Eric Clapton Goes Comfy on New Record, But Sizzles Onstage

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero
Eric Clapton live in Houston on March 17, 2013. Photo by Groovehouse for The Houston Press. See more at https://www.facebook.com/GroovehousePhotography?fref=ts

Eric Clapton live in Houston on March 16, 2013. Photo by Groovehouse for the Houston Press. See more at https://www.facebook.com/GroovehousePhotography?fref=ts

Now that acts like The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and The Zombies have marked their 50th anniversaries, those who got their start in 1963 are beginning to roll out more sonic celebrations, and classic rock heroes don’t get any bigger than Eric Clapton.

I was fortunate enough to catch the second show on his current 50th anniversary tour and review it for the Houston Press. It was a solid overview of his career from the blues of Robert Johnson which motivated him early on, to tracks from Cream and Derek and the Dominos, and choice cuts from his solo career.

Two songs from the setlist came from his new record, Old Sock. Rolling Stone described it as “comfort music,” and we find a way-laid back Eric on record as cozy and content as the cover photo of him smiling in the sun and the barnyard wooden-plank font of the lettering.

Eric Clapton - Old Sock

In the record’s 10 covers, he tackles tunes including some from the Great American Songbook (“All of Me,” “Our Love is Here to Stay”), blues (“Further On Down the Road,” “Still Got the Blues”), reggae (Peter Tosh‘s “Till Your Well Runs Dry”), folk (Leadbelly‘s “Goodnight Irene”), soul (Otis Redding‘s “Your One and Only Man”), and country (“Born to Lose”).

Of the two originals, “Gotta Get Over” is the closest thing to rock, and the sweet, lolling “Every Little Thing” even features guest vocals from Clapton’s young daughters. The record is also seeded with guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, J.J. Cale, and Taj Mahal, as well as mainstays from Clapton’s band including Doyle Bramhall II, Willie Weeks, and Chris Stainton.

Old Sock makes a great soundtrack to play outdoors during a sunny afternoon with a cold, preferably fruit-based drink in hand (and Classic Rock Bob has personally tested it under these conditions).

Staring his 68th birthday in the eye, Slowhand is slowing down, but he’s hardly ready to retire. And while he recently claimed he’d stop touring at age 70, he also expressed admiration for bluesmen like B.B. King – still onstage today at 87 – as well as Pinetop Perkins, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, and Robert Lockwood, Jr., who also plucked strings and pounded keys well into their ’80s and ’90s. We can only hope that Clapton follows suit.

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Vintage Rockers Dominate VH1 Classic’s Hard Rock Calling Show

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero

springsteen-mccart_2277340c

One of the things I love about VH1 Classic is their pretty solid schedule of screening rock docs and live concerts. The most recent one I caught showed highlights from the Hard Rock Calling 2012 shows held in London’s Hyde Park last July.

This show made some news last year when the police shut off the sound system at the point when the show had run eight minutes past the 10:30 noise curfew…cutting short as mini set with Bruce Springsteen and guest Paul McCartney.

I mean, who the fuck pulls the plug on Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney??? Even Boris Johnson, London’s mayor, was aghast.

And while the show’s lineup was varied with acts of all ages and musical genres, it was heavy hitting classic rockers who dominated the 2.5 hour VH1 Classic highlight show.

Iggy and the Stooges ripped through a furious “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” with the (of course) shirtless Pop—wanting a little closer contact with the audience—jumping off the stage to press the flesh at the audience barricades place well away from the lip of the stage on the muddy ground.

Ageless Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty offered up a somewhat tepid take on “Old Man Down the Road.” And will someone close to him please tell him that his current shade of hair coloring does not exist in reality.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, reports say, ruled the show. And the Boss got a lot of screen time here, whipping through a high energy “Because the Night.”

But two current songs from the Wrecking Ball album – “Shackled and Drawn” and “We Are Alive,” seemed weak in comparison, especially the latter. Maybe Bruce’s choice song selection was part of the deal, who knows? But the highlight here was a solo, solitary rendition of “Thunder Road” with just Bruce and his voice holding 80,000 Limeys captive and quiet. It was a powerful moment.

