BergALERT

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By Eric Berg

The lineup at this year’s Santa Cruz Blues Festival is one of the strongest in years thanks to a well balanced array of killer supporting acts – the real reason to get your butt down to Aptos Park this Memorial Day Weekend. Like these five:

photo by R.R.Rodriguez

Carolyn Wonderland – Saturday, May 25th

Opening Saturday’s blues fest is Austin guitarist and singer, Carolyn Wonderland, a true virtuoso on lap steel and slide guitar. No stranger to the Central Coast, Wonderland has been driving around this country with her band for a couple of decades  performing some amazing gigs on what seems like a endless tour. With six solo cds to her credit and countless appearances on other albums, Wonderland is not to be pigeonholed. Musically, she is a little bit of everything – blues, country, cajun, soul, a little jazz and sometimes  a few canciones en español.  Wonderland also plays  accordion, mandolin, keyboards, trumpet and lately, she’s been doing a bit of scat singing.

Jimmie Vaughn and the Tilt-a Whirl Band featuring Lou Ann Barton – Saturday, May 25th  

photo by El Ojo Photography

Another Austin guitarslinger, Jimmie Vaughn ( yes, he is Stevie Ray’s older brother) is not to be missed as he is the real deal live when freed from the confines of studio recording.  Sharing the stage is Vaughn’s longtime singing partner, Lou Anne Barton, from back in the day when both were founding members of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. The two of the are a blues vocal match made in heaven, with Barton being the more aggressive,  backed by Vaughn’s lyrical guitar playing and the tight knit rhythm section of the Tilt-a-Whirl Band. Vaughn is also a legend in car circles as a collector and designer of classic custom built 50′s cars.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – Sunday, May 26th

Watch out for this pint sized stick of soul and R&B dynamite!  Sharon Jones used to be a prison guard and takes no guff from those from those in the crowd still sitting on their butts once she jumps out on stage fired up by horn section of the tighter than hell Dap-Kings. Jones and crew will get you up and jumping and begging for more. Be forewarned: Jones has been regularly observed singling out an audience member or two, inviting the them up on the stage for a dance lesson in soul grindin’, peppered with some of her expert “love” advice. Don’t say no to Miss Jones.

The James Hunter Six – Sunday, May 26th

“Blue Eyed Soul” may not be the best description of British singer and guitarist James Hunter, even if his voice does hint of Jackie Wilson. Hunter is far from retro. His songwriting has very unique modern R&B feel to it punctuated by short, tasty bursts of his guitar stretched out by the band’s knockout saxophone and keyboard players. Hot on the heels of his best album to date -  ‘Minute By Minute”, Hunter and his longtime band have been working with Dap-King Records producer Bosco Mann who has tightened the group up considerably and added more focus. At one time, singer Van Morrison supposedly said that Hunter has one of the greatest soul voices “that no one’s ever heard of”.  One of these days, everyone will have, but right now Hunter’s smokin’ hot and so is his band.

The California Honey Drops – Sunday, May 26th

Oakland’s CA Honey Drops is another one of those bands that are much better live than their three studio recordings hint and they are the perfect jump start for Sunday’s show. Voted the Bay Area’s “Best Soul/R&B band”, this five piece band led by front man, and trumpeter, Lech Wierzynski (yes – he was born in Poland) mixes it up with their own blend of old and new R&B, New Orleans Jazz, blues,  gospel and some of their own brassy material marked with a sense of humor and Wierzynski’s clever lyrics. The Drops just released a brand new studio album “Like You Mean It” and performed some of the songs live at Streetlight Records in  Santa Cruz this past Record Store Day, April 21st.

The 21st Annual Santa Cruz Blues Festival – Saturday May 25th & Sunday May 26th – 11 am-7 pm – Aptos Park in Aptos Village

For complete Blues Festival info -  http://www.santacruzbluesfestival.com

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Cover art for David Bowie’s ‘The Next Day’

It’s been a good ten years since David Bowie purposely removed himself from the public eye and disappeared back into the real world and went incognito. At age 66 the singer has surprised us all by roaring back to life out of nowhere with a superb new album “The Next Day”, the title song of which Bowie acknowledges his past but he’s telling you, despite the priest’s last rites,  he’s very much alive rocking in the present with an eye on the future: “…Here I am/Not quite dying/My body left to rot in a hollow tree/Its branches throwing shadows/On the gallows for me/And the next day/And the next/And another day”.

