Kristyl, where a Louisville band and released their classic self-titled LP in 1974. The album is a blend of homemade psychedelia with a nice mixture of of gentle dreamy passages, heavy acid guitar and wah-wah fuzz along with charmingly vocals and spiritual influences.
W. S. "Sonny" Tongue "Country" had done some time in prison in the mid-1960s for draft resistance. After the first record was issued by the band, Sonny concluded he'd had enough as a performer and decided to become a full-time songwriter. Peter Weston, a singer/songwriter/guitarist, replaced him in the group. They recorded a song that Sonny wrote titled Anthem that was about his imprisonment. They toured nationwide and performed at major rock venues of the time. In 1969 Anthem went on the charts in Cleveland and then the song was banned from airplay. It was also banned from airplay in Memphis and Atlanta markets. The label then pulled it from production.
The group reorganized and moved to the Los Angeles area during the early 1970s. N.D. Smart became the drummer in the band. They toured on shows with comedians Richard Pryor and George Carlin. They even appeared on a show with crooner Rudy Vallee. Both Peter Weston and Michael Sagarese left the band leaving it a four-piece group for the remainder of its days.
The Hello People became part of Todd Rundgren's touring group in the '70s. During this period George Kiernan joined the group as an extra mime performer holding signs for the group.
The Hello People continued as a group through the seventies then went their separate ways.
Drummer Cel De Bauwer and singer/keyboardist Luc Smets had achieved some international recognition as members of the band Pebbles. When Pebbles called it quits in 1971 they decided to form Shampoo recruiting the talents of Mad Curry sax player Giorgio Chitschenko, lead guitarist Yves De Vriendt, sax player Francois Maes and bassist Rudy Pinlйe. The band's efforts didn't do a great deal in their native Belgium, but they found a supporter in the form of Francis Dreyfus who signed them to his French Motors label, releasing their sole album in 1972. Produced by guitarist De Vriendt, the optimistically titled "Volume One" took a little bit of effort to get warmed up to, and while it wasn't a classic album by any stretch of the imagination, it had enough interesting segments to warrant the investment of time.
Whereas Pebbles had been a pop-oriented band, Shampoo shared more in common with Mad Curry's jazz-rock leanings. That said, these guys clearly had an affection for quality pop music. It was unlike anything else on the album, but the opener 'Brother' was a glistening slice of '60s pop-psych. Even their more jazz-rock moves embedded distinctive pop elements - check out 'Keep The Day Cool'. As the band's lead singer Smets was actually pretty good. He sang with an accent, but it wasn't particularly pronounced, or irritating. As musicians, the entire band were first rate with Chitschenko and Maes adding jazz-tinged solos throughout.
Bad Cat
Tracks
1. Brother (Luc Smets) - 3:12
2. Keep The Day Cool (Luc Smets) - 6:24
3. Some Reason (Giorgio Chincheko, Luc Smets) - 10:55
In 1969, the members of a rather loose session line-up joined together to found Electric Sandwich, a jazz rock band from Bonn/Germany. Instead of working on a fixed repertoire, the band preferred to stay spontaneous and as free as possible both from a personal and a musical point of view. It was only gradually that they developed a set of fixedly arranged pieces combined with a great deal of improvisation.
Guitarist Jörg Ohlert doubled on keys, with organ on I Want You and a short Mellotron flute solo, followed by a string part on album closer Material Darkness, so not enough to make it worth it on the Mellotron front (where have we heard this before?). Overall, Electric Sandwich is a decent enough album.
Tracks
1. China (Jörg Ohlert, Klaus Lormann, Wolf Fabian) - 8:03
2. Devil's Dream (Jörg Ohlert) - 6:15
3. Nervous Creek (Jochen Carthaus, Klaus Lormann) - 5:00
"GAGALACTYCA" is a sister album to Astral Navigations. Lightyears Away has pretty much the same line-up, though with less from Brian Wilson and Brian Calvert who had both left the country. Four songs were destined for Astral Navigations when it was to be called Windows Of Limited Time : Save The Big Jam Roll, The People Show and Woman In My Life. Aren't You Glad You Stayed? was intended to open the album, which is why it is heard at the end of A - Austr.
1970 and 1971 were prolific times for Holyground - a lot of their very best work was from this period. ASTRAL NAVIGATIONS had been released and yet there were tracks un-issued : such as Chris Coombs' THAT IS WHAT WE NEED, and several THUNDERMOTHER tracks. At one time or another several of these tracks were destined for Astral, but were left off for others. The solution was obvious: Astral Part Two!
