New York Dolls - Complete Early Studio Demos 1972-73

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The New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial success and their original line-up fell apart quickly, the band's first two albums—New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974)—became among the most popular cult records in rock. The line-up at this time comprised vocalist David Johansen, guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane, guitarist and pianist Sylvain Sylvain and drummer Jerry Nolan; the latter two had replaced Rick Rivets and Billy Murcia, respectively, in 1972. 

On stage, they donned an androgynous wardrobe, wearing high heels, eccentric hats, satin, makeup, spandex, and dresses. Nolan described the group in 1974 as "the Dead End Kids of today". After Thunders, Nolan and Kane all left in spring 1975, Johansen and Sylvain continued the band with other musicians until the end of 1976.

According to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1995), the New York Dolls predated the punk and glam metal movements and were "one of the most influential rock bands of the last 20 years". They influenced rock groups such as the Sex Pistols, Kiss, the Ramones, Guns N' Roses, the Damned, and the Smiths, whose frontman Morrissey organized a reunion show for the New York Dolls' surviving members in 2004. 

After reuniting, they recorded and released three more albums—One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006), Cause I Sez So (2009) and Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011). Following a 2011 British tour with Alice Cooper, the band once again disbanded.

Sylvain Sylvain and Billy Murcia, who went to junior high school and high school together, started playing in a band called "the Pox" in 1967. After the frontman quit, Murcia and Sylvain started a clothing business called Truth and Soul and Sylvain took a job at A Different Drummer, a men's boutique that was across the street from the New York Doll Hospital, a doll repair shop. Sylvain said that the shop inspired the name for their future band. In 1970 they formed a band again and recruited Johnny Thunders to join on bass, though Sylvain ended up teaching him to play guitar. They called themselves the Dolls. When Sylvain left the band to spend a few months in London, Thunders and Murcia went their separate ways.

Thunders was eventually recruited by Kane and Rick Rivets, who had been playing together in the Bronx. At Thunders' suggestion, Murcia replaced the original drummer. Thunders played lead guitar and sang for the band Actress. An October 1971 rehearsal tape recorded by Rivets was released as Dawn of the Dolls. When Thunders decided that he no longer wanted to be the front man, David Johansen joined the band. Initially, the group was composed of singer David Johansen, guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets (who was replaced by Sylvain Sylvain after a few months), bass guitarist Arthur "Killer" Kane and drummer Billy Murcia.

The original lineup's first performance was on Christmas Eve 1971 at a homeless shelter, the Endicott Hotel. After getting a manager and attracting some music industry interest, the New York Dolls got a break when Rod Stewart invited them to open for him at a London concert.

In the band's early days, the New York Dolls performed at the Mercer Art Center, where Ruby and the Rednecks opened for and were influenced by them.

Billy Murcia's death

While on a brief tour of England in 1972, Murcia was invited to a party, where he passed out from an accidental overdose. He was put in a bathtub and force-fed coffee in an attempt to revive him. Instead, it resulted in asphyxiation. He was found dead on the morning of November 6, 1972, at the age of 21.

Once back in New York, the Dolls auditioned drummers, including Marc Bell (who was to go on to play with Richard Hell, and with the Ramones under the stage name "Marky Ramone"), Peter Criscuola (better known as Peter Criss, the original and former drummer of Kiss), and Jerry Nolan, a friend of the band. They selected Nolan, and after US Mercury Records' A&R man Paul Nelson signed them, they began sessions for their debut album. In 1972, the band took on Marty Thau as manager.

New York Dolls was produced by singer-songwriter, musician and solo artist Todd Rundgren. In an interview in Creem magazine, Rundgren says he barely touched the recording; everybody was debating how to do the mix. Sales were sluggish, especially in the middle US, and a Stereo Review magazine reviewer in 1973 compared the Dolls' guitar playing to the sound of lawnmowers. America's mass rock audience's reaction to the Dolls was mixed. In a Creem magazine poll, they were elected both best and worst new group of 1973. The Dolls also toured Europe, and, while appearing on UK television, host Bob Harris of the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test derided the group as "mock rock," comparing them unfavorably to the Rolling Stones.

For their next album, Too Much Too Soon, the quintet hired producer George "Shadow" Morton, whose productions for the Shangri-Las and other girl-groups in the mid-1960s had been among the band's favorites. Mercury dropped the Dolls on 7 October 1975, their contract with Mercury having expired on 8 August 1975 - five months after Thunders' and Nolan's departures from the band.

By 1975, the Dolls were playing smaller venues than they had been previously. Drug and alcohol abuse by Thunders, Nolan, and Kane, as well as artistic differences added to the tensions among members. In late February or early March, Malcolm McLaren became their informal manager. 

