The Ashes were a folk-rock group formed in 1965 that included John Merrill (guitar/ vocals), Alan Brackett (bass/ vocals), Barbara Robison (vocals), Spencer Dryden (drums) and Jim Cherniss (guitar/ vocals). Before they were known as the Ashes, the group called themselves the Young Swingers and released two long lost 45s under that name: "Love Her Every Day" b/w "Or Else You'll Cry" (Courtney 746) and "Let's Take Our Love" b/w "The Winds Up High" (Portafino 901) .
From the summer of 1965 up until May of 1966, the Ashes served as the house band at a club in Santa Monica called the Waleback. They released their first single under their new moniker in 1966: "Is There Anything I Can Do?" b/w "Every Little Prayer" (Vault 924). The a-side was written by Jackie DeShannon and featured a fine lead vocal from Barbara Robison. This 45, along with its follow-up "Dark on You Now" b/w "Roses Gone" (Vault 936), also appeared on the 1967 compilation WEST COAST LOVE-IN (Vault 7980). Around the time of the first Ashes single, Spencer Dryden left to replace Skip Spence in Jefferson Airplane. Jim Cherniss also exited the group at this time.
With the addition of two new members, the band was transformed into the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, who of course recorded two albums for Columbia in 1967. John Merrill resurrected Ashes in late 1968, around the same time that Alan Brackett was working on the tracks that would ultimately constitute the PBC's FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES album. The new Ashes recorded their debut LP for Vault Records that year; it stands today as a staple of the collector's market, routinely fetching $50 or more on eBay. The album also featured singer Pat Taylor standing in for Barbara Robison (who could not appear on the record due to contractual obligations). The LP's release was delayed until 1970, while two songs from the record-- "Homeward Bound" b/w "Sleeping Serenade" (Vault 975)-- were issued as a 45 in 1971.
by Jason Penick
Tracks
1. Gone To Sorrow (Jackson Browne) - 3:07
2. Sleeping Serenade (John Merrill) - 2:48
3. Homeward Bound (Paul Simon) - 2:34
4. Sands of Love (John Merrill) - 2:18
5. My Life Has Changed (John Merrill) - 3:14
6. Return Home (Alan Brackett) - 2:23
7. Her Invention (John Merrill) - 2:14
8. Look Around Rock (Penny Nichols) - 2:34
9. The Now (John Merrill) - 2:52
10.Rainbows (John Merrill) - 2:17
11.Simple Complexities (John Merrill) - 2:06
The Feminine Complex formed 1966 while the girls were attending Maplewood High School in Nashville, Tennessee. They released two singles and one album, "Livin' Love". There was even a rumour that they were a fictional band, and the material had been recorded quite recently by various American indie luminaries! This despite the original 1969 Athena Records album undoubtedly existing, and fetching astronomical figures
In fact, The Feminine Complex were an all-girl garage band, a rarity in Nashville, to be sure. They were even heavily featured on various TV shows including the nationally-syndicated "Showcase '68" and the local "Nashville Now". The Feminine Complex made one of the few genuine girls-in-the-garage albums (all original songs too!) in a time when the 45 was king (queen?), and an extraordinary album it is too, as extraordinary indeed as the story of the band.
Livin' Love is a breathtaking album of raw passion and energy. Astonishingly, it contains all original Feminine Complex songs, penned mostly by Mindy Dalton. Recorded in 1968, there is a strong sense of mind-altering musing displayed throughout Dalton's prose, which she denied carried with it any drug connotations. Even though the record is a polished outing, due mainly to the experienced backing-band brought in, there is no question that Dalton's songs demonstrated a considerable emerging talent, deserving of an "A-list" ranking in the league table of late-sixties' female rock stars. Sadly, Livin' Love came and went unnoticed; the original all-girl roster of the Feminine Complex disbanded amicably, and that was that.
Collecting valuable collector's points over the years by reaching a 'very-rare' status, Livin' Love has finally been re-released on compact disc by saviours-of-all-reissues Rev-Ola, and they have bestowed upon us a fabulous package that expertly extends the Feminine Complex appreciation.
The original album featured eleven songs, and yet this reissue contains a further eleven bonus tracks which greatly extend Livin' Love's charm. The album's opening three numbers are delicately alluring, with a brooding seductiveness that betrays Livin' Love's punch on later numbers. Now I Need You is a swirling cry of desperation, whilst the refraining Are You Lonesome Like Me? possesses a startling songwriting maturity from Dalton; the song could feature on any of Dusty Springfield's better albums and you'd believe it were penned by Lieber & Stoller.
I Won't Run powers up the tempo scales with dashing freneticism and powerful rhythm chords. Exemplary throughout the album are the backing vocals - drenched in reverb, which add a very welcome leftfield edge. Run That Through Your Mind, I Don't Want Another Man and the powerhouse I've Been Working On You signal the very best late-sixties Aretha, suggesting the band’s versatility. It's Magic has a psychedelic ambiance that is ripped apart by a delicious chorus, complete with off-kilter vocal backing. Only the Jean Williams songForgetting shows its age, with too much twee emphasis.
The Feminine Complex would have been better advised to replace Forgetting with another Williams song, Love Love Love, which was more fitting to the musical tones of the album and has thankfully been included as a bonus track on this reissue. Time Slips By is certainly the most experimental song on the original album lineup, and yet the overt panning of shimmering sound effects and the rhythmic borrowings of Love’s The Daily Planet form an especially interesting closer to Livin’ Love.
The original eleven songs on Livin’ Love do enough to justify high praise, and yet this expanded Rev-Ola package pushes the boundaries even further. The eleven bonus tracks comprise of unreleased songs by the Complex and some worthy stripped-down demos. Many of them deserve a place on the original Livin’ Love, particularly Hold My Hand. The stark two-track demos, featuring vocals on one channel and a sole electric guitar on the other, are simplistic, unrefined beauty and demonstrate a splendid raw talent that sadly was not given the chance to develop.
At least the album is “out there” again, back in the public awareness section where it undoubtably belongs. From late-sixties bands such as Jefferson Airplane to modern bands across the Atlantic such as Electrelane, there are traces of The Feminine Complex’s sound. Whilst they never were allowed to be influential, they certainly showed that they were one of the most innovative. Livin’ Love is easily one of the best reissues we have yet to see from Rev-Ola.
by Raphael Pour-Hashemi
Tracks
1. Hide And Seek - 3:46
2. Now I Need You - 3:36
3. Are You Lonesome Like Me? - 2:59
4. I Won't Run - 3:24
5. Six O'Clock In The Morning - 3:28
6. Run That Through Your Mind - 2:35
7. It's Magic - 2:40
8. I Don't Want Another Man - 2:34
9. Forgetting (Jean Williams) - 2:17
10. I've Been Workin' on You - 2:40
11. Time Slips By - 4:25 Bonus Tracks
12. Hold My Hand - 3:45
13. Love Love Love (Jean Williams) - 2:32
14. I've Been Workin' on You (Demo) - 2:52
15. Hold Me (Demo) - 3:38
16. Now I Care - 3:06
17. Summer Morning - 2:37
18. Warmth of Your Smile - 2:02
19. Are You Lonesome Like Me? (Demo) - 2:38
20. Time Slips By (Demo) - 2:26
21. Is This a Dream? - 2:57
22. Movin' - 2:08
All Songs Written byMindy Dalton, except where indicated.
