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Episode #94 – Black Sabbath – Born Again (with Ry from Sabbath Bloody Podcast)

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Show Updates:

Lead up to the Album:

  • 1982’s Live Evil album interestingly created a lot of bad blood between Dio and the band and caused him to leave.
  • They considered Samson’s Nicky Moore, Robert Plant, David Coverdale, and Michael Bolton.
  • The classic story goes that Gillan and Iommi were drinking and got loaded and Gillan had agreed to join Black Sabbath.
  • In actuality Don Arden had suggested Gillan who got together with Iommi and Butler to discuss.  Of course there were pints involved and the trio allegedly holed up in this pub for about twelve hours.
  • Gillan says his manager, Phil Banfield, called him the next day when he heard about it extremely upset that he’d made this decision without consulting him.  Gillan claims that when he heard this he had no memory of having agreeing to join Sabbath.
  • The members of Gillan, most notably John McCoy and Colin Towns, were not pleased with this.  Gillan had taken a few months off due to vocal nodes.  Gillan says he encouraged the band members not to wait for him while he healed up and to pursue other projects.
  • Gillan was upset because in the press he’d been accused of faking the vocal nodes to break up the band.
  • Gillan was hesitant but his manager convinced him to do it.
  • Ward had become sober and remained sober throughout most of the sessions.
  • The original intention was to create a supergroup.
  • Martin Popoff says in his book, Born Again! Black Sabbath in the Eighties and Nineties, that Iommi had only briefly considered hanging up the Black Sabbath name.
  • There was apparently a lot of reverence for the idea of Sabbath returning to an all British lineup once again.
  • During initial rehearsals Gillan didn’t sing because of the vocal nodes.
  • Geezer says during rehearsals Gillan lived in a tent on his own and had a boat nearby to go sailing. One reason was to stand guard of his golf clubs that were in a separate tent.

Personnel

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • Artwork [Artwork Assistant] – Steve Barrett (3)
    • Only a couple of other credits on Discogs.
  • Design [Cover Design], Artwork – Steve Joule
    • https://www.krusher.co.uk/
    • Did work for Ozzy, Motorhead, and Girlschool.Album cover put together by Kerrang! Magazine’s Steve “Krusher” Joule who had put together “Diary of a Madman” and “Bark at the Moon.”
    • Joule says he tossed four ideas for covers for this album.  Some even accused him of sabotaging the Sabbath album cover in a conspiracy involving Sharon.
  • Butler: “Oh I hate the album cover! I mean I saw it, and I thought oh man give me a break!”
  • Gillan: “The first time I saw the album cover I puked.”
  • Iommi: “When you see the cover you know we’re not talking about born again Christians!”
  • Gillan allegedly through a box of 25 of the albums out a window in protest.
  • Joule says about Gillan’s “puked” commentary that he had the same reaction to most of Gillan’s album covers over the years.
  • In a Kerrang! it took second place behind Scorpions’ “Love Drive” in their “10 Worst Album Sleeves in Metal/Hard Rock.”
  • Despite all the negative said about it the album cover was approved by Iommi.
  • In Ozzy’s Book “I am Ozzy” he says that Don Arden, who was very hostile toward Sharon and Ozzy” often told the Osbournes that their children resemble the Born Again cover.
  • Steve Joule says he was asked to do the album cover while working on OZzy material.  He claims to have submitted three “ridiculous and obviously” designs, collect his free beers and move on.
  • Steve Joule says the 1968 “Mind Alive” magazine was purchased for him by his parents as a child to “further [his] education.” 
  • He says he photocopied the picture, overexposed it, added “the most outrageous color combination that cid could buy,” then added the nails, horns, and sat back and laughed.
  • Joule says Iommi loved it, Geezer looked at it and sait, “It’s shit, but it’s fucking great!”
  • Same Image used for a Depeche Mode album

Technical:

  • Recorded At – The Manor
  • Coordinator [Album Co-ordination] – Paul Clark (9)
    • Did visual work on Mob Rules, Live and Live Evil for Black Sabbath.  On this album he was credited as having been in “management.”
  • Engineer – Robin Black
    • Production work for Jethro Tull, Cat Stevens, and Murray Head.
  • Management – David Arden (3), Don Arden
    • Son of Don Arden, Sister to Sharon, and brother-in-law of Ozzy.
  • Producer – Black Sabbath, Robin Black
  • Technician [Equipment & Guitar Technician] – Peter Restey
    • Credited as being a personal technician to Black Sabbath.

