|
The Music
Machine Although several garage groups went on to enjoy successful careers playing different styles of music, for many the genre offered them one flashing glimpse of success before an equally sudden fall into oblivion. It certainly seemed that way for the Music Machine, especially in Britain, where only a handful of records were released. The group survived longer than most people realised, however, and at the moment interest in the Music Machine is as high as it was at the peak of their success with "Talk Talk" in 1966. The band's debut album has been given its first British release recently: Rhino has issued an excellent compilation of their work which includes previously unreleased material; and one of America's leading fanzines, 'Ugly Things', has featured a long and detailed interview with the band's guiding force, Sean Bonniwell, to which I'm indebted for some of the background information. FOLK Like many early Sixties musicians, Sean Bonniwell began his pre-Beatles career in a folk group. He sang in the Wayfarers, a strictly traditional combo who cut three albums and several singles for RCA during their lifetime, by 1965, however, Sean was keen to try something much more adventurous, and he set about forming a new group. He brought in Ron Edgar, previously a drummer in the Goldbriars, and added Keith Olsen on bass - both of whom he had met on the folk circuit. The trio began life as the Ragamuffins, playing a mixture of original material and Top 40 hits, but after five months they completely changed direction. With Mark Landon on guitar and Doug Rhodes on keyboards, the Ragamuffins became the Music Machine, threw out (almost) all the cover versions and set about creating their own individual style. First of all, Sean gave his group a definite image - everyone wore black and dyed their hair to match. Their drumkit and amps were also painted, and the final touch of class was added when every member wore a single black glove. But their music was even more radical. Bonniwell's songs were startlingly original, totally distanced from the folk scene in which he had been moving. The group quickly signed a deal with producer Brian Ross, and it was their debut single "Talk Talk", released in November 1966, which became their most successful. "Talk Talk" may have been a shade under two minutes in length, but perhaps such power couldn't have been maintained any longer. Adjectives like tough, strident or assertive only hint at how strong this record was, with Edgar's pounding drums and Landon's crunching guitar controlling the lurching rhythm. Bonniwell's voice, cut from the same mold as Arthur Lee of Love, or Fred Cole of the Lollipop Shoppe, was compleately commanding. Released in the U.S. on Original Sound and in the U.K. on Pye International, this remains one of the Sixties punk's essential moments. "Talk Talk" may have reached No. 15 in Billboard's single chart, and an album was duly rush- released to cash in on this success. It wasn't however, merely a collection of fillers to back up the hit single: the collection remains one of the very best to come out of the garage band era. Now available in Britain on the Big Beat label, it is thankfully easy to obtain at last, after years of obscurity. "Turn On The Music Machine" naturally features the group's hit single, as well as it's flipside, the moody "Come On In". But alongside these tracks were five equally excellent Sean Bonniwell originals, as well as five covers, all rather offbeat and idiosyncratic choices. The Beatles' "Taxman" was probably the most straightforward, although the Music Machine's grinding sound certainly added a new dimension. "96 Tears" was a more likely choice, as the song is so connected to the original version by ? and the Mysterians that other attempts automatically pale by comparison. Nonetheless, the Music Machine's version was worthwhile, as was their fine rendition of Neil Diamond's "Cherry Cherry". Diamond certainly knew how to throw out dynamite chord sequences in those days, and this song remains a classic. "See See Rider" and "Hey Joe" were the final two covers: the former was a chunky reading of the blues standard, following the Animal's version quite closely, while "Hey Joe" is slowed right down, unlike the versions by L.A. contemporaries like the Byrds, the Leaves and Love, who dashed their way through the song. The Music Machine had used this arrangement throughout their live career, and their transformation of the song into a moody, brooding piece predated the release of the Jimi Hendrix version. TWISTS The five new Bonniwell originals were superb. "Trouble" was a fascinatingly complex piece with several melodic twists and turns; "Some Other Drum" was a reflective ballad, indicating something of Sean's future direction; and "Wrong" was another powerful composition in the style of "Talk Tallk". However, it was the two remaining tracks, "The People In Me" and "Masculine Intuition", which were perhaps the strongest. These formed the group's next single, issued in January 1967. "The People In Me" was less immediately arresting than "Talk Talk", as the frantic pace of the first single was replaced by a more clear-cut, commercial approach. Yet strangely, the song struggled to No. 66 "Masculine Intuition", on the other hand, recalled the toughness of it's predecessor, with it's storming instrumental background to Sean's dominant vocals. It remains one of the group's best performances - which, thankfully, was also available to British buyers, as Pye International once again gave the single a U.K. release. This would be the band's last release over here for a long time, however. Sadly, this promise was destined to remain unfulfilled, as the original Music Machine began to disintegrate. One problem was that the band's name was actually owned by Brian Ross, as part of the production deal the band had signed. The group continued in name at least for a third single, "Double Yellow Line"/ "Absolutely Positively" - but which of the original line-up, apart from Bonniwell, appeared on the record is open to debate. Of the original group, Ron Edgar, Keith Olsen and Doug Rhodes later became involved in projects led by singer-songwriter Curt Boetcher. One was a group called the Millenium, put together by Boetcher and Olsen in 1968. Their only album, "Begin", was released on Columbia CS 9663. The close, sometimes sickly-sweet harmony vocals and tight orchestrated arrangements of that band were carried over into Sagittarius, a spin off project which featured all of the Millenium, but was really an outlet for Boetcher's work with producer Gary Usher. It was their faces which were on the cover of the group's Columbia album, "Present Tense"(CS 9644), and Boetcher then formed Together Records, who released a second Sagittarius album, "The Blue Marble", the following year. However, only Keith Olsen of the Music Machine crew remained on board for this recording, and from there he subsequently forged a successful career as a record producer in the 1970s. Meanwhile, Rhodes and Edgar formed a shortlived group, Bigshot, with Millenium's guitarist/songwriter Mike Fennelly, before they too went their separate ways.
|