In 2004, Bowie suffered a massive heart attack and underwent major surgery followed by a lengthy recovery and self imposed vanishing act. Like a lot of musicians and artists now experiencing their senior years, Bowie has also gone down the road of introspection on “The Next Day” with many lyrical references to his past recordings, morality and what lies ahead. The jacket art, which Bowie had a hand in, pretty much spells it out with the album title on Post-It that’s stuck smack in the middle of a crossed out “Heroes” cover from 30 years ago. He’s no longer the young leather jacketed Bowie tipping his hand but a very present 66 yr Bowie who’s staring straight at you on the inside of the gate fold cover. There’s also a black mirror so you can look at yourself.

Joined by his longtime producer and musician cohort, Tony Visconti and a cast of top notch musicians including guitarist, Earl Slick, Bowie has crafted some of the finest songs of his 25 album career. All 14 tracks on “The Next Day” can proudly stand on their own, but it will take multiple listenings to appreciate and comprehend what’s going on here. Bowie’s writing has never been sharper. There are the expected couple of Bowie ballads, plenty of honking sax and soaring and crunching guitars that won’t disappoint.

That Bowie could disappear for ten years and then pop up out of nowhere with this master stroke of an album, is simply remarkable. “The Next Day” may hark back to elements of  mid-career Bowie albums       “Heroes”, “Lodger”, “Heathen” and “Reality”, it’s very much in the present and leaves a lasting, powerfully forward moving impression. - Eric Berg

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Photo: Courtesy of Johncolesphotography.com / theselecter.net

A bit lesser known than Madness, but with a number of memorable cuts under their belt, The Selector rears its head in Santa Cruz Thursday, 4/18 after performing at the Coachella Festival last week.

Saturday April 20th is Record Store Day- a reason to celebrate the joys of listening to music,  so go visit and support your local independent record shop for a day of live entertainment, free music goodies and limited edition collector’s vinyl lps and exclusive 45′s released just for Record Store Day only.  As far as I know there are only four record shops left  in the Monterey Bay Area -  Recycled Records and Vinyl Revolution in Monterey and Streetlight Records and Meta Vinyl in Santa Cruz. To find out what’s going on this Saturday at your local shop  wherever you live, go to http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home

In honor of Record Store Day,  I have posted a few of my record store road trip photos taken over the years across the USA. Unfortunately, I can’t find my collection of European  and Austin, Texas record shop photos. But what the heck, if you’ve seen documentary “Searching for Sugarman”, you already know that record stores, once you go inside,  look pretty much the same in most western countries.

Santa Cruz, California

 One of my favorite stores ever,  the little record store that could – and did – Cymbaline,  once located at Cedar and Union St.in Santa Cruz where Cafe Bene is located today. That’s the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier and his brother Cleveland standing out front circa 1977/78.

Nashville, Tennessee

Tubb’s Record Shop on Music Row in downtown Nashville.

Inside Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop. That’s Tubb playing guitar.

Third Man Records, home to Jack White, the Greenhornes and many others.

You have to ring a buzzer to get inside Third Man.

Grimey’s Records is one of Nashville’s most famous. A great place for hard to find new and used vinyl.

Lawrenceburg, Tennessee

You seldom see stores like this anymore. Not only do the Weathers Bros sell vintage instruments, offer music lessons, there’s a small section of cds and records hidden in the back of the store.

Memphis, Tennessee

Ecko Record’s retail store. They also produce old school gospel records under their own label. Good place to find obscure disco records.

Inside Ecko Records. Note the bulletproof glass at the cashier’s window.

Holly Springs, Mississippi

Akei Pro’s Record Shop is a classic wreck. You can buy a used bike, Volvo parts and old soda machines but inside is a treasure trove of old lps and 45s – provided you can find them. It’s a wall to wall don’t miss mess.

