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Joan Jett & the Blackhearts: Live At The Bottom Line, New York, 12/27/1980 WNEW FM Broadcast (Mind Control Mind 734)
Venue: as titled
Sound Quality: Top notch!. Most likely from off-air master.
Cover: Simplistic but attractive single pocket jacket. Nice period photo of Jett on front cover, track list on back.
Tracklist: (side A) Intro/ Bad Reputation/ I’m Gonna Run Away/ You Don’t Know What You Have Got/ Wait For Me/ Too Bad On Your Birthday/ Teenage Sex Machine/ You’re Too Possessive (side B) Wooly Bully/ Black Leather/ Do You Wanna Touch Me/ Rebel Rebel/ Shout/ I Love Rock n Roll/ I Love Playin’ With Fire
Comments: Released previously as I Love Playing With Fire Live (CD, 2018) on the Rox Vox label (unofficial), this is apparently the first vinyl release of this show. The Rox Vox release received mixed reviews on sound quality, something that can’t be questioned here. It’s great. Curiously, the Rox Vox release is available for streaming on Amazon.
Joan Jett and the Blackheart’s 1st album, Bad Reputation, wasn’t the instant success that its legendary status might indicate. Her 2nd, I Love Rock ‘n Roll, wasn’t either. But Jett had a solid and loyal fan base in her newly adopted hometown. The rest of the nation would follow in 1981 when the nationally distributed startup, Boardwalk Records, picked up their first self-released album, Joan Jett, and re-titled it Bad Reputation. [Boardwalk went bankrupt after founder, Neil Bogart, – who previously founded (and sold) Casablanca Records – died of cancer in 1983, whereupon Jett and business partner, Kenny Laguna, revived the Blackheart Records label with a distribution deal with MCA.]
At the time of this recording, Jett was at a crossroads in her career. A previous career as a member of the Runaways gave her some stature in the world of rock and roll, but more so in Europe and Japan. The Runaways had never made much of a dent in the U.S. charts. It was make or break time.
Bad Reputation would not make its national debut on Boardwalk until the following January. The second album, from which this set draws 3 tracks, not until November of 1981.
With the backing of Boardwalk, Bad Reputation would peak at number 52 on the Billboard album charts. I Love Rock ‘n Roll would follow a year later peaking at no. 2 - fueled by the record’s title track (a number one single for 7 weeks), a cover of an Arrows tune Jett had heard while touring the UK with The Runaways.
So how does an artist without a national following end up being broadcast on New York’s FM radio powerhouse, WNEW? Simple enough – Jett was already experiencing massive popularity in the metro area. The Blackhearts at this time consisted of Gary Ryan (bass), Eric Ambel (guitar), and Lee Crystal (drums), who turn in a riotous performance from the opening track through the closing "I Love Plain’ With Fire,” a song resuscitated from The Runaway’s 2nd LP, Queens of Noise.
With a setlist pulled primarily from the 1st album, an album which at this point was self-titled and distributed out of the trunk of Kenny Laguna’s car, there’s also covers of David Bowie (“Revel Rebel”), The Isley Brothers rave up, “Shout,” and The Runaways (the aforementioned closing track). Also the live rarity, “Teenage Sex Machine,” which Jett played at her shows during 1980-1981.
With great sound, rare songs, and a hot performance, it’s hard to find fault with this release.
Grade: A [Bill Glahn]
TOWNES VAN ZANDT & GUY CLARK
Live at Great American Music Hall
(Radio Looploop Records U.K.)
VENUE: The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco CA; January 20th, 1991
SOUND QUALITY: Could be better…very shallow sound with lots of echo and some distortion, the instruments sound tinny and distant, and the vocals are slightly muddy. Definitely not a first generation recording as there are just too many sonic artifacts, the flaws often distracting from what is, overall, a lively and charming performance by both artists.
COVER: Radio Looploop seems to have a simple formula for their album covers – big photo on the front, sturdy cardboard package holding two shiny flapjacks in individual paper sleeves. This one has a sepia-toned photo of Van Zandt and Clark on the front, individual photos of both artists on the back set against a nice maroon background, and a complete track listing with writer credits. The same front cover photo, with the image flipped, was used for the Live…Texas ’91 bootleg album.
