Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Ebbets Field, Denver, Colorado 1974-08-27 (Bootleg, FM Broadcast)

Sweden EP 1960

Size: 146 MB
Bitrate: 320
mp3
Found on the Street
No Artwork

The joyous whoop that Sonny Terry naturally emitted between raucous harp blasts was as distinctive a signature sound as can possibly be imagined. Only a handful of blues harmonica players wielded as much of a lasting influence on the genre as did the sightless Terry (Buster Brown, for one, copied the whoop and all), who recorded some fine urban blues as a bandleader in addition to serving as guitarist Brownie McGhee's longtime duet partner.

Saunders Terrell's father was a folk-styled harmonica player who performed locally at dances, but blues wasn't part of his repertoire (he blew reels and jigs). Terry wasn't born blind, he lost sight in one eye when he was five, the other at age 18. That left him with extremely limited options for making any sort of feasible living, so he took to the streets armed with his trusty harmonicas. Terry soon joined forces with Piedmont pioneer Blind Boy Fuller, first recording with the guitarist in 1937 for Vocalion.

Terry's unique talents were given an extremely classy airing in 1938 when he was invited to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall at the fabled From Spirituals to Swing concert. He recorded for the Library of Congress that same year and cut his first commercial sides in 1940. Terry had met McGhee in 1939, and upon the death of Fuller, they joined forces, playing together on a 1941 McGhee date for OKeh and settling in New York as a duo in 1942. There they broke into the folk scene, working alongside Leadbelly, Josh White, and Woody Guthrie.

UK EP 1965

While Brownie McGhee was incredibly prolific in the studio during the mid-'40s, Terry was somewhat less so as a leader (perhaps most of his time was occupied by his prominent role in Finian's Rainbow on Broadway for approximately two years beginning in 1946). There were sides for Asch and Savoy in 1944 before three fine sessions for Capitol in 1947 (the first two featuring Stick McGhee rather than Brownie on guitar) and another in 1950.

Terry made some nice sides in an R&B mode for Jax, Jackson, Red Robin, RCA Victor, Groove, Harlem, Old Town, and Ember during the '50s, usually with Brownie close by on guitar. But it was the folk boom of the late '50s and early '60s that made Brownie and Sonny household names (at least among folk aficionados). They toured long and hard as a duo, cutting a horde of endearing acoustic duet LPs along the way, before scuttling their decades-long partnership amidst a fair amount of reported acrimony during the mid-'70s.

►►► Sonny Terry Biography ◄◄◄
Saunders Terrell (24 October 1911 - 11 March 1986), better known as Sonny Terry, was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.

Terry was born in Greensboro, GA. His father, a farmer, taught him to play basic blues harp as a youth. He sustained injuries to his eyes and lost his sight by the time he was 16, which prevented him from doing farm work himself, and in order to earn a living Terry was forced to play music. He began playing in Shelby, North Carolina. After his father died, he began playing in the trio of Piedmont blues-style guitarist Blind Boy Fuller. When Fuller died in 1941, he established a long-standing musical relationship with Brownie McGhee, and the pair recorded numerous songs together. The duo became well-known among white audiences, as they joined the growing folk movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This included collaborations with Styve Homnick, Woody Guthrie and Moses Asch, producing Folkways Records (now Smithsonian/Folkways) classic recordings.

In 1938 Terry was invited to play at Carnegie Hall for the first From Spirituals to Swing concert, and later that year he recorded for the Library of Congress. In 1940 Terry recorded his first commercial sides. Some of his most famous works include "Old Jabo" a song about a man bitten by a snake and "Lost John" in this he demonstrates his amazing breath control .

Despite their fame as "pure" folk artists, in the 1940s, Terry and McGhee fronted a jump blues combo with honking saxophone and rolling piano that was variously billed as Brownie McGhee and his Jook House Rockers or Sonny Terry and his Buckshot Five.

Terry was also in the 1947 original cast of the Broadway musical comedy, Finian's Rainbow. He also appeared in The Colour Purple directed by Steven Spielberg. With Brownie McGhee, he appeared in the 1979 Steve Martin comedy The Jerk. Terry collaborated with Ry Cooder on "Walkin' Away Blues" as well as a cover of Robert Johnson's "Crossroad Blues" for the 1986 film Crossroads.

Terry died from natural causes at Mineola, New York, in March 1986, the year he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He died three days before Crossroads was released in theaters.

►►► Brownie McGhee Biography ◄◄◄
Walter Brown ("Brownie") McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.

Brownie McGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. As a child he had polio, which incapacitated his leg. His brother Granville "Sticks" or "Stick" McGhee was nicknamed for pushing young Brownie around in a cart. His father, George McGhee, was a factory worker known around University Avenue for playing guitar and singing. Brownie's uncle made him a guitar from a tin marshmallow box and a piece of board.[4] McGhee spent much of his youth immersed in music, singing with local harmony group the Golden Voices Gospel Quartet and teaching himself to play guitar. A March of Dimes-funded leg operation enabled McGhee to walk.

At age 22, Brownie McGhee became a traveling musician, working in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and befriending Blind Boy Fuller, whose guitar playing influenced him greatly. After Fuller's death in 1941, J. B. Long of Columbia Records had McGhee adopt his mentor's name, branding him "Blind Boy Fuller No. 2." By that time, McGhee was recording for Columbia's subsidiary Okeh Records in Chicago, but his real success came after he moved to New York in 1942, when he teamed up with Sonny Terry, whom he had known since 1939 when Sonny was Blind Boy Fuller's harmonica player. The pairing was an overnight success; as well as recording, they toured together until around 1980. As a duo, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee did most of their work from 1958 until 1980, spending 11 months of each year touring, and recording dozens of albums.

