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Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace is the sixth studio album by The Foo Fighters, released on September 25, 2007.  The Foo Fighters previous release, 2005‘s In Your Honor, was generally poorly received and seen as too self-indulgent. To my mind The Foo Fighters had been releasing steadily less satisfactory albums for about ten years, so this simply continued the trend. Luckily this time around The Foo Fighters have regained some focus and Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace is a far more satisfying collection of songs.

Opening with “The Pretender”, their best opening salvo since “Monkey Wrench,” The Foo Fighters get this album off on a bombastic footing. “The Pretender” is the kind of number we have come to expect from The Foo Fighters, but  Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace is almost certainly their most experimental album to date. There is a distinct classic rock influence on the album, but his is cleverly used to make it easier for the listener to get into the more challenging material. This means Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace appeals to the existing fans, but opens The Foo Fighters up to new ones too.

Tracks like “Stranger Things Have Happened,” “Statues” and “Home,” sound unlike anything The Foo Fighters have done before showing a subtle side not previously explored. Even in it’s more mellow moments, it exudes a tension not heard on a Foo Fighters album before. These tracks do take a few listens, but creep up on you, showing some hitherto hidden depth to The Foo Fighters.

To my mind the best example of this is when Dave Grohl teams up with jazz guitarist Kaki King for the finger plucking instrumental “The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners” This was based on a story from the collapsed Beaconsfield Mine, where one of the trapped miners’ requested for an iPod full of Foo Fighters tunes to be dropped down to him. A beautiful track.

The Kurt and Courtney inspired “Let It Die”, morphs from acoustic into stabbing guitars accompanied by Dave Grohl‘s impassioned yelps. It’s the type of thing The Foo Fighters do so well.

There are times when I wish The Foo Fighters would just kick back and rock out in the way they did on their fantastic early albums rather than get bogged down in some misguided attempts at eclecticism. I mean, did they really need to leave their odd country number “Summer’s End” on there? All it does is wear out the “skip” button on my MP3 player.

It is unfortunate that a few songs are just standard album filler. Sometimes I wish we were back in the days of vinyl just so bands could only fit 8 tracks on an album, forcing them to cull the filler material that is all to often a waste of time.

Overall though “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” retains the core Foo Fighters sound while broadening their range and crafting some great tunes and it’s always good to hear Pat Smear playing on anything!

Track List

1. The Pretender
2. Let It Die
3. Erase Replace
4. Long Road To Ruin
5. Come Alive
6. Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup Is Running
7. Summers End
8. Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners
9. But Honestly
10. Home
11. Band On The Run(B-side)

The Foo Fighters

• Dave Grohl – vocals, rhythm guitar, piano on “Summer’s End”, “Statues” and “Home”
• Taylor Hawkins – drums, piano on “Summer’s End”, backing vocals on “Erase/Replace”, “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)” and “But, Honestly”
• Chris Shiflett – lead guitar, backing vocals on “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)”
• Nate Mendel – bass

Additional musicians

• Drew Hester – percussion on “Come Alive”, “Let it Die”, “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)”, “Long Road to Ruin” and “Summer’s End”
• Rami Jaffee – keyboards on “Let it Die”, “Erase/Replace”, “Long Road to Ruin”, “Come Alive” and “But, Honestly”, accordion on “Statues”
• Brantley Kearns Jr. – fiddle on “Statues”
• Kaki King – guitar on “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners”
• Pat Smear – guitar on “Let it Die”
• Strings by The Section Quartet (arranged and conducted by Audrey Riley)

Production

• Gil Norton – producer
• The Foo Fighters – producer
  
• Adrian Bushby – engineer
• Jake Davies – pro-tools engineer
• John Lousteau – assistant engineer
• Rich Costey – mixer
• Claudius Mittendorfer – assistant mixer
• Brian Gardner – mastering

Awards

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace won the 2008 Grammy for Best Rock Album and “The Pretender” won for Best Hard Rock Performance. Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace was also nominated for Album of the Year, while “The Pretender” was also nominated for Record of the Year and Best Rock Song.

The Foo Fighters had previously won Best Rock Album Grammys for There Is Nothing Left to Lose and One by One.

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace also won Best International Album at the 2008 Brit Awards.

Release Information

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace was originally released in September 2007 on RCA Records in the US and on Roswell Records/RCA/Sony BMG in the UK.

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On June 6th, 2005, Coldplay released their 3rd album, “X&Y“. When a band releases two albums that are successful, with the second being a major step on from their debut, the pressure that surrounds the third record can almost become unbearable. Many acts have crumbled under the weight of expectations like these.

Their previous offering, “A Rush of Blood To The Head”, had seen Coldplay become one of the major UK acts and the flag bearers for the steady yet unspectacular brand of acts that were filling the musical scene in the UK at the time. To be fair to Coldplay, this scene developed through the number of bands that imitated their style and the number that were signed by record companies wanting “their” Coldplay and pushing their signings along this path.

This was the situation that faced Coldplay, as they tortured themselves in an attempt to better “A Rush of Blood To The Head” but as everyone looked to the band for something new, the recording process took longer and longer.

It was obvious from early on that Coldplay were in no hurry to release another record. In March 2004 Chris Martin said, “We really feel that we have to be away for a while and we certainly won’t release anything this year, because I think people are a bit sick of us.” The reality was probably that Coldplay were in fact sick of the rigors of permanently living out of a suitcase and being in the media glare.

Drummer Will Champion said, “because the prospect of touring again was so daunting that we felt we should take our time and also we wanted to make sure that it was the best it could possibly be”. The band was now spread out around the world with families (most famously, lead singer Chris Martin was by now married to Hollywood actress Gwenyth Paltrow and celebrated the birth of their first child) and no one was really sure when or if the new album would be released.

The bands initial work with producer Ken Nelson (responsible for their first two albums, “Parachutes” and “A Rush of Blood To The Head”) was unceremoniously dumped as the band deemed it “flat” and “passionless”. The band then started working with Danton Supple who had mixed “A Rush of Blood To The Head” and more songs were written and recorded.

Whatever was frustrating Coldplay’s attempt to make a new record, it certainly wasn’t effort as the band recorded around 60 new songs over 18 months in an attempt to update and reinvigorate their sound. Initially Coldplay seemed to suffer from the problems of many big acts as the record company gave them too much leeway. When asked why it took so long, Chris Martin said they kept adding finishing touches to the record and would just keep finding something to go back and change.

It took so long that it led to the band having an impact on the stock exchange, as EMI, parent company of Parlophone and Capitol Records (their UK and US labels respectively) announced share and profit warnings after the expected release date of “X&Y” came and went.

Finally the first single, “Speed of Sound”, was released sounding very similar to their earlier hit single “Clocks”. Mimicking the sound or style of a former hit to launch a new release was not unfamiliar in the music business, with The Beatles doing it regularly in their early days, but some critics saw this as a sign that Coldplay were losing their touch.

When the full album was released, the critical response to “X&Y” was significantly muted in comparison to what was bestowed upon “A Rush of Blood To The Head” and on first listen it does seem that “X&Y” wasn’t a massive step on from “A Rush of Blood To The Head”.

One of the things that does come through on “X&Y” is that whereas the first two albums had been very personal affairs, Coldplay had decided to take a step back with this one. Lyrically Chris Martin preferring to use “you” rather than “I” and subject matter is left suitably vague.

Influences by bands such as Kraftwerk (augmented with the fact that ‘Talk’ had a songwriting credit to Kraftwerk as it shares the main riff from ‘Computer Love’ by the German robots) and Bowie/Eno in their Berlin period. The track “Low” even has Brian Eno playing on it (and the title a distinct nod to the Bowie album) compound this impersonal feeling, which does not sit well with Coldplay‘s earlier, more impassioned stance. As critic Robert Christgau put it in his review of “X&Y“, “Precise, bland, and banal, their sensitivity emotionless and their musicality never surprising, they’re the definition of a pleasant bore – easy to tune out, impossible to care for”

With hindsight it is easy to see Coldplay were paralyzed by their own success. They went out to make a Coldplay album and so made something lacking the zest of their first two albums. Although it received nothing like the critical mauling of U2′s “Rattle and Hum” it felt like Coldplay are reaching the point where they needed to re-invent themselves and discover Coldplay 2.0 in the way U2 had with “Achtung Baby”.

