BLUES,ROCK
Pacific Gas & Electric–Get It On(Kent-Sessions)68[2008]
The history of Pacific Gas and Electric can be traced back to 1967 in Los Angeles. Self-taught guitarist Tom Marshall met bassist Brent Block at a party thrown by Block’s former art teacher. The band they started was called “Pacific Gas and Electric Blues Band”, one of the first, if not the first interracial band to hit the LA music scene. One of the early members was a drummer from the east coast named Charlie Allen. Charlie’s vocal abilities were so great that he was relieved of his drum sticks, and became lead singer and front man, to be replaced on drums by Canned Heat’s former drummer, Frank Cook, who had earlier signed on to manage the band.By 1968, the band name was shortened to Pacific Gas and Electric, and included Allen, Cook, Marshall, Block, and guitarist Glenn Schwartz (also of James Gang and All Saved Freak Band). They released their first album, “Get It On”, that year on the Kent label (it was subsequently released on Big Orange and Power Records as well). Although it only reached #159 on the album charts, someone at Columbia Records was listening, as they signed the band to a recording contract shortly after their appearance at the Miami Pop Festival in December of 1968.
Editorial Reviews
The first album by Californian blues-rock legends, Pacific Gas and Electric, reissued for the first time and enhanced by the addition of almost three quarters of an hour’s worth of previously unissued material from the album sessions.
Reissued with the approval and complete co-operation of the surviving members of PG & E, this deluxe edition also features many previously unpublished shots of the band performing at late 60s music festivals and a sleeve note that draws on the reminiscences of key PG & E members Brent Block and Frank Cook.
The PG & E website has been trumpeting the release of this set for almost a year – which is how long it’s been in the making – and demand for recent CD reissues of their subsequent Columbia albums indicates that there’ll be strong sales for the hardest to find of all their original albums and the one that’s been out of print for the longest time.
This raw and exciting electric blues still shows exactly why PG & E were one of the most highly rated – and still among the best remembered – groups of their era.
Tracks:
1-Wade in the Water 6:11
2-Cry, Cry, Cry 5:26
3-Motor City Is Burning 6:48
4-The Hunter 3:23
5-Long Handled Shovel 3:35
6-Jelly, Jelly 6:40
7-Stormy Times 2:45
8-Live Love 3:24
Bonus Tracks:
9-My Sweet Baby (Take 6) 2:47
10-Dirty Mistreater (Take 2) 2:59
11-Wade in the Water (Undubbed Version) 4:52
12-Cry, Cry, Cry (Take 2) 6:21
13-Stormy Times (Take 9) 2:44
14-Long Handled Shovel (Take 8) 3:52
15-Jelly, Jelly (Take 1) 7:28
16-The Hunter (Take 1) 5:04
17-Blues Chant (Take 2) 3:34
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