Dallas-Morning-News-rockasteria

The Kinetic were Andy Mowbray (vocals), Bob Weston (lead guitar), Geoffrey Capper (bass), John Christopher Sze (drums), and Michael Humby (organ). They issued a 10 cut album for Disques Vogue, which is reproduced here, (all self-penned compositions) in 1967, seven of the cuts from which were issued as two EPs. Magic have already reissued these as CD EPs in original sleeves, so if you own those, you don't really need to go here as well.

The Kinetic may be known to readers from their two contributions to compilations, 'The Train', a rollicking R'n'B blues-harp wailing instro and their standout track, the pop-siker 'Suddenly Tomorrow'. The latter title is indeed a cool sike moment featuring big chords, minor scales and a nice '67 feel. It stands head and shoulders above the rest of the album's contents. 

More generally, The Kinetic come across at times like a sub-Action. They certainly employ the crisp soul / pop-beat of the times in 'Live Your Life', 'Letter To Rosetta' and 'Sunny Cloud' (think Timebox, Zoot Money, The Cam-Pact etc). They also do a reasonable line in pop whimsy ('Child's Song') and acoustic led balladry (Hall of the Viking', 'Time Of Season' - no, not the Zombies!). Then there's the R'n'B of 'The Train' and 'Willy 'D' Fixer'. The last cut 'Jam Around' is exactly that a banal and mandatory (for the times) slow blues filler instro with interchangeable guitar and keys lead breaks. 

Shindig-mag 

Between 1967 and 1969 Jimmy Curtiss worked with a group called The Hobbits in New York. This was presumably more a studio project than a performing live band. Despite the band's name, apparently taken from the universe of Middle Earth, which was very popular in hippie circles at the time, Tolkien's creatures never appear in the songs of The Hobbits, even though the first album is called "Down To Middle Earth" and the last "Back From Middle Earth". 

There are three LPs and two singles by the Hobbits. "Strawberry Children"/bw "Pretty Young Thing" even appeared as a licence release on Festival Records in New Zealand and Australia. The third album was probably never released officially. At least I only know of copies bearing the imprint "promotional copy". The first two albums, released on Decca in New York in 1967 and 1968 respectively, offer a mixture of sunshine pop and soft psychedelia. Not unlike the music bands such as The Cowsills or Jay & The Americans. 

There are excellent vocal harmonies, especially on the second album "Men And Doors" (1968). Two female studio singers and a flamenco guitar player were added to the usual line up of bass, drums, guitars, and keyboards, resulting in a special flavour all over the whole recordings.The Hobbits 2.LPBoth most outstanding psych pop songs written by Jimmy Curtiss are included here as well: "The Journey" and "Strawberry Children". 

Listening to the first album (1967) of the Hobbits I get the impression, that musicians and arrangers are operating in a field they're not really familiar with. Obviously they tried to jump the psychedelic bandwagon in the summer of love, which had already passed it's zenith and was approaching a deadend street. So all efforts of Jimmy Curtiss and his partners Jerry Vance and Terry Philips came too late to gain reasonable success. In the end these efforts were supposedly too tame and evidently made up. 

Foghat's second album finds the group working its way towards the fusion of blues and hard rock that would make them an arena rock favorite. They were not yet the stadium kings they would soon become, but Rock and Roll benefits from a muscular production that gives the band a muscular sound worthy of their impressive live act. 

A good example is the powerful album opener "Ride, Ride, Ride": Lonesome Dave Peverett wails over a boogie beat fortified by rumbling power chords as gospel-style backup vocalists cheer him on at the chorus. "Road Fever" is another choice rocker, a song about the rock & roll touring life (a recurrent Foghat song subject) that spices up its fuzz guitar rock with a rubbery bassline and a attractive but non-intrusive horn section.  

The band manages to pull off a few surprises here and there that show they were looking forward: "Helping Hand" crossbreeds the band's boogie sound with acoustic country-rock touches to create a tune that sounds like the Eagles on steroids, and the power ballad "It's Too Late" succeeds despite its cliche lost-love lyrics, thanks to a sharp arrangement that shows off the sharp guitar interplay between Peverett and Rod Price. Any Foghat enthusiast will find plenty to enjoy on this disc. 

by Donald A. Guarisco

"The story of Life and their only album 'spring' began sometime early 1971 after Christian Burchard from Embryo visited composer, musician, producer, sound engineer and artist Julius Schittenhelm in his Munich studio. In his forthcoming autobiography Julius Schittenhelm writes about the beginning of Life, the difficulties of the LP production and the abrupt end of the band.

