Ry Cooder - ...and on guitar (1971)

Ryland Peter Cooder was born on 15 March 1947 in Los Angeles, California, growing up in Santa Monica, California, and graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1964. He began playing the guitar when he was three years old, and a year later he accidentally stuck a knife in his left eye and has had to wear a glass eye ever since. As a youngster he performed as part of a pickup trio with Bill Monroe and Doc Watson, in which he played banjo, but although the band was not a success, it did inspire him to apply banjo tunings and the three-finger roll to guitar instead. He first attracted attention playing with Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, notably on the 1967 album 'Safe As Milk', after previously having worked with Taj Mahal and Ed Cassidy in the Rising Sons. At a warm-up gig shortly before the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Don Van Vliet froze, straightened his tie, then walked off the 10 ft stage and landed on manager Bob Krasnow, later claiming he had seen a girl in the audience turn into a fish, with bubbles coming from her mouth. Cooder decided that this unprofessionalism was the final straw in an already strained relationship, and that he could no longer work with Van Vliet, effectively starting his career as a session musician. In 1968 he played with Randy Newman on his '12 Songs' album, as well recording sessions with The Rolling Stones in 1968 and 1969, with his contribution on mandolin appearing on 'Let It Bleed' and his slide guitar on 'Sticky Fingers', and later teaming up with Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and longtime Rolling Stones sideman Nicky Hopkins to record the 'Jamming with Edward!' album. Cooder also played bottleneck guitar on the original version of Little Feat's 'Willin'', and contributed slide and bottleneck guitar to a vast array of US singer/songwriters in the early 70's, including Marc Benno, Arlo Guthrie, Scott McKenzie, Ron Elliott, Mark LeVine and Gordon Lightfoot, and in particular on the truly stunning version of the Dionne Warwick/Cilla Black classic 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' by Eve. Throughout the 70's, Cooder released a series of albums that showcased his guitar work, starting with his eponymous debut in 1970, and releasing an album every year until the late 80's. These records explored bygone musical genres and found old-time recordings which he then personalized and updated, and on his breakthrough album 'Into The Purple Valley' he chose unusual instrumentations and arrangements of blues, gospel, calypso, and country songs. During the 80's he moved into film soundtracks, and his contribution to Wim Wnders' 'Paris, Texas' is regarded as some of his best work, but for this collection we're just looking at his session-work on albums from other artists in the early 70's. As Cooder is recognised as one of the foremost exponents of the slide and bottleneck guitar, I've chosen just tracks which feature those instruments, and have still managed to fill two volumes from just four years of recordings..

Track listing

Disc One
01 Sure 'Nuff 'N' Yes I Do (from 'Safe As Milk' by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 1967)
02 Richard Lee (from 'Pilgrim's Progress' by Mark LeVine 1968)
03 Heavy On My Mind (from 'LA, Memphis & Tyler, Texas' by Dale Hawkins 1968)
04 Don't Talk Now (from 'Longbranch/Pennywhistle' by Longbranch/Pennywhistle 1968)
05 Smokey Joe's Cafe (from 'The Anders & Poncia Album' by Anders & Poncia 1968)
06 Struttin' Down Main Street (from 'Border Town' by Fusion 1969) 
07 Something Better (single by Marianne Faithfull 1969)
08 Soft Soundin' Music (from 'Harpers Bizarre 4' by Harpers Bizarre 1969)
09 Teach It To The Children (from 'Marc Benno' by Marc Benno 1970)
10 Natural Magic (from the soundtrack of the film 'Performance' 1970)
11 Look In The Mirror (from 'Stained Glass Morning' by Scott McKenzie 1970)
12 Deep River Runs Blue (from 'The Candlestickmaker' by Ron Elliott 1970)
13 Go Back Upstairs (from 'Salty' by Alex Richman 1970)

