TICKETS TORN IN HALF: “A CELEBRATION: 50 YEARS OF THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND” as performed by THE BROTHERS, March 10,2020 @ Madison Square Garden,NYC

TICKETS TORN IN HALF: “A CELEBRATION: 50 YEARS OF THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND” as performed by THE BROTHERS,
March 10,2020 @ Madison Square Garden,NYC

A Golden Anniversary is a great way for couples to celebrate a half century of loving companionship. But, golden anniversary record releases are a different story, compounding that a “50 Year Celebration” of a band’s music might be difficult to pull off. The Stones, sure, they are still somewhat relevant, Herman’s Hermits, not so much. Yet when it was announced that THE BROTHERS, surviving members of the various incarnations of the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND sans DICKEY BETTS would be performing at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN aka THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS ARENA, I was in for the “celebration” from the get-go.
This ALLMAN BROTHERS obsession for me goes back 49 years and 47 shows ago to March 13,1971 when my college radio station partner and I got tickets from Columbia Records to see JOHNNY WINTER AND. Well, the review for WINTER went out the door the minute I heard the twin guitar approach with dual drummers of the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND. The vocalist was amazing. The late show even better than the early show.Magical. Hence, that night’s performances became an integral part of one of the greatest live recordings LIVE AT FILLMORE EAST.
So many years later,March 10, 2020,with a group of different players but somehow the music performed this night touched me almost as much as it did in ’71.
The pre-show discussions overheard though out the sold out house included “Why just THE BROTHERS? Who owns “the name” ALLMAN’s?”, “What will they play?”, “Who will sing vocals?”, “Where’s Dickey?’”,“Who will sing Blue Sky” and of course , “Will we catch this Corona thing?”
Remembering a snippet from an old BUTCH TRUCK interview of yesteryear, Butch stated that he envisioned a time when the music of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS would tour ala the DUKE ELLINGTON ORCHESTRA without any original members.Hmmmm.So here it is.

The lights dim precisely at a very professional 7:30 pm with a slight moment or two to plug in, tune up and hit the opener of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND debut album, the SPENCER DAVIS tune “Don’t Want You No More” which tonight just like on the album morphed into “It’s Not My Cross To Bear” complete with a portrait of Gregg on the screen AND his lead vocals looped in with guitarist/vocalist WARREN HAYNES. The applause at the end of the selection(s) was deafening, but not as loud as the whoops and yells when we heard Warren say, “ 1,2,3” the intro to the BLIND WILLIE MCTELL song “Statesboro Blues”,a signature tune for the original band. DICKEY BETT’S penned tune “Revival” from the second lp was next, followed by “Trouble No More”, “Don’t Keep Me Wondering”, “Black Hearted Woman”, “Dreams”(fav of mine), and a smoking “Hot ‘lanta”. CHUCK LEAVELL, a member of the post-Duane ensemble was introduced for “Come and Go Blues”,”Soulshine”,” Stand Back”, and ultimately “Jessica” complete with his amazing piano solo closed out the first set.
With that said, my buddies commented that if the evening was over at this point the ticket price of over $200.00 was well worth it.

For set two the core of founding member Jaimoe(drums), Derek Trucks(guitar), Warren Haynes, Marc Quinones (longest tenured member on various percussion),Oteil Burbridge (bass), former member Chuck Leavell, once again shared the stage with WIDESPREAD PANIC’s drummer, brother of Derek, DUANE TRUCKS and keyboardist REESE WYNANS, a former member of STEVIE RAY VAUGHN’s band. The audience knew that at some point we would hear the familiar riff from the improvisation of a DONAVAN melody renamed “Mountain Jam” but never expected it to start the second set. This 20 minute exchange set the tone for the next few selections as each musician was given a chance to step out into the spotlight.DEREK TRUCKS utilized DUANE ALLMAN’s legendary 1957 LES PAUL GOLD TOP, the same guitar which was used during the recording of the first two ALLMAN lps as well as during the LAYLA sessions, the guitar which recently sold for $1.25 million, one of the top five most expensive guitars ever sold (according to Stringjoy). To further answer the question posed about DICKEY BETTS’ absence, CHUCK LEAVELL sang the next tune, “Blue Sky” (complete with a Franklin’s Tower tease) as did most of the 20,000 plus folks in attendance.Warren Haynes provided the vocals and guitar solo for a smoking hot version of a latter day ABB song ,“Desdemonia”.
Chuck Leavell’s piano introduction to “Ain’t Wasting Time No More” was met with cheers becoming an almost mandatory sing and dance along. It was party time in The Garden. Phones were out recording the event, beers were being raised toasting our great fortune. Smiles abounded. Chuck took his leave after this number. As long as everyone was standing, “Every Hungry Woman” kept the crowd enthusiasm going.
Warren strapped on an acoustic guitar,and with that the opening chords of “Melissa” changed the mood immediately. Derek’s beautiful electric exchange help calm the mood even further. The crowd was listening to each word, each note. This somber song made me reflect on how GREGG ALLMAN’s vocals will be forever missed but Warren was doing a yeoman’s job tonight. The applause for “Melissa” seemed to last forever.Gregg was smiling down on us.
A deep breath was taken by the band, a slight interchange, a few tuning notes and soon we were deep “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”, followed by the Bo Diddley beat of “No One To Run With” and concluding with “One Way Out”.
The band returned to the stage with a short word or two from JAIMOE and as most in the crowd were yelling for “Whipping Post’ as the encore, the band with Chuck Leavell hit the notes for “Midnight Rider”.Beautifully done. Then, Oteil stepped forward and his thundering bass led us through “Whipping Post” complete with a “Les Brers In A minor” thrown in for good measure.The band meet at mid-stage, took a few bows, a few photos and the house light rose. #48 in the books.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF: February 18,1972- Billy Joel with Beefheart

TICKETS TORN IN HALF: February 18,1972- Billy Joel with Beefheart

What a strange year 1971 was with the MANSON trial and conviction, Lt. CALLEY found guilty and THE TROUBLES in IRELAND even more intense that before with THE BRITISH adding internment without trial to captured IRA members. Television had a new hit with ALL IN THE FAMILY while the MARLBORO MAN and cigarette ads in general were banned. The Allman Brothers record the LIVE album and a few months later help close out FILLMORE EAST for good. The STONES relocate to France to avoid taxes, while George Harrison is bringing attention to BANGLADESH when it declared its independence from Pakistan.

Just when I thought that 71 was as crazy as it could get along come BLOODY SUNDAY in Northern Ireland, Israeli athletes murdered in the summer Olympics, NIXON is re-elected in a landslide over George McGovern, and someone comes up with the idea which later becomes known as WATERGATE, all while AMERICAN PIE is played endlessly on the radio.

With FILLMORE EAST closed most mid range (those avoiding or not as popular to play at MSG) entertained the Rock N Roll crowds at the ACADEMY of MUSIC on 14th Street or at THE CAPITOL in Port Chester, NY.

