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)

Gary Moore - ...and on guitar (2006)

Robert William Gary Moore was born and raised in Belfast in 1953, and played in several local bands during his teenage years. In 1968, at the age of just 16, he moved to Dublin after having been asked to join the Irish band Skid Row, before the departure of lead singer Phil Lynott. Skid Row released one album and a few singles before Moore made the decision to move to England, but before he did he contributed a sublime guitar solo to 'Sign Of My Mind' on Dr. Strangely Strange's second album 'Heavy Petting'. In 1973 The Gary Moore Band released their 'Grinding Stone' album, and the following year Moore teamed up again with Lynott when he joined Thin Lizzy after the sudden departure of original guitarist Eric Bell mid-way through a tour. He only stayed long enough to help complete the tour, and to record three songs for Lizzy's 'Nightlife' alum, before he left to form Colosseum II with original Colosseum drummer Jon Hiseman. In 1978 Moore re-joined Thin Lizzy on a permanent basis, replacing Brian Robertson, and with his reputation as one of the finest guitarists around, other musicians started asking him to guest on their albums. Cozy Powell was the first, and Moore supplies some blistering guitar to his 'Over The Top' album. In 1985 Culture Club producer Steve Levine was taking The Beach Boys in a new direction, which included getting Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr and Gary Moore to guest on the recordings. 
Following a long career as a backing vocalist, 1977 saw Vicky Brown (wife to Joe Brown and mother of Sam Brown) starting a solo career, and for her 1990 single 'We Are One' Moore was invited to add some smokey blues guitar. A couple of years later came a similar request, this time from Jimmy Nail, who hadn't yet hit the big time with his 'Crocodile Shoes' single, and was recording his second album. In 1993 Paul Rodgers decided to record a tribute album to Muddy Waters, and invited a number of renowned guitarists to contribute to it, including Jeff Beck, Brian May, Steve Miller, Trevor Rabin, and Gary Moore. By 2001 Jim Capaldi had released a dozen solo albums, and for his next one he called on the help of George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ian Paice, Paul Weller, and Gary Moore, who adds some great guitar to 'Heart Of Stone'. In 2007 Otis Taylor was the support act for Moore's European tour, and the previous year Moore had added some stunning guitar to Taylor's 'Definition Of A Circle' album, with the solo on 'Little Betty' possibly being the best on this album. While Moore's work with Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II, and his solo offerings is well known, I hope that this album uncovers some of his more obscure contributions from the first  thirty-five years of his career. 

Track listing

01 Sign Of My Mind (from 'Heavy Petting' by Dr. Strangely Strange 1970)
02 Killer (from 'Over The Top' by Cozy Powell 1979)
03 Maybe I Don't Know (from 'The Beach Boys' by The Beach Boys 1985)
04 We Are One (single by Vicki Brown 1990)
05 Absent Friends (from 'Growing Up In Public' by Jimmy Nail 1992)
06 She Moves Me (from 'Muddy Water Blues' by Paul Rodgers 1993)
07 Heart Of Stone (from 'Living On The Outside' by Jim Capaldi 2001)
08 Little Betty (from 'Definition Of A Circle' by Otis Taylor 2006)

Paul Kossoff - ...and on guitar (1975)

When I posted the Jimi Hendrix album of the same title a few weeks ago, it was meant to be a one-off, after discovering the few bands that he'd helped out in the early part of his career. While looking into a Paul Kossoff post made up from post-Free bands, I discovered that he'd also lent his guitar skills to a few choice friends and fellow musicians, and suddenly we have the beginnings of a new series. 

Paul Francis Kossoff was born on 14 September 1950 in Hampstead, London, the son of Margaret and the actor David Kossoff. At age nine he started classical guitar lessons with Blanche Monroe, and his classical guitar training continued until he was fifteen. In December 1965 he saw Eric Clapton with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers at The Refectory in Golders Green, and this encounter inspired him to purchase a Gibson Les Paul guitar. During 1966, Kossoff worked as a junior salesman at Selmer's Music Shop in Charing Cross Road, where he received lessons from session guitarist Colin Falconer, who worked in the guitar department at Selmer's. In 1966 Kossoff joined the Chicago-style blues band Black Cat Bones, playing with touring blues piano player Champion Jack Dupree, and often supporting Fleetwood Mac. Kossoff's bandmate in Black Cat Bones was drummer Simon Kirke and the two went on to play on Champion Jack Dupree's April 1968 album ‘When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling’, which eventually led to the pair of them teaming up with vocalist Paul Rodgers and bassist Andy Fraser to form Free, and the rest is history, with the band going on to become one of the very best and most beloved UK rock bands of all time. Once Kossoff’s guitar skills became evident he was often approached to add them to others artist’s work, with one of the earliest being from Martha Carmen Josephine Hernandez Rosario de Vélez, who was an American singer and actress of Puerto Rican descent, and who started singing at the age of five and won an opera scholarship at the age of 12. She began her recording career with the folk singing group The Gaslight Singers, and released her debut blues-rock album 'Fiends And Angels' on the Sire/Blue Horizon Records label in 1969. She managed to pull together an outstanding array of backing musician to help her out, including Eric Clapton, Stan Webb and Paul Kossoff on guitar, Christine McVie on keyboards, Brian Auger on organ, Jack Bruce on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums. The album was produced by legendary blues producer Mike Vernon, and Kossoff is particularly audible on the opening track. 

