Rex Fowler - acoustic and electric guitar, vocals; Neil Shulman - acoustic and electric guitar, vocals; David Gross - bass; Michael Finkelstein - drums; David Sleight - lead guitar; Gordon Cohen - keyboards
Aztec Two-Step began as the coffee house duo of Rex Fowler and Neil Shulman. The two acoustic singer/songwriters had met on the folk circuit while performing at Boston's Stone Phoenix in 1971. They hit it off and began working together shortly thereafter.
They began recording demos using the name Aztec Two-Step, and by the end of 197, had a deal with Jac Holzman, president of Elektra Records. Their debut album featured several guest stars (John Sebastian and Jerry Yester from the Lovin' Spoonful, and Doug Dillard from the duo Dillard & Clark, among others) and received good reviews. They scored a regional radio hit with one track, "The Persecution and Restoration of Dean Moriarty (On The Road)," which helped jumpstart the duo's touring career. They became a large draw on the college touring circuit before finally recording their follow-up album, Second Step, three years later for RCA Records.
By the mid-1970s, the duo had expanded to a full band. After the release of 1976's Two's Company, they recorded Adjoining Suites, the album they were promoting when they recorded this two-night stand at New York's Bottom Line in February, 1978. They played a full set of songs from all three of their Elektra albums, performing part of the show as an acoustic duo and the rest with their full band. The duo was known as much for their stage banter as they were for their performances, and their wind-ups for "Cockroach Cacophony," "Pajama Party" and "Ballad Of Humpty Dumpty and Cinderella" are almost as amusing as the songs themselves.
Other highlights include "Finding Somebody New," "Looking Through A Looking Glass" and "The Persecution & Restoration of Dean Moriarty."