Sly & The Family Stone - The Woodstock Experience (US 1969)

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Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

In late 1968, Sly and the Family Stone released the single "Everyday People", which became the band's first number-one hit. "Everyday People" was a protest against prejudices of all kinds, and popularized the catchphrase "different strokes for different folks." With its b-side "Sing a Simple Song", it served as the lead single for the band's fourth album, Stand!, which was released on May 3, 1969. The Stand! album eventually sold more than three million copies; its title track peaked at number 22 in the U.S. Stand! is considered one of the artistic high points of the band's career; it contained the above three tracks as well as the songs "I Want to Take You Higher", which also appeared on the b-side of the "Stand!" single, "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey", "Sex Machine", and "You Can Make It If You Try".

The success of Stand! secured Sly and the Family Stone a performance slot at the landmark Woodstock Music and Art Festival. The band performed their set during the early-morning hours of August 17, 1969; their performance was said to be one of the best shows of the festival. A new non-album single, "Hot Fun in the Summertime", was released the same month and went to number two on the U.S. pop charts (peaking in October, after the summer of 1969 had already ended). In 1970, following the release of the Woodstock documentary, the single of "Stand!" and "I Want to Take You Higher" was reissued with the latter song now the a-side; it reached the Top 40. 

Sony/BMG's Legacy imprint decided to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock by issuing a slew of double-disc deluxe packages by catalog artists who played the festival. Each slipcase contains the featured artist's entire performance at Woodstock and, as a bonus, an LP sleeve reproduction of a classic album issued near the time the festival occurred, as well as fine, individually designed 16" X 24" double-sided posters. Sly & the Family Stone were riding the chart success of Stand!, their fifth album in three years(!), that had been released the previous May for Epic when they played the Woodstock Festival. Going on at 3:30 in the morning of Sunday, August 17, 1969, they brought their West Coast meld of soul, R&B, gospel, positive vibes, and the newly emerging funk to the tired masses and turned them into a stomping, screaming, joyous, army of believers. Hearing this set reconstructed in its original context is a gift. 

The band came storming out of the gate with "M'Lady," and didn't stop for 50 minutes. The music that had previously been heard on the Woodstock albums -- "Dance to the Music," as well as the medley of "Music Lover/"Higher," and "I Want to Take You Higher" -- actually took place in the middle of the band's concert. Before and after are six other performances that have never been issued before. The gig was comprised mainly of tracks from the then-current album: the title track, "Everyday People," "Sing a Simple Song," "I Want to Take You Higher," and "You Can Make It If You Try." 

"Love City," a little known jam from the M'Lady LP is also here. "Stand" closes the album on a somewhat mellower groove than they'd started with at its 100-miles-an-hour pace, but it's presented with the ease and flawless execution of a group of master show men and women who can take a crowd to the outer edges of excitement and bring them back seamlessly. The funk groove at the end of the track assures concertgoers that what they'd just heard was real. Sonically, it fares a little better than some of the volumes in this bunch: Eddie Kramer did a fantastic job of mixing. This is a surprise and one of the best titles in the series hands down.

Growing up in a bastion of white Protestant wealth, opportunities to hear really good funk or soul music were severely limited. The radio stations in the 1970s were either awash with disco, pseudo-intellectual rock, or vacuous pop music. Everybody was either listening to that stuff, or just as bad, strutting white boys trying to make as much noise as possible while still calling it music. So it wasn't until one fateful night in a second run movie theatre which showed a battered print of Woodstock on alternating nights with The Rocky Horror Picture Show that I received my first real dose of funk.

Okay reading that back I know it sounds bad, but I can't think of any other way of describing what happened when Sly & The Family Stone invaded the movie screen that night. By the time they show up on screen in the movie you've already been sitting for a couple hours and for any number of reasons you've descended into a bit of a stupor. In those days you didn't even have to bring your own dope to get high at the movies as sooner or later one of the clouds drifting through the theatre would land on you head and you'd be gone. Then all of a sudden the screen explodes in a burst of sound and colour as Sly and company burst onto stage bedecked in a bedazzling array of colours and material.

After a few moments of preening the bass starts churning, horns start blaring, and the guitar and keyboard are pounding out a rhythm that wakes up your blood – and that's only the intro. That first time watching "The Family" was a blur of horns and vocal pyrotechnics as Sly reached out and grabbed those hundreds of thousands of people in the dark beyond the stage by the throat and shook them awake (They went on stage at three in the morning). On the original soundtrack and in the movie all you get is a taste of what they performed that early Sun

day morning, and even just the medley of "Music Lover/Higher" was enough to rouse even the most stoned of us sitting in that run down theatre. Now that I've heard their entire set as part of the Legacy Recordings' release Sly And The Family Stone: The Woodstock Experience, I'm trying to imagine what it must have like for those in the audience at Woodstock to have that thrust in front of their eyes at 3:00 am.

