Singer, songwriter, musician, and producer Don Nix is one of the most overlooked heroes of the blues, if only for his support of the great Furry Lewis, which provided the elderly blues legend a second chapter to his lengthy career. Nix wrote one of the classic standards of the blues in “Goin’ Down,” the song recorded by artists like Freddie King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among many others; he was also a high school classmate of Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn in Memphis and a session player for the legendary Stax Records label. Nix is one of the integral figures in blues, soul, R&B, and Southern rock music and his meager catalog as a solo artist is dominated by a handful of obscure 1970s-era albums that have sadly been long out-of-print.
Nix’s Living By the Days, was the first of two releases by the artist on the respected Elektra Records label, which at the time was flush from cash from successful albums by the Doors and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, among others. This 1971 album was largely recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with a little help from friends like guitarists Wayne Perkins and Jimmy Johnson, bassists “Duck” Dunn and David Hood, drummer Roger Hawkins, and keyboardists Barry Beckett and Chris Stainton, who was on loan from the Grease Band, best known for their association with Joe Cocker. Musically, Living By the Days is a homemade quilt carefully sewn together with bits and pieces of blues, blues-rock, gospel, and the sort of Memphis soul that Nix helped define during the late 1960s.
Don Nix’s Living By the Days
Opening with a haunting keyboard intro that fades into the sound of falling rain, Nix’s “The Shape I’m In” is a classic Southern tale about the search for redemption. The song’s protagonist is suffering a crisis of faith, lost, wondering where he’s going, a situation that Nix describes quite poetically with memorable imagery. His somber vocals are backed by the gospel-styled harmonies of Claudia Lennear, Kathi McDonald, Don Preston, and Joey Cooper, the soundtrack a sparse roots-rock ramble of guitar and rhythm. It’s an effective construct, and a perfect introduction to the artist’s unique blend of blues, rock, country, and gospel music.
By contrast, “Olena” is a more upbeat, up-tempo rocker that displays tinges of Memphis soul and gospel beneath its rollicking, keyboard-dominated soundtrack. Whether it’s Perkins or Jimmy Johnson that delivers the short, succinct, and spot-on guitar solo, it’s Barry Beckett’s rolling honky-tonk 88s that drive the song’s rhythms, backing harmonies chiming in behind Nix’s almost-lost vocals that drawl out a story of the rambling man and the woman that’s waiting for him at home. Blues great Furry Lewis adds a bit of narration before the gang jumps into a joyous cover of Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light.” Nix’s twangy vocals are joined by the Mt. Zion Choir (Jeanie Greene, Marlin Green, and Wayne Perkins), there’s a bit of chicken-pickin’ going on, and the jangly percussion supports the upbeat, church revival spirit of the performance.
Going Back To Iuka
The album’s title track is a grand mid-tempo Southern rocker that’s heavy on lyricism and offers but a hint of blues underpinning. Amidst a swell of epic instrumentation, Nix’s heartworn, world-weary protagonist speaks of unrequited love, the object of his affections looking for more than he can offer – “rainbows that never appear” – and while she’s dreaming of hundreds of years, he’s merely “living by the days.” It’s a powerful song, a great performance, and while the 1970s-era literary aspirations are a bit dated, there’s a timelessness to the emotional lay of the lyrics. “Going Back To Iuka” rides a similar train but on a different track, its minimalist lyrics paired with a rockin’, ramshackle soundtrack, guitars rising above the fray of crashing drumbeats and chaotic instrumentation.
The spry “Mary Louise” is the square peg on Living By the Days, an odd little morality tale, the title character a young woman leaving home for the bright lights of L.A. The carefully-spun lyrics are told from a third-person perspective…a jealous boyfriend, a possible suitor...while musically a mesmerizing recurring riff is joined in the gumbo pot with heavy percussive brush work and flashes of twangy piano-play. The album ends with “My Train’s Done Come And Gone,” a bit of brilliant roots-rock reminiscent of the Band that features Nix’s wistful, almost melancholy vocals wrapped around a set of insightful lyrics, the accompanying music a perfect blend of Southern rock, blues, and gospel, the song perfectly capturing the overwhelming wanderlust of the era.
The Reverend’s Botton Line
It’s hard to believe that Elektra thought that Living By the Days would launch Nix into the commercial stratosphere then occupied by Leon Russell and Delaney & Bonnie. Although it’s a fine album, a classic of sorts, Nix’s creative but eclectic musical hybrid lacked the marketing hook provided by Russell’s exposure from the Mad Dogs & Englishmen album and film or D&B’s friends like Duane Allman and Eric Clapton. Still, Living By the Days is a showcase for the artist’s Americana aspirations, the album one of those lost gems of an era when music – if not the industry itself – was truly colorblind in its influences and artistic expression. (Real Gone Music, releases April 2, 2013)
Jesse Ed Davis was an extraordinarily-talented guitarist who parlayed his skills into a career as an in-demand session player and touring musician. Originally part of country legend Conway Twitty’s band, Davis switched gears when he became an integral part of root ‘n’ blues legend Taj Mahal’s band, playing on Mahal’s first three albums. Introduced to session work by Leon Russell in the late ‘60s, Davis would lend his talents to recordings by John Lee Hooker, Willie Nelson, Gene Clark (The Byrds), and many others.
Lesser-known – and tragically so – was Davis’s short-lived career as a solo artist. Launching his solo career with a self-titled release on the Atlantic Records subsidiary Atco, the guitarist’s debut featured high-profile musical guests like Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Gram Parsons, and Alan White (Yes). Two subsequent critically-acclaimed albums would quickly follow, 1972’s Ululu (also released by Atco Records) and 1973’s Keep Me Comin’ (recorded for CBS). None of his albums sold too well in spite of their inspired blend of rock, blues, jazz, and country sounds and Davis’s incredible guitarplay. Davis would retreat back into session work, performing on albums like Leonard Cohen’s Death of a Ladies’ Man and John Lennon’s Walls and Bridges as well as on albums by artists like Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, Donovan, and Tracy Nelson (Mother Earth).
Jesse Ed Davis’s Red Dirt Boogie
Real Gone Music’s Red Dirt Boogie: The Atco Recordings 1970-1972 offers every song from Davis’s two Atco albums, seventeen tunes in all, with the exception of his take on the traditional country jaunt “Oh, Susannah.” In its place, the label added a pair of studio outtakes in the form of the previously-unreleased basic track for “Rock N Roll Gypsies” and an unreleased instrumental, “Kiowa Teepee (Washita Love Child).” As the disc is squeezed for space at roughly 75 minutes, I personally might have dropped the former track and kept the latter and run both of Davis’s Atco albums in full in their original sequencing. For whatever reason, producers Gordon Anderson, Pat Thomas, and Mike Thomas chose to shake things up, and songs from both albums are intertwined, eliminating any sense of artistic evolution.
These minor cavils aside, Red Dirt Boogie is an impressive collection overall, offering stellar musicianship and an inspired mix of original songs, traditional material, and well-chosen covers. Davis was the consummate root ‘n’ blues artist, equally conversant in several musical styles and their history, and his knowledge and skills show in the grooves. While “Every Night Is Saturday Night” is a lyrical trifle, an up-tempo party song with blasts of manic horns and a foot-shuffling rhythm, it does display some fierce guitar licks. “Washita Love Child” is much better, combining Davis’s Kiowa-Comanche Indian heritage with Okie soul and a gospel fervor with low-slung vocals, a driving rhythm, angelic backing vocals, and what sounds like a guitar battle between Davis and guest Eric Clapton.
Rock N Roll Gypsies
Davis’s original “Reno Street Incident” displays the guitarist’s not-inconsiderable skills as a songwriter, the lyrics showing a fine eye for detail, Davis’s laid-back, nuanced vocals telling a sordid tale while the band rambles on, the languid vibe punctured time-to-time by Davis’s razor-sharp fretwork. A version of George Harrison’s “Sue Me, Sue You Blues” was released before Harrison would record the song, Davis backed by a band that included Dr. John on keyboards and Stax Records legend Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass. Davis’s take on the song is more honky-tonk flavored than George’s, with twangy instrumentation and stinging guitarplay. A cover of Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love” strikes a low-down soulful groove that offers, perhaps, one of Davis’s best vocal performances, backed by gorgeous backing harmonies.
