Greetings all,
It occurs to me that I could open this newsletter with Dear Beatle People and be completely on point, but more on that later…
So Long To…
The Grim Reaper has checked in yet again, this time taking one of the last remaining Crickets (I say “one of” because Glen Hardin remains among us - if you don’t know who he is, this.) Sonny Curtis played with Buddy Holly pre-fame and became a Cricket after Buddy’s death, as a singer and songwriter with the group as well as issuing solo recordings. If you aren’t aware of the Holly connection, most people know Curtis for two things: he penned both the rock ‘n’ roll classic, “I Fought The Law” (best known for the 1966 hit version by the doomed Bobby Fuller) and - in 1970 - the theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, “Love Is All Around.” (Not to be confused with the song by The Troggs.)
Sonny Curtis was well-accomplished beyond these two tunes. He also wrote “Walk Right Back,” a top ten hit in 1961 for the Everly Brothers; this despite the fact that they’d heard it unfinished. (Next time you listen to it, note that it only has one verse, which they repeat - Sonny did compose a second one, but they went ahead and tracked it anyway before getting a chance to hear verse two.) In 1980, Leo Sayer released “More Than I Can Say” - a song that peaked in the US at #2. Not only was this too a Curtis co-write (with drummer Jerry Allison), but as a 1960 Crickets recording, it was picked up in the UK by The Beatles and became a feature of their sets 1961-62. (We know this because of an existing setlist but alas, not which Beatle sang it.) “I Fought The Law” originated from around this time; Fuller had the hit with it, and The Clash picked it up in 1978 as well.
As The Beatles’ wave hit the new world in 1964, existing acts had to adapt or get swept out of the way. Being a canny operator, Curtis responded in three distinct ways: first, by cutting a quickie exploitation record (no data on how it charted). “A Beatle I Want To Be” was produced by Lou Adler (who later scored big time producing Johnny Rivers, Barry McGuire, the Grass Roots, The Mamas and the Papas, and Spirit, among others) and was released on Colpix (forerunner of Colgems). Second, The Crickets released the album known as California Sun/She Loves You in February 1964 - getting a jump on just about everyone in showcasing Beatles covers: five of the collection’s twelve tunes were Lennon-McCartney originals, plus Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” for good measure. Last, that very same year Sonny took a different tack: reinterpreting Beatles material flamenco style. It’s this last collection that frankly holds up the best among the three approaches to getting on the Beatles bandwagon.
It begs the question: how would Buddy himself have responded, assuming he’d sustained his success? (Or would The Beatles have even been necessary had Buddy lived?) The question isn’t addressed in the wonderful 1987 documentary, The Real Buddy Holly Story, but if you haven’t seen it, I can’t recommend it enough. Produced by Paul McCartney, it was his response to re-writing of history presented on the big screen in the 1978 Gary Busey vehicle, The Buddy Holly Story. (A film that I am quite comfortable telling you offended me every bit as much.) In addition to being a terrific labor of love, Sonny Curtis features quite prominently in it. For the last word on Sonny Curtis, the man himself.
PS: Curtis was not part of the 1989 McCartney project that teamed him with surviving Crickets Jerry Allison and Joe Mauldin (with Gordon Payne on lead vocals): “T-Shirt.” This was an outgrowth of Paul’s annual Buddy Holly celebrations, with this tune winning a songwriting contest, no doubt in part for sounding very like something Buddy might have recorded himself. Paul produced, played piano and contributed backing vocals to the recording.
New Release Announcements
First off, one of those things that fans of a particular disposition found pretty (fill in the word: annoying - maddening - exasperating, etc.) has seemingly been remedied by Apple/Universal: Anthology 4 will no longer be available only as bundled with the remastered first 3 - it will now be a freestanding separate release. This is great news for anyone who doesn’t care about hearing the old releases tweaked.
There was some needed clarity around the Dark Horse Harrison releases mentioned last week but not much: in addition to the CD digipak iterations of his six Dark Horse albums, there will be a vinyl issue as well. Also announced: for the UK’s National Album Day, a blue vinyl edition of Badfinger’s debut, Magic Christian Music, is coming. This is the 14-track version, distinct from the one released in the US (which did not include two Tony Visconti-produced tracks, “Angelique” and “Give It A Try”). The album itself has always been a bit of an oddball collection: it offered up seven tracks recorded by The Iveys (meaning Pete - Tommy - Mike - Ron Griffiths) and issued on their debut album, Maybe Tomorrow; three Magic Christian film soundtrack songs with the same line-up, produced by Paul for the Ringo film (“Come and Get It,” “Rock of All Ages,” and “Carry On Till Tomorrow”), plus four unreleased Iveys recordings.
