BROOKLYNSTEVE: 07/21/11

July 21, 2011

FURTHUR / Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY - 7/19/2011

Furthur
2011-07-19
Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY

Topspin Media Download

Disc One
Set One
1. Here Comes the Sun,
2. Cosmic Charlie,
3. Pride of Cucamonga,
4. Hell in a Bucket,
5. So Many Roads >
6. Lost Sailor >
7. Saint of Circumstance,
8. Casey Jones

Disc Two
Set Two
1. Born Cross-Eyed >
2. Caution >
3. Cryptical Envelopment >
4. The Other One >
5. Wharf Rat >
6. Eclipse >

Disc Three
1. Mountains of the Moon >
2. Uncle John's Band >
3. Viola Lee Blues
ENCORE
4. Donor Rap
5. Box of Rain

http://www.fileserve.com/file/8vTZFRK

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC - "GET IT ON... BLUES" 1968

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC
"GET IT ON... BLUES"
1968
37:56

1 Wade in the Water 6:11
2 Cry Cry Cry (Malone) 5:25
3 Motor City Is Burning (Smith) 6:45
4 Hunter (Jackson, Jones, Wells) 3:21
5 Long Handled Shovel 3:31
6 Jelly, Jelly (Cotton) 6:39
7 Stormy Times (Block) 2:43
8 Live Love (Marshall) 3:21

Charlie Allen Vocals
Joe Sample Organ
Glenn Schwartz Guitar
(?) Bass
(?) Drums

REVIEW
by John Bush
The debut album of the five-member Pacific Gas & Electric reveals a nimble little blues band with a great shouter for a lead singer. Far less lumbering than the band became on their better-known major-label recordings, the Modern release of Get It On begins with the kind of maximum R&B bang that few American rock groups beyond the MC5 or Young Rascals would have been able to muster: a six-minute version of "Wade in the Water" that careens through its six long minutes with power and just enough balance between control and chaos. (The track was billed as being recorded "live," but it was actually a studio creation with overdubs.) Lead singer Charlie Allen was a charismatic force up front, and lead guitarist Glenn Schwartz, a transplant from Cleveland and the James Gang, matched Allen's charisma with his solos. If they have a weakness on Get It On, it's the rhythm section, which despite including Frank Wilson of Canned Heat, can't always keep up with Allen or Schwartz, and sounds pretty stiff in comparison.

FORMED 1968 IN SAN FRANCISCO, CA

BIOGRAPHY
by Sean Westergaard
The seeds of Pacific Gas & Electric were sown in Los Angeles back in 1966 when self-taught guitarist Tom Marshall formed Bluesberry Jam, whose ranks included drummer Charlie Allen. Allen turned out to be such a fine vocalist that he ended up becoming the frontman; his drum chair was filled by Adolfo de la Parra in 1968. Later that year, de La Parra left to join Canned Heat, replacing Frank Cook who then joined Bluesberry Jam. After adding guitarist Glenn Schwartz and bassist Brent Block later in 1968, the group changed their name to Pacific Gas & Electric.Their first album, Get It On, was released by Kent in 1968, but failed to make much of an impact. However, following their appearance at the Miami Pop Festival in late 1968, Pacific Gas & Electric signed with Columbia, who released Pacific Gas & Electric in 1969. Their next album, Are You Ready, supplied their first hit, the title track, which made it into the Top 20 in the summer of 1970. Despite this success, all the bandmembers left, forcing Charlie Allen to build a new Pacific Gas & Electric around him. Enter guitarist Ken Utterback, bassist Frank Petricca, Ron Woods on drums, Jerry Aiello on keyboards, trumpet player Stanley Abernathy, sax players Alfred Gallegos and Virgil Gonsalves, and percussionist Joe Lala. Around this time, the Pacific Gas & Electric Utility Company asked the band to change their name, which was shortened to PG&E, also the title of their 1971 album. They also appeared in and provided music for the Otto Preminger film Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon starring Liza Minnelli.After 1972 or so, PG&E basically turned into a solo Charlie Allen vehicle. They released Starring Charlie Allen on Dunhill in 1973, then called it quits.

http://www.fileserve.com/file/2kdZM9F

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC - ARE YOU READY 1970

PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC
"ARE YOU READY"
1970
COLUMBIA
40:03

1 Are You Ready? (Allen, Hill) 5:49
2 Hawg for You (Redding) 4:45
3 Staggolee (Allen, Hill) 3:50
4 Blackberry (Isley, Isley) 5:37
5 Love, Love, Love, Love, Love (Cochrane, Hill) 3:53
6 Mother, Why Do You Cry? (Allen) 5:06
7 Elvira (Allen) 2:01
8 Screamin' (Block) 4:28
9 When a Man Loves a Woman (Lewis, Wright) 4:34

