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Is This What You Want?

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Is This What You Want? is an album by English rock and soul singer Jackie Lomax, released in 1969 on the Beatles' Apple Records label. It was produced by George Harrison – although the US version included Lomax's self-produced "New Day", a non-album single in the UK – and features contributions from Harrison's fellow Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The album was not a commercial success and has become more notable for its array of well-known backing musicians than for the songs themselves. Much of Is This What You Want? was recorded in Los Angeles with members of the Wrecking Crew, while other participants on the London sessions include Eric Clapton, Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voormann and John Barham. Lomax wrote all the songs on the album bar the Harrison-penned "Sour Milk Sea", which was Lomax's debut single on Apple, released in August 1968.

The album has been reissued and remastered, most recently in 2010, with bonus tracks covering the rest of Lomax's output while on Apple Records.

Background

A fellow Liverpudlian, Jackie Lomax signed to the Beatles' Apple Publishing as an in-house songwriter in 1967,[1] writing songs and recording demos at the company's original headquarters, on Baker Street in central London.[2] John Lennon was the first to suggest he should consider becoming a solo artist,[3] and with the formation of Apple Records in early 1968, George Harrison committed to producing an album by Lomax on the new label.[1][4] Lomax later admitted he was concerned that the album might never get made since he was unsure whether Harrison would ever come back from India,[2] where the Beatles were attending the Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation course in the early months of 1968.

Harrison was the last Beatle to return from India, on 21 April,[5][6] after which he and Lomax ran through material intended for the album at Harrison's Esher bungalow, Kinfauns. Lomax recalls first hearing the song "Sour Milk Sea" there, played by Harrison on acoustic guitar with Lomax accompanying on bass.[2] Among Lomax's own material was the Motown-inspired "Speak to Me", and "Is This What You Want?", a song that has been described as both bearing a close resemblance to the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus",[7][8] and, conversely, pre-empting the similar-sounding "Come Together" by a full year.[9]

Production

London, summer 1968

Recording for Is This What You Want? began at London's Abbey Road Studios in June 1968 and continued through the summer in between Harrison's work on the Beatles' White Album (1968).[2][8] While working alone at Trident Studios, down the hall from where the band were recording,[8] Lomax was invited to add backing vocals to "Dear Prudence" in late August;[10] he had also joined the backing chorus for "Hey Jude" earlier that month.[8][11] Among the guest musicians on Lomax's London sessions, much of which would go unused, were Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voormann and Paul McCartney.[7][12] Less well-known participants included drummers Bishop O'Brien and Pete Clark;[12] the former was part of Apple artist James Taylor's backing group, while Clark was the drummer for Lomax's "house" band, with whom Lomax performed a handful of London gigs during this period.[1]

Los Angeles, October–November 1968

George Harrison (left, with Don Grierson), in Los Angeles in October 1968

Following the completion of the White Album, Harrison and Lomax left for Los Angeles to carry out further work on Is This What You Want?[13] Seven of the album's twelve tracks[1] were recorded at Sound Recorders Studio from 20 October[14] to 11 November.[15] Lomax was supported on these sessions by Harrison, Larry Knechtel, Joe Osborn and Hal Blaine[12][16] – the latter three among the top LA sessionmen at the time[17] and veterans of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew.[18] Moog synthesizer pioneers Bernie Krause and Paul Beaver also contributed,[12] and Harrison later used a collaboration between himself and Krause on his experimental album Electronic Sound.[17][19]

Other activities during what biographer Alan Clayson describes as a "most productive" US visit for Harrison included meeting Delaney Bramlett and Leon Russell for the first time,[20] and recording a rendition of "Nowhere Man" by singer Tiny Tim for inclusion on the Beatles' Christmas 1968 fan-club record.[21] Lomax later praised Blaine, Knechtel and Osborn for being "tremendous musicians, so quick"[22] and, like Harrison, he would work with Russell in London late the following year.[23][24]

London, January 1969

The album (in its UK version) was completed in London during January 1969,[25] in between Harrison's commitments to the Beatles' ill-fated Get Back project. Although only John Barham would be credited for orchestration on Is This What You Want?,[12] Beatles producer George Martin can be heard on Get Back audio tapes from 10 January wondering whether Harrison, who had just walked out on the band,[26] would be attending a strings overdubbing session Martin had arranged that evening for one of Lomax's tracks.[27]

