Eric Clapton - No Reason To Cry 1976

When he gave a speech inducting the Band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Eric Clapton said that after he heard their debut album, Music from Big Pink, he wanted to join the group, the fact that they already had a guitarist in Robbie Robertson notwithstanding. In the winter of 1975-1976, when he cut No Reason to Cry at the Band's Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California, he came as close as he ever would to realizing that desire. Clapton is a musical chameleon; though some of No Reason to Cry is identifiable as the kind of pop/rock Clapton had been making since the start of his solo career (the best of it being "Hello Old Friend," which became his first Top 40 single in two years), the most memorable music on the album occurs when Clapton is collaborating with members of the Band and other guests. He duets with Band bassist Rick Danko on Danko's "All Our Past Times," and with Bob Dylan on Dylan's "Sign Language," as Robertson's distinctive lead guitar is heard rather than Clapton's. As a result, the album is a good purchase for fans of Bob Dylan and the Band, but not necessarily for those of Eric Clapton. AMG.

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Grannie - Grannie 1971

One of the finest obscurities from Rock's golden age this vintage platter of Proggy excursions is a pretty delectable snapshot of the time. With the trademark lengthy tracks and tempo shifts in each the U.K. act work on the formula and succeed. A blend of skittering and spiky lead guitar backed by a sympathetic rhythm section showcase an overall laidback approach and a restrained edginess ornamented by Folk flirtations. Nothing outstanding here but it sure is a solid effort. Consistent and steady this should please Rock fans and crate diggers alike. AMG.

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Flora Purim - Nothing Will Be As It Was... Tomorrow 1977

This is Purim's first album for Warner Bros. after spending 1973-1976 with Milestone. While Purim's last dates with Milestone began to reflect a more commercial jazz sound, the style came to fruition by the time of this 1977 album. Drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler is listed as producer, and George Duke is also here, under his alias of Dawili Gonga. Given that fact, this effort sounds like a Duke production job, and like one of his late-'70s classic albums. Patrice Rushen's meditative "You Love Me Only" strikes the delicate balance between Purim's singular phrasing and persona and more streamlined production values. Earth Wind and Fire members Al McKay and Phillip Bailey contribute "Angels," and it has the sound of period EWF juxtaposed to Purim's patented and sensual wordless vocalizations. Although the artist adapts to each style, Nothing Will Be As It Was...Tommorow also has her covering the work of Brazilian artist Milton Nascimento, who co-wrote the title. Nascimento's whimsical "Fairy Tale Friend" gets a funkier treatment, as the song's lyrics lose nothing in translation. The album's most poignant track from Nascimento, "Bridges," has a doleful arrangement and a gentle vocal from Purim. Although this effort seemed to get lost in the shuffle, it is well worth seeking out, especially for lovers of late-'70s jazz fusion. AMG.
 

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Daevid Allen - N'Existe Pas! 1974

Daevid Allen was one of the founders of the British progressive rock band the Soft Machine in 1966. After recording just one album with the group, he became the founder/leader of Gong, which he left in 1973 to begin a solo career (though his first solo album, Banana Moon, was released in 1971 while he was still in the group). Allen explored his quirky, folky take on rock throughout the '70s and '80s on albums like 1976's Good Morning and 1983's Alien in New York. His solo work also included collaborations with underground rock impresario Kramer like 1993's Who's Afraid? and 1996's Hit Men, which was released on Kramer's Shimmy Disc label. Allen returned in 1999 with Money Doesn't Make It, followed a year later by Stroking the Tail of the Bird. Nectans Glen also followed in 2000. In 2003 Allen formed a new version of Gong with members of the Japanese collective known as Acid Mothers Temple, as well as playing and releasing material with his California-based band University of Errors. He continued to release numerous live sets and one-off collaborations in limited editions on various independent labels under his own and various group names. A best-of, Man From Gong, which only scratched the surface of his lengthy discography, appeared from Snapper Music in 2006. After a battle with cancer, Allen died in Australia in March 2015 at the age of 77. AMG.

