Sawbuck - Sawbuck (1972 us, classic rock with west coast and southern touches, vinyl rip - FLAC)

Sawbuck formed 1970 in San Francisco. On an office remodeling job, Ronnie Montrose met promoter Bill Graham, who introduced him to his partner, producer David Rubinson. Graham and Rubinson owned a small record label called Fillmore Records, and signed a recording contract with Sawbuck.

Rubinson was especially impressed by Montrose's talent and ambition. He set the guitarist up for session work with the Pointer Sisters and keyboardist Herbie Hancock before he arranged for Montrose's big break. Rubinson also arranged an audition with Van Morrison. Montrose got the job and played on Morrison's 1971 album Tupelo Honey.

Mojo Collins remembers,
One day I stumbled into the office of the Fillmore and met the secretary Annie, we quickly became friends and she opened the door for me to get a 45 record to Bill Graham, owner and manager of theJefferson Airplane and Marty Balin. He liked the record and I got hooked up with Annie and her friend Starr Donaldson who was playing Wolfie in the San Francisco version of "Hair" at a local theatre.

We became friends and later I met Ronnie Montrose and Chuck Ruff along with Bill Church, who replaced our original bassist Kooch. This was the basic foundation for what became Sawbuck. We were signed to Fillmore Records and an album entitled "Sawbuck" was recorded in 1970-71 produced by the famed David Rubinson who also produced Moby Grape, Santana, Janis Joplin, The Chambers Brothers, Elvin Bishop, Cold Blood and Tower of Power. For the next year or so we toured and opened for major acts and played the final week of the Fillmore West before it closed.

During the making of the album, Ronnie was approached to do some commercial jingles and one was heard by Van Morrison, and Ronnie was gone, he later wound up with Edgar Winter and recruited Chuck Ruff from Sawbuck for The Edgar Winter Group, and that pretty much ended our tenure as a performing band.

I came home to NC and tried to put together another Sawbuck, with my brother David Collins and a few of his friends, we toured for awhile when the album was released but fizzled out because of lack of support from the label. Around this time David Rubinson and Bill Graham split there partnership and Sawbuck was shelved.

Tracks
1. Sing This Song - 3:50
2. Wound Up - 2:35
3. Oo Lolla Moore - 3:26
4. Virginia Woman (In Gear) - 3:07
5. There Will Be Love - 3:02
6. Believe - 3:07
7. Reno - 2:29
8. Mayday - 3:04
9. Sweet and Sour - 2:57
10.Lovin' Man - 2:35
11.Bible Burning - 4:03
12.Promised Land - 5:27
All songs written by Mojo Collins except "Reno" written by Stephen Hatley and Chuck Ruff.

Sawbuck
*Mojo Collins - Lead vocals, Guitars
*Starr Donaldson - Guitar, Vocals
*Chuck Ruff - Drums
*Stephen Hatley - Keyboards, Acoustic Guitar
*Nine Year – Bass
Guest Musicians
*Ronnie Montrose – Guitar (on tracks 6 & 10)
*Bill Church – Bass
*Boots Rolph Stuart Hughston - Saxophone
*Andrew Narell - Steel Drum
*Sami - Congas
*Hungria Carmello Garcia - Timbales

[Thank you LAURENT for sending this post]

Dave Mason - Headkeeper (1972 uk, classic rock, japan SHM-CD 2010 remaster - MP3 320k and FLAC)

Tommy Li Puma, Dave Mason's coproducer at Blue Thumb, has notified by mail various radio stations and record distributors across the country to go ahead and promote Headkeeper, in spite of the fact that Mason has brought a lawsuit against the label.



Each of all the five songs on side two is a live recording of material Mason had recorded elsewhere. "Pearly Queen," a song that here is attributed to Mason and on the Traffic album is credited to Winwood and Capaldi, got itself a better treatment the first time around, simply because Winwood's vocal was funkier, grittier, more edged with irony.



The song itself has enough propulsion in it that it doesn't need the extra added bit of soul that Winwood gives it, but then why not? Mason's interpretation here of "Feelin' Alright" is different from the one he delivered on Traffic. Then he sang with a whimpering, quaveringly insecure voice which, when joining the chorus, instantly picked up sarcastic strength. The change was always sudden and dramatic as Clark Kent leaping out of a broom closet dressed as Superman. In the present version, latin jazz rhythms open the song and right from the beginning all the way through, Mason sings with extroversion and authority.



Now he even takes a supposedly humbled line like "Well, boy, you sure took me for one big ride," and turns it inside out to read like a gorgeous put-down. Whatever Chris Wood offered in the way of bluesy saxophone on the first version, Mark Jordan matches well with his jazz electric piano on this.



