In 1965, Barry Seidel formed a music company called Traydel Productions. The first band Seidel signed was The Mad Hatters from Washington DC. In the course of one year the band released three stunningly great singles- “I Need Love”, “Go Find A Love” and “I’ll Come Running”, all with Dylanesque-PF Sloan sounding folk-rock songs as the b-sides.
Mad Hatter live shows were legendary as well, as is exemplified by the explosion of the amps during their electrifying medley of “Since You’ve Been Gone>I’m All Right>The Mad Hatter Theme” and their rocking version of “I Need Love”, both included on this album along with all their singles, making this the most complete collection of Mad Hatters’ material ever released.
The Mad Hatters were originally from Annapolis, Maryland and had been around for almost a year before Barry Seidel saw them one Monday night in September 1965. He went to The Roundtable (Riley Carter's Club) on M Street in Georgetown. The band did an original song written by lead guitarist, Tom Curley, called "I Need Love".
The Fallen Angels were the second band Seidel signed and they are represented by a six song set of singles and unreleased recordings from 1966. These are the earliest recordings by the band and range from folk-rock (Pebble In My Sand, Hello Girl, I Have Found) to “Love”(Arthur Lee) type ballads (Have You Ever Lost A Love, Every Time I Fall In Love) and garage (Who Do You Love). In addition to all this excitement are two previously unreleased 1966 folk-rock Byrds sounding gems from The Loved Ones, plus a 1967 version of “I Need Love” by The Time Stoppers. Rare photos and radio promos make this a complete trip back to 1966, when The Mad Hatters and The Fallen Angels were the two hottest bands in Washington DC and “I Need Love” mania swept the airwaves.
Tracks The Mad Hatters
1. I Need Love (Curley) - 2:33
2. Go Find A Love (Curley) - 2:46
3. I'll Come Running - 2:22
4. Hello Girl - 2:06 The Fallen Angels
5. Have You Ever Lost A Love - 2:56
6. I Have Found - 2:45 The Loved Ones
7. Where You Gonna Run To - 3:02
8. Being Here With You - 3:39 The Mad Hatters
9. This Is How It's Gonna Be (Curley) - 2:36
10.Blowin' In The Wind (Dylan) - 2:55 The Fallen Angels
11.A Pebble In My Sand (Jones) - 3:04
12.Hello Girl - 2:10
13.Every Time I Fall In Love - 2:44
14.Who Do You Love (McDaniel) - 2:36 The Time Stoppers
15.I Need Love (Curley) - 2:54 The Mad Hatters
16.The Mad Hatters Theme (Set 1) - 1:48
17.I Need Love - 3:26
18.Since You've Been Gone - I'm All Right - The Mad Hatters Theme (End Of Live Set) (Curley, McDaniel) - 8:40
19.I Need Love - Weam Pick Hit ToGo Go Go Go !!! - 0:40
The Mad Hatters (1965 – 1966)
*Dave Vittek - Lead Vocals
*Tom Curley - Lead Guitar, Harmonica
*Alan Folwer - Bass
*Richard Kumer - Drums
The Fallen Angels
*Charlie Jones C.J..- Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar
*Jack Bryant - Lead Vocals, Bass
*Wally Cook - Rhythm Guitar
*Ned Davis - Drums
*Rocky Isaac - Drums
Killer West Coast psychedelic monster that took many years to be completed!!! West Coast Natural Gas began life in 1965 in Seattle. In early 1967 they went to San Francisco to work for a local music manager named Matthew Katz.
Katz was the original manager for Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape and later It’s a Beautiful Day. He talked West Coast Natural Gas into signing a contract with him but they didn’t realize at the time, being young and stupid. That basically they signed over everything to him. They went to the studio and recorded some original tunes: A Favor, Go Run and Play, The Jumping Frog, Hashish, Water or Wine, Beyond This Place, and Two’s A Pair.
In early 1968 the band broke up and went back to Seattle. Katz released a single – Go Run and Play / A Favor on his S.F. Sound label under the name West Coast Natural Gas. Later he released a compilation album - the first San Francisco Sound sampler - called “Fifth Pipe Dream”. The four songs mentioned before, Water or Wine, Hashish, Beyond This Place and Two’s A Pair were the ones recorded by WCNG and relabeled by Katz as Indian Puddin’ and Pipe.
