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Post by jimbo on Jul 28, 2005 22:24:32 GMT
Alex, do you know where I can get the lyrics from this album?
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jul 29, 2005 9:17:10 GMT
Good question! I have never seen the lyrics to Rays albums on the net and believe me I have looked over the years I have been here. They are not on the sleeve of the original LP which is a shame as The Golden Scarab features a lyric sheet as does the Lemon CD version. Its a shame that Lemon did not do the same for the WTS CD.........whats the sleeve for the CD like BTW......  |
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Post by jimbo on Jul 29, 2005 11:14:55 GMT
Its another biography on Ray from the post-Morrison albums up until now. Theres a few photos (ones post-morrison) I haven't read the entire sleeve yet but thats basically all it is
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jul 29, 2005 11:18:01 GMT
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Post by jimbo on Jul 29, 2005 16:29:58 GMT
On that note the CD of TWTSWRR is awesome! I think it has a great sound and is definitely something every Door fan should pick up. Now we need Lemon to release Nite City
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Aug 6, 2005 12:02:03 GMT
On that note the CD of TWTSWRR is awesome! I think it has a great sound and is definitely something every Door fan should pick up. Now we need Lemon to release Nite City Good point....they obviously took notice of fans opinions over TWTS so maybe worth emailing them over Nite Citys 2 albums....  Just done it.... send your view here.... infonet@cherryred.co.uk |
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Mar 17, 2011 10:08:47 GMT
A short review I did for the Xmas 2001 Scorpywag.....
Ray Manzarek: The Whole Thing Started
With Rock & Roll Now It's Out Of Control.
Taking it's title from one of Jim's most perceptive in concert pronouncements Ray's second album is without doubt his finest to date. From it's very Doorsy beginning with the title track the LP is a triumph for Ray with contributions from Gary Mallaber on drums, Joe Walsh on guitar and actor George Segal with a bit of banjo.
'The Gambler' with it's 'Riders' style piano would not have been amiss on his last album and shows how confident Ray had become with his vocals since the sad demise of his friend Jim. 'Whirling Dervish' a great instrumental reminds me of English band Audience, who's vocalist Howard Werth was in line to take over from Jim if The Doors had carried on after 'Full Circle', with it's demented swirling sax's. The jazzy 'Art Deco Fandango' and 'Begin The World Again' with Ray once more off on his mystic trip are both superb with the poorest track being 'The Perfumed Garden' with Ray in 'smut' mode.
The albums highlights are without doubt the amazing 'Love It Or Leave It' with Flo & Eddie (Mark & Howard of The Turtles as they are fondly remembered) providing some excellent background vocals.
The other is 'I Wake Up Screaming' wonderfully weird with an incredible poetry reading of Jim's 'Ensenada' from 'Mad' Patti Smith and Ray's hellish laughter and spooky vocals.
Several songs are co-written by Danny Sugerman and Ray's piano playing is amongst the finest he has ever produced with the back cover showing him sitting surrounded by keyboards a la Keith Emerson just to emphasise the fact.
Scorpywag rating: 9/10 fanbloodytastic AP.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 1, 2011 19:33:14 GMT
The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll
The late Jim Morrison was once quoted as saying that Ray Manzarek 'is the Doors'.
Then Jim died in his Paris bathtub and proved it wasn't so because The Doors died with him.
Still it was a high compliment and Jim Morrison was not the sort to bestow such without good reason.
This is Manzarek's second solo album....and it is a startling improvement on the first.
The thing is it would be good to see Manzarek succeed because he is one of the genuinely nice people in the rock biz and he has put together an undeniably fine band.
In live performances they handle the simplest or most complex patterns...from basic rock to pure jazz with professional aplomb.
The rhythm section particularly is impressive carrying Manzarek's often delicate keyboard leads lightly and surely.
Manzarek's first album was lost to a heavy handed production and a laughably pretentious philosophical 'concept'.
On 'The Whole Thing' Manzarek retains intact much of the underlying style in that initial effort but gets back to music.
His voice is improving, the production is surer and more important the songs have more guts.
This is the first album made by a Door that a hardcore Doors fan might actually enjoy. And that too is a high compliment.
