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

Roger Nichols and The Small Circle of Friends - Full Circle (US 2008)

250:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Inspelningar gjorda i slutet av sextio talet och släpptes i Japan 2008 som ett samling album. Mycket svår att hitta.)

Full Circle includes songs written by Roger in his late '60s heyday (eight of which were co-authored by Williams, including their brand new collaboration, 'Look Around.') If that's not enough, the CD is supplemented by five previously unreleased '60s-era Roger Nichols demos! Roger Nichols co-authored some of the best known and biggest selling Pop hits of the 20th century, including "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days And Mondays," and "Let Me Be the One".

Born in Missoula, MT, Roger Nichols and his parents moved to Santa Monica, CA, when he was a one-year-old. His household brimmed with music when he was growing up. His dad was a journalism graduate and a professional photographer who played sax in local jazz bands. His mother was a music major and a classical pianist. When Nichols started grade school, he picked up the violin, continuing his violin and classical studies throughout grammar and high school. His attention turned to basketball and Nichols forsook violin for the hoops but played guitar on the side.

Recruited to U.C.L.A. on a basketball scholarship, Nichols played on the team for a year or two. Confronted to make a choice between music or basketball by his coach John Wooden, Nichols chose music. While in college, he majored in music and cinematography while still playing the guitar and adding the piano. After a brief hiatus, he returned to U.C.L.A. and began taking songwriting courses. After he left college, Nichols took a variety of jobs, working in a bank for two years, a liquor store for a year and a half, and serving six months in the navy. On weekends, he worked in clubs with his group, Roger Nichols and a Small Circle of Friends, that performed original songs written by Nichols.

Around 1965, the group was signed to a recording contract by Liberty Records. While at the label, the group briefly had the opportunity to work with Tommy Li Puma. Li Puma thought the group had some potential, but left Liberty shortly thereafter. With the label for eight months without having a record released, Nichols called A&M Records expressing interest in playing some demos for label co-owner Herb Alpert. He was switched to Li Puma who had been hired as the A&R man for the new label. Li Puma was still enamored of the group. Nichols then asked for and received a release from Liberty Records.

While Nichols waited for Li Puma to finish producing the Sandpipers and Claudine Longet, he wrote an instrumental for Alpert that he promptly recorded a week after hearing it. Though Roger Nichols and a Small Circle of Friends wasn't a big seller, Alpert urged A&M publishing company head Chuck Kaye to sign Nichols as a songwriter to their company.

During his second year with the company, Kaye introduced Nichols to lyricist Paul Williams. The first song that wrote was recorded by Claudine Longet, "It's Hard to Say Goodbye." The duo wrote together for four years, resulting in lots of album cuts, B-sides, even A-sides, but no hits.

01. Talk It over in the Morning  02:37
02. The Drifter  03:03
03. Let Me Be the One  02:54
04. Out in the Country  03:04
05. I Kept on Loving You  02:27
06. The Winner's Theme  02:39
07. You're Foolin' Nobody  02:15
08. Watching You  03:50
09. Always You  02:34
10. I'm Comin' to the Best Part of My Life  03:38
11. I'm Gonna Find Her  02:41
12. Look Around  04:25

Mae McKenna - Selftitled (Great Folk UK 1975)

250:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Original relief konvolut. Utgången utgåva sedan 2006)

Mae McKenna doesn't just sing songs, she inhabits them. Her voice is a powerful and passionate instrument equally at home with Celtic traditional songs as much as original country/bluegrass flavoured compositions. Hers is a voice both ancient and modern, attractive and beguiling yet full of soul and sensuality.

Mae McKenna's roots are strongly Irish and Scottish. She grew up in Coatbridge near Glosgow, the youngest of three children with her brothers Hugh and John. Mae was raised in a house filled with music. Her parents and grandparents played music and songs from the variety theatre and the art songs of John McCormack to the classics of Frank Sinatra. At an early age she was exposed to jazz and classical music. At 14 she joined the Lanarkshire youth orchestra where she played viola. The sounds she heard at home included Art Tatum, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and the Tamta Motown classics on the radio all embedded in her teenage brain.

Mae joined her first group -- "Day" -- in high shool where she played viola with this gothic folk band. Playing in a local festival, her musical talents were noticed by another young band called Contraband. Some meetings later and a night visit to a friend's house in search of this elusive and talented young woman led to Contraband asking Mae to join them as lead singer. A Scottish folk rock legend was born.

Contraband featured Mae McKenna, George and Billy Jakcon, John Martin, Peter Cairney and Alec Baird. Their music was an exciting mixture of Irish and Scots traditional tunes, dramatic folk rock arrangements of classical ballads and contemporary songs. They attacked their mkusic with youthful vigour end energy. "We loved playing together," Mae recallse, "we alsyways used to play and sing on the way to gigs and coming back from them. Looking back I couldn't have wanted a better band to begin touring with." Life on the road was an adventure and Contraband toured all over Scotland and England.

