Happy New Year 2024!

 

One more year is gone, and more to come yes!!! Thanks to B., Spunkie, Snakeboy, Miles, Alfred Venison, FiveGunsWest, E.W., ... and so many more, and to all this blog followers,....thanks for sharing life around!!! Happy New Year 2024!

The Doobie Brothers - The Doobie Brothers 1971

One of the most inauspicious debuts by a major rock group, this subdued slice of country boogie might be called the missing link between Moby Grape and the later, revved-up Doobies of "Listen to the Music." Only a handful of West Coast hippies bought this record originally, but it lays the blueprint for the Doobies' future radio-friendly sound: chugging rhythm guitar, stretched-out harmonies, Tom Johnston's joyful R&B vocals, and Patrick Simmons' acoustic picking. A muffled mixing job helped keep this album in the morgue, which is sad, because "Nobody" and "Greenwood Creek" rate with some of Johnston's best tunes, and they deserve issuance on a definitive Doobie Brothers compilation. AMG.

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The Beatles - Let It Be 1969

The only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews, there are few other rock records as controversial as Let It Be. First off, several facts need to be explained: although released in May 1970, this was not their final album, but largely recorded in early 1969, way before Abbey Road. Phil Spector was enlisted in early 1970 to do some post-production work, but did not work with the band as a unit, as George Martin and Glyn Johns had on the sessions themselves; Spector's work was limited to mixing and some overdubs. And, although his use of strings has generated much criticism, by and large, he left the original performances to stand as is: only "The Long and Winding Road" and (to a lesser degree) "Across the Universe" and "I Me Mine" get the wall-of-sound layers of strings and female choruses. Although most of the album, then, has a live-in-the-studio feel, the main problem was that the material wasn't uniformly strong and that the Beatles themselves were in fairly lousy moods due to inter-group tension. All that said, the album is on the whole underrated, even discounting the fact that a sub-standard Beatles record is better than almost any other group's best work. McCartney, in particular, offers several gems: the gospelish "Let It Be," which has some of his best lyrics; "Get Back," one of his hardest rockers; and the melodic "The Long and Winding Road," ruined by Spector's heavy-handed overdubs (the superior string-less, choir-less version was finally released on Anthology Vol. 3). The folky "Two of Us," with John and Paul harmonizing together, was also a highlight. Most of the rest of the material, by contrast, was going through the motions to some degree, although there are some good moments of straight hard rock in "I've Got a Feeling" and "Dig a Pony." As flawed and bumpy as it is, it's an album well worth having, as when the Beatles were in top form here, they were as good as ever. AMG.

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Exponent - Upside Down 1974

German progressive rock band from Wuppertal, formed by Frank Martin with members of Cannabis India. Exponent was founded as an unknown, short-lived Wuppertaler rock quartet in 1974 and disbanded in 1976. They recorded some material for only one album titled "Upside Down" veiled in a horrible sleeve in 1974 (not released in those days sadly) and the tracks saw the light as an LP via an independent/personal label named Korusuro in 2014, and as a CD via Garden Of Delights in the following year. 

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Hopney - Cosmic Rockout 1977

Perhaps because of its title, this 1977 album is listed in some psychedelic rock discographies. It's indisputably rare, but it's not much more psychedelic than a can of beer. It really sounds more like some '60s rock veteran, psychedelic or otherwise, nursing a hangover as he re-emerges to play some hole-in-the-wall bar for gas money. There's a burnt-out, lounge-y feeling to this eccentric but vaguely displeasing music, whatever psychedelicisms there are coming through in some of the guitar leads. "Long Ago Far Away," for example, makes it clear that Hopney, or whoever the guitarist was, long ago studied the classic guitar lick in Cream's "White Room," here bastardizing it in the service of a pretty dull song. Much of the album drifts between crummy bar band rock and some pretty strange, goofier songs that don't make it clear whether Hopney's trying to be funny or he's just being unwittingly funny by doing his sincere best. What's one to make, for instance, of "Hey Girl," a smarmily sung number pretty much devoted to chiding a girl to not stick her tongue at the singer (and which actually ranks among the better tracks, sad a statement as that is)? Don't be fooled by high collector prices into thinking this is something special -- it's second-rate, though slightly weirder than many '70s just-this-side-of-vanity obscurities in the vinyl trash bin. AMG.

