If you're looking for a group that embodies that mid-'60s hippy vibe, then you should find the eclectic Bunky & Jake right up your aural alley. For goodness sakes, how much more counter culture can you get than a young Jewish singer/guitarist teaming with a young, attractive, streetwise African-American woman; the pair deciding to name their second album "L.A.M.F"
Allan Jacobs (aka Jake) and Andrea Skinner (aka Bunky) met in 1962 when the pair were attending New York's School of Visual Arts. Discovering a common interest in music (they'd both sung in New York doo-wop groups), the pair started playing on the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, attracting local attention. In 1965 Jacobs joined The Magicians who recorded a couple of singes before calling it quits. Following a brief turn with a late-inning line up of The Fugs in 1968 he resumed his partnership with Skinner. Later that year the pair auditioned some of their material for former Magicians managers Art Polhemus and Bob Wyld who signed on as their managers. With the addition of bassist Douglas Rauch and drummer Michael Rosa, in 1968 the group was signed by Mercury Records.
Co-produced by Polhemus and Wyld, 1969's "L.A. M.F." was clearly influenced by their doo-wop and folk music roots, but was far more eclectic than what you would have expected from a bunch of New York-based folkies. Interestingly, while Jacobs and Skinner both had decent voices (the former occasionally sounding a bit like a dry version of John Sebastian), with the exception of 'I Am the Light' their voices didn't pair all that well. The good news was their vocals were so energetic and the arrangements so goofy, that it made up for whatever other shortcomings they exhibited. Musically the set was all over the place, giving the album a very contemporary "Ameicana" feel. Tracks like 'Big Boy Pete' highlighted their doo-wop roots, but the pair were equally comfortable with gospel ('I Was a Champion'), and more commercial pop and rock numbers like 'Uncle Henry's Basement' and a blazing cover of Chuck Berry's '(Slow Down Little Jaguar) County Line'. About all I can say is the results are disjointed, but fascinating.
In 2004 the duo released a children's album Oo-Wee Little Children, on their own B'n'J Music label. Andrea Skinner died on Sunday, March 20, 2011 after a brief illness. In October 2012, Jacobs released a new collection of songs on a 16-song CD entitled A Lick and a Promise by Jake and the Rest of the Jewels.
Tracks
1. Uncle Henry's Basement (Allan Jacobs) - 2:09
2. If I Had A Dream (Allan Jacobs, Andrea Skinner) - 2:29
3. (Slow Down Little Jaguar) County Line (Chuck Berry) - 3:06
4. Girl From France (Allan Jacobs) - 2:39
5. You Two (Chuck Berry) - 1:36
6. Big Boy Pete (D. Terry Jr., D. Harris) - 2:24
7. "Oh" Pearl (Allan Jacobs) - 4:29
8. Bump In My Groove (Allan Jacobs) - 3:34
9. I Am The Light (Gary Davis, Allan Jacobs, Andrea Skinner) - 3:59
10.Cadillac Bleu (Andrea Skinner) - 3:22
11.One More Cowboy (Allan Jacobs, Andrea Skinner) - 3:15
12.I Was A Champion (Allan Jacobs, Andrea Skinner) - 4:05
Dixie Chicken (1973) is when Little Feat came up with their signature sound. Many fans cite this as the group’s best LP. I’ve always thought their debut was one of the best albums from the time (Sailin’ Shoes is also superb), so I’m not really sure which side of the fence I stand on.
Dixie Chicken is a more produced (rich, full sound), laid back affair when compared to the raw eccentricity of those first two albums. Most of the tracks are Lowell George originals but to give you an idea of the influences at work here, the group covers Allen Toussaint’s “On Your Way Down.” This means there’s a strong New Orleans aroma throughout Dixie Chicken. Classics like the title track and “Two Trains Running” while great songs, feature soulful backup vocalists, which make them sound a bit more produced than the group’s earlier efforts. That being said, this is certainly one hell of an album – one of the defining roots rock discs.
On Dixie Chicken, the group incorporated funky, almost danceable rhythms within many of the song structures while other tunes such as the excellent “Kiss It Off,” replete with ominous synth or “Juliette,” feature dark, intense vibes. Dixie Chicken is also notable for featuring one of Little Feat’s greatest songs, the much loved “Fat Man In The Bathtub.”
