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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 27, 2006 15:20:20 GMT
SIDE ONE
1. I Won't Be Alone Anymore (Robbie Krieger)
2. Baja Bus (Robbie Krieger)
3. Sweet Danger (Jess Roden)
4. Pop-A-Top (Jess Roden & Phil Chenn)
SIDE TWO
5. Be With Me (Robbie Krieger)
6. New Ways (Jess Roden)
7. Love Your Brother (Robbie Krieger)
8. Kansas City (Leiber & Stoller)
Producer: Bruce Botnick
Jess Roden Vocals, Guitar
Phillip Chen Bass, Guitar
Roy Davies Keyboards, Synthesiser
John Densmore Drums/Percussion
Robby Krieger Guitar
Larry McDonald Congas (Tracks 2,4)
Allan Sharp Congas (Track 7)
Mick Weaver Wurlitzer Piano (Tracks 6,8), Organ (Track 7)
Produced by: Bruce Botnick
Recorded at: Olympic Studios, London and in Kingston, Jamaica
Engineers - London / Keith Harwood & Kingston / Bruce Botnick
Mixed in Los Angeles at Hollywood Sound Studios
Label: Blue Thumb (BTS 63) & Island (UK) ILPS 9161
Recorded: May 1973.
Released: June 1974
Photography: Gary Brownell
Sleve concept: JR
Design: Cathy Deeter
Lettering: Len Freas
Butts Band: The Album
The debut album entitled with breathtaking originality 'Butts Band' certainly wasn't The Doors and it wasn't true reggae either. Nor truth to tell was it anything really new as far as the music scene of 1974 was concerned and in the years of rock 1974 to 1975 were probably the most musically stagnant since 1959. Therefore by association whilst pleasant enough to the ear The Butts Band debut did not exactly set the world alight. Of the two sides the one recorded in Jamaica is the more lively with the opening track 'Won't be Alone Anymore' contriving to sound decidedly Monkeeish whilst setting the general tenor of the album....excellent guitar (as ever) from Robby though more to the fore than had been previously the case, precise drumming from John and workmanlike vocals from Jess Roden more than compensating for the shortcomings on the final pair of Doors albums.
'Baja Bus' gives the impression of being a Full Circle leftover whilst Jess Rodens 'Sweet Danger' exudes a decidely latter day CSN&Y air with which Roy Davies mingles a few organ lines lifted directly from 'Riders On The Storm'.
'Pop A Top'....well the best thing about it is Robbys bottleneck...otherwise its something of a wasted track.
The London side never really escapes from a laid back groove and in fact until the final track it tends to plod.
The closer 'Kansas City' the old Leiber/Stoller classic is something of a curio for its not a live track though it purports to be. True it was recorded in one take at Olympic Studio but the crowd response was dubbed over at a later date.
A move Jess Roden took a dim view of.
"I think they took the applause off an old Doors album or something and I wasn't too pleased with that."
For the production Bruce Botnick returned to the fold but it was a somewhat roundabout affair with the Olympic session being engineered by Keith Harwood the band then taking the tapes to Dynamic Studio in Jamaica where Botnick engineered the later sessions. Then everyone flew to LA where the album was mixed in Hollywood Sound Studio.
"The English session took three weeks then three weeks in jamaica and on to LA for mixing. So the whole thing took two months and it was pretty much a continuous period."
John Densmore.
