Born in Walnut, Mississippi, he began his professional music career when he wrote and recorded his first record at the tender age of eleven, and also became the youngest member ever voted into the musicians union. After moving to Memphis, Tennesse, the young guitarist made his mark on the music world at the age of sixteen with his 1963 number one hit “Scratchy”.. By 1969, Wammack’s skills landed him in Muscle Shoals, Alabama where he teamed with legendary producer Rick Hall at Hall’s FAME Records. Travis’ guitar licks can be heard on hit records recorded by artists such as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, Mac Davis, Clarence Carter, the Osmond Brothers, Bobbie Gentry, Candi Staton, Delbert McClinton, Liza Minnelli, Narvel Felts and many more. Wammack’s solo artist career (produced by Hall) also sky rocketed with the release of albums in 1971 and 1975. His second album titled "Not For Sale" was recorded at Muscle Shoals produced by Rick Hall and released on Capricorn Records.
by Greg Shaw
Tracks
1. Cookin' On The Front Burner (Leon Sherrill, Travis Wammack) - 3:14
2. A Lover's Question (Brook Benton, Jimmy Williams) - 2:57
3. Shotgun Woman (Al Cartee, Travis Wammack) - 2:59
4. I Forgot To Remember To Forget (Travis Wammack) - 2:57
5. Looking For A Fox (Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel, Rick Hall, Wilbur Terrell) - 2:46
6. You've Got Your Troubles (Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway) - 3:43
7. (Shu-Do-Pa -Poo-Poop) Love Being Your Fool (Charlie Whitehead, Jerry Williams Jr.) - 3:19
8. Easy Evil (Alan O'Day) - 3:11
9. Love Rustler (Dennis Linde, Thomas Cain) - 3:23
10.Greenwood, Mississippi (Albert S. Lowe Jr., Travis Wammack) - 3:47
The British-German group introduces us here a lovely, relaxed, but quite complex rock with a clear jazz impact. Especially the middle parts of the songs show strong fusion elements, with brisk solos especially from the sax, pearling e-piano (it remains a mystery who uses this) and playful-nested runs of guitar and bass. In "Destruction", "Volcanoes Under The Sun" and "To Live Again", the music turns into a fast-paced brass rock in places with the participation of a big band or a second saxophonist.
All the numbers exhale a comforting lightness, which also does not change the earthy-smoky vocals of McGuigano, despite the jazzy arrangements, it suits quite well in the ear. Comparisons? Well, Message sound like "Synapse" maybe like a less poppy version of Steely Dan with a strong jazz rock beat. Or how a mix of Lake and Weather Report? Anyway, "Synapse" is a refreshing, entertaining disc that avoids any shallowness and actually makes a lot of fun, even if the prog factor is not unconditionally overly high! Excellent bizarre cover!
Tracks
1. Fred The Head - 6:01
2. Chessmen - 4:07
3. Destruction - 5:31
4. To Live Again - 4:36
5. Volcanoes Under The Sun - 4:56
6. Triangle - 5:38
7. The Sailor And The Flyer - 7:51
8. The Pharaoh's Leg - 3:17
Music by Message, Lyrics by Tom McGuigan
The Message
*Alan Murdoch - Guitars
*Tommy McGuigan - Vocals, Sax
*Horst Stachelhaus - Bass
*Manfred v. Bohr - Drums, Percussion With
*Tony Greaves - Sax, Flute (Tracks 5, 7)
*The Anonymous Big Brass Band - Brass (Tracks 3, 5)
Any acquisition of live recordings from the late 'sixties and/or early 'seventies is fraught with danger as you never really know what the quality is going to be like. But as it turned out, there was no need for me to be apprehensive about this collection. The two live CD's offer excellent sound which is quite acceptable played in the car. Sometimes with these type of "newly discovered" tapes the only way you can listen is on a good domestic sound system cranked up to 11, close your eyes and pretend you were there. In fact I certainly wish I had been at Ebbetts Field Denver or the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland when these gigs happened in '74 & '75.
