Although the intriguingly-named Michael Dinner (born May 20, 1953) began his career as a country singer, he subsequently moved into film production, finally finding success in that area. His first album (of two), 1974's The Great Pretender, is a proper, trad country release, of the kind that can sell millions with the right promotion. However, given that he was signed to the same label as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fantasy, maybe we shouldn't be too surprised that this record effectively sank without trace. It occasionally deviates from the country template, notably on the rocking Tattooed Man From Chelsea and the country/blues of Woman Of Aran, its best tracks probably being the aforementioned Tattooed Man... and epic country closer Texas Knights.
Michael Dinner came from the same school as Jackson Browne & The Eagles. His musical worth was not a fluke his albums were excellent. John Boylan plays Mellotron on two tracks, with string parts on Icarus and Texas Knight, that sound, although the album features names of the calibre of Linda Ronstadt, Andrew Gold and pedal-steel god "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow, like an attempt to substitute for a real string section.
You’ve read about Mick Jagger’s most recent feat of paternity — in December he signed for baby number eight, with mother number five — so you’ve seen the name Marsha Hunt: a news story can’t inventory Jagger’s children without it. Hunt is the mother of Jagger’s first child, Karis, who was born in November of 1970, having gestated for a period roughly as long as her parents harbored affection for each other.
In articles I’ve read over the years, Hunt has always presented as self-possessed and disinterested in dwelling on her stratospherically famous onetime paramour. Still, because her name is forever reproductively linked with his, it’s been hard not to draw the conclusion that having Mick Jagger’s baby amounted to a career move. Recently, I tested this idea by tracking down and reading Hunt’s two out-of-print memoirs — 1986’s Real Life and 2005’s Undefeated — and I’ve reached a new conclusion: for Hunt, having Mick Jagger’s baby was probably a career dampener.
In 1966, the Philadelphia-born Hunt’s restless spirit lured her from her studies at Berkeley to London, then fully swinging; she never again called the United States home. “American politics and its class system, better known as racism, had shaped and limited my life and future in ways that I couldn’t know or fully comprehend until I was outside it,” she writes in Undefeated. “When I arrived in London…my nationality became my identity, and the Negro label took a back seat.”
Not that being an American black woman in London at that time didn’t have a certain cachet: “Motown was the sound of the day, and anybody looking and talking vaguely like a Supreme was considered gorgeous,” Hunt writes. In 1968 she landed a modest role in the London production of the Broadway smash Hair; six months later, she signed a record contract.
In Hair, Hunt sang a Supremes parody called “White Boys” backed by two West Indian women, and the white boys did come calling. Hunt briefly romanced Marc Bolan, when Tyrannosaurus Rex was just becoming T. Rex, and, nudged by her producer, recorded a couple of his songs. After scoring a minor hit with her debut single, Dr. John’s “Walk on Gilded Splinters,” she was contacted on Jagger’s behalf to find out if she would pose in a slutty getup for a publicity photo for the Rolling Stones’ forthcoming single, “Honky Tonk Women.”
Jagger had picked the wrong beautiful black woman. Hunt writes in Real Life, “The last thing we needed was for me to denigrate us by dressing up like a whore among a band of white renegades, which was an underlying element of the Stones’ image.” Hunt’s no to Jagger’s people inspired a phone call from Jagger, who paid her a visit that evening. She writes of their ensuing relationship in levelheaded terms — “We were not so much lovers as friends. There were no silly cat-and-mouse games” — and indicates that she wanted nothing in particular from him: “I needed my own independence and didn’t expect him to relinquish his.” She wasn’t even a Stones fan.
Meanwhile, Jagger was sufficiently besotted with Hunt to write “Brown Sugar” about her. She suspected he appreciated that she wasn’t into drugs, unlike his for-the-most-part girlfriend, the angelically opiated Marianne Faithfull. Hunt didn’t get too caught up in Jagger’s world: “I always feared that my association with him would crowd out my own identity. I never wanted to be known as Mick Jagger’s girlfriend.”
Well, she tried. But make no mistake: it was Jagger who proposed that they have a baby together. Hunt’s inkling concerning his motivation sounds just right, especially given subsequent media accounts of the long-standing Jagger-Richards rivalry: “Marianne had miscarried the baby that they would have had around the time that Keith Richard’s [sic] son Marlon was born. It was understandable that he considered having a second try.”
