Bob Tench (also frequently credited as Bobby Tench) is a talented journeyman singer and guitarist who has worked with some of the biggest and best-respected names in British rock during a career that has spanned six decades. Born on September 21, 1944, Tench got his start as a bass player, working with a variety of acts on the London club circuit before forming his first band, Gass.
Gass cut singles for Parlophone and CBS between 1965 and 1967, and in 1969, when impresario Jack Good presented his rock & roll stage adaptation of Othello, Catch My Soul, Gass were recruited to serve as the backing band and later appeared on the original cast album. Gass cut an album of their own in 1970, Juju, which featured a guest appearance by British blues legend Peter Green, but the group broke up in the summer of 1971.
by Mark Deming
Tracks
1.Kulu Se Mama - 7.14
2.Holy Woman - 5.29
3.Yes I Can - 6.51
4.Juju - 3.39
5.Black Velvet - 3.50
6.House For Sale - 3.47
7.Cold Light Of Day - 4.13
8.Cool Me Down - 6.10
All songs by G. McClean, D. Harper and R. Tench
UK supergroup from such origins as The Herd, Amen Corner and the Mindbenders, branching out to the beyond, with a more progressive direction, as was de rigueur at the fag end of the 60's. Despite a fair amount of promotion and a contract with the Beatles label: Parlophone, they only made this one great album and 2 singles, but failed to click with the public.
With Amen Corner's Alan Jones they were able to augment their sound with brass and woodwind, and listening today you can see some parallels with contemporaries Chicago and BST, but most of all the flavour is British and puts you in mind of a Traffic/Spooky Tooth groove, with some Jethro Tull thrown in for good measure - yet their pop roots were not deserted, which is what sets this album apart from so many others that line my shelves from the 1969/1970 period.
In common with many contemporaries at this time, Judas Jump were keen to throw of the shackles of the pop success they'd previously enjoyed with their Top 40 bands. Judas Jump was their collective attempt to "go progressive". Luckily for us they avoid the pitfalls of many of their bombastic pretentious contemporaries and retain a poppy, rocky edge which permeates the whole album. "Scorch" kicks off with "John Brown's Body", a great lurching ballsy opening statement as ever you'll hear, with a nice wailing harmonica backdrop.
The pace hardly lets up with "Rocking Chair" and "Beer Drinking Woman", but slows a little for the closing percussive dressed "Bossa Jump". Following by "Cry De Cry", an acoustic part, and then we get the tasty single, Trevor Williams' "Run For Your Life". It's not all wonderful though as towards the end of the album, it runs out of steam, and like a disappointing fizzy drink • goes slightly flat.
Ending with the thoroughly awful Ye-Olde-Musical- Hall-Romp "Private Holiday Camp" - this dated piece of nonsense is not on the US copy - be thankful my American cousins! Alan Jones, Trevor Williams and Andy Sown all contribute material, but Bown deservedly gets the lion's share • as it's at that point where the others kick in, that downward trend is marked. Unbelievably, these days Andy Bown sessions for the boogie stalwarts Status Quo, so he's still around, and still doing it.
A strange place for him to be? Maybe not so strange when you consider Status Quo and The Herd were Pop Contemporaries in the late 60's, which is no doubt where they must have met up and down the proverbial swinging circuit. In fact the Quo were a formidable pop combo back in the days before they discovered the 12 bar ad nauseum and their early albums: "Picturesque Matchstickabie Messages", and "Spare Parts are full of charming youthful and naive psychedelic whimsy.
Tracks
1. John Brown's Body - 3:24
2. Rockin Chair - 2:57
3. Beer Drinkin' Woman - 3:33
4. 49 Fingers - 1:02
5. Purple God - 3:09
6. Bossa Jump - 4:30
7. Cry-De-Cry - 2:36
8. Run For Your Life - 3:39
9. Cully - 2:34
10.Mississippi Turnpike - 2:57
11.Primrose Lady - 4:33
12.Scorch (instrumental) (Alan Jones, Andy Bown) - 1:30
13.Private Holiday Camp - 3:29
All songs by Andy Brown except where noted.
