Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

Upon this album's release, in late September 2024, many reviewers were seemingly falling over themselves to slag off this album, which contains fifteen jazzy re-workings of (comparatively) lesser-known Van Morrison songs (he is also joined by guests on quite a few of them). Anyway, the professionals seem to think - using all their cupboard is bare clichés about Morrison having lost his songwriting muse - that no matter who you are or however many albums you have been continuing to put out on an almost yearly basis you should be coming up with an album of new material at this stage in your career. Yes, The Rolling Stones put one out last year and Bruce Springsteen released some new stuff back in 2020 but Van Morrison has been releasing albums of new material right up to 2022 so he owes nothing to anyone. If he wants to release this then he has earned the right to do so. Another thing that bugs them is that the previous two albums ( Moving On Skiffle and Accentuate The Positive ) we

This 1977 offering from The Marshall Tucker Band leant more on the AOR rock side than the country one. The title is a tribute to their home state of South Carolina. Fly Like An Eagle was not the Steve Miller Band song but a slice of MTB rock-funk with their trademark flute floating in between the guitar breaks. Both MTB and SMB were similar groups, though. That flute jauntily introduces the delightful only big chart hit for the band, Heard It In A Love Song . It is very much a country pop song with a catchy chorus and an instrumental style very much in the style that Bob Dylan (and his flautist Steve Douglas) would employ on their 1978 Live At Budokan album. The song reminds me of country rock bands like Poco, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Firefall. The guitar breaks on it are simply sumptuous.  Talking of Steve Douglas, a very Douglas-esque saxophone introduces the beautiful, lengthy love song I Should Never Have Started Lovin' You . It is a lovely piece of soft rock.  Life I

Many say that 1975's Searchin' For A Rainbow was The Marshall Tucker Band's most country album but you can add this one in there too, for sure. Get an earful of Charlie Daniels joining the band on fiddle for the superb country rock of Long Hard Ride followed by Property Ride . Country or what? Yee-haw indeed. Lots of pickin'. Lots of fiddle. The cover backs the sound up as well.  Material like this was enormously successful in the US in the mid-seventies, but in the UK it did not appeal at all at that time. There was definitely not a market for it. There was The Eagles and not much else for us here. Certainly not anything like this to be found alongside David Bowie, 10cc, Steve Harley and Ian Hunter, not for me, anyway. Back to the songs. Am I The Kind Of Man is a really good ballad, featuring superb instrumentation and a country-soulful vocal. Walkin' The Streets alone is a really good song too, with a fetching melody, great guitar and great saxophone. There

This was the most country album from the Marshall Tucker Band. It was country infused with rock, however, leading to some people claiming that it is a "progressive rock album". No. I'm not having that, despite the proggy artwork on the cover. It is country. Inventive country but still country. Fire On The Mountain is a melodious serving of typically-seventies country rock, augmented with some winsome flute along side the pedal steel guitar. Similarly country is the Pure Prairie League meets Firefall meets The Ozark Mountain Daredevils strains of the title track . It's The Allman Brothers Band's Dickey Betts on guitar, by the way. Walkin' And Talkin' is an absolute joy of bar-room pickin', this time enhanced with some intoxicating saxophone. This was something MTB did really well - integrating non-traditional country instruments such as saxophone and flute into country songs. Virginia is a big, powerful country rock ballad. Check out that killer guit

As I flipped through album sleeves in record shops as a teenager in the seventies, I often came across covers featuring an all-girl rock band called Fanny. Their name made us young boys giggle, of course. I also noticed them on adverts for their LPs in NME and Disc . It is, however, only now that I have come to listen to them properly. It's only taken me fifty-four years! The group were highly unusual in that they were an all-girl rock group as opposed to a vocal group, featuring the Millington sisters June and Jean on guitar and bass respectively along with shared vocals, Nickey Barclay on keyboards and Alice de Buhr on drums. Incidentally, I had always thought the luxuriously dark-haired Millington sisters were Native Americans, but they were actually Filipinas.  They were acknowledged to have been a big influence on Suzi Quatro, The Runaways and Joan Jett. Surprisingly, though, their debut album is not as all-out rocking as one may expect. It is very much a child of 1970, with