Maybe if Headkeeper had had two sides of new material rather than just one, Mason as an artist to our view would have been standing less like "a mist upon the shore." He never has been an easy one to figure out, in his public life or in his music. With Headkeeper he by no means has painted his masterpiece, but instead has left us with some fine sketches and life studies.

by David Lubin, Rolling Stone, 4-13-72.



Tracks

1. To Be Free - 3:19

2. In My Mind - 3:19

3. Here We Go Again (Solomon Burke, Cass Elliot, Bryan Garo, Jerry Gray) - 1:56

4. A Heartache, A Shadow, A Lifetime - 3:35

5. Headkeeper - 4:39

6. Pearly Queen (Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood) - 3:32

7. Just A Song - 3:01

8. World In Changes - 4:47

9. Can't Stop Worrying, Can't Stop Loving - 3:04

10.Feelin' Alright - 5:40

All titles by Dave Mason, except where noted.



Musicians

*Dave Mason - Electric, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals

*Mark Jordan - Piano, Keyboards

*Lonnie Turner - Bass

*"Dr." Rick Jaeger - Drums

*Felix Falcon aka "Flaco" - Conga, Percussion

Special thanks to:

*Rita Coolidge - Vocals

*Spencer Davis - Vocals

*Graham Nash - Vocals

*Kathi McDonald - Vocals



[ Rip and Scans by MARIOS ]

Click here

Dave Mason - Certified Live/Let It Flow (1976/77 uk, classic rock, 2011 double disc BGO remaster edition - MP3 320k and FLAC)

Certified Live

Back in the mid-seventies Dave Mason had a really nice run. In 1976 he had a nice hit record with this release, Certified Live, and then he followed that up a year later with one of, if not the most popular album of his solo career, Let it Flow.



Certified Live was another double live album. They were the rage in the mid-70s. You can thank Frampton Come Alive for that. If you were a decent selling artist in that period that did OK but needed a little kick to break out, you released a double live album. It not only worked for Frampton, but it also was the formula that triggered hits for Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws, REO Speedwagon, Rush, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Pat Travers, Ted Nugent and even Genesis. It really worked. I should know, I bought all of those and a few more as well.



When I went back and listened to Certified Live the first thing that jumped out at me was how damn good his drummer was! The opening track is “Feelin’ Alright,; You know the song, think Joe Cocker. His name is Rick Jaeger. I’m not familiar with him but he’s really good. He’s got the Bernard Purdie high hat riff down!!



Dave runs through quite a bit of his best stuff here. Besides ‘Feelin’ Alright” you also get great versions of “Show Me Some Affection”, “World in Changes”, “Look at You and Look at Me” and of course, “Only You Know and I Know.”



Dave also takes on some interesting cover tunes here as well. He tackles The Eagles “Take it to the Limit”, Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and the Spencer Davis Band’s “Gimme Some Lovin.” You may not know this but Dave’s entry into the big time music scene was as the road manager in his early 20s for the Spencer Davis Band. There he met “Stevie” Winwood and would eventually join with him and form Traffic.



This album did OK on the charts. I was not another Frampton Comes Alive by any means. It peaked at #78 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. It did however, give him time to work on that Let it Flow album that did quite well.

by Larry Carta



Let it Flow

Yet when Mason takes writing into his own hands, the fine blend of romantic melody and rolling gait is often squandered. "Mystic Traveller" is not simply a lyric embarrassment -- its glossy, ad-agency arrangement suggests that Mason has either lost his sense of proportion or simply is aiming lower than ever before.



Glitzy orchestral touches abound on Let It Flow, but they're not enough to do in the LP entirely. The title cut, which Mason did write, his the kind of fine, charging refrain and classic chorus that Mason can still spin out un-self-consciously. Mason has not changed much this decade -- and when he has, it's generally been for the worse -- but he's still eminently capable of surprising us, as he does on Let It Flow, with melodic roll of the first order.