As well as the disc containing the live recording of their set at Woodstock, also included in this package is a reissued version of the studio recording the band had released earlier that year, Stand!. Like all of their music, it contained a mixture of high stepping funk music that would knock your socks off and political messages like the song "Don't Call Me Nigger Whitey". While they didn't play that particular track at the Woodstock festival, the majority of their set was drawn from that album, including their hit "Everyday People", as well as "Stand", "Sing A Simple Song", "You Can Make It If You Try", and "I Want To Take You Higher".

It was that last song that had made such an impression on me during the movie, but now I was just listening to their performance without the visual stimulation, or any other kind for that matter, of seeing the band. So I was a little concerned that the music on the disc wouldn't stand up well in comparison to my memories of that first time watching them on screen. Well I needn't have worried because the live CD is a great experience. The sound quality is wonderful as you're able to hear everything from the great harmonies on "Everyday People" to the power of the horns on "Dance To The Music".

In fact upon comparing the live recording with the studio versions of the same songs I found the latter to be less impressive. Oh sure the sound quality is better in the studio, but this band seems to big for a studio, and it felt like they were held in check. It was like the difference between seeing a horse trotting around in a paddock and watching it gallop full speed across a range towards the horizon. In part that's because of the way Sly And The Family Stone include the audiences in their shows, as you can hear on the call and response sing alongs that they instigate during the "Music Lover/Higher" medley, but mainly it's because when they hit their stride they generate enough energy to power a small city.

It's true that on the studio album one is more aware of the social/political nature of their material because you're able to focus on their lyrics a little easier. On the other hand Sly does make sure to literally spell out part of the band's message during the live show by enticing the audience to spell out a four letter word. As they had participated in the "Fish Cheer" led by Joe McDonald of Country Joe And The Fish earlier in the weekend, you can be forgiven for not guessing that the word he had in mind was Love. However in the church of Sly And The Family Stone, peace, love and harmony were the message.

Aside from the two discs that are part of the Sly And The Family Stone: The Woodstock Experience package, there's also a poster of Sly from the concert included. The photo captures him from the chest up and shows the beginnings of his arms reaching for the sky with the fringes of his jacket spreading like feathers from the sleeves. His mouth is open in what appears to be an ecstatic shout of exultation and all in all he seems to be about to take flight. That picture captures something of the energy you feel from the music performed on the live disc and gives you some small indication of how the band must have looked to their audience that early morning in August.

It's not often that a live recording is able to recreate the energy of a concert. However, in this instance, you really feel like you're carried back forty years to when Sly And The Family Stone took the stage at Woodstock. It's an experience not to be missed. 

Personnel

Sly Stone – vocals, Keyboards

Freddie Stone – guitar, vocals

Larry Graham – bass, vocals

Rose Stone – keyboards, vocals

Cynthia Robinson – trumpet, vocals

Jerry Martini – saxophone

Greg Errico – drums

01. "M'Lady" – 7:46

02. "Sing a Simple Song" – 5:13

03. "You Can Make It If You Try" – 5:36

04. "Everyday People" – 3:15

05. "Dance to the Music" – 4:28

06. "Music Lover" / "Higher" – 7:50

07. "I Want to Take You Higher" – 6:43

08. "Love City" – 6:04

09. "Stand!" – 3:20

1. Sly

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2. Sly

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3. Sly

Night Beats - Levitation Sessions (FULL SET)

The Reverberation Appreciation SocietyAustin, Texas

Night Beats - Levitation Sessions (FULL SET) "For our Levitation Session we recorded on reel-to-reel 1/2 inch tape in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Antelope Valley. Due to my natural tendencies to explore the layers of my ancestry and being forever inspired by the beautiful sounds coming out of the Saharan desert, I wanted to challenge myself to produce a recording that doesn't filter but fully embraces a similar environment. A search for symbiosis between the music and the ground it’s made on. Thanks to a place I love and respect, a welcomed challenge, and some of my closest friends, what you are hearing is Night Beats in one of its truest and rarest forms. Thank you for listening and thank you to those who lived on and cherished this land before us" - Night Beats

Reverberation Appreciation : 60 Tracks Label Compilation for free from: 

The Reverberation Appreciation Society

Kahvas Jute - Wide Open + a Lot of Bonus (Australian Psychedelic Rock 1971)

Size: 430 MB

Bitrate: 256

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This superb progressive rock band is one of the hidden treasures of early '70s Australian rock. They were one of the first bands signed to Festival's new progressive imprint Infinity and they produced just one single and one brilliant gem of an album, Wide Open. It earned rave reviews at the time, and it's been justly praised by rock historian Ian McFarlane as "a progressive rock milestone".

