Tuesday 17 August 2010

Ooh, Honky Tonk

Acquired this from a guy who ran an indie record shop in Finchley.
He was an extreme Deadhead - aren't they all - and because Jerry Garcia plays lead on the opening track this guy had a handful of these.

He gave a copy to me not because we shared a common love for all things Dead but due to my interest in the music of Jorma Kaukonen; which just so happens to be the stand-out material on this collection.

Kaukonen's acoustic recordings are really where his chops lie, and there's a couple of fine pieces here: one solo track from Too Hot to Handle, and one track unique to this sampler with "special friend" [!] Robert Zantay; he plays the lyricon; whatever the heck that is.

There's also a tasty Hot Tuna track; beefed up greatly by Kaukonen and Casady jamming with notes unleashed by Papa John Creach and his soaring, magic fiddle.

As for the other tracks; well they're okay: the Savoy Brown tunes are pretty good; The Burritos are good, but essentially this really showcases Kaukonen's work.

This was released on CD - although now deleted - but the Kaukonen tracks weren't included; making this little selection even more special.

O thank you Deadhead from the past... and I hope you are still alive and kicking.

Various Artists - The Relix Sampler (1985)

Decent rip from vinyl @320kbs
A little surface noise - not the best of pressings; "Side 2" is better.
Sampler here

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, this looks interesting--thanks!

by the way, a lyricon was an early wind-controlled synth controller that horn/reed/woodwind/sax players used, developed in the 70s. I know that Bennie Maupin of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters played one.