Another private pressing from the 70s, this time a charming chunk of rural rock from the sunshine state. Originally released on No Label Recordings, this four-piece from Florida (named after the hip American 70s singin'n'guitar-playin' cartoon character, Sugar Bear) have managed to produce an album of high originality which defies categorization.
In terms of musical styles, the ''rural rock'' probably covers just about everything, from rock'n'roll to the blues and plain ol' country rock in the style of The Outlaws or Pure Prairie League, of course there are some psychedelic touches, think a cross line betwwen Jefferson Airplain and Byrds with drops of Santana.
Today’s “Sugarbear” consists of Ivan Bailey on bass, John McLaughlin on lead guitar, and Eric Chick on drums. Ivan and John have been together about 44 years. Started out in Miami as “The Goldtones”, later changed to “The Roustabouts”. Moved to the Ocala area and became “The Merger” and in 1972 changed the name to “Sugarbear”.
Tracks
1. Playing Music (John McLaughlin) - 2:14
2. Honey Love (Ivan Bailey) - 4:34
3. Moccasin Mona (H.C. Perryman) - 5:03
4. Sweetest One Around (H.C. Perryman) - 3:31
5. Play Me a Song (John McLaughlin) - 3:18
6. Let It Roll (John McLaughlin) - 3:12
7. Seasons for Love (John McLaughlin) - 4:39
8. Garden (John McLaughlin) - 3:19
9. Move out in the Country (John McLaughlin) - 4:06
10. Hip! Hip! Hooray for Today (John McLaughlin) - 1:58
The Jacksons Garden formed as The Candy Boys in Odense Denmark round 1965, September 1967 changed their name to Jackson's Garden. Their style was a mix of Soul, R & B, Beat & Roll, they had also many of self-composed songs. Jacksons Garden quickly became very popular with the burgeoning on underground audience that had enjoyed their share of the traditional 60's music and was hungry for something new.
Jacksons Garden played in the beginning mainly on Funen and Jutland, but in October 1967 the band took part in Hit House Beat Grand Ppix won the competition (1st from 41 bands - primarily from Copenhagen and Zealand) and got away with the prize £ 1750 in cash and a record contract. A Copenhagen journalist wrote: " Jacksons Garden is so great that without blushing can place them in the same class as their American same act bands." The victory sparked - in addition to a cash prize - including a recording contract with the Jutland record label "STOA". The resulting was a LP "How do I get into Jacksons Garden?".
Jacksons Garden also got the pleasure to play as support band for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown "in Hit House. They where also the opening band in Fyens Forum, for many foreign top names. Until February 1969 - when Jacksons Garden disbanded- they were full speed and always on the highways for gigs.
Tracks
1. Jump The Fence (Eric Werner) - 0:20
2. Turn On Your Lovelight (Deadric Malone, Joseph Wade Scott) - 3:34
3. Coloured Birds (Eric Werner) - 2:28
4. Close To The Earth, But .. (Jacksons Garden) - 7:53
5. Paddington Station (Eric Werner) - 4:05
6. Morning After (Per Stan) - 2:33
7. Nobody (Eric Werner) - 4:06
8. Work Song (Nat Adderley, Oscar Brown Jr) - 4:13
9. Tales From A Nervous Wreck (Eric Werner) - 4:14
10.Goodmorning Blues (Bent Hangaard, Eric Werner, Per Stan, Erling Andersen, H.P. Sondergard) - 6:02
11.Fever (John Davenport, Eddie Cooley) - 4:38
12.Harlem City Blues (Eric Werner) - 3:07
13.Pretty Woman (A.C. "Moolah" Williams) - 2:32
14.Love Me Two Times (Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger) - 3:22
15.John Wesley Harding (Bob Dylan) - 2:50
16.Help Me Baby (Sonny Boy Williamson) - 3:19
17.Bummer In The Summer (Arthur Lee) - 3:44
18.All Night Long (Eric Werner, Per Stan) - 5:09
19.Butterfly Fly (Eric Werner, Per Stan) - 10:35
Tracks 1-12 from the original 1968 album "How do I get into Jacksons Garden"
Tracks 13-19 Bonus Live recordings at "Blomsterpistolen" 1968
The Jacksons Garden
*Bent Hangaard - Lead Guitar
*Eric Werner - Vocals Harmonica
*Per Stan - Drums
*Erling Andersen - Bass, Vocals
*H.P. Sondergard - Piano, Organ, Flute
In March and April 1974 the band spend most of the time in the studio for their forthcoming album and in July, "Mirror Image" is released. A song called,"Tell Me That I'm Wrong" is released as a single but only reaches #83. The album flops at #149. Jerry LaCroix didn't feel comfortable within the band, and he couldn't' handle Bobby Colomby.
Basically he didn't care for Blood, Sweat and Tears style and he did not like to share lead vocal duties. He was more interested in his solo album "The Second Coming", that he recently had recorded. He once said that one of the reasons for him to join was that they ware going on a world tour and he hadn't seen the world. While they were in Australia he decided to quit.
When they came back, he left the group after a gig in Central Park. Luther Kent, a blues singer from New Orleans was recruited as a new leadsinger, together with Jerry Fisher. Luther Kent had been singing with The Greek Fountains, a busy, popular band in demand regionally, then criss-crossed America with his own, 9-piece r&b band, "Blues, Inc". His voice could be described as powerful, rough and whiskey-drenched. Blood, Sweat and Tears never did any recordings with Luther Kent, who eventually quit to form "Trick Bag" with guitarist Charlie Brent.
Mirror Image is a pleasant album with catchy jazzy tunes, a late night friend who will give you generously, few moments to escape...
Tracks
1. Tell Me That I'm Wrong (Patricia Crosby) - 2:27
2. Look Up To The Sky (Anthony Klatka, Jerry LaCroix, Julian LaCroix) - 4:39
3. Love Looks Good On You (You're Candy Sweet) (Sharon Brown, Patricia Cosby) - 3:19
4. Hold On To Me (Dave Bargeron) - 4:10
5. Thinking Of You (Anthony Klatka, Jerry LaCroix) - 4:25
6. Are You Satisfied (Dave Bargeron, Jerry Fisher, Jerry Lacroix, George Wadenius) - 4:01
7. Mirror Image (Larry Willis, Ron McClure, Anthony Klatka, Dave Bargeron, Jerry Lacroix, George Wadenius)- 11:14
8. She's Coming Home (Jerry Fisher, George Wadenius) - 3:11
Blood Sweat and Tears
*Jerry Fisher -Vocals
*Jerry LaCroix - Vocals, Tenor Sax
*Bobby Colomby - Drums, Percussion
*Dave Bargeron - Trombone, Tuba
*Larry Willis - Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizer, Organ
*Geroge Wadenius - Guitar, Vocals
*Tony Klatka - Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, Fleugelhorn
*Bill Tillman - Alto, Tenor, and Bari-Sax, flute
*Ron McClure - Fender Bass, Acoustic Bass
*Arnold Lawrence - Alto Sax on "She's Coming Home", Soprano Sax on "Thinking of You."