All photos by Eric Berg

In loving memory of Rather Ripped Records, Berkeley, CA

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(People, Hell and Angels – the new posthumous album by Jimi Hendrix, culled from 12 unreleased tapes, was released March 5th, 2013. The above podcast is the short version of my review of this album that includes sample tracks. It aired Monday, March 11th. – EB@KUSP)

Almost 42 yrs have passed since Jimi Hendrix left this earth, but he’s still releasing mind blowing albums.  Fortunately for us, he was joined at the hip by a portable reel to reel tape recorder that he took everywhere 24/7 and made sure somebody was on hand to record  every idea and guitar note he ever played in and out of the studio. Hendrix left behind over 1,500 hours of unreleased tapes now stored in the Seattle family vaults.

Hendrix’s latest album from these tapes is “People, Hell and Angels” shows completely some new sides to this legendary rock guitarist who never played a song the same way twice. These are studio jams and nearly finished tracks with Hendrix and his musician buddies experimenting with new ideas while  getting to know each other, musically speaking. A few more familiar songs are heard in their embryonic stage.

The 12 song titles selected for this posthumous album were remixed by Hendrix longtime studio recording engineer and guitar effects genius, Eddie Kramer who painstaking stripped these tracks clean and brought them back to life making them sound if Hendrix had recorded them yesterday. The album’s excellent track by track liner notes are warmly written by Hendrix biographer, archivist  and album co- producer John McDermott.

SOUL SIDE

The album’s real revelation here is the R&B track “Let Me Love You” from 1969 that showcases a side of Hendrix  rarely heard and is joined by Lonnie Youngblood on sax and lead vocals.  At the end of the song Hendrix throws down some gritty Albert King licks.

The other is “Mojo Man” recorded in New York City when Hendrix was working on the “Dolly Dagger” sessions and used his friends the Allen Brothers as backup singers who were later known as the Ghetto Fighters. On this contemporary soul rocker, the lead vocals are by Albert Allen accompanied by a horn section and piano.

DID YOU HEAR THAT?!!

Thank god Hendrix never played anything the same way twice. That’s what makes these unreleased-until-now recordings so interesting and current is that on every track Hendrix pulls off some groundbreaking, awesome new guitar lick or head effect that you’ve never heard before. I call it the “Wow…did you just hear that?” factor.  Be it a an off the wall riff, a totally out of body solo, a new wah-wah effect, or a sharp 90 degree creative turn exploring fresh genres with blistering guitar talk on songs most folks never knew existed.

Just when you think there can’t possibly be any more Jimi Hendrix tapes left worth listening to and that the bottom of the Hendrix tape barrel has been scraped thoroughly clean, along comes “People, Hell and Angels” – disproves all that with its  many moments of ear candy revelations. If ever there was a time to rediscover and explore a another side of Jimi Hendrix beyond the purple haze, this album is it – even if I still can’t figure out what’s with the title.

–Eric Berg

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For over 40 years the uber sauve vocalist and very romantic songwriter, 67 yr old Bryan Ferry has crafted a slate of impeccable rock albums both solo and with his band Roxy Music. But this time Ferry has thrown us a surprise curve ball with his latest, The Jazz Age, featuring the 15 piece Bryan Ferry Jazz Orchestra (of which Ferry is not a participant) time traveling back to the music of the 1920′s.

Roxy Music Redux as Big Band Swing

Ferry’s concept for “Jazz Age” presents 13 instrumental only versions of his songs in and out of Roxy Music rearranged and recorded in the jazz style made popular during F.Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby era, circa 1922-1928 known as “The Roaring 20’s”. In that sense Ferry succeeds, but it would be too easy to dismiss this actually well executed endeavor, as some sort of curiosity or do I dare say “novelty” record.  After initial shock of what at first listen sounds like the soundtrack to an old black and white Mickey mouse cartoon wears off, take a break and listen again. Forget what the songs are, and just concentrate on how energetically precise all this 20’s jazz  cacophony really is, a genre that F.Scott Fizgerald coined “yellow cocktail music”.  Check out the syncopated wood blocks used in this jazz band’s arrangement of “Don’t Stop The Dance” played in the style Don Redman of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra created in the 20’s called “Big Band Swing”.

