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Post by unomusette on Aug 29, 2015 23:15:22 GMT
Me again! Was casting my mind once more over albums I've played to death and realised there's been nothing in this section from the venerable Mr Roy Wood, how did this happen? So here's Boulders, recorded at the same time as the first ELO album apparently. Every sound you hear has been produced in some way by Woody, it has some brilliant catchy tunes and clever little quirky touches, as you would expect. It should have a place in any right-thinking ELO fan's library I reckon, hope you enjoy it. Songs of Praise This takes a while to start up, but when it does it's simply fab. Wake Up Best bit about this is using water instead of drums - genius! Rock Down LowNice little rocker where Woody can growl his bestest Nancy Sing Me a SongReally pretty song, and who can resist "something to make my hair grow long"? Not me! Dear ElaineAn actual video here, another great tune in the vein of thwarted Victorian suitor. Brilliant. Although I'm reminded that when he moves his lower jaw from side to side whilst singing he reminds me of a goat chewing the cud, tee hee! All The Way Over The Hill/Irish Loafer and His HenFoot tappingly good Miss Clarke and the ComputerBear in mind this was written when computers were room-sized, it's such a good idea for a love song, totally original. When Grandma Plays the BanjoIf you can resist this you aren't alive. My favourite bit is just after Cousin Luke's rubbish attempt at banjo playing, where Grandma comes back in and it gets sprightly again, makes me grin every time. Years ago I had a new boss and we were both amazed to discover we had this song in common. We were a winning team from then on. Rock Medley - Rockin' Shoes/She's Too Good for Me/LocomotiveTribute to classic rock 'n roll (Elvis? Buddy Holly? And a bit of a Wizzard prequel maybe at the end?)
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Post by Chippa on Aug 30, 2015 5:47:13 GMT
Songs Of Praise- I look at this song as a parody of all the naive and innocent "I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing"-type songs of the early 70's. Fun stuff. Very rousing. I almost want to donate to the Church of Roy Wood, after this. Wake Up - Water as percussion? Kinda brilliant. This sounds a lot like something from The Move. Has that English folk sound, down pat. Rock Down Low - Odd little backwards bit at the beginning, going right into an old school rocker. Always loved that baritone sax that Roy utilized on a lot of his songs. Good stomper. Nancy Sing Me A Song - Always loved this one. I wonder who Nancy was? Dear Elaine - Very reminiscent of ELO's Whisper In The Night. Nice use of the string quartet, and slide guitar, and quirky backing vocals. All The Way Over The Hill/Irish Loafer and His Hen - Sort of like 70's Beach Boys meets Fairport Convention. Interesting little oddity, especially going into the Irish jig at the end. Miss Clarke and the Computer - Roy was definitely ahead of his time. Back before computers and internet ruled our lives, the concept of machines becoming humanized was thought of as ridiculous. Maybe Roy knew something. Fantastic little song, though. Love the effect he puts on his vocals, especially at the end when the computer "dies". When Grandma Plays the Banjo - Sort of a pre-cursor to ELO's Down Home Town. Also really similar to the Traveling Wilburys' Poor House. A fun shit kicker of a song. Banjo solo!! Rock Medley - Rockin' Shoes/She's Too Good for Me/Locomotive - Ben Crawley Steel Company revisited meets The Monkees doing a Buddy Holly cover song, going straight into a quintessential Roy Wood rocker. Overall, I give this album a 9/10. For ELO/Move/Wood fans, it's probably a must-have. Definitely better than some of the other shit that came out during the same time period.
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Post by unomusette on Aug 30, 2015 18:34:43 GMT
Great review Chippa, and thanks for pointing out the link between Dear Elaine and Whisper in the Night, how did I miss that all these years? And also the Beach Boys influence on All The Way Over The Hill, it's obvious now. I'm glad you agree it's a must-have album too, having thought about it I suppose Roy is so distinctive he might well grate on some ears so I am braced for some lukewarm responses. It will be interesting to see how they come in
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Post by jrmugz on Aug 31, 2015 1:43:47 GMT
Cool pick unomusette, I actually have all these songs on my itunes and have heard them all before, but now I can analyze each song and the project as a whole, instead of individual songs that come on once in a while when I have it on shuffle on itunes. Look for thoughts later this week.
