David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett), singer, songwriter, producer (born 13 September 1941 in Surrey, England). An aggressive yet sensitive singer with a robust, soulful voice, Juno and Grammy Award winner David Clayton Thomas was a pioneer on the Canadian music scene in the 1960s and maintained a long solo career, but is perhaps best-known as the lead singer of the American jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame. His work has been recognized by the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
David Clayton-Thomas had decided that enough was enough and split with Blood, Sweat and Tears to go the solo route with 1972's David Clayton-Thomas. Aided and abetted by wide ranges of studio help, including some of his former bandmates, much of what lies within these grooves sounds very much like his old band. It includes "Magnificent Sanctuary Band" and "Sing a Song," and with it sounding so similar to BS&T, one might wonder why Thomas chose the solo route, but by doing so, he is in charge and doesn't have to rely on others to choose which songs he sings. A competent addition to the big-band rock sound so popular in the early and mid-'70s.
by James Chrispell
Tracks
1. Magnificent Sanctuary Band (Dorsey Burnette) - 3:30
2. We’re All Meat From The Same Bone (Gary Zekley, Mitchell Bottier, Roberta Twain) - 1:47
3. Stealin’ In The Name Of The Lord (Paul Kelley) - 2:45
4. Dying To Live (Edgar Winter) - 4:36
5. Sing A Song (Gary Wright) - 2:47
6. She (Gram Parsons, Chris Etheridge) - 4:47
7. Don’t Let It Bring You Down (Neil Young) - 3:40
8. Once Burned (Todd Rundgren) - 3:27
9. North Beach Racetrack (David Clayton-Thomas) - 3:05
Fort Dodge, Iowa was the home of Steve Fox and Randy Berka, close friends who grew up together and shared many similar interests, one of which was their love of the Beatles and a strong desire to become rock musicians themselves. In 1963 at the tender ages of 7 and 8 years old, they began playing acoustic guitars together. In 1964, Steve moved away to Illinois but returned 3 years later and moved to the nearby town of Humboldt, where Steve's family had also resettled.
By now Randy had teamed up with Jon Porter (organ), Tom Northup (drums),and John Callahan (guitar) which over the next few years evovled in to Lazy River. Tom left but was replaced by Artie Strutzenberg on drums, and the band added Mark Flanagan on bass. By early 1969 Lazy River became quite popular in the region, playing a host of impressive gigs, like the popular Star Ballroom in Dakota City and other notable venues.
Meanwhile Steve Fox was honing his skills on bass guitar and started another local band with Dan Dodgen, John Brandsgard, and Doug Sandvig called Crosstown Traffic.By 1969 they were playing regularly and the two bands found themselves competing all over Iowa for gigs , as their styles of music were very similar(lron Butterfly, Grand Funk, Black Sabbath). But conflicts and personality clashes, in both bands, were about to have their impact. Callahan, Strutzenberg, and Flanagan left Lazy River to form Goo, and took Brandsgard along with them, virtually decimating the two bands and leaving both with several jobs to do.
At the same time Doug Sandvig decided to quit and it was at this time that Randy and John asked Steve to join them, and Shadrack was formed, although continuing under the name Lazy River to fulfill their previous contracts. In the summer of 1972 one of the owners of Iowa Great Lakes Records, in nearby Milford, heard Shadrack at a local club and was veryimpressed with their Neil Young style of 'Road to OLe Miss.' and it wasn't long before the band was recording'lt Was Me' and 'I Wonder Why", of which 1,000 copies were pressed and released in early 1973.
But 1973 was the last official year the band played together in their original lineup. They backed-up the nationally known band The Ides of March' (Vehicle) at the Roof Garden ballroom that summer, but college, and other ambitions later that year .ended the band. In the fall of 1973 and through the early winter, the band recorded the 'Shadrack Chameleon' LP on a Teac, Reel to Reel Tape Machine, in a studio built from an old storage shed they called 'Shadrack Recording Studio'.
The personnel were a mix of Lazy Smoke, Crosstown Traffic, and Shadrack, and the music reflects this diversity. The name 'Chameleon' was added as an afterthought from the first LP track. In all, only 300 copies of the LP were released, and today , it not only remains highly rated, but extremely rare to the record collectors of the world.