Although planned, the album was not actually released until the early 1990's when a vinyl version was released with the help of Hugo Chavez' 'Magic Mixture' label. Only 450 of these were made, most signed by Dave Wood and Mike Levon.
shirl, slyv & jan, esme & jumping jack flash, cath & linda, anne, fuckface the eagle, super judy, sonja, arkle, norfolk jim, mitchell deaver, gifford and andrew, 'goth' caxton, jim alexander, dave wood, pete duce, kevin young, mal gill & cass yard angels
'shirl' is Shirley Levon; 'slyv' was Dave Wood's partner; 'jan' is married to Chris Coombs, and 'anne' is Kevin Young's wife. Esme was Mike and Shirley's cat, (as was Jumping Jack Flash), and her purr lives on at the start of the THUNDERMOTHER tracks. Cath and Linda were usually to be found hanging around the studio or Mike's flat. They can be seen in the video of the making of ASTRAL NAVIGATIONS too. 'Mitchell Deaver' is Mike and Shirley's electric fire
“Lightyears away: melting off the sea by the Coastroad / in the dead land. You can hear, almost hear that place, softly, naked, unknown / voices appear behind distant mountains / and now simple beauty. Time ticks by. Reality, but we’ll do what we can do. We are there but so many of us are not, how to make them understand? The Astral Navigator is here - he’ll tell them. Yesterday: Your whole mind is suddenly jerked and slowed down, only to be speeded up and thrust back / through to the new North Country Cinderella - then Coombs’ Surprise Symphony. Now the spaceship talks . . .
Thundermother: Gentle heavy chords pump the brain / take the ride again and we do. Rock Banshees. It’s a long, long way back home. But it’s really nice here / Boogie! Solid driving bass cracks the ground beneath your feet, and maybe at the end all those things they bin shakin’ about have just slipped through the cracks / Fucking good, go on sell a piece of your mind to Holyground”.
by Pete Ball, from STYNG, Yorkshire’s underground newspaper,1971
The album is divided into three - Mike's songs with Brian Calvert; Chris's songs; and on side two Thundermother. Mike labeled the SIDES of the album 'Lightyears Away' (side one Mike, Brian and Chris); and 'Heavyside Layer' (side two, Thundermother). There is thus no single artist, and like A to Austr, Astral doesn't really have one. Over time the idea that there were two groups had arisen 'Lightyears Away' and 'Thundermother'. A to Austr had a by-line: "Musics from Holyground" . Astral had a similar one on a couple of posters: "Music For The Human Mind".
To mark the split between Mike's / Brian's songs and Chris's songs Mike added the Apollo rocket launch sound effect.
Tracks
1. Fourth Coming (Mike Levon, Brian Calvert) - 5:18
2. Path Of Stone (Mike Levon, Brian Calvert) - 3:38
3. Windows Of Limited Time / The Astral Navigator (Mike Levon, Brian Calvert) - 1:50
4. Yesterday (Chris Coombs) - 3:06
5. Today (North Country Cinderella) (Chris Coombs) - 2:42
6. Tomorrow (Buffalo) (Chris Coombs) - 4:15
7. Someday (Frank Newbold, Peter Illingworth) - 13:43
8. Country Line (David John, Dave Millen, Dave Wilkinson) - 0:58
9. Boogie Music (L. T. Tateman III) - 5:40
10.Rock Me (Dave Millen, Dave Smith, Fred Kelly) - 6:02
Samuel Maghett was born February 14,1937 on a farm in central Mississippi, eight miles east of Granada. By the time he was thirteen, like most other kids his age, he was doing a full day's work, but found time to start learning how to play the guitar by stretching strings tied to nails driven into a wall in a manner similar to Big Joe Williams' primitive one-string guitar (described in the notes of Delmark's Piney Woods Blues, DL-602).
The Maghett family got its first taste of big-city life when they moved to Chicago in i960 Sam decided he never wanted to live again in the South — the relative freedom of the city life changed his mind once and for all. When he attended Drake elementary school on Chicago's South Side he often took his guitar with him. His classmates used to tease him about it but one morning Sam played before all the students at assembly, caught the fancy of the girls and "went home with a pocketful of telephone numbers."
