| New Train | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 26, 2000 | |||
| Recorded | December 1973 | |||
| Genre | Rock/Soul/Folk rock | |||
| Length | 44:05 | |||
| Label | Hybrid Recordings | |||
| Producer | Ben Sidran | |||
| Paul Pena chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| Rolling Stone |  link [ dead link ] |
New Train is an album by Paul Pena, recorded in 1973 and released in 2000. The album was recorded at Bearsville Records and produced by Ben Sidran (keyboardist for the Steve Miller Band).
New Train features Grateful Dead member Jerry Garcia playing pedal steel guitar and Merl Saunders (frequent collaborator with Garcia and the Dead) on keyboards on "Venutian Lady" and "New Train", [1] and the a cappella group The Persuasions singing on "Gonna Move" and "Let's Move and Groove." [2]
Stylistically, the album runs the gamut from straight-up rock and roll (on the original version of "Jet Airliner") to folk to acid rock (on the Jimi Hendrix-esque "Cosmic Mirror") to Rhythm and Blues on the standout track "Gonna Move". The Grateful Dead-inspired "Venutian Lady" echoes their hit "Bertha".
Albert Grossman, owner of Bearsville Records, stopped release of the record after a dispute, possibly over the marketability of the record, [3] or, according to Sidran, Pena's refusal to relocate to the East Coast to work more closely with Grossman. [4]
Ben Sidran gave an unreleased copy of New Train to Steve Miller, who recorded Pena's "Jet Airliner" with his band for their 1977 album Book of Dreams . The "Jet Airliner" single went to #8 on the Billboard chart. Pena's primary source of income in his later years were royalties from that single.
The album remained unreleased for 27 years. After years of unsuccessful attempts, Pena's attorney (and original executive producer on the album) Jon Waxman negotiated for the album's release in 2000 on the New York-based Hybrid Recordings label. [5]
All songs written by Pena except as indicated.
Paul Jerrod Pena was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist of Cape Verdean descent.
Ben Hirsh Sidran is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band and is the father of Grammy-nominated musician, composer and performer Leo Sidran.
Merl Saunders was an American multi-genre musician who played piano and keyboards, favoring the Hammond B-3 console organ.
Steven Bookvich known as Muruga Booker is an American drummer, composer, inventor, artist, recording artist, and an autonomous Eastern Orthodox priest.
Legion of Mary was an American rock band, formed by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and his friend and musical collaborator Merl Saunders. The band existed from July 1974 to July 1975, and played about 60 live shows. Its members were Garcia, Saunders, John Kahn, Martin Fierro and Ron Tutt (drums). The previous lineup of the band, with Paul Humphrey on drums, is sometimes also referred to as Legion of Mary, but later research has shown that they did not use the Legion of Mary name.
"Jet Airliner" is a song composed by Paul Pena in 1973 and popularized by the Steve Miller Band in 1977.
Amos Garrett is an American-Canadian blues and blues-rock musician, guitarist, singer, composer, and musical arranger. He has written instructional books about music and guitar. Garrett holds dual citizenship and was raised in Toronto and Montreal. He is best known for his guitar solos on Maria Muldaur's recording "Midnight at the Oasis", and on Paul Butterfield's Better Days recording of "Please Send Me Someone to Love." He has written books about music, such as "Amos Garrett—Stringbending: A Master Class".
Oh, What a Mighty Time is an album by the country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Their sixth studio album and their seventh album overall, it was released by Columbia Records in 1975.
Liar were a UK band formed in 1975. They released two albums, Straight from the Hip and Set the World on Fire and two singles, and toured internationally. A third album was recorded in Los Angeles but never released.
Live at Keystone is an album by Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, and Bill Vitt. It was recorded live at the Keystone in Berkeley, California on July 10 and 11, 1973, and released later that year as a two-disc vinyl LP. It was re-released in 1988, with additional tracks, as two separate CDs, called Live at Keystone Volume I and Live at Keystone Volume II.
Keystone Encores is an album by Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, and Bill Vitt. It was recorded live at the Keystone in Berkeley, California, on July 10 and 11, 1973, and released on CD by Fantasy Records in 1988. It was also released, with additional tracks, as two separate LPs called Keystone Encores Volume I and Keystone Encores Volume II.
Fire Up Plus is an album by Merl Saunders and Friends. It contains most of the songs from two LPs from the early 1970s — Heavy Turbulence, and Fire Up. It was released on CD by Fantasy Records on July 9, 1992.
Keystone Companions: The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings is a four-CD album by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia. It was recorded live at the Keystone in Berkeley, California on July 10 and 11, 1973, and released by Fantasy Records on September 25, 2012.
Pure Jerry: Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974 is a three-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders Band. It contains the complete concert performed at the Keystone in Berkeley, California, on September 1, 1974. The fourth in the Pure Jerry series of archival concert albums, it was released on December 28, 2004.
Well-Matched: The Best of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia is a retrospective album by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia. It contains selections from six of their albums, along with one previously unreleased track, all recorded between 1971 and 1974. It was released on CD by Fantasy Records on May 23, 2006.
Garcia Live Volume Three is a three-CD album by Legion of Mary, a band led by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It was recorded live on December 14 and 15, 1974, at the Paramount Theatre in Portland, Oregon and the EMU Ballroom in Eugene, Oregon. It was released by ATO Records on October 15, 2013.
Garcia Live Volume Nine is a two-CD live album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It was recorded on August 11, 1974 at the Keystone in Berkeley, California. It was released on July 28, 2017.
Garcia Live Volume 12 is a three-CD live album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It was recorded on January 23, 1973 at the Boarding House in San Francisco. It was released on December 20, 2019.
Garcia Live Volume 18 is a two-CD album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It contains the complete concert recorded on November 2, 1974 at the Keystone in Berkeley, California. It was released on June 10, 2022.
Heavy Turbulence is an album by Merl Saunders. His second album, it was recorded in the fall of 1971, and released in February 1972.