Today, Steve Fox is an electronics technician in State Center, Iowa and also publishes analyses of social issues; Randy Berka is a genetic researcher in Davis, California and still plays music; Jon Porter is an insurance agent in Boulder City, Nevada and also a representative in the Nevada State Legislature; Dan Dodgen owns a retail store in Fort Dodge, Iowa and continues to play music locally.
by Roger Maglio, Orlando, Florida, January 1998
Tracks
1. I Wonder Why (Steve Fox, Randy Berka) - 2:29
2. It Was Me (Steve Fox, Randy Berka) - 2:36
3. Chameleon (I Love You) (Steve Fox) - 6:55
4. Long Road To Ole' Miss. (Steve Fox, Randy Berka) - 4:2
5. Granite Feast (Steve Fox) - 3:35
6. That's The Way It's Gotta Be (Steve Fox) - 5:50
7. Don't Let It Get You Down (Steve Fox) - 4:38
8. Beyond Eternity (Steve Fox) - 4:13
Personnel
*Dan Dodger- Drums
*Jon Porter - Organ
*Steve Fox - Guitars, Bass, Vocals
*Artie Strutzenberg - Drums
*Randy Berka - Guitars, Vocals
*John Brandsgard - Lead Guitar, Piano
Although it was his fourth solo album, Song for Juli was Jesse Colin Young's first full-fledged effort under his own name, following a couple of early folk records, a series of Youngbloods albums, and the tentative Together.
Young organized a versatile backup band in which piano, violin, and horns complemented his tenor voice in arrangements that recalled Van Morrison's Caledonia Soul Orchestra (no surprise, since Young and Morrison used several of the same musicians, notably reed player Jim Rothermel) and featured familiar blues, country, and Cajun elements.
In his lyrics, Young hewed closely to the current back-to-the-land philosophy, celebrating his family life (Juli is his daughter) and his "Ridgetop" retreat in Marin County, CA. It was a viewpoint that was both self-affirming and xenophobic -- you couldn't help thinking that the people he wanted to leave him alone and the tourists he wanted to keep at bay included at least a few of his listeners.
Of course, that's not the way it was thought of at the time, and Young's fans responded strongly to Song for Juli, giving it a higher chart placing than any album the Youngbloods ever made and keeping it in the charts longer than any album he ever made.
by William Ruhlmann
Tracks
1. Morning Sun - 4:04
2. Song For Juli (Suzi and Jesse Colin Young) - 4:59
3. Ridgetop - 7:02
4. Evenin' - 3:13
5. Miss Hesitation - 6:26
6. T-Bone Shuffle (T-Bone Walker) - 5:03
7. Lafayette Waltz (Clifton Chenier) - 1:45
8. Jambalaya (On The Bayou) (Hank Williams) - 3:18
9. Country Home - 4:04
All songs by Jesse Colin Young except where stated
The British psychedelic band Mighty Baby grew out of the Action, the Liverpool-based R&B outfit signed to Parlophone by George Martin in 1965. Long considered one of Martin's best discoveries this side of the Beatles, the Action consisted of Reggie King (vocals), Alan King (guitar), Pete Watson (guitar), Mike Evans (bass), and Roger Powell (drums).
After Watson left in 1967, he was succeeded by keyboardist Ian Whiteman and blues guitarist Martin Stone, a veteran of the Savoy Brown Blues Band. This new lineup evolved beyond the R&B/soul sound that the original Action had played and into a top-flight experimental group, incorporating the kinds of long jams and folk/blues influences that the West Coast bands were starting to export around the world.
They hooked up with ex-Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky in 1967 and recorded an album's worth of material that went unreleased. Reggie King was gone by early 1968 to record a solo album, and the remaining members went through a number of name changes, at one point calling themselves Azoth.
In 1968, they hooked up with the managers who represented Pink Floyd and T. Rex and cut a new series of demo recordings featuring Whiteman (who wrote most of the songs) and Alan King on lead vocals. These demos were even more ambitious than the 1967 sides, extending the structure of the group's songs with long, beautiful guitar progressions and soaring choruses. Unlike a lot of R&B outfits that tried the psychedelic route and failed, they were suited to the new music by inclination and temperament.
The president of the band's new record label, Head Records, for reasons best known to himself, chose "Mighty Baby" as the group's new name. The self-titled album that followed was a masterpiece of late psychedelic rock, with long, fluid guitar lines and radiant harmonies; still, Mighty Baby didn't sell very well, although the group continued to play live shows to enthusiastic audiences.
Their record label folded in 1970, and the group eventually signed to the Blue Horizon label, where they released a respectable if not wholly successful second album, A Jug of Love. It was clear by then, however, that their moment had passed, both personally and professionally.
