Saturday, 30 January 2021

Babe Ruth - First Base (1973) CD

Year: 1973 (CD 1991)
Label: One Way Records (Canada), CDLL-57343
Style: Rock, Art Rock
Country: Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England (1970–1976)
Time: 42:06
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 279 Mb

Babe Ruth were a rock music group active in the 1970s from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. They had a heavy sound marked by powerful vocals from Janita Haan and full arrangements by Alan Shacklock. They had more success in North America than at home.
When the group was first formed in 1971 (year in music), they were called Shacklock after their guitarist Alan Shacklock. Members included Janita Haan and Dave Hewitt. Then Dave Punshon and Dick Powell (brother of Slade drummer Don Powell) joined. The first release was their single "Elusive". The first album, "First Base" went gold in Canada. In 1973, Ed Spevock replaced Powell and Chris Holmes replaced Punshon on the second album. In 1975, Steve Gurl, keyboardist from Wild Turkey replaced Holmes for the third album. The same year, Shacklock exited and Bernie Marsden (Wild Turkey) joined the team for the fourth album. After that Haan and Hewitt left. Though no original member remained, the group got Ellie Hope and Ray Knott for the fifth album in 1976. Shortly before they disbanded they were joined by the young 17 year old Birmingham born Simon Lambeth who made a few appearances on their last tour, his hauntingly naive sound on rhythm guitar behind the lead of Marsden promised much but sadly it was too late; Marsden moved on to bigger things and joined Whitesnake. Simon changed careers and sadly was lost to the music scene.
A disco cover of Babe Ruth's classic "The Mexican" appeared in the late 70's, performed by the Bombers. This version inspired an electro/freestyle cover produced by John Jellybean Benitez in 1984, for which he managed to recruit Haan on vocals. It was a huge underground dance hit.
In late 2005 and early 2006, Haan (now Janita Haan Morris), Shacklock, Punshon, and Hewitt were recording new material together in Nashville [http://www.bobbyshred.com/baberuth.html] , with Spevock recording his drums in London. The album was completed September 2006, and is now available.
(Alan Shacklock (guitars, vocals, organ, percussions) FaceBook - http://www.baberuthband.com/news.asp)

01. Wells Fargo (06:17)
02. The Runaways (07:27)
03. King Kong (06:44)
04. Black Dog (08:03)
05. The Mexican (05:49)
06. Joker (07:43)

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Friday, 22 January 2021

John Mayall - Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966) [Vinyl Rip] 180g, 4 bonus tracks

Year: 22 July 1966 (LP 2008)
Label: Decca Records, Lilith Records (Russia), 900020
Style: Blues Rock
Country: Macclesfield, England
Time: 54:51
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 342 Mb

Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (a.k.a. The Beano Album) is a 1966 blues/blues rock album recorded by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton as part of the band. It is the second album credited to John Mayall after the live John Mayall Plays John Mayall. Clapton left to form Cream after this recording, though would team up again in 1971 for the double LP Back to the Roots.
It is also known as The Beano Album because of its cover photograph showing Eric Clapton reading The Beano, a British children's comic. Clapton stated in his autobiography that he was reading The Beano on the cover because he felt like being "uncooperative" during the photo shoot. The photographer was Derek Wedgbury and the location was near the Old Kent Road.
In 2003 the album was ranked number 195 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Apart from being one of the most influential blues albums, it also started the now-legendary combination of a Gibson Les Paul guitar through an overdriven Marshall Bluesbreaker amplifier.
Originally, John Mayall intended for his second album to be also a live one in order to capture the guitar solos performed by Eric Clapton. A set was recorded at the Flamingo Club, with Jack Bruce (with whom Clapton would subsequently work in Cream) on bass. The recordings of the concert, however, were of bad quality and were scrapped.
The album consists of blues standards by long-established artists such as Otis Rush, Freddie King and Robert Johnson, as well as a few originals penned by Mayall and Clapton. Most tracks serve as a showcase for Clapton's playing. Although he sang on several Yardbirds' recordings, "Ramblin' on My Mind" was Clapton's first recorded solo lead vocal performance, which Eric had been reluctant to record.

