Customer Reviews

Ram Jam City

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Of all the talented guitarists that have been in and out of Fleetwood Mac, perhaps none have been more overlooked than Danny Kirwan. He wrote some of Fleetwood Mac's greatest melodies, and when he jammed with Peter Green the results were simply magic. This is Danny's only official CD available on the market today, and its a shame it hasn't gotten more recognition.

Ram Jam City is compiled from Kirwan's first solo album Second Chapter, containing the original tracks, outtakes, and false starts. The album is very different from his Mac material, containing more country and bluegrass influence. While not every song is a winner (Falling in Love With You Again is ... [no good]) when Danny's on the mark he's on the mark, scoring brilliant pop hooks and melodies on songs like Cascades, Silver Stream, Hot Summer Day, Second Chapter, and Ram Jam City. These are songs that could have taken their place among the greatest pop-rock songs of the'70s yet failed to achieve little more than a minor cult success.

With Danny Kirwan (and his fellow bandmates in Fleetwood Mac) there's always the mystery of what if. What if Kirwan stayed on with Fleetwood Mac for the Rumours era glory days, oh what great music they could have achieved? What if Danny kicked his alcohol addiction and continued his solo career, oh what heights he could have reached? Instead Danny's stuck in a homeless shelter, with a 23 year musical dry spell that may never be broken, and as for Fleetwood Mac. Well... we all know how that worked out. So drop the speculation, lose the what ifs, and for now enjoy the great music made by the great Danny Kirwan.

Any fan of Fleetwood Mac or Danny Kirwan himself will surely enjoy this disc. I have all three of Danny's solo albums on LP and love them all. A few years ago, I found "Second Chapter" on CD. Sadly, this title is now out of print. The disc I am reviewing is basically alternate takes of the songs on Danny's first solo album "Second Chapter." It is not the career retrospective compilation his fans have been waiting for, but it is a high quality disc. Every song is a gem and the false starts really add a special human element. I really wish they would release his second and third solo albums "Midnight in San Juan" and "Hello There, Big Boy!" respectively, on CD. I thought I would find a song or two from those albums on this disc, but unfortunately, none were included.

I recommend this disc highly though. The love songs are as good as any written in the 70s and the uptempo songs ring of sheer optimism and joy. The crystal clear sound quality is amazing. I have never heard Mr. Kirwan sound so good!

Of all the celebrated Fleetwood Mac guitarists, Danny Kirwan had the widest range of musical influences and interests as this CD of his post-Mac solo material demonstrates. Reggae, big band, C&W, jazz, pop, rock and roll....nothing seemed beyond his capabilities and you find elements of all these styles in his songs. As a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and arranger he remains unique. While his songs with Fleetwood Mac often dealt with lonliness and loss, the lyrics throughout "Ram Jam City" are upbeat and joyful. He sounds as if he was having a great time during the recordings. When you're not playing this CD, you'll still be singing the songs and hoping for more releases of his long-neglected work.

This odd compilation includes all songs from Kirwan's beautiful Second Chapter, except perhaps the loveliest; Love Can Always Bring You Happiness. Why they included 2 versions of 3 songs and a song not from SC (Best Girl In The World), but left out Love Can Always is beyond me. This CD is a must have for those that like the best soft melodic rock available.

Danny Kirwan was always a very special songwriter. It is great to find some of his solo work available on CD. The sound quality of this CD is exceptional. His love songs are some of the most tender and sincere personal statements in rock during that era. Any one who liked Fleetwood Mac's early non blues work or the Future Games LP will love Danny Kirwan's solo work. However, there is no blues here, if that is what you are looking for. Kirwan worked very well with blues God, Peter Green, but on his own he didn't mess with it much. He leans more toward a pop music/ Beatles style when not totally absorbed in creating his own distinctive atmospherics. Well worth the modest price. Let's hope his other work will be released soon.

'Ram Jam City' consists of demo recordings for Danny's 'Second Chapter' album, and it doesn't purport to be a remastered version of 'Second Chapter'. These songs are complete demo recordings made (long) prior to final production of the album. It isn't 'Second Chapter' after someone has messed about with it. The final versions of these songs were over-produced with horns and strings everywhere and this took the edge off the music, particularly the guitars, which would presumably be the main attraction of Danny's work.

