Tag: Monterey International Pop Festival

Weekly Recommended Listens: March 2017, Week 3: Sixties Rock: Blues Rock Continued!

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, we’re moving right along with our look at Blues Rock music of the 1960s!

Our bands for the third week of March are: Canned Heat, The Blues Project & Savoy Brown.

And before we dig into our music of the week we should all take our hats off to the late, great Rock N’ Roll pioneer Chuck Berry who died this past weekend week at age 90.

Here’s a link to Berry’s New York Times obituary:
https://goo.gl/rA7yTj

And his Bio page on the AllMusic site which also features a discography, should you wish to peruse it:
https://goo.gl/I5mjjI

And on to our music posting on Blues Rock!

This week, as usual, we’ll be offering suggestions of music you can listen to both by streaming it through the library’s digital Freegal Music Service* and by checking out albums available in the library’s compact disc collection.

Our weekly music postings have the following sections:

I. Brief Artist Bios

II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week (streaming music)

III. CD Music Recommendations Of The Week

IV. Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups

V. Wild Card Print Book Recommendation Of The Week (a print book that focuses on a musician, musicians, songwriters or other musical genres, styles etc. from any musical era)

VI. References (for those who’d like to know a bit more about the artists of the week).

I. Brief Artist Bios:

Canned Heat: Canned Heat was formed, in the California in the mid-sixties, by two huge blues fans Bob “The Bear” Hite and Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson. Hite sang and played harmonica and Wilson sang and played harmonica and guitar. Hite and Wilson were joined in the band’s original line-up by Henry Vestine on guitar, Larry Taylor on bass and Fred Cook on drums.

The band played great boogie blues rock and even played at two of the largest and most influential rock festivals of the 1960s – The Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock. Despite playing some great music and getting huge exposure at the Monterey and Woodstock Festivals, the group never did break through to the main stream American audience, although they remain popular with classic rock and blues rock fans and are worthy of a listen!

Canned Heat’s best known songs are: On The Road Again, Going Up Country and Let’s Work Together. Canned Heat released the following albums in the sixties: Canned Heat, Boogie with Canned Heat, Living The Blues and Hallelujah.

Unfortunately, both Wilson and Hite died at young; Wilson in 1970 at age 27 and Hite in 1981 at age 37.

The Blues Project: The Blues Project was formed in Greenwich Village, New York in the mid-sixties, and its premier line up of that era included: Steve Katz and Danny Kalb on guitars, Andy Kulberg on bass and flute, Roy Blumenfeld on drums and singer songwriter Al Kooper on vocals and keyboards.

The Blues Project played blues based rock which sounds sort of like a cross between the blues and popular British Invasion music of the era.

After their tenure with The Blues Project, its two best known players, Kooper and Katz, went on to co-found the band Blood, Sweat and Tears. Although Kooper didn’t stay with BS&T long and was succeeded by David Clayton Thomas on vocals. After hanging out with BS&T for couple of years, Katz moved behind the musical scenes working first at A&R records and later becoming the managing director of the folk label Green Linnet Records – he has since retired and lives in New York City. The multi-talented singer/songwriter Kooper continues to record and perform.

Savoy Brown: The band Savoy Brown was one of the great British Blues bands of the 1960s. The group was formed by guitarist Kim Simmonds and really was his baby. The original band consisted of Simmonds on guitar, Bryce Portius on vocals, Martin Stone on guitar, Ray Chappell on bass, Bob Hall on keyboards and Leo Manning on drums. Simmonds was known for being both the leader and the dominant personality in the band and this lead to a great overturning of band members through the years. However, Simmonds plays great blues guitar music and has continued to record and preform concerts with Savoy Brown from its inception in the late sixties to the present day.

Savoy Brown’s sixties albums are: Shakedown, Getting to the Point, Blue Matter and A Step Further. Savoy Brown features what I would describe as heavier blues than either Canned Heat or The Blues Project – to my ears their music leans more towards 1970s blues than 1960s blues as is the case with the other two groups.