Judas Jump
*Andy Bown - Keyboards, Guitar
*Charlie Harrison - Bass
*Alan Jones - Woodwind
*Henry Spinetti - Drums
*Adrian Williams -Vocals
*Trevor Williams - Guitar
Only a few copies were sold of this 1970 LP by the Knocker Jungle. At the time of the release, the duo had already split, and the shops didn’t take it, perhaps also because of a photograph with a finger gesture by one of the members. The problem now was that almost no information could be found about the duo, Tony Coop and Keith Jones.
The participants surely made it look interesting. Involved were Dave Mattacks on drums (of folkrock band Fairport Convention), Phil Pickett on keyboards (of Sailor fame ; -not to confuse with Philip Picket from Albion Band-), and with no less than Tony Cox producing (at that time of Magna Carta and Tir Na Nog, besides he also had produced records later from Family, Caravan, Gringo, Françoise Hardy,…). In search of the master tapes they also found another 4 tracks of the session which have not been chosen to be included on the original LP, so they have been added now to complete this recording session.
We hear clearly attempts -especially on the early tracks- by Tony Cox to make the bluesier and simple busker-like guitar and song moments more sweeter, like on “Caught a cold last night” by a flute intro or with band arrangements like some conga and sitar-like guitar arrangement in an attempt to make this different.
The light sunshine hippie-like folk-blues mode (a comparable area to Keith Christmas for instance, also because of the slightly hippie-feminine aspects in the vocal tensions), in several tracks, like also on the bonus tracks, is in fact rather attractive and distinctive, despite it’s simple core, while the busker-like tendency on other moments keeps the songs on the edge of making it still able to develop into something arranged more subtely. When going towards the American way of lyrically driven songs, or sometimes ballads, some of associated, slightly Westcoast sort of style in the vocal arrangements fit with those songs rather well, without that they ever go towards a real Americana influence, they rather chose folk-blues instead.
Two of the tracks of the album, namely the first and the eight track, “I don’t know why” and “You’ve lost your love for me” and slightly also the second track, in the same vein, through its sort of catchy simple and light form, are easily comparable for the creative song melodies to some of those 70s Nigerian Afrorock songs, in a more acoustic version arrangement instead of with fuzz, and slightly bluesy, a fitting comparison thanks to its charming way of being playful-repetitive with the main lyrical song themes during the song.
This is an album which can be regarded as a song-album with its own, sometimes a bit more hidden charm.
Tracks
1. I Don't Know Why (Keith Jones) - 3:14
2. Oh To Be Free (Tony Coop) - 2:50
3. Caught a Cold Last Night (Keith Jones) - 2:40
4. I've Got Time (Keith Jones) - 2:17
5. Not Even a Letter (Keith Jones) - 3:14
6. Ecclesiastes (Keith Jones) - 2:16
7. Reality (Tony Coop) - 1:44
8. You've Lost Your Love For Me (Tony Coop, Keith Jones) - 2:38
9. Amanda (Keith Jones) - 3:19
10.Sunburnt Virgin Trousers (Tony Coop, Keith Jones) - 2:04
11.Impossible You (Keith Jones) - 2:48
12.Where I Belong (Tony Coop) - 2:45
13.It Ain't Necessarily So (George, Ira Gerschwin) - 3:35
14.Oh My (Tony Coop, Keith Jones) - 1:59
15.Shadow On Your Shoulder (Tony Coop, Keith Jones) - 3:50
16.You By My Side (Tony Coop, Keith Jones) - 1:55
17.I'm Losing My Mind (Tony Coop, Keith Jones) - 1:49
18.Rosemarie (Tony Coop, Keith Jones) - 2:24
Musicians
*Keith Jones - 12 String Acoustic Guitars, Vocals
*Tony Coop - 6 String Acoustic Guitar, Mouth Organ, Vocals
*Phil Pickett - Piano
*Tony Cox - Piano
*Owen Finnegan - Congas
*Dave Mattacks - Drums
*Dave (Not one for corrections) - Electric Bass
The British psych-pop outfit known as Orange Bicycle evolved from a Beat group, Robb Storme & the Whispers, also known as the Robb Storme Group. They had recorded a handful of harmony pop singles for Pye, Piccadilly, Decca, and Columbia Records during the early '60s, but with little success. In 1966, the Robb Storme Group covered the Beach Boys' "Here Today."