Mighty Baby broke up in 1971, although several of the members periodically played together on various projects -- Evans and Whiteman even played backup to Richard & Linda Thompson in the late '70s.
by Bruce Eder
Mighty Baby are one of the best-loved bands to have emerged from Britain’s late 1960s underground, and this is the fullest live record of them in existence. Taped as they opened for Quintessence at Malvern’s Winter Gardens on Saturday February 20th 1971, the set finds the quintet poised between the driving psychedelia of their 1969 debut and the more contemplative sound of their second and final album, A Jug Of Love.
It’s rounded off by two tracks recorded at Glastonbury in June of the same year, and comes complete with a booklet featuring rare images and notes from band members Ian Whiteman and Mike Evans, making it an essential artefact for the Babe’s many admirers.
Tracks
1.Egyptian Tomb - 6:46
2.Trials Of A City - 6:05
3.Keep On Juggin’ - 11:29
4.Woe Is Me - 7:08
5.India - 22:17
6.Going Down To Mongoli - 5:24
7.Lazy Days (Graham Parsons) - 2:08
8.A Blanket In My Muesli - 16:01
All songs by Mighty Baby except where stated
Self-produced 1973's "Somebody's Watching" found the band continuing to troll the progressive playground, but just barely. To be honest, by this point in their career Rare Bird had essentially become a pop band. The only real link to their progressive past was 'Dollars' which was an interesting instrumental adaption of Steve Winwood's Traffic meets Ennio Morricone's "A Few Dollars More".
Elsewhere, featuring largely group-penned material, songs such as the tile track and 'Third Time Around' were shorter, more focused and quite commercial (as in suitable for radio). With the addition of guitarist Andy Curtis Gould seemed to have become comfortable as lead singer and the band's forays into folk-rock ('Turn Your Head' and 'Hard Time') were among the set highlights.
Although he's best-known for his classic folk song staple "Streets of London," which first appeared on his Spiral Staircase album in 1969, Ralph McTell is a multi-dimensional guitarist and singer/songwriter who's influenced hundreds of folk singers in Great Britain, Europe, and the U.S. Fortunately, people in the U.S. and Europe are beginning to connect to his vast body of excellent original work, and not just "Streets," which has been recorded more than 200 times by artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, and even the angry punk group Anti-Nowhere League, and is still McTell's most requested song.
McTell, named Ralph May, was raised in post-WWII London with his mother and a younger brother. His father left home when he was two. He began to show musical talent when he was seven, when he began playing harmonica. When skiffle bands became all the rage in England, Scotland, and Ireland, he began playing ukulele and formed his first band. Later in his teens, he began playing guitar.
At the College Jazz Club in London, McTell first heard Ramblin' Jack Elliott sing Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues." Elliott's performance proved to be a revelatory experience for the shy, young, impressionable McTell. He took his earliest cues from the great blues and folk singers: Elliott, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, and Blind Willie McTell. He took his adopted last name from blues singer McTell, and his songwriting inspiration from the writings of Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck. After a few years hanging around London, he took off to travel along the south coast of England and the rest of Europe, where he made his way around hitchhiking and busking. While busking around Europe, he met his wife Nanna; shortly thereafter, they had a son.
McTell tried a conventional career as a teacher, but continued playing the folk clubs around London. He began a long tenure at Les Cousins in the Soho section of London and there he began to make a name for himself. A music publisher was so impressed by McTell's early songs that he secured a recording deal for him. His first album, Eight Frames a Second, was released on the Transatlantic label in 1968. With a gentle voice, superb guitar playing skills gleaned from his days as a ukulele player, and a level of modesty that showed through on-stage, McTell began incorporating his own songs into his live shows, which were mostly blues in those days. By July 1969, he was booked at the Cambridge Folk Festival, and in December of that year was headlining his first major London concert at Hornsey Town Hall. By May 1970, McTell completely sold out the Royal Festival Hall and was booked to play the Isle of Wight Festival alongside Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. He made his first U.S. tour in 1972 and returned to London to sell out the Royal Albert Hall in 1974, the first British solo act to accomplish such a feat in 14 years.
The third song he ever wrote, "Streets of London," was something he deliberately left off his debut album, but at a producer's insistence, he included it on his second album for Transatlantic, Spiral Staircase. After the song was re-recorded in 1974 as a single for Reprise/Warner Bros. it became a huge world-wide hit. The song reached number two on the British charts, and in Germany, there were four different versions of the song on the charts at one point, three by McTell and one by a German singer.