On February 18, 1972 ,a Saturday night when it snowed like crazy but I drove my trusty VW to NYC to see the J. Geils Band/Capt. Beefheart/Billy Joel @ Academy of Music, the Late show. I took a friend of mine who to this day states, “BEEFHEART stole the show”. The J.GEILS BAND was the rising stars at this moment. The opening act, Billy Joel, did an imitation of one, JOE COCKER, as well as bad mouthing his own current album “Cold Spring Harbor”, stating it was mixed at “Mickey Mouse speed” or something to the effect. In 1972 Billy Joel was virtually a newcomer to the NY stages.Granted we had seen him many times as the organist of the Long Island band THE HASSELS, as well as he being a member of the ill fated ATTILA, a two piece heavy metal-ish organ drum outfit, which was horrible.Tonight at The Academy was different. According to my journal which I usually wrote in after a show, BILLY JOEL played piano, did a song or two from “CSH”, another song about playing piano in a bar in Los Angeles, a song about getting high, and finished with THE STONES “Honky Tonk Woman”. My BEEFHEART notes were far more extensive so I guess one can determine which band I was there to see.

Anyway, back to the good ole days…I liked the HASSLES as a local live band (66-67@ Hullabaloo) and I especially enjoyed their HAMMOND B-3 (Rascals like)sound. So when opportunity knocked while in the record department of TSS I grabbed their first album on UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS, along with their 45 RPM cover of SAM and DAVE’s “You Got Me Hummin” which is labeled incorrectly as “You’ve Got Me Hummin” (jive ass white suburban kids). The album includes “Every Step I Take (Every Move I Make)” a tune written by Billy Joel ( with a great drum part which I practiced routinely)and the band’s cover of TRAFFIC’s “Coloured Rain”, a so-so rendition Also, this being the fifteen minutes of fame for another Long Island phenomena VANILLA FUDGE, The HASSLES did “A Taste of Honey” ala The FUDGE but worse, as a matter of fact it is laugh out loud funny bad.

Their second LP “Hour Of The Wolf” was released in January of 69 but I passed on it as did most of the record buying public.The band subsequently breaks up and Billy Joel has a short career as the duo ATTILA with Jon Small, drummer from The Hassles. They regularly played the “family” owned ACTION HOUSE which is another story unto itself. Billy then disappears to Los Angeles as a lounge singer, Bill Martin, before returning in 1971 with “Cold Spring Harbor” his first solo endeavor on Family Production Records.

While this collection of tunes was making little or no noise on the charts, BILLY JOEL starts to hit the clubs where his live act gains the notice of Columbia records which after intense negotiations buys out his previous contract. Billy Joel prepares to record “Piano Man”, his major breakout. November 9, 1973 it is released.

So my story is: from February 18, 1972 until November 18, 1973 I saw Billy Joel only once and that being the opening act for J.Geils Band/Captain Beefheart. To present, since the release of “Piano Man” he has a shitload of album releases, singles on the charts,multiple marriages and divorces, made millions of dollars,and has a “residency” at Madison Square Garden which sells out the minute a new date is announced, and he is a local guy to boot…yet I only saw him once.And most of my friends love to see him…regularly.

PS: I still have “Cold Spring Harbor” and the only other album is “Piano Man”.I sold the single at a nice profit.

ON THE TURNTABLE: 1968

ON THE TURNTABLE: 1968

1968 polarized me. The news, not only in print but on TV and radio had vivid footage, reports from the field of the Vietnam Conflict. Gun shots could be heard in the background as the reports were being taped. The newspapers and magazines did not concentrate solely on the war abroad but also on the conflict developing on the home front, particularly the protests against the war occurring in every major city. The Anti-War Movement was big news. Campus sit-ins, teach-ins, black arm bands, fist salutes,“the long hairs versus the hard hats” with the hard hats being saluted as “Pro America” while the “long hairs” were depicted as “Anti-American”.

A blurb written in Howard Smith’s SCENES in the Village Voice (February 17) addressed a Janis Joplin performance at The Anderson Theatre. I remember being amazed at how Smith described the show. This particular Big Brother and The Holding Company gig, with B.B. King on the bill,was meant to be a “coming out” party, NY style for the recently (8 months ago) herald band’s performance at Monterey. Smith compared Joplin to Bessie Smith (whom I never heard at that point in time), Aretha Franklin, and James Brown. But Janis, is a white girl. Hmmmm, this had to be good.

Besides the VOICE with it’s legendary Howard Smith (SCENES) and Richard Goldstein’s POP EYE column, I read CRAWDADDY , RAMPARTS, ROLLING STONE (newspaper format)and EYE magazine along with the weekly hit paraders that the local stations produced, GO(WMCA), etc. I vividly remember THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION ads run that summer in THE VOICE for their Garrick Theater performances. Also, the first Rolling Stone magazine with John Lennon gracing the cover and pictures from Monterey Pop. However, the risk of bringing home or to work a copy of THE EAST VILLAGE OTHER (EVO) was always a challenge. Oh yeah, that summer I had an intern’s job at CHASE MANHATTAN BANK on Wall Street NYC. 75 bucks a week, wearing a tie, short corporate hair.This 16 year old was now “citified” as I traveled on a daily early morning commute from “out in the country” to the Big Apple.

At CHASE, each Wednesday was pay day and that would be the day I would head to the WALL STREET RECORDS store where I would buy an album or two. I would also slip an EVO from the news stand, cooly placing it on top of the pile of my vinyl selections. After purchase I would carefully place EVO in the bag containing the records. I would only consider reading the EVO in the sanctity of my own room as some folks in my home, or anywhere in fact would deem even the comics a bit obscene. Mom would have freaked. I loved it. Overall, it was a wonderful summer job. My cousin John worked around the corner and we would get together for lunches. At only 16, looking like I was a 12 years old in a suit, I still was served beer at lunch, no questions asked. I did have a phony draft card which I paid 15 bucks for, it had my name printed out, matching my school ID photo and it looked legit but I was never asked for it, anywhere.

That summer from my desk on the tenth floor of the Chase building I watched the TWIN TOWERS being erected two streets over. From my perch I saw TRINITY CHURCH where Alexander Hamilton is buried, the Hudson River a few streets over, and basically the world at large. At work I progressed from a “runner/go-fer” handling mail the first few days, to sitting in the Signature Verification Department, to later helping to find a $1,000,000.00 error all by the end of my second week. I got a raise to $95.00 and was given a desk with my own adding machine and phone. Cool. Every day I still volunteered to take all the outgoing materials to the data processing center on the ninth floor at about 4:30 PM. Everyone considered this a lowly task, except me. The pretty girl at the window greeted me with a huge smile, knew my name by week 2 and gave me the receipt promptly which allowed me the time to zip down the stairs, out the door to the subway all in hopes of catching the 5:08 which I did most evening.

1968: My record collection was growing in leaps and bounds and with a decent paying job and having a record store only a street away well…it was now mostly albums (vinyl) and some cassettes, with an occasional single thrown in.

THE BEATLES “The Beatles” aka The White Album. I already posted about my experience in the manufacturing of the cassettes of this collection but I needed the vinyl. Wore that sucker out.

THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE- “Electric Ladyland,” this double set was a late year release,one which my girlfriend bought and I borrowed until she demanded it back so I had to get my own copy.I also picked up a 45 of “All Along The Watchtower” which I recently sold for 15 bucks.

JEFF BECK GROUP-“Truth” Arguments occur when I state that I like this lp better than “Electric Ladyland”. Most of my guitarist friends adored Hendrix and tolerated Beck, until they see him live. Different story they tell. This album was a killer , also bought on Wall Street that summer.

