The album was self produced by Mason with help from Mark & Brian Pastoria (Harmonie Park), Ron & Howard Albert (Miami Audio Vision), Ted Perlman, Tre Perry, and Phil Bonanno. The title, 26 Letters and 12 Notes, refers to the number of letters in the alphabet and the number of notes involved in western music. Mason feels a great sense of confidence in this album and calls it what he believes to be his best work yet. He says, “For me, I think it is probably one of the better albums I’ve ever done and I think I’m probably at the height of my vocal abilities right now.”
In 1967, English musician Dave Mason first found fame with the renowned rock group Traffic, the band with which he penned his classic hit “Feelin Alright.” That was just the beginning of a musical journey that would span four decades and countless successes. Throughout his 40 year career, Mason has played with some of the most popular musicians of his era including Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Fleetwood Mac and Mama Cass Elliot. Mason is most well known for the hit single “Feelin’ Alright”, which he recorded with Traffic in 1968. In 1969, Mason headed to the USA to embark upon a solo career which resulted in his increasing rise to stardom and the popular hits “Only You Know And I Know And We Just Disagree” along with “Every Woman,” from the platinum albums Alone Together and Let It Flow. Let It Flow, has gone multi-platinum in its time and “We Just Disagree,” which is featured on this album was a top-ten single.
The new album contains twelve new tracks, including “Good 2 U”, “Let Me Go”, “How Do I Get to Heaven” (featuring Willie Nelson on guitar), “One Day”, “Ain’t Your Legs Tired Baby”, “Pink Lipstick”, “Passing Thru The Flame”, “You’re Standing In My Light”, “That’s Love” (featuring Shelia E), “El Toro”, “World of Hunger” and “Full Circle and Then”. These new tracks are “classic Dave” mixing soulful vocals and expert guitar handiwork. Dave describes the album as an eclectic blend of old classic rock with blues-tinged rhythm.
Dave and his band, which consists of, Gerald Johnson (bass), John Sambataro (guitar), Alvino Bennett (drums) and Bill Mason (Keyboard), continue to travel and perform anywhere from 80-100 shows annually.
SEE BELOW FOR TRACK LISTING.
1. Good 2 U
2. Let Me Go
3. One Day
4. Pink Lipstick
5. How Do I Get To Heaven
6. Ain’t Your Legs Tired Baby
7. You’re Standing In My Light
8. Passing Thru The Flame
9. That’s Love
10. El Toro
11. World of Hunger
12. Full Circle and Then
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Last night we saw Dave Mason play at Blend in Ridgewood, NJ. (March 6th 2008)
Some things about last night were perfect, others far from it. Since I acquiesced to Lois when similar problems occurred at Canal Room in NYC (covered in this post), I’ll do it again, and cover the music (the perfect part!) first, so you can ignore all the peeves later on.
I have loved Dave Mason from the very start (I was a fan of Traffic, as well as the Dave Mason Band, forever). I still actively listen to both bands on my iPod. Lois doesn’t know Traffic, and until recently, didn’t know Dave Mason well either (though some of his stuff is so famous that she knew it, but didn’t know whose song it was).
When I noticed that Dave was playing at Blend (more details on that in the negative section), I played one of his albums for her in the car, so she too was excited to see them last night.
There are five guys in the band. I linked to the band section of the site above, rather than to the home page. You can certainly read the bios on that site better than I can summarize them here, but I want to mention at least something about each member of the band.
In their order on the stage, left-to-right:
John (Johnne) Sambataro played both acoustic and electric guitars. He was fantastic. When it was his turn to wail, wail he did, leaving the crowd in a frenzy. But, he’s no hog, as he supported the entire band when that was more appropriate.
Bill Mason played the organ (electric piano). He was solid the entire night. On a few numbers, Dave turned it over to Bill for long solos. He was incredible on all of them. Like Johnne above, he brought down the house whenever the spotlight was on him.
Alvino Bennett played the drums. Super solid, perfect rhythm all night, just the right amount of flare. They never gave him a real solo, so I don’t know how he cooks when it’s all about him, but I have no doubt that he can cook. His sense of timing is exceptional. My only complaint is that he’s a little too unselfish, a little too the glue that keeps the band together. Suffice it to say, a great drummer!
