New Son Volt Album ‘Honky Tonk’ – Teaser Tracks!

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Tony

Posted in Americana, Country/Hillbilly, Roots, You Tube | Leave a comment

Zappa’s 200 Motels Score To Make London Debut After 42 Year Ban

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Tony

Frank Zappa’s avant garde orchestral work ‘200 Motels’ is to have its London  premiere at this year’s ‘The Rest Is Noise’ classical music festival in London, 42 years after it was banned in the city.

Zappa had hoped to debut the piece with a full concert orchestra and members of the Mothers of Invention at the Royal Albert Hall in 1971, but the concert was cancelled by the authorities controlling the Royal Albert Hall on ‘obscenity grounds’. Zappa legally challenged the ban in London but lost the case in 1975.

The premiere of the score to be performed in London was secured following lengthy negotiations between Southbank Centre bosses and Zappa’s estate.

Artistic director Jude Kelly said: “His widow Gail has been reluctant to allow it to happen unless it could be done in the manner he would have wanted, so it’s taken us literally years to get to this stage.”

This colossal piece, one of the most ambitious that Zappa ever wrote, is performed by the full forces of the BBC Concert Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, London Voices and a large cast of rock musicians, singers and actors.

200 Motels is the orchestral score for the 1971 musical surrealist film co-written and directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer. Book tickets here.

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A Tribute To Magic Slim

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Tony

Morris Holt, better known to the blues world as Magic Slim, died on February 21st in a Philadelphia hospital at the age of 75.

Just prior to his death rumours had been circulating of  Slim’s ill health. In 2009, the last time he played the Burnley Blues Festival in the UK, he played much of the set sitting down, but nonetheless was always willing to talk and have photos taken with his legions of UK fans.

Slim and the Teardrops were one of my all time favourite blues bands. I once described them as ‘the best blues band on the planet’. They had an extensive repertoire of blues and R&B that seemed to know no bounds, playing lengthy shows and encores. He played many memorable gigs in the UK and Europe – many of them captured on tape by Slim’s biggest UK fan Ray Gardner – as I write this playing in the background is a tape of Slim at the Bishopstock Blues Festival in 2000 which also contains a show in the West Midlands at a gig where he was joined on stage by Robert Plant (Ray Gardner told me Slim didn’t really know who Robert was but got him up on stage anyway!).

For four decades he toured the USA and the world with the Teardrops playing gigs almost every night of the week. Among my favourite CDs are live recordings in particular Slim’s ‘Live At the Zoo Bar’ sets cut in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he held down a residency.

Born in Torrance, Mississippi in 1937, he grew up in Grenada, Mississippi. Like many young kids he sang in the church choir and made a guitar with baling wire from a broom, which he nailed to the wall. His played the piano, but having lost the little finger on his right hand in a cotton gin accident he switched to guitar, working in the cotton fields during the week and playing the blues at weekends.

In 1955, like many southern bluesmen Slim migrated to Chicago, where he was mentored by  Magic Sam, who gave the tall and lanky Morris Holt his lifelong stage name. He returned to Mississippi and spent the next five years practicing guitar and teaching his younger brothers, Nick and Douglas (aka ‘Lee Baby’) to play bass and drums respectively.

In 1967, Slim put his own band together called the Teardrops, which included his younger brothers. Later blues alumni in the Teardrops include Coleman ‘Daddy Rabbit’ (Alabama Junior) Pettis; John Primer; Nate Applewhite; Pete Allen; Jake Dawson; Earl Howell; Michael Scott and Michael Dotson.

Slim’s recording career began with the 1966 release of the song ‘Scufflin’,’ for Ja-Wes Records followed by a small number of singles in the mid 1970’s. (Slim’s Ja-Wes sides found there way onto a UK budget album ‘Authentic Chicago Blues’ with sides by Chuck Rives and Little Hite issued by Beacon – you could by them in Woolworth’s and Tesco – try finding one now!)

In 1972, he began playing regularly at a Florence’s, on the South Side Of Chicago, filling in for Hound Dog Taylor, eventually taking over when Hound Dog left the club.

