Jorge Mautner - Para Iluminar a Cidade 1972

An important composer with solid ideas and a background in politics, philosophy, and poetry, Jorge Mautner influenced movements like the Cinema Novo and Tropicália. His compositions have been recorded by many artists -- Gal Costa ("Lágrimas Negras"), Wanderléa ("Ginga da Mandinga"),Gilberto Gil ("Maracatu Atômico," "Herói das Estrelas," "O Rouxinol"), Moraes Moreira ("A Lenda do Pégaso"), Elba Ramalho ("Sonho de Uma Noite de Verão"), Caetano Veloso ("Vampiro"), Zé Ramalho, Fagner, Vânia Bastos, Lulu Santos, Celso Sim, Chico Science, and others. At seven, he started to have violin lessons with his father. At 14, he began learning the mandolin, and later, the piano. Beginning to write in 1956 about his visions around a certain "Kaos," Mautner's texts inspired the genial Gláuber Rocha, creator of the Cinema Novo, and also influenced the inception of Tropicália. In 1958 he wrote "Olhar Bestial." His outsider profile was already evident in his first book, Deus da Chuva e da Morte, written in that period and not published until 1962. He also wrote Kaos, Narciso em Tarde Cinza, and Vigarista Jorge. In 1965, he released his first single ("Radioatividade" and "Não Não Não"), playing at São Paulo's bars and nightclubs. That single, together with the book Vigarista Jorge, provoked his exile, still three years before the institution of the AI-5, the presidential decree of censorship that revoked many civil rights in Brazil. Going to the U. S., Mautner worked at several jobs, including as a secretary for the American writer Robert Lowell. In 1969, he wrote, with Carla Bley, the eventual standard "Olhos de Gato." In 1971, he moved to London, England, where Gilberto Gil andCaetano Veloso were also exiled, writing "From Far Away" (with Caetano) and "The Three Mushrooms," "Babylon," and "Crazy Pop Rock" (with Gil). In the same year, he directed the film O Demiurgo. Returning to Brazil, Mautner recorded live his first LP in 1972, Para Iluminar a Cidade. With Nelson Jacobina, he wrote his biggest hit, "Maracatu Atômico," recorded by Gilberto Gil in 1973 with great success and re-recorded also with success by Chico Science e Nação Zumbi in 1996. In 1974, he participated, with Gil and Caetano, in a show in Salvador BA which was recorded and released as an LP. Jorge Mautner continues to record, perform shows, and write books. AMG.

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The Meters - Rejuvenation 1974

The title is a tip-off, as is the garish, blaxploitation-chic photo on the cover -- Rejuvenation, the Meters' second album for Reprise, should be seen as a bit of a new beginning for the quintessential New Orleans funk group. It's not a clean beginning, since they were pointing in this direction on Cabbage Alley, but this is where their glistening, clear production, crisp performances, rock influences, and hard-edged funk coalesce into a sound distinct from their Josie recordings -- not better, just different. As such, this is the definitive Reprise album from the Meters, not just because the material is stronger (which admittedly is true), but because the performances are continually inspired and the production is professional but hits at a gut level, resulting in a first-class funk album. [Sundazed's 2000 reissue contains the single versions of "People Say" and "Hey Pocky-A-Way" as bonus tracks.] AMG.

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Lorraine Ellison - Heart & Soul 1966

Lorraine Ellison is best known for her hit ballad "Stay With Me" and her cover of Jerry Butler's "I Dig You Baby." She originally recorded "Just a Little Bit Harder," later covered by Janis Joplin. She's also a favorite with U.K. Northern soul devotees. Born in 1931 in Philadelphia, PA, the deep soul vocalist first recorded with the gospel groups the Ellison Singers (who recorded for Sharp/Savoy in 1962) and the Golden Chords (who recorded for CBS in 1963). By 1964, she began recording R&B music, and her first hit was the 1965 R&B hit "I Dig You Baby" (later made into a pop smash by Jerry Butler).

One year later, she released her signature song -- the intense, symphonic-drenched ballad "Stay With Me," written and produced by Jerry Ragovoy and issued by the Warner label. It hit number 11 on the R&B charts in the fall of 1966. Some of her other singles were "Heart Be Still," "Don't Let It Go to Your Head," "Try," and "I've Got My Baby Back." Songs that she wrote with her manager Sam Bell (of Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters) were recorded by Mimms and Howard Tate. Ellison's Warner LPs include Heart and Soul (1966),Stay With Me (1969), and Lorraine Ellison (1974) and the compilation The Best of Philadelphia's Queen (1976).Lorraine Ellison died on January 31, 198
3. AMG.

