Michael Gibbs - Tanglewood '63 1971

A landmark record in the evolution of British jazz-rock, Tanglewood '63 assembles a who's-who of contemporary musicians -- guitarist Chris Spedding, bassist Jack Bruce and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler among them -- to create vividly majestic music of remarkable scope and energy. Mike Gibbs' ingenious arrangements suggest a pop art incarnation of a traditional big band -- assembled from blistering guitar riffage, fiery brass and deeply idiosyncratic rhythms, Tanglewood '63 nevertheless retains the soulfulness of conventional jazz, and for all its mind-expanding consciousness, the music speaks to the body as loudly as it does the intellect. Most impressive is the tactile sumptuousness of Gibbs' sound -- the music boasts as many tints and textures as a Pantone Color Guide. [Reissued in 2005 as one half of a Vocalion two-fer alongside Gibbs' self-titled Deram debut.] AMG.

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Chicken Shack - O.K. Ken 1969

This was Chicken Shack's most popular album, making the British Top Ten. If you're looking for relics of the British Blues Boom, however, you'd be much better off with Ten Years After, to say nothing of legitimate artists such as Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall. British blues at its best could be exciting (if usually derivative), but it's difficult to fathom how this relentlessly plodding, monotonous effort met with such success. Stan Webb took most of the songwriting and vocal chores, emulating the slow-burning Chicago boogie with little skill or subtlety (though he wasn't a bad guitarist). Christine Perfect did write and sing a few songs, but these unfortunately found both her compositional and vocal chops at a most callow stage of development. To nail the coffin, most of the songs were preceded by excruciating comic dialog that made Cheech & Chong sound sophisticated in comparison. AMG.

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If ever there was a soul singer who rivaled Otis Redding's raw, deep emotional sensuality, it was James Carr, and the proof is in the pudding with You Got My Mind Messed Up. Carr was one of the last country-soul singers to approach any chart given to him as if it was a gift from God. Carr was Redding's rival in every respect if for no other reason than the release of this, his debut album recorded in 1966. The 12 songs here, many of them covered by other artists, are all soul classics merely by their having been sung and recorded by Carr. Among them is the Drew Baker/Dani McCormick smash "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man," George Jackson's "Coming Back to Me Baby," a handful of tracks by O.B. McLinton, including "Forgetting You" and the title track, and the Chips Moman/Dan Penn hit "Dark End of the Street." And while it's true that few have ever done bad versions of the song because of the phenomenal writing, there is only one definitive version, and that one belongs to Carr. In his version he sings from the territory of a heart that is already broken but enslaved both to his regret and his desire. This is a love so pure it can only have been illicit. When he gets to the beginning of the second verse, and intones "I know time is gonna take its toll," he's already at the end of his rope; he knows that desire that burns like this can only bring about ruin and disaster, and it is precisely since it cannot be avoided that his repentance is perhaps accepted by the powers that would try him and judge him. He holds the arrangement at bay, and unlike some versions, Carr keeps his composure, making it a true song of regret, remorse, and a love so forbidden yet so faithful that it is worth risking not only disgrace and destruction for, but also hell itself. As the guitar cascades down the fretboard staccato, he can see the dark end of the street and holds it as close to his heart as a sacred and secret memory. By the album's end with the title track, listeners hear the totality of the force of Memphis soul. With Steve Cropper's guitar filling the space in the background, Carr offers a chilling portrait of what would happen to him in the future. Again pleading with the beloved in a tone reminiscent of a church-singer hell, he's in the church of love. He pleads, admonishes, begs, and finally confirms that the end of this love is his insanity, which was a chilling prophecy given what happened to Carr some years later. This is one of theMemphis soul records of the mid-'60s, full of rough-hewn grace, passion, tenderness, and danger. A masterpiece. AMG.
 