In the mid 1970’s Slim began began touring Europe, and recorded his first album in 1977, ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’, for the French MCM label. During the 1980’s, Slim released albums on Rooster Blues (the mighty ‘Grand Slam’ – not to be missed), Wolf, Delmark, Plymouth House and Blind Pig Records.

slim-bioSlim’s first album on Blind Pig Records, ‘Gravel Road’, was released in 1990, which established a long association with the label. Magic Slim and the Teardrops also won countless awards for their recordings and touring and in 2010. Slim and Bling Pig celebrated their twenty years together with the release of ‘Raising The Bar’.

The All Music Guide said of him: “Magic Slim turned 75 in 2012, but his growling vocals have the fire and brimstone of a young lion and his guitar playing is still as razor-sharp as it was when he turned pro in the ’50s.”

Slim and the Teardrops also won many blues awards. For me it was those live shows that went on forever; Ray Gardner’s articles and reviews of life on the road in Europe with Slim and the Teardrops (the most memorable being ‘Magic Slim Ate My Chips’)  and those great live tapes. They were the best blues band on the planet!

The funeral service for Magic Slim will be at Horizons Community Church, 3200 Grainger Parkway, Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday, March 2nd, 2013 at 10 a.m.

A musical memorial tribute is currently being planned in Chicago, Illinois. The Zoo Bar in Lincoln, Nebraska is also planning a musical tribute. Both tributes will be announced when details are finalised. These memorial tributes will be benefits with all proceeds going to Ann Holt and her family.

For details of Slims recordings click here – although it is still under construction.

The above video is of Slim and the Teardrops recording ‘Goin’ To Mississipp’ at the Blind Pig Chicago Warehouse in April 2002.

Magic Slim Wolf Records Tribute – Download Here

Posted in Blues, Compact Disc, Film -TV, Rare Records, Rhythm & Blues, You Tube | Leave a comment

Career Spanning Box Set From Stephen Stills Out On March 25th

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Tony

A new career spanning b4 CD set from Steve Stills is due out in the UK on March 25th (26th in the USA). Called ‘Carry On’ the set released by Rhino will feature for the first time, material from Stills’ entire career for a number of labels as a solo artist, with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young). Also included are rarities from the early group, the Au Go Go Singers and work with Jimi Hendrix and Steve Fromholz.

The set was produced by Graham Nash and Joel Bernstein and includes 82 tracks of including 25 unissued sides. Included are demos and early versions of songs plus a  track  with Jimi Hendrix, called ‘No Name Jam.

The package has a 113-page book with photos and liner notes by Michael O’Hara Garcia, David Bender, and Daniel Levitin.

Track List:

Disc 1

  • Travelin’ – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • High Flyin’ Bird – The Au Go Go Singers (from They Call Us Au Go-Go Singers, 1964)
  • Sit Down I Think I Love You – Buffalo Springfield (from Buffalo Springfield, 1966)
  • Go And Say Goodbye – Buffalo Springfield (from Buffalo Springfield, 1966)
  • For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield (single, 1966; added to reissue of Buffalo Springfield, 1967)
  • Everydays – Buffalo Springfield (previously unreleased)
  • Pretty Girl Why – Buffalo Springfield (from Last Time Around, 1968)
  • Bluebird – Buffalo Springfield (from Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967)
  • Rock ‘n Roll Woman – Buffalo Springfield (from Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967)
  • Special Care – Buffalo Springfield (from Last Time Around, 1968)
  • Questions – Buffalo Springfield (from Last Time Around, 1968)
  • Uno Mundo – Buffalo Springfield (from Last Time Around, 1968)
  • Four Days Gone – Buffalo Springfield (from Last Time Around, 1968)
  • Who Ran Away? – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Forty-Nine Reasons – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Helplessly Hoping – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Crosby, Stills & Nash, 1969)
  • You Don’t Have To Cry – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Crosby, Stills & Nash, 1969)
  • Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Crosby, Stills & Nash, 1969)
  • 4+20 – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • So Begins The Task – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • The Lee Shore – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Carry On/Questions – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (from Deja Vu, 1970)
  • Woodstock – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (from Deja Vu, 1970)

