-Margo Timmins and The Solo Album I Keep Thinking About: O.k. I’m going to start this section off with something which needs to be said straight upfront. I am very sensitive to the idea that I could possibly get Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies angry at me in writing about the things I’m going to tackle here. Now, I very seriously doubt Margo is ever going to read this. But if somebody who knows her tells me that I should remove this post, then I will happily do so at her request even though enough time has passed that I think it’s o.k. to talk about this. My promise stands though.
I can’t stop thinking about it even though I have tried my damned best to put it out of my mind. Hell, Margo and I have even spoken about this subject before. Yet I’m still thinking about it. It’s been on my mind for the past year. Margo Timmins is extremely loyal to her brothers in the band. She says that her brothers come first and that she would never leave to take part in a solo career. I’m thinking in terms of her cutting a solo album just as wa way of saying that she made one and never regretting that she never did so out of curiosity.
There was one time when I was talking to her where I told her that I recalled a very ancient (during the ’80s) report in Rolling Stone Magazine that unnamed record companies were going after Margo in an attempt to lure her out of Cowboy Junkies to start a solo career and have the marketing aspects concentrated soley on her. This was during the period of time where Margo and her older sister were beginning to be seen in various magazines like People where they were shown in fashion pieces. Looking back on it, I think she was making some sacrifices and some compromises in order for the band to gain some visibility in the worldwide public in the wake of their truely remarkable breakthrough album The Trinity Session. It got to a point where Margo was even mentioned as being one of the 50 Beautiful People (or women-I can’t seem to recall exactly) in People.
When I first got to actually talk to Margo face to face up in Portland about 5 years ago, I brought this whole thing up to her. I asked her about it. Was it true that there were record companies seeking to get her out of the band so that they could market her themselves? She told me that, in fact, there were industry people who were making her offers to split from the band. We discussed this a brief bit more and she basically confirmed to me that she was going to be marketed like she was a flavor of the month. If you looked at it even more closely, you knew between the lines that she was really going to be marketed as the Alt/Roots Rock sex kitten of the month and that the companies in question were going to seek to see just how long they could keep this kind of thing going. She told me that she just wasn’t going to do it and that she was still firmly against doing anything in an official capacity outside of Cowboy Junkies.
Well, this subject seemd to have been laid to rest in my creaky little head for quite some time. And yet, for some strange reason over the past year, it has popped back into my head as a subject and it has taken on a more serious nature.
Here’s the thing. I still want her to remain in Cowboy Junkies. That should never waver. But I have come to a point in my thinking (warped as it may be to some) that she should, before her career should come to an end someday, try to put out a solo album. However, I would want it to be on her own terms and that she should not be marketed as the sex kitten of the month by whomever would handle getting the album made and distributing it.
Like myself and many others, she’s a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen and a lot of great music from the past. I keep thinking about the great strengths she displayed during The Trinity Session and over the ensuing years when she did roots oriented material. Her brother Mike has been charting the band into some great exploratory areas (especially Psyche) over the last decade which has been culminating with the very fine Nomad Series of four releases. The first two of the series have hit me just beautifully. The latest one, Sing In My Meadow, has not hit me in quite the direct sweet spot, but I still very much enjoy the album. It’s just that I’m worried about Margo never getting back to the roots in as overt a way as The Trinity Session again. This is where I’d love to see Margo do just one thing on her own as a way of satisfying a possible artistic itch whithout getting exploited and without destrying her relationship with her brothers.
I have, for the longest time, had this image of her cutting Gram Parsons/Clarence White Era Byrds-like tracks for somebody. In fact, I have this great wish that she could get together with Chris Hillman, J.D. Maness and some great Nashville Country and alt-Country session people to cut an album. I can no longer deny this to myself that I have these feelings about her. On top of it all Springsteen has also worked with Chris Hillman and J.D. Maness during the same time period that the Tunnel of Love album was being worked on. Those sessions have never been released.
The other thing which is playing a big role in my thinking about her cutting a solo album is that I have been thinking a lot about the evolution of her singing voice going as far back as the first album Whites Off Earth Now to when she started to open up her vocals starting with the Lay It Down album to the Margo who now goes back and forth with ease to opening it up or easing back into her incredible subtlety. The fact that she has both at her disposal would make her cutting a roots oriented album all that much more potentially powerful and I would hope that an opportunity will not be lost if one should present itself.
I am throwing this idea out there for the world to see because I am also worried about where I stand with Margo as a fan and extremely distant friend (in fact, acquaintances would be more accurate).
