Dana Gillespie – Move Your Body Close To Me (1986)

Dana Gillespie (born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie, 30 March 1949) is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over 45 albums and appeared in stage productions, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, and several films. Her musical output has progressed from teen pop and folk in the early part of her career, to rock in the 1970s and, more latterly, the blues.

Gillespie was born in Woking, Surrey, the second daughter of Anne Francis Roden (née Buxton) Winterstein Gillespie (1920–2007) and Hans Henry Winterstein Gillespie (1910–1994), a London-based radiologist of Austrian nobility. Her older sister, Nicola Henrietta St. John Gillespie, was born in 1946. Dana Gillespie was the British Junior Water Skiing Champion in 1962.

She recorded initially in the folk genre in the mid-1960s. Some of her recordings as a teenager fell into the teen pop category, such as her 1965 single “Thank You Boy”, written by John Carter and Ken Lewis and produced by Jimmy Page. Page also played, uncredited, on Gillespie’s debut LP, Foolish Seasons. Her acting career got under way shortly afterwards, and it overshadowed her musical career in the late 1960s and 1970s.

The song “Andy Warhol” was originally written by David Bowie for Gillespie, who recorded it in 1971, but her version of the song was not released until 1973 on her album Weren’t Born a Man. Her version also featured Mick Ronson on guitar. After performing backing vocals on the track “It Ain’t Easy” from Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, she recorded an album produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson in 1973, Weren’t Born a Man. Subsequent recordings have been in the blues genre, appearing with the London Blues Band. She is also notable for being the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar, which opened at the Palace Theatre in 1972. She also appeared on the Original London Cast album. During the 1980s Gillespie was a member of the Austrian Mojo Blues Band.
Left to right: Dana Gillespie, Tony Defries and David Bowie at Andy Warhol’s Pork at London’s Roundhouse in 1971.

She is a follower of the late Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba.[8] She performed at his Indian ashram on various occasions and has also recorded thirteen bhajan-based albums in Sanskrit.

Gillespie is the organiser of the annual Blues festival at Basil’s Bar on Mustique in the Caribbean, for fifteen days at the end of January and it is now in its eighteenth year. The house band is the London Blues Band, which consists of Dino Baptiste (piano), Jake Zaitz (guitar), Mike Paice (saxophone), Jeff Walker (bass), and Evan Jenkins (drums) but there are also many other acts. In 2005, Mick Jagger appeared as a guest and sang songs such as: “Honky Tonk Women”, “Dust My Broom” and “Goin’ Down” but also many other Blues artists have appeared there through the years, such as Big Joe Louis, Joe Louis Walker, Billy Branch, Ronnie Wood and Donald Fagen.

From March 2021 on, she had a successful Interview & Music Podcast series Globetrotting with Gillespie from TAM TV – Temple of Art & Music in London. (wikipedia)

And here´s their 11th solo album:

Dana Gillespie was also very active in Austria during this time and that’s why she released many singles there. Her biggest hit was in 1983 with the single Move Your Body Close to Me, which reached number three in the Austrian charts.

But her music at that time was much too pop oriented and that was not Dana Gillespie´s real strength.

That’s why this album is one of her weaker albums.

Their blues albums are much better … but her voice is also good on this album.

Personnel:
Dana Gillespie (vocals)
+
a bunch of unknown stidio musicians

Tracklist:
01. Move Your Body Close To Me (Gillespie) 5.05
02. The Good Thing (Byrne) 3.52
03. Don’t Touch Me There (Nagle/Doornacker) 4.45
04. In Danger Tonight (Gillespie) 4.40
05. Good And Direct (Gillespie) 3.08
06. Know My Love (Gillespie) 4.38
07. The Air That I Breathe (Hammond/Hazlewood) 3.50
08. Living In Reverse (Cross) 2.46
09. Haunted By You (Gillespie) 3.21

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And… she never had a problem to be photographed sexy …:

Taken from dailymail.co.uk:
More from Dana Gillespie:
The official website:

Stephane Grappelli & Toots Thielemans – Bringing It Together (1984)

Stéphane Grappelli 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called “the grandfather of jazz violinists” and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.

For the first three decades of his career, he was billed using a gallicised spelling of his last name, Grappelly, reverting to Grappelli in 1969. The latter, Italian spelling is now used almost universally when referring to the violinist, including reissues of his early work. (wikipedia)

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistling skills, and composing. According to jazz historian Ted Gioia, his most important contribution was in “championing the humble harmonica”, which Thielemans made into a “legitimate voice in jazz”. He eventually became the “preeminent” jazz harmonica player.

His first professional performances were with Benny Goodman’s band when they toured Europe in 1949 and 1950. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1951, becoming a citizen in 1957. From 1953 to 1959 he played with George Shearing, and then led his own groups on tours in the U.S. and Europe. In 1961 he recorded and performed live one of his own compositions, “Bluesette”, which featured him playing guitar and whistling. In the 1970s and 1980s, he continued touring and recording, appearing with musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Werner, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Mina Mazzini, Elis Regina, Quincy Jones, George Shearing, Natalie Cole, Billy Joel, Paul Simon and Paquito D’Rivera.