Disc 2

  • Love The One You’re With – Stephen Stills (from Stephen Stills, 1970)
  • Old Times Good Times – Stephen Stills (from Stephen Stills, 1970)
  • Black Queen – Stephen Stills (from Stephen Stills, 1970)
  • No-Name Jam – Stephen Stills & Jimi Hendrix (previously unreleased)
  • Go Back Home – Stephen Stills (from Stephen Stills, 1970)
  • Marianne – Stephen Stills (from Stephen Stills 2, 1971)
  • My Love Is A Gentle Thing – Stephen Stills (from Pieces, 2009)
  • Fishes And Scorpions – Stephen Stills (from Stephen Stills, 1970)
  • The Treasure – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • To A Flame – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Cherokee – Stephen Stills (from Stephen Stills, 1970)
  • Song Of Love – Stephen Stills (from Manassas, 1972)
  • Rock n Roll Crazies/Cuban Bluegrass – Stephen Stills (from Manassas, 1972)
  • Jet Set (Sigh) – Stephen Stills (from Manassas, 1972)
  • It Doesn’t Matter – Stephen Stills (from Manassas, 1972)
  • Colorado – Stephen Stills (from Manassas, 1972)
  • Johnny’s Garden – Stephen Stills (from Manassas, 1972)
  • Change Partners – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Do For Others – Stephen Stills and Steve Fromholz (previously unreleased)
  • Find The Cost Of Freedom – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (previously unreleased)
  • Little Miss Bright Eyes – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Isn’t It About Time – Stephen Stills (from Down the Road, 1973)

Disc 3

  • Turn Back The Pages – Stephen Stills (from Stills, 1975)
  • First Things First – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • My Angel – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Love Story – Stephen Stills (from Stills, 1975)
  • As I Come Of Age – Stephen Stills (from Stills, 1975)
  • Know You Got To Run – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Black Coral – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (previously unreleased)
  • I Give You Give Blind – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from CSN, 1977)
  • Crossroads/You Can’t Catch Me – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • See The Changes – Crosby, Stills & Nash (previously unreleased)
  • Thoroughfare Gap – Stephen Stills (from Thoroughfare Gap, 1978)
  • Lowdown – Stephen Stills (from Thoroughfare Gap, 1978)
  • Cuba Al Fin (edit) – Stephen Stills (from Havana Jam, 1979)
  • Dear Mr. Fantasy – Stephen Stills & Graham Nash (from CSN, 1991)
  • Spanish Suite – Stephen Stills (from Man Alive!, 2005)
  • Feel Your Love – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Remastered edtion of Daylight Again, 2006)
  • Raise A Voice – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Remastered edtion of Daylight Again, 2006)
  • Daylight Again – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Daylight Again, 1982)

Disc 4

  • Southern Cross – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Daylight Again, 1982)
  • Dark Star – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from CSN, 1977)
  • Turn Your Back On Love – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Allies, 1983)
  • War Games – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Allies, 1983)
  • 50/50 – Stephen Stills (from Right by You, 1984)
  • Welfare Blues – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • Church – Stephen Stills (previously unreleased)
  • I Don’t Get It – Stephen Stills (from Man Alive!, 2005)
  • Isn’t It So – Stephen Stills (from Stills Alone, 1991)
  • Haven’t We Lost Enough? – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from Live It Up, 1990)
  • Ballad Of Hollis Brown – Stephen Stills (from Stills Alone, 1991)
  • Treetop Flyer – Stephen Stills (from Stills Alone, 1991)
  • Heart’s Gate – Stephen Stills (from Man Alive!, 2005)
  • Girl From The North Country – Crosby, Stills & Nash (previously unreleased)
  • Feed The People – Stephen Stills (from Man Alive!, 2005)
  • Panama – Crosby, Stills & Nash (from After the Storm, 1994)
  • No Tears Left – Crosby, Stills & Nash (previously unreleased)
  • Ole Man Trouble – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (previously unreleased)
  • Ain’t It Always – Stephen Stills (from Man Alive!, 2005)

Sounds like this is a set that all fans of CSNY will want to check out.

