The Jeff Beck Group - Marquee Club, London, Britain, 9-26-1967 | Albums That Should Exist! Wow EARLY MAESTRO!

 The Jeff Beck Group - Marquee Club, London, Britain, 9-26-1967

Paul says: There are surprisingly few decent sounding concert bootlegs by the early Jeff Beck Group, when Jeff Beck joined forces with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood for three years in the late 1960s. This one has been shared as a bootleg for ages, but the sound quality was just okay, in my opinion. However, in 2023, a person named Goody made a bunch of sonic fixes to it. Goody always does good work, and indeed the Goody version sounds much better. However, there still were some issues. I made some more audio edits, so it sounds better still.

The Jeff Beck Group was formed in early 1967. Soon, the band recorded two singles, which were hits in Britain: "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman." However, these were songs imposed on them by pop producer Mickie Most, and the band didn't really like them much. You can actually hear Stewart mocking them a bit in banter between songs here, by asking the audience if the band should play "Hi Ho Silver Lining" or "Tallyman," and then playing neither of them. Despite the two hits, the band was still relatively unknown at the time of this concert. Stewart, especially, would go on to become a rock superstar later, but at this time he was an unknown. That's why the poster for this concert only mentioned "Jeff Beck," without even adding the "Group" part. Beck, at least, had developed an impressive reputation as a lead guitarist in the Yardbirds.

The band's first album, "Truth," wouldn't be released until July 1968. At this point, they were touring to improve their musical chemistry and boost their reputation. So it's interesting to have a concert recording of this band at this relatively early stage. Only three of the songs performed here, "Let Me Love You," "I Ain't Superstitious," and "Rock My Plimsoul," would make it onto "Truth."

Regarding the additional audio edits I made, as mentioned above, the big problem as I saw is was that the vocals were way too low in the mix. Goody has a different approach than I do, fixing problems like adjusting the azimuth, pitch, and phase, but not making drastic changes. Whereas I'm all in favor of drastic changes if I think it improves the recording. So I greatly boosted the vocals relative to the instruments. I think it sounds much better now, though note this is still an audience bootleg, not something of pristine soundboard quality.

The last song, "I Can't Hold Out," is the second time that song was performed in this concert. I'm guessing the band played two sets, but for some reason only a bit of one of the sets was recorded. One can hear right at the end of that song Stewart announcing "Let Me Love You" as the next song, which was exactly the same earlier in the album. Also, the first half a minute or so of that song was missing. It was a lucky thing we have the other version, because I was able to use that to patch in the missing part. That's why that song has "[Edit]" in its title. 

This album is 49 minutes long.

01 Stone Cold Crazy (Jeff Beck Group)
02 talk (Jeff Beck Group)
03 I Can't Hold Out (Jeff Beck Group)
04 talk (Jeff Beck Group)
05 Let Me Love You (Jeff Beck Group)
06 talk (Jeff Beck Group)
07 I Ain't Superstitious (Jeff Beck Group)
08 talk (Jeff Beck Group)
09 I Think I'll Be Leaving This Morning (Jeff Beck Group)
10 talk (Jeff Beck Group)
11 Rock My Plimsoul (Jeff Beck Group)
12 Jeff's Boogie [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck Group)
13 Wee Wee Baby (Jeff Beck Group)
14 [I Know] I'm Losing You (Jeff Beck Group)
15 talk (Jeff Beck Group)
16 Oh Pretty Woman (Jeff Beck Group)
17 I Can't Hold Out [Second Version] [Edit] (Jeff Beck Group)

Paul adds: 

"The cover art is rather strange this time. That's because I found the poster from a concert by this band that took place just three nights later. I liked it and decided to use it. 

If the style looks familiar to you, that's because it was made by Martin Sharp, the same person who made the cover art for the Cream albums "Disraeli Gears" and "Wheels of Fire." (He also wrote the lyrics of the Cream songs "Tales of Brave Ulysses and "Anyone for Tennis".) I had to make some adjustments to get the rectangular poster fit into a square space. The main thing I did was remove the venue name (UFO Roundhouse) and replace that with "Jeff Beck" from lower in the poster. Then I added some more text at the bottom. I've included the entire poster here, since it's so interesting.”

