terça-feira, 11 de junho de 2024
Christian - Christian 1972
Ted Neeley - A.D. 1974
Gong - Camembert Eclectique 1971
KGB - Motion 1976
KGB was a short-lived American rock band, one of the late 1970s supergroups. The name is made up of the first letters of the three main actors, Ray Kennedy (vocals), Barry Goldberg (keyboards), and Mike Bloomfield (guitar); Goldberg and Bloomfield had previously played together on The Electric Flag.
The rhythm section included Ric Grech (bass, formerly Family, Blind Faith, and Traffic) and Carmine Appice (drums, formerly Vanilla Fudge, Beck, Bogert & Appice). The members of KGB (sometimes also written as KGB) received lucrative contracts from the record company MCA in 1975 to find a supergroup. The debut album, titled KGB (starring Appice, Grech, Goldberg, Bloomfield, and Kennedy) was released in 1976 but flopped with both critics and buyers. The music magazine Sounds complained that the group lacks a musical interest group. In 1976 the second album Motion appeared with Appice, Goldberg, Kennedy, Ben Schultz, and Gregg Sutton. Mike Bloomfield refused to go to Los Angeles , where the shooting was taking place; his post was in Sausalitorecorded and mixed in. In an interview, he made derogatory comments about the project, which came to an early end after 18 months.
listen hereThe Rascals - Freedom Suite 1969
The Peppermint Trolley Company - The Peppermint Trolley Company 1968
Curtis Mayfield - Give, Get, Take And Have 1976
Trini Lopez - The Rhythm and Blues Album 1965
One of the most popular performers of the 1960s, Trini Lopez won a large international following for his upbeat, likable blend of folk and rock & roll. His repertoire was steeped in folk standards and popular tunes of the day, which he favored with his instrumental style, a light yet insistent variation on early rock and rockabilly that was perfect for dancing, singalongs, and clapping, all of which Lopez cheerfully encouraged. At a time when there were few Latin musicians in rock, he was outspokenly proud of his Mexican-American heritage, and often sang in Spanish, which helped boost his appeal outside the United States. Lopez was a showman who made audiences feel comfortable and didn't play the role of the rock & roll rebel, making him accessible to youngsters and their parents alike. (Significantly, he was discovered and mentored by Frank Sinatra, not known for his enthusiasm for rock & roll.) Lopez broke through in 1963 with the album Trini Lopez at PJ's, a live recording of his nightclub act, which was followed a few months later by More Trini Lopez at PJ's; in many respects, these two albums set the template he would follow for the rest of his career, though 1964's The Latin Album demonstrated he knew how to work in the recording studio, and 1968's Welcome to Trini Country found him taking on C&W hits. 2007's The Very Best of Trini Lopez is a collection that lives up to its name.
Trinidad López III was born in Dallas, Texas, on May 15, 1937, one of six children. His father was a laborer but also had a side career as a performer in the Mexican ranchera style, and when Trini was 11 years old, his dad gave him his first guitar. He soon became proficient on the instrument, and developed a repertoire that combined Mexican folk tunes, rhythm and favorites from the likes of Jimmy Reed and T-Bone Walker, and rock & roll hits by Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. Lopez began playing on street corners to make extra money, and by the time he was a senior in high school, he had a band called the Big Beats, quitting school so he could work with the group full-time. The Big Beats regularly played nightspots in Texas, and after meeting fellow Texan Buddy Holly, the star put him in touch with his record producer, Norman Petty. While Petty helped the Big Beats land a recording deal with Columbia Records, he preferred to de-emphasize Lopez's presence in the group, and the material they cut was entirely instrumental. Understandably unhappy, he left the band, and cut a rockabilly-influenced single in 1958 for a small Texas label, Volk Records, "The Right to Rock" b/w "Just Once More." The 45 attracted little notice; the following year, he signed with King Records, and recorded a handful of rock & roll sides for them over the space of three years, none of which hit the charts. Producer Snuff Garrett approached Lopez about singing with the Crickets after Buddy Holly's death, but a series of auditions led nowhere.
