Some old recordings are rare for a reason. When I was a kid in the 70s, like lots of other boys my age, I collected beer cans. And we quickly learned some basic tenets of the hobby. An old Busch can wasn’t usually worth much, even though it had a fairly nice full-color Alpine chalet painting on the can. Aesthetics aside, the fact remained that since those suds were cheap and popular, the cans could be found everywhere. They simply weren’t highly sought after by collectors.
Something like Hop’n Gator Tropical Flavored Malt Liquor, on the other hand, was a popular can among collectors. This concoction was, I believe (I never tried it!) an admixture of a Gatorade-like product and some beer from the people who brought you Iron City Beer. In all likelihood it was as awful as it sounds. It didn’t last long, having what we might tactfully characterize as limited appeal. Thus finding a can for one’s collection was a big deal. (I have one, but it’s not in great condition.)
Music is sometimes the same. Unless one is an aficionado of the Incredibly Strange, there are some items that simply aren’t worth tracking down. But there are other cases. To further riff on the beer can metaphor, some regional products were quite good, but failed due to distribution problems.
Which, finally, brings me to an album by Milt Matthews Inc. called For the People. Originally released on the tiny Catalyst label in the USA, this second album by the group sank in the marketplace with nary a trace. For reasons having mostly to do with the uniqueness and quality of the sides therein, UK label Ember licensed the album for re-release in England. They slapped new cover artwork on it — nothing special, but superior to the original — and put it out in 1971.
It sank without a trace. Again. Which was a shame, since it’s a pretty solid album. The period from around 1965 to the early 70s was filled with so much of value, so much groundbreaking and worthwhile music, that there simply wasn’t any practical way to assimilate it all. The mind boggles at how much quality music never got a hearing. The archive-minded folks at Fantastic Voyage think so, too: they’ve reissued the album so that modern-day listeners can avail themselves of Milt Matthews Inc.’s music, a prime example of how-did-we-miss-this.
So, to the music. At its core, the music on For the People is soul of the turn-of-the-decade variety, but the arrangements are richly informed by the best trends of the era. While that funk-jangle-chunka-chunk so popular on soul albums of the day is omnipresent, there is also an awful lot of fuzz guitar on the album. In fact there’s as much fuzz as you’d hear on a record by, say, Blue Cheer or the Electric Prunes. And said fuzz is well-integrated.
Milt Matthews wrote some strong tunes, but in some ways the most interesting numbers on the disc are the covers. Matthews actually went to the trouble to enlist the services of arranger Bert DeCoteaux for the strings on his cover of BB King‘s “The Thrill is Gone” (DeCoteaux did the arrangement for BB as well). But the vacuum-tone leads all over the song owe more to acid-rock and psychedelia than to the Beale Street Blues Boy. Matthews leads the band through the song with ad-libs like “I believe I’ll sing that verse again,” suggesting that (a) the band performed live in the studio or (b) he wanted to give listeners that impression. This reviewer votes for the former. The strings and the lead guitar fills play effectively off one another, creating a head-nodding groove.
A cover of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” reinterprets the song in a manner stylistically related to some of what was coming out of Stax (track down the 2008 compilation Stax Does the Beatles for more in this vein). The fuzz is laid on more thickly than was the wont of, say, Steve Cropper. A string chart adds a lot here as well: there aren’t all that many successful examples of melding of soul and psych.
Matthews’ original tunes are good, too. “Can’t See Myself Doing You Wrong” features hypnotic riffing seemingly influenced by both Traffic and Led Zeppelin. But a soulful female chorus moves the song closer to the sort of thing Isaac Hayes did so well. “O Lord (You Gotta Help Me)” is sort of a soul corollary to what George Harrison was doing at roughly the same time on All Things Must Pass.
The riffy “Runaway People” features lots of wah-wah guitar and piano, striking a note redolent of Sly and the Family Stone. The gospel/soul slow-jam “That’s the Way I Feel (Like a Burning Fire)” would merely be a good tune of its type were it not for the searing fuzz leads — did I mention there’s fuzz all over this record? — that catapult it into something greater. “Disaster Area” is good, too; it was via that track’s inclusion on Fantastic Voyages’ Looking Toward the Sky comp of Ember tracks that this reviewer discovered Milt Mathews Inc.
In 1971 there was still a lot of cross-fertilization going on in music. It wasn’t unheard of to dig both Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell. A singer in the Otis Redding style like Milt Mathews could imbibe the best influences of acts like Blind Faith and apply those influences to his own sound.
Which is exactly what Matthews and his band do on the cover of “Presence of the Lord,” the album closer. Matthews brings the song’s gospel feel — already clear — even more to the fore. Fuzz and wah add to the festivities with a long, searing solo.
by Bill Kopp, May 3rd 2010
Tracks
1. The Thrill Is Gone (Roy Hawkins, Rick Darnell) - 6:19
2. Can't See Myself Doing You Wrong (Milt Matthews) - 3:34
3. Hard Day's Night (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 5:12
4. Oh Lord (You Gotta Help Me) (Milt Matthews) - 4:01
5. Runaway People (Arlester Christian) - 4:09
6. That's The Way I Feel (Like A Burning Fire) (Milt Matthews) - 5:05
7. Disaster Area (Milt Matthews) - 4:33
8. Presence Of The Lord (Eric Clapton) - 5:30
The Milt Matthews Inc
*Milt Matthews - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
*Randalll Burney - Lead Guitar
*Tommy Byrd - Drums, Percussion
*Norman Harrison - Keyboards
*Carl Matthews - Bass
This is an interesting UK early-1970s 'super group' that doesn't seem to have attracted a great deal of attention during it's brief existence and today is all but unknown.
Singer Aliki Ashman had previously worked and recorded with Ginger Baker's Air Force and The Graham Bond Organization, providing backing vocals for a number of their late 1960s albums. In 1971 she decided to step out on her own, hooking up with singer/bassist Harry Reynolds. Expanding the line up to include former Heavy Metal Kids drummer Keith Boyce, ex-Picadilly Line multi-instrumentalist Rod Edwards, and ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Weston the group attracted the attention of Polydor Records which signed them to a contract.
Recorded in London's A.I.R. Studios with John Miller producing 1972's "Stop Off" wasn't anything like I expected. Backed by singer Madeline Bell, guitarist Mickey Keen and others, my expectations were to hear something along the lines of a shrill blues-rock set. Instead tracks like 'Come Right In', 'Country Man', 'They're Only Gonna Take My Life' and 'My Father's Side' came off as a UK version of Delaney and Bonnie. That comparison might sound strange, but it was apt with the group showing a true penchant for the same mixture of blues, gospel, soul, and rock influences Delaney and Bonnie excelled at. Ashman and Reynolds shared vocal duties, though Reynolds was in the spotlight far more often.
While he may have had the stronger voice (hard to believe he was English), Ashman made the most of her isolate solo spots - 'Work Out the Score' was a nice ballad with a haunting West Coast-styled guitar solo from Wilson, while the closer showcased her tougher edge, ending with a killer Wilson solo. Sound weird? Definitely, but in a good way. Once I got over my surprise I discovered the LP was full of charm and winning efforts. Hard to select a favorite track, but it might be the up tempo rocker 'Long Long Road'. Complete with a tasty Weston guitar solo the song would have made a dandy single. Equally impressive were the pretty ballad 'I Wish I Knew' (sporting some dazzling harmony vocals from Ashman and Reynolds).
