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A little extra something': a career overview of one of Neil's greatest collaborators Nils Lofgren.
I really, really wanted to add a Nils
Lofgren book to the Alan’s Album Archives collection, but knew in my heart of
hearts that it would never sell (and thirty-one books would have made for a
very odd number). So here’s a compromise: the most important figure in Neil’s
book (bar him and Crazy Horse) with his own section at the end, with a run-down
of all the big ballads, angsty rock, the experimental one-offs and every
trampoline in the Lofgren discography. (Of course, since writing this Nils has
become an official member of the Horse anyway, so even better!) Going back
through it all album by album I’m struck by the parallels to Neil: there are
the critically acclaimed early 1970s records (though Nils never hit the
commercial heights of Neil), the plunge into despair following the split with
Nils’ first wife, the sudden return in 1979, the gradual slide into obscurity
and experimentation in the 1980s, the 1990s revival, the 2000s slump and the
epic box set to put things into perspective. Like Neil Nils’ catalogue is a
true range of the good, the bad and the indifferent but ultimately the good
moments are so brilliant you don’t mind putting up with the rest and even they’re
quite interesting simply because of the depth and range of the artist making
them, though if Nils lacks anything it’s the team that Neil had around him –
had there been a David Briggs or even a Crazy Horse then things might have been
so different and Nils would have the best-selling book in the Alan’s Album
Archive series. Personally I’ve never understood why Lofgren isn’t at least as
famous as big name super-stars, so why not give his catalogue a try? After all,
Neil’s only given us a handful of archive sets this year for a change, maybe
you have some money left over for once?!?
1) Nils Lofgren and Grin "Grin" (1971) Like Rain/See What A Love Can Do/Everybody’s Missin’ The Sun/18
Faced Lover/Outlaw/We All Sung Together/If I Were A Song/Take You To The
Movies/Direction/Pioneer Mary/Open Wide/I Had Too Much
Chicago-born Lofgren was already a child prodigy on the
accordion before he heard rock and roll, bought a guitar and fell in love. He
already had a backlog of songs at age seventeen when he formed his first band
‘Grin’ modelled after his surname alongside bassist Bob Gordon and his vocal
sparring partner, gruff-voiced drummer Bob Berberich. Desperate to make it in
the music business, Nils attended a Neil Young gig at the ‘Cellar Door’ and
forced his way backstage to meet the man himself. Neil was, uncharacteristically,
impressed and asked Nils to look him up if he was ever in Laurel Canyon.
Lofgren did just that weeks later, hitch-hiking all the way, only to meet Neil
on his way out and having to make the journey all over again a second time.
When the pair did meet up Neil was making ‘After The Goldrush’ and already had
too many guitar players, but he did need a pianist. Nils had never played piano
before, but Neil argued it was close enough to an accordion – so Nils’ first
released recordings feature him learning an instrument he didn’t know how to
play! He was to get better very quickly indeed though and on Neil’s
recommendation Grin impressed David Geffen enough to sign to A& M Records.
This first record, released when Nils wasn’t quite yet twenty, is young dumb
and a whole lot of fun. Veering between teenage pop and screaming proto-punk
rockers, Grin have a greater range than most bands of their era and Nils
already has his style down pat: wide-eyed innocence at how great life can be
with a touch of cynical disbelief at how often human beings always seem to fall
short. His musical prowess is already staggering, while his vocal gymnastics
with Bob B are terrific, the two egging each other to go that bit further. The
material is perhaps a bit more patchy on this first record than on some later
discs though, with a lot of songs containing the same mid-paced stomp. When
this record is at its best, though, it’s pretty darn great indeed.
Three tracks to download: ‘Like Rain’ is one of
Nil’s best ballads, one which starts off cute and ends up killer soul. It will
become more subtle later with more experience, but Nils already nails it here.
Bob B shines on ‘Everybody’s Missin’ The Sun’, a gorgeous reflection on being
young and penniless and homeless, while knowing deep down that life will never
be this good again. ‘We All Sung Together’ is the start of Nils’ utopian side,
as a couple of years after Woodstock he imagines the world singing together on
a track that veers from soul to gospel.
2) Nils Lofgren and Grin "1+1" (1971) Rockin’ Side: White Lies/Please Don’t Hide/Slippery Fingers/Moon
Tears/End Unkind//Dreamy Side: Sometimes/Lost A Number/Hi Hello Home/Just A
Poem/Soft Fun
Everything works on album two bar the low sales figures, with an
inventive eclectic record generally considered Grin’s masterpiece. Already
Nils’ material is being easily divided up into hard-hitting rockers and dreamy
ballads, so Grin take the inventive step
of not making a side ‘A’ and ‘B’ but a ‘rocky’ and ‘dreamy’ side (you’re
meant to be able to listen to them in any order, but the CDs have always put
the ‘rock’ side first). It is, to my ears at least, what ‘Pet Sounds’ should
sounded like: a tale of a relationship growing and disintegrating written from
the heart, but with an orchestral accompaniment that actually rocks and adds to
the authenticity of the writing. The opening fifteen minutes sustain a
ridiculous level of intensity as Nils picks himself up from a failed
relationship to urge his girl to be honest with him and the second is almost
like a tale told in flashback, happier times when Nils could afford to give his
heart without it being broken. Graham Nash, intrigued after hearing Neil talk
about the band, dropped in to help with production and adds some neat Holliesy
harmonies to Nils’ most 1960s hook-filled pop song ‘Hi, Hello Home’. Bob B also
gets his definitive performance on a gloriously messy ‘End Unkind’, a killer
creepy track that ends with maniacal laughter. ‘White Lies’, meanwhile, is the
closest Grin ever got to having a hit, a glorious collection of energy, riffing
and poetry – it didn’t chart but a lot of DJs loved it and played it lots
across the start of 1972. Amazingly, these three songs aren’t even the best on
the record, recorded back to back with the first Crazy Horse album that shares
a similar vibe and feel.
Three tracks to download: ‘Moon Tears’ is still my
favourite Nils rocker, even here in two minute truncated form. Nils’ girl
decided it’s not working and wants to be friends, knowing he’s sweet enough to
understand – he is, but only after a ridiculously virtuoso eruption of anger,
bluster and hurt feelings. ‘Sometimes’ features Nils alone against an orchestra
putting on his dreamy teenage voice and one of his most poetic lyrics about how
not all relationships are meant to be. Best of all is ‘Soft Fun’ – Nils goes
too OTT too early here, but later live recordings will show this to be a
gorgeous song, a meeting of minds between two sensitive souls who are obsessed
with each other and scared of how it makes them feel.