Spirit were down to a trio by this time but that trio did consist of three original members - Mark Andes, Ed Cassidy and of course Randy California. These three guys go back a ways and they know intuitively what each other is going to do. The playing is quite simply sublime with a plenty of invention from all three. Andes and Cassidy do a lot more than just keep the beat behind Randy's solos and special effects. The spirit of the west coast circa '67 is very much in evidence in the feel of the music, and yes they do play a lovely version of "Fresh Garbage" from that classic first album. This one clocks in at just over 4 minutes - longer than the original studio version but well short of the extended rendition on "Live from the Time Coast" - still great though. However, if its improvisation you're looking for we are treated to 9 minutes of "Like a Rolling Stone" and over 13 minutes of "All Along the Watchtower". There are also some fine Randy California originals I'd never heard before and a few covers - "Satisfaction", "Happy" and "On the Road Again" - I'd never heard them play either. The way they do the intro to Canned Heat's "On the Road Again" you'd swear they were going to break into the Norman Greenbaum number 1 hit "Spirit in the Sky". They'd probably have done a killer version of that as well come to think of it.
The third CD is all studio material and in effect fills in a gap of several years during which we had no official releases from Randy California prior to "Spirit of '76". We are treated to all of 25 tracks on this CD and most of them are simply beautiful regardless of whether they're uptempo or more laid back. Randy California was going through a distinctly spiritual phase and that is reflected in the music and lyrics. Several tracks are predominately acoustic but there is tasteful and creative use of special effects and a couple of whimsical dialogues featuring a conversation with a "visitor" from the planet Neptune, and an interview with a bogus Indian guru which segues into one of the best cuts on the CD entitled "Holy Man".
Some Spirit purists may argue that Randy's vocals aren't up to Jay Ferguson's standard, or that they miss John Locke's keyboards. That may be true, but their absence certainly does allow for more of California's wondrous guitar work (both electric and acoustic) so that's okay by me. In fact if you play this and then slip on an album by Jo Jo Gunne it will be all too clear why Ferguson and California were no longer interested in working together on a permanent basis. To be honest I'd happily take the Spirit trio's amazing reworking of Dylan's "Positively 4th Street" in exchange for Jay Ferguson's entire post Spirit output - but that's just me.
If I have a criticism it might be that there are two or three acoustic numbers after track 21 which sound a bit muddy and distinctly unfinished, and that's why I'm knocking off a star. A couple of those could perhaps have been omitted but I guess Randy California completists wouldn't want to be deprived of even these slightly substandard offerings.
Anyone who ever enjoyed anything by Spirit in any of their incarnations will love this 3CD set, and it's very reasonably priced right now so a good opportunity to grab a bargain. Also any younger students of psychedelic guitar who don't know about one of the genre's unsung heroes really need to hear Randy California in his prime. When the music magazines compile those lists of "top 50 guitarists of all time" he rarely figures, yet he should be permanently in the top 3 at the very least.
by Michael Pearson-Smith Melbourne,Australia
As of 2007, ten years had passed since the accidental death of singer/songwriter and guitarist Randy California, the primary musician in Spirit. California left behind an extensive, if disorganized, cache of unreleased live and studio recordings that producer Mick Skidmore has been working through ever since, emerging periodically with albums of previously unheard material. Salvation...The Spirit of '74 is a three-CD set that, as Skidmore notes in his annotations, helps to fill in a gap in the band's history. The original quintet of California, drummer Ed Cassidy, bassist Mark Andes, keyboardist John Locke, and singer/songwriter Jay Ferguson splintered in the early '70s, after which various configurations, including one that featured none of them, toured the country.
California, who had left the group for a solo career, rejoined Cassidy for a European tour in 1973, then left again. In 1974, the two reconnected and again performed as Spirit, sometimes adding Andes and occasionally Locke. In May 1975, a trio of California, Cassidy, and bassist Barry Keene finally released a new Spirit album, Spirit of '76. Salvation...The Spirit of '74 chronicles the band's live and studio work during a period of about a year, from the summer of 1974 to the summer of 1975, including preliminary work on a never-completed album intended to be called Spirit of Salvation.
