Classic, powerful Muscle Shoals Rhythm Collective - backed blues & soul vocals by Jimmy Hall, lead singer of WET WILLIE, with Brit Rocker Jeff Beck and "hard country" legend Hank Williams jr. (cdbaby)
This is some real good blues (rockin blues). This is the one that will get you laid on your first date with the girl you've been chasin' if you work it right. Bottle of good wine, a fire (even an outdoor fire), a nice chick and this CD - you're gonna get lucky tonight baby. I know the flagship piece is "Build Your Own Fire" but that "Salty" is the freeqin BOMB! Salty is the icing on the chick-cake because it gets down there and tickles your, more importantly her, love-juice gems. Get the CD and Keep on Smilin'. Try it on the Weekend and you got a Street Corner Serenade. (Rick Truelove)
In celebration of their induction into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,Yardbirds founders Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja, performed several reunion concerts in London during 1992 featuring Yardbirds hits; Recorded at 100 Club and Station Tavern
artists:
Chris Dreja: rhythm guitar
Jim McCarty: drums, songwriter
Gypie Mayo: lead guitar, backing vocals
John Idan: bass, lead vocals
Alan Glen: harmonica, backing vocals
Tracklist:
01 - Back Where I Started (Ricky Ricardo Rave-Up) 06:28
Officially called simply The Yardbirds, this album came to be known as Roger The Engineer as that was the name of the front-cover caricature of their engineer Roger Cameron by Chris Dreja, written on the sleeve. It was their first studio album although an earlier incarnation of the band with Eric Clapton had released a live blues album, Five Live Yardbirds, and in America Epic had capitalized on the success of their final single with Clapton, For Your Love, by collecting all their UK Columbia singles to date and an EP in the pipeline, and added a couple of unreleased items for an album also named For Your Love.
Jeff Beck was not a blues purist and steered the band into fresh and exciting musical areas over the next few hit singles, incorporating Gregorian chants, sitar-like psychedelic guitar, backward tapes and controlled feedback.
Only the most recent of these, Over Under Sideways Down, which was created in the studios out of a spontaneous jam around Rock Around The Clock, and its instrumental flip, the self-explanatory instrumental Jeff's Boogie, were included on the album, the rest of which was largely concocted from scratch at Advision in one brief week of recording.
Some of the ideas used on their singles are reworked here, with Keith Relf leading all the vocals with the exception of The Nazz Are Blue which features a rare early vocal from Jeff Beck and bursts into a well-known Elmore James riff in the middle. Todd Rundgren named his band The Nazz in 1967 as a tribute to this song.
Mono was the norm in those days, when few record-buyers had stereo hi-fi systems, so must of the time spent mixing the album was devoted to the mono version, with the stereo mix left to the end and recreated independently but with reference to the mono master. Inevitably, there would be subtle, and sometimes glaringly obvious differences. A guitar overdubbed directly onto the mastertape during mixdown is necessarily absent from the stereo version of Hot House Of Omagararshid, and there are similar anomalies on He's Always There, Turn To Stone and others. Nevertheless, the benefits of the wide stereo sound are clear, and this edition presents both mixes in full using the Yardbirds' own mastertapes.
Bonus tracks include the magnificent psychedelic single released three months later, Happenings Ten Years Time Ago/Psycho Daisies, by which time Paul Samwell-Smith had left and Jimmy Page had joined the band as second guitarist and occasional bass player, and two solo singles released by Keith Relf as a side project. (Lozarithm)
As the sound on the Rolling Stones' legitimate CDs has been upgraded since 2001, so the bootleggers have followed along. No, this disc isn't an SACD hybrid, but it does offer some of the cleanest and loudest masters ever heard on the outtakes and unauthorized releases programmed onto it, with an audio quality of which any legitimate CD producer could be proud. This is a cleverly designed and very nicely mastered variation on Hot Rocks and More Hot Rocks, based on what was the supposed originally intended follow-up to Hot Rocks, which was to have been called Necrophilia and using original artwork (and was, instead, utilized as the basis for More Hot Rocks). How close this came to release is a matter of speculation; could anyone in 1972 have thought that "Andrew's Blues" was releasable? And the results are actually closer to what became the Metamorphosis album four years or so later.