'Once again Christian Burchard came to my studio romancing about an American Trio called 'The Wedge' that wanted to make a record in Germany. When I met them they were only a duo - the bass player had gone back to America. The band leader, originally the drummer and lead singer, was called Linus, he spoke German with a strange Frankfurt accent was now a rhythm guitar player. He was of average build like myself, had a scarred face, large nose and a tough look. The second man was called Jason and was half Red Indian. He played lead guitar, sang backing and sometimes lead vocals. They soon found a drummer, Marcel Mohr, and a bassist, Gernot Pilz who both came from the Munich area. Gernot was also a press photographer. 

An opera singing couple from the Munich suburb of Schwabing had set up a studio and practice rooms in their cellar in Martiusstrasse which they rented out at affordable prices. This is where the band practiced. The music was Rock 'n' Roll with slight Country influences, not exactly my sort of music but fashionable and on the up.

Most of the songs were written by Linus, three were from Jason and one from Gernot. Linus was a perfectionist and thus the band needed a few months for the precision he found was required for a record production.

At the beginning of July the Rock 'n' Roll musicians were in perfect harmony with each other so we could start recording. This took place in two of the Martiusstrasse practice rooms. I used 2 Revox machines switched on simultaneously to record four channels at once.

An electrician I met by chance built me a circuit board with which I could synchronise the Revoxes using a remote control. Until then I had been operating the two machines using two fingers and for the third one I needed help with some 'one-two-threes' and was happy when it worked. The third machine was for the mix.

It took a whole hot summer month until all the tracks were in the can. 

After all the tapes were carefully numbered and catalogued we started mixing and at the end of July the master tape was finally finished. Linus, who had a way with words, started dealing with CBS. To look good we rented a big Mercedes. Bandleader Linus and myself as Producer, Sound Engineer and Chauffeur drove to Hamburg.

Once we got to CBS we didn't have to wait long and played the demo tape straight away. The manager responsible for Rock 'n' Roll seemed to like it and also Linus. Anyway a contract was signed, luckily without me. There was a substantial advance and from this I was paid for my work. The band was named 'Life' and the LP 'spring' was released. An extensive promo tour followed. I have no idea how many or even if any records were sold. Mohr had done his work and left.

Through the summer we had further recording sessions for the second LP. On New Year's Eve 1971/72 the CBS manager drove under a lorry and was killed. His successor didn't like the music or the band and stopped the project. In February 1972 the band broke up during an Italian tour. There must have been some pretty hefty arguments going on as they arrived back separately. Linus packed up his stuff and apparently disappeared to Sweden. The first I heard from him since then was in June 2002 when we were planning this CD. He is still a musician and he told me that Jason was living in the States'.

During the research into this album Julius Schittenhelm discovered tapes, believed lost, that he produced with the other recordings in the Munich cellar. From these recordings we have chosen 3 as bonus tracks for this CD and the others will appear on future releases."

by Manfred Steinheuer

Bassist Kenny Aaronson was one of the finest in the entire world of rock. He went on to perform with the likes of Hall and Gates, Bob Dylan, Billy Idol, Rick Derringer and Joan Jett. Aaronson wrote the driving instrumental, "Loose Goose" and co-wrote "Learning To Die" with mes His bass weighed about as much as he did, but when it came time to plug in, he stood head and shoulders above all other performers.

Guitarist Richie Wise was my co-producer and songwriting partner. To be honest, he was quite mad. There was just no telling what he would do. Kiss bassist Gene Simmons remembers Richie for always contorting his face when he played and so, Simmons borrowed some facial expressions from the Master. When Richie was on his game, audiences would do well to stand back from the stages Often, he would launch his guitar like a rocket through his Marshall speaker cabinets just for the fuck of it. He

was wild and intense. And unpredictable.