3) Nils Lofgren and Grin "All Out" (1972) Sad Letter/Heavy Chevy/Don’t Be Long/Love Again/She Ain’t
Right/Love Or Else/Ain’t Love Nice?/Heart On Fire/All Out/Rusty Gun
Grin are by now lined up for the chop, with two flop albums in a
while, so Nils throws out the more interesting experimental tracks and adding
two new members, younger brother Tom Lofgren on second guitar and shrieky gust
vocalist Kathi McDonald (Janis Joplin’s replacement when Big Brother and The
Holding Company reformed without her). The result is a patchier record that’s
trying just a bit too hard to sound like everyone else around, but when it
works it still works really well, with more hooks than a pair of curtains.
Three tracks to download: ‘Sad Letter’ is an
interesting place to start: Bob B was full of the joys of Spring but has just
that second got a letter out the blue dumping him. Nils writes back trying to
explain things from his point of view, but they only succeed in triggering each
other instead as they set off on some amazing vocal acrobatics yet still
somehow manage to stay in delicious close harmony. ‘Don’t Be Long’ is an aching
ballad given an extra kick from Kathi’s vocals – too strong elsewhere on the
album, she’s spot-on here for a ‘how it did go so wrong?’ kind of song. ‘Love
Or Else’ is Nils’ lusty side showing itself for the first time, as he demands
his lover go all out or go home over a hypnotic rock riff.
4) Nils Lofgren and Grin "Gone Crazy" (1973) You’re The Weight/Boy & Girl/What About Me?/One More
Time/True Thrill/Beggar’s Day/Nightmare/Believe/Ain’t For Free
Grin knew this was to be their last chance
and they don’t sound as if they’re enjoying themselves too much. Nils sounds
distracted, re-writing older better songs and sounding as if he’d rather be
anywhere but the recording booth. The loss of ‘Danny Whitten’ also casts a
shadow over this record which has the feeling of lost innocence running through
it (though it’s not quite ‘Tonight’s The Night’ – Nils is too ‘up’ for that –
it’s more like the run of songs on ‘Homegrown’ where Neil is trying to find his
way out of the depths of despair). It’s a real shame as Grin sounds as if they
still had so much to give and the interaction between Nils and Bob B is great,
the pair alternating which is to be the crazy’ one and which is the
‘straightman’. The fact that only two of these songs made it to Nils’ box set
when two-thirds of the other records made it rather says it all.
Three Tracks to download:
‘You’re The Weight’ is one last gasp of Grin intensity as Nils pays tribute to
someone whose important and ‘heavy’ enough to be ‘worth waiting for’. Desperate
for material, here Nils nicks back ‘Beggar’s Day’ from the first Crazy Horse
album and dubs it a ‘eulogy for Danny Whitten’, who died shortly before the
recording of this record started. Compared to the Horse it’s hopeless, a plod
not a gallop, though it’s still a great song in any version. ‘Believe’ too
sounds nothing here but in later live recordings will prove to be one of Nils’
prettier songs, as he urges a lover (or perhaps himself) to brave his heart to
love again.
5) “Nils Lofgren" (1975) Be Good Tonight/Back It
Up/One More Saturday Night/If I Say It It’s So/I Don’t Want To Know/Keith Don’t
Go/Can’t Buy A Break/Duty/The Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Rock and Roll
Crook/Two By Two/Goin’ Back
Nils re-signed as a solo star and at first
at least had a better time of things, with this record out-selling the Grin
quartet and picking up lots of good reviews. Rightly so – other albums are
darker and more powerful, but in terms of consistency this is the best record
Nils has ever made. Affectionately known as ‘Fat Man’ to fans after the circus
cover (the same backdrop was used in a Monkees TV episode AAA fans!), this one
has everything Grin had and more too: rockers, ballads, experiments, gospel and
soul with a couple of Nils’ greatest lyrics on offer too. The fine players on
this record include Wornell Jones and Jefferson Starship’s Aynsley Dunbar.
Three tracks to download:
‘Keith Don’t Go’ is rightly hailed as one of Nils’ best songs, recorded as a
tribute to Keith Richards at a time when his drug intake was alarming his fans.
It’s a quite brilliant Stones pastiche in parts, but even the Stones couldn’t
play this well with this much energy. ‘The Sun Hasn’t Set’ is one of my
favourite Lofgren songs, a smart sassy tale of how everyone in his life has
always written him off from school upwards, but as long as he’s alive he still
has a chance to prove people wrong and get his heart’s desire. A smart snappy
piano hook reveals how far Nils has come since ‘After The Goldrush’ five years
before. Finally, ‘Goin’ Back’ might seem like an odd choice – it’s a cover of
the very drippy Carole King song that got short shrift in these books when The
Byrds covered it. Nils, though, gives this song of fading childhood an added
bite and a circling piano lick both of which make it soar.
6) Nils Lofgren "Back It Up – The Official Bootleg" (1975)
Take You To The Movies-Back It Up/Keith Don’t Go/I
Don’t Want To Know/The Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Goin’ Back/Like
Rain/Beggar’s Day-Soft Fun
The story goes that because Nils was doing
so well in terms of airplay but not sales A&M would concentrate on them,
offering up a ‘promo’ 1000-copy live set for them to play to drum up interest
for his first album. The record was so popular it became a bootleg, while the
record company turned a ‘blind eye’ to it because it was drumming so much
publicity and they thought it was a bit too soon for an official live album.
The album then became fully official in 2003 when it was released on CD as part
of Nils’ discography, with its original bootleg cover that consisted of
cut-and-paste newspaper cuttings! It’s a good little show though not the best,
with Nils and band on sleepy form compared to the energy of their best gigs. The
players on this record include Tom Lofgren, Scotty Ball, Mike Zak and Al
Kooper.
Three Tracks To Download: ‘I
Don’t Want To Know’ is the song that changes most from the record version,
going from upbeat pop in denial to a sad blues lament sung with real bite as
Nils comes to terms with a former lover moving on without him. ‘Keith Don’t Go’
isn’t up to the record but features a blistering guitar solo. ‘Like Rain’ is
already a world away from the studio version, an intense song of misery rather
than a fluffy but cute bit of pop.