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Rita Lee & Tutti Frutti - Atrás Do Porto Tem Uma Cidade 1974

Atrás do Porto Tem uma Cidade was the first album that Rita Lee recorded without assistance from the other Os Mutantes members, Arnaldo Baptista and Sergio Dias. On this album she was instead backed up by her new band Tutti-Frutti, with whom she would work for several years to come. Thus, Atrás do Porto Tem uma Cidade represents one of the major breaking points of Rita Lee's career. The typical Os Mutantes sound that was still very noticeable on Lee's first two solo albums was now completely gone, and replaced with a much more straightforward, but still not mainstream, rock sound. Several tracks are very good, and one that really stands out is the beautiful string and piano-based ballad "Menino Bonito." The space-themed "Eclipse do Cometa," "Ando Jururu," and the funky "Círculo Vicioso" are other highlights. Atrás do Porto Tem uma Cidade is an excellent album, although it isn't quite as consistent or spectacular as the rock classics Fruto Proibido and Babilonia, which Rita Lee and Tutti-Frutti would record later. AMG.

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LaBelle - Pressure Cookin' 1973

The road to reinvention proved to be a long, hard-fought battle for Patti LaBelle and her Blue Belle sisters. At the onset of the ‘70s, Labelle established themselves across the pond and back as vocal powerhouses with surefire determination, sensuality, and fierceness. Their gospel-charged voices contained intense emotion in every wail, coo, and shout. This sorely forgotten 1973 gem, (the lone album they cut for RCA Records), Pressure Cookin‘ signaled the group settling into their groove just a year before they catapulted into the stratosphere. Cookin’ flaunted Labelle’s versatility and Nona Hendryx‘s songwriting in a hybrid of righteous funk and meditative ballads that reflect the changing social landscape. It’s one of Labelle’s rarest, best albums, and a must-hear for classic soul and funk enthusiasts who believe “Lady Marmalade,” and possibly its parent album, their 1974 breakthrough, Nightbirds, is the end-all to be all of Labelle’s legacy.

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Mink DeVille - Return to Magenta 1978

The follow-up to Mink DeVille's critically praised debut arrived just a year afterward and pretty much covers the same shadowy back alleys as its predecessor. At this early stage, Willy DeVille was still rocking out on Moon Martin's "Rolene," his own R&B chugger "Soul Twist," the Bo Diddley driven "Steady Drivin' Man" and the too brief set closer "Confidence to Kill," the latter ripping off as much greasy punk attitude as anything in his catalog, all in less than two minutes. But it's the soaring ballads and retro doo wop infused urban slow dance gems that make this sleeper a keeper. It takes nerve to open an album with the ominous heartbeat of "Guardian Angel" with its Righteous Brothers vibe enhanced by strings and a brooding Phil Spector "Be My Baby" dramatic, thumping drum pattern. Yet it perfectly foreshadows and adjusts the lights for Willy and the boys' N.Y.C./New Jersey street savvy pop/rock. Producer Jack Nitzsche, returning from the first album, was the perfect foil for the band, keeping the sound lean, mean, raw when necessary, and colored in shades of well, magenta. The legendary Doc Pomus, a guy who knew how important it was to match a good tune with a great singer, writes short but sweet liner notes that anticipate his co-writing contributions to the following album, 1980's Le Chat Bleu. Frontman DeVille is a natural singer as adept at grinding out the rockers as delving into the emotionally burning slow songs such as "I Broke That Promise" that would ultimately define his persona. He's clearly a man out of time, more comfortable with the '50s than the decades after, but never self-consciously retro. The album's only Nitzsche co-write is "Just Your Friends." It's a churning, charming inner city lament with a cascading melody that makes it a lost gem; one of those hidden tracks that never makes it on a greatest-hits collection but helps define this set. The ten tunes are over in 32 minutes but there isn't a wasted note or tossed off track, which makes Return to Magenta (the title is oddly absent from the cover) a somewhat difficult to find yet essential addition to any Willy DeVille collection. AMG.

