Taj Mahal's debut album was a startling statement in its time and has held up remarkably well. Recorded in August of 1967, it was as hard and exciting a mix of old and new blues sounds as surfaced on record in a year when even a lot of veteran blues artists (mostly at the insistence of their record labels) started turning toward psychedelia. The guitar virtuosity, embodied in Taj Mahal's slide work (which had the subtlety of a classical performance), Jesse Ed Davis's lead playing, and rhythm work by Ry Cooder and Bill Boatman, is of the neatly stripped-down variety that was alien to most records aiming for popular appeal, and the singer himself approached the music with a startling mix of authenticity and youthful enthusiasm.
The whole record is a strange and compelling amalgam of stylistic and technical achievements -- filled with blues influences of the 1930s and 1940s, but also making use of stereo sound separation and the best recording technology. The result was numbers like Sleepy John Estes' "Diving Duck Blues," with textures resembling the mix on the early Cream albums, while "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues" (even with Cooder's animated mandolin weaving its spell on one side of the stereo mix) has the sound of a late '40s Chess release by Muddy Waters. Blind Willie McTell ("Statesboro Blues") and Robert Johnson ("Dust My Broom") are also represented, in what had to be one of the most quietly, defiantly iconoclastic records of 1968.
by Bruce Eder
Tracks
1.Leaving Trunk (Sleepy John Estes) - 4:52
2.Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell) - 2:59
3.Checkin' Up On My Baby (Sonny Boy Williamson) - 4:55
4.Everybody's Got To Change Sometime (Sleepy John Estes) - 2:58
5.E Z Rider (Taj Mahal) - 3:04
6.Dust My Broom (Robert Johnson) - 2:39
7.Diving Duck Blues (Sleepy John Estes) - 2:43
8.The Celebrated Walkin' Blues (Traditional) - 8:53
Rumplestiltskin is the classic example of a band that very few even knew existed. Another band whose record company’s handling of them was apparently tragic.
Shel Talmy, the producer of The Who and The Kinks (during their early successful years) whose heavy influence with The Who created a historic recording, “My Generation,” has this to say: “I produced a band called “Rumpelstiltskin”, which was a put-together band of very good session guys, and we almost made it with that one. We had a whole concept. We were going to do a comic strip and all kinds of stuff. It was really a fun thing. And good songs, great music, ’cause these guys really could play. That went on Bell Records, [who] just totally screwed the whole thing up.
It was really unfortunate. We made two albums that I was very pleased with; that I think should have made it.”
Shame this band did not make it into the big time. Their second release "Black Magician" have opted for a smoother, more sophisticated sound. If you're fan of lighter prog fare find stuff to love here.
Tracks
1. Lord Of The Heaven And The Earth - 3:51
2. Can't You Feel It (Alan Parker, Peter Charles Green) - 3:06
3. Evil Woman (Herbie Flowers, Peter Charles Green) - 3:30
4. I Am The Last Man - 6:07
5. Loneliness Is What My Life's All About - 3:50
6. Through My Looking Glass - 3:34
7. Black Magician's Daughter (Herbie Flowers, Peter Charles Green) - 2:53
8. I'm So Afraid I'll Leave Unsaid - 2:25
9. I Am Alone - 3:16
10.I've Had Enough Of The Army - 6:44
11.Wimoweh (Single A Side) (Traditional) - 2:32
All songs by Alan Hawkshaw, Alan Parker, Peter Charles Green except where stated
Rumplestiltskin
*Peter Lee Stirling - Vocals
*Alan Hawkshaw - Piano, Organ
*Alan Parker - Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar
*Clem Cattini - Drums
*Herbie Flowers - Bass
Formed in 1969 as a drummerless four piece folk-rock ensemble that Bill Graham (promoter/manager and creator of the Fillmore Theatres) once dubbed "one of the best unknown bands in the world," McKendree Spring recorded five albums for MCA and two for ATV/PYE, toured with some of the most exciting artists of the 70's, and created exceptionally inventive music. The band was noted for its live shows that brought the crowds to their feet. McKendree Spring had a knack for covering songs that sounded as if they had been either written by them or for them.
