Second album released in 1969, by this band from North Germany. Unlike their debut, on their sophomore album they developed and refined their music toward psychedelic rock without denying the psych pop roots. The tracks became longer, the instrumentation many sided (great sitar in 'Let die'). Intelligent compositions with great vocals make this underrated album a true gem.
Tracks
1. Life Is Your Profession - 5:48
2. Let It Die - 6:09
3. Patricia - 9:26
4. Milkman - 4:50
5. Try To Please Me - 2:52
6. Pictures Of My Woman - 3:43
7. Linda Jones (Gerd Müller-Schwanke) - 3:40
8. Blowing In Blow (Gerd Müller-Schwanke) - 7:17
9. Reflections Of A Summer (Gerd Müller-Schwanke) - 4:34
All songs by Enrico Lombardi, John Leslie Humphreys except where stated
More cohesive than their RCA release in the mid-'70s, the New York underground band who worked with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and David Peel finds themselves on Metromedia, the label which had hits with Bobby Sherman, unleashing eight originals written mostly by drummer Rich Frank and lead vocalist/tenor saxman Stan Bronstein. Guitarist David Cohen contributes to a couple of tunes, with pianist Myron Yules and guitarist Greg Peratori also involved in the songwriting, but it is Frank (listed on the credits as Reek Havoc) and Bronstein who are the major forces behind this well-known-but-not-often-heard group.
Clearly it was Lennon's participation on an early disc and not the band's notoriety which made them almost a household name, but one hit record could have changed all that. There is no hit here, but there is some experimental rock that Frank Zappa should have snapped up for his Straight Records. A bubblegum label could only move this if they were called Crazy Elephant and had something akin to "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'." Rather you have the antithesis, "Mongoose," followed by "Power" and the revolutionary "Piece Now."
The technical proficiency is traded in for angst and lots of rock & roll attitude. "Piece Now" could very well be MC5, and the music on all three of the first tunes is dense and noteworthy. "Tricky Noses" ends side one with a flurry of bullets stopping a country-ish protest song, making the point quickly and with uneasy ease. Away from their famous friends, the seven-piece group is at least interesting here, with "She's Just Naturally Bad" sounding like Blue Cheer when they abandoned the sonic onslaught for laid-back folk-rock.
Flashes of Dylan and Lou Reed make their way onto the tune. Pianist Myron Yules delivers the only song that Rich Frank and Bronstein aren't associated with, "I Couldn't Dream," a light Paul McCartney-style throwaway number."Damn" gets things somewhat heavy, a nice counterpoint to side one's "Power." This is where the band shines, solid ensemble rock with riffs and lots of not-so-quiet energy. For collectors who need anything by anyone ever associated with the Beatles, the Elephant's Memory's collection is not to be forgotten. "Ivan" is smooth New York rock a few years before Lou Reed would enter his Coney Island Baby phase, but definitely sounding like it could fit on that epic. Take It to the Streets is a true rock & roll artifact and holds some surprises worth rediscovering.
by Joe Viglione
Tracks
1. Mongoose (David Cohen, Rick Frank, Stan Bronstein) - 4:53
2. Power (Rick Frank, Stan Bronstein) - 5:59
3. Piece Now (Rick Frank, Stan Bronstein) - 4:56
4. Tricky Noses (Rick Frank) - 0:51
5. She's Just Naturally Bad (David Cohen, Rick Frank, Stan Bronstein) - 6:06
6. I Couldn't Dream It (Myron Yules) - 3:21
7. Damn (Guy Peritore, Rick Frank, Stan Bronstein) - 4:36
8. Ivan (Rick Frank) - 4:03
Elephant's Memory
*Stan Bronstein - Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Lead Vocals
Jerry is one of the most celebrated jazz guitarists of his generation, and a major name in the 1960s and 1970s for his de facto contribution to the emerging fusion movement.
He began playing the guitar at age 7. At age 11 he began playing professionally with the Bobby Wiley Rhythmaires, appearing daily on Wichita's first television station, KEDD.
At the age of 21 Jerry moved to San Francisco. In 1964 he joined the John Handy Quintet, recording two albums for Columbia Records including the critically acclaimed "Live at Monterey." In 1967 he recorded his first album for Arhoolie Records, "The Jerry Hahn Quintet," with Jack DeJohnette on drums. In 1968, he joined the Gary Burton Quartet with Roy Haynes and Steve Swallow, recording three albums and touring the United States, Europe, Canada and Japan.