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The Other Half - The Other Half 1968

This album has been kicking around for ages, first in cut-out bins in the 1970s and subsequently on want lists, ever since "Mr. Pharmacist" (which was not on this long-player) turned up on Rhino's Nuggets, Vol. 12. It turns out to be not at all bad, if not exactly distinguished -- the Other Half were a much better garage band than they were a psychedelic outfit, their frantic, crunchy rockers (which dominate this record) being far more memorable and impressive than their efforts at trippy, spaced out, languid psych ("Wonderful Day"). "I Need You," and "Feathered Fish" give lead guitarist Randy Holden the opportunity to stretch out in the best Jeff Beck manner (circa the Yardbirds' Roger the Engineer), and even their more primitive numbers, such as "Oz Lee Eaves Drops," are good showcases for the group. Holden and rhythm guitarist Geoff Westen also get into some entertaining faux mandolin sounds on "Morning Fire," but when the band tries to get too serious, as on the two-part "What Can I Do for You," the results are fairly dire, which makes the last ten minutes of the original LP (which didn't even run 30 minutes) easily dispensable. AMG.

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McCoy Tyner - Asante 1970

The final McCoy Tyner Blue Note album found the innovative pianist during a low point in his career. His records were not selling that well, his mentor John Coltrane had passed away three years earlier, and it was not obvious that Tyner would be able to continue struggling successfully to make a living out of music. Fortunately, his fortunes would soon rise when he signed with Milestone in 1972 and the critics began to rediscover him. Asante is a bit unusual, for the emphasis is on group interplay rather than individual solos. The four originals feature Tyner with altoist Andrew White, guitarist Ted Dunbar, bassist Buster Williams, drummer Billy Hart, Mtume on congas, and two spots for the voice of Songai. Worth investigating. AMG.

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Ruby Starr - Smokey Places 1977

Singer Ruby Starr was best-known as a backup singer for '70s macho man rockers Black Oak Arkansas, but also issued several recordings as a solo artist as well. Born Constance Henrietta Mierzwiak in Toledo, OH, in 1949, the future rock singer got her start at the age of nine (performing renditions of Brenda Lee songs) before changing her stage name to Connie Little and forming the Phil Spector-esque Connie & the Blu-Beats. Following stints in such obscure outfits as the Downtowners and the Blue Grange Ramblers (aka BGR), the latter of which mutated into the outfit Ruby Jones (a name that the singer was going by at the time). Signed to Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label, the recording of Ruby Jones' 1971 self-titled was even supervised by Mayfield. Shortly after the album's release, Black Oak Arkansas frontman Jim Dandy spotted Starr singing in an Evansville, IN, club and persuaded her to join his band, as she assumed her best-known stage name Ruby Starr. Starr toured with the band for several years (appearing on the albums Street Party and Balls of Fire, as well as their lone hit single "Jim Dandy") before leaving the group to form the Ruby Jones Band in 1976, and issuing Scene Stealer the same year. By the dawn of the '80s, Jones/Starr had formed Grey Star, issuing a pair of recordings -- 1981's self-titled debut and 1983's Telephone Sex -- before forming the group Henrietta Kahn in the late '80s. In the '90s, Starr was diagnosed with cancer, eventually passing away at home in Toledo in January of 1995. After her passing, several archival releases that featured Starr were issued, including the live Black Oak Arkansas recording, King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents, and a reissue of Ruby Jones' debut album, retitled as Stone Junkie. AMG.

