It’s interesting that the larger musical world has uniques sounds or categories based on musicians gathering in specific geographies, examples being the San Francisco sound of the mid/late ’60’s, Detroit’s Motown, the Merseybeat of 60’s Liverpool, the Southern Rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers et al. One of these I …
Climax Blues Band is evidence that blues & boogie rock is eternal. The band has been at their craft for well over 50 years and continues as of this writing. They have had a couple of minor hits in this time, “Couldn’t Get It Right” & “I Love You” but …
The Bureau is Andy Growcott (percussion), Pete Williams (bass/vocals), Rob Jones (guitar/trumpet/vocals), Archie Brown (lead vocals), Mick Talbot (keyboards/vocals), Paul Taylor (trombone), Steve Spooner (alto sax) and J.B. Blythe (tenor sax). Growcott, Williams, Blythe, Spooner & Talbot had left Dexys Midnight Runners after the release of Searching for the Young …
This one is a gem of hard prog rock. Given the members’ pedigrees (Rod Evans, vocals, formerly of Deep Purple Mark 1 of “Hush” fame; Bobby Caldwell, drums, formerly of Johnny Winter band; Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt, guitars and Lee Dorman, bass, both formerly of Iron Butterfly) it is no surprise …
The second album from Iggy Pop after his work with The Stooges and his second collaboration with David Bowie as well. Released in August 1977, Lust for Life is Iggy Pop’s second album after The Stooges, and is a collaboration with David Bowie as was his first album, The Idiot. …
Released in September 1969, Get Ready is Rare Earth’s second album, and their first with Motown Records. Rare Earth started out in Detroit, where the Motown sound was a huge influence. They began as The Sunliners and got local notice. In 1968, realizing their name was likely holding them back, …
Armed Forces, released in January, 1979, is Elvis Costello’s third album & the first to include The Attractions on the cover (Elvis Costello and The Attractions). I bought this album when it first came out, and the North American release featured the paint splattering cover, with the stampeding elephants on …
Largely known for their two biggest hits, “On The Road Again” and “Going Up The Country” and an energetic Woodstock performance, Canned Heat was a great caretaker of the blues and boogie tradition in American music. Unfortunately, most of the original band members (Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson, Bob “The …
1979 – What a time for music: disco, rock, punk & New Wave all alive and competing for the hearts, minds & ears of music fans. I was not at all a disco fan, and rock had grown a tad stale. Punk & New Wave were the saviours, in my …
Quite the backstory to this album. There was significant political tension and riots leading up to the Jamaican general election. The then Prime Minister Michael Manley convinced Bob Marley to play at a “Smile Jamaica” concert on December 5, 1976, thinking that the concert would defuse some of the …