Contraband signed with Transatlantic Records in 1973. They recorded their debut album Contraband in Chipping Norton studios in Oxfordshire. Released in May 1974, the album caught the young band in the cusp of their useful musical prowess and joi de vivre. Mae sung and played violin, viola and piano and joined with George and Billy's multi-instrumental talents, Peter's country tinged guitars, John's expert traditional fiddling and Alex's solod drumming to create a fresh new Celtic Rock sound. Contraband disbanded in 1975.

Mae McKenna began her solo career in 1975. She recorded three solo albums for Transatlantic Records: Mae McKenna (1975), Everything That Touches Me (1976) and Walk On Water (1977). She also appeared on radio and TV both as a guest and featured performer.

Her debut solo album Mae McKenna focused on dramatic ballads with lavish orchestrations and was a promising if pensive debut. Everything That Touches Me was a tasteful, melodic soft rock album with strong American West Coast country/rock leanings. Mae's exquisite voice wrapped itself round songs by Andrew Gold, Richard Thompson, Jackson Browne and Anne McGarrigle. The single "Crying in the Rain" received extensive radio airplay. Walk On Water continued the Transatlantic soft rock sound with songs by Kim Carnes, David Paich (Tot writer of the 1970s hit "Hold The Line") and the Motown standard "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted."

01. Dying to Live Winter 3:51 
02. Once in the Morning Webb 3:33 
03. All in Love Is Fair Wonder 3:47 
04. Other Side of Me Greenfield, Sedaka 3:12 
05. Song for Simon Rafferty 3:03 
06. Together We Get By Brook 3:50 
07. Elderberry Wine John, Taupin 3:43 
08. How Could We Dare to Be Wrong Blunstone, Dennys 3:45 
09. Imagine Lennon 3:24 
10. Black-Eyed Susan Brown Traditional 3:58 
11. Said the Major Brook 2:54 
12. Old Man Newman 4:00 

Joe Jones! - You Talk Too Much (Mkt Bra R&B US 1961) (OBS Endast Utgiven i 200 Exemplar)

240:- (Japan 24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. OBS, endast utgiven i 200 exemplar från et litet japanskt skivbolag. Mycket bra R&B.)

Best remembered for the 1960 novelty smash "You Talk Too Much," New Orleans R&B singer Joe Jones later forged a career in production and publishing before becoming a galvanizing force in the battle for artists' rights. Born in the Crescent City on August 12, 1926, Jones followed a World War II naval stint by studying at the Juilliard Conservatory of Music. 

Upon returning to New Orleans he served as a valet for blues great B.B. King, later graduating to the positions of pianist and arranger. Jones also toured behind Shirley & Lee before forming his own band despite limited vocal ability. After playing the French Quarter nightclub circuit for several years, he cut his single "Will Call" for Capitol in 1954. After briefly resurfacing on the Herald label in 1957, the following year Jones signed with New York City-based Roulette to cut "You Talk Too Much," a song written by Fats Domino's brother-in-law Reggie Hall and summarily rejected by the Fat Man himself. Roulette shelved the disc, but Jones loved the song and re-recorded it in 1960 for the small New Orleans label Ric, complete with a new arrangement courtesy of Harold Battiste. 

Joe Jones And His Orchestra - France EP 1960

When "You Talk Too Much" topped New York radio, Roulette cried foul, filing an injunction that forced Ric to withdraw its version. The song soon reappeared on Roulette, crossing over to reach the pop Top Five by September. While Ric issued an answer record, Martha Nelson's "I Don't Talk Too Much," Jones' own follow-up, "One Big Mouth," flopped, and outside of 1961's minor hit "California Sun," he never charted again. Moreover, he earned next to nothing from the success of "You Talk Too Much" and in disgust relocated to New York to pursue a career in production, shepherding the fledgling careers of the Dixie Cups (of "Chapel of Love" fame) and R&B singer Alvin Robinson. 

Jones migrated to Los Angeles in 1973 and founded his own publishing firm. He also became an advocate for the rights of fellow R&B acts, helping African-American performers regain the rights and royalties they'd signed away during the infancy of the modern recording industry. Jones died in L.A. on November 27, 2005, following quadruple bypass surgery. He was 79. [AMG]

Joe Jones (August 12, 1926 – November 27, 2005) was an American R&B singer, songwriter and arranger, who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jones is also generally credited with discovering the Dixie Cups. He also worked with B.B. King. As a singer, Jones's greatest hit was the Top Five 1960 R&B hit "You Talk Too Much", which also reached #3 on the pop chart.

Joe Jones And His Orchestra
US Single September 1960

Jones served in the U.S. Navy before studying music at the Juilliard Conservatory of Music. He was a valet, then pianist and arranger for B.B. King. His debut solo single was "Will Call" (1954) on Capitol Records. In 1960, "You Talk Too Much" became a national success, but his subsequent releases were less successful.

