77s Message Board | Print: S. D. Young Review of "It's for You"

Posted by Marti on 01-25-2013 at08:55:

S. D. Young Review of "It's for You"

I'm coping & pasting a review I wrote for Mike Roe's "It's For You" album. ~Dale Young (Princeton, NJ)

OUTSTANDING LIVE SET!
This is a live 2-CD set with recordings from a 1997 tour, from 77's singer & guitarist Mike Roe. It's a mix of acoustic and electric performances (electric guitar, at least) - also featuring David Leonhardt (guitar) and Mark Harmon (bass) from the 77's, and Brian Meyers on percussion. Leonhardt also plays keyboards on one song ("This is the Way Love Is"). Three great things about this album:

1. Mike Roe's guitar playing. Nothing short of phenomenal. This album contains probably Mike's best blues work ever recorded. Amazing stuff on "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (closer to the Blind Willy Johnson recording than the Zeppelin version), and a blistering 3-minute guitar solo at the end of "Nuts for You." Excellent playing by both Mike and Dave on other songs too, including three instrumental pieces (Limelight, Mezzo, and John Lee's Blues).
2. The banter between Mike & Dave, and Mike & the audience. Sounds like they really recorded EVERYTHING on these sets. A lot of humor, funny moments & remarks from Mike - much of it in response to requests from people in the audience. Mike also shares a bit of personal background info on some of the songs & history of the 77's.
3. You get a wide variety of both Roe and 77's material, as well as some rare gems and a few oddballs. A total of 11 songs come from the 77's albums, "Drowning with Land in Sight" and "Sticks & Stones," and 5 songs come from Roe's "Safe as Milk" album. You also get a cool version of "King of the Road," a Hank Williams cover ("Beyond the Sunset"), an alternative version of "I Walk the Line" (the lyrics have been changed) and even a gospel selection ("Men Are So Busy"). And there's a great version of UUUU (from the indie-release, "More Miserable Than You'll Ever Be").

Also, my copy of this CD has a different album cover than the one currently shown on Amazon. I've got a picture of a naked 1-year old Mike Roe holding a telephone. The other cover looks like, I'm guessing, a picture of Mike's mom (but not sure about that).

FYI, the album title was chosen because these concerts were set up literally FOR the fans. In the liner notes Roe says he wanted to "pull together a tour that would be booked and promoted mostly by fans in whatever style and fashion they fancied, with no restrictions on the venue - be it bar, church, or alleyway, if warm bodies showed up, I'd be there to sing for them. . . most importantly, the fans picked nearly all of the songs we played every night - for the most part, each show was an all-request weekend." A pretty cool concept, I think. All told, this is an outstanding rock & roll album with some great blues and guitar playing, and a lot of good laughs. A must-have for any 77's or Mike Roe fan!

__________________
S. Dale Young
Princeton, NJ

Posted by Doctor Love on 01-25-2013 at22:15:

RE: S. D. Young Review of "It's for You"

Very nice Marti, thanks for running that. I may have read that one before but I’m not sure. It’s very kind for an album that’s all over the place technically and musically, but it’s a fun listen.

It’s For You is the one thing I could hand a stranger that wanted to get to know me personally. After you’ve heard it, you can say you pretty much know me …. well, me at my best anyways ….

Those were the wild days of touring without a set list. What a mess, but we had fun. I can’t imagine doing that sort of thing again, mostly because it’s now been a few decades since I’ve even heard a lot of those tunes. In 1997, the oldest songs were 15 years old. Now they’re 30 years old. Lotsa brain cells gone missing since then.

I only recently became aware that “It’s For You” was a hit song for 60s British pop star Cilla Black written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney. Mine is waaayyy better:

http://youtu.be/zqwUz4RQETg