Albert King, Poco, the Chambers Brothers: The Pavilion, Flushing Meadows, Queens NY
This article originally appeared on Billboard on September 6th, 1969
King of the Blues Courts Fans
NEW YORK — The Pavilion, which has become a most popular New York summer place to listen to rock, presented another well balanced and successful show to a capacity crowd on Aug. 23, The enthusiastic gathering listened to music from Poco, Albert King and the Chambers Brothers.
King, Stax artist, is a blues great who has gained a tremendous underground following in the last few years. A huge man, he presided over the several thousand teens with authority and music, exuding the feeling of a grinning daddy, seeing his children for the first time. Half of King's show is the talk with which he precedes his songs. Besides amusing with his folksy humor, he builds an affectionate kind of suspense, playfully dangling his music before the eager throng before he gives it to them. Instructing them to dance or clap their hands "if the spirit grabs you" he suddenly launches into his arrow-shaped guitar with solitary force living up to the title of one of his LP's, Live Wire — Blues Power.
As a guitarist, he is virtually without peer. Concentrating on sound rather than speed, his musical and vocal style are the roots which have influenced many of the top English blues musicians. King has been doing this show for years but his performance always seems fresh.
He does the definitive versions of blues standards like 'Crosscut Saw', 'Kansas City' and 'Pretty Woman', adding something new in music if not in words every time. With Born Under a Bad Sign, King has finally received well deserved acclaim. His genius is not only for music but for his universal ability to communicate, making him a diverse and unusually magnificent performer.
Epic's Poco played two short sets and proved that having members who are good musicians does not ensure a good group. About half of the group are former Buffalo Springfields but their sound is the now familiar Southern California country-rock.
Performing material from their album Pickin' Up the Pieces, they failed to establish any real identity, sounding more like a catalog of country-rock than an exponent of it. This is especially true in their country numbers which bears, by the way, very little relationship to genuine country music.
Their rock material is much less self-conscious and more authentic and enjoyable. It seems as if country, like blues a few years ago, is destined to become a mannerism in many groups who cannot handle it but choose to try due to their allegiance to musical trends.
The incorrigible Chambers Brothers were the reason for most of the audience and, as always, they earned their pay. Able to excite the crowd with an evil grin, the self-styled psychedelic soul group presented their glamorous image of bad guys making good. They never desert the audience and their image is an even stronger attraction than their music. Their music is still in fine shape, though. Despite attempts to encompass songs like 'To Love Somebody', that don't work, and little new material, their catalog of hits is ample entertainment for the most demanding ears. They did 'Time', of course, and 'Can't Turn You Loose', and some nameless screeching soulsters which took the set well into the morning. They are still among the most popular, unique, and consistent performing acts.