The band survived long enough to undertake a supporting tour for the LP, opening for Fleetwood Mac and Savoy Brown. That apparently did little for sales and within a couple of months Ashman, Boyce, Edwards, Reynolds, and Weston were supporting Long John Baldry. Ashman and Reynolds seem to have continued their partnership through the mid-1970s, though they don't seem to have recorded anything else.
On her own Ashman reappeared as a member of the band Casablanca who recorded a 1974 LP for Elton John's Rocket label, only to see it shelved. The album "The Lost Funk" was finally released in 2003 by the Second Sight Films Ltd Label, she also recorded an obscure 1976 single with Arthur Brown - 'Ooh, It Takes Two To Tango' b/w 'Rocking the Boat' (Electric Record Co catalog number WOT7).
Tracks
1. Come Right In (Harry Reynolds) - 4:45
2. Country Man (Harry Reynolds) - 3:12
3. Long, Long Road (Harry Reynolds) - 3:56
4. They're Only Gonna Take My Life (Rod Edwards, Roger Hand) - 5:13
5. Hymn For Him (Aliki Ashman, Harry Reynolds) - 6:01
6. I Wish I Knew (Aliki Ashman, Harry Reynolds) - 5:47
7. Work Out The Score (Aliki Ashman, Harry Reynolds) - 4:08
8. Taking Off (Aliki Ashman, Bob Weston, Harry Reynolds) - 4:35
9. My Father's Side (Harry Reynolds) - 3:50
10.Help Me (Aliki Ashman, Harry Reynolds) - 5:05
The roots of the original Motherlode can be traced back to some of Toronto's hottest club acts in the late '60s. Despite the rave reviews and loyal following, The Soul Searchers were spinning their wheels. Steve Kennedy (sax & harmonica) and William Smith (keyboards), who's resume also included some time with David Clayton Thomas's bands prior to BST, decided to go out on their own, and joined another hot commodity on Yonge Street, Grant Smith & The Power.
But that band was mostly playing everyone else's material, and the majority of the 9-piece ensemble was growing restless, and parted ways in 1968. Kennedy and Smith, along with guitarist Ken Marco and drummer Wayne Stone, decided to go out on their own. They packed up their gear and their bongs, and moved to London to escape the pressures and rat race of living in Toronto.
They began playing on the local circuit there while writing their own material, and barely scratching out a living, when they caught the attention of Mort Ross, president of Revolver Records. He signed them to a deal and the band spent the spring of '69 in the studios with producers Doug Riley (Dr Music) and Terry Brown, who would later be producer of Rush, among a million other credits.
With US distribution through Neil Bogart's (KISS, Donna Summer) Buddha Records, the debut album, WHEN I DIE, was released that summer. But amid a considerable amount of hype, the title track eventually climbed in the top 10 in Canada and went gold, and pleasantly surprising, peaked at #18 Stateside. The follow-up single "Memories Of A Broken Promise" stalled at #25, but with a heavy tour schedule to back the product, record execs were happy, and paid for some recording time that fall.
For some reason RPM Magazine, based out of Toronto coincidentally, decided to declare them Canada's first 'supergroup' ... perhaps a bit premature, as they split up only a couple of months later, in January 1970 with eveyone except Smith became Dr Music's revised backup band. But Mort Ross and Revolver Records owned the name 'Motherlode,' And since he hadn't yet recouped the vested financial investment he'd made in the group, Ross decided to produce and release a second album. TAPPED OUT was in the stores that spring, but only in the US, and unfortunately not many copies left those store shelves.
Although following the same basic funk/soul rock to it, the record was generally perceived as disjointed, sounding incomplete. Because there was minimal material to work with, the songs had to be extended as much as possible, and only seven made the album. With the songs too long for radio play and station PDs not all that interested, it went nowhere.
But ever the opitimist, Ross installed revolving doors in the dressing rooms and studio, and over the next year several incarnations of Motherlode came and went. He convinced Smith to come back on board for one version that played a few smaller dates together, and released a pair of singles, "Dear Old Daddy Bill" and "I'm So Glad You're You." Neither song lit up the charts, and since it was a makeshift marriage destined to fail anyway, everyone went their separate ways.
Another version of the group centred around singer Breen LeBoeuf (ex of Chimo, Soutchote, Studebaker Hawk) and guitarist Gord Waszek (ex of Leigh Ashford), which released the single "All That's Necessary." With no money to back the project, that too didn't fare well. Interestingly, the b-side to that song was "The Chant," a reworking of "Hiro Smothek" from the second album. That version split up, and LeBoeuf retreated to mostly studio work over the years, as well as working on some French projects, then later joining Offenbach and then April Wine.
Bassist Mike Levine (later of Triumph) was among the remnants when a third lineup was formed only months later, this time centering around singer Wayne St John (THP Orchestra, Domenic Troiano Band). The final lineup to bear the name 'Motherlode' came in the spring of '71, the shortest lived version yet, which featured George Olliver on vocals.
The original lineup reunited in '76 to record and tried to release the song "Happy People" under the Motherlode monikor. Mort Ross still owned the name, and therefore naturally vetoed the idea, and the song was released as a Kenny Marco solo project. The name stayed dead until a reunion was scheduled for Club Bluenote in Toronto in late 1989. This sparked a renewed interest in recording some new material, but those sessions have yet to be released.
Tracks
1. When I Die (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 3:18
2. Oh! See The White Light (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 2:38
3. You Ain't Lookin' In The Right Place Baby (Ken Marco, Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 3:47
4. Help Me Find Peace Of Mind (Ken Marco) - 3:20
5. Hard Life (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 4:00
6. Child Without Mother (Ken Marco, Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 3:50
7. Dear Old Daddy Bill (Ken Marco, Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 2:51
8. Memories Of A Broken Promise (Dianne Brooks) - 2:26
9. Soft Shell (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 4:59
10.Living Life (Ken Marco) - 3:54
11.What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) (Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol, Vernon Bullock) - 2:20
12.Can't You Find Love (Steve Kennedy) - 2:37
13.Quality Of Leadership (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 2:41
14.Righteous Land (Ken Marco) - 3:45
15.Been So Long (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 5:43
16.Robert E. Lee (Louis Muir, Wolf Gilbert) - 1:51
17.Black Cat (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith) - 3:26
18.Hiro Smothek (Steve Kennedy, William Daniel Smith, Ken Marco, Wayne "Stoney" Stone) - 6:20
19.Lilac Wine (James H. Shelton) - 8:52
Motherlode
*Ken Marco - Electric Guitar, Vocals
*William Daniel Smith - Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, Vocals
*Wayne "Stoney" Stone - Drums
*Carol Kaye - Bass, Acoustic Guitar
*Steve Kennedy - Tenor Saxophone, Harmonica, Vocals
*Dave Young - Bass (Track #11)
*Paul "Mickey" MacCallum - Congas (Track #11)
*Andy Cree - Percussion (Track #7)
What George Orwell dubbed "Newspeak" back in 1950 has become pervasive in modern day marketing. Examples are too numerous to be noteworthy, but every once in while someone will display enough chutzpah that one has to stop and say, "Really?" Such is the case of Alan Douglas and the new release of two Richie Havens' albums on one compact disc with the title, My Own Way.
