Circus - Selftitled (Progressiv Rock UK 1969 på "Transatlantic Etiketten)

290:- (Japan 24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Släppes av "Arcangelo" 2006. Mycket svår att hitta. Denna Mini LP säljs nu på "Discogs" för mellan 400-900:-. Laminerat utvikomslag. Mycket svår att hitta.)

Circus was one of the first bands to feature the talents of the well-known flutist and sax-player Mel Collins. Their self-titled debut was their only album, and consisted mostly of cover-material, but also a couple of tunes written by Collins. 

Musically this is typical early progressive rock that varies between the heavy, jazzy and psychedelic. Their heavy side is showed best through their really raw adaptation of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" that opens the album. Two other of the other cover-tunes, Charles Mingus' "Il B.S." and the traditional tune "St. Thomas", demonstrated the jazz-influenced side of the band. Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises" had been turned into a typical flute-driven progressive rock track with an instrumental break in the middle. 

The same goes for Mama and the Papas' "Monday, Monday". But my personal favourite is the airy and atmospheric progressive ballad "Pleasures of a Lifetime" that was penned by Collins himself. His two other songs, the short instrumental "Goodnight John Morgan" and the psychedelic "Father of My Daughter" were less impressive, but still listenable enough. Despite the wide use of cover-material, this is a good and solid album that will appeal to fans of flute/sax-driven progressive rock. 

The term ‘pioneer’ seems perfect to describe the early achievements of the Transatlantic record label. They imported blues, folk, and jazz from the States and provided an outlet for a whole wealth of otherwise 'impossible to get' music to the UK market. 

Within a year or two of their birth in 1961, they began to record new British sounds and led the way in the growing folk and blues movement of the latter half of the sixties. By 1969 the fiercely independent label’s eclectic philosophy had seen them releasing records in rock, pop, and even ragtime. 

It was the debut eponymous album from UK band Circus in 1969 that saw them venture into the progressive rock world. This highly collectable album is been re-released on the "Arcangelo" (Arc-7098) Recordings label, having been 24-Bit re-mastered, and appears with laminated sleeve, Fold-out cover and informative liner notes.

The newly re-named Circus had already achieved chart success under the cumbersome moniker of Philip Goodhand-Tait and the Stormsville Shakers. It hardly rolled off the tongue, and as the late sixties arrived they sensibly changed their name.

Two singles produced by Manfred Mann’s singer Mike D’Arbo faded into obscurity. But their song “Gone Are The Songs Of Yesterday” was covered by Love Affair on the flip side of their hit single “Everlasting Love.” 

When Goodhand-Tait left to write more material for Love Affair, Circus decided to move away from the singles market and go into more experimental territory. 

At this time the band consisted of Ian Jeffs on guitar and vocals, drummer Chris Burrows, bass player Kirk Riddle and renowned sax and flu player Mel Collins who also covered flute.

It would be impossible to try and list everyone that Mel Collins has played with over the years. Names such as The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, King Crimson, Camel, Caravan, Humble Pie, Uriah Heep, Dire Straits, Bad Company, and many more, spring to mind.

Back in 1969, Circus were busy developing a jazz fusion style. This was a period that saw the rise of bands such as The Nice, Soft Machine, Colosseum, and the newly formed King Crimson. In the album notes Mel describes the period by saying, “it was a very creative time where you were allowed to experiment. There wasn’t a formula you had to stick to.” 

When Transatlantic stepped in and signed Circus the Guildford band quickly found themselves in the studio with producer Ray Singer who had achieved success with Ray Sarstedt’s hit “ Where Do You Go To My Lovely.” In just two days the band went through their established live set, while Singer did his best to capture the band’s spirit in the time allowed. 

The album sold well and has subsequently become something of a sought after collectors item. It is also best remembered for its two cover songs, The Beatles “Norwegian Wood,” which opens the album, and “Monday, Monday,” a huge hit for The Mamas & The Papas.

“Norwegian Wood” takes the song to a whole new level, not always a popular thing to do amongst Beatles purists. Having said that, this cover is bravely and successfully innovative. If anything, it takes the song along a logical path. Ian Jeffs even sounds Beatle-esque with his vocals. But it’s the jazz elements that lift the version on high building towards a soaring crescendo before regrouping along original Beatle lines. It’s a stunningly effective opener.