For Hunt, having a baby meshed with the day’s starry-eyed delusion that achieving happiness was a simple matter of letting the sunshine in: “I didn’t really expect it to change my life in any way. I was making money and had a lovely home. My prospects were excellent, and I was sure they’d continue to be so.” She and Jagger wouldn’t live together. As for his role in their child’s life: “We were supposed to be the sophisticated embodiment of an alternative social ideal — parenthood shared between loving friends living separate lives.” That’s hippiespeak for, “Mick and I made no financial arrangements regarding the support of our shared offspring.”
After Karis was born, Hunt scooped up pretty much any job that bounced her way, and not just music gigs: she modeled, acted in the dodgy English horror movie Dracula A.D. 1972, and did a soft drink commercial in Germany. The last was embarrassing, yes, but better than selling her story to the tabloids, and better than asking Jagger for a loan, as she had to do more than once.
Hunt made money on the road, and in 1972, while she and her backing band were on a German tour on which she had brought along Karis and a nanny, the toddler spilled hot tea all over herself. Hunt insisted on an immediate return to England, where she felt that Karis would get better medical care. This meant canceled gigs, which meant less income and less exposure to potential new fans. Hunt asked Jagger to spring for half of Karis’s hospital bill; the money never arrived. Despite the “sordid connotations” of a paternity suit, Hunt went for it: “After two years, I had to stop pretending that he would assume his duty.”
When the story went public, Hunt found herself something of a social pariah: “I went from being tagged ‘the girl from Hair’ to ‘the girl who sued Mick Jagger.’” She writes that she sensed a chill in the air when she interacted with shop people and the parents of Karis’s classmates. Hunt hadn’t tried to hitch a ride on a rock star, but if she had, her reputation would have scarcely emerged more sullied.
The paternity suit wasn’t resolved until 1979, when Jagger was told to provide Hunt with an annual settlement for Karis as well as a trust so that the girl wouldn’t be destitute if her mother suddenly dropped dead. Hunt personally received no money — fine by her — but everyone thought she had made off with a mint.
At the time the suit was resolved, Hunt was staying in Los Angeles, trying to find a distributor for a record she had made in Germany; to keep financially afloat she did housekeeping for friends while Karis was at school. When nothing happened in L.A., Hunt quit the music business, having promised herself that this would be her last go, since, as she wrote in perhaps the least diva-ish sentence in the entire world, “Music was only acceptable as a career if it could provide us with an income.”
Hunt redirected her creative energies to acting and writing. She has since published well-received novels centered on the African-American experience and an absorbing book about rescuing her long-presumed-dead grandmother from a U.S. nursing home. But the standout is Real Life. It’s flawed — it loses its bearings toward the end — but it’s an uncommonly clear-sighted account of the music scene of the 1960s and 1970s as witnessed by an inside-outsider disinclined to do anything that was expected of her. The book also reinforces an idea that I’ve long found to be true: a story about almost making it is usually more interesting than a success story.
At the end of Real Life, Hunt refers to her “charmed life,” but a reader may reasonably wonder, How so? Among Hunt’s disappointments: she blew a couple of film auditions, including one for Sidney Poitier, maybe because she was holding the script in one hand and Karis in her other arm; record contracts came and went or were not quite signed (“Managers and record-company people that I spoke to weren’t at all prepared in 1980 to accept that a [black] woman could find a market doing rock, which was considered white music”); and Richard Branson yanked funding for a musical she wrote because the London press said mean things about the dress rehearsal.
The “charmed” part of Hunt’s life, then, is presumably having had Karis, who surely, like every kid, couldn’t help but divert her parent’s attention from her work, deprive her of sleep now and then, interrupt her creative bursts, and so on. What stymied Hunt’s musical ambitions may have been not just a tarnished reputation and the business’s assumptions about black female singers but the fact that Karis was never not the first thing on Hunt’s — and only Hunt’s — mind.
A pulsebeat in Undefeated, which chronicles Hunt’s experience with breast cancer, is her anxiety about completing a book she’s been writing about Jimi Hendrix, who had been, like her, a black American in Britain in the late 1960s. She tells the reader that she doesn’t have a publisher, and at this writing I can find no evidence online that she has found one. If her Hendrix book comes out, may it get more column inches than news of the next Jagger baby.
