They had an all-time great band name, but the music of Pacific Gas & Electric has remained unheard by most of us since their 1971 demise. Their good time West Coast feel is reminiscent of CBS labelmates Moby Grape, but the LA five-piece’s musical thrust came from two men, black vocalist Charlie Allen and hotshot guitarist Glenn Schwartz. The latter had preceded Joe Walsh in the embryonic James Gang – evidence of his precocity.
Material veered from covers of Otis Redding (Hawg For You), Percy Sledge (When A Man Loves A Woman) and John Lee Hooker (She’s Long & She’s Tall), to rockier self-penned fare, and the result is entertaining, if not groundbreaking. Allen is closer to Hendrix than Redding, though the music seldom, if ever, comes off the rails.
Schwartz found religion and left after Are You Ready, the second of the two albums paired here, so the band fell from grace remarkably quickly, just as did Moby Grape. By coincidence, a banana features prominently in the artwork of Are You Ready, so maybe there was a fruit salad conspiracy in operation.
With a live album and prefame (Kent label) album on the stocks, this isn’t the last you’ll hear of PG&E.