Freegal Notes:

To access Freegal Music from a desktop or laptop simply click on the following link:

http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/

The Freegal Music Catalog homepage will display — it looks like this:

The Freegal Music app can be found in your app store and it looks like this:

II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week:

Canned Heat – Vintage:
This album features studio recordings that were done by the group just prior to recording their first album. The Vintage album was produced by the great musician and record producer Johnny Otis and includes the songs Rollin’ And Tumblin’ (Part 1), Big Road Blues, Spoonful, Got My Mojo Working, Pretty Thing, Louise, Dimples and more.

Here’s a link to stream the Vintage album:
https://goo.gl/tUVBRO

The Blues Project – Al Kooper’s Soul of a Man:

The Freegal Music Catalog doesn’t feature any of the albums by the Blues Project. However, they do offer a great collection by singer/songwriter and musician Al Kooper. The album is a live one titled Soul of a Man and features Kooper backed by a solid band that included members from both Blood, Sweat & Tears & The Blues Project.

Here’s a description of the album from the record company, which gives you an even better idea of what a great, but under-sung, player Al Kooper is: “If Al Kooper isn’t a living American musical legend, no one is. Who else has performed with Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Hendrix and countless others? And not just performed but been an important component of legendary songs (how about the Hammond organ on both Dylans’ Like a Rolling Stone and The Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want)? As a solo artist he is best known for his work as a founding member of both the Blues Project and Blood Sweat and Tears. Many more famous recordings have followed and lead us to this great selection – a CD that is, in my opinion, a classic: a two-CD Al-fest. Recorded live at NYC’s Bottom Line, Al performs his great tunes from the Blues Project and Blood Sweat and Tears, as well as his solo recordings such as I Stand Alone. The excitement from the packed audience is only rivaled by the intensity Al and the band bring to such classics as I Can’t Quit Her, Somethin’ Goin’ On and New York City (You’re a Woman). It’s Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll and a great time, as only Al Kooper can bring.”

This is a wonderful collection of music that flows smoothly on and on through all 19 songs – check it out!

Here’s the link to stream Soul of a Man:
https://goo.gl/yWMCSz

Savoy Brown – Songs From The Road:

The Freegal Music Catalog features several Savoy Brown albums although none of their sixties albums. However, this live collection, from 2013, features a number of classic songs including: 24/7, Natural Man, Time Does Tell, Voodoo Moon, Hellbound Train, Little Red Rooster, Louisiana Blues and more.

And just as one can describe The Al Kooper album Soul of a Man as sounding like smooth whiskey – Kim Simmonds playing, if you’re not familiar with it, might be described a newly made raw whiskey as his style is a rougher one.

Here’s a link to stream the album Songs From The Road:
https://goo.gl/zOz8hU

Bonus Freegal Streaming Suggestion: Blues Anytime – Vol.1 An Anthology Of British Blues by various artists:

While I was researching which albums from our trio of bands this week are available in the Freegal Music Catalog, I came across a gem titled Blues Anytime – Vol.1 An Anthology Of British Blues. This album digs a little bit deeper into The British Blues artists of the 1960s then we have time for this month. Major league disclaimer – I am a huge fan of the blues in general and The British Blues in particular. So I recognized the collection at once for containing some great British Blues players that aren’t well known on this side of the Atlantic, as well as some that are! The artists on this collection include, T.S. Mcphee, Jo Anne Kelly (she has a great earthy type voice), Stone’s Masonry, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton and even a jam session featuring Clapton and Jimmy Page.

This is a fun album!

Here’s a link to stream the album Blues Anytime – Vol.1 An Anthology Of British Blues:
https://goo.gl/9XTLyO

One of These Days by Pink Floyd:

This song is one of several Pink Floyd tunes, available in the Freegal catalog, that was recorded at the B.B.C. and released under the banner of Pink Floyd: The Early Years. One of These Days was recorded in September of 1971. And the other songs in the series found in the Freegal Catalog are: Fat Old Sun, More Blues, Song 1 and Vegetable Man. Additionally, you’ll find many other Pink Floyd albums in the Freegal Catalog including Piper At The Gates of Dawn, Saucer Full of Secrets, Dark Side of the Moon etc.