Alongside their comtemporaries Spectrum, Tamam Shud, Blackfeather and The Aztecs, Kahvas Jute spearheaded a new direction and indentity for Australian music. Their album, and the single from it ("Free") are still regarded as among the best Australian 'prog' releases of the period. The LP has long been a prized collectors item both here and overseas, and happily it has been reissued twice on CD, once by Festival in the late 1990s, and more recently in expanded and remastered form by Aztec Music. It's a must-have for any serious fan of Australian music.

Kahvas Jute formed in June 1970, bringing together members of two leading Sydney bands. Singer-guitarist Dennis Wilson was a seasoned player; he worked as a session guitarist for Festival in the mid-60s, and had been a member of beat-pop groups The Riddles, Kevin Bible & The Book (1966), The 9th Circle (1968) and Barrington Davis & Powerpact (1966-68), where he teamed up with bassist Bob Daisley, drummer Brain Boness and singer Barrington Davis. The Powerpact track "Raining Teardrops" is included on Raven's seminal Aussie garage/punk collection Ugly Things. Powerpact gradually developed a harder style, and with the departure of Davis in late 1968, it evolved into the well-regarded hard-rock group Mecca (1968-70), which initially comprised Wilson, Daisley and drummer Robin Lewis. In early 1970 they added vocalist Clive Coulson, who had previously worked as road manager for The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things and Led Zeppelin.

Mecca released a single, "Black Sally" / "Side Street Man" on the Festival label in March 1970; the A-side was included on Festival's So You Wanna Be a Rock'n'roll Star? 3CD compilation, and was one of many classic cuts recorded at Festival's legendary Studio A in Pyrmont. Mecca toured New Zealand during the year, but Coulson left soon after the tour ended, having been invited back to work for Led Zeppelin on a European tour.

After Mecca dissolved in June, Wilson and Daisley formed a new band. By this time Wilson was one of Australia's rising new guitar heroes and it's a measure of his stature that he was able to poach both guitarist Tim Gaze and drummer Dannie Davidson from top Sydney band Tamam Shud. Tim, who had started off with the Sydney band Stonehenge, was something of a child prodigy, having joined Shud at the end of 1969 (aged only 16!), where he replaced original guitarist Alex 'Zac' Zytnic. Tim had been with Shud for about six months, and was fresh from the recording of Shud's classic second LP Goolutionites and the Real People when he quit to join Kahvas Jute. Dannie Davidson had been with Shud from the beginning, having also been a member of Shud's predecessors The Sunsets and The Four Strangers.

The lineup was chock-a-block with talent -- the deft psychedelic/blues guitar interplay and soaring vocals of Wilson and Gaze, Daisley and Davidson's singularly powerful and skilful rhythm section (Daisley's bass playing is superb and has been frequently and favourably compared to that of Jack Bruce). To top it off they were armed with a full quiver of strong original songs, written or co-written by the band members. Not suprisingly, this embarrassment of musical riches immediately established Kahvas Jute as one of the top live acts of the day, and they were snapped up for Festival's new progressive rock subsidiary Infinity.

They recorded the Wide Open LP at Festival Studios in Sydney with renowned house producer Pat Aulton. According to Dennis Wilson, the entire album was recorded and mixed in just three days, which is rather ironic, because Dennis also revealed that one of the 'sweeteners' offered to the band when they signed was unlimited studio time! The album was one of Infinity's inaugural releases when the label was launched in January 1971. 

Influences from bands like Cream are evident (and there is a similarity between the voices of Jack Bruce and Dennis Wilson), but Wide Open is a powerful set, and there's a genuine Australian identity to the work, whatever the influences might have been. It's a real pity that they didn't last longer, since the album displays a truly impressive breadth and depth in material and performance — especially from the 17-year-old Tim — and certainly leaves you wondering what might have been had the band been able to develop further. Unfortunately it seems Tim Gaze was in a restless mood at the time (ye olde "musical differences" no doubt), and by the time the LP was released he had left Khavas Jute band to return to Tamam Shud.

Kahvas Jute continued as a three-piece and after after a successful farewell performance in June 1971 at the Arts Factory in Sydney, Wilson and Davidson left to try their luck in the UK, hoping to capitalise on the very positive UK reviews of the album. Bob Daisley didn't follow until July, so his place was temporarily filled by Scott Maxey (ex-Nutwood Rug Band). They played dates in London, but (typically) were unable to make any impression and broke up within a short time. According to Who's Who of Australian Rock, David O'List, former guitarist in The Nice, was a member, presumably at this time, although no details are given.

