Tag Archives: Blues

Taj Mahal: The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973

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Extraordinary set of early rarities and a superb 1970 concert

This 2-CD set of previously unreleased material provides a superb complement to the previously issued Essential anthology. Where Essential set surveyed thirty-three years of Mahal’s immense catalog, this latest collection focuses on five years from early in his career. Those formative years found Mahal exploring numerous threads of the blues, including pre-war styles, as well as soul and funk. The first disc includes a dozen finished studio tracks that clock in at a generous 77 minutes. The recordings were made in Woodstock, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area andNew Orleans, the latter produced by Allen Toussaint in rustic, drumless arrangements. The bands include 3- and 4-piece combos, as well as larger aggregations that feature the Dixie Flyers and a brass band. Jesse Edwin Davis’ guitar provides a strong, guiding presence on many tracks, and Mahal’s harmonica adds an expressive voice on a superb cover of Dylan’s “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” and a soulful instrumental version of “People Get Ready” titled “Butter.”

Disc two features a 1970 concert atLondon’s Royal Albert Hall. The live set features both original material and covers, including Sleepy John Estes’ “Diving Duck Blues,” Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Checkin’ Up on My Baby,” and a lengthy take on Robby Robertson and Garth Hudson’s pre-Band era “Bacon Fat.” Mahal starts his set – an opening slot for Johnny Winter and Santana – with a gutsy, a cappella version of the traditional “Runnin’ by the Riverside.” His stage manner is warm and welcoming, offering detailed introductions to his songs and drawing on the folk tradition of audience participation. His performances are backed by a superb four-piece that includes Jesse Davis (guitar), John Simon (Piano), Bill Rich (Bass) and James Karsten (Drums), as well as Mahal’s National Steel and harmonica.

Perhaps most amazing is that this entire set – both the studio and live tracks – is previously unreleased. Few artists ever record material this good, let alone in such quantity that they can leave some of it in the vault. Mahal is equally compelling in the studio as he is on stage, something few artists achieve; his studio recordings breathe freely and his stage work is lively but tight. Miles Mellough’s liner notes are detailed and informative, though a bit over-the-top in their devotion. Sound quality is good throughout, with the concert tapes sounding full and punchy – perhaps having Santana and Johnny Winter on the bill brought out the A-list live truck. This is a terrific find for Mahal’s fans, providing insight into both his studio process and the musical alchemy he brought to the stage. [©2012 Hyperbolium]

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World Famous Headliners: World Famous Headliners

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Terrific country, rock and soul from A-list songwriters with an A-list rhythm section

Leave it to ace songwriters – Big Al Anderson, Shawn Camp and Pat McLaughlin – to come up with an attention-getting, tongue-in-cheek name for their new group. All three are indeed world-famous, at least among those of who read songwriting credits, and Andersonis widely known, at least among a well-bred set of listeners, for his guitar slinging and lengthy tenure in NRBQ. All three have written Nashville hits, co-written with rootsy outsiders, and had their songs covered by both mainstream and non-mainstream legends. Together with veteran players Michael Rhodes on bass and Greg Morrow on drums, the trio of songwriters steps up front for a set of country, rock, blues and soul originals whose eclecticism is not unlike the variety recorded by Anderson’s previous band.

The set opens at a Rockpile-styled canter with “Give Your Love to Me,” featuring call-and-response vocals and electric guitar solos; Morrow kicks off the subsequent “Mamarita” with a solid second-line beat that eases the band into the song’s New Orleans mood. 1950s balladry threads through several songs, but the modern touches, such as the bewitching bass vamp of “Heart of Gold,” keep the productions from turning retro. The vocalists often sing as a chorus, but there are solo turns that conjure the straight-shooting delivery of Waylon Jennings, with some yowling harmonies that suggest The Band. The group plays loping country soul, ala the Hacienda Brothers, and Cajun-spiced rockers that will remind you of David Lindley’s solo work.

