An Ode To Peter Green

“…the sweetest tone I ever heard. He was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.” - B.B. King

In an all too brief period of five years, Peter Green reshaped rock music as we know it. He co founded one of the most recognizable bands of the last 50 years, wrote some of the great rock standards, and could play guitar as well as the blues masters who proceeded him. Nobody could play a guitar like Peter Green. Not Clapton, not Beck, not Page, not Blackmore. Nobody. His perfection of phrasing and sound proved to the world that he could outplay any one of his contemporaries.  Look, I love Eric Clapton to death, but his phrasing was NOWHERE near Greens. I mean, Clapton set the bar in regards to British guitar players; A white kid who had a strong appreciation of the blues, as well as a strong work ethic and technique that could challenge anyone. How many of us guitar players have worshipped John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers Featuring Eric Clapton? Sure we’ve all studied it, but it’s the album afterwords that also deserves a listen, A Hard Road, with Peter Green taking over on guitar. Listening to that, as well as archival live recordings shows that Peter Green was as equal, if not better, than Clapton. Personally, I’ve always felt that during slower songs, Clapton overplays. Listen to “Have You Heard” off his album with Mayall. The phrases he plays  are as powerful and face melting as Otis Rush, but it doesn’t replicate the same way. Now listen to Greeny play on a version of Buddy Guy's “Stone Crazy” (With Rod Stewart, Jack Bruce, and Anysley Dunbar to boot!). There’s a more natural emotional delivery in his playing, and he doesn't need to go overboard with a barrage of notes. This is not to any sort of crack at Clapton because, as the adage goes, “Clapton is God”. What this is, though, is a simple ode to Peter Green, a man who has just left this world, and a man who is not talked about enough today as his contemporaries. Besides the Blues, Green's songwriting would find appreciation within the hard rock and mental community. Everyone knows the powerful Santana performance on “Black Magic Woman”; Written by Peter Green. Judas Priest nuts love “Green Manalishi”; Written by Peter Green. Aerosmith played "Rattlesnake Shake" live during their formative years; Written by Peter Green. Although a short one due to an acid trip giving him schizophrenia, his presence was felt within every aspect of rock music for years to come. Even when he did get himself help and returned to play, every guitar slinger to this day revered him when he made his presence. I implore anyone who isn’t familiar with his work to seek out Peter Green, and perhaps a new generation can appreciate one of rocks most overlooked casualties, but legend to highest degree. Rest in peace Mr Green, and may you shred in the valley of the kings.

Woody Herman - Chick, Donald, Walter & Woodrow (1978)

The 1970s was a questionable era for a jazz big band. Groups led by Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich and Woody Herman tried to encapsulate the ideas of jazz fusion while still holding true the ideas of the golden age of Big Bands of the 1940’s and 50’s. What you get are these funky, powerful, and at times, cheesy arrangements played by masterful musicians old and new. Some albums and arrangements work and are still played today, like Maynard Ferguson’s immortal version of "Chameleon", while others, well, let’s get to Chick, Donald, Walter & Woodrow.

Woody Herman is one of the most important figures in the Big Band era. In his prime, his “Heard” was one of the most popular bands of their day, mixing in sounds of the blues and bebop better than any white band at the time. Hell, Stravinsky was so impressed he wrote a piece for the band. By the 1970’s, his band was just like every other big band, trying to find work and trying to stay relevant. Throughout the 70’s, his band recored many fusion based albums of varying quality (HIGHLY recommend the album Giant Steps). by 1978 with the release of Chick, Donald, Walter & Woodrow, the Fusion sounds of the Woody Herman band had started to reach it’s last few breaths.

The album opens with a massive 19 minute, three movement piece written by Chick Corea entitled “Suite for a Hot Band”. If you dig Corea’s writing and harmonic ideas, it’s really worth your time. I really don’t know any other tunes he arranged for a large ensemble such as this and it’s a treat! The first movement is typical 70’s era Corea, writing fusion ideas for a large ensemble. Then we get to the second movement. I think what pushes this to the extreme is when Herman starts SINGING (about 9:30 in for the curious). The 3rd section of the suite is a typical Corea latin inspired tune that I keep mistaking for "Armando’s Rhumba". Overall, despite the vocals, it’s a really cool piece. If you dig Corea’s writing and harmonic ideas, it’s really worth your time.As for the rest of the album, we’re left of covers of Steely Dan tunes (mostly from Aja), and all I can say is… They Work! There’s really not too much to say, Steely Dan tunes make great jazz arrangements. A little schmaltzy, elevator music esq at times, but in theory they work.