Thielemans recorded the soundtracks for The Pawnbroker (1964), Midnight Cowboy (1969), The Getaway (1972), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Sugarland Express (1974) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). His harmonica theme song for the popular Sesame Street TV show was heard for 40 years. He often performed and recorded with Quincy Jones, who once called him “one of the greatest musicians of our time.”[4] In 2009 he was designated a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor for a jazz musician in the United States. (wikipedia)

This 1984 studio session finally appeared commercially on the Cymekob label in 1995, featuring violinist Stéphane Grappelli in a rare meeting with harmonica player Toots Thielemans; the rest of the group included guitarists Martin Taylor and Marc Fosset with bassist Brian Torff. Though producer Andy Kulberg claims in his notes that neither musician had recorded any of the songs, this is a bit of a stretch. Things get off to a good start with a swinging “Bye Bye Blackbird” and are only weighed down slightly by the tedious “Just the Two of Us” and Paul Simon’s lightweight “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover.” The rich ballad “Georgia on My Mind” rekindles the fire within the session and “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” is highlighted by Thielemans’ matchless whistling. While this release could have been stronger with better chosen songs, it will be an essential acquisition for fans of either Grappelli or Thielemans. (by Ken Dryden)

Personnel:
Marc Fosset (guitar)
Stéphane Grappelli (violin)
Martin Taylor (guitar)
Toots Thielemans (harmonica, guitar)
Brian Torff (bass)

Tracklist:
01. Bye Bye Blackbird (Grappelli/Thielemans) 4.16
02. Just the Two of Us (Grappelli/Thielemans) 5.32
03. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Simon) 4.48
04. Georgia On My Mind (Carmichael/Gorrell) 5.59
05. The Jitterbug Waltz (Waller) 3.57
06. You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To (Porter) 3.44
07. Hit The Road Jack (Mayfield) 5.07
08.Limehouse Blues (Furber) 3.21
09. As Time Goes By (Hupfeld) 3.23

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More from Toots Thielemans:

More from Stéphane Grappelli:

Peter Green & Kolors – Live At Sinkasten Arts Club (1984)

Peter Allen Greenbaum (29 October 1946 – 25 July 2020), known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green founded Fleetwood Mac in 1967 after a stint in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and quickly established the new band as a popular live act in addition to a successful recording act, before departing in 1970. Green’s songs, such as “Albatross”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Oh Well”, “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)” and “Man of the World”, appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.

Green was a major figure in the “second great epoch” of the British blues movement. Eric Clapton praised his guitar playing, and B.B. King commented, “He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.” His trademark sound included string bending, vibrato, and economy of style.

In June 1996, Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in Mojo magazine. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked him at number 58 in its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Green’s tone on the instrumental “The Super-Natural” was rated as one of the 50 greatest of all time by Guitar Player in 2004.

Green formed the Peter Green Splinter Group in the late 1990s, with the assistance of Nigel Watson and Cozy Powell. The group released nine blues albums, mostly written by Watson,[2] between 1997 and 2004.[46] Early in 2004, a tour was cancelled and the recording of a new studio album stopped when Green left the band and moved to Sweden. Shortly thereafter he signed on to a tour with the British Blues All Stars scheduled for the following year. In February 2009, Green began playing and touring again, this time as Peter Green and Friends.

Robin Denselow in The Guardian described Green as being “interested in expressing emotion in his songs, rather than showing off how fast he could play”.[48] He has been praised for his swinging shuffle grooves and soulful phrases and favoured the minor mode and its darker blues implications. His distinct tone can be heard on “The Supernatural”, an instrumental written by Green for John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers’ 1967 album A Hard Road. This song demonstrates Green’s control of harmonic feedback. The sound is characterised by a shivering vibrato, clean cutting tones and a series of ten-second sustained notes. These tones were achieved by Green controlling feedback on a Les Paul guitar.

Many rock guitarists have cited Green as an influence, including Gary Moore, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash,[53] and more recently, Mark Knopfler, Noel Gallagher, and Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood. Green was The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson’s pick in Guitar World’s “30 on 30: The Greatest Guitarists Picked by the Greatest Guitarists” (2010).

In the same article Robinson cites Jimmy Page, with whom the Crowes toured: “he told us so many Peter Green stories. It was clear that Jimmy loves the man’s talent”. Green’s songs have been recorded by artists such as Santana, Aerosmith, Status Quo, Black Crowes, Midge Ure, Tom Petty, Judas Priest and Gary Moore, who recorded Blues for Greeny, an album of Green compositions.

Enduring periods of mental illness and destitution throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Green moved in with his older brother Len and Len’s wife Gloria, and his mother in their house in Gorleston near Great Yarmouth, where a process of recovery began. He lived for a period on Canvey Island, Essex.

Green married Jane Samuels in January 1978; the couple divorced in 1979. They had a daughter, Rosebud (born 1978).

Green died on 25 July 2020 at the age of 73 (wikipedia)

Peter Green had left Fleetwood Mac in 1970 and faded into obscurity due to drugs and mental illness. He resurfaced in 1979 with his 2nd solo album, In The Skies. By 1983, he was playing with Kolors. Broadcast on German FM radio, probably NDR. This concert is a rare treat and a high quality audio recording. (Paris-Portland)

Frankfurt, Germany (). This is a valuable document about the final days of the second, very underappreciated period of Green’s career

A beautiful early performance of Peter Green with Kolors in stunning recording quality!
In my opinion the best pre dat audience I heard yet!

