The Jon Bartel Thing – The Jon Bartel Thing (1969)
Artist: The Jon Bartel Thing
Title: The Jon Bartel Thing
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Capitol
The Jon Bartel Thing consisted of Jon Bartel (keyboards), Lou Stellute (horns), Larry O’Brien (vocals-strings) and Abe Blassingame (percussion).
This was their first album released on Capitol, a great record full of brass dominated, jazz influenced psychedelic. The album was recorded at the Record Plant and produced by Jimmy Curtiss (The Hobbits, Velvet Night etc.) who created his own label, Perception the same year. In 1971 Jon Bartel in fact did release an album on Perception entitled “Bartel” which is the rarer of the two albums and i will try to post a review in the future.
1969 found Curtiss and Perception having arranged a distribution deal with Capitol. It also saw the release of “The Jon Bartel Thing” – same line up, different, cooler name … Co-produced by Curtiss and Terry Philips, the results made for one weird record.
Showcasing a mixture of Curtiss-penned numbers (co-written with Ralph Green and Marcia Hillman), the album offered up a strange mixture of hard rock (“Where Can I Hide”), pop (“This Girl In Springfield”), conventional soul (“No Doubt About It (He’s Your Man)”), psych touches (“There’s Gotta Be Something Better”), and conventional jazz (the instrumental “So What”)
Those diverse genres occasionally collided within the same composition (check out the totally bizarre “Listen To the Silence”). A hard album to accurate describe (which may explain the absence of much info on the web), but if you were to imagine early Blood, Sweat and Tears with a singer who was better than David Clayton Thomas and a band with a harder rock orientation and you’d be in the right aural neighborhood.
Given the liner notes didn’t provide a great deal of information, I’m going on the assumption that namesake Bartel handled the lead vocals (turns out it was Larry O’Brien). If so, he had a great soul-influenced voice which made you wonder why producers Curtiss and company hadn’t opted for a more conventional collection.
To underscore how good his voice was, I’ve never been a big fan of the T-Bone Walker classic “Stormy Monday”, but these guys turned in a killer version of the track. I even liked the scatting section of the performance. Geez, never thought I’d say something like that! For those of you really into this kind of stuff “Freak Show” also showed up on the Curtiss Velvet Night project. (Bad Cat)
Track Listing
- Where Can I Hide
- Listen To The Silence
- No Doubt About It (He’s Your Man)
- Stormy Monday
- Freak Show
- Headin’ On
- There’s Gotta Be Something Better
- Time Machine
- This Girl In Springfield
- So What
Tongue And Groove – Tongue And Groove (1970)
Artist: Tongue And Groove
Title: Tongue And Groove
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Fontana
As a trio, Tongue And Groove featured the talents of singer/keyboardist Michael Ferguson, vocalist Lynne Hughes, and lead guitarist Randy Lewis. Ferguson had been one of the original members of San Francisco’s The Charlatans (see January 7, 2011 post).
For this album the group enlisted the services of several bass players including Richard Olsen, Terry Owens, Ron Johnson and Eddie Adams. They also used three different drummers, Roger Dowd, Earl Palmer and Eddie Hoh.
Also appearing on the record are one time Elvis Presley guitarist James Burton (dobro) and Phil Spector musician Jay Migliori (horns). Therutius Deeps provides background vocals.
Hughes started out as a Seattle-based folkie, but by the late 1960s was a barmaid working at the Virginia City, Nevada Red Dog Saloon where The Charlatans were working as a house band.
Though not officially a member with the group, Hughes occasionally accompanied The Charlatans on stage and ended up singing on a couple of their recording sessions.
After a dispute with their label over the release of a cover of Buffy St. Marie’s “Codine” as a single (Philips management balked at releasing the song out of fear that the song’s drug lyric would spur criticism (ironic given it was an anti-drug song) this led to the label dropping The Charlatans from their recording contract. Ferguson then formed Tongue and Groove with Hughes and Lewis. (Bad Cat)
Track Listing
- Devil
- Come On In My Kitchen
- Mailman’s Back
- Cherry Ball (Shake Shake Mama)
- The Shadow Knows
- Sidetrack
- Motorhead Baby
- Duncan & Brady
- Rock For My Pillow (Livin’ With The Blues)
- Fallin’ Apart
Lynne Hughes – Freeway Gypsy (1969)
Artist: Lynne Hughes
Title: Freeway Gypsy
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Fontana
Lynne Hughes went on to record a solo album “Tongue and Groove Presents Lynne Hughes Freeway Gypsy”. In the early 1970s she briefly joined Stoneground and apparently passed on in the early 2000s.