When Coldplay returned to record their next album they did so with Brian Eno at the helm. Brian Eno, the man behind the desk when Bowie and U2 went through some of their most wrenching re-inventions, took them away from the familiar and pushed them into newer territory on 2008‘s “Vive La Vida”.

For all this, “X&Y” debuted at number one in 30 countries and was the biggest selling record of 2005 globally (in the USA it was the second biggest, behind 50 Cent’s “The Massacre”) “X&Y” has sold over 10 million copies to date and many of the songs have become fan favorites and feature heavily in Coldplay‘s current set list.

There is no doubt that Coldplay manage to polarize opinion in music fans but for a band who many people actively dislike, they seem to sell a lot of units and entertain huge audiences in the live arena. “X&Y” may not have been 2005‘s most dynamic or creative album but the sales show that many people were delighted with what Coldplay offer and the band look set to continue for many years to come.

Coldplay

• Jonny Buckland – Guitar
• Will Champion – Drums
• Guy Berryman – Bass
• Chris Martin – Vocals

Production

• Producer – Coldplay, Danton Supple (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 11), Ken Nelson (tracks: 3, 4, 12, 13)
• Engineer – Carmen Rizzo, Mark Phythian, Rob Smith
• Assistant Engineer  – Adam Noble, Adam Scheuermann, Andrea Wright, Brad Spence, Bryan Russell, Dan Porter, Jake Jackson, Jon Bailey, Jon Withnal, Mathieu LeJeune, Mike Pierce, Rob Smith, Taz Mattar, Tim Roe, Will Hensley
• Pro Tools Engineer – Keith Gary
• Mastering – Chris Athens, George Marino
• Mixing – Michael H. Brauer

Additional Musicians

• Brian Eno – Synthesizer on “Low”
• Matt McGuin – Guitar on “Square One”
• Ann Lines – Strings
• Audrey Riley – Strings
• Chris Tombling – Strings
• Greg Warren Wilson – Strings
• Laura Melhuish – Strings
• Peter Lale – Strings
• Richard George – Strings
• Sue Dench – Strings

Track Listing

All songs written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin, except where noted.

1. “Square One” – 4:47
2. “What If” – 4:57
3. “White Shadows” – 5:28
4. “Fix You” – 4:54
5. “Talk” (Berryman, Buckland, Champion, Martin, Hütter, Bartos, Schult) – 5:11
6. “X&Y” – 4:34
7. “Speed of Sound” – 4:48
8. “A Message” – 4:45
9. “Low” – 5:32
10. “The Hardest Part” – 4:25
11. “Swallowed in the Sea” – 3:58
12. “Twisted Logic” – 5:01 (on the iTunes version this track is only 4:31 as there is 30 seconds silence at the end before the hidden track)
13. “‘Til Kingdom Come” – 4:12 (hidden track)

Catlog Number

Capitol Records CDP 7243 4 74786 2 8 and CDP 0946 3 12028 2 7

Parlophone 7243 4 74786 2 8

Trivia

It was originally planned for American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash to sing “‘Til Kingdom Come” with Martin, but sadly Johnny Cash died before they were able to schedule a recording session.

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November 19th, 1991 saw U2 release “Achtung Baby” after the bands longest hiatus between albums. At times they even doubted they would ever release another record after “Rattle and Hum”. However in one of the greatest re-inventions in rock history, U2 entered the 1990s with an era defining album in the shape of “Achtung Baby“.

The stratospheric trajectory that U2 followed, peaking with the mega-hit that was “The Joshua Tree”, was brought to a jarring halt by the critical mauling of their curiosity album and film “Rattle and Hum”. The musical landscape was also changing rapidly, with albums like Nevermind and The Stone Roses debut coming out between “Rattle and Hum” and “Achtung Baby“, U2 were in real danger of becoming dinosaurs. U2 were in a strange place.

A serious rethink was in order. Bono announced from the Stage at their hometown gig in Dublin in 1990 that “We’ve been around for ten years and we’ve enjoyed it. We say thank you to those that have believed in us since the beginning. But we’ve got to go away for a little while. Now we have to go away and dream it all up again.” The members of U2 were in agreement that their new album would need to be something new, they needed to re-invent the band.

The gestation and recording period for what would become “Achtung Baby” saw U2 take the longest time between records since they formed.  The members of U2 felt they needed to get away from the familiar back at home in Ireland. They were taken by long term producer Brian Eno to Berlin to record, using the same Hansa Studios that he and the past master of re-invention, David Bowie, had used to such great effect in the 1970s on albums like “Low” and “Heroes”.

So, in early October 1990, U2 landed aboard the last plane to set-down in East Berlin as the Berlin Wall came down and from then on it was simply Berlin as Germany became re-unified. This could easily be seen as a great symbolic moment of the new U2 emerging, but in reality another incident best summed them up. Upon arriving, a march went past their hotel. They joined it, assuming it was going to be people celebrating the re-unification of their country, when in fact it had been organized by the local communist party protesting The Wall coming down!

Unlike the jubilation they expected, they found the mood in Berlin “dark and gloomy” as the initial jubilation had been replaced with a dawning realization about how much work re-unification would take. Their hotel was dilapidated and Hansa Studios had been converted from the SS Ballroom.  The Edge‘s comment that this provided a certain “texture and cinematic location” was probably nothing more than the sepia tinged nostalgia as almost all the reports were of the friction and arguments. Bono himself described it as, “definitely the most serious sessions we’ve ever had – terribly tormented.”

The working dynamics of U2 were altering with the song-writing team of Bono and The Edge taking center stage. So much so that drummer Larry Mullen Jnr believed that it may have been the beginning of the end for the act. While he was listening to classic rock like Cream and Led Zeppelin, The Edge had been listening to music like Nine Inch Nails, Madchester and Jesus Jones.

The Edge and Bono had been working on dance and industrial sounds for a while before “Achtung Baby“. They had contributed to the loop-based score for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theatrical version of “A Clockwork Orange” and were keen to forge ahead with this new sound. The problem was that their ideas were “under-rehearsed and under-prepared”.

With The Edge and Bono unable to get their ideas across, Larry Mullen Jnr and Adam Clayton‘s suggestions were, they felt, being discounted unfairly and their producer, Daniel Lanois, who was expecting something more “cinematic” in scope, bemused. The frustrations and tensions were threatening to pull them apart. They knew they had to be forward thinking, but with the musical sands shifting beneath their feet, they really were not sure how to do this. As Larry Mullen Jnr later confessed, “We were suddenly, musically, on different levels and it affected everything. No-one knew what the fuck anyone else was talking about!”

According to Adam Clayton, what got them through this was “Force of Will”. “Everything was against us making a great record.” he said, “But no matter how people failed and became isolated, they saw what was good and followed that.”

Finally they got their breakthrough in the shape of “One”. The Edge combined two chord progressions he had been toying with. With Daniel Lanois‘ encouragement the band jammed on it and the song took shape very quickly. As The Edge remembered, “We were all playing together in the big recording room, a huge, eerie ballroom full of ghosts of the war, and everything fell into place. It was a reassuring moment, when everyone finally went, ‘oh great, this album has started.’”

As they threshed out the what it was they were trying to achieve, Brian Eno took on the role of Abstract Arbitrator. He would throw buzzwords around for the do’s and don’t of the album – no more “earnest”, more “trashy”, less “righteous” more “sexy”.

They set out their stall on the opener ‘Zoo Station’, which opens with a chainsaw guitar and industrial beats. Just in case you were still unsure that this wasn’t the same old U2, the lyrics tell you that they are changing, “I’m ready for the laughing gas” – U2, laughing? “I’m ready for what’s next…”

It must be said though, underneath the bluster of the noises and beats, musically it is still definitely U2 – and nothing wrong with that! Change within the band was a key factor in the switch to a more contemporary sound and even dance infused style of songs but the personal lives of the band members were going through massive changes as well.

Where they would depart from U2 most dramatically was in the way they embraced a more personal level of lyrics as the band regrouped back in Ireland at the beginning of 1991 at the seaside mansion “Elsinore” in Dalkey, a short distance from both Bono and The Edge‘s homes.

