SWEET LINDA DIVINE

Regulars on the sixties San Francisco live circuit The Loading Zone were essentially a rhythm & blues band with a horn section. Whilst gaining a regular local following the band never ventured far from their home town and never made a national breakthrough. They remained relatively unknown to the outside world.

The Loading Zone was one of many big ensemble San Francisco bands to break out of the Summer of Love in 1967. Along with contemporaries such as It's A Beautiful Day, Tower of Power, Cold Blood and others, The Loading Zone wanted to play it all: R&B, jazz, funk, rock, psychedelic, and blues. And like the other aforementioned bands, they were spearheaded by a charismatic lead vocalist: Linda Tillery. The Loading Zone also had great musicianship and a director/leader in keyboardist/founder Paul Fauerso.

What The Loading Zone didn't have was songs. Because of the response the band received at its live shows in the Frisco area, they did land a deal with RCA Records, but they could never capture the energy of the band's live show on the record. The result was a greatly overproduced debut album. The record contained too many over-arranged Motown covers, and upon the release, it was grilled by most critics. Furthermore, the band failed to gain the support of radio programmers at the time. In the end the criticism and lack of radio support was too much for the band, which dissolved in 1969. Fauerso and Tillery revived the group with new members in 1970 before breaking it up once again less than a year later.

Their two albums are in the blues/jazz style and never troubled the charts. Their most distinctive feature was the grating vocal style of Linda Tillery.( Sweet Linda Divine)

Following their split in 1970 Tillery joined Cesar a San Francisco based jazz fusion outfit who's career was brief before embarking on a solo career.

LOADING ZONE
Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 1968 10 02

Excellent SBD

Time: 49:54

01 Got My Mojo Working
02 Summertime
03 Danger Heartbreaker Dead Ahead
04 No More Tears
05 Shop Around
06 Cold Sweat
07 Try A Little Tenderness

Line-up
Linda Tillery - vocals
Paul Fauerso - keyboards, vocals
Pete Shapiro - guitar
Steve Dowler - guitar
Bob Kridle - bass
George Newcom - drums
Todd Anderson - saxophone
Pat O'Hara - trombone

ZONED AGAIN

Track Listing

1. Think
2. Time Stops
3. Help Me
4. Think Alone
5. One For All
6. You Got Me Hummin’
7. Enter

RELOADED

Track Listing
01. No More Tears
02. Love Feels Like Fire
03. Dont Loose Control (of your soul)
04. I Can't Please You
05. Shop Around
06. The Bells
07. Kalui Yuga-Loo
08. God Bless the Child
09. Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead
10. Can I Dedicate

Personnel
Todd Anderson - keyboards, tenor sax, wind
Frank Davis - drums
Steve Dowler - guitar
Paul Fauerso - keyboards, organ, piano, vocals
Bob Kridle - bass
George Newcom - drums
Patrick O'Hara - trombone
Peter Shapiro - guitar
Linda Tillery - bass, drums, harmonica, vocals

Bio
Cosmic R&B combo the Loading Zone was formed in Oakland, CA, in 1967 by singer/keyboardist Paul Fauerso following the dissolution of his jazz unit, the Tom Paul Trio. After recruiting guitarists Pete Shapiro and Steve Dowler -- both late of the Berkeley psych-rock band the Marbles -- Fauerso enlisted bassist Bob Kridle and drummer George Newcom to round out the Loading Zone's original lineup; though rooted in R&B, the group also detoured into psychedelia, jazz, and electric blues, fittingly enough opening for both Cream and Big Brother & the Holding Company at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore. In 1968 Fauerso placed an ad in the San Francisco Chronicle seeking a new lead vocalist, with Linda Tillery joining the Loading Zone prior to the band's signing with RCA; their eponymous debut LP failed to capture the excitement of their live sets, however, and was savaged by critics for its excessive production and ham-fisted Motown covers. The Loading Zone then split, although in 1970 Fauerso and Tillery re-formed the group with guitarist Steve Busfield, bassist Mike Eggleston, and drummer George Marsh, recording One for All for the Umbrella label. Fauerso and Tillery disbanded the unit once and for all in 1971; the former later produced the Beach Boys' First Love LP and created a handful of new age records, while the latter resurfaced with the jazz fusion group Cesar 830 and later