For a band that released an album on a major label, there's surprisingly little information to be found on Pookah. Featured keyboardist Pat Cupo, guitarist John Ippolito, and drummer Dave Ranaletta. Cupo and Ippolito had been members of the mid-'60s Rochester, New York cover band The Trackers. As for the band name, it was either a sly nod to a hookah, or taken from characters found in Irish folklore - spirits known as shape changers which could take the appearance of black horses, goats and rabbits. Given songs like 'Ha! Ha! I Can Fly ' and 'Rain On Your Grave'.
With Ranaletta handling lead vocals, 'Blue and Peaceful' was built on a nifty Cupo piano riff and some tasty Ippolito bass. With a pseudo-jazzy feel, this one actually sounded a bit like a mid-career Traffic tune. Nice harmony vocals on the chorus. United Artists tapped it as the American single. Opening up with some nice raga-flavored guitar and Ranaletta's martial drums, 'In a Field' came off as an interesting slice of acid-folk. Very different from the rest of the album and quite attractive.
With a spare, sluggish and distinctly lysergic feel, 'Merlin's Party' is probably the album's best known tune. Hard to accurately describe, but along with Ippolito's raspy voice and Cupo's roller rink keyboards, it's one of those songs that sounds like it should have been featured on some sort of "B" flick. Album's standout performance, the combination of Cupo's keyboard-powered droning melody, and Cupo and Ippolito's stoned vocals meant 'Rain On Your Grave' simply oozed lysergic influences.
The album saw a couple of singles released. The band attracted a bit of attention opening for national acts stopping in Rochester (Family, Grand Funk Railroad, etc.), but simply couldn't break. They were history by 1970 and seem to have all dropped out of music..
Bad-Cat
Tracks
1. Blue And Peaceful - 4:17
2. In A Field - 3:07
3. Tomorrow's The Day - 3:21
4. Things Don't Matter - 2:56
5. Broken Dream - 5:55
6. Kickin' A Can - 3:44
7. Merlin's Party - 4:31
8. Lady Ostrich - 4:42
9. Ha Haii Can Fly - 3:10
10.The Heat - 0:32
11.Rain On Your Grave - 5:27
All compositions by Onorato Cupo, John Ippolito, David Ranaletta
The second album by Philadelphia-born singer-songwriter Andy Robinson. Released in 1970/Janus Records with the support of Janis Ian.
In addition to the original, it also includes covers of "I'll Be There" Hall & Oates and "For Free" Joni Mitchell. The two members of Hall & Oates were backed up by members of the folk rock band Gulliver, of which Hall was a member.
The highlight is the world of innocent songs that reflect the gentle atmosphere of Woodstock, where they were living at the time.
Tracks
1. Forever - 3:21
2. Break Out Of The City - 2:44
3. Where Do We Belong / Need Somebody On Your Bond (Andy Robinson / Traditional) - 4:15
4. The Right Way - 2:47
5. I'll Be Bye (John Oates) - 2:47
6. Party Ball - 3:35
7. Uptight Saturday Nite - 2:52
8. Sally She Weep - 1:56
9. Every Mother Father Brother Sister - 3:35
10.For Free (Joni Mitchell) - 3:25
Music and Lyrics by Andy Robinson except where noted
Karthago were founded in Berlin by Joey Albrecht and Gerald Luciano Hartwig who had been performing together sicne 1968 as a duo called Blues Machine. The band became a quartet prior to their first recording in 1972 and in 1974 they added a well known bass player, Glenn Cornick formerly of Jethro Tull and Wild Turkey.
Probably no other Karthago album was as extensively and intensively prepared as this one with songs finally composed by Joey Albrecht. This 3rd album of Karthago was a big step foreword, produced in London and with the participation of Glenn Cornick, famous bass player of Jethro Tull. Karthago developed a more mainstream style than most Berlin acts with strong songs, jazz and funk elements, backed up by excellence musician ship. Especially Joey Albrecht, influenced by Jimi Hendrix, had a real rock star appeal.
Shortly before recording "Rock 'n' Roll Testament" in 1974, two founding members had left Carthage : bassist Gerald Hartwig (who returned two years later) and drummer Norbert 'Panzer' Lehmann. A drummer was quickly found in Mannheim's Konni Bommarius , but all of the German bass players were 'in solid hands'. So they started looking around the 'island', but which Brit back then wanted to voluntarily go to a tiny island in the middle of the 'Red Sea'? It was a huge sensation back then that they were able to sign former Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick . He had just left the band he founded, Wild Turkey , and from then on was the attraction on the Kudamm with his American road cruiser. As a great bass player and a super nice guy, he was a perfect fit for Carthage .