A year later, while playing his guitar under a tree in his backyard at 27th and Calumet. Sam attracted the attention of a gambler named Cadillac Jake who happened to be walking by Jake encouraged Sam and they were to meet again years later when the gambler had himself become a blues-singer and harmonicaplayer By that time Sam had already formed his first band with Syl Johnson (most recently noted for his recording of Sock It To Me) and Mack Thompson who still plays with Sam on a lot of jobs It was Thompson who nicknamed Magic Sam by rhyming his last name.
Even when still a gambler. Shakey Jake "followed Muddy Waters around" and when he again met Magic Sam in 1954, encouraged him to sing as well as play Up to that time Sam was more interested in playing guitar but, after he overcame the usual initial shyness, he was good enough to make it as an R’n’B-singer in the commercial music world. However, he took great pride in the blues heritage and "decided to stick to the blues." He continued to practice with Shakey Jake and another harp-blower named Blues King and developed his vocal style by singing with a family gospel group, the Morning View Special.
By 1955 Sam was ready to play the blues clubs. One night Jake took him to the 708 Club on East 47th Street where Muddy Waters was playing Jake persuaded Muddy to let Sam sit in for a set after which the owner of the club hired him to follow Muddy's engagement In 1957 he made his first recordings for the Cobra label. Sam recalls that Eli Toscano, the label's owner, had a way of sending the sound through some pipes in a back room and back again to gel just the right amount of reverberation.
After a hitch in the army Sam again recorded for the Chief label in 1960 and 1961, playing clubs on the West and Near North sides. His guitar-playing matured and his voice steadily improved in depth as he concentrated on his singing. He later moved to the Club Alex on West Roosevelt Road where he sometimes doubled with Muddy Waters band He also broadcast frequently on Big Bill Hill's shows on WOPA from the Copacabana. At the time of this recording he was working more frequently opposite Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf at Sylvio's famous blues club at Lake and Kedzie and doing off nights occasionally at Mother Blues on Wells Street His most recent 45's were Al Benson's Crash label in 1966.
by Bill Lindemann
To call West Side Soul one of the great blues albums, one of the key albums (if not the key album) of modern electric blues is all true, but it tends to diminish and academicize Magic Sam's debut album. This is the inevitable side effect of time, when an album that is decades old enters the history books, but this isn't an album that should be preserved in amber, seen only as an important record. Because this is a record that is exploding with life, a record with so much energy, it doesn't sound old.
Of course, part of the reason it sounds so modern is because this is the template for most modern blues, whether it comes from Chicago or elsewhere. Magic Sam may not have been the first to blend uptown soul and urban blues, but he was the first to capture not just the passion of soul, but also its subtle elegance, while retaining the firepower of an after-hours blues joint. Listen to how the album begins, with "That's All I Need," a swinging tune that has as much in common with Curtis Mayfield as it does Muddy Waters, but it doesn't sound like either -- it's a synthesis masterminded by Magic Sam, rolling along on the magnificent, delayed cadence of his guitar and powered by his impassioned vocals.
West Side Soul would be remarkable if it only had this kind of soul-blues, but it also is filled with blistering, charged electric blues, fueled by wild playing by Magic Sam and Mighty Joe Young -- not just on the solos, either, but in the rhythm (witness how "I Feel So Good [I Wanna Boogie]" feels unhinged as it barrels along). Similarly, Magic Sam's vocals are sensitive or forceful, depending on what the song calls for. Some of these elements might have been heard before, but never in a setting so bristling with energy and inventiveness; it doesn't sound like it was recorded in a studio, it sounds like the best night in a packed club.
