Juicy Lucy

Juicy Lucy - Pieces - 1972 - Polydor

'Pieces' is packed with good performances and kicks off with a rousing version of Chuck Berry's 'Promised Land' intended as a tribute to the master. ‘Although it was mainly a mellow album we wanted to show we could still play rock'n'roll,’ says Micky. ‘The next song, 'Cuckoo', was one we'd head on a Taj Mahal album called 'Natch'l Blues.' This showed the kind of West Coast influence on the band. We really liked Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. 'It Ain't Easy' was a song Zoot Money wrote and passed on to Paul, and 'Suicide Pilot' was a Williams/Edwards original and a good rock'n'roller. Some of the songs have early Seventies' style lyrics, like 'Dead Flowers In The Mirror' which I recall was a bit of a country spoof! The final cut 'How Can A Poor Man Stand These Times' was taken from Ry Cooder's first album and was written by a blues singer called Alfred Reed. © Chris Welch, London 1997 (Taken from the liner notes to the 1997 Repertoire reissue of Juicy Lucy "Pieces" (1972) album, REP4644-WY )

Excellent British seventies blues rock. Check out their 1969, self titled album @

Juicy Lucy

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Promised Land - Chuck Berry
2. The Cuckoo - Trad.arr.Paul Williams
3. All My Life - Williams/Edwards
4. It Ain't Easy - Zoot Money/Colin Allen
5. Suicide Pilot - Williams/Edwards
6. Why Can't It Happen To Me - Williams/Edwards
7. Dead Flowers In The Mirror - Williams/Edwards
8. Prospector Dan - Williams/Edwards
9. How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live - Alfred Reed

BAND

Paul Williams - Vocals
Mick Moody - Guitars
Andy Pyle - Bass
Ron Berg - Drums
Jean Roussel - Keyboards
The Gay Debonaries - Backing Vocals

GUESTS

Albert Lee & Chas Hodges - Backing Vocals .
Ian McLagan - (Small Faces) - Keyboards
Mick 'Wynder K. Frogg' Weaver - Keyboards

The following information was taken from the liner notes to the 1997 Repertoire reissue of Juicy Lucy "Pieces" (1972) album, REP4644-WY ), & © Chris Welch, London 1997

The roots of Juicy Lucy lay way back in The Misunderstood, a band championed by both the author of these notes and the lugubrious, mild mannered Radio One DJ John Peel. The reasons for this enthusiasm lay in the fact that Glenn Campbell was not just a fine musician who played a pedal steel guitar with great gusto. He was an American in London and thus seemed closer to the source. He was also very funny and entertaining, and liked a glass of English beer. His laid back sense of humour provided a welcome contrast to the attitude of many British blues practitioners, who seemed to imagine that you had to undergo some sort of private hell and spread a message of unrelenting gloom to be considered a true blues man! The original Misunderstood was formed in 1966 and reformed for its trip to England. They made two singles for Fontana including 'Children Of The Sun,' and featured good looking young singer Steve Hoard. However the Misunderstood were eventually superseded by a more commercial Juicy Lucy. The first Lucy lineup included Ray Owen (vocals), Glenn Campbell (steel guitar, mandolin and vocals), Neil Hubbard (guitar), Chris Mercer (saxophone, and piano), Keith Ellis (bass and vocals) and Pete Dobson on drums. The band was managed by Nigel Thomas who also looked after the affairs of Joe Cocker. A controversial but energetic music biz figure, Nigel died of a heart attack a couple of years ago. Micky Moody (born August 30, 1950), who is featured on the present album, remembers seeing the first version of the band on the road. 'The band was virtually formed around Glenn and everyone remembers their first album cover with the lady covered in fruit! I think her name was Zelda Plum. It was a great album and I remember seeing the band in action at their early gigs.’Moody is from Middlesborough. He went to school with Paul Rodgers who later came to fame with Free and Bad Company. Micky and Paul formed a band at school called The Roadrunners which became The Wild Flowers when they moved to London in 1967 and 'starved to death in our caftans!' Micky later went home to study classical guitar while Paul Rodgers met Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke and formed Free. Says Moody: 'I went back to the North East and was asked by a local club owner and singer called John McCoy to help form a blues band called Tramline.' The singer was friendly with record boss Chris Blackwell and the band released two albums on Blackwell's Island label. In March 1969 Moody auditioned for Lucas & The Mike Cotton Sound, a well known soul band. He got the gig, but switched to Zoot Money's band for a few months in 1970. He'd got to know Zoot's regular singer Paul Williams, who by this time had joined Juicy Lucy. Micky was brought up to date on all the latest Juicy gossip. 'Ray Owen had been sacked after a couple of months and Paul had got the gig. He told me Neil Hubbard was leaving and asked if I'd like to join on lead guitar. I said, 'Great!' I went straight into recording the album 'Like Back And Enjoy It.' We were gigging all the time and became particularly popular in Germany where the band was very respected." However it proved increasingly difficult to break out of the club circuit, and reach a higher level of acceptance. "We made another album 'Get A Whiff Of This' before the group finally disintegrated in 1971.' Glenn Campbell went back to America, apparently disillusioned, but during their time together the, Campbell/Moody guitar partnership had worked well. ‘It was good because we didn't get in each other's way. I liked Glenn's playing and did a bit of slide guitar myself, using the bottle neck. Yes I remember Glenn wearing his big hat. But we all used to do that, it was quite trendy at the time!’ Despite the defection of the mainman, Paul Williams wasn't ready to give up. ‘Paul said he wanted to keep the band together. He wanted me to be the lead guitarist and also play bottle neck slide and the band kind of reformed. We had the famous rhythm section of Ron Berg and Andy Pyle from Blodwyn Pig. The line-up varied from time to time and Bernie Marsden actually came down for a blow. We were looking for another player because we wanted twin guitars. I'd been promoted to lead and we needed a rhythm player to get that American funky sound, without being too heavy. Bernie came down, but he was wrong for the job, as he was more in the Clapton vein.’ The third and final version of Juicy Lucy remained functional between July 1971 and June 1972. Rhythm player Dave Tedstone worked with them for a while but the line up on 'Pieces' mainly featured Paul Williams (vocals), Micky Moody (guitar), Jean Roussel (keyboards), Ron Berg (drums) and Andy Pyle (bass). Later Paul Williams would depart to join Jon Hiseman's Tempest, Jean Roussel worked with Cat Stevens and the rhythm section defected to Savoy Brown. Juicy Lucy's style meanwhile had begun to move away from the more predictable blues sound. Says Micky: ‘The music had a more mellow edge to it. We got a deal with Polydor to record the 'Pieces' album which was produced by Bruce Rowlands, drummer with the Grease Band.' It was recorded at Olympic Studios, Barnes in December 1971. Most of the songs were written by Paul and a lyricist friend of his called John Edwards. There were a few guests on the album. Albert Lee and Chas Hodges were on backing vocals and Ian McLagan from the Small Faces and Mick 'Wynder K. Frogg' Weaver were on keyboards. Incidentally those two guys have been working together again on albums in Los Angeles.’ 'Pieces' is packed with good performances and kicks off with a rousing version of Chuck Berry's 'Promised Land' intended as a tribute to the master. ‘Although it was mainly a mellow album we wanted to show we could still play rock'n'roll,’ says Micky. ‘The next song, 'Cuckoo', was one we'd head on a Taj Mahal album called 'Natch'l Blues.' This showed the kind of West Coast influence on the band. We really liked Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. 'It Ain't Easy' was a song Zoot Money wrote and passed on to Paul, and 'Suicide Pilot' was a Williams/Edwards original and a good rock'n'roller. Some of the songs have early Seventies' style lyrics, like 'Dead Flowers In The Mirror' which I recall was a bit of a country spoof! The final cut 'How Can A Poor Man Stand These Times' was taken from Ry Cooder's first album and was written by a blues singer called Alfred Reed. Did the album do very well? I don't think so I haven't been paid for it!' The band virtually split up not long afterward the album was released in the summer when Paul left to join Tempest. Yet the band struggled on with Frankie Miller for a couple more gigs and Bobby Harrison also sang for a while. We tried to get Frankie Miller into the band but his management said 'no.' Then Bobby said he had a management deal and asked if we'd like to form a band with him. So we formed a new band called SNAFU and in 1972 we toured with Joe Cocker in Europe and did some gigs with Slade. But as Nigel Thomas, our manager, was looking after Joe Cocker, we sort of got pushed to the background. At one point I was asked to join Boxer with Mike Patto but didn't really fancy that, so I teamed up with Bobby Harrison and that was the end of Juicy Lucy.’ It was a sad end to a band which had started out with such promise, and high hopes. Amazingly, despite all the line up changes and shifts in musical direction, the band's name alone could still command strings of college and club gigs right up to the end, such was the demand for 'live' music in those days. Subsequently, Moody did three albums with SNAFU. After they disbanded in 1976, Moody returned to session work and in that role backed singers Graham Bonnett, Frankie Miller, Chris Farlowe, Sheena Easton, Eric Burdon and Roger Chapman. In the mid-seventies, David Coverdale asked him to work on a project that became the first Whitesnake album. Micky played lead guitar on the album, contributed four songs and subsequently toured the world with Whitesnake, and worked with Bernie Marsden in the Moody Marsden Band. Recently Moody has reunited with Paul Williams to sing in a new band called Blue Thunder. No doubt, when the last punters have left and it’s time for a drink at the bar, reminisce and they swap tales of the days when Juicy Lucy was on the loose! © Chris Welch, London 1997 (Taken from the liner notes to the 1997 Repertoire reissue of Juicy Lucy "Pieces" (1972) album, REP4644-WY )

BIO (Wikipedia)

