Derek and the Dominos – "Anyway" (1970)

But if you believed in me

Like I believe in you

The Allman Brothers Band had two drummers – and so does the Tedeschi Trucks Band, which I recently saw perform at Wolf TrapNational Park for the Performing Arts.  

In my humble opinion, that’s the best thing about the group – I wish more rock groups had two drummers.

Click here to see the Allman Brothers Band using their twin drummers to very good effect in a 1970 performance of “Dreams.”  (By the way, the key to the Allman Brothers sound wasn’t Duane’s guitar – it was Gregg’s Hammond B3 organ.)

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The Tedeschi Trucks Band takes its moniker from Susan Tedeschi and her husband, Derek Trucks – whose late uncle Butch Trucks was one of those aforementioned Allman Brothers Band drummers. (I find it interesting that Tedeschi is nine years older than Trucks – she was 31 and he was 22 when they got married.)

Tedeschi and Trucks

There’s no doubt that Trucks is a guitar virtuoso of the highest order – the guy can shred with the best of them.  But there’s no there there in his guitar jams.  They’re full of sound and fury, but ultimately they signify nothing.

Did the audience care?  To the contrary – the less there there was in his solos, the more his fans hooted and hollered.

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Trucks’ meandering guitar jams were bad enough.   But the most tedious element of the concert was the joint drum solo by Tyler Greenwell and Isaac Eady during the band’s interminable live rendition of “Pasaquan,” a l-o-n-g instrumental track that’s found on part one of I Am the Moon.  

Click here to see Tedeschi Trucks playing “Pasaquan” at Wolf Trap.  But be aware that doing so will consume 19 minutes and 15 seconds of your life.  (Maybe you’re young enough that you can afford to waste 19 minutes and 15 seconds of your life.  Unfortunately, I’m not.)

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Derek Trucks was recruited by his uncle Butch to join the Allman Brothers Band for their 30th anniversary tour in 1999, and he played with the group through its final live appearance in 2014.  So it’s not surprising that his guitar solos have an Allman Brothers-flavored sound.

That worked when Tedeschi Trucks covered “Statesboro Blues” (which was a staple of the Allman Brothers Band’s repertory) and “Anyday,” a track on the one and only Derek and the Dominoes album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.  (Duane Allman was the primary guitarist on that recording.)

But the group’s cover of the Rolling Stones 1973 single, “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” sounded a bit odd with an Allman Brothersesque guitar solo by Trucks.

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Click here to listen to Derek and the Dominoes’ studio recording of “Anyday.”  I don’t think there’s much doubt who did the song better.  

Derek and the Dominos

Of course, it’s not really fair to compare one band’s live version of a song with another’s band’s studio recording of that song, but there doesn’t seem to be a decent live recording of Derek and the Dominoes playing “Anyday.”

Click here to buy “Anyday” from Amazon.

Derek and the Dominos – "Tell the Truth" (1970)

Hear what I say, ’cause every word is true

You know I wouldn’t tell you no lies

[NOTE: If you need any more proof that one great guitar riff is more than enough of a foundation to support a great six- or seven-minute-long rock song, I give you today’s featured song – “Tell the Truth,” by Derek and the Dominos, which is now, and ever shall be, world without end, a member of the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME. Below is an edited version of my original August 30, 2019 post about “Tell the Truth.”]

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I’ve known for a long time that Dave Mason is a pretty big deal in the world of classic rock.

But it didn’t hit me until recently that Dave Mason’s a REALLY big deal in that world.

Dave Mason in 1970

Sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake.

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Anyone who knows anything about the history of rock music knows that Dave Mason was a founding member of the sixties supergroup, Traffic.  He went on to have a very successful solo career.  (Five of his solo albums went gold or platinum, and his 1977 single, “We Just Disagree,” was a big radio hit.)

But let’s see how much you really know about Dave Mason.

1.  True or false: Dave Mason was a close friend of Jimi Hendrix, and played 12-string guitar on “All Along the Watchtower” (which was Jimi’s highest-charting American single).

Dave Mason with Jimi Hendrix

2.  True or false: Dave Mason played the shehnai (an Indian reed instrument) on the Rolling Stones’ 1968 record, “Street Fighting Man.”

3.  True or false: Dave Mason and Eric Clapton toured with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and performed on their classic live album, On Tour with Eric Clapton.

4.  True or false: Dave Mason recorded an album with Mama Cass Elliott that was released in 1971.

5.  True or false: Dave Mason played guitar (along with Eric Clapton and George Harrison) on “Beware of Darkness” – the best song on Harrison’s hugely popular solo album, All Things Must Pass.  

6.  True or false: Dave Mason wrote the song “Feelin’ Alright” for Traffic, which has been covered by (among others) Three Dog Night, the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Grand Funk Railroad, Isaac Hayes, Lulu, Lou Rawls, Rare Earth, and – most famously – Joe Cocker.

7.  True or false: Dave Mason was an original member of Derek and the Dominoes.

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Time’s up, boys and girls – put those pencils down!