7) Nils Lofgren “Cry Tough" (1976) Cry Tough/It’s Not A
Crime/Incidentally…It’s Over/For Your Love/Share A Little/Mud In Your Eye/Can’t
Get Closer/You Lit A Fire/Jailbait
Like the third Grin album, Nils tries to
follow up a critically acclaimed record with one that’s much the same only more
commercial. Like ‘All Out’ it doesn’t quite work though there are still many
great moments here. A lot of the songs are popular with fans though and are
still in Nils’ set-list to this day. Continuing his ‘unlikely covers’ theme,
this time Nils cover Graham Gouldman’s Yardbirds song ‘For Your Love’, slowing
it down and then speeding it up so it’s less cat-and-mouse but way more
intense. Lots of players turn up on ‘Cry Tough’, the first Lofgren album
recorded in different studios over a long period, though the most interesting
ones are old Crazy friends Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, who add some lovely
backing harmonies to the songs ‘Incidentally It’s Over’ and ‘Share A Little’.
Interestingly, while the two men don’t play on them, these are also the two
with the most Crazy Horse vibes, tight slinky intense rockers.
Three tracks to download: The
last time we had a song about being dumped for being unable to dance in an AAA
book it was a Merseybeat cover of a flimsy 1950s song and treated like a joke
There’s nothing that jokes about ‘Cry Tough’ though, which is a slow-burning
epic about overcoming obstacles and doing everything in your power to make your
dreams come true. Nils’ fast-fingered guitar solo is impossible to keep up with
using your ears, never mind what it must have been like to play. ‘Share A
Little’ is a gutbucket blues in the Stephen Stills mould, a repetitive riff and
Nils in angry, calculated form suddenly and violently lashing out just as
you’ve grown used to this unique style, with Billy and Ralph’s lovely harmonies
adding to the drama. ‘Can’t Get Closer’ is the hit single that never was, a
catchy single straight from the heart about love and loss and gradually
realising a relationship that once meant so much is falling apart, full of fizz
and sizzle.
8) Nils Lofgren "I Came To Dance" (1977) I Came To Dance/Rock Me At Home/Home Is Where The Hurt Is/Code
Of The Road/Happy Ending Kids/Goin’ South/To Be A Drummer/Jealous Gun/Happy
Alas Nils was running out of ideas for his
third album, which in many ways is his weakest effort. All the songs are
simpler than usual and in the dying days of prog are stretched out past
breaking point. ‘I gotta be my dirty self, I won’t play no jive!’ wails Nils in
the title track – ironically this is the first of his records where he does
jive us, with none of the ‘dirt’ of previous records on display. Even on
automatic pilot Nils has something to offer, but this is a record to give a
miss. Players this time around include Tom Lofgren, Wornell Jones, Andy
Newmark, ‘Ram’ session guitarist Hugh McCracken and The Rev Patrick Henderson.
Three Tracks To Download: ‘I
Came To Dance’ is the most popular track here. It’s no ‘Cry Tough’ and recycles
many of the same ideas, but it is as catchy as hell and on stage gave former
leading gymnast Nils plenty of excuses for fun with trampolines. ‘Code Of The
Road’ is a gloomy slow-burning rocker about how different being a touring
musician is to being at home, which is at least more from the heart than other
songs here. Finally, this album’s surprise cover song is ‘Happy’, the Keith
Richards rocker off ‘Exile On Main Street’. Alas slowed down to a crawl it
rolls more than it rocks, but the sentiment is pure Nils.
9) Nils Lofgren "Night After Night" (1977) Take Me To The Movies/Back It Up/Keith Don’t Go/Like Rain/Cry
Tough/It’s Not A Crime/Goin’ Back/You’re The Weight/Beggar’s Day/Moon
Tears/Code Of The Road/Rock and Roll Crook/Goin’ South/Incidentally…It’s Over/I
Came To Dance
Hopes were high following ‘Back It Up’ that
Nils’ first official live LP would really be something, but alas Nils is still
in something of a slump. Even the title has a tinge of weariness to it.
Compiled from three different gigs on the ‘Dance’ tour (London, Glasgow and
California), it’s not that it doesn’t get going so much as that it doesn’t have
any sense of dynamics (unusual for Nils), with everything sounding much the
same. Musicians this time around include Tom Lofgren, Wornell Jones, David
Platshon and the Rev Patrick Hendersen. It’s a real pity that Nils didn’t wait
a tour as the 1979 one was superb (you can buy a Nils DVD featuring his
Rockpalast gig for German TV that year and its outstanding). Perhaps
unsurprisingly, this double set is one of Nils’ hardest records to track down
today and it’s the only record Nils ignored entirely for his ‘Face The Music’
box set.
10) Nils Lofgren "Nils" (1979) No Mercy/I’ll Cry
Tomorrow/Baltimore/Shine Silently/Steal Away/Kool Skool/A Fool Like Me/I Found
Her/You’re So Easy
This is more like it! Usually when record
companies get involved they ruin records, but A&M’s suggestions for getting
a ‘hit’ record were actually quite sensible this time around. First of all they
asked if Nils could work with a ‘name’ songwriter, preferably someone also on
the label; though he was hurt at first, Nils cheekily suggested The Velvet
Underground’s Lou Reed and was shocked when first A&M and then Lou himself
agreed. The two don’t sound as if they should have a natural bond but they do,
Lou generally writing ‘poems’ (and dictating them to Nils in the middle of the
night over the phone!) and Nils then setting them to music. This results in a
tougher, more credible heartfelt sound than we’ve had of late, while also
allowing Nils to explore his more melodic side as a contrast to Lou’s more
cynical world view. Especially notable are ‘I Found Her’, a warm glowing
romantic song about a girl Nils saves from drug addiction and who then makes
sure she stays addicted to him instead and
‘Steal Away’ where Nils all but orders a girl to run away and elope with
him. Nils is up to the challenge too with some of his best vocals, gritty and
nasty and spiteful, but still with his usual sense of beauty and awe. Other
collaborations by the pair turn up on Lou’s period album ‘The Bells’. However
it’s another co-writer, Dick Wagner (not the opera guy), who helped Nils come
up with his most famous song ‘Shine Silently’, another huge radio hit that
deserved better sales. A&M’s other suggestion was a name producer and on
Lou’s recommendation picked Bob Ezrin. This ended up being the last record Bob
would work on before Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ and while the songs are very
different there is something similar in the production – a sense of scale and
spectacle and shimmer and even sound effects on occasion, all tied up with a
contemporary pop feel that keeps things listenable. The result is one of Nils’
best albums and only a couple of embarrassingly teenage songs stop this being
his greatest (‘Kool Skool’ is surely Nils’ worst song, a horny Lofgren
remembering teenage days groping girls in his class). This album’s weirdo cover
is Randy Newman’s ‘Baltimore’, which is re-arranged here to sound like Bruce
Springsteen – Nils will be asked to join the E-Street Band five years later...Musicians
this time round include Tom Lofgren, Bob Babbitt, Stu Daye, Jody Linscott,
Allan Schwartzberg and Bob Ezrin himself on backing vocals.