Bob Daisley stayed on in the UK and went on to work with many notable British acts including Chicken Shack (1972-73), Mungo Jerry (1973), Rainbow (1977-78), Uriah Heep (1982), Black Sabbath (1987-88) and Gary Moore (1985, 1989-90).

In 1973 Dennis Wilson was invited to front the classic Blow By Blow era rhythm section from the Jeff Beck Group (Max Middleton, Bobby Tench and Clive Chapman) but the project never eventuated, so he came back to Australia and reformed Kahvas Jute in May that year with with Davidson and Maxey. The group continued about a year, during which time they supported Bo Diddley on his second Australian tour. Peter Roberts (ex-La De Das, Band Of Light, Band Of Tabalene) replaced Maxey in March 1974, but in May '74 Kahvas Jute split for good, and Wilson and Roberts (who switched to guitar) formed a new outfit called Chariot.

Dannie Davidson joined Band Of Light (1974) and featured on their second LP The Archer, followed by stints in Sky Pilot (1975), Huntress (1976), Steve Russell Blues Band and Peter Walls Showband (1990).

Dennis Wilson spent three years with Chariot, and worked and/or recorded with many prominent Australian acts including Swanee, The Deltoids, Electric Pandas, Jump Back Jack, Screaming Tribesmen and Olivia Newton-John.

Tim Gaze rejoined Tamam Shud, where he stayed until they broke up in 1972. Tim and Nigel Macara (his former bandmate from Stonehenge and the later lineups of Tamam Shud) formed the shortlived Miss Universe, and then shifted to Melbourne, where they worked briefly with Ross Wilson and Ross Hannaford on their post-Daddy Cool project (which eventually became Mighty Kong. Next came another short-term project, a power trio with bassist Steve Hogg, from Bakery) before Gaze and Macara joined the first lineup of Ariel. Tim remains one of Australia's most respected and sought-after guitarists, and has worked in a succession of fine bands, including the Tim Gaze Band and Rose Tattoo. Tim continues to write, record and produce from his Sydney studio. He took part in the warmly-recieved Tamam Shud reunion in 1993-4 and contributed two excellent originals to their reunion album Permanent Culture. He contributed to the solo album by singer Greg Page (The Wiggles). in the late 1990s watchful Sydney-siders could catch Tim playing the occasional gig live with his great band Tim Gaze and The Blues Doctors, which included bassist Chris Bailey (The Angels, GangGajang) and Australia's patron saint of harmonica Jim Conway (Captain Matchbox, Backsliders).

On 17 July 2005, Kahvas Jute -- with drummer Mark Marriott, an experienced session player -- reformed for a special performance gig at Sydney's The Basement. The concert was recorded and filmed for a DVD release. The set list that night featured six tracks from Wide Open, seven new songs, a cover of Cream’s "Politician" plus an impromptu jam on the old Yardbirds number "The Nazz are Blue" featuring guest vocalist Jimmy Barnes. In 2006 Aztec Music reissued Wide Open in a special 6 panel digi-pak, with rare photos and liner notes by Ian McFarlane, and five of the songs from the 2005 Basement concert included as bonus tracks.

From Aztec Records:

As far as Australian progressive blue-rock touchstones go, they don't come any better, and – well – more stoned than Kahvas Jute's only album, 'Wide Open' (Infinity Records 1971) available previously only in original form (to rich collectors), as iffy bootlegs on various European labels (Little Wing of Refugees and the opportunistic Akarma among the offenders) or on a badly mastered official reissue on the Festival label in 1993. Now for the first time since release this great record can be enjoyed in a version supervised by band front man Dennis Wilson. In fact, the sonics here are probably an improvement on the original record, having more oomph and a warmer sound than the LP. 1971 in Australia was a cusp year for Australian musicians, with flower-power giving way to harder progressive rock, in many cases bands taking the progressive blues coming out of the UK and USA as a reference point. Guitarist and vocalist Dennis Wilson and bassist Bob Daisley (one of God's bass players, who went on to international career with Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Uriah Heep, Chicken Shack and many others) had cut their teeth in the Cream and Hendrix influenced Mecca. They teamed up with ex-Tamam Shud members Dannie Davidson (drums) and 16 year old guitar wunderkind Tim Gaze to form Kahvas Jute (Kahvas a variant of kavvas – apparently Turkish police, and Jute fairly obviously from the hemp-related plant).

