Naked Year

A young genius Abel Zarate. In the age of 15 he formed Naked Lunch, and in the age of 17 he became the 2nd lead guitarist of latin rock band Malo, forming the guitar duo with Jorge Santana…

Four decades after Woodstock, these fabulous recording sessions see the light of day for the first time. This album contains 5 studio tracks from 1969, recorded at the popular 'Mu House' by the panhandle in San Francisco's Haight & Ashbury where the likes of Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Paul Butterfield Blues Band with Michael Bloomfield frequently played music. Plus, 2 live tracks from 1970 during their 'Hight Time' best! An added bonus of 4 songs from Banda de Jesus, (a band which included 3 original Naked Lunch members), recorded by David Rubinson & Fred Catero at Pacific Recording in San Mateo, CA circa 1972. To put it in a genre … it blends the best of Latin rock, with 'rare grooves, and tricky jazz/funk elements'…

Naked Songs represents the other end of Al Kooper's early career from I Stand Alone. Where that first album was recorded very gradually at the outset of his solo career, soon after exiting Blood, Sweat & Tears, Naked Songs was a much more cohesive work (cut in New York and Georgia) from the end of his stay at Columbia Records. Ironically, it was a contractually obligated album, but never one to throw away an opportunity, Kooper embraced soul, gospel, blues, pop, and even country music in the course of filling its two sides. Playing his usual array of instruments, including loud, note-bending blues guitar and gospel-tinged organ on "As the Years Go Passing By," he effortlessly switches gears to the smoother pop-soul sound of "Jolie," then straight country with a blues tinge on "Blind Baby." John Prine's grim and uncompromising "Sam Stone" gets an extraordinary performance, but the real surprise is the presence of Sam Cooke's Soul Stirrers-era gospel classic "Touch the Hem of His Garment".