Thirty Days Out were formed New York in 1971 by John Micaleff (pronouced "McCullough"), a folksinger from Michigan and Jack Malken, who had previously been with The Outcasts. After teaming up with Melnick and Lowe, they found a place to practice but had to relocate in Greenfield, Massachussets when their neigbours complained! They soon managed to get a recording contract with Reprise and their first album was released in the summer of '71.
Produced by Larry Marks (previously in charge of Lee Michaels and Phil Ochs) their debut was recorded in New York and L.A. On offer are eight tracks penned by Micaleff and Malken, which mix competent guitars with early seventies style vocals. Influenced by Free on some tracks (Doing The Best That I Can and Survival, a rip-off of Clover's Shotgun). The most interesting element is probably the keyboard parts played by two ace sessionmen, Larry Knechtel and Jim Dickinson. The lyrics have often a Christian content and the overall result is rather undistinguished. In fact the album is maybe mainly notable for a weird packaging idea, as it came wrapped in a poster of a steamliner. Once the shrink was opened, the hidden black and white sleeve with pictures of the group would appear.
Tracks
1. Everybody's Looking For Someone – 4:28
2. Mama Come See Me Tonight – 2:56
3. Home On The Road – 4:09
4. Living Like One (Jack Malken) - 3:10
5. Hoy Hannah – 2:37
6. Survival (Jack Malken, John Micallef) - 4:55
7. Taking The Chance (Jack Malken, John Micallef) - 3:32
8. Forever – 3:57
9. Doing The Best That I Can (Jack Malken, John Micallef) - 5:28
All songs by John Micallef except where indicated
Thirty Days Out
*Phil Lowe - Drums, Vocals
*Jack Malken - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Monte Melnick - Bass, Keyboards, Vocals
*John Micaleff - Vocals, Guitar With
*Jim Dickinson - Keyboards
*Larry Knechtel - Keyboards
British Tour '76 is not an expanded version of the original Live album, despite the similarity in track listings, but a remarkable document of the band's next major tour, in support of the newly released SAHB Stories album. History relates that the group was on the way out now, and certainly its subsequent decline was precipitous. Here, however, Alex and the lads aren't simply firing on all cylinders -- they're enacting one of the finest shows any British stage had ever seen.
Their seething reinvention of "Amos Moses," the bicentennial gift "Boston Tea Party," and the so-compulsive "Dance to Your Daddy" are the new album's contributions to the show; elsewhere, it's business as usual, as the SAHB dig back into their earliest fare for a mighty "Isabel Goudie" and the inevitable thunder of "Faith Healer"; "Tomahawk Kid," "Vambo," and the encore hit "Delilah" are all present and deliriously correct, but the highlight has to be "Framed," with Alex in full comic Hitler mode, and delivering a routine that you simply couldn't get away with today. That doesn't stop it from being hysterically funny, though, as well as serving as a potent reminder that good taste and great rock & roll have rarely been comfortable bedfellows.
by Dave Thompson
Tracks
1. Fanfare (D. Wadsworth) - 1:17
2. The Faith Healer (A. Harvey, H. McKenna) - 6:42
3. Tomahawk Kid (A. Harvey, H. McKenna, D.Batchelor) - 5:38
4. Isobel Goudie (Alex Harvey) - 9:40
5. Amos Moses (Jerry Reed) - 6:12
6. Vambo (A. Harvey, H. McKenna) - 6:43
7. Boston Tea Party (A. Cleminson, A. Harvey, H. McKenna) - 7:50
8. Dance To Your Daddy (D. Batchelor, A. Cleminson, C. Glen, A. Harvey, H. McKenna) - 8:42
9. Framed (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 7:39
10.Delilah (Les Reed, Barry Mason) - 5:12
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
*Ted McKenna - Drums, Percussion
*Alex Harvey - Vocals
*Tommy Eyre - Keyboards, Synthesizer
*Chris Glen - Bass
*Zal Cleminson - Guitar
Hamilton, Ontario is a steel town. I guess you could compare it to Pittsburgh, although I've never been to Pittsburgh -- but the skyline is marked by foundries, their chimneys belching black smoke and the odd flame. A rust colored haze hangs in the sky, stratifying the horizon -- earth, air (somewhat breathable), smog and heaven. The Hamilton mountain provides the backdrop. Really it is an escarpment, but we call it the mountain, because we need to. It provides a layer of oxygen-producing trees needed in the overall picture. This is the kind of place that a hardy breed calls home. It is the perfect place for the blues. Blue collar blues, we know what that means. The city is a little bluer today--our own King of the Blues died last week. Not BB, or Albert, or Freddie--but a local boy. Richard Newell's blues ran as deep as his soul--his body finally couldn't take any more abuse, and gave up the ghost. King Biscuit Boy is gone. But his music will never die!