Three Tracks To Download: ‘No
Mercy’ seems an unlikely candidate for a fan favourite: it’s basically a boxing
tournament gone wrong. However Nils’ catchy chorus and his metaphors for being
nice to people even during a fight make for a winning combination. ‘Shine
Silently’ is one of the best songs Nils ever wrote, a beautiful song about
unsung heroes that turns from moody song of hopelessness to golden singalong by
the end. Even if it took The Hollies to get the most out of this song (with an
even more gorgeous 1988 cover) this is many a fans’ favourite Nils track for a reason.
‘A Fool Like Me’ is an overlooked classic too, a catchy song written from one
fool trying to date another, where Nils admits to being charmingly naïve as if
it’s a bad thing when it’s a good part of why we love him so much (As I also
think ‘all people are equal’ I guess that makes me a fool too).
11) Nils Lofgren “Night Fades Away” (1981) Night Fades Away/I Go To Pieces/Empty Heart/Don’t Touch Me/Dirty
Money/Sailor Boy/Anytime At All/Ancient History/Streets Again/In Motion
The title sounds like a Neil Young album, but alas it’s the
Springsteen influences have taken over fully for another of Nils’ poppier and
more commercial albums that doesn’t really have the depth of his best work. Now
signed to ‘Backstreet Records’, this is the first of a run of Nils’ obscurer
albums that are difficult to track down, particularly on CD. The best of this
record (i.e. what’s below) is still worth tracking down though and continues
the blend of anger and innocence of ‘Nils’, with signs of Nils’ fraying first
marriage (to actress Cis Rundle). This album has not one but two unlikely cover
versions: Del Shannon’s ‘I Go To Pieces’ and The Beatles’ ‘Anytime At All’, a
relatively obscure song from the ‘Hard Day’s Night’ soundtrack which was one of
the first LPs Nils bought at the age of thirteen. Nils played almost everything
himself on this album, which is notably low on percussion, though
producer/engineer Jeffrey Baxter helped out with some synth and guitar parts.
Three Tracks To Download: ‘Empty Heart’ is similar
to the Grin songs of loss and betrayal, an angry set of stabbing chords mixed
with Nils’ vulnerable lines about being hurt and lost watching another
relationship go wrong. ‘Don’t Touch Me’ takes things a stage further, an angry
Nils barking at his lover not to come anywhere near him and that he’s getting
his own back after being used, with a sly menacing vocal that’s genuinely
creepy. ‘Ancient History’, meanwhile, is the only time outside Neil’s
discography a tack piano is a good thing on a song about an ex coming around
again many years too late, with a vocal that doesn’t know whether to laugh or
cry and a guitar solo that’s exquisite even for Nils.
12) Nils Lofgren "Wonderland" (1983) Across The Tracks/Into The Night/It’s All Over Now/I Wait For
You/Daddy Dream/Wonderland/Room Without Love/Confident Girl/Lonesome
Ranger/Everybody Wants/Deadline
‘Wonderland’ is a more consistent record,
but again lacks something of the joi de vivre of Nils’ best work. The darkness
is still here and much of this record feels as if it’s under a cloud, but on
the better songs the sunshine does come out again in a very Nilsy type way. We’re
back to one unusual cover again too: Bobby Womack’s ‘It’s All Over Now’ (best
known from the Stones cover). Released on MCA, perhaps this record’s most
memorable feature beyond the title track is the very arty front cover with Nils
and band (Andy Newmark and Kevin McCormick) in sunglasses sitting on some arty
chairs against walls painted vibrant shades of primary colours. Guest musicians
include Louise Goffin (the daughter of Gerry Goffin and Carole King), Edgar
Winter and Carly Simon.
Three Tracks To Download: Both side closer are superb
edgy rock songs. ‘Daddy Dream’ might be gibberish when you study the lyrics but
Nils sings it like he means it, with his guitar cranked louder than it’s ever
been barking away behind him. ‘Deadline’ is an angry stomp of belated punk,
Nils running himself ragged for no reason as a clocking tick of a riff keeps
him on his toes against some more exceptional solo-ing. However it’s
‘Wonderland’ itself that delights the most, Nils writing the rules for his own
particular paradise that sounds great to me – you never have to hurt anybody
for yourself to ‘get ahead’, there’s no ‘fairytale Hollywood people messing
with your head’ and ‘even the pretty girls think that being nice is cool’.
13) Nils Lofgren "Flip!" (1985) Flip Ya Flip/Secrets In The Street/From The Heart/Delivery
Night/King Of The Rock/Sweet Midnight/New Holes In Old Shoes/Dreams Die
Hard/Big Tears Fall
‘Flip!’ is something of a return to form
though. Nils’ best album of the 1980s, on the one hand it waves goodbye to lots
of trademarks (songs about tears and dreams and the shot of Nils doing
somersaults on the cover – at thirty-four it was becoming too hard to do on
stage anymore) and on the other it’s the most contemporary album Nils has
probably ever made, full of booming period synths and production noises. This
is alas a little off-putting to modern ears, but the material is (mostly) good
and timeless enough to withstand it all, with some of Nils’ greatest lyrics all
about digging deep and continuing to dream in the face of adversity. Released
on another minor label (Towerbell Records), it did better in the charts than
any of Nils’ records had for a decade (perhaps because of his recent touring
with Brucey) and deservedly so. One of the reasons this record works so well is
the amount of old friends along for the ride including Wornell Jones and Andy
Newmark. This is also the one of Nils’ CDs to have a ‘bonus’ track, excellent
period B-side ‘Beauty and The Beast’.
