Along with
the justifiably famous San Francisco bands of the late 1960s such as the
Jefferson Airplane, there were quite a few lesser-known groups that produced
some great music back in the day. My two favorites were Quicksilver Messenger
Service and Cold Blood (“one of the original R&B horn bands from the late
60's/ early 70's that exemplified the … melding of funk & rock with blues
and jazz elements”), so when this appearance was announced I was quick to get a
ticket. (Great seat dead center in the second row of tables, 105/3.) The
current version of the band is still California-based and makes relatively
infrequent trips to the East Coast, so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.
Fortunately,
they didn’t disappoint, although I wish the vocals (particularly Lydia’s) had
been louder in the mix. The six guys in the band (guitar, bass, drums,
keyboards, sax, and trumpet – all fantastic musicians) come out and did an
extended version of the instrumental “Valdez in the Country”, and then
introduced Lydia, who kicked things into overdrive with the Willie Dixon
classic “I Just Want to Make Love to You.” While they also covered tracks by
Etta James (“Tell Mama”) and Bill Withers (“Kissing My Love”), the real
highlights of the show were some of the band’s original cuts, including “No Way
Home” and “Funky on My Back”. They wound up their main set with “You Got Me
Hummin’” (the closest thing they ever had to an actual hit), and quickly
returned for a great version of “Down to the Bone”, finishing up (almost two
hours after starting) and sending everyone home happy with “It Takes A Lotta
Good Lovin’”.
It was a
good and enthusiastic crowd (although not a complete sellout). Wasn’t sure what
exactly to get for dinner, but finally decided to go with the blackened chicken
flatbread, which turned out to be an excellent choice.
Cold Blood
CDs are not that easy to come by these days, but fortunately their music is
well-represented in iTunes. I’d recommend picking up their first album (simply
titled Cold Blood) for a mere $5.99,
plus the original LP versions of “Funky on My Back”, “No Way Home”, and “Down
to the Bone”, which will give you a great feel for the band for less than ten
bucks.
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