Impassioned vocals, great lyrics, piano, slide guitar and a rock steady beat make this track one of classic rock’s great legends – there’s nothing like it. My picks are the acoustic (and slide guitar) piece “Roll Um Easy” and the jumpin’ “Fool Yourself.” Both songs have the feel and style of Little Feat’s earlier triumphs. All told, Little Feat came up with their third masterpiece in as many years. Essential.
by Jason Nardelli
Tracks
1. Dixie Chicken (Lowell George, Fred Martin) - 3:56
2. Two Trains - 3:06
3. Roll Um Easy - 2:31
4. On Your Way Down (Allen Toussaint) - 5:35
5. Kiss It Off - 2:59
6. Fool Yourself (Fred Tackett) - 3:15
7. Walkin All Night (Paul Barrère, Bill Payne) - 3:39
8. Fat Man In The Bathtub - 4:30
9. Juliette - 3:34
10.Lafayette Railroad (Instrumental) (Lowell George, Bill Payne) - 3:36
The production/recording arrangements of Rod Stewart give a three-dimensional folk-rock-arranged feeling. Grail were a British psychedelic group based in London. Their sound goes from subtle folk to acid rock and hard rock with good changes in rhythm, powerful contrasts, with additional arrangements for better contrasts with piano, a touch of organ and two tracks with an acid rock sitar lead.
They did their best to make the music a real ‘grail’, a powerful sound, with some good songs too, with a late 60s-based progressive look as result. A really good album, which was only released in France and Germany for whatever reasons. Maybe therefore it was also overlooked over here. About time to pick it up and check it out again.
Psych-Folk
Tracks
1. Power (Terry Spencer) - 7:24
2. Bleek Wind High (Stan Decker, Chris Williams) - 4:35
3. Day After Day (Dave Blake) - 3:30
4. Grail (Dave Blake) - 4:48
5. Camel Dung (Dave Blake) - 5:09
6. Sunday Morning (Terry Spencer) - 3:34
7. Czechers (Dave Blake, Terry Spencer, Chris Williams) - 6:22
8. The Square (Paul Barrett, Chris Williams) - 4:53
The Grail
*Chris Williams - Lead Vocals, Autoharp
*Paul Barrett - Guitar, Clarinet, Vocals
*Dave Blake - Cello, Sitar, Flute, Vocals
*Terry Spencer - Guitar
*Chris Perry - Drums, Percussion With
*Stan Decker - Bass, Guitar, Keyboards
In the wonderful booklet that comes with Keep An Eye On The Sky, the most comprehensive compilation of the semiminal (though often overlooked) Big Star, there’s an in-depth article where Bob Mehr gathers comments from fans, friends and famous supporters of the group.
Among them there’s Peter Holsapple, dB's former composer and guitarist, who credits much of his success to Big Star: “I used to test my potential girlfriends with Radio City,” says Holsapple. He adds he was once told by one of this “candidates” that Big Star were like “America with too much high frequencies”: the girl responsible for this profanation was immediately “dismissed”, because cults – whether big or small – must always be guarded, cherished and respected.
Cults promote the sense of being part of something and help fight loneliness. And Big Star are the quintessential cult-band. Although Big Star only released two albums during their brief existence, they are now considered milestones and reference points for thousands of artists. The albums have fallen in and out of print over the years, including a third album (Third/Sister Lovers) released some eleven years after the group broke up.
Formed in Memphis, Tennessee by two songwriters, Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. Chilton had already enjoyed success with The Box Tops, singing the 1967 #1 hit, The Letter at the tender age of 16. Chris Bell was an anglophile who had fallen in love with the Fab Four and was scraping a living as technician in the Ardent Studios. They met by chance, when Chilton wanted to record something new while Bell introduced him to Andy Hummel (bass) and Jody Stephens (drums). Together they spent many nights playing the songs of The Yardbirds and The Who.
According to Peter Buck (R.E.M.), in the mid-1970s the only ones who knew Big Star were music critics and record store employees. “No one I knew had ever seen them play. I think I’d read that one of the guys had been in the Box Tops — which made no sense either. Information was scarce. So these records they’d put out, they were simply artifacts. It was like seeing the heads of Easter Island or the Great Pyramids or something. You didn’t know what they were or how they’d gotten there. The band was a mystery. Nowadays you get a computer and look for them in Google, but back then there were just the albums. Nobody I knew had ever seen them playing live. It was probably the first group to embody the idea of beautiful loser. Before them, the Velvet Underground had issued four albums and toured everywhere in the States. You could find Stooges’ albums in stores: they were not popular, but they were available. Big Star forced you to wonder whether their career was actually real. It looked like one of those weird American mythologies: these guys had done some excellent works, they were ignored and so they disappeared”.
Keep An Eye On The Sky is the parameter required for anybody - believers or not - to enter the Big Star church and become its ministers. It’s a cult object itself, a ray of light in the darkness so that nobody can ever say “I wasn’t there” or “I didn’t know” about an adventure that has been canonized by time and by Eliott Smith, Wilco, The Walkabouts, Nada Surf, Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements, Primal Scream, and Whiskeytown , just to name a few artists who have performed the songs of Big Star.
