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One of rock’s legendary albums was discussed on the April 9 edition of Greasy Tracks as the focus turns to the recent two-CD re-issue of Spirit’s 1970 masterpiece, The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (Esoteric Recordings).

Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here. 

Best known for “Nature’s Way” — one of Spirit’s most recognized songs, Sardonicus has always had a mystique to it. An incredible work, albeit by a band in turmoil and near a breaking point, akin to a fractured Beatles somehow making Abby Road.

To provide some insight to the re-issue, which includes 11 bonus tracks and 17 live cuts recorded in 1970 at the Fillmore West and Boston Tea Party, there was an interview with Mick Skidmore who produced, compiled and mastered the package. Skidmore is the trustee of the Randy Craig Wolfe estate.

Wolfe, best known as of Randy California, one of the founders of Spirit, was an innovative guitarist who had earlier played with Jimi Hendrix in his band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. It was Hendrix who gave him the name “California” to differentiate him from bassist Randy Palmer whom he nicknamed “Randy Texas.”

Sardonicus was Spirit’s fourth album and the first that did not have Lou Adler producing. Adler, the founder of Ode Records, signed Spirit who released their self-titled debut and follow-up, The Family That Plays Together, on the label in 1968. They followed with Clear in 1969.

Spirit enlisted David Briggs, best known for his work with Neil Young, to produce Sardonicus. The connection to Briggs came via Spirit keyboardist John Locke being friends with Young.

Upon release, Sardonicus didn’t set the charts alight, reaching only No. 69 in the Billboard 200. Over time, it gained more attention and appreciation, going Gold in 1976.

That the album was released at all was a miracle as the band was hardly functioning as a unit. During the recording, all members were never in the studio at the same time. Creative and personality differences were marred by questionable lifestyle choices by band members, especially California. During the mixing of Sardonicus, California fractured his skull after falling off a horse.

It would be the last album all five founding members would make together until 1984 when the released The Thirteenth Dream.

Following the release of Sardonicus, the band endeavored to go on the road to support the album, but it was a half-hearted effort at best. California’s post-accident mental state had worsened and he cancelled a highly anticipated tour of Japan. The original line-up played its final show together at the Fillmore East in New York on Jan. 30, 1971.

Bassist/vocalist Mark Andes and keyboardist/vocalist Jay Ferguson would leave to form Jo Jo Gunne; California would enter rehab; and drummer Ed Cassidy and Locke picked up Al Staehely (bass) and Chris Staehely (guitar) as Spirit limped on.

The paths of the founders would cross over the years, but in the grand scheme of things, it would be the duo of California and Cassidy that proved to be the longest-working partnership. The pair linked up again in 1972 when California released his debut solo album, Kapt. Kopter And The (Fabulous) Twirly Birds. They would go on to release eight additional Spirit albums, the final, California Blues, in 1996 a year before California’s death at age 45 when he drowned.

Veteran guitarist and songwriter Tom Guerra was a guest on the March 26 edition of Greasy Tracks where he discussed his just-released album, Sentimental Junk (Thin Man Music).

Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here. 

In addition to playing a handful of tracks from the album, Guerra and host Chris Cowles will spotlight some of their favorite guitarists, especially those who would be considered obscure.

The album, Guerra’s fifth, was recorded in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which threw a mighty monkey wrench into the entire music industry.

“This is a back-to-the-roots thing for me,” said Guerra “My last album featured a lot of acoustic tunes, but this record reflects my renewed love affair with the electric guitar and the pent-up energy that being in lockdown for two years brings.”

While the pandemic drove many musicians and fans alike stir crazy, Guerra found a sense of therapy in the creative process. “Being stuck inside for a couple years made us all a little restless,” he admitted, “and I think that energy comes across on this record. It’s a good feeling to write, and people need music — especially during times like these.”

Of the 11 cuts on the album, 10 are originals with Bob Dylan’s “Clean Cut Kid” the lone cover. “I loved Dylan’s ‘Clean Cut Kid’,” said Guerra, “and I was curious to see how it might fare with a harder, straight-ahead rock and roll arrangement.”