Michael Gately is a well-respected singer/songwriter, mostly for his songwriting collaborations with Robert John, but relatively unknown to the general public. He released two singles and two albums in 1972, and then disappeared from view. The first of the albums, 'Gately's Cafe', was produced by his good friend and collaborator Al Kooper, and backing musicians included most of Hookfoot, who later became Elton John's backing band, and guitar from Paul Kossoff. Because of the gentle nature of Gately's songs, Kossoff's guitar isn't as in-your-face as would be expected, but is a more subtle addition to the backing. 

While starting his career as house producer for Blue Horizon Records, Mike Vernon recorded a solo blues album which came out in 1971. Guest musicians included Pete Wingfield on piano, and both Rory Gallagher and Paul Kossoff on guitar, adding a superb solo to 'My Say Blues'.

Also in 1971, Ken Hensley was recording demos for a prospective solo album, which eventually appeared as 'Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf' in 1973. and he roped in Kossoff to lay down some guitar for him. Both demos here have some great guitar-work on them, fully justifying their extended playing time.  

When Jim Capaldi left Traffic for a solo career, few would have expected the drummer to become one of the most successful former members of the band, with over a dozen solo albums to his name. His first release 'Oh How We Danced' included all the members of Traffic helping out, alongside Paul Kossoff on guitar and Jim Gordon on drums, and 'Don't Be A Hero' is a fine cut from that album. 

Uncle Dog was a short-lived band who released one single 'River Road' and one album 'Old Hat' in 1972, and are best know for including Carol Grimes on vocals, just after her stint with Delivery, and before her well-respected solo career. As well as Kossoff on guitar on one track, they also had Rabbit on keyboards on a couple of songs, and the album as a whole isn't a bad effort.

By 1974 Amazing Blondel's best period was behind them, but they still had a few more albums left in them. 'Mulgrave Street' was a pleasant mainstream mid-70's soft-rock album, but with few of the innovative folk influences of their early work. Musically it's made up of perfectly fine melodic songs, but they'd lost the spark that made them stand out in the early 70's. They did, however, persuade Kossoff to play on 'Hole In The Head', making it a favourite track for many of their fans.   

David Elliott was a keyboard player who was invited to play on some tracks for the proposed Kossoff solo album 'Love Is The Lord'. 'You've Taken Hold Of Me' was recorded by Amazing Blondel, with Elliott on piano, and eventually appeared on the 'Koss' retrospective album, but it turns out that they recorded another song which was kept under wraps for over 40 years, until Elliott accessed the original master tapes to finish the track, and include it on his new album. 'All One' is a great song from 1974, and it's good to finally hear it after all this time. 

In 1975 John Martyn released his 'Live In Leeds' album, which for many years was a perfect snapshot of his career to date, but it wasn't until an expanded edition was released in 1998 that we found out that he was joined onstage for the final few songs of the concert by Paul Kossoff, and his guitar is a welcome addition to the final track on this album. Like the Hendrix post, this isn't a collection of every track that Kossoff guested on, but is a choice selection from the colleagues that he helped out between 1969 and 1975.

 Track listing

01 Swamp Man (from 'Fiends And Angels' by Martha Velez 1969)

02 You're What's Been Missing From My Life (from 'Gately's Cafe' by Michael Gately 1972)

03 My Say Blues (from 'Bring It Back Home' by Mike Vernon 1971)

04 Cold Autumn Sunday (demo with Ken Hensley 1971)

05 If I Had Time (demo with Ken Hensley 1971)

06 Don't Be A Hero (from 'Oh How We Danced' by Jim Capaldi 1972)

07 We Got Time (from 'Old Hat' by Uncle Dog 1972)

08 Hole In The Head (from 'Mulgrave Street' by Amazing Blondel 1974)

09 All One (recorded with David Elliott in 1974)

10 So Much In Love With You (from 'Live At Leeds' expanded edition by John Martyn 1975)