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TONY JOE WHITE 'EYES' (20th Century BT 253).
SO YOU thought Tony Joe White was a downhome country guy with his feet firmly in the mud of the Mississippi swamps?
Well boy, you better take a look at the cover of this new album by the Louisiana born singer songwriter come funk star and think again. With a ravishing blonde Hollywood starlet on his arm Tony Joe doesn't eat in roadhouses any more.
It's the swish Sunset Boulevard restaurants for him now. And by the look in his eyes as he shares a glass of wine with his young lady, it certainly isn't Mom's old home cooking he's discussing. More like Ugandan affairs, I would say. Or purhaps even Los Angeles Liaisons.
Actually spin the disc inside and your worst suspicions will, sadly, be proven right. Tony Joe White has a rich, dark, deep voice that once evoked the sights and sounds and smells of bayou country almost in a single breath. Now he's put a slick funkster band behind it, fleshed it out quite unecessarily with synthetic girlie vocals, and does his cabaret spot as a
Barry White Imitator. The mixture is easily as horrendous as it sounds. One listen only of "Soulful Eyes", "We'll live on love" and the awful "That Loving Feeling" (complete with Donna Summer imitations... ooh!) will send you rushing to the bathroom clutching your stomach. And where's that dry, spiky, swampy electric guitar that used to be the man's trademark?
Mixed right out in almost every case. Luckily some surfaces on an Al Green soundlike "Rainy Day Lover".
But only "Texas Woman" and "Hold Onto Your Hiney" approach the classics like "Polk Salad Annie" and "Roosevelt And Ira Lee" wich Tony Joe cut for Monument back in the Sixties.
They inspired a whole host of Deep South rock 'n' roll rebels as well as a whole generation of pub rock guitarists. This lot here will inspire nobody at all.
Chas de Whalley, 1976.
Spontaneous combustion, Ronnie Scott's, Tony Joe White: Like all good parties...
IT'S MIDNIGHT, and I'm still dazed from a bolt out of the blue wich hit me some time around 1.15 this afternoon.
Completely unexpectedly, Tony Joe White laid on one of those spontaneously ace gigs that stick in the memory for years.
It wasn't even a regular gig. It was a press reception, thrown by Pye to celebrate their signing of TJW
(via 20th Century Records) and to promote his first 20th Century album, "Eyes", and single "Hold On To Your Hiney".
Unlike most such affairs, which are traditionally long on booze but short on music, for this one we were treated to a set by the artist in question. And what a mutha he turned out to be.
I had no idea he was so good. Rated most of his records highly since "Soul Francisco" and "Polk Salad Annie" back in '69 but never actually got to see him perform before and had heard through the grapevine that he wasn't to hot on stage, Bah.
I should knowby now not to heed gossip. Sitting alone, with just harmonica and electric guitar fed through wah-wah and a small amp as props, he stripped blues, soul and rock down to their basic uncorrupted elements and then fused them back together in a distinctly personal expression of those roots without losing a dram of spirit from any one.
Bereft of further accompaniment, his voice came across far stronger and with much more character than it might otherwise have done, and his great guitar work was heard to full advantage.
He doesn't abuse the wah-wah, using it more as punctuation than an alphabet, if you see what I mean, mainly playing clean melody lines, raunchy rhythm and powerful, biting blues licks, all interwoven in a single tread of different textures. He played a full set of eleven numbers (including two genuinely demanded encores), introducing several fine songs from his new album - ballads "Rainy Day Lover" and "That Loving Feeling", bodacious boogies "Swamp Boogie" and "Texas Woman", and the funky-butt single, "Hiney".
From earlier days he also gave us "Polk Salad Annie", "It Must Be Love", "Rainy Night In Georgia" and "I Got A Thing About You, Baby", plus a song he'd just written, "Woman".
By the time he climaxed with "Even Trolls Love Rock'n'Roll" I was totally wiped out, and left with the burning thought that he is exactly what Elvis should be like in 1977. It gets up my nose that that overweight bag of neuroses is still coining it when an artist of Tony Joe's calibre is virtually being ignored.
If all receptions were as knockout as this one, ligging would be as much fun as you probably think it is. Somebody somewhere ought to smartly ensure that you all get a chance to enjoy the man in similar circumstances.
Cliff White, Melody Maker, 1977.
Swamp Fox run to earth, Tony Joe White talks to Chris Welch.
BARROOM! The thunder of artillery from the US Army not only helped wipe out the Red Indians but their horses as well.