The Mix

  • After Gillan laid down the vocals he went on holiday for about six months and returned to the finished albums.  Gillan said that Geezer went in and ruined the mix.
  • Geezer says he was the one saying it sounded awful.  Geezer complained it was too bassy  Geezer says, “I got sick of telling everyone that it didn’t sound right.  When I was proved right, Gillan came back and said, ‘What the hell is wrong with this?’ A lot of people blamed me because I was the one who was there at the time.”
  • Geezer says that Black was in charge of the mix but he was taking too much input from everyone and ultimately it should have been just him in charge of the mix.
  • Bill complained saying that he “hated that they gave it an ‘80s sound.”  He says this dates the album, particularly his drum sound.
  • Tony said that they were in Europe touring when it came out and by the time they heard it had hit #4 on the charts already.  They were disappointed saying it was all distorted and that no one had okay’d the pressing for the record.  Iommi said that someone had the lacquers, and they were left for too long and went off and that affected the sound.  So the tapes sounded good but the vinyl sounded awful.
  • Tony also said that Gillan had blown out a couple of tweets in the playback monitors.
  • One thing is clear, the band was sort of checked out when the project was complete and didn’t see it through until the end.

Album Tracks:

All songs credited to Iommi, Butler, Ward, Gillan, except where noted.

Side One:

  1. Trashed
    • Song about Ian crashing BIll’s car.  He got drunk and decided to drive Bill’s car around the go-cart track at Richard Branson’s house where they were recording.  Allegedly the car was totalled and even caught on fire.
    • The “Peter” mentioned in the song was Pete Restey, the guitar technician.
    • The car, a Ford Granada, was apparently a rental that had just been picked up that day.  Each of the band members had gotten Bill hadn’t even driven it yet.
    • Pete had taken Bill’s new car to the pub and Gillan took his boat.  They drank a lot and Gillan requested one of the two bottles of Jose Cuervo Gold that the woman at the pub said had been there for 30 years.  Ian had one bottle, Pete had the other.
    • They then met back up at the Manor.  Pete started doing laps on the go-cart track then Ian said he wanted a try.  The car flipped up onto its roof inspiring the line “The ground was in my sky.”  They stopped short of going right into an old abandoned swimming pool.
    • Pete says, “the pool was filled with old tires and debris and stuff — we never would have been able to open the doors for us to get out.  We would have drowned probably.”
    • While upside down the gas tank had been torn and was running into the car.  Gillan had a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  Pete said the gasoline actually leaked down his face onto the cigarette and put it out.
    • Trashed was released as a single but did not chart.
    • Tipper Gore cited this song as an example of a song that glorified drug and alcohol abuse.
  2. Stonehenge
    • They used a metal plate that they hit and lowered into water to change the pitch.
  3. Disturbing the Priest
    • “Disturbing the Priest” was written after a rehearsal space – set up by Iommi in a small building near a local church – received noise complaints from the resident priests.[4] “We wanted this effect on ‘Disturbing the Priest’,” recalled the guitarist, “and Bill got this big bucket of water and he got this anvil. It was really heavy, and he’d got it hanging on a piece of rope and lower it in to get this effect: hit it and lower it in, and then lift it out again. It was a great effect, but it took hours to do.”[11]
    • Only track that had lyrics written by Geezer.
    • Gillan says that while they were tracking vocals he noticed the vicar from the church was in the control room.  He was telling them that they had choir practice and the music was very loud and they couldn’t concentrate on their pitching.
    • The priest was asking that they close the doors but Gillan told him that on the days they had choir practice that they wouldn’t record out of respect.
    • They then went to the pub with the vicar and had beers that evening.  Gillan told the guys about the encounter and Geezer wrote the lyrics.
    • Funny enough this would become an example of how Black Sabbath was satanic.
  4. The Dark
  5. Zero the Hero
    • Often cited as the inspiration to “Paradise City.”
    • One of Bill Ward’s favorites.

