Led Zeppelin - 2015 - The Garden Tapes: The Song Remains The Same Concerts

Led Zeppelin 
2015
The Garden Tapes: The Song Remains The Same Concerts 
(Expanded And Revisited Collector's Edition)

Empress Valley Supreme 
EVSD 805~822 

Rocking The Big Apple: First Night At The Garden
Version A

0101. The Rain Song
0102. Dazed And Confused
0103. Stairway To Heaven

0201. Moby Dick
0202. Heartbreaker
0203. Whole Lotta Love
0204. Audience
0205. The Ocean
0206. Audience

Version B

0301. The Rain Song
0302. Dazed And Confused
0303. Stairway To Heaven

0401. Moby Dick
0402. Heartbreaker
0403. Whole Lotta Love
0404. Audience
0405. The Ocean
0406. Audience

Bonus Disk

0501. Moby Dick
0502. Heartbreaker
0503. Whole Lotta Love
0504. Audience
0505. The Ocean
0506. Audience


Taking The Building Into Stratosphere: Second Night At The Garden
Version A

0601. Audience
0602. Rock And Roll
0603. Celebration Day
0604. Black Dog
0605. Over The Hills And Far Away
0606. Misty Mountain Hop
0607. Since I've Been Loving You
0608. No Quarter
0609. The Song Remains The Same
0610. The Rain Song

0701. Dazed And Confused
0702. Stairway To Heaven
0703. Moby Dick

0801. Heartbreaker
0802. Whole Lotta Love
0803. Audience
0804. The Ocean
0805. Audience

Version B

0901. Audience
0902. Rock And Roll
0903. Celebration Day
0904. Black Dog
0905. Over The Hills And Far Away
0906. Misty Mountain Hop
0907. Since I've Been Loving You
0908. No Quarter
0909. The Song Remains The Same
0910. The Rain Song

1001. Dazed And Confused
1002. Stairway To Heaven
1003. Moby Dick

1101. Heartbreaker
1102. Whole Lotta Love
1103. Audience
1104. The Ocean
1105. Audience

Bonus Disk

1201. Moby Dick
1202. Heartbreaker
1203. Whole Lotta Love
1204. Audience
1205. The Ocean
1206. Audience

Final Magik: Third Night At The Garden
Version A

1301. Audience
1302. Rock And Roll
1303. Celebration Day
1304. Black Dog
1305. Over The Hills And Far Away
1306. Misty Mountain Hop
1307. Since I've Been Loving You
1308. No Quarter
1309. The Song Remains The Same
1310. The Rain Song

1401. Dazed And Confused
1402. Stairway To Heaven
1403. Moby Dick

1501. Heartbreaker
1502. Whole Lotta Love
1503. Audience
1504. The Ocean
1505. Audience
1506. Organ Solo
1507. Thank You

Version B

1601. Audience
1602. Rock And Roll
1603. Celebration Day
1604. Black Dog
1605. Over The Hills And Far Away
1606. Misty Mountain Hop
1607. Since I've Been Loving You
1608. No Quarter
1609. The Song Remains The Same
1610. The Rain Song

1701. Dazed And Confused
1702. Stairway To Heaven
1703. Moby Dick

1801. Heartbreaker
1802. Whole Lotta Love
1803. Audience
1804. The Ocean
1805. Audience
1806. Organ Solo
1807. Thank You

Out From The Movie: The Song Remains The Same Out Takes And More
DVD-1 Untitled
Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Madison Square Garden
Notes
The hinged open box containing five individual glossy gatefold sleeves and small booklet.

Like most people of my age who were too young to see Led Zeppelin in a live setting, their seminal concert film The Song Remains The Same was a first glimpse of the band onstage. I had some live tapes, the 1969 and 1971 BBC material taped from the radio, but The Song Remains The Same was something different. First off it captures the band during what many consider the pinnacle of their onstage playing, second for a young rock fan in the early 80’s, it added to the still mysterious nature of the group. Back then we had no VHS player so my only access to the film was sporadically on late night cable television, but the soundtrack was a different story, it was down at your local record store and I devoured it. The soundtrack was for many years my most beloved source of live Zep, yet I had no idea of the amount of work that went into the project, sure the soundtrack was much more polished than the film but to what extent I had no clue. Fast forward 20 plus years and reading Eddie Edwards excellent The Garden Tapes website I was really shocked, and intrigued, by the work that had been done. By this time I had the second night soundboard as well as a fragment of the final night soundboard in my clutches, Eddie’s web site was an revelation and I certainly watched and listened to the project in a new light.

The source material for The Song Remains The Same comes from the final three nights of the tour, at the famed Madison Square Garden. All three nights were filmed and recorded by the band for use on the project and all three nights were recorded un-officially by members of the audience. While there have been many Zeppelin box sets from various labels over the years that would focus on other triumphs, curiously no one has gathered together the various recordings that circulate in the collectors market from those three incredible nights in late July 1973, until now. When this set was announced I was excited and intrigued, after shopping around I found the best deal I could and then all that was left was the waiting, the hardest part. The box itself is similar in design to the Godfather box sets, the box has an official look to it by using graphics from the official The Song Remains The Same soundtrack. The box houses five gatefold sleeves for the individual nights as well as a fold out liner notes that gives the same information that is found on the back of the sleeves. The gatefold sleeves feature a live shot on the front but it is the inside that made it for me, all feature a picture of the band at Shepperton studios in August 1974 filming the “missed” shots needed to complete the film. There is a complete overview of each of the three concerts, there are audience and soundboard sources for each of the dates and all are represented in this collection. Empress Valley uses both recordings from the respective dates to complete and compliment each other, the mastering is excellent, the switch to the alternating source is seamless making for a nice listening experience.  Overall the packaging is very nice, although I do find that the liner notes could have been better, more detail would have been nice. Also there are no extras, some lobby card reprints or small poster would have made excellent additions to the set. Doing reviews of this nature is a daunting process, thankfully there are a few excellent web sites I used for resources, a big shout out goes to Eddie Edwards Garden Tapes, The Led Zeppelin Data Base, and some old dusty books on my bookshelf, most notably Luis Rey’s Led Zeppelin Live, Dave Lewis’ Concert File, and Robert Goodwin’s Illustrated Collectors Guides (the last three).

Rocking The Big Apple: First Night At The Garden July 27, 1973

Disc 1 Version A (49:22): The Rain Song, Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven

Disc 2 Version A (54:35): Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience / MC, The Ocean, Audience / MC

For the first two discs we have the audience recording for the show Version A, the source is a good to very good recording, it does suffer from distortion at times but has wonderful ambience and is by far the most enjoyable, yet fragmented, of the audience sources. It features the last 100 minutes of the concert, there is a gap in Moby Dick at 13:16 to 16:05 that is filled with the soundboard and the splice is seamless.

Disc 3 Version B (49:22): The Rain Song, Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven

Disc 4 Version B (54:37): Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience / MC, The Ocean, Audience / MC

Disc 5 Bonus Disk (53:40): Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience / MC, The Ocean, Audience / MC

Version B features the longer of the two sound board sources, it’s an excellent well balanced yet incomplete fragment of the last 60 minutes of the concert. Empress Valley uses the audience source to fill in the gaps and elected to also add The Rain Song and almost all of Dazed from the audience source as well. The last 40 seconds of Dazed and Stairway come from a third soundboard tape; the quality is excellent although the mix does float around a bit during Stairway. The second soundboard tape is used for the rest of the show, filled with bits of the audience source for the first 40 seconds of Moby Dick, (just audience cheering), during Whole Lotta Love gaps at 1:45 to 2:22 and 6:14 to 7:55, and the very last minute and a half of audience cheering at the end of the tape. The bonus disc is the earliest version of the sound board to appear, it shares the same cuts as the above version, the main difference is the balance is slightly different. I would go mental in even finding them so let’s not even bother. All three sound boards are excellent, well balanced recordings that have just a bit of hiss on them, all are extremely enjoyable recordings.

