Ram Jam City

Ram Jam City is an album by British blues rock musician Danny Kirwan, released in 2000. This release consists of demo recordings for his 1975 debut solo album, recorded after leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1972. His solo career was being managed by ex-Mac manager Clifford Davis.

These demos were recorded around 1973–74, and finished tracks for this album were released in 1975 as Second Chapter.

Track listing

Personnel

Ram Jam

Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York in 1977, prominently known for their hit single "Black Betty" in 1977.

Overview

The band consisted of Bill Bartlett (guitar), Howie Arthur Blauvelt (bass), Pete Charles (drums), and Myke Scavone (lead vocals). Also, Jimmy Santoro, who toured with the band in support of their debut album, joined on guitar for the follow-up album. Bartlett was formerly lead guitarist for bubblegum group The Lemon Pipers, while Blauvelt played with Billy Joel in several bands: The Echoes (also renamed The Lost Souls and then The Commandos), The Hassles and El Primo. Maxx Mann, one time singer with Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Kings of Christmas, was recruited by producers Kasenetz/Katz to front a version of the group in the 1990s.

Career

Early days

Bill Bartlett went on from the Lemon Pipers to form a group called Starstruck. Starstruck originally including Steve Walmsley (bass) and Bob Nave (organ) from the Lemon Pipers. Walmsley left the band and was replaced by David Goldflies (who later played for years with Dickey Betts and Great Southern, and the Allman Brothers). While in Starstruck, Bartlett took Lead Belly's 59 second long "Black Betty" and arranged, recorded and released it on the group's own TruckStar label. "Black Betty" became a regional hit, then was picked up by producers in New York who formed a group around Bartlett called Ram Jam. They re-released the song, and it became a hit nationally. The Ram Jam "recording" was actually the same one originally recorded by Starstruck, the band at that time composed of Bartlett, lead guitar and vocals, Tom Kurtz, rhythm guitar and vocals, David Goldflies, bass, David Fleeman on drums. The rest of the tracks on the first studio album containing "Black Betty" was played by the Ram Jam lineup. The song caused a stir with the NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality calling for a boycott due to the lyrics.

Ram Jam (album)

Ram Jam was the debut studio album released by Ram Jam in 1977. The first track on the album, the single "Black Betty", is Ram Jam's best known song. It went to #7 on the UK singles chart in September 1977. The album reached #34 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart in the United States. The band was re-christened "American Ram Jam" for the UK market to avoid confusion with a UK band with the same name.

In 1996, the album was reissued on CD as Golden Classics with a bonus track, "I Should Have Known".

In 2010, the track "Black Betty" became part of the internet meme based on the AC Transit Bus fight. Clips (both audio and visual) from the video of the fight were inserted into the music video, most notably the "bam-balam" being replaced with "amberlamps".

Track listing