Similar to earlier projects, Guerra enlisted the help of some crack musicians to help bring his songs to life in the studio, including long-time collaborator Kenny Aaronson who has worked with the likes of Bob Dylan, The Yardbirds and George Harrison. Keyboardists Matt Zeiner and Morgan Fisher (Mott The Hoople) and drummer Mike Kosacek rounded out the backing band. Singer Scott Lawson Pomeroy, Guerra’s bandmate from Mambo Sons, contributed vocals to “Eyes of the World,” a tribute to Leslie West.

The first single off the album, “California’s Got to My Girl,” is an R&B-based vocal duet with legendary Boston musician Jon Butcher.

Since the late 1970s, Guerra has been a popular guitarist on the New England club circuit, playing with a host of leading blues, rock and R&B acts.

He first gained notoriety after being featured in the March 1991 issue of Guitar Player. Over the years, he’s recorded or played with Rick Derringer, The Dirty Bones Blues Band, E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg, Mark Nomad, The Easton Brothers with Muddy Waters bassist Charles Calmese, Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson of The Allman Brothers Band, Second Son, Guitar Shorty, Adolph Jacobs of The Coasters, Aaronson and The Delrays, for which he received acclaim from Buddy Guy.

He formed Mambo Sons in 1999 and the group released four albums of original music over the next 15 years.

In 2014, Guerra released his first solo album, All of the Above, a collection of 11 original rock tracks. The CD was critically acclaimed and favorably reviewed in numerous music and guitar magazines as well as mainstream media such as The Huffington Post.

He also spent a five-year period working for Johnny Winter, penning liner notes as the guitarist released a handful of live recordings via The Bootleg Series and has done extensive studio work since the late 1980’s.

In 2016, he released Trampling Out the Vintage followed by American Garden (2018) and Sudden Signs of Grace (2020).

The March 5 edition of Greasy Tracks featured an interview with bassist John Lodge who spent 50-plus years with the Moody Blues and is currently gearing up for a solo tour.

The program spotlighted music from across Lodge’s career as well as paying tribute to a handful of “Brumbeat” bands from Birmingham, England.

Check out the archives by clicking here, while a playlist is here. 

Lodge and his 10,000 Light Years Band hits the road to support the just-released live offering, The Royal Affair And After (BFD/Halesouth) which captured the band on stage during a 2019 tour with Asia, Arthur Brown, Carl Palmer and Yes. He plays Infinity Hall (Norfolk) on March 8, The Warehouse in Fairfield on March 12 and Infinity Hall (Hartford) on March 13.

Lodge joined the Moody Blues in 1966 and his first project with the then-rhythm and blues-influenced band was the concept album, Days of Future Passed. The 1967 effort remains one of the more innovative releases of the decade as it merged rock with orchestral components to produce one of progressive rock’s first masterpieces.

In hindsight, it was a series of musical collaborations which led to Lodge coming into the Moody’s fold which recorded their “core seven” albums in the sixties through the early 1970s.

Lodge and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ray Thomas started playing together in their early teens. They would be part of Birmingham-based El Riot and the Rebels, which also included keyboardist Mike Pinder. Pinder, Thomas and drummer Graeme Edge were on the Moody’s debut album The Magnificent Moodies (1965). Lodge joined at the same time guitarist Justin Hayward was brought in to replace Denny Laine. Lodge and Hayward went on to become primary writers in the group which boasted four vocalists in Lodge, Hayward, Thomas and Pinder.

Lodge’s contributions are considered some of the Moody’s most popular recordings, including: “I’m Just A Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band),” “(Evening) Time To Get Away,” “Ride My See-Saw,” “House of Four Doors,” “Eyes of a Child,” “Isn’t Life Stange,” “Talking Out of Turn,” “Candle of Life” and “Steppin’ in a Slide Zone.”

