Rock Classics – Let It Bleed / On Track – Ian Hunter, Neil Young 1963-1970, The Divine Comedy

Author:John van der Kiste, G Mick Smith, Opher Goodwin, Alan Draper

The first in a new series taking an in depth look at selected classic albums. First up is The Stones 1969 effort Let It Bleed, the second of a run of four consecutive releases between 1968 – 1972 which arguably mark the band’s creative peak. It certainly does befit the ‘classic’ tag with songs such as Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler and You Can’t Always Get What You Want. This is a slim volume of 75 pages, but it does cram in a lot of detail on the album – the background to the recording, the inspiration for the songs and of course their recording, including a track by track look at the whole shooting match. A promising start to what looks like a very interesting series.
I don’t feel I know as much of Ian Hunter’s back catalogue as I should. I’m pretty strong on the early efforts and the latter ones, but with quite a big void in the middle years where I lost touch with his work. Following the tried and trusted song by song analysis of each album, the book does a good job of giving a flavour of all the back catalogue, going right up to last year’s Defiance Part One set. Dedicated fans will have read Campbell Devine’s two volume authorised biography which goes into far more detail, but this potted history is ideal for the more casual listener, especially when read in conjunction with playing the albums. Now in his eighties, it’s pleasing to see he shows no signs of slowing down, with Defiance Part Two soon to be with us.
1963-1970 isn’t really my period of choice from Neil Young’s sprawling and ever expanding back catalogue. I’m not too interested in his early sixties work, and I can take or leave much of Buffalo Springfield to be honest. It’s the genesis of his solo career I find more appealing, although only a few albums fall within the scope of this book. Having said that, it does cover some fine songs – Southern Man, Helpless, Ohio, Words, After The Goldrush to pluck out a few, along with the Crazy Horse collaborations Cowgirl in the Sand, Down By The River and Cinnamon Girl. Again, this is one really for the newcomer or casual fan, but it does a good job going through all the recordings in this time frame, and gives some interesting insights into the song writing and recording. I’m looking forward to the subsequent volumes which will hopefully follow.
The Divine Comedy are one of those bands I never got on with I’m afraid. I always found their songs a bit too clever for their own good, and the attempted humour and wit rather went over my head. That’s just me of course, as they had plenty of success over the years, with no less than 13 studio albums appearing between 1990 and 2022. The book also looks at the pair of Duckworth Lewis albums as well as delving into the singles and other associated recordings. If you enjoy the eclectic hybrid mixture of styles and influences that mark the work of Neil Hannon, then this is the book for you – comprehensive and well researched, it takes a deep dive into the familiar and less well known areas of his work and really tells you all you’ll need to know about his still ongoing body of work.

Length of Read:Short

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Fans of the artists or those who want an introduction to their work.

One thing you’ve learned

Looking forward to more titles in the Rock Classics series.

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