While Lopez's recording career was not going very far, he was developing a reputation as an engaging live performer, and he was booked to play a residency at a nightclub in West Hollywood called PJ's. The club often attracted a celebrity clientele, and one night Frank Sinatra stopped by and caught his show. Sinatra thought Lopez had star quality, and signed him to his record company, Reprise Records. Don Costa, a producer for Reprise, felt the best way to capture the excitement of his performances was to record him live in front of an audience, and a mobile recording unit was moved into PJ's to put his show on tape. Released in April 1963, Trini Lopez at PJ's was a smash hit, rising to number two on the Top 200 Albums charts and earning a Gold Record, while the single "If I Had a Hammer" was a number three single in the United States while reaching the top of the charts in 36 other countries. Just four months later, Reprise brought out More Trini Lopez at PJ's, another batch of live recordings from his Hollywood club dates, which produced another hit single, "Kansas City." "Lemon Tree" rose to Number 20 in 1965, and 1966's "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy" would be his last visit to the Pop Top 40 in the United States, though he would regularly appear on the Adult Contemporary charts through 1968. Lopez would also become a frequent visitor to the album charts, especially with themed releases such as 1964's The Latin Album, 1965's The Folk Album, The Love Album, and The Rhythm & Blues Album, and 1966's The Second Latin Album. After the success of Trini Lopez at PJ's, his King Records material was reissued on an album called Teenage Love Songs, and the King recordings would be repackaged frequently over the years. As Lopez's fame rose, he became a top draw at venues around the world and performed regularly in Las Vegas; he also became a regular guest on television shows, ranging from The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to Celebrity Bowling and Sha Na Na. He made his big-screen debut in the movie Marriage on the Rocks (1965), starring his mentor Frank Sinatra, and he had a major role in 1967's The Dirty Dozen, though his part in the latter was cut short as he left the project before filming was completed in order to get back on the road. He starred in his own TV special in 1968, The Trini Lopez Show, and Reprise issued a soundtrack album. 1969's The Whole Enchilada was produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, best known for their success writing and producing for the Monkees. It was an attempt to update Trini's sound as rock and pop took the place of his more subdued style on the charts. The album didn't make the charts, and it was his last album for Reprise. In 1971, Lopez recorded a Spanish-language LP for Capitol Records, Viva, but sales were scarce, and for the rest of his career, he would work with a variety of small labels, occasionally re-recording his old hits, though he continued to tour regularly and recorded several independent albums in his later years, including 2016's Here I Am and My Christmas Gift to You, and a 2017 spiritual release, Heaven. One of Lopez's final projects was recording a song called "If by Now," written to raise money for food banks who had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In a sad coincidence, Lopez himself contracted COVID-19, and the virus claimed his life on August 11, 2020; he was 83 years old. AMG.
listen hereterça-feira, 4 de junho de 2024
Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf 1968
Stephen Miller - Stephen Miller 1970
Taj Mahal - Giant Step - De Ole Folks at Home 1969
Capability Brown - Voice 1973
Capability Brown had and still has a cult following in UK music history as a "progressive" band, ultimately based on an outstanding piece from their second album, Voice. But largely their range covered mainstream pop music, treated in an "arty", alternative fashion. The band was a six-piece, and everyone sang and played instruments. The line-up consisted of Tony Ferguson (guitar, bass), Dave Nevin (keyboards, guitar, bass), Kenny Rowe (bass, percussion), Grahame White (guitar, lute, balalaika, keyboards), Joe Williams (percussion), and Roger Willis (drums, keyboards). Ferguson and Nevin wrote the majority of the band's material, and the band also excelled in covers of obscure material (Rare Bird's Beautiful Scarlet and Redman, Argent's Liar, Affinity's I Am And So Are You and Steely Dan's Midnight Cruiser).
