Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Donovan (2014)

By 1966, Donovan had shed the Dylan/Guthrie influences and become one of the first British pop musicians to adopt flower power, immersing himself in jazz, blues, Eastern music, and the new generation of counterculture-era US West Coast bands such as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. He was entering his most creative phase as a songwriter and recording artist, working with Mickie Most and with arranger, musician, and jazz fan John Cameron, and their collaboration on Sunshine Superman was one of the first psychedelic pop records. Donovan's rise stalled in December 1965 when Billboard broke news of the impending production deal between Klein, Most, and Donovan, and then reported that Donovan was to sign with Epic Records in the US. Despite Kozak's denials, Pye Records dropped the single and a contract dispute ensued, because Pye had a US licensing arrangement with Warner Bros. Records. As a result, the UK release of the Sunshine Superman album was delayed for months, robbing it of the impact it would have had off the back of the hit single. Another outcome was that the UK and US versions of this and later albums differed, with three of his Epic LPs not being released in the UK, while 'Sunshine Superman' was issued in a different form in each country. By spring 1966 the American contract problems had been resolved, with Donovan signing a $100,000 deal with Epic Records, and he and Most went to CBS Studios in Los Angeles, where they recorded tracks for an album, much of which was composed during the preceding year. 

Although folk elements were prominent, the songs showed increasing influence of jazz, American west coast psychedelia and folk rock, especially from The Byrds. 'Sunshine Superman' was released in the US as a single in June, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart, and later number 2 in the UK. The US version of the album features instruments including acoustic bass, sitar, saxophone, tablas and congas, harpsichord, strings and oboe, and highlights include the swinging 'The Fat Angel', written for Cass Elliot of the Mamas & the Papas, 'Bert's Blues' (a tribute to Bert Jansch), 'Guinevere', and 'Legend Of A Girl Child Linda'. The driving, jazzy 'The Trip' was named after a Los Angeles club, and chronicled an LSD trip during his time in L.A., and is loaded with references to his sojourn on the West Coast. Because of the earlier contractual problems, the UK version of 'Sunshine Superman' was not released for another nine months, and as Donovan had released another record in the US by this time, the UK version was a compilation of tracks from the US 'Sunshine Superman', and its follow-up 'Mellow Yellow'. I think most of the better tracks on the UK version come from the US 'Sunshine Superman' album, so for this post I've used that as a basis, and every track has received a superlative cover version, all of which are included on this reimagining of arguably Donovan's best album. 

Track listing

01 Sunshine Superman (Mike Vickers 1967)
02 Legend Of A Girl Child Linda (Joan Baez, Judy Collins & Mimi Farina 1967)
03 Three King Fishers (Gabor Szabo 1968)
04 Ferris Wheel (Rick Wooley 1980)
05 Bert's Blues (Burnt Branch 2014)
06 Season Of The Witch (Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll & The Trinity 1967)
07 The Trip (Ryan Green 2013)
08 Guinevere (Paul Roland 1992)
09 The Fat Angel (Jefferson Airplane 1969)
10 Celeste (Scott McKenzie 1967)

Julie Driscoll - Stay Away From Me (1969)

Julie Driscoll was born on 8 June 1947 in London, and her first taste of the music business was when she was employed by producer/manager Giorgio Gomelsky as administrator of the Yardbirds' fan club in the early 60's. Spotting something about her, Gomelssy suggested a singing career, and her first single was 'Take Me By The Hand', which was recorded with The Harold Geller Group and released on the Columbia label in 1963. Two years later she released 'Don't Do It No More', and the following year saw a cover of The Lovin' Spoonful's 'I Didn't Want To Have To Do It'. In 1967 she recorded an early Randy Newman composition 'If You Should Ever Leave Me', which appeared on the b-side of her 'I Know You Love Me Not' single, although this period is better known for her membership of Steam Packet, an R&B-styled revue band which also featured Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart and the Brian Auger Trinity. She used the Trinity as the backing band for her 'Save Me' single in 1967, which was split into two parts and spread over both sides of a 7", and sticking with the Trinity she scored her biggest hit with their version of Bob Dylan's 'This Wheel's On Fire', hitting the top 5 of the UK charts. Two more singles with the Trinity followed that success, with 'Road To Cairo' appearing in 1968, and 'Take Me To The Water', backed with Richie Havens' 'Indian Rope Man' in 1969. Following a couple of albums with Brian Auger and The Trinity in 1967 and 1969, she released the jazz-rock album '1969' (recorded in that year with The Keith Tippett Group, later going on to marry Tippett in 1970) in 1971. In the late 60's her striking appearance engendered much publicity, and a cool, almost disinterested vocal style formed the ideal counterpoint to Auger's jazz-based ambitions, but as you can hear from these early singles, Gomelsky was right to suggest a career in music, as she had that 'cool' image right from the beginning. 

