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Brian Auger's Oblivion Express

Brian Auger arrived on the London scene in the early '60s, right in the thick of the blues and R&B revival that led directly to the British Invasion of 1964. Auger wasn't directly part of that trend, but his swinging, jazzy keyboards remained at the fringes of British rock through the '60s. His roots were in R&B-inflected jazz (a sound identified with the first two-thirds of the '60s), and he thrived during the late '60s and into the '70s by playing adventurous, progressive music, either with his Oblivion Express or as a duet with a rotating group of singers. Auger stayed on this track for decades, swinging between jazz, rock, and R&B, playing regular gigs (either on his own or as support), and recording on occasion. After spending the '60s playing R&B and soul in a variety of combos, including Steampacket and collaborations with Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger assembled a new band to play less commercial jazz-rock in 1970. He facetiously called it the Oblivion Express, since he didn't think it would last; instead, it became his perennial band name. The initial unit was a quartet filled out by guitarist Jim Mullen, bass player Barry Dean, and drummer Robbie McIntosh. Their initial LP, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, was released in 1971, followed later the same year by A Better Land, but their first U.S. chart LP was Second Wind in June 1972, the album that marked the debut of singer Alex Ligertwood. Personnel changes occurred frequently, but the Oblivion Express continued to figure in the U.S. charts consistently over the next several years with Closer to It! (1973), Straight Ahead (1974), Live Oblivion, Vol. 1 (1974), Reinforcements (1975), and Live Oblivion, Vol. 2 (1976). Meanwhile, Auger had moved to the U.S. in 1975, eventually settling in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the face of declining sales, he switched to Warner Bros. for Happiness Heartaches, which charted in February 1977. Encore, released in April 1978, was a live reunion with Julie Tippetts (née Driscoll) that marked the end of Auger's association with major record labels, after which he dissolved the Oblivion Express and recorded less often. After pursuing solo projects along with a variety of collaborations, including a '90s venture with former Animals singer Eric Burdon, Auger put together a new Oblivion Express in 1995. As of 2000, the lineup consisted of his daughter, Savannah, on vocals, Chris Clermont on guitar, Dan Lutz on bass, and his son Karma on drums. This group issued the album Voices of Other Times on Miramar Records one week before Auger's 61st birthday. Auger continued to play and record regularly through the 2000s and 2010s, highlighted by a 2005 revival of Oblivion Express and the 2012 solo album Language of the Heart, which featured Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Auger signed a deal with Soul Bank Music in 2022 to release archival material from his catalog. Soul Bank launched the series with Auger Incorporated, a 2023 double-disc set of previously unreleased music from his archive that featured recordings with Steampacket, Sonny Boy Williamson, the Trinity, Julie Driscoll, and Oblivion Express.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine & William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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Discographie

20 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes

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