Radio Daze 1970-1976

In addition to my graveyard shift, I also did a Saturday 7 to midnight shift. One Saturday, I got a call from Jerry Williams, who ran and owned Trans Maximus (TMI) studios with Steve Cropper. He was the former Business Manager for Paul Revere and the Raiders. Jerry asked me if I wanted to come to the studio. He said one of my favorites was recording there. I had already heard a great record that Cropper produced by Buddy Miles called Them Changes. The title track became Miles signature song. It also had great versions of Greg Allman's "Dreams" and Neil Young's "Down by the River."  I talked to Miles one time about playing in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies and some of his experiences playing and recording with the Electric Flag. Michael Bloomfield, another one of my favorites, was also in the Electric Flag. I loved him on the Super Sessions album he did with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills. Buddy Miles was the first to tell me about Jimi Hendrix giving Stephen Stills guitar lessons.

As it turned out, it was indeed one of my favorites, The Jeff Beck Group. Max Middleton backed Jeff Beck on Keyboards, Cozy Powell on Drums, Clive Chapman on Bass, and Bob Tench on vocals, the same lineup that was on the Rough and Ready album. Three of them later became members of Hummingbird. I couldn't believe how much Beck and Powell looked alike. It was hard to tell them apart until one of them picked up the guitar. What they were recording turned out to be The Jeff Beck Group, aka "The Orange Album," that included a song Cropper co-wrote with Beck called "Sugar Cane" and that Don Nix song I mentioned earlier, "Going Down."