WILKO JOHNSON/ROGER DALTREY
''GOING BACK HOME''
APRIL 8 2014
34:15
1 Going Back Home (Mick Green, Wilko JOhnson)/4:00
2 Ice On The Motorway (Wilko Johnson)/2:51
3 I Keep It To Myself (Wilko JOhnson)/3:22
4 Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window (Bob Dylan)/3:37
5 Turned 21 (Wilko Johnson)/3:06
6 Keep On Loving You (Wilko Johnson, Salvatore Ramundo, Norman Watt-Roy)/2:58
7 Some Kind Of Hero (Wilko Johnson)/2:26
8 Sneaking Suspicion (Wilko Johnson)/3:45
9 Keep It Out Of Sight (Wilko Johnson)/2:44
10 Everybody's Carrying A Gun (Wilko Johnson)/2:57
11 All Through The City (Wilko Johnson)/2:51
REVIEW/AMG
BY Stephen Thomas Erlewine
**** Of *****
Early in 2013, Wilko Johnson received the news that he had terminal pancreatic cancer and had maybe ten months to live. Instead of whiling away his final days, Johnson set out on a final tour and, finding himself still standing at the end of it, received an invitation from Who singer Roger Daltrey to go into the studio and record an album of whatever songs the guitarist wanted. Wilko had a few new originals, plus the idea to cover Bob Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window," but he mainly stuck to the Dr. Feelgood songbook: the hard R&B and rock & roll songs he wrote and recorded in the '70s that continued to resonate decades later. Supported by his touring band, Johnson entered the studio with Daltrey and knocked out Going Back Home in a week, just like the Feelgoods and the Who did back in the old days. That twin connection is important, as Going Back Home isn't merely a return to Wilko's roots, it's a homecoming for Daltrey as well, marking the first time in decades that he's sung such tough, blues-based, three-chord rock & roll. It may seem that a generation separates the two rockers -- Johnson's first album with Dr. Feelgood, 1975's Down by the Jetty, appeared nearly a decade after the Who's 1965 debut Sing My Generation -- but the singer is only four years older than the guitarist, so they share many core American blues and R&B influences, speaking a common language from a different perspective. Both musicians are notably older than they were back then -- Daltrey doesn't bother reaching for the high notes and Johnson's playing isn't as manic as it was during the Feelgoods -- but that's what makes Going Back Home special: neither are bothering to hide their age, nor are they desperately attempting to recapture their youth, they're reconnecting to their roots and seizing the present. Johnson penned the handful of originals not long after receiving his terminal diagnosis, but there isn't a shred of self-pity or sadness here. He's making noise while he still can, and Daltrey matches Wilko's abandon, sounding liberated to be singing songs that aren't racked with Pete Townshend's self-doubt. Roger's lower register is gruff, wearing the scars and weight of his years, while Wilko's guitar slices, pushing and accelerating the beat with alternating precision and recklessness. In the other, each musician has found a sparring partner who rivals their famed original partner: Daltrey has the gravity and menace of Lee Brilleaux and Johnson hits back with the savagery of Townshend. It's tough stuff but it's also enthusiastic, infectious fun, a record of three-minute songs that blazes by in just over a half-hour. That velocity is crucial to the creation of Going Back Home; it was made with the realization that the clock was about to run out, that Wilko Johnson might not live to see its release. That rawness also makes it a fitting coda to not only his career but also to Daltrey's: by finding sustenance in the music they originally loved, they've made a testament to the enduring power of music and how it enriches and strengthens a life.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
By Steve Huey
Best known as the guitarist in Dr. Feelgood, one of British pub rock's greatest bands, Wilko Johnson went on to a long solo career playing the kind of rootsy, R&B-based rock & roll he loved. Born John Wilkinson (which he inverted to come up with his stage name) in 1947, Johnson grew up in the coastal Canvey Island area, and played around the local music scene during the '60s (often in jug bands). He studied at Newcastle University beginning in 1967, but returned home during breaks to keep up his musical activities.
In 1971, after returning from a trip to India, he joined the band that became Dr. Feelgood, and quickly became one of their focal points thanks to his maniacally intense stage presence. Dr. Feelgood played locally for a couple of years and made their debut in London in the summer of 1973; their distinctively scruffy image and menacing energy soon made them a hot commodity on the pub rock circuit. The band released its debut album, Down by the Jetty, in 1975; Johnson stayed for two more studio albums (Malpractice and Sneakin' Suspicion) and the chart-topping live document Stupidity, contributing a number of fine original songs. However, tensions between Johnson and the rest of the group led to his departure toward the end of 1977.
