The debut album from the formation of Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity, this record introduced to America a group that had been making some noise in England for some time already. The album is a bit fragmented, containing a few Julie Driscoll solo tracks, as well as some Auger/Trinity efforts without Driscoll. One of the most amazing moments opens the record: Driscoll's solo hit (in Europe), "I Know You Love Me Not." A swirling, churning string arrangement - not unlike a psychedelic Phil Spector - is the ground work for Driscoll's steely vocals. She come across as a combination of Dusty Springfield and Annie Lennox with a passionate performance. It's truly one of the great lost British records of the era, and alone is worth the price of the record…
After kicking around on various labels for half a dozen years and developing a reputation as a stellar sideman, Billy Preston finally broke through to mass success as a recording artist with the instrumental "Outa-Space" on A&M Records in 1972, and he had a string of other hits over the next several years, including the chart-toppers "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing." This discount-priced best-of features all of his Top 20 pop and R&B hits, including the 1979 duet with Syreeta, "With You I'm Born Again," a Top Five hit on the Motown subsidiary Tamla that now resides in the Universal vaults along with the A&M catalog.
On paper, it's unlikely that one of rock's greatest singers ever, who fronted one of the biggest mainstream bands of the 1970s and 1980s, would take a detour into the world of Christian rock. But that's just what Lou Gramm did in 2009 with his new group and its self-titled album, The Lou Gramm Band. It's his first "solo" effort since 1989's Long Hard Look. The album rocks convincingly, and the lyrics vividly reflect his born-again Christian faith. It's a miracle that the ex-Foreigner vocalist lived to reach this point. After surviving surgery to remove a benign brain tumor in 1997, he struggled to regain his health and his voice. He left Foreigner for the second time in 2002 and eased back into performing with his own band, which now includes two of his brothers, bass guitarist Richard Gramm and drummer Ben Gramm, as well as guitarist Don Mancuso and keyboardist Andy Knoll.
It's advantageous to get an early start on your chosen career, but Billy Preston took the concept to extremes. By age ten he was playing keyboards with gospel diva Mahalia Jackson, and two years later, in 1958, he was featured in Hollywood's film bio of W.C. Handy, St. Louis Blues, as young Handy himself. Preston was a prodigy on organ and piano, recording during the early '60s for Vee-Jay and touring with Little Richard. He was a loose-limbed regular on the mid-'60s ABC TV series Shindig, proving his talent as both a vocalist and pianist, and he built an enviable reputation as a session musician, even backing the Beatles on their Let It Be album. That impressive Beatles connection led to Preston's big break as a solo artist with his own Apple album, but it was his early-'70s soul smashes "Outa-Space" and the high-flying vocal "Will It Go Round in Circles" for A&M that put Preston on the permanent musical map. Sporting a humongous Afro and an omnipresent gap-toothed grin, Preston showed that his enduring gospel roots were never far removed from his joyous approach. He continued to perform and record throughout the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, until he fell into a coma caused by pericarditis late in 2005; sadly, he never regained consciousness and passed away on June 6, 2006.
This exciting album was recorded on October 4 & 5th, 1965 in Los Angeles. Much of its success must be attributed to a sensitive and imaginative producer, David Hubert. The morning of the 25th found Lightnin' in an excellent mood; as a matter of fact, a number of the bands required only one "take" at the session, most unusual under any conditions. Years ago, Lightnin' recorded with rhythm sections, but never any like the one on this album. Jimmy Bond on bass, and Earl Palmer on drums, laid down a quiet, but bluesy beat that "turned Lightnin' on". Lightnin' himself plays and sings with the vitality of any young artist today. Anyone who digs the blues will be emotionally moved by this album.
Some friends think that Shihab the man owes the balance of his soul to his beautiful Danish wife. They may be right; for Eros is the very essence of what Shihab plays.Yet Eros is a god with many a face. A tale of tender mournings Shihab’s flute is telling in Mauve - a piece that translates its title into delicately changing colors of sound. In Uma Fita de Tres Cores he has his instrument wooing with the proud self-reliance of Latin grandezza. Calmly, softly, almost blandishly Shihab blows the solo flute in the Jimmy Woode composition My Kinda World. Serene and somewhat playful his own title Another Samba comes along - a most uncommon composition by the way: lasting for sixty bars as if growing independent out of itself, with solos that appear to be additional spinnings rather than improvised choruses; and yet; a perfect, self sustaining melody no element of which is superfluous…
From all accounts, George Butler was indeed a "wild child." But he found time between the youthful shenanigans that inspired his mom to bestow his descriptive nickname to learn some harp basics at age 12.
George remained active throughout the 60's and from 1966 he performed mainly in Houston and New Orleans. He worked extensively with the late Cousin Joe Pleasant and Roosevelt Sykes in New Orleans and the great Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins in Houston. George appears as a sideman on a number of sides with Lightnin' Hopkins, the best known of which being the album on the Jewel label entitled "Talking Some Sense". He was next signed to a contract by the Mercury label; in fact George observes, "The record companies always wanted me to sign an exclusive contract, and their people always met me with a paper their hand." George did an album for the Mercury label entitled "Keep On Doing What You're Doing"…