Doug Ashdown - The Age Of Mouse (1970 australia, prominent folk psych with spiritual citations, 2005 issue)

Adelaide-born Doug Ashdown was an early starter in music. At the age of ten, he was given a banjo which he learned to play by ear. By seventeen he had travelled to England, where he played in a rock band, returning to Adelaide the following year and working as lead guitarist in The Bowmen with Bobby Bright (who became famous as one half of pioneering beat duo Bobby & Laurie).

Doug's first major break came when he signed with CBS. They released his first single "Guess I'm Doing Fine" (1965), and over the next three years he recorded three albums for them, beginning with This Is Doug Ashdown in 1965. Doug's second album The Real Thing (1966) contained an eclectic range of local and overseas material, including The Beatles' "Hide your love away", Roebuck "Pop" Staple's "Ain't that news", Paul Simon's "Sounds of Silence", "I Know A Girl" by Adelaide singer-songwriter Phli Sawyer (whose 1971 Sweet Peach album Childhood's End has become one of the rarest and most collectible Australian progressive LPs) and Gary Shearston's "Sometime Lovin'", the song that was heard and recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary and led to Gary being invited to the USA. Doug's third album Source (1968) was his last for CBS, but by decade's end, he was an accomplished performer, songwriter and recording artist, and a leading light on the Australian folk scene.

After his CBS contract expired Doug released two solo singles on Philips, "Something Strange" (1968) and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On/Marcie" (1969). The latter, which was a chart hit in Adelaide and is quite a remarkable record, as well as being a wild digression from Doug's usual style and a veyr funny record. In several respects -- the deliberate lo-fi sound, the deadpan vocal, and the concept of creating a satirical studio deconstruction of a rock’n’roll classic -- this single strikingly anticipates the work of Britain’s Flying Lizards almost a decade later. It has been anthologised on the Datura Dreamtime bootleg CD compilation but really deserves wider recognition.

In 1969 Doug joined forces with expatriate Irish singer, songwriter and producer Jimmy Stewart who had recently formed the Sweet Peach label. Stewart's first Australian success was as the producer of the one-off hit "Love Machine", recorded by the studio group Pastoral Symphony. 

Based in Adelaide, Sweet Peach released music by Fraternity, Levi Smith's Clefs and Lee Conway; Doug's 1970 single "I've come to save your world" was the first issued on the new label. Shortly after its formation, Sweet Peach became involved with The La De Das, and in mid-1968 Stewart reportedly approached them with an offer to record and release their long-cherished project for a concept album based on Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince. The band undertook numerous rehearsals in preparation for recording but as the year wore on Sweet Peach repeatedly arranged sessions and then postponed them, and by November 1968 the label had pulled out altogether and the deal collapsed.

Doug's fourth album, his first for Sweet Peach, was The Age Of Mouse which earned him a place in the history books as the first double album of original material ever released in Australia, almost two years before Spectrum's Milesago. Like many of the Sweet Peach releases it is now highly collectible and Doug has wryly commented that the prices currently being asked on the Internet are more than he was paid to record it! The songs were co-written with Jimmy Stewart, and the instrumental backing was provided by members of Levi Smith's Clefs, who were about to split from lead singer Barrie McAskill and form Fraternity.

Sweet Peach lifted three Singles — "The Day They Freed The Noise", "The Saddest Song Of All" and "And The Lion Roared", all released during 1970. The first two Singles were local chart successes, and the album gained considerable critical acclaim. As a result, it was picked up by MCA for overseas release in fifty countries. Doug recorded a live LP to follow up, but by that time The Age Of Mouse had generated enough interest in the USA to prompt Doug and Jimmy to move there.

Despite these succeses, Doug was unable to crack the US market, so Jimmy and Doug returned to Australia where they set up a new label, own Billingsgate. Stewart produced Doug's next album entitled Leave Love Enough Alone (1974). The album produced two Singles, "They Always Seem To Look Like Marianne", and the album's evocative title track, co-written by Doug and Jimmy Stewart during a bitter winter in Nashville. "Leave Love Enough Alone" was released in September 1974 and received some airplay, but neither it nor its predecessor made the charts at the time.

Miles-Ago

Tracks
1. Who Is It That Shall Come One Day - 2:37
2. I've Come To Save Your World - 3:43
3. The Day They Freed The Noise - 4:30
4. California Beachhead - 0:52
5. And The Lion Roared - 2:32
6. Galilee - 2:56
7. Who Is It That Shall Come One Day - 3:12
8. The Race - 4:35
9. Susan Of The Straw - 3:22
10.I Remembered Alice - 3:23
11.Mother Love - 1:40
12.Holly - 2:37
13.Have You Had A Good Day At The Bank - 2:42
14.The Saddest Song Of All - 4:54
Words and Music by Doug Ashdown, Jimmy Stewart

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American Flyer - American Flyer / Spirit Of A Woman (1976-77 us, wonderful orchestrated silk rock, George Martin production with Steve Katz, Doug Yule, Craig Fuller and Eric Kaz, 2003 remaster)

American Flyer has long been a favorite of singer/songwriter, L.A. country-rock, and '70s soft rock aficionados, partially because of the group's supergroup status, but chiefly because the music they made was very, very good. That pedigree was indeed impressive, with the four members consisting of former Pure Prairie League member Craig Fuller, Eric Kaz of the Blues Magoos, Doug Yule of the Velvet Underground, and Steve Katz, formerly of Blood, Sweat & Tears -- maybe not Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in terms of marquee name recognition, but surely a collection of gifted and respected singer/songwriters who complemented each other nicely. While they had some modest success with their George Martin-produced 1976 eponymous debut, they had a difficult time breaking into a larger audience, even though their music fit neatly into the L.A. soft rock scene, equal parts country-rock and tuneful popcraft. 

While American Flyer didn't storm up the charts, it was a promising start, but unfortunately its self-produced (with Ken Friesen) 1977 follow-up, Spirit of a Woman, made even less of an impact, and the bandmembers went their separate ways afterward (Fuller & Kaz cut an impressive album the next year for Columbia). Although they didn't make much of an impression at the time, the two albums, particularly the debut, continued to be favorites of record collectors and singer/songwriter fans, and as time passed, their lack of success seemed all the more bewildering, since as the albums aged, it became clear that the music more than held its own with the more successful Californian soft rock of the time. 

