Band of Gypsys

After The Jimi Hendrix Experience disbanded in mid 1969, Hendrix hastily formed a group to honour a commitment to play at Woodstock in August of that year. Noel Redding had left, replaced by Hendrix's old Army buffy Billy Cox on bass but Mitch Mitchell stayed on drums and would remain involved for the very short life of the band. At the Festival, MC, Chip Monck (great name!) introduced the band as "The Jimi Hendrix Experience", but Hendrix quickly corrected this to "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, for short it's nothin’ but ‘A Band O’ Gypsies" and launched into a two hour set, the longest of his career. Two further performances and it was the end of Gypsy, Sun and Rainbows.

Exit Mitch Mitchell. Enter another friend, Buddy Miles to take up drumming duties in the new look, sounding band titled 'Band Of Gypsys'. For 10 days they were locked in Baggys Rehearsal Studios, to prepare for a 4 night stint at the legendary Fillmore East venue over the New Year period. The first track I have for you today is taken from those rehearsal sessions, captured in a rare bootleg album titled 'Baggys Reharsal Sessions'. For 10 days practice, they sound absolutely brilliant! Inspired by the film, but not on the soundtrack, here is 'Ezy Rider', the studio recording of which would eventually make it onto some of the posthumous releases in the following years.

Please turn this one up, it deserves to be listened to loud!




The second track would also appear on some of the albums released after his death, but this is taken from the performance at the Fillmore on Jan 1st 1970 and is available on the 'Live At Fillmore East' album

Slowhand

It's been a while I know... so might as well come out all guns blazing!

And what better gun to blaze (please forgive me for that one!) than Mr Eric Clapton. The man that influenced a million guitarists, and with one of the more complicated upbringings I've ever come across. In summary: his dad, a Canadian serviceman, sodded off back home after the war, leaving baby Eric and his mum with her parents. Clapton grew up thinking his mum was his older sister.... Sounds like a soap opera!

The young Eric started out busking around the Kingston and Richmond area getting the odd gig here and there. Eventually he joined the Yardbirds in 1963 helping them achieve commercial status and himself becoming one of the most talked about guitarists in the country. In 1965, after getting disillusioned with the increasingly commercial route the Yardbirds were taking he moved on to join the critically acclaimed John Mayall and his bluesbreakers. At this point I should point ouy that all of his bands have been of note and probably deserve a post to themselves at some point, but I will skip on from these two earlier groups, to when (I think) it gets more interesting.

Cream are probably the one band people most associate Clapton with, and were dubbed the first 'supergroup', a classification Clapton would end up hating! Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were more renowned for their Jazz backgrounds which would explain the jazz tinged sound that Cream would produce, but with Clapton on board they would spearhead the UK rythym & blues movement. I've taken one of their more famous tracks for the first song of this post. The short sharp radio friendly 'Strange Brew', taken from the 1967 classic 'Disraeli Gears'

After Cream split due to internal tensions between Bruce and Baker in 1969. Clapton moved onto Blind Faith, another supergroup formed by Ginger Baker (again), the outrageously gifted Steve Winwood and bassist, Ric Grech, both from Traffic. Success was short lived and after seven months and one album and tour, they all went their seperate ways. However the one album was a bit of a hit. Taken from the self titled 'Blind Faith' here is 'Had to Cry Today'

In a concious effort to take a more backseat role, Clapton then joined up with rock duo Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett and their imaginatively titled revue called 'Delaney, Bonnie and Friends' who had supported Blind Faith on their US tour. I'd heard of them but had never heard them, until I researched for this post and was pleasantly surprised with what I found...

Check out this performance, this is 'Coming Home' from the live album 'On tour with Eric Clapton'. Not only does it feature a watertight rythym section an absolutely killer performance by the brass section in the middle eight, and even the promoter quite brilliantly telling the audience that its the best live performance they've had in Croydon for quite a while...... South London never had it so good!

Following on from his short lived involvement with Delaney and Bonnie, Clapton grouped together with their backing band to form Derek and the Dominos, another attempt by Clapton to stay out of the limelight as a member of the band. Although they were joined for the majority of recordings by slide guitar king Duane Allman (yes! of the Allman Brothers). Sadly, they only released one album during their time mainly down to tensions between several members, but WHAT an album it was! 'Layla and other assorted love songs' was Claptons ode and declaration of love for his good friend George Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd. It spawned one of rock musics greatest ever songs in the title track (the name Layla is taken from a 12th Century Persian poem titled Layla and Majnun, a story of unrequitted love). The album has a host of gems on it, and I have selected the excellent 'Keep on Growing' for your aural pleasure. Enjoy!



