Saturday, April 17, 2021

Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity - That Driving Beat - Non-Album Tracks (1966-1967)

Some weeks back, I posted a collection of songs by the Steampacket. One could call this an early "supergroup," but only in retrospect, because the main band members weren't well known then, but Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll, and Brian Auger later went on to greater fame and fortune. That band only existed about a year. Stewart and Baldry left. But Driscoll and Auger stayed together, and were romantically linked for a while. Their new group had the very unwieldy name "Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity."

This band only put out two albums, "Open" in 1967 and the double album "Streetnoise" in 1969. But they did a lot of other songs together, enough for me to put together two stray tracks albums together. This is the first one. On top of that, both Driscoll and Auger put out solo album projects in the late 1960s, but I'm not including songs from those unless it's a performance they did together that differs from the album version.

I must admit that I'm in this mainly for Julie Driscoll. I consider her one of the best female singers in Britain in the late 1960s. Also, unlike most female singers at the time, she was a talented songwriter too. Brian Auger is a fine organist, sure, but I'm not that keen on his stuff unless Driscoll's singing is there. I think Driscoll is underappreciated these days. One big reason for that, in my opinion, is that she quit music for a while at the tail end of the sixties when this band broke up. She soon got back doing more music, but she went in a different experimental jazz direction (under the name Julie Tippetts) that generally isn't my cup of tea. 

Driscoll and Auger put out a bunch of singles of songs that didn't make it to album at the time. I have seven such songs here, some Driscoll solo, some Auger solo, and some with both of them and the Trinity. (There are a handful more on the second stray tracks album I'll be posting here, including their big hit "This Wheel's on Fire.") This also includes two bonus tracks from "Open" that weren't released at the time. Plus there's "This Driving Beat," which only came out decades later on an archival release. It's a fun and lively song; too bad it wasn't a single.

Finally, there are a couple of still unreleased songs. "A New Awakening" is a song that would end up on Driscoll's first solo album, simply called "1969." I'm including a BBC version here because she did it with Auger and the Trinity. The other unreleased song, "Don't Wait Too Long," is super obscure. In 1967, a Dutch TV show recorded some footage of Driscoll recording a song in a studio that was intended for her first solo album. It never made it to the album, so the only version that's available is from the TV show, featuring just her voice and an acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, the show would feature some of the song being sung in the studio, then cut away to Driscoll being interviewed, then cut back to the song, then cut back to the interview, etc... I painstakingly put the parts of the songs together and cut out the interview sections. For the most part it holds up as a song. However, there is one missing chunk near the end of the song. If I recall, instead of another verse, I just have the chorus repeat again before the song ends.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 I Know You (Julie Driscoll with the Blossom Toes)
02 Don't Do It No More (Julie Driscoll with the Blossom Toes)
03 I Didn't Want to Have to Do It (Julie Driscoll)
04 That Driving Beat (Julie Driscoll & Brian Auger)
05 Red Beans and Rice, Parts 1 & 2 [Instrumental] (Brian Auger & the Trinity)
06 I Know You Love Me Not (Julie Driscoll)
07 Tiger (Brian Auger & the Trinity)
08 Save Me (Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity)
09 I've Gotta Go Now (Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity)
10 Inside of Him (Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity)
11 Don't Wait Too Long [Edit] (Julie Driscoll)
12 A New Awakening [Edit] (Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity)
13 As She Knows (Brian Auger & the Trinity)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15110869/JulieDris_1966-1967_ThatDrivingBt_atse.zip.html

The album cover art shows Driscoll and Auger at the Marble Arch in London in 1968. I took the band name from a rare version of the "Open" album cover, for a more authentic 1960s style. But I made some changes, including changing the colors. I also edited her eyes, because she was looking away from the camera and he wasn't.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks so much! What a treat. I agree 100% with your statement that Julie Driscoll is one of the best female singers in Britain in the late 1960s. "Streetnoise" is one of my all-time favorites. As well as her solo album "1969." Thanks again for sharing.

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  2. Thank you! Agree with what DK and you said. I saw Jools play in London in the late 70s with her husband, Keith Tippet. She was a mesmerizing presence (long time crush) but the music (minimalist jazz vocalize) not so much. Still we have her old recordings and now a new one!

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