On the first two discs, drawn from live performances given in October and November 1974 (with Andes) and in June 1975 (with Keene), Spirit play some of their familiar songs ("Fresh Garbage," "Mr. Skin," "It's All the Same," "I Got a Line on You") along with covers that emphasize California's debt to his mentor, Jimi Hendrix ("Like a Rolling Stone," "All Along the Watchtower," "Hey Joe"); some songs California probably picked up while hanging around the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles as a child ("Old Blue," "Run Sinner Run," "Cripple Creek"); some one-off oddities (seemingly impromptu readings of the Rolling Stones hits "[I Can't Get No] Satisfaction" and "Happy," a version of Canned Heat's "On the Road Again" that apparently was a nod to Andes' brief tenure in that group); and some of the new songs California was writing at the time. More of those new songs, along with novelties and more covers, are included on the third disc, which consists of studio recordings.
That all adds up to 56 tracks running more than three and a half hours. It doesn't entirely fill in the gap between the releases of California's solo album Kapt. Kopter & the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds in the fall of 1972 and Spirit of '76 two and a half years later, but California spent much of that period musically inactive or working on the subsequently released Potatoland album, and his return to Spirit, the band he would lead for much of the next two decades, is now well documented here. As Skidmore notes, this is an album for loyal, even die-hard Spirit fans, but it contains enough strong performances to make the case for California and his bandmates as what an MC calls them at the outset: "one the greatest names in the history of rock & roll."
by William Ruhlmann
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Veruska (Ed Cassidy, Mark Andes, Randy California) - 5:34
2. Storm In The Night (Randy California) - 4:48
3. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan) - 9:01
4. I've Got To Use My Imagination (Barry Goldberg, Gerry Goffin) - 3:57
5. Fresh Garbage (Jay Ferguson) - 4:01
6. Devil (Randy California) - 2:50
7. Kristee (Ed Cassidy, Mark Andes, Randy California) - 2:30
8. My Road (Randy California) - 1:46
9. Old Blue (Traditional) - 3:31
10.Joker On The Run (Randy California) - 3:38
11.So Little Time To Fly (Randy California) - 2:26
12.All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - 13:46
13.I Can't Get No (Satisfaction) (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 4:14
14.Same Old Thing, Urantia (Randy California) - 5:16
On Blue Apple, organ is added to the instrumentation, yet the ride does not slow down. A blistering pace is set until "Psalm," a dreamy floating piece so the band can take a breath before fueling the blast furnace for the final assault. Great rock and roll.
The album was recorded in Hamburg at Teldec Studios with Hartmann and Thomas Kukuck engineering. Both Gift albums are fine examples of German heavy progressive rock. Originals of their first album sell for more than 100 Euros.
Tracks
1. Blue Apple (Grischa Batanoff, Grischa Batanoff, Peter Körner) - 4:15
2. Rock Scene (Dieter Atterer, Rainer Baur) - 3:47
3. Don't Waste Your Time (Hermann Lange, Rainer Baur, Uwe Patzke) - 4:02
4. Psalm (Dieter Atterer, Dieter Frei, Hermann Lange, Rainer Baur, Uwe Patzke) - 3:55
5. Everything's Alright (Grischa Batanoff, Grischa Batanoff, Peter Körner) - 4:30
6. Go To Find A Way (Dieter Atterer, Rainer Baur) - 6:39
7. Reflections Part 1 (Hermann Lange, Nick Woodland) - 3:14
8. Reflections Part 2 (Hermann Lange, Nick Woodland) - 3:47
9. Left The Past Behind (Dieter Atterer, Dieter Frei, Rainer Baur, Uwe Patzke) - 6:01
The Gift
*Dieter Atterer - Lead Vocals, Guitar
*Rainer Baur - Lead Guitar
*Hermann Lange - Drums, Percussion
*Uwe Patzke - Bass, Vocals
*Dieter Frei - Organ, Piano, Moog, Mellotron, Vocals
Satin Whale formed in 1971 and featured here is their rather spirited first album, Desert Places, released in 1974. A collection of mostly organ and guitar instrumentals that sound like they have rehearsed arrangements but maintain excitement throughout with memorable tones and musicianship. There’s sporadic vocals, flute and sax from multi-instrumentalist Dieter Roesberg, driving grinding organs from Gerard Dellman with fluid bass lines from Thomas Brück (I think he may be the lead singer, too). The line up is completed by the handy Horst Schöffgen on drums.