At its heart, 'Wide Open' is about social and artistic freedom. This is evident from the gloriously structured melody and twin guitar gestalt of 'Free'. Instead of the more clichéd route of trading licks, Wilson and Gaze were technically skilled to the extent that genuine twin guitar parts could be composed and played, both live and in the studio. Daisley's fat Jack Bruce influenced basslines can now be heard at the correct Richter scale reading, and they are perfectly complemented by Davidson's expansive drumming, forming a rhythm section that rolls like thunder. With Wilson's Clapton-esque vocal, 'Odyssey' scratches their Cream itch nicely, but with the added dimension of complex solos played in perfect unison. 'Up There' is one of two Gaze compositions, and he makes the most of it with complex and jazzy structures that hark back to Tamam Shud. 

'She's So Hard to Shake' is full-tilt hard rock, but with oblique chord changes taking it out of the ordinary, as well as some totally gone bass from Daisley giving it enough propulsion to easily reach escape velocity. 'Vikings' dials things back to a ballad which traverses the road from delicate acoustic work to fine electric soloing, but it seems a little dated now. Probably a case of it being too close to its influences. Davidson contributes the surprisingly great 'Steps of Time' - it's a fine slice of Australian progressive folk-rock and not just a token drummer's contribution. The more you play the album, the more this track becomes a favourite. Gaze's 'Twenty Three' is typically classy, and Daisley's elegant 'Ascend' forms a fine on-ramp to the album's blazing apotheosis, the 10 minute 'Parade of Fools' on which all the guitar stops are pulled out for a full band workout that is clearly born of the live Jute experience but is nonetheless a fine document even in this constrained studio version.

There are five bonus tracks from a blazing reunion gig live at Sydney's Basement club in 2005 that is now available in full as a DVD/CD set. Suffice to say that the band has lost none of its potency, and you are back in the day if you close you eyes. A cover of Cream's 'Politician' joins key tracks from the album 'She's So Hard to Shake', 'Ascend/Ascension' and 'Parade of Fools'. New compositions are saved for the subsequent DVD release (and they're every bit as good as the tracks on 'Wide Open').  As always from Aztec, nothing is spared on the packaging and liner notes. (Tony Dale)

Members:

◉ Bob Daisley (bass) 1970-71

◉ Dannie Davidson (drums) 1970-71, 1973-74

◉ Tim Gaze (guitar/vocals) 1970-71

◉ Scott Maxey (bass) 1971, 1973-74

◉ David O'List (guitar) 1971 *UK only

◉ Peter Roberts (bass) 1974

◉ Dennis Wilson (guitar/vocals) 1970-71, 1973-74

Wide Open (Infinity SINL-934030) 1971

01. "Free" (Wilson)

02. "Odyssey"

03. "Up There" (Gaze-Davidson)

04. "She's So Hard to Shake" (Wilson)

05. "Vikings" (Wilson)

06. "Steps of Time" (Davidson)

07. "Twenty Three" (Gaze)

08. "Ascend" (Daisley)

09. "Parade of Fools" (Wilson)

Bonus 2005 live tracks on Aztec reissue:

10. "Politician" (Bruce-Brown)

11. "She’s So Hard To Shake"

12. "Ascend"

13. "Ascension"

14. "Parade Of Fools"

Kahvas Jute - Live at The Basement (Live & Studio) 2005

The Quickening - Live & Studio 2005

01. Somebody Do Something - 5.20

02. Could Be Anyone - 3.08

03. The Quickening - 4.44

04. What Have I Done To Deserve This - 3.41

05. The Blues Just Got Sadder - 4.09

06. Ain´t No Pleasing You - 3.55

07. Somebody Do Something (Live) - 5.58

08. Could Be Anyone (Live) - 3.29

09. The Quickening (Live) - 5.10

10. What Have I Done To Deserve This (Live) - 3.48

11. The Blues Just Got Sadder (Live) - 4.51

12. Ain´t No Pleasing You (Live) - 4.01

Then Again - Live at The Basement 2005

01. Intro

02. Free

03. Ain´t No Pleasing You

04. Somebody Do Something

05. She´s So Hard to Shake

06. What Have I Done to Deserve This

07. Ascend

08. Ascension

09. The Quickening

10. Vikings

11. Could Be Anyone

12. The Blues Just Got Sadder

13. Parade of Fools

14. Politician

15. End Credits

16. The Nazz Are Blue (Bonus)

Part 1: Kahvas

Part 2: Kahvas

Part 3: Kahvas

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Part 1: Kahvas

Part 2: Kahvas

Part 3: Kahvas

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Part 1: Kahvas

Part 2: Kahvas

Part 3: Kahvas

Tamam Shud - Evolution + Bonus and 7 Track EP (Aussie Psychedelic Rock 1969) Highly Recommended

Size: 174 MB

Bitrate: 256

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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock

Artwork Included

Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

In the late '60s, director Paul Witzig traveled the globe, 16mm camera in tow, shooting silent footage of some of Australia's top surfers on the shores of North Africa, Puerto Rico, France and Portugal, as well as in locations all over their homeland. The end result was Evolution, and though the IMDb doesn't list any Witzig works outside of being a camera operator on Bruce Brown's classic surf documentary The Endless Summer, enthusiasts of the sport tell a remarkably different tale.

