Frank Zappa would be 70 today....RIP...aka "Guitar Notes That Irritate"

12/21/10

beeradvocate.com rating- B

Blue Point Winter Lager- Euro Market, 31 St. Astoria, NY- 12 oz. Bottle into Pub Glass- 5.5% ABV- Poured with a nice 1 1/2 finger head which dissipated pretty quickly and left a thin web of lacing on the glass. Clear reddish brown color. Nice mouth feel a little on the light side of medium but has a creaminess to it. Average carbonation. I smell malts, grapes and maybe some raisins in here. This is not a bad beer, i'd say it is very drinkable if I don't focus on the "grape" aroma which is reminding me a bit of wine. This is pretty low in the ABV but I do sense a bit of alcohol warmth from this one in a not unpleasant way. I think I like this beer an would try it on tap I definitely like it better than the Magic Hat winter lager I had last week.

On the turntable is double LP Bootleg (unofficial release) called Fred Zappaelin- Frank Zappa- Recorded in multiple venues from Europe and the USA in 1980 by Zappa and his current band of the time distributed by the Mudshark Label.



Bootleg info provided by www.lukpac.org:

Issued in December 1980 with a black & white paper insert. The original edition was 2000 copies, but a re-press of 500 copies came in a deluxe color sleeve, and another 500 copies were pressed on colored vinyl.
This boot was made from a soundboard tape stolen from Carlos Santana's luggage at a hotel in New Haven, Connecticut, where Carlos was staying after a concert at the "New Haven Coliseum" [?]. Crazy but true. (A "friend of the thief" has been in touch, reporting that he also came by some Santana tapes of the same time period, as "both Frank and Santana were touring Europe at the same time".)

Frank Zappa would have been 70 yrs old today so I am listening to this as a tribute to him. Ironically Zappa's cohort Captain Beefheart passed away at age 69 a few days ago. I have a large Zappa collection which started about 5-6 yrs ago after reading Zappa by Barry Miles which was given to me for my birthday on December 19 as a gift from my mom. I subsequently got really into Zappa through his studio albums which I mostly have on CD. I chose this bootleg instead of a studio album as a reminder of how much the music industry has changed. These type of illicit bootlegs are basically extinct today because they are unnecessary in the advent of the internet. They are an interesting indicator of the dedication to artists that fans no longer have for current day artists. To produce these bootlegs one had to actively participate in criminal activity and in the case of the Mudshark Label founder he eventually served time in prison. One can argue the fact that these bootleggers were stealing from the musicians who created this music but one also must take into account who was the audience for these bootlegs, the hardcore fans. It is fairly safe to assume that no one was going to simply buy these bootlegs and not the studio albums. Most bootleg consumers were fans so infatuated with their favorite groups or artists and were willing to buy "more" than what was commercially available through mail order and under the counter transactions in brick and mortar record stores. In the case of Zappa he openly condemned bootleggers, but I theorize, he was most unhappy with the bootleggers making money of his fans. In one case Zappa openly encouraged fans to tape record his music off the radio when he broadcast his "Lather" acetates after they became caught up in legal limbo with Warner Bros. There is something special about these bootleg LP's. In the case of this LP the cover is handmade with Xeroxed pictures and setlists and the record labels themselves are all different with individual titles. This was obviously prepared by someone who was not "in it for the money." This type of product borders on folk art in my opinion.

A few years later I read Cosmic Debris: The Collected History & Improvisations of Frank Zappa by Greg Russo and started getting hardcore into Zappa bootlegs i.e. live concert recordings via the peer sharing website zappateers.com. The live recordings were what really hooked me on Zappa especially those which included his prodigious guitar workouts enhanced by his use of a wah-wah pedal which he used in a more refined sense as a tone controller. I currently have about 125 live recordings ranging from the late sixties up until the late 1980's. In addition I acquired about 40 or so hours of interviews culled and compiled from radio stations, magazine interviews, television which are fantastic and fascinating. For about a year that is all I listened to when I got on the subway at 5:30am. My sweet spot for Zappa is 1969-1974 give or take a year or two.

