Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Elton John's 'Tumbleweed Connection' (2002)

As a result of the reasonable success of the 'Elton John' album, John recruited former Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, and flew to America for his first US concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on 25 August 1970. It was a such a success that the next day he received a telegram from Bill Graham, America’s most important promoter, offering him $5,000 to play at the Fillmore East in New York. Two months later, in October 1970, the concept album 'Tumbleweed Connection' was released, reaching number two in the UK and number five in the US. Co-writer Bernie Taupin has confirmed that despite people thinking that he was influenced in his lyrics by Americana and by seeing America first hand, the album had been written and recorded before they'd even been to the United States, and it was more influenced by The Band's album, 'Music From Big Pink', and Robbie Robertson's songs. Basic tracks for three of the album's titles, 'Come Down In Time', 'Country Comfort' and 'Burn Down The Mission', had been recorded at Trident during the sessions for the previous LP, 'Elton John', and Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson appeared for the first time together on this album as the rhythm section on 'Amoreena'. No singles were released from the record in the US, but 'Country Comfort'/'Love Song' (the latter a Lesley Duncan composition) was released as a single in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. Once again, other artists clamoured to record these songs, and this time the big names included Al Kooper, Rod Stewart, Spooky Tooth and Sergio Mendes and Brasil '77, and new artists were still looking to 'Tumbleweed Connection' for inspiration in the 1980's and 2000's, with this album closing with a rousing version of 'Burn Down The Mission' by Toto from 2002. 

Track listing

01 Ballad Of A Well Known Gun (Kate Taylor 1971)
02 Come Down In Time (Al Kooper 1971)
03 Country Comfort (Rod Stewart 1970)
04 Son Of Your Father (Spooky Tooth 1969)
05 My Father's Gun (Miranda Lambert 2018)
06 Where To Now St. Peter (Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77 1976)
07 Amoreena (Panhandle 1972)
08 Talking Old Soldiers (Michael Callen 1988)
09 Burn Down The Mission (Toto 2002)

Caleb Quaye - ...and on guitar (1974)

Caleb Quaye was born 9 October 1948, and is the older half-brother of singer Finley Quaye. His musical career began when he was a member of local band The SoundCasters (or The Sound Castles) while at school. In the early sixties, he joined the band Bluesology, featuring Reginald Dwight on keyboards, later to morph into Elton John, and they were Long John Baldry's backing band for a while, releasing three singles with him from 1965 to 1967. After the breakup of Bluesology, Quaye released a single in 1967 under the name Caleb, with 'Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad'/'Woman Of Distinction' now being rated as one of the finest psychedelic records of the era. In 1968, Elton John started playing concerts under his new name, enlisting Quaye as his guitarist, and in 1969 this group recorded a private album under the name The Bread And Beer Band, just for their own amusement, with only two tracks ever appearing officially on disc, with the 'Dick Barton Theme'/'Breakdown Blues' single being released in 1969 on Decca Records. 

In 1969 he served as guitarist for the one-off "flower power" pop band Argosy (which also included Dwight, Roger Hodgson, and Nigel Olsson) on their single, 'Mr. Boyd'/'Imagine', and he also issued 'The Way Of The Musician' as a single under the name of Hookfoot. As Elton John knew Quaye from his Bluesology days, he used three quarters of Hookfoot as his backing band when he recorded some sessions for the BBC in July 1969. Around April 1970, Quaye reinvented Hookfoot as a proper band, with Ian Duck on harmonica and vocals, Dave Glover on bass and Roger Pope on drums, and once again they backed Elton John when he was invited back to the BBC in April 1970. They also backed Steve Ellis on two solo singles in 1970 and 1971, before they released their eponymous debut album in 1971. It was well-received, and included songs by Quaye, as well as covers of tracks by Stephen Stills and Neil Young, and with the addition of Bob Kulick as a second guitarist, the band released their second album 'Good Times a-Comin'' in 1972, which was a more straight-ahead rock record. While Hookfoot was active during 1971 and 1972, Quaye was much in demand as a session player, and appeared on a number of recordings by the likes of Al Kooper, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Ralph McTell, John Baldry, Nilsson, and Cochise. Following a few more line-up changes, and two more albums in 1972 and 1973, Hookfoot eventually split up in 1974, and Quaye went to the USA to work as a session musician. 

While a member of Hookfoot, Quaye had played on most of Elton John's records up to 1971's  'Madman Across The Water', when John recruited Nigel Olssen, Dee Murray, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper as his permanent backing group, but in April 1975, long time bandmates Murray and Olsson were asked to leave the group. They were replaced by old friend Roger Pope and Kenny Passarelli, and it was at this time that Quaye was also asked to re-join, ready to start tour rehearsals in June 1975. This line-up released the 'Rock Of The Westies' album later that year, and he stayed with them for a couple of years, also appearing on 1976's 'Blue Moves'. After this his guest appearances slowed down, with only a couple in 1977, then nothing after 1980, as in 1982 his life changed completely, when he became a musician/evangelist. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the National Worship Committee, and he was officially appointed as National Foursquare Music Minister in the Spring of 1995. So that's where we'll end this look back at the early career of an extremely talented, but undeservedly neglected guitarist, and if you want to learn more about his life, then you can read his excellent autobiography 'A Voice Louder Than Rock & Roll'.

