BAD COMPANY “Straight Shooter” deluxe edition (Swan Song / Rhino 1974 – 2015) – TTTTT+++

ITALIAN / ENGLISH Questa è forse la deluxe edition che aspettavo con più fervore in assoluto. Lo sapete, è l’album che mi ha reso uomo, ma avendone già ampiamente parlato qui sul blog (il 4 novembre 2013) mi limito a rimandarvi al link di quell’articolo (per quanto riguarda considerazioni relative all’album originale): https://timtirelli.com/2013/11/04/album-dei-ricordi-bad-company-straight-shooter-swan-song-1975-ttttt/  

Straight Shooter – 1975 (2015)

ORIGINAL ALBUM – BC FAN: TTTTT

ORIGINAL ALBUM – CASUAL FAN: TTTT

ORIGINAL ALBUM – TIM TIRELLI: TTTTT+++

 BONUS DISC – BC FAN: TTTTT

BONUS DISC – CASUAL FAN: TTTT

BONUS DISC – TIM TIRELLI: TTTTT+++

PACKAGING: TTTT½

ORIGINAL ARTWORK: TTTTT+++

Come già scritto per il primo album, la cosa fantastica è che per queste riedizioni siano stati coinvolti personaggio di alto lignaggio come JON ASTLEY, RICHARD DIGBY SMITH, HUGH GILMOUR. DAVID CLAYTON, STEVE HAMMONDS. DAVID CLAYTON in particolare lo conosco dagli anni ottanta, fan indefesso, equilibrato, mai domo (ancora oggi pubblica la fanzine FREE APPRECIATION SOCIETY) già curatore delle ristampe dei FREE. Con lui nel direttivo ci si sente tranquilli. Come sappiamo, troppe volte le riedizioni in deluxe edition o cofanetti sono piene di errori, di sviste clamorose, altre volte sono perfettamente inutili (mi riferisco naturalmente ai companion disc dei LZ … quando gli artisti stessi si mettono a supervisionare il tutto è finita. Non hanno la minima idea di come vadano fatte le cose e cosa serve ai fan). Anche in questo caso voglio sottolineare la bontà del libretto allegato, la correttezza delle informazioni e la ricchezza delle liner notes. E’ così che si fa.

Il bonus cd di STRAIGHT SHOOTER è davvero succoso: un paio di inediti, versioni alternative, prime versioni, b-side. Il tutto si apre con GOOD LOVIN’ GONE BAD, la cui backing track è l’ originale ma le perfomance di voce e chitarra sono diverse. Segue FEEL LIKE MAKIN’ LOVE (take before the master), versione chitarra, batteria, basso e voce senza sovraincisioni. Il primo brivido intenso mi arriva con WEEP NO MORE in modalità early slow version. Registrata nel marzo del 1974 (durante le session effettuate addirittura prima che l’album d’esordio fosse pubblicato, session programmate per mettere su nastro nuove idee). Qui il pezzo di SIMON KIRKE si adagia su di un tempo più lento rispetto a quanto poi pubblicato. L’intro d’archi è diversa dal quella uscita in orgine e mi piace un sacco. Preferisco la velocità dell’originale, ma è indubbiamente interessante ascoltare anche questa versione, più oscura e sinistra.

Per SHOOTING STAR (alternate take) vale lo stesso lo stesso discorso fatto per FEEL LIKE MAKIN’ LOVE. Altro momento emozionante per la early take di DEAL WITH THE PREACHER. Registrata anch’essa durante le session della primavera del 1974, la canzone è presentata in maniera piuttosto diversa rispetto all’originale. E’ un prodotto finito, ma con la confezione differente; meno dura, più morbida e, lo sapete che questo collegamento è una mia fissa, uno di quei momenti in cui la BAD COMPANY mi ricorda i LITTLE FEAT. Forse preferisco questa all’originale. Si continua con ANNA dal master originale ma con alternate vocal. Forse meno precisa in certi momenti la performance di PAUL, ma piena di pathos. Si prosegue con una versione live in studio di CALL ON ME. Per chi ama l’epica Rodgersiana che tanto celebro, il finale è da non perdere: più di due minuti di riff pianistico in minore su cui l’arpeggio di RALPHS si innesta a meraviglia.

Di EASY ON MY SOUL ne abbiamo parlato anche durante la recensione della deluxe edition del primo album quindi non voglio ripetermi, ricorderò solo in che questo pezzo dei FREE il gruppo si è cimentato parecchio, sia dal vivo che in studio. Questa è la versione tratta dalle session vere e proprie per il secondo album (autunno del 1974) ed è la versione lunga e un goccio più lenta. Quasi sette minuti di Rock sereno e passionale, con belle prove di BURRELL e RODGERS. RALPHS ci dà di funky. KIRKE è la solita certezza. Molto bella.

