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THE ROAD TO JACKSON HIGHWAY By 1969, the Sonny & Cher phenomenon had crested. Those married Bonos in their groovy fur vests, Eskimo boots and bell-bottomed chic had gone passe, alas, “the beat goes on” went on without them. 1965’s meteoric ride had young American Boomers see Sonny & Cher go from hippie-garbed, 16 Magazine spokespeople for the teenybopper generation to L.A.-based, adult-savvy variety performers forging a new commercial identity. The ’70s would embrace and idolize these Bonos anew with yet another in a series of show business comebacks in a long and marvelously convoluted career. In fact Cher, reflecting upon the ’98-’99 success of “Believe”, was quoted as proclaiming herself “the Lazarus of rock”. It is in that indefatigable spirit that this compilation rolls stone from cave door once more to set in place provocative missing pieces of her musical puzzle. Between 1965 and 1969 the Sonny & Cher coupling had experienced massive success on stage, secured regular spots on network variety programs and sold millions of records the world over. Sonny & Cher, miraculously, at one point in their first incarnation, collectively held five Billboard Top 100 Singles. During the second half of the ’60s, Cher maintained her solo career with a series of commercially viable singles and LPs for the Imperial label while making equally-weighted chart hits with her male half for Atco—“The Beat Goes On”, “Baby Don’t Go” for Reprise and the mainstay and center of their musical universe, “I Got You Babe”. Sonny, preoccupied with sustaining their celebrity status via late 60s cinema efforts like ‘Good Times’ (1967) and ‘Chastity’ (1969), lost his Hit Single songwriting footing and Cher was cast into musical limbo, pivoting, to a degree, on her own laurels. She cut five of her Imperial solo LPs and an Imperial greatest hits collection within a 4 year period. The various tracks consisted of an array of musical genres ranging from country rock, folk rock, blues, and show tunes. These LPs carried a slew of classic tracks from “All I Really Want To Do”, her first charter, with or without Sonny, to “You Better Sit Down Kids”, a 1968 Number 8 Billboard hit about divorce—her last chart success for Imperial. A number of singles followed “You Better Sit Down Kids” with very little success. The decade barreled on into psychedelia. Carnaby Street fashions gave way to a much more spontaneous Dionysian form of casual hip–with weathered blue jeans, no bras and tank-tops. Hello Grace, Janis and Jim! Although the couple were still publicly visible in the late ’60s, their relevance to the times was duly threatened. Their hipness had crumbled into “cute” which, as you can imagine, was an appellation of death for musical artists. Suddenly the Sonny & Cher industry darlings were outside the door of the new rock scene. A Rolling Stone-Drugs, Sex, And Rock ’n’ Roll-sensibility establishment fashioned a new order for more contemporary and controversial new artists. But Sonny & Cher were in a musical Antarctica. Bono, ten years older than his wife, was now ensconced in making a security-side beeline into motion pictures. During this period he also concentrated on the recording of his own solo album, the recently Rhino Handmade-resurrected classic, “Inner Views”. His multi-tracked direction watered down the attention to Cher the protegé. Cher took to appearing solo in the American Indian Hippie garb evidenced on the ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ cover and on the Tom Jones and Glen Campbell TV shows. The hits dwindled. Cher’s last LP for Imperial, ‘Backstage’, foreshadowed a more adult career. However the waning need for such semi-adult contemporary material found ‘Backstage’ the lowest charting of Cher’s five solo Imperial outings. It was her first solo LP without a solo hit. The Imperial contract ended as Ahmet Ertegun, head of Atlantic/Atco, opened the door to carry Cher on a solo outing. Her soundtrack LP for the film ‘Chastity’ was released by Atco prior to the release of ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ in 1969. Cher sang only one single for this soundtrack, “Chastity’s Song (Band Of Thieves)”, and it is historically revealed in both it’s mono and stereo formats on this compilation. The stereo version has a marvelous spatial quality that the mono version lacked. Sonny & Cher’s duet swan song for the label had been their greatest hits package in 1967, though numerous questionably-relevant singles dribbled out of the team’s last days on the label. Atco seemed to have the idea it was time to take Cher on an independent course that would give her more musical credibility. Sonny must have felt some trepidation as Cher was sent to work with the critically successful likes of Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd, classic producers of the Muscle Shoals sound at Alabama’s Muscle Shoals Studios. These producers had already created breakthrough LPs for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield and other industry artists. Cher was given a ticket to join the illustrious few. After years of L.A.