The next track, “Pleasure Of A Lifetime”, written by Mel Collins, is a gentle meandering and melancholic track that features his father Derek on alto-flute. The upbeat “St. Thomas” arrives with its ‘live extended free form jam’ flavor and features some excellent flute playing by Mel Collins. 

The all too brief “Goodnight John Morgan” takes us easily into late night jazz. You can see the swirls of cigarette smoke and the lonely guy at the end of the bar staring into his empty glass on this one. Mel’s “Father Of My Daughter” recaptures the melancholic feel of earlier with another gentle breeze of a song set above acoustic guitar and flute. 

The up-tempo theme-tune feel to the instrumental “II BS” leads into the well chosen cover of “Monday, Monday.” The album closes with one of its highlights, the laid back of ease of “Don’t Make Promises,” which slowly opens out into something quite special as Mel once again shows his flute expertise. 

Sadly , it was to prove the last track released by Circus. When the band began to write material for a second album they were simply unable to deliver and the band folded.

Largely forgotten over the years, save for those buyers of collectable vinyl, Circus’s debut album has finally been given the makeover it deserves. In part it is very much of its time. Yet there remains something fresh and alive about the recording that make it an enjoyable and rewarding trip. 

Maybe this was, in part, due to the manner of its recording as a mainly ‘live’ studio album. Either way, the high quality of the musicianship is evident from the very first bars of the brave statement that is “Norwegian Wood.” If only they could have come up with some more.

• The Band
• • Ian Jelfs - Guitar, Vocals
• • Chris Burrows - Drums  
• • Riddle - Bass
• • Collins - Flute, Tenor Saxophone
• • Bleasby - Percussion

01.  Wood (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 7:22
02. Pleasures Of A Lifetime (Mel Collins) - 8:21
03. St. Thomas (Mel Collins) - 3:33
04. Goodnight John Morgan (Mel Collins) - 1:47
05. Father Of My Daughter (Mel Collins) - 3:19
06. II B.S. (Charles Mingus) - 6:28
07. Monday Monday (John Phillips) - 4:18
08. Don't Make Promises (Tim Hardin) - 4:42

The Pretty Things - Get the Picture (Deras 2:a Album UK 1965 + Många bonusspår)

200:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Gruppens 2:a album som har 6 bonusspår, bl.a: "Come See Me", "L.S.D.","Midnight to Six Man". Mycket bra album, lite råe rock än vad som var vanligt 1965.)

The Pretty Things' second album, Get the Picture? (released December 1965), has not only been remastered from original session tapes so the group sounds like their amps are practically right in your lap, but it's also been expanded to 18 songs with the addition of tracks cut for singles and EP releases from the same sessions. 

That's enough to recommend it even to casual fans -- this is now a record that's just a few notches short of Rolling Stones level in the charisma department, and pretty tough any way you want to look at it. On "Rainin' in My Heart," they sound exactly like the Stones from the same era, missing only the little harmonica flourish that might have been added on the break. 

The liner notes go into the history of the group during this period in delightful detail, and the histories of various songs, most particularly "L.S.D.," which, amazingly, was cut as a demo and never redone for release, but just put out the way it was. In their good moments here, the Pretty Things approach Rolling Stones' territory, and even in their off moments, they're flying at the same level as the Kinks' album tracks.

01. "You Don't Believe Me" (Phil May, Bobby Graham, Jimmy Page, Willie Morrell) – 2:24

02. "Buzz the Jerk" (May, Dick Taylor) – 1:55

03. "Get the Picture?" (May, Taylor) – 1:56

04. "Can't Stand the Pain" (May, Taylor, Graham) – 2:42

05. "Rainin' in My Heart" (James Moore, Jerry West) – 2:33

06. "We'll Play House" (May, Taylor) – 2:34

07. "You'll Never Do It, Baby" (Brian Smith, Terry Fox) – 2:29

08. "I Had a Dream" (Jimmy Witherspoon) – 2:59

09. "I Want Your Love" (Johnnie Dee, Johnny Tarr) – 2:18

10. "London Town" (Tim Hardin) – 2:28

11. "Cry to Me" (Bert Russell) – 2:53

12. "Gonna Find Me a Substitute" (Ike Turner) – 2:59

Bonus Tracks

13. "Get a Buzz" (May, Taylor, Brian Pendleton, John Stax, Skip Alan)– 4:02

14. "Sittin' All Alone" (May, Taylor) – 2:49

15. "Midnight to Six Man" (Taylor, May) – 2:21

16. "Me Needing You" (May, Taylor) – 1:58

17. "Come See Me" (Pierre Tubbs, J.J. Jackson, Sidney Barnes) – 2:41

18. "L.S.D." (May, Taylor) – 2:27

The Rolling Stones - Sucking The Seventies (UK 1981)

330:- (SHM-CD Limited Remaster Edition. Outgivet + andra versioner av låtar från 70-talet. Endast detta ex i lager.