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Joe Simon - The Sounds of Simon 1971

His plaintive baritone equally conversant with R&B and country phrasing, Joe Simon married the two genres with startling success during the late '60s, adapting Nashville material to the soul sound and repeatedly coming up a winner. Simon began recording in the Bay Area, but a switch in recording sites (first to Muscle Shoals for Vee-Jay and then to Nashville, upon signing with disc jockey John Richbourg's Sound Stage 7 label in 1966) heightened his national appeal. With easy access to prime country-oriented material, Simon soon found his true calling, scoring major hits with "Nine Pound Steel," "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On," and the number one R&B smash "The Chokin' Kind," penned by Music Row tunesmith Harlan Howard. Still dabbling in country covers after switching to the Spring imprint in 1970, Simon was even more successful when assigned to Philadelphia wizards Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who produced the moody "Drowning in the Sea of Love" the next year. Simontried his hand at disco in 1975 with the sizzling "Get Down, Get Down (Get on the Floor)" and "Music in My Bones," two of the most palatable artifacts of the era. Simon eventually retired from active performing to devote his life to the church. AMG. Thanks B.

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Joy Unlimited - Reflections 1973

In the second half of the 1960s the Mannheim-based band known as Joy & The Hit Kids has gained a popularity in the club circuit, playing many live shows and issuing a bunch of singles on the Decca label. Their repertoire consisted mostly of simple adaptations of popular beat and rhythm'n'blues pieces, but the band's playing was incredibly tight and professional, while their female vocalist Joy Fleming could easily rival Janis Joplin in terms of rocking energy. With a considerable change of public prefer-ences in the late 1960s, the band's style moved towards psychedelic rock, but it still contained plenty of rhythm'n‘blues rudiments. The name "Joy And The Hit Kids" referred to the previous musical era so the band took the imposing title "Joy Unlimited" instead. Soon the contract with Polydor has been signed and in 1970 Joy Unlimited's debut album "Overground" has finally seen the light of day.
Musically it was a nice collection of short songs ranging from pop-rock to psychedelic-tinged blues-rock. Joy Fleming was clearly inspired by canis Joplin and her excellent vocal parts benefited this LP. Besides her, the band consisted of drummer Hans Herkeene, bassist/trombonist Albin Metz, key-boardist/vocalist Roland Heck, bassist/saxophonist/vocalist Dieter Kindl and guitarist/flautist/vocalist Klaus Nagel.
Soon after "Overground" being released, the band has been kicked out from Polydor (for unknown reasons), so their next effort, entitled "Schmetteriinge“ appeared a year later on the famous German progressive label Pilz. Indeed, it was a much more progressive effort, where the blues-rock showoffs, typical for the band's early years were excellently combined with proggy arrangements (igni saw the arrival of yet one winds-player Gerd Kothe) and even some free-jazz weirdness (listen to the track "Sensual Impressions”). Overall it was a wonderfully versatile album and fans of German prog would cer-tainly like it a lot. The important fact is that "Schmetterlinge" featured music written and performed for no less than a conceptual rock ballet! This album proved one of Joy Unlimited's ultimate masterpieces and has been also released in USA on the BASF label under the title "Butterflies“(English equivalent for "Schmetterlinge").
Following "Schmetterlinge” release, Joy Fleming left the band to pursue a solo career (which turned out pretty successful). Disappointed with this fact guitarist and one of the main songwriters Klaus Nagel dropped out as well, but the remaining quintet decided to keep on composing and performing music as Joy Unlimited so the American-born vocalist Ken Traylor has been called aboard to replace Joy. "Reflections", released in 1973 04 BASF, established the band as one of the leading German progressive acts. Here are no breathtaking stylistic diversity a-la "Schrnetterlinge“ – instead we get several excellent purely progressive tracks, reminiscent of Frumpy or Jane with the prominent horn-section added. Influences of folk, hard-rock and classical music has been mixed together to form a wonderful musical puzzle, very typical of the early 1970s progressive rock.
Traylor and Kindl left the band before its final album "Minne to be replaced with vocalist/guitarist Joschi Dinier, guitarist I-lans Lingenfelder 5 the returning Klaus Nagel. Once again released on BASF label, "Minne" (1974) signified the band's shift towards folk-prog, still they were far more competent on this field than many other German folk-prog groups. Yet one masterpiece from Joy Unlimited, this album contains several very tight and sophisticated tracks, departing from the rough heavy progressive rock of "Reflections". If "Schmetterlinge” is the most diverse Joy Unlimited's album ever and "Reflections" is the most energetic and rocking one, "Minne” could well serve as the most beautiful work the band ever recorded.
With the demise of this talented band German prog-rock scene lost one of its brightest representa-tives. Too bad Joy Unlimited hasn't got a wider recongnition in the time of their existence and even worse is that no their albums have been officially released on CD, while the original LPs has become very sought after. With this reissue you can dive into the wonderful world of the unlimited joy without pay-ing megabucks for the BASF LP. As brothers Freeman rightly put in their "Cosmic Dreams At Play" book, "Joy Unlimited were a constantly surprising and inventive band".