He got the band red leather outfits to wear on stage and a communist flag as backdrop. The Dolls did a five-concert tour of New York's five boroughs, supported by Television and Pure Hell. The Little Hippodrome (Manhattan) show was recorded and released by Fan Club records in 1982 as Red Patent Leather. It was originally a bootleg album that was later remixed by Sylvain, with former manager Marty Thau credited as executive producer. Due to Kane being unable to play that night, roadie Peter Jordan played bass, though he was credited as having played "second bass". Jordan filled in for Kane when he was too inebriated to play.

In March and April, McLaren took the band on a tour of South Carolina and Florida. Jordan replaced Kane for most of those shows. Thunders and Nolan left after an argument. Blackie Lawless, who later found W.A.S.P., replaced Thunders for the remainder of the tour after which the band broke up.

The band reformed in July for an August tour in Japan with Jeff Beck and Felix Pappalardi. Johansen, Sylvain and Jordan were joined by former Elephant's Memory keyboardist Chris Robison and drummer Tony Machine. One of the shows was documented on the album Tokyo Dolls Live (Fan Club/New Rose). The material is similar to that on Red Patent Leather, but notable for a radically re-arranged "Frankenstein" and a cover of Big Joe Turner's "Flip Flop Fly." The album is undated and has no production credit, but was issued circa 1986.

After their return to New York, the Dolls resumed playing shows in the US and Canada. Their show at the Beacon Theater, on New Year's Eve, 1975 met with great critical acclaim. After a drunken argument with Sylvain, Robison was fired and replaced by pianist/keyboardist Bobbie Blaine. The group toured throughout 1976, performing a set including some songs with lyrics by David Johansen that would later appear on David Johansen's solo albums including "Funky But Chic", "Frenchette" and "Wreckless Crazy.” The group played its last show December 30, 1976 at Max's Kansas City; on the same bill as Blondie.

Shortly after returning from Florida, Thunders and Nolan formed The Heartbreakers with bassist Richard Hell, who had left Television the same week that they quit the Dolls. Thunders later pursued a solo career. He died in New Orleans in 1991, allegedly of an overdose of both heroin and methadone. It also came to light that he suffered from t-cell leukemia. Nolan died in 1992 following a stroke, brought about by bacterial meningitis. In 1976, Kane and Blackie Lawless formed the Killer Kane Band in Los Angeles. Immediately after the New York Dolls' second breakup, Johansen began a solo career. By the late 1980s, he achieved moderate success under the pseudonym, Buster Poindexter. Sylvain formed The Criminals, a popular band at CBGB.

A posthumous New York Dolls album, Lipstick Killers, made up of early demo tapes of the original Dolls (with Billy Murcia on drums), was released in a cassette-only edition on ROIR Records in 1981, and subsequently re-released on CD, and then on vinyl in early 2006. All the tracks from this title – sometimes referred to as The Mercer Street Sessions (though actually recorded at Blue Rock Studio, New York) – are included on the CD Private World, along with other tracks recorded elsewhere, including a previously unreleased Dolls original, "Endless Party." Three more unreleased studio tracks, including another previously unreleased Dolls original, "Lone Star Queen," are included on the Rock 'n' Roll album. The other two are covers: the "Courageous Cat" theme, from the original Courageous Cat cartoon series; and a second attempt at "Don't Mess With Cupid," a song written by Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd for Otis Redding, and first recorded independently for what was later to become the Mercer Street/Blue Rock Sessions.

Sylvain formed his own band, The Criminals, then cut a solo album for RCA, while also working with Johansen. He later became a taxicab driver in New York.

Johansen, meanwhile, formed the David Johansen Group, and released an eponymous LP in 1978, recorded at the Bottom Line in NYC’s Greenwich Village,featuring Sylvain Mizrahi and Johnny Thunders as guest musicians.

In May, 1978, he also released “David Johansen,” on Blue Sky Records, a label created by Steve Paul, formerly of The Scene. Johansen continued to tour with his solo project and released four more albums, In Style, 1979; Here Comes the Night, 1981; Live it Up, 1982; and Sweet Revenge, 1984.

During the later 1980’s, Johansen, ever-evolving, decided to try to liberate himself from the expectations of his New York Dolls perceived persona, and, on a whim, created the persona Buster Poindexter.

The success of this act led him to be invited to appear in multiple films: “Scrooged,”  “Freejack, “Let it Ride”  among others.

He also formed a band called The Harry Smiths David Johansen and the Harry Smithsnamed after the eccentric ethnomusicologist, performing jump blues, Delta blues, and some original songs.

