Dave Mason “Certified Live”

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#428 in the Series and #40 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Dave Mason, Certified, Live

Back in the mid-seventies Dave Mason had a really nice run.  In 1976 he had a nice hit record with this release, Certified Live, and then he followed that up a year later with one of, if not the most popular album of his solo career, Let it Flow.

Certified Live was another double live album. They were the rage in the mid-70s.  You can thank Frampton Come Alive for that.  If you were a decent selling artist in that period that did OK but needed a little kick to break out, you released a double live album.  It not only worked for Frampton, but it also was the formula that triggered hits for Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws, REO Speedwagon, Rush, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Pat Travers, Ted Nugent and even Genesis.  It really worked.  I should know, I bought all of those and a few more as well.

When I went back and listened to Certified Live the first thing that jumped out at me was how damn good his drummer was!  The opening track is “Feelin’ Alright,; You know the song, think Joe Cocker.  His name is Rick Jaeger. I’m not familiar with him but he’s really good. He’s got the Bernard Purdie high hat riff down!!

Dave runs through quite a bit of his best stuff here. Besides ‘Feelin’ Alright” you also get great versions of “Show Me Some Affection”, “World in Changes”, “Look at You and Look at Me” and of course, “Only You Know and I Know.”

Dave also takes on some interesting cover tunes here as well.  He tackles The Eagles “Take it to the Limit”, Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and  the Spencer Davis Band’s “Gimme Some Lovin.”  You may not know this but Dave’s entry into the big time music scene was as the road manager in his early 20s for the Spencer Davis Band. There he met “Stevie” Winwood and would eventually join with him and form Traffic.

This album did OK on the charts. I was not another Frampton Comes Alive by any means.  It peaked at #78 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.  It did however, give him time to work on that Let it Flow album that did quite well.

— Larry Carta

 Track listing

1. “Feelin’ Alright” – 6:21
2. “Pearly Queen” – 3:41
3. “Show Me Some Affection” – 4:36
4. “All Along the Watchtower” – 4:46
5. “Take It to the Limit” – 3:34
6. “Give Me a Reason Why” – 4:12
7. “Sad and Deep as You” – 3:12
8. “Every Woman” – 2:36
9. “World in Changes” – 5:25
10. “Goin’ Down Slow” – 6:43
11. “Look at You, Look at Me” – 12:50
12. “Only You Know and I Know” – 4:45
13. “Bring It on Home to Me” – 5:05
14. “Gimme Some Lovin'” – 8:14

Personnel

• Mike Finnigan Keyboards, Vocals
• Dr. Rick Jaeger Drums
• Gerald Johnson Bass
• Jim Kruegar Guitar
• Dave Mason Guitar, Producer, Vocals
• Jai Winding Keyboards

Links

• Dave Mason Official Website
• Check out our feature on Dave Mason’s Let it Flow
• See more features that we did on live albums
• See more goodies from 1976.