by Peter Herbst, Rolling Stone, 6/16/1977



Tracks

Certified Live

1. Feelin’ Alright (D. Mason) - 6:21

2. Pearly Queen (S. Winwood, J. Capaldi) - 3:41

3. Show Me Some Affection (D. Mason) - 4:36

4. All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - 4:46

5. Take It to the Limit (R. Meisner, D. Henley, G. Frey) - 3:34

6. Give Me a Reason Why (D. Mason) - 4:12

7. Sad and Deep as You (D. Mason) - 3:12

8. Every Woman (D. Mason) - 2:36

9. World in Changes (D. Mason) - 5:25

10.Goin’ Down Slow (St. Louis Jimmy Oden) - 6:43

11.Look at You, Look at Me (D. Mason, J. Capaldi) - 12:50

12.Only You Know and I Know (D. Mason) - 4:45

12.Bring It on Home to Me (Sam Cooke) - 5:05

14.Gimme Some Lovin’ (S. Davis, S. Winwood, M. Winwood) - 8:14



Let It Flow

1. So High (Rock Me Baby And Roll Me Away) (Mentor Williams, Jack Conrad) - 4:07

2. We Just Disagree (Jim Krueger) - 3:00

3. Mystic Traveler (Dave Mason) - 5:00

4. Spend Your Life With Me (Angeleen Gagliano) - 3:22

5. Takin' The Time To Find (Dave Mason) - 4:31

6. Let It Go, Let It Flow (Dave Mason) - 3:15

7. Then It's Alright (Dave Mason) - 4:14

8. Seasons (Angeleen Gagliano) - 4:50

9. You Just Have To Wait Now (Dave Mason) - 3:09

10.What Do We Got Here? (Jim Krueger) - 4:21



Musicians

*Mike Finnigan - Keyboards, Vocals

*Dr. Rick Jaeger - Drums

*Gerald Johnson - Bass

*Jim Kruegar - Guitar

*Dave Mason - Guitar, Vocals

*Stephen Stills - Vocals (Let It Flow)

*Yvonne Elliman - Vocals (Let It Flow)

*Ernie Watts - Saxophone (Let It Flow)



More Dave Mason releases, here:

1970 - Alone Together (1st solo recording)



[ Rip and Scans by MARIOS ]

Click here

The O Band (A Band Called O) - The Knife (1977 Uk classic rock blended progressive rock - Wave audio format )

The Band Called "O" final studio LP contains stunning versions of Spirit's "Look To The Left Look To The Right" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Almost Saturday Night" as well as nice quality self composed songs. Through never achieving the commercial success they merited there's no doubting that the O-Band were one of the UK's finest Rock bands of the 70's. However, this album is excellent, and can be regarded as a swan song succeeded ... Musically, their style had already evolved from progressive rock to soft-rock, but it then moved towards a pop style. They changed their name to "The O Band" and released a 12" EP Look to the Left, Look to the Right in 1977. before recording their final album The Knife, from which the single "Almost Saturday Night"/"Love Ain't A Keeper" was taken, also in 1977. Shortly before a planned change of management, Pix Pickford decided to leave for a solo career. The O Band later disbanded at the end of 1977.





The O Band - The Knife





Tracks Listing

01. Look To The Left Look To The Right

02. Almost Saturday Night

03. Im Gonna Leave You

04. Strange Lovin

05. Back Alley Lightning

06. Time Seems To Fly

07. The Knife

08. Got To Run

09. Venus Avenue

10. A Smile Is Diamond ( Maxi Version)

11. Fine White Wine



Credits

Mark Anders - Bass Guitar

Pix Pickford - Lead Vocals, Guitar

Greg Anders - Vocals, Guitar, Slide Guitar

Jeff Bannister - Vocals, Keyboards

Derek Ballard - Drums, Percussion



[Rip and scans by SILVERADO]

Click here

The Guess Who - Wheatfield Soul / Share The Land / Canned Wheat (1968-1970 canada, 3 cd box set, 2010 remastered edition - MP3 320k and FLAC)

It's been a strange and chequered career for Canadian classic rockers The Guess Who. They were the very first Canadian rock group to have a number one hit in the United States and they even found themselves performing at the White House in front of an audience that included President Nixon and Prince Charles.

And yet ask most run-of-the-mill rock fans what they know about the band and it would possibly be that one-time guitarist Randy Bachman went on to form Bachman Turner Overdrive and have a hit with perennial drive time classic 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet'.

And yet as these, three of the band's first four albums from the time when they were known simply as The Guess Who as opposed to The Guess Who? (more of which later) show that Canada was just as adept at coming up with a classic rock sound as its North American cousins just south of the border.

The Guess Who's early years are a jumble of local Winnipeg-based '60s bands.

Primarily we start with The Silvertones, a band formed in the early '60s by singer Chad Allan. By 1962 they'd become Al & The Silvertones and also featured future Guess Who band members Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson and Bob Ashley.

The very same year they became Chad Allan & The Reflections and two years after that Chad Allen & The Expressions.