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Lyn Collins - Think (about it) 1972

At the time of the release of Think (About It) in 1972, Lyn Collins had been a member of James Brown's performing revue for about two years. Her full-throated voice had earned her the nickname "the Female Preacher" and a shot to record her own album. Of course, the Godfather was in the producer's chair, writing four of the nine tracks, directing the J.B.'s as they laid down their usual funky grooves, and liberally adding vocals throughout. The title track is the main point of interest here; from Collins' throat-ripping vocals to the track's nasty groove to Brown's background interjections, this is a killer. (Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock later sampled the track for their rap classic "It Takes Two"). The rest of the record is a little uneven: "Just Won't Do Right" is a good doo wop-ish ballad with some churchy organ and great vocals by Collins and Brown, "Wheels of Life" is a nice little groover that sounds like vintage Aretha Franklin, and "Women's Lib" is a very slow ballad that lets Collins show off her anguished yowl of a vocal to its fullest. Where the album stumbles is on the covers of familiar songs. Her versions of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" and the Gamble & Huff classic "Never Gonna Give You Up" are mediocre, and worst of all is her leaden take on "Fly Me to the Moon." Still, the record is worth tracking down for hardcore James Brown or funky soul fans. The less devoted should look for "Think (About It)" on one of the many compilations on which it appears. AMG.

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Jefferson Starship - Dragon Fly 1974

Credited to "Grace Slick/Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship," Dragon Fly was the transitional album between the various shifting aggregations Slick and Kantner had been recording with as Jefferson Airplane dissolved in the early '70s and the new Jefferson Starship (which essentially was the Airplane with a new guitarist and bassist -- Craig Chaquico and Pete Sears). But where such preceding efforts as Sunfighter, Manhole, and Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun had suffered from indulgence and a lack of focus, Dragon Fly, from the first note of its rocking leadoff track, "Ride the Tiger" (a chart single), was a unified effort. Like much of the Airplane catalog and all of the Starship albums to follow, the album suffered from the band's communal approach to song selection (the eight tracks credited 12 writers, half of them bandmembers), leading to an unevenness in the material. But unlike the recent Kantner/Slick/etc. albums, it sounded like the work of a seasoned band. (It didn't hurt that the album was cut just after a tour, instead of before one.) Especially notable was Chaquico, who on such tracks as "All Fly Away" and "Hyperdrive" demonstrated that he was a distinctive lead guitarist able to define the Starship sound just as the very different Jorma Kaukonen had the Airplane. But what turned Dragon Fly into an artistic and commercial triumph (it was the most popular album any of these people had been involved with in five years) was the return, for one song, of former Airplane singer Marty Balin, since that one song was the epic power ballad "Caroline," which became a radio favorite and remains one of the best songs the Airplane/Starship ever did. AMG.

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Ibis - Ibis 1974

Swedish jazz-rock band active from 1974 to early 80s. Ibis was founded in Stockholm in the 70s from the ashes of Vildkaktus. Olle Nilsson and others from Finspång / Norrköping had previously played in the 1960s group 14. In the 1970s he moved to Stockholm to study music and formed the group Vildkaktus along with some new friends. The group was among the pioneers of the rock scene in Swedish. They played progressive rock with influences from jazz and folk music that is said to have some similarities to Traffic. The group later renamed itself to the Ibis and released a more jazz influenced self titled LP in 1974. Six years later it was issued the 2nd album that featured a vastly different line-up with only Gösta Nilsson left from 1974's LP. They disbanded at the beginning of the 80s. 

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Secos & Molhados - Secos & Molhados II (1974)