Frankly I LOVE it! (Loved Sharp’s work always . . . . )

Jeff’s Boogie -(live) 1968!

Jake Bugg - "Lightning Bolt” [found on Netflix’ LUCIFER’!) plus Tom Ellis +

 I was binge watching the hysterical ‘Lucifer’* on Netflix last night and found this version of dear Jake Bugg’s ‘Lightning Bolt’ and thought what ever happened to him? He is simply on his sixth album and I need to go check him out . . . meanwhile

Jake Bugg - "Lightning Bolt” from eight years ago!

* I watched this for it starring our very own tall dark and handsome Tom Ellis who we like very much and his sneaking of British vernacular past the American script writers struck me as hysterical (“Wanker”, “Bollocks!” etc)

LUCIFER’S WEBSITE [Netflix]

Didn’t the Merkin Christian right get their feathers in a twist over this!?

Top Ten Films? (KURT COBAIN’S CHOICE!)

I thought this was quite interesting . . .not exactly any great surprises but I can’t really disagree with him . . . . . . several of my own personal favourites and including what I consider to be the Best Hitchcock Movie of all time

 

Art of the Day: CECILY BROWN

I really like Cecily Brown and collect photos of her work . . .the source material for her paintings is exceptionally interesting . . . . . . 

Untitled, 

Cecily Brown, 2009

Oil on canvas

12 ½ x 17 in. (31.8 x 43.2 cm)

 

Wigging out! Mick Taylor ‘Fro! Stevie Ray says ‘Give me Back My Wig!

You remember Clapton getting a perm!? Well here’s Mick (Taylor that is!) and I trust that’s a wig!

 surely they couldn’t perm what he had into THAT!?t

I like to think this is a piss take but I have a horrible feeling it won’t be!

Stevie Ray Vaughan Give Me Back My Wig Live In Montreux

Brian Eno & David Byrne - The Carrier [My Life In The Bush of Ghosts] | jt1674

 . . . .another track from a favourite album Eno / Byrne’s My Life In The Bush of Ghosts 

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/824574393813516288/brian-eno-david-byrne-the-carrier

Berger’s Ways of Seeing a Likeness . . . . .

 

John Berger, ‘Will it be a Likeness?’

Soft Machine - Days Eye/Bone Fire / Tarabos [Seven] | jt1674

 . . . .I prolly don’t post enough Soft Machine and used to really like them but left jazz behind (or it left me)  

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/824559832739823616/soft-machine-days-eye-bone-fire-tarabos

Andy Partridge - Chalkhills and Chirdren demo [Fuzzy Warbles volume 8] | jt1674

 

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/824486583090790400/andy-partridge-chalkhills-and-children-demo

Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson (1970 USA 2001 remaster) | Plain & Fancy

 

Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson (1970 USA 2001 remaster)

Now this is worth collecting. A stone classic with at least three or four classic Kristofferson mega hits that really went into the American Songbook if with a Country edge I grant you, but Sunday Morning, For the Good Times, Help me, Me n Bobbie I mean come on!

Kris Kristofferson was approaching his mid-thirties and had been kicking around Nashville for several years when he belatedly became an overnight success in 1969-1970. The impetus was "Me and Bobby McGee," which he co-wrote with Fred Foster, who ran Monument Records. Roger Miller cut the song, and his recording peaked in the country Top 20 in August 1969. By that time, Kristofferson had performed at the Newport Folk Festival at the behest of Johnny Cash, and Foster decided to sign him to Monument as a recording artist. Before this debut album was released in 1970, Ray Stevens had scored a pop and country chart entry with Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down."

On the evidence of his first collection of songs, Kristofferson was ahead of his country music peers in realizing that, despite Nashville's conservative political tilt, there was a natural affinity between the country archetype of a hard-drinking, romantically independent loner and the rock & roll archetype of a drug-taking, romantically free hippie. (Of course, lots of rock musicians, especially in Los Angeles, had already noticed this similarity, and formed bands like Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers to exploit it.) 