-Phil Spector-Sonny Bono style folk-rock arrangements, Cher was placed in a very smooth southern pop blues environment. It must have been somewhat of an adjustment for Cher to settle into this very sophisticated counter groove. The sessions provided Cher with 11 songs that were predominantly covers of the current soul and rock pantheon of the late ’60s era. Even at the time of their recording, some of these songs were already dated, making the challenge of bringing some of the pre-stamped tunes to life an even greater task. The ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ sessions revealed both Cher’s innate strength and weaknesses as a vocalist. Cher depended on a selection of contemporary songwriters for success. She took on three Bob Dylan covers from ‘Nashville Skyline’ with her usual sensitivity for his semi-sung/spoken material. “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” finds Cher in a quiet coasting groove easing her vocals into the open, horn-backed Nashville arrangement. Her cover of “Lay Lady Lay” is laid back, seductive and sincere, while “I Threw It All Away” has an interesting low resonance with characteristic Cher voice-cracking that is only forgivable in the context of a Dylan cover. She carries Dylan with fidelity on ‘3614 Jackson Highway’, if not with any new revelatory position on that material. Cher’s strength is her smooth, distinctively bold, up-front, low-register vocals and her ability to hop musical genres with earthy integrity. The album’s weaknesses appear to rise out of the same “jack of all trades” cover treatment exacerbated by the over-recognizable track selection, a selection that takes Cher from The Box Tops’ “Cry Like A Baby” to Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” to Aretha Franklin’s “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” and finds Cher without much of a personal statement to make. Ironically, her fresh vocal ease in these new arrangements did not escape the association of the heavy hitters to whom she was ultimately to be compared. Cher’s voice was never more at home than with these session players, but her new home is not distinctive enough for her to move in and stay. There are a few notable exceptions to to be found. The song “Save The Children” by session man Eddie Hinton addresses adult themes concerning regret in not keeping commitments in marriage to preserve the family. The song is more tailored to Cher as an interpreter but less impacting than the two other very strong ballads here and is a little corny in comparison. Ultimately, the country-tinged “Please Don’t Tell Me” and “(Just Enough To Keep Me) Hangin’ On” are the best work on ‘3614 Jackson Highway’. Cher breaks the mold–and a few hearts– with these tracks. They are her most revealing vocals and have little, if any, association to other artists. On these obscure and excellent compositions we get a glimpse of Cher the Artist, losing herself in sweet surrender to love lost and disillusionment in love. Cher touches the listener as she envelopes them in her half-spoken/half-sung words of melancholia. The arrangements are poignant and dimensional surrounding Cher’s rich tonal inflections. Cher is at her easy best in this loosely-structured country ballad material. She has the opportunity to place her biographical stamp on this material. In retrospect these two cuts are the ones that indicated how ‘3614 Jackson Highway’, under proper guidance, might have had a shot at being Cher’s ‘Dusty In Memphis’. These country-laden cuts are Cher Magic. Even with its drawbacks, the ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ set as a whole must have been one that Cher was proud of. Her cover of The Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” is another venture that is vocally pleasing but hardly earnest enough. She is unable to make one feel the anarchy and turbulence of a Sunset Strip street protest. Still Cher sounds robust and strong of voice, if a trifle removed from the psychological stance of the material. Another cut that is memorable here is “I Walk On Guilded Splinters”. This Dr. John cut gets a surprisingly percussive tribal-tough reading by Cher. It is another departure type of song that allowed Cher more freedom and expression as a rock singer. It was one of the better material choices on the album. Her Indian garb on the cover has one musing her dancing tribally as she sings this oddball track. ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ as a ’60s rock standard theme album is still highly listenable and provides major insights into some of Cher’s maturing vocal qualities without the noisy Sonny Bono ’60s arrangements on her other albums. Cher is almost devoid of the vowel distortions that will earmark her mid and later-era recordings. Here Cher gets as close to understatement as she will for years to come. In fact, Tom Dowd was quoted as being mystified that Cher, as a vocalist, seemed to simply surrender to the music. It was a rather chancy venture to take Cher and have her tackle this classic-rock material and unlikely that, in the prejudiced music industry, she would, as a result, foster new believers and listeners. Cher did not sell many copies of ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ and she did not forge a direct new path for her musical future. This album fostered three neglected singles: “For What It’s Worth”, Lay Baby Lay”, and “Please Don’t Tell Me”. So, after several Top 40 hits for Imperial, Cher added three Atco misses to her resume. The front of the ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ album shows Cher flanked by Sonny, who is credited on the sleeve as ‘Spiritual Advisor’, and the myriad of bohemian musicians that made the album possible. The fold out cover shows a portrait of a headbanded Cher in American Indian drag laying in a grassy field, looking almost makeup free and very earthy and naturally beautiful. She mentions that she sang her heart out and hopes the listener thinks it’s groovy. It is pure Cher. She’d probably say the same sort of thing in 2000, perhaps not even updating the word “groovy”. Cher must have wondered what next to do after the lack of interest in her legitimate Muscle Shoals outing during the career impasse which followed the release of ‘3614 Jackson Highway’. When looking at the material that was delivered to Atco after the ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ sessions, one tries to make sense out of what might have constituted a second Atco album. Immediately on hearing the output that has been unearthed in this project one is left with a notion of a career crisis period in the Superstar’s life. A number of the efforts that are here have long been available on collectable–and obscure–uncharting Atco singles. There is a real collectors’ find here in the several cuts that appear to have been sitting on a shelf waiting to be found by the flashlights of The Archivists at Rhino Handmade to be heard at all! On the first listen I was rather shocked at the session work on the cuts here. When compared to the early Spector-influenced Sonny & Cher sound these recordings are anything but opulent. They are an exercise in restraint and some experimental accompaniments with Cher’s big bold vocals up-front. Incongruent is a word that comes to mind, over and over, when I listen to these late Atco tracks. The lack of unity and direction must have been a reason the reason for their lack of release. The cover of Carole King’s “Yours Until Tomorrow” is close to a commercial sounding record catering to the late-’60s Adult Contemporary market, yet there is a “Blood Sweat And Tears” influence that meets a jangling Sonny Bono production. The effect and balancing of this song is discordant and it is no surprise that Cher saw a lack of movement by the disc jockeys who were presented with it. Cher’s vocals get no support in the arrangement. Her voice sounds stressed and incompatible with the noisy instrumentation. Her cover of the Crystal Mansion’s “The Thought of Loving You” receives a slightly better treatment and grooves along with more rhythm. However the arrangement is still sparse and confused compared to the arrangements on ‘3614 Jackson Highway’, and ultimately not up to Cher’s signature output. “The First Time” is a song Cher does with some of the vocal sensitivity shown on her better cuts on the ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ album. She introduced this single and even performed it on the 1969-70 television series ‘The Glen Campbell Good-Time Hour’. The song is a story of a girl’s coming-of-age and her doubts in lovemaking’s aftermath. It is sort of a late 60's update on “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”. Here Sonny is back to writing with some real sensitivity and the lyrics and arrangement are close to the craft of “You Better Sit Down Kids”. Cher’s vocal is complimented by the time-warp inducing orchestration. However, the track lacks clarity and focus. Cher would cut this song again with Snuff Garrett for the “Foxy Lady” album in 1972.The song and vocals were improved by Mr. Garrett’s gorgeous orchestral arrangements and Cher’s matured vocal