Side Two:

  1. Digital Bitch
    • Gillan says this is about a person in real life but won’t say who.
  2. Born Again
    • Bill Ward says he went to the studio to watch Gillan write this.  He says he loves the process of writing lyrics and had a lot of fun watching the process.
    • Gillan says the song is about finding himself centered after being out of balance.
  3. Hot Line (Iommi/Buttler/Gillan)
  4. Keep It Warm (Iommi/Buttler/Gillan)
    • “I saw Ian go into the studio one day,” Ward recalled, “and I was fortunate and honoured, actually, to be part of a session. I watched him lay tracks on ‘Keep It Warm’… I felt like Ian was Ian in that song… I watched this incredible transformation of this man that really, I felt, delicately put lyrics together. It made sense. I thought he did an excellent job. And I really dig that song too.”
      1. Schroer, Ron (October 1996). “Bill Ward and the Hand of Doom – Part III: Disturbing the Peace”. Southern Cross (Sabbath fanzine) #18. p. 24.

Reception and Review

  • It’s rumored that there were up to five additional tracks written for use on Born Again.
  • Born Again was released in August 1983[1] and was a commercial success. It was the highest charting Black Sabbath album in the United Kingdom since Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) and became an American Top 40 hit.[27] Despite this, it became the first Black Sabbath album to not have any RIAA certification in the US.
  • Met a lot of criticism
  • Bill Ward left the band immediately after recording and did not tour.  He’d fallen off the wagon and allegedly the temptation presented by Gillan’s heavy drinking was too much for him to be around.
  • Geezer left the band after the tour.
  • Reached number 4 in the UK charts, top 40 in the US
  • Gillan recalls enjoying doing the old Ozzy tunes but didn’t feel comfortable singing the Dio tracks.
  • Ozzy Osbourne said: “Born Again is the best is the best thing I’ve heard from Sabbath since the original group broke up.”
  • In 1992, Ian Gillan told director Martin Baker, “I was the worst singer Black Sabbath ever had. It was totally, totally incompatible with any music they’d ever done. I didn’t wear leathers, I wasn’t of that image…I think the fans probably were in a total state of confusion.” In 1992, Iommi admitted to Guitar World, “Ian is a great singer, but he’s from a completely different background, and it was difficult for him to come in and sing Sabbath material.”
  • When the band heard the final product, they were horrified at the muffled mix. In his autobiography, Iommi explains that Gillan inadvertently blew a couple of tweeters in the studio speakers by playing the backing tracks too loud and nobody noticed. “We just thought it was a bit of a funny sound, but it went very wrong somewhere between the mix and the mastering and the pressing of that album…the sound was really dull and muffly. I didn’t know about it, because we were already out on tour in Europe. By the time we heard the album, it was out and in the charts, but the sound was awful.”
  • Gillan: “But by God, we had a good year…And the songs, I think, were quite good.”
  • The ensuing tour and live shenanigans are entirely too much to get into and perhaps will be revisited on a future episode . . . 

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Episode #80 – Jesus Christ Superstar (Part 4: The Album, Part 2)

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Show Updates:

On ”I Don’t LKnow How To Love Him:

  • Webber said he’d seen Judy Garland in a movie called “I Could Go on Singing” which was also the title song.  He said there was a line about “When the cows come home.”  The director was Ronnie Neame, a friend of Webber’s Auntie Vi.  He decided to play a song to the director that he thought was better.  The music ended up becoming “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”
  • This melody had been used before from a 1968 song by Webber/Rice called “Kansas Morning.”  The song was never recorded.

Album Tracks:

LP 2

Side One:

  1. The Last Supper
    • Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)
      • First done as an orchestral B-side to the “Superstar Single.”
      • “Gethsemane” was among the last songs to be recorded.  Lloyd-Webber says Gillan was wiped out after singing the song.  This was also a highlight for Webber.
      • YouTube video promo?
    • The Arrest
      • Peter’s Denial
        • Pilate And Christ
          • King Herod’s Song (Try It And See)
            • This song was written prior to JCSS as the song “Try It and See” by Webber/Rice.  It was going to be an entry into the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest to be sung by the artist Lulu.  The plan was also to release it as a single sung by Rita Pavone.  They had also used this song called “Those Saladin Days” in a show called “Come Back Richard Your country Needs You,” a musical project that never was completed.
            • Since it had been rejected for the Eurovision song Contest in these days it was published by Norrie Paramour. IN Lloyd Webber’s biography: “This led to a confusing credit in the booklet of the US album version . . . which in turn led a few people to mistakenly think Tim and I had not written one of its biggest moments.”
            • One of the last bits recorded was “King Herrod’s Song.”  The decision to make it so upbeat was that it was in between Gethsemane and Judas’s death and they wanted to have something a little more upbeat to break things up.
            • Rita Pavone – Try It And See (1969)

