Boz Scaggs - Moments 1971

If his 1969 eponymous debut found Boz Scaggs digging down deep and creating some gritty soul-rock, highlighted byDuane Allman's extended work-out on "Loan Me a Dime," his 1971 follow-up Moments -- his first album for CBS -- found him sketching out the blue-eyed soul that would eventually bring him fame when he streamlined it for 1976's Silk Degrees. Boz Scaggs was a Southern record, but Moments is thoroughly Californian, sun-bleached and brightly colored, easily gliding along smooth surfaces. In the hands of producer Glyn Johns, Scaggs doesn't have any rough edges, and the change suits him well, as his soft, soulful croon almost cries out for a setting this lush, one that's just this side of being louche. Although Scaggs would go that down the gauche road in the '70s, Moments is far from the glitzy disco of Silk Degrees and its spawn. This is thoroughly a '60s hangover, right down to how the country shuffle of "Alone, Alone" slides between the warm soul grooves of the rest of the album. Most of this is decidedly laid-back -- the casually funky grind of "I Will Forever Sing (The Blues)" and slyly funny boogie of "Hollywood Blues" callbacks to the Southern strut of the debut, are the exception, not the rule -- and while this is mellow, it's not lazy: it's a relaxed exploration. By the time "Can I Make It Last (Or Will It Just Be Over)" quietly drifts away on extended instrumental coda, setting like a sun into the ocean, Scaggs has started down the path toward his signature blue-eyed soul. AMG.

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Hampton Grease Band - Music to Eat 1971

Hampton Grease Band may have ultimately been a band easier to appreciate in concept than to listen to in practice. They are also, for most listeners, a band that's much more fun to read about than to hear. For a brief period, though, they were offering some of the wackiest rock ever to be found on a major label. Clearly influenced by both Zappa andBeefheart, but more grating and even less accessible to the rock underground, they took early-'70s avant-rock aesthetics near their extremes. This guaranteed an eternal cult reputation for the group, but also ensured that their commercial success in their own time was virtually nil.

Hampton Grease Band began as a blues-rock-oriented outfit in the late '60s in Atlanta, where the underground rock scene was barely big enough to support them. They managed to carve a reputation at a local underground club, as well as by playing support to psychedelic/progressive acts like the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Procol Harum, andthe Allman Brothers. The group steadily developed a more original sound, emphasizing intricate, Zappa-esque guitar lines and Bruce Hampton's off-the-cuff, non-sequitur lyrics, usually shouted in a throaty, scratchy wheeze that madeBeefheart sound like Pavarotti. The band often betrayed the Zappa influence in their theatrical, sometimes confrontational stage show, in which Hampton would throw chairs at the audience, or sing while standing on a pizza. They polarized audiences, to say the least; they were pelted with cups of ice at one memorable gig that found them playing to a crowd of 10,000 as the warm-up act for Three Dog Night (a bill that must have been devised by Salvador Dali).

Hampton Grease Band generated enough of a reputation, though, to pique the interest of Columbia Records, whose curiosity incited Allman Brothers manager Phil Walden to sign the group. The Grease Band quickly recorded two albums worth of material that could in no way be construed as having money-making potential. Half the songs, to begin with, weighed in at around the 20-minute mark; the silvery guitar work of Glenn Phillips and Harold Kelling often took its cues from improvised jazz, while the songs lurched unpredictably between melodies and tempos, all executed with impeccable finesse by the musicians. The crowning touch was Hampton, whose amelodic rants cross-bred soapbox preachers with bleacher bums. The lyrics took the Dadaist bent of Zappa/Beefheart to more inscrutable levels, most notoriously on "Hendon," with Hampton reading many of the words off the label of a can of spray paint.Phillips's silly faux-Latin miniature "Maria" was a much more radio-friendly novelty, but Hampton Grease Band were obviously going to be a much tougher sell than the Allman Brothers.