By the end of the 1960s, the psychedelic-rock revolution was peaking. Dream-laced lyrics and trippy effects, including distortion, tape-loops, echoes, delays and phase shifting, were rampant. Adventurous musicians were busy employing a new array of instruments to conjure up kaleidoscopic sounds. The Beatles, leaders in the new music, had already introduced the sitar on Sgt. Pepper’s and the Mellotron on “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The year 1969 saw numerous bands tripping out with delightfully freaky albums, including Skip Spence’s Oar, Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers and The Moody Blues’ On the Threshold of a Dream.
During the winter of ’68, the members of Toronto’s Kensington Market were dreaming up their next psych-rock move. The band had already garnered praise for its debut album, Avenue Road, both at home and in America and Japan, where a picture sleeve of “I Would Be the One” had been issued. And several of its songs featured sitar. But now the group was looking to expand its horizons with new songs by singer-guitarists Keith McKie and Luke Gibson and guitarist-keyboardist Gene Martynec. Help would come from a close encounter with a Moog Synthesizer, a futuristic piece of equipment that had made its debut appearance that year on a classical album called Switched-On Bach, by electronic composer Wendy Carlos.
The Market’s members were introduced to the land of Moog and its strange and wondrous sounds by their road manager, Bart Schoales, who was an enthusiastic fan of Intersystems. An experimental, mixed-media Toronto group, Intersystems was comprised of sculptor Michael Hayden, architect Dick Zander, poet Blake Parker and musician John Mills-Cockell, whose instrument of choice was the Moog. Excited by the prospect of adding a synthesizer to its next album, the Market—including bassist Alex Darou and drummer Jimmy Watson—invited Mills-Cockell to join them in the studio. The marriage of the Moog’s alien sounds with the group’s latest songs would prove to be a freakishly fruitful partnership.
Avenue Road had been recorded in New York’s Century Studio, which suited producer Felix Pappalardi at the time. The New York-based Pappalardi had just finished recording Cream’s best-selling Disraeli Gears and had quickly become one of America’s hottest producers. But for the Market’s next album, Pappalardi liked the idea of setting up shop at Toronto’s Eastern Sound studio, right in the heart of the Yorkville hippie district. “For Felix, it was a real adventure,” recalls Bernie Finkelstein, the Market’s manager. “Everyone in the band was living around the village, just a few hundred yards from the studio. And we could record a little, walk down the street, drop in at a coffee house, have a drink, talk to friends and just hang out. Felix loved the whole neighborhood vibe of it.”
Sessions for the new album at Eastern began in earnest. All three of the Market’s principal songwriters brought forward strong new material. McKie had several fully formed songs, including “Is It Love,” “Think About the Times” and “Half Closed Eyes,” a Renaissance-style ballad with imagistic lyrics about a winter’s day. McKie, Martynec and Gibson all co-wrote songs, either with each other or with Pappalardi, who was bringing his skills as an arranger and multi-instrumentalist to the sessions. And even Finkelstein got in on the act, co-writing the technicolor feel-good number “Cartoon” with Martynec. Experimentalism—not to mention the group’s hallucinogenic diet—fuelled everything. “It may sound arrogant today,” says Martynec, “but at the time we felt we were pursuing art rather than trying to fixate on making hits. The music world was a bit more experimental then and you really could try new things.”
A distinctive Sgt. Pepper influence showed up on several tracks, including the psychedelically-enhanced “Side I Am.” For the song, an epiphany about a stoned-out chess game, Pappalardi added some distinctly Pepper–ish trumpets to Martynec’s piercing guitar and the mellifluous harmonies of Gibson and McKie. Martynec, meanwhile, created a medieval mood on “If It is Love,” by conjuring up a harpsichord-like sound on his keyboard. And “Said I Could Be Happy,” with its skipping, ? beat, is a gentle daytime reverie with Beatle-esque lyrics: “She’s all free fall lately on the moon,” sings McKie, “Sunshine on my mind above the afternoon.”
The recording sessions took their most adventurous turns on tracks featuring the Moog. Mills-Cockell extracted a slow, unearthly groan from the instrument to compliment Gibson’s plaintive cry on “Help Me.” The oscillating synthesizer creates an almost vertigo-inducing thrum on the track, as Gibson sings about climbing and slipping and needing a helping hand. And it added a haunting swirl of sound on “Half Closed Eyes.” Some of its most other-worldly sounds showed up on “Cartoon,” where Mills-Cockell crafted a mind-boggling assortment of spacey effects.
Having the analog Moog in Eastern Sound Studios was like having a proverbial elephant in the room. “It’s not like today, where equipment is digitized and small and you just have to push a button and there’s sound automatically,” explains McKie. “The Moog was this huge monstrosity, with large, modular components and all kinds of plug-ins. It looked like one of those old telephone switchboards. And John would plug in various jacks and eventually he’d draw out the most extraordinary sounds.” Added McKie: “Sometimes the sounds were absolutely gorgeous and almost impossible to describe—like angels dancing on a skating rink.”
Mills-Cockell’s $18,000 Moog made its historic live debut on March 22, 1969 at Toronto’s Rockpile, where the Market premiered the newly recorded songs from its forthcoming album, Aardvark. Opening for the band was Leather, a Yorkville group that featured the Market’s roadie Schoales. More than 900 people gathered in the former Masonic Temple to hear the Market perform both familiar songs and its latest material. Unfortunately, the sound mixing at the Rockpile failed to capture the Market’s thrilling new sound with the Moog. “Much of its effect was lost in poor sound balance,” wrote Globe and Mail reviewer Ritchie Yorke, who noted that some people in the audience, baffled by the new electronics, left before the concert ended.
The Market had greater success when it returned to the Rockpile two months later, in May, to coincide with Aardvark’s release. Appearing with Edward Bear in between dates by supergroup Rhinoceros and just two days before The Who made its Rockpile debut, the Market thrilled its audience with a triumphant showcase. The band played the Rockpile once more that month, appearing with Grand Funk Railroad, along with Milkwood and Leather. Then, in June, the Market performed before the largest audience of its career in June at the city’s Varsity Stadium, in front of over 50,000 people at the Toronto Pop Festival, joining a lineup that included Steppenwolf, The Band, The Byrds, Tiny Tim and Blood Sweat & Tears.
All of these appearances with the band’s secret weapon, Mills-Cockell’s dazzling Moog, helped to promote the group’s daring new album, which featured the avant-garde work of celebrated graphic artist Bruce Meek. Why did the band choose to call it Aardvark? “We liked the fact that the word was high up in the alphabet,” chuckles Martynec. “Avenue Road got listed near the top of the Warner Bros. catalogue. We thought with Aardvark it’d be right at the pinnacle.”
Ultimately, the Market’s heavy use of hallucinogens, LSD and MDA in particular, took its toll. Another attempted tour of the U.S. ballrooms proved a disaster. “It’s all a bit of a blur now,” admits Gibson. “Everyone was pretty stoned in those days and we didn’t live anywhere. We were just in hotels and on airplanes constantly, so that was hard. But, mostly, people were just doing a lot of drugs and that causes a lot of confusion.” Finkelstein agrees. “I think the drug culture got the best of the band,” he says, “and it got the best of me to some degree as well.” Within a year of Aardvark’s release, the band was disintegrating.
