Track Listing & Trivia...
1. I’M CRYING: 1st radio single from the LP. The Animals follow up to “The House of the Rising Sun” in 1964. This is a bit of a different take on the song, heavy on the thump.
2. COMING HOME: I first heard this Elmore James song done by John Hammond Jr. on his “I Can Tell” LP. Classic Elmore James.
3. WHO’S BEEN TALKING: I originally heard this done by the song’s creator, Howlin’ Wolf, on the 1970 LP “The London Sessions”, but didn’t fall in love with it until we started doing it live with Red, White, & Blues and I realized the pathos of the lyrics.
4. GIN HOUSE BLUES: Originally a Bessie Smith song, I first was exposed to it as done by The Animals on their “Animalization” LP. We played it in The Institution, convinced that at 15 & 16 years old, we could make the audience think we knew the pain of alcoholism. Most were too drunk to notice.
5. I CAN’T BE SATISFIED: This Big Bill Broonzy song was done at high school dances across NJ by The Institution in the late 60’s. (And they danced to it)!
6. MONA: This was the last track of side 1 of The Rolling Stones “Now!” album. I later heard the Bo Diddley original, but always loved the way the Stones made it sound almost mystical. We performed this tune with Flashback.
7. I CAN’T GET NEXT TO YOU: Originally done by The Temptations and later covered by Savoy Brown. I have always been crazy about this song!
8. YOSTIE’S REVENGE: A Warren-Duff Red, White, & Blues original swing number. Riff stolen from every 1940’s big band there ever was.
9. CONFESSING THE BLUES: First saw The Stones perform (lip synch of course, but who cared back then) this on The Clay Cole television show out of NY even before it was released on the “12x5” LP. Dawn Gaye always sings this at Metro Blues gigs.
10. NADINE: To me, Chuck Berry at his lyrical best. We did it briefly with Rox, but a song I always wanted to record.
11. I CAN’T KEEP FROM CRYIN’: Did this with The Chilly Willy Band, but it always brings me back to New York City 1966, Al Kooper, Danny Kalb, The Café Wha, and The Blues Project “Projections” album.
12. HOMEWORK: Love the J Geils version, but I first heard Fleetwood Mac & Otis Rush do it on a late 60’s LP called “Blues Jam in Chicago”. I tried to meld the two versions. This was a Filbert Street Band staple.
13. THAT’S HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS: Otis could never be topped vocally on this classic, so I had to set my sights a bit lower and go for the “Out Of Our Heads” version by The Stones. I have waited since 1965 to do this song! For Dawn & ‘Rone.
14. 40 DAYS & 40 NIGHTS: I heard Muddy do it in Central Park in 1967. Made my hair stand on end. Have done this with both Metro Blues & The Chilly Willy Band.
15. LONELY AVENUE: Believe it or not, I got jazzed to this song not by the original Ray Charles performance, but by, of all people, Joey Dee & the Starlighters who did a fantastic version of it on a 1962 fake “live” album (with overdubbed audience chatter, applause, and cocktail glasses clinking over a studio recorded music track). We feature this in Red, White, & Blues sets.
16. AMEN: A bit of a boogie treatment of the Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions 1964 hit. I lifted it off my “The Cataclysm Catechism” LP because it nicely into this collection. It’s done just the way The Dirty Roses band does it in church.
17. HOW BLUE CAN YOU GET: If you were a fledging blues kid in the 1960’s, BB King’s “Live at the Regal” Lp was a MUST have (I still have two copies). We started doing this with The Institution around 1967.
18. BLUES NO MORE: Another Institution song, this one an original with the bulk being written by Rich Lester. I wrote the music (yeah, real hard to write a 1-4-5 progression). It was originally done at a frenetic pace, but I put it to a Johnny Rivers/Lonnie Mack feel. Hope you like it, Rich!