Posted in 45 rpm, Americana, Compact Disc, Country/Hillbilly, Rare Records, Rock, Uncategorized, You Tube | Leave a comment

Robert Johnson 3rd Photo Controversy – not Johnny Shines and not Robert Johnson

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Tony

On 3rd February The Observer newspaper ran a feature on a 3rd photograph purporting to be of blues singer and stuff of legend Robert Johnson (he that sold his soul to the devil ‘down at the crossroads’). Under the title ‘Robert Johnson : rare new photograph of delta blues king authenticated after eight years’ Vanessa Thorpe reported that Johnson and blues artist Johnny Shines had been identified in the photo by ‘forensic’ work on the photograph which began in 2007.

Click here to read the article and view the photograph. I have not reproduced it here as it is copyrighted by the ‘Johnson Family’ and Getty’s.

The photo has been circulating among the blues collecting fraternity since its discovery and I wrote to the Observer setting out just some of the reasons why the blues writers, experts, critics and record collectors doubt that the two people in the photo are indeed Johnson and Shines.

Hasse Andeasson a Swedish blues collector and writer told me that the biggest Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, also published this ‘third photo’ of Robert Johnson. And Record Collector mentioned the article in an e-bulletin.

As the Observer have not as yet published the letter here is what I sent:

Further to Vanessa Thorpe’s article in The Observer on February 3rd “Robert Johnson: rare new photograph of delta blues king authenticated after eight years”

This photo has been circulating among blues collectors and experts for some time. Many have argued strongly that the photo is not of either Robert Johnson or Johnny Shines.

When the photo first surfaced it was shown to two blues artists, Robert ‘Junior’ Lockwood and David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards, who both traveled and worked with Johnson. Lockwood was Johnson’s stepson. 

Neither of them recognised the men in the photograph. US blues expert and author Elijah Wald is quoted on the Yahoo Post War Blues Group – on which I reposted your article – about the ‘forensic analysis’ referred to to ‘authenticate’ the photograph: “I told the photo’s owner long ago that if he was serious he would give a forensic analyst a half-dozen photos of similar-looking men, like a police line-up, and ask if any of them matched one of the known Johnson photos. Instead, he just showed this one, and she said it could reasonably match”

 Other correspondents to the same group have pointed out that both men are wearing what appear to be ‘zoot suits’. This style of ‘hipster’ clothing started to become fashionable around 1940, by which time Robert Johnson had died.

However, there is indeed a third picture of Robert Johnson, in the possession of US blues authority Mack McCormick. It shows Johnson with his nephew; the latter, who was shipping out from Norfolk, Virginia, is in US Navy uniform. In his song ‘From Four Until Late’ Johnson refers to a visit to Norfolk: “From Memphis to Norfolk is a thirty-six hours’ ride”.

The noted writer on blues and other popular music, Peter Guralnick, describes seeing this photo in his book “Searching for Robert Johnson: The Life and Legend of the “King of the Delta Blues Singers”

Alligator Records boss and long standing blues expert Bruce Iglauer said this of the ‘Johnson’ photograph: “The man in this picture who is supposed to be Johnny Shines is definitely, positively, not Johnny Shines. Is the other man Robert Johnson? I doubt it. Notice that one man has an expansion-band wristwatch on his hand on the full picture.

If an itinerant black musician had any watch at all (very unlikely), it would be an old pocket watch. Expansion watchbands were quite new at that time, and would have been expensive. I guess you can’t see that in the cropped copy appearing in newspapers.

This is a picture that somebody found at a garage sale – and decided that because the guitar was similar to the one pictured with Johnson, this was indeed Johnson.

They also came up with the idea that this picture was taken by a woman friend of theirs in (I think) Friar’s Point. Whereas this is a professionally shot photograph against a painted backdrop, which was not uncommon at social events for black and white people – where a professional photographer came to make money.

