‘Live in Europe’ was compiled from live performance recorded throughout Europe during February and March 1972. It has gone on to become one of the best live albums of all time, serving as a massive influence on budding musicians such as The Edge and Adam Clayton of U2, who both cite this album as the recording that made them want to learn guitar and play in a band.
For some Rory had wanted to capture the adrenaline and excitement of his live performance. Whilst touring extensively in Europe he decided to record his shows, the results were little short of phenomenal and Live In Europe earned Rory much acclaim, including his first solo Top Ten album and 1972’s Melody Maker ‘Top Musician Of The Year’ award.
Tracks
1. Messin' With The Kid (London) - 6:25
2. Laundromat (Gallagher) - 5:12
3. I Could've Had Religion (Traditional arr. by Gallagher) - 8:35
4. Pistol Slapper Blues (Fulton Allen) - 2:54
5. Going To My Hometown (Gallagher) - 5:46
6. In Your Town (Gallagher) - 10:03
7. What In The World (Traditional arr. by Gallagher) - 7:57
8. Hoodoo Man (Traditional arr. by Gallagher) - 5:56
9. Bullfrog Blues (Traditional arr. by Gallagher) - 6:47
One of the group's better albums, despite coming so late in their history that it was ignored by almost everyone. "Hope," "Fire Brothers," and "Don't Cry for My Lady Love" are among the best songs the group ever cut, and "I Found Love" is one of the prettiest, most upbeat songs ever to come from any classic San Francisco band.
Some of the rest is self-indulgent, but that's what this era of music was about -- the guitar pyrotechnics of "Song for Frisco" and "Play My Guitar" make them both more entertaining than their somewhat bland melodies; the latter song, in particular, sounds like a Marty Balin/Jefferson Airplane outtake that would have been right on target about four years before the release date of this album. The whole record feels that way, a throwback to the psychedelic era circa late 1967.
It's also very much a folk-rock record, with a rich acoustic guitar texture on many of the songs. For the record, since the CD reissue has no personnel information, the band at this point was Dino Valenti (guitar, vocals), Greg Elmore (drums), Gary Duncan (vocals, guitar), Mark Ryan (bass), Mark Naftalin (keyboards), and Chuck Steaks (keyboards). If you ever wondered what the Airplane might have done as a follow-up to Surrealistic Pillow with Marty Balin still singing lead, this is it.
by Bruce Eder
Tracks
1. Hope - 3:01
2. I Found Love (Duncan) - 3:56
3. Song For Frisco - 4:58
4. Play My Guitar - 4:38
5. Rebel (Traditional arr. by Valenti) - 2:02
6. Fire Brothers (Duncan) – 3:12
7. Out Of My Mind - 4:34
8. Don't Cry My Lady Love - 5:12
9. "The Truth - 6:58
All songs by Dino Valenti excpet where indicated
In the late 1960s, Quicksilver Messenger Service occupied an unusual position in the pantheon of major San Francisco Bay Area psychedelic bands. Not that most of those acts weren't unusual, even in relation to each other. Part of what set Quicksilver apart from their peers, though, was that they were not so much singer-songwriters as they were virtuoso players and creative interpreters and stylists. They were not the greatest of vocalists or composers, although they did pen some sturdy folk-rock tunes. Their strengths lay in the ziplocked tightness of their playing and arrangements; their ability to whip up a psychedelic brew from a diverse pool of sources encompassing folk, blues, improvisational jazz, and even Spanish and classical guitar; and their inventive rearrangements of unexpected, even left-field, blues, R&B, folk, and jazz classics.
Leading the way was the inimitable, immediately identifiable quaver of John Cipollina's sustain-fueled lead guitar. He was complemented by the support of Gary Duncan, less a rhythm guitarist than a repository of resourceful counterpoint riffs of his own, and one of the most skilled and underrated second guitarists in rock history. Together with the rhythm section of David Freiberg on bass and Greg Elmore on drums, they comprised the Quicksilver lineup that played on the band's first two Capitol albums, Quicksilver Messenger Service (1968) and Happy Trails (1969)--albums that, by virtual consensus, represent the best work that any configuration of Quicksilver released.