Despite their later fame as "pure" folk artists playing for white audiences, in the 1940s Terry and McGhee also attempted to be successful black recording performers, fronting a jump blues combo with honking saxophone and rolling piano, variously calling themselves "Brownie McGhee and his Jook House Rockers" or "Sonny Terry and his Buckshot Five," often with Champion Jack Dupree and Big Chief Ellis. They also appeared in the original Broadway productions of Finian's Rainbow and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

UK EP 1965

During the blues revival of the 1960s, Terry and McGhee were very popular on the concert and music festival circuits, occasionally adding new material but usually remaining faithful to their roots and their audience. With Sonny Terry, he appeared in the 1979 Steve Martin comedy The Jerk. In 1987, McGhee gave a small but memorable performance as ill-fated blues singer Toots Sweet in the supernatural thriller movie, Angel Heart. He appeared in a 1988 episode of "Family Ties" titled "The Blues Brother" in which he played fictional blues musician Eddie Dupre, as well as a 1989 episode of Matlock entitled "The Blues Singer."

Happy Traum, a former guitar student of Brownie's, edited a blues guitar instruction guide and songbook for him. Using a tape recorder, Traum had McGhee instruct and, between lessons, talk about his life and the blues. Guitar Styles of Brownie McGhee was published in New York in 1971. The autobiographical section features Brownie talking about growing up, his musical beginnings, and a history of the early blues period (1930s onward).

One of McGhee's final concert appearances was at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival.
McGhee died from stomach cancer in February 1996 in Oakland, California at age 80; he missed his planned return trip to Australia.

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Ebbets Field, Denver, CO 1974-08-27

01. Radio Intro, Played the blues in every town 5:36
02. Walk On 9:27
03. Midnight hour blues 8:59
04. Feel so good  (Different Recording) 4:24
05. Feel so good 3:07
06. Key to the Highway 4:55
07. Hoary Hoary these women is Killing me 3:59
08. My baby chained the lock on the door 5:13
09. Good old General 5:01
10. Walk from Boulder to Denver 4:22
11. Packing up 4:11
12. Chain don't turn around 4:33

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New Blogs for my Bloglist

Hi all in here.

I need more good blogs for my bloglist. If you have one or more, send me a message with the name and URL.

IMPORTANT: The blog must be in english language.

//ChrisGoesRock

Some little "newer" Rock: Various Artist - California Jam II (Aerosmith, Ted Nugent & More 1978) (Bootleg)

Size: 303 MB
Bitrate: 320
mp3
Found in my Bluesmobile
No Artwork

California Jam II, also known as Cal Jam II, was a music festival held in Ontario, California, at the Ontario Motor Speedway on March 18, 1978 and produced by Leonard Stogel, Sandy Feldman, and Don Branker. More than 300,000 people attended. The festival was a sequel to the original California Jam held in 1974.

Bringing together a variety of acts from across the rock and roll spectrum in front of a crowd of more than 300,000, California Jam 2 featured scorching performances from some of the biggest names in ’70s rock music. The concert – which took place on March 18, 1978 — helped to pave the way for all-day festivals to become the routine big-business events they are today.

Planning a sequel to the California Jam that  occurred at the Ontario Motor Speedway in 1974, the organizers had the benefit of learning from some of the past festival disasters that had proceeded from slipshod planning and resulted in violence, death and the failure to maximize profits.

Fans enjoyed a day of music from such top acts as Ted Nugent, Heart, Santana and Dave Mason. Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch was joined on stage by Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood during his set, while Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush and Foreigner also rocked the crowd. A funk-rock act called Rubicon — featuring a young bassist/singer named Jack Blades – rounded out the lineup.

click on picture for bigger size

Like its predecessor, the concert was staged at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, Calif. But unlike the first Cal Jam — at which featured act Deep Purple had to leave the premises in a helicopter to avoid furious promoters after guitarist Ritchie Blackmore attacked a television camera with his guitar — the second concert came off relatively without a hitch.

Though initial media reports incorrectly reported three fatalities and a large number of arrests, journalist Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times reported that the event was mostly peaceful and well-organized. Hilburn noted that the promoters repeatedly admonished the crowd from the stage in order to control potential problems before they could arise.

The festival drew more than 300,000 fans, and also spawned a successful soundtrack album and a television special. The event’s precise organization — and the profits derived from doing the job correctly — would help to usher in a new business model in which festival rock concerts were enjoyable, safe and profitable.

California Jam 2 March 18, 1978 California Jam II, Ontario, California Speedway, CA, USA

Band: 
♣ Aerosmith  
♣ Santana  
♣ Rubicon  
♣ Ted Nugent  
♣ Bob Welch  
♣ Mahogany Rush

Disc 1
01. Intro
02. Big Ten Inch Record / Aerosmith
03. Walk This Way / Aerosmith
04 .Same Old Song And Dance / Aerosmith
05. Draw The Line / Aerosmith
06. Chip Away The Stone / Aerosmith
07. Sweet Emotion / Aerosmith
08. Toys In The Attic / Aerosmith
09. Jugando / Santana
10. Black Magic Woman / Santana
11. Dance Sister Dance / Santana
12. Evil Ways / Santana
13. Soul Sacrifice / Santana
14. Never Gonna Leave / Rubicon
15. Too Hot To Handle / Rubicon
16. Unknown Song / Rubicon
17. Outro

Disc 2
01. Intro
02. Free For All / Ted Nugent
03. Snake Skin Cowboy / Ted Nugent
04. Cat Scratch Fever / Ted Nugent
05. Just What The Doctor Caregura / Ted Nugent
06. Gonzo / Ted Nugent
07. Hot Love / Bob Welch
08. Hypnotized / Bob Welch
09. Ebony Eyes / Bob Welch
10. Johnny B Goode / Mahogany Rush
11. Purple Haze / Mahogany Rush
12. Outro

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Borderline Books as HTML BOOK, a must for record collectors, believe me!