Here’s the link to stream the song One of These Days:
https://goo.gl/TrKugf

III. Compact Discs Recommendations:

1. Canned Heat – Boogie With Canned Heat:
This is Canned Heat’s second album released in 1968. The AllMusic review of this album describes it by saying “ Canned Heat’s second long-player, Boogie with Canned Heat (1968), pretty well sums up the bona fide blend of amplified late-’60s electric rhythm and blues, with an expressed emphasis on loose and limber boogie-woogie.”

And I agree with that description! This album really is full of fun up-tempo boogie blues rock tunes including the band’s signature song On The Road Again. Other songs in this set that were included on the original album are: Evil Woman, My Crime, World In A Jug, Turpentine Moan (with Sunnyland Slim on piano), Whisky Headed Woman No. 2, Amphetamine Annie, An Owl Song, Marie Laveau, and Fried Hockey Boogie. Additionally, the album features six bonus tracks including an alternate version of On The Road Again.

Here’s a link to request the Boogie With Canned Heat CD:

https://goo.gl/wB0ZSk

2. The Blues Project – Projections:

This is considered by many to be the best album by The Blues Project. As with Canned Heat, this is their second album and it sounds to me like they needed to record their first album to get warmed up and when they went into the studio to record this one they were relaxed and ready and the songs just flowed out onto the vinyl. The songs on the album are: I Can’t Help From Crying, Steve’s Song, You Can’t Catch Me (written by the late, great Chuck Berry), Two Trains Running, Wake Me, Shake Me, Cherry’s Going Home, Flute Thing, Caress Me Baby and Fly Away.

Here’s a link to request the Projections CD:

https://goo.gl/8Bvg2n

3. Savoy Brown – Blue Matter:

I’m breaking with the pattern here and recommending you give Savoy Brown’s third album a listen! Blue Matter was released in 1969 and features the classic 1960s version of the band including Simmonds, Chris Youlden on vocals with “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, Roger Earl & Tony “Tone” Stevens. Songs on the album include: Train To Nowhere, Tolling Bells, She’s Got A Ring In His Nose And A Ring On Her Hand, Vicksburg Blues, Don’t Turn Me From Your Door, Grits Ain’t Groceries, May be Wrong, Louisianan Blues and It Hurts Me Too.

Here’s the link to request Blue Matter via StarCat:

https://goo.gl/3yyH3y

Wild Card CD or DVD Pick Of The Week:

Woodstock 40th Anniversary Concert DVD:

Inspired by the mention of The Blues Project playing at The Monterey International Pop Festival earlier in this posting, this week I’m going to stay in the 1960s and, as the Wild Card Pick of the Week, recommend the 40th Anniversary Edition of the Woodstock Concert – the official title of which is: Woodstock: Three Days of Peace & Music (Two-Disc 40th Anniversary Director’s Cut).

The concert features music by Jimmy Hendrix, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, The Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Country Joe and the Fish, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Arlo Guthrie, Sly And The Family Stone, Richie Havens and more. The Director’s Cut edition features 40 extra minutes of footage not include in the original release.

Here’s a link to request the Woodstock 40th Anniversary Concert DVD:

https://goo.gl/HfMS7X

IV: Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups:

Canned Heat – On The Road Again

This video was recorded in front of a studio audience for the show BeatClub, which I believe was German TV show.

Here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QexOuH8GS-Y

The Blues Project – Flute Thing 

This video was recorded at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival:

Savoy Brown – Kim Simmonds / Savoy Brown

Street Corner Talking

This song was recorded in 2014 at The Franke Center in Marshall Michigan and is the title track from Savoy Brown’s 1971 album of the same name:

https://goo.gl/qy4XDW

The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time: A Guide to the Legends Who Rocked the World [2 volumes]:

A Guide to the Legends Who Rocked the World edited by David Moskowitz. The is a great two book collection which is remincant of the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll which was a great book but is dated now – the last edition having been published in 2001. This two volume set features biographies, discorpahies and references regarding, as the title says, The 100 Greatest Bands Of All Time – rock bands

This one-of-a-kind reference investigates the music and the musicians that set the popular trends of the last half century in America.
• Contains an alphabetical collection of entries that each profile a major group and band from the past 60 years
• Provides a selected discography and bibliography for further listening and reading for each entry
• Covers a wide variety of styles from classic rock to surf rock to hip hop
• Features sidebar entries which tie together larger popular music concepts such as the rise and influence of MTV and the phenomenon of girl bands

Here’s the link to request the book in StarCat:
https://goo.gl/zn2BWS

VI. General References & Artist Specific References:

General References:

Al Kooper Biography by Bruce Eder
https://goo.gl/FJkGAZ

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

Kim Simmonds – Artist Biography by Charlotte Dillon
https://goo.gl/ggmGrS

Robert Hite – Obituaries – New York Times
https://goo.gl/bxpfK0

Sixties Rock: A Listener’s Guide by Robert Santelli (Contemporary Books. Chicago. 1985.)

