This is the fifth in a series of posts that highlight classic rock songs which feature someone interesting sitting in on the recording session. For this series I post the song on one day and identify who is sitting in the following day. I hope you enjoy the concept and maybe learn some interesting music history in the process.
My selection for this post is a song called Something In The Air, a great single from Thunderclap Newman from 1969. It’s a good one! Listen to the song and see if you can tell who was sitting in. (Hint: In this case the person sitting in was doing a lot more than just sitting in on bass!)
The answer will be posted tomorrow along with some additional background information.
Jimmy Page. You might not realize it but Jimmy was quite the session musician before the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. Although there is still some controversy about his role during the recording of the Who’s first album, I have done quite a bit of research (a Jimmy Page interview in a 1974 Creem magazine article and multiple websites including http://www.thewho.net and http://www.musicko.com) and am convinced of his role.
Jimmy was brought into the recording session for the Who’s first album by Shel Talmy who was producing the album because there was concern regarding Pete’s guitar skills. Looking back this was absurd but you need to realize that Pete was an unknown and Jimmy was already a legendary guitarist based on his session work.
Jimmy was scheduled to play lead on both I Can’t Explain and the b-side of that single which was called Bald Headed Woman. Unfortunately for Jimmy, I Can’t Explain required a Rickenbacker twelve string guitar and Jimmy didn’t own one. As it turns out, Pete did have one and there was no way Pete was going to hand it over to Jimmy to play on his record . Score one Pete who got to play the lead guitar part while Jimmy was relegated to rhythm.
Pete’s luck ran out during the recording of Bald Headed Woman which required a Fizz Box. According to John Entwistle, Jimmy owned the only Fuzz Box in the country at the time! Needless to say, Jimmy that got the lead part on Bald Headed Woman. Let’s listen. (sorry about the ad)
Let’s call it a draw overall ….and things didn’t turn out to badly for either Pete or Jimmy 🙂
This is the fourth in a series of posts that highlight classic rock songs which feature someone interesting sitting in on the recording session. For this series I post the song on one day and identify who is sitting in the following day. I hope you enjoy the concept and maybe learn some interesting music history in the process.
My selection for this post is a song called I Can’t Explain which was the Who’s first single released in late 1964. It’s a good one! Listen to the song and see if you can tell who was sitting in. (sorry about the ad)
The answer will be posted tomorrow along with some additional background information.
By the way….Gerard has beat everyone else to the punch by being the first person to identify the correct answers to all previous Who Is Sitting In posts. Step up to the plate and chime in with a comment if you think you know the answer! Maybe you can give Gerard some competition 🙂
Jimi Hendrix. Jimi was playing the amazing lead guitar on the track while Stephen was on the Organ. Kudos to Gerard who once again posted a comment with the correct answer!
As Gerard pointed out in his answer, Jimi was not the only famous guitarist that sat in on Stephen’s first album. Eric Clapton played a second lead guitar part on an album track called G Back Home. Let’s listen….(Eric starts to show up around 3:40 as best I can tell and then all bets are off!)
There was a pretty interesting group of backup singers on this track as well. According the track notes on my original album from 1970 the backup singers included Rita Coolidge, Cass Elliot, John Sebastian, and David Crosby. Not bad
Getting back to Stephen and Jimi, there continue to be rumors of an album worth of material from the two of them but I have still not seen any official release. I have a couple of bootlegs that purport to from a recording session between the two of them, I have not way to verify their authenticity.
This is the third in a series of posts that highlight classic rock songs which feature someone interesting sitting in on the recording session. For this series I post the song on one day and identify who is sitting in the following day. I hope you enjoy the concept and maybe learn some interesting music history in the process.
My selection for this post is a song called Old Times Good Times from Stephen Stills self titled first solo album released in 1970. Listen to the song and see if you can tell who was sitting in.
The answer will be posted tomorrow along with some additional background information.
George Harrison, of the Beatles. Kudos to Gerard who posted a comment with the correct answer!
George help Eric write the song and played guitar on the recording. He was initially not given a writing credit for the song on the record and his guitar on the song was credited to “L’Angelo Misterioso” due to contractual issues.
Interestingly enough, Eric played the lead guitar part on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, George’s best song on the Beatles White album. I guess turnabout was fair play!
To say that George and Eric had an amazing friendship is a true under statement. Not many friendships could survive one of the friends “stealing” the other’s wife but that is exactly what happened when Eric wooed George’s wife Patty away from him. Some of Eric’s best songs were written about Patty including this one.
Before we wrap this up, let’s listen to Badge one more time. The video that goes with this one has some great pictures of George, Eric, and Patty in all all possible combinations.
This is the second in a series of posts that highlight classic rock songs that feature someone from outside the group sitting in. For this series I post the song on one day and identify who is sitting in the following day. I hope you enjoy the concept and maybe learn some interesting music history in the process.
My selection for this post is Badge, my favorite song from Cream. Listen to the song and see if you can tell who was sitting in.
The answer will be posted tomorrow along with some additional background information.
Leslie West, guitarist extraordinaire formerly of Mountain and the incredible power trio of West, Bruce, and Laing. From what I have read, Pete Townshend wanted to do the session without overdubs and Leslie was invited to play the second guitar part. I don’t know if this is true but I do know that this performance was amazing.
If this has whetted your appetite to hear more from Leslie, take a listen to this track from the first West, Bruce, and Laing album called Why Dontcha. The song starts kind of slow but don’t give up on it. After a short bluesy vocal by Jack Bruce, Leslie blows the roof off with some unbelievable power chording and a guitar solo to die for. Let me know what you think.
This is the first in a series of posts that will highlight classic rock songs that feature someone from outside the group sitting in. For this series I post the song on one day and identify who is sitting in the following day. I hope you enjoy the concept and maybe learn some interesting music history in the process.
This first post in the series features the Who performing Baby Don’t You Do It in a New York recording sessions that was scrapped leading up to what eventually became the classic album Who’s Next (there is a real interesting back story here that we will address in a future post…without giving the story away I will tell you that Who’s Next was released in an effort to salvage something out of a much bigger project that collapsed). The song was eventually released in 2003 as a bonus track in a Deluxe edition of Who’s Next. It’s a truly amazing performance by the entire band and by the musician that was sitting in on the session. The first time I heard the song my ears perked up because I immediately recognized the sound of the added musician. Take a listen and see if you recognize the sound as well.
The answer as to who was sitting in will be posted tomorrow.
Speaking of “Sittin In”, it is the name of Loggins and Messina’s first album. Much more about Loggins and Messina, why their first album was named “Sittin In”, and how the group came about is coming in the huge, multi-part series of posts that I am currently working on. As a bonus, enjoy this cut from the album.
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 