History:

Mozart And His Wolfgang is a humorous pseudonym for a group that performed at The Midwestern Music And Art Camp in 1970. The Midwestern Music And Art Camp was a music camp based in Kansas and sponsored (probably) by Kansas University. This group was allotted one side of one album in a series produced during the student’s stay at the camp. Their lone appearance is on one of the 1970 series of LP’s, which was titled “Camp Stage Band / Camp Rock Band Live”. The group’s stage band performed a series of classical, jazz, and pop tunes while the unknown rock band performed seven cover songs. These include renditions of Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Otis Rush. 

Several of these covers were mislabeled on the release, including “Ku Blues” (it is actually “I Can’t Quit You Baby”), “Medley Evil Ways” (it is actually “Evil Ways” / “She’s Not There”), “What’s And What Never Should Be” (it is actually titled “What Is And What Should Never Be”), and “Danny Boy” (which has the lyrics to “Danny Boy” but the music of “Honky Tonk Woman” by The Rolling Stones). 

The split album was released on Audio House. They are only referred to as Mozart And His Wolfgang humorously on the track “Danny Boy”. The band is either a power trio or quartet, with a guitarist, drummer, bassist, and a singer being present on the recording. A saxophonist is only heard on their Otis Rush cover. It is possible that the band on this release is the legendary Kansas garage group The Smack. The Smack were members of The Midwestern Music And Art Camp in 1968 (when they were around 16 years old). Both releases are also on Audio House and both releases feature similar covers of “I’m So Glad”. However, this release features a much more proficient group with a much more talented guitarist and bassist. Any additional information or hints on this group’s true identity would be appreciated.

Review:

Camp Rock Band - The Midwestern Music And Art Camp: Camp Stage Band / Camp Rock Band Live (Audio House, 1970)

Rating: 8/10

As far as cover bands go, this is cream of the crop. Besides two tracks, the group put their own spin on each of the covers. Sounds eerily similar to Cream (both in instrumentation and vocals) and features stellar performances on guitar and bass. The group’s rendition of “You Can’t Do That” is a great reimagining with a key change to a twelve bar blues and an awesome fuzz solo. Best song on the album by far. “Evil Ways / She’s Not There” is pretty cool with a great bass groove and a nice wah wah solo towards the end. The “KU Blues” the group performs is actually a very decent take on “I Can’t Quit You Baby” by Otis Rush with a wailing sax solo and another good fuzz solo. “Danny Boy” is complete weirdness with the cherished Irish folk lyrics set to “Honky Tonk Woman” by The Rolling Stones. I assume that this was actually the first track of the set (due to the introduction of the band and tons of applause) but they were disappointed in their performance (as was I) and stuck it at the bottom of their side. Overall a very decent listen and is ten times better than the overhyped The Smack album. Other side of the album is standard big band jazz with one or two kind of groovy pop takes.