It’s been confusing to some that rather than the individual tracks from my collection I usually post, lately I’ve been putting up whole albums (and bonus tracks) from records I produced for Oblivion Records, the indie label I started with Tom Pomposello, in the 70s (here, here, here, here, and here). There’s a blog that sporadically tries to explain everything over here.
–Fred
Tom Pomposello > Honest Tom Pomposello
Produced by Fred Seibert
Original LP. Click the titles to play.
1. Tommy’s Jump
2. Old Joe Clark
3. Jesus Died on the Cross (To Save the World)
4. Movin’ Too Fast
5. Supreme Court Breakdown
6. Amazing Grace
7. Meeting You
8. St. Louis Blues
9. (I’m) Watchin’ The T.V.
10. Hey Little Girl (Who Made Your Dress?)
Oblivion Records OD-6
Click here to read some of the stories behind this album.
And click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
CREDITS, from the original LP cover:
1. TOMMY’S JUMP Array
(By H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. electric mandolin
Michael Altshuler. Guitar
Bruce Kapler. tenor saxophone
Michael “Kid” Avanzini. Bass
David Longworth. Drums
Recorded 9.3.75
2. OLD JOE CLARK Array
(Traditional; arranged by H.T.P.)
Tom. Dulcimer
Kid Avanzini. Bass
Nicholas “Nick” K. Moy. pitch pipe
Recorded 10.6.73
3. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS [TO SAVE THE WORLD] Array
(Traditional; arranged by H.T.P./Special thanks to John Fahey)
Tom. bottleneck-dobro
Michael Altshuler. Guitar
Kid Avanzini. Bass
David Longworth. drums
Recorded 7.4.74
4. MOVIN’ TOO FAST Array
(By Roosevelt Sykes / H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. vocal & electric [Read more…]
Friends > Marc Cohen, John Abercrombie, Clint Houston, Jeff Williams
Produced by Marc Cohen & Fred Seibert
[Note: Marc Cohen now performs on piano as Marc Copeland]
Original LP. Click the titles to play.
1. 5/8 Tune †
2. Black Vibrations *
3. Nursery Rhyme
4. Loose Tune ††
…:::UPDATE, Feb 08: These MP3s are CD quality, 320kpbs:::…
Marc Cohen: electric alto sax, ††add tenor sax
Jeff Williams: drums
Clint Houston: fretted bass, †acoustic bass
John Abercrombie: 6 string guitar, *12 string guitar, ††no guitar
Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
…..
Friends
Oblivion Records
OD-3 (1973)
Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
CREDITS, from the original LP cover:
Recorded December 1972, by successful exploitation of Columbia University’s WKCR. To everyone who has ever been there, thanks folks.
Produced by Marc Cohen and Fred Seibert
Engineering: Fred Seibert
Brains behind the engineering: Don Zimmerman
Microphones behind the brains: Marc Seiden
Pal: David Reitman
Graphics: the Oblivionettes co-starring Sue DeLaney
Photography: Trebor Trepla, Fred Seibert, and Robert Alpert (Mark Focus Jr.)
Advice: Don [Read more…]
Johnny Woods
Mississippi Harmonica
Produced by Tom Pomposello and Fred Seibert
Original 45rpm single. Click the titles to play.
1. Long Haired Doney
2. Three O’Clock in the Morning
…..
Oblivion Records
O#2 (1972) [45 rpm single]
Click here to read some of the stories behind this record.
And click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
……
Original credits
Johnny Woods: harmonica
Recorded Thursday, April 27, 1972, Olive Branch, Mississippi, by Tom Pomposello
Remastered by Fred Seibert
Graphics by the Oblivionettes featuring Susan DeLaney
Cover photo by Tom Pomposello
This recording was made possible by a special grant from the Dick Pennington Blues Foundation
Addition copies of this disc can be had by sending $1.00 (plus 25 cents for postage and handling) to:
Oblivion Records
P.O. Box X
Roslyn Heights, New York 11577
©(P) 1972
……
Original liner notes
During the spring of 1972, I spent some time in Mississippi visiting with my friend and teacher Fred McDowell. Now Fred had promised to show me around and introduce me to a few of his musical [Read more…]
Joe Lee Wilson
Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes
1. The Theme/Aquarian Melody
2. It’s You Or No One
3. Strollin’
4. Jazz Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul
5. God Bless The Child
6. You Make Me Want To Dance
Arranged by Joe Lee Wilson
The selections on this record are excerpted from a live radio concert on Columbia University’s WKCR.FM.NYC.
Recorded on July 16, 1972.
Joe Lee Wilson. Vocals
Ray McKinley. Piano
Bob Ralston. Tenor saxophone
Stafford James. Bass
Napoleon Revels. Drums
…..
Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
Original LP credits and liner notes
Oblivion Records OD-5
Joe Lee Wilson
Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes
Joe Lee Wilson. Vocals, Ray McKinley. Piano, Bob Ralston. Tenor saxophone, Stafford James. Bass, Napoleon Revels. Drums
Produced by Fred Seibert
Production Consultant. Honest Tom Pomposello
Advice and Consent. Richard H. Pennington, Jr.
