Illinois Speed Press - Duet (1970)

01. Country Dumplin'
02. Sadly Out Of Place
03. The One Who Knows
04. Dearly/Bittersweet/Random Roads (And His Big Band)/Dearly Theme
05. Morning Blues
06. Bad Weather
07. The Life
08. The Visit
09. Seventeen Days



Illinois Speed Press was an American rock band formed - originally, in 1965, as The Rovin' Kind - in Chicago, later relocating to California. The band was formed by Paul Cotton - later of Poco - and Kal David. According to Allmusic, their sound "combined elements of R&B and country music in a powerful double-lead-guitar attack." Cotton and David have occasionally reunited in recent years to perform together under the name.

Fun fact about the song "Bad Weather": Most people who listen to the song think it's a one-on-one thing, a guy and his girl breaking up. It's actually a rather autobiographical song about lead guitarist Paul Cotton's old band ("Illinois Speed Press") breaking up. When Cotton joined Poco in the early 1970s, the song was included on Poco's album From The Inside and featured a pedal steel guitar solo by virtuoso Rusty Young and a memorable 12-string guitar interlude by Richie Furay, formerly of Buffalo Springfield and the Souther, Hillman and Furay Band. (thanks, Gene - Hammond, IN)

Read more about Illinois Speed Press on Wikipedia

Links:

Standin' at the Crossroads - nice blog post about ISP
Kal David's website
Paul Cotton's website
The Review Revue - nice review of the double album CD release

Ripped from the second disc of the double album remastered CD

Encoded at 320K. Includes high-rez scans of the LP cover. ZIP format.

Download: Illinois Speed Press - Duet

Buckingham Nicks (Vinyl) 1973

01. Crying in the Night (Nicks) – 2:48
02. Stephanie (Buckingham) – 2:12
03. Without a Leg to Stand On (Buckingham) – 2:09
04. Crystal (Nicks) – 3:41
05. Long Distance Winner (Nicks) – 4:50
06. Don't Let Me Down Again (Buckingham) – 3:52
07. Django (John Lewis) – 1:02
08. Races Are Run (Nicks) – 4:14
09. Lola (My Love) (Buckingham) – 3:44
10. Frozen Love (Nicks, Buckingham) – 7:16


Buckingham Nicks is the debut and sole studio album by the American rock duo Buckingham Nicks. Produced by Keith Olsen, the album was released in September 1973 by Polydor Records. Buckingham Nicks is notable as an early commercial collaboration between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who later joined Fleetwood Mac. The album was a commercial failure on its original release, and despite the duo's subsequent success, it has yet to be commercially remastered or re-released on any format since 1973.

Main performers:

Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, percussion, vocals
Stevie Nicks – vocals

Additional personnel:

Ronnie Tutt – drums
Jim Keltner – drums
Jerry Scheff – bass guitar
Gary Hodges – drums, percussion overdubs
Monty Stark – synthesizer
Peggy Sandvig – keyboards
Jorge Calderón – percussion
Waddy Wachtel – additional guitar on "Lola (My Love)"
Richard Hallagan – string arrangement

Production:

Producer: Keith Olsen
Executive producer: Lee Lasseff
Engineer: Keith Olsen
Assistant engineer: Richard Dashut
Photography: Jimmy Wachtel
Album design: Jimmy Wachtel

Find out more about Buckingham Nicks on Wikipedia

Digitized from vinyl at 24 bit, 96 kHz

Encoded at 320K. Includes high-rez scans of the gatefold LP including the inside liner notes. ZIP format.

Download: Buckingham Nicks

Sand - Sand (1973)

Disc 1:
1. Who Ya Tryin' To Fool - 5:23 (J. Meussdorffer - D. Ross)
2. Lovin' You - 3:51 (J. Meussdorffer - Gooch - D. Ross)
3. You - 5:46 (J. Meussdorffer)
4. Destined Road - 6:15 (J. Meussdorffer - D. Ross)

Disc 2:
1. Mystery - 5:27 (J. Meussdorffer - D. Ross)
2. She - 4:27 (J. Meussdorffer - D. Ross)
3. Eagle's Claw - 4:27 (J. Meussdorffer - D. Ross)
4. Lady Of Mine - 4:10 (J. Meussdorffer - Gooch - D. Ross)



All songs published by Berwill Publishing Co./ Chronicle Music (BMI)
Produced By: Ken Mansfield
Associate Producer: Dann Lottermoser

SAND - s/t Barnaby Records BRS 15006 [4/73] The album has a gatefold cover picturing a sandwich covered in sand, with 2-one sided LPs (apparently the idea was to put both disks on a stackable turntable and play one after the other:"freeflowing Sand") - just before the 70s energy crisis made the LP expensive to produce. The band was from Portland Oregon, and included Jack Meussdorffer (aka Jack Charles, guitar/vocals), Dan Ross (steel guitar/guitar/vocals), Dan Wilson (guitar/vocals), Rich Gooch (bass/vocals), and Steve Williams (drums). Meussdorffer and Gooch later played in Quarterflash (with the hit "Harden My Heart").