During this period, in the early 1990s, Sylvain moved to Los Angeles and recorded one album Sleep Baby Doll, on Fishhead Records. His band, for that record, consisted of Brian Keats on drums, Dave Vanian's Phantom Chords, Speediejohn Carlucci (who had played with the Fuzztones), and Olivier Le Baron on lead guitar. Guest appearances by Frank Infante of Blondie and Derwood Andrews of Generation X were also included on the record. It has been re-released as New York A Go Go,.

According to AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the New York Dolls developed an original style of hard rock that presaged both punk rock and heavy metal music, and drew on elements such as the "dirty rock & roll" of the Rolling Stones, the "anarchic noise" of the Stooges, the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex, and girl group pop music. Erlewine credited the band for creating punk rock "before there was a term for it." Ken Tucker, who referred to them as a proto-punk band, wrote that they were strongly influenced by the "New York sensibility" of Lou Reed: "The mean wisecracks and impassioned cynicism that informed the Dolls' songs represented an attitude that Reed's work with the Velvet Underground embodied, as did the Dolls' distinct lack of musicianship."

When they began performing, four of the band's five members wore Spandex and platform boots, while Johansen—the band's lyricist and "conceptmaster"— often preferred high heels and a dress occasionally. Glam rock "look of androgyny—leather and knee-length boots, chest hair, and bleach". According to James McNair of The Independent, "when they began pedalling [sic] their trashy glam-punk around lower Manhattan in 1971, they were more burlesque act than band; a bunch of lipsticked, gutter chic-endorsing cross-dressers". Music journalist Nick Kent argued that the New York Dolls were "quintessential glam rockers" because of their flamboyant fashion, while their technical shortcomings as musicians and Johnny Thunders' "trouble-prone presence" gave them a punk-rock reputation.

By contrast, Robert Christgau preferred for them to not be categorized as a glam rock band, but instead as "the best hard-rock band since the Rolling Stones". Robert Hilburn, writing for the Los Angeles Times, said that the band exhibited a strong influence from the Rolling Stones, but had distinguished themselves by Too Much Too Soon (1974) as "a much more independent, original force" because of their "definite touch of the humor and carefreeness of early (ie. mid-1950s) rock". Simon Reynolds felt that, by their 2009 album Cause I Sez So, the band exhibited the sound "not of the sloppy, rambunctious Dolls of punk mythology but of a tight, lean hard-rock band."

Disc 1

Blue Rock Studio, NYC June 1972

01. Bad Girl  03:46

02. Looking For A Kiss  03:43

03. Don't Start Me Talking (Written-By – Williamson)  03:42

04. Don't Mess With Cupid (Written-By – Parker, Floyd, Cropper)  03:07

05. Human Being  06:16

06. Personality Crisis 4:13

07. Pills (Written-By – McDaniel) 03:15

08. Jet Boy  05:14

09. Frankenstein   07:03

Escape Studios, England October 1972

10. Personality Crisis 04:04

11. Looking For A Kiss  03:27

12. Bad Girl  03:27

13. Subway Train  04:44

Planet Studios, NYC, March 1973

14. Seven Day Weekend (Written-By – Pomus, Shuman)  03:23

15. Frankenstein  05:43

16. Mystery Girls  02:57

17. (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown (Written-By – Huff, Gamble)  01:34

18. Back In The USA (Written-By – Berry)  02:15

Disc 2

Planet Studios, NYC, March 1973 Contd.

01. Endless Party  06:17

02. Jet Boy  04:46

03. It's Too Late (False Start)  01:27

04. It's Too Late (Full Version)  03:29

05. Bad Detective (Written-By – Lewis)  03:29

06. Lonely Planet Boy  04:07

07. Subway Train  05:00

08. Private World (Written-By – Kane)  03:48

09. Trash   03:10

10. Human Being  05:56

11. Don't Start Me Talking (Written-By – Williamson)  03:20

12. Hoochie Coochie Man (Written-By – Dixon)  04:33

13. (Give Him A) Great Big Kiss (Written-By – Morton)  03:35

14. Vietnamese Baby  03:36

15. Babylon  03:27

16. Bad Girl  03:16

17. Pills (UWritten-By – McDanie)  03:21

18. Personality Crisis  03:58

Part 1: York Dolls

Part 2: York Dolls

Part 3: York Dolls

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Part 1: York Dolls

Part 2: York Dolls

Part 3: York Dolls

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Part 2: York Dolls

Part 3: York Dolls

ReUp: Buster Brown - The New King of The Blues (Outstanding Blues Album US 1961)

Size: 115 MB

Bitrate: 256

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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock

Artwork Included

Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Buster Brown (August 15, 1911 – January 31, 1976) was an American blues and R&B singer best known for his hit, "Fannie Mae".