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Carolyn Franklin - Chain Reaction 1970

Carolyn Franklin, the late sister of Aretha, is known best for the gripping ballads "Ain't No Way" and "Angel," both of which she wrote for big sis. Carolyn was the baby of the Franklin siblings. Chain Reaction consists of mostly remakes. On the Moments' "Not on the Outside," she mimics the original but gives it female flavor. Same for the Masqueraders' soulful proclamation, "I Ain't Got to Love Nobody Else, I Got You." Yes, that's the correct title. She deserves brownie points for redoing a Masqueraders' song, a neglected soul group that was outstanding. They aren't covered much because few singers can do justice to their originals. For some reason, Carolyn didn't write any of the songs. Surprising, because, besides the remakes, the rest of the LP is cluttered with ordinary attempts at commercialism like "Chain Reaction," and "Shattered Pride." AMG.

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Pat Martino - El Hombre 1967

Guitarist Pat Martino's debut as a leader finds the 22-year-old showing off his roots in soul-jazz organ groups while looking ahead at the same time. Joined by organist Trudy Pitts, flutist Danny Turner, drummer Mitch Fine, and both Abdu Johnson and Vance Anderson on percussion, Martino primarily plays a straight-ahead set (five of his originals, "Just Friends," and "Once I Loved"), but already displays a fairly distinctive sound. This CD reissue brings back Martino's impressive start to what would be a productive solo career. AMG.

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Anonymous - Inside the Shadow 1976

Inside the Shadow was more or less the sole product of Anonymous, a studio project put together by Indianapolis, Indiana musician Ron Matelic when he was offered a recording contract and a modest budget to make an album. Released in an unceremoniously tiny batch of 300 copies in 1976, the album would go on to be one of the more sought-after rarities among private-press psych enthusiasts, eventually seeing reissues and bootleggings of various quality until a proper reissue in 2013. The disarming compositions of Inside the Shadow have grown to legendary status based on their unique timelessness and blend of hazy jamming and clear-eyed songwriting. Though the album was recorded in two weeks during the mid-'70s, the production and direct influences would suggest it was made much earlier, as the closest parallels are the intricate vocal harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, or later Hollies, Byrds-like folk-rock, and the bristling psychedelia of '60s Bay Area stalwarts like Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the earliest guitar ramblings of the Grateful Dead. Though disco was in full swing, Anonymous was offering heavy-handed psych-folk workouts like the cosmic rumble of "Shadow Lay" and the gloom-tinged prog pop of album opener "Who's Been Foolin'?" "Pick Up and Run" expands on the Byrds' 12-string electric guitar musings, pushing out all hints of the country roads they would later walk down in favor of far darker fields of dreamlike prog and layers of interlocking vocals. The album plays out in an unintentional song cycle, with songs just complex enough to fold into each other but pop-minded enough to stand out as singular entities as well. "Sweet Lilac" in particular shines through, with vocalist Marsha Rollings taking center stage as tight harmonies from Glenn Weaver and Matelic blend into a wall of sun-kissed guitar hooks. Much as the musicians were living in the 1970s imagining a different era with these songs, the wintry Midwest surroundings of Indiana might have similarly come into play in their dreaming up of summery California-sounding jams such as this. The band went through some lineup changes after this album, changing their name to J. Rider, making another record (entitled No Longer Anonymous), and playing a few gigs before disappearing into the ether. Inside the Shadow stands as one of the more brilliant artifacts of painfully obscure psychedelia. Though it arrived late to the party, its nuanced layers of influence and innovation put it in the same esteemed category as private-press acid folk classics by the likes of Tony, Caro and John, Mark Fry, Ithaca, and Comus. As unknown as those reference points may be, the driven feel of purpose, hope, and inspiration that fuels the album makes it as strong or stronger than any of the better-known bands it takes influence from. AMG.

