Dave Mason - ...and on guitar (1984)

David Thomas Mason was born on 10 May 1946 in Worcester, and was a professional musician by his teens, making his recording debut with 'Opus To Spring' in 1963 with the instrumental group the Jaguars. It was with this band that he first encountered drummer Jim Capaldi, and the two became members of the Hellions, who played around the U.K. and in Hamburg, West Germany, as well as cutting a few singles in 1964 and 1965. Mason quit the Hellions in the spring of 1965 to study music formally, while also sitting in occasionally with another band featuring Capaldi, Deep Feeling. In early 1966 he took a job as road manager for the Spencer Davis Group, where he met Steve Winwood, and when Winwood left The Spencer Davis Group in March 1967, he took Mason with him to form Traffic with Capaldi and flautist Chris Wood. After their first single 'Paper Sun' was a UK hit, they followed it with Mason's 'Hole in My Shoe', which hit number two in the U.K. Mason stayed in the band long enough to record Traffic's debut album 'Mr. Fantasy', but left just as it was being released, recording a solo single 'Little Woman' in early 1968. He then rejoined Traffic, staying with them until the band broke up in late 1968. After that he moved to Los Angeles and joined Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in 1969, and then in 1970 he signed a solo contract with Blue Thumb Records and released his debut solo album 'Alone Together', which reached number 22 and went gold in the U.S. Despite this success, he continued to work in group contexts, serving temporarily as second guitarist in Eric Clapton's band Derek And The Dominos, recording with George Harrison on 'All Things Must Pass', and forming a duo with Cass Elliot, releasing their album 'Dave Mason & Cass Elliot' in February 1971. During this time he was a busy session guitarist, starting almost as soon as Traffic ceased to exist, and as he was a friend of Jimi Hendrix he was invited to play 12-string acoustic guitar on his recording of 'All Along The Watchtower', as well as singing and playing on 'Crosstown Traffic'. In 1969/1970 he toured with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and contributed a searing solo to their 'Comin' Home' single, as well as playing with Eric Clapton on Derek And The Dominos' single 'Tell The Truth'/'Roll It Over'. In the early 70's he was very much a part of the US West Coast singer/songwriter collective, not only with his own albums, but also featuring on records by Graham Nash, David Crosby, David Blue, Bobby Keys, and his old friend Jim Capaldi. In 1973 he was the guest guitarist on jazz pianist Dave Brubeck's 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' album, showing that he was as much at home with jazz as he was with rock. He also added his guitar to Wings' hit single 'Listen To What The Man Said', and helped out Stephen Stills, Ron Wood, and Donovan in the late 70's/early 80's. Although Mason is pretty much a household name for his work with Traffic and his solo career, I was surprised at just how much he'd spread himself around in the 70's, and so this is a fine celebration of his work from that period.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Crosstown Traffic (from 'Electric Ladyland' by Jimi Hendrix Experience 1968)
02 Sing To Me, Woman (from 'Thinking Back' by Gordon Jackson 1969)
03 Hello Little Girl (from 'Word Of Mouth' by Merryweather 1969)
04 Comin' Home (single by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends 1969)
05 Freedom (from 'Bobby Lester' by Bobby Lester 1970) 
06 Plug Me In (from 'All Things Must Pass' by George Harrison 1970)
07 Roll It Over (b-side of 'Tell The Truth' by Derek And The Dominos 1970)
08 All Life Is One (from 'Warm Waters' by Charles Lloyd 1971)
09 Military Madness (from 'Songs For Beginners' by Graham Nash 1971)
10 Don't Be A Hero (from 'Oh How We Danced' by Jim Capaldi 1972)
11 Steal From A King (from 'Bobby Keys' by Bobby Keys 1972)

Disc Two
01 Immigration Man (from 'Graham Nash - David Crosby' by Crosby & Nash 1972)
02 Outlaw Man (from 'Nice Baby And The Angel' by David Blue 1973)
03 Blue Rondo A La Turk (from 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' by Dave Brubeck 1973)
04 No Show Tonight (from 'Phoebe Snow' by Phoebe Snow 1974)
05 Ain't That Loving You (out-take from '461 Ocean Boulevard' by Eric Clapton 1974) 
06 Listen To What The Man Said (from 'Venus And Mars' by Wings 1975)
07 Hideaway From Love (from 'Black And White' by Mike Finnigan 1978)
08 You Can't Dance Alone (from 'Thoroughfare Gap' by Stephen Stills 1978)
09 F.U.C. Her (from 'Gimme Some Neck' by Ron Wood 1979)
19 Boy For Every Girl (from 'Lady Of The Stars' by Donovan 1984)