Brown was born in Cordele, Georgia. In the 1930s and 1940s he played harmonica at local clubs and made a few non-commercial recordings. These included "I'm Gonna Make You Happy" (1943), which was recorded when he played at the folk festival at Fort Valley (GA) State Teachers College, and was recorded by the Library of Congress' Folk Music Archive.

Brown moved to New York in 1956, where he was discovered by Fire Records owner Bobby Robinson. In 1959, at almost fifty years of age, Brown recorded the rustic blues, "Fannie Mae", which featured Brown's harmonica playing and whoops, which went to # 38 in the U.S. Top 40, and to #1 on the R&B chart in April 1960. His remake of Louis Jordan's "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" reached # 81 on the pop charts later in 1960, but did not make the R&B chart. "Sugar Babe" was his only other hit, in 1962, reaching # 19 on the R&B chart and # 99 on the pop chart.

In later years he recorded for Checker Records and for numerous small record labels. He also co-wrote the song "Doctor Brown" with J. T. Brown, which was later covered by Fleetwood Mac on their 1968 album, Mr. Wonderful.

Brown died in New York in 1976, at the age of 64. It is often erroneously cited that Brown's real name was "Wayman Glasco" - however, that was Brown's manager who, after his death, bought all of Brown's publishing - thus unintentionally creating the confusion. Though likely a nickname, or alias, Buster Brown may have been his birth name.

If blues musicians took up residency in Vegas during the late '50s, it might come out sounding like this. Brown's gleeful run through myriad blues related styles (gospel, R&B, doo wop, New Orleans, early rock & roll) casts a vaudevillian sheen over many of the 16 tracks here, placing the performance squarely in the realm of Louis Jordan's own showy style. The fact Brown had a very brief hour in the sun with his unexpected 1959 hit "Fannie Mae" further indicates his pop approach to blues probably was better suited to the lounges of the chitlin circuit than the main venues of blues and rock & roll. 

His almost perfunctory versions of war horses like "St. Louis Blues" and "Blueberry Hill" reveal the downside the situation. But he does have his moments, particularly when he plies a hard, Chicago blues groove à la Little Walter on cuts like "Don't Dog Your Woman"; his harmonica sound borrows from both Walter and Sonny Terry while his singing is punctuated with timely whoops taken straight from Terry's animated vocal style. Even with more than just a few bright moments here, the good amount of watered down material ultimately makes this Brown collection a secondary choice next to prime titles by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Wynonie Harris, and even Big Jay McNeely.

01. Fannie Mae

02. John Henry

03. The Madison Shuffle

04. St. Louis Blues

05. When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too)

06. Lost in a Dream [False Start]

07. Lost in a Dream

08. Gonna Love My Baby

09. I Got the Blues When It Rains

10. Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?

11. Don't Dog Your Woman

12. Blueberry Hill

13. Sincerely

14. I'm Goin', But I'll Be Back

Bonus Tracks

15. Good News

16. Raise a Ruckus Tonight

17. Doctor Brown

18. Sugar Babe

19. No More

20. Fannie Mae [Alternate Take]

21. Raise a Ruckus Tonight [Alternate Version]

Link 1: Buster

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Fannie May UK Single 1965

John Lennon - Milk And Honey Sessions (3CD)