The first night at the Garden is the most incomplete, while both audience and soundboard sources exist they are sadly incomplete. The performance is extremely important to The Song Remains The Same project, from what we have we can tell it is the tightest of the three and much of the show is used officially by the band. The audience source has been released before as The Out Of Song Remains (Holy SH003), the soundboard has been out as Discover America (Tarantura T3 CD 10), Grandiloquence (Antrabata ARM 17773), Best Of Tour ’73 Vol 2 (Dynamite Studios DS92J020), The Safecrackers Show (Midas Touch 62211), and Complete Madison Square Garden (Wendy WECD 18-20). The audience source provides such an atmosphere that you know what’s happening, during the audience shots of the official film you can see the crowd is going absolutely bonkers, these recordings back it up.

Plant tells the audience just prior to Stairway “Things are beginning to vibe up a bit…now listen we got to get one thing straight…stop acting like pigs, alright…cool it. This is a song of hope…a very quiet song so shut up” all during screaming insanity and the distant sound of fireworks being let off. This is the introduction used for the soundtrack slightly edited but here it is in all its glory…curious to hear since the “song of hope” has become a Zeppelin standard. We get the complete unabridged version of Dazed and Confused that is truly excellent, so much in fact Page uses this version for the soundtrack slightly edited of course. A real pleasure to hear it in its natural form and the audience recording does is total justice. After The Ocean encore the tape continues to run and the vibe in the building is electric, the fireworks and loud booing are the audience response to Led Zeppelin being gone, a superb first night at the Garden.

Taking The Building Into Stratosphere Second Night At The Garden July 28, 1973

Disc 1 Version A (64:41): Audience / Tune Up, Rock And Roll, Celebration Day, Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song

Disc 2 Version A (73:19): Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Moby Dick

Disc 3 Version A (31:54): Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience, The Ocean, Audience

Second night at the Garden, Version A features the audience recording and to my knowledge has never been released on bootleg. It is for good reason, first off the recording is incomplete clocking in at about 113 minutes, there is a sizable chunk of tape missing from the last 8 minutes of Dazed and Confused and all of Stairway to Heaven and Moby Dick. The sound is fair, distant from the stage, muffled sounding and a slight layer of hiss is present yet surprisingly there is clarity (thankfully) and once your ears adjust it can be enjoyed. The cuts throughout the recording have been filled with the soundboard recording that can be jarring due to the sheer difference is qualities. The soundboard is used for the Audience / Tune up at the beginning and for the first five seconds into Rock And Roll, after Black Dog at 5:45 to 5:51, after No Quarter at 12:05 to 12:27, and for the last 13 seconds of the first disc. It resumes for the first 36 seconds of the second disc, and at the 22:00 mark of Dazed And Confused continuing on for the rest of the disc. There is a cut between Whole Lotta Love and The Ocean that is filled with the soundboard source, about a minute and half long of nothing but cheering and the last 50 seconds of the disc, again just cheering.

Disc 4 Version B (64:56): Audience / Tune Up, Rock And Roll, Celebration Day, Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song

Disc 5 Version B (73:09): Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Moby Dick

Disc 6 Version B (31:48): Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience, The Ocean, Audience

Disc 7 Bonus Disc (61:05): Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience / MC, The Ocean, Audience / MC

Ahh, the soundboard source for the second night at the Garden, the most complete of the three nights as well as the best quality of all the circulating shows from MSG. Again there are two versions of the soundboard, the oldest version is found on disc 7 the bonus disc. The main soundboard is excellent, well balanced, except for small cuts in The Rain Song from 3:16 to 3:34, Whole Lotta Love at :16 – :46, and finally in The Ocean at 1:52 – 3:08, and 3:49 – 3:57. All cuts use the alternate soundboard source as well as the audience source. There has been a bounty of releases for this recording, Another Magic Vol 1 & 2 (DS98M023/24), Madison Square Garden (Turtle TR-09), Wizardry (Joker JOK-008-A), Madison Square Garden (Pirate Master PM-712), Tour-De-Force (Tarantura TCD-MSG-1,2,3), 9th US Tour (Whole Lotta Live WLL 004/5/6), One More Magic (Immigrant IM-019-21), Out From The Movie (FSS 99-003), MSG (Cannonball CA-2004019/20/21), The Effect Is Shattering (Empress Valley EVSD 285/286/287), Towa No Uta (Tarantura TCD 73-1,2,3), and Complete Madison Square Garden (Wendy WECD 18/19/20).

The soundboard is excellent, well balanced and does not suffer from the flat sound that some of the other 73 board tapes do. There is a very minor amount of hiss present but this recording does sound great when cranked up. For me the performance suffers from the middle show syndrome, it is a good but not great show. The playing at times showcases the band getting a bit loose, I love the version of No Quarter from this show, parts of it were used in the soundtrack and The Song Remains The Same and The Rain Song are were lifted intact. Plant gets some of his most amusing Plantations during this show, talking about going to Bangkok and its accented reference and his hilarious rap about hashish. The interesting part of this show is what is featured on the bonus disc, while discs 4, 5, and 6 feature the tape we all know and love the sound is consistent with the best versions circulating, the bonus disc features a 60 minute fragment of the end of the show but the quality is noticeably brighter, clearer and very enjoyable. It does have cuts in Whole Lotta Love and The Ocean that are filled with the other soundboard and audience sources. It would be something to get the rest of this show in this quality.

Final Magik Third Night At The Garden July 29, 1973

Disc 1 Version A (64:10): Audience, Rock And Roll, Celebration Day, Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song

Disc 2 Version A (73:01): Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Moby Dick

Disc 3 Version A (48:40): Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience, The Ocean, Audience, Organ Solo, Thank You

The final night at the Garden and an excellent show by the group. There is a single audience tape that is almost complete save for some small cuts, the recording is a fair to good source that is distant. While it is a bit muddy you can certainly make out the vocals and instruments clearly and is not a difficult listen. There are times where the audience response is almost deafening, like during Plant’s introductory speech. The cuts are filled with the soundboard source, the first cut is during No Quarter from 7:45 to 8:07, in the middle of Dazed And Confused at 22:19 to 22:38, during Moby Dick at 20:21 to 20:56 and the last is the audience cheering and first couple seconds of the organ solo prior to Thank You. What is most curious about the audience source is again, the deafening roars in the beginning and after Stairway To Heaven, it gives you a scope as to how big the events were. There is very little audience noise near the taper, the only real disturbances are during Moby Dick when they get a bit restless. Another curiosity is the show features the least amount of fireworks, while there are a few it is not as “war like” atmosphere as the previous two nights.