Song for song, each of the records is stronger than any Eagles album, and as lushly melodic as the best America songs, while being more consistent than those groups' albums as well. And if their rocking side is subdued on both albums -- something that Yule mentions in Richie Unterberger's liner notes, along with his dissatisfaction with Martin's lush production, which may not have quite jibed with the band's vision, but did result in a classic L.A. soft rock production all the same -- they had the musical facility and songwriting strengths to compensate for this perceived weakness.

American Flyer had many other strengths, particularly in how all four members had songs so melodic that the sweetness camouflaged the sturdiness of the writing, which is uniformly excellent. If the first album is cloaked in George Martin's lush arrangements, reminiscent of his work with America but not as heavy-handed, the second is a little studio-pro slick, whether it's on the gilded ballads or hints of easy boogie, but it's very appealing all the same. The two sounds complement each other; they're two sides of the same soft rock coin on this superb CD from Collectors' Choice that pairs both albums on one disc. For too long, these albums have been hard to find, so fans of country-rock and soft rock only had to rely on their reputation. This two-fer reveals that their reputation is well-earned, and that American Flyer, despite their lack of success, made some of the best music in their style during the late '70s. As a follow-up, Collectors' Choice should reissue the 1978 Fuller & Kaz album, which is the equal in every way to these two excellent records.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracks
1. Light Of Your Love (Craig Fuller, Eric Kaz) - 2:54
2. Such A Beautiful Feeling (Eric Kaz) - 3:13
3. Back In '57 (Steve Katz) - 3:26
4. Lady Blue Eyes (Doug Yule) - 3:14
5. Let Me Down Easy (Craig Fuller, Eric Kaz) - 2:37
6. M (Steve Katz) - 3:51
7. The Woman In Your Heart (Craig Fuller) - 4:12
8. Love Has No Pride (Eric Kaz, Libby Titus) - 3:31
9. Queen Of All My Days (Doug Yule) - 2:50
10.Drive Away (Eric Kaz) - 2:31
11.Call Me, Tell Me (Craig Fuller) - 2:36
12.End Of A Love Song (Eric Kaz, George Martin) - 0:58
13.Spirit Of A Woman (Craig Fuller, Eric Kaz) - 2:32
14.Gamblin' Man (Eric Kaz) - 3:57
15.My Love Comes Alive (Eric Kaz) - 2:39
16.Victoria (Steve Katz) - 3:18
17.Dear Carmen (Craig Fuller, Eric Kaz) - 4:08
18.I'm Blowin' Away (Eric Kaz) - 2:33
19.Flyer (Doug Yule) - 4:23
20.The Good Years (Steve Katz) - 4:17
21.Keep On Tryin' (Eric Kaz) - 3:18

The American Flyer
*Craig Fuller - Vocals, Guitar
*Doug Yule - Vocals, Guitar
*Eric Kaz - Vocals, Piano, Keyboards
*Steve Katz - Vocals, Guitar
With
1976 American Flyer
*Larry Carlton - Guitar
*Fred Beckmeier - Bass
*Byron Berline - Fiddle, Violin
*Gary Coleman - Percussion
*Vincent Derosa - French Horn
*Earl Dumler - Oboe
*Scott Edwards - Bass
*Leland Sklar - Bass
*Alvin "Red" Taylor - Drums
*Ernie Watts - Saxophone
*Rusty Young - Steel Guitar
1977 Spirit Of A Woman 
*Whitey Glan - Drums
*Prakash John - Bass
*Bobby Keys - Horn
*Jerry Scheff - Bass
*Ben Mink - Guitar, Violin, Mandolin
*Alan Macmillan - Strings Arrangement
*Tracy Nelson - Vocals
*Linda Ronstadt - Vocals
*Jerry Scheff - Vocals
*J.D. Souther - Vocals
*Sylvia Tyson - Vocals

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Cold Blood - Vintage Blood Live (1973 us, unique brass rock in' soul)

“East Bay Funk” is a musical amalgam created in the early seventies on the other end of the Bay bridge from San Francisco by, primarily two musical progenitors: Tower Of Power and Cold Blood. The fat and sassy soul sounds they offered up served to shock the San Francisco music scene out of the psychedelic sixties! In fact, for a while, their horn sections seemed to play a game of musical chairs. 

What set the band apart was powerhouse lead vocalist. Tower of Power kept searching, working their way through a series of fine lead singers. However, Cold Blood’s secret ammunition was they had one in their pocket from the gate:  Lydia Pense! “Vintage Blood” showcases a world-class soul singer who takes a back seat to non of the better known ladies of a song. After one listen, you’ll agree that soul divas like Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight had better make some room on the stage for one Lydia Pense.

Cold Blood has delivered six studio efforts to the marketplace since their self-titled debut in 1969. Curiously though, “Vintage Blood” is the first time a live set has been presented. The band is captured in front of a small audience in an intimate studio setting. It’s 1973 and the band is obviously at the top of their game. 

In addition to the prowess and pyrotechnics found in the vocal delivery of their lead singer, the pair of Stacy Adams, laying down one funky groove after another. The instrumentalists soar as they stretch out their solos. Listen to the burning guitar work of Michael Sasaki. The horn section floats on the notes emanating from Skip Mesquite on tenor saxophone and Max Hasket and Jack Walrath on trumpet. 

There is something special going on here that has never been revealed in their studio efforts. Sit down if you can stand it, and dig what’s in the grooves! Ladies and Gentlemen, this is “East Bay Funk”.

by Jeff Hughson

Tracks
1. Feel So Bad (James Johnson, Leslie Temple) - 9:25
2. Kissin' My Love (Bill Withers) - 7:27
3. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (Billy Taylor, Richard Carroll Lamb) - 7:34
4. Funky On My Back (Cecil Stoltie, Danny Hull, Larry Field, Lydia Pense, Raul Matute, Rod Ellicott) - 12:21
5. You Got Me Hummin' (David Porter, Isaac Hayes) - 5:31

The Cold Blood
*Lydia Pense - Vocals
*Michael Sasaki - Guitar
*Gaylord Birch - Drums
*Rod Elliott - Bass
*Raul Matute - Keyboards
*Skip Meswuite - Saxophone
*Max Haskett - Trumpet
*Jack Walrath - Trumpet

1969-70  Cold Blood - Cold Blood / Sisyphus
1972  Cold Blood - First Taste Of Sin
1973  Cold Blood - Thriller

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Blood Sweat And Tears - Blood Sweat And Tears (1969 us, outstanding jazz rock, 2014 audio fidelity and 2016 SACD)

Blood, Sweat & Tears self-titled second album from 1969 is the latest Hybrid Layer Stereo Super Audio CD release from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.