Jim
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Post by 88keys on Aug 31, 2015 22:30:15 GMT
I'll get right on this. I might smoke a bowl while listening to it, just to enhance the experience
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Post by unomusette on Sept 1, 2015 20:21:12 GMT
I like your way of thinking 88keys Hope it's a dreamy experience...
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Post by queenofthehours on Sept 2, 2015 15:48:03 GMT
Yay! Some long overdue Woody .
I've heard most of there songs here and there over the last couple of years but never together. Can't wait to listen as I've been saving this album up as a kind of "reward" - I think I deserve that reward now though .
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 3, 2015 3:44:32 GMT
OK, here is my review of Roy Wood's "Boulders" CD. 01. "Song of Praise" - Vocal inflections remind me of "Up Around the Bend" by CCR. A very solid start to any album, for sure. Great melody, great spirit. 02. "Wake Up" – Nice tune, with cool chords. Sounds like a cousin of "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". Will have to play them next to each other sometime. 03. "Rock Down Low" – It's alright, but sounds like it's making fun of rock instead of embracing it. 04. "Nancy Sing Me a Song" – Trying to find a flaw with this song, but outside of the maybe corny lyric, can't really find one. Like this one every time I hear it. 05. "Dear Elaine" – A fairly decent ballad, that would have been just fine without the brass. 06. "Medley: "All the Way Over the Hill/Irish Loafer (And His Hen)" – Like the Mike-Love-ish bass vocal bits in ATWOTH; "Irish Loafer" is OK as a little Irish stomping is always welcome. 07. "Miss Clarke and the Computer" – Well Nancy, ... this very beautiful music can use some more serious lyrics. 08. "When Gran'ma Plays the Banjo" – Good humor and some nice banjo-ing; but this guy needs a more serious single on this CD if he wants to gain any traction. 09. "Rock Medley: Rockin’ Shoes/She's Too Good for Me/The Locomotive" – This one is great. Love the segue into "She's Too Good for Me", and the bridge for that song. One can argue it goes on too long, but it still makes for a very strong finish to a strong CD. Star Rating: 4.3 out of 5 Prime Cuts: "Wake Up", "Medley: "All the Way Over the Hill/Irish Loafer (And His Hen)", "When Gran'ma Plays the Banjo", "Rock Medley: Rockin’ Shoes/She's Too Good for Me/The Locomotive" Bottom Line: An amazing talent and songwriter on display. One very obvious thing is that him and Jeff Lynne were both way too talented and visionary individually to be in a band together. With The Beatles it could work, but these two were way too proficient on every aspect of writing and recording it seems like. Thanks for sharing unomusette. Will be interesting to check out his other albums on youtube. That "Mustard" one looks interesting. How can a CD called "Mustard" by Roy Wood possibly be bad? Got you marked down for another CD of the Week in a couple months. Jim
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Post by unomusette on Sept 3, 2015 19:10:08 GMT
Great review, jrmugz, a score of 4.3 out of 5 is highly respectable round these parts I used to have Mustard, it has some great songs on it but I didn't like it as much as Boulders. It does boast superior cover art though. Best song on Mustard is Look Thru the Eyes of a Fool, classic Woody: Standing by for my next tour of duty *salutes*
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 3, 2015 23:16:42 GMT
Great song for sure! I playrd the whole mustard cd today snd it was great, but yes agree bouldets is better.
Jim
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Post by 88keys on Sept 4, 2015 20:58:20 GMT
Songs Of Praise....Upbeat, very tongue-in-cheek gospel parody.
Wake Up....Understated folk/pop with a touch of Beatles.
Rock Down Low....ELO meets T-Rex. If you've ever heard AC Newman's song The Town Halo, it sounds similar to this.
Nancy Sing Me A Song....Lowkey, and very similar to The Move's Beautiful Daughter.
Dear Elaine....Beautifully baroque with a mournful sounding pedal steel. A tremendous song.
