A mishmash ‘throw stuff at the wall see what sticks’ set, including some leftovers I couldn’t fit into previous shows. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

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1. Muddy Waters, All Aboard
2. Buddy Holly, Early In The Morning
3. Mott The Hoople, All The Way From Memphis
4. Eric Burdon and War, Blues For Memphis Slim
5. The Band, Back To Memphis
6. Stray Cats, 18 Miles To Memphis
7. Roy Buchanan, Down By The River (live)
8. Alan Parsons Project, In The Lap Of The Gods
9. Alan Parsons Project, Lucifer
10. James Gang, Alexis
11. MC5, Come Together
12. Colin James, I’m Losing You
13. Pearl Jam, Glorified G
14. Peter Tosh, Bush Doctor (from Captured Live)
15. Alannah Myles, Tumbleweed
16. Talking Heads, Gangster Of Love
17. Elton John, You’re So Static
18. Jason and The Scorchers, 19th Nervous Breakdown
19. The Rolling Stones, Baby Break It Down
20. Little Feat, Day At The Dog Races (live, from Waiting For Columbus)
21. Patti Smith Group, Easter

My track-by-track tales:

1. Muddy Waters, All Aboard (from Fathers and Sons featuring Otis Spann, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, Sam Lay and Buddy Miles) . . . You feel like you’re on a train on this one about love lost and maybe regained with someone new, chugging along complete with opening train whistle. Not much more to say beyond my list of who plays on Muddy’s 1969 album, other than it’s great. It was wonderful how, as an elder statesman of the blues by then, Muddy’s ‘sons’ flocked to help him out on albums, including as the decade of the 1970s progressed, Johnny Winter who played on and produced three late period Muddy albums plus the excellent Muddy ‘Mississippi’ Waters live record.

2. Buddy Holly, Early In The Morning . . . One of those ‘what might have been’ tracks in terms of directions Holly might have taken had he lived. The shuffling rock and roll tune co-written by Bobby Darin of Splish Splash fame and his somewhat regular writing partner Woody Harris was recorded by Holly in 1958 including gospel-tinged background vocals by The Helen Way Singers. Darin did his own version of the song around the same time.

North America album cover

UK album cover

3. Mott The Hoople, All The Way From Memphis . . . We start a mini-Memphis-themed set with this rousing lead cut from the 1973 album Mott, driven by Mick Ralphs’ guitar riff and a sizzling saxophone solo from Andy Mackay of Roxy Music. The song went top 10 in the UK but didn’t chart in North America, although it did get considerable FM radio airplay and is one of the band’s best-known tracks.

4. Eric Burdon and War, Blues For Memphis Slim . . . Extended, 13-minute piece of jazzy funk blues from the April 1970 release Eric Burdon Declares ‘War’. A great meeting of musical minds between the Animals’ singer and the progressive soul and R & B band that resulted in the great single Spill The Wine, from the same album. Eight months later, December, 1970, came The Black-Man’s Burdon album after which the pairing parted ways.

5. The Band, Back To Memphis . . . A Chuck Berry tune that first appeared in a live version on the comprehensive 2-CD compilation To Kingdom Come: The Definitive Collection released in 1989 and now out of print. I’ve long had my copy so I’m good. The track, in studio form and recorded at the time, was later added to expanded releases of The Band’s 1973 covers album Moondog Matinee, where it’s titled Going Back To Memphis.

6. Stray Cats, 18 Miles To Memphis . . . Typically terrific rockabilly boogie by the band, channeling the 1950s, as was their wont, on the 1983 album Rant N’ Rave With The Stray Cats.

7. Roy Buchanan, Down By The River (live) . . . A previously – until 1992’s Sweet Dreams: The Anthology and 2006’s Definitive Collection – unreleased live version by the great blues/rock guitarist of the Neil Young classic originally on Young’s second solo album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, recorded with Crazy Horse.