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Danny Kirwan - Second Chapter 1975

The first solo album from Fleetwood Mac singer/songwriter Daniel David Kirwan has the future producer for Human League and Buzzcocks, Martin Rushent, utilizing those skills here, as well as engineering. The sound is crystal clear, and a feather in the cap for Rushent as well as Kirwan. It starts off with an uncharacteristic "Ram Jam City," which has more Lindsey Buckingham sounds than one would expect, especially since the two guitarists come from two different musical worlds. "Odds and Ends" is more lighthearted, the kind of music Paul McCartney toyed with on The White Album's "Rocky Raccoon." What Second Chapter immediately sets forth is the importance of Kirwan as a pop artist, and how, despite Fleetwood Mac's success after he left, his sounds could still have been beneficial to that supergroup. "Hot Summers Day" is a fine example of that, a beautiful song that could offset Buckingham's gritty ramblings. It would have made a nice counterpoint as Stevie Nicks complemented Christine McVie's tunes with her adventures, bringing an important change of pace to that popular band's hits. The jacket looks like a dusty old family album-style book holding Kirwan's Second Chapter. And the music reflects that old-world feel in titles like "Skip a Dee Doo" and "Falling in Love with You." Three of the best songs on this excellent outing are "Love Can Always Bring You Happiness," "Second Chapter," and a sleepy and beautiful number called "Silver Streams." Kirwan's tune is haunting as well with its lilting "all you need is love to show you the way from here" chorus. As on a follow-up album, he tends to sound a little like the group America, the vocals with that same America tone and warmth. They very well could have covered "Silver Stream" or "Cascades," the album's final track. This material was crafted right in the middle of America's run of hits, and maybe they should have replaced Dan Peek with Dan D. Kirwan? The artist's three solo discs cut in the '70s make for a very pleasant and thought-provoking listening experience, and that this collection is so good only shows he kicked his departure from the big band off with a vengeance. AMG.

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Dudu Pukwana and The Spears - Dudu Pukwana and the Spears 1969

Dudu Pukwana grew up studying piano in his family but in 1956, he switched to alto sax after meeting tenor sax player Nick Moyake. In 1962, he won first prize at the Johannesburg Jazz Festival with Moyake's Jazz Giants (1962 Gallo/Teal). Chris McGregor then invited him to join the Blue Notes; the interracial sextet, increasingly harassed by authorities, went into exile in 1964, playing in France, Zurich, and London. Pukwana's fiery voice was heard not only in the Blue Notes and in McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, but in many diverse settings ranging from the Incredible String Band to improvising with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink (Yi Yo Le, ICP 1978). As a composer, Pukwana wrote "Mra," one of the best-loved tunes by the Brotherhood. His own groups, Assagai and Spear, which recorded a few albums in the early '70s, blended kwela rhythms, rocking guitars, and jazz solos. With Mongezi Feza, Elton Dean, Keith Tippett, and Louis Moholo, Pukwana recorded two masterful acoustic tracks on the mostly electric album Diamond Express (Freedom 1977). His presence was also hugely felt in Moholo's Spirits Rejoice!, and in Harry Miller's Isipingo. Several African leaders invited him into their groups, including Hugh Masekela and trombonist Jonas Gwangwa's African Explosion (Who, Ngubani 1969). In 1978, Pukwana founded Jika Records and formed his own band, Zila, featuring South Africans Lucky Ranku on guitar and powerful vocalist Miss Pinise Saul. Zila recorded Zila Sounds (1981), Live in Bracknell and Willisau (1983), and Zila (1986), the last with keyboardist Django Bates and Pukwana increasingly using soprano sax. In duo with John Stevens, he recorded the free session They Shoot to Kill (Affinity 1987), dedicated to Johnny Dyani. Dudu Pukwana died of liver failure in June 1990. AMG.

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Everyone - Everyone 1971

In the early '70s, the Ampex label was marketing the work of Andy Roberts in a most confusing and somewhat misleading way. When they issued his early-'70s LP Home Grown, it actually combined tracks from two previous editions of the album with others that appeared on his second proper solo record, Nina and the Dream Tree. And although Andy Roberts With Everyone was simply credited as a self-titled LP by Everyone in his native United Kingdom, the reworked title on Ampex implied that it was a Roberts album, rather than an album by the group Everyone. Whatever the billing, Andy Roberts With Everyone really isn't an Andy Roberts solo album; it's a band endeavor by Everyone, with Roberts only writing half of the eight songs, most of the other material coming from keyboardist Bob Sargeant. It's a curiously at-odds-with-itself work, low-key easygoing early-'70s rock sharing space with a couple of Sargeant-dominated efforts that verge on bombastic boogie-prog rock. The Roberts tunes are likable in a mild way, though there's nothing nearly as good as Home Grown highlights like "Queen of the Moonlight World" and "The One-Armed Boatman and the Giant Squid." Instead, it sometimes sounds like a bridge between folk-rock and pub rock. While Sargeant does contribute a fair ballad in "Sad," his flashy prog rock keyboard workouts on "Too Much a Loser" and "This Way Up" almost suggest he's trying to push the band into some weird sub-Emerson, Lake & Palmer or Deep Purple territory. That was an approach incompatible with not just Roberts' music, but the rest of the record as a whole, sealing its status as an inconsistent, fairly unremarkable album. AMG.

