John Mayall has always been viewed as a musical father figure. Already in his thirties when the British blues invasion swept England and the U.S., Mayall provided the fertile soil from which the influential young guitarists Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, and Peter Green would grow before moving on to define the sounds of their own generation of music. That is why it seems fitting that the seventy-three year old singer and multi-instrumentalist – still as active as ever – would take time to look back and pay his respects to the man who played a similar role for Mayall.
Continue reading ‘John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers: In the Palace of the King’
One of the great tragedies in blues and rock history is that Albert Collins, the famed “Master of the Telecaster,” whose wry songwriting and biting guitar attack inspired a legion of rock players in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, died just as his career was hitting its stride. Though he had been performing and recording since the late 50s, Collins’ commercial success didn’t start clicking until nearly 30 years later, and just as he was starting to reap the rewards of three decades worth of work, he succumbed to liver cancer in 1993 at the age of 61. For fans of the blues legend, it comes as a pleasant surprise that the German label Inakustik should be releasing In Concert, a DVD of Collins’ 1985 appearance on the German music show Ohne Filter. A chance to see the “Iceman” in his prime seems too good to be true. In spite of a rather rough presentation, it manages to avoid living up to this billing.
Continue reading ‘Albert Collins and the Icebreakers: In Concert’
“San Quentin, I hate every inch of you. You’ve cut me and you’ve scarred me through and through”
When Johnny Cash recorded Johnny Cash At San Quentin in 1969, it marked the high point of his popularity. A follow-up to his hugely successful Folsom Prison recordings the year before, San Quentin showed Cash at his roughhouse best — full of brash bravado and giving the average American a glimpse at a side that showed him to be more kindred to those in the audience that evening than to Nashville or the hippie rock scene that was grinding to an inevitable halt. But 1969 was a year that saw a country ready for such attitude. A prison record seemed to go hand-in-hand with the events that unfolded later that year: Four people died at the Altamont festival in San Francisco in what was supposed to be a smaller, West coast version of Woodstock, and opposition to the Vietnam War reached its peak. It was rowdy year that foretold the end of a psychedelic “love” era that was spinning out of control and burning out. Johnny Cash – with his own demons at his heels – was a mirror of the times.
Continue reading ‘Johnny Cash At San Quentin: Legacy Edition’
Rhino has reissued the first two Pretenders albums — Pretenders and Pretenders II — and packaged each as a two disc set: the first disc containing the original recordings and the second a collection of rarities, out-takes, and live recordings. These albums, featuring the original Pretenders lineup of vocalist Chrissie Hynde, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, drummer Martin Chambers, and bassist Pete Farndon showcase a band that captured the best qualities of punk, new wave, and rock, all in a radio-friendly package that made the band an instant sensation.
Continue reading ‘The Pretenders First Two Releases Reissued’
It is with some surprise that I recently received a copy of The Best of Little Feat from Rhino Records. Surprising, not because of the contents of the disc; Little Feat were one of the most creative forces in 70’s rock, often soaring to the rarified air occupied by the likes of Frank Zappa, The Band, and Captain Beefheart. The surprise, as it was, was that it took this long for somebody to finally get around to cataloging the most popular material from the group.
Continue reading ‘Little Feat, The Best of Little Feat’
John Mayall has always been viewed as a musical father figure. Already in his thirties when the British blues invasion swept England and the U.S., Mayall provided the fertile soil from which the influential young guitarists Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, and Peter Green would grow before moving on to define the sounds of their own generation of music. That is why it seems fitting that the seventy-three year old singer and multi-instrumentalist – still as active as ever – would take time to look back and pay his respects to the man who played a similar role for Mayall.