THE ZOMBIES-“Odessey and Oracle” yes the title is a misspelling and never corrected. This was one I bought on a lunch hour after seeing the poster of the band in a record store on Wall Street. Truly a gem “This Will Be Our Year”, the sheer fun of “Care of Cell 44” and of course the overlooked (for one year) “Time Of The Season”.

THE BAND-“Music From Big Pink” bought this early summer of 68, along with an accompanied 45 from THE BAND. Years later I won 5 or 10 bucks from a DYLAN fanatic who claimed the album was recorded AT “Big Pink” the house the band used for rehearsals. My disagreement lead to a minor argument, a few insults, and ultimately he handing over the money when he found out it was recorded in NYC and LA, not in the “basement”. I love being right.

THE DOORS-“Waiting For The Sun” I bought this the same day as “Big Pink’. Yuck, this album sucks, the gateway sleeve sucks, the photos suck,the songs suck, THE DOORS suck, yet I bought it so I suck,too.

ARETHA FRANKLIN- “Lady Soul”(my brother’s record but I took it constantly).Roger Hawkins on the kit,ERIC CLAPTON guitar, JOE SOUTH guitarist extradanaire on the unedited version of “Chain of Fools”,SPOONER OLDHAM keys and KING CURTIS on sax…what a line up and with the Queen of Soul at the mic…there is not one bad song here, geez, there is not one bad note.
“In December 1967, while he was still a member of Cream, 22-year-old British guitar phenom Eric Clapton was brought into a recording studio in the U.S. and asked to add a guitar part to Franklin’s powerful “Good to Me As I Am to You.”

BLOOMFIELD/KOOPER/STILLS-“Super Session” a great listen,especially the Mike Bloomfield side. Before this I thought of STILLS as just part of Buffalo Springfield. After this I thought of him as an amazing guitarist, which he is. Education is a strange thing, this educated me.

THE BYRDS-“Sweetheart Of The Rodeo” Not one of my friends had this, in fact not one of my friends like this. I was warned not to put it on at any house parties. My Pop liked it and that says alot. This album was a big change for the BYRDS, a big change for music, intro a new category “country rock”. God Bless Gram Parsons.Those in country music hated it, rock fans hated it, I loved it.

BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY-“(Sex,Dope and)Cheap Thrills”- this, contrary to popular myth, is not a live recording, only one track Ball and Chain is live, and what a great live track it is.
Dave Getz,drummer….“Cheap Thrills seems to have stood the test of time,It might be because it is arguably the greatest work by a great artist, Janis Joplin. It is certainly the greatest and closest representation of what Big Brother & the Holding Company was as a band and I would add to that argument that Big Brother/Janis as a band, and as a SOUND, was the embodiment of the San Francisco, psychedelic, counter-culture of the 1960s.”

CREAM-“Wheels Of Fire” their third album, a double lp set with one live the other studio recording. “Crossroads”,“Spoonful”, “White Room”, “Sitting On Top Of The World” and “Born Under A Bad Sign”, need I said more.

SMALL FACES-“Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake” is a blast. It is a precursor for HUMBLE PIE to be sure and “Happiness Stan” is one of my heroes.I played side two regularly on my college late night radio program and never got one complaint. Either people didn’t care or weren’t listening. Makes no never mind to me, I loved that album.

THE ROLLING STONES-“Beggar’s Banquet”- to this day this collection is one of my favorite albums, not just by the STONES but by every other artist.

I got that record the moment it was released and it very rarely left my turntable for one full year. Side 1, Side 2, back to Side 1, and on and on. There are very few albums I can said that about, very few albums I listen to in its entirety without getting bored by a clunker or two. I was enamored by this collection of Stones tunes. The slick printed cover (American version which was completely different from the British cover), the photo spread inside, and the music. These songs were individually and collectively a great relief, a wonderful change in direction from the ROLLING STONES ’67 set of THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, which I owned but never played all the way through. The only tunes I liked on TSMR were 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME and SHE’S A RAINBOW. The rest,rubbish.

Before SATANIC MAJESTIES I was stuck on BETWEEN THE BUTTONS(1967) (US version), especially side 1 which we played endlessly at my buddy George’s house.TSMR is/was nothing like BUTTONS. But then, BEGGAR’S BANQUET is released and with that a new STONES approach to the blues.The BB album was the real deal, and foreshadowed what would become of the STONES over the next few years and releases. To my ears Beggar’s Banquet was a Keith album as Brian Jones due to “personal reasons” is limited here to slide guitar on NO EXPECTATIONS, a harmonica on PARACHUTE WOMAN, DEAR DOCTOR and PRODIGAL SON. It was the last ROLLING STONES album to be released during Brian Jones’ life.

Side One Track 1, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, just listen to the title before you put the needle down, WHAT? Sympathy for whom? Are you kidding me? Conga, screams, maracas, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and THE WORDS…PLEASE TO MEET YOU, seriously this is not Satanic Majesties at all. WOW.Then the voices, Get down,hit it, guitar riffs…six minutes plus of sheer ecstasy . I danced around my room so many times shaking imaginary maracas.
Track 2:NO EXPECTATIONS, Keith on acoustic, Brian in a semi-sober moment plays slide. Bill with a few bass thuds,I still play this tune on my guitar, “never in my sweet short life have I felt like this before”.
Track 3: DEAR DOCTOR, humorous to say the least..”Help me please Doctor I’m damaged”…“preserve it right there in that jar”. Many a nights I sang this tune with like minded folks, very poor off keyed singers we were after a few cocktails.
Track 4:PARACHUTE WOMAN: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, some echo added to vocals, and Charlie beating it down, “join me for a ride”.
Track 5: JIGSAW PUZZLE: The drum beat is awesome, I played it thousands of time, Charlie was the man. “Me, I waiting so patiently, lying on the floor”.

SIDE TWO Track 1 STREET FIGHTING MAN: The guitar intro and then the drums…this was the tune revolutionaries were using as their theme song, well, pseudo- revolutionaries. Hey, it was a sign of the times.
Track 2: PRODIGAL SON: Not a Stones tune but a remake that they called their own.Charlie’s high hat work is exceptional, Mick’s vocals is a take on a blues man.
Track 3: STRAY CAT BLUES: This was sex, straight out.”I bet your mama don’t know you can scream like that”…
Track 4: FACTORY GIRL: I first thought this was the same riff from “2000 Light Years”, but no. As I was working in a factory at the time this tune made so much sense.”Waiting for a factory girl…”
Track 5: SALT OF THE EARTH: This is the one that did it for me. Aren’t we all salt of the earth? and when the drums kick in….”Let’s drink to the uncounted heads”…these words made so much sense to me…and then the mention…. “A choice of cancer or polio”.

Salt Of The Earth
The Rolling Stones
Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth
Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth
And when I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and
Black and white
They don’t look real to me
In fact, they look so strange
Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead
Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio
And when I look in the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and
Black and white
They don’t look real to me
Or don’t they look so strange
Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth
Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth
Let’s drink to the two thousand million
Let’s think of the humble of birth

ON THE TURNTABLE: January 12, 1969-Led Zeppelin-LED ZEPPELIN aka Len Zefflin

WHATEVER BECAME OF LEN ZEFFLIN?

