Richard Thompson - ...and on guitar (1971)

Most of the posts in this series cover an artists contributions as guest guitarist over a period of five to ten years, but Richard Thompson was so prolific in his guest slots that this album covers just 1969 to 1971, and this was while he was still a member of Fairport Convention, and also a part of Ashley Hutchins' Morris On project, and The Bunch, who were a group of English folk-rock musicians (including Sandy Denny, Linda Peters and members of Fairport Convention) who recorded a selection of classic rock and roll tunes. He has said that when he left Fairport Convention in 1971 he did a lot of session work as a way of avoiding any serious ideas about a career, but by 1972 he'd released his first solo album 'Henry The Human Fly', and that was the start of a very long and extremely well-respected solo career, which still carries on today.
His first guest spot was to provide guitar on Al Stewart's 'Love Chronicles' album, most notably the lovely solo at the end of 'Life And Life Only', and he also played on Nick Drake's 'Five Leaves Left' and 'Bryter Later' albums, from which I've picked the classic 'Time Has Told Me'. Marc Ellington is a Scottish folksinger and multi-instrumentalist who has guested with Fairport Convention, starting with providing some vocal support on the 'Unhalfbricking' album in 1969, and he also worked with Matthews Southern Comfort on their self-titled album in 1969, and when Ellington recorded his debut album that same year, he asked Thompson to help out guitar, and The Matthews Southern Comfort link carries on with Thompson's contribution to that self-titled album, for which he wrote and played on 'A Commercial Proposition'. By 1970 Gary Farr had left Gary Farr And The T-Bones to embark on a solo career, and Thompson was invited to play guitar on a few tracks from his second album 'Strange Fruit'. The following year he was on hand to assist John Martyn with his 'Bless The Weather' album, and in what was a very busy year for him, his guitar could also be heard on albums by Sandy Denny, Mike Heron, Iain Matthews, Stefan Grossman, Shirley Collins, and the undeservedly overlooked Shelagh McDonald. The one linking factor for most of these artists is that they operate in the genre of British folk music, which is undoubtedly Thompson's great love, and the fact that so many of our respected folk musicians wanted him on their records just shows the high regard in which he was, and still is, held by his peers. 

Track listing

01 Life And Life Only (from 'Love Chronicles' by Al Stewart 1969)
02 Time Has Told Me (from 'Five Leaves Left' by Nick Drake 1969)  
03 Four In The Morning (from 'Marc Ellington' by Marc Ellington 1969)
04 A Commercial Proposition (from 'Matthews Southern Comfort' by Matthews Southern 
                                                                                                                           Comfort 1970)
05 Old Man Moses (from 'Strange Fruit' by Gary Farr 1970) 
06 Sugar Lump (from 'Bless The Weather' by John Martyn 1971)
07 The Sea Captain (from 'The North Star Grassman And The Ravens' by Sandy Denny 1971)
08 Flowers Of The Forest (from 'Smiling Men With Bad Reputations' by Mike Heron 1971)
09 Odyssey (from 'Stargazer' by Shelagh McDonald 1971)
10 Desert Inn (from 'If You Saw Through My Eyes' by Iain Matthews 1971)
11 Blues Jump The Rabbit (from 'Those Pleasant Days' by Stefan Grossman 1971)
12 Poor Murdered Woman (from 'No Roses' by Shirley Collins 1971)

John Martyn - Dead On Arrival (1980)

Iain David McGeachy, known professionally as John Martyn, was born on 11th September 1948 in New Malden, Surrey, England, to a Belgian Jewish mother and a Scottish father, and began his musical career when he was 17, being mentored by renowned folk singer Hamish Imlach. He played a fusion of blues and folk, resulting in a distinctive style which made him a key figure in the British folk scene during the mid-60's, and he signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1967, releasing his first album 'London Conversation' the same year. This was soon followed by 'The Tumbler', which moved towards jazz, and by 1970 Martyn had developed a wholly original and idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase shifter and Echoplex. This was first apparent on 1970's 'Stormbringer!', which was written and performed by Martyn and his then-wife Beverley, who had previously recorded solo as Beverley Kutner. Their second collaboration was 'The Road to Ruin', also released in 1970, but then Island Records felt that it would be more successful to market Martyn as a solo act, and so this was how subsequent albums were promoted, even though Beverley continued to make appearances as a backing singer, as well as recording as a solo artist herself. In 1973, Martyn released the album 'Solid Air', with the title song being dedicated to close friend and label-mate Nick Drake, who died from an overdose of antidepressants 18 months after the album came out. Following the commercial success of 'Solid Air', Martyn quickly recorded and released the experimental 'Inside Out', an album with the emphasis on feel and improvisation rather than song structure, but for 1975's 'Sunday's Child' he moved back to his more popular song-based style. In September 1975 he recorded a live album 'Live at Leeds', but as he was unable to persuade Island Records to release the record he had to resort to selling individually-signed copies by mail-order from his home in Hastings. 
After 'Live at Leeds' Martyn took a sabbatical, including a visit to Jamaica where he spent time with reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, and in 1977, he released 'One World', including a collaboration with Perry on 'Big Muff'. Martyn's marriage broke down at the end of the 1970's, resulting in a very dark period in his life, but out of that came the album 'Grace and Danger', released in October 1980. The release of the album had actually been held up for a year by Chris Blackwell, who, being a close friend of both John and Beverley, found the album too openly disturbing to issue. Only after intense and sustained pressure from Martyn did Blackwell agree to release the album, and in the late 80's Martyn actually cited 'Grace and Danger' as his favourite record, saying that it was 'probably the most specific piece of autobiography I've written. Some people keep diaries, I make records'. During the recording sessions for most of his albums there have been tracks laid down that didn't make the final cut, and so this collection starts with a cover of 'She Moved Through The Fair' which was left off his debut album, and carries on with some 1969 demos with Beverley which didn't make 'Stormbringer!', the Australian-only single 'Anna', taken from the score of the 1978 Ebsen Storm movie 'In Search Of Anna', and various out-takes from his other albums up to 'Grace And Danger'. Martyn died from acute respiratory distress syndrome on 29 January 2009, having been in poor health for a while due to his life-long abuse of drugs and alcohol. He was survived by his partner and his two children. Following his death, Rolling Stone lauded his 'progressive folk invention and improvising sorcery', and it's undeniable that he invented a unique form of folk music for which he will always be fondly remembered.  

Track listing

01 She Moved Through The Fair (previously unreleased 1967)
02 Here I Am Now (previously unreleased 1969)
03 One Of Those Days (demo 1969)
04 I Don't Know (demo 1969)
05 Ellie Rhee (previously unreleased 1975)
06 Black Man At The Shoulder (previously unreleased 1977)
07 Anna (Australian only single 1978) 
08 Small Hat (previously unreleased 1980)
09 Running Up The Harbour (previously unreleased 1980)
10 Dead On Arrival (previously unreleased 1980)
11 After Tomorrow Night (previously unreleased 1980)
12 Lilo Blondino (previously unreleased 1980

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)