McKendree Spring played some memorable venues: Carnegie Hall, the Fillmore East, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center. They loved playing the venues that got them there ~ ‘My Fathers Place’ on Long Island, the ‘Agora Ballroom’ in Columbus and Cleveland, and the College Coffee House Circuit. Over the years McKendree Spring shared the stage with performers like the Everly Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, Elton John, Ike & Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, the Byrds, Jethro Tull, and Van Morrison.
Tracks
1. I Should've Known (Michael Dreyfuss, Fran McKendree) - 3:58
2. I Can't Make It Anymore (Martin Slutsky) - 4:04
3. Spock (Fran McKendree, Martin Slutsky) - 4:58
4. What Will We Do With The Child (Fran McKendree) - 2:52
5. Morning Glory (Fran McKendree) - 5:02
6. If I Gave You Everything (Michael Dreyfuss, Martin Slutsky) - 4:32
7. John Wesley Harding (Bob Dylan) - 3:09
8. No Regrets (Fran McKendree) - 6:15
9. If The Sun Should Rise (Fran McKendree) - 3:59
10.Hold On (Michael Dreyfuss, Fran McKendree) - 4:41
11.Easier Things Have Been Done (Michael Dreyfuss, Fran McKendree) - 4:19
12.She's Never Leave Chicago (Michael Dreyfuss, Fran McKendree) - 3:10
Bonus Tracks 10-12
The McKendree Spring
*Fran McKendree - Lead Vocals, Acoustic, Twelve-String Guitar
*Martin Slutsky - Electric Guitar
*Larry Tucker - Bass (tracks 1-9)
*Michael Dreyfuss - Violin, Viola, Theremin With
*Fred Goldstein - Electric Cello
*Donny Brooks - Harmonica
*Carson MIchaels - Drums, Percussion (Tracks 10-12)
*Christopher Bishop - Bass (Tracks 10-12)
The ’60s were over and David Crosby was living on a boat. Aside from the recording studio, his 59-foot schooner, named The Mayan, was the only place where things made sense. When Crosby was 11, his parents decided to enroll their son in sailing classes. The wild-eyed, giggling California kid had an anti-authoritarian streak that was starting to get him in trouble, and some time on the docks, they imagined, might give him some discipline, or at least a place to spend his summers. Sailing came naturally, like he had captained many vessels in a previous life. It was an uncanny feeling, comforting and strange. As the decade came to a close, Crosby wrote the title track of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s blockbuster album Déjà Vu about this very sensation.
Around the same time, he experienced his first major loss. In 1969, on her way to take the cats to the vet, Crosby’s girlfriend Christine Hinton swerved her van and crashed into a school bus. She died instantly. Grief-stricken and depressed, Crosby stood at the start of a long spiral that would consume his next two decades. “I watched a part of David die that day,” his bandmate Graham Nash wrote. “He wondered aloud what the universe was doing to him.” He turned to hard drugs. Fifteen years later, he was in prison, almost unrecognizable, the creative spark that had defined him all but dissipated. Crosby seemed to exist only in the past tense.
In the beautiful tragic comedy that is classic rock radio, David Crosby is almost never the protagonist. He’s more like the stoned sidekick—colorful, lovable, always just kind of around. Once in a while, he takes the lead, but his voice remains most recognizable as the one somewhere in the middle—first in the Byrds, next in CSN, and then in CSNY. Much has been said of his ego—and much of it by Crosby himself—but few artists have been so content to have a legacy defined by the people around them. Surrounded by friends, he was happy. “I had never seen anybody who had that much interest and joy and spontaneous reaction,” Grace Slick said of her first encounter with Crosby in the ’60s. “You could just look at his face and be delighted because there was a human being getting that childlike excitement out of stuff.”