Soul Of A Man AllMusic Review by Bruce Eder
https://goo.gl/I0coH7

Steve Katz Biography by Bruce Eder
https://goo.gl/fzYFJ5

Band Specific References:

The Blues Project Biography by Richie Unterberger
https://goo.gl/ugzpX1

The Blues Project – Projections – AllMusic Review by Dan Forte
https://goo.gl/jxQfHo

Canned Heat Biography by Bruce Eder
https://goo.gl/G4ZQeN

Canned Heat – Boogie with Canned Heat AllMusic Review by Lindsay Planer https://goo.gl/1S5q5g

Savoy Brown Biography by Steve Huey
https://goo.gl/VVVOZw

Savoy Brown – Blue Matter AllMusic Review by Peter Kurtz
https://goo.gl/srsFwm

Vintage – Canned Heathttps://goo.gl/7qfjTh

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and including our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York. Library cards are free and at our library you can obtain one by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features both your name and your current address.

Weekly Recommended Listens: March 2017, Week 2: Sixties Rock: Blues Rock

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, wow what a snowy week we’re having for it being March!

At least it is almost spring!

And as I forgot that Word Press doesn’t use U.S. time, the original unfinished version of this posting went out much earlier today — I apologize for that! Here is the complete version!

We’re on to week two of our look at the sub-category of our 2017 music theme, Sixties Rock, Blues Rock!

And as usual we’ll be offering suggestions of music you can listen to both by streaming it through the library’s digital Freegal Music Service* and by checking out albums available in the library’s compact disc collection.

Just as a reminder, our weekly music postings have the following sections:

I. Brief Artist Bios

II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week (streaming music)

III. CD Music Recommendations Of The Week

IV. Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups

V. Wild Card Print Book Recommendation Of The Week (a print book that focuses on a musician, musicians, songwriters or other musical genres, styles etc. from any musical era)

VI. References (for those who’d like to know a bit more about the artists of the week).

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, here are our spotlighted bands/musicians for this week:

The Butterfield Blues Band,

The Electric Flag

& Johnny Winters.

I. Brief Artist Bios:

The Butterfield Blues Band: The Butterfield Blues Band was formed in Chicago in 1964. The group was one of the young American bands responsible for bringing the sounds of Chicago Blues music to the attention of white Rock n’ Roll fans. By 1965 the group had its classic line-up of: Paul Butterfield on vocals and harmonica, Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield on guitars, Billy Davenport on drums, Jerome Arnold on bass and Mark Naftalin on keyboards.

Just prior to recording their first album, the group backed-up Bob Dylan’s during his famous gig at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival – where Dylan stunned folk fans by switching from playing an acoustic guitar to playing an electric guitar and being backed by a band playing electrified instruments. Bloomfield went on to play on Dylan’s classic Highway 61 Revisited album.

But I digress!

Getting back to the Butterfield Blues Band, the band played a great mixture of blues and blues rock with a bit folk and sixties rock vibes thrown in! The band’s first three albums are top notch! Those LPs are: 1. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, 2. East West and 3. The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw.

The group was together from 1964 to 1971. Butterfield and Bishop went on to solo careers. And Mike Bloomfield was a founding member of the short-lived but very worthy of mention, and listen, band – the Electric Flag before he too went on to a solo career.

The Electric Flag: Former Butterfield Blues Band guitarist Mike Bloomfield was the driving force behind The Electric Flag. His idea in forming The Electric Flag was to put a blues rock band together and include a horn section. In addition to Bloomfield, the band included Nick Graventies on vocals, Barry Goldberg on keyboards, Harvey Brooks on bass, Buddy Miles on drums and a horn section including Marcus Doubleday on trumpet, Peter Strauss on tenor sax and Herbie Rich on baritone sax. The group recorded two soundtracks and two albums in their short existence of which the best is their first studio album A Long Time Comin’, which one might describe as a psychedelic blues album.

Johnny Winter: Guitarist Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont Texas in 1944, followed two years later by his future songwriter and keyboard playing brother Edgar. Interestingly, both brothers were albino. Both brothers played the blues, although Edgar veered off onto other musical paths as well – and I mention Edgar because his music is worth a listen too.

Johnny Winter met with critical acclaim that brought him to the attention of a larger audience after his first album, Progressive Blues Experiment, received a glowing Rolling Stone review. Winter released two more great blues rock albums in the 1960s Second Winter and, despite its title, his third album simply called Johnny Winter. He continued to record and play concerts until his death on tour in 2014.

Freegal Notes:

To access Freegal Music from a desktop or laptop simply click on the following link: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/

The Freegal Music Catalog homepage will display — it looks like this:

The Freegal Music app can be found in your app store and it looks like this:

II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week:

1. The Butterfield Blues Band Freegal Recommendation: There aren’t any full length studio recordings of The Butterfield Blues Band in the Freegal Music Catalog. However, there are some songs by the group available in the catalog and a cool album by guitarist Mike Bloomfield that also features a few songs by The Butterfield Blues Band.

1. The Don’t Say That I Ain’t Your Man!-Essential Mike Bloomfield 1964-1969

The Mike Bloomfield album,The Don’t Say That I Ain’t Your Man!, is credited to Mike Bloomfield as a solo artist.

However, the album two songs he recorded with The Butterfield Blues Band as well as music he recorded throughout the the 1960s – both before and after his tenure with The Butterfield Blues Band.

 Some of the earliest songs in the collection feature Bloomfield on vocals and he was a superb guitar player but not a super strong singer.

The two songs on the album that feature The Butterfield Blues Band are: Born in Chicago and Work Song.

Additional songs in the double album set include: I Got My Mojo Working, Killing Floor, Albert’s Suffle, It Takes Time and Don’t Think About It, Baby.

Here’s a link to stream the Don’t Say That I Ain’t Your Man! album:

https://goo.gl/PHZEEN

2. Born In Chicago by the Butterfield Blues Band from the compilation LP Monterey International Pop Festival (Live):

The second cool album I’m going to suggest from the Freegal Catalog, that features The Butterfield Blues Band, is titled Monterey International Pop Festival (Live).

The album features, and you guessed it, live performances by artists and groups that played at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s contribution is a live version of a song from their first album the previously mentioned titled Born in Chicago.

And granted, that is the only song by The Butterfield Blues Band on this set. However, the album is great fun to listen to, because, in addition to the Butterfield Blues Band, it features songs by a whole host of popular sixties artists including: Simon & Garfunkel, Big Brother and the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), The Association, Eric Burdon and The Animals, The Who, Otis Redding, The Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe & The Fish, Booker T. & The MG’s and more.

Here’s a link to stream the Monterey International Pop Festival (Live) album:

https://goo.gl/HZezhe

And as a post script note on the Monterey Pop Festival album. I had actually forgotten how great the album and the video of the concert it came from both are, prior to doing this posting; as it has been a number of years since I’ve listened to the album and watched the video. So, in putting on my Acquisitions Librarian hat, I’ve ordered a copy of the DVD set The Complete Monterey Pop Festival from The Criterion Collection and it should be available to circulate soon!

The Electric Flag Freegal Recommendation: 

A Long Time Comin’

The Freegal Catalog does feature the first horn-centric upbeat studio album by The Electric Flag – A Long Time Comin’. Songs on the album include: Killing Floor, Groovin’ Is Easy, Over-Lovin’ You, She Should Just Have, Wine, Texas, Stittin’ In Circles, You Don’t Realize, Another Country, Easy Rider, Sunny, Mystery, Look Into My Eyes and Going Down Slow – this is definitely a fun sixties blues rock album!