If Robert Johnson’s family wants to claim it is Johnson, fine! I don’t know who the darker man is. The lighter man is NOT Johnny Shines. I do agree that the darker man has a passing resemblance to published pictures of Robert Johnson. But all the other visual evidence argues against this being Johnson.”

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Interested in a short run of custom made vinyl albums? Here’s how its done!

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Tony

Wes Wolfe | Record LatheA US musician has set up a new service for cutting vinyl records. This article was published on www.indyweek.com (North Carolina) and the old time music site Old Time Party. This fascinating story – full of technical wizardry – was written by Brian Howe.

Carrboro musician Wesley Wolfe has catalyzed the lathe-to-turntable movement of local music

There were wax cylinders and cassette tapes, compact discs and (at the very end) MP3s, but the 20th century’s music belonged to the vinyl record. Despite more portable formats and vast technological advancements, that romance continues and grows: Americans bought 4.6 million records last year, up from 3.9 million in 2011, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

At a time when music feels intangible and oversupplied through the Internet, satellite and streaming radio and through the speakers above the grocery store aisle, LPs maintain a tangible link between artists and collectors. The archaic crackle of a stylus dragging dust through a spiral groove supplies a resonance of its own, unlike translucent and pristine digital formats. It’s the difference between a silk purse and a Ziploc bag.

But like any other mass-consumed product, most records are duplicated in remote factories by the thousand, rolling from a large warehouse onto record shelves. But for locavores and similar connoisseurs, area musician Wesley Wolfe has a more rarified option. For the last three years, Wolfe’s one-person business, Tangible Formats, has cut 7-, 10- and 12-inch records in runs as small as one. It’s part of an obscure but evolving culture based around small-batch hand-lathed records, a laborious but potentially viable alternative to mass production in a fragmented music market.

Wolfe, a musician, initially came to the idea of hand-lathing in 2009, when he released his first solo album on Odessa Records. A distant plant pressed 250 vinyl LPs, the smallest order most manufacturers will accept, at a cost of more than $2,000. Through researching the terms of art in order to speak knowledgably to the mastering engineer, Wolfe realized he was more interested in the process of making records than selling them.

“The reality is that I can sell 50 records and I don’t have the closet space for the other 200,” he explains in his Carrboro apartment. “By the time I sell 50, I’m bored of it and working on something else anyway. I’m not going to do the big promotion and tour, tour, tour.”

To understand what Wolfe does at home, it helps to first understand what he doesn’t do, or how the plastic-wrapped vinyl you might pick up at a record shop is made. Step one in mass-producing an LP is to lathe-cut the music into a manageably soft, lacquer-coated aluminum disc. This fragile master is electroplated in a nickel bath. The metal forms a negative-image mold, or a father. The fathers are electroplated to produce mothers, metal records that are again electroplated to produce more durable negatives—the sons of the fathers and mothers, or the stampers.

This plating and cutting happens twice, once for each side of the record. At last, using a hydraulic press, the stampers punch out retail discs from vinyl pucks, replicating the original thousands of times. The process requires a lot of space and an army of heavy machinery. Continue reading →

Posted in Americana, Roots, Vinyl | Leave a comment

Jack White and blues label to reissue pre-war blues on vinyl

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Tony

Jack White : Pre-war blues fan

Document Records, the Scottish based pre-war blues, country and jazz reissue label is to collaborate with the White Stripes’  Jack White, to reissue the first in a series of pre-war blues recordings on vinyl. 

The joint project between Document, which is based in Dumfries and Galloway, and Third Man Records, owned by White, is hoping to introduce blues music to younger fans. The first three remastered albums are by pre-war blues giants Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks.

All the tracks to be reissued on vinyl albums date back to the period between 1927 and 1931.

White chose to work with Gary and Gillian Atkinson, the couple behind Document Records, because it was from there that he bought his first clutch of pre-war blues albums when he was young. He has been a big fan of the label ever since.

Gillian Atkinson said: “What this collaboration has done, and Jack in particular, is open up a whole new younger market, and he’s reaching it. I think Jack is taking a chance, but he told me there had already been 900 pre-orders per title”.