Here are the correct answers:

1. True

2. True

3. True

4. True

5. True

6. True

7. True

So how did you do?

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“Tell the Truth” is my favorite song from the one and only Derek and the Dominos album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.  

What you may not know is that the version of “Tell the Truth” that is included in that album isn’t the original Derek and the Dominos recording of that song.  

In June 1970, the band – which included Dave Mason – played “Tell the Truth” at its first concert, which took place in London.  A few days later, the song became the first one that Derek and Dominos ever recorded.  

The band was unhappy with that version of the song – which Phil Spector had produced – and decided to re-record “Tell the Truth” for the Layla album.  (Spector had them record the song at an insanely speeded-up tempo – his version sounds like a 33 rpm record being played at 45 rpm.)  By then, Dave Mason was no longer part of Derek and the Dominoes.

The “Tell the Truth”single

But someone forgot to tell the band’s American record company, Atco Records, which released the original version as a single in the U.S. just two weeks after the new version was recorded.  (Atco quickly pulled the single.)

Click here to listen to the original Derek and the Dominos recording of “Tell the Truth,” which features Dave Mason on guitar. 

Click here to listen to the version released on the Derek and the Dominos album, which does not feature Dave Mason on guitar.  

Click on the link below to buy that version of the song from Amazon:

Derek and the Dominos – "Tell the Truth" (1970)

Hear what I say, ’cause every word is true

You know I wouldn’t tell you no lies

I’ve known for a long time that Dave Mason is a pretty big deal in the world of classic rock.

But it didn’t hit me until recently that Dave Mason’s a REALLY big deal in that world.

Dave Mason in 1970

Sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake.

*     *     *     *     *

Anyone who knows anything about the history of rock music knows that Dave Mason was a founding member of the sixties supergroup, Traffic.  He went on to have a successful solo career.  (Five of his solo albums went gold or platinum, and his 1977 single, “We Just Disagree,” was a big radio hit.)

But let’s see how much you really know about Dave Mason.

1.  True or false: Dave Mason was a close friend of Jimi Hendrix, and played 12-string guitar on “All Along the Watchtower” (which was Jimi’s highest-charting American single).

Dave Mason with Jimi Hendrix

2.  True or false: Dave Mason played the shehnai (an Indian reed instrument) on the Rolling Stones’ 1968 record, “Street Fighting Man.”

3.  True or false: Dave Mason and Eric Clapton toured with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and performed on their classic live album, On Tour with Eric Clapton.

4.  True or false: Dave Mason recorded an album with Mama Cass Elliott that was released in 1971.

5.  True or false: Dave Mason played guitar (along with Eric Clapton and George Harrison) on “Beware of Darkness” – the best song on Harrison’s hugely popular solo album, All Things Must Pass.  

6.  True or false: Dave Mason wrote the song “Feelin’ Alright” for Traffic, which has been covered by (among others) Three Dog Night, the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Grand Funk Railroad, Isaac Hayes, Lulu, Lou Rawls, Rare Earth, and – most famously – Joe Cocker.

7.  True or false: Dave Mason was an original member of Derek and the Dominoes.

*     *     *     *     *

Time’s up, boys and girls – put those pencils down!

Here are the correct answers:

1. True

2. True

3. True

4. True

5. True

6. True

7. True

So how did you do?

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A few days ago, I saw the Dave Mason Band open for Hot Tuna at the Warner Theatre in downtown Washington, DC.

I had a great seat thanks to my friend Tony Patler, who has been Mason’s keyboards guy since 2009.  (Tony is an accomplished and versatile keyboard player who toured and/or recorded with Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Michael McDonald, George Michael, and many others before hooking up with Mason.)

Dave Mason and Tony Patler

I’ve seen Mason’s band perform a couple of other times, but I had forgotten what a virtuoso guitarist Mason is.  I think of him mostly as a singer and songwriter, but you’ve got to be a pretty good guitar player if guys like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and George Harrison ask you to play on their records.

The only thing about the concert that was a bit off-putting was how old my fellow audience members were.

Many of them were not only old, but badly dressed:

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“Tell the Truth” is my favorite song from the one and only Derek and the Dominos album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.  

What you may not know is that the version of “Tell the Truth” that is included in that album isn’t the original Derek and the Dominos recording of that song.  

In June 1970, the band – which included Dave Mason – played “Tell the Truth” at its first concert, which took place in London.  A few days later, the song became the first one that Derek and Dominos ever recorded.  

The band was unhappy with that version of the song – which Phil Spector had produced – and decided to re-record “Tell the Truth” for the Layla album.  By then, Dave Mason was no longer part of Derek and the Dominoes.

The “Tell the Truth”single

But someone forgot to tell the band’s American record company, Atco Records, which released the original version as a single in the U.S. just two weeks after the new version was recorded.  (Atco quickly pulled the single.)

Click here to listen to the original Derek and the Dominos recording of “Tell the Truth,” which features Dave Mason on guitar. 

You can click below if you’d like to buy that version of the song from Amazon: