitarists during the period 1963-1966.

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

B3. Q-65 – It Came To Me

Holland’s Q-65 released a large number of excellent 45 and LP tracks, and “It Came To Me” is certainly one of the best of them. The production is excellent, lending both the vocals and guitars a bright, clear sound full of bite and energy. Driven by an amazingly solid rhythm track, “It Came To Me” stands as a milestone of European Beat/R&B, and sounds just as exciting today as it did 45 years ago.

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

B4. The Golden Earrings best ever performance was relegated to the B-side of their 1st single, and was has never been re-issued until now. “Chunk of Steel” is fabulous, a great song, lyrically intriguing and musically adventurous. Heavily Beatles influenced, the vocal interplay on this 1965 release is counterpointed by biting guitars, pounding drums, and a driving production.

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

B5. Cuby and The Blizzards – I’m So Restless

A high energy rocker, “Restless” by Holland’s Cuby and The Blizzards, the B-side of their first single is a wild, guitar raving, mod flavored Euro-beat blast off!

Muziek Express Searching In The Wilderness

B6. Snobs – Heartbreak Hotel

The ridiculous outfits the snobs popularized do nothing to detract from their spirited approach to raving-up anything from “Buckle Shoe Stomp” to “Heartbreak Hotel”. Enjoying most of their admittedly limited success in Sweden, this 1965 released features and awesome live, wild sound. A video performance on the “Red Skelton” TV show in late 1964 has reportedly survived, rekindling Snob-mania amongst those already in the know. One could hardly do worse than to join them.

B7.The Buzz – You’re Holding Me Down

Having previously done business as the Boston Dexters, who released a strong single with “Nothing’s Gonna Change Me” In 1965, England’s The Buzz hooked up with eccentric producer Joe Meek in 1966 to record this, their sole 45. The full range of Meek’s studio genius is displayed on this recording, with highly compressed vocals being blasted by staccato bursts of machine gun guitar, all drowning in a cesspool of echo and feedback. This release stands as one of Joe Meeks finest: wild, adventurous, no holds barred experimental rave-up.

B8. Alan Pounds Gets Rick – Searching In The Wilderness

OUT-FUCKIN’-RAGEOUS!

 

#145: George Thorogood and The Destroyers – Self-Titled (1977) Vinyl 320 Download: Or, Six String Tough

First, I need to say that you have to get this album. It kicks a million asses eight days a week.

Now that that’s out of the way I can start. This album contains a song you might all know: “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.” Initially this was to be the focus of this album, and still is. However, what I decided to change was the types of alcoholic beverages highlighted in the post. The original idea was to pick my favorite bourbon, scotch, and beer and discuss their merits. However, this doesn’t make much sense given the context of the song.

Second, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” is a cover of John Lee Hooker’s version, which is in turn a spin on Amos Milburn’s 1953 hit “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer”. I was unaware of this for the longest time so here’s a video for the uninformed:

Third, I don’t want to  neglect any of the other equally good or better songs on this album. However, I’ve never been to Delaware, so I don’t really have any clever quips about “Deleware Slide”. I’m not going to write about how things songs sound, because it would do the song, and every other song on this album, a huge disservice. But it still deserves, no, demands a listen. So listen to it, goddamn it. And feel free to preview the few featured on this post.

Ok, enough lollygagging. One bourbon, one scotch, one beer. Which ones would you drink if you were broke, womanless/manless, and hitting an enviable 3 a.m. last call? Keep in mind all of the picks have to be cheap because you’re broke, remember? So, here are my picks:

One Bourbon

Bourbon snifter not included.

During my years in Cincinnati and Covington, KY I had a lot of experience with Bourbon. I mean A LOT of experience. I’ve tried over 50 types of bourbon since I was, ahem, 21. The actual number is locked away in a barrel in the back of my head. So, if I remember correctly, I’m kind of an expert.

During most trips to The Party Source or one of Covington’s 2 billion liquor stores I’d pick up a bottle of Old Heaven Hill Bonded. Bonded Bourbon’s the assortment that’s been stored in a government-secured storehouse for at least 4 years and packs 100 proof (50% alcohol) minimum. Old Heaven Hill’s aged for 10 years and only costs $9 for a fifth in Kentucky, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Heaven Hill is a major player in the distillery world and produces many of the finer Bourbons (Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Fighting Cock, Henry McKenna, J. W. Dant, Old Fitzgerald) but its lowly Heaven Hill varieties rarely make it out of Kentucky. I’ve tried Heaven Hill Gold Label, Green Label, Black Label, and Old Heaven Hill Unbonded. They’re all great Bourbons for the buck and aren’t sweet like most cheap Bourbons. I need to get a few handles sent out West post haste.