by Marty Willson-Pipe
Satin Whale's main influence was definitely Santana, and much of the guitar/organ interplay is similar to Carlos Santana / Gregg Rolie on the early line up from '68-'72. I always have thought that some sort of progression on early Santana rock would be great, and this album in every way is like a great Kraut rock version of that band. While certainly not original, and not really that progressive, this is a superb rock album with great moves and band interplay.
by Mike McLatchey
Tracks
1.Desert Places (Thomas Brück) - 6:58
2.Seasons Of Life - 6:44
3.Remember - 9:38
4.I Often Wondered - 7:17
5.Perception - 13:01
All songs by Dieter Roesberg, Thomas Brück except track #1
Saunders and Friends CD Fire Up Plus featuring guitarist Jerry Garcia is two previous albums Heavy Turbulence and Fire Up reissued on a single disc less two songs.
There are many solid moments on this release, though, none better than the lovely blues inspired riffs that Garcia lays out on "Lonely Avenue." I generally prefer the cover versions to the original Merl compositions. John Lennon's song "Imagine" is done instrumentally. The rendition of J. J. Cale's "After Midnight" is top notch. This song was an outstanding outlet for long jamming at Merl and Jerry's live performances.
Merl Saunders Fire Up Plus is a more than worthwhile addition to a CD collection.
by Barry Small
This reissue set combines the two early Merl Saunders albums on Fantasy, Fire Up and Heavy Turbulence. The content of these original albums is almost there in its entirety and nothing new and previously unreleased is added to the stash. "Chock-Lite Puddin'" is the single missing pearl, representing quite a severe mistake in editing, as this was not a marble for playing with. A better tune to experience the fall of the axe would have been one of several covers with a faded '70s presence that is a bit like day-old cigarette smoke. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" could have been left out, please, that or "After Midnight," although the latter number was an FM airplay hit at the time of its initial release. To be fair, the vocal work of Saunders on the former number is actually formidable, as are his interesting organ variations on the theme.
Listeners may associate the collective jams of Saunders in various ensembles with Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia as friendly but loose-knit music created casually, the tempo sometimes the most casual aspect of all. Yet these early albums were much more like a real band than the efforts of some ensembles who actually call themselves bands -- it is a lot tighter than a Grateful Dead record, for example. The players involved actually represented a coming together of musical forces that was every bit as significant as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. In fact, the merging of the Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival with a seasoned jazz and rhythm & blues organist had great musical implications that are fulfilled, from time to time, on the best moments of these sessions, such as the truly thrilling extended jam "Manchild." For Garcia, simply playing alongside a rhythm guitarist who could keep time must have been something of a revelation.
Much of the time the players don't try to change the world while keeping the beat, settling into enjoyably funky music designed by Saunders and clearly expressing his gestalt: "My Problems Got Problems" is the opening complaint, "Soul Roach" the eventual cure. Garcia fans can be proud of their man here, as his playing is sharp and detailed, obviously inspired by the input from his keyboard buddy.
by Eugene Chadbourne
Tracks Heavy Turbulence 1972
1. My Problems Got Problems (Merl Saunders, Pam Carrier) - 4:29
2. The Night The Drove Old Dixie Down (Robbie Robertson) - 4:03
3. Save Mother Earth (Edmund Lewis, Merl Saunders) - 7:18
4. Imagine (John Lennon) - 2:36
5. Welcome To The Basement (Eddie Moore, Merl Saunders) - 6:12
6. Man-Child (Edmund Lewis, Merl Saunders) - 12:30 Fire Up 1973
7. After Midnight (J.J. Cale) - 4:58
8. Expressway (To Your Heart) (Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff) - 5:14
9. Soul Roach (Merl Saunders, Ray Shanklin) - 4:24
10.Benedict Rides (Merl Saunders, Pam Carrier) - 3:03
11.The System (Merl Saunders, Pam Carrier) - 3:55
12.Lonely Avenue (Doc Pomus) - 8:42
After the release of Wrecked Again, Chapman parted company with Harvest, choosing to sign to Decca's Deram subsidiary, where he altered course somewhat, adding electric guitar and harder rhythms to his work. The first result, Millstone Grit, is a somewhat confused affair, with Chapman's trademark gloomy writing mixed with a couple of lively instrumentals, some almost experimental work, and the country-styled "Expressway in the Rain.