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Wendy & Bonnie - Genesis 1969

The sister duo of Wendy Flower and Bonnie Flower (their real names, not aliases), Wendy & Bonnie recorded one album in the late '60s. Genesis is pleasant if naïve, harmonized light rock with psychedelic, jazz, and folk influences. It is impressive given their tender ages -- Wendy Flower was just 17, and Bonnie Flower only 13, when it was recorded in late 1968, and the pair wrote all of the material on the LP.

The Flowers grew up in a musical family in the San Francisco Bay Area, and prior to recording on their own, did a couple of garage-psychedelic singles as part of Crystal Fountain; Wendy sang lead, and Bonnie played drums. Jazz star Cal Tjader put them to the attention of a jazz label he recorded for, Skye, which made the Wendy & Bonnie LP its lone venture into rock. Genesis was pretty sparsely produced, the arrangements highlighting their harmonies and pensive paisley tunes, but did benefit from backing by some top Los Angeles session musicians, including drummer Jim Keltner and guitarist Larry Carlton.

The album was released in 1969, but stalled when Skye Records folded the following year. The death of producer Gary McFarland in 1971 further discouraged the duo. Although they did sing backup vocals on a couple of Tjader albums and some jingles and background vocals at Fantasy Records, they never recorded their own material again, and broke up in the early '70s. They did perform music separately in the subsequent decades, Wendy Flower issuing a children's music cassette, and Bonnie Flower once rejecting an invitation to join the Bangles. The rare Genesis album was reissued with bonus tracks by Sundazed in 2001. AMG.

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The Blues Right Off - Our Bluesbag 1970

Despite being one of the rarest records on the scene of those years, the only record released by the Venetian band called Blues Right Off dated 1970 is also very interesting, being one of the very few works that pay homage to the British blues revival of those years. This is something quite unique in the panorama, as most bands at the time preferred symphonic pop models. The album actually features a very personal and interesting rock blues that deserves more attention even nowadays.

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Quincy Jones - Body Heat 1974

At the time, Body Heat was a breathtaking leap for Quincy Jones, right into the very heart of mainstream commercial soul -- and it turned out to be very lucrative, rising to number six on the pop album charts. Jazz per se has been left far behind but the same musical sensibility, the same brilliant production skills, and the same knack for what will appeal to a wider audience are still at work, and the result is a surprisingly pleasing album. Amazingly, Jones still draws a constellation of jazz stars into his studio bands (Herbie Hancock, Frank Rosolino, Hubert Laws, Jerome Richardson, Grady Tate, Bob James), plus soul names like Billy Preston, Bernard Purdie, and the soon-to-be-ubiquitous guitarist Wah Wah Watson. The emphasis, though, is first on the honeyed soul vocals from a variety of newcomers, and second on the funky grooves laced with the buzz of now-prized analog synthesizers and wah-wah guitars. There is one reminder of Jones' big-band days, a busy electronic retro-fitting of his classic chart of Benny Golson's "Along Came Betty," where one can hear Laws blow at some length. Otherwise, to paraphrase Jones himself, if you check your jazz boots at the door, you might enjoy this. AMG.

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Steeplechase - Lady Bright 1970

Produced by Eddie Kramer, a hard-edged rock outfit from New York, strongly influenced by Uriah Heep, with lots of guitar/keyboard interplay and good vocals. All their material was penned by the group members (Radicello, Spinella, and Parrish) and some tracks are quite good, notably Wrought Iron Man and Lady Bright, this one with the guitar of Kim King (from Lothar and The Hand People) who also engineered the album. Single albums from Brooklyn (Brooklyn, New York City). The album's sound engineer and producer was Eddie Kramer, who worked with Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Blue Cheer, Family, The Nice, Led Zeppelin (5 albums), Kiss, Peter Frampton, David Bowie, and others... In addition, he and his team recorded the entire 1969 Woodstock Festival. He was also the creator and first director of Electric Lady Studios.