Musicians:

John Mayall - lead vocals, piano, Hammond B3 organ, harmonica
Eric Clapton - lead guitar, lead vocals on "Ramblin' on My Mind"
John McVie - bass guitar
Hughie Flint - drums

01. A1 All Your Love (03:34)
02. A2 Hideaway (03:15)
03. A3 Little Girl (02:35)
04. A4 Another Man (01:46)
05. A5 Double Crossing Time (03:02)
06. A6 What'd I Say (04:27)
07. A7 Parchman Farm (02:22)
08. A8 Ramblin' On My Mind (03:08)
09. A9 It Ain't Right (02:39)
10. B1 Key To Love (02:06)
11. B2 Have You Heard (05:52)
12. B3 Steppin' Out (02:28)
13. B4 They Call It Stormy Monday (Bonus Live) (04:33)
14. B5 Intro To Maudie (Bonus Live) (02:25)
15. B6 Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Bonus Live) (06:40)
16. B7 Hoochie Coochie Man (Bonus Live) (03:53)

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Thursday, 21 January 2021

Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) - The Legendary Christine Perfect Album (1976) [Vinyl Rip]

 

Year: 1970 (LP 1976)
Label: Sire Records (USA), SR 6022
Style: Rock
Country: Lancashire, England (12 July 1943)
Time: 37:21
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 206 Mb

 With her naturally smoky low alto vocal style and a knack for writing simple, direct, and memorable songs about the joys and pitfalls of love, Christine McVie has had a long and productive musical career while seldom insisting on being center stage. Born Christine Anne Perfect on July 12, 1943, in the small village of Bouth, the daughter of a concert violinist and a faith healer, a combination that just begs for uniqueness, McVie began playing the piano at the age of four and then found herself seriously studying the instrument at the age of 11, continuing her classical training until she was 15. That?s when she discovered rock & roll. While studying sculpture at an arts college near Birmingham for the next five years, she immersed herself in the local music scene, joining the band Sounds of Blue as a bassist. By the time McVie graduated with a teaching degree, Sounds of Blue had broken up, and she moved to London. In 1968 she reunited with two of the band?s former members, Andy Silvester and Stan Webb, in the British blues band Chicken Shack, playing piano and contributing vocals. The band released two albums, 40 Blue Fingers, Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve in 1968 and O.K. Ken? in 1969, and garnered a Top 20 hit in the U.K. with McVie?s impressive version of Etta James? ?I?d Rather Go Blind.? She left the band in 1969 after meeting Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie, marrying him a year later, just after the release of her first solo album, the self-titled Christine Perfect.
Following the marriage, and now known as Christine McVie, she joined Fleetwood Mac as a pianist and singer and remained a member for the next 25 years, becoming a superstar in 1975 as part of the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks version of the band. She and John McVie divorced in 1978, although both continued as members of Fleetwood Mac through the albums Tusk (1979) and Mirage (1982). She recorded and released a second solo album, simply called Christine McVie, in 1984. She married keyboardist Eddy Quintela in 1986. They would separate four years later in 1990 (and divorce later in the decade), just as the band -- now minus Buckingham -- released Behind the Mask. Following the tour for that album, McVie announced to the band that she would not longer go on the road, although she continued to work in the studio with them, contributing five songs to 1995?s Time. A reunion of the Buckingham/Nicks incarnation of the band for 1997?s live The Dance followed, and McVie did the resulting tour with the group before officially retiring from Fleetwood Mac in 1998 after the group?s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that year. She then lived quietly out of the music limelight until the release of her third solo album, In the Meantime, in 2004.
(Steve Leggett, Rovi. www.billboard.com/artist/299258/christine-mcvie/biography)

 01. A1 Crazy Bout You Baby (03:05)
02. A2 I'm On My Way (03:13)
03. A3 Let Me Go (Leave Me Alone) (03:39)
04. A4 Wait And See (03:18)
05. A5 Close To Me (02:45)
06. A6 I'd Rather Go Blind (03:16)
07. B1 When You Say (03:18)
08. B2 And That's Saying A Lot (03:02)
09. B3 No Road Is The Right Road (02:53)
10. B4 For You (02:50)
11. B5 I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around) (03:30)
12. B6 I Want You (02:26)

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Sunday, 17 January 2021

Rick Wakeman - The Myths and Legends Of King Arthur (1975) [Vinyl Rip, 1st press]

Year: 1975 (LP 1975 1st Press)
Label: A & M Records (UK), AMLH 64515
Style: Symphonic Rock, Rock
Country: Perivale, London (born 18 May 1949)
Time: 44:40
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 263 Mb

