Augernization - The Best Of Brian Auger - Very Good Plus (VG+) / Very Good Plus (VG+)

Notes

Double Vinyl THGLP8 Total Running Time: 74.55

I'm not here to go into great depth about the sly key changes that occur throughout the songs on this compilation, or the way Alex Ligertwood has a knack of making his vocals rise to the notes only mini-moogs could ever hope of reaching. Nor am I here to try and work out why, somewhere in Brian's spare room, there lurks a silver-painted Hammond B-3 with the Oblivion Express logo still intact that should be immortalised on the front cover of his next album.

And should I try to fathom out the sensation I get in my stomach every time I hear the chorus of "Second Wind", or certain parts of "Whenever You're Ready" inducing the experience of a heavy rollercoaster ride? No, I'm here to write about the fact that Brian Auger's Trinity and Oblivion Express have been a huge influence on a lot of bands past and present, including the one I'm in, and as far as I'm concerned he's the don of the keyboards as much today as he's always been.

Why am I writing these sleeve notes? I'm much better at listening to the album that's inside this sleeve! All you need to do to recognise (like I did) a smart bunch of super-basking tunes, is to stick 'em on your walkman, and see if you end up taking the long route home when you're still only halfway through Side Two! All that remains for me to say is hold tight and enjoy a First Class ride through The Best Of Brian Auger - mind the doors!

Matt Deighton (MOTHER EARTH)


I want to thank Tongue & Groove Records • my first UK record label in many years • for their energy and enthusiasm in helping me put together this compilation. I think it gives a great selection of the music I was playing with The Brian Auger Trinity, and especially with Brian Auger's Oblivion Express when those bands were on the cutting edge of Jazz-Fusion development during the 1970s. I have seen the power of music produce and unite a global pop culture during the 1960s, and I still believe that in the macrocosm it is the international language of our planet Earth, and in the microcosm, it is ultimately the resonance between two hearts.

Brian Auger, Los Angeles May 1995