Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

Boz Scaggs at Wolfgang’s Vault

Boz Scaggs‘ voice was a very big part in the soundtrack of the seventies, so it’s really not a big surprise that this artist’s music still resonates with me (myself, having come of age in the mid-seventies). For me, Scaggs was then, and still is now, the epitome of smooth blues (like aged dark rum in a shot glass, straight back). If you look past his well known hits like “Lido Shuffle”, “Lowdown”, “Look What You’ve Done To Me”, you quickly realize that Scaggs is one in a long line of great American bluesman (which, perhaps, answers why his music is still popular today while so many of his 70s contemporaries have long since faded away).

On this June 30th, 1971, recorded performance, Boz Scaggs and his band perform the first of a five-night run commemorating the closing of the Fillmore West in San Francisco. The set consists of songs from his early solo albums ‘Boz Scaggs‘ (1969), much of the best material from ‘Moments‘ (1971) and ‘Boz Scaggs and Band‘ (1971). The highlight of the set, though, has to be the near 18-minute take on Fenton Robinson’s “Loan Me a Dime” from Scaggs debut album (the track was later remixed, completely altering the original feeling). The set ends with guests Elvin Bishop and Taj Mahal joining the group onstage for a loose jam session.

Boz Scaggs and Band:

Boz Scaggs – guitar, lead vocals

Rita Coolidge – vocals, percussion

Doug Simril – guitar, piano, vocals

Joachim Jymm Young – keyboards

David Brown – bass

Mel Martin – saxophones, flute

Pat O’Hara – trombone

Tom Poole – trumpet, flugelhorn

George Rains – drums

Elvin Bishop – guitar, vocals

Taj Mahal – harmonica, vocals

Click here to listen to the concert at Wolfgang’s Vault.

As an extra bonus, I’ve included the following tracks from Scaggs most recent releases:

King of El Paso (from ‘Dig’, 2001)

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I Just Go (from ‘Greatest Hits: Live’, 2004)

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Ballad of the Sad Young Men (from ‘Speak Low’, 2008)

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