The Edge had recently split from Aislinn O’Sullivan, his wife and mother of his three children. Bono had recently become a father for the first time and his wife fell pregnant with their second child around this time. However Bono, in an oblique way, confessed his own marital problems, “I think fidelity is just against human nature….I may or may not be writing from my own experience.” The very un-U2-like themes of heartbreak, romance and new life were evident throughout the record.

Lead single ‘The Fly’, with its distortion and synthesized backing confounded a lot of the critics of the band who deemed them derivative and lacking the conviction to try anything new. It also saw Bono singing from a morally ambiguous place, even taunting his own image with lines like, “It’s no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest.”

The Edge‘s understandable heartache seems to come through on tracks like “So Cruel”. The refrain from the piano and lines like, “It doesn’t matter to you, it matters to me. We’re cut adrift but still floating. I’m only hanging on to watch you go down” portray someone fragile, bitter and alone.

All this and I still haven’t mentioned “One” possibly U2‘s high water mark. The song that got “Achtung Baby” up and running is a classic even amongst U2‘s impressive back catalog. A lament to a faded love, lost friends or just the way the band felt about each other at the time? Bono strips away the specifics of the lyrics to leave it as personal to each listener as it must have been to him.

As they finished recording at Windmill Lane Studios and turned it over to Steve Lillywhite and Flood for mixing, things were still no easier. In the last few days before having to deliver the tapes for mastering they will still not happy. “One” and “The Fly” were among the tracks with some last minute overdubs and recording before settling on a final mix and track order just in time to meet Island Records deadline for the album.

Part of the criticism that surrounded the band on their previous records and tours was a lack of humor and a po-faced seriousness but the Zoo TV and subsequent Zooropa Tours featured a different U2, one that could poke fun at itself whilst putting on a bewildering show. In taking the live show from music concert to interactive medium saw U2 move well ahead of the game and left their contemporaries looking very staid.

Well over a decade into their career with a number of highs and lows behind them, U2 found the nerve and courage to tear up their blueprint and came back stronger than ever, playing to bigger audiences and creating an album that the critics still rate highly today.

With the political posturing that Bono has undertaken in recent years, it can be easy to forget how the band were stung by their critics and looked to be close to calling it a day. “Achtung Baby” not only stands as one of the best records in U2‘s history, it is a perfect example of the merging of styles that ushered in the 1990s. With both “Achtung Baby” and live shows, when the band finally calls it a day, this era will probably be remembered as the critical high point of the bands illustrious career.

U2

• Bono – lead vocals, additional guitar
• The Edge – guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Adam Clayton – bass guitar,acoustic bass.
• Larry Mullen Jnr – drums, percussion

Additional Musicians

• Brian Eno – keyboards (on tracks “One”, “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” and “Love Is Blindness”)
• Daniel Lanois – additional guitar (on “Zoo Station”, “One” and “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” ), percussion (on “Until the End of the World” and “Mysterious Ways”)

Production

• Daniel Lanois – Main Producer
• Brian Eno – Assistant Producer
• Steve Lillywhite – Mixing and Engineering
• Flood – Mixing

Tracklist

1. “Zoo Station” 4:36
2. “Even Better Than the Real Thing” 3:41
3. “One” 4:36
4. “Until the End of the World” 4:39
5. “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” 5:16
6. “So Cruel” 5:49
7. “The Fly” 4:29
8. “Mysterious Ways” 4:04
9. “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” 3:53
10. “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” 5:31
11. “Acrobat” 4:30
12. “Love Is Blindness” 4:23

Catlog Number

ISL 3145103472

Awards and Accolades

On Release

• Rolling Stone (1/9/92) – 4.5 Stars – Outstanding – “…the band is able to grow confidently and consistently on its own native strengths…few bands can marshal such sublime power…”
• Entertainment Weekly (11/29/91) – “..refreshingly personal – deeper and denser than any of the band’s previous releases…” – Rating: A
• Q (12/91) – 5 Stars – Classic – “…U2′s heaviest album to date. And best…” – One of Q Magazine’s 50 best albums of 1991.
• Musician (12/91) – “…ACHTUNG, BABY is dense, tough and endlessly surprising…a great accomplishment…”
• Jazziz (Dec.-Jan./92, p.94) – Picked by critic John Dilberto as one of the 10 best albums of 1992.
• New York Times (Publisher) (1/1/92) – “..Dense, self-serious and overly ambitious: all the things this band is rightfully famous for..”

Post Release

• Ranked #3 in Entertainment Weekly’s best album of the last 25 years
• Ranked #62 in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time” – “…The album has lots of uncertainty, irony and distortion. It also has one of the most beautiful songs U2 ever recorded: ‘One’…”
• Included in Rolling Stone’s “Essential Recordings of the ’90s.”
• Ranked #19 in Spin Magazine’s “90 Greatest Albums of the ’90s”
• #11 on Spin’s “100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005″
• Ranked #9 in Q’s “Best 50 Albums of Q’s Lifetime”
• Included in Q Magazine’s “90 Best Albums of the 1990s”
• Included in CMJ’s list of “Top 25 College Radio Albums of All Time”

Awards

• 1991 Grammy Award for “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal”.

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Nirvana released Nevermind on September 24, 1991 with 46,251 copies of the album shipped to American record stores and 35,000 copies were shipped in the UK, where Nirvana‘s previous album, Bleach, had been successful.

Nirvana‘s first album, Bleach, was a heavy affair, influenced by both Chris Novoselic (whose real name is Krist Novoselic, which he also used on some releases) and Kurt Cobain‘s love of The Melvins. Along with many of The Melvins records, Sub Pop released Bleach. It went on to become moderately successful on college radio and in the UK.

After Bleach, as Nirvana worked on the demos in Butch Vig‘s studio in Wisconsin, the songs Nirvana were coming up with for their next album were more melodic. Kurt Cobain said, “The early songs were really angry … But as time goes on the songs are getting poppier and poppier as I get happier and happier.” This did not sit well with Chad Channing, Nirvana‘s drummer from Bleach, who became disillusioned with the sound and his exclusion from the songwriting process. After the demos Chad Channing was fired.

Nirvana hired Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters, to record and release the song “Sliver” on Sub Pop, a sign of the sound to come. However this did not last long and Nirvana were left looking for another drummer.

Buzz Osbourne of the Melvins had introduced Nirvana to Dave Grohl, who was looking for a new band following the break-up of his band Scream, a hardcore punk band. A few days after arriving in Seattle, Chris Novoselic and Kurt Cobain auditioned Dave Grohl, with Chris Novoselic later stating, “We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer.”

The recruitment of Dave Grohl, along with the release of Sliver, was a pivotal moment for Nirvana. Sliver did not fit with the typical Sub Pop sound and on learning that Sub Pop’s financial worries meant they were looking to be taken over by a major label anyway, Kurt Cobain took Nirvana to Geffen Records on Kim Gordon’s recommendation.

Butch Vig‘s  services were retained for the album and with a budget of $65,000, Nirvana recorded Nevermind at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, California in May and June 1991.

Geffen Records hoped that Nevermind would sell around 250,000 copies. The best estimate was that if the band, the management, and the label all worked really hard, the record could possibly be certified gold by September of 1992.

As Nirvana set out for their European tour at the start of November 1991, Nevermind entered the Billboard Top 40 for the first time at number 35. By January 11, 1992 Nevermind became Nirvana‘s first number one album, replacing Michael Jackson’s Dangerous at the top of the Billboard charts. Nevermind eventually spent two hundred and fifty-two weeks on the Billboard 200. Geffen president Ed Rosenblatt told the New York Times, “We didn’t do anything. It was just one of those ‘Get out of the way and duck’ records.”

When you now listen Nirvana‘s Nevermind it is hard to understand the fuss. The problem is not Nevermind‘s greatness, it is simply that everybody who has picked up a guitar since then has been influenced by them at best and ripped them off at worst.

You need to go back to the time Nevermind was released. The 1980s rock scene had descended into farce, with bands seemingly more interested in their hair than even sex, drugs or rock and roll. Even those that cared about their music had found their own decadence in 45 minute long guitar solos, which seemed to punctuate every live show I saw back then.