Later, McCartney joined him for renditions of “I Saw Here Standing There” and “Twist and Shout” to the obvious thrill of the audience and the delight of both men, with Springsteen saying he’d waited “50 years” for this moment. Paul, smiling and thumb-upping as usual, was the consummate showman.

Paul+Simon+Paul+Simon+Peforms+London+kzuGQXFRdv4l

But the Oscar for Best Performance by a Classic Rocker goes hands down to Paul Simon. Sporting a snazzy fedora, the former Garfunkel carrier delivered a spirited “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” (with vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and bandmembers who recorded the original version on 1986’s Graceland).

Simon then experimented successfully with different vocal tempos on “Late In the Evening,” explored the sound of silence with a fine “The Boxer,” and ramped up the party again with “Graceland” and “You Can Call Me Al.”

Loose-limbed and commanding, Simon was a joy to watch and made me want to go out and get his new DVD/CD Live in New York City. In fact, there’s a Best Buy right around the corner from here…

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It’s the Time of the Season: U.S. Preps for Zombie Invasion!

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero
Original Zombies: Colin Blunstone (vocals), Paul Atkinson (guitar), Rod Argent (keyboards/vocals), Chris White (bass/vocals), and Hugh Grundy (drums).

Original Zombies: Colin Blunstone (vocals), Paul Atkinson (guitar), Rod Argent (keyboards/vocals), Chris White (bass/vocals), and Hugh Grundy (drums).

Sure, zombies are really hot now – sorry, bloodsucking vampires. Just take a look at pop culture today and the stiffs are all over TV, movies, comics, video games, and even literature. Can zombie porn be far away? (Though, by the time this column comes out, I’m sure there will be some flick titled The Walking Head or Warm Bodies (Slapping Hardly) available to download at $16.99 on certain websites.)

But even without that cool kids cache, there’s one group of these creatures who are going to have a pretty busy year – spreading their musical innoculations from town to town and making three separate tours of America. Not bad for a couple of nice sexagenarian English lads from near St. Albans.

The Zombies career in the ’60s didn’t last long – only two full albums and a handful of singles and unfinished projects. They are best known for hits like “Time of the Season,” “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “I Love You.” Their album Odessey and Oracle [sic] is widely considered a masterpiece and influential piece of pop rock.

One of the '60s best records. The misspelling of "Odessey" was the fault of the cover artist, a friend of the band!

One of the ’60s best records. The misspelling of “Odessey” was the fault of the cover artist, a friend of the band!

But their influence has far outstripped their output, and since 2000 when original lineup vocalist Colin Blunstone and keyboardist/vocalist Rod Argent reconvened, they’ve played consistently all over the world to diehard fans old and new, and releasing both new studios albums, a live effort and a DVD. Their most recent CD is Breathe Out, Breathe In.

So where did their horrific moniker come from? One that – save for ZZ Top – a comprehensive music guide might be titled From Abba to the Zombies.

“The name was actually suggested by our original bass player. We were desperate for a name. And you know, I’m not even sure we knew what a zombie was! I’m not sure I know exactly now!” Blunstone told me from his home in England recently for a two part interview to come out next month in The Houston Press. “But once a name sticks to a band, and once it assumes the identity of that band, you aren’t thinking too deeply about what the word means. You just align it with the music.”

The Zombies are certainly one of my favorite classic rock bands, and I got to see them in a small club in 2004 after interviewing Rod Argent and spent a little time with them after the show as they laughed and chatted with a small, but dedicated crowd. One couple had driven eight hours just to be there, clutching their copy of the import-only box set Zombie Heaven.

Current Zombies: Jim Rodford (bass), Blunstone, Argent, Steve Rodford (drums), Tom Toomey (guitar).

Current Zombies: Jim Rodford (bass), Blunstone, Argent, Steve Rodford (drums), Tom Toomey (guitar).