London-based bands and artists traditionally garnered the most attention of the press when it came to the music industry as the Moody Blues started making a mark, but there were other West Midland’s bands who would go on to turn heads including The Move, The Spencer Davis Group, Black Sabbath, Traffic, The Electric Light Orchestra and Chicken Shack to name but a few groups who got their start in Birmingham.

The Moody Blues were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 and effectively stopped touring and recording following Edge’s retirement that year. Thomas died only a few months before the induction ceremonies. Edge passed away in 2021 at which time the band effectively broke up.

Lodge and Hayward, who collaborated on a studio album, Blue Jays in 1974, continue to record and tour with their own bands.

WRTC marked its 75th anniversary on Feb. 26 and while there’s absolutely no connection, the Greasy Tracks and EsoteROCK programs collaborated by putting on a six-hour feature of bands and artists from Michigan.

Check out the archives by clicking here or here, while a playlist is here. 

When it comes to musical styles, this presentation will run the gamut.

Listeners will of course hear many of the expected suspects who are synonymous with the state, especially those hailing from Detroit, but should be prepared for a challenging mix of music as well as insight from Grand Funk Railroad founding member Mark Farner and Shaun Murphy who did spells with Bob Seger, Eric Clapton and Little Feat, amoungst others.

The Feb. 19 edition of Greasy Tracks featured a tribute to legendary drummer Howard Grimes who passed away Feb. 12 at 80.

Check out the archive by clicking here for an archive, while a playlist is here. 

In addition to spotlighting music that Grimes was involved in recording, there were interviews with members of the Hi Rhythm Section, including keyboardist Rev. Charles Hodges and bassist Leroy Hodges; drummer Gene Chrisman, a contemporary of Grimes’ who was part of the crack studio band known as “The Memphis Boys” at American Sound Studio; Grammy Award-winning author/documentarian Robert Gordon; drummer Danny Banks , a Grimes protégé; and trumpet player Marc Franklin who played with Grimes in the The Bo-Keys.

Known as “The Bulldog,” Grimes provided the backing for the first hits out of Satellite Records — the precursor to Stax Records — and later, was part of the Hi Rhythm Section about a mile away at Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studios where Al Green, OV Wright, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson and Otis Clay, amongst others, held historic recording sessions with Grimes playing a key role.

In 1959, at the suggestion of Rufus Thomas — noted singer/performer, former disc jockey and veteran raconteur – who had recently charted with a single on Memphis’ Sun Records, Grimes turned up a session Thomas was doing at Satellite Records, a converted movie theater in south Memphis.

Influenced by Gene Krupa, Grimes took up the drums at a young age and by his early teens, was regularly getting gigs in clubs around Memphis.

Singing with Thomas in the session was his then-17-year-old daughter, Carla. His son, Marvell, 18, was on piano. Rounding out the backing band was Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass) and a baritone saxophone player, Booker T. Jones, who got out of an 11th grade algebra class with a hall pass given to him by David Porter.

Grimes, 17 at the time, and the hastily assembled band recorded the duo doing the Rufus Thomas-penned “Deep Down Inside,” but the producers urged them to cut a “B” so they put out the single. This led Rufus Thomas to pen “Cause I Love You” right in the studio and the track was recorded that day. In 1960, it o on to be the first regional hit for Satellite which soon became Stax Records.

Coincidentally, Crooper, Steinberg and Jones ultimately formed Booker T & the MGs and Porter later teamed up with Isaac Hayes and became one of the top songwriters at Stax. Grimes was getting a bit of mentoring at this time from Al Jackson, Jr., who often split sessions with Grimes at Stax and for producer Willie Mitchell at Royal Studios.

Mitchell, a fan of each drummer, felt Grimes was going to be a key part for what would eventually become the Hi Rhythm Section and go on to record some of the biggest hits in southern soul.

In 2021, Grimes and noted Memphis author Preston Lauterbach collaborated on Timekeeper: My Life in Rhythm  (Devault Graves Books). In it, Grimes wrote: “My beat is the backbone of the Memphis sound. The rhythm of this city runs through my heart.”