In other words, Keep An Eye On The Sky is based on the “cult status” of Big Star and not on their “career”, because the latter day offshoots spanning from the live “reunion” album, Columbia: Live at Missouri University (1993) to the last studio album, In Space (2005) released are wisely ignored: first of all because they are not very good, but secondly, and more importantly, because the crystal-clear eloquence of myths don’t allow for appendices.
With Big Star a new language was born where the Mercybeat of The Beatles and Kinks merged with Southern soul, romantic teenage fantasies, and coming of age tales. Sometimes we wonder: are we talking about the same authors when listening to the childlike images of Thirteen (“Won’t you let me walk you home from school / won’t you let me meet you at the pool / Maybe Friday I can / get tickets for the dance / and I’ll take you”) and Back Of A Car (“Sitting in the back of a car / Music so loud can’t tell a thing / Thinkin’ ‘bout what to say / And I can’t find the lines”) and then to the sorrowful gloomy Holocaust (“You’re mother’s dead / You’re on your own / She’s in her bed / Everybody goes / As far as they can / They don’t just care / You’re a wasted face / You’re a sad-eyed lie / You’re a holocaust”)?
In 1972 Ardent has just signed a distribution contract with Stax to promote works recorded in its studios. The label founder and studio owner, John Fry – the genius sound engineer –offered an unlimited amount of recording hours. Big Star were given freedom to play and experiment in the studio supervised by Terry Manning, Jim Dickinson and Fry himself. #1 Record really invents “power-pop” by mixing Beatles-like melodies and soft harmony-vocals with killing riffs, rootsy rough tunings, hyperbolic drumming and nervous bursts of organ and winds.
Bell is responsible for the softer, poppier, side of the group, whereas Chilton provides rock’n’roll urgency. Even though the songs are mostly co-written, #1 Record belongs mainly to Bell, who’s able to inflate his pop gems with the obscure depth the emotional distress of Soul, while Chilton sharpens his rock’n’roll edges and brings an r&b groove to the songs.
Accustomed to the public’s sudden changes in taste, Chilton bore the commercial flop without striking a blow, but Bell went off the rails with his drug addiction, spending most of 1973 in a rehab centre. Briefly Bell relocated to Europe, but he eventually returned to Tennessee to manage the family-run fast food chain until 1978 when he tragically died in a car accident. Over a decade after his passing, the superb I Am The Cosmos (his lone solo release) was released, and is worth the best pages of Big Star’s songbook (the box contains some of the solo demos).
Tragedy is part of the show and, with a Shakespearian solemnity, after two albums - #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974) – full of promises, unforgettable melodies and youthful exuberance Big Star fell apart in the grand collapse of Third/Sister Lovers. Alex Chilton and Jody Stevens entered the Ardent studio once again, but this time without Chris Bell or Andy Hummel. Using an array of local Memphis musicians, Chilton attempted a third Big Star album.
The lyrics of Nightime (“Get me out of here / I hate it here”) sound like an epitaph in the too short career of such a great band. The new recordings, full of feedback lashes, dark-folk and classic strings, don’t even have a name: the tiny label PVC provides it – with just a little imagination - and in 1985 issues what they considers the definitive tracks under the title Third/Sister Lovers, while Jody Stephens becomes the new manager of Ardent.
What comes next is recent history and it’s not very interesting. What’s really interesting, though, is the fact that Keep An Eye On The Sky outlines the box-set state of the art: it contains nearly all of Big Star’s studio output, featuring original tracks, alternative versions, demos, covers and unreleased tracks (spanning a period from 1968 to 1975) along with a kick-ass live album recorded when Big Star opened for Archie Bell & The Drells at the Lafayette's Music Room in Memphis. Fifty-two songs (out of ninty-eight) have never been issued before. Well done.
Keep An Eye On The Sky is like a mirror game where it’s exciting to get lost. The folkie confession of The India Song (here sung by Hummel alone) merges the Led Zeppelin[esque heavy rock of Feel and Don't Lie To Me with the anthemic roots of The Ballad Of El Goodo, the country-based soul of Country Morn and Watch The Sunrise with the acoustic interpretation of Loudon Wainwright’s Motel Blues.
