Barry Goldberg's Soul Riot "Live At The Cavana Club" 1974 Hollywood CA.
Barry Goldberg was first a fixture on the blues-rock scene of the late '60s and has operated under the radar ever since. The Chicago native played with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and with Bob Dylan at the legendary Newport Folk Festival gig at which Dylan "went electric." He co-formed the Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield; played on Super Session with Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and Stephen Stills; and made a bit of a splash with his own band, the Barry Goldberg Reunion. He also penned a number of songs covered by more prominent artists and contributed keyboards to recordings by everyone from Doug Sahm to the Ramones. Solo albums -- his first was co-produced by Dylan and Jerry Wexler -- dried up for decades until Goldberg re-emerged with a 2002 tribute to the Rolling Stones and a 2006 Chicago blues tribute. Which brings us to Soul Riot!, a half-studio, half-live set that proves Goldberg still has the goods as bandleader and musician. Contributing keyboards as part of a large R&B ensemble, Goldberg is still capable of shooting sparks. His goal here, though, is not to show off his own capabilities, though they shine through, but rather to keep things tight and exciting all around. His key weapon is soul/blues vocalist Melanie Herrold, who can shout or croon with the best of 'em, bringing a gospel singer's dynamics to the session. The studio half is packed with groove: the brass section packs a wallop and the guitarist (Jack Sherman) pulls out a trove of sharp licks. The live set, meanwhile, adds a few extra pounds of toughness. Opening with Nick Gravenites' "Buried Alive in the Blues," made famous by Janis Joplin, the show -- which also stars Herrold -- picks up steam until it climaxes big time with the back-to-back bash of Sly & the Family Stone's "Higher" and Ike & Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits." The only drawback is the recording quality of the live half: while the studio tracks are as crisp and present as one might expect, the live recording is amateurishly made, sounding distant and dull, as if it were made from the audience on a smuggled-in recorder. This thumping blues deserves better sonics than that.