Capability Brown's forte was vocalizing. Together they sounded not unlike The Association: a massed choir of voices, ranging from baritone to high clean falsettos. Their first album, From Scratch, which included Liar, was average and unexceptional. The second album Voice, released in 1973, was their claim to fame, incorporating an over-20-minute richly melodic piece called Circumstances (In Love, Past, Present, Future Meet) - a stunning piece of music incorporating keyboards, a cappela voices, synthesizers, and mellotrons, solo vocals, delicate harpsichord-like acoustic guitar sections, powerful electric guitar chords, and massed vocal choirs. The band did not manage to record again after this, and in 1974 Tony, Roger and Graham were recruited by friend and Christie member Roger Flavell to join his group, Christie for a tour of South America. Thus Capability Brown was no more.
listen hereTaylor - Taylor 1972
"Taylor was a Wellington-based rock band formed in 1971. Although only around for two short years, the band produced one excellent, and now very rare album. All members of the group had professional experience and came from varying backgrounds, and Taylor provided them with a stepping stone to better things.
Keith Norris and Clint Brown had been playing together since 1969, starting in Wellington's Rebirth. In mid-1970, the pair left and headed to Australia, thereby ending Rebirth, and they joined up with expatriates Dave Brown and Milton Parker to form Tangent. This group disbanded in March 1971 and Brown and Norris returned to Wellington, where they joined up with guitarist Kevin Bayley, keyboardist Steve McDonald and guitarist Rick White, to form Taylor.
Kevin Bayley had been playing lead guitar with Chapta for a period in 1970. Steve McDonald had previously played with his brother Eddie in a group from Wellington called the Strangers, before joining Dizzy Limit in 1966. He stayed with them during the transition to Timberjack in 1970, before moving on to Taylor. Rick White probably had the longest introduction. He started back in 1964, while still at school, with a Wellington pop called the Relics. They recorded a single in 1966, disbanding shortly afterward, with Rick going on to form Tom Thumb. He stayed with them until 1970 and then joined Farmyard for a short time, before becoming part of Taylor.
Taylor had moderate success, releasing a single "Hard Life"/"Simpson's World" in 1971, recording an excellent self-titled album which contained both songs from the single, in 1972 and also securing a much sought after residency at John's Place in Auckland." www.sergent.com.au/
listen hereThe Jazz Clan - Dedication 1973
“‘Die-hard fans of South African jazz speak about The Jazz Clan in hushed tones. One of the dozens of South African groups who styled themselves as ‘jazz dignitaries’ — like the Jazz Giants, the Jazz Ambassadors, or the Jazz Ministers, for instance — their two widely separated studio albums for Gallo (Dedication and Makwenkwe, released in 1973 and 1976 respectively) are extremely hard to find, and were never repressed after their initial runs. Until now their work has graced neither re-release nor compilation. But they were no also-rans. They may have left a small recorded footprint, but it was an impressive one, epitomised by their hard-swinging 1973 debut, Dedication – a tough, swinging soul-jazz set with distinct African touches which is counted by those in the know as among the best South African jazz recordings of the era.
‘Once you dig down into the group's history, this is no surprise: the players that comprised the Jazz Clan were veterans. And they thought big – their first incarnation during the 1960s had been as a 16-piece, and they had held down a residency at one of Nelson Mandela’s regular haunts, the Planet Hotel in Fordsburg. The original leader, drummer Gordon ‘Micky’ Mfandu, had been a regular on the Johannesburg jazz scene since the early 1960s and had recorded with figures including Gideon Nxumalo, and the famous Blue Notes; along with bassist Mongezi Velelo he had also been a member of the revered Soul Giants unit. Baritone player Cornelius Khumalo had also played with Chris McGregor and the Blue Notes in the pit band of the musical play Mr Paljas and had also recorded with township legend Zakes Nkosi. Also in the line-up, and handling most writing duties on this disc, was the great trumpeter Peter Segona — a quicksilver hornsman, Segona later sought exile in Europe, where he played with musical luminaries across the continent including Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath, Cymande, and Manu Dibango.