The orchestra-accompanied "Out of Time" opens the compilation, followed by "Don't Lie to Me" and a wonderfully lean, stripped-down, undubbed "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow," on which every jagged note of Keith Richards' guitar can be heard -- the song sounds much more of a piece with Aftermath and Between the Buttons (between which it fell) than it ever did before -- and an instrumental mixing acoustic guitar and orchestra entitled "Hear It." The rest of what was supposed to be side one finishes with the Jagger/Richards "Something Just Stuck in Your Mind"; a Nanker Phelge blues composition entitled "Aftermath;" the homoerotic Jagger/Richards song "I'd Much Rather Be With the Boys" (which now seems like it could have been slotted into the score of Sidney J. Furie's film The Leather Boys); and "Andrew's Blues" in one of its cleanest and loudest masterings.
What purports to have been side two of the original LP opens with the working version of "Street Fighting Man," credited here as "Pay Your Dues" (but usually referred to as "Did Everybody Pay His Dues"). Following outtakes of "Good Times" and "Heart of Stone," we get the over-dramatic "Each and Every Day of the Year" and "Walking Through the Sleepy City," coming out of the Stones' arty 1965-1966 period. The tougher "Try a Little Harder," a much leaner and harder version of "Blue Turns to Grey," and the country-ish "We're Wastin' Time" then close out the CD.
Tracklist:
01 - Out Of Time 03:24
02 - Don't Lie To Me 02:07
03 - Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow 02:25
Even for the tax scam Tiger Lily label "Reading Festival Featuring Rod Stewart" was a unique release ... it's certainly obscure. I've only seen two copies in 30 years of collecting so good luck locating another copy. To the best of my knowledge it's also the only live set that Tiger Lily released.
As you probably guessed, the album title wasn't particularly accurate. Yeah, the performances were taped at the Reading Festival (officially The 13th National Jazz, Blues & Rock Festival, Reading, England held over three days in June 1973), but in spite of the title, Rod Stewart (and the Faces) were hardly the dominant act on this nine selection compilation. In fact they were only featured on one lackluster track - turns out Stewart and the Faces who were in the midst of going their separate ways also got pretty shitty reviews at the concert itself. So what's actually on the album?
- The late Rory Gallagher started the set off with a blazing 'Hands Off'. Fantastic live version that kicked the crap out of the original studio version (found on 1972's "Blueprint").
- I'm guessing that the Bo Diddley 'Road Runner' cover was the band Strider (whom I know nothing about). Not a half bad heavy metal cover version.
- Greenslade's not exactly a known quantity in the States, but 'Feathered Friends' was a surprisingly enjoyable piece of progressive puff. I'll have to check out some of their material.
- Pulled form their "Piledriver" set, 'Don't Waste My Tim' was a standard Status Quo rocker. Mindless fun ...
- The Faces were probably the band most folks came to see, but based on their pro-forma cover of 'Losing You' you had to wonder what the excitement was about. A lackluster Stewart vocal and seemingly endless Kenny Jones drum solo didn't exactly help.
- Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was Alan Bown's 'Long Legged Linda'. Yeah, he didn't have the most impressive voice you've ever heard, but the song was a great slice of pub rock energy. One of the standout performances ...
- Easily the weirdest artist and song in the lineup was Leslie Duncan's 'Earth Mother' ... Mind you I have nothing against Duncan, but her pop moves sure sounded out of place here. Mind you her performance was actually quite good. Nice guitar work ...
- That left Tim Hardin as the other big surprise. Hardin wasn't in particularly good health at the time (he looked like death warmed over on the back cover photo), but still managed to turn in a pair of stunning performances on 'Hang On To a Dream' and 'Person To Person'. (He sure didn't rock out like this on the studio albums I've heard.)
The album also sported some great sound quality courtesy of Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio and producers Chris Beckwith and Jimmy Horowitz. IN fact some if the performances were so good you had to wonder whether they were spiffed up with some post-production work (check out the strings on Duncan and Hardin's performances).
Shame the set didn't capture some of the other festival performances since the 1973 line up was pretty eclectic including opening act Embryo, Finland's Tasavallan Presidentii, French jazz-rockers Ange, Magma, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Genesis, Spencer Davis, John Martyn, Status Quo, etc. (Scott Blackerby)
Tracklist:
01 - Rory Gallagher - Hands Off 08:38
02 - Strider - Road Runner 04:22
03 - Greenslade - Feathered Friends 04:54
04 - Status Quo - Dont Waste My Time 04:14
05 - The Faces With Rod Stewart - Losing You 06:48
06 - Andy Bown - Long Legged Linda 03:45
07 - Lesley Duncan - Earth Mother 05:39
08 - Tim Hardin - Hang On To A Dream Personto Perso 07:24
This is in essence blues songs played as rock songs by blues rock musicians. It is much better than the horrible "Blues Authority" stuff (which is blues songs played by METAL musicians). Although not a "pure blues" album, the playing reflects the richness achieved by using traditional guitar, amp and other sound techniques. What it is is an anthology of new recordings within the "British blues tradition".