The Doors: by Tobler & Doe
Original master tape of debut LP. |
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 27, 2006 16:36:37 GMT
The Butts Band: The Butts Band
The 1973 debut of Butts Band, produced by Doors engineer turned producer Bruce Botnick, is — along with Ray Manzarek's 1974 release, The Golden Scarab (also produced by Botnick) — the true fulfillment of what Other Voices and Full Circle initiated. A release of Golden Scarab and The Butts Band on one CD would be a good companion piece to the aforementioned post-Morrison Doors releases; it's most likely what would have evolved had the Doors' trio given us a third album in the early '70s. Make no mistake, this is very musical and great stuff, it just had no image, introduced us to new personalities, and was saddled with a terrible name (c'mon, the Butts Band? What was Jimmy Castor's line in "Troglodyte"? "Bertha Butt, one of the Butt sisters." It's just plain silly with the world watching the Doors' legacy). Before Robbie Krieger went on his jazz tangent, this folky blues group may have been a necessary diversion. There's none of the Doors' darkness or Ray Manzarek's manic intensity here. It's laid-back, well-played, perfectly recorded music on the Blue Thumb label. What is surprising is that Robbie Krieger was an integral part of the Doors' hit singles. He seems to have put that in the past on these compositions. "Baja Bus," with conga by Larry McDonald, might as well be the Allman Brothers. Side one was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, with Botnick as engineer, while in London for side two at Olympic Studios they used Keith Harwood on the boards, though Bruce Botnick is the producer of the entire package. More of what you'd expect than the follow-up, Hear and Now, which changes all the musicians save the two Doors and completely reshuffles the sound. Gotta hand it to Krieger and Densmore; they can be as proud of this as Ten Wheel Drive's Zager and Schefrin can be of their post-Genya Ravan disc on EMI. That record wasn't Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, but it was competent and worth a listen, as is The Butts Band.
by Joe Viglione
All Music Guide.
"Krieger and Densmore continued to perform together after parting with Manzarek. They formed a new group called the Butts Band, a quintet rounded out by vocalist Jess Roden, bassist Phillip Chen, and keyboardist Roy Davies. Although Davies is clearly from the Manzarek school, the self-titled Butts Band album released in 1974 does not rely too heavily on the Doors legacy. The album goes down the same blues-rock road often traveled by the likes of Eric Clapton and Gregg Allman, and it is a quite good entry in that genre. Roden is an admirably unpretentious vocalist who smartly doesn't try to emulate Morrison. The band showed considerable pop prowess on "Sweet Danger" and "Be With Me", and the closing track, a live rendition of Leiber and Stoler's "Kansas City", proved that the Butts Band were no joke. Unfortunately, the band didn't last. Roden left to record solo albums for the remainder of the decade, and the group fell apart."
Rarebirds Review Pages.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 29, 2006 12:56:30 GMT
Here is a review I did for Scorpywag of the Butts Band Complete CD in the Spring of 2002.............. 
The Butts Band: The Complete Recordings.
Formed from the ashes of The Doors in the summer of 1973 The Butts Band went some way to destroying the myth that The Doors were a 'one trick pony'. The band had abounded with talent but with such a charismatic focus as Jim Morrison his three band-mates were constantly overlooked.
So with Ray going solo John and Robby took the plunge with a new group.
Jess Roden, who had been considered as a new singer for The Doors, was chosen to front the band and he brought along bass player Phil Chen and Roy Davies on keyboards. After furious rehearsals they went into Olympic Studios in London to begin their first album. So carried away did they get that to capture an authentic reggae feel they flew to Jamaica to finish the album at a studio in Kingston.
Released to critical acclaim, though far less sales, at the beginning of 1974 the album showed a doubting public The Doors story was far from over.
From the opening moments of 'I Won't Be Alone Anymore' it was clear that Jess was a unique vocal talent who wisely did not attempt to emulate the late lamented Lizard King. A blend of blues, soft rock with a touch of reggae the Butts were an excellent example of the power and diversity of 70's rock. The clean crisp drumming of Densmore and the guitar genius of Krieger had found in their British compatriots that rare chemistry that sets bands apart from the mainstream pack. From the easy going 'Baja Bus' and 'Pop a Top' to the bluesy 'New Ways' and 'Be With Me' the album was a delight.
The highlights were many with the soulful blues of 'Sweet Danger' being the standout track along with a 'fake' live version of the classic 'Kansas City'.
It's hard to understand why Bruce Botnick added a Doors audience track to this as it rocked along nicely on it's own.
Sadly all the bands efforts came to nought as they split due to the pressures of having the Atlantic Ocean between them.
Not to be down-hearted Densmore and Krieger tried again with an all US version for the bands second effort 'Hear & Now'. Upgraded to a sextet and fronted by guitar player vocalist Mike Stull the album opens with Bob Marley's 'Get Up Stand Up' and has a similar rhythm & blues reggae feel as the debut effort. Where it differs is of course in the personnel.
