John LittleJohn's - Chicago Blues Stars (Outstanding Blues US 1968)

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Bitrate: 256

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This November 14, 1968, session was recorded in Chicago, co-produced by Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records and Willie Dixon. It's decent, though journeyman, '60s electric Chicago blues augmented by a couple of tenor saxes. Littlejohn has a pleasant voice and is a skilled guitarist, but does not have the fire or individuality that leaps from some of the musicians to whom one might compare him. Those might include figures like Buddy Guy, say, or Elmore James' more fully produced sides, or on something like "Catfish Blues," the Muddy Waters approach. Littlejohn did write most of the dozen tunes, interspersed with covers of songs by James, Dixon, Brook Benton (a refreshingly unusual choice for a mainstream '60s Chicago bluesman), and J.B. Lenoir.

John Littlejohn's stunning mastery of the slide guitar somehow never launched him into the major leagues of bluesdom. Only on a handful of occasions was the Chicago veteran's vicious bottleneck attack captured effectively on wax, but anyone who experienced one of his late-night sessions as a special musical guest on the Windy City circuit will never forget the crashing passion in his delivery. Delta-bred John Funchess first heard the blues just before he reached his teens at a fish fry where a friend of his father's named Henry Martin was playing guitar. He left home in 1946, pausing in Jackson, Mississippi; Arkansas; and Rochester, New York before winding up in Gary, Indiana. In 1951, he began inching his way into the Gary blues scene, his Elmore James-influenced slide style making him a favorite around Chicago's south suburbs in addition to steel mill-fired Gary.

Littlejohn waited an unconscionably long time to wax his debut singles for Margaret (his trademark treatment of Brook Benton's "Kiddio"), T-D-S, and Weis in 1968. But before the year was out, Littlejohn had also cut his debut album, Chicago Blues Stars, for Chris Strachwitz's Arhoolie logo. It was a magnificent debut, the guitarist blasting out a savage Chicago/Delta hybrid rooted in the early '50s rather than its actual timeframe. Unfortunately, a four-song 1969 Chess date remained in the can. After that, another long dry spell preceded Littlejohn's 1985 album So-Called Friends for Rooster Blues, an ambitious but not altogether convincing collaboration between the guitarist and a humongous horn section that sometimes grew to eight pieces. The guitarist had been in poor health for some time prior to his 1994 passing.

Recorded at Universal Studios - Chicago, III. November 14, 1968

01. What In The World You Goin' To Do (Willie Dixon)  03:53

02. Treat Me Wrong (John Funchess)  03:30

03. Catfish Blues  03:30

04. Kiddeo (Brook Benton)  03:45

05. Slidin' Home (John Funchess)  03:56

06. Dream (John Funchess)  05:15

07. Reelin' And Rockin' (John Funchess)  02:25

08. Been Around The World (John Funchess)  05:20

09. How Much More Long (J.B. Lenoir)  03:53

10. Shake Your Money Maker (Elmore James)  04:19

Bonus Tracks

11. I'm Tired (John Funchess)  04:19

12. Nowhere to Lay My Head (John Funchess)  03:44

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The Beginners Mynd - Don't Lose Your Mind (Good Garagerock US 2013 - 2020)

Size: 155 MB

Birate: 320

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"Don’t Lose Your Mind" (2017)

The glorious 2017 debut full-length album from the Beginner's Mynd has arrived! From the fuzzed-out garage title track opener on through to the dreamy, psych-pop album closer 'No Expectations', the Washington D.C.-based trio present 10 new songs that expand upon their bedrock sound of Byrdsian guitar jangle meshed with '60s-style pop-psych and '80s paisley underground moves. Adding more '60s-style garage rock grit and attitude to the proceedings, along with some the best lyrics and songs written yet by the mind behind the Mynd, Dan McNabb, end to end the album delivers an excellent way to kick your summertime music listening into high gear! - 13 O'Clock Records

“Don’t Lose Your Mind” displays the versatility of The Beginner’s Mynd while never wavering far from the band’s psychedelic roots. McNabb’s songwriting abilities and the band’s multi-instrument versatility are constantly on display. One of the strongest debut albums I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing. - It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine

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"The guitars, organ notes, every struck drumhead and cymbal crash resounds to cast the listener into their strange envelope-pushing atmospherics. The entire project recalls the exciting, challenging, and intoxicating world of some of those magical records made between 1965 and '69. It's worth noting that The Beginner's Mynd are not some cheap throwback homage with no substance - this contains depth: it's warm, fluent sounds signalling genuine appeal." - Shindig! Magazine