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Harold Johnson Sextet - House On Elm Street 1967

Survival Research presents a reissue of Harold Johnson Sextet's House On Elm Street, originally released in 1967. Los Angeles-based child prodigy Harold Johnson began playing piano in church when he was five years old. He began receiving private piano lessons that same year and went on to study string instruments at elementary school and guitar and double bass while in middle school, so by the time he began attending high school, he had the musical skills of a far older professional. Forming a group with other like-minded student peers, the Harold Johnson Sextet signed to Harry Mitchell's HME label to release a debut album, House On Elm Street, which would later be reissued by MCA subsidiary, Revue. Featuring future Gladys Knight drummer Ronald Rutledge, percussionist Billy Jackson, and flutist David Crawford, who would later be musical arranger for Patti Labelle, the album mixed Johnson's intense originals with a rousing piano take of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" and an instrumental rendition of the theme song from Alfie. Johnson later drafted Ndugu Chncelor into the group and after signing with Motown in 1970, he worked with Diana Ross, The Temptations, and countless others; in 2016, he reformed the Sextet to visit House On Elm Street for its 40th anniversary. 

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Sunday - Sunday 1971

UK act Sunday was a trio consisting of Jimmy Forest (piano, organ, vocals), John Barclay (guitar, vocals), and Davy Patterson (vocals, bass). This Scottish group issued their one and only production in 1971, a self-titled effort. Other than that, little is known about this obscure outfit from the early 70's. This is a good album. The long Hammond organ runs by Jimmy Forest is what makes this album a good album. They are underpinned by some good vocals, guitars, bass, and drums. The songs are overall good with some flashes of superb melodies. The ten-minute-long Sad Man Reaching Utopia is a great epic that changes between light and dark. An interesting and good album. 

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Paul Brett - Clocks 1974

b. England. A former guitarist with 60s psych-pop bands Tintern Abbey and Velvet Opera, Brett left the latter unit to record with Fire, a cultishly popular combo that featured Dave Lambert, a future member of the Strawbs. Fire’s original bass player, Dick DuFall, and drummer, Bob Voice, then broke off to join Brett in his own group, Paul Brett’s Sage, which also featured guitarist Stuart Cowell. This unit recorded three strong albums for the Pye Records subsidiary Dawn at the start of the 70s. Brett then embarked on a singer-songwriter career, recording prolifically throughout the 70s and honing a tasteful yet accomplished style centered around his 12-string guitar work. He was regularly joined by members of the Strawbs. A 1974 collection, Clocks, is arguably his best-remembered album, but as the decade progressed so his work became increasingly less exciting. His 1980 recording Romantic Guitar proved popular enough to rack up gold sales status.

During the following decade, Brett opted out of recording to concentrate on production and managerial work but returned to an active music career in the late 90s recording for his Fretdancer label, sometimes in combination with fellow guitarist (and former Velvet Opera bandmate) John Joyce. AMG.

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The Rolling Stones - Between The Buttons 1967

The Rolling Stones' 1967 recordings are a matter of some controversy; many critics felt that they were compromising their raw, rootsy power with trendy emulations of the Beatles, Kinks, Dylan, and psychedelic music. Approach this album with an open mind, though, and you'll find it to be one of their strongest, most eclectic LPs, with many fine songs that remain unknown to all but Stones devotees. The lyrics are getting better (if more savage), and the arrangements are more creative, on brooding near-classics like "All Sold Out," "My Obsession," and "Yesterday's Papers." "She Smiled Sweetly" shows their hidden romantic side at its best, while "Connection" is one of the record's few slabs of conventionally driving rock. The best tracks on the American edition were the two songs that gave the group a double-sided number one in early 1967: the lustful "Let's Spend the Night Together" and the beautiful, melancholy "Ruby Tuesday," which is as melodic as anything Mick Jagger and Keith Richards would ever write. AMG.

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Calvin Keane - Calvin Keane 1976

There isn't too much info about this album or musician, but it's a very interesting album, blues, rock, and a bit of a bluesy psych. Of course, we all like to know more, about who is it, who are the musicians, where was recorded, and with whom, so when we are lost in all these specifications we tend to put it aside for another time and forget the most important the Music! So give it a listen. 

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Linda Jones - Your Precious Love 1972

R&B singer Linda Jones earned a cult following for her fervent, gospel-influenced style and powerful vocal acrobatics, and she's still celebrated by soul music fans despite her career being cut down prematurely at the age of 27. Linda Jones was born in Newark, New Jersey on December 14, 1944; her family was steeped in gospel music, and at the age of six she began performing with her siblings in a sacred group, the Jones Singers. As a teenager, Jones began performing rhythm & blues music, and cut her first solo record under the name Linda Lane in 1963, a cover of "Lonely Teardrops," but the record sank without a trace.