That and a case of Ale-8-One: Kentucky’s soft drink and the absolute best mixer for Bourbon.

One Scotch

J&B

Ok, so not the cheapest scotch available, and I know I’m broke, but I still have to have some standards. J&B’s available at nearly every bar in the United States, is about the price of Jim Beam, and doesn’t taste like turpentine or swamp bog, which is what many expensive scotches taste like. J&B is all right by me.

Plus, it’s the favorite drink of Patrick Bateman. Patrick’s a man with a taste for Huey Lewis and the News, fine dining, and viciously murdering prostitutes. He’s a man who knows what he wants.

One Beer

Red Dog: A Class Act

Last night I met a brewer from Barcelona at one of the bars near my place. He’s in San Francisco for Beer Week and just wanted to talk and talk about his beer. It was really hard to figure out what he was saying because he was very drunk and had a super thick Catalan accent. Basically all I could understand was, “I love good beer, I love the hops!”

He kept pouring beer from one cup to another in attempts to aerate the brew and bring out the flavor. The only thing he succeeded in was spilling beer on the floor over and over. While this was happening his non-English speaking friend, who was wearing a turtleneck sweater and a backpack, danced like a 3-year-old in front of the soul-record-spinning DJ.

This wasted Barcelonian kept asking if we wanted to smoke weed or hash. Every now and then he’d slyly pull out these little nickel bags full of the stuff and give us a shit eating grin that said, “I’m a naughty boy, I love the herb!” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that you could light up a fat blunt on a school bus here and no one would give two shits. Seriously, I can’t walk a single block without smelling pot in this town.

I also didn’t have the heart to tell him that I used to only buy 30-packs of Red Dog in Kentucky for $13 dollars.

>>>Click here to download Awesomeness at 320 kbps

Tracklist

A1 You Got To Lose 3:15
Written-By – E. Hooker*
A2 Madison Blues 4:24
Written-By – E. James*
A3 One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer 8:20
Written-By – John Lee Hooker
A4 Kind Hearted Woman 3:48
Arranged By – George Thorogood
Written-By – Robert Johnson
A5 Can’t Stop Lovin 3:04
Written-By – E. James*
B1 Ride On Josephine 4:17
Written-By – E. McDaniel*
B2 Homesick Boy 3:02
Written-By – G. Thorogood*
B3 John Hardy 3:18
Arranged By – George Thorogood
Written-By – Traditional
B4 I’ll Change My Style 3:57
Written By – Parker-Villa
B5 Delaware Slide 7:45

#136: Elvis Presley & Jim Reeves – Christmas Favorites (1991) Tape Download: Or, I’M THE MAILMAN

This is a short but sweet little number that I used to listen to over and over and over as a kid. I’m pretty sure you’ll be doing the same after your first listen.

I sat down today and watched a VHS tape from 1990.It featured Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Mickey’s Christmas Carol and the original Simpsons Christmas Special. VHS tapes of live television have a certain charm. Part of it is the strange, treble-sapped sound. I kind of feel that I’m listening to the TV through an infinitely long chain of cardboard paper towel tubes whenever I pop in an old tape.

But what really makes dealing with tracking issues worthwhile is the time warp commercials that are encapsulated within these VHS tapes. Here’s a small handful of commercials that were tucked away in this 1990 Holiday Season Recording.

Skaggs Alpha Beta Grocery Store

The Skaggs Alpha Beta commercial on my tape was different but just as weird. I just can’t comprehend what they were thinking when naming a grocery story with such a disgusting conglomeration of words.

I’m amazed at how much motherly pride that mustachioed baker exudes.

*

Jack The Lego Maniac

I never got the really cool Legos when I was a kid. Sure, if I’d had a really awesome imagination I could have made whatever I wanted with the ones I had. But I just wanted a space set because the Lego space dudes had awesome neon green visors on their helmets. But only Jack the Lego Maniac was lucky enough to have any and every space dude he wanted. I hated him for that.

