Archive for the ‘Kiss’ Category

Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express

Saturday, May 28th, 2011

Straight Ahead / Brian Auger's Oblivion Express

Listen: Straight Ahead / Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express
Straight Ahead / Brian Auger's Oblivion Express

Always the ultimate player, Brian Auger seems like he was a pro in the cradle. Go back to his earliest recordings, prior to the big success he had with ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’, billed as Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger & The Trinity. You’ll see his virtuosity was fully formed.

In the early 70′s, after Julie Driscoll went her solo route, he toured the world, initially as Brian Auger & The Trinity, quickly morphing into Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, gaining US momentum the whole while. Sharing bills with every type of band (Bruce Springsteen, The Allman Brothers Band., Roland Kirk, Santana, Chick Corea, Led Zeppelin, Earth Wind & Fire, Kiss, Herbie Hancock), they provided just the right amount of high brow musicianship to ecstatically turn both jazz and rock audiences on.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, their many records fell pretty short on US airplay, but sold well nonetheless.

Fast forward to the present, Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express is still playing, dare I say better than ever. I sat smack dab in front of him a few years back, when he shared a bill with an equally stunning Savoy Brown at B.B. King’s in New York, and you could hardly see anything but a blur from those hands.

They just don’t make ‘em like Brian Auger anymore. Sorry.

Kiss

Monday, September 7th, 2009

kiss, Kiss, Casablanca

Listen: Kissin’ Time / Kiss Kiss.mp3

For some reason, this debut single was not initially included on their album. Probably by now it’s been added to many ‘scrape the bottom of the barrel and try to survive’ major label reissues.

I didn’t follow Kiss, so can’t rightfully speak about the majority of their singles, but from the ones I know, this is by far my favorite. In hindsight, it’s admittedly a bit more metal than usually interests me, and despite the name-every-city in America formula (don’t blame the band, it’s a cover), ‘Kissin’ Time’ definitely has a glam element that had me playing it back to back with the likes of The New York Dolls and Slade in it’s day. Great chorus.