Happy Birthday Brian Auger 1939 Brian Auger & the Trinity "Definitely What" (1968)

This was Brian Auger's proper solo debut album. It's billed to Brian Auger & the Trinity, but Julie Driscoll, who sang with Brian Auger & the Trinity on the act's most popular and best late-'60s recordings, is not present.

Auger dominates the record not just with his organ, but also as composer of most of the original material, and as the vocalist. Auger was a good organ player, but not up to the level of the best British rock electric keyboardists of the 1960s, like Alan Price, Rod Argent, Graham Bond, and Vincent Crane.

He's also no more than adequate as a singer and songwriter, and the record is only adequate, sounding like a more progressive-minded Georgie Fame. Auger's principal influences are obvious in the songs he covers by Booker T. & the MG's, Wes Montgomery, and Mose Allison, although there's also an odd version of "A Day in the Life" that is bolstered by an orchestra's worth of horns and strings.

He gets into a Roland Kirk vibe on the title track, which is the longest, most ambitious, and not necessarily best cut. The CD reissue on Disconforme has a bonus track, "What You Gonna Do?," of undisclosed origin; it's a standard Brian Auger soul-rock original, taken from a vinyl source by the sound of things, as surface noise can be heard.

A Day in the Life 
John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
2
George Bruno Money
Brian Auger
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
3
Far Horizon
Brian Auger
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
4
John Brown's Body
Traditional
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
5
Red Beans and Rice
Steve Cropper / Donald "Duck" Dunn / Booker T. Jones / Al Jackson, Jr.
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
6
Bumpin' on Sunset
Wes Montgomery
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
7
If You Live
Mose Allison
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
8
Definitely What
Dave Ambrose / Brian Auger
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity
9
What You Gonna Do? (Bonus Track)
Brian Auger
Brian Auger / Brian Auger & the Trinity