The Cosmic Debris book really opened my eyes to the culture and mythology surrounding Zappa's life and work. Conceptual Continuity, Los Angeles, Doo Wop, Stravinsky and Edgar Varese were some of the influences and ideas described in the book, as well as analysis of his studio albums, which helped me understand Zappa more than I would have. The vast amount of recorded output and the array of themes explored over the course of his lifetime as a musician is hard to get your head around at first especially when you are starting from scratch. I encountered a similar problem when I first started listening to John Coltrane. Not only was I a complete novice as far as jazz experience goes but his musical phases were very different. From his early years as a sideman to the avante garde of his Impulse! catalog I was pretty lost on where to begin and it took me a while to fully appreciate his immense catalog. I think Zappa is genuinely misunderstood by the general public and one of the few true geniuses in rock n' roll. That is not to say I agree with all his methods or opinions because he actually spent alot of time disparaging artists that I enjoy.

"Well, the conceptual continuity is this: everything, even this interview, is part of what I do for, let's call it, my entertainment work. And there's a big difference between sitting here and talking about this kind of stuff, and writing a song like 'Titties and Beer'. But as far as I'm concerned, it's all part of the same continuity. It's all one piece. It all relates in some weird way back to the focal point of what's going on." — Frank Zappa, Interview by Bob Marshall, October 22, 1988.

provided from wiki.killuglyradio.com

I am often asking myself the question."Does humor belong in music?" which in fact Zappa named one of his live compilation albums. In some ways it does and some ways it doesn't. Minstrel show artists, hillbilly singers and blues guys incorporated comic elements in their music. The Beastie Boys certainly included humor in there music. After listening to Paul's Boutique for the last few days I was wondering if there was any way to apply the idea of "conceptual continuity" to their work. Primus, a direct descendant of Zappa, was a really funny group lyrically and musically. Winonna's Big Brown Beaver, Nature Boy and Those Damned Blue Collar Tweaker's to name a few songs used to make me and my friends laugh out loud. Country and Western and R&B artists from the beginning of the genres all had comical songs in their repertoire. Music certainly does take itself to seriously sometimes. Music also is unintentionally funny. Check out Will Smith's daughters single "Whip My Hair Around". It would be fun to see what Zappa thought of that song. Howard Stern certainly had some fun with it on his show a few weeks back.

"What's cooler than getting sued by the Beatles?" quote from Mike D. of the Beastie Boys

12/16/10

beeradvocate.com rating- B

Magic Hat Howl Winter Lager- Key Food, Forest Hills Queens-12oz bottle into Brandy Snifter- 4.6% ABV- Poured a dark brown with hints of red around the edges when held to the light. Pretty nice dense head yellowish in color. Medium carbonation with a medium to light mouthfeel. Poured like a stout but has more of a lager feel in the mouth. Taste and aroma have bits of coffee and dark chocolate. This was a good beer but I would like less of a lager feel, with more body in the mouth. Also the coffee qualities make this a beer I wouldn't really reach for under normal circumstances but not bad for a winter night which this is designed for. Was a little more pleasant when it warmed up a bit.

On the turntable is Paul’s Boutique- Beastie Boys- Released by Capitol Records in 1989- I looked up on the wall at one of my regular record stores buying some LP's to give as gifts and there it was! I was momentarily speechless, I had some reservation this may have been a reissue when I first saw it. But upon further inspection it proved to be the real deal, a first pressing Paul’s Boutique LP by the Beastie Boys. This was definitely a cool find and for under $20 it was no doubt a steal. I don't really understand why it was less than $20 condition wise the record had no real imperfections but there was some schmegma on the sleeve but nothing that really took away from its presentation. I have never seen this record in any store or at any show and even on Ebay I haven’t seen it to many times for a reasonable price. The Twentieth Anniversary reissue on LP and CD were out two years ago and I actually bought the CD (which was sadly lack in extras, but I needed a new copy anyway. This record unfortunately will not be staying in my collection it is definitely going to be gifted to my friend who gave me my first record player and records and to my knowledge does not have an original pressing of this LP despite having all the other original Beastie Boys LP’s. However since it is temporarily in my possession I figured why not do a blog about it since I don't expect to see this one again anytime soon.