Engineering. Don Zimmerman
Editing. Fred Seibert
Rerecording. Bob Blank. 3.26.74
Mastering. John Bittner
Pressing. Wakefield Manufacturing
Cover design. Susan Rivoir
Graphics. the Oblivionettes
Photography. Bridget Deale, Fred Seibert, and Enea Cairati
Confucius, Nick Moy and Sherry Wolf*
*courtesy of Bonitza Melodies
Should this disk [Read more…]
Charles Walker & The New York City Blues Band
Blues From The Apple
Produced by Tom Pomposello with Fred Seibert
Engineering. Fred Seibert
Click the title to play.
1. Scratch My Back
2. Black Cat Bone
3. Gladly
4. Decoration Day
5. I’m A Good Man But A Poor Man
6. Juice Head Woman
7. Bluebird’s Blues
8. Fast, Fast, Women and A Slow Race Horse
9. It’s Changin’ Time
10. Meeting You
……
CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND
Blues From The Apple
Oblivion Records
OD-4
1974
Click here for covers, photographs, lyrics, and other printed ephemera.
LINER NOTES:
New York City blues has been one of the Big Apple’s best kept secrets for the past decade and a half. While many local bluesmen have remained “active” at house parties with an occaisional gig at a small club, many others, veterans of a by-gone R&B era, have pawned their instruments and abandoned hopes of continuing a career that long ago abandoned them. In short the New York City blues scene [Read more…]
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Live In New York
Produced by Tom Pomposello, Dick Pennington, and Fred Seibert
Engineered* by Fred Seibert
Click the titles to play.
2nd edition, Spring 1972
1. Shake ‘Em On Down
2. I’m Crazy About You Baby
3. John Henry
4. You Got To Move
5. Someday
6. Mercy
7. The Lovin’ Blues
8. White Lightnin’
9. Baby Please Don’t Go
These MP3s are CD quality, 320kpbs
1999 edition; released as “Live at the Gaslight.”
Disc 1
1. Shake ‘Em On Down
2. Fred’s Worried Blues *
3. Mercy
4. Jesus is on the Mainline *
5. When The Saints Come Marchin’ In *
6. Someday Baby
7. The Lovin’ Blues
8. White Lightnin’
9. You Got To Move
10. Louise *
11. Baby Please Don’t Go
Disc 2
1. Goin’ To The River (Carry My Rocking Chair) **
2. Shake ‘Em On Down **
3. 61 Highway *
4. John Henry
5. My Babe *
6. I’m Crazy ‘Bout You Baby **
7. Red Cross Store *
8. Levee Camp Blues*
9. Good Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl *
10. Don’t Mistreat Nobody (Cause You Got A [Read more…]
Charles Walker & the NYC Blues Band > Scratch My Back
The whole story of this record is too long and too good to go into in one short blog post. (Some day on the Oblivion blog.) Suffice it to say it goes from discovery to borrowed guitars in South Bronx pawn shops to money borrowed from friends to a Harlem funeral with dueling, crying wives.
My friend and partner Tom Pomposello was a bluesman (Italian, from Long Island, but truly, a bluesman) with an evangelical vision of New York, more known for Frank Sinatra and the Brill Building than blues. I’ve forgotten right now where he first met Charles, but Tom became convinced he was the ticket.
Subsequently he fell for every scam Charles laid on us, particularly the ones that required an immediate cash outlay (”You can never move too fast in this business, Fred.”) all the way to Charles’ aforementioned [Read more…]
Mississippi Fred McDowell > My Babe
In late 1971 I was 20 years old and visiting my hippie friend Tom Pomposello at his “liberation” record store in our home town of Huntington, Long Island. He asked if my college radio staion had any recording equipment, and would I please come to the (Greenwich) Village Gaslight and record him playing bass with bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell. The only blues I knew about was what I’d seen during the rock blues revival at the Fillmore East like B.B. and Albert Kings, but I figured that anyone with “Mississippi” in their name playing the very cool Gaslight must be famous. How Tom came to be playing with anyone famous is a question unanswered to this day. I dragged my friend Roy down with me and the mono tape recorder; we recorded the show and played it on my radio show.
A couple of years later Tom and I got the bright [Read more…]
Joe Lee Wilson > It’s You or No One
After having the time of my life playing Farfisa organ in blue eyed rock/soul bands during high school, I decided George Martin and Jerry Wexler were my new role models. I’d become a “record producer”. Having no actual idea what that meant, my buddy Tom Pomposello and I borrowed a few dollars and started Oblivion Records. We’d record blues records to slake his passion and jazz records for my recently invented one.
Four LPs later a few of my college radio pals kept ragging me that I’d missed the session of a lifetime when I was out the hot July night Joe Lee Wilson played live at WKCR-FM on Sharif Abdus-Salaam’s program.
I hadn’t particularly liked most jazz singing before (or since) but this tape blew me away and we immediately made plans to release it (difficult when you’re completely broke and most of the other records you’ve released didn’t [Read more…]