He opened the album with what sounded like an answer to the criticisms of the Rolling Stones in the wake of Altamont. "Blame It on the Stones" contrasted various conservative stereotypes, starting with "Mr. Marvin Middle Class," with the supposedly evil rock group, its chorus a parody of "Bringing in the Sheaves." Needless to say, that was not a typical way to open a country album in 1970 (or any other time), but Kristofferson quickly followed with the somewhat more reverent "To Beat the Devil," which he dedicated in a spoken introduction to Johnny Cash and June Carter, and in which he established a persona he would maintain through much of the album, the character of a poor songwriter struggling against despair. 

"Me and Bobby McGee," a classic on-the-road song, was next, with Kristofferson, despite the country grammar, displaying his background as an English teacher in its chorus, "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose/Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free." Then came "The Best of All Possible Worlds," which used a reference to Voltaire to reflect wryly on the viewpoint of a drunken vagrant. (You could see what attracted Roger Miller to Kristofferson in a song like this, which clearly was influenced by Miller's "King of the Road," though Kristofferson's treatment of the subject was grittier.) Of course, the ultimate example of the subject was the album-closing "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," which was basically a first-person description of a hangover. The romantic side of the hard-living drifter character was glimpsed in the album's two tenderest statements, "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and "For the Good Times," both of which were pleas by the narrator to sleep with the object of his affection.

A sleeve note suggested that Kristofferson had been reluctant to record, but while he didn't have much range as a singer, he brought a conviction to his vocals and a complete understanding of the nuances of the lyrics. The songs were so personal that they seemed to demand a personal interpretation. Nashville, as it turned out, didn't have much use for countercultural songs like "Blame It on the Stones" and "The Law Is for Protection of the People" (which had some choice words for the police), but the country music community could recognize a good love song with an erotic edge that was on the cusp of the era's changing mores, and Ray Price quickly cut "For the Good Times," which topped the country charts. 

Then, Johnny Cash covered "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" for a number one country hit, leading to its winning the Country Music Association's Song of the Year award for 1970, and Sammi Smith gave a twist to "Help Me Make It Through the Night" by recording it as a woman's song for yet another country number one. The finishing touch to Kristofferson's sudden renown was Janis Joplin's cover of "Me and Bobby McGee," released shortly after her death, which topped the pop charts.

When it was released in 1970, Kristofferson did not reach the charts. By the following year, however, its creator was on his way to becoming a major star, and after his second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, broke into the pop charts in July 1971, Monument re-titled the first album Me and Bobby McGee and reissued it. This time around, it made the pop and country charts and went gold. (On February 6, 2001, Monument/Legacy reissued Kristofferson as part of its American Milestones series. Featuring 24-bit remastering, the CD added four previously unreleased tracks from the same sessions that produced the album, among them an early version of "Come Sundown," later recorded for a Top Ten country hit by Bobby Bare and re-cut by Kristofferson himself for his Shake Hands With the Devil album in 1979.)

by William Ruhlmann

Tracks
1. Blame It On The Stones (Kris Kristofferson, John Wilkin) - 2:46

2. To Beat The Devil - 4:43
3. Me And Bobby Mcgee (Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster) - 4:23

4. Best Of All Possible Worlds - 3:01
5. Help Me Make It Through The Night - 2:24
6. The Law Is For Protection Of The People - 2:40
7. Casey's Last Ride - 3:37
8. Just The Other Side Of Nowhere - 3:39
9. Darby's Castle - 3:19
10.For The Good Times - 3:25
11.Duvalier's Dream - 2:58
12.Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down - 4:34
13.The Junkie And The Juicehead, Minus Me - 3:24
14.Shadows Of Her Mind - 3:13
15.The Lady's Not For Sale (Kris Kristofferson, Carol Pugh) - 3:27

16.Come Sundown - 2:36
All songs by Kris Kristofferson except as noted

Musicians
*Kris Kristofferson – Guitar, Vocals
*Jerry Kennedy - Guitar

Kris Kristofferson - Me And Bobby McGee (1979)

read the notes about this one on the YouTube channel about Dorsey Burnette