This is record without much comparison. It could have been the Sgt. Pepper’s of my generation, but not enough people heard it the first time around. After the runaway success of Licensed To Ill the Beastie Boys went west and landed in Los Angeles and with the help of the production team known as the Dust Brothers brewed up this masterpiece of modern music. Dense layers of samples and swinging lyrics created an unparalleled record that begs to be listened to from beginning to end. With one song blending into the next sometimes seamlessly occasionally abruptly these songs were connected through a series of samples, guitar riffs, sound effects (i.e. drumbreaks, bonghits, etc.) and in one instance Johnny Cash. When I first heard this record it was shortly before Check Your Head was issued in 1992 and I was a bit taken a back. I certainly had known of the Beastie Boys from Licensed to Ill as a grade school kid but I didn't buy this album till my friend showed it to me in the spring of 1992. I have to say it took me a few listens to really get my head around it since I had never heard anything like it before. But soon enough Egg Man, High Plains Drifter and Looking Down The Barrel of A Gun captured my attention and I was hooked. Alot of the cultural references were a bit lost on me as a 17 year old and the music sampled therein was for the most part foreign to me. Frankly I don't know if I could have named any of the songs or the artists who sung them when I first heard this album. In the end it didn't matter, it was music that captured my imagination and probably in someway steered me towards a life in New York City. The Beastie Boys are also in part responsible for me becoming a bit of a record/music fiend. I always loved music but the diversity that was going on on the Beastie Boys records really opened my ears to the variety of music out there. The Beastie Boys also don't get enough credit for their "musical" influence on a whole generation of music fans who were unwittingly exposed to a wide range of music and artists who had been largely ignored in the era of MTV and corporate radio. Some of my favorite records which I found early on when I started buying records were records sampled by the Beastie Boys and I didn't know it until I heard them (i.e. Johnny Hammond, Sly Stone to name a few). This was in the days before the internet. Now all their samples are compiled on websites, a good one being, for those interested is http://miscreant-productions.blogspot.com. I love their lyrics but more importantly I loved the music that supported the lyrics. Not just the heavy stuff, which I was accustomed to, like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin but more unfamiliar genres like jazz, funk and dare I say the Eagles. The only way to find some of that music at the time was to go out and look for the records which I did, and restlessly in a sense, continue to do.

If only Elvis could have played "Freeborn Man" circa 1970...

"Freeborn Man" MP3



beeradvocate.com rating- A-

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale- Community Beverage, Queens, NY- 24 OZ. bomber into Pub Glass- 6.8% ABV- Yes another Sierra Beer but it is the winter version of their Celebration Ale and it was on sale for $3 and change at my local store so I decided to try it. Poured a hazy orange with reddish highlights. Again like the last Sierra beer this has a nice rich frothy head, cratered with good retention. Very piney aroma, damn, it reminds me of one of those pine tree air fresheners. Wow, I don't think I've ever had a beer so piney, even last beer weeks was not as strong as this. Pretty nice mouth feel, on the lighter side of medium bodied. Moderate carbonation. Taste, is well, piney and bitter and a tad malty. Not as well balanced as the previous week's beer and I don't think this is for me. But I do get a bit more alcohol warmth from this which is nice on a cold night like tonight. I would have preferred some more spices in this to round out the pine qualities.

