Albert Lee - ...and on guitar (1974)

Albert William Lee was born on 21 December 1943 Lingen, near Leominster, Herefordshire, but grew up in Blackheath, London, as a member of a Romani family. He inheritied his father's interest in music, and studied piano from the age of seven, during which time he became a fan Jerry Lee Lewis and rockabilly in general. When he was 15 he took up guitar, leaving school the following year to play music full-time, and from 1959 onwards he was with a variety of bands, playing mostly R&B, country music and rock and roll. In the early 60's he joined the stable of musicians working for manager Larry Parnes, playing behind Dickie Pride, among other stars on Parnes' roster, and his first experience of the recording studio was backing Jackie Lynton. A couple of the bands that Lee played in during this time were groups led by Mike Hurst and Neil Christian, and in both cases he replaced a departing Jimmy Page, with Ritchie Blackmore taking over from him when he left Christian to join Chris Farlowe And The Thunderbirds. He spent four years with the Thunderbirds, who became known in British musical circles as one of the best R&B bands in England, finally leaving in 1968 as he was feeling bored playing R&B, and over the next two years he passed through several bands playing behind various visiting American country stars, such as George Hamilton IV, Skeeter Davis, and Bobby Bare, and this cemented his love of country music. He passed through several groups in the late 60's, including Country Fever and Poet & The One Man Band, and after the latter's sole album was released in 1969 Lee left with Tony Colton, Ray Smith, and Pete Gavin and they formed Heads, Hands & Feet, a progressive country outfit who were England's answer to the Flying Burrito Brothers. 

It was with Heads, Hands & Feet that Lee achieved his most positive critical praise, although this didn't translate into commercial success for the band. They split up after two years, and Lee made his living as a session guitarist for the next couple of years, playing on albums by Joe Cocker, Mike d'Abo, Steve Gibbons, and David Elliott. In 1971, Lee performed with Deep Purple's keyboard player Jon Lord on the studio recording of Lord's 'Gemini Suite', as although Ritchie Blackmore had played the guitar at the first live performance of the suite in September 1970, he declined the invitation to appear on the studio version. In 1975 he was offered the chance to record a solo album with A&M Records, but a gig playing and recording with Emmylou Harris (supplying mandolin and backing vocals to her 'Luxury Liner' album, delayed the completion of his own record for a couple of years, and 'Hiding' eventually appeared in 1979. He then signed to Polydor as a solo artist, but by that time the session work was coming in fast and furious, and Lee was seemingly everywhere, playing with everyone from Jackson Browne to Bo Diddley to Herbie Mann. Lee's own solo career continued into the late 80's with 1987's 'Speechless' and 1988's 'Gagged But Not Bound' both achieving critical successes. He was also later a member of Gerry Hogan's bluegrass group Hogan's Heroes, and toured and recorded with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, but the busiest period of his career was undoubtably the early 70's, adding his distinctive country licks to a myriad of recordings, a selection of which are here for your enjoyment. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Two-Timing Baby (single by Carter-Lewis And The Southerners 1961)
02 Stormy Monday Blues (Part 2) (from 'Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds' by 

                                                                               Chris Farlowe And The Thunderbirds 1966)
03 One Long Kiss (from 'Burn Up!' by Gerry Temple 1969)
04 Ride Out On The Morning (from 'Poet And The One Man Band' by 

                                                                                           Poet And The One Man Band 1969)
05 In Our Own Sweet Time (single by The Derek Lawrence Statement 1969)
06 Marjorine (from 'With A Little Help From My Friends' by Joe Cocker 1969)
07 Woman In My Life (from 'd'Abo' by Mike D'Abo 1970)
08 Guitar (from 'Gemini Suite' by Jon Lord/London Symphony Orchestra 1971)

