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Friday, June 1, 2012

Mandala - Soul Crusade (1968 canada, psych, prog experimental funk rock, 2010 issue)



Originally formed as The Rogues and consolidated its local standing by landing some important support slots, most notably opening for Wilson Pickett at the Gogue Inn on 25 May, and The McCoys at the North Toronto Memorial Arena on 9 August. In September 1966, however, the band decided to reinvent itself and emerged with a new name and image – Mandala. 

Mandala is a symbol (a circle within a circle within a circle) used by Buddhist monks as an aid to contemplation and was chosen by the band’s manager, Rafael Markowitz (aka Randy Martin). After the success of their top-ten corker 'Opportunity', the Mandala seemed destined for opportunities of their own. Their manager had early on hooked the band up with top U.S. booking agents William Morris, leading to gigs at L.A.'s Whiskey a Go-Go and Hullabaloo clubs - with the latter drawing capacity crowds of 1,400 fawning fans - as well as some extended jaunts in the Big Apple in early 1967. They returned to Toronto that summer as the unofficial flag-bearers of the "Toronto Sound", a gutsy amalgam of r'n'b and soul that was filling the clubs up and down the Yonge Street strip that year. 

It was at this point, however, that their luck started to lose steam. First, internal bickering caused them to shelve the initial tapes to their first and only LP Soul Crusade, and then singer George Olliver succumbed to the stresses of constant performing and left. By the spring of 1968, with the band spinning their wheels big time, Atlantic Records bossman Ahmet Ertugan bought out their contract from Decca records, and Soul Crusade was finally given widespread release. 

Much of Soul Crusade is longer on chops than on actual songwriting, with Henry Babraj's industrial-strength Hammond organ and Domenic Troiano's blistering guitar beefing up the rock end of this rock/soul stew. New singer Ray Kenner's powerful pipes allowed him to take the helms with relative ease and lead single 'Love-itis', while hardly another 'Opportunity', was soul-stomping enough to climb to number nine on Toronto's CHUM-AM charts. Especially cool is the lazy 'Stop Crying on My Shoulder', where the band take a bit of a breather to naively explore some Chicago-style northern soul. 

However, though buoyed by generally positive reviews, the band had to scrap a planned tour across Canada after bassist Don Elliot was involved in a car accident. A final single, 'You Got Me', showed that the band still had the goods, but its dismal sales would spell the end, with Troiano taking his considerable guitar skills to form the funky blues/rock outfit Bush in 1970.
by Michael Panontin


Tracks
1. World Of Love (Don Troiano) - 2:45
2. One Short Year (Don Troiano) - 3:06
3. Love-It Is (Harvey Scales, Albert Vancel) - 2:42
4. Come On Home (Don Troiano) - 5:56
5. Every Single Day (Don Troiano, Keith Mckie) - 3:45
6. Mellow Carmello Palumbo (Don Troiano, Whitey Glan, Don Eliot) - 3:41
7. Can't Hold Out (Don Troiano) - 2:36
8. Don't Make Me Cry (Don Troiano) - 3:08
9. Stop Cryin' On My Shoulder (Don Troiano) - 2:31
10.Faith (Don Troiano) - 5:59

Mandala
 *Don Troiano - Lead Guitar
 *Don Elliot - Bass
 *Whitey Glan - Percussion
 *Roy Kenner - Vocal
 *Hugh Sullivan - Organ, Vibes

Free Text

7 comments:

  1. Wow! This is a great album, and was a great band! I was so happy when thiswas re-released on CD, and have had it for quite some time, but I had to comment as it's thefirst time I have sen it in a Blog!

    Good on You for sharing!!
    Al

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  2. holy doodle.... they played at my high school, in what used to be a hick town outside Toronto. They were an awesome live band- sure has been a long time since i've heard them!
    thanks so much for the chance.

    respect,


    d

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  3. Never heard this album before.Many thanks...

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  4. I saw them get booed off the stage at Central Park's Wollman Rink opening for the Who at the Schaefer Music Festival in 1968.

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  5. Marios, could this be reposted, as the links have been removed. Thank you!

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  6. rinso, "Mandala - Soul Crusade", renew...

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