1. The Tapestry Of Delights — A Comprehensive Guide to British music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive eras 1963 — 1976 (by Vernon Joynson).

This third edition includes the original 600 pages of text, plus a new 90 page section containing around 1,000 new entries and/or updates to existing entries with lots of illustrations. There's also an expanded section on relevant sixties and early seventies compilation/soundtracks, plus an updated index. In total this 734 page guide comes with full discographies, personnel details, reissue information, comment on artistes, compilation listings and rarity scale. Over 3,200 entries and profusely illustrated with 12 pages of full colour.


2. Fuzz Acid And Flowers — A Comprehensive Guide to American Garage, Psychedelic and Hippie Rock (1964 — 1975) ( by Vernon Joynson).

The 4th edition of our guide to American Garage, Psychedelic and Hippie rock includes the original 403 pages of text, plus a new 163 page section containing over 1,400 new entries and/or updates to existing entries with lots of illustrations. There is also a vastly expanded section on relevant sixties and early seventies compilation/sound tracks plus recent retrospective compilations. Profusely illustrated with 8 pages of full colour.

3. Dreams Fantasies And Nightmares — From Far Away Lands — Canadian, Australasian and Latin American Rock and Pop 1963-75 (by Vernon Joynson).


A detailed enclopedic guide to the rock and pop music of the golden era from the early sixties to mid-seventies. Covering rock, pop, beat, folk, folk-rock, blues-rock, psychedelia, flower-pop, garage, progressive rock and more from Canada and Australasia 1963-76. It also includes a general introduction to Latin American beat, psychedelia, garage and progressive rock. Each section includes an A-Z listing of the artistes with discographies, personnel details and, for most entries, comment on the music. Details of relevant sixties and early seventies compilations and recent retrospective compilations are also included.The book is profusely illustrated throughout with black and white illustrations and there is also a 12-page colour section..

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//ChrisGoesRock

PS. Some of you have problem to open the book:  Inside the extracted folder you have a file called: -== Use This Button For The Book ==-.

If you can't open this book with this file, add this text to the file: (.html) like this: (-== Use This Button For The Book ==-.html)

//ChrisGoesRock

Eyes of the day...

Willie Dixon - Charlotte, NC 1988-08-18 (Bootleg)

Size: 165 MB
Bitrate: 320
mp3
Found in my Blues mobile
No Artwork

William James "Willie" Dixon (July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the upright bass and the guitar and as a vocalist, Dixon is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. Next to Muddy Waters, Dixon is recognized as the most influential person in shaping the post-World War II sound of the Chicago blues.

Dixon's songs have been recorded by countless musicians in many genres as well as by various ensembles in which he participated. A short list of the his most famous compositions includes "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", "Little Red Rooster", "My Babe", "Spoonful", and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover". These tunes were written during the peak of Chess Records, 1950–1965, and performed by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Bo Diddley; they influenced a worldwide generation of musicians.
Dixon also was an important link between the blues and rock and roll, working with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley in the late 1950s. His songs were covered by some of the biggest artists of more recent times, such as Bob Dylan, Cream, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones. For a more comprehensive list of Willie Dixon's songs and artists who have recorded them, see List of songs written by Willie Dixon.

Willie Dixon Album US 1960

Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915. His mother Daisy often rhymed the things she said, a habit her son imitated. At the age of seven, young Dixon became an admirer of a band that featured pianist Little Brother Montgomery. Dixon was first introduced to blues when he served time on prison farms in Mississippi as an early teenager. He later learned how to sing harmony from local carpenter Leo Phelps. Dixon sang bass in Phelps' group The Jubilee Singers, a local gospel quartet that regularly appeared on the Vicksburg radio station WQBC. Dixon began adapting poems he was writing as songs, and even sold some tunes to local music groups.

Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936. A man of considerable stature, at 6 and a half feet and weighing over 250 pounds, he took up boxing; he was so successful that he won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937. Dixon turned professional as a boxer and worked briefly as Joe Louis' sparring partner. After four fights, Dixon left boxing after getting into a fight with his manager over being cheated out of money.

Dixon met Leonard Caston at the boxing gym where they would harmonize at times. Dixon performed in several vocal groups in Chicago but it was Caston that got him to pursue music seriously. Caston built him his first bass, made of a tin can and one string. Dixon's experience singing bass made the instrument familiar. He also learned the guitar.

In 1939, Dixon was a founding member of the Five Breezes, with Caston, Joe Bell, Gene Gilmore and Willie Hawthorne. The group blended blues, jazz, and vocal harmonies, in the mode of the Ink Spots. Dixon's progress on the Upright bass came to an abrupt halt during the advent of World War II when he resisted the draft as a conscientious objector and was imprisoned for ten months.[1] After the war, he formed a group named the Four Jumps of Jive and then reunited with Caston, forming the Big Three Trio, who went on to record for Columbia Records.