Linda's fortunes improved when she met George Kerr, a producer and songwriter who had been a member of Little Anthony & the Imperials. The first two singles Kerr produced for Linda Jones (one on Atco, the other on Blue Cat) fared no better, but in 1967 they landed a deal with Loma Records, an R&B imprint of Warner Bros., and her first 45 for the label, "Hypnotized," was a hit, rising to number 21 on the Pop Singles charts and number four on the Rhythm & Blues survey. The single prompted the release of Jones' first album, also called Hypnotized, and Jones' follow-up, "What've I Done (To Make You Mad)," was a Top Ten hit on the R&B charts, but struggled to 61 on the Pop listings, and 1968's "Give My Love a Try" was a greater disappointment, struggling to number 34 R&B and a dismal number 93 on Pop. While "Hypnotized" found Jones taking a relatively subtle approach to her music, her subsequent sides captured her forceful, melismatic style at full strength, and though soul purists (especially Northern soul collectors in the U.K.) treasured her records, she was a bit too much for Top 40 to take, and Jones would never have another major pop hit.In 1968, Warner Bros. shut down Loma and briefly bumped Jones up to their flagship label, but after one single, Jones was a free agent again, and she briefly recorded for Neptune Records, an early label run by Philly soul legends Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. In 1971, Jones landed a new deal with Turbo Records, an offshoot of Sylvia Robinson's All Platinum label, and in 1972, Jones enjoyed her greatest success in four years when her forceful, gospel-leaning cover of Jerry Butler's "For Your Precious Love" made its way on the R&B charts, peaking at number 15, and even enjoying some Pop airplay, where it rose to number 72. Sadly, Jones' comeback would be short-lived. Jones, who struggled with diabetes, toured hard in support of "For Your Precious Love," and she was booked to play two shows at New York's famed Apollo Theater on March 14, 1972. After a matinee performance, Jones went to her mother's house in Newark to eat dinner and take a nap before playing her evening show, but when her mother tried to wake her, she discovered Linda had slipped into a diabetic coma; she died shortly afterwards. Turbo released a pair of posthumous albums following Jones' unexpected death, and in 2014, Real Gone Music released The Complete Atco-Loma-Warner Brothers Recordings, bringing together the bulk of her recordings of the '60s. AMG.

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Barry Miles - Scatbird 1972

Barry Miles is an American musician and composer from New Jersey. Miles's talent showed itself at an early age and he was presented as a child prodigy on some of the same shows that the likes of Miles Davis and John Coltrane appeared on. He made his first solo jazz record in 1961 as a drummer and composer at only 14 years old. After Princeton University he focused more on piano and ways of mixing different styles of music with jazz in an improvisational manner, which resulted in a live recording presenting his 'syncretic' approach to music.

As the 60's passed Miles started to incorporate more influence from rock and roll and electric piano, which soon developed into a familiar sound of fusion and Miles's records were one of the pioneers of the genre. On the records he worked with his brother Terry Silverlight and on some like 'White Heat' from 1971 featured John Abercrombie. Overall his solo career perhaps got less attention because besides being a music director he was also maybe known more as a prolific studio musician on many albums, and the studio work Miles is probably best known for is playing keyboards and co-producing records of Al Di Meola.

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Emergency - Entrance 1972

The German-based band Emergency was founded in 1970 by Czech musician Hanus Berka, who already had a career as an arranger and sideman in the States among others with Jan Hammer and Miroslav Vitous. The multicultural band consisted of Berka (sax & keyboards) fellow Czechs Jiro Matousek (keyboards), Otto Bezloja (bass) and Dusko Goykovic (trumpet), German drummer Udo Lindenberg, and Englishman Barrie Newby on guitar.
The band recorded two jazz-rock records with brass arrangements for CBS. 'Emergency' (1971) and in 1972 'Entrance' with a changed line-up.
In the summer of '72, the band split up, only to be reformed in December of the same year with a completely new line-up: Berka, Peter Bischof (ex-Orange Peel, lead vocals), Richard Palmer-James (ex-King Crimson lyricist, guitar& vocals) Jerzy Ziembrowski (bass), Veit Marvos (ex-2066 &Then, keyboards), Martin Harrison (percussion) and Bernd Knaak (drums). The new line-up secured a record deal with Brain and recorded two commercially oriented records 'Get Out To the Country' (1973) and 'No Compromise' (1974) the last again with a changed line-up. Both records present jazz-rock with blues and soul elements. Afterward, the band folded for good. progarchives.com/

