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Greetings everyone and thank you for clicking on our corner of the internet. As always, it is appreciated. Mixed emotions this week. I was disappointed that my Reds couldn’t win the league on Sunday—we finished one point behind Manchester City in the end but kept things in the balance up to that final game and still have a Champions League final to play in Paris against Real Madrid on Saturday, so a third trophy could be possible this season. This though pales in importance to the news stories that we in the US are enduring currently. More mass shootings this week as children and innocents pay the price of “Freedom” so that dumb fuck gun nuts and Republican Nazis can stop the Libs from taking away their precious guns. Because we all need an assault rifle and arsenal at home, don’t we? I thought the “good guys” with guns were supposed to stop the shooters. Not so much. So, like I say, mixed emotions this week but one way to keep the blues at bay is music, and this is what we are all here for. Let’s talk about records, shall we?
Firstly, though, I did just want to say that I have been working a little more in the store these past few weeks helping get John Scott acclimatized and it has been a lot of fun working alongside him. Having a younger dude here is cool because he is turning me on to stuff he knows and likes, and I can return the favor by hipping him to cool stuff that comes through that I know about. Having some years under my belt has meant that by default I have been exposed to a lot of music and knowledge and it’s great to pass a little of that on. As an evangelist of music, there is nothing more pleasing than turning on people to the good shit. I also enjoy turning over the turntable controls to someone else and hearing what they select. John Scott has great taste and likes Jazz and Blues (among other things) and that’s just fine with me. Anyway, it’s great having him working with us and it’s also great having Angela on the team too. You couldn’t ask for two cooler co-workers who share our collective passion for music. Pay attention to them. They’ll point you towards worthy additions to your music library.
This week as I was going through boxes of records from collections we had bought I found a couple by the guitarist Harvey Mandel which were the last two I needed to complete my collection of his work. I generally prefer to just wait until records find me or I find them and could have completed my Mandel discography years ago if I had wanted to, but where’s the fun in that? As John Scott has been enjoying some Rolling Stones and Blues and Jazz Fusion here in the store whilst we have been working, it seemed like talking about Harvey Mandel would be very appropriate.
Mandel, born in Detroit and raised in Chicago was a guitar virtuoso who by his late teens was already a professional musician gigging and recording blues music in the early to mid-sixties. He played firstly with Charlie Musselwhite and went on to play with Canned Heat, Barry Goldberg, and John Mayall, and was even considered as Mick Taylor’s replacement in The Rolling Stones. He did play on their Black And Blue album however, contributing lead guitar to the song Hot Stuff.
Going back to the 1960s Mandel had relocated to San Francisco and exposure there led to a deal with Philips where he cut three solo albums beginning in 1968 with Cristo Redentor. That was the record that exposed me to him as an artist. I was drawn to the great artwork firstly and to the fact that he was playing versions of Cristo Redentor and Wade In The Water, two of my favorite songs. He kills both and that record became a regular in DJ sets. They are good tunes to start the night off with. Bluesy, psychy, jazzy instrumentals, as are the rest of the tracks on the album. Good stuff and recommended. Mandel is credited with an innovative approach to his guitar playing and uses various techniques like slide, delay and tapping to achieve his sound.
1969 and 1970 brought two more albums on Philips, Righteous and The Games People Play. On these records, vocals are added on some tracks and he also ventures into some Latin and Brazilian themes as well as the psychedelic blues. He does a nice version of Jive Samba for-instance. A scan of the musicians playing on these records reveals some quality names, including drummer Earl Palmer, which should be enough to prick the ears of any crate digger who knows his onions.
Mandel resumed his solo album career with the Janus label in 1971 and the record Baby Batter (probably not the best title) and went on to cut three more albums for the label. The Snake in 1972, Shangrenade in 1973 and finally Feel The Sound in 1974. It was these last two that I was missing in my collection that we just got in. They’re not expensive or rare per se and these copies had some light wear but played just fine.
I really like the Shangrenade LP. It has much more of a Jazz Funk vibe to it than the previous records. The drummer kills it throughout. Very funky. Mandel still has his psychedelic blues style going on but gets into a much more modern sound for this one and you can hear him using the tapping technique. The follow up record the next year, Feel The Sound Of Harvey Mandel continues the Jazz Funk feel. There are some changes in personnel, but the sound is similar with perhaps one or two more vocal cuts on that one. Both records have colorful and interesting artwork, though. Shangrenade is literally a painting of a mountain valley scene with folks frolicking in the meadows with a huge hand grenade sitting in the middle. On Feel The Sound the cover sports a painting of a red-haired woman lying naked in a botanical garden scene. Nice.
As I have only been listening to these last two records for a couple of days, it is still early days to pick out a favorite track, but I have added the links there for you to go take a listen to and decide for yourselves. I think there will be some of you out there that will dig hearing these albums and if this is your first-time hearing about Harvey Mandel, then you are in for a treat and will have fun exploring his records. Great thing also is that they won’t hurt your wallet too much. I don’t think you should have to pay more than $20 for a copy of any of these, perhaps because they are still somewhat under the radar, but whatever, grab ‘em when you see them.
Okay friends, that’s all from me. Thank you for reading and enjoy your week ahead.
Cheers - Dom