Disc 4 Version B (63:27): Audience, Rock And Roll, Celebration Day, Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song

Disc 5 Version B (73:42): Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Moby Dick

Disc 6 Version B (48:51): Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Audience, The Ocean, Audience, Organ Solo, Thank You

The last night in the Garden, the band pull out all the stops on the final night of the 1973 US tour and the last live date until the January 1975 date in Rotterdam. The soundboard recording, while excellent, is not as clear but is more powerful than the other two nights, Jones’ bass is well represented in the mix giving a nice fat sound. It is almost complete, missing the end of Dazed And Confused as well as all of Stairway To Heaven and a bit of the Organ Solo prior to Thank You. Plant calls the concert a fitness test, and one can agree, yet the playing is perhaps the best of all three nights. For me the concert comes alive with the soundboard recording, it conveys the power of the collective. The audience source was issued as The Last Of The Last (Tarantura TCD-115), while the sound board has been released under such titles as The Trade Mark Of Quality Masters (Flying Disc FD 101-105),  A 2 Last Nights (Tarantura T2CD-5-1,2), and Madison Square Garden 1973 (Firepower FP032) feature the soundboard portion, Grand Finale (Empress Valley EVSD 173/4/5/6), Missing Doll (Tarantura TCD-12-1/2/3), and Madison Square Garden Trios (Wendy WECD 188/189/190) use the audience source to fill the gaps.

Page is in great shape for the last show, his fingers are nimble and he rapes his fret board during the opening stretch of Celebration Day and Black Dog, nice chunks of both songs are used for the soundtrack and movie. The roar to Plant’s opening speech comes through nicely followed by a brilliant Over The Hills And Far Away. No Quarter has the first musical cut, from 8:48 through 9:00. The version of Dazed is great, it has a mysterious yet laid back vibe to it, Luis Rey describes it as Latin meets Spanish and is epic as far as 1973 versions go clocking in at well over 32 minutes. The ending of Dazed is cut at the 25:34 mark, the remainder of the song as well as Stairway To Heaven comes from the audience source and the soundboard resumes just prior to Plant’s introduction to Moby Dick.

This concert features the longest version of Whole Lotta Love of the three nights, it is a great loose version of the song. The funky Crunge section is…well funky and Jones’ bass playing during the Theramin section is excellent. Page and Plant take their time getting into Boogie Chillun’ but once they do it’s great, yet loose as they are having a great deal of fun. The song is brought to a riotous conclusion as Bonham does an extend coda while belly dancers take the stage, Plant loves every minute of it! The audience recording is used for the audience after the song as well as Plant and Bonham’s introduction and the first 10 seconds of The Ocean. A rare for 73 version of Thank You closes the event in superb fashion, a restfully easy version that has Plant expressing his affection during the song “You to me, are the only ones” in reverence to his houses of the holy.

The Song Remains The Same Outtakes were released in the early 90’s and feature a 35 minute hodgepodge of clips mostly incomplete. For me the best of the lot is The Song Remains The Same and Rain Song, we get different scenes of Robert’s “journey” that I find very enjoyable. While the footage is professional it is not up to the movie quality by any means yet it is interesting to watch and since my last copy was on VHS, this is a nice inclusion to the set. The amateur footage has been released many times in various incarnations, 1973 (Cosmic Energy CE 1973), Film Noir (Hercules), Assemblage (Cosmic Energy CE-017) and Assemblage II (Cosmic Energy CE-021). The footage from the 27th was shot close to the stage and is silent with a soundboard audio of The Song Remains The Same and Rain Song plays along with the footage. The footage was transferred by using a video camera while the footage played on a home video screen. The footage from the 28th was shot some distance from the stage, we get a great view of the full stage and all the action, again it was silent with Black Dog and Over The Hills And Far Away playing along. The footage of the 29th is a mere snippet of Dazed And Confused with actual dubbed sound, curiously it looks like it may be semi professional since it was shot very close to the stage from the right side and looks to be at stage level. The black and white news footage is interesting, it is not on the DVD menu and consists of a news story about an investigation into the wealth being generated by the music industry, it does feature footage of Zeppelin and the Starship.

The final word?  Empress Valley have released a definite edition of the three Madison Square Garden shows, sound quality meets or exceeds all previous versions, the mixing of the sources is seamless and well done and the mastering is excellent. The presentation is visually appealing and the subject matter is of major historical importance. After spending literally weeks listening and enjoying these performances I find myself very happy with this box set and while the price tag was reasonable for a set of this magnitude, for me it was worth every penny and it kicks the official deluxe version that came out three years later... This is the one to have!.

Peter Green

October 29, 1946 - July 25, 2020

Emitt Rhodes - 1973 - Farewell To Paradise

Emitt Rhodes

1973

Farewell To Paradise

01. Warm Self Sacrifice 3:42

02. See No Evil 3:48

03. Drawn To You 3:17

04. Blue Horizon 2:18

05. Shoot The Moon 3:37

06. Only Lovers Decide 3:02

07. Trust Once More 2:41

08. Nights Are Lonely 2:36

09. Bad Man 2:53

10. In Desperate Need 3:18

11. Those That Die 1:49

12. Farewell To Paradise 3:58

Entire album written, arranged, produced, recorded, engineered and all instruments performed by Emitt Rhodes

Curiously, 1973's "Farewell To Paradise" tends to get written off by the critics and was largely ignored by radio and the buying public.  That's unfortunate since to my ears it's every bit as good as his earlier work.  In fact, I'd argue it's even more impressive given it was written and recorded while under intense personal and professional pressure from his record label (I wonder if that had anything to do with the album title).  Looking at the results strictly on technical terms the album's amazing, standing as a true example of one man virtuosity - Rhodes wrote all of the material, produced, arranged and played all of the instruments.  The first set to be recorded in a professional studio (remember most of his earlier work had been recoded in a home studio located in this mother's garage), this time around the album sported a much cleaner sound.  Tracks such as 'Warm Self Sacrifice', 'See No Evil' and 'Only Lovers Decide' (the latter being one of his prettiest ballads), aptly displayed Rhodes' endearing strengths; highly commercial melodies, mesmerizing harmonies and an endearing sense of enthusiasm for the music.  At the same time, on songs like 'Blue Horizon' many of the lyrics seemed to betray a growing sense of sadness and resignation.  Virtually every one of the twelve tracks would have made a dandy single making it hard to pick the standout tracks.  Personal favorites include 'Drawn To You', the country-influence 'Blue Horizon' and the funky 'Shoot the Moon'.   

You just had to wonder how such a talented guy could be consigned to cult status for the next forty-plus years ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2010

"Farewell to Paradise" from 1973 was Emitt Rhodes fourth and so far his last album. After two great albums his third, "Mirror", was somewhat disappointing, containing only a couple of memorable songs.

"Farewell to Paradise" doesn't match his two first albums either, but it does contain some great songs.

The great ballad "Only Lovers Decide" is as strong as anything on the first two albums, and the title-track "Farewell to Paradise" is gradually becoming one of my favourite Emitt Rhodes songs.

I guess, you can say that "Farewell to Paradise" is Rhodes' most personal album and the least Beatles influenced. I'm not very keen on his music when he turns too much towards jazz, which he does on a few songs on this album. A song like "Blue Horizon" which does not sound much like anything he's recorded earlier, is one of the greatest on this album - one the most country-influenced songs he's recorded. The quiet acoustic "Trust No More" is a nice song that is very likely to grow on you.

Unfortunately most of the other songs are relatively forgettable and thus the album as such is no more than decent. Some versions of the album include the fine single "Time the Lion" - a comment to America's war in Vietnam. The song really ought have been included in the first place.