All of the members of the quintet that recorded Music to Eat remained active in music, especially Hampton (who recorded albums with the Aquarium Rescue Unit) and Phillips (who has released nearly a dozen instrumental records, including some for the influential alternative rock indie label SST). As is so often the case with the most interesting cult bands, interest in the band actually grew in the decades after their breakup, culminating in the reisse ofMusic to Eat on CD in 1996 -- on Columbia, the same label that had dumped them when they supposedly sold less copies than anyone else who had ever recorded for the company.Confronted with the tapes, Columbia reacted most unpredictably, deciding to make the band's debut (and, as it turned out, only) record a double album,Music to Eat. Legend has it that it was, at the time of its release, the second-lowest selling LP in the Columbia catalog (beaten only by a yoga record). Columbia itself didn't help matters by marketing Music to Eat as a comedy album. Shortly after its release, Hampton Grease Band began to disintegrate, with the departure of guitarist Harold Kelling. Despite a well-received show at the Fillmore East with Frank Zappa, CBS dropped the group, which then signed with Zappa's Bizarre/Straight label. It seemed like a logical combination, but nothing came of it record-wise, and the band finally broke up in 1973 when Hampton left to, ironically, unsuccessfully audition for a job as Zappa's lead vocalist. AMG.

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Comus - To Keep From Crying 1974

After the dark twisted masterpiece of First Utterance, Comus came back a few years later with a second LP, To Keep From Crying. Even with Henry Cow bassoonist Lindsay Cooper and Gong saxophonist Didier Malherbe added to the ranks, To Keep From Crying does not get anywhere near the power of the first album. There are some dark folk songs here with both female and male vocals and a lot of progressive touches, but at the same time the record has a far more conventional rock sound, especially on the bouncy opening tracks on each side of the record, "Down (Like a Movie Star)" and "So Long Supernova." "Touch Down" is a bit creepier, with more acoustic guitars, as well as what sounds like a ghostly children's chorus and some cosmic synth tones. Other pieces like "Figure in Your Dreams" and "Perpetual Motion" offer some unusual vocal arrangements (and the latter ends with a cool tape loop effect), though nothing in the realms of the earlier record. The three experimental drone-scapes, "Waves and Caves," "Panophany," and "After the Dream," end far too quickly, as they clock in at well under a minute apiece. The record is pretty good, but it has the misfortune of paling in the shadow of its nightmarish predecessor. AMG.

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Don Shinn - .. Takes A Trip 1969

Don Shinn (born Donald Shinn, 15 December 1945, Southampton, Hampshire) is an English keyboard player, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and vocalist. He is known primarily as an organist and pianist, and also plays vibraphone. In the early-mid 1960’s he recorded and performed with British Beat groups The MeddyEVILS, The Echoes (backing Dusty Springfield), and The Soul Agents (featuring Rod Stewart). In 1967 he formed his own band The Shinn, which also featured future Uriah Heep bassist Paul Newton, future drummer for The Nice Brian "Blinky" Davison, and vocalist Eddie Lamb. In 1969 he released two instrumental albums, ‘Departures’, and ‘Temples With Prophets’ (aka 'Don Shinn Takes A Trip'). He was a member of the English band Dada (featuring Elkie Brooks) and appears on their eponymous album released in 1970. He has also worked with Kiki Dee, James Taylor, Engelbert Humperdinck, Stan Tracey, Persian vocalist Parvaneh Farid, Iguana, and Renaissance. He is cited as a pioneer within the Progressive Rock movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and has been acknowledged by British keyboardist/composer Keith Emerson as a major influence. Uriah Heep bassist Paul Newton has also credited Shinn as a mentor and teacher. As of January 2012, unconfirmed reports indicate that Shinn is still musically active and based in the Southampton area of the UK.

