Potliquor - First Taste (1970 us, stunning heavy blues southern rock, 2010 edition)

Potliquor had its beginning in 1969 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and played an intriguing mix of  country, blues- and southern rock. They released three excellent albums between 1970 and 1973 and on more in 1979 before finally breaking up. Yet these godfathers of southern rock never got the recognition they deserved.

Potliquor was formed in the late 60´s by George Ratzlaff (keyboards, rhythm guitar, vocals), Les Wallace (guitar, vocals), Guy Schaeffer (bass, vocals) and Jerry Amoroso (drums, percussion, vocals) and soon after that signed a deal with small Janus Records label. Their debut album, First Taste came out in 1970.

Produced by band manager Jim Brown, is probably best described as early Southern boogie, tracks like 'The Raven' and a sludged-up Vanilla Fudge-styled cover of 'You're No Good' offer up a nice blend of boogie and heavy rock while simultaneously being quite commercial.  Weirdest track honors go to the Santana-styled percussion packed instrumental 'Toballby'. 

Tracks
1. Down The River Boogie (George Ratzlaff) - 2:50
2. Ol' Man River (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein Jr.) - 4:37
3. Riverboat (D. Craig) - 3:14
4. Toballby (Instrumental) (George Ratzlaff, Les Wallace, Guy Schaeffer, Jerry Amoroso) - 7:22
5. The Raven (George Ratzlaff, Edgar Allan Poe) - 5:03
6. You're No Good (Clint Ballard Jr.) - 4:57
7. Price 20c A Copy (George Ratzlaff) - 3:08
8. Driftin' (G. Efronetee) - 8:20

The Potliquor
*Jerry Amoroso - Drums, Tambourine, Congas, Vocals
*George Ratzlaff - Keyboards, Rhythm Guitar, Harp, Percussion, Vocals
*Guy Schaeffer -  Bass, Vocals
*Les Wallace - Guitar, Vocals

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