THE MUSIC MACHINE — The Bonniwell Music Machine (review)

THE MUSIC MACHINE — The Bonniwell Music Machine album cover

Album · 1968 · Proto-Metal

3/5 · 2015-09-16
voila_la_scorie

Sit back, ladies and gentleman, put the headphones on and listen to the tale of a man and a band who hit the charts in 1966, released an album and then faced their gradual decline. For this album – the 2014 Big Beat double disc release – takes us from where The Music Machine left off after their December, 1966 debut “(Turn On) The Music Machine” to the final recordings in November 1968 before their dissolution.

But just who were or what was The Music Machine? The band formed in California, 1965 as a folk band under the name of The Raggamuffins. Comprised of former Wayfarers vocalist/guitarist Sean Bonniwell and Keith Olsen (bass) and Ron Edgar (drums), the folk rock trio began rehearsing in Bonniwell’s garage where they experimented with new musical ideas. It was Bonniwell’s idea that the band should dress all in black, dye their hair black, and wear a black glove on one hand. As his song-writing style developed, he also had everyone down-tune their instruments a tone to get a darker sound. They also bought the components to build their own fuzz box. The trio recruited Mark Landon (lead guitar) and Doug Rhodes (organ) in early 1966 and changed the name of the band to The Music Machine, a name that reflected Bonniwell’s prolific song-writing. It was Bonniwell’s vision to create a band that would play the music he wanted to write in reaction to the pop-filled charts. He wanted his music to be a statement against what popular music was.

They had a top twenty hit with “Talk Talk”, a gritty and snarling piece of tight garage rock that combined early elements of psychedelic music. Then, after a grueling tour, they recorded their album. And it is here that the story is picked up.

The follow-up album was to be by Bonniwell’s design a concept album. The record company didn’t agree and wanted an album of possible singles. While on tour in 1967, the band recorded demos of new songs which were mostly rerecorded once they returned to Los Angeles. The new material continued with The Music Machine sound: buzzing fuzz toned guitar, Farfisa organ, Bonniwell’s distinctive and expressive vocal style, and Edgar’s tight drumming. There were hints of new sound influences in three tracks that were recorded in New Orleans and these demos went straight to the album. From a proto-metal perspective, the highlight would have to be “The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly”, a song with a foreboding intro and a massive fuzz-toned chord of doom. On the demo (not on this compilation) the Farfisa organ comes in bright and cheery; however on the final album version (this one) the organ is back in the mix along with some harmonica. The weight of the guitar and Bonniwell’s vocals – the song is about food waste – stay near the front. There’s a fantastic early heavy, doom instrumental part before a surprising sound like a Middle Eastern pipe or flute blasted at full power comes in. It’s actually a duck call that someone had left in the studio.

Here’s perhaps a good time to explain the general sound of The Music Machine and I’d say it sounds a lot like classic Iron Butterfly with some Steppenwolf and a bit of Strawberry Alarm Clock. Just keep in mind that none of these bands had released any albums at this time. The lighter psychedelic side along with the jazzy horns made up part of the album. But of course The Music Machine sound meant lots of fuzz tone and more of Bonniwell’s bitter proto-punk vocals. Lyrics included references to the coming “Me” generation, the notion of a kind of Matrix world before anyone popularized the idea, and the usual relationship and personal struggle themes, albeit from a Bonniwell perspective. With some lighter acoustic numbers, the album both carried on the sound that Bonniwell had worked so hard with the band to create and introduced more variety.

However, before long there were issues with management and someone’s co-song-writing credits mistakenly left aside. In short time, the band all quit, leaving Bonniwell with an album’s worth of songs ready for release and no band to tour them. He quickly assembled new musicians (with some coaxing and cajoling), but the new members found being under the iron rule of Bonniwell something to get used to. He told new bass player Ed Jones to get rid of his Precision bass and get a different one because the sound didn’t suit The Music Machine. Organ player Harry Garfield tried his hand at writing songs which he presented to Bonniwell only to have all but three rejected and even those were re-written. The new members all had to dye their hair but guitarist Alan Wisdom refused to wear the one black glove. The new line-up cut two tracks for the new album, both featuring a heavy dose of fuzz-tone guitar and one with a surprising and rare jam session included.

Because the original Music Machine line-up had split, the band name became The Bonniwell Music Machine. The self-titled release came out in February 1968, though “The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly” and “Double Yellow Line” had been released as singles during the summer prior. Bonniwell was never exactly pleased with what was recorded in the studio and spent endless hours remixing and dubbing to get the sound he imagined. Says the article on Wikipedia, “Bonniwell successfully expanded upon organ-driven garage rock into eclectic psychedelia, with traces of folk rock and orchestration.”

The album failed to make the top 200, and Bonniwell took the band into the recording studio again between January and April 1968. A variety of sounds came as a result, with three songs by Garfield joining Bonniwell’s efforts. Of the new recordings, “You’ll Love Me Again” had all the fire and guts of “Talk Talk” but without the angst of teenage alienation, and the hard-hitting “Black Snow” featured Bonniwell’s voice at its most acerbic, including screams that could compete with Janis Joplin. Unfortunately, the band fell apart around this time and all but drummer Jerry Harris left Bonniwell.

Undaunted and still writing prolifically, Sean Bonniwell found new musicians for a Mark III line-up. They cut seven new songs in July of 1968; however the sound of the band was changing. Only the funky groove of “Unka Tinka Ty” came close to packing the energy of the former band. A final few songs that were intended to be on a third album were recorded late in ’68. “Dark White” was released as a single, but in spite of its haunting and moody atmosphere, the song failed to dent the charts. Two other songs recalled the classic days of The Music Machine: “Advise and Consent” and “Mother Nature – Father Earth”, the latter of the two being one of the bands heavier pieces and dealing with environmental destruction. Then at last The (Bonniwell) Music Machine fell apart.

For fans of proto-metal, the music here takes us back to ’67/’68 when the concept of heavy fuzz-toned psychedelic music was beginning to take hold and become popular. But even bands like Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf also explored lighter sides. The Music Machine were originally ahead of the game in 1966 and early ’67. But by ’68, their sound was becoming fashionable and commonplace. Sean Bonniwell’s voice and lyrics may still have distinguished the band from its contemporaries, but unfortunately for him the charts never welcomed his later work. There’s a lot of non-proto-metal on here and even the heavier songs include the sounds of the light and happy-sounding Farfisa organ. What you will find here is not proto-metal like Blue Cheer or Jimi Hendrix, but evidence of a lyrically and tonally darker approach to aggressive music. Though The Music Machine are often credited with being proto-punk, their music, though short in song length, is at times more complex and lyrically deeper than punk. If we could round up the ten best heavy hitters here and call them an album, you’d likely be really amazed with what Bonniwell and co. were doing back in the peak psychedelic years.