Chick, Donald, Walter & Woodrow is comparable to a mid life crisis; trying to stay as hip as possible for fear that you’re growing old. Regardless, this album really does have a few surprises that warrant a good listen. What I always forget about the 70’s version of Herman’s band is that Joe Lovano was a member of it. I don’t why, but all throughout its existence, the Woody Herman band always had the best sax players. Even at this era of his career, Woody Herman still knew how to stack a band. Is this an immortal album that should be regarded as the return to big band jazz? Not at all! Is it an interesting novelty of the fusion era that should be given a good listen? Absolutely! 

Gary Stewart - Out Of Hand (1975)

By 1975, popular country music, like today, was oriented towards the general pop market and success in the Nashville system was measured by crossover success. Nashville producers had been pushing this more lush, orchestrated sound since the 1950’s to legitimize themselves and to steer away from the idea that country musicians were just plain Hillbillies. Also at this time, musicians such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, outcasts of the Nashville system, wanted to record music they wanted to make and have more creative control on what they worked on, and thus would motivate these outlaws to reshape the whole idea of country music. Regardless of all that, Nashville still had a slew of musicians and songwriters on the major labels that were releasing material, gaining varying amounts of attention.  One of these musicians was Gary Stewart.  Stewart had already been a Nashville songwriter, backing musician and outcast by 1973. RCA producer Roy Dea came across his demo tape and put him up to record an album. The result is 1975's "Out of Hand", a beer drenched, cigarette stained, honky tonk masterpiece.  

The first thing I notice is the sound of this album; No lush strings, nothing pop oriented, just barroom jukebox country music. There's almost southern rock thing going on as well, like on the song “Honky Tonkin’”. It’s not as heavy a rock sound as the Allman’s (who were friends of Stewart) or Lynyrd Skynyrd, but that usage of guitar and steel guitar to replicate Duane & Dicky duel guitar thing adds to it.  With that in mind, it melds together with Stewarts quiver in his voice. His voice rocks on the rockers and it adds another dimension to the heartbreak of the lyrics of the tearjerkers. The sound is what draws you in, but the songwriting is the real gem of this album. A thing to note about the songwriting is how bleak they lyrics truly are. Many of us think of a good drinking song as “let’s get tanked and go nuts”, but the true poetic side is the truly relatable. “Drinking Thing” ,for example, shows the idea of how lost one can get when someone leaves you,  trying to put the puzzle together of what happened and filling up this empty hole with glass after glass of booze. Is it bleak, yes, but it’s that grim reminder of what many of us do in these circumstances. Look, I’m not gonna sit here and say if this is a good thing to do or not, but many of us feel that this is the kind of escape we need, and it's the only answer to the question of “why did they leave”.

At the time of it's release, "Out of Hand" did really well chart wise, hitting number six on the Billboard Country Albums chart, and the singles "Drinking Thing", the title track, and "She's Acting Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)" hitting numbers ten, four and one respectively. Even famous critic Robert Christgau approved of the album, stating it's "the best regular issue country LP I've heard in about five years". It's a shame people don't talk about this album as much as they should, because it too laid the groundwork for what outlaw country would become, and did as much as albums recorded by Willie & Waylon.

The Genius of Stan Freberg

    Stan Freberg was a comedian, a voice actor, a director, a writer and all around silly person who stuck his fingers in many facets of entertainment from the mid 1940’s until his passing in 2015. Chances are you don’t know his name, but you certainly have come across something he’s done; Voice work for Looney Tunes, hosting one of the last radio shows on American airwaves during it's golden era, basically inventing the comedic commercial, which won him 21 Clio awards (the marketing people awards), and recording a comedy album revered by the likes of Steven Spielberg and Paul McCartney (but we’ll talk about that one another time). Even though all of that is impressive, Freberg shined the brightest when recording singles for Capitol in the 1950's.  His first success with the label was with a single he recorded called “John & Marsha”, a take off of sappy soap opera romance, and hit number 21 on the Billboard charts. With that success in mind, he would spend the rest of the 1950's warping Capitol Tower to his likeness.