Harrison originally considered giving his most successful composition, "Something", to Lomax to record,[28] after Lennon and McCartney had shown little interest in it during the Get Back sessions.[29] Harrison instead offered the song to Joe Cocker before the Beatles recorded it for their Abbey Road album (1969).[30]

Subsequent Apple recordings

The US version of Is This What You Want? was issued two months after its British release and included "New Day",[31] a Lomax composition that was originally intended as a standalone single, although Lomax later claimed he had to push to persuade Apple that it was worth recording.[1] The sessions in April 1969 were Lomax's first as a producer,[1] supported by longtime Beatles associate Mal Evans;[31] Lomax also worked closely with musical arranger John Barham on the song's descending brass parts.[1] The backing musicians on "New Day" were previously thought to have been Clapton, Starr and Billy Preston,[32] but Lomax has stated that he was accompanied by his live band at the time:[1] Tim Renwick, Chris Hatfield, Billy Kinsley and Pete Clark.[33] Lomax recorded a cover version of Leiber and Stoller's "Thumbin' a Ride" on 11 March, as the B-side to "New Day" in America.[34] "Thumbin' a Ride" was produced by Paul McCartney[16] and featured him on drums, along with Harrison (guitars), Preston (piano and organ) and Klaus Voormann (bass);[35] in addition, "George & Patti and The Rascals" were credited as backing vocalists.[36] An unreleased Lomax composition, "Going Back to Liverpool", was also taped in March 1969,[37] apparently at the same McCartney-produced session.[33] The following day, 12 March, Harrison was overseeing overdubs on these Lomax tracks, before planning to attend McCartney's wedding to Linda Eastman, when Pattie Harrison informed him that the police had just carried out a drugs raid at Kinfauns;[38] a large lump of hashish had been "found" on the floor of their otherwise-tidy home.[35]

Other tracks Lomax recorded for Apple during 1969 included "You Make It With Me", "Can You Hear Me" and "You've Got to Be Strong",[2] the last of which would be rewritten by Doris Troy and released on her own Apple Records album as "I've Got to Be Strong".[39] By this time, Lomax was involved with a band called Heavy Jelly,[1] but he recorded one last single for Apple in October 1969, a Harrison-produced cover of "How the Web Was Woven".[16][33] Nicky Hopkins was booked to play on the session but was unable to return from Los Angeles in time, and then Harrison was forced to postpone when his mother became seriously ill.[40] Leon Russell agreed to participate on the rescheduled session,[41] and contributed piano, organ and guitar.[12] Lomax had been reluctant to record the song – in 1974 he would tell ZigZag magazine that he had to be "pretty well talked into [doing] it" – but he was impressed with Russell's versatility on "How the Web Was Woven", and credited him with also playing the drums on the recording.[1]

Release and reissue

Is This What You Want? was released in the UK on 21 March 1969 (with the Apple catalogue number SAPCOR 6), and in the United States on 19 May (as Apple ST 3354).[42] The accompanying single, "New Day", was issued on 9 May and 2 June, respectively, in Britain and America.[43] The single failed to chart in either market and the album's only placing was number 145 on the US Billboard 200[44] during a nine-week chart stay there.[45] Harrison's musical biographer, Simon Leng, has written of the public's response to the suggestive title of Lomax's album as "an apathetic 'no'".[7] A lack of promotion by Apple Records was partly the cause of the album's commercial failure,[46] following the arrival of Allen Klein as the Beatles' business manager in early 1969.[1][47]

The album was issued on CD for the first time in November 1991,[48] with the inclusion of bonus tracks such as "New Day", "Thumbin' a Ride" and "How the Web Was Woven".[49] The 2010 remaster offered previously unreleased songs recorded during Lomax's two years on Apple Records, as well as additional tracks for download, including alternative mixes of "Sour Milk Sea", "The Eagle Laughs at You" and "New Day".[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Robert ChristgauB[50]
Mojo[51]