Bill Lichtenstein discussed the documentary and accompanying book, WBCN and The American Revolution on the Jan. 22 edition of Greasy Tracks.

Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here. 

A Peabody Award-winner, Bill Lichtenstein — who produced and directed the documentary about the legendary Boston FM radio station — began working at WBCN at the age of 14 in 1970 answering the station’s “listener line” and later did newscasts as well as hosting programs.

Considered one of the first underground/progressive rock stations in the country, WBCN’s roots can be traced to 1958 and Concert Network Inc., which was owned by engineering wiz T. Mitchell Hastings who had a handful of FM stations in his portfolio. WBCN’s call sign stood for “Boston Concert Network” and sister stations included WHCN in Hartford, WNCN in New York City, WXCN in Providence and WRCN on Long Island.

FM radio was still experiencing growing pains in the 1960s and within a decade of going on air, Hastings’ stations were all in financial distress, most on the brink of going out of business.

Enter Ray Riepen, a lawyer from Kansas City, who two years earlier came to Harvard Business School to get his master’s degree. By the start of 1967, Riepen and David Hahn founded The Boston Tea Party, a music venue in Boston’s South End. The building had been a place where underground films were shown, but was built in 1872 as a synagogue before becoming a Unitarian meeting house/street mission.

At the onset, the Tea Party presented local acts, but in time, would have national and international bands that would go on to become household names. The Who, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Cream and Pink Floyd among many others would list the important role the Tea Party made as far as getting a crucial foothold in the important U.S. market.

Along with The Fillmore in San Francisco and The Grande Ballroom in Detroit, the Tea Party became a sought-after destination for scores of bands, many who would play the venue multiple times.

By 1968, Riepen had experienced firsthand the audience/market in the metro-Boston area based on the success of the Tea Party and approached Hastings and convinced him to let him program the overnight hours at the failing station.

Opting to steer clear of “professional” radio announcers, Riepen put together a bunch of college disc jockeys and hippies from the local community to be the air staff. Hastings eventually made Riepen general manager. On March 15, 1968, as Cream’s “I Feel Free” hit the airwaves, WBCN was no longer a classical music station, instead going into freeform mode airing everything from non-Top 40 rock and jazz to blues and soul music depending on the mood of any of the eclectic hosts when they were on air.

Essentially it was a case of expect the unexpected at WBCN.

After the format change, ad sales steadily grew, but the station staff would have the final say on what ads were aired and many times produced spots for local businesses. For many years, ‘BCN steered clear of advertising for national brands, etc. As FM rock stations began to become more commonplace across the country, most tried to replicate WBCN.

Musicians quickly learned about the upstart station because Riepen made it possible to broadcast remotely from backstage at the Tea Party. Musicians playing dates in Boston would regularly show up at WBCN after concerts, many times staying in the studio for hours.

The documentary, which came out in 2019, and the recently published book on MIT Press, focus solely on the station during the 1968-1974 era — a period, according to Lichtenstein, when WBCN was the “internet of its time” and was a lightning rod when it came to activism against the war in Vietnam.

Less than six years after he arrived at Harvard, Riepen had sold his interest in WBCN, the Tea Party and the Cambridge Phoenix, a weekly counterculture newspaper. Riepen then left town and wouldn’t return to Boston for nearly 40 years when he came back to be interviewed for the documentary.

Lichtenstein captures the extent of Riepen’s long-lasting impact on the metro-Boston area even though his involvement in his business endeavors where relatively short-lived in the grand scheme of things.

Over the years, WBCN played a major role breaking bands such as Aerosmith, The Cars, Boston and the J. Geils Band — future Geils vocalist Peter Wolf was once an overnight host — and literally introducing U2 to the U.S. airwaves.

Just as media would change over time, so did WBCN. Stylistic changes, from airing Howard Stern to carrying New England Patriots game, also abounded. In 2009, WBCN’s corporate parent CBS Radio called time on the station’s incredible 41-year run by shutting it down.