The 'opener' "Hard-Loving Woman": fantastically sparkling double leads open and then it sounds as if Carlos Santana and Skynyrds Honkettes had been brought into the studio. A song with hit potential at the highest international level. "We Gonna Keep It Together" breathes a casual, driving West Coast feeling and is crowned by Ingo Bischoff's unearthly good grand piano solo. "Now The Irony Keeps Me Company" is arranged in an almost dramatic and opulent way - just as deeply rooted in US popular music as its two predecessors. The title song "Rock'N Roll Testament" is reminiscent of Skynyrd's early phase in its unpolished, rough style . Joey Albrecht wails with the then emerging talk box in the blues "The Creeper" just like Peter Frampton does. "Back Again" is warm and 'funky' straight into your stomach and legs - the chorus that sings along is sensational in its simplicity. In the dreamy "Sound In The Air" you listen to Ingo Bischoff's extremely characteristic Mini-Moog with emotion - this is what you later heard from Kraan after he joined there.
"Highway Five" sets off a real funk rock fireworks display - everything is just right here: vocals, choirs, Joey's excellent guitar work, the driving percussions as well as Glenn Cornick's jumping bass figures . With "For Kathy" Santana is once again skillfully quoted, including Gregg Rolie 's asthmatic wheezing Hammond . "See You Tomorrow In The Sky" is dedicated to none other than Jimi Hendrix and can probably be described as the 'pearl' of this timelessly good record. I wonder why? Because I think I'm hearing my favorite southerners, Lynyrd Skynyrd, here again. Carthage's "Rock'N Roll Testament" is essential for any record collection.
by Steve Braun
Tracks
1. Hard Loving Woman - 3:38
2. We Gonna Keep It Together - 5:14
3. Now The Irony Keeps Me Company - 3:21
4. Rock N Roll Testament - 4:24
5. The Creeper (Joey Albrecht, Patricia Jordan) - 4:04
6. Back Again - 4:04
7. Sound In The Air - 5:09
8. Highway Five - 3:43
9. For Kathy (Joey Albrecht, Patricia Jordan) - 3:02
10.See You Tomorrow In The Sky (Joey Albrecht, Patricia Jordan) - 3:47
All songs written by Joey Albrecht, Tom Cunningham except where indicated
Karthago
*Joey Albrecht - Guitar, Lead Vocals
*Ingo Bischof - Organ, Grand Piano, Clavinet, Electric Piano, Synthesizer, Vocals
*"Pedro" Tommy Goldschmidt - Congas, Bongos, Timbales, Drums, Vocals, Percussion
Having spent his entire career as a professional singer, songwriter, and musician, ‘Thinking About Tomorrow’ is the amazing tale of rock and roll survivor Keith West. From being inspired by Elvis in the 1950s to pop stardom and working alongside the greats of the music world in the 1960s, Keith was at the eye of the storm alongside peers including The Who, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Small Faces, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and many, many more.
Wherever my Love Goes was an experimental album which Ken Burgess and Keith had recorded for general release as a duo. Sadly, that didn’t happen, so it was decided to put it out under Keith's to perhaps secure more sales. Andrew Oldham had been involved in the making of this record and produced a couple of tracks. It never really took off and has become a bit of a cult item over the years. The standout tracks are The West Country, Sad Song, and the Andrew Oldham production of the Power and the Glory which it was written for Elvis, at the behest of Freddy Bienstock who owned Carlin Music.
by Klemen Breznikar
Tracks
1. The Power And The Glory (Keith West, Ken Burgess) - 3:25
2. West Country (Keith West, Ken Burgess) - 4:50
3. Liet Motif - 2:45
4. The Visit - 5:47
5. Hope You're Feeling Better - 5:30
6. Going Home Song (Keith West, Ken Burgess) - 4:30
Flow were an American sax-rock/psych band from Ocala, Fla., that released a self-titled album on CTI Records in 1970. After graduation, Bill Ruff went on to become Road Manager for the Flow and co-authored the song “Chicken Farm”.
Flow formed by John Winter, keyboards, sax, flute, Mike Barnett, Drums (fellow members of Ocala High School Class of '66) Don Felder, guitar, and Chuck Newcomb, bass and vocals. They recorded this album on Creed Taylor Records.
Winter and Barnett were in The Incidentals, a British invasion cover band, and Felder was in The Continentals (with Stephen Stills, Bernie Leadon) and when Stills departed, they changed the name to the Maudy Quintet.