The last time I saw Margo was up in Portland in October of 2010. All of the previous times I’ve seen her, we were both very relaxed and comfortable with each other and I got no feeling that I was being a bother. Our conversations, while brief, have always been nice ones. She knows I’m in it for the musical angle of things and that it’s o.k. to talk about other things as well. She knows that I consider her an equal.
But for some strange reason, that last Portland stop was a very strange experience. I felt like things just did not feel right from the moment I stepped out of my car which I parked at my usual spot up at The Aladdin Theatre neighborhood and started walking towards the tour bus.
There was a kid otuside the bus who had been snapping photos of the band when I arrived on the scene. When I got there, Margo and Alan Anton were stepping off of the bus and they both appeared to have very angry looks on their faces. This threw me into some very private immediate confusion. I did things the English way by carrying on with a stiff upper lip as if nothing was bothering me. But there was something very off about her and I didn’t know if it was the kid who was snapping pictures (at one point he even had me take pictures of him with Mike and then with Margo). I told the kid that I didn’t know how to take pictures witha digital camera as I had literally never used one up to the point where he got me to take the pictures. He repaid me the favor by taking one of myself with Margo and sent it to me via e-mail.
In our short conversation we had, I told her about the terrible neighbor situation I was in and how I had my house up for sale. This show was going to be my only performance respite of what was turning into possibly the greatest period of stress in my life I’ve ever been through and it was only going to get much worse before it was over. It was to culminate with the loss of Sheba, my greatly beloved German shepherd, before I moved.
I was not involved with this guy who was taking pictures. I never even knew he existed before when I walked up to the bus. To this day, I don’t know if Margo and Al were directing their ire at him and/or me or if there had been a very heated discussion in the bus prior to the band leaving to head into the soundcheck and to get ready for the evening’s performance.
I got into the show and I settled into my usual place at a Cowboy Junkies show and sat down way up front almost directly in line with Margo. This is where I like to sit because I usually get great sightlines from this angle looking at what Mike is doing because he is the one directing the band. The musical focal point, in my eyes, is Mike. However, it is what Margo does which ultimately reflects the power of the show. If she’s locked in with Mike, then I know she’s going to really nail things emotionally.
However, on this night, the strange vibe continued. I was watching her and the band roll through about half of the show with no real hitch in evidence. But it was just a little bit over the halfway point where Margo seemed to lose her concentration. She started missing vocal spots (possibly cues). At one point she screwed up the lyrics to one of the songs and she threw her head back and started laughing. She did it once again and she mocked herself along the lines of saying “Oh, Margo!” From there, the show didn’t seem to work anymore from my vantage point.
When the show finally ended and Margo did her usual meet & greet at the end of the show, I was waiting in a line of people waiting for her to come out and see people. I had my head turned completely to the opposite of where she was going to come out to see people. I was staring at the front doors of The Aladdin Theatre and I was daydreaming about wishing I had a girlfriend to help me get through this uncomfortable feeling I had wafting over me at this very moment. Among the line of people I was among, I was about a quarter of ways down from being the first in line.
So imagine my surprise when the following thing happens. I am standing there daydreaming about a lady and I’m waiting for her when, all of a sudden, I feel this hand grabbing one of my hands. I was momentarily startled and I turned around and there was Margo. She had cut in front of the 1/4 of the people who were ahead of me and headed straight to me. I will never forget coming out of my being momentarily startled to see Margo shaking my hand with both of hers and almost forcefully telling me, “I hope everything works out for you and the selling of your house”. I thaked her for the show she put on and then I told her about my enthusiasm for Highlife Music from Africa and if she had ever heard of the Soundway and Analog Africa labels because I wanted to pass along some good music stuff for her to check out. She told me that she hadn’t and I said, if she could remember, to check out some of the titles both labels carry because it’s great music from the old days that I think she’d enjoy discovering. I stuck around and witnessed other people talking to her and telling her how great the show was. I ended up with this incredibly weird feeling inside of myself which I still am having a hard time coming to grips with understanding just exactly what it was.
When I left for the evening, the seeds of my wondering if Margo doesn’t like me anymore was planted. Honest to God! If I did anything wrong, I didn’t mean to. And I’m not going to turn into some kind of nut or something because of it. I do plan on going to see them again. I would like to talk to her once again and see if perhaps it was just an off night for her by seeing what kind of reception I get when I see her once again. If it happens again and things are weird after this next time, I likely will not go to anymore shows of theirs-as much as I love this wonderful band.