Juicy Lucy were saucy blues-rockers, who formed in 1969 from the ashes of the cult garage band The Misunderstood; thus uniting vocalist Ray Owen, steel guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell and keyboardist Chris Mercer. The group later picked up guitarist Neil Hubbard, bassist Keith Ellis, plus their drummer Pete Dobson. The band immediately notched a UK Top 20 hit with their cover version of the Bo Diddley perennial "Who Do You Love?". Their self-titled debut album then fell just shy of the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart. Line-up changes were quickly afoot as ex-Zoot Money singer Paul Williams, guitarist Micky Moody and drummer Rod Coombes; replaced Owen (who exited for a solo career), Hubbard and Dobson; for 1970's Lie Back and Enjoy It (#53 - UK Albums Chart), with another bassist Jim Leverton assuming Ellis' duties for the follow-up, 1971's Get a Whiff of This. The constant turnover clearly took its toll on the group both creatively and commercially, with co-founders Campbell and Mercer both exiting prior to the fourth Juicy Lucy album, 1972's Pieces. This was recorded by a makeshift line-up of Williams, Moody, keyboardist Jean Roussel and the former Blodwyn Pig rhythm section of bassist Andy Pyle and drummer Ron Berg. Juicy Lucy disbanded shortly thereafter. Micky Moody (born 30 August 1950, in Middlesbrough), later joined the inaugural Whitesnake line-up in 1978. Before then he was a member of another rock outfit Snafu between 1973 and 1976. Moody also released the bluesy solo album I Eat Them For Breakfast in 2001. Plus, Juicy Lucy's version of the song "Who Do You Love?" was featured in Shellshock: Nam '67. Founder member Ray Owen revived the name in 1995 for the albums Blue Thunder and Here She Comes Again which found Mike Jarvis (guitar), Andy Doughty (bass), and Spencer Blackledge (drums) rounding out the band. A couple of years later this version of the band broke-up but Owen wanted to keep on going, especially when he formed a musical partnership with a guitarist known as Mr. Fish. Legal problems kept the new band from using the Juicy Lucy name, so they gigged as Ray Owen's Moon (Moon being the title of Ray Owen's 1971 solo album). By 2004 bassist Fudge and drummer Fletch had joined the band and the legal issue was settled. The new Juicy Lucy spent 2006 working on a new album (subsequently titled Do That And You'll Lose It), and touring the UK with fellow rock veterans Nazareth. They played the Cambridge Rock Festival (2007) and are managing to build a formidable live reputaion. The link with the past though is not forgotten, and the modern day Juicy Lucy still plays "Mississippi Woman", "Who Do You Love?" and more from their first album. The original Misunderstood was formed in 1966 and reformed for its trip to England. They made two singles for Fontana including 'Children Of The Sun,' and featured good looking young singer Steve Hoard. However the Misunderstood were eventually superseded by a more commercial Juicy Lucy. The first Lucy lineup included Ray Owen (vocals), Glenn Campbell (steel guitar, mandolin and vocals), Neil Hubbard (guitar), Chris Mercer (saxophone, and piano), Keith Ellis (bass and vocals) and Pete Dobson on drums. The band was managed by Nigel Thomas who also looked after the affairs of Joe Cocker. A controversial but energetic music biz figure, Nigel died of a heart attack a couple of years ago. Micky Moody (born August 30, 1950), who is featured on the present album, remembers seeing the first version of the band on the road. 'The band was virtually formed around Glenn and everyone remembers their first album cover with the lady covered in fruit! I think her name was Zelda Plum. It was a great album and I remember seeing the band in action at their early gigs.’Moody is from Middlesborough. He went to school with Paul Rodgers who later came to fame with Free and Bad Company. Micky and Paul formed a band at school called The Roadrunners which became The Wild Flowers when they moved to London in 1967 and 'starved to death in our caftans!' Micky later went home to study classical guitar while Paul Rodgers met Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke and formed Free. Says Moody: 'I went back to the North East and was asked by a local club owner and singer called John McCoy to help form a blues band called Tramline.' The singer was friendly with record boss Chris Blackwell and the band released two albums on Blackwell's Island label. In March 1969 Moody auditioned for Lucas & The Mike Cotton Sound, a well known soul band. He got the gig, but switched to Zoot Money's band for a few months in 1970. He'd got to know Zoot's regular singer Paul Williams, who by this time had joined Juicy Lucy. Micky was brought up to date on all the latest Juicy gossip. 'Ray Owen had been sacked after a couple of months and Paul had got the gig. He told me Neil Hubbard was leaving and asked if I'd like to join on lead guitar. I said, 'Great!' I went straight into recording the album 'Like Back And Enjoy It.' We were gigging all the time and became particularly popular in Germany where the band was very respected." However it proved increasingly difficult to break out of the club circuit, and reach a higher level of acceptance. "We made another album 'Get A Whiff Of This' before the group finally disintegrated in 1971.' Glenn Campbell went back to America, apparently disillusioned, but during their time together the, Campbell/Moody guitar partnership had worked well. ‘It was good because we didn't get in each other's way. I liked Glenn's playing and did a bit of slide guitar myself, using the bottle neck. Yes I remember Glenn wearing his big hat. But we all used to do that, it was quite trendy at the time!’ Despite the defection of the mainman, Paul Williams wasn't ready to give up. ‘Paul said he wanted to keep the band together. He wanted me to be the lead guitarist and also play bottle neck slide and the band kind of reformed. We had the famous rhythm section of Ron Berg and Andy Pyle from Blodwyn Pig. The line-up varied from time to time and Bernie Marsden actually came down for a blow. We were looking for another player because we wanted twin guitars. I'd been promoted to lead and we needed a rhythm player to get that American funky sound, without being too heavy. Bernie came down, but he was wrong for the job, as he was more in the Clapton vein.’

Swing Out Sister

Swing Out Sister - Shapes And Patterns - 1997 - Mercury

Brilliant soul pop/jazz, with a hint of R & B. A wonderful album of intelligent, cool music from the great vocalist, Corinne Drewery and keyboardist, Andy Connell. Check out their equally good 1990 album, "It's Better to Travel."

TRACK INFORMATION

1.Somewhere In The World (3:45) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne/ODuffy, Paul
2.Here And Now (5:07) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne
Arranged By [Strings] - Robyn Smith
3.We Could Make It Happen (5:13) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne/ODuffy, Paul
Saxophone, Flute, Arranged By [Horns] - Snake Davis
Trombone - Fayyaz Virji
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Steve Sidwell
4.Shapes And Patterns (0:52) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne
5.Better Make It Better (5:23) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne
6.Something Out Of This World (5:03) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne
Saxophone, Flute, Arranged By [Horns] - Snake Davis
Trombone - Fayyaz Virji
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Steve Sidwell
7.Joe Meek's Cat (0:23) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne/ODuffy, Paul
8.Stoned Soul Picnic (5:08) - Composed by Nyro, Laura
9. You Already Know (4:35) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne
10.Always (5:06) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne/ODuffy, Paul
Arranged By [Vocals] - Frank Campbell
Vocals - Beverley Skeete , Lance Ellington , Miriam Stockley
11.Now You're Not Here (4:36) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne/ODuffy, Paul
Flute - Hideya Takakuwa
Saxophone - Osamu Koike , Takuo Yamamoto
Trombone, Bass Trombone, Arranged By [Horns] - Yoichi Murata
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Masahiro Sugasaka , Toshio Araki
12.Icy Cold As Winter (5:11) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne/ODuffy, Paul
13. Shapes And Patterns (Reprise) (1:23) - Composed by Connell, Andy/Drewery, Corinne






Corinne Drewery

CREDITS

Backing Vocals - Beverley Skeete , Derek Green , George Chandler , Leon Daniels , Melodie Sexton , Stevie Lange , Sylvia Mason-James
Conductor - Gavyn Wright (tracks: 1, 2, 8)
Conductor [Strings] - Robyn Smith (tracks: 1, 2, 8)
Drums - Andrew Small (tracks: 1, 2, 5) , Gota Yashiki
Engineer - Ben Darlow
Engineer [Assistant] - Ben Georgiades , Ibi Tijani , Jon Bailey , Scott Howland , Steve Cook (3) , Tatsuya Shimokawa , Valerie Jaquot , Yutaka Shimoyama , Yutaka Uematsu
Guitar - Tim Cansfield
Keyboards - Andy Connell
Lead Vocals - Corinne Drewery
Percussion, Bass Guitar - Luis Jardim
Producer, Mixed By - Paul Staveley O'Duffy
Programmed By [Rhythm] - Gota Yashiki (tracks: 3, 8, 9) , Steve Sydelnick (tracks: 4, 6, 9, 13)
Saxophone - Larry Williams (tracks: 1, 4, 9, 13)
Strings - London Session Orchestra, The (tracks: 1, 2, 8)
Trombone - Bill Reichenbach (2) (tracks: 1, 4, 9, 13)
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Gary Grant (tracks: 1, 4, 9, 13)
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Arranged By [Horns] - Jerry Hey (tracks: 1, 4, 9, 13)

REVIEWS

More swinging, instantly likable Burt Bacharach-style retro pop from the U.K. duo fronted by Corinne Drewery. Like a pre-Todd Terry, frown-free Everything But the Girl, SOS is at its sophisticated best on the Japanese No. 1 "Somewhere in the World," a jazzy "Now You're Not Here," and the irresistible cover of "Stoned Soul Picnic." © Jeff Bateman, © 1996-2008, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Swing Out Sister's fifth album Shapes & Patterns doesn't depart from the group's sophisticated pop-soul formula, but that isn't a bad thing, since their jazzy, danceable urban R&B remains pleasant. The group still has trouble coming up with memorable material, but the sound of the record is appealing, and Shapes & Patterns should satisfy fans, even if it doesn't win them any new ones. © Leo Stanley, All Music Guide





BIO (Wikipedia)