Ironically, when “Time of the Season” became a huge radio hit in the U.S. in 1968 (after keyboardist Al Kooper, a fan, pushed for the stateside release of Odessey and Oracle), the original Zombies had already broken up!

So if those lumbering, slathering, grey-skinned beings on screens all over can have a second life, so can the British Invasion’s most criminally underrated bands. Coming to haunt you, sometime soon.

Check out The Zombies official website here.

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Bands That Need to Get it Together Before It’s Too Late….

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero
America: Gerry Beckley, Dan Peek, Dewey Bunnell...never to share a stage ever.

America: Gerry Beckley, Dan Peek, Dewey Bunnell…never to share a stage ever again.

Recently, I was tooling down the road jamming to the Greatest Hits CD by the three headed harmony monsters in America. Though, instead of traveling down “Ventura Highway,” I was on the Sam Houston Tollway – which is not nearly as easy on the ears (Fun Fact: Prince nabbed the phrase “Purple Rain” from this song).

It made me think that – while he left the band way back in 1977 – there can now never be a real reunion show or tour with the death of Dan Peek in 2011 (Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell have kept the band going all these years).

In fact, the Grim Reaper has made it impossible for many bands to ever take a stage with their original or classic-era lineups, including Pink Floyd (Richard Wright), the Kinks (Pete Quaife), and the Zombies (Paul Atkinson).

So here is my list of five bands that need to bury the hatchet, make nice, and get it together, get back in the game, or just reconnect – if only for one show – before it’s too late.

Three Dog Night: Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, Chuck Negron

Three Dog Night: Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, Chuck Negron

1. Three Dog Night
It’s Three Dog Night, see? Not Two. But after the group disbanded in the mid-’70s, Chuck Negron (the lead vocalist on “Joy to the World,” “One,” “Easy to Be Hard,” and “Old Fashioned Love Song”) spent 15 years in heroin hell.

Even after the group reformed, he was fired in the mid-’80s. Negron’s memoir, Three Dog Nightmare, remains the most harrowing musician druggie tome ever. He’s been clean and sober for more than 20 years – while Danny Hutton and Cory Wells continue to tour under the band’s name. It sure would be nice to see these brothers from the same litter playing in the pound together again.

Grand Funk Railroad: Don Brewer, Mark Farner, Mel Schacher

Grand Funk Railroad: Don Brewer, Mark Farner, Mel Schacher

2. Grand Funk Railroad
Things looked good when this proletarian power trio – and Homer Simpson’s favorite band – get back together in the late ’90s to record and tour. But lead vocalist/guitarist Mark Farner claims he was cut out of the picture – maybe for money, maybe for his born-again Christian beliefs, maybe for his conservative political leanings – by bandmates Don Brewer and Mel Schacher (as he explains in this interview I did with him). Farner now tours solo while Brewer and Schacher continue to fly the Funk flag with other members. But guys – in the words of your song – “Get It Together!”

Manassas' great first record

Manassas’ great first record

3. Manassas
What started as sessions for a Stephen Stills solo record turned into a real band project in 1971 with a lineup that also included ex-Byrds/Burrito Brother Chris Hillman, Dallas Taylor, Paul Harris, Fuzzy Samuels, Al Perkins, and Joe Lala.

They were all top notch players, shared vocal and instrumental duties, and mixed rock, country, Latin, R&B, and gospel, producing one masterful double album (Manassas) and one OK effort (Down the Road). An odds ‘n sods compilation, Pieces, came out in 2009.

I spotlighted the band in my “Lost Tuneage” column for The Houston Press. All members are alive and well. Come on, Stephen, get off the CSN cycle for a bit!

Early Eagles: Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey

Early Eagles: Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey

Later Eagles: Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Don Felder, Glenn Frey

Later Eagles: Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Don Felder, Glenn Frey

4. The Eagles
The band has been solid with a four-man lineup for years (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit), recording and playing a zillion concerts. But how cool would it be to have a mini-section, and bring back Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner, and Don Felder?

