Friday, December 1, 2006

Live From Ebbets Field Volume 2 (1973 - 1976)




Well, maybe it’s like, if you can remember shows at Ebbets Field, you weren’t really there. (I do know if you think it was a field, you weren’t there.) Now FM102.3KCUV will revive memories and make you believe you were thre, even if you weren’t. Denver was a great place for music in the 1970’s, and Ebbets Field, a small night club located in the Brooks Tower near 15th and Curtis contributed and let music lovers in Denver, the front range and beyond hear some of the best music from around the world.

Denver’s famous concert promoter Chuck Morris opened up Ebbets Field, and it seemed like everybody played there in the 1970’s, including Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, Tom Waits, Lynyrd Skynyrd are only a few artists on a long list who came through the Ebbet and made musical history in Denver. Here’s more of that list, I’m not making this list up, and I was there for some of them, I think: Freddie King, Taj Mahal, John Prine, Muddy Water, Asleep At The Wheel, J.J. Cale, Ry Cooder, Commander Cody, Dr. John, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Peter Frampton, Dan Hicks, Lightning Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Kraftwerk, Little Feat, Don McLean, the Outlaws, Robin Trower, Jerry Jeff Walker, Muddy Waters, and more! Rock, blues, country, jazz, every genre found a home there.

And to prove it really happened, the good news is, the shows were professionally recorded by the staff of ListenUp, the local audio/video retailer and Ebbets’ sound company. Many of the shows were simulcast, and I have copies of those that recorded off the radio that are like the best concert tapes I own. This is thanks to Co-founder and president Walt Stinson entered into an agreement with Ebbets to simulcast them for free on the radio, or record them for re-broadcast, usually on Sunday nights.

FM 102.3 KCUV is releasing compliation CD’s of some of this music, and a portion of the profits from the newly released Volume II go to the Morgan Adams Foundation, to raise awareness and financial support for pediatric cancer.

Volume II has a great medley of Willie Nelson, including his famous “Denver”, from his Red Headed Stranger album. So, okay, turn down the lights, sit back, smoke ‘em if you’ve got em, and enjoy the musical journey this collection will take you on:

1. LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III Down Drinking at the Bar - 6/19/74
2. WILLIE NELSON Denver/over the Waves/Down Yonder - 9/2/75
3. BREWER & SHIPLEY Witchi-Tai-To - 5/25/75
4. TOM RUSH No Regrets - 10/22/74
5. LIVINGSTON TAYLOR Carolina Day - 11/27/73
6. WENDY WALDMAN Mad Mad Me - 11/7/74
7. FAIRPORT CONVENTION Matty Groves - 5/23/74
8. STRAWBS Out in the Cold/Round and Round - 3/4/74
9. BRIAN AUGER’S OBLIVION EXPRESS Happiness Is Just Around the Bend - 4/4/74
10. WET WILLIE Grits Ain’t Groceries/Soul Jones - 6/27/74
11. TOMMY BOLIN Homeward Strut - 6/3/74
12. PROCTOR & BERGMAN Channel 85 Sign-On - 12/6/73

These tracks, digitally transfered directly from the original tapes, have been remastered by Bob Ferbrache at Absinthe Studios in Westminster. The CD package was designed by Steve Holt, includes a cover shot featuring a vintage hand-illustrated Ebbets Field crew shirt, and a twelve-page booklet with archival photographs of Brian Auger, Strawbs, Brewer & Shipley, Wet Willie, Tom Rush, Tommy Bolin and Fairport Convention onstage at Ebbets, taken by Bob Ferbrache. G. Brown wrote the liner notes detailing the history of Ebbets Field as well as help ListenUp and KCUVâ€.

You can google this and find ways to buy it on line, and I’ve seen it at some independent record stores, too.

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