Swing Out Sister is a British pop musical group best known worldwide for their 1986 song "Breakout", which was their only song to reach the US top 10. Various listeners have classified their sound as everything from smooth jazz to cool jazz to acid jazz. Although Swing Out Sister is currently a duo, they began as a trio in the UK. The group was formed by Andy Connell (keyboards) and Martin Jackson (drums), and were later joined by Corinne Drewery (vocals). The name came from a 1945 movie starring Arthur Treacher, called Swing Out, Sister, and they claim they chose the name because it was the only thing the band could agree on: they all hated it! Both Connell and Jackson had been playing in other bands prior to forming SOS, while Drewery was actually a fashion designer before she became the band's lead vocalist. Together with their producer, Paul Staveley O'Duffy, they signed with Mercury Records. Prior to their first album, they released the single "Blue Mood" in the UK in November 1985. However, it did not chart. In late 1986, the single "Breakout" was released. It reached the number three position on the UK charts, and number six in the United States. Consequently, when they released their debut album, "it's better to travel", on May 11, 1987, it reached number one on the UK album charts. The album registered with listeners for its mix of jazz and electropop, with a blend of real horns, synths (arranged subtly, to sound like strings), drums, and xylophones, scored by producer/arranger Richard Niles. The follow-up single to the effervescent "Breakout" was the brooding "Surrender", which featured a trumpet solo performed by John Thirkell. It rose to number seven on the UK charts in January 1987. The next single was the more serious and jazzy "Twilight World". This song was the subject of many remixes and was a dance club favourite worldwide. The final single "Fooled By a Smile" returned to the upbeat pop orientation characteristic of "Breakout". The group was subsequently nominated for two American Grammy Awards in 1988: Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group or Duo ("Breakout"). In addition to long-time partner O'Duffy as well as Thirkell, Swing Out Sister also have enlisted the talents of saxophonist Gary Barnacle (who with Thirkell also comprise the Henpecked Horns known for their work with Level 42); percussionist Luis Jardim; guitarist Tim Cansfield; trumpet/fluegelhorn master Jerry Hey; and songwriter-arranger Jimmy Webb. Original member Jackson, whose acoustic drums drove the "Surrender" single, left the group during the making of the second album, Kaleidoscope World. Although the liner notes give "special thanks to Martin Jackson" and his co-writing credits appear on the songs "Tainted" and "Between Strangers", they also point out that "Swing Out Sister are Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell." Drewery and Connell have been the core group on all subsequent albums. After leaving Swing Out Sister, Jackson later worked for Frank Zappa. "Kaleidoscope World" was released in May 1989 and achieved critical acclaim. Their turn away from contemporary styles towards retro musical sources on this album would establish the musical path that they would continue to follow with their subsequent albums. The duo found inspiration in Easy Listening music, such as Burt Bacharach, as well as songwriter Jimmy Webb, who arranged two tracks, "Forever Blue" and "Precious Words". The incorporation of an orchestra to their recordings realized their sound in a richer, fuller way than their previous effort which relied more heavily on synthesizers. Consequently, this album featured arrangements and songwriting more classical in inclination. The lead-off single "You On My Mind" featured a more sophisticated blend of musical components than their previous efforts while the upbeat tone of "Breakout" was echoed in the lead USA single "Waiting Game". Further singles included Where in the World and Forever Blue which featured a sample from the John Barry score Midnight Cowboy. In May 1992, their retro orientation became even more evident in both their sound and image on their third album, "Get In Touch With Yourself". With strong dance rhythms reverberating throughout the entire album, tracks draw influences from 1960s and 1970s jazz, pop, soul, and funk, including a breezy cover of the Dusty Springfield classic "Am I The Same Girl?" (which became their last US hit, reaching #1 on the AC chart). The album's title track, a blend of 1970s soul music and modern pop, gained the duo heavy airplay on smooth-jazz radio and was a crossover hit, gaining airtime on adult contemporary stations. The musical influences of Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, and others would become evident on this album but continue on through their later releases. In line with the album theme, Drewery also grew out her hair from her trademark bob which had become a visual signature for their early years. Numerous changes were afoot by the time the fourth album, "The Living Return" was released in September 1994. The replacement of producer Paul O'Duffy after initial studio sessions with Ray Hayden contributed to a looser, raw feel to the songs that were often the results of studio jam sessions. Though Drewery and Connell still led Swing Out Sister, additional musicians (including former 52nd Street bassist Derick Johnson; Pa'lante percussionist Chris Manis; drummer Myke Wilson, formerly of the Jazz Defectors; and trumpet player John Thirkell increased their group to ten members that replicate the live performances that had been captured on the Japan-only release Live at the Jazz Cafe. The album featured the single and cover song "La La (Means I Love You)", which was also included on the Four Weddings and a Funeral soundtrack. Few of the band's releases charted highly on the pop listings in Western countries after the successful debut album (though they became radio-airplay staples on jazz stations). The band, however, became extremely popular in Japan. Their song "Now You're Not Here" (from their fifth album "Shapes And Patterns", one of several released only in Japan) was used as the theme to a Japanese TV program, and received a Japanese 'Grand Prix' (the equivalent of a Grammy) for best international single in 1997. "Shapes and Patterns" was first released in Japan in March 1997, and then in Europe and USA the year after. Producer Paul O'Duffy, who co-wrote half of the songs, was back at the helm. As an orchestra was once again employed (led by Gavyn Wright), the lush arrangements characteristic of Kaleidoscope World resurfaced. The liner notes, written by Mary Edwards, point out the influences of Bacharach, Webb, and John Barry are perceptible in the string arrangements and Latin rhythms, as well as Minnie Riperton, Rotary Connection and The Fifth Dimension. The album included a cover of Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic" as well as the original version of "Better Make It Better", which appeared in a different mix on their previous album. A pervasive longing marks songs such as "Now You're Not Here", "Somewhere in the World", "You Already Know", and "Icy Cold as Winter". This album would also mark the beginning of the duo's use of Japanese musicians in their studio sessions. "Filth and Dreams", their sixth album, proved yet again that Swing Out Sister was eager to reinvent themselves. The album was released in Japan in March 1999, and it remains the only album not released in any other country. This album featured stronger jazz leanings than some of their early pop-oriented albums, and is restrained in mood. The track Who's Been Sleeping was promoted as a single and released with several remixes. this album has a Trip-Hop feel to it. For this record, SOS adapted to the growing popularity of hip-hop in the late '90s. "Who's Been Sleeping" kicks off the record with an aggressive beat and a few hip-hop flourishes (such as Drewery's counting and uttering "Yeah..." in the background.) The rest of the record incorporates such sounds a bit more subtly, through the soaring retro stylings of "Closer Than the Sun" and "When Morning Comes" to the excitable lounge of the title track to the mid-tempo trip-hop of "Invisible" and scratch-laced "Sugar Free." Traditional SOS sounds are challenged successfully with the darkly dreamy "If I Had the Heart" and "Make You Stay." Background noises, from telephone conversations to child's play, also enrich the record and give the listener much more to cue in on. Drewery strays out of the usual love lyrics and colors a portrait of a darker world (as the title indicates) by singing about more urban subjects such as drugs (the eerie "Happy When You're High") and prostitution ("When Morning Comes.") All of their experimentation works surprisingly well and the result is probably the strongest SOS outing to date. Ironically, "Filth and Dreams" is the first SOS record not released in their native England, and is currently the most difficult CD to find. A seventh album, "Somewhere Deep in the Night", was recorded in France, and released in May 2001 in Japan (with subsequent release in Europe and USA). It was dedicated to their friend Kazuhiko Yanagida. While it is quintessential Swing Out Sister, with lush, brassy and stringy arrangements, the melodic tunes which often feature melancholic, languid, or introspective atmospherics and is more sombre in tone. Many of the tracks are instrumental, or only feature vocal harmonies without lyrics. One song even features a French spoken-word monologue. O'Duffy, who produced the album, also has co-writing credits on all the songs, and provided backing vocals along with Connell and Cansfield. Due to declining sales, their record label Universal dropped them from their contract in America. Consequently, they signed on with Shanachie Records. Undeterred, the band bounced back with their eighth studio effort, Where Our Love Grows. It was released in Japan on April 28, 2004 with the UK edition following in July. GQ Magazine reviewed it and called it "indisputably their finest record to date". The album features a return to a rich, upbeat retro-sound that fuses jazz, soul, R&B, Latin, and Easy Listening music. Samples of Roger Nichols and The Small Circle of Friends and Herbie Mann were incorporated also into some songs. Late 2005 saw Swing Out Sister return to their studio in London to commence recording of their new album. The band planned on making a second tour of America in 2006, however due to recording commitments this had to be cancelled. In 2006 they composed incidental music for the ITV1 drama The Outsiders, a new television drama featuring Nigel Harman. August 2007 saw a new single "Secret Love". The new album from the band, however, is to be called Beautiful Mess, and it's scheduled for release by the Japanese record company Avex on February 27, 2008. The title is taken from one of the tracks on the album. In late December 2007, two other tracks will be available for download: "Butterflies" and "Something Everyday".

Everything but the Girl

Everything but the Girl - Like the Deserts Miss the Rain - 2002 - Virgin

Here is a stunning collection of sophisticated and sensuous jazz pop-tronica by Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn. The album features singles, album tracks, and remixes, including “Missing” (Todd Terry Club Mix), “Each And Every One,” and “Protection” (by Massive Attack, featuring Tracey Thorn on vocals). EBTG had their first indie hit with a samba version of Porter’s “Night And Day” and two years later hit the Top 40 with “Each And Every One,” from their great debut album, Eden. They simplified their sound with 1988’s Idlewild and had a big hit with “I Don’t Want To Talk About It.” In 1994, they became more electronica orientated when they joined the hugely popular electronic, trip-hop outfit, Massive Attack, on the hit single “Protection” featuring Tracey Thorn’s vocals. In 1994, EBTG developed a more sensuous club sound, reminiscent of Sade, with their album Amplified Heart. Their albums, 1996’s Walking Wounded and 1999’s Temperamental, established them as a serious force in the jazz pop genre. This is a brilliant album for clubbers, and serious music fans, and is VHR by A.O.O.F.C. Give it a listen. You will not be disappointed. Check out their "Walking Wounded" album, and buy Tracey Thorn’s 2007 great solo album, "Out of the Woods." For similar music in this vein, it is worthwhile listening to "Matt's Mood," by Matt Bianco, and Sade's great "Diamond Life" album.

TRACKS / CREDITS / COMPOSERS

1.My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains (2:56)
Engineer - Jerry Boys
Guitar [Guitars] - Ben Watt
Producer - Everything But The Girl
Written-By - Don Van Vliet

2.Rollercoaster (3:14)
Bass - Danny Thompson
Drums - Dave Mattacks
Engineer - Jerry Boys
Guitar [Guitars] - Ben Watt
Percussion - Martin Ditcham
Producer - Everything But The Girl
Written-By - Ben Watt

3.Corcovado (3:53)
Guitar, Bass, Synthesizer [Synths], Sampler [Samples], Noises [Beats] - Ben Watt
Mixed By - Andy Bradfield , Ben Watt
Producer, Engineer - Ben Watt
Written-By - Antonio Carlos Jobim , Gene Lees

4.Each And Every One (2:46)
Arranged By [Horn Arrangement] - Ben Watt
Bass - Chucho Merchan
Engineer - Mike Pela
Guitar [Guitars] - Ben Watt
Horns - Dick Pearce , Nigel Nash , Pete King*
Percussion - Bosco D'Oliveira*
Producer - Robin Millar
Written-By - Ben Watt , Tracey Thorn

5.Before Today (Chicane Remix) (6:23)
Instrumentation By [Additional Instrumentation] - Chicane
Instrumentation By [Original Instrumentation] - Ben Watt
Producer - Ben Watt
Remix - Chicane
Remix [Credited To], Producer [Additional Production By] - L. Elstob* , N. Bracegirdle*
Written-By - Ben Watt

6.Mine (3:19)
Bass - Chucho Merchan
Drums - Charlie Morgan
Engineer - Mike Pela
Guitar [Guitars], Organ - Ben Watt
Percussion - Bosco D'Oliveira*
Producer - Robin Millar
Vibraphone [Vibes] - Bill Le Sage
Written-By - Tracey Thorn

7.Massive Attack with Tracey Thorn Protection (7:48)
Engineer [Mix Engineered By] - Mark 'Spike' Stent*
Instrumentation By - Massive Attack
Lyrics By [Words And Vocal Melody By] - Tracey Thorn
Music By - Andrew Vowles , Grant Marshall , Robert Del Naja
Producer, Mixed By - Massive Attack , Nellee Hooper

8.Single (Photek Remix) (5:14)
Instrumentation By [Additional Instrumentation] - Photek
Instrumentation By [Original Instrumentation] - Ben Watt
Producer - Ben Watt
Remix, Producer [Additional Production By] - Photek
Written-By - Ben Watt , Tracey Thorn

9.Everything But The Girl with Soul Vision Tracey In My Room (Lazy Dog Bootleg Vocal Mix) (5:42)
Instrumentation By - Soul Vision
Lyrics By [Words And Vocal Melody By] - Ben Watt , Tracey Thorn
Music By - Sandy Rivera, Jose Burgos aka Soul Vision*
Producer [Lazy Dog Bootleg Vocal Mix Produced And Mixed By] - Ben Watt
Producer [Original Music (' Come In My Room ') Produced By] - Sandy Rivera
Producer [Original Vocal (' Wrong ') Produced By] - Ben Watt
Remix - Lazy Dog
Remix [Original Music (' Come In My Room ') Remixed By] - Sandy Rivera and Jose Burgos aka Soul Vision*

10.Missing (Todd Terry Remix) (3:55)
Edited By [Edit By] - Ben Watt
Instrumentation By [Additional Instrumentation] - Todd Terry
Instrumentation By [Original Instrumentation] - Ben Watt , John Coxon
Producer - Everything But The Girl , John Coxon
Remix, Producer [Additional Production By] - Todd Terry
Written-By - Ben Watt , Tracey Thorn