By 1970 Jerry Hahn -who had paid his dues working with John Handy, the Fifth Dimension and Gary Burton-, wanted to get a band together that would reflect a myriad of musical influences--- jazz, blues, rock, gospel, country etc. One of the best parts of the early 1970's was the great amount of experimentation that was going on among bands in general. A very fertile period indeed. As a matter of fact, one could easily make the claim that this here record was one of the very first true fusion albums to hit the scene.
Jerry also began to write a monthly column for Guitar Player magazine entitled "Jerry Hahn's Guitar Seminar" which continued for five years. In 1971 Paul Simon called Jerry to record on his first solo album, "Paul Simon."
In 1972, Jerry went back to Wichita, Kansas, where he became a full-time member of the Wichita State University faculty and established the degree program in jazz guitar. He received a Doctor of Music degree from Berean Christian College in Long Beach, CA in 1983.
His formidable book and CD Complete Jerry Hahn Method for Jazz Guitar for Mel Bay Publications has been in publication since 1986.
After 15 years at WSU, Jerry relocated to Portland, Oregon, where he joined the Bennie Wallace Quartet, recording and touring the United States, Europe and Japan. The move sound track for White Men Can't Jump features Jerry's guitar playing.
In 1992 he moved to Denver, Colorado, where he taught at the Colorado Institute of Art and performed, toured and recorded with Ginger Baker, the drummer with the band "Cream."
In 1995, Jerry joined the faculty of Portland State University and developed the curriculum for the Jazz Guitar program. In addition to teaching all of the jazz guitar students, coaching guitar ensembles and jazz combos at PSU, Jerry continued to perform, record, tour and conduct clinics at universities and schools.
Recent engagements include the Iridium Jazz Club and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City with the original John Handy Quintet. His latest recordings include "Hahn Solo" and "Jazz Hymns" on Migration Records, and self-published "Hahn Songs" in 2010. Jerry has returned to Kansas to be with family and work on new publications and recordings.
Jerry Hahn, the innovative and dedicated musician, continues to be one of the favorites of a younger generation of guitarists.
The sprawling double LP Four Letter Monday Afternoon is generally considered the best effort from these jazzy Krautrockers. Rats Road, issued 30 years later, consists of recordings from those same sessions that had to be left off the original release because of lack of space, with material nearly as strong. Like Four Letter, this finds Out of Focus expanded to an 11-piece and stretching out on long jams with loose, funky rhythms and lots of lengthy instrumentals on various brass, keyboards, and guitar. In fact, this record is even more instrumental, with only two tracks with vocals, the energetic "I'd Like to Be Free" and "Tell Me What I'm Thinking Of," the latter which also appeared as a bonus track titled "When I'm Sleeping" on the CD reissue of Four Letter Monday Afternoon.
Though Rats Road never gets into the more experimental realms of Four Letter pieces like "L.S.B." and "Tsajama," there is still a lot of creativity here, from the wild rhythms of "Table Talk" and "Straight Ahead" to the quirky structures of "Rats Road" and "Climax," as Out of Focus combines rock and big band jazz fluidly into something quite extraordinary. The CD, like many others from the Garden of Delights label, also contains a 32-page booklet with some history of the band and photos.
by Rolf Semprebon
Tracks
1. I'd Like To Be Free - 7:15
2. Table Talk - 12:03
3. Rat Roads - 5:16
4. Fallen Apples (Remingius Dreschler) - 2:18
5. Straight Ahead (Remingius Dreschler) - 4:39
6. Tell Me What I'm Thinking Of - 3:58
7. Climax - 12:47
8. Kitchen Blues (Moran Neumüller) - 0:31
9. Good-Bye Honey (Remingius Dreschler) - 0:59
All compositions by Remingius Dreschler, Moran Neumüller except where noted
War was great—funky, bluesy, jazzy and meditative; their hits were jams edited into pop sensations. Their sound was unique: a thick stew of stone funk, deep bass lines, African percussion, jazz-R&B organ, Latin rhythms, free-form jazz and previously untested combinations, like harmonica and saxophone. Their vocals were earthy—sometimes weary, sometimes happy—with gospel-soul licks and group chants. By late 1972, when work began on the album The World Is A Ghetto, their grooves were already in the air. “Spill The Wine,” a collaboration with British blues-rock star Eric Burdon, had been a smash. Then came tours, two albums, and the hit “Slippin’ Into Darkness.”