Blood, Sweat & Tears marked the debut of David Clayton-Thomas as the lead singer of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears. “In 1969, faced with both the departure of founding member Al Kooper and the pressure created by the critical acclaim their debut Child Is The Father To Man had garnered, Blood Sweat and Tears stood tall and delivered with their 1969 self-titled sophomore release. Welcoming vocalist David Clayton-Thomas aboard, the band advanced beyond its R&B / Blues Project origins to create what can only be described as a masterpiece, culminating in a Grammy that same year for Album Of The Year.”

Utilizing Erik Satie’s Variations On a Theme to quietly open and close the album, in-between they mixed songs from exciting, contemporary writers; Laura Nyro – “And When I Die” Traffic’s “Smiling Phases” and Barry Gordy – “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”, with original material; “Spinning Wheel” and “Sometime In Winter”, creating virtually ‘greatest hits’ and concert staples with all. Engineered by legendary Columbia staffers Roy Halee and Fred Catero, the blend of jazz-pop arrangements with just a hint of classical, created a breakthrough recording that was constantly featured on radio for years.

High-Fidelity

Tracks 
1. Variations On A Theme (Erik Satie) - 2:34
2. Smiling Phases (Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi, Stevie Winwood) - 5:09
3. Sometimes In Winter (Steve Katz) - 3:09
4. More and More (Don Juan Mancha, Pee Vee) - 3:05
5. And When I Die (Laura Nyro) - 4:04
6. God Bless The Child (Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.) - 6:01
7. Spinning Wheel (David Clayton-Thomas) - 4:07
8. You've Made Me So Very Happy (Berry Gordy Jr., Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson) - 4:17
9. Blues Part II (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Eric Clapton, Willie Dixon, Al Kooper) - 11:44
10.Variations On A Theme  (Erik Satie) - 1:39
Tracks 1 and 10, 1st Movement, Adapted from "Trois Gymnopedies

Blood Sweat And Tears
*David Clayton-Thomas -  Vocals
*Steve Katz -  Guitar, Hamonica, Vocals
*Bobby Colomby -  Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*Jim Fielder -  Bass
*Fred Lipsius -  Alto Saxaphone, Piano
*Lew Soloff -  Trumpet, Fluegelhorn
*Chuck Winfield -  Trumpet, Fluegelhorn
*Jerry Hyman -  Trombone
*Dick Halligan -  Organ, Piano, Flute, Trombone, Vocals
*Alan Rubin -  Trumpet
*BS&T Soul Chorus -  Dick Halligan, Bobby Colomby
*Lucy Angle -  Footsteps

The Blood Sweat And Tears
1968  Child Is Father To The Man (2014 SACD)
1972  New Blood
1973  No Sweat
1974  Mirror Image
1975  New City
1976  More Than Ever
1968-76  Blood Sweat And Tears - The Complete Singles
Related Act
1972  David Clayton Thomas

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Cold Blood - Thriller (1973 us, lavish soulful funky jazz rock, 2005 remaster)

I consider some of the albums residing in my respectable but eclectic collection of vinyl records, deteriorating cassette tapes and CDs to be extraordinary not because the music is particularly unique or jaw-dropping spectacular but because over the years I’ve found myself pulling them out of my stacks for a spin more often than 99% of the rest. Cold Blood’s “Thriller!” has that distinction. It’s a record I’ll gladly choose to hear when I want to indulge in some quality big band-styled jazz/rock but it’s also one of those albums I’ll opt to play whenever I’m not sure of what mood I’m in, much less what music will appease my unspecified mindset. And that should speak volumes about it right there. When a guy like me who’s adored music since he was a child yet gets bored with the majority of albums after a few months of absorbing them avers that he’ll willingly listen to this baby on almost any occasion it must be good. It is.

By 1973 this Northern California-based outfit had cut and released three albums previously, each one a little better than the last. Despite that gradual improvement they had yet to produce the elusive smash hit single that would give them the boost of nationwide exposure, pushing them over the hump of being a cult favorite into the profitable waters of the mainstream. I don’t know this for sure but it seems to me that for this, their fourth issue, they decided to veer from their usual method of picking material and instead cover songs that had a proven pedigree instead of rolling the dice again with obscure numbers composed by band members, producers or staff writers. “Thriller!” is by no means a masterpiece but it certainly makes for a damn good listen. Of the seven tunes in the lineup, five are exceptional and that’s an impressive ratio if you ask me.

Unfortunately they begin with the runt of the litter, “Baby I Love You” by Jerry Ragavoy. Michael Sasaki’s funky chord riffing is soon joined by Raul Matute’s bubbling clavinet, Gaylord Birch’s drums and Rod Ellicott’s bass to establish a too-busy groove before their little fireball of a singer Lydia Pense enters backed by the effervescent Pointer Sisters. It’s all an intriguing combination but it fails to fulfill expectations due to a disconcerting lack of focus for most of its six-minute duration. Only in the track’s final segment does it find its true purpose and by then it’s too late. Don’t get discouraged, though. They redeem themselves with the next song, Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life.” Raul’s reverberating Rhodes paints a dreamy introduction to this terrific, timeless tune and Lydia’s sincere vocal suits the subtle big band arrangement perfectly. Matute’s aggressive electric piano ride is drenched in a sea of sometimes disorienting echo, lending a trippy edge to the song’s romantic atmosphere but the horn section keeps it well-grounded until Skip Mesquite’s fluttering flute solo gives it wings. I’ve always liked what they did with this classic and it has nothing to do with it being me and my first live-in girlfriend’s “special song.” I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die.