Evolution is thought of by aficionados as one of the crucial surf films for a few reasons chief among them the lack of dialogue, and how Witzig allowed the skill of his subjects and the depth of its soundtrack to guide the narrative. As one of the bands contracted for its soundtrack, Tamam Shud created an album's worth of material, composed to projections of the raw footage Witzig collected on his shoots. It's not a film Ive seen, nor is it readily available outside of VHS bootlegs, but if the music here is any indication, I'm sold.

Tamam Shud (meaning 'the end' in Persian, so claims their liner notes) existed in an earlier incarnation as the Sunsets, and frontman Lindsay Bjerre had been commissioned to write original music for Witzig's previous surf doc, The Hot Generation. The nature of this working relationship must have been a trusting one, as it's hard to imagine a whole film playing out to hard psych this undeniably cool. Bjerre's band (Zac Zytnik on guitar, Peter Barron on bass, and drummer Dannie Davidson) were joined in the studio by Peter Lockwood and Michael Carlos of the band Tully, whose group's music also appeared in Evolution. Though their music sounds a bit out of the moment for its 1969 studio date, its blues structures and full, lively arrangements survive any sort of serious aging for all but the most detail-oriented collector.

Chunks of Australia's underground rock history are only now becoming known to world audiences, with Aztec's dynamite reissue series, and long-rumored compilations by early Lobby Loyde groups like the Wild Cherries coming to the fore. That said, there doesn't seem to be much historical mention of Tamam Shud, even in the collectors' niches of record, and no earlier reissues barring a Radioactive label offering of dubious legality. Evolution should do well to right that wrong. This is an astounding, wild, free sounding album, steeped in the Beatles and Hendrix in just the right ways, much as it is with inspiration from the sun, surf and sand & the sand especially, as the organic and gritty production of Evolution gives the feeling of granular, between-the-toes crunch. The big, rounded, feedback-studded fuzz on the guitars here is astounding, with a hollow-body or possibly acoustic origin that works its way into the composition of slow, evocative minuets like 'I'm No One' and 'Jesus Guide Me, & and billows throughout the heart and veins of the harder tracks that surround them.

There are plenty of mistakes in the playing, but somehow they only add to the character of these tracks, which flow out of the performers as easily as breath. Songs sound as if they'd just been written, as melodies climb the scales with trepidation before locking into bass runs and expressive, lyric soloing. Bjerre's clear, high tenor, which counts off most of the songs here, fits impressively alongside the guitar tones, with a bit of a yodeling quality in spots that puts him in the class of belters like Family's Roger Chapman, but with a more palatable, less manic range. 

He's still able to break off a scream or two, but that's not where he's heading, so when it does happen, it makes the moment that much more righteous. Moreover, he knows when to hold back and let the guitars do the talking, as graceful lines open their parachute into tastefully wild psychedelic scatter. As a group, their album plays out as effortless, beatific rock, a successful and non-excessive jam session with incredible character and one-of-a-kind surge, even going as far as to imbue surf guitar with more modern, even progressive, influences, as the tension created in album closer 'Too Many Life' suggests.

This Japanese reissue of Evolution, part of EM Records' surf soundtrack series, includes 1971s Bali Waters EP, three cleaner songs with the progressive tack reaching to the fore. Bjerre sounds as strong as he did on the album, but the band is a little more reined in, with a polish that still evokes a surfborne spirit. These three tracks are fine, but not as gloriously blasted out as the album, as if the group was waiting for their career to foment. Still, it's not a bad way to finish off such a satisfying album, a true surprise in a time where hundreds of psych reissues of almost random quality surface at ridiculous prices. It's nice to roll with a winner now and again.

Evolution Album 1969

01. Music Train (03:52)

02. Evolution (02:45)

03. I'm No One (02:08)

04. Mr. Strange (02:34)

05. Lady Sunshine (04:39)

06. Falling Up (02:48)

07. Feel Free (03:12)

08. It's a Beautiful Day (02:53)

09. Jesus Guide Me (03:53)

10. Rock on Top (02:49)

11. Slow One and the Fast One (06:58)

12. Too Many Life (03:04)

Bonus Tracks "Bali Waters EP (1972)

13. Bali Waters [Bali Waters EP 1972] (06:14)

14. Got a Feeling [Bali Waters EP 1972] (02.37)

15. My Father Told Me [Bali Waters EP 1972] (03:47)

Extra Bonus "Taman Shud EP - Goolutionites and The Real People" (1969)