I've been listening to a lot of Biscuit over the past few days. The first album I turned to was Badly Bent, his Best of collection which contains a perfect selection from his first three albums; but really you should listen to the original albums in their entirety to fully appreciate Newell's gifts. So when Stony Plain sent me the original albums on CD I quickly put on Official Music, the album he made with Crowbar in 1972. Crowbar had been the rag-tag bunch of musicians Ronnie Hawkins hired to replace his last band, the one that backed up Bob Dylan, and moved to the Big Pink house in Woodstock. These guys were raw, tough and raunchy, they could really play. Newell adopted the King Biscuit Boy name-tag because he could play the harp to sound like Sonny Boy Williamson. He could blow that harp like anything. He made those reeds quiver. He made 'em sound like a saxophone, an orchestra, it was amazing. The music this raw band -- and the young blues shouter made, was "official" all right!
The album begins with a screamer, "Highway 61." Twin guitars of Rheal Lanthier and John "the Ghetto" Gibbard and then Biscuit's high voice, a blend of Robert Johnson howl and Muddy Waters growl. This one rocks. There is no let up, though, as the second track; "Don't Go No Further," steams ahead, slower but still potent. Kelly Jay Fordham, Doug Riley and Rick Bell provide keyboards and the amazing Larry Atamanuik keeps the solid beat! Jazz musicians Moe Kauffman, Steve Riley and Greg Mudry form a powerful horn section. This is good stuff. "Key to the Highway," "Corinna," "Hoy Hoy Hoy," "Shout Bama Lama," the covers are brilliantly chosen and well done. Newell also writes a couple...the long and humorous "Biscuit's Boogie," "Badly Bent," and "Cookin' Little Baby" show his understanding of the blues form. If this was his only album it would be a classic, but he would soon leave Crowbar and produce one of the greatest blues albums ever made.
I was lucky enough to catch King Biscuit Boy and Crowbar in a bar one night. One of those places where the girls dance with the girls, and the guys order a pitcher of beer and sit there with their buddies listening to the band. They rocked the joint out. The walls were sweating! They had played together behind Hawkins, and they knew each other intimately, they played as one--Biscuit just came out to do a featured spot and then went back to the bar.
Crowbar wanted to move away from the strict blues--they were a good time rock'n'roll band. They lived in a big house on the escarpment, and prepared their first album which they named after the house, Bad Manors. It's another classic. Richard Newell went into the studio using the Crowbar musicians individually, hand-picked for their talents, hand-matched to the songs he'd selected and created the masterpiece that is Gooduns. Gooduns came packaged in a cloth bag, a flour sack, just like King Biscuit Flour from whence he derived his name. I still have that original release, I treasure it. I played that record to death, it rocked so hard I could hardly believe it was made by a Canadian. We were used to the folksongs of Gord Lightfoot, the MOR top 40 sound of the Poppy Family, but this blues this was something else. At the time, I worked in a local department store, and one Saturday I saw Richard Newell browsing in the store. I went on my break and followed him around in awe. Wow, that's KING BISCUIT BOY!
by David Kidney
Tracks
1. Highway 61 (A. Luandrew) - 2:52
2. Don't Go No Further (Willie Dixon) - 3:43
3. Unseen Eye (Sonny Williamson) - 2:57
4. I'm Just A Lonely Guy (R. Blackwell, D. La Bostrie) - 2:32
5. Key To The Highway (W. Broonzy, C. Segar) - 3:14
6. Corrina, Corrina (Public Domain) - 4:28
7. Biscuit's Boogie (R. Newell) - 9:30
8. Hoy Hoy Hoy (J. Jones) - 5:16
9. Badly Bent (R. Newell) - 2:08
10.Cookin' Little Baby (R. Newell) - 2:36
11.Shout Bama Lama (Otis Redding) - 2:29
Crowbar. Rock band, formed in the summer of 1969 as And Many Others to accompany Ronnie Hawkins. Taking the name Crowbar, and making its base in Ancaster, near Hamilton, Ont, it left Hawkins early in 1970 after one LP and several US appearances, then backed individual members Blake 'Kelly Jay' Fordham, John Rutter and King Biscuit Boy on record. King Biscuit Boy's album Official Music and single 'Corrina, Corrina' were the most successful releases.