Electric guitar, still with that distinctive Chapman fluidity, featured more prominently. Tracks like “New York Ladies” and “Firewater Dreams” on ‘Millstone Grit’ showed a guitar master pursuing sounds and textures.
Tracks
1. Firewater Dreams - 5:12
2. Sea Of Wine - 2:44
3. New York Ladies - 9:27
4. Champion - 1:19
5. Sundamental - 5:20
6. The Hero Returns - 3:37
7. Wellington The Skellington - 3:29
8. Expressway In The Rain - 3:05
All songs by Michael Chapman
Phillips takes folk and throws it together with prog rock, with touches of jazz and classical. This album is titled Collaboration and the jacket describes it as a collaboration by Shawn Phillips with Paul Buckmaster and Peter Robinson.
Songs like “Moonshine” have some nice keyboards from Robinson too, with a dexterity and morose ease that works very well. The side one closer “Armed” brings all the instrumentalists’ talents together best.
by Syd Fablo
Tracks
1. Us We Are - 5:05
2. Burning Fingers - 3:33
3. Moonshine - 4:45
4. For Her - 2:00
5. What's Happenin' Jim! - 3:37
6. Armed - 6:52
7. Spaceman - 3:29
8. Times Of A Madman, Trials Of A Thief - 2:47
9. 8500 Years - 2:31
10.The Only Logical Conclusion - 4:51
11.Coming Down Soft And Easy - 5:17
12.Springwind - 9:37
Music and Lyrics by Shawn Phillips
Musicians
*Shawn Phillips - Vocals, Guitar
*Brian Odgers - Bass
*Paul Buckmaster - Cello, Orchestral Arrangements
*Barry deSouza - Drums
*Martin Ford - French Horn
*Tony Walmsly - Guitar
*Ann Odell - Electric Piano
*Peter Robinson - Piano, Organ, Bass, Orchestral Arrangements
*John Gustafson - Bass
*The David Katz Orchestra
Bread was one of the most popular pop groups of the early '70s, earning a string of well-crafted, melodic soft rock singles, all of which were written by keyboardist/vocalist David Gates. A session musician and producer, Gates met in 1968 guitarist/vocalist James Griffin, who had already released a solo album called Summer Holiday. Griffin hired Gates to produce a new album, and the pair soon became a group, adding guitarist/vocalist Robb Royer from the band Pleasure Fair, who Gates had produced early in its career. The trio soon signed with Elektra Records, becoming one of the label's first pop bands. Naming themselves Bread, the group released its self-titled debut album in late 1968. Although it was filled with accessible, melodic soft rock that became the band's signature sound, the record had no hit singles.
With their second album, On the Waters, Bread established themselves as hitmakers. "Make It With You," the first single released from the album, became a number one hit, which led to "It Don't Matter to Me," a song taken from Bread, becoming a Top Ten hit. With On the Waters becoming a gold record, the group embarked on a tour, adding a full-time drummer, Mike Botts, to the lineup. Manna, released in the spring of 1971, wasn't as big a hit as the previous record, yet it launched another Top Ten hit with "If." Royer left the group after the album and was replaced by Larry Knechtel, a Los Angeles session musician who played on records by the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees, among others. The new lineup released its first single, "Mother Freedom," in the summer of 1971; the single scraped the Top 40 at number 37. Bread's next single, "Baby I'm-a Want You," became a number three hit at the end of the year. After "Everything I Own" reached number five in January of 1972, an album called Baby I'm-a Want You was released. Peaking at number three, the record became the group's most successful album. The group's fifth album, Guitar Man, followed in the fall of 1972.
