It has always been said that the origins of the Patrick Moraz debut recording group “Mainhorse” are not well documented. Now, with the discovery after 37 years of ‘The Geneva Tapes’ all that has changed.
These tapes provide a unique insight into how the band was formed and what its original aims and personnel were. In the late summer of 1969, Moraz and his friend, bass player and cellist Jean Ristori came over to England in search of an English rock drummer and singer. After putting an advertisement in Melody Maker they hired a rehearsal room in Shepherds Bush, London for 2 days.
On the first day they auditioned drummers and chose a then unknown 17 year old Bryson Graham. The 2nd day was spent listening to singers and finally the choice was reduced to 2. The singer from that great band “If” and cult rock figure David Kubinec aka ‘Kubie’ from pop-psych band “The World of Oz”. Finding it impossible to decide between them, they were given an exam in which they both had to write lyrics for ‘Pale Sky’ in 10 minutes but Kubinec raced through it in 3 or 4 and they can be heard here in their entirety for the 1st time. And so Kubie was chosen.
These 4 guys then flew over to Switzerland and joined up with Auguste De Antoni the renowned French jazz guitarist and Swiss jazz drummer Arnold who were part of The Patrick Moraz Quartet which had already played to great acclaim at The Montreux Jazz Festival, forming a 6 piece group with 2 drummers with differing styles which Moraz named “Integral Aim”.
An innovative project of free jazz, rock, psychedelia and classical fusion (which filled the gap between the Underground and Progressive-Rock and which would have taken the world of music by storm) was over, but it makes the recent emergence of these original tapes all the more exciting. This album is a must for any fan of what became known as Prog- Rock, laying down as it did one of the foundation stones for that genre and yet these particular recordings have never been heard before.
A truly fabulous and unexpected find that shines a light into the dark corners of late-sixties and early-seventies experimental music. Moraz went on to play with Refugee, Yes and The Moody Blues, recording several albums of his own when he left them after fifteen years. David Kubinec, a wonderful songwriter in his own right, recorded solo material and also albums with The Rats and John Cale of Velvet Underground. Bryson Graham teamed up with Gary Wright, Spooky Tooth and The Paul Kossoff Band and was with Paul when he died on the flight returning from the United States.
He rejoined Kubie in David Kubinec's Excess in 1978 to promote the A&M album "Some Things Never Change" with Chris Spedding, Ollie Halsall and John Cale. In 1979, Kubinec went to the former Yugoslavia to watch his only child Emily growing up, and he joined "Stijene" a rock band which enjoyed great national success before the Balkan Wars. After the war, it was rumoured that he had been killed in a crossfire between the Serbs and Croats. This has never been confirmed, but it's certain that he hasn't released a record since.
In 1997, Rick Davies of Supertramp, who had always been a big fan of Kubinec's songwriting talent, paid him the compliment of titling the Supertramp album released that year "Some Things Never Change". A fitting tribute.
by Louise Campbell
Tracks
1. Overture and Beginners - 3:36
2. Blunt Needles - 6:28
3. Passing Years (David Kubinec, Patrick Moraz) - 3:28
4. Make It the Way You Are - 5:01
5. Pale Sky (David Kubinec, Jean Ristori) - 6:54
6. What the Government Can Do for You - 4:26
7. Daybreak of Eternity - 4:11
8. Directions for Use - 4:18
9. Very Small Child - 4:29
10.God Can Fix Anything - 11:27
All songs by David Kubinec except where stated David Kubinec's Mainhorse Airline
*Patrick Moraz - Keyboards
*David Kubinec - Vocals
*Bryson Graham - Drums
*Jean Ristori - Bass, Cello
*Auguste De Antoni - Guitar
*Arnold Ott - Drums
As a radio personality in Los Angeles whose show, The Diamond Mine, became wildly popular in the 1960s. I had the opportunity to become friends with and hang out with many rock groups who were just starting out and had not yet signed record contracts. The Doors, Love. Iron Butterfly, The Black Sheep, Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Seeds, and the Rainy Daze all joined the Dave Diamond High School Revue. It became famous for presenting noon shows, after-school shows, and evening shows throughout Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and the entire San Fernando Valley.
The most I ever paid any band was $175 - to the Doors. (The receipt still hangs on my wall.) Once these groups signed record deals, my show was the only show in L.A. that would play this new "psychedelic" rock. The show was heard on a small station, KBLA, out of Burbank, then going through a format change from Top 40 to Country.
I had two years left on my contract and the new owners said, "Just do whatever you want to do -- we are applying for more power and a call letter change (KBBQ), so we have no idea when the changeover wil take effect." I had never had this much freedom presented to me and I took advantage of it, playing far-out album cuts, some Top-40. acid rock, mainstream pop - even a couple country tunes now and then. Think of this: The Doors "Light My Fire." followed by a tight segue to George Jones' "The Race Is On." It was the first time new groups got exposure on the radio. And this was the true beginning of underground radio. It lasted a little over two years.
The kids tuned in The Diamond Mine nightly and took the elevator to the "stoned fume room," lit by the one-eyed cufflink. Each level of The Diamond Mine required another joint. Frank Zappa called me one night and said, "I like the show so much tonight. Dave. I'm smoking my radio." Some of the music The Diamond Mine played first that became hits: "Light My Fire" (after I suggested to Morrison, Robbie, and John that the long guitar ride be edited out for Top-40 radio): "Acapulco Gold" by the Rainy Daze, a disguised but blatant ode to marijuana, The Seeds' "Pushin1 Too Hard": Love's "DaCapo" LP, "In-a-gadda-da-vida," by the Iron Butterfly. "Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra, and Linda Rondstat's "A Different Drum." I was the first to play the Rolling Stones' 17-minute "Goin’ Home" on the radio -- and I played it twice, back to back.