Three Tracks To Download: The
title track is gorgeous, Nils taking the metaphor of his on-stage acrobatics to
tell us how we can turn our life around from whatever gets us down, whatever
age we are (‘eight or forty-nine’). Nils also sounds, ironically given his
success with this album, as if he’s come to terms with his record sales too,
sighing sadly that ‘trying your best don’t mean bein’ number one’. One of Nils’
most emotional and powerful songs. ‘King Of The Rock’ isn’t far behind either –
one of the most outré examples of heavy rocking in it’s canon, it still has
room for some fascinating lyrics exploring Nils’ psyche and what makes him keep
returning to his muse of music over and over again. Every creation has purpose
and mine is to rock! Well, to write about rocking anyway…’New Holes In Old
Shoes’ is a superb song that goes somewhere new and points forwards to the
pained acoustic blues of the 1990s. Nils’ vocal is muted and guilty as he
realises he’s repeated some dumb mistake from his past, a ‘new soft touch’ that
turned out to be ‘the same old blade’ and is keeping him up at night. Will he
never learn? Superb.
14) Nils Lofgren "Code Of The Road" (1986) Beggar’s Day/Secrets In The Street/Across The Tracks/Delivery
Night/Cry Tough/Dreams Die Hard/Believe/The Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Code
Of The Road/Moon Tears/Back It Up/Like Rain/Sweet Midnight/No Mercy/Anytime At
All/New Holes In Old Shoes/Keith Don’t Go/Shine Silently/I Came To Dance
In contrast to the energy of ‘Flip!’, Nils’
second ‘proper’ live album is another oddly sleepy double-record set that isn’t
up to other live shows out on bootleg or D DVD. Wornell Jones, Johnny ‘Bee’
Badanjek and Neil Young ‘roadie’ Larry Cragg try their hardest but this is a
dodgy set by Nils’ standards where every song feels as if runs on much too
long. Give it a miss.
‘The Sun Hasn’t Set’ has,
after a decade on the road, turned from a moment of bruised defiance into a
twinkling song of self-confidence. ‘Like Rain’ is the sound of a man whose been
through a lot before his time in comparison to the innocent naïve version that
kick-started Grin’s career. ‘Keith Don’t Go’ has another glittering guitar
solo, even if it takes a looooong time to get going.
15) Nils Lofgren “Silver Lining” (1991) Silver
Lining/Valentine/Walkin’ Nerve/Live Each Day/Sticks and Stones/Trouble’s
Back/Little Bit O’Time/Bein’ Angry/Gun and Run/Girl In Motion
I was always surprised it took Nils so long
to follow up one of his more successful LPs and why Towerbell Records didn’t
simply sign him up immediately (only ‘surrogate’ Pink Floyd guitarist Snowy
White sold more on the label). Instead Nils had to wait six years to make a
studio set for Rykodisc which, oddly given the circumstances, comes off feeling
a bit rushed. The production stylings are if anything worse than on ‘Flip!’ but
the material can’t match it, with the exception of a handful of truly brilliant
songs. For the most part Nils is in a drippy mood too, having recently got
married to second wife Amy – though a lot of fans love this album’s near-hit
single ‘Valentine’, I’ve always found it one of his drippiest songs. The silver
linings of this album are the musicians which include Kevin McCormick, Andy
Newmark, Billy Preston, Levon Helm and – as a favour for joining his first two
‘All-Starr’ tours – Ringo Starr.
Three Tracks To Download:
Alas this isn’t the best take of it, but the live versions of ‘Walkin’ Nerve’
show that it’s one of Nils’ best songs. Seeing his family growing up, Nils is
reminded of his own awkward teenage years when he was pulled in all directions
and sets it to a rocking riff that’s forever trying to knock him off his feet.
It’s also the best drumming Ringo had played since Lennon’s ‘Plastic Ono Band’
album of 1970. Do check out the ‘All-Starr’ live version of it though which
goes one stage better and thrashes everything else on Ringo’s 3 CD set! ‘Sticks
and Stones’ is even better (but again works far better live), as a wounded Nils
slinks into his shell after a fight, only to finally explode in anger in the
final verse after five-minutes of pretending he won’t. Magic. ‘Girl In Motion’
isn’t up to these two songs but is very sweet, Nils caught between an old love
and a new love as he realises that his life is changing.
16) Nils Lofgren "Crooked Line" (1992) A Child Could Tell/Blue Skies/Misery/You/Shot At You/Crooked
Line/Walk On Me/Someday/New Kind Of Freedom/Just A Little/Drunken Driver/I’ll
Fight For You
The sequel (also out on Rykodisc) was
equally patchy material-wise but sounds great, the start of a run of more
acoustic led (and thus less dated) albums in Nils’ discography. There are more sweet
songs about Nils’ new love, but interestingly also a greater opening up as he
reveals his vulnerable side like never before (‘I’m in deeper and it shows!’ as
one of the better songs puts it). This time round Nils is joined by Eric Ambel,
Johnny ‘Bee’ Badanjek, Frank Funaro and Andy York.
Three Tracks To Download:
‘You’ is a great little love song, one that combines a catchy chorus shouted in
ecstasy and a quieter verse where Nils worries if he can ever live up to the
love of his life. ‘A Shot At You’ is the other extreme, a slow-burning ballad (though
notably a lot faster here than in the live versions!) where Nils vows to keep
her for the rest of his life whatever happens next, with some gorgeous guitar
fills along the way. Finally ‘New Kind Of Freedom’ stands out on an album
without many production frills, a Grin-like song about optimism and hope. ‘Is
the war really over?’ Nils asks nervously. ‘Did I win the fight?’ The answer
surely is yes, with Nils about to enter another golden patch.
17) Nils Lofgren "Everybreath" (1993) No Return/Tender Love/Take Me Home/No Tomorrow/Dreams Come
True/Rainy Nights/Alone/Tryin’ Not To Fall/Good Day For Goodbyes/Lions Wake/Out
Of The Grave/A Lefty/Tough Trails/Fallen Into His Hands/I’ll Arise/Dance Of
Life/Will There’s A Way/Where I Wanna Be
‘Everybreath’ is an odd little album,
unique in Nils’ discography. For a start it’s a film soundtrack, albeit one
released a full year before the film, and thus the only time Nils wrote ‘for’
characters rather than from the heart. It’s the only album Nils released for
label SPV. It’s also the start of what he would later call his ‘living room
voice’, a deeper less commercial growl that’s a world away from his poppier
younger days and suits the more complex songs from the second half of his
career. There are also a lot more instrumentals than normal and even the songs
that aren’t come with lengthy interludes, making this one of Nils’ best albums
to buy if you’re mostly into his technique. This all makes for one of Nils’
slower, less immediate albums that take a while to grow on you but has a lot of
good stuff as ever and was great value for money on first release, coming as it
did with a ‘bonus’ EP ‘I’ll Arise’
containing the last four songs. It’s certainly a lot better than the film,
about an unemployed actor who is seduced by a lesbian in a nightclub and ends
up mixed up with an arms dealer. It must have been difficult for Nils too – his
ex wife was playing the lesbian! Nils plays most of this album himself but is
joined by guest vocalists Tommy Lepson and Bonnie Sheridan Bramlett, half of
‘Delaney and Bonnie’ (She was Delaney…no only kidding, Bonnie it is!)