The story goes like this: Havens originally recorded the songs acoustically, and several were demos and not intended to be in their final versions. After Havens signed with another record label and became commercially successful, Douglas released the material and added electric guitar, harmonica, organs, and other instrumentation to the mix to make the original folk material into folk rock.
Havens theatrically sings the bittersweet lyrics in a compelling voice. It's beautiful, It has been over 40 years since this music has been available. Havens is in fine form. The music deserves to be heard.
by Steve Horowitz, 19 Sep 2012
Hendrix aficionados of a certain age may remember the apoplexy generated by the mid- 70s release of posthumous albums Crash Landing and Midnight Lightnin’. Producer Alan Douglas had grafted on new backing tracks recorded by session musicians, leading to fevered accusations of “grave-robbing”.
Few of the fist-shakers realised that Douglas already had a bit of form on this front, having pursued a similar course with a clutch of Richie Havens recordings from 1967. These solely consisted of Havens singing and furiously strumming, so it was a case of supplying backing tracks where none previously existed. The results were released on Douglas’ label between 1968-69 on two albums, The Richie Havens Record and Electric Havens.
My Own Way sees this contentious hoard released on CD for the first time: whatever one may feel about having instrumentation dubbed on after the event, it is actually done here with subtlety and taste. You genuinely wouldn’t know for the most part, though Shadow Town admittedly starts unravelling towards the fade. From the shambling groove of Oxford Town and the soul-folk testifying of Drown In My Own Tears to the transfigured Astral Weeks vibe of Daddy Roll ’Em, it’s only the relative dearth of original compositions that docks this of a fourth star.
by Oregano Rathbone
Tracks
1. C.C. Rider - 3:22
2. Oxford Town - 3:21
3. Norah's Dove - 3:39
4. 900 Miles From Home - 3:46
5. Shadow Town - 3:57
6. 3:10 To Yuma - 3:20
7. The Bag I'm In - 3:48
8. Drown In My Own Tears - 4:22
9. Down In The Valley - 4:05
10.Chain Gang - 2:51
11.Babe, I'm Leaving - 4:38
12.Daddy Roll 'em - 2:42
13.Boots And Spanish Leather - 5:40
14.My Own Way - 2:11
Newcastle band Toby Twirl was formed in 1968 and released three singles on the Decca label (these things used to matter, believe me), none of which troubled the charts at the time and none of which appear on this, effectively the band's debut album, although a version of their final 45, ‘Movin’ In’, is included.
The dozen recordings featured here were found by the band’s drummer, John Reed, in an old box of reel-to-reel tapes thought long-lost but which was found in his attic. So, as none of the band’s original singles sold enough copies to make the charts, they were dropped by Decca after just one year on the label and these lost recordings are mainly demos and rehearsal recordings the band made in the late Sixties, you’d be forgiven for thinking that maybe the tapes should have stayed hidden away. You’d also be wrong.
Remember that there was a considerable amount of singles being released every week back in the Sixties. Despite the few radio plays that Toby Twirl gained, if the songs didn’t find an audience almost immediately (or it was an established band), then a band’s latest 45 would fall by the wayside as there were another couple of hundred ready for the record buyers' attention coming along in the next seven days. Many 45's deserved a better fate than they received. While the band’s second Decca single, the group-penned ‘Toffee Apple Sunday’, is probably their best known song (and the only single that the band actually played on, in keeping with the times sessions musicians were employed with the band adding their vocals) and which was covered by one of New Zealand’s most respected bands of that period, the Fourmyula, the dozen songs on this delayed debut show that song wasn’t their only jewel and that the band must have been frustrated at not being allowed to play on their other singles as throughout these songs they prove to be a tight and talented unit.
There are a couple of Beatles covers, an interesting version of ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’ which doesn’t stray too far from the original but which certainly has some of the band’s own identity stamped through it, more so than many of the perfunctory covers of Beatles songs back in those times. There’s also a beautiful version of ‘Something’; it’s not as laid-back as the original and features fantastic vocal work from the band; consider that this cut certainly wasn’t afforded the time and resources that the Fab Four put into their version and it’s an amazing performance.
Of the other covers, ‘Born To Be Wild’ shows that the band could handle heavier material with ease and that there was more to the group than their trio of singles would suggest. Again, without wishing to take anything away from the excellent playing from the band, especially on this track, it’s the impressive vocals that steal the show. Joe Cocker’s second single ‘Marjorine’ is another cover that the band put their own stamp on. Dare one suggest that while the vocals are light years away from Cocker’s own on this song they are more immediately pleasing? The band also make a fine fist of the Guess Who’s ‘American Woman’, again displaying the heavier direction they were maybe going to take had they been around just a little longer. What doesn’t work so well is the band’s take on the Everly Brothers' ‘When Will I Be Loved’, their reggae-infused arrangement takes away the edge of the song but strangely the main reason for this, the keyboard, is also its saving grace.
For those old enough to remember Toby Twirl this compilation of unreleased tracks goes some way to dispelling those images we had of the band as a pop-sike, pysch-lite act. The opening song, ‘Baby. What Good is Love?’ is a fine beat-era cut and more representative of what the band is remembered for, ‘The Dark Time of the Year’ is a reflective ballad typical of the period (‘Reflections of Charles Brown’ comes to mind) and once again those vocals shine, while ‘Something in Your Eyes’ adds a R’n’B flavour to the mix.
Considering the source of this material the good guys at Mega Dodo have obviously spent some time restoring the tapes to achieve the best possible sound and it’s been time well spent. The songs are all presented in punchy mono and are surprisingly clear. Congratulations to all who had a hand in restoring these tapes.
Toby Twirl’s original singles have gained more interest over the last few years than they did when originally released and the prices that the 45s now command reflect this, but for a full picture of just what this talented and vastly underrated group were really about save yourself a few quid and head for www.mega-dodo.co.uk where this collection is available on CD and also limited edition vinyl. One ‘lost’ sixties classic which really does deserve that title.
by Malcolm Carter, 02/10/2017
Tracks
1. Baby What Good Is Love - 2:46
2. Dark Time Of The Year - 3:43
3. Something In Your Eyes - 2:37
4. Love Is Love - 3:07
5. Baby You’re A Rich Man (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 3:00
6. Movin’ In (Joe Sauter, Mike Lewis, Sonny DiNunzio) - 3:08
7. Born To Be Wild (Mars Bonfire) - 3:16
8. Marjorine (Joe Cocker, Chris Stainton, Tom Rattigan, Frank Myles) - 3:03
9. Something (George Harrison) - 2:55
10.When Will I Be Loved (Phil Everly) - 2:37
11.Gonna Have A Good Time (Good Times) (Christopher Young) - 3:16
12.American Woman (Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson, Jim Kale, Randy Bachman) - 3:26
13.Let's Spend The Night Together (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 3:17
14.Hollies Meddley - 3:40
15.Toffe Apple Sunday (John Graham Reed, Nick Thorburn) - 2:03
At it’s inception, the bands’ name was not COKE. The original name of the group was “Instant Garage Band.” The name COKE emerged later during a rehearsal session when the original members decided they needed a catchier name. Those founding members were Ariel Hernandez (bass), Paul “Polito” Garcia (guitar), Ruben Perez (drums), Gary (lead vocal), and an Italian fellow by the name of Tony (keyboard) who was sipping a Coca-Cola during rehearsal and said “why don’t we call it COKE.” As they say, the rest is history. From that day on “Instant Garage Band” was COKE – short and sweet.