What does this have to do with the Horses CD you just purchased? Plenty, and most of it relates to the Rainy Daze. I met the group in Denver in 1964. I was doing a popular evening radio and TV show. We booked the Rainy Daze, and they played live on the TV show. This was 1964. They did three of their own original songs. I signed on as their manager and through Black Hills Music as publisher of all of their songs. Tim Gilbert, the lead singer, and John Carter, the lyric writer, became my best friends. In 1965, I moved to LA and the Rainy Daze went with me.
I had been hired to kick off a new rock radio format called "Boss Radio," a very tight Top-30, grind-out-the-hits machine, which has become legendary in radio history. I didn't last long and landed at KBLA, which turned out to be a lightning stroke of luck for me and the many artists and groups that mainstream radio would not touch. I started doing a talent show at The Trip on the Sunset Strip - kind of a 1960s American Idol - and for some reason this amateur contest became the place to be on Tuesday nights. It's where I met Phil Spector, Elvis, etc. I played tapes of the Rainy Daze for Phil, but he seemed on the borderline.
So I worked a deal with Russ Regan at UNI Records (Universal Movie Studios), and we released Acapulco Gold, written by Carter-Gilbert. The song took off and started climbing the charts. It was headed for number ONE when Time magazine, Esquire, and other big time media outlets figured out the lyrics and that led to most major-market radio stations dropping the record. Acapulco Gold is, however, the best-selling single in the history of San Fransisco - over 150,000 45's sold.
The Rainy Daze did an LP for UNI with some great psychedelic tunes on it along with "Acapulco Gold." One of my favorites was "Snow, Ice, and Burning Sand." Carter and Gilbert then wrote "Incense and Peppermints," and we found a band out in the Valley with the unlikely name "The Strawberry Alarm Clock." I owned the song and sold half of it to Frank Slay at Claridge Music and we produced it with the Alarm Clock and released it on our own label, then sold the master to UNI Records. It hit number ONE in the fall of 1967.
The Rainy Daze were unhappy at UNI and asked me to find them another label that might do a better job promoting their records. I signed them to White Whale Records, the "Turtles" label. The Turtles were burning up the charts with "It Ain't Me Babe", "Happy Together", "You Baby", etc. We released several Rainy Daze singles on White Whale, but nothing happened. By this time KBLA had gone country and I was doing the 6-9 PM show on KFRC, San Francisco, one of the hottest, best sounding rock 'n' roll radio stations in the U.S.A. Carter and Gilbert still lived in L.A., although both would move to San Francisco.
The Rainy Daze broke up. But Carter and Gilbert had written an album (what you hear now as Horses), and so we needed a band. We had decided that the 60s would be the only decade we could write and produce a "tongue 'n cheek" song about a 69 sex act. I formed my own production company, Glitter Gulch Productions, to produce the album and Black Hills Music to publish the songs.
We recorded the project at LaCosta Recording Studios at LaCosta and Ventura in Hollywood and also recorded part of it at Pacific Sound Studios in San Francisco. We had few people in mind, but we held auditions and put the following personnel together: Dave Torbert - who after Horses played with New Riders of the Purple Sage and Bob Weir's breakaway band from the Grateful Dead, Kingfish. Torbert is dead. Scott Quigley - later played for the Sammy Hagar Band. Quigley is dead from an overdose of drugs. Matt Kelly - went on to play in Kingfish. Destiny unknown. Chris Herold - drummer - also ended up on Grateful Dead records with Kingfish. Destiny unknown. Tim Hovey - a co-writer on Asia Minor.
Hovey was a huge child-star in the movies. Biggest role was Little Beaver in the Red Rider Series. Also starred with Charleson Heston and many other famous names. Dead - drug overdose. Don Johnson - lead singer - we started this group with Rich Fifefield as the lead singer. Fifefield was the star of the Astronauts, an early 60s band. Midway during the sessions, we decided Rich wasn't right for the sound we wanted on the Horses LP. We held auditions, and this young kid. Don Johnson, showed up and sang like hell. We hired him and finished the LP. Johnson was 18. Was this the actor Don Johnson? We don't claim it unless you do. The Horses LP was this kid's first professional gig, and I never saw him again after the sessions.
by David Diamond, 2003
Tracks
1. Freight Train - 3:00
2. Class Of '69 - 2:34
3. Birdie In A Cage (John Carter, Tim Gilbert, Dave Diamond) - 2:47
4. Nothing At All - 2:22
5. Cheyenne - 2:26
6. Run Rabbit Run (Jump For Joy) - 3:36
7. Country Boy (John Carter, Tim Gilbert, Dave Diamond) - 2:38
8. Overnight Bag - 2:31
9. Horseradish - 3:10
10.Asia Minor (John Carter, Scott Quigley, Tim Gilbert, Tim Hovey) - 3:33
11.Wind (Dave Torbert) - 1:40
All songs by John Carter, Tim Gilbert except where noted
I wonder if there has ever, in history, been another album that took 43 years from completion to release. We want to thank Thomas Hartlage for discovering Churchill Downs (in 2010) and his persistence in making the release of this album possible.
