John Cipollina

Grateful Dead - New Year's Eve 1982, Oakland Auditorium Arena (2016) {3CD Box Set Limited 1000 Mojo Filter MFRCD2006}
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© 1982, 2016 Mojo Filter Records | MFRCD2006
Rock / Classic Rock / Psychedelic / Folk Rock / Jam Band

Bill Graham rides in on a giant mushroom. Etta James and Tower of Power Horns featured as well as the mercurial John Cipollina on "Not Fade Away", "Deal" and "Sunshine Daydream".

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of Man’s classic 1976 album “Welsh Connection”. Recorded in 1976 following Man’s departure from United Artists records, the album saw a new line-up of the band featuring Micky Jones (Guitar / Vocals), Deke Leonard (Guitar, Vocals), Phil Ryan (Keyboards / Vocals), John McKenzie (Bass) and Terry Williams (Drums). Featuring tracks such as ‘The Ride and the View’, ‘Out of Your Head’, ‘Something is Happening’ and ‘Born With a Future’, the record reached the UK Top 40 and was to be Man’s last studio album of the 1970s. This Esoteric Recordings edition has been newly remastered from the original master tapes and features the bonus track “I’m a Love Taker”, along with the entire recording of Man’s concert at The Keystone, Berkeley, California on 9th August 1976…

Nick Gravenites grew up on the southside of Chicago hanging out in the mid-50's with a coterie of misfit white kids - Elvin Bishop, Paul Butterfield, Michael Bloomfield - who went on to form that protean powerhouse of watershed white blues, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In addition to authoring the classic "Born In Chicago" and "East West" for Butterfield, Gravenites scribed hits for Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Michael Bloomfield, Electric Flag, Pure Prairie League, Tracy Nelson, Roy Buchanan, Jimmy Witherspoon, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, and James Cotton. He has appeared on some 40 albums as singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer.

Man - The Twang Dynasty (2014) {3CD Esoteric Deluxe Clamshell Boxset Edition ECLEC32455 rec 1992}
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© 1992, 2014 Esoteric Recordings / Cherry Red Records | ECLEC32455
Rock / Prog-Rock / Pub Rock / Hard Rock

Although Man had reformed in 1983 to perform live, The Twang Dynasty was Mans first studio record release in sixteen years. The album was a very strong comeback that stands alongside the bands work in the 1970s. Featuring a line-up of Micky Jones (Guitar, Vocals), Deke Leonard (Guitar, Vocals), Martin Ace (Bass, Vocals) and John Weathers (drums), The Twang Dynasty featured excellent material such as A Feather on the Scales of Justice, The Chinese Cut and The Wings of Mercury (dedicated to the late John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service who had performed with MAN). The deluxe set is newly re-mastered and features two additional CDs of Mans complete set at Glastonbury Festival on 25th June 1994, featuring many tracks from The Twang Dynasty, along with splendid performances of classic tracks such as CMon, Many Are Called, But Few Get Up, Bananas and Romain.

The Sons of Champlin released three albums on Capitol Records between 1969 and 1971 (Loosen Up Naturally, The Sons, and Follow Your Heart), none of which was a commercial hit for various reasons, but not for lack of musical quality. This 78-minute CD makes a reasonable selection of the highlights from those LPs, demonstrating that at their best, the Sons were a collection of talented musicians who packed their songs full of good solos that grew out of complicated arrangements. Although they were a part of the psychedelic San Francisco scene of the time, their music never quite fit the mold, leaning much more toward jazz and R&B than, say, the Grateful Dead. the Sons played instruments including saxophones and a vibraphone, not otherwise typical of the San Francisco Sound, and they were less interested in songs than in creating platforms for soloing. They might start a tune like "Love of a Woman" as a gentle, romantic ballad with an acoustic guitar, but midway through that would suddenly give way to a jazzy instrumental section in a different time signature, return to the ballad, then again go off into jazz.

Plying their trade in the fertile San Francisco scene of the late '60s, Crystal Syphon's name was only known to aficionados through viewing copies of old SF gig posters and through the index of bands at the back of Ralph Gleason's book on the rise of Jefferson Airplane. Then both their studio and live 1967-1969 archival recordings were discovered that replaced the imagination with true grooves in 2012 and 2015 with the release of 2 LPs on Roaratorio Records. Trying to find comparison with other Bay area bands from that era has proven a bit fruitless as they don't specifically evoke any of the heavy hitters of the era. They have a bit of a dreamy, stoned vibe with some great harmonies and some have compared their style to Quicksilver Messenger Service (John Cipollina was their idol!!) as well as H.P. Lovecraft. As with so many bands of the era, the draft, time and declining fortunes signaled the end of the band. There is some great guitar work alongside the Farfisa organ in the extended jams, and fans of the west-coast sound should delight in these recordings.