Finkelstein and Gibson left Yorkville and moved out to the country to live on a commune in Killaloe, Ont., 200 kilometers north of Toronto. McKie carried on performing as a solo artist. Martynec, who’d been inspired by Pappalardi’s musicianship and studio skills, set his sights on production work. Watson and Darou disappeared from the music scene altogether, with the former going AWOL while the latter met a tragic end. Darou retreated to his Yorkville crash pad, plunged into an apparent deep depression and never came out. He was later found dead of starvation.
The Killaloe dropouts eventually returned to Toronto. Finkelstein formed True North Records and launched the recording careers of Bruce Cockburn, Murray McLauchlan and Gibson, who reunited his band Luke & the Apostles briefly, before releasing a fine solo album, 1972’s Another Perfect Day. Martynec went on to become one of Canada’s most successful record producers, working on albums by Cockburn, McLauchlan and others. Mills-Cockell formed the electronic rock band Syrinx and released two groundbreaking records on True North and scored a cult hit with “Here Come the Seventies.” Schoales, meanwhile, became an award-winning designer of True North album covers.
Kensington Market made its mark as Canada’s quintessential psych-rock group, a band of hippie musicians from Yorkville with lysergic dreams of greatness. Born during the Summer of Love in 1967, the Market released two classic albums before dissolving as the Sixties gave way to the Seventies. Aardvark, one of the first rock recordings to embrace the sonic possibilities of the Moog, is the sound of a band venturing deep into pop music’s outer limits. It’s a significant legacy to have left behind: an album that takes the listener on a journey to the far-off corners of the mind, a place as wild and wonderful as any fantasy novel or Fellini film. So sit back, slip on the headphones and roll ’em if you got ’em. The Aardvark adventure is about to begin.
by Nicholas Jennings
Tracks
1. Help Me (Gene Martynec, Felix Pappalardi) - 2:48
2. If It Is Love (Keith McKie) - 2:42
3. I Know You (Gene Martynec, Keith McKie) - 1:58
4. The Thinker (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 2:29
5. Half Closed Eyes (Keith McKie) - 2:29
6. Said I Could Be Happy (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 2:20
7. Ciao (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 1:14
8. Ow-Ing Man (Gene Martynec, Keith McKie) - 2:37
9. Side I Am (Keith McKie, Gene Martynec) - 3:18
10. Think About the Times (Keith McKie) - 2:53
11. Have You Come to See (Keith McKie, Gene Martynec) - 3:02
12. Cartoon (Gene Martynec, Bernie Finkelstein) - 2:31
13. Dorian (Luke Gibson, Felix Pappalardi) - 6:51
So much has already been written in an attempt to describe the music Trees play, and Trees themselves hope that they have now reached a degree of originality that defies the usual terms such as 'folk orientated rock.'
Melody Maker writes of them, 'Their depth of character causes the group concern over categories to the extent where they are cautiously rejecting the label of 'folk rock' while still clinging to the stable foundation of traditional material. Much of this is misunderstood in the hands of more staid folk figures, and it can only be hoped that Trees' visually contemporary image will encourage audiences to pay more attention to the lyrics'.
All one can do now is give a brief synopsis of Trees' past, tell you what they are doing at the moment and give you a quick glimpse of their future. Bias Boshell (bass guitar and keyboard), Unwin Brown (drums), Barry Clarke (lead guitar, acoustic guitar, dulcimer and mandolin), David Costa (Electric 12 string, acoustic guitar, dulcimer, and mandolin), and Celia Humphris (vocals) have always attracted a great deal of favourable attention from the press, in fact when they first formed, well before 'The Garden Of Jane Delawney' (their first album) was released they had a very good feature in Zigzag. Since then Trees have received a far wider press coverage, with features and interviews in all the leading music and 'underground' press, and also The Express, The Mail and The Times.
Despite all these good words being written about Trees, things haven't always been easy for them, not that they are for any new group, but they seem to have had more than their fair share of bad luck... Even when they first started playing together, their first public performance had to be cancelled because their van broke down 20 miles away from the gig, and David and Barry had to stay in the van all night to guard what little equipment they had.
However, things gradually improved, and Trees got some support bookings at the larger universities and colleges, and at the beginning of 1970 topped the bill for the first time at a folk concert put on by the St. Ives Art Festival, also receiving their first standing ovation.
The next major step forward in Trees' career was a bottom of the bill appearance at Queen Elizabeth Hall, appearing with Matthews' Southern Comfort in their first London concert. Although Trees playing time allowed them to do only four numbers, their performance brought them more acclaim than anything they had done to date, as most of the trade press were there. Karl Dallas, a leading expert on their type of music wrote of them 'Trees have a beautiful girl as lead singer, a lively lass who bends her rich voice round the complexities of folk ballads with increasing assurance, a hard rock guitarist and a folk-club-trained acoustic man, a good bass guitarist and a tasteful drummer... Trees are significant for a number of reasons. First, because in the persons of its three guitar-players it is introducing three virtually unknown artists on to the scene - artists who have an individual brilliance and collective rapport that is nothing less than phenomenal'.
Trees received more and more bookings, and luck seemed to be going their way, but they were to suffer another major setback. In the autumn of last year they had all their equipment stolen, and spent all the money they had earned, plus a lot more on some second-hand equipment, and carried on playing the best they could, for even their van was falling to bits. They have suffered the repercussions of this theft until very recently when they thought they had secured a reliable financial backer to a) expand the band, and b) buy new equipment. Unfortunately the backer pulled out in the middle of the university term, and Trees had to cancel some of their most precious gigs until the money was found to buy more instruments.
Don't think that this affected them as a group, for they have always been very close as people. Beat Instrumental sums them up very well: 'Trees are a tightly-knit group. They weren't assembled by some Svengali manager hoping to amass quick wealth, but had all been friends for some time when, all having musical experience and ambitions, they decided on becoming a band... The closeness also shows in the music. Trees songs are meticulously and precisely arranged, yet such is the sympathy between them that the whole thing seems as easy as pie. Anyone attempting to jam with them would be left helpless'.
Tracks
1. Nothing Special (Boshell, Unwin Brown, B. Clarke, D. Costa, C. Humphris) - 4:29
2. The Great Silkie - 5:13
3. The Garden Of Jane Delawney - 4:05
4. Lady Margaret - 7:11
5. Glasgerion - 5:15
6. She Moved Thro' The Fair - 8:07
7. Road - 4:35
8. Epitaph - 3:23
9. Snail's Lament - 4:38
10.She Moved Thro' The Fair (Bonus Track, Demo Version) - 5:26
11.Pretty Polly (Bonus Track, Demo Version) - 4:50
12.Black Widow (Bonus Track) - 3:22
13.Little Black Cloud (Bonus Track, Suite) - 1:39
All songs written by Bias Boshell except where noted (Tracks 12 and 13 recorded July 2008)
Trees
Ceilia Humpris - Vocals, Keyboards
Bias Boshell - Bass, Acoustic Guitars, Backing Vocals
Barry Clarke - Lead, Acoustic Auitars
David Costa - Acousitic, 12-String Guitars
Unwin Brown - Drums
Mississippi-born, West Coast-based guitarist Mel Brown flexed his slinky fingers with blues god T-Bone Walker before going out on his own for this seriously funky 1967 session. The hot studio band here also includes versatile L.A. pianist Gerald Wiggins and none other than six-string legend Herb Ellis, who dishes up fiery exchanges with Brown on the backbone-slipping “Greasy Spoon” and the Down-South, down-home title cut. In addition to handling arrangements on the date, composer supreme Oliver Nelson (“Stolen Moments”) contributed two tunes; the tricky, frenetic “Anacrusis” and the wah-wah-covered “Hobo Flats.”