Track listing

01 Take Me By The Hand (single with The Harold Geller Group 1963)
02 Stay Away From Me (b-side of 'Take Me By The Hand')
03 Don't Do It No More (single 1965)
04 I Know You (b-side of 'Don't Do It No More')
05 I Didn't Want To Have To Do It (single 1966)
06 I Know You Love Me Not (single 1967)
07 If You Should Ever Leave Me (b-side of 'I Know You Love Me Not')
08 Save Me (Parts 1 & 2) (single 1967)
09 I Don't Know Where You Are (Giorgio Gomelsky session 1967)
10 This Wheel's On Fire (single version 1968)
11 A Kind Of Love In (b-side of 'This Wheel's On Fire')
12 Road To Cairo (single 1968)
13 Shadows Of You (b-side of 'Road To Cairo')
14 Take Me To The Water (single version 1969)

Paul over at albumsthatshouldexist has just posted a couple of albums from Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger and the Trinity, but only a few songs actually overlap, and so this will be a nice companion to his posts. 

Chris Spedding - ...and on guitar (1972)

Christopher John Spedding was born Peter Robinson on 17 June 1944 in Staveley, Derbyshire, and was adopted by Muriel and Jack Spedding after his father was killed in the war, and they renamed him Christopher John Spedding. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he is best known for his studio session work, although he has also had a fairly successful solo career, releasing a number of well-received albums. He started listening to rock'n'roll in the 50's, starting with Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, and as he'd been learning the violin since the age of 9, he started strumming it like a guitar, until he got his first real instrument when he was 13. At this time Spedding went back to Sheffield and attended Abbeydale Grammar School, where he formed a band called the Vulcans, and in 1961 he left school and moved to London, where he got a job in a music shop. At the same time he was also gigging in a C&W band around the American Air Force bases, which is where he met Frank Ricotti, with whom he started a weekly jazz club in an Islington pub. Spedding mostly played in jazz bands in the early to mid 60's, and when the British blues boom emerged in the late 60's, he disliked playing in that style so much that he only played bass until he found a guitar sound that he felt comfortable with. 

In 1967 he joined Pete Brown And His Battered Ornaments, and wrote 'Sunshades' for their 1969 'Mantle-Piece' album, as well as co-authoring a couple of other songs, and at the same time he also joined the Frank Ricotti Quartet, co-writing 'Late Into The Night' with Pete Brown for their sole 1969 album. Around this time he was much in demand as a session guitarist, with quite a few of his gigs being with jazz or jazz-based musicians, like Jack Bruce, Michael Gibbs, and Bob Downes, and in 1970 he joined Nucleus, who recorded their first album early that year, with 'Elastic Rock' including three Spedding co-writes. His renown as a jazz guitarist was such that he was voted second in the Best Jazz Guitarist category in the Melody Maker poll of 1970, and to capitalise on that he recorded his first solo album, a jazz record titled 'Songs Without Words' later that year, although it was only released in Japan at the time, and was not made more widely available until an edited version sanctioned by Spedding was released in 2015. While a member of Nuclues he continued with his session work, contributing to tracks by Julie Driscoll and Linda Hoyle, as well as jazz saxophonist extraordinaire Dick Heckstall-Smith. However, although jazz was his first love, Spedding could turn his hand to almost any style of guitar-playing, and so early 70's sessions also found him appearing on recordings by Mike d'Abo, Lesley Duncan, Harry Nilsson, Roger Cook, Elton John, and Sixto Rodriguez, who was later the subject of the 2012 documentary 'Searching For Sugar Man'. 

To show just how versatile he was, I've split this double disc set into one of his jazz recordings and one of his pop/rock recordings, and although this post finishes at 1972, his career still had much further to go, forming Sharks that year with ex-Free bassist Andy Fraser and recording two albums with them, before touring and recording with John Cale, and playing with Roy Harper's occasional backing band Trigger, notably on 1975's 'HQ' album. Between 1972 and 1976 he played in Mike Batt's novelty band The Wombles, and confirmed on the Marc Riley show on BBC Radio 6 Music that he once performed on television in a Womble suit, and in 1975 he had his first Top 20 solo hit in the UK with 'Motor Bikin'', which he promoted with television appearances on Top Of The Pops and Supersonic, dressed in leather motorcycling gear, and with greased hair. On his 1976 single 'Pogo Dancing' he was backed by UK punk band The Vibrators, but when further hits failed to materialise, he concentrated on his career as a session guitarist, appearing and recording with Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, Elton John, Brian Eno, Jack Bruce, Nick Mason, Art Garfunkel, Typically Tropical, Katie Melua, and Ginger Baker, amongst many, many others. In 1976 he even produced three demo tracks by The Sex Pistols, and there are persistent rumours that he played guitar and bass on their debut album 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols', although guitarist Steve Jones emphatically denies this. Spedding's career has continued right up to the present day, releasing a live album just last year, but this is where it all started for him, adding his skill and versatility to dozens of recordings in the early 70's. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Sunshades (from 'Mantle-Piece' by The Battered Ornaments 1969)
02 Late Into The Night (from 'Our Point Of View' by Frank Ricotti Quartet 1969)
03 Tickets To Waterfalls (from 'Songs For A Tailor' by Jack Bruce 1969)
04 Got No Home (from 'Deep Down Heavy' by Bob Downes 1970)
05 Persephone's Jive (from 'Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises' by Neil Ardley 1970)
06 Throb (from 'Michael Gibbs' by Michael Gibbs 1970)
07 A New Awakening (from '1969' by Julie Driscoll 1971)
08 Twisted Track (from 'Elastic Rock' by Nucleus 1970)
09 The Pirate's Dream (from 'A Story Ended' by Dick Heckstall-Smith 1972)
10 Pieces Of Me (from 'Pieces Of Me' by Linda Hoyle 1971)
11 Technology (from 'Solid Gold Cadillac' by Solid Gold Cadillac 1972)