Special thanks to my good friend "walknthabass" for the needle drop of this fine album!

Encoded at 320K from vinyl album. Includes album cover art and track listing. Zip format.

Download: Sand

The Bliss Band - Dinner with Raoul (1978)

1. Rio
2. Over The Hill
3. Slipaway
4. Don't Do Me Any Favours
5. On The Highway
6. Right Place, Right Time
7. Stay A Little Longer
8. Here Goes
9. Whatever Happened
10. Take It If You Need It



Produces by Jeff Baxter (of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers fame)

Featuring: MICHAEL McDONALD, JEFF BAXTER, KEITH KNUDSEN, VICTOR FELDMAN, STEPHEN KUPKA, EMILIO CASTILLO, GREG ADAMS, MIC GILLETTE, etc...

The vocalist & keyboard player, Paul Bliss led this west coast music group that in late 70's released two albums. Their debut album "Dinner With Raoul" was released in 1978 and was quickly followed up by the album "Neon Smiles" in 1979. The band did only release two album. In 1997 Paul Bliss released his solo album "Edge Of Coincidence".

Paul Bliss, contrary to previous information, both recorded and toured with David Essex. He made stage appearances with him from 1977 to 1983 and he appears on the Stagestruck album.

Paul was born in Birmingham, 2 years before 'little brother' Martin, and went into the music industry in the early Seventies, fronting a band called The Bliss Band. The band released 2 albums on CBS America, Dinner with Raoul in 1978 and Neon Smiles in 1979. Lead guitar with the band was none other than Phil Palmer another ex-member of The David Essex Band.

As well as playing and recording Paul is also a songwriter and he has had songs recorded by Olivia Newton John, The Hollies, Sheena Easton, Justin Hayward and Celine Dion to name but a few. In 1997 Paul released an album of his own material called The Edge of Coincidence. For the past few years Paul has been touring with The Moody Blues as their keyboard player and he is well known by their fans.

Encoded at 320K from vinyl album. Includes album cover art, track listing, and insert.

Special thanks to "walknthabass" for the original needle drop of this great album.

Download: Dinner with Raoul

Funky Kings (1976)

01. Singing The Streets
02. My Old Pals
03. So Long
04. Highway Song
05. Nothing Was Exchanged
06. Slow Dancing
07. Let Me Go
08. So Easy To Begin
09. Help To Guide Me
10. Mattres On The Roof
11. Anywhere But Jimmie`s


Funky Kings was a band from Los Angeles, California, that released one self-titled album: Funky Kings, released on Arista Records in 1976.

The band’s sound has been described as ‘early Eagles’.

Personnel: Jules Shear, Jack Tempchin, Richard Stekol, Greg Leisz (all vocals/guitar), Bill Bodine (bass/vocals) and Frank Cotinola (drums).

As their eponymous debut album failed to yield any commercial success, Funky Kings split up. Jules Shear moved on to form Jules And The Polar Bears.

Note: I've recently updated the zip with a newly ripped vinyl LP at 24bit/48KHz

Encoded at 320K. Zip format.

Download: Funky Kings

Forever More - Yours (1970)

Side 1
01 - Back in the States Again
02 - We Sing
03 - It's Home
04 - Home Country Blues
05 - Good to Me

Side 2
01 - Yours
02 - Beautiful Afternoon
03 - 8 O'Clock & All's Well
04 - Mean Pappie Blues
05 - You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
06 - Sylvester's Last Voyage

This album was originally posted on the "Gooder'n Bad Vinyl" blog by my good friend "walknthabass". I am reposting because his blog will be going away in March 2014. Since I also have the other Forever More album posted here, I thought this would be a good spot for this one as well. The following is a cut/paste of what he has on his blog:

OK - Back in the late 80's I use to go to my local Radio Shack for connectors, cables, etc. They always had a very small cut-out bin with a few records in it. I always flipped through them but never saw anything that I really wanted. As time went on the number of LP's slowly got fewer and fewer until this was the only one left. When they finally marked it down to 25¢ I decided "what the heck" and took a chance. I'm glad I did! It's really a great album!!