The pressures of world-wide success temporarily became too much for the shy, reserved McTell, and in the spring of 1975, he announced his intention to quit touring and withdraw from the music business for a while. He came to the U.S., where he relaxed and wrote songs in relative anonymity for a year before going back to the U.K. to play a Christmas benefit concert in Belfast. He continued recording for Warner Bros. in the '70s, releasing Right Side Up in 1976, Ralph, Albert and Sydney in 1977, and Slide Away the Screen in 1979. For most of the '80s, he spent his time touring and working on a children's television show called Alphabet Zoo, which led the TV network to create a show especially for him, Tickle on the Tum, and both programs introduced McTell to new generations of fans.
In 1995 and 1996, McTell returned to the U.S. and performed a series of sold-out shows on the East Coast, and his visibility in the U.S. may have been helped along by Nanci Griffith's decision to record one of his songs, "From Clare to Here," on her Grammy-winning Other Voices, Other Rooms album.
McTell's discography is very extensive and demonstrates his commitment to his craft as a songwriter. Though many of these albums are hard to locate, they're well worth seeking out, most originally recorded for Transatlantic, Reprise/Warner Bros., or Mays.
In 1992, he recorded an ambitious project about the life and times of poet Dylan Thomas, The Boy with a Note, released on Leola Music; recently, the U.S. has seen the Stateside release of From Clare to Here (1996), a U.S. release of Silver Celebration, and Sand in Your Shoes (1998). Blue Skies Black Heroes appeared the following year.
by Richard Skelly
Tracks
1. Streets Of London - 4:08
2. Mrs. Adlam's Angels - 2:43
3. Wino And The Mouse - 1:00
4. England 1914 - 3:05
5. Last Train And Ride - 2:32
6. The Fairground - 4:07
7. Spiral Staircase - 3:32
8. Kind Hearted Woman Blues - 2:44
9. Bright And Beautiful Things - 1:55
10.Daddy's Here - 4:21
11.Rizraklaru (Anag) - 1:45
12.(My) Baby Keeps Staying Out All Night Long - 1:52
13.Terminus - 1:54
14.Spiral Staircase - 3:09
15.Last Train And Ride - 2:31
16.The Fairground - 3:54
17.Terminus - 1:54
All songs by Ralph McTell except where stated
Bonus Tracks 14-17 released On 'Revisited' (1970)
In 1975, fresh from his stint in Fleetwood Mac, guitarist/vocalist Bob Welch joined up with former Jethro Tull/Wild Turkey bassist Glenn Cornick and ex-Nazz drummer Thom Mooney to form the power trio called Paris, and this self-titled debut was released in January of 1976. Now reissued and remastered by Rock Candy, Paris can once again be enjoyed by hard rock fans of all ages.
Quite different stylistically than any of the bands these musicians were involved with previously, Paris were greatly influenced by Led Zeppelin, right down to the high pitched vocal wails and stinging guitar riffs of Welch (who really channeled Plant & Page here) and the thunderous rhythm section of Cornick & Mooney. Tunes like "Black Book", "Nazarene", and "Religion" could have easily been leftovers from any of Zeppelin's early to mid '70's albums, while the funky blues rock of "Starcage" and "Beautiful Youth" remind a bit of the classic days of the Jeff Beck Group. Progressive rock fans will love the textured "Narrow Gate (La Porte Etroite)", which fuses Led Zeppelin with Wishbone Ash, and the ultra catchy "Solitaire" has some splendid power pop hooks that will appeal to any fan of The Raspberries. Cornick's ultra-beefy bass guitar grooves lead the pulsating rocker "Breathless", and "Rock of Ages" is balls to the walls heavy blues rock for all the Zeppelin and Cactus fans out there. The album ends on a high note with the upbeat "Red Rain", complete with Welch's dazzling riffs and some foot-stomping rhythms courtesy of Cornick and Mooney.
