SLUDGE IN THE 70s: Natural Gas, the homeless man's Badfinger
Stubbornly resisted easy enjoyment.
Again, DD refreshes readers with tales of the cannon fodder used in a late-Eighties weekly college radio show at Lehigh University called "Sludge in the '70's." It was classic hard rock but my definition of the genre wasn't "classic rock FM." It was devoted to hard rock acts which had little or no hope of headlining arenas but which were still quite capable of making enjoyable albums.
This was the primary stuff of my record collection, most of which would eventually be tossed in a landfill by my so-called mother when she lost her mind for good and I wasn't around to oppose her.
Since I was doing a sonic history for the show it was par for the course to play quite a few lemons.
Natural Gas, a collection of British hacks from other more famous acts were hand-picked for the show.
The band consisted of Joey Molland, a guitarist in Badfinger, the famous Beatles-influenced pop act which collapsed after the suicide of its primary songwriter. Mark Clarke, a sideman bass player best known for playing in Uriah Heep ca. '71-72, was claimed by promotional material to be another name, along with Jerry Shirley, the drummer from Humble Pie.
Issued in 1975 on Private Stock, Natural Gas's only album aimed vaguely at being a harder-sounding version of Badfinger. This strategy was undone by a shortage of memorable songs and tempos which almost never rose above medium plod.
The one exception is the last tune on the record, an original called "St. Louis Blues."
Mostly unbluesy, "St. Louis Blues" is a stab at something uptempo and funky by guys whose heart's probably weren't in it. "Won't you listen, won't you listen, won't you listen to my story?" the Natural Gassers sing in unison as the song fades and the needle lifts from the vinyl.
Everyone declined that request.
And this was probably why Peter Frampton took them on tour as opener around the time he became super famous. There was zero chance Natural Gas were going to get lucky and blow wimpy Pete and his ten minute talk-box guitar solos off the stage on any night of the tour. Even if he had a sore on his lip from overusing that plastic tube dingus.
DD remembers getting the album in the mid-Seventies, sometime when the sun was shining, making inexplicable a tune called "The Christmas Song," written by Joey Molland.
Because it was my radio show, it was necessary to salvage something from Natural Gas and "I've Been Waiting," a serviceable slice of British white-boy guitar boogie not recommended for airplay by the label was the number I went with. Played loud as a single, it makes the listener think Natural Gas were an order of magnitude better than the case argued by the entire album.
Seventies Brit rock purists who hunt down the record will hear some Badfinger in the vocals, primarily sung by Molland. But the rest of the LP, while short, stubbornly resists any easy enjoyment.
Since Crazy Mom had thrown out my original copy, I was able to replace Natural Gas this week with a used piece from a record store on Colorado Street across from the Pasadena City College library. For you bargain hunters noting the sticker price in the upper corner of the sleeve, that's about two bucks too much, at least, for a copy in good condition.
Previously, on Sludge in the 70's.
Stubbornly resisted easy enjoyment.
Again, DD refreshes readers with tales of the cannon fodder used in a late-Eighties weekly college radio show at Lehigh University called "Sludge in the '70's." It was classic hard rock but my definition of the genre wasn't "classic rock FM." It was devoted to hard rock acts which had little or no hope of headlining arenas but which were still quite capable of making enjoyable albums.
This was the primary stuff of my record collection, most of which would eventually be tossed in a landfill by my so-called mother when she lost her mind for good and I wasn't around to oppose her.
Since I was doing a sonic history for the show it was par for the course to play quite a few lemons.
Natural Gas, a collection of British hacks from other more famous acts were hand-picked for the show.
The band consisted of Joey Molland, a guitarist in Badfinger, the famous Beatles-influenced pop act which collapsed after the suicide of its primary songwriter. Mark Clarke, a sideman bass player best known for playing in Uriah Heep ca. '71-72, was claimed by promotional material to be another name, along with Jerry Shirley, the drummer from Humble Pie.
Issued in 1975 on Private Stock, Natural Gas's only album aimed vaguely at being a harder-sounding version of Badfinger. This strategy was undone by a shortage of memorable songs and tempos which almost never rose above medium plod.
The one exception is the last tune on the record, an original called "St. Louis Blues."
Mostly unbluesy, "St. Louis Blues" is a stab at something uptempo and funky by guys whose heart's probably weren't in it. "Won't you listen, won't you listen, won't you listen to my story?" the Natural Gassers sing in unison as the song fades and the needle lifts from the vinyl.
Everyone declined that request.
And this was probably why Peter Frampton took them on tour as opener around the time he became super famous. There was zero chance Natural Gas were going to get lucky and blow wimpy Pete and his ten minute talk-box guitar solos off the stage on any night of the tour. Even if he had a sore on his lip from overusing that plastic tube dingus.
DD remembers getting the album in the mid-Seventies, sometime when the sun was shining, making inexplicable a tune called "The Christmas Song," written by Joey Molland.
Because it was my radio show, it was necessary to salvage something from Natural Gas and "I've Been Waiting," a serviceable slice of British white-boy guitar boogie not recommended for airplay by the label was the number I went with. Played loud as a single, it makes the listener think Natural Gas were an order of magnitude better than the case argued by the entire album.
Seventies Brit rock purists who hunt down the record will hear some Badfinger in the vocals, primarily sung by Molland. But the rest of the LP, while short, stubbornly resists any easy enjoyment.
Since Crazy Mom had thrown out my original copy, I was able to replace Natural Gas this week with a used piece from a record store on Colorado Street across from the Pasadena City College library. For you bargain hunters noting the sticker price in the upper corner of the sleeve, that's about two bucks too much, at least, for a copy in good condition.
Previously, on Sludge in the 70's.
posted by George Smith at 1:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home