Three tracks to download: ‘Dreams
Come True’ is Nils all over – someone whose been through hell still vowing his
comeback and believing in second chances on the closest to pure blues in his
catalogue. ‘Alone’ will be completely reinvented and revamped in better form
for ‘Damaged Goods’ to come but gets a mention here because that album’s spoilt
for choice. In its remake it’s a haunted song about loneliness and despair
complete with screams in the fade-out and a scattergun electric guitar part
that sounds as if it’s fighting a losing battle. Here it’s a reflective song
about loss and middle age, with more chance to hear one of Nils’ most exquisite
melodies. ‘I’ll Arise’ is a sweet little long and a live favourite, Nils’
storyteller overcoming bad odds thanks to his lover and ‘family ties’.
18) Nils Lofgren "Damaged Goods" (1995) Damaged Goods/Only Five Minutes/Alone/Trip To Mars/Here For
You/Black Books/Setting Sun/Life/Heavy Hats/In The Room/Nothin’s Fallin’/Don’t
Be Late For Yesterday
Nils’ masterpiece. Everything about this
album is superb: it’s the deepest set of songs in Nils’ catalogue, all biting
songs about the darker side of life and the frailty of humans, delivered with
panache by a power trio of Nils, engineer/bassist Roger Greenawalt and drummer
Andy Newmark and some superb production that’s a cross between ‘Sleeps With
Angels’ and ‘Mirrorball’. Every song on this album packs an emotional whallop
and each one goes somewhere different, from a former alcoholic relapsing and
ending up in prison, to a broken-hearted lover that’s been cheated on, to a
teenage parent who can’t face up to his responsibility, to a killer who so doesn’t
want to be in a gang, to a broken middle-aged man trying to find the strength
to love again – and all of them ring true. One of the finest albums about
depression and loss ever written, this is right up there with my favourite
records by anybody. Fans who wondered if Nils could ever stop being ‘up’ long
enough to hear a Nils Lofgren version of ‘Tonight’s The Night’ are in for a
treat here on one of the greatest albums you have probably never heard of.
Three tracks to download:
Well, this will be a challenge – all twelve are worth hearing. ‘Black Books’ is
especially stunning though, as Nils wonders where a relationship went wrong and
comes up with the philosophy ‘the hardest truths don’t have a why’, while he
tries to block out the tales of his ex having fun with half the town. ‘Life’ is
a leftover from the Lou Reed co-writes that wouldn’t have fitted on ‘Nils’ but
sounds great here, a battered and growly-voiced Lofgren figuring that after
decades of abandonment ‘life’s the only mother I know’ and apologising for not
being able to love openly again. ‘Nothin’s Fallin’ is a slow-burner. At first
it’s too empty and too slow but in such illustrious company. But the more you
play this album the more it’s the ‘keeper’, Nils no longer trying to hide the
bleakness of his surroundings as he tells us everything that’s gone wrong and
why he thinks it will never go right again. The moment when he breaks away to
la la la to what would normally be the ‘uplifting’ Lofgren middle eight of hope
and optimism, only to fall back down, his voice breaking, is one of the most
painful moments in music that doesn’t involve a Spice Girl.
19) Nils Lofgren “Acoustic Live" (1997) You/Sticks and Stones/Some Must Dream/Little On Up/Keith Don’t
Go/Wonderland/Big Tears Fall/Believe/Black Books/To Your Heart/Man In The
Moon/I’ll Arise/Blue Skies/Tears On Ice/All Out/Mud In Your Eye/No Mercy
After Nils’ greatest studio set comes his
greatest live one. Nils sounds like a wizard on an album that only features him
and his brother Tom. The ‘silver lining’ in not really having hits is that Nils
can get away with playing just about everything and he performs all sorts of
rarities from his back catalogue, most of which are greatly improved by the new
setting. Impressive. The handful of new songs are delicious too. Another
must-buy. Interesting that Nils should find his second golden period (1992-1997) so soon after Neil founds his
(1989-1994/1995) and for roughly the same length of time.
Three Tracks To Download:
‘Sticks and Stones’ always sounded like a great song, but this is the
definitive performance; no synthesisers to hide behind here and Nils doesn’t so
much ebb and flow as open up his heart and soar. ‘Black Books’ also gets an
extra level of intensity from the simple organ notes that signal the doom cloud
of a relationship before suddenly bursting forth into rainbow-bright shimmery
colours. ‘Man In The Moon’ is another great teenage song, a lost and lonely
narrator figuring that he doesn’t understand any human being alive and none of
them understand him, so he may as well go to live with the man in the moon.
20) Nils Lofgren "Breakaway Angel" (2001) Puttin’ Out Fires/I Found You/Love A Child/Tears Ain’t Enough/I
Can’t Fly/All I Have To Do Is Dream/Driftin’ Man/Love You Most/Cryin’ Tonight/Heaven’s
Answer To Blue/Seize Love/The Hill/Without You/Open Road
Alas Nils couldn’t quite keep it up, though
‘Breakway Angel’ is still half a great CD and at it’s best still matches past
standards. The front cover, sadly, is not one of them, a pen scribble that just
screams ‘cheap’, while the production doesn’t feel as if new label Hypertension
spent a lot of money on it either. Nils is back to mixing his acoustic and
electric sounds though and has a good backing band including Lee Sklar (veteran
of many CSN records), Wade Matthews, John Previtt, Mike Botts, Timm Biery and
more harmony vocalists than you can shake an accordion at. Nils has revived his
old habit of unexpected cover songs too, this one being Everly Brothers hit
‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’, which sounds rather nice slowed down to a lullaby.
Three Tracks To Download: ‘Puttin’
Out Fires’ is Nils’ most commercial song for a long time, a catchy love song in
reverse, Nils realising all the damage he could cause if he reveals his secret
crush so he keeps it to himself. ‘I
Found You’ is in many ways ‘I Found Her’ in reverse, this time from the heart.