Influential, ground-breaking all-girl rockers Fanny were back the year after their impressive, soft rock-ish eponymous debut, this time serving up a slightly tougher-edged affair. Production-wise, a little bit more experience can be detected this time out (or so most critics seem to say), a tiny bit more polish and oomph to their sound, although it is still just a little muffled in places. That's 1971 for you I guess, sometimes the period's recordings can be like that. Not all, but some. I'm thinking of Alice Cooper's Killer in particular. This is immediately apparent with the rollicking, barroom rock of Charity Ball , although for me the "ooh ooh" vocals are a bit questionable. The "I need you, you, you" bit would seem to be a direct lift from Solomon Burke/The Rolling Stones' Everybody Needs Somebody To Love. It's a lively cut, but there is a bit of graininess to the song's sound, however. This is rectified on the bassy and bluesy chug

Taking its title from John Cleland's raunchy 1748 novel, this was all-girl rock group Fanny's third album. Unfortunately for the group, it didn't perform any better than their previous two. Fanny, it seemed, had a lot of critical respect but it didn't transfer to sales. For an overview of Fanny's general style, check out my reviews of their first two albums, as I don't want to repeat myself again. For me, this is the most rocking of their offerings thus far and has the best sound too.  Anyway, we begin with an appealing, rhythmic and ballsy cover of Marvin Gaye's Ain't That Peculiar , which manages to combine some searing rock guitar with the song's intrinsic soulful groove. I really like it. Knock On My Door finds the girls almost sounding a bit like early ABBA. Again, it features some impressive guitar. Blind Alley is a chunker of a track, piano and guitars to the fore. A strong one. Fanny rocking out at their best. Fourth track in, ballad time.

The final album to feature the original Fanny line-up is possibly their best-known release. It is also the last in my batch of Fanny reviews.  It begins with a mid-paced but powerful grind in Last Night I Had A Dream . The song has a big, muscular, bassy sound to it, which is a big contrast to the airily melodic stains of the debut album from three years earlier. We get a BIG fuzzy guitar solo here, backed by some powerhouse drums. The tempo and tone immediately drops on the next track, the gentle, sleepy Long Road Home . The producer on this album was Todd Rundgren, notable for mixing different sounds between songs and finding a song's intrinsic poppy melody. He manages to do that on this album and we get an offering that is certainly not all-out rock (not that any of the group's albums were), and one that vacillates between rockers and lush ballads like the lovely, introspective and haunting Old Hat . This is quality stuff.  I am reminded as I listen that none of the four Fan

I remember buying this debut album from Irish band Hothouse Flowers on the back of their very Van Morrison-esque single Don't Go. Amazingly, for such a strong debut album, it has almost been completely forgotten but for a while, back in 1988-89, I played little else. Maybe time hasn't been kind to it, but I am nostalgically enjoying my revisit to its Celtic charms. For some reason, by the way, the cover photo was intentionally blurred. The album is more than just that single, though, contains some pretty solid stuff, particularly the soulful rocker that it opens with - I'm Sorry . The Flowers were a five piece band, driven along by charismatic new-age traveller-looking singer Liam O'Maonlai's piano and an often rousing saxophone from Leo Barnes. They had that Irish showband feel to them in a way, but they were far more of a rocking soul outfit than that. I'm Sorry is characterised by its strong female backing vocals behind O'Maonlai's lead from Claudia

This is a live album from 1981. Muddy Waters is leading his band as they played at fellow blueser Buddy Guy's Checkerboard Club in Chicago. He is joined on stage intermittently by Guy himself and also, notably, in their first-ever appearance with their original muse - by members of The Rolling Stones. Present are Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and their old early days keyboard mate Ian Stewart.  It is essentially a Waters live album, but The Stones members' presence - particularly the guitarists - add something extra special to proceedings. I imagine Keith will have loved every minute of this. There are only ten tracks on the original version, but several are lengthy workouts and the sound is A1 superb, as is the musicianship and all-round cookin' live atmosphere. Highlights are Next Time You See Me, Got My Mojo Working, Long Distance Call, Baby Please Don't Go and a stonking Champagne And Reefer . Waters is one fine form throughout - strong and dominant, bot

Until this release, there had been a distinct paucity of Faces live material, which something of a surprise as they were known for being an energetic, always exciting live outfit, if not a little shambolic. They were a bit like Mott The Hoople in that respect - hard drinkers, saucy fun lovers, solid, prolific giggers - and you got what you got. Thankfully, they always gave of their best, warts 'n' all.  Anyway, all that existed from The Faces live in concert before this release was the long out-of-print Overture And Beginners album, which was roundly acknowledged to be of particularly poor quality (even by the band themselves), and a few extra live cuts included on the remastered re-releases of their studio albums. This release therefore comes as an unexpected and most welcome treat. This collection of live material played on various BBC Radio shows in the early seventies. As with all BBC live cuts, the sound quality is definitely variable. Some of it is bloody awful, but most