As popular as those records are, they convey an incomplete picture of the band as they sounded at their peak. Tapes of numerous Quicksilver concerts from the sixties, some from as early as 1966, circulate among collectors as testaments to the musicians' onstage force, also containing several songs, particularly blues and R&B covers, never released by the band on their early records. Quicksilver also did quite a bit of studio work in this era that never saw the light of day, including alternate versions (sometimes multiple alternates) of songs from their self-titled debut, and an assortment of covers (again mostly of blues/R&B tunes).
In addition to an early demo session for Vanguard, the band cut quite a bit of unused material circa 1967, around the time they were preparing their debut Capitol LP. The Unreleased Quicksilver Messenger Service: Lost Gold and Silver finally allows us to hear about two hours of previously unreleased live and studio recordings from Quicksilver's golden era, along with four studio cuts of the period that eluded those first two albums, surfacing on a soundtrack album and a 1968 non-LP single.
The bulk of this collection is devoted to the previously unissued live Quicksilver recordings, taken from 1968 performances, that comprise the first disc of this package. Considering that these were not taped with official release in mind, the fidelity is astoundingly good. Indeed it's about on par with the sound of the live material on Happy Trails, and the song selection is arguably superior to what was chosen for that record. Unquestionably it reflects a wider slice of the band's repertoire than Happy Trails does, with the addition of several blues classics that the band did not include on their first two albums, and live versions of songs from the Quicksilver Messenger Service LP.
It's the blues that kicks this CD off, as the band sinks their claws into Howlin' Wolf's "Back Door Man." This was covered by several groups in the 1960s, most notably the Doors, who chose it to lead off the second side of their earthshaking debut album. When tackling blues standards such as these, Quicksilver did not have the kind of vocal firepower that could compete with the likes of Jim Morrison or Mick Jagger. Their interpretive stamp was most visible in the guitar arrangements, and the group's crunching axework turns "Back Door Man" into a stomping rocker with start-stop rhythms that shows more of their garage band roots than were audible on their proper studio releases. Howlin' Wolf also gets the psychedelic blues treatment with their extended workout on "Smokestack Lightning," a tune sixties rock groups loved to improvise upon from the time the Yardbirds recorded their live version with Eric Clapton on lead in 1964.
If the blues was one major pillar of the Quicksilver sound, folk music was another, particularly via the influence of David Freiberg, who had played folk music before joining the band, and folksinger Dino Valenti, who might have been a founder member of Quicksilver had he not been busted before he had a chance to rehearse with them in the group's embryonic phase. Folk, blues, and hard rock meet head on with the band's interpretation of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Codine," done (surprisingly, considering its overt drug references) by a number of mid-sixties folk-rock bands, including one of Quicksilver's San Franciscan psychedelic neighbors, the Charlatans. The band would put a studio version of the song on the Revolution soundtrack (see disc two). This live rendition gives full vent to the anguished vocals and guitar that changed the song from a stark folkie lament to a wrenching blast. The foursome adopt a nastier, punkier edge than many would have believed possible given their reputation as a hippie outfit.
Quicksilver do four of the six songs that comprised the Quicksilver Messenger Service album on the live portion of this disc, omitting only "Pride of Man" and "Too Long." The live passes through "Gold and Silver," "Light Your Windows," "Dino's Song," and "The Fool" are similar to the studio takes, proving how capable the band were at replicating the exacting arrangements of the first LP onstage, adding an oh-so-slightly rawer, more spontaneous feel. "Light Your Windows" and "Dino's Song" are outstanding illustrations of the group's overlooked knack for melodic and tender harmonized folk-rockers. "Dino's Song" was written by Dino Valenti, by this time out of jail and pursuing a solo career; in 1970 he finally did join Quicksilver Messenger Service for real, in so doing greatly influencing their shift to a more laid-back, singer-songwriter-oriented style.