While it's true that he never duplicated the consistency of his 1970 masterpiece "Emitt Rhodes" (being sued by your own record comapny while you're working on your new album will have that effect!), Farewell to Paradise contains some of the most beautiful songs Emitt Rhodes ever recorded. The title track which ends the album is as near perfection as you'll find in pop/rock - gorgeous guitar hook, soaring verse & chorus, perfect middle 8, with his as-usual stunning bass & percussion. There are a number of tracks on this record which fall far below the standard he set with his best work - some are downright maudlin - but Warm Self Sacrifice, Blue Horizon, Trust Once More, and Only Lovers Decide, along with the title track, make this an essential album. Do the world a favor - pass the word about the incomparable Emitt Rhodes: his songwriting, sweet & soulful singing, masterful musicianship, and amazing production make him as rare in the world of recorded music as a .400 hitter in baseball.

Emitt Rhodes - 1971 - Mirror

Emitt Rhodes

1971

Mirror

01. Birthday Lady 2:46

02. Better Side Of Life 2:34

03. My Love Is Strong 2:37

04. Side We Seldom Show 2:26

05. Mirror 2:49

06. Really Wanted You 2:42

07. Medley: Bubblegum The Blues / I'm A Cruiser 4:39

08. Love Will Stone You 3:20

09. Golden Child Of God 2:42

10. Take You Far Away 3:02

Instruments, Vocals, Written-By, Arranged By, Producer – Emitt Rhodes

With Dunhill demanding another LP, Emmit Rhodes found himself forced back into the recording studio without a lot of time to prepare new material. . Like the debut, "Mirror" was another true solo effort with Rhodes writing, producing and handling all of the instrumentation. Given the intense pressure he was under, Rhodes actually acquitted himself withhonors. While the McCartney comparison remained apt (check out 'Side We Seldom Show'), the set was actually more varied than the debut. While ballads such as 'Love Will Stone You' and the title track boasted wonderful melodies, 'Birthday Lady', 'Really Wanted You', and 'My Love Is Strong' demonstrated Rhodes was just as accomplished  when it came to churning out rockers. Truth be told, this one was every bit as good as the debut, though peaking at # 182 it was a disappointing seller.   You were left to wonder what he could have done given the time and resources to record a quality sophomore album.

Following the critical success of his debut solo album, Emitt Rhodes, the one man Beatles, entered his home studio for the follow-up, and he did not disappoint. Although not as cohesive as his last record, Mirror is home to some of his finest material. "Birthday Lady" and "Really Wanted You" are almost Stones-like in their attack, aggression, and feel, and Rhodes pulls them off with fantastic results. "Golden Child of God" is also one of his finest compositions -- it also would have easily been at home on Paul McCartney's Ram. All in all, this album is not a disappointment, coming off his self-titled debut Emitt Rhodes, which can easily be described as one of the classics of the period.

Emitt Rhodes - 1970 - The American Dream

Emitt Rhodes

1970

The American Dream

01. Mother Earth 2:29

02. Pardon Me 2:46

03. Textile Factory 3:05

04. Someone Died 2:04

05. Come Ride, Come Ride 2:53

06. Let's All Sing 2:40

07. Holly Park 2:59

08. Saturday Night 1:59

09. Mary Will You Take My Hand 2:21

10. The Man He Was 2:58

11. In Days Of Old 2:13

12. 'Til The Day After 2:38

Original 1970 release had picture frame cover and Saturday Night as the second song on side 2.

1971 reissue had paint splatter cover and You're A Very Lovely Woman replacing Saturday Night.

Bill Rheinhart: Guitar

Chuck Berghoffer: Bass

David Cohen: Guitar, Keyboards

Don Peak: Guitar

Don Randi: Piano, Keyboard, Harpsichord

Drake Levin: Guitar, Vocals

Emil Radocchia: Vibraphone, Percussion

Emitt Rhodes: Drums, Vocals

Gary Kato: Bass

James Leitch: Bass

Joe Porcaro: Drums

Larry Knechtel: Bass, Keyboards

Lyle Ritz: Bass

Michael Rice: Keyboards

Pete Jolly: Piano, Accordion

Tom Reynolds: Percussion, Vocals, Drums

Hal Blaine: Drums

Jim Gordon: Drums

Joel Larson: Drums

John Guerin: Drums

Simply said, Emitt Rhodes' "The American Dream" has the distinction of being the best 'contractual obligation' album you'll ever have the pleasure of hearing. 

As you'd expect, the album has a rather tortuous history.  When the Merry-Go-Round collapsed in 1969, under their recording contract they still owed their label A&M Records another album.  As de facto band leader, it was left up to singer/songwriter/guitarist Rhodes to go back into the studio in an effort to cobble together a second album.  The end result consisted of a mix of previously completed Merry-Go-Round tracks, polished up demos and some new studio tracks.  Rhodes completed the project in mid-1969, but A&M management simply shelved the project.

Jump ahead and 1970 saw Rhodes solo career beginning to attract  considerable attention via his self-titled 1970 ABC/Dunhill debut.  More than willing to cash-in on Rhodes sudden commercial recognition, A&M wasted no time dusting off the earlier material.  Packaged as an Emitt Rhodes solo effort, the album had the misfortune of being released at the same time Rhodes' second Dunhill album hit the streets.

In spite of the fact it was a product of corporate indifference and greed, the album was simply great.  Easily as good as Rhodes' first two Dunhill solo effort, the collection effortlessly showcased Rhodes' knack for penning highly commercial, radio-friendly pop.  Tracks such as 'Mother Earth', ' Pardon Me', 'Holly Park' and 'In Days of Old' were full of Beatles influences (or at least McCartney influences), but in a good way ...  as opposed to being the product of a slavish imitator.  The album's also impressive for simply sounding so go.  Rhodes may have stitched the results together,  but you're hard pressed to tell.  Merry-Go-Round demos such as 'You're a Very Lonely Woman', 'Come Ride, Come Ride' and ''Till the Day After' sound right at home with his new studio material.  Elsewhere, A&M tapped 'You're a Very Lonely Woman' b/w ''Til the Day After' as a single (A&M catalog number 1254).  That drew the ire of former members of Merry-Go-Round who apparently muttered lawsuit under their collective breathes leading concerned A&M executives to stand their ground (ha) reissuing subsequent pressings of the LP without the song.  The company also elected to slap a new cover on subsequent releases (see below).  While hundreds of albums are labeled as 'lost classics', this one's truly deserving of that label.  

Much better in reality than it is in theory. What should sound like a stew of leftovers and demos ends up being a very listenable smorgasbord of delights. Perhaps it's most important aspect is it's stepping stone relation to Rhodes' trilogy of proper solo albums. It was Emitt working on finishing this project to fulfill the Merry-Go-Round A&M contract and his lack of complete satisfaction with outside arrangements that led him to the conclusion that "if you want it done right, you've got to do it yourself". The album was released in two configurations, one with the previously released "You're A Very Lovely Woman" and the final release with "Saturday Night" in it's place. "Textile Factory" tends to attract some negative reaction, as does the calypso experiment of "Mary Will You Take My Hand", and both seem to take their cue from the White Album's "Don't Pass Me By" and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" - which are the two tracks from that album that are probably it's weakest spots. However, do not miss "Holly Park", "Mother Earth", "Pardon Me" or "In Days Of Old" - all of which are very strong and very essential listening.