          Side Two:

          1. Judas’ Death
          2. Trial Before Pilate (Including The 39 Lashes)
            • “The Trial” was the first scene to be completed.  Webber says it really inspired everyone to hear such a performance.
          3. Superstar
            • Choir – The Trinidad Singers
            • In Lloyd-Webber’s biography he talks about the recording: “Alan and Bruce took things into their own hands and played syncopations that defied gravity.  Afterwards I wrote them all out, but although I’ve got rock sections to replicate what they did, it never sounded quite the same.”
            • Webber says they finally did a perfect take with the orchestra when Alan O’Duffy said he hadn’t put tape into the machine.  Webber lost it and they did another take that ended up being perfect as well.
            • When all the orchestra had left they listened back and found that it had accidentally been recorded twice.
            • Upon hearing the final single the folks at the record company were thrilled.
          4. Crucifixion
          5. John Ninteteen: Forty One

          Reception and Review

          • The last items to be recorded were the orchestra and choirs were overdubbed.
          • The mixing was extremely challenging with Alan O’Duffy having to commit a huge amount of complicated mixing moves to memory.  There were imperfections but they left a lot of them in.  Andrew Lloyd-Webber says if you listen right before the two big “Superstar” chords in the overture you can hear Alan Dogget counting “one, two, three four.”
          • Brian Brolly arranged a listening session for the British MCA/Universal executives at Advision Studios located in London.  Lloyd-Webber says some of them were grumpy and asked how long it was and if there was a pee break.  After the playback there was a long silence and someone said, “There’s not a lot here for Ruby Murray.”  Ruby Murray was an Irish ballad singer who was popular in the fifties but whose last hit had been in 1959.
          • Brian Brolly loved it and suggested they add “Superstar” to the title as it was originally supposed to be called simply “Jesus Christ.”
          • They then had a meeting to discuss a contract problem due to some legal wording.  The meeting luckily went off well and Lloyd-Webber got back the entire theater and film rights to the musical.

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          Episode #78 – Jesus Christ Superstar (Part 2: The Singers)

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          Show Updates:

          • Amazon music just launched a podcast feature.  You can follow us here.
          • Apple Podcasts Review:
            • ElectricEye87, 09/10/2020 – FIVE STARS
            • Let’s Go Space Talkin’
            • I rate this podcast 5 Ritchie Blackmore floppy hats. Never thought I’d enjoy listening to a podcast where guys talk over songs I love, but here I am. Extremely informative, a solid blend of humor and content, and the guys are very easy to listen to. When listening to Whoosh! for the first time, I even found myself thinking about what they might have to say about it when their review dropped. It’s perfect aside from the occasional swear word. I would expect that kind of language at Denny’s, but NOT HERE! Other than that, all I hear is burn.
          • Comments from social media.
          • Tommy Bolin Memorial Statue Fundraiser

          Lead up to the Album:

