Overlooked Classics

[Davey]

We all have them, the handful of albums we love and cherish, the ones that seem nearly perfect...yet hardly ever get a mention from other musicheads. Who knows why, but for some reason they just don't have the universal appeal that some classics do. Or they just don't have the coolness factor. Or whatever, but that doesn't mean we can't call them classics!

So with that in mind, how about naming one of yours?

One I was just listening to is the first Mink DeVille album from 1977. Sometimes called just Mink DeVille, and sometimes (and I think more properly) known as Cabretta, which is how it is titled on the back cover. But no matter what it's called, it is and always has been a classic in my mind. Just 10 songs clocking in at about 35 minutes, yet it is sequenced with the fast and slow songs interspersed so that the flow seems to cycle, kind of an ebb and flow. Still goes by pretty fast, though. I guess it's partly because I like all the songs so much. Nothing to drag it down. Anyway, great album. Willy has a very distinctive and soulful voice and a very tight band working behind him on this one. Add in a well written collection of tunes with a couple well chosen covers and add a top producer and the scene was set. I just checked at the Rock Around The World site and they have a nice interview section with Willy DeVille talking about "The Tale of the Mink" that you can read if you like, but I'll post a short paragraph below which ends with a very telling line, something that seems to characterize a lot of classic albums - that being, the artist really had no idea at the time how good it was, nor exactly where the magic came from. Guess that's why they so often never recreate that greatness again.....

http://www.ratw.com/issues/13/ville.htm

The services of legendary Jack Nitzsche were procured to produce the first Mink DeVille album . . . it was a completely natural choice, as Jack had worked with groups that had provided the soundtrack to Willy's youth -- like The Crystals and The Ronettes: "Jack and I hit it off beautifully. It's a real spiritual relationship. Sometimes it's like looking in a mirror with him . . . it got to the point where I didn't even have to talk, just say, 'Jack . . . ' and he'd say, 'Yeah, I think so . . . ' It was very tight, very magic -- a lot of pressure, but good, positive pressure. It snowballed. There is something in that album that I don't even understand."




EDIT: Funny thing, I just stopped by the http://www.kingblind.com/ site and in this week's 5th installment of their 100 Essential Albums series is the following from Shannon Mulvaney....

Mink Deville - Mink DeVille (or Cabretta)
So much has been written, filmed or photographed on the NY punk scene that it seems sort of a waste of energy to write more. That said I don't feel enough has been said about Mink DeVille's excellent 1977 album. Mixing Latin rhythm, early Springsteen, Velvets, soul and plain old rock n roll may sound like a real bad idea but it works beautifully on this record. The Jack Nitzsche production helps create the perfect summer afternoon record to drink beer by, especially on a stoop in Brooklyn.