Having said that, the finished 'Second Chapter' album should be available on CD as well, so we could compare the two... It did surface on CD in 1993, but it's long-deleted - good luck if you try to find it. Danny's other two albums are criminally neglected, particularly his follow-up to 'Second Chapter', 'Midnight in San Juan' (or simply 'Danny Kirwan' in the USA). Danny's final effort 'Hello There Big Boy!' is perhaps best forgotten, since it shows Danny at the very end of his career when he was already heavily mired in the illness that has plagued him since then. He plays practically no guitar on his final album, his vocals had to be strengthened by cheesy backing vocalists, and most of the songs are co-written or covers. Very sad, although the album is not without merit.

"Ram Jam City" is above all interesting, and shows the direction Danny's solo career should have taken, with sharp-edged guitar work, and clear and concise arrangements. The songs stand up very well as demos, more so than most demos that you hear, and one member of Danny's band was quoted as saying that the demos could not have been improved upon.

People looking for more of the type of work Danny was doing with Fleetwood Mac will find some solace in the dreamy 'Cascades', 'Silver Streams' (these wouldn't have been out of place on Mac's "Future Games") and 'Second Chapter' (check out the brilliant guitar). Other material is more country-tinged, and bears some resemblance to Paul McCartney's solo work - but it's all very easy to listen to, and very pleasing to the ear. 'Odds and Ends' is bouncy and neat, 'Lovely Days' is peaceful and clear - these are masterful recordings.

Until that fine day when we see Danny's solo albums released on CD, we have to make do with vinyl - but this CD is absolutely just as good (if not better) - recorded during a happier time for Danny, and I am very happy to see it widely available.

Out of Danny Kirwan's 3 solo albums from the '70s, his first, Second Chapter, is probably his best, featuring some of his most memorable melodies, strong songwriting, and lush yet tasteful production. This disc brings the Second Chapter material to compact disc in a pretty sloppy manner.

First, the strings and horns present in the original mixes are gone. I'm not a big fan of cheesy production touches like this, and it can be argued that the original versions of these songs sound dated by today's standards (this has to be the reason why they were omitted), but the arrangements were consistently good and the "bells and whistles" actually complimented the songs nicely. The tunes sound strangely bare without them. Second, the original track listing is scrambled and reconfigured (no biggie, thanks to CD programming capabilities). A couple of the songs sound like they were remixed at a slower speed, but maybe it's my ears deceiving me. Last, "alternate takes" of several of the album's songs are here, randomly situated in the new track listing. As if this wasn't enough, one of the original album's tracks is inexplicably missing, replaced by an obscure B-side recorded during the same era.

What it adds up to is a big mess on one hand, but on the other, a collection of songs so good that they survive although they've been juggled, jumbled, stripped, and "lovingly re-mastered" for the 2000s. It inspired me to dig out my vinyl copy of Second Chapter and transfer it to disc. Despite the pops and crackles, not to mention the strings and horns, I still prefer it over this disc.

I always liked Danny Kirwan in Fleetwood Mac. He was an exceptional guitarist with a unique vibrato, and could hold his own jamming with Peter Green. No mean feat. Danny seems to have inspired Peter's music as they moved away from straight blues. His songs were often slight and lyrically weak, though his voice was nice. He seemed to have been later inspired by "Californian soft rock" (for want of a better term). Each of his last 4 Fleetwood Mac recordings has a couple good songs.Some of the material on "Future Games" and "Bare Trees" is memorable: 'Sands of Time', 'Dust' etc. I had high hopes for his later solo material. [very difficult to locate at one time...] Hearing it was a shock. First of all the lyrics are utterly cliche. "I hear the birds chirping" and other stuff like that. The music is vaguely McCartney-ish and sometimes has a vaudeville feel like "Winchester Cathedral". Mostly though it's very "white-bread" & seems to dissipate or drift away. I'd suggest avoiding this one.

This is the wrong album to be put on CD. Danny Kirwain was the best guitarist that Fleetwood Mac had. He played guitar like he loved the instrument. His other solo venture entitled "Hello There Big Boy" with songs like "Wings of a Dove", "Only You", and "Spaceman" were much more interesting and should be on this CD instead of these songs.

Danny Kirwan did a great job in the early Fleetwood Mac. He gave a kind of melodic edge to the raw blues genius of Peter Green. The combination just worked fine, a sort of Lennon-McCartney relationship combining sophisticated musical smoothness with sarcastic bite. On his own though, Kirwan, just wimps out. Though the compositions on this album all have some merit, they'd better be performed as a backdrop to some soppy Hollywood C-grade love story. Sorry folks, I just can't fathom how the other reviewers of this record awarded it five stars - they must be adherents to the later, watered-down American version of Fleetwood Mac, not the raunchy old British one. Not that I don't listen to this album - I do put in on occasionally at night to fall asleep. It always does the trick, pleasantly.