But it’s the blues that form the rich and juicy marrow of Brown’s soulful style, and Chicken Fat’s pair of late-night, down-tempo workouts—the sultry original “Home James” and the Ellis-composed “I’m Goin’ to Jackson”—will have you licking your lips with deep delight. Guitar chops meet pork chops on this gorgeous gatefold repress of the original Impulse! LP, one that’s sure to water the mouths of not only jazz and blues fans but of anyone who can’t get enough of that good ol’ raw, funky, Booker T.-style soul. Pass the sauce!
Tracks
1. Chicken Fat (Brown) - 4:16
2. Greasy Spoon (Brown, Ellis, Humphrey) - 5:53
3. Home James (Brown) - 6:34
4. Slalom (Chaikin) - 2:31
5. Hobo Flats (Nelson) - 2:18
6. Shanty (Brown, Wright) - 4:40
7. Sad But True (Ellis) - 5:01
8. I'm Goin' to Jackson (Ellis) - 4:24
9. Blues for Big Bob (Brown) - 4:25
Personnel
*Mel Brown - Guitars
*Ronald Brown - Bass
*Paul Humphrey - Drums
*Gerald Wiggins - Organ
*Herb Ellis - Guitar (on Tracks 1, 2, 3, 7 ,8)
*Arthur Wright - Guitar (on Tracks 4, 5, 6, 9)
Having honed their repertoire on the road, Trees returned to the studio in October 1970 to cut their second and last LP, the masterful On The Shore. Another beautifully-judged blend of original and traditional material, it received extravagant praise but failed to break through commercially, spelling the end for the band’s original incarnation.
It makes its long-awaited reappearance on vinyl here, as a deluxe double LP set. Featuring a gatefold sleeve packed with rare images, a lavish 12-page booklet with an introduction from their guitarist David Costa and a detailed band history, and numerous bonus tracks, it is the fullest edition of this classic album ever assembled.
‘An exceptionally intoxicating brew of gothic folk songs, eastern-tinged guitars, male-female vocal interplay and solid drum grooves. Impeccable stuff’ Shindig magazine
A splendid fusion of austere English folk and the fluid guitar lines of America’s West Coast, and as good as anything produced by their contemporaries in the field’ Record Collector
Tracks
1. Soldiers Three (traditional) - 1:51
2. Murdoch (Bias Boshell) - 5:10
3. Streets of Derry" (traditional) - 6:09
4. Sally Free and Easy (Cyril Tawney) - 1:12
5. Fool (Boshell, David Costa) - 10:12
6. Adam's Toon (A. Della Halle) - 5:22
7. Geordie (traditional) - 5:06
8. While the Iron is Hot (Boshell) - 3:21
9. Little Sadie (traditional) - 3:11
10.Polly on the Shore (traditional) - 7:31
Bonus Disc
1. Soldiers Three (remix) - 1:50
2. Murdoch (remix) - 6:36
3. Streets of Derry (remix) - 7:34
4. Fool (remix) - 5:24
5. Geordie (remix) - 5:09
6. Little Sadie (remix) - 2:40
7. Polly on the Shore (remix) - 6:09
8. Forest Fire (1971 BBC session) - 4:06
9. Little Black Cloud (1970 demo) - 2:14
Trees
*Bias Boshell - Guitars, Piano, Acoustic 12-String, Vocals
*Celia Humphris - Vocals, Keyboards
*Barry Clarke - Lead Guitar
*Unwin Brown - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*David Costa - Acoustic Guitar, Electric 12-String, Dulcimer
Guest Musicians
*Tony Cox - Bass (on track 4)
*Michael Jeffries - Harp
Many of the most obscure progressive bands of the late 60s and early 70s are included in our exhaustive appraisal of private pressings elsewhere in this issue. They took the independent route in the hope of being spotted by talent scouts from labels like Charisma, Island or Harvest, having already proved themselves on vinyl.
Others, like Gravesend-based Fantasy, were more fortunate. They were picked up by a major label, Polydor, and given a favourable recording budget and a name producer. Sadly, this arrangement didn't work out, and when it became clear that Fantasy weren't going to turn into Genesis or Van Der Graaf Generator overnight, the band were promptly dropped.
Today, many experts in the burgeoning progressive field scoff at the label's shortsightedness. For several years, Fantasy's only album, "Paint A Picture", issued in 1973, has been renowned among collectors for displaying talent that, if properly nurtured, could have given the group a massive profile in the years to come. The phenomenal BP300 price tag for a mint copy does not simply reflect the album's rarity: Fantasy's "Paint A Picture" has long been hailed as a masterpiece of classically influenced, quintessentially English progressive rock, full of delightful twists and turns and instrumental prowess, coupled with an uncanny talent for songwriting. Now, interest in the band has been heightened by the release of "Beyond The Beyond", a fascinating find dating from the summer of 1974 which, in the opinion of many collectors, simply confirms Fantasy's early promise.
The band began playing some time around 1970 as Chapel Farm, named after the Singlewell building which provided them with rehearsal space. The nucleus of Dave Metcalfe (keyboards), Paul Lawrence (guitar/vocals) and Dave Read (bass), together with drummer Brian Chatham and guitarist Bob Vann, began by performing cover versions, before focusing their attentions on their own material.
With a support slot to Argent just three weeks away, tragedy struck the band when, turning up for a 'Melody Maker' competition held at a hotel in Cliftonville, Bob Vann toppled over the cliffs edge outside. Paul Lawrence recalls that, "The rest of us had gone back inside the hotel, but we became worried because, as it was Bob's 18th birthday, he'd been drinking a lot." Bob lay on the beach below, and died in the ambulance on the way to a hospital.
It was a cruel blow, but the group eventually decided to stick together, for Bob's sake if nothing else. With Brian Chatham also having left the line-up, Chapel Farm recruited guitarist Pete James and drummer Jon Webster from local band Joy, changed their name to Firequeen, and began supporting progressive heavyweights like the Edgar Broughton Band and the Pink Fairies.
After they sent out demos of their homegrown material to companies like Decca, it was Polydor who took the bait, on the proviso that the group change its name. "They didn't like Firequeen", recalls Dave Metcalfe, "as it was too close to Queen, and they said that Chapel Farm suggested that we were a country band." The name Fantasy was suggested. "We had no choice in the matter," remembers Paul Lawrence, "and we hated it right the way through our whole career. But in a way, they were right, because the name is quite representative of the sound of the music."