Charlie Allen - Vocals
Sherrill Atwood - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Brent Block - Bass
Merry Clayton - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Frank Cook - Drums
Venetta Fields - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Delores Hall - Vocals (bckgr)
Dolores Hall - Vocals
John Hill - Organ, Piano
Clydie King - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Tom Marshall - Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Sherlie Matthews - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Ginger Schackne - Vocals
Glenn Schwartz - Guitar, Harp
Lorna Willard - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Rusty Young - Guitar

REVIEW
by Richie Unterberger
Anchored by Pacific Gas & Electric's sole hit "Are You Ready," the album of the same name — actually their third LP — treads a thin line between eclecticism and confusion, and is actually weaker on the whole than its predecessor, 1969's Pacific Gas & Electric. Certainly the ominous yet inspirational gospel-funk-psychedelia of "Are You Ready" was the strongest track, and to this day the only one that most casual rock fans remember. Yet other cuts on the album indicated they couldn't decide whether to be a heavy blues-rock group ("Hawg for You"), a more soul-dipped version of the Band ("Staggolee"), a swampy soul-rock outfit (a cover of the Isley Brothers' "The Blackberry"), or, least convincingly, cry-in-your-beer honky tonk balladeers ("Mother, Why Don't You Cry?"). This wouldn't have been such a handicap if the material wasn't as mediocre as it was, and any song titled "Love, Love, Love, Love, Love" is a warning that lyrical imagination wasn't in abundance on the day it was composed. They do play the James Brown-psychedelic rock-fusion card with some gusto on "Elvira," and Charlie Allen's vocals are pretty soulful, though it's only on a cover of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" that they come to the fore in a no-nonsense manner.

http://www.fileserve.com/file/jh82SJG

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC - 1969

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC
"PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC"
1969
SONY MUSIC DISTRIBUTION

1 Bluesbuster (Allen) 2:55
2 Death Row #172 (Allen, Cook, Hill) 3:59
3 Miss Lucy (Allen) 2:28
4 My Women (Allen, Marshall) 5:38
5 She's Long and She's Tall (Hooker) 6:20
6 PG&E Suite: The Young Rabbits/Constitutional Strand/Fat Tom/Boy Wonder [medley] (Block, Henderson, Marshall, Schwartz) 16:41
7 Redneck (South) 3:32

Stanley Abernathy - Trumpet
Jerry Aiello - Organ
Charlie Allen - Vocals
Brent Black - Bass
The Blackberries - Vocals (bckgr)
Brent Block - Guitar (Bass)
Bud Brisbois - Trumpet
D.A. Brisbois - Trumpet
Frank Cook - Drums
Wilton Felder - Sax (Tenor)
Alfred Galleros - Tenor (Vocal)
Virgil Gonsalves - Bass (Vocal)
Wayne Henderson - Trombone
Freddie Hill - Trumpet
John Hill - Keyboards
Joe Lala - Conga, Timbales
Tom Marshall - Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Frank Petricca - Bass
Glenn Schwartz - Guitar
Ken Utterback - Guitar
Ron Woods - Drums

REVIEW
by Richie Unterberger
On most of their second album, Pacific Gas & Electric play soul-rock with some dash and verve, though the songwriting isn't up to the level of musicianship or Charlie Allen's genuinely soulful vocals. Pacific Gas & Electric are really a band that would be better served by a selective compilation than any of their individual LPs, and strong candidates for such an anthology would include "Death Row #172" and "Bluesbuster," which are a little like early Blood, Sweat & Tears with more blues-rock and less bluster. Some of the other songs are closer to average period blues-rock workouts, like "Miss Lucy" and the live cover of John Lee Hooker's "She's Long and She's Tall," though the group original "My Women" finds them getting into a slow blues-funk groove with graceful style. The four-part, 17-minute "PG&E Suite" is typical of the highs and lows of many such psychedelic rock experiments of the late '60s, starting off promisingly with the cinematic jazz-rock instrumental "The Young Rabbits." But it runs off the rails with too much drum soloing, and the momentum utterly drains when the suite peters out into poor white-boy blues that's obviously trying to be drolly humorous, yet ends up being painfully lame. The closing blues-soul-rock stomper "Redneck" restores the energy level somewhat, but it's an erratic record on the whole, as would be its follow-up, 1970's Are You Ready.

http://www.fileserve.com/file/E8dSQEH