The only work by Red Bud Thunder, a hard southern bar band that toured pubs all over the Midwest, recorded in 1979 and privately pressed in 1980. The original is a rare, expensive copy. The cover has a B-grade feel that connoisseurs of southern rock love, and the combination of a super classic title that makes you ride against the wind. The band is from Wisconsin, so their sound it's not strictly southern, but it has the fast-paced sound solid dual guitar parts and manly vocals are the classic style of biker rock. You'll fall in love with the sadness that this mischievous adult sometimes shows!
Tracks
1. Any Convenient Time (Jeff Stenson) - 4:35
2. 1000 Dreams (Jeff Stenson) - 3:51
3. Road I'm Riding (Tony Walker) - 4:21
4. Buntline Special (Jeff Stenson, Tony Walker) - 4:55
5. Magnolia P. Thunderthighs (Jeff Stenson) - 3:57
Love And Peace were a big outdoor festival in Germany (Fehmarn, last live performance of J. Hendrix) held in the summer of 1970. As was traditional for such events, an album was also released to document it. Though, actually, the album consisted of mock-live studio recordings from German bands that performed at the event, recorded under better conditions in the studio. All the music is original and features rare material from Thrice Mice, Tomorrow’s Gift, Dr. Roberts Blues Band, Sphinx Tush with latter Frumpy guitarist Rainer Baumann and Greenlight.
Guggenheim's bizarre self-titled LP was originally released in 1972 on the low key Indigo label but went largely unnoticed due in part to the ineffective distribution by Decca. The blending of styles also made the record difficult to categorise and thus promote. However, recent interest in the album has soared and now enthusiasts would be hard pushed to secure a copy in top condition for under £400.
Many collectors have mistakenly tagged the band as Irish but this error is due to the fact that the LP was pressed in Ireland, as were many of the label's other releases, although Indigo Sound Studios where the recording was made was based in Manchester, England. It was in 1971 when Chris Pye and Paul McDowell met up while working on a TV comedy show at Granada called 'Flat Earth'. Earlier, Paul had been a painter at Chelsea Art College and then a writer on 'The Two Ronnies' and 'Frost Report'. But it was in the early 60s that he found fame as lead singer in the successful pastiche 1920s jazz band The Temperance Seven who had a huge hit in Britain with 'You're Driving Me Crazy'. Known as 'Whispering' Paul McDowell he also released a single on the Fontana label called 'Frankie'/'Be A Man' Chris and Paul hung out during rehearsals and started to write songs together. Chris then introduced his friend Jules Burns to Paul and the three of them began writing and arranging songs that feature on the LP. At that time, another friend, Bob Auger, a sound engineer at Granada, was opening a new studio called Indigo with his colleague Dave Kent-Watson and the Guggenheim album was the first project of its kind to be undertaken at the studio. Tracks 1-12 that make up the original release were recorded in the Autumn of 1971.
The following year some additional tracks were recorded at Granada Studios in Manchester that featured two sisters Zofia Williams and Laka Koc (later known as Laka D) whom Chris had met when they all sang together in a folk group in Lancaster in the 60s. In general the small Indigo label became of minor interest to record collectors mainly due to the Guggenheim LP sparking interest in other releases such as Therapy - 'One Night Stand' and Sharon People - 'Inside Looking Out'. The original catalogue number of the Guggenheim vinyl album is GOLP 7001 and it gains its first legitimate CD release right here in the form of an anthology encompassing the band's entire career.
As one might expect the group drew much of its inspiration from main singer/song writer 'Whispering' Paul with Chris and Jules providing effective back-up as they confidently handled the instrumentation side. Additional support came from saxophonist Alan Fawkes. The combined efforts resulted in an offbeat excursion straddling jazz-folk, pop-psych and vaudeville with occasional stoner elements most notably on the tripped-out 'Susie'. The oddly thoughtful 'Doorway Lovers' is another example of the collective's diversity of styles. Simultaneously endearing yet tricky to objectify as a whole; Guggenheim's identity remains sublimely baffling. At this point the three core members went their different ways for a while. Promotion of the LP by local distributors Selecta was virtually non-existent leaving the band disillusioned. Yet it wouldn't be the last throw of the dice for them, not yet. McDowell went on to an acting career starring as the sour-faced prison guard Mr Collinson in the hit TV series 'Porridge' and lived in Northamptonshire until his death in 2016.