Favorite songs? "We Sing", "Good to Me" and the title song.

Personnel:
Alan Gorrie - Piano, Bass Guitar, Teapot (He went on to the Average White Band!)
Mick Travis - Guitar (his name sounds familiar)
Onnie Mair - Guitar, Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Stuart Francis - Drums, Backing Vocals


Produced by Ray Singer and Simon Napier-Bell.

And now you know all that I know!

This album runs the gamut. I hear Prog-Rock, Rock, Jazz, Country-Rock, Country. A little bit of everything.

I hear influences by Traffic, Youngbloods, Caravan, etc.

Anybody have any additional info out there it would be great.

Enjoy!

Download: Forever More - Yours

Willow - The White House Sessions (1974)

1. After All, Woman
2. Get in Front of It
3. Going Downtown
4. Raise Your Glass
5. Train Song


Russ Otis - Gutar, keyborads and lead vocals
John Holt - Lead guitar
Ed Jahn - Bass and vocals
Kevin McGuckin - Drums and vocals


The songs in this collection were recorded sometime in March 1974, in Park Ridge, Illinois, in a large 6 bed room Victorian house, affectionately called the "White House". At the time, several musicians were living there. A Teac 3340 4-track real to real tape recorder was setup in the basement to record Russ, John, Kevin and Ed. The band was named "Willow". There was little or no over dubbing done. The songs were pretty much recorded live. All five songs were written by Russ Otis. Russ also sang lead on all of the songs, except for the second part of After All, Woman, where Kevin McGuckin, the drummer, sang. It is possible that Kevin wrote Woman, but it is not known for sure.

Back Cover w/Russ

Sadly, Russ Otis passed away on July 5th, 2007. Kevin passed a few years later. Although these recordings are demo quality, and not the best mix in the world, Russ' compositions are worth preserving and sharing. I hope you enjoy these songs.

Encoded at 320K (mp3) from original 4-track tape. Includes artwork and track listing.

Download: Willow - The White House Sessions

Christopher Bradley - Demo Tape (1972)

1. Don't Trade Your Heart
2. Locked Doors
3. You Replied the Same



In the summer of 1972, Christopher Bradley went into the recording studio in Chicago, Illinois, to record a demo tape of 6 original songs. Three songs were written by Bradley, and three were written by Christopher. Christopher Bradley started playing in High School, performing at local clubs, coffee houses, etc. They were a regular act at Pendragon on Sheraton Road in Chicago. This was a very popular "Coffee House" back in the 70's. They even opened for R.E.O. Speedwagon at their local high school, Maine Township South.

The three songs in this archive are the three that Christopher wrote and sang. Keep in mind, these are dated to the time, but have been placed here for posterity. They were in high school when these songs were written and performed. But just the same, for anyone that was around at that time, and got a chance to listen to them, this might be a real flash from the past. Hope you enjoy listening to them.

Encoded at 320K (mp3) from original 1/4" demo tape. Includes artwork and pictures.

Download: Christoper Bradley - Demo Tape

Forever More - Words On Black Plastic (1971)

1. Promises of Spring
2. The Wrong Person
3. Last Breakfast
4. Get Behind Me Satan
5. Put Your Money on a Pony
6. Lookin' Through the Water
7. O'Brien's Last Stand
8. Angel of the Lord
9. What a Lovely Day



I remember listening to Forever More with my brother back when we were kids. It was one of our favorite albums at the time. This, and their first album "Yours" (also available on this blog), were so different than a lot of the other music we were listening to at the time. I've tried to find out more about this band, but there isn't much out there. I did read that Alan Gorrie went on to play with the Average White Band, but don't let that fool you, Forever More sounds nothing like that.

When I started buying CDs, one band I always wished would be released digitally was Forever More, but alas, that never happened. So, I've digitized it for your listening pleasure. Unfortunately, my copy of the LP wasn't in the mint condition that my other albums are in, so this isn't as pristine as some of the other albums in my blog. But I have spent a lot of time removing clicks and pops as best I can. If you love this album as much as I did back in 1971, you will definitely enjoy hearing it again. I was able to find both albums on a single CD. Very rare, but may still be available if you search the Interwebs. Either way, these albums are out of print and very rare. Band: Alan Gorrie - Bass Guitar, keyboards
Mick Travis - Guitar
Onnie Mair - Guitar, Bass Guitar, Vocals
Stuart Francis - Drums, Vocals


Encoded at 320K from original vinyl album. Includes album cover artwork.