The final track aired before WBCN became all-sports WBMX in 2009 was Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”

Just as there’s no such thing as an ex-Marine, once you’re a Merry Prankster, you’re always a Merry Prankster, just ask Ken Babbs.

An interview with Babbs — the veteran storyteller and adventure finder — was featured on the Jan. 15 edition of Greasy Tracks where he discussed his just-published Cronies, A Burlesque: Adventures with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead (Tsunami Press).

The program also included a wide range of music with “blues” in the title as well as a handful of tracks featuring Mick Taylor who turns 73 on Jan. 17.

Check out the archive by clicking here for an archive, while a playlist is here. 

Babbs first met Ken Kesey in 1958 at a cocktail party hosted by Wallace Stegner who founded the creative writing program at Stanford University which Babbs was attending on a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship. They became fast friends/cronies and for the next 40-plus years shared experiences that a determined Babbs captured in 70 “burlesques” or “chapbooks” in the hardcover.

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The music of Memphissippi Sounds, legendary steel guitarist Bobby Black and newly released live recordings of Johnny Cash  were featured on the Dec. 18 edition of Greasy Tracks.

The program included interviews with drummer Cameron Kimbrough of Memphissippi Sounds as well as Black, Hawk Semins of the Owsley Stanley Foundation and John Carter Cash, the only son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

Check out the archive by clicking here for an archive, while a playlist is here. 

The Memphissippi Sounds are drummer Cameron Kimbrough — the grandson of the iconic Junior Kimbrough — and harp player Damion “Yella P” Pearson — incidentally each sings and plays guitar.

Kimbrough’s namesake developed his own style of Mississippi hill country blues which flirts with droaning bolstered by a mid-tempo rhythm based on using his thumb on the bass strings.

Hailing from North Mississippi, Cameron Kimbrough and Memphis native Pearson have branched off on that theme and by injecting Memphis blues with flourishes of soul, hip-hop and rock, have essentially created their own unique sound which is captured on their debut release, Welcome To The Land (Little Village). Fittingly, it was recorded at the famed Sun Studio in Memphis.

Consider the just-released Johnny Cash At The Carousel Ballroom April 24, 1968, as the middle part of an aural triptych bracketed by the legendary At Folsom Prison album — which was recorded four months earlier — and the equally epic At San Quentin which was put on tape about 10 months later. At Folsom Prison was released less than two weeks after Cash’s San Francisco appearance.

Recorded by The Grateful Dead’s innovative master of sound, Augustus Owsley “Bear” Stanley III, the performance by Cash at The Carousel Ballroom — the same building which less than three months later would become Bill Graham’s second and final Fillmore West location — has recently been released by the Owsley Stanley Foundation and marks the eighth edition of Bear’s Sonic Journals.

Stanley regularly recorded bands at the venue where was the sound engineer. At this time, it was in the midst of being operated by a collective formed by The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service. This concert, a bill Cash headlined with Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks in support, would mark the only time he ever played the famed venue.

This proved to be a pivotal period for Cash who a month earlier had married June Carter. She is part of his line-up along with veteran sidemen “The Tennessee Three” — guitarist Luther Perkins, bassist Marshall Grant and drummer W.S. Holland who are outstanding on this 28-song collection.

In an effort to preserve Stanley’s “sonic journals” — 1,300 reels of live soundboard recordings of 80 artists — the Owsley Stanley Foundation was funded to finance the incredible undertaking of digitizing the massive trove of music. Thus far, they’ve gone through nearly 900 reels.

Veteran steel guitarist Black may be best known for his work with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen during their most prolific period (1971-74), but the recent release of Bobby Black: 70 Years of Swinging Steel (Little Village) captures an interesting array of primarily live concert or radio broadcast recordings made between 1954 and 1992.

Black also did time with New Riders of the Purple Sage and Asleep At The Wheel.

Earlier this year, a release by the foundation, Tim Buckley Merry-Go-Round at The Carousel, was spotlighted on Greasy Tracks.