This album is truly dedicated to and honoring the memory of Clint and Lois Stovall whom without their undying love, support and direction to every member of The Churchill Downs...the making of this album would not have been possible. They were there every step of the way as their son, Gary, grew into a life of music. Along that path came so many young, talented musicians starting in Junior High School in the early 60's in Southern California.
Two brothers, Al and Don Stigler recently settled in So, Cal from Massachusetts, when Gary and the brothers formed their first band. Skip ahead a few years, while playing an outdoor gig in Palm Springs, CA they met Dirk Acree and Don Adey playing together in another band and not long after they formed Churchill Downs. Deciding to expand on the basic guitar sound the guys brought in Mick Newton (keyboards) from a neighboring town. Now we have a complete group with four singers, two guitars, bass, electronic keyboards and drums...so, let's head to Hollywood.
The band's manager Clint Stovall secured an audtion at Gazzari's on the strip in Hollywood CA which the band more than passed and immediately became one of the house bands. Clint was always looking for opportunities for his band and managed to bring the group to a producer he had met by the name of Gary Paxton. In 1967, this album got underway and by the end of 1968 the recordings were complete. It truly was unfortunate that this band and this album never wound up in the right hands.
Members of Churchill Downs began to change with Don Adey leaving the group after the first two recordings. Then duty called as Al Stigler was drafted into service in March of 1968. That's when the newest member, Fred Darling, took over the drummer seat. The band continued to record and play the Hollwood circuit for the next five months until duty called again. Both Dirk and Fred were called into service in the Vietnam era. It was the end of the band which had turned heads round and round for almost two years in Hollywood.
After so much time has elapsed since 1968 the release of this record is a complete treat for all to enjoy almost as much as the memories that have resurfaced from living the "groovey" years of Hollywood in the mid 1960's Peace and Love to everyone who finds their heads plugged into the Churchill Downs in this new millennium.
Groovey Baby !
Gary Dalton Stovall, April 2011
Tracks
1. Don't Turn The Light Off (Dirk Acree, Don Adey) - 2:27
2. Little By Little (Gordon Mills) - 3:17
3. Rise And Shine (Robert Ogden Mudd) - 2:22
4. It's Only Just A Matter Of Time (Dirk Acree) - 3:02
5. I Can Hear A Sound (Dirk Acree, Gary Stovall) - 2:19
6. The Amazing Three (Dirk Acree, Gary Stovall) - 2:47
7. On My Way (Dirk Acree, Gary Stovall) - 3:14
8. I'm A Man (Jimmy Miller, Steve Winwood) - 2:52
9. Gotta Get Back To My Baby (Mark Traversino, Johnny Apollo) - 2:14
10. You're No Good (Clint Bollard Jr) - 2:32
11. Alfie (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) - 2:57
12. Dreams Do Come True (Dirk Acree, Gary Stovall) - 3:11
13. I'll Try Anything (Mark Barkan, Victor Millrose) - 3:29
14. Ostrich People (Kenneth Johnson, Jerry Ritchey) - 2:25
15. Let Me Make A Tear (Dirk Acree) - 3:28
16. My Mind Ain't Peculiar (Dirk Acree) - 3:12
At the time of its 1969 release, T.S. Bonniwell's Close album came as a shock to listeners who knew the artist as Music Machine singer-songwriter Sean Bonniwell. The Music Machine, after all, waxed some of the toughest garage psychedelic rock of the mid-to-late 1960s, paced by Bonniwell's larynx-shredding growl. In contrast, Close offered orchestrated folk-pop, largely sung in a sweet crooning style. A deeply personal work as satisfying to its creator as his more famous recordings in his previous rock band, Close here makes it CD debut, Bonniwell himself remixing the material for this edition.
When Close was recorded, the Music Machine had ground to a halt after releases on the Original Sound, Warner Brothers, and Bell labels. Bonniwell was by that time the only member of the lineup heard on their 1966 smash "Talk Talk," and made his solo debut on yet a different label. One of the Music Machine's managers, he explains, got him a deal with Capitol allowing him to "do anything I wanted. I had this concept for Close. I wanted big folk ballads and full orchestration. And I wanted to move as far away from rock'n'roll as I could. I just wanted to try something completely different." Sean also "wanted to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and not just a collection of songs. I mean, I always try and do that anyway. But especially with Close." The album was billed to T.S. Bonniwell in accordance with his given name, Thomas Sean Bonniwell.
Producing Close was another young veteran of psychedelic rock, Vic Briggs. Most famed as guitarist for the late-'60s version of Eric Burdon & the Animals, the Englishman had recently started a career as a Hollywood-based producer. "Vic Briggs did a great job producing me," enthuses Bonniwell. "I'd go over to his house in the canyon, and I'd sing the songs we were gonna record the next day. He'd sit right down and notate that thing, orchestrate it. I said, 'I want French horns here and so forth and so on, and maybe this little theme.' And that guy just, man, he zipped it down. He said, 'Oh yeah, this is gonna sound good, this is gonna sound good.' It was a wonderful experience, a wonderful collaboration.
"He understood what I was going after perfectly, and allowed me a free hand in the studio as well. If something wasn't quite working, I'd say, 'Let's try this. Let's try something completely different.' Sometimes he'd say, 'Well, this is gonna work,' and I'd say, 'Well, no, it's not going where it should go to get to the end.' So he'd say, 'Okay, where are you going, what do you want to do?' It was really fun. Neither of us had illusions about it being a commercial album, because it's not. It wasn't set out to be that way anyway."