Tony Joe White knows all about it. He raises the kind of fast, small horses the Indians tribes used, and explains slowly and softly , with a shake of his head, how the horses were deliberately massacred to deny the Indians their mobility.
Not a pretty tale, but just as the Indians survived - just - so their horses are now being bred again. Tony Joe is very much a survivor, too, a country boy with the kind of relaxed but smouldering demeanour that would make him a natural in Western movies. In fact he's a buddy of Clint Eastwood, and was once cast in an unsuccessful movie made by, Jack Good and Pattrick McGoohan called Catch My Soul. Not really Tony Joe's style though - it was based on Othello, and his Louisiana drawl didn't suit Shakespeare.
They call him the Swamp Fox, and just a few years ago Tony Joe White seemed on the verge of heading a whole Southern Music Boom. He hit with "Polk Salad Annie", a song covered by Elvis Presley and Tom Jones, and came to Britain a couple of times: to play at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, tour with Creedence Clearwater Revival and another time to guest solo on an MM-sponsored show at Crystal Palace. But then Tony Joe of the funky backbeats and laid-back vocals seemed to slip from prominence. He had a lot of hassles with his record company, and just could not seem to get any hits for himself although his songs did well for others, including Isaac Hayes and Ray Charles. Frustrating days right enough, and gradually Tony gave up the easy-going round of boozing and over-indulgence that, he agrees, marked his first taste of success.
Today, Tony Joe looks fitter, slimmer and a good deal happier. There was a time when, if it came to an interview, he'd slump back in his chair and mumble. But when we met at London's Montecalm Hotel, near Marble Arch this week, he was laughing and joking, and obviously enjoying a lightning promotional tour around Europe.
He's very popular in Germany and hopes his new album "Eyes" featuring all his own love-oriented compositions, will regain him friends and influence in England, too. It marks his debut on 20th Century Records, distributed here by Pye, and features the musicians he most likes working with on "live" performances, including Billy Wayne Herbert (bassguitar), Don Chandler (keyboards) and James Covan (drums). The first time British audiences saw Tony Joe he was working with British drummer Cozy Powell, and he fondly remembers the crazy days of boozing and raving in London. But now he refuses a beer and says he likes to keep himself together.
What had he been doing the three years since he was last here?
"Since then I've been writing a good bit, released two or three singles in the States for Warner Brothers. They kinda put them out to see what would happen, but there was no big promotion. Thur main thing ah've been doing is getting songs cut by other artists. I even had a top ten single for a country, singer last year - with a song called 'The Barmaid' Isaac Hayes, too - had some cut by him. I'll write a country song, maybe once a year. I have my own publishing company ... s'called Tennessee Swamp Fox."
It sounds like a drag racing car. "Yeah ... it's about what it is."
Tony had a lot of success early on, then things seemed to slide a bit. What went wrong?
"Oh, I geuss it was lack of promotion, over here especially. But now I've got a song that looks like it's happening real good in Germany. If you stay away from a place for three years, they wonder where you went. As long as you're writing though ... even if you're not doing as many TV shows ..."
Tony's voice trailed away, but I know what he was talking about.
"Keep your writing going, man, you'll be all right." He seemed to be offering himself comforting advice.
"I've been mainly a writer for the past few years, but I've been performing quite a bit lately. One helps the other."
"I've been to eight cities in the past few days, so I'm in a bit of a whirl, man. It's tiring, but I've tried to keep my boby in shape. You have to be like an athlete, just to keep up. When I first started out, '69-70, I was everlasting going out, getting drunk and having a good time. And then someone would want to talk, do an interview, and I'd say 'No man, I really don't feel like it.' which really hurts yourself, because that's half the business. People want to know about the artist."
"But England was almost like home to me, working with people like Cozy Powell and drinking beer together. I remember when we played the Isle of Wight, just as two, and there were 500,000 people out there. They sent us forms afterwards to release the movie of the festival, but it never happened. Then I did the tour with Creedence Clearwater and I had Duck Dunn, the bassplayer, with me."
There was a big boom in Southern rock in the past few years. Didn't Tony feel he had missed out that despite being a pioneer?
"I never felt out of place or in place at any time. I just play my music and write. But there has been a lot of publicity about the SOUTH in the last two years, which is good for me, too, 'cos it's where I'm from and what I'm all about. That Texas stomp boogie - it's what I've been playing all my life in the clubs. There's some good groups coming out of Louisiana and Georgia. There's a studio being built pretty close to my home town in Louisiana with 24 tracks, and they've built it right in the middle of the swamps, man."