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Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush - Child Of The Novelty 1974

This Hendrix-influenced power trio from Montreal comprised guitarist Frank Marino, bassist Paul Harwood and drummer Jim Ayoub. The band released albums throughout the '70s, including Maxoom (1972), Child of the Novelty (1974), Strange Universe (1975), Mahogany Rush IV (1976), World Anthem (1977), Live (1978) and Tales of the Unexpected (1979). The band became known as Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush after 1980's What's Next, then simply Frank Marino after Jim Ayoub left. AMG.

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Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles - Live! 1972

From December 1971 to April 1972, Carlos Santana and several other members of Santana toured with drummer/vocalist Buddy Miles, a former member of the Electric Flag and Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys. The resulting live album contained both Santana hits ("Evil Ways") and Buddy Miles hits ("Changes"), plus a 25-minute, side-long jam titled "Free Form Funkafide Filth." It was not, perhaps, the live album Santana fans had been waiting for, but at this point in its career, the band could do no wrong. The album went into the Top Ten and sold a million copies. AMG.

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Cano - Tous Dans L' Même Bateau 1976

Sixty-five people formed CANO (Cooperative des Artistes de Nouvel Ontario) in 1971 in Sudbury, Ontario, to unite the music of French and English Canadia. CANO signed with A&M in 1975 and has released Tous Dans L'Meme Bateau (1976), Au Nord de Notre Vie (1977), Eclipse (1978), Rendezvous (1979), Spirit of the North (1980) and Visible (1985). Members include Marcel Aymar, David Burt, Michel Dasti, John W. Doerr, Michel Kendel, Wasyl Kohut, Rachel Paiement and Andre Paiement, the founder and co-leader until he committed suicide in 1978. AMG.

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Isao Suzuki - Orang-Utan 1975

Bassist Isao Suzuki's popularity shot up to stratosphere with the release of Blow Up from the Three Blind Mice label. By the time he recorded this, fourth album for the label, he was actually the winner of the Swing Journal Readers' Poll. And this rather strangely titled album doesn't disappoint.

Suzuki had a knack for surrounding himself with superb musicians and playing brilliant, groovy music that is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition. This time, he picked as the all-important horn player Kenji Mori whose superb playing on alto sax, bass clarinet and flute strongly remind us of Eric Dolphy. The guitar genius Kazumi Watanabe turns in wonderfully nuanced performances in every setting. Also, not insignificantly, Mari Nakamoto--one of the best female jazz vocalists Japan has ever produced--appears as a guest and sings Shirley Horn's "Where Are You Going?" with excellent results.

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Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um 1959

Charles Mingus' debut for Columbia, Mingus Ah Um is a stunning summation of the bassist's talents and probably the best reference point for beginners. While there's also a strong case for The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady as his best work overall, it lacks Ah Um's immediate accessibility and brilliantly sculpted individual tunes. Mingus' compositions and arrangements were always extremely focused, assimilating individual spontaneity into a firm consistency of mood, and that approach reaches an ultra-tight zenith on Mingus Ah Um. The band includes longtime Mingus stalwarts already well versed in his music, like saxophonists John Handy, Shafi Hadi, and Booker Ervin; trombonists Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis; pianist Horace Parlan; and drummer Dannie Richmond. Their razor-sharp performances tie together what may well be Mingus' greatest, most emotionally varied set of compositions. At least three became instant classics, starting with the irrepressible spiritual exuberance of signature tune "Better Get It in Your Soul," taken in a hard-charging 6/8 and punctuated by joyous gospel shouts. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is a slow, graceful elegy for Lester Young, who died not long before the sessions. The sharply contrasting "Fables of Faubus" is a savage mockery of segregationist Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, portrayed musically as a bumbling vaudeville clown (the scathing lyrics, censored by skittish executives, can be heard on Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus). The underrated "Boogie Stop Shuffle" is bursting with aggressive swing, and elsewhere there are tributes to Mingus' most revered influences: "Open Letter to Duke" is inspired by Duke Ellington and "Jelly Roll" is an idiosyncratic yet affectionate nod to jazz's first great composer, Jelly Roll Morton. It simply isn't possible to single out one Mingus album as definitive, but Mingus Ah Um comes the closest. AMG.

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