The time was right. Self-contained groups, from Earth, Wind & Fire to multi-racial jam band the Allman Brothers, and personally expressive black singer-songwriters from Stevie Wonder to Bill Withers, were on the rise. Miles Davis and Marvin Gaye were experimenting, shaking loose of formula. War—seven guys from Compton and Long Beach in Southern California: Thomas “Papa Dee” Allen, on percussion; Harold Brown, drums; B.B. Dickerson, bass; Lonnie Jordan, keyboards; Charles Miller, saxophones; Lee Oskar, born in Denmark but living in L.A., harmonica; and Howard Scott, guitar—was in the middle of the mix.
The Ghetto album was the result of spirited rehearsals in Long Beach followed by two solid weeks of jam sessions at Crystal Industries studio in Los Angeles. Papa Dee provided the central theme—ghetto life has no boundaries, illustrated on the cover by a Rolls Royce with a flat tire. With no boundaries in the studio, the band drew on their many roots: their bittersweet title song, infused with jazz, fell together on take 36. “The Cisco Kid,” the album’s eventual pop centerpiece, was inspired by Scott’s fond memories of a popular television character, and solidified the band’s growing Chicano following. “Where Was You At” evolved from a syncopated New Orleans drum line, thanks to Brown’s recollections of their early Southwest tours. (“No jazz on this session,” he calls out on one take.) The immersive, spacey “Four Cornered Room” was inspired by Dickerson’s first experiments with hashish. “Beetles In A Bog,” from Oskar, is a jazz march.
“City, Country, City” is the album’s longest jam, a beautiful, virtuosic performance spotlighting among others Miller’s flowing sax. Its cinematic feel owes a debt to its origin: as score for the Paramount film The Legend Of Nigger Charley, at a time when their peers Isaac Hayes, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack and Marvin Gaye were creating movie soundtracks. “[The studio] wasn’t giving us enough credit and money, so we took the song back,” Jordan told writer Barry Alfonso. “The movie didn’t make it that big, but our record did.” (John Bennings was the film’s eventual composer; Lloyd Price sang the theme song.) “They just cooked,” said Jerry Goldstein, the group’s longtime produc¬er who had been through the music business wars with Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. “Then we’d carve out a 35- to 40-minute album from the jams.”
Some of the LP’s ideas were not so much discarded as considered too long for the vinyl era. The chugging “Freight Train Jam” is a band tour-de-force in the vein of “City, Country, City.” “58 Blues” is more down-home. “War Is Coming” is a scalding rock-blues, a slower, early version of a funk jam the group would release five years later on Platinum Jazz. Each is included in this 40th anniver¬sary expanded edition.
Although “The Cisco Kid” became a huge crossover hit, selling one million copies its first day of release, an edited version of “The World Is A Ghetto” was the album’s first single, and a bigger hit on the R&B/Soul singles chart. The audience was hungry for a messenger, according to Jordan. “Someone had to be the teacher or the preacher back then,” he further relayed to Alfonso. “We chose to be that.” Oskar thought the move was less intentional. “As far as being political and making heavy statements go, I think people were looking for that,” he said. “They wanted to believe that something they liked was meaningful. The music was the main thing.”
War continued as a force through the 1970s, following this album with Deliver The Word, which includes the hit “Gypsy Man”; a double-live LP; the smashes “Why Can’t We Be Friends” and “Low Rider”; the disco hit “Galaxy”; and the soundtrack to Youngblood. Yet The World Is A Ghetto, the best-selling album of 1973, was the group’s only No. 1 Pop album. George Benson’s 1977 up-tempo version of the title song was one of many covers; nearly 20 years later the Texas rap group Geto Boys interpolated the original. “The Cisco Kid” has become a kind of perennial. “City, Country, City” is the go-to track to convert skeptics who’ve only heard the hits.
War is still great.
by Harry Weinger
Tracks
1. The Cisco Kid - 4:35
2. Where Was You At - 3:25
3. City, Country, City - 13:18
4. Four Cornered Room - 8:30
5. The World Is A Ghetto - 10:10
6. Beetles In The Bog - 3:51
7. Freight Train Jam 5:41
8. 58 Blues 5:29
9. War Is Coming (Blues Version) - 6:15
10.The World Is A Ghetto (Rehearsal Take) - 8:06
All songs by Howard Scott, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Harold Brown, Papa Dee Allen, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar.