Ah, the joys of being an opening act for a major rock band. Consider the following: you are four young men from England, traveling together for the first time as a new up and coming act. Since your band has been recently signed to a major record label, say, ATLANTIC RECORDS, it has been decided by shared management that you will tour with a label mate of some renown, The VANILLA FUDGE. It’s late 1968 and THE FUDGE is, well, still relying on their remake of THE SUPREMES “You Keep Me Hanging On” to put hineys in the seats. You meet up on the west coast for your scheduled romp across The States, 41 dates, with fees ranging from a low $320.00 to a high of $1500.00. At some point your band will leave THE FUDGE and finish the short tour opening for IRON BUTTERFLY of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” fame.So, who or what is this band?

Ladies and Gentlemen…LEN ZEFFLIN. (cue applause). In short order,club owners will know how to spell the name for they will make some headlines, in one year’s time they will release two noteworthy albums, and in two years time they will be the biggest concert draw in America.

1968/1969:

For those who only know of the power and popularity of Led Zeppelin of latter days, let me take you back to a time before their very first album hit the stands.

Jimmy Page was one of the “three”, the triumvirate of rock guitarist gods who moseyed through a British band of some renown named THE YARDBIRDS. This band ,who legend states took their name from Charlie YARDBIRD Parker was somewhat known in the USA, but more popular in their homeland of Great Britain. Without giving the long history of the Yardbirds let’s just say they got a CRAWDADDY (a club) gig when the spot was vacated by THE ROLLING STONES, a band on the move. Eric Clapton was the YARDBIRDS guitarist at that time who became uncomfortable with the band veering away from it’s blues roots, heading into a pop direction. Clapton leaves and suggest Jimmy Page take his spot. Page was the “go to studio guitarist” at the time and didn’t want to vacate that profitable role, so PAGE suggested JEFF BECK who took the gig.

With BECK’s influence the YARDBIRDS moved toward a psychedelic route with fuzz tones, feedback, and overall guitar virtuosity. By 1966 JEFF BECK was voted Melody Maker’s GUITARIST OF THE YEAR.When the bass player drops out of The Yardbirds JIMMY PAGE steps in for a spell. When a new bassist is recruited PAGE stays on for a BECK/PAGE new dual guitar attack approach. Beck gets sick, misses a few gigs and ultimately leaves the band to Page.With the lead singer Keith Relf’s alcoholism and the band not having any more hits, as well as with the rise of CREAM and JIMI HENDRIX, soon most of The Yardbirds disappeared, leaving Jimmy Page with the name. To fulfill  some contractual commitments,with a new manager PETER GRANT on board, the band hits the road as THE NEW YARDBIRDS.

Page had recruited TERRY REID as vocalist but he, with a new MICKIE MOST contract, could not leave. Reid suggested a friend, ROBERT PLANT who brought along his drummer friend JOHN BONHAM. Page called his studio buddy JOHN PAUL JONES for bass and keyboards and after a short tour of Scandinavia, the NEW YARDBIRDS hit the studio to record what would become LED ZEPPELIN’s debut.

The album is released January 12,1969. Some of the tunes hit the New York FM airwaves after the band’s now legendary performance as the opening act for IRON BUTTERFLY at FILLMORE EAST January 31 and February 1, 1969, this being Led Zeppelin’s first US tour. Pete my buddy at Dubbings Electronics attended one of those shows that weekend. He raved about this new band who blew Iron Butterfly off the stage, leaving Iron Butterfly to play just one song, their hit IN A GADDA DA VIDA, and according to Pete, Led Zeppelin came back out due to the booing of Butterfly and the calls for “more” Zeppelin. I have never been able to verify that but Pete said it,so…it must be true.

A few days later while at work Pete asked me to join him to see LED ZEPPELIN at THE SCENE a club in Manhattan. With little provocation I agreed to go to the Wednesday night show. But alas, the shows were cancelled due to John Bonham’s son falling at home in England and Bonham was needed there. So, I made due by purchasing LED ZEPPELIN and listening to the debut album, over and over again.

January 12,1969: LED ZEPPELIN is released.I almost burnt that record out. It was on heavy rotation with JETHRO TULL’s “This Was” on my turntable.Geez, it was so good in early 1969, and is still a good listen today.Nothing like it at the time. Dump the cd, get the vinyl.

ON THE TURNTABLE- Best of 1969

ON THE TURNTABLE -1969:

Putting out my BEST OF for this past year made me nostalgic in a way. So I dug out some listings from yesteryear and over the next few weeks I’ll post a few.My brother and I actual compiled lists of our favorite records but this listing is from most of the records I bought that year, in no particular order or preference.

It’s 1969 and my record collection was growing in leaps and bounds. Seems like the more money I had the more records I bought. However, my stereo was not what one would expect of a serious record collector.  I was using an old split speaker (in a case) record player propped up on my desk. But hey, the sucker did the job. That and my portable single speaker cassette player tucked along side my portable PANASONIC AM/FM stereo radio made up my “sound system”. I also had an AM/FM radio bedside. A friend had a huge stereo unit, one with humongous speakers,a turntable with a “stylus” no less, but alas he had virtually no records, always borrowing mine.

Records In My Rotation throughout that year included:

The debut album from LED ZEPPELIN “Led Zeppelin”, I bought this early on in the year after a recommendation from my work buddy, Pete, who saw this “unknown” band open for IRON BUTTERFLY. This album was amazing and it took me a few days to realize that this JIMMY PAGE was the same JIMMY PAGE from THE YARDBIRDS. Later, in the year after its release and after seeing the band live twice I copped LED ZEPPELIN II. Geez, these recordings were unique, and the band was …WOW.

THE BEATLES “Abbey Road” was and still is a hard listen for me, yet when it first was released I played it continuously, usually picking out a song or two before moving on to some other record .It was probably the Harrison tunes that I liked the most.

THE WHO “Tommy” is another difficult record to listen to all the way through, but that year I did see the band perform “Tommy” in its entirety twice, and I must say, live WHO was better than any record.

KING CRIMSON’S “In The Court Of The Crimson King”was/is a great record, one that for its time was truly original. This band blew me away when I saw them in the fall of 69, opening for FLEETWOOD MAC and JOE COCKER. After their 34 minute set, I bought the album the next payday. Speaking of FLEETWOOD MAC “Then Play On”( their 3rd album) drew me to see them live and I became a PETER GREEN fan that night. This collection showed the originals of the name sake take their blues influenced and mostly refurbished recordings a step further. I must have recited the opening of  “Oh, Well-Part 1” a million times to friends, to the point where I was annoying. I still am, say some. And JOE COCKER’s “With A Little Help From My Friends” which I grabbed in the early summer after hearing some of his tunes on the radio and before seeing him and THE GREASE BAND open for The AIRPLANE at FILLMORE EAST was a goodie, but again, live he was a trip.

Also, there was NEIL YOUNG’s masterpiece “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, along with FRANK ZAPPA’s “Hot Rats” which help change my musical perspective and soon led me to CAPTAIN BEEFHEART  “Trout Mask Replica”.

