American Blues - Is Here (1968)

2015-08-31T15:57:26Z

American Blues - Is Here (1968)


A1 	If I Were A Carpenter 	5:26
A2 	All I Saw Was You 	3:46
A3 	She'll Be Mine 	1:51
A4 	Fugue For Lady Cheriff 	2:14
B1 	It's Gone 	2:00
B2 	Keep My Heart In A Rage 	2:40
B3 	Mercury Blues 	4:15
B4 	Melted Like Snow 	3:15
B5 	Mellow 	2:08

Frank Beard - Drums
Doug Davis - Keyboards
Dusty Hill - Bass
Rocky Hill - Guitar, Vocals

Some bands make their greatest contribution by being reduced to parts, and that sadly seems to be where the American Blues fit into rock & roll history. Despite their name, the Dallas, Texas-based group had very little to do with the blues, instead playing a curious mishmash of hard rock, psychedelia, country-rock, and what would come to be known as progressive rock, and they didn't make much of an impact out of town. However, after they broke up, they contributed bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard to ZZ Top, which is the main reason their debut album, The American Blues Is Here, is remembered today. The band is not bad at all; then as now, Dusty and Frank were a solid rhythm section (though Beard sometimes overplays a bit here), and Rocky Hill (Dusty's brother) was a fine lead guitarist, but their material is what sinks this particular ship. The opening freakout revision of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" is a wobbly mess that loses momentum at the halfway point, and "All I Saw Was You," "Fugue for Lady Cheriff," and "Mellow" confirm that songwriting was not this group's strong point, and Rocky's vocals do little to mask the occasional inanity of the lyrics. The best track is a slow, swaggering version of "Mercury Blues" that's also the only indication of the sort of music Hill and Beard would soon make their bread and butter, and it stands out like a sore thumb in this context. The American Blues Is Here is a less than stellar example of the fading end of Texas psychedelia, and it's the sort of album that would be forgotten except by hardcore record collectors if it weren't for the rhythm section moving on to bigger and better things. ---Mark Deming, Rovi

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American Blues ‎– Do Their Thing (1968)

2015-10-16T16:00:44Z

American Blues ‎– Do Their Thing (1968)


A1 	You Were So Close To Me 	3:24
A2 	Wonder Man 	2:26
A3 	Just Plain Jane 	2:34
A4 	Shady 	2:05
A5 	Comin' Back Home 	5:35
B1 	Captain Fire 	3:18
B2 	Chocolate Ego 	3:04
B3 	Nightmare Of A Wise Man 	3:24
B4 	Dreams 	2:52
B5 	Softly To The Sun 	2:33

Dusty Hill – vocals, bass
Rocky Hill – guitar, vocals
Doug Davis – organ, vocals
Frank Beard – drums

American Blues were a 1960s Texas-based garage band who played a psychedelic style of blues rock music influenced by the 13th Floor Elevators. They are most famous for including two future members of the band ZZ Top in their ranks, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. From 1966 to 1968, they played the Dallas-Fort Worth-Houston circuit and headlined in three clubs all called "The Cellar", in Dallas at clubs such as "The Walrus" on Mockingbird Lane, and in Houston at "Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine" on Allen's Landing, as late as 1968.

Around 1968 the band (the two Hill brothers and Beard) decided to leave the Dallas–Fort Worth area, relocating to Houston. At this time, however, guitarist Rocky Hill wanted to focus on "straight blues", while his brother Dusty wanted the band to rock more. Rocky left the band, and the remaining two members joined the recently formed ZZ Top.

Rocky Hill continued to tour around Texas, and elsewhere, becoming one of a number of guitarists well-known within the state for their blues guitar prowess, such as Rocky Athis and Charlie Sexton. In this role, his playing in Austin was said to have been an influence on guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan's formative years, as well. He sometimes referred to himself as "The Anti-Clapton", and one writer with the Houston Press called Rocky "perhaps the wildest and scariest -- both onstage and off -- of all the Texas white-boy blues guitarists." ---wikipedia

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Rock, Metal

American Blues - Is Here (1968)

American Blues ‎– Do Their Thing (1968)