https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/467991-dc-2314
Last week we shifted gears a bit and went with shorter tracks, many of which were from artists not often heard on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion. This week the trend continues, with artists like Jan Hammer and Tim Hardin joining some of our more regular contributors such as the Doors and Spirit.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Nature's Way
Source: CD: Best Of Spirit (originally released on LP: Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus)
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic
Year: 1970
Nature's Way is one of the best-known and best-loved songs in the Spirit catalog. Originally released on the 1970 LP Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, the song was finally issued as a single in 1973, long after lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes had left Spirit to form Jo Jo Gunne.
Artist: Doors
Title: L.A. Woman
Source: LP: L.A. Woman
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1971
Ray Manzarek became justifiably famous as the keyboard player for the Doors. Before joining up with Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger and John Densmore, however, Manzarek was already making a name for himself as an up-and-coming student filmmaker at UCLA. Although he didn't have much of a need to pursue a career in films once the Doors hit it big, he did end up producing and directing an outstanding video for the title track of the 1971 album L.A. Woman years after the band had split up. I only mention this because, really, what else can I say about a song that you've probably heard a million times or so?
Artist: Steve Miller Band
Title: Steve Miller's Midnight Tango
Source: LP: Number 5
Writer(s): Ben Sidran
Label: Capitol
Year: 1970
I'm sure there's a story behind Ben Sidran, who had replaced Boz Scaggs in the Steve Miller Band, writing a song called Steve Miller's Midnight Tango for the 1970 album Number 5, but I sure can't find it.
Artist: Jan Hammer Group
Title: Don't You Know
Source: 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): Hammer/Reich
Label: Nemperor
Year: 1977
Jan Hammer is best known for composing the music used on the early 80s hit TV show, Miami Vice, including the show's main theme, which won him two Grammy awards in 1986. Born into a musical family (his mother was a popular singer in Czechoslovakia while his father, a doctor, worked his way through medical school playing vibraphone and bass guitar), Hammer first started playing piano at age four, and began to receive formal instruction on the instrument two years later. At age 14 he was performing throughout Eastern Europe (then part of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact) with his own jazz trio, and after high school began attending the Prague Academy of Musical Arts. His formal education was cut short by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Hammer soon emigrated to the US, where he attended Boston's Berklee School of Music. He continued to play jazz, touring with Sarah Vaughan and did some session work for Elvin Jones before moving to Manhattan, where he became an original member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was one of the first jazz keyboardists to embrace synthesizer technology, and after doing more session work following the breakup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hammer formed his own jazz-rock fusion group in 1976. Don't You Know, on which Hammer plays almost all of the instruments as well as backup vocals, features Fernando Saunders on lead vocals. The song was the only single taken from the Jan Hammer Group's second LP, Melodies, which was released in 1977. Hammer has continued to record over the years, both as a solo artist and as a collaborator with such notables as Neal Schon, Jeff Beck and Mick Jagger. His latest album, Seasons-Part 1, was released in 2018.
Artist: Tim Hardin
Title: Hoboin'
Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (original released in US on LP: Bird In A Cage)
Writer(s): Hooker/Josea
Label: Sony Music (original US label: Columbia)
Year: 1971
Although Tim Hardin is best known for songs he wrote that became hits for other artists, such as Reason To Believe and If I Were A Carpenter, he had a recording career of his own as well. He originally signed with Columbia in 1964, but the label terminated his contract before any of his recordings got released. Two years later he signed with the Verve Forecast label, releasing four LPs before re-signing with Columbia in 1969. The label sent him to Nashville to work with studio musicians there, but none of those recordings were considered good enough to be released. Instead, he returned to his home in Woodstock, NY, and recorded Suite for Susan Moore and Damion: We Are One, One, All in One, a cycle of songs dedicated to his wife and son, that became his first release for Columbia. Following his performance at the Woodstock festival later that year, Hardin went to work on his next LP, Bird In A Cage. Unlike Hardin's previous albums, all the backing tracks on Bird In A Cage were recorded before Hardin actually set foot in the studio, with Weather Report's Joe Zawinul arranging some of the tunes, including Hoboin', a tune written by legendary blues artist John Lee Hooker and Joe Bihari (under the pseudonym Joe Josea).
Artist: Ray Manzarek
Title: Downbound Train
Source: 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): Chuck Berry
Label: Mercury
Year: 1974
Following the disbanding of the Doors, keyboardist Ray Manzarek recorded a pair of albums for Mercury in the mid-1970s. The first of these, The Golden Scarab, was made up mostly of original Manzarek compositions, but did include one cover song, a chaotic rendition of Chuck Berry's Downbound Train that was released as a single in 1974. Although promo copies of the single exist, it is unknown whether it was ever released to the public.