8. Alan Parsons Project, In The Lap Of The Gods . . . A moody, orchestral prog-rock piece from 1978’s Pyramid with that great album cover, the first of two straight instrumentals, from consecutive albums by the Project.

9. Alan Parsons Project, Lucifer . . . An eerie yet funky and, once you hear the hook, instantly familiar lead track from the 1979 album Eve.

10. James Gang, Alexis . . . What starts as a mellow ballad builds into a guitar showcase for future Deep Purple member Tommy Bolin, who also sings the song, during his period with the James Gang. It’s from the 1973 album Bang, Bolin’s first of two with the group after founding guitarist Joe Walsh and his replacement, Domenic Triano left. After 1974’s Miami album off, too, went Bolin to a solo career and Deep Purple for one album, the 1975 release Come Taste The Band.

11. MC5, Come Together . . . Not The Beatles tune but rather manic Motor City-area mayhem from the punk rock pioneers’ debut album, the live Kick Out The Jams, released in 1969. It was recorded at a late 1968 concert in Detroit.

12. Colin James, I’m Losing You . . . Faithful cover, great guitar, of the John Lennon tune from 1980’s Double Fantasy album. Canadian blues singer/guitarist James’s version came out on his 2003 album Traveler.

13. Pearl Jam, Glorified G . . . This funky and sarcastic diatribe against gun culture wasn’t a single but for my money is one of the best songs on the band’s second album, 1993’s Vs. Many apparently agree since it got enough airplay to make No. 39 on the US Billboard chart.

14. Peter Tosh, Bush Doctor (from Captured Live) . . . Fiery live version of the title cut from Tosh’s 1978 studio album which featured Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards on the track and Mick Jagger with co-lead vocals on the single (You Gotta Walk And) Don’t Look Back, a cover of The Temptations’ 1965 hit they titled Don’t Look Back. The Bush Doctor album came during a period when Tosh, signed to Rolling Stones Records at the time, was often an opening act at Stones concerts. As for Bush Doctor the song, it’s something of a companion piece to the title track from Tosh’s 1976 studio album Legalize It, celebrating in Tosh’s view the health benefits of and calling for the legalization of marijuana.

15. Alannah Myles, Tumbleweed . . . Country-tinged pop-rock tune with Myles’ sultry voice floating over the bluesy guitar riffs. Myles’ self-titled debut album in 1989 gets most of the hype in large measure due to its worldwide hit single Black Velvet. But I find 1992’s Rockinghorse, her second album from which Tumbleweed is taken, equally good.

16. Talking Heads, Gangster Of Love . . . Not Steve Miller’s cover of the Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson song but a rhythmic, worldbeat type track from sessions that produced the albums Remain In Light (1980) and Naked (1988). The band eventually polished and released the song in 1992 on the 2-disc compilation Popular Favorites 1976–1992: Sand in the Vaseline.

17. Elton John, You’re So Static . . . Funky pop rock tune fueled by the Tower Of Power horn section. Catchy stuff, from the 1974 album Caribou.

18. Jason and The Scorchers, 19th Nervous Breakdown . . . An, er, scorching version of the Stones’ hit single from 1966. It was released on The Scorchers’ 1986 album Still Standing. It also appears on the 1998 album Cover You: A Tribute To The Rolling Stones which contains covers of Stones’ songs by artists like Otis Redding (Satisfaction), Linda Ronstadt (Tumbling Dice), Johnny Cash (No Expectations) and Johnny Winter (Jumpin’ Jack Flash) among others.

19. The Rolling Stones, Baby Break It Down . . . Mid-tempo track from 1994’s Voodoo Lounge album featuring a great pedal steel guitar solo from Ron Wood. Another one of those largely unknown – other than to Stones freaks like me – gems that pepper their studio albums, particularly their latter-day releases.

