Dave Mason - "Alone Together/Headkeeper"

Dave Mason, does the name sound familiar? If not do not worry, Mason is an unassuming rock guitarist and songwriter.  He was most active during the late 1960s and through the 1970s though he continued to record and release albums through the 1980s and more sparingly but all the way into the first decade of the 2000s.  Mason has a decent following and he has had hit songs that will be instantly familiar to many a listener ("Feelin' Alright" is his composition, first performed as a member of Traffic) his most famous song is "We Just Disagree" (written by friend Jim Krueger) a big hit in 1977 and still getting radio play.

Born in England, Mason is a very adept guitarist but never gained the popularity (or reached the innovation) of contemporaries like Clapton, Hendrix, and George Harrison.  He first gained notice as a founding member of Traffic with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood.  But Mason was not a team player while the other three worked as a composing unit Mason worked solo.  Mason left the group in 1968 after the release of their second album.  He went to work as a session guitarist for Jimi Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland" album most notably playing on Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower."  He toured with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends appearing on their album "On Tour with Eric Clapton."  After that he was a session guitarist on George Harrison's epic "All Things Must Pass" album.

Shortly after working with Harrison, Mason completed and released his debut album 1970's "Alone Together." With backup from Jim Capaldi, Rita Coolidge, Leon Russell, Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Jim Keltner and Delaney and Bonnie.  This started Mason solo career with such promise, all eight tracks are solid.  Opening with the semi-hit "Only You know and I know." There are nice banjo and acoustic numbers like "Just a Song" and "World in Changes."  The piano ballad "Sad and Deep as You." "Shouldn't have took More than you Gave" and "Look at you Look at Me" are more rock oriented and sound like Mason's work with Traffic. "Waitin' on you" is gospel styled obviously influenced by Delaney and Bonnie. "Can't Stop the Worrying, Can't Stop loving" is pure smooth pop.

After a second album that was a partial duet with Mama Cass Elliot.  Mason started recording his third album but got into a contract dispute with his record label.  The label took the five tracks that Mason had completed for his third album and paired it with five tracks recorded live (I believe at the Troubadour) and called the album "Headkeeper."  The record company released the compiled album without Mason's permission and Mason publicly denounced it.  Despite the controversy the live tracks are well performed but are not very different from the studio versions, however the studio tracks are some of the best of Mason's career. "To Be Free" with its great piano lines is gorgeous and ends with a Stephen Stills-esque choral movement. "Here we Go Again" with its chiming guitars, mandolins, and hand claps is one of Mason's catchiest compositions. "A Heartache, a Shadow, a lifetime" is wonderful pop. They find Mason expanding and capitalizing on the promise of his debut album.

In 2005 Mason released these two records on one CD set, for record buyers in England.  Available as a reasonably priced import from Amazon and other sources this is a great record and some of Mason's finest work.  There is a foldout booklet that is a bit short but still interesting.  If you are interested in Mason's work, a fan of Delaney and Bonnie's "On Tour" or Eric Clapton's solo debut this is a great addition to your collection. I'm glad I own it.

The Beatles "Rubber Soul"

There has been so much written, said and documented about The Beatles that it is hard for me to know where to begin, let alone what to say.

Let me start by saying that I purchased this album at Tower Records on sale. I was going through that Beatles discovery period that many (if not all) teenagers go through. Where we find out musical identity whether it be rock, pop, classical, jazz, or something else or some combination. Anyway at this point in time I was really into The Beatles, reading books about them, wearing a t-shirt with John Lennon's picture and the phrase "Give Peace a Chance" scrawled across the bottom.

Anyway back to the album, Rubber Soul was actually one of the last Beatles albums that I purchased. I enjoy their later album much more, particularly Abbey Road and The White Album, but this is still an excellent album. I think I originally purchased this because my Dad and I really like the song "Drive My Car" which is the opening track here. But basically every track is a highlight including George Harrison's first great song "If I Needed Someone." Their lyrics were getting more complex and this was where they began to expand their context and musical ideas outside of just straight love songs. All in all I have passed my Beatles phase, I still love their music but it is not the only music I listen to. I will always be glad to have their albums as part of my collection.

A Wooden Boat for all time

Keola Beamer is one of the masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. Along with his younger brother Kapono, an accomplished player in his own right, the pair were one of the most popular Hawaiian groups of the 1970s as The Beamer Brothers (also billed as Keola and Kapono Beamer). The pair also recorded a genuine classic in Keola's "Honolulu City Lights" and its spectacular album of the same name.