Well, there is little love lost between Henley, Frey, and Leadon if interviews are to be believed, and Felder burned his Seven Bridges Road (hell, he may have burned eight bridges) with his memoir Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles, which detailed bitter feelings around his 2001 firing from the group. This one seems unlikely to ever happen, but with the two-part History of the Eagles documentary appearing on Showtime this month, we can always hope that Hell Freezes Over Twice.

The Mac reunited for "The Dance" CD and DVD: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie

The Mac reunited for “The Dance” CD and DVD: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie

5. Fleetwood Mac
Yes, a four member lineup starts a tour in April (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks), but there has always been a crucial, critical element missing with the MIA Christine McVie. She retired from the band and seems content to stay at her house in England and garden. In a recent interview, Stevie Nicks even said McVie sold her pianos when she moved.

“We all did everything we could do to try and talk her out of [quitting]. But you look in someone’s eyes and you can tell they’re finished,” Nicks recently told Gothamist.com. “As Taylor Swift would say: ‘We are never ever getting back together ever!’ That’s what Chris was saying…But I’d beg, borrow and scrape together $5 million and give it to her in cash if she would come back. That’s how much I miss her.”

As the Mac once sang, “Oh Well.” Maybe Fleetwood and McVie could at least do a one-off show with guitarists Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, and Jeremy Spencer and go back to their blues roots.

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R.I.P. – Reg Presley, Lead Singer of The Troggs

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero
Reg Presley in recent years.

Reg Presley in recent years.

In the pantheon of garage rock classics, the Troggs‘ “Wild Thing” (written by Chip Taylor) certainly ranks high. With its simple, driving guitar, blunt lyrics (“Wild Thing/You make my heart sing/You make everything groovy/Wild Thing“) and slightly sinister edge, it’s one of the ’60s most recognizable numbers.

Reg Presley – the voice behind that 1966 tune – along with other Troggs hits “Love Is All Around” and “With A Girl Like You,” is dead at age 71 from lung cancer.

front

Reg Presley is second from left.

And while Jimi Hendrix famously covered “Wild Thing” and R.E.M. put out a take of “Love Is All Around” (as well as actor Bill Nighy, whose tortuous rendition is a plot point of the film Love, Actually), I always preferred the original versions.

Here is an interesting piece about the story behind “Wild Thing.”

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Classic Rock in the Comics: Jerry Garcia’s Heavenly Journey

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero

Scott Hilburn’s hilarious “The Argyle Sweater” comic often has classic rock references. Here’s a recent good one. Find out more at www.theargylesweater.com

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35 Years On, Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” Still Talks

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero
In all their bearded and feathered hair glory: Fleetwood, McVie, Nicks, Buckingam, and McVie

In all their bearded and feathered hair glory: Fleetwood, McVie, Nicks, Buckingham, and McVie

Let us now praise the wondrous invention known as the “Deluxe Edition.”

For years, of course, labels have tried to repackage, reissue, and get us to rebuy music that we already have in some other, probably soon-to-be obsolete format. (I’m still trying to play my 78 RPM Al Jolson records somewhere…)

But these releases have come a long, long way since artists and record companies would put out a reissue or compilation and then just tack on one or two new songs to lure the diehard fan who already owned everything.

I remember as a teenager in 1985 angsting mightily over whether to spend money on Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II just to get “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” and “The Night Is Still Young.” (Luckily, a classmate had a cassette copy she didn’t want. Thank you, Julie Dillman, wherever you are!)

But in an era where classic rock fans want and expect more, the vaults have opened – actually, vomited heavily – and most album reissues today come with plenty of extra material in the form of unreleased tracks, demos, live cuts, rarities, and even video.

rumoursdeluxe

I just picked up a copy of the Deluxe Edition of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. The 1977 record was a #1 smash, spawned a bunch of hit singles, and became the band’s commercial and critical peak. It is the sixth best-selling album in U.S. history and has sold 45 million copies to date.