This superb release includes all the above mentioned songs, plus others from acetates. As a big surprise another four never before heard songs recorded 1966 in a local Seattle Recording Studio before they went to San Francisco are included.
Tracks
1. Go Run And Play (Kris Larsen) - 2:33
2. A Favor (Steve Mack) - 3:41
3. A Favor Version 2 (Steve Mack) - 3:44
4. The Jumping Frog (Pat Craig) - 3:33
5. Two's A Pair (Steve Mack) - 4:15
6. Beyond This Place (Pat Craig) - 2:32
7. Hashish (Kris Larsen) - 3:03
8. Water Or Wine (Steve Mack) - 3:40
9. The West Coast Natural Gas White Levis Commercial 'Never Break' (Pat Craig) - 0:46
10.Radio Promo from the Galaxy Club ca. 1968 - 0:37
11.Mr. You're A Better Man Than I (M. Hugg, B. Hugg) - 2:56
12.Younger Girl (J. Sebastian) - 2:11
13.You Make Me Feel So Good (C. White) - 2:12
14.He Was A Friend Of Mine (Traditional, lyrics by J. McGuinn) - 2:38
Welcome to Country Weather, "a chaos that once in a while generated perfection and on ocassions intense frustration”. The band came out of the suburbs of San Francisco in Walnut Creek. Like the English bands, when they went on stage it was a "battle of the bands". It was in an era when actual "battle of the bands" were being staged and the audience actually voted.
Nothing probably motivated Country Weather more than when they felt they were being short changed, not appreciated or underestimated. I think I enjoyed them the most when they had that little extra motivation along with a nice touch of anger. In those moments something incredible could crawl out and would amaze, who? Themselves! That was the simple magic of it all. For my money (which is extremely prejudiced) they rank as one of the greatest live on stage bands of their era (and they never got the proper credit.) I often said that if you could see them 10 nights in a row you could then begin to grasp just how far out on the wire they could walk.
They could jam and improvise with the very best. Many of their classic songs "Carry a Spare", "Fly to New York" and the Blues Project's "Wake me, Shake Me" were just mini stages to launch wonderful improvised jams. Everything being equal I can't name a bay area band that could compete with them. Their set lists, like their influences and personal tastes knew no musical boundaries or definitions, it was everything from Country to Blues to Psychedelic to Rock and everything else in between.
I will never forget the first time 1 saw them and they played a perfect absolutely beautiful, rendition of The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Nobody really touched "Beatle Music" then, nobody!! You could close your eyes and you swear it was actually the Beatles playing. They had so much respect and feel for them. Country Weather were an amazing coincidence coming from Walnut Creek staring up at the alter of the San Francisco music scene and wanting to be a part of it and later becoming part of it. When it came down to challenging themselves to be the very best, there was no band in the bay area to compare.
They were haunted by such high standards, which so rarely achieved, created immense inferiority at times that I think it probably held them back sonic. As the Who said, Country Weather could "see for miles and miles and miles" and were hardly ever satisfied with their playing and when they played they would go all-out to outdo their previous performance and that is what made them such a great band. I believed in these four people more then they can ever know.
I viewed the "Whole" and communicated my vision while they sat on the inside and communicated theirs, it was a perfect match. They got no easy breaks. At the Fillmore they played with the very best. 1 remember when they played with Jeff Beck, holding our own, sitting in the dressing room knowing, very simply, this was a "Battle of the Bands" (Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Mickey Waller) versus Country Weather, nothing more, nothing less.
For me it was scary and unacceptable to hear Bill Graham respond (after I got Country Weather on a week-end long Jeff Beck Group show)"Beck is a cunt". I remember Greg Douglass had just brought over the "Truth" album to hear "Beck's Bolero". Yeah right, Bill, "he is a cunt". Graham my mentor I don't think so. At that point, believe it or not. 1 realized Bill had no clue about real rock music. Me even hated The Rolling Stones then, his roots were Latin and blues and ho lacked any feel for "in your face rock", period! I don't know if I made mistakes (shot too high) but I do know this.
