Ronnie Lane 1946-1997

Ronnie Lane was one talented guy. A fine singer, a skilled bass player, and one heck of a songwriter. And generally considered a very nice chap to boot. He died an early death in 1997 at age 51 from multiple sclerosis. His medical bills were paid by Ronnie Wood, Jimmy Page, and Rod Stewart because he needed help and was a great friend.

If you're old enough, you are probably more familiar with his work than you realize, especially his songwriting. In the Small Faces, he co-wrote most of the band's material with Steve Marriot, including Tin Soldier, Itchycoo Park, All or Nothing, My Way of Giving, and Lazy Sunday. With the Faces, he wrote or co-wrote Had Me A Real Good Time, Last Orders Please, Debris, If I'm On The Late Side, and Ooh La La. After leaving Faces in 1973, he made four solo records (three with his band Slim Chance), a soundtrack record with his old Faces buddy Ronnie Wood, and the classic Rough Mix with Pete Townsend. 

He played bass, wrote, and sang on two of the best records made in the 1970s, the Faces A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse and Rough Mix.

His solo records show off his rock writing and singing as well as his interest in English folk music. His singing is heartfelt and charming. His solo output is collected on a six-CD box set titled Just for a Moment: Music 1973–1997 from 2019 that includes all of his solo releases, bonus tracks, and quite a bit of live material from his time living in Austin in the 1980s. There's also a single CD Just For a Moment (The Best Of) from 2006 that is a fine introduction to his solo work, and a great place to go after A Nod Is As Good As A Wink and Rough Mix.

A great unheralded sideman? No, a great unheralded primary contributor to two great bands, and a woefully neglected solo artist.

Joni Mitchell Joni's Jazz 2025

In the last five years, Joni Mitchell's original work has been reissued in multiple box sets, and expanded in multiple box sets of live and previously unreleased material. Eight multi-disc sets have been issued as well as several single discs illuminating individual classic releases. The five Archive sets have presented 26 discs of live and previously unreleased material. It's a lot.

Joni's Jazz is a compilation 4-CD set that samples Mitchell's jazzier side, with only five tracks from before 1975's The Hissing of Summer Lawns, and with half of the tracks from 1994's Turbulent Indigo or later. If you're not fond of Mitchell's work in the nineties and oughts, this isn't the set for you. Or you might be surprised. 

Technically not everything is jazz, but close enough. Mitchell of course famously alienated her folk audience when she branched out into jazz and jazz-influenced styles in the late seventies. But the retrospective evaluations of her later works have been very complementary, and her singing shows that she is the real deal as a jazz singer. She also made most of this music with some of the finest jazz musicians in the business.

The music presented here is very good. Mitchell's later work holds up well. But what is most impressive about this set is the sequencing. It's not chronological. It's not consistently thematic. It took me several days to listen to the whole of it, and every time I restarted listening, I was taken aback at how well the songs sounded in the order they are presented. It would be a real shame to hit shuffle.

If you already own much of Mitchell's later work, this might be an unnecessary expense. But if that is you, I might suggest that you assemble a playlist of the songs in this order, and maybe purchase the individual tracks to fill the holes in your collection. There are only three songs which were released on other artists records, and only two that were previously unreleased.  

It is a wonderful set, artfully assembled with great care.

Always On My Mind

 

I'm a big fan of greeting cards. Birthdays, Valentine's Day, Christmas, sometimes just for the heck of it. I'm particular when I'm looking for a good one. If I open the card and there's a lot of words, I put it back. If there's a lot of words, I know some of them won't express my sentiment. I like the succinct card that has a brief but effective message. Sweet, funny or punny are my favorites.

My least favorite is the apology card. There's a ton of them, and for all the aforementioned occasions. These cards are from a man to his sweetheart/wife/significant other. They start with a line like "I know I don't say it enough" or "I'm not the guy that does that thing you really want from me". I'm not perfect, but when I know something my wife wants from me, she's going to get it. I say I love you every day. I do things that I know will make my wife happy. And I never need to buy a card that starts with something I haven't done that I know I should have done.

The guys that buy these cards are assholes. Their wives should not forgive them for being a jerk (or worse) because they bought an apology card. And when it comes to expressing love for someone, starting with what is wrong with you is just stupid. Don't apologize. Stop being a jerk. Change.

Which brings us to Always On My Mind. It is a lovely song, a great melody that enhances the melancholy with some minor chords and sevenths. Just beautiful. But the lyrics are straight out of an apology card, and just godawful. I didn't tell you how happy you make me, I didn't treat you well, I didn't love you often enough, I didn't hold you when you needed me, and little things I should have said and done, I never took the time. Well, that's because I'm a shithead that doesn't deserve you. 

But you were always on my mind. Bullshit. If you were thinking of her and didn't do anything to express it, it doesn't count.

And when he finally says " Tell me that your sweet love hasn't died, and give me one more chance to keep you satisfied", she should be calling an attorney and filing for divorce. You can do better, and if not, you're still better off without this guy who does not deserve your love.