On release, Is This What You Want? received enthusiastic reviews,[16] but as Lomax admitted in a 1970 Rolling Stone interview, with reference to reviewers' fascination with the line-up of superstar backing musicians, "they're always talkin' about who's on the album and not the album itself."[22] Writing in ZigZag in July 1974, Andy Childs advised the magazine's readers: "it's worth its weight in gold, so if it's absent from your collection, add it to your shopping list of second-hand records."[1] A number of music critics identify Harrison's "Sour Milk Sea" as a highlight of the album.[1][22][52]

Richie Unterberger of AllMusic offers a less favourable opinion of Is This What You Want?, describing Lomax as "a passable but unarresting singer and songwriter".[9] Unterberger identifies the best moments as the "Beatlesque" songs "Is This What You Want?" and the "uncommonly tender" "Fall Inside Your Eyes".[9] Discussing the 2004 reissue in Record Collector, Terry Staunton described Lomax's style as "[mining] the same seam as Joe Cocker, albeit with a voice neither as distinctive or as powerful" and singled out the "gentle balladry" of "Fall Inside Your Eyes" and "Baby You're A Lover" as highlights.[8] Lomax's only Apple album, Staunton concluded, was "a fairly pleasing blue-eyed soul set, which is probably more revered today than it was 35 years ago".[8]

In his preview of the label's 2010 reissues, for Rolling Stone, David Fricke listed it third among his top five non-Beatle Apple albums, writing: "[Is This What You Want?] often sounds like a student edition of Delaney and Bonnie's gospel-spiced R&B with some odd jarring touches … But 'Sour Milk Sea' is dynamite, the title track bears a neat eerie resemblance to 'I Am the Walrus' in the opening measures, and Lomax is a formidable voice, in the gruff, chesty British tradition of Chris Farlowe and Paul Rodgers."[53]

Track listing

All songs by Jackie Lomax, except where noted.

Original release

Side one

  1. "Speak to Me" – 3:06
  2. "Is This What You Want?" – 2:44
  4. UK version: "How Can You Say Goodbye" – 4:13
  6. US version: "New Day" – 3:18
  7. "Sunset" – 3:54
  8. "Sour Milk Sea" (George Harrison) – 3:51
  9. "Fall Inside Your Eyes" – 3:08

Side two

  2. "Little Yellow Pills" – 4:01
  3. "Take My Word" – 3:55
  4. "The Eagle Laughs at You" – 2:22
  5. "Baby You're a Lover" – 3:01
  6. "You've Got Me Thinking" – 2:53
  7. "I Just Don't Know" – 2:53

1991 and 2004 reissues

Tracks 1–12 as per original UK release, with the following bonus tracks:

  2. "New Day" – 3:15
  3. "Won't You Come Back" – 4:10
  4. "Going Back to Liverpool" – 3:07
  5. "Thumbin' a Ride" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 3:56
  6. "How the Web Was Woven" (Clive Westlake, David Most) – 3:50

2010 remaster

Tracks 1–12 as per original UK release, with the following bonus tracks:

  2. "New Day" [mono single mix] – 2:54
  3. "Thumbin' a Ride" (Leiber, Stoller) – 3:56
  4. "How the Web Was Woven" (Westlake, Most) – 3:54
  5. "You've Got to Be Strong" – 2:53
  6. "You Make It with Me" – 2:47
  7. "Can You Hear Me" – 2:46

Digital downloads

  2. "Going Back to Liverpool" – 3:10
  3. "Sour Milk Sea" [mono mix] (Harrison) – 3:57
  4. "The Eagle Laughs at You" [mono mix] – 2:31
  5. "Little Yellow Pills" [mono mix] – 4:02
  6. "New Day" [stereo single mix] – 2:51

