The Siegel-Schwall Band “953 West”

I’ve absolutely no memory of the event, but I’m sure I bought this record because of the excellent hand-drawn album cover. I don’t mean each unit was drawn individually—that’s something I’d pull (and get away with, too, with as few records as I sell). But it’s a simple line drawing of a street scene—like like felt-tipped pen—black on white—including the name of the band, the title, the label logo (Wooden Nickel), and all the credits on back—and they also let him write a poem! Could have been done in one sitting! By Eddie Balchowsky—of course I looked him up. I probably say this too often, but it’s worth checking out his Wikipedia page! Fascinating! He’s no longer with us, but this album cover definitely lives on. When I often complain about weak album covers, like the same four-by-five photo on the front and back, etc., I’d like to hold this up as an example of a great album cover. Not that it’s easy—you might need a Balchowsky—but make an effort! You’ve got an unprecedented 12x12 canvas.

I most likely almost didn’t buy the record just because of clues in the credits indicating it being a blues record—and while I’m sometimes a huge fan of blues music, I’m sometimes not—so many takes on it, you know, it can be hit and miss—and when it’s a miss (for me) it’s a bummer. So I was pretty happy after a few songs, hearing the variety of approaches and their eclectic take on blues music, here—nothing watered down, and indeed pretty “out there.” A fun record worth some repeat listenings. So… who are these guys—I’d never heard of them (which means precisely nothing). It turns out they’ve got lots of records (this 1973 LP is their seventh) and they played tons in Chicago—they must have a lot of fans down there. I get the feeling if you saw them in an intimate setting, you’d have a fine evening of music and a pretty good time overall—a lot of personality and I’m guessing a great show.

Excellent playing, all around—and this is a very good recording. Naturally, there’s harmonica—that would be Corky Siegel, who also keeps busy playing piano, while the Schwall in the band name (Jim) plays guitar. They both sing, as does the bass player Rollo Radford. The drummer is Sheldon Ira Plotkin. These guys have great names! They also play very well, and the record sounds great, as clear an azure sky, etc. The songs are all over the place, bluesy folk, country, pop-rock, I guess, whatever. They wrote most of them, some good lyrics, what I hear on initial notice, some are very funny. It’s worth some closer attention, for sure. The record holds up well as a whole, and I don’t necessarily want to single anything out, but an understandably sentimental favorite is “I Think It Was the Wine”—which is about the lowlife, naturally—lyrics crystal clear and hilarious. I don’t like lamely excerpting lyrics, so I won’t—you want to hear the whole thing—it’s almost certainly ’tube-able.

What does the cover mean? It refers to a bar in Chicago where the band used to play, The Quiet Knight, at 953 West Belmont. If it was founded today, it would be called 953, due to the unfortunate trend in naming establishments and buildings as numbers (usually the address). I hate that! Just give the place a name! Use your imagination! They did back then—The Quiet Knight is a great name. It didn’t take long to find a lot of writing on the old ’net about this legendary place—and the incredible roster of acts that played there over the years—worth looking up. I don’t know Chicago, but apparently it’s like the intersection of Belmont and the “L”—the drawing on the cover is of the transit stop. The Knight is sadly gone… what’s there today? A map shows that it’s the Chicago Bagel Authority, which is somewhat ironic since The Siegel-Schwall Band was known, back in the day, as “Chicago Bagel Authority”—in refence to that other great Chicago band with a similar handle—and due to their fondness for those doughy rings of joy. That’s not true—I’m just kidding—please don’t copy and paste that into your Chicago magazine or your social studies homework or we’ll both end up looking like schmoes. In fact, I’m going to edit out that lame joke before press time.

6.20.25