historia de la musica rock Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Them “Them (Historia de la Musica Rock)”

sfilzen — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 19:39:54 +0000

Them “Them (Historia de la Musica Rock)” 1982. No. 45 in the Spanish Historia de la Musica Rock, sold as a companion to a rock encyclopedia in the early 80s, one release every week, for about two years. Joe was in Spain last week and picked up this comp (on Decca): most of the tracks were hits, or at least are super-familiar (and loved) to me – one of my favorites is “Gloria” (spectacularly covered by Patti Smith in ’75), written by Van Morrison and recorded by Them in ’64. It originally was the b-side to another Them great (also on this comp), “Baby Please Don’t Go” (a traditional American blues song, popularized with Big Joe Williams‘ recording in 1935). “Gloria” is considered one of the greatest singles of all-time and received a Grammy Hall of Fame award in ’99. It would appear on Them’s first LP The Angry Young Them (1965). Both tracks are garagey, rocking. Other garage-rock tracks (my preference) on the comp are the rockabilly-leaning “Don’t Start Crying Now” (1964) and the wild, harmonica-forward “Mystic Eyes” (also written by Morrison and appeared on their first LP, #33 US). Not as garagey but I also like the super-creepy and bluesy (and Byrds-esque) “I’m Gonna Dress in Black” (1965) as well as the more mellow 60’s pop (but still a bit garage) “Here Comes the Night” – written by Bert Berns – which was a hit for Them in ’65, going to #2 in the UK and to #24 in the US. “Turn On Your Love Light” has also has a 60’s pop feel – it’s a cover of Bobby Bland‘s 1961 r&B hit single (I am most familiar with Grateful Dead’s version, a song they played in concert frequently – in 1969 at Woodstock they played it for over 45 minutes). I’m not a big fan of Them’s cover of Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins “I Put a Spell On You” – they went loungey…plus it’s impossible make that song better than the original. But overall this record is a solid compilation of Them’s material before the band began its disintegration in ’66.

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The Clash “Historia de la Musica Rock”

sfilzen — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 14:27:49 +0000

The Clash “Historia de la Musica Rock” 1983. Orbis Records. I’m spinning the Spanish re-issue version of The Clash’s 1978 album Give ‘Em Enough Rope in honor of Joe Strummer’s birthday (b. John Mellor, Aug. 21st 1952, d. 2002). The Historia de la Musica Rock is a series of albums released in the early 80′s, sold as a companion to a 6-volume rock encyclopedia released weekly for about two years in Spain with artists ranging from The Clash to Joe Cocker to Chuck Berry. This reissue of The Clash’s second album (the first to be released in the US) follows the original UK track listing titles: “All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)” was renamed “That’s No Way to Spend Your Youth” on the original US release, and “Julie’s In the Drug Squad” became “Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad.” Give ‘Em Enough Rope peaked at #2 on the album charts and made it to #128 in the US with the single “Tommy Gun” hitting #19 on the UK charts. I love that song and some of my other faves are “Guns on the Roof” (its opening riff highly reminiscent of “Clash City Rockers” plus I’m even more fond of the song having recently been to London where we saw the particular roof in Camden Market where the gun incident that inspired the song happened – a special shout-out to and recommendation of Alison and her Rock-n-Roll Camden Walking Tour), and “English Civil War” (its melody derived from the American Civil War song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”) which was released as a single in early ‘79 and went to #25 in the UK. I love the entire album, one listed by NME in the top 100 records of all-time, except “Stay Free” which is the only track that features Mick Jones on vocals; though all the tracks have writing credits given to Strummer and Jones (“Guns on the Roof” gives Paul Simonon and Topper Headon credit as well), I have a feeling “Stay Free” was a very Jones-inspired song: sing-songy and a pop music flavor.

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