Disc Two
01 Let's Burn Down The Cornfield (from '12 Songs' by Randy Newman 1970)
02 Me And Bobby McGee (from 'If You Could Read My Mind' by Gordon Lightfoot 1970)
03 Anyone Who Had A Heart (from 'Take It And Smile' by Eve 1970)
04 Willin' (from 'Little Feat' by Little Feat 1970)
05 Fence Post Blues (from 'Washington County' by Arlo Guthrie 1970
06 Don't Drink The Water (from 'Don Everly' by Don Everly 1970)
07 Song For Judith (from 'Living' by Judy Collins 1971)
08 The Blues (All Night Long) (from 'Stories' by David Blue 1971)
09 Mr. Money (from 'Possum' by Possum 1971)
10 Born Under A Bad Sign (from 'Rita Coolidge' by Rita Coolidge 1971)

11 Sister Morphine (from 'Sticky Fingers' by The Rolling Stones 1971)
12 Dirty, Dirty (from 'Crazy Horse' by Crazy Horse 1971)

Thanks to whoever it as who suggested Ry Cooder (sorry I can't find your name) but it's a great addition to the series. 

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For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

Crazy Horse - Dear Song Singer (1971)

The origins of Crazy Horse date back as far as 1963, and the Los Angeles-based a cappella doo-wop group Danny & The Memories, which consisted of main singer Danny Whitten and supporting vocalists Lou Bisbal, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina. Sly Stone produced a single for the by-then-renamed The Psyrcle in San Francisco on Lorna Records, but it didn't sell well either regionally or nationally. Over the next few years, after moving back to Los Angeles, the group gradually evolved into The Rockets, a psychedelic pop/folk rock band that juxtaposed the rudimentary instrumental abilities of bassist Talbot, drummer Molina, and rhythm guitarist Whitten against the more accomplished musicians Bobby Notkoff on violin and Leon Whitsell on lead guitar. While recording sessions for the debut album, Whitsell left and was promptly replaced by his younger brother George, but after Leon petitioned to return, it was decided that both Whitsells would remain in the group. This sextet recorded The Rockets' only album, a self-titled set released in 1968 on White Whale Records, with all the members contributing material to it, and Whitten's 'Let Me Go' was covered by Three Dog Night on their 1968 debut. After the album was released, The Rockets re-connected with Neil Young, whom they had met two years earlier during the early days of Buffalo Springfield, and not long afterwards Young enlisted Whitten, Talbot, and Molina to back him on his second solo album. Although all parties initially envisaged The Rockets continuing as a separate concern, they eventually disbanded due to Young's insistence on having his new backing trio keep to a strict practice schedule. Credited to Neil Young with Crazy Horse, 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' was released in May 1969, and has since become considered to be one of Young's very best albums. 
Crazy Horse toured with Young throughout the first half of 1969 and in early 1970, but shortly after beginning work on his third solo album with Crazy Horse in 1969, Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash as a full fourth member, recording an album and touring with the ensemble in 1969 and 1970. When Young returned to his solo album in 1970, Crazy Horse found its participation more limited, and the group as a whole would only appear on three of the eleven tracks on 'After The Gold Rush'. Young fired the group in the aftermath of the 1970 tour due to Whitten's escalating heroin abuse, and the band capitalized on their newfound exposure, recording their eponymous debut album for Reprise Records that year. The record was co-produced by Jack Nitzsche and Bruce Botnick, and featured guest appearances from Nils Lofgren and Ry Cooder, who sat in on three tracks at the behest of Nitzsche, as stand-in for the ailing Whitten. Although the album only just cracked to top 100 on the Billboard chart, Whitten's 'I Don't Want to Talk About It' would go on to be covered by a wide range of artists, including Geoff Muldaur, the Indigo Girls, and Rod Stewart. During the studio sessions for that first album the band recorded a few extra songs, some of which really could have been included had there been room, as well as their own take on songs that they'd recorded with Neil Young. Although there is only about half an hours worth of music, it's just too good not to be heard, so I've added a live take of 'Cowgirl In The Sand' from 1970, where the band really show why Young loved them so much, to flesh this out to a really enjoyable 40-minute album. 

Track listing

01 Scratchy
02 Dear Song Singer
03 Dirty, Dirty (alternate version)
04 Susie's Song
05 When You Dance You Can Really Love
06 Cowgirl In The Sand (live at the Fillmore East 1970)
07 Downtown (unedited long version)