Between today and yesterday's has-beens (is like a million years)
Many a sixties band had seen their rise and fall by the early years of the next decade, resulting in an influx of solo efforts. This was, after all, the perfect time to try and make it as a singer-songwriter, what with all the Don McLeans and the Jackson Brownes making the big bucks. During the occasional bouts of renewed interest in the singer-songwriter era, the artists that get dug up from obscurity tend to be the ones with tragic, short lives and little recognition even in their own time. Few remember the has-been solo careers, and most often mercifully so. Still both in US & UK there were a couple of ambitious and delightful records of this type that would deserve a wider recognition.
Take for example Country Joe McDonald of the seminal acid rock group Country Joe & The Fish. In the midst of some by-the-book cover albums he made Country Joe (1975), record that might be uneven but has some great moments nevertheless, especially the bitter You Messed Over Me. On War War War (1971) he channeled his anti-war sentiments in the form of a heartfelt, alternately satirical and eerie World War I concept album.
Another intriguing, understated and underrated concept album, Between Today And Yesterday, was made by the ex-Animals organist Alan Price in 1974. After leaving The Animals over a petty quarrel with Eric Burdon over the authorship of the House Of The Rising Sun arrangement, he had a succesful pop career during the second half of the sixties with his mod-ish Alan Price Set. Among the predictably organ-centric r'n'b numbers the Set had some quirkier, more adventurous moments (The unholy music hall/calypso crossover of Don't Stop The Carnival and the Nilssonesque but wonderful House That Jack Built). These influences found a much more refined form on Between Today And Yesterday, a two way concept album with one half of songs dealing with Price's childhood, and the other with the present day.
The "yesterday" side contains a set of wonderful music hall ditties on the working class life, mostly about trying to grasp a glimmer of hope and happiness in the midst of poverty and wretcehd conditions. As a contrast, on the title track Price allows his dry delivery to go into tearfulness that accentuates it's heart-rending sadness perfectly. Much like Randy Newman or Ronnie Lane, he never lets his songs reduce into pointless or campy excercises in nostalgia.
Songs on the "today" side take the viewpoint of the grown up affluent babyboomer as opposed to the Left Over People of the first half. Once again Price uses individual, small portrayals of life instead of some pieced together narrative to draw out his two-sided message: Surely "between today and yesterday is like a million years", but similar feelings of hope and despair remain. Randy Newman is an apt point of comparison regarding the first half, but the influences seep on some of the "today" side as well. The overall sound of these songs however is deliciously soft rock, while Price's voice keeps the songs from getting too cheesy (with the possible exception of the appropriately named Dream Of Delight). Surprisingly enough, the sublime, bluesy You're Telling Me is the only song where Price lets rip with his Hammond (grrreat). A string-soaked reprise of Between Today And Yesterday ends the album on a solemn note, although the desolate, minimal "yesterday" version stands as the real highlight.
The trinity of concept album, singer-songwriter and soft rock might contain one too many dirty words for some, but here the result is a truly unique and thoughtful if not completely timeless record.
Take for example Country Joe McDonald of the seminal acid rock group Country Joe & The Fish. In the midst of some by-the-book cover albums he made Country Joe (1975), record that might be uneven but has some great moments nevertheless, especially the bitter You Messed Over Me. On War War War (1971) he channeled his anti-war sentiments in the form of a heartfelt, alternately satirical and eerie World War I concept album.
Another intriguing, understated and underrated concept album, Between Today And Yesterday, was made by the ex-Animals organist Alan Price in 1974. After leaving The Animals over a petty quarrel with Eric Burdon over the authorship of the House Of The Rising Sun arrangement, he had a succesful pop career during the second half of the sixties with his mod-ish Alan Price Set. Among the predictably organ-centric r'n'b numbers the Set had some quirkier, more adventurous moments (The unholy music hall/calypso crossover of Don't Stop The Carnival and the Nilssonesque but wonderful House That Jack Built). These influences found a much more refined form on Between Today And Yesterday, a two way concept album with one half of songs dealing with Price's childhood, and the other with the present day.
The "yesterday" side contains a set of wonderful music hall ditties on the working class life, mostly about trying to grasp a glimmer of hope and happiness in the midst of poverty and wretcehd conditions. As a contrast, on the title track Price allows his dry delivery to go into tearfulness that accentuates it's heart-rending sadness perfectly. Much like Randy Newman or Ronnie Lane, he never lets his songs reduce into pointless or campy excercises in nostalgia.
Songs on the "today" side take the viewpoint of the grown up affluent babyboomer as opposed to the Left Over People of the first half. Once again Price uses individual, small portrayals of life instead of some pieced together narrative to draw out his two-sided message: Surely "between today and yesterday is like a million years", but similar feelings of hope and despair remain. Randy Newman is an apt point of comparison regarding the first half, but the influences seep on some of the "today" side as well. The overall sound of these songs however is deliciously soft rock, while Price's voice keeps the songs from getting too cheesy (with the possible exception of the appropriately named Dream Of Delight). Surprisingly enough, the sublime, bluesy You're Telling Me is the only song where Price lets rip with his Hammond (grrreat). A string-soaked reprise of Between Today And Yesterday ends the album on a solemn note, although the desolate, minimal "yesterday" version stands as the real highlight.
The trinity of concept album, singer-songwriter and soft rock might contain one too many dirty words for some, but here the result is a truly unique and thoughtful if not completely timeless record.