After disbanding in 1983 Keola and Kapono both went on to successful solo careers. Keola was always the more visible of the two and that didn't change when the pair disbanded. Kapono released a number of successful solo albums but he remained largely out of the public eye. Keola on the other hand seemed to embrace his celebrity.

In the early 1990s Keola signed on to George Winston's Dancing Cat/Windham Hill record label whose goal was to promote Slack Key Guitar on a national level, the label also signed other masters like Leward Ka`apana, Cyril Pahinui, Ray Kane, and Sonny Chillingworth. Keola's first Dancing Cat release "Wooden Boat" (pictured above) in 1994 was one of the labels highlights as well as a highlight in Keola's discography. The album debuted at number 15 on Billboard's World music charts an extremely high place for a first album and is a return to the earlier style of albums like "This is our Island Home" and "In the Real Old Style." The music is traditional and innovative. The songs alternate between instrumental and lyric tracks forming a great balance and while on many albums instrumentals tend to fade from memory, not in Keola's hands. The instrumentation here paints pictures in the mind and builds an image of Hawaii that is not often seen. From taking a ride with the native birds "Elepaio Slack Key" to a hula through the realms of gods "Dancers in the land of Po" the imagery that Keola's music creates is vivid and powerful.

The album contains pop music "Don't you want to be my Baby?" calypso "Hemo da Kope Bean," classics "Kalena Kai," traditional "E Manono," and contemporary "Where I hold you." This album is a pleasure from start to finish and should be part of any Slack Key fan's collection. If you are a fan of Keola or The Beamer brothers this is highly recommended. The packaging is first rate with lyrics and little history about each song and the recording process as well as lots of information about Slack Key. "Wooden Boat" is mainly available on the internet because the record company is not widely producing it anymore, so get your copy while you can it is really a treasure.

Cecilio & Kapono back from the Day

Cecilio & Kapono (affectionately called C&K) were one of the most popular groups in 1970s Hawaiian Music and are certainly the most enduring group of the era. For the past thirty years they have been able to consistently sell out concert venues around the world despite the fact that they have not released an album of all new material since 1988's smash hit "Goodtimes Together." That album, and the following tour, was released to celebrate the pair's 15th anniversary even though they had been disbanded for nearly ten years.

They reunited for a year to support "Goodtimes Together" but then went their separate ways for the majority of the 90s.

In 1998 C&K reunited again to celebrate their 25th anniversary and promote the release of their excellent greatest hits collection "Journey Through the Years" and "The Journey Continues." They separated again until 2003 for a massive for a series of 30th anniversary performances at Kapono's Restaurant. This reunion became permanent as of this post and the pair has celebrated their 35th anniversary with their first album of all new material since "Goodtimes Together."

Their new album, titled "C&K", released in Sept. 8, 2009

This album is very catchy but it is rather short with only eight songs, the shortness may influence buyers in these tight times. Also four of the songs have been previously released, "Gather Round" and "Too Many Lovers," are available on the 2003 CD "Lifetime Party 30 Years of Friends." "Back in the Day" was released as a radio single in 2008 to coincide with the concert of the same name. And "Smooth Sailing" (a song that only C&K could pull off) was released as a free download on C&K's website. Those are actually the best songs on the album the other four are good but not equal to the above four. "Baby Mine" is very catchy and works well as a driving song. "Forever and For All" is one of those wonderful little Kapono love songs. The other two songs "That's Love" and "One More for the Road" are decent but average on the whole, the latter will work very well in concert.

The entire album is filled with nostalgia and is very similar to "Goodtimes Together" it is good but not a classic like C&K's first three albums. The sound is smooth and crisp, the harmonies are there, the songs are up lifting and inoffensive, and will probably please C&K's diehard fans (of which there are many). Time will probably do to this album what it did to "Goodtimes Together" with the lesser songs falling through the cracks and the best songs will become as enduring as C&K.

So if you are one of those fans that buys every C&K album and gets excited for every reunion concert this album is for you. If you like C&K but can take em or leave um this probably won't turn your decision either way. Overall this new album will give you a warm fuzzy feel and a memory of the good times and it is best in the car for the long hours stuck in H1 traffic.