Two debuts, one from CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH, a summer hit and Blind Faith’s one and only official release, which I thought was a mess, as was their show at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. “Nashville Skyline” by BOB DYLAN was a pleasant surprise, even my POP liked it, well, it had JOHNNY CASH on it.THE FLYING BURRITO BROS “Gilded Palace of Sin” was a good pick up and  ISAAC HAYES’ “Hot Buttered Soul” arrived unannounced when I did not respond in time to a record company selection deadline but boy was I glad I got that gem. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY’s debut double set before they shortened their name to CHICAGO, and coincidentally was the only record I ever bought by them. JETHRO TULL’s “Stand Up” was a mainstay on the turntable along with the profane MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” which was played on minimal volume as not to upset the parents. And then there was the profanity nestled in JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’s “Volunteers” another record which kept a low profile when played.

I practiced my drums listening to  THE GRATEFUL DEAD’s “Live Dead” but was not enthused with The DOORS “Soft Parade”, and

PINK FLOYD’s Ummagumma was, well, just listen to “Careful With That Axe ,Eugene” and wonder why my Mom would yell, “What is that? Please, no more.” She didn’t particularly enjoy THE STOOGES “The Stooges”, either, no matter how many times I played it. Speaking of Mom’s taste, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND “The Velvet Underground” was more to her liking as was THE KINKS “Arthur”.

JOHN MAYALL’s “Turning Point” was bought the same day as PHAROAH SANDER’s “Karma”, late 1969. Both late night incense burning albums.

and of course, THE ROLLING STONES Beggar’s Banquet which never left my turntable and the follow-up release Let It Bleed (see blog Oct. 20, 2018)

PROCUL HARUM’s “A Salty Dog” which was actually my kid brother’s record found it’s way into my room many a night, along with his SLY and The FAMILY STONE’s “Stand” and JANIS JOPLIN’s “I Got Dem Ole Kosmic Blues Again Mama” but not any of his CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL or his “Odessa” by THE BEE GEES. Just the red felt cover on that one turned my stomach.

ON THE TURNTABLE: And the year is…1969

1969: Records in  heavy rotation in my bedroom included the debut album from Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, THE BEATLES Abbey Road (which is a hard listen for me-sorry Beatles fans), THE WHO Tommy (another difficult record to listen to all the way through), KING CRIMSON’S In The Court Of The Crimson King a great record,one that for its time was truly unique, THE ROLLING STONES Beggar’s Banquet which never left my turntable and the follow-up release Let It Bleed, NEIL YOUNG’s masterpiece Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, ZAPPA’s Hot Rats which help change my musical perspective, FLEETWOOD MAC’s Then Play On, CSN debut, Blind Faith’s one and only official release which is also a very strange record, Nashville Skyline by BOB DYLAN, The MC5’s Kick Out The Jams, Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul which arrived unexpectedly when I did not respond in time to a record company selection deadline and glad I got this gem,Chicago Transit Authority double set before they shortened their name to CHICAGO,  Jethro Tull’s Stand Up, Live Dead, The DOORS Soft Parade, PINK FLOYD’s Ummagumma, Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers, and PROCOL HARUM’s A Salty Dog which was actually my brothers record.

Altamont- Dec 6,1969

Altamont, the Rolling Stones, and the

Death of the Sixties Dream

by Lara Zarum

In the nearly fifty years since the Rolling Stones played a free outdoor concert at a racetrack in Alameda County, California, the word “Altamont” has become synonymous with the end of the 1960s, and the death of the hippie dream. On December 6, 1969, the Stones played for a crowd of over 300,000 people, with the Hells Angels serving as an ad hoc security team at the suggestion of the Grateful Dead — who would end up so cowed by the bikers’ overzealous tactics that they left the grounds without playing. The concert had been hastily arranged, and the location chosen at the very last minute; the lack of planning or foresight, combined with a deeply misguided trust in the Angels as counterculture allies, resulted in an infamously disastrous show that culminated in the death of eighteen-year-old Meredith Hunter, an African American concertgoer who had traveled to Altamont from the Bay Area with his girlfriend and a couple of friends. He would never make it back.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 33-HONKY TONKYING

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 33-HONKY TONKYING

We tried in vain to get STONES tickets for their (1969) MADISON SQUARE GARDEN performance. Skipping school the day tickets went on sale, I took the next train after my Dad’s train so as to not be caught, to Brooklyn and then by subway to my cousin’s house off of Church Ave. When I arrived I asked my aunt not to say anything about me being there to my mom, her sister, when the next spoke. She just smiled. The  box office was to open at 10AM, which it did and the shows were SOLD OUT in a manner of minutes. The remaining ticketless crowd, us included, became restless and angry.  Not too happy, my cousin and I walked across Seventh Avenue toward the Blarney Rock to get a beer (phony ID worked since summer of 68 on Wall Street but no one asks for proof) when we were confronted by a drunken “hard hat” who harassed us about long hair. It’s only noon and this dude is loaded. Sorry dude, wrong day, wrong guys, now you will find out that long haired kids who are pissed can fight. Down he went. Screw him. John left him crying in the street before putting a cigarette out on the guys forehead, all in front of a small crowd who did absolutely nothing, no lie, they just watched. After a few beers in THE ROCK  I was back on the train home before my folks knew I missed school. My aunt never told her sister.

However, The Rock Gods must have found redemption as a few night later before going to the FILLMORE EAST for a Joe Cocker Show, I hit the Garden Box Office and obtained eight (8) tickets at 5 bucks each for a newly announced afternoon matinee show of… The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner and Terry Reid@ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, November 28, 1969, the day after Thanksgiving at 2PM. Hallelujah, I’m in.

Trouble seemed to pop up when I least expected it. Never having a curfew I was free to come and go as I pleased since I was 14 with one caveat, “Remember who you are, you carry our name”. In other words, “Don’t screw up”. One night, I had a slight verbal disagreement with my mom before going out with my friends to a house party. Mom was an obsessive cleaner and re-arranger of furniture. Me returning from the party about 2 AM, fully buzzed, quite intoxicated, and not knowing the kitchen table had been moved, bumped right into it, knocking over a chair with me falling to the floor. Lights on…Oh NOOOO. Mom was livid. She said Dad would deal with me. He came upstairs to my room, asking me if I was drinking, Yes I said, he said go to bed. That was it.

Mom not satisfied the next morning with my light sentence  announced….No shows for a while. WHAT? But THE STONES!!!!! “NO,” she said, “sell the tickets, you are not going”. So maybe The Rock Gods did not find me in good standing.

Eight tickets, four for my cousin as promised with the four remaining for me. Geez, I was distraught. Dad said privately that I should give it a few days for it to blow over. YESSSS, I thought. “But”,he added….”But, what?”,I questioned. “You need to take your sister and brother with you”. But DAD?

So my sister being all of 11 was going to see the Stones, my brother at 16 was ecstatic, my girlfriend was not happy as unbeknownst to me she had promised the other two tickets to “her” friends,WHAT? She didn’t even ask me, me the guy who bought the tickets.Yet life was still good, it’s The STONES man and I’m going . Oh yeah, I also had to cut my hair, short.

Terry Reid (third time for me) was killer as an opening act. Ike and Tina’s Revue was tight but should have been called Tina Turner’s Revue, Then the point I had anticipated, light dimmed and JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH.

