Esoteric Recordings closed out 2014 with a trio of typically eclectic, and yes, esoteric rock releases deserving of a spotlight – including a pair of albums produced by Gus Dudgeon and a lost horn-rock LP in the tradition of Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears!

Before joining Colosseum and replacing Peter Frampton in Humble Pie, Dave “Clem” Clempson was a member of the blues-rock trio Bakerloo.  Though Bakerloo only released one album, its members – Clempson, Terry Poole and Keith Baker – went on to stints not only in the above-mentioned groups but in Supertramp, Uriah Heep, Vinegar Joe and May Blitz.  Bakerloo’s lone, eponymous album has recently been reissued by Esoteric in an expanded and remastered edition.  Billed as the Bakerloo Blues Line, the group famously supported Led Zeppelin for that band’s debut on December 10, 1968 at London’s Marquee Club; Zeppelin was billed as “née The Yardbirds.”  Bakerloo also supported Yes, King Crimson, and Pink Floyd in their early days.

Signed to EMI’s progressive-minded Harvest label in 1969, The Bakerloo Blues Line debuted with the single “Drivin’ Bachwards” (sic) b/w “Once Upon a Time.”  The A-side was so named because it was based on Bach’s “Bourree in E Minor,” the same piece Jethro Tull would adapt into “Bourree” on the album Stand Up.  By the time Harvest released the band’s debut album, recorded at Trident Studios with future Elton John producer Gus Dudgeon, the “Blues Line” had been dropped from the group name.  Bakerloo showed off the band’s blues, proto-metal, classical and jazz stylings, but the album’s good reviews didn’t prevent dissension between the members.  In September, Clempson departed the band, effectively ending Bakerloo.  Before long, Poole formed May Blitz and then left for Vinegar Joe; Baker joined Uriah Heep.  Esoteric’s edition of this lost progressive-blues classic has been transferred from th analogue tapes by Rob Keyloch and annotated by Malcolm Dome based on new interviews with Clempson and Poole.   Five bonus tracks have been appended: “Once Upon a Time,” plus two alternate takes and two outtakes.  The outtakes “Georgia” and “Train” and alternate “Son of Moonshine Part One” have been newly mixed by Keyloch and mastered by Nick Robbins.

If the British blues-rock boom inspired Bakerloo, it was the American horn-rock sound popularized by the likes of The Ides of March, Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago that inspired The Gasoline Band.  Initially formed in Germany by American military personnel stationed there, the group went through a number of names and personnel changes before settling on The Gasoline Band and a line-up of Fred Schwartz (keyboards), William Goffigan (drums), Brian Bevan (guitar/vocals), Jerome Johnson (trombone), Major Wilburn Jr. and Charles Bowen Jr. (saxophones), Jim Dvorak and Ronald Phillips (trumpets), Jose Oga (congas) and George Thompson Jr. (bass).

With an emphasis on material from the group’s songwriters including Schwartz, Johnson and Bevan, The Gasoline Band was recorded at North London’s Morgan Studios and arrived in May 1972 on the Cube label distributed by Polydor.  As with Bakerloo, though, internal strife precluded the band from ever recording a second album.  William Goffigan recalls in Malcolm Dome’s new liner notes that he returned home to America for a visit with his family, only to be replaced while he was away!  His ill-timed departure led other band members to follow suit.  “So, the Gasoline Band just ended,” he reveals.  The band’s only album has remained a cult favorite, though, and Goffigan allows that he’s open to a reunion!  You can discover it for yourself in this new edition remastered by Paschal Byrne from new transfers from the original analogue tapes by Rob Keyloch.

South African singer/songwriter John Kongos served his apprenticeship in a number of bands including Johnny and the G-Men in his homeland, then Floribunda Rose and Scrugg in the United Kingdom.  In 1970, he decided to strike out on his own and hooked up with the Dawn Records label, the progressive arm of venerable Pye Records with whom he’d been associated back in the G-Men days.  But success was elusive for 1969’s Confusions About a Goldfish, and Kongos moved onto the Fly/Cube label in the U.K., with American distribution to be handled by Elektra.  Gus Dudgeon, in the midst of producing Elton John, took the reins for the album that became Kongos.  To bring Kongos’ unusually rhythmic, often lyrically obscure tunes to life, Dudgeon enlisted an A-list of musicians, many of whom had played on John’s recent Madman Across the Water LP: percussionist Ray Cooper, guitarist/pianist Caleb Quaye, bassist Dave Glover, drummer Roger Pope of Hookfoot, and background vocalists Sue and Sunny.  Future Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker engineered the sessions.