"Gold and Silver," the instrumental based around a riff lifted from Dave Brubeck's jazz hit "Take Five," does differ from the Quicksilver Messenger Service version with the insertion of a lengthy drum solo by Greg Elmore. "The Fool," early Quicksilver's lengthiest and most complex (not to mention most lyrically cosmic) original composition, is a bit heavier on the electric guitar parts than its studio counterpart. Dogs and cats shall scurry from the room during the vocal section when it is attempted, without total success, to reach the piercingly high note of the "heavens above" lyric. As compensation, Cipollina uncurls some stratospheric vibrato sustain as the song reaches its majestic conclusion.
Happy Trails is most famed for its elastic transmogrifications of "Mona" and "Who Do You Love," in which these Bo Diddley warhorses were stretched almost beyond recognition into psychedelic jams. The band treated these not as straight R&B covers, but as very loose templates upon which to hang long instrumental guitar improvisations, the tempo and the melody of the original tune all but disappearing for lengthy passages. New concert performances of both songs appear here, although "Who Do You Love," which clocked in at a whopping 25 minutes on Happy Trails, is halved in length (and quartered on the studio version that appears on this anthology's second disc). "Mona," which weaves in and out of the more abstract Gary Duncan composition "Maiden of the Cancer Moon," holds some of the band's more inventive guitar duels, prefaced by some eerily high-pitched distortion at the very beginning of the track.
As a bonus to the live 1968 material, The Unreleased Quicksilver Messenger Service: Lost Gold and Silver also includes an entire disc of previously unreleased and rare studio tracks, all recorded circa 1967-68. The eight previously unissued songs probably all date from 1967, when the band did quite a bit of recording in advance of the release of Quicksilver Messenger Service, as demonstrated by the existence of alternate versions of all six of its songs on various bootlegs.
Only two of the studio cuts included here, however, would be redone for the first album. The early version of "Dino's Song," also titled "I Don't Want to Spoil Your Party" (as it was when the Byrds did an unreleased cover of the tune in 1965), was recorded on November 13, 1967, boasting an arrangement that was pretty close to the one used on the LP. That wasn't the case, however, with the take of "Gold and Silver" (at that time titled "Acapulco Gold and Silver") that was recorded the same day. It features a prominent harpsichord part that was entirely discarded in the released take, adding to the quasi-classical vibe of the melody. And get a load of that Ennio Morricone-styled whistling throughout, another idea that ended up on the cutting room floor, to be replaced by glistening Cipollina leads.
The six additional unreleased studio tracks do include two songs that made it onto Happy Trails in radically different, lengthier versions. "Who Do You Love" gets compressed into six minutes in its studio incarnation, offering a far more concise and conventional interpretation (including harmonica) of the number than would be heard on the famous 25-minute sprawl that took up the entire first side of the Happy Trails LP. The Gary Duncan-composed "Calvary" is a real standout, gaining in impact and pungency in its reduction from the 13-minute Happy Trails version to the six-minute one (probably unfinished, judging from the occasional sudden pauses) presented here.
It's an outstanding example of how interesting Quicksilver could be when they strayed outside blues-rock boundaries. Its mysterious tinkles and hollow, haunted wordless vocals embellish a tune that owes more to Spanish folk guitar than rock'n'roll, evoking the Old West in its barren, windswept glory.
The riveting "I Hear You Knockin'," a minor-keyed R&B number, was a notable loss from the first album, decorated by some superbly sly and menacing Cipollina licks. This is not the famous New Orleans R&B classic that was first sung by Smiley Lewis and taken to the Top Five by Dave Edmunds in 1971, but an entirely different tune, thought by Freiberg and Duncan to have probably been based on a version by Ray Charles. It and "Back Door Man" have horn charts reminiscent of the brassy arrangements employed by the Electric Flag at the time, an approach that was largely dropped on the Quicksilver Messenger Service album (with the exception of "Pride of Man"). A hornless version of "I Hear You Knockin'," probably from the same era, did finally appear on Rhino's Sons of Mercury Quicksilver compilation in 1991.
There's also a straightforward rock cover of Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues," whose arrangement is not too different from the one the Paul Butterfield Blues Band had offered on their 1966 East West album. "Your Time Will Come" was originally done by Mose Allison as the far jauntier "If You Live"; like "I Hear You Knockin'," it's indicative of the band's taste for mixing blues and melancholy melodies. The harmonica on "Your Time Will Come" and "Who Do You Love" indicates that those tracks might have been recorded with Jim Murray, a founding member of Quicksilver who sang and played harp with the band until leaving sometime in 1967.