Sucking in the Seventies is the fourth official compilation album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1981. As the successor to 1975's Made in the Shade, it covers material from It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974), Black and Blue (1976), Some Girls (1978) and Emotional Rescue (1980) recording sessions.

All tracks on Sucking in the Seventies except "Shattered" and "Everything Is Turning to Gold" were mixed or edited for this release. "When the Whip Comes Down" is presented in an otherwise unreleased live version, recorded in Detroit on the band's 1978 tour.

"If I Was a Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)" is a longer and different mix and containing different lyrics from "Dance (Pt. 1)", the opening track on Emotional Rescue (1980). The Rolling Stones' only #1 hit of this period, "Miss You", is not included on this compilation.

There's a certain smarmy charm in the Rolling Stones titling a compilation of their work from the second half of the '70s Sucking in the Seventies -- it seems a tacit admission that neither the decade nor the music they made in that decade was all that good, something that many critics and fans dismayed by the group's infatuation with glitzy disco and tabloid grime would no doubt argue. 

It is indeed true that the Stones, led by the ever-fashionable Mick Jagger, descended into a world of sleaze, one seemingly far removed from the dangerous blues-rockers of the '60s, who were concerned enough about their blues credibility that they brought Howlin' Wolf on to a teen-oriented British TV program. 

That incarnation of the Rolling Stones was a distant memory at the end of the '70s, when the group was freely dabbling with disco, reggae, and never-ending elastic grooves, and pumping up their sound with punchy horns and slick backing vocalists. Sometimes this resulted in great music, as in the terrific 1978 masterwork Some Girls, which took on disco, punk, and new wave in equal measure, while retaining the signature Stones feel. Sometimes, the group would stumble, as they did on the uneven but intermittently entertaining 1976 LP Black and Blue (heavy on reggae and jams) and 1980's Emotional Rescue (heavy on disco and dance). 

Those three albums are more or less covered on Sucking in the Seventies, an unwieldy collection of hits, outtakes, live cuts, and album tracks that plays fast and loose with the time line (it reaches back to 1974 for "Time Waits for No One," a year that was covered on their previous comp, Made in the Shade), while not including anything but outtakes from Emotional Rescue, and managing to overlook their biggest hit of the second half of the '70s -- 1978's "Miss You," the biggest and best disco track they ever did. 

This doesn't come close to compiling all their best songs from the second half of the '70s -- for instance, the monumental "Hand of Fate," easily the greatest song on Black and Blue, isn't here -- but the amazing thing is that Sucking in the Seventies captures the garish decadence and ennui of the band better than the proper albums from this period. 

Not that this is a better record than Some Girls, which had the same sense of trash but also a true sense of hunger and menace underpinning the restless music, but it is better than either Black and Blue or Emotional Rescue, since it gleefully emphasizes their tawdry disco moves while illustrating that the band could either be deliciously tacky in concert (the version of "Mannish Boy" pulsating on a gaudy clavinet shows how bloated the Stones were in the mid-'70s, but the passage of time has made that rather ingratiating) or as muscular and mean as they were at their peak (a previously unreleased version of "When the Whip Comes Down," which tears by at a vicious pace). 

On the surface, the studio outtakes of "Everything Is Turning to Gold" and "If I Was a Dancer" (which is merely the second part of Emotional Rescue's opening cut, "Dance, Pt. 1") aren't all that remarkable, but they're good, stylish grooves, and when placed in the context of other disco-rock, slick ballads, and overblown blooze, they help make Sucking in the Seventies into a kind of definitive document. 

If you want to know what the Stones sounded like at the end of the '70s, why they earned scorn from longtime fans while continuing to rule the charts, this is the record you need. It may not give casual fans all the hits they want, and for some hardcore fans, this will remind them of why they stopped listening to the Stones, but for a few others, this is a wonderful celebration of all the group's '70s sleaze, an LP that was designed to be a shoddy cash-in compilation, but wound up revealing more than the group ever realized.