The album features Mike Melvoin, Therutius Deeps, Buddy Childers, Gary Coleman, Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Enevoldsen, Don Menza, Plas Johnson and Others.
Mining the field between Folk, Blues, And Rock, in somewhat the same manner as fellow Bay Area female singers Tracy Nelson and Janis Joplin. (Audiofile)
Lynne Hughes was the lead singer of the late-’60s San Francisco Bay Area band Tongue and Groove, mining the field between folk, blues, and rock, in somewhat the same manner as fellow Bay Area female singers Tracy Nelson and Janis Joplin (or, from beyond the Bay Area, Maria Muldaur).
Hughes had a more old-timey ragtime tilt to her vocals than any of those other singers did, and was the most prominent presence on Tongue and Groove’s fair, self-titled late-’60s album. Prior to that, she had been something of an auxiliary member of the Charlatans (see January 7, 2011 post), doing some singing and even recording with them without being an official group member.
Hughes had entered music as a folk musician in Seattle in the early ’60s before going to the Bay Area. In 1965, she was performing at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, NV, the same venue where the Charlatans had a long-running residency. She would play guitar and sing lead on a few songs with them, such as “Sidetrack” and “Come on in My Kitchen,” and taught them the English madrigal “I Saw Her,” which was one of their best recordings (though not officially released until 1996).
She also played and sang on some demos they did for Kama Sutra in early 1966; two on which she sang, “Sidetrack” and “Devil Got My Man,” appear on the 1996 CD compilation The Amazing Charlatans. The Charlatans links carried over to Tongue and Groove, which also featured former Charlatans pianist Mike Ferguson; their Tongue on Groove album had bass by Charlatan Richie Olsen, and a song by ex-Charlatan Dan Hicks. Hughes went on to sing with Stoneground in the early ’70s. (Richie Unterberger)
Track Listing
- Bad Dream
- Rose Of Woe
- Night Life
- Never Stop A Dream
- Gypsy Good Time
- Freeway Gypsy
- Rages And Old Iron
- My Man Is Gone
- And When I Die
- It Didn’t Even Bring Me Down
Nazz – Nazz (1968)
Artist: Nazz
Title: Nazz
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: SGC
The first album by Nazz, a late ’60s band from Philly, begins with such a smash that about 99,99 % of bands and artists ever could envy. “Open My Eyes” is virtually the classic The Beatles would have recorded in ’67 had they made another Revolver, the totally superb Who song never happened, or the eventual recording The Monkees would have got rid of their ‘artificial bubblegum’ stamp by. Instead, it is the best-known song of a poorly-known band.
Nazz may tell you why they are mostly known as Todd Rundgren’s early group (has anyone practically ever heard Utopia?!) and not for their albums, which are three, this debut apparently being the best. Simultaneously however it leaves a question of how wonderful they could have been.”Open My Eyes” is followed by “Back of Your Mind”, a terribly ordinary blues rock (or even hard rock) number. It could be a lesser album track on an average Yardbirds or Cream LP.
How can a band that provides something so unusual and ingenious first regress to such a waste of time next? “See What You Can Be” and “Hello It’s Me” present a new face of the band again. Together with “If That’s the Way You Feel” and “Crowded” they bring a feel that in my mind is associated with Strawberry Alarm Clock.
The backing gets slightly jazzy, the vocals often turn into gentle harmonies and the fact that they aren’t as accurate as those of The Beach Boys gives the music a kind of human touch. On the other hand, “Wildwood Blues” is even worse than “Back of Your Mind” – a total 4:39 waste of record material – while “Lemming Song” is only slightly better. I don’t seem to get to understand why bands that were able to produce unique classics also threw out a whole lot of confusing mediocrities.
“When I Get My Plane” is the most Who-sounding track in the entire Nazz catalogue, and “She’s Goin’ Down” concludes the album clearly sounding like the same band that made “Open My Eyes”, despite a one-minute drum break.Nazz is difficult to rate. Seven of the ten tracks represent the élite, but the rest is somewhat a letdown.
This is also the problem with Nazz and their audience, timelessly. I mean, there are meat-and-potatoes people who are into basic blues guitar rock. They certainly like the tracks I am despising and stuff like “Open My Eyes” as well. But then it is “Hello It’s Me” and “If That’s the Way You Feel” that become a problem.