One of the most recognized local bands in Miami at the time were the Antiques. The Antiques were in high demand for Quinces, Open Houses and private events, but that was about to change. You see, in 1971 a “Battle of the Bands” event took place at Dinner Key Auditorium. Much to everyone’s surprise, including the Antiques, little known COKE played so well that day the crowning Antiques had their work cutout for them.
The Battle of the Bands first prize winner (or winners I should say) turned out to be both COKE and The Antiques. It became a three way tie between COKE, The Antiques and 2 Plus 1 (if I’m not mistaken.) The award ceremony took place at Salon Sophia, and the trophies were presented to the bands by “La Gorda de Oro.” Do you remember “La Gorda de Oro?” She was Mirta Silva, the Puerto Rican singer, composer and television producer who was affectionately known as “La Gorda De Oro”.
That event put COKE on the local map and it set the stage for a recording opportunity that allowed the band to get recognized in other markets like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Puerto Rico. That’s when the Coca-Cola Bottling Company steps in and stops the boys dead on their tracks. In order to protect its brand, the company served them with a legal letter to cease and desist from using the Coke brand as their name. Ouch! This put a dampener on things for sure. By now the band had already established an identity and had carved a niche for itself with its fusion of Latin rock, psychedelia, and funk that was part of the Miami Sound.
In March of 1973, COKE was #14 in Chicago in the Latin Billboards and #12 in Los Angeles (see figure 1 on the right.) They were still climbing the charts and the record promoters had a lot of money at stake, so they replaced the K with Q (COKE to COQE) to stay under the radar of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Two months later in May of ’73, COKE had climbed to #2 in Miami with the Antiques trailing close behind at #4 (see figure 2.) The following month COKE had dropped to # 6 in Miami while the Antiques hit #1 with “Dias Como Hoy” sung by Eddy Diaz.
The demand from the Coca-Cola Bottling Company to cease and desist came the following year in ’74. That very same year, the band officially changed their name to “Opus” upon the release of their second album entitled ‘Opus’ featuring Frankie B (Frank Batista) as lead singer. The album included popular hits such as “Beware”, “Marta” and “Get Yourself Up”. Shortly after, the band recruited saxophonist, Chester Rosas-Guyon. Months later Peter Fernandez joined the Antiques as lead singer and Joe “Tito” Rubio on keyboard and were part of the “Antiques Experience” – the album with the hit song “Cuando Vuelva a tu Lado.”
by Frank Prieto on April 22, 2012
Tracks
1. Na Na (Paul Garcia, Peter Fernandez) - 4:02
2. You Turn Me On (Paul Garcia, Peter Fernandez) - 6:12
3. Got To Touch Your Face (J. Felicia Cohen) - 2:19
4. Quiero Decirte (José Rubio, Paul Garcia, V. Angulo) - 3:17
5. Bun Bun Bun (Paul Garcia, Peter Fernandez) - 3:06
6. Bang Bang (Arranged By Paul Garcia) - 3:29
7. Sabor A Mi (A. Carrillo) - 3:26
8. Te Amo Mas (Beachwood) - 3:39
9. Nuestro Amor (F. Asencio, J. Felicia Cohen) - 2:37
10.Que Seria De Mi (Senecal, Mercer, Blake, Jackson, Paul Garcia) - 3:19
Singer John LiVigni "John Valenti" formed Puzzle in Chicago, Illinois with Bobby Villalobos (guitar), Ralf Richert (guitar, trumpet), Anthony Siciliano (bass), Larry Klimas (saxophone, flute), Bob Williams (trumpet) and Joseph Spinazola (organ, piano).
Their brand of rock and jazz, reminiscent of Chicago, made them a popular live act in venues between Detroit and Chicago and let them being signed to Motown in 1972.
Originaly intended for the Rare Earth imprint, they were switched to the main Motown label for their debut album Puzzle in April 1973. A second album was released the following February, imaginatively entitled Second Album.
A third album, "How Do We Get Out Of The Business Alive" was to have been released later in 1974 but was subsequentle cancelled. John LiVigni later changes his name to John Valenti and went solo, recording for Ariola America,
Tracks
1. You Took Me Wrong - 4:15
2. Mary, Mary - 3:26
3. State Of Mind (John LiVigni, Joseph Spinazola) - 4:18
4. Everybody Wants To Be Somebody - 3:25
5. Haiku (Bob Williams) - 5:34
6. My Love (John LiVigni, Joseph Spinazola) - 3:55
7. Now That You Love Me (John LiVigni, Larry Klimas) - 4:17
8. Concept Of Her (Prelude-A Moment's Rest-Visions) (Joseph Spinazola) - 8:58
9. N.Y.C. - 3:42
All songs by John LiVigni except where noted
Newburgh, New York psych-punks the Jelly Bean Bandits formed in 1966. Singer Billy Donald, guitarist Jack Dougherty, bassist Fred Buck, keyboardist Michael "Mr. Addams" Raab, and drummer Joe "Laredo London" Scalfari originally operated as "the Mirror", regularly packing area nightspots like the local Trade Winds, Poughkeepsie's Buccaneer Nightclub, and Burlington, Vermont's Red Dog. In due time, they recorded a three-song demo reel that resulted in a three-album recording contract with Mainstream Records -- however, unknown to Mainstream, these three songs represented the sum total of the Jelly Bean Bandits' repertoire, forcing the band to write enough additional material to flesh out a full-length LP in the course of a week.
Amazingly, their eponymous 1967 debut is excellent, a freakbeat cult classic distinguished by Dougherty's emotive guitar and some innovative production techniques -- all the more impressive, the album was recorded in a single 12-hour stretch. Mainstream hated the end result, however, and dropped the Jelly Bean Bandits just as they were commencing work on the follow-up -- only one song, "Salesman," was completed before the sessions were aborted. The group dissolved soon after, only to reunite in 1998 to finally commit to tape the songs that were written for their never-completed sophomore LP -- only Donald declined to participate in the project, released in 2001 under the title Time and Again. A vintage live date captured at the Buccaneer on September 3, 1967.
by Jason Ankeny
Tracks
1. Country Woman - 2:34
2. Generation - 3:00
3. Poor Precious Dreams - 2:05
4. Another August Revisited - 2:49
5. Going Nowhere - 2:37
6. Happiness Girl - 2:17
7. Good Time Feeling - 2:43
8. September Rain - 2:13
9. Neon River - 2:39
10.Plastic Soldiers - 3:01
11.Say Mann - 2:26
12.Tapestries - 2:28
All songs by Billy Donald, Fred Buck, Joe Scalfari, John Dougherty, Michael Raab
The Jelly Bean Bandits
*Billy Donald - Vocals
*Fred Buck - Bass
*Joe Scalfari - Drums
*John Dougherty - Lead Guitar
*Michael Raab - Organ
Baroque psych band, hailing from Long Island NY, recorded and released only this album in 1968 at Jubilee label. Beautiful harmonies and arragements from good musicians such as the drummer Mike Cavouto, guitarist Frank Porcelli, Bob Dorsa the bass player, brass section by Joe Cavalea, and Pete Maletta on keyboards.