Johnson soon formed a backing band called the Solid Senders, which featured keyboardist John Potter, bassist Steve Lewins, and drummer Alan Platt. They signed to Virgin in 1978 and released the LP Solid Senders that year. The following year, Johnson joined Ian Dury's Blockheads, where he remained until 1980; there he met bassist Norman Watt-Roy, who later became a regular collaborator. In early 1981, Johnson released his second album, Ice on the Motorway, and two years later issued the EP Bottle Up and Go! with Lew Lewis; several small-scale LPs, mostly for European labels, followed over the '80s: 1984's Pull the Cover, 1985's Watch Out!, 1987's Call It What You Want, and 1988's Barbed Wire Blues. The latter was the first recording with his new regular group, the Wilko Johnson Band, featuring Watt-Roy and drummer Salvatore Ramundo. Ramundo was replaced in 1988 by Steve Monti (ex-Curve) for the Barbed Wire Blues tour and remained in the band -- which toured almost literally nonstop throughout Europe and Japan for the next decade -- until he tired of touring and was replaced by ex-Blockhead Dylan Howe. Johnson finally had the opportunity to release another album, Going Back Home for Mystic.
There has been renewed interest in Johnson's career in the 21st century, due largely to director Julien Temple's Oil City Confidential, a documentary about Dr. Feelgood and Johnson. The film appeared on the festival circuit, where it drew rave reviews, as did the soundtrack. As a result, two volumes of The Best of Wilko Johnson were released in 2010, as well as a remastered reissue of Barbed Wire Blues. Following a 2011 tour on which he supported The Stranglers, 2012 saw Johnson publish his autobiography, Looking Back on Me.
In early 2013, Johnson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and announced that his televised performance on the show Madness Live: Goodbye Television Centre would be his last. However, the summer brought impromptu live appearances with Watt-Roy and Howe in Essex, and by the end of that November he had recorded an album of re-interpretations of material from his back catalog in collaboration with the Who's Roger Daltrey. Ahead of the release of Going Back Home -- not to be confused with the aforementioned Mystic album of the same title -- Johnson performed it in its entirety with Daltrey at a packed Shepherd's Bush Empire in London toward the end of February 2014.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
''GOING BACK HOME''
APRIL 8 2014
34:15
1 Going Back Home (Mick Green, Wilko JOhnson)/4:00
2 Ice On The Motorway (Wilko Johnson)/2:51
3 I Keep It To Myself (Wilko JOhnson)/3:22
4 Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window (Bob Dylan)/3:37
5 Turned 21 (Wilko Johnson)/3:06
6 Keep On Loving You (Wilko Johnson, Salvatore Ramundo, Norman Watt-Roy)/2:58
7 Some Kind Of Hero (Wilko Johnson)/2:26
8 Sneaking Suspicion (Wilko Johnson)/3:45
9 Keep It Out Of Sight (Wilko Johnson)/2:44
10 Everybody's Carrying A Gun (Wilko Johnson)/2:57
11 All Through The City (Wilko Johnson)/2:51
REVIEW/AMG
BY Stephen Thomas Erlewine
**** Of *****
Early in 2013, Wilko Johnson received the news that he had terminal pancreatic cancer and had maybe ten months to live. Instead of whiling away his final days, Johnson set out on a final tour and, finding himself still standing at the end of it, received an invitation from Who singer Roger Daltrey to go into the studio and record an album of whatever songs the guitarist wanted. Wilko had a few new originals, plus the idea to cover Bob Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window," but he mainly stuck to the Dr. Feelgood songbook: the hard R&B and rock & roll songs he wrote and recorded in the '70s that continued to resonate decades later. Supported by his touring band, Johnson entered the studio with Daltrey and knocked out Going Back Home in a week, just like the Feelgoods and the Who did back in the old days. That twin connection is important, as Going Back Home isn't merely a return to Wilko's roots, it's a homecoming for Daltrey as well, marking the first time in decades that he's sung such tough, blues-based, three-chord rock & roll. It may seem that a generation separates the two rockers -- Johnson's first album with Dr. Feelgood, 1975's Down by the Jetty, appeared nearly a decade after the Who's 1965 debut Sing My Generation -- but the singer is only four years older than the guitarist, so they share many core American blues and R&B influences, speaking a common language from a different perspective. Both musicians are notably older than they were back then -- Daltrey doesn't bother reaching for the high notes and Johnson's playing isn't as manic as it was during the Feelgoods -- but that's what makes Going Back Home special: neither are bothering to hide their age, nor are they desperately attempting to recapture their youth, they're reconnecting to their roots and seizing the present. Johnson penned the handful of originals not long after