11.Almost Blue (3:16)
Bass - Micky Harris
Drums - Rob Peters (2)
Guitar - Ben Watt
Piano - Cara Tivey
Producer - Ben Watt
Written-By - Elvis Costello

12.No Difference (4:21)
Mixed By - Andy Bradfield , Ben Watt
Piano, Guitar, Bass, Synthesizer [Synths], Sampler [Samples], Noises [Beats] - Ben Watt
Producer, Engineer - Ben Watt
Written-By - Ben Watt , Tracey Thorn

13.Cross My Heart (3:35)
Arranged By [String And Horn Arrangements] - Ben Watt
Bass - Micky Harris
Drums - Rob Peters (2)
Engineer - Haydn Bendall
Guitar - Ben Watt
Percussion - Martin Ditcham
Piano - Cara Tivey
Producer - Everything But The Girl , Mike Hedges
Vibraphone [Vibes], Marimba - Frank Ricotti
Written-By - Ben Watt , Tracey Thorn

14.Mirrorball (3:25) #
Guitar, Piano [Electric Piano], Bass, Synthesizer [Synths], Sampler [Samples], Noises [Beats] - Ben Watt
Mixed By - Andy Bradfield , Ben Watt
Producer, Engineer - Ben Watt
Written-By - Ben Watt , Tracey Thorn

15.A Piece Of My Mind (3:26)
Guitar [Guitars], Piano - Ben Watt
Producer - Ben Watt
Written-By - Tracey Thorn

16.Walking Wounded (6:07)
Engineer - Mads Bjerke
Instrumentation By - Spring Heel Jack
Lyrics By [Words And Vocal Melody By] - Ben Watt
Music By - Spring Heel Jack
Programmed By, Recorded By, Producer, Mixed By - Spring Heel Jack

BIO (Wikipedia)

Everything but the Girl (EBTG) is a two-person English band formed in Hull in 1982. The band's members are lead singer and sometime-guitarist Tracey Thorn (born September 26, 1962), and guitarist, keyboardist & vocalist Ben Watt (born December 6, 1962). Watt and Thorn are also a couple; they are intensely private about their relationship and personal life. It was not a publicized fact for some time that they were a couple, or that they had subsequently married. The duo have a strong desire to raise their three children outside of the spotlight. When Thorn and Watt met, their paths were very similar; they were both attending the University of Hull, and both had signed to independent record label Cherry Red Records as solo artists. Thorn was also a member of the trio Marine Girls, and Watt contributed a photograph to the cover of their first album, Lazy Ways. The pair each had solo album releases through Cherry Red Records: Thorn’s 1982 L.P. was A Distant Shore, an eight-track mini-album. Watt’s L.P. was entitled North Marine Drive. They formed a duo and took their unusual name "Everything but the Girl" from the slogan of well-known Hull shop Turner's furniture on Beverley Road. EBTG's debut single, a cover version of Cole Porter's "Night and Day", was released in June 1982. Following steady sales and exposure from the Pillows & Prayers compilation album, the single was re-issued in August 1983. Their first album was released in 1984 in the UK as Eden. 1984 also saw the UK release of singles "Mine", and "Native Land". Their first UK hit single, "Each and Every One", had a jazzy sound, and EBTG was considered part of the jazz/pop movement known as sophisti-pop that included other British acts like Sade, Matt Bianco, and The Style Council, on whose Café Bleu album they guested. EBTG and Sade both worked with producer Robin Millar and engineers Ben Rogan and Mike Pela for their debut albums. Although Eden was released in the UK, a different recording, Everything But the Girl, was released in the United States. The U.S. release contained about half the tracks from "Eden", along with some different tracks, including 'Mine' and 'Native Land'. The U.S. release balanced the bossa nova stylings of the British version with a more folk rock aesthetic, helping to establish the group's eclectic musicality. Subsequent releases underscored EBTG's versatility and range. Their 1985 album Love Not Money featured a shimmering pop sound with jangly guitars, and included a cover version of The Pretenders' song "Kid" (not on the UK L.P.). The lyrics have strong social and political content. "Angel" comments upon child poverty and public attitudes towards it. "Sean" is a bitter comment on the Northern Ireland troubles. "Ugly Little Dreams" comments upon male attitudes to intelligent women and is dedicated to actress Frances Farmer. "Angel" was also released as a single in the UK. The following year they released the self-produced Baby the Stars Shine Bright, an album of original pop songs recorded with an orchestra. They revealed the album's inspiration by their choices of B-sides for its single releases: one finds songs from Bacharach and Jimmy Webb on the 12" versions (as well as a cover of Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces"). The first single was "Come On Home", followed by "Don't Leave Me Behind". While the jump from jazz to post-Smiths rock (with the release of Love Not Money) may have jarred some of their audience, the move to orchestral pop was much bolder and foretold the stylistic swap they'd make ten years later with Walking Wounded. In 1988, EBTG released Idlewild, a collection of mature songs that began a trend towards middle-of-the-road, adult-orientated contemporary music. A cover version of Danny Whitten's "I Don't Want to Talk About It" (previously a hit by Rod Stewart) was released as a non-L.P. single; it achieved a high UK chart position and was later added to the album. Around this time, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions asked Tracey to contribute vocals to the song "Big Snake" on their final studio album Mainstream. Tommy Lipuma produced the band’s 1990 album The Language of Life. The album, which featured the single "Driving", was another lush pop effort, but with a more contemporary sound. Jazz great Stan Getz contributed a solo. Next came Worldwide, and its single "Old Friends" in 1991. Worldwide's lyrics revolve around the themes of relationships, travel and personal memories. 1992 saw another UK hit single with the release of the Covers E.P. The lead track was "Love Is Strange", and the E.P. featured cover versions of Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest"; Cyndi Lauper's "Time after Time" and Elvis Costello's "Alison". These four tracks were included on the U.S.-only album Acoustic. In 1993, EBTG released a cover version of Paul Simon's "The Only Living Boy in New York" as a single in the UK. The duo were forced to curtail recording and touring for a few years when Watt contracted Churg-Strauss syndrome, an autoimmune disease (he subsequently wrote a memoir, Patient, about his ordeal). The next work of original music was not until 1994, when EBTG released Amplified Heart. Although most of the music was still acoustic-based, it had a much more contemporary feel. Producer Todd Terry remixed the track "Missing", and when EBTG released the remix as a single, it became a huge international hit. It hit the top of nearly every chart around the world, and charted in the U.S., a feat that had previously eluded the band. The track reached number two and stayed in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for well over a year. The success of that track, along with a collaboration Thorn did with the bands Massive Attack and Deep Dish, influenced them and helped usher the band into a more electronic sound. Having completed contractual obligations to WEA, they were free to shop their recordings and had full ownership of their future recorded works. They signed licensing deals with Virgin Records for the United Kingdom and Europe, and Atlantic Records for the United States and Canada. Their subsequent albums Walking Wounded and Temperamental, showed the band's musical progress as well as established Ben Watt as a notable dance music producer. Between the two albums he produced "Stars All Seem To Weep" for Beth Orton, and it immediately garnered attention. This would bolster his growing reputation as a D.J. and producer.

Brinsley Schwarz

Brinsley Schwarz - Nervous On The Road - 1972 - United Artists

Brinsley Schwarz were arguably the greatest band of the "pub rock." movement. They started out overhyped and sadly, finished up underrated. Their last three albums were mot even released Stateside, and they broke up in 1975, without much media interest. Nervous on the Road is an excellent example of the best in "pub rock." A great unassuming, no frills rock & roll album, with some great playing, and good songwriting. Check it out. There was a BS album entitled "Original Golden Greats/Fifteen Thoughts of Brinsley Schwarz," released in 2002 which is well worth buying.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. It's Been So Long - Gomm
2. Happy Doing What We're Doing - Andrews, Lowe
3. Surrender to the Rhythm - Lowe
4. Don't Lose Your Grip on Love - Lowe
5. Nervous on the Road (But Can't Stay at Home) - Lowe
6. Feel a Little Funky - Lowe
7. I Like It Like That - Kenner, Toussaint
8. Brand New You, Brand New Me - Lowe
9. Home in My Hand - Self
10. Why, Why, Why, Why, Why - Lowe

BAND

Bob Andrews - Keyboards, Bass,Vocals
Billy Rankin Drums
Nick Lowe - Nick Lowe - Bass, Vocals, Guitars
Brinsley Schwarz - Guitars, Vocals, Sax
Ian Gomm - Guitar, Vocals

REVIEWS

Silver Pistol wrote the blueprint for Brinsley Schwarz's pub rock, but Nervous on the Road perfected the group's sound, helping Brinsley to become the definitive pub rock band in the process. Nervous on the Road has a fuller, more detailed production than its predecessor, as well as a looser feeling — even with the smooth production, it sounds like the band was captured on a good night at the Tally Ho. But what really makes the record is its excellent selection of songs, almost all of which were written by Nick Lowe. "Happy Doing What We're Doing," "Surrender to the Rhythm," and "Nervous on the Road" are all great rock & roll songs about rock & roll, spiked with an off-kilter sense of humor. "Don't Lose Your Grip on Love" is Lowe's first great ballad, while Ian Gomm's "It's Been So Long" is one of his best songs. And the covers of "I Like It Like That" and "Home in My Hand" are wonderful pub rockers, giving the album the feeling of an excellent concert. Nevertheless, what makes Nervous on the Road such a fine record is the combination of empathetic performances, unpredictable songwriting, and charming unpretentiousness, all of which help make the album one of the great forgotten rock & roll records. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine All Music Guide
Nervous On The Road continues in typical Brinsley fashion. It's full of jumping good time rock songs, a little rockabilly, a shade of the Band (less than on Silver Pistol), some rhythm and blues and a little country. © Dave Marsh, Creem, December 1972

BAND INFO

This group was an important part of the 'pub-rock' phenomenon in Britain in the seventies - Andrews, Lowe and Schwarz had all previously been with Kippington Lodge, a harmony band that Mark Wirtz had signed up to EMI's Parlophone label in the mid-sixties. As is well known now the band were subjected to one of the biggest hypes in rock history - a planeload of music journalists were flown across the Atlantic to see their debut at New York's Fillmore East, but were unimpressed with the then unknown band. The inevitable press slagging did the band irreparable damage, although their debut album, an amalgam of 'heavy' blues and harmony folk-rock, had its moments. Despite It All showed promise too, but failed to undo the damage done by all the earlier 'hype'. After the second album Ian Gomm was added providing a fuller guitar sound and the band reacted against all the 'hype' of their early days by becoming as anti-commercial as possible, accepting a residency at the Tally Ho in London's Kentish Town in the Summer of 1972. Their next album, Silver Pistol, was very laid back, almost mellow. Over the next 2.5 years they were at the forefront of the 'pub rock' scene and helped to bring it to the attention of the music press and a wider audience. Nick Lowe blossomed as a songwriter and they made a number musically diverse albums which won critical acclaim but failed to sell. This eventually led them to split after a Marquee gig on 18 March 1975. (Taken from The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976, Vernon Joynson )