Bonus tracks 7-10
War
*Lonnie Jordan - Organ, Piano, Timbales, Percussion, Vocals
*Howard Scott - Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
*B.B. Dickerson - Bass, Percussion, Vocals
*Harold Brown - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*Papa Dee Allen - Congas, Bongos, Percussion, Vocals
*Charles Miller - Clarinet, Alto, Tenor, Baritone Saxophones, Percussion, Vocals
Jam Factory was an American band from Syracuse, NY active 1970-1972. introducing Jam Factory at the time to a national audience on The Today Show, replete with Joe English - later a drummer for Paul McCartney and Wings losing a stick, and Earl Ford and Gene McCormick initiating a vicious side-to-side head bobbing that would become the band’s trademark.
The mythology of the time had band manager, the late Joe Leonard, signing the contract while relaxing in a bathtub after Jam Factory had opened to a standing ovation when they appeared with Hot Tuna at the Fillmore East. Word was Columbia saw Jam Factory as a threat to the genre Sly and the Family Stone was establishing, and wanted to stash them away on the vinyl shelf.
With git-picker Mark Hoffman in "the fringe"! Gracing the Hammond B-3 is Gene McCormick – so in the groove at the finale he nearly shakes his head off his shoulders. On the skins is Joe English who displays true matched-grip sensibilities - when he can hold on to his sticks! and awesome high vocal range. Not trying to miss the count Steve Marcone, on flugelhorn, vibes and trumpet and holding it all down is the late great Kent Defelice on bass. The band played the Schaefer Music Festival in 1970. McCormick spent time as a band director and played with Marvin Gaye before moving into the mental health field. He is currently a chief clinician at Vermont’s Department of Corrections.
Tracks
1. Tight Knit Group - 5:17
2. Sittin' In The Trap - 3:06
3. Trying To Recall (Mark Hoffmann) - 6:26
4. Didn't Know Me Then - 2:45
5. You Better Listen - 5:32
6. It's Your World - 11:47
7. Brothers Gemini (Mark Hoffmann, Steve Marcone) - 2:43
8. Mr. Slow (J. Houston) - 6:08
All compositions by Gene McCormick except where stated
When the Last Ritual disbanded, Allan Springfield, Kenneth Lehman, John Scarzello and Chris Efthmian together with Earl Ford, Stanford L. James III and Billy Schwartz, formed a new band by the name Chelsea Beige. They signed to EPIC, recorded and released one and only album titled "Mama, Mama, Let Your Sweet Bird Sing", in 1971.
There's is music in this album. Music to replenish the constant rush of meandering tunes that many new groups perform on their first LP. For this reason this album is worthwhile. Perhaps another attraction here is the addition of brass, which appears to be after the fact but adds to the LP in certain parts. The songs themselves are high energy and have should receive more attraction.
There are two Buzzy Linhart albums entitled Buzzy, one released in 1969 on Philips, and this third solo release on Buddah records in 1972. There's a jazzy "Eye 1-2-C-U Shuffle," which could be the Electric Flag with Linhart on vocals. The band -- featuring Danny Trifan on bass, guest star Moogy Klingman on organ, future Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers session man supreme Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on acoustic and electric guitars, Ten Wheel Drive's Luther Rix, and mixing by Todd Rundgren -- creates what may be the most intimate of Linhart albums released on a major label.
There's a great cover of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Take Me to the Pilot" with the equally great line "he's a virgin" with Buzzy quipping "aren't we all?." Interesting that Uni Records pushed much Elton John product out in this early-'70s period when Buddah had three Linhart discs in release (one on a subsidiary called Eleuthera Records, a band project called Music, with a majority of the songs written by Buzzy). On February 28, 2002, AMG spoke with the singer/songwriter's son, Xeno Linhart (note that the publishing company on some of the songs is Xeno Music, with Ascap as the Performing Rights Organization). Xeno claimed that "Apparently, shortly after recording The Time to Live Is Now, there was a drummer swap. Luther Rix and Kevin Ellman swapped bands so Luther and Bette Midler could be together, and bringing in an Indian drummer into the Trio to do the ragas seemed right. But Kevin left soon after to go with Moogy Klingman and become Utopia. All this in just a few months, and then there are the next sets of players. But the order of recording is not really the same as the order of release.
