** Rock and Roll Reminiscing – WWWW **

Tour2ma

Rock and Roll Reminiscing

15 June 2003 --- Letter Of The Week is “W”

For what this is about and some guidelines please click on the following link:

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7234

Yes, it’s a long post, but please read, if you participate.

This week we are only discussing artists whose last name, and groups whose name begin with the letter “W”.

Note: The word “The” doesn’t count, so for example “The Allman Brothers Band” belongs in the "A's" discussion and not in the “T’s” (guideline #5).

When possible, please supply complete title, format, company, year and catalog number when posting recordings.

And so our 26-week odyssey continues…

Hope you come along for the ride…

ken brydson

To me, the most obvious is The Who. One of the greatest R&R bands ever, IMO. Killer vocals, the most incredible drummer ever, and Townsends trademark windmill guitar.
Another couple faves of mine that some may consider 80's "hair bands", Whitesnake a Warrant. Some pretty good rock and roll.

Tour2ma

I dunno, maybe The Who deserve a few more words here…

I started with them way back with “Pictures of Lily” and “Magic Bus” on AM radio. Still have my 45 of the latter. However, the first of their albums I bought was Tommy.

Hard to know where to start a discussion of Tommy. It took the whole concept album thing to a new level, the “rock opera”. And IMO, it’s never been equaled. Like the note from the older sister in “Almost Famous” said, “Listen to Tommy with a candle burning and it will set you free.” Doesn’t hurt if something else is burning as well. Tommy is the only MFSL gold disc I own because with both albums on one disc is was too good a value to pass up. It’s a wonderful transfer.

Several other pieces of classic Who vinyl here… Live at Leeds, Quadrophenia, Face Dances, Hits, but other than Tommy the only other album that demanded to be bought whole on CD as well was Who’s Next. The absolute zenith of their work with a line up that just doesn’t quite. Whjile I appreciate Tommy, I love Who’s Next for the ROCK! Another Tour Top Ten… Just to ‘round things out I also have Thirty Years of Maximum R&B, a great boxed set from a great group.

For an encore tonite I offer:
Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash – C-90 (1970)
Pilgrimage – C-90 (19710
Argus – C-90 (1972)
Wishbone Four – C-90 (1973)
Live Dates – Vinyl (1973)
Time Was/ The Wishbone Ash Collection – Dbl CD (1993 MCA – MCAD2-10765)
Winter of ‘73/ ’74 I won a prize pack from an FM station and ended up with two copies of Live Dates and two tickets to an upcoming concert in Cleveland’s Palace Theater. What a show… It even had some guy named Springsteen open for them… He was pretty good, too. I wonder whatever happened to him…

Wishbone Ash was one of the groups, if not the first group, to feature two lead guitarists. Through this stretch of releases they were Andy Powell and Ted Turned (no, not that Ted Turner). The way they came to the group was via an ad for a guitarist to replace a departed member. When the two remaining members, Martin Turner, bass, and Steve Upton, drums heard Andy and Ted audition, they could not choose between them and so they chose both… The result was a sound loaded with driving, interplaying guitar riffs... very unique. “The Pilgrim” off their second album may be the best example of this.

Because of the concert experience Live Dates holds a special place with me, but of their studio albums, Argus{/u] is my favorite. But for anyone wanting a taste of this group, the double CD compilation is a great sampler and includes one of the better sets of liner notes I’ve read. The notes includes the members wonderful mulling over of whether or not Lynyrd Skynyrd ripped off an Ash tune, “The Phoenix”, when they recorded “Free Bird”. A listen just might convince you that they did. Good stuff here, from an under appreciated group…

F1nut

Considering the lack of W's, I just want to add that IMHO "Live At Leeds" is the best live RnR recording ever.

Tour2ma

Edit: F1, lack of W’s? Better get out your checkbook bro…

WTH was I thinking? I can’t leave my Buckeye Bro for someone else to cover… only problem is that in writing this I learned he’s a Kansan, not a Buckeye… aw still, WTH he cut his rock teeth in Ohio…

Joe Walsh
Barnstorm – C-90 (1972)
The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get – C-90 (1973)
But Seriously Folks - Vinyl (1978 Asylum)
There Goes the Neighborhood - Vinyl (1981 Asylum)
Between his James Gang and Eagles stints, and even a bit since, my bud Joe carved himself out a heckuva solo career.

