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michelej1 02-20-2014 02:40 PM

Bob Welch and Paris
 
Digging in the Crates [click for photos and video links]

http://kzoocornerrecordshop.com/2014...rates-2-paris/

DIGGIN’ IN THE CRATES #2 – Paris
Posted on February 20, 2014 by cornerrecordskzoo
As promised, our new web series continues!

We’ve always found that the most interesting people to talk music with are the ones that readily admit to not knowing everything. The catalog of recorded music is so incomprehensibly vast that one could spend their whole life listening to new music and never really scratch the surface. It’s exciting to think about how much cool stuff is out there! And much of it for one reason or another has been lost in time. You never know what will end up in yr local record store.

For today’s post, we’re taking a look at the band Paris.

We’ve seen these LPs in the shop from time to time. Always thought the art was kinda cool but never took the time to spin them. Recently, we finally took the plunge. Dropped the needle halfway through the first track and was a little unimpressed. Kinda standard 70s rock. Skipped to the second track. More of the same. Kinda sounds like Led Zeppelin. Almost moved on to another record but decided to try a little later in track two. WHOA! What is going on here?! All of sudden the headphones are filled with a wall of Psychedelic guitar wails, bombastic drums and layers of studio trickery. Next track is some weirdo spazzy keyboard licks and the next is a HEAVY blues riff that could have been lifted straight from Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer. Time to do some research!

Turns out those wailing guitar sounds are from Robert aka Bob Welch of Fleetwood Mac! Not what we expected at all! Bob was brought into the group to replace Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer in 1971. He is reported to have been a major reason for the band’s shift into soft rock territory. In 1974 he left Fleetwood Mac and was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Apparently Bob got burned out on the pop tunes and needed to get some rockin’ out of his system. In 1975 Paris was born. Original lineup featured ex-Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick and drummer Thom Mooney. The band only put out two records in 1976 and then disbanded shortly after that due to lack of money and interest. Second record featured Hunt Sales on drums (he recorded Lust For Life the year after with Iggy Pop).

According to interviews, Bob Welch has since dismissed the Paris recordings and does not look favorably upon them. We however think it’s maybe the best thing he ever did (subsequent solo albums are not our bag).

These records rule! Sure, they’re a little dated sounding at times and a few obvious influences tend to shine through. But there are some excellent moments of pure Heavy Psych greatness!

Both these LPs are currently sitting in our band new Psych/Experimental vinyl section. (located in-between Punk and Metal) If you like the tracks, come grab ‘em! And while yr here maybe dig around and find a few hidden gems for yrself!

chiliD 02-20-2014 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelej1 (Post 1121174)
We however think it’s maybe the best thing he ever did (subsequent solo albums are not our bag).

Not much difference in style between the 2nd Paris album and his "subsequent solo albums"...so that is kind of a BS statement. Granted, to me, the first Paris album is the "Led Zeppelin album that Led Zeppelin WISHED they'd recorded" (instead of Presence...the biggest turkey in the LZ discography)

aleuzzi 02-20-2014 09:56 PM

Kudos, Michelle, for finding this post the day it was published! Cool take on the music, too.

chriskisn 02-20-2014 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelej1 (Post 1121174)
These records rule! Sure, they’re a little dated sounding at times and a few obvious influences tend to shine through. But there are some excellent moments of pure Heavy Psych greatness!

From what I've read and from what limited discussions I had with Bob via email over the years he seemed to dismiss most of his good stuff. :distress:

Wendy Welch 02-27-2014 01:32 AM

Bob Welch's view of Paris
 
:blob1::blob1: Paris was Bob's baby and there was no band he was prouder of. Michelej1 you couldn't be more wrong about any supposed emails or interviews. He loved that band and the hard rock sound. In fact, he always said that Paris was his best work and before its time, not a copy of Led Zeplin.

It also was definitely not the same as his works after that. French Kiss was very calculated by him to have hits, where Paris was a hard rock love affair for him. You should go to Bob Welch.com and listen to his cover of "Hot for Teacher" which is Bob's guitar playing like nobody has ever heard on his albums that have been released.

In fact, my personal favorite Bob Welch song was "Black Book" from Paris, which several bands have wanted to rerecord today. Also the Paris albums have a huge cult following from the young. I know because I am getting paid for it, and the first Paris album has been re-released on CD in the past 2 years and is available.

