Hairband – Band On The Wagon (1969)

Artist: Hairband
Title: Band On The Wagon
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Bell

U.K. Psych Blues album featuring Alex Harvey, Mickey Keene, Laurie Baker, Peter Woolf etc. This album was recorded when Alex was in the rock musical ‘HAIR‘ and the band that played all the music was deemed good enough to record for this album. Harvey wrote many of the songs and plays guitar and sings. Produced by former Animals keyboardist Alan Price.

Great heavy psych prog beast that would be as big and as valuable as other similar monsters like Open Mind and Motherlight if it weren’t for the presence of horns on some tracks.  Personally, I don’t mind a little sax here and there, especially in public places.

Anyway, there are some really killer tracks on here, like “Golden Egg“, which starts off in a cool loungey funk mode before switching gears to a KILLER late 60′s go-go dancefloor theme with dramatic orchestral stabs and some sexy, jazzy sax solos.

“Electric Blues” isn’t really blues at all, but more of an upbeat rural-flavored psych rock track with some trippy backwards guitar.  It gets more upbeat and picks up tempo as it goes along, culminating in a psychedelic maelstrom of wild guitar solos courtesy of Mr. Alex Harvey himself. (Ned Ginty)

Track Listing

1. Sacrifice
2. I’m Living
3. The Yellow Bay Tree
4. Swan Song
5. Big Louis
6. Band On The Wagon
7. Travelling Song
8. No Offence Eddie
9. The Golden Egg
10. Electric Blues
11. How Deep Is The Ocean

Great Jones – All Bowed Down! (1970)

Artist: Great Jones
Title: All Bowed Down!
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Tonsil

Great Jones is an odd combination: a jazz loving guitarist, a blues-freaking drummer, and an ex-folk- singing bassist. A mixture of diverse musical stylesfor sure. Though this could easily be a hinderance to a group in eastablishing itself a smooth textured, unified sound,it is just the opposite in this case.

Billy Cadieux, Gary Kollarus, and David Tolmie have been able to mold their different musical preferences into a common denominator of natural blues and funk, and have created a fantastically novel and racy sound.

In about any song on this album, one can hear Great Jones alternating blues and funk, funk and blues, or a fusing of the two to make an unusually new entity. The group offers an overabundance of originality and a constant variety for one to select a favorite musical mood.

For instance, in “I Ain’t Got Long”, the group’s own composition, one can hear Billy Cadieux emoting some of the most delicate sounding blues guitar yet rendered. It’s soft and tender, yet cringing with the most emotional tension.

Interweaving with Billy’s guitar are David Tolmie’s commanding and directive bass notes which enhance the blues effect; Tolmie’s raspy and gutsy vocals; and gary Kollarus’ all-engulfing drumming, which sets the perfect mood for the blues tune.

Yet the group can alter it’s identity drastically, and, listening to “Cripple Creek”, one can hear how they obiously change the atmosphere to a funky dimension. Bouncy bass notesd and sharply accenuated drum beats create a giggling sensation.

The acoustic guitar adds to the euphoria as Cadieux plays a catchy riff which permeates the memory and repeats itself over and over again. ”Cripple Creek” becomes a request for all to rejoice and it lightens the load of the heavy blues doldrums.

There’s a plentiful supply of good material to be peceived and grasped in this album. There’s been a lot of planning, a lot of learning, a lot of experimenting for Great Jones, the outcome being a lot of finesse and good technique. Great Jones is an odd combination-and it’s great that they are. (Allan Richards)

Track Listing

1. Cripple Creek
2. Finding My Way
3. United State Of Mind
4. You Don’t Know Nothin’ About Love
5. All Bowed Down
6. Idaho Potatoes
7. Leaving Trunk
8. I Ain’t Got Lon
9. Leaving California

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1970)

Artist: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Title: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Mercury

The Good, Bad And The Ugly were from Beaumont Texas and consisted of Joe Pipps (guitars-vocals), Bubba Goode (bass) and Kenny Yetman (drums). The album features some great Texas hard rock blues-rock band which was produced by Huey P. Meaux.

According to the liner notes, at the time the group approached Meaux to produce this album, they were known as the Next Exit and were playing gigs around the Beaumont and Port Arthur areas.

Yettes had previously involved with Jerry Lacroix and the Boogie Kings while Pipps had jammed with Johnny Winter who, according to Pipps, was very influencal in the making of this album, which was the result of him and Winters jamming while drinking Southern Comfort at Pipps house in Beaumont. (Howard Hales Broom)

Track Listing

1. Dusty Moon
2. Song Of A Hounddog Man
3. Ugly Stick
4. We’ll Make A Chain Of Love
5. Take A Look At Your Friends
6. Gypsy Lover
7. Blues For Maggie
8. I Was Born A Free Man
9. For Telling Those Lies
10. Don’t Mess Up A Good Thing

Dave Allen – Color Blind (1969)

Artist: Dave Allen
Title: Color Blind
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: International Artists

Everything about Dave Allen’s sole album is slightly off, from the somewhat defensive title (Allen is a blues guitarist who happens to be white) to the naff cover photo and lame graphics, all the way down to the fact that Color Blind is a completely straightforward slice of Texas blues-rock that happens to be on International Artists, the label that was otherwise home to the freaky likes of the 13th Floor Elevators, the Red Krayola, and Endle St. Cloud.