Solo Career:
In August of 1971 Wakeman left Strawbs and joined a group called Yes as a replacement for one of the original band members, Tony Kay. Wakeman’s first album with that group was released in early in 1972. The recording, called Fragile, drew praise as a classic example of progressive rock, and by 1972, the band was a worldwide sensation. Wakeman played with Yes until 1974 when Patrick Moraz replaced Wakeman who left the group to further his solo career. Wakeman returned to Yes in 1976 and remained with the group until the end of the decade, after which time he continued a sporadic association with the group.
Even during his years with Yes, Wakeman spent a great deal of time in solo recording sessions for A&M Records. His earliest releases received notable reviews and earned gold records. Six Wives of Henry VIII was released in January of 1973, and Journey to the Center of the Earth appeared in 1974. Journey, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and narrated by David Hemmings, was an original Wakeman composition, based on the Jules Verne novel by the same name. The recording topped the charts in England, and Wakeman performed the composition at London’s Royal Festival Hall on January 18, 1974. He recorded his next album, Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, with the English Chamber Choir in 1975. Myths received mixed reviews, and Wakeman recorded and released afourth album, No Earthly Connection, in 1976, shortly before he rejoined with Yes. His reunion with Yes was encouraged by the resurgence of longer, symphonic renditions by the group, music that was abandoned during Wakeman’s absence. The Wakeman charisma was seen especially on their 1977 gold album, Going for the One, and their platinum release, Tormato, in 1978. According to Irwin Stambler in Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock Soul, Wakeman returned to Yes because, “they were back to playing the kind of music they should be playing.” Wakeman also recorded two solo albums for A&M during the nextfewyears: CriminalRecordin 1977, and Rhapsodies in 1979.
In 1980 Wakeman left Yes once more and signed with Charisma Records. Later in 1990, he reunited with Yes co-founder Jon Anderson Bruford, to try to reignite Yes. Although the reunion failed to earn critical approval, the music received a warm reception from audiences. In 1989 Wakeman rejoined with his old Yes bandmates to form the group Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe. The foursome released an album that sold over a million copies worldwide; they tou red extensively that year, and in 1991 their album, Union, sold over two million copies worldwide. Wakeman toured extensively throughout the United States with Yes in 1977, 1978, 1979, and again in 1991.
(www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/wakeman-rick)

Rick Wakeman - synthesisers, keyboards, grand piano
Gary Pickford-Hopkins - lead vocals
Ashley Holt - lead vocals
Geoffrey Crampton - lead and acoustic guitars
Roger Newell - bass guitar
Barney James - drums
John Hodgson - percussion
New World Orchestra, English Chamber Choir

01. A1 Arthur (07:26)
02. A2 Lady Of The Lake (00:46)
03. A3 Guinevere (06:44)
04. A4 Sir Lancelot And The Black Knight (05:22)
05. B1 Merlin The Magician (08:51)
06. B2 Sir Galahad (05:51)
07. B3 The Last Battle (09:38)

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Saturday, 16 January 2021

West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Volume Two (1967) CD

Year: 1967 (CD 2001)
Label: SUNDAZED Records (USA), SC 6174
Style: Rock, Psychedelia
Country: Los Angeles, California, US
Time: 39:10
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 225 Mb