Personnel changes left Crowbar in 1971 with 'Kelly Jay' (vocals, keyboards, harmonica), Rheal Lanthier (lead guitar), John Gibbard (slide guitar), Josef Chirowski (replacing Richard Bell, keyboards), Roly Greenaway (bass guitar) and Sonnie Bernardi (replacing Larry Atamuniuk, drums). King Biscuit Boy continued as a frequent guest performer through 1971.
The most popular of Crowbar's singles were 'Oh What a Feeling' (1971) and 'Million Dollar Weekend' (1974). The band made three LPs 1970-2 for Daffodil - Bad Manors (SBA-16004), Larger than Life (And Liver than You'll Ever Be) (2-SBA-16007, recorded in concert at Massey Hall) and Heavy Duty (SBA-16013) - and one in 1973 for Epic, KE32746 (KE-32746). The compilation Crowbar Classics: Memories Are Made of This (SBA-16030) followed.
Crowbar's rousing rock, blues and boogie made it one of Canada's most popular touring bands of the early 1970s. It appeared in Great Britain but otherwise made little impact outside of Canada, perhaps the result of the strong nationalistic fervour that characterized its performances. Disbanded in 1975, it was revived in 1977 for a tour of eastern Canada and again by Kelly Jay and others intermittently during the 1980s for club work in southern Ontario.
Tracks
1. The Frenchman's Cherokee Boogie Incident (M. Mullican, W. Chief Redbird) - 0:27
2. Let The Four Winds Blow (D. Bartholomew, A. Domino) - 2:23
3. Cane On The Brazos (Roly Greenway, Kelly Jay) - 5:15
4. In The Dancing Hold (Kelly Jay) - 3:52
5. Where Were You? (Kelly Jay) - 3:56
6. Lay One Down (Roly Greenway, LOVE) - 4:28
7. Oh Never Be A Dodo (Kelly Jay) - 0:19
8. Murder In The First Degree (Sonnie Bernardi, Kelly Jay) - 5:15
9. Trilby (Kelly Jay) - 2:41
10.Dead Head Out Of St. John's (Kelly Jay) - 3:45
11.Tits Up On The Pavement (Kelly Jay) - 7:47
12.Happy People (Jozef Chirowski) - 2:58
13.Oh What A Feeling (Roly Greenway, Kelly Jay) - 4:20
Tracks 1,2,4,7,8,13 from 1970 LP "Bad mannors"
Tracks 3,11 from 1971 LP "Larger Than Life"
Tracks 5,6,9,10 from 1972 LP "Heavy Duty"
Track 12 Previously Unreleased, original recorded 1970
When Charlie Daniels released his eponymous debut in 1970, Southern rock was in its nascent stages. It had been a year since the Allman Brothers Band released their debut and Lynyrd Skynyrd wouldn't unleash its first record for another three years, so the genre was in the process of being born, and Charlie Daniels' debut plays a pivotal role in the genre -- not so much because it was directly influential, but because it points the way to how the genre could and would sound, and how country music could retain its hillbilly spirit and rock like a mother.
Where the Allmans were firmly grounded in the blues, especially on the first two records, Daniels was a redneck from the start, and all ten songs on his debut were country at their foundation, even if some of it is country via the Band, as Rich Kienzle points out in his brief liner notes to Koch's 2001 reissue of the album. The Band connections derive from Daniels' time as a session musician for Columbia in Nashville, where he played on many country-rock albums, including Dylan's Nashville Skyline, but there's a heavy dose of hard rock, often via the Allmans' extended jams, on this record. Daniels simply wails on his guitar here, most notably on the six-minute closer "Thirty Nine Miles from Mobile," but, apart from the ballads, he doesn't miss a chance to solo.
The heavy guitars give Charlie Daniels a real rock feel, and that vibe is continued through the loose rhythm section and a strong dose of counterculture humor, heard strongest on "The Pope and the Dope." That song also shows signs of Daniels' redneck sensibilities, which also surface in unpredictable ways throughout this wild, woolly album. He makes crude jokes, celebrates the South (particularly his home, "Georgia"), spits out bluesy leads, exaggerates his vocals, croons sweetly, and steals women. He's a redneck rebel, not fitting into either the country or the rock 'n' roll of 1970 with this record, but, in retrospect, he sounds like a visionary, pointing the way to the future when southern rockers saw no dividing lines between rock, country, and blues, and only saw it all as sons of the south. That's what he achieves with Charlie Daniels -- a unique Southern sound that's quintessentially American, sounding at once new and timeless.
