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MUSiC: Cocaine, Cale & Clapton…

What a great album cover!

I grew up with J. J. Cale’s Naturally. It was in my parents’ record collection. And I always loved it. One of the first covers I ever attempted, in my early teens, was the song Magnolia, from this superb album.

We also had a few Clapton discs, including both Slowhand and 461 Ocean Boulevard. Fantastic albums! Slowhand is interesting because it features two covers by other artist that are both superb in their original versions, by their composers – J. J. Cale’s Cocaine, and John Martyn’s May You Never – and none too shabby in Clapton’s readings. And in both cases Clapton’s versions helped make the original songwriters a little better known.

J. J. Cale… gone but not forgotten.
If you want to hang out, 
You've got to take her out, cocaine
If you want to get down, 
Get down on the ground, cocaine
She don't lie, 
She don't lie, 
She don't lie, cocaine

If you got bad news, 
You want to kick them blues, cocaine
When your day is done 
And you want to run, cocaine
She don't lie, 
She don't lie, 
She don't lie, cocaine

If your thing is gone 
And you want to ride on, cocaine
Don't forget this fact, 
You can't get it back, cocaine
She don't lie, 
She don't lie, 
She don't lie, cocaine

She don't lie, 
She don't lie, 
She don't lie, cocaine

What do I want to say about this song? Well, first off, I love both versions. Cale’s is more personal, with his unique ‘home studio’ vibe. Clapton’s benefits from the sublime drumming of Jamie Oldaker, whose buttery smooth press rolls lend the song a whole new feel.

Jamie Oldaker performing with Clapton and co.

Also, and perhaps more controversially, I love the ambivalence of the lyrics, and their stance re the titular drug. On the Wiki page on the song Clapton says it’s a clever anti drug song. I think he’s being a bit disingenuous!

The line ‘Don’t forget this fact, you can’t get it back’ is the only cautionary caveat to what is otherwise a fairly clearly pro-cocaine line, so to speak. But it has to be admitted, as the last statement before the recurring refrain ‘she don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie’, it does subtly and cleverfully skew the up until then positive perspective.

Of all the drugs I tried in my, um… what shall we call them… wasted years? It was the only one I have no bad memories of. All the others turned from happy highs to depressing downers. But cocaine was, for me, always pure fun.*

I never got this deep into it!

Maybe it was just that I didn’t take it in the quantities rock stars and Tony Montana types did? I did that instead with weed. And that soured the experience. But, whatever, as they say these days, for some reason this song is resonating with me right now.

I think it’s high time – sorry, can’t he’p maself – I both transcribe and learn the Oldaker drum part. It’d be a great tune to teach in my drum lessons.

Clapton’s version popularised Cale’s song.

* I’m not advocating it’s use, by the way. Merely relating past experience. One of the strongest objections to its use – quite apart from the well documented hazards for users – is that it inevitably supports the brutally exploitative international narcotics trade.

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HOME/DiY: Further Shed Roof Work

I like the shadows!

Whenever there’s been a brief interlude without rain (not often lately!) and I’ve been home/free, I’ve grabbed the opportunity to make progress – even in tiny little incremental steps – on the shed roof.

The four panels that I used to do the roof were more than adequate lengthwise, giving enough coverage to project at each end (front and back, I suppose?). But the 8 foot length boards were only just big enough to reach across the width of the roof.

New projecting strips added on the ‘south face’.

Also, the shed was a bit out of square. So once the roofing boards were up and in place, they didn’t present straight/flush edges along the longer axis of the whole roof.

This meant I had to trim them, to get a straight line. And then somehow add long strips. Fortunately the off it’s from the front and back were just enough for the job. I had to cut them in half lengthwise. Bit of a faff!

But I did it. And on one day last week – Tuesday perhaps? – I did the higher side. And today I did the lower side. It wasn’t easy! And I didn’t do a perfect job. Far, far from it!

The inside view, under the new roof.