On the turntable is Games People Play/ These Are Not My People- Freddy Weller- Recorded in 1969 for Columbia presumably in California but the jacket does not indicate. This record is a lesson in digging in the crates. When you go out record shopping any respectable record store there should be crates of cheap records on the floor, at least that is my opinion. Problem is I don't always feel like getting down on my knees and going through the effort of digging through the dregs in the hopes of finding at least one gem. Sometimes though you just suck it up and do it. Recently I was crouched underneath some large shelves of records digging through hundreds of records when I came across the above record. I recognized the name Freddy Weller and had a faint suspicion Clarence White had played with him at some point but wasn't sure when or on which record. I turned over the back and this is what I saw:



Jackpot!!! Clarence White (of the Byrds) on guitar, Red Rhodes on steel guitar and Glen D. Hardin on Piano. I was psyched and for $2 I was even more happy. This is what digging is all about and keeps me going because you really never know what you will find and when you find something like this in an unexpected place it definitely gets your blood pumping. The fact that Clarence White was on this record was good enough. The realization one of my favorite steel guitar players was on here and one of my new favorite musicians Glen Hardin from Elvis Presley's TCB band was really cool. I got hip to Glen Hardin after watching That's The Way It Is the concert film made about Elvis' first shows in Las Vegas and subsequently hunting down bootlegs of shows from that period. He's a great piano player and in addition to Elvis has played on classic albums with Merle haggard, Emmylou Harris and others. Where did these guys find the time. Red Rhodes was a West Coast based steel guitar player. Additionally he developed a guitar pickup called the Velvet Hammer used by Clarence White, James Burton and even Joan Jett. He was a country player no doubt but hooked with the country rock crowd which was brewing up in Los Angeles in the late sixties through the mid seventies. Some excellent examples of his playing can be found on former Monkee Mike Nesmith's First National Band records, Bert Jansch's L.A. Turnaround LP recently reissued on CD as well as dozens of others. I really like his style of steel playing which is versatile in its elegance, percussive attack and phrasing. It has elements shared with Hawaiian steel guitar where the instrument developed but also has ethereal qualities, reminiscent of Sneaky Pete Kleinow. These ethereal qualities are not always found in country players but are really evident in the First National Band recordings and with Bert Jansch and probably helped Rhodes crossover to less traditional artists.

As for Freddy Weller, the subject of the post to begin with, he was a one time member of Paul Revere and the Raiders a slightly ill conceived mid sixties "garage rock" group who actually dressed as Revolutionary War era soldiers. The music however was popular and in the vein of the British invasion groups popular at the time. From videos I have seen on youtube Mr. Weller was an accomplished guitar player and a fine singer as evidenced on this album. This album has some excellent guitar and steel guitar breaks on it. The song Birmingham has some particularly fleet fingered runs which compliment one other in a wiry haze. A smoking version of Freeborn Man was included, a song written by Keith Allison and Mark Lindsay from Paul Revere and the Raiders, and could have been a perfect song for Elvis Presley circa 1970-1972 with the TCB Band.

Dylan, Desire and a Harvest Ale

11/30/10

beeradvocate.com rating- A-

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale- Community Beverage, Queens, NY- 22 OZ. bomber into Pub Glass- 6.7% ABV- Weather wise today is not an optimum beer drinking day, 60 degrees, rainy November 30, 2010, but with the holiday I wasn't able to do a review last week but I wanted to try and do one more review by the end of November so here it is. My first wet-hopped ale, which is from what I read, when the brewer brews with some portion of hops harvested within 24 hrs. of brewing. Thus the hops retain much of the water lost when hops are aged thus the name "wet" hopped. Clear amber in color. This beer poured with a creamy, dense head which retained nicely. It also left a mixture of lacing and rings on the glass. I definitely smell the hops in this one which are more pungent than I am used to and they definitely have a grassy, piney quality. From what I read these "wet" hops add more dimension to the aroma of the beer than the taste. Nice medium bodied mouthfeel and minimum carbonation. This is a nice beer with bitterness of the hops fairly well balanced. It is a beer that I am happy to try and may have again but not something I would consider a personal favorite, but certainly well crafted.



