A Different Way To Be: in praise of a grassroots approach to releasing records

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Immediacy and Impulse: The Vibration of the Take

Reflecting on my continuing fascination with recorded music in the After The Goldrush feature,  I couldn't articulate it better than that fascination being rooted in the recording process' ability to "capture a real performance, and in so doing, document a moment that can move you." It's what M C Taylor called the 'vibration of the take'. Below we collect some of our favourite thoughts on the topic:

“I got the chance to go back after hours and tried to improve some things and I realised it wasn’t possible. It was part of something that happened at the moment and you just couldn’t change it. It might have been more perfect, but it wasn’t as good. So I just said, That’s it. He knew what he was doing and this is how the baby came out. Honour the moment….I wish there was more of that stuff in music because as grateful as we are for the technology to do things we couldn’t do early on, sometimes we get seduced trying to get things perfect when actually I don’t think there is such a thing. Desire just has a feel to it. It’s visual. Bob was like a painter who was throwing paint on a canvas, but he knew what he was doing.” 

 

Emmylou Harris on recording Desire (as told to Mojo Magazine)
 

The ethos is to keep-it-simple so that what the bands leave behind is "four absolutely collectible songs that often impart on whomever listens to them the true intensity that these musicians put into their art, sometimes with more clarity than they do when they have months to tinker with overdubs and experiments. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour – dirty and alive."

Daytrotter

"Cinema verite? I got into audio verite..... Hey, I've made records where you analyze everything you do 3,000 times and it's perfect. I'm sick of it. I want to make a record that's totally stark naked. Raw. I don't wanna fix any of it. I don't care if it's totally out of tune, man, let's play. Fuck it.... I like the idea of capturing something. Record something that happened. I'm a musician. I don't wanna sit there and build a record. I built a couple of records. Big deal. Tonight's the Night doesn't care. And that makes you feel good about it. There's no pretense."

 Neil Young

"Don't spend too much time or too many takes on each song, try to capture the vibration of the first couple of takes even if it means leaving mistakes in. Keep overdubs to a minimum unless the song is begging for something special. Immediacy and impulse."

 M C Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger)

"At Stax the rule is: whatever you feel, play it. We cut everything together - horns, rhythm, and vocal. We'll do it three or four times, go back and listen to the results and pick the best one. If somebody doesn't like a line in a song, we'll go back and cut the whole song over. Until last year, we didn't even have a four-track tape recorder. You can't overdub on a one-track machine."

 Otis Redding

“[On Mirage Rock] a less-is-more approach freed up a lot of mental space just to enjoy the moment, I'd also say it stopped us from worrying too much about what we sounded like or what we can program into a computer to make it sound more cohesive. It was more organic, haphazard even, and I think that is so important when making a record. Because of modern technology, it's so easy to over think the process and lose focus on the actual songs. That was the most enjoyable part of the whole experience for me, and hopefully it's something I'll take away and use in the future.”

Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses)

Plant and See by Plant and See

"The songs and the artwork are both compelling and unusual" Brendan Greaves (Paradise of Bachelors)

This back cover is as much about the label as it is about the album. I only heard about Plant and See having bought Hiss Golden Messenger's Poor Moon, a limited-run vinyl release. Both were put out by Paradise of Bachelors. It's also our first featured gatefold, with the front and back covers being inextricably linked. As it happens, the music inside is excellent. As Alastair McKay wrote in his Uncut review (see extended version here): "The album suffered because it was impossible to pigeonhole, though that is its strength too. The sound is built on Lowery’s swampy guitar, but flits between the sultry rock stylings of “Put Out My Fire” (like a jittery Hendrix, channelling tribal rhythms) and the sweet soul of “Henrietta”, with Lowery’s pained vocal floating over lush harmonies."

Paradise of Bachelors describe themselves as being "dedicated to documenting, curating, and releasing under-recognized musics of the American vernacular, with an emphasis on the South, broadly defined. In all our projects, we endeavor to commit ourselves to in-depth, detailed contextual research and the presentation thereof, to careful and compelling curation, and to respectful and mutually beneficial collaborations with artists and other partners. This is a mission."

