Singer, songwriter, and guitarist John Parker Compton co-founded the acoustic band APPALOOSA with violinist Robin Batteau in the late '60s. Both musicians had been heavily influenced by the folk scene in their hometown, Cambridge, MA. Compton got his start singing in a Cambridge church choir before he and Batteau began playing the coffeehouse circuit together.
As the 1972 press release for Compton's solo album, To Luna, tells it, John Compton showed up at producer Al Kooper's Columbia Records office in late 1968, hoping to show Kooper his songs. Uninterested, Kooper told the kid - Compton was 18 to come back some other time. But a little while later, Kooper came in on Compton and Batteau performing for the office secretaries. Won over, Kooper recorded their demo, and within a year the newly signed musicians had an album out, the self-titled debut from their group Appaloosa. Also including bassist David Reiser and cellist Eugene Rosov, Appaloosa was joined in the studios by members of Blood, Sweat & Tears, and by Kooper himself.
A year after Appaloosa's 1969 release - which was produced by Al Kooper on Columbia Records, a 19-year-old John Compton got to take the stage at Fillmore East the last weekend of December, along with the Allman Brothers, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Appaloosa soon gave way to a duo project of Compton & Batteau, and the two musicians recorded Compton & Batteau in California for Columbia. By 1971, Compton was on his own with a new LP, To Luna, but after this, it would be over 20 years before he returned to the studios. His return was marked by 1995's Mother of Mercy, which was followed by a six-song self-released recording of Compton on a Vermont radio station....
by Joslyn Layne
Tracks
1. Colano Sound - 4:00
2. Short Lands - 3:56
3. Lookout - 4:26
4. Verandas - 3:42
5. Maker - 5:50
6. Polinate The Blue - 4:29
7. Yorkshire Pines - 4:30
8. Hot Cross Buns - 2:40
9. Ona Find Me Home - 4:49
10.Leave My Casos In Laos - 5:15
11.Bob Dylan's Cap (Instrumental) - 6:42
12.I Like It - 3:19
13.The City Looks So Big - 2:47
14.Spaceride - 2:54
15.Sally Go 'round The Roses (Zell Sanders, Abner Spector) - 3:30
All compositions by John Parker Compton except track #15
Personnel
*John Compton - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Autoharp
*Harvey Brooks - Bass
*Billy Mundi - Drums
*Bill Elliot - Keyboards
*David Mowry - Acoustic Guitar
*Stu - Stand Up Bass
*Roland Dufault - Acoustic, Electric Guitar, Harmonica
Skip Griparis has flourished in many of the performing arts. After first studying piano and saxophone as a boy, he began his professional career while at Joliet West High School as a singer/guitarist in the first of a succession of top-rated pop/rock bands. Skip also found the time to work as an announcer at WJRC-AM Radio. Following high school, he continued his music studies at Joliet Junior College.
Soon Skip released his first album on Mercury Records as a member of Trilogy, a Joliet- based band that opened for such artists as Count Basie and Buddy Rich. Griparis also became a staff writer for United Artists Publishing, where he penned songs that have sold worldwide. Next, he joined Chicago's MCA recording artists New Colony Six. After a two-year stint, he left to sing and play in the Olivia Newton-John band, a position he held for four years. Skip performed with Olivia in a wide range of venues, including the Bu-Do Kan in Tokyo, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
After his tours with Newton-John ended, Griparis performed in several Joliet Drama Guild productions, and then completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater at Lewis University. He has acted in everything from professional world-premier productions to classic Shakespeare. His film and TV appearances include the role of Monte the colorman in the blockbuster hit movies Major League I and II.
Always looking for a new challenge, Skip combined his sense of humor with his music and acting skills to produce a satiric musical comedy act. In addition to performing numerous times at the Rialto Theater, he has headlined Dangerfield's in New York, Zanies in Chicago, and the Ice House in Los Angeles. A Chicago Tribune poll recognized Griparis as one of the top five comics in the country.