It was when this latter act recorded a cover of Johnny Kidd & The Pirate's 'Shakin' All Over' that the band's Canadian record label took it upon themselves to label the British-invasion style sounding single as The Guess Who?, either in the hope of implying to an unsuspecting record buying public that they were either a well-known British band akin to The Beatles, The Who or The Kinks, all of whom were fast-gaining favour in North America, or maybe even a collection of well-known UK musicians banding together under a different name.

Whether the actual ruse worked with the public, the single was a success, hitting number one in Canada and 22 in America. However owing to DJ's insistence at referring to the band as Guess Who?, even when they knew it was actually Chad Allen & The Expressions meant that the band were pushed headfirst into changing their name.

Although between 1965 and 1966, the band were variously known and even credited as The Guess Who? and Chad Allen & The Expressions.

Allen himself left the band in 1966, initially to return to college, although he woul crop up as a presenter on the Canadian TV show Let's Go, whose house band jus happened to be The Guess Who? But by the time of the band's 1968 album 'Wheatfield Soul', they would finally be known as The Guess Who.

It wasn't just the change to the name that was apparent by the time of 'Wheatfield Soul'.

With new singer Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman coming to the fore as the band's main songwriters, the musical emphasis had shifted away from the earlier UK inspired sound towards a more classic rock entrenched style.

The move almost immediately paid dividends, with the album's opening cut, the balladic 'These Eyes', cracking the US Top Ten, and whilst that particular style was evident throughout the album, on which the song 'Lightfoot' was a tribute to fellow Cabadian musician Gordon Lightfoot, the 11 minutes plus "Friends Of Mine" showed the band stretching out in a cavalcade of colourful neo-psychedelic and progressive flourishes.

1969's 'Canned Wheat' was even better, with the band finding their feet and proving themselves to be a solidly good heavy rock band.

Cumming's Paul Rodgers' style vocals were really starting to sound at home within the band's framework whilst Bachman's guitar tone proved he could mix jazzy touches with a basic hard rock style to maximum effect, not least on 'Undun', which proved to be the album's biggest hit.

Although not included within this set, 1970's 'American Woman' represents The Guess Who at their finest and was also Bachman's final recorded album with the band until a 1983 reformation.

The hard rocking and much covered title track gave The Guess Who their first ever US number one single, whilst the album reached number nine, remaining on the US album charts for over a year.

The band even found themselves performing before President Nixon and Prince Charles at the White House, although legend has it that Nixon's wife Pat requested the overtly sarcastic 'American Women' be dropped from the band's set.

With Bachman at odds with the band he quit following a show at New York's Fillmore East in May 1970. He was replaced not by one but two guitarists, Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw for The Guess Who's second album of 1970, 'Share The Land'. The third of this packages albums.

However, if anyone thought that the departure of Bachman would severely dent The Guess Who's progress they were in for a surprise. 'Share The Land', which followed in the hard rocking vein of 'American Woman', not only continued to give the band hit singles with the title track and 'Hand Me Down World', but also proved a remarkably durable album, being the band's biggest selling, post-'American Woman'.

Following 'Share The Land', however, the band's fortunes took a nosedive, as Bachman's BTO career began to take off with 1974's 'Not Fragile' and the smash hit 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet', and singer Cummings folded The Guess Who in 1975.

It will probably come as no surprise to discover there have been several reunions over the years.

The first took place in 1977 without Cummings and Bachman, which led to bassist Jim Kale discovering the band's name had never been registered - he immediately acquired the rights and also tours and records with Jim Kale's The Guess Who to much less acclaim than any of the bigger reunions, in 1983 the 'American Woman' line-up reunited for some Canadian shows and recorded a live album, 'Together Again'.

Variations on the classic line-ups that recorded the three albums you have here have continued to reunite and play live shows for various causes over the years, whilst continuing to concurrently run their own solo projects.

Most recently Cummings and Bachman, been performing together under the title Bachman-Cummings. Jim Kale now co-owns the rights to the band's name with drummer Garry Peterson, also tour extensively in North America as The Guess Who.

So a chequered career as we said. But there's no denying the most fruitful era of The Guess Who, one of Canada's most successful classic rock acts, is represented by the material you have on these three discs. Enjoy
by Jerry Ewing


Wheatfield Soul 1968
1. These Eyes - 3:45
2. Pink Wine Sparkles in the Glass - 2:13
3. I Found Her in a Star (Cummings) - 2:36
4. Friends of Mine - 10:04
5. When You Touch Me (Bachman, Cummings, Matheson) - 3:38
6. A Wednesday in Your Garden (Bachman) - 3:20
7. Lightfoot (Bachman, Cummings, Matheson) - 3:07
8. Love and a Yellow Rose - 5:05
9. Maple Fudge - 1:49
10. We're Coming to Dinner - 2:43
All songs written by Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings except as noted.

