Hello Forgottenalbumers.

Never did get round to trying to find a better name for you collectively…. Anyway, just to let you know I haven’t abandoned you. A combination of poorly computer and poorlier daughter led to an unexpected hiatus, but all will be kicked back into action very soon.

Just to tide you over, here’s a tune that makes you feel glad to be alive. It’s our old friend Mrs Mills, with ‘The Lambeth Walk’. Watch out for those spoons…

Label / Cat. No: D&M Sound DML 1
First Released: 1976

What The Album Blurb Says…

As one Disc Jockey Said – “The Vast Majority is not just wall to wall sound; it is city block to city block sound – and babe, it’s all disco heat and color!”

That’s where T.V.M. is at! Sixty of the greatest players and down home singers that ever hit a speaker system. They start by working out driving funky rhythm charts and tracks – add strings, brass, reeds and then finally their great blues and salsa vocalists. You name it! From funky blues to symphonic jazz – sensuous salsas to hard rock. The vast majority has it covered.

What I Say

I believe that there is a transatlantic and generational gap in understanding of the word ‘Disco’. Clearly for our American cousins in the 70s, Disco was an exciting, energetic movement. It was a scene, with its own rules, its own dress code, its own moves and its own drugs of choice. It was cutting edge, it was, frankly, funky.

For me, hitting my teens in the early 80s, the word ‘Disco’ means a school organised event once a term, where teenage boys fuelled on Mars Bars and Coca-Cola would act like pillocks on the dance floor until the slow set started, when they suddenly became stuck to the walls.

American 70s Disco had Studio 54, Tavares and Shep Pettibone. English 80’s Disco had middle-class white guys called Tim who’d play a selection from that weeks Top 40, plus ‘The Birdy Song’ and ‘The Can Can’.

I can still clearly remember my first Disco, in the main hall of Causton Junior School, Felixstowe in July 1982. It was still light outside, and all the P.E. equipment had been moved to the side of the hall to make room for a dance floor. I even recall that two of the songs that were played were ‘Green Door’ by Shakin’ Stevens (who, I’m sure I needn’t remind you, was dubbed ‘The Welsh Elvis’…. hah!), and ‘The Hucklebuck’ by ‘Coast to Coast’. A happening scene, it was not.

And all this background flavour is only to point out that I am the last person who should try to review a Disco album. I am thoroughly unqualified to make any assessment as to what’s good and what’s not. To be fair, I know that’s never stopped me before in my reviews.

I’ve spent some time trying to find out if this is a proper, genuine Disco album, or some cheap cash-in. I started with the assumption that it was probably the latter, not least because it has the words ‘Disco Dynamite!’ plastered across the back of the sleeve. I thought that a genuine part of the Disco movement wouldn’t need to state it so boldly. I then discovered that the scores were by Colin Fretcher and Roy Budd. Now, Roy Budd may be a respected film score arranger, but he’s also from South Norwood, which is just round the corner from where I was born, and most definitely not Disco Central. The other chap, Colin Fretcher, is credited as producer on this album which is hardly going to do his credibility any good.

But the producers, Dave Miller and Marty Wilson seem to have a good enough reputation, and know what they’re doing. The catalog number of DML 1 made me think this might be some fly-by-night outfit, but D & M records were set up in 1975, just in time to get in on the early days of Disco, and according to some sources, they invented the concept of the 12″ single. Yikes!

So, I’m prepared to accept that this is the genuine article – an album from the early days of Disco. But is it any good? Well…. I enjoyed it well enough. It didn’t make me want to get up and dance, though very little does these days. You know, what with my aging bones and everything. But what really struck me was the slightly unpolished nature of the songs. They seemed slightly plodding, pedestrian almost. None of the high polish and perfect production that marks the later Disco sound. I suppose for me that that’s what gives this its authenticity. It’s a snapshot during the development of Disco. It’s not the finished article, but a work in progress. All the elements are there, but it would take a while for this professional shine to be applied.

And that’s about it. It’s OK. Actually, it’s quite good. But of course, Disco gave rise to Disco Dancing, which was always a challenge. Until now….

And those tracks from my first school Disco…

Tracks

Side 1

1. Love For Sale
2. Move It!
3. Pain Dealin’ Woman

Side 2

1. Muddy Sneakers
2. Salsa Woman
3. Take It!
4. Oceans Apart

Final score:

6.5 out of 10

Label / Cat. No: Ebony Records – ERC1
First Released: 1978

What The Album Blurb Says…

Carl Gibson, being of Cherokee Indian descent, is one of the most fiercely independent men I know, (this being a typical Indian trait). He created this record almost entirely alone and unaided. It has been my privilege to witness a great talent at work. His “Sessions” in the studio would make good writing for a “Best Seller” alone. His moods during the recording, the anguish when he fell short of his aims, his great elation when “things” went right. He is voted by Opinion Poll as one of the World’s leading “Country Fingerstyle Guitarists”, to me, after watching him, this is an understatement!!! His Vocal Range is second to none. To see him “LIVE” is sensational, but it’s impossible to appreciate his great talent by just one or even two performances. He created this Album with just his voice, one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar, bass and a tambourine, and his deep determination to ‘achieve’. Well, he certainly has achieved, in this case, a more beautiful portrayal of Vocal and Instrumental talent than I’ve ever heard in this field before. His outstanding arrangements of ‘Ghost Riders’ and ‘Skip-a-Rope” are, I’m sure, going to be among the biggest hits in the field of Country, since they were first written two decades ago. I may add at this stage, that he puts great store by his choice of sound engineer Des Bennett, the only other person to work with Carl on the Album. He acknowledges Des to be certainly one of the best in Britain today…

Carl has just one particular life-long friend who has recently become his co-producer and adviser, Jeff Purnell. In General Production, Research, Publicity Promotions and the fiercely competitive field of Marketing, Jeff has no equal! He handles all of these with a quiet but extremely powerful driving force, as well as being an influence on Carl, which proves a steadying effect. Every decade carries a provincial “Star Maker”. I believe Jeff Purnell to be in this category.

