I've got a great album to reccomend to you today - one that's managed to remain rather obscure to this day, probably due to the fact that the musicians involved were only really known as sidemen and session players.
Hill, Barbata & Ethridge - L.A. Getaway (1971)Barbata is a drummer who’s first major gig was as a member of The Turtles. He later toured with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and features on their live album Four Way Street. He was also a member of the latter-day lineup of Jefferson Airplane, appearing on their last studio album Long John Silver and the live album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland. He stayed with the band as they transformed into Jefferson Starship, before leaving in 1978. He also replaced drummer Kenneth Buttrey on Neil Young’s infamous 1973 ‘Doom Tour’, appearing on the live album Time Fades Away. Besides working for these big names, he has appeared as a session musician for a host of other artists.
Chris Ethridge has worked as a prolific session musician, having played bass for Ry Cooder, Gene Clark, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Collins, Graham Nash and others. However he is best known as a founding member of The Flying Burrito Brothers, playing bass and piano on their 1969 debut album The Gilded Palace Of Sin. He later rejoined them for the 1975 album Flying Again. He also played bass on Safe At Home, the only release of Gram Parson’s pre-Burrito group The International Submarine Band.
Joel Scott Hill is the one name who generally remains unknown today; however, he was a member of Canned Heat for their 1972 album Historical Figures and Ancient Heads, and one of the Burritos for Flying Again (with Ethridge) and its ‘76 follow-up Airborne. It is really quite a shame that he’s never really got any recognition, as it’s his fantastic vocals and guitar-work that highlight most of this album.
Anyway, these three guys got together in the studio and released L.A. Getaway in 1971 - it really is a lost classic. The style can be best described as blues-rock with hints of soul. The majority of the songs are covers, but most of them are transformed so that they are barely recognisable from the originals. The best example is Dr John’s “Craney Crow”, which is undoubtedly the highlight of the album. Originally a dark and swampy piece of voodoo psychedelia, here it is transformed into an incredibly funky number which can’t fail to get your toes tapping, with a rare lead vocal from Ethridge which sounds delightfully laid-back. It also features fuzz-laden pedal steel from Sneaky Pete Kleinow (Ethridge’s band-mate from the Burrito days), which leads me on to the other great thing about the album - all the great guest musicians that feature on it. Besides Kleinow, playing on various songs are John Sebastian, Booker T. Jones, Leon Russell, pianist Spooner Oldham, guitarist Clarence White and Dr John himself. With such a great line-up, its no surprise that there is some really tasty instrumentation throughout. Anyway, the other songs… they range from raucous rock and roll to deep soul, including a cover of the Chuck Berry classic “The Promised Land”. Original number “Big City” (in a similar vein to “Promised Land”) was also featured on Jefferson Starship’s Spitfire album, where Barbata took the lead vocal.
Anyway, this album is an absolute gem, and it’s such a pity that it never really got much notice. I whole-heartedly recommend it!
L.A. Getaway on Amazon.com (with song clips)
Hill, Barbata & Ethridge on LastFM
"The Promised Land" on YouTube
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