Of course, the appeal of Rumours went beyond the music into the interpersonal affairs of a band that saw, during recording, two romantic couples break up (Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks, John & Christine McVie), as well as Nicks’ brief relationship with Mick Fleetwood, most of it played out in the lyrics. Oh, the drama, the soap opera.

(Fun Fuck Fact: Fleetwood’s wife at the time was Jenny Boyd…sister of Pattie Boyd…wh0 famously left George Harrison for Eric Clapton and inspired the songs “Something,” “Layla,” and “Wonderful Tonight.” Can’t these people ever date shop clerks?).

They make lovin' fun...and a group activity!

They make lovin’ fun…and a group activity!

Disc 1 features the entire Rumours album, plus Nicks’ lush, tear-jerking fan-favorite B-side “Silver Springs” (which really should have made the album cut, as Nicks says when introducing it in the live The Dance film). The remastering is impressive – Buckingham’s guitar finger picking on “Never Going Back Again,” Fleetwood’s drums on “Don’t Stop,” and McVie’s delicate piano illuminating “Songbird” have all improved sonically. And, after hearing the individual cuts on radio for years, it’s nice to revisit the entire record as a single entity.

Disc 2 showcases live cuts from the 1977 Rumours tour, with 8 of the 11 songs from that record. The highlight here is an expanded, magical “Rhiannon” with some alternate/added lyrics and a killer Buckingham guitar solo. A fervent “Monday Morning” also resonates.

Disc 3, though, is the jewel in the crown for Mac fans. Featuring alternate takes, demos, and instrumentals, these versions demonstrate the band’s creative process. So we get a slower, dreamier “Dreams,” a Buckingham/Nicks duet on “Never Going Back Again,” a more wistful “Songbird,” and both instrumental and vocal versions of the groove-heavy “Keep Me There.” That song later morphed into “The Chain.”

“The truth about Rumours, is that Rumours was the truth,” Nicks reflects in the new liner notes from rock scribe David Wild. And with a four-piece Mac (come back, Christine!) hitting the road beginning in April, the set list is sure to be heavy with this inneundo.

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Why Can’t They Be Friends? The War for War Rages On…

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero
Eric Burdon and War: front - Jordan, Burdon, Dickerson, Oskar. back - Miller, Allen, Brown, Scott

Eric Burdon and War: front – Jordan, Burdon, Dickerson, Oskar. back – Miller, Allen, Brown, Scott

While prepping for an interview I’m doing with legendary Animals frontman Eric Burdon for The Houston Press, I was inspired to revisit the discography of his onetime collaborators and backing band—who went on to produce a lot of fine music on their own—War.

After splitting from Burdon (with whom they made radio favorite “Spill the Wine”), War produced a hot, stewy gumbo of R&B, funk, rock, blues, jazz, and—most noticeably—a Latin tinge on records like All Day Music, The World is a Ghetto, Why Can’t We Be Friends, and Galaxy. Their most famous song, of course, is the inescapable “Low Rider” which has appeared on countless movies, TV shows, and commercials.

They’ve been on the ballot for nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice now (but not made it in) and are—in my mind—criminally underrated.

Classic War

The classic lineup included (in above photo, left to right) Papa Dee Allen (congas, percussion), Lonnie Jordan (keyboards), Harold Brown (drums), Charles Miller (flute, sax), Lee Oskar (harmonica), Howard Scott (guitar), and B.B. Dickerson (bass). All members contributed vocals.

So where is War today? Well, sadly…living up to their name. With Miller’s tragic murder in 1980 and Allen’s onstage heart attack-related demise eight years later, five members are left, but showing little of the harmony they did on so many records.

In a nutshell, due to lawsuits, counter lawsuits, and disagreements about royalties, publishing, band name, and song rights—many involving the band’s former manager/producer Jerry Goldstein—the official version of War touring today includes only Jordan and a list of hired guns, while Scott, Brown, Oskar, and Dickerson tour as The Lowrider Band. They are unable to use the name that made them famous, or even mention that they are former members in any advertisements, even as they play all the same songs that came from their pens.

