Posts From Jeff Tamarkin

Leslie West Interview: Mountain, Woodstock, and More

When the history of heavy rock is traced today, it invariably points to him as one of the origin points—it was no accident that he called his band Mountain.

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The Great Lost Rock Festival of 1969

In a way better than Woodstock? Atlantic City Pop Festival – two weeks before the famed fest in Upstate NY – had a more diverse line-up, and really rocked

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What is the Greatest Record Ever Made? A New Book Offers 145 Answers

What is the greatest record ever made? Is that a question that can ever be answered definitively? We spoke to the author of a 2024 book on that subject

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Bob Dylan’s 1966 Brush With Death

He was living in bucolic Woodstock, having sought sanctuary from the noise, chaos—and drugs—that had consumed his life during the past year. Then he took his motorcycle for a spin

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Seatrain: 1 Band, 2 Spellings, 5 Lineups, 4 LPs in 4 Years on 3 Labels, 1 Legendary Producer, 13 Questions

Talk about a convoluted history: Few bands went through as many changes in as brief a period.

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John Mayall Interview: A Chat With the British Blues Legend

For 50+ years he’s been the king of British blues. “[Blues and jazz] have always been part of the same thing. It’s all black American music, basically”

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‘Super Session’: When Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills Got Into a Jam

“The first real rock ’n’ roll jam session,” the gold-selling album featured members of some of the hottest bands of the late ’60s

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Jerry Miller, Moby Grape Guitarist, Dies at 81

Jerry Miller, lead guitarist in the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, has died. The band was championed but fell victim to legal troubles.

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Happy Traum, Folk Music Stalwart, Dead at 86

A consummate folkie, he was an early advocate of Dylan and cut a series of highly regarded albums, both solo and with his brother Artie.

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Blues Image’s ‘Ride Captain Ride’: A Tale of 73 Men

The singer and the keyboardist were having trouble coming up with a lead lyric for the new song they were writing. The answer was sitting right in front of them.

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