The title track from his sophomore album, Davis’s “Ululu” opens with shimmering guitar lines and ethereal vox before settling into a mid-tempo hippie ballad with a hearty bass line and Jim Keltner’s strong tho’ subtle percussion. A cover of Leon Russell’s “Alcatraz” offers a funky rhythmic backdrop for Davis’s passionate vocals, which are almost smothered by the mix, while a cover of Merle Haggard’s “White Line Fever” twangs-and-bangs with the best of them, Davis’s vocals more spoken than song, and accompanied by shards of nicely manic guitar.
“Golden Sun Goddess,” from Davis’s debut, is a delightfully wan slab of shiny cosmic pop with otherworldly harmonies, a subtle underlying bass line (Billy Rich?), and elegant guitar. The mid-tempo “Rock N Roll Gypsies” is a vintage sing-a-long with gang vocals, fiery guitar licks, and heavy drumbeats (Chuck Blackwell?) while “Kiowa Teepee (Washita Love Child)” is a tribute to Davis’s Native American ancestry, beginning with an Indian chant and rhythms before bursting into an infectious instrumental jam based on the melody of “Washita Love Child.” It’s a stunning performance and a great way to close out Red Dirt Boogie.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Tragically, by the end of the ‘70s, Davis’s personal demons would catch up with him and the guitarist spent much of the decade of the ‘80s battling addiction to drugs and alcohol before his death by overdose at the too-young age of 43 years old. Davis had resurfaced during the mid-‘80s, playing with Native American poet and activist John Trudell as part of the Graffiti Band, but his meager back catalog of solo work has gone in-and-out-of-print frequently through the years and has been hard to find by any measure.
Real Gone’s Red Dirt Boogie collection does a fine job of rescuing this underrated talent from obscurity, preserving Davis’s solo work and placing it in context with informative liner notes by noted writer and producer Pat Thomas. Davis wasn’t the most accomplished singer, his voice sounding like a cross between Leon Russell and Randy Newman – except grittier – but he did a fine job in conveying heart and soul in his material. While he also wasn’t the most gifted songwriter, Davis’s lyrics nevertheless told heartfelt stories forged from his personal experience. Where Jesse Ed really shined was with his phenomenal six-string skills, which provided energy and life to every performance. Davis is an artist worth rediscovery, Red Dirt Boogie an invaluable collection of ‘70s-era roots ‘n’ blues music. Grade: B (Real Gone Music, released June 9, 2017)
Before Bruce Springsteen, before the Misfits, even before Bon Jovi, a little band by the name of the Rascals were New Jersey’s favorite rock ‘n’ roll sons. Formed in 1965 by singer Eddie Brigati, keyboardist Felix Cavaliere, guitarist Gene Cornish, and drummer Dino Danelli and originally known as ‘The Young Rascals’ (to avoid a naming conflict with another group), three of the band’s four members were already music biz veterans at the time, making their bones as members of Joey Dee and the Starliters, best known for their 1961 hit “Peppermint Twist.”
As the Young Rascals, the band made its first television appearance on the popular Hullabaloo TV show, performing their debut single “I Ain’t Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore,” an ahead-of-its-time rocker with no little soul that would become a modest hit in Canada but stall out at #52 on the U.S. charts. The band fared much better with their second single release, the chart-topping classic “Good Lovin’,” an upbeat rocker with hot git licks, gang vocals, and an infectious radio-ready melody; both songs would later appear on their self-titled 1966 debut album, which would rise to #15 on the charts.
Emboldened by their success recording other people’s material, the songwriting duo of Brigati and Cavaliere began cranking out their own original Top 20 hits: “You Better Run,” a swaggering slab of rock ‘n’ roll with raging keyboards; the soul-drenched “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long;” the laid-back “Groovin’,” which topped the charts, its languid groove (sorry) unlike anything else on the radio at the time; the lofty, popish “A Girl Like You;” and “How Can I Be Sure,” another pop-based confection with complex orchestration; all charting over a period of roughly eighteen months. The band’s R&B influenced, blue-eyed soul sound was not dissimilar to that of contemporaries the Box Tops (with Alex Chilton) but their willingness to experiment with jazzy elements and Latin influences would put them a step ahead of their competitors for chart position.
The Rascals’ The Complete Singles A’s & B’s
The Young Rascals were more than a mere singles band, however, as their first three albums also charted Top 20, with Groovin’ – fueled by the LP’s hit title track – rising as high as #5 on the charts. The band dropped the ‘Young’ from their name with the November 1967 release of the single “It’s Wonderful” and its accompanying album, the Top 10 Once Upon A Dream, known thereafter as simply ‘The Rascals.’ Their chart dominance continued through the end of 1968 with songs like the charming “A Beautiful Morning,” which featured gorgeous group harmonies; “A Ray of Hope,” a Curtis Mayfield-styled, mid-tempo soul tune in pop trappings; and the socially-conscious, chart-topping “People Got To Be Free,” which offered another great sing-along chorus punctuated by jazzy horns.
But cracks were beginning to develop in the band’s facade as their drift towards a more psychedelic sound that began with the Once Upon A Dream album continued with the two-LP concept set Freedom Suite, the band’s last Top 20 charting album. From 1969 onwards, Rascals’ singles like the gospel-tinged “Heaven,” with its nimble vocals and washes of church organ; the feverish “See,” an up-tempo psych-rocker with lively instrumentation; and “Carry Me Back,” with its honky-tonk piano-pounding and barroom vocals, all experienced diminishing commercial returns. Unfairly, by 1970 the band clearly couldn’t buy a hit, and singles like the muted “Glory Glory” (which suffered from bad production) and “Right On,” a cross between Southern rock and Memphis soul, failed to keep up with changing musical trends, although almost all of the band’s singles continued to sell better in Canada, where they had a loyal following. Brigati left the band in 1970 with Cornish following him out the door shortly after the 1971 release of Search and Nearness.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Rascals
Cavaliere essentially inherited the band at this point, pursuing a more eclectic jazz-flecked sound on albums like 1971’s Peaceful World and the following year’s The Island of Real, neither of which would break into the Top 100, the former yielding just one charting single with “Love Me,” the band’s Motown-styled return to its blue-eyed soul roots, while the latter album’s four single releases failed to chart altogether. Cavaliere would subsequently break up the band and pursue a solo career with modest success. The inevitable reunions would follow, with the Rascals inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and Brigati and Cavaliere inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
Real Gone Music’s The Complete Singles A’s & B’s is a two-disc set that delivers exactly what the title promises, compiling every single release by the Rascals, 47 songs in total, including Spanish and Italian language versions of the monster hit “Groovin’,” which may be one too many for most folks. From the gem that is 1965’s “I Ain’t Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore,” which has since been covered by artists like Southside Johnny, Angel, and the Jackson 5, to 1972’s “Jungle Walk,” an early entry into the funk sweepstakes sporting a jumpin’ groove, low-slung rhythms, and shuffling fretwork, The Complete Singles A’s & B’s captures the best of the Rascals. There’s a lot to like about the lesser-known B-sides as well, like the band’s rockin’ 1966 cover of the standard “Mustang Sally” or 1971’s “Saga of New York,” its driving rhythms and instrumental urgency a good three to five years ahead of its time.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Although the Rascals enjoyed a great deal of success with their album releases, which provided the songwriting duo of Brigati and Cavaliere room to stretch out musically beyond the constraints of the three-minute radio-friendly format, there can be no argument that the Rascals were the consummate rock ‘n’ roll singles band. The Rascals placed nine songs in the Top 20 over a two-year period, and it should come as no surprise that the 1968 compilation Time Peace: The Rascals’ Greatest Hits was their only chart-topping album.
Real Gone’s The Complete Singles A’s & B’s offers a chronological document of the Rascals’ evolution as rock ‘n’ roll innovators, with more than a few treasures hidden between the band’s better-known tracks. The set includes lengthy liner notes and some rare, very cool photos of various singles’ picture sleeves. Altogether, this is the set that Rascals fans have deserved for quite some time, as well as a gateway to their full-length albums for the casual or new listener. For a few years in the late ‘60s, no other band in rock ‘n’ roll could touch the Rascals, and The Complete Singles A’s & B’s shows why. Grade: A (Real Gone Music, released March 3, 2017)
To be honest, I bought the debut album by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes purely on the basis of the singer’s association with Bruce Springsteen and “Miami” Steve Van Zandt. I had witnessed Springsteen perform live for the first time in early 1976 and was ready to put down serious coin for anything that had Bruce’s name on it. When Southside Johnny’s I Don’t Want To Go Home was released that summer, I quickly snatched up a copy – produced by Van Zandt and featuring a pair of songs written, but never recorded by Springsteen – the album promised more of what I loved about Born To Run.