Kurt Cobain although reportedly originally happy with Andy Wallace’s mixes, later disparagingly described it as “a Motley Crue record”. It is true that there is a sheen that you do not hear on a Pixies or Smithereens record, but Nevermind was as far removed from what was on the rock scene at the time as their 1970s punk predecessors were to the hippy and prog-rock artists of their time. No polished guitar solos and big-hair, just stripped back songs played with passion or “Bay City Rollers getting molested by Black Flag” as Kurt Cobain described it.

Whatever it was, the music world was never going to be the same.

Track Listing

All songs were written by Kurt Cobain, except where noted.

1. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Kurt Cobain , Chris Novoselic, Dave Grohl) – 5:01
2. “In Bloom” – 4:14
3. “Come as You Are” – 3:39
4. “Breed” – 3:03
5. “Lithium” – 4:17
6. “Polly” – 2:57
7. “Territorial Pissings” – 2:22
8. “Drain You” – 3:43
9. “Lounge Act” – 2:36
10. “Stay Away” – 3:32
11. “On a Plain” – 3:16
12. “Something in the Way” – 3:55
    * “Endless, Nameless” (6:44) is a hidden track on some copies of the record.

Nirvana

• Kurt Cobain (appears on the credits for the “Monkey Photo” as Kurdt Kobain) – vocals, guitar, photography
• Krist Novoselic (credited as Chris Novoselic) – bass guitar, vocals
• Dave Grohl – drums, vocals

Crew

• Nirvana – co-producers, engineers
• Butch Vig – co-producer, engineer
• Kirk Canning – cello on “Something in the Way”
• Chad Channing – cymbals on “Polly” (uncredited; song recorded when he was still in the band)
• Jeff Sheehan – assistant engineer
• Andy Wallace – mixing
• Howie Weinberg – mastering
• Michael Lavine – photography
• Robert Fisher – artwork, art direction, design, cover design
• Craig Doubet – assistant engineer, mixing
• Kirk Weddle – cover photo
• Spencer Elden – infant in cover photo

Release Information

Nevermind was originally released on September 24, 1991 on Geffen Records in the US and on Polydor Records in the UK.

References

• Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
• Nirvana: Nevermind (Classic Rock Albums)
• Mojo
• Q Magazine
• Classic Rock

Dave Grohl Arrives in Seattle

On September 21st, 1990 Krist Novoselic and Kurt Cobain picked Dave Grohl up from Seattle’s Sea-Tac airport. He stayed with Kurt Cobain in his “Hellhole” apartment in Olympia and auditioned for the band a few days later. He got the job, with Krist Novoselic later stating, “We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer.”

This search had been a long and tortuous one and came at the end of a frustrating summer for Nirvana.

Aaron Buckhard, Nirvana‘s first Drummer

Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic had got together and started playing. In early 1987 they started playing with a neighborhood kid called Aaron Buckhard. There was no audition, as Aaron put it, “They said they needed a drummer and I was a drummer”

However by October 1987 Aaron Buckhard, got a new job as assistant manager of Aberdeen’s Burger King. With the job taking up more of his time he was not prepared to make the trip to Nirvana‘s rehersal space in Krist‘s basement in Tacoma and he was out of Nirvana. “I thought Kurt‘s songs were great, but I never thought there would be a market for them”, said Aaron Buckhard later.

In an attempt to find a new drummer Kurt (or Kurdt as he spelled his name then) decided to place an advert in the Seattle Rocket for a drummer -

By December they still had not found a drummer so started rehearsing with Dale Grover as an interim solution. Soon after they went into Reciprocal Studios with Jack Endino to record their first demo. However in January Dale Grover left to go back to play with the Melvins again soon after Kurt‘s 21st birthday.

Before leaving Dale Grover had recommended a hard-living drummer by the name of Dave Foster to Kurt and Krist.

Dave Foster did not look like a the Washington punk that Kurt wanted, but when he mentioned that Dave should, “Get with it” he got and angry retort, “It’s not fair to make fun of the short-haired guy, I’ve got a job!”

He also had the misfortune to get into a fight and beat up the son of the mayor of Cosmopolis. So along with 2 weeks in jail, losing his driver’s license and having to pay thousands for his victim’s medical expenses he was also fired from Nirvana. In actual fact he was not fired, Kurt simply stopped asking him along to practices and asked Chad Channing instead.

Chad Channing

Chad Channing joined Nirvana as things began to happen for them. They recorded “Love Buzz” the first single released on Sub Pop‘s record of the month club and their debut album “Bleach” also for Sub Pop. They also embarked on a tour across the US in the back of a van and the relationship between Kurt and Chad began to break down.

By the time Nirvana went to Madison to record the follow up to “Bleach” with Butch Vig at his Smart Studios, although the two respected each other, they could not find common ground on a musical level. He and Kurt‘s relationship became very strained during the sessions in Madison.

Kurt had often complained that he was the focal point of the band, with all the stress on him, but whenever Chad had offered to help with the song writing process his ideas had always been ignored, which irked him. Also Chad‘s style of drumming did not gel with the music Kurt wanted to make. “Chad was a softer style drummer, but he changed to become harder and more rhythmic.” said Krist Novoselic, “He didn’t like doing that.”

Soon after the Smart Studios sessions at the end of May, Chad Channing left Nirvana.

The Hunt for a Drummer Continues

Nirvana used Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters, to record and release the song “Sliver” on Sub Pop (ironically one of the only songs with a writing credit for Chad Channing), with “Dive” from the Smart sessions on the B-side (you can find both on “Incesticide”) However this was only a temporary arrangement and Nirvana were left looking for another drummer.

, who was looking for a new band following the break-up of his band Scream, a Washington hardcore punk band. The

Dave Grohl Joins Nirvana

Dave Grohl‘s band Scream had split up mid-tour in LA. Dave Grohl found himself a long way from home in Washington DC, and Dave Grohl did not have the money to get back to the east coast. So he called his friend Buzz Osbourne of the Melvins, who was living in LA and he introduced Dave to Nirvana.

Nirvana had seen Scream play in San Francisco and liked the way Grohl played, Kurt Cobain frequently compared him favorably with Led Zeppelin’s legendary sticksman, John Bonham. Very quickly he gelled with Nirvana and their summer of frustrations with being unable to play and problems with Sub Pop was at an end.

Now Nirvana were a band again and they set off on a tour of Europe during the fall of 1990. It would also not be long before they had sorted the issues with their record label to as they were now actively pursuing a major label deal.

References

• Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
• Nirvana: Nevermind (Classic Rock Albums)
• Mojo
• Q Magazine
• Classic Rock

Nirvana prepare to make the follow-up to “Bleach“

Nirvana had released their debut album “Bleach” in 1989, which went on to become Sub Pop‘s biggest seller and popular with college radio and in the UK. Even though Sub Pop were going through some financial difficulties, they knew they had to get Nirvana back into the studio to record a new album as the likely sales were needed to keep them afloat. So as spring 1990 came in, Nirvana were to make their second album for Sub Pop, speculatively titled “Sheep”.

Butch Vig

Although it was Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman‘s idea to use Butch Vig on “Sheep”, he was well known to the members of Nirvana, having produced their friends Tad and Killdozer, whose sound they liked and would ask Butch Vig to recreate for them.

Also, when Jonathan Poneman called Butch Vig to propose that he produce the new Nirvana album for Sub Pop he found Butch Vig very receptive to the idea. Butch Vig was keen to work with Sub Pop as he was well aware of their standing in the independent music world, “I wanted to work with Sub Pop because I knew they were a cool label” he later recalled.

Nirvana Record “Sheep” with Butch Vig at Smart Studios

Having played a gig the night before in Chicago, Nirvana drove down to Madison, Butch Vig‘s home and the location of Smart Studios, in early April 1990. Sub Pop did not have the money to pay them advances, so Nirvana were reliant on gigs to pay their living expenses and were booked to start a 6 week tour on April 10th in Ann Arbor, so Nirvana knew they had to work fast to get all the tracks done.

Unlike “Bleach”, where the songs were finished and had been well rehearsed before entering the studio, Nirvana‘s new songs were not yet finished. Nirvana had been touring extensively and not had the time to sit down and thresh them out, although most of the arrangements had been solidified through playing at sound checks and in some cases, live. However most were lacking completed lyrics.

So Nirvana went to work on “Sheep” with Butch Vig at his Smart Studios in Wisconsin feeling under prepared and under pressure.

