The Balfa Brother

2008 digitally remastered two CD set containing a pair of albums from Felix Cavaliere and The Rascals: Peaceful World (1971) and Island of Real (1972), both originally released on Columbia Records. These recordings, sadly, were to prove the last for the band, though founder Felix Cavaliere went on to a solo career. Comes housed in a slipcase with extensive liner notes.
What's remarkable about both these recordings is how far ahead of their time they were. Cavaliere had become deeply interested in the writings and teachings of the great Sufi master musician Hazrat Inayat Khan, who - through his own tradition - looked at music holistically, as an integral part of earthly and spiritual life. He also came under the sway of the emerging sounds of jazz, gospel, and the emerging uptownfunk and soul of the period…

Art & Roman Griswold have dominated the Toledo, Ohio blues scene for the last ten years, after the death of their erstwhile mentor and colleague Big Jack Reynolds. While The Griswolds' style differed from Big Jack's their arrival in the Detroit/Toledo area in the 1950s brought them under his and Little Walter Mitchell's influence. Roman is the older brother, but Art has always been the leader with both his guitar histrionics and his staccato vocals. They recorded singles throughout the 1960s and 1970s on Fortune and other regional labels, but it wasn't until 1987 when the Griswolds had material released on an album, Blue Suit's initial release "Two Aces & A Jack," which they shared with Big Jack Reynolds. They remained minor figures in the regional blues world until the 1980s when their band (Art on guitar & vocals, Roman on organ and vocals, Eli "Professor Easy" Garner on tenor sax and Allen "Funky Monkey" Szombati on drums) was the hottest group in the area.

Primarily based in Leeds, The Lewis Express is comprised of many of the musicians that have graced previous ATA releases: George Cooper, Piano (Abstract Orchestra) Neil Innes, Bass (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill), Sam Hobbs, Drums (Dread Supreme, Tony Burkill, Matthew Bourne) and Pete Williams, Percussion (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill). Recorded over an intense two-day session by the band of the same name, “The Lewis Express” is a nod to the classic soul jazz recordings of The Young Holt Trio / Young Holt Unlimited and Ramsey Lewis, from who this group take their name. But, delivered with a distinctly European feel. As with many of the classic Ramsey Lewis cuts this album was recorded live, capturing the rich inter-relationship between the players and leaving in some of that chunky room noise, lending the album a sound that’s as thick as a steak and raw as a carrot.

The younger brother of Ronnie (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Donnie (38 Special), Johnny sent five albums of his own to the pop charts between 1980 and 1990. Skynyrd's live soundman Kevin Elson produced Round Two, which charted in June of '81. This smokin' slab of Southern rock includes Drive My Car; Night Time Lady; Yesterday's Gone; Play My Music; Keep Our Love Alive, and more!

Sometimes the bloodlines show up and at other times they explode with a fanfare that shows itself to the world. Lil' Ed Williams traces his heritage back to his uncle, one of the Chicago blues legends, slide guitar master J.B. Hutto. He was tutored by his uncle, and the West Side Chicago blues scene that nurtured him, and readily gives J.B. much of the credit for his prowess. He captures some of that same raw street energy that was his uncle's trademark on many of the tracks on this, his fifth Alligator release. Listen to "The Creeper" to get an idea of the savage fury that he can channel through his slide guitar work. This disc manifests that feel for the blues that can't be taught, but must be both lived and seen from the inside…

"Big Brother & the Holding Company," is an early recording by Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic blues rock San Francisco-based band during the late 1960's. The record survives largely because of their great, great chick singer, Janis Joplin, of course, who joined them on a Chicago gig. Although Joplin fans will know that she did not, unfortunately, survive the 1970's, as she passed on October 4, 1970 (aged 27), in Los Angeles, California. But in her brief career, despite her troubled life, she left behind a stunning, gutsy repertory of work that has long since floated free of, and outlived, Big Brother. This record, however, was laid down about six months before she (and they) achieved lasting blazing stardom at the 1967 Monterrey Pop Festival.