Robbie Blunt - ...and on guitar (2013)

Robert William Blunt was born on 4 March 1951 in Worcestershire, growing up in Wolverley near Kidderminster, and was a fairly popular gun for hire in the 1970's. His first band were the Kidderminster-based Big Gees, and he then moved on to Southern Sound, who released one single in 1966, with 'Just The Same As You'/'I Don't Wanna Go'. Southern Sound were followed by Butch Clutch & The Excellerators, but his first band to really bring him any success was when he joined Bronco, fronted by the powerful singer Jess Roden. Their first album, 'Country Home', featured Clifford T. Ward guesting on vocals, and contained some superb rock with a country tinge, and Blunt contributed some outstanding solos. Their second album 'Ace Of Sunlight' was released in 1971, and was recorded with help from Trevor Lucas on vocals, Mick Ralphs on guitar, and Ian Hunter on keyboards. Around 1972, Bronco disintegrated when both Roden and Blunt left the band, with Blunt joining the Michael Des Barres-fronted Silverhead, replacing their original guitarist Stevie Forest. The band had already released their eponymous debut album by the time that Blunt joined, and so he played on their classic second album '16 And Savaged', co-writing five of the tracks on the 1973 release. The following year the group broke up, and in October Blunt joined the newly-formed Stan Webb Band, which Webb had put together after a short spell with Savoy Brown. Before long they had morphed into Stan Webb's Chicken Shack, and after recruiting Jim Kroeven in February 1975 as their new drummer they changed their name again to Broken Glass, although Bob Daisley and Jim Kroeven soon left, to be replaced by Rob Rawlinson on bass and Mac Poole on drums. This line-up released a self-titled album, with help from Miller Anderson, and produced by Tony Ashton, but in 1977 Webb decided to resurrect the Chicken Shack name, and so Broken Glass split up, with only Blunt staying with Webb for his new project. 

With the addition of Paul Martinez on bass and Ed Spevock on drums they recorded 'The Creeper', which was released on Ariola in 1978, following this the same year with 'That's The Way We Are', before Spevock left them in 1979, to be replaced by Louis Borenius. Later that year, all the members deserted Chicken Shack, leaving Webb as the sole owner of the name, and Blunt joined a band called Little Acre for a few months, before being recruited by Steve Gibbons for his group. The Steve Gibbons Band had a diverse line-up, with many of his friends dropping in to play when they were available, but the core of the band was Trevor Burton on bass and guitar, and Harry Rix on drums, alongside Blunt on guitar and Gibbons on vocals, with dual saxophones from Nick Pentelow and Bill Paul. This line-up recorded the 'Street Parade' album, which was released in 1980, and which featured a distinct reggae flavour to a number of the tracks. 'A-Z' was released as a single, with the non-album 'Blue Lagoon' on the flip, and this featured some of Blunt's best guitar-work with the group. In March 1981, Robert Plant started a low-key project called The Honeydrippers, in order to satisfy his long-time goal of having a rock band with a heavy rhythm and blues basis, and he asked his friend Robbie Blunt to join him. They eventually recruited Andy Silvester to help out on guitar, Jim Wickman on bass, Kevin O'Neil on drums and Ricky Cool on harmonica, and they gigged around the country for the next couple of years. However, when Plant began collaborating with Blunt on original material, he deemed it more suited to his goals as a solo artist, and so he formed a hard rock backing unit, putting the Honeydrippers on the back burner. 

