52. Roger the Engineer - Yardbirds.
Well, another season has come and gone since I posted. I'm hoping that I will do so with more regularity at some point. There are some fantastic albums approaching on my list. As promised in my post regarding "Having A Rave Up", we are talking about the Yardbirds again. This album is a little quirky from the perspective of a guy trying to have a musical journey with some friends on his obscure and little read blog. You see, it is listed as "Yardbirds" in some circles and "Roger the Engineer" in others. The "Roger" title comes from the drawing on the cover, and it caught on. I believe this is the correct album. Further to that, when you go to Spotify ( I'm cheating and listening online), there is a mono release and a stereo release, and Wikipedia has a US release listed etc. etc.
So, for the purposes of clarity, I am going to listen to the Stereo tracks that appear in the middle of the Spotify offerings for "Roger the Engineer". This seems to match up with what is being presented as the "original" recording on Wikipedia. If Jeff Beck or any of the other Yardbirds would like to correct me on this, go right ahead. I am taking a shot in the dark here.
Alright then, enough about me. "Lost Women" is the first track and has that blues rock feel, but just as you settle in there is a section with busy drums, and long harmonica notes over a bassline that is frantically pedaling in the background. It gradually speeds up until you feel like you are careening along on a train that may or may not be out of control. Then the station appears on the horizon, you head back to the blues for a verse and get off the train. I liked this one quite a bit.
Next up is the better known track on the album, " Over Under Sideways Down". This one is recognizable from the first "HEY" and moves along quickly with calm moments in the middle that gets a touch psychedelic and asks "When will it end?" What are they talking about here? I haven't a clue, but I like the song. "The Nazz are Blue" is the next track and is all blues, featuring Jeff Beck's vocals. It's a good song.
Now, I have been off on a tangent thinking about what the hell a Nazz might be. I know of the Ziggy Stardust reference, and picked up that it's probably someone who is cool, or downright fantastic. Well, according to the internet, there was a character called Lord Buckley that performed spoken word pieces that influenced many of the people we are talking about in this blog, notably Bob Dylan, who in turn influenced many of the people we are talking about in this blog. Lord Buckley had a poem called "The Nazz" that was released in 1952 and was about a fellow from Nazareth named Jesus. Many consider him to be the coolest of cats. It's all starting to make sense now. But why are the Nazz in the song blue? I'm going to need to ruminate on this for a bit.
"I Can't Make Your Way" is next up and this one seemed to be panned off to one side, so I was confused and concerned that my monitors needed some adjustment. I put on the headphones and it seemed that the situation was similar. Weird. The next track "Rack My Mind" sounded like I thought it should, so I'm assuming that is how the previous song was produced. "Farewell" seems like an uncomplicated song but hidden in the lyrics are some words that give it a dark feel, and could be construed as a suicide note of sorts. It kind of creeps up on you that this isn't a happy tune at all.
"Hot House of Omagararshid" is entirely the vocal "Yeah Yeah Yeah" and has all kinds of busy percussion and interesting sounds in the background. This one is interesting with all the layers of instruments and the simplicity of the vocal. Following this is "Jeff''s Boogie" where the master shows off his skill over a nice boogie track. It is a quick listen with lots of 'widdly-widdly' guitar riffs.
There is a psychedelic feel to "He's Always There". This is a straightforward song with some great sounds in the mix. "Turn Into Earth" starts with some chanting, evoking a church-like feel. The vocals seem like one voice quietly speaking while the masses chant. I like this one... it is somewhat dark. The next song, "What Do You Want" shakes off the dirge-like feel and we rock along for three minutes and twenty two seconds, which seems like a marathon compared to most of the tracks on the album. The guitarist (I assume Beck) is playing his butt off, but it is not front and center, you have to listen for it and catch little flashes of brilliance. I like that, it adds depth.
Well, I don't know if Tony Iommi and the boys from Black Sabbath owned this album, but there is a definite Sabbath vibe on the first part of the final song,"Ever Since The World Began". You can imagine Ozzy listening to this and coming up with the vocal melody for "War Pigs". This goes on for a bit and then it kicks back to the sound we have been hearing on the rest of the album. And then it abruptly ends.