The trio’s songs are as good as the band they’ve assembled, with catchy melodies, deep grooves, and lyrics that are both playful and thought-provoking. They write mostly of love’s pains and pleas, leavened with apology and elation, and couched in finely-crafted lyrics and clever rhymes that can be funny and sad at the same time. The band’s collective pulse, particularly on the mid-tempo R&B numbers, belies the five individual careers twined together for the first time. Their chemistry is the result of decades of complementary work that, in a just world, would actually lead to headlining gigs around the globe. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

World Famous Headliners Home Page

Clover: Clover / Fourty Niner

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Early ‘70s country-rock, blues and soul from Marin County

Clover was a Marin County, California four-piece that formed in the late ‘60s and recorded this pair of albums for Fantasy Records in 1970-71. Their renown, however, stems from later exploits, including the slot as Elvis Costello’s backing band on his 1977 debut, My Aim is True, as well as spinning off Huey Lewis and the News, and launching the solo and songwriting (including Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny”) career of Alex Call. Their original albums didn’t catch on upon initial release, and have been tough to find. Reissued on this two-fer, the performances reveal a band drawing inspiration from both the San Francisco scene and the country-rock wafting up from Los Angeles, and with additional dashes of blues and soul Clover was ready to rock the local clubs and bars.

The albums, like the band’s set list, sprinkled covers (Jr. Walker’s “Shotgun” Rev. Gary Davis’ “If I Had My Way” and a Creedence-styled jam on the spiritual “Wade in the Water” that surely stretched out to fifteen minutes on stage) amid originals that included country, electric blues, and jazz- and funk-rock. The former comes in several varieties, including the traditional-sounding lament “No Vacancy,” Bakersfield-influenced “Monopoly,” Clarence White-styled guitar picking of “Lizard Rock and Roll Band,” and bluegrass “Chicken Butt.” Guitarist John McFree shows off his steel playing on “Howie’s Song,” and drummer Mitch Howie adds funky beats to “Love is Gone.” In the end, Clover was a good band, though not particularly distinct, and their albums provide a reminder of how deep the bench was in the San Francisco scene. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

Jimbo Mathus: Blue Light

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Country, soul, blues and rock with a Southern twist

Jimbo Mathus – most famously known as a founding member of Squirrel Nut Zippers – has long championed a bushel of roots music, including gypsy jazz, pre-war swing, ragtime, blues, country, folk, string band, soul and southern rock. With last year’s Confederate Buddha and this year’s new six-song EP, he’s meshed (or perhaps mashed, if you consider the southern origins) his influences into a rock-solid brew topped by soul-searing vocals. The title tune opens as a confessional before the downbeat kicks it into Allman Brothers territory for a chase down a stretch of blue highway. The ‘70s vibe continues with the electric piano and guitar of “Fucked Up World,” unloading the fed-up lyric, “I’m tired of living in a fucked up world / I with the man would get his shit together.” Mathus’ Southern roots thread throughout the EP, adding rustic soul to theChicago blues “Ain’t Feelin’ It” and rolling swampy waves under the garage rock “Haunted John.” At only twenty minutes it’s a short set, but a sweet one. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

Jimbo Mathus’ Home Page

Albert King: I’ll Play the Blues for You

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Legendary bluesman finds the funk at Stax