Having signed a three-year contract in spring 1973, the group entered Chipping Norton Studios in May with producer Peter Sames (who'd recently worked on Peter Skellern's massive hit, "You're A Lady"), emerging with a ten-song album that would have delighted Genesis and Caravan fans had they heard it. Metcalfe remembers, "We just couldn't get through that barrier of recognition. I don't think Polydor understood our music, and our management appeared not to take us seriously enough."
The label, then riding high with Slade, may have also detected a slight lack of commitment in the fact that the group members still maintained their day jobs.
Originally titled "Virgin On The Ridiculous", "Paint A Picture" appeared in the autumn, containing much of the group's stage set, including "The Award", a tribute to their late guitarist Bob Vann. Also included was the commercially inclined "Politely Insane", which was written and recorded on the same day. Brass was later added, and the track provided Polydor with the single they wanted. It didn't give them the sort of sales figures they were looking for, however. "Politely Insane' was backed by the non-LP cut, "I Was Once Aware", which helps explain its current asking price of BP20.
Fantasy were disappointed but not disheartened by the poor response to "Paint A Picture". They knew that their music was the kind that needed nurturing, and that audiences would take time to warm to their classically influenced and richly textured material. But after sharing the bill with Queen at the Marquee, they failed to follow up with regular concerts and any momentum set in motion by the LP quickly subsided.
Tracks
1. Paint A Picture - 5:24
2. Circus - 6:18
3. The Award - 4:52
4. Politely Insane - 3:27
5. Widow - 2:12
6. Icy River - 5:53
7. Thank Christ - 4:06
8. Young Man's Fortune - 3:41
9. Gnome Song - 4:19
10.Silent Mine - 4:39
11. Beyond The Beyond (Bonus Track) - 5:37
12. Reality (Bonus Track) - 2:58
13. Alanderie (Bonus Track) - 9:01
14. Afterthought (Bonus Track) - 5:51
15. Worried Man (Bonus Track) - 2:56
16. Just A Dream (Bonus Track) - 3:32
17. Winter Rose (Bonus Track) - 3:27
All songs written by Paul Lawrence, David Metcalfe, David Read.
Fantasy
*Peter James - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Paul Lawrence - 12 String Guitar, Vocals
*David Read - Bass, Vocals
*David Metcalfe - Keyboards, Vocals
*Jon Webster - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Like most of their equally obscure mid-60s R&B/freakbeat brethren, THE PRIMITIVES are principally namechecked these days for the value - both in fiscal and artistic terms - of their vinyl legacy. Their trio of singles for the Pye label, the Italian-only album Blow Up and a unique-to-France EP currently have a combined value on the collectors circuit of over £1000, an accurate representation of their standing amongst freakbeat connoisseurs. But while their records have long been coveted by 60s collectors, the story of the Primitives has remained shrouded in mystery, with only vague rumours ci rc u lati ng about the relationship between the band's early UK career and their subsequent exploits in Italy.
Maladjusted rounds up their work during this 1964-67 period, featuring everything from those previously-mentioned releases plus an alternate version of the French EP's lead track, 'Oh Mary', the entire Blow Up album and a couple of related solo 45s from the group's long-term frontman Mal Ryder who, along with early fan John Taylor, has provided invaluable help in piecing together the legend of the band.
The Primitives evolved in 1964 out of British beat boom hopefuls The Cornflakes (previously known as The Rising Sons), whose typically cheesy post-Beatles handle didn't prevent them building up a sizeable fan base on the Oxford live circuit. As the Cornflakes, they won the Plaza Cinema beat group contest in Northampton, a competition that proved to be of twofold importance in their embryonic career: the contest's first prize was a two-year contract with the Pye label, while Cyd Cipin, who ran the local Plaza, was so impressed by the group that, in conjunction with his brother Mayer and their associate Leslie Jaffa, he became their manager.
While The Primitives were experiencing the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, a teenage rock'n'roll fan by the name of Paul Bradley Couling had been invited to rehearse with The Meteors, who also worked the Oxford iive circuit. Accepting their invitation, Couling quickly began to attract attention as The Meteors' frontman, and he was duly approached by prominent local band The Beatniks, whose lead singer Peter Cox had just been called up for National Service. Couling didn't need to think twice about accepting their offer: he left The Meteors, his job at the Southern Electricity Board, Oxford and his old identity behind. Adopting the stage name of Mal Ryder, he and his new colleagues - by now rechristened the Spirits moved north to Doncaster, appointing Martin Yale (who also handled Hull R&B band The Rats and Sheffield's Joe Cocker) as their manager.
Yale helped Mal Ryder and The Spirits find work in working men's clubs, but his influence was most apparent in brokering a recording deal. With the aid of future Tom Jones producer Peter Sullivan, two singles were cut both for Decca and Decca's Vocalion Pop labels: 'Cry Baby' / 'Take Over' (Decca F 11669, June 1963) and 'See The Funny Little Clown' / 'Slow Down' (Vocalion V 9219, May 1964). When these failed to garner attention, the band changed managers, the London-based David Stones setting in motion a move to Pye subsidiary Piccadilly. That led to the November 1964 release, 'Forget It' b/w 'Your Friend' (a Marty Wilde song), and a follow-up single - the Carter/Lewis composition 'Lonely Room' (also recorded by Carter/Lewis's own band, The Ivy League) backed by 'Tell Your Friend'appeared as a Mal Ryder solo single in April 1965.
Stones also arranged for the group to follow the well-worn UK/Germany export route, including a stint on the Storyville Club circuit that found The Spirits playing for up to six hours a night. Exhausted by their schedule, The Spirits fulfilled their contractual commitments in Germany before returning to England in spring 1965, when they promptly split up. As stressed as the rest of his former colleagues, Mal Ryder went back to work with his father on building sites, his hopes of pop stardom apparently over.
The Primitives stayed with Mal until the early 70s, by which stage their line-up had gone through several changes. Pick Withers returned to England, playing with various low-profile progressive acts before finally hitting paydirt in the late 1970s with Dire Straits. His replacement in The Primitives, Scottish-born drummer Robbie Mcintosh, came to the group from the Brian Auger Trinity before going on to international success with the Average White Band, though he died at a tragically early age in 1974. A more pivotal Primitives member, Jay Roberts/Jeffrey Farthing, is also sadly no longer with us, having died of an overdose in the 1990s.