While Chris continued as a TV producer at Granada, Jules went on to help form Witches Brew, who became regulars on the London pub-rock scene alongside bands like Slowbone and Ducks Deluxe. The band's line-up included keyboardist/vocalist Laka Koc, who had already helped co-write Guggenheim's 'Why Should We Care' with Jules and co. Witches Brew recorded a good deal of material (a mighty fine track 'Brother' can be found on our compilation Electrified Neptune Staircase') but most of their demos remained in the vault. However, they did manage to secure inclusion of a song called 'The Party's Over' recorded at the Hope & Anchor pub in 1975 on a compilation LP called 'The Honky Tonk Demos' and it features some excellent flute playing by Mick Strickland who, it is said, auditioned for Genesis during their 'Trick Of The Tail' sessions. Despite having a fine voice the decision was made that Mick's style was 'unsuitable'
Then in 1976 Jules joined Chris at Granada, working as a production manager and they began to play together again - this time without Paul. They also started to work with Richie Close, a producer and arranger who was part of 10CC's Strawberry Studios in Stockport and who composed music for TV animation and drama. Together they recorded eight or so new songs at Indigo Studios and later that year a few more demos were laid down at Strawberry Studios with Richie providing keyboards and producing and arranging the tracks. Drummer Jonathan Silver, another Granada colleague joined them.
The final two songs on this anthology 'Long Gone' and 'Searching Around' represent the last ever Guggenheim recording session which took place in 1977 at Cargo Studios, Todmorden. After that, Guggenheim faded away. Paul carried on acting and taught Qigong and Tai Chi. Jules enjoyed dizzy heights at the Granada Group and then with All3media. Chris left Granada in 1980 and became a TV producer in Los Angeles. Returning to the UK in 1994 he was appointed Head of Entertainment at the BBC and, later, at ITV with Jules. Richie Close sadly passed away in 1978. Laka carried on working as a musician as well as arranging and conducting large scale choral projects. Her sister Zofia worked as an editor but continued to sing and play violin. Jonathan Silver (who at school had been a member of Genesis ) ran his family's catering business in North London.
by Pete Sarfas, April 2022, Special thanks to Jules Burns, Chris Pye and Bob Auger.
Tracks
1. Glenville (Paul McDowell, Chris Pye) - 2:35
2. When The Snows Leave (Paul McDowell) - 2:59
3. Why Should We Care (Paul McDowell, Chris Pye, Jules Burns, Laka Koc) - 3:18
4. Games (Paul McDowell) - 2:20
5. Good-Bye Baby (Paul McDowell) - 3:02
6. Susie (Paul McDowell, Jules Burns) - 3:12
7. Songs For A Rainy Day (Paul McDowell, Chris Pye) - 2:13
8. Gonna Rain Forever (Paul McDowell) - 2:55
9. How You've Changed (Paul McDowell) - 2:59
10.Setting Out Again (Paul McDowell, Chris Pye) - 2:54
11.Doorway Lovers (Paul McDowell) - 3:14
12.Guggenheim (Paul McDowell, Chris Pye) - 2:52
13.Morning Light - 2:41
14.Confusion - 2:47
15.Sunday Sounds - 2:56
16.Move Myself Around - 3:01
17.California - 2:24
18.Get Rich - 3:05
19. he Late , Late Show - 3:10
20.Good Guys - 3:17
21.Country Boy - 3:03
22.I've Been Away Too Long (Paul McDowell, Chris Pye, Jules Burns, Steve Hawes) - 2:53
23.Long Gone - 3:50
24.Searching Around - 2:44
Songs wrritten by Paul McDowell, Chris Pye, Jules Burns except where noted
Tracks 1-12 recorded 1971 at Indigo Sound Studios, Manchester
Tracks 19-21 recorded 1976 at Indigo Sound Studios, Manchester
Tracks 13-18 recorded 1972 at Granada Studios, Manchester
Track 22 recorded 1976 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport
Tracks 23 and 24 recorded 1977 at Cargo Studios, Todmorden
Formed in London in 1970, Home were a band that never quite made it into the top division. Yet the three albums they released are highly prized today as examples of British Seventies rock that display all the energy and eclecticism the genre and era could offer. Two of their members also went on to carve reputations for themselves in larger bands - but Home remains a treasured memory for fans and musicians alike. It was Laurie Wisefield's fluent, inventive guitar work and vocals of Mick Stubbs, the main songwriter, which represented Home's musical calling card. Bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Mick 'Cookie' Cook comprised a funky yet driving rhythm section. 'It was my first serious band,' Wisefield explains, 'though I'd been in a few. Cliff and I had been in one before Home called Sugar, based in London. Cliff and the drummer had come down from the north and we got a flat in Tooting where I met them through a Melody Maker audition; I was at school at the time. When Sugar broke up Cliff and I stayed together. I'd worked with Mick Stubbs before and said, "I know this singer"; Mick knew Cookie and that was the band.' Home, as they were simply christened, recorded their first album, 'Pause For A Hoarse Horse', in Decca Studios in Hampstead; it was supposed to have come out on the Decca label, who funded the sessions, but CBS saw their potential, bought the album and released it in August 1971.