Track listing:
01. "Shattered" – 03:46
• From Some Girls (1978)
02. "Everything Is Turning to Gold" (Jagger, Richards, Ronnie Wood) – 04:06
• B-side to "Shattered"
03. "Hot Stuff" – 03:30
• Edited version from Black and Blue (1976)
04. "Time Waits for No One" – 04:25
• Edited version from It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974)
05. "Fool to Cry" – 04:07
• Edited version from Black and Blue (1976)
06. "Mannish Boy" (Ellas McDaniel, Mel London, McKinley Morganfield) – 04:38
• Edited version from Love You Live (1977)
07. "When the Whip Comes Down" (Live version) – 04:35
• Recorded live in Detroit on 6 July 1978
08. "If I Was a Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)" (Jagger, Richards, Wood) – 05:50
• Previously unreleased, from the Emotional Rescue sessions (1980)
09. "Crazy Mama" – 04:06
• Edited version from Black and Blue (1976)
10. "Beast of Burden" – 03:27
• Edited version from Some Girls (1978)

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thorntorn - She's Back (US Blues 1951-57)

270:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster US Blues, very rare tracks + Bonus 1951-57)

Everything about Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton was Big. She was a big woman with a big voice, a big harmonica sound, a big stage presence and a big hit record. Her version of Leiber and Stoller's 'Hound Dog' sat on top of the R&B chart for seven weeks in 1953, but that achievement was overshadowed by the worldwide impact of the Elvis version released in 1956. When she wrote the tour de force number 'Ball and Chain', it became the song that launched the worldwide career of Janis Joplin, and Big Mama was left in the shadows again.

When Big Mama was small, she sang with her mother in the Alabama church where her father was the minister. In 1941, the 14 year old Willie Mae moved to Georgia to join The Harlem Hot Review which afforded her seven years in which she polished her singing and her stagecraft as the Revue toured the South. Finally she settled in Houston, Texas appearing on the club scene as an accomplished singer, a fine harmonica player and a solid drummer. She signed for Don Robey's Peacock Records in 1951, scoring a regional hit with 'Partnership Blues'.

Like many Texas based artists, Willie Mae had contacts in Los Angeles and while she was there, she was given the song, 'Hound Dog' by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. She recorded the track in 1953 with Johnny Otis, who claimed a writing credit on this version, and it was the biggest R&B record of the year. Despite this monster hit, Willie Mae never really troubled the charts again, even though she issued a steady stream of good records on Peacock, such as 'I Smell a Rat' and 'Stop Hoppin' On Me', and she also toured extensively with various R&B packages. When she was back in Houston in 1954, Willie Mae was a witness to the accidental death of rising young pianist/singer Johnny Ace, who had shared a duet with her on 'Yes Baby'. He was waving a pistol around backstage, and may have been quite drunk when he put the gun to his head and blew his own brains out.

In 1961, Willie Mae relocated to the San Francisco Bay area where she was a fixture at the local Blues clubs. In 1965 she toured Europe with the Folk/Blues Festival and in London she recorded a live album with the Muddy Waters Blues Band. She repeated the idea back in SF with the Chicago Blues Band, both albums appearing on the Arhoolie label. 'Ball and Chain' was the title track of her 1968 album, a powerful Blues on the pains of love that Willie Mae wrote herself. It was immediately picked up by Janis Joplin and recorded as the stand-out track on Big Brother and the Holding Company's breakthrough album. Once again her finest work was usurped by an iconic white artist, and her version largely overlooked in popular memory.

Willie Mae put out further albums with Mercury, 'Stronger Than Dirt' and 'The Way it Is' around the turn of the decade. 

She continued to work the Festival circuit throughout the seventies, and a sudden burst of recording activity in 1975 saw her release two live albums 'Sassy Mama' and 'Jail'. 

The latter was recorded at sessions in two north-western prisons, and features a long laid-back version of 'Ball and Chain'. Drinking was starting to take a toll on Willie Mae's health, and she began to lose weight, becoming positively scrawny compared to the statuesque figure she cut in her prime. She died alone in a Los Angeles rooming house from a heart attack in 1984. It was a sad end for a genuine Blues talent whose best work was never given the credit it deserved.