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Brothers Unlimited - Who's For The Young 1970

Active in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, this dozen-or-so member Memphis band blended rock and soul with a hint of psychedelia in a similar manner to the Electric Flag. Their Stax-on-acid brew is much in evidence in this reissue of their sole full-length release, which includes a Hendrix-like reinterpretation of the Willie Dixon standard “Spoonful.” Members of the outfit later went on to join the reconstituted post-Otis Redding Bar-Kays. AMG.

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Jerry Jeff Walker - Mr Bojangles 1968

Jerry Jeff Walker's debut introduced his dry vocals and narrative songwriting style, with support from many session musicians, the most notable of whom were Ron Carter and David Bromberg. The influence of Bob Dylan and other singer/songwriters of the time is felt fairly strongly on this extremely low-key release (especially on the seven-minute "Desolation Row"-like "The Ballad of the Hulk"), but Walker favored the country and folk side of folk-rock much more than the rock side. The title track, taken into the Top Ten by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, remains his most famous song. The CD reissue includes the original mono single version of "Mr. Bojangles" and its flipside, as well as liner notes with comments on the songs by Jerry Jeff himself. AMG.

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Wolfgang Dauner - Et Cetera 1971

An intriguing composer and ambitious pianist, German musician Wolfgang Dauner has combined jazz, rock, electronic music, and elements of opera and theater in creating broad-based, ranging works. While at times these compositions may seem too far-reaching, Dauner's best work shows the links between idioms and genres and offers provocative musical and cultural concepts. He studied trumpet, piano, and composition at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, then joined Joki Freund's sextet in the early '60s. Dauner appeared at several German festivals, then made his recording debut heading a trio in 1964. It was one of the first European free jazz recording sessions. Dauner led Radio Jazz Group Stuttgart and wrote compositions for them in 1969. He formed the jazz-rock band Et Cetera in 1970, then, with Hans Koller, co-led the Free Sound & Super Brass Big Band. He helped organize The United Jazz And Rock Ensemble in 1975, and began featuring theater, opera, and dance segments along with his performances in '70s and '80s concerts. Dauner's composed music for films, radio, and television broadcasts, and a children's opera. He's recorded for Mood, Columbia, MPS, and ECM, among others, and he has a number of sessions available on CD. AMG.

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Re-Post: Eire Apparent - Sunrise 1969

For an album that never had a hit to drive it, by a group that isn't too well remembered on its own terms, Eire Apparent's Sunrise is amazingly well known, at least as an artifact among Jimi Hendrix fans, owing to the fact that the guitarist produced it (and played on parts of it). But one wonders how many people have ever actually listened to the album -- as it turns out, it's a pleasing, tuneful, and occasionally bold psychedelic pop/rock excursion, similar in many ways to the Yardbirds' Little Games album, except that Eire Apparent were apparently far more comfortable with psychedelic pop stylings here than Keith Relf, Jimmy Page, et al., were on that Yardbirds record. The mix of lyrical acoustic and electric guitar sounds, some tasteful light orchestrations (strings and horns), and trippy lyrical conceits all works extremely well; this is a surprising psychedelic pop release, gently trippy most of the way through with a few searing contributions by Hendrix. Almost as important are the hints one gets of Ernie Graham's subsequent songwriting range in embryonic form on numbers such as "Rock & Roll Band" and "Magic Carpet" -- his work is rootsier and mostly more accessible than that of Mick Cox, the other major songwriter in the group (though he does make a pleasing contribution with "Let Me Stay"). Between their best songs, the group's overall musical facility, and Hendrix's contributions, the whole album ends up extremely strong and consistent, and well worth hearing on its own terms, even if it wasn't breaking any new ground musically. The record should have done better than it did, but its release by Buddah (which had virtually no presence in England) limited its overseas impact -- and, in any case, the group had lost most of its British audience by then. Also, American radio probably didn't know where to place it, since it straddled both the pop and psychedelic categories (and in very bold terms), along with elements of roots rock. And it missed an opportunity as well -- the original LP release was missing the single B-side "Rock & Roll Band," which covered a lot of the same territory that the Hollies were to parlay into a Top Ten hit a couple of years later with "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)." Juxtapose that with numbers like "The Clown" -- which plunged into psychedelic/metal in a pop framework that distantly echoes both Hendrix's music and that of the Yardbirds of "Happenings Ten Years' Time Ago" -- and one can see the range this group had. It's all admirable music, but was apparently too tough to sell easily without a hit single to pull people in. And it's all still worth hearing, even four decades on. [The 1991 Repertoire Records CD included "Rock & Roll Band" as a bonus track.] AMG.