At the beginning of 1973, Bread disbanded after a dispute between Gates and Griffin. Griffin claimed that, when the group was conceived, the pair agreed that the singles would be divided equally between the two songwriters; Gates wrote most of Bread's hits and wanted to continue to compose the singles. The two parted ways, with each of the musicians pursuing solo careers. Bread reunited in 1976, releasing Lost Without Your Love in early 1977. The title track became their last Top Ten hit, peaking at number nine. The success could not keep the group together as tensions between Gates and Griffin began to escalate again. After Griffin split from the group, Gates assembled a new version of the band and toured under the name Bread. Griffin sued Gates for using the name, which the duo co-owned. A judge ordered the group not to perform, record, or collect royalty payments until the case was resolved; it wasn't resolved until 1984. In the meantime, Gates and Griffin pursued solo careers. Of the two musicians, Gates was more successful, scoring a number 15 hit in 1978 with the title theme to Goodbye Girl. However, his career declined in the '80s; by the '90s, he was running a California ranch. Griffin relocated to Nashville, forming Dreamer with Randy Meisner in the early '90s.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The band’s incredible success with a new boxed set that includes all six of Bread’s studio albums, the collection concludes with Bread’s 1977 reunion album, Lost Without Your Love. The title track stands as the group’s sixth and final Top 10 hit.
Tracks Disc 1 Bread 1969
1. Dismal Day (David Gates) - 2:19
2. London Bridge (David Gates) - 2:30
3. Could I (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 3:30
4. Look At Me (David Gates) - 2:42
5. The Last Time (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 4:10
6. Any Way You Want Me (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 3:12
7. Move Over (James Griffin) - 2:35
8. Don't Shut Me Out (David Gates) - 2:39
9. You Can't Measure The Cost (David Gates) - 3:21
10.Family Doctor (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 2:13
11.It Don't Matter To Me (David Gates) - 2:41
12.Friends And Lovers (James Griffin, Robb Royer, Tim Hallinan) - 3:51
Disc 2 On The Waters 1970
1. Why Do You Keep Me Waiting (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 2:29
2. Take Comfort (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 3:32
3. Too Much Love (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 2:45
4. If (David Gates) - 2:33
5. Be Kind To Me (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 3:03
6. He's A Good Lad (David Gates) - 2:57
7. She Was My Lady (David Gates) - 2:50
8. Live In Your Love (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 2:46
9. What A Chance (David Gates) - 3:38
10.I Say Again (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 2:52
11.Come Again (David Gates) - 4:01
12.Truckin' (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 2:31
Disc 4 Baby I'm-A Want You 1972
1. Mother Freedom (David Gates) - 2:55
2. Baby I'm-A Want You (David Gates) - 2:25
3. Down On My Knees (David Gates. James Griffin) - 2:44
4. Everything I Own (David Gates) - 3:06
5. Nobody Like You (David Gates, James Griffin, Larry Knechtel) - 3:11
6. Diary (David Gates) - 3:05
7. Dream Lady (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 3:23
8. Daughter (David Gates) - 3:21
9. Games Of Magic (Robb Royer) - 3:09
10.This Isn't What The Governmeant (David Gates) - 2:25
11.Just Like Yesterday (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 2:35
12.I Don't Love You (James Griffin) - 2:50
Disc 5 Guitar Man 1972
1. Welcome To The Music (David Gates) - 2:58
2. The Guitar Man (David Gates) - 3:55
3. Make It By Yourself (James Griffin, David Gates) - 3:48
4. Aubrey (David Gates) - 3:38
5. Fancy Dancer (James Griffin, Mike Botts) - 3:31
6. Sweet Surrender (David Gates) - 2:35
7. Tecolote (David Gates) - 4:34
8. Let Me Go (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 3:26
9. Yours For Life (David Gates) - 3:20
10.Picture In Your Mind (Larry Knechtel) - 4:40
11.Don't Tell Me No (James Griffin, Robb Royer) - 3:33
12.Didn't Even Know Her Name (James Griffin, David Gates) - 3:09
Disc 6 Lost Without Your Love 1977
1. Hooked On You (David Gates) - 2:18
2. She's The Only One (Robb Royer, James Griffin) - 3:00
3. Lost Without Your Love (David Gates) - 2:56
4. Change Of Heart (David Gates, James Griffin) - 3:18
5. Belonging (David Gates) - 3:17
6. Fly Away (Robb Royer, James Griffin) - 3:05
7. Lay Your Money Down (David Gates) - 2:41
8. The Chosen One (David Gates) - 4:40
9. Today's The First Day (Robb Royer, James Griffin) - 3:24
10.Hold Tight (David Gates) - 3:05
11.Our Lady Of Sorrow (Robb Royer, James Griffin) - 4:14