20. Little Feat, Day At The Dog Races (live, from Waiting For Columbus) . . . Twice the length of the six-minute studio track from the 1977 album Time Loves A Hero, this instrumental Weather Report-like jazz fusion jam didn’t appear on the original 1978 release of the classic live album Waiting For Columbus although it was recorded on the 1977 tour from which Columbus came. Day At The Dog Races was one of several bonus tracks from that tour added to a 2002 re-release of the live album.

21. Patti Smith Group, Easter . . . Well, it is Easter weekend – Happy Easter, everyone – so how could I resist playing this haunting, evocative title track to the 1978 album?

A blues rock set, albeit alas limited within the confines of my two-hour slot, to just some of the myriad masters of the genre and only scratching the surface of artists they inspired. The set wound up, as it often does, going in different directions once into it by just letting it flow, resulting in some duplicate tracks – originals and covers – as things evolved but the great thing in a way is, many of the artists ‘left out’ so to speak and not in this set stay in mind for future such shows. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

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1. Alvin Lee, The Bluest Blues
2. Robert Johnson, Preachin’ Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)
3. Mississippi Fred McDowell, You Gotta Move
4. The Rolling Stones, You Gotta Move (from Love You Live)
5. The Rolling Stones, Down In The Hole
6. Keith Richards, Blues In The Morning
7. John Lee Hooker, I Don’t Wanna Go To Vietnam
8. Canned Heat & John Lee Hooker, The World Today (from Hooker ‘N Heat)
9. Van Morrison with John Lee Hooker, Gloria . . . (from Van Morrison’s Too Long In Exile)
10. Blind Willie Johnson, It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine
11. Led Zeppelin, Nobody’s Fault But Mine
12. John Mayall, Broken Wings
13. Buddy Guy, Stone Crazy
14. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, When The Levee Breaks
15. Led Zeppelin, When The Levee Breaks
16. Eric Clapton with Santana, Eyesight To The Blind / Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad? (from Crossroads 2 live in the seventies box set)

My track-by-track tales:

1. Alvin Lee, The Bluest Blues . . . Beatle George Harrison on slide guitar on this slow-burner from the Ten Years After frontman/guitarist’s 1994 solo album named, what else, Nineteen Ninety-Four although in the USA it was called I Hear You Rockin’. To quote Lee about Harrison’s contribution, from the liner notes to a Lee compilation released in 2003:

“It’s one of the best slide guitar solos I’ve ever heard. I did a version of it, before George came down, and played my usual mad guitar solo. Then I said ‘George, how about putting some slide on there?’ He did the first solo and he did this beautiful slow, laid back and lifting solo and it made me change my whole attitude. I had to take off more gently from there, rather than blowing at the speed of light. It turned the song into something special for me. George lived down the road, and he was always up for coming over to make music. I loved his slide playing. George had perfect pitch. He was a lovely man and he is sorely missed.” As is Lee, who died in 2013. Harrison passed away in 2001.

2. Robert Johnson, Preachin’ Blues (Up Jumped The Devil) . . . Not as often covered by rock greats as his songs like Crossroad Blues, Ramblin’ On My Mind, Traveling Riverside Blues, Stop Breaking Down Blues and Love In Vain, among others. But this boogie yet haunting tune embodies the crossroads mythology surrounding Johnson having made a deal with the devil, trading his soul for musical mastery.

3. Mississippi Fred McDowell, You Gotta Move . . . A song I, and perhaps many of my age, first heard on The Rolling Stones’ 1971 album Sticky Fingers although they’d previously played it during their 1969 American tour and it’s appeared on subsequent expanded re-releases of Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out! , the classic 1970 live album document of that trip. I have McDowell’s earthy, hypnotic version on a few compilations including 2018’s Confessin’ The Blues which was curated by members of the Stones – including cover art by guitarist Ron Wood. The comp features McDowell and many other blues greats from whom the Stones drew inspiration.

4. The Rolling Stones, You Gotta Move, (from Love You Live) . . . I thought I’d go not with the studio version from Sticky Fingers, nor the live version from 1969 but this jam-type sing-along rendition from the Stones’ 1975-76 tour of North America and Europe that appeared on their 1977 live release.