TRACKLIST:
(Side A) Ramblin’ Jack & Mahan • If I Needed You • L.A. Freeway • Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold • Texas • Marie
(Side B) Old Friends • Buckskin Stallion Blues • Let Him Roll • High, Low & In Between • The Carpenter • No Place To Fall • Desperados Waitin’ For A Train
(Side C) Rex’s Blues • Rita Ballou • Pancho & Lefty • Like A Coat From the Cold • Tecumseh Valley • New Cut Road • Flyin’ Shoes • Watermelon Dream
(Side D) Better Days • Lover’s Lullaby • Anyhow, I Love You • Snowin’ On Raton • She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere • Texas Cookin’ • Come From the Heart • No Deal
COMMENTS:
Texas-born singer/songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark are widely considered to be two of the most influential and talented wordsmiths to work on the fringes of the country music scene of the 1970s and ‘80s. Whereas Van Zandt has often been classified as a folk singer, his masterful hybrid of country, blues, and folk music won him a loyal cult following that continues to grow. Van Zandt never experienced much commercial success as a recording artist, and he played dive bars while living for years in a shack without electricity outside of Nashville. He suffered for years from alcoholism and drug abuse and, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Van Zandt lost much of his long-term memory after undergoing controversial insulin shock therapy.
Van Zandt enjoyed a stellar reputation as a songwriter, though, and he had songs recorded by artists as diverse as Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Nanci Griffith, Jason Isbell, and Gillian Welch, among many others. It was the 1983 recording of his song “Pancho & Lefty” by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, which topped the Billboard magazine country chart, that brought Van Zandt the most notoriety. By contrast, Guy Clark enjoyed more modest success as a recording artist, placing several albums into the mid-regions of the country chart over the span of his 40+ year career. Clark was also well-respected as a songwriter, with artists like Rodney Crowell, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Jeff Walker recording his songs. Much like his longtime friend Townes, Clark walked the fine line between folk and country music, and won a Grammy™ Award for “Best Folk Album” for his 2013 release My Favorite Picture of You.
Both Clark and Van Zandt honed their skills on the Houston folk music scene throughout the ‘60s, with both artists moving to Nashville where Clark, along with his wife Susanna, opened their home to fellow songwriters and musicians. Americana legend Steve Earle followed the two artists from Texas to Tennessee, and both Clark and Van Zandt mentored Earle in songwriting and performing, a kindness that Earle would later repay by recording separate albums of his friend’s songs (2009’s Townes and 2019’s Guy).
Van Zandt and Clark were joined at the hip in Nashville, and often toured and performed together, at local clubs like Mississippi Whiskers and The Bluebird Café as well as across the southern states and in Europe. They had a following in San Francisco, California which brings us around to Live at Great American Music Hall, a document of the artists’ January 20th, 1991 performance that was recorded for radio broadcast and recently reissued as a double-vinyl set by Radio Looploop Records. Offering a fairly-balanced set of 29 songs (15 by Clark, 12 by Van Zandt, and two they wrote together), the album provides a veritable feast of the two talented songwriter’s best-known and beloved material.
The show begins with Clark’s ode to folk legend Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, “Ramblin’ Jack & Mahan,” a loping country tune with brilliant story-song lyrics, gorgeous acoustic guitar, and a heartfelt performance by Clark that is plagued by poor sound. Clark’s “L.A. Freeway” (from his 1975 debut LP Old No. 1) is one of his better songs, a slice of working-class blues with a pop undercurrent and a humorous spoken word interlude. Guy’s “Texas – 1947,” also from his debut, is an acoustic country-rocker with an infectious chorus and an up-tempo arrangement that’s sparse on instrumentation, relying instead on Guy’s rollicking vocals.
