{"id":2004,"date":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/other\/harvey-mandel-the-snake\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","slug":"harvey-mandel-the-snake-by-shiloh-noone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/reviews\/harvey-mandel-the-snake-by-shiloh-noone\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey Mandel the Snake by: shiloh Noone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tHarvey Mandel<\/strong> (\u2018Snake\u2019) was plucked straight from the Fillmore dressing room to replace Henry Vestine<\/strong> for the Canned Heat<\/strong> performance, later to perform at the famed ‘Woodstock festival’. Harvey stayed with the band for one year and featured on three albums, the most prolific being the 1970 Future Blues<\/em> that included guest pianist Dr. John<\/strong> who gilded \u201cLondon Blues\u201d with a haunting restraint. Mandel history goes back to him playing on Charlie Musselwhite\u2019s<\/strong> 1966 debut Stand Back.<\/em> Harvey\u2019s trade mark riff was a semi-distorted tone with feedback and jarred phrases balanced with a melody motif, a style totally unique, proven by his early jams with Elvin Bishop <\/strong>and Jerry Garcia<\/strong> at the \u2018Matrix\u2019. Harvey also featured on John Mayall\u2019s<\/strong> USA Union<\/em> and Back To The Roots<\/em> alongside Mick Taylor<\/strong> and Clapton.<\/strong> Some of his finest work could be found with violinist Don \u201cSugarcane\u201d Harris<\/strong> of Don & Dewey<\/strong> fame (Fiddler on the Rock<\/em>) and the live album Choice Cuts<\/em> where he was one part of Pure Food and Drug Act.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry Taylor assisted Harvey during this phenomenal recording session. Harvey\u2019s early albums, released by \u2018Mercury\u2019 such as Cristo Redentor<\/em> with Graham Bond<\/strong> on Hammond and the sterling Righteous <\/em>reflected the spiritual transformation of the hippie. Cristo Redentor<\/em> conceived a psychedelic version of\u00a0 Ramsey Lewis\u2019<\/strong> \u201cWade In The Water\u201d that really put Harvey on the map, although it was really Harvey\u2019s pioneering Shangrenade<\/em> where he applied a 2-handed fretboard tapping style, one of the first rock guitarists to utilize this technique, years before Eddie Van Halen<\/strong> and Stanley Jordan<\/strong>. The fusion genius of this underrated guitarist is clearly felt on Snake, Baby Batter, Games Guitars Play<\/em> (1970) and the bootleg Get off in Chicago<\/em> (1973).Mandel also teamed up with Russell DaShiell (Crowfoot<\/strong>) to release Games Guitars Play<\/em> illuminated on \u201cDry Your Eyes\u201d and \u201cLeavin Trunk\u201d. Mandel<\/strong>\u2019s puritan blues feel reached near perfection with Electric Flag<\/strong> keyboardist Barry Goldberg,<\/strong> namely Blowing My Mind<\/em> where he shivers through \u201cGetting It Down\u201d and \u201cWhole Lotta Shakin\u2019 Goin\u2019 On\u201d or Goldberg<\/strong>\u2019s Barry Goldberg & Friends<\/em> where he slides through \u201cIt Hurt \u2018s Me Too\u201d but reaches wah wah splendour on Danny Whitten\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cHole In My Pocket\u201d, Steve Miller\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cSitting In Circles\u201d and the Beatles<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cFool On The Hill\u201d.<\/p>\n

Harvey renowned for guitar sustain and controlled feedback was definitively America\u2019s answer to England\u2018s Jeff Beck<\/strong>. Harvey also had a short span with The Ventures<\/strong> and played on the \u2018Music From Free Creek project\u2019 . Later he auditioned for the replacement of Mick Taylor<\/strong> in the Rolling Stones<\/strong> playing on Black & Blue<\/em> -\u201cHot Stuff\u201d and \u201cMemory Hotel\u201d. In the latter years Harvey featured in the surfing soundtrack Chalk<\/em> plus contributing music. Harvey\u2019s \u201cShot Gun Man\u201d was featured in Nash Bridges\u2019 CBS TV Show starring Don Johnson.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harvey Mandel (\u2018Snake\u2019) was plucked straight from the Fillmore dressing room to replace Henry Vestine for the Canned Heat performance, later to perform at the famed ‘Woodstock festival’. Harvey stayed with the band for one year and featured on three albums, the most prolific being the 1970 Future Blues that included guest pianist Dr. John […]<\/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-2004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004","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=2004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}