Jones claimed to have composed many songs, including the song "Iko Iko." Although his claims were originally successful, a federal jury and then Court of Appeals ruled that Jones did not write "Iko Iko," that his claims were fraudulent, and that the true writers were the band
he managed, the Dixie Cups (the true original recording of this song had been released as Checker 787 by New Orleans singer and pianist Sugar Boy Crawford and his Cane Cutters in late 1953). The band hired music attorney Oren Warshavsky, who had previously won a case demonstrating that Jones fraudulently claimed ownership of another Mardi Gras classic song, "It Ain't My Fault." Jones also failed in his bid to claim ownership (though not as an author) to yet another Mardi Gras classic song, "Carnival Time." He also originally recorded "California Sun", which was made a hit by the Rivieras. He later worked tirelessly for the rights of fellow R&B acts.

Jones died in Los Angeles, California, from complications from quadruple bypass surgery. 

01. You Talk Too Much 
02. I Love You Still 
03. Take a Little Walk 
04. Every Night About Eight 
05. McDonald's Daughter 
06. Tell Me What's Happening 
07. One Big Mouth (Two Big Ears)
08. Here's What You Gotta Do
09. I Need Someone
10. Where Is My Baby
11. Always Picking On Me
12. To Prove My Love to You

Bo Diddley - Selftitled (Great Album US 1962)

270:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Albumet innehåller "You Can’t Judge a Book By the Cover". Ännu ett blues album som är ett måste i skivsamlingen.)

Bo Diddley is a studio album by American rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley, not to be confused with the 1958 compilation album of the same name. The 1962 album was released as Checker LP-2984 in August 1962 and featured the Willie Dixon-penned classic "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover", which was released as a 7" 45 rpm single in July 1962.

In Britain, Bo Diddley was released as an LP by Pye International Records. The UK release charted at #11 on the UK Albums Chart. The success of the album followed the UK package tour that Bo had begun at the beginning of the year with the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, and the Rolling Stones.

Due to the album's success in the UK, many British bands recorded songs from the record.

Bo’s music was beginning to slip in sales — though he remained a popular concert act — when Chess released this album in the summer of 1962. "I Can Tell," written by Samuel Smith, showed Bo trying out a slower, more seductively soulful sound, a whole four-and-a-half-minutes long—it is different, though not very distinguished. 

"Bo’s Twist" isn’t much more impressive, a fairly standard instrumental with an unusually grungy (like you were expecting Julian Bream) guitar sound, with the first prominent appearance of an organ in the backing of a Bo Diddley record; "Sad Sack" is a somewhat more successful instrumental. 

"Mr. Kruschev" is one of the funniest, most delightfully nonsensical pieces of topical songwriting Bo ever engaged in, writing about wanting to go into the army and go over to see the Soviet leader and get him to stop nuclear testing, to a background of "Hut, two—three four!" "You All Green" is first-rate Bo, and deserved to be anthologized somewhere. 

"You Can’t Judge a Book By the Cover" was the one standard from the album, but other tracks deserving of better exposure include "Bo’s Bounce" and "Who May Your Lover Be," which takes off from Howlin’ Wolf’s "Moaning at Midnight," recasting it in a Bo Diddley beat, with Bo sounding a lot like Wolf here, and "Give Me a Break (Man)," which is a very animated impromptu guitar jam. 

The album filler tracks include "Mama Don’t Allow No Twistin’," Bo’s take on "Mama Don’t Like Music," a song that was old when country-and-western/novelty singer Smiley Burnette covered it successfully in the 1930s, "Babes in the Woods" (featuring a backing chorus mimicking the doo-wop parody "Get a Job") and "Diddling," a routine Bo instrumental.

The second eponymous Bo Diddley album in four years, this particular issue marked his breakthrough in the UK, hitting #11 in Britain as opposed to its rather lower chart place of #117 in the US. 

This success was down to the fact that Bo was touring the UK at the time of its release, part of a package tour that included The Everly Brothers, Little Richard and The Rolling Stones. As the album began its residency on the UK chart, several British bands mined the album for material, proof that Bo had lost none of his influence on the British R&B market. Even now, fifty years after its original release, Bo Diddley the album showcases perfectly what Bo Diddley the artist was all about.

01. "I Can Tell" (Samuel Smith, McDaniel) – 04:27
02. "Mr. Khrushchev" – 02:56
03. "Diddling" – 02:12
04. "Give Me a Break" – 02:07
05. "Who May Your Lover Be" – 02:54
06. "Bo's Bounce" – 01:35
07. "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" (Willie Dixon) – 02:43
08. "Babes in the Woods" – 2:10
09. "Sad Sack" – 02:38
10. "Mama Don't Allow No Twistin'" – 02:10
11. "You All Green" – 03:03
12. "Bo's Twist" – 02:32

Bonus Track:
13. "We're Gonna Get Married" - 02:27