Frank

Depending on who you ask, “In The Wee Small Hours” is the first successfully executed concept album. Meaning that one unified theme is a common thread throughout each and every song. That being the theme of lost love and isolation. Sinatra had attempted previously to release something that would be more than just an album of songs. Now with the birth of the new 33 1/3” LP format and it’s long playing capability, Frank’s vision would at last bear the desired fruit.

The title track and album opener is a sublime combination of orchestra and voice. Two verses, no chorus. The second verse is not even initially sung. It is instead played by searing violins that carry the melody Frank introduced us to in verse one. The tune does not leap out at you to convince you of its greatness. No, instead it casually spills out of the speakers and presents itself quite matter-of-factly.

Other selections, like Cole Porter’s glorious “What Is This Thing Called Love” get similar treatment. A lone clarinet slithers across the intro. This is the sound of sex itself. When sounds like this can emote wave upon wave of visual imagery one truly wishes that the music video had never been invented. This is what music is supposed to do to you. It’s supposed to make you close your eyes and fantasize. Sinatra’s vocals here are the best examples I can cite when I say that his voice is being used as an instrument. It slides like a trombone and bellows like a bassoon. Always with the orchestra and never overpowering, it is nothing less than a staggering mixture of sounds.

No shortage of great songwriting on this album either, and Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” carries on the album theme. This selection is the one ballad that even approaches an up tempo, highlighted by some wonderfully perky saxophone. Nelson Riddle’s arrangements feature orchestral flourishes words will ultimately fail to describe. They are like delicate lace curtains intricately woven, but always in perfect taste.

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart are dutifully represented here with three tracks penned by them. Of these, “Glad To Be Unhappy” is currently the personal favorite. Another casual masterpiece, with lyrics like “Since you took it right on the chin, You have lost that bright toothpaste grin….My mental state is all a-jumble.. I sit around and sadly mumble….Fools rush in, so here I am… Very glad to be unhappy”… He starts by referring to someone in the third person, but we soon find out that the singer is singing about himself, perhaps looking in a mirror. Again, here is searing visual imagery accomplished only by the use of words packing an emotional wallop. That’s why they called them standards, folks.

Certainly on an album of standards, it goes without saying that you have to include the great Hoagy Carmichael. His “I Get Along Without You Very Well” fits the theme of this platter like a glove. Here, Sinatra is most convincing as a man in denial trying to move on from a break-up. His personal life’s trials (Ava Gardner) parallel the lyrics eerily here as if it was written about him. The emotions being poured out are palpable. His voice breaks up just a little when he sings “except in spring” as if about to cry……whew.

So this record serves as a signpost, a signal to the then record buying public and the music industry as a whole that a record can be much more than a mere collection of tunes. It also continued the sweet rebirth to Frank’s recording career on the Capitol label after being dropped by Columbia. Both a critical and commercial success , it spent 18 weeks at #2 on Billboard, and is regularly cited among trade periodicals and other printed media as among the greatest records of all time.

Here's something to do with chicken...

Lord knows we have enough of it. So get some panko bread crumbs. Heat a skillet then add the oil. Mix about 1/8 cup of good vinegar and add two tablespoons of dijon. Add 1 tablespoon dried sage and one tablespoon dried thyme. Add 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard and mix it all together. Chicken breasts were cut in half and then pounded down with a mallet to about half their original thickness. Dip in mustard sauce, then the panko till coated well. Drop into medium-hot skillet. 5 minutes a side. If they're not done, finish them in a hot oven for 5 more mins or till that god forsaken chicken is done.

Our vegetable tonight was roasted broccoll, which is so great and easy. Put yer broccoli in a pan and toss it with a little olive oil and italian spice blend. Salt and Pepper it. This dish can be ready in 20 minutes at 450 degrees or in 45-50 minutes at 350. Either way it always comes out awesome. You can also do it with any vegetable, so CALL ONE TODAY!

The Kinks-RCA Years-(first of a series)

Whenever you read just about anything online or in print about the Kinks, all of the opinions dovetail together oh so nicely. British invasion band rides the wave. Dave Davies invents Heavy Metal by taking a razor blade to the speaker on his amplifier. Ray Davies’s practically unbeatable run of quality singles in the mid-sixties.
The mysterious banning of the group in America. The wilderness years at RCA. Their sudden rebirth as stadium rockers. The highs and lows of the band are well documented, and everybody seems to agree with each other on what those are. In some cases, even the band members themselves.

Well, I’m here to tell ya, it just isn’t so. One period in particular that sticks in my craw is between 1971 and 1975. All kinds of excuses come into play here. Ray was drinking too heavy, his marriage was falling apart, the band was rebelling against it’s leader, all great excuses except for one thing. The music doesn’t require any excuses. It’s as good an era as any in the band’s history, overshadowed only by the period that preceded it. By the way, that period is one of the greatest for any group ever. Tremendous LP’s and a run of singles that included “Sunny Afternoon”, “Dead End Street”, “Waterloo Sunset”, “Autumn Almanac”, “Mr. Pleasant” “Wonderboy” and last but certainly not least “Days”, this is an astounding run of quality work over a two year period. Impossible to top by almost any other pop group, much less The Kinks themselves.

So what we are going to attempt to do here is analyze the RCA years. We’re going to kick it off with “Muswell Hillbillies”, which is the first release during this timeframe. The record has a reputation of being a booze-soaked affair, but go back as early as “Face To Face” in 1966 and you can hear lots of slurred words and sloppy arrangements. Ray was no stranger to self-medicating but by now it was a source for the material itself, with “Alcohol” being the obvious example. This is what “sipping at your ice cold beer” leads to. It’s sadness tempered only by it’s humor, which by now Ray was a master at.. The comedic element in his writing is one of his most overlooked traits. There is nobody in the history of pop that can make you chuckle like Ray can.

Even the LP opener, “20th Century Man” is delivered in such a deadpan style to make it genuinely funny. It keeps the song afloat and puts a mask over the fact that it’s a absolute downer. “Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare”. Ray is painting quite the grim picture here. Notice how his voice is recorded to make him sound so small, like the voice on the dust speck from “Horton Hears A Who”. Speaking for the common man, but also skillfully demonstrating that no one is going to listen. Just about every song on this album carries the theme of alienation and despair sung in a comedic, cabaret style. This will be the main constant during this period . If only Marlene Dietrich could have covered a couple of these tunes. Or at least Lily Von Schtupp.

The record did not chart in the UK and sold poorly in the US. However, it received many positive critical reviews and has actually gained stature over time as one of The Kinks’ best records. Not bad for what can be arguably described as a departure from the formula success of “Lola”. Forging a new path along the shift in the pop landscape toward country rock with the success of bands like “The Band” , The Dead, Allman Bros and the like, Ray was applying his unique style and tailoring it more towards what the kids were buying and what the radio stations were playing. The result being an absolute gem of a record that does not fit easily into any commercial category. In other words, an absolute sales disaster.

Our next entry (at a later date) will be the second RCA LP, the half studio/half live “Everybody’s In Showbiz, Everybody’s A Star” in which Ray starts writing about food, the humdrum of stardom, pens another classic, and takes a horn section out on the concert trail.