Disc Two
01 Alright Now (from 'Short Stories' by Steve Gibbons 1971)
02 Down To My Last Dime (from 'David Elliott' by David Elliott 1972)
03 I'm A Free Man (from 'Green Bullfrog' by Green Bullfrog 1972)
04 Falling Sky (from 'Jackson Browne (Saturate Before Using)' by Jackson Browne 1972)
05 Mellow Man (from 'Balloon' by Marc Wirtz 1973)
06 Make It With You (from 'B.J. Arnau' by B.J. Arnau 1973)
07 I Waited For You (from 'E.H. In The U.K.' by Eddie Harris 1974)
08 Jack Daniels Old No. 7 (from 'Sunset Towers' by Don Everly 1974)
09 Memphis Spoon Bread And Dover Sole (from 'London Underground' by Herbie Mann 1974)
10 Whatever Mood You're In (from 'Whatever Mood You're In' by Les Walker 1974)

If anyone has a better quality copy of 'Make It With You' that they could let me have then that would help improve this album considerably. 

Ritchie Blackmore - ...and on guitar (1970)

Richard Hugh Blackmore was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on 14 April 1945, Moving to Heston in Middlesex when he was two. At the age of 11 he was given his first guitar by his father on certain conditions, including learning how to play properly, so he took classical guitar lessons for one year. Blackmore left school at age 15 and started work as an apprentice radio mechanic at nearby Heathrow Airport, and he also began taking guitar lessons from legendary session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. In 1960 he began to work as a session player for Joe Meek's music productions, and performed in several bands, including the instrumental band The Outlaws, playing in both studio recordings and live concerts. His other studio recordings included backing singer Glenda Collins, and German-born pop singer Heinz, as well as performing with horror-themed singer Screaming Lord Sutch, beat singer Neil Christian, and others. Like a previous post in this series by Jimmy Page, Blackmore spent most of the 60's adding his guitar to a variety of singles by small groups who were trying to get a hit, although he did also perform on some singles which did make the charts, such as Heinz's 'Just Like Eddie'. While Page managed to get his guitar-work heard on a number of raucous r'n'b stompers, Blackmore seemed less picky, and can be heard on scores of middle of the road pop songs, so although the tracks themselves might not all be classic 60's r'n'b, I've tried to include the ones that best show off his talents. Once he hit the big time with Deep Purple his time was taken up with recording and touring with the band, and so guest appearances on other artists records dried up, just adding guitar to a single by Randy Pie & Family in 1973, and playing the intro to Adam Faith's 'I Survive' in 1974, so the best place to hear his extra-curricular playing is on his session work in the 60's. In 1970, producer Derek Lawrence gathered together guitarists Big Jim Sullivan, Albert Lee and Blackmore, along with Purple's Ian Paice, Procul Harum's Matthew Fisher, Tony Ashton, and Chas Hodges from Chas & Dave, and recorded a number of mostly covers in a couple of sessions, which was later released under the name of Green Bullfrog in 1971. Lawrence contributed a couple of songs, and 'Bullfrog' was a co-write with Blackmore and Paice, so rounds off this album nicely. And in case you're asking yourself who on earth that is on the cover, this is what Ritchie Blackmore looked like in the 60's, but if you're not keen on it then I've included a couple more recognisable alternative covers in the file. I'd be interested to know which one most people prefer and I might update it later. 

Track listing

01 Law And Order (The Outlaws 1963) 
02 Just Like Eddie (Heinz 1963)
03 Jesse James (Chad Carson Unreleased 1963) 
04 Like A Bird Without Feathers (Burr Bailey 1963)
05 I've Been Thinking (Michael Cox 1963)
06 Tell The Truth (Andy Cavell 1964)
07 Bike Beat Part II (The Rally Rounders 1964)
08 Let Me In (The Sessions 1965)
09 Train Kept A-Rollin' (Screaming Lord Sutch And The Savages 1965)
10 It Can Happen to You (Jess Conrad 1965)
11 Earthshaker (The Lancasters 1965)
12 I'm Not A Bad Guy (Heinz And The Wild Boys 1966) 
13 What Did I Do (Tony Wilson 1967)
14 Yaketty Yak (Neil Christian And The Crusaders 1968) 
15 Down In The Flood (Boz 1968)
16 So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star (Sun Dragon 1968)
17 Bullfrog (Green Bullfrog 1970)