Finer Things: A Vinegar Joe Story By Malcom Dome (part II)
Brooks feels the relationship between Smith and Gage was very well defined. "As far as I can recall, Pete was very much the leader in the studio when it came to the production side of things. Vic was more of an engineer than anything else. The fact it was recorded at Olympic Studios was fine for me, because I only lived down the road from there. We had a great time making the album. But then again, we always found a way to enjoy ourselves. I don't believe we did many of the songs on this record live before recording them."
The album featured Tim Hinkley and Dave Thompson on keyboards, plus Rob Tait on drums, as well as the aforementioned Keef Hartley and Conrad Isidore. Pete Gage defines the logic behind having such an ensemble. "The conclusion of Dada had me getting to know our new bosses at Island, reforming the line-up and Steve York influenced me greatly on the early choice of musos. Steve was around the clubs while I was in the offices. Dave Thompson and Rob Tait were very much Steve's choice. I was immediately sceptical, Dave was a great chords guy but lacked energy, and Rob was light and jazzy - not what Ahmet had directed. It became, 'We'll give them a try'. But it wasn't long before I discovered their use of opiates and smack were probably why their performances varied."
"I'd known Tim Hinkley since the mid-'60s. His band Jody Grind rehearsed in my house with Elkie as vocalist. Tim was a real stomping rhythmic player, and although we had our differences of finances in the past, we buried the hatchet and Tim replaced Dave. Replacing Rob Tait, Keef Hartley too was an acquaintance; Elk and I persuaded him to try us out. He played on Never Met A Dog, Early Monday Morning and maybe one or two others. Meanwhile through his old Manfred Mann connection, Steve York came up with Conrad Isidore, but he was destined to join Crosby, Stills & Nash."
The much-respected Gasper Lawal came in on percussion. But that wasn't a band decision, as the amused guitarist recollects. "Ha, ha! That was Gasper's idea. He used to turn up at everyone's gigs, but especially Dada, then Vinegar Joe. Not sure how, but he showed up at one of the recording sessions for this album. 'Hey, Pete my brother' - I mean what can you do? We didn't spend much time on the album, they were disjointed sessions of broken up days here and there; we even worked at other studios as well as Olympic."
One very unusual song on the album was Avinu Malkenu, which incorporated Hebrew lyrics. Gage explains; "You'd think it came from Elaine Bookbinder (Elkie Brooks' real name), but no, it was my idea. Elk often talked about this Rabbi who encouraged her to sing when she was very little; that was her roots. And I was writing a song about her roots, and also fascinated by the passion that you heard when her family get togethers broke into Yiddish. I got Elk to pull out an old hymn book from the synagogue and asked what the words of the traditional prayer 'Avinu Malkenu' meant (the title translates as 'Our Father, Our King') - and there was the perfect reference to work into the song."
Aside from the music, the finished album cover was very striking, featuring the band members sculpted in plasticine. "The idea for having us as plasticine models on the first album cover could well have come from Robert," believes Brooks. "He was very talented as an artist and trained to be a graphic artist before becoming a vocalist. It's the sort of thing I would expect him to come out with. The record label were probably very happy to have us represented in plasticine, because we were such a bloody ugly looking band, ha! They doubtless thought that having a band photo on the cover could have possibly put people off buying the album. The plasticine models approach was a way of having us on the sleeve without it actually being us!"
"Yes, it was Robert's idea," confirms Gage. "That was done by his Hull Art College mate's company Visualeyes - Brian Cooke. I don't know which I hated more - the band name or those ugly models!"
The album Vinegar Joe was released in April 1972. Later that year, the band were back in the studio recording a second album. "We were working flat out, on the road especially in Germany and Europe, for the John Sherry Agency pretty much non-stop," says Gage. "We needed an LP to promote, so a tiny window in the gig list was created to record. I knew this next album had to break us, so there was no room for filler songs. They all had to be bluesy stompers for Atco to back us in the US, as we had been told to model ourselves on Canned Heat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dr Hook, The Band, Janis Joplin."
"I did a lot of slide guitar on this record. My style was Duane Allman, Ry Cooder influenced. I loved the Allman Brothers with their dual guitars. We regularly supported John Sherry's top act, Wishbone Ash, and I like the way they used two guitars. I felt this approach would fill out our sound, so I asked Jim Mullen to join - he was a fabulous blues player."
"I'd known Steve York for a while, and also Robert," adds Mullen. "In fact, I used to sit in with the band when they played the Greyhound in Fulham, West London, which was owned by a Scotsman named Duncan Ferguson, who I knew well. At the time, I was in a band called Brian Auger's Oblivion Express. But to be honest I was a little out of my depth there. The music was complex, fast and very technical. Brian himself was such a virtuoso. I was truly out of my comfort zone with that band. So, to get the chance to play in a simpler and more straightforward style suited me a lot better. And that's what I wanted to do on a more permanent basis. Then one day, Pete Gage offered me the chance to actually join the band. I was quite surprised by this, as I didn't see why they needed me. But I accepted Pete's offer and jumped in there."
Both Keef Hartley and John Woods played drums on this album. Why two drummers? "Maybe again I really wanted Keef as our drummer," feels Gage. "But he was in high demand. He had the best shuffle beat in the UK, and could play hard, non shifting and restrained like US drummers. Very unusual for someone in Britain."
There was also a change in the keyboard department, as Mike Deacon came in. "Tim Hinkley left because he wanted a larger retainer and was initially replaced by John Hawken from the Nashville Teens," explains Gage. "He was a great boogie pianist but didn't get on well with Robert and Elkie on the hours and hours of autobahn travels in Germany. So, we auditioned keyboard players and met Mike."
"I auditioned for the band and got the job," agrees Deacon. But while he had written songs previously, he had no input into this process on the second Vinegar Joe album. "Yes, I had done some writing before," Deacon confirms. "But my writing wasn't up to the standard of either Robert Palmer or Pete Gage, so I did very little in Vinegar Joe.
This time, three cover songs would be included on a Vinegar Joe album. These were Dave Williams' classic Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (originally recorded in 1955 by blues vocalist Big Maybelle, but most famously recorded two years later by Jerry Lee Lewis), Angel written by Jimi Hendrix (and featured on his 1971 posthumous album album The Cry Of Love) and Rock 'n Roll Gypsies (written by Roger Tillison and first recorded in 1965 by American duo Gypsy Trips).
"The three cover versions we did on Rock 'n Roll Gypsies were all chosen by the band," says Deacon. "There was no outside influence on these choices as far as I can recall."
"I am sure we did almost all of the songs on the second album live before we recorded these," believes Brooks. "And I reckon it was Pete who suggested we do the three cover versions in the first place. He was such a clever person. I particularly loved Angel. To me, this is one of the best songs Jimi hendrix ever wrote. In fact, I re-recorded this in 1995 for my album Circles."
"We did Whole Lotta Shakin'... as a laugh for an encore in Germany," says Gage. "And the place went wild; it gave Elk the chance to do that falsetto double note thing, while singing the arse off the song. Steve chose Rock 'n Roll Gypsies and I selected Angel, because it is a fabulous song, but Hendrix couldn't sing! So, like she did with Whole Lotta Shakin'..., Elkie could prove her vocal power in the rendition."
"The material you hear on Rock 'n Roll Gypsies was pretty much all played live at gigs before we went into the studio," believes Mullen. "I am fairly certain this included the three cover songs on that album. That gave us the opportunity to develop the arrangements and make sure everything was in place prior to starting the recording process."
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