The ninth and final track on Kongos attracted the most attention.  “He’s Gonna Step on You Again” blended a John Lennon-esque vocal with a thick, Wall of Sound-style production including a Moog,  various drums, and most notably, an African tribal drum loop.  Dudgeon added the sound of squeaking chairs, rusty tins and “earth drums” in what the producer later recalled as the first “samples” to be added to a rock record.  (The Guinness Book of World Records has acknowledged this fact.)  “He’s Gonna Step on You Again” was rewarded with a No. 4 placement on the U.K. Pop chart; in America, it cracked the Hot 100 at No. 70.  Happy Mondays covered the song in 1990; retitled “Step On,” it went to No. 5 in the U.K. and No. 57 stateside, with a Top 10 berth on the U.S. Modern Rock chart.  “Tokoloshe Man” was also released as a single.  With its percussion including bicycle bell, maracas and the clapperboard, it fared as well as “He’s Gonna Step on You Again” and hit No. 4 on the U.K. chart.  Kongos walked the line between accessible and outré, featuring Elton-esque piano, horns and gospel background vocals on various tracks.   The album itself peaked at No. 29 in the United Kingdom.

Kongos was followed by a number of non-LP singles, all of which are included on this expanded release for a total of nine bonus tracks.  After this burst of activity, Kongos opted to pursue a career behind-the-scenes.  He’s seen his songs recorded by Mary Hopkin and Sylvie Vartan (who took a French version of Kongos’ single “Ride the Lightning” to the top of the French charts in 1976) and has worked with Def Leppard and others.  In 2007, his sons Johnny, Jesse, Daniel and Dylan came together to make music in their own style as the band Kongos.  Esoteric’s new reissue adds full lyrics as well as a new essay by Michael Heatley.  Paschal Byrne has remastered.

All three titles from Esoteric Recordings are available now and can be pre-ordered at the links below!

Bakerloo, Bakerloo (Harvest LP SHVL 762, 1969 – reissued Esoteric ECLEC 2468, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Big Bear Ffolly
2. Bring It on Home
3. Drivin’ Bachwards
4. Last Blues
5. Gang Bang
6. This Worried Feeling
7. Son of Moonshine
8. Once Upon a Time (B-side to HAR 5004, 1969)
9. This Worried Feeling (Alternate Take) (first appeared on Repertoire CD REP 4358, 2000)
10. Georgia (previously unreleased)
11. Train (previously unreleased)
12. Son of Moonshine Part One (Alternate Take) (previously unreleased)

The Gasoline Band, The Gasoline Band (Cube HIFLY 9, 1972 – reissued Esoteric ECLEC 2467, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. The Bitch
2. Can’t You See Me
3. Find It in You
4. Ein Grosses
5. Folk Song
6. Schrapnel
7. Loafers End
8. Road
9. World What You Gonna Do
10. Now’s the Time

John Kongos, Kongos (Fly HIFLY 7, 1971 – reissued Esoteric ECLEC 2466, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Tokoloshe Man
2. Jubilee Cloud
3. Gold
4. Lift Me from the Ground
5. Tomorrow I’ll Go
6. Try to Touch Just One
7. Weekend Lady
8. I Would Have Had a Good Time
9. Come on Down Jesus
10. He’s Gonna Step on You Again
11. Sometimes It’s Not Enough (BUG 8-B, 1971)
12. Tokoloshe Man (Single Version) (BUG 14-A, 1971)
13. Can Someone Please Direct Me Back to Earth (BUG 14-B, 1971)
14. Great White Lady (BUG 22-A, 1972)
15. Shamarack (BUG 22-B, 1972)
16. Higher Than God’s Hat (BUG 32-A, 1973)
17. Would You Follow Me (BUG 32-B, 1973)
18. Ride the Lightning (BUG 58-A, 1975)
19. I Won’t Ask You Where You’ve Been (BUG 58-B, 1975)