Willie Dixon - UK EP 1965

Dixon signed with Chess Records as a recording artist, but began performing less, being more involved with administrative tasks for the label. By 1951, he was a full-time employee at Chess, where he acted as producer, talent scout, session musician and staff songwriter. He was also a producer for Chess subsidiary Checker Records. His relationship with Chess was sometimes strained, although he stayed with the label from 1948 to the early 1960s. During this time Dixon's output and influence were prodigious. From late 1956 to early 1959, he worked in a similar capacity for Cobra Records, where he produced early singles for Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy. He later recorded on Bluesville Records.

From the late 1960s until the middle 1970s, Dixon ran his own record label, Yambo Records, along with two subsidiary labels, Supreme and Spoonful. He released his 1971 album Peace? on Yambo, as well as singles by McKinley Mitchell, Lucky Peterson and others.

Dixon is considered one of the key figures in the creation of Chicago blues. He worked with Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, Joe Louis Walker, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Eddie Boyd, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, Washboard Sam, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Lay and others. His double bass playing was of a high standard. He appears on many of Chuck Berry's early recordings, further proving his linkage between the blues and the birth of rock and roll.

Dixon is remembered mainly as a songwriter; his most enduring gift to the blues lay in refurbishing archaic Southern motifs, often of magic and country folkways and often derived from earlier records such as those by Charlie Patton, in contemporary arrangements, to produce songs with both the sinew of the blues, and the agility of pop. British R&B bands of the 1960s constantly drew on the Dixon songbook for inspiration. In December 1964, The Rolling Stones reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of Dixon's "Little Red Rooster". By the late sixties, Dixon's songwriting and production work began to take a back seat to his organizational abilities, which were utilised to assemble all-star, Chicago-based blues ensembles for work in Europe.

In his later years, Willie Dixon became a tireless ambassador for the blues and a vocal advocate for its practitioners, founding the Blues Heaven Foundation. The organization works to preserve the blues’ legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Speaking with the simple eloquence that was a hallmark of his songs, Dixon claimed, "The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues." In 1977, unhappy with the royalties rate from ARC Music, he and Muddy Waters sued the Chess-owned publishing company, and with the proceeds from the lawsuit set up Hoochie Coochie Music.

In 1987, Dixon received an out-of-court settlement from Led Zeppelin after suing them for plagiarism, in relation to their use of his music for "Bring It On Home" and his lyrics from his composition "You Need Love" (1962) for their track "Whole Lotta Love".

Dixon's health deteriorated increasingly during the seventies and the eighties, primarily due to long-term diabetes. Eventually one of his legs had to be amputated. Dixon was inducted at the inaugural session of the Blues Foundation's ceremony, and into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. In 1989 he was also the recipient of a Grammy Award for his album, Hidden Charms.

Dixon died of heart failure in Burbank, California on January 29, 1992, and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. Dixon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the "early influences" (pre-rock) category in 1994. Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer portrayed Dixon in Cadillac Records, a 2008 film based on the early history of Chess Records.

Willie Dixon 
1988-08-18
Unknown Venue 
Charlotte, NC 

Personnel:
♫ Willie Dixon - Vocals 
♫ Dennis Miller - Guitar 
♫ Carey Bell - Harmonica 
♫ Darren Darnell - Drums 
♫ Michael Morrison - Bass  

01. Ain't No Sunshine 8:23
02. I Don't Know  5:40 
03. Back Door Man 5:29
04. I'm Ready 5:53
05. I Just Want To Make Love To You 8:31
06. Rockin' The House 12:57
07. Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do 8:03
08. Unknown Instrumental 11:15 
09. Got My Mojo Workin' 6:09

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Stephen Stills - Selftitled (Outstanding 1st Album US 1971)

Size: 81.2 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRovk
Artwork Included
Source: Japan HDCD Limited Remaster Edition

Stephen Stills is an eponymous rock album by Stephen Stills, famous for his long-time membership in Crosby, Stills, & Nash. It consists of songs written by Stills and is one of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their 1970 chart-topping album Déjà Vu.

The album features an array of well-known guest musicians, including David Crosby and Graham Nash, who contributed vocals. Ringo Starr drums on two tracks under the pseudonym "Richie," which he also used for his contribution to the London Sessions album by American bluesman Howlin' Wolf, recorded in England the same year. Stills' album is also the only album in rock and roll history to which both Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix supplied guitar work. Hendrix died before the album was released—Stills dedicated the album to "James Marshall Hendrix."

The song "We Are Not Helpless" was written in response to Neil Young's song "Helpless" from the Déjà Vu album and the song and "Black Queen" have remained in the performing repertoire of both Stills and CSN. "Love the One You're With," Stills' biggest solo hit single, peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 19, 1970, and another single pulled from the album, "Sit Yourself Down," went to #37 on March 27, 1971.

The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in the week of December 5, 1970. It was reissued by WEA after being digitally remastered using the HDCD process on December 5, 1995. "We Are Not Helpless" and "Love the One You're With" were first performed in concert on May 12, 1970 during Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Déjà Vu tour. In 2009 Crosby, Stills, & Nash released Demos featuring an early demo of "Love the One You're With".

Stephen Stills - Australian EP 1972

Reviews of the album were decidedly mixed ranging from positive to lukewarm. Allmusic calls it "a jaw-dropping experience" just short of Crosby, Stills & Nash and Déjà Vu while others such as Rolling Stone were less effusive, qualifying the somewhat negative tone by writing "I'm not saying I don't like this album."