Radio City’s garage-oriented pop-rock stands out in the second album, along with the only full-length record ever released by Chris Bell (starring the epic, dynamic pop of I Am The Cosmos and You And Your Sister), some lo-fi demos that became part of Third/Sister Lovers, and a multilingual version of the Velvet’s Femme Fatale. It’s a triumph of ballads and pop-rock that foreshadows the whole artistic career of Posies, Raspberries, Fountains Of Wayne or Gin Blossoms, who are all included in the crazy r’n’r of I Got Kinda Lost and Back Of A Car, in Way Out West’s (new) latin percussions, in O My Soul’s (new) Booker T.-styled keyboards and in the immortal ramshackle hymn of September Gurls.
The third CD lines up the existential (and musical) disorientation of Third/Sister Lovers (the album that modern rock critics praise the most). There are fewer unreleased tracks but the unplugged versions of Jesus Christ, Downs, Holocaust and Lovely Day along with the amazing Till The End Of The Day (Kinks) and the standard Nature Boy (with the photographer William Eggleston on piano) are enough to spice it up.
No words could express the overwhelming live album found at the end of the box. The concert highlights the explosive heap of energetic, powerful, rowdy and restless roots-rock of She's A Mover, the bluesy Try Again, the disorienting guitar and drums solos of ST 100/6 and the unpredictable covers including Hot Burrito #2 by Flying Burrito Brothers, Baby Strange by T. Rex, and the pop-prog classic, Slut by Rundgren.
We know that each monotheist religion is in danger because of its own dogmatisms, but the consubstantiation taking place in Keep An Eye On The Sky is something close to a miracle. It shows all the enthusiasm of a band ready to conquer the world, all the influences coming from a whole youth spent listening to every record they could come across, all the shadows of the overhanging disaster and all the darkness deriving from human and creative failures that will mark all the coming years.
The glue is, as always, rock’n’roll and Keep An Eye On The Sky is the closest thing I could imagine to a monument to all its beauty, all its dreams and all its poetry.
by Gianfranco Callieri
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Chris Bell - Psychedelic Stuff (Original Mix) (Chris Bell) - 3:04
2. Icewater - All I See Is You (Chris Bell, Steve Rhea) - 3:29
3. Alex Chilton - Every Day As We Grow Closer (Original Mix) (Alex Chilton) - 2:27
4. Rock City - Try Again (Early Version) - 3:37
5. Feel - 3:32
6. The Ballad Of El Goodo - 4:18
7. In The Street (Alternate Mix) - 2:54
8. Thirteen (Alternate Mix) - 2:36
9. Don't Lie To Me - 3:07
10.The India Song (Alternate Mix) (Andy Hummel) - 2:23
11.When My Baby's Beside Me (Alternate Mix) - 3:27
12.My Life Is Right (Alternate Mix) (Chris Bell, Tom Eubanks) - 3:16
13.Give Me Another Chance (Alternate Mix) - 3:27
14.Try Again - 3:32
15.Gone With The Light (Chris Bell) -2:44
16.Watch The Sunrise (Single Version) - 3:10
17.ST 100/6 (Alternate Mix) - 0:54
18.Rock City - The Preacher (Excerpt) (Chris Bell, Tom Eubanks) - 0:56
19.In The Street (Alternate Single Mix) - 3:00
20.Feel (Alternate Mix) - 3:32
21.The Ballad Of El Goodo (Alternate Lyrics) - 4:29
22.The India Song (Alternate Version) (Andy Hummel) -2:09
23.Country Morn (Chris Bell) - 3:12
24.I Got Kinda Lost (Demo) (Chris Bell) - 3:34
25.Back Of A Car (Demo) (Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel) -3:16
26.Motel Blues (Demo) (Loudon Wainwright III) - 3:03
All Songs by Chris Bell, Alex Chilton except where stated
Disc 2
1. There Was A Light (Demo) (Chris Bell) - 3:43
2. Life Is White (Demo) (Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel) - 3:16
5. Big Black Car (Alternate Demo) (Alex Chilton, Chris Cage) - 4:39
6. Manana - 0:46
7. Jesus Christ - 2:20
8. Femme Fatale (Lou Reed) - 3:28
9. O, Dana - 2:35
10.Kizza Me - 2:43
11.You Can't Have Me - 3:18
12.Nightime - 2:52
13.Dream Lover - 3:33
14.Big Black Car (Alex Chilton, Chris Cage) - 3:37
15.Blue Moon - 2:06
16.Holocaust - 3:48
17.Stroke It Noel - 2:06
18.For You (Jody Stephens) - 2:42
19.Downs (Alex Chilton, Lesa Aldridge) - 1:51
20.Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (Davis Curly Williams) - 3:23
21.Kanga Roo - 3:45
22.Thank You Friends - 3:04
23.Take Care - 2:47
24.Lovely Day - 2:07
25.Till The End Of The Day (Alternate Mix) (Ray Davies) - 2:13
26.Nature Boy (Alternate Mix) (Eden Ahbez) - 2:38
All Songs by Alex Chilton except where indicated
Disc 4 - Live At Lafayette's Music Room, Memphis, TN, January 1973
1. When My Baby's Beside Me (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 3:28
2. My Life Is Right (Chris Bell, Thomas Dean Eubanks) - 3:23
3. She's A Mover (Alex Chilton) - 4:06
4. Way Out West (Andy Hummel) - 2:41
5. The Ballad Of El Goodo (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 4:20