Some  four years before one of his most successful solo albums, Eric Clapton released his debut. He had been on tour with folky bluesers Delaney & Bonnie and he used much of the same band to accompany him. The result was a pleasing offering with hints of blues, rock 'n' roll, gospel, country rock and a bit of pop sensibility. It is also quite brassy and, as I said, gospelly in many places, which I love. The best-known tracks are ones that would come to exemplify Clapton's seventies sound in the embryonic AOR of  Let It Rain,  with its great bassline, and J.J. Cale's lively rock-funk of  After Midnight .  After opening with a saxophone-driven jam in Slunky, other impressive Delaney Bramlett collaborations are the chunky brassy groove of  Bad Boy , the upbeat gospel of Lonesome And A Long Way From Home, the kick-ass bassy rock of  Bottle Of Red Wine (check out that solo)  and  Lovin' You, Lovin' Me .  Clapton also joins forces with Leon Russell on the excellen

Yes, all of Eric Clapton's solo albums in the seventies were laid-back, but this is probably the most laid-back of all of them, and possibly the most appealing of his albums. He had not recorded for nearly three years, going through a "drugs hell" period and sitting around, Elvis-style, watching TV. He then got his act together and started going back to his blues roots in his listening habits.  People expecting "God"-like guitar solos, however, were to be disappointed. Its influences are the blues, of course, but also country rock, r'n'b, soul and, notably, reggae, which was still not too popular with the rock fraternity at the time, although Bob Marley's Catch A Fire, from the previous year, had helped to change that. Clapton's voice is laconic and understated throughout, as is the backing and overall, it is a most relaxing album. As beautifully low key as a sunny afternoon in the house on the cover. Incidentally, though, I always felt the cover

  Hastily recorded and released after the success of 461 Ocean Boulevard, which was his first album for four years, this one did not quite hit the spot in the way its predecessor had done.It is similarly laid-back in its sleepy tones, not many searing blues cuts to be found. There is gospel, folk, low-key reggae and the occasional blues, but overall it is a pretty understated album. We've Been Told (Jesus Is Coming Soon) is a somnolent, relaxing gospel song, with Clapton's gentle vocal recalling quite a bit of the previous album. It has an infectious, shuffling beat to it though. Swing Low Sweet Chariot is also a spiritual, given an appealing reggae makeover. It was a hit single, and deservedly so as it is lively and enjoyable. Little Rachel has a bluesy backing to it and another decidedly drowsy vocal. When the drums kick in it develops a bit of a bluesy thump, it has to be said, however.  Don't Blame Me  was written as an "answer" song to   Bob Marley 's  I

This is slightly different to  Eric Clapton 's other mid-seventies offerings in that although it is till made up of laid-back, bluesy folky rock, it is performed at  The Band 's studio with various members of The Band contributing throughout, thus making it sound very much like a Band album with Clapton guesting.  You hear  Robbie Robertson 's guitar as much as Clapton's on  Sign Language  and that trademark Band organ is around a lot.   Beautiful Thing  is slow tempo and melodious, also in a Band sort of way.   Carnival  is a slightly incongruous mock-Caribbean upbeat rock number. It is lively enough, despite Clapton's naturally sleepy voice.  The afore-mentioned  Sign Language  is a duet with  Bob Dylan  and sounds very much like it ought to be on  Desire . It has a real vibe of that album about it. Dylan's vocal makes it very much a Dylan song.  County Jail Blues  is a muscular blues more typical of Clapton, but still very Band-esque in places, particularly t

1985  wasn't a great time for music, was it? Phil Collins seemed to be dominating everything and guess what? Yes, he produced this album, giving it that BIG, crashing eighties drum sound in places.  While not as bad as some of the synthesiser-drenched offerings from his contemporaries at the time, there is still a feeling of "another Eric Clapton album and one that bowed to contemporary musical trends" about it, which was a problem all established artists suffered from by the mid-eighties and beyond. It differs in this respect from its blues rock/country rock predecessors.  The successful single Forever Man was one of the album's best cuts, and the slightly Peter Gabriel-ish/world music-influenced See What Love Can Do was a fine single too. The slightly synthy but still punchy and soulful She's Waiting was a fine track too as was the classic Clapton blues of Same Old Blues (not the J.J. Cale song but a Clapton original) and Knock On Wood was covered acceptably. It