Bonniwell had never been one to shy away from unconventional songs more akin to psychological probes than pop tunes, and Close continued that quest, if in a less aggressive manner than many of his previous compositions. Though subtly so, Close investigates romance, faith, family, and mortality itself, among other serious issues. As Sean notes, it does so from the perspectives of both reminiscing about the past to projecting himself into the future. The opening track, "Where Am I To Go," is "the beginning of the beginning," he elaborates. "I know I'm gonna do something, but I don't know what it is I'm gonna do. I know that my son or my children or something are going to ask me what they should do, and this starts a process of revelation."
Continues Bonniwell, "Then I fell back to simplifying the human heart. Because it's at the core of almost everything that we do, whether it's negative or positive. So 'Love Is Such a Simple Word,' it's not profound, but it covers all the bases, or as many as I could at the time." In "Who Remembers," "I'm jumping into the future, and taking things that were common to me as a child and conjuring them up. I guess the long and short of it is I'm moving in and out of time throughout Close. I'm projecting myself into a future that is yet to be."
Both "Who Remembers" and "Temporary Knife" benefit from stratospherically high female backup vocals from a friend of Paul Buff, the recording engineer who'd been crucial to much of the Music Machine's most innovative work. "She wanted to do it for free," Sean remembers, "and I said, 'Absolutely not.' I think she did a great job. It's so old-fashioned, and so corny, that there's a charm to it."
For "Something to Be," "I'm seeing my childhood as an adult, and asking the question, 'Where does the future lie?' All of this potential and all of these questions. The imagery, I thought, was rather good. Because I'm talking about a father I never had. What I projected was my grandfather, 'cause I was very close to him. 'Something to be, something to be'...I'm imagining my father saying that to me in enthusiasm. But it's really my grandfather that's doing it. Him ruffling my hair as I go out to play, I mean, that never happened, it didn't come close to it. But that's how I wanted it to be." The ticking on "Something to Be" was, he believes, played by session drummer Jim Gordon, soon to join Derek & the Dominos. "Well, it's a clock," Sean says. "It's time moving forward. It was a rather adventurous concept, but I wanted it there. I said, 'Don't worry if you can't do that, just go ahead and give it a try.' He's right in perfect clock meter, which is impossible to play."
"Black Snow" will be familiar to major Bonniwell fans from its appearance on Music Machine compilations, though the band's version wasn't released when it was first recorded. The Close arrangement has, as Sean acknowledges, "a completely different approach. I knew I was gonna do it both ways when I wrote it. I met Jose Feliciano in New York, and he got me thinking about what it would be like to be blind in such a way that you don't know what you're missing. So snow would be not necessarily white; it could be black. It's how you identify with being blind to a blind person, and how you would speak to someone like that. I wanted to show the contrast between full empathy and full, I suppose, righteous anger," which comes to the fore in the Music Machine's vastly dissimilar hard rock-oriented rendition.
While the Music Machine tried "She Is" once in rehearsal, "we never did it. It's not Music Machine, let's face it. It's way too maudlin and sweet." Though "Temporary Knife" is on its surface Close's most buoyantly soaring romantic ode, "there's a darkness to those lyrics too, that is hidden by the fact that it's an uptempo delivery, which is really on purpose." It's titled "Temporary Knife," he adds, "because we don't want the knife in our heart forever. It's stuck in there and we're gonna get it out. Try to not to face the knife again. But it's impossible, if you really are gonna open yourself up to life."
In Bonniwell's estimation, "Continue" "is so corny I like it. I wanted this tropical feel of this isolated man who is perfectly content to be isolated, and at peace with himself and the world." "Where It Belongs," by far the jauntiest of Close's tracks, is followed by mournful romanticism more typical of the album on "But Not with My Heart," whose message Sean boils down to this: "You cannot have unforgiveness. It's so important that you're continually ready to forgive people."
In keeping with a man who's never been reluctant to address the big subjects, the finale, "Sleep," is "a look at this man who has worked all of his life to support his family, to be a farmer, to grow things, and to know the Lord and walk with him through not an easy life, but certainly not a hard one; one that all men are faced with. And it's the Lord calling him home. It shows how foolish 'Where It Belongs' is, and I did that on purpose. Because it completely turns it around into a life that should be centered not in doubt and unforgiveness, but in faith. That's really the whole context of Close."
When Close was released, unfortunately, "Capitol Records didn't really do anything with it. I think they printed 5000 copies and released it in California." But as Bonniwell emphasizes, "It was fine with me, because it's a work I wanted to do. I've sat and listened to this album from beginning to end in the dark, and I'll be darned if it doesn't completely refresh me. I realized that I had created something that I set out to do, and that's very, very satisfying."
Sadly, Sean passed away in December 2011, just a few weeks after graciously consenting to be interviewed for these notes, although he was already seriously ill. It's sad that he was not able to see this reissue, but a source of comfort to him to know that the record would be issued with the mix he had completed shortly before his hospitalization. "There's another lesson too," he urged. "If you have a project, be it creative or building a work venture, and you find yourself with time on your hands, and you can do it...don't hesitate!"