They made several other recordings and release another album in 1972 under the name "A New Place to Live", slight different from the "Sounds Of Modification" album, a concept piece seemingly based on American psychic Edgar Cayce and a bizarre mixture of ecological concerns, history, religion, social commentary, and probably way too many illicit substances.
Tracks
1. Balloon Man - 3:03
2. I'm Gonna Buy A People - 2:30
3. What Is This In The Mist - 3:02
4. You (Barry Gibb) - 3:42
5. Try And Forget Me - 1:56
6. You Are Asking For The Key - 2:43
7. Tell Me - 3:01
8. Going To A Place Called Love - 2:30
9. I'm Painting A Picture - 2:30
10.Toreador - 4:53
All songs by Bob Gallo except track #4
In some ways, Marc Ellington's Rains/Reins of Change two-fer sounds like a late-'60s Fairport Convention album that doesn't happen to have members of Fairport Convention on vocals. In others, it sounds like a blend of Fairport Convention with late-'60s/early-'70s Californian country-rock; this is not as odd a stretch as it might appear, since there was some mutual admiration between players in those bands. The connections aren't at all coincidental, as several members of Fairport actually contribute to the record, with Richard Thompson playing electric guitar, Dave Mattacks handling some of the drums, Dave Pegg handling some of the bass, and Ian Matthews and Sandy Denny singing some backup vocals.
Other guys from limbs of the Fairport family tree are here too (bassist Pat Donaldson, drummer Gerry Conway, and Trevor Lucas, all of whom played with Denny in Fotheringay), and the Californian country-rock flavor is made that much more authentic with contributions from Chris Hillman, Sneaky Pete, and Rick Roberts of the Flying Burrito Brothers. All of this makes the record necessary and desirable to major Fairport Convention fans, and to country-rock completists. What, though, of the music of Ellington himself -- who, after all, sings lead and writes or co-writes all of the original songs? He's an alright rootsy folk-rock songwriter, but to be a little unfair, you can't help wondering how much better some of these tracks would sound with Denny or Matthews on vocals.
For Ellington's just an adequate singer, and though he's a somewhat better songwriter, perhaps his talents would have been better served had the Denny-Matthews lineup of Fairport managed to cover some of his better songs (had that short-lived lineup managed to continue in the first place). There's an agreeable reflective, at times Band-like tone to his compositions. But Denny in particular could have worked much better wonders with the darker and more melancholic tunes, like the title track and "Days Used to Be Warmer," the latter of which in particular has the kind of haunting minor-keyed chill associated with some of the best late-'60s/early-'70s British folk-rock. One of the two traditional songs here, "Yarrow" is another standout, with a melody and attitude reminiscent of (but not identical to) classics like "Scarborough Fair" and "John Riley."
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. Oh No It Can't Be So - 3:02
2. On Your Own - 3:34
3. Saving Grace - 3:22
4. Song For A Friend - 3:05
5. Yarrow (Traditional) - 5:43
6. I'm Leaving (Karen Ellington, Marc Ellington) - 3:00
7. Rains-Reins Of Changes - 4:31
8. The Life You Love (Marc Ellington, Mike Deighan) - 4:15
9. Days Used To Be Warmer (Marc Ellington, Mike Deighan) - 5:03
10.Alligator Man (Traditional) - 2:20
11.All The Times - 2:57
12.Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins) - 2:01
All songs by Marc Ellington except where stated
The New Arrivals band was formed in 1962 originally as The Preps from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose California, the home of everyone from The Doobies to Smash Mouth. They started in a garage which was really converted into a family room and by the time 1963 rolled around they had produced a minor instumental hit in the West called PAM PAM distributed by Amy Mala. Then in 1964 they released Ray Peterson's NIGHT THEME on Dot Records and caught the ear of promoter Irving Granz who signed them as a back up band for the tour with the Beach Boys...after hearing them perform with them..our guys first real concert. Actually they opened for the first Beach Boys concert in the Bay Area and debuted their vocal act by singing 3 Beatle songs. As a stunt they wore Beatle wigs which Capitol Records had been giving out to radio stations such as the fabled KLIV promoting the Beatle Invasion. The crowd thought they WERE the Beatles and actually went semi crazy. The band was on its way to becoming a rock-solid vocal group as well as great instrumentalists.
Over the next three years they toured or performed with notables such as Sonny and Cher, Glen Campbell, Paul Revere and The Raiders, The Dave Clark Five, The Beau Brummels, The Righteous Brothers, The Ventures, Jr. Walker and The Allstars, Cannibal and the Headhunters, The Paris Sisters, The Angels, Sam the Sham and the Pharohs, Noel Harrison, Dobie Gray, Timi Yuro, The We Five, The Surfaris, and on and on. Going back to Golden State Recorders they released MOONRACERS by Herb Alpert on Southbay Records in 1965. Then they changed their moniker to The New Arrivals since they had graduated from the fabled Bellarmine "prep" school by this time. In 1965 they released TAKE ME FOR WHAT I AM(which was not available for this CD but can be linked through Let's Bet With It baby on this site}) on Southbay and this marked their debut as a five voice vocal group with influences from many of the people and bands they toured with or accompanied.
At this point they started doing national radio spots and TV commercials for corporations such as Macy's and Seven Up. In 1966 they toured and recorded SCRATCH YOUR NAME on Southbay Records written for them by Tom Talton of WeThe People. Then in early 1967 a big chance came when Mike Post and Reprise Records wanted to sign them. An album had just been completed and there was no stopping their fate. Except within days of the audition three of the five members were drafted. That was it. The band was in limbo. No, the band was disbanded.
During the 70's and 80's they were in and out of the studio trying to create a new sound but never a live performance group.In the late 80's they reunited to back Chuck Berry in what some reveiewers called the best rock 'n roll concerts of all time and played a few stints with The Coasters, Bobby Rydell, Martha and the Vandellas and San Jose's Syndicate of Sound. Until now this album has never been available or heard. In 1984 producer Dick Hanahoe gave the tapes to Tom Muller in hopes something might be done someday. This is the original 4 track mix that has been transfered to digital domain and only edited to make playable for CD. The reverbs, voices, guitars, vox organ and more are the real thing that Leo de gar Kulka engineered. It is as if time has given us the opportunity to listen in on another era with a fresh sound that perhaps will FINALLY be appreciated .
by David Bash
Tracks
1. Scratch Your Name (Tom Talton) - 2:57
2. Wake Me Shake Me (Billy Guy) - 2:42
3. Time Won't Let Me (Chet Kelley, Tom King) - 3:00
4. Funny Feeling (Rick Leachman, Tom Muller) - 2:45
5. When I Needed You (Tom Talton) - 2:27
6. Goldfinger (Gerd, Axel, Guenther) - 2:45
7. God Help The Teenager (S. W. Spampinato) - 2:11
8. Hey Little Girl (Andre Meschi, Tom Muller) - 1:52
9. Wrong Slant On Life (Rick Leachman, Tom Muller) - 2:42
10.Nazz Are Blue (Jeff Beck) - 2:45
11.Just Outside My Window (Laurie Vitt) - 2:32
The New Arrivals
*Andre Meschi - Drums, Vocals
*Larry Syres - Bass, Vocals
*Bill Smith - Lead Guitar
*Dick Robitaille - Marimba, Vocals, Percussion
*Rod Gibino - Vocals
*Tom Muller - Vocals, Keyboards
*Rick Leachman - All The Others
For his next album, Amigo, however, he stuck with L.A. session musicians. The disc contained more originals than usual, among them "Victor Jara," an account of the death of the Chilean singer/songwriter who was slaughtered in his country's CIA-backed military coup in 1973 that was later covered by Christy Moore, and "Patriot's Dream," which later served as a title song for an album by Jennifer Warnes. When Amigo was released in September 1976, it garnered strong reviews from rock critics because it rocked more than Guthrie's albums usually did, notably on a cover of the relatively unknown Rolling Stones song "Connection." But the positive notices did not help sales. That fall, Guthrie joined Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue for some shows, leading to an appearance in Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, shot during the tour.