Once he formed the Charlie Daniels Band, he became a star and with Fire on the Mountain, he had another classic, but he would never sound as wild, unpredictable, or as much like a maverick as he does on this superb album.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracks
1. Great Big Bunches Of Love - 3:23
2. Little Boy Blue - 4:10
3. Ain't No Way - 3:25
4. Don't Let Your Man Find Out - 3:00
5. Trudy - 3:50
6. Long Long Way (Back Home) - 4:00
7. Georgia - 4:15
8. The Pope And The Dope - 2:15
9. Life Goes On (Jerry Corbitt) - 2:00
10.Thirty Nine Miles From Mobile - 6:00
All songs by Charlie Daniels except where stated
"The Red Day Album" was recorded and mixed from a Friday night to a Sunday evening, sometime on a week-end after the release of "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" (June 1,1967). But, after considerable research and effort, no one can quite remember nor agree on just when or where it was all recorded. It is known that the first rough demo for their first single "No One's Been Here For Weeks," b/w "Common Attitude" (Tamm T-2024), was first recorded in a large studio named La Lou in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was subsequently re-recorded in Tyler, Texas sometime afterwards.
It was engineered and produced with the band by notable producer Robinhood Brians at Robin Hood Studios. Brians had already recorded hits with "The Five Americans" ("Western Union"), "John Fred and The Playboys" ("Judy In Disguise"), "The Uniques," featuring Johnny Norton, and would eventually cut the first four platinum albums by, "ZZ Top". The remaining tracks of "The Red Day Album" was essentially recorded and mixed in a single weekend.
Richard Orange was only around 15 years of age when he was spotted oh guitar and vocals by keyboardist Clay Smith whilst doing a "fill in", one-off gig wish another young band at a private party. Sometime later, Richard met Gary Simon Bertrand. Gary Simon's mother, "Gisele Carrinton", was also a cabaret owner from Paris, who had settled in Louisiana to continue her nightclub and cabaret ventures. "Edisun", as they came to be called, continued honing their craft in several of Gisele's nightclubs and cabarets.
Clay Smith had previously been with the band The Lost Cause". Kim Jarad Foreman was unique in that he was the only classically trained member of the band. "Thomas Edisun" would go on to win multiple "battle of the band" competitions and commanded larger and more adoring crowds.
Before Richard Orange had reached his 18th birthday, "Edisun would release a self-promoted single on the Tamm label that received considerable radio airplay and attention while opening for acts like “The Vanilla Fudge", "John Fred and The Playboys", "Bubble Puppy", and "Peter Green and The Great Socioly".
Richard Orange would carry on his talent in “Zuider Zee”. He would write his first international hit song fro Cyndi Lauper, which would then also be featured in a Columbia Pictures release film. A year later Orange would sign with Barry Gordy's Jobete/Motown in New York where he continued to write as staff-writer for groups and artists varied as "Starship" To Jane Wiedlin of "The Gogo’s” and Brazilian Pop Star Deborah Blando and "Missing persons” Dale Bozzio. Richard released his latest album, "Big Orange Sun" which was recorded and mixed in its entirety at legendary, Sun Records in Memphis.
"Thomas Edisun's Electric Light Bulb Band" were a band :ahead of the pack", if not perfectly aligned with the future with their own intimate brand of "Ectodelic", "Beatlesque", pure, power-pop. They were a post “Sgt Pepper's" vision of rock-n-roll born of the psychotropic, anti-establishment."