Putting the needle to the vinyl, however, it was obvious that I Don’t Want To Go Home was something else entirely. Evincing a fierce R&B groove – something, as a Four Tops and Motown junkie, I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with – Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes captured lightning in a bottle with their debut album and won themselves a lifelong fan. The band would go on to record two more albums with Van Zandt on the board (and providing songs) – 1977’s This Time It’s For Real and 1978’s Hearts of Stone – all three released by Epic Records. When none of the three albums managed to achieve even a fraction of Springsteen’s enormous sales, the band was dropped by the label and subsequently signed by Mercury Records, for whom they would subsequently record a pair of studio albums and a much acclaimed live LP.
Southside Johnny’s The Fever: The Remastered Epic Recordings
Real Gone Music’s The Fever: The Remastered Epic Recordings is a two-disc set comprised of those first three classic albums by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, digitally remastered for the first time since their original release on CD back in the early 1990s. The 40 song set also includes the rare single version of the band’s “Havin’ A Party” and offers the first appearance on CD of the ten-track 1976 promotional LP Jukes Live at the Bottom Line, a premium-priced collectors’ item on vinyl. The title track of I Don’t Want To Go Home, written by Van Zandt, is the pure distillation of the 1950s and ‘60s-era influences shared by Miami Steve, Springsteen, and Southside Johnny Lyon. The frontman’s vocals soar above crescendos of sound, the song’s orchestration perfectly accompanying Lyon’s wistful, emotional heartbreak vocals. It’s one of the greatest romantic songs of the ‘70s and I’ll fight anybody who’d argue otherwise.
Much of the rest of I Don’t Want To Go Home follows a similar blueprint – an inspired mix of raw bar band rhythm and blues and soul-drenched rock ‘n’ roll, Lyon’s powerful vocals a perfect fit with Van Zandt’s expansive production and the Jukes’ immense musical chops. A cover of the great Solomon Burke’s “Got To Get You Off My Mind” is a brassy, old-school mid-tempo R&B barn-burner with big horns and bigger aspirations while the band’s take on Steve Cropper’s Memphis soul classic “Broke Down Piece of Man” rocks with reckless abandon, Lyon’s and Van Zandt’s intertwined vocals driven by the rich instrumentation.
Havin’ A Party with the Asbury Jukes
The original songs on I Don’t Want To Go Home are where Southside Johnny and gang really shine, though. Springsteen’s “The Fever” has since taken on a larger-than-life reputation, and while it’s a fine example of smoldering R&B roots with a fiery Southside Johnny vocal performance and lush instrumental backing, this humble scribe prefers “You Mean So Much To Me.” A duet with the ‘60s girl-group icon Ronnie Spector, their “sweet and sour” vocals work so damn well together as the Miami Horns deliver just the right amount of momentum behind the locomotive instrumentation and Billy Rush’s frenetic guitar solo. Van Zandt’s “Sweeter Than Honey” incorporates 1960s and ‘70s era soul influences in the creation of a joyful noise.
Although the Jukes’ live cover of Sam Cooke’s classic “Havin’ A Party” achieved little or no chart action when released as a single, it’s an infectious rave-up delivered with great heart and no little soul. Starting with a cappella vocals, the band kicks in and everybody adds their voices to a truly magnificent performance. This Time It’s For Real offered more of the same as the Jukes’ debut, but with a lesser reliance on cover tunes and more original songs from producer Van Zandt, who wrote five of the album’s ten songs, co-writing three others with Springsteen. The results were only slightly disappointing considering the high bar set by I Don’t Want To Go Home, but in hindsight are certainly no less entertaining.
This Time It’s For Real
The Van Zandt-penned title track is a busy, full-bodied R&B rave-up with the horns sunk in the background of the mix and a greater emphasis placed on the vocals and rhythmic foundation. On the first of two cover songs on the album, Aretha Franklin’s “Without Love” (co-written by the great Ivory Joe Hunter), Lyon delivers a stunning, soulful performance full of nuance and emotion while the swells of backing orchestration provide a fitting canvas for his vocals. Keyboardist Kevin Kavanaugh was the Jukes’ secret weapon, and his understated piano here adds layers of sophistication alongside the cascading percussion.
This Time It’s For Real included more guest stars than the debut album, R&B greats like the Five Satins and the Coasters provided a studio payday by mega-fan Van Zandt. The Drifters’ contributions to “Little Girl So Fine” are pure magic, however, their backing harmonies reminiscent of the band’s 1950s-era hits like “Dance With Me” and “There Goes My Baby.” Lyon acquits himself nicely here as well, his lovely throwback vocals accompanied by swooning horns. Van Zandt’s “I Ain’t Got The Fever No More” is a sort of response to Springsteen’s “The Fever” from the debut, the defiant lyrics shrug off a love gone wrong. “Love On The Wrong Side of Town” is built on the blueprint of the debut LP, Van Zandt mimicking Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” production style with waves of smothering instrumentation. As the horns mournfully mark the end of love, Lyon’s pathos-drenched vocals provide a tsunami of emotion.
Jukes Live at the Bottom Line
To be honest, I’ve been slightly underwhelmed by this long-lost Jukes’ performance revealed for the first time on CD, Jukes Live at the Bottom Line not nearly as dynamic or electrifying as 1981’s Live: Reach Up and Touch the Sky. It seems more reserved, not as joyfully raucous as the live set that would come five years later, and the album’s lackluster, flat production obviously points to a dearth of any original interest by the label in releasing the set commercially. That’s not to say that it’s entirely a bust, though – Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes on a bad night are still better than nearly any other band at their best. Recorded in 1976 and released exclusively to radio to promote the band’s debut album, the Jukes didn’t have anywhere near the number of original songs that they would in 1981 (with five more LPs under their belts).
Still, the show’s inclusion here is fitting, and tracks like the soaring “Without Love,” which sports a snappy brass section, lovelorn vox by Southside Johnny, and a fine guitar solo by the underrated Billy Rush, or the non-album track “Snatchin’ It Back,” a cover of a Clarence Carter hit which evokes a rowdy Stax Records/Memphis soul sound, are provided inspired performances. A reading of British songwriter Mark London’s “Little by Little” transforms the song into a Chicago blues rave-up while Springsteen’s “The Fever” is similarly turned a dark hue of blue, introduced by Lyon’s warbling harp and jumping into a claustrophobic, lusty performance. The aforementioned duet with Ronnie Spector, “You Mean So Much To Me,” is ramped up and amped up with wailing horns and a frenetic delivery that bolsters the overall impact of the song.
Hearts of Stone
Hearts of Stone, the last of the Van Zandt-produced Epic Records trilogy, is widely – and wisely – considered the gem of the Asbury Jukes’ catalog. Shooting for the proverbial brass ring, Lyon and his monster eleven-piece band tossed aside the obscure R&B cover tunes and further reduced the Springsteen-written content in order to establish an identity of their own aside from ‘The Boss.’ Van Zandt wrote the bulk of the songs on Hearts of Stone with an eye towards better utilizing the Jukes’ talents, including the incredibly flexible vocals of frontman SSJ. As such, there are only three Springsteen-penned tracks here – the classic title track, the strutting “Talk To Me,” and the emotionally-powerful “Trapped Again,” co-written with Van Zandt and Lyon. The results were nothing short of spectacular, a timeless amalgam of traditional R&B and streetwise rock ‘n’ roll that sounds as good today as it did nearly 40 years ago.
The breathless heartbreak of “This Time Baby’s Gone For Good” provides a lot of angst for Lyon to chew on, his mournful vocals firmly in a blues tradition but supported by an old-school rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack and a finely-crafted brass performance. The song’s complex instrumental arrangement serves to heighten the emotion of the lyrics, providing a concrete foundation for Lyon’s vocal gymnastics. The hauntingly beautiful title track is cut from similar cloth, with Van Zandt’s transcendent guitar licks offering a tearful counterpoint to what is, perhaps, Lyon’s best ever vocal performance. Springsteen’s tortured lyrics provide the fuel, but it’s Lyon’s weary, yearning voice that lifts the song to greatness. By contrast, “Trapped Again” is more instrumentally buoyant, but Lyon’s soaring vox capture the desperation and emotion of the lyrics. Van Zandt’s “Light Don’t Shine” closes Hearts of Stone, the song a departure from the album’s previous fare, with rich instrumentation and an almost ballad-styled vocal delivery, but with no little emotion to be found between the lines in what is essentially a dirge for a love lost.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes may never escape from the lengthy shadow cast over the band due to their early association with Bruce Springsteen, but Lyon and his long-enduring crew have persevered to the present day, touring constantly across the U.S. and Europe and releasing the occasional gem of a record like 2015’s Soultime! With these first three Epic Records albums, however, the band managed to introduce itself to Springsteen’s expanding audience and evolve a musical identity all its own within the space of, basically, two years and change.