Another of the originals on Amigo was a song called "Darkest Hour," a poetic and personal statement by Guthrie, who was questioning his spiritual ideas at this time. In 1977, he formally converted to Roman Catholicism. - He later explored Hinduism and Buddhism, adopting a more ecumenical view of religion.
by William Ruhlmann
Tracks
1. Guabi, Guabi - 2:30
2. Darkest Hour - 4:07
3. Massachusetts - 3:13
4. Victor Jara (Adrian Mitchell, Arlo Guthrie) - 4:20
5. Patriot's Dream - 2:55
6. Grocery Blues - 2:11
7. Walking Song (Leah Kunkel) - 3:10
8. My Love - 2:46
9. Manzanillo Bay (Rabbit MacKay) - 4:25
10.Ocean Crossing - 3:25
11.Connection (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 2:41
All songs by Arlo Guthrie
Look At The Fool, the ninth and final studio album to be released by Tim Buckley in his lifetime (the album was released in November 1974, and Buckley was to die from a drug overdose on June 29th, 1975, aged only twenty-eight), is seen by some as the last in a trio of'sex-funk' releases. He'd begun this trilogy with Greetings From LA in 1972, his first album release in a couple of years, after the formless Starsailor in 1970. He followed Greetings with Sefronia (also available on Edsel Records), and the last album in his deal with Disc Reet, the label owned by his manager, Herb Cohen, was this - Look At The Fool. Greetings had seen Buckley abandon the allusive poetry and otherworldly ambience of his late sixties albums such as Lorca and Starsailor in favour of a far more direct - explicit, in fact - celebration of sexuality and carnal desire. Musically, he'd also embraced rhythm and blues and funk. Sefronia, his penultimate album, had broadly followed similar lines, but contained more outside material than he had ever entertained before. Look At The Fool would correct this by being entirely self-penned, apart from two songs co-written with his school friend Larry Beckett, with whom he had collaborated often over the years.
Apparently, Buckley had originally wanted to call the album An American Souvenir, seemingly informed in part by Van Dyke Parks' 'Discover America'. In the end though, the actual title perhaps says something more about Buckley's mental state - having to cope with a debilitating drinking problem, and his downward record sales spiral. Opening with the title track, Buckley delivers a stratospheric, tortured vocal that is eerily reminiscent to that of the last great Southern Soul star, Al Green (who was then at a real commercial peak, having crossed over from the rhythm and blues charts into mainstream international pop success). By any standards, 'Look At The Fool' is a remarkable performance.
A few years of hard drinking and sometime substance abuse may have robbed Buckley's vocal pipes of their youthful 'innocent' quality, but his four-octave vocal range was intact, and Buckley certainly pulls out the melismatic stops here. The arrangement is similarly ambitious, morphing through rolling funk to the tension and release of the breakdown. Whereas I can see where Buckley diehards would say that "it ain't 'Buzzin’ Fly'", it is, nonetheless, as ambitious and full-blooded as anything Buckley had cut in his career. 'Bring ft On Up' is gutsy funk, and again, Buckley artfully shuffles his vocal personae, from urgent falsetto to funk grits ‘n’ gravy.
The coda, which has Buckley referring to "belly to belly", revisits some of the overt sexual themes of Greetings From LA. 'Helpless' is more groove than song, but it's a solid groove, and delivered with commitment. 'Freeway Blues' is another teak-tough outing, based on an insistent clavinet motif with tart guitar stabs, and Buckley staying in one vocal persona for the song (both 'Freeway Blues' and its successor, 'Tijuana Moon' are Buckley co-writes with Larry Beckett).
Without wishing to worry any particular bone, what is SO wrong with Buckley here? He doesn't dial in a vocal, he sounds like he's enjoying the process - the lyrics certainly aren't folk poetry, but are certainly more reflective of the times they were written in - the album has worn considerably better than most critics would have you think. 'Tijuana Moon' is slight, but fits in with the Mexicali themes that crop up elsewhere. Buckley is onto something here though, rightly alluding to the odd ambience of border towns, the sense of unease and a space where cultures collide, where things get mixed and messed up. In its way, Look At The Fool inhabits borders – where the sacred collides with the profane (a conflict that informed the careers of great black R’n’B performers, from Jackie Wilson through to Al Green and Marvin Gaye, of course), the escape into no-strings sexual encounters and the need for love, and the breaking of musical borders - it's all in here, if you listen carefully.
'Ain't It Peculiar' partially purloins the title of a Marvin Gaye hit, but its lissom, loping funk is of Buckley's own invention. 'Who Could Deny You' opens in mellifluous style, Buckley's soulful upper register voice floating over the vibes and guitar track with a featherweight glide. He rings the arrangement changes, and proceeds to deliver an at times staggeringly 10 impressive, coruscating vocal, alternating between grit and grace with remarkable agility. 'Mexicali Voodoo' features a Steely Dan type guitar and keyboard dual riff- more groove than song again, but once more the groove is great. 'Down In The Street' is a lyrical departure for Buckley - more social observance than anything else, but the track has a real urgency and punch. Closing proceedings is the amusing 'Louie Louie' retread, 'Wanda Lu, a jokey sign-off that adds a little musical humour into the Look At The Fool mix that is welcome lighter relief, sounding like a Tijuana garage band.
One of the other undoubted plus points of Look At The Fool is the stellar crew of backing musicians listed in the credits. Produced by Joe Falsia. who had by then pretty much adopted the role of manager and minder to Buckley, and a fine job of marshalling the musical elements he does, too. Included in the personnel are Mike Melvoin (keyboards), and Chris Coleman (percussion), who, in addition to their being seasoned session players, are also the fathers of Wendy (Melvoin) and Lisa (Coleman), for many years the mainstays of Prince's band, as well as being recording artists in their own right.
Drummer Earl Palmer had played on most of Little Richard's hits, as well as on Randy Newman recordings, Beach Boys records, and scores of others, including Little Feat, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. Speaking of Waits, bassist Jim Hughart was a member of Waits' band at this time, and another bassist featured here, Chuck Rainey, played with Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin and Joe Walsh in a lengthy career resume. As important as all of the backing crew is the presence of guitarist Lee Underwood back in Buckley's fold, after an enforced absence dealing with his own personal demons. In the end, though, the jig was up for Buckley, for the time being at least.
