Iowa rock and roll is not exactly a big deal in the music world. Sure Iowa has have their share of bands that made it on the regional side of things. Some bands toil in obscurity for their whole lives (Townedgers come to mind) while some managed to make a hit and then fade off. And then there were some that became legends in their own time, The Everly Brothers started at a Shenandoah station, Andy Williams was born in Wall Lake and of course went on to a steller recording career. The most popular band that still makes its home in Des Moines is Slipknot, Corey Taylor has done marvelous things in that band and Stone Sour.
There are legends that still hang around in the area for radio and blues music, Bob Dorr and The Blue Band, an Iowa staple since 1981 and of course Billy Lee Janey and son Bryce continue to rock the blues away. The late Tommy Bolin made his name in Zephyr, then The James Gang and later Deep Purple, was born up in Sioux City Iowa, his brother formed DVC which made one album for the Japanese based Alfa in 1980. At that time The Hawks (no relation to Levon and The Hawks or Ronnie Hawkins) scored a CBS deal and made a power pop first album that like The Brains, can't seem to find its way on CD. Columbia botched them up by sticking their best song Need Your Love a B side to Right Away which bombed. Their S/T titled album sold enough to warrant another CBS album 30 Seconds Over Otho. But they did managed to get Clarence Clemons to wail away on saxophone on another failed single. Only CD that ever came out was for their aborted third album Perfect World Radio that Not Lame issued in 2003.
The Iowa Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is a lot more lenient when it comes to inducting musicians into their museum unlike the joke that is the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame of Jann Wanner and his money friends. Many local bands here that are in it are probably too obscure for Wanner to know if they exist. The Pete Klint Quintet is one example: they made a few singles that a couple that got picked up for distribution by Mercury and Atlantic/Dunwich, Gonn's Blackout Of Gretely (Emir) may have been the best garage rocker of them all, even to the point that it wasn't included on the original Nuggets album on Elektra. Lenny Kaye saying that the song was too long but then again, he included The Amboy Dukes Baby Please Don't Go in all of it's five minute and thirty six second glory. (Blackout was only 4:33).
Perhaps the best known band prior to Slipknot had to be The Linn County Blues Band led by Stephen Miller. In the late 60s TLCBB was into the hippy dippy blues freakouts that was the rage at the time. They were propping up a album at Chess Studios for Dunwich Records when they were snapped up by Mercury Records for fifty thousand dollars, a very high price for a local band. Their first album S/T (known as Proud Flesh Soothseer) provided one single, a cover of Think (Mercury 72852) which didn't chart. Many consider the first album to be their best. And it's the only one out there on CD.
Fever Shot, the second album is best known for the title track which got played a lot on Clyde Clifford's Beaker Street show. They covered Little Richard's Girl Can't Help It and Too Far Gone may have been picked as a single but outside of the title track, I found the album to somewhat dull but then again I may have been put off by the scratchy album that it skipped on a couple of the songs off that album. Fever Shot the track was a FM underground classic.
With the third album Till The Break Of Dawn, Linn County got switched from Mercury to the lesser priority and prestigious Phillips and from what I heard of that album it was them going back to a more straight forward blues with a country hint on another failed single, the swinging Let The Music Begin (Phillips 40644). The Phillips album is very hard to find with prices commanding 40 dollars or more. Miller left to join Elvin Bishop for three albums on Fillmore and Epic and then moving over to Grinderswitch later on.
Linn County was inducted into the Iowa Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2004. Stephen Miller died in 2003
Linn County Singles
Cave Song/Think Mercury 72858
Lower Lemons/Fast Days Mercury 72882
Fever Shot/Girl Can't Help It Mercury 72907
Let The Music Begin/Wine Take Me Away Phillips 40644
Stephen Miller 45
Sea Cruise/It's A Fact Of Life Phillips 40669
Reference: http://www.deaddisc.com/GDFD_Linn_County.htm
Albums:
Proud Flesh Soothseer (Mercury 1968) B+ (later reissued on Kismet UK)
Fever Shot (Mercury 1969) C
Till The Break Of Dawn (Phillips 1970) B
Live (K-Tel Download Only 2010) NR
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Hey Crabby: I remember the Hawks -- their 1st album 4 CBS had a yellow cover with some bird feathers on it? 1st side wasn't bad, but the best song was the last 1, with the long chiming guitar fadeout -- can't even remember the name, & haven't heard it in years -- bet you know the title, tho. Can still hear that guitar in my head. "Let Me In," was it? Yes! Great stuff! Never knew they were from Iowa. Thanx 4 the memories....
ReplyDeleteYep Tad, Let Me In was the final track on side one from The Hawks 1980 album. I think The Hawks were more in line with The Shoes or 20/20 in the power pop department but of course being from Iowa and staying here didn't help them gain much sales. I think they toured with state neighbors Cheap Trick around 1981 thereabouts. 30 Seconds To Otho had a ready made hit single with Tonight You Are Mine but CBS went with If We Can Just Stick Together on the promo of Clarence Clemons blowing his sax but it didn't chart.
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