Emitt Rhodes - 1970 - Emitt Rhodes

Emitt Rhodes

1970

Emitt Rhodes

01. With My Face On The Floor 3:06

02. Somebody Made For Me 2:23

03. She's Such A Beauty 2:21

04. Long Time No See 3:14

05. Lullabye 1:05

06. Fresh As A Daisy 2:46

07. Live Till You Die 2:44

08. Promises I've Made 3:21

09. You Take The Dark Out Of The Night 2:54

10. You Should Be Ashamed 2:38

11. Ever Find Yourself Running 2:34

12. You Must Have 2:04

Emitt Rhodes: All Instruments

Design – Cal Schenkel

Music is such a difficult business; the quest for success leaving so many victims behind. One of the saddest stories has to be that of California's Emitt Rhodes. For a brief moment in the mid-1960s, singer/multi-instrumentalist Rhodes seemed poised on the brink of massive stardom. A former member of The Palace Guards and The Merry-Go-Round (see separate entries), Rhodes was blessed with movie star good looks and musical talent to burn. Sadly with a matter of years, it was all a memory.

By 1968 Rhodes had decided to disband The Merry-Go-Round in favor of a solo career. Retiring to his parents' garage, Rhodes rigged up a rough recording studio, spending the next several months recording material on a four track Ampex tape recorder. The results were enough for ABC Dunhill to sign him to a contract. 1970's cleverly-titled "Emitt Rhodes" was a true tour-de-force. In addition to co-producing with Harvey Bruce, Rhodes wrote all twelve tracks, played all of the instruments and handled the arrangements. As on the debut, tracks such as 'With My Face On the Floor', 'Promises I've Made' and 'You Must Have' were exceptionally commercial (Badfinger would've killed to have written something as catchy as 'Fresh As a Daisy' (a modest radio hit), or the slide guitar-propelled 'Somebody Made for Me'). Whether he intended it or not, Rhodes voice and performance mannerisms bore an uncanny resemblance to "White Album" era-Paul McCartney - I can't be the only folks who thought "She's Such a Beauty" bore at least a passing resemblance to 'Rocky Raccoon'. Having listened to this album for some thirty years I still find it hard to believe Rhodes wasn't from Liverpool - how could anyone from Southern California sound so English?   Propelled by the single in 'Fresh As a Daisy' the album proved a strong seller peaking at # 29.   The collection probably would have done even better if not for A&M's decision to release a competing album - "The American Dream".   

In a post-Beatles world circa 1970, Emitt Rhodes’ self-titled debut should have gone to number one… somewhere. People should have been clamoring for a Beatlesesque pop album following the wake of the break-up of the most Beatlesesque band ever! Emitt Rhodes was and continues to be a man cursed by timing, like so many other artists and bands that could’ve and should’ve been humongous. I always hate to directly compare a singer to another singer, but at points Emitt Rhodes is a vocal doppelganger for Paul MCartney, which thankfully strengthens the record. Another McCartney comparison is that the same year, McCartney released his first solo album, which, like ‘Emitt Rhodes’, was self-titled, homemade, and completely made by a singular talent. That’s one of the big reasons it’s so sad to hear these (mostly) upbeat pop songs and know that a large majority of people will never hear them. But we soldier on!

‘With My Face On The Floor’ is the opening track, and it has everything a quality opening track should have: commanding percussion, tasteful backing harmonies, and a bad ass but understated dual piano and guitar melody. It’s all very 1970. As with all of the songs, there’s so much going on at one time that the fact that he constructed this album by himself at his home is all the more astounding. Track two, ‘Somebody Made For Me’ is thankfully not the sad ode the title makes itself out to be and is another delightful sun-dripped pop song. With ‘She’s Such A Beauty’, I will attempt to make my last Beatles comparison: The first two piano notes are unmistakably the same as ‘Martha My Dear’. Now, is it a great song despite this? Absolutely. Unfortunately, if you’re anything like me (and I’m counting on the fact that you are), you might not be able to get past this.

The next noteworthy track is probably the one track that people would associate with Rhodes, that is, if they associate any songs with him at all. ‘Lullabye’ was featured on the stellar soundtrack to ‘The Royal Tennenbaums’ some years back and because of that, a listener’s first listen to Rhodes might be a tad skewed. ‘Lullabye is radically different than everything else on the album, as it is barely over a minute long and features just Rhodes and a simple acoustic guitar… Despite this, it still ranks as one of the top enjoyable moments on the album, a brief intermission for those that frequently experience pop overload. Wikipedia tells me that the next track, ‘Fresh As A Daisy’, barely missed the Billboard top forty. To that I ask what other forty songs that were new at the time are overflowing with the amount of exuberance this song has? I will justifiably assume none. Powered by a tambourine that refuses to quit, ‘Daisy’ is one bland fabric softener commercial cover away from a renewed popularity.

‘Live Til You Die’ is one of those care-free songs that only could have come out of the ’70s (and consequently could never be made in the ’00s). The chorus is what does it for me, because although written out it sounds quasi-cheesy, Emitt’s fantastic melody carries it through and really gives it weight: ‘You must live till you die, you must to survive/you must live till you die, you must feel to be alive’. It’s the only song on the album that could even be considered a ballad, and thankfully, it’s not very slow. Personally, this is the only Emitt Rhodes album I known so far, but it’s the kind of promising debut that only more good albums can be born from. I highly suggest you seek this one out and give it a try on a day when you feel like you’ve listened to every Beatles album you’ve heard, because ‘Emitt Rhodes is one of the best.

The kind of thing people were probably expecting from McCartney when the Beatles broke up- Beatlesque, driving, melodic power pop, nearly every song a pianobanging smoothbass harmony-laden light-as-air tenorial funpiece, a wimpier "Come and Get It." Paulie to a tee save for the bite and character; maybe I'm expecting too much of poor Emitt, considering he didn't have the advantage of being in the Beatles and having his persona imprinted on the world for nearly a decade, but it's a bit directionless at times, apparently about nothing. Can't deny his talent though: he played every instrument and sang every line here, and neither Lennon or McCartney were writing songs this complex at the age where all they had to hand was a parents' garage. The majority of these songs coulda been singles, with some polish. Also, I can't help loving power pop, and most music from the very early 70s

The Palace Guard - 2003 - The Palace Guard

The Palace Guard

2003

The Palace Guard

01. Summertime Game

02. Little People

03. All Night Long

04. Playgirl

05. A Girl You Can Depend On

06. If You Need Me

07. Falling Sugar

08. Oh Blue (The Way I Feel Tonight)

09. Saturday's Child

10. Party Lights

11. Greed

12. Calliope

Bass – Rick Moser

Drums – Emitt Rhodes

Guitar – Don Beaudoin, Mike Conley

Piano – Chuck McClung

Tambourine – David Beaudoin, John Beaudoin

Vocals – David Beaudoin, Don Grady, John Beaudoin

A compilation of their singles released in 1965-1966.

The Palace Guard was an American garage rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. Though the band never obtained national success, they made a huge splash in Southern California with their song "Falling Sugar". The group is also notable for featuring the first commercial appearance of Emitt Rhodes, later a member of the Merry-Go-Round.

The foundation of the Palace Guard was set in early 1964 with the formation of the Emerals in Los Angeles. (The Emerals are sometimes incorrectly noted as the Emeralds; however, The Emerals chose their name after deciding it sounded more "exclusive" than "Emeralds.")

