5505 - THE TONY WILLIAMS LIFETIME - Spectrum: The Anthology, Disc One (1997)

THE TONY WILLIAMS LIFETIME
''SPECTRUM: THE ANTHOLOGY, DISC ONE''
1997
RECORDING DATE: MAY 26 1969-1972
144:42

DISC ONE
1 /Emergency
Paul van Dyk / Tony Williams/9:36
2 /Where
Andrew Hill / John McLaughlin / Lynn Paul/12:11
3 /Vashkar
Carla Bley/4:59
4 /Spectrum
John McLaughlin/8:51
5 /Sangria for Three
Tony Williams/13:07
6 /To Whom It May Concern - Them
Chick Corea/4:18
7 /To Whom It May Concern - Us
Chick Corea/2:56
8 /Big Nick
John Coltrane/2:43
9 /Right On
Tony Williams/1:48
10 /Vuelta Abajo
Tony Williams/4:56
11 /A Famous Blues
John McLaughlin/4:10
12 /Allah Be Praised
Dick Heckstall-Smith / Larry Young/4:36

DISC TWO
1 /One Word
John McLaughlin/3:44
2 /There Comes a Time
Tony Williams/5:58
3 /Circa 45
Tony Williams/6:27
4 /Two Worlds
Tony Williams/4:29
5 /Some Hip Drum Shit
Tony Williams/1:31
6 /Lonesome Wells
Tony Williams/7:17
7 /Mom and Dad
Tony Williams/5:21
8 /The Urchins of Shermêse
Tony Williams/6:14
9 /You Make It Easy
Laura "Tequila" Logan / Tony Williams/5:18
10 /What'cha Gonna Do Today
Laura "Tequila" Logan / Tony Williams/3:38
11 /The Mystic Knights of the Sea
Tony Williams/5:08
12 /The Boodang
Ben Sidran / Tony Williams/5:10
13 /The Old Bum's Rush
Herb Bushler / David Horowitz / Webster Lewis / Laura "Tequila" Logan / Tony Williams/10:16

Don Alias/Percussion
Jack Bruce/Bass, Guest Artist, Vocals
Herb Bushler/Bass
Ron Carter/Bass, Cello, Guest Artist
Ted Dunbar/Guest Artist, Guitar
Webster Lewis/Clavinet, Composer, Organ
John McLaughlin/Guest Artist, Guitar, Vocals
Warren Smith/Percussion
Tequila/Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
Tillmon Williams/Sax (Tenor)
Tony Williams/Drums, Vocals
Larry Young/Guest Artist, Organ
David Horowitz/ARP Synthesizer, Piano, Vibraphone

REVIEW
by Leo Stanley
Spectrum: Anthology is a double-disc, 25-track compilation that traces the evolution of Tony Williams' early-'70s jazz fusion combo, Lifetime. Over the course of their career, Lifetime featured a number of top jazz and rock players, including John McLaughlin, Ron Carter, Alan Holdsworth, Larry Young, and Jack Bruce, with many of the musicians turning in edgy, exciting performances. In fact, Spectrum is a better way to get acquainted with Lifetime than the actual albums, since it condenses the cream of the crop down to one illuminating anthology.

BIOGRAPHY
by Scott Yanow
Tony Williams' death in 1997 of a heart attack after routine gall bladder surgery was a major shock to the jazz world. Just 51, Williams (who could be a very loud drummer) seemed so youthful, healthy, and ageless even though he had been a major drummer for nearly 35 years. The open style that he created while with the Miles Davis Quintet in the mid- to late '60s remains quite influential, and he had a long list of accomplishments during the decades that followed. Williams' father, a saxophonist, took his son out to clubs that gave him an opportunity to sit in; at 11, the youngster already showed potential. He took lessons from Alan Dawson, and at 15 was appearing at Boston-area jam sessions. During 1959-1960, Williams often played with Sam Rivers, and in December 1962 (when he was barely 17), the drummer moved to New York and played regularly with Jackie McLean. Within a few months he joined Miles Davis, where his ability to imply the beat while playing quite freely influenced and inspired the other musicians; together with Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter he was part of one of the great rhythm sections. Williams, who was 18 when he appeared on Eric Dolphy's classic Out to Lunch album, stayed with Davis into 1969, leading his own occasional sessions and becoming a household name in the jazz world.
In addition to his interest in avant-garde jazz, Tony Williams was a fan of rock music, and when he left Miles he formed the fusion band Lifetime, a trio with Larry Young and John McLaughlin. After leading other versions of Lifetime (one of them starring Allan Holdsworth), Williams stuck to freelancing for a time, studied composition, and toured with Herbie Hancock's V.S.O.P. band. By the mid-'80s, he was heading his own all-star hard bop group which featured Wallace Roney as a surrogate Miles Davis and a repertoire dominated by the drummer's originals (including the standard "Sister Cheryl"). After breaking up his longtime quintet in 1995, Williams gigged a bit with a trio, recorded a very interesting set of original music for the Ark 21 label, and seemed to have a limitless future. His premature death makes one grateful that he started his career early and that he was extensively documented.
DoWnLoAd

5504 - PORCUPINE TREE - Coma Divine: Live In Rome, Disc Two (1997)

PORCUPINE TREE
''COMA DIVINE: RECORDED LIVE IN ROME (BONUS DISC), DISC TWO''
AUGUST 24 2004
100:51

DISC ONE
1 /Bornlivedieintro
Richard Barbieri / Steven Wilson/1:25
2 /Signify
Steven Wilson/5:29
3 /Waiting Phase One
Steven Wilson/4:26
4 /Waiting Phase Two
Steven Wilson/5:23
5 /The Sky Moves Sideways
Steven Wilson/12:40
6 /Dislocated Day
Steven Wilson/6:35
7 /The Sleep of No Dreaming
Steven Wilson/5:19
8 /Moonloop
Ricky Edwards / Colin Edwin / Chris Maitland / Steven Wilson/11:50

DISC TWO
1 /Up the Downstair
Steven Wilson/7:40
2 /The Moon Touches Your Shoulder
Steven Wilson/5:05
3 /Always Never
Steven Wilson/5:41
4 /Is... Not
Steven Wilson/6:09
5 /Radioactive Toy
Steven Wilson/13:30
6 /Not Beautiful Anymore
Steven Wilson/9:39

Richard Barbieri/Keyboards, Synthesizer
Colin Edwin/Bass, Guitar (Bass)
Chris Maitland/Drums, Percussion, Vocals (Background)
Steven Wilson/Guitar, Vocals

BIOGRAPHY
by Ned Raggett
Though he initially came to wider attention (at least in the U.K.) with No-Man, his long-running collaboration with Tim Bowness throughout the '90s, singer/guitarist Steven Wilson gained as much of a reputation for Porcupine Tree. Embracing and exploring prog rock inspirations while always keeping an ear out for newer musical connections, thus sidestepping the pointless revivalism of many of the band's peers, Porcupine Tree has created some noteworthy albums and songs over the years, continuing full-strength into the new millennium.
The group itself was just Wilson at the start. Born in London in 1967, he was too young to participate in the first full flush of psychedelic and experimental rock music, but swiftly made up for lost time, turning out to be a talented musical prodigy. Having learned guitar and keyboards at a young age, he contributed to work by underground prog outfits of the early '80s such as Altamont and Karma, while continuing his own musical growth and exploration. 1987 saw the founding of both No-Man and Porcupine Tree, the latter actually starting as a joke between Wilson and a friend about a legendary lost '70s group. Elaborate discographies and other material were created à la Spinal Tap, while Wilson himself created a slew of music meant to be the band's lost recordings. In a humorous twist of fate, two tapes of this material ended up in the hands of other folks interested in hearing more from Wilson, who ended up collating the best tracks for Porcupine Tree's real debut album on Delerium Records, On the Sunday of Life, in 1992. Those songs having been something of a nostalgia exercise, Wilson aimed for a more contemporary approach on his follow-up release -- the extended single "Voyage 34," with a clear debt to ambient techno jokesters the Orb.
Up the Downstair, Porcupine Tree's next full album, found Wilson coming fully into his own, creating a majestic, sweeping album that took the prog inspirations of the past fully into a realm of mysterious hush and beauty as much as full-on rock charge. Two collaborators on other projects, bassist Colin Edwin and keyboardist Richard Barbieri, the latter one of the core members of early-'80s pop art geniuses Japan, guested on the album. Later that year, the two formally joined Porcupine Tree, along with drummer Chris Maitland, establishing a four-piece lineup.
The first release by the new version of the group, The Sky Moves Sideways, was actually something of a transitional affair, a number of the songs still being Wilson solo compositions and performances. A slew of fine songs stood out regardless, notably "Moonloop," but the bandmembers themselves considered the quartet's true debut to be 1996's Signify, another stunning step forward for the Porcupine Tree sound, with new highlights everywhere, including the epic blast of the title track itself. A nice nod to the past came that year with the vinyl-only Spiral Circus album, featuring selections from the first three performances of the four-piece lineup in 1993, while 1997's Coma Divine featured live recordings from the Rome stop on the Signify tour. By this time, Porcupine Tree's reputation had spread throughout Europe and elsewhere, including an increasing cult following in America.
A friendly parting from Delerium led Porcupine Tree to Snapper/K-Scope, which released 1999's Stupid Dream, notable for its stronger song focus and slightly more accessible feel all around. The band's reputation and fan base continued to grow, with another album, Lightbulb Sun, taking its bow in 2000. Porcupine Tree continued to tour and plan ahead for both new recordings and reissues of older, rarer material, the first of which surfaced in May 2001, titled Recordings. Various unreleased cuts from the Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun sessions as well as a few B-sides were included. They spent the rest of the year putting together Stars Die: The Delerium Years '91-97, a box set that looks at their catalog from 1991 to 1997. Many more unreleased and rare tracks found their way onto the set, and the album finally came out in late autumn 2001. Drummer Chris Maitland left the band in March of 2002, but luckily, Gavin Harrison was available to take his place. A year later, In Absentia was released, followed by Warszawa and Deadwing in 2005. Up the Downstair was reissued that same year, complete with a bonus disc of the band's 1994 EP Staircase Infinities. Porcupine Tree did some sporadic touring in summer 2006 before fall dates were completed around the U.K., Europe, and the United States. Around the same time, Stupid Dream was reissued with bonus material. In 2007, the band released their ninth studio LP, a loose concept album with an underlying theme of escapism in the 21st century, aptly named Fear of a Blank Planet (not to be confused with the similarly titled Public Enemy classic). The following year, the band released the mini-album Nil Recurring, which consisted of tracks written during the recording of Fear of a Blank Planet. In 2009, the group released Incident, which was comprised of a single long song that featured many different movements, as well as a handful of shorter compositions that close the album. The double-live album, Octane Twisted, followed in 2012.
DoWnLoAd