Lowrider Band The Lowrider Band: Brown, Oskar, Dickerson, Scott

I interviewed Brown and I got to spend time with when they came to Houston in 2008 for a one-off gig. And I mean real time.

Driving around in a van with Brown…picking up Dickerson at the airport in my fabulous Honda Civic (where he immediately told me a filthy joke at the baggage carousel)…hanging out at the modest Sun Suites where they were staying…eating and downing plenty of wine at an Italian restaurant.

It is probably one of the greatest regrets of my life that I turned down Brown’s offer to visit their full rehearsal and hang out more the next day because I didn’t want to take two days straight off from day job. What an idiot!!! Oh well, I do have that harmonica and a singing “Low Rider” toy car that Oskar mailed me afterwards.

The outdoor show that weekend was incredible, the playing was solid, and the harmonies intact. I was especially happy to see what looked like original era fans, blissed out on lawn chairs, reminiscing in their heads.

Along with touring members Lance Ellis (sax) and Chuk Barber (percussion) the band also brought out special guest (and Houston resident) Alice Tweed Smith—a member of a later lineup—on background vocals. The sheer joy on her face for that entire show stays with me still.

The current lineup of War (Jordan third from right)

The current lineup of War (Jordan third from right)

“I think things are really going to happen soon. We’ve got a lawyer who worked on the Elvis estate,” the energetic Brown told me back then while piloting the van through the streets of north Houston. “Those songs—and that name—belong to us.”

Unfortunately, that was almost five years ago, and the lawsuits drag on with seemingly no end in sight, Goldstein/Jordan vs. the Lowriders. It’s a shame that, during a time when they could be doing such great things together, collecting accolades and playing as a single band under a single name,—War (and Goldstein) continue to battle.

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Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr Get to “The Point”

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Bob Ruggiero

Harry Nilsson Doesn’t this look like the type of guy that YOU would like to party with???

Gifted singer/songwriter. Former bank clerk. Beatles partying pal (who else would have encouraged a drunk John Lennon to wear a Kotex on his forehead?). Substance abuser. Shitty husband and father/Great husband and father. Gun control advocate. Stage fright sufferer. During his 52 years on this planet, Harry Nilsson was all of these things and more.

And while ironically, he penned big hits for other acts (“One” for Three Dog Night, “Cuddly Toy” for the Monkees), he had his greatest success as a performer with songs written by others (Fred Neil‘s “Everybody’s Talkin'” from Midnight Cowboy and “Without You” by Badfinger’s Pete Ham and Tom Evans).

Nilsson’s fascinating life and career were recently the subject of the great documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?

Point+DVD

But I was very excited to see that my favorite Nilsson project, the 1971 animated feature film, The Point, has come out in a “Definitive Collector’s Edition,” looking great and loaded with bonus materials and interviews.

The psychedelic fable—with plenty to teach both kids and adults—is based on a concept by Nilsson, who also wrote and sings the songs (including “Think About Your Troubles” and the insanely joyful “Me and My Arrow”).

It’s about a little boy, Oblio, who was born with a round head in a village full of pointy-headed residents. When his “disfigurement” gets him the bum’s rush outta town, he and his blue dog Arrow take a trip through the Pointless Forest before deciding to return home.

Allegories abound in this Hero’s Quest straight out of Joseph Campbell, with plenty of pithy posturings on nepotism, enforcing unpopular laws, weak political leaders, business ethics, parental disconnect, legal manipulation, mob mentality, and citizen “protection.”

the+point+rockman

Oblio and Arrow encounter a “very stoned” Rockman, who dispenses advice with a jazz hipster’s patois.

Ultimately, Oblioe discovers…aw, hell, I’m not gonna ruin it for you. Just get the damn thing. You don’t even have to be high to watch it. Though, apparently, my parents and their friends The Gregos were during one of its early broadcasts, during which a very young Classic Rock Bob apparently watched with awe.