Beggars Banquet :

The Best Album of 1969 even though it was released in December of 1968, BEGGAR’S BANQUET was my most played album of 1969. I got that record the moment it was released and it very rarely left my turntable for one full year. Side 1, Side 2, back to Side 1, and on and on. There are very few albums I can said that about, very few albums I listen to in its entirety without getting bored by a clunker or two. I was enamored by this collection of Stones tunes. The slick printed cover (American version which was completely different from the British cover), the photo spread inside, and the music. These songs were individually and collectively a great relief, a wonderful change in direction from the ROLLING STONES ’67 set of THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, which I owned but never played all the way through. The only tunes I liked on TSMR were 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME and SHE’S A RAINBOW. The rest were rubbish.

Before SATANIC MAJESTIES I was stuck on BETWEEN THE BUTTONS(1967) (US version), especially side 1 which we played endlessly at my buddy George’s house.TSMR is/was nothing like BUTTONS. But then, BEGGAR’S BANQUET is released and with that a new STONES approach to the blues.The BB album was the real deal, and foreshadowed what would become of the STONES over the next few years and releases.  To my ears Beggar’s Banquet was a Keith album as Brian Jones due to “personal reasons” is limited here to slide guitar on NO EXPECTATIONS, a harmonica on PARACHUTE WOMAN, DEAR DOCTOR and PRODIGAL SON. It was the last ROLLING STONES album to be released during Brian Jones’ life.

Side One Track 1, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, just listen to the title before you put the needle down, WHAT? Sympathy for whom? Are you kidding me? Conga, screams, maracas, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and THE WORDS…PLEASE TO MEET YOU, seriously this is not Satanic Majesties at all. WOW.Then the voices, Get down,hit it, guitar riffs…six minutes plus of sheer ecstasy . I danced around my room so many times shaking imaginary maracas.

Track 2:NO EXPECTATIONS, Keith on acoustic, Brian in a semi-sober moment plays slide. Bill with a few bass thuds,I still play this tune on my guitar, “never in my sweet short life have I felt like this before”.

Track 3: DEAR DOCTOR, humorous to say the least..”Help me please Doctor I’m damaged”…“preserve it right there in that jar”. Sang this tune with like minded folks,we being very poor off keyed singers after a few cocktails.

Track 4:PARACHUTE WOMAN: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, some echo added to vocals, and Charlie beating it down, “join me for a ride”.

Track 5: JIGSAW PUZZLE: The drum beat is awesome, I played it thousands of time, Charlie was the man. “Me, I waiting so patiently, lying on the floor”.

SIDE TWO Track 1 STREET FIGHTING MAN: The guitar intro and then the drums…this was the tune revolutionaries were using as their theme song, well, pseudo- revolutionaries. Hey, it was a sign of the times.

Track 2: PRODIGAL SON: Not a Stones tune but a remake that they called their own.Charlie’s high hat work is exceptional, Mick’s vocals is a take on a blues man.

Track 3: STRAY CAT BLUES: This was sex, straight out.”I bet your mama don’t know you can scream like that”…

Track 4: FACTORY GIRL: I first thought this was the same riff from 2000 light years, but no. As I was working in a factory at the time this tune made so much sense.”Waiting for a factory girl…”

Track 5: SALT OF THE EARTH: This is the one that did it for me. Aren’t we all salt of the earth? and when the drums kick in….”Let’s drink to the uncounted heads”…these words made so much sense to me…and then the mention….  “A choice of cancer or polio”.

Salt Of The Earth

The Rolling Stones

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the lowly of birth

Raise your glass to the good and the evil

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier

Spare a thought for his back breaking work

Say a prayer for his wife and his children

Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd

A swirling mass of gray and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the uncounted heads

Let’s think of the wavering millions

Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter

His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows

And a parade of the gray suited grafters

A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd

A swirling mass of grays and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

Or don’t they look so strange

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s think of the lowly of birth

Spare a thought for the rag taggy people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the two thousand million

Let’s think of the humble of birth

So, I’m stuck on the STONES, not really shouting it out but I do like their most recent stuff (1968) more than the Beatles or anyone else at this time. Then, LET IT BLEED is released …

LET IT BLEED December 1969, I have it before Christmas and bought another copy to give my girlfriend as part of her Christmas gift package.

SIDE ONE: Track 1; GIMME SHELTER, Merry Clayton, just a shout away.  Charlie hitting the cymbals, harp playing. fade out, nicely done.

Track 2: LOVE IN VAIN: another stolen tune, but one that everyone, including me plays.I saw FACES do this one night and after they finished Rod Stewart said, “I gave it a try but Mick owns it”.

Track 3:COUNTRY HONK: Didn’t make sense until you put it in perspective of HONKY TONK WOMAN. I really like this tune. Thanks Graham, I know this was you.

Track 4:LIVE WITH ME: Charlie lays it down, Bill bass lines are straight on, …“Don’t you think there is a place for you between the sheets”. What a great line but don’t try to use it. Bobby Keys nails this solo on sax, and I actually tried at the time of release to find out who this guy was.

SIDE 2: Track 1:LET IT BLEED:”There will always be a space in my parking lot”…No longer is music “I Wanna Hold your hand” we are now in a dirty, filthy basement, yeah man.

Track 2:MIDNIGHT RAMBLER: I had no idea what to make of this song, played it hundreds of times, trying to decipher what it was. THEN, I saw it live. My Lord. Now I knew. And about that moment I saw it live the ROLLING STONES became one of my all time favorite live bands.

Track 3:YOU GOT THE SILVER:It’s KEITH, say no more.The future of THE STONES.Brian is in there somewhere, so they say, but I don’t hear him.

Track 4:MONKEY MAN: A bit of Satantic Majesties kick off but then “all my friends are junkies” we are going down fast…I’m glad you are a monkey woman ,too”. Nicely, done.The guitars are intense.

Track 5: YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT: No words describe what I heard as a 17 year old male. The chorus, the horn, the acoustic guitar, Mick’s intro, “ but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need”….are they talking to me?

It’s the STONES I played all of 1969, saw a few others bands, but 1969 was…THE STONES and I saw them.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:CHAPTER 34-HONKY TONKING with THE STONES(1969)

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:CHAPTER 34-HONKY TONKING with THE STONES(1969)

Tried in vain to get STONES tickets for their MADISON SQUARE GARDEN performance. Skipping school the day tickets went on sale, I took the train after my Dad’s train so as to not be caught, to Brooklyn and then by subway to my cousin’s house off of Church Ave. When I arrived I asked my aunt not to say anything to my mom, her sister, when the spoke next. She just smiled.The  box office was to open at 10AM, which it did and the shows were SOLD OUT in a manner of minutes. The remaining ticketless crowd, us included, became restless and angry.  Not too happy, my cousin and I walked across Seventh Avenue toward the Blarney Rock to get a beer (phony ID worked since summer of 68 on Wall Street but no one asks for it) when we were confronted by a drunken “hard hat” who harassed us about long hair. It’s only noon and this dude is loaded. Sorry dude, wrong day, wrong guys, now you will find out that long haired kids who are pissed can fight. Down he went. Screw him. John left him crying in the street before putting a cigarette out on the guys forehead, all in front of a small crowd who did absolutely nothing, no lie, they just watched. After a few beers in THE ROCK  I was back on the train home before my folks knew I missed school.My aunt never told her sister.

