‘Patchy’ would be a fitting one word review for the
band known as Juicy Lucy’s second album. During their three year, four
album, two hit single, and hundreds of concert appearance career, the band
had enough lineup changes to make Spinal Tap seem like the model of
stability.
‘Juicy Lucy’ was formed in 1969 by ace steel
guitarist Glen ‘Ross’ Campbell out of the ashes of ‘The
Misunderstood’. During its lifespan Juicy Lucy had two saxophonists, two
keyboard players, three guitarists, two vocalists, and four bass players
going through the ranks. By the time of the fourth album ‘Pieces’,
there was not one founder member left. Even Glen ‘Ross’ Campbell had
left in despair.
Regardless of all these musical chairs, on release this
album went into the charts on the crest of a wave as Juicy Lucy had just
had a hit single with ‘Who Do You Love’. (George Thorogood and the
Destroyers also had a hit with this song on the other side of the
Atlantic, turning it into one of the highlights of their live set.) The
single reached #14 in the British Top Thirty and stayed there for three
months. Then ‘Lie Back And Enjoy It’ (their next album was called
‘Get A Whiff Of This’, wonderfully funny titles, nearly as good as my
favorite album title of all time - Spooky Tooth’s ‘You Broke My Heart
So I Busted Your Jaw’ - who says romance is dead?) was released on the
progressive rock label Vertigo.
Vertigo had the marvelously hypnotic record label that
when it whizzed round on your turntable, would send you dizzy. Vertigo was
the home record label for most of the bands that were considered
underground or cult at the time such as ‘Black Sabbath’, ‘Uriah
Heep’, ‘The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’, ‘Gentle Giant’, and
‘Status Quo’ to name but a few. Unfortunately Repertoire Records have
released this CD version of ‘Lie Back and Enjoy It’ and a very good
job of it they have done, too. They gave the buying public a very good
deal with a full reproduction of the foldout cover and two extra bonus
tracks to add onto the original nine tracks. But for those of you who miss
the hypnotic record label, try your hand at the double CD ‘Still Dizzy
After All These Years’, a fine collection of the Vertigo years featuring
many bands that went onto bigger and better things, and some that for
reasons only known by the masters of rock ‘n’ roll didn’t. With the
CDs and cover printed with the correct squiggles, ‘Lie Back and Enjoy
It’ went straight into the British charts at #53 in November 1970.
The passage of time has not been kind to some of the
songs on this album. Standard blues material with plenty of embellishments
from the musicians currently find a home within the ranks. Hereby lays the
most pressing problem. With such a liquid lineup it was hard for ‘Juicy
Lucy’ to actually sound like a band, not just a group of musicians
thrown together in the recording studio. Half the band plays as if they
were worried that they would soon be booted out of the band (they were),
whilst the other half play as if they had the knowledge that after this
recording they were going to move onto new fresh pastures (which they did
- notably Micky Moody to ‘WhiteSnake’, Rod Coombes to ‘Stealers
Wheel’ & then the ‘Strawbs’ and Keith Ellis to ‘Spooky
Tooth’).
Yet, there are some astounding performances from the
guitar works of Micky Moody, the steel guitar works of Glenn ‘Ross’
Campbell, the occasional saxophone break from Chris Mercer, and the ever
impressive vocals of Paul Williams (one of the most underrated blues
singers to ever tread the boards and bend a microphone).
The first seven tracks are fair compositions including
a cover of the old Willie Dixon Blues Classic ‘Built for Comfort’. The
band aimlessly stumbles through many genres of the rock ‘n’ roll
spectrum, from blues to country, and heavy rock to pop. However, it’s
not until they crack open the Frank Zappa jewel from Hot Rats ‘Willie
the Pimp’ that the band really jell, let their hair down, giving it a go
with the confidence that these superior musicians should have. The results
are startling with Paul Williams singing at his most Beefheartesque (I do
not know if that’s a word or not, but if it isn’t, it should be) and
Micky Moody laying down two smokin’ slide guitar solos, while the whole
band joins in the fun with a truly rumbustious display.
All in all a pretty average display (apart from the
magnificent ‘Willie The Pimp’), but worth the while if you fancy some
of that early seventies feel.
Just a brief tag onto the end of the review. The
question this Dog is constantly being asked is where can you get the music
that is reviewed in this humble little column for people who like their
music hot and sweaty from twenty years or more ago. Well, to be honest,
not really anywhere in Pattaya or Chang Mai. The last time I checked out
the area’s leading CD shop, it did not even stock any ‘Led Zeppelin’
or ‘Black Sabbath’. So you have got absolutely no chance with
something like ‘Juicy Lucy’. Your best bet is Amazon at www.amazon.com
They have a fantastic range of music and their service is very reasonably
priced, and usually very quick and easy to order. If anything goes missing
in the mail, Amazon, with its customer friendly policy, is always very
good about replacing it for you. The only other option is to go into your
nearest music shop and keep on asking for your favorite artist. Maybe one
day they will get the message.
“A
Tour de Force” claims the reviewer from The Times, on the front cover of The
Gate. This book, written by Frenchman Francois Bizot, and translated from the
French by Euan Cameron (ISBN 0-099-44919-6, published by Vintage this year) is
the tale of a young French academic who was caught and tortured by the Khmer
Rouge and his subsequent dealings with the feared regime when they took over
Phnom Penh.
Pawed by Mott the Dog