The late 60s line-up of the Primitives continued to contribute to Italian albums like "Sua Eccelenza" and "Mal Dei Primitives", but their musical output had become increasingly erratic. Sparkling psychedelic performances of 'Dear Mr. Fantasy', 'Race With The Devil' and the Small Faces track 'Song Of A Baker' were buried cheek-by-jowl alongside such mainstream fare as 'Love Letters In The Sand', 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' and 'You'll Never Walk Alone' as Mal opted for the traditional showbiz route. For that reason, our anthology ends in 1967, thereby capturing both Mal and the Primitives during their mid-60s artistic apex, with fire in their teenage bellies and an unshakable commitment to the life-affirming qualities of raw, belligerent, adenoidal British R&B. Maladjusted? The Primitives?!? You'd better believe it.
by David Wells
Tracks
1. Help Me (Mort Dixon, Ralph Bass, Sonny Boy Williamson) - 3.39
2. Let Them Tell (Jeffrey Farthing, John E. Soul) - 2.14
3. You Said (Geoff Tindall) - 2.17
4. How Do You Feel? (John E. Soul) - 2.23
5. Every Minute Of Every Day (Frank Catana) - 2.10
6. Pretty Little Face (John E. Soul) - 2.07
7. Forget It (Irving Martin, Jack Daw) - 2.01
8. Your Friend (Mal Ryder) - 2.37
9. Lonely Room (John Carter, Ken Lewis, Perry Ford) - 2.02
10.Tell Your Friend (Mal Ryder) - 2.27
11.Oh Mary (Jackie Edwards) - 2.48
12.Oh Mary (Jackie Edwards) - 2.05
13.I Don't Feel Myself (Dave Sumner) - 2.42
14.Mr. Heartache (Jay Roberts) - 2.36
15.Tears In My Eyes (Dave Sumner) - 3.47
16.Gimme Some Loving (Muff Winwood, Spencer Davis, Steve Winwood) - 4.21
17.L'Ombra De Nessuno "Standing in The Shadows Of Love" (Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier) - 2.55
18 .No Response (Anderson) - 3.08
19.Johnny No "Thunder & Lightning" (Hoyt Axton) - 3. 10
20.Cara-Lin (Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer) - 3.32
21.Yeeeeeeh! "' Ain t Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore" (Lori Burton, Pam Sawyer) - 3. 12
22.Gira, Gira "Reach Out, I'll Be There" (Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier) - 3.07
23.Every Minute Of Every Day (Frank Catana) - 2.16
24.Mister Heartheache (Jay Roberts) - 2.19
25.Ma Beata Te (Jay Roberts) - 3.08
26.Sookie, Sookie (Don Covay, Steve Cropper) - 2.51
27.Mohair Sam (Dallas Frazier) - 2.43
28.L'lncidente "Soul Finger" (Ben Cauley, Carl Cunningham) - 2 .52
Love Sculpture made an amazing leap forward in a relatively short space of time from their album of raw blues and soul covers (Blues Helping) to the much more advanced psychedelic pop and quasi classical structures of Forms and Feelings. It starts with two memorable singles “In The Land of the Few”, complete with Byrds like jangly guitars and an early expression of environmental concerns in their take of Paul Korda’s “Seagul”, a sensitive, somewhat dramatic ballad as it turns out.
The creative leap forward taken by the band is also demonstrated on the remarkable version of “Nobody Talking” (written by Finesilver and Ker famous for their composition “Fire” for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown) with some blistering guitar breaks seguing into a 7:43 tour de force entitled “Why (How-Now)”, also by Finesilver and Ker but to my ears a remake of George Harrison’s It’s All Too Much. Just when you think you’re moving forward it’s back in time to a cheeky Edmunds arrangement of Bizet’s “Farandole”- “sacre blue” to some but a kind of Cossack dance that might make you dance around the living room with your Dyson to others!
By the way Edmunds can’t resist a Clapton blues guitar quotation in the middle of this sounds like Fresh Cream to me! While the Chuck Berry cover (“You Can’t Catch Me”) seems out of place, there’s another Finesilver/Ker number “People, People” that restores the flow: a sardonic, psychedelic, Ray Davies type of ballad featuring some incendiary guitar. Few people familiar with the hit single “Sabre Dance“ (included as a bonus track) would realise that an interpretation of Holst’s “Mars” segues into the full album version.
There are other worthwhile bonus tracks like the b-side of “Sabre Dance”, a rare Edmunds solo composition (“Think of Love”) mixing blues with psychedelic but mostly an “I Hear you Knocking” trying to get in with a bit of “River Deep, Mountain High” as well! The single version of “Seagull” with a truncated “Farnadole” is also included along with “In The Land of the Few” and its b-side “People People”. There’s a lot to enjoy on Forms and Feelings, a quantum leap from Love Sculpture’s tentative debut and one of the most enduring and exciting releases of the period.
by Phil Jackson
Tracks
1. In The Land of the Few (Dave Edmunds, Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker)
2. Seagull (Paul Korda)
3. Nobody's Talking (Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker)
4. Why (How-Now) (Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker)
5. Farandole (Georges Bizet, arranged by Dave Edmunds)
6. You Can't Catch Me (Chuck Berry)
7. People, People (Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker)
8. Mars (Gustav Holst)
9. Sabre Dance (Aram Khatchaturian, arranged by Dave Edmunds)
10.Think of Love (Dave Edmunds, Bonus Track)
11.Seagull (Paul Korda, Single Version, Bonus Track)
12.Farnadole (Georges Bizet, arranged by Dave Edmunds, Single Version, Bonus Track)
13.In The Land of the Few (Dave Edmunds, Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker, Mono Single Version, Bonus Track)
14.People, People (Mike Finesilver, Peter Ker, Single Version, Bonus Track)
15.Sabre Dance (Aram Khatchaturian, arranged by Dave Edmunds, Single Version, Bonus Track)
Love Sculpture
*Dave Edmunds - Guitar, Vocals
*John Williams - Bass
*Bob 'Congo' Jones - Drums
*Terry Williams - Drums (arrived late 1969 and replaced Bob )
*Mickey Gee - Guitar (arrived late 1969)
Long before he produced legendary albums by artists like Brinsley Schwarz and the Flamin' Groovies; before he had formed a musical partnership with pop/rock singer/songwriter Nick Lowe; even before he enjoyed a brief - albeit moderately successful - career as a solo artist during the 1980s, guitarist Dave Edmunds was a bluesman.
Yup. You read that correctly...singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer Dave Edmunds, who has worked with such artistically disparate artists as k.d. lang and the Stray Cats, Rockpile and Johnny Cash, and whose solo work was a maddening mish-mash of 1950s-styled rockabilly, vintage '60s British rock, and the 1980s-era infatuation with synths and keyboards and slick production...that Dave Edmunds was a blues-rock guitarist the equal of contemporaries like Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Rory Gallagher. And you wondered why the Fabulous Thunderbirds chose Edmunds to produce their breakthrough 1986 album Tuff Enuff?
Before he wore any and all of the abovementioned musical hats, Edmunds cut his teeth with the long-lost British blues-rock outfit Love Sculpture. Formed in 1966 in response to England's ongoing love affair with the blues, and inspired by the popularity of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Love Sculpture was an early power trio consisting of Edmunds on vocals and guitar, John Williams on bass, and drummer Bob "Congo" Jones.
All three members of Love Sculpture had played together for years in bands such as the rockabilly-oriented trio the Raiders, and the blues-influenced Human Beans (who recorded one single for Columbia and shouldn't be confused with the Youngstown, Ohio frat-rock band the Human Beinz).
Signed to EMI's Parlophone label, the band released its 1968 debut album into a thriving British blues-rock scene that included Cream and Savoy Brown, among many other bands. A collection of blues and R&B standards, with a lone original song in the title track, Blues Helping was designed as a showcase for Edmund's underrated six-string pyrotechnics.
Although Edmunds has since stated that he knew little about the blues when recording Blues Helping, you couldn't tell it from the results. With his instrument slung low, Edmunds leads the band through a breakneck cover of Freddie King's "The Stumble," the sped-up instrumental proving the guitarist's mettle and fretboard dexterity. The set includes a smoky cover of Ray Charles' "I Believe To My Soul" that features bassist Williams belting out the vocals, accompanied by Edmunds' stinging leads. Elmore James' raucous "So Unkind" is provided a Chicago blues-styled rhythm and Edmunds' spry guitarwork.