It was arranged by the band's own multi-talented keyboardist/producer Wilson Malone and produced by Morgan Music's co-owner Monty Babson at Morgan Studios in the Willesdon area of London. With psychedelic music at its zenith, the group decided to change its name change and, in 1967, re-emerged as Orange Bicycle. Over the next few years, they released a half-dozen singles; their first single -- "Hyacinth Threads" -- remains the band's best-known track, appearing on numerous compilations.
In late August/early September 1968, Orange Bicycle -- wearing matching black and orange suits -- performed at the Isle of Wight music festival, reportedly covering songs by Love and the Rolling Stones. In 1970, already somewhat past its prime, Orange Bicycle recorded its only album, The Orange Bicycle. It was comprised largely of covers, including Elton John's "Take Me to the Pilot," Bob Dylan's "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," and Denny Laine's "Say You Don't Mind." A few tracks were produced by John Peel. Psychedelic pop music, however, was on the wane, or transmogrifying into heavier prog or hard rock, so the group decided to call it a day, breaking up in 1971.
Wilson Malone's self-titled solo album (as Wil Malone) for Fontana was released that same year. Meanwhile, drummer Kevin Currie joined Supertramp, then Burlesque, before becoming a session drummer. Malone went on to form the heavy psych-prog trio Bobak Jons Malone with celebrated engineer/producer Andy Jons and guitarist producer Mike Bobak. They recorded one album, Motherlight. Malone also collaborated with bassist John Bachini on singer/songwriter Robert MacLeod's 1976 solo album Between the Poppy and the Snow.
That same year, they covered the Beatles' "You Never Give Me Your Money" for All This and World War II. Malone then went on to become a top producer/arranger on his own, working with many successful groups and solo artists. His string arrangement for the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" (which appropriated the symphonic arrangement from the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time") caused a ruckus that resulted in Andrew Loog Oldham suing the Verve for songwriting royalties. In 1988, the Morgan Bluetown label issued an Orange Bicycle compilation, Let's Take a Trip On..., which contained all of the band's Columbia singles but no Parlophone-era recordings.
by Bryan Thomas
Tracks
1. Lady Samantha (E. John, B. Taupin) - 3:34
2. Country Comforts (E. John, B. Taupin) - 3:15
3. The Sweetest Thing Is (W. Malone) - 2:17
4. Make It Rain (John Dove) - 4:07
5. Say You Don't Mind (Denny Laine) - 2:58
6. Hallelujah Moon (W. Malone) - 3:29
7. Jelly on the Bread (John Dove) - 3:52
8. Take Me to the Pilot (E. John, B. Taupin) - 3:05
9. Come to Tomorrow Morning (Alan Hawkshaw, Ray Cameron) - 4:12
10.Back (J. Bachini) - 3:37
11.Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You (B. Dylan) - 4:32
12.Hyacinth Threads (W. Malone) - 2:56
13.Amy Peate (W. Malone) - 2:09
14.Laura's Garden (W. Malone) - 3:17
15.Lavender Girl (W. Malone) - 2:22
16.Jenskadajka (Doug Hodson, Des John Cox) - 3:33
17.Sing This Song All Together (M. Jagger, K. Richards) - 2:42
18.Trip on an Orange Bicycle (W. Malone) - 3:36
Bonus Tracks from 12-18
Orange Bicycle
*Wilson Malone - Keyboards and Vocals
*John Bachini - Bass and Vocals
*Bernie Lee - Vocals and Guitar
*R. J Scales - Vocals
*Kevin Curry (later Supertramp) - Drums
*John Povey - Organ and Sitar
The band, Mama's Pride, was originally from St. Louis, Missouri USA. In their hometown, they were fondly referred to as "The Pride of St. Louis". The group was formed by brothers Pat and Danny Liston. Members of the original band were: Pat Liston - vocals, slide, electric and acoustic guitars, organ, Danny Liston - vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, Kevin Sanders - drums, percussion, back ground vocals, Max Baker - lead electric guitar, 12-string and acoustic guitars, background vocals, Joe Turek - bass, background vocals, Frank Gagliano - keyboards and synthesizer.
