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  1. 2023 Albums Thing 143 - Gigolo Aunts “Flipping Out”

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    I first came across the Gigolo Aunts when they opened for The Wonder Stuff on a couple of tours around Europe and the UK in 1993 and ‘94. They were young, musically extremely proficient, a bit starry eyed at being on tour with what was at the time a very big band, genuinely bloody nice people and hell’s teeth did they have a knack with a song.

    If they entered the mainstream consciousness in the UK it would be when their song “Where I Find My Heaven” was used as the theme tune for some utterly forgettable 90’s sitcom. Internationally it also featured on the soundtrack of the mind numbing movie “Dumb And Dumber”. That song is a Power Pop masterpiece. Not Power Pop as we think of it here but US Power Pop in the vein of Big Star, Jellyfish, Player etc. American rock bands with great songs and an ability to utterly destroy you with seemingly effortless 3/4 part harmonies, they’d obviously worked at their “craft”. Three of the band sang lead vocals (Dave Gibbs, Phil Hurley and Steve Hurley), Phil was (and still is) a superb guitar player. The bottom line here is I bloody loved the Gigolo Aunts and they shoulda been massive.

    Highlights on this album would be the aforementioned “Where I Find My Heaven”, the single “Cope” with it’s big fat wah-wah’d guitar riffs and chorus to kill for, “Bloom” featuring Phil Hurley on vocals which was always a live highlight and the ending title track, a great “ballad” about being at the edge.

    I’m still in touch (virtually) with Dave, Phil and Steve and they’re all doing well in their own thing now, still all playing either full time or occasionally. I found this album on lovely red vinyl quite recently so I’ve been playing it a lot. It’s great, you should try it.

    Cope - https://youtu.be/ZcnoFqvrS2g

  2. 2023 Albums Thing 142 - Peter Gabriel “3 (Melt)”

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    A few days ago when writing about Fairport Convention I told you that Prog Rock would never be part of my musical landscape. Now any Prog fan out there could quite reasonably ask “if that’s so what are you doing with a Peter Gabriel album ?” and it would be more than fair of them to ask that. Apart from the obvious fact that it’s an album by the former singer of Uber-Proggers Genesis this album also features Phil Collins (Genesis), Robert Fripp and Tony Levin (King Crimson) and Kate Bush (carrying all her Pink Floyd connections) it’s almost a who’s who of Prog. But I have a mitigating circumstance…

    Legend has it (and this may or may not be true but whatever, it’s a good story) Peter Gabriel wanted a particular guitar sound on one track and that guitar sound was that of The Who’s Pete Townshend. When approached Townshend was unavailable but is said to have responded “ask that fella from The Jam, he sounds just like me anyway” (meeeeooooow). Which is why, on the song “And Through The Wire”, we have the conspicuous and unmistakable sound of Paul Weller playing guitar on a Peter Gabriel album. This was May 1980, The Jam had not long gone straight in at number 1 with “Going Underground”, they were halfway between “Setting Sons” in November 1979 and the release of “Sound Affects” in November 1980, just 2 months later they went straight in at number 1 again with “Start!”, they were at the height of their powers, I was obsessed with them, of course I was buying the Peter Gabriel album. Prog be damned, this was Weller !

    As a song by itself “And Through The Wire” is really like nothing else on this album. It’s a stomping rock song and Weller knocks out a riff that would have graced and been welcome on any Jam song. But of course I had to listen to the rest of the album, and d’you know what ? I liked it…I already knew the single “Games Without Frontiers” and had liked that too but then there was “Intruder” to start with, Phil Collins banging out a tub-thumping rhythm over which Gabriel eerily intones the thoughts of a burglar about his line of “work”…”Family Snapshot” is the assassination of JFK seen from the shooters point of view…and the album ends on the anthemic “Biko” about South African anti apartheid activist Bantu Steven Biko.

    The Paul Weller connection is what drew me in to this album but I must have been starting on an interest in electronic music (Bowie’s Berlin period, the Human League, The Normal we’re all on my record deck around this time) and this album happened for me at a time when it had a chance of making an impression, and it did. It still gets spun regularly around these parts. I’ll still never succumb to Prog Rock tho’.

    And Through The Wire - https://youtu.be/k0UJtixnii8

  3. 2023 Albums Thing 141 - Flying Burrito Brothers “The Gilded Palace Of Sin”

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    Here’s our second encounter with Gram Parsons. We last met Gram back in March when we were talking about his influence over The Byrds and the making of “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo”. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman had fired Gram Parsons from The Byrds in the summer of 1968. Parsons had refused to take part in The Byrds tour of South Africa citing his opposition to that countries policy of apartheid. Hillman suspected he just wanted to stay in the UK and hang out with his new friends, the Rolling Stones.

    Later that year Parsons and Hillman reconciled and after Hillman left the Byrds, due to some financial jiggery-pokery by their management, he hooked up again to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram. The band was rounded out by bassist (Hillman had switched to guitar) and keyboardist Chris Ethridge (who had played with Gram in the International Submarine Band) and the wonderfully named pedal steel man “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow. Drummer “Fast” Eddie Hoh proved a little too fast and loose with certain substances and was replaced by a succession of session drummers before finally being replaced by another ex-Byrd, Michael Clarke.

    “The Gilded Palace of Sin” was recorded during November and December 1968 at Hollywood’s famed A&M Studios. It expanded on Hillman and Parsons groundbreaking fusion of rock and country with The Byrds. Most of the songs were written by various combinations of band members but 2 covers were included, not country songs but two soul classics written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn, “Do Right Woman” and “Dark End Of the Street”, the country-soul fusion that Gram called "cosmic American music."

    The album begins with two Burrito’s/Parsons classics, “Christine’s Tune” (track 1 side 1 perfectly setting expectations) kicking things off and sounding almost like The Monkees. It’s the story of a lady with a checkered reputation Gram and Hillman met in LA (she sadly later died in a car accident). Following that is “Sin City” which paints a lurid picture of life in Vegas as an allegory for life in general. These two songs perfectly set out the Burrito’s sound, a slick marriage of rock and country before you hit the two soul covers we’ve already mentioned, "cosmic American music" incarnate.

    Over on side 2 are two more Burrito classics. “Hot Burrito #1” and “Hot Burrito #2” were written by Gram Parsons and Chris Ethridge during the same session and address Gram’s break up with his girlfriend Nancy. #1 is a lovely ballad where #2 is more uptempo. Chris Hillman is alleged to have said of Gram Parsons; “I only heard two great vocals out of that guy: ‘Hot Burrito #1’ and ‘Hot Burrito #2”. While being a very debatable statement you can’t help but be impressed with Gram’s voice on both. 

    Elsewhere songs such as “Juanita”, “Wheels” and “Do You Know It Feels To Be Lonesome” set Parsons as a songwriter of some standing. There are a couple of clunkers here (“My Uncle” and “Hippy Boy” I could happily live without) but they don’t really detract from the overall experience. Ultimately “The Gilded Palace Of Sin” flopped. The Burrito’s toured extensively, and even opened for the Rolling Stones at Altamont, but fame and fortune were not be theirs. Among those in the know it confirmed Gram Parsons status as a purveyor of great American music ahead of his two early 70’s solo albums and tragic demise. The Burrito’s carefully crafted mix of rock and country sparked something in other musicians and was a huge influence, particularly upon the Eagles.

    Hot Burrito #2 - https://youtu.be/su3a6SYmWtM