The Guess Who
*Randy Bachman – Guitar, Sitar, Background Vocals
*Burton Cummings – Vocals, Organ, Harmonica, Piano, Guitar, Keyboards, Flute
*Jim Kale – Bass, Background Vocals
*Garry Peterson – Drums, Percussion, Tabla, Background Vocals

Share the Land 1970
1. Bus Rider – 2:57
2. Do You Miss Me Darlin'? – 3:55
3. Hand Me Down World – 3:26
4. Moan For You Joe – 2:39
5. Share the Land – 3:53
6. Hang on to Your Life – 4:09
7. Coming Down Off the Money Bag / Song of the Dog (Leskiw)/(Cummings) – 3:54
8. Three More Days – 8:55
9. Palmyra (Bonus Track) – 5:44
10.The Answer (Bonus Track) – 4:05
All songs written by Burton Cummings and Kurt Winter except as noted.

The Guess Who
*Burton Cummings – Vocals, Organ, Piano, Flute, Harmonica, Keyboards
*Jim Kale – Bass
*Greg Leskiw – Guitar
*Garry Peterson – Drums
*Kurt Winter – Guitar

Canned Wheat 1969
1. No Time - 5:37
2. Minstrel Boy - 3:18
3. Laughing - 3:05
4. Undun (Bachman) - 4:17
5. 6 A.M. or Nearer (Bachman) - 5:24
6. Old Joe (Cummings) - 3:07
7. Of a Dropping Pin - 3:42
8. Key - 11:24
9. Fair Warning - 1:44
10.Species Hawk (Bonus Track) - 5:06
11.Silver Bird (Bonus Track) - 1:44
All songs written by Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings except as noted.

The Guess Who
*Randy Bachman – Guitar, Sitar, Background Vocals
*Burton Cummings – Vocals, Organ, Harmonica, Piano, Guitar, Keyboards, Flute
*Jim Kale – Bass, Background Vocals
*Garry Peterson – Drums, Percussion, Conga, Tabla, Background Vocals

[ Rip and Scans by MARIOS ]
Previous posted at PHROCK on Friday, September 03, 2010
Click here

Lou Gramm - I Wish Today Was Yesterday (1970-75 us, classic rock with blues soul touches - MP3 320k and FLAC)

Lou Gramm (Louis Andrew Grammatico) was born in Rochester, New York. He attended Gates-Chili High School in Rochester, graduating with the class of 1968. He is also an alumnus of Monroe Community College in Rochester.

Gramm began his musical career in his mid-teens, playing in local Rochester bands, including St. James Infirmary (later The Infirmary), and PHFFT. He later sang harmony vocals in another local band, Poor Heart. Gramm then went on to sing and play drums, and to eventually become front man for the band Black Sheep.

Black Sheep had the distinction of being the first American band signed to the Chrysalis label, which released their first single, "Stick Around" (1973). Soon after this initial bit of success, Black Sheep signed with Capitol Records, releasing two albums in succession [S/T (1974) and Encouraging Words (1975). They were the opening act for KISS when an icy accident with their equipment truck on the New York State Thruway suddenly ended the band's tour on Christmas Eve, 1975. Unable to support its albums with live performances, Black Sheep came prematurely to a screeching halt.

A year earlier, Lou Gramm had the opportunity to meet his future bandmate Mick Jones. Jones was in Rochester performing with the band Spooky Tooth, and Gramm had given Jones a copy of Black Sheep's first album (S/T). It was early in 1976, not long after Black Sheep's truck accident, when Jones, in search of a lead vocalist for a new band he was assembling, expressed his interest in Gramm and invited him in a phone call to audition for the job of lead singer.

With the blessings of his Black Sheep bandmates, Gramm flew down to New York to audition for the still-unnamed band. With his powerful vocals, he easily got the job. Lou Grammatico then became Lou Gramm, and, with the band initially known as "Trigger," and later renamed Foreigner, became one of the most successful rock vocalists of the late 1970s and 1980s.


Tracks
1. Won't Somebody Take Her Home - 3:25
2. Don't You Know Me My Friend - 2:42
3. Better Know Your Heart - 3:30
4. I Can't Make It Alone - 5:14
5. How Do You Tell Someone - 3:51
6. Society's Child - 4:26
7. I Wish Today Was Yesterday - 4:10
8. My Baby - 3:19
9. Headin' Home - 3:33
10.Watch You Walk Away - 7:53

[ Thank you ARGS for sending this album ]
CODE: 50178