Pacific Gas and Electric

Pacific Gas and Electric - Get It On - 1968 - Kent

Pacific Gas and Electric were a great late sixties/early seventies soul blues band. The late Charlie Allen, with his gritty vocals added drive and excitement to this album, and Glenn Schwartz plays some terrific guitar leads. Check out the band's "Are You Ready" album which featured their huge hit with the sane title. Arguably "Get It On" is a better album. The "Get It On" LP was reissued on the Power label in 1969, and reissued on CD by Big Beat in 2008 with the subtitle "The Kent Record Sessions". This CD included 9 extra tracks of outtakes. There is info on PG&E's "Live 'N' Kicking at Lexington" album @ PG&E'/LNK&LEX

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

Wade in the Water - (Traditional)
Cry Cry Cry - Deadric Malone
Motor City Is Burning - Al Smith
Hunter - Al Jackson Jr. Booker T. Jones, Junior Wells
Long Handled Shovel - (Traditional)
Jelly Jelly - James Cotton
Stormy Times - Brent Block
Live Love - Tom Marshall

BAND

Charlie Allen R.I.P - vocals
Glenn Schwartz - guitar
Tom Marshall - guitar
Brent Block - bass, fuzz bass
Frank Cook - drums
Joe Sample - organ, piano

REVIEW

The debut album of the five-member Pacific Gas & Electric reveals a nimble little blues band with a great shouter for a lead singer. Far less lumbering than the band became on their better-known major-label recordings, the Modern release of Get It On begins with the kind of maximum R&B bang that few American rock groups beyond the MC5 or Young Rascals would have been able to muster: a six-minute version of "Wade in the Water" that careens through its six long minutes with power and just enough balance between control and chaos. (The track was billed as being recorded "live," but it was actually a studio creation with overdubs.) Lead singer Charlie Allen was a charismatic force up front, and lead guitarist Glenn Schwartz, a transplant from Cleveland and the James Gang, matched Allen's charisma with his solos. If they have a weakness on Get It On, it's the rhythm section, which despite including Frank Wilson of Canned Heat, can't always keep up with Allen or Schwartz, and sounds pretty stiff in comparison. [A 2008 reissue of Get It On on Ace added nine bonus tracks, most unreleased takes and some unreleased songs from the same sessions.] © John Bush, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Pacific Gas & Electric was an American rock band, best known for the song "Are You Ready?" released in 1970. The band's history dates from 1967 in Los Angeles. Self-taught guitarist Tom Marshall met bassist Brent Block at a party thrown by Block's former art teacher and formed a band then named "Pacific Gas and Electric Blues Band". It was one of the first multiracial bands to be part of the Los Angeles music scene. An early member was Charlie Allen (May 1, 1942 - May 7, 1990), a drummer from San Francisco, whose vocal abilities were so good that he moved from drums to lead singer, and was replaced on drums by Canned Heat's former drummer, Frank Cook, who had earlier signed to manage the band. In 1968, the band name was shortened to "Pacific Gas & Electric", and included Allen, Cook, Marshall, Block, and guitarist Glenn Schwartz (also of James Gang and All Saved Freak Band). They released their first album, Get It On, that year on the Power record label (it was subsequently released on Big Orange, Kent and United Superior as well). Although it only reached #159 on the album charts, someone at Columbia Records was listening, as they signed the band to a recording contract shortly after their appearance at the Miami Pop Festival in December of 1968. The next album, and the first released by Columbia, was simply called Pacific Gas and Electric (1969). However, it was the next release, Are You Ready, that included their first mainstream hit. The title track reached #14 in the summer of 1970, and featured the backing vocals of The Blackberries. Wholesale changes were in store for the group after recording the Are You Ready album. After a serious car accident, Cook was replaced on drums by Ron Woods, and he stayed on as manager. Schwartz announced his conversion to Christianity onstage during a concert and then later joined the All Saved Freak Band. Marshall also left, and the two were replaced by Frank Petricca on bass and Ken Utterback on guitar, with Brent Block moving to rhythm guitar from bass. This is the line-up that toured in support of Are You Ready. This version of the band recorded a self-titled album in 1971 (minus Block, who had left the band in late 1970), adding Jerry Aiello on keyboards, trumpet player Stanley Abernathy, sax players Alfred Galagos and Virgil Gonsalves, and percussionist Joe LaLa. At the request of the utility company sharing the same name, the band name was shortened to "P G & E". The band did countless concerts, often appearing with other big musical acts of the era. At one P G & E show, writer and film producer Lawrence Schiller filmed his documentary, The Lexington Experience. Disagreements with the owners to the rights to the music caused the film to be shelved after only a few showings, and the only copies known to exist are in Schiller's vault. They made more movie history when they appeared in, and provided music to, the Otto Preminger film Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, starring Liza Minnelli. Their song "Staggolee" was also featured in the Quentin Tarantino film Death Proof. After 1972, the group's line-up became unstable, resembling more of an Allen solo project. One more album was forthcoming: ...Starring Charlie Allen in 1973 on the Dunhill label, featuring Allen and a host of studio musicians.