The first album from the solo Plant was the outstanding 'Pictures At Eleven', released in 1982, and featuring guest appearances from Cozy Powell and Phil Collins on drums, as well as Raf Ravenscroft on sax. 'The Principle Of Moments' followed in 1983, and was recorded with help from both Phil Collins and Barriemore Barlow on drums, after which Plant revived the Honeydrippers, this time with an impressive roster of studio guests, including guitarists Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Nile Rodgers, keyboardist Paul Shaffer, bassist Wayne Pedziwiatr, and drummer Dave Weckl. Together they recorded the five-song EP 'The Honeydrippers: Volume One', which was released in 1984, and which featured Plant's takes on '50s and '60s R&B numbers. After a couple of singles and a tour in 1985, which featured guest appearances from The Stray Cats' Brian Seltzer, Plant resumed his solo career and released the 'Shaken 'N' Stirred' album, but no sooner had that come out than all his musicians left him in October 1985. Blunt teamed up with Stan Webb again in a new incarnation of Chicken Shack in 1986, and the next few years also saw him going back to his session musician days, adding his guitar to recordings by Clannad, Edie Brickell And The Bohemians, The Jeff Healey Band, John Kilzer and Murray Attaway. In 1998 he joined Julian Lennon to record his 'Photograph Smile' album, and he was also featured on the 'I Don't Wanna Know' single taken from it. Since then he's appeared with Deborah Bonham on a couple of records, and in 2013 he recorded an obscure single with Gwyn Ashton, but whoever he was playing with you can be sure that his work enhanced their records, as this collection undoubtedly shows.   

Track listing

Disc One
01 Just The Same As You (single by Southern Sound 1966)
02 My Ship, My Star (from 'Thinking Back' by Gordon Jackson 1969)
03 Misfit On Your Stair (from 'Country Home' by Bronco 1970)
04 Cartoon Princess (from '16 And Savaged' by Silverhead 1973)
05 Crying Smiling (from 'Broken Glass' by Broken Glass 1975)
06 Dr. Brown (from 'The Creeper' by Stan Webb's Chicken Shack 1978)
07 Blue Lagoon (b-side of 'A-Z' single by Steve Gibbons Band 1980)
08 Just Can't Be Satisfied (The Honeydrippers live 1981)
09 Worse Than Detroit (from 'Pictures At Eleven' by Robert Plant 1982) 
10 Live And Learn (from 'Sirius' by Clannad 1987)

Disc Two
01 What I Am (from 'Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars' by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians 1988)
02 Nice Problem To Have (from 'See The Light' by The Jeff Healey Band 1988)
03 Voices (from 'Hard Roads' by The Jazz Devils 1990)
04 The Flacon (from 'Busman's Holiday' by John Kilzer 1991)
05 Fall So Far (from 'In Thrall' by Murray Attaway 1993)
06 L'amore Mio (from 'Il Cielo Capovolto' by Roberto Vecchioni 1995)
07 I Don't Wanna Know (from 'Photograph Smile' by Julian Lennon 1998)
08 Black Coffee (from 'The Old Hyde' by Deborah Bonham 2004)
09 Fortunate Kind (single by Gwyn Ashton 2013)

Julian & John Lennon - Imagine (2022)

Michael Solof here again. A few days ago I was blown away by Julian Lennonʼs release of the track Imagine by his dad. After reading the accompanying note from his Twitter post (see below), I knew I just had to see if I could create a version that I wish existed, and try to
make Julianʼs version even more special. With that in mind, I decided to turn it into a duet with his dad. No easy feat I must say. I started out by tracking down every version of John singing Imagine that I could find. During my search I found many home demoʼs, studio outtakes, live cuts and TV appearances. My main concern was to find a version where the vocals acoustically matched, as closely as possible, those of the Julianʼs performance. It would sound unnatural to use a big echoing reverb drenched John vocal when Julianʼs recording had a beautiful, dry and intimate vocal. I finally found one that was darn close… but the music was completely different and clashed with Julianʼs sparse and haunting solo acoustic version. A few years ago that would have been a hugely insurmountable problem, but now a days there are websites that use really cool tech to separate the vocals from the instruments. Whats left is just crystal clear, beautiful sounding vocals! Using those same sites, I then separated out all the different parts of both versions so I was left with 4 tracks:
1. Julianʼs Lead Vocals
2. Johnʼs Lead Vocals
3. Nunoʼs guitar track
4. Nunoʼs Background Harmony Vocals
I knew I had to use Julianʼs vocal track as my base, and that I would need to edit Johnʼs vocals to match those as closely as possible. My next problem was Johnʼs phrasings were very different from Julianʼs. It wasn't a simple matter of playing both tracks, as is, at the same time. That sounded horrible and I wanted to make this sound as much like father and son sitting down face to face in a small intimate candlelit studio setting… and singing a beautiful
song together for the first time. Now I began The hours and hours I needed to accomplish this. I often had to break up Johnʼs phrases between words, and sometimes syllables, to match the timings and structure of Julianʼs song . Occasionally, when that didn't work, I would even
change the speed of the recording of Johnʼs vocal to extend the length of certain phrases slightly, for a better fit. It still didn't sound right. My original attempt had them both singing the entire song together. But then I watched a lot of different duets on YouTube and felt that if I switched back and forth between the verses and the choruses … that would be cool. So I did a version like that… but even that was missing the spark of these 2 guys just singing together.
So I started again. And this time, I had them trading off lines (starting with Julian since it is his release after all) and then having them both sing together on the choruses. That did it… that gave me tingles! 6 more hours of editing…matching up every word and every syllable of the
choruses until I was finally done. But I was still missing one last piece. 