The Plant and See release typifies what thay are about, and the accompanying press release is worth a read:

"Paradise of Bachelors is honored to celebrate the life and music of influential songwriter, singer, and guitarist Willie French Lowery (1944-2012) with the first-ever reissue of the sole eponymous album by his interracial swamp-psych band Plant and See. Originally released in 1969 on L.A. label White Whale—home of Jim Ford, the Turtles, and the Rockets—Plant and See is the strange fruit of disparate people, places, and players in dialogue. Its humid, storm-cloud guitars, ductile vocal harmonies, and intuitive, loose-limbed drumming are redolent of a specifically Southern syncretic musical identity and sense of place, testifying to the outstanding, colorblind musicianship of Lowery, African American drummer Forris Fulford, Latino bassist Ron Seiger, and Scotch-Irish vocalist and songwriter Carol Fitzgerald.

American Indian frontman Willie Lowery grew up in swamp-laced, tri-racial Robeson County, North Carolina, the state’s geographically largest, economically poorest, and most ethnically diverse county. Shaped by his own Lumbee Indian heritage as well as the influence of local African American and European American musical traditions, Lowery’s style developed into a powerful, singularly soulful sound that appealed to contemporary psych-rock audiences while directly addressing the concerns of his own Indian community. Plant and See represents his first major recorded work, following stints playing for the “hootchie-cootchie women” of a traveling carnival and the lite-psych group Corporate Image, as well as serving as Clyde McPhatter’s bandleader.

Plant and See was a short-lived incarnation; White Whale, already on the brink of dissolution, lacked the resources to effectively promote the album, which contravened the standard race, place, and genre-based markets of the day. Shortly after its release, the band regrouped as Lumbee, named in honor of Lowery’s tribe, the most populous East of the Mississippi. Lumbee’s 1970 album Overdose is, like Plant and See, a rare and highly collectable psychedelic classic; it attracted the attention of the Allman Brothers, whom Lumbee joined on tour in the early `70s. However, the mercurial Lowery quickly changed course, exploring ways to use the country, blues, and gospel idioms of his youth to articulate the history, politics, and cultural identity of the Lumbee people."

In an interview with Indian Country Today Media Network, Brendan Greaves of the label added more colour:

"As a label, we’re interested in telling stories of under-recognized musicians, musical artifacts, and communities, so it was critical to have the perspective of family and the Lumbee community to inform and contextualize this reissue...Plant and See was largely unknown except to dedicated psych-rock record collectors, White Whale label fanatics, and Willie’s family and friends. The songs and the artwork are both compelling and unusual, and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to reintroduce and share this remarkable document...The vinyl format pays respect to the original release, sounds better, and showcases the artwork at a proper scale...In my mind, Plant and See and Lumbee weren’t so much seminal or influential — in the grand scheme of things, not many heard them then or now — as they were representative of the best ways Southern music can synthesize various musical traditions and cultural perspectives (American Indian, African American, European American, etc.) into something new and powerful, both strange and strangely familiar."

Lubbock (On Everything) by Terry Allen

"I don't know why Terry's records aren't more popular because I think they're the greatest. Terry writes really good lyrics, very direct and funny and moving, but his songs fall between the cracks of all established formats. His music isn't quite country and it's not quite rock, but the themes he deals with-- family, love, religion, violence-- are so universal it seems like anybody could relate to them." So said David Byrne of Talking Heads (as quoted in a 1998 Perfect Sound Forever interview with Allen).

 

Allen and Byrne worked togther on the latter's True Stories film soundtrack. In the same interview Allen said of their friendship: "We're friends and we work very different from one another, the way we write songs, the nature of our curiosities. But the real common denominator is that neither of us particularly give a hang about high art, fine art, pop culture or popular art. I think it's about what inspires you, what moves you, what makes you laugh, whatever it is. The information is the same. I just think HOW we get it is very different and how it presents itself."

I hadn't even heard of Terry Allen until I interviewed M C Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger. He chose it as a favourite back cover. "A picture of him covering his face with his hands, wearing a hat. It's an evocative image" and one Taylor has recently echoed in press shots such is the impact it's clearly had on him. The photo was taken by Allen's wife, Jo Harvey Allen.

In his review for Allmusic, Stewart Mason provided heavy praise. "Although it's all but unknown outside of a devoted cult following, Terry Allen's second album, 1979's, is one of the finest country albums of all time, a progenitor of what would eventually be called alt-country. This is country music with a wink and a dry-as-West-Texas-dust sense of humor, but at heart, Lubbock (On Everything) is a thoughtful meditation on Allen's hometown." He concluded, "Lubbock (On Everything) is essential listening for anyone with an interest in the outer fringes of country music."