Talk about understatement -- there's Stephen Stills on the cover, acoustic guitar in hand, promising a personal singer/songwriter-type statement. And there is some of that -- even a lot of that personal music-making -- on Stephen Stills, but it's all couched in astonishingly bold musical terms. Stephen Stills is top-heavy with 1970 sensibilities, to be sure, from the dedication to the memory of Jimi Hendrix to the now piggish-seeming message of "Love the One You're With." Yet, listening to this album three decades on, it's still a jaw-dropping experience, the musical equal to Crosby, Stills & Nash or Déjà Vu, and only a shade less important than either of them. 

The mix of folk, blues (acoustic and electric), hard rock, and gospel is seamless, and the musicianship and the singing are all so there, in your face, that it just burns your brain (in the nicest, most benevolent possible way) even decades later. Recorded amid the breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Stills' first solo album was his effort to put together his own sound and, not surprisingly, it's similar to a lot of stuff on the group's two albums. But it's also infinitely more personal, as well as harder and bluesier in many key spots; yet, it's every bit as soft and as lyrical as the group in other spots, and all laced with a degree of yearning and urgency that far outstrips virtually anything he did with the group. "Love the One You're With," which started life as a phrase that Stills borrowed from Billy Preston at a party, is the song from this album that everybody knows, but it's actually one of the lesser cuts here -- not much more than a riff and an upbeat lyric and mood, albeit all of it infectious. 

Stephen Stills - German Single 1971

"Do for the Others," by contrast, is one of the prettiest and most moving pieces of music that Stills has ever been associated with, and "Church (Part of Someone)" showed him moving toward gospel and R&B (and good at it, too); and then there's "Old Times Good Times," musically as good a rock song as Stills has ever recorded (even if it borrows a bit from "Pre-Road Downs"), and featuring Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar. "Go Back Home" (which has Eric Clapton on guitar) is fine a piece of bluesy hard rock, while "Sit Yourself Down" features superb singing by Stills and a six-person backing chorus (that includes Cass Elliot, Graham Nash, and David Crosby) around a great tune. "To a Flame" is downright ethereal, while the live "Black Queen" is a superb piece of acoustic blues. All of this is presented by Stills in the best singing voice of his career up to that point, bolder, more outgoing, and more powerful (a result of his contact with Doris Troy) than anything in his previous output. 

He also plays lots of instruments (à la Crosby, Stills & Nash, which is another reason it sounds so similar to the group in certain ways), though a bit more organ than guitar, thanks to the presence of Hendrix and Clapton on two cuts. If the album has a flaw, it's the finale, "We Are Not Helpless," which slightly overstays its welcome. But hey, this was still the late '60s, and excess was the rule, not the exception, and it's such modest excess.

01. "Love the One You're With" – 3:04
02. "Do for the Others" – 2:52
03. "Church (Part of Someone) – 4:05
04. "Old Times Good Times" – 3:39
05. "Go Back Home" – 5:54
06. "Sit Yourself Down" – 3:05
07. "To a Flame" – 3:08
08. "Black Queen" – 5:26
09. "Cherokee" – 3:23
10. "We Are Not Helpless" – 4:20

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Stephen Stills - Netherland Single 1971

Darrell Banks - Here to Stay (Great and Rare Soul US 1969)

Size: 80 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

More superb soul ballads and crying songs from Darrell Banks, who not only made some excellent singles but had done some songwriting and producing for Stax in the '60s. Sadly, he was killed before he ever attained the level of popularity and exposure that he merited.

Darrell Banks (born Darrell Eubanks) (July 25, 1937 – February 24, 1970) was an American soul singer.

Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Banks grew up in Buffalo, New York, and learned to sing in gospel churches before choosing a career in secular music. He signed with Solid Hitbound Productions/Revilot Records, who released his 1966 single "Open the Door to Your Heart" (which, curiously, is legally named "Baby Walk Right In"), written by Donnie Elbert. 

When the single came out, Banks was credited as the songwriter instead of Elbert, and a protracted legal battle ensued; however, while the courts settled the matter (eventually in Elbert's favor), the tune scaled the US charts, peaking at #2 R&B and #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. A second single, "Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You", hit #34 R&B and #55 pop later that year. Moving to Atco Records, he released the singles "Here Come the Tears"/"I've Got That Feelin" and "Angel Baby (Don't Ever Leave Me)"/"Look into the Eyes of a Fool" in 1967, neither of which charted. Atco also released a full-length of his which included his Revilot singles. Atco subsidiary Cotillion Records released his last single under the Atlantic Records umbrella, "I Wanna Go Home"/"The Love of My Woman".

From there Banks signed to Stax Records, who released another full-length album of his in 1969 material and two more noncharting singles. They would be Banks's last recordings; in February 1970, Banks was shot and killed by policeman Aaron Bullock in Detroit, Michigan after Banks intervened in his affair with Banks's girlfriend, Marjorie Bozeman.

Born Darrell Eubanks in Mansfield, OH, (1938), the gospel-voiced soul singer stepped out as Darrell Banks from the east side of Buffalo, NY, where he lived since a toddler. He sang in church before going secular and wailing at local watering holes. He befriended Doc Murphy, a dentist whose nightclub the Revilot lounge was one of those "holes." A scorching song written by fellow Buffalo resident Donnie Elbert got Banks off and running, not in Buffalo, but further west in Detroit, MI.