But it's more than that, because there's a diversity in the sound here, an originality so fearless, he not only makes "Sweet Home Chicago" his own (no version before or since is as definitive as this), he creates the soul-injected, high-voltage modern blues sound that everybody has emulated and nobody has topped in the years since. And, again, that makes it sound like a history lesson, but it's not. This music is alive, vibrant, and vital -- nothing sounds as tortured as "I Need You So Bad," no boogie is as infectious as "Mama, Mama Talk to Your Daughter," no blues as haunting as "All of Your Love." No matter what year you listen to it, you'll never hear a better, more exciting record that year.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracks
1. That's All I Need (Magic Sam) - 3:14
2. I Need You So Bad (B.B. King, Sam Ling) - 4:53
3. I Feel So Good (I Wanna Boogie) - 4:43
4. All Of Your Love (Magic Sam, Otis Rush) - 3:47
5. I Don't Want No Woman (Don Robey) - 3:34
6. Sweet Home Chicago (Robert Johnson) - 4:13
7. I Found A New Love (Little Milton, Bob Lyons) - 4:03
8. Every Night and Every Day (Jimmy McCracklin) - 3:07
9. Lookin' Good (Instrumental) (Magic Sam) - 3:13
10.My Love Will Never Die (Willie Dixon) - 4:07
11.Mama Talk To Your Daughter (J.B. Lenoir) - 2:42
12.I Don't Want No Woman (Alternate Take) (Don Robey) - 3:30
Musicians
*Magic Sam - Vocals, Guitar
*Mighty Joe Young - Guitar
*Stockholm Slim - Piano
*Earnest Johnson - Bass
*Odie Payne - Drums
*Mack Thompson - Bass (only on Tracks 1, 3, 8)
*Odie Payne III – Drums (only on Tracks 1, 3, 8)
This album's color cover photo is an action shot, showing Magic Sam in the process of choking and bending his strings, a good hike up the fretboard. It isn't clear exactly what he is playing from the picture, although that certainly didn't stop dozens of pimply hippie guitar players from trying to figure it out. In the meantime, the record goes on and the first soloist out of the gate is Eddie Shaw, playing tenor sax. He is blowing over the top of an R&B riff that, although not out of the syntax of Chicago blues, would also have been quite fitting on a Wilson Pickett record.
It is unfortunate that Magic Sam's recording career came to such an abrupt end, as he was one of the best artists working in the musical area between the urban blues tradition and newly developing soul music forms. This fusion was on the minds of many blues artists during the late '60s, and not just because it was aesthetically conceivable. It was also a matter of commerce, as audiences -- particularly black audiences -- didn't want to hear any blues that sounded too much like something their parents might have listened to. The harmonica player Junior Wells was another one who decided to get a bit of James Brown into his act, not always with great results.
What listeners have here, on the other hand, is frankly delicious, the results of the surplus of talent Magic Sam possessed, a triple threat as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Yet with all this talent, the label should also get some credit. This period of the Delmark discography set a high standard for blues recordings, the sound quality and tight interplay among the musicians every bit the equal of the classic jazz recordings on labels such as Blue Note and Prestige. There is nothing fancy about the production, and no gimmicks. It is just a great band, allowed to play the music exactly the way it wanted to. The musicians have obviously worked together a great deal and either had these arrangements down cold from live gigs or had plenty of time to get things tight. This doesn't mean that the music doesn't breathe, as there are plenty of little touches such as drum fills and turnarounds that show the presence of musicians thinking on their feet.
The passage of time also increases the musical value of this music, as the eventual popularity of commercial projects such as the Blues Brothers has only served to dilute the power of urban blues. Labels big and small have forsaken this type of honest and straightforward production, preferring to try concocting a higher level of funkiness through extravagent over-production, boring superstar guest appearances, and insipid studio practices such as prerecorded rhythm tracks and dipstick guitar solos punched in a note at the time. Forget all this jive and check out a track such as "You Belong to Me," where the guitarist cuts loose with a restrained solo that sometimes dances ahead of the beat like a country fiddler while the band pumps away on a superb riff.
The players here, including the fine guitarist Mighty Joe Young, pianist Lafayette Leake, and a muscular rhythm section, are the best of the best. No information is provided on the songwriting, so the assumption is that these tunes are all originals by Magic Sam. None are too obviously adopted from standards, but the opening "I Just Want a Little Bit" was much copied by other blues artists. "I Have the Same Old Blues" has a medium, loping blues tempo that swings so perfectly it should be used as an instruction course for lame blues bar bands.