Butch Vig and Nirvana soon struck up a good rapport. Nirvana were not used to people bringing ideas to them about how to record and Butch Vig had the knack of doing this without seeming overbearing. He had experience getting the type of sound Nirvana wanted and went out of his way to try to capture the intensity of Nirvana‘s live performances to the point of putting sheets of plywood around the studio to try to get a sound closer to that in a club. He also pushed Cobain’s pop sensibility.

The songs Kurt Cobain was coming up with were more melodic and poppy than those on “Bleach”. Kurt had been torn between his heavy, punk roots and this new direction, but Butch Vig thought this was the way to go and told Kurt, “You have a genius for doing this. Don’t ignore it, it is beautiful”. However Nirvana felt nervous about both the unfinished nature and the differences between this new material compared to “Bleach”. This all left them unsure which to tackle first and which to leave alone.

For all Nirvana‘s early nervousness, Butch Vig was impressed at how focused the arrangements were, especially since several of the songs had never been played live before.

Doug Olsen, the engineer at Smart Studios for the sessions, was also amazed at how certain Kurt Cobain was about what he wanted. When he offered him what he thought was a better Marshall valve amp to use over Kurt‘s transistorized Sunn he was greeted with an acerbic, “No, I don’t want to do that…”

The Songs that became the “Nevermind” Demos

By the end of the week they had recorded eight tracks, seven of Kurt‘s compositions and a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Here She Comes Now”

In Bloom

In Bloom remained almost identical to the version that appeared on “Nevermind“, although it was completely re-recorded. On the original version there was a bridge, which after recording they decided they did not like, so the section was cut out and that is how the song remained.

The only area that showed any real change was the drumming. Dave Grohl‘s no nonsense style on the “Nevermind” version is starkly different to the more complex fills employed by Chad Channing and highlighted one of the reasons he and Nirvana would later part ways.

Dive

Dive was a live favorite for Nirvana, a bass driven track that did not make it to “Nevermind” but was released as the B-side to Sliver (and appears on Incesticide)

Lithium

Lithium was another track that made it to “Nevermind“, but the Smart Studios recording was a fraught affair. Chad Channing and Kurt Cobain‘s visions of what the drumming should be differed, and it came to a head on the recording of Lithium. Kurt grabbed the sticks and showed Chad what he wanted. Chad had been feeling under appreciated and this was another sleight he felt and would contribute to their worsening relationship.

Imodium

Imodium was the name of a diarrhoea treatment that Tad Doyle of Tad used while Nirvana toured with them in Europe. The track became “Breed” on “Nevermind“, possibly to avoid legal problems with McNeil Healthcare, the makers of Imodium.

Pay To Play

This song became “Stay Away” on “Nevermind“. Musically it changed little, with the addition of a tighter ending and Dave Grohl‘s more streamlined drumming.
The original lyrics refer to the practice of many club owners to force bands that played at their club to buy a quantity of tickets upfront, which they would have to sell to their fans to make any money. Kurt thought this practice was reprehensible, but also felt that the people that went along with it were simply sheep, hence the lyrics “Monkey See Monkey Do, I Don’t Know Why, Walk Around I Follow You”

Sappy

Originally titled “Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus” due to it’s simple structure, Sappy would be revisited during the “Nevermind” sessions but it did not make the album.

Polly

Polly is the only track where the original Smart Studios recordings made it to “Nevermind“. The haunting track was, according to Butch Vig, in half an hour flat on a beaten up, cheap, 5 string acoustic guitar (apparently the strings were as old as the guitar as they had never been changed!) Vig, just set up a microphone and recorded it.

Kurt had tuned the guitar down a semi-tone from E, but the guitar was horrible, with duct tape holding the tuning keys in place. The basic take was recorded with Kurt and Krist playing live and they got a take that was hauntingly beautiful, if a little out of tune. However Kurt was impatient and did not want to try for another take, so this was the take that the song was built on using overdubs.

The overdubbed cymbal accents, the only percussion on the track, are the only contribution of Chad Channing that makes it onto “Nevermind“.

The song was based on the case of Gerald Friend. Friend was a 49 year old who was convicted on August 19, 1987 of kidnapping, raping and torturing a teenage girl from outside a music venue in Tacoma, near Seattle.

Kurt cast himself as the rapist, writing in the first person in a haunting manner. The lyrics are even more harrowing when you read the reports from the trial -

Prosecutor Tom Stratton said he would recommend an exceptionally long sentence for Friend, 49 (age), who was convicted in a similar attack 27 years ago. In the latest case, Friend was charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape in the attack that occurred over several hours late June 5 and early June 6.

Officials said the victim was a runaway who accepted a ride from Friend near the Tacoma Dome after she attended a rock concert in the area. When the girl tried to get out of the car, authorities said, she was handcuffed and abducted at knife-point to Friend’s mobile home.

The victim testified last week that Friend tortured and repeatedly raped her with several objects in his mobile home. She said he blindfolded her and ran a propane torch close to her skin. She eventually escaped.

Here She Comes Now

According to Krist Novoloselic, “Here She Comes Now” was done not for Sub Pop but for Tupelo Records for a Velvet Underground tribute album. It was recorded in a single take and was one of the easiest tracks to lay down according to both Krist Novoloselic and Chad Channing.

Post Smart Studios

According to Butch Vig recording Lithium, “Blew out Kurt‘s voice” so they could not record more tracks. However other reports state that Nirvana played a gig with label-mates Tad in Madison on April 6th, their last night in town before they headed up to Ann Arbor, which seems to imply Kurt‘s voice was fine.

What is known is that Jonathan Poneman had flown in to see how the sessions had gone. According to Butch Vig he liked what he heard, but the members of Nirvana remember him being very subdued. According to Chad Channing, Poneman‘s lack of enthusiasm was one of the reasons that almost nothing from the Smart Sessions was released on Sub Pop.

After Nirvana left Wisconsin on their tour, Butch Vig got down to mixing the tracks. The majority were done on April 11th, 12th and 13th, but according to Butch Vig, “For some reason I didn’t get down to mixing ‘ Here She Comes Now’ until June 8th, 1990”

Sub Pop were aiming for a September 1990 release of Nirvana‘s album and all parties were expecting to be back at Smart Studios to record a few more tracks and finish the album, but Butch Vig did not hear anything for a while as Nirvana were to lose one drummer in the shape of Chad Channing, gain another in Dave Grohl and sign with DGC before they would record together again, this time to make “Nevermind”

References

• Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
• Nirvana: Nevermind (Classic Rock Albums)
• Mojo
• Q Magazine
• Classic Rock

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Piece of Mind was released on May 16th, 1983 and is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Piece of Mind was also the first Iron Maiden album not to be titled after a track on the album.

Piece of Mind was the first album to feature ex-Pat Travers drummer Nicko McBrain, who had recently left the Paris-based band Trust. In fact each Iron Maiden album had seen an original member leave (in this case drummer Clive Burr) but this last change was the last until 1990 and widely regarded as *the* classic Iron Maiden lineup.

Even with all the changes in personnel, all the trademark Iron Maiden elements are there – Derek Riggs “Eddie the Head” artwork, galloping bass-lines, soaring vocals and the twin attack of harmonized guitars. However producer Martin Birch had polished the sound a little, making it more accessible and for the first time it featured meaningful songwriting contributions from members other than bassist Steve Harris.

One of the most notable of these was the Bruce Dickinson/Adrian Smith composition “The Flight of Icarus”, a metal classic retelling the tale of the man who flew too close to the sun.

However another Steve Harris composition in the shape of “The Trooper” remains as one of the most popular songs in the band’s history, included in the set list of every tour since the album’s release. It is based on Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” thrusting the listener right into the middle of a battlefield during the Crimean war.

The last track “To Tame a Land” was originally entitled “Dune” but Dune’s author, Frank Herbert, refused Iron Maiden‘s request to name the song after his book, so it became “To Tame a Land”. This is a 7 minute epic closing Piece of Mind in a fantastically over the top barrage of intricate guitars, booming bass and vocals.

Most of the rest of the album is also of a high standard, however Piece of Mind was the first Iron Maiden album to include tracks that I actively skip (“Sun and Steel” being the most skipped), but it is still an undisputed metal classic and many feel this is the quintessential Iron Maiden album.