5503 - PORCUPINE TREE - Coma Divine: Live In Rome, Disc One (1997)

PORCUPINE TREE
''COMA DIVINE: RECORDED LIVE IN ROME (BONUS DISC), DISC ONE''
AUGUST 24 2004
100:51

DISC ONE
1 /Bornlivedieintro
Richard Barbieri / Steven Wilson/1:25
2 /Signify
Steven Wilson/5:29
3 /Waiting Phase One
Steven Wilson/4:26
4 /Waiting Phase Two
Steven Wilson/5:23
5 /The Sky Moves Sideways
Steven Wilson/12:40
6 /Dislocated Day
Steven Wilson/6:35
7 /The Sleep of No Dreaming
Steven Wilson/5:19
8 /Moonloop
Ricky Edwards / Colin Edwin / Chris Maitland / Steven Wilson/11:50

DISC TWO
1 /Up the Downstair
Steven Wilson/7:40
2 /The Moon Touches Your Shoulder
Steven Wilson/5:05
3 /Always Never
Steven Wilson/5:41
4 /Is... Not
Steven Wilson/6:09
5 /Radioactive Toy
Steven Wilson/13:30
6 /Not Beautiful Anymore
Steven Wilson/9:39

Richard Barbieri/Keyboards, Synthesizer
Colin Edwin/Bass, Guitar (Bass)
Chris Maitland/Drums, Percussion, Vocals (Background)
Steven Wilson/Guitar, Vocals

BIOGRAPHY
by Ned Raggett
Though he initially came to wider attention (at least in the U.K.) with No-Man, his long-running collaboration with Tim Bowness throughout the '90s, singer/guitarist Steven Wilson gained as much of a reputation for Porcupine Tree. Embracing and exploring prog rock inspirations while always keeping an ear out for newer musical connections, thus sidestepping the pointless revivalism of many of the band's peers, Porcupine Tree has created some noteworthy albums and songs over the years, continuing full-strength into the new millennium.
The group itself was just Wilson at the start. Born in London in 1967, he was too young to participate in the first full flush of psychedelic and experimental rock music, but swiftly made up for lost time, turning out to be a talented musical prodigy. Having learned guitar and keyboards at a young age, he contributed to work by underground prog outfits of the early '80s such as Altamont and Karma, while continuing his own musical growth and exploration. 1987 saw the founding of both No-Man and Porcupine Tree, the latter actually starting as a joke between Wilson and a friend about a legendary lost '70s group. Elaborate discographies and other material were created à la Spinal Tap, while Wilson himself created a slew of music meant to be the band's lost recordings. In a humorous twist of fate, two tapes of this material ended up in the hands of other folks interested in hearing more from Wilson, who ended up collating the best tracks for Porcupine Tree's real debut album on Delerium Records, On the Sunday of Life, in 1992. Those songs having been something of a nostalgia exercise, Wilson aimed for a more contemporary approach on his follow-up release -- the extended single "Voyage 34," with a clear debt to ambient techno jokesters the Orb.
Up the Downstair, Porcupine Tree's next full album, found Wilson coming fully into his own, creating a majestic, sweeping album that took the prog inspirations of the past fully into a realm of mysterious hush and beauty as much as full-on rock charge. Two collaborators on other projects, bassist Colin Edwin and keyboardist Richard Barbieri, the latter one of the core members of early-'80s pop art geniuses Japan, guested on the album. Later that year, the two formally joined Porcupine Tree, along with drummer Chris Maitland, establishing a four-piece lineup.
The first release by the new version of the group, The Sky Moves Sideways, was actually something of a transitional affair, a number of the songs still being Wilson solo compositions and performances. A slew of fine songs stood out regardless, notably "Moonloop," but the bandmembers themselves considered the quartet's true debut to be 1996's Signify, another stunning step forward for the Porcupine Tree sound, with new highlights everywhere, including the epic blast of the title track itself. A nice nod to the past came that year with the vinyl-only Spiral Circus album, featuring selections from the first three performances of the four-piece lineup in 1993, while 1997's Coma Divine featured live recordings from the Rome stop on the Signify tour. By this time, Porcupine Tree's reputation had spread throughout Europe and elsewhere, including an increasing cult following in America.
A friendly parting from Delerium led Porcupine Tree to Snapper/K-Scope, which released 1999's Stupid Dream, notable for its stronger song focus and slightly more accessible feel all around. The band's reputation and fan base continued to grow, with another album, Lightbulb Sun, taking its bow in 2000. Porcupine Tree continued to tour and plan ahead for both new recordings and reissues of older, rarer material, the first of which surfaced in May 2001, titled Recordings. Various unreleased cuts from the Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun sessions as well as a few B-sides were included. They spent the rest of the year putting together Stars Die: The Delerium Years '91-97, a box set that looks at their catalog from 1991 to 1997. Many more unreleased and rare tracks found their way onto the set, and the album finally came out in late autumn 2001. Drummer Chris Maitland left the band in March of 2002, but luckily, Gavin Harrison was available to take his place. A year later, In Absentia was released, followed by Warszawa and Deadwing in 2005. Up the Downstair was reissued that same year, complete with a bonus disc of the band's 1994 EP Staircase Infinities. Porcupine Tree did some sporadic touring in summer 2006 before fall dates were completed around the U.K., Europe, and the United States. Around the same time, Stupid Dream was reissued with bonus material. In 2007, the band released their ninth studio LP, a loose concept album with an underlying theme of escapism in the 21st century, aptly named Fear of a Blank Planet (not to be confused with the similarly titled Public Enemy classic). The following year, the band released the mini-album Nil Recurring, which consisted of tracks written during the recording of Fear of a Blank Planet. In 2009, the group released Incident, which was comprised of a single long song that featured many different movements, as well as a handful of shorter compositions that close the album. The double-live album, Octane Twisted, followed in 2012.
DoWnLoAd

5502 - JACK BRUCE & HIS BIG BLUES BAND Live 2012, Disc Two (2012)

JACK BRUCE & HIS BIG BLUES BAND
''LIVE 2012, DISC TWO''
MAY 21 2012
109:39

DISC ONE
1 - Can You Follow/2:44
2 - Morning Story/8:19
3 - You Burned the Tables On Me/6:28
4 - Neighbour Neighbour/4:19
5 - Child Song/6:33
6 - Weird of Hermiston/3:30
7 - Folk Song/4:55
8 - Spoonful/10:28

DISC TWO
1 - Theme from an Imaginary Western/6:21
2 - Tickets to Waterfalls/4:56
3 - Never tell your mother she's out of tune/4:24
4 - Bad Sign/10:53
5 - We're Going Wrong/10:14
6 - Deserted Cities/4:27
7 - White Room/10:04
8 - Sunshine/10:55

Jack Bruce/vocals, bass, piano
Tony Remy/guitar
Frank Tontoh/drums
Paddy Milner/piano, keys
Nick Cohen/bass
Winston Rollins/trombone
Derek Nash/tenor sax
Paul Newton/trumpet

BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly
Although some may be tempted to call multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer Jack Bruce a rock & roll musician, blues and jazz are what this innovative musician really loves. As a result, these two genres are at the base of most of the recorded output from a career that goes back to the beginning of London's blues scene in 1962. In that year, he joined Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. Throughout the following decades and into the 21st century, Bruce has always been a supreme innovator, pushing himself into uncharted waters with his jazz and folk-rock compositions.

