Mick Taylor: San Franciscan Night
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, March 17, 1999
Mick Taylor is looking lean and mean these days. He engaged both his music and the audience on this very special San Franciscan night. There were many people lined up for this gig. The last time I saw Mick in the Bay Area was in 1990 for a performance at San Jose's Cabaret Club. There was only a handful of people in attendance despite Mick's doing an interview on KSJO radio prior to the show. He was touring in support of his "Stranger In This Town" CD. In 1999, he is touring in support of his latest release on the Sensible Record Label "A Stones' Throw". He played four new songs from this new recording as well as his current stock of club songs that he has been performing for several years.
The Band:
Mick Taylor - Guitar-Vocal
Max Middleton - Keyboards
Bass - Michael Bailey
Drums - Jeff Allen (The man behind the Sensible Music Label)
Rhythm Guitar - Robert Awhai
This is Mick's core band line-up for "A Stones' Throw".
Set List:
Ladies and Gentlemen and San Francisco please welcome The Mick Taylor Band...
1. You Gotta Move - With a long improvised warm-up introduction that includes Spanish style phrasings. Hints of Mississippi Fred McDowell's original begin to sneak into the sound and before you know it the Sticky Fingers classic is coming through in full force! Mick adds a soulful vocal. His voice like ex-band mate Keith Richards delivers the feeling. The difference between artist and technician in my opinion. Mick colors the song with precision slide lines that segue into a keyboard solo by long time sideman Max Middleton. Taylor comes back with more slide and this time an added wah-wah for good measure. The song closes with tasty Wes Montgomery like "octaves". Mick played the first eight songs with a Gibson Les Paul Standard Sunburst through a Fender Twin (as always) and a small Marshall combo amp.
Hey thanks very much that was just a little a, little a warm-up, for us. Thank you.
Okay we gotta CD out umm, and we're gonna play some songs from it...
2. Twisted Sister - The song which has significant "Money For Nothing" Dire Straits influence on "A Stones' Throw" takes a looser improvised form in this live performance. Taylor's first solo is played fast and clean. There is an interesting slide guitar bridge added to the live version of song. Taylor, like Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler plays fingerstyle. Drummer, Jeff Allen has a huge blue Pearl drum kit with Sabian cymbals and really delivers the beat.
Thanks you that one is called Twisted Sister. Well it's a long time since any of us have been in San Francisco. And ahh, it's nice to be back here. Isn't it guys? Actually we've been here for about a week, taking a well deserved rest. This one's called Secret Affair...
3. Secret Affair - Max opens with the now familiar keyboard riff. Taylor adds the guitar lines and the song begins to rock:
Well I'm walking through the city
Spring is in the air
I don't have no troubles
Cherry blossoms everywhere
Every time my phone rings
I think it might be you
I'd like to steal some time away
But it all fades into groove
It's a secret affair
It's a secret affair
The rhythm section puts out a pulsing groove that makes song swing against the backbeat. Taylor still delivers the thick "brown sound" slide tone that has become his legacy. He also remains very temperamental about the sound he is hearing as he signaled to the mixing board on several occasions that he needed more stage monitor and microphone volume. He only went to his amp dials on one occasion...which is unusual.
Thank you. We're just going to fool around for a minute. Okay, this is a song called Losing My Faith...
4. Losing My Faith - This is the song from "A Stones' Throw" with the heavy Clapton influence from Running On Faith found on the "Journeyman" CD. Taylor and Clapton have crossed paths on a couple of occasions in their careers: Both were Bluesbreakers, and both played in bands that included Jack Bruce. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be the Taylor, Bruce, and Carla Bley combination did not produce the next Cream after Mick left the Stones. Taylor was also the opening act for Clapton at Centenario Stadium, Montevideo, Uruguay, on October 2, 1990.
Okay, we're going to play something a little more familiar, hopefully...
5. You Shook Me - The Willie Dixon standard covered by Taylor, and loaded with the fattest sounding lead lines you could imagine. Taylor and guitar sing in unison... There is plenty of room for Taylor to solo on this song. Robert Awhai's competence as a lead guitarist comes through when Taylor hands a guitar solo over to him and he really cuts it loose.
6. Giddy Up - The Mick Taylor original from his self titled 1979 release on Columbia Records. The album is great eclectic piece of work, that unfortunately failed to launch a commercially successful solo career for Mick. The live arrangement is consistent with the studio version, leaving a solo section for Middleton to fill on keyboard.
7. Blues In The Morning - This song is basically Slow Blues from the "Mick Taylor" LP with a vocal and a slightly altered arrangement...always wanted to hear that one with a vocal! Taylor has been playing the song in live performances for years, and included it on "A Stones' Throw". Taylor's solo draws large applause from a very receptive San Francisco audience. Taylor throws in guitar lines from Hendrix's If 6 Was 9 into the outro lines!
8. Boogie Man - This is Mick's brilliant adaptation and arrangement of Freddie King's original 1973 release, from "Woman Across The River" on Shelter Records. This is Leon Russell's old record label, and the original track features keyboard by Russell. There is fantastic live version of this song found on the unauthorized CD "Listen To This Ronnie" which documents Mick's great live performance from Cessena, Italy, on July 22, 1996.
I want to tell all you women
And all you debutantes at the ball
That if I don't get to boogie...
Okay, we're going to close the show now with a...
9. Red House Blues - This is Mick's title for the Jimi Hendrix classic which he identifies for us in an April 11, 1987 Japanese Radio Broadcast. Taylor switches to a clean sounding black Ibanez Stratocaster copy for the quivering opening lines of the song. The slow blues song puts Taylor in his element, and he delivers a convincing vocal and burns-up the fret board in the process. An extended solo in the center of the song again draws applause from an audience witnessing an inspired performance.
10. Can't You Hear Me Knocking Jam - In recent years Taylor has played only the jam section. The song is taken into new directions as it progresses. The band members are given the chance to solo and improvise on the song's groove. Robert Awhai takes the first guitar solo and hands off to Middleton. Taylor comes in with what begins as recognizable lead lines from the Stones classic and ends up in unexplored territory adding a diving whammy bar.
Encore:
11. Blind Willie McTell/All Along The Watchtower (Medley) - The crowd chants and claps for more and the band is left with no choice but to return for this very special encore. Middelton and Taylor play against each other for the slow opening that builds up to the crashing transition for the uptempo section of the song:
Seen the arrow on the door post
Saying this man is condemned
All the way from a New Or-leans, to Jeru-sa-lem...
Mick turns away from the audience at this point to have his guitar sing the words that he has forgotten!
Mick's intro. section of the song from "A Stones' Throw":
I seen the arrow on the door post
Saying this land is condemned...
You know I've traveled through East Texas
Where many martyrs fell
I know nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell
The band switches into high gear and the rest is history. At one point Taylor's solo includes finger "tapping"! There is verse from All Along The Watchtower added in the middle of the song, and Taylor adds a run of pull-offs and more whammy bar. Eddie Van Halen eat your heart out. The solo continues, and Taylor starts playing the lead lines from Clapton's Layla! Ultimately, we go full circle and the song closes out with Taylor returning to the vocal for Blind Willie McTell.
Thanks you very much, thank you, good-night ...
The set was a Taylor fan's delight with a wonderful combination of classic live favorites and a mix of new material that was nicely arranged into the set. It was also great to see that Taylor is in good shape and musically connected with a capable band that he has been playing with for some time now. The large San Francisco crowd appreciated the effort, and provided the Mick Taylor Band with an excellent send-off for their short West Coast tour.