On the turntable is Desire- Bob Dylan- Recorded for Columbia Records in January 1976. Currently I am reading a newly published book by Sean Wilentz which I got from the library called Bob Dylan In America. It got me to thinking about my own relationship to Dylan. In December 2002 I bought Bob Dylan Live 1975 (The Bootleg Series Volume 5, Live) on a whim as my Christmas present to myself. It was a fortuitous purchase because it opened me to a world of Dylan that I had never experienced. I had largely ignored his career post Nashville Skyline. I was a big fan of his early albums and certainly was also a fan of his electric album my favorite being Blonde On Blonde but I had never really gotten into anything after the late sixties. I can’t tell you why, probably just a lack of exposure. I had grown up during a time where Dylan was kind of perceived as washed up. I alos had a vague bias of his 70’s period but for some reason had no real interest in digging any further informed by rumors I heard he turned "religous." Obviously this rumor was partly true but it was not until the last quarter of the decade that he trruly started making identifiable non-secular records. That fateful snowy, Saturday afternoon everything changed as far as my perception of Dylan went. From the get go Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You pulled me in with a raging sonic palate I was unprepared for. Romance In Durango, Sara, Isis, and One More Cup of Coffee were completely foreign to me. The songs I was familiar with had been re-imagined with bolder arrangements and often a new dramatic sense of urgency. Specifically, It Ain’t Me Babe and A Hard Rains Gonna Fall were filled with surging new rhythms and Dylan’s voice seemed more masculine, mature and passionate. Honky swells of pedal steel and squealing, modal fiddle runs dominated many instrumental passages. I soon realized I was going to need to find the original versions of these songs. Which brings us to today’s LP, Desire. I have heard people say they prefer Blood On The Tracks and it is hard to argue with Tangled Up In Blue, Idiot Wind or Simple Twist of Fate. But over time I have found myself more drawn to and have logged more hours with the LP Desire. Though lacking in some of the dramatic sweep and instrumentation of the Rolling Thunder Revue bootleg songs like Joey, Romance in Durango, One More Cup of Coffee and Sara are all wonderful in there sparser, original LP versions. Joey and Romance In Durango are the two songs for me which really pull me. Both songs are visually suggestive and Dylan becomes both a historical narrartor and pulp-noir novel author. The spaces these songs both inhabit are different geographically but a wonderful sense of the past is evoked in both.From the gritty streets of the Brooklyn Waterfront populated by Longshoreman and Union Organizers to the dusty, cantinas of Mexico where traditional bands are heard in the background. These songs all really continue a cinematic tone as well as the influence of Norman Raeben, artist and Dylans art teacher at the time, first established in songs like Tangled Up In Blue from Blood On The Tracks. These songs feel like a series of vingettes, often evoking real and possibly imaginary events and are visually detailed. The songs on Blood On The Tracks feel a bit more connected emotionally and/or thematically than Desire but I think the songs on Desire share over-arching themes namely: restlessness, travel and outlaws that give this album a conceptual feel even if the songs are not happening in sequence or involving the same characters. After referring to Wikipedia for some album information I learned a number of these songs were co-written by Jaques Levy, who co-wrote one of my favorite Byrds songs with Roger McGuinn, Chestnut Mare. Inspired by my current reading I will be doing a post in the future involving the composer Aaron Copland which the author Sean Wilentz suggests had parallel experiences and influences with Dylan.

11/17/10

beeradvocate.com- B+

Goose Island India Pale Ale- Euro Market, 31 St. Astoria, NY- 12 oz. Bottle into Brandy Snifter- 5.9% ABV- Chicago, IL-Tried a new beer store this week in Astoria, Queens and was pleasantly suprise. I think this store has been around for a while and had a pretty extensive selection of brews and they will sell you single 12 oz. bottles which is cool. This weeks beer is Goose Island IPA which I had once before in the form of a post record shopping pint. I had only planned on one pint but ended up having three since I ended up enjoying it so much. This is described as an English IPA and poured a golden, orange. Dense creamy, head which layered upwards above the rim of the glass. Retention was strong, and the head was still around well after I started drinking. Strong grapefruit aroma. Lots of small sparkling bubbles. Great medium bodied mouthfeel. This beer is great! For me this is what I want when I am drinking an IPA. It has some nice bitter qualities but not so much so that it turns into an Imperial/ Double IPA. Also, the ABV is just enough that it won't knock you on your ass and you can sit back and enjoy a few of these.This beer is definitely a beer I would go back to if I find it on tap or in a store.



