Listen here (Brian Auger and The Trinity) (LP 1003 - 1004)

Brian Auger & The Trinity  Befour (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1970) ****  

Brian Auger & Julie Tippetts  Encore (Vinyl, Warner Bros Records, 1978) ***  

Genre: Jazz fusion/ jazz rock 

Places I remember: Amoeba Records (Los Angeles)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Just You Just Me (Befour)

Gear costume: Listen Here (Befour); Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood; Rope Ladder To The Moon (Encore)

Active compensatory factors: I managed to pick up a number of Brian Auger albums on our recent holiday in California. 

I've grouped these two together as both The Trinity and Julie Driscoll (now Julie Tippetts) were part of the early years before Brian's Oblivion Express and his solo years took place.

His discography is weird though - Befour features The Trinity but without input from Driscoll and the Encore album is Julie without any other members of The Trinity appearing. Okey dokey.

Befour is brilliant - a cohesive album, featuring light and shade. Sly Stone's Let Me Take You Higher kicks things off in energetic fashion. The eclectic set also includes songs from Herbie Hancock (Maiden Voyage), Traffic (No Time To Live), and French classical composer Gabriel Faure. And that's just side one!!

My favourite track is Listen Here - an experiment with four drummers. Brilliant!

Encore is a nice opportunity to hear Brian and Julie again. It's at its best for me when approaching the Animals/Jack Bruce songs (featured above). They also have another go at that Traffic song, eight years after it appeared on Befour.

Where do they all belong? A lot more Auger to come!

Blues in time (Mulligan/ Desmond) (LP 1002)

Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond Quartet  Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond Quartet (Vinyl, Verve Records, 1957) ****  

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: The Little Red Bookshop (Hastings)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Line For Lyons

Gear costume: Fallout

Active compensatory factors: This is a great mix of two different sax styles. Isn't it amazing - same instrument but wildly different tones and sounds.

Thanks to Dave Brubeck, I am much more aware of Paul Desmond than I am Gerry Mulligan. Desmond has that ultra smooth sound that he perfected inside the Dave Brubeck classic quartet, Mulligan is harsher by comparison, yet still well inside the cool school.

Sidebar: I am unashameably anti smoking and it really pisses me off how many jazz album covers feature the protagonist in various poses holding, or smoking a cigarette. Not smart. Not clever Gerry. I don't like it.

Where do they all belong? A stand alone album in the jazz section.

Nice and easy (Johnny Griffin) (LP 1001)

Johnny Griffin  Introducing Johnny Griffin (Vinyl, Blue Note Records, 1956 - this copy is a reissue in 1985) *** 

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: The Little Red Bookstore (Hastings)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Mil Dew

Gear costume: Chicago Calling

Active compensatory factors:  Hard bop: Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in saxophone and piano playing.

Johnny Griffith well and truly fits into this sub-genre. His sax playing has elements of those key genres.

His colleagues in this introduction are Wynton Kelly (piano), Curly Russel (bass), and the bebop legend Max Roach (drums).

Together they create a great platform for Griffin and his debut album.

Where do they all belong? More hard bop coming!

Shake your money maker (Fleetwood Mac) (LP 1000)

Fleetwood Mac  Fleetwood Mac (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1968, this copy a reissue in 2011) ****  

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: My Heart Beat Like A Hammer

Gear costume: Shake Your Money Maker

Active compensatory factors: We've reached the 1,000 album mark in my collection, which, looking at it, means there's a few thousand to go.

This is a great one to mark that milestone. Peter Green was an exceptional talent - guitarist, composer, singer and he leads the line superbly on Fleetwood Mac's debut album.

Jeremy Spencer on slide, vocals and piano is an able foil and of course Mick Fleetwood and John McVie provide the brilliant, rock solid foundation. What a band!

I've cherry picked the two raucous guitar fests to highlight (my preference every time) but the whole album deserves kudos for its light and shade approach. I have the feeling they could have turned out a dozen Money Maker style tracks if they'd wanted but the band was always much more than that one particular sound.

Where do they all belong? That's it for Fleetwood Mac in the collection.

I'm a hog for you baby (Dr Feelgood) (LP 999)

Dr Feelgood Stupidity (Vinyl, United Artists Records, 1976) *****  

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Going Back Home

Gear costume: Back In The Night, She Does It Right

Active compensatory factors: Apart from compilations, I only own one Dr Feelgood album and this is it and it's brilliant. 

The live setting in cheapo, sleezy dives in Sheffield (side 1) and Southend (close to the band's home on Canvey Island) is perfect. I can almost feel the sticky floor and combo smell of beer, tobacco, wet carpet and spliffs on the Southend side especially.

What a band! Wilco Johnson's stabby guitar style and Lee Brilleaux's shouty growly vocals are the front line but Sparko and The Big Figure are the perfect no nonsense back line.

This went to number one back in 1976 and it's clear that the punk energy and influence - no lengthy show-off guitar solos and compact songs, suited the times.

Where do they all belong? As I said, once you've called the doctor, you should start here with the live album, branch out to a compilation or two for more if needed, and call me in the morning.