Founded in 1971 by João Ricardo (singer/composer/violão/harmonica), who was soon joined by Ney Matogrosso (vocalist) and Gerson Conrad (vocalist/composer/violão), Secos & Molhados are inscribed in a privileged category of few bands and musicians who led Brazil from bossa nova through tropicália and then to Brazilian rock, a style that only blossomed in the '80s. Much of the group's importance, apart from the huge success of its first album, which sold 700,000 copies in 1973, was the heavy use of stage makeup and dramatic elements. These served as reference for a generation of underground bands that wouldn't accept MPB as their expression, finally drawing a definite outlook in Brazilian music in the '80s through collective contribution. João Ricardo, a journalist from the newspaper Última Hora (São Paulo), leader and founder of Secos & Molhados, was born in Ponte do Lima, Portugal in 1949. His father, poet/critic João Apolinário, was a major influence in his literary life, and would even contribute lyrics to two songs on the group's debut album, and one on the follow-up. Secos & Molhados ("dry and wet goods," a typical upcountry warehouse) were devised by Ricardo, who found in his two partners the perfect vehicles for his concepts. Ney, who would explode on the stage with his magnetic presence, his counter-tenor voice, and his extravagant androgynous outfit, remaining as the only successful artist of the trio after the end of the group, was introduced by singer/composer Luli, a common friend; Gerson was already a neighbor and friend of Ricardo's. In December 1972, the group did a successful series of shows in the nightclub Casa de Badalação e Tédio (São Paulo). With the presence of Ney, the spectacle was highly visual, dynamic, and energetic, exploring in a sexually ambiguous way the new sounds of the band. Texts of important poets like Cassiano Ricardo, Manuel Bandeira, Solano Trindade, and Vinícius de Moraes were used as song lyrics, which was unusual. In 1973, the group's success in live appearances yielded an invitation from Continental, and Secos & Molhados was recorded. The album sold 700,000 copies, a nationwide hit. Among the packed shows that followed, especially deserving of mention is the one performed in the Maracanãzinho stadium for 25,000 people (which was recorded and released in 1980), and in the Presidente Médici Gymnasium in Brasília. The following year, the group was featured on Mexican TV, and recorded a second LP, also titled Secos & Molhados, which also sold very well. Secos & Molhados could have anticipated Brazilian rock, but were dissolved before that could happen, in 1974. Disagreements about finances arose between Gerson and Ney, and between father and son, who were directly responsible for the disbanding. João Ricardo released an album in 1975, João Ricardo (Philips), and tried to resurrect the band four times, always with a different formation and no original members. Gerson continued to perform and record, and Ney departed for a highly successful career, ultimately exhibiting a true reverence for MPB. AMG.

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Campo Di Marte - Campo Di Marte 1973

Drummer Carlo Felice Marcovecchio formed Campo Di Marte in 1971, following the break-up of the 60s beat band I Califfi. Still based in that band's hometown of Florence, where the new group swiftly gained a strong live following, Campo Di Marti came to the attention of United Artists as that label looked to expand its European frontiers beyond the Kraut Rock arena with which it was already synonymous. In the event, Campo Di Marti proved the label's sole Italian signing, although the eponymous LP that resulted was certainly not to blame for that. Strongly influenced by classical music, beautifully bombastic but deeply melodic too, Campo Di Marti has been ranked among the finest Italian albums of 1973. However, despite a good critical reception, the LP disappeared, and by the end of the year, Campo Di Marti had followed it into oblivion. AMG.

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Duane & Gregg Allman - Duane & Gregg Allman 1972

Duane & Greg Allman is an album credited to brothers Duane and Gregg Allman, released by Bold Records in May 1972. The release is essentially an album-length demo recording of the 31st of February, a Tallahassee-based folk rock band featuring drummer Butch Trucks, bassist David Brown, and guitarist Scott Boyer. The 31st of February formed in 1965 and released their first, self-titled album in 1968. This second recording, according to Trucks, was intended to be their second album. It features Duane Allman on guitar and Gregg Allman on vocals. The two had been performing with the 31st of February for several months.

It was recorded at TK Studios in the Miami suburb of Hialeah, Florida in September 1968. Steve Alaimo engineered the sessions and later claimed producer's credit. The album is notable for the first recording of "Melissa", which was later re-recorded with the Allman Brothers Band.

Bold Records released the opening track "Morning Dew" as a single in 1972, backed with "I'll Change for You". The single didn't make it into the record charts, but the album peaked at No. 129 on the Billboard Top LPs during an eight-week run on the chart. The album was re-released several times after 1972 on various record companies and with varying cover art in various countries, including Germany and Japan, and is currently available digitally and on streaming services under the corrected title Duane and Gregg Allman.

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