Banks hooked up with Lebron Taylor and Solid Hitbound Productions via some type of license agreement with Doc Murphy; Lebron used the name of Murphy's Buffalo nightspot (Revilot) for the label which debuted in 1966 with "Open the Door to Your Heart" (whose legal name is "Baby Walk Right In"), the tune Donnie Elbert wrote for his Buffalo buddy. The recording took place when Elbert was on the road. No problem there. But when it came out, only Banks was credited as songwriter. A shocked Elbert checked with Broadcast Music Incorporated (B.M.I.) thinking Revilot's secretary inadvertently omitted his name, something that happens all the time; it's what's on the contract that counts, a record label is not a legal document. Elbert found the song clearance form submitted by Banks listed him as the sole writer allotting him 100 percent of the writers' share of "Open the Door to Your Heart" performance income. Elbert eventually got the mess straight, while copies of the 45 rpm list only Banks' name, newly issued CDs credits both Banks and Elbert. Still a sore point for Elbert, according to him, all Banks did was speed the tempo up a bit, for this he attempted to take full credit and ended up with 50 percent of a soul classic. The irony of this scenario is that Banks wasn't a songwriter, "Open the Door to Your Heart" is the only song he ever wrote, which he really didn't. Elbert, however, has more than 125 songwriting credits logged with B.M.I. While the legal battle ensued, the song scored an impressive number two R&B and number 27 pop showing in 1966, Banks' biggest ever.

Darrell Banks Is Here!Banks followed with Marc Gordon and Frank Wilson's "Somebody Somewhere Needs You" (a Motown song that wasn't originally or ever recorded by a Motown artist). Ike & Tina Turner first did the catchy romp on Loma Records (really just Tina, Ike's nowhere on the record). Banks' rendition charted at number 34 R&B and number 55 pop and provided chitlin' and the grits & gravy circuit work for the singer; it was his last chart record. The Revilot deal somehow switched to Atlantic Records' Atco division for two nonstarters: "Here Come the Tears" b/w "I've Got That Feelin'" and "Angel Baby (Don't Ever Leave Me)" b/w "Look into the Eyes of a Fool," both in 1967. Banks never issued an album on Revilot to commensurate the success of the hit single, but both Revilot singles were compiled on his 1967 Atco album Darrell Banks Is Here, as well as, both sides of the Atco singles and nuggets like "I'm Gonna Hang My Head and Cry" from the writing team of Rose Marie McCoy, Donald Bell, Cleveland Horne (the Fantastic Four), and Gene Redd who worked with Kool & the Gang on Delight Records. Atco switched him in-house to Cotillion Records for a final release "I Wanna Go Home" written by Fred Briggs (aka Coldwater Stone) and Don Davis, b/w "The Love of My Woman" in 1968. Revilot continued issuing singles on artists like the Parliarment, Rose Batiste, J. J. Barnes, and others without Doc Murphy's involvement. Changing cooks again, Banks signed with Stax Records' Volt division for two singles and an album issued in 1969. "I'm the One Who Loves" followed by the two-sided gem "Beautiful Feeling" and "No One Is Blinder (Than a Man in Love)" sold well but didn't create any overtime at Stax's pressing plants. The Dramatics later cut an equally stirring rendition of "Beautiful..." for their Dramatically Yours album.

Banks, an exciting entertainer, was often less than pleasant away from the footlights. He was moody, quick tempered and kept a "don't tread on me" Sonny Liston scowl on his face. Not the type of guy you approached with "wass up." Stax Records rattled his nerves when they compiled a song recorded by Steve Mancha on the Rare Stamps LP and credited it to him, which Banks considered an insult; both Mancha and Banks recorded the song, somebody just mixed them up, easy to do, since both singers, as well as J. J. Barnes sounded similar (especially since all were produced by Don Davis at the time). The original album featured just J. J. Barnes and Steve Mancha but a CD reissue added Banks' and his entire Stax LP Darrell Is Here to Stay, which included Banks' Johnnie Taylor sound alike "Don't Know What to Do," "Forgive Me," and the Mancha composition "I Could Never Hate Her."

Tragedy aborted Banks' recording output at seven singles and two albums. The man considered by many as soul's finest voice was shot dead March 1970 in Detroit by Aaron Bullock, an off duty policeman who was seeing Banks' woman (Marjorie Bozeman). He was waiting when Bullock dropped Bozeman off after work; when Banks grabbed her, Bullock intervened, Banks pulled a gun, and the officer reacted with deadly force ending Banks' four turbulent years as a recording artist/entertainer. Bozeman, a barmaid, allegedly was trying to leave Banks, who was divorced and the father of two kids.

Diehards will want to cop J. J. Barnes' The Groovesville Masters for the duet featuring Barnes and Banks entitled "Harder You Love." Goldmine Records released a compilation of Banks' two albums and three unreleased tracks: "I Will Fear No Evil," "I'm Knocking at Your Door," and "The Harder You Love," in 1997 entitled The Lost Soul which includes some unreleased tracks -- check it out. [AMG + Wikipedia]

01. Just Because Your Love Is Gone  3:31
02. Forgive Me 2:32
03. Only The Strong Survive  2:45
04. Don’t Know What To Do  2:20
05. When A Man Loves A Woman  3:04
06. We’ll Get Over  2:33
07. Beautiful Feeling  3:26
08. I Could Never Hate Her  2:06
09. Never Alone  2:44
10. No One Blinder (Than A Man Who Won’t See)  3:01
11. My Love Is Reserved  2:50
12. I'm The One Who Loves You  2:38

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Not to be missed: Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - Darwin (Great Italian Progressive Rock 1972)

Size: 104 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Inclded
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Darwin! is the second album by Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. It was released in 1972 on Ricordi. It is a concept album about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution.

