Customer Reviews

One Foot in History

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One Foot In History is just a gem. At this point, Nitzinger employed Bugs Henderson as their second guitarist, though he appeared practically on every song on the first album--just remember the "Beware of Bugs" warning was referring to Bugs Henderson. I will always love this album. I've played the vinyl to the point where Cripple Gnat Bounce is beginning to skip on two occassions--and this is an original copy. But on side one,Take a Picture, Motherlode, God Bless the Pervert,and Eartheater complement each other very nicely. There's some excellent dual guitar work on all four songs. Very tight compositions which have to be blasted in order to be appreciated. Driftwood is a great song, and I believe it's placed strategically at the end of side 2 two give our eardrums a rest, but it's definitely not filler. There is no such thing as filler on a Nitzinger album. Side two opens with two great guitar duos,Let the Living Grow and The Cripple Gnat Bounce. It has you bouncing around and getting all sweaty ... By the way, Cripple Gnat Bounce was redone by Bugs Henderson and the Shuffle Kings on his Four Tens Strike Again Album back in 1996. I suggest that you look for it. And Bugs once again covered Hero of the War on his 1998 CD, Have Blues Must Rock--and I highly recommend both albums. The album winds down--if you want to call it that--with the title track, ONe Foot in History--which always gets me singin' out loud, and Uncle John--another great Southern heavy folk rocker. This is just one excellent ground breaking album which should have put Southern Rock & Roll on its ears. The songs are always in my mind some 27 years later, and this is the vinyl. I've never heard the remaster, but I say if there are bonus tracks on this album then buy it, it would be an addition to one great album.

Having been at Mar-Y-Sol here in Puerto Rico, I saw Nitzinger play. They played just before Cactus. The Cactus players were behind the amps totally involved in what they were hearing and seeing. At the end of the show we were asking for an encore even though we knew cactus was coming up next! This last cd by nitzinger is good, if you like Blues. But I miss the hardrock side of Nitzinger. Hope their next one will be in that vein.

The bonus cut is "Texas Blues" from the 1972 Mar y Sol festival in Puerto Rico (which I also believe featured Cactus). The guitar solo is incredible, bringing to mind Grand Funk at their noisiest, most repetitive and overblown, and best.

However, the ratio of mellower to rockier is higher than on the first Nitzinger album. If there had been more songs on this album like its best ("Eartheater," a real high energy wind-up tune), this would easily have been one of the top 5 hard rock albums from 1973.

The band is great though, and John Nitzinger was (and perhaps still is) a great rock and blues songwriter.

I ordered this CD to get one song, the blues tune from 1972. It was a bucket list song from my past. I used to have a Nitzinger album with that song and never forgot it. Was a little worried ordering from Germany but recieved the CD ontime no problems. Expensive but was a must have. Bugs Henderson as always is great on guitar and John Nitzinger sings Texas Blues like he was born to it. One of my favorite live blues tracks of all time.

John Nitzinger wrote one third of the first four Bloodrock albums, too bad he did not sing them, his voice is so much better. When I saw the albums "Nitzinger" and "One Foot In History" in the record store in 1973, I wondered if it could be the same Nitzinger I had noticed in the Bloodrock song credits. I wasn't sure. Unfortunately I skipped the chance.
In 1976 I saw the cassette of "One Foot In History" for $1.00 and took the chance.
About that time my job location shifted to 45 minutes away (the length of the tape) I played it through every morning and again every afternoon for months - never tiring of the delicious subtleties and highly energetic arrangement. I sang along, not realizing some errors in my listening until I finally found the vinyl LP in 1985 - the lyrics within fed me chagrin. Also I was stunned to discover the amazing drummer was . . . A Woman
. . . Linda Warring.
Enjoy.

One of the best rock albums ever recorded. The Nitzinger band was a supergroup with the best female and one of the best drummers ever , Linda Waring, an incredible bassist, Curly Benton, two of the best guitars anywhere, Bugs Henderson and John Nitzinger and the genius of John Nitzinger's songwriting. Had the group lasted longer the term supergroup would be forever with them.

This album is much like it's predecessor, hard driving - straight ahead rock, from a Texas blues perspective. It's cleaner (not as sloppy) but the spirit is the same: rock your socks off. The bonus track, Texas Blues/Jelly Roll from the Mar y Sol festival is worth the price of admission. It's a classic slow-blues-with-punch, song that you might have heard from Johnny Winter or Stevie Ray Vaughan, had either of them been able to think up the great line "Baby, if you put your brain on a razor blade, it'd look like a bee-bee rolling down a 4-lane highway."