But hopefully it’s adequate? At least now the roof project out over the shed walls on every face. I’ll prob’ want to mix some sawdust and wood-glue filler, and fill some of the gaps between panels. And I’ve tried to find screws long enough to go through the whole width of the add-on boards.

Anyway, a couple more small steps towards getting the shed shop shape, and ready to move all my tools out of the previous workshop. The latter will become our art studio. With room to paint. A small etching press, and – if I can get it working – a kiln!

So much to do!

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MiSC: Nature – Amazing Sunrise/Rainbow…

Arrived to this at work today!

Today’s sunrise was garlanded with a rainbow, putting me in mind of that rather lovely John Sebastian lyric about ‘painting rainbows all over your blues’.

The initial sunrise, en-route.

As the day lightened, it was beautifully sunny, even though the sun hadn’t as yet cracked the horizon. My route to work passes alongside a canal or river waterway. Which is where I got the above shot.

I couldn’t capture this very well, alas.

Then I spotted what I think is termed a ‘sun dog’, or little partial ribbon of rainbow. Which proceeded to grow, till it eventually became a phenomenal double rainbow. Sadly the camera on my iPhone doesn’t do these morning glories (aye… steady!) any justice at all.

Tried zooming in to enhance colour intensity.
Stopped at Swavesey playing field to snap this.

The view the other way was amazing as well. The strange yellow light is totally not captured by my iPhone. Aaargh!

Trying to capture the yellow cast in the east.
An earlier stop, at Swavesey’s church.
That strange dark/light rainbow effect.

None of my photos really catch the intensity of the colours. But you do get a sense of how the rainbow refraction makes the sky ‘inside’ the rainbow lighter, and ‘outside’ darker. I wonder why that is? Must find out!

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MUSiC/ART & DESiGN: The Blue Note Art Blakey Covers

So good!

I have a few ‘coffee table’ art books on the subject of jazz record covers. And whilst all of them contain great stuff, none of them quite capture or distil the real magic of the best album covers as I wish they would.

This one’s actually an homage…

I think to do that they’d have to be bigger than LP-sized, and reproduce all the covers at full size. Ideally with room to spare. There’s naught worse than beautiful images that run into the gutter/spine of a book! Well, I admit, there’s a lot that’s worse. But you know what I’m saying.

How can you not love this?

This post isn’t meant to be in any way comprehensive. For starters I’m limiting it purely to one record label and one artist: Art Blakey on Blue Note. But isn’t it amazing how great these covers are? For my money they elevate the packaging to a plane very much akin to the music.

This one belongs to a weird sub-category!*

And when both music and art are sublime, that kind of sympathetic synergy is a wonderful thing, to be savoured, treasured, and just plain enjoyed/appreciated… so feast your eyes. And, ideally, put on some Blakey, and feast your ears as well!

Sublime! What a face.

In Art Blakey Reid Miles and Francis Wolff found someone who had the musical spirit they loved, plus seemingly unbounded energy and charisma, and really striking looks to boot. He’s a funny looking dude, in some ways. But he’s incredibly photogenic with it.

Fontastic.

Wolff would be busy, snapping away at recording sessions. And then later Miles would work his hyper-aesthetic design magic. The resulting package is on a par with the music, as art in its own right. And it helps lend the era/genre a hard to define but instantly recognisable vibe, both rootsy and yet sophisticated.

A typical Wolff studio portrait.

Above is the kind of raw material Wolff would provide Reid Miles with, a fantastic studio shot of the artist at work. Interestingly Wolf’s photographic estate is handled (at least in part?), by the specialist jazz label Mosaic, who might very well have taken their name – they certainly share it – from a Blakey track.

A lot of the covers use black and white photos with single colours as screening tints. And the use of typography is just phenomenal. But as the images directly above and below demonstrate. Miles could still weave his spells with full colour imagery, and more colourful font palettes.

Whether using a fuller range of colours, or going super stark and minimalist, as on Three Blind Mice (below), these covers have a tremendous power. I absolutely adore them!

