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