Mother Earth

Mother Earth - Living With The Animals - 1968 - Mercury

Though Mother Earth is often remembered as a vehicle for Tracy Nelson, Living With the Animals is a true group effort, combining memorable vocal performances with tight R&B-derived playing with excellent guitar work from Michael Bloomfield. Side one is a showcase for Nelson's blues belting and piano, particularly on "Down So Low" and "Mother Earth." Not to be overlooked is the blues shuffle "I Did My Part" and R.P. St. John's sardonic "Living With the Animals" and "Marvel Set," which features him on lead vocals. Side two doesn't hold up quite as well, though there are stellar moments here as well, including "Cry On" and "Goodnight Nelda Grebe," with fine horn section work and excellent Nelson vocals. Written and fronted by St. John, "The Kingdom of Heaven Is Within You" is a brilliant closer; it's nocturnal, moody, and spacy and showcases beautiful muted trumpets and reeds with a gorgeous flute solo by Link Davis Jr. The album was reissued on CD by Wounded Bird in 2004. © J.P. Ollio & Thom Jurek © 2011 Answers Corporation http://www.answers.com/topic/living-with-the-animals

Great late sixties Texas blues/R&B. There are some great musicians here. Mark Naftalin was the keyboardist for the Butterfield Blues Band, and Powell St.John wrote for the great 13th Floor Elevators band.Tracy Nelson's powerful and clear vocals are a strong point of this album. The last track, "Kingdom of Heaven" by Powell St.John is a great psychedelic flavoured song, and is a highlight of the album. However, the entire album is great and HR by A.O.O.F.C. Listen to Mother Earth's 1972 s/t album, and Tracy Nelson's great album, "Deep Are the Roots." Mother Earth's "Satisfied" album is @ MOTHERE/SFD

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

SIDE ONE

Marvel Group (St. John)
Mother Earth (Memphis Slim)
I Did My Part (Neville)
Living with the Animals (St. John)
Down So Low (Nelson)

SIDE TWO

Cry On (Toussaint)
It Won't Be Long (McFarland)
My Love Will Never Die (Dixon)
Goodnight Nelda Grebe The Telephone Company Has Cut Us Off (Caldwell/Nelson)
The Kingdom of Heaven (Is Within You) (St. John)

MUSICIANS

Makal Blumfeld (aka Mike Bloomfield), John Andrews - guitar
Bob Arthur - bass
Tracy Nelson - piano, vocals
Mark Naftalin - piano, organ
Barry Goldberg - organ
Jose Emilio Rodriquez III, George Rains - drums
Martin Fierro - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute
Frank Morin - tenor saxophone
Link Davis Jr. - alto saxophone
Bob Salisbury, Ron Taormina - baritone saxophone
Louis Gasca - trumpet
Spencer Perskin - violin
R. Powell St John Jr - harmonica, vocals
Shalimar Samuelson, Sylvia Caldwell, Losella Funque - backing vocals (members of The Earthettes)

SHORT BIO

The late-'60s/early-'70s blues-rock outfit Mother Earth was led by singer Tracy Nelson and issued several somewhat underappreciated releases during their time span. Nelson was originally from Madison, WI, and it was while attending the University of Wisconsin that the singer was discovered by producer Sam Charters and was eventually signed to a recording contract with the Prestige label. 1965 saw the release of Nelson's solo debut, the folk-based Deep Are the Roots, and when it didn't exactly burn up the charts, Nelson decided to relocate to San Francisco, with the hopes of forming a more conventional rock outfit. Shortly after arriving on the West Coast, Mother Earth was formed, which led to performances at the famed Fillmore West, opening for the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Burdon. After an appearance on the soundtrack to the 1968 motion picture Revolution (which also featured the Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Steve Miller Band), Mother Earth signed with Mercury Records and issued a steady stream of releases until the early '70s. These albums included 1968's Living with the Animals 1969's Tracy Nelson Country and Make a Joyful Noise, 1970's Satisfied, 1971's Bring Me Home, 1972's Tracy Nelson/Mother Earth, and 1973's Poor Man's Paradise, before Nelson pursued a solo career. Subsequently, Nelson earned a Grammy nomination in 1974 for the track "After the Fire Is Gone" (a duet with Willie Nelson) and continued to issue solo albums until the early '80s, when she became disillusioned with the direction that popular music was going in (although she did sing backup for Neil Young for a spell in the mid-'80s, including appearing with Young at the mammoth Live Aid concert in 1985). Nelson returned to music in the '90s, beginning with 1993's In the Here and Now, continuing to issue solo recordings (and in 1998, earned another Grammy nomination for the release Sing It!, a collaboration with Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas). © Greg Prato © 2011 Answers Corporation http://www.answers.com/topic/mother-earth-rock-band