Alex Drizos played bass. Basically, everything that I said about Alvino above regarding the drums applies to Alex on the bass. So solid it was wonderful to watch and feel the bass lines that he was laying down. Nothing flashy, ever, but always there to keep the bottom perfectly with the entire band.
Both Johnne and Alex sang incredible harmony with Dave all night. Bill sang on at least one number that I noticed, but certainly not many.
On to the star, Dave Mason himself. I was a tad nervous going in for three reasons:
Would he still have it? (If you recall, I briefly mentioned how awful the Jefferson Starship were in my uber-post on rediscovering live music.)
Would he play the old big hits, or just do new stuff (and if the latter, was his new stuff any good)?
Even if he played the old stuff, and even if he was flawless, would he play them the way I expected to hear them, or would he tinker too much?
I have definitive answers to all of my questions (and perhaps yours) coming up right now!
Dave Mason is awesome. That answers #1 above. His voice is excellent (as always), and he can hit the full range of notes required to make his hits come alive, which is not unimpressive, since there are some pretty high notes in a number those songs. Whew!
His fingers still fly on the guitar. He doesn’t miss any notes, and he’s as soulful on some of the leads, while rocking the house down on others. Quiet when appropriate, driving at other times. A master of the guitar. On a number of his big hits, he played a 12-string guitar, and the sound of that is just wonderful as well.
On to #2. The answer is both! He played quite a number of his giant hits, opening the show with World in Changes and Let It Go, Let if Flow. During the night, he also played All Along the Watchtower, Every Woman, We Just Disagree and a couple of other favorites. He also played the title cut from the first Traffic album!
But, I said both above! He also played new tunes that I have never heard. They were awesome! While I would have been wildly disappointed to not hear any of the oldies, I have to admit, if he only played new stuff, and it was as good as the (at least three) numbers that he played last night, I still would have considered the show to be fantastic!
Finally, #3 above. If you watch any TV, you may know the slogan for Simply Orange (it’s an orange juice company). Their slogan is: 100% Unfooled Around With! That should be Dave’s motto with regard to playing the crowd favorites. He couldn’t have delivered better. Whew!
Dave was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. That was based on his being part of Traffic. For my money, he could be inducted again, just for good measure, on the basis of his Dave Mason Band work, including his new stuff!
Two of his new numbers were played relatively early in the show, and both were electric numbers. Here’s a YouTube video of one of them (from a previous show, well done, but much cooler last night). He only plays a drop of guitar on that number (but still beautifully), and it doesn’t stretch his vocal capabilities, but it’s such a fun song! The catch-phrase line is: Ain’t Your Legs Tired Baby, ‘Cause You Keep On Runnin’ Through My Mind!
As a group, they are extremely tight. No one ever overwhelms the others and the sound engineer keeps the relative volumes correct throughout. His name is Chris Curtis.
They played for 75 minutes, then left the stage (extremely briefly) for the obligatory encore. When they came back out it was just Dave and Johnne with acoustic guitars only. They played another new number that was gorgeous! Then the entire band rejoined, and they played Dave’s money song, Feelin’ Alright. They jammed it perfectly with Dave and Johnne playing lead guitars that reminded me of some of the great guitar duels performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Total time on stage was almost exactly 90 minutes. It left me with a strong taste for more, but it was completely satisfying at the same time! Bravo Dave, Johnne, Bill, Alvino and Alex, you were simply awesome!
They’re playing on April 4th, 2008 at BB King. I’m only telling you this because I just grabbed two tickets, so I’m no longer worried about him selling out (last night’s show was sold out). You are now forewarned that if you don’t go see Dave, you’re missing out on a great show!
OK, this post is already long, but has only been positive. I have a ton of negative things to say about last night, and it won’t be short either, so this post will be horribly long when it’s all said and done. Please feel free to stop reading if you only want to bask in the glory that is the Dave Mason Band, as they were truly as good as it gets…
To read the complete review, go to:
http://www.opticality.com/blog/2008/03/07/dave-mason-at-blend