WHISKEY BOTTLE proviene dalle session di aprile 1974, ed è più ruvida rispetto a quanto poi pubblicato ufficialmente come lato B di un singolo. RALPHS alla slide guitar. Eccolo poi qui il primo inedito, la prima canzone mai ascoltata: SEE THE SUNLIGHT. Pezzo dal tempo moderato, ballata sostenuta, riflessiva e a tratti psichedelica. Di nuovo RALPHS alla slide guitar. Bel pezzo.  ALL NIGHT LONG è l’altro inedito. Già dal titolo si capisce che è un Rock di maniera. L’intro ricorda quello di GOOD LOVIN’ GONE BAD, mentre lo sviluppo del pezzo è simile ad episodi che appariranno sul terzo album (SWEET LIL’ SISTER e HONEY CHILD). Nulla di sconvolgente, ma un inedito degli anni settanta della BAD CO per me è comunque un avvenimento.

Si prosegue con WILD FIRE WOMAN alternate vocal and guitar, la backing track originale con voce e chitarra diverse. E’ sempre un piacere riascoltare questo bel pezzo. Nel finale la slide guitar non è efficace come nell’originale. Al tempo fu realizzato un mix alternativo di FEEL LIKE MAKIN’ LOVE con l’armonica al posto del breve assolo di RALPHS nel pezzo centrale che accompagnasse il filmato promo. Quel mix non è stato trovato durante le ricerche dei nastri per questa nuova edizione, così è stato fatto un nuovo mix cercando di ricreare quella versione.

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Il tutto si chiude con la versione originale di WHISKEY BOTTLE, apparso come lato B del singolo GOOD LOVIN’ GONE BAD. Di nuovo la BAD CO che mi ricorda i LITTLE FEAT, che volete farci, ormai sono fissato.

Sull’ultimo numero della sua fanzine CLAYTON ci fa sapere che ci sarebbero dovuti essere altri due pezzi, brani su cui RODGERS ha messo il veto.

Una WILD FIRE WOMAN in versione work in progress, con ancora un bel po’ di improvvisazione e HIGHWAY ROBBER, un inedito che segue in qualche modo il tema del pezzo BAD COMPANY.

Mi spiace molto non avere l’occasione di ascoltare un’altro inedito della mia amatissima BAD COMPANY ma purtroppo non sono il proprietario della WARNER così mi tocca accettare il volere di una delle mie Rockstar preferite.

Concludendo un bonus disc superbo e quindi una deluxe edition da avere a tutti costi. Thanks goodness for DAVID CLAYTON!

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(broken) ENGLISH        

 The deluxe edition of STRAIGHT SHOOTER is probably the one I was waiting with more fervor ever. You know, it is the album that made a man out of me, but having already widely spoken here on the blog (on 4 November 2013), I just copy here what I wrote back then:

ORIGINAL ALBUM (nov 2013 reflections)

Last sighs of the seventies, I’m a teenager, I have already discovered LED ZEPPELIN, FREE, ELP, JOHNNY WINTER, SANTANA and some other rock bands that make me dizzy. There is no internet, no youtube, no shit, just CIAO 2001 (italian Rock mag) and little else. But a I am fan on the prowl, determined and stubborn, now that I’ve discovered it, ROCK is all that matters to me; I track down news, newspaper clippings, photos, few books… FREE, LED ZEPPELIN, SWAN SONG, therefore BAD COMPANY. It’s september, one of those warm Emilian september just right for a young man of blues. The future seems full of light, infinite possibilities, life fraught with surprises.

Saturday, I sling to Peecker Sound (a big record shop in FORMIGINE), next to the legendary disco PICCHIO ROSSO. The Peecker is probably the record store par excellence in the Modena province: big, full of shelves, self service, no one who annoys you with the phrase “can I help you?“. In there we pass entire afternoons. Letter B: BAD COMPANY. The cover with the dices is the one that attracts me immediately … printed in USA … fuck, great!  The SWAN SONG label, special thanks to PETER GRANT, sleeve by Hipgnosis … STRAIT SCIUTER (italian spelling) you are mine. I come back in ole NONANTOLA, I get in the house, my parents are not at home, I’m alone, I put the record on the turntable … first piece GOOD LOVING GONE BAD. Bang, a sort of immediate imprinting, a jolt of testosterone, an indelible mark on the soul. This is a MICK RALPHS song, I understand he is the guitar player. Fine workmanship Hard Rock, highly effective sounds, wonderful drumming, a voice you hear vibrate in the stomach, and MICK RALPHS, no other than him, on guitar. A zabaglione of hyperbole for my young soul. STRAIGHT SHOOTER means “frank and sincere person” but there is a pun because the image of the dice on the cover (thank you BMcQ): to shoot craps in fact means rolling the dice, throw the dice. However, I realize that MICK RALPHS  is no JIMMY PAGE, but his guitar playing is just as frank and sincere as to be, for me, irresistible. Granitic hard rock in A and D, then a slow section where RODGERS sings

