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Review by Steve Cooper
Doug Sahm, aka "Sir Doug" of the Sir Douglas Quintet, rock & roll's first long-haired redneck, was a walking compendium of Texas music styles. Whether it was Texas blues, Tex-Mex rock & roll, garage, country, R&B, soul, singer/songwriter, and anything in between, Sir Doug could wail it and nail it. What's more, he would tell you so. Just the natural, Texas facts, ma'am. Most of this two-disc collection is culled from the Sir Douglas Quintet's Tribe Records years, produced by "Crazy Cajun" Huey P. Meaux, when the SDQ burst upon a Beatle landscape with one of rock & roll's all-time anthems, "She's About a Mover." The trademark sound of Sir Doug's country-boy, blues/rock vocals and Augie Meyer's simple, driving Vox organ lines, evident on "She's About a Mover," is the original blueprint for garage rock. The majority of the rest of this collection is filled with less successful follow-ups and album cuts, which is not to say the material isn't choice. Even at this early stage, almost everything Sir Doug played was sure and tight. As a child prodigy of sorts, Sahm had played Texas nightclubs since his pre-teens. Hence, by the time (1965) "She's About a Mover" hit the charts, he was a veteran, steeped in country, blues, and R&B. This wasn't two-chord, we-can-record-in-my-uncle's-basement garage rock. This was a young group of pros drawing upon their experiences and creating a whole new sound. SDQ's not-so-successful follow-up to "She's About a Mover,""The Rains Came," is included. Written by a then-obscure Freddy Fender, it is a damn near perfect single and, in an ideal Top 40 world, would have been just as big a hit as its predecessor. The descending chorus "rain, rain, rain, rain/my pillow's soaking wet" is flawlessly punctuated by Meyer's timely organ punches. Of the generous 41 cuts on this set, there are some early "finds" no SDQ fan should be without. "Oh, What a Mistake,""The Tracker,""It's a Man Down Here,""She Digs My Love,""You've Got Your Good Thing Down,""She's Gotta Be the Boss Babe," and especially "In Time" could have been, at the very least, regional hits. They are the cave paintings for what would later evolve into such SDQ masterpieces as the Mendocino and Together After Five albums. Other cuts here are interesting but not essential (i.e., Sir Doug's takes of "Wolverton Mountain,""Image of Me,""Philadelphia Lawyer," and "Quarter to Three"). One glaring weakness of this compilation is the incongruous inclusion of much later 1970s material such as "Seguin,""Nuevo Laredo," and "Revolutionary Ways." All are fine songs and essential for an SDQ 1970s anthology, but out of place in this package.
Review by Eugene ChadbourneIn the '70s Augie Meyers cranked up a label called Texas and released a string of albums. The catalog included several live recordings involving a group of musicians that could be credited as loosely as they are for this production, or might also be known as the Sir Douglas Quintet or the Texas Tornados. Anyway, it's Doug Sahm and his faithful sidekick Augie Meyers plus many of the usual cohorts, including a horn section that sounds as if it has been practicing unison statements after every meal for the last decade. The live recording sound is perfectly acceptable for a '70s rock date, and the only thing that might detract from the experience of reliving a night at the infamous Armadillo Ballroom is the almost ridiculous jukebox nature of the program. Sahm's sidemen often complained that the leader neglected his brilliant original material for the sake of playing as many different covers as possible, and if the matter ever came to a jury trial, this recording could be brought in as exhibit A. There is a Chuck Berry song, followed by pretty little "Susie Q," followed by "Crazy Arms" -- well, it is like a frat party that gets crashed by an old redneck trucker carrying a boom box. The last two songs are a cover of "Purple Haze"--very nice, as could be expected -- and five minutes of jazz, competent, unexpected, and a weird way to end the show. This last instrumental, "Outro Song," is credited to Sahm, and there are only three other examples of his songwriting performed, best of which is a romping version of "Nuevo Laredo."