However, The Rock Gods must have found redemption as a few night later while going to the aforementioned Cocker Show, I hit the Garden Box Office and found eight (8) tickets at 5 bucks each for a newly announced afternoon matinee show of… The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner and Terry Reid@ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN for November 28, 1969, the day after Thanksgiving at 2PM. Hallelujah, I’m in.

Trouble seemed to pop up when I least expected it. Never having a curfew I was free to come and go as I pleased since I was 14 with one caveat, “Remember who you are, you carry our name”. In other words, “Don’t screw up”. One night, I had a slight verbal disagreement with my mom before going out with my friends to a house party. Mom was an obsessive cleaner and re-arranger of furniture. Me, upon returning from the party about 2 AM, fully buzzed, quite intoxicated, and not knowing the kitchen table had been moved, bumped right into it, knocking over a chair with me falling to the floor. Lights on…Oh NOOOO. Mom was livid. She said Dad would deal with me. He came upstairs to my room, asking me if I was drinking, Yes I said, he said go to bed. That was it.

Mom, not satisfied the next morning with my light sentence  announced….No shows for a while. WHAT? But THE STONES!!!!! “NO,” she said, “sell the tickets, you are not going”. So maybe The Rock Gods did not find me in good standing.

Eight tickets, four for my cousin as promised with the four remaining for me. Geez, I was distraught. Dad said privately that I should give it a few days for it to blow over. YESSSS, I thought. “But”,he added….”But, what?”,I questioned. “You need to take your sister and brother with you”. But DAD?

So my sister being all of 11 was going to see the Stones, my brother at 16 was ecstatic, my girlfriend was not happy as unbeknownst to me she had promised the other two tickets to “her” friends, the other couple from The KinKs show. WHAT? She didn’t even ask me, me the guy who bought the tickets.Yet life was still good, it’s The STONES man and I’m going .Oh yeah, I also had to cut my hair, short.

Terry Reid (third time for me) was killer as an opening act. Ike and Tina’s Revue was tight but should have been called Tina Turner’s Revue, Then the point I had anticipated, light dimmed and I whispered to my girlfriend, “Watch my sister, I’ll be right back”. My cousin and I strolled the Garden and in short order returned with a nice buzz and , yes ,The Stones. And I won a buck by predicting the opening song, JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH. Easy to win a bet from some stoned freak who did not know the Stones were playing basically the same set every night. My girlfriend knew something was up with me and my cousin.

Beggars Banquet :The Best Album of 1969

Even though it was released in December of 1968, BEGGAR’S BANQUET was my most played album of 1969. I got that record the moment it was released and it very rarely left my turntable for one full year. Side 1, Side 2, back to Side 1, and on and on. There are very few albums I can said that about, very few albums I listen to in its entirety without getting bored by a clunker or two. I was enamored by this collection of Stones tunes. The slick printed cover (American version which was completely different from the British cover), the photo spread inside, and the music. These songs were individually and collectively a great relief, a wonderful change in direction from the ROLLING STONES ’67 set of THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, which I owned but never played all the way through. The only tunes I liked on TSMR were 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME and SHE’S A RAINBOW. The rest were rubbish.

Before SATANIC MAJESTIES I was stuck on BETWEEN THE BUTTONS(1967) (US version), especially side 1 which we played endlessly at my buddy George’s house.TSMR is/was nothing like BUTTONS. But then, BEGGAR’S BANQUET is released and with that a new STONES approach to the blues.The BB album was the real deal, and foreshadowed what would become of the STONES over the next few years and releases.  To my ears Beggar’s Banquet was a Keith album as Brian Jones due to “personal reasons” is limited here to slide guitar on NO EXPECTATIONS, a harmonica on PARACHUTE WOMAN, DEAR DOCTOR and PRODIGAL SON. It was the last ROLLING STONES album to be released during Brian Jones’ life.

Side One Track 1, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, just listen to the title before you put the needle down, WHAT? Sympathy for whom? Are you kidding me? Conga, screams, maracas, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and THE WORDS…PLEASE TO MEET YOU, seriously this is not Satanic Majesties at all. WOW.Then the voices, Get down,hit it, guitar riffs…six minutes plus of sheer ecstasy . I danced around my room so many times shaking imaginary maracas.

Track 2:NO EXPECTATIONS, Keith on acoustic, Brian in a semi-sober moment plays slide. Bill with a few bass thuds,I still play this tune on my guitar, “never in my sweet short life have I felt like this before”.

Track 3: DEAR DOCTOR, humorous to say the least..”Help me please Doctor I’m damaged”…“preserve it right there in that jar”. Sang this tune with like minded folks, very poor off keyed singers after a few cocktails.

Track 4:PARACHUTE WOMAN: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, some echo added to vocals, and Charlie beating it down, “join me for a ride”.

Track 5: JIGSAW PUZZLE: The drum beat is awesome, I played it thousands of time, Charlie was the man. “Me, I waiting so patiently, lying on the floor”.

SIDE TWO Track 1 STREET FIGHTING MAN: The guitar intro and then the drums…this was the tune revolutionaries were using as their theme song, well, pseudo- revolutionaries. Hey, it was a sign of the times.

Track 2: PRODIGAL SON: Not a Stones tune but a remake that they called their own.Charlie’s high hat work is exceptional, Mick’s vocals is a take on a blues man.

Track 3: STRAY CAT BLUES: This was sex, straight out.”I bet your mama don’t know you can scream like that”…

Track 4: FACTORY GIRL: I first thought this was the same riff from 2000 light years, but no. As I was working in a factory at the time this tune made so much sense.”Waiting for a factory girl…”

Track 5: SALT OF THE EARTH: This is the one that did it for me. Aren’t we all salt of the earth? and when the drums kick in….”Let’s drink to the uncounted heads”…these words made so much sense to me…and then the mention….  “A choice of cancer or polio”.

Salt Of The Earth

The Rolling Stones

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the lowly of birth

Raise your glass to the good and the evil

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier

Spare a thought for his back breaking work

Say a prayer for his wife and his children

Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd

A swirling mass of gray and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the uncounted heads

Let’s think of the wavering millions

Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter

His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows

And a parade of the gray suited grafters

A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd

A swirling mass of grays and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

Or don’t they look so strange

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s think of the lowly of birth

Spare a thought for the rag taggy people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the two thousand million

Let’s think of the humble of birth

So, I’m stuck on the STONES, not really shouting it out but I do like their most recent stuff (1968) more than the Beatles or anyone else at this time. Then, LET IT BLEED is released …

LET IT BLEED December 1969, I have it before Christmas and bought another copy to give my girlfriend as part of her Christmas gift package.

SIDE ONE: Track 1; GIMME SHELTER, Merry Clayton, just a shout away.  Charlie hitting the cymbals, harp playing. fade out, nicely done.

Track 2: LOVE IN VAIN: another stolen tune, but one that everyone, including me plays.I saw FACES do this one night and after they finished Rod Stewart said, “I gave it a try but Mick owns it”.

Track 3:COUNTRY HONK: Didn’t make sense until you put it in perspective of HONKY TONK WOMAN. I really like this tune. Thanks Graham, I know this was you.

Track 4:LIVE WITH ME: Charlie lays it down, Bill bass lines are straight on, …“Don’t you think there is a place for you between the sheets”. What a great line but don’t try to use it. Bobby Keys nails this solo on sax, and I actually tried at the time of release to find out who this guy was.