01. COTTON PICKING BLUES 
02. WILLIE MAE'S BLUES 
03. BIG CHANGE 
04. WALKING BLUES 
05. JUST CAN NOT HELP MYSELF 
06. HOUND DOG 
07. THE CALL ME BIG MAMA 
08. TARZAN AND THE DIGNIFIED MONKEY 
09. MY MAN CALLED ME 
10. I SMELL A RAT 

BONUS TRACKS
11. ALL FED UP 
12. PARTNERSHIP BLUES 
13. NO JODY FOR ME 
14. LET YOUR TEARS FALL BABY 
15. EVERYTIME I THINK OF YOU 
16. MISCHIEVOUS BOOGIE 
17. NIGHT MARE 
18. ROCK A BYE BABY 
19. I IS NO NO FOOL EITHER 
20. I'VE SEARCHED THE WHOLE WORLD 
21. STOP HOPPIN 'ON ME 
22. STORY OF MY BLUES 
23. THE FISH
24. LAUGH, LAUGH, LAUGH 
25. HOW COME 
26. JUST LIKE A DOG (BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE)

Rick Derringer - All American Boy (1st Solo Classic Rock Album US 1973)

270:- (Japan 24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Rick Derringers 1:a soloalbum. Kända gästmusiker medverkar på albumet. Utgången utgåva sedan länge.)

All American Boy is an album by Rick Derringer, released on Blue Sky Records in 1973. "Joy Ride" and "Time Warp" (not to be confused with The Rocky Horror Picture Show song) are instrumentals.

Fresh from stints in the McCoys and Johnny Winter Band, All American Boy was supposed to be Rick Derringer's breakthrough solo album. For years, it was argued that the frightfully touched-up cover photo of Derringer sank the album before anyone heard it. If that's true, it's a shame, because this is simply Rick Derringer's most focused and cohesive album, a marvelous blend of rockers, ballads, and atmospheric instrumentals. Joe Walsh helps out on a couple of tracks, but mostly it's Derringer's show -- multi-instrumental virtuosity in a number of styles. Consider this one of the great albums of the '70s that fell between the cracks. 

It seems like Rick Derringer has been on the rock & roll scene forever -- actually, it's only been since 1965, which makes him one of the more enduring veterans of his generation. Derringer's work with his band the McCoys in his midteens, highlighted by the bubblegum anthem "Hang On Sloopy," gave him a claim to low-level rock & roll immortality, and his subsequent playing with Johnny (and later Edgar) Winter provided him with a degree of credibility that a lot of guitar players can only envy, especially after the release of the Edgar Winter live double album Roadwork.

Derringer began getting production experience with the McCoys, but they were never able to overcome their bubblegum rock image, and by the end of the 1960s, Derringer and his brother Randy were recruited by Johnny Winter into his band, with Derringer playing guitar and also producing. He emerged as a solo artist in the wake of his playing with Edgar Winter's White Trash. Derringer first became popular in his own right during the early/mid-'70s, beginning with a new version of his own "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo" (which Johnny Winter had covered for him a few years earlier) off Derringer's heavy metal-influenced debut album, All American Boy. Derringer soon had his own band, called Derringer, on the road -- although his guitarist and bassist, Danny Johnson and Kenny Aaronson, left in 1977 to form Axis -- and within a couple of years had established himself as a popular favorite. 

Derringer's recorded history was somewhat spotty, however, as his record sales never matched his favor with concert audiences -- a huge gap also existed between releases, which didn't bother him; even in the late '90s, Derringer played close to 200 shows a year. He spent most of the late '70s and 1980s, however, as a producer, working with artists as diverse as Bette Midler, Kiss, Meat Loaf, Cyndi Lauper, Barbra Streisand, and Weird Al Yankovic. 

Derringer is known for his hard-rocking live shows, which don't necessarily translate well to recordings, or lend themselves to much originality. As he neared age 50 in the 1990s, however, he had mellowed, and this showed when he began recording again for Shrapnel Records in 1993 with the albums Back to the Blues and Electra Blues. Years of fair to average rock and adult contemporary albums followed, but in 2002 Derringer did an about-face and tried his hands at jazz with the adventurous Free Ride. 