Review by Ned Raggett
Though Tales of Kidd Funkadelic brought together some oddballs and rarities from Funkadelic's early- to mid-'70s existence, it wasn't until Music for Your Mother came out that there was a full compilation of all the band's singles from birth to the mid-decade switch to Warner Bros. And what a compilation it is: Bringing together some of the band's best material as well as some of its craziest, Music for Your Mother does the business for any self-respecting P-Funk clone. Given that the focus is on A- and B-sides rather than album cuts, it isn't a truly exhaustive overview -- that would require the inclusion of songs like "Maggot Brain" and "Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow," for a start. It's a small quibble in context, though, especially given the inclusion of a number of songs that never made it onto the original eight albums. Most notable is a curious rarity, the semi-smooth soul "I Miss My Baby" single, which was credited to U.S., with music by Funkadelic (U.S. being a group led by eventual P-Funk guitarist Gary Shider). As for the other B-sides and uncollected numbers, they're an understandably mixed but often interesting bunch, including alternate instrumental takes of "Music for Your Mother" and "I Wanna Know if It's Good to You," the unreleased "Can't Shake It Loose" single, the gospel/feedback freakout "Open Our Eyes," and the hilariously titled "Fish, Chips and Sweat." The amazing bonus to the whole collection is the exhaustive 24-page booklet, reviewing the entire early history of Funkadelic via archival photos and a slew of interviews with the surviving participants. Plenty of fun tales are told, but George Clinton didn't participate -- not surprising, given the unflattering picture eventually painted of him -- while the depressing fates of Eddie Hazel and Tawl Ross get deserved attention.
Review by Lindsay Planer
Folksinger and composer Jaime Brockett's debut album, Remember the Wind and the Rain (1971), easily demonstrates why readers of Broadside magazine heralded him as Boston, MA's top male performer circa 1968. Brockett's emotive side is revealed on the title track, "Blue Chip," and the hauntingly beautiful "Nowadays," juxtaposed against the anti-authoritarian hippie anthems "Talkin' Green Beret New Super Yellow Hydraulic Banana Teeny Bopper Blues" and the nearly quarter-hour "Legend of the U.S.S Titanic." Even though the latter sounds like an amphetamine-fueled rave, it includes a coded message and some sage advice: if one has the need to partake of recreational combustibles, it should be done "in the privacy of your own home." This is opposed to imbibing on the bow of a ship -- as the narrative blames a pot-tokin' first mate as the responsible party for the vessel's fate. "St. Botolph St. Grey Morning Dulcimer Thing" -- bearing the name of St. Botolph, Boston's patron saint -- is another interesting entry, as it is Brockett's sole original as well as the only instrumental on the disc. The melody contains a few striking resemblances to the Beatles'"Norwegian Wood," and Brockett's prowess on the hammer dulcimer is impressive as the tune ambles and winds up to an accelerated climax and then gently slows for the conclusion. As the spelling might infer, the achingly poignant "Suzzane" isn't a cover of the Leonard Cohen song, but is one of the effort's standouts, thanks in part to Tony Rubino's eloquent acoustic fretwork. The withdrawn intimacy in the reworking of "One Too Many Mornings" sharply contrasts with Bob Dylan's version, offering up an otherwise obscured vantage point in the author's verse. The long-player concludes on a portentous note with "Bag on the Table," a hauntingly noir tale of a life lost and tragically wasted. Although Brockett would go on to record a couple more albums, it is undoubtedly Remember the Wind and the Rain that most folks will recall.
Artist Biography by Tom Demalon
With the breakup of Daddy Cool in 1975, guitarist Ross Wilson, who had become a fixture on the Australian music scene, formed his own label with Little River Band manager Glenn Wheatley. Within a year, Wilson had released his first single and put together the initial lineup of Mondo Rock, but despite securing a following for live performances, the group split before issuing any material. It wasn't until mid-1978 that Mondo Rock, with Wilson helming a new incarnation, released a single with "The Fugitive Kind." For the next several years, Mondo Rock went through a series of lineups, but it also became one of the more popular acts in Australia, particularly as a live act. In 1982, Mondo Rock released its debut U.S. single, "State of the Heart," and although it failed to chart, it would become a Top 30 hit for Rick Springfield three years later. The group continued its run of success in Australia, though, charting with albums like Nuovo Mondo (1982) and The Modern Bop (1984), notching hit singles with "No Time,""Come Said the Boy," and "Primitive Love Rites." The latter became a minor hit in the States, reaching number 71 in the spring of 1987. Wilson took time off from the band to record a solo effort, Dark Side of the Man, which was released in 1989, regrouping Mondo Rock for Why Fight It two years later. However, the album made little impact and Wilson pulled the plug on Mondo Rock to pursue other projects.
When GREENSLADE split in 1975, Dave Greenslade had already written, in effect, an album of new band material, and he was ready to make another album! He decided to record this album himself, and assembled a cast of stellar musicians to help him do just that.
"Cactus Choir" was released to worldwide critical acclaim in 1976.
Having written the theme for a one-off TV programme entitled: "Gangsters" in 1974 (the instrumental version of which was subsequently issued on the GREENSLADE album: "Time And Time"), Dave Greenslade added lyrics to the track in 1976 and asked Chris Farlowe - the lead singer with COLOSSEUM - to deliver a vocal for it. That version of ‘Gangsters’ is included here on the CD version of "Cactus Choir" as the Bonus track.
