Dada - Dada 1971

Fronted by the talented lead singer Elkie Brooks (who was quite popular in England at the time), Dada was a short-lived band project. Sounding something like a slightly arty, British version of Delaney and Bonnie, Dada's sound was heavy, gospel-oriented rock & roll. Unfortunately, the 'heavy' part of this is where a lot of the performances on this record suffer. Oftentimes, the arrangements are too heavy for their own good, and tend to weaken under their own weight. Many of the original songs are a bit dated and somewhat mediocre, with the one notable exception "Seed of Peace." A simple, gospel-soaked piano drives the chorus, led by Brooks' excellent lead. It's a wonderful track, somewhat reminiscent of Delaney & Bonnie's "Getto." It succeeds precisely because of the understatement in its arrangement. Unfortunately, this is one of the few examples of a laidback approach on the album; they could have done more of these. AMG.

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Alphonse Mouzon - Virtue 1976

Germany's MPS, in 1976, and the label issued it in 1977. As far as fusion records go, these were not particularly good years, but Virtue is an example of the very best of what electric jazz had to offer at the time. Mouzon was half of a pair of drummers who defined the fusion era -- the other was Billy Cobham. Beginning with his tenure in the Eleventh House with guitarist Larry Coryell, and carrying it over into his work with Weather Report and McCoy Tyner, Jaco Pastorius, and Albert Mangelsdorff, to name a few, Mouzon is, in his way, one of those defining drummers; a musician who carried his own musical vision into both electric and acoustic jazz and was too mercurial to be pinned down by either, though he is perhaps too often panned in by critics as strictly a fusion drummer. Wrong!

The band on Virtue is stellar. For starters, the great saxophonist Gary Bartz is in the house, as is former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Stu Goldberg (who also recorded solo for MPS, see Eye of the Beholder), and bassist/arranger Welton Gite, who has worked with everyone from the Jacksons to Willie Bobo, Billy Preston, Thelma Houston, and Ronnie and Hubert Laws. The set is comprised entirely of originals, beginning with the monster "Master Funk" that lays down the grooves without apology, but keeps both improvisation and spontaneity alive throughout. The basslines by Gite are viral, and Bartz's work on alto creates a sense of drama in the melody as Mouzon's breaks and Goldberg's keyboards lay down the clacking, bottom-heavy funk. "Baker's Daughter" is one of the most impressive electric jazz tracks of the '70s. Its taut structure introduced by the spaciousness of Goldberg and Bartz on soprano offers a languid melody that quickly gets built into an exploratory, knotty jam that, for all its instrumental acumen, never loses sight of the emotion and sense of flow in the melody. "Nyctophobia" is a Mouzon tune that was originally recorded with the Eleventh House, but the version here, even without Coryell's scorching guitar, is superior because of its clean, sharp tempo changes and seamless sense of movement. The many angles in the composition are glided over by the tautness of this rhythm section, with Bartz executing some very impressive solo playing, moving all over the driving, multi-tracked keyboards that act as another percussion instrument. The title track is the longest here; it carries within it the very spirit of John Coltrane's search and ascent. While Goldberg and Gite drop through one set of fusion clusters and funky maneuvers after another, Mouzon pushes the beat until it disappears into pure rhythm and Bartz solos with a fantastic, modal sense of harmonic invention. Produced by the great Joachim Ernst Berendt, Virtue is, despite being almost totally unknown in the United States, one of the great albums of electric jazz and perhaps Mouzon's finest and most inspired moment as a leader. The set has been available in Japan in the past, but SPV and MPS Germany have found a way to issue great sounding Japanese mastered CDs for a very reasonable price and get them distributed in America. AMG.

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Mark Farner with Don Brewer - Monumental Funk 1974

Mark Farner is the heart and soul of the band Grand Funk Railroad, having written and/or sung their most famous songs from the majority of their '70s hits: "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)," "Bad Time," "Footstompin' Music," "Rock & Roll Soul," the number one remake of the Little Eva classic "The Loco-Motion" ( which is everything creatively that a remake should be), a cover of "Some Kind of Wonderful," along with a multitude of well-known album tracks, including "Hooked on Love," "Mean Mistreater," "Heartbreaker," to riveting versions of the Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and Traffic's "Feelin' Allright."

He was born in Flint, MI, in 1948, the second-oldest of four children, to Betty and Delton Farner. His first recorded work of note was with Terry Knight & the Pack on Lucky Eleven Records, distributed by Cameo/Parkway. In an interview on Visual Radio-Television taped August 31, 2001, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, Farner reminisced when he was shown a copy of Monumental Funk.