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. Where Am I to Go - 2:55
2. Love Is Such a Simple Word - 3:17
3. Who Remembers - 2:43
4. Something to Me - 3:10
5. Black Snow - 4:06
6. She Is - 3:09
7. Temporary Knife - 2:56
8. Continue - 3:03
9. Where It Belongs - 2:13
10. But Not with My Heart - 2:59
11. Sleep - 4:18
Music and Lyrics by Sean Bonniwell
The band is named after Amen Corner, a small residential area on the edge of Bracknell in Berkshire. Initially they specialised in a blues and jazz-orientated style, but were steered by their record companies into more commercial pastures.
Their first singles and album appeared on Decca's subsidiary label Deram, but they left at the end of 1968 to join Immediate, where they were instantly rewarded with a No. 1, "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" (originally a song by Lucio Battisti) in early 1969, followed by another top five entry with the Roy Wood composition "Hello Susie".
After recording a live album, Farewell To The Real Magnificent Seven, and a final single, a rather premature cover version of The Beatles' "Get Back", they disbanded at the end of 1969.
While sax players Alan Jones and Mike Smith went on to form Judas Jump, guitarist and vocalist Andy Fairweather-Low led Dennis Byron (drums), Blue Weaver (organ), Clive Taylor (bass) and Neil Jones (guitar) into a new band, Fair Weather. The band scored a UK No.6 hit with "Natural Sinner" in 1970 and recorded one album before disbanding a year later.
Fairweather-Low went on to a successful solo career in the 1970s, notably with the top ten hit "Wide Eyed and Legless" (1975); he became a regular player with Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Roger Waters. He also worked with The Strawbs and the Bee Gees.
Amen Corner's Decca back catalogue has been reissued as part of 'The Collection' series; and their Immediate work, as a double CD, including their singles, live album and material recorded for an unreleased studio album, under the title "If Paradise Was Half as Nice: The Immediate Anthology".
Tracks Disc 1
1. (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice (Jack Fishman, Lucio Battisti) - 2:47
2. Hey Hey Girl - 3:03
3. Hello Susie (Roy Wood) - 2:36
4. Evil Man's Gonna Win - 4:02
5. Get Back (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 2:41
6. Farewell To The Real Magnificent Seven - 6:36
7. Lady Riga - 3:18
8. Proud Mary (John Fogerty) - 3:06
9. At Last I've Found Someone To Love (Dominic King) - 3:47
10.Scream And Scream Again (Dominic King) - 3:36
11.Sanitation - 2:46
12.Mr Nonchalant - 3:31
13.The Weight (Robbie Robertson) - 5:50
14.Welcome To The Club - 3:05
15.Recess (Fletcher Henderson) - 2:29
16.When We Make Love (Dominic King) - 2:51
17.Things Ain't What They Used To Be - 2:07
18.Long Chocolate Limousine - 3:13
19.Natural Sinner - 4:14
20.(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice (Jack Fishman, Lucio Battisti) - 2:49
21.Hello Susie (Roy Wood) - 2:55
22.Hey Hey Girl - 3:06
23.Evil Man's Gonna Win - 3:40
Tracks 2,4,6,7,11,12,14,17,18,19,22,23 written by Andy Fairweather Low
Disc 2
1. Introduction-MacArthur Park (Jimmy Webb) - 3:39
2. Baby Do The Philly Dog (Fred Smith, Sherlie Matthews, Walter Ward) - 2:36
3. You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Discuss It) (Dick Cooper) - 2:17
If you went to UConn in the late ‘60s, or if you spent much time hanging out in the emerging hippie scene in Storrs — as the folkies and the beatniks started tuning in to the new consciousness, maybe smoking dope and even dropping acid while it was still legal, becoming full-fledged counter-culture freaks — you might have gathered at The Campus Restaurant to talk politics or debate art with the English majors, and, if you did, you might have heard someone put a single called “Going Home” by NGC-4594 on the impressive jukebox there.
NGC-4594 was, in fact, a band name, not the catalog number, nor an industrial lubricant or a chemical compound, and the band was briefly maybe Connecticut’s big psychedelic hope. NGC-4594 was named in classic hippie fashion when one of the band’s leaders found a remote galaxy while flipping through an astronomy book. They moved to New York, inking a record deal, and sharing bills with some of the era’s biggest acts. But something happened. A tour collapsed, equipment got stolen, relationships strained, other options presented themselves. And the band, with a name that one of its former members describes as “eminently forgettable,” was largely forgotten.
The group’s core members David Bliss, Chas Mirsky, Danny Shanok and Starger first ran into each other at informal jam sessions at campus hootenannies in 1964. They started making music together casually. Meanwhile, Starger was drafted, riding out the war teaching English to Puerto Rican recruits at Fort Buchanan in San Juan. The music culture was changing fast, with releases like the Beatles’ Revolver and Freak Out! by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention signaling seismic shifts in pop, the tremors of which took time to reach Starger in Puerto Rico.
The band took shape in early 1967, after Starger returned from his two-year stint in the service. Starger, who went on to write for this paper and for the Hartford Courant, returned to the area and found his buddies pretty deep into the counterculture. Bliss, who Starger calls “the guru of the group,” had shaved his head and was wearing day-glo beads. And they picked back up, jamming.