In the late 1960s, the exploding popularity of underground FM radio allowed for the broadcast of songs of a length that had been previously unimaginable in rock (and, for the most part, folk) music. Arlo Guthrie's 18-minute "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" (more popularly known simply as "Alice's Restaurant") may have been the most renowned of these, following a loose talking folk-blues format to relay an amusing shaggy dog of a tale. Somewhat less remembered, though likewise a big FM favorite in its time, is Jaime Brockett's 13-minute "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic." Like "Alice's Restaurant," it too followed a talking folk-blues format, and also threw in knowing countercultural references, albeit with a mania that seemed like Brockett was going to jump right off the grooves and into a straitjacket. Unlike Guthrie, however, Brockett was unable to build upon his marathon monologue to sustain a long-running career as a recording artist. Indeed, "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" wasn't even too typical of his work, the rest of his debut album leaning toward introspective folk ballads. It was "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic," however, that most listeners bought the LP for, and which would come to overshadow not only the rest of the album, but Brockett's entire career.
Brockett had achieved popularity on the Boston folk circuit before recording Remember the Wind and the Rain, which was initially issued on the small Oracle label before getting picked up by Capitol for wider distribution. It was a simple production, and a folk album, rather than a folk-rock one. The arrangements featured only Brockett's vocals, six-string guitar, twelve-string guitar, and dulcimer, though Tony Rubino added second guitar on "Remember the Wind and the Rain" and "Suzzane" [sic]. And although it was the dawn of the age of the singer-songwriter, Brockett in fact wrote just one and a half of the songs.
One of those songs, however, was "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic." Brockett split the writing credit for that composition with fellow Boston folk-bluester Chris Smither, who went on to a long career himself -- in fact, he'd release many more albums than Brockett would, and though he never landed a popular success on the level of "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic," he did reach the pop audience again when Bonnie Raitt covered his composition "I Feel the Same" for her 1973 album Takin' My Time. Relatively few listeners were aware that "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" was actually an updated mutation of a song that had been recorded by the great folk-bluesman Leadbelly, "The Titanic." In fact, Leadbelly remembered performing the song with fellow blues great Blind Lemon Jefferson in the streets of Dallas in 1912 -- shortly after the Titanic sank, and long before Leadbelly recorded it in late 1948, shortly before his death a little more than a year later.
As sung by Leadbelly, "The Titanic" was a relatively straightforward (and brief) tale of the ship going down in the Atlantic Ocean as the band played "Nearer My God to Thee." Also slipped in were couple of sly namechecks of the great African-American boxing champion Jack Johnson, with the ship's captain denying him passage at boarding. "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" kept some references to the sinking and Johnson, but otherwise took extreme, hilarious liberties with both the Leadbelly song and the actual Titanic saga. Brockett's crazed, largely speed-rapped version added a batch of wife-swapping Jewish passengers from Miami; an ominous declaration of intent by Johnson to watch the ship go down after being refused a place on board; and a hemp-smoking first mate whose funny cigarette, when shared with the captain, spaces them out enough to seal the disaster. It was a comic tour de force, though the marijuana toke and, more to the point, a very elongated utterance of a major profanity, helped ensure that the back cover marked the track with an asterisk cautioning "Audition Before Airplay." Not that it deterred too many FM jocks, judging from the number of listeners who remember hearing it on the radio in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Tracked down by the Massachusetts paper the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in 1997, Brockett said the song demonstrated how "you should smoke [marijuana] in the privacy of your own house," not on the bow of a ship. "The song was sort of a metaphor for the sinking of Western civilization," he observed. "I embellished a lot of decadence on the boat. With the movie [Titanic] coming out, I've been getting all sorts of offers to record it again." The article also noted that Brockett was a member of the Titanic Historical Association and owner of a large collection of Titanic memorabilia, and keen to stress that the tale he spun in "The Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" had no basis in actual historical fact.