But the MCM release came while the band was transitioning to Badfinger, and therefore was anachronistic upon arrival. To at least in part address this, the pre-issued Maybe Tomorrow tracks were all remixed, in some cases drastically (“Fisherman” and “I’m In Love” were, the first time around, essentially presented as comedy numbers, but not so much here, with the former tune getting new lyrics that played it straight.) Furthermore, the packaging presented photos (on the back cover) of the three musicians heard that were not named Ron Griffiths, who’d exited the group by the time these recordings were released on this record. Joey Molland, newly-recruited, was mentioned in the liner notes but not pictured. And the entire package was presented under the handle of an ephemeral film project that likely wouldn’t mean much to any would-be consumer who had no idea what it was. (“Christian” itself being a loaded word that might easily confuse.) All in all, short term thinking that did little more than exploit the McCartney-penned “Come and Get It” while it was still in the charts. Not for no reason do many fans consider the November 1970 release, No Dice, the true Badfinger debut album.
Also announced: a holiday season vinyl issue of Paul’s 1979 single, “Wonderful Christmastime,” pressed in the seasonal shade of yellow. It’s joined by the vinyl reissue of John and Yoko’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” 45, likewise in colored (wait - can I say that in 2025?) vinyl. It also looks like it will likewise feature a reproduction of the original picture sleeve; so far at least, it doesn’t look like Phil Spector and May Pang have been re-imagined out of it.
Announced (or at least acknowledged, short of a full blown press release): Ringo let slip in an exchange with the media that yes, in fact he does have another T-Bone Burnette-produced country album coming in 2026, one that will feature at least one Carl Perkins cover. Long time fans will note that he sang two of The Beatles’ CP covers recorded for Parlophone (“Matchbox” and “Honey Don’t”); he also covered “Sure To Fall” for 1981’s Stop and Smell The Roses.
Other News
In Louisville, Ringo was joined once again onstage by Jack White; Toto’s Steve Lukather mercifully provided the guitarless White with a tambourine.
It was announced that Sir Paul was adding an unscheduled Santa Barbara warm-up show to his itinerary on September 26. As part of an online Q&A, he noted the rampant use of AI with celebs has meant plenty of people taking at face value nonsense that gets disseminated. He rightly pointed out that, if in doubt, check his official feeds and assume if what you’re seeing isn’t there, it probably isn’t real.
SATB
There were two new shows taped this week, with others in the works or at least being outlined. Taped this week was a conversation with Sara Schmidt. Attendees of The Fest would be well-familiar with her as a frequent panelist; even more of you should be familiar with her site, meetthebeatlesforreal. You’ll hear her talk about it, but know that it has proven itself to be an invaluable resource for both research as well as online Beatle surfing. (Recall in a recent episode that Chuck Gunderson called it out.) But Sara is also an author with two books to her credit: 2016’s Happiness Is Seeing The Beatles: Beatlemania in St. Louis (the title tells you everything) and 2023’s Dear Beatle People: The Story of The Beatles North American Fan Clubs. I’m here to tell you that this is a fabulously engrossing read that not only details the history, but is full of captivating stories of US fandom, presented with an immediacy (not unlike Carol Tyler’s Fab4Mania) that puts you back in the 60s and their heyday. To fully flesh out this history of teen fandom requires a specialist, which is why I brought in Dr. Allison Bumsted to share the load. This will be SATB 311 and it’s next in the queue.
Also in process: remember the Contentious Credits show featuring Marcus Phelan and Andrew Shakespeare? Get ready for Contentious Credits II - This Time It’s Personal.
History
I spotted this the other day and thought it was pretty terrific research. Any time one can learn some new data-based information is always a great day. In this case, it’s an article on the wartime career of Freddie Lennon, a man often-maligned in Beatles history as little more than a “Bowery bum” (in the words of his firstborn), while the truth is, as always, a bit more nuanced and complex.
September 22: On this day in 1975, Extra Texture (Read All About It) was released in the US. (Fifty years)
It isn’t hard not to get the impression that George was trying to turn the page from his last cycle of prolonged public attention - the Dark Horse album and tour of November/December 1974 - by rushing a new record into stores so quickly; a mere nine months. The baby thus conceived - his fourth post-Beatles studio album - arrived within the shortest time span in between projects of his entire solo career. (Given George’s traditional tendency to lavish great time and attention on his work, that’s saying something.)
Viewed strictly commercially, the effort was modestly rewarded: Extra Texture reached 16 in the UK album charts, besting Dark Horse (which didn’t chart at all), and maintained a grip in the US album top ten (8, vs the peak of 4 for Dark Horse, but then that album had a tour to push it along). Singles-wise, the peppy Motown-esque “You” hit top 40 in the UK, top 20 here - a long way from the chart-topping zenith of “My Sweet Lord”/”Give Me Love” of earlier years, but not disastrous either.