Our tour through the Quicksilver vaults ends with four studio tracks that did not appear on Quicksilver Messenger Service or Happy Trails, although they feature the same personnel that played on those records. "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" (originally by Erik Darling) and the studio version of "Codine" were recorded in one day for the Revolution movie, whose soundtrack also included material by two other emerging Bay Area acts, the Steve Miller Band and Mother Earth. Both of these folk songs entered Quicksilver's repertoire via Freiberg, and the band do an excellent job of adapting them into lean, devious, acid-tinged folk-rockers.
"Stand By Me" and "Bears" were issued as a single in 1968, exhibiting a lighter side of Quicksilver than was apparent on any other of their early outings. "Bears," learned by Freiberg from folkie Roger Perkins, is undoubtedly the most atypical song early Quicksilver attempted, and more like a goofy kiddie singalong than a rock tune. Duncan, in fact, told writer John Barthel that "Bears" came about because "we wanted to do something for our little kids"; that's Electric Flag singer Nick Gravenites doing the bear noises. The more serious "Stand By Me" was written by the erstwhile Dino Valenti, its laid-back folk-rock ambience anticipating the mellower path Quicksilver would take after completing their Happy Trails.
Quicksilver would continue to enjoy some popularity in the early seventies, as the arrival of keyboardist Nicky Hopkins and then singer-guitarist Dino Valenti altered the band's vision toward more pastoral territory. They were most innovative, however, when Cipollina and Duncan wove their guitars together in some of the finest psychedelic rock ever laid down, and the band managed to take some of the best elements from an array of disparate influences to create something new and intoxicating. The Unreleased Quicksilver Messenger Service: Lost Gold and Silver, which approximately doubles the size of the 1967-68-era Quicksilver's discography, goes a long way towards documenting the band's prime with the justice they deserve.
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks Disc 1 Live
1. Back Door Man - 4:15
2. Codine - 6:13
3. Gold & Silver - 12:02
4. Smokestack Lightning - 10:14
5. Light Your Windows - 3:05
6. Dino's Song - 3:32
7. The Fool - 13:14
8. Who Do You Love - 12:21
9. Mona/Maiden of the Cancer Moon/Mona - 11:34
Disc 2 Studio
1. I Don't Want to Spoil Your Party (Dino's Song) - 3:06
2. Acapulco Gold and Silver (Gold and Silver) - 2:37
3. I Hear You Knockin' - 3:11
4. Back Door Man - 4:00
5. Your Time Will Come - 3:09
6. Who Do You Love (Part 1) - 5:58
7. Walkin' Blues - 3:07
8. Calvary - 6:31
9. Codine - 5:21
10.Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - 5:06
11.Stand by Me - 3:35
12.The Bears - 2:10
Lady Pig is the title of the second and final album, by Creative Rock, released in 1974. Hailing from Bielefeld in Germany, they were formed in the late sixties as "The Bourbon Street Paraders and took their inspirations by Anglo/Americans jazzy brass rock outfits.
They signed to Metronome - Brain Records and released their debut album, "Gorilla", in 1972. second and final album saw guitarist Apostolos Papanikolaou (Greek born musician) replace both Schmeide and Weber, and this album was actually heavier than the debut, but with a bit more experimentation. In 1975, Creative Rock were touring with an adventurous rock ballet production called "Die Creative Rock - Dekadenz Show.
Tracks 1. Lady Pig - 5:06 2. Autumn And Winds - 8:40 3. I Use To Use - 3:37 4. Palm Beach Medium Finger - 2:35 5. Evening Adventure - 3:50 6. Black Woman - 6:55 7. It’s Alright - 10:30 8. Strullsinfonie - 0:10
Chris Farlowe was born John Henry Deighton in Islington, North London on October 13 1940, amidst the rationing, gas masks and bombing raids of WWII. Chris’ earliest musical influences were inherited from his close-knit family. His Mum, a self taught piano player, played at family sing alongs and at the local pub, where Chris sang in public for the first time. Chris and his Mum loved Doris Day along with other outstanding female vocalists from this era, including Jeri Southern, Sarah Vaughan and Anita O’Day, and Chris admits, he learnt a lot about song delivery from listening to these timeless chanteuses.
