Wrapping up the electric-rock bounty from last spring's get-together, we've got two very different sounds for you. Both saw release in 1974 but they couldn't be more different: one jittery, foreboding and minor-key, the other swaying and sweet and major.
The dark side is represented both lyrically and musically by Neil Young's "Revolution Blues" off "On the Beach". It was a bleak time for Neil, still by all accounts reeling from the overdose deaths of bandmate Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry, and an ugly time in America as a whole, what with the long southeast Asian wars winding down, Nixon falling, the long post-WWII economic boom grinding to a halt and the brief bloom of 60's optimism on its deathbed. "Revolution Blues" is a wide-eyed plunge into paranoia, drugs, guns and cultism, straight out of the Manson-deranged corner of SoCal in which Neil was living at the time. Poisonous stuff... On this version, Paul B played the percussive guitar and took the lead, I played the rhythm guitar and overdubbed Wurlitzer, Dillo positively nailed the jumpy Rick Danko bassline and Roadkill drove the whole thing home.
"Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", on the other hand, is a warm throwback to 1962 (when the song was first released). It's one of those chestnuts that's been covered by many artists and, depending on when and where, various tones can dominate: country, soul, R&B, lounge jazz, and so on. My favorite version, on which our take is based, is off Freddy Fender's record "Before the Next Teardrop Falls". He has a nice soft, slow go at it, with a romantic Tejano croon. Our version is still positively calling out for a horn section but as it is, Paul B played the Wurlitzer, Roger played lead guitar, I played rhythm and some organ, and Dillo and Roadkill supplied their steady bass and drums.
jk
Revolution Blues: https://app.box.com/s/ttomoe18xi30e3py0l6r
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye: https://app.box.com/s/brwgssk3mu8swu9cn2cv
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