After Derek and the Dominos split in 1971, Clapton fell into a Heroin induced stupor and did not record anything for several years. He made a few appearances at the odd benefit gig, but it took good friend Pete Townshend to break him free of his addiction and persuade him to get back into the studio.

I've taken the final offering from this post from my favourite old music program, The Old Grey Whistle Test. This is the song that really put Clapton back on the map, but it is not his own compostion. Bob Marley released this a year earlier, and there are plenty of live versions of this on the web and on record, but I just love the bands performance here. It has such a groove to it, and its so tight its unreal. Shame its so short.



FACT: Ukrainian band 'Boombox' covered 'I shot the Sheriff' in 2005, but under the track title: 'Who've shitted in the police car'

Steely Dan: "Antiheroes for the Seventies"

I am a big fan of Seventies music, in fact I think its probably the greatest decade for music since, well, ever! So I was surprised to read that Rolling Stone magazine described this band as "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies.", given that I think they are one of the many champions of the diverse and new sounds that were being produced back then.

I find it odd that during a time where it was important to get out there and promote your material, Steely Dan were predominately a studio only band during their heyday and did not perform live between 1975 and 1993 (okay, they did split up in 81 for 12 years), but still, odd! Walter Brecker (Bass & Guitar) and Donald Fagen (Piano & Saxaphone) got together in the late sixties formed a couple of local covers bands (inlcuding one with Chevy Chase on drums), and eventually going on to back up several stars of the time as session musicians and then eventually on into the songwriting game. When they started to write their own material for other people, they quickly realised that their brand of music was too complex for other artists to perform so decided to do it themselves. The name Steely Dan came from an object known as the 'Steely Dan III from Yokohama', referred to in the William Burroughs novel 'The Naked Lunch' and is in fact a dildo!.... Now that's imagination!

I was listening to my ipod today and a Steely Dan track came on through the magic that is shuffle. I then went back to re-listen to the albums I have, and although there was some definite filler here and there, it's just undeniable that these guys and the army of session musicians they used throughout their career were just incrediby talented chaps. Their legendary eye for detail and uncompromising arrangements, can be heard in every single record.

The two tracks I have selected for your aural pleasure tonight are but a very small, but great example of their unique blendof Pop,Rock & Jazz.

Taken from their 5th Album, 1975's 'The Royal Scam' this is 'Sign in Stranger'. Check out the absolutely amazing piano solo from Fagen.





Following on from this track I went back to listen to a track from their debut album. 1972's 'Can't Buy a Thrill'. 'Reelin' in the Years' has to be one of my all time favourite songs, and definitely features my favourite Guitar solo of all time! It's so good infact, that none other than Jimmy Page maintains that guitarist Elliott Randall's work is his favourite guitar solo of all time. High Praise indeed!






FACT: Becker and Fagen used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the tracks that resulted in 1980's 'Gaucho'.

Now that's being a perfectionist!!!

Rush! You either love em or hate em

Rush are one of those bands that a lot of people have never heard of. They have however, sold tens of millions of records and have 24 gold and 14 platinum selling records. Impressive! They however are generally more popular with musicians and music aficianados given the extremely high level of competency displayed by each of the members on his instrument. Formed by Alex Lifeson, (guitar) Geddy Lee (bass) and John Rutsey (drums) in Toronto, Canada in 1968, Rush set out as typical garage band, jamming on Cream numbers and the like. After years of practice and honing their talents, it took until 1974 before that they first started to get noticed and soon released their self titled debut album 'Rush'.
A month before they were due to begin their first US tour, Rutsey announced his decison to back out of the band so the race was on to find a new drummer... and what a drummer they found. Enter Neil Peart, aka The Professor. Not only did Peart bring his exceptional skills with a pair of sticks and some skins, he also bought a creative flair that would be the heart of the bands lyrics/songwriting right up to the present day.