I still have not framed the copies of the photo that I have of Margo and myself. I look at it and she appears so uptight and stiff in the photo. It’s the complete opposite of the Margo I’ve known over the last few years. I have my own digital camera now. I’ve only used it a few times. I will take it with me and I hope she will be o.k. with taking a much more relaxed photo of her and I together. I would be much more conducive to getting that one framed right away. She wasn’t the one who saw me walking from my car about a block and a half away from the bus, spotted me from a distance, waved at me and as I was walking over in her direction,she reached out and gave me a hug. When I go back to see her again, I hope that’s the one I’ll see. I just want her to be successful and to be the same great Mom who happens to be a great musician too.
-The Rolling Stones December Meeting & Thoughts About Wyman & Taylor: I don’t know if the December formal meeting has taken place or not, but the first jamming session apparently has. Bill Wyman supposedly joined in and played. Mind you, I am not certain if this is completely true. But if it is, I have to think that Mick Taylor may be holding back for a little bit before he makes the decision to take the jump into the proceedings. I’m thinking along the lines that Wyman would get back to Taylor to gauge how the atmosphere is before making any commitments.
Another thought I have about Taylor is that he’s got to be wondering if he should do this so that he could leave some money for his (I think) two daughters he has. He’s just got to make what is going to be the right decision for him and if he’s going to feel o.k. playing the old stuff with Keith again.
A big key in my thinking about all of these rehearsals is the fact that Keith was saying they were going to start out by doing Blues. What I really hope is that the rehearsals makes them all get the Roots bug and want to cut a new album of killer Blues and R & B tracks.
This whole waiting for Jagger to come along and join in on the rehearsals thing as well as thenew word that Jagger is the one this time around who may not be keen to go out on the road has got me to further wondering if any of this is real or if it is all part of the hype being built up for whatever is going to come out of all of this. Live Nation, Ticketmaster and every promoter around the world must be jumping over themselves trying to figure out a way to make this turn into a tour. If they get Wyman and Taylor involved in this, strip back the number of people onstage (i.e.-no extra background singers), no elaborate stage set-ups (What was it that Keith once said back in the ’70s? It was something along the lines of ” Oh no! Don’t tell Mick about elephants. He’ll want ‘em onstage”.)
This band is so huge and the elixer which surrounds them is so big that I’m also a little worried that there may be times when some of the hype can get to to them at times. I worry that perhaps some of the possible imagined or purposeful drama queen scenarios might actually pop up. I just don’t want them to get lost in all of this because this whole thing has the potential to be really exciting. I can see a whole slew of marketing things and merchandise pieces coming out out of this is this is handled well. It’s also an opportunity for the band to get back to doing what they do best-to be a Roots band.
I am just keeping my fingers crossed. I really want Mick Taylor to come back. It would be such a powerful thing to witness. He may not be the same as he was when he was younger, but it would be redemptive to see on more than a few levels for all of us and not just him. I could live with a three guitar attack from the Stones.
-Universal and How They Deal With The Beatles Catalog: Now that Terra Firma is going to no longer be involved with EMI, you have to believe that Universal is going to want to release some new Beatles projects since they are taking over the music and distribution aspects of EMI and Sony is going to want to rake in profits since they bought the publishing holdings of EMI.
We know that we’ve got possible DVDs on the horizon. Magical Mystery and Let It Be may be looming. You have to believe the people who worked on the Beatles remasters and are currently working on the McCartney solo Archive stuff are going to eventually get around to George Harrison’s stuff and also possibly put out a box set of unreleased material from his archives. And then there’s at least two really good Ringo Starr albums which could use some remastering (Ringo and Goodnight Vienna).
So, I’ll just put it out there that there’s an audience willing to get Deluxe Editions of albums which include studio sessions from each work. There’s also the possibility for re-mixed albums in which we can hear different elements of the music presentation while still having the material from the stereo and mono box sets to compare and contrast the mixes as they were originally presented to the public. There’s also a lot more film and video footage which has yet to come to surface that a lot of people would like to see. Over at the hoffman Forum, a lot of people are clamoring for a promo films DVD to be released.
And while I’m netioning The Beatles, I would also like it if the same people who have been worked ont he great Beatles mono and stereo boxes would also get to try their hand at working on The Hollies and the Herman’s Hermits catalogs and get those in definitive order. As it concerns Herman’s Hermits, I don’t know how things could be worked out with ABKCO and Jody Klein as they own the American rights to their material. Otherwise, would those of us int he U.S. be willing to pick up material as imports from the U.K.? There’s already the I’m Into Soemthing Good box set which came out a few years ago, but who did the mastering on that set? Is it the same people who would work on the mono and stereo box sets for The Beatles?