• Rick Derringer - vocals, guitar, organ
• David Bromberg - guitar, dobro
• Joe Walsh - electric guitar
• Joe Vitale - drums
• Kenny Passarelli - bass
• Tasha Thomas - background vocals
• Edgar Winter - keyboards
• Lani Groves - background vocals
• Carl Hall - background vocals
• Suzi Quatro - bass
• Paul Harris - keyboards
• Joe Lala - percussion
• Toots Thielemans - harmonica
• Bobby Caldwell - drums


01."Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" - 3:43
02."Joy Ride" - 1:50
03."Teenage Queen" - 3:31
04."Cheap Tequila" - 2:44
05."Uncomplicated" - 3:40
06."Hold" (Derringer, Patti Smith) - 3:12
07."The Airport Giveth (The Airport Taketh Away)" - 2:49
08."Teenage Love Affair" - 3:20
09."It's Raining" - 2:05
10."Time Warp" - 2:53
11."Slide On Over Slinky" - 4:21
12."Jump, Jump, Jump" - 6:00

Blood, Sweat & Tears - Child is Father to The Man (1st Album US 1968)

260:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Gruppens 1:a album inklusive Al Kooper. 3 bonuslåtar ingår i denna utgåva.)

Child Is Father to the Man is the debut album by Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in February 1968. It reached number 47 on Billboard's (North America) Pop Albums chart.

Widely regarded as a classic fusion of jazz, rock and roll, psychedelia and classical music, Child Is Father to the Man is one of bandleader Al Kooper's most enduring works. The album introduced the idea of the big band to rock and roll and paved the way for such groups as Chicago. Kooper left the band after this album, changing the nature of the group.

The title is a quotation from a similarly titled poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, slightly misquoting a poem by William Wordsworth called "My Heart Leaps Up".

Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a contemporary jazz-rock American music group, active throughout the later part of the 20th century and still into the 21st. They are well known for their music throughout the late 1960s to early 1970's, and they were well known for their combination of brass and rock band instrumentation. 

It recorded songs by noted rock/folk songwriters such as Laura Nyro, James Taylor, The Band, the Rolling Stones, as well as Billie Holiday, and Erik Satie. They incorporated music from Thelonious Monk and Sergei Prokofiev into their arrangements.

They were originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since their beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles. What the band is most known for, from its start, is the fusing of rock, blues, pop music, horn arrangements and jazz improvisation into a hybrid that came to be known as "jazz-rock". Unlike "jazz fusion" bands, which tend toward virtuostic displays of instrumental facility and some experimentation with electric instruments, the songs of Blood, Sweat & Tears merged the stylings of rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band, while also adding elements of 20th Century Classical and small combo jazz traditions.

The Al Kooper era:

Al Kooper, Jim Fielder, Fred Lipsius, Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss, Dick Halligan, Steve Katz and Bobby Colomby formed the original band. The creation of the group was inspired by the "brass-rock" ideas of The Buckinghams and its producer, James William Guercio, as well as the early 1960s Roulette-era Maynard Ferguson Orchestra (according to Kooper's autobiography).

Al Kooper named the band "Blood, Sweat & Tears" after Johnny Cash's 1963 album Blood, Sweat and Tears. Kooper was the group's initial bandleader, having insisted on that position based on his experiences with The Blues Project, his previous band with Steve Katz, which had been organized as an egalitarian collective. Jim Fielder was from Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and had played briefly with Buffalo Springfield. Kooper's fame as a high-profile contributor to various historic sessions of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and others was a catalyst for the prominent debut of Blood, Sweat & Tears in the musical counterculture of the mid-sixties.

Al, Bobby, Steve & Jim did a few shows as a quartet at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City in September 1967, opening for Moby Grape. Fred Lipsius then joined the others two months later. A few more shows were played as a quintet, including one at the Fillmore East in New York. Lipsius then recruited the other three, who were New York jazz horn players he knew. The final lineup debuted at the Cafe Au Go Go on November 17–19, 1967, then moved over to play The Scene the following week. 

The band was a hit with the audience, who liked the innovative fusion of jazz with acid rock and psychedelia. After signing to Columbia Records, the group released perhaps one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the late 1960s, Child Is Father to the Man, featuring the Harry Nilsson song, "Without Her", and perhaps Kooper's most memorable blues number, "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know". 

The album cover was considered quite innovative showing the band members sitting and standing with child-sized versions of themselves. Characterized by Kooper's penchant for studio gimmickry, the album slowly picked up in sales amidst growing artistic differences between the founding members. Colomby and Katz wanted to move Kooper exclusively to keyboard and composing duties, while hiring a stronger vocalist for the group.