I let some friends listen to my mix and one comment I got completely transformed the song. I canʼt believe I didn't think of it first. My mix had both vocals centered, but a friend suggested I pan Julianʼs vocals to the left and Johnʼs to the right. First I tried hard pans all the way to the left and right, but this sounded weird. I wanted them to sound like they were sitting side by side, not across the room from each other. So I switched to a softer pan of each vocal just a bit to the left and right. That was MAGIC! After a lot of internal debate, I also decided to include at the end of the song, the extra harmony vocals provided by Julianʼs friend and co-guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. It really makes for a much fuller and powerful ending. So now hereʼs my version of the duet I wish, more than anything, could have existed. Being a huge and lifelong John Lennon fan, I was always touched by the fact that Julian has spent much of his life following in his dadʼs massive footsteps, fighting against the many injustices occurring around the world.
Itʼs just downright inspiring to me. Julian was moved enough by the current situation in Ukraine to record this song. I thought the least I could do was let John join in the protest too!
I think he would have liked that.

In a first for both of us, Paul at albumsthatshouldexist and this site are posting Mike's superb effort on the same day, not only to get the song out to as many people as possible, but also to highlight the reason that Julian released it in the first place, which is to show support for Ukraine in their current struggle.

You can listen/download using the player, or download using Soulseek/Yandex and the folder includes Mike's pdf.  

Julian & John Lennon - Imagine

If the player doesn't work use the pop-out version

The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy... As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could. So today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, 'IMAGINE'. Why now, after all these years? I had always said that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘IMAGINE' would be if it was the ‘End of the World’…But also because his lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide. Because within this song, we’re transported to a space, where love and togetherness become our reality, if but for a moment in time…The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for...As a result of the ongoing murderous violence, millions of innocent families have been forced to leave the comfort of their homes, to seek asylum elsewhere. I’m calling on world leaders and everyone who believes in the sentiment of 'IMAGINE', to stand up for refugees everywhere! 

Please advocate and donate from the heart. #StandUpForUkraine @glbltczn @nunobettencourtofficial 

— Julian Lennon

Steve Hunter - ...and on guitar (2001)