I remember that magic evening very well:
The venue is quite small and about 200 people were there! For some reason the sound equipment fitted perfect to that room and it sounded like Peter and the boys had built up their stuff in someones livingroom in front of an inspired listening crowd!!
They played absolutely relaxed, but managed to rebuild the great atmosphere and music from Peter´s first solo album. “In the Skies”!
Many, Many thanks, for doing such a great recording, to my friend Gerhard, well known in Dylan circles, who taped the show with his Sony professional cass. deck and gave me the masters as as an incredible present after the show!!! (plumdusty)

Recorrded live at the Sinkasten, Frankfurt, Germany, December 13th 1984
(excellent audience recording)

Personnel:
Alfred Bannermann (guitar, vocals)
Willie Bath (bass)
Peter Green (guitar, vocals)
Emmanuel Rentzos (keyboards)
Jeff Whittaker (drums, percussion)

Alternate front+backcover:

Tracklist:
01. Womanizer (unknown) 7.02
02. Peter Green Instrumental (Green) 6.27
03. White Sky (Green) 6.17
04. Shining Star (Green) 4.40
05. A Loser Two Times (P.Green/M.Green) 5.21
06. In The Skies (P.Green/J.Green) 6.35
07. Love That Burns (Green/Adams) 8.13
08. Man Of The World (Green) 4.42
09. I´m A Free Boy Now (Big Boy Now) (Green) 5.48
10. Oh Well (Green) 6.05
11. Black Magic Woman (Green) 10.17
12. Albatros (Green) 6.19
13. Stay Out (Green) 7.04
14. Green Manalishi (Green) 8.53
15. Need Your Love So Bad (W.John/M.John) 7.38

The legendary Sinkkasten in Frankfurt/Germany:

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More from Peter Green:

James Young & Jan Hammer – City Slicker (1984)

James Vincent Young (born November 14, 1949) is an American musician who is best known for playing lead guitar in the American rock band Styx, having served as the only continuous original member of the band. Young began playing keyboard and piano at the age of five. He attended Calumet High in Chicago and learned to play clarinet and guitar during those years. He was nicknamed by Styx members & long time fans as “J.Y.” and is often referred to as “The Godfather of Styx”.

In 1970, Young joined the band TW4 while a student at Illinois Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering. That band later became the first incarnation of Styx.

After Styx’s initial breakup in 1984, Young released the solo albums City Slicker (1985 with Jan Hammer),[5] Out on a Day Pass (1993), and Raised by Wolves (1995 with James Young Group). Young tends to write the more hard rock pieces for Styx. He is best known for the Styx songs “Miss America” and “Snowblind”. Young managed the Chicago, Illinois -based rock band 7th Heaven in 1998 along with Alec John Such of the band Bon Jovi. (wikipedia)

Let’s hear now ”City Slicker”, the collaborative effort from Styx lead guitarist JAMES YOUNG and composer Jan Hammer (Miami Vice, Neal Schon). This is ‘JY’ debut solo album, however marketed as a Young/Hammer effort, released in 1984, 1985 or 1986 depending the country, and reissued on this not so easy to find CD in 1993.
There is a confident swagger to this album that many other ‘big band member going solo’ albums, with a rocking approach thanks to JY guitar work but not being the main focus only, with Hammer providing an arsenal of keys / synths for a wonderfully textured LP.
We find commercial, mid-80s slick sounding catchy tracks mixed with more elaborated compositions. For Styx, Young only provided one song per record, and in most cases that cut was a keeper (“Miss America,” “Snowblind”), and here he finds room for his pen, and proves he can sing very well too.

Following Styx’s former cohorts Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung solo albums, it was time for JY own debut, and for his first LP he wisely gets help from moral booster Jan Hammer, whose consummate keyboard skills guided guitar-first giants like Tommy Bolin, Jeff Beck, and Neal Schon.
The resulting collaboration contains some really cool moments, such as radio track “Give Me Something to Remember You By” and quasi-classic Bolin reference “Wild Dogs in the Night.”

”City Slicker” might have made waves if properly promoted, but the album promptly disappeared, along with Young, who resurfaced in Styx and recorded another solo work, ”Out On A Day Pass”. Young also teamed with admirers Enuff Z’Nuff in the ’90s for the ‘Raised By Wolves’ CD. … Highly recommended (0dayrox2.org)

“A blistering collection of driving rock!” (Cashbox)

I wasn’t that convinced by the album … It’s too rough ad the sound is like a metal hammer … not enough elegance

Personnel:
Jan Hammer (keyboards, drums, drum machine)
Colin Hodgkinson (bass)
James Young (guitar, vocals)
+
Steven A. Jones (cowbell)
Rick Young (bass on 05.)