Contributor: Dave Stephens
With a stupid name like that it was always pretty unlikely that it would work out right for the band.
Couple in the fact that the band’s leader saw himself as the incarnation of hip/alternate, and …
… that the guy who’s reputed to have put the key components of the band together, Kim Fowley, while having a deserved cult following, has never been strongly associated with serious music,
then it might come as a surprise to learn that The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band managed to release six albums, some of which contained some really good music.
There were two parts to the jigsaw. The first part was Bob Markley, adopted son of a wealthy oil magnate. Bob had studied law, which was to come in useful, but he was also an aspiring record star – he’d released a couple of singles on his own label. The other part was an existing band, the Laughing Wind, who’d also cut a few singles. The band comprised brothers Danny and Shaun Harris, on lead and bass guitar respectively, Michael Lloyd also on guitar, plus John Ware, drums. All bar Ware handled vocals. Most of the boys had worked in previous bands in the L.A. area.
At a party held in Markley’s Beverly Hills mansion in August 1965, attended by the Harris Brothers, Michael Lloyd, Kim Fowley and plenty more, with musical entertainment provided by the Yardbirds amongst others, our hero/anti-hero had one of those eureka moments and decided that groups were the in thing, and, armed with the introduction from Fowley, proposed to the Laughing Wind that, if he could join the group as vocalist and songwriter, he would purchase new gear for them plus a light show and would cover the boys’ touring expenses. This was agreed and Markley came up with the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band name. Not only that, he ensured that legally he owned the band’s name and that he handled the music publishing.
The first album from the WCPAEB, released on the tiny indie FiFo Records (see Footnotes) was titled West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Volume One, perhaps rather optimistically, since it implied a future. Without wishing to be unduly cruel, there wasn’t a lot on the album that signified there might have been a future. Much of it was garage in sound – this was 1966 – but slightly more tender in nature than some bands that got classified under that heading. Outside of five originals which I’ll come on to, the content consisted of covers, some predictable like You Really Got Me and yet another Louie Louie, some rather less predictable including Chris Kenner’s New Orleans rolling rocker Something You Got (a not unpleasing workout which did capture some of the Crescent City laid-back feel) and Oscar Brown/Nat Adderley’s Work Song. Unlike the Georgie Fame vocal version of the song which might have been a Brit source, this take was purely instrumental, in line with the Cannonball Adderley record.
There were two Dylan covers, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue and She Belongs To Me. The first was reasonable but paled in comparison to the versions from Them and the 13th Floor Elevators (with the last named taking the biscuit for sheer freakiness). However the WCPAEB’s version of She Belongs To Me definitely warrants a listen. Starting out with heavy fuzz bass, the record eventually disappears in a storm of feedback and distortion. In comparison, the vocal, which lasts for little more than a minute, is precise and controlled, sounding passably like Dylan without falling into the trap of pastiche. The whole thing is over in less than two minutes though one could well imagine them stretching out on stage.
Of the five originals, three were from Bob Markley with two being Kim Fowley co-writes. Two of this trio were unremarkable attempts at psych, while the other was a soft folk rock thing, not unlike the sort of song P.F. Sloan was producing in the time frame. Which leaves two, I Won’t Hurt You (on which Markley gets another co-write along with Shaun Harris and Michael Lloyd), and If You Want This Love. Both were decent folk rock sounding affairs which was probably why they were selected to turn up again on the group’s second album in more fully realised versions.
Before leaving this set I would note that, for many years the LP was very difficult to get hold of (which didn’t do any harm to the band in terms of cult status), but in 1997 a CD version was released via Sundazed which doubled the number of tracks to 22. It is believed that most, possibly all, of the extra tracks were from the Laughing Wind prior to morphing into the WCPAEB. Certainly they are generally softer in nature with more of an emphasis on harmonies. Their cover of the Left Banke’s She May Call You Up Tonight would illustrate this superbly if only it was on YouTube!
One gets the impression that Markley, who very much saw himself as leader with the rest almost as paid employees, was keen to expunge any memory of the first album, since the second, which saw release on the far more prestigious Reprise label, was entitled The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Part One. I would assume that it was only ‘Part One’ rather than ‘Volume One’ because the latter had been used. Whatever, Markley, with or without the band, evidently saw this as the start and given his general outlook that would probably have been, in his eyes, “the start of something big”.
It wasn’t – the start of something big that is – but it was a mighty fine album in its own right. From the first few bars of track #1, Shifting Sands, you were aware that this was on a different level to the first outing. There was a balance of eight relatively conventional, often Byrds inspired songs, and three freaky ones. If that balance was slightly more skewed to the more accessible stuff, I’d classify this album as great. As it is it’s merely very very good.
The detail: let’s take those freaky ones first. Help, I’m A Rock is, of course, the number from the first Mothers Of Invention album, and it begs the question, why would you want to hear this from anyone other than Frank and the Mothers? Apart from some slight curiosity which, I found, disappeared rather quickly, my answer would be that you wouldn’t. Even the original wasn’t something you would play very frequently but it was essentially Zappa, no one else. I would call Leiyla, Bo Diddley meets Monster Mash. A perfectly good Diddley based backing track with a simplistic but acceptable vocal is marred by a kitsch horror show on top. It does develop but that doesn’t mean it gets better. The most successful of this bunch is 1906. Over a fast guitar + choral riff a narrator intones nonsense lines interspersed with “I don’t feel well” pleas. Presumably a bad trip but considerably more acceptable than the other ‘advanced’ efforts. Markley himself was so impressed with these tracks that Help, I’m A Rock and 1906 were the A-sides of the two singles issued from the album.
(www.toppermost.co.uk)

01. In The Arena (04:14)
02. Suppose They Give a War and No One Comes (03:41)
03. Buddha (02:08)
04. Smell of Incense (05:51)
05. Overture - WCPAEB Part II (01:32)
06. Queen Nymphet (02:20)
07. Unfree Child (04:05)
08. Carte Blanche (02:45)
09. Delicate Fawn (02:31)
10. Tracy Had a Hard Day Sunday (04:36)
11. Smell of Incense (single mix) (02:28)
12. Unfree Child (single mix) (02:52)

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