The music of Blood, Sweat & Tears slowly achieved commercial success alongside similarly configured ensembles such as Chicago and the Electric Flag. Kooper was forced out of the group in April 1968 and became a record producer for the Columbia label, but not before arranging some songs that would be on the next BS&T album. The group's trumpeters, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss, also left after the album was released, and were replaced by Lew Soloff and Chuck Winfield. Brecker joined Horace Silver's band with his brother Michael, and together they eventually formed their own horn-dominated musical outfits, Dreams and The Brecker Brothers. Jerry Weiss went on to start the similarly-styled group Ambergris.

Personnel:
» Randy Brecker – trumpet, flugelhorn 
» Bobby Colomby – drums, percussion, vocals 
» Jim Fielder – bass guitar, fretless bass guitar 
» Dick Halligan – trombone 
» Steve Katz – guitar, lute, vocals 
» Al Kooper – organ, piano, ondioline, vocals 
» Fred Lipsius – piano, alto saxophone 
» Jerry Weiss – trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals

01. "Overture" (Kooper) – 1:32 
02. "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" (Kooper) – 5:57 
03. "Morning Glory" (Larry Beckett, Tim Buckley) – 4:16 
04. "My Days Are Numbered" (Kooper) – 3:19 
05. "Without Her" (Harry Nilsson) – 2:41 
06. "Just One Smile" (Randy Newman) – 4:38 
07. "I Can't Quit Her" (Kooper, Irwin Levine) – 3:38 
08. "Meagan's Gypsy Eyes" (Steve Katz) – 3:24 
09. "Somethin' Goin' On" (Kooper) – 8:00 
10. "House in the Country" (Kooper) – 3:04 
11. "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud" (Kooper) – 4:12 
12. "So Much Love"/"Underture" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) – 4:47 

Bonus:
13. "Refugee from Yuhupitz (Instrumental)" [demo version - mono] (Kooper) – (3:44) 
14. "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" [demo version - mono] (Kooper) – (6:10) 
15. "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud" [demo version - mono] (Kooper) – (5:03) 

Steve Tilston - An Acoustic Confusion (Folk UK 1971)

240:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster, Korea. 2 Bonus låtar. Utgiven av skivbolaget "Village Thing UK 1972. Laminerad fram och baksida. Lika fint gjord som japanska Mini LP CDs. Utgången utgåva.)

Gorgeous stuff. Imagine walking down an isolated country lane and stumbling across an inviting swimming hole (you know, like one out of an old Country Time Lemonade ad or The Andy Griffith Show) and jumping in expecting pleasant relief from simple heat but instead finding the water thicker, as if somehow taking stock of your very essence; memorizing what it is that affects you, what causes you to remember a person or incident warmly, fitting so perfectly into your subconscious that initially you can't quite take in how profoundly it has actually captured all the infinitesimal things that make up who you are. 

What the hell am I talking about you ask? Well, Steve Tilston does just that in musical terms with "An Acoustic Confusion". I liked it on first listen but it took four or five listens until the depth of Tilston's achievement dawned completely on me. Like my analogy of thick water, this music courses around in your heart and head until both take the full measure of the other and find the fit oddly complimentary. 

The opening track, "I Really Wanted You", is one of those songs that seems so at home in your mind that it feels as if you've known it since childhood. Maybe it sheds small glimmers of light on some tucked away memories but the effect is a comforting one. Elsewhere, "It's Not My Place To Fail", features the beautifully juxtaposed vocals of Tilston and Dave Evans, and the overall effect is mesmerizing, like two aspects of the same soul just simply and honestly letting you know how it is. "Train Song" shows off some incredibly nimble, fleet fingered guitar playing from Tilston where, as he puts it in the liner notes, his guitar "tries to emulate the rhythm of a speeding train." I can confirm his attempt is evocatively successful. 

Instrumentally the album is safely in the realm of the simple folk tradition, yet this music is subtly but intrinsically different in that way Vashti Bunyan differs from, say, the folk of Pete Seeger. Tilston is a surprisingly mature and inventive guitarist, vocalist and lyricist (he was only twenty when he recorded this) and the vibe is in the same tradition of Nick Drake, Al Stewart and even Don McLean, without really sounding like any of them. 