Tracklist:
01. City Slicker (Young/Jones) 3.54
02. Something To Remember You By (Young) 4.25
03. Waiting (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 4.54
04. Still Feel Your Love (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 3.44
05. Runnin’ Out Of Time (Young) 3.14
06. Chain Me Down (Young) 3.48
07. No Mistake (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 3.44
08. Prisoner Of War (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 4.04
09. Wild Dogs In The Night (Young) 3.31
10. Empty Promises (Young) 4.23

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Country Joe McDonald – Peace On Earth (1984)

Country Joe McDonald (born Joseph Allen McDonald; January 1, 1942) is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.

McDonald was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in El Monte, California, where he was student conductor and President of his high school marching band. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the United States Navy for three years and was stationed in Japan. After his enlistment, he attended Los Angeles City College for a year. In the early 1960s, he began busking on the famous Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California.

McDonald has recorded 33 albums and has written hundreds of songs over a career spanning 40 years. He and Barry Melton co-founded Country Joe & the Fish which became a pioneer psychedelic rock band with their eclectic performances at The Avalon Ballroom, The Fillmore, Monterey Pop Festival and both the original and the reunion Woodstock Festivals.

Their best known song is his “The “Fish” Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” a black comedy novelty song about the Vietnam War, whose familiar chorus (“One, two, three, what are we fighting for?”) is well known to the Woodstock generation and Vietnam veterans of the 1960s and 1970s. McDonald wrote the song in twenty minutes, for an anti-Vietnam War play. The “Fish Cheer” was the band performing a call-and-response with the audience, spelling the word “fish”, followed by Country Joe yelling, “What’s that spell?” twice, with the audience responding, and then, the third time, “What’s that spell?”, followed immediately by the song. The “Fish Cheer” evolved into the “Fuck Cheer” after the Berkeley free speech movement. The cheer was on the original recording of the I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag, being played right before the song on the LP of the same name. The cheer became popular and the crowd would spell out F-I-S-H when the band performed live.

During the summer of 1968 the band played on the Schaefer Music Festival tour. Gary “Chicken” Hirsh suggested before one of the shows to spell the word “fuck” instead of “fish.” Although the crowd loved it, the management of the Schaefer Beer Festival did not and kicked the band off the tour for life. The Ed Sullivan Show then canceled a previously scheduled appearance by the band, telling them to keep the money they had already been paid in exchange for never playing on the show. The modified cheer continued at most of the band’s live shows throughout the years, including Woodstock and elsewhere. In Massachusetts, McDonald was fined $500 for uttering “fuck” in public.

In 2003 McDonald was sued for copyright infringement over his signature song, specifically the “One, two, three, what are we fighting for?” chorus part, as derived from the 1926 early jazz classic “Muskrat Ramble”, co-written by Kid Ory. The suit was brought by Ory’s daughter Babette, who held the copyright at the time. Since decades had already passed from the time McDonald composed his song in 1965, Ory based her suit on a new version of it recorded by McDonald in 1999. The court however upheld McDonald’s laches defense, noting that Ory and her father were aware of the original version of the song, with the same questionable section, for some three decades without bringing a suit. In 2006, Ory was ordered to pay McDonald $395,000 for attorney fees and had to sell her copyrights to do so.

In 2004, Country Joe regrouped with some of the original members of Country Joe and The Fish as the Country Joe Band – Bruce Barthol, David Bennett Cohen, and Gary “Chicken” Hirsh. The band toured the United States and the United Kingdom. In the spring of 2005, McDonald joined a larger protest against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts at the California State Capitol Building.

In the fall of 2005, political commentator Bill O’Reilly compared McDonald to Cuban President Fidel Castro, remarking on McDonald’s involvement in Cindy Sheehan’s protests against the Iraq War. (bettyloumusic.com)

With Peace on Earth (1984) McDonald continued to campaign for nature conservation and environmental protection and and in doing so he used different styles of music and also made use of well-known other musicians:

“Live In Peace” sounds like a mixture between “When A Man Loves A Womand” and “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”, “Sunshine” could be a Dire Straits song, we hear influences of Sting (“You Can Get It If You Really Want”) or Santana (“Feeling Better”), 

All in all it´s really another good album by Country Joe McDonald.

Personnel:
John Allair (keyboards)
John Blakely (guitar)
Tom Coster (keyboards)
Tom Donlinger (drums)
Greg Douglass (guitar)
Larry Dunlap (keyboards)
Mickey Hart (percussion)
David Hayes (bass, background vocals)
Chris Kovacs (keyboards)
Jack Lancaster (saxophone)
Phil Marsh (guitar)
Country Joe McDonald (vocals, guitar)
Peter Milio (drums)
Raul Rekow (percussion)
Gene Stuart (saxophone)
Bob Weir (percussion)
+
background vocals:
Bianca Thornton – Mark Springer – Pauline Lozano
+
Maria Muldaur (vocals on 09.)