Iron Maiden

• Bruce Dickinson – vocals
• Dave Murray – guitar
• Adrian Smith – guitar, backing vocals
• Steve Harris – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Nicko McBrain – drums

Production

• Martin Birch – Producer, Engineer, Mixer
• Frank Gibson – Asst Engineer
• Denis Haliburton – Asst Engineer

Track listing

1. “Where Eagles Dare” (Steve Harris) – 6:10
2. “Revelations” (Bruce Dickinson) – 6:48
3. “Flight of Icarus” (Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith) – 3:51
4. “Die With Your Boots On” (Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Steve Harris) – 5:28
5. “The Trooper” (Steve Harris) – 4:15
6. “Still Life” (Dave Murray, Steve Harris) – 4:53
7. “Quest for Fire” (Steve Harris) – 3:41
8. “Sun and Steel” (Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith) – 3:26
9. “To Tame a Land” (Steve Harris) – 7:27

1995 reissue bonus CD

1. “I Got the Fire” (Montrose cover)
2. “Cross-Eyed Mary” (Jethro Tull cover)

Trivia

At the beginning of the sixth track, Still Life, the band included a hidden message which could only be understood by playing the album backwards. This was a joke and an intended swing back at the right wing Christian groups who had accused Iron Maiden of being satanic and corrupting the nation’s youth.

In reality the backwards-message features Nicko McBrain mimicking Idi Amin…or at least mimicking a mimic, mimicking Idi Amin!

The version of Eddie the Head on the cover of Piece of Mind is the version of Eddie used in the video game Ed Hunter

Release Information

Piece of Mind was originally released in 1983 on Capitol Recordsin the US and on EMI Records in the UK; it was reissued later on Sanctuary/Columbia Records.

When a band loses their singer and one of their most recognizable focal points, there must be a lot of soul searching into whether they can continue in any viable format. Bands like INXS and The Doors have realized that without the singer, the fan base they have built up can quickly erode and splitting up appears to be the only option.

Devastated by the death of lead singer Bon Scott, at the untimely age of 33 and due in no doubt to his hard living ways, AC/DC were faced with the conundrum of what to do and were seriously contemplating whether they should disband. The fact that they didn’t and then went on to release not only their biggest record ever but one of the top selling albums of all time, says a lot for the hard work and effort shown by the act and new singer Brian Johnson.

A large part of AC/DC‘s  appeal to their fans was that they sang about what their fans liked and lived the lifestyle. Yes, it is often purile and juvenile but ‘Back In Black‘ showed that the death of Bon Scott would do nothing to derail the party attitude of the band.

Songs of a sexual nature, drinking and rock n’ roll peppered the album and many of the tracks still feature prominently in the bands set-list. Although the album was titled and made in honor of the memory of Scott, the songs themselves were more in homage to the way that Scott lived his life as opposed to standing as a tribute to the late singer.

One of the most impressive things about the record was the speed with which AC/DC created and recorded ‘Back In Black‘. Bon Scott died on the 2^nd of February in 1980 and ‘Back In Black‘ was released on the 25^th July of the same year.

In this time, AC/DC had recruited a new singer in the shape of Brian Johnson. Then Angus Young and Malcolm Youngwrote all the new material with him before decamping to Compass Point Studios in The Bahamas through April and May to record it and then master it and release it. All this was achieved in only 6 months! Considering the length of time major acts take between releasing albums nowadays, this is an astonishingly short piece of time, especially considering the period of mourning and feeling of loss the band would no doubt have been feeling at this time.

There were many fans that had grave doubts about Brian Johnson taking over vocal duties but he very swiftly carved out his own niche as a performer and gained a positive reaction for his vocal performance. It helped that his screech was not a million miles away from Bon Scott‘s throaty growl.

For those who grew up with the Bon Scott era, ‘Back In Black‘ was a major turning point. However under the skin things had not changed too much. The Young’s were still driving the sound with their incredible array of riffs crafted into immaculate slabs of rock. They still had “Mutt” Lange on board who had been responsible for the big sound on “Highway to Hell”. In fact the only thing that changed was Brian Johnson and he still had the right sound and energy. But for many this was their introduction to AC/DC and as such it still hasn’t been bettered.

With the band still wowing live audiences around the world, ‘Back In Black‘ has sold over 45 million records (certified by the RIAA at 22 million copies in the US alone) and sits only behind Michael Jackson’ ‘Thriller’ with regards to albums sold worldwide. ‘Back In Black‘ has transcended the hard rock genre that houses the band and the record can be found in the collection of many different listeners around the world.

Accolades and Awards

In 1989, it was ranked at number 26 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the 80′s
In 2003, the album was ranked number 73 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time

AC/DC

• Angus Young — lead guitar
• Brian Johnson — lead vocals
• Malcolm Young — rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Phil Rudd — drums, percussion
• Cliff Williams — bass guitar, backing vocals

Production Team

• Robert John “Mutt” Lange — Producer
• Tony Platt — Engineer
• Benji Armbrister — Assistant Engineer
• Jack Newber — Assistant Engineer
• Brad Samuelsohn — Mixing

Mastering

• Bob Ludwig — Mastering (original LP)
• Barry Diament — Mastering (original CD releases)
• Ted Jensen — Remastering (EMI/Atco reissue in 1995)
• George Marino — Remastering (Epic reissue in 2003)

Album Cover

• Bob Defrin — Art Direction
• Robert Ellis — Photography

Track List

All songs written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Brian Johnson.

Side One

1. “Hells Bells” – 5:13
2. “Shoot to Thrill” – 5:18
3. “What Do You Do for Money Honey” – 3:36
4. “Givin the Dog a Bone” – 3:32
5. “Let Me Put My Love into You” – 4:15

Side Two

1. “Back in Black” – 4:16
2. “You Shook Me All Night Long” – 3:30
3. “Have a Drink on Me” – 3:59
4. “Shake a Leg” – 4:06
5. “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” – 4:26

Original Catalog Number

CD: SD-16018-2
LP: SD-16018
Cassette: CS-16018
Originally released on Albert/Atlantic (Atco)
Later the rights were transferred to Epic Records for the later CD re-issues.

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The Eagles released “Hotel California” on December 8th, 1976 and now it is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time and also one of the biggest selling. However prior to recording “Hotel California” The Eagles found themselves in a strange place.

Bernie Leadon replaced by Joe Walsh

“Hotel California” was the first the band made without founding member Bernie Leadon. Bernie Leadon was a big influence on the original sound of The Eagles. There is no doubt that Bernie Leadon was a factor in the early sound of the band, a sound described as “Citified Country” by Mojo. Bernie Leadon was the big Gram Parsons fan and he was a driving force in The Eagles taking and refining Gram’s country style and polishing it up for major market consumption.

However The Eagles had moved away from this sound on “One of these Nights” and taken on a more rocky edge, which had sold well but did not sit with Bernie Leadon. This, along with, lets just say personal differences (he famously resigned from the band by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey‘s head in by December 1975) with other members of The Eagles saw him being replaced with Joe Walsh.

Joe Walsh was a solo artist in his own right, who, like The Eagles, was produced by Bill Szymczyk and managed by Irving Azoff. Joe Walsh quickly added vibrancy to the Eagles sound and was to become a major player in the band over the following few years. His contributions to stand-out tracks like “Life in the Fast Lane” meant his place in the hearts of fan was assured very quickly.

The “Hotel California” Sessions

As they prepared to enter the studio in March 1976, The Eagles had just released a greatest hits package, “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975″, which had become a huge seller as had their previous album, “One of these Nights”, both hitting number one in the US Billboard 100 and a staple of FM radio stations. With all the fame and money they could have become complacent, however The Eagles had never been a hit with the critics of the time and this really irked them.

As Glenn Frey said at the time,”We wanted it all – peer respect, number one singles and albums, great music and a lot of money”. With their recent success the money, number one albums and singles (the title track from “One of these Nights” had been number one on the Billboard 100 in July 1975) had been taken care of. Now they wanted peer respect and recognition of their great music….and I am sure they did not complain about more money and number one records!

It was also the USA’s bicentinial year. In the 200 years since 1776, much had changed in the USA and The Eagles were recording in a post Watergate, post Vietnam world and they wanted to reflect this. The title “Hotel California” was chosen as a metaphor for, “something that was once elegant, but now is decadent”.

