Stillwater
Dixie Dregs
Sea Level
96rock and Capricorn Records present The Rebel Jam
Dixie Dregs
Sea Level
96rock and Capricorn Records present The Rebel Jam
Recorded at:
Fox Theatre
Atlanta, CA
May 3, 1978
Stillwater (25 minutes):
01 Stillwater - Stillwater Introduction
02 Stillwater - Fantasy Park
03 Stillwater - Sunshine Blues
04 Stillwater - Universal Fool
05 Stillwater - Out On A Limb
06 Stillwater - Mindbender
Dixie Dregs (36 minutes)
01 Dixie Dregs - Dixie Dregs Introduction
02 Dixie Dregs - Take It Off The Top
03 Dixie Dregs - Gina Lola Breakdown
04 Dixie Dregs - Refried Funky Chicken
05 Dixie Dregs - Free Fall
06 Dixie Dregs - Moedown
07 Dixie Dregs - Cruise Control
08 Dixie Dregs - Disco Dregs
09 Dixie Dregs - Dixie
Sea Level (1 hour, 13 minutes)
01 Sea Level - Sea Level Introduction
02 Sea Level - I'm Ready
03 Sea Level - Every Little Thing
04 Sea Level - Rain In Spain
05 Sea Level - It Hurts To Want It So Bad
06 Sea Level - Midnight Pass
07 Sea Level - Shake A Leg
08 Sea Level - King Grand
09 Sea Level - That's Your Secret
10 Sea Level - Country Fool
11 Sea Level - Grand Larceny
12 Sea Level - Band Introductions
13 Sea Level - Hot 'lanta
14 Sea Level - Credits
From the Sam Eliot's Mustache Collection
Brought to you by the Collective For Live Music
Digitized from the original radio reel-to-reel tapes.
While this show was intended to be a single broadcast I've broken the songs up by group into three folders, in case people want only one or two of the groups for their collection.
This one is a big discovery, partial broadcasts of this show have surfaced over at Guitars 101, but this is the entire rebroadcast direct from the reel-to-reel tapes.
Atlanta radio station WKLS-FM and Capricorn Records co-sponsored a one-time show "The Rebel Jam" featuring three of the label's acts: Stillwater, Dixie Dregs, and Sea Level. The finale featured a jam by members of all three groups, joined by J.D. Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas and Larry Berwald from Wet Willie.
It was a free concert. WKLS-FM listeners registered at local record stores and when your name was drawn and called out over the air, you had 24 hours to claim your tickets by calling the radio station.
It proved a popular idea, so 96 Rock broadcast the show live. This is NOT from the live broadcast, however. Capricorn Records recorded the show on a 24-track mobile recording studio, and mixed and edited it down to three reel-to-reel tapes. Capricorn distributed the tapes to stations in the Superstars Radio Network (there's an additional essay with more information on the Superstars Radio Network included). Based on our prior research, there were probably about 40 stations in the network...and not all of them would have picked up a Southern Rock live show. We don't know how many stations broadcast the mixed and edited version.
"Out On A Limb," "Mind Bender, "Grand Larceny," and "Refried Funky Chicken" were officially released on a 2-LP Capricorn Records various artists live compilation "Hotels, Motels And Road Shows" in July 1978. A truncated version of the album was issued in Japan in 1989. All of the Rebel Jam songs were on the CD. There does not appear to be a domestic or European release on CD.
The Ruth Mitchell Dance Company performed during two of Dixie Dreg's songs. The Internet tells me Ruth Mitchell opened her dance studio in Atlanta in 1957 and that "she loved jazz dancing, and many of the pieces she choreographed reflected that affinity, along with bridging dance into rock music. Her pieces included interpretations of The Alan Parsons Project’s Tales of Edgar Allen Poe, The Who’s Tommy and Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. Other memorable pieces by Mitchell include Cindy, Archy and Mehitabel, Panopticon and Dark Side of the Moon."
In 1978 in San Francisco, I was all about punk rock: louder, faster, shorter was the order of the day and musical virtuosity was not just suspect but downright opposed. For me, there's a lot on this tape that's very interesting to me. Southern Rock wasn't as popular in the Bay Area as on its home turf down in Dixie; they wouldn't have broadcast a show like this on local radio. I'd never heard of Stillwater; had ONE SINGLE FRIEND who listened to the Dixie Dregs, and never heard Sea Level back in the day. So this is a chance for me to hear what I missed in 1978.
All of these band featured virtuoso players; in particular Dixie Dregs and Sea Level stand out as bands I should have paid attention to in 1978 had I not been a genre snob.
Produced by:
Kurt and Carol Kinzel for Capricorn Records
Recorded by the Phantom Mobile Unit and mixed at Capricorn Studios
Engineers Kurt Kinzel and Steve Tillisch
TRUST ME, MAN....this sounds like it was recorded yesterday....
https://mega.nz/file/SAB2AZzK#saJTDtv433E3FlyjJBpEJ4AIpI_1YFyn9OeOIPkEnt0
Thank you D!
ReplyDeleteWow this is fantastic! I discovered the Dixie Dregs in the very early 1980's when I was spinning records at my college radio station. The cover of What If caught my eye and I gave it a spin; I was hooked. I don't know Stillwater and only discovered Sea Level recently, so this will be great to hear. I do have a downloaded copy of Hotels, Motels and Roadshows, but had no idea those tracks came from such a great concert. Thanks so much DV, for sharing this and the story behind the show!!
ReplyDeleteHey Gman! Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad you found this one of interest. The sound quality is excellent; usually we're working from a live concert, they're mixed live, on the fly as the concert takes place. The story on this one is they mixed it from a 24 track recording, and I think it sounds fantastic.
ReplyDeleteGreat show! Capricorn as a label.. putting out Quality music! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWho was the special guests as advertised on the flyer?
ReplyDeleteHi, Ecnokaoi! My guess is that it's the appearance of J.D. Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas and Larry Berwald from Wet Willie at the end of the show, and/or appearance by The Ruth Mitchell Dance Company...who, from what comes up on Newspapers.com over a 30 year period...were a "big deal locally." It added a jazz-dance highbrow element to the redneck jam session.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in and around Atlanta for over 40 years and still haven't met any fans of the Dregs, Sea Level, or Stillwater. Granted, I arrived about a decade after their heyday, and (like draftervoi) I was a genre snob who wouldn't have given prog or jazz-rock a chance.
ReplyDeleteSteve Morse from the Dregs has had a long career (mostly with Deep Purple). Chuck Leavell (from Sea Level) plays keyboards with the Rolling Stones. Randall Bramblett (Sea Level) is also still active as a bandleader.
The advertisement is interesting. "96Rock" still exists on satellite radio, but 96.1 FM changed formats years ago, and I think the call letters (WKLS) were retired. All of those record stores are long gone. Turtles was once a popular chain that gave customers a green stamp for every dollar spent. You pasted them into a booklet and got a discount when you turned in a full booklet of Turtles stamps.
Capricorn Records went out of business in 1979, but was reactivated in the 90's with a roster that included Widespread Panic, 311, and Cake. Capricorn went under again in 2000. Hosting a free show at the Fox and bringing a 24 track mobile unit must have cost a chunk of money!
Thanks for the music and the research!