Bruce's most famous songs are, in essence, blues tunes: "Sunshine of Your Love," "Strange Brew," "Politician," and "White Room." Bruce's best-known songs remain those he penned for Cream, the legendary blues-rock trio he formed with drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton in July 1966. Baker and Bruce played together for five years before Clapton came along, and although their trio only lasted until November 1968, the group is credited with changing the face of rock & roll and bringing blues to a worldwide audience. Through their creative arrangements of classic blues tunes like Robert Johnson's "Crossroads," Skip James' "I'm So Glad," Willie Dixon's "Spoonful," and Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign," the group helped popularize blues-rock and led the way for similar groups that came about later on, like Led Zeppelin.

Bruce was born May 14, 1943, in Lanarkshire, near Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a big jazz fan, and so he includes people like Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller among his earliest influences. He grew up listening to jazz and took up bass and cello as a teen. After three months at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, he left, disgusted with the politics of music school. After traveling around Europe for a while, he settled into the early blues scene in 1962 in London, where he eventually met drummer Ginger Baker. He played with British blues pioneers Alexis Korner and Graham Bond before leaving in 1965 to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, whose guitarist was Eric Clapton. This gave him time to get his chops together without having to practice. With Manfred Mann, who he also played with before forming Cream, Bruce learned about the business of making hit songs.

Cream's reputation for long, extended blues jams began at the Fillmore in San Francisco at a concert organized by impresario Bill Graham. Bruce later realized that Cream gave him a chance to succeed as a musician, and admitted that if it weren't for that group, he might never have escaped London. After Cream split up in November 1968, Bruce formed Jack Bruce & Friends with drummer Mitch Mitchell and guitarist Larry Coryell. Recording-wise, Bruce took a different tack away from blues and blues-rock, leaning more in a folk-rock direction with his solo albums Songs for a Tailor (1969), Harmony Row (1971), and Out of the Storm (1974).

In 1970 and 1971, he worked with Tony Williams Lifetime before putting together another power trio with guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing in 1972, simply called West, Bruce & Laing. After working with Frank Zappa on his album Apostrophe in 1974, Bruce was at it again in 1975 with the Jack Bruce Band, whose members included keyboardist Carla Bley and guitarist Mick Taylor. Back on the road in 1980 with Jack Bruce & Friends, the latter version of the group included drummer Billy Cobham, keyboardist David Sancious, and guitarist Clem Clempson, formerly of Humble Pie. In the early '80s, he formed another trio, B.L.T., this time with guitarist Robin Trower, before working with Kip Hanrahan on his three solo albums. Bruce's bluesiest albums include all of his work with Cream, the albums B.L.T. and Truce with Trower, some of his West, Bruce & Laing recordings, and several of his albums from the 1980s and early '90s. These include Willpower (PolyGram, 1989); A Question of Time (Epic Records, 1989), which includes guest performances by Albert Collins, Nicky Hopkins, and Baker; as well as his CMP Records live career-retrospective album, recorded in Cologne, Germany, Cities of the Heart (1993).

Bruce released Monkjack in 1995, an album of his jazz piano compositions which he performs with organist Bernie Worrell, issued on CMP. Bruce recorded the fierce Shadows in the Air in 2001 with a new band called the Cuicoland Express that included Vernon Reid, Worrell, and Robby Ameen, and guest artists Eric Clapton and Dr. John for the CMC International/Sanctuary imprint. Bruce reunited with Robin Trower for 2008's Seven Moons, released on Evangeline Records, following it with Seven Moons Live a year later in 2009. In 2010 Bruce joined the Tony Williams Lifetime Tribute Band with Reid, organist John Medeski, and drummer Cindy Blackman and toured in the late part of the year and in early 2011 to sold-out performances and rave critical reviews. Also in 2011, Pledge Music, a company that pairs fans and artists to fund projects, released Jack Bruce and the Cuicoland Express Live at the Milky Way, from a 2001 concert in Amsterdam. The high-quality recording was provided by Bruce's daughters, who designed the cover as well.
DoWnLoAd

5501 - JACK BRUCE & HIS BIG BLUES BAND Live 2012, Disc One (2012)

JACK BRUCE & HIS BIG BLUES BAND
''LIVE 2012, DISC ONE''
MAY 21 2012
109:39

DISC ONE
1 - Can You Follow/2:44
2 - Morning Story/8:19
3 - You Burned the Tables On Me/6:28
4 - Neighbour Neighbour/4:19
5 - Child Song/6:33
6 - Weird of Hermiston/3:30
7 - Folk Song/4:55
8 - Spoonful/10:28

DISC TWO
1 - Theme from an Imaginary Western/6:21
2 - Tickets to Waterfalls/4:56
3 - Never tell your mother she's out of tune/4:24
4 - Bad Sign/10:53
5 - We're Going Wrong/10:14
6 - Deserted Cities/4:27
7 - White Room/10:04
8 - Sunshine/10:55

Jack Bruce/vocals, bass, piano
Tony Remy/guitar
Frank Tontoh/drums
Paddy Milner/piano, keys
Nick Cohen/bass
Winston Rollins/trombone
Derek Nash/tenor sax
Paul Newton/trumpet

BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly
Although some may be tempted to call multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer Jack Bruce a rock & roll musician, blues and jazz are what this innovative musician really loves. As a result, these two genres are at the base of most of the recorded output from a career that goes back to the beginning of London's blues scene in 1962. In that year, he joined Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. Throughout the following decades and into the 21st century, Bruce has always been a supreme innovator, pushing himself into uncharted waters with his jazz and folk-rock compositions.

Bruce's most famous songs are, in essence, blues tunes: "Sunshine of Your Love," "Strange Brew," "Politician," and "White Room." Bruce's best-known songs remain those he penned for Cream, the legendary blues-rock trio he formed with drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton in July 1966. Baker and Bruce played together for five years before Clapton came along, and although their trio only lasted until November 1968, the group is credited with changing the face of rock & roll and bringing blues to a worldwide audience. Through their creative arrangements of classic blues tunes like Robert Johnson's "Crossroads," Skip James' "I'm So Glad," Willie Dixon's "Spoonful," and Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign," the group helped popularize blues-rock and led the way for similar groups that came about later on, like Led Zeppelin.

Bruce was born May 14, 1943, in Lanarkshire, near Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a big jazz fan, and so he includes people like Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller among his earliest influences. He grew up listening to jazz and took up bass and cello as a teen. After three months at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, he left, disgusted with the politics of music school. After traveling around Europe for a while, he settled into the early blues scene in 1962 in London, where he eventually met drummer Ginger Baker. He played with British blues pioneers Alexis Korner and Graham Bond before leaving in 1965 to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, whose guitarist was Eric Clapton. This gave him time to get his chops together without having to practice. With Manfred Mann, who he also played with before forming Cream, Bruce learned about the business of making hit songs.

Cream's reputation for long, extended blues jams began at the Fillmore in San Francisco at a concert organized by impresario Bill Graham. Bruce later realized that Cream gave him a chance to succeed as a musician, and admitted that if it weren't for that group, he might never have escaped London. After Cream split up in November 1968, Bruce formed Jack Bruce & Friends with drummer Mitch Mitchell and guitarist Larry Coryell. Recording-wise, Bruce took a different tack away from blues and blues-rock, leaning more in a folk-rock direction with his solo albums Songs for a Tailor (1969), Harmony Row (1971), and Out of the Storm (1974).

In 1970 and 1971, he worked with Tony Williams Lifetime before putting together another power trio with guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing in 1972, simply called West, Bruce & Laing. After working with Frank Zappa on his album Apostrophe in 1974, Bruce was at it again in 1975 with the Jack Bruce Band, whose members included keyboardist Carla Bley and guitarist Mick Taylor. Back on the road in 1980 with Jack Bruce & Friends, the latter version of the group included drummer Billy Cobham, keyboardist David Sancious, and guitarist Clem Clempson, formerly of Humble Pie. In the early '80s, he formed another trio, B.L.T., this time with guitarist Robin Trower, before working with Kip Hanrahan on his three solo albums. Bruce's bluesiest albums include all of his work with Cream, the albums B.L.T. and Truce with Trower, some of his West, Bruce & Laing recordings, and several of his albums from the 1980s and early '90s. These include Willpower (PolyGram, 1989); A Question of Time (Epic Records, 1989), which includes guest performances by Albert Collins, Nicky Hopkins, and Baker; as well as his CMP Records live career-retrospective album, recorded in Cologne, Germany, Cities of the Heart (1993).