By collecting these precious recordings in one place, The Fever: The Remastered Epic Recordings is both a fine introduction to the vastly underrated band’s early days as well as a welcome reminder of just how damn good Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were at their peak: as tight as a fist, but as smooth as a velvet glove. Grade: A+ (Real Gone Music, released March 3, 2017)
Although he’s not a household name, chances are that you’ve heard Native American guitarist Jesse Ed Davis playing on one of your favorite records, Davis an in-demand session player and touring musician during the 1970s. Originally a member of country music legend Conway Twitty’s band, Davis went in an entirely different direction as he became an integral part of roots ‘n’ blues music legend Taj Mahal’s band, playing on Mahal’s first three albums and making a guest appearance with Mahal on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.
Davis was introduced to session work by Leon Russell, then a member of the loose-knit L.A. ‘Wrecking Crew’ collective of studio players. Davis lent his six-string talents to albums by David Cassidy, Gene Clark (The Byrds), Willie Nelson, John Lee Hooker and others, his instrumental fluency in rock, blues, jazz, and country music making him an invaluable player at any session. Davis also played alongside Leon Russell during Bob Dylan’s performance of “Watching the River Flow” at the Concert for Bangladesh, later accompanying George Harrison during his set.
Davis launched his solo career with a 1971 Atco Records release titled Jesse Davis which featured high-powered guests like Russell, Eric Clapton, Gram Parsons, Merry Clayton, and Alan White (Yes), among others. Two critically-acclaimed albums would follow in quick succession – Ululu in 1972 (released by Atco) and Keep Me Comin in 1973 (recorded for CBS), – after which Davis retreated back into session work, his talents shining on albums like Leonard Cohen’s Death of a Ladies’ Man and John Lennon’s Walls and Bridges as well as LPs by folks like Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Tracy Nelson (Mother Earth), Donovan, and Dion.
By the end of the decade, though, Davis’s demons caught up to him, and he spent much of the 1980s battling addictions to drugs and alcohol. Davis resurfaced in the mid-‘80s, playing with Native American poet and activist John Trudell as part of the Graffiti Band. Sadly, Davis fell victim to an apparent overdose in June 1988 at the young age of 43 years. In spite of his status as a legendary session musician and solo artist, Davis’s meager catalog of solo work has been out-of-print for years. On June 2nd, 2017 Real Gone Music will correct this egregious oversight with the release of Jesse Ed Davis’s Red Dirt Boogie – The Atco Recordings 1970-1972. Featuring 17 tracks from Davis’s two of Atco Records albums as well as a pair of unreleased alternate takes, Red Dirt Boogie was re-mastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision.
The set also includes liner notes by writer Pat Thomas and rare photos from the Atco Records archives. The timing for rediscover of Jesse Ed Davis’s talents couldn’t be better, as the release of Red Dirt Boogie coincides with the guitarist’s appearance in the new documentary film Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World which explores the forgotten role of Native American musicians in popular music and also includes the Band’s Robbie Robertson and John Trudell. For long-suffering Davis fans, though, it will be nice to have these performances back on CD after better than a decade off the shelves.
The good folks at Real Gone Music have announced their April releases and there are a couple of real ear-grabbers on the list that will certainly be of interest to That Devil Music.com readers. The first is a long-overdue, first time release of the obscure debut album by folk-rocker Marc Jonson, the other a dive into the archive of rock ‘n’ roll legends Cheap Trick, curated by none other than the band’s beloved drummer Bun E. Carlos.
Characterized as a lost psych-folk/baroque pop masterpiece, singer/songwriter Marc Jonson was signed to the legendary Vanguard Records label when he recorded his self-produced 1972 debut album Years. Compared to such critically-acclaimed recordings as Tim Buckley’s Goodbye & Hello and Phil Ochs’ Pleasures of the Harbor, Jonson’s Years featured his stellar poetic songs and a lush psychedelic-drenched pop soundtrack.
For whatever reason, Years slipped into the dustbin of history, and hasn’t been reissued or even bootlegged on CD or LP during the ensuing years. Luckily, Marc Jonson himself didn’t suffer a similar fate – rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon recorded three of Jonson’s songs for his 1981 RCA Records album Are You Gonna Be The One. As Jonson’s status as a songwriter grew, artists as diverse as the Roches, Dave Edmunds, Paul Butterfield, Suzanne Vega, Willie Nile, and the Smithereens, among others, would record his songs.
Real Gone’s CD April 21st, 2017 reissue of Years offers four bonus tracks, including a non-album single, “Coming To Boston,” and the original 7” single mixes of “Rainy Dues,” “Mother Jane” and “Fly” for a total of thirteen tracks altogether on the CD. Jonson's Years was produced for reissue by Pat Thomas and re-mastered from the original tapes by John Baldwin and includes rare vintage photos and an interview with Jonson by writer Steve Simels.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Cheap Trick should need no introduction, the band rolling off nearly two-dozen studio and live albums since its formation in 1973, including such smashes as 1978’s Cheap Trick at Budokan (peaking at #4 on the charts on its way to three million flapjacks sold), 1979’s Dream Police (#6 on the charts, Platinum™ sales), and 1988’s Lap of Luxury (#16 on the charts, Platinum™ sales). On April 28th, 2017 Real Gone will release The Epic Archives, Vol. 1 (1975-1979), an 18-track compilation of Cheap Trick rarities, demos, and unreleased live tracks chosen for the CD by original band drummer Bun E. Carlos.
The Epic Archives, Vol. 1 (1975-1979) includes three demo songs (“Come On, Come On,” “Southern Girls,” and “Taxman, Mr. Thief”) recorded by Cheap Trick in 1975 at the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis (where Big Star made its magic) before the band had a record deal. Three studio outtakes circa 1976-77 and produced by Jack Douglas are included, as are live versions of “You’re All Talk” and “Goodnight” from 1977, a couple of instrumentals, promo-only tracks, and other goodies that should keep the true Cheap Trick fans up at night listening to the stereo.
The compilation was produced by Tim Smith and re-mastered by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios in New York and includes cool new photos as well as song-by-song comments by Carlos as transcribed for this release by noted writer Ken Sharp.
Our friends at Real Gone Music have announced their slate of new releases for March 2017 and there’s a heck of a lot to like here for fans of old-school rock ‘n’ soul, including collections from the Rascals, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, and acclaimed cult rockers Artful Dodger, all of which are scheduled for release on March 3, 2017.
The Rascals (originally known as the ‘Young Rascals’) are one of the tragically overlooked bands of the 1960s. Working with engineer Tom Dowd and arranger Arif Mardin, the band – which included singer/keyboardist Felix Cavaliere, singer Eddie Brigati, guitarist Gene Cornish, and drummer Dino Danelli – racked up a string of 19 charting singles, including a trio of #1 hits, as well as five Top 20 albums. Despite the band’s success and reputation as the “U.S. Beatles,” there has never been a comprehensive Rascals singles collection, due in part to the band having recorded for both Atlantic Records and Columbia Records.
Real Gone has cut through the red tape to compile The Complete Singles A’s & B’s, a two-disc, 47 song compilation that offers the A and B-sides of every singles the Rascals ever released. All the goodies are here, including “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore,” “Good Lovin’,” “Groovin’,” and “People Got To Be Free.” The band’s early hits are offered in their original mono single mixes (representing 28 of the set’s 47 songs), later songs in their stereo single mixes. Writer Ed Osborne has penned a 4,500 word essay for the CD booklet that includes exclusive quotes from Cavaliere, Brigati, and Cornish and features rare photos, including European picture sleeves. The set was remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision and represents the first, and definitive career-spanning collection from this too-frequently-overlooked blues-eyed soul hit machine.