Several members of the Emerals left the band after a contract dispute, including drummer Emitt Rhodes. However, Rhodes then had a change of heart, reconciling with some of his former Emerals bandmates and rechristening themselves the Palace Guard. The earliest lineup consisted of Rhodes, Rick Moser (bass guitar), Mike Conley (rhythm guitar), Chuck McClung (piano), and brothers David (tambourine, vocals), John (tambourine, vocals), and Don Beaudoin (lead guitar). For a brief period, the band also featured actor Don Grady—contributing vocals, keyboards, and drums—of My Three Sons fame, who went on to become a member of the sunshine pop band the Yellow Balloon Grady stayed with the Palace Guard to record one obscure single, "Little People", in early 1965, which was credited to Don Grady and the Palace Guard.

The band was known for their style of dress, clothing themselves in military-themed red coats, as if they were members of the Queen's Guard. After months of rehearsal, the Palace Guard's big break came when KRLA deejay Casey Kasem invited the group to perform on his local television dance show Shebang. In mid-1965, the group began an extended residency at the Hullabaloo club, on Sunset Boulevard, earning popularity as a need-to-see attraction in Los Angeles.Two singles followed on the Orange-Empire record label, before the group scored a regional hit with "Falling Sugar" in early 1966, described by music historian Lenny Kaye as "a catchy Moptop-ish toe tapper brimming with youthful fervor". Indeed, "Falling Sugar", like most of their material derived from a blend of folk rock and the harmonic sound of the Beatles.

Rhodes began to have larger ambitions, both as a songwriter and to become a guitarist, leading him to depart the band to form the Merry-Go-Round and reaching number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his song "Live". His replacement Terry Rae, formerly of the Driftones, an early version of the Yellow Payges, recalls in an interview that prior to leaving Rhodes "used to bring up his acoustic guitar and sing "Yesterday" at the Hullabaloo while he was with The Guard. I think this gave him the inspiration to play guitar full time, and to do only his material] After Rhodes' departure, the Palace Guard signed to Cameo-Parkway Records, releasing "Greed" and "Saturday's Children". However, with no national distribution in sight for the group, they decided to disband in mid-1966.

Since their disbandment, the Palace Guard's songs have been compiled on several compilation albums, including the Nuggets albums Nuggets Volume Four: Pop Part Two, the 1998 expanded box-set reissue of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968, and Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968. On February 23, 2003, Gear-Fab Records released all of the band's recorded material on The Palace Guard album.

 hesitated before purchasing this CD; I was familiar with the great single “Falling Sugar,” and knew the history of the band, including the membership of the great Emitt Rhodes on drums, but wasn’t sure, even after previewing the tracks, that it was worth adding to my collection. Still, I’m a bit of a ‘completist’ when it comes to certain artists (Mr. Rhodes in this instance), so I went ahead and got it.

As I said, “Falling Sugar” is a lost classic, and there are a couple more songs that come close to that level (including their version of “Saturday’s Child,” a track on the Monkees’ first album). Overall, however, the quality of the songs, performances, and recording is disappointing, no better than hundreds of other bands from the period. At least one of the songs sounds like it was remastered from a well-played 45. Most disappointing was the spare amount of information in the liner notes. There is no sessionography with recording dates or personnel, and only general release date info (i.e., year). My curiosity as to which songs Rhodes actually played on remains unfulfilled.

The Merry-Go-Round - 1967 - The Merry-Go-Round

The Merry-Go-Round

1967

The Merry-Go-Round

01. Live 2:32

02. Time Will Show The Wiser 2:25

03. On Your Way Out 2:29

04. Gonna Fight The War 2:00

05. Had To Run Around 3:34

06. We're In Love 2:22

07. You're A Very Lovely Woman 2:45

08. Where Have You Been All Of My Life 2:14

09. Early In The Morning 2:05

10. Low Down 2:52

11. A Clown's No Good 2:18

12. Gonna Leave You Alone 2:16

Bass Guitar – William Rinehart

Drums – Joel Larson

Lead Guitar – Gary Kato

Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocals – Emitt Rhodes 

Emitt Rhodes, who was a rising pop star in the early 1970s, with songwriting and singing skills likened to those of Paul McCartney, then gave up performing for more than 40 years, becoming a cult figure among musicians, died July 19 at his home in Hawthorne, Calif. He was 70.

The death was confirmed by Chris Price, a musician who produced Mr. Rhodes’s 2016 comeback album, “Rainbow Ends.” He did not know the specific cause.

Mr. Rhodes was something of a prodigy of pop music, playing in bands by 14 and signing his first major-label contract at 16, when he was with the group Merry-Go-Round.

By 19, he had become a solo performer, writing all of his songs, playing all the instruments and producing the recordings in a shed in his backyard — practically creating the idea of the home studio.

His self-titled debut album from 1970, which showed Mr. Rhodes on the cover moodily peering through a scorched windowpane, led a critic for Billboard to call him “one of the finest artists on the music scene today.” The album reached No. 29 on the Billboard charts, and one of its singles, “Fresh as a Daisy,” topped out at No. 54.

The music was bright, catchy and meticulously arranged, and Mr. Rhodes’s soaring tenor voice invited immediate comparisons with McCartney. Rumors began to circulate that “Emitt Rhodes” was a pseudonym for McCartney or that the Beatles had recorded an unreleased album that was appearing under a made-up name; others speculated that the recently broken-up Beatles were working incognito as Mr. Rhodes’s backup band.

When it became apparent that Mr. Rhodes was playing the parts of John, Paul, George and Ringo — and their producer, George Martin — all by himself, he was dubbed the “one-man Beatles.”

“It was really flattering,” the very real Mr. Rhodes told The Washington Post in 2002. “Those guys were my idols.”

A second album, “Mirror,” appeared in 1971, and Mr. Rhodes — slender, clean-shaven and darkly handsome in those days — toured the country, seemingly on his way to stardom.

“I was chased, I had underwear thrown at me, I had groupies,” he told The Post. “It was like being in ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ ”

In 1973, Mr. Rhodes released the aptly titled “Farewell to Paradise,” his somewhat disillusioned goodbye to the life of a budding rock star. He was 23.

When he had agreed to his record deal with the Dunhill label four years earlier, Mr. Rhodes was required to produce a new album every six months for three years. Moreover, he had signed away the royalty rights to his songs “in perpetuity.”

Busy writing the songs, singing, playing all the instruments and producing polished little power-pop gems, Mr. Rhodes fell behind the schedule dictated by his contract. His record company withheld his royalties and sued him for $250,000 — “more money than I’d ever seen,” Mr. Rhodes later said. “I was horribly confused.”

He fell silent. He stopped writing music and went through personal problems, which he said included depression, drinking, drugs and divorce. The backyard studio went unused.

Mr. Rhodes spent the next 30 years working as a staff engineer and producer with Elektra and other recording studios. Nonetheless, his music endured, even as his mystery grew.

“He was a deep, deep cult figure,” said filmmaker Tony Blass, who interviewed Mr. Rhodes for a 2009 Italian-produced documentary, “The One Man Beatles.”

In the 1980s, the all-female band the Bangles recorded Mr. Rhodes’s “Live,” which he had written and performed on television at 17. Other musicians hailed him as a lost musical hero, a misunderstood pop genius not unlike Brian Wilson, the troubled leader of the Beach Boys — who had grown up blocks away from Mr. Rhodes in Hawthorne, a working-class Los Angeles suburb.

A more apt comparison might be with songwriter Tandyn Almer, who wrote the 1966 hit “Along Comes Mary” for the Association and contributed to some Beach Boys songs before living his final years in obscurity in a basement apartment in Northern Virginia.