Download: Words On Black Plastic

The Bliss Band - Neon Smiles (1979)

01. Stagefright
02. How Do I Survive?
03. Hollywood
04. Someone Else's Eyes
05. Doctor
06. Chicago
07. We Never Had It So Good
08. If It Takes Until Forever
09. Something About You
10. That's The Way It Is



The band:
Paul Bliss: Vocals and Keyboards
Andy Brown: Bass and Vocals
Phil Palmer: Guitar and Vocals
Alan Park: Keyboards
Niegel Elliott: Drums and Percussion


The vocalist & keyboard player Paul Bliss leaded this west coast music group that in late 70´s released two albums. Their debut album "Dinner With Raoul" was released in 1978 and was quickly followed up by the album "Neon Smiles" in 1979. The band did only release two albums. In 1997 Paul Bliss released his solo album "Edge Of Coincidence". This album is out of print.

Digitized at 24 bit, 96 kHz

Encoded at 320K from original vinyl promo album. Includes artwork and track listing.

Download: Neon Smiles

Russ Otis - Cool Air 45 (1976)

Side A:

Cool Air (3:38)

Side B:

The Rearrangement (3:28)





This was Russ Otis' first 45 record. It was made in 1976 on the now defunct Cool Duck Records. Both songs are written and produced by Russ. His sound always reminded me of Emitt Rhodes. Sadly, my friend Russ passed away on July 5, 2007.

Russ Otis

Digitized at 24 bit, 96 kHz

Encoded at 320K mp3 from original vinyl 45. Includes artwork. ZIP format.

Download: Cool Air

Shawn Colvin Band - The Carbondale Sessions (1975)

01. All Along the Watchtower
02. Cactus Tree
03. Can't find My Way Home
04. Miracle Mail
05. So Begins The Task
06. The Hostage
07. Something Fine
08. Whenever
09. You Back to Me



Carbondale, Illinois, is a small college town about 350 miles south of Chicago. I lived there and attended Southern Illinois University until 1981. As a singer/song writer, I was lucky to personally know Shawn Colvin and her band mates Jimmy Bruno and Dennis Conroy. I think Shawn was 17 years old when I first met her. She was the "home town" darling to all her fans in Carbondale. We all played the coffee houses (Gatsby's, The American Tap, etc.). When I or Shawn had a gig, the other would show up and usually be asked up on the stage to sing harmonies. We all knew back then that Shawn was special. She was a damn good guitar player and boy could she sing. At the time, I was lucky enough to own some decent recording equipment (Teac 3340 4-track tape deck). I invited Shawn and the band over to my house (I was living at a place called Wides Village at the time, with two room mates). We set up in the living room. With 4 separate tracks, I was able to isolate Shawn's guitar, her vocals, Jimmy's bass, and Dennis Conroy's tablas. Everything was recorded live. No EQ was done, this is pretty much how they sounded. Obviously, these tapes are very old and spent a lot of years in my Texas-hot attic. A few years ago my brother loaned me a Teac, like the one I used to own. At that time I was able to digitize the tapes to my Mac.

At this point in Shawn's career, to my knowledge, she hadn't started writing her own material yet. She did have a great song writer in the band. Jimmy Bruno, who was also her boyfriend at the time, was an excellent song writer. Two of the songs in this collection are written by him, Whenever, which is sung by Jimmy, and You Back to Me, sung by Shawn. Shawn sang a lot of Bruno originals. Jimmy was an accomplished solo musician as well. But most of the songs she performed were cover songs. And with that great voice and stage presence, it didn't matter if they were all originals or not, everyone loved all the songs she performed.

I am making these songs available to all of her fans. Please use these for your own personal listening pleasure. Find out more about Shawn at her website ShawnColvin.com. Jim Bruno has recently released a new CD that sounds great. Please support him by purchasing his CD from his website at Jim Bruno Music, or from the iTunes music store

Included in the archive are 12 photographs taken at an outdoor concert in Carbondale (Giant City) in April 1975.

All songs are encoded at 320K from the original 4-track tape recorded at 15 ips.