MORE ABOUT BRINSLEY SCHWARZ

Guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and bassist Nick Lowe had been in the pop rock group Kippington Lodge who had unsuccessfully released a handful of singles on the Parlophone label. In '69, keyboardist Bob Andrews and American drummer Billy Rankin joined. By that time the group had grown tired of their pop rock sound and would begin to lean more on the folk rock/psychedelia style after which they changed their name to The Brinsley Schwarz Band and then just simply Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe becoming, more or less, the centre of the group with his songwriting and vocal skills, the group caught the attention of manager Dave Robinson who had founded the Famepushers Agency. In late '69 the group signed with United Artists Records. Scheduled to play New York's Fillmore East as an opening act for Van Morrison in 1970, the group, along with Robinson financed a publicity stunt of sorts. The group planned to leave for the U.S. a few days before the show for rehearsals but were denied visas on a technicality. After they were finally given their clearance, they arrived just hours before the show. Robinson's plan to have flown a handful of journalist's to the show backfired as their plane developed mechanical problems which would delay the flight to the U.S. for hours. About eighteen hours later, with the journalist's either pissed or hungover, Brinsley Schwarz finally played a competent but a not too overwhelming set which was later hailed as a flop along with their self titled debut album. Dazed by the Fillmore fiasco, the group returned to the U.K. and rented a house outside of London. After spending days and nights playing and rehearsing, they recorded and released their second album Despite It All in late '70. Although tainted with what went on earlier in the year, Despite It All proved to be an indication of the sound of an evolving group with a country rock flavour. Guitarist/vocalist Ian Gomm joined soon after. With their Van Morrison/The Byrds/The Band influences, the group garnered a small cult following which was soon to build, particularly due to their live shows. Eventually the group gained attention from the U.K. press who dubbed Brinsley Schwarz as the purveyors of the "pub rock" sound. 1972's Nervous On The Road was the group's best reviewed album to date as the group opened up for Paul McCartney And Wings. With constant touring of pubs as well as colleges, the group wasn't able to record as much, although they did manage to record as a backing band for Frankie Miller for his 1973 release of Once In A Blue Moon. With an attempt to chart a hit, the group recorded a handful of singles which would none the less never reach high on the charts if not at all. With producer and friend Dave Edmunds the group recorded their fifth album New Favourites Of Brinsley Schwarz, released in '74, but record sales eluded them. They continued releasing a few non album singles in early '75 until they finally broke up in the spring of that year. Schwarz and Andrews would later join Graham Parker And The Rumour, Rankin joined Ducks Deluxe and Terraplane before retiring from music all together and Ian Gomm pursued a solo career. Nick Lowe went on to become a staff producer for Stiff Records, which would discover the likes of Elvis Costello (who had been a roadie for Brinsley Schwarz) and The Pretenders to name a few. Lowe joined Rockpile with Dave Edmunds and drummer Terry Williams and continued on a solo career which had more or less began with his hit single Cruel To Be Kind, a Brinsley Schwarz leftover track that the band never recorded. © http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:xRAbdUJ-XFMJ:rant58.tripod.com/id376.htm+brinsley+Nervous+on+the+Road+(1972)+label&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=ie

Paul Black and the Flip Kings

Paul Black and the Flip Kings - King Dollar - 1996 - House of Blues

This is a great album, in the "Swamp Blues" / New Orleans style, from the obscure Paul Black. Judging by this album, the guy is a brilliant electric slide blues guitar player. Check it out. There is also an album from Paul and his band entitled "Live at the Harmony* available from selected record outlets. This is the kind of music that needs more exposure. If anybody can provide more info on this great artist, please comment. This is a (128) post, so please make allowances for sound quality. Does anybody have info on a higher bitrate recording?


TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Moo Goo - Paul Black
2. Malted Milk - Robert Johnson
3. The Last Time - Jagger & Richards
4. Murder My Baby - Pat Hare
5. (Makes Her Way) The Hard Way - Paul Black
6. G-Baby - Ben Sidran, Jerry Alexander, Paul Black
7. Factory Girl - Jagger & Richards
8. Cross Eyed Baby - John Tubbs, Paul Black
9. Honeymoon Blues - Robert Johnson
10. The Fixer - Willie Mabon
11. Dead Shrimp Blues - Robert Johnson
12. Paulie's Little Nightmare - Paul Black

CREDITS

Paul Black - Guitar and Vocals
John Tubbs - Bass, Violin, Backing Vocals
Brian "Chance" Howard - Percussion, Backing Vocals, Analog Sampling
Andy Linderman - Harmonica, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Produced by David Rivkin

REVIEWS

Black and blue, with style - This is some down and dirty New Orleans style blues, scraped right out of the gutter, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Paul Black is a wickedly nuanced slide guitarist, playing a mixture of traditional blues (three by Robert Johnson), Stones covers ("The Last Time" and "Factory Girl"), and bunch of originals. Armed with this introduction, I sat down expecting a Stevie Ray Vaughn clone. Boy, was I wrong! Black’s got his own set of moves, with a great bending slide movement, and the set’s about half electric, half acoustic. Black’s got a real funky feel, with a genuinely scary voice that moves from a low gravely rumble to a broken yelp. The Flip Kings, especially Andy Linderman on harp, provide just the right slow-blues backing. The only two misses are the Stones covers, although "Factory Girl" is interesting–actually less bluesy than the original, with a weird repeated percussive chomp driving through the entire song. This is a very nicely recorded (if somewhat highly produced) attempt to reproduce a live sound. The acoustic slide intros to several of the songs have all kinds of fret squawks purposely left in, giving a particularly nasty sound. Warning: playing this album before noon will confuse the brain, since you’ll swear it was 2 a.m. in a swamp nightclub. Paul Black is the real thing–get this album while it’s still hot from the fire © Bill Kuhn © 1998 Peppercorn Press. All rights reserved

This release from House of Blues features nice packaging and extensive notes by pianist-write Ben Sidran. The title refers to a pawn shop in Lincoln, Nebraska (also home of a great blues dive, The Zoo Bar). Paul spent time with slide master Sonny Landreth altering growing up in Baraboo, Wisconsin--home base for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus. Madison remains his home base as he takes his gruff voice and slide to all parts of the country. His time with Sonny Landreth obviously developed his razor sharp slide. The first time out Paul Black chooses to cover three Robert Johnson songs, two songs associated with the Rolling Stones, five tunes credited to himself, as well as Willie Mabon's "The Fixer" and Pat Hares "Murder My Baby". Especially strong are the self-penned "Moo-Goo", and "Make Her Point--The Hard Way". Fans of Blues-Rock artists like Omar and the Howlers will develop a taste for the Flip Kings' sound, slide guitar fans will welcome this release. Maybe House of Blues CD issues will prove to be blusier than their television concepts. This release offers promise for the label and the future successes of Paul Black. © Lanny Fiegenschuh, OBS Board Member , © 1995-97, Oklahoma Blues Society, All Rights Reserved

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Paul Black was never a cuddly performer. Years ago, talking about his approach to live performances, the Madison-based blues man explained to me, "I'm not there to get the audience excited and sweaty and get 'em to drink a lot of beer." Blues-rock guitar flash? Let-the-good-times-roll jocularity? Black rejected both approaches. For 30 years, he refined his sets with his regular band, the Flip Kings, to the point where their takes on a connoisseur's selection of Delta blues, Chicago-shaded scuffling, inventively reworked rock covers and sly originals seemed to bore directly into the floorboards of local rooms like the old Church Key, the Crystal Corner and the Harmony Bar. These were serious blues sessions played with seriously talented sidemen like Jerry Alexander, West Side Andy Linderman and Joel Paterson. And the focus was almost always on Black's deft ululations on slide guitar — long, at times otherworldly peregrinations that could be unrelentingly doleful one minute and transcendently witty the next. Sure, on some level the Flip Kings were offering up a soundtrack for the partiers who took over the bars after the work week was done. But it was also a kind of blues ritual in which Black played the role of shaman, massaging and stretching what appeared to be simple 12-bars until they came across as weird, goading messages from another dimension. Black hadn't come to his magic easily. He'd knocked around in various contexts before settling in Madison in the mid-'70s. A stint playing around the South with Sonny Landreth (who'd go on to play with John Hiatt and do respected solo work) netted a lot of drunken nights and very little money. Later he played guitar with Texas-bred, San Francisco-based singer Jeannie Stout, who seemed destined for big things until she negotiated her way out of a contract with Arista Records. Once he settled in Madison, Black became a reliable draw at local watering holes, and the Flip Kings established themselves as one of the area's best blues acts. He recorded a little, but mostly he developed his sound in clubs. In fact, it wasn't until the 1996 release of the David Z.-produced King Dollar on the House of Blues label that he got a brief shot at national exposure as a leader. Unfortunately, the label folded just as the album was getting some momentum. Black had matured into a unique blues player, but somehow he was back to playing remarkable live gigs in the same small Madison clubs. The story might have ended there if the Harmony Bar's Keith Daniels and another devoted Black fan, Keith Heimforth, hadn't decided that it was high time someone captured the spirit of those local gigs on a CD. That led to two nights of live recording in March 2005 with a version of the Flip Kings that included bassist John Hauser, drummer Mark Haines and Black's longtime friend and musical collaborator Jerry Alexander on harmonica and vocals. Special guest Joe Nosek also contributed some blues harp. Daniels and Heimforth had hoped to commit a third date to tape before culling tracks for Live at the Harmony. But Black has had health issues, and when another gig failed to materialize, they decided it was time just to go with what they had. Thanks to Audio for the Arts' Steve Gotcher, they definitely captured the Black that fans had experienced for so many years. Indeed, you can almost see the grizzled guitarist, seated in a chair with his beloved Mets cap pulled down low, as the band creeps and burns through Robert Johnson covers, a wickedly down-home take on the Stones' "Factory Girl" and a hair-raising crawl through Howlin' Wolf's ".44 Blues." On the latter, Black demonstrates how to put a jaunty lilt into his chosen form even as he presents Wolf's ratchet-toting protagonist in all his homicidal fury. By the middle of the tune, you find yourself hoping the stabbing slide figure that serves as a de facto hook would spool out forever into the darkness. It's that affecting. A grinding "Murder My Baby" is more brutal, with Black's drawled vocal striking a disturbing balance between hardcore confession and offhanded barroom conversation. And then there's Johnson's "Malted Milk." It's the ultimate anti-crowd-pleaser. Black wouldn't think of using the tune as a backdrop for sonic explosions. The rhythm section clamps down on the slow, deliberate beat, and Black's greasy slide wears away at the groove like an old razor that's been stropped too many times. This is a song about existential fear and demonic forces just out of view, and Black sounds very much like a man who knows he's tempting fate as he uses his slide to probe the unnamable and the unknown. Suffice it to say that, despite an added gruffness in Black's voice that Heimforth says was the result of a head cold, Live at the Harmony may be the best document of Black's live work that we'll ever have. And if you prefer your blues raw and unpredictable and a little bit strange, you're gonna like it. You're gonna like it a lot. Live at the Harmony is available at B-Side, MadCity Music Exchange, Sugar Shack and Strictly Discs. © 2008 Isthmus Publishing Company, Inc.