Southside Johnny Lyon and his band the Asbury Jukes were signed to Epic Records on the strength of their connections to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s ‘Miami’ Steve Van Zandt. Produced by Van Zandt and including songs written by Miami Steve and ‘The Boss’ alongside R&B and rock ‘n’ roll gems from Ray Charles, Solomon Burke, and Steve Cropper, Southside Johnny’s 1976 debut, I Don’t Want To Go Home, has long since come to be considered a classic of blue-eyed soul. Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes would record three albums for Epic, including 1977’s This Time It’s For Real and 1978’s Hearts of Stone, experiencing modest commercial success along with widespread critical acclaim.
As part of Real Gone’s March slate, the label is releasing the two-disc, 40 song The Fever – The Remastered Epic Recordings, which includes the aforementioned trio of Southside Johnny studio albums as well as the rare 1976 promotional album Jukes Live at the Bottom Line, which has never been released on CD before. The albums have been remastered from the original master tapes by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios in New York and includes new liner notes by Chris Morris that include new quotes from Southside Johnny as well as Springsteen’s original liner notes for I Don’t Want To Go Home. Springsteen contributed a bunch of great songs for his friend to sing, including “The Fever,” “Love On The Wrong Side of Town,” “Trapped Again,” and “Hearts of Stone.” Van Zandt produced all four albums, and contributed several songs himself including “I Ain’t Got The Fever No More,” “Some Things Just Don’t Change,” and “This Time Baby’s Gone For Good.” The set includes special guests like Ronnie Spector, the Coasters, the Drifters, and the Five Satins.
Artful Dodger was another underrated 1970s-era outfit, power-pop pioneers that recorded three albums for Columbia Records in the mid-to-late-‘70s that weren’t dissimilar to music being made by contemporaries the Raspberries or Blue Ash. The band included singer Billy Paliselli, guitarists Gary Herrewig and Gary Cox, bassist Steve Cooper, and drummer Steve Brigida. Noted producer Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, Cheap Trick) worked with the band for its 1975 self-titled debut and the following year’s Honor Among Thieves while Eddie Leonetti (Angel, Moxy) produced Artful Dodger’s 1977 swansong, Babes On Broadway. None of the band’s albums made the charts and, deeming them lacking in commercial potential, the label dropped the band. Artful Dodger would go on to make one more album for Ariola Records in 1980 before breaking up.
The band’s back catalog has been represented sporadically during the CD era, with reissues of the first two albums rapidly going out of print while Babes On Broadway has never been released on CD. Real Gone will satisfy longtime Artful Dodger fans and newcomers alike with the March release of the band’s The Complete Columbia Recordings. The two-disc collection features all three of the band’s ‘70s-era albums for the label, as well as rare singles releases, 31 tracks in all remastered by Maria Triana at Battery Studios in New York. The set includes new liner notes by Ugly Things zine contributor Jeremy Cargill with new quotes from Steve Cooper and Steve Brigida as well as rare photos from the Columbia Records vaults. If you’re a power-pop fan and you haven’t heard Artful Dodger, with The Complete Columbia Recordings you have a chance to rediscover this long-lost and talented outfit.
Blues Hall of Fame inductee John Hammond is a giant of 20th century blues, a talented songster whose work has preserved countless blues, gospel, and folk tunes that otherwise might have disappeared from the great Americana songbook. The son of famed Columbia Records A&R legend John Hammond (who discovered Dylan and Springsteen and was an early champion of Delta bluesman Robert Johnson), the young Hammond began playing guitar in high school and dropped out of college to pursue his musical vision. Living in Greenwich Village in the early-to-mid-60s, Hammond hung around and made music with fellow travelers like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Duane Allman.
Hammond has released roughly three-dozen albums since his self-titled 1962 debut, including a critically-acclaimed collection of material by singer/songwriter Tom Waits, 2001’s Wicked Grin. Known as a skilled interpreter of song, Hammond possesses an enormous knowledge of, and deep insight into the material he performs. Signed to the venerable Vanguard Records label early in his career, Hammond recorded so much material during his initial sojourns into the studio that Vanguard was releasing albums long after he’d left the label. Mirrors is one such work, a Frankensteined-production that cuts ‘n’ pastes various performances but somehow comes together as a cohesive album. The original side one is entirely ‘electric,’ Hammond joined in the studio by friends like Charlie Musslewhite and a pre-Band Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm; side two is strictly ‘acoustic.’
John Hammond’s Mirrors
Hammond’s rowdy cover of Billy Boy Arnold’s ‘I Wish You Would” spanks the planks from note one. Jimmy Lewis’s fluid bass line opens the song, Musselwhite’s greasy harp jumps in soon thereafter as Hammond growls out the vox above as funky a rhythm as you’d hear in the mid-60s. Hammond’s guitar battles with Robertson’s while the greatest master of the Telecaster, Michael Bloomfield, toils away in the background on piano. Hammond’s take on the great T-Bone Walker’s “They Call It Stormy Monday” is workmanlike but, considering how often the tune’s been covered by literally everybody in the blues biz, Hammond’s languid vocals and subdued instrumentation seem rather lackluster by comparison.
Much more interesting is the unusual reading given Piedmont bluesman Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues.” Best known as performed by the Allman Brothers Band, Hammond’s spry take pre-dates Duane Allman’s by a half-decade and has a decidedly rockabilly tint that features guitarists Billy Butler and James Sprull chicken-pickin’ joyfully behind Hammond’s twangy vocals. A cover of Mose Allison’s “I Just Got Here” stands at the crossroads of the Delta blues and big city jazz, and Hammond’s gruff vocals slip and slide across Barry Goldberg’s minimalist keyboard riffs.
Traditional Acoustic Blues
A full-band version of Robert Johnson’s “Traveling Riverside” closes out the album’s ‘electric’ side with a bang, the rhythm section of bassist Lewis and drummer Helm laying down a locomotive groove atop which Hammond’s roaring vocals and Musselwhite’s raging harp dance alongside Robertson’s nimble fretwork. The ‘acoustic’ side of Mirrors offers just Hammond and his guitar, an engaging pairing that delves deeply into the traditional acoustic blues that Hammond adores. A pair of Johnson’s songs open the side, slow-burning “Stones In My Passageway” provided ethereal vocals and haunting guitar, effectively capturing the original emotion of the Delta blues classic.
A cover of Johnson’s “Walking Blues” is more upbeat, with Hammond’s gritty vocals and aggressive, percussive guitarplay providing a (then) contemporary sheen to the muddy Delta gem. “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” is a Rev. Gary Davis song, done up nicely here with some elegant fretwork and reverent vocals effectively mixing blues and gospel and taking the song dangerously close to Son House’s darkly-emotional turf. Casual blues fans all know Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was The Night,” but they don’t know that he had a much deeper songbook of blues and gospel treasures. Hammond tackles Johnson’s “Motherless Willie Johnson” (a/k/a “Motherless Children”), his reading differing greatly from Eric Clapton’s better-known cover, the song performed here with reckless abandon that successfully channels the original’s emotional energy.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Released by Real Gone for the first time on CD, in many ways Mirrors is the ‘long lost’ John Hammond album. Longtime fans will be glad to rediscover this obscure gem from Hammond’s bulky catalog, and newcomers will enjoy a unique blues talent. Although Hammond’s vocals sometimes lapse into parody (at least by modern standards), his reverence for the material is undeniable.
Overall, I’d rank the ‘acoustic’ side better than the ‘electric’ side, if only because of the singer’s rapt fascination for the material which is apparent in the performances. A handful of the ‘electric’ songs really rock, presaging the blues-rock blueprint that would also be followed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s. Bottom line – if you’re a traditional blues fan, what are you waiting for? Grab yourself a copy of John Hammond’s Mirrors. Grade: B+ (Real Gone Music, released October 7, 2016)
Our friends at Real Gone Music have announced their February slate of new releases and it includes a couple of goodies for classic rock fans – Delaney & Bonnie and Friends’ Motel Shot and Jim Kweskin’s Relax Your Mind – both of which are scheduled for February 3, 2017 release by the archive label.
Delaney & Bonnie and Friends already had a pretty solid reputation by the time of the 1971 release of Motel Shot. Albums like 1969’s Home and 1970’s To Bonnie From Delaney featured an earthy proto-Americana sound that mixed Southern rock, Memphis soul, blues, and country music that few other bands were offering at the time. The talented members of Delaney & Bonnie’s band provided musicians for both Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour and Eric Clapton’s Derek and the Dominoes.