Cuz I’m a man I got my pride I do not need no woman to hurt me inside I need love Like any other

So go on and leave me Leave me for another

The pace then resumes and on the break PAUL singing Cuz ‘Baby I’m a bad man, oh hsweet satan how much strength he gave me with that silly little phrase …

Good! Lovin ‘gone bad Good! Lovin ‘gone bad Good lovin gone bad I’m a sad man

Don’t stand my way Cuz ‘Baby I’m a bad man

I am known as fan of LED ZEPPELIN, and also a FREE and ELP phreak, but ultimately perhaps the group that I love most is BAD COMPANY, and thanks to the first track, STRAIGHT SHOOTER is probably my all time fave album. I fully understand that BAD CO is not certainly the most important group in the history of Rock, I know that in a clumsy way we can say that it is nothing more than the arena/stadium version of FREE, but that genuine, simple and direct hardrock goes straight to my theart with a disarming ease. It is no coincidence that my band is called CATTIVA COMPAGNIA (Bad Company in Italian), if the songs I write are somehow put down with a similar method and that I feel I’m a guitarist more in the MICK RALPHS type than in the JIMMY PAGE one, if the musical partner I have always tried to find (in vain) is a kind of an Emilian PAUL RODGERS.

Objectively I think STRAIGHT SHOOTER is a good hard rock album, but having become so important as a chapter of my life, for me it is the best hard rock album ever. FEEL LIKE MAKIN ‘LOVE was the second single from the album, he reached the top ten American. Today I no longer listen to it, but then I thought it was really cute. Acoustic ballad with the chorus full of distorted guitars and maybe too much saccharine in the lyrics. WEEP NO MORE is one of the few songs written by Simon KIRKE that are on the original BAD COMPANY records. String section intro and bluesy gait to follow. All very enjoyable. SHOOTING STAR is one of the other hits of the album, the same formula as FEEL LIKE MAKIN ‘LOVE. Pleasant reflection albeit a bit ‘rhetorical about the tragic death of young rock stars. Looking back at the photos on the inner sleeve I remember  how I identify myself with the part … I imagined to be a part of them, or a band like them, on tour in the American midwest in the mid-seventies … Images that go perfectly with DEAL WITH THE PREACHER and WILD FIRE WOMAN, two excellent examples of English Hard Rock that tells stories of the life on the road of a Rock band in America. The superb vocals performances of RODGERS, the linear and inspired guitar playing of RALPHS, the down precise and never over the top Boz Burrel bass patterns, the elegantly rock drumming of SIMON KIRKE, oh boy what a band ! The slide guitar of WILD FIRE WOMAN smells of southern United States, it smells of travel undertaken to meet a beautiful woman across the borderline with Mexico. I found and I still find irresistible the final part whenPAUL RODGERS sings

I start to shiver and shake I just can not wait, I start to shiver and shake I just can not wait, I start to shiver and shake I, Lordy, I just can not wait Driving down the highway, yeah Wow Oh baby, take a good loving to keep me driving all night I’m a-driving all night, oh yeah

Then, when at the 4:18 minute MICK RALPHS gets into action with the slide guitar I feel I’m heading for the promised land too …

Straight on down the highway Straight on down the highway Wow, straight on down the highway, yeah

ANNA, written by Simon Kirke, comes from the 1972 album KOSSOFF KIRKE TESTU AND RABBIT, it was recorded after the first dissolution of FREE. Gentle, slow, sung with pathos by RODGERS, ANNA settles down without problems in STRAIGHT SHOOTER. CALL ON ME is the album conclusion, a medium tempo track, with some of the epic moment typical of RODGERS, with a coda that takes you in the fields of fog and mist you have inside you, where you go to meet your fate, the rising sun, the new day.

Do not worry about the rain, baby I’ll keep you dry I’ll keep you warm inside And satisfied

Do not worry about the rain I’ll keep you dry, I’ll keep you dry Call on me, baby, call on me, baby

Registered in September (october) 1974 and published in April 1975, STRAIGHT SHOOTER reached number 3 of the American chart, selling to date 3 million copies. This is “my album”, the one that made a man out of me as I told you before, it’s sincere, genuine, frank and sparkling just like Lambrusco wine. Oh, almighty cosmic void what a terrific album you made me find along the way! … and now everyone in the Abbey of Thelema to praise the guitarist, because IN RALPHS MICK WE TRUST.

