Hard Nose The Highway.

 

I bought Hard Nose The Highway on Andy's record stall on Cambridge market one afternoon in the mid-1970s. The cover of this album is quite striking. The great thing about the days of vinyl was that album sleeves became art forms in themselves. Rob Springett created the cover. He also designed covers for Herbie Hancock in the 1970s. There is this old Asian chap in a straw hat, cows covered in stars, and a cowled figure dressed in a sheet and Van being the observer who is observing it all. I have no idea what it all means.

Van had a great band on this album. This was the basis for the Caledonia Soul Orchestra who many regard as his greatest ever band. David Hayes still plays bass for Van occasionally.  Jackie De Shannon sings backing vocals on two tracks. Snow In San Anselmo is the opening track with Van painting an aural sketch of the unusual event of Snow in San Anselmo.  Van was once asked in an interview what this song is about and he replied, "It’s about snow in San Anselmo". I get the feeling that it is about a person going through some sort of a crisis who doesn't know what to do with himself. It features the Oakland Symphony Chamber Chorus. Warm Love is one of Van’s greatest songs. He must have written it at a time when he was feeling quite content with his lot in life. Here we see Van the hippy, 'It's just warm love, and it's ever present everywhere. that warm love'. The lyrics of this song are a far cry from some of Van’s other songs where he is world weary and cynical. Jackie De Shannon sings on this track and I have a feeling that she was the inspiration for the song. Van’s voice never sounded better, and the flute playing is wonderful.

I find some of the lyrics of the title track Hard Nose The Highway quite intriguing with references to ‘The Dead’s place’ which must be The Grateful Dead and ‘shaved head at the organ’. I do not think any of the Grateful Dead fit that description. Van seems a bit scornful of Frank Sinatra as well.  Van also refers in this song to paying dues in Canada which he also does in a song on the Moondance album. Wild Children is one of my favourite Van songs, Tennessee Williams gets a mention and I particularly like the images Van conjures up of the film On The Waterfront with Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger which was one of the best films ever made. The Great Deception isn't one of Vans greatest songs, but I like the sentiment of the song with Van raging against all the hypocrisy in the music business and plastic revolutionaries.

 I have never really cared for Being Green. Van had recorded a lot of great songs in this period, as evidenced by the songs that later appeared on the Philosophers Stone album so why he recorded this song from Sesame Street is mysterious. It might be because he used to watch the TV with daughter Shana. I might be being a bit unfair. Van’s hero Ray Charles also recorded the song, so why not Van? 

Autumn Song is a long meandering stroll through what appears to be Van’s favourite time of year. Golden Autumn days and leaves a falling down crop up quite regularly in Van’s songs. There is some nice tasteful jazzy guitar, piano and drums playing in this song behind Van’s mellow words which sound quite improvised, but wonderfully atmospheric. I believe he transcended.  Purple Heather is a remake of Wild Mountain Thyme which was first made famous by the McPeake family who came from Belfast and Van might have known in his youth. That brings to an end Hard Nose The Highway which contains some weak songs, but also three truly great ones as well, which are Warm Love, Wild Children & Autumn Song.