*

Cabbage Patch Dolls

Do Cabbage Patch Dolls dominate anyone else’s nightmares, or am I alone on this one?

*

LA Gear featuring Karl Malone

When I was in college I used to drive 3 hours every year to attend Ohio University’s Halloween Bash. The first year I was there I parked my car in a lot outside of town and took a tram toward campus so I could meet up with a friend who lived in one of the dorms.

During that tram ride there was this really drunk, and I mean REALLY drunk, passenger dressed up as Karl Malone for Halloween. He was wearing the full Utah Jazz uniform and had a wig. But what really made his costume ridiculous was that this white dude scribbled in his entire face with a Sharpie marker in an attempt to make himself appear black. It was pretty obvious that he did it while he was drunk because there were huge spots where he missed with the Sharpie and he ended up looking like Pig Pen from the Peanuts comics.

He was riding the tram solo, holding a nearly-finished case of Natty Light and continually yelling, “I’M THE MAILMAN! I’M THE MAILMAN!” It would have just been obnoxious if it hadn’t been for this Japanese family that was sitting right next to him. They were wearing normal street clothes and looked totally out of place amongst the sexy nurses, crippled Supermen and THE MAILMAN.

Those Japanese folks were completely terrified of THE MAILMAN. They tried to pretend he wasn’t there but every now and then one of them would take a quick, horrified glance at him. I’m certain that they thought THE MAILMAN would eat them…because the real one certainly would. Viewing that surreal drama unfold was one of the best experiences of my life.

8)

>>>Click here to download Elvis and Jim’s Christmas Favorites

8)

Tracklist

Side 1: Elvis

1. Here Comes Santa Claus

2. Silent Night

3. Blue Christmas

4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem

Side 2: Jim Reeves

1. Jingle Bells

2. I’ll Be Home For Christmas

3. O Come All Ye Faithful

4. Take My Hand, Precious Lord

#106: Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison (1968) Stereo Vinyl Download

How many times have heard someone say,”Man, I would give anything to have been at so and so’s show show show.” Whether it’s some affluent hippy acquaintance willing to trade her Saab convertible for a few hours of muddy sex at Woodstock, your stoner buddy who would give his left nut to see Led Zeppelin in ’73 at Madison Square Gardens, or that one redheaded raver who’d gladly administer a beej to see Danny Tenaglia in Ibiza during the ecstasy revolution. Everyone has that one show they’d kill to have seen.

Well, this is one of those shows. Mr. Cash, The Man In Black, rable-rousing for a crowd of petty thieves, con men and murderers. What would it have been worth to peep this show? Would it have been worth a day behind bars in Folsom Prison? A month? A year? A spot on death row only to be pardoned by the Governor at the very last second? Well, take a read of Johnny Boy’s words here and have a good old think over it.

Folsom Prison Blues

The culture of a thousand years is shattered with the clanging of the cell door behind you.  Life outside, behind you immediately becomes unreal.  You begin not care that it exists.  All you have with you in the cell is your bare animal instincts.

I speak partly from experience.  I have been behind bars a few times.  Sometimes of my own volition sometimes involuntarily.  Each time, I felt the same feeling of kinship with my fellow prisoners

Behind the bars, locked out from “society.”  You’re being re-habilitated, corrected, re-briefed, re-educated on life itself, without you having the opportunity of really reliving it.  You’re the object of a widely planned program combining isolation, punishment taming, briefing, etc., designed to make you sorry for your mistakes, to re-enlighten you on what you should and shouldn’t do outside, so that when you’re released, if you ever are, you can come out clean, to a world that’s supposed to welcome you and forgive you.

Can it work???   “Hell NO.”  you say.  How could this torment possibly do anybody any good…..But them! Why else are you locked in?

You sit on your cold, steel mattressless bunk and watch a cock roach crawl out from under the filthy commode, and you don’t kill it.  You envy the roach as you watch it crawl out under the cell door.

Down the cell block you hear a steel door open, then close. Like every other man that hears it, your first unconscious thought reaction is that it’s someone coming to let you out, but you know it isn’t.

You count the steel bars on the door so many times that you hate yourself for it.  Your big accomplishment for the day is a mathematical deduction.  You are positive of this, and only this:  There are nine vertical, and sixteen horizontal bars on your door.

Down the hall another door opens and closes, then a guard walks by without looking at you, and on out another door.

“The son of a ….”