01. Goolutionites Theme  04.54

02. They´ll Take You Down On The Lot  03.42

03. I Love You All  09.07  

04. Heaven Is Closed  05.14

05. A Plague  02.43

06. Stand In The Sunlight  02.22

07. Take A Walk On A Foggy Morn  07.16

1. Taman Shud

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2. Taman Shud

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3. Taman Shud

Mott The Hoople - Live (Great Live Performance UK 1974 + Bonus Tracks)

Size: 256 MB

Bitrate: 256

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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock

Artwork Included

Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Mott The Hoople Live is a 1974 album by British band Mott the Hoople. A remastered and expanded 30th Anniversary Edition was released by Sony BMG on the Columbia label (516051). The release of the album in its original form in 1974 coincided with the announcement of the band's demise and it was, therefore, their final release. It was a single disc album in its original format but the addition of thirteen extra tracks has seen it expand to a double CD package.

By 1974, Mott the Hoople was quite possibly the greatest concert band in the world, a blur of high-energy rock, high content poetics, and high camp costuming — Ian Hunter the tough guy in leather and shades; Ariel Bender the street kid, all satin hat flash; Overend Watts, the freakoid in skyscraper thigh boots; and a live show which out-dressed the lot of them. If any band deserved a live album, it was Mott. And if any live album failed to deliver, it was this one. Today, the album's deficiencies seem less severe. 

Though the band's Bender era remains considerably less well-documented than the earlier Mick Ralphs period, still live material has poured out from a variety of sources, from the Shades of Ian Hunter compilation to the All the Young Dudes box set, and onto the spring 2001 reissue of Bender's own Floodgates solo album (an excellent version of "Here Comes the Queen"). 

There's even a quasi-legal fan club release for the 1974 King Biscuit broadcast which remains the highpoint of the band's live career. Live, however, remains the only official document of the glory, and the problems commence on the back cover — a great shot of the band performing "Marionette" on a stage hung with puppets, when the song itself is nowhere in sight. Two shows recorded five months and two continents apart (London's Hammersmith Odeon in December 1973; New York's Uris Theater in May 1974) are highlighted by just seven songs and one medley. 

The hits "All the Young Dudes" and "All the Way From Memphis," of course, are present, but the remainder of the track list is bizarre to say the least — the ballads "Rest in Peace" and "Rose" were British B-sides only, while "Sucker," "Walking With a Mountain," and "Sweet Angeline" were never much more than filler on their own original albums (Dudes, Mad Shadows, and Brain Capers, respectively). 

The medley is mightier, spanning both Mott's own history, and rock & roll's in general — who, after all, would deny the band their own exalted place in the lineage which stretches from "Whole Lotta Shakin'" to "Get Back" and beyond (the uncredited snatch of Bowie's "Jean Genie")? But even here, one cannot help but think more must have happened that night than a breakneck assault on a handful more cuts — and sure enough, it did. The Hammersmith show was the night when the management tried to halt the gig during the closing number, and wound up causing a riot. 

Single 1971

The liner notes remember it well, but the "Mountain" here was found in New York. It is a great album in its own way, the band are in terrific form, and Bender plays the guitar hero better than anyone else of his entire generation. But Mott gigs, like their albums, were about more than simple snapshots — that was what made the band so important, that's what made their music so memorable. And that's what the fearfully episodic Live completely overlooks. 

CD1 Broadway

01.Intro - "Jupiter" from "The Planets" (Holst) – 0:46

02."American Pie"/ "The Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll" (McLean / Hunter) – 4:16

03."Sucker" (Hunter, Ralphs, Watts) – 5:59

04."Roll Away the Stone" / "Sweet Jane" (Hunter / Reed) – 3:52

05."Rest in Peace" (Griffin, Hunter, Watts) – 6:01

06."All the Way from Memphis" (Hunter) – 5:02

07."Born Late '58" (Watts) – 4:51

08."One of the Boys" (Hunter, Ralphs) – 5:32

09."Hymn for the Dudes" (Allen, Hunter) – 5:46

10."Marionette" (Hunter) – 5:04

11."Drivin' Sister" / "Crash Street Kidds" / "Violence" (Hunter, Ralphs) – 9:06

12."All the Young Dudes" (Bowie) – 3:49

13."Walking with a Mountain" (Hunter) – 4:54

CD2 Hammersmith

01.Intro - "Jupiter" from "The Planets" (Holst) – 0:46

02."Drivin' Sister" (Hunter, Ralphs) – 3:51

03."Sucker" (Hunter, Ralphs, Watts) – 6:03

04."Sweet Jane" (Reed) – 5:10

05."Sweet Angeline" (Hunter) – 6:47

06."Rose" (Buffin, Hunter, Ralphs,...) – 4:42

07."Roll Away the Stone" (Hunter) – 3:31

08."All the Young Dudes" (Bowie) – 3:53

09."Jerkin' Crocus" / "One of the Boys" / "Rock'n'Roll Queen" / "Get Back" / "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" / "Violence" (David, Hunter, Lennon, McCartney, Ralphs, Williams) – 16.16

10."Walking with a Mountain" (Hunter) – 9:09

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Various Artist - The Warner-Reprise 'Looney Tunes' (US 1970)

Who’s Your Music Daddy??

