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.
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