You’d like to say that you are waiting for something, but nothing ever happens.  There is nothing to look forward to.

You make friends in the prison.  You become one in a “clique,” whose purpose is nothing.  Nobody is richer or poorer than the other.  The only way wealth is measured is by the amount of tobacco a man has, or “Duffy’s Hay” as tobacco is called.

All of you have had the same things snuffed out of your lives.  Every thing it seems that makes a man a man.  Women, money, a family, a job, the open road, the city, the country, ambition, power, success, failure – a million things.

Outside your cellblock is a wall.  Outside that wall is another wa.  It’s twenty feet high, and it’s granite blocks go down another eight feet in the ground.  You know you’re here to stay, and for some reason you’d like to stay a live.- and not rot.

So, for the fourth time I have done so in California, I brought my sh to Folsom.  Prisoners are the greatest audience that an entertainer can perform for.  We bring them a ray of sunshine in their dungeon and they’re not ashamed to respond, and show their appreciation.- And after six years of talking and finally found the man who would listen at Columbia Records.  Bob Johnston believed me when i told him that a prison would be the place to record an album live.

Here’s the proof.  Listen closely to this album and you hear in the background the clanging of the doors, the shrill of the whistle, the shout of the men…even laughter from men who had forgotten how to laugh.

But mostly you’ll feel the electricity, and hear the single pulsation of two thousand heart beats in men who have their hearts torn out, as well as their minds, their nervous systems, and their souls.

Hear the sounds of the men, the convicts all brothers of mine with the Folsom Prison Blues.

- Johnny Cash

>>>Click here to download Mr. Cash at Folsom Prison in 320 kbps MP3

Tracklist

A1 Folsom Prison Blues
A2 Dark As The Dungeon
Written-By – M. Travis*
A3 I Still Miss Someone
Written By – -J. Cash – R. Cash, Jr.-
Written-By – R. Cash, Jr.*
A4 Cocaine Blues
Written-By – T. J. Arnall*
A5 25 Minutes To Go
Written-By – S. Silverstein*
A6 Orange Blossom Special
Written-By – E. T. Rouse*
A7 The Long Black Veil
Written By – -M. Wilkin D. Danny-
Written-By – D. Danny* , M. Wilkin*
B1 Send A Picture Of Mother
B2 The Wall
Written-By – H. Howard*
B3 Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog
Written-By – J. H. Clement*
B4 Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart
Written-By – J. Clement*
B5 Jackson
Vocals [With] – June Carter
Written By – -G. Rodgers – B. Wheeler-
Written-By – B. Wheeler* , G. Rodgers*
B6 Give My Love To Rose
Vocals [With] – June Carter
B7 I Got Stripes
Written By – -C. Williams – J. Cash-
Written-By – C. Williams*
B8 Green, Green Grass Of Home
Written-By – C. Putnam*
B9 Greystone Chapel
Written-By – G. Shirley*

#76: Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell (1977) Vinyl Download

*download below*

I was always under the assumption that Michael Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf the man, was behind the music and lyrics for this album. Wrong. These songs were all composed by a guy named Jim Steinman. His name is displayed prominently at the top of newer releases of Bat Out Of Hell so there’s no confusion as to who is the true maestro. Never heard of Jim Steinman? Well, you may notice some of the other hits he’s written and produced:

Yes, he wrote “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” one of the greatest jukebox masterpieces of all-time. You can’t go wrong putting this on late at night, preferably after 1 a.m. when everyone is good and sauced. Once the climax kicks in you’ll be locked arm-in-arm with people you just met, screaming “I need you now tonight…I FUCKIN’ NEED YOU MORE THAN EVER!” It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Ok, so still a decent song. I mean, if you were a 15-year-old, heartbroken girl in 1983 this was a decent song. Maybe Jim Steinman is really a teenage girl controlling a mechanized adult male android. I don’t have enough proof, yet, so let’s see if we can find a concrete answer in some of his other work.

Oh God…..Jim Steinman is the Anti-Christ. Very clever, Jim–making us fall in love with your “Meat Loaf”. Then, when we least expected it, BAM! You unleashed your Hell Banshee upon us.

Son of a bitch, now I can’t turn off this song. It has me in its wicked grasp….I’ll never escape Celine’s brain-stabbing vocals. DAMN YOU JIM STEINMAN!!!

Click here to download Bat Out Of Hell at 320 kbps

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