On the turntable is This Girls In Love With You- Aretha Franklin- Recorded at Criteria Studios, Miami- 1970- Its hard sometimes getting past preconceived notions regarding artist you don't grow up with. The Aretha Franklin I grew up knowing was far different from the Aretha Franklin of the 60's and 70's. Just the other day I saw her in a Snickers candy bar commercial!? I a few years back, maybe in the late 90's, I saw her sharing the stage with far less interesting characters like Mariah Carey and Christina Aguliera. I realize this a way to market her to a younger audience but in my opinion she shouldn't even be on the same stage as them. Aretha Franklin when she was a young woman was the real deal, a contemporary of Sam Cooke and an extremely expressive artist the like of which we don't see to much these days. I bought this record on the strength of Dark End of the Street, a favorite of mine. It is a nice version of the song but didn't have quite the power of the original or other versions I have heard. However I was very impressed with her version of Son of A Preacher Man which blows the doors off the more commonly known Janis Joplin rendition. Let It Be by The Beatles is also included and her version is probably the best version I have heard besides the original and it brings out religious undertones that wouldn't make this song seem out of place in church. The Weight by The Band is also here and is reminiscent of the Staple Singers version preformed in the studio for the film the Last Waltz. A familiar sounding slide guitar sets the stage in the first few bars of the song and is most likely being delivered by Duane Allman who is listed as on of the session musicians. This is a really cool record, unfortunately my copy is very scratched and the audio suffers a bit as a result but not enough to detract from the overall experience of these songs.

11/11/10

beeradvocate.com- B+

Watkins OSB Old Style Bitter- New Beer Distributors, Chrystie Street New York, NY-16.9 oz. bottle into Pub Glass- 4.5% ABV- From the U.K. I have always wanted to drink a Bitter style beer, but I have never been to England and going into a bar in NYC and asking for "pint of bitter" would make me look like a jackass. But I found this at downtown shop and thought I would give it a try even though the style is probably best experienced from a cask, in an English pub. Poured light brown with an orange hue, quite cloudy. Nice head which did not retain very long. Little to no lacing. Malty, possibly fruity aroma. Raisins, apples? Minimal carbonation, kind of reminds me of the barley wine i had a few months ago. In my opinion this has some wheat beer qualities, it definitely does not taste like a pilsner or a traditional ale but maybe somewhere in between. Definitely bitter in a way I am not used to. I actually like this quite a bit and could see myself putting a few of these away. Would love to try it on draft since this has probably been in the bottle for sometime, but actually still tastes fairly fresh based on my limited experience with the style.

On the turntable is The Crossing- Big Country. Recorded in 1983 presumably in Scotland where the band originates. I bought this 6 or 7 years ago at a record sale in Tribeca put on by an organization who is in the process of developing a collection of every recorded piece of music ever. The groups name escapes me now but on the board sits Lou Reed, Keith Richards, etc. They have a sale just about every December to get rid of whatever they don't need which they receive through donations. Its a pretty good sale for "staple" records but I have never found anything to unique but definitely filled some holes in my own collection. I bought this album as merely a fan of the song "In A Big Country." Often times I will buy a record based on its cover and often times the music is not nearly as good as the cover. In this case the music is far superior to the cover. To my eyes this cover resembles some cheap 12' inch dance single and does not indicate in any way the quality material which is on this album.. I knew nothing of their other material and I was happy to learn that this album is great front to back with no filler that I can hear. I spent the day out at the beach (Veterans Day, I had a holiday) with a few friends and my godson. There is nothing like being at the beach in the fall and as much as i like going to the beach in the summer being at the beach in the fall is something I really enjoy and don't get to do often enough. For some reason it makes me feel very alive. This album is atmospheric and gives one the sense of standing on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Subliminally maybe its the video for In A Big Country that does this. It features sense of the band on 3 wheeler's driving along the Scottish coastline. But I have only the seen the video a handful of times and I don't think its really that. Its the music itself which has a vast sense of space and the chiming guitars. I read the guitar player used various effects and an e-bow to create the chimey, bagpipe style guitar lines which serve these songs quite well. Stuart Adamson also had a wonderful voice, a bit raspy, and projected with great emotion. Its unfortunate that he committed suicide in 2001. Its also unfortunate that among all of the 80's bands that get mentioned these days and their influence on so many new bands that Big Country is hardly ever mentioned. Based on this LP alone they deserve to mentioned with the same reverence as say Echo and the Bunnymen who in alot ways share similar qualities as Big Country.