Here a link to stream the A Long Time Comin’ album:
https://goo.gl/Vck6nn

Johnny Winter Freegal Recommendation The Essential Johnny Winter Collection:

If you find you like the music of Johnny Winter, which reminds me a bit of ZZ Top’s music, then you are in luck! As there are many, many of his albums listed in the Freegal Music Catalog. I’m going to recommend two: The Essential Johnny Winter Collection, which features more than thirty songs from throughout Johnny’s career including: Rock Me Baby, Highway 61 Revisited, Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Johnny B. Goode and Rollin’ and Tumblin.

Here’s a link to stream the Essential Johnny Winter Collection:
https://goo.gl/i7LpVD

Johnny Winter – Second Freegal Recommendation – Second Winter:

And my second Freegal recommendation is Johnny Winter’s second album, 1969’s Second Winter. Second Winter too, is available in the Freegal Catalog. The album includes the songs: I’m Not Sure, Memory Pain, The Good Love, Slippin’ And Slidin,‘ I Love Everybody, Hustled Down in Texas and many more.

Here’s a link to stream Second Winter:

https://goo.gl/m48B3X

Freegal Wild Card Album Pick Of The Week:

The Essential Frank Sinatra, The Columbia Years:

I’m going to venture way off the Blues Rock path this week with my Wild Card Pick of the Week! I’m going to suggest a cool, kick-back and relax collection of songs by Frank Sinatra! The album is titled The Essential Frank Sinatra, The Columbia Years. This double album set features more than thirty songs including: All or Nothing At All, Night and Day, Blue Skies, Nancy (With The Laughing Face), When Your Lover Has Gone, Stormy Weather and many, many more from Sinatra’s early years. Check it out!

Here’s a link to stream the The Essential Frank Sinatra album: https://goo.gl/OUnx3O

III. Compact Discs Recommendations Of The Week:

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band CD Recommendations:

Our library owns three cool albums by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, their first three albums released in 1965, 1966 and 1967 respectivley: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band,  East West & The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw. If you only have time to listen to one album by The Butterfield Blues Band, I’m going to suggest you listen to their first self-titled album The Butterfield Blues Band CD as it gives you a solid low-down on what the group sounds like.

The Butterfield Blues Band Album:

The Butterfield Blues Band album, also referred to as The Paul Butterfield Blues Band album, features the following songs: Born in Chicago, Shake Your Money-Maker, Blues with a Feeling, Thank You Mr. Poobah, I Got My Mojo Working, Mellow Down Easy, Screamin,” Our Love Is Drifiting, Mystery Train, Last Night and Look Over Younder Wall. It is a great Blues Rock album!

Here’s a link to request the The Butterfield Blues Band CD via StarCat:

https://goo.gl/KWAFOl

The Electric Flag CD Recommendation: 

A Long Time Comin’ 

As with the Freegal recommendation, I’m going to recommend you listen to The Electric Flag’s first studio album A Long Time Comin’. Here’s a complete song list for the LP: Killing Floor, Groovin’ Is Easy, Over-Lovin’ You, She Should Have Just, Wine, Texas, Sittin’ In Circles, You Don’t Realize, Another Country, Easy Rider, Sunny, Mystery, Look Into My Eyes (Album Version) and Going Down Slow (Album Version).

Here’s a link to request A Long Time Comin’  on CD in StarCat:

https://goo.gl/hs14PB

Johnny Winter CD Recommendation: 

Second Winter:

The library owns two CDs by Johnny Winter, Second Winter from 1969 and 1991’s Let Me In. If you only have time to listen to one CD by Winter – I recommend the 1969 double album Second Winter.

Here’s the complete song list for the double album set:

Disc 1: 1. Memory Pain 2. I’m Not Sure 3. The Good Love 4. Slippin’ And Slidin’ 5. Miss Ann 6. Johnny B. Goode 7. Highway 61 Revisited 8. I Love Everybody 9. Hustled Down in Texas 10. I Hate Everybody 11. Fast Life Rider 12. Early In The Morning and 13. Tell The Truth.