“Feel So Bad” is one of those tunes that sneaks up on you. They cleverly play with the downbeat at the beginning (a ploy that always piques my interest and consumes me until I triumphantly locate it and lock it down inside my head) and then the full, brassy horns lurking behind Pense’s husky voice slide in to give her solid support. And who among you can resist a line like “feel so bad/feel like a ballgame on a rainy day…”? Not me, brother. Michael’s guitar ride is devilish in its slinkiness just before the second movement starts wherein the underlying beat turns into a straight-as-an-arrow parade ground strut and the massive marching horn ensemble grows and grows until they’re a behemoth force of nature ravaging the landscape like an F5 tornado. You gotta hear it to believe it. Suddenly they drop back to the song’s original cool aura prior to confidently walking it right out the studio door and out of sight. Yowza. That’s how it’s done, folks. They follow it with a lukewarm rendition of Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel’s “Sleeping,” a smooth ballad with a nice acoustic piano foundation and one that features a fine mixture of horns and strings. Mesquite turns in a decent saxophone lead but the track is tardy in finding its momentum and Lydia’s overwrought vocal sounds like she’s trying a tad too hard to make up for that deficiency.

The album’s only instance of a tune from the mail room being promoted up the ladder to the band’s penthouse suite is Max Haskett’s spirited “Live Your Dream” and it deserves the recognition. The song’s perky shuffle will have you nodding your noggin to the beat and Raul’s fat, growling Hammond B3 gives the track a strong underpinning. Pense and the Pointer Sisters put hot pizzazz into the proceedings and the group’s beefy brass army is crisp and splendidly dynamic. I fell in love with Boz Scaggs’ awesome “I’ll Be Long Gone” the first time I heard it so they couldn’t have covered a better song as far as I’m concerned. Simply put, it’s a fantastic rendition of a fantastic tune and it contains one of the all-time poignant lines, “good luck with your past/’cause it wasn’t built to last/or we might take it differently…” Lydia’s passionate singing does it ample justice and Mesquite’s tenor sax ride is beautiful. ‘Nuff said. They end the album in eye-popping fashion by taking on the Bill Withers gem, “Kissing My Love.” 

This is one of my trusty “get off your duff and get with it” numbers that does the trick every time no matter how lazy I might be feeling at the moment. Birch’s opening drum attack kicks like a feisty mule in heat but the great thing is that they stay true to the original’s sly, funky drive. Yet it’s the gradual riotous uprising that occurs during the “put your foot on the rock and tap your foot, don’t stop” breakdown that makes me want to cut the nearest rug with my awkward white dude dance moves. The call & answer duel between Lydia and Skip is phenomenally scorching and the band’s feverish finale can get even an apathetic couch potato to involuntarily jump up and start “a’ bumpin’ and a’ skippin’.”

If you like loud-and-in-your-face horn sections, if you like Tower of Power or Blood, Sweat & Tears-ish jazz served up with a ton of attitude and if you like any of the aforementioned Wonder, Scaggs or Withers compositions then this is your ticket to paradise. Big band rock has all the ghastly appearances of being forgotten and left behind, buried in the weed-covered graveyard of popular music and that’s a tragedy. When performed properly it was a delight to my senses because it combined the classy air of jazz with the spunky charisma of rock & roll (two of my preferred genres). Therefore albums of this lofty caliber will always hold an esteemed spot in my heart. If you’re under the age of 45 or so and missed out on hearing what large, boisterous, horny groups like Cold Blood could conjure up in the jazz/rock room of your soul then I can’t recommend this album more emphatically. 

by Rollie Anderson 

Tracks
1. Baby I Love You (Jerry Ragovoy) - 6:08
2. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life (Stevie Wonder) - 7:36
3. Feel So Bad (James Johnson, Leslie Temple) - 7:15
4. Sleeping (Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson) - 5:14
5. Live Your Dream (Max Haskett) - 3:19
6. I'll Be Long Gone (Boz Scaggs) - 5:37
7. Kissing My Love (Bill Withers) - 6:03

The Cold Blood
*Lydia Pense - Vocals
*Gaylord Birch - Drums
*Rod Ellicott - Bass
*Max Haskett - Trumpet, Vocals
*Raul Matute - Keyboards
*Skip Mesquite - Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Vocals
*Michael Sasaki - Guitar
*Peter Welker - Trumpet, Fluegelhorn
Guests
*The Pointer Sisters - Background Vocals
*Mel Martin - Saxophone
*Bennie Maupin - Wind
*Michael Andreas - Saxophone
*Bill Atwood - Flute, Trumpet
*Paul Cannon - Guitar
*Bob Ferreira - Wind
*Larry Fields - Guitar
*John Newborn - Horn
*Pat O'Hara - Trombone
*Rigby Powell - Trumpet
*Holly Tigard - Vocals

1969-70  Cold Blood - Cold Blood / Sisyphus
1972  Cold Blood - First Taste Of Sin

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Analogy - Analogy (1972 italy / germany, ravishing prog krautrock, 2001 bonus track remaster)

Analogy, today one of Germany’s best-known bands in the field of melodic progressive rock, formed, as such, in the spring of 1972.

Martin Thurn (born 1950) had taught himself the first chords on the guitar. In early 1968 he started a band called No. Six in his hometown Bonn. After having moved, in the autumn of the same year, to Varese in northern Italy to attend an international school, he immediately formed a new band called Sons of Giove, together with a classmate and compatriot, Wolfgang Schoene (born 1950),  guitar and vocals, Roger Schmitt on bass and Jean-Claude Sibel from Belgium on drums. Bass player Thomas Schmidt (later head of Pell Mell) was also a temporary member of this outfit. Jutta Nienhaus (born 1953), Martin’s girlfriend, was a permanent companion of this band of students, playing many gigs as a singer in what was called “Jutta & Martin”.

Sons of Giove disbanded in late 1969 after some gigs including a show with “I Cuccioli”, but a new band, The Joice, was formed immediately afterwards in early 1970. The line-up consisted of Martin Thurn (guitar), Jutta Nienhaus (vocals), her brother Hermann-Jürgen “Mops” Nienhaus (born 1952) on drums, and the only Italian in an otherwise German band, Mauro Rattaggi (born 1952), formerly with the Riverboys, on bass.