Perfect “Yellow Cocktail Music”

Bryan Ferry has taken a huge creative chance with this album and no doubt more than a few spoil sports will add “bad career move”.  Like all Ferry albums before it, “The Jazz Age”  packaging is tastefully designed by Ferry (who at one time was an art teacher) and peppered with classy period art by Paul Colin, 1927 . The lo-fi audio is crystal clear mono and sounds just like a pristine 20’s-30’s shellac record with, thank god, no embellished fake scratchy needle sounds, pops, or skips. Not all that surprising, the thirteen songs Ferry has selected here make for perfect “yellow cocktail music”, like Roxy’s “The Bogus Man”.

The Bryan Ferry Orchestra’s The Jazz Age is an interesting and enjoyable concept but I doubt I will be listening to it on any regular basis as I prefer the original Roxy versions any day.  However, “Jazz Age” does make me want to dig out my Muggsy Spanier and Bix Beiderbecke albums and revisit this cultural era when popular music really did deliver a gay old time – with class. Just like Bryan Ferry. - Eric Berg

Read up on history of the Jazz Age era with this well written overview: http://www.neajazzintheschools.org/lesson2/index.php?uv=s

Bryan Ferry discusses his new album, “The Jazz Age”

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(Kuumbwa Jazz presents Robert Randolph and the Slide Brothers who will debut their new album this coming Wednesday, February 20th at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz. The above podcast is features cuts from the album and a phone interview with Slide Brother, Chuck Campell.

First a little background history: In the early 1930’s brothers Troman and Willie Easton showed the congregations of that African-American Church of the Living God that lap steel guitar played in a certain style could “sing” gospel just like a choir of angels in lieu of the traditional church organ. Lap steel instantly became part of church services and dubbed “sacred steel”. After the death of its founder, the church split into three dominions with the Keith Dominion in Nashville and the Jewell Dominion of Indianapolis incorporating the sacred steel style into their worship in some 22 states.

Sacred Steel Virtuosos

Many of these slide players became virtuosos. Their bands were often made up of family members and relatives who made careers playing sacred steel at their local churches and events unheard by those outside the congregation. That all changed about 14 years ago when a young sacred pedal steel player, Robert Randolph and his Family Band decided to branch out from church and show the world what they’ve been missing. As a teenager Randolph was unaware of any non-religious music but later he discovered and was influenced by modern rock guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix and bluesmen like Muddy Waters. Randolph made his breakthrough when he was discovered while performing at a Sacred Steel Convention in Florida.

The steel player’s career received a huge boost thanks to Eric Clapton who asked Randolph and the Family to open for him on his 2003 tour. Randolph is now considered one of the world’s guitar greats. Over the years this steel pedal guitarist brought along many of the top sacred steel players on his tours including the Campbell Brothers who joined a few years ago joined Randolph as part of the Experience Hendrix 2011 tour.

Randolph backs the Slide Brothers

This time around, Robert Randolph has gathered four steel masters who have spent their lives playing in the African-American church to showcase their amazing dexterity at trading their slide leads back and forth between each other, performing the gospel and blues that makes the tradition of sacred steel so uniqueness in addition to putting new spins on well known contemporary classics.   These four are currently touring in support of their brand new debut recording, “Robert Randolph Presents The Slide Brothers”.

The Slide Brothers: Aubrey Ghent, Darick Campbell, Calvin Cooke, Robert Randolph and Chuck Campbell. Photo by Brad Gregory

The four veteran Slide Brothers are 69 year old Calvin Cooke – nicknamed “the BB King of gospel steel guitar”, gospel lap steel preacher, Aubrey Ghent and two of the Campbell Brothers, Chuck and Darick.   All four steel players have spent most of their lives playing in the Church of the Living God where sacred steel has been a 75 years plus tradition.

Legendary Hendrix Recording Engineer Mixes Album

One of the  big surprises is that longtime Jimi Hendrix studio producer, Eddie Kramer, recorded and mixed The Slide Brothers new album. Hendrix biographer, John McDermott of Experience Hendrix, authored the liner notes.