Honestly, this is a great hard rock record that showcases the skills of all three men, especially Welch, who never really dipped into this type of heavy material before but really showed he had the guitar skills to pull it off. The band recorded one more album in 1977 titled Big Towne, 2061 and then split, and Welch passed away in 2012 after a long solo career that saw him have quite a bit of success over the years. If you've never heard of this little known supergroup before and love '70s hard rock, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.
by Pete Pardo
Tracks
1. Black Book - 3:02
2. Religion - 5:19
3. Starcage - 3:53
4. Beautiful Yout - 3:34
5. Nazarene - 3:55
6. Narrow Gate (La Porte Etroite) - 6:38
7. Solitaire - 4:02
8. Breathless - 3:19
9. Rock of Ages - 3:09
10.Red Rain - 3:20
All compositions by Robert Welch
Sweathog was a San Francisco-based quartet whose sound was fairly far removed from the music normally associated with that city. They were a powerful ensemble instrumentally, keyboardist/singer Lenny Lee (aka Lenny Lee Goldsmith), guitarist/singer Bob Jones, bassist/singer Dave Johnson, and drummer Frosty (aka Barry Smith, aka Bartholomew Smith) all top players in their field -- Frosty had played with Lee Michaels on his third and fourth albums, while Jones had played on Harvey Mandel's Cristo Redentor and Righteous in the late '60s, and Goldsmith was an ex-member of the Five Americans.
They were not bad as singers, either, with Goldsmith handling the leads. Their music was a mix of Southern-style soul, early-'70s funk, and blues, all wrapped around a virtuoso rock sound. The group was signed to Columbia Records at the time of that label's fixation on West Coast acts, under Clive Davis's regime -- they were always looking for another Big Brother & the Holding Company, or something to take the place of that act on their roster. The group's self-titled debut album passed mostly without a musical trace, without an AM radio hit to drive sales, though its cover image of bare buttocks was censored in various countries.
In 1972, they seemed to hit paydirt with their single "Hallelujah," a driving piece of explosive Southern-fried rock & roll with a soul edge that was a killer showcase for all four players (especially Frosty). It got to number 33 on the national charts, but that relatively modest performance doesn't indicate how popular it was on the radio, where it got airplay closer to that of a Top 20 hit.
The song got the album (also titled Hallelujah) into stores, at least, but it never sold in huge numbers, despite a respectable promotion effort and a lot of exposure for the band, touring behind Black Sabbath, among other top acts of the period. They broke up in 1973, and Goldsmith later played on Martha Reeves' first post-Motown solo album before joining Stoneground.
by Bruce Eder
The Top 40 title track got Sweathog some chart action in 1971. Drummer Frosty found fame with the pop/blues minstrel Lee Michaels, and here forges a Southern rock sound with bassist Dave Johnson, guitarist B.J., and organist Lenny Lee -- none of them household names, and an album that is highly competent but as non-descript as the players. When your drummer and a guest pianist by the name of Michael Omartian have more recognition, it is clear it will be an uphill climb.
There's an interesting version of "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo," a song which wouldn't hit until 1974 for Rick Derringer, so the band showed they have some taste (and that they toured with or at least listened to Edgar Winter's White Trash). For the times, though, heartfelt songs like "In the Wee Hours of the Night" needed a strong personality fronting the group. L. Goldsmith performing Joe Cocker's "Ride Louise Ride" or Sanford Townsend Band material makes for a solid outing, but not the additional hit singles this group needed to amass a following.
Great music, stirring performances, it's just that the world wasn't quite ready for Three Dog Night meets the Allman Brothers Band. The title track remains a forgotten classic which oldies stations would be smart to add to their play lists.
by Joe Viglione
Tracks
1. Road To Mexico - 2:18
2. Ride, Louise, Ride - 3:16
3. Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo - 3:17
4. Questions And Conclusions - 4:08
5. Things Yet To Come - 2:48
6. Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice - 2:30
7. Hallelujah - 2:55
8. Darker Side - 4:07
9. Working My Way Back Home - 2:55
10.In The Wee Wee Hours Of The Night - 4:58
11.Rock And Roll Revival - 3:22
Sweathog
*Lenny Lee - Organ, Vocals
*Frosty - Drums, Percussion
*B.J. - Guitar, Vocals
*Dave Johnson - Bass, Vocals With
*With Michael Omartian - Piano
*Jimmie Haskell - Horns Arrangement
Follow on from the highly successful of Rare Bird's first albums with this classic prog rock album from 1973, their second release for Polydor. By the time of this album Rare Bird had changed line-ups, though still retained their progressive style. Born Again was Rare Bird's final album and included their classic Diamonds. Balanced between soft progressive tunes, classic rock forms and funky vibes.
