1/22/2024 0 Comments Dave mason bandBut I’d like to thank all the people that f–ked me, because it’s been quite an education.” I’m trying my best, and I’m certainly trying to learn from my mistakes. It’s all been lessons, and everybody’s got their lessons to learn. “As for me, if I’d have known better, I’d have done better. In the book I Need to Know: The Lost Music Interviews, Mason reflected on this and other serious career bumps. Label boss Bob Krasnow discovered “safety” copies in the studio vault and had the incomplete album released as Headkeeper, without the artist’s knowledge or permission.Īgain, the songs are really, really good – “Here We Go Again,” “In My Mind,” “Headkeeper.” At the time, Mason publicly disowned the album and urged his fans not to buy it. Things reached an impasse, and an indignant Mason made off with the master tapes of what had already been recorded for the project. While cutting what would turn out to be his second album, Mason attempted to re-negotiate his contract with Blue Thumb Records. This 1971 album is an underappreciated gem. Elliot has just one solo lead vocal, but several of Mason’s songs, “Walk to the Point” and “To Be Free,” are as good as those on Alone Together. She came in to record backup vocals for his second album, and Mason liked the sound so much that he suggested a full-on duo project. Mama Cass’ Mamas and Papas had broken up she was a big part of the hip SoCal music crowd, and she and Mason hit it off. From the extremely well-known (“Only You Know and I Know”) to future in-concert staples (“Look at You Look at Me”), the album’s skillful sonic cocktail of acoustic and electric guitars, piano, backing vocals and bass-and-drums set a standard for singer/songwriter albums.ĭave Mason and Cass Elliot. Famously pressed on multicolor vinyl so that every single copy looked different, Mason’s debut, produced by soon-to-be-jazz-legend Tommy LiPuma, doesn’t have one weak song on it. Later in the ‘70s, he added lead guitar to the Graham Nash/David Crosby hit “Immigration Man,” and “Listen to What the Man Said” by Paul McCartney & Wings.Īlone Together. During this time he played guitar (along with Clapton) on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album. He played on the first Dominos single, the Phil Spector-produced “Tell the Truth,” before leaving the band. Mason appears on Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet, and once claimed he sang on a Beatles session, for “Across the Universe.” He was part of Delaney and Bonnie’s uber-famous backing band during their 1969 world tour, and subsequently joined his bandmate Eric Clapton’s new group, Derek & the Dominos. He’s the Where’s Waldo of rock ‘n’ roll’s golden age. His singular talent as a singer, guitarist and song craftsman were introduced to the world with 1970’s Alone Together, a stunning tour de force that led the charge for a string of successful albums through that decade.ĭespite only having one significant radio hit – we’ll get to that in a minute – Mason, through sheer force of talent, has been touring pretty much nonstop since those early days. Mason’s career as a solo artist began in 1969, after he’d left England for America and became running buddies with the Southern California musician crowd – Crosby, Stills, Nash et cetera. He wrote their first single, “Hole in My Shoe,” and their most famous early song, “Feelin’ Alright.” So yes, he deserved the induction. So strong was the impact and legacy of that British outfit that Mason was inducted alongside longtime Traffic directors Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi despite the fact that he was only in the band for the 1967 debut album and its followup (Traffic itself continued for decades afterwards). Dave Mason, who plays Clearwater’s Capitol Theatre Saturday, joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, as a founding member of the band Traffic.
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