Mitch Ryder - How I Spent My Vacation

Seeds & Stems Records

I've only heard of Mitch Ryder vaguely in passing, and from what I could gather he wasn't all that much to write home about. Apart from the medley he did of "Devil with a Blue Dress on/Good Golly Miss Molly" with The Detroit Wheels in 1966, he seems to have been shoved aside and mostly regarded as irrelevant, even by critics--hell, I was surprised to see his career had even carried on for this long.

But when skimming through Christgau's Record Guide and seeing that his review of this album opened with "what he remembers best, apparently, is sex with men,", I knew I'd be in for something interesting with this one, whether it was good or not. 

The most obvious tale of homosexual endeavors found on this album is the fourth track, christened with the on-the-nose title of "Cherry Poppin'". It's trying to borrow most of its musicality from funk songs, which doesn't do much to turn my opinion of this song to its favor, but it's surprisingly blatant about the subject matter for a late seventies song. The perk of unpopularity is that you can sing about whatever you want. Lyrically it's similar to the Pete Townshend song "Rough Boys", hitherto unwritten when this album came out. Unfortunately, "Cherry Poppin'" lacks a lot of the infectious jaunt that so possessed Townshend's piece. 

The other two tunes that deal with the confusion inherent in sexuality discovery are "The Jon" and "Poster", the seventh and ninth songs, respectively. The former has a nice little mystery wrapped around in its lyrics, as I can't discern whether this is concerned with a domestic affair, bathroom hookups, prostitution, all three or none of them. Soundwise, it's smooth coffee house jazz paired with some blues elements and a sweet saxophone played by a guy named Wayne Wayne. 

"Poster" is an eight minute attempt at social commentary with an ill-defined message. I'm not entirely sure what he's babbling about--something to do with wet dreams, dirty underwear and wanting to get away--and I'm not convinced by it. Ryder himself doesn't even sound like he knows what he's talking about. There's something with same-sex implications in the lyrics if you can read into them through a half-slurred delivery, but it's the one I'm least sure intentionally has that meaning. Either way, it's good to know that at least one of these songs was Robert Christgau's main takeaway from the album. 

Apart from that trio of think pieces, there isn't a whole lot to takeaway from this album. Ryder flip-flops between rough and raw blues and little sentimental pieces like he can't make up his mind on which one he wants to be, and the blues, though decent, doesn't have that gripping, down-'n-dirty alcoholic charm that made groups like Foghat so successful. 

The most immediate highlights I can think of are "Tough Kid", a fast-paced, hair whipping half-jam with tight playing and a swollen harmonica part that makes the instrumentation feel like it's going to come to pieces any second, and "Nice 'N Easy", which has a thicker, darker sound, slow groove, pins and needles guitar riffs, and an awfully tempestuous tone. 

The best of the sentimental songs is "Freezin' in Hell", in which Ryder comes across as heavily tormented in a bitingly chilly instrumental landscape of '50s blues influence and hints at Zeppelin stylings on the guitar solos, and which contains the handsomest vocal performance on the record. Tonally, it reminds me most of The Jeff Beck Group's "Drinking Again" or Al Kooper's rendition of "As the Years Go Passing By". 

"Falling Forming" isn't notable for anything apart from the sax and horn work--might be the closest Ryder has ever got to being on Soul Train--and "Passion's Wheel" has a half decent solo and a difficult-to-sit-through vocal performance. What is the passion? We just don't know. 

For a solo effort made by a man who, for all intents and purposes, was probably considered a has-been by the time it came out, "How I Spent My Vacation" isn't half bad. And I'd take Mitch Ryder as a representative of the queer community over someone like Cardi Bi or Harry Styles any day. 

Rating: 3.8/5