The album was released to little fanfare and some critical kicking on its November 1974 release. Buckley hated the cover painting, in which he wears a somewhat defeated expression, and by the end of the year, he had severed his managerial ties with Herb Cohen and DiscReet. On the website, www.timbuckley.net there is reproduced a four-part Buckley retrospective penned by the journalist Max Bell for the New Musical Express in 1979. The fine article ends with a couple of revealing Buckley interview quotes - referring directly to this album, but they tantalizingly point the way in which Buckley's career could have moved had he not died so tragically young: "An instrumentalist can be understood doing just about anything, but people are really geared to something coming out of the mouth being words. I use my voice as an instrument when I'm performing live. I figure if I can do it, why not stick with it? The most shocking thing I've ever seen people come up against, besides a performer taking off his clothes, is dealing with someone who doesn't sing words.
This kind of thing also figures into An American Souvenir' because I get off on great sounding words. If I had my way, words wouldn't mean a thing, but the rules are different for a single singer than a band - they can get away with it because their life expectancy is only two years, "If I haven't done it and I'm capable or old enough and ready, I'll do it while keeping an eye on communication and not necessarily trends and fads. If I thought a whole album of Hank Williams songs was right, I'd do it even if burlesque was the style. Miles Davis went for 15 years without really selling a lot of albums, but his company kept putting them out because there is only one Miles Davis. Now I'm not equating myself with him, but there isn't anybody who can sing or write like me, and if I wasn't allowed to record, then recording wouldn't be valid."
In the forty years since Buckley's passing, his music has been re-discovered and reappraised; for a brief while, Buckley's long-estranged son Jeff Buckley looked to be the true inheritor of his father's musical mantle, possessed of an equally staggering vocal and emotive range, but died in a drowning accident in the Mississippi river on May 29th 1997. Look At The Fool may not be the favourite album of many Buckley fans, but to me, it has worn very well down the years. Time to give it another chance, I reckon.
by Alan Robinson, July 2017
Tracks
1. Look At The Fool - 5:12
2. Bring It On Up - 3:28
3. Helpless - 3:20
4. Freeway Blues - 3:13
5. Tijuana Moon - 2:43
6. Ain't It Peculiar - 3:37
7. Who Could Deny You - 4:24
8. Mexicali Voodoo - 2:26
9. Down In The Street - 3:22
10.Wanda Lou - 2:38
All songs by Tim Buckley except tracks 4-5 co-written with Larry Beckett
Marc Ellington is a Scottish folksinger and multi-instrumentalist who has guested with Fairport Convention on the latter group's recordings, starting with providing some vocal support on the Unhalfbricking album in 1969. Additionally, he worked with Matthews Southern Comfort on their self-titled 1969 LP, playing percussion, and recorded his debut album that same year, which featured his singing, guitar work, and bagpipes.
Marc Ellington's debut album on Philips in 1969, is a great combination of various famous folk numbers and traditional songs such as Bob Dylan, John Martyn, Al Stewart, Phil Ochs, Tim Hardin among others.
Tracks
1. In Brooklyn (Al Stewart) - 4:17
2. Fairy Tale Lullaby (John Martyn) - 2:20
3. Reason To Believe (Tim Hardin) - 2:36
4. Caledonian Mission (Robbie Robertson) - 3:09
5. Fair And Tender Ladies (Traditional) - 3:32
6. Changes (Phil Ochs) - 2:26
7. Tears Of Rage (Bob Dylan) - 4:10
8. Four In The Morning (C. Raneily) - 3:06
9. Will The Circle Be Unbroken (Traditional) - 2:09
10.I Shall Be Released (Bob Dylan) - 3:03
11.Bless The Executioner (Peter Daltrey, Eddie Pumer) - 2:38
12.Love City (Noel Paul Stookey) - 3:52
13.Desolation Row (Bob Dylan) - 10:15
14.Nanna's Song (Ralph McTell) - 2:10
Elyse Weinberg was there and gone. While the 1960's were closing its doors, Weinberg graduated from Toronto folk clubs to crashing on Neil Young's Laurel Canyon couch to the Billboard charts within one prolific year. She played The Tonight Show and was featured in Newsweek. One of her songs was recorded as a title track for a cinematic Cher vehicle. It appeared, even beyond the Hollywood Hills, that Weinberg was poised to launch. But within a year, the bright lights began to dim and she quietly walked away. Informed by her astrological study and an awakened spiritual urge, Weinberg left the phony grin she sang about in Greasepaint Smite behind her and, with that, the music business.
Weinberg got her first guitar at age 12. As she learned lo play, the young musician gravitated toward folk tunes, eventually mastering the Carter Family's "Wildwood Flower." By the mid-1960s in Montreal, teenage Elyse was already down the rabbit hole, reading Broadside magazine and taping records by Greenwich Village folkies—Eric Andersen, Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk—onto her reel-to-reel so she could slow down the tapes to learn the guitar parts. When Reverend Gary Davis came to town, she looked after him, kept him in whiskey, and studied his fingers on the guitar neck.
Three years into McGill University in Montreal, Weinberg dropped out and moved to Toronto where the folk scene included heavies like Ian Sc Sylvia and Joni Mitchell, as well as headies like David Wiffen and Bob Carpenter. Renting a spot in a communal house on Bishop Street, she lived in a space where music and traveling artists shared real estate with a dog, pregnant feral cats, an iguana, and iwo monkeys. She formed a band called O.D. Bodkin and Company (she was O.D.) and played Toronto's Yorkshire coffeehouse district in haunts like the Bohemian Embassy, the Gate of Cleve, and the Mousetrap. These were days of counterculture consumption, documented specifically in the song "Ironworks" on her first record. But in the 1960s, Weinberg was there for more than just the party. She was tuning in to the cognitive and creative aspects of her Scorpio identity.
On the surface, she describes her behavior as being "a bundle of reactions," but the songs she was writing went somewhere deeper. Travels took her to Israel and throughout Europe, briefly to New York City, and then back to Toronto. Weinberg was flamboyant and serious, often wearing a purple crushed velvet cape beneath her long dark hair. She described the urgency in her voice at the time as an "old gravel pit." Despite the creative buzz and creative community of Toronto, Weinberg wanted to make records and knew that meant leaving town. Neil Young, an old friend who often camped out at the Bishop Street house in a sleeping bag, urged her to head west.
In the spring of 1968, she moved to Eos Angeles to crash on Young's couch in Topanga Canyon during Buffalo Springfield's final bow. She then became roommates with Cass Elliot, another musician connected to the Canadian folk clubs. When Elliot heard Weinberg's song "Darlin' Please Believe Me," she set up a meeting with Silver, who managed Elliot's old group before she joined The Mamas & the Papas, The Big 3. Weinberg only had enough money to travel one way in a cab to Silver's office across town. By afternoon's end, Silver had signed her to a management and recording contract. Not only did he give her cab fare home, he got her an apartment in Laurel Canyon and bought her a green Pontiac Le Mans, her first car.