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Tia Blake - Folksongs & Ballads 1971

Folksongs & Ballads is the only document of Tia Blake's short-lived stint as a folk performer. In 1970,Blake was an American teenager living in Paris who stumbled into a recording contract that resulted in a single LP of 11 public domain folk compositions. There was only one live performance in Paris to promote the album's release, and the next summer Blake left France, never to return and never to record or perform publicly again. California reissue label Water extends the original album with some rehearsal tapes, as well as three songs from 1976 recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Company but never used, representing just about every song the artist ever put to tape in her time. With minimal orchestration of two guitars, Blake's darkly powerful voice, and the occasional flute or dobro flourish, these traditional songs are rendered either gorgeously wistful -- as on the breezy "Wish I Was a Single Girl Again" or the trucker's anthem "Plastic Jesus" -- or crushingly sad. Swinging between these extremes, the album finds a quiet gracefulness that bests some of the most successful folk albums of its time. As Blake winds her smoky voice around delicate standards, one is reminded of folkstressKaren Dalton's second album In My Own Time and its dour take on familiar popular tunes, or even ESP artist Patty Waters' fractured lens on folk dirges. The album exists in the same insular headspace as Dylan's earliest albums, and while far less extroverted and rambling than those albums (or any of the big-name folk artists that would define the genre in popular memory) Blake cultivates a world of fragile intricacy that is by turns weighty and carefree. This collection definitely falls into the "lost classic" category, predicting the less freaky side of freak folk songwriters like Josephine Foster, MV & EE, or Devendra Banhart decades in advance, while existing in a lush stillness all its own. Thanks to B. AMG.

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John Mayall - Thru the Years 1972

A grab bag of rare tracks from the '60s, some of which stand among Mayall's finest. His debut 1964 single "Crawling up a Hill" is one of his best originals; this comp also includes a couple of 1964-65 flipsides that were never otherwise issued in the U.S. The eight songs featuring Peter Green include some top-notch material that outpaces much of the only album recorded by the Green lineup (A Hard Road), particularly the Green originals "Missing You" and "Out of Reach," a great B-side with devastating, icy guitar lines and downbeat lyrics that ranks as one of the great lost blues-rock cuts of the '60s. The set is filled out with a few songs from the Mick Taylor era, the highlight being the vicious instrumental "Knockers Step Forward." Look for the CD reissue and not the early-'70s double U.S. album of the same name, which includes a lot of superfluous material and omits the three 1964-65 songs from British 45s. AMG.

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Ruby - Red Crystal Fantasies 1974

Formed in 1974 with former bass player of Procol Harum' David Knight and guitarists John Abbott and Mike Lentin and singer Rab Munro. An Interesting rock group, give it a listen.

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Nils Lofgren - Nils Lofgren 1975

When Nils Lofgren released his first solo album in 1975, most fans were expecting a set confirming his guitar hero status, and more than a few listeners were vocally disappointed with the more laid-back and song-oriented disc Lofgren delivered. However, with the passage of time Nils Lofgren has come to be regarded as an overlooked classic, and with good reason -- Lofgren has rarely been in better form on record as a songwriter, vocalist, musician, and bandleader. While Lofgren doesn't lay down a firestorm of guitar on each selection (with his piano unexpectedly high in the mix), when he does solo he makes it count, and the rough but tasty chordings and bluesy accents that fill out the frameworks of the songs give the performances plenty of sinew. Just as importantly, this is as good a set of songs as Lofgren has assembled on one disc, consistently passionate and forceful, from the cocky "If I Say It, It's So" and "The Sun Hasn't Set on This Boy Yet" to the lovelorn "I Don't Want to Know" and "Back It Up," while "Keith Don't Go (Ode to the Glimmer Twins)" comes from the heart of a true fan and "Rock and Roll Crook" suggests Lofgren had already learned plenty about the music business by this time. The production on Nils Lofgren is simple but simpatico, giving all the players plenty of room to shine, and Lofgren's rhythm section (Wornell Jones on bass and Aynsley Dunbar on drums) fits the album's funky but heartfelt vibe perfectly. Lofgren has made harder rocking and flashier albums since his debut, but he rarely hit the pocket with the same élan as he did on Nils Lofgren, and it remains the most satisfying studio album of his career. AMG.

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Karen Beth - Harvest 1970

Karen Beth is a folk-rock singer who made the charts in 1969 with her album The Joys of Life and whose 1975 album, New Moon Rising, produced by John Simon (The Band), drew comparisons toJoni Mitchell. AMG.

