Year: 1969 (CD 2004)
Label: Wounded Bird Records (US), WOU 1226
Style: Blues Rock, Country Rock, Soul
Country: California, U.S.
Time: 40:12
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 246 Mb
Mother Earth was an eclectic American blues rock band formed in 1967 in California, fronted by singer Tracy Nelson.
Nelson,
who hailed from Madison, Wisconsin, began her career as a solo artist,
but formed the Mother Earth ensemble after moving to San Francisco. The
group performed at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium in the
late 1960s, and was included on the soundtrack to the 1968 film
Revolution. The group signed to Mercury Records, recording four albums.
Mike Bloomfield played guitar on their 1968 release Living with the
Animals, and Boz Scaggs contributed to their 1969 release Make A Joyful
Noise. In addition to blues, the early incarnation of the group
displayed influences from gospel, R&B, jazz, country and even a
touch of psychedelia. After the first album, Mother Earth moved their
base of operations from the Bay Area to a farm outside of Nashville,
Tennessee. The nucleus of the band solidified around Nelson, keyboardist
Andy McMahon and guitarist John "Toad" Andrews. Their manager and
producer was Travis Rivers. Nelson was an astute judge of up-and-coming
songwriters and was an early supporter of then largely unknown names
like John Hiatt, Steve Young, and Eric Kaz. Mother Earth's version of
Young's "Seven Bridges Road" predates the Eagles' cover by about nine
years. After two LPs with Reprise Records and one with Columbia Records
the ensemble continued to tour as Nelson's backup band but did not
record anymore. They finally called it quits in early 1977. Tracy Nelson
meanwhile returned to recording as a solo artist in 1974, issuing LPs
on Atlantic Records, MCA Records, Adelphi Records, Flying Fish Records,
and others.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Earth_(American_band))
Make
a Joyful Noise is the follow-up to 1968's Living With the Animals. This
time out, Mother Earth neatly divided their joint appreciations for
rural and urban American music: a la the thematic "City Side" and
"Country Side." The City Side is an R&B workout, powered by a robust
horn section and the vocals of Rev. Ron Stallings on burning soul cuts
such as "Stop That Train," Tracy Nelson's killer performance on Naomi
Neville's cooker "What Are You Trying to Do," and sultry read of Little
Willie John's babymaker "Need Your Love So Bad." The Country Side is
more subdued, adorned by steel guitars and Powell St. John's quavering
vocals on "I'll Be Moving On" and the strange "The Fly." Nelson's
version of Doug Sahm's "I Wanna Be Your Mama Again" is her blues-country
gospel version of Hank Williams' honky tonk nugget "You Win Again"
(with a fine fiddle solo by Johnny Gimble). Some of the guest stars on
this set include Boz Scaggs, Hargus Robins, Ben Keith, D.J. Fontana, and
Pete Drake. Make a Joyful Noise remains an overlooked classic from the
Warner Brothers catalog that finally saw CD issue in 2004 by Wounded
Bird.
(allmusic.com/album/make-a-joyful-noise-mw0000259442)



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