Like sailing, music came naturally to young Crosby. His awakening arrived at age four, when his mother took him to see a symphony orchestra in the park. He was transfixed by everything, save for the compositions themselves. He sat in awe of the chaotic murmurs as the musicians tuned their instruments; the syncopated dance of their elbows when they kicked into action; how a vast body of voices could unite, suddenly, in harmony. He noticed the way that none of these sounds would be nearly as powerful on their own. “It just broke over me like a wave,” he reflected. It’s a thread he followed throughout his career.
While 1971’s If I Could Only Remember My Name is the first release credited to Crosby as a solo artist—and for a long time, the only release—it’s an album defined by harmony, community, and togetherness. The backing band is composed of members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, with notable appearances from Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Graham Nash. At the time of its release, these were some of the most popular names in music, nearly all of them coming off respective career-bests and commercial peaks. And yet together, they sound gloriously abstract. The music feels the way a dream sounds when you try to retell it in the morning: foggy, only loosely coherent, dissolving in real time.
This is David Crosby’s fingerprint. Look back at his earliest songs and you can hear an artist fighting against the confines of popular music. He played guitar in strange ways, opting for odd tunings that carried his songs and lyrics to unexpected places. His first great song, the Byrds’ “Everybody’s Been Burned,” sounds a little like a standard, except for the bass soloing through the entire thing. Later, in a cut called “What’s Happening?!?!,” he sang through what sounds like barely contained laughter, like someone exasperated with how much they have to say, realizing how words fail our deepest visions. The band can barely keep up with him.
The story goes, Crosby was kicked out of the Byrds for a few reasons. One, he was a pain to work with. Two, he had taken to indulging in long rants on stage, veering toward conspiracy theories about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Third, he had written this troublesome little song about a threesome. Continuing his nonmonogamous streak, he had also accepted a role playing with Stephen Stills in Buffalo Springfield at the Monterey Pop Festival. His bandmates took it as a sign of disloyalty—or maybe just an excuse to abandon him. Soon after his dismissal from the Byrds, Crosby and Stills began working with the Hollies’ Graham Nash on a new project focused on tight songwriting and three-part harmony. With Nash, Crosby found his most natural and consistent partner: someone who laughed at his jokes, provided comfort and wisdom when he needed it, and joined him on The Mayan for long treks down the California coast.
Near the end of If I Could Only Remember My Name, Nash and Crosby duet on a gorgeous, wordless piece of music, scatting along to one of the best melodies Crosby ever wrote. “I called it ‘A Song With No Words,’” he announces proudly at a show in 1970, gesturing toward Nash at his side. “He called it ‘A Tree With No Leaves.’ That shows you where he’s at.” The audience laughs. On the sleeve of the record, the song has both titles, Nash’s in parentheses, a symbolic compromise that speaks to the group mentality of the record. Alone with his music, Crosby heard sketches. With his friends around, they became forces of nature.
The creation of the album involved Crosby spending idle time alone in the studio, leaning against a wall or collapsing into tears, before his collaborators arrived to elevate the mood and enliven the music. Jerry Garcia’s pedal steel and Joni Mitchell’s harmony vocals turn “Laughing,” the most conventional song on the record, into the psych-folk ideal: a lazy sunset that gains resonance as it subdues. The kaleidoscopic opener “Music Is Love” was just a plaintive guitar riff before the choir turned it into a commune. “Everybody’s saying that music is love,” they all sing, one after the other, creating a world where it’s true.
Crosby was adamant not to let his pain define the record. “I got no more understanding than an ant does when you pull off his legs,” he told Rolling Stone about his grief. He spoke about his desire to keep the sadness to himself—“It was the most horrible trip of my life and nobody needs to go on it”—so that his music could remain an escape. The album ends up somewhere in the middle. It’s a peaceful but broken sound.
The only song with a narrative arc is “Cowboy Movie.” It tells the thinly veiled story of CSNY dissipating, less interesting for its hippy-comedown mythology than its depiction of a narrator finding himself more desperate and alone with each passing minute. The story is in the music too: a gnarled, paranoid skeleton of Young’s 1969 song “Down by the River” that crackles and fades like a dying campfire. Crosby’s voice is more ragged than usual. “Now I’m dying here in Albuquerque,” he sings at the end. “I might be the sorriest sight you ever saw.”