Size: 518 MB

Bitrate: 320

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Found in OuterSpace

Artwork Included

Recorded At The Hit Factory & Record Plant New York City, August – October 1980

Disc 01

I'm Stepping Out

01. Vocal Booth Rehearsal #1

02. Vocal Booth Rehearsal #2

03. Vocal Booth Rehearsal #3

04. Vocal Booth Rehearsal #4

05. Vocal Booth Rehearsal #5

06. Studio Rehearsal #6

07. Take 1

08. Take 2

09. Vocal Booth #1

10. Vocal Booth #2

11. Vocal Booth #3

12. Vocal Booth talk

13. Vocal Booth #4

14. Alternate Take #1

15. Alternate Take #2

16. Alternate Take #3

Disc 02

01. Alternate Take #4

02. Rough Mix Unedited

03. Rough Mix

I Don't Wanna Face It

04. Alternate Take #1

05. Alternate Take #2

06. Alternate Take #3

07. Rough Mix #1

08. Rough Mix #2

09. Rough Mix #3

Don't Be Scared

10. Rough Mix

Nobody Told Me

11. Take 1

12. Take 1 Rough Mix

13. Take 2

14. Rough Mix #1

15. Rough Mix #2

(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess

16. Rehearsal #1

17. Vocal Booth #1

18. Vocal Booth #2

19. Alternate Take #1

20. Alternate Take #2

Disc 03

Borrowed Time

01. Rehearsal

02. Over Dub #1

03. Over Dub #2

04. Take 1

05. Take 2

06. Take 2 Rough Mix #1

07. Take 2 Rough Mix #2

08. Take 2 Rough Mix #3

09. Take 3 Rough Mix

10. Studio Talk

11. Gone From This Place

Grow Old With Me

12. Take 1

13. Take 2

No One Can See Me Like You Do

14. Rehearsal

Walking on Thin Ice

15. Vocal Booth

16. Rough Mix #1

17. Rough Mix #2

18. Rough Mix #3

Part 1: Honey Sessions

Part 2: Honey Sessions

Part 3: Honey Sessions

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Part 1: Honey Sessions

Part 2: Honey Sessions

Part 3: Honey Sessions

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Part 2: Honey Sessions 

Part 3: Honey Sessions 

The Artwoods - Art Gallery Album UK 1966 (R&B UK 1964-67 w John Lord) + Bonus Tracks

Size: 303 MB

Bitrate: 256

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Artwork Included

Japan 24-Bit Remaster

The Artwoods were formed in 1963, and over the next two years became an extremely popular live attraction, rivaling groups such as the Animals, although, despite releasing a clutch of singles and an album, their record sales never reflected this popularity. Singer Arthur Wood, from whom the band took their name, was the elder brother of The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood. He had been a vocalist with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated for a short period during 1962, simultaneously fronting his own group, the Art Wood Combo..

When keyboardist Jon Lord and guitarist Derek Griffiths joined from Red Bludd's Bluesicians they re-christened themselves the Artwoods. Keef Hartley, formerly with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, joined on drums in '64 and the band turned professional, secured a residency at London's 100 Club and gained a recording contract with Decca Records.

The intended debut single, a cover of Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man" was shelved in favour of a version of an old Leadbelly song, Sweet Mary". Although it didn't reach the Charts it got sufficient airplay to bring them a lot of live work, including an appearance on the first live edition of Ready Steady Go! The second record, "Oh My Love", was another blues cover. Like its predecessor, and subsequent releases, it failed to chart.

The Artwoods were dropped by Decca at the end of 1966 and signed a one record deal with Parlophone, but "What Shall I Do" also flopped. Later in 1967 a final "one-off" single appeared on Fontana under the name "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" but by the time of its release the Artwoods had effectively ceased to exist.

The Artwoods' early records today stand up well against the work of more successful groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds or ironically, the Birds, who included Art's younger brother Ron. But at the time they came out, despite appearances on programs like Ready, Steady, Go! their singles never seemed to connect with the record-buying public. In live performance, on the other hand, it was a different matter. They had a virtuoso lineup, Lord's piano and organ sound was a great complement to Wood's singing, Griffith's guitar work was tastefully flashy, and Keef Hartley was animated as well as powerful, with a big sound on the drums. Club audiences always knew they were good for a great show and the band loved playing live. Ultimately, in fact, the group's success in touring and their love of playing live may have hurt them.

The group broke up in mid '67 with Hartley going on to play with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers,Malcolm Pool played with Colosseum and Lord becoming a founder member of Deep Purple.

Singles

♦ Nov '64 - Sweet Mary/If I Ever Get My Hands On You (Decca F 12015) 

♦ Feb '65 - Oh My Love/Big City (Decca F 12091) 

♦ Aug '65 - Goodbye Sisters/She Knows What To Do (Decca F 12206) 

♦ Apr '66 - I Take What I Want/I'm Looking For A Saxophonist (Decca F 12384) 

♦ Aug '66 - I Feel Good/Molly Anderson's Cookery Book (Decca F 12465) 

♦ Apr '67 - What Shall I Do/In The Deep End (Parlophone R 5590) 

♦ 1967 - Buddy Can You Spare A Dime/Al's Party (Fontana H883) (as St. Valetine's Day Massacre) 

EP

♦ Apr '66 Jazz In Jeans - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'/Taste Of Honey/Our Man Flint/Routine (Decca DFE 8654) 

LP

♦ Nov '66 "Art Gallery" (Decca LK 4830)

Band Members

♦ Art Wood - vocals (born Arthur Wood, 6 June 1937, at Hillingdon Hospital, Hillingdon, Middlesex died 3 November 2006, in London)

♦ Derek Griffiths - guitar

♦ Jon Lord - keyboards (born John Douglas Lord, 9 June 1941, in Leicester, Leicestershire)