His voice is remarkably fully rounded and assured, forging a unique path all his own. That's why comparisons with other musicians (as several reviewers have attempted) is useful in Tilston's case only as a starting point. It really is pointless to draw out any in depth comparisons with other artists. 

The seeming simplicity of these lyrics belies a depth of emotion that is much more than the obvious collection of mere words.  Poetry itself can be deceptively simple while containing messages much more profound than initially assumed and the overall effect here, of acoustic guitars, the occasional harmonica, string bass and violin, with crisp voices to the fore, is a musical example of that truth. 

The very human details in Tilston's words, often detailing unrequited love, a failed relationship or fond childhood memory, is made complete and fully "poetic" by the snug musical framework. 

This music is thick water and if you allow it, it will take stock of you and soon thereafter you will of it in that strange swimming dance between music and listener that is a rare and special thing. Take a left turn at the next fork in the road and when you find that little placid pond--take the plunge.

♫♪ Guitar, Vocals – Dave Evans, Steve Tilston
♫♪ Violin – Pete Finch
♫♪ Harmonica, Vocals – Keith Warmington
♫♪ Bass [String Bass] – John Turner

01. I Really Wanted You  04:31
02. Simplicity  03:49
03. Time Has Shown Me Your Face  03:51
04. It's Not My Place To Fail  04:05
05. Train Time  03:39
06. Sleepy Time On Peel Street  03:51
07. Prospect Of Love  02:31
08. Green Toothed Gardener  03:29
09. Normandy Day  03:12
10. Rock & Roll Star  04:56

Bonus Tracks
11. Show A Little Kindness  05:00
12. The Price Of Love  04:17

Argent - Ring of Hands (UK 1971)

240:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Argents 2:a album. Progressive Rock'n Roll album. Släpptes på Mini LP 2008 och är för länge sedan utgången.)

Argent was an English rock band founded in 1969 by keyboardist Rod Argent, formerly of The Zombies. They were best known for their songs "Hold Your Head Up" and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You".

Original members of the band were Rod Argent, bassist Jim Rodford (Argent's cousin and formerly with the Mike Cotton Sound), drummer Bob Henrit and guitarist/keyboardist Russ Ballard (both formerly with The Roulettes and Unit 4 + 2). Lead vocal duties were shared between Ballard, Rodford and Argent.

The first three demos from Argent, recorded in the autumn of 1968 featured Mac MacLeod on bass guitar, though he would not become a member of the group. Rod Argent, Chris White (former Zombies bassist, producer, songwriter) and Russ Ballard were the group's songwriters.

Argent's biggest hit was the Rod Argent and Chris White composition "Hold Your Head Up", featuring lead vocals by Russ Ballard, from the All Together Now album, which, in a heavily edited single form, reached No. 5 in the US. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

The sound of the band was a mix of rock and pop, but also covered more progressive rock territory in songs like "The Coming of Kohoutek", an instrumental from their Nexus album.

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Ring of Hands is, more often than not, overshadowed by the albums that surrounded it. Argent's debut included Russ Ballard's "Liar," and 1972's All Together Now was the album that yielded their Top Five hit "Hold Your Head Up," while 1973's In Deep produced "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You," which became a bigger hit for Kiss in 1992. 

But Ring of Hands is one of Argent's most progressively oriented albums, with most of its energy and dynamics coming from Rod Argent's keyboard playing. This album shines the spotlight a little brighter on Rod Argent than on Ballard, and its weight lies more on the band's ability to produce some impressive progressive rock than to create lyrically based rock & roll. 

Argent himself is spectacular throughout most of the album, lending his lone, rich keyboard solos to tracks like "Lothlorien," "Cast Your Spell Uranus," and "Sleep Won't Help Me." The album does wander into pop familiarity from time to time, but only mildly, like on "Chained" or "Where Are We Going Wrong," and, even so, Rod Argent's playing appropriately protrudes through most of songs to give Ring of Hands an independent feel from all of the albums that followed. In 1999, Sony's Collectables reissued the album with a bonus track; Rod Argent's "He's a Dynamo," which was written one year after the release of the original Ring of Hands album.

01. "Celebration"  02:55
02. "Sweet Mary"  04:06
03. "Cast Your Spell Uranus"  04:31
04. "Lothlorien"  07:50
05. "Chained"  05:19
06. "Rejoice"  03:46
07. "Pleasure"  04:52
08. "Sleep Won't Help Me"  05:11
09. "Where Are We Going Wrong"  04:10