Monday, June 22, 2009

And Speaking of Gorgeous...

...from early 1966, please enjoy The Rising Sons, featuring Taj Mahal and the teenaged Ry Cooder, and their spine-tingling "2:10 Train." Unplugged, as they say, before the word had been coined.




The Rising Sons -- the other big L.A. rock band of the 60s fronted by an African-American -- were immensely popular in their hometown between 1964 and '66, but they only released one single during their lifetime (a Lovin' Spoonful-ish cover of Mississippi John Hurt's "Candyman," which I actually had a white label promo copy of back in the day, although I lost it years ago). Incredibly, this cut -- which I think would rightly be considered one of the absolute landmarks of 60s folk/blues rock had it been released at the time -- was allowed to sit, unheard, in the Columbia Records vaults until 1992, when somebody finally had the bright idea to put out the CDs worth of stuff the band recorded during its brief run. (Said stuff, including "2:10 Train," was all produced by the late great Terry Melcher, of Byrds and Paul Revere and the Raiders fame.)


It's an amazing album, actually; you can -- and absolutely should -- order it HERE.

Oh, incidentally the song itself was written by an L.A. folkie named Linda Albertano, about whom I can find nothing other than that she must have known Linda Ronstadt, who also recorded it on the first Stone Poneys album.

7 comments:

Gummo said...

That is really sweet.

I read about the Rising Sons in Untermeyer's Unknown Legends of Rock'n'Roll book, but this is the first chance I've had to hear them.

Another case of the "what might have been"'s....

Billy B said...

Wow, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.

Insane. I have never heard of this band.

Ever hear Jamming with Edward? Lester Bangs (I think it was) referred to that as the worst Stones album.

Billy B said...

I guess I should mention more about Jamming with Edward.

It's a real rough album with the Stones sans Keef with Ry Cooder in his place.

steve simels said...

I know JWE...had an original vinly copy back in the day.

It's not terribly good, actually. For Nicky Hopkins completists only....

Billy B said...

It sucks. About the only listenable tune is "Blow with Ry".

I bought it as a cut-out just because Bangs said it was the worst Stones album.

I think it was Bangs.

steve simels said...

It was definitely Bangs.

Wendy said...

Speaking of Taj there's a bootleg floating around of him jamming with Jimi in a living room somewhere in NYC ...