King first developed his resume as a bluesman in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, recording singles for Parrot, Bobbin, King and Coun-Tree; but he really defined himself to the public with his move toMemphisand signing to Stax in 1966. Initially paired with Booker T. & the MGs, King recorded signature tunes that included “Crosscut Saw” and “Born Under a Bad Sign,” but starting in the early ‘70s, he latched onto the Stax soul groove with this 1972 release. Backed by the Bar-Kays and Isaac Hayes’ Movement, King’s music got a strong dose of funk., particularly in the lanky bottom end of James Alexander’s bass, Willie Hall’s snare and kick drum, and the sophisticated charts blown by the Memphis Horns. King’s long, bending notes added an original flavor to the Stax sound, and on a remake of Motown’s “I’ll Be Doggone” he stretches out the blue notes for all he’s worth. The album’s title track, cut into two pieces for release as a single, became King’s life theme and cracked the R&B Top 40. The 2012 reissue of this title adds four previously unreleased bonus tracks that include alternate versions of “I’ll Play the Blues for You” and an intense, hornless-version take of “Don’t Burn Down the Bridge.” The reissue closes with a superb guitar-and-organ instrumental, “Albert’s Stomp,” that fades out just as it really gets cooking. The set’s 12-page booklet includes liner notes by Bill Dahl and Tom Wheeler. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

Radio Moscow: 3 and 3 Quarters

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The embryonic Radio Moscow

Recorded in Parker Griggs’ basement in 2003, these twelve tracks prove to be parts that would be more smoothly assembled on the band’s official 2007 debut. The ‘60s punk vocals, blues riffs, fuzz guitars and psychedelic overlays are all here, but they feel disjointed – like ingredients that have yet to jell into a final dish. On the other hand, the ferocious first press of a musician’s discovery is something special, and even the lack of longer jams (nothing over 3’30) or actual band interplay (Griggs plays everything here, though quite convincingly) can’t take away from the burst of energy that is the raw capture of a small town punk-rock teenager’s world. This was released in very limited and local quantities in 2004, and finds its first national distribution with this reissue. Fans will enjoy this peek at the group’s embryonic start, but those looking for the heart of their catalog are recommended to Brain Cycles and later releases. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

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Chris Barber: Memories of My Trip

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The rich musical life of a stellar trombonist

The list of name-famous trombonists pales in length to that of other instrumentalists. Aside from the recent renown of Trombone Shorty, one has to reach back to jazz players Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden, Kai Winding and J.J. Johnson to find names that truly rise above the title. But numerous trombonists, as both featured players and ensemble members, have provided key solos and accompaniment, and gained fame among those paying attention to the musicians They often become hugely important in the careers of those they backed and integral parts of musical movements.

British trombonist Chris Barber began playing in groups in the mid-50s, blowing ragtime, swing and blues, and it was here that he met vocalist Lonnie Donegan. It was with Donegan that Barber would ignite the skiffle craze with their cover of Leadbelly’s “Rock Island Line.” Barber continued to play trad jazz, even as he was bookingUKtours for American blues artists and providing them backing, as can be heard here in his featured spots with Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters and James Cotton. Over the years, Barber also played with the cream of British blues musicians, including Eric Clapton and Rory Gallagher. The latter found Barber playing bass, rather than trombone, against Gallagher’s hard-twanging guitar and gruff vocal.

Proper’s 2-CD set collects tracks from 1959 dates with McGhee through more recent sessions with Mark Knopfler, Jeff Healey and Jools Holland, and knits them together with track note memories by Barber himself. Barber came of age as a musician at the center ofBritain’s musical revolution, and has stayed connected and vital for more than fifty years, making this a rich document of a journey that traveled from influenced to influencer. Barber was much more than a backing (or even solo) instrumentalist; as a band leader and promoter he served as a conduit for the blues, giving the British scene direct contact with their American counterparts and forbearers.

As a trombonist, Barber is adept both at providing sensitive backing riffs and mixing it up with vocalists, guitarists and other instrumentalists. The small combo take of “Weeping Willow” and an audience tape of “Kansas City” show how easily Barber moved from background to foreground, keeping pace with the guitar riffs of Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters. Among the sets greatest surprises is a hot organ-jazz tune recorded with Keith Emerson in 1966, with David Leighton and a tight rhythm section staying with Emerson’s Jimmy McGriff-styled organ and Barber’s trombone. Barber’s led a musical career that’s made him a historian by virtue of the history he’s lived, and this two-disc set (with 24-page booklet) provides a fine overview of his travels. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

Chris Barber’s Home Page

Paul Thorn: What the Hell is Going On?

