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

This 1977 upcoming 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 p...

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 hi...

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 ...

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 Leo...

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 typica...

Blues rock of the highest calibre here - the whole album reeks of quality, despite a notoriously muffled-ish production that multiple remasters can never quite cure. Anyway, let’s get to it.  After the underwhelming Blind Faith “supergroup” experiment, Eric Clapton reconvened with his mates from the Delaney and Bonnie band, together with slide guitar maestro Duane Allman to produce a double album that has gone down in history as one of the great rock albums. Allman’s searing licks are all over album, outshining even Clapton at times. Tragically, he was killed in a motorcycle accident a year later.  In a series of lengthy blues rock workouts that sound as if they are being played live, Eric and the band bring new rocking life to blues standards such as  Nobody Loves You When You’re Down And Out , the peerless  Key To The Highway  (just check out that guitar half way through),  Have You Ever Loved A Woman  and Hendrix’s  Little Wing .  There...

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...

Eric  Clapton albums in 1981 were not culturally relevant, were they? In the midst of new wave, post punk and new romanticism, who wanted gnarled old blues rock? Those long-time fans in the US, I guess, where this was still a hit release.  A US top ten single came from it too in the catchy blues/pop of I Can't Stand It. The album featured second guitarist Albert Lee and ex-Procol Harum keyboardsman Gary Brooker and was far more of a blues rock offering than the previous few seventies country rock/funk lite releases.  The afore-mentioned single, Muddy Waters' rocking Blow Wind Blow, the sleepy blues of Something Special, the insistent, laid-back blues of Floating Bridge, the enjoyable shuffle of Catch Me If You Can and the gently melodious Another Ticket are probably the album's standouts. I like this album, as I do the previous one, far more than I would have done back in 1978 or 1981. Listening to it all these years later I have found myself really enjoying it - maybe it...

Eric  Clapton fired his band for this release, with the exception of guitarist Albert Lee and brought in bass legend Donald "Duck" Dunn of Booker T. & The MG's fame, Muscle Shoals drummer Roger Hawkins and guitarist Ry Cooder among others.  There were some fine blues tracks here such as a slightly funky cover of Sleepy John Estes' Everybody Oughta Make A Change, Albert King's Crosscut Saw and Johnny Otis's Crazy Country Hop.  Typical laid-back Clapton MOR/AOR rock can also be found on the album's hit single, the irresistible I've Got A Rock And Roll Heart and ex-alcoholic Eric even finds time to have a pop at his wife for the same thing on the actually quite catchy, upbeat Shape You're In. He makes it up to her, though, with the loved-up strains of Pretty Girl and Man In Love, so that was alright then.  Once more, listened to now, this is more than just another eighties album from an already ageing rocker, it's pretty damn good, as far as I...

After the incredibly successful  Slowhand  from 1977,  Eric Clapton  attempted to repeat the laid-back, slightly folky, slightly bluesy rock vibe on this album. Although it was more of the same, it hasn't had its predecessor's long-lasting appeal, and has become a somewhat forgotten piece of work. It is actually a lot bluesier and rockier than Slowhand. It is not a bad album, to be honest.  Personally, I much prefer it to Slowhand, and indeed to 461 Ocean Boulevard, There's One In Every Crowd and No Reason To Cry.  After working with  Bob Dylan  on 1976's  No Reason To Cry , Clapton joined up with him once more for a couple of tracks.  The opener,  Walk Out In The Rain ,  is one of them, although this time it is not a duet, with Clapton handling the vocals.  Watch Out For Lucy  is a jaunty, upbeat piece of bluesy country rock. It would all go down very well these days, but one tends to forget that this was 1978, and p...