I liked this record. There was a lot going on under the surface. Many of the themes were dark, sometimes over brighter music. The Sabbath sound made me raise an eyebrow, but it stands to reason that all these British bands would likely know each other, or at least be aware of what the competition was doing at the time. It does sound rather dated, though. It could be the way it was mixed for a stereo release. There is plenty of treble and it sounds a little thin to my ear... but the playing is excellent. I'm not sure that I will be in a hurry to revisit this one, but I can see why it is an album of significance. Rolling Stone placed this one at 349 on the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
So, for the purposes of clarity, I am going to listen to the Stereo tracks that appear in the middle of the Spotify offerings for "Roger the Engineer". This seems to match up with what is being presented as the "original" recording on Wikipedia. If Jeff Beck or any of the other Yardbirds would like to correct me on this, go right ahead. I am taking a shot in the dark here.
Alright then, enough about me. "Lost Women" is the first track and has that blues rock feel, but just as you settle in there is a section with busy drums, and long harmonica notes over a bassline that is frantically pedaling in the background. It gradually speeds up until you feel like you are careening along on a train that may or may not be out of control. Then the station appears on the horizon, you head back to the blues for a verse and get off the train. I liked this one quite a bit.
Next up is the better known track on the album, " Over Under Sideways Down". This one is recognizable from the first "HEY" and moves along quickly with calm moments in the middle that gets a touch psychedelic and asks "When will it end?" What are they talking about here? I haven't a clue, but I like the song. "The Nazz are Blue" is the next track and is all blues, featuring Jeff Beck's vocals. It's a good song.
Now, I have been off on a tangent thinking about what the hell a Nazz might be. I know of the Ziggy Stardust reference, and picked up that it's probably someone who is cool, or downright fantastic. Well, according to the internet, there was a character called Lord Buckley that performed spoken word pieces that influenced many of the people we are talking about in this blog, notably Bob Dylan, who in turn influenced many of the people we are talking about in this blog. Lord Buckley had a poem called "The Nazz" that was released in 1952 and was about a fellow from Nazareth named Jesus. Many consider him to be the coolest of cats. It's all starting to make sense now. But why are the Nazz in the song blue? I'm going to need to ruminate on this for a bit.
"I Can't Make Your Way" is next up and this one seemed to be panned off to one side, so I was confused and concerned that my monitors needed some adjustment. I put on the headphones and it seemed that the situation was similar. Weird. The next track "Rack My Mind" sounded like I thought it should, so I'm assuming that is how the previous song was produced. "Farewell" seems like an uncomplicated song but hidden in the lyrics are some words that give it a dark feel, and could be construed as a suicide note of sorts. It kind of creeps up on you that this isn't a happy tune at all.
"Hot House of Omagararshid" is entirely the vocal "Yeah Yeah Yeah" and has all kinds of busy percussion and interesting sounds in the background. This one is interesting with all the layers of instruments and the simplicity of the vocal. Following this is "Jeff''s Boogie" where the master shows off his skill over a nice boogie track. It is a quick listen with lots of 'widdly-widdly' guitar riffs.
There is a psychedelic feel to "He's Always There". This is a straightforward song with some great sounds in the mix. "Turn Into Earth" starts with some chanting, evoking a church-like feel. The vocals seem like one voice quietly speaking while the masses chant. I like this one... it is somewhat dark. The next song, "What Do You Want" shakes off the dirge-like feel and we rock along for three minutes and twenty two seconds, which seems like a marathon compared to most of the tracks on the album. The guitarist (I assume Beck) is playing his butt off, but it is not front and center, you have to listen for it and catch little flashes of brilliance. I like that, it adds depth.
Well, I don't know if Tony Iommi and the boys from Black Sabbath owned this album, but there is a definite Sabbath vibe on the first part of the final song,"Ever Since The World Began". You can imagine Ozzy listening to this and coming up with the vocal melody for "War Pigs". This goes on for a bit and then it kicks back to the sound we have been hearing on the rest of the album. And then it abruptly ends.
I liked this record. There was a lot going on under the surface. Many of the themes were dark, sometimes over brighter music. The Sabbath sound made me raise an eyebrow, but it stands to reason that all these British bands would likely know each other, or at least be aware of what the competition was doing at the time. It does sound rather dated, though. It could be the way it was mixed for a stereo release. There is plenty of treble and it sounds a little thin to my ear... but the playing is excellent. I'm not sure that I will be in a hurry to revisit this one, but I can see why it is an album of significance. Rolling Stone placed this one at 349 on the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Buy it here.
Comments
Post a Comment