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

The Mundanes - 45 (1980)

Side 1:
1. Make It the Same

Side 2:
1. Funnier Than Love
2. Empty Boulevards




The Mundanes were a Rhode Island-based New Wave band who released one single in 1980. They are best known for having John Linnell as a band member, shortly before forming They Might Be Giants with John Flansburgh.

You can find more information on The Mundanes at: They Might Be Giants' wiki.
There is also a Mundanes Wikipedia page.


Band:
John Andrews - Guitar
Marsha Armitage - Vocals
Jonathan Gregg - Guitar
John Linnell - Keyboards and Sax
Dean Lozow
Kevin Tooley - Drums


View The Mundanes live on YouTube:



Encoded at 320K from original vinyl 45. Includes album cover artwork and a picture of the band.

Download: The Mundanes

Mildred - Whippersnapper (1991)

01. Rise Above
02. Knock On A Nail
03. Color Me
04. The Big Moment
05. Ever Falling Forward
06. Hearts and Flowers
07. Bring In The Spies
08. Dirt and Stone
09. Atlas
10. The Umbrella Song
11. Adam and Eve


Mildred was a Dallas band who played in Deep Ellum during the early 1990's. This five member band was fronted by violin player, and lead singer, Reggie Rueffer. Reggie's brother Chad played guitars, and also sang. The rest of the band included David Prez (bass guitar), Jim Cocke (piano, organ, keyboards, and vocals), and Davis Bickston (drums and percussion).

This was one of my favorite bands. In fact, when I started dating my wife, back in 1991, I came to realize that she too loved Mildred. In fact, we liked them so much, we hired them to play at our wedding after party, at Club Dada (in Deep Ellum). One of these days I need to get all the video I took of Mildred at our wedding, and turn it into some kind of music video.

First of all, you don't see a lot of rock bands fronted by a zany, accomplished singing violinist. They had some very catchy songs, all original. Guitarist Chad Rueffer wrote and sang my favorite song on the album, Color Me, which starts out with the cool staccato violin part, running through an echo effect. A few of their songs remind me a little of XTC. The violin work remind me of Jerry Goodman of the Chicago band The Flock.

Unfortunately, Mildred didn't last too long. Luckily, they got a chance to go into studio and recorded a great CD, with a lot of our favorite songs. Since it is no longer available, I thought I would share it with music lovers like you. I hope you enjoy Whippersnapper as much as I do.

Encoded at 320K from CD. Includes all CD artwork, including the lyrics to all the songs.

Favorite songs: Color Me and The Umbrella Song

Download: Mildred - Whippersnapper