Often erroneously credited as a full band member, Clive John from Welsh prog wizards Man made a guest appearance on keyboards and Mellotron. This would have been at Rockfield Studios in South Wales, but at four decades' distance Laurie is unsure why the band was actually there! 'Maybe we mixed it down there, maybe we recorded a couple of extra tracks.' He recalls Clive 'coming down and playing. He had a beard and long hair - looked like Jesus as I remember.' Producer Mel Baister had just helmed Man's eponymous third album on which Clive John appeared, so he was the obvious connection. Another additional musician employed was John Weider on violin. 'Willie', as he was known, was at the tail end of a two-year stint with Family and had played with such legendary names as Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, Steve Marriott and Eric Burdon's New Animals. He and Cliff Williams would rub shoulders again in 1974 when Cliff auditioned for and briefly joined Moonrider, a group Weider had formed with Keith West that shared many of Home's influences. The sleeve of 'A Pause for a Hoarse Horse' was an elaborate gatefold, evidence of CBS's faith in the band they had snatched from a rival label.
The bold wraparound cowboy illustration on the outside was reminiscent of the Norman Rockwell covers boasted by the likes of the Pure Prairie League in the United States. A short note attributed to TW' in the gatefold opined that 'Home's musical background, although worlds apart, has enabled them to arrive at a standpoint that is a weld of attitudes - the resultant sound is good, without being repetitive or pretentious. "The band worked closely together for six months,' it continued, 'to ensure that their musical direction was well defined before going into the studio. It is this attitude towards their music, coupled with the fact that their music is entirely original, that gives this, their first album, true distinction.' All songs were credited to Mick Stubbs bar two: the brief 'Welwyn Garden City Blues', a Stubbs / Wisefield - credited hoedown reminiscent of Heads Hands and Feet's Albert Lee and named after the Hertfordshire new town just north of London, and the band- composed 'In My Time', in Wisefield's words 'a funky, country-influenced kinda thing', that ended side one of the vinyl release. Only Moses' breached the five-minute mark in studio form, though certain stage favourites could be extended to nearly eight minutes' length.
Two of these were 'Red E Lewis And The Red Caps' and 'How Would It Feel'. The former was inspired by one of Mick Stubbs' older brothers who fronted a late-Fifties/early-Sixties band of that name through whose ranks Jimmy Page and future members of the Pirates Mick Green, Johnny Spence and Frank Farley passed. Live, Laurie Wisefield recalls, this 'big-time favourite of ours' could explode with guitar pyrotechnics: 'After the moody build-up, anything used to happen - and often did, as I got to open up and let go at the end!' 'How Would It Feel' and 'Family' in particular betrayed the influence of Bob Dylan's one-time backing outfit the Band. The riff Mick Stubbs came up with was one of Laurie Wisefield's favourites, and the song was routined at the Wisefields' home where early rehearsals were, staged.
Home were great favourites on BBC Radio One, for whom they would play many sessions. An audition was always required before approval was given, and the quartet received a unanimous pass. Producer Malcolm Brown was unstinting in his praise: 'I get the impression,' he reported, 'that when they settle down they will become quite a force in the business. The guitarist is only 17!' Stuart Henry, John Peel, Bob Harris and Pete Drummond would all feature Home sessions on their shows before the year was out.
Home started touring to promote their album and hit an early highpoint in November 1971 when they supported Led Zeppelin at the second Electric Magic Show at Wembley Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena). It was rare for Led Zeppelin to engage support bands, so it is a measure of Home's reputation that they got the gig. From then on, they opened for a series of established groups including labelmates Argent and the Jeff Beck Group, as well as Rod Stewart's Faces.
Home went on to record two further studio LPs, the eponymous second released in the autumn of 1972 and concept album "The Alchemist' which appeared in June 1973. A fourth Home long-player was started but didn't reach fruition as a disillusioned Mick Stubbs left both the band and the music business. After backing Al Stewart on a 1974 US tour, the remaining trio went their separate ways. Laurie Wisefield was headhunted by Wishbone Ash's Andy Powell as replacement for Ted Turner, while Cliff Williams eventually joined AC/DC, where he remains to this day. Mick Cook played with a re-formed Groundhogs and then Latin-jazzers Gonzales but, while Mick Stubbs played briefly with a local band called Paradise, he did relatively little musically thereafter. Both Mick Cook and Mick Stubbs sadly succumbed to cancer within a couple of years of each other around the turn of the millennium.
