I've been a bit slow to add my voice to those expressing their sadness at Jon Lord's passing, but I wasn't sure there was much I could add to what's already been written elsewhere. I never met Jon, but he always struck me as having the air of a true gentleman. Much as I've grown up being thoroughly entertained by the legendary antics of The Who, Led Zeppelin, Motley Crue and other debauched rock 'n' rollers, there's always been something admirable about those individuals who, despite making their living in rock music, plough their own furrow in terms of how they conduct themselves: they are few and far between. Jon Lord's gentlemanly comportment was the flip-side to the wild, aggressive sound that he coaxed from his Hammond organ. I have always loved the gutteral, farting, unhinged roar of a Hammond fed through a Leslie cab and overdriven by a Marshall stack. Nobody produced a more stirring racket with that particular combination than Jon Lord. And what about those organ / guitar dogfights between Lord and Blackmore!
Jon Lord - Rock God
Unlike when some rock stars pass away and I'm prompted to dig out and revisit their records, there was no need when I heard of Jon Lord's demise as Deep Purple are constant visitors to my turntable anyway. Jon Lord will be sorely missed.
Apologies for the long absence. If any of you out there enjoy what you read and hear on this blog, then please post a comment or register as a follower, if only to motivate me to continue ridiculing / fawning over my record collection for you. To quote Bruce Dickinson, "Scream for me Long Beach!"
And so, without further ado, the latest in a series of must-hear Beatles cover songs.
In 1976, La Seine released their Like The River album to little fanfare. They must have been mad (In Seine perhaps?) to adopt such a seemingly random and un-Rock 'n' Roll name, but the LP's title and cover art suggest that someone in the band was a serious Francophile and river fetishist.
The grainy band portrait on the rear cover hints at a group flirting with Shelf-Stacker-approved facial hair and there may well be a hint of beret on the shadowy figure on the far right of the picture (I think we've found our Francophile!). No wonder I was drawn to this LP when I liberated it from the grubby racks at the much-missed Cheapo Cheapo Records!
But what can I tell you about the band? Precious little to be honest, but post-La Seine it would appear that Tom Seufert (vocals/guitar) wrote for Ringo Starr, Glen Frey and Trevor Rabin, and is currently creative director/executive producer for a boutique record company, Visual Music.
Steve Hague (keyboards) went on to play with New Wave / Powerpop band Jules & The Polar Bears before becoming the producer of choice for virtually every British pop act in possession of a synthesizer: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Pet Shop Boys, Communards, New Order, Erasure etc., etc. He's also found time to produce albums for Pretenders, P.I.L., and Peter Gabriel. Hague's online biographies all fail to mention his one-time membership of La Seine, but he is most definitely guilty as charged. Oddly, it is Tom Seufert who produces Like The River, not Hague.
Bass player Don Whaley's credits include stints recording with Bert Jansch and Ian Matthews.
Tris Imboden (drums) has occupied Chicago's drumstool for the past couple of decades and worked extensively as a session musician, having made his mark with such luminaries as Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steve Vai, Firefall, Kenny Loggins, Roger Daltrey and Richard Marx.
Background vocalist Mark Creamer's pipes graced Billy Joel's Piano Man and Bob Seger's Like A Rock. He's also worked as a session guitarist and latterly as a studio engineer.
These impressive CVs would suggest that Like The River must be a lost classic. Well, not quite, but it certainly has its moments: You've Let Me Down; You Turn Me Around; Union Strong Arm Men and I Want To Believe In You all occupy a Tycoon / Le Roux musical neighbourhood, but they are forced to brush shoulders with the Hawaiian guitar of Come To The Island, the faux Stevie Wonder keyboard squelches of Dance, Like You Do At Home, the buccaneer impersonations on It's A Pirate's Life and the cod-Latino Tango All Night, all of which have their charms and are skilfully played, but sabotage any chance the album has of creating a consistent and coherent mood. And then there's the cover of the Beatles' I'm Down which is very enjoyable despite the fact that, perversely, the band sounds so bloody cheerful. Couldn't they have made some attempt to sound pissed off? The backing vocalists singing "I'm Down" sound like they've just won the lottery for crying out loud! A decent album with some great performances, pristine vocal harmonies and top musicianship throughout. Trawl the car boot sales for your copy.