by Mars Russell
Tracks
1. (Intro) I'm Here (Richard Orange, Gary Simon Bertrand, Clay Smith, Kim Foreman) - 0:43
2. Red Day (Richard Orange) - 3:36
3. Have You Been To The Light (Clay Smith, Richard Orange) – 3:43
4. Common Attitude (Richard Orange) - 2:56
5. Hope (Richard Orange) - 6:43
6. No One's Been Here For Weeks (Richard Orange, Clay Smith) - 2:28
7. Walk Out With Your Heart (Clay Smith, Richard Orange) - 3:54
8. Champion (Richard Orange) - 2:31
9. I'm Here Right Here (Richard Orange, Gary Simon Bertrand) - 2:53
10.I'll Join The Army (Richard Orange) - 2:34
11.Merlin (Richard Orange) - 4:14
12.Breathe (Richard Orange, Gary Simon Bertrand) - 2:00
13.Alexander Graham Bell (Richard Orange, Gary Simon Bertrand, Kim Foreman,Clay Smith) - 3:26
14.Concord World (Richard Orange) - 2:10
15.Marigold (Richard Orange) - 2:19
16.Send Me Your Picture (Richard Orange) - 2:35
17.(Outro) Dream Me Up Snotty (Richard Orange, Gary Simon Bertrand, Clay Smith, Kim Foreman) - 0:43
Thomas Edisun's Electric Light Bulb Band
*Gary Simon Bertrand - Drums, Vocals, Percussion, Kazoo, Timpani, Gong, Chimes
*Clay Dunham Smith - Electric Piano, Bass, Vocals, Harpsichord, Organ, Grand Piano
*Richard Orange - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Piano, Acoustic Guitar
*Kim Foreman - Vocals, Harmony Vocals, Organ, Electric Piano, Synthesizer
*Robert Sonnier - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Maracas, Tambourine (Tracks 4, 6)
Significant music from a band's long career The 20 songs on this album are significant parts of Downchild's long history as a group that's often described as 'Canada's blues band*—an ongoing institution that still brings rockin' good times to stages across Canada, and, more frequently these days, in the United States as well.
The two albums from which these songs have been taken—neither of them previously released on CD—were recorded 12 years apart, but demonstrate the remarkable consistency that has marked the band's work since its foundation in the late '60s.
“It's Been So Long”, from which the first nine tunes are taken, was the band's return to the studio in 1987 after a five-year absence from recording—caused in part by the healing process necessary following the death of pianist Jane Vasey in 1982. Vasey had been with Downchild for nine years before she died, and her successors included Gene Taylor (who later left to join The Fabulous Thunderbirds) and Mike Fonfara, heard here as a hired session man (on organ) and later to join the band on piano.
More horn-driven than previous Downchild albums, “It's Been So Long” marked the final appearance on record of Tony Flaim, who left shortly afterward, following a lengthy period as the band's singer. It also marked the first appearances with the group of Pat Carey on tenor sax; both he and Mike Fonfara, a decade later, are still proud to be Downchild members. Other participants on the sessions that produced the first nine songs on this album include Mike McKenna, the one-time co-leader of McKenna Mendelson Mainline, and currently leading his own band, Sidewinder, and drummer Sonny Bernard!, a veteran of the classic lineup of Crowbar.
The centre of the music that comprised It's Been So Long is, of course, Donnie Walsh himself; not only did he write almost all the tunes he plays solid guitar throughout. He also offers some spectacular harp solos, particularly on Bop 'Til I Drop (for which there was a video featuring, among others, Ronnie Hawkins) and on Off the Cuff, a roaring instrumental that still has its place in Downchild's live performances. Speculation about the autobiographical content of both Bop 'Til I Drop and Don't Mind Dyin' is probably pointless, but there is little doubt that when the album was released on Stony Plain, it signaled an upturn in the band's fortunes—and was a welcome return after five years away from the studios.
“Ready To Go” was originally recorded in the summer of 1975 and released by CRT of Canada, a label under the direction of Ross Reynolds (now president of Universal Music in Canada) that had seen considerable success with the upfront marketing of music by the likes of Lighthouse and a variety of other Canadian artists. The tracks were recorded in RCA's Mutual Street studios in Toronto, the same space in which Moe Koffman had recorded Swinging Shepherd Blues and Stomping Tom Connors had cut such gems as Sudbury Saturday Night and Bud the Spud The band at the time was at the height of its popularity, touring across Canada playing for major crowds in clubs from Halifax to Vancouver.
Walsh was playing savage slide guitar (check The Slide for a sample), followed by the sort of harp instrumental that drove dancers into a frenzy (as on Do the Parrott, named after the studio's chief engineer). The band also had another star in Jane Vasey, the diminutive blonde pianist who romped her way through set after set with aplomb and a smile that melted hearts from coast to coast. Dave Woodward, later to move to the west coast to join the Powder Blues Band, was the horn player, while Jim Milne, one of the original members
when the band started in 1969, teamed with drummer Bill Bryans to form a solid rhythm section.