In common with many of the great British stars who emerged from the sixties, one of Chris's earliest heroes was the late Lonnie Donegan, and whilst still a teenager, Chris formed his own Donegan/Vipers influenced skiffle band - the modestly named 'John Henry Skiffle Group!’ They entered and won local talent contests and played small local venues for pocket money.
In 1965, things didn’t look like they were going to improve; the single ‘Buzz With The Fuzz’ was doomed to failure when EMI withdrew it soon after release, after realising the song contained references to illicit drug taking. It did however become a mod classic and won over many parka wearing fans, who to this day still regard Chris as a mod hero. Things picked up later in the year in an unexpected way when an unsuspecting Chris and The Thunderbirds recorded 'Stormy Monday Blues', a relatively unknown blues number by T Bone Walker.
Recorded as a studio try out, they were surprised at the critical acclaim it received and even more surprised when they found out that Sue Records had released it under the pseudonym 'Little Joe Cook'. Now, widely acknowledged as one of the main contenders for the accolade, best British blues record in history, people took some convincing at the time that the authentic sounding vocals were produced by Chris from North London, and not some obscure black bluesman from the deep south!
The summer of 66 saw England winning the Football World Cup, the USA fighting in Vietnam and the release of 'Out of Time', the third single on the Immediate label. Against Chris's wishes, EMI followed up ‘Out of Time’ with the release of 'Just a Dream' and then the much better 'Ride on Baby' both of which received a luke warm reception in terms of chart success - 'OOT' was such a tough act to follow.
The latter part of the sixties saw a number of releases, none of which had any major chart success with the exception of the classic 'Handbags and Gladrags' a song penned especially for Chris by buddy Mike d'Arbo of Manfred Mann fame and covered by Welsh rockers, the Stereophonics in 2003. Incredibly, this was to be Chris's last chart success, not counting the re-release of 'OOT' in the mid seventies. By the end of the sixties, Chris didn't have a record deal and looked set to fade into obscurity.
The Hill were a hard rock combo formed by ex Thunderbirds bass player Bruce Waddell, drummer Colin Davey, and keyboard player Peter Robinson, together with ex Fat Mattress guitar player Steve Hammond, and cellist Paul Buckmaster (yes it does say cellist!). Just one album with The Hill, but it’s a classic and quite possibly the first heavy rock album to feature a cellist. ‘From Here to Mama Rosa’, a much heavier, rock sound than anything Chris had done to date, was hinting at what might be if Chris chose to move in that direction. And fortunately for rock fans, he did.
Tracks
1. Traveling Into Make Believe 04:35
2. Fifty Years 02:43
3. Where Do We Go From Here 04:29
4. Questions 03:44
5. Head In the Clouds 06:59
6. Are You Sleeping 05:37
7. Black Sheep 04:49
8. Winter In My Life 04:01
9. Mama Rosa 07:45
10.Put Out The Lights (A-Side 1970) 02:44
11.Sylvie (US-Only A-Side 1969) 03:22
12.The Fourth Annual Convention Of The Battery Hen Farmers' Association Part II (US-Only B-Side 1969) 04:36
13.Dawn (A-Side 1968) 03:49
14.April Was The Month (B-Side 1968) 03:51
Tracks 1-9, 11-12 perfomed by The Hill
Track 10 by C. Farlow with The Hill
Tracks 13-14 by C. Farlow and The Thunderbirds
Born Curtis McNear, 9 May 1929, Fort Scott, Kansas, USA, died 29 November 1999, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Having completed his national service, Knight settled in California where he hoped to pursue a career in music. He appeared in a low-budget movie, Pop Girl, before relocating to New York during the early 60s. Knight then recorded for several minor labels, but these releases have been eclipsed by the singer’s collaborations with Jimi Hendrix, who joined Curtis’ group, the Squires, in 1965.