The record closes with two songs that Crosby recorded by himself. Both are mostly a cappella, his voice layered to sound angelic and vast. “I was sitting there, kind of goofing around,” he said of the experiments, “And then all of a sudden I wasn’t goofing around.” Titled “I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here,” the closing song has since been identified as Crosby’s elegy for Christine. On a record that includes some of his most pointed writing about politics (“What Are Their Names”) and loss (“Traction in the Rain”), this was his clearest statement. He sounds helpless, haunted.
Throughout the ’70s, Crosby slowly fell out of focus. He and Nash made a few strong records as a duo and CSN had several more hits while they drifted apart. Nash knew the band was done when he saw Crosby abandoning a jam after his crack pipe fell from an amp. Things only got worse. At one point, Crosby boarded The Mayan in an attempt to flee from the cops before eventually turning himself in to the FBI. He left prison a year later with his hair cut short and his iconic mustache shaved off. Newly sober, his health began to deteriorate. He nearly died of liver failure in the ’90s, and, when he recovered, diabetes and heart disease followed.
Along the way, If I Could Only Remember My Name garnered a bigger reputation. Unlike anything else in Crosby’s catalog and misunderstood by its generation of critics, it was rediscovered by folk artists in the 2000s among similarly cosmic works by Judee Sill and Vashti Bunyan. Its most notable student, however, is Crosby himself. His last five years have found him returning to the record’s quiet, hypnotic headspace to work with a newfound urgency. On the best of his recent records, 2018’s Here If You Listen, he and his young collaborators return to some of the demos he made during the ’60s and ’70s, finishing the thoughts he abandoned. “If you don’t like the story you’re in,” he sings, “Pick up your pen and then write it again.”
It’s an inspiring new phase of his career, though it also highlights everything that’s been lost: collaborators, friends, time. In 2014, David Crosby sold The Mayan to a California billionaire named Beau Vrolyk. Crosby needed the money and figured this guy could take better care of it anyway. He hasn’t sailed since. The boat, however, has never been better. On a blog dedicated to its maintenance, Vrolyk writes passionately about the Mayan’s second life. He’s since made the boat more habitable for future generations. He got in touch with the grandson of the original builders to learn about its history. He even entered it in some races. “Old boats need love,” he writes. Some find it.
by Sam Sodomsky
Tracks
1. Music Is Love (David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young) - 3:22
2. Cowboy Movie - 8:12
3. Tamalpais High (At About 3) - 3:33
4. Laughing - 5:27
5. What Are Their Names (David Crosby, Jerry Garcia, Michael Shrieve, Neil Young, Phil Lesh) - 4:15
6. Traction In The Rain - 3:47
7. Song With No Words - Tree With No Leaves - 6:00
8. Orleans (Traditional) - 2:02
9. I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here - 1:21
Words and Music by David Crosby except where stated
In 1972, Loudest Whisper guitarist Brian O'Reilly composed a folk-rock song suite of sorts, The Children of Lir, based around the legend of the Irish King Lir. As a theatrical production, it opened in Fermoy, Ireland in January 1973, and subsequently was staged in other towns. Shortly after that, the band recorded an album version of Children of Lir for the Irish branch of Polydor, though the resulting LP wasn't released outside of Ireland, and is rumored to have been pressed in a quantity of just 500 copies.
The record is respectable if unexceptional folk-rock with tinges of progressive rock, and like many such early- to mid-'70s albums with roots in the hippie era made outside of music industry capitals, it has a slightly lagging-behind-the-times feel in its basic production and earnest naïveté. It's a pleasant listen, though, integrating some guest female lead and backup vocals into a record that -- unlike some other Irish albums of the period that are sometimes billed as "folk-rock" -- really is full-band folk-rock, not an album of traditional folk material using some modern instruments or sensibilities, or a folk album of non-traditional contemporary material. Indeed, very occasionally -- particularly when high male vocals come to the fore, and especially on "Septimus" -- they sound like the quirkily wistful late-'60s British rock group Thunderclap Newman, who are far from most people's idea of an Irish folk-rock band.
