All Along the Watchtower

The Zoo Crew has been spinning a real scorcher for all you Zoo Freaks out there, and it is Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush tearing into All Along the Watchtower. This one comes from the days when the band was riding high, and it packs that freewheeling rock and roll fire that makes the wheels turn and the road stretch out forever. Marino takes the old Bob Dylan tune that Jimi Hendrix turned into a legend and rides it hard with his own blazing guitar, the notes flying like sparks off a chrome exhaust. It is the kind of track that gets the whole crew nodding along, bikers and hippies alike, remembering when the music felt like pure freedom on the open highway.

One of the coolest stories behind this cover comes straight from Marino himself in an old interview where he talked about the critics who came after him for playing other folks' songs. He had done a version of the Doors' Roadhouse Blues and some magazine ran a headline calling him out for it, like he was raiding a fresh grave. Marino just laughed it off and decided to answer them by cutting All Along the Watchtower. He pointed out that the song was Dylan's to begin with, not Hendrix's, and a lot of people back then did not even realize that. It was his way of calling out the sloppy talk and showing that a real player can take a classic and make it his own without any apologies. That spirit runs all through the recording, the guitar lines weaving in and out like a long ride through the mountains at dusk, never settling for the straight path.

Fans have always loved how Marino handles the track live too. It became a regular in the set, the kind of number that lets him stretch out and show what that old SG of his can do when he lets it run free. The rhythm section locks in tight, and Marino's lead work soars over the top with that raw, psychedelic edge that defined the whole Mahogany Rush sound. People still talk about the energy in those shows, the way the crowd would light up when the opening riff hit. It is pure rock and roll spirit, the same vibe that has the Zoo Freaks gathering around the speakers to soak it all in. You can feel the connection between the player and the music, no flash for flash's sake, just the real thing coming through the amps.

That sound did not come from nowhere. Marino got started young up in Montreal, born Francesco Antonio Marino back in the mid-fifties, one of five kids in a family that mixed Italian and Arabic roots. He was banging on drums from the time he was about five years old, soaking up the records that were floating around the house and the neighborhood. By the late sixties he was deep into the hippie scene, peace and love and all the rest of it, and like a lot of young folks back then he got mixed up with the acid that was going around. At thirteen he took a heavy trip that landed him in the children's hospital, and that experience ended up shaping everything that followed. There were no drums in the ward, but there was a guitar sitting in the day room, so he picked it up and started figuring it out. The playing helped pull him back, and when he got out his mother went down the street and bought him a 1961 SG that a neighbor was selling cheap. That guitar became his main axe for years, the one he still favors, and he learned to get the sound he wanted even before he had a proper amp, just feeling the notes in his head.

The band name itself came straight out of that trip. Marino would tell people about the mahogany rushes he felt while he was under, and when he started putting a group together he called it Mahogany Rush because that was the feeling he wanted the music to carry. Early on they played covers of Hendrix, the Doors, Pink Floyd, Cream, and the Grateful Dead, plus a few originals he was writing. He was still a teenager when a label came calling, and he was not sure he wanted any part of the business side. They convinced him by promising a studio full of gear and the chance to produce the record himself, no interference. He went in around sixteen or seventeen and cut Maxoom with full control, which is rare for a kid that age. The whole style came natural to him, the fluid leads and the psychedelic swirl, and he never set out to copy anyone. As he has said more than once, the style chose him rather than the other way around. He has always pushed back on the old stories about some vision of Hendrix during that hospital stay, calling it pure myth and pointing out the timeline does not even line up.

Through the years Marino kept producing his own records, writing the songs, and steering the band his way, whether it was the early albums or later ones like What's Next. He walked away from the road for a while when family called, but the music never left him, and fans kept finding their way back to those records. There is a strong official site at mahoganyrush.com where you can dig into the discography, the stories, and the details straight from the source, including pages that cover the classic material. On Facebook the official page is right there at Official Frank Marino, and the Instagram account at officialfrankmarino keeps the updates coming for anyone following along. There is also a solid fan group on Facebook called Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush at this group where the Zoo Freaks who dig the old stuff can swap stories and keep the flame burning.

Listening to Marino work his way through All Along the Watchtower reminds you why the Zoo Crew keeps these deep cuts in the rotation. It is the kind of track that carries the spirit of those long rides, the ones where the music and the wind and the road all blend into one. If you want more of that freeform album rock, the deep cuts and the backstories that go with them, you can always find it spinning over at THE ZOO, the station that keeps the classic rock alive for everyone who still believes in the real thing. The Zoo Freaks know the deal, and this one fits right in with the rest of the ride.