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Showing posts from April, 2020

Interview -- Gerry McAvoy (Rory Gallagher, Band Of Friends)

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"...we all ended up at the airport, in a coffee shop... p assing the time away and speaking  with Frank Zappa. I was 19.  And it was amazing." ~ Gerry McAvoy ~ The Belfast bassist  Gerry McAvoy had Rory Gallagher's back since the self-titled blues-rock debut album in 1971.  For over two decades, Gerry provided the driving bass you hear on every Rory Gallagher album.  And it was that energy from Gerry's bass that really complimented Rory's passionate guitar shine.  Rory and Gerry were a team in every sense of the word.  Stage or studio made little difference.  The two were one.  Gerry McAvoy .  Go get you some. Gerry McAvoy Interview --  April 2020 Gerry McAvoy Casey Chambers:   My introduction to Rory Gallagher was with the 1978 burner "Photo-Finish" and I've been playing catch up ever since.  "Photo-Finish" is one of my favorite albums.  And your bass just screams to catch its breath.  And you guys reco

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Camembert Electrique" (1971)

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"Camembert Electrique" - Gong (1971) I'm not that familiar with Gong , this being only my second album to spin, but this was the band's sophomore square and it's a wonderful avant-garde head trip.  It's proggy with a trippy psych flavor.  All with a current of free jazz moving around underneath.  The music sounds very ambitious and forward-thinking.  Founding member Daevid Allen has a lot going on inside his head...and it's bizarre but brilliant in all its reveal.  The ideas and music, as hinted, are strange, but I never got the sense Allen was trying to have us on.  Everything sounds premeditated.  Nothing flip.  And somewhere in all the madness is a genuine sincerity that allows the listener to trust the process. "Camembert Electrique" is an album that requires your attention.  The first time I played it, I was busy doing other things and missed it.  Later, I put on some headphones and gave the album both my ears.  Some of it still we

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Bend Me, Shape Me" (1968)

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"Bend Me, Shape Me" - The American Breed (1968) The American Breed's second album is filled with garage pop-rock and a few softer songs.  The musicianship and harmonies sound just fine.  I was hoping the album would be as psych as the cover, but the band only dips their toe in that direction.  Still, the songs are good without being too cotton-candy.  The American Breed was a band out of Chicago, so there are occasional horns.  But it's nothing to get hung about.  This isn't really a horn album.  The horns are not over-used, I mean.  When the horns show up, they paint with brushes, not rollers.    The stand-out track for me was "Don't Make Me Leave You."   The song is really good with some stinging guitar.  Good stuff.  Their hit "Bend Me, Shape Me" still sounds tight and groovy as ever.  The opening track, "Green Light" has a lot of garage-pop energy and includes a long siren wail being cranked in the middle.  Just th

TCCDM Dig and Flip: "The Boys of ’67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam" (2012)

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"The Boys of ’67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam" by Andrew Wiest Softcover, 448 pages NO SPOILERS: This was the first group of "Charlie Company" that was drafted into the Vietnam war circa 1967.  These young men were called from all over the country, but what was extremely unusual...this particular group stayed together from day one.  From the few short weeks of basic training...right into the enemy fire and landmines of the Vietnam jungle war.  How frightening and dangerous that all must have been.  Andrew Wiest gives the reader a pretty good overview of these young guys.  Kids really.  Their backgrounds. Their personalities.  Their dreams.  Their fears.  And their especially strong bonds of friendship that are only made through shared experiences. There are also several pictures of the Charlie Company included in the book.  To be able to put real faces to so many of the names...after reading about their victories, losses, and tribulations...was both

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Grease Band" (1971)

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"Grease Band" - The Grease Band (1971) This was Joe Cocker's backing band from the UK making some rootsy, bluesy, country-rock music.  The album pretty much tanked, but it was not for lack of talent.  Henry McCullough was a member of Wings and Spooky Tooth.  Alan Spenner was in Spooky Tooth.  And former Juicy Lucy bassist Neil Hubbard sounds just fine.  Everything has a Robbie Robertson / Levon Helm attitude which is not a bad thing.  But nothing really stands out, either.  I enjoyed "Let It Be Gone" and "Willie and the Pig."    And "Down Home for Momma" was really nice, sounding a little like an early solo McCartney song.  Part of it.  Anyway, this one could be a grower.  We'll see. This was a $3 dollar purchase, but the truth is, I thought I was picking up the Hampton Grease Band  which is a totally, TOTALLY different doughnut.  I just couldn't remember the right name.  So this album... The Grease Band ...was what I pic

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Hooked" (1968)

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"Hooked" - The Hook (1968) "Hooked" is a hard and funky blues-rock album with tasty fuzz and churning organ.  At times, the music has a kind of Grand Funk vibe, not nearly as heavy, but with more psych-minded intent.  The needle drops on an excellent funky hard rock opener... "Go" and pretty much sets the table for what to expect.  "You're Lookin' Fine" is a solid  Kinks cover that's faster and builds into a really good fuzz outro. The psych-dusted " Hook Can Cook" is fun and funky.  But it's "Son Of Fantasy II" ...the last track on side one that punches the clock.  Just an excellent psych-rock biscuit.  There are a couple of tracks that sound very much like a 45 looking for a radio, and even those are nicely done.  The Hook was a California band founded by guitarist Bob Arlin ...formerly of  The Leaves .  The band also sported keyboardist Danny Provisor from The Grass Roots .  This turned out to

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Animals" (1977)

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"Animals"  - Pink Floyd (front) This was Pink Floyd's 10th studio album.  Everyone knows this one.  There are hundreds of reviews online that can wax way more poetic than I can.  I'll only say that "Animals" is one of my favorite albums and is part of an incredible trilogy from Pink Floyd .  I had been looking for a long, long time, but for whatever reason, "Animals" was a difficult album for me to find in the wild.  The ones I did stumble on were either worn and rough-handled or a barcode copy.  Or the seller was over-pricing it because it was Pink Floyd .  I know I could've gone online and found a nice copy.  But I was sure I would bump into one eventually, and I finally did. Celanese Plant in Narrows, VA I love the album cover.  It reminds me of old pictures of a factory plant where my dad and his dad and his dad's dad and many other relatives and friends in the area worked, if only for a moment.  Many lives passed through