Tracks
1. Body And Soul (Levin Camm, Steve Gould) - 03:10
2. Live For Each Other (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould) - 02:55
3. Diamonds (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould) - 04:07
4. Reaching You (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould) - 03:31
5. All That I Need (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould) - 03:57
6. Redman (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould, Andrew Curtis, Aaron Hall) - 03:42
7. Peace Of Mind (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould) - 05:24
8. Harlem (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould, Levin Camm) - 03:23
9. Lonley Street (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould, Levin Camm) - 03:13
10.Last Tango In Beulah (Dave Kaffinetti, Fred Kelly, Steve Gould) - 06:27
11.Don't Be Afraid (Dave Kaffinetti, Steve Gould) - 3:38
12.Passing Through (Dave Kaffinetti, Steve Gould) - 4:28
Bonus tracks 11-12
A great little album of 60s instrumentals – played by a small guitar-heavy group led by drummer Mel Taylor, who's got a really heavy driving sound! The notes say that Taylor has been featured on hundreds of records during the 60s – and given that his sound here is a lot like Hal Blaine on some of Blaine's instrumental albums from the time, we're almost wondering if Taylor's not a name-de-date for Blaine. This is just speculation, though – but the sound of the record is great if you dig Blaine's rocking instrumental albums from the same time. Titles include "Watermelon Man", "Bullseye", "Bongo Rock", "Skokiaan", "The Creeper", "A Taste Of Honey", "Drums A Go Go", "No Exit" and more.
Mel Taylor was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 24, 1933, the first child of Grace and Lawrence Taylor. His mother"s family was Russian/Eastern European Jewish, and his father"s family was from the Tennessee/North Carolina area, with English, German, Dutch and Cherokee roots. His early years were spent in Brooklyn but, in the summer of 1939, his father took him back to the family home in Johnson City, TN, for the first of many visits. His father, grandfather and uncles all played guitar or banjo, and Mel became used to music being an integral part of his life. Back in New York, he joined the Police Athletic League and excelled in the 100-yard dash. He also developed a lifelong passion for the Dodgers baseball team.
Mel"s interest in the drums began early, too. His mother remembered him banging on pots and pans with knitting needles, then drumsticks. In school, he joined the drum and bugle corps, and marched in the Macy"s parade. His inspiration came from big bands and especially Gene Krupa, whom he heard on the radio and whose style he began to copy.
In his early teens, Mel moved permanently to Tennessee where he attended high school. After trying out for the football team, he found he preferred marching in the band instead. He joined the Navy at the age of 17 and, after basic training in the Great Lakes region, was posted to Pensacola where he was assigned to a crash crew for the Navy pilots" training facility.
After leaving the Navy, Mel returned to Tennessee where he started playing music on local radio and TV shows. His younger brother, Larry Taylor (later bass player with Canned Heat), remembers that Mel played rhythm guitar and sang back-up on a rockabilly TV show in Johnson City with Eddie Skelton. He later played drums with Joe Franklin"s group, and even appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show -- or rather his arm did, as that was all anyone could see of him when the show aired! He also played guitar and sang on his own (very) early morning radio show, as "Mel Taylor and the Twilight Ramblers".
Mel moved his family, including 4 small children, out to California in 1958. During the day, Mel worked LA Grand Central Market, as a meat cutter – a trade he had learned in Tennessee. By night however, he played drums in clubs around the L.A. area and became quite sought after. Soon he was able to quit his day job, and graduate to session work in the recording studios. His early credits include "The Monster Mash" with Bobby "Boris" Pickett, "The Lonely Bull" with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (for which he was paid $10!), various cuts with Buck Owens, and many more. He also became house drummer at the famous Palomino Club in North Hollywood.
In the late 1950"s and early 1960"s everyone in the music business frequented the Palomino – and often sat in with the house band, so Mel had the opportunity to meet and play with many hit artists. One night in 1962, The Ventures came to the Palomino after doing a TV show in Hollywood, but without their drummer, so Mel obliged and played "Walk Don"t Run" with the group. Later, The Ventures asked him if he would be interested in joining them, as their original drummer was unable to travel. Shortly thereafter, they called Mel in to do some recording and, a few months later, to go on the road with them. From 1963 on, Mel became known as The Ventures" drummer, recording and performing with them for more than 32 years, traveling all over the US, to Europe and to Japan, where The Ventures" annual tour is considered a major cultural event.
In July 1996, while on tour in Japan with The Ventures, Mel was diagnosed with pneumonia, but subsequently a malignant tumor was found in his lungs. He continued to play until August 1, so that a replacement drummer could be found for the balance of the tour. On August 2, Mel returned to Los Angeles for further testing but the cancer was so fast-moving that, after less than 10 days at home, he died very suddenly on August 11. He leaves a legacy of hundreds of recordings that continue to be enjoyed by millions of fans.