While Barnstorm technically was a group Joe formed following his departure from the Gang, it is really Joe’s coming out party. Wonderful line-up of tunes here from “Here We Go” to “Mother Says” to “Turn to Stone” it’s all wonderfully restrained rock. Relatively slow in tempo, but with great power just under the surface.

With …Smoker… is more of the same musically and Joe drops the group pretense, but not most of the group. Stand out track here is maybe Joe’s best-known work, “Rocky Mountain Way”, but the album is very strong through and through.

At this point I skipped a couple releases, but Joe snagged me again with But Seriously Folks with the help of most of the Eagles line-up. In addition to Henley, Felder, and Frey, our old friend Jay Ferguson joins in this release, another strong one. “life’s Been Good” still gets airplay and may be Joe at his playful best. “Over and Over”, “Second Hand Store” and “Indian Summer” are among other very good tracks here. Still most of the tracks here are still on the restained side.

With … Neighborhood Joe finally cuts loose. While you not know any of the cuts here, this was finally the unrestrained throwback album Gang fans were craving for a decade. Strong stuff… Can’t say the same for most of Joe’s subsequent, non-Eagles work, but 1983’s, You Bought It, You Name It did give us “I.L.B.T. S” (I Like Big ****). Who can argue with that?

mhw58

I love the Who, Who's Next is one of my all time favorite albums.
Muddy Waters-one of the all time blues greats, everyone should
at least own his greatest hits on Chess.
Roger Waters-his best work was with Pink Floyd but he's had some good solo albums too. I love his 'In the Flesh' dvd
and I saw him live on that tour.
Lucinda Wlliams-great songwriter. Her 'Car wheels on a gravel
road' is a great cd.
Wings-I'm a massive Beatles fan and love a lot of their solo
stuff too. Wings put out some great music, Band on the
Run is a must own and I love Venus and Mars and Back to
the egg also.
Edgar Winter-Frankenstein baby and Free ride.
Johnny Winter- a great blues guitarist and fantastic live.
Stevie Winwood-Arc of a Diver and Back in the high life are
great.
Stevie Wonder- a true musical genius. Talking Book, Innervisions
Fulfillingness first finale and Songs in the key of life are all
highly recommended.
Mike

Tour2ma

Mike,
Please keep it reigned in until the weekend, two artists per day maximum until Saturday.

danger boy

I have to agree with Wings. I was just listening to Wingspan over the weekend. Great double CD. get it if you like Wings or Paul McCartney or just good rock and roll baby.

I also have to add Robbie Williams here. Two of he's recent CD's are pretty good.
The Ego has Landed is his best work to date in my humble opinion. His follow up CD didn't shake my nuts much. it's called Sing When You're Winning.

The Ego has landed has the hit Millennium on it. It's pretty good... so are some of the other tracks. The Pet Shop Boys i think produced a track or two for him... and sing backgrounds too.

Robbie even did a DVD called Live at the Albert Hall 2001. Which i hear is pretty good. Robbie Williams isn't all that well known in the US. He is from the former boy band called Take That

shack

Tour...are you a Joe Walsh fan??? :rolleyes: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get is my personal favorite Walsh solo album....If for no other reason than I have absolutely no idea what the title means....

War - The Best Of War - And More - 1991 - Eric Burdon's little "funkadelic" band. Got to have tunes are "Cisco Kid" and "Lowrider". "Spill The Wine" and "All Day Music" are classics. "Slippin' Into Darkness" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?" are also very good cuts on this CD. This is a nice "Best of" CD for this group.

Johnny Winter- a great blues guitarist and fantastic live.

is just not going to get it....Must expand!

Johnny Winter - Second Winter - 1969 - My first taste of "White Boy Texas Blues" (which would ultimately become one of my favorite genres). Along with brother Edgar and Tommy Shannon (SRV and Double Trouble). "Johnny B. Goode" and Slippin" and Slidin' " were the songs that got me. "Highway 61 Revisted" was another favorite.

Johnny Winter And - 1970 - Rick Derringer joined Johnny for this one and the Classic "Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo" is the star of this one. I also like "On The Limb" and "Funky Music".