Motel Shot was the fourth studio album by Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett, the title referring to the band’s frequent ‘after hours’ jams back in the room after a show. The sessions for the album originally were held in engineer Bruce Botnick’s living room, where several songs were recorded for possible release by Elektra Records. When the deal went bad, the project moved to Atco Records, the Bramlett’s former label, which had the band re-record the material in a proper studio. It was this second version that was originally released on vinyl by the label, and the album has only ever been released on CD in 2003 in Japan.
After many hours of tape research, co-producers Bill Inglot and Pat Thomas dug up the original “living room” sessions by Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, the eight previously-unreleased tracks appearing for the first time on Real Gone’s expanded edition release of Motel Shot (almost doubling the amount of great music!). A fine collection of acoustic performances, the album features elements of gospel, folk, and R&B alongside the band’s usual roots-rock sound, and it includes “friends” like singer Joe Cocker, guitarists Duane Allman and Dave Mason, and keyboardist Leon Russell alongside band members Bobby Keys (sax), drummer Jim Keltner (drums), and Kenny Gradney (bass). Motel Shot has been re-mastered by Inglot and features an essay by Thomas that includes quotes from Bonnie Bramlett, Bobby Whitlock, Bruce Botnik, and Jac Holzman of Elektra Records.
Guitarist Jim Kweskin is one of the unsung heroes of the early ‘60s folk scene. Based in the Boston area, Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band recorded a pair of critically-acclaimed albums for Vanguard Records – 1963’s Unblushing Brassiness and 1965’s Jug Band Music – that featured talents like guitarist Geoff Muldaur, harmonica player Mel Lyman, and singer Maria Muldaur. Kweskin himself was a skilled and underrated six-string stylist, performing in the fingerpicking style of bluesmen like Blind Boy Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt.
Kweskin stepped away from the Jug Band to release a 1965 solo album, Relax Your Mind, the guitarist accompanied only by Jug Band members Lyman on harmonica and washtub bass player Fritz Richmond. A less raucous but no less inspired effort than his Jug Band recordings, Relax Your Mind delved into folk standards as well as blues, gospel, and African music with a nuanced, stripped-down sound. The album was compiled from two sessions, one an impromptu jam in the Vanguard Records studios and the rest taken from a live performance recorded at Cambridge’s Club 47 a year previous.
Lyman’s stream-of-consciousness liner notes from the original LP are included on this Real Gone Music CD reissue, which also features quotes from Kweskin himself. Relax Your Mind has been re-mastered by engineer Mike Milchner at SonicVision studios and appears on CD for the first time (as far as I can tell).
There’s no shortage of live recordings available from prog-rock pioneers Soft Machine. Even for a band that changed its line-up of musicians like a lot of people change their socks, there’s likely a Soft Machine live disc for just about any incarnation of the band you care to hear. Live at the Paradiso, scheduled for February 3, 2017 release on vinyl by Real Gone Music, captures the band as a three-piece featuring bassist Hugh Hopper, drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt, and keyboardist Mike Ratledge.
Live at the Paradiso showcases a band kicking out the jams in a true sonic assault; in the liner notes Hopper recalls “I do remember playing incredibly loud, Mike on fuzz organ and me on fuzz bass, both through hundred-watt Marshall amps.” The tracklist features material from the band’s upcoming album Volume Two, released roughly six months after this March 1969 performance and created by the same band roster. This live set has been widely bootlegged and was originally released on CD in 1995 (reissued in 2015) and on vinyl, briefly, in 2002. Real Gone Music is reissuing Live at the Paradiso as a limited edition of 1,000 copies on “soft” purple vinyl, so collectors – start saving your pennies!
Soft Machine was formed in 1966 on Canterbury, England by Wyatt and Ratledge with guitarists Daevid Allen and Kevin Ayers. This is the line-up that recorded the band’s astounding 1968 self-titled debut LP, which featured a ground-breaking mix of psychedelic rock and free-jazz which served as a precursor to both progressive rock and jazz-fusion in the 1970s. Originally known as ‘The’ Soft Machine (the definitive dropped a couple years later), the band was heavily involved in the early U.K. rock underground scene that revolved around London clubs like the UFO and the Speakeasy.
The band broke up in September 1968, but re-formed in December sans Ayers, who went on to pursue a successful solo career and Allen, whose visa problems stranded him in Paris, where he formed the equally-influential outfit Gong with partner Gilli Smyth and guitarist Steve Hillage. Soft Machine soldiered on with the addition of Hopper on bass, expanding their sound to include horns and strings on subsequent albums like 1970’s Third and 1971’s Fourth. Soft Machine would influence a generation of more successful prog-rock bands like King Crimson, Yes, and ELP. Live at the Paradiso captures the band near the peak of its creative excess, and would make a fine addition to the vinyl collection of any prog-rock fan.
Record Store Day’s November “Black Friday” event is rapidly becoming as big a deal as the original “Record Store Day” held every April. While there is a diverse selection of vinyl goodies available for purchase at your local indie retailer on Friday, November 25th, 2016 why not consider one of these daring releases from our friends at Real Gone Music?
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s sophomore effort East-West is now considered a classic blues-rock album, one upon which a lot of other musicians have built their own sound and careers. At the time of its release, though, East-West was a daring, adventuresome collection that grabbed the improvisational aspects of jazz and retro-fitted the concept to a Chicago blues framework. Featuring the raging harp play of frontman Butterfield, the band also boasted of two world class fretburners in guitarists Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, whose intertwined instruments broke through the barriers of blues tradition to soar into free-form jams with modal instrumental passages that were unlike anything previously heard in blues or rock ‘n’ roll.
Earlier this year, Real Gone released Got A Mind To Give Up Living – Live 1966, the first legit release of a legendary bootleg that captured the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in its full glory on the stage of Boston’s Unicorn Coffee House some 50 years ago, just prior to the release of East-West. The Reverend reviewed this live set back in July, and now Real Gone is making this longtime tape-traders’ favorite available for the very first time on vinyl.
This special “Black Friday” vinyl release adds four previously-unreleased songs that weren’t included on the CD, including red-hot covers of Percy Mayfield’s “Danger Zone” and the classic “In The Midnight Hour,” featuring the band’s bassist Jerome Arnold on vocals. With liner notes by Chris Morris that include new quotes from Bishop and keyboardist Mark Naftalin, as well as rare photos and re-mastered sound courtesy of Mike Milchner at SonicVision, Got A Mind To Give Up Living – Live 1966 will be released on “Butter” yellow and “Bloom” blue vinyl in a limited edition of 2,000 copies in a gatefold package.
The other notable “Black Friday” release from Real Gone Music is the return of the notorious The Psychedelic Experience LP to vinyl. In the mid-1960s, authors and psychedelic experimenters Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert (a/k/a “Ram Dass”) wrote The Psychedelic Experience, a groundbreaking 1964 book based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead that addressed themes of death and rebirth in the context of the use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD, psilocybin, and peyote. The three authors recorded an audio version of the book which was released by Broadside Records in 1966, the album proving to be a major influence on John Lennon of the Beatles, among many other musicians.
For the 50th anniversary of the original album’s release (it was reissued on CD in 2003 but has long been out-of-print), Real Gone is reissuing The Psychedelic Experience as a “Black Friday” exclusive as a limited edition of 1,700 copies on psychedelic magenta ‘splatter’ vinyl in a package that features the original album’s four-page insert and vintage album graphics. Look for both of these vinyl albums at your favorite vinyl sales location; check out the Real Gone Music website for more info.
Few artists in rock ‘n’ roll have displayed the influence of a restless muse more than musical chameleon Todd Rundgren. The talented singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist has dabbled with a lot of different sounds through his lengthy career, but few have been as influential and enduring as his pioneering prog-rock band Utopia. Formed in 1973 as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia (so named so as to take advantage of the frontman’s modest fame), within a couple of years the band had shed the Rundgren label and gelled around a line-up of Rundgren on guitar and vocals, bassist Kasim Sulton, keyboardist Roger Powell, and drummer Willie Wilcox. Utopia had also evolved into a true band effort, with all four members writing material, singing on the albums, and sharing production and engineering duties.
