Overview
Lightning 1968-1971
Arf! Arf! Records presents a taste of Lightning, a Minnesota-based rock band that grew out of White Lightning, a "power trio" consisting of ex-Litter guitarist Zippy Caplan, bass guitarist Woody Woodrich, and drummer Mick Stanhope. Woodrich is said to have pioneered the use of redline compression on his instrument, before such compressors were generally available to the public. The music heard here was performed by this trio and a quintet formed by the addition of second guitarist Ronn Roberts and percussionist Bernie Pershey, who can be heard operating a xylophone on "When a Man Could Be Free." Technically, at least, Lightning was the name usually applied to the five-piece band. They engaged in such colorful crowd-pleasing routines as an electrified rendering of Gioacchino Rossini's "William Tell Overture" (first performed in this version at the New City Opera House during the autumn of 1968), and a freaky take (à la Jeff Beck's "Bolero") on "Ghost Riders in the Sky" that featured Stanhope singing through a Moog synthesizer. "Of Paupers and Poets" was first released as a 45 rpm single on the Hexagon record label and made it to number five on the Top 40 in Minneapolis/St. Paul in January 1969. "They've Got the Time" was composed on September 18, 1970 in response to the death of Jimi Hendrix and was also dedicated to Janis Joplin and Brian Jones. Lightning was well received at rock festivals throughout the Middle West. They opened for (and reportedly upstaged) Grand Funk Railroad on December 31, 1970 at a concert in Des Moines, IA. One source claims that White Lightning (named after a notoriously potent brand of lysergic acid) existed in five distinct combinations between the years 1968-1974, and that six different Lightnings came and went between 1969 and 1990. None of these Lightnings are to be confused with Detroit's short-lived post-Guardian Angel five-piece unit that went by the name of Lightnin'.