6. In The Street (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 2:50
7. Back Of A Car (Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel) - 2:40
8. Thirteen (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 3:01
9. The India Song (Andy Hummel) - 2:24
10.Try Again (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 3:18
11.Watch The Sunrise (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 4:01
12.Don't Lie To Me (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 4:09
13.Hot Burrito (Chris Ethridge, Gram Parsons) - 3:49
14.I Got Kinda Lost (Chris Bell) - 2:56
15.Baby Strange (Marc Bolan) - 4:09
16.Slut (Todd Rundgren) - 3:34
17.There Was A Light (Chris Bell) - 3:24
18.ST 100/6 (Chris Bell, Alex Chilton) - 3:55
19.Come On Now (Ray Davies) - 1:53
20.O My Soul (Alex Chilton) - 5:40
Now, here's a band with a mission. Little Feat is hewn from the same piece of oak as the Byrds, the Band, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Like those three great (or once-great) groups, Little Feat is preoccupied with American myths and folklore, though in its own peculiar way. This preoccupation is evocatively evident in the group's two albums, Little Feat (one of the three or four best of 1970), and the new record, Sailin' Shoes. Because of the thematic consistency of Little Feat's recorded work, the two albums must be looked upon as a continuum; there may be more piano on the first and more guitar on the second, but the body of concerns is the same.
And the group's approach to its mythic interests follows the same pattern on both LPs. Rather than telling stories in a literal sense, Little Feat's songs flash a myriad of fleeting, haunting images, appearing with all the vivid suddenness of floodlit roadside billboards zooming past an open car window.
These albums are virtual treasure chests of haunting associations, sketches, and scenarios. It isn't merely the words, of course, but also the proud, powerful way they're driven across. Lowell George and Bill Payne don't stop at being the writers of virile, touching songs–they're also masterful musicians. Payne plays a cool, elegant piano and a hot, whirring organ. George makes his slide guitar howl and roar like a tractor trailer in the midst of a steep, mountainous descent. George illustrates the muscular mating of men and their machines, while Payne celebrates it. Together with former Mother Roy Estrada on bass and Richard Hayward on drums, they compose one super rock 'n' roll band. Little Feat can play steaming hot, iron-ore heavy, over-easy light, or non-stop speedy, as the occasion demands. They never sound pretty, but there's an unmissable beauty about their rough-around-the-edges designs.
Vividly representative of what Little Feat is about is "Willin'," a song so fine they did it twice, once on each album. On the first album, they made the song, written by George, a heroic depiction of the long-distance trucker, a dark, solemn expression of purpose. George sang in his deepest, most tired voice, and the band left the track virtually empty, with only the strumming of a lonely acoustic guitar, until the last section, when Ry Cooder's razor-sharp slide guitar sliced through the emptiness like highbeams on a flat, empty highway. This time, however, they've dressed it up in bright, heroic colors, with George using his high, urgent voice to play the trucker's part, and rich harmonies flapping like banners over the song's most celebratory passages: "Just give me ... weed, whites, and wine,/And show me a sign, And I'll be willin' to be movin'." That Lowell George must've done some driving in his time–or dreamed of it. At any rate, it's a proud, wonderful song, encapsulating a wealth of mythic-heroic elements, from Duke Wayne way back past the Indian Scout and the pathfinder.
But it's primarily contemporary myths Little Feat is involved with–and living folklore. Sailin' Shoes, interweaving its big trucks, seedy hotels, and greasy spoons with songs about rock 'n' roll, seeks to incorporate this special music into the raw, vibrant, and vast setting of mythic America. The band forcefully shows how well this music, with its mixture of the primitive and the technological, fits into the scheme of things. And they do it with a vengeance, playing like bloody murder, brutalizing but at the same time exalting their equipment, in much the same way the trucker both batters and romanticizes his machine. Each knows his machine helps make him what he is–completes him.
by Bud Scoppa
Tracks
1. Easy To Slip (Lowell George, Fred Martin) - 3:19
2. Cold, Cold, Cold - 3:58
3. Trouble - 2:15
4. Tripe Face Boogie - 3:14
5. Willin' (Richie Hayward, Bill Payne) - 2:54
6. A Apolitical Blues - 3:25
7. Sailin' Shoes - 2:49
8. Teenage Nervous Breakdown - 2:10
9. Got No Shadow (Bill Payne) - 5:05
10.Cat Fever (Bill Payne) - 4:35
11.Texas Rose Cafe - 3:43
All songs by Lowell George, except where noted.