Utopia released two influential and critically-acclaimed albums in 1977 in Ra and Oops! Wrong Planet, the former being more prog-oriented, the latter evincing more of a pop sound. Touring constantly, Rundgren and Utopia performed in San Francisco on August 5th, 1978 at The Old Waldorf, a show that was captured on tape for posterity. Appearing on CD in England late last year as the first official release for the concert (which shouldn’t be confused with the KSAN-FM radio broadcast from 1979 at the same venue), Utopia's Live at the Old Waldorf presents an inspired mix of Todd’s solo work (“Black and White,” “Hello, It’s Me,” “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference”) and Utopia material such as “Trapped,” and “Abandon City.”
There has been a slate of semi-legit and authorized Rundgren and Utopia live discs released in the last couple of years, but few of these titles have appeared on vinyl. On December 2nd, 2016 the good people at Real Gone Music will release Utopia’s Live at the Old Waldorf as a limited edition double-LP set on glorious gold vinyl in a gatefold sleeve in a run of 1,000 copies. Featuring sixteen smokin’ performances spanning four sides, you can order your vinyl copy of Live at the Old Waldorf from Amazon.com or directly from the Real Gone Music website.
New Orleans musical icons, pioneers of funk, superb session players – the “mighty” Meters have worn a lot of hats through the years. Formed in 1965 by singer/keyboardist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr., and drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, the Meters were originally known as an instrumental outfit not dissimilar to Booker T. & the MG’s during their early years. During the early ‘70s they were joined by Art’s brother, percussionist and singer Cyril Neville (Royal Southern Brotherhood), and injected more group vocals into their genre-defining funk sound. The individual members of the Meters were instrumental virtuosos and much in demand in the recording studio, where the band served as producer Allen Toussaint’s de facto house band, playing on 1960s-era singles by Lee Dorsey, Chris Kenner, Betty Harris, among others.
The Meters also worked in the studio behind artists as diverse as Dr. John, Robert Palmer, Paul McCartney, and Labelle. It was with their own recordings, created with producers Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn, that the band would make its mark. Signed to Josie Records (which had previous hits with singles by the Cadillacs and Bobby Freeman), and later to Warner Brothers’ label subsidiary Reprise Records, the Meters recorded a string of singles which sold modestly but have outlived their chart positions to become treasured classics of American music. Real Gone’s A Message From The Meters is a two-disc set that collects all of the band’s domestic singles – A-and-B-Sides alike – released by Josie and Reprise/Warner, forty tracks total of red-hot funk. The Josie singles are presented in their original glorious mono mixes while the Reprise/Warner sides are in sizzling stereo.
The Meters’ A Message From The Meters
Truthfully, there were no ‘formative years’ for the Meters, the band’s studio experience and instrumental acumen allowing them to transcend their studio work and leap, fully formed, into a recording career with a sound and style entirely their own. Released by Josie Records, the Meters’ first single was the staggering “Sophisticated Cissy,” a languid, sub-three minute instrumental that, even as early as 1969, was built upon a girder-strength funky backbone atop which guitarist Leo Nocentelli embroidered his soulful rhythm guitar licks. The B-side, “Sehorns Farms,” is a low-key slab of steamy New Orleans-styled soul with jazzy undertones. How do you follow up a Top 30 R&B and pop chart hit like “Sophisticated Cissy”? With more of the same, of course…the Meters’ “Cissy Strut” was bolder and brasher than their debut, with an outstanding George Porter Jr. bass riff and foot-shuffling rhythms that drove the single to #4 on the R&B chart and #23 pop.
Although the Meters would never again score as high a pop chart position as they did with “Cissy Strut,” it wasn’t due to lack of effort, as their music would grow more effervescent and funky with each new single. Tunes like the slow-burning “Ease Back,” the keyboards-driven “Dry Spell,” and the sly, energetic “Look-Ka Py Py” would provide the Meters with a consistent R&B chart presence into the next decade. The raucous “Chicken Strut,” released in 1970, is a loose-limbed party track with lively fretwork, tongue-in-cheek lyrics (“just keep on struttin!”), and an anarchic groove so deep one could get lost in it. Another 1970 single release, “A Message from the Meters,” was one of the band’s first songs to feature harmony vocals riding atop the mesmerizing instrumentation, no doubt influencing the Isley Brothers’ work a few years later. With 1971’s “Good Old Funky Music” the band found its long sought-after formula, a dynamic mix of group vocals and chiming keyboards nestled behind an explosively funky wall o’ sound.
The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Bros. Singles 1968-1977
The Meters recorded three albums for Josie circa 1969-70 but when “Good Old Funky Music” became the first of the Meters’ singles that failed to chart, Art Neville left the band for almost a year and Josie Records folded soon thereafter. The band’s management secured a deal with Reprise Records, Neville rejoined the group, and the Meters would soon expand their popularity beyond the R&B charts to a receptive young rock ‘n’ roll audience. Singles were less important than full-length albums in the classic rock era of the ‘70s, and while the band released some red-hot sides throughout the decade, they seldom lit up the charts the way they had in the ‘60s. Part of it was due to the bigger recording budgets they enjoyed under the Reprise umbrella, which led to slicker, more sophisticated production by Toussaint and Sehorn that eliminated a lot of the band’s raw grit while focusing more on the groove. Another factor was the influence of rock ‘n’ roll on the band’s sound and the Meters’ more frequent use of vocals along with their instrumental jamming.
While the band recorded several outstanding albums during the decade – 1972’s Cabbage Alley (their Reprise label debut), 1974’s Rejuvenation, and their classic, 1975’s Fire On The Bayou – their chart fortunes suffered. Reprise kept sending out singles, though, and several of them are righteous efforts, indeed. The title track to Cabbage Alley offers a fluid groove with some funky rhythms, group vocals, and undeniable spirit; the song itself is an update on the legendary Professor Longhair’s “Hey Now Baby.” The infectious groove of “Hey Pocky A-Way” (#32 R&B) would make the song a bona fide New Orleans standard, the spry traditional performance built on barrelhouse-style piano-pounding and blazing horns. “People Say” offers a more deliberate rhythm, soulful vocals, and blasts of horn (skillfully arranged by Toussaint). Sadly, the Meters tried to capitalize on musical trends with the awful “Disco Is the Thing Today,” the less said about the better; listen instead to their cover of Earl King’s “Trick Bag,” which brings the band back to a funky sound they helped define.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Art and Cyril Neville left the Meters in 1977 after the release of the New Directions album to form the Neville Brothers. The band stumbled along for a couple more years, however, even performing on Saturday Night Live with a new singer before finally breaking up altogether in 1980. Modeliste toured with Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones as part of their New Barbarians crew, while Nocentelli and Porter tooled around in their own bands while also enjoying a second act as studio professionals. Various members would reform the band in the late ‘80s but they’d never again record as the Meters.
Still, the band’s musical legacy has long been etched in stone, their status as pioneers in funk, and their brilliant fusion of R&B, jazz and, later, rock music invaluable in creating the blueprint which bands like Funkadelic and Sly & the Family Stone would build upon. With a reputation as a dynamic, electrifying live outfit, the Meters sadly never broke through to the mainstream. As heard on the singles preserved on A Message From The Meters, however, the band’s influence extended beyond the charts to inspire artists as diverse as the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, and hometown favorites Galactic as well as many of the top hip-hop artists of the 1990s. This is where it all began, A Message From The Meters deserving of a place on your music shelf. Grade: B+ (Real Gone Music, released September 2, 2016)
Our friends at Real Gone Music have announced their October 2016 release slate and one title immediately jumped off the page at us – John Hammond’s Mirrors album, which will be reissued on October 7, 2016. Originally released in 1967 by Vanguard Records, it’s the last of the legendary bluesman’s 1960s-era albums for the label to be reissued on CD. Mirrors was pieced together with outtakes from previous sessions for earlier Hammond albums like Big City Blues and So Many Roads.
The two sides of the original vinyl album were divided between electric and acoustic blues performances, with the ‘electric’ side featuring talented friends like Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson of the band, Michael Bloomfield (playing piano), and harp wizard Charlie Musslewhite backing Hammond while the ‘acoustic’ side is just the singer and his guitar. The tracklist for Mirrors represents a literal playbook of blues and blues-rock standards, including tunes like “Statesboro Blues,” “Keys To The Highway,” and “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” that were later recorded by artists like B.B. King, John Mayall, the Allman Brothers Band, Derek & the Dominos, and the Grateful Dead, among others.
Hammond also put his skills to the test with covers of Robert Johnson’s “Traveling Riverside,” “Walking Blues,” and “Stones In My Passway.” The Real Gone reissue of Mirrors has been re-mastered for CD by engineer Joe Tarantino and features liner notes by writer and music historian Richie Unterberger including extensive quotes from Hammond. Check out the tracklist below and then order yourself a copy of Mirrors, a near-classic collection that’s been lost far too long!
