#us pressing

John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band

Sometimes In New York City

@ 1973 US Pressing

****

While Lennon claimed to have always been politically minded, given his working-class upbringing in class-conscious England ("I've been satirizing the system since my childhood," he once mused), rock-pop sensibilities, clever wordplay, or matters of the heart usually took precedence in his musical output. But here Lennon and Yoko, accompanied by New York's Elephant's Memory, sing and scream freely against sexism in "Woman Is the Nigger Of The World" and "Sisters, O Sisters." They protest incarceration in "John Sinclair," "Attica State," and "Born In A Prison," colonialism in "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Luck Of The Irish," and racism in "Angela."

It’s a highly overlooked British Blues album... Do check out the previous tracks featured from this album, as well as this one.. 

Yoko Ono

Plastic Ono Band

@ 1971 US Pressing

****

I remembered back in the early 90s in London I saw a twin record, a double record of John’s and Yoko’s version of plastic ono band albums, that was selling a fortune. After that I would never saw it again...

This is the first album from Love Sculpture, the Welsh blues rock trio famous for Dave Edmonds and Sabre Dance. Also present are their singles from the period (one issued under the name 'the Human Beans'). The band had apparently experimented with a few styles of music in the search of commercial success, before settling on the blues and recording this. If the story in the liner notes is true, and the trio had pretty much never even heard of the blues before walking into the recording studio then I am incredibly impressed, as this comes across as a loving tribute to well known songs, put together by talented musicians with a real feel for the music.

The album starts off with the Stumble - a blistering guitar workout that gave us our first introduction to the guitar hero that is Dave Edmonds. It's a killer opener track, better than Pete Green's version on John Mayall's 'Hard Road' album. As a huge fan of Greeney, coming from me that is incredibly high praise.

The album then works it's way through a series of blues standards - BB King's '3O'clock blues', Howling Wolf's 'Wand Dang Doodle', 'Summertime', and a bit of Elmore James in a masterful version of 'Shake your hips'.

An excellent set, well worth getting for any fan of Cream, early Fleetwod Mac and the like. Also worth getting "Form's and Feelings" to get an idea of how the band moved away from 'pure' blues.

Patrice Rushen

Pizzazz

@ 1979 US Pressing

*****

For those that are unfamiliar with any of Ms. Rushen’s work, this would probably be a good album to start with. Originally a piano prodigy, she started her career focused primarily in jazz and jazz fusion. Starting with ’78’s “Patrice”, she switched over to a more R&B sound, with excellent results. Now “Pizzazz” is considered to be her crossover breakthrough, that being due on the strength of “Haven’t You Heard“, which is still in rotation on various soul radio stations throughout the U.S. Now when I was first introduced to Patrice Rushen, all I really knew by her was “Forget Me Nots” off of her Straight From the Heart album, which was released three years later.

Billy Preston

Billy Preston

@ 1976 US Pressing

*****

Billy Preston (sometimes referred to Do What You Want) is the eleventh studio album by American soul musician Billy Preston, released in 1976 on A&M Records. It includes the singles "I've Got the Spirit" and "Girl", both of which were top 50 hits on Billboard's Soul Singles chart in the US. Preston recorded the album in Malibu, California in March 1976, shortly before joining the Rolling Stones on their two-month European tour.