"This is a fantastic album of perfectly crafted late 60s psychedelic songs which is so cohesive and consistent that it elevates itself from mere album to a whole experience in itself!" - Bananas Magazine

"If the mesmerizing lenticular eye cover doesn't get you, the fuzz-and-mellotron-enhanced pop-psych of this DC aggregation will on their first album... this flows enchantingly like a freakbeat flashback fome to life on tracks like the surreal "Out of Tune", the lilting "I Want Truth" and the jangly "Nothing Wrong"." - Ugly Things Magazine

"The band’s warm guitar jangle, dream inducing keyboard play, and tremulous rhythms pay proper homage to Nuggets era psychedelia and pushes that “now sound” into the modern era, a feat seldom seen since the days of the 80s paisley underground." - Psych Out / Nashville Psych Alliance

"“Don’t Lose Your Mind” is simply a stellar step back in time for anyone who treasures a melodically mind-bending, guitar-heavy, hook-driven garage rock sound with a nostalgic nod to 60s drug-pop. Highly Recommended!" - The Quaker Goes Deaf

"Ego Death" (2018)

The Beginner's Mynd are back with a new single! On this follow-up to their debut album Don't Lose Your Mind, the Washington DC-based group present a new original song on the top side with strong 60's UK-style psych vibes in the vein of good 'ol early Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd meets The Factory. 

On the flipside, their rendition of the Bob Dylan perennial classic, meshes jangly, folk-garage with some baroque pop-psych stylings, harpsichord included! 

A solid, very wellrounded two-sider showcasing all of the facets of the group's bedrock sound! - 13 O'Clock Records

"The garage insistence and thumping intensity that drives 'Ego Death' is punctuated by high register organ flourishes which brings a '67 UFO-style psychedelic image to the fore. This might prove their most potent offering yet." - Shinding Magazine

"Befitting the psychedelic nightmare sleeve, the wall-of-keyboards backdrop on "Ego Death" is considerably darker than this DC pop-psych quartet's previous efforts, while the cover of "Baby Blue" can best be described as early Pink Floyd meets The Byrds" - Ugly Things Magazine

 

"I Wish I Was Five" (2015)

Recorded at home, mixed by Mike Reina at The Brink

"The Beginner's Mynd EP" (2013)

""Hazy" is a supremely authentic two-chord wig-out cut from the same paisley cloth as any number of vintage garage-psych touchstones; it's muted power chords, treated vocals and snaking Farfisa organ lines evoking the Floyd's "Candy and a Currant Bun" and The Factory's "Try a Little Sunshine" in equal measures." - Shindig! Magazine

"A hugely promising debut... these guys have the potential to be pretty big imho" - The Active Listener

"Catchy as Hell and exactly the kind of sweet wobble you want lodged in your cranium. 

Both filler-free and coated with enough swirling baroque frosting to give you what you’re looking for..." - Sunrise Ocean Bender

"Laden with organ and psych tones, the brilliant ‘All The Time’ is followed by the more haunting and voice-effected ‘Shadows’ – a sound that continues the sixties influence of the first singles and makes this a band firmly one to follow." - The Roomshaker

The Band:

◉ Dan McNabb: Vocals, guitars, keyboards (Mellotron, Farfisa, piano, harpsichord), percussion

◉ Larry Ferguson: Drums

◉ Carrie Fergusion: Keyboards (Farfisa, piano)

01. Don't Lose Your Mind - Don't Lose Your Mind [2017]  03.23

02. Don't Lose Your Mind - Unity [2017]  03.17

03. Don't Lose Your Mind - I've Seen Stars [2017]  03.57

04. Don't Lose Your Mind - The Next One [2017]  02.24

05. Don't Lose Your Mind - I Want Truth [2017]  03.01

06. Don't Lose Your Mind - Out of Tune [2017] 05.13

07. Don't Lose Your Mind - Nothing Wrong [2017]  04.27

08. Don't Lose Your Mind - Days of Joy [2017]  03.29

09. Don't Lose Your Mind - I Am Done [2017]  03.20

10. Don't Lose Your Mind - No Expectations [2017]  04.39

11. Ego Death - Ego Death [2018]  02.55

12. Ego Death - Baby Blue [2018]  02.54

13. I Wish I Was Five [2015]  03.20

14. The Beginner's Mynd EP - Hazy [2013]  03.26

15. The Beginner's Mynd EP - Time Dilation [2013]  02.55

16. The Beginner's Mynd EP - Shadows [2013]  03.25

17. The Beginner's Mynd EP - All the Time [2013]  02.56

18. The Beginner's Mynd EP - In the Spring [2013]  03.27

19. Beware [2020]  03.02

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