Disc Two
01 Woman In My Life (from 'd'Abo' by Mike d'Abo 1970)
02 Philwit's Fantasies (from 'Philwit & Pegasus' by Philwit & Pegasus 1970)
03 Daffodils (from 'Loudwater House' by Tony Hazzard 1971)
04 Mr. Rubin (from 'Sing Children Sing' by Lesley Duncan 1971)
05 Hampstead Way (from 'Say No More...' by Linda Lewis 1971)
06 Climb Up On My Music (from 'Coming From Reality' by Rodriguez 1971)
07 Down (from 'Nilsson Schmilsson' by Nilsson 1971)
08 Madman Across The Water (from 'Madman Across The Water' by Elton John 1971)
09 Avalon (from 'Matthew Ellis' by Matthew Ellis 1972)
10 Penthouse Pauper (from 'Panhandle' by Panhandle 1972)
11 Virginia (from 'Queues' by Vigrass & Osborne 1972)
12 One More Time Around (from 'Vaughan Thomas' by Vaughan Thomas 1972)
13 Oh Babe (from 'Meanwhile... Back At The World' by Roger Cook 1972)
14 Bonus Track 

For a full history of the life of Chris Spedding, and a complete list of all his session work, then check out http://chrisspedding.com/session/ssn.htm

Gary Boyle - ...and on guitar (1973)

Gary Boyle is best known for his work with the outstanding jazz-rock band Isotope, but like so many musicians before him, he'd paid his dues in a number of lesser-known bands and with session work before he was recognised for the superb guitarist that he is. Gary Winston Boyle was born in 1941 in Patna, India, moving to the UK when he was eight, and attended the Leeds College of Music in the early 1960's. By 1965 he was backing acts such as Millie Small (of 'My Boy Lollipop' fame), and Lulu and The Luvvers, before joining The Echoes in 1966. Later that year he left The Echoes to join a new incarnation of Steampacket, the famed 'supergroup', whose line-up included Long John Baldrey, Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger, and Mickey Waller. When Steampacket folded shortly afterwards, Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll formed The Trinity with guitarist Vic Briggs, who was replaced in 1967 by Boyle, where he stayed until November, when he left to go to music college. On leaving college in 1969 he joined folk-rock band Eclection, but left in June to re-join Brian Auger in the re-named Brian Auger Trinity. By 1971 he was playing with bands like Caparius and Cirrus, and backing The Eddie Harris Group for a season at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, before joining The Mike Westbrook Band, and playing on the classic 'Metropolis' album in 1971. 
After assembling a progressive rock band for Paul Jones, including Roy Babbington, Dave McRae, Pip Pyle, and Dave Wintour, he formed Isotope in 1972, which was to take up most of his time for the next four years, before he disbanded them to form The Gary Boyle Band with the same members. In 1973, while still with Isotope, he guested on recording sessions for a dazzling variety of artists, including jazz-fusion pioneer Stomu Yamash'ta, pop singers B.J. Arnau and Lynsey De Paul, comic trio The Goodies, and folkies Bert Jansch and Doggerel Bank. In 1972 he was added to Australian band Python Lee Jackson's line-up to record some more songs which could be added to the three that had been taped with Rod Stewart as vocalist in 1969, and the 'In A Broken Dream' album was released that year to some success, following the re-release of the title track as a single, which earned the band a top 3 UK chart placing. The same year he guested on jazz singer Norma Winstone's 'Edge Of Time' album, adding his guitar to 'Erebus (Son Of Chaos)', although I've omitted that from this album, along with his appearance on Mike Westbrook's 'Metropolis' (where his only solo is very short and hardly audible) as they are both examples of extreme free jazz, and didn't really fit in with the rest of the tracks. However, I have included them as a bonus in the file in case you want to check them out yourself.    

Track listing
  
01 Isola Natale (from 'Open' by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity 1967)
02 Black Horse (from 'Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening' by Keith Tippett 1971) 
03 Sweet Consolation (from 'In A Broken Dream' by Python Lee Jackson 1972)
04 Swing Song (from 'A Little Taste' by Ann Odell 1973)
05 Taking You Back (from 'Sing Songs From The Goodies' by The Goodies 1973)
06 Mama Do (from 'Surprise' by Lynsey De Paul 1973)
07 Jubilation (from 'B.J. Arnau' by B.J. Arnau 1973)
08 Rolling Nuns (from 'Freedom Is Frightening' by Stomu Yamash'ta's East Wind 1973)
09 Lullabye (from 'Silver Faces' by Doggerel Bank 1973)
10 Oh My Father (from 'Moonshine' by Bert Jansch 1973)