Personnel

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Andy Childs, "The History of Jackie Lomax", ZigZag, July 1974; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 17 February 2014).
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Is This What You Want?", Apple Records (retrieved 31 October 2012).
  3. ^ Richard Williams, "Jackie Lomax obituary", The Guardian, 18 September 2013 (retrieved 10 June 2015).
  4. ^ Clayson, pp. 239–40.
  5. ^ Miles, p. 296.
  6. ^ "Timeline: March 18–May 14, 1968", Mojo: The Beatles' Final Years Special Edition, February 2003, p. 23.
  7. ^ a b c Leng, p. 55.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Terry Staunton, "Jackie Lomax: Is This What You Want?", Record Collector, July 2004; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 31 October 2012).
  9. ^ a b c d Richie Unterberger, "Jackie Lomax Is This What You Want?", AllMusic (retrieved 31 October 2012).
  10. ^ MacDonald, p. 272.
  11. ^ MacDonald, pp. 264–65.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Castleman & Podrazik, p. 203.
  13. ^ "Timeline: September 28–October 20, 1968", Mojo: The Beatles' Final Years Special Edition, February 2003, p. 48.
  14. ^ Miles, p. 312.
  15. ^ 11 November 1968: "George Harrison produces Is This What You Want? by Jackie Lomax", The Beatles Bible (retrieved 1 November 2012).
  16. ^ a b c d Bruce Eder, "Jackie Lomax", AllMusic (retrieved 1 November 2012).
  17. ^ a b Miles, p. 313.
  18. ^ Kent Hartman, "The Wrecking Crew", American Heritage, February/March 2007 (vol. 58, no. 1).
  19. ^ Leng, p. 57.
  20. ^ Leng, pp. 62–63.
  21. ^ Clayson, p. 259.
  22. ^ a b c Robert Greenfield, "Jackie Lomax Is Leaving London", Rolling Stone, 26 November 1970; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 31 October 2012).
  23. ^ Leng, p. 61.
  24. ^ O'Dell, pp. 96, 106–07.
  25. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 75.
  26. ^ Miles, p. 328.
  27. ^ Sulpy & Schweighardt, p. 173.
  28. ^ Mark Lewisohn, "Something Else", Mojo: The Beatles' Final Years Special Edition, February 2003, p. 118.
  29. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, pp. 38, 39.
  30. ^ Clayson, pp. 250–51.
  31. ^ a b Castleman & Podrazik, p. 77.
  32. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 218.
  33. ^ a b c "A Solo Career and Apple Records 1968–69", JackieLomax.com (retrieved 31 October 2012).
  34. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 78.
  35. ^ a b Miles, p. 336.
  36. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 192.
  37. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 263.
  38. ^ Clayson, pp. 265–66.
  39. ^ Richie Unterberger, "Doris Troy Doris Troy", AllMusic (retrieved 31 October 2012).
  40. ^ O'Dell, pp. 95–96.
  41. ^ O'Dell, pp. 96–97.
  42. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 75, 77.
  43. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 77, 78.
  44. ^ "Jackie Lomax: Awards", AllMusic (retrieved 1 November 2012).
  45. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 360.
  46. ^ Leng, p. 56.
  47. ^ Clayson, p. 281.
  48. ^ Badman, p. 470.
  49. ^ "Jackie Lomax – Is This What You Want?", Discogs (retrieved 1 November 2012).
  50. ^ Robert Christgau, "Consumer Guide Reviews: Jackie Lomax", robertchristgau.com (retrieved 20 December 2014).
  51. ^ John Harris, "Strange Fruit: Various, Original Apple albums, 1969–73", Mojo, November 2010, p. 117.
  52. ^ Spizer, p. 341.
  53. ^ David Fricke, "Apple Records' Top Five Albums", rollingstone.com, 10 July 2010 (retrieved 29 August 2014).

Sources

  • Keith Badman, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2001; ISBN 0-7119-8307-0).
  • Harry Castleman & Walter J. Podrazik, All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961–1975, Ballantine Books (New York, NY, 1976; ISBN 0-345-25680-8).
  • Alan Clayson, George Harrison, Sanctuary (London, 2003; ISBN 1-86074-489-3).
  • The Editors of Rolling Stone, Harrison, Rolling Stone Press/Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 2002; ISBN 0-7432-3581-9).
  • Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006; ISBN 1-4234-0609-5).
  • Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, Pimlico (London, 1998; ISBN 0-7126-6697-4).
  • Barry Miles, The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years, Omnibus Press (London, 2001; ISBN 0-7119-8308-9).
  • Chris O'Dell with Katherine Ketcham, Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved, Touchstone (New York, NY, 2009; ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4).
  • Bruce Spizer, The Beatles Solo on Apple Records, 498 Productions (New Orleans, LA, 2005; ISBN 0-9662649-5-9).
  • Doug Sulpy & Ray Schweighardt, Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of The Beatles' Let It Be Disaster, St. Martin's Griffin (New York, 1997; ISBN 0-312-19981-3).
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