Vera Taylor

Vera Taylor - You Better Be Careful - 2000 - Wolf

Vera Taylor, (Vera Hill), was a very good blues singer, born in Mississippi, who performed mainly in Chicago clubs in the 1950s. It was never her ambition to be a singer, but when her husband, the great blues guitaristt Eddie Taylor, Sr, (Eddie "Playboy" Taylor), was playing the Chicago clubs, she sometimes took the stage for a couple of songs.This great blueswoman, rarely performed near the end of her career, but she was always an essential part of the city's blues community. She took part in a tribute to her husband's one time bandleader, Jimmy Reed, at the 1999 Chicago Blues Festival with son Eddie Taylor Jr., as well as Roy Hytower, Johnnie Mae Dunson and her son Jimi "Prime Time" Smith. She passed away on November 1st, 1999. "You Better Be Careful" remains her first full length CD, and contains nine tracks from an August 1999 session , one with her son Edward from his 1998 Wolf debut and two tracks from Eddie Taylor's last session in 1983-84. This is an excellent album from this wonderful blues lady. Her singing cannot be faulted, and the musicians on this album are representative of some of the finest Chicago bluesmen. Please try and listen to this album, and keep this marvellous blues style alive. Again, Sippi, I need your invaluable help on this recording. Do you know if Ken Barker played on any of these tracks, and supposedly all the tracks on this album were written by Vera Taylor, except one. I am trying to pinpoint this track and it's composer/s.

TRACKS

1. Ain't Gonna Cry
2. You Better Be Careful
3. Trouble, Trouble
4. You Don't Treat Me Right
5. No Answer On The Telephone
6. 14 Years Before My Time
7. What Is Wrong With You
8. Sittin' Here Wonderin'
9. I Found Out
10. I Have The Blues
11. Why Do Everything I Do Go Wrong

MUSICIANS

Vera Taylor - vocals
Eddie Taylor Jr. - guitar
Tim Taylor - drums
Willie Kent - bass
Johnny B. Moore - guitar
Eddie Shaw - saxophone

Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers - Feelin' Good - 1984 - Murray Brothers Records

The incomparable Jimmy Rogers was one of the last connections to the classic Chicago blues of Muddy Waters. He died of colon cancer in Chicago at age 73 on Dec. 19, 1997. He was a superb bluesman, and this is a superlative eighties blues album with the great "Chess" sound. For more information on Jimmy Rogers, check him out

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http://www.overdoseoffingalcocoa.blogspot.com/2007/11/jimmy-rogers.html

and if you want to hear one of the greatest ever Chicago blues albums ever recorded, you really should buy Chicago Bound featuring Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Fred Below, .Little Walter, and Muddy Waters.

TRACKS

SIDE 1

01. Rock This House - James A. Lane
02. You're So Sweet - James A. Lane
03. Blue And Lonesome - Jimmy D. Lane
04. You Don't Know - James A. Lane

SIDE 2

01. Tricky Woman - James A. Lane
02. Angel Child - James A. Lane
03. Slick Chick - Jimmy Rogers, (aka James A. Lane)
04. St. Louis - James A. Lane, (aka Jimmy Rogers)
05. Chicago Bound - Jimmy Rogers

MUSICIANS

Jimmy Rogers - Guitar & Vocals
Rod Piazza - Harmonica & Vocals
Alex Schultz - Bass, Upright Bass
Bill Stuve - Electric Bass, Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Upright Bass
Junior Watson - Guitar
Steve Killman - Guitar
Honey Piazza - Piano
Bill Swartz - Drums

Recorded at Vinnick Studio, Riverside, California in 1983 and 1984.

N.B: It is not entirely certain, if Steve Killman played on this album. It is known that he did play many times with Bill Stuve.There is a CD reissue of this album available on Blind Pig records with bonus tracks, on which Jimi Bott may be credited as a drummer. Try and locate this CD for more details.

A huge thank you to "sippi" for many of the details concerning this album.

REVIEW

This album reissues material from 1983-84. The legendary veteran Jimmy Rogers (taking most of the vocals and occasional guitar solos) is heard teamed up with the talented harmonica player Rod Piazza and his jumping group. The results are consistently exciting. Piazza's harmonica serves as a perfect foil to Rogers' voice, and the impressive backup band (which also features Honey Piazza on piano) clearly enjoys jamming on the basic blues changes. The many strong solos and the superior material make this an easily recommended set. © Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Medicine Head

Medicine Head - New Bottles Old Medicine - 1970 - Dandelion

Q. Who recorded the very obscure album, "Dark Side of the Moon" recordrd in 1972 ?...........A. Medicine Head ! Despite having recorded six original albums, and four hit singles in the early seventies, including "(And The) Pictures in the Sky," "One and One is One," and "Rising Sun," this band is now all but forgotten. "New Bottles Old Medicine," was Medicine Head's first album released on the late, great BBC Radio One DJ John Peel's Dandelion label. In the early days Peel helped the careers of Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Captain Beefheart, by giving them studio-time to record. He also saw the potential in bands like Joy Division, The Fall, The Smiths, and the Undertones, whose great Teenage Kicks was his all-time favourite single. There are some amazing live BBC studio albums available from these groups, and many more. Check out the legendary "Peel sessions" albums for details. Peel saw the potential in Medicine Head, and this album was originally released on Peel's own record label. It's quite a good album. Medicine Head had a sound all of their own. The original two man line-up produced some great folksy blues rock using a Jew's Harp,mouth organ, an acoustic guitar, and a handheld drum. Their albums never received much commercial notice, but this wasn't unusual in the early seventies, as many great bands were overshadowed by huge groups like Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple to name but two. Give this album a listen, and if you can find their 1975 "Live At The Marquee" album, you should buy it. Also, any info on that "Dark Side of the Moon" album would be very welcome. Please post your opinions of "New Bottles Old Medicine" to A.O.O.F.C

TRACKS

1. When Night Falls
2. Ooee Baby
3. Next Time The Sun Comes 'Round
4. This Love Of Old
5. Homer's Odyssey
6. Oh My Heart To Peace
7. Do It Now
8. Be It As We Are
9. Fire Under The Mountain
10. Two Men Now
11. Crazy About You Baby
12. Going Home
13. His Guiding Hand
14. Walkin' Blues

BAND

Peter Hope-Evans - Harmonica & Vocals
John Fiddler - Guitar & Vocals

REVIEW

One of the most refreshing hits of the very early '70s was Medicine Head's "Pictures in the Sky," a song so subtly woven and effortlessly understated that it was almost difficult to actually hear it; rather, you absorbed it straight into your subconscious, then wandered round wondering what it was you were humming. That was the band's first hit single, and their first album, one should not be too shocked to discover, is basically cut from the same cloth. True, not every track is so superbly sublime; true, not every melody as deeply, darkly haunted. But two guys with a Jew's Harp, a handheld drum, a harmonica, and an acoustic guitar nevertheless make mountains move, and would probably have moved them even further if they'd recorded the hit in time for the album. Unfortunately, they didn't. The opening "When Night Falls" sets the scene instead, haunted harp and funereal pounding keeping time behind vocalist John Fiddler's lonesome, confessional lyric. There's a ghostly Dylan air to a lot of Medicine Head's early work, and this one shows you where it came from. Or maybe that honor should go to "Ooee Baby," which throws a muddy riff, a bluesy holler, and a driving rhythm into play and spins all expectations for the album upside down. Judas could not have turned out more shocking. Those moods continue through the album: one moment reflective, one moment boisterous, but always loose and laconic enough to remind you just what kind of arsenal was making all the noise. Like Mungo Jerry, the only other band of the era capable of making such a racket with the minimum of rock toys, Medicine Head's achievement isn't simply in writing and performing such memorable songs. It lies in making them sound so memorable as well, and New Bottles Old Medicine overflows with that magic. © Dave Thompson, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Medicine Head was an English blues rock band, active in the 1970s. The group worked as a duo for most of its career, consisting of John Fiddler (born 25 September 1947, Darlaston, Staffordshire, England) - (vocalist, guitarist, piano player, drummer), & Peter Hope-Evans (born 28 September 1947, Brecon, Powys, Wales) - (harmonica, jew's harp, and mouthbow player). Medicine Head formed in Stafford in 1968, and came to prominence when championed by influential DJ John Peel, who signed them to his Dandelion record label. The group recorded six original albums, the opening trio of which were on 'Dandelion'. That label enjoyed its only UK Singles Chart hit when "(And The) Pictures in the Sky" reached number 22 in 1971. Despite consistent touring, often as support to acts with larger commercial appeal, Medicine Head failed to place an album on the UK Albums Chart. One of their albums was titled "Dark Side of the Moon" (1972), released the year before the Pink Floyd album of the same name. If the Medicine Head release had gained attention, Pink Floyd may have had to reconsider the title of their masterwork. They went through line-up changes with their largely backing personnel, but did achieve a total of four hit singles, the best-known of which are "One and One is One" (No. 3, 1973) and "Rising Sun" (No. 11, 1973). At various times the line-up also included Tony Ashton, formerly of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, and Keith Relf, the former Yardbirds vocalist. Their later recordings were released on the Polydor record label. Two Man Band was their last album, and Medicine Head finally folded in 1977. In 2005 Angel Air released the album Don't Stop The Dance. In effect it was a 'lost' album, compiling some singles from an unsuccessful period with the WWA label, and some unreleased sessions with the band as a five piece. Since the band's break-up, both members have continued to work in music: Hope-Evans appears on many albums, most prominently with Pete Townshend, and Fiddler was a member of British Lions and Box of Frogs. Fiddler has occasionally revived the Medicine Head name, to tour a show of their hits and release further low-key recordings.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Formed in Stafford, England in 1968, the British blues duo Medicine Head comprised vocalist/multi-instrumentalist John Fiddler and Peter Hope-Evans, who played the harmonica and jew's harp. Upon their formation at art college, Medicine Head became a staple of the local club circuit, eventually recording a demo which found its way to influential BBC radio personality John Peel, who began championing the track "His Guiding Hand." Other DJs soon followed suit, and quickly the duo was on the brink of stardom. With Peel's continued assistance, Medicine Head entered the studio to begin recording their 1970 debut LP New Bottles Old Medicine. Their focus shifted from basic blues to a more intricate sound for 1971's Heavy on the Drum, produced by former Yardbird Keith Relf; after scoring a surprise hit with the single "(And the) Pictures in the Sky," Hope-Evans left the group, and was replaced by Relf and drummer John Davies for 1972's The Dark Side of the Moon. Hope-Evans rejoined prior to 1973's One and One Is One, which launched the title track to the Top Three of the U.K. singles chart. Now a five-piece also including guitarist Roger Saunders, onetime Family drummer Rob Townsend and bassist George Ford, Medicine Head notched two more hit singles, "Rising Sun" and "Slip and Slide," but 1974's Thru' a Five failed to chart, and the group began to disintegrate. Only Fiddler and Hope-Evans remained by the time of 1976's Two Man Band, and after one last single, "Me and Suzy Hit the Floor," Medicine Head officially disbanded. Fiddler later resurfaced in the British Lions, followed by a stint in Box of Frogs and finally a solo career, while Hope-Evans contributed to the Pete Townshend albums Empty Glass and White City. © Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Planet 3 Featuring Jay Graydon

Planet 3 Featuring Jay Graydon - Music From The Planet - 1992 - Columbia

This is an adult contemporary pop album with strong melodies, power ballads and an 80s synth rock style, similar to Toto, Chicago and bamds of that ilk. The ballad "I Don't Want to Say Goodnight" was on the soundtrack for the "Navy Seals" movie. This type of music is deviating from the normal fare found found on A.O.O.F.C, but I felt it was worth including just to demonstrate some of Graydon's other work. There is no limit to Graydon's talents. See his bio for his amazing credentials. Has anybody listened to Steely Dan's classic "Peg" track, from the "Aja" album? Then you may know that Graydon's stupendous guitar solo on the track was the only solo that could please Donald Fagen of the Dan, after seven or eight other guitarists tried in vain! Now that is really saying something about Jay Graydon's ability as a crack session musician. A.O.O.F.C would welcome opinions on this album.