Bryans, of course, was later to go on to fame as the co-leader, co-writer and drummer of The Parachute Club, whose anthemic song Rise Up was one of the biggest Canadian hits of the '80s. Here, then, are two snapshots of Canada's best blues band, taken a decade apart—both illustrating perfectly Downchild's commitment to the music, their warm sense of humor, and the optimistic spirit the band still brings to its work.
by Richard Flohil
Tracks It's Been So Long 1987
1. Bop'til I Drop - 3:17
2. Where Have You Gone - 3:37
3. It's Been So Long - 3:25
4. Who'll Do The Leavin' (Tony Flaim) - 4:05
5. My Baby, She's Alright (Tony Flaim) - 3:40
6. Don't Mind Dyin' - 4:22
7. Not This Time - 3:07
8. Bring It On Back - 3:07
9. Off The Cuff – 5:35 Beady To Go 1975
10. One More Chance - 2:21
11. Rock Me Baby (B.B.King) - 3:39
12. The Slide - 2:54
13. Do The Parrott - 2:41
14. Lazy Woman - 3:12
15. My Baby - 3:24
16. Caldonia (Fleecie Moore) - 3:10
17. My Aching Heart - 3:24
18. Downchild Snuffle - 3:50
19. Heart Fixing Business (H. Banks, A. Jones) - 3:52
20. Old Ma Bell – 3:11
All songs by Don Walsh except where stated
Downchild Blues Band It's Been So Long 1987
*Don Walsh - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
*Tony Flaim - Vocals
*Mike Mckema - Guitar
*Dennis Pinhorn - Bass, Vocals
*Paul Nixon - Drums, Vocals
*Sonny Bernardi - Drums, Vocals
*Pal Carey - Saxophones
*Bob Heslin - Trumpet
*Ray Harrison, Gene Taylor - Piano
*Mike Fonfara - Organ Beady To Go 1975
*Don Walsh - Harmonica, Guitar, Slide Guitar
*Tony Flaim - Vocals
*David Woodward - Tenor Sax
*Jane Vasey - Piano
*Jim Milne - Bass
*Bill Bryans - Drums
Steve Young was born on 12th July 1942 in Newnan, Georgia. Genetically a mix of Native American [Cherokee on his father side] and European stock, Young was raised in the fundamentalist Baptist church but in later life openly embraced Zen Buddhism. In search of employment his parents moved around the southern states as Steve was growing up, and they lived variously in Georgia, Alabama and Texas. By the time Young graduated from high school in Beaumont, Texas he was already composing songs. Those songs were a marriage of folk, country, gospel and blues influences. Following graduation from high school, Young returned to Alabama where he quickly established a name for himself in local venues. During the early 1960’s he also spent time in Greenwich Village, arriving pretty much concurrently with the kid from Hibbing, Minnesota. Returning briefly to Alabama, Steve subsequently settled in California where he was a mailman as well as working with the then ‘unknowns’ Stephen Stills and Van Dyke Parks in the band The Gas Company. Although they received offers to make a recording, they rejected them all. Young went on to join the folk/country band Stone Country, and their only self-titled album on RCA Victor Records surfaced in 1968.
When Stone Country broke up, Young once again began working as a solo act and signed his first solo recording deal with Alpert and Moss’ A&M Records. The session players on this Tommy Li Puma produced label debut “Rock, Salt & Nails” – which took its name from a Utah Phillips’ song - included Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon and Gram Parsons. The album was reissued in the U.K. by Demon Records during 1986. “Seven Bridges Road” [1971] was initially released by Reprise Records, and resurfaced two years later on the Blue Canyon label, and in 1981 on Rounder Records. While the foregoing versions all featured ten tracks, albeit that the latter reissue included a new recording of the opening, album title song, there have been a number of enhanced versions released in recent decades. In 1991 the German Big Ear imprint issued a fifteen track version housed in a galvanised steel box, while the Korean Beatball imprint issued a twenty-one track version during 2005. Young’s most covered song is “Seven Bridges Road,” with versions cut by Joan Baez, Rita Coolidge, Iain Matthews, Ricochet, Dolly Parton and more. The Eagles enjoyed a chart hit with a live version of the song during 1980.