♦Malcolm Pool - bass guitar (born 10 January 1943, at Corwell Nursing Home, Hayes End, Middlesex)

♦ Keef Hartley - drums (born Keith Hartley, 8 March 1944, in Preston, Lancashire)

01. Can You Hear Me  

02. Down In The Valley  

03. Things Get Better  

04. Walk On The Wild Side  

05. I Keep Forgettin'  

06. Keep Lookin'  

07. One More Heartache  

08. Work, Work, Work  

09. Be My Lady  

10. If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody  

11. Stop And Think It Over  

12. Don't Cry No More 

13. Sweet Mary [Bonus]

14. If i Ever Gets My Hands on You [Bonus]

15. Big City [Bonus]

16. Oh My Love [Bonus]

17. Goodbye Sister [Bonus]

18. She Knows What to Do [Bonus]

19. I Take What i Want [Bonus] 

20. I´m Looking For a saxophonist [Bonus]

21. I Feel Good [Bonus]

22. Molly Anderson´s Cookery [Bonus]

Extra Bonus Album: 30 Acetates, Singles & EP Tracks

Part 1: Art Gallery

Part 2: Art Gallery

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Part 1: Art Gallery

Part 2: Art Gallery

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Part 1: Art Gallery

Part 2: Art Gallery

Big Bill Broonzy w. Studs Terkel (WFMT Studios 1953 + Chicago Studio 1957) (Bootleg) Soundquality A-

Big Bill Broonzy w. Studs Terkel - WFMT Studios 1953 (Bootleg) (@320)

Despite years of research, the details of William Lee Conley Broonzy's birth date remain problematic. He may have been born on 26 June 1893 - the date of birth he often gave - or according to Bill's twin sister Laney, it may have been in 1898. Laney claimed to have documents to prove that. However, definitive research undertaken by Bob Reisman (see www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com search book "I Feel So Good") has changed the picture.

Bill often regaled audiences with tales of his birth on 26 June 1893 and that of his twin sister Laney and of his father's response to being told he had twins to care for. He claimed to have served in the US Army in France from 1918 - 1919 and to have been invited by a record company to travel to the Delta following a major flood in 1927: Turns out, that a good deal of this was fiction at worst and faction at best.

Robert Reisman's impeccable research suggests a birth date for Bill of 26th June 1903 (and in Jefferson County, Arkansas, not Scott Mississippi as previously suggested). Laney was not a twin at all but four years older than Bill. (She was born in 1898).

Bill spoke and sang about experiences in the US army and of his return from France to Arkansas/Mississippi. It turns out though, that the reported army experience was Bill's factional description of an amalgam of the stories told by black soldiers returning from overseas. A trip Bill claimed to have made to Mississippi in 1927 to the flooding was similarly untrue, but was a factional account into which Bill inserted himself.

Broonzy is/was not even his real name. He was born into the world with the name Lee Conly (note spelling) Bradley; and so it goes on.

Bill's father Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and his mother, Mittie Belcher had both been born into slavery and Bill was one of seventeen children. His first instrument was a violin which he learned to play with some tuition from his uncle, his mother's brother, Jerry Belcher. Bob Reisman suggests that there is little evidence that Jerry Belcher existed.

In Arkansas, the young Bill (Lee) worked as a violinist in local churches at the same time as working as a farm hand. He also worked as a country fiddler and local parties and picnics around Scott Mississippi. Between 1912 and 1917, Bill (Lee) worked as an itinerant preacher in and around Pine Bluff. It is not known why he changed his name.

Later, he worked in clubs around Little Rock. In about 1924, Big Bill moved to Chicago Illinois, where as a fiddle player he played occasional gigs with Papa Charlie Jackson. During this time he learned to play guitar and subsequently accompanied many blues singers, both in live performance and on record. Bill made his first recordings in 1927 (just named Big Bill) and the 1930 census records him as living in Chicago and (working as a labourer in a foundry) and his name was recorded as 'Willie Lee Broonsey' aged 28. He was living with his wife Annie (25) and his son Ellis (6).

Over the years, Big Bill became an accomplished performer in his own right. Through the 1930s he was a significant mover in founding the small group blues (singer, guitar, piano, bass drums) sound that typified Chicago bues.

On 23 December, 1938, Big Bill was one of the principal solo performers in the first "From Spirituals to Swing" concert held at the Carnegie Hall in New York City. In the programme for that performance, Broonzy was identified in the programme only as "Big Bill" (he did not become known as Big Bill Broonzy until much later in his career) and as Willie Broonzy. He was described as:

"...the best-selling blues singer on Vocalion's 'race' records, which is the musical trade designation for American Negro music that is so good that only the Negro people can be expected to buy it."