Stephen John Hunter was born on 14 June 1948, and his first introduction to music was as a young child listening to country and western music on a Zenith console radio. When he was eight years old, he began taking guitar lessons on a Lap steel guitar after seeing Jerry Byrd play lap steel and hearing what could be done on the instrument, but inspired by the music of Chet Atkins, The Ventures and Duane Eddy, he eventually switched to standard guitar. He continued playing guitar throughout high school as a member of a group called The Weejuns, which took their name from G.H. Bass & Co.'s perennially-popular penny loafers, and he later joined The Light Brigade, a rock and soul group that played in the Decatur area. In 1967 Hunter was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Vietnam War, and there he trained as an x-ray technician, ultimately serving at an air evacuation hospital in Okinawa, Japan where Vietnam combat casualties were being treated. He considered becoming a doctor but he enjoyed music so much he knew he would follow a career in music, which he did when he returned to Decatur after leaving the Army, building up a reputation as an outstanding guitar player. In 1971 his friend John Sauter called to tell him that he was playing with Mitch Ryder in Detroit and that Ryder was auditioning for guitar players, so he suggested that Hunter come to Detroit and try out. He packed up his guitar and made the eight-hour drive to Detroit, and after passing the audition he became part of Mitch Ryder's new band Detroit, where he met and formed a long-time professional association with producer Bob Ezrin. Detroit released one self-titled album on Paramount Records, but did have a hit single with Hunter's arrangement of Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll', and Reed was so impressed that he recruited Hunter to join his band, playing on 1973's 'Berlin'. In the 1970's he appeared on five Alice Cooper albums, all of which were produced by Ezrin, starting with the band's most successful album 'Billion Dollar Babies'. When Alice Cooper became a solo artist, Hunter followed and appeared on 1975's 'Welcome To My Nightmare', and can be seen in the film 'Welcome To My Nightmare', enacting the celebrated guitar face-off between him and Dick Wagner that formed part of Cooper's 1975 live show. In 1974 he played the uncredited opening-half solo on Aerosmith's 'Train Kept A Rollin' from 'Get Your Wings', after producer Jack Douglas popped his head out of Studio C and asked if Hunter felt like playing on the recording. Later that year Hunter played guitar on former Cream bassist Jack Bruce's solo album 'Out Of The Storm', and in 1977 he worked with Peter Gabriel on his first solo album, playing the intro to the classic single 'Solsbury Hill'. Other artists Hunter has worked with include David Lee Roth, Julian Lennon, Dr. John, Tracy Chapman and more recently Glen Campbell and 2Cellos. It was while recording Roth's 'A Little Ain't Enough' that Hunter met Jason Becker, and they've remained close friends ever since. He auditioned for and got the job of playing guitar on the soundtrack of the 1979 Bette Midler film 'The Rose', composing the instrumental 'Camelia', which is featured in the film. Hunter's first solo album, 1977's critically acclaimed 'Swept Away', reunited him with producer Bob Ezrin, and he's released a number of further solo albums since, but this collection showcases his guitar-work on other artist's albums, from the famous - Reed, Gabriel, Aerosmith - to the not so well-known but equally as interesting, like The H Factor, Jesse Camp, Angelo, and The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Rock 'n' Roll (from 'Detroit' by Detroit With Mitch Ryder 1972)
02 Sad Song (from 'Berlin' by Lou Reed 1973)
03 If We Only Had The Time (from 'Flo & Eddie' by Flo & Eddie 1973)
04 Timeslip (from 'Out Of The Storm' by Jack Bruce 1974)
05 Train Kept A Rollin' (from 'Get Your Wings' by Aerosmith 1974)
06 Some Folks (from 'Welcome To My Nightmare' by Alice Cooper 1975)
07 Back By The River (from 'Hollywood Be Thy Name' by Dr. John 1975)
08 Solsbury Hill (from 'Peter Gabriel' by Peter Gabriel 1977)      
09 Spaceman (from 'Randy Richards' by Randy Richards 1978)

Disc Two
01 Have You Ever Seen The Rain (from 'Midnight Prowl' by Angelo 1978) 
02 Small Town Boy (from 'Richard Wagner' by Richard Wagner 1978)
03 Danger Up Ahead (from 'Don't Look Back' by Natalie Cole 1980)
04 Whatever Will Be (from 'Wake 'Em Up In Tokyo' by Karla DeVito 1986)
05 Urban Strut (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
06 The Hurt Stays Home (from 'The H Factor' by The H Factor 1989) 
07 Saltwater (from 'Help Yourself' by Julian Lennon' 1991)
08 A Little Luck (from 'Your Filthy Little Mouth' by David Lee Roth 1994)
09 Meet Me In The Morning (from 'Perspective' by Jason Becker 1995)
10 Break It (from 'Jesse & The 8th Street Kidz' by Jesse Camp 1999)
11 Blade (from 'Walk Alone' by Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash 2001)

Thanks to Duane for the suggestion.