Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Make Me One With Everything
Maybe there was something in the Memphis water, or maybe it was just the water at Ardent Studios. Or maybe it was Terry Manning. But if you were in a band between 1971-1976, you had some Big Star on you whether you planned it that way or not. At one time or another, The Scruffs, Cargoe, and Prix have been written about on these pages. BBJ has compiled at least two Weekend Mixes showcasing Big Star and its members, as well as the Ardent roster. But I don't recall too much mention of The Hot Dogs.
The record is called "Say What You Mean" and it was released in 1973. It was produced by Terry Manning with Manning on lead guitar and it features the band Cargoe on background vocals. The band name is terrible and so is the album cover. But the music is glorious.
Before I get to "Say What You Mean," I want to say this.
There was a letter written to the editor of Mojo Magazine about two or three issues ago and what it basically said was, "Hey you Brits! Can you review a record and talk about the music? Yeah, you all know how to write, but just telling me what you think the lyrics mean doesn't tell me anything about the music!"
Well, I could not agree more.
That said...
This Hot Dogs record covers a lot of ground musically and yet somehow manages to always sound like Big Star. It's like Big Star playing the classic catalogue of the 70's. Want to hear what Big Star would sound like if they were CSN&Y? It's here. How about the first Boston album if it was Big Star playing it a few years earlier? Big Star does Santana? Big Star plays Bad Company? Big Star does Steely Dan? It's crazy man, crazy!
The whole record is up top. Give it a spin. You'll have some fun.
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7 comments:
Sal,
I really enjoyed that record. Played it through twice. Japanese pressing seems out of print and nothing that I could find on Itunes except for title track that is part of one of the STAX collections.
This would be a nice little nugget for one of the re-issue labels to pick up. I would buy it. joe
This is pretty great. It's cool to discover music that's been out in the world for such a long time that's entirely new to me.
Thanks for sharing!
This is absolutely glorious. The talent that came out of Ardent is breathtaking. Thank you for this gem.
I have this and The Scruffs waiting for me to finally give a serious listen. Thanks for the reminder.
Great stuff - I was able to snag a vinyl copy at Discogs.
I've said it before, just about every time I visit Burning Wood, it ends up costing me.
As always, thanks for the turn on.
Randy
reminds me a lot of the Badfinger albums on Warner Bros.
they are quite good!
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