In 2001, director Wes Anderson — on a suggestion from actor Jason Schwartzman — used one of Mr. Rhodes’s songs, the wistful “Lullabye,” in the movie “The Royal Tenenbaums.” When Mr. Rhodes saw the movie with his 10-year-old daughter, he heard the words he had written in 1970:

Tears that angels cry

And they darken all the sky

When the one you love says goodbye

“I’d forgotten the tune,” he told The Post, but added, “My little girl was proud of me.”

Because of the contract he signed as a teenager, Mr. Rhodes did not see any royalties from “Lullabye” or any of his other songs. Eventually, new agreements were worked out, allowing him to profit from his earlier work.

The 2009 documentary about Mr. Rhodes received several awards in Europe and helped raise his profile. He also became friends with musician Chris Price, who knocked on Mr. Rhodes’s door in 2007 and began to meet him for lunch.

Mr. Rhodes gave Price, now with the group Bebopalula, musical pointers but refused to discuss his earlier life. There had been occasions in the 1980s and 1990s when record labels tried to bring Mr. Rhodes back to the studio, but the plans always fell through.

Eventually, he warmed up to Price and showed him manila folders containing more than 20 new songs. Many of them, such as “What’s a Man to Do,” were marked by a mature, wounded lyricism:

I hear the whispers

I hear the talk

I count the minutes

I watch the clock

I fear she’s leaving

Won’t change her mind

The door is closing

I’m out of time

Price convinced Mr. Rhodes that it was time to sing again. The old studio, which had shag carpet from the 1970s and was being used as a storage shed, was cleaned out and put back in service.

Musicians who had long revered Mr. Rhodes were brought in, including guitarist Jason Falkner, keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and drummer Joe Seiders, with special appearances by singers Aimee Mann and Susanna Hoffs. Mr. Rhodes was back in his element, his voice as expressive as it had been in his youth.

Mr. Rhodes’s first album in 43 years, “Rainbow Ends,” appeared to glowing reviews in 2016.

“He wouldn’t put his name on just anything,” Price said in an interview. “We went through every song, every chord, every bar.”

Emitt Lynn Rhodes was born Feb. 25, 1950, in Decatur, Ill., and moved with his family to Hawthorne at age 4. His father was a machinist, his mother a homemaker.

Mr. Rhodes was interested in music from an early age and began his career as a drummer in a band with friends from his high school. By 16, he was the lead guitarist and singer for Merry-Go-Round, penning the minor hit “You’re a Very Lovely Woman,” along with “Live.”

“I wouldn’t call him a perfectionist,” Price said of Mr. Rhodes’s songwriting style. “I would say he had very keen instincts and seemed to know what would make a listener respond to a song emotionally.”

Perhaps a more lasting influence, however, was Mr. Rhodes’s single-minded dedication to his craft, exemplified by his professional-quality home studio.

“He was a home recording guy before anybody else was doing it,” Price said. “He made it so that you couldn’t distinguish something he made from something made at Capitol Records. He did something out of necessity to him that later became commonplace.

“This has fundamentally changed the way music is made.”

Mr. Rhodes’s marriages to Kathy Sharp and Charnelle Smith ended in divorce. Survivors include his fiancee, Valerie Eaton of Toronto; two sons from his first marriage; and a daughter from his second marriage.

After releasing his 2016 album, Mr. Rhodes seemed to have decided he had nothing more to say. He canceled a comeback appearance scheduled at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, choosing to stay at home in Hawthorne, in the same house he had lived in for decades. In the title track of “Rainbow Ends,” he sang:

I wanna be somewhere far away

Somewhere where I won’t be afraid

I wanna be sheltered safe and warm

I wanna be somewhere far from harm.

The Merry-Go-Round were formed in Los Angeles during the summer of 1966 when Palace Guard drummer Emitt Rhodes left that band and began rehearsing in the Rhodes family garage with his high-school buddy Gary Kato. After a couple weeks with friends Mike Rice and Doug Harwood on bass and drums, respectively, the duo hooked up with a couple of L.A. movers: bassist Bill Rinehart had played in the Leaves and drummer Joel Larson with the Grass Roots, and both had been in the short-lived Gene Clark Group in 1966 and later played on Clark's classic 1967 album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. Rhodes, Kato, Rinehart, and Larson recorded demos that attracted label attention and led to a deal with A&M. "Live" was released as a single in early 1967 and quickly became a huge hit in L.A., and eventually reached number 63 in the Billboard singles chart. The B-side, "Time Will Show the Wiser," became somewhat well known too, as Fairport Convention cut a version on their 1968 debut album.

Their next single, the highly arranged and orchestrated "You're a Very Lovely Woman," didn't fare as well on the charts, hitting only number 90 in late 1967. A&M perhaps sensed that the window of opportunity was closing for the group and hastily released The Merry-Go-Round in November of 1967. The album, excellent though it is, consists of the singles, their flip sides, and assorted demos. The record stalled out at number 190 and Rinehart left the band soon after. He was replaced by Rick Dey, who had been with San Francisco band the Vejtables and also the Wilde Knights (the group that cut the original "Just Like Me," which Dey wrote and Paul Revere & the Raiders later had a big hit with). The Merry-Go-Round released two singles in 1968, "Listen, Listen"/"Missing You" and "Highway"/"'Til the Day After," but neither hit and they soon found that fewer fans were drawn to their shows and offers to play were drying up. After plans to release a second album dissipated, Rhodes disbanded the Merry-Go-Round in 1969 and began working on solo material.

His first album, The American Dream, contained solo tracks cut with session musicians as well as a few studio-sweetened Merry-Go-Round demos. Rhodes went on to release a handful of critically acclaimed solo albums, most notably the amazing Emitt Rhodes album from 1970. Gary Kato later formed Bullet and became a member of the group Derek, which had a hit with the bubblegum classic "Cinnamon." Rick Dey went on to do session work (including a stint working for the Monkees), recorded an album in the early '70s with his brother Tony and Barry Melton (of Country Joe & the Fish fame), and passed away in 1973. In 2005 reissue label Rev-Ola released Listen, Listen: The Definitive Collection, which rounded up all the group's recordings and paired them with Rhodes' The American Dream.

The Merry-Go-Round's self-titled 1967 album is a breathtaking blend of chiming folk-rock guitars, British Invasion harmony vocals, baroque pop arrangements, and pure pop songcraft that sounds daisy fresh in 2005. The Beatles are a huge influence, and there is plenty of McCartney in Emitt Rhodes' sweet vocals and their vocal harmonies. You can hear the Byrds a bit, some Left Banke (especially on the sweeping orchestral pop gem "You're a Very Lovely Woman"), some L.A. garage on rockers like "Where Have You Been All My Life" and "Lowdown"; the group definitely didn't exist in a vacuum. But there are some songs that are quite unique and original like "Time Will Show the Wiser" with its otherworldly sped up and backward guitars and enchanting melody, the bouncy and warm hit single "Live," and "Had to Run Around," an exquisite ballad whose tender beauty foreshadows Rhodes' classic 1970 Emitt Rhodes album. These songs, and the overall quality of the songs and the group's loose and earthy playing, help lift the album above the pack and should lead to it being mentioned in the same breath as Love's first album or Buffalo Springfield's first when talking about classic American debut albums of the '60s.

