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Number of Tramp 1974 (2001) Reviews: 1
Reviewer: John Fitzgerald, Human resources staff database assistant July 10, 2001 You're better going into this if you've heard Tramp's "Put a record on" album which
while good, is probably seen as a disappointment next to their classic 1969 selftitled album
as this release, like "Put a record on" centers more on funk rhythms than on guitar driven
improvisation which made their debut so appealing. This is best demonstrated on the live
run through of the one song here that is from the first album, the nugget "Baby what you
want me to do". Also, if one is ready for the imperfect sound quality that comes with most
Mooncrest releases than they will enjoy this set thoroughly. This as not as gloomy as I've
made it out though, this is an important musical document for Mac (and especially Danny
Kirwan) collectors, Jo Ann was always one of Tramp's strongest assets so, as one may
guess with this release being billed as a Jo Ann Kelly release as opposed to a Tramp one
even though these are Tramp recordings, we are treated to her singing lead on all tracks.
That's one complaint I have about the first Tramp album, they should have used her more
on that one. My favorite moments are the first three ultra funky numbers. Although "Love
blind" may seem a bit wordy, the sax breaks work well and it's irresistible rhythm track
(similar to the Rolling Stones "Fingerprint file" from "It's only rock and roll" conquers in
the end. This coupled with the great opener "Til my back ain't got no bone" make you
wonder why these were discarded at the time of sequencing "Put a record on" in favor of
more inferior numbers. It seems the songs that work best on here are in fact the songs that
didn't appear on "Put a record on". Billy Burnette fans will recognize the well covered
blues classic "Nicky Hoeky" (spelled "Niki Hoeky" on his selftitled 1979 Polydor album)
however it is extremely speeded up here which has a unique energy and those fans of
John Mayall's "A hard road" will remember Peter singing lead on "You don't love me"
billed here as "You don't love me baby". It's actually easier to appreciate the number for
what it is here as this doesn't include the rather intrusive harmonica part the Bluesbreakers
version employs. What is intrusive on this album is the work done on the studio tracks on
here by the Kokomo singers. One generally feels the listener could pay more attention (as they
want to when they here this) to Jo Ann's great voice but their backups make it hard to do that at
times but you can feel the blues Kelly sings in particular on the slower tunes like "Feel like
breaking up somebody's home" & "Help me through the night". The two versions of "Put
a record on" don't fair much better than the version from the "Put a record on" album and
they don't even come close to the best version of the song which appears on the
"Brunning Hall sunflower blues band" album. However, "What you gonna do" does stand
up pretty well with it's studio counterpart as it's longness doesn't seem as apparent here
as it is on the studio version. Important for Mac fans as well in that Brunning plays on all
songs except "Jump steady daddy" and Danny of course plays on the live tracks which are
the last six on the platter. Good points and not so good points overall for me ends up in
the middle but if some of the things that annoyed me about the disc you don't think will
annoy you, then without hesitation, go for it.
Information supplied by Mario Pirrone. Transcribed to HTML by Marty Adelson.