Probably one of the more fondly remembered releases in the Loss Leader series… for those who acted fast enough to snag one, anyway. A big, colorful, 3LP box set, with some of the era’s best new music, all for 3 bucks… postage paid! 

It lavishly spoke to the inherent greed in all record collectors and music lovers. And just look at that track list. There’s barely an unknown name or non-classic in the bunch (well, a few… but not many). As usual, the liner notes are a great read from a historical perspective, as Warners reports that the “recently emerged” Black Sabbath (with singer John Osbourne) “has made our sales department very happy.” 

And an advance, non-LP single from The Faces (“Real Good Time”) isn’t even officially penciled in for the band’s next album yet. One record that caught my attention is John Simon’s album (that’s the name of it, by the way, John Simon’s Album). The famed producer for Big Brother, BS&T, Leonard Cohen, The Band and a slew of others, is joined by Leon Russell, Jim Gordon and Delaney Bramlett for his 1970 debut LP. 

To illustrate the Loss Leaders series’ grand design, I immediately went online to find a copy of it. Of course, that’s not exactly what Warners had in mind back in the 70s, but the concept’s mojo is still working its magic. As mentioned previously on #5 Schlagers!, Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodies claims it’s the 4th release in the series, but the catalog number (PRO423) suggests it was actually the 7th release, so until we find some definitive answers about the actual release order, you’ll have to take our numbering-by-catalog number system with a grain of salt.

Unfortunately, none of Warners’ artwork or liners after this point offer any specifics regarding numbering or running order, so apparently even WB gave up making any linear/numerical sense of the series by this point.

Side 1: 5.5 Richter and Above

01. FM Radio Spot It’s The Plastic (1:03)

02. Faces Real Good Time (5:52)
03. Black Sabbath Paranoid (2:48)
04. Little Feat Strawberry Flats (2:22)
05. Hard Meat Smile As You Go Under (3:04)
06. Fleetwood Mac Tell Me All The Things You Do (4:13)
07. Jimi Hendrix Stepping Stone (4:15)

Side 2: Resident Writers and Reapers Of Wry Kudos
01. John Simon The Elves’ Song (4:31)
02. Ry Cooder Alimony (2:56)
03. Randy Newman Let’s Burn Down The Cornfield (3:02)
04. Gordon Lightfoot Me And Bobby McGee (3:42)
05. Jimmy L. Webb P. F. Sloan (4:05)
06. Performance Soundtrack (Jack Nitzsche) Harry Flowers (4:03)

Side 3: Breadwinners and Other Staples
01. FM Radio Spot Chip Dip (1:02)
02. Little Richard I Saw Her Standing There (3:29)
03. The Grateful Dead Sugar Magnolia (3:17)
04. Van Morrison Call Me Up In Dreamland (3:54)
05. The Kinks Apeman (3:52)
067. Arlo Guthrie Valley To Pray (2:47)
07. The Beach Boys It’s About Time (3:01)

Side 4: California Antacid Rock
01. The Youngbloods It’s A Lovely Day (2:37)
02. Jeffrey Cain Houndog Turkey (2:51)
03. Lovecraft Love Has Come To Me (3:05)
04. Sweetwater Just For You (9:39)

Side 5: Avant and National Guard
01. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band Lick My Decals Off, Baby (2:39)
02. The Mothers Of Invention Directly From My Heart To You (5:18)
03. Alice Cooper Return Of The Spiders (4:30)
04. Frank Zappa Would You Go All The Way? (2:30)
05. Beaver and Krause Spaced (3:51)
06. Pearls Before Swine The Jeweler (2:46)

Side 6: Electric Jesus
01. Beaver and Krause Sanctuary (1:46)
02. James Taylor Lo And Behold (2:35)
03. Harpers Bizarre If We Ever Needed The Lord Before (2:56)
04. Van Dyke Parks On The Rolling Sea When Jesus Speak To Me (2:28)
05. The Persuasions It’s All Right (3:28)
06. Turley Richards I Heard The Voice Of Jesus (6:59)

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