They're sellin' independence - actors in the White House

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

#413 : Cosmo's Factory - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)

Cosmo’s Factory was CCR’s third classic album in under a year. John Fogerty began it with the seven-minute power-choogle “Ramble Tamble,” raging against “actors in the White House.” The hits include the country travelogue “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” the Vietnam nightmare “Run Through the Jungle,” the Little Richard tribute “Travelin’ Band,” and the Stax-style ballad “Long as I Can See the Light.” But the triumph is CCR’s 11-minute cowbell-crazed jam on “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” proof these guys could mix hippie visions with populist grit.

Whilst not being overly familiar with CCR (I obviously can't be bothered typing their full name out), I thought I knew enough about them to expect this to be a load of all nonsense.  And it both and isn't - the playing is much tighter than I was expecting and most tracks are pleasingly short.  Except for the ones that aren't - 7 minutes of power-choogling (whatever that is!) to open the album and 11 minutes of cowbell-crazed jamming towards the end are a bit of a struggle.  However, I found myself quite liking the album - it rocks out well with "Around The Bend" being a particular highlight for me.

As a pleasing diversion, my daughters will tell you that I fancy myself as a bit of an impromptu songsmith - and they will also tell you that I'm not particularly good, often using the evergreen phrase "ooby dooby doo" when I'm unable to come up with an appropriate rhyme.  So imagine my amusement when these professional (and immensely successful) musicians broke into the chorus of the fourth track...

Ooby dooby, ooby dooby, ooby dooby, ooby dooby
Ooby dooby dooby dooby dooby dooby
Ooby doo wah, dooby doo wah

There's hope for me yet!

This album is very much a US thing - it's sold over 4 million copies over there - but for an album from 1970, I'd say it sounds remarkably undated, possibly helped by the fact that a lot of it harks back to the days of classic rock and roll (there's a definite Chuck Berry feel on a lot of the tracks).  Their 11 minute version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" hasn't aged well though imho, but is an amusing curiosity nonetheless (and their 4 minute version is perfectly acceptable!).  "Customers also listened to" a load of bands I know by name who I've also always suspected of being nonsense, but I could be wrong on them as well - this album proved to be a very pleasingly unexpected educational experience.

#412 : Going To A Go-Go - Smokey Robinson And The Miracles (1970)

Motown at its most debonair and sexy. Smokey Robinson works his sweeping soul falsetto over unbelievably sad ballads, including “The Tracks of My Tears” and “Ooo Baby Baby,” as the Miracles sob along. Robinson made it seem effortless to write a constant string of hit singles for the Miracles, as well as the rest of the Motown roster, but this album also has some of his finest deep cuts, especially the helpless yearning of “Choosey Beggar.”

I was expecting this to sound like Smokey Robinson - and unsurprisingly, it does!  He's got a fantastic voice and all the tracks show a consistent level of quality and conformance to the general 60s Motown format.  Except for "The Tracks Of My Tears" that is, which is head and shoulders above the rest of them - which is a bit of a problem because it's the album opener and once that's out the way you're like "OK, this is all fine but..."

"Customers also listened to" The Temptations and The Supremes - Motown giants the lot of them and there's not really a lot I can say here that would do justice to either Smokey or The Miracles. Their contribution over the years has been immense - I'd say "The Tracks Of My Tears", "Tears Of A Clown" and "I Second That Emotion" are all superb tracks, any one of which plenty of people would give their right arm to have written.  Which unfortunately means I have to admit that I'd go for the Greatest Hits rather than this album.

#411 : Love And Theft - Bob Dylan (2001)

The blood and glory of 1997’s Time Out of Mind had raised the bar: This was the first Dylan album in years that had to live up to fans’ expectations. He didn’t just exceed them — he blew them up. Dylan sang in the voice of a grizzled drifter who’d visited every nook and cranny of America and gotten chased out of them all. Love and Theft was full of corny vaudeville jokes and apocalyptic floods, from the guitar rave “Summer Days” to the country lilt of “Po’ Boy.”

Yes, I know I'm a complete and utter philistine, but Bob Dylan is up there with Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen as an artist that produces fine songs but their vocal delivery annoys me such that I struggle to recognise/enjoy the artistry involved.  Although, my suspicion (based upon anecdotal evidence at best) has always been that Bob produces quite a few songs that could be described as "not quite so fine".  So, I was expecting an album of average songs delivered in a way which made me think they were even worse than they were.  There's nothing like going in with high expectations, is there?

And my expectations were mostly met - I would say that some of the songs were better than I was expecting, but the vocal delivery was worse.  I also suspect if anyone else went into the studio with even the better songs, they would not find people queueing up to release them.

"Customers also listened to" a load of other Bob Dylan albums apparently - and frankly I'm happy for them to listen to them if it means I don't have to.  If you like him, feel free to read all about him Wikipedia, but make sure you have plenty of refreshment handy because it's quite lengthy. I didn't bother reading it, but amusingly this jumped out at me as I skimmed over it - "In the early 1970s, critics charged that Dylan's output was varied and unpredictable. Rolling Stone writer Greil Marcus asked "What is this shit?" on first listening to Self Portrait, released in June 1970."

One other random musing - is it just me that thinks that Bob looks like Adam Sandler on the album cover?  And that's all I have to say about this album really.

So, in a completely unexpected turn of events, Creedence Clearwater Revival can celebrate two things - me typing their name in full and also winning this round.

#416-414 - Not exactly up my street
#410-408 - Oh dear, OK, Oh yes!