American classic rock band with folk shades, good vocal hamonies and excellent guitar with some psychedelic influences. They were from Chicago area but in their hearts they must have been from San Francisco.
Tracks
1. Red Wine (Skip Griparis) - 3:43
2. Thought (#1) (Skip Griparis) - 0:41
3. Three Blind Minds (Kevin McCann) - 3:35
4. The Royal Shut (Kevin McCann) - 2:57
5. Thought (#2) (Bob Wilson) - 0:21
6. Removing Myself (Bob Wilson) - 2:47
7. Thought (#3) (Kevin McCann) - 0:27
8. Goodbye Flying (Skip Griparis) - 3:13
9. I'm Beginning To Feel It (Bob Wilson) - 2:45
10.March 16th (My Closet Shelf) (Bob Wilson) - 2:58
11.Comin Up Soon (Skip Griparis) - 4:07
12.Thought (#4) (Kevin McCann) - 0:52
13.For An Occasion (After The Ball) (Kevin McCann) - 2:10
14.Trilogy For Carol (Bob Wilson) - 5:17
Trilogy
*Skip Griparis - Lead Guitar, Piano, Vocals,
*Kevin McCann - Guitar, Harmonica, Organ, Vocals,
*Bob Wilson - Lead Guitar, 12-String Guitar, Vocals With
*Bernie Pershey - Drums, Tabla
*Rick Barr - Drums
*Thom Richards - Bass, Flute
Remembered chiefly as proto-punkers who reached the top of the charts with the "caveman rock" of "Wild Thing" (1966), the Troggs were also adept at crafting power pop and ballads. Hearkening back to a somewhat simpler, more basic British Invasion approach as psychedelia began to explode in the late '60s, the group also reached the Top Five with their flower-power ballad "Love Is All Around" in 1968. While more popular in their native England than the U.S., the band also fashioned memorable, insistently riffing hit singles like "With a Girl Like You," "Night of the Long Grass," and the notoriously salacious "I Can't Control Myself" between 1966 and 1968. Paced by Reg Presley's lusting vocals, the group -- which composed most of their own material -- could crunch with the best of them, but were also capable of quite a bit more range and melodic invention than they've been given credit for.
Hailing from the relatively unknown British town of Andover, the Troggs hooked up with manager/producer Larry Page (who was involved in the Kinks' early affairs) in the mid-'60s. After a flop debut single, they were fortunate enough to come across a demo of Chip Taylor's "Wild Thing" (which had already been unsuccessfully recorded by the Wild Ones). In the hands of the Troggs, "Wild Thing" -- with its grungy chords and off-the-wall ocarina solo -- became a primeval three-chord monster, famous not only in its original hit Troggs version, but in its psychedelic revamping by Jimi Hendrix, who used it to close his famous set at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
"Wild Thing" made number one in the States, but the Troggs' momentum there was impeded by a strange legal dispute which saw their early records simultaneously released on two different labels. Nor did it help that the band didn't tour the U.S. for a couple of years. As a consequence, the fine follow-up single "With a Girl Like You" didn't do as well as they might have.
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. With A Girl Like You - 2:07
2. From Home - 2:21
3. I Just Sing - 2:09
4. Hi Hi Hazel (Bill Martin) - 2:43
5. Lost Girl - 2:32
6. Evil (Shelby S. Singleton Jr.) - 3:14
7. Wild Thing (Chip Taylor) - 2:34
8. Our Love Will Still Be There - 3:08
9. Jingle Jangle - 2:26
10.When I'm With You - 2:23
11.Your Love (Michael Julien) - 1:53
12.I Want You (Colin Michael Frechter) - 2:14
All songs by Reg Presley except where indicated
The Troggs
*Ronnie Bond - Drums
*Chris Britton - Lead Guitar
*Reg Presley - Lead vocals
*Peter Staples - Bass
After Tony Kaye left Yes he formed Badger and in an unprecedented move of great confidence the band supported Yes at The Rainbow in London and recorded their show, playing completely unknown material to the audience and then released it as their first album. Brave on many levels and although they were surely well received with ex-Yes man Tony Kaye in the line-up, the audience reaction sounds rather too good to be true.