Document Records has the world’s largest archive of pre-1945 blues, jazz and country music, with 900 titles and around 25,000 tracks.

Posted in 78rpm, Americana, Blues, Country/Hillbilly, Jazz, Rare Records, Roots, Website | Leave a comment

Updated: Muddy Waters house found to be ‘dangerous’ in Chicago city inspection

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Tony

A house in Chicago once lived in by Muddy Waters and his family is being threatened with demolition because of its ‘dangerous’ state.

The house at 4339 S. Lake Park Avenue was lived in by Muddy, his wife Geneva and family along with assorted blues musicians from 1954 until he moved two decades later.

The boss of Alligator Records, Bruce Iglauer is campaigning to save the property from demolition said: “The city of Liverpool would recognise the historic, cultural and tourism value of John Lennon’s house and never allow it to be torn down. Muddy Waters was every bit as important to the blues and to Chicago as the Beatles were to rock ‘n’ roll and Liverpool.”

Early this month Chicago city officials issued a warning letter to the owner after an inspection found the property to be unsafe. An inspection described the property as “dangerous,” with the windows, doors, stairway and porch in need of proper maintenance. The letter,  to the owners is the first step in the process of obtaining a court order that would allow demolition but gives the owner 15 days to remedy the problems.

But city officials confirmed the owner of the house has said they will address the issues  the Commission on Chicago Landmarks are offering help.

“The assistance is intended to help get the building secure, safe and viable as a residential property,” said Peter Strazzabosco, deputy commissioner at the Department of Housing and Economic Development.

The city Buildings Department has not asked the circuit court for an order to demolish the house, and once in court it could ask a judge to drop the matter if it finds that the property is secured and the violations resolved. The house is in the North Kenwood landmark district, meaning any demolition plan would need an permission from the landmarks commission.

Tim Samuelson, cultural historian with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, said many people have recognised the historical significance of the site and proposed that it be turned into some sort of museum in tribute. “But people always respected the fact that it was still in the ownership of Muddy’s family,” he said.

The home was showing signs of neglect in 2000 when artists and community volunteers cleaned up the property and painted murals on the window and door coverings. After that, Samuelson said, residents moved in and occupied it for several years.

Now that the home is again vacant, however, residents have complained that the property is unsecured and unsafe.

Muddy Waters, (real name McKinley Morganfield), shared the home with his wife, Geneva.

James Cotton, Muddy’s harmonica player arrived in Chicago in 1954 from West Memphis, and stayed in the house for six years. He said Waters’ bed was directly over the basement, so he learned the music even when band members practiced without him. “He laid in the bed listening to us down there,” Cotton said in an interview.

Harmonica player Paul Oscher and blues pianist Otis Spann both lived for years in the basement, which Waters had divided into several rooms.

“I would practice in my room and Spann would be in the back,” Oscher said. “The piano was in the middle and me and him would play together.”

In summertime, Oscher said, the celebration expanded into the neighbourhood. He said that in warm weather Spann would set up his electric organ in an alley near the house, and area residents would trickle into the alley and join in singing.

Good news: Chicago City says the house will not now be demolished. Click here.

Posted in Blues, Rock & Roll, Roots, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ed Cassidy – an unlikely rock star

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Tony

Ed Cassidy, the drummer for the legendary 1960s rock band Spirit, died in San Jose, California on December 6th last year, after battling cancer.

Cassidy was an unlikely rock star – when he died he was aged 89.

For those of us of a certain age, Spirit were one of the great bands of the era. I first heard them on the famed CBS sampler ‘Rock Machine Turns You On’ – their track ‘Fresh Garbage’ from their debut album was and is one of the iconic tracks of the era. Cassidy at the time seemed positively ancient – in his mid 40s!

So how come Cassidy, a ‘drummers drummer’ with a shaved head, well before it became fashionable, get to join and play in a fine progressive rock band?