There are some fine acoustic recordings within the 4 CDs in the series (Big Joe Williams/Maggie Bell and Peter Green and Nigel Watson, for instance and a fantastic solo acoustic rendition of "Don't let me be misunderstood" - see the "British" blues connection?). There is also a previously released version of Red House by J. L. Hooker which is good - the fact that "Red House" is included should tell you all you need to know about the "rock" orientation of the set. Having criticized the set, I must say I really do like it. Any set which includes the likes of Jack Bruce, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Mick Taylor and Mick Abrahams is worth purchasing. Just keep in mind that it is a collection of blues by mostly British blues rockers. As for the "Americans", Harvey Mandel and Harvey Brooks are featured (the latter made my ears stand up for a listen). (Samuel B. King)
Tracklist:
01 - Hobo Blues 05:54
02 - Black Magic Woman 03:58
03 - Rattlesnake Shake 05:29
04 - Going Down To Mobile 03:54
05 - You Shook Me 10:23
06 - I Want To Hug You 04:05
07 - I Loved Another Woman 04:58
08 - Long Grey Mare 04:52
09 - Evil Woman Blues 02:06
10 - I'm In The Mood 06:21
11 - Cryin' Won't Bring You Back 05:16
12 - Drop Down Mama 03:04
13 - Play On Little Girl - T-Bone Shuffle 06:05
14 - Ground Hog Blues 05:45
15 - Racketeer Blues 03:51
Earl Green (lead vocals - #1)
Jeff Beck (lead guitar - #1)
David Hadley (bass - #1)
Richard Bailey (drums - #1)
Larry McCray (guitars, vocals - #2)
Noel Neal (bass - #2)
Tony Z (keyboards - #2)
Steve McCray (drums - #2)
Steve Robinson (lead vocals - #3)
Vince Converse (guitar, second lead vocals - #3)
Innes Sibun (guitar - #3)
John Baggott (keyboards - #3)
Gerry Joffe (bass - #3)
'Little Joe' Frenchwood (drums - #3)
Kim Simmons (guitar - #4)
Nathaniel Peterson (bass, vocals - #4)
Tom Compton (drums - #4)
Mick Taylor (slide guitar, vocals - #5)
Max Middleton (keyboards - #5)
Robert 'Crackle' Ahwai (rhythm guitar - #5)
Kuma Harada (bass - #5)
Jeff Allen (drums - #5)
Zakiya Hooker (lead vocals - #6)
Bobby Murray (lead guitar - #6)
Tony Cook (synthesizer guitar - #6)
Johnnie Johnson (piano - #6)
David Daniel (bass - #6)
Marlon Green (drums - #6)
Victor Puebla (percussion - #6)
Jay Aston (vocals - #7)
Larry Mitchell (guitars - #7)
Wilbur Bascomb (bass - #7)
Jonathan Mover (drums - #7)
Harvey Mandel (guitars - #8)
Jon Paris (harmonica, rhythm guitar, vocals, backing vocals - #8)
Wilbur Boscomb (bass - #8)
Damon Duewhite (drums - #8)
Pete Brown (backing vocals - #8)
Pete McMohan (vocals - #9)
Ray Gomez (guitar - #9)
'Even' Steven Levee (bass - #9)
Bobby Chouinard (drums - #9)
Jack Bruce (lead vocals, bass - #10)
Gary Moore (lead guitar - #10)
Gary Husband (drums - #10)
Jess Roden (lead vocals, backing vocals - #11)
Luther Grosvenor (guitars, backing vocals - #11)
Ariel Bender (rhythm guitar - #11)
Dave Moore (Hammond, organ - #11)
Pete Brown (harmonica, backing vocals - #11)
Steve Dolan (bass - #11)
Mike Kellie (drums, backing vocals - #11)
Tony (T.S.) McPhee (guitar, vocals - #12)
Paul Jones (vocals, harmonica - #13)
Otis Grand (guitar - #13)
Steve Wren (piano, organ - #13)
Mike Hobart (tenor & baritone saxophone - #13)
Chico Lopez (bass - #13)
Pascal 'Junior' Delmas (drums - #13)
Tony (T.S.) McPhee (guitar, vocals - #14)
Dick Heckstall-Smith (tenor & soprano saxophone - #14)
Chris Jagger (vocals, guitar - #15)
Ed Beane (guitar - #15)
Mick Jagger (harmonica - #15)
Charlie Hart (bass - #15)
Malcolm Mortimore (drums - #15)