Hendrix’s tenure there was brief, but the contract he signed with Knight’s manager, Ed Chalpin, had unfortunate repercussions, particularly as the guitarist ill-advisedly undertook another recording session in 1967. His spells with Knight yielded 61 songs, 26 studio and 35 live, which have since been the subject of numerous exploitative compilations. Although some of this material is, in isolation, worthwhile, such practices have undermined its value.
As Curtis Knight continued to pursue his career throughout the 60s using whatever musicians were available, he increasingly relied on his Hendrix association, and in 1974 published Jimi, ‘an intimate biography’. By this point Knight was based in London where he led a new group, Curtis Knight - Zeus. This band comprised Eddie Clarke (guitar; later in Motörhead), Nicky Hogarth (keyboards), John Weir (bass) and Chris Perry (drums).
They completed two albums, but only one was issued in the UK. The singer undertook a European tour and recorded an unremarkable album before returning to the USA. In the latter part of the decade Knight conceived the black punk rock band, Pure Hell. He continued to work with a variety of musicians while running his own limousine business. In 1992, Knight relocated to the Netherlands where he continued to record up to his death from cancer in November 1999. He had recently launched the Double Rainbow/Happy Dream label.
Knight cut a storming set of tunes which varies from the immediately attractive rocking title track, through the peaks and troughs of New Horizon, to the comparative restraint of The Confession. It’s hard to imagine any rock fan not finding something to enjoy here, with the quality of the playing and instantly memorable songs. Here and there Knight uses a female chorus to enhance certain tracks, while his overall production of the album is clear and engaging. One bonus, The Devil Made Me Do It, is added to the original, making this a highly recommended reissue for any Hendrix or general rock fan.
by Kingsley Abbott
Tracks
1. Zeus - 3:19
2. New Horizon - 4:00
3. Silver Queen - 6:15
4. Mysterious Lady - 2:47
5. Road Song - 4:38
6. People Places and Things - 2:55
7. Cloud (Eddie Clarke, Curtis Knight) - 8:27
8. Eyes of a Child - 2:47
9. The Confession (Eddie Clarke, Curtis Knight) - 5:54
10.Oh Rainbow - 2:47
11.The Devil Made Me Do It - 2:36
Drummer Raymond Roy and singer Michel Vallee started their musical partnership as members of Quebec Les Maitres. Rounded out by guitarist Jocelyn Julien and multi-instrumentalist Christian Simard in 1969 the band was signed by RCA, releasing a string of three Canadian singles.
Apparently driven by a desire to expand their audience, in 1970 the quartet opted for a name change coupled with major reorientation in music direction.
Credited to Morse Code Transmission, 1971's cleverly titled "Morse Code Transmission" teamed the group with producer Bill Misener. Unlike their earlier Les Maitres singles which were exclusively performed in French, their debut album featured all English performances. Musically the set bounced around including stabs at top-40 pop ('Time'), early progressive moves (the Procol Harum-esque 'Souvenirs of Our Days'), AOR rock (the fuzz guitar propelled 'It Never Ever Easy To Do') and even a goofy piece of Arcadian folk ('Hunting and Laughing').
Interestingly, the liner notes indicated that Simard continued to write in French with Graeme Box, John deNottbeck and Stan Rogers providing help translating the material into English. Not meant as a criticism, but least to my ears Simard and Valee didn't seem particularly comfortable singing in English with their performances on material such as 'Souvenirs of Our Days' and 'One To One' sounding like they'd learned the lyrics phonetically. Elsewhere, released as a single 'Oh Lord' b/w 'Fire Sign' (RCA catalog number 75-1006) provided the band with a top-40 Canadian hit.
