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. 

Bernie Marsden - ...and on guitar (2003)

Bernard John Marsden was born on 7 May 1951 in Buckingham, England, and was inspired to play the guitar as a teenager by such authentic blues players as Howling Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. He later picked up on such 60's white blues players as Peter Green, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck, and after playing with local Buckingham based groups, he formed Skinny Cat at the age of 17. After playing with them for a while, he got his first professional gig with UFO in 1972, but he left after recording some demos with Dave Edmunds at Rockfield Studios, as the rest of the group wanted German guitarist Michael Schenker in the band, who had actually been recommended by Marsden to the other members of UFO. He then joined Juicy Lucy, but once again was ejected before he could record an album with them, following which he played with Glenn Cornick's Wild Turkey in 1973, before he joined drummer Cozy Powell's band Cozy Powell's Hammer, playing on the band's hit single 'Na Na Na' in 1974. Babe Ruth were next in 1975, and he finally managed to record an album with one of his bands, playing on two releases for Capitol Records with 'Stealin' Home' in 1975, and 'Kid's Stuff' in 1976. During his time with Babe Ruth, Cozy Powell recommended him to Jon Lord who was forming a post Deep Purple outfit with Ian Paice and Tony Ashton called Paice Ashton Lord, and Marsden joined the band, along with bassist Paul Martinez, in time to record their 'Malice In Wonderland' album in 1976. While with Paice Ashton Lord he worked alongside saxophonist Howie Casey, who recommended him to Paul McCartney as a replacement for Henry McCulloch in Wings, but the offer never materialised, as after Paice Ashton Lord folded following the release of their sole album, Marsden formed a new band with former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale and guitarist Micky Moody. They started as David Coverdale's Whitesnake, which then became Whitesnake, and Marsden played on their debut EP, their first five studio albums and a live record between 1978 and 1980, co-writing many of the songs with Coverdale, and sometimes Moody. Following his departure from Whitesnake, he formed a short-lived band called Bernie Marsden's SOS, and then not long afterwards he put together Alaska, with Robert Hawthorne on vocals and Richard Bailey on keyboards, releasing two melodic rock albums, 'Heart Of The Storm' in 1984 and 'The Pack' in 1985, before splitting up. In 1986 he formed MGM with former Whitesnake members Neil Murray and his replacement guitarist in Whitesnake Mel Galley, with the band also briefly including former Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball, and while recordings were made they remain unreleased. In 1988 he wrote the song 'South Africa', which was recorded by Ian Gillan and released as a single, and in 1989 he reunited with Whitesnake guitarist Moody to form The Moody Marsden band, recording the acoustic live album 'Live In Hell' in Norway, and an electric live album in England titled 'Never Turn Our Back On The Blues', before releasing their one studio album 'Real Faith' in 1994. Marsden released two solo albums during his time in Whitesnake, and has continued to record and release albums right up to date, with his 'Kings' album coming out a few months ago, and with this post you can hear how he filled his spare time by appearing on a wide variety of albums from other artists throughout his early years.  

Track listing

01 Reality In Arrears (from 'You & Me' by Chick Churchill 1973)
02 Suzanne (from 'Journey's End' by Matthew Fisher 1973)
03 Oh My (Rockfield Studios demo for UFO 1973)
04 Na Na Na (single by Cozy Powell's Hammer 1974)
05 Some Kind Of Beautiful (from 'Jumble Queen' by Bridget St John 1974)
06 The City (from 'Why' by K2 1980)
07 Chance On A Feeling (from 'Before I Forget' by Jon Lord 1982)
08 Head The Ball (from 'Guitar Speak II' 1988)
09 South Africa (single by Gillan 1988)
10 In A Perfect World (from 'Forcefield IV: Let the Wild Run Free' by Forcefield 1991)
11 Check Me Out (from the soundtrack of the TV series 'Frankie' 1995)
12 A Woman Like That (from the soundtrack of the film 'Still Crazy' 1998)
13 Als God Geen Vrouw Is Mam (from 'Pop Model' by Mama's Jasje 2000)
14 On Common Ground (from 'I Eat Them For Breakfast' by Micky Moody 2002)
15 Lady Starlight (from 'Freak Out!' by Chris Catena 2003)

Andy Summers - ...and on guitar (1983)

Andrew James Somers was born on 31 December 1942, and is best known for his work with The Police under the name of Andy Summers. During his childhood he took piano lessons, but later took up the guitar, and inspired by seeing concerts by Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillepsie he started to play jazz guitar. By sixteen he was playing in local clubs and by nineteen he'd moved to London with his friend Zoot Money to form Zoot Money's Big Roll Band. This group eventually came under the influence of the psychedelic scene and evolved into the acid rock group Dantalion's Chariot, who released the classic psyche single 'The Madman Running Through The Fields' in 1967. After the demise of Dantalion's Chariot, Summers joined Soft Machine for three months and toured the United States, and for a brief time in 1968 he was a member of the Animals, then known as Eric Burdon and the Animals, with whom he recorded the album 'Love Is', featuring a recording of Traffic's 'Coloured Rain' which includes a 4 minute and 15 second guitar solo by Summers. After five years in Los Angeles, mostly spent studying classical guitar and composition in the music programme at California State University, he returned to London, where he recorded and toured with acts including Kevin Coyne, Jon Lord, Joan Armatrading, David Essex, Neil Sedaka and Kevin Ayers. In October 1975 he participated in an orchestral rendition of Mike Oldfield's seminal 'Tubular Bells', and in 1977, he was invited by ex-Gong bassist Mike Howlett to join his band Strontium 90, but was soon coaxed away by future Police bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland. His session work wound down while he concentrated on helping to promote The Police to the stadium-filling band that they became in their heyday, and although he had a sideline in the early 80's with his recordings with Robert Fripp, there was only one guest appearance while a member of The Police, when he appeared on Carly Simon's 'Hello Big Man' album in 1983. Still, there's enough great material from before The Police to make a really interesting album of his guest appearances.

Track listing

01 Coloured Rain (from 'Love Is' by Eric Burdon and the Animals 1968)
02 Sunday Morning Sunrise (from 'Matching Head And Feet' by Kevin Coyne 1975)
03 Steppin' Out (from 'Back To The Night' by Joan Armatrading 1975)
04 Sarabande (from 'Sarabande' by Jon Lord 1976)
05 Room Service (from 'Sailing Down The Years' by Kevin Lamb 1978)
07 You Know What To Do (from 'Hello Big Man' by Carly Simon 1983)
06 Octogon (from 'Video-Magic' by Eberhard Schoener 1978)