10.1 WORKSHEET 10
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In Worksheet 10, we look at other San Francisco bands, and Southern Rock.
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Other San Francisco Bands
There were other bands from San Francisco that were not psychedelic. There are some statistics in rock history that take us by surprise. Remember the record sales of Fats Domino? More records sold until the Beatles, except for Elvis. Similarly, this band from the Bay area is entrenched in the record books. They had a sound that I like to describe as "swamp rock." Basic, gruff, bluesy, sounding more like coming from the backwoods of Louisiana. During 1969 - 1971 this band had the most Top 40 hits: Creedence Clearwater Revival (often abbreviated as "CCR").
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Here is a short look at the group:
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL STORY
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Just as the Beach Boys could not have existed without Brian Wilson, CCR could not have existed without John Fogerty, who wrote, arranged, sang, and produced their hits. He has one of the great voices in rock music. As his brother Tom Fogerty once said, "I could sing, but John had a sound."
Their 1st Top 10 hit was "Proud Mary," which still remains a rock classic today. I have played this songs at gigs many times.
JOURNAL:94. PROUD MARY - CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
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JUST FOR FUN: I love covers that vary wildly from the original. Check out this cover by Ike & Tina Turner. Holy Moly, it's showtime!
PROUD MARY - IKE & TINA TURNER
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Factoid: Do you remember our journal #1, "Rocket 88?" That song, pegged as the first R&R record, in 1951, was written and recorded by Ike Turner and his band. Here he is, 20 years later, doing "Proud Mary."
This might be my favorite CCR song, John Fogerty had a knack for writing in a warm, reminiscing way.
JOURNAL:
95. GREEN RIVER - CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
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Santana.
Carlos Santana was born in Mexco, and learned to play violin when he was five, then picking up guitar three years later. His family migrated from his hometown to Tijuana, then moved to San Francisco in the early '60s; he joined his family in California a little after they made the journey north. As a teenager, he played guitar in rock & roll cover bands, gravitating toward blues by the mid-'60s. He formed the group Santana with keyboardist/singer Gregg Rolie in 1966. The group became well known from their appearance at Woodstock.
The group Santana introduced Latin instruments not generally associated with rock recordings at the time;
- Conga.
- Guiro.
- Maracas.
- Timbales.
- Claves
- Cowbell.
- Bongos.
Here is a short clip of some talented kids demonstrating some of those instruments:
LATIN INSTRUMENTS DEMONSTRATION
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For your journal, here is Santana doing "Evil Ways," at the Woodstock Festival:
96. EVIL WAYS - SANTANA
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Fun Fact: the singer and organist, Gregg Rolie went on to co-found a major supergroup, Journey.
Sly & The Family Stone
One more group from San Francisco. Sly & The Family Stone, was a multi-racial band that emphasized funk music and positive thinking. I saw the group live, and believe me, everyone there was on their feet dancing! Here is one of their hits for the journal:
JOURNAL:
97. STAND SLY & THE FAMILY STONE
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JUST FOR FUN: Here is the group live:
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE LIVE
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Just as James Brown's influence made it to the jazz books, so also did Sly & The Family Stone, with the bass playing of Larry Graham. There is a story about jazz trumpeter Miles Davis playing a recording of Sly & The Family Stone, and telling his band to play like that.
Personal flashback: I, and a bandmate, Tony, went to see Sly & The Family Stone. The venue was kind of like a boxing ring, with the audience completely surrounding it. We were about 19 years old each, and had made our way to one of the boxing ring corners. The opening act had finished, and there was a lull before Sly came on. Being young and stupid, Tony dared me to go up and play on the drummer's set! I countered with "I'll do it, if you go introduce me!" I didn't think he would really do it, but that's what he did! He went up to the microphone, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have some entertainment before Sly & The Family Stone come on. Here is the drummer James Morton." So I made my way up to Greg Errico's drumset, and just started playing whatever. The impression I got from the stage was that half the crowd didn't know what was going on, and the other half didn't care. I saw frisbees flying back and forth. All of a sudden, a large road crew guy lifted me up and carried me away. He told me in the nicest, hippie, love way that we couldn't mess up the way the drums were set up. But he dug what I was doing! Uh-huh.
Southern Rock
Now the last rock style we will study in our course: Southern Rock. As the term suggests this is music from the southern United States, and had a strong emphasis on guitars (many of these groups had 2 lead guitars, playing counterpoint with each other) and vocals strong on Americana and where they came from. The Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd were all from the South.
Three bands from the south during this time were Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels band, and the Allman Brothers.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd came from Jacksonville, Florida. The band, known for some humorous songs, famously named the band after their high school gym teacher! Here is the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd:
The group is noted for the most requested song, ever (mostly as a joke). "Play "Freebird!" is a request heard often, even today. The song "Sweet Home Alabama" is a rock classic. The lyrics include a reference to Muscle Shoals, Alabama (where they recorded this), and to Neil Young, who had recorded a song critical of the South. The group answered him in this song. JOURNAL:
98. SWEET HOME ALABAMA - LYNYRD SKYNYRD
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Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels, (who died this year, July 6, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter and played several instruments. He found early success as a songwriter (Elvis did one his songs) and session musician (he played on 3 Bob Dylan albums), and was known for his contributions to country music, bluegrass and Southern rock music. He was best known for his number-one hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."
JOURNAL:
99. THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA - CHARLIE DANIELS BAND
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I just noticed this: at 2:05 you can see that the keyboard player has his left arm in a cast!
The Allman Brothers
Another great band from the South was the Allman Brothers, named after bothers Duane and Gregg Allman. Brother Duane was already drawing attention as a guitarist down in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He played slide guitar on Eric Clapton's classic, "Layla." Here, brother Gregg describes how the group was formed:
HOW THE ALLMAN BROTHERS STARTED - GREGG ALLMAN
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The group, like Lynyrd Skynyrd, featured two guitarists and two drummers, and was strongly linked to the state of Georgia. They were known as a great live act - in fact, their 1st album was a recording of a live performance., with lots of instrumental jamming.
Unfortunately, Duane Allman died young, at age 24, from a motorcycle accident. The group carried on without him.
The song "Rambling Man," actually features the whole 2nd half of the song as a guitar jam, with 3 guitars, one playing a recurring riff, the second soloing, and a third playing slide guitar. Southern rock at its finest. Our 100 journal entry!
JOURNAL:
100. RAMBLIN' MAN - ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND
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JUST FOR FUN: One of my favorite instrumentals is "Jessica," by the Allman Brothers. Jamming at its best.
JESSICA - THE ALLMAN BROTHERS
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Answer this question:
In Worksheet 10, we looked at other San Francisco bands, and Southern Rock.
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