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James Brown - Live At The Apollo, 1962 (1963)

An astonishing record of James and the Flames tearing the roof off the sucker at the mecca of R&B theatres, New York's Apollo. When King Records owner Syd Nathan refused to fund the recording, thinking it commercial folly, Brown single-mindedly proceeded anyway, paying for it out of his own pocket. He had been out on the road night after night for a while, and he knew that the magic that was part and parcel of a James Brown show was something no record had ever caught. Hit follows hit without a pause -- "I'll Go Crazy," "Try Me," "Think," "Please Please Please," "I Don't Mind," "Night Train," and more. The affirmative screams and cries of the audience are something you've never experienced unless you've seen the Brown Revue in a Black theater. If you have, I need not say more; if you haven't, suffice to say that this should be one of the very first records you ever own. AMG. 

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Paul Simon - Paul Simon 1972

If any musical justification were needed for the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel, it could be found on this striking collection, Paul Simon's post-split debut. From the opening cut, "Mother and Child Reunion" (a Top Ten hit), Simon, who had snuck several subtle musical explorations into the generally conservative S&G sound, broke free, heralding the rise of reggae with an exuberant track recorded in Jamaica for a song about death. From there, it was off to Paris for a track in South American style and a rambling story of a fisherman's son, "Duncan" (which made the singles chart). But most of the album had a low-key feel, with Simon on acoustic guitar backed by only a few trusted associates (among them Joe Osborn, Larry Knechtel, David Spinozza, Mike Manieri, Ron Carter, and Hal Blaine, along with such guests as Stefan Grossman, Airto Moreira, and Stephane Grappelli), singing a group of informal, intimate, funny, and closely observed songs (among them the lively Top 40 hit "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"). It was miles removed from the big, stately ballad style of Bridge Over Troubled Water and signaled that Simon was a versatile songwriter as well as an expressive singer with a much broader range of musical interests than he had previously demonstrated. You didn't miss Art Garfunkel on Paul Simon, not only because Simon didn't write Garfunkel-like showcases for himself, but because the songs he did write showed off his own, more varied musical strengths. AMG.

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Astrud Gilberto - Beach Samba 1967

One of Gilberto's less impressive '60s Verve outings, primarily due to the more pop-oriented song selection. Much of this is just standard pleasant Gilberto: offhand vocals and a sumptuous Brazil pop-cum-U.S. orchestration feel (Ron Carter and Toots Thielemans are among the sidemen). And some of the pop choices work well, particularly Tim Hardin's gorgeous "Misty Roses." No vocals or arrangements, however, could save the criminally wrong-headed military march of "A Banda (Parade)," or the exasperatingly coochie-coochie duet between Gilberto and her six-year-old son on the Lovin' Spoonful's "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice." This makes it all the more surprising when the next and concluding track, "Nao Bate O Corocao," has Gilberto cutting loose with confident, sassy scats, as she rarely did before or since. The CD reissue improves matters by adding five bonus cuts from A Certain Smile a Certain Sadness, recorded in 1966 in more authentically bossa nova-style arrangements, anchored by organist Walter Wanderley. AMG.

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Sinto - Right On Brother 1972

Sinto is a versatile hybrid kraut jazzy project in the typical vein of bands coming from 70's German underground (Morpheus, Out of Focus, Kraan, Ibliss...) They punctuate their soulful jazzy rock improvs with funky-catchy grooves and tones. The band features members of Embryo and Between. Their debut and unique album called Right on Brother (1972) is considered a long-time lost classic.