All The Way Over The Hill / Irish Loafer (And His Hen)....Beach Boys, McCartney and trad. Irish music all mixed up into one interesting concoction.
Miss Clarke And The Computer....A tragicomic tale of artificial intelligence and unrequited love. Possibly inspired by H.A.L. from 2001 A Space Odyssey.
When Gran'ma Plays The Banjo....Bluegrass cheese. I'll bet Ween loved this song!
Rock Medley....A loving, but somewhat silly, tribute to 50's rock. I guess it's easy to forgive the ridiculousness of this song, since Roy was probably sincere with his intentions.
I liked experiencing this album. I walked away with a new appreciation for Roy Wood and his contribution to pop music.
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Post by unomusette on Sept 4, 2015 21:20:01 GMT
Another great review, thanks 88keys! You're right about Wake Up too, if you strip away the watery gimmick and maybe the falsetto it is very easy to imagine it on a Beatles album. It's yet another aspect I'd not really taken on board until you pointed it out. And I'm chuffed you like Dear Elaine so much, it's one of the songs that really got me interested in Roy's solo stuff but I can see how it's a bit of a marmite track. Now I'm off to sample some AC Newman Edit: Wow! What a fabulous song! Uber Mott-the-Hoopley/Wizzardy fun, I adore it!
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Post by Helmut83 on Sept 5, 2015 6:02:06 GMT
- Songs of praise: great groove! And great melody as well, pretty fluent and agile on the verse and hooky on the chorus, perfect to sing along (did you, Uno? I bet you did…). Those backing vocals in the chorus are comical but at the same time they work so well backing Woody’s voice. Not good start, great start!
- Wake up: beautiful little tune, quite McCartneyish I’d say. The flute/tuba or whatever wind instrument that is gives it a nice particular touch. Also, Roy’s vocals could really hit high notes!
- Rock down low: rock n’ roll, baby! I’m always in the mood for some old school r&r, and this is a pretty good one, in it’s own particular way of course. Good work by the saxophones creating a thick layer of background sound ala Little Richard. It reminds me a bit of some Move songs. Energetic, enjoyable stuff.
- Nancy sing me a song: a bit of a country rhythm on this one (the drums and bass patterns), although it’s atmosphere doesn’t sound country. A bit weird and the chorus wasn’t too good, but still likeable enough and with a certain strange charm.
- Dear Elaine: it seems Woody saw the weather was good and decided to do some paperwork outside, then changed his mind and started playing some music. He just forgot to wash up the makeup on his eyes from the previous night. Talking about the song, not a fan of this one. The melody is a bit too twisty and goes into a labyrinth in which you end up losing it’s thread. I like the combo of instruments he uses, it gives the tune it’s baroque atmosphere, but the song itself is not strong enough.
- All the way over the hill/ Irish loafer and his hen: a quite groovy pop song. Nice deep harmonies, kind of like Bev Bevan did for ELO. The melody flows well, a bit overloaded maybe (give that voice a rest, Mr. Wood”), but decent. What’s awesome is the Irish jig at the end, that’s what stands out most of the combo for me. Without the drums and bass it could well have been an authentic Celtic tune.
- Miss Clarke and the Computer: What is that instrument? A clavicembalo? This is quite original stuff, with well-measured notes and harmonies. I loved some chords sequence, it sounds to a few strange changes that suit really well. A bit too long though.
- When grandma plays the banjo: ha! Fantastic stuff! I love this kind of fast country music. The melody has 4 lines, with lines 2 and 4 “answering” and making a counterpoint with 1 and 3, which is very country, and it’s a very convincing verse. Funny lyrics as well. And his grandma sure played banjo well! Well, a bearded fuzzy grandma that was. Hey, did I hear a harmonica at the end? Maybe it was grandpa who was jealous.
- Rock medley: well, we start with some more country, Don Williams kind of stuff. Roy is surprisingly good doing this kind of music; he gets some really inspired melodies as if he had been born in Georgia, Alabama or somewhere. I liked “Boulders Rocking Shoes”. As for “She’s too good for me”, it’s fantastic! 3-chords based, poppy and featuring a great melody. How didn’t he give it an individual treatment and make it a single? It’s a great song, probably the best of the album! “The locomotive” has a bit more of a rock atmosphere, with those saxes making an appearance again and the slide electric guitar work. Sounds a bit like Creedence. Not too bad, but nothing special either.