An odd cover of the George Gershwin song "Summertime" provides one of those hippy-dippy 1960s flashback psych-pop moments, with lush instrumentation, echoed vocals, and delicate, tho' decidedly un-bluesy guitarplay. The old blues chestnut "On The Road Again" was based on Canned Heat's cover of the song earlier in the year, and it even sounds like Bob Hite, Al Wilson, and crew save for Edmunds' distinctive guitar tone and blistering solos. Otherwise, from the vocals down to the potent, driving rhythm, you'd swear that you were listening to the boogie kings from California.
An inspired cover of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" lopes along at an acceptable tempo, Williams' sly vocals peppered by shards of swaggering fretwork and supported by a hearty bassline as sticky and wide as two lanes of freshly-paved blacktop. Going back to the deep well that is Ray Charles' song catalog, "Come Back Baby" is a smoldering R&B bonfire with Jones' subtle brush-and-cymbal work and one of Edmunds' most dynamic solos. The album's title track, the instrumental "Blues Helping," features heaps of six-string notes that fly by with the speed and power of a tornado.
Four bonus tracks were tacked onto the end of Blues Helping, including an engaging cover of Tim Rose's folk-rock classic "Morning Dew (Take Me For A Walk)" by the pre-Love Sculpture line-up of the Human Beans, the 'A' side to their lone 7" single release. It's a fine cover, too, more in a psychedelic vein than blues-rock, but an impressive and original performance nonetheless. The 'B' side of the long-lost Human Beans single is a somewhat strained reading of the Isaac Hayes/Dave Porter gem "It's A Wonder" that offers inspired instrumentation but weak vocals. Another pair of tracks, from an obscure pre-Love Sculpture single, are interesting, but unremarkable pastiches of Beatlesque psych-pop.
More of a measure of Dave Edmunds' chameleon-like musical talents than a true artistic statement, Love Sculpture's Blues Helping is an obscure relic of an era past. The band would release a second, less bluesy and far less energetic album in 1969, and they would even score a hit in the U.K. with a speed-demon cover of the classical composition "Sabre Dance." Although he'd slap a bluesy lick into a song now and then throughout his lengthy solo career, Edmunds never quite walked the blues-rock path the same way again.
Still, Blues Helping is a rockin' collection of spirited blues covers with plenty of verve and more than enough guitar-wrangling to please even the most diehard Stevie Ray fan.
It's also a lot of fun, the band loose-limbed and brash in their musical aggression, playing off the power trio aesthetic with a recklessness and joy that they'd never find again. Edmunds' fretwork is a thing of amazement, and it makes one wonder what might have been if he'd followed Clapton down that lost highway towards the crossroads.
By Keith A. Gordon
Tracks
1. The Stumble (Freddy King, Sonny Thompson) - 3:03
2. Three O' Clock Blues (B.B. King, Jules Taub) - 5:08
3. I Believe To My Soul (Ray Charles) - 3:47
4. So Unkind (Elmore James, Marshall Sehorn) - 2:56
5. Summertime (DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin) - 4:02
6. On The Road Again (Floyd Jones, Will Shade) - 3:35
7. Don't Answer The Door (Jimmy Johnson) - 6:02
8. Wang Dang Doodle (Willie Dixon) - 3:31
9. Come Back Baby (Ray Charles) - 2:45
10.Shake Your Hips (James Moore) - 3:19
11.Blues Helping: Instrumental (Bob Jones, Dave Edmunds, John Williams) - 3:46
12.Morning Dew: Take Me For A Walk (Bonnie Dobson, Tim Rose, 1967 Single Release as Human Beans) - 2:52
13.It's A Wonder (Isaac Hayes, David Porter, 1967 Single Release as Human Beans) - 2:41
14.River To Another Day (Charles & Kingsley Ward, 1968 Single Release) - 2:36
15.Brand New Woman (Crick Feather, 1968 Single Release) - 2:21
Love Sculpture
*Dave Edmunds - Guitar, Organ, Piano, Lead Vocals
*John Williams - Bass, Piano, Vocals
*Bob 'Congo' Jones - Drums, Vocals
The Flowerpot Men were a studio construct created by British songwriters John Carter and Ken Lewis, who had previously been in the Ivy League, notable for providing background vocals on the early Who albums and for first recording the cult song "My World Fell Down," later a famous non-hit by Sagittarius.
Carter and Lewis (as the Flowerpot Men) crafted the Beach Boys-influenced "Let's Go to San Francisco," which was a minor hit at the close of the Summer of Love, as well as a couple of albums' worth of psychedelic-tinged sunshine pop, the highlights of which are included here.
Aside from the two-part single "Let's Go to San Francisco" (and its reprise, "Let's Go Back to San Francisco"), this release from C 5 also includes the very Byrds-ish "Blow Away" and the epic Mellotron-laced "Mythological Sunday." None of this is major stuff, but some of the recordings are gorgeously produced, and fans of 1960s sunshine pop and psychedelia should definitely give the Flowerpot Men a try.
by Steve Leggett
Tracks
1. Let's Go To San Francisco, Part 1 & 2 (John Carter, Ken Lewis) - 6:17
2. A Walk In The Sky (John Carter, Ken Lewis, Russell Alquist) - 3:51
3. Am I Losing You (John Carter) - 2:00
4. Man Without A Woman (John Carter, Russell Alquist) - 4:00
5. You Can Never Be Wrong (John Carter, Ken Lewis, Russell Alquist) - 2:35
6. Piccolo Man (John Carter, Ken Lewis, Russell Alquist) - 2:17
7. Mythological Sunday (Russell Alquist) - 5:18
8. In A Moment Of Madness (Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway) - 2:59
9. Young Birds Fly (Bill Swofford) - 2:27
10.Sweet Baby Jane (Gillian Shakespeare, John Carter) - 3:35
11.Journey's End (Gillian Shakespeare, John Carter) - 4:22
12.Silicon City (Gillian Shakespeare, John Carter) - 4:05
13.Busy Doin' Nothing (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) - 2:54
14.White Dove (John Carter, Ken Lewis) - 4:09
15.Let's Go Back To San Francisco, Part 1 (John Carter, Ken Lewis) - 2:35
16.Let's Go Back To San Francisco, Part 2 (John Carter, Ken Lewis) - 2:46
17.Cooks Of Cake And Kindness (John Carter, Russell Alquist) - 2:56
18.Gotta Be Free (Peter Barnfather, John Carter) - 3:29
19.Heaven Knows When (Peter Barnfather, John Carter) - 3:39
20.Brave New World (Gillian Shakespeare, John Carter, Russell Alquist) - 3:13
21.Children Of Tomorrow (Gillian Shakespeare, John Carter, Russell Alquist) - 7:57
The Flower Pot Men
*Tony Burrows - Vocals
*Neil Landon - Vocals
*Robin Shaw - Vocals
*Pete Nelson - Vocals
*Ged Peck - Guitar
*Carlo Little - Drums
*Nick Simper - Bass
*Jon Lord - Organ