Nils is the addict, lost and terrified and lonely until a lover turned his life
around. The chorus ‘heck, I almost like me since I found you’ is another one of
those really goose-pimply moments in Nils’ canon. ‘Driftin’ Man’ is yet another
Lou Reed leftover (how many songs did they write?!?), a Springsteeny song about
an American leaving home with ‘big plans’ that come to nought.
21) Nils Lofgren Band “Live” (2003) Puttin’ Out Fires/Daddy Dream/Too Many Miles/Driftin’
Man/Damaged Goods/Two By Two/White Lies/Shot At You/Tears Ain’t Ebough/I’m
Buyin’/I Don’t Want To Talk About It/Like Rain/I Found You/Can’t Get
Closer/Lost A Number/Slippery Fingers/Message/Girl In Motion/Gun and
Run/Star-Spangled Banner/The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Nils’ next project was his weirdest yet –
2002’s ‘Tuff Stuff’, featuring the Madden American football team! It’s quirky
even for Nils and not what you might call a ‘proper’ CD with most of the songs instrumentals
barely lasting a minute and often overdubbed with American Football commentary,
so we’ve skipped it here. You only really need it if you’re a big American
football fan and only then when you’re driving to a match rather than for
pleasure. ‘Live’ is a return to things as normal though – a bit too normal to
be honest, with Nils’ fourth live album his first to collect all the songs you’d
expect to see on one of his concert CDs. There’s nothing wrong with it, just
again a sense that Nils is commemorating the ‘wrong’ tour with Nils struggling
with the simpler ‘power trio’ unit style (bassist Wade Matthews and drummer
Timm Biery) that doesn’t work as well as Grin did even (perhaps especially)
with so many Grin songs in the line-up. It is at least Nils’ longest record so
far, lasting more than two hours.
Three Tracks To Download: I’d
still take the more inward looking acoustic studio version, but the new
swaggering arrangement of ‘Damaged Goods’ is an interesting take on a defiant
song. There are three ‘exclusive’ songs here. While you can skip a mangled ‘Star-Spangled
Banner’ it is worth downloading ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’, Nils’ collaboration
with Danny Whitten for the first Crazy Horse album. It’s a song good even Rod
Stewart can’t mess it up too much, though bootleg versions of it are better.
Similarly there are lots of better versions of ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your
Face’ (especially Johnny Cash’s) but Nils performs this sweet ballad well.
22) Nils Lofgren "Sacred Time" (2006) In Your Hands/Fat Girls Dance/Comfort Your Love Brings/Pay Your
Woman/Whiskey Holler/You’re Not There/Tried and True/Mr Hardcore/Comes A
Day/Frankie Hang On/Trouble/Can’t Take The Rock
‘Sacred Heart’ was his next album ‘proper’
and despite a stronger Lofgren drawing on the front cover this time is
something of a disappointment. Nils just doesn’t sound that inspired, lacking
his usual melodic touch or his ability to say so much in so few words. Some of
it in fact is downright ugly – not a word I’d use for any past Lofgren song but
whole swathes of this CD – Nils has been hanging around too many American
footballers with this brainless noisy rock. The best thing about this album is
the sheer amount of guest stars which include Crosby-Nash, Willie Nelson, sons
Mark and Mike Lofgren, brother Tom for the first time in a while and – best of
all – the long awaited return of Grin’s Bob Berberich. Once again Nils plays
most of the instruments himself and sticks to acoustic and electric guitar and
synth with a dash of accordion.
Three Tracks To Download: In
the middle of so much noise pretty acoustic ballad ‘Comfort Your Love Brings’
really stands out. Nils again pays tribute to wife Amy for saving his life on a
song that would normally be under-par but here sounds like one return at least
to the lyrical, sensitive Nils of old. ‘Tried and True’ is the other acoustic
song and another stand-out as Nils adds a mandolin to his repertoire on a song
about the importance of faith in all things even when tested. ‘Can’t Take The
Rock’, meanwhile, is a dumb re-write of ‘King Of The Rock’ but gets an added
frisson of greatness from Berberich’s rich backing vocals. They briefly sound
like they’re teenagers again, though Grin would never have come up with a song
this basic.
23) Nils Lofgren "The Loner – Nils Sings Neil" (2008) Birds/Long May You Run/Flying On The Ground Is Wrong/ I Am A
Child/Only Love Can Break Your Heart/Harvest Moon/Like A Hurricane/The
Loner/Don’t Be Denied/World On A
String/Mr Soul/Winterlong/On The Way Home/Wonderin’/Don’t Cry No Tears
On paper this seems like a brilliant idea:
one experimental eclectic arranging genius paying tribute to another. Nils was
there for so many of the important moments in the Young canon (‘Tonight’s The
Night’ ‘Trans’ ‘Unplugged’ ‘Colorado’) that surely he has an interesting view
of Neil’s back catalogue. Alas, what we get is just another set of acoustic
covers of Neil Young songs without the depth, range or inventiveness of the
originals. It feels like all those Bob Dylan cover sets out there – everything has
been prettified to make it more palatable to the ear, but in doing so that
takes away the bite that served these songs at their best. The one-take
no-frills-or-overdubs method of recording – something Nils has never really
done before – also makes everything sound depressingly cheap. A bit of a wasted
opportunity. I would love to see a Neil Young collection of Nils Lofgren songs
though, that would be great!
Three Tracks To Download: It’s
nice to hear Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Flying On The Ground Is Wrong’ re-arranged
for guitar at least and Nils sounds more confident here than elsewhere. Nils
was there for ‘World On A String’ and it’s one of the most Lofgren-like songs
Neil wrote, Nils bringing out the song’s message of defiance rather than it’s
despair. ‘The Loner’ gets the best re-arrangement, caught somewhere between the
Stills and Young versions with an opening blues-guitar flurry and Nils’ vocal
at it’s deepest.
24) Nils Lofgren "Old School" (2011) Old School/60 Is The New 18/Miss You Ray/Love Stumbles On/Amy
Joan Blues/Irish Angel/Ain’t Too Many Of Us Left/When You Were Mine/Just
Because You Love Me/Dream Big/Let Her Get Away/Why Me?
Although Neil’s been largely following the
crazy-paving Young catalogue, this is the odd one out – the Lofgren equivalent
of ‘Everybody’s Rockin’ but released to commemorate turning sixty (Neil was
thirty-seven when he made his). It’s a swinging set of rockabilly-sounding
originals, but like many a retro album sounds decidedly stodgier than any
records from the 1950s actually did. Nils’ voice is just beginning to fade too
after decades of constant touring. At least he’s back to exploring unlikely
covers again, this time round treating Bruce McCabe’s folky ‘Irish Angel’ to an
almost jazz backing.