Tracks
1. Souvenirs Of Our Days (Christian Simard, Bill Misener) - 2:24
2. It Never Ever Easy To Do (Christian Simard, Bill Misener, Michel Vallee) - 3:50
3. Time (Christian Simard, Bill Misener) - 1:31
4. Oh Lord (Christian Simard, Graeme Box, John De Nottbeck) - 2:55
5. Hunting And Laughing (Christian Simard, Bill Misener) - 2:03
6. The Friend (Instrumental) (Christian Simard) - 1:07
7. Story-Book Life (Christian Simard, Bill Misener, Graeme Box) - 2:58
8. Fire Sign (Christian Simard, Stan Rogers, Michel Vallee) - 2:03
9. Freedom Train (Christian Simard, Bill Misener) - 3:34
10.Today I'm Alive (Christian Simard, Stan Rogers) - 2:23
11.One To One (Christian Simard, Bill Misener) - 2:50
12.Two Friends (Instrumental) (Christian Simard, Bill Misener) - 1:45
One of Quebec's most experimental psychadelic rock bands, Morse Code Transmission was formed in the late 1960s by Montreal natives guitarist Michel Vallee and drummer Raymond Roy. Then going by the name of Les Maitres (The Masters), they released a string of unsuccessful singles in English before the turn of the decade, though they also incorporated French songs into roughly half their live sets.
With Christian Simard on vocals and keyboards, and guitarist Jocelyn Julien, they became a hot commodity on the Quebec bar circuit and after signing a deal with RCA Records, and on the label's insistence, changed their name. They also dropped the original French material they'd written from their playlist, and began work with producer/songwriter Bill Meisener.
They released their self-titled debut album in the summer of '71, and although the single, "Oh Lord" b/w "Fire Sign" went nowhere, it was complimented by other heavy organ vibes and slick guitar solos in songs like "It's Never Easy To Do," "Souvenirs of Our Days," and "Freedom Train" still meant decent album sales. Although heavy on the organ and deep on bass, the music was diverse - from the grungy "Never Easy To Do" to the Beatlesesque "Today I'm Alive," cello solo compliments of Peter Schenkman, and a full strings accompaniment to Al Cherney's fiddle in "Hunting and Laughing."
By the time they were in the studios recording a follow-up, Berny Tapin had replaced Julien on guitars, and Morse Code Transmission II was released in '72. Simard was once again the chief writer, and more crunchy vocals and a pounding backbeat served up the only single, "Cold Society" b/w "Satan's Song." It failed to make a dent in the charts, but other cuts like the lead-off "Funk Alley," "Soul Odyssey," and "Sky Ride" were indicative of the more all-encompassing sound the band was trying to achieve.
The album was housed in a superbly colourful gatefold sleeve which pictures a woman lying under a tree. They play a fairly exciting organ-driven hard rock. Later the band changed their name to Morse Code and sang in French. Canadian-bands
After the runaway success of the Allman Brothers' classic Brothers and Sisters LP -- an album on which Dickey Betts virtually architected the open loping country sound with his newly found singing voice and easy, slimmed down guitar style -- the guitarist decided to try his hand at a solo album. Highway Call is, in essence, the second chapter in Betts finding his own voice as not only a singer, but also as a songwriter as well.
At a brief half-hour in length, Highway Call is nonetheless an emotionally powerful slice of small country life offered with a vast emotional landscape. The tone is nostalgic in that each of the songs here reflects memory and the yearning for a simpler, less cluttered life lived in the open spaces, away from the chaotic roil of rock stardom and all of its trappings. The title track reflects an acceptance of Betts' life as an itinerant musician, destined to play out his hand on the road.
There isn't a hint of regret in the ringing, slippery guitars and harmony vocals, but there is a sense that life could have been different. On "Let Nature Sing," Betts calls forth the spirits of America, from its rock and crags, its lakes and panoramic vistas, and from the ghosts of the people who've traipsed through Betts' life, leaving an emotional and indelible impression upon him.
Each song here, such as "Rain," with its sideways pedal steel, or "Long Time Gone," with its runaway slide, or even the aforementioned "Let Nature Sing," with its glorious dobro and fiddle (courtesy of Vassar Clements) underscoring Betts' lead and the ringing pedal steel of Jon Hughey is a testament to the pastoral in American life. And for Betts, the rambler, gambler, and hard living guitar man, there is no contradiction. All of his cards are on the table in "Hand Picked," a nearly 15-minute country swing romp through Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, the Allmans, and bluegrass, Betts creates the ultimate road instrumental.