Maybe there is a small number of people who get the whole album. I am not one of them, but on the other hand the better tracks contain a special vibe of their own and “Open My Eyes” is included anyway. Nazz is where the band got closest in the album length to the ideal of totally mind-blowing pop/rock music, and that is why I am going to be generous with my lucky stars. (fairysee RYM)
Track Listing
- Open My Eyes
- Back Of Your Mind
- See What You Can Be
- Hello It’s Me
- Wildwood Blues
- If That’s The Way You Feel
- When I Get My Plane
- Lemming Song
- Crowded
- She’s Goin’ Down
- Nazz Radio Commercials [Bonus]
- Train Kept A Rollin’ [Outtake - Bonus]
- Magic Me [Pre-LP Bonus]
- See What You Can Be [Pre-LP Bonus]
- Hello It’s Me [Demo]
- Crowded [1967 Demo]
- Open My Eyes [Bonus]
- Lemming Song [Demo]
- The Nazz Are Blue [Unreleased Live]
- Why Is It Me [Early Version 1966]
- Hello It’s Me [Mono Mix]
Nazz – Nazz Nazz (1969)
Artist: Nazz
Title: Nazz Nazz
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: SGC
This is going to be an unambiguous statement: Nazz Nazz is just “Open My Eyes” short of the debut album. Stylistically “Hang on Paul” gets closest to the aforementioned classic, but on the other hand “Gonna Cry Today” is a much better song – actually the best slow song Nazz ever recorded.
“Forget All About It” is also fine, opening the album and thus taking a slightly similar role to “Open My Eyes”, but instead, the song they (or the record company) pushed was “Not Wrong Long.” It is not bad at all, but nothing unforgettable or even special as well.”Under the Ice”, “Kiddie Boy” and “Featherbedding Lover” constitute the unfortunately compulsory filler department.
While Nazz Nazz is surprisingly lengthy as a 1969 album, I think it could have survived simply without them. “A Beautiful Song”, then, is 11 minutes of progressive pop. In my opinion 11 minutes is always too lengthy – unless the track is completely awesome. “A Beautiful Song” has its moments, but compared to the whole duration they are still too few.
Possibly dividing the song into two tracks – even while it sounds like an instrumental and a vocal track welded together – could have saved both parts.But then there are “Letters Don’t Count”, “Meridian Leeward” and “Rain Rider” that present nice songwriting. And once again, “Gonna Cry Today”: despite the difference of style, this is where Nazz is closest to the genius of the ever-repeated “Open My Eyes.” (fairysee RYM)
Track Listing
- Forget All About It
- Not Wrong Long
- Rain Rider
- Gonna Cry Today
- Meridian Leeward
- Under The Ice
- Hang On Paul
- Kiddie Boy
- Featherbedding Lover
- Letters Don’t Count
- A Beautiful Song
- Love Everywhere (Album Outtake)
- Sing A Song (Album Outtake)
- Sydney’s Lunchbox (Album Outtake)
- Magic Me (Alternate Version)
- Kicks (Long Version)
- Not Wrong Long (Mono Single)
- Under The Ice (Mono Single)
Nazz – Nazz III (1971)
Artist: Nazz
Title: Nazz III
Year: 1971
Format: LP
Label: SGC
The posthumous Nazz III may be the least good album achievement by Todd Rundgren and the boys, but that doesn’t mean it is not good. Of course the typical fillers are there again – “Kicks”, “Magic Me”, “Loosen Up”, “Plenty of Lovin’” and “Christopher Columbus” aren’t about to blow minds. But then again, “Take the Hand” is possibly my third favourite Nazz song after “Open My Eyes” and “Gonna Cry Today”,
“Only One Winner” is not much worse, and many other tracks contain those moments that remind me why I am such a music fan! In a Who-meets-Strawberry Alarm Clock territory, no one did it this good, though it may have something to do with the fact that virtually no one – except Nazz themselves – did it anyway. (fairyee RYM)
Track Listing
- Some People
- Only One Winner
- Kicks
- Resolution
- It’s Not That Easy
- Old Time Lovemaking
- Magic Me
- Loosen Up
- Take The Hand
- How Can You Call That Beautiful?
- Plenty Of Lovin’
- Christopher Columbus
- You Are My Window
- Some People (Single Mix)
- Magic Me (Mono Single Mix)
- Not Wrong Long (With Extended Beginning)
- Meridian Leeward (Alternate Version)
- Letters Don’t Count (Todd On Lead Vocals)
- Resolution (Todd On Lead Vocals)
- Only One Winner (Todd On Lead Vocals)
- It’s Not That Easy (Todd On Lead Vocals)
- Take The Hand (Todd On Lead Vocals)
- How Can You Call That Beautiful? (Todd On Lead Vocals)
- Forget All About It (Todd On Lead Vocals)
Dry Dock County – Dry Dock County (1970)
Artist: Dry Dock County
Title: Dry Dock County
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Mercury
Dry Dock County was a five piece group that very little is known about except that they were signed and produced by the legendary Wes Farrell (Partridge Family, Cowsills, Beacon Street Union etc.). for his Coral Rock Productions in May of 1970.
