Nick Gravenites
and Animal Mind
Kill My Brain
2 Burn 1 Records - 5001
1999
available on amazon
If you grew up with and loved the blues of the Chicago area and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag, don’t even pause to think, just run right out and grab this one. Nick was one of the driving forces in both of those bands. Here he is joined by a bunch of good friends that share a similar love of that music to play to their hearts content. ( There is even a redoing of a Dino Valenti song at the end of one of his songs that will bring back that time to those of you who can remember. For those that can’t remember or don’t go back that far, it is a great song within a song. This is music from the gritty streets of the south side of Chicago, as played by someone who grew up in those streets listening to, and absorbing the music that was all around him. This disc has all the ingredients that made that music so distinct and special. There is the tortured guitar, the driving beat that stabilizes everything, the horns for special emphasis and the vocals that come from the heart after seeing life on these streets for so long. Nick’s gritty voice sings lead on all the cuts and he is joined by Sammy Hagar on 2 cuts and has Annie Sampson, Jennifer Hall, Dalice, and
Jeanette Sartain providing the solid backing vocals to highlight his voice. The tight beat is provided by Roy Blumenfeld, of the Blues Project on drums, and Doug Killmer, who played with John Cippolina and Dr. John, on bass. Pete Sears, from The Airplane, does the keyboards and piano. Huey Lewis stops in to lend a helping harp on “Bad Talking Blues and I’m Gone. There are no credits on song writing but these sound so much like the tunes Nick wrote both for the Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag I’d be willing to bet the farm they are his tunes. Solid Chicago blues with the tight horns, how can you go wrong.
Songs ( no times or writer credits available)
1 Kill My Brain
2 Ran Out of West
3 Highway One
4 Bad Talking Blues
5 Get Together
6 Didn’t You Used To Be Somebody
7 Four Floors or Forty
8 Your Hearts In The Wrong Place
9 There’s No Heaven
10 I’m Gone
Produced and Arranged by Boots Rolf Hughston
Musicians –
Nick Gravenites – lead vocal, lead guitar
Doug Killmer – bass
Pete Sears – keyboards, piano
Roy Blumenfeld – drums
Overdubs
Sammy Hagar – guitar and background vocals on “….Used to be Somebody” and Bad Talking Blues”
Huey Lewis – harp on “Bad Talking Blues” and “I’m Gone”
Boots Rolf Hughston – alto sax, horn arrangements
Alex Murzyn – tenor sax
Tom Poole – trumpet
Rusty Gauthier – steel guitar on “Highway One”