I got more or less 20 requests from visitors who want to know what's this song playing when you enter the blog.
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ
"(What's so funny 'bout) Peace, love and understanding?"
It's the first song that opens the album
"The new favourites of Brinsley Schwarz"
United Artists, 1974
The last of their discography.
The cover reminds me of an anthology album of Paul Anka, in the early 60's, can't remember the title now. I won't upload this album, coz you can easily find it around in some other blog
BELOW:
The first album of Brinsley Schwarz, released in 1970 (not in 69!), object of a nice exchange of opinions, see comments :-)
HELP YOURSELF
STRANGE AFFAIR and THE RETURN OF KEN WHALEY/HAPPY DAYS
Strongly recommended!
HELP YOURSELF and BEWARE THE SHADOW
"Weakly" recommended...
The first album of Brinsley Schwarz, released in 1970 (not in 69!), object of a nice exchange of opinions, see comments :-)
HELP YOURSELF
STRANGE AFFAIR and THE RETURN OF KEN WHALEY/HAPPY DAYS
Strongly recommended!
HELP YOURSELF and BEWARE THE SHADOW
"Weakly" recommended...
Your COUNTESS
I love the Brinsleys. People say they were copyists - their first album is like listening to a lost Crosby Stills and Nash recording - but they were so GOOD at it.
ReplyDeleteWith so much talent in one band I'm amazed they weren't more successful. (Of course, the individuals went on to bigger things.)
Thanks Vanessa - you reminded me that I really must get this album again. :)
hugs. xxxx
I think that it's historically unfair to consider the BS copyists, because their first LP comes out in the same year as the first of CSN. Also Woodstock - where CSN say officially "this is our first outing, we're scared to death" (circa) came out in 69.
ReplyDeleteI would use the word copyist instead for the Help Yourself of the first album, of 1970 which sounds openly like an American country band, more specifically like a Neil Young work, even in the accent and the slight vibrato voice.... I love songs like "Your eyes are looking down" and "To Catherine they fell", but in this case - yes - to call it "inspiration" is a bit too generous, the first of Neil Young was released two years earlier, not mentioning his things with the Buffalos ;)
From their II LP, instead, Help Yourself start a more personal vein, and I love LPs like "Strange affair" and "The return of Ken Whaley", definitely recommended, for those who are interested! Maybe one day I post them all here! :-))
Thank you, dear Manila, have a magic time!
XXXX - Your Vanessa
Hmmmm. Well, according to my data (!) the first CSN album came out in May 1969 and the first Brinsley album came out in April 1970. But you have such an ecyclopedic knowledge of this stuff, Vanessa, that I'm sure you are going to prove me wrong! hehehehe
ReplyDeleteHowever, even if they weren't copyists (and, as I've said, I love the band) you have to admit that the first album SOUNDS so much like CSN it's astonishing. lol
Help Yourself. Hmmmm. I never heard any of their albums. Maybe you should post one sometime!
;-)
Hugs
Manila xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CSN? Buffalos? Traffic? NO, IT'S THE BRINSLEY!!! PT 1:
ReplyDeleteDear Manila, you're perfectly right (and obviously you already know you are, it can't be that you can remember by heart those extremely precise dates GGG, so it's unlikely that I can prove you wrong LOL)!
I tell you, my problem is that I was mixing things up with the Kippington Lodge, and effectively I went back to check and I saw that I misplaced the Brinsleys one year earlier, while actually 1969 is the year that the Kippington Lodge
disbanded. I have no vinyls of the KL, I only have a cassette because practically they were only singles, and I didn't report any date on my tape, so I'm sorry to all the friends for the wrong infos I gave you!
For the Brinsley, yes it's of course true that they sound like CSN, but I wouldn't say that it's a real copy of the USA trio: the fact is this, as we know: the Brinsleys had that disgraced bad idea to invite all those journalists to fly to USA for the Fillmore
concert and the only effect they got was to receive the most poisonous and disastrous critics ever written on paper... I would be curious to have been there, to hear what BS played on stage, if they really were so awful to provoke such fury from all those flyer scribblers in UK, I can't believe that they
were REALLY so terrible. This was 1970.
Resemblances, yes, but it's mostly for some of the vocal parts, basically, or at least for a part of them.. By exstension, if we look carefuly, even some things of Yes, with all those choral counterpoints, owe something to the CSN, while actually Yes
and CSN are diametrically opposite bands.