The unsung hero of The Point, though, is director/animator Fred Wolf, interviewed in the bonus features. In addition to wrangling a flaky Nilsson and working with multiple script revisions, he hand-drew the 28,000 drawings over 34 weeks which comprise the entire film. Fred Wolf…give that man an Ace Bandage Lifetime Achievement Award!

Ringo Starr is a great narrator, years before he put on that train conductor’s hat. And in a bit of trivia, Mike Lookinland is the voice of Oblio. He would later go on to break hearts (and expensive antiques) as Bobby Brady in “The Brady Bunch.”

Mom always said not to play ball in the house.

Bobby-Brady-the-brady-bunch-10706340-812-613

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On Stage and in the Basement with Dylan and The Band

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Bob Ruggiero

One of the advantages of being a Bob Dylan fan is that you have your pick of Bobs to like over the course of his career. Do you prefer Folkie Bob to “Wild, Mercury-sounding” Bob? How about Country Bob and Saved Bob? Or Bitter Divorcee’ Bob, Grizzled Bob, and Riverboat Gambler Bob? Hell, you can even like Christmas Bob. Not an easy trick to pull off if you’re a Jew!

Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH Rick Danko, Dylan, Robbie Robertson, and Levon Helm on the 1974 tour.

My favorite Dylan period is ’74-’76, which covers the “reunion” tour with The Band/Blood on the Tracks, The Rolling Thunder Revue, and Desire. That’s right before he decided to Serve Somebody, and concerts became hit-free hectoring sermons to the confused masses. I’m paraphrasing here, but during one show when an audience member shouted “Let’s boogie!” an unamused Dylan told the audience they could boogie on down to the pits of hell – because Jesus was coming back.

That 1974 reunion tour effectively capped off the working relationship between Dylan and The Band, save a brief collaboration at The Last Waltz. But there was never a better synergy both in studio and onstage between a solo artist and a “backing” group (and I use that term loosely – The Band certainly more than proved they could stand on their own).

'66 tour Mickey Jones, Dylan, and Robertson on the 1966 tour.

When Dylan “went electric” on his 1966 tour, it was The Band (then called the Hawks) taking the catcalls from folkie purists behind the Bard of Hibbing. It so unnerved drummer Levon Helm that he soon opted out of live playing.

Yet, they would continue to collaborate occasionally, and most famously on the originally done-for-a-lark “Basement Tapes” of tunes which were either old or sounded old. They became the source of what is considered rock’s first “bootleg” recording (The Great White Wonder). And even the doctored “official” release of 1975’s The Basement Tapes is considered to be inferior to the actual raw recordings from Big Pink.

DVD cover

The recent documentary DVD Bob Dylan and the Band: Down in the Flood (Sexy Intellectual Productions, 114 mins., $19.95) is a great exploration of this partnership – as well as each act’s own careers around those years.

Yes, it’s one of those “unauthorized documentaries” done strictly for DVD release. And yes, many of them over the years have suffered from crap writing, amateurish video production, and an overeliance on repeated, static visuals and an absence of actual songs or concert footage (usually due to prohibitive or costly licensing issues).

But Down in the Flood is a pretty impressive effort on all of those fronts, and includes not only music and footage, but contemporary interviews with your go-to Lion-in-Winter rock scribes and Dylanologists (Robert Christgau, Anthony DeCurtis, Barney Hoskyns), Hawks-shaper and early employer Ronnie Hawkins, ’66 tour drummer Mickey Jones, and even an actual, real live Band member – keyboardist Garth Hudson – who looks alternatively like a rock and roll Gandalf or Dr. Andrew Weil, most of his face completely shaded by a ball cap.

Rock Doc DVDs like this one and an increasingly large number of others are, of course, aimed squarely at the hardcore fans of these acts. The quality does vary wildly, but they are a sometimes overlooked addendum to the books, magazines, and articles on classic rock acts.

Bob-Robbie the Last Waltz Dylan and Robertson at The Last Waltz.

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