Sweaty, intense and stark.

Pictured below is one of the books mentioned at the top of this post.

Also worth noting is how the Wolff/Miles house style lives on. The following images are all later non Wolff/Miles productions that clearly owe a debt to and seek to emulate (with varying degrees of fidelity/success) the classic Blue Note house style.

The above is, by normal standards, a great cover. But frankly it’s not in the same league as the real deal. The effort below is a lot better.

Another later ‘in the style of’ example.

I intend to get a body of these and similar record covers decently printed, and then frame and display them myself, both in my office/home studio, and around our home. To finish, a very early example, from back when Blue Note issued 10” discs. And this last one finds Blakey sharing the billing with another Blue Note legend, Horace Silver.

Wow! So g’damn groovy.

* I’ll prob do another separate post on the sub-category of Blue Note album covers that favour semi-abstract photos, often either out of focus, or treating imagery in almost purely textural terms.

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SPORT: Football, World Cup ‘22 – Day 2, England vs Iran

Bellingham celebrates his first World Cup goal.

I managed to get home early enough to catch the England Iran game yesterday. I missed the first ten minutes or so, and arrived back during what turned out to be a marathon time-out, due to the Iranian goal keeper bashing heads with one of his defenders.

This wound up adding 14 or 15 minutes of extra time to the first half. Is that a record?When I got home I knocked on our neighbour’s door, knowing he had the day off, and thinking watching the footy on the social might be fun. It was. Too much fun, in the end!

The match itself was goalless when I arrived. But, once play resumed, the goals started coming thick and fast. I think it was 3-0 by half time. Not the dull game I had worried it might be.

Saka – scored twice – celebrates.

In the end we wound up having dinner round there; I picked Teresa up at the station, and Regina very kindly fed us all. The only bum note was my excessive intake of alcohol (ah, the irony!*). I bought a couple of cases of Shipyard Ale, on a two-for-one (almost) promo’, at Sainsburys. And then drank way too many cans.

Now I’m paying for it. With a hangover, and a gassy bloated tummy. Aaargh…. How I hate being an idiot! Still, at least the football was fun.

* Qatar tried banning booze altogether, upsetting sponsor, Budweiser. I’m still not clear what the situation is! Here’s something on the subject.

Pickford and Kane celebrate.

Amazingly, with six goals, Kane – instrumental in a few of them (feeding Sterling the third goal, and Rashford, the fifth – on his third touch! – for example), and still key to our success – didn’t actually score any of them. He must have been both very chuffed at the result, and a bit gutted not to be on the scoresheet. Speaking of which:

England
J. Bellingham 35'
B. Saka 43', 62'
R. Sterling 45+1'
M. Rashford 71'
J. Grealish 90'

Iran
M. Taremi 65’,90+13' (P)

Taremi’s first goal for Iran was superb. His second – a penalty – prob’ shouldn’t have been given. But you can’t begrudge him or Iran their two goals, in the end. England’s emphatic dominance and victory were still more than adequately reflected in the final result.

How good was it to get off to such a good start!? Amazing.

And, amidst all the political controversy, it was lovely to note that Jack ‘Calves’ Grealish dedicated his goal (England’s sixth of the match!) to a young fan:

Grealish meets Finlay.
A celebratory move is agreed upon…
… and, very sweetly, a promise is kept.

BTW, the politics of the region once again made itself apparent: the Iranian players didn’t sing their own national anthem – which caused Gary Lineker to make the observation that it was ‘a powerful and very significant gesture’ – and there were protest placards in the crowd, with slogans such as ‘Iranian women’ (in ref’ to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini).

On a lighter note, I met Miklas’ pet rat (very cute!), and had a go on their Carlsbro e-kit. I was so drunk and the kit is set up for southpaw Chris… I could barely sit on the stool, never mind play!

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MiSC: Joe Hill

Joe Hill.*

Thanks to a FB pal’s post I learned of Joe Hill today. Not heard of him before.