The band plays that kind of seventies music that no one remembers. A great band, with Roy Dyke on drums from Ashton Gardner and Dyke, (Dyke played On George Harrison’s Wonderwall) and I presume David Foster on bass, who shares lead vocals with guitarist Adrian Parrish. But what are they – not Progressive, not Pop, not Blues or anything you can put your finger on – not that it should matter. But produced by Geoffrey Haslam and Jon Anderson (whatever that means in this live setting) they were really good at a nameless style. I’m not sure if it’s the songs or the singing but the more I hear it I equally admire and dismiss it. It’s the strangest feeling to be both impressed and unmoved simultaneously. Maybe you have to get to know the songs but really, why did they not release a studio record? The answer to that is probably that they were good enough to not have to, and maybe the record is better than it would have been with studio polish. I’ve never felt as ambivalent towards a record as I am towards this one.
It obviously wasn’t working for the singers in the band either with Foster and Parrish both leaving. They hired Kim Gardner, from Ashton Gardner and Dyke on bass and then established singer Jackie Lomax (whose debut solo album was released on Apple and produced by George Harrison). Lomax took over the band and wrote most of the materal in a Soul/Blues direction releasing White Lady – a studio album in 1974, produced by New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint.
That was it, and it would be unfair to remember them just for the Roger Dean cover art and the pop-up badger in the gatefold of the debut album, that novelty item notwithstanding, their claim to fame is lost in the cruel mists of time.
by Marty Willson-Pipe
The early '70s marked the heyday of progressive rock -- it seemed like every time you turned around and everywhere you looked, there were top-flight bands like Yes, King Crimson, ELP, Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues, et al., all around, and their emulators and lesser rivals spreading out as far as the eye could see. Badger was part of that whole scene, a Yes offshoot group that managed to get signed by the same label. Officially, the group's origins go back to 1972 and Tony Kaye's departure from Flash, the group he'd co-founded with his fellow ex-Yes alumni, guitarist Peter Banks. Kaye was a virtuoso who favored more traditional instruments such as the Hammond organ over the more modern Moog synthesizer (not that he didn't play the latter, but he used the organ more prominently), and who had the bad fortune to have been succeeded in Yes by the much flashier Rick Wakeman. This time out, he was going to put together his own progressive rock supergroup, on a firmer footing than Flash (whose work had sometimes strayed too close to that of Yes).
The ex-Yes keyboard player called on his longtime friend David Foster, who had managed to skirt the orbit of Yes several times without ever being asked into that lineup (in part because his instrument was the bass, and Yes was incredibly well covered in that department by Chris Squire). Foster had been a member of the Warriors, Yes lead singer Jon Anderson's mid-'60s group, and had co-authored songs with Anderson on Yes' second album, Time and a Word. Kaye had ended up working with Foster on what was ultimately to be an unreleased Foster album -- when Kaye quit Yes in 1971, he initially joined Banks in founding Flash, but after his exit from the latter, Kaye and Foster decided to finally take the plunge. They recruited drummer Roy Dyke, lately a member of Family and, before that, Ashton, Gardner & Dyke -- he was a Liverpool veteran whose career went back to the early '60s and the Remo 4 and Brian Epstein protégé Tommy Quickly, and had played on one hit single, Ashton, Gardner & Dyke's "Resurrection Shuffle"; he, in turn, steered the organizers to Brian Parrish, an ex-member of Medicine Head and Three Man Army, who had played with Paul Gurvitz and Mike Kellie in an outfit called Parrish & Gurvitz, who'd cut one LP for Regal Zonophone.