Color Blind may be many things — and foremost, it’s a surprisingly enjoyable slab of unpretentious Texas blues-rock, the sort of thing one might hear in a roadhouse in San Angelo on any given weekend — but freaky it ain’t. This has undoubtedly angered many psychedelic completists who finally tracked down this album in expectation of it sounding like God Bless the Red Krayola & All Who Sail With It and who summarily dismissed it as a result.

Listened to with open ears, however, Color Blind is really quite good, gathering up the best parts of Texas-style blues-rock while staying clear of pitfalls like excessively flashy solos, endless and plodding jams, or misogynistic lyrics. Tunes like “Poor Soul” and “Baby Please Don’t Try To Tell Me What To Do” are solid, rocking blues well worth seeking out by any fans of early Johnny Winter or the like.  (Stewart Mason)

Track Listing

1. Terp
2. How Can You Be So Cold
3. Baby Please Don’t Try To Tell Me What To Do
4. Dave’s Blues
5. Lord Have Mercy
6. Goin’ Back To Houston
7. Poor Soul
8. Livin’ In A World Of Darkness
9. Bone’s Home
10. Midnight Hour Blues
11. Goin’ To St. Louis

Turley Richards – Expressions (1971)

Artist: Turley Richards
Title: Expressions
Year: 1971
Format: LP
Label: Warner Brothers

“Expressions” is one of Turley Richards’ early recordings. It captures the incredible energy he has as a writer and singer, and it is a reminder of an era when people, both artists and audiences, believed that music was an important part of our lives.

Those who have followed Turley’s career know that several other albums, especially “From Darkness To Light” may be more complex and illustrative of his incredible talents, but this album perhaps best introduces a listener to this unique musical force.

“Expressions” captures the artist at a time when he was beginning to be comfortable with national attention, but before the weariness that often comes from “show business pressures” crept into some of his material.

Let’s hope some genius in the many executive suites that are familiar with Turley will let loose some of his other recordings, perhaps this is one of the beginning signs that record companies, no doubt running scared because of the computer communication revolution, will review their libraries and finally give proper attention to those artists that care enough about their music. (Paul Steinmetz)

Track Listing

1. Beautiful Country
2. Child Of Mine
3. Stoned On Love
4. Place For My Mind
5. Nightmare
6. The Last Day
7. Train Back To Mama (Broken Dreams)
8. It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
9. Virginia Woman
10. My World Is Empty Without You
    

The Pigmeat Blues Band – What Ever Happened To Ian Buchanan? (1969)

Artist: The Pigmeat Blues Band
Title: What Ever Happened To Ian Buchanan?
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: GRT

An Underground Hero, Ian Buchanan appeared On Elektra’s 1962 Compendium: “The Blues Project.” He Then Went On To Form The Pigmeat Blues Band In 1967 With His Friends And Fellow Blues Fanatics Marty Brennan, Steve Winchell And Kurt Braunstein. On This Album, They Make No Concessions To The Trend Of “Super-Hyperbolic” Freaked Out Bull Shit Blues… This Is Classic Blues rock…

Guitarist Ian Buchanan consolidated his mastery of tunes by a broad range of traditional artists, ranging from Lonnie Johnson to Big Bill Broonzy, and while at Antioch he taught guitar technique to fellow students John Hammond, Jr. and Jefferson Airplane’s Jorma Kaukonen.

Buchanan’s playing of blues was his passion. His mastery transcended “authentic” and developed into a sound that was personal, unique and brilliant. But as remarkable as his playing and singing became, he remained an “artists artist”, indifferent to self promotion and content to be the center of a small circle of friends and admire

Reserved, in his style and singing in a “natural” voice, his guitar playing showed him to be somewhat ahead of his time. He would not hesitate to show and teach his finger picking technique to anyone with a serious interest. Sadly he had a serious fall in early 1970 that left him paraplegic for the last twelve years of his life. (esterdamin)

Track Listing

1. Pigmeat Theme
2. New Fort Worth Blues
3. Kind Hearted Woman
4. Like A Circle Around The Sun
5. Come Back
6. Desert Blues
7. Sweet, Sweet Marie
8. Dont You Lie To Me
9. Tombstone
10. Me And The Devil
11. Down The Highway
    

Free Creek – Music From Free Creek (1973)

Artist: Free Creek
Title: Music From Free Creek
Year: 1973
Format: LP
Label: The Famous Charisma Label

“Music From Free Creek” is an album from a series of 1969 “super session” recordings by Free Creek, a group composed of a number of internationally renowned musical artists of the time, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Emerson, Mitch Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt.