Rush are a band that have had several facelifts, starting out as a hard rock/blues band, and currently a straight rock band, with a few guises inbetween. When Peart joined, the band began to take on a more conceptual feel. With epic album tracks, lyrics dripping in Sci-Fi and Fantasy lore, they began to have a more creative take on their original hard rock theme, and were being classed as a Progressive Rock band. When the mid eighties hit, the band reached to what some consider a low, as many older fans did not agree with their new Synth based sound, which to me just sounds very dated these days. My opinion is that only a few of the albums released since 1981/82 have got the odd one or two decent tracks on. Anyway, they just lost such a huge cool factor that existed in their first few albums and became the band of the muso, not cool enough for mainstream, but still impressing many with their skills.

I'll probably flesh this post out with a few other tracks later on, but I had to share this song with you as its such a rarity. Recorded 1 month after Peart joined, at a venue in Cleveland, Ohio. This is taken from a bootleg recording of this gig and it is an absolutely brilliant representation of their early formative years. Never mind the odd mistake here and there, what do you expect after only a month of practice? I think it adds to the overal feel of the performance, plus, its the only time you will ever mistakes such as these from a Rush concert, such is their musicianship.

Anway, enjoy 'What You're Doing' released on their debut, but taken here from the bootleg album 'The Fifth Order of Angels'. I think it really captures what a power trio these guys are/were!

Monkey Magic

Okay, so I am a HUGE Stones fan. I might get round to doing a larger Stones post later down the line, but for now, I want to leave you with one of my favourite album tracks.

The Stones recorded this track in April 1969 and can be found on the album 'Let it Bleed'. 'Monkey Man' is has often been the topic of debate amongst commentators who think that the song refers to the Stones' use of drugs at the time of composition.

......Whatever! It's cool!

Guitar Heroes Rejoice!!!

Mountain. An American Band formed in the late 60's by Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi and N.D. Smart (seriously, that was his name!). Pappalardi was closely linked to Cream, if you listen to that first album the whole thing is literally dripping with their influence (and one or two tunes penned by Jack Bruce).

The band broke up in 1972, reformed two years later, broke up soon after that, and have since reconvened and resumed performing and recording with the even better named Corky Laing at the drums. They have fallen out of the mainstream now, but they are considered influential during the development of hard rock. Their hit song "Mississippi Queen" became a radio hit and is something of a rock standard. It has had something of a rebirth recently after being resurrected in Guitar Hero III, I'm sure anyone who has played will definitely recognise this tune.

From their debut album Climbing, here is the aforementioned "Mississippi Queen"

The Allman Brothers

Famous or Infamous (depending on your view point) for their long jams on stage that could last for several days, The Allman brothers are very much a take em or leave em type of band. They have a very distinctive sound, mainly cause their heavy use of slide guitar and having about 100 members of the band, well that's an obvious exaggeration but they do have 2 drummers which is either OTT or cool... if you like drums, which I do!

Formed by brothers Gregg and Duane Allman in 1969, they are regarded as the 'architects of Southern Rock' and have influenced dozens of groups since their first album was released in 69. They are still going to this day, touring and releasing new material although to be honest I've think they've had their day and they should probably quit :-)

Anyway, sadly Duane Allman died in 1971 about two or three albums in to their career, and is still widely regarded as the greatest Slide guitarist who ever breathed. Its also worth listening to the Derek and The Domino's album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs as not only is his Slide guitar work brilliant you have the added bonus of listening to Eric Clapton, which is always nice!

Today, I have saved you from a 30 minute blues odyssey, and have included a 3 minute 'radio friendly' track from my 2nd favourite album of theirs (the 1st being Brothers and Sisters, which includes the excellent 'Southbound' and the classic 'Jessica'). This is 'Don't Keep Me Wondering' from Idlewild South

Their Drummers names were Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson. FACT!!!!

Pub Rock!!!

I guess the pub rock scene to me, has always been about cover bands churning out the same old Oasis, Bryan Adams and other 'safe' songs down at the local. However, back in the mid to late seventies, pub rock was an attempt to get back to the basics of R&B and rock (the mid seventies were awash with inaccessible and complicated prog rock bands). Elvis Costello, Squeeze, and the Stranglers were all examples of this new genre.

In 1976, a band called Eddie and the Hotrods came on the scene and great things were expected of them, and they did OK, with one major hit in 1977. They were, however overshadowed by a band that symbolised a revolution that pub rock is often cited as beginning... punk! That band was the Sex Pistols and whilst a support act for 'The Rods' decided to trash their gear and thus entered music folk lore. Sabotage perhaps? I doubt it.

