Pot Liquor-First Taste (1970)

Hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Potliquor was a band that released two excellent albums focused on Southern rock, which, however, never received the recognition they deserved due to competition from many more prominent national bands of the time. Their beginnings date back to 1969, when singer George Ratzlaff, who also played guitar and keyboards, joined bassist Guy Schaeffer, guitarist Les Wallace, and drummer Jerry Amoroso to found Potliquor. Shortly after, a well-known manager from the Baton Rouge area named Jim Brown began representing them and secured them a contract with a local label called Janus Records, with whom they released their first album, "First Taste", in 1970. Produced by Jim Brown himself, this debut showcased Potliquor's early Southern boogie-rock style with hints of the rawer sounds of American rock and touches of blues and gospel. This debut album contains a series of commendable and interesting tracks, such as the opening southern boogie rock song “Down The River Boogie”, where they showcase their rich vocal harmonies. In “Ol’ Man River”, the band embraces their religious upbringing with a superb gospel performance. Rock and roll infused with Creole sounds appears in “Riverboat”, and the heavy sound of organ and blues is present in the hallucinatory instrumental “Toballby”, which features exuberant percussion in the purest Santana style. The lysergic and acid sounds emerge with “The Raven”, undoubtedly one of the album's highlights, an epic song of dark, psychedelic sounds. The heavy blues rock, infused with soaring gospel choirs, featured on tracks like "You're No Good", the sublime "Price 20 Cents a Copy", and the Stones-esque "Driftin' ", resulting in an album that was well-received and led to a second album three years later, titled "Leeve Blues". This second album followed a similar path but with a slightly more bluesy focus. However, these godfathers of Southern rock would not release another album, although they remained active until the late seventies, performing concerts throughout Louisiana, where they had a large and devoted fanbase.