For a change, the late 1960s yielded up a supergroup that lived up to its hype and then some. Ginger Baker's Air Force was recorded live at Royal Albert Hall in January of 1970 In fact, this may be the best-sounding live album ever to come out of that notoriously difficult venue -- at a show that must have been a wonder to watch, as the ten-piece band blazed away in sheets of sound, projected delicate flute parts behind multi-layered African percussion, or built their songs up Bolero-like, out of rhythms from a single instrument into huge jazz-cum-R&B crescendos. Considering that this was only their second gig, the group sounds astonishingly tight, which greatly reduces the level of self-indulgence that one would expect to find on an album where five of the eight tracks run in excess of ten minutes. There aren't too many wasted notes or phrases in the 78 minutes of music included here, and Steve Winwood's organ, Baker, Phil Seamen, and Remi Kabaka's drums, and the sax playing by Chris Wood, Graham Bond (on alto), and Harold McNair, all stand out, especially the sax trio's interwoven playing on "Don't Care." Additionally, Denny Laine plays louder, flashier, more virtuoso-level guitar than he ever got to turn in with the Moody Blues, bending notes in exquisite fashion in the opening of Air Force's rendition of the Cream standard "Toad," crunching away on rhythm elsewhere, and indulging in some more introspective blues for "Man of Constant Sorrow." The original CD reissue, which sounded pretty good, was deleted in the early '90s, but this album has been remastered again and repackaged as part of the Ginger Baker retrospective Do What You Like on Polygram's Chronicles series. It's a must-own for jazz-rock, Afro-fusion, blues-rock, or percussion fans (by Bruce Eder). Tracklisting: 01."Da da Man" (Harold McNair) ? 7:16 Lead vocal by Jeanette Jacobs, organ solo by Stevie Winwood, guitar solo by Denny Laine, sax solo by Graham Bond. 02."Early in the Morning" (Traditional, arranged by Ginger Baker) ? 11:13 Lead vocals by Ginger Baker & Denny Laine. 03."Don't Care" (Ginger Baker/Steve Winwood) ? 12:32 Lead vocals by Stevie Winwood & Jeanette Jacobs. 04."Toad" (Ginger Baker) ? 12:59 Drum solos by Ginger Baker, Remi Kabaka & Phil Seamen. 05."Aiko Biaye" (Remi Kabaka/Teddy Osei) ? 13:00 Lead Vocals by Graham Bond. 06."Man of Constant Sorrow" (Traditional, arranged by Denny Laine) ? 3:50 Lead Vocal by Denny Laine, bass guitar by Stevie Winwood, violin by Rick Grech. 07."Do What You Like" (Ginger Baker) ? 11:47 Lead vocal by Stevie Winwood. 08."Doin' It" (Ginger Baker) ?5:26 Ginger Baker's Airforce: *Ginger Baker: Drums, percussion, African percussion, tympani, vocals. *Denny Laine: Guitars, vocals. *Ric Grech: Bass guitar, violin. *Steve Winwood: Hammond Organ, bass guitar, vocals. *Graham Bond: Hammond organ, Alto saxophone, vocals. *Chris Wood: Tenor saxophone, flute. *Harold McNair: Tenor & Alto saxophones, Alto flute. *Bud Beadle: Soprano, Baritone, Alto & Tenor saxophones. *Jeanette Jacobs: Vocals. *Remi Kabaka: Drums, percussion. *Phil Seamen: Drums, percussion.
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