The cover of the 1969 Fairport Convention treasure, “Unhalfbricking,” as it was released in the UK, featuring a photo of Sandy Denny’s parents at the gate to their yard in Wimbeldon, South London.
“You must philosophise
But why must you bore me to tears?
You’re red around the eyes
You tell me things no one else hears
You spend all your time crying
Crying the hours in tears
Crying the hours in tears
Come lend your time to me
And you will know that you are free
And when you look at me
Don’t think you’re owning what you see
For remember that you’re free
And that’s what you want to be
So just lend yoru time to me
You must philosophise
But why must you bore me to tears?
You’re red around the eyes
You tell me things no one else hears
You spend all your time crying
Crying the hours in tears
Crying the hours in to ears”
The American cover for the lp changed by the label upset with them for some unknown reason
Unhalfbricking featured four Bob Dylan covers several of which had never been publicly recorded before.
Also from 1969 this long player from the rock trio holds up nicely over the ravages of time. No less than 5 disparately compelling instrumentals augment its whole. For your next distant journey in your electric vehicle, put this one up on the box and decelerate into it. Workos de artos!
“Every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it; once realized, it becomes commonplace.”
“Yep there’s the certifiably nutty as a fox NRBQ vintage quartet trashin up the rockabilly classic. All stars every damn one of em! Them there’s music.”
“What is now proven was once only imagined”
“Don’t Hesitate – Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.”
the late Ms. Oliver
from where else 1958, the distinguishedly official home of such music!
“Eugene Chadbourne
Ralph’s Diner
Just Guessing – 1979-1980
If you delve into the Eugene Chadbourne website (eugenechadbourne.com) prepare to be overwhelmed. It might be easier to come up with a list of all the artists he hasn’t played with than a list of those that have. The website Discogs has him listed as playing on 358 recordings and I am sure they have missed a few.
“He is a cult figure, yet sometimes it feels strange that he is not more widely revered. To some extent he’s a victim of his own inventiveness, too mercurial to be summed up in an easily digested narrative. His distinctive high-pitched vocals and the surreal, comedic nature of a lot of his work – in 1991 he released an album of classical piano and ‘electric rake’ duets – has sometimes put him at odds with the more po-faced alternative rock canon. His embrace of whatever he finds interesting, whether traditional country and western or radical jazz, and his trenchant left-wing politics, make for an uncompromising, for some uncomfortable, mix. When writing a feature on him, it is hard to know where to begin.” Patrick Clarke quietus.com
Born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1954, Chadbourne grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He left the United States and went to Calgary, Canada to avoid being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. “He’s asking me to sign a three year contract. I’ll guess I’ll take the first bus out of town.” Graham Parsons Eugene came back to the states in the summer of 1977 when Jimmy Carter announced an amnesty for draft dodgers. While in Canada he did a stint as a record reviewer. He was often caustic in his evaluations such as this one from his high school paper, describing the editing of a film as being done ‘by a blind man with a lawn mower.’
When rock/folk artists like King Crimson, Tim Buckley, Alvin Lee’s Ten Years After and Savoy Brown began incorporating jazz, his interest was piqued. “But once you start enjoying the jazz feeling in music and that kind of improvisation, listening to rock records with jazz influences is just not as exciting as Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Anthony Braxton…” Eugene Chadbourne
His performance at Ralph’s was to a sparse but enthusiastic crowd. The music included everything from covers of Jimi Hendrix, Tim Buckley and Hank Williams to his Derek Baileyesque improvised guitar work. He really is a brilliant musician and critic.
Anthony Braxton suggested to him that he record his music and release it own his own label and Eugene did just that in 1976 with Volume One: Solo Acoustic Guitar on Parachute Records. Forty-One years later in 2017 an eight CD set of improvisations with Anthony Braxton was recorded in New Haven and released.
A sample of some of the dozens of recordings that he has made include, Jesse Helms Busted With Pornography, LSD C&W, I Lost My Ass in Las Vegas and his tribute to Hendrix, Jimi.
”
“WE HAVE FED YOU ALL FOR A THOUSAND YEARS
Poem—by an Unknown Proletarian.
Music—by Rudolf von Liebich, of the General Recruiting Union, Chicago, and Composer of Music for the Working Class.
We have fed you all, for a thousand years
And you hail us still unfed,
Though there’s never a dollar of all your wealth
But marks the worker’s dead.
We have yielded our best to give you rest
And you lie on crimson wool.
Then if blood be the price of all your wealth,
Good God! We have paid it in full.
There is never a mine blown skyward now
But we’re buried alive for you.
There’s never a wreck drifts shoreward now
But we are its ghastly crew.
Go reckon our dead by the forges red
And the factories where we spin.
If blood be the price of your cursed wealth
Good God! we have paid it in.
We have fed you all for a thousand years—
For that was our doom you know,
From the days when you chained us in your fields
To the strike of a week ago
You have taken our lives, and our babies and wives
And we’re told it’s your legal share;
But if blood be the price of your lawful wealth
Good God! we have bought it fair.”