Geary's Autumn Ale- Greenpoint, Brooklyn- 32 oz- Poured in to Pub Glass- 5.8% ABV- Described as an English Brown Ale out of Geary's Brewery in Maine pours a deep brown reddish, translucent color. Thick foamy, yellowish head which receded quickly and left little lacing. Rich malty smell with maybe some molasses or spices associated with fall (nutmeg, brown sugar, etc.) Nice body, medium to light, and not very carbonated. I have not had to many brown, English ales but this is what I expect from them. A little to malty for my taste, maple syrupy elements? A slight funky aftertaste if you dwell on it but overall a good beer and definitely as advertised. A good beer for a night like tonight, cool early November. Tastes very fresh, since I bought today

On the turntable is In Concert- Derrick and the Dominos Recorded in October 1970 at The Fillmore East, NYC. From the looks of this record sleeve it appears it spent sometime in the cut-out bin but for the $1.00 it cost me it was worth it. Did Derrick get his groove back with the Dominos? Most would say yes. Following his success with Cream and arguably the first supergroup Blind Faith it has been written that Clapton was burnt out by both superstardom and the direction his music was moving in. Which explains why the next band he fronted was recorded in under an alias. But lets be real no alias was going to be able to keep Clapton out of the public eye in the early seventies. My relationship with Eric Clapton has been a mixed one. Growing up I had Cream tapes I was quite fond of but I didn't really listen to much more of his catalog. Tales of Brave Ullyesess and White Room among others were favorites of mine as a 15 year old. After college I discovered Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and his album with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, which I loved. My issue with Clapton is I always found his guitar playing to be a bit clinical for me following the "Layla" period. Now that said, I wish I had a fragment of his talent, but, as an artist I don't think he was ever able to get past his own god given talent on the guitar and the success and devotion he experienced at such an early age. At the same time I think Clapton realized this and did his best to seek out soulful players who could both elevate his playing and reign in the cult of his followers. He was also desperately seeking a "salt" of the earth vibe for his music. I don't know if Clapton feels like he ever met his musical match but I have read that he felt Duane Allman was the closest he got to a musical soul brother. The album I'm listening to is definitely a testament to Claptons' ability to swing and give us a good measure grittieness. Backed by Bobby Whitlock and Carl Radle of Delaney and Bonnie's backing band, who brought Clapton out on road with there Bonnie Delaney and Friends Tour. On the drumstool for the Fillmore dates and in the Dominos was Jim Gordon a member of the often incestuous lot of Los Angeles session players who graced hundreds of records from the sixties and seventies and who has been mentioned in other posts on this blog. Jim Gordon is a one of a kind of drummer we most likely won't see the likes of again. Just head on over to wikipedia if you want to learn more. The fact that he played the piano interlude on the classic "Layla" track, suffered from schizophrenia and ultimately was charged with the murder of his mother only adds chilling depth to what was already a unique place in musical culture. This album is tight musically from the get go. It has been re-released in CD form as Derrick and The Dominos Live at The Fillmore but the original Double LP was augmented by other tracks recorded at the Fillmore dates and some of the original tracks on the LP were left by the wayside. One thing that stands out for me on this album is Clapton's magnificent guitar tone and some nice passages where he tastefully employed a Wah-Wah pedal. If they could bottle that tone in a pedal and market it I would probably buy it. From the gatefold sleeve it looks like he was using his 1956 Fender Stratocaster "Brownie". Whatever he was playing and/or playing through that tone is wonderful.