          • They decided a good move would be to get a leading clergyman to endorse the single.  They found Martin Sullivan at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  He wrote, “There are some people who may be shocked by this record. I ask them to listen to it and think again.  It is a desperate cry.  Who are you, Jesus Christ? Is the urgent enquiry and a very proper one at that.”
          • Sullivan also offered up St. Paul’s Cathedral for the premiere if and when Jesus Christ Superstar was finished.
          • The single was released and they did a late night show, David Frost’s Saturday ITV.
          • The Daily Express had gotten quotes that they were looking to cast John Lennon as Jesus.  This was untrue as they hadn’t even gotten a complete script to cast anyone yet.
          • The budget to record the album was £20,000/$25,580 (£318,000/$406,726 in today’s money).
          • Most of the melodies and themes were completed in January.  Side 1 is dated February 21 with side four dated March 4.
          • In December of ‘69 there was a note that Mary Magdelne’s first song should be in 5/4.
          • They began to seek out vocalists.  They wanted a well known name as Jesus.
          • Their first pick for Jesus was Colin Blunstone, the lead singer of the Zombies.  Rod Argent, a member of the Zombies would be involved in the recording.
          • Andrew Lloyd-Webber had been invited to Royal Albert Hall to see Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra.  Malcolm Arnold had been a friend of Lloyd-Webber’s father.
          • Lloyd-Webber says in his biography, after meeting Tony Edwards: “I found the music bland, so I droned on about how daring it was to fuse a rock group with an orchestra.”  He found out that Deep Purple was taking a heavier direction moving forward and he mentioned something about Jesus Christ Superstar to Tony Edwards.
          • Lloyd-Webber says a few months later that he got a call saying Deep Purple had a new singer and asked if he and Tim would like to go listen to him.  We know this is inaccurate as Gillan would have been the singer at the Concerto.
          • They played Gillan’s rough tapes and he heard Gilaln’s scream and thought that he had found his Jesus.  He said after hearing Gillan he went back and rewrote the moment Jesus confronts the moneylenders.
          • When Murray and Gillan were cast Webber began working on solidifying the band.  Since Joe Cocker was on a break he was able to get Alan Spenner an dBruce Rowland for bass and drums.  He spoke to Clapton’s manager to get try to get Eric Clapton on lead guitar but was unable to secure him.  Therefore he reverted to Henry McCulloguh from the Grease Band.  Chris Mercer of Juicy Lucy as the sax and another guitarist, Neil Hubbard, also from Juicy Lucy.
          • Someone played Quatermass for Webber and he was keen to get Peter Robinson into the band as well.  They also took John Gustafson from Quatermass in the role of Simon.
          • Most of the songs came about the first time around except “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”  Originally they’d had Annabel Leventon to play Mary.  She had been in Hair with Murray Head.  They recorded with her and said it was good but wasn’t quite what they were looking for.
          • There was a jazz singer performing at the Pheasantry in Chelsea who Don Norman, who was working as their manager, wanted to pitch as Pilate.  While they weren’t sold on the singer there was another performer that night that caught their eye: Yvonne Elliman.
          • They wanted someone very theatrical to be Pilate and pitched it to Barry Dennen.  Barry’s agent arranged a meeting and he agreed to record the album.
          • Tim was friends with Mike d’Abo who had recently become singer of Manred Mann.  And with that, filling in with some MCA employed artists their casting was complete.

          Personnel

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          Episode #75 – Tommy Bolin – Private Eyes

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          Show Updates:

          Lead up to the Album:

          • Immediately after Deep Purple Mark 4 imploded Tommy Bolin formed The Tommy bolin Band.  Deep Purple ceased in mid March of 1976 and by June he was in the studio with his band recording Private Eyes.
          • Tommy had recorded demos of several of the tracks at Glen Holly Studio in Hollywood Hills.
          • Recording Session began at Cherokee Studios on June 8, 1976.
          • Private Eyes Session Dates
            • https://www.tommybolin.com/history/private-eyes/
            • Bobby Berge reports that the recording dates at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood included:
            • June 8: “Shake the Devil” and “Post Toastee”
            • June 9: “You Told Me That You Loved Me” and “Gypsy Soul”
            • June 10: “Hello Again”
            • June 11: “Someday Will Bring Our Love Home” (Carmine Appice filled in on drums.)
            • June 14: “Gotta Dance,” “Sweet Burgundy” and “Bustin’ Out for Rosie” (Bobby back on drums)
            • June 15: Tommy did a number of overdubs
            • June 16: Tommy did a number of overdub
          • They talk of using a drum booth to record trying to mimic the sound the Beatles got at Abbey Road.  It’s also mentioned that in some cases they plugged the guitar direct into the mixing board instead of micing a cab.