The quartet, christened Badger, fit together perfectly, and after some rehearsals began building a name for itself on a European tour opening for Black Sabbath. The band was signed by Atlantic Records, which already had Yes and saw Badger as potentially offering another group of the same caliber. When it came time to record an album, however, it was decided that nothing they tried in the studio was capturing the intensity and involvement they demonstrated on-stage, and that a live album was the best way to introduce Badger. A show at the Rainbow Theatre, opening for a now well-established Yes, was recorded, produced by Jon Anderson and Geoffrey Haslam. One Live Badger did rather better in Europe than it did in America, though it got strong reviews everywhere. Perhaps if it had come out at another time -- and not in the same season that the first wave of progressive rock albums from ELP's Manticore label was being released, with lots of publicity and advertising support -- it might've done better, and a single might've been a help (even Yes had needed "Roundabout" to find a mass audience).
by Bruce Eder
One Live Badger is the easier Badger album to find, and the one worth having anyway. As the album's title indicates, the band also took the unusual step of making their first album a live recording of original songs. It has aged very well -- with all the energy of live performance, there's none of the usual studio excesses or noodling of the era. The Yes connection via Tony Kaye is abundantly evident; the album was co-produced by Yes singer Jon Anderson, uses long instrumental breaks and prominent Hammond organ solos, and features the obligatory Roger Dean cover art. Nonetheless, the brooding lyrics and soulful harmonies make comparisons to Traffic and Blind Faith a much closer musical match. The first half of the album is excellent, kicking off with the pleasingly hoarse vocals of David Foster on the full-tilt rocker "Wheel of Fortune" and the pensive "Fountain." There's an especially tight rhythm section underlying the restrained guitar work of "Wind of Change," combining to produce the album's best song.
by Paul Collins
Tracks
1. Wheel Of Fortune - 7:56
2. Fountain - 7:24
3. Wind Of Change - 7:15
4. River - 6:53
5. The Preacher (Brian Parrish) - 4:00
6. On The Way Home - 7:40
All compositions by Brian Parrish, Tony Kaye, Dave Foster, Roy Dyke, except track #5
Recorded live at The Rainbow Theatre 15th/16th December, 1972
This Edmonton power trio combine some frenetic post-Cream guitar thrills with gruff, hyper-macho vocals on their one and only LP. The lads - Edmontonians Robert Edwards, Michael Richards, and Ron Lukawitski - actually trekked as a quartet to Montreal in 1966 but, after losing their drummer to personal family issues, regrouped back in Alberta. There, in a rather deft homage to their shared Eastern European heritage, they dubbed themselves Troyka though whether their namesake was a powerful triumvirate or an antiquated three-horse cliche has certainly blurred with the passage of time.
Troyka even comes speckled with Slavic elements two tack-on instrumentals, the lilting 'Introduction' and the closer 'Troyka Finale', bookend the record, but for the most part it relies on crotch-heavy amplification to counter the relative paucity of ideas here. 'Natural', for instance, sports some prime virtuosic guitar work, though the constipated vocals reek of facile sexism - as if an axe and some fine chops weren't enough to get you laid without pubescent posturing like, "Hey mama, won't you come down by the river, and give me some". 'Rolling Down the Road', with its nearly proto-speed metal, fares much better, channelling frantic hyper blues into an almost MC5-like abandon. Other tracks hint at a more delicate side, especially the wistful soft-psych instrumental 'Dear Margaret Malagosia', with its Spanish tinges and flecks of John Williams-ish guitar.
Troyka's flaws aside, the guys were often hailed for their legendary live sets - one particularly raucous set at New York's Fillmore East saw them flagged back for a triple encore. By 1970 they seemed to be hitting their stride, scoring a coveted support slot in Toronto for the mother of all troikas, Leslie West's Mountain. But alas, while poised to secure a page in history alongside the Band, the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin aboard the infamous bourbon-and-barbiturate-laced Festival Express cross-Canada train tour in the summer of 1970, guitarist Rob Edwards left to tend to family concerns and, thus, fame turned to footnote for Troyka.
