Friendlytown

Steve Cropper of Booker T & the MGs and Stax fame, has released the rockin’ soulful blues album, ‘Friendlytown’ with his new band the Midnight Hour. This is his 120th album that he has either collaborated on or has issued as a solo artist.

The Midnight Hour band includes vocalist Roger C. Reale, keyboardist Eddie Gore, drummer Nioshi Jackson, and guitarist Billy Gibbons. Additionally, Felix Cavaliere, Brian May, Jon Tiven, and Simon Kirk join in on various songs.

At 82 years of age Cropper hasn’t lost a note and has found several new ones. The album is rich, tite, and one of his best.

Cropper, since the late 1950s has recorded with a veritable who’s who of rock, soul, and blues musicians, including John Lennon, Rod Stewart, B.B. King, and many, many others, garnering along way seven Grammy nominations, winning two, including the Best Rhythm and Blues Song, ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ with Otis Redding.

Trivia: ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ sold 4 million copies as a single, topped the Billboard Hot 100, became the sixth most performed song in 20th century, and the Rolling Stone ranked it as the 26th Greatest Song of All Time.

Source: AllMusic. Apple Music. Graphic: Album Cover, copyright Provogue Records.

Cactus: Temple of Blues—Influences & Friends

Carmine Appice, rock drummer extraordinaire, in an unguarded moment of over-exuberance has expanded his Cactus band to proportions that could be considered ‘just right’, producing a re-imagined compilation of previously recorded Cactus songs that may be simply stated as full throttle blues, boogie and rock sensations.

Released on disc and vinyl by Cleopatra Records on 7 June 2024, Cactus’ ‘Temple of Blues: Influences and Friends’ showcases 14 of the band’s greatest songs from their first 3 albums that they recorded in the early 1970s.

Appice brings in a who’s who of past and present marquee rockers, including Joe Bonamassa, Ted Nugent, Billy Sheehan, Dee Snider, Pat Travers, Warren Hayes, and many others to compliment the bands songs along with a few blues standards such as Willie Dixon’s ‘Evil’.

Carmine Appice, ranked the 28th Greatest Drummer of All Time’ by the Rolling Stone in 2016, formed and played not only for Cactus but also was an original member of the 60s psychedelic band: Vanilla Fudge, the power rock trio Beck, Bogert, & Appice and was part of Rod Stewart’s backing band.

In the trivia department the ‘Temple of Blues’ cover shows a picture of the original Cactus lineup in the background arch of the temple (from left Bogert, Day, McCarty, and Appice) which comes from a trade ad that ran in a 1970 Billboard issue.

Source: Cleopatra Records. Graphic: Cactus Album Cover, Cleopatra Records copyright.