Side two’s “Let Him Roll” is another leathery story-song by Guy that perfectly captures the hard luck life of a Texas loner while “Desperados Waitin’ For A Train” is a wonderful remembrance of a young man and his older mentor. Townes is represented on the first disc by a number of fine songs, beginning with the charming “If I Needed You,” a poignant romantic ballad with a lilting melody while “Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold” is a strident tale in a Dylan-esque vein that Van Zandt nails with his somber vocals. Van Zandt’s “Marie” is a folkish dirge with poetic lyrics as stark as anything Springsteen did on Nebraska, a fateful story of star-crossed lovers pulled in different directions. “If I Had No Place To Fall” is a wistful romantic ballad with lovely lyrics and a passionate delivery by Van Zandt.
The second disc is comprised largely of the duo’s second set from the night (the entire show was evidently 42 songs performed across two sets, so this LP offers only a portion of the concert). Van Zandt’s “Rex’s Blues” offers up some spry guitar-pickin’ resting alongside melancholy vocals, the song a sort of folk-tinged talking blues whose beauty is marred by the shabby recording. The aforementioned “Pancho & Lefty” is Van Zandt’s best-known tune; shorn of its glossy major label production, the tale of south-of-the-border hijinks takes on a more haunting ambiance. The bluesy “Flyin’ Shoes” is an imaginative lyrical fantasy with heavy guitar strum and strong vocals and “Lover’s Lullaby” is a beautiful nod to romance and relationships.
Clark brings a mix of some of his better-known and more obscure songs to the second set, and they’re all winners, beginning with the ribald Western swing of “Rita Ballou” and the reflective “Like A Coat From the Cold,” a pastoral ballad with haltering instrumental backing and emotional vocals; “Watermelon Dream” is a folksy tune with slice-of-life lyrics that wander only sparingly into hyperbole; and “Better Days” is an ethereal song of hope and determination. The rowdy “Texas Cookin’” is a bluesy, twangy, ramshackle tune that crackles with joie de vivre. Of the pair’s co-written songs, “Come From the Heart” is the stand-out, the two men’s voices intertwined to deliver the song’s positive lyrical message above melodic strummed guitars.
Overall, Van Zandt and Clark deliver an engaging, sometimes magical performance on Live at Great American Music Hall, both artists supporting one another and weaving their respective songs into an overall narrative of American music. From what I’ve been able to find, Van Zandt toured fairly extensively throughout 1991, frequently with Clark, the pair sometimes joined by friends from Texas like Robert Earl Keen and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and they even returned to San Francisco in the fall. It seems that several shows were recorded during the year for radio broadcast or a possible live record, but only this album and Live…Texas ’91 seem to have survived to document Van Zandt’s 1991 tour.
After his death in 1997, former friends and associates circled Van Zandt’s legacy like vultures feasting on road kill. The singer’s former manager and Poppy Records label owner Kevin Eggers released better than a dozen posthumous albums without consent of Van Zandt’s wife Jeanene. His former road manager also released a number of unauthorized live concert videos and audio recordings of Van Zandt performances. It took the singer’s estate over a decade to iron out all these legal issues, and today Fat Possum Records is the official home of Van Zandt’s musical legacy. The Mississippi label has reissued much of the singer’s early catalog, including classics like Flyin’ Shoes, Our Mother the Mountain, and the critically-acclaimed Live at The Old Quarter album.
If you’re unfamiliar with the talents of this gifted songwriter, I’d recommend checking out the aforementioned albums and, if you like what you hear, move on to Live at Great American Music Hall. As for Guy Clark, he continued to make great music until his death in 2016, his final album – My Favorite Picture of You – peaking at #12 on Billboard magazine’s country music chart. Although not as prolific as his longtime friend, Clark’s back catalog of music is nearly as precious, and albums like Old No. 1, Texas Cookin’, and Dublin Blues are widely considered as jewels of Americana music. Clark’s performances on Live at Great American Music Hall are as vital and engaging as Van Zandt’s but, again, check out those early albums first and then sink your teeth into this heady 1991 performance. Grade: B- (notched a grade due to poor sound)
(Rev. Keith A. Gordon)
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