by Michael Panontin
Tracks
1. Introduction - 0:34
2. Natural - 2:48
3. Early Morning - 3:54
4. Life's O.K. - 4:01
5. Burning Of The Witch - 3:03
6. Rub-A-Dub-Dub Troyka In A Tub - 2:20
7. Troyka Lament - 0:33
8. Troyka Solo - 0:37
9. Rolling Down The Back Road - 4:05
10.Berry Picking - 2:41
11.Dear Margaret Malgosia - 2:31
12.Go East Young Man Beautiful Eyes - 6:17
13.Troyka Finale - 0:31
14.The Wedding Song - 4:55
All Words and Music by Mike Richards, Robert Edwards, Ron Lukawitski
Don Nix may not be a household name, but for serious fans of 1960s and 1970s music, he is an important figure: as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. He also looms large in his home town of Memphis' musical history. Nix was a member of the legendary Mar-Keys and played saxophone on the hit "Last Night." He produced records at Stax (including Delaney & Bonnie's Home) and, while at Ardent, he wrote "Going Down" for Freddie King (later covered by Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan quite successfully). Nix played on and arranged a boatload of records. He was on the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, and arranged the choir for George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh. Living by the Days was his second album of 1971 and appeared on Elektra. His first, In God We Trust, was released by Leon Russell's Shelter Records.
Recorded at Muscle Shoals, its lineup includes Donald "Duck" Dunn, Barry Beckett, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins, Claudia Lennear, and Kathi McDonald. Opener "The Shape I'm In" (not the Robbie Robertson tune, but Nix's own; he wrote or co-wrote everything but the tepid cover of Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light"), "She Don't Want a Lover (She Just Needs a Friend)," and closer "My Train's Done Come and Gone" sound somewhat similar to the music the Band was making. Gospel, loose Southern gothic funkiness, and roots rock all commingle, but Nix's plaintive voice is drenched in authenticity. (And no disrespect to the Band, but the musicians here are on a wholly different -- higher -- level.)
Stomping Southern R&B and early Memphis rock & roll fuel "Olena," and one can hear more than a trace of the sounds that the Rolling Stones would "borrow" on Sticky Fingers (on which Lennear also appeared). One can hear the influence of Russell on the honky tonk gospel of "Three Angels." Despite the shortcomings of "I Saw the Light" (Furry Lewis' opening narration is priceless), Nix and the Memphis bluesman were quite close. "Going Back to Iuka" begins as a conventional electric blues but becomes a tribute to "Mystery Train," with great slide guitar work and a popping funky bassline. While Living by the Days is very much a record of its time, it is from an era that has proven timeless in appeal to subsequent generations of rock fans. Living by the Days is well worth seeking out as one of the more obscure offerings issued by a major in 1971.
by Thom Jurek
Tracks
1. Shape I'm In - 5:44
2. Olena - 4:19
3. I Saw The Light (Hank Williams) - 3:55
4. She Don't Want A Lover (She Just Needs A Friend) - 4:25
5. Living By The Days - 3:18
6. Going Back To Iuka - 4:29
7. Three Angels (Don Nix, Lonnie Mack) - 3:45
8. Mary Louise (Don Nix, Marlin Greene) - 2:47
9. My Train's Done Come And Gone - 5:00
All songs by Don Nix except where indicated
Originally known as New Blues, they were basically an electric blues band with horns and some jazz influences. From Milwaukee, Winconsin they relocated to San Francisco where they became a popular live attraction at venues like the Fillmore and Avalon in the late sixties.
Released following personnel changes which saw drummer Anderson replaced by Rick Jaeger and the addition of guitarist James Cooke, 1970's "Ramblin'" teamed the band with producers Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd. Surrounded by an all-star cast, including appearances from guitarist Elvin Bishop, Dave Roberts and Steve Miller associate/keyboardist Ben Sidran.