5. The Rolling Stones, Down In The Hole . . . A great original blues from 1980’s Emotional Rescue, almost out of place on an album otherwise infused with disco, reggae and straight-ahead pop-rock songs plus the off the wall but addictive multi-part title track. Down In The Hole, featuring fabulous harmonica from Sugar Blue, was the B-side to the Emotional Rescue single and appeared directly before it in the album track order – jarring, cleverly effective juxtapositions in my book.

6. Keith Richards, Blues In The Morning . . . I suppose I should be playing this up-tempo rootsy rocker featuring that distinctive Richards’ riffing on my Saturday morning show. But . . . that’s just what you’d be expecting. An almost casually tossed off yet compelling piece from Keef’s most recent solo album, the 2015 release Crosseyed Heart.

7. John Lee Hooker, I Don’t Wanna Go To Vietnam . . . The first of three straight songs featuring Hooker on his own or in collaboration with others. A typically hypnotic Hooker groove on this anti-war excursion that still resonates, aside from the specific war it’s discussing, released on his 1969 album Simply The Truth.

We got so much trouble at home
We don’t need to go to Vietnam
Yeah, yeah, there’s a whole lot of trouble right here at home
Don’t need to go to Vietnam
We oughta stay at home, stay out of trouble
I don’t wanna go
I don’t wanna go
Vietnam

8. Canned Heat & John Lee Hooker, The World Today (from Hooker ‘N Heat) . . . An extended conversation about conflict, written by Hooker. Minimalist, strikingly almost spoken-word blues from the respective artists’ 1971 collaboration.

9. Van Morrison with John Lee Hooker, Gloria . . . From Van The Man’s 1993 album Too Long In Exile, a terrific, extended version of Them’s Morrison-penned 1965 hit. Two vocal virtuosos in tandem amid intoxicating instrumentation.

10. Blind Willie Johnson, It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine . . . Another one of those, like Mississippi Fred McDowell and The Rolling Stones covering You Gotta Move, where a rock band introduces you to the brilliance of those who inspired them. As Keith Richards of the Stones has said, arguably the greatest compliment one can grant a musician is that they passed it on. In this case, Led Zeppelin took the baton from Blind Willie and transformed his acoustic, spiritual version recorded in 1927 into a powerhouse, rocked up production on the 1976 album Presence, while retaining the essence of the original.

11. Led Zeppelin, Nobody’s Fault But Mine . . . See my thoughts on Blind Willie Johnson.

12. John Mayall, Broken Wings . . . A beautiful if sad ballad, one of my favorite songs by Mayall from one of my favorite of his albums, the 1967 release The Blues Alone. The album title is somewhat misleading, as the album does feature contributions from drummer Keith “Keef” Hartley but it is mostly Mayall – on vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, organ and . . . drums on two tracks although it’s Hartley on this one.

13. Buddy Guy, Stone Crazy . . . Straight slow blues from 1961, drenched in Guy’s great guitar and soulful vocals to the extent that B.B. King anointed Guy, then 25, his heir apparent. It was released on the 1970 compilation I Was Walking Through The Woods, part of the Chess Records Vintage Series and comprised of Guy’s material recorded between 1960 and 1964.

14. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, When The Levee Breaks. . . Recorded by blues artists and then-married couple McCoy and Minnie (birth name Lizzie Douglas) in 1929, a haunting historical snapshot of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

15. Led Zeppelin, When The Levee Breaks . . . Another one reimagined and transformed by Led Zep, featuring that defining drumbeat by John Bonham.

16. Eric Clapton with Santana, Eyesight To The Blind / Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad ? (from Crossroads 2 live in the seventies box set) . . . A sprawling, fiery finale to the show blending a Sonny Boy Williamson song with a soulful Derek And The Dominos number, from Clapton’s 1975 tour. Santana served as the opening act, joining Clapton on stage for an epic 24-minute encore.