BOB loved his work on Paris. I appreciate your appreciation of the album, but I must also correct you in another area. The band broke up because Hunt Sales got Bells Palsy, which kind of ended the three piece. Also, Capitol records decided they wanted to promote Bob as a solo act instead of a group. That's when he decided to write hit singles and went to town.

welcomechris 02-27-2014 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wendy Welch (Post 1121520)
:blob1::blob1: Paris was Bob's baby and there was no band he was prouder of. Michelej1 you couldn't be more wrong about any supposed emails or interviews. He loved that band and the hard rock sound. In fact, he always said that Paris was his best work and before its time, not a copy of Led Zeplin.

It also was definitely not the same as his works after that. French Kiss was very calculated by him to have hits, where Paris was a hard rock love affair for him. You should go to Bob Welch.com and listen to his cover of "Hot for Teacher" which is Bob's guitar playing like nobody has ever heard on his albums that have been released.

In fact, my personal favorite Bob Welch song was "Black Book" from Paris, which several bands have wanted to rerecord today. Also the Paris albums have a huge cult following from the young. I know because I am getting paid for it, and the first Paris album has been re-released on CD in the past 2 years and is available.

BOB loved his work on Paris.

Bob Did Good Work on Paris. Paris was a very underrated band. Heart of Stone is awesome!

michelej1 02-27-2014 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wendy Welch (Post 1121518)
Michelej1 you couldn't be more wrong about any supposed emails or interviews.

I didn't say anything about any emails or interviews with Bob Welch.

The only time I exchanged emails with him, it was about that Sim City thing he was doing, where his digital image was used.

I never claimed to have emailed with him about Paris or about his music.

Michele

Johnny Stew 02-27-2014 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelej1 (Post 1121574)
I didn't say anything about any emails or interviews with Bob Welch.

I believe Wendy mistakenly directed her reply to you. It was chriskisn who said he'd corresponded with Bob via email.

SteveMacD 02-27-2014 11:15 PM

"Black Book"'was totally Zep knock-off ("Big Town 2061"'not so much.).

That's okay. "Black Dog" was totally an "Oh Well" knock-off.

chriskisn 02-28-2014 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew (Post 1121578)
I believe Wendy mistakenly directed her reply to you. It was chriskisn who said he'd corresponded with Bob via email.

I never discussed Paris with Bob, but the article states that Bob didn't look back too fondly on Paris (nothing I can comment on because I don't know one way or another). However the few times I did email Bob he did seem like he was dismissive of some of his earlier solo work, perhaps feeling that it wasn't good enough etc.

wetcamelfood 02-28-2014 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wendy Welch (Post 1121518)
he always said that Paris was his best work and before its time, not a copy of Led Zeplin.

Page 73 (hardback 1st edition) of Bob Brunning's FM book "Behind The Masks" has a quote from Bob Welch when interviewed by Bob Brunning saying: "I wanted to do something very much along the lines of Led Zeppelin, something a little more 'hard rockish'. Zeppelin were becoming huge in the States. I wanted to do that more hard-edged thing but John, Mick and Chris hated that kind of thing. In 1974 it was fresh and they thought it was just a load of crap. I suppose there was validity to that. Led Zeppelin were very brash and raucous."

So I see both sides of this, not trying to cause dissension in the ranks, just pointing out what he said (unless it's felt he was misquoted) and really it's just the 1st album were talking about here as Big Towne 2061 was certainly a change in style from the 1st album, both great albums I'm sure most of us here agree on this. :)

John

Wendy Welch 03-09-2014 02:25 AM

Bob Brunning
 
Bob Brunning came and visited us and interviewed Bob in Phoenix. Bob did say he wanted to do something hardrocking along the lines of Led Zeplin, but that was it. Bob Brunning didn't know that much about FM and a lot of what he wrote was just BS. He was kind of just jumping on the FM bandwagon for his short time with the band that did not add that much.

FuzzyPlum 07-22-2017 02:45 PM

Just got a copy of the Paris album (its the first album I've played since I got Buckingham McVie). I didn't know anything about this album before I ordered it. Wow, its not exactly what I was expecting. Pretty good as a driving album. It definitely has a large Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin feel to it (especially the first side). After a few listens it sounds like a really solid record- I'm surprised it wasn't a success at the time of its release. I can see why Bob moved into this genre for a while.


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