Maybe this isn’t so surprising after all because Randolph has long included several blazing interpretations from the Hendrix canon like “Purple Haze” and “Manic Depression” as part of his repertoire.

Surprisingly there are no Hendrix covers on this new Slide Brothers album. The musicians including Randolph vary from track to track with none featuring all four Slide Brothers playing all together for some reason.

This really doesn’t matter as all the songs on this album powerfully stand on their own regardless of who’s playing what.  The Slide Brothers kick off with Greg Allmans’ “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’”with Cooke on vocals with the Campbell Brothers band trading wild leads back and forth and sounding an awful lot like the Derek Trucks Band.  Other tracks include a fine rendition of George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” with spoken word by Audrey Grant and the instrumental classic “Wade In the Water” performed by the Campbells. There’s a few gospel numbers featuring veteran lap player and vocalist Ghent who belts a terrific version of “No Cheap Seats in Heaven”, the album’s closer.  Randolph and a couple of the Slide Brothers do the blues justice with Elmore James’ “The Sky Is Crying”, made popular by Stevie Ray Vaughn.  The showstopper in my opinion is a Calvin Cook original – “Help Me Make It Through” with Calvin on vocals and steel, backed by drums and bass.

“Robert Randolph presents the Slide Brothers” is a perfect sacred steel showcase for the uninitiated and fans of this genre.  It’s a damn good guitar album.  - Eric Berg

A quick look at 3 new music DVDs from Patti Smith, The Doobie Brothers and Peter Frampton,  reviewed by KUSP’s Eric Berg.

Patti Smith: Live At Montreux 2005  (Eagle Vision – Dec. 2012) formats: standard DVD and Blu-ray

This is the first officially sanctioned Patti Smith Group live concert released on DVD. Anything else is a bootleg. It was recorded in 2005 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Hence Smith’s shout-outs during the set’s closer “People Have The Power” honoring, her clarinet muse, Ornette Coleman as well as John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and other jazz greats.

The personnel in the Patti Smith Group is same bunch who backed her on the classic “Horses” album back in 1975: Lenny Kaye, guitars; Jay Dee Daugherty, drums; Tony Shanahan on keyboards and bass.

What makes this Patti Smith group performance particularly noteworthy is guest guitarist and her longtime friend, the great Tom Verlaine (Television, anyone?) who spends the entire set sitting in a chair almost hidden in the dark, playing some of the most stinging yet angelic slide fills you’ve ever heard.

The group’s 83 minute set is a tight, efficient rocker, although a bit subdued from what I’m used to, but hey, consider the venue. “Montreux ‘05” showcases an elegantly, strong performance by Smith and band at their proverbial best.  Smith is also on best behavior. There are no dvd bonus features unless you count the moment when Smith hurl out a high def spittooey like it’s 1977. However, it’s not and perhaps Smith should have thought twice. Included in the set are inspired covers of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” as well as Smith’s “hit”, Springsteen’s “Because the Night”  plus a few fave chestnuts like “Redondo Beach” and “Free Money”.

I’d go with the blu-ray because of it’s pristine color and excellent DTS surround sound. The camera work and audio give you that “you’re in the audience” feeling. If you’ve never seen Patti Smith in the flesh, “Live At Montreux 2005” is a great place to start until the next time she comes to your neighborhood. If you’re a long time fan, this DVD is a keeper. - Eric Berg

LET THE MUSIC PLAY – The Story of the Doobie Brothers (Eagle Vision – Dec. 2012) formats: standard DVD and Blu-ray

Attention Doobie Brother fans! This is the DVD for you. The first half of LET THE MUSIC PLAY is the history of the Doobies as told by founders Tom Johnson and  Pat Simmons, Brothers past and present: Tiran Porter, John McFee, Michael McDonald, longtime band manager Bruce Cohn and others. Even former longtime SF Chronicle rock critic and now author, Joel Selvin gets a fair amount of observations in. The second half features live concert footage.  The interviews are done History Channel style, sandwiched between some cool B&W archival footage shot back in the day when the Doobies started out in San Jose playing for the Hells Angel parties and got a reputation as a biker band. It helps somewhat if you lived at the south end of the San Francisco Bay or Santa Cruz at some point during the 70’-80’s when the band played all over the place for years as they hit the big time. Otherwise there will be a few unfamiliar “what the hell are they talking about?” moments.  For Bay locals, there is rare footage of the Doobiers playing in long defunct clubs like Chateau Liberté in the Santa Cruz mountains and Berkeley’s old Keystone.