BONUS DISC:

As written for the first album, the great thing is that for these reissues names of high lineage were involved, such as JON ASTLEY, RICHARD DIGBY SMITH, HUGH GILMOUR. DAVID CLAYTON, STEVE HAMMONDS. I know DAVID CLAYTON since the eighties, indefatigable, balanced, sharp (and he still runs the FREE APPRECIATION SOCIETY fanzine), former curator of FREE reissues. With him on the board you feel safe. As we know, too many times deluxe edition reissues or box sets are full of mistakes and incredible oversights, or sometimes they are completely useless (I refer of course to the companion discs of LZ … when the artists themself start overseeing it you know that it’s goin’ down the toilet. They do not have the slightest idea of how things should be done and what is the fan need). Again I want to emphasize how good the accompanying booklet is, the correctness of the information and the richness of the liner notes. That’s the way!

The STRAIGHT SHOOTER bonus cd is really juicy: a couple of unreleased tracks, alternate versions, early versions, b-side. It all starts with GOOD LOVIN ‘GONE BAD, whose backing track is the original but the performances of voice and guitar are different. FEEL LIKE MAKIN ‘LOVE (take before the master) follows, it’s a guitar, drums, bass and vocals with no overdubs version. I got the first intense thrill thanks to WEEP NO MORE early slow version. This take was recorded in March 1974 (during the sessions made even before their debut album was released, sessions planned to put new ideas on tape). The SIMON KIRKE song lies on a slower tempo here. The intro with the string section is different than the original and I like a lot. I prefer the original speed but it is certainly interesting to hear this version, with this darker and sinister vibe. For SHOOTING STAR (alternate take) is valid the same argument made for FEEL LIKE MAKIN ‘LOVE.

Another exciting moment for me is the early take of DEAL WITH THE PREACHER. This was also recorded during the sessions of the spring of 1974; the song is presented quite differently. It’s a finished product but with a diverse package; it’s softer, more supple and, you know that this is one of my obsession, one of those moments when BAD COMPANY reminds me of LITTLE FEAT. Maybe I prefer this to the original. The bonus material continues with the original master ANNA but with alternating vocal. Perhaps less precise at times is the performance of PAUL, but it is full of pathos. Then we have a live in the studio version of CALL ON ME. For those who love the ‘Rodgers’ epic that so often I celebrate, the ending is not to be missed: more than two minutes of the piano riff in minor on which the arpeggio RALPHS engages very well. We discussed EASY ON MY SOUL during the review of the deluxe edition of the first album so I will not repeat myself, I just tell you that BAD CO experimented a lot with this FREE number both live and in the studio. This comes from the sessions actually done for the second album ( autumn of 1974) and it is a longer (and a bit slower) version. Nearly seven minutes of serene and passionate Rock, with beautiful work of BURRELL and RODGERS. RALPHS goes funky and KIRKE does his job with his usual skills. Very beautiful.

WHISKEY BOTTLE comes from the session of April 1974 and it is rougher than the officially released track as the B side of a single. RALPHS on slide guitar. Then we have the first song we have never heard to date: SEE THE SUNLIGHT. Its a moderate tempo ballad, thoughtful and sometimes psychedelic. RALPHS again on slide guitar. Nice piece. ALL NIGHT LONG is the other novelty. From the title you know it’s mannerism Rock. The intro is reminiscent of GOOD LOVIN ‘GONE BAD, while the development of the piece is similar to stuff that will appear on the third album (SWEET LIL’ SISTER and HONEY CHILD). Nothing shocking then, but an inedit from the seventies of BAD CO it is still a gas for me.

The disc continues with WILD FIRE WOMAN alternate vocal and guitar, aka the original backing track with different vocal and guitar. It’s always a pleasure to listen to this beautiful piece. In the finale the slide guitar part it is not as effective as the original. During that time in studio it was made an alternate mix of FEEL LIKE MAKIN ‘LOVE with the harmonica instead of the short MiCK RALPHS solo in the middle section (this was used for the 1975 promo video). That mix was not found during the researches of the tapes for this new edition, so RICHARD DIGBY SMITH did a new mix trying to recreate that version. The last track is the original version of WHISKEY BOTTLE; it appeared as the B-side of single GOOD LOVIN ‘GONE BAD. Again, here BAD CO reminds me of LITTLE FEAT …  what can I do, I am an old man with a bee in my bonnet.

In the latest issue of his fanzine, CLAYTON informs us that there should have been two other pieces, songs on which RODGERS has vetoed. A WILD FIRE WOMAN work in progress take, with quite a lot of improvisation and HIGHWAY ROBBER, an unpublished song create in some way on the theme of the song BAD COMPANY. I am very sorry not to have the opportunity to hear another novelty of my beloved BAD COMPANY but unfortunately I am not the owner of WARNER so I have to accept the will of one of my favorite Rockstar. So this is a superb bonus disc and then this deluxe edition is a must. Thanks goodness for DAVID CLAYTON!