They were fortunate enough to land a management contract immediately, which lead to numerous gigs in northern Italy and southern Switzerland and enabled them to buy a proper P.A. and new instruments. In September of the same year, Wolfgang Schoene joined again on rhythm guitar.

During a gig in a Milan suburb around Easter 1971, Antonio Cagnola, a businessman from Monza, who had just founded the small Dischi Produzioni 28 label, approached the band. His family owned, and still owns, the Microwatt record-printing factory in Vimercate near Monza and therefore had good connections to many Italian music businesses, including the probably largest distribution company, Messagerie Musicali (later to be taken over by CBS).

In early May, the band recorded two tracks as a demo, “God’s own land” and “Hey Joe”, in a Milan studio, but the quality was so bad that nothing came of it. Shortly afterwards, Jutta recorded a single with a singer named Ice (of a band called Alta Società), which was released mainly to serve the juke-box circuit.

The Joice finally signed a recording contract with Produzioni 28, which guaranteed them the freedom of determining their own music. For the moment, however, the band continued gigging almost uninterruptedly.

On a beautiful summer evening on 28 June 1971, The Joice played an open-air festival near Arona (Lago Maggiore), where Toad, the Swiss band, also appeared. During a free interpretation of sequences of Pink Floyd’s “Atom heart Mother”, the keyboarder of the previous band, Nicola Pankoff (born 1948), stepped onto the stage, put his organ, which was still standing there, into operation and played along with the band. Although they had never seen each other before, the music was wonderful. That was the beginning of a very productive 14-month co-operation as he joined the band the following day, turning it into a six-piece line-up.

In the same summer, they recorded two tracks written by Martin Thurn, which, especially in the lyrics, reflected the non-political spirit of the 1968 generation: “Sold out”/”God’s own land” (Produzioni Ventotto PRV 28009). It was released as a single shortly afterwards. The cover features, from left to right, Martin Thurn, Mauro Rattaggi, Wolfgang Schoene, Jutta Nienhaus, Nikola Pankoff and Hermann-Jürgen Nienhaus.

A printing mistake on the cover and the poster accidentally changed the name into Yoice, and the band decided to go the easy way and keep it. Thanks to clever distribution, the single was available all over Italy and the circulation probably reached five-digit figures. A large part of this success, however, was based on so-called juke-box promotion, a phenomenon almost typical of Italy, which meant that singles were produced exclusively for the juke-box circuit, without covers, sometimes featuring works of other bands on the B-side. Experts might therefore find singles featuring “God’s own land” on one and Ihre Kinder’s “The Dice” on the other side. These juke-box promotion singles are very much sought after by collectors.

At the end of 1971, Mauro Rattaggi was forced to leave the band because he had to start his compulsory military service in the Italian airforce, a very negative experience for him (and for everybody else at the time). As a result, Wolfgang Schoene switched over to bass.

In 2001, the German label Garden-of-Delights  (GOD CD059) published the first really legitimate CD of the first Analogy album on the market, again a master-tape version with a 36-page colour booklet. On top of that, a so-far unpublished bonus track has been added to this CD, recorded the morning after a “heavy” party, at a time when the band was in the process of dissolving. 

Analogy

Tracks
1. Dark Reflections (Martin Thurn) - 07:06
2. Weeping May Endure (Milton, Martin Thurn) - 04:53
3. Indian Meditation (Martin Thurn) - 04:22
4. Tin’s Song (Martin Thurn) - 01:41
5. Analogy (Analogy) - 09:50
6. The Years At The Spring (Robert Browning, Martin Thurn, Hermann Jürgen «Mops» Nienhaus) - 04:42
7. Pan Am Flight 249 (Martin Thurn, Hermann Jürgen «Mops» Nienhaus) - 05:18
8. Milan On A Sunday Morning (Bonus Track) (Analogy) - 06:06

The Analogy
*Hermann Jürgen «Mops» Nienhaus - Drums
*Jutta Nienhaus - Vocals
*Nicola Pankoff - Keyboards
*Wolfgang Schöne - Bass
*Martin Thurn - 12 String Acoustic, Electric Guitars, Flute, Bongos
*Rocco Abate - Flute

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The Moody Blues - The Magnificent Moodies (1964-66 uk, awesome beat rhythm and blues, 2014 anniversary deluxe double disc edition)

An album of scruffy gumption and R'n'B grit, The Magnificent Moodies doesn’t sound anything like the symphonic prog that hurtled the Moody Blues to fame. Instead, it reflected an up-and-coming five-piece still coming into their own, playing a selection of smart covers and not-quite-fully formed originals that reflected the Moody Blues’ stage show at the time.

Ray Thomas, John Lodge and Mike Pinder – the nucleus of the Moody Blues for years to come – were members of an earlier teen outfit called El Riot and the Rebels. That group disbanded when Lodge went to college. Pinder and Thomas then recruited future Wings star Denny Laine, Graeme Edge and the late bassist Clint Warwick to form the initial lineup of the Moody Blues, after a brief stint as the Krew Cats.

The Moody Blues appeared for the first time on stage in 1964, and released their debut, The Magnificent Moodies, in July 1965. Produced by ex-Decca A&R man Alex Wharton, the project was preceded by a scorching update of Bessie Banks’ 1964 single “Go Now,” which launched the Moody Blues to the top of the U.K. charts and a Top 10 Billboard finish.

Not that the band had those kind of lofty designs at first. “We were going through these singles, there were all sorts, and we came across ‘Go Now,'” Ray Thomas said in 2013, after an expanded reissue of Magnificent Moodies was announced. “It had Bessie Banks singing on it, which was a lot slower, a lot lighter, but we thought it was the right song. The Marquee [in London’s Soho district] was just starting to build their studio in the back of the club, and we said, ‘Can we go in and record it?’ and they said, ‘The studio is not finished, the control room is, but the builders are still in there.’ There were bags of plaster; there was ladders, spades, shovels, picks, scaffolding – you name it. So we said, ‘Oh, we’ll go in after the workmen are finished for the day.’ And so we went in at night and recorded it. If you saw us climbing out of the bloody building material to get to the microphone and all this – but you know, it worked out.”