Download: The Shawn Colvin Band

Vytas Brenner - La Ofrenda De Vytas (1973)

01 - Morrocoy
02 - Ofrenda De Miguel
03 - Tormenta De Barlovento
04 - Frailejon
05 - La Sabana
06 - Tragavenado
07 - Araguaney
08 - Canto Del Pilon




Vytas Brenner was born in Germany, but grew up in Venezuela. When I was a kid, I used to visit my Dad in Caracas every summer. Back in 1973 I remember looking for some cool Venezuelan music I could bring back home to the States to show my friends. This is one of the albums I found. I was blown away by Vytas Brenner. Vitas is a composer and performer. One of the great things about these songs, is the way he uses the typical Venezuelan instruments, like the four stringed cuatro, maracas, and Venezuelan harp, all mixed up with 70's style electronic synthesizers (Mini Moogs and Arps). All the songs are instrumental. A lot of typical Venezuelan sounding music, with an electronic blend.  Some songs are very progressive sounding, others are classical in nature, all very interesting to listen to.

I did a needle-drop on my vinyl LP, but it was in pretty bad shape. I then found a copy of the out-of-print CD, so I decided to rip it instead. So the cover images are from my LP, but the music is off the CD. Sounds a lot cleaner.

Quote found on the Internet:
Highly regarded Venezuelan keyboardist, composer and arranger, who played piano, organ and synthesizer, whose albums "La Ofrenda De Vytas Brenner" and "Hermanos" are considered some of the best progressive rock to come out of Venezuela, died March 18 of a heart attack in Salzburg, Austria at the age of 57.

Musicians:
Vytas Brenner - Piano, organ, synthesizers, acoustic guitar, arranger, and producer
Pablo Manavello - Electric and acoustic guitar
Carlos Acosta - Bass
Frank Rojas - Drums
Jesus (Chucho) Chinchilla - Drums and percussion
Angel Melo - Cuatro
Ramon Hernandez - Harp
Alfredo Rojas - Maracas

Favorite Songs: Ofrenda De Miguel, Tormenta De Barlovento, and Tragavenado

Links:
Wikipedia
Bio & Discography

Encoded at 320K from CD. Includes album cover art and pictures from inside the album.

Download:  Vytas Brenner - La Ofrenda de Vytas

No Password

Vytas Brenner - Hermanos (1974)

01 - Agua Clara
02 - Madrugada
03 - Amanecer
04 - Danza Con Pajaros
05 - Gavilan
06 - Pastos
07 - Ganado
08 - Estampida
09 - Ana Karina Rote
10 - Sentado En Una Piedra



This 10 track album is the sophomore release by Vytas Brenner (a.k.a. Vitas Brenner), the German born musician who grew up in Venezuela. Although I own several copies of this vinyl LP, I recently acquired this pristine recording on compact disc. Both the vinyl and CD are long out of print, so if you are a fan of Mr. Brenner, as I am, I hope you appreciate this archive I've made available (see link below). When my brother and I were kids, we would visit our Dad who lived in Venezuela at the time. Vitas was popular at that time. This man was way ahead of his time. I hope you enjoy listening!

Quote from Prognofrog
Vytas Brenner, was a Venezuelan in his heart although he was born in Tubingen, Germany in 1946. His parents emigrated to South America in 1948 and he studied in the famous Emil Friedman School, an institution dedicated to form composers and performers since an early age. In 1958 he travelled to Italy and Spain and there he formed several juvenile bands like Vytas Brenner Quartet, Brenner’s Folk or The Pic Nics. In 1967 he went to USA to study electronic music in Tenesee Conservatory and later in Nashville College where he graduated with honors in 1972. That year he went back to Venezuela and started a long relation with Venezuelan folkloric music, an influence that permeates all his posterior works. At that time he was also obviously influenced by the electronic kraut scene (specially Cluster and Tangerine Dream) and devoted himself to the possibilities of synthtizers and the potential of the fusion of modern electronic sounds, progressive rock and acoustic aboriginal and folk elements.

Musicians:
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Pablo Manavello
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Piano, Timpani, Vocals, Piano, Synthesizer, Guitar, Written-By, Arranged By, Producer – Vytas Brenner
Artwork By – Ramon Rojas
Bass – Carlos Acosta, Pupi
Drums – Eleasar, Frank Rojas, Iván Velásquez
Electric Guitar – Jairo
Engineer – Michel Chazet
Percussion – Oscar Rojas
Producer – Haakon Brenner
Saxophone – Rolando Briceño


Links:
Wikipedia
Nice article about this album on Prognofrog

Encoded at 320K from CD. Includes album cover art and pictures from inside the album.

Download: Vytas Brenner - Hermanos