Thre Tracks To Download: One
thing to say about this record is that the sweet ‘Love Stumbles On’ does a
better job of a guitarist accompanying himself with echo than ‘Le Noise’ ever
did. ‘When You Were Mine’ is a sweet song most likely remembering Nils’ first
marriage when it was good and the scary time a hurricane pulled into town. ‘Let
Her Get Away’ is Nils’ best song in a decade, a sadder twist on the same theme
about how finding a new love never fully replaces the first, with echoes and
memories that haunt you years on.
25) Nils Lofgren "Face The Music" (2014) See What A Love Can
Do/Everybody’s Missin’ The Sun/Like Rain/Outlaw/If I Were A Song/We All Sung
Together/Take You To The Movies/White Lies/Slippery Fingers/Moon Tears/Lost A
Number/Soft Fun/Hi Hello Home/Love Or Else/Sad Letter/Ain’t Love Nice/She Ain’t
Right/All Out/Rusty Gun/Beggar’s Day/One More Time//One More Saturday Night/If
I Say It It’s So/Can’t Buy A Break/Back It Up/I Don’t Want To Know (Live)/The
Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Rock and Roll Crook/Two By Two/Cry Tough/It’s
Not A Crime/Share A Little/Can’t Get No Closer/Mud In Your Eye/I Came To
Dance/Home Is Where The Hurt Is/Rock Me At Home/You’re The Weight (Live)/Goin’
South (Live)/Incidentally…It’s Over (Live)//No Mercy/Shine Silently/Steal
Away/I Found Her/You’re So Easy/A Fool Like Me/Night Fades Away/Ancient
History/Sailor Boy/Empty Heart/Don’t Touch Me/I Go To Pieces/Across The
Tracks/Daddy Dream/Wonderland/Room Without Love/Confident Girl/Into The
Night/Deadline/Everybody Wants//Secrets In The Street/Big Tears Fall/Dreams Die
Hard/Girl In Motion/Walkin’ Nerve/Trouble’s Back/Bein’ Angry/Valentine/A Child
Could Tell/You/Shot At You/Crooked Line/Someday/New Kind Of Freedom/Drunken
Driver//Alone/No Return/Tender Love/Dreams Come True/Out Of The Grave/Lion’s
Wake/Damaged Goods/Only Five Minutes/Setting Sun/Life/Nothin’s Falling/Little
On Up/Blue Skies/Black Books (Live)/Man In The Moon/Believe (Live)//Delivery
Night/Code Of The Road/New Holes In Old Shoes/Puttin’ Out Fires/I Found
You/Love A Child/Driftin’ Man/Without You/Heaven’s Answer To Blue/Seize
Love/Open Road/Speed Kills/I’m Buyin’/The Wind/We Got Guys/Hard Lines/Tears On
Ice/Misery//Like Rain (Live)/Star Spangled Banner/In Your Hands/Mr
Hardcore/Tried and True/Frankie Hangs On/Fat Girls Dance/I Am A Child/Mr
Soul/World On A String/Old School/60 Is The New 18/Miss You Ray/Amy Joan Blues/Dream
Big/Irish Angel/Ain’t Too Many Of Us Left/When You Were Mine/Why Me?/Wreck On
The Highway//Keith Don’t Go (Alternate Version)/Try/Sing For Happiness/Duty
(Alternate Take)/Sweet Four Wings/Just To Have You (Alternate Take)/I’ll
Arise/Some Must Dream/Stay Hungry/Heaven’s Rain/Whatever Happened To
Musicatel?/You In My Arms/Here For You (Alternate Version)/Hide My Heart/Love
Is…/Awesome Girl (Alternate Version)/When You Are Loved/Bullets
Fever/Message//Beauty And The Beast/You Are The Melody/Tears Inside/Face The
Music/I Don’t Stand A Chance/What Is Enuf?!?/London/Go Away/Heart Like A
Hammer/True Love Conquers Legends/Yankee Stadium/Sad Walk/Dalmation/I’m Coming
Back/Mad Mad World/Jhoon Rhee Advert/It’s Better To Know You/Last Time I Saw
You
We
end with an epic box set which, if you can afford it (and it’s way cheaper than
‘Archives’!) is the best way of tracking down these albums with only a small
handful of essential songs missing (the ‘proper’ version of ‘Keith Don’t Go’
most obviously!) Nils has spent a lot of time and effort buying back his
catalogue so he could release them all together and unlike some boxes that fall
short all eras of his career are given their proper time and space. Grin take
up the first disc and Nils’ solo career the next six discs before a full two
hours of unreleased material on discs eight and nine. If in truth this material
is as up-and-down as Nils’ career in general, the best of it is as great as any
of his near hits and lesser singer-songwriters would have killed for it. A
highly impressive set that charts a true talent who was never afraid to grow,
especially in its original limited edition version signed by Nils himself with
an additional DVD disc of twenty music clips and a glossy book. The set’s most
interesting moment: the early recordings of songs from the ‘Nils Lofgren’ album
back when it was nearly a ‘Grin’ album. The set’s most bonkers moment: ‘Whatever
Happened To Musicatel?’, a collaboration with Nils’ neighbour novelist Clive
Cussler. The set’s second most bonkers moment: ‘Bullet Fever’, a thirty second
jingle dedicated to the basketball team from Washington!
Three Tracks To Download: Amazingly the only time Neil guested
on a Lofgren recording it wasn’t even released! The alternate early version of ‘Keith
Don’t Go’ is all over the place, in contrast to the re-recording’s intensity
and power, but it’s great to hear Nils and Neil duelling on guitars once again
on a classic track. ‘Sweet Four Wings’ is quickly growing to become my
favourite track by Grin, a soulful gospel ballad with Nils and Bob Berberich in
fine voice on a song about freedom and loss. Finally, ‘Here For You’ is a
beautiful song, the ‘heart’ of ‘Damaged Goods that still comes with the twist
of the knife in the chorus when you realise it’s really a song about co-dependency
and two partners making sure the other will never be able to live without the
other. Here in an early take and a much slower arrangement it doesn’t quite
have the scale or power, but you do get to hear better just how beautiful one
of Nils’ greatest melody lines is, even when the partners are singing about ‘having
met true love and scratched her face’. Magnificent.