For those who collect this sort of thing, it can be enjoyed without following the ostensible story line, the songs usually standing on their own as modestly enjoyable, if low-key and slightly somber, '70s British Isles folk-rock with harmony vocals and varied acoustic/electric instrumentation (including flute and string arrangements).
The album's been reissued on CD several times; the CD version with the most material is the 2006 version on Sunbeam, which adds historical liner notes and bonus cuts in the same style as the LP, including both sides of their rare 1974 single "William B."/"False Prophets"; "Wrong and Right," the 1976 B-side of their second single; two mid-'70s demos; and a ten-minute audio track from an Irish TV program with different versions of three of the songs from Children of Lir.
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. Overture - 5:31
2. Lir's Lament - 2:24
3. Good Day, My Friend - 3:30
4. Wedding Song - 2:39
5. Children's Song - 2:11
6. Mannanan Pt. 1 - 2:53
7. Mannanan Pt. 2 - 3:10
8. Children Of The Dawn - 3:00
9. Dawning Of The Day - 4:30
10.Septimus - 4:44
11.Farewell Song - 3:16
12.Cold Winds Blow - 4:44
13.Sad Children - 3:16
14.William B - 3:46
15.False Prophets - 3:16
16.Wrong And Right - 3:42
17.Silent O'Moyle - 5:54
18.The Wheel Of Life - 2:39
19.Children Of Lir (Original RTE Broadcast) - 10:36
All Compositions by Brian O'Reilly
Singer/guitarist Bobby Golden and his older brother/bassist Kenny Golden grew up outside of Macon, Georgia. While in their teens, they started forming and playing in local bans such as The Golden Boys and The Golden Arcade. By 1969 they'd expanded their repertoire beyond top-40 covers and soul revue, to include original material as the Coldwater Army. I'm guessing the name was inspired by the American temperance movement, though it was interesting name choice for a band that was formed near Warner Robbins Air Force Base.
1971 found Coldwater Army signed to the Nashville-based Starday-King affiliated Agape label. With a line-up consisting of singer Bob Garrett, lead guitarist Bobby Golden, bassist Kenny Golden, drummer Richard Hughes, trumpet player Nick Jones, sax player Dale Miller, and keyboardist Bob Spearman, the band went into the studios with producer Bobby Smith. Allowing an unknown band to record an album of original material seemingly reflected one of two things- Agape had significant faith in the band's commercial potential or, 2.) Agape had no interest in the band. Having listened to "Coldwtaer Army" dozens of times over the years, my guess is the latter category.
Not that you're going to find a lot of on-line reviews for this obscurity, but the ones you'll stumble across routinely tag this one as Southern rock. On tracks like 'Dreams' and 'Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday' there were clearly Southern rock influences, but don't be mislead, this really wasn't a Southern rock album. Remember that when the album was recorded, the majority of the band members were still in their late teens. They had come out of bands that focused on top-40 and soul covers so originality wasn't something they'd necessarily gotten around to. That made much of this album one of those fun, spot-the-influences collections. It's all here - Blood, Sweat and Tears horn charts, Chicago blues-rock ('Away'), even Paul Revere and the Raiders top-40 ('Smiling Faces').
"Dreams" starts with a funky little guitar riff, 'Dreams' found the band dipping their collective toes into the blues-rock arena - imagine a hybrid of The Allman Brothers and The Atlanta Rhythm Section, awesome track. 'To Pamela' is a hyper-sensitive ballad that included a touch of Cream influence in the middle of the song. The bouncy, blue-eyed soul-ish 'Hey People' is most commercially feasible song. Imagine The Young Rascals had they grown up in Macon, Georgia rather than New Jersey. I'm not a big fan for social relevancy, but I'll make an exception for this one. The lyrics may not have been the most subtle you've ever heard, but kudos to an early '70s Southern band being willing to taken on the subject of equality. Always liked Golden's melodic solo on this one.
'Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday' was a nice baseline for another sound of spot-the-influences - My answer was Spooky Tooth's 'Evil Woman' meets The Dixie Dregs. Again, not particularly original, but I liked Garrett's growling vocals and the song's jamming flavor. 'Smiling Faces' was a radio-friendly pop ballad that could have easily slotted on a Paul Revere and the Raiders album. Seriously, the lead vocal actually reminded me of Mark Lindsay. Very catchy refrain. Penned by drummer Hughes, 'In Thought ' was another Bobby Golden and Bill Spearman-powered rocker. Complete with lots of church organ, the lyrics also seemed inspired by the loss of their friend David Allen.
Powered by some of Spearman's prettiest keyboards and Golden's sustained fuzz guitar, 'Time for Reason' probably came the closest to showing off the band's true musical orientation. With a haunting, slightly lysergic edge, once again, Dale Miller's jazzy, discordant sax solo was at odds with the rest of the song, but it was such a strange juxtaposition that it was kind of neat. Shame the song faded out so early. With little promotional support from their record label, shortly after the album was released, the band split up.
Tracks
1. I Just Can't See You Anymore (Bob Garrett) - 2:02
2. Away (Bob Spearman, Bobby Golden, Nick Jones, Ricky Hughes) - 3:40
3. Dreams (Bob Garrett, Bobby Golden, Ricky Hughes) - 4:57
4. To Pamela (Bob Spearman, Bobby Golden, Nick Jones) - 3:06
5. Hey People (Bob Garrett, Bobby Golden) - 2:30
6. Today Tomorrow, Yesterday (Bob Garrett, Bobby Golden) - 2:51
7. Smiling Faces (Bob Garrett) - 2:40
8. By Your Side (Bob Garrett, Bobby Golden) - 3:59
9. Time Is Lost (Ricky Hughes) - 2:52
10.In Thought (Bob Garrett) - 4:50
11.Get It Together (Bob Garrett, Bobby Golden) - 3:36
12.Time For Reason (Bob Garrett) - 3:52
Coldwater Army
*Bob Garrett - Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Trumpet
*Bobby Golden (Aka Robert Goldne) - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Kenny Golden - Bass
*Richard Hughes - Drums, Percussion
*Nick Jones - Vocals, Trumpet
*Dale Miller - Sax
*Bob Spearman - Vocals, Keyboards With
*Calvin Arline - Bass
*Stanley Kimball - Guitar
*John Simmons - Keyboards
Their last album and another really good country-rock outing. This self-titled effort was released off RC
A in 1971 and came packaged in a strange jacket. Swampwater’s lineup had remained the same since their self-titled 1970 debut.
In comparison to that debut, there were a few more rock n roll tracks like the album opener Ooh-Wee California, the raw Dakota, and Ol’Papa Joe. These songs were good though, with well constructed guitar solos and strong bluegrass and cajun flavors. There were a few covers too but all were standouts like the excellent heartfelt version of One Note Man, a track with nice jangly Byrdsian guitar solos and pretty fiddle, which gave the song real atmosphere. Guilbeau also resurrected Gentle Ways of Lovin’ Me, a track he had recorded on numerous occasions with many different bands. Swampwater turned in one of the best versions of this song which is highlighted by barrelhouse banjo and a delicate, sincere arrangement. Another great track, Headed For The Country, compared favorably with the country-rock era Byrds, and had beautiful, sad folk-like harmonies and fine guitar playing.