The interviews with the surviving Doobies move along at a reasonable pace spliced with concert footage and home videos including some incendiary guitar by Jeff “Skunk” Baxter during his Brother tenure. It’s amazing how many hits The Doobies have scored, how many musicians have gone thru the band, and sadly, how  many Brothers are no longer with us.

Part two of the dvd- the bonus stuff – features 9 live performances by the Brothers plucked from their various incarnations over the last 40 yrs.  The current edition of the Doobie Brothers continue to make quality recordings and attract large audience. They headlined the Santa Cruz Blues Festival in 2012.

“LET THE MUSIC PLAY”  seems like it was made strictly for fans, particularly those who lived in the San Francisco Bay area during the Doobie’s 70’s heyday. You don’t have to light one up to enjoy this one. - EB

FCA!35: An Evening With Peter Frampton (Eagle Vision – Dec. 2012) formats: audio cd, standard DVD and Blu-ray

This is a 3 hr performance by guitarist Peter Frampton spread over two dvds celebrating 35 yrs since his 1976 “Frampton Comes Alive” double lp recorded mostly at SF’s  Winterland became a worldwide mega-selling hit. It still holds the record for best selling live album ever.

Filmed in 2012 at two venues, one in NYC and in Milwaukee and edited as one, Frampton and his talented band mates recreate “FCA!” from beginning to end on disc one.  Familiar or maybe too familiar as these songs might be, Frampton is smart enough to freshen them up arrangement-wise with his crisp and fluid guitar playing with inspired help from his band, so it’s enjoyable to revisit this album again. Frampton doesn’t hog the show and let’s his band stretch out here and there.

Disc two gets a lot more interesting with Frampton picking out songs from his entire career including pieces from his most recent work including “While My Guitar Weeps For Me” from his Grammy winning instrumental album “Fingerprints”  Things really start rocking when the now bald Frampton gets around to covering a couple of Humble Pie tunes and he brings out his head-full-of-hair son, Julian to do the spot on Steve Marriott vocals.

There’s a DVD bonus documentary about Frampton’s recovering of his beloved black Gibson that was lost 30 years ago in a cargo plane crash in Chile only to have it returned to him all these years later by the person who originally found it in the wreckage.

Over all, “FCA!35” is a pleasant watch, showcasing Frampton’s fruitful career and top notch guitar playing, but there’s something about the film’s overall aura that might make you feel like your watching it on PBS during “pledge drive”, if you know what I mean. - EB

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My conversation with Billy took place on Thursday, January 19th 2013 in conjunction with his appearance at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Thursday Jan 31st 7 and 9 pm. It aired on KUSP Jan. 29th.  Additional commentary and post production by Eric Berg.

At age 29, drummer Billy Cobham had no idea that his first solo album, “Spectrum” would become a smash jazz-rock fusion hit. The plan had been to just make a record Cobham could use as a calling card for more percussion work as his current band at the time, The Mahavishnu Orchestra was calling it quits.

“Spectrum” was made exactly 40 yrs ago in 1973 and is as vital today as the day it was released. The album was composed by Cobham and recorded in one or two takes per track over two days at Electric Ladyland Studios in New York City. It also was a stunning debut and showcase for keyboardist Jan Hammer and the late guitarist Tommy Bolin.  Bolin’s untimely demise at age 26 created huge cult following that is still going strong today. Session bassist Lee Sklar rounded out the band although on two tracks jazz bassist Ron Carter filled in.

The album kicks off with the thundering “Quadrant 4” with Cobham propelling Jan Hammer to minimoog ectasy as he fires off a barrage of keyboard guitar notes Mahavishnu style until the real guitarist, Bolin steps in and away they go. Sure, mini-moogs and synclaviers may sound dated in this day and age, but that’s only if you let them, so forget that thought and focus on the incredible adrenaline fueled interaction between these four musicians. These guys are on fire.

