| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| lemonade kid |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 17:29:29
Blues rockin' as good as it gets...underrated, unknown but they were highly regarded as one of the top live acts in their day!
Proud To A Honky Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G51tmiwMlk
VINEGAR JOE with Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer 1971
Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On 1973
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpoK_elHKcg
Ride Me Easy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7CXXDBn_l4&list=RD3G51tmiwMlk
Vinegar Joe were a British R&B band. They issued three albums on Island Records, but were best known for their live shows and launching the solo careers of Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer.
Vinegar Joe evolved out of Dada, a 12-piece Stax-influenced, jazz-rock fusion band. Dada released one, eponymous, album in 1970, with a line up including vocalist Elkie Brooks and guitarist Pete Gage. Singer Robert Palmer, formerly with The Alan Bown Set, and bassist Steve York both joined Dada after the album had been recorded, and the four were signed by Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records for USA and Chris Blackwell of Island Records for the UK and rest of the world to form Vinegar Joe in 1971, adding keyboard player Dave Thompson. The band was without a drummer. Conrad Isidore and Rob Tait drummed on the first album. Tim Hinkley added keyboards alongside Dave Thompson and it was Hinkley who appeared on the cover of the first album.Their debut LP Vinegar Joe was released in April 1972 on Island Records in the UK and Atco Records in the US.
Tim Hinkley took over from Thompson on keyboards and was succeeded by John Hawken. Drummer Rob Tait played the first series of live shows succeeded by John Woods . Mike Deacon took over on keyboards. During recording of their second album, Rock'n Roll Gypsies, also released in 1972, Keef Hartley played drums. Guitarist Jim Mullen also joined the band for this record and stayed played on the US tour . Drummer Pete Gavin joined the band prior to the US tour and recording of their third and final album Six Star General released in 1973. The band dissolved at in the spring of 1974. Alan Powell played drums during the band's final weeks.
Although Vinegar Joe never achieved significant record sales, they received considerable press coverage and toured extensively, playing numerous sell-out concerts, especially on the British university circuit.
Subsequently, Brooks and Palmer went on to enjoy success as solo musicians. Gage became a record producer and arranger, working with Brooks, his wife, until their divorce, and a range of successful musicians like Joan Armatrading and specialising in upcoming rockabilly and punk bands such as Restless, King Kurt and others.
Album discography
Dada - Dada, Atco, 1970 (pre-Vinegar Joe)
Vinegar Joe - Island (UK), Atco (U.S.) 1972 (re-issued on Lemon)
Rock'n Roll Gypsies - Island (UK), Atco (U.S.) 1972 US #201
Six Star General - Island (UK), Atco (U.S.) 1973
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Old hippies never die, they just ramble on.
-lk |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| SignedRW |
Posted - 03/01/2014 : 00:38:59
Many years ago, when Vinegar Joe's third (and final) album, "Six Star General," was a new release, I used to play a great track entitled "Black Smoke Rising From the Calumet" (kind of an odd title, but a
very cool song, that Elkie pretty much sang the hell out of) on the radio, to great listener response. A year or so later, interviewing Robert Palmer on the air and gushing about how much I really loved the "Sneaking Sally" album, he was a little indifferent to being interviewed, until I mentioned having recently seen Little Feat play live, and that I was a fan of both the Feat and the Meters, members of each having played on his early solo releases, and he suddenly warmed right up, engaged and opened up,
and it turned out to be a pretty decent interview after all...
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