Stephen Stills Returns

Stephen Stills is one of my favorite musician and he was once poised to become one of the great voices in American song. He was getting there as well, if one looks at his work from the late 60s and early 70s, every song is nearly flawless. But somewhere towards the end of the 1970s Stills lost much of his creative power, particularly his song writing ability, turning out a number of uneven albums that had only a few good songs. This slew of sub par albums caused him to fall out of many music listeners earshot. Stills himself has stated that he has lost his creative gifts and over the past thirty years the majority of Stills' albums have gone largely unnoticed. Yet his guitar playing, which rivals that of Eric Clapton, has remained excellent and his concert tours over the years, both solo and with his buddies David Crosby, Graham Nash, and sometimes Neil Young, have drawn packed crowds.

I hope Stills' fall from grace will change with the release of a number of his albums from the 60s and 70s that have never been heard before. The first of these came out in 2007 the "Just Roll Tape" (see photo below) album was an impromptu recording from 1968 which Stills performed with just an acoustic guitar.

This album of early demos reminded listeners of the genius that Stills once possessed and apparently spurred him to open his audio archives and find more unreleased music. He released a similar album in early 2009 with the group Crosby, Stills and Nash called "Demos" which was a collection of early demo songs that later ended up on their albums.

Then on September 2, 2009 came the best "unreleased" album so far in "Manassas Pieces."

The original Manassas album is widely regarded as a masterpiece and the Manassas group that Stills formed is considered one of the high points in his career. So after the excellent first album and a terrible second album ("Down the Road") comes this album of great songs that should have been the group's second album. The songs on "Pieces" are of spectacular sound quality, all of these were intended for album so there are no demo sounds here. Some of the songs, particularly toward the end, are a little short (one or two minutes) which kind of shows they were not fully realized but none the less this is an excellent album and one of Stills' best in years.

This fine release is only the beginning, on Oct. 27, 2009 Stills will release his first full length live album in the double disc "Live at Shepherd's Bush" recorded during his 2008 concert tour. Also announced are a Manassas Live album (one can only dream of this greatness), a number of recordings between Stills and Jimi Hendrix (who appeared on Stills debut and was Stills' guitar teacher) and a solo box set. All these bring water to my mouth. One can only hope these other releases are as good as "Manassas Pieces." And maybe this journey into the past will spark Stills' creative energy again. Here's hoping and happy listening everyone.

My First one

Hello,

Ok so I have never done one of these before so I guess I will start with saying what this blog will hopefully be about. I am planning on focusing on music, possibly mainly the music of Hawaii, maybe if this goes well I could expand to include all kinds of entertainment (movies, music, books, comics, dance, etc.) but lets see what happens. Before I start I just wanted to say thanks to the lovely lady who writes the Hot Robot blog for all her help in getting me started with this blog stuff. Well here goes.

Beatles for Sale

So the big news in the music world over the last week was that The Beatles catalogue has been re-released in special edition remastered CDs. The process of remastering, according to reports, has taken nearly four years and done by George Martin (the man behind the scenes of all the original Beatles recordings including the recent "Love" CD).

What is the difference between these new Remastered CDs and the original CD releases from 1987 (which have been the only available Beatles music for quite some time)?

1. The sound of the new releases are louder than the 1987 releases

2. McCartney's bass guitar is much clearer on the new releases

3. On certain albums it is much easier to hear the different instruments being played

4. All the new releases come with new archival photos and brief liner notes, which were sorely lacking on the 1987 releases.

5. Each new release CD has a four minute "mini-documentary" about the making of the album which is playable on Quicktime in your computer.*

6. New cardboard digipack cases instead of the plastic jewel cases.

*one complaint I read about these "mini-documentarys" is that when the disc is put into the computer for instance to load the songs into iTunes the documentary pops up and makes it difficult to download the songs into iTunes.

So if you already have all the 1987 CDs, these New Releases may not be worth all the money. Except for the most diligent listeners most people will not be able to spot vast differences unless they play the 1987 and the New discs back to back. As the music has thankfully not been remixed so drastically that the songs no longer resemble the ones we know and love. If you don't own any of the Beatles albums (sad but it can happen) these will certainly please your ears. The Beatles catalogue contains some of the finest rock and pop music to ever be recorded and judging from the bestseller list on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble many people are snatching up these new releases. If you're a Beatles Fanatic (you know who you are) you probably already have bought these new releases weeks ago and if you are a fanatic and have not bought them the new liner notes and mini-documentarys are some prime incentives.

If you are a casual listener and already own the 1987 CDs you'll be fine, but if you are really curious to hear the difference borrow the new Remasters from a Beatles Fanatic near you, come on we all know at least one Beatles Fanatic.

take care and thanks for reading.