Excellent live recording of the original BBC broadcast
by Ginger Baker and the Gurvitz brothers.
I can't say I know a lot about the band even though I did go to
see them on this tour way back in 1975
Strangely Ginger Baker the most famous person in the group,
his drum solo was not broadcast
Otherwise a good 60 minutes of 70s Rock.
Though Ginger was a fine player & the 'star name' in the band, drum solos are by nature self-indulgent and by & large a fairly tedious listen so the omission of Baker's rub thumpin' tour-de-force here is an absolute positive to me.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, these days we tend to forget what talented, prolific & well regarded musicians the Gurvitz brothers were in their 60s/70s heyday through The Knack, Rupert's People, Gun, Parrish & Gurvitz, Three Man Army, The Buddy Miles Band, The Graeme Edge Band & Baker Gurvitz Army etc.
By the time Baker joined forces wih them, his stock had fallen significantly due to poor career decisions, financial woes & drug problems, so that in the Baker Gurvitz Army era he was essentially a guesting with Three Man Army.
In subsequent years Baker's legacy has become magnified (largely due to Cream's legacy) whilst the Gurvitz's aren't nearly as well remembered now. This despite the fact that his recorded output post-Cream was testing at best.
Seems there's very little justice in rock 'n' roll.
Thanks for the interesting comments there are definitely some great musicians in the 70s that never got the credit they deserved
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you about drum solos especially back in the 70s and 80s some of them seem to go on forever and even worse when they appeared on live recordings but
At leashed you can skip them
Cheers Steve
In a live setting, drum solos at least provided the opportunity to go & drain the lizard without missing anything important, (unless Neil Peart or Tommy Aldridge were the drummers onstage).
DeleteI should also clarify my previous comment to heap praise on at least one post-Cream album that Ginger played on, namely 'Sunrise On The Suffer Bus' by Masters Of Reality. Not quite as good as their classic 1st album, but it's a real grower.