The Albany Herald February 12th 1975
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 9, 2011 11:23:28 GMT
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 7, 2012 16:05:38 GMT
  The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll 45 rpm single |
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 7, 2012 16:07:31 GMT
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jan 2, 2014 16:03:09 GMT
Ray Manzarek “The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll Now It’s Out Of Control” 1974 Classic Rock,RnB
What do you do after you’ve been a member of the one of the most (in)famous American bands of the late sixties? Well, you try for a solo career . . . but the whole frequently proves to have been bigger than the sum of the parts, and the parts often wither on the vine. Despite his acknowledged keyboard genius and compositional talents, bespectacled former Door Ray Manzarek found life tough as a name recording artist: his two solo albums from 1973 and 1974 failed to ignite the charts, and his later career mostly consisted of collaborations with other artists and sessions in the producer’s chair until he finally reunited with Robby Krieger for live dates after three decades. The ‘73 album, The Golden Scarab, was a complex, cerebral, mostly instrumental concept album that received generally unappreciative reviews despite contributions from LA jazz royalty including Larry Carlton, Jerry Scheff, Milt Holland and Tony Williams. For the follow-up Manzarek selected a safer template, the prevailing vibe on The Whole Thing Started being funky jazz-tinged rock akin to what Steely Dan were also doing at the time, with Manzarek handling lead vocals on lyrics mostly penned by long-time Doors manager Danny Sugerman, and the guest appearances now included Joe Walsh on guitar, Flo & Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) on backing vox and a then unknown Patti Smith reading a fragment of Jim Morrison’s posthumous poetry. Sadly, this didn’t prevent it following its predecessor into oblivion.
Despite its promising moniker, the title track is an undistinguished piano shuffle boogie with flat horn stabs and clichéd lyrics, and Manzarek’s rather thin, pinched vocal does it no favours. From that point on things improve rapidly; “The Gambler” has a fine rolling Fender Rhodes rhythm not unlike later Deep Purple material, an exciting octaved bass line, charming celeste touches and a splendid Hammond solo also reminiscent of Jon Lord’s sound, and the compressed, taut vocal, though hardly Ian Gillan, doesn’t detract. “Whirling Dervish” is a cheery Zappa-like instrumental in alternating 9/8 and 12/8 metres with lots of modulations and soaring, saw-edged soprano sax from guest John Klemmer; the Eastern-inspired middle section pulsates with oriental percussion and keyboard modes and the only disappointment is that the track fades far too early. “Begin The World Again” is certainly redolent of Steely Dan, being driven by funky Clavinet with tongue-in-cheek female backing vocals and tremendous bass guitar work by resident low-end factotum Nigel Harrison. “Art Deco Fandango” is a slight but enjoyable New Orleans-style swinger with a chanted refrain à la Cab Calloway and more excellent woodwind playing. On “Bicentennial Blues (Love It Or Leave It)” Manzarek deliberately revives the spirit of the Doors; the verses employ a throbbing Wurlitzer groove whilst the central instrumental section offers a definitively Doors-style alternating-minor-chord spine with ostinato bass (played by Harrison, not by Ray on his Rhodes bass keyboard) over which Manzarek dusts off his old thin, reedy Vox Continental sound for a great solo in which he even shamelessly quotes the classic motif from “Light My Fire”. “I Wake Up Screaming” and “Perfumed Garden” are slighter fare musically but feature interesting gimmicks; the former includes the aforementioned Patti Smith recital, and the latter employs the simulated (?) soundtrack of a mutual sexual climax.
Still musically active, Manzarek’s most recent projects include two collaborations with blues guitarist extraordinaire Roy Rogers. I’ve not heard these but various opinions imply that they fail to emulate the experimental spirit of his seventies solo albums, which having been revived on CD by UK reissue specialists Cherry Red’s Lemon imprint certainly deserve reappraisal. Fans are also recommended to read Manzarek’s autobiographical Light My Fire: My Life With The Doors which despite its desperately unoriginal title is an articulate, uninhibited and thoroughly entertaining first-hand account of his own early life and the rise and fall of arguably America’s finest ever rock band.
Rising Storm August 16th, 2012
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