All in all the album was strong, lacking any weak moments and showcased a great band that should have been at least as well known as Poco or Commander Cody.
by Jason Nardelli
Tracks
1. Ooh Wee California (Gib Guilbeau) - 2:52
2. Headed For The Country (Larry Murray) - 3:00
3. Ol' Papa Joe (Gib Guilbeau) - 2:34
4. Mama Lou (Larry Murray) - 3:08
5. A Song I Heard (Maury Muehleisen) - 2:23
6. One Note Man (Paul Arnoldi) - 2:41
7. Back On The Street Again (Steve Gillette) - 2:07
8. Dakota (Larry Murray) - 3:15
9. Gentle Ways Of Lovin' Me (Gib Guilbeau) - 2:23
10.Back Porch Harmony (Gib Guilbeau) - 1:58
11.Medley A. Swampdown B. The Merry Go Round C. Broke Down (Traditional, Cliff Friend, Dave Franklin) - 2:06
The J. Teal Band was formed in 1974, originally called the Jonathan Teal Band, named after a legendary gold prospector from the hills of North Carolina. They were all from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Yes. the same town the Marshall Tucker Band came from. In fact. Joey Cash, one of the guitarists, played with Paul Riddle (Marshall Tucker's drummer) in a band called Stanley and the Star Dusters. Also. Doug Cecil (drums) was a good friend of Riddle, and bought his Gretch drum set that was used in Marshall Tucker's earlier days Doug played that set on J Teal's album, "Cooks".
Billy Hardy (guitar) and Joey Cash (also guitar) had earlier played in a band called "Magic Weed" that was basically a house band for a road house on Hwy 29 between Spartanburg and Gaffney, SC called Pete's. According to old ledgers, Jimi Hendrix played there but Pete's is no longer there, so that can't be verified. Joey and Billy graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1974 and came back to Spartanburg to team up with Doug Cecil and his friend. Randy Johnson (bass and vocals). In 1975 and 1976. they were playing everything from Al Green to Aerosmith. Funky Southern rock, boogie-blues and a touch of 60's acid rock best describes them. Around this time, they rented a small house in the country on Davis Chapel Rd and turned it into their rehearsal studio.
After a cult following screamed for their original music, the band recorded "Cooks" in 1977 Hayne Davis was the recording engineer and also the producer who owned the small record company --Mother Cleo Productions. He worked some with Billy Joe Royal. Percy Sledge and Sledge Hammer, Toby King, Sugar and Spice, The Classic Four. High Cotton and others at the time. He did the re-mix of "Cooks" in the MCP Studios located in Newberry. SC near Columbia now called DaviSound. Barry Keel did the final re-master. J Teal signed with the booking agent. Eastern Atlantic Sounds. out of Raleigh. NC. And went on the road with high hopes but after a year or so the original line-up disbanded.
Doug Cecil left the band and was replaced by Joe Zalack and then J Teal once again hit the road playing full time until they finally broke up in 1979. In 1990 Randy and Billy tried to revive the band but with only minimal success. As Billy put it. "From 1990 to 1999 we went through so many drummers that I can't remember the names of half of them." But now with the re-release of their "Cooks" album, J. Teal Band has once again reformed with all of the original players.
CD Liner Notes
Tracks
1. Brainwasher (Randy Johnson) - 2:53
2. Country Girl (Randy Johnson) - 5:14
3. Coin to Mississippi (Billy Hardy) - 1:55
4. Lost Love (Billy Hardy, Buchannon) - 7:30
5. The Cure (Randy Johnson) - 7:59
6. Born in Chicago (Nick Gravenites) - 2:41
7. Ain't Gonna Cry No More (Billy Hardy) - 4:07
8. Burned (Randy Johnson) - 5:07
J. Teal Band
*Randy Johnson - Bass, Lead Vocals
*Billy Hardy - Guitars
*Joey Cash - Guitars
*Doug Cecil - Drums, Percussion
Ambush cannot be heard as dated, Ambush appears more raw, more straight, than its procedure, Minnows. Ambush was released as a CD only in Japan first time in 1989, this here is the 2006 24bit remastered Mini LP edition, which is out of print and hard to find.
Ambush is a smooth rock album. Ballads, smoky Jazz Blues, sometimes Soulful and Funky. Jesse Ed joins in, Booker T. Jones helps out with a couple of songs, Bonnie Bramlett shouts the lungs out of her body in Here to Stay Blues, and moreover the tightly matched band consists of Miek Utley (keys), Carl Radle (bass), Jim Keltner (drums and percussion) and Bobby Keys (Saxophone).
