Dave Mason - Headkeeper (1972)

Dave Mason is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for being a founding member of Traffic.

After his splendid debut of 1970, Dave Mason recorded a modestly successful duet album with Mama Cass Elliot. He then briefly rejoined Traffic, which had recently expanded into a new six-piece lineup. He was only with them for six live performances in the UK, but it was from these gigs that the recordings for their fifth album, Welcome To The Canteen, were extracted. Mason played guitar throughout, and also sang on two of his own songs from Alone Together - "Sad And Deep As You" and "Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave". After Welcome To The Canteen, he left Traffic for the third and final time.
Back in America, he started work on his second solo album. However he got involved in a contractual dispute with his record label (Blue Thumb), who ended up putting together a half-finished studio album bulked out by live tracks, without Mason's consent. Headkeeper came out in 1972, the live tracks recorded in concert at The Troubadour, with the backing of Mark Jordan (keyboards), Lonnie Turner (bass), Rick Jaeger (drums) and Felix Falco (percussion). The live side featured three songs from Alone Together, and two old Traffic numbers - the Winwood/Capaldi tune "Pearly Queen" (which Steve Winwood had sung on the original version), and Mason's own "Feelin' Alright" (which by then had already been covered by Joe Cocker, Three Dog Night, Rare Earth, Grand Funk Railroad, Mongo Santamaria, The 5th Dimension, Chairmen Of The Board, and others).
Though Mason himself was not happy about the album's release, it still came together quite well.

Alone Together (1970) <|> Dave Mason Is Alive! (1973)
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