Wet Willie

Next to the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wet Willie was unquestionably one of the best bands to come out from below the Mason-Dixon line during the dawn of the Southern Rock movement. The band had a country feel to many of their songs, but paid equal respect to the classic Stax-styled soul recordings of the '60s and early '70s. The group, under the skillful guidance of rock impresario Phil Walden and his Capricorn Records label, rode the coattails of the Allman Brothers Band and found a solid home on American FM radio with memorable tracks such "Keep On Smiling."
But it was vocalist Jimmy Hall's passionate blue-eyed soul vocals that made Wet Willie such a great band. His performances during the heyday of Capricorn in 1973 and 1974 are the things legends are made of, with the band getting glowing reviews night after night. But by 1975, it was apparent that Hall and company were tired of being the second banana to acts like the Allmans and upstart Elvin Bishop at the label. In late 1975, he negotiated a move to the more powerful Epic Records, a division of Sony. With that move, he also chose to revamp the band lineup.
Sadly, the move to Epic did little for the success of the band. Their first release for the label,Manorisms, got good reviews, but failed to break though with a major hit single. The band carried on for a few years and then broke up. Hall reunited with some of the original members for a new version of the band in the '90s, and continues to work as a solo singer. Today, the band works in two configurations: as Wet Willie, with Hall as the lead vocalist, and as the Wet Willie Band that has various band members doing lead vocals.
from Wolfgang's Vault

Click HERE to listen to

Bottom Line (New York, NY) Dec 18, 1977 Early Show

Then click HERE to listen to

Bottom Line (New York, NY) Dec 18, 1977 Late Show

 Click HERE for All Music Guide page

Skydog's Elysium: Wet Willie - Country Side Of Life: ☺ Sit back and enjoy this video of Wet Willie...

Quicksilver Messenger Service

Listen to more Quicksilver Messenger Service at Wolfgang's Vault.

John Cipollina

Click HERE listen to QMS from 1966

Biography

by William Ruhlmann

The band that became Quicksilver Messenger Service originally was conceived as a rock vehicle for folk singer/songwriter Dino Valente (b. Nov. 7, 1943, d. Nov 16, 1994), author of "Get Together." Living in San Francisco, Valente had found guitarist John Cipollina (b. Aug. 24, 1943, d. May 29, 1989) and singer Jim Murray. Valente's friend David Freiberg (b. Aug. 24, 1938) joined on bass, and the group was completed by the addition of drummer Greg Elmore (b. Sep. 4, 1946) and guitarist Gary Duncan (b. Sep 4, 1946). As the band was being put together, Valente was imprisoned on a drug charge and he didn't rejoin Quicksilver until later.

They debuted at the end of 1965 and played around the Bay Area and then the West Coast for the next two years, building up a large following but resisting offers to record that had been taken up by such San Francisco acid rock colleagues as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Quicksilver finally signed to Capitol toward the end of 1967 and recorded their self-titled debut album in 1968 (by this time, Murray had left). Happy Trails, the 1969 follow-up, was recorded live. After its release, Duncan left the band and was replaced for Shady Grove (1970) by British session pianist Nicky Hopkins. By the time of its release, however, Duncan had returned, along with Valente, making the group a sextet.

This version of Quicksilver, prominently featuring Valente's songs and lead vocals, lasted only a year, during which two albums, Just for Love and What About Me, were recorded. Cipollina, Freiberg, and Hopkins then left, and the remaining trio of Valente, Duncan, and Elmore hired replacements and cut another couple of albums before disbanding. There was a reunion in 1975, resulting in a new album and a tour, and in 1986 Duncan revived the Quicksilver name for an album that also featured Freiberg on background vocals.

Chicago Transit Authority

Click HERE to watch and listen to Chicago (still Transit Authority?) July 21,1970!

                                               a few days b4 this show

Concert Summary  taken from Wolfgangs Vault

August 17,1969 @ Filmore West

These recordings are from the final night of a run that featured Chicago Transit Authority opening and closing a show that also featured sets by The Youngbloods and Colosseum in between. These remarkable sets capture the band riding high on the great success of their debut album and performing that material, along with some of the songs destined for their second album, which they were recording in Los Angeles that same month. Many of the songs that established…entire summary

Robert Lamm - keyboards, lead vocals
Terry Kath - guitar, lead vocals
Peter Cetera - bass, lead vocals
James Pankow - trombone, percussion
Lee Loughnane - trumpet, percussio, background vocals
Walter Parazaider - woodwinds, percussion, background vocals
Daniel Seraphine - drums

These recordings are from the final night of a run that featured Chicago Transit Authority opening and closing a show that also featured sets by The Youngbloods and Colosseum in between. These remarkable sets capture the band riding high on the great success of their debut album and performing that material, along with some of the songs destined for their second album, which they were recording in Los Angeles that same month. Many of the songs that established the band are here and remind us that this was once a band with serious musicianship whose wide-ranging creativity was both aggressive and inviting. The group had an undeniable flare for writing captivating pop songs, but it is the lengthier, more experimental material that is most impressive here. Terry Kath's sizzling neo-psychedelic guitar playing is simply outstanding on these sets and reveal exactly why Jimi Hendrix himself was so impressed. Blood, Sweat & Tears (with founder Al Kooper long gone) was the other horn band experiencing great commercial success at this time, but Chicago had a gutsier sound, and in many ways were fulfilling the promise of the original Al Kooper-led version of that band. Chicago would become progressively less adventurous with every album, but in 1969, they were one of the most confident, diverse, and just plain exciting bands on the planet.
Following a brief stage introduction, where the MC says, "Just about the most exciting thing to happen to the Windy City since the big fire -- a real heavy -- let's welcome Chicago," the early show begins. They kick it off with "Poem 58." It begins as a guitar-heavy tour de force with Terry Kath absolutely ripping away, prior to becoming an intriguing bluesy love song. Like much of Chicago's early material, this is a lengthy modular composition, featuring plenty of tight ensemble playing as well as sections for improvisational flights.
A brief freeform piano improvisation by Robert Lamm leads directly into a tight letter perfect rendition of "Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is," one of the songs receiving AM radio attention at the time and that would become one of their first big hits. Another lengthier composition, "It Better End Soon," follows, where Robert Lamm voices his political opinions within another modular framework. The remainder of the early show vacillates between additional first album material, such as Lamm's power-pop confection, "Questions 67 & 68" and the Lamm/Pankow composition, "Someday," as well as new material destined for their second album; sessions for which were currently in progress at the time of this run.
"Poem For The People," although missing a few seconds near the end (due to the reel running out) is expectedly almost identical to it's studio counterpart. The same can be said for the setclosing "25 Or 6 To 4," which they were also recording at the time, but in the case of the latter, the bands enthusiasm for this new song is contagious and it is wonderful hearing this classic early Chicago number when it was so vibrant and new.
Following this, a stage announcement is made saying "They'll be back to close our show." Earlier in the set, Robert Lamm says, "We can't play everything now, but we'll play the other songs at the next one," which is exactly what they do during the incendiary set that closes the show later that night.
LISTEN TO THIS BELOW THE PICTURE BELOW...

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Now a show from '74 with material from "Chicago VII". Though they have more to the pop sounds they still have a certain edge and this is a great sounding recording...enjoy
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VIA Sugarmegs