In the early ‘70s Page says he ran into Chas Mirsky from the band back in Storrs. Page was sort of star-struck. (Mirsky died in Middletown in 1997 at the age of 54. The rest of the band are now mostly retired, with some members in California and Georgia. Bliss lives in England. Starger recently retired from Manchester Community College and moved from Portland, Conn. to Rhode Island.) Some of the members of NGC-4594 were instrumental in forming something called The Tribe, a commune that lived on Coventry Lake.
by John Adamian
Tracks
1. Colors (Chas Mirsky) - 4:27
2. Negative Zone (Danny Shanok) - 4:43
3. Take Off Your Feet (Danny Shanok) - 2:01
4. Imagination Dead Imagine (David Bliss) - 6:21
5. Bloomin' (David Bliss) - 2:19
6. Out To Play (Danny Shanok) - 3:10
7. Forever Gone (David Bliss) - 6:12
8. Sea Ballad (David Bliss, Danny Shanok) - 4:34
9. It's Called Love (Bob De Vos) - 2:28
10. Where Are You Coming From? (David Bliss) - 3:58
11. Nova Express (David Bliss) - 5:19
12. So Bright (David Bliss) - 3:22
13. Going Home (David Bliss) - 2:57
14. Skipping Through The Night (Danny Shanok) - 2:54
In 1971 three musicians with very different backgrounds came together to form The Leslie's Motel Band. The founding members were Richard Bush, Mike Seibold, and myself, Bill Tullis. Richard had been a long time keyboard player with the blue eyed soul band Tom Dooley and the Lovelights. Mike moved to Louisville from Baltimore to attend college, and had family connections to Felix Pappillardi, the producer of several Cream albums and bass player with Mountain. This gave him a very edgy style that landed him the job of lead guitarist in one of the first "heavy" blues bands in Louisville, Conception.
I got my start as a folk singer playing in clubs around town like The Arts of Louisville House. This club later became Changes Unlimited and then Kaleidoscope, the first psychedelic nightclubs in Louisville, Ky. I spent many exciting nights playing in these clubs with Jay Petach, the engineer of this CD, while we were members of The Oxfords. The most memorable evening was when we opened for Frank Zappa and got to spend some time talking with him about the music business. After leaving The Oxfords I formed the group Conception and that is when Mike and I first started playing together. At the urging of a friend, I went to see a band in Nashville at a club called The Briar Patch and saw, what I thought at the time, was the best live band I had ever heard. Their name was The Allman Joys, which later became The Allman Brothers Band, and I knew my musical path was going to change.
After the release of ABB's first album Mike and I disbanded Conception and sought out some new musicians to be a part of this southern rock sound. We went to a club called The Zanzibar and explained to Richard, during one of his breaks, what we had in mind. He was instantly excited and we began searching out other local musicians to complete the band. Even though over the five years Leslie's Motel was together we went through many different lineups, I believe the group on this CD was LMB at its peak. Before I get into the other three fabulous musicians here, I think the story of the naming of the band needs to be told. When we started rehearsing in a garage off of Dixie Highway in Louisville, every day we would pass by Leslie's Motel. The rumor was that it was a house of "ill repute" (mainly for the soldiers coming and going from Fort Knox) and according to how the sign was lit, meant they were open for business. The sign became a topic of conversation at rehearsals on a regular basis until one day Mike suggested we should call the band Leslie's Motel. After quite a bit of laughter we decided it was as good a name as any and the name stuck! At those first rehearsals we did several Allman Brothers covers, and it greatly influenced our writing.
Ray Barrickman and Jay and I all went to the same high school and had a band called The Specters. That group later became the second generation of The Oxfords. Ray and I once wrote a song together that we performed at a senior assembly. It was suppose to be a tribute to our "wonderful" high school experience. Instead it was a swipe at the school's principal and staff, remembrances of smoking in the boy's room, suspensions for cutting school and growing our hair too long. We almost got expelled for that song so Ray and I "had a past"!! At the time of writing these notes, Ray has been the was also the singer on The Oxfords only nationally released single, so he was an excellent addition to LMB. Paul Hoerni was the drummer for the third generation of The Oxfords with Jay when they did the majority of their recording. He had also played drums in several outstanding bands around town and had that Butch Trucks kind of feel. Jay and I had spent time with Butch at Changes Unlimited when he was playing gigs with his band, The Tiffany System, before he was with ABB. We both recognized the similarities and the talent. So Paul joined the band and we started off as a five piece.
The Windmill Club in Louisville became our home base to hammer out our ideas, and The Belle Starr Saloon in Buffalo, New York became our home away from home. We played the club circuit from as far north as Boston to as far west as St. Louis and south to Florida. Many times we also got the opportunity to open for national recording artists, that I will list in a minute, and that leads us to the last member to join LMB. One night we were opening for a reunion tour of the ground breaking Blues Project, when the drummer Roy Blumenfeld came up to us after the show and asked if he could join the group. We were all floored by his request and jumped at the opportunity. This rounded out the lineup you will hear on this CD. Leslie's Motel Band opened for guitarists Ted Nugent, Charlie Daniels, Freddie King, Harvey Mandel, Rory Gallagher, Harvey Brooks, Mike Bloomfield (where the reviewer wrote "The home town boys seemed to be more in the favor of the audience than Mr. Bloomfield"), organist Billy Preston, singer Mitch Ryder, and The MC5. But the show that stands out the most for me was the highlight of my musical life. We were opening for the legendary John Lee Hooker at The Brass Rail in Orchard Park, NY, just outside of Buffalo, when Mr. Hooker came up to me after our set and said "Son, I don't have a harp player with me tonight. Would you like to sit in?".