Tracks
1. Gotta Be Free (Dennis Geyer, James Cooke) - 2:36
2. My Baby's Quit Me (Doc Pomus, Joe Kookoolis) - 3:54
3. Pearl (James Cooke) - 1:41
4. Lady In The Dark (James Cooke) - 4:30
5. Hope For The Future (James Cooke) - 3:17
6. Sweet Mother Earth (Dennis Geyer) - 4:02
7. Groovin' (Ben E. King, James Bethea) - 3:35
8. Trackin' Shoes (Jim Marcotte, Rick Jaeger, Dennis Geyer) - 4:35
9. I'm Walkin' (Antoine Domino, James Bartholemew) - 2:45
10.Gazebo (Dennis Geyer, James Cooke, Jim Marcotte, Rick Jaeger) - 6:06
A.B. Skhy
*Dennis Geyer - Guitar, Vocals
*James Curley Cooke - Guitar, Vocals
*Dr. Rick Jaeger - Percussion
*Jim Marcotte - Bass With
*Wally Rose - Piano
*Ben Sidran - Keyboard
*Terry Andersen - Drums, Vocals
*Elvin Bishop - Guitar
Buzzy Linhart's first of two albums for Kama Sutra, three if you include the band Music's on the Buddah-distributed Eleuthera Records, 1971's The Time to Live Is Now has the songwriter playing with different styles and sounds in a setting that is not as refined as the Eddie Kramer co-produced Music album or Barry Beckett and Roger Hawkins' production of 1974's Pussycats Can Go Far. But don't blame the artist for that. In an exclusive interview for the All Media Guide conducted February 28th, 2002, Linhart revealed some of the secrets of The Time To Live Is Now: Bill Takas and Luther Rix, the bass player and drummer, are "world class jazz and classical musicians." Bill Takas spent nine years on the Tonight Show, and they co-founded Ten Wheel Drive (with Genya Ravan; see the Construction #1 LP). "We had been performing eight-to-ten months as a trio, sometimes with sax...it was supposed to be more [produced] like 'Pussycats' (Pussycats Can Go Far)...but [record exec] Neil Bogart played this for a group of 30-something pros for Buddah/Kama Sutra, and they got up out of their chairs and danced to it."
That resulted in the late Neil Bogart deciding he wanted to release the roughs -- the rough vocals, the rough mix, even with a 32,000 dollar budget, which was pretty good at that point in time. They called this "rock-folk," rock with a jazz tinge as opposed to "jazz rock" that was Blood, Sweat & Tears. Even in its raw form, it is great stuff. Linhart lifts lines from here and there. Four lines from the Beatles' 1968 hit "Lady Madonna" are taken almost verbatim in the title track -- "Who buys the money, when you pay the rent" -- while the strange "Cheat Cheat Lied" is fused with Percy Mayfield's "Hit the Road Jack," Linhart lifting a melody and line from Blind Faith's "Presence of the Lord." On the following album, Buzzy (also called "The Black Album" as his 1969 outing on Phillips was also titled Buzzy), he's more blatantly lifting "What the World Needs Now Is Love" for his "Rollin' On" title. When he goes into Chester Powers' 1963 composition "Let's Get Together," you think he's absconding with lyrics and melody again, but it's actually a very cool cover of the Youngbloods' "Get Together," which hit for them in 1967 and 1969.
It is charming, as is the first appearance of "Friends," the Barry Manilow-produced hit for Bette Midler in 1973, re-cut by Buzzy on Pussycats Can Go Far and the only appearance here of friend Moogy Klingman, in the capacity of co-writer. Most of the material is by Linhart, "Good Face" being co-written with future Music bandmemberDoug Rodrigues, while drummer and co-producer Luther Rix pens and sings "Comin' Home." The group covers Jordan Kaplan's "There's No Need" with the legendary Ken Ascher on piano, and Jeannie Linhart does a vocal harmony on "The Love's Still Growing," but other than that, it's the three-piece unit producing and performing on this Kama Sutra debut album. Todd Rundgren would come onboard to mix "The Black Album," 1972's Buzzy, which would replace Takas with Danny Trifan on bass, and add Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on guitar, but The Time to Live Is Now remains an important, albeit raw, document of a major talent emerging from the early '70s.
by Joe Viglione
William Linhart was born March 3, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Penn. In 2018 Linhart suffered a heart attack, he was subsequently hospitalized, then was moved to a nursing home in Berkeley. Following his health issues, Linhart had hoped to return to the concert stage on July 14 2018, to perform at the Art House Gallery & Culture Center in Berkeley, Calif. Though the event took place, Linhart was not well enough to attend. He died on February 13, 2020.
