SDL Music Album of the Month: Plugged in And Blue, Hammond Gamble

“I was happy with it right from the outset and after nearly 30 years it still stands up as a great NZ Blues Record.

So pleased to have played with a great band that night and with Paul Crowther doing the recording.”

Hammond Gamble

My history with Hammond Gamble goes back to when we first met in about 1975 at the Windsor Castle in Parnell. At the time Hammond was with his band Street Talk and I was in The Country Flyers. Later, in the 90’s and 2000’s, The Hammond Gamble Band, Hammond, Stuart Pearce (Keyboards), Dennis Ryan (drums) and Neil Hannan (Bass) used to play a lot of gigs together.

Hammond was keen to do a live album at The Gluepot in Three Lamps, Auckland before commercial pressures forced it to close down, the venue (the Ponsonby Club Hotel) had been such an important part of the Auckland Music Scene. So this month’s album of the month, Plugged in and Blue, is the result of making that happen. The album was recorded to a live audience in late 1994 and while it was first and foremost a gig, with the crowd’s happy indulgence we were able to do a few repeats, ‘to get the best takes’.

Plugged in and Blue is a mixture of Hammond’s blues repertoire with both covers and originals. Paul Crowther brought the experience of being an exceptional live sound engineer with great understanding of performance. He recorded with a close mic technique, more like a studio album and used a couple of room mics to capture the ambience, which all worked beautifully. The album was well received at the time of release and sold a good number of cd’s. There are a few cd’s left but it is now available for download or streaming. It has stood the test of time and is still a really good listen nearly 30 years later.   

Harry Lyon was at the gig and I’ve always recalled him saying to me afterwards that the performance, “was really musical.”  This very efficiently sums up the great sounds captured that night. Hammond’s vocals and great playing from the band lifted it all to next level !

Have a listen, take yourself back to those gluepot days and enjoy.