Till this day 1 will never forget when suddenly the beast would awake and take you to a place not imagined. They could never predict it, but just like me; once in a while they were the best they could be. Can anyone ever ask for more man that? I want to end with this. I really like the album cover it's very cool, very pretty, but, maybe a little too peaceful though because, Country Weather always had the threat of a thunderstorm or even a tornado lurking somewhere. As I told Mike Somavilla from day one I just want a collection of music that the band and I can be proud of. I don't think that it is really possible from everything I have listened to.
The Church Tapes certainly, the Sierra Sound Labs recordings? Those were never meant to be released; I only made those up to get them some gigs. "Fly To New York" was just in its infancy then and it was pretty much the same with "Carry A Spare" too, but is something from "this magnificent ghost" better then nothing, you bet! Can everyone agree to what's in and what's out? Probably not but, that is Country Weather.
by Bob Strand
Tracks 1969 Studio Recordings
1. Over And Over (Steve Derr) - 4:35
2. Boy With Out A Home (Steve Derr) - 3:50
3. Out On The Trail (Steve Derr) - 3:11
4. Yes That's Right (Steve Derr) - 3:40 1971 Recorded at The Church, San Anselmo, CA.
5. Why Time Is Leaving Me Behind (Greg Douglass, Steve Derr) - 2:23
6. New York City Blues"(Keith Relf, Chris Dreja) - 4:27
7. Carry A Spare (Greg Douglass) - 4:56
8. Fly To New York (Words by Steve Derr, Music by Country Weather) - 6:38
9. Black Mountain Rag (Traditional, arranged by Greg Douglass) - 1:23 1970 Live recordings at the Walnut Creek Civic Center July 31 and August 1
10.I Don't Know (Steve Derr) - 3:56
11. lack Mountain Rag (Traditional, arranged by Greg Douglass) - 7:00
12.Pakistan (Ring Around The Moon) (Steve Derr) - 2:42
13.Fly To New York (Words by Steve Derr, Music by Country Weather) - 9:03
14.New York City Blues (Keith Relf, Chris Dreja) - 4:20
15.Yes That's Right (Steve Derr) - 3:14
16.Wake Me Shake Me (traditional, arranged by Country Weather) - 14:38
Country Weather
*Dave Carter - Bass Guitar, Vocals
*Steve Deit - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
*Greg Douglass - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Bill Baron - Drums
The history books will tell you all you need to know about the great recording centres of the past such as Nashville, New Orleans, Memphis and Chicago, as well as the hit factories of New York and Detroit. By contrast, there are parts of America that hardly figure at all in the annals of rock‘n’roll, and the farming state of Wisconsin in the upper mid-West is one of them. It is the state rock‘n’roll forgot, more famous for the breweries of Milwaukee and for its dairy produce.
Amid this oasis of indifference, Jim Kirchstein set up a small studio-cum-label-cum-workshop which came to dominate the South Wisconsin scene for a decade without the benefit of publicity or even very many hits. Several hundred singles ranging in style from rock to country to polkas were released on Kirchstein’s Cuca label and its subsidiaries during that time, and dozens of young Wisconsin musicians owed him their start.
Located on the Wisconsin River, about 25 miles northwest of the state capital Madison, Sauk City could not have been further removed from the mainstream of the record business. One of Cuca’s first releases, Muleskinner Blues by the Fendermen, a rocked up version of an old hillbilly tune, caught on internationally in 1960 and, despite some legal difficulties, Kirchstein was able to plough back some of the profits into his own studio. By prudently keeping things small and manageable, Cuca gradually came into its own as its reputation as a recording locale began to spread.
Wisconsin boasted an awful lot of working rock bands, almost as many, in fact, as Merseyside in the early 60s. Wisconsin kids, weaned since infanthood on polkas, were so starved of rock that they lent their keen support to the thriving local scene and by 1962, the local rock scene had gradually coalesced. By the mid-60s, as more and more performers gravitated towards his self-contained little operation, Kirchstein even took to mastering and pressing his own records in-house.
This second release in Ace’s exploration of the Cuca legacy, taps into a rich vein of raw garage and psych rock released locally on Cuca, Night Owl, Wright and other off-shoots between 1965-69.
Bands such as the Plague, the Sandmen and the Willing Mind were by their very nature short-lived. Most of the participants were youngsters from middle-class families which placed education above the vagaries of the record business. Tellingly, most bands came together at their local high school, enjoyed a brief blossoming, before disintegrating in the aftermath of graduation. With the Vietnam conflict being at its height, the draft would also play a part in breaking up many bands.
