1961 - 71

So Yeah, I've been gone for over a year. Sorry 'bout that, the internet and I just were not around each other enough to pull of blog maintenance. But I am back with an excellent peace offering in the form of a Grand Funk Railroad collection. This is a part of a three part collection, however it is the only one with Mel. The other two are Mark Don and Terry's. This is a amazing example of early proto metal. Straight forward groove orientation, nasty guitar and thumping bass. If you are a James Gang fan this will be right up you're alley, but this stuff actually pre dates TJG and is far, far superior. Make sure and check out their rendition of Eric Burdon's classic "Inside Looking Out"!

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FUK YES!!!

More opera, more organ, more heavy, more heep!!!

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I've never been a huge fan of surf rock, but that never applied to strongly to The Ventures in my eyes. In 1965 when this was recorded most bands seemed to treat their instruments like frail delicate flowers, mostly focusing on vocal performance and 4/4 foot tapping romance bile. The Ventures were one of the first groups to really focus on exploring the extra space that electric instruments provided. Granted the surf rhythms are their to an extent these guys had a couple of genre defying tricks up their coat sleeves that took rock guitar to new levels. Their use of minor chords produced a darker, more melodic sound to the overall chord structures causing a less than sunny feel at times. The upbeat stuff was more of a west coast hat tip to the Memphis sound a decade earlier. But the truth is if you were going to play an electric guitar in front of the Japanese in the 20th century... You best rock. Japanese folks don't put up with neutered rock.


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This is what Mogwai's parents listened to.

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1990's self titled album from The Obsessed is an absolute must for any fan of fine, loud guitar playing, bikers, aspiring bikers, beer drinkers, hell raisers and good people in general. Wino's soulful haggard gnarl and mountain solid rhythm lay a perfect back drop for his vocal mastery and genius song craftsmanship. As a guitar nerd I find his lead skills to be jaw dropping. Most people think of him as just a vocalist due to his tour of duty with Saint Vitus.... But gee dee the man can play, giving a whole new generation of punk kids the nod to grow out their hair smoke dope, turn up and slow down. This album contains early incarnations of what would later be found on 1999's Southern Lord release Incarnate. If you have not heard these guys and your reading this then you must be somehow getting internet under that rock, and I challenge you to CLICK!!! and be blown away. If you have heard them, which I'm sure many to most of you have than I just sound like a pretentious asshole who thinks he's into an obscure band that's really not too awfully obscure amongst certain company.....Geez.... Thanks for making me feel so bad!

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This album catches a lot of shit, most folks don't care for the idea of ZZ Top with keyboards. Well first of all of the synth use is basically for rhythm, the drums are electronic doubled with an actual kit from time to time. Guitar and bass still loud still awesome. This is the little ol' band from Texas trying their hand at early 80's psychedelic hard rock. The car on the cover is the Eliminator... It appears out of no where when dudes are havin bad days at shitty jobs, 18-25 different women climb out of the car... Three dudes appear(two with beards) and give the original dude the keys. The girls kiss all over him and the three mystic bringers of fortune play Sharp Dressed Man. The tracks T.V. Dinners and I got the 6 are worth the ride alone. Quit being an ass an get this!!


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1973

Sorry for the sparce postings... Busy week, weeks, whatever. Or maybe I'm just trying to savor Southern Rock Summer. Anyhoo, today's offering is MTB's first effort. This album captures the hunger of the mid era of Southern Rock. A mixture of blues, blue grass, honkey tonk and sheer country fuled by a steady Memphis rock under current. The mellow tracks are as beautiful as a Carolina sunset and the up beat cuts are fit for the finest barn dances long passed.


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South Carolina 1975

Okay we're back in session.... This is what the Carolina's sounded like, twin lead, flute and violins. These guys did'nt rock it like others, but they had a laid back beautiful sound that came down in tasteful layers. I pick this album because it is a good starting point.


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Dear Folks,
I am currently in the process of moving, so Volunteer Jam will be closed for a few weeks... Once I get my internet access in order Southern Rock Summer will continue.

Thanks,
OL'RJ

1946-1971

Here's a comp I found floating around cyber space. It consists of tracks from the Duane Allman anthologies. It includes his session work with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Otis Rush and King Curtis amongst others, Some Hourglass (Allman Bros Proto type) songs, and some solo tracks... I love this dude!


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1970

The last album recorded by this line-up. Duane Allman died not long after this recording. Although upbeat at points the sound of this album is ironically somber and more downtrodden than the former.Even overwhelmingly mournful at moments. The instrumental track In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed was Dickey Betts tribute to Miles Davis. I'm sure you've heard the legend... That the song was written in Rose Hill Cemetery, and was named after the headstoned Betts sat upon while writing said song..... That song was the begining and end of a great genre..Cemetery Jazz!

