Lamont

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 7, 2020…IT WAS ON THIS DATE FIFTY YEARS AGO THE BAND MOUNTAIN RELEASED THEIR DEBUT ALBUM ‘CLIMBING.’ THIS BAND MIGHT BE ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED BANDS OF THE 1970’S, AND IF ANYTHING, THE BAND SHOULD BE COMMEMORATED FOR GIVING US ONE OF THE TRULY GREAT ROCK SONGS ‘MISSISSIPPI QUEEN.’ MOUNTAIN GUITARIST LESLIE WEST SAID THIS ABOUT THE SONG:  “When Corky (Laing, drummer) brought me the idea, it was a one-chord dance song. We got real high, took out a napkin, and I came up with the main riff and the chords. Then we fit the words over the sound.” Laing says of the song: “I was madly in love with The Band, and I decided to put a ‘Cripple Creek’ feel behind it. Later on, I told Levon Helm that I felt bad about ripping him off, but he said that he didn’t hear any similarity between the 2 songs, and that we didn’t owe them any money!”

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS COWBELL SONGS OF ALL TIME, BUT THE BAND DIDN’T ENVISION THE INSTRUMENT IN THE SONG. ACCORDING TO LESLIE WEST: “The cowbell in the beginning was just in there because Felix wanted Corky to count the song off. So we used the cowbell to count it off – it wasn’t put in there on purpose. And it became the quintessential cowbell song.”

HERE’S MOUNTAIN PERFORMING CIRCA 1970 PERFORMING ‘MISSISSIPPI QUEEN’ AT A BAR IN NEW YORK.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 6, 2020…THE SONG ‘REELING IN THE YEARS’ OR SOMETIMES CALLED ‘REELIN’ IN THE YEARS’ WAS RELEASED ON THIS DAY IN 1972 AS THE SECOND SINGLE FROM STEELY DAN’S ALBUM ‘CAN’T BUY A THRILL.’  THE GUITAR WORK ON THIS SONG IS EXTRAORDINARY. LED ZEPPELIN GUITARIST JIMMY PAGE HAS BEEN QUOTED AS SAYING THAT THIS GUITAR SOLO IS HIS FAVORITE OF ALL-TIME. THE SONG HAS A STEREO MIX, AND A QUADRAPHONIC MIX. THE ‘QUAD MIX’ HAS EXTRA GUITAR FILLS NOT HEARD ON THE STEREO VERSION. HERE’S THE QUADRAPHONIC MIX OF ‘REELING IN THE YEARS’ (PRETTY RARE)

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 5, 2020…TODAY JOHN FRUSCIANTE TURNS 50. FRUSCIANTE IS BEST KNOWN AS THE FORMER LEAD GUITARIST OF THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, FROM 1988-1992, AND A SECOND STINT FROM 1998-2009. FRISCIANTE RETURNED TO THE LINEUP AGAIN IN DECEMBER OF 2019. HE HAS RECORDED 5 STUDIO ALBUMS WITH THE BAND.

HE JOINED THE GROUP IN 1989 AT THE AGE OF 18, AND FIRST APPEARED ON THE ALBUM ‘MOTHER’S MILK’. THE GROUP’S FOLLOW-UP ALBUM ‘BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIK’ WAS A BREAKTHROUGH SUCCESS. IT WAS A MONSTER RECORD. THE ONLY PROBLEM WAS, IT WAS SO SUCCESSFUL, FRUSCIANTE COULDN’T DEAL WITH THE POPULARITY, AND QUIT IN 1992.  FRUSCIANTE BECAME A RECLUSE AND ENTERED A LONG PERIOD OF DRUG ADDICTION. IN 1998 HE COMPLETED DRUG REHAB AND REJOINED THE RHCP. THE FIRST ALBUM OUT OF THE GATES THIS TIME WAS ‘CALIFORNICATION’ AND IT SOLD OVER 16 MILLION COPIES. IN 2006, FRUSCIANTE AND THE PEPPERS RELEASED ‘STADIUM ARCADIUM’. THIS WOULD BE HIS THE 5TH AND FINAL ALBUM WITH THE PEPPERS, HOWEVER THE GROUP HAS ANNOUNCED A NEW ALBUM FOR 2020 WITH A TOUR. THIS GUY CAN SHRED ON GUITAR. HERE’S JOHN WITH THE RHCP WITH ‘GIVE IT AWAY’ 

photo props-Piyush Kumar

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 4, 2020…HAPPY 57th BDAY TO BAY AREA ROCKER AND FORMER METALLICA BASSIST JASON NEWSTED. THE WALNUT CREEK RESIDENT IS BEST KNOWN FOR BEING THE THIRD BASS GUITARIST IN THE BAND METALLICA. HE WAS WITH THE BAND FROM 1986 UNTIL HIS DEPARTURE IN JANUARY 2001. AFTER THE DEATH OF CLIFF BURTON, THE GROUP STARTED A SEARCH FOR A NEW BASSIST, AND AUDITIONED OVER 50 MUSICIANS. NEWSTEDT WAS THE LAST OF THE PEOPLE TRYING OUT, AND ENDED UP WITH THE GIG. METALLICA INVOLVED BURTON’S PARENTS IN THE DECISION TO FILL THE BASSIST’S POSITION, AND BOTH OF CLIFF’S PARENTS WERE PRESENT SO THEY WOULD KNOW WHO WOULD BE CARRYING ON WITH THEIR SON’S LEGACY AND WOULD “PASS CLIFF’S TORCH ON.” NEWSTED’S STUDIO DEBUT WITH THE BAND WAS THE E.P: ‘GARAGE DAYS RE-REVISITED’, AND FOLLOWED BY THE EPIC  ‘…AND JUSTICE FOR ALL’

HERE’S NEWSTEDT REUNITING WITH METALLICA IN 2011