The album is highly rated by progressive rock fans as one of the top albums in the genre.
Darwin! will remain Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's masterpiece. This album, the band's second, is the proud equal of Premiata Forneria Marconi's Per Un Amico and Le Orme's Felona e Sorona in the Italian progressive rock hall of fame. In Darwin!, every promise made by Banco's eponymous debut was realized. Vittorio Nocenzi's writing has flourished into complex songs blending Italian songwriting, bel canto, and progressive rock.

The arrival of guitarist Rodolfo Maltese crystallized the band's luxurious sound, all topped by Francesco Di Giacomo's operatic vocals. The majestic "L'Evoluzione" opens the album, providing some of the best moments ever recorded by this band (along with "Canto Nomade per un Prigioniero Politico"). "La Conquista Della Posizione Eretta" ("The Conquest of the Wrong Position") reproduces the same pattern as "Metamorphosi" from the first album: a frenetic instrumental theme, scaled down toward the end to let room for a very emotional verse. "La Danza de Grandi Rettili" is a rare jazzy number.

Di Giacomo shines on "750,000 Anni Fa...L'Amore?," a heart-wrenching ballad much closer to Italian pop music than progressive rock. The album comes to an end with "Ed Ora la Domando Tempo al Tempo," a short piece inspired by merry-go-round music. The original version of the album bears a cover with a pocket watch. Never satisfied with the sound quality of the original tapes, the band re-recorded the whole album in 1991 and issued it with blue cover artwork. Purists turned their back on this new version, but it is actually very well performed, even though it has lost the vintage 1970s Italian flavor.

This is a fantastic album and is solely responsible for introducing me to Italian symphonic prog. I decided to go out on a limb and challenge myself with something different long ago after hearing great things about this album. It starts off nice and slow with the epic l'evoluzione with some gentle yet ominous sounding synth and then it builds adding guitar and drums and other instruments before ascending to becoming a prog freakout. At this point I was immediately hooked and decided that BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO were a fantastic band and as the song went on I was amazed I had delayed for so long in listening to this and I was enthralled as the song traversed emotional and atmospheric landscapes through the dark to the grand to the contemplative to the uplifting and finally to the mellow yet fitting ending, a very underrated prog epic and the perfect song to start the album with although unfortunately not all the songs are as good.

Next up is la conquista della posizione eretta which is another great song, which within the confines of symphonic prog is a remarkably heavy piece with driving rythmn similar to zeuhl in a lot of ways and a brooding atmosphere (and great use of tympani) before near the end tapering off and becoming more mellow and melodic. From here the album lose a lot of steam unfortunately and it's mostly downhill from here to the jazzy laid back la danza dei grandi rettili to the more typical Italian prog of cento mani cento occhi to the emotive lamenting piano driven 750.000 anni fa...l'amore. The next song Miserere alla storia is another highlight of the album with more of the dark tones featured earlier on in the albums with some fantastic memorable melodies, unfortunately once again the album loses steam into the final song which is fairly uneventful. The good part though is that even though there is a fairly big disparity between the decent songs and the great songs the less prominent tracks all have some great bit in them and are fairly memorable

I like the instrumentation on this album a lot, the album is heavily reliant on synths, they the main meat and potatoes of the music and they are used very effectively from heavy distorted organ sounds to sawtooth sounds to vibraphone sounds to straight up piano with all kinds of different sounds in between, my favourite being during the middle quieter part of l'evoluzione. The guitar is fantastic, it's not dominant at all but it comes in at all the right times with a furious fuzz tone and there are several parts with some amazing harmonised guitar passages a lot of the time though it's well down in the mix and it's hard to know it's there - not that this is a particularly bad thing as this approach is perfectly suited to the music. The bass has a pretty good tone but I tended not to notice it much to be honest. The vocals are okay, I don't like the guy's voice very much but he suits the music and sings in tune and that's all I can ask for really it doesn't detract from the experience at all.[Source: Wikipedia, AMG, progarchives.com]

Personnel:
♦ Gianni Nocenzi - clarinet, piano, keyboards
♦ Pier Luigi Calderoni - drums, tympani
♦ Renato D'Angelo - bass, guitar, guitar (bass)
♦ Francesco DiGiacomo - vocals
♦ Vittorio Nocenzi - organ, synthesizer, keyboards, clavinet
♦ Marcello Todaro - guitar (acoustic), guitar, guitar (electric), vocals

01. L'Evoluzione (13:59)
02. La Conquista Della Posizione Eretta (8:42)
03. Danza Dei Grandi Rettili (3:42)
04. Cento Mani E Cento Occhi (5:22)
05. 750,000 Anni Fa ... L'Amore? (5:38)
06. Miserere Alla Storia (5:58)
07. Ed Ora Io Domando Tempo Al Tempo Ed Egli Mi Risponde ... Non Ne Ho! (3:29)

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Sandy Denny & The Strawbs - All Our Own Work (Great Folk UK 1967 + Alot of Bonus)

Size: 131 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwotrk Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Sandy Denny and the Strawbs is a compilation album of songs by Sandy Denny and Strawbs. The album is a reworking of tapes recorded by the band in Copenhagen in the July 1967. Tracks from those recordings were first released on the Pickwick budget label in 1973 under the name All Our Own Work. The track listing on this album is slightly different and some of the songs have the original string arrangements that also were recorded in 1967.