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Les Dudek - Ghost Town Parade 1978

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, 1952, 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 teenage 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). 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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Free - Free 1969

Free's second album was recorded with the band itself in considerable turmoil. Principal songwriters Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser demanded strict discipline from their bandmates, and guitarist Paul Kossoff in particular equally demanded the spontaneity and freedom that had characterized the group's debut. It was an awkward period; both Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke came close to quitting, and only the intervention of Island label chief Chris Blackwell seems to have prevented it. Few of these tensions, however, are evident on the finished album. (Tribute, again, to Blackwell's powers of diplomacy.) He replaced original producer Guy Stevens early into the sessions and, having reminded both warring parties where the band's strengths lay, proceeded to coax out an album that stands alongside its predecessor as a benchmark of British blues at the turn of the 1970s. AMG.

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Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper - The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield And Al Kooper 1968

One of the seminal live albums of the late '60s, Live Adventures of Al Kooper & Mike Bloomfield was a natural, organic offshoot of the hugely successful Super Session album from 1968, which contained performances by both of these groundbreaking musicians, as well as Stephen Stills. The idea of musical spontaneity both in live performance and in the recording studio had reached a certain apex in 1968, and spontaneous excursions by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Steve Winwood, and the Southern California musical covenant that eventually became Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, as well as a host of others, were indeed a sign of the times. But it was the union of Bloomfield and Kooper that can truly claim origination of the phenomenon, and this album takes it to another level entirely.
Utilizing a fine and tight rhythm section of John Kahn and Skip Prokop, the two musicians duel and embrace each other on such cuts as the accurately named "Her Holy Modal Highness" and a great, revamped rock/soul re-working of Paul Simon's "Feelin' Groovy," which is buttressed by a guest studio vocal overdub by the author himself. The album's high point may be Bloomfield's rendering of Albert King's epic "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong," which may indeed also be one of his finest career recordings. Like the Super Session album, history repeated itself, as Bloomfield's chronic insomnia caught up with him by the morning of the second night of the two-night gig, rendering him unavailable. Kooper enlisted the help of Steve Miller and a practically unknown Carlos Santana (himself a Bloomfield devotee) for several tracks, particularly a loose and free version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy," which sort of embodies the whole affair and era. Undoubtedly a necessity from the period, the record has been remastered for CD, and the results are truly glorious, and do this legendary album justice. AMG.

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Cargoe - Cargoe 1972

Often associated with the Power Pop genre given to Ardent Label Mates Big Star, Cargoe projected more of a stylized artistic nuance to their songwriting and performing, with harmonies exhibiting a strong American/Southern Roots cultural influence. The band recorded their Album Cargoe with Terry Manning producing at, John Fry's Ardent Studios. They scored numerous Billboard and Cashbox Top 100 listings, and reviews from 1970 through 1973, along with major radio plays of their first single “Feel Alright” and follow-up “I Love You Anyway”. The band’s studio LP Cargoe was even featured, with Isaac Hayes Shaft, which won an Academy Award/Oscar that year for Best Original Song, in a Special Edition section of Billboard’s June 3, 1972 “The Deck is Stax” promotion. The band began a West Coast tour in the summer of 1972 but was caught up in the distribution and bankruptcy label problems at Stax/Volt, who distributed the album and owned the masters. Distribution was sold to Columbia Records who failed to include Cargoe in their catalog, which meant that listeners who heard the hit couldn't actually buy the record. “Feel Alright” and their debut Cargoe LP fell off the charts instantly. The same label troubles caused both Cargoe and Big Star to disband within a short time. Big Star went on to become one of the most beloved and influential bands of the entire decade, while Cargoe pretty much disappeared out of the popular memory. Ardent Records contracts for distribution with Stax/Volt gave Stax ownership of the master tapes. When Stax went bankrupt in the mid-'70s, ownership of the masters eventually wound up in the hands of Fantasy Records Saul Zaentz, and no one's been able to get the tapes for domestic release. It's certainly worth noting that after nearly 40 years of producing and engineering countless hit records including ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, George Thorogood, Celine Dion, Bjork, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, and many others, Terry Manning to this day regards Cargoe as “the great record he helped make that no one ever discovered”. 

