Fred van Zegveld became known as the organ player of a charting Beatlesque group called Roek Williams & The Fighting Cats, though they changed their name into Roek's Family on the day Fred joined them in 1968, ready for their biggest hit Get Yourself A Ticket in '69.
1969 must have been a busy year for him, because Van Zegveld was also a member of a group called The Flood that year, together with two musicians that also played in Roek Williams's group: Richard de Bois on bass (who became a top producer ten years later, for amongst others The Dolly Dots) and Will Luikinga on sax and flute (who became a famous dj on Radio Veronica afterwards).
Van Zegveld's only solo album "Dynamite" shows his love for Booker T & The MG's, Jimmy Smith and such, though most of the tracks on it are his own compositions.
2nd Vision was a British jazz-rock band notable for including guitarist John Etheridge and violinist Ric Sanders, both former members of Soft Machine. It released the album First Steps, which has been re-released on Blueprint Records (Voiceprint Group) in 2006.
The roots of 2nd Vision were sown in 1977 when Sanders invited keyboard player Dave Bristow and drummer Mickey Barker, both of whom he'd already played with in his Birmingham days, to form an improvising unit named Surrounding Silence, which debuted at the Riverside Jazz Festival in August 1977.
After Etheridge and ex-Gryphon bassist Jonathan Davie joined them, the band, renamed 20/20 Vision, played a well-received gig at the Alexandra Palace in May 1979. The band were offered a management deal by Jo Lustig, who had already represented the likes of Richard Thompson, Pentangle and the Chieftains, and signed with Chrysalis, recording their debut LP in the autumn of 1979, with John Cameron producing. The material was composed by either Sanders or Bristow, with Etheridge contributing one piece, a new version of his Soft Machine solo acoustic guitar piece "Etika".
"It was a jazz-rock group, in the mould of Weather Report, Mahavishnu, that kind of things", Etheridge remembered. "The one album we made was a very good record. It sounds dated now of course, because it was done using the Yamaha CS-80... But of all the records that I've made, it's the one that the most trouble was taken over making. I was very pleased with the guitar on it, we took a lot of time to do it. I was quite happy with that... But this was in the late 70's, so it was all punk and new-wave...".
The album was launched with a four-night residency at London's Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on May 7–10, 1980, with a different guest (Richard Thompson, Gordon Giltrap, Jethro Tull's David Palmer, June Tabor) joining the band each night. Unfortunately, all the British music papers went on strike for several weeks, so there was almost no coverage of the event, and the album failed to sell.
01. Ice Bells
02. Dancing Circle
03. Putting Out The Bish
04. August 4
05. First Steps
06. Even In Sadness
07. Star Dance
08. Coanda
09. Wynsmead
John Etheridge - Electric & Acoustic Guitar
Ric Sanders - Violin
Dave Bristow - Piano, Electric Piano & Synths
Jonathan Davie - Bass
Micky Barker - Drums, Percussion
NB: It was originally titled First Steps, and was by Second Vision. When it was reissued in 2000, it was re-titled "Second Vision" and listed as being by John Etheridge and Ric Sanders.
Mountain - Official Live Mountain Bootleg Series - Volume 16 - 2006
The performances contained on the Mountain Bootleg Series are drawn from various stages of the bands career from the very early years when the band first formed through to recent gigs undertaken by the band. All the performances come from the personal archives of both Leslie West and Corky Laing and whilst some of the performances are not sonically perfect the quality of the performances are never in question and as Corky Laing says “Some of the performances are real interesting”. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
This is the latest release in the ongoing Mountain Official Bootleg Series and was recorded in Arizona in 1982. At this time in the bands history the band were re establishing themselves o the American touring circuit and the set list is geared to reminding the audience what a potent live force the band were. The set list contains the Mountain classics Nantucket Sleighride, Mississippi Queen and also a cover of the Rolling Stones song Honky Tonk Women which Leslie West had covered for his Great Fatsby album in the 1970’s whilst the band was between record deals. The performance does however contain the Mountain classics including Nantucket Sleighride and Mississippi Queen.
01. Tune Up / Never In My Life / Goin' Down
02. Theme For An Imaginary Western
03. Jam Intro / Third Degree
04. Nantucket Sleighride / Hall of the Mountain King
05. Mississippi Queen
06. Honky Tonk Women
07. Apolitical Blues.
Neil Merryweather & Lynn Carey - Vacuum Cleaner - 1971
Canadian bassist/vocalist Neil Merryweather relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1960s and hooked up with the singer, actress and future Penthouse pet, Lynn Carey. They would find greater fame upon forming the band Mama Lion in 1972, but Vacuum Cleaner captures th prototype of the group on this collaboration cut the year before, after RCA signed them as a duo.
Merryweather’s bass is a solid anchor and his harmony and musical arrangements help keep everything in place; Canadian keyboardist JJ Velker adds atmosphere, but it is Carey’ powerful voice that really drives this hard rockin’ beast, gleaning comparisons with Janis Joplin
