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Friday, March 05, 2010

Happy Trails (1969)

 
"When You Love" This one came tumbling through my life almost accidentally, an album vaguely recommended by someone somewhere and that I heard later creasing the background of a party (as I recall, and I don't well), weird live takes on Bo Diddley strained through a San Francisco hippie filter. At the time I was too easily charmed by the crowd noises and extemporaneity of live albums and hence drawn first to the section labeled "Where You Love." Later I heard the album again at a friend's, late at night, in the basement of his parent's house. We had to get up early for school the next day. That's when John Cipollina's brilliant guitar clarified itself, a thing raw and poised and urgent and probing and just about completely riveting every moment it is present. The section labeled "When You Love" quickly entered my short list of favored solos, guitar and otherwise, headed by Miles Davis on "Pharoah's Dance" and Duane Allman on the At Fillmore East "You Don't Love Me" and "Whipping Post." I have to say it still ranks high, although I'm not presently prepared to offer a more comprehensive ranking. That will have to be a project for another time.

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