{"id":1801,"date":"2011-09-11T10:46:24","date_gmt":"2011-09-11T15:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1801"},"modified":"2015-02-07T11:08:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-07T16:08:15","slug":"natural-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1801","title":{"rendered":"Natural Gas"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Natural Gas – Live and Learn <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Natural Gas – Rameses 1 <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Greetings all.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope everyone had themselves a groovy weekend and took the time to check out the Wardell Quezergue<\/strong>-related sounds. I also hope you took the time to paddle out into the wilds of the intertubes in search of a little more of his story (and history). He was an important figure in the sound of New Orleans and deserves to be remembered (and the music he made, heard).<\/p>\n

So, now that the new week is here, how about some of the funky, jazzy horn rock sound??<\/p>\n

I picked up the sole LP by the Canadian band Natural Gas<\/strong> a few years back when it popped up on a sale list with an intriguing description (probably something along the lines of \u2018funky horn rock\u2019) and an equally intriguing price tag. I\u2019d never heard of the band, but all signs pointed to \u201cBUY\u201d, so I did, and when it came through the mail slot onto the turntable I knew that I\u2019d done a groovy thing.<\/p>\n

Natural Gas (could they have selected a more un-Google-icious<\/em> name?) hailed \u2013 as mentioned \u2013 from north of the border and put out their only album in 1970 on the Firebird label.<\/p>\n

Though I can\u2019t tell you much about the band itself (one of their tracks, a cover of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ already appeared here in F16C Radio v.74 ‘Day Tripping’<\/strong><\/a>), it has roots (via singer George Olliver<\/strong>) in the prime of Canadian 60s rock, first with the Rogues<\/strong>, and then in the much more successful soul-rock outfit Mandala.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Olliver left Mandala in 1969 to for Natural Gas.<\/p>\n

If I were to describe the Natural Gas sound, I\u2019d say a slightly more progressive take on the horn-rock vibe of the time (led of course by Blood Sweat and Tears,<\/strong> which was helmed by David Clayton Thomas<\/strong> who for a brief time had been in the Rogues with Olliver).<\/p>\n

That the sound was verily omnipresent for a few years should be evident to anyone with a passing acquaintance with the era, with bands that were first and foremost a horn driven thang, with the BS&Ts, Chicagos<\/strong>, as well many soulful or jazz-inspired rock bands of the day (like Melting Pot<\/strong><\/a>) packing a horn section.<\/p>\n

There is of course the question of fusion, but it\u2019s probably more accurate (at least as I see it) to assign pre-existing jazzers attempting (with varying degrees of success) to rockify their sound with that term, where most of what I\u2019m talking about could loosely be called jazz rock.<\/p>\n

Much of what fell under the jazz rock sound is in retrospect often guilty of musical overreaching, with musicians who\u2019s hearts might have been in the right place but who\u2019s chops and or ears were not up to the task, making for cluttered, sometime clumsy attempts at jazz which were simultaneously overcooked versions of rock.<\/p>\n

Naturally, it was the late 60s and early 70s and hordes of drugged out kids with their feet in the mud couldn\u2019t have cared less as long as they could keep grooving, and now, forty years on, a lot of that stuff doesn\u2019t hold up well as either jazz or rock.<\/p>\n

That said, I find that despite their undeserved obscurity, Natural Gas were actually pretty good, with enough compositional and technical wherewithal to create music that was sonically interesting and \u2013 it bears mentioning \u2013 rarely overbearing.<\/p>\n

The two tracks I bring you this fine day exhibit two sides of the band.<\/p>\n

The first, \u2018Live and Learn\u2019 is a slightly funky excursion featuring Olliver\u2019s vocals running in and out of a tight instrumental backing. The band is tight, and the horn charts are tasteful, with the two sections of the group actually working together cooperatively (not always the case with these things). Olliver was a good singer, generally free of the sloppy, white soulboy-isms of many of his contemporaries. I\u2019ll have to dig out a Mandala 45 and post it so you can get a taste for his earlier work.<\/p>\n

The second cut, the instrumental \u2018Rameses 1\u2019 starts out as a Hammond groover, evolving into a more expansive jazz tableau, featuring some cool guitar. There are whispers of UK prog around the edges, but the organ drops out and the piano comes in (around the 2:00 mark) before it really unfolds too much. The remaining six minutes is split between contemplative piano, swinging, small-group action, and then a gradual return of the horn section.<\/p>\n

It is \u2013 especially for the time \u2013 a work of remarkable good taste and subtlety, the band never straying outside the boundaries of their instrumental (or compositional) prowess.<\/p>\n

The album ought to be better known.<\/p>\n

George Olliver still performs and records today.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t forget that I\u2019ll be spinning some tunes during the annual Point Pleasant Lions Seafood 5K and 1 Mile FUN Run\/Walk on Saturday, September 17th in Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ<\/strong>. The run benefits the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness<\/strong> <\/a>and runs right before the Seafood Fest (which starts at 10AM). I\u2019ll be spinning all of the funk soul and disco you\u2019d expect, so if you\u2019re in the area, come on down and run, sit and watch people run while listening to music, or get your groove on before hunting down some delicious seafood. It\u2019s a great cause and there\u2019ll be good music, good people and good food, so what else do you need to know?<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope you dig the tunes, and I\u2019ll see you all on Wednesday<\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen\/Download – Natural Gas – Live and Learn Listen\/Download – Natural Gas – Rameses 1 Greetings all. I hope everyone had themselves a groovy weekend and took the time to check out the Wardell Quezergue-related sounds. I also hope you took the time to paddle out into the wilds of the intertubes in search of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,83,14,66,49,30,13],"tags":[163,166,27,165],"class_list":["post-1801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funk","category-funk-rock","category-funky16corners","category-instrumental","category-jazz-funk","category-lp-tracks","category-soul-jazz","tag-funk","tag-funky16corners","tag-hammond-organ","tag-soul-jazz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-t3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1801"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5523,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions\/5523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}