Side One
Going Down On Love
Whatever Gets You Through The Night
Old Dirt Road
What You Got
Bless You
Scared
Side Two
#9 Dream
Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)
Steel And Glass
Beef Jerky
Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)
Ya Ya
DISCOVERY; Hey, that looks like something I'd draw? Oh wow, it's the new John Lennon record!
WHERE & WHEN; I liked this record better at the time than I do now and the songs I liked the least are now the two songs I like best. Funny how that works sometimes. I wrote a review and sent it to Circus Magazine in 1974. They didn't use it. At the time Steel And Glass, Scared and possibly Whatever Gets You Through The Night were the highlights. It's kind of a weepy, woe is me sort of affair. I had misgivings about the R n B influences and thought he should be listening to cutting edge artists like Brian Eno and David Bowie. I don't know why they didn't print it.
So what did I learn from this album? That I prefer song writing that is surreal, ascorbic and witty? Or that I wasn't prepared for my rock n roll heroes to be vulnerable? Maybe I learned that I was an unreasonable and spoiled 14 year old with expectations about the world that could never be met. No, that seems highly unlikely.
I brought this album down to my sister Marge's house just after I bought it so I could listen to it on a nice stereo. Family get-together of some stripe. At least I had the good sense not to bring Here Come The Warm Jets and play that for everyone. That would have gone down a storm. My Ma used to stand outside my room while I was playing music, scared to come in. "What is that awful racket you're listening to?" She'd say. "Is that even music?" I knew I was headed in the right direction when I got that reaction. Sadly, not with this album.
HIGHLIGHTS; What You Got - Beef Jerky
STATUS; Must Have
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