Cobham’s Four Interludes

In addition to the six main tracks, Cobham composed four short interludes separately attached to the beginning of four songs. Two drum solos and the other two Hammer’s keyboards. The first is the tastefully brief “Searching For the Right Door” that shows in less than 40 seconds of an experimental drum solo that less is often more.  The second “Anxiety” finds Cobham more aggressive and trying out a bit of drum synth. The third piece is “The Women In My Life” composed by Cobham on acoustic piano and exquisitely played here by Hammer. The fourth “Snoopy’s Search” finds Hammer making sc-fi computer noises fading out to Cobham’s drum shots..

Tommy Bolin

The final track is  “Red Baron”, a slow but catchy jazz blues allowing Bolin to rhythmically stretch out with his streamline-smooth slide guitar, tastefully weaving in and out of  Hammer’s percolating electric keyboards while Cobham does the driving.

Audio speaking, “Spectrum” is an extremely clean engineered album with it’s great use of true stereo effects, making it headphone ear candy.  If you’re lucky, maybe you can find the audio dvd of “Spectrum” that was released in 2001 and instantly became a collectors album. Side one is digital stereo but the flip side is remastered in DTS 5.1 surround that will knock your ears off.

Desert Island Disc?

40 years on,“Spectrum” has aged well and needs no face lift. Hat’s off to  Cobham for making this a contender for one of those desert island disc lists. – Eric Berg

Related links:

http://www.billycobham.com/

http://www.tbolin.com/

http://www.janhammer.com/fr_home.cfm

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N_SqtFerjg

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Last December PBS broadcast the entire film and the “Making of…” documentary. While it’s still posted, you can watch the whole documentary here at PBS.org.

Richard Lester, director of the first two Beatles films Hard Days Night and Help, once advised the foursome to make their third film themselves, much in the same way they would an album. Explained Lester “it should grow organically rather than have the professional cult of film making superimposed upon it.” And so they did.

55 minutes long, The Beatles MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR was filmed over the course of 4 days in September 1967, the final month of the fabled Summer of Love. The purposely unplanned and very spontaneous  plot centered around the Beatles and a bus load of their friends on a circular tour of mystery stops with songs connecting the dots. All of the stops being conjured up by four goofy wizards played by the Beatles.  Shot in 16mm color, movie was KO’D by critics after BBC TV debuted a B&W edited version three months later on  Boxing Day. 45 years later, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR is now available on dvd for the first time after being painstakingly restored by a  small army of sound and picture restorers overseen by Paul McCartney who originally came up with the idea for the movie along with John and George who each contributed scenes built around their songs.

Ringo was given the main acting role, improvising most of his dialog on the fly, bringing his aunt along for the ride, marvelously played by British Actress Jessie Robins. Deleted from the BBC broadcast included here is a poignant scene on a beach where bus tour guide, Mr. Bloodvessel awkwardly proclaims his love for Ringo’s aunt, one of the film’s finest.

Included with this restored Magical Mystery Tour dvd are several must watch bonus features. Paul gives a few more clues about the Walrus and offers some revealing director’s commentary. John George and Ringo all have something to say in a very interesting “making of” documentary which includes present day interviews with the film’s editor and cameraman. What is amazing in this day and age, here are the Beatles in 1967 shown gallivanting around the British countryside on their bus filming away followed by herds of fans with absolutely no security! And no need for it either.

Other bonus features include several deleted scenes and two unfinished segments directed by John Lennon. The audio and color are greatly improved with the screen aspect kept true to it’s 16mm format. The audio for the music tracks, presented in 5.1 surround sound for the first time, is spectacular. You have the option of listening in stereo as well.

Watching the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour in 2013 is a delightfully quaint experience.  In that respect the film holds up as an entertaining visual and musical romp, perfectly capturing the free spirit of those psychedelic Sgt. Pepper days across the pond. It’s a gem of a time capsule with it‘s then innovative use of solarized film effects and abrupt art film edits.

A bloody good time is guaranteed for all.  -  Eric Berg