genre:
bluescountry:
usquality :
mp3 (320k)
time: 1:40`00"
size: 227 mb
Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
This white blues-band simply burst onto the New York music scene between 1965 and 1966. Group member Katz had previously played with The Even Dozen Jug Band, whilst Flanders had been in the Boston-based Trolls. In his early days, Al Kooper was a Tin Pan Alley/Brill Building production writer (This Diamond Ring, Who Wears Short Shorts, etc.) and was with Bob Dylan on Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, playing the organ in a way that would influence many American and English groups. Kooper kept on doing sessions with New York based singers during his stay with the group.
The band were offered a residency at the Cafe A Go Go in Greenwich Village in 1966. Here, their first 'live' album was recorded and highly acclaimed. The band were one of the city's main live attractions playing three concerts in Central Park in the same year. Flanders left before follow-up albums Projections and At The Town Hall which also found the band in fine form. Incidentally, Projections was produced by Tom Wilson.
Unfortunately, friction developed in the band, with Kooper and Katz eventually leaving to torm Blood, Sweat and Tears. Their next effort Planned Obsolescence, hinted at what was to become Seatrain, including one track entitled Nairt Aes Hornpipe ("Seatrain" backwards). After it's release Kulberg, Greene, Kretmar, Gregory and Blumenfeld moved to the West Coast to form the first Seatrain line-up.
1971 saw Kalb and Blumenfeld attempting to revive the group with Flanders, Kretmar and David Cohen (ex-Country Joe and The Fish). This lineup recorded the under-rated Lazarus in London, under the guidance of Shel Talmy. Guitarist Lussenden was added for the Blues Project album. The band eventually split in 1972, but were reunited in early 1973 for a one-off gig in Central Park which MCA recorded and released on an album.
The Blue Project are usually considered one of New York's finest bands and their first three albums (two of which capture their exciting 'live' sound) are recommended if you can obtain them.
Tommy Flanders left the Blues Project at the request of Verve Records, who wanted to pursue his career as a solo artist, but dropped him after his first recording, the splendid Moonstone (Verve Forecast FTS-3075) 1969. After the group finally disappeared, he moved to California and left the music business to pursue a career as a male model for catalogues and later worked for an advertising agency.
In 1969, Danny Kalb issued an excellent blues album with another ex-Even Dozen Jug Band member, Stefan Grossman, Crosscurrents (Cotillion SD 9007) and also backed the blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon on his Bluesway albums. Of fragile health (apparently reinforced by an involuntary "chemically induced" nervous breakdown in 1969), Kalb did not perform for nearly five years, only coming out of his hiatus to perform at the Live At Central Park Reunion, and record the two reformation albums. He stopped recording between 1973 and 1993, until the release of an acoustic blues album in France on Legend Records.
Roy Blumenfeld kept on doing sessions with Mark Spoelstra and many others. He is still recording with Nick Gravenites (Don't Feed The Animals, 1994).
No Time Like The Right Time their best known song can be found on Lenny Kaye's Nuggets, compilation and on Nuggets, Vol. 11.
(Vernon Joynson/Stephane Rebeschini)
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