My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.
1. Camel, Ice
2. Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles, Them Changes (from Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!)
3. John McLaughlin, Marbles
4. Ten Years After, Love Like A Man
5. Elf, Hoochie Koochie Lady
6. The Rolling Stones, Heaven/Feel On Baby
7. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Time/Confusion
8. Atomic Rooster, Sleeping For Years
9. The Byrds, Full Circle
10. Professor Longhair, Byrd’s Blues
11. Albert King, Blues Power (live)
12. The Smithereens, Blues Before And After
13. Jimmy Reed, Little Rain
14. B.B. King, Don’t Answer The Door
15. Taj Mahal, The Celebrated Walkin’ Blues
16. Fairport Convention, Who Knows Where The Time Goes
My track-by-track tales:
1. Camel, Ice . . . Beautiful 10-minutes and change instrumental from the English progressive rock band’s 1979 album I Can See Your House From Here. It features fine electric and acoustic guitar from Camel founding member and main songwriter Andrew Latimer. The unrelated Collins boys, Phil of Genesis fame (on percussion) and saxophonist Mel (King Crimson, among other bands) are guest musicians on the album.
2. Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles, Them Changes (from Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!) . . . Fiery title cut written by drummer Miles (the Electric Flag, Jimi Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsys) for his 1970 album, recorded on tour with the Santana band on Jan. 1, 1972 inside the Diamond Head crater on Oahu, Hawaii. The concert was part of the 1970s series of Diamond Head Crater Festivals, sometimes called the Sunshine Festival, on New Year’s Eve/Day and the Fourth Of July. Other acts appearing over the years were the Grateful Dead, America, Styx, Journey, War, and Tower of Power.
3. John McLaughlin, Marbles . . . Santana and Miles covered McLaughlin’s Marbles on their Hawaii show’s live album and both collaborated with the English guitarist (Miles played drums on the original studio recording) at various points. So, here’s McLaughlin, shredding up a storm from his 1970 album Devotion.
4. Ten Years After, Love Like A Man . . . Speaking of shredding, typically fine riffing and soloing from Alvin Lee on this one from the 1970 album Cricklewood Green.
5. Elf, Hoochie Koochie Lady . . . Bluesy rocker by Ronnie James Dio’s first band of significance which, after touring with Deep Purple in the mid-1970s, wound up being absorbed into Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s new project Rainbow for that group’s first album, released in 1975. Hoochie Koochie Lady is from Elf’s self-titled debut album, produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice and released in 1972.
“This was Elf, kind of piano based rock,” Dio writes in the liner notes to Stand Up And Shout: The Anthology, a fine 2003 compilation of his work fronting his own bands as well as Rainbow and Black Sabbath. “We wanted to write a Rolling Stones song, and this was it. Hoochie koochie ladies were like honky-tonk women. This was the first vocalizing for me, the first ‘stone’, first ripple in the pond.”
6. The Rolling Stones, Heaven/Feel On Baby . . . And here are the Stones, although a different sort of Stones, not rocking at all like Hoochie Koochie Lady or Honky Tonk Women, but showing their versatility in different musical approaches. Two songs from two different albums (Heaven from 1981’s Tattoo You; Feel On Baby from 1983’s Undercover) that I like putting together as one near 10-minute hypnotic groove. There’s the ethereal, tranquil and, well, heavenly Heaven (an amazing listen on headphones) followed by the soulful reggae of Feel On Baby. Feel On Baby features the famed reggae tandem of Sly (Dunbar) and Robbie (Shakespeare) on percussion and bass, respectively, although while Shakespeare is credited in a few Stones track-by-track who-played-what books I own, he isn’t on the actual Undercover album liner notes.
7. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Time/Confusion . . . Another song title with a slash in it but unlike my intentionally putting two Rolling Stones songs together, Time/Confusion is one song, albeit transitioning about halfway through its five minutes from a spooky part spoken word approach to heavier rock. The self-titled 1968 album, known for its hit single Fire, is described as being from the psychedelic soul genre and that’s what it is, with at times unsettling vocals by “crazy”Arthur Brown, whose singing and performance style were influential on the likes of Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Kiss. Of note is that the album originally was released in the UK on Track Records, the label started by then Who managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, and is produced by Lambert and co-produced by The Who’s Pete Townshend. The hit single Fire was co-written by Arthur Brown and Vincent Crane, his keyboard player who also handled orchestral arrangements and went on to form Atomic Rooster with drummer Carl Palmer. Palmer had joined Brown’s band in mid-tour when original drummer Drachen Theaker, who had played on the debut album, quit. Palmer left Atomic Rooster after their self-titled first album in 1970 and went on to further fame with Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
8. Atomic Rooster, Sleeping For Years . . . Speaking of Atomic Rooster . . . Progressive hard rock near metal built around the guitar work of John Du Cann, who wrote this tune that appeared on the Rooster’s second album Death Walks Behind You, also released in 1970.
9. The Byrds, Full Circle . . . Some softer stuff, a catchy countryish tune written by Gene Clark as The Byrds indeed come full circle on their self-titled reunion album, released in 1973 . It featured original 1960s members Clark, Roger McGuinn, Michael Clarke, David Crosby and Chris Hillman.
10. Professor Longhair, Byrd’s Blues . . . Swampy piano boogie woogie by the Professor, birth name Henry Roeland Byrd who went by Roy and was also known as Fess. This track, recorded in New Orleans in 1949 under the credit of Roy Byrd and His Blues Jumpers, also features some sterling saxophone dueling between Big Easy legends Lee Allen and Leroy “Batman’ Rankin. Allen, who collaborated with T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Dr. John and the Stray Cats among others, also appeared with The Rolling Stones for a few dates on their 1981 American tour.
11. Albert King, Blues Power (live) . . . A 10-minute guitar showcase before a San Francisco audience, released on the 1968 album Live Wire/Blues Power.
12. The Smithereens, Blues Before And After . . . I played some blues before this song, and more is coming after it. An infectious rocker released in 1989 by the New Jersey band also known for the hit single A Girl Like You. The group’s lead singer, guitarist and chief songwrtier Pat DiNizio died in 2017 but the group is still doing live work using an assortment of guest vocalists including Marshall Crenshaw.
13. Jimmy Reed, Little Rain . . . Slow blues from 1957, guitar and harmonica by Reed, whose rhythmic foot tapping represents raindrops falling. A hugely influential artist, Reed’s Bright Lights Big City was recorded by many bands including The Animals and Them. The Rolling Stones, who covered Reed’s Honest I Do on their debut studio album, included Bright Lights Big City, Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby and Shame Shame Shame in their early concert set lists and came full circle with Reed when they did Little Rain on their well-received 2016 covers album Blue & Lonesome.
14. B.B. King, Don’t Answer The Door . . . Another great slow blues, a No. 2 hit on the R & B charts for King in 1966.
15. Taj Mahal, The Celebrated Walkin’ Blues . . . Intoxicating stuff from Mahal’s self-titled 1968 debut album which featured Mahal’s old Rising Sons bandmate Ry Cooder on rythym guitar and mandolin along with ace session guitarist to the stars Jesse Ed Davis. Davis played on countless albums including ones by Eric Clapton, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bryan Ferry and Rod Stewart.
16. Fairport Convention, Who Knows Where The Time Goes . . . Indeed, as time’s up on this show as we take our leave via the beautiful voice of the late Sandy Denny, who also wrote this stirring song that appeared on the 1969 album Unhalfbricking.