          Personnel

          • Bass, Vocals – Reggie McBride
            • http://reggiemcbride.com/
            • Played with Rare Earth, Minnie Ripperton (Lovin’ You), Stevie Wonder, Billy Preston, Van Morrison, Elton John, Ry Cooder
          • Drums, Percussion – Bobby Berge
          • Drums – Carmine Appice
            • Interview talking about Tommy
              • How do you remember late Tommy Bolin?
              • Tommy opened up for CACTUS in one of his bands. I always thought he was a great guitarist. I helped him get into DEEP PURPLE and we were always friends. He loved drinking and taking drugs – too bad he was great!!!
              • What do you mean by “I helped him get into DEEP PURPLE”?
              • I knew Tommy and I knew he was a great player. The guys in DEEP PURPLE asked me about him, what I thought of Tommy. I told them he was a great player and a nice guy – next thing I know he was in PURPLE…
              • Did Ritchie Blackmore ever asked you to play with him?
              • Yes, he asked me to join RAINBOW as the original drummer. I couldn’t do it, at the time I had a group with Mike Bloomfield called KGB and I was signed to MCA Records and they wouldn’t let me out of my contract. So, I couldn’t do it. So he then asked Cozy. I used to have a joke with Cozy about him being my professional replacement – first with Jeff Beck and then with Ritchie Blackmore.
          • Guitar, Lead Vocals – Tommy Bolin
          • Keyboards, Vocals – Mark Stein
          • Percussion – Bobbye Hall
          • Piano – Tommy Bolin on “Hello Again”
          • Producer – Dennis Mackay and Tommy Bolin
          • Saxophone, Percussion, Vocals – Norma Jean Bell
            • Played with Dave Mason, The P-Funk All Stars, Frank Zappa.
            • In the 90s she started a Detroit-based record label.
          • Wikipedia credits Del Newman for string arrangements.
          • Wikipedia says it is engineered By Thomas La Tonore and Stephen W Tayler.
            • Stephen W Tayler worked with Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Rupert Hine, Rush, Bob Geldof, and Tina Turner.
            • Stephen says that this was one of the first albums he mixed and that those first few albums weren’t recorded by him.
            • Stephen W Tayler Experiential evocation by Anil Prasad
              • Private Eyes was my first proper job as a full engineer at Trident. I wasn’t involved with the recording. That was done in the States. At this time, Tommy had been playing with the touring line-up of Deep Purple, and I remember the atmosphere and entourage were quite rock and roll, with lots of partying and outrageous behaviour. 
              • But we had a wonderful time when it was just us in the mix room. There was great music and sounds blaring out of the massive studio monitors, along with very silly humor. We all wore hats. Sometimes all of us were wearing berets. We took several photos of the four of us swapping seats, but with the hats staying in the same position. We spent much of the time in hysterics, but the work did get done.
              • It was an incredible experience for me to be a part of this amazing-sounding record. Fond memories. On the last night of working on the album after Tommy had gone back to his hotel, Dennis said “I don’t think we will see Tommy again,” which felt very strange at the time. A couple of months after that we heard the tragic news that Tommy had died from an accidental overdose while on tour.

          Album Art & Booklet Review

          Bolin 2

          Album Tracks:

          Bolin 3

          Side one:

          1. Bustin’ Out For Rosey (Bolin)
          2. Sweet Burgundy (Cook, Bolin)
          3. Post Toastee (Bolin)
          Bolin 4

          Side two:

          1. Shake the Devil (Cook, Bolin)
          2. Gypsy Soul (Cook, Bolin)
          3. Someday Will Bring Our Love Home (Tesar, Bolin)
            1. Drums by Carmine Appice?
          4. Hello, Again (Cook, Bolin)
            1. Bolin plays piano on this track
          5. You Told Me That You Loved Me (Bolin)

          Reception and Review

          • As soon as the recording was complete the band was back on the road opening the tour in Albuquerque, New Mexico on July 16.
          • On the tour they played material from Teaser and Private Eyes.
          • There was a break in the tour and on August 29 they continued with Johnnie Bolin on drums and Jimmy Haslip on bass after Berge and McBride left the band.
          • The album was released in September of 1976.

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          Episode #74 – The Rod Evans Singles

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          Lead up to the Recording:

          • July of 1969 to 1972, Rod did very little musically.
          • During this time he seems to have attended medical school in America.
          • Some sources such as Discogs say this single was released in October of 1970.
          • Jerry Bloom says it was released in October of 1971 (via Rod Evans Facebook Page in 2014).

          Note from Maria, Rod’s ex-girlfriend:

          Album Art & Booklet Review

          • Original official release.
          • Bootleg versions. “The Booby Bootlegs”

          Album Tracks:

          Side one:

          1. Hard To Be Without You (George Fischoff & Tony Powers)
            1. Rod Evans – 1970 – Hard To Be Without You
            2. George Fischoff
              1. A Julliard graduate. Youngest composer on Broadway in 1970.
              2. Tons of credits on Discogs including “98.6” by Barry St. John (and versions by others). “We Were Made For Each Other” by The Monkees.
              3. Wrote the song “Lazy Day” by Spanky and Our Gang.
            3. Tony Powers
              1. https://tonypowersmusic.com/home.html
              2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Powers
              3. Co-wrote the song “98.6 with George Fischoff.  Wrote the song “Odyssey” which was covered by KISS.