Bruce released Monkjack in 1995, an album of his jazz piano compositions which he performs with organist Bernie Worrell, issued on CMP. Bruce recorded the fierce Shadows in the Air in 2001 with a new band called the Cuicoland Express that included Vernon Reid, Worrell, and Robby Ameen, and guest artists Eric Clapton and Dr. John for the CMC International/Sanctuary imprint. Bruce reunited with Robin Trower for 2008's Seven Moons, released on Evangeline Records, following it with Seven Moons Live a year later in 2009. In 2010 Bruce joined the Tony Williams Lifetime Tribute Band with Reid, organist John Medeski, and drummer Cindy Blackman and toured in the late part of the year and in early 2011 to sold-out performances and rave critical reviews. Also in 2011, Pledge Music, a company that pairs fans and artists to fund projects, released Jack Bruce and the Cuicoland Express Live at the Milky Way, from a 2001 concert in Amsterdam. The high-quality recording was provided by Bruce's daughters, who designed the cover as well.
DoWnLoAd

5500 - THE JOSH PILOT BAND - Price To Pay (2010)

THE JOSH PILOT BAND
''PRICE TO PAY''
APRIL 3 2010
44:34

1. Price To Pay /5:23
2. Leavin' Letter /3:37
3. Drowning In Misery /6:37
4. When I'm Dead /3:49
5. So Long /2:46
6. Mayday /6:18
7. Highway 101 /4:17
8. What's Behind the Sun /2:22
9. Somebody Help Me /5:51
10. Can't Fake the Blues /3:34

ABOUT
JOSH
At eleven years old, Josh heard for the first time, the sounds of AC/DC. His love of the guitar was just
unfolding. Soon thereafter, he listened to bands such as Led Zeppelin and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. As his
love for music grew, so did his album collection. At age 15, he was introduced to a man named Jeff Hargis. Jeff told
Josh that he would teach him how to play guitar. And the love for music blossomed into a career that he had only
dreamed of. "Music is the one love of my life that will never die. It is stronger than any other form of art in the
way that it speaks to you. The opening chord of a song cab have the power to make you cry, or laugh, and take you to
a place that you thought you could never go," says Josh. At age sixteen, he discovered something that spoke to his
heart so much, that he has worked tirelessly ever since, to be a part of. "One day, Jeff and I were sitting in his
basement during a practice," says Josh, "and, Jeff pulled up a song called 'Tribute To Muddy Waters' played by a man
named Walter Trout. We listend and looked at each other and could not believe what we had just heard. At the time,
i didn't know what the blues was. I was just stunned at the sound that i was hearing. It was like listening to exactly
what i wanted out of myself." He has since formed a friendship with the great Walter Trout. "He's (Trout) my
first inspiration for everything I do. Many people who listen to him think 'that isn't the blues' but i'm telling you,
the guy feels every note he plays and every note he sings.
It's absolutely amazing to me and i strive to be able to do that one day." When asked what other inspirations he has,
Josh replied "Well, as of now, I'm listening to a lot of Jack White's stuff with the Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.
The guy is a genius producer and awesome song writer. I also am listening to Ray Lamontagne a lot. I've never cried
so much listening to one person before. His singing gets me every time." Josh is now twenty years old and starting a
career as a musician and songwriter. When asked what he hopes to achieve in music and they way he plans on going
about doing so, he said only "I want it to be like you ordered a Coke at a drive-through, you took a sip
expecting a Coke, and instead you got a root beer. I want it to just come off completely unexpected and different from
what people expect out of blues."

JEFF
Jeff Hargis started playing guitar when he was nine. being a guitar player for forty years, you could say he knows his
way around the neck. He was influenced by such guitarists as Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons, Mark Farner, and Jimi
Hendrix. He switched over to bass to be in this band after teaching Josh guitar for only two years. He's been quoted
as saying "The kid (Pilot) blew me away. There was nothin' else i could teach him. I figured i needed to jump on the
bass because i'd be the only one that could keep up with him." Jeff tears up the bass in an electrifying way
uncomparable to any other bass player around Cincinnati. His influences on bass are Jack Bruce and John Entwhistle.

JASON
Growing up in a home full of music produce from his father, Jason immediately picked up the guitar. Soon
thereafter, he decided that his love was the drums. He played in multiple bands around town such as The Unisex
Pisscans and Mad Catz. His early influences are based predominantly in metal. He quit playing for some time and
came back to it when his father, Jeff, called and told him that he needed to play drums on a demo that Josh and Jeff
were going to make. Jason came a few days later to Jeff's in-home studio and couldn't believe what he heard out of
Josh. They quickly recorded their first demo and have been a band ever since.
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5499 - PETER HAMMIL - Fool's Mate (1971)

PETER HAMMILL
''FOOL'S MATE''
1971
44:28

1. Imperial Zeppelin/3:38
2. Candle/4:16
3. Happy/2:36
4. Solitude/4:56
5. Vision/3:13
6. Re-Awakening/4:01
7. Sunshine/3:56
8. Child/4:25
9. Summer Song (In The Autumn)/2:13
10. Viking/4:44
11. The Birds/3:38
12. I Once Wrote Some Poems/2:56
13. Re-Awakening/4:37
14. Summer Song In The Autumn/2:50
15. The Birds/3:23
16. Sunshine/3:54
17. Happy/2:49

John ? /Vocals (Background)
Hugh Banton /Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Vocals (Background)
Rod Clements /Bass, Violin
Guy Evans /Drums, Percussion, Vocals (Background)
Robert Fripp /Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Peter Hammill /Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Keyboards, Piano, Vocals
David Jackson /Saxophone
Ray Jackson /Harmonica, Harp, Mandolin, Vocals (Background)
Nic Potter /Bass
Martin Pottinger /Drums
Paul Whithead /Drums

BIOGRAPHY
by Steven McDonald
Born Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill, November 5, 1948, in Ealing, London, to parents of fairly good means, Peter Hammill grew up in the embrace of Jesuit teachings, an element that has continued to affect and influence his songwriting throughout his career as much as his studies of philosophy and art. The drive of his particular muse, fueled additionally by the '60s groundswell of new approaches to science fiction (the so-called "New Wave," with Michael Moorcock, Thomas Disch, Harlan Ellison, and others leading the charge, and ex-Deviants leader Mick Farren on its heels) led to collaboration with Chris Judge-Smith at Manchester University, with Van Der Graaf Generator forming around them -- albeit briefly.
The band broke up after a number of gigs, with Hammill going solo. The arrival of a Mercury Records contract led Hammill into the studio, accompanied by various friends, for a brief but intense recording session. Within a matter of hours, Van Der Graaf Generator was reborn, though minus Judge-Smith, and the band had begun to develop the studio relationship with producer John Anthony that would serve them for the next few albums. The basic monolithic VDGG had not yet come about, but Hammill's writing was already setting the tone -- splintered personalities facing the darkness, cosmic secrets just beyond reach, thresholds beyond which lurk sudden death, light-hearted topics one and all. Even their one single, "People You Were Going To," is essentially a jolly happy romp of a tune with a tone of despair beneath. Hammill would later re-record the song for Nadir's Big Chance.
The new band lineup had its own share of uncertainties, with bassist Keith Ellis departing for an unceremoniously brief stint in Uriah Heep. With new bassist/guitarist Nic Potter in tow, VDGG joined Genesis in signing with Anthony Stratton-Smith's new Charisma label. By this point Hammill had begun to refine his songwriting into longer and more ornate forms, with very good results, with his themes touching on twin points of science and mysticism, with the occasional sidestep into more down to earth territory. The first three VDGG albums for Charisma moved through a variety of shattered and darkened landscapes, with some genuinely chilling moments, such as the science-fiction outing "Pioneers Over C" and "Man-Erg," which attempted to address the dual nature of man in approximately 12 minutes flat.
Hammill's first solo outing, Fool's Mate (both a chess and Tarot reference), came alongside the Van Der Graaf Generator album H to He Who Am the Only One. It consisted, in the main, of an assortment of songs deemed too small for the band, material from his early solo days, and so on, items that he seemed to want to clear out of the way. His in-studio help included members of Lindisfarne, another Charisma signing, and Robert Fripp. In contrast, following the dissolution of VDGG following Pawn Hearts, Hammill's sophomore release, The Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night, was a bleak affair indeed. Hammill seemed to need to strip things down to the bare essentials, recording at home (the first appearance of Sofa Sound) for the most part, his lyrics telling more personal tales -- it's only with the concluding "The Black Room" that things sound familiar. Considering the presence of the rest of the band, and that this had originally been intended as a band song, it's hardly a surprise.
With The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage, Hammill began to find a voice away from VDGG, though his writing had yet to completely mature -- "Red Shift" is another cosmic charge, for example. On the other hand, the album sports several stunning tracks, including "Modern," "Wilhelmina," "Forsaken Gardens," and "A Louse Is Not a Home." In Camera saw him handling most of the instrumental work himself and experimenting with ambient soundscapes.
In 1975, he once again dug into the back catalog of his songs, assuming the leather-jacketed persona of Rikki Nadir for Nadir's Big Chance, a noisy, chaotic album of garage band-styled rock & roll. While not exactly the three-chord thrash outing Hammill seems to have wanted (it at least comes undone with the elegaic "Pompeii," if not with "The Institute of Mental Health, Burning"), the album seems to have had its effect in the British music community, being cited by more than a few in the following punk uproar as an influence -- even John Lydon went public with a degree of admiration for Hammill's work. The cult of adoration built up around Hammill has persisted for years, and is seemingly large enough, worldwide, to support him consistently.
1975 saw the rebirth of Van Der Graaf Generator in a somewhat calmer format, while the songs still extended to epic length, the tendency towards proto-jazz explosions with rock underpinnings had been shorn away, the drumming was more laid back, and the lyrics tended towards examinations of people (though the cosmic did make quite a return on Still Life with "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End," though this one had a narrative voice to it).
The first two releases, Godbluff and Still Life, were fine albums, with one of Hammill's finest songs, "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)" appearing on the latter, but the third album, World Record indicated trouble ahead -- a fairly weak, lifeless release that appeared to have come from a band that had lost heart. Indeed it had. The band fractured yet again. Hammill took some time to record Over, an intense solo set going over the breakup of his long-standing relationship, performing a set of songs that alternately raged and offered up a bleak view of life. This set the stage for the next version of the band, now known just as Van Der Graaf, a short-lived effort that managed a single studio release, with a posthumous live album, acidly titled Vital, marking the official end of the band.
Hammill returned to his solo efforts again, initially choosing to record A Black Box by himself, but then adopting a band approach for a number of subsequent releases. By this point his writing had taken on a mature focus, with even the lengthier efforts eschewing the cosmic and mystical in favor of the personal focus, often with a darkly ironic twist. He is capable of being utterly sardonic while maintaining a poker face, a brother in spirit, sometimes, to Leonard Cohen. His ability to chart his own course fully stems from his choice to operate his own record label as an adjunct to his ever-improving studio operation -- it's this studio operation, in fact, that allowed him to return to and remaster the Van Der Graaf recordings in 2000, to produce The Box.
A regular output of new recordings is supported by an ongoing series of concert appearances around the world, as well as numerous collaborations with a bewildering variety of artists -- Roger Eno, Peter Gabriel, and Robert Fripp are just three of dozens. Hammill has also composed ballet music, and the operatic work, The Fall of the House of Usher (based on the Edgar Allan Poe story). He has been married for quite some time and has three daughters, two of whom have made appearances on his albums. Despite his very public persona, however, he remains a somewhat enigmatic and private man whose music confounds some and inspires many.
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5498 - THE FAMOUS - Come Home To Me (2010)