Ed was born on May 4th, 1923 in a town outside of Chicago. His musical career began in 1937, when his family moved to Bakersfield, California. He served in  World War II in the Navy and held down a series of jobs before returning to music in the 1940s, working n a succession of big bands and country and western bands. He also worked on film soundtrack sessions and played in the San Francisco Opera.

Cassidy spent the 1950s working playing with jazz artists such as Art Pepper, Roland Kirk and Gerry Mulligan. He joined Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder in the Rising Sons before forming the Red Roosters, in 1965, comprising of Cassidy, his stepson Randy California on guitar, Mark Andes on bass, and singer Jay Ferguson.

They changed their name to Spirit, added keyboards man John Locke and joined L.A. music impresario Lou Adler, releasing their debut album ‘Spirit’ in 1968. They followed the album up with ‘The Family That Plays Together’ in the same year.

In 1969 they opened for Led Zeppelin and a year later released the classic album  ‘Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus,’ following which the band fell apart.

Cassidy continued with Spirit until Randy California died in a drowning accident in Hawaii in 1997.

He continued to play with surf musician Merrell Fankhauser until he retired from performing. In later years he was also involved in acting, appearing in ’2010′ and ‘The Escape Artist’ on the big screen, and twice in minor roles on the television soap opera ‘General Hospital.’

Posted in Compact Disc, Rock, Vinyl | Leave a comment

Shuggie Otis tour : Dogged by problems?

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Tony

I like Shuggie Otis, but missed the London leg of his come-back tour. He is an excellent blues guitar player and was a rare talent. As a teenager, he had begun recording with his father Johnny. He made some good albums when he was with Columbia/Epic in 1969 and 1970 – ‘Al Kooper Introduces Shuggie Otis’ and ‘ Here Comes Shuggie Otis’ as well as ‘Freedom Flight’ and tracks with his dad – as well as appearing on Frank Zappa’s seminal ‘Hot Rats’ album. (Try ‘Shuggie Otis Plays The Blues’ on Sony/Legacy). He even turned down a chance to replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones.

A gig report in the months UK Uncut magazine gives his London Jazz Cafe mixed reports citing ‘technical problems’ causing delays and hitches. By the sound of things, the situation in at his Los Angeles show was dogged by the same problems and wasn’t much better. The Los Angeles Magazine described the show thus: “The 59-year-old Otis – dressed like a badass toreador in black boots, tight black pants, white blouse, and black satin vest – and his seven piece band took the stage more than a half hour late, it took another 15 minutes to fix problems with the AC chord and guitar amp (he blew up two of them) before the music lurched to a wobbly start. When Otis finally stepped up to the mic to sing the first lines of ‘Inspiration Information’ from his 1972 cult classic of the same name, there was no sound on the vocal mic.

The crowd was deferential and endlessly forgiving, shouting out encouragement to a performer who looked increasingly befuddled and embarrassed. A blast of errant feedback from his shiny new Gibson guitar brought hopeful applause, and things settled a bit for ‘Aht Uh Mi Hed’. The song showcased (briefly, tantalizingly) Otis’s supple, almost jazzy guitar lines as they contrasted with the aggressive, horn-heavy groove of the band. Then, everything fell apart with woodwind player Michael Turre marking time with a flute solo not heard since the hanging-terrarium 1970s. Otis kept flashing stone-faced glares at the sound peeps while the cheers of the crowd, which steadily thinned over the ragged 90 minute set to only the hardcore faithful and looky-loos, made him crack a tight smile.

The band played the Johnny Otis classic showstopper ‘All Night Long’ which Los Angeles Magazine described as “the kind of boilerplate blues jam that Otis’s father used to oversee back in the days of Central Avenue and the Club Alabam. The only problem was, it looked like one of the roadies had jumped on stage to showcase some Hendrix-meets-Van Halen fretboard wanking while Otis stood off to the side in a secondary role, trying to salvage the unsalvageable”.

Well, never mind, I have added a video of Shuggie and the band playing a gig in Paris on the European leg of the tour.

Line up: Larry Douglas, trumpet;  Michael Turre, sax & flute; Albert Wing, sax; Nick Smith, keyboards;  Marvin Smith, drums; James Manning, bass.

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