Tracklist:
01. Live In Peace (McDonald) 3.03
02. Sunshine (McDonald) 3.39
03. Let It Rain (McDonald) 4.38
04. You Can Get It If You Really Want (Chambers) 3.00
05. War Hero (v.Ronk/McDonald) 2.35
06. Feeling Better (McDonald) 3.37
07. The Girl Next Door (McDonald) 3.43
08. Darlin’ Dan (The Rocket Man) (McDonald) 5.40
09. Pledging My Love (Robey/Washington) 2.35
10. Garden Of Eden (McDonald) 4.11
11. Space Lovin’ (McDonald) 3.29
12. Peace On Earth (McDonald) 3.52

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Live in Peace:

Today may seem hopeless filled with war and fear
But we can change the darkness if we but persevere
And if we seize this moment and cling to our belief
Then I know that we can live in peace

This world is such a wonder filled with so much life
The land the air the ocean could be paradise
And if we open up our hearts the truth is plain to see
That we can all live together in peace

Care for all the animals they need our help
Care for all the children stop thinking of ourselves
And if we work together to try for harmony
Someday we will live in peace.

More from Country Joe McDonald:

The official website:

Big Country – Live In Austin (Defrostin) (1984)

Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981.

The height of the band’s popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although it has retained a cult following for many years since. The band’s music incorporated Scottish folk and martial music styles, and the band engineered their guitar-driven sound to evoke the sound of bagpipes, fiddles, and other traditional folk.

Big Country comprised Stuart Adamson (formerly of Skids, vocals/guitar/keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar/mandolin/sitar/vocals), Tony Butler (bass guitar/vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums/percussion/vocals). Before the recruitment of Butler and Brzezicki an early incarnation of Big Country was a five-piece band, featuring Peter Wishart (later of Runrig and now a Scottish National Party MP) on keyboards, his brother Alan on bass, and Clive Parker, drummer from Spizz Energi/Athletico Spizz ’80.

Adamson auditioned Parker (1981) at The Members’ rehearsal room in Ladbroke Grove, London and the next day was called on to play drums on demos for CBS Records at their Whitfield Street studios. The demos were produced by Adam Sieff and just featured Adamson, Parker and Watson. Adamson had asked bassist Dave Allen from Gang of Four to join the band but he declined. Adamson asked Parker to join the band, which led to eight months of rehearsal in Dunfermline in a disused furniture warehouse.

The culmination was a concert at the Glen Pavilion in Dunfermline and an interview with BBC Radio Scotland where the CBS Studio demos were utilised. The band then played live with Alice Cooper’s Special Forces tour for two concerts in February 1982 at Brighton and Birmingham.

Butler and Brzezicki, working under the name ‘Rhythm for Hire,’ were brought in to play on “Harvest Home.” They immediately hit it off with Adamson and Watson, who invited them to join the band.

Big Country’s first single was “Harvest Home”, recorded and released in 1982. It was a modest success, although it did not reach the UK Singles Chart. Their next single was 1983’s “Fields Of Fire (400 Miles)”, which reached the UK’s Top Ten and was rapidly followed by the album The Crossing. The album was a hit in the United States (reaching the Top 20 in the Billboard 200), powered by “In a Big Country”, their only US Top 40 hit single. The song features heavily engineered guitar sounds, strongly reminiscent of bagpipes; Adamson and fellow guitarist Watson achieved this through the use of the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect. Also contributing to the band’s unique sound was their use of the e-bow, a device which allows a guitar to sound more like strings or synthesizer. The Crossing sold over a million copies in the UK and obtained gold record status (sales of over 500,000) in the US. The band performed at the Grammy Awards and on Saturday Night Live.

Big Country released the non-LP extended play single “Wonderland” in 1984, while in the middle of a lengthy worldwide tour. The song, considered by some critics to be one of their finest, was a Top Ten hit (No. 8) in the UK Singles Chart but, despite heavy airplay and a positive critical response, was a comparative flop in the US, reaching only No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the last single by the band to make the US charts.

Their second album Steeltown (1984) was a hit as soon as it was released, entering the UK Albums Chart at No. 1. The album featured three UK top 30 hit singles, and received considerable critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, but like Wonderland (and, in fact, all subsequent releases) it was a commercial disappointment in the US, peaking at No. 70 on the Billboard album chart. (wikipedia)

And here´s an excellent broadcast recording from their tour through the USA.

One of the most known but hard to find bootlegs of this great band!
Amazing quality!
This show was recorded for NBC Radio The Source.
This bootleg is also known as ‘The Texas Tapes’.

Recorded live at the Austin Opry House 22 March 1984 (The Source #84-29)
excellent broadcast recording

Pesonnel:
Stuart Adamson (vocals, guitar,)
Mark Brzezicki (drums, background vocals)
Tony Butler (bass, background vocals)
Bruce Watson (guitar, vocals)

Alternate edition:

Tracklist:
01. 1000 Stars (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 4.39
02. Angle Park (Adamson/Watson) 4.46
03. Close Action (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 4.30
04. Balcony (Adamson) 4.16
05. Lost Patrol (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 5.24
06. In A Big Country (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 5.48
07. Porrohman (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 8.01
08. Chance (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 6.17
09. Inwards (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 4.56
10. Fields Of Fire (400 Miles) (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 5.24
11. Wonderland (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 4.332
12. Harvest Home (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 4.34
13. Tracks Of My Tears (Robinson/Moore/Tarplin) 3,32
14. In A Big Country (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 6.02

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During the 80s I got this concert as a MC … now it’s time to say goodbye to this tape:

More from Big Country:

William Stuart Adamson (11 April 1958 – 16 December 2001):

On 16 December 2001, his body was found in a closet in his room at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii. According to police, Adamson hanged himself with an electrical cord from a pole in the wardrobe. An empty wine bottle was found in the room. At the time of his death, Adamson had a blood-alcohol content of 0.279%

Mahavishnu Orchestra – Mahavishnu (1984)

Mahavishnu Orchestra was an American jazz fusion band formed in New York City in 1971, by the English guitarist John McLaughlin. The band underwent several line-up changes throughout its history across two stints from 1971 to 1976 and 1984 to 1987.[2] With its first line-up consisting of musicians Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman and Rick Laird, the band received its initial acclaims for its complex, intense music consisting of a blend of Indian classical music, jazz and psychedelic rock, and their dynamic live performances between 1971 and 1973.

