DJTees Blog

For a bunch of acid heads Terrapin Station is on the face of things, unlikely. For a start it’s got Paul Buckmaster strings on it. Not a very acid rock thing to do. But the Dead played by their own rules. Many Deadheads think it’s a poor album, but I disagree. It’s different and has a lovely grandiose theme. It’s not really what you’d expect and is all the better for itUnusually it was produced by Keith Olson. The first side is brilliant songs like Estimated Prophet, which they play live regularly and expand the sax part with a stellar...

In the second half of the seventies, jazz rock, characterised by fast guitar and wonky rhythm's, enjoyed a few years of popularity. One of my favourites is Brand X. Almost totally instrumental, their line up featured Phil Collins for a period. Everyone has chops to burn and they deployed some exciting dynamics. Their debut was Unorthodox Behaviour. It featured Euthanazia Waltz which was a statement of intent. John Goodsall’s guitar was remarkable for speed and rhythm.If you wanted songs to sing along to, this wasn’t that. But if you wanted a blur of lead guitar played against a mellow background,...

When you’ve got a massive back catalogue to explore with a band, knowing which is the best stuff can be difficult. Wiki lists 33 studio and live albums. They are remarkably consistent. Some say Under Wraps is a stinker but it isn’t. The sound changes, but the quality remains. I’ve loved them since I was 16, good grief that’s 46 years. Where does the time go?My first love was the Songs From The Wood. I just loved the rural vibe to the lyrics such as Jack In The Green. Also Martin Barre’s guitar on Pibroch is the stuff of greatness....

One of Southern rock’s great bands, but one of the least celebrated is the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Starting as a studio band they released their debut album  in 1972 on Decca. The first two albums failed to sell and they were dropped. They had a very slick studio style. Smooth might be a good description. Rock music designed for hot nights. They were signed by Polydor and got a hit single. Doraville made #35 but the album, the Third Annual Pipe Dream stalled at #74. They released two more albums neither of which sold very many. Then it all changed....

German electronic music has a fascinating history. It was hugely influential on music ever since, but has its roots in the late 60s. German youth wanted to create something new that wasn’t connected to the Nazi past in any way. Electronic music turned out to be that thing. Though at first bands like Amon Dull I and II and even Kraftwerk were closer to prog rock than anything. But things changed in the early 70s. Weirdly, the UK was keen to embrace the German bands, especially Tangerine Dream who enjoyed considerable chart success for several years 1974 to 1982. It...

When Jefferson Airplane set up Grunt it was to release their own records. And for a while they did just that. But with so many side projects in the Airplane family there was so much music to be released. Primary among these was Hot Tuna. Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen’s blues rock band were popular and everything from Burgers to Final Vinyl came out on Grunt. The best of these is Double Dose. A double. A live album that is surprisingly heavy and guitar orientated. That was the stuff that found a mass market. The more obscure releases come from...

It’s an argument that will rage forever. On on hand you got a classic live album and one maybe two classic albums, on the other two brilliant albums and a series of brilliant live shows. It’s an impossible choice. It’s over 53 years since the band made Machine Head, an album that defined the classic rock era but only 50 since Burn came out and has good claim to be their finest record. The two incarnation’s are very different bands.Certainly the earlier incarnation has much to recommend it. Blackmore’s guitar is strikingly original. A kind of aural sculpture, not just...

If there is an example of the late 60's quirky, off the wall spirit it is the hippy duo the Incredible String Band. They were unlike any other band at the time. Folky, kind of, they were also very psychedelic in the truest eclectic sense. Formed in the mid sixties they made one album with Clive Palmer, now very rare. It got to #34 in the UK charts but it was the third album, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, which was their major contribution to the scene. The psychedelic, felt-tips on-acid cover of the second album was designed by The Fool,...

If you lived in the UK in the 1970s you wouldn’t have heard much of Grand Funk Railroad, but if you were in America, you’d have been pushed not to hear them for years and years. Rarely has a band been so popular in one country and so ignored in another.They were playing stadiums in USA, but never charted in the UK. Surprising really, as we love a good bluesy hard rock in the UK.They charted from 1969 to 1981 and had many top tens and gold records aplenty.If you caught one of their live shows in the early 70s...

It’s not remarked on enough that in the first half of the 1970s, one of the most prolific musicians producing great music was the magical Steve Stills. In the first six years of that amazing decade he recorded two CSNY albums, six solo albums, two Manassas albums and all of them were excellent. He also toured with all of these bands and was on a real creative peak. Deja Vu was a record for the ages. The subsequent live album is an important document. The first Manassas album is widely hailed as an important, eclectic album, reaching #4 in USA...

As any record collector knows, you get taken by a passion for a band for some reason and you must have everything they ever released. For me, one such band is Mountain. I don’t know why I love them so much. They seem the perfect heavy band. I think it’s something to do with the Windfall label. They are one of the few artists you see on this pretty label, a subsidiary of Bell set up by Felix Pappalardi and his partner to publish bands they manage. In fact in the UK their singles came out on Bell and were...

You may or not know that in mid November, I, Johnny, had a stroke. It’s common enough. It’s left me so far with a frozen left hand and a dysfunctional foot. I’ve been in hospital ever since. Thankfully in all other respects I am normal or better than what had been normal.As you can imagine it’s been a dark and upsetting time that came out of the blue. The thing I’ve clung onto is a love of rock and roll’s spirit and energy. I’ve still got it and you learn to appreciate what you’ve got, rather than what you’ve lost....

Canterbury is a sleepy place to host and define a musical movement. We have to remember that back in early 70s not everyone wanted to be a rock star, so the community was quite small. Basically, it all revolved around Caravan, a muscular and very English band. Bands like Hatfield And The North and National Health released a couple of albums (both excellent). The music was rooted in jazz, sometimes more than others. National Health’s debut was long keyboard led workouts which had an ambient quality. Soft Machine turned psychedelic jazz into pure jazz into guitar led jazz rock but...

It went well from the start. With Free in ashes, Rodgers and Kirk formed Bad Company and immediate hit pay dirt. Bad Company never produced complex music. This was 4 on the floor done to a high standard. Of course, Paul Rodger’s could sing the ingredients from a packet of noodles and make it sound like a love song, which helped with commerciality Add in Mick Ralph’s from Mott, Boz Burrell from King Crimson to the two Free lads and maybe it was no surprise that they had a hit album. Bad Co was built for American FM radio with...

Alvin was, of course, the star of Ten Years After. When the band fell apart, Alvin was well set for a successful solo career.He had released In Flight in 1974, with part of Kokomo as backing vocalists. A double live, it was a collection, Live at the Rainbow, of rock 'n' roll songs which didn’t press TYA fans’ buttons. It still charted, making #65.But it was a diversion and the band was still touring until finally calling it a day in 1975. His first solo album afterwards was Pump Iron and featured plenty of trademark guitar.He followed this up 3...