The listener can hear Clements and Betts roaring down the two-lane blacktop on the back of a flatbed truck, ripping this one out with easy abandon. Highway Call stands as the artist's finest solo moment, one that holds his true voice easily expressing itself far from the madding blues wail of the Allmans, deep in the center of a Georgia holler with the sun beating down on the peach trees or on the incessant babble of a backwoods creek calling his listeners to the mystery inherent in simple living and in playing honest, heartfelt music.
by Thom Jurek
Tracks
1. Long Time Gone (Betts) - 4:31
2. Rain (Betts) - 3:40
3. Highway Call (Betts) - 4:26
4. Let Nature Sing (Betts) - 5:10
5. Hand Picked (Betts) - 14:20
6. Kissimmee Kid (Vassar Clements) - 3:13
This two-LPs-on-one-CD package is essential listening for anyone who is seriously interested in either British blues, the Rolling Stones' early sound, or the history of popular music, in England or America, during the late '50s and early '60s.
In England during the years 1957-1962, jazz and blues used to intermix freely, especially among younger blues enthusiasts and more open-minded jazzmen -- by 1963, most of the former had gone off to form bands like the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Pretty Things, etc., with guitars a the forefront of their sound, while the latter (most notably British blues godfather Alexis Korner) kept some jazz elements in their work.
The Graham Bond Organization (along with Zoot Money's Big Roll Band and other, similar outfits) represented the jazzier side of the British blues boom, less charismatic and sexually provocative than blues-rock bands like the Stones or the Yardbirds, but no less potent a product of the same inspiration, sax and organ being much more prominent in their sound. Indeed, Bond's playing on the organ as represented on this CD is the distant antecedent to Keith Emerson's more ambitious keyboard excursions of 3-4 years later, without the incessant copping of classical riffs.
The playing and singing (by Graham Bond and a young Jack Bruce) are curiously soulful, and when Ginger Baker takes a solo on "Oh Baby," it's a beautiful, powerful, even lyrical experience (as drum solos go), and one of those bold, transcendant, virtuoso moments, akin to Brian Jones' harmonica solo on the Stones' version of "Hi Heel Sneakers." The band was more exciting on stage, as the evidence of their one surviving early live performance indicates, but they were worth hearing on record as well.
In a universe that was fair and idealized, this CD and the two albums contained on it would rank right up there in sales with anything (including the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album) that John Mayall ever released, and Bond also proves himself a more fervent and exciting figure here than Mayall ever seemed on his records.
by Bruce Eder
Tracks
1. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon) - 3:13
2. Baby Make Love to Me (Godfrey, Group) - 1:52
3. Neighbour, Neighbour (Valior) - 2:40
4. Early in the Morning (Booker T. Laury) - 1:50
5. Spanish Blues (Graham Bond) - 3:05
6. Oh Baby (Graham Bond) - 2:42
7. Little Girl (Graham Bond) - 2:15
8. I Want You (Graham Bond) - 1:45
9. Wade in the Water (Traditional) - 2:41
10.Got My Mojo Working (Preston Foster) - 3:11
11.Train Time (John Group) - 2:24
12.Baby Be Good to Me (Janet Godfrey, J. Group) - 2:35
13.Half a Man (Graham Bond) - 2:06
14.Tammy (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston) - 2:49
15.Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Don Kirkpatrick, Keith Knox) - 2:05
16.Hear Me Calling Your Name (Jack Bruce) - 2:37
17.The Night Time Is the Right Time (Lew Herman) - 3:01
18.Walking in the Park (Graham Bond) - 3:30
19.Last Night (Charles "Packy" Axton, Ivan Johnson, Smoochy Smith) - 3:00
20.Baby Can It Be True? (Graham Bond) - 5:04
21.What'd I Say (Ray Charles) - 4:16
22.Dick's Instrumental (Smoochy Smith) - 2:33
23.Don't Let Go (Jesse Stone) - 2:43
24.Keep A-Drivin' (Chuck Willis) - 2:04
25.Have You Ever Loved a Woman? (Graham Bond) - 4:53
26.Camels and Elephants (Ginger Baker) - 4:41
The Organisation
*Graham Bond - Organ, Mellotron, Saxophone, Lead Vocals
*Jack Bruce - Vocals, Bass. Double Bass
*Ginger Baker - Drums
*Dick Heckstall-Smith - Tenor Saxophone
