After the trip to the basement to browse through the vinyl, I came up with five albums to put on the turntable and listen to and remember when. Tonight I listened to one side of each of the albums. The albums were: An Anthology of British Blues, featuring various British blues musicians, Lord Sutch and His Heavy Friends, The Souther Hillman Furay Band, A Long Time Comin’ The Electric Flag, and David Buskin.
Today was a mixed blues day, I started by going to the Roots Music Report and looking at the Blues chart. A couple of musicians with new albums stood out one I knew Coco Montoya and the other not so much, one of those artist, where I know the name not the music, Guitar Shorty. So I downloaded both the albums and started the day with Coco Montoya’s new CD I Want it All Back. I first heard Coco Montoya’s guitar on John Mayall’s album Chicago Line, which is an outstanding album and Montoya’s guitar playing is one of the reasons. Since then 
I’ve picked up a couple of his albums, generally, I like his guitar playing more than his vocals and on first listen that is the way I feel about this album. Generally, the songs are just ok, not really all that straight up blues but more rhythm and blues. One of the tracks stood out because it was a more straight blues number “Fannie Mae”, was one of the few tracks with some nice blues harp in it and it is my favorite track. You know there’s jazz and then there’s smooth jazz on first listen this album is smooth blues! But again, I do like Coco’s guitar work! Overall it’s like a 3 out of 5 for me.
Today’s mix contains some forgotten music by some musicians I’ve mentioned recently. The mix started of with the song “Long Afternoons” by Paul Seibel from the album Woodsmoke and Oranges. I always loved this song, years after this album Jerry Jeff did a nice cover on his 1977 A Man Must Carry On album and rerecorded it on the Gypsy Songman album. Here’s Jerry Jeff performing it in 2009
So Thursday’s eclectic mix started with three CDs I picked up at the Dollar Tree the other night. 
First up was a self-titled album Tribaljazz from a band that I had never heard of, but the sticker on the cover said it was John Densmore’s (drummer of The Doors) band so, aside from the price, that was good enough reason for me to pick it up. The band is a great eclectic jazz band lead by John Densmore on drums and Art Ellis on flute and the rest of the band is composed of musicians from around the world. John Densmore from the liner notes:
So in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and my McCloskey ancestors, yes, they are the ones that my wife keeps finding newspaper articles about often being arrested in Beverly. Mostly for drunk and disorderly behavior including, my great-grandmother Margaret McCloskey Ashton, I listened to some Irish blues men, Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore. Now Rory Gallagher is one of those artist that I’ve heard the name and never really listened to their music, while Garry Moore I’ve heard and really like. The Gallagher album that I chose was Live at Montreux and is a collection of recording made during his performances in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1985.Overall, I liked the album, but it was a little more blues rocky than the blues I usually listen to. There was one song that stood out on my second listen “Out on the Western Plain”. That track had a really neat acoustic sounding guitar. Also “Last of the Independents” and “Mississippi Sheiks” stood out. There are some good reviews at Amazon from fans who know more than me about Gallagher. Sadly, Gallagher passed away from complications after a liver transplant in 1995 at the age of 47. Also, I was surprised to read at Amazon that Hendrix rated Gallagher second to himself as a guitarist. I guess I will have to listen to some more Rory Gallagher!
So according to my Avalon Ballroom calender today is not only St. Patrick’s Day but also, Paul Kanter’s birthday! Paul was born in 1941 so that makes him 69 years young, just remember 60 is the new 40 so says the man approaching 60! Anyway Jefferson Airplane was always one my favorite bands and 3/5 of a mile in 10 seconds – the live version from Bless It’s Pointed Little Head along with enjoy Grace Slick and Marty Balin’s vocals I always loved Jorma Kaukonen’s guitar work. I also am a fan of Hot Tuna! A few years ago Jorma got together a bunch of fine bluegrass pickers and put out a great bluegrass album Blue Country Heart. Since then he has put out two more fine albums Stars in My Crown and River of Time. But back to the Airplane has anyone listened to the self-titled reunion album put out in 1989. I really liked that album! Any thoughts?
I started the day today listening to Carrie Newcomer’s new album Before & After. Before & After is the 12th solo album for the Indiana native and I think maybe her best work ever! The album has a little of everything and it takes more than one or two listens to take it all in. On the first listen, which actually last week the first song that really stood out to me was “Stones in the River” I just loved the symbolism of the chorus:
One of my favorite bands from the 60’s and early 70’s was Ten Years After and not just because of Alvin Lee’s guitar wizardry. No, while I liked the overall blues rock feel of the band and loved tracks like “Good Morning, Little School Girl” and “Woke up this Morning”‘ I also liked that the rest of the bands members could play and the strong jazz influences on their early albums particularly 
on the second release Undead. I loved the track “Woodchopper’s Ball”. A cover of the Woody Herman hit. The band was the first band booked by the Chrysalis Agency and their performance at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1967 led to their contract with Deram Records. I have their albums from the first release Ten Years After through Cricklewood Green. Which was their fifth album and contained the hit “Love Like a Man”. After that album the band took a more
commercial turn with A Space in Time which contained the song “I’d Love to Change the World and I kinda drifted away. The band ultimately broke up in 1974 when Alvin Lee embarked on a solo career.