An itinerant worker of Swedish ancestry, Hill was a ‘Wobblie’, or member of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), rising to prominence in that organisation as a songwriter and cartoonist, as well as for his vocal activism.

Hill was executed, aged just 36, in 1915. Allegedly for a robbery in which two men, father and son (the elder an ex-policemen), were killed. I know next to nothing about all this. So I’ll be looking into it. It’s pretty fascinating!

Tom Morello of RATM credits a whole lineage of protest music to Joe Hill’s leading example, which is interesting. As a musician and artist I’m immediately drawn to Hill, not just because I share his politics to some extent (to what extent I don’t know as yet!), but because art and music are my ‘bag’.

Rather strikingly, Hill’s will, reproduced below (along with a post-mortem photo showing his corpse, complete with the execution bullet holes!), is in verse. A poet to the last!

The popular perception on the left is that Hill is a martyr, a scapegoat, a ‘pesky agitator’ silenced by the boss class. Hill refused to exonerate himself entirely, claiming he was innocent. But unwilling to name a lady for love of whom he had, he said, been shot by a another man!

The gunshot wound, which he presented to a doctor on the same day as the fatal double shooting of which he was eventually accused, was, it seems, what got him the death penalty.

A tantalising tale! I must find out more.

One of Hill’s cartoon. I’m assuming the pianist is a self-portrait?

* Quite a striking/good looking dude! Could’ve been played by a young Willem Defoe, perhaps?

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SPORT: Football, Qatar World Cup ‘22 – Day 1, Ecuador Beat Hosts

Ecuador’s Cap’n scored 2 (or was it 3?) times!

My wife was delighted that Ecuador beat hosts Qatar today. Not because the host country has a dodgy record on moral issues. But because she has South-American roots. Her parents came to the UK from British Guyana.

I was delighted as well. But not just because I prefer the cultures of South America – many very troubled (which I believe goes for Ecuador?) – to anywhere backward enough to endorse Sharia Law. But also, frankly, because I hope that, if this World Cup does anything – besides entertaining sports fans and generating lots of money (the first I’m fine with; the second troubles me) – it might cause Qatar to loosen up somewhat. But somehow I doubt it will.

Some of the home crowd leaving a bit early.

I’m not a footy nut. So all I really know thus far is that beer was eventually vetoed. And given that the beer in question was Budweiser, I would understand if it were about the quality of the beverage. But as it’s not, as it’s a supposedly religious/moral thing… that I find pretty odious.

What’s obviously worse and of far greater significance are things like the deaths of many migrant workers, whilst building the stadia, criminalising people on grounds of sexuality, and making 50% of their own populace second class.

So, even though I skipped the whole preamble/build-up (my usual MO) – I was actually really pleased to note that Gary Lineker and the BBC weren’t dodging these issues. Quite the reverse. Oh, and the match was ok.

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ART/MUSiC: Claymation Curtis?

Hey… he’s a Superfly guy!

We’re round at my sister’s again. Looking after Ali and Sofi. And on this occasion I thought they might enjoy some plasticene fun. So I bought a bit, whilst on a shopping trip with Sofi to the local giant Tesco. I expected them to stock plasticene (they used to). But they don’t anymore. Shocking! Wound up getting some from a pound shop close by.

Open handed, or spread-eagled?

I opted to make a claymation style Curtis Mayfield, circa 1970. Wearing his distinctive yellow outfit, as sported on the cover of his 1970 album, Curtis.

For some reason I’ve always wanted to make a plasticene Curtis! I’d also like to animate him. I wonder if animator sister Amy might be able to help/collaborate?

Slightly less awkward pose.

I have to confess I’m rather pleased with his spectacles. Making them was tricky but fun. And I think the results are ok. I also need to make him a guitar, and poss a beaded necklace.

Dig those flying lapels!

The lapels are, as they often were back then, hoooge!!! The white shirt was actually paisley patterned. But I don’t think I’ll bother with that! I may detail his yellow suit a bit more, poss’ with some stitching type marks.