Mahavishnu is an album by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, released in 1984 by Warner Bros. Records. During the 1980s, John McLaughlin reformed the Mahavishnu Orchestra for release of the two albums Mahavishnu and Adventures in Radioland. This band’s overall sound was radically different from the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, in particular because of McLaughlin’s extensive use of the Synclavier synthesiser system. This album features original Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Billy Cobham. (by wikipedia)

1984’s Mahavishnu was supposed to mark the return of drummer Billy Cobham to John McLaughlin’s side. Although the reunion ended badly behind the scenes, the record did manage to display some of the historic interplay these musician’s had shared in the past. The album does suffer from a lack of focus which could be blamed on McLaughlin’s new guitar synthesizer, which he tended to use too much. Many times the listener is not aware John is even playing because the damn synth didn’t sound like a guitar at all ! But again, John was in the forefront of the technology at the time and his indulging can be forgiven. He would eventually find his voices on his acoustic-synth trio outings.

Mahavishnu consisted of Miles’ sax man Bill Evans, outrageous bassist Jonas Helborg, brilliant keyboardest Mitchel Forman and an ever-developing Danny Gottlieb, replacing Cobham on tour, on drums. This band would not realize its full potential until Adventures In Radioland.

Still, Mahavishnu offers “Clarendon Hills”, a tune penned by Evans, which is a full-out sonic attack which is among the best compositions McLaughlin has ever recorded. Katia LaBeque, ex-girlfriend of John McLaughlin and wonderful pianist, once again adds her talents and very effectively so on the Indian piece “When Blue Turns Gold” which brings the album to a droning close. For those of you able to obtain this record, remember… “Too dark. Use flash”. (Walter Kolosky)

This album somehow seems to have offended the gods, in as much as it garnered fairly poor reviews and often seems to be omitted from the discographies of both John McLaughlin AND the Mahavishnu Orchestra. My personal view is that the disdain is undeserved.

Whilst the keyboard and guitar sounds make it very much of its time, the solid rhythm section of Billy Cobham and Jonas Hellborg mostly keep it driving along, and there are some beautiful moments along the way.

Personal favourite tracks are: the opener, “Radio-Activity”, which combines typically liquid lines from McLaughlin and saxophonist Bill Evans with some fiery work from Cobham on double bass drum; the second track, “Nostalgia”, which is a moody and contemplative ballad; and the penultimate track, “Pacific Express”, which sees McLaughlin in his usual rapid-fire mode.

All in all, it’s an album I return to every year or two, and I’m always reminded how much I like it! (by Patrick Moore)

Personnel:
Billy Cobham (drums, percussion)
Bill Evans (saxophone, flute)
Mitchel Forman – Fender Rhodes, Yamaha DX7, Yamaha “Blow Torch” Piano on “Clarendon Hills”
Jonas Hellborg (bass)
John McLaughlin (guitar, synclavier II, digital guitar)
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Hari Prasad Chaurasia -(flute on 09.)
Danny Gottlieb (percussion)
Zakir Hussain (tabla on 09.)
Katia Labeque (synthesizer, piano on 09.)

Tracklist:
01. Radio-Activity 6.47
02. Nostalgia 5.56
03. Nightriders 3.45
04. East Side West Side 4.47
05. Clarendon Hills 6.04
06. Jazz 1.43
07. The Unbeliever 2.47
08. Pacific Express 6.23
09. When Blue Turns Gold 3.15

Music compsoed by John McLaughlin,
except 05, which was written by Bill Evans

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More from The Mahavishnu Orchestra:

Sammy Davis Jr. – Closest Of Friends (1984)

Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, musician, dancer, actor, vaudevillian, comedian and activist known for his impressions of actors, musicians and other celebrities. At age three, Davis Jr. began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally.

After military service, Davis Jr. returned to the trio and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro’s (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities.

After a starring role on Broadway in Mr Wonderful (1956), he returned to the stage in 1964’s Golden Boy.

Davis Jr.’s film career began as a child in 1933. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film Ocean’s 11.

In 1966, he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. While Davis’ career slowed in the late 1960s, he did have a hit record with “The Candy Man” in 1972 and became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname “Mister Show Business”.

Davis had a complex relationship with the black community and drew criticism after publicly supporting President Richard Nixon in 1972. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. “Handicap?” he asked. “Talk about handicap. I’m a one-eyed Negro Jew.” This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography and in many articles.

After reuniting with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before his death in 1990. He died in debt to the Internal Revenue Service,[8] and his estate was the subject of legal battles. Davis Jr. was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his television performances.