The programme recorded that the Carnegie Hall concert "will be his first appearance before a white audience".

Big Bill was a stand-in for Robert Johnson, who had been murdered in Mississippi in August that year. Hammond heard about Johnson's death just a week before the concert was due to take place. According to John Sebastian (1939) Big Bill bought a new pair of shoes and travelled to New York by bus for the concert. Where he travelled from is, however, left dangling. The inference of the text is that it was from Arkansas, but as noted above, by by late 1938 Bill was established as a session man and band leader, and as a solo performer in Chicago. Within weeks of the 1938 concert Bill was recording with small groups in a studio in the windy city.

In the 1938 programme, Big Bill performed (accompanied by boogie pianist Albert Ammons) "It Was Just a Dream" which had the audience rocking with laughter at the lines,

"Dreamed I was in the White House, sittin' in the president's chair.

I dreamed he's shaking my hand, said "Bill, I'm glad you're here".

But that was just a dream. What a dream I had on my mind.

And when I woke up, not a chair could I find"

Big Big Broonzy w/Studs Terkel - WFMT Studios

Chicago, IL US Performance date: 1953-07-22

01. Conversation 3:37

02. Cryin' Joe Turner 4:18

03. Conversation 5:24

04. Plowhand Blues 3:16

05. Conversation 1:49

06. CC Rider Blues 1:33

07. Conversation 2:37

08. Makin' My Get Away 2:51

09. Conversation 1:50

10. Stand Your Test and Judgement 1:23

11. Conversation 1:46

12. Willie Mae 3:19 (digiskip at end)

13. Conversation 4:54

14. The Little Crawfish 2:18

15, Conversation (Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad tease) 3:14

16. John Henry 3:08

17. Glory of Love Outro 0:47

Big Bill Broonzy w. Studs Terkel - Chicago Studio 1957 (Bootleg) (@320)

Big Bill Broonzy was born William Lee Conley Broonzy in the tiny town of Scott, Mississippi, just across the river from Arkansas. During his childhood, Broonzy's family -- itinerant sharecroppers and the descendants of ex-slaves -- moved to Pine Bluff to work the fields there. Broonzy learned to play a cigar box fiddle from his uncle, and as a teenager, he played violin in local churches, at community dances, and in a country string band. During World War I, Broonzy enlisted in the U.S. Army, and in 1920 he moved to Chicago and worked in the factories for several years. In 1924 he met Papa Charlie Jackson, a New Orleans native and pioneer blues recording artist for Paramount. Jackson took Broonzy under his wing, taught him guitar, and used him as an accompanist. Broonzy's entire first session at Paramount in 1926 was rejected, but he returned in November 1927 and succeeded in getting his first record, House Rent Stomp, onto Paramount wax. As one of his early records came out with the garbled moniker of Big Bill Broomsley, he decided to shorten his recording name to Big Bill, and this served as his handle on records until after the second World War. Among aliases used for Big Bill on his early releases were Big Bill Johnson, Sammy Sampson, and Slim Hunter.

Broonzy's earliest records do not demonstrate real promise, but this would soon change. In 1930, the Hokum Boys broke up, and Georgia Tom Dorsey decided to keep the act going by bringing in Big Bill and guitarist Frank Brasswell to replace Tampa Red, billing themselves as "the Famous Hokum Boys." With Georgia Tom and Brasswell, Broonzy hit his stride and penned his first great blues original, "I Can't Be Satisfied." This was a hit and helped make his name with record companies. Although only half-a-dozen blues artists made any records during 1932, the worst year in the history of the record business, one of them was Big Bill, who made 20 issued sides that year.

Through Georgia Tom and Tampa Red, Big Bill met Memphis Minnie and toured as her second guitarist in the early '30s, but apparently did not record with her. When he did resume recording in March 1934 it was for Bluebird's newly established Chicago studio under the direction of Lester Melrose. Melrose liked Broonzy's style, and before long, Big Bill would begin working as Melrose's unofficial second-in-command, auditioning artists, matching numbers to performers, booking sessions, and providing backup support to other musicians. He played on literally hundreds of records for Bluebird in the late '30s and into the '40s, including those made by his half-brother, Washboard Sam, Peter Chatman (aka Memphis Slim), John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, and others. With Melrose, Broonzy helped develop the "Bluebird beat," connoting a type of popular blues record that incorporated trap drums and upright string bass. This was the precursor of the "Maxwell Street sound" or "postwar Chicago blues," and helped to redefine the music in a format that would prove popular in the cities. Ironically, while Broonzy was doing all this work for Melrose at Bluebird, his own recordings as singer were primarily made for ARC, and later Columbia's subsidiary Okeh. This was his greatest period, and during this time Broonzy wrote and recorded such songs as "Key to the Highway," "W.P.A. Blues," "All by Myself," and "Unemployment Stomp." For other artists, Broonzy wrote songs such as "Diggin' My Potatoes." All told, Big Bill Broonzy had a hand in creating more than 100 original songs.