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Dragon - O' Zambezi 1978

During the '70s, the notoriously decadent Dragon was among the biggest rock bands in New Zealand, gaining even greater success on the Australian circuit. Dragon's history begins with brothers Todd and Marc Hunter, natives of the North Island town of Taumarunui; from childhood on, the siblings performed professionally in their parents' jazz band, with Todd learning guitar and Marc picking up the drums. As the years passed, both Hunter brothers played in a variety of local bands, both together and independently; Dragon emerged in 1973 from the remnants of Staff, a group featuringTodd on bass, in addition to singer/pianist Graeme Collins, guitarist Ray Goodwin, and drummer Neil Reynolds. Personality conflicts quickly emerged, and soon the clean-living Collins was sacked by his hedonistic bandmates in favor of keyboardist Ivan Thompson. That left Dragon without a singer; however, the situation was quickly solved whenMarc Hunter signed on as lead vocalist.

After Reynolds was replaced by drummer Neil Storey, the classic Dragon lineup was in place. The group favored a heavy progressive rock sound which quickly earned them a growing cult following, and in early 1974, they took home top honors at the Auckland Festival's all-day Rock Marathon. Their success led to a contract with Polygram Records, and within months, Dragon's debut LP, Universal Radio, appeared, becoming one of the best-selling "underground" records of the period. During a month-long residency at the Fiji nightclub the Golden Dragon, the band began developing their outrageous on-stage theatrics, antics complete with a transvestite mime troupe, pregnant strippers, rotting pigs' heads on microphone stands, and rampant destruction of instruments and stage equipment. During a subsequent national tour, however, Storey was sacked, and Thompson quit in sympathy; with new drummer Geoff Chunn, Dragon struggled as a four-piece before disbanding weeks later.

Scheduling commitments, however, soon forced Dragon to re-form; Storey was reinstituted behind the drums, with ex-Mammal member Robert Taylor coming in on guitar. The group's second LP, 1975's Scented Gardens for the Blind, bore little relation to their new live sound, which rejected their prior prog rock trappings in favor of more concise and punchy pop songs. After a series of NZ tours which greatly boosted their visibility at home, Dragon mounted a tour of Australia; there Goodwin exited, and was replaced by keyboardist Paul Hewson. The group initially fared poorly in Australia; a single called "Starkissed" stiffed, and their equipment was even stolen. After leaving Polygram, Dragonsigned with CBS. Their first effort for the label, "Wait Until Tomorrow," was a failure, but the follow-up "This Time" appeared poised to become a hit. Then tragedy struck: Storey died of a heroin overdose in September 1976, an incident which made headlines across the country.

With new drummer Kerry Jacobsen, a reeling Dragon returned to the road with a vengeance, and spent the next two years touring almost non-stop, eventually conquering the all-important Aussie audience. In mid-1977 they issued the LP Sunshine, scoring a hit with the single "Get That Jive"; by the end of the year Dragon was the most popular band in Australia, resulting in a U.S. deal with the Portrait label. Their next LP, 1978's Running Free, went double-platinum down under, notching a massive hit with "April Sun in Cuba." A massive tour followed. Fueled by smack and champagne, Dragon was out of control, leaving destroyed hotel suites and dressing rooms in their wake. Still, they remained enormously popular, and their third CBS album, O, Zambezi, was their biggest yet, with a number one single in "Are You Old Enough?" A subsequent American tour proved disastrous, however, and as Marc Hunter's drug problems worsened, he was dismissed in early 1979. He was replaced by singer Billy Rogers and violinist Richard Lee.

