THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,043) First Friday — “Ballad of John Doe Jr.”
New Orleans? No, Notre Dame. Rootsy jazz rock with such a great vibe by some Notre Dame students on an LP with a more bluesy rock feel.
Patrick Lundborg writes of First Friday’s first and only album to be released (well, 500 LPs to be exact!):
Rooted in the Butterfield Blues Band blues-rock style, this combines sharp guitar-leads with piano/organ backing (plus some sax) into a mature, urban sound. As with Butterfield the vocals aren’t strong, but the playing is very tight and at times adventurous enough with its tempo-shifts and jazz-flavored soloing to point towards the more free-form ’70s blues rock of Johnny Winter et al. Major fans of the genre are likely to rate this as one of the best local LPs around. The second half of the album partly abandons the blues structures for a rural rock sound while retaining the sharp playing.
The Acid Archives (2nd Ed.)
Indianamusicpedia tells us of the band:
First Friday formed in South Bend in 1968 while band members were Notre Dame students, offering an appealing blues-rock sound. One album was released in 1970 on Chuck Perrin’s Webster’s Last Word label; Perrin also served as producer. . . . The band’s name originated with a stack of First Friday event flyers promoting a monthly mass event in the dorm chapel; the band used the flyers instead to promote themselves. While there are no other releases from First Friday, a second album was recorded in 1970 for King Records in Nashville, but not released. . . . Guitarist Norm Zeller went to play with Undisputed Truth, Natalie Cole and others. Zeller and [bassist Andy] Wallace performed on Chuck and Mary Perrin’s Next of Kin LP.
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