There really are two albums called Buzzy. The 18-minute version of "Sing Joy" [is] on Buzzy Phillips 1969, later on Best of Buzzy Linhart (1972) and the more memorable 8:30 version [appears] on Buzzy Kama Sutra/Buddah 1972 The Black Album, as it is called for its mostly black cover (by photographer Ira Wexler). The first Buzzy is quite unique in its arrangements. Best of Buzzy (1972) on KamaSutra/Buddah is a repackaging of the Buzzy (Phillips) and other material. So, the two "Sing Joy" (tracks) show up in a few places. It is worth some study itself, as it was the first raga Buzzy wrote (1964), and then re-wrote a few times. It is also a major component of the 30-minute long live raga jam by Seventh Sons, "4 A.M. at Franks" (also released as "Raga," both on ESP Disks). We have restored and remastered the cut for inclusion on a collection of improvised one-take recordings to be called 'Avant Buzz.'
So, there is a lot of Buzzy's material with the date 1972, but it was just a timing issue, and probably a mistake by record companies to flood the market with so much of his material all at once and not making it clear that some was recorded years earlier." On Barry Gordy's "You Got What It Takes" -- a hit for both Marv Johnson and the Dave Clark Five in the '60s, Linhart gives it a musician's treatment. Nothing on this album seems to be crafted with the charts in mind, though on "Rollin' On" Buzzy lifts melody and lines from Bacharach/David by fusing "What the World Needs Now" into his song. L. Luther Rix's "Boogaloother" is a delight with passages straight from the Ten Wheel Drive songbook. "Sing Joy" changes the mood, evolving from the percussive sounds into a rocking "Tutti Frutti" tracked live at Studio A of New York's Record Plant. The Black Album may be the least commercial of Buzzy's efforts, but it is solid musicianship and contains sounds that drew from, as well as inspired, past and future works of Ten Wheel Drive, Bette Midler, Utopia, Jimi Hendrix, and Steely Dan, and it is all quite staggering.
by Joe Viglione
Tracks
1 Tornado (Buzzy Linhart, Artie Traum) - 2:28
2 Rollin’ On (Buzzy Linhart) - 3:20
3 You Got What It Takes (Berry Gordy, Gwen Gordy Fuqua, Tyran Carlo) - 2:44
4 Boogaloother Or Captain Hornbone’s Last Desperate Truck (Luther Rix) - 1:12
5 Sing Joy Tutti Frutti (Buzzy Linhart, Dona Calles, Dorothy La Bostrie, Richard Penniman) - 8:29
6 Take Me To The Pilot (Bernie Taupin, Elton John) - 5:00
7 Eye 1-2-C-U Shuffle (Buzzy Linhart) - 2:29
8 Tell Me True (Buzzy Linhart) - 3:50
9 Don’t You Pay Me No Mind (Buzzy Linhart) - 4:09
Musicians
*Buzzy Linhart - Vocals, Acoustic, Electric Guitars, Vibraphone, Marimba, Drums, Percussion, Piano
This set of five songs follows on the heels of their masterpiece Four Letter Monday Afternoon, and continues their jazzy, progressive rock style in as fine form as they ever have been in. The instrumentation: drums, bass, two guitars, sax, and a vocalist / sax / flute player. Their strengths lie both in the long instrumental sections and in the adventurous structures of the songs, which contain plenty of time changes and composed, thematic parts.
Perhaps the only slightly duff moment on the album is the short “The Way I Know Her,” a 3 ½ minute acoustic guitar ballad that seems a bit dull for a band who practically doesn’t know what the word means. But it’s an insignificant point on a map of some of the finest German rock of the 70s. With good quality sound (for an archive anyway) and lengthy liner notes by guitarist Remigius Dreschler, this comes recommended to all fans of the German rock scene, especially those who like it on the jazzy side.
Rankin File was a full-time band during 1971 and 1973, touring in UK and Europe, appearing in folk clubs, concert and festivals.
Ian Rankin was the main songwriter singer and also played guitar, he was born in Edinburgh Scotland, Rick Nickerson is from Canada, he was the bass player and did the backing vocals.
Tony Mitchell was born in Blantyre and grew up in Edinburgh, he was the lead guitarist. Between 1971 and 1973 Rankin File recorded 2 albums, "Rankin File" released by Technicord Records and "Mr Sax" by Folk Heritage records.
Tracks
1. Me In A Leash - 2:58
2. Lost It On The Road - 5:55
3. Leaving Home - 3:51
4. Words And Wisdom - 2:51
5. Whispy (Tony Mitchell) - 2:00
6. Met Her On The Shap - 2:43
7. Carefully - 3:10
8. Mr Sax - 6:21
9. Call On Me - 3:17
10.Sense Of Kind - 4:21
Music and Lyrics by Iain Rankin except where stated