"This is a bootleg...it's Pack music...Otis Ellis who owned Lucky Eleven Records...who did the deal with Cameo/Parkway...he always had the 'Michigan bankroll' with the rubber band around it, put the hundred dollar bills on the outside and have about 50 or 60 one-dollar bills on the inside, just a big wad. This is an album that they put out...the old manager Jim Atherton that managed the Pack was in cahoots with him on this. Jim's my friend today and I don't begrudge that those guys tried to make some money off us. At the time, we hated their guts, but now bygones are bygones, friends are friends, love always finds it's way back to the heart even though you may be temporarily disliking someone. If you really love 'em you'll be back together with 'em, you know?"

The authorized biography of Mark Farner, From Grand Funk to Grace, was published in 2002 by Collectors Guide Publishing in Canada. As Farner said it has "the facts, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Of his biographer, Beatles Undercover author Kristofer Engelhardt, Farner says "He's thorough...a very thorough guy. He should've been a P.I." The first 200 pages cover Farner's life from the loss of his father at age nine to how he developed as a musician. There are details on his marriages, his children and grandchildren, work with Terry Knight during their time together in the Pack, as well as Knight's management of the group and the eventual split and lawsuit. In a very bold move for a biography, Farner's views on politics, religion, and his philosophy on life in general -- which his biographer said are "more to the right than Ted Nugent" -- give a very sharp picture of an individual who is passionate about his ideals, a man who sticks to his guns.

Engelhardt spoke with All Media Guide in February of 2002 and stated: "The man is definitely a dichotomy. But he is a very good soul at heart." The man who has stood on-stage in front of millions is completely charming when you stand in his presence, not the imposing larger than life image one might expect from the guy who fronted a group which, next to the Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Aerosmith, and the Doors, is one of America's most important and influential popular bands.

Before an August 2001 performance, Farner, along with younger brother Rick Farner, and current members of the Mark Farner Band gathered together to pray, joining hands with their road manager and dedicating their performance with a loud "All for Jesus." Farner's stage presence in 2001 was as on target and powerful as when he appeared at the Boston Garden with Grand Funk Railroad in the '70s, and with other versions of the Mark Farner Band on the road in the '80s and '90s. In the book, Engelhardt said the song "I'm Your Captain" "could just as well have been an unknowing plea from Mark to be closer to home and released from the oppression of Terry Knight." But it could also be viewed as an anthem of the bandleader as his manager, ghosts from the past, and bandmembers push the ship this way and that.

Grand Funk Railroad has had reunions, but band business gets complex as time marches on. Grand Funk without Farner is like Creedence Clearwater Revisited, which has the guitarist from the Cars but no John Fogerty. "All the king's horses and all the king's men"...somehow it's just not the same. Don Brewer and Mel Schacher were part of Flint in 1978 but choose to use the name Grand Funk touring in the new millennium (as they are two-thirds of the corporation). Even with the name, they do not have the marquee value of the original singer.

In the 1990s, Farner created Lismark Communications with former Freedom Reader editor Steve Lisuk, re-releasing his solo Atlantic albums and some of his critically acclaimed Christian music on his own imprint, LisMark Records. They also have the rights to the aforementioned Flint album released by Craig Frost, Mel Schacher, and Don Brewer with performances by Todd Rundgren and Frank Zappa. They are keeping the legacy alive by re-releasing as much music pertinent to Farner's career as possible. His 2002 CD single, "Red, White and Blue," features a version of "Closer to Home" with brother Rick Farner and the singer on acoustic guitars. Lismark also has a set of discs of the Pack and Mark Farner rarities that are companion pieces to the Capitol Records Grand Funk box set.

Farner's vision is what the public has come to expect when they see Grand Funk Railroad in performance, and the trio's legacy goes beyond their selling out Shea Stadium quicker than the Beatles or the mammoth billboard that adorned Manhattan. When you consider that Farner's band gave a platform to legendary blues artist Freddie King during the height of their fame, bringing him to an audience who may never have known his music and immortalizing him in the song "We're an American Band" (the number one hit credited only to drummer Brewer), it is easy to see their influence was far greater than the critics of the day ever cared to admit. "We're an American Band" is a song that never would have charted or sounded as it does without Farner's intro and the catalog established by his unique singing and passionate songwriting. Wet Willie, Humble Pie, and Mott the Hoople were also groups who benefited by performing with the enormously popular GFR, while many a garage band cut their chops on the bar chords of "Heartbreaker" or attempted to discover the musical nuances of "I'm Your Captain." The man who was one of the biggest selling rock artists of the '70s has his own webpage, www.markfarner.com, which continues to spread the gospel of his music and his faith. AMG.