Playlist #1

Here's a selection of tracks from the first 12 records featured on The Turnaround (a few of the videos may not work on all devices). 

1. Words (Between The Lines of Age) by Neil Young (Harvest)

If this doesn't play, just search YouTube for 'Neil Young In A Barn'!

2. Westering by Hiss Golden Messenger (Poor Moon)

3. New Morning by Bob Dylan (New Morning)

4. Kingpin by Wilco (Being There)

5. I'm Waiting For The Man by The Velvet Underground & Nico

6. Little Red Rooster by The Rolling Stones (Get Stoned)

7. Everydays by Buffalo Springfield (Buffalo Springfield Again)

8. Done Somebody Wrong by The Allman Brothers Band (At Fillmore East)

9. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars by Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

10. Say You'll Be Min by Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (Going Up The Country single)

11. Travelling Man by Bert Jansch (L.A. Turnaround)

12. Rock and Roll by The Velvet Underground (Loaded)

Interview with M C Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger

This week I have had the good fortune to trade emails with M C Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger, whose Poor Moon was an early album to feature on The Turnaround. He kindly shared his thoughts on the importance of album art and introduced me to the recordings of Terry Allen.

M C Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger (Paradise of Bachelors)

The Turnaround: How important is the imagery you use on your album covers and how involved do you get in the designs? 

M C Taylor: It's pretty important. I need to feel that there is a connection between the imagery on the album cover and the music, even if nobody else does. I've been fortunate thus far to be able to actualize the ideas I have in my head with the help of Brendan Greaves, who has done the design and layout for all of the HGM covers except the very first one. I think good artwork can be rendered ineffective if it isn't properly laid out. I was also very lucky to have Alex Jako do the line drawings for Poor Moon, her work is unparalleled.

The Turnaround: I read somwhere that you specifically wanted to reference the Nonesuch Explorer Series on the Poor Moon album art. What appeals to you about those designs?

M C Taylor: I like their starkness. They feel classic to me. They feel connected to the music and to other albums in the series. There is an obvious effort to frame the drawings that appear on those covers using a lot of open space, and there is an clear attention to (and affection for) font.


Example from the Nonesuch Explorer Series (www.computeraudiophile.com)

The Turnaround: Did re-recording versions of songs for Poor Moon that originally appeared on Bad Debt change the way you felt about them?

M C Taylor: Not really, no.

The Turnaround: Any thoughts on a favorute piece of back cover art?

You asked this question and I was thinking of the back cover of Terry Allen's Lubbock (On Everything). It's a picture of him covering his face with his hands, wearing a hat. It's an evocative image.

Hiss Golden Messenger have just announced a split 7" with Micah Elephant, released on Paradise of Bachelors, and are working on a new album.

Expect Lubbock (On Everything) to feature here at a future date.


M C Taylor in the studio working on the new album (Paradise of Bachelors)



www.facebook.com/HissGoldenMessenger
http://www.paradiseofbachelors.com/
http://www.tompkinssquare.com/



Poor Moon by Hiss Golden Messenger

I'm not sure where I first heard about Hiss Golden Messenger's Bad Debt, an EP of acoustic songs recorded at M C Taylor's kitchen table. For me, a captivating cross between Robert Johnson and Neil Young. It was either through The Guardian's New Band of the Day or perhaps via Uncut, who have been constant champions of their output.

That EP led me to their full-length, Poor Moon, on which a number of the tracks from Bad Debt were re-recorded with a full band. As well as the fantastic music, which lost none of its magic in a different setting, the grassroots ethos behind the production of the music itself is inspiring. To begin with Poor Moon was not released on CD and only via limited hand-numbered run of 500 lovingly-produced LPs (I got 165). Put out by Paradise of Bachelors with photography by Abigail Martin and drawings by Alex Jako, front and back covers are real works of devotion to the art of the record.

"The imagery was drawn by my friend Alex Jako, who lives in Todmorden, England. She did an incredible job, I think. It was all laid out by our friend Brendan Greaves. I wanted to evoke a feel similar to some of the Nonesuch Explorer LP covers." (M C Taylor, interview with Uprooted Music Review)

Apparently a new album is also in the works.