Disc 2: 1. Help Me 2. Johnny B. Goode 3. Mama Talk To Your Daughter 4. It’s My Own Fault 5. Black Cat Bone 6. Mean Town Blues 7. Tobacco Road 8. Frankenstein and 9. Tell The Truth

And here’s a link to the StarCat request page for the Second Winter CD:

https://goo.gl/ug8Dh1

Wild Card CD Pick Of The Week:

A Sailor’s Guide to Earth by Sturgill Simpson:

This album won the Grammy for Country Album of the year last month. The album is classified as country but is really a mixture of country, classic rock and folk with a few tinges of jazz thrown in for good measure. The album includes the songs: Welcome To Earth (Pollywog), Breakers Roar, Keep It Between The Lines, Sea Stories, In Bloom, Brace For Impact (Live A Little), All Around You, Oh Sarah and Call To Arms.

Here’s a link to an NPR review of the album:
https://goo.gl/XO0LqJ

And here’s a link to request the CD version of A Sailor’s Guide to Earth album via StarCat: https://goo.gl/Ox0GKJ

IV: Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups:

The Butterfield Blues Band:

Driftin’ Blues – concert footage from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival:

https://goo.gl/pqf84m

Born In Chicago from the 1965 Newport Folk Festival:

https://goo.gl/qzlSEh

The Electric Flag:

Goin’ Down Slow & Killing Floor – this clip isn’t a concert clip but features some great music and a slideshow of photos of the group:

https://goo.gl/6Srlh7

Johnny Winter:

Be Careful With A Fool from Danish TV circa 1970:

https://goo.gl/wBPbdN

V. Wild Card Print Book Recommendation Of The Week:

Respect Yourself Stax Records And The Soul Explosion

by Robert Gordon:

In the late 1950s, Jim Stewart, and his sister, Estelle Axton, moved their little fledgling recording studio into the defunct Capitol Theater in Memphis, Tenn., opening their doors and establishing the record label that gave birth to gritty, funky soul music. A masterful storyteller, music historian Gordon (It Came from Memphis) artfully chronicles the rise and fall of one of America’s greatest music studios, situating the story of Stax within the cultural history of the 1960s in the South. Stewart, a fiddle player who knew he’d never make it in the music business himself, one day overheard a friend talking about producing music; he soon gave it a try, and eventually he was supervising the acclaimed producer Chips Moman in the studio as well as creating a business plan for the label; Estelle Axton set up a record shop in the lobby of the theater, selling the latest discs but also spinning music just recorded in the studio and gauging its market appeal. Gordon deftly narrates the stories of the many musicians who called Stax home, from Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, and Otis Redding to Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, and the Staples Singers, as well as the creative marketing and promotional strategies—the Stax-Volt Revue and Wattstax. By the early 1970s, bad business decisions and mangled personal relationships shuttered the doors of Stax. Today, the Stax sound permeates our lives and, in Gordon’s words, became the soundtrack for liberation, the song of triumph, the sound of the path toward freedom. -Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Here’s a link to the StarCat request page for the book Respect Yourself Stax Records And The Soul Explosion:

https://goo.gl/ZxvMzo

VI. General References & Artist Specific References:

General References:
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Books. New York. 2009.)

Blacks and Whites Made the Blues ‘Born in Chicago’ Tells of Titans Who Taught Young Protegés by Larry Rohter (JULY 25, 2013)

Blues Who’s Who: A Biographical Dictionary of Blues Singers by Sheldon Harris. (Da Capo. New York. 1991).

Sixties Rock: A Listener’s Guide by Robert Santelli (Contemporary Books. Chicago. 1985.)

Sturgill Simpson: A Sailor’s Guide to Earth: Nashville rebel pens a song cycle to his son that’s full of soulful left-field brilliance
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/sturgill-simpson-a-sailors-guide-to-earth-20160414

Artist Of The Week Specific References:

Electric Flag Biography by Richie Unterberger
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/electric-flag-mn0000135829/biography

Johnny Winter Artist Biography by William Ruhlmann
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/johnny-winter-mn0000819983/biography

Johnny Winter, Virtuosic Blues Guitarist, Dies at 70 by Ben Sisario (JULY 17, 2014)
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/arts/music/johnny-winter-dies-at-70-virtuosic-blues-guitarist.html

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Biography by Steve Leggett
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-paul-butterfield-blues-band-mn0000016835/discography

Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL

P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713

*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and including our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York. Library cards are free and at our library you can obtain one by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features both your name and your current address.