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Cane and Able - Relating A Message To You 1972

Excellent record with touches of r&b and funk! Not much info about this group, just give it a try and listen.

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Bruce Sprigsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park 1973

Bruce Springsteen's debut album found him squarely in the tradition of Bob Dylan: folk-based tunes arranged for an electric band featuring piano and organ (plus, in Springsteen's case, 1950s-style rock & roll tenor saxophone breaks), topped by acoustic guitar and a husky voice singing lyrics full of elaborate, even exaggerated imagery. But where Dylan had taken a world-weary, cynical tone, Springsteen was exuberant. His street scenes could be haunted and tragic, as they were in "Lost in the Flood," but they were still imbued with romanticism and a youthful energy. Asbury Park painted a portrait of teenagers cocksure of themselves, yet bowled over by their discovery of the world. It was saved from pretentiousness (if not preciousness) by its sense of humor and by the careful eye for detail that kept even the most high-flown language rooted. Like the lyrics, the arrangements were busy, but the melodies were well developed and the rhythms, pushed by drummer Vincent Lopez, were breakneck. AMG.

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Gabor Szabo - Live With Charles Lloyd 1974

Gabor Szabo was one of the most original guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, mixing his Hungarian folk music heritage with a deep love of jazz and crafting a distinctive, largely self-taught sound. Inspired by a Roy Rogers cowboy movie, Szabo began playing guitar when he was 14 and often played in dinner clubs and covert jam sessions while still living in Budapest. He escaped from his country at age 20 on the eve of the Communist uprising and eventually made his way to America, settling with his family in California. He attended Berklee College (1958-1960) and in 1961 joined Chico Hamilton's innovative quintet featuring Charles Lloyd. Urged by Hamilton, Szabo crafted a most distinctive sound; as agile on intricate, nearly-free runs as he was able to sound inspired during melodic passages. Szabo left the Hamilton group in 1965 to leave his mark on the pop-jazz of the Gary McFarland quintet and the energy music of Charles Lloyd's fiery and underrated quartet featuring Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Szabo initiated a solo career in 1966, recording the exceptional album, Spellbinder, which yielded many inspired moments and "Gypsy Queen," the song Santana turned into a huge hit in 1970. Szabo formed an innovative quintet (1967-1969) featuring the brilliant, classically trained guitarist Jimmy Stewart and recorded many notable albums during the late '60s. The emergence of rock music (especially George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix) found Szabo successfully experimenting with feedback and less successfully (but innovative at the time) with more commercially oriented forms of jazz. During the '70s, Szabo regularly performed along the West Coast, hypnotizing audiences with his enchanting, spellbinding style. But from 1970, he was locked into a commercial groove, even though records like Mizrab occasionally revealed the success of his jazz, pop, Gypsy, Indian, and Asian fusions. Szabo had revisited his homeland several times during the '70s, finding opportunities to perform brilliantly with native talents. He was hospitalized during his final visit and died in 1982, just short of his 46th birthday and five years after his final American album was released. AMG.

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Chicken Shack - The Creeper 1977

This British blues-rock group is remembered mostly for their keyboard player, Christine Perfect, who would join Fleetwood Mac after marrying John McVie and changing her last name. Although they were one of the more pedestrian acts of the British blues boom, Chicken Shack was quite popular for a time in the late '60s, placing two albums in the British Top 20. The frontperson of Chicken was not Perfect/McVie, but guitarist Stan Webb, who would excite British audiences by entering the crowds at performances, courtesy of his 100-meter-long guitar lead. They were signed to Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label, a British blues pillar that had its biggest success with early Fleetwood Mac.

Chicken Shack was actually not far behind Mac in popularity in the late '60s, purveying a more traditional brand of Chicago blues, heavily influenced by Freddie King. Although Webb took most of the songwriting and vocal duties, Christine Perfect also chipped in with occasional compositions and lead singing. In fact, she sang lead on their only British Top 20 single, "I'd Rather Go Blind" (1969). But around that time, she quit the music business to marry John McVie and become a housewife, although, as the world knows, that didn't last too long. Chicken Shack never recovered from Christine's loss, commercially or musically. Stan Webb kept Chicken Shack going, with a revolving door of other musicians, all the way into the 1980s, though he briefly disbanded the group to join Savoy Brown for a while in the mid-'70s. AMG.

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