Looking back, I cannot remember how many songs I played or how long I was on stage. All I remember is floating out onto the stage when he called my name!! Well, I hope you enjoy reading these liner notes half as much as I have enjoyed remembering all of these GREAT times! It is an honor that Gear Fab Productions is releasing this CD over thirty years after these sessions. And my thanks to Jay Petach, Marvin Maxwell, Roger Maglio and all the past residents of Leslie's Motel for making it happen!!!
by Bill Tullis, October, 2008
Tracks
1. Step Down Baby (Mike Siebold, Bill Tullis) - 3:40.
2. Interlude (Richard Bush, Mike Siebold) - 0:32.
3. My Sweet Woman (Richard Bush, Bill Tullis) - 5:45.
4. Blister (Richard Bush) - 7:48.
5. Reason Why (Mike Siebold, Bill Tullis) - 4:19.
6. Windmills (Richard Bush) - 4:28.
7. Latino Motel (Prelude/lnterlude/Qualude) (Bill Tullis, Barrickman, Mike Seibold, Richard Bush, Paul Hoerni, Roy Blumenfeld) - 8:52.
8. Movin' Rock 'n' Roll (Bill Tullis) - 3:18.
9. Dirty Sheets (Bill Tullis, Ray Barrickman, Mike Seibold, Richard Bush, Hoerni, Roy Blumenfeld) - 5:31.
Track 9 Live At The Morefill South
Leslie's Motel
*Bill Tullis- Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Tambourine
*Mike Seibold - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Richard Bush - Hammond C3 Organ, Fender Rhodes Piano
Tarney-Spencer Band was an Australian rock band composed of Trevor Spencer and Alan Tarney in the late 1970s. The band recorded three albums, and is notable for the song "No Time to Lose" which received substantial air-play in the USA on album- oriented rock radio stations, and charted twice on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Alan Tarney met Trever Spencer while playing in an Australian group called Johnny Broome and The Handels. In 1969, Alan and Trevor moved to the UK. They formed a band called Quartet, releasing 2 singles on Decca and an unreleased album. The two also occasionally played on on numerous sessions for artists including Olivia Newton-John, Chris Squire, Bonnie Tyler, Charlie Dore, New Seekers, The Real Thing and many others.
About the same time as Tarney and Spencer were working under the name Quartet, they were also sitting in on sessions for Cliff Richard. Alan Tarney eventually joined The Shadows on bass in 1973, staying until 1977.
Alan and Trevor began working as a duo in 1975. Their first, self titled album was released in 1976 in the UK on the Bradley's label. Shortly after, the Tarney-Spencer Band signed a deal with A&M Records for 10 albums. The band's second album (1st for A&M), was titled "Three's a Crowd" and featured cover art with rounded corners, shaped like an American style cafe menu card. The album received modest airplay on AOR radio station in the US and reached #174 on Billboard Magazine's album chart. A single from the album, "It's Really You" hit #86 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Run For Your Life" appeared in 1979. Again, with airplay at AOR radio, the album charted in the US reaching #181. One of the album's tracks, "No Time To Lose" was released as a single and rose to number #84 on the singles chart.
After the release of a non-LP single, "Cathy's Clown" in 1979, the band was released from their contract with A&M and discontinued their work together as Tarney-Spencer Band. Two years after the band broke up, the track "No Time To Lose" got the attention of MTV. In 1981, when MTV launched, the channel occasionally aired a video clip for "No Time To Lose". A&M reis- sued the track as a single. The song charted a second time on Bill- board's Hot 100, fairing slightly better that the first time around, reaching #74. Their biggest achievement, "No Time To Lose" has never officially seen mainstream release on CD, either as part of the Run For Your Life album or on a various artist compilation. Trevor Spencer left the UK and returned to Perth to help start Sh-Boom studios. Recent work with Hank Marvin's 1990's solo albums.
Alan Tarney began working as a producer and achieved nota- ble success with A-Ha. Alan produced their first three albums, including their hit single "Take On Me". Additional production work included sides for Squeeze, Bow Wow Wow, Leo Sayer, Pulp, Cliff Richard, Thomas Anders, The Hollies, Voice of the Beehive, The Bluebells, Dream Academy and others.
Liner-Notes
Tracks
1. Bye Bye Now My Sweet Love - 3:21
2. Takin' Me Back (Alan Tarney, Trevor Spencer) - 3:01
3. It's Really You (Alan Tarney, Tom Snow, Trevor Spencer) - 3:53
4. We Believe In Love - 3:49
5. Maybe I'm Right (Robert Wachtel) - 3:34
6. I Can Hear Love - 3:26
7. Set The Minstrel Free (Alan Tarney, David Kershenbaum, Trevor Spencer) - 4:00
The exact source of the phrase "O.K. Ken ?" is somewhat obscured by time. Stan Webb was well known for being something of a comedian and was a keen follower of many of the professionals of the day. Many of those top line performers had their own little catch phrases and also very distinctive vocal styles. Names such as Max Wall, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Kenneth Williams and Tommy Cooper immediately spring to mind. Stan was always alert to the possibility of a "quick one liner" as they were known.