Mama's Pride signed with Atco Records (a division of Atlantic Records) in 1974. They recorded and released their first album a short time later. According to Frank Gagliano, the Muscle Shoals tapes are still the highlight of the band then and now! The reason being is those recordings actually sounded live and in concert! Ten tunes--rhythm tracks--vocals--and overdubs recorded and mixed down in "THREE DAYS"!! David Johnson the engineer recorded all the tracks and we had been playing six nights a week for some time and the band was smoking hot!! All the labels that heard those tracks came to Atlanta to make a bid. Atlantic Records and the whole staff flew down to Tampa, Florida to see the group at a club called the PAC--Performing Arts Center. They offered us a major deal after the first show!! We actually met Amet Ertugen the CEO of Atlantic and he offered us a deal we couldn't refuse!
Frank Gagliano auditioned for Pat Liston in one of the first groups he had in St. Louis. At the time Frank was 14 years old and played accordian. Pat liked the way Frank played but told him to get a Wurlitzer electric piano and the gig was his! Well Frank picked up a used Wurlitzer and called Pat back and he had already hired somebody else, Ten years later Kevin Sanders---Kevin and Frank played together in bands since they were kids-- joined the group in December of 1973 in Tucson, Arizona and Frank hooked up with the group in April of 1974 in Kearny, Nebraska.
Tracks
1. In The Morning (Danny Liston, Max Baker)
2. Who Do You Think You're Foolin' (Gagliano, Turek, Liston) - 3:27
3. Blue Mist (Pat Liston) - 4:03
4. Laurie Ann (Pat Liston) - 4:21
5. Missouri Sky Line (Sanders, Baker, D. Liston, P. Liston) - 4:06
6. Ole St. Lou (Sanders, Baker, Turek, D. Liston) - 6:09
7. Kind Lovin1 Woman (Max Baker, Danny Liston) - 4:33
8. Where Would You Be (Pat Liston) - 6:21
9 Young And Free (Pat Liston) - 3:43
Billy Hallquist was born Oct. 19, 1949 in Sioux Falls, SD, USA. In 1951, He was stricken with Polio, but survived after several months in the hospital. His family moved to Minneapolis, MN in 1962. Billy graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1967 and briefly attended the University of Minnesota. He withdrew from college to pursue a career in music.
Like most teenagers, Billy was swept up in the Beatlemania phenomenon of the early '60s. Formed in 1965, his first band, The Transgressors, played the usual high school dances, talent shows and teen clubs of the day. His next group, The Other Guys, began to add original material to their repertoire of Beatles, Stones, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Animals, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Tommy James and other Top 40 hits.
His brief college career came to an end when Biliy replaced the guitarist of a pioneering Christian Rock band, Good Idea. They had just completed recording an original piece titled "1225", the traditional Christmas Story told from a Pop/Rock perspective. This recording landed the grouo a contract with Roulette Records. Prior to finishing the album, the original vocalist/lyricist left the group to pursue a solo songwriting career.
The addition of a new bass player and vocalist caused the group to abandon its Christian roots in favor of a more traditional Rock/Pop sound. The album was completed and Good Idea became Thundertree. If you listen to the album, there are distinctly different sounds on each side of the disc. The Thundertree side of 5 Rock songs is quite different from the Good Idea recording, which is a long suite of multi-themed musical movements.
During the sessions, the album producer asked Billy if he would become lead vocalist in order to complete the project. But, Billy lobbied for another singer who eventually took over the vocal duties. However, Billy did agree to sing lead on one track, "Summertime Children". The album was completed and de ivered to Roulette for national and international (on Vogue) release in 1970.
Thundertree toured briefly. They shared the bill with national acts like The Box Tops, (Ted Nugent and) The Amboy Dukes, Rotary Connection (featuring future superstar Minnie Riperton) and The Johnny Winter Band before typical band politics and personal issues led to Hallquist's departure in 71 from the group he helped create.
Billy began to write and perform songs that were primarily acoustic vs the electric rock he had grown up with. For the next few years, he became a fixture on the Minneapolis folk scene that had launched the careers of such notables as Bob Dylan, Koerner, Ray and Glover, Leo Kotke and others. When time/money permitted, Billy would book sessions at Sound 80 studios, which was a state of the art facility, attracting such luminaries as Cat Stevens. (Several years later, Bob Dylan would utilize Sound 80 to rerecord much of his legendary "Blood On the Tracks" LP.) These sessions culminated in the release of "Persephone" by Billy.
