\t\t\t\tHistorically a chance meeting between Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman in 1971 at a Boston coffeeshop called the Stone Phoenix resulted in Aztec Two Step. The name of the band was copped from a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem and the first song ever written about Jack Kerouac\u2019s iconic \u2018On The Road\u2019. Folk singer Neal Shulman, nurtured in the fantasy tales of Donovan found immediate connection with an astounding guitarist called Rex Fowler who started out with Second Phloor alongside the Chet Atkins clone Jim Gallant. Within a few months of working together, they recorded their debut as Aztec Two-Step, and a few months later, they had a deal with \u2018Elektra Records\u2019.<\/p>\n
The duo’s self-titled debut was released in 1972 to widespread critical acclaim, assisted by ex Loving Spoonful John Sebastian, ex Dilliards banjo maestro Doug Dillard, ex Association bassist David Vaught and ex Modern Folk Quartet Jerry Yester with his Autoharp & Celeste, reminiscent of his Rosebud association with Judy Henske on their psychedelic Farewell Aldebaran. Aztec Two Step\u2019s debut was heralded in the early-’70s with a radio hit called “The Persecution and Restoration of Dean Moriarty (On the Road), an ode to a character in Kerouac\u2019s \u2018On The Road\u2019. Album highlights included the Loving Spoonful influenced \u201cBaking\u201d and \u201cThe Infidel\u201d, a psyche master filled with esoteric acoustic in the same dimensions as Richard Farina\u2019s \u201cAnother Country\u201d. Nothing touches \u201cPrisoner\u201d a love ache beyond James Taylor or Crosby\u2019s \u201cGuinevere\u201d and possibly the greatest love-song next to Phil Och\u2019s \u201cChanges\u201d.<\/p>\n
The memorable \u201cKilling Me\u201d and scintillating \u201cHighway Song\u201d reach acoustic royalty, yet far from the eerie \u201cCockroach Cacophony\u201d, another Yester\/ Henske \u201cThree Ravens\u201d chill. Aztec Two Step, very much in the same acoustic spell as Magna Carta opened up for the great Tim Hardin and proceeded with heavy touring in support of their earlier albums. Years passed before they followed up with Second Step (1975) Two’s Company (1976) and Adjoining Suites (1978). In 1979 Aztec Two-Step released The Times of Our Lives and then hit the road touring around the U.S. and Europe.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Historically a chance meeting between Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman in 1971 at a Boston coffeeshop called the Stone Phoenix resulted in Aztec Two Step. The name of the band was copped from a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem and the first song ever written about Jack Kerouac\u2019s iconic \u2018On The Road\u2019. Folk singer Neal Shulman, nurtured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}