I cannot resist a good jangly, guitar sodden, pop/rock song so here is their biggest hit 'Do Anything you wanna do' from the album Life on the line

Look both ways, there's some traffic

With a title that bad, I can only be talking about one band, Traffic!

Steve Winwood is a man you just want to dislike, not only is he one ubher talented pianist, he can play pretty much any instrument you introduce him too. Some of his solo efforts contain no other musicians (aside from some horn players perhaps). Would definately make the line up for keyboard duty in most peoples Fantasy Band!!

Winwood was fronting the Spencer Davis Group when he was just 15, which puts him almost in the child prodigy bracket. He left to from Traffic just 4 years later with Jim Capaldi (drums) Guitarist Dave Mason, and Chris Wood (any instrument he needed to play) released a few singles and an album called 'Mr Fantasy' the same year. They released their self titled 2nd album in 68 and went on tour, split up, got back together then recorded their best work 'John Barleycorn must Die' in 1971.

A very diverse band, covering multiple genres, of Rock, Blues, Jazz, Prog and even Psychedelic. Traffic were a very popular band in their day, but today sound a bit dated perhaps. I don't care, I love em!!

I digress, today's first selection comes from the album Traffic and is called Medicated Goo, Enjoy!




Secondly, a bonus track from John Barleycorn Must Die, with possibly the greatest keyboard solo ever recorded, Empty Pages

Its Groundhog day

Don't worry, you're not going to live through the same day over and over again!

Famed for being John Lee Hookers backing band during his tours of the UK in the 60s, The Groundhogs were formed back in 1963, and were never a really household name even though four of the albums from 1970 onwards all got into the top 10 successively.

Again its one of those bands that I had read about and thought I would give them ago, and have been really very impressed. A little touch of Hendrix, a fair bit of Cream with a touch of Prog thrown in now and again all make up a band worth a listen too.

Here is the track Split Part 2 from the Album Split

I'm back, and I am awake

Just a short post from me here, will do something different in another post

As promised many weeks ago, here is another Terry Reid fave of mine, Brave Awakening from the excellent album Seed of Memory

Lets crank it up a notch

Its Friday, a slow day, and I'm enjoying blogging too much. (It will wear off, although I hope not)
We had the lovely tones of Sandy Denny earlier, but lets Rock out with our cocks out.... erm, so to speak.

One of the most politically charged songs of the 80's, if not of all time.

Available on the album Freedom, here, 'Rocking In the Free World' by Neil Young.

It was going to get posted sooner or later..

I really could get used to this blogging lark.... how long will this fad last though?

Greetings traveller!

I would say about 2 to 3 years ago, my musical appreciation took a massive turn (some say for the worse) as I became more interested in the bands and artists that have had influence over the bands and artists of today.

I had remembered an old friend of mine playing me the attached song absolutely ages ago and thinking it was the coolest piece of music ever written, but after, I never really bothered listening to anything else by him. Then as I say, a couple of years later, I began to get retrospective with my musical tastes so I began properly listening to this guys stuff.

In terms of songwriting, he has to be one of the greatest of all time. He has such influence, he was cited as one of the inspirations behind the grunge movement in the late 80's (ROCK FACT: Kurt Cobain quoted his Lyrics in his suicide note)

If you don't know who I am talking about you are in for a real treat.


(sorry about the quality, had to compress it as the file was too big)

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Down By The River from the album Everybody knows this is nowhere. Buy it here

CCR in "Like having a pine cone shoved in your a**" shocker

Religious folk group or the rockingest blues/rock band?

Anyone seen Die Hard 4.0? Yeah? Rubbish wasn't it!

I remember one point when the character, played by Justin Long (John McClanes young sidekick, who just so happens to be the worlds best computer hacker), makes some remarks about McClanes choice in music. CCR are playing on the radio and his quip is "This is like having a pine cone shoved in my a**". McClane duly turns it up louder.

Scuse me?

Are all 'kids' today that brainless? Can you not recognise genius when you see (or in this case hear) it? John Foggerty, we salute you, you are a genius!

Creedance people, thats what it is all about.



Disclaimer.. this song will be removed in 30 days

Born On The Bayou, from the album Bayou Country (1969) get it here