Don Felder - ...and on guitar (1981)

Donald William Felder was born in Gainesville, Florida, on September 21, 1947, and was first attracted to music after watching Elvis Presley live on The Ed Sullivan Show. He acquired his first guitar when he was about ten years old, which he has stated he exchanged with a friend at the five-and-dime for a handful of cherry bombs. A self-taught musician, he was heavily influenced by rock and roll, and at the age of fifteen he started his first band, the Continentals. Around that time he met Bernie Leadon, who later became one of the founding members of the Eagles, and Leadon replaced Stephen Stills in the Continentals, which eventually changed its name to The Maundy Quintet. Felder gave guitar lessons at a local music shop for about 18 months, where one of his students was a young Tom Petty, and he also learned how to play slide guitar from Duane Allman. The Maundy Quintet recorded and released a single on the Tampa-based Paris Tower label in 1967, which received airplay in north-central Florida, and after the band broke up Felder moved to Manhattan with a band called Flow, which released a self-titled improvisational rock fusion album in 1970. After Flow split, he moved to Boston where he got a job in a recording studio, and in 1973 he relocated to Los Angeles where he was hired as guitar player for a tour by David Blue, replacing David Lindley who was touring with Crosby & Nash. 

In early January 1974 Felder was called by the Eagles to add slide guitar to their song 'Good Day In Hell' and some guitar solos to 'Already Gone', and shortly afterwards he was invited to join the band. After founding member Bernie Leadon departed in 1975 Joe Walsh joined, and his and Felder's dual guitar leads would eventually become one of rock music's most memorable onstage partnerships. The first album that the Eagles released after the lineup change was 'Hotel California', which became a major international bestseller and cemented their reputation as one of America's best bands. Once Felder's skill as a guitarist was recognised by the music industry he started to be asked to provide guitar on albums by a variety of artists, including Bob Seger, Andy Gibb, J. D. Souther, Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, and also on Joe Walsh's solo recordings. These guest appearances showed what a versatile musician he was, as he could add a country twang to Fools Gold's 'Rain, Oh, Rain', a fiery rock guitar to David Blue's 'Com'n Back For More', or a refined solo to Terence Boylan's 'Going Home'. In 1983, Felder released his first solo album entitled 'Airborne', and the album's single 'Never Surrender' was a minor hit, having also appeared on the soundtrack to the teen comedy 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High', and although he'll always be primarily remembered for his work with The Eagles, this album shows what an under-rated guitarist he was. 

Track listing

01 Tattooed Man From Chelsea (from 'The Great Pretender' by Michael Dinner 1974)
02 Com'n Back For More (from 'Com'n Back For More' by David Blue 1975)
03 My Old Lady And Your Old Man (from 'A Rumor In His Own Time' by Jeffrey Comanor 1976)
04 Rain, Oh, Rain (from 'Fools Gold' by Fools Gold 1976)
05 I Can't Dance (from 'Glenda Griffith' by Glenda Griffith 1977)
06 I Go For You (from 'Shadow Dancing' by Andy Gibb 1978)
07 Ain't Got No Money (from 'Stranger In Town' by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band 1978)
08 At The Station (from "But Seriously, Folks..." by Joe Walsh 1978)
09 If You Don't Want My Love (from 'You're Only Lonely' by J.D. Souther 1979)
10 Going Home (from 'Suzy' by Terence Boylan 1980)
11 A Certain Girl (from 'Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School' by Warren Zevon 1980)
12 I Don't Want To Talk About It (from 'Alive Alone' by Mickey Thomas 1981)
13 Man Gonna Love You (from 'Plantation Harbor' by Joe Vitale 1981)
14 The Highwayman (from 'Bella Donna' by Stevie Nicks 1981)

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.

As the series is now back for a short run, I've gone back to some of the previous posts and improved the covers where the colours were a bit off. You can download them from here.

 

and I'd never been happy with the one for Gary Boyle, as there are so few pictures of him online that I had to use a screenshot from a Youtube video, and it wasn't that great quality. I think this one from the same video is a bit sharper, and captures him better.