SIDE 2: Track 1:LET IT BLEED:”There will always be a space in my parking lot”…No longer is music “I Wanna Hold your hand” we are now in a dirty, filthy basement, yeah man.

Track 2:MIDNIGHT RAMBLER: I had no idea what to make of this song, played it hundreds of times, trying to decipher what it was. THEN, I saw it live. My Lord. Now I knew. And about that moment I saw it live the ROLLING STONES became one of my all time favorite live bands.

Track 3:YOU GOT THE SILVER:It’s KEITH, say no more.The future of THE STONES.Brian is in there somewhere, so they say, but I don’t hear him.

Track 4:MONKEY MAN: A bit of Satantic Majesties kick off but then “all my friends are junkies” we are going down fast…I’m glad you are a monkey woman ,too”. Nicely, done.The guitars are intense.

Track 5: YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT: No words describe what I heard as a 17 year old male. The chorus, the horn, the acoustic guitar, Mick’s intro, “ but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need”….are they talking to me?

It’s the STONES I played all of 1969, saw a few others bands, but 1969 was…THE STONES and I saw them.

ON THE TURNTABLE: Beggar’s Banquet/ Let It Bleed

Beggars Banquet :The Best Album of 1969

Even though it was released in December of 1968, BEGGAR’S BANQUET was my most played album of 1969. I got that record the moment it was released and it very rarely left my turntable for one full year. Side 1, Side 2, back to Side 1, and on and on. There are very few albums I can said that about, very few albums I listen to in its entirety without getting bored by a clunker or two. I was enamored by this collection of Stones tunes. The slick printed cover (American version which was completely different from the British cover), the photo spread inside, and the music. These songs were individually and collectively a great relief, a wonderful change in direction from the ROLLING STONES ’67 set of THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, which I owned but never played all the way through. The only tunes I liked on TSMR were 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME and SHE’S A RAINBOW. The rest were rubbish.

Before SATANIC MAJESTIES I was stuck on BETWEEN THE BUTTONS(1967) (US version), especially side 1 which we played endlessly at my buddy George’s house.TSMR is/was nothing like BUTTONS. But then, BEGGAR’S BANQUET is released and with that a new STONES approach to the blues.The BB album was the real deal, and foreshadowed what would become of the STONES over the next few years and releases.  To my ears Beggar’s Banquet was a Keith album as Brian Jones due to “personal reasons” is limited here to slide guitar on NO EXPECTATIONS, a harmonica on PARACHUTE WOMAN, DEAR DOCTOR and PRODIGAL SON. It was the last ROLLING STONES album to be released during Brian Jones’ life.

Side One Track 1, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, just listen to the title before you put the needle down, WHAT? Sympathy for whom? Are you kidding me? Conga, screams, maracas, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and THE WORDS…PLEASE TO MEET YOU, seriously this is not Satanic Majesties at all. WOW.Then the voices, Get down,hit it, guitar riffs…six minutes plus of sheer ecstasy . I danced around my room so many times shaking imaginary maracas.

Track 2:NO EXPECTATIONS, Keith on acoustic, Brian in a semi-sober moment plays slide. Bill with a few bass thuds,I still play this tune on my guitar, “never in my sweet short life have I felt like this before”.

Track 3: DEAR DOCTOR, humorous to say the least..”Help me please Doctor I’m damaged”…“preserve it right there in that jar”. Sang this tune with like minded folks, very poor off keyed singers after a few cocktails.

Track 4:PARACHUTE WOMAN: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, some echo added to vocals, and Charlie beating it down, “join me for a ride”.

Track 5: JIGSAW PUZZLE: The drum beat is awesome, I played it thousands of time, Charlie was the man. “Me, I waiting so patiently, lying on the floor”.

SIDE TWO Track 1 STREET FIGHTING MAN: The guitar intro and then the drums…this was the tune revolutionaries were using as their theme song, well, pseudo- revolutionaries. Hey, it was a sign of the times.

Track 2: PRODIGAL SON: Not a Stones tune but a remake that they called their own.Charlie’s high hat work is exceptional, Mick’s vocals is a take on a blues man.

Track 3: STRAY CAT BLUES: This was sex, straight out.”I bet your mama don’t know you can scream like that”…

Track 4: FACTORY GIRL: I first thought this was the same riff from 2000 light years, but no. As I was working in a factory at the time this tune made so much sense.”Waiting for a factory girl…”

Track 5: SALT OF THE EARTH: This is the one that did it for me. Aren’t we all salt of the earth? and when the drums kick in….”Let’s drink to the uncounted heads”…these words made so much sense to me…and then the mention….  “A choice of cancer or polio”.

Salt Of The Earth

The Rolling Stones

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the lowly of birth

Raise your glass to the good and the evil

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier

Spare a thought for his back breaking work

Say a prayer for his wife and his children

Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd

A swirling mass of gray and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the uncounted heads

Let’s think of the wavering millions

Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter

His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows

And a parade of the gray suited grafters

A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd

A swirling mass of grays and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

Or don’t they look so strange

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s think of the lowly of birth

Spare a thought for the rag taggy people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the two thousand million

Let’s think of the humble of birth

So, I’m stuck on the STONES, not really shouting it out but I do like their most recent stuff (1968) more than the Beatles or anyone else at this time. Then, LET IT BLEED is released …

LET IT BLEED December 1969, I have it before Christmas and bought another copy to give my girlfriend as part of her Christmas gift package.

SIDE ONE: Track 1; GIMME SHELTER, Merry Clayton, just a shout away.  Charlie hitting the cymbals, harp playing. fade out, nicely done.

Track 2: LOVE IN VAIN: another stolen tune, but one that everyone, including me plays.I saw FACES do this one night and after they finished Rod Stewart said, “I gave it a try but Mick owns it”.

Track 3:COUNTRY HONK: Didn’t make sense until you put it in perspective of HONKY TONK WOMAN. I really like this tune. Thanks Graham, I know this was you.

Track 4:LIVE WITH ME: Charlie lays it down, Bill bass lines are straight on, …“Don’t you think there is a place for you between the sheets”. What a great line but don’t try to use it. Bobby Keys nails this solo on sax, and I actually tried at the time of release to find out who this guy was.

SIDE 2: Track 1:LET IT BLEED:”There will always be a space in my parking lot”…No longer is music “I Wanna Hold your hand” we are now in a dirty, filthy basement, yeah man.

Track 2:MIDNIGHT RAMBLER: I had no idea what to make of this song, played it hundreds of times, trying to decipher what it was. THEN, I saw it live. My Lord. Now I knew. And about that moment I saw it live the ROLLING STONES became one of my all time favorite live bands.

Track 3:YOU GOT THE SILVER:It’s KEITH, say no more.The future of THE STONES.Brian is in there somewhere, so they say, but I don’t hear him.

Track 4:MONKEY MAN: A bit of Satantic Majesties kick off but then “all my friends are junkies” we are going down fast…I’m glad you are a monkey woman ,too”. Nicely, done.The guitars are intense.

Track 5: YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT: No words describe what I heard as a 17 year old male. The chorus, the horn, the acoustic guitar, Mick’s intro, “ but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need”….are they talking to me?

It’s the STONES I played all of 1969, saw a few others bands, but 1969 was…THE STONES and I saw them.