Elyse was released on Tetragrammaton Records in May of 1969, when she was 23 years old. The label ran ads for the album with the tagline: "Because Cass Elliott called and asked us to listen." Coowned with Bill Cosby, Tetragrammaton played home to a roster that included Pat Boone, Deep Purple, and Biff Rose and released the John Lennon and Yoko Ono album Two Virgins when Capitol Records deemed it too controversial. Silver was a mover and shaker, an insider whose reach went beyond the music business. He managed Joan Rivers and Bob Dylan in their early days and orchestrated the televised, ratings-winning wedding between Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki on The Tonight Show. Silver worked all industry angles in Hollywood, eventually opening a Chinese restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in John Barrymore's old house where he hosted late night parties while selling Sichuan noodles and pork fried rice, just to keep his finger on the pulse. Silver could make things happen, and Weinberg was his focus.
Elyse peaked at #31 on the Billboard chart as Weinberg toured the folk circuit. Newsweek, in a July 1969 feature on visionary female troubadours with the demeaning title "The Girls Letting Go," included Weinberg alongside Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, and Melanie. The writer described Weinberg's songs as death-obsessed, comparing them to "medieval ballads," and her vocal delivery to Bob Dylan's on John Wesley Harding. But to Weinberg, the songs involved more struggle. "Everyone has just one song they sing," she said to the reporter, "and these songs are about people who hold onto everything and anything that's holding them back or getting them down or getting them high—people who just don't know how to let go."
Silver's pull got Weinberg booked twice on The Tonight Show with Johnny Canon, but the show bumped her each time. The third time was the charm, and she performed Bert Jansch's "Oh, Deed I Do," the album's single, but that's where the good luck ended. Her guitar was mixed too low and her performance faltered. Adding insult to injury, when the night's guest-host, Flip Wilson, held up a copy of her record with the cellophane still on, the studio lights blinded the album cover. "It was a very unsatisfying experience, all in all," she remembers. Silver ever the play-maker, also convinced Cher to record the album's opening cut, "Band of Thieves," for her acting debut in the 1969 film Chastity. The film and soundtrack flopped. Worse for Weinberg, her song was retitled "Chastity's Theme," and the closing credits erroneously listed Sonny Bono as the composer.
By the summer of 1969, her debut was still fresh and her follow-up was already recorded. Produced by Neil Young's engineer, David Briggs, Greasepaint Smile features J.D. Souther on drums, an 18-year-old Nils Lofgren on guitar ("Greasepaint Smile, "Collection Bureau"), and Kenny Edwards on bass, among others. Neil Young welcomed the invitation from his old friend to play guitar on one song, "Houses," where his infamous 1953 Gibson Les Paul, "Old Black," makes its first appearance on record without assistance from an amp.
These were fuzzy times, but Weinberg recalls this part of the session well: "I remember us sitting in the control room, and Neil was plugged directly into the soundboard. I had my arm around him and he just began ripping out these beautiful guitar lines. It was very sweet and intimate." It's a song that skips between time signatures while metaphorically acknowledging the difficulty of sharing the world with others. Or, as Weinberg more succinctly states when asked about the song: "We all have our stuff." David Briggs, in an article in Record World in August of 1969, distinguishes Greasepaint Smile from its predecessor: "All the people are playing to the vocal rather than vice versa." That's accurate.
On Greasepaint Smile you hear a band with more of Weinberg, her voice and picking out front, as Biblical allusions blur with images of Laurel Camon nights and mornings-after. She is the sole writer on all these songs, minus her return to the Carter Family catalog for the song "Gospel Ship." Though pleased with the album, she didn't have creative control. "I didn't know I could have an opinion. I just turned up. I was just the chick singer!" Arid as she listens hack now, she says, "I hear a young woman wanting to be loved. I hear a spiritual yearning for a higher love. I know it now, but 1 didn't know it then." It's this raw wisdom that makes this record so compelling. But despite Tetragrammaton reserving a catalog number and completing die photo shoot for the album cover, the label was in financial trouble. During the release of Deep Purple's third album, their most profitable artist, they went bankrupt and closed shop.
By 1970, Weinberg was spending her nights at the Troubadour club. She played the Monday open mics along with performers like Warren Zevon, Cheech & Chong, and Jackson Browne, who Silver also managed early on, J.D. Souther and Glenn Frey were among the regulars, pre-Eagles, performing as Longbranch Pennywhistle and occasionally doubling as Weinberg's backing hand. But during daylight, little was happening, so she left for another adventure as Greasepaint Smile got Comfy in the attic of lost albums. Weinberg landed in London after touring with the Great Medicine Ball Caravan, the hippie troupe designed and documented in the 1971 film of the same name. The troupe's mission: spread counter-culture love and wisdom— Aquarian missionaries to the straights on the Warner Brothers' dime, a corporate package made up to mimic Woodstock's aesthetic and profits. The troupe included musical acts like B.B. King, Doug Kershaw, Alice Cooper, The Youngbloods, and, in the final overseas festival, Pink Floyd. Weinberg joined after hearing there was room on tour from her friend, the tour's official tie-dyer.
When the Great Medicine Ball Caravan wrapped, Weinberg met with former label-mate and Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover in London to discuss him producing her next album. But even before recording began, Roy Silver called and urged her to return home to make a third album, this time for a new label owned by his friend and future mogul, David Geffen. Weinberg signed to Asylum in August of 1971, becoming one of the label's first artists alongside Browne, Souther, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Judee Sill. But after the album wrapped, Weinberg had a falling out with Silver, her longtime champion, and the deal disappeared.
For the second time in a few years, Weinberg completed an album that no one would hear. The Asylum album remains unreleased. The only known copy is a faded cassette. The story of Weinberg's time in the L.A. scene can be heard in her song, "City of the Angels." It's a tune she describes as "reflecting on the milieu that you're moving in and not liking it," but her exit isn't as clearly documented.
Weinberg stayed in L.A. for the next decade or so, distancing herself from the music business that was always at odds with her muse. She moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and then rural Oregon, where she lives today. Weinberg changed not only her residence, but also her name. Based on her beliefs in numerology, where numbers represent letters and each number represents an energy value, she reinvented herself as Cori Bishop.
Bishop kept making music quietly through the 1990's, and in 2001 approved a reissue of her debut, Elyse, on Orange Twin Records. The reboot included two songs from Greasepaint Smile, "Houses" arid "What You Call It." Here, those songs are presented in their original context for
the first time. Bishop self-released her fourth album in 2009, under her professional name Elyse Weinberg, titled In My Own Sweet Time, When asked about current plans, Bishop says she is continuing on her spiritual path and studying metaphysics, as she becomes "closer to dropping the body." Listening to the album now, Bishop says of the title track, "It's about the facades of who we are and how we keep trying to shed those facades." Exactly what you'd expect when hearing her sing the song's final, pleading line: "Bring me down the road another mile." For Bishop, the journey is about transcending the destination.
by Jerry David DeCicca, January 2015
Tracks
1. What You Call It - 2:58
2. City Of The Angels - 3:28
3. Houses - 3:36
4. It's All Right To Linger - 2:47
5. Collection Bureau - 4:46
6. Gospel Ship (Traditional) - 2:28
7. Nicodemus - 4:06
8. My, My, My - 5:02
9. Your Place Or Mine - 2:47
10.Greasepaint Smile - 3:37
All compositions by Elyse Weinberg except track #6