Tracks
1. The Time To Live Is Now (Buzzy Linhart) - 2:38
2. There's No Need (Jordan Kaplan) - 3:37
3. Comin' Home (Luther Rix) - 3:10
4. Heaven (Buzzy Linhart) - 3:22
5. Crazy (Buzzy Linhart) - 3:31
6. Let's Get Together (Chester Powers) - 5:36
7. Leila (Buzzy Linhart, Skip Brooker) - 2:02
8. I Don't Evere Want To Say Goodbye (Buzzy Linhart) - 2:50
9. The Love's Still Growing (Buzzy Linhart) - 4:55
10.Friends (Buzzy Linhart, Mark Klingman) - 3:11
11.Cheat-Cheat-Lied-Hit The Road Jack (Buzzy Linhart, Percy Mayfield) - 8:02
12.Good Face (Buzzy Linhart, Doug Rodrigues) - 1:26
Along with Ry Cooder, Taj was a founder of the legendary Rising Sons, and went on to release two stripped down delta-blues classics in 1968. Giant Step, released concurrently with a raw collection of solo recordings called De Ole Folks At Home in 1969, would be his third, and personal favorite to many. It’s the title track’s delicate, sparse mood I can’t stuff in my head enough. Taj transforms the Monkees hit, composed by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, into a relaxed and gorgeous rural roamer – his muddy vox rolls all over the changes, miles beyond blues. And though Giant Step isn’t completely free of the old I-IV-V, just let the feedback harmonica moan from Give Your Woman What She Wants hook you in, the toe-tapping Cajun feel to You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond take you along, and overpowered drive of Six Days On The Road stamp it down, then see who cares about chord progressions anymore.
The most fun comes from inventive production touches: childish piano tittering on Good Morning Little School Girl, metronomic banjo rapping on Farther On Down The Road (one of two originals on the record and an easy classic), ace country guitar leads all throughout provided by Jesse Ed Davis, here accompanying Taj for the third and final record before embarking on his own solo career (releasing three solid records and sessioning with plenty of the greats). The final track, Bacon Fat, is a pretty standard blues originally penned by The Band, and here mostly a drawn out jam affording everbody last licks.
The album is actually 2 in 1, accompanied with De Ole Folks At Home, an acoustic solo set with Taj providing old-time steel-body slide picking, clawhammer banjo, harp, and hambone on traditional and classic numbers like Cluck Old Hen and Fishing Blues, as well as several originals. It’s like pulling up a hot seat on Taj’s front porch, who would pass? An excellent pairing, this record is essential on its own and along with Giant Step you can’t refuse. Downhome grooves, raw authentic performances, a plain fun record that got me rethinking the blues. “Take a giant step outside your mind.”