A three-Pete performance of my favorite Townshend albums, including a nice collaboration with Ronnie Lane of Faces fame.

The show features Rough Mix (1977), Empty Glass (1980) and All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982). It was inspired by me having recently read various biographies of Who members but also thanks to finding, while doing some filing, my long apparently lost copy of Pete Townshend Gold. It’s a 2-CD compilation I own because, after the three studio albums I’m playing, and his 1972 debut Who Came First featuring the great song Sheraton Gibson, I found Townshend was increasingly losing me full album wise, aside from occasional quality tracks (that rightly made the compilation) like Give Blood, Face The Face and Secondhand Love from White City: A Novel. White City, released in 1985, was the first of three consecutive concept albums that included The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend (1989) and Psychoderelict (1993). OK stuff I probably should revisit as full listens but . . . the market maybe told the tale as the latter two didn’t chart and Townshend hasn’t released a solo album since amid various Who tours and two latter-day Who studio albums – Endless Wire in 2006 and WHO in 2019.

So here, to me, is prime Pete, helped along by Rough Mix with Faces bassist/singer Lane that also includes appearances by musical friends including Rolling Stones’ drummer Charlie Watts, Eric Clapton, Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell and Townshend’s Who partner in crime, bassist John Entwistle. Further thoughts on each album, under each record’s track list.

Pete Townshend/Ronnie Lane – Rough Mix

1. My Baby Gives It Away
2. Nowhere To Run
3. Rough Mix
4. Annie
5. Keep Me Turning
6. Catmelody
7. Misunderstood
8. April Fool
9. Street In The City
10. Heart To Hang Onto
11. Till The Rivers All Run Dry

An album full of great tracks like Keep Me Turning, Misunderstood, Street In The City and perhaps my favorite, the emotive Heart To Hang Onto with shared vocals by Lane and Townshend. I was always into The Who but I remember exploring a Toronto record store, I would have been 18 in 1977 and I came across Rough Mix in The Who rack, shortly after it came out. I’d been unaware of it to that point but, trusting the names on the album sleeve, bought it sight unseen and I’ve been immensely and repeatedly rewarded ever since.

Pete Townshend – Empty Glass

1. Rough Boys
2. I Am An Animal
3. And I Moved
4. Let My Love Open The Door
5. Jools And Jim
6. Keep On Working
7. Cat’s In The Cupboard
8. A Little Is Enough
9. Empty Glass
10. Gonna Get Ya

Empty Glass is simply one of those albums where every track is excellent. An album so good that at the time, Who singer Roger Daltrey said he felt Townshend was maybe holding back his best work for solo albums. I respect and understand Roger’s view but at the same time, Daltrey was often reluctant – as on 1975’s The Who By Numbers – to sing very personal, ‘confessional’ Townshend tunes like However Much I Booze which Townshend wound up singing himself. So, given that many of the tracks on Empty Glass are indeed personal, despite Daltrey’s concerns, it’s likely best how it came out – a Townshend solo record. I’d rate it his best.

Pete Townshend – All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes

1. Stop Hurting People
2. The Sea Refuses No River
3. Prelude
4. Face Dances Part Two
5. Exquisitely Bored
6. Communication
7. Stardom In Action
8. Uniforms (Corp d’esprit)
9. North Country Girl
10. Somebody Saved Me
11. Slit Skirts

Inconsistent, to my ears, certainly as compared to the sustained brilliance of Empty Glass albeit a very good album, beyond which I think the choice of singles (Face Dances Part 2 and Uniforms) was questionable. Ever heard them much? Didn’t think so. The fact the excellent Exquisitely Bored, to me the best song on the album with The Sea Refuses No River a close second (and also not a single), wasn’t chosen as a single release is mind boggling. Townshend, or his record company, addressed this obvious error by putting both songs on the 2-CD Gold compilation, released in 2005. Uniforms made the comp, but Face Dances Part 2 didn’t, which tells you something.