In fact, “Go Now” remains the Moodies’ lone chart-topping smash, but it couldn’t hold the group together. The Magnificent Moodies, which was rounded out with covers of songs by James Brown, the Gershwin brothers and four new originals by the team of Laine and Pinder, didn’t perform very magnificently at all. While it reached No. 5 on the New Musical Express chart, the album was completely ignored in the U.S.

A string of similarly unsuccessful singles followed, as the U.K.’s R&B craze faded. Within the year, both Denny Laine and Clint Warwick had departed, leading to the arrival of Justin Hayward and a return by John Lodge. By 1967, they’d rebuilt their sound, too. The platinum-selling Days of Future Passed placed the Moody Blues at the leading edge of the looming progressive-rock movement. “Justin is a good ballad singer,” Thomas said. “I don’t think we would have had the success that we ended up having if we hadn’t changed.”

by Nick DeRiso

Tracks

Disc 1

1. I'll Go Crazy (James Brown) - 2:11

2. Something You Got (Chris Kenner) - 2:52

3. Go Now (Larry Banks, Milton Bennett) - 3:12

4. Can't Nobody Love You (Phillip Mitchell) - 4:02

5. I Don't Mind (James Brown) - 3:27

6. I've Got A Dream (Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry) - 2:52

7. Let Me Go - 3:13

8. Stop - 2:06

9. Thank You Baby - 2:29

10.It Ain't Necessarily So (DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) - 3:21

11.True Story - 1:45

12.Bye Bye Bird (Sonny Boy Williamson) - 2:53

13.Lose Your Money (But Don't Lose Your Mind) - 1:59

14.Steal Your Heart Away (Bobby Parker) - 2:14

15.Go Now! (First Version) (Larry Banks, Milton Bennett) - 3:49

16.It's Easy Child (Gene Redd, Milton Bennett, Sue Sandler) - 3:13

17.I Don't Want To Go On Without You (Bert Berns, Jerry Wexler) - 2:46

18.Time Is On My Side (Jerry Ragovoy) - 3:03

19.From The Bottom Of My Heart (I Love You) - 3:26

20.And My Baby's Gone - 2:22

21.Everyday - 1:49

22.You Don't (All The Time) - 2:22

23.Boulevard De Madelaine.2:55

24.This Is My House (But Nobody Calls) - 2:35

25.People Gotta Go - 2:35

26.Life's Not Life - 2:35

27.He Can Win - 2:24

All songs by Denny Laine,  Mike Pinder except where noted

Tracks 1-12 Original Album

Disc 2
1. Go Now! (Second Version) (Larry Banks, Milton Bennett) - 3:53
1. Lose Your Money  (But Don't Lose Your Mind)  (Early Version) - 2:04
3. Steal Your Heart Away (First Version) (Bobby Parker) - 2:20
4. I'll Go Crazy (First Version) (James Brown) - 2:11
5. You Better Move On (Arthur Alexander) - 3:59
6. Can't Nobody Love Me (First Version) (Phillip Mitchell) - 3:31
7. 23rd Psalm (Denny Laine,  Mike Pinder, Graeme Edge, Clint Warwick) - 2:33
8. Go Now (Larry Banks, Milton Bennett) - 2:33
9. I Don't Want To Go On Without You (Bert Berns, Jerry Wexler) - 2:44
10.I'll Go Crazy (James Brown) - 1:57
11.From The Bottom Of My Heart (I Love You) - 3:25
12.Jump Back (Rufus Thomas) - 2:42
13.I've Got A Dream (Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry) - 2:42
14.And My Baby's Gone - 2:16
15.It's Easy Child (Gene Redd, Milton Bennett, Sue Sandler) - 3:06
16.Stop - 1:57
17.Everyday - 1:40
18.Interview With Ray Thomas And Graeme Edge/ You Don't (all The Time) - 3:25
19.I Want You To Know - 1:52
20.Coca Cola Commercial 1965 (Denny Laine,  Mike Pinder, Graeme Edge, Clint Warwick) - 1:04
21.Sad Song - 2:20
22.This Is My House (But Nobody Calls) (First Version) - 2:46
23.How Can We Hang On To A Dream (First Version) (Tim Hardin) - 2:16
24.How Can We Hang On To A Dream (Remake) (Tim Hardin) - 2:21
25.Jago And Jilly - 2:44
26.We're Broken - 3:12
27.I Really Haven't Got The Time (September 1966 Version) (Mike Pinder) - 3:17
28.Red Wine - 2:59
29.This Is My House (But Nobody Calls) (Stereo Mix) - 2:25
All songs by Denny Laine,  Mike Pinder except where stated
Tracks 1-7 Previously Unreleased Sessions 1964-1966
Tracks 8-17 "Saturday Club" Sessions
Tracks 21-29 The 1966 Denny Cordell Sessions

The Moody Blues
*Denny Laine – Guitars, Harmonica, Vocals
*Mike Pinder – Piano, Vocals
*Clint Warwick – Bass, Vocals
*Ray Thomas – Maraccas, Flutes, Harmonica, Tambourine, Vocals
*Graeme Edge – Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*Rod Clark - Bass, Vocals (Disc 2, Tracks 24-28)

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Geoff Muldaur And Amos Garrett - Live In Japan (1979 us, essential blues folk rock)

Amos Garrett certainly is one of the most accomplished guitar player working today and yet Amos Garrett is legendary but not famous. Should be, like Ry Cooder or Mark Knopfler but isn’t. Ask Stevie Wonder, Chet Atkins, or any of ten dozen players (Richard Thompson, Robbie Robertson, Bobby Womack, BB King) who know that guitar invention is the mother of rock, soul & blues. Amos plays better one-handed on an off-night than most guitar players put together. His friends say it’s always been that way. Early in his career, Anne Murray hired him to play on the sessions that produced Snowbird. Even more importantly, Ian and Sylvia Tyson asked him to play with The Great Speckled Bird, which (along with The Byrds) was one of the very first country rock groups that changed the direction of pop music. From there, Amos went to Woodstock and recorded and toured with Maria Muldaur, Paul Butterfield’s Better Days, and the entire Bearsville Records stable.