"Persephone" did much to establish Billy as a solo artist and was followed up by a 2nd solo release in 1976, "Travelin"' on Mill City Records. During this period Billy appeared with such major acts as Jerry Jeff Walker, Michael Johnson, Barefoot Jerry and comedian Jimmy Walker ("Good Times"). In 1976 Billy Hallquist helped form "he K.O. Band and performed with them throughout the Mid-West U.S. for a brief period. K.O. band alumni include Bobby Rivkin Bobby Z. of Prince and The Revolution), Jeff Dayton (Nashville songwriter and guitar player for the likes of Glenn Campbell, Lee Greenwood and Kenny Chesney) and Kevin Odegard (K.O.) (one of the Minnesota musicians on the "Blood OntheTra:ks" sessions).
Billy also performed in a bar band '-ailed Cimmaron following his stint as a K.O. In 1979, Billy traded in his musician career for the life of a dad and husband. While no longer a husband, he remains a proud dad of sons BJ. and Dan and daughter Megan. His corporate career included many years as Broadcast and Creative Director for Lieberman Ent. a music/video rackjobber, and Marketing Director for the iconic label, K-tel.
Billy remains active musically. Throughout the '90s, and until very recently, he performed in a group called Perfectly Loud which featured a set list of nearly 1/3 Hallquist originals. The K.O. Band has reunited several times in the past several years to significant critical and public acclaim. His solo appearances at Three Crows in Delano MN helped establish it as a viable music venue that currently attracts numerous national and regional acts.
"I enjoy performing now as much, or more, than I ever did when I was doing it for a living" Billy often repeats to anyone who will listen. "I can't stand the booking end of the music business. I never had a desire to promote myself, which is an absolute necessity. But, if somebody asks me to play, I'll be there."
CD Liner-notes
Tracks
1. Desert Rats - 2:07
2. For The First Time - 2:40
3. You And I - 4:20
4. Blanche - 4:54
5. Smiling Lady - 7:05
6. Help You Now - 2:54
7. Buddah's Rosary - 3:22
8. Smiley - 5:23
9. Middle Lothian Folk Ballad - 1:45
10.Persephone - 8:36
Music and Lyrics by Billy Hallquist
Musicians
*Billy Hallquist - Guitar, Vocals
*Tom Hatcher - Acoustic. Electric Guitar
*Neil Iverson - Guitar, Vocals
*Jerry Johnson - Guitar, Vocals
*Rick LiaBraaten - Drums, Vocals
*Rich Miller - Bass
*Karl Ausland, Beckey Borchardt, Debbie Barton - Vocals
*Steve Crawford, Kim Hines, Dan Melford, Lee Sterner - Vocals
*Kathy Weingarden, John Holmquist, Tom Byrd - Vocals
The Fool were a Dutch quartet transplanted to London in the middle ’60s, whose original impact on the rock world was visual rather than musical. They were two women, Marijke Kooer and Josje Leeger – who designed clothes for people like Patti Boyd Harrison (George Harrison’s first wife) – and with Marijke’s husband, Seemon (Simon) and their friend, Barry Finch they became collectively known as “the Fool,” exemplifying the hippie ethic of the mid-’60s.
They had a shop off London’s Montague Square, where John Lennon was an early visitor. Brian Hogg’s CD liner notes quote Seemon from the Granada TV documentary, It Was Twenty Years Ago Today: “He walked into our place, and saw our stuff – furniture and posters as well as clothes – and he said ‘This is where I want to live.’” That established the Fool. They did concert posters for Brian Epstein’s Saville Theatre, decorated Lennon’s piano and his Rolls Royce and painted the exterior of the Apple building. They flourished at the height of “flower power” and their distinctive images helped define the era.
As artists they did several album covers, starting with the Hollies’ 1966 Evolution and the Move’s debut album, and perhaps culminating in 5000 Spirits On The Layers Of The Onion by the Incredible String Band – all in an instantly identifiable style. In 1968 they recorded their only album, for Mercury Records.