The Eagles carefully cultivated laid-back image covered over the hugely competitive and at times egotistical personalities of the band members. With new member Joe Walsh eager to make an impact they were fired up and the band were working like dogs. The Eagles started on the “Hotel California” sessions (split between Criteria Studios in Florida and Record Plant Studios in California) with the recording sessions fitted in between tour dates.

For weeks on end the schedule of The Eagles was nothing but playing gigs, sitting in airports or recording. At the end of this, Don Henley boasted of having his first stomach ulcer at the age of 29 and Glenn Frey simply stated, “we’ve tried harder than we’ve ever tried before”.

This schedule had a devastating effect on all of the members of The Eagles as they essentially burnt themselves out. It took three years before they would record another album and then split up soon after. “Life in the Fast Lane”, one of the key tracks, seems to be a perfect metaphor for what is must have been like to be in The Eagles during this time in the same way that the phrase “Hotel California” has become a metaphor, both transcending the world of music to come into everyday usage.

Randy Meisner resigns from The Eagles

Due to this schedule, Hotel California was to be the last with Randy Meisner, the original bass player and one of the vocalists in The Eagles. Randy Meisner was a family man and hated being away from his family so much. According to ex-Eagle Don Felder, Randy Meisner threatened to resign on countless occasions, but after Hotel California was released he did carry out his threat and left the band.

“Hotel California” the album

While the Eagles‘ sound did not change dramatically, lyrically Hotel California touched on so many negative aspects of life and death, despair, the negative side of fame and failing relationships all coming under the spotlight. However this was achieved without sounding bitter but shown through tales of naive innocence told in a tough but tender way on tracks like “New Kid in Town” and “Wasted Time”.

With Hotel California, The Eagles, as the biggest band in the country at the time, managed to catch the mood perfectly and could even be seen as visionaries for their social commentary. In the mid 1970s, there was not too much spoken or reported about environmental issues or the breakdown of modern society, certainly not in the manner they are banded about today. However the album finale “The Last Resort,” the song Glenn Frey, refers to as Don Henley‘s greatest work, covers just those issues.

Don Henley went so far as to claim, “We think this album represents the whole world, not just California.” This was not the only claim made by Don Henley of Hotel California, also claiming they were satirizing “the kind of limbo we are experiencing in the music industry while we are waiting for the next surge of inspiration.”

Sure enough Punk and Disco became the defining sounds of the late 1970s, but “Hotel California” was left behind as a perfect time capsule of the mid 1970s era, both in which it was created and created it.

Eagles

• Don Felder – acoustic guitar, slide guitar, electric guitar, pedal steel guitar , steel guitar, vocals
• Glenn Frey – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, piano, keyboards, clavinet, vocals
• Don Henley – drums, percussion, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, vocals
• Randy Meisner – electric bass, acoustic guitar, guitarron, vocals
• Joe Walsh – electric guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboard, piano, organ, synthesizer, vocals

Strings

• Jim Ed Norman – Conductor and String Arrangements

Production

• Bill Szymczyk – Production, Engineering and Mixing
• Allan Blazek – Engineering
• Bruce Hensal – Engineering
• Ed Mashal – Engineering

Tracklisting

Side One

1. “Hotel California” (Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 6:30
2. “New Kid in Town” (J.D. Souther, Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 5:03
3. “Life in the Fast Lane” (Joe Walsh, Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 4:46
4. “Wasted Time” (Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 4:55

Side Two

1. “Wasted Time (Reprise)” (instrumental) (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Jim Ed Norman) – 1:22
2. “Victim of Love” (Don Felder, Souther, Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 4:11
3. “Pretty Maids All in a Row” (Joe Walsh, Joe Vitale) – 3:58
4. “Try and Love Again” (Randy Meisner) – 5:10
5. “The Last Resort” (Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 7:28

Catalog Number

LP: Asylum Records AS 53051, 7E-1084
CD: Asylum Records 103-2

Accolades and Awards

• Number 37 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
• Number 38 on VH1′s 100 Greatest Albums of all time

Trivia

It has long been thought that the “Hotel California” located in Todos Santos, Mexico, is the “Hotel California” the Eagles based the song on, however, Don Henley has denied the link.

The Hotel shown on the cover of Hotel California is the Beverly Hills Hotel as photographed by David Alexander.

The original vinyl pressings had text engraved in the carry-out groove on each side. On side one it said “Is It 6 O’Clock Yet?” On side two it had “V.O.L. Is Five-Piece Live”This is believed to mean the song “Victim of Love” was recorded live by the five Eagles, with no overdubbing. Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey later confirmed this in the booklet that accompanies “The Very Best of The Eagles”.

References

• To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles
• Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001)
• The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion

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September 11th, 1973, and Bruce Springsteen releases his second album, “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle“, to great critical acclaim. However barely anyone noticed, especially those at his label, CBS Records. A short 8 months after Bruce Springsteen‘s first album, “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.”, had been a priority release for CBS Records he was now bottom of the promotional pile and was rumored to be in danger of losing his contract.

The priority treatment previously bestowed on Springsteen was not all it was cracked up to be though. It saw CBS Records try to peg Springsteen with the “New Bob Dylan” tag. At the time seemingly all singer/songwriters were branded with this tag and since singer/songwriters were what was selling at the time, CBS Records decided they wanted one too and Bruce Springsteen was to be it. This did not fit well with Bruce Springsteen and neither did being sent out on tour as the opening act for Chicago (Columbia Record‘s biggest selling artist at the time).

Bruce Springsteen‘s two hour plus live show was what he was all about and being given a short support slot with hardly any sound-check was never going to be a winning formula. Neither was playing to fans of Chicago who regarded him as nothing more than something stopping the headliners getting on stage.

Bruce Springsteen knew this was all wrong when they played Philadelphia and he got booed…in Philly, the town that had bought approximately half the copies of “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” sold to that point! From then on Springsteen vowed only to play if he could play his full show, even if it meant much smaller gigs.

As Bruce Springsteen reconvened The E Street Band at 914 Sound Studios in New York to record “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” through the summer of 1973, they did so with the knowledge that their chief cheerleader at CBS Records, in the shape of label boss Clive Davis, had been removed from his post in a boardroom coup.

Bruce Springsteen was now seen as an artist whose first album had flopped, had not gone down well on the Chicago support slot and was being obstinate about doing what he wanted. Add to this a manager in the shape of Mike Appel, an ex-marine, who had a habit of speaking to the people at CBS Records with all the charm and grace of a drill sergeant “speaking” to raw recruits and it was obvious, Bruce Springsteen was not going to get much help from the label this time round.

In fact this turned out to be an understatement as when “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” was released Columbia Records did not even take out a single trade paper advertisement and one of the CBS Records promotions men actually tried to persuade a Houston radio station to play less Springsteen and more of their Billy Joel and Boz Scaggs instead!

The radio stations were not much help either. For all the FM station’s talk of playing less “commercial” music, by now they too had to be aware of what their advertisers wanted and they wanted the hits played. Even in New York, where Springsteen had a fan-base and tracks like “Incident On 57th Street” and “New York City Serenade” should have been local favorites, Springsteen still got very little airplay. As Dave Herman, a DJ at the time said, “He was just another media hype that failed. He was already a dead artist who bombed on his first album.”

Although Mike Appel’s dedication to Bruce Springsteen could not be faulted, his belligerent style further hindered Bruce Springsteen‘s cause. Instead of sweet talking the radio stations into playing Springsteen‘s material, he would call them and berate them and, depending on which version of the story you believe, send torn up $10 bills or photocopied twenties! If accusing the radio stations of being bought was not bad enough, over the Christmas period, a time when most were doing their best to sweeten up programmers, Appel sent bags of coal rather than presents to those he felt most aggrieved towards.

This further aggravated not just the radio stations but also CBS Records. CBS Records had other acts to promote. Not only that, they had other “more important” acts to promote and to do this they needed the radio stations onside. If one of their artists was putting the radio stations backs up, the they had to soothe them to get their artists on the playlists. For an artist that was not seen as a priority to be making so many problems for their priority acts, was not going to remain one of their acts for long.

The fact that the music business had moved in this way was only to be expected. As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, the world had become a more cynical place. During the 1960s, the belief of musicians that music could change the world had given way to looking for spiritual enlightenment through gurus and LSD, while all the time the music business itself became more and more a commercial concern. The advent of the album as an “art form” had also seen more and more elaborate and pretentious studio releases that were nearly impossible to translate to the live arena.