The album is pretty straight forward: nice guitar driven rock with small amounts of pop and country, and marvelous voices and melodies, which benefit’s immensely by Farrell’s impeccable production.
Of note here are the unique arrangements throughout the record, especially on a number of cover versions including The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time”, Buzz Clifford’s “I See, I Am”, The Lovin Spoonful’s “Blues In The Bottle” and Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul”. Long out of print, the album was reissued in Europe by Magic Records in 2009 with bonus mono singles. (Howard Hales Broom)
Track Listing
- Together As Friends
- Sesame Summer
- Going Home To Virginia
- Mr. Soul
- Work
- Fish Bite Better In The Summertime
- California Sweetwater
- Everyday Sunshine
- Nothing To Lose But My Mind
- I See, I Am
- Blues In The Bottle
- Last Time
Odyssey – Odyssey (1972)
Artist: Odyssey
Title: Odyssey
Year: 1972
Format: LP
Label: Mowest
Odyssey were a Folk, Funk and Soul group that featured Warner “Doc” Schwebke (bass), Donnie Dacus (guitar), Royce Jones (vocals) and Don Peake (guitar). Other members included Billy Pierce (vocals), Gene Pello (drums) and Kathleen Warren (vocals-vibes-electric piano-piano).
Schwebke began his career in the early 1960′s playing for several Eugene, Oregon rock bands including the The Sires then made his way to San Francisco in 1966 playing the coffeehouse circuit gigging with the likes of Billy Roberts of “Hey Joe” fame.
After a stint with The West Coast Blues Band, Schwebke headed to Los Angeles and became a studio bass player for MoWest, Barry Gordy’s west coast Motown outlet. During this time, he appeared on network television with Bonnie Bramblett in a show called “Live Concert”. Perhaps the biggest artist he played with at MoWest was Barry White.
During this period, he then found himself playing for an early, pioneering band known as Odyssey, which recorded an under appreciated (at the time) album that stretched and honed his creative abilities as a songwriter and player. That band had a contract with a small label, but couldn’t hold it together waiting for that big break to happen.
During the 70′s, Doc played for many artists including touring with Tobias Wood Henderson in Texas, the Stephen Stills Band in California and eventually hooking up with the Bonnie Bramblett group.
He also found himself working with Donnie Dacus who was then playing for Stephen Stills and later with work the the band Chicago. Doc collaborated with Donnie to write songs for both groups. The platinum selling albums “Illegal Stills” by Stills and “Hot Streets” by Chicago both included songs that Doc helped pen.
Dacus began in a teenage band called The Shux, in honor of Jimi Hendrix. In 1966, the band played at a Mardi Gras in Fort Worth, Texas. After graduating from Cleburne High, Dacus left the band to record with another band, the Yellow Payges (see November 23, 2010 post).
Dacus played guitar on Chris Hillman’s 1976 album, “Slippin’ Away”. He also worked on Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s CSN album, doing background vocals and playing rhythm guitar. A few years later, he teamed up with Stephen Stills for several projects. On Stills Dacus has two writing credits, and on Illegal Stills he is featured prominently.
In 1978, Dacus was cast as Woof, a supporting character in the movie Hair, and about the same time, jazz-rock band Chicago selected him as a replacement guitarist and vocalist after the death of Terry Kath. His debut with Chicago (Hot Streets) went to #12 and platinum, but not without controversy amongst the fans. Dacus also was in the lineup for Chicago 13, which was the least commercially successful of the band’s albums to that point.
After the 1979 tour in support of Chicago 13, Dacus was dropped from the band for undisclosed reasons. Chicago used session guitarists for Chicago XIV, then added guitarist Chris Pinnick as a full-blown member following his studio work on Chicago 16. In 1982 Dacus resurfaced, joining Badfinger for a tour, and in the late 80s, he was involved in the Broadway musical Cats.
Royce Jones is a Grammy-winning American musician best known for his work as a touring vocalist with the bands Steely Dan (in 1973) and Ambrosia (joined 1978). Royce Jones is now in The Royce Jones band, also formally a member of eight piece horn band called Stonebridge. He also worked with The Platters.
Don Peake is a multi-talented musician who has worked as a guitarist, arranger, record producer, and film music composer. Starting his professional musical career as a guitarist in 1961, Peake’s talent was recognized early when he toured as lead guitarist with the Everly Brothers at the age of 21, playing in the U.S. and Europe for two years.