Track listing

Disc I
01 Ticket To Ride (from 'Hold Up!' by The Moonshiners 1967)
02 Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad (single by Caleb 1967)
03 Breakdown Blues (b-side of 'Dick Barton Theme' single by The Bread And Beer Band 1969)
04 Empty Sky (from 'Empty Sky' by Elton John 1969)
05 Mr. Boyd (single by Argosy 1969)
06 The Way Of The Musician (single by Hookfoot 1969)
07 Jingle Jangle Jasmine (b-side of 'Take Your Love' single by Steve Ellis 1971)
08 Eric Is Calling (from 'Chumley's Laughing Gear' by Claggers 1971)
09 Loudwater Zoo (from 'Loudwater House' by Tony Hazzard 1971)
10 Going Quietly Mad (from 'New York City (You're A Woman)' by Al Kooper 1971)
11 Old Brown Dog (from 'You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here' by Ralph McTell 1971)

Disc II
01 Sunshine Looks Like Rain (from 'Drum Orchestra And Chorus' by Nigel Olsson 1971)
02 Oh Rosanna (from 'I Think I'll Write A Song' by Phillip Goodhand-Tait 1971)
03 Take Off My Shoes (from 'Shalom' by Shalom Chanoch 1971)
04 Another Day (from 'Swallow Tales' by Cochise 1971)
05 Like Summer Tempests (from 'Taupin' by Bernie Taupin 1971)
06 Let's Burn Down The Cornfield (from 'It Ain't Easy' by John Baldry 1971)
07 Coconut (from 'Nilsson Schmilsson' by Nilsson 1971)
08 Same Old Thing (from 'A Story Ended' by Dick Heckstall-Smith 1972)
09 Keep Dreaming (from 'Bill Quateman' by Bill Quateman 1972)
10 Everything Comes And Goes (from 'Somewhere' by Mike Hugg 1972)
11 Kid's Stuff (from 'David Elliott' by David Elliott 1972)
12 Jubilee Cloud (from 'Kongos' by John Kongos 1972)

Disc III

01 The End (from 'Queues' by Vigrass & Osborne 1972)
02 I Can't Stand It (from 'Lou Reed' by Lou Reed 1972)
03 Sweet America (from 'Meanwhile... Back At The World' by Roger Cook 1972)
04 Forever's No Time At All (from 'Who Came First' by Pete Townshend 1972)
05 Parisien Plight II (from 'Faces' by Shawn Phillips 1972)
06 Non-Commercial Blues (from 'A Little Taste' by Ann Odell 1973)
07 Albuquerque Rainbow (from 'Chris Darrow' by Chris Darrow 1973)
08 Get Yourself Together (from 'In London' by Teresa Brewer with Oily Rag 1973)
09 Overnight Train (from 'Love Songs' by Billy Nicholls 1974)
10 I Got You Covered (from 'Mo' by Mo McGuire 1974)

Thanks to progcollector for supplying the Claggers track. 

Carlos Santana - ...and on guitar (1978)

Unlike many artists in this series, Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán emerged almost fully-formed in 1966 with his very first group, the Santana Blues Band. He'd learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight, and it was also around this age that he fell under the influence of blues performers like B.B. King, Javier Bátiz, Mike Bloomfield, and John Lee Hooker. In 1966, he was chosen, along with other musicians, to form an ad hoc band to substitute for an intoxicated Paul Butterfield, who was due to play a Sunday matinee at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium. Graham selected the substitutes from musicians he knew primarily through his connections with the Butterfield Blues Band, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane, and Santana's guitar playing caught the attention of both the audience and Graham. During the same year he and fellow street musicians David Brown (bass guitar), Marcus Malone (percussion) and Gregg Rolie (lead vocals, Hammond Organ B3), formed the Santana Blues Band, playing a highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms. The band was signed by Columbia Records, shortening their name to simply Santana, and went into the studio to record their first album in January 1969. Before it was even released, Bill Graham, a Latin Music aficionado who had been a fan of Santana from its inception, arranged for the band to appear at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival, and their set was one of the surprises of the festival, highlighted by an eleven-minute performance of the throbbing instrumental 'Soul Sacrifice'. 

When the album was released, the publicity generated by their Woodstock appearance helped it to crack the Top 5 of the U.S. album charts. However, things were fraught between the band members, with some wanting to pursue a harder rock style, whereas Santana himself was increasingly interested in moving beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music. Their second album 'Abraxas' came out in 1970, and its mix of rock, blues, jazz, salsa and other influences was very well received, showing a musical maturation from their first album and refining the band's early sound. Teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy Neal Schon joined the band in 1971, in time to complete the third album 'Santana III', which now boasted a powerful dual-lead-guitar attack that gave the album a tougher sound. 1972's 'Caravanserai' marked a strong change in musical direction towards jazz fusion, and although it received critical praise, it is my least favourite of their records. By now Santana had proved his worth as a guitarist of some note, and so was asked to help out as a guest on other artist's records, adding his distinctive guitar to albums by Luis Gasca, Flora Purim, and Narada Michael Walden. He had already released an album as a duo with John McLaughlin in 1973, and in 1978 Santana guested on his 'Electric Guitarist' album, as well as appearing with Gato Barbieri and Giants the same year. Giants were actually a sort of supergroup consisting of Herbie Hancock, Greg Errico, and Neal Schon alongside Santana and other members of his band, and so enjoy them and the others pieces on this collection of Carlos Santana's extra-curricular activities from his heyday throughout the 70's.    

Track listing

01 Sonny Boy Williamson (from 'The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper' 1969)
02 Papa John's Downhome Blues (from 'Papa John Creach' by Papa John Creach 1971)
03 Little Mama (from 'For Those Who Chant' by Luis Gasca 1972)
04 Silver Sword (from 'Stories To Tell' by Flora Purim 1974)
05 First Love (from 'Garden Of Love Light' by Narada Michael Walden 1976)
06 Friendship (from 'Electric Guitarist' by John McLaughlin 1978)
07 In Your Heart (from 'Giants' by Giants 1978)
08 Latin Lady (from 'Tropico' by Gato Barbieri 1978)