confidence. Cher’s treatment of the song “Easy To Be Hard” from ‘Hair’ is sensitive and heart-felt, though the uneven laid back instrumental tempo is iconoclastic and, after the first few bars, distracts one from the vocalist. Cher delivered this song in her Monte Carlo concert in the ’80s without the distracting percussive noises and superimposed backup vocals. The song tries to decide if it’s a jazz moment or a Broadway cover. Cher’s cover of the classic “I Believe” is another example of a seemingly unmet expectation. The meandering tempo and percussive interjections set up a playful and odd scenario for this spiritual pop song. The song deteriorates into an ad-lib that borders on soul burlesque and finds Cher barreling along like a loose cannon—so much for the spiritual treatment. The overall effect is kitschy. When she sings about “the man” giving her a baby, one wonders whose concept–or conception–this was. “I Believe” begs comparison to another wayward track from her coming MCA period, the Sonny Bono written and produced “Don’t Put It On Me”. Both tracks have Cher sounding like she has been set loose in a confused burlesque-rock setting that undermined her abilities and credibility. “Danny Boy” is more tasteful than the aforementioned two cuts. Cher sang this in her Sonny & Cher Las Vegas nightclub act, and it became one of her favorites. The arrangement here again is uneven and does not compliment the vocal which Cher delivers in her distinctive ballad mode. The version on ‘Sonny & Cher Live’, a later Kapp album, is more cohesive with the band supporting the overall effect . All in all, it’s interesting to hear Cher’s studio take on this standard. “Mama Look Sharp” is a rather obscure and original song. It can be loosely compared to Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe” in its southern story line. Its musical arrangement harkens to a Civil War type of setting—drum rolls in equal marching rhythm with an effective distancing orchestral accompaniment. This song was very odd for the times and finds Cher in an effective storytelling balladeer role. The song has the essence to be a movie soundtrack piece. Cher above all is a good storyteller in song. She sings a poignant paean from a son to a mother who eventually buries him as a casualty of war. This song is one of the most centered of the five previously unreleased songs here. Cher is effective emotionally within the arrangement and with the subject matter. It is one of two original war related songs Cher recorded during the Vietnam era. “Classified 1A”, a Bono tune, was written and recorded during this period, but is less of a song than “Mama Look Sharp” musically. She also covers Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Cruel War”, Dylan’s “Masters Of War” and a few others for Imperial. “It Gets Me Where I Want To Go” is produced rather freely and is sung with ease and hip aplomb. It is a free-wheeling pop rock ballad which is rather catchy but lacks the commercial definition to be a hit. Regardless, the song stands on it’s own and is a unified production. Two versions of “Chastity’s Song (Band Of Thieves)” are here. They are the Mono and Stereo versions. “Chastity’s Song (Band Of Thieves)” hangs there in the country-pop found in “Mama Look Sharp” and “It Gets Me Where I Want To Go”. Its distinctive harmonica riff and guitar solo are backed by tambourine and cascading violin. The song paints an image of a vagabond hitching down the road in search of herself, which is—of course—exactly what Cher portrays in the movie ‘Chastity’. The Stereo version is more creative and allows Cher’s vocals to wander in and out of the meandering, braided instrumental tracks. Finally, the last Cher solo cut recorded for Atco, her 1970 version of “Superstar”, finds her in good form with a mediocre arrangement that probably handed the hit to Karen Carpenter a short time later. The lack of dimension in the musical background leaves Cher sounding less than distinct. There are moments on this single track that are rather good, but even Cher eclipsed this version herself, with the adult version–“I wanna sleep with you again”–of this song on the Sonny & Cher ‘Live In Las Vegas 2’ album. The Vegas version got carried away in a good way. This single version didn’t go far enough in any personal direction. It’s amazing to be unearthing ‘3614 Jackson Highway’ and all of its subsequent obscure Atco Cher tracks in this new millennium. I, for one, know that all of the loyal and patient fans will be delighted to get these grooves on compact disc, some of which no one was sure even still existed. All in all, it’s wonderful to trace these pieces of Cher’s musical path with all of the hidden gems and strange obscurities.
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