As Mike stated Johnny Winter is great live on stage. Live Johnny Winter And - 1971 - contains my favorite version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash". There was another group that did this song too...but it wasn't as good (Mick Haggar...I think?). The rest of this album contained "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", "It's My Own Fault", "Rock & Roll Medley: Great Balls Of Fire", "Mean Town Blues" and "Johnny B. Goode". Rick Derringer and Johnny were a great combo which led to a great live album.

I know this is more than 2 but since the Winters were already mentioned I think it is ok to expand on Edgar Winter too.

Edgar Winter And White Trash - Edgar Winter's White Trash - 1971 - Johnny and Rick Derringer joined Edgar for this one. Notable cuts are "Give It Everything You Got", "I've Got News For You" and "Keep Playin' That Rock And Roll". An excellent album and if you like Johnny you like Edgar!

They Only Come Out At Night - 1972 - This album holds a special place for me because I can remember many nights in a hole-in-the wall bar called the "Patio" during my college years drinking long necks and playing pool and pinball. When "Hangin' Around", "Free Ride" and "Frankenstein" were put on the jukebox they became the bar favorites. I would have though that as much as I heard these songs I would have grown tired of them...but this is not the case. I guess they were permanently etched in my beer soaked memory. The rest of the album is quite good and another of my favorite musicians, Ronnie Montrose, joined Edgar and Rick along with Dan Hartman. The album was very innovative for its time with lots of synthesizers and is still a very good listen today.

abmarsh

My favorite Edgar Winter album is Edgar Winter's White Trash - Roadwork. Ric Derringer's guitar work is fantastic!

My favorite Johnny Winter album is Still Alive and Well. Just a great heavy blues album.

I've been a Who fan as log as I can remember. As well as the vocals, guitar, and drumming already mentioned, you simply can't not mention John Entwistle's phenomenal bass work. He stands out as one of rock music's truly outstanding musicians.

Tour2ma

shack,
Yeah, I like Joe. a little…

Same Best of War here, my top cut is “City, Country, City”; wonderful thematic interplay there. I’m particularly fond of Lee Oskar’s work.

While I endorse all the releases you sited, feel you can’t mention Johnny Winter without a nod to his release The Progressive Blues Experiment. It’s at least a minor classic. I saw Johnny for free in the winter of ’70. He opened for Mountain, but they no-showed due to bad weather. Johnny played about 2 hours, stalling for time, but Mountain didn’t make it, so got a full refund… Ditto your Edgar write up, but always felt he was a bit more commercial.

ab,
Good to see you back bro…

mhw and db,
I, too, followed Paul Mc’s solo career closely. IMO Band on the Run is his high water mark. Seems to be the only release that has stood up to time.

Anyway, I have a few minutes so think I’ll post a couple solo efforts by other artists better known for their work with a famous group or groups.

Rick Wakeman
Yes’s keyboard man has some 20 releases as a solo. None are netter than his 1973, Six Wives of Henry VIII. Rick cooked up a very imaginative blend of classical and rock here (does that make it Classic Rock?). The six tracks are all named after the six wives. Wakeman wrote all the cuts save “Anne Boleyn”.

This is very good stuff. Not only did it help mark the beginning of progressive rock, but it also helped bring keyboards back out in front of rock. Rick really puts the synth through its paces here. While the release did not have the impact that Wendi Carlos had with Switched on Bach years earlier, it did build upon that early work and helped further establish the synth as a lead instrument.

Jeff Wayne
Unless you count conducting, Jeff is not a performer. While he worked with many groups, I associate him most closely with The Moody Blues, which he sometimes produced and was an occasional song contributor. Jeff also worked closely with the Moody’s Justin Hayward on Justin’s solo efforts.

In 1978 Jeff released War of the Worlds, a double album based on the H.G. Wells book and Orson Welle’s script for the infamous radio broadcast. The release spawned one moderate hit, “Forever Autumn”. While not quite “rock”, War… is more than a concept album and deserves rock opera classification. Jeff wrote, or co-wrote, all the tracks, and served as conductor and producer.

While this is not an everyday, casual listening album, a fact that prevents it from unseating Tommy atop my rock opera list, it is an impressive effort that warrants a full listen every once in a while. Richard Burton lends his now silenced, golden voice to the narration here. Other performers you might know are Justin Hayward and David Essex.

The vinyl release is very collectable with notable artwork on the covers and a wonderful storybook insert. Your kids will love it. This album is a nice, modern way to visit “the Golden Age of Radio”.