Alex Chilton: Ocean Club '77 (Norton Records/2015)

In 1977, Alex Chilton was in a time of transition. The band he'd fronted as a teen idol The Box Tops broken up in 1970 and the Power Pop legends Big Star – the band that Chris Bell had formed with Alex, Andy Hummell and Jody Stevens - had broken up in early 1975. Chilton had just released the Singer Not The Song EP and to properly promote it he moved in New York. There he formed a band with Chris Stamey (later of the dB's) on bass and Lloyd Fonroff on drums. Later that year the band was known as Alex Chilton and the Cossacks and had Fran Kowolski on keyboards.

Ocean Club '77 is what might be dubbed an official bootleg. It was approved by the Chilton estate. It claims to be a soundboard show. Which it may well be, albeit a poorly-mic'd one. The cover art font doesn't do it any favors either. However, the packaging is nice enough, with nice liner notes as well.

The first thing you hear is Chilton ordering a “Canadian Whiskey & Coca Cola on the rocks” from the stage to the bar. So, immediately you know it's going to be a fairly loose affair. Which it is. Although, it's not too loose as the rhythm section of Stamey & Fonoroff are tight-enough.

The song selection is pretty wonderful. “September Gurls”, “In The Street”, “O My Soul”, “Way Out West” and “Back Of A Car” all get confident airings. The Third nugget “Nightime” does as well – a good year before it's release. “The Letter” gets a different, slower arrangement. “Can't Seem To Make You Mine” (a cover of the Seeds' classic), “Window's Hotel”, “All Of The Time”, “My Rival” and “She Might Look My Way” all of which appeared on the rejected Elektra Demos, are in fine form here. As well as covers of the rock classics “Memphis”, “Wouldn't It Be Nice”, Walk Don't Run” and Nelson Slater's Lou Reed-produced “Dominating Force”.

Definitely recommended for the Chiltonphile of Big Star devotee.  

Here's the very special video review version:

Special Thanks to: Ebet Roberts, Norton Records and Dave Rerecich for making me vanish at the end. Into thin air. 

The Cure: Entreat Plus (Rhino/Elektra/2012).

 Entreat is a live album that was recorded at London's Wembley Arena in July of 1989 in support of the bands' monumental and very successful Disintegration album. In fact Entreat is essentially the Disintegration album, in sequence, live.

Songs on Entreat Plus had previously had been released in dribs and drabs, namely on the Lullaby and Pictures Of You singles. And then in 1990 eight songs had been culled and released in the UK-only as mini-album Entreat. However all 12 songs from Disintegration had been performed at these Wembley shows and were amongst the most in-demand to be released from the band, for some time.

In 2009 the tracks were finally mixed by Robert Smith for the triple-CD reissue of Disintegration and for a subsequent vinyl-only release. After a few delays, it was finally released as a very-nice 180-Gram double-vinyl set on Elektra/Rhino for Record Store Day 2012.

If you are a fan of The Cure, this release is highly recommended. It's a beautifully-recorded
set, tastefully-performed and somehow manages to retain the integrity of the studio recordings - which is no easy feat. "Fascination Street", "Love Song", "Lullaby" and "Pictures Of You" are all given fine readings here.
Even Robert Smith's vocals - which can sometimes be stubbornly and willfully erratic (like a child
manipulating a temper-tantrum) are right on the mark. Alcohol was a main-factor in his live vocal performances in the mid 1980's. Here he sounds sober enough to execute everything perfectly. As are the members of The Cure, who were now without one-time-drummer-turned-keyboard-player Laurence Tolhurst.

This was basically The Cure at their peak, creatively. And they were seemingly at the peak of their powers live and Robert Smith as a songwriter seemed to be able to do no wrong.

Highly Recommended for the Cure fan.

Here's The Video Review:

Special Thanks to: Denver Gillette and Zorro Zero.