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A gourmet’s selection of blues, country, soul and rock covers

Paul Thorn is a Mississippi bluesman whose earlier career as a boxer still echoes in his gruff growl. Though well-known for his original, biographical songs, Thorn’s sixth album is an all-covers affair. Singing the songs of other writers is a complex task, one that reflects on Thorn’s understanding of songwriting craft as well as his visceral experience as a listener. He poses this set as an opportunity to “take a break from myself,” but his selections from others’ pens say a great deal about his musical roots, influences and tastes. Most of his picks are sufficiently obscure to avoid even registering as covers for many listeners; but these are interpretations rather than explanations, and Thorn’s fans will marvel at how easily he draws these songs into his personal orbit. This is a mix tape, but one in which the mixer sings the songs rather than having lined up other people’s performances on a C90.

Thorn’s voice has a clenched, raspy edge that variously brings to mind Dr. John, Jon Dee Graham, Willy DeVille, John Hyatt, Lyle Lovett, Randy Newman, Joe Cocker, Tom Waits and even a bit of Louis Armstrong. He doesn’t sound like any one of them, but your ears will catch passing associations as he work through a wide-ranging catalog drawn from Ray Wylie Hubbard, Buddy Miller, Elvin Bishop, Allen Toussaint and others. Each recitation balances flavors from the original recordings with Thorn’s own sound, retaining the signature rolling rhythm of Lindsey Buckingham’s early “Don’t let Me Down Again” while lowering its youthful freneticism, magnifying the blue side of Free’s “Walk in My Shadow,” and giving Muscle Shoals’ legend Donnie Fritts’ “She’s Got a Crush on Me” the soul vocal it really deserves.

Thorn finds something interesting to say with each of these covers, zeroing in on the fright of Hubbard’s “Snake Farm,” lending a heavier church-vibe to Miller’s “Shelter Me Lord,” and giving Bishop space to play guitar on a tightened-up version of his own title track. One of the album’s best tracks, “Bull Mountain Bridge,” is also its one thematic cheat. Originally recorded as a demo called “The Hawk,” the song was retitled (and shouldn’t be confused with songwriter Wild Bill Emerson’s “Bull Mountain Boy”) and given, with Delbert McClinton pitching in on vocals, a superb southern rock treatment. Thorn compliments his songwriting peers by wishing he’d written these compositions, and pays his debt for their listening pleasure by sharing these songs with his own fans. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

Paul Thorn’s Home Page

Chelle Rose: Ghost of Browder Holler

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Appalachian rock ‘n’ roll, country, blues and soul

More than a decade after her 2000 debut, Nanahally River, singer-songwriter Chelle Rose delivers a sophomore set of gritty country blues and rock. The raw power of her voice brings to mind the early recordings of Lissie, but with a swampy backwoods feel that brings to mind Lucinda Williams, Bobbie Gentry and Holly Golightly. Rose is a child of Appalachia and the Smoky Mountains, but her music is touched more by blues than bluegrass. Her songs are rooted in the rural experience of mountain men, snakes in the road (both literal and figurative), impending doom and haunting memories of untimely death. She adds husk to the addictive desire of Julie Miller’s “I Need You” and tears her ex- a new one as she reestablishes her music career in “Alimony.” Of the latter she’s said “I tried to quit music, but it just wouldn’t quit me.” The album closes with Elizabeth Cook adding a harmony vocal an acoustic song of a mother’s loss and faith, “Wild Violets Pretty.” The last really shows how deeply Rose is willing (and able) to dig into herself for a lyric. Producer Ray Wylie Hubbard provides support with dripping gothic blues, rowdy country rock, atmospheric folk and Memphis soul, a mélange that Rose calls “Appalachian rock ‘n’ roll.” After hearing her out, you’re not likely to argue. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Alimony
Chelle Rose’s Reverb Nation Page