But commerciality wasn’t always a prevailing concern of George’s. One could always readily tell when he was serious about pushing his product (judging by media appearances and promo films produced) and when he was simply putting it out. Extra Texture DID get a push by its creator in terms of interviews, but not so much in either promos or live appearances. Its creation and the timing of it seemed to come down to the perceived need to get something fresh out there, and a circumstance arriving that facilitated this. (Also, there was a final contractual obligation to consider: Extra Texture would be the last Apple album of new material released during the label’s original run; as such, the packaging depicted an Apple nibbled down to the core, with nothing of value left. Once this final commitment to EMI was fulfilled, George was at last free to record for his own label.)
In hindsight, the decision to take advantage of studio time that had been booked at A&M Studios in LA for the Dark Horse act, Splinter (which they were unable to use due to a contingency) by George may have adversely affected the end product. Given his going through a “lost weekend” of his own at the time, prolonged from the previous year as manifested while on tour, it was just not a good idea. Said Jim Keltner, “Too many people wanted to get to him, too many bad things were available. He should never have made a record outside Friar Park.” (None other than Klaus Voormann took a look at the scene - didn't like what he saw - and absented himself from most of the project.) George spent time in LA prior to beginning work on the album hanging out: visiting the Stones, Bob Marley, Santana and Smokey Robinson as they passed through town: also partying with Ringo as well as Paul (who threw a wrap party for Venus and Mars on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach in March).
Among his previous regulars, George relied on Keltner, Gary Wright and Jesse Ed Davis to do much of the heavy lifting. Friends making cameos on a track or two included Leon Russell, Nicky Hopkins, Willie Weeks, Tom Scott and Billy Preston, while newcomers added to the mix included bassist Paul Stallworth from the Dark Horse act Attitudes; also from Attitudes, future industry superstar David Foster (on keyboards). Beyond this, the album featured as a key track an “oldie”: another Ronnie Spector effort that hadn’t made the grade. As with “Try Some Buy Some” (which at least was issued at the time), George added his vocals (as well as minor overdubs) to a recording tracked four years earlier in a slightly higher key than his natural range. “You,” the resulting track, was clearly designated as album highlight, being one of the album’s few uptempo tunes: it was the lead off single (as well as reprised slightly on side two as if to break up the slow dance groove permeating most of the record).
Of the new material, George must’ve realized that he’d captured a particular vibe that perhaps wasn’t the most inviting of sounds to fans hoping for something joyous. On the plus side, Extra Texture offered none of the overt paeans to Lord Krishna that populated previous releases (although curiously, an Om symbol appeared on the front cover on stateside releases but not UK ones). On the downer side, the album featured a continued exploration of the darker themes first utilized on Dark Horse: his personal downward spiral; romantic travails especially in the wake of his marriage break-up (something inherently evident by the song titles). As he told Melody Maker, he was “..."in a real down place" when he was crafting the material. The hard-partying LA environs during production only exacerbated his worst tendencies.
By the time of the album’s release however, he seemed to have righted himself. Keltner claimed Olivia’s ongoing presence, which had started during the worst of George’s troubles the previous year, was the reason: “(she) came into the picture at just the right time, a crazy, dark time.” The album’s packaging very much played up some humor and self-deprecation (OHNOTHIMAGEN was nearly the album’s title), featuring photography by Henry Grossman (seen here mid-shoot with the Fabs, who’d photographed the Dark Horse tour. Then there was the closing cut, “His Name is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen),” a bizarre in-joke that the public found baffling. It was a comedy number dedicated to (and featuring) ex-Bonzo Dog Band drummer Larry Smith, a “zany” in George’s inner circle.
The package and bookending of the release with light material did little to conceal the downbeat material in between: when not channeling his inner Philly Soul persona, George did betray a sense of being misjudged in two of the album’s finer cuts: “The Answer’s At The End,” which easily could’ve been an All Things Must Pass outtake, and “This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Cryin’),” a sequel to one of his best-loved Beatles compositions. The latter tune was issued as the album’ second single, and though it failed to chart on either side of the Atlantic, it remains, like most of the parent album, a track that grows upon repeated listens. It was an explicit call out to his critics, Rolling Stone magazine in particular; as an institution, they’d made the decision to savage the Dark Horse tour and album, essentially for George’s overt religiosity (which must have struck them as insufferable) as well as a refusal to pander to Beatle-hungry fans. George never forgave them for what he saw as the gratuitous barbs hurled his way. (In the UK, Tyler and Carr were hardly any more kind, calling ET “another lugubrious offering” from the Beatle they delighted in raking over the coals the most.)
From this distance, Extra Texture, while not George’s finest hour, does contain some excellent material and a unique, deliberately soulful approach. (It also contained the first of two Smokey tributes on back-to-back albums.) What it lacks in energy and uptempo tunes, it makes up for in superb musicianship. For those looking for peer comparisons, consider albums like Blood on the Tracks or The Who By Numbers - both ALSO 1975 albums - as kindred spirits.
All best,
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