“Chapter One” can only pave the way to Chapter Two, Chapter Th…..

WATCH FOR THEM….

PATTI NOBLE

What I Say

I would have thought it a pretty basic requirement that the person writing your sleeve notes should probably like you. It can only help to sell your record if you get a kind word or two extolling your virtues, and saying what a great singer / musician / human being you are. At first glance, it seems that Patti Noble is doing a fantastic job at selling Carl Gibson – if you take the gushing prose at face value, you’d think that here was a talent unparalleled in the Country Music field, that Patti had discovered a new Dylan or McCartney.

But look a bit closer. He’s described variously as ‘fiercely independent’ (read: stubborn, awkward and impossible to work with), has only one life-long friend (is anti-social), and needs a ’steadying effect’ (is difficult to manage). Underneath the high praise, I think that Patti’s had just about all she can of Carl’s artistic temperament, and this is her chance to let the world know what he’s really like. She’d have been more honest if she’d just scrawled ‘I think this man is an absolute shit’ across the back of the album.

Oh well, I can’t vouch for his character, but I hardly think it’s surprising that a Cherokee might harbour a tendency towards fierce independence. You can hardly blame them.

Of course, talk about Native American musicians, and thoughts turn immediately to Jimmy Carl Black. What do you mean who? Jimmy Carl Black was a member of Frank Zappa’s original ‘Mother’s of Invention’ which in my eyes elevates him to hero status without question. Oops – I’ve given to much away. Anyway, my mate Shaun, through a series of ‘too complicated to go into now circumstances’ once let Jimmy sleep in his bed. Jimmy duly thanked Shaun by autographing his toilet door. When Shaun then moved house from Haringey to Lewes, the door moved with them. Some poor sod bought a nice house in London without a toilet door all because of Frank Zappa’s drummer.

Well, it’s not much of an anecdote, but at least it’s 100% true. And besides, it’s curious to notice that Carl and Jimmy share a moustache. Well, I don’t mean they have one between them, but they both wear the same style. I am ignorant of Indian ways, so I can’t venture an opinion as to whether it’s part of their cultural heritage, but personally I think it’s probably just a coincidence.

Anyway, back to the album. I think it was a brave assertion of Patti Noble’s that this ‘Chapter One’ would pave the way for future Chapters. I have to say, I’ve scoured the internet, and I can’t find any mention of Carl, let alone of Chapter’s Two, Three or beyond. I assume it’s safe to say that this was pretty much it, and that it failed to live up to the high ambitions that Carl held. It also strikes me that this being record catalog number ERC1 that this was probably something of a vanity project, and that Ebony Records didn’t survive (in this incarnation at least) very much after this album was released.

I mean, Carl has an OK voice – he can hold a tune which is more than I can. He seems to have quite a range, demonstrated in ‘Ghost Riders’ and ‘Rose Marie’ where the high notes are frankly scary. His guitar picking is fine. What more can I say? It’s fine.

But this album doesn’t make any kind of statement. It’s a competent musician playing it safe with a pile of standards. There’s no individuality, nothing to make this stand out against the other countless covers of ‘Ruby’ (Don’t Take Your Love To Town) or ‘Rose Marie’. I’m not searching for endless novelty, and there’s no point in change for the sake of it, but I think it goes some way to explaining why Carl Gibson isn’t remembered as an outstanding international artist. There is no character or personality in this album. It’s just those same old songs. Again.

If there is anything that marks this album out, it’s that Carl has a tendency to sound anguished. Yes, he does anguished very well. The cries of ‘Johnny , remember me’ closing the song of the same name takes that 60s schlock to a whole new level. But this anguish is best demonstrated on ‘Scarborough Fair’, my favourite track from this album. The ‘remember me to one who lives there’ no longer sounds like a request to send your best wishes, but an animal response to being forgotten by your true love. It actually made me stop in my tracks and listen, which was a nice contrast to the rest of the album.

If only he hadn’t followed it by an overly jangly and jolly version of ‘Ring of Fire’. The fool.

No Carl Gibson, I’m afraid, so here’s the original JCB instead…

Tracks

Side 1

1. Ghost Riders
2. Okie From Muskogee
3. Fight’n Side Of Me
4. Scarborough Fair
5. Ring Of Fire
6. Johnny Remember Me
7. Bobbie Magee

Side 2

1. Skip-a-Rope
2. There’ll Never Be
3. Rose Marie
4. Ruby
5. Lonesome Me
6. Spanish Eyes
7. Phoenix Arizona

Final score:

3 out of 10, (2 points for Scarborough Fair, 1 for Johnny Remember Me)