A growing reputation as a studio player persuaded him to make the move to California, where he recorded with more than 150 other artists, from Jesse Winchester to Stevie Wonder, from Emmylou Harris to Bonnie Raitt, and Todd Rundgren to Martin Mull. His reputation as a guitar hero continued to spread, and in Canada he began to build a real following as an exciting and reliable club entertainer. Amos now makes his home in the foothills of Turner Valley, Alberta, Canada and is rarely seen without the company of his veteran band, which he named the Eh? Team. Kelly Jay Fordham (keyboards), Brian Pollock (bass), and Thom Moon (drums) know every twist and turn of his playing, and they give him incredibly heartfelt support. The new interest in Garrett’s work is also a result of his own recordings. His long-term relationship with Stony Plain Records, based in Edmonton, Alberta, has so far, created seven remarkably different albums. 

Geoff Muldaur is one of the great voices and musical forces to emerge from the folk, blues and folk-rock scenes centered in Cambridge, MA and Woodstock, NY. During the 1960's and '70's, Geoff made a series of highly influential recordings as a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and the Paul Butterfield's Better Days group, as well as collaborations with then-wife Maria and other notables (Bonnie Raitt, Eric Von Schmidt, Jerry Garcia, etc.). He left the stage and recording world in the mid-1980's for a working sabbatical but continued, however, to hone his craft, albeit 'flying beneath radar'. He composed scores for film and television, and produced off-beat albums for the likes of Lenny Pickett and the Borneo Horns and the Richard Greene String Quartet. Geoff's his definitive recording of "Brazil" provided the seed for - and was featured in - Terry Gilliam's film of the same title.

With his magical voice and singular approach to American music in tact, Geoff is once again touring the world. He performs in concert halls, performance spaces, clubs and festivals througout the US, Canada, Japan and Europe. Geoff may be heard from time to time as a guest on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on a variety of National Public Radio shows, including Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and The World with Lisa Mullins.

1979 found Geoff Muldaur and Amos Garrett touring Japan, a live set  at Shinjuku Loft, Tokyo, was recorded and released as an album, simply called "Live in Japan" they were backed up by two local musicians Yoshifumi Okajima on Bass and Hiroshi Sato on Keyboards. They played a mixture of fingerstyle blues, jazz, and jugband tunes. 

Tracks
1. Sloppy Drunk (Trad. Arr. by Geoff Muldaur) - 4:51
2. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You (Andy Razaf, Don Redman) - 3:27
3. Fishin' Blues (Henry Thomas) - 3:27
4. Hong Kong Blues (Hoagy Carmichael) - 3:42
5. Small Town Talk (Bobby Charles, Rick Danko) - 6:29
6. Why Should I Love You (Geoff Muldaur) - 5:39
7. Minglewood Blues (Gus Cannon) - 3:43
8. Lazy Bones (Hoagy Carmichael) - 8:07
9. Honeysuckle Rose (Andy Razaf, Fats Waller) - 4:22
10.C.C.Rider (Geoff Muldaur) - 5:21

Personnel
*Geoff Muldaur - Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Piano
*Amos Garrett - Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin
*Yoshifumi Okajima - Bass
*Hiroshi Sato - Keyboards

Related Acts
1970  Great Speckled Bird - Great Speckled Bird (2007 Japan bonus track remaster)
1971  Pearls Before Swine - Beautiful Lies You Could Live In
1971  Happy And Artie Traum - Double Back (Korean remaster)
1973  Paul Butterfield's Better Days - It All Comes Back (Japan extra track edition)
1973  Paul Butterfield's Better Days - Live At Winterland Ballroom (2014 issue)

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Galt MacDermot - Shapes Of Rhythm / Woman Is Sweeter (1966-69 canada, magical jazz funky psych vibes)

In a career packed with varying types of compositions, Galt MacDermot is still best-known for the music he wrote in the late-'60s Aquarian musical Hair. Born and raised in Montreal, MacDermot was the son of a Canadian diplomat. He studied at Bishop's University, then at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, before moving to New York in 1964. Three years later, MacDermot's music for Hair, combined with lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, made the show first an off-Broadway success, then a Broadway smash, and later a major motion picture. Of the several pop standards are "Let the Sunshine In," "Aquarius," "What a Piece of Work Is Man," "Good Morning Starshine," and the title song. In addition to the musicals, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Human Comedy, MacDermot composed ballet and film scores, chamber music, band repertory, and drama accompaniments. Also, he formed the New Pulse Jazz Band in 1979. 

by John Bush

This CD brings together two of MacDermot's original LPs, both of them released in the '60s -- one pre- and one post-Hair, one a session album and one a soundtrack, and both greasy in the future funk with cats like Idris Muhammad and Bernard Purdie laying down the beats behind the band. MacDermot is a driven pianist and organ grinder who sought one thing on these records: funky grooves. And he got them. Here's what's scary though: "Coffee Cold" (from Shapes of Rhythm) was recorded in 1966 -- prefiguring the rhythmic changes of James Brown's "Cold Sweat" in sequence and in key a full two years before Brown laid down his track. 

The feel of "Coffee Cold" is a bit whiter and smoother, but the jam is still an anthem, even with its cheese factor. MacDermot was a prophet of the groove that would overtake the late '60s and early '70s, and, were he a proud man, could have argued that more young musicians heard and took to heart the grooves he laid down in Hair than heard Allen Toussaint and Red Allen or Eddie Bo. The true feel of Shapes of Rhythm is like Vince Guaraldi's Schroeder laying out the piano funk, seeking the groove inside the rhythm section and laying it out there. It's tough if ornate and it shimmers with real heat. The other disc, a soundtrack for Martine Barrat's movie Woman Is Sweeter, is a much dirtier, rawer affair altogether, and would have been worth the price of the CD alone. 