TRACKS

Born To Love
From The Beginning
Insincere
Criminal
I Don't Want To Say Goodnight
Welcome To Love
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Only Your Eyes
Modern Girl
Ever After Love

All tracks composed by Jay Graydon, Clif Magness & Glen Ballard, except "Ever After Love", composed by Jay Graydon, Bill Cantos & Valerie Hobel. This information may not be precise

CREDITS (Open to correction)

Producers - Jay Graydon, , Clif Magness & Glen Ballard
Keyboards - Glen Ballard, Bill Cantos , Jay Graydon, Clif Magness , David Foster, Randy Goodrum
Guitars - Jay Graydon, Clif Magness , Steve Lukather, Bruce Gaitsch
Background vocals - Bill Cantos , Clif Magness , Bill & Tamara Champlin

Has anybody any information about the following two persons' roles on this album - Machun, & John Robinson ?

N.B: There have been numerous issues of this album. A CD was released in 2002, on Sonic Trust Records, USA, which replaced Track 10, "Ever After Love", which was on the original Columbia issue with a song called "Dreamers."

JAY GRAYDON BIO

Two-time Grammy winner/arranger/producer/songwriter/guitarist Jay Graydon's credits include hits by Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire ("After the Love Is Gone," co-written with David Foster and Bill Champlin), Steely Dan, Dionne Warwick, Air Supply, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau ("Mornin'"), Breakin' Away, Heart's Horizon, High Crime, Jarreau, This Time, the Manhattan Transfer ("Twilight Zone"), George Benson ("Turn Your Love Around"), Cher, Christopher Cross, DeBarge ("Who's Holding Donna Now"), Barry Manilow (Even Now), and El Debarge, among many others. He also was involved with the soundtracks to Ghostbusters, Miami Vice, and St. Elmo's Fire. Graydon co-wrote "She's in Love," a track on Brenda Russell's Hidden Beach/Epicdebut album Paris Rain issued on July 18, 2000.
Born October 8, 1949, in Burbank, CA, to Grace and Joe Graydon, Jay Graydon made his professional music debut at the age of two singing with his father on his TV show. Graydon comes from a musical family; his brother Gary plays guitar nonprofessionally and his father was a singer and songwriter. As he grew up, his interest expanded to include electronics and bowling. In the early '60s, Joe Graydon had a Saturday radio show on KDAY and Jay would engineer his show, playing the records, running the tape machines, and airing commercials. His father recorded for various record labels and Jay would accompany him to the recording studio, asking the audio engineers questions. One Christmas, he was given a mono tape recorder, mixer, and two mics that he used to record local bands.
At the age of 14, Graydon started playing the guitar. With Dennis Kelly and Joe Lopez, he formed the Veltones with drummer Doug Wagner, who was later replaced by Bob Carrafield. They played pop/R&B and surf music and did some recording, but nothing was released commercially. During his high school years, Graydon took music classics and learned big-band arrangement from Robert Rose. While in college, Graydon got a call from the Seven Souls keyboard player Bob Hogins who was a former bandmate. Joining the band, Graydon learned a lot about "feel."
Trombone player Glenn Farris invited him to audition for Don Ellis's big band. Working with such top players honed Graydon's skills. During a early-'70s club date backing singer Maxine Weldon, Graydon met keyboardist David Foster. Foster came backstage and introduced himself. A couple days later, Foster called to invite him to a recording session and to bring along his ARP 2600 synthesizer, guitar, and amp. Graydon and Foster would work together on innumerable sessions in the years to come. Graydon's Grammys include: Best R&B Song Awards for "After the Love Is Gone" (which also nominated for Song of the Year) and "Turn Your Love Around." As the 21st century began, Jay Graydon was working on a book with engineer/musician/author Craig Anderton. © Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

Little Axe

Little Axe - Champagne & Grits - 2004 - Real World Records

A really unusual album of "Nu-Blues* music. Take some old style Delta blues" and mix it with elements of reggae, folk and trip-hop, and this is what you get. A really original, and highly enjoyable album from Bernard Alexander. Even if you're a blues purist, and not into music with dub elements, you should hear this album for a totally new perspective on the blues. Check out Little Axe, aka Bernard Alexander, aka Skip McDonald's album, "Stone Cold Ohio."


TRACKS

1.People Grinning In Your Face - Vocals - Bernard Fowler
2.Finger On The Trigger - Harmonica - Alan Glen
3.Mean Things - Harmonica - Dave Foster (2), Vocals - Ghetto Priest
4.The Way I See It
5.Walk On Water - Tabla - Prithpal Rajput
6.Go Away Devil - Harmonica - Alan Glen, Vocals - Junior Delgado
7.Say My Name - Guitar - Clubfoot (2), Vocals - Shara Nelson, Written-By - S. Nelson*
8.Take Me Back To The Country
9.All In The Same Boat - Backing Vocals - Denise Sherwood , Dorie Jackson, Vocals - Chris Difford, Written-By - C. Difford*
10.Living And Sleeping In A Dangerous Time - Tabla - Prithpal Rajput, Vocals - Bernard Fowler
11.Will I Ever Get Back Home Again? - Harmonica - Alan Glen, Vocals - Bernard Fowler
12.Cloud - Written-By - P. K. CLoud
13.Sinners - Bass [Upright Bass] - Bernard O'Neil* , Vocals - Ghetto Priest , Junior Delgado, Written-By - H. Ledbetter* , J. Hinds*

CREDITS

Bass - Doug Wimbish (tracks: 1 to 3, 5, 6, 9)
Drums - Keith LeBlanc (tracks: 1 to 3, 5, 6, 11)
Engineer, Programmed By - Chris Weinland , Nick Coplowe
Mixed By - Adrian Sherwood
Producer - Adrian Sherwood , Skip McDonald
Written-By - A. Maxwell* (tracks: 2, 5, 6, 9, 11) , A. Salvador* (tracks: 2, 3, 10) , B. Alexander

REVIEWS

Who is Little Axe? Followers of producer Adrian Sherwood will know that Little Axe is actually Bernard Alexander. Who is Bernard Alexander? Why, he's Skip McDonald, guitarist in the original rap house band, The Sugarhill Gang, and co-conspirator on Sherwood's On-U label experiments (African Headcharge, Tackhead , Bim Sherman et al.). Confused? Well if you consider that this is a blues album made by people connected with the roots of hip hop, dub reggae and techno funk youproably should be confused. But have no fear, just one listen and everything will become clear. McDonald and Sherwood's strategy is simple and totally within keeping of their previous work. These are people who always instinctively knew that there was common ground in all roots music, from King Tubby to Howlin' Wolf. With this in mind they blend the basic forms of the delta blues and, using Sherwood's technological savvy, put all the extras that the 21st Century has to offer under a rudimentary framework of acoustic guitar and plaintive vocals. Like supercharging a Model T... McDonald states how his methodology included listening to early blues music until one sample or phrase sparked his muse. Thus we get little snatches of chain gang work songs ("Go Away Devil") and ancient scratchy hollers woven into the mix, while depth charges of dub bass and drums pour fire into the belly of each song. Meanwhile, collaborators such as Junior Delgado or Shara Nelson ("Say My Name") add elements of reggae or trip hop in their doomiest incarnations. What's most impressive about Champagne and Grits is the way it finds the common link between the ancient and modern, making the blues a viable form of musical protest for the21st century. This is real American folk music, alive and very much kicking. © Andrew McGregor, 23/9/04, http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/drdp/

One name often overlooked in the pantheon of nu blues is Little Axe. Little Axe, the brainchild of Bernard Alexander aka Skip McDonald, one of the original Sugar Hill Gang ('Rapper's Delight', "White Lines"), ingeniously pours the toughest, brooding edges of house, reggae, field hollers and blues into a giant boiling cauldron. © Terry Reilly - 07/12/2005, www.abc.net.au/dig/stories/s1525606.htm © 2008 ABC

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Little Axe was the alias of Skip McDonald, a blues performer whose list of credits also included work on some of rap music's most influential records. Born Bernard Alexander in Dayton, OH, in 1949, McDonald learned blues guitar from his father, and by the age of ten was already playing professionally with area jazz musicians. By age 12, his focus had shifted to doo wop, and he also played in a gospel quartet; after high school, he and several friends relocated to New York City, where they formed a group dubbed the Entertainers and toured extensively throughout the East Coast. In 1973 McDonald teamed with bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Harold Sargent in the group Wood Brass & Steel, recording a pair of LPs before calling it quits in 1979. McDonald and Wimbish soon reunited under the auspices of the fledgling rap label Sugarhill, where they teamed with drummer Keith LeBlanc to become the company's house band. Over the course of the next three years, the trio played on a number of the most seminal records of the era, including the Grandmaster Flash classics "The Message" and "White Lines." After exiting Sugarhill's ranks, the group worked at Tommy Boy Records, where they teamed with producer Adrian Sherwood to develop his famed On-U Sound. Sherwood subsequently convinced the trio to relocate to London, where they were rechristened Tackhead and fronted by vocalist Gary Clail. They also began handling some of On-U's myriad production assignments, remixing material for artists including Nine Inch Nails, African Head Charge, Megadeth, and Living Colour, whom Wimbish later joined. By 1992, McDonald adopted the name Little Axe and returned to the blues of his youth, albeit a brand of blues informed by his latter-day musical experiences, which also incorporated elements of gospel, rock, reggae, and funk. Co-produced by Sherwood and recorded with the aid of Wimbish and LeBlanc as well as vocalists Kevin Gibbs and Saz Bell and Indian percussionist Talvin Singh, Little Axe debuted in 1994 with the single "Ride On (Fight On)"; the full-length The Wolf That House Built was released later in the year to wide acclaim. "Another Sinful Day" followed in 1995, with Slow Fuse appearing in 1996. For the next six years, McDonald worked on other projects until resuming Little Axe with Hard Grind on Fat Possum in 2002. By 2004, he had switched to the Real World label, releasing Champagne & Grits and Stone Cold Ohio two years later. © Jason Ankeny & Al Campbell, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Little Axe is the stage name of Skip McDonald (born 1949, Dayton, Ohio), an American blues musician. McDonald played jazz, doo wop, and gospel when young, and moved to New York City as a teenager with his band of friends, called The Entertainers. McDonald joined the group Wood Brass & Steel in 1973 with bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Harold Sargent; the group recorded two albums before their 1979 breakup. Axe then became one of the members of the house band for Sugarhill Records and appeared as guitarist on many early rap albums, including "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash. After leaving Sugarhill, McDonald, Wimbish, and drummer Keith LeBlanc began working with Adrian Sherwood, and eventually formed the trio into the group Tackhead (fronted by Gary Clail and, later, Bernard Fowler). In the 1990s McDonald took the name Little Axe and began recording blues albums, continuing to appear as a guest act on other artists' albums as well. His most recent albums have been released on Real World Records.