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David Bromberg - Demon in Disguise 1972

A strikingly gifted multi-instrumentalist with an intuitive understanding of American roots music styles and a sly sense of humor, David Bromberg has earned a following for his many solo recordings and has served as a sideman and collaborator with some of the most respected artists in his field. He stepped out as a solo artist in 1972 with an eponymous album on Columbia that featured "The Holdup," a popular song he co-wrote with George Harrison. Throughout the decade he managed a hectic schedule releasing numerous solo albums for Columbia and Fantasy while playing everything from dobro to fiddle on songs by an array of acts including Gordon Lightfoot, Ringo Starr, and Bob Dylan. Taking a lengthy sabbatical from touring and recording, Bromberg spent much of the next two decades studying the art of violin luthiery. He occasionally appeared with a new album, including 2007's Grammy-nominated Try Me One More Time, while establishing a successful business, David Bromberg and Associate Fine Violins, in Wilmington, Delaware. In the latter part of the 2010s, he put together a large group, the David Bromberg Band, which made a handful of colorful and eclectic albums including 2016's The Blues, the Whole Blues, and Nothing But the Blues and 2020's Big Road. Bromberg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 19, 1945, and spent most of his childhood in Tarrytown, New York. As a teenager, Bromberg got hooked on rock & roll and began exploring the blues, folk, and country artists who informed early rock, such as Pete Seeger, Reverend Gary Davis, Muddy Waters, Flatt & Scruggs, and Bill Monroe. When he was 13, Bromberg began learning the guitar, and after graduating from high school, he attended Columbia University, where he studied musicology and began playing Greenwich Village folk clubs.

While his early gigs didn't pay much, he struck up friendships with a number of noted musicians and began studying with his hero, Reverend Davis. Bromberg's guitar skills didn't go unnoticed, and he began accompanying a number of Village folk acts both on-stage and in the studio, including Tom Paxton, Tom Rush, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Richie Havens. Bromberg was playing guitar with singer Rosalie Sorrels when she was booked to play the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival in Great Britain; Bromberg played an impromptu solo set after Sorrels was done, and he went over well enough that he was offered a deal with Columbia Records as a solo artist. Bromberg's self-titled debut was released in 1971 and featured the song "The Holdup," a radio favorite that Bromberg co-wrote with George Harrison. Between 1971 and 1976, Bromberg recorded six albums for Columbia and toured extensively as well as maintaining a hectic schedule of session work, lending his talents on guitar, Dobro, mandolin, and fiddle to albums by Bob Dylan, Carly Simon, the Eagles, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, Gordon Lightfoot, Bonnie Raitt, Doug Sahm, and many more. (Bromberg also produced an album for Dylan that has yet to be released in full.) In 1977, Bromberg signed a new record deal with Fantasy Records, and issued his first album for the label, Reckless Abandon; three more records of new material followed, but in 1980 Bromberg decided he was tired of the rigors of touring and took a sabbatical from the road, occasionally playing sessions for friends and staging occasional live shows but devoting most of his time to studying at the Kenneth Warren School of Violin Making in Chicago. It wasn't until 1990 that Bromberg released a new album, Sideman Serenade, and it was in 2007 when his next studio set appeared, Try Me One More Time, which earned a Grammy nomination as Best Traditional Folk Album. In the meantime, Bromberg had established a successful business building and repairing violins as well as dealing in quality instruments, and in 2002 he opened a shop in Wilmington, Delaware, simply called David Bromberg Fine Violins. In 2011, Bromberg returned with a new and ambitious solo album, Use Me, in which he performed new songs written at his request by some of his favorite tunesmiths, including John Hiatt, Guy Clark, Dr. John, Keb' Mo', and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. Riding the critical success of that release, he returned two years later with Only Slightly Mad, a diverse set of new originals and a handful of well-curated covers produced by Bob Dylan guitarist Larry Campbell. His next album, 2016's The Blues, the Whole Blues, and Nothing But the Blues, offered tasteful renderings of tracks by Sonny Boy Williamson, Ray Charles, and many others. Returning in 2020, he again worked with Larry Campbell, who produced Big Road, a typically eclectic album featuring Bromberg and his band recorded live in the studio. AMG.

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