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Ronnie McNeir - Ronnie McNeir 1972

Studio wiz Ronnie McNeir's one and only album for RCA -- his follow-up, another self-titled set released on Motown subsidiary Prodigal, didn't come until 1975 -- was laid down when the singer was in his early twenties. McNeir's combination of keyboard flair and sweet and low-key tenor was already in effect, as was a fully developed knack for the conceptual. These 11 songs aren't just sharply conceived songs of heartache and gratitude; they flow into and out of one another as a full piece, sometimes connected by brief interludes -- romantic dialogue with Kim Weston, for instance. A surprising level of maturity is there as well, with "Daddy's Coming Home" standing out the most in that respect. Deeply regretful about having to be away in order to provide, he addresses a son who is also caught in the middle of a broken relationship: "Me and your mama, we just couldn't get along/Please don't hold it against me, 'cause I'll never do you wrong." By no means a commercial success, the album was perhaps too subtle and low-profile for its own good, lacking that one bold single with a snappy chorus to help it stick out, but it is sturdily constructed. It's a fine companion piece to the debut from another Detroit product, the first self-titled album from Leon Ware, also released in 1972. (Warecoincidentally co-wrote this album's "Trouble's a Loser.") [Dusty Groove issued the album on CD for the first time in 2009.] AMG.

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Les Dudek - Les Dudek 1976

Guitarist Les Dudek has played with some of rock and pop's biggest names (Stevie Nicks, Steve Miller, Dave Mason, Cher, Boz Scaggs, and the Allman Brothers Band, among others), in addition to issuing solo albums on his own. Born on August 2, 1957, in Rhode Island, Dudek began playing guitar at the age of 11 (first inspired by such pop hitmakers as Elvis Presley and the Beatles), and only three years later, would sneak into bars to play with bands. It was during his teenaged years that Dudek discovered such blues masters as Freddie, Albert, and B.B. King, as well as such then-modern day blues rockers as Paul Butterfield and Steve Miller. By the early '70s, Dudek was residing in Florida, playing in the obscure group Power, whose keyboard player was friends with the Allman Brothers' Dickey Betts. Soon a friendship was struck up between Betts and Dudek, as Betts contemplated forming a side band in addition to his Allman duties. The duo cut some demos, but the group was disbanded when work on the Allman's classic Brothers and Sisters album got underway. But Dudek was present for the recording sessions, laying down some guitar lines alongside Betts on "Ramblin' Man" and helping co-write one of the Allman's best-known songs, "Jessica" (for which Dudek also played on).

After his brief detour with the Allman Brothers, Dudek signed on with Boz Scaggs, playing with him for five years and appearing on the 1976 release Silk Degrees. Dudek became friends with one of his main guitar influences during this time, Steve Miller, leading to a co-headlining tour between Scaggs and Miller, which saw Dudek appearing with both artists each night. (Miller would subsequently record a few of Dudek's original compositions, including "Sacrifice" for his Book of Dreams release, while Dudek also played on Miller's Fly Like an Eagle album.) A planned acoustic tour with just Dudek and Miller was shelved at the last minute, as Dudek returned for a tour with Scaggs. With all this activity, Dudek still found time to sign a solo deal with Columbia Records, issuing four albums between 1976 and 1981 -- 1976's self-titled debut, 1977's Say No More, 1978's Ghost Town Parade, and 1981's Gypsy Ride -- as well as launching the DFK Band (which saw Dudek joined by keyboardist Mike Finnigan and guitarist Jim Krueger), who issued a lone, self-titled release in 1979.

Dudek also played with Cher briefly in the early '80s, as the famous singer attempted to launch a rock-based outfit, Cher & Black Rose, which failed to get off the ground due to record label turmoil. Cher launched her successful movie acting career shortly thereafter and even helped Dudek land a bit part in 1985's Mask as a boyfriend (Cher and Dudek demoed a song for the movie which has remained unissued). Dudek then guested on Stevie Nicks' 1985 release, Rock a Little, and was the guitarist on the album's ensuing tour. The '90s saw Dudek return to his blues roots, as he appeared on Steve Miller's back-to-basics release, 1993's Wide River, and issued his fifth solo release overall, 1994's Deeper Shade of Blues. AMG.

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Gary Boyle - Electric Glide 1978

Fans of mid-'70s King Crimson or early-'70s John McLaughlin could do a lot worse than land Gary Boyle's second solo album in their CD player or on their turntable. The ex-Isotope guitarist shows a thorough familiarity with the scales, and he (and the rest of the instrumentalists here) show a great affinity for 16th and 32nd notes, but the playing is always interesting enough and the shifting textures sufficiently diverse to hold one's interest across just over a half-hour -- the presence of guitarist Gary Moore, among others, doesn't hurt in that regard either. Electric Glide is very much of its era, steeped in mid-'70s jazz-rock, and there are a few moments that come perilously close to recalling theMahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire album -- luckily, he surrounds those intensely challenging moments with some more gently lyrical material, most notably the title track, which might have had a shot at some radio success, had it been a single. AMG.

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