As described by one reviewer, “Music From Free Creek” is a super session album, where the musicians are playing for the fun of it, and that comes across. The material doesn’t get bogged down in names; it just flows. (Wikipedia)

According to the liner notes, “Music From Free Creek” was an almost spontaneous recording session featuring dozens and dozens of musicians who met by chance in Manhattan and went over to Madison Square Garden and were able to record there with a recording truck left over from a Grand Funk Railroad concert recording two months previous.

Whether you believe that or not is up to. What can’t be denied is that a lot of musicians did appear on this double album including Todd Rundgren, Roy Markowitz from Janis Joplin’s band, Moogy Klingman from the Vagrants, the horn section from Buddy Rich, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Woody Hermans Band, Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Mitch Mitchell from Jimi Hendrix, Jazz bassist Chuck Rainey, Buzzy Feiten from Paul Butterfields Blues Band, Harvey Mandel, Jimmy Greenspan from Three Dog Night, Doctor John, Red Rhodes from the Byrds, Bernie Leadon from Flying Burrito Brothers, and many others did get together and record 18 cover songs to make up “Music From Free Creek“.

The reason why I was interested in the session was that it opens up with a fine rendition of “Cissy Strut” that captures the funkiness of the original with the addition of some blasting horns. Thats followed by a nice bluesy rendition of the Jazz standard “Freedom Jazz Dance”.

A little percussion and drum break leads into a bass line and “Sympathy For The Devil” with another short break in the middle. There’s another drum break during “On The Rebound”. Heavy organ playing by Moogy Kingman and Bob Smith, backed by the pounding drums of Roy Markowitz mark an instrumental take on “Working In A Coalmine”. “Lay Lady Lay”, “Hey Jude”, and a nice laidback and bluesy “Getting Back To Molly” with singing by Dr. John are also worth a listen. Who would of thought this record would be so good, especially given the cover art. (Soulstrut)

Track Listing

1. Cissy Strut (Jeff Beck Session)
2. Freedom Jazz Dance (Keith Emerson Session)
3. Sympathy For The Devil (Harvey Mandel Session)
4. Mother Nature’s Son (Keith Emerson Session)
5. Road Song (Eric Clapton Session)
6. Lay Lady Lay (Moogy Klingman Session)
7. Hey Jude (Moogy Klingman Session)
8. He Darked The Sun (Linda Ronstadt Session)
9. Earle’s Shuffle (Harvey Mandel Session)
10. Getting Back To Molly (Eric Clapton Session)
11. Cherry Picker (Jeff Beck Session)
12. Kilpartrick’s Defeat (Moogy Klingman Session)
13. The Girl From Ipanema (Harvey Mandel Session)
14. No One Knows (Eric Clapton Session)
15. Living Like A Fool (Linda Ronstadt Session)
16. Working In The Coalmine (Jeff Beck Session)
17. Big City Woman (Jeff Beck Session)
18. On The Rebound (Keith Emerson Session)

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

1. Devil
2. Come On In My Kitchen
3. Mailman’s Back
4. Cherry Ball (Shake Shake Mama)
5. The Shadow Knows
6. Sidetrack
7. Motorhead Baby
8. Duncan & Brady
9. Rock For My Pillow (Livin’ With The Blues)
10. 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

1. Bad Dream
2. Rose Of Woe
3. Night Life
4. Never Stop A Dream
5. Gypsy Good Time
6. Freeway Gypsy
7. Rages And Old Iron
8. My Man Is Gone
9. And When I Die
10. It Didn’t Even Bring Me Down
    

The Triangle – Now How Blue Cow (1969)

Artist: The Triangle
Title: Now How Blue Cow
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Amaret

The Triangle were a self described “Western Blues” trio from El Paso, Texas who moved to L.A. in the late sixties and found gigs playing the Sunset Strip clubs, most notably the Galaxy before being signed to Amaret Records in 1969.

The group consisted of Michael Carelli (guitar-vocals), Howard Steele (bass) and Ty Grimes (drums). The music is Texas psych with an undercurrent of soul dominated by blazing fuzz and slide guitars. (Jack Dominilla)

A note from guitarist Mike Ciccarelli of the group Triangle:

“I was happy to see the Triangle album (ST5001) in your listing under Amaret. I was the guitar player/vocalist on it and it was a remarkable outing. It got a five star rating in Billboard in June 1969 (Neil Young got four and a half), but was never supported with quantities or promotion.

I spelled my name at the time Carelli for simplicity. The drummer, Ty Grimes went on to play for Ricky Nelson and left the group right before the plane crash that killed all members.

The bass player went on to engineer/produce many hits including “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Leo Sayer hits. The Triangle album was also co-produced by Chris Huston, an Englishman who produced some Led Zeppelin albums.” (Spectropop)

Track Listing

1. Music Music
2. 99 1/2
3. Torn Down
4. Now She’s Gone
5. Short Stuff
6. Magic Touch
7. Lucille
8. Love Me Thru The Night
9. Try Harder
10. Rolling Stone