I remember that while my friends were getting excited about the Incredible String Band, I – never very fond of folk music – kept telling them, “Yeah, sure, but have you heard the Fool?” When I played the album for them I made a lot of converts for it.
The Fool is an album with some of the same English folk elements – including bagpipes! – but it is not a folk music album. So what is it? Good question. In an odd way it reminds me of George Harrison’s very under-appreciated Wonderwall Music: both are early precursors of “World music.” But The Fool is much more.
The album opens with spacey psychedelic effects that lead us directly into “Fly,” which has a naοve folksy quality but in turn leads (in a direct segue) to a rippling piano, banjos, and a deep organ accompaniment to the second track, “Voice On The Wind.” Hogg states that Graham Nash, whom they’d met when he was in the Hollies, “acted as producer and he doubtlessly helped sculpt the textured opening two tracks … which served as an atmospheric introduction to the album. The use of bagpipes and other exotic instruments signaled a wish to create something both adventurous and folksy.” (I might add that I rarely enjoy the sound of bagpipes – as they are traditionally played – but they work well for me on this album. Seemon is pictured playing bagpipes on the album’s cover.)
“‘Cry For Me,’ with its plaintive banjo, proved the Fool’s grasp of melody, a feature enhanced by their confident vocals and atmospheric seashore sound effects. ‘No One Will Ever Know’ blends pop with a jugband feel feel before a now familiar [bagpipe] skirl grabs the casual listener.
“A trumpet, whistles and almost gospel-styled singing inhabit ‘Reincarnation.’ ‘Hello Little Sister’ plays with the riff from ‘Walk Don’t Run’ and more faintly choral voices before ‘Keep On Pushin’ hits a bluesy vein. The piece is underpinned by a Hammond organ, prompting scholars to suggest the presence of R&B veteran Graham Bond who was often photographed with the Fool around this time. The eastern-styled [tenor] saxophone break would seem to confirm it. ‘Inside Your Mind’ is another track hewn from Episcopalia, while ‘Lay It Down’ [which concluded the original album] is full blown intoxicated psychedelia.”
When I first got this album I was struck by the nature of its melodies. They seemed to derive in part from old English church hymns – blended with blues, boogie and rock. “Episcopalia” is another way to describe it. Oddly Calvinistic, I thought then. But original: nothing else, before or since, sounds very much like it. And that “eastern-styled saxophone break” turns into a quote from Rahsaan Roland Kirk playing with Charles Mingus (as recorded in 1962) – a nice touch.
This album dates to the days before “progressive rock” existed, but prefigures it in its adventurousness and wide-ranging musicality. I always wondered why there was no second album to follow up on this one, but Hogg says, “Unfortunately for the Fool, flower-power was wilting in 1968 [when the album was released] and their efforts herein went largely unrecognized, despite cover art typical of their work. Their designs were now deemed passι – the Apple building was repainted at the behest of residents, and the collective split up at the end of the decade.” Frankly, I was never impressed by their style of artwork – the cover of the Move’s first album never did anything for me – and I miss that aspect of the Fool much less than I do their music.
In the early ’70s Seemon and Marijke came to America and made an album for A&M Records, Son Of America (SP 4309). Graham Nash again was the producer (and contributed vocals), and Seemon plays bagpipes in a few spots, but the music is rather pedestrian and ordinary, perhaps the result of using American musicians (including Booker T. on organ), or perhaps the desire for greater commercial success – which eluded it. This album was not a continuation of the Fool. Then the couple returned to Amsterdam and split up. Hogg says that Barry and Josje also returned to Amsterdam, “and, last heard, were still together.”
by Dr. Progresso and Brian Hogg
Tracks
1. Fly - 2:43
2. Voice On The Wind - 5:08
3. Rainbow Man - 2:21
4. Cry For Me - 3:52
5. No One Will Ever Know - 2:53
6. Reincarnation - 4:07
7. Hello Little Sister - 2:00
8. Keep On Pushing - 6:00
9. Inside Your Mind - 2:43
10.Lay It Down - 4:51
All compositions by Fool
The Fool
*Simon Posthuma
*Marijke Koger
*Barry Finch
*Josje Leeger