There was just one other song on the LP, the opening "Talking Green Beret New Super Yellow Hydraulic Banana Teeny Bopper Blues" -- with its snipes at Spiro Agnew and pop music, and another upfront mention of dope smoking in the lyric -- that was anything remotely like the talkin' folk-blues of "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic." (Ironically, considering how crucial FM airplay was to the success of "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic," "Talking Green Beret" was dedicated to AM radio listeners.) Most of the rest of the album -- an extraordinarily long one for the vinyl era, incidentally, running about 55 minutes -- was given over to mellow folk ballads. Save for his co-credit on "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic," the only Brockett original was the dulcimer-dominated instrumental "St. Botolph St. Grey Morning Dulcimer Thing." Including a phrase that came close to quoting verbatim from the melody of "Norwegian Wood," it was reminiscent of the similar pieces that had cropped up on Richard & Mimi Farina's albums a few years earlier. There was also a Bob Dylan cover, "One Too Many Mornings"; "Blue Chip," whose extended instrumental introduction very much recalled the tune the Blues Project used in their own instrumental intro to "Steve's Song"; and a closer, "Bag on the Table," that, when listened to closely, turned out to conclude with a rather grisly suicide narrative. Alas, it's likely that many of the album's purchasers rarely got that far, playing "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" (which led off side two) far more often than any other of its songs. With sales concentrated in the Northeast, the album, Brockett told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, sold 100,000 copies.
"Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" was a difficult act to follow, and Brockett did just one more album for Capitol (Jaime Brockett 2), also putting out an LP on Adelphi, North Mountain Velvet, in the mid-1970s. Perhaps it was difficult to give many listeners what they expected or wanted, "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" being a one-of-a-kind flash that was hard to repeat or follow up. "Unfortunately, Jaime Mellowed" ran the headline of a review of one of his 1973 shows in Concert magazine, which went on to complain, "Once a master of the sardonic comment, Brockett has mellowed, only occasionally revealing the bite of his sharp wit. The political songs and talking blues of the earlier days are also gone. His material now consists mostly of ballads, by other songwriters, that are pleasant but nondescript...It seems that Brockett is bored with playing his music, and he uses just about every distraction to avoid doing a song...The underground folk troubadour of the late sixties has not grown with the times."
When he spoke to Shaun Sutner of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in 1997, Brockett was living in Vermont, acknowledging that his repeated performances of "The Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" had been responsible for "what people say is the distinctive...gravelly voice I have today. I stopped doing it for a while. It was like 'Alice's Restaurant' for Arlo [Guthrie]. But I'm not complaining. A good song takes you a long way, and I probably wouldn't be working today if it wasn't for that song."
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. Talking Green Beret New Super Yellow Hydraulic Banana Teeny Bopper Blues (Michael Peter Smith) - 5:20
2. Remember The Wind And The Rain (John Bassett) - 5:30
3. St. Botolph St. Grey Morning Dulcimer Thing (Jaime Brockett) - 3:25
4. Blue Chip (Paul McNeil) - 7:22
5. Nowadays (Craig Allen) - 5:50
6. Legend Of The U.S.S. Titanic (Chris Smither, Jaime Brockett) - 13:28
7. Suzzane (Norman Schell) - 4:29
8. One Too Many Mornings (Bob Dylan) - 3:02
9. Bag On The Table (Ken Lyon) - 6:50