All in all, this album was a very pleasant surprise. I had never dared to dive into Roy Wood’s discography because the idea I had of him was that he was a great musician but he just did weird stuff. His songs on “ELO (No Answer)” scared me away.
I was expecting to find that kind of stuff on this album, and to a certain extent I found a few of those things. The guy loves using some unusual instruments –unusual for popular music standards, probably not for classical music-, and it’s incredible that he gets to play all of them by himself! Well, I found some of that “weird” stuff here too (“Miss Clarke and the computer”, “Dear Elaine”), but more much moderated, “digestible” compared to what he did in ELO. There were no Battles of Marston Moor.
On the other hand, most of the stuff was pretty easy on the ear, more kind of popular music style (particularly pop, rock and country). There were several very good songs, very enjoyable (“When granma plays the banjo”, “Rock down low”, “Songs of praise”, “She’s too good for me”…) and way easier to “understand” and to like at first listen than I had expected. There were many solid, inspired, convincing melodies on this album, and the instrumentation was pretty good too (even though I'm not a huge fan of Roy's high-pitched voice). So I’d say in the whole this was a very good album, no doubt among the 3 or 4 most interesting albums I’ve found on this section.
So sorry, Mr. Wood, for doubting you could produce some awesome stuff as well…
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Post by unomusette on Sept 5, 2015 20:26:09 GMT
Wow, if Woody were reading your review he'd be blushing with pride, Helmut83 - especially to hear that this album is amongst the 3 or 4 you like best And to hear that you've had your opinion of his work raised above the mire of Marston Moor. I completely agree with you that he could have made She's Too Good For Me a longer song, maybe he was rushed into finishing the album. Coming up with irresistibly catchy melodies is definitely Woody's best talent in my opinion, and he's mostly able to confine them to a short enough slot so you don't lose interest. Just think of Marston Moor as teething troubles. Sing along to Songs of Praise, you say? Loudly and proudly at every opportunity, give it a go!
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Post by queenofthehours on Sept 10, 2015 18:00:41 GMT
Songs of Praise - Ah lovely, one of my favourites. Certainly not an ELO song or a Wizzard tune but definitely a Roy track. It could have been an ELO track, though, if Roy had been with Jeff into the late 70s. Wake Up – Some lovely pastoral pop. I love the flute. Are those splishy-sploshy sound effects? It has some ELO-y strings. Very nice.
Rock Down Low – Could easily have been a Move track, very early 70s glam-sounding.
Nancy Sing Me a Song – Great favourite of mine. Who could ever get sick of this? It’s got all the elements that you need for a Roy Wood song.
Dear Elaine – Another lovely track – very ‘Whispers in the Night’. A Roy-Epic. Could have been on ELO’s first album.
All The Way Over The Hill/Irish Loafer and His Hen – Fantastic, you’ll have this tune in your head all day after hearing this. One of Roy’s best.
Miss Clarke and the Computer - Charming little number.
When Grandma Plays the Banjo – Skiffle? Can’t beat a bit of banjo.
Rock Medley - Rockin' Shoes/She's Too Good for Me/Locomotive – Roy doing what he does best, taking different musical style and instruments and making it all his own with his particular brand of inventiveness. Like how he hides a Move track in there.
This album sounds so fantastic and so familiar and comfortable because it is ALL Roy. No dilution with Jeff's music or other musicians - this is all Roy and he is at home and comfortable on this LP. It's easy to see listening here the reasons why Jeff and Roy parted - Jeff had his sound, Roy his own as well. They worked great together but also great apart. And for such magnificent musical men it's better all round for them to give each other the space to create.
This is one of the best LP's of the ELO world I think, especially was we get to hear lots of different ideas that show off Roy's mind and talent to the full. An album like this makes me question who is the better genius Jeff.....or Roy!
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