It’s going to be very interesting to see how things shape up now that EMI has been bought out by Universal and Sony.
-Wish For A Thorough, Definitive Rail Band Anthology: Both Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffet loved this band from Mali. They were huge in Mali and in Africa during the ’70s and the early ’80s. There are a couple of 2-disc compilations that one can get of them. I’m sure they are out of print now or are in danger of going out of print. But I am putting out a plea to the Soundway and Analog Africa lables to please consider taking on doing a well annotated and chronologically correct, definitive sounding Rail Band Anthology of some type. I’d even love it if a major label would take this project on, but I doubt they would want to touch it.
This is all a part of my great desire by Soundway and Analog Africa to reach out beyond the countries they’ve done so far (while staying in the same time period of the late ’60s to the very early ’80s-my preference is for up to the mid to late ’70s).
-Continuing Unquenchable Thirst For African MusicFrom The ’70s On Backwards: Beyond the Highlife Music I’ve found, I’ve been discovering Congolese Rhumba, Afro-Jazz and guitar-centric music. I just can’t get over what an incredible music scene was going on in the African continent back in the ’70s.
I have been discovering stuff from before then as well. I recently got a 4-CD box set from the Dust To Digital label called Opike Pende: Africa at 78 rpm. The music covers a wide range of styles from many different countries going back to the ’30s up to the ’60s. There’s material on here which will blow your mind for how beautiful the music is. It just opens up so many avenues and it’s inspirational to know that this stuff was documented.
-Initial Thoughts About 1974: Likely The Year Which Influenced My Life The Greatest and How I Plan To Lay Out Why It Was So: I am about to start my first initial forays into documenting the year 1974 in my life. I have decided not to keep things strickly within the Grade parameters of school when I talk about it even though I will stay in chronological order for the most part. I will do my Top 40 Playlists posts, but I plan on incorporating more music titles into my story to show just how ’74 seemd to be the big crescendo year for me and how I look back and consider it to be the final year of the ’60s.
A lot of changes occurred in 1974 and those changes had an impact that I still feel to this day because a lot of my attitudes (especially about music) sprung from the changes which sprung forth back then.
I will still write about current music things as it pertians to reissues, passings and news about bands I care about fromt he old days. I will continue to post occasional personal posts about things when I’m feeling challenged or when things happen to me.
-Random Notes: I miss those times when I used to sing to Sheba a variation of the old Isley Brothers song “It’s Your Thing”. I changed it to suit her by calling it “It’s Your Fang”. She’d be laying down behind the front window of the Z house I had. She’d be laying on her cedar bed I had laid out for her while she was waiting for the sun to caress her belly.
I’d go over to her and I would start singing to her “It’s your fang/Do whatcha’ wanna do/I can’t tell ya who to sock it to/It’s your fang”. Now, I’m not sure she even knew why or what I was singing about, but she used to be patient and let me do it. Her patience was usually rewarded by the belly rub that would come afterwards. And I know for a fact that she loved those.
I’ve still been going over to the church once a month to light a candle for her. I will continue to do so. I’ve had it in my mind that I need to do something really special for the one year anniversary of her passing in a few months from now. I just can’t seem to figure out what to do beyond just the lighting of the candle.
The passing of Dobie Gray hit me really hard this past week. I am really hoping that Bruce Springsteen will do another version of “Drift Away” in honor of him during the upcoming tour. It would be very appropriate to do in light of the fact that he also lost his kindred spririt in Clarence Clemons. If Bruce should decide to take horns out on the road with him to replace The Big Man, the song would be that much more easier to perform as well.
Based on some speculation over at the Hoffman Forum and the fact that Rolling Stone reported that Springsteen told Bob Seger that he has what is being described as an unusual album coming out, I am beginning to wonder if Bruce may be releasing an album which has a very overt Soul sound to it-especially ’60s Soul? We’ll have to see. Like I said in a previous post, I am still more concerned about where he goes lyrically in light of the times we are in right now.
I think it’s o.k. to say this publicly, but the revelation by Steve Hoffman over at his board that there exists in the tape archive of The Rolling Stones early Chess Sessions of the band actually playing with Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry and the likely fact that we will never get to see this stuff get released by ABKCO (because the material comes under their ownership of the Decca/London material) is enough to make me sick. Historically speaking, this would be incredibly significant stuff to offically release to the world. Plus, it’s Brian Jones Era material. This, in and of itself, makes it worthy of release and it makes me incredibly sad to think that this is going to continue rotting away unheard except by private listening parties.