He was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame for being the Greatest Entertainer in the World, said founder Lamont “ShowBoat” Robinson. (by wikipedia)

In 1982, Sammy Davis, Jr. made the musical move to Nashville. Perhaps the last place you would expect the diminutive wonder to turn up, but he cut ten songs there for the Applause label and the Closest of Friends album was the result. The songs assembled for Davis to sing come from some of the finest writers the town had to offer (“Oh Lonesome Me” by Don Gibson, “Come Sundown” and “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends” by Kris Kristofferson, “Smoke Smoke Smoke (That Cigarette)” by Tex Williams and Merle Travis) and while the aging Sammy did what he could vocally, the wooden arrangements and pedestrian playing really bring the album down.

The best of the songs, like Sammy’s light bounce through “Hey, Won’t You Play (Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song)” and his knowing take on “Smoke Smoke Smoke (That Cigarette)” (which contains the cruelly foreshadowing lyric “I’ve smoked ’em all my life and I ain’t dead yet”) are miles away from his best work and have only the slightest glimmer of what made Davis so spectacular in his prime. Only a true Davis fanatic would ever want to hear these songs. It was one of his last forays into a recording studio and should probably just be forgotten. Unfortunately, it is one of the few Davis sessions that turns up time and time again on cheap reissue labels, often with mis-leading titles and cover shots. (by Tim Sendra)

In other words: A Sammy Davis trip into this sentimental Country music …

Alternate frontcovers

Personnel:
Larry Butler (piano)
James Capps (guitar)
Jerry Carrigan (drums)
Stebve Chapman (guitar)
Sammy Davis Jr. (vocals)
Ray Edenton (guitar)
Bob Moore (bass)
Leon Rhodes (bass)
Hargus Robbins (piano)
Bily Sanford (guitar)
Jerry Shook (guitar)
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Sheldon Kurland Strings

Tracklist:
01. What I’ve Got In Mind (O´Dell) 2.48
02. Come Sundown (Kristofferson) 3.22
03. Mention A Mansion (Hupp/Morrison) 2.19
04. You’re Gonna Love Yourself (In The Morning) (Fritts) 3.15
05. Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette) (Travis/Williams) 3.03
06. Oh Lonesome Me (Gibson) 2.24
07. We Could Have Been Closest Of Friends (Pippin/Slade) 3.15
08. Hey Won’t You Play (Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song) (Buitler/Moman) 3.23
09. Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends (Kristofferson) 3.25
10. The River’s Too Wide (Morrison) 2.43

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Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990)

 

I got this album from greygoose … thanks a lot !!!

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – Live At Carnegie Hall (1997)

Live at Carnegie Hall is the ninth album (and third live album) by American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, released by Epic Records in July 1997. The album consists of live selections from their sold-out October 4, 1984 benefit concert at Carnegie Hall for the T.J. Martell Foundation. Backed by a ten-piece big band for the second half of the event, Vaughan had celebrated his thirtieth birthday the night before, and called the concert his “best birthday ever, forever”. The band’s double-set performance, which included several blues and R&B standards, was highly successful, receiving mostly positive reviews from music critics.

Initially ranked as the top blues album of 1997, Live at Carnegie Hall peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200, where it spent twelve weeks on the chart. The album was ultimately certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after selling over half a million units. Guests on the album include Vaughan’s brother Jimmie Vaughan (guitar), Dr. John (keyboards), George Rains (drums) and the Roomful of Blues horn section, along with vocalist Angela Strehli. Related to the album, two outtakes from the concert were released on the SRV box set in November 2000.

The album charted at #40 on the Billboard 200, and was the #1 blues album for eight weeks. Entertainment Weekly said that his “blistering fretwork is so technically formidable that it should awe even the most unflappable aficionados.” Stephen Holden from The New York Times described the concert itself as “a stomping roadhouse.” (by wikipedia)

Live at Carnegie Hall captures Stevie Ray Vaughan on the supporting tour for his second album, 1984’s Couldn’t Stand the Weather. The Carnegie Hall concert was a special show, since it was the only time Vaughan and Double Trouble added the brass section from Roomful of Blues to augment their sound; in addition, the concert featured guest appearances from Stevie’s brother Jimmie and Dr. John. There might have been more musicians than usual on-stage, but Stevie Ray remains the center of attention, and he is in prime form here, tearing through a selection of his best-known songs which generally sound tougher in concert than they do in the studio. It’s the best live Stevie Ray record yet released. (by Thom Owens)

Personnel:
Chris Layton (drums)
Tommy Shannon (bass)
Stevie Ray Vaughan (guitar, vocals)
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Porky Cohen (trombone)
Bob Enos (trumpet)
Dr. John (keyboards)
Doug James (saxophone)
Rich Lataille (saxophone)
Greg Piccolo (saxophone)
George Rains (drums)
Angela Strehli (vocals on 10.)
Jimmie Vaughan (guitar)

Tracklist:
01. Scuttle Buttin’ (S.R.Vaughan) 2.43
02. Testify (R.Isley/K.Isley, Jr./R.Isley) 5.20
03. Love Struck Baby (S.R.Vaughan) 3.05
04. Honey Bee (S.R.Vaughan) 3.05
05. Cold Shot (Kindred/Clark) 4.45
06. Letter To My Girlfriend (Jones) 3.08
07. Dirty Pool (Bramhall/Vaughan) 6.40
08. Pride And Joy (S.R.Vaughan) 4.48
09. The Things That I Used To Do (Jones) 5.26
10. C.O.D. (Gooden) 5.32
11. Iced Over (aka “Collins’ Shuffle”) (Collins/S.R.Vaughan) 5.11
12. Lenny (S.R.Vaughan) 7.14
13. Rude Mood (S.R.Vaughan) 2.22

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Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990)

Big Country – Wonderland (Special Limited Edition) (1984)

Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981.