After the Maundy Quintet broke up, Felder went to Manhattan, New York City, were he improved his mastery of improvisation on the guitar and learned various styles, the rest is history. John Rogers Winter, died December 22, 2019 at the age of 71.
Tracks
1. Daddy (Chuck Newcomb) - 3:36
2. Here We Are Again (John Winter, Mike Barnett) - 6:51
3. Line'Em (Leadbelly) - 2:47
4. Gotta Get Behind Your Trip (Chuck Newcomb, John Winter) - 3:34
5. Chicken Farm (Bill Ruff, John Winter, Mike Barnett) - 2:55
6. No Lack Of Room (Chuck Newcomb) - 3:49
7. Summer's Gone (John Winter) - 5:50
8. Mr. Invisible (Chuck Newcomb, John Winter) - 3:59
White Chocolate were a Fairfield County, CT based band that played predominately throughout the East Coast. The original line-up was Charlie Karp on Guitar, David Hull on Bass and Jimmy Maher on Drums. The name was later changed to Dirty Angels and a change was made to the line-up, with the addition of George Maher on Rhythm Guitar.
Charlie Karp has an impressive musical background. Starting out as a young teen with Buddy Miles, he has also performed with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, Meatloaf, Arthur Lee, Charlie Karp and the Namedroppers, Buster Poindexter and is now a member of Slo Leak along with Danny Kortchmar and Harvey Brooks. His is an example of the finest Blues guitar as well as Rock.
David Hull is equally an impresario of the Bass. He also started out as a youth with Buddy Miles. His credits include Arthur Lee, the Joe Perry Project, Ted Nugent, Farrenheit (he used the pseudonym of Dave Heit), and most recently Pete Droge and the Sinners. Jimmy Maher was an excellent drummer and his contribution to the band was sizeable.
Tracks
1. Getting Ready To Rock 'n' Roll (Charlie Karp) - 2:50
2. Midnight Flight - 3:03
3. I'm Crying - 3:37
4. Past History - 3:04
5. Make It Easy (Charlie Karp, David Hull, Richard Gordon) - 3:38
6. Let's Get Funked (Charlie Karp, David Hull, Jimmy Maher) - 3:28
7. Outcast - 4:12
8. Sad Eyes (Charlie Karp) - 3:36
9. Looking For Love - 3:54
10.I'm Alive - 4:35
Songs written by Charlie Karp, David Hull except where noted
Volume 19 contains artists only from USA, and it's another example of serious responsible work, an excellent release with an eight-page booklet containing information about the artists. Light ethereal sunny psychedelia.
Artists - Tracks
1. The Critters - You'd Better Slow Down - 2:14
2. Fragile Lime - Angie - 2:35
3. Shadow Casters - Cinnamon Snowflake - 2:39
4. Michael And The Trees - Nothing To Say - 2:28
5. His Majesty's Coachmen - Where Are You Bound - 2:20
Over Vol.18 installments the series is curated by leading experts on rare psych. Sometimes the volumes might dig into a specific country or theme, but mostly they're just a way to collect fine tunes. Busy Bee presents this 18th volume that includes gems from all over the world, including an unreleased song by Howling Wind (pre-Candle), an obscure Rhodesian 45 and a Danish cover of Keith West's 'On A Saturday' among other treats.
Artists - Tracks - Origin
The Kool - Look At Me Look At Me (UK) - 2:20
The Teenmakers - On A Saturday (Denmark) - 3:23
The Pussyfoot - Mr Hyde (UK) - 2:31
The Jay Five - It’s Raining (Germany) - 2:27
Paul Osborne - Ice (UK) - 3:56
The Shanes - Without Your Love (Sweden) - 2:32
Ice - Memories (UK) - 3:19
Jon Mark - All Neat In Black Stockings (UK) - 3:03
Science Poption - Back In Town (Sweden) - 2:36
Maxwell And Nicholson - Virgin (UK) - 2:18
Unknown Artist - The Bedd (UK) - 2:40
Pamela - Je T’aime Un Peu...Beaucoup... Passion ment (Belgium) - 2:28
Howling Winds - Meditating (Sweden) - 3:31
I Fantoms - Katia (Italy) - 3:04
Jack Grunsky - Julie Knows (Austria) - 3:09
The Moonlighters - Mary Wilkins (Sweden) - 3:59
Ted Mulry - I Love You (Australia) - 2:32
The Maximillian King Trio - Indigo (Rhodesia) - 3:21