THE FAMOUS
''COME HOME TO ME''
JANUARY 12 2010
49:02

1. Off My Mind /4:16
2. Moving On /4:43
3. Without You /3:22
4. Ain't Much Wrong /4:59
5. Come Home To Me /5:13
6. Mano Negra /3:29
7. Perspicacious /3:38
8. Every Day /4:27
9. Happy /4:21
10. Cold Tonight /5:38
11. Under the Stars (Instrumental) /4:57

Victor Barclay /Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Percussion, Piano, Vocals (Background)
Joe Goldmark /Guest Artist, Pedal Steel
Laurence Scott /Guitar (Acoustic), Percussion, Vocals
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5497 - Bedlam Ballroom Tonite: SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS (2000)

SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS
''BEDLAM BALLROOM TONITE: SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS''
OCTOBER 17 2000
38:14

1. Bedbugs /3:12
2. Baby Wants A Diamond Ring /3:25
3. Do What? /2:42
4. Bent Out Of Shape /2:47
5. Stop Drop and Roll /2:58
6. Hush /4:12
7. It All Depends /3:47
8. Bedlam Ballroom /2:15
9. Just This Side Of Blue /3:08
10. Don't Fix It /3:33
11. Missing Link /3:21
12. Bedlam Reprise /0:21
13. Do It This Way /2:31

Andrew Bird /Guest Artist, Strings, Violin
Stud Cole /Bass, Vocals (Background)
Greg Humphreys /Vocals (Background)
Mike Napolitano /Guitar
John Pfiffner /Bass
Chris Phillips /Drums, Gong, Percussion, Sound Effects
Giustino Riccio /Timbales
George Rossi /Piano
Tim Smith /Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone), Sax (Tenor), Vocals (Background)
Gavo Tomasini /Congas
Katharine Whalen /Banjo, Baritone Ukulele, Vocals
Je Widenhouse /Trumpet
David Wright /Piano, Piano (Electric), Trombone, Vocals (Background), Wurlitzer
James Mathus & His Knockdown Society /Guitar, Vocals

BIOGRAPHY
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The commercialization of alternative music in the '90s resulted in many strange one-hit wonders, but few were quite as unpredictable as Squirrel Nut Zippers. During a time when hipsters were obsessed with swing music in its relation to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin's Rat Pack, the Zippers were fascinated with big-band swing and Harlem, creating a tongue-in-cheek salute to '20s and '30s jazz. For younger listeners familiar with the style but not the content of classic hot jazz, the band was good fun, but purists found the group's vaguely campy sense of humor and amateurish technique off-putting. This debate would never have even been a matter of consideration if "Hell," an incessantly catchy single from their 1997 album Hot, hadn't been able to sneak through loosened alternative airplay to become a novelty hit. "Hell" became a crossover hit on the strength of a bizarrely theatrical vehicle, and Squirrel Nut Zippers quickly became one of the hottest alternative bands of the first half of the year.

Jim Mathus (vocals, guitar, trombone) and Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo) formed Squirrel Nut Zippers in 1993 after leaving Chapel Hill, NC, for the nearby small town of Efland. As soon as they settled in Efland, the couple renovated a farmhouse, where they pursued various arts and crafts, and eventually the band fell into shape as Mathus and Whalen met local citizens like Don Raleigh (bass) and Ken Mosher (guitar, saxophone, vocals) who shared an interest in hot jazz. Before long, Chris Phillips (drums, percussion), Tom Maxwell (vocals, guitar, baritone saxophone, clarinet), and Je Widenhouse (trumpet) were added to the band, which was now named after an old-fashioned candy bar, Squirrel Nut Zippers. The group soon made its live debut in Chapel Hill and within a few months had developed a large fan base throughout the South.

By the end of 1994, Squirrel Nut Zippers had signed with Mammoth Records, and they released their debut album, The Inevitable, in the spring of 1995. The album didn't make much of an impact, but the group continued to tour. Their second album, Hot, was released in January of 1997. Soon after its release, "Hell" became a hit on such influential radio stations as Los Angeles' KROQ, and MTV soon made the video into a buzz clip. By the spring, "Hell" and Hot had become hits, as the single was a staple on modern rock stations. Although the Zippers were now successful, they received mixed reviews, with many critics claiming that they were mocking hot jazz, not paying tribute. Nevertheless, the album went gold, and a second single, "Put a Lid on It," was released in the summer. Perennial Favorites followed in 1998, as did Christmas Caravan. Two years later, the band released Bedlam Ballroom, showcasing a cut by late bandmate Stacy Guess. Squirrel Nut Zippers went on an extended hiatus in the early part of the decade and eventually reconvened in 2008 for the live concert album Lost at Sea, which saw release a year later .
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5496 - ROOMFUL OF BLUES - 45 Live: Recorded Live At The Ocean Mist (2013)

ROOMFUL OF BLUES
''45 LIVE: RECORDED LIVE AT THE OCEAN MIST''
JULY 30 2013
64:27

1. Just Keep On Rockin' /3:48
2. It All Went Down The Drain /5:28
3. Jambalaya /5:01
4. Easy Baby /7:22
5. That's Right! /2:39
6. Crawdad Hole /4:44
7. You Don't Know /3:01
8. Dressed Up To Get Messed Up /3:13
9. Straight Jacquet /6:11
10. I Left My Baby /6:28
11. Blue, Blue World /4:20
12. Somebody's Got To Go /3:56
13. Turn It On, Turn It Up /4:12
14. Flip Flap Jack /4:04

Mark Earley /Sax (Baritone), Sax (Tenor)
Rich Lataille /Clarinet, Composer, Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor)
Phil Pemberton /Vocals
Chris Rivelli /Drums
Rusty Scott /Keyboards
John Turner /Bass
Chris Vachon /Guitar
Doug Woolverton /Trumpet

BIOGRAPHY
by Steve Huey
Over the course of their decades-long existence, Roomful of Blues effectively became a franchise unto themselves, built more on a brand-name collective identity than on the voices of the myriad individual members who kept the band a smoothly humming machine. Describing Roomful of Blues that way, however, gives short shrift to the many accomplished musicians who have emerged from the band's ranks over the years: guitarists Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl, organist Ron Levy, pianist Al Copley, singer Lou Ann Barton, vocalist/harmonica player Sugar Ray Norcia, and drummer Fran Christina (later of the Fabulous Thunderbirds), to name the most prominent. Plus, the band's horn section blossomed into a renowned freelancing unit, backing countless other artists both on-stage and in the studio. They've evolved over the years, too; from a swinging jump blues revivalist group into expert blues historians with a handle on numerous regional variations: Texas, the West Coast, Chicago, New Orleans, Kansas City. Perhaps the best way to put it is that regardless of who was in the group, Roomful of Blues just kept going strong.