They were rarely at the expense of anyone's feelings but almost always raised a giggle or two. Stan also had the gift of making just the right facial expression to go with the lines being delivered. Had he not been such a good guitarist and strong vocalist he might have made a career of impersonating others. Anyway, now armed with some inside information as it were, you can judge for yourself his capabilities. Sandwiched in between the musical elements you will hear the various voices of John Peel, Hughie "and I mean this most sincerely, folks" Green. Max Wall, Kenneth Williams and the former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson - amongst others. The Stan Webb Appreciation Society is to be heard in support. The results have their appeal although there are those who have said they found the spoken introductions irritating and annoying to the point of distraction. Well, as with most things - this is a matter of personal choice. "O.K. Ken ?"
The music contained on this, The Chicken Shack's second album, might lack some of the earthy freshness of their first effort but nonetheless represents the band just the way they were in a club situation - few frills, plenty of thrills and lots of honest, good rockin' blues! The song-writing chores are once again shared between Stan and Christine Perfect (soon to be McVie) with Stan taking the lion's share. There are a handful of non-originals amongst which are renditions of Howlin' Wolf's "Tell Me" and B.B. King's "Sweet Sixteen". Both these songs had become very popular in the band's "live" show. Once again the horn section is in evidence and there is also a guest appearance of Walter "Shakey" Horton who plays harmonica behind Christine's plaintive vocal on "Little Walter's "Mean Old World". As with "40 Blue Fingers" This album saw some chart success but did not achieve all that could have been wished for. Of course, the release of the single "I'd Rather Go Blind" was only months away which would give the band their biggest chart success to date but which would also result in the parting of the waves for Christine and the remaining members of The Shack.
Once again, a great deal of care was taken in the final selection of material. the actual recording sessions were spread over a period of three days - one in June of 1968 and the other two back to back in October of the same year. As always Mike Ross was in charge of engineering matters whilst the off-beat photographic work of Terence Ibbott is again in evidence. I well remember the skeleton "hanging" around (with and without shower cap) but to this day I do not know where Terry got it from. The cover photograph was taken in front of the National Gallery in London's West End (I think) but who is the young boy also featured? Where did Terry find this little chap and how in God's name did he persuade him to sit next to a skeleton of all things! He looks, to say the least, somewhat perplexed. Well, wouldn't you ?.
by Mike Vernon, August 1993
Tracks
1. Baby's Got Me Crying (Stan Webb) - 2:34
2. The Right Way Is My Way (Stan Webb) - 2:33
3. Get Like You Used To Be (Christine Perfect, Stan Webb) - 3:48
4. Pony And Trap (Stan Webb) - 3:20
5. Tell Me (Chester Burnett) - 4:49
6. A Woman Is The Blues (Christine Perfect, Stan Webb) - 3:27
7. I Wanna See My Baby (T-Bone Walker) - 3:52
8. Remington Ride (Hank Penny, Herb Remington) - 3:02
9. Fishing In Your River (Stan Webb) - 4:40
10.Mean Old World (Walter Jacobs) - 3:46
11.Sweet Sixteen (B.B. King, Joe Josea) - 6:22
12.Tears In The Wind (Stan Webb) - 2:42
13.I'd Rather Go Blind (Billy Foster, Ellington Jordan) - 3:16
These four boys are self-contained - which means they never lose their tempers. They open their mouths only when they sing. Hometown - Dayton, Ohio and the surrounding. To their credit as writers: LOOKING FOR THE ANSWER, IT'S TOO LATE TO CHANGE, EVERYBODY SAY YEAH, YOUR MOTHER CHEWS TOBACCO, and FORT LAUDERDALE.
The gentleman that has been guiding them, although they are sighted and have no need for a seeing-eye dog is Gordon Neal, a triple threat talent, producer, writer and arranger. Contributing writer is solo talent Linda Bari; Women's Lib is opting for her equal rights.
The Elders have been working night clubs and one-night stands. With the help of this album they hope to play two-night stands throughout the Midwest, also the West, North, South and East. They have a unique sound and each in his own right can be a lead singer. (Judges, 21:24, "Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.") Selective Service please note they prefer not to lead any military bands or marches. Although The Elders are young they live their lives in double time and have written about fifty tunes. This is their first album and with it they hope to take up the slack left by The Beatles.
In addition to their original materiai they perform the great. standards of today, TWENTY-FIVE MILES, SISSY STRUT, and HIP HUGGER. To the non-initiated a standard is a song which has been on the charts longer than twenty-four hours. They feel they are better than many of the groups around and would like you to remember them and not forget this album or the songs therein. As an added note of non-sequitur interest, Linda Bari is a major in psychology and thus THE ELDERS may well be the only group that carries a traveling psychiatrist-in-residence.
Original Liner Notes
Tracks
1. Looking For The Answer (Ron Skinner, Linda Bari) - 5:01
2. Too Late To Change (Pat Smith, Gordon Neal) - 4:11
3. Sissy Strut (Art Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr.) - 3:58
4. Fort Lauderdale (Pat Smith) - 0:59
5. 25 Miles (Edwin Starr, Johnny Bristol, Harvey Fuqua, Bert Berns, Jerry Wexler) - 3:32
6. By The Size Of My Shoes (Larry Weiss, Jimmy Williams) - 3:15
7. Everybody Say Yeah (To The Call, Freedom For All) (Rod Budeliney, Gordon Neal, Linda Bari) - 3:21
8. Hip Hug Her (Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Al Jackson Jr, Donald "Duck" Dunn) - 3:25
9.Your Mother Chews Tobacco (Pat Smith) - 1:04
The Elders
*Jerry Behring - Bass
*Rod Budeliney - Rhythm Guitar
*Ron Skinner - Drums
*Pat Smith - Keyboards