John Hammond’s Mirrors track list:
1. I Wish You Would 2. They Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad) 3. Statesboro Blues 4. Keys to the Highway 5. I Just Got Here 6. Travelling Riverside 7. Stones in My Passway 8. Walking Blues 9. Death Don't Have No Mercy 10. Motherless Willie Johnson 11. When You Are Gone 12. Rock Me Mama 13. Get Right Church
The 1985 cult movie The Return of the Living Dead was a sort of ‘punk rock’ sequel to filmmaker George Romero’s classic horror film Night of the Living Dead. Loosely based on a novel by writer John Russo, who had co-written the screenplay for Night of the Living Dead, the quasi-sequel was written and directed by Dan O’Bannon, who added more period-appropriate gore as well as morbid “splatstick” humor to the original film’s formula. Made on a low budget of $4 million, The Return of the Living Dead grossed better than $14 million at the box office and spawned four sequels while becoming a classic of the horror genre while also launching the career of B-movie ‘Scream Queen’ Linnea Quigley.
The Return of the Living Dead is credited as the first horror film to feature zombies dining exclusively on brains rather than just lumbering along as cannibalistic flesh-eaters, a fine distinction to be sure, but one that has carried over into subsequent horror films as well as TV shows. Something else the movie was known for was its high-octane punk-rock soundtrack, one of the first movies to rely on the genre as its musical backdrop. On October 14, 2016 Real Gone Music will reissue The Return of the Living Dead soundtrack on vinyl in several limited-edition variations.
Originally released by Enigma Records, the film’s soundtrack included songs by psychobilly legends the Cramps, U.K. punk trailblazers the Damned, and ‘60s cult rocker Roky Erickson as well as tracks from the Flesh Eaters, 45 Grave, Tall Boys, Jet Black Berries, 45 Grave, and T.S.O.L. Sadly, the label shoehorned in two ridiculous tracks by SSQ, an electronic dance band featuring singer Stacey Q that the powers-that-be at Enigma seemed to be enamored of at the time.
The Real Gone vinyl reissues feature the album’s original cover and label artwork and will be released in four variations: a grey “Brainsss” version, a black and red starburst version (an indie record store exclusive), an orange and green starburst version (available only from FYE/Transworld stores), all in editions of 720 copies, and a glow-in-the-dark version of 500 copies available only through the Real Gone Music website. The Return of the Living Dead track list:
Side One 1. The Cramps – “Surfin’ Dead” 2. 45 Grave – “Partytime (Zombie Version)” 3. T.S.O.L. – “Nothing for You” 4. The Flesh Eaters – “Eyes Without A Face” 5. Roky Erickson – “Burn the Flames”
Side Two 1. The Damned – “Dead Beat Dance” 2. Tall Boys – “Take a Walk” 3. The Jet Black Berries – “Love Under Will” 4. SSQ – “Tonight (We’ll Make Love Until We Die)” 5. SSQ – “Trash’s Theme”
Our friends at Real Gone Music have released their September 2016 release schedule and let me tell you, brothers and sisters, they’re getting into the funk in a big way! First on the slate is a two-disc compilation covering the Crescent City’s favorite sons, the Meters. Scheduled for release on September 2, 2016 A Message From The Meters – The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Brothers Singles 1968-1977 is a forty-track monster that includes the A and B sides of every single released by the legendary band on the aforementioned record labels, providing the listener with a motherlode of great music! The set was re-mastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, the studio wizard working from the original master tapes for all but five of the singles…no mean feat considering the age of many of these tracks. Music historian Bill Dahl provides in-depth liner notes for the set that include quotes from Neville, Nocentelli, and Porter.
The Meters formed in 1965 with keyboardist and singer Art Neville up front, guitarist Leo Nocentelli shredding the strings, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste holding down the bottom end. Art’s younger brother Cyril (currently of the Royal Southern Brotherhood) joined the band in 1970. The Meters were musician, songwriter, and producer Allen Toussaint’s house band for his Sansu Records label, backing performers like Lee Dorsey and Dr. John, among many others, on a bunch of hits. The band released its self-titled, Toussaint-produced debut album in 1969, scoring a Top 30 single out of the box with the infectiously funky “Cissy Strut.” Mixing elements of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, and jazz with deep grooves and fluid rhythms, the Meters defined the sound of New Orleans funk.
An impressive slate of critically-acclaimed albums followed – 1970’s Look-Ka Py Py and Struttin’, 1972’s Cabbage Alley, 1974’s Rejuvenation, and what many consider the Meters’ best, 1975’s Fire On The Bayou. Real Gone’s A Message From The Meters includes classic tracks like the aforementioned “Cissy Strut,” “Sophisticated Cissy,” “Hey Pocky A-Way,” “Look-Ka Py Py,” and more, offered in their original versions. The Josie label singles are represented by the original mono singles mixes, most of which have never made their way onto CD (in fact, the first disc of A Message From The Meters is entirely in mono, with the Reprise/Warner Brothers label singles on disc two in stereo). Art and Cyril Neville left the band in 1977 after the release of the New Directions album to form the Neville Brothers, and the Meters officially broke up in 1980. They would later reunite in 1989, renaming themselves the Funky Meters, but the original band left behind eight albums, a slew of fine single releases, and an enormous musical legacy.
The roots of the Isley Brothers date back to the mid-1950s when teen brothers Vernon, O’Kelly Jr., Rudolph, and Ronald Isley were performing as a gospel quartet. A couple of years after Vernon’s tragic accidental death, the remaining trio moved to New York City and began to pursue a more secular sound, blending R&B and doo-wop with early rock ‘n’ roll. They scored their first hit in 1959 with the classic “Shout,” which peaked at a modest #47 on the charts before eventually going on to sell more than a million platters. Jumping from label to label, the trio enjoyed modest success with a handful of singles before scoring again with their first Top 20 hit, 1962’s “Twist and Shout.” Jimi Hendrix played with the Isleys for a while, contributing guitar to the 1964 single “Testify,” released by the brothers’ own T-Neck Records.
The Isley Brothers struggled throughout the 1960s, mixing Top 40 hits like “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)” for Motown with a number of near chart misses. The brothers resurrected their T-Neck label for the release of 1969’s “It’s Your Thing,” which included younger brother Ernie on bass. Mixing a little funk into their soulful sound, the song became a smash hit, topping the R&B chart and rising to #2 on the ‘Hot 100’ singles chart while earning the band a Grammy™ Award. The album by the same name rose to #22 on the pop chart, launching the Isley Brothers into the stratosphere. The singing trio added musical talent to the band with younger brothers Ernie (guitar) and Marvin Isley (bass) and brother-in-law Chris Jasper (keyboards). Throughout the ‘70s the band scored hit after hit with classic albums like 1973’s 3+3, 1974’s Live It Up, 1975’s The Heat Is On, 1976’s Harvest For The World, and 1977’s Go For Your Guns, among others.
With a string of chart successes behind them, the Isley Brothers decided in 1980 to record a live album. Rather than record a live performance with a mobile truck, however, the Isleys decamped to Bearsville Sound Studio in Woodstock, New York, recording the album live in the studio. The resulting effort – Groove with You…Live! – was enhanced with an overdubbed audience and introductions by MC “Gorgeous” George Odell to create a live album with pristine studio sound. However Columbia Records, which was distributing the band’s T-Neck Records releases, passed on the album preferring to wait for another studio disc, and the Isley’s Groove with You…Live! was shelved until 2015, when it was dusted off, remixed (removing the faux crowd noise), and included as part of an Isley Brothers retrospective box set.
The Isleys’ Groove with You…Live! was later released as a limited edition two-disc vinyl set with the audience noise re-inserted into the mix for Record Store Day 2015. On September 2, 2016 the album will finally see proper release on CD when Real Gone Music reissues Groove with You…Live! Offering up classic Isley Brothers hits like “Summer Breeze,” “That Lady,” “Fight The Power,” and “Take Me To The Next Phase” among its dozen tracks, the album was re-mastered by Mark Wilder and Chris Le Monde and features new liner notes by The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese which feature quotes from Ernie Isley and Chris Jasper. Call it the “long lost live” Isley Brothers album, Groove with You…Live! is an invaluable document by a legendary group and will appeal to any fan of vintage funk, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll.