Artist: Jeff Beck
Title: You Know What I Mean/She's A Woman
Source: CD: Blow By Blow
Writer(s): Beck/Middleton/Lennon/McCartney
Label: Epic
Year: 1975
After dissolving the group Beck, Bogert and Appice in 1973, guitarist Jeff Beck spent the next year supporting various other musicians both on stage and in the studio before going to work on what would become his most commercially successful solo album, Blow By Blow. Produced by George Martin, the all-instrumental album opens with You Know What I Mean, a tune written by Beck and keyboardist Max Middleton, and segues into a rather unique cover version of Paul McCartney's She's A Woman, a hit for the Beatles in early 1965.
Artist: John Lee Hooker/Canned Heat
Title: Whiskey And Wimmin'
Source: CD: The Very Best Of Canned Heat (originally released on LP: Hooker And Heat)
Writer(s): John Lee Hooker
Label: Capitol (original label: United Artists)
Year: 1971
Canned Heat was, at its heart, a group of blues record collectors who had enough talent to make their own classic blues recordings. In 1970 the members of the band got the chance to fulfill a dream. They spent the entire summer recording tracks with one of their heroes, the legendary John Lee Hooker. Unfortunately, the experience was marred by the death of Canned Heat co-founder Alan Wilson on September 3rd. Contractual problems with Hooker's label delayed the release of the recordings until January of 1971, when the project was released as a double LP called Hooker And Heat. The most popular track on the album, Whiskey And Wimmin', was also released as a single in April of that year.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Mr. Limousine Driver
Source: CD: Grand Funk
Writer: Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
When Grand Funk Railroad first appeared on the scene they were universally panned by the rock press (much as Kiss would be a few years later). Despite this, they managed to set attendance records across the nation and were instrumental to establishing sports arenas as the venue of choice for 70s rock bands. Although their first album, On Time, was not an instant hit, their popularity took off with the release of their second LP, Grand Funk (also known as the Red Album). One of the many popular tracks on Grand Funk was Mr. Limousine Driver, a song that reflects the same attitude as their later hit We're An American Band.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young
Title: Sea Of Madness
Source: CD: Woodstock-Music From The Original Soundtrack And More
Writer(s): Neil Young
Label: Cotillion/Rhino
Year: 1969
Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills and Nash to perform a few songs at Woodstock, including one of his own compositions, Sea Of Madness, and would be a full member of the group when their next album, Deja Vu, came out. The recording of Sea Of Madness used for the Woodstock soundtrack album, however, was made in September of 1969 at the Fillmore East.
Artist: Janis Joplin/Kozmic Blues Band
Title: Summertime
Source: EP box set: Move Over
Writer(s): Hayward/Gershwin/Gershwin
Label: Columbia
Year: Recorded 1969, released 2011
One of the most popular tracks on the 1968 album Cheap Thrills by Big Brother And The Holding Company was George Gershwin's Summertime, from Porgy And Bess. After leaving Big Brother, vocalist Janis Joplin continued to perform the song with her new Kozmic Blues Band. The performance heard here was recorded in Amsterdam, Holland, on April 1, 1969.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix/Band Of Gypsys
Title: Power Of Soul
Source: CD: South Saturn Delta
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA
Year: Recorded 1970, released 1997
1969 was a strange year for Jimi Hendrix. For one thing, he did not release any new recordings that year, yet he remained the top money maker in rock music. One reason for the lack of new material was an ongoing dispute with Capitol Records over a contract he had signed as a backup musician in 1965. By the end of the year an agreement was reached for Hendrix to provide Capitol with one album's worth of new material. At this point Hendrix had not released any live albums, so it was decided to tape his New Year's performances at the Fillmore East with his new Band Of Gypsys (with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox), playing songs that had never been released in studio form. As it turns out, however, studio versions of many of the songs on that album did indeed exist, but were not issued until after Hendrix's death, when producer Alan Douglas put out a pair of LPs (Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning), that had some of the original drum and bass tracks (and even some guitar tracks) re-recorded by musicians that had never actually worked with Hendrix. One of those songs is Power Of Soul, which has finally been released in its original Band Of Gypsys studio version, with background vocals provided by Cox and Miles.
Artist: Mahogany Rush
Title: Moonlight Lady
Source: Canadian import CD: Strange Universe
Writer(s): Frank Marino
Label: Just A Minute (original label: 20th Century)
Year: 1975
When it comes to Canadian musicians, the first names that come to mind are Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot, with the Guess Who immediately following. Often overlooked, however, is Mahogany Rush, a band that features the talented singer/songwriter Frank Marino on lead guitar. Marino has been accused of trying to rip off Jimi Hendrix, but I see it more as channeling the master guitarist rather than stealing from him. And let's face it: very few people have been able to do it better than Marino, as can be heard on Moonlight Lady, from the third Mahogany Rush album Strange Universe.
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