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Where it all began... 1969, Macon, Ga

The Allman Brothers Band Original line up was, is, and will continue to be the absolute essence of what was Southern Rock. 19 year old Gregg Allman's haggard soulful growl teamed with Barry Oakley's power walk bass lines, Duane Allman and Dickey Betts dual lead guitar majesty and the anchor solid percussion of Jamoie Johnson and Butch Trucks caused a sound totally unheard of... The absolute opposite of what was going on in San Fran Cisco. If the music on this recording does not make every hair on your body raise, or your big toe stand up in your boot, then you my friend simply have no soul.. Now get away from me you creepy fuck.

Comma Splices and Prices,

Ol' RJ


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SR 101

Well, the train to Grinder's Switch is runnin' right on time
And them Tucker Boys are cookin' down in Caroline
People down in Florida can't be still
When ol' Lynyrd Skynrd's pickin' down in Jacksonville
People down in Georgia come from near and far
To hear Richard Betts pickin' on that red guitar

Chorus:
So gather 'round, gather 'round chillun'
Get down, well just get down chillun'
Get loud, well you can be loud and be proud
Well you can be proud, hear now
Be proud you're a rebel
'Cause the South's gonna do it again and again

Elvin Bishop sittin' on a bale of hay
He ain't good lookin', but he sure can play
And there's ZZ Top and you can't forget
That old brother Willie's gettin' soakin' wet
And all the good people down in Tennessee
Are diggin' barefoot Jerry and C.D.B


Southern Rock summer starts today,

1969

Rod Stewart, Ron Wood and of course Jeff Beck laying down essential nasty hard rock of the white boy blues persuasion. Recorded in the hazy period between The Yardbirds demise and Led Zeppelin's birth, Beck-Ola was the concrete proto-type for the next decade of hard rock, and the precursor of the first Zeppelin album. Jeff's guitar attack was like no other of his time and it is truly amazing what Rod Stewart could achieve vocally..... Fuck, if I were on this album in my early twenties I'd wanna stay forever young too.

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I remember

The dark woods, masking slopes of sombre hills;

The grey clouds' leaden everlasting arch;

The dusky streams that flowed without a sound,

And the lone winds that whispered down the passes.



Vista on vista marching, hills on hills,

Slope beyond slope, each dark with sullen trees,

Our gaunt land lay. So when a man climbed up

A rugged peak and gazed, his shaded eye

Saw but the endless vista - hill on hill,

Slope beyond slope, each hooded like its brothers.



It was a gloomy land that seemed to hold

All winds and clouds and dreams that shun the sun,

With bare boughs rattling in the lonesome winds,

And the dark woodlands brooding over all,

Not even lightened by the rare dim sun

Which made squat shadows out of men; they called it

Cimmeria, land of Darkness and deep Night.


It was so long ago and far away


I have forgot the very name men called me.

The axe and flint-tipped spear are like a dream,

And hunts and wars are shadows. I recall

Only the stillness of that sombre land;

The clouds that piled forever on the hills,

The dimness of the everlasting woods.

Cimmeria, land of Darkness and the Night.



Oh, soul of mine, born out of shadowed hills,

To clouds and winds and ghosts that shun the sun,

How many deaths shall serve to break at last

This heritage which wraps me in the grey

Apparel of ghosts? I search my heart and find

Cimmeria, land of Darkness and the Night.

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1989

Somebody's got a scary story tell you. This is the sequel to Abigail and the stronger of the two albums in concept and execution. All you really need to know going in is.... Dude moves in to old family house, house is haunted by dead family members.... Andy Larocque plays guitar solos and BOOM!!! That's is.


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1970ish

Here is some of Hendrix later stuff. Some of this music was just guitar and vocal tracks that were overdubbed with backing rhythm after his death(which I am okay with) and the rest consists of demos and unreleased material. If your burnt out on the experience... No pun intended... Then check this out. These tracks show what he was heading for in a new decade, and lead me to think he might have died before some of his heaviest work was due.


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1974

This is why he's the boss. His debut album is like nothing else, the missing link that fills the huge gap between Van Morrison and Bob Seger. Hauntingly nostalgic drifter music, confused and heartfelt with workingman honesty. The opening tracking is "Blinded by the Light".... Yup that Manfred Mann song that that made everybody at the skating rink yell "douche" at the same time. I always hated that song until I heard the original.. I was blown away... I could'nt understand how MM could go so far out of his way to make a great song suck. "Does this Bus Stop"made me wanna sell my car so I could have conversations with a bus driver and "Spirt in the Night" makes me think about how awesome life was when I was 16.


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1978

Whitesnake did not always suck, in fact they had a archives worth of music a good decade before they belted out the vomit they are known for. In the late 70's Whitesnake was like a hangout for former Deep Purple members. On this album David Coverdale and Jon Lord lay down some solid blues rock with guitar help from the unsung duel lead hero's Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden. I would not call this essential but it certainly rocks. This was Whitesnakes second album.


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1974

Not exactly a hard to find album, but I'm in a terrible mood, and to be gut raw honest I hurt. Sometimes life is foreboding, unsure and scary. To me that's what this album is about. In the past decade there has been too much emphasis placed on emotion, to the point where it's processed and functionless, but in 1974 it was merely a bi-product of a few young men feeling like they were facing a bleak future. This is one the most important pieces of music ever recorded.


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