Beside the well written and Marc's personality, it is also the quality of the band that characterizes this record as a timeless. Too bad this album remain unnoticed for so long.
Tracks
1. Poor Boy (Irving Benno, Marc Benno) - 3:31
2. Southern Women (Marc Benno) - 4:19
3. Jive Fade Jive (Marc Benno) - 4:53
4. Hall Street Jive (Irving Benno, Marc Benno) - 3:20
5. Share (Marc Benno) - 5:18
6. Donut Man (Irving Benno, Marc Benno) - 3:05
7. Sunshine Feelin' (Irving Benno, Marc Benno) - 5:05
8. Here To Stay Blues (Irving Benno, Marc Benno) - 2:59
9. Either Way It Happens (Marc Benno) - 3:02
Personnel
*Marc Benno - Vocals, Guitar
*Mike Utley - Keyboards
*Carl Radle - Bass
*Jim Keltner - Drums
*Bobby Keys - Saxophone
*Jesse Ed Davis - Guitar
*Booker T. Jones - Acoustic Guitar, Horn
*Bonnie Bramlett - Vocals
*Ray Brown - Bass
From the first gut-wrenching guitar licks to a spicy south of the border ode, Marc Benno's "Lost In Austin" is full of funk, vibrant vocals and breathtaking instrumentation. It's perfectly produced by Glyn Johns, showcasing Benno's banner writing talent (he wrote or co-wrote all of the songs except Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash"), his soft infectious vocal style and some outstanding instrumental work.
Tha album star Benno on guitar and piano, Alber Lee and Eric Clapton on guitar (placing that instrument out of the relm of critism), Dick Sims keyboards, Carl Radle bass, Jim Keltner drums and Dick Morresey Sax. Recorded in two weeks in London and mastered in Hollywood, the album provides a geographic montage, since Benno spent a decade of wandering, mainly in California before moving back to Texas.
"Hotfoot Blues" is a kickoff number with enough slapback guitar and turned on percussion to challenge a heady brew of r 'n' b Muddy Waters style. The guitars sound as though they were stolen from King Kong's closet and are being attacked with pick axes. But it works providing a mighty mean sound that paves the way for Benno's vovcal and the finale.
It's followed by a catchy number "Chasing Rainbows". Again the guitar shine, only now they're muted into a subtly romantinc mood as they're mellowed by strings. Heavy percussion and bluesy organ power "Me And A Friend Of Mine". The highlight of the album -and title song- "Lost In Austin" is a beguiling number with it's autobiographical overtones has Benno bemoaning. "I hope words don't hex us/Down in Austin Texas?Lord I'm lost in Austin again/One town I thought I'd never/Be lost in, that was Austin/And then I was lost in/Austin again".
The soul romp is reminiscent of the brilliant peaks Bob Dylan reached in his "Blood On The Tracks" album. Damn good is Benno at his best. "Monterrey Pan" is another Dylanesque effort, sharp stabs of guitar, impeccably rendered, shape this bouncy ballad. Organ electric guitar and Benno's voice colot "The Drifter", then the album ends with "Hey There Senorita". Close your eyes and Dylan is bleeding on the tracks again. But the comparsion is unfair, Benno is not Dylan, and vice versa.
by Gerry Wood
Tracks
1. Hotfoot Blues (Marc Benno, Irvin Benno) - 5:01
2. Chasin' Rainbows - 4:15
3. Me And A Friend Of Mine - 3:07
4. New Romance - 4:08
5. Last Train (Marc Benno, Irvin Benno) - 4:06
6. Lost In Austin - 5:08
7. Splish Splash (Bobby Darin, Jean Murray) - 3:08
8. Monterrey Pen - 3:23
9. The Drifter - 4:30
10.Hey There Senorita - 5:07
All songs by Marc Benno except where noted