Seemingly overnight, Dragon fell out of commercial favor; their next single, "Love Is Not Enough," failed to chart, and their first New Zealand tour since 1975 was a washout. When the 1979 LP Powerplay bombed, Dragon disbanded; however, in 1982 the group's nucleus re-formed to pay off their debts. The lineup -- the Hunters, Taylor, Hewson, and Jacobsen -- fared so well during their reunion tour that they soon released a new single, "Joanne." Its follow-up, 1984's "Rain," was a massive hit, and many fans agreed that its accompanying LP Body & the Beat was among their best ever. When the old personality conflicts soon arose, only the Hunters were left. (Tragically, just hours after quitting the band, Hewson was found dead.) The next Dragon LP, 1986's Dreams of Ordinary Men, was produced by Todd Rundgren; after 1988's Bondi Road, the band once again called it a day. AMG.

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Doris Troy - Doris Troy 1970

An all-star cast supported Troy on her lone Apple effort: George Harrison, Billy Preston, Peter Frampton, Stephen Stills, Klaus Voormann, Jackie Lomax, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, and Delaney & Bonnie all contributed, andHarrison, Stills, Lomax, Preston, Voormann, and Ringo Starr pitched in on the songwriting, though Troy wrote or co-wrote most of the songs. Well-received by some critics, it really doesn't add up to the sum of its parts. Troy is in great voice, but much of the material is pedestrian, and the heavy rock/soul arrangements often have an over-beefy, early-'70s super-session feel. It works best when Troy puts the brakes on the hard rock to deliver emotional, slower soul tunes. [The 2010 reissue of Doris Troy was remastered by the same Abbey Road team who remastered the acclaimed 2009 Beatles reissues and was expanded by six bonus tracks: a previously unreleased alternate version of “All That I’ve Got (I’m Gonna Give It To You)” along with the original,” a cover of “Get Back,” “Dearest Darling,” “What You Will Blues” and “Vaya Con Dios.”] AMG.

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Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow 1967

The second album by Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow was a groundbreaking piece of folk-rock-based psychedelia, and it hit like a shot heard round the world; where the later efforts from bands like the Grateful Dead,Quicksilver Messenger Service, and especially, the Charlatans, were initially not too much more than cult successes,Surrealistic Pillow rode the pop charts for most of 1967, soaring into that rarefied Top Five region occupied by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and so on, to which few American rock acts apart from the Byrds had been able to lay claim since 1964. And decades later the album still comes off as strong as any of those artists' best work. From the Top Ten singles "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" to the sublime "Embryonic Journey," the sensibilities are fierce, the material manages to be both melodic and complex (and it rocks, too), and the performances, sparked by new member Grace Slick on most of the lead vocals, are inspired, helped along by Jerry Garcia (serving as spiritual and musical advisor and sometimes guitarist). Every song is a perfectly cut diamond, too perfect in the eyes of the bandmembers, who felt that following the direction of producer Rick Jarrard and working within three- and four-minute running times, and delivering carefully sung accompaniments and succinct solos, resulted in a record that didn't represent their real sound. Regardless, they did wonderful things with the music within that framework, and the only pity is that RCA didn't record for official release any of the group's shows from the same era, when this material made up the bulk of their repertory. That way the live versions, with the band's creativity unrestricted, could be compared and contrasted with the record. The songwriting was spread around between Marty Balin, Slick, Paul Kantner, and Jorma Kaukonen, and Slick and Balin (who never had a prettier song than "Today," which he'd actually written for Tony Bennett) shared the vocals; the whole album was resplendent in a happy balance of all of these creative elements, before excessive experimentation (musical and chemical) began affecting the band's ability to do a straightforward song. The group never made a better album, and few artists from the era ever did. AMG.

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