Led Zeppelin - 2006 - Live In Central Park 1969

Led Zeppelin

July 21st, 1969

Schaefer Music Festival

Central Park

New York City, NY 

Live In Central Park / Empress Valley EVSD-456/457

01. The Train Kept A Rollin’

02. I Can’t Quit You

03. Dazed & Confused

04. You Shook Me

05. White Summer / Black Mountain Side

06. How Many More Times 

07. Communication Breakdown

Bonus Disc:

August 8th, 1969

Swing Auditorium

San Bernardino, CA

01. Train Kept a Rollin’

02. I Can’t Quit You

03. I Gotta Move/improvisation

04. Dazed and Confused

05. White Summer

06. You Shook Me

07. How Many More Times

Live At Central Park is Empress Valley’s version of the often-released Central Park show from the summer of 1969.  There have been many releases of this tape beginning with Super Stars (TNT-910117) on TNT followed by Schaefer Music Festival (Rock Calendar RC 2107), followed by Twist (no label), Complete Central Park (TMOS96901) on Sanctuary label and most recently on Woody Woodrocker Show (TCD-23) on Tarantura.  It is a very clear, detailed and up front audience recording and among the many that have surfaced from Led Zeppelin’s summer of festivals.  The only drawback is the minor amount of tape hiss present. 

Empress Valley sounds as good as the Sanctuary and Tarantura versions.  It isn’t as loud as Sanctuary or as “fat” sounding as the Tarantura, and the closing remarks by the tapers at the end of the show are missing.  Central Park is a popular tape because it presents their shorter and more intense festival set debuted earlier in the summer.  It has both “You Shook Me” and “White Summer/ Black Mountain Side”, two songs which would be alternated in other concerts pushing the duration to just over an hour played in front of a vocal and rowdy New York audience. 

Zeppelin played two shows that day for the Schaefer Music Festival and this tape documents the early show at 7pm.  No tape has ever surfaced nor even hinted for the late show so this is all that exists from that day.  The show opens with the double attack of “Train Kept A-Rollin'” followed immediately by “I Can’t Quit You Babe” before a very nervous sounding Plant says,  “we’d like to..it’s getting a bit dark innit?”

What follows is a fourteen-minute version of “Dazed And Confused” sounding very similar to the June BBC recording.  Plant adds his orgasmic moans before his non-sequiter interjections during (“I want you to talk to me”) and after (“bamma lamma ding dong”). 

Afterwards Plant becomes apologetic by saying, “Let me tell you, we’re really pleased we weren’t playing here last week despite the fact that we wanted to play because it was so hot.  So it seems we read the cards right because it said it’s gonna be cool.  It’s cool.  It’s COOL.  We got a new album coming about the second week in August but at the moment there’s been a bit of a delay on it.  And there’s been a bit of a delay on us getting the numbers ready for stage because we’re still doing the old ones.  We’d like to do something that was…” 

A heckler interrupts Plant with “White Summer!”  “In a bit.  It was written by Willie Dixon.  It’s a thing we in England heard on and EP called Muddy Waters Twist.  I don’t know what that means really but this is called ‘You Shook Me'”.  What follows is a slow, heavy version of the blues piece with Plant struggling to reach the high notes by the end.  There is another heckler at the end to which the audience laughs, but what he says is inaudible. 

There is some audience commotion at the end of the piece and Plant chides the audience to be quiet.  “White Summer”, which was requested by the audience, sounds fantastic in this show with Page pushing the boundaries of the eastern scales.  “How Many More Times” contains the earliest reference to “For What It’s Worth” and the only one for the Woody Woodpecker theme, imitating Page’s staccato riffs.

A short, compact version of “Communication Breakdown” is the only encore before the band leave the stage for the second performance of the evening.  The mc comes on at the end to point to the exits but EV edits out the conversations between the tapers afterwards.  It is not a major loss but it does add to the atmosphere.  The first edition of Live At Central Park comes with a free bonus silver cd containing the Rubber Dubber master of the August 8th, 1969 San Bernardino tape.  (On the back EV encourages the buyer to look at their copy for this). 

This tape first surfaced more than a decade ago and really hasn’t been seen since its initial release.  Many collectors claim this is clearer than the Rubber Dubber tape although it is tough to tell listening to this.  The taper was close to Page’s amplifier and he drowns out the rest of the band.  He is having a good night but it is distant, distorted and disturbing making this is a tough listen which will appeal to completists only.  This title is packaged in a double slimline jewel case holding the two discs. 

Since there are several photos from this show it would have been nice to place one on the front cover but Empress Valley chose an older picture with Page playing the telecaster from the first two tours.  The back has a rare photo of Page in the studio playing acoustic guitar dating from the Led Zeppelin II sessions.  In line with other current releases, Empress Valley priced this moderately making it very appealing to those who missed out on the Sanctuary and Tarantura issues.  The New York tape is one of the best from Zeppelin’s first year and is an essential show to own.

Voz Di Sanicolau - 1976 - Fundo De Marê Palinha

Voz Di Sanicolau

1976

Fundo De Marê Palinha

01. Funde De Marê Palinha

02. Boca Arbera

03. Morte Ingrote

04. Abole

05. Avezinha De Rapina

06. Marê Lili

07. K Djupa Popular

08. Rosa Sem Trongue Popular

09. Italiana

10. Nha Antónia Engracia Popular

11. Ribera Prata

12. Viva Espanha Popular

Arranged By – Joana, Maninho, Tô-Zé

Featuring – Canga, Djassa, Heitor Augusto

Producer – Armando Carrondo

In 1976, seven Cabo Verdean musicians going by the name Voz di Sanicolau gathered in a small recording studio in Rotterdam where they laid down an album of fearsome coladeira songs inspired by the music of their home island of São Nicolau.

The album Fundo de Marê Palinha is the only trace of the short existence of the group Voz di Sanicolau. 44 years after the recording of this album in a studio in Rotterdam, home to the Cape Verdean diaspora, the German label Analog Africa is once again playing the history teacher by offering to re-release this exceptional record.

Recorded in just a few days, the group released six dynamic and spontaneous tracks, inspired by the music of their island of São Nicolau, located in the north of the archipelago. Appearing in the 1930s in São Vicente, the coladeira – an accelerated version of the morna – is a very popular genre in Cape Verde. Voz di Sanicolau appropriates its codes and glorifies the style in its own way thanks to high-pitched electric guitars subtle keyboards and dancing rhythms, all accompanied by the cavaquinho, a small Portuguese four-string guitar.

The album took only a few days to record, which may explain the unexpected urgency that fires each track. Treble-soaked electric guitar lines snake back and forth through percussion-and-cavaquinho driven rhythms rooted in the sound of the islands established by the previous generation of Cabo Verdean émigrés; subtle keyboards wash through the background, and the vocals, traded between Joana do Rosario and Tô-Zé, alternately push the music forward and soar above it. The resulting album is both deeply felt and fiercely executed, and in its grooves one hears the sound of some of the finest Cabo Verdean musicians of their era locked in complete unity of purpose.

It should have been the beginning of something extraordinary; but the pressures of making ends meet forced the musicians back to their day jobs, and Voz di Sanicolau vanished as quickly as they had appeared, leaving their lone album, Fundo de Marê Palinha, as sole proof of their existence. Forty-four years later the album sounds as fresh as it did the day it was recorded. It is unknown if dutch sound engineer Frans Rolland, who oversaw the recordings, knew he was helping to make history: during these sessions, Joana do Rosario, whose majestic vocals were crucial to the sound of Voz di Sanicolau, became the first Cabo Verdean woman ever to appear on a long playing record.