Drop any preconceived notions you may have about this band and get this debut record. It’s a unique sound in their discography. A bluesy, roots rocker masterpiece with the loose feel of Exile on Main Street and the all around good presence of Manassas.
Formed under the wake of Frank Zappa, and even including former Mother, Roy Estrada on bass, Little Feat would go on, after their poorly selling debut record, to release albums with a different sound, featuring iconic sleeves by Weasels Ripped My Flesh artist Neon Park. I think it’s impossible to flip through a stack of used vinyl without finding that lady duck on the cover of Down on the Farm. Later Little Feat has its place, but we recommend this beast.
Some gems: there’s the beautiful, stripped-down Willin’, the song Zappa supposedly fired Lowell George over (either because it was too damn good for a session man or because it championed “weed, whites, and wine”). This song would be re-recorded by a later incarnation of Little Feat and become one of their most loved songs. A ripping Howlin’ Wolf tribute medley in Forty-Four Blues / How Many More Years is a nice feature. The album is great for a first listen because it just fills up the room with rock, but it is truly better as you delve in and listen more.
by Brendan McGrath
Tracks
1. Snakes On Everything (Bill Payne) - 3:03
2. Strawberry Flats (Bill Payne, Lowell George) - 2:23
3. Truck Stop Girl (Bill Payne, Lowell George) - 2:31
4. Brides Of Jesus (Bill Payne, Lowell George) - 3:22
5. Willing (Lowell George) - 2:24
6. Hamburger Midnight (Lowell George, Roy Estrada) - 2:32
7. Forty Four Blues / How Many More Years (Roosevelt Sykes, Chester Burnett) - 6:28
8. Crack In Your Door (Lowell George) - 2:18
9. I've Been The One (Lowell George) - 2:23
10.Takin' My Time (Bill Payne) - 3:48
11.Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie (Bill Payne, Lowell George) - 1:56
Little Feat
*Lowell George - Lead, Rhythm, Slide Guitars, Lead, Backing Vocals, Harmonica
*Bill Payne - Keyboards, Lead, Backing Vocals, Piano
*Roy Estrada - Bass, Backing Vocals
*Richard Hayward - Drums, Backing Vocals Additional Musicians
*Russ Titelman - Percussion, Backing Vocals, Piano
*Ry Cooder - Slide Guitar
*Sneaky Pete Kleinow - Pedal Steel
*Kirby Johnson - String, Horn Arrangements
This was Gram Parsons’ debut album, the eternally underrated Safe At Home. Prior to this he had recorded solo demos, music with an early folk band the Shilohs and a few singles with the International Submarine Band – all worthwhile stuff. Parsons formed this group after he had dropped out of Harvard and moved to New York City. While he was no stranger to the recording studio, critics and music fans unfairly label Safe At Home as a tentative early album that showed signs of greatness. While it was nowhere near as influential as Gilded Palace of Sin, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, or Parsons’ two solo discs, time has shown Safe At Home to be much more than an early throw away.
The remaining members consisted of rhythm guitarist Bob Buchanan, bass player Ian Dunlop and drummer Jon Corneal. The album is disappointingly short at 9 songs but all the performances are memorable and Gram’s talent as a bandleader is clearly on display. Even so early on in his career Parsons’ vocal and songwriting abilities were obvious and on the money. The rest of the group is tight and engaging, reminding me of a garage band playing country music – reckless playing and soulful harmonies. There are four originals: an early version of Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome which is sparse but very effective, Luxury Liner, Strong Boy, and Blue Eyes. The latter three tracks are country rock classics, kind of like early benchmarks for the genre. Luxury Liner charges hard like a freight train and is probably the most popular track off the original lp. Without a doubt the album’s most rock oriented number, this track is essential listening. Just as good is Blue Eyes and Strong Boy which are closer to pure country and show off great Parsons vocal performances. Strong Boy is one of the true country rock classics, an absolute must hear.
The remaining tracks are wisely chosen covers, all great renditions too. Satisfied Mind is notable for its powerful drum work, Folsom Prison Blues has great stinging guitar leads and I Must Be Somebody Else You’ve Known sports a gorgeous, catchy chorus that’s worth the price of admission. The original lp was released off Lee Hazlewood’s LHI Records in 1968. At the time it was praised widely by the likes of Glen Campbell and Don Everly though sales were pretty poor. There is really much more to this story that I’m leaving out but my main objective was to comment on the strength of the songs and general quality of performance.