Bruce Springsteen had lived through all that Rock and Roll had been and had a natural ear for what was still true to the spirit of it. His view was not just of the stars and the music on the radio, but the songs that mattered to him. As he said, “Rock and Roll still motivates….there’s a whole load of other things involved, but that’s what I think you’ve gotta remain true to. That idea, that feeling. That’s the real spirit of the music.”

As Mike Appel said, “Bruce Springsteen isn’t a rock act, he’s a religion” and, when Springsteen was left to play his own shows, the audience quickly became converts. Since Bruce Springsteen had decided that his approach to live performances was all or nothing, there were almost no headliners that would let him play his set. This mean that he was limited to the places he had a following until he could build up a following elsewhere. Naturally the north-eastern seaboard was his home and he could play clubs and halls from Philly to Boston and he had built up a following in Phoenix and Houston too.

Relentlessly playing these places over and over was not considered wise. The danger, said those in the know, was that you would over-saturate your market, you should always leave them wanting more. This was probably true of many of the bands of the era as they were “musicians” not showmen. They would stand on stage and play intricate pieces of music to fans that would nod in appreciation.

When people saw Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band they were always taken back the sheer energy he and his band maintained for well over two hours a night. The shows were a mixture of his songs, which often morphed before the audience’s eyes into something else, new songs, Bruce Springsteen‘s tales and stories and cover versions that would always have that Bruce Springsteen stamp on them. Springsteen said of these, “They’re songs I’ve just always liked. Whenever a song’s got that life, that ability to move you and it’s still relevant to today, to what’s happening, it’s important….It’s obvious by the reaction they get. It’s great today, it’s great right now and if someone plays it and people hear it, they’ll still love it tomorrow.” Audiences never saw the same show twice and Springsteen ever left the stage until drenched in sweat, ecstatic and virtually collapsing from exhaustion and the audience was usually left feeling the same way.

This was particularly true after he replaced Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez, who played the drums on “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle“, with Ernest “Boom” Carter. Bruce Springsteen agonized before deciding to fire Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez, who he had played with since his days in Steel Mill. Vini Lopez‘s playing on “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” was loose and suited the material on the album perfectly. How much of this was down to his drumming and how much was that the material Springsteen decided to put on the album was governed by Lopez’s drumming, I do not know. What was certain was that the live rhythm section was now rock solid.

One member of the CBS Records executive had seen this and was still a believer. Ron Oberman was CBS Records‘ publicity director and saw that with both “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” and “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” getting near universal rave reviews from the critics, Springsteen must be doing something right. Add to this the incredible live shows and the fervent support of his fans and Ron Oberman made Bruce Springsteen his own personal priority.

The promoters were also his fans. With Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band throwing everything into the shows and the rapt audiences returning night after night, each time bringing more of their friends, they could not get enough. This lead to a conflict in April, 1974 as Springsteen found himself booked to play in two Boston venues on the same night.

Joe Spadafora had booked Springsteen to play at his club, “Joe’s Place”, a tiny dive-bar in Boston. They had met way back when Joe Spadafora had booked Springsteen in his early days and the two men had become friends. When “Joe’s Place” burned down shortly before they were due to play Springsteen moved the gig to “Charley’s” near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass. as a benefit for Joe Spadafora.

At this point he discovered that his booking agent, William Morris, had booked him to play the larger Performance Center in the heart of Harvard Square for the same night. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band had become hugely popular in the area and when he returned next time would be playing venues larger than these clubs. Bruce Springsteen felt he owed Joe Spadafora his last club dates in the area.

As it turned out this would prove to be one of the most important nights of his career as the gig was attended by Jon Landau.

Jon Landau

Jon Landau ran the Record Review section of Rolling Stone Magazine and wrote a regular column in the Boston’s The Real Paper, the equivalent of New York’s The Village Voice. He was an important man in music and, with his Real Paper column, particularly so in the Boston/Cambridge area. He also understood the music industry having produced “Back in the USA” for the MC5 and been instrumental in getting Atlantic Records to sign The J Geils Band.

Jon Landau had come across “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” and was impressed. Stories were coming through about Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band‘s live show (from Oberman amongst others) and so he decided that now was a good time to see for himself. In the week running up to the gig’s at Charley’s Jon Landau wrote in The Real Paper that “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” was, “…the most under-rated album so far this year, an impassioned and inspired street fantasy that’s as much fun as it is deep.”

The night of the gig was cold and as Jon Landau walked up to Charley’s he saw none other than Bruce Springsteen peering into the window of Charley’s where they had cut out a copy of Jon Landau‘s review and stuck it in the window. Jon Landau wandered over and asked Springsteen what he thought of the piece. Springsteen replied that he thought it was good, but he had seen better. At that point Jon Landau introduced himself and the two entered the venue laughing.

Jon Landau had found himself becoming jaded with Rock and Roll and his friends were surprised to see him at the gig, he rarely went to them by then. But from the opening “New York City Serenade” through to the second encore, a raucous version of Fats Domino’s “Let The Four Winds Blow”, Jon Landau was utterly taken with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band‘s passion, energy, charisma – in short, they were the real deal. He left breathless and raved about Bruce Springsteen to all that would listen. He also saw to it that “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” made one Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 7 albums of 1973.

Another month passed and Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, defying industry logic again, was back in the area, this time playing at the Harvard Square Theater opening for Bonnie Raitt, a local favorite. Although Springsteen had decided not to open for anyone, Bonnie Raitt had agreed to let Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band play their full show.

Once again Jon Landau, on the eve of his 27th birthday, ventured out to see Springsteen and once again Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band left the stage to utter adulation from the crowd. Jon Landau returned home in a daze.

After the show he sat down and wrote a piece for The Real Paper, it was long and personal. In the piece he laid his emotions bare, telling of his long history as a musician, producer and critic and his disillusionment with Rock and Roll. He finished the piece, “Last Thursday at Harvard Square Theater, I saw my Rock and Roll Past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the first time.”

“I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” has passed into rock folklore and is much quoted and mis-quoted. The effect of this piece defining Springsteen as the future meant everyone involved or interested in music now had to have an opinion. Other influential critics joined in with almost universal praise and his fans became more fervent and greater in number.

It also reinvigorated CBS Records and soon the quote was splashed across adverts for “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” and CBS Records began pushing the album. By August 1974 sales of “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” were nearing 100 000 copies. For an album that had received so little promotion this was hugely encouraging and ensured that Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band would be back to record another album with CBS Records.

As thoughts turned to the next album, it became clear that the Harvard Square Theater gig was important for another reason. It was the first time Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band had played “Born to Run” live.

The E Street Band

• Bruce Springsteen – guitar, harmonica, bass guitar, mandolin, maracas, vocals
• Clarence Clemons – saxophone, vocals
• Danny Federici – accordion, keyboards, organ on “Kitty’s Back”, second piano on “Incident on 57th Street”, vocals
• Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez – drums, cornet on “The E Street Shuffle”, vocals
• David Sancious – clavinet, electric piano, keyboards, organ solo on “Kitty’s Back”, piano, soprano saxophone on “The E Street Shuffle”, string arrangement on “New York City Serenade”
• Garry Tallent – bass, horn, tuba, vocals

Additional Musicians

• Richard Blackwell – conga, percussion
• Suki Lahav – choir vocals on “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” and “Incident on 57th Street” (uncredited)
• Albee Tellone – baritone saxophone on “The E Street Shuffle”

Production

• Mike Appel – Producer
• Jim Cretecos – Producer
• Louis Lahav – Engineer

Tracklisting

All songs by Bruce Springsteen

Side One

1. “The E Street Shuffle” – 4:31
2. “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” – 5:36
3. “Kitty’s Back” – 7:09
4. “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” – 4:47

Side Two

1. “Incident on 57th Street” – 7:45
2. “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” – 7:04
3. “New York City Serenade” – 9:55

Catalog Number

Columbia Records 32432
(Columbia Records are now part of Sony Music Group)

References

• Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story (Marsh, Dave. Bruce Springsteen Story, V. 1.)
• Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
• Interviews in Classic Rock Magazine
• Interviews in Uncut Magazine