A nine-piece outfit for the majority of their existence, Roomful of Blues were founded in Westerly, RI, all the way back in 1967, by guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley. Settling on drummer Fran Christina and bassist Larry Peduzzi, the group began playing around the local club and coffeehouse circuit, initially pursuing a contemporary blues-rock style. Robillard quickly rethought their direction when he discovered jump blues, and in 1970 he added a horn section featuring saxophonists Greg Piccolo (tenor) and Rich Lataille (alto/tenor), plus a more swinging drummer in John Rossi; baritone saxophonist Doug James joined up in 1971. After a couple of years honing their sound and achieving local popularity, Roomful of Blues started supporting established blues artists, and started what would become a 15-year residency at the Knickerbocker Cafe in Westerly. In 1974, they gigged with Count Basie, a professed admirer, and after a few more years of live work, songwriter Doc Pomus finally helped the band get a record deal with Island. Their self-titled debut was released in 1977, and they followed it up with 1979's Let's Have a Party for Antilles. Robillard subsequently left the group to pursue other projects, eventually finding considerable success as a solo artist.

Robillard's spot as guitarist and bandleader was taken by Ronnie Earl, and trombonist Porky Cohen was also added to flesh out the horn section. Meanwhile, female vocalist Lou Ann Barton spent a year with the group, and saxophonist Piccolo subsequently took over, making his vocal debut on 1981's Hot Little Mama (recorded for Blue Flame); the same year, trumpeter Bob Enos joined the group, as did bassist Jimmy Wimpfheimer (who was replaced by Preston Hubbard in 1983). Roomful of Blues' reputation had been growing steadily in the blues world, and they soon attracted more mainstream notice by serving as a studio backing group for legends like Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (1982's Eddie Cleanhead Vinson & Roomful of Blues), Big Joe Turner (1983's Blues Train), and Earl King (1988's Glazed); all three albums in question earned Grammy nominations. Roomful of Blues hit the studios on their own as well, signing with Varrick and recording 1984's Dressed Up to Get Messed Up. Helped by good timing, the record raised the group's profile even further following the emergence of Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and they were able to tour heavily behind it. Unfortunately, Piccolo needed throat surgery, and at first Keith Dunn filled his spot in concert; vocalist/harpist Curtis Salgado was brought in as a longer-term replacement, and fronted the group on 1987's Live at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel; new organist Ron Levy also made his debut there, replacing Copley.

Unfortunately, Ronnie Earl left the group later that year, and while Roomful of Blues remained a popular touring attraction, it would be seven years before they would pull together and reenter the recording studio (at least, on their own; they did back Pat Benatar on 1991's True Love). Predictably, several personnel shifts ensued: Salgado left when Piccolo's voice healed; trombonist Cohen was replaced by Carl Querfurth in 1988 (later serving as the group's producer as well); guitarist Chris Vachon joined in 1990; and new pianist Matt McCabe came on board in 1992. With a trail of busted record deals behind them, Roomful of Blues eventually bankrolled their own sessions and found a home for the result, Dance All Night, on Bullseye Blues in 1994. With Piccolo now departed, Ronnie Earl's longtime friend Sugar Ray Norcia handled vocals and harmonica, and stuck around for the subsequent Bullseye albums Turn It On! Turn It Up! (1995, nominated for a Grammy) and Under One Roof (1997). Following the latter, a mass exodus of personnel left Roomful of Blues down to just a core of drummer Rossi, guitarist Vachon, trumpeter Enos, and saxman Lataille (even the long-running horn team was broken up). The remaining members restored the band to a nine-piece fronted by new vocalist McKinley "Mac" Odom, and returned in 1998 with There Goes the Neighborhood. Prior to recording their next album, longtime stalwart Rossi finally retired from the band and was replaced by Chris Lemp on 2001's Watch You When You Go. Looking to return to a more traditional blues sound, in early 2002 the band replaced Odom with singer/harpist Mark DuFresne. The group moved to Alligator Records in 2003 for That's Right, following it with a string of consistent albums for the label, including 2005's Standing Room Only, 2008's Raisin' a Ruckus, and 2011's Hook, Line & Sinker.
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5495 - MICHAEL LANDAU, ROBBEN FORD, JIMMY HASLIP, GARY NOVAK - Renegade Creation (2010)

MICHAEL LANDAU, ROBBEN FORD, JIMMY HASLIP, GARY NOVAK
''RENEGADE CREATION''
2010
51:05

1 - What's Up/4:40
2 - Soft In Black Jeans/4:03
3 - Destiny Over Me/5:35
4 - God And Rock 'N Roll/3:36
5 - The Darkness/6:07
6 - Renegade Destruction/3:19
7 - Peace Intro/1:57
8 - Peace/4:39
9 - Who Do You Think You Are/6:37
10 - Where The Wind Blows/4:03
11 - Brothers/6:03

Michael Landau/Guitars, Lead Vocals On 1, 3, 6, 10
Robben Ford/Guitars, Lead Vocals On 2, 4, 5, 9
Jimmy Haslip/Bass Guitars
Gary Novak/Drums, Bass Guitar On 11
Dustin Boyer/Backing Vocals, Vocal On Bridge On 3
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5494 - THE JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET - Blow Up! A JTQ Collection (1998)

THE JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET
''BLOW UP! A JTQ COLLECTION''
1998
74:24

1 /Love Will Keep Us Together
Alison Limerick / James Taylor/6:08
2 /It's Your World/3:50
3 /Whole Lotta Love
John Bonham / Willie Dixon / John Paul Jones / Jimmy Page / Robert Plant/4:39
4 /One Way Street
James Taylor/2:20
5 /Blow Up
Herbie Hancock/3:53
6 /Mrs. Robinson
Paul Simon/4:09
7 /Creation (Fanfare for a 3rd Millennium)
James Taylor/4:14
8 /3 Mile Island
James Taylor / John Wilmott/5:39
9 /Europa
Gary Crockett / James Taylor/5:02
10 /Stepping into My Life
Gary Crockett / James Taylor/4:36
11 /Martian Earthwatch
James Taylor/5:16
12 /Mission: Impossible
Lalo Schifrin/3:21
13 /Haitian Breakdown
James Taylor/4:01
14 /Theme from Dirty Harry
Lalo Schifrin/4:33
15 /Check It Out
James Taylor/3:59
16 /In the Hand of the Inevitable
James Taylor/4:53
17 /Love Ballad
Skip Scarborough/3:51

REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Simply put, Blow Up! A JTQ Collection is the most representative set of the band's work until Hammond-Ology (a double disc) a few years later. Released as a joint effort between Acid Jazz and Music Club, it is loaded with 17 burning cuts ranging from raw, woolly spy-groovers like "Mission Impossible" and "Theme from Dirty Harry" by Lalo Schifrin to the monstrous U.K. hit the band had with its instrumental meltdown reading of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" to the funky, soulful groove jazz of tracks such as "3 Mile Island," "One Way Street," and "In the Hand of the Inevitable." The harder-driving funked-up jazz-rock (and that doesn't mean fusion) on "Europa" and "Check It Out" illustrate yet another side of the band's seemingly limitless forte at the time, just as slower tunes like a fine instrumental cover of Paul Simon's "Mrs. Robinson" and the gorgeous "Love Ballad" do their soulful side. If you can hunt this baby down, it'll be cheap, it sounds great, and it has decent liners. Well worth investigating, but be forewarned: you'll be digging for the original albums before long should you attempt a listen.

Biography
When the Medway Valley’s psychedelic-mod hopefuls the Prisoners disbanded in 1986, organist James Taylor vowed to move into the realms of jazz, and away from rock. Assembling a quartet from Kent, England, comprising fellow Prisoner bass player Alan Crockford and ex-Daggermen personnel Simon Howard (drums) and Taylor's brother David (guitar), the band recorded a BBC session for disc jockey John Peel before Taylor retired to Sweden for a break. However, the broadcast made such an impression that the band was signed to new "mod" label Re-Elect the President. A mini-album of cover versions, Mission Impossible, featured "organ groovy" '60s soundtrack instrumentals like the single "Blow Up," with Jimmy Smith and Booker T. & the MG's providing the strongest influences. The Money Spyder took the theme a stage further; while the Damned had mocked the psychedelic soundtrack as Naz Nomad & the Nightmares, the JTQ reminisced on the beat and jazz age. Taylor become frustrated with the band's limitations, and by the time Wait a Minute appeared on Polydor Records dance offshoot, Urban, in September 1988, only his brother remained with him in the group.
For a powerful remake of "The Theme from Starsky and Hutch," new jazz musicians and ex-James Brown horn players were recruited, as the JTQ found themselves central to a new, London-based acid jazz movement. Howard and Crockford, meanwhile, provided the rhythm section for ex-Prisoners guitarist Graham Day's new project, the Prime Movers. A further development for the JTQ came with the recruitment of two rappers for May 1989's "Breakout." This single hinted at a move away from jazz toward the dance charts, but Do Your Own Thing combined both elements, alongside a continuing debt to the original fusion of jazz/dance and rare groove, not least on their rousing rendition of the '70s club favorite, "Got to Get Your Own." A long overdue live album, Absolute, was released in 1991 on the Polydor subsidiary, Big Life. While ex-Style Council and Jazz Renegades drummer Steve White served in the JTQ for a time, Taylor himself has also made several guest performances, including appearances for the Wonder Stuff, the Pogues, and U2. More permanent members of the JTQ include Gary Crockett (bass), Neil Robinson (drums), Dominic Glover (trumpet), and John Wilmott (saxophone, flute). "Love the Life" and "See a Brighter Day," featuring new lead singer Noel McKoy, saw them bid for chart success in 1993, but once the spurious acid house bubble had burst, Taylor was able to concentrate on making music without the pressure of following a trend. The band's subsequent work, which has been released on a variety of labels including Acid Jazz Records, JSP, and Gut, has seen a return to the Hammond groove-jazz style of Jimmy McGriff and Jimmy Smith. In 1997, Taylor's composition "Austin's Theme" was featured in the hit movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
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5493 - JOHN ILLSLEY - Streets Of Heaven (2010)