"'Cos down in Florida they're trying to drain the swamps, built some kinda big airport, housing development or something. They may have already done it. Knowing humans, they've probably already messed it up."
I suppose the music is laidback because of the swampy atmosphere?
"It's just the way of life. Nobody is in too much of a hurry. I'm probably fast-moving compared to some people", said Tony with slow deliberation. "Some people would take an hour to answer one of the questions you've already asked. Or they may not even answer."
Tony emitted a deep chuckle. "Could be the humidity, man, and the dampness. It's just a lazy place. You get so hot. You think it's hot here, but it's like Spring freshness to me. But when you get 95 degrees and a humidity factor of 60 or 70, you can feel it in the air, it's just wet."
What do people do for a living in such conditions? "Farming. Raise cotton, and beans and rice. A lot of people made their living from the hides of 'gators. And they've outlawed it, y'know, so over a period of three or four years these 'gators get to multiply like rabbits."
"Yeah, man, they like to make love. They got to be so many it got kinda scarey. They wus coming up in the streets, so they've had to clear 'em out. You may find a big old Mama alligator that's watching her eggs, and she'll be MEAN. But for 'gators to hunt people, that's only in the stories I tell."
We began discussing some of the curious phrases that Tony, employs in songs. 'Polk' refers to a kind of wild spinach and also the sack you put it in. A 'Hiney', as in his song 'Hold On To Your Hiney' is your seat, or behind.
"When I was a kid your parents would say, 'if you don't behave I'll spank your hiney.'
"The album is all songs I've been writing over the past few years. It's my first in two and a half years. It was pretty aggravating, man, because I was carrying songs to Warner Brothers they were turning down, and yet they were hits for other people. 'That Loving Feeling' they said was to much like Isaac Hayes, so I took it to Isaac and he put it on a gold album. I was taking them my work, and they were saying, 'We want another Polk Salad Annie.' Then my contract was up and 20th Century heard a tape and said they knew what to do with my type of music. So it was a frustrating time, but I was still in the business and I toured a lot. Even did some shows with Cheech & Chong, the comedy act."
There had been a lot of changes in the music business. How did he feel about the new wave?
"To tell you the truth I never even notice 'em, man. I'm just writin' and singin', and if you try and take notice of what everybody else is doing, and wonder, 'Should I play like him, or him, or dress like this?, if you did all that, you'd never have time to create nuthin'. Try to be creative and sooner or later your time rolls around, and all of a sudden YOU'RE the one everybody is looking at and they all wanna play like YOU."
Tony broke into a lazy grin and sipped his orange juice. "It's a crazy business, man. You can be so high and so down, all at one time. Oh yeah, I've bin both, so fed up I didn't want to talk to anybody. It's different times you go through, man. But I've been really LUCKY, due to muh writing. If I can keep that, I'll be okay."
"Music is a delicate thing, man. You don't hurry musicians, or hurt their feelings and expect to get good music from them."
Chris Welch, New Musical Express, 1977.
TONY JOE WHITE, Eyes (20th Century),
TONY JOE White's formula was the Presley scam fifteen years on: Southern white good ol' boy doing blues plus country plus rock plus soul all cooked up together sweet and tough and steaming to produce a whole that exeeded the sum of the parts.
Jerry Reed had the same thing down, but - in the words of Reed's best-known song - when he was hot he was hot and when he was not he definitely was not. At his best Reed could not piss on Tony Joe from a great hiegt, but he did so many gloopy Nashville clinkers and so little funk that in the haul Tony Joe had the edge.
Tony Joe White made his mark arround the turn of the decade with a triad of excellent almums on Monument (later compiled into "The Best Of Tony Joe White"on Warners), followed up with a pair of highly forgettable Warners albums and now after a long recording layoff re-emerges on 20th Century with an exeptionally lame and vapid album that sounds like an attempt to cop from his namesake label-mate Barry White.
Apart from occasional outbreaks of swamp funk like the John Lee Hooker-influenced "Texas Woman"and the self-explanatory "Swamp Boogie", this album is fumbling-seduction grab-a-tit-during-the-instrumental break coctail soul for off-duty ailine stewardesses to get made by.
Cliff White tels me that Tony Joe is still a get-down show-and-a-half when he works, but this album is a certified disaster. Ther are enough bozos making crappy albums allready; we don't need genuinely talented gyus like Tony Joe to make 'em too.
Back to yer roots, bo'. Next time, TJW, keep it all down in th'swamps - or Amos Moses gon' gitcha.
Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, June 11 1977.
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