Hook SFG28-03 - Only Sixteen - Dr. SHAKE YOUR BOOTY KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND............................. SMOKE FROM A DISTANT FIRE YOUNGBLOODS.......................................................................
American Pie - Karaoke Madonna. Alicia Keys - Where Do We Go from Here 4:09 295. Wild Side Of Life-Status Quo 2. Berlin - Take My Breath Away 4:14 486.
- Flash: Physically it didn't.
Felix Pappalardi was most famous as the producer of Cream and the bassist for one of the first American hard rock acts, Mountain; sadly, he's also remembered for the tragic shooting that claimed his life at age 43. Pappalardi was born December 20, 1939, in the Bronx and studied classical music at the University of Michigan; upon returning to New York, he was unable to find work as a conductor and soon drifted into the Greenwich Village folk scene. In 1968, Pappalardi was asked to produce an Atlantic Records band called the Vagrants, which featured a young guitarist named Leslie West. Mountain broke up in 1972, reunited in 1974, and disbanded again in 1975; afterwards, Pappalardi was forced to, for the most part, retire from performing due to partial hearing loss caused by Mountain's extreme volume. On the night of April 17, 1983, tragedy struck: Pappalardi was shot once in the neck by his wife, Gail Collins, and killed. He had been involved in a long-standing affair with a younger woman, of which Collins had knowledge; however, a jury supported Collins' claim that the shooting was accidental, occurring while Pappalardi was showing her how to use the gun. She was convicted of criminally negligent homicide rather than the far more serious charge of second-degree murder; sentenced to four years, Collins quietly disappeared afterward. Blues Creation was formed by guitarists Kazuo Takeda, Koh Eiryu and singer Fumio Nunoya, in early 1969, after the dissolution of their Group Sounds outfit The Bickies. The urbane and gregarious Takeda hit it off with Leslie West and Mountain drummer Corky Laing, but became even bigger mates with bassist Felix Pappalardi and his wife Gail Collins, who had written most of the lyrics for Mountain's hits. However, Creation did not release their first LP until 1975, by which time Takeda, nervous of his new role as lead singer invited rhythm guitarist Yoshiaki Iijima to join drummer Masayuki Higuchi and bassist Shigeru Matsumoto in the new line up. Takeda contacted Felix Pappalardi and asked him to produce the second Creation LP. Pappalardi, temporarily deafened by the high volume at which Mountain always played concerts, had already decided to concentrate on studio production, and so he and his wife began to write songs with Takeda at their Nantucket home in Massachussets. Album Review Recorded in 1976 at Bearsville Studio in NYC, this album was the result of a collaboration between Japanese guitar hero Kazuo Takeda of Creation and American bassist Felix Pappalardi of Mountain. Pappalardi and Takeda first began hanging out in London in the early seventies, a friendship which soon led to Mountain touring Japan alongside Creation in 1975. The songs are a blend of melodic hard rock akin and would not seem out of place on a Mountain album. The songs range from fairly psychedelic power ballads reminiscent of early Mountain to a more robust brand of Heavy Metal exercises in a showcase of almost-tremendous talent, if not the same force, rather than art, Pappalardi's group Mountain really gave their material... Where are you located and what projects have you been involved in? My group has just returned from a three week Asian tour. Are you guys doing anything together? Flash: It was lucky enough for me to play with him for that Asian tour. From now on I want to play with him as often as possible. Creation was quite popular in your part of the world prior to Felix joining the band. How did it come about that you wound up playing with him? Flash: In '73 Creation toured with Mountain as the opening act, and on this tour Felix and I became close and he liked our music too. In '75 Felix came to Japan for a Summer Rock festival. He gave us the green light. The band flew to the States, and while we were rehearsing at Felix's Nantucket home, things has changed to another dimension... How did you guys and Felix manage to pull it off, given the distance between you? Flash: At the time our agency and record company were fully supportive of our over- seas activities. Also Felix liked Japan so much! So either we go to the States or Felix comes to Japan. Did the distance limit or have any effect on your ability to do concerts? Flash: Physically it didn't. However, mentally there was a few. Especially when I played his hit tunes in the States. I tried to play appropriate licks in order to fit its original record, e. What was it like recording with him? Flash: It was like everything was already done in rehearsal room. Meaning Felix gave us every essential advice and direction from the day one to the end. But what still impressed me was his studio skills. It was like magic! How much input did you and the rest of the band have in the process of recording the Creation album with Felix? Who wrote the songs and who decided what made it on, what got left off and so forth? Also around that time '75~76 the music scene was changing from '60's flavored Hard Rock to more Rhythm oriented music. Simply said, funk and new types of Jazz were on the market. Also, Felix was so curious about Reggae music. That was the song he picked up from my traveling cassettes collection. And we played that song many times together live. Also I remember he said Chuck Rainy was his favorite bassist. I guess to him Jack was more like his brother. Were you happy with the final outcome of the album? This post consists of an MP3 rip 320kps taken from my vinyl copy and includes full album artwork, including the covers for the French pressing see below. As a bonus, I have also included some live tracks from a concert they recorded at the Budokan indoor Arena, in 1976. These live tracks not only cover repertoires by Blues Creation and also Pappalardi's earlier band Mountain. In particular, their rendition of Nantucket Sleighride is quite impressive and demonstrates just how good these guys were. If you're are a big fan of Mountain, then you'll definitely enjoy this album.