When promoter John Hammond sought a traditional blues singer to perform at one of his Spirituals to Swing concerts held at Carnegie Hall in New York City, he was looking for Robert Johnson to foot the bill. Hammond learned that Johnson had recently died, and as a result, Big Bill got the nod to appear at Carnegie Hall on February 5, 1939. This appearance was very well received, and earned Broonzy a role in George Seldes' 1939 film Swingin' the Dream alongside Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman. In the early '40s, Big Bill appeared at the Café Society, the Village Vanguard, and the Apollo Theater, in addition to touring with Lil Greenwood, all of which kept Big Bill busy during the AFM recording ban. By the mid- to late '40s, the operation in Chicago with Melrose had finally begun to wind down, just as electric blues started to heat up. Big Bill continued to record for labels ranging from majors Columbia and Mercury to fly-by-nights such as Hub and RPM. In 1949, Broonzy decided to take some time off from music, and got a job working as a janitor at the Iowa State University of Science & Technology in Ames.

In 1951 Broonzy was sought out by DJ and writer Studs Terkel and appeared in the latter's concert series I Come for to Sing. Suddenly, Broonzy started to get a lot of press attention, and by September of that year, he was in Paris recording for French Vogue. On this occasion Broonzy was finally able to wax his tune "Black, Brown and White," a song about race relations that had been in his book for years, but every record company he had ever sung it for had turned it down. In Europe, Broonzy proved incredibly popular, more so than at any time in the United States. Two separate documentary films were made on his life, in France and Belgium, respectively, and from 1951 until ill health finally put him out of the running in the fall of 1957, Broonzy nearly doubled his own 1927-1949 output in terms of new recordings.

Broonzy updated his act by adding traditional folk songs to his set, along the lines of what Josh White and Leadbelly had done in then-recent times. He took a tremendous amount of flak for doing so, as blues purists condemned Broonzy for turning his back on traditional blues style in order to concoct shows that were appealing to white tastes. But this misses the point of his whole life's work: Broonzy was always about popularizing blues, and he was the main pioneer in the entrepreneurial spirit as it applies to the field. His songwriting, producing, and work as a go-between with Lester Melrose is exactly the sort of thing that Willie Dixon would do with Chess in the '50s. This was the part of his career that Broonzy himself valued most highly, and his latter-day fame and popularity were a just reward for a life spent working so hard on behalf of his given discipline and fellow musicians. It would be a short reward, though; just about the time the autobiography he had written with Yannick Bruynoghe, Big Bill Blues, appeared in 1955, he learned he had throat cancer. Big Bill Broonzy died at age 65 in August, 1958, and left a recorded legacy which, in sheer size and depth, well exceeds that of any blues artist born on his side of the year 1900.

Big Bill Broonzy with Studs Terkel

Unknown studio

Chicago, IL US

1957-07-??

01. Studs 0:50

02. Swing Low Sweet Chariot 4:07

03. Studs 0:52

04. When the Sun Goes Down 6:28

05. Studs 0:52

06. Take this Hammer  7:22

07. The Glory of Love 3:27

08. Studs 0:36

09. Old Folks At Home (Swanee River) 2:22

10. Studs 0:35

11. Crawdad Song 4:42

12. Studs 0:33

13. Down by the Riverside 5:59

14. Studs 0:27

15. Bill Talks 4:38

16. Studs 0:48

17. If You're Black, Get Back 4:27

18. Ain't Got No Home 0:58

19. Studs 0:14

20. You Got to Stand for Yourself 1:27

Part 1: Broonzy & Terkel

Part 2: Broonzy & Terkel

or

Part 1: Broonzy & Terkel

Part 2: Broonzy & Terkel

or

Part 1: Broonzy & Terkel

Part 2: Broonzy & Terkel

Studs Terkel (1912-2008) radically redefined the concept of radio interviews. For 45 years starting in 1952, WFMT was his homebase. His daily radio show was a pillar of WFMT’s programming, with its eclectic and astute mix of music and conversation. Studs juxtaposed interviews with the many of the 20th century’s most significant figures with the voices of uncelebrated, working people from Chicago. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Studs helped established oral history as a popular and socially ambitious literary genre. Some of his titles include: Division Street, Hard Times, Working, Race and And They All Sang (Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey). Studs was also a recipient of the National Book Award.