receiving his terminal diagnosis, but there isn't a shred of self-pity or sadness here. He's making noise while he still can, and Daltrey matches Wilko's abandon, sounding liberated to be singing songs that aren't racked with Pete Townshend's self-doubt. Roger's lower register is gruff, wearing the scars and weight of his years, while Wilko's guitar slices, pushing and accelerating the beat with alternating precision and recklessness. In the other, each musician has found a sparring partner who rivals their famed original partner: Daltrey has the gravity and menace of Lee Brilleaux and Johnson hits back with the savagery of Townshend. It's tough stuff but it's also enthusiastic, infectious fun, a record of three-minute songs that blazes by in just over a half-hour. That velocity is crucial to the creation of Going Back Home; it was made with the realization that the clock was about to run out, that Wilko Johnson might not live to see its release. That rawness also makes it a fitting coda to not only his career but also to Daltrey's: by finding sustenance in the music they originally loved, they've made a testament to the enduring power of music and how it enriches and strengthens a life.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
By Steve Huey
Best known as the guitarist in Dr. Feelgood, one of British pub rock's greatest bands, Wilko Johnson went on to a long solo career playing the kind of rootsy, R&B-based rock & roll he loved. Born John Wilkinson (which he inverted to come up with his stage name) in 1947, Johnson grew up in the coastal Canvey Island area, and played around the local music scene during the '60s (often in jug bands). He studied at Newcastle University beginning in 1967, but returned home during breaks to keep up his musical activities.
In 1971, after returning from a trip to India, he joined the band that became Dr. Feelgood, and quickly became one of their focal points thanks to his maniacally intense stage presence. Dr. Feelgood played locally for a couple of years and made their debut in London in the summer of 1973; their distinctively scruffy image and menacing energy soon made them a hot commodity on the pub rock circuit. The band released its debut album, Down by the Jetty, in 1975; Johnson stayed for two more studio albums (Malpractice and Sneakin' Suspicion) and the chart-topping live document Stupidity, contributing a number of fine original songs. However, tensions between Johnson and the rest of the group led to his departure toward the end of 1977.
Johnson soon formed a backing band called the Solid Senders, which featured keyboardist John Potter, bassist Steve Lewins, and drummer Alan Platt. They signed to Virgin in 1978 and released the LP Solid Senders that year. The following year, Johnson joined Ian Dury's Blockheads, where he remained until 1980; there he met bassist Norman Watt-Roy, who later became a regular collaborator. In early 1981, Johnson released his second album, Ice on the Motorway, and two years later issued the EP Bottle Up and Go! with Lew Lewis; several small-scale LPs, mostly for European labels, followed over the '80s: 1984's Pull the Cover, 1985's Watch Out!, 1987's Call It What You Want, and 1988's Barbed Wire Blues. The latter was the first recording with his new regular group, the Wilko Johnson Band, featuring Watt-Roy and drummer Salvatore Ramundo. Ramundo was replaced in 1988 by Steve Monti (ex-Curve) for the Barbed Wire Blues tour and remained in the band -- which toured almost literally nonstop throughout Europe and Japan for the next decade -- until he tired of touring and was replaced by ex-Blockhead Dylan Howe. Johnson finally had the opportunity to release another album, Going Back Home for Mystic.
There has been renewed interest in Johnson's career in the 21st century, due largely to director Julien Temple's Oil City Confidential, a documentary about Dr. Feelgood and Johnson. The film appeared on the festival circuit, where it drew rave reviews, as did the soundtrack. As a result, two volumes of The Best of Wilko Johnson were released in 2010, as well as a remastered reissue of Barbed Wire Blues. Following a 2011 tour on which he supported The Stranglers, 2012 saw Johnson publish his autobiography, Looking Back on Me.
In early 2013, Johnson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and announced that his televised performance on the show Madness Live: Goodbye Television Centre would be his last. However, the summer brought impromptu live appearances with Watt-Roy and Howe in Essex, and by the end of that November he had recorded an album of re-interpretations of material from his back catalog in collaboration with the Who's Roger Daltrey. Ahead of the release of Going Back Home -- not to be confused with the aforementioned Mystic album of the same title -- Johnson performed it in its entirety with Daltrey at a packed Shepherd's Bush Empire in London toward the end of February 2014.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