When I first met him, he was Mare Bell and I couldn't believe that anyone could beat a drum so damn hard or fast. It was as if he were fighting for his life. There was no limit to how fast and how hard Bell could play. I always loved watching him solo because I never knew what he would come up with nexts He was explosive. Marc Bell was a group all by himself! Y'all know him as Marky Ramone nowbut to me, he's that same kid from Brooklyn-only he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

The band went on to headline in all of the major rock cities like St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and even opened for the legendary Alice Cooper and King Crimson. Their album blew every other rock album out of the water! Their second LP, Hard Attack with Frank Frazetta's Snow Giants for a cover, charted on Cash Box and Billboard. But the band was not on a rock label so they never became the Supergroup they were destined to become. 

As for myself, I'm really the lucky one. I got to manage Dust, co-write and co-produce their records, discover Kiss, co-produce about a dozen gold and platinum CDs and still be active in the music business 45 years later. Looking back over my incredible career, I can say with all honesty, that Kenny Aaronson, Marc Bell and Richie Wise were three of the most talented and original rock musicians I ever worked with. And now you get to hear what they were all about.

Fast. Furious. Driving. Pulsating. Like "Love Me Hard" or "Suicide" or "Stone Woman." Wild. Intense. Hammering. Violent. Like "From A Dry Camel" or "Loose Goose." That's what Dust was/is all about. So fasten your seatbelts and play this fuckin' thing loud. Or don't play it at all!

by Kenny Kerner 2013

Along with the first-wave British Invasion bands like The Rolling Stones, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and stateside groups like The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Siegel-Schwall Band were instrumental in The Great Blues Revival of the 1960's. Like Paul Butterfield, Siegel-Schwall were Chicago-based, serving as the house band at the famed Pepper's Lounge. They earned their spurs backing greats like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter and Willie Dixon.

From 1966 until they disbanded in 1974, they ranked among the most important forces in reaching the baby boomer audience that sustains the blues to this day. The Siegel-Schwall Band also pioneered the cross-fertilization of the blues with other forms, performing Bill Russo's "Three Pieces For Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra" in 1968 with the San Francisco Symphony and The Boston Pops. Corky Siegel has continued this expansion of the blues with his project, Chamber Blues.

The current band includes two other genuine notables, bassist Rollo Radford and drummer Sam Lay. Radford's resume stretches from Martha & The Vandellas to Sun Ra, giving him the artistic range to follow wherever Siegel and Schwall want to take the blues. Lay's credentials are awesome. His stellar work with Muddy Waters, Little Walter and The Paul Butterfield earned him entry in both The Blues and The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

"The word 'legendary' gets thrown around a lot these days, but it seems appropriate to apply to The Siegel-Schwall Band." - Triple Door, Seattle 

Folk-rock outfit the Hobbits was the studio project of Queens, New York-born singer/songwriter Jimmy Curtiss, who ranks as one of the more interesting footnotes in the history of rock & roll -- the rare would-be teen idol who actually wrote his own material (and did so admirably), he later expanded his reach into psychedelia and harmony-laden folk-rock, but while the subject of a small cult following, none of his records ever made a commercial dent. 

Curtiss first surfaced in 1959 as a member of the doo wop combo the Enjays and issued his solo debut, "Without You," on United Artists in 1961 -- the label attempted to position him as a teen crooner in the mold of Bobby Vee or Paul Anka, but he failed to make a commercial impact. After a period working as a songwriter he dropped out of music to pursue a career in advertising before resurfacing in 1967 with the bubblegum cult classic "Psychedelic Situation," a major hit in Germany that attracted little attention at home. 

Curtiss then signed to Decca, collaborating with producers Jerry Vance and Terry Phillips and songwriter Marcia Hillman on the Hobbits -- despite borrowing their name from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels and titling their 1967 debut Down to Middle Earth, the Hobbits turned out relatively straightforward sunshine pop, and the album is much sought-after by soft-psych aficionados. The follow-up, Men and Doors: The Hobbits Communicate, appeared in 1968 -- like its predecessor, the record didn't sell, and Decca terminated the contract. 

Curtiss then formed his own label and production company, both dubbed Perception, and helmed an LP and three singles by the psychedelic soul act the Bag, members of which reportedly worked on the Hobbits project as well. Speaking of which, after rechristening the group the New Hobbits, Curtiss released 1969's Back From Middle Earth, essentially a solo effort. According to the liner notes in the second volume of the Soft Sounds for Gentle People series, he eventually ended up in San Francisco, going solely by the initials J.C. -- his current activities and whereabouts are unknown. 

by Jason Ankeny