Live Loaded

The Loading Zone – Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, 2^nd October, 1968

As Mrs Some Awe and I are painting, I’ve got this playing in the background [she preferred the Stones, but that’s long finished]. I have their first eponymous album, but this is a bootleg recording of one of their many live gigs, usually in support of other SA bands of the time – Jefferson Airplane et al - but also visiting artists like The Who, Cream and so on.

It’s essentially soul/funk psychedelia, perhaps more emphasis in this 4^th incarnation of the band on the funk leanings, and in this version of the band led by the outstanding vocals of Linda Tillery. One of the founding members Paul Fauerso plays mean keyboards, like his solo on Cold Sweat as part of an extended jam, with Tod Anderson belting out punchy tenor sax. A brilliant live band, they must have been a blast to hear on the circuit and given many of the bigger names they supported an aural run for their money/fame. It’s easy, however, to see how the band never made it big for themselves when much of their material – as superb as it is – was covers, on this performance including Summertime, Shop Around, and Try a Little Tenderness [a gorgeous and raunchy vocal from Tillery]. This bootleg is a great recording.