Parsons left the group before the lp’s release and remained inactive for a few months before joining the Byrds. Many of you know this record, so in a sense it’s not really a lost album like The Wheel (Bernie Schwartz) or Morning. But taken as a whole, Safe At Home is a fresh, groundbreaking record, that at least in my mind is a classic. The best cd version is on Sundazed, orignal artwork and all.
by Jason Nardelli
Tracks
1. Blue Eyes (Gram Parsons) - 2:50
2. I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known (Merle Haggard) - 2:14
3. A Satisfied Mind (Jack Rhodes, Joe Hayes) - 2:27
4. Folsom Prison Blues / That's All Right (John R. Cash, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup) - 4:21
5. Miller's Cave (Jack Clement) - 2:45
6. I Still Miss Someone (John R. Cash) - 2:43
7. Luxury Liner (Gram Parsons) - 2:51
8. Strong Boy (Gram Parsons) - 2:00
9. Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome? (Barry Goldberg, Gram Parsons) - 3:31
10.Knee Deep In The Blues (Melvin Endsley) - 1:55
The International Submarine Band
*Gram Parsons - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
*Jon Corneal - Drums, Vocals
*John Nuese - Lead Guitar
*Bob Buchanan - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals With
*Earl "Les" Ball - Piano
*Joe Osborn – Bass
*Jay Dee Maness - Steel Guitar
*Chris Ethridge – Bass
*Suzi Jane Hokom – Harmony Vocal
Realizing a good thing when one came along, Those Guys David Owens, Jimmy Owens and Bill Dabbs hooked up with Bob Barnes and Eddie Deaton shortly after that duo's own rock band--the legendary Elite--broke up. This line-up of Those Guys would soon become one of the most popular groups in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. The band scored a regional hit in 1967 with their version of 'People Say' but reached their peak behind the incredibly strong songwriting of David Owens. Over forty years later, their 'Stereopis Of A Floret' and 'Lookin' At You Behind The Glasses' have become recognized as garage rock and psychedelic classics.
This collection of Those Guys recordings includes the complete recorded output of the core group, including their four single sides, six unreleased recordings enginnered by T-Bone Burnett and four bonus tracks recorded for the Sump'n Else TV show.
Tracks
1. Lookin' At You Behind The Glasses (Bob Barnes) - 2:28
2. Three Days Gone (D. Owens, B. Barnes) - 2:44
3. People Say (J. Barry, E. Greenwich) - 2:28
4. Steropsis Of A Floret (David Owens) - 2:26
5. Everything's Gonna Be Alright (David Owens) - 2:01
6. Sad Smiling Faces (David Owens) - 2:31
7. Sunshine Go Lightly (David Owens) - 1:55
8. The Fix-It Man (David Owens) - 2:18
9. Workin' Girl (David Owens) - 2:33
10.Wonderin' (David Owens) - 1:51
11.When I'm Alone (D. Clark, M. Smith) - 2:32
12.Kentucky Woman (N. Diamond) - 2:43
13.Never My Love (D.J. Adrissi, R.P. Adrissi) - 2:13
14.Come Home (D. Clark, M. Smith) - 2:51
Groundbreaking split LP including 5 killer previously unreleased 1967 freakbeat/rnb/garage studio tracks by the legendary New Nadir featuring Ed Carter from San Francisco, California on lead guitar and vocals (pre The Beach Boys); Gary Thain from Christchurch, New Zealand on bass (pre Keef Hartley, and Uriah Heep); plus Peter Dawkins also from Christchurch, New Zealand on drums (the greatest record producer from down under).
The New Nadir have played some celebrated clubs in London such as the Speakeasy where they gigged a few times with Jimi Hendrix, who was supposed to produce their first record for the UK Polydor label, however after Ed Carter had received the offer to join The Beach Boys, the band split and nothing was ever released.
The five tracks by The New Nadir on this LP were recorded on Monday, August 28th 1967, at a professional Swiss recording studio near Zurich, and capture them in great mood at their fantastic first recordings. The songs range from top freakbeat/garage masterpieces (TOMORROW, as well as I NEED HER NOW), thru unique eastern influenced freakbeat tracks with raga riffs (BLACK SNOW), and onto the pop-art sound of PEOPLE ARE CHANGING, and the rambling rnb/freakbeat/garage guitar instrumental WALKING.
The LP is highlighted by the monster previously unreleased freakbeat track LOVE IS NOT A GAME, which was recorded by the pre-New Nadir outfit Me And The Others in November 1966, at Regent Sound Studios in London. This could easily hail as one of the greatest freakbeat tracks which was ever produced in the UK.