The late Waylon Jennings cut Young’s “Lonesome, On’ry And Mean” and the song furnished the title of the Texan’s 1973 RCA Victor album which he co-produced with Ronny Light. “Honky Tonk Man” first appeared on Mountain Railroad Records and was reissued during 1984 by Rounder Records, while a CD version surfaced on the Drive label during 1995. During 1975 Steve appeared in the James Szalapski directed ‘new country’ music documentary “Heartworn Highways.” Young returned to the RCA Victor label during the mid nineteen seventies and cut the albums “Renegade Picker” and “No Place To Fall.” The latter albums were reissued as a 2CD set during 2000. As I noted earlier Rounder Records reissued “Seven Bridges Road” during 1981 and the same year the label released a new Steve Young recording “To Satisfy You.” To date “Look Homeward Angel” has only appeared on the Swedish label Mill Records as a vinyl edition, while the eight-song synth heavy collection “Long Time Rider” was initially released on cassette by the Nashville imprint Golden Chain, and three years later on CD by the German Voodoo label. The album was reissued once again, initially, as a 500 copy, numbered limited edition CD by the Melbourne, Australia label Afterburn Records during the Fall of 2008.
During the years Steve lived in Austin, he cut two albums for the now defunct local imprint, Watermelon Records. They were respectively titled “Solo/Live” – recorded live at Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant in Houston, Texas - and the Steven Soles produced studio collection “Switchblades Of Love.” Following a half decade long silence, in the States, Appleseed Recordings issued “Primal Young.” A mix of new Young compositions and cover songs, the album was produced by J.C. Crowley. Featuring new recordings of previously released material “Songlines Revisited – Vol. 1” was released by Starry Pyramid Records, while the six song “Australian Tour EP 2007” - a compilation of live cuts and previously released studio tracks - is self-explanatory by its title. Also a Starry Pyramid Records release “Stories Round The Horseshoe Bend” featured a November 2006 live performance by Steve at the Pioneer Pavilion in Youngstown, Ohio.
During his career Steve has variously lived in acknowledged music towns like Nashville and Austin, although he currently makes his home in California. Similarly he has toured the world, with concert appearances in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, Mongolia, Egypt, East Africa and more. Jubal Lee Young, Steve’s son is also singer/songwriter, and to date has released two albums “Not Another Beautiful Day” [2006] and “Jubal Lee Young” [2007] both produced by Thomm Jutz, who co-produced “Songlines Revisited – Vol. 1.”
by Arthur Wood
Tracks
1. Magnolias - 4:19
2. Woman Don't Weep - 3:36
3. This Wheel's On Fire (Bob Dylan) - 2:50
4. Rock, Salt And Nails (Bruce 'Utah' Phillips) - 3:42
5. Holler In The Swap - 3:49
6. Kenny's Song (Kenny Austin) - 4:07
7. That's How Strong My Love Is (Roosevelt Jamison) - 3.38
8. I'm A One Woman Man - 2:14
9. My Sweet Love Aint Around (Hank Williams) - 2:53
10.Seven Bridges Road - 3:22
11.The White Trash Song - 3:11
12.Lonesome On'ry And Mean - 3:30
13.Ragtime Blue Guitar 2:45
14.Long Way To Hollywood - 3:49
15.Montgomery In The Rain - 4:08
16.Ramblin' Man (Hank Williams) - 3:39
17.Honky Tonk Man (J.Hortorn, T. Franks, H. Hausey) - 2:16
18.Alabama Highway - 4:52
19.Renegade Picker - 3:09
20.Old Memories (Mean Nothing To Me) - 3.16
21.All Her Lovers Want To Be The Hero - 3:25
22.Dreamer - 3.40
All songs written by Steve Young except where indicated
Those in tune with being transported through music will want to station themselves near the speakers for Motivation Radio. Call it the "light side of the moon," this album draws the listener into its own astral plane with a glossy and gauzy sound similar to Pink Floyd without the darkness, or Alan Parsons Project without the dorkiness. The new age/space ideology isn't far removed from Gong's original alternate reality (remember the Octave Doctors?), spelled out best during the album's true point of transmigration, "Saucer Surfing." Hillage's guitar work is typically transcendent, Giraudy's keyboards a vital component (note the Doctor Who-isms of "Searching for the Spark"), and Joe Blocker's drums a frequent breath of change. Steve Hillage doesn't have the vocal presence to reach out to listeners; at best, he can meet them halfway.