‘By the 1970s Mfandu was dead, murdered in Soweto, and the group had consolidated as a septet — the late drummer is memorialized here on the closer. South African jazz was moving toward electrified funk and bump, and the new township style of Dollar Brand was just around the corner. But Dedication captures the acoustic jazz sound of the early 1970s in its pomp – a handful of tightly wound songs jostling for space, blending uptempo soul-jazz sensibilities with Latin influences and pronounced township jazz accents, the latter especially audible in Dimpie Tshabalala’s piano vamps, Jeff Mpete’s pattering hi-hat emphases, and the unmistakably South African swagger and dip of the horns on cuts like Rabothata. It is music on the brink of a transition, looking ahead but still dedicated to the sound of the golden years, and it could have been made nowhere else on earth but in Soweto.’”
listen hereJimmy Rogers - Gold Tailed Bird 1973
Guitarist Jimmy Rogers was the last living connection to the groundbreaking first Chicago band of Muddy Waters (informally dubbed "the Headhunters" for their penchant of dropping by other musicians' gigs and "cutting their heads" with a superior on-stage performance). Instead of basking in worldwide veneration, he was merely a well-respected Chicago elder boasting a seminal '50s Chess Records catalog, both behind Waters and on his own.
Born James A. Lane (Rogers was his stepdad's surname), the guitarist grew up all over: Mississippi, Atlanta, West Memphis, Memphis, and St. Louis. Actually, Rogers started out on harp as a teenager. Big Bill Broonzy, Joe Willie Wilkins, and Robert Jr. Lockwood all influenced him, the latter two when he passed through Helena. Rogers settled in Chicago during the early '40s and began playing professionally around 1946, gigging with Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim, and Broonzy.
Rogers was playing harp with guitarist Blue Smitty when Muddy Waters joined them. When Smitty split, Little Walter was welcomed into the configuration, Rogers switched over to second guitar, and the entire post-war Chicago blues genre felt the stylistic earthquake that directly followed. Rogers made his recorded debut as a leader in 1947 for the tiny Ora-Nelle logo, then saw his efforts for Regal and Apollo go unissued.
Those labels' monumental errors in judgment were the gain of Leonard Chess, who recognized the comparatively smooth-voiced Rogers' potential as a blues star in his own right. (He first played with Muddy Waters on an Aristocrat 78 in 1949 and remained his indispensable rhythm guitarist on wax into 1955.) With Walter and bassist Big Crawford laying down support, Rogers' debut Chess single in 1950, "That's All Right," has earned standard status after countless covers, but his version still reigns supreme.
Rogers' artistic quality was remarkably high while at Chess. "The World Is in a Tangle," "Money, Marbles and Chalk," "Back Door Friend," "Left Me with a Broken Heart," "Act Like You Love Me," and the 1954 rockers "Sloppy Drunk" and "Chicago Bound" are essential early-'50s Chicago blues.
In 1955, Rogers left Muddy Waters to venture out as a bandleader, cutting another gem, "You're the One," for Chess. He made his only appearance on Billboard's R&B charts in early 1957 with the driving "Walking by Myself," which boasted a stunning harp solo from Big Walter Horton (a last-second stand-in for no-show Good Rockin' Charles). The tune itself was an adaptation of a T-Bone Walker tune, "Why Not," that Rogers had played rhythm guitar on when Walker cut it for Atlantic.
By 1957, blues was losing favor at Chess, the label reaping the rewards of rock via Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Rogers' platters slowed to a trickle, though his 1959 Chess farewell, "Rock This House," ranked with his most exciting outings (Reggie Boyd's light-fingered guitar wasn't the least of its charms). Rogers virtually retired from music for a time during the '60s, operating a Westside clothing shop that burned down in the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King's tragic assassination. He returned to the studio in 1972 for Leon Russell's Shelter logo, cutting his first LP, Gold-Tailed Bird (with help from the Aces and Freddie King). There were a few more fine albums -- notably Ludella, a 1990 set for Antone's -- but Rogers never fattened his discography nearly as much as some of his contemporaries have. Jimmy's son, Jimmy D. Lane, played rhythm guitar in his dad's band and fronts a combo of his own on the side. Rogers died on December 19, 1997. At the time of his death, he was working on an all-star project featuring contributions from Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards; upon its completion, the disc was issued posthumously in early 1999 under the title Blues, Blues, Blues. AMG.
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