Genre: blues-rock
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title: The Blues Train
Company: Condor
Catalog: CST
2465
Year: 1969
Country/State: Canada
Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+
Comments: cut out hole lower left corner
Available: 1
Catalog ID: 5750
Price: $100.000
Condor was a Canadian budget/exploito label (think along the lines of Alshire) with a catalog largely oriented towards releasing quickie MOR themed albums like Jimmy Herald's "Ride On", Torrin Quinn's "Matador" and The Strings Unlimited "The New Sound of Strings Unlimited". Based in Burnaby, British Columbia the label had little interest in releasing music for it's artistic merit, rather was looking to tap existing musical tastes for financial profit.
That said, in spite of their best efforts the label managed to release a couple of albums that have attracted attention within collector circles. One of those albums was 1969's "The Blues Train". Co-produced by Jean Daniel and Jack Millman, the title gave you a pretty good description of what to expect. As you'd expect from a budget/exploito label, there were no performance credits, leaving you to guess these guys were studio pros out to make a couple of extra bucks on the side. There's also extensive speculation that the mysterious Johnny Kitchen was at least loosely involved with this one. Beats me, though Kitchen was credited with penning one of the eleven tracks ('Pain In My Head').
- Starting out some appropriate railroad sound effects 'Ride Train' was a nice blues-rock number. Suitably rustic vocals, with some nice harmony vocals, my only real criticism was that the song faded out just as it was beginning to gather steam.
- With one of the best vocal performances on the LP, 'Missin' You' sported kind of a grimy garage-rock sound. The song also had a nice slow-to-fast-and-back time structure. Very cool ...
- Propelled by some raw guitar, the lone Jimmy Kitchen composition 'Pain In My Head' was a hardcore blues number. Competent, but nothing you couldn't live without. Probably sounded better after a couple of beers.
- I expected 'Some Body To Love' (their spelling, not mine), to be a cover of The Jefferson Airplane song. It wasn't, though this up tempo rocker proved to be one of the album highlights. Great lead guitar !
- Just want you wanted to hear another rote cover of Willie Dixon's 'Hootchie Kootchie Man' ... zzzzzzz
- 'Busted In Chicago' opened side two opened up with another fairly pedestrian blues number. Like quite a few other tracks, this one was clearly edited from a far longer jam.
- 'A&R Man' was unlike anything else on the album. Showcasing some nice fuzz guitar and Hammond organ, the result was a great slice of commercial rock. The funny thing is that it didn't even sound like it was recorded in the same timeframe as the rest of the album. Easily my favorite song on the album.
- 'Coast To Coast' was another atypical effort, this time recalling something Arlo Guthrie might have recorded. Weird, but kind of likeable.
- The lone instrumental, 'Whole Lot o' Blues' offered up a slice of Chicago-styled blues. Tasty blues lead guitar and horn arrangements.
- 'Got My Eyes On You' featured a nice blend of blues and garage moves. Great guitar solo on this one.
- 'Mojo' ended the album with another competent, though pedestrian blues workout.
At least to my ears this one wasn't as interesting as the other standout Condor albums - check out The Crazy People. That said, there's an audience out there for this one.
"The
Blues Train" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Ride the Train (Eric Hord) - 3:54
2.) Missin' You (Joe Sanchez) - 4:33
3.) Pain In My Head (Johnny Kitchen) - 3:25
4.) Some Body To Love (Joe Sanchez) - 2:15
5.) Hootchie Kootchie Man (Willie Dixon) - 3:02
(side
2)
1.) Busted In Chicago (Bill Wolf) - 3:26
2.) A&R Man (Joe Sanchez) - 2:39
3.) Coast To Coast (Joe Sanchez) - 2:07
4.) Whole Lot o' Blues (instrumental) (Ralph Morris) - 2:26
5.) Got My Eyes On You (Ralph Morris) - 2:03
6.) Mojo (McKinley Morganfield) - 2:22
Gawd only knows why by the album was reissued by the Gear Fab label (catalog GF-158).
For those of you who pay attention to stuff like this, the album's listed in Hans Pokora's volume four of Records Collectors Dreams.