The Brits were far tighter than their US counterparts and the vocal talent of Mike Stull was a pale imitation of Jess Roden sounding like a karaoke Barry White.
Having said that my early opinions of the second Butts Band were a bit of an injustice as they were not as bad as I thought in 1975 although the album is still a very poor one.
Lady keyboard player Alex Richman added an interesting vocal dimension on tracks such as 'Everybodys Fool' and 'Feelin' So Bad' and the other newcomers Karl Rucker on bass and the additional percussion of Mike Berkowitz were fine musicians but failed to gel the way the first line up did.
Overall though the music on show was a bit bland and lacked the edge that the Brits had provided, so consequently the album headed for obscurity faster than Jim Morrison headed for the bar and now is nothing more than a 'bargain bin' oddity. With not a single stand out track on 'Hear & Now' the first eight tracks are the most worthwhile part of this Butts Band compilation the rest being nice music to have a bath too as long as you do not linger too long in the warm suds.
Scorpywag Rating 8/10 brave effort which unfortunately failed
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jan 10, 2011 9:28:18 GMT
The Butts Band: The Butts Band
"The debut of The Butts Band provides many pleasurable moments with its economical medium-tempo rock. Roy Davies jazzy electric piano coupled with Kriegers tenuously blended guitar recalls The Doors 'Riders on The Storm'. Jess Roden sings wildly in a style reminiscent of Burton Cummings and some will find his harshness repelling. Theres plenty of variety. They go from conga-addled soul rythms to floating synthisized rveries but the album coheres well. The band shows further promise in elevating mediocre songs into listenable cuts through creative arranging.
Harold Bronson
Rolling Stone, May 9th 1974
John Densmore from 1973.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Mar 20, 2011 21:05:28 GMT
Tribute to Blue Thumb: from Hymie's Vintage Records Another example of Blue Thumb’s eye-catching packaging is The Butts Band with its amplifier design. Old know-it-all rocker guys will be quick to tell you this record is rare (Which its not) and that its the Doors (Which its not). If you want to listen to the post-Morrison Doors you’ll want to hunt down copies of Other Voices and Full Circle. You will find the Butts Band (Which does feature Robby Kreiger and John Densmore) to be more like some of Elektra’s other acts at the time, like Audience and Love. You will also find, if you listen to Ray Manzarek’s first couple albums after Full Circle, that he was the one who really continued to explore the Doors’ post-Morrison sound.  These first two tracks – “I Won’t be Alone Anymore” and “Baja Bus” – pretty much capture the Butts Band sound. They were essentially a supergroup along the lines of Rhinoceros, another Elektra act that never really came together. “Baja Bus” has all the jam band charm of The Allman Brothers’ Eat a Peach or At Filmore East.  Other tracks like “I Won’t be Alone Anymore” and “Love Your Brother” sound more like Brave Belt, the short lived post-Guess Who Randy Bachman project that evolved into B.T.O. – Maybe this is the direction Butts Band would have moved, hard to say. Some members lived in London, some in California – Not an arrangement conductive to creative development. Still, there are some really great moments on this album, which was allegedly passed on by several labels before being taken up by Blue Thumb.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 20, 2011 10:27:28 GMT
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 7, 2012 12:13:07 GMT
The Butts Band – The Butts Band (1973)
In 1973 following the disappearance of Jim Morrison the remaining members of The Doors came to England in an attempt to find a replacement front man. Several vocalists were auditioned including Kevin Coyne and Jess Roden. However, the hot favourite and choice of Jac Holzman, the Elektra record label founder, was Howard Werth the former vocalist of The Audience. Werth remained with the band for around a week rehearsing before Ray Manzarek called the whole thing off and returned to America and declared The Doors as no more.
John Densmore and Roddy Krieger though had been more impressed with Jess Roden than Werth anyway and decided to stay in London and form a new group, which they christened The Butts Band, with Roden, Roy Davies and Phil Chen.