by Brendan McGrath, September 2nd, 2009
Tracks
1. Ain't Gwine Whistle Dixie Anymo' (Jesse Ed Davis, Taj Mahal, Chuck Blackwell, Gary Gilmore) - 1:04
2. Take A Giant Step (Carole King, Gerry Goffin) - 4:18
3. Give Your Woman What She Wants (Joel Hirschhorn, Taj Mahal) - 2:32
4. Good Morning Little School Girl (Bob Love, Don Level) - 3:46
5. You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond (Buffy Sainte Marie) - 4:59
6. Six Days On The Road (Carl Montgomery, Earl Green) - 3:03
7. Farther On Down The Road (You Will Accompany Me) (Jesse Ed Davis, Taj Mahal, Chuck Blackwell, Gary Gilmore) - 4:41
8. Keep Your Hands Off Her (Huddie Ledbetter) - 2:17
9. Bacon Fat (Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson) - 6:47
10.Linin' (Huddie Ledbetter) - 1:43
11.Country Blues #1 (Taj Mahal) - 2:40
12.Wild Ox Moan (Ruby Pickens Tartt, Vera Hall) - 2:48
13.Light Rain Blues (Taj Mahal) - 3:24
14.A Little Soulful Tune (Taj Mahal) - 2:40
15.Candy Man (Rev. Gary Davis) - 2:58
16.Cluck Old Hen (Taj Mahal) - 2:34
17.Colored Aristocracy (Taj Mahal) - 2:08
18.Blind Boy Rag (Taj Mahal) - 4:14
19.Stagger Lee (Harold Logan, Lloyd Price) - 3:26
20.Cajun Tune (Taj Mahal) - 1:59
21.Fishin' Blues (Henry Thomas, Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams) - 3:11
22.Annie's Lover (Taj Mahal) - 3:34
Personnel
*Taj Mahal - Vocals, Harmonica, Banjo, Acoustic Guitar
*Jesse Ed Davis - Electric, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Organ
*Chuck Blackwell - Drums
*Gary Gilmore - Bass
Though having been a member of the New Christy Minstrels and Modern Folk Quartet, and a replacement for Zal Yanovsky in the Lovin’ Spoonful, Jerry Yester is known mostly for his behind-the-scenes work as a studio musician, arranger and producer. His album with then-wife Judy Henske, Farewell Aldebaran, and a follow-up collaboration as Rosebud, are both highly revered, but did little to establish Yester’s name commercially. A pair of 1967 singles on the Dunhill label were his only commercially released solo material, but he wrote and recorded at a variety of Los Angeles studios throughout the 1970s, and fifteen of those pieces are collected and released here for the very first time.
These are finished studio recordings, not songwriter demos, and their artistry, quality and polish are undimmed by the decades they’ve spent on the shelf. Yester’s collaboration with lyricist Larry Beckett yielded a wide range of material, with the former responding musically to the latter’s words. The material covers pop, folk, bubblegum, country-rock, baroque and more. The lyrics, which were often inspired by real-life events, are filled with yearning, period detail and allegorical depth. The overdubbed harmonies of “Brooklyn Girl” show what Yester could accomplish on his own, and the backing of the Manhattan Transfer’s Laurel Massé on “Dance for Me, Anna Lee” shows off the artistic circles in which he traveled.
Yester repurposed a few of his earlier melodies, borrowed a few from Bach, and for the vocal intro of “Brooklyn Girl,” he deftly lifted the hook from “Stop! In the Name of Love.” The latter’s production of beautifully layered harmonies and harmonium combine to suggest the Tokens singing a Left Banke song. There are several songs of unrequited infatuation, and Beckett’s lyric of marital dissolution, “The Minutes,” echoed Yester’s split from Judy Henske. Although several of these songs were recorded by a reformed mid-70s MFQ, the originals remained on Yester’s shelf until now. It’s surprising that no one spotted the commercial possibilities of “All I Can Do Is Dance” or the FM potential of an album. Liner notes by Barry Alphonso and photos by Henry Diltz fill out a very special package.
Tracks
1. Pass Your Light Around (Larry Beckett) - 2:29
2. My Dusty Darling - 2:20
3. Brooklyn Girl - 3:01
4. The Whiskey Moon (Larry Beckett) - 2:38
5. Showboat - 3:27
6. The Sun Is Like A Big Brass Band (Jerry Yester, Larry Beckett, Johan Sebastian Bach) - 2:08
7. Corn Cracker - 3:04
8. Dance For Me, Anna Lee - 2:56
9. With A Hickory Pole - 2:58
10.Seesaw - 2:57
11.The Minutes - 2:56
12.The Rose - 3:00
13.Across The Persian Gulf (Jerry Yester, Larry Beckett, Johan Sebastian Bach) - 2:11
14.All I Can Do Is Dance - 3:59
15.Hip Toad - 2:07
Compositions by Jerry Yester, Larry Beckett except where stated