To describe 'Pause For A Hoarse Horse' as simply 'US-influenced country-rock' is to underrate an album that is comparable to the likes of Help Yourself, a band that also created some fantastic and underappreciated music around this time, or even the ever-eclectic Family. Other comparisons to have been thrown into the mix include Man, The Dog That Bit People and, unsurprisingly, early Wishbone Ash. At any rate, Home were far more inventive than they were imitative. Internet blogger SilverainTR hits the nail on the head by describing this debut album as 'a quiet gem, one that reflects and refracts subtle shades and colours in the setting sun rather than dazzling the listener with pyrotechnic displays
by Michael Heatley with thanks to Laurie Wisefield and Alan Kinsman
Tracks
1. Tramp - 3:13
2. Family - 3:33
3. Pause For A Hoarse Horse - 3:02
4. Red E Lewis And The Red Caps - 5:39
5. In My Time (Cliff Williams, Laurie Wisefield, Mick Cook, Mick Stubbs) - 3:58
6. How Would It Feel - 3:26
7. Bad Days - 4:04
8. Mother - 3:03
9. Moses - 5:04
10.Welwyn Garden City Blues - 1:19
11.You're No Good (Laurie Wisefield, Mick Stubbs) - 3:03
All songs by Mick Stubbs except where indicated
Home
*Mick Stubbs - Lead Vocals, Electric, 12-String Guitars
Mandrake hailed from Houston TX and released just one album in 1978. Led by brothers Benny and Danny Valerio, the band operated as a power-trio during its brief existence, and found a home with a label called Crazy Cajun.
Mandrake offers a blend of hard rock, blues-rock and southern rock. The album contains three covers. “Money”, which opens the album, “That's All Right” and “Let it Roll” the rest of the songs are self-penned by band members. They sound somewhere between hard rock and Southern rock, “Cold Hearted Woman” is a compo driven by razor-sharp guitars and an incandescent solo that feels like it's about to explode. The creeping mid-tempo “Living In The World Alone”, the mid-tempo “I Got Loaded”, “Realize” is a lighter, more melodic compo, with clearer guitars and a warm, bluesy flavour, the singer's voice accessible, more haunting and the finale more attention-grabbing. In conclusion it is a pleasant album, with good riffs and screaming solos.
Weren’t Born A Man, released in 1973, is Dana Gillespie’s third album and contains her version of ‘Andy Warhol’, a song that David Bowie originally wrote for her. Bowie and Mick Ronson produced said track and Gillespie’s original ‘Mother, Don’t Be Frightened’, and Ronson and Spiders from Mars members Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey played on both cuts. 43 years after its original release, Weren’t Born A Man stands as a must-have record for anyone with an interest in 70s music. 180g vinyl.
Hardcore David Bowie fans should have heard by now about the so-called Bowpromo album. It contains ‘rough mixes’ of original tracks that would later be included on the Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust albums, as well as an exclusive track and the early (and shorter) versions of some amazing songs that would later make their way into Dana Gillespie’s Weren’t Born A Man LP from 1973: ‘Mother, Don’t Be Frightened’ and ‘Andy Warhol’. In fact, these two tracks on Dana’s album were produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson, featuring the members of The Spiders from Mars as backing band. Weren’t Born A Man is Gillespie’s third album after some previous folk and pop recordings and a rather successful career as an actress. She played Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972.
However, her involvement in music would soon be connected to some of the key players in the London scene, such as Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page and David Bowie. But there is much more to this album that just Bowie’s glam sound influence. ‘All Cut Up On You’, ‘All Gone’, ‘Eternal Showman’ or the title track ‘Weren’t Born A Man’ are all outstanding tracks on their own that show Dana Gillespie’s various moods, from mellow notes to sexually ambiguous statements. Sadly, record sales did not match RCA’s expectations and after one more album Dana was forced to take a long break on her recording activity that would eventually lead her to a very different approach to music. During the 80s Gillespie made a comeback becoming a member of the Mojo Blues Band and her career as a blues singer has not stopped since then, releasing over 25 albums to date. 43 years after its original release, Weren’t Born A Man stands as a must-have record for anyone with an interest in 70s music.