by Eugene Chadbourne
Tracks
1. I Just Want A Little Bit (Roscoe Gordon) - 3:00
9. You Better Stop (Andrew Brown, Al Perkins) - 4:48
10.Keep Loving Me Baby (Otis Rush) - 3:54
11.What Have I Done Wrong (Samuel Maghett) - 3:20
12.I Just Want A Little Bit (Roscoe Gordon) - 3:12
13.Everything's Gonna Be All Right (Samuel Maghett) - 4:04
14.Keep On Doin' What You're Doin' (George Butler) - 2:54
15.Blues For Odie Payne (Samuel Maghett) - 4:44
16.Same Old Blues (Don Nix) - 3:41
17.What Have I Done Wrong (Samuel Maghett) - 2:51
18.Keep On Loving Me, Baby (Otis Rush) - 3:23
Bonus tracks 11-18
Band
*Magic Sam - Vocals, Guitar
*Eddie Shaw - Saxophone
*Odie Payne, Jr. - Drums
*Mack Thompson - Bass
*Mighty Joe Young - Guitar
*Lafayette Leake - Piano
Link Wray's release prior to Be What You Want To had proven the man's versatility. The self-titled album had obvious influences coming from many different genres including R&B, country, blues, and, of course, rock. Be What You Want To continues this trend. Country-rock, country, rock & roll; it's all here. This diverse range of genres may not be to everyone's liking, however, and the album must be approached with an open mind.
Wray employed a huge number of musicians to play on Be What You Want To, including Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. Of course, the main part of the talent comes from Link Wray himself. His amazing ability as lyricist, songwriter, and musician is noticeably brought to the fore on this album. Be What You Want To is consistently enjoyable to listen to and always impressive musically. The man's growling vocals and rocking guitar will undoubtedly enthrall many first-time listeners and also keep longtime fans happy.
by Ben Davies
Tracks
1. Be What You Want To - 5:57
2. All Cried Out (Mann P. Curtis, Michel Deborah) - 3:48
3. Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Lloyd Price) - 2:41
4. Tucson, Arizona (Doug Wray) - 4:18
5. Riverbend - 2:40
6. You Walked By - 3:17
7. Walk Easy, Walk Slow - 5:20
8. All the Love in My Life - 4:05
9. You Really Got a Hold on Me - 4:04
10.Shine the Light - 4:43
11.Morning - 2:02
All compostions by Link Wray except where indicated
Musicians
*Link Wray - Guitar, Vocals
*Teressa Adams - Cello
*Paul Barlow - Bass
*Bobby Black - Steel Guitar
*David Bromberg - Electric Guitar
*Jules Broussard - Alto, Tenor Saxophones
*David Coffin - Background Vocals
*Henry Coleman - Background Vocals
*Commander Cody - Piano
*Keith Crossan - Background Vocals
*Frank Demme - Background Vocals
*Lance Dickerson - Drums
*Greg Douglass - Slide Guitar
*Diane Earl - Background Vocals
*George Frayne - Keyboards
*Robert Frost - Background Vocals
*Jerry Garcia - Guitar, Pedal Steel
*Tom Harrell - Trumpet
*Zeller Hurd - Background Vocals
*Carl Johnson - Background Vocals
*Peter Kaukonen - Electric Guitar
*Thomas Jefferson Kaye - Background Vocals
*Greg Kenney - Background Vocals
*Kip Maercklein - Bass
*Barbara Mauritz - Background Vocals
*John McFee - Guitar (Electric)
*Chris Michie - Acoustic, Electric Guitars, Vocals
This second album by Hustler was immediately recorded following a series of grueling continental tours. As opening act for some of Britain’s popular names (like Queen), Hustler was forced to edit, redefine, alter, amplify and sophisticate its particular brand of Rock ‘n’ Roll to Grab an audience.
That Grab is at the heart of “Play Loud”, and it’s omnipresent on several of the band’s raver/boogie cuts including “Money Maker”, “Who D’Yer Think Yer Foolin’”, and “Little People”. Also on the straight rock ‘n’ rollers (with the tip of the hat to the Free school), “You Had It Coming To You”, and the incredible “Night Creeper”, which features the dynamic vocals of Steve Haynes, and searing guitar work of Micky Llewellyn.
Tracks
1. Money Maker (Steve Haynes) - 3:38
2. You Had It Coming To You (Micky Llewellyn, Steve Haynes) - 3:56
3. Boogie Man (Steve Haynes, Tigger Lyons) - 4:47
4. Break Of Day (Steve Haynes, Tigger Lyons) - 3:58
5. Who D’Yer Think Yer Foolin’ (Micky Llewellyn, Steve Haynes) - 2:41
6. Goin’ Home (Micky Llewellyn, Steve Haynes) - 3:01
7. Strange Love (Steve Haynes, Tigger Lyons) - 4:21
8. Little People (Micky Llewellyn, Tigger Lyons) - 3:46
9. Night Creeper (Hidden Track) (Steve Haynes) - 6:45