I don't consider it a defect, but speaking generally, any band who is oriented to a country-rock gender will automatically land to build a sound that gets inspiration from the Everly Bros to the Byrds, the Buffalos, etc. It's matter of imported DNA - LOL.
Th BS is a band who sound more or less similar to many other bands of country/rock of USA and UK (like Bronco, Cochise, Southern Comfort, etc)
I thank you, Manila, because I decided to get me a pause and to listen back once again after say 30 ys to this BS first LP: the first side has "Hymn to me" that - yes - seems to repeat exactly "Friday evening" by Steve Stills, but then
we hear also some nice counterpoints of electric guitars, that we could imagine people like the Eagles owe something to, in this case...
"Shining brightly" and "R'n'R woman" are probably the ones that sond more similar to CSN, all in all... "Lady Constant" starts softly an seems to develop like a song by Byzantium ;)
The second side, instead, is more rocky, on 2 songs they sound more like Traffic. Hey, a curious funny example: take "What do you suggest,", after 1;30 min., the phrase "are you doing better" seems exactly the forerunner of the more famous "I get up, I get down" of Close to the
edge, isn't it Manila? :-))) Yet, we know, there are osmotic passages all in all, bands influence bands, people influence people, it's an effect of a general... "humanism" in expansion *smile*
Mayfly is a stupendous song, with an organ and vocal harmonies that might have inspired (it's just a supposition) the Fleetwoods of "Penguin" and "Mystery to me". The last song starts with a new powerful guitar riff (reminds me the Cream of "Sweet wine") and for
the intimacy we find, as I said, I would prefer to consider the Buffaloes as an influence . It's maybe the one that owes more to the CSN, but if we give a look to the percentual, is a bit too little to label this
band as copyists. These rocky riffs go in and out, "Ballad" is almost a small suite, winwoodian organ and a soft interlude going to crescendo finale.
As I said, yes there are musical influences that the Brinsleys owe to other people, but just SOME of them, not all, especially for that "rocky" 2nd side.
- - continued - -
CSN? Buffalos? Traffic? NO, IT'S THE BRINSLEY!!! PT 2:
ReplyDeleteI find that the BS have also a certain personality, especially on many instrumental parts and interludes. Seen with the eyes of the 2000s, we see now how unfair the press were in 1970. It's a famous Jacktheripper-delirium, characteristic of certain 1970's journalistic falanges.
It was a beautiful rediscovery, Manila :-)
Now - - >> The Help Yourself? It's a band that I loved very much, but in those years I had to sell my soul to get the records of, especially the mercilessly rare "Happy days/The return of Ken Whaley". For each of those albums I had to pay big prices, unfortunately...!
Today you can find them for nothing in perfect sound conditions, online --- Aaaah, THIS is unfair!! LOL
I remember particularly the Summer of 1982, I had finaly Happy days in my hands, the discography was complete, but the double LP was so expensive that I had almost no money for the holidays...!
SO I had to go with my parents at the sea, filling my head with Help Yourself music, but with no money for going out, meeting friends, etc LOL
I adore some fabulous things of the band, but one thing I will always hate them for: their albums are SO short...!
As I said, I recommend absolutely "Strange affair" and the double "Happy Days/Return".
Also some parts of "Beware the shadow" are good, especially that intriguing sad song that closes the album, "Passing through"... I sometimes still feel like crying, today, when I listen to it... So beautiful!...
Kiss to all who read this!
Your Vanessa
Countess!
ReplyDeleteWow! That's the first time anyone wrote a book in response to one of my comments! hehehe. I am honoured!
Of course, I don't mind anyone borrowing from /being influenced by/taking a leaf out of the book of another band if the results are wonderful. In fact, I would venture to say that you can't get wonderful results WITHOUT doing so (even in the case of those musical geniuses we can all name).
Anyway, I'm glad my comments caused you to revisit the BS first album. I think for a debut album (I don't really count KL) I think it's a solid and very underrated piece of work. As for Help Yourself - boy, that band OWES you bigtime! Expensive, short albums - they should reimburse you with interest for that difficult summer of '82! ;-) I will now go off and captain crawl for an album of theirs to see what it was caused you to part with your hard-earned money all those years ago.
Watch this space!
Hugs,
Manila xxxxxxxxxx