Peter Neri and I grew up in North Haven and played Little League together for Olsen Plumbers and Candid Cleaners. Later, we played in two bands that helped establish Connecticut’s rock ‘n roll scene in the late ’60s: the Bram Rigg Set, which has several tracks on the 2008 Sundazed Records compilation Don’t Press Your Luck; and Pulse, which released a self-titled album on a Buddah Records subsidiary, Poison Ring. It’s re-released every couple of years on a new label.
Both bands were managed and produced by Doc Cavalier out of Syncron Studios, later Trod Nossel. He also produced the Wildweeds and Fancy, one of Christine Olhman’s first bands, among many others.
Beau Segal, who later ran the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, was the drummer in both groups. Bob Schlosser, now Bob Lacey, a successful radio talk show host in North Carolina, was the singer in the Bram Rigg Set, and Rich Bednarczk played keyboards in both lineups. Jeff Potter, later in Clean Living and now with his own highly successful touring band out of Northhampton, Mass., played harp and percussion with Pulse. And Carl Augusto, then Carl Donnell the lead singer with Pulse, is now president and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind.
OK, enough name-dropping. What I meant to say is:
Peter Neri has two outstanding acoustic guitar CDs he’s recorded in the past few years that you can check out at his web site: Night Visions, an eclectic mix of blues, folk, Americana, fingerstyle playing and other influences and Dreaming Of Home, an expressionistic take on parenting through his guitar playing, a dazzling mix of fireworks and feeling. On the second title he conveys so many emotions about raising kids just through his music, no words, an amazing achievement. They are available on CD or download with proceeds from Dreaming Of Home going to relief organizations and charities.
I”ll admit it, I’m biased, but it’s still beautiful music.
While I’m at it, Christine, who has sung with the Saturday Night Live band for years, has just released a retrospective, Re-Hive, with her band Rebel Montez, which is still very active on the Connecticut circuit.
But as Brian began to fade out in the late 1960s, eventually evaporating in the lost promise of the unreleased Smile album, Dennis started to emerge with some of the most interesting compositions on early ’70s Boys albums. By the the fall of 1977, he became the first to release a solo album and it artistically eclipsed anything the Boys were doing at the time.
He and his wife’s group, Delaney and Bonnie & Friends, from the late ’60s, early ’70s, never hit it really big, but had some recognizable tunes such as Only You Know And I Know. More interesting, the group featured many stars among its sidemen. Eric Clapton played with D&B following his tour with Blind Faith. Dave Mason was in that version of the group as well and George Harrison guested. Other luminaries included bassist Jim Radle, sax player Bobby Keys, now with the Stones, drummer Jim Gordon, keyboard player Bobby Whitlock and trumpet player Jim Horn and many more. Most of them played in Mad Dogs & Englishman with Joe Cocker and Leon Russell and Clapton took Radle, Gordon and Whitlock to form Derek & and Dominoes.
Containing two of his most familiar tracks, Rough Boys and Let My Love Open The Door, both successful singles, the album is more pop-rock oriented than anything in his repertoire since the early days of the Who. But there is more than those signature tunes.
Beth Rowley’s Little Dreamer, a nice mix of bluesy material and more pop-oriented tunes. Her take on Nobody’s Fault But Mine is a show-stopper.
Sunday At Devil Dirt by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan. Campbell, from Belle and Sebastian, writes everything and produces. Most of the tunes are sung by Lanegan (Screaming Tress), who sounds like a latter day Leonard Cohen. The deep moody voice contrasted with Campbell’s airy vocals that stream in and out on some of the tracks makes for a startling yet pleasing combination.
One of the best music sites I’ve bumped into this year has to be 
The best album I’ve heard this year has to be Acid Tongue by Jenny Lewis. It wasn’t reviewed or received as well as her first solo album with the Watson Sisters, Rabbit Fur Coat, but it’s better. The first was very unusual, stark, real basic, a nice blend of country and pop and she shared the bill. Acid Tongue is more conventional with a band or actually two, sort of, bands but it’s executed beautifully and her songwriting is in great shape.
I, Flathead by Ry Cooder, which has some serious rockers and, of course, exquisitely tasteful playing, with an early countrified rock ‘n roll feel. It’s supposed to be the third in a trilogy, which started with Chavez Ravine, the best of the three.
The fifth is Esperanza, by Esperanza Spalding, an amazing female bassist just out of Berklee in Boston, my old school by the way.