JOHN ILLSLEY
''STREETS OF HEAVEN''
MAY 16 2010
48:05

1. Toe The Line /4:11
2. Tell Me /4:42
3. Streets Of Heaven /4:23
4. Young Girl /3:20
5. Only Time Will Tell /4:26
6. Banks Of The River /4:15
7. No Way To Say Goodbye /4:33
8. I Thought I Saw It Coming /4:48
9. Is It Real /4:21
10. Big Top /4:19
11. Foreign Land /4:47

Lee Boylan /Drums
Danny Cummings /Percussion
Andy Cutting /Melodion
Guy Fletcher /Keyboards, String Arrangements, Backing Vocals
John Illsley /Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Mark Knopfler /Guitar
John McCusker /Fiddle, Whistle
Paul Spong /Trumpet
Steve Tierney /Bass
Chris White /Brass Arrangement, Flute, Saxophone
Polly Wood /Backing Vocals
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5492 - JIMMY VIVINO & THE BLACK ITALIANS - 13 Live (2012)

JIMMY VIVINO & THE BLACK ITALIANS
''13 LIVE''
DECEMBER 1 2012
58:48

1 /Fat Man
Derrick Morgan/5:25
2 /Soulful Dress
Maurice McAlister / Terry Vail/4:03
3 /From a Buick 6
Bob Dylan/3:00
4 /Fast Life Rider
Johnny Winter/5:02
5 /Fool's Gold
James Vivino/5:51
6 /Heaven in a Pontiac
James Vivino/3:30
7 /Animalism
Felix Cabrera / Secundo A. Farinas / James ''Pookie'' Young/4:21
8 /Light Up or Leave Me Alone
James Capaldi/4:36
9 /What Do I Have To Do (To Prove My Love To You)
James Brown / Marva Whitney/3:27
10 /Miss Mona
James Vivino/4:36
11 /Maggie's Farm
Bob Dylan/5:41
12 /Song For Levon
James Vivino/4:33
13 /Shape I'm In
Jaime Robertson/4:43

Felix Cabrera/Harmonica, Lead And Backing Vocals
Justin Guip/Snare Drum On 4
Mike Jacobson/Congas, Bass Drum On 4, Percussion
Danny Louis/Keyboards, Trombone, Snare Drum On 4, Backing Vocals
Mike Merritt/Bass Guitar
Catherine Russell/Lead And Backing Vocals
Jimmy Vivino/Guitar, Piano On 12, Lead And Backing Vocals
Fred Walcott /Percussion, Timbales
James Wormworth/Drums

BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Jimmy Vivino has enjoyed a high-visibility gig in recent years as part of the Max Weinberg Seven on TV's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Vivino began his musical education on trumpet, an instrument his father Jerome also played; his earliest musical memories are of his father spinning Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge records at their home in Glen Rock, N.J. By the time he was in high school, he was playing lead trumpet and arranging for big bands.

After hearing producer/impresario Al Kooper play organ with Blood, Sweat & Tears, Vivino was inspired to begin teaching himself organ. He didn't begin playing guitar until 1978, studying with Joe Cinderella and jazz guitarist Jack Wilkins. Given his love for Louis Armstrong, he was naturally drawn to blues -- in particular, the music of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with guitarist Michael Bloomfield. In the late '70s and early '80s, he was able to meet Muddy Waters on several occasions through his friend Brian Bisesi, who was an auxiliary guitarist when Waters was passing through the New Jersey/New York area.

Allan Pepper, the owner of New York's Bottom Line nightclub, took an active interest in Vivino's career as a guitarist and arranger, and soon Vivino found himself working with musicians as varied as Phoebe Snow, Laura Nyro, Felix Cavaliere, and Dion. Vivino also played with Jules Shear and Steve Holly in a New York group called the Reckless Sleepers.

After Al Kooper asked Vivino to assemble a band for his New York performances, mostly at the Bottom Line, Vivino began accompanying him there, later recording with him on the MusicMasters/BMG albums Soul of a Man and Rekooperation. Vivino later began playing with Chuck Berry pianist Johnnie Johnson in 1990, all the while honing his fingerpicking chops with John Sebastian's J-Band.

Since Late Night with Conan O'Brien began in 1992, Vivino has been an integral part of the Max Weinberg Seven. He'd known Weinberg from a regional R&B group, Killer Joe, which both were a part of. Although he has the benefit of a glamorous day job as part of the house band for O'Brien's show, he remains a humble student of the blues.

When Vivino finally had the chance to record his own album, it was not a moment too soon. Unlike a lot of more seasoned musicians, Vivino has always been ambitious, involving himself in a multitude of bands and projects, learning as much as could about various musical genres from the best available sources. Not surprisingly, Vivino decided to record his debut album the old-fashioned way. He and his band cut it in the space of two days, without rehearsing the material backwards and forwards. This contributes an air of spontaneity and a live feeling to Do What Now? (MusicMasters/BMG, 1997). He's joined by his musical heroes, Al Kooper (who produced the album) and bassist Harvey Brooks; guests on Do What, Now? include former Stevie Ray Vaughan keyboardist Reese Wynans, John Sebastian on harmonica, and Sam Bush on mandolin.

When he's not taping shows with O'Brien, Vivino can be found hanging out in New York's blues clubs at night, sometimes to sit in, other times just to sit and listen.
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5491 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - Endless Highway: The Music Of The Band (2007)

VARIOUS ARTISTS
''ENDLESS HIGHWAY: THE MUSIC OF THE BAND''
JANUARY 30 2007
79:30

1 /The Wheel's on Fire
Rick Danko / Bob Dylan - Guster/3:24
2 /King Harvest
Robbie Robertson - Bruce Hornsby/4:04
3 /It Makes No Difference
Robbie Robertson - My Morning Jacket/6:20
4 /I Shall Be Released
Bob Dylan - Jack Johnson, Animal Liberation Orchestra/4:12
5 /The Weight
Robbie Robertson - Lee Ann Womack/4:49
6 /Chest Fever
Robbie Robertson - Widespread Panic/6:35
7 /Up on Cripple Creek
Robbie Robertson - Gomez/4:38
8 /The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Robbie Robertson - The Allman Brothers Band/5:05
9 /Stage Fright
Robbie Robertson - Steve Reynolds/3:45
10 /Rag Mama Rag
Robbie Robertson - Blues Traveler/3:19
11 /Whispering Pines
Richard Manuel / Robbie Robertson - Jakob Dylan, Lizz Wright/4:06
12 /Acadian Driftwood
Robbie Robertson - The Roches/6:21
13 /The Unfaithful Servant
Robbie Robertson - Rosanne Cash/4:57
14 /When I Paint My Masterpiece
Bob Dylan - Josh Turner/5:04
15 /Life Is a Carnival
Rick Danko / Levon Helm / Robbie Robertson - Trevor Hall/4:10
16 /Look out Cleveland
Robbie Robertson - Jackie Greene/3:14
17 /Rockin' Chair
Robbie Robertson - Death Cab for Cutie/5:27

REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
As a rule, tribute records are problematic; there are some tunes that shine, others that are interpreted as if the performer has no idea what the original artist was about. Amazingly, that's not so on Endless Highway: The Music of The Band, despite a wider ranging roster than is usually proffered. This is also a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Martin Scorsese's brilliant film The Last Waltz commemorating the Band's farewell concerts in San Francisco. The array here is simply dazzling. Recordings artists from across the popular music spectrum participate: there are the jam bands like the Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic and Blues Traveler; there are indie rockers like Guster, My Morning Jacket, and Death Cab for Cutie; big modern country names like Josh Turner and Lee Ann Womack; modern adult alternative popsters like Rosanne Cash, Bruce Hornsby and Jack Johnson; unclassifiable rockers like Gomez; and modern-day folkies like Jackie Greene and Steve Reynolds, with the Roches on the set, too. And while Bob Dylan isn't here, Jakob is, in duet with Liz Wright on a gorgeous reading of "Whispering Pines." But then, this whole thing works. Guster's reverent and moving read of "This Wheel's on Fire," opens the set; it's a beautiful place to start because it's followed in true Band fashion by Hornsby's swinging, funky rendition of "King Harvest," only to be underscored by My Morning Jacket's "It Makes No Difference." It's true that nobody could sing this song like Rick Danko, but it's played with such understated passion and tension that it's as necessary a cover as there ever has been. While everybody refers to the Staple Singers cover of "The Weight," Lee Ann Womack brings the song back to its country roots with a vengeance It's still a back porch gospel tune, but Womack underscores the rural grit in the tune.
Wow! Gomez count the Band among their many influences and have been playing its songs for over a decade. Their version of "Up on Cripple Creek" is a testament to this. It's not radically re-interpreted, but as an English band, these cats get the hip and greasy funkiness in the original and bring it out. The live version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," sung by Gregg Allman, is slow, ragged, and close to stunning. One would have to say that the Roches have been destined by God to cover "Acadian Driftwood." While it is inextricably linked to the Band's drummer Levon Helm, the Roches add a completely different spin on this with their wistful, female take on the dislocation, exile, and regret. Rosanne Cash's "Unfaithful Servant" is one of the finest moments here and shows a great empathy for Robbie Robertson's lyric writing. Yeah, Josh Turner's deep hillbilly reading of Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece," which the Band incomparably covered, is wonderful and nails the simplicity in Dylan's narrative as well as having a backing band that idles up to the Band's instrumental acumen. The set closes with a darkly interpreted version of "Rockin' Chair" by Death Cab for Cutie. The sense of loss, reverie, and loneliness underscores Robertson's intent, and the understated horns evoke the longing for Dixieland emphatically. In fact, there is only one cut here that doesn't work -- Jack Johnson's -- his utter lack of feeling in "I Shall Be Released" is unforgivable for one of the greatest prison songs ever penned by Dylanand definitively recorded by the Band. Johnson's lack of lyricism and forced innocence do not ring true for the material. Otherwise, Endless Highway is not only a fitting tribute to the Band, but a necessary one and a blueprint for how it should be done.
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5490 - DANNY GATTON - 88 Elmira St. (1991)

DANNY GATTON
''88 ELMIRA ST.''
1991
50:44

1 /Funky Mama
Big John Patton/5:41
2 /Elmira St. Boogie
Danny Gatton/4:03
3 /Blues Newburg
Danny Gatton/4:10
4 /Quiet Village
Les Baxter/4:49
5 /Red Label
Chris Battistone / Danny Gatton/5:05
6 /In My Room
Gary Usher / Brian Wilson/4:53
7 /The Simpsons
Danny Effman/3:17
8 /Muthaship
Danny Gatton / Billy Windsor / Stephen Windsor/4:39
9 /Pretty Blue
Danny Gatton/6:07
10 /Fandingus
Danny Gatton/3:06
11 /Slidin' Home
Danny Gatton/4:54

Shannon Ford /Drums, Percussion
Danny Gatton /Arranger, Banjo, Bass, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Handclapping, Lap Steel Guitar, Slide Guitar, String Bass
Bill Holloman /Arranger, Clarinet, Handclapping, Organ, Organ (Hammond), Piano, Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone), Sax (Tenor), Synthesizer, Trombone, Trumpet, Vibraphone, Vocals
Tom Lepson /Organ
Matt Martinez /Handclapping
John Previti /Bass, Bass (Upright), String Bass
Howard Thompson /Handclapping

REVIEW
By Cub Koda
After years of knocking around the Washington, D.C.-area circuit, local guitar legend Danny Gatton finally got to cut his first album for a major label. It was indeed worth the wait, spot-welding blinding speed and immaculate chops that went in a million different directions (jazz, country, rockabilly, blues, you name it) to a musical sensibility that made this all-instrumental album a whole lot more than just yer average fretboard wanking jam-fest. Gatton's Telecaster really shines on diverse material ranging from Martin Denny's "Quiet Village" to the roadhouse shuffle "Funky Mama" to the off-the-wall rendition of the theme to The Simpsons. Kudos to Elektra for having the corporate balls to put this out; short, chunky, and middle-aged, Danny Gatton was a bona fide guitar hero for the '90s, putting the lie to the hard canard that only speedburner metal mega-hair dudes can make the front covers of the guitar mags.

BIOGRAPHY
by Steve Huey
Guitar virtuoso Danny Gatton was known for the incredibly wide stylistic range of his playing; based in rockabilly, Gatton's musical vocabulary included R&B, pop, country, rock, and jazz, all of which he could play effectively. Gatton began playing at age nine, joining his first band, the Lancers, three years later. In 1960, Gatton pursued a jazz direction when he joined the Offbeats, where pianist/organist Dick Heintze proved to be one of Gatton's biggest influences. The band broke up four years later, and Gatton moved to Nashville to get into session work; there he met Roy Buchanan, who briefly became his roommate and taught him more about his instrument of choice. Eventually, Gatton built a reputation as a top-notch guitarist around his native Washington, D.C., area through his club performances. He recorded an album with his backing band the Fat Boys titled American Music in 1975 and followed it with Redneck Jazz in 1978. The band on the latter featured steel guitarist Buddy Emmons, drummer Dave Elliott, and eventual longtime cohorts Evan Johns on vocals and rhythm guitar and John Previti on bass.

Gatton's albums led to offers from other musicians to join their bands. Lowell George extended an invitation after leaving Little Feat, but was found dead two days later. Gatton wound up touring with country singer Roger Miller and rockabilly artist Robert Gordon, giving him national exposure and a growing cult among guitar fans, who traded bootlegs of Gatton concerts. Gatton returned to Washington, D.C., to be near his friends and family while playing up and down the East Coast with several bands and doing session work. When Gatton purchased an old farmhouse in need of expensive renovations in 1988, he decided to pursue his music career more seriously. He released his first solo album since 1978 the next year, Unfinished Business, which drew notices from several guitar-oriented magazines as well as Rolling Stone. Elektra Records signed him during the summer, and he made his major-label debut in 1991 with the tremendously varied instrumental album 88 Elmira St. 1992 saw Gatton's first straight-ahead jazz album, New York Stories, recorded for none other than Blue Note. Gatton toured the nation solo for the first time in 1993 in support of Cruisin' Deuces, but its lack of success, coupled with the departure of A&R man Howard Thompson from Elektra, spelled the end of Gatton's association with the label. Gatton returned to session work to pay the bills, but sustained a further blow when rhythm guitarist Billy Windsor died of a heart attack early in 1994. Gatton collaborated with organ virtuoso Joey DeFrancesco on Relentless in May and toured Europe during the summer. Sadly, on October 4, 1994, Gatton locked himself in his garage and shot himself. He left behind no explanation.
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5489 - CHRIS GATES AND GATESVILLE - Welcome To Gatesville (2010)

CHRIS GATES AND GATESVILLE
''WELCOME TO GATESVILLE''
SEPTEMBER 16 2010
65:03

1. Those Were The Days /3:35
2. I'm Not Your Man /4:41
3. Devil's On My Trail /5:41
4. Forever Came Today /5:37
5. Lowdown And Dirty /4:53
6. Broken Hearts & Faded Pictures /5:44
7. Loving You /5:27
8. Searching For You /4:06
9. Being The Man Of My Dreams /6:09
10. Southern Man /3:51
11. Come See About Me /6:32
12. Simple Man /8:47

BIO
I've been playing music for my entire life...Played in the Big Boys from '79 to '84, Poison 13 from '83 - '85, Junkyard from '86 -'92, the Skatenigs in '93 & '94, 99pounds from '96 to 2001, The Charter Bulldogs from 2002 - 2005, and now this. Pretty cool...

This actually began with a conversation... I was talking to my buddy Jon Dee Graham about the fact that I hadn't really written much that was meaningful lyrically for nearly 10 years. That conversation lead to a new approach to writing and a new focus musically.

A couple of months into writing and demo-ing the songs it dawned on me that I was actually in the process of starting a solo project - an idea that was a bit daunting after 25 years of writing and letting someone else do the singing... I love that there are still things that scare me creatively, even after all this time.

Once it got to be time to put a band together, fate and a bunch of mutual friends sent guitar wiz Tony Redman my way... Our first meeting was where Gatesville really began. The more we play together, the more we push each other and the music to see just what we can wring out of'er. The band went through a couple of line-up changesuntil we found Scott Womack on bass and Paul Soliz on drums. Once this line-up came together the band and the music took on a life of it's own.

We started working on a new record - "Welcome To Gatesville" in January 2010 and it's slated for a late April 2010 release.

Playing music I love the way I want to play it with guys I love hanging out with... doesn't get much better than that...
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