Me And The Others were a mid 60s beat/rnb/freakbeat band from Christchurch, New Zealand featuring Peter Dawkins on drums, and vocals (ex The Strangers); Dave Chapman on guitar, Gary Thain on bass (ex The Secrets, and The Strangers), as well as Paul Muggleston on lead vocals, guitar, and organ (ex The Secrets, The Dynamics, Atlantics, etc.). The LP is rounded out by 5 choice never before released live tracks from a Me And The Others gig in Germany that was recorded in January 1967: The amazing Graham Bond Organisation type of guitar - organ instrumental COMING HOME BABY, plus fantastic kiwi modbeat/garage/freakbeat versions of YOU BETTER RUN, HOLD ON I’M COMING, and CAN’T TURN YOU LOOSE, as well as the killer garage punk original track EVEN GREEN ONES.
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Gary Thain later joined The Keef Hartley Band (1969-72), also worked with Miller Anderson in his solo album (1971) and Uriah Heep (1972-74).
After continued struggles with health and drug problems, Gary died December 8, 1975, in his flat at Norwood Green at the young age of 27.
Tracks The New Nadir
1. People Are Changing (Gary Thain, Edward Carter, Peter Dawkins) - 3:25
2. I Need Her Now (Gary Thain, Peter Dawkins, Edward Carter) - 2:39
3. Walking (Gary Thain, Edward Carter, Peter Dawkins) - 2:54
4. Tomorrow (Peter Dawkins, Edward Carter) - 3:28
5. Black Snow (Edward Carter, Gary Thain, Peter Dawkins) - 3:04 Me And The Others
6. Love Is Not A Game (H. Robertshaw arr. by D. Chapman, P. Muggleston, G. Thain, P. Dawkins) - 2:22
7. Even Green Ones (Peter Dawkins) - 2:30
8. Coming Home Baby (Bob Dorough, Ben Tucker Arr. by Paul Muggleston, Gary Thain, David Chapman, Peter Dawkins) - 1:40
9. You Better Run (Edward Brigati, Felix Cavaliere) - 2:28
10.Hold On I’m Coming (I. Hayes, D Porter) - 2:21
11.Can’t Turn You Loose (Otis Redding) - 3:07
The New Nadir
*Ed Carter - Vocals Guitar
*Gary Thain - Bass, Backing Vocals
*Peter Dawkins - Drums, Backing Vocals
Me And The Others
*Peter Dawkins - Drums, Vocals
*David Champman - Lead Guitar
*Paul Muggleston - Bass
*Gary Thain - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Organ
From the beginning, Blue Max played many of their original songs in every performance and soon felt the need to create an album of their own. On their Christmas vacation from school, in 1976, they traveled to Halifax, to the only studio in the area at the time and recorded "limited Edition", which was released soon after. It was an apt title since only 1,000 copies were issued but it served it's purpose well as a promotional tool and a keepsake for some of the most ardent fans. It captured the unique flavor of rock that was Blue Max. Soon after it's release, Blue Max started playing the bars as well as school dances, even though they were still underage themselves, and they discovered a whole new audience. They also began promoting their own Concerts in arenas around the Maritimes during the summer months when schools were not available. For two more years the band enjoyed regional success.
After seven years together, they all felt the need for some change and Blue Max disbanded with each of them going their own separate ways. George continued to play drums part time in local bands and pursue other hobbies of collecting Corvettes and playing hockey.He is now manager of two NAPA auto supply stores in his home town of Amherst, and Springhill, and is the father of two sons. Andrew put down his bass and pursued his first love, the guitar, and was reunited with me twice in the twin guitar bands "Achilles" and "Mother's Fear". He continued to be a "gun for hire" guitarist and after years of national and international touring, settled in Halifax, where he is currently working on his first solo recording.
by Robert Graves
Tracks
1. Sweet Lovin' - 2:02
2. Prisoner - 2:31
3. Life Long - 3:44
4. Teaser - 3:17
5. March of the Trolls (Robert Graves, George Douglas) - 8:43
6. The New One - 5:12
7. Your Friends (Andrew Douglas, George Douglas) - 3:50
8. I Need You - 3:21
9. The Hooker (Robert Graves, Andrew Douglas, George Douglas) - 4:07
10.Freight Train (Robert Graves, George Douglas) - 1:26
11.omething On My Mind - 2:43
12.Tomorrow's Sorrow - 6:12
All songs by Robert Graves except where indicated
The Blue Max
*George Douglas - Drums
*Andrew Douglas - Bass, Vocals
*Robert Graves - Guitar, Lead Vocals