Here guitars chunk up in the cut with the bass, and the piano floats in the accents as drums and bass reign supreme. This was recorded immediately after Hair, and MacDermot wasn't in the mood to simply lay out some incidental music to a hippie flick. He took it down to its essence: rhythm, polyrhythm, drums, bass, and filthy nasty funk at insanely fast -- for the time -- tempos that were in fact symbolic of the orgiastic nature of his compositions. This wasn't just sex music, this was group sex symphonic music made with only a handful of instruments. These two albums comprise 26 tracks of pure groove-driven genius, with a bonus vocal version of "Coffee Cold" that the producers go hog-wild over in their notes, but it pretty much sucks compared to the rest of this -- thank the gods they left it until the end. Yeah, you need this if you care about the influence of '60s groove at all. After all, Busta Rhymes did -- check out the sample of MacDermot's "Space" on the rapper's "Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check." 

by Thom Jurek

Tracks
Shapes Of Rhythm 1966
1. Lady, You Look Good To Me - 3:03
2. Farmland - 2:57
3. Coffee Cold - 3:25
4. Marsh Gas - 2:26
5. If Our Love Is Real - 3:02
6. Mouse Roared - 2:25
7. Tender Meeting - 2:43
8. M'Babam - 1:59
9. Field Of Sorrow - 3:55
10.Alive In Dar-Es-Salaam - 2:19
11.Spanish Nights - 2:26
12.I'm Through With You - 2:36

Woman Is Sweeter 1969
13.Tango - 4:02
14.Fragments 1A - 1:51
15.Fragments 1B - 2:58
16.Fragments II - 1:35
17.Bass - 2:12
18.Cathedral - 2:14
19.Woman Is Sweeter - 2:29
20.Moving Clothes - 2:23
21.Bathtub - 2:45
22.Radio Rock - 3:50
23.Princess Gika - 2:10
24.Merry-Go-Round - 2:54
25.Space - 1:54
26.Perfume Bottles - 2:08
27.Coffee Cold - 1:27
All compositions by Galt MacDermot

Musicians
Galt MacDermot and his Mid-Manhattan Rhythm Section Tracks 1-12
*Galt MacDermot - Piano
*Bernard Purdie - Drums
*Jimmy Lewis - Bass
*Napolean "Snag" Allen - Guitar
Tracks 13-26
*Galt MacDermot - Piano, Rockischord
*Bernard Purdie - Drums (Tracks 13-19)
*Idris Muhammad - Drums (Tracks 20-26)
*Jimmy Lewis - Bass
*Charlie Brown - Guitar, Violin
*Fergus MacRoy - Vocals
Unknown violin on "Princess Gika"

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Steve Tilston - An Acoustic Confusion (1971 uk, excellent acoustic folk rock, 2013 extra tracks edition)

"Lovingly remastered" is a phrase in danger of becoming a clich,, but in the case this re-release of Steve Tilston's first album, made in 1971, it is particularly apposite. Scenesof are based in Maine, USA, but they obviously share the unconditional admiration of these songs that Ian A. Anderson's Village Thing label displayed in pressing the original vinyl. And make no mistake, the ten songs of "Acoustic Confusion" (plus a couple of by-now obligatory "Previously Unreleased" studio demos from 1978) add up to what was probably described at the time as an extremely enjoyable listening experience. Still is!

Ranging from voice and guitar solos to all-systems-go harmonica, string bass, violin and extra guitar 'n' vocal pieces, "An Acoustic Confusion" shows surprising maturity in all three departments of our hero's chosen profession. The songs contain true poetic insight, the singing is assured and the guitar-playing, even then, is a source of wonder. As he hints at in the typically self deprecating insert-notes (worth the price of the album alone), time has not been kind to a couple of songs. "Peel Street" and "Rock and Roll Star" contain the kind of over-indulgence that twenty-nothings the world over are famous for, but there is compensation in spades. "Simplicity" could stand comfortably with his current work, while "Normandy Day" manages to absorb influences from Bob Dylan through to Nick Drake, distil them all and produce pure essence of Tilston.

As Steve's work has progressed, it has revealed successive layers of creativity, inventiveness and integrity. There is nothing on "An Acoustic Confusion" to cause embarrassment, and a great deal to be proud of. Wouldn't it be great if Scenesof were working on the difficult second album right now?

by Alan Rose 

Steve Tilston released a very nice and acclaimed s/sw album back in 1971 called "An acoustic Confusion". I especially liked the most melancholic romantism involved. I was very curious for his newer releases. Hearing this release was far above all expectations. I never expected a musician to gain so much in magic he already had, for magic is something unique which is rarely repeated or ever regained. This album not only is very exceptional, it even sound better or at least slightly matured comparing his debut album. 

It has reminiscences to Nick Drake, but even more likely you can compare it (-this is : the production and the arrangements, and the colour of the voice-) with the acoustic period of John Martyn, with the additional development of a wider range of guitar styles. "Tse Tse Fly Shuffle" as a guitar instrumental, contains finger picking from the same level as Bert Jansch during his Jack Orion period or Leon Kottke during his debut album. The album ends with an essential bonus track of 22 minutes, "Rhapsody", an interesting, beautifully composed and arranged Celtic folk suite, making this album even more recommended and a must to dig out.

Psych-Folk 

A letter from John Lennon to Steve Tilston in 1971, who actually received it 34 years later, inspired Hollywood screenwriters for the Danny Collins movie with Al Pacino in the main role.

Tracks
1. I Really Wanted You - 3:54
2. Simplicity - 3:43
3. Time Has Shown Me Your Face - 3:44
4. It's Not My Place To Fail - 3:59
5. Train Time - 3:33
6. Sleepy Time On Peel Street - 3:44
7. Prospect Of Love - 2:24
8. Green Toothed Gardener - 3:22
9. Normandy Day - 3:06
10.Rock & Roll Star - 4:50
11.The Price Of Life - 4:10
12.Show A Little Kindness - 5:00
13.Time Is Your Gaoler - 4:04
14.Here You Go Again - 3:20 
15.When I See Your Face Again - 2:45
All Music and Lyrics by Steve Tilston
Bonus tracks 11-12 demo recordings from 1978
Extra tracks 13-15 Live TV Perfomances from 1979

Musicians
*Steve Tilston - Guitar, Vocals
*Keith Warmington - Harmonica, Vocals
*John Turner - String Bass
*Pete Finch - Violin
*Dave Evans - Guitar, Vocals

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