Peake established himself as a recording musician, and played for many of the legendary performers under Phil Spector’s production including The Righteous Brothers – “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”, Ike and Tina Turner – ” River Deep Mountain High”, as well as recording with Mahalia Jackson, Billy Preston, Cannonball Adderly, Marvin Gaye, and Diana Ross.
In 1964, Peake became the first white guitarist to play with the Ray Charles Orchestra, touring with Charles, and recording with him for ten years. During that time, Peake studied guitar with Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts, and Joe Pass, three legendary guitarists.
Peake became one of the premiere session guitarists in Los Angeles, recording for Jan and Dean, The Mamas and the Papas, Sonny and Cher, The Beach Boys, and many others. Don was inducted into an elite group of musicians led by drummer Hal Blaine known as “The Wrecking Crew“.
He played lead guitar for Marvin Gaye (Let’s Get It On), and on all the Jackson Five’s original hits, “ABC”, “I Want You Back”, etc. Don was on the Commodores, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, The Temptations, and many more Motown Artists’ records as a Staff Guitarist for Motown Records. It was during his tenure at Motown that he joined in the Odyssey sessions.
Peake also played on John Lennon’s records that Phil Spector produced, and on all of Barry White’s hit records, some of which he arranged. On all of the records that Don Peake has made, he has been a major creative contributor. (J.J. Hildreth)
Track Listing
- Home Of The Brave
- Georgia Song
- Country Tune
- Gossamer Wings
- Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love
- Wondrous Castles
- Battened Ships
- Sunny California Woman
- Black Top Island (Of The West)
- Broken Road
P.F. Sloan – Raised On Records (1972)
Artist: P.F. Sloan
Title: Raised On Records
Year: 1972
Format: LP
Label: Mums
Raised on Records was a reflection of it’s times, with P.F. Sloan entering a mellower singer/songwriter phase, in tune with trends of the early 1970s. It almost seems as if Sloan has been influenced by James Taylor, and to a much lesser extent other low-key performers of the ilk like Cat Stevens (not nearly so much in his songwriting as in the laidback production).
Sloan’s underrated singing is good, and his writing is fair, but the compositions don’t have as much sting as those on his first albums. Post-mid-’60s Sloan tends to be best when the arrangements are sparsest and the melodies most bittersweet, which doesn’t happen too often here, but peeks through on “The Night the Trains Broke Down,” “Como,” and “Midnight Girl.”
Remakes of his well-known mid-’60s songs “Let Me Be” and “Sins Of A Family” would be a lot more impressive if they didn’t have to suffer comparison with the originals (against which they fall short). By most singer/songwriter contrasts, this would be considered a respectable collection; by Sloan’s own high standards, it’s among his lesser releases. (allmusic)
Track Listing
- Let Me Be
- The Way You Want It To Be
- The Night The Trains Broke Down
- The Moon Is Stone
- Raised On Records
- Springtime
- Como
- Sins Of A Family (Fall On The Daughter)
- Turn On The Light
- Midnight Girl
- Somebody’s Watching Me
P.F. Sloan – Songs Of Our Times [Mono] (1965)
Artist: P.F. Sloan
Title: Songs Of Our Times
Year: 1965
Format: LP
Label: Dunhill
Sloan’s solo debut unveiled a singer-songwriter of a more serious, not to say Dylanesque, mindset than was evident on the material he had written for other artists up to that point (and indeed on the material that he continued to supply for acts like Johnny Rivers, Herman’s Hermits and the Grass Roots after this album).
At times, the Dylan influence was obvious — “What Exactly’s The Matter With Me,” for instance, sounds like a pop Dylan with a heavy streak of satirical self-pity. Yet the strongest half or so of the album revealed a composer of considerable talent.
Sloan’s own versions of “Eve Of Destruction” and “Take Me For What I’m Worth” are starker than the hit covers by Barry McGuire and the Searchers respectively, and “The Sins Of A Family” is one of his best and most penetrating works.
Other tracks, such as “I Get Out Of Breath” and “This Is What I Was Made For,” show more of the pop tunesmith in Sloan, and his underrated voice is well-suited for the earnest charm of the material. (allmusic)
Track Listing
- Sins Of A Family
- Take Me For What I’m Worth
- What Exactly’s The Matter With Me
- I’d Have To Be Out Of My Mind
- Eve Of Destruction
- This Mornin’
- I Get Out Of Breath
- This Is What I Was Made For
- Ain’t No Way I’m Gonna Change My Mind
- All The Things I Do For You Baby
- (Goes To Show) Just How Wrong You Can Be
- What Am I Doing Here With You