The eyes don’t quite have it, yet.

It’s not the best likeness of Curtis. And I’m not crazy about his eyes. But hopefully I can improve on them a bit? I’m pretty pleased with his mouth and nose. And even his beard and hair.

Those hands and feet!?

I tried mixing red and black to get an oxblood type shoe colour. But the black, despite only being 33% of the mix, totally dominates!

Salt’n’pepper, doing an ‘ebony and ivory’ subtext.
Curtis looks rather abstracted… far away?
Getting him packed for the journey home.

I’ll be making him a guitar and strap when we get home. And poss’ also the aforementioned necklace(s)? I need to research what guitar he was using round this time. I think he used an unusual ‘black keys’ tuning as well.

Trying for a side-angle shot
Man, I’m chuffed wi’ ‘is glasses?.

Cryogenically frozen for the trip home.

Anyway, that was great fun! I don’t ever get round to this sort of thing much any more. I very much hope I can somehow get an animation out of it.

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MUSiC: Rubber Soul, The Beatles, 1965

Probably my favourite Beatles album. And a pretty groovy cover to boot. Love that period ‘rubber’ font!

Whilst this is the sixth Beatles album, it’s only the second to not feature any covers. And the strength of the all original set is superb. Arguably not just their best yet, but one of their best ever.

I’ve read that the title itself is a playful variant on the ‘plastic soul’, i.e. fake/inauthentic soul, a term McCartney used about their own Little Richard inspired B-side, I’m Down. and when you consider that their previous waxing was Help! (both out in ‘65), the quantum leaps in both breadth and depth are striking.

One of the things The Beatles went on to become so well known for, with the help of producer George Martin, was their deep dive into the use of the studio itself, and the production, as a further aspect of creativity. And in tandem, the development of the album as an artistic package and statement, as opposed to merely what the term album denotes, a collection of songs.*

Rubber Soul was written and recorded after the US summer tour in which their performance at Shea Stadium both set new attendance records, and helped push them across several thresholds. Meeting such folk as Dylan and Presley, getting deeper into pot and LSD, and further exposure to contemporary Afro-American popular music, all conspired to enhance, expand and enrich their creative aspirations.

Rather bizarrely, to my mind, it was EMI policy at the time to alter the US albums, which in this case meant removing four tracks! The UK/European release comprised:

Side One
Drive My Car
Norwegian Wood
You Won’t See Me
Nowhere Man
Think For Yourself
The Word

Side Two
What Goes On
Girl
I’m Looking Through You
In My Life
Wait
If I Needed Someone 
Run For Your Life

The entirety of what was originally side one is terrific. The first four tracks in particular being properly stellar. Think For Yourself is a bit of a dip, but The Word, a pre-emotive ‘Summer-of-Love-bomb’ picks things up again.

Side two kicks of with one of Ringo’s best turns on lead vocals, and two very strong Lennon numbers, in Girl and the humbly sublime In My Life (you gotta dig GM’s fake harpsichord solo!). If I Needed Someone is yet more proof that George Harrison’s best writing occurred whilst he was a Beatle.

The album ends with Run Four Life, which is very like Think For Yourself, in both tempo and feel. speaking of feel, not only has the overall sound become more complex, nuanced and personal, it’s also several shades darker, with anger and alienation entering the frame, where before it was mostly happy go lucky boy meets girl romance.

And on a sartorial footnote… I’m very tempted by this!

I’d love to have a jacket like Lennon’s!

Not sure what the source for the above alternate cover type image is. But it’s interesting to see a variant. considering how goofily dressed they sometime got later on, they’re looking pretty cool and fab, in a slightly beatnik hipster type way, here.

* Back in the days before record covers with artwork and info became a thing, shorter playing 78s were stored in what resembled what are now the inner sleeves, albeit in heavier card stock. And collections of multiple discs would actually literally make up an album, akin to a photo album.