          Side two:

          1. You Can’t Love a Child Like a Woman (Barry Gordon)
            1. Rod Evans – 1970 – You Can’t Love A Child Like A Woman
            2. Barry Gordon
              1. https://www.discogs.com/artist/1079471-Barry-Gordon
              2. At the age of 6 he recorded “Nuttin’ for Christmas”

          Producer – Bobby Paris

          • Blue-Eyed soul singer from The Golden Keys
          • Produced some singles for Capitol Records through until the early 80s.

          Bootleg Release:

          According to DPAC.at bootleg was released in November of 1970.

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          Episode #73 – David Coverdale’s Whitesnake – Snakebite

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          Lead up to the Album:

          • The newly formed Whitesnake was supposed to play their first gig at The Sky Bird Club in Nottingham on February 23, 1978.  Neil Murray confirms in Martin Popoff’s book “Sail Away” that this never happened.
          • 5-6 April 1978 London rehearsals
          • Recorded April 7th – 13th 1978 Central Recorders to record Snakebite EP
          • Bernie Marsden explains that “the record company wouldn’t commit to an album.”
          • They apparently had a friend — Robbie Dennis — at EMI who was a bit fan of the band but his boss wouldn’t let him sign them.  Bernie Marsden credits Dennis in having a huge part of the Whitesnake story.
          • Released June 2, 1978 in the UK.

          Personnel

          Album Art & Booklet Review

          • Marsden said the covers changed all over the world.  He claims they didn’t even see the covers until Lovehunter.

          Technical:

          Album Tracks:

          Side one:

          1. Bloody Mary
            • Written by Coverdale
          2. Steal Away

          Side two:

          1. Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City
            • Written by Michael Price and Dan Walsh in 1974
            • First recorded by Bobby “Blue” Bland
            • Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
            • Martin Popoff says they used this song as an audition piece for the “revolving door of players they were trying to bring into the band.”
            • Marsden says that to this day people still think Whitesnake wrote this song.
          2. Come On
            • Written by Coverdale, Marsden
            • This one would become a live staple.  This was the first song Marsden and Coverdale wrote together in a flat in London.

          Reception and Review

          • Marsden says there was a fifth song for this EP called “The First Time” but it was lost and has never resurfaced.
          • Murray says there wasn’t much difference between the EP and the album Trouble because they went into the studio to do the full album just a few months later.
          • For North America this was combined with four tracks from Northwinds and sold as an LP.
          • The first 15,000 copies were pressed on white vinyl.  The second edition was pressed as black vinyl but a much smaller number.
          • Murray says this was the turning point where it shifted from Coverdale solo to the band Whitesnake.
          • On May 1, 1978 the band filmed a promo video for Snakebite at Shepperton Studios.
          • Bloody Mary was on TOTP on that day
          • 20th June 1978 London, UK: Recording backing for Bloody Mary for Top Of The Pops. 21st June 1978 London, UK: Filming for Top Of The Pops. Aired 22nd June.
          • Snakebite video:
            • 0:00 Come On
            • 3:30 – Aint’ No Love in the Heart of the City
            • 8:05 – Bloody Mary
            • 11:07 – Steal Away (fade out)
          • The Snakebite video was shown in the UK as support feature to the Bilitis soft porn movie by David Hamilton and premiered on June 22. David got some offers to appear in movies afterwards
          • Pictures from the premier.
          • Whitesnake – Bloody Mary (Top Of The Pops 1978)

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          Bonus Episode #6 – Interview with Ray Fenwick

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          In this bonus episode we interview Ray Fenwick. We talk about his beginnings as a session player, his time working with Joe Meek, The Spencer Davis Group, Fancy, his solo album “Keep America Beautiful, Get a Haircut,” Jon Lord’s “Windows” project, The Butterfly Ball, Wizard’s Convention, Eddie Hardin, Ian Gillan Band (“Clear Air Turbulence” in particular), his single “Queen of the Night,” what he’s working on now, and more!