Prospects weren’t always helped by the fact that Wisconsin was so far removed from the main hubs of the record industry. To be fair, most of the bands took a realistic view. In 1968 Mark Johnson, who played drums in the Willing Mind, a high school band from Horicon, Wisconsin (whose sole 45, Decide, can be heard here), told a local newspaper, “When a group like ours isn’t nationally or regionally known, it’s best to start with a few hundred records. A key factor to success seems to be the involvement of a distribution man. He listens to the song and if he thinks it will sell, he’ll send it to the radio stations and start it circulating. Unfortunately, distribution men are very hard to find and, so far, we’ve had to do it on our own.”
Only a handful of these relative novices were to remain in music for any length of time and, essentially, “Garagemental” offers a microcosmic glimpse into the rock bands of small town America in the years following the so-called British Invasion moving through to psychedelia. Though the influences are many and varied, they stem from the tougher end of the 60s rock spectrum.
Most of the original 45s were pressed in very small quantities and were only promoted in the immediate environs, making them extremely rare today. Add to this six previously unissued sides (including two by the legendary Joey Gee & the Come-Ons) and “Garagemental!” more than lives up to its ultra-rare tag and, more importantly, doesn’t waver from start to finish in kinetic intensity.
by Rob Finnis
Artists - Tracks
1. The Scarlet Henchmen - The Crystal Palace - 3:06
2. Joey Gee And The Come Ons - She's Mean - 2:48
3. Kiriae Crucible - The Salem Witch Trial - 2:53
4. Joey Gee And The Come Ons - 'Til The End Of Time - 2:10
5. The Wanderer's Rest - Don't Know What I'd Do - 2:33
6. The Trodden Path - Don't Follow Me - 2:06
7. The Trodden Path - Keep Me Hangin' On - 2:22
8. The Henchmen VI - All Of The Day - 2:36
9. The Henchmen VI - Is Love Real - 2:11
10.The Trodden Path - In This World I Need Love - 3:25
11.The Willing Mind - Decide - 2:25
12.The Wanderer's Rest - Love Is A Beautiful Thing - 2:52
13.The Challengers - Challengers Take A Ride On The Jefferson Airplane - 2:13
14.Raylene And The Blue Angels - Shakin' All Over - 2:10
15.Sundog - Gimme Some Lovin' - 3:16
16.Joey Gee And The Come Ons - Jenny, Jenny - 1:54
17.Joey Gee And The Come Ons - Little Latin Lupe Lu -2:35
18.The Wanderer's Rest - The Boat That I Row - 2:52
19.The Hitchikers - Feel A Whole Lot Better - 2:43
20.The Wanderer's Rest - You'll Forget - 2:45
21.The Sandmen - World Full Of Dreams - 2:07
22.The Wanderer's Rest - In Good Time - 2:03
23.The Plague - When I See That Girl Of Mine - 2:06
There was no shortage of good psychedelic albums emerging from England in 1967-1968, but Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake is special even within their ranks. The Small Faces had already shown a surprising adaptability to psychedelia with the single "Itchycoo Park" and much of their other 1967 output, but Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake pretty much ripped the envelope.
British bands had an unusual approach to psychedelia from the get-go, often preferring to assume different musical "personae" on their albums, either feigning actual "roles" in the context of a variety show (as on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album), or simply as storytellers in the manner of the Pretty Things on S.F. Sorrow, or actor/performers as on the Who's Tommy.
The Small Faces tried a little bit of all of these approaches on Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, but they never softened their sound. Side one's material, in particular, would not have been out of place on any other Small Faces release -- "Afterglow (Of Your Love)" and "Rene" both have a pounding beat from Kenny Jones, and Ian McLagan's surging organ drives the former while his economical piano accompaniment embellishes the latter; and Steve Marriott's crunching guitar highlights "Song of a Baker."
Marriott singing has him assuming two distinct "roles," neither unfamiliar -- the Cockney upstart on "Rene" and "Lazy Sunday," and the diminutive soul shouter on "Afterglow (Of Your Love)" and "Song of a Baker." Some of side two's production is more elaborate, with overdubbed harps and light orchestration here and there, and an array of more ambitious songs, all linked by a narration by comic dialect expert