The height of the band’s popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although it retained a cult following for many years after. The band’s music incorporated Scottish folk and martial music styles, and the band engineered their guitar-driven sound to evoke the sound of bagpipes, fiddles and other traditional folk instruments.
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Big Country comprised Stuart Adamson (formerly of Skids, vocals/guitar/keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar/mandolin/sitar/vocals), Tony Butler (bass guitar/vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums/percussion/vocals). Before the recruitment of Butler and Brzezicki an early incarnation of Big Country was a five-piece band, featuring Peter Wishart (later of Runrig and now a Scottish National Party MP) on keyboards, his brother Alan on bass, and Clive Parker, drummer from Spizz Energi/Athletico Spizz ’80. Parker had approached Adamson to join his new band after the demise of Skids.

Adamson auditioned Parker (1980) at The Members’ rehearsal room in Ladbroke Grove, London and the next day was called on to play drums on demos for CBS Records at their Whitfield Street studios. The demos were produced by Adam Sieff and just featured Adamson, Parker and Watson. Adamson had asked bassist Dave Allen from Gang of Four to join the band but he declined. Adamson asked Parker to join the band, which led to eight months of rehearsal in Dunfermline in a disused furniture warehouse.

The culmination was a concert at the Glen Pavilion at Dunfermline and an interview with BBC Radio Scotland where the CBS Studio demos were utilised. The band then played live with Alice Cooper’s Special Forces tour for two concerts in 1982 at The Brighton Centre.

Butler and Brzezicki, working under the name ‘Rhythm for Hire,’ were brought in to play on “Harvest Home.” They immediately hit it off with Adamson and Watson, who invited them to join the band.

Big Country’s first single was “Harvest Home”, recorded and released in 1982. It was a modest success, although it did not reach the official UK Singles Chart. Their next single was 1983’s “Fields Of Fire (400 Miles)”, which reached the UK’s Top Ten and was rapidly followed by the album The Crossing. The album was a hit in the United States (reaching the Top 20 in the Billboard 200), powered by “In a Big Country”, their only US Top 40 hit single. The song featured heavily engineered guitar playing, strongly reminiscent of bagpipes; Adamson and fellow guitarist, Watson, achieved this through the use of the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect. Also contributing to the band’s unique sound was their use of the e-bow, a device which allows a guitar to sound more like strings or synthesizer. The Crossing sold over a million copies in the UK and obtained gold record status (sales of over 500,000) in the US. The band performed at the Grammy Awards and on Saturday Night Live.

Big Country released the non-LP extended play single “Wonderland” in 1984 while in the middle of a lengthy worldwide tour. The song, considered by some critics to be one of their finest, was a Top Ten hit (No. 8) in the UK Singles Chart[2] but, despite heavy airplay and a positive critical response, was a comparative flop in the US, reaching only No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the last single by the band to make the US charts. (by wikipedia)

And here´s is of their many “Special Edition” singles from the Eighties:

“Wonderland” and “Giant (one of their rare Insrumentals; it was the instrumental version of “All Fall Together”)  … not released on their second album “Steel Town” and “Lost Patrol” recoded live at their legendary New Year´s Eve Concert at Barrowland, Glosgow 1993/1994.

So, here´s another cance to discover “Big Country”, one of the finest bands from the Eighties … Listen and enjoy !

Personnel:
Stuart Adamson (guitar, vocals)
Mark Brzezicki (drums)
Tony Butler (bass)
Bruce Watson (guitar)

Tracklist:
01. Wonderland 3.51
02. Giant 5.12
03. Lost Patrol (live) Part 1) 2.27
04. Lost Patrol (live) Part 2) 2.26

All songs written by Stuart Adamson – Mark Brzezicki – Tony Butler – Bruce Watson

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Adamson returned for the band’s ‘Final Fling’ farewell tour, culminating in a sold-out concert at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on 31 May 2000. They played what turned out to be their last gig in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October that year.

In November 2001, Adamson disappeared again. Numerous appeals were put on the Big Country website asking for Adamson to call home and speak to anyone in the band, the management company, or his ex-wife. The website also requested that any fans who might have been ‘harbouring’ the singer to contact the management company and alert them to his whereabouts. Mark Brzezicki and Tony Butler had indicated they were concerned but the reason Big Country had lasted so long was they stayed out of one another’s personal lives, and both later noted they were unaware of the extent of Adamson’s problems. He was found dead in a room at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii on 16 December 2001. (by wikipedia)

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