Motivation Radio works as well as it does because it draws listeners to that halfway point (and beyond), steering them with spiritual signposts and rewarding them with rapturous music. It's a remarkably smooth journey, more accessible than L, if equally cosmic. Again, it was an idiomatic cover tune, "Not Fade Away," that became the single; though an odd way to end the record, it wouldn't have made any sense in the middle. The rest of the record is a contiguous collection of music. So tune in and bliss out.
by Dave Connolly
Tracks
1. Hello Dawn - 2:49
2. Motivation - 4:10
3. Light In The Sky - 4:11
4. Radio - 6:13
5. Wait One Moment - 3:20
6. Saucer Surfing - 4:20
7. Searching For The Spark - 5:31
8. Octave Doctors - 3:33
9. Not Fade Away (Glid Forever) (Norman Petty, Glen Hardin)- 3:28
10.Leylines To Glassdom (Tonto's Version) - 2:52
11.The Salmon Song (Original Power Trio Backing Track) - 9:12
12.The Golden Vibe (Alternative Mix) - 2:50
Music by Steve Hillage, Lyrics by Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, unless as else stated
David Givens met Candy Ramey in Aspen, Colorado in the fall of 1967 while Candy was performing with a local jug band. Impressed by Candy’s performing abilities and charisma, David got a band together to play jobs in Aspen, and they quickly began rehearsing material with Candy while she was still in the jug band. Their paths crossed once with Tommy Bolin during a jam set up by a mutual friend, but they didn’t hook up with Tommy for real until later.
David and Candy married in 1968, then moved to Boulder and started working in a band called Brown Sugar. Tommy and John Faris arrived in the fall of 1968 with their band Ethereal Zephyr, which they had formed after Tommy’s return from a short stint away from Denver to Cincinnati. Tommy’s influences at the time were Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, and a wide range of older rock and blues. He was very fond of Wes Montgomery’s guitar work, having worked on playing octave runs as far back as A Patch of Blue. Faris was well versed in music theory, and introduced Tommy to jazz greats such as John Coltrane. Also during this period Tommy was learning more about blues playing from Denver musician Otis Taylor, whose modern take on the blues and beyond is currently enjoying a high degree of respect in critical circles.
According to David Givens, Tommy jammed with Brown Sugar at a one of their regular Wednesday night gigs in Boulder at the Buff Room, and the results were so inspiring that within a few weeks they played again with Tommy, John Faris and an unidentified drummer. They then decided to break up their current bands and reform with a new drummer. Otis Taylor recommended Robbie Chamberlin, and a jam at the Folklore Center in Denver resulted with Chamberlin welcomed to the drum chair. With the firm lineup intact, they dropped the "Ethereal" from the name of Tommy and John’s band and became Zephyr.
In September, 1970 the band went into Electric Lady Studios in New York City to start recording their second album with famous engineer/producer Eddie Kramer at the helm. They were now signed with Warner Brothers, as Probe had folded. Kramer had worked with some of the top names in rock, such as Led Zeppelin and especially Jimi Hendrix, with whom Kramer had an extremely productive relationship. The sessions for the second album, Going Back to Colorado, were marred by Kramer’s distraction due emotional fallout following the death of Hendrix as well as a climactic romance with Carly Simon. The sessions for the album wrapped in October, and the album was released in January, 1971.
Going Back to Colorado was in many ways an improvement over Zephyr, in large part due to better presentation of Candy’s vocals, but it still wasn’t the commercial breakthrough that the band was hoping for. Both are extremely valuable and engaging documents, however, to fans of Tommy and of musical power and adventure. Going Back to Colorado is more song-oriented and polished, while Zephyr offers more raw exposure to Tommy’s guitar work.
Whatever difficulties Tommy faced during the recording of the album were mitigated by the important contacts he was making with important fusion musicians such as Jeremy Steig and Jan Hammer, who would soon play major roles in Tommy’s successful move into fusion.
by John Herdt
Tracks
1. Going Back To Colorado (Tommy Bolin, J. Tesar, Candy Givens) - 4:15
2. Miss Libertine (Candy Givens, David Givens) - 3:19
3. Night Fades Softly (David Givens) - 3:20
4. The Radio Song (David Givens) - 2:30
5. See My People Come Together (Tommy Bolin) - 6:06
6. Showbizzy (Tommy Bolin) - 2:30
7. Keep Me (Tommy Bolin, J. Tesar) - 4:20
8. Take My Love (John Faris) - 4:16
9. I'll Be Right Here (Tommy Bolin) - 4:26
10.At This Very Moment (Candy Givens) - 5:55