Pacific Gas & Electric

Pacific Gas & Electric - Live 'N' Kicking at Lexington - 2007 - Wounded Bird (Live recording from August 1970)

Previously unreleased jams from the legendary Pacific Gas & Electric -- material that was originally intended as an album on Columbia in the early 70s, but due to legal problems, Columbia never actually issued it. Supposedly it is only now finally seeing the light of day! Strangely enough, an album entitled, "Live 'n' Kicking at Lexington [Original]," was released on the CBS label in 1970, with a very different track listing to this 2007 release. (Scroll down for more details). Has anybody any info on this release? Given the live setting, the style here is even more open-ended and jamming than the group's studio work -- a raw and raunchy mix of rock and soul elements, performed live at the Federal Drug Rehabilitation Center in Lexington -- with a sound so heavy, we've gotta imagine a few folks there ended up having trouble kicking the habit! Some of the best tracks here are really long numbers -- and titles include "Old Slop In A", "32 20 Blues", "Jelly Jelly", "Motor City Is Burning", "Elvira", and "Next Time You See Me". This is a very good album, although understandably, the sound quality is a bit patchy in places. Nevertheless, it's a very enjoyable album, and a real "blast from the past." If you can find their 1971 album, "PG&E," give it a listen.

TRACKS

1. Old Stop In A
2. Are You Ready?
3. Next Time You See MeElvira
4. 32-20 Blues
5. One More River To Cross
6. Motor City Is Burning
7. Jelly Jelly

Another version of this album was released by CBS in 1970, entitled, "Live 'n' Kicking at Lexington [Original]," which contains the nine tracks listed below.

New Stop in a
John Lee Hooker
Every Day
Motor City Is Burning
Jelly, Jelly
Bad Like Jesse James
Are You Ready?
Wade in the Water
Bluesbuster

BAND (2007 RELEASE)

Charlie Allen-Vocals
Brent Block-Guitar
Frank Petricca-Bass
Ken Utterback-Lead Guitar
Ron Woods-Drums


BIO (Wikipedia)


Pacific Gas & Electric was an American rock band, best known for the song "Are You Ready?" released in 1970. Pacific Gas & Electric'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", one of the first interracial bands to be part of the Los Angeles music scene. An early member was Charlie Allen, a drummer from the east coast, 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 Kent record label (it was subsequently released on Big Orange and Power Records 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, in 1969. However, it was the next release, the Are You Ready LP 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 to be 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 Stanly 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. It was at one P G & E show that 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. 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.

Charles Ford Band

Charles Ford Band - As Real As It Gets - 1983 - CrossCut

The Charles Ford Band was a unit completely committed to making blues-based music that was 100% real. Every song they played counted and every note was important. Though many of the songs thay performed were not originals, they were all infused with a spirit and energy (and often a completely new arrangement) that made each song theirs. Muddy Waters was so impressed by the band that he talked Chess Records into offering them a contract. . . . This is blues "Ford Style" and it's AS REAL AS IT GETS © Blue Rock'It Records 2001--2007
Excellent album from the Charles Ford Band. This band has undergone many name, (Charles Ford Blues Band, Real Charles Ford Band, Charles Ford Band),and personnel changes, too numerous to mention here, but on this recording, with three of the Ford brothers performing, including Robben Ford, one of the greatest rock guitarists ever born, this album is what the blues is all about. Check out Robben Ford's astonishing credentials sometime. He has played with Tom Scott and L.A. Express, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Michael McDonald, was once a sideman for the legendary Miles Davis, and formed the huge jazz rock/fusion band, The Yellowjackets. To get back to the album, and leaving his talented brothers aside, there are also great performances from bassist, Stan Poplin, and guest musicians, Russell Ferrante on keyboards,and Michael Osborn who plays guitar on "Look Over Yonders Wall." The band is named after the Ford brothers' father Charles, who was reputed to be a very good guitarist. Has anybody any information on this?

TRACKS

1. Gibson Creek Shuffle - Ford
2. Look Over Yonders Wall - Clark
3. Driftin' Blues - Brown/Moore/Williams
4. Killer Joe - Golson
5. All Those Blues - Parker
6. 40 Days 40 Nights - Roth
7. That Will Never Do - Campbell/Lyons
8. All Your Love - Dixon/Rush

BAND

Robben Ford - guitar, vocalPatrick Ford - drumsMark Ford - harp, vocalStan Poplin - bass

SPECIAL GUESTS

Russell Ferrante - Keyboards
Michael Osborn - guitar on track #2

Produced by Patrick FordRecorded at the Great American Music Hall and Keystone Palo Alto in 1983

Delta Moon

Delta Moon - Delta Moon - 2002 - Delta Moon

This is a brilliant, traditional, classic blues album from the largely unknown, Atlanta based, Delta Moon. There are some outstanding vocals, and the two slide guitar players are smokin.' Delta Moon cover some songs by the legendary Son House, Fred McDowell and Willie Dixon, as well as some of their own compositions. This is yet another blues band who really should be heard by a wider audience. This album is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Buy their terrific "Goin' Down South" album, and keep the blues alive.

TRACKS

1. Preachin' Blues
2. House Of Dolls
3. Mansfield Road
4. Shake 'Em On Down
5. You Can't Make Somebody Love You
6. Fooling Around
7. She's Mine, She's Yours
8. Big Road Blues
9. Jelly Roll
10. Wang Dang Doodle
11. Play Me A Song, Little Blind Boy

BAND

Charles Wolff - Drums
Gerry Hanson - Drums
Gina Leigh - Percussion, Vocals
Mark Johnson - Slide Guitar
Mark Johnson - Slide Guitar
Scott Callison - Percussion
Tom Gray - Keyboards, Vocals, Lap Steel Guitar
Tommy Dean - Bass, Vocals (Background)

REVIEWS

2003: CD of the Year © Kweevak.com
"Delta Moon strikes gold with raw intensity." © Southeast Performer
"All in all an excellent disc, unique yet in a classic vein. Recommended without reservation!" © www.mnblues.com
"The name says it all: gutbucket Delta-style blues featuring a classy female singer and a pair of funky, slunky slide guitarists who play as one voice." © The Charlotte Observer
"Another stellar newcomer to the national music scene ... Delta Moon is poised for greatness, with nothing but a lot of opportunity and a very bright future ahead of them." © Hittin' the Note
"This is an excellent-sounding album with lots of production punch, soulful performances, and spirited playing. Best of show: a rumble through Fred McDowell's 'Shake 'Em On Down' and Gray's greasy 'House of Dolls.'"© Blues Revue
"A forehead-slappingly fantastic combo that wipes the floor with most of the competition." © The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Two slide guitars speak in tongues and a young woman dances a siren dance." © Creative Loafing Atlanta
"A perfect example of contemporary Southern roots music at its most affecting." © All Music Guide
"Delta Moon has tapped into a vein of music that is as old as the hills and as vital as a river." © Playgrounds Magazine, Columbus, GA

ABOUT THE BAND

Delta Moon -- winner of the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge held in Memphis, February 1, 2003 -- formed in the late 1990s when Gina Leigh, Mark Johnson, and Tom Gray all lived within a few blocks of each other in Atlanta's Inman Park neighborhood. The three got together regularly in Mark's livingroom to work up arrangements of classic blues and original songs for two slide guitars and voices. Soon, joined by a rotating cast of percussionists, drummers, and bassists, the band was playing in rib joints, nightclubs, and festivals around Atlanta and neighboring cities. Following the March 2002 release of their debut CD, imaginatively entitled "Delta Moon," the band started ranging farther from home, taking their energetic stage show across the US, Canada and Europe. As one audience member said, "Thanks for inviting us to your party!" © 1999 - 2008 Kweevak.com

Kristin Korb with The Ray Brown Trio

Kristin Korb with The Ray Brown Trio - Introducing Kristin Korb With the Ray Brown Trio - 1996 - Telarc

Kristin Korb is a female Bass player based in LA who is also a unique vocalist with an exuberant, rapid vocalese style and open spirit While studying with jazz bass icon Ray Brown, he arranged for her first recording with his trio, Introducing Kristin Korb, on Telarc Records. Brown, who has worked with the late divas Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, wrote twelve special arrangements which highlight Korb's vocal talents. She tours worldwide as a performer, clinician, and guest artist with numerous jazz ensembles. Her more current releases feature her original compositions and innovative arrangements of jazz standards with the help of jazz greats Mike Wofford and Jeff Hamilton. When she’s not touring, she’s on the faculty at the University of Southern California. She has a great DVD on release, Kristin Korb: Live in Vienna, which really showcases her talents.

TRACKS

A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie/G/P) 5:40
Peel Me a Grape (Frishberg) 5:30
Whirlybird (Hefti/Korb) 3:06
Fever (Cooley/Davenport) 4:33
Straight, No Chaser (Monk/Swisher) 2:31
Black Orpheus (Banfa/B/C/P/W) 4:09
Yeh Yeh (Grand/H/P) 4:36
Ain't Misbehavin' (Razaf/Waller) 3:36
These Foolish Things (Link/M/S) 6:02
Funky Tune for Ray (Brown/Korb) 3:53
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn) 5:11

MUSICIANS

Kristin Korb (Vocals),
Conte Candoli (Trumpet),
Plas Johnson (Sax (Tenor)),
Ray Brown (Bass),
Oscar Castro-Neves (Guitar),
Benny Green (Piano),
Gregory Hutchinson (Drums),





REVIEW

Originally from Montana, but now living, performing, and teaching in San Diego, this is Kristin Korb's first album. Not possessed with an especially powerful set of vocal chords, Korb nonetheless weaves delicate figures with a clear, cool, almost vibrato-less voice. Scatting, but not to the point where lyrics are entirely ignored, she's a pleasant, if not overwhelming, addition to the world of jazz vocals. Korb is joined on this session by the dean of bass players, Ray Brown, and his trio that features the outstanding, hard driving piano player Benny Green, an outstanding soloist in his own right. The trio is augmented by two veterans, Plas Johnson on tenor sax and Conte Candoli on trumpet. Johnson, unfairly, is pretty much known for his work on Henry Mancini's Pink Panther. He has done much more and better work, such as with T-Bone Walker, Lou Rawls, and others. His swinging, boppish sax drives "Yeh Yeh." Conte Candoli has been on so many albums, he's likely lost count, but he hasn't lost his touch of waxing lyrically behind a singer in the tradition of fellow Stan Kenton player, Don Fagerquist. Guest guitarist, the Brazilian Oscar Castro-Neves, takes center stage in Latin-tinged tunes like Luis Bonfa's "Black Orpheus." "Peel Me a Grape" is done, appropriately, in an Anita O'Day style and there's a very delicately delivered "These Foolish Things" and an almost hymn-like "Take the "A" Train." These slower tunes are balanced by a winging version of Neal Hefti's "Whirlybird." A nice program of varied tunes offered by top professionals provides a little more than 45 minutes of pleasant entertainment. © Dave Nathan, All Music Guide