    The track that really got me hip to Stan Freberg was his rendition of the Calypso classic “ Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)". Many of us know the Harry Belafonte recording of this song (*Insert Beetlejuice Scene*), but Freberg takes it in a new direction. Freberg, the singer, is arguing with his beatnik bongo player about screaming "Day O", so much that his bongo player will leave if Freberg doesn’t stop yelling. The only way Freberg can continue with his yelling is for him to rush out into the hallway, do the “Day O” part, and run back into the studio. I won’t spoil the end, but it’s easily one of Freberg’s funniest records. Many of Freberg’s records include some sort of instrumentalist feeling he can do and play what he wants while pissing Freberg off in the process; The aforementioned “Banana Boat Song”, a choir that changes songs halfway though “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, An obnoxiously loud snare drummer on “Yellow Rose of Texas”, or A Jazz pianist wanting to break loose and cut on “The Great Pretender”. Freberg hit it right on the nail with these songs because every musician who has ever lived will add more to a song, whether you like it or not. I can assure that any of the session musicians on these tracks have been found guilty of doing this at one point or another. The whole idea of having a man trying to record a record at the world famous Capitol Records in Los Angeles, and being met with insolent and uncooperative musicians is not only brilliant, but downright hilarious.

    Regardless of obnoxious musicians, Stan Freberg poked fun at many popular records at the time in some way shape or form. “Try” is a sendoff of Johnnie Ray’s “Cry”, “A Dear John & Marsha Letter” rips not only on himself, but country record “A Dear John Letter”, but what would give Freberg the greatest results was his poking fun at the biggest fad plaguing society at the time, Rock N Roll. Many of these singles rip hard on Rock n Roll; “Sh Boom” but with mumbled lyrics to create an “authentic” Doo Wop record, “Heartbreak Hotel” with excessive slap back echo while the singer keeps dancing and ripping his pants (like certain a rock singer),  or “Wide-Screen Mama Blues” but with undecipherable lyrics. Being such an easy target at the time, how can you not parody this new music?

    If Stan Freberg  wasn’t poking fun at music, he would poke fun at something else hugely popular at the time.  Look at “St George & The Dragonet” from 1953. At the time, “Dragnet” was one of the most popular radio shows and TV shows in the country, so how do you not satire that? Instead of a gritty story of crime in Los Angeles, it’s now a story of Knight’s fighting dragons in the Middle Ages. I can’t recommend this record enough, this is the closest you will ever get to a full fledged Looney Tunes cartoon on record. First, the writing is superb and requires many listens to appreciate all the humor. Second, the cast doesn’t just feature Stan Freberg, but a who's who of legendary voice actors, like Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound) and June Foray (Granny, Rocky The Flying Squirrel). This record was such a success that Freberg did another Christmas themed Dragnet as a followup. This one’s a bit more straightforward as it's a direct parody of the show, but it’s still a funny record to throw on at your next Christmas party.

  The brilliance of these records is that Stan Freberg was able to create his own twisted world on record with silly voices, insolent musicians, crazy effects and fantastic production. Only a genius like Stan Freberg could create and replicate certain styles without having his records just sound sloppy. It takes a genius to arrange every one of these musical fall offs. Looking at "The Great Pretender" again, notice all the instances with the piano that either goes off from the music, holds out his passage, or speeds up. All of these elements had to have been heavily arranged to get this result and get the proper comedic timing so the humor doesn't fall flat, and only someone like Stan Freberg could do it. Weird Al Yankovic has that same sense of timing with his work, but I notice it more in his music videos. While extremely impressive, it's not same as doing it only with sound on a record. Stan Freberg took the idea of satire and made it look so unintelligent, that it was intelligent, and only a true genius could pull that off.