The Butts Band were a mixture of styles encompassing rock, soul, blues, jazz funk and even a smattering of reggae and calypso. They recorded their self titled debut album in two distinct parts during 1973, one in England and one in Jamaica with the album hitting the streets later that year.
Side one of the original vinyl edition contained the tracks recorded in Kingston, Jamaica and are packed full of that laid back easy going feeling of life on the island. The opening track ‘I Won’t Be Alone Any More’ from the pen of Robby Kreiger is a mid paced rock track with some country and folk undertones as well as a jaunty west coast American style feel. A couple of tasteful solos and an easy vocal melody make the track a great launch into the album. An album which is as far removed from The Doors as you can imagine.
‘Baja Bus’ is something of a classic amongst musicians who play and appreciate a jazz funk soul type of rock and has claims to be the classic that all music of that ilk should be compared with. Jerky jazzy beats, great bass, drums and some guest conga work from Larry McDonald all help to create a great laid back groove that Roden positively shines over with his faultless vocal. Once again the solos and musical passages are tasteful and help to form the feel of the whole piece rather than being just there to massage the ego of the soloist.
Having waxed lyrical about ‘Baja Bus’ I am going to follow that by claiming the following track ‘Sweet Danger’, a Roden composition, as the highlight of the album. A wonderfully laid back bluesy soul track it features one of Roden’s best ever vocals, a sublime melody and some great instrumentation from the band. The dirty fuzzy sound of the main riff works perfectly in contrast with the careful picking of the jazz blues guitar solo. As a vehicle for Roden’s voice it is perfect but the musicians play their part from beginning to end in helping to create a track that should have been declared an all time classic.
The Jamaican influence comes to the fore in the final track of the first half of the album ‘Pop-A-Top’. Co-written by Roden and Chinese/Jamaican bassist Phil Chen it is absolutely dripping with Caribbean feel. The calypso style intro and the funky reggae guitar, courtesy of Chen, blends perfectly with the more straight up jazz funk of the rest of the band. Once again Roden’s vocal is straight out of the top drawer.
The second half of the album, which includes the tracks recorded in London starts with the funky soul number ‘Be With Me’. Despite being written by Robby Kreiger it has the feel of Roden’s later solo material. An easy laid back track with nice jazz undertones it has particularly pleasing laid back guitar and piano solos.
‘New Ways’ is a slightly faster more up-tempo rocker than any of the others on offer here and despite being above average it is probably the weakest track on the album, even with the addition of Mick Weaver’s Wurlitzer.
‘Love Your Brother’ gets us back to the more funky jazz feel and is something of a jazz funk soul fusion stomper. Ideal for Roden’s vocal style it also allows the musicians chance to shine with some great organ and guitar work. The solo jamming to fade is particularly impressive and gets you into a nice groove.
The final track on the album is a bit of an oddity as it is a live recording of the Leiber/Stoller track ‘Kansas City’. There is no information on the sleeve to suggest where it may have been recorded but the performance in certainly full of energy and quality. It is probably the closest thing on the album to The Doors and could go a long way to explaining why Deep Purple considered Roden as a suitable replacement for Ian Gillan in 1973.
“The Butts Band” was well received on its release and a low key tour and several TV appearances followed. However, Kreiger and Densmore had returned to America whilst Roden, Chen and Davies remained in London. This of course proved difficult logistically and the former Doors men jettisoned Roden, Chen and Davies the following year before making a second album. That was a great pity as it would have been very interesting to see how this line up would have developed. Roden of course went on to have a moderately successful solo career and is widely regarded as one of the finest singers of his or any generation, particularly in the eyes of his fellow musicians. Chen also continued to be in great demand as a session player and such is his contribution to this album that he can be forgiven for playing on Rod Stewart’s ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’.
The bottom line is that “The Butts Band” is something of a lost classic especially for people who like their rock music steeped in blues, full of soul, and with a huge helping of jazzy funk throughout. If you can track down a copy I can pretty much guarantee you won’t regret it.