All Our Own Work is a studio album by Sandy Denny and the Strawbs. Recorded in 1967, but unreleased until 1973, it contains an early recording of one of Sandy Denny's best known songs "Who Knows Where the Time Goes". Denny later recorded this song as a member of Fairport Convention.

The master tapes have been remastered by Chris Tsangarides and sound fantastic, bringing out elements of the music we've never heard before on either the old Pickwick release in 1973 or the Hannibal release (Sandy And The Strawbs). And there are various demos and outtakes from the period, including two Dave Cousins songs "Indian Summer" and "The Falling Leaves" which have never before seen the light of day, and a version of "Pieces of 79 and 15" with a Cousins lead vocal.

All Our Own Work has always been a favourite of mine - I love the "Mamas And The Papas" style pop harmonies, particularly on "On My Way" and "All I Need Is You". And the version of Sandy's "Who Knows Wherer The Time Goes" (for me, preferably without added strings) is still the best version imaginable IMHO (Fairport fans may differ).

The first thing to say about this re-issue of this first album ever recorded by Sandy & the Strawbs is that the sound quality is superb. Despite having to work only from a two-track master (the original was only three tracks anyway!) Chris Tsangarides has done a brilliant job of remastering the recordings so that they sound totally fresh and vibrant, like you've never heard them before. Dave played me an early version when I was down in Deal in May for the Acoustics show, and I've since had the pleasure of access to an early promo copy of the released album. Parametric EQ has been applied to bring out each of the band's vocals, dealing along the way with some of the harshness of Sandy's voice on the original Pickwick release. And the instruments are much clearer and well defined. It's truly a joy to listen to, making one realise just how good those songs and performances were - what a shame they were not released at the time ....

The set brings together the recordings originally released as All Our Own Work in 1973 as well as versions of those songs with additional strings and instrumentation (Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Stay Awhile With Me, And You Need Me), some (if not all - need to check) of which were released on the Hannibal CD Sandy And The Strawbs. There's both recordings of "Nothing Else Will Do", one with Sandy taking lead vocal instead of Dave, and a take of "Tell Me What You See In Me" with sitar and tablas. And of course there's Sandy's early version of "Two Weeks Last Summer", and Dave singing on "I've Been My Own Worst Friend" and an early "Jimmy Wilson" - all outtakes from those 1967 sessions, rounded off by a frantic banjo instrumental "Strawberry Picking".

The three unreleased demos are of huge interest. Two unreleased Cousins' songs:

"Indian Summer" - a story song with an Eastern feel, relating the story of the family Duval when the daughter falls in love with an Asian guy of different status. Very much of the sixties period in which it was written, showing Cousins dealing early on with challenging themes and situations. Recorded at sessions held at Cecil SHarp House in North London, where Tony Hooper worked for a while (already plundered for the Boxed Set, for which "Not All The Flowers Grow" and "The Happiest Boy In Town" were selected)
"The Falling Leaves" - a very gentle Cousins piece, again from the Cecil Sharp House sessions.

And last but by no means least, a version of "Pieces Of 79 And 15" from those sessions with Dave taking the lead vocal, and an arrangement which also adds an Eastern tinge.

Well worth buying even for those who may have the original vinyl release (bootlegged on CD by a Spanish outfit) or the Hannibal/Joe Boyd CD - the sound quality alone makes this a compulsive purchase for any Strawbs or Sandy fan.

Personnel:
♣ Sandy Denny – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar
♣ Dave Cousins – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, banjo
♣ Tony Hooper – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar
♣ Ron Chesterman – double bass
♣ Ken Gudmand – drums
♣ Cy Nicklin – sitar
♣ Svend Lundvig - string arrangements

01. "Nothing Else Will Do" (Dave Cousins) – 2:25
02. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" (Sandy Denny) – 4:09
03. "How Everyone But Sam Was a Hypocrite" (Cousins) – 2:48
04. "Sail Away to the Sea" (Cousins) – 3:23
05. "And You Need Me" (Cousins) – 3:18
06. "Poor Jimmy Wilson" (Cousins) – 2:35
07. "All I Need Is You" (Cousins) – 2:23
08. "Tell Me What You See in Me" (Cousins) – 3:41
09. "I've Been My Own Worst Friend" (Cousins) – 2:42
10. "On My Way" (Cousins) – 3:07
11. "Two Weeks Last Summer" (Cousins) – 2:06
12. "Always on My Mind" (Tony Hooper) – 1:53
13. "Stay while With Me" (Cousins) – 2:24

Bonus Tracks:
14. "Two Weeks Last Summer" (Cousins) (Sandy Denny lead vocal) – 2:18
15. "Nothing Else Will Do" (Cousins) (Sandy Denny lead vocal) – 2:13
16. "Tell Me What You See in Me" (Cousins) (with sitar and percussion) – 3:36
17. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" (Denny) (original complete recording with string section) – 4:06
18. "Stay Awhile with Me" (Cousins) (original complete recording with string section) – 2:24
19. "And You Need Me" (Cousins) – 3:15
20. "I've Been My Own Worst Friend" (Cousins) – 2:37
21. "Poor Jimmy Wilson" (Cousins) – 2:32
22. "Strawberry Picking" (Cousins, Hooper) – 1:34
23. "Pieces of 79 and 15" (Cousins, Hooper) – 2:18
24. "The Falling Leaves" (Cousins) – 2:30
25. "Indian Summer" (Cousins) – 2:18

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