Martin Leedham. First published on RYM July 2012
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jan 2, 2014 16:00:38 GMT
The Butts Band “Butts Band” 1974 Classic Rock,Pop,RnB
The Butts Band is one of those curios from the early-to-mid seventies when prominent rock musicians used to continually combine into various short-lived combos, always looking for that elusive commercial success. The Butts Band should have had a better chance than most, given the pedigree of its members; it grew out of an attempt in 1973 by the three remaining Doors to recruit a new vocalist after Jim Morrison’s demise. For some reason they elected to audition in London rather than LA, and all the prospective candidates were Brits. Partway through the search Ray Manzarek lost interest and went home, but Robby Krieger and John Densmore kept the faith, finally settling on Jess Roden as frontman. Roden had experienced critical acclaim but commercial failure with his previous project, the country-rock outfit Bronco, and as a student and practitioner of all the American roots music genres, not to mention an unassuming but distinctive vocalist and songwriter, he was an obvious candidate for the post. The band was made up by former Jeff Beck bassist Philip Chen and little-known keyboard player Roy Davies, with assistance in the studio from ubiquitous sessioneer Mick Weaver on organ.
Recording commenced at London’s Olympic Studios with former Doors engineer Bruce Botnick in the producer’s chair, but after three weeks the whole circus decamped to Kingston, Jamaica to complete the recordings. About half the tracks were cut in each location, and the final mixes were prepared back in LA. (The closing cover of “Kansas City” which purports to be a live recording was actually taped in a single take at Olympic and the crowd noise dubbed on later.) When Jac Holtzman declined to put the finished product out on Elektra, it was picked up by Bob Krasnow’s independent Blue Thumb imprint and subsequently distributed by Island.
The album comes across as equal parts The Band and Curtis Mayfield, with no real Doors flavour at all; perhaps no surprise as the two principal writers are Krieger and Roden in equal share. The original topside is a delight from start to finish; the leadoff “I Won’t Be Alone Any More” could be an outtake from The Basement Tapes, with its down-home twelve-string, wheezy organ, rustic bass and restrained lead guitar. “Baja Bus” is a mid-tempo funky-butt outing with a fine Fender Rhodes interlude and an extended Latin percussion jamming outro dominated by an apparently blissed-out conga player. “Sweet Danger” is mellow minor-key white soul, tailor-made for Roden’s honey-sweet double-tracked voice and featuring beautifully-restrained piano and guitar, but spoilt by an irritatingly-dated pitchwheel synth solo. “Pop-A-Top” rides on a reggaefied rhythm and a gorgeous electric piano riff; Krieger’s chillingly beautiful slide feature fades out far too soon. The flipside songs are less distinguished but benefit throughout from Chen’s and Densmore’s no-nonsense, sparse-but-inventive rhythm work. The closer, the aforementioned Kansas City, rocks along with a vengeance but Krieger’s ad-libbed slide work here is undeniably sloppy and bears no comparison to Duane Allman’s polished bronze licks.
With reviews of the album being generally favourable, the Butts Band scored a couple of live gigs in the UK as support to the Kinks and Sparks and a brief dilatory tour in the States, plus a few TV appearances including The Old Grey Whistle Test, but it was clear right from the start that the British contingent would not be willing to move permanently to the West Coast and the lineup rapidly fell apart. Krieger and Densmore recruited a bunch of American players, retaining the Butts Band name, and put together a further album, but it bore little relationship to its predecessor and is not highly regarded. Butts Band is currently out of print unless you’re prepared to settle for a bootleg CD, but pre-loved vinyl copies periodically surface on eBay. John Densmore’s website has a fine retrospective of the Butts Band(s).
Rising Storm January 9th, 2013
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Dec 17, 2022 11:37:43 GMT
  Indeed John's old message board does have a good Butts Band section. Put there by yours truly. |
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jan 20, 2023 16:59:11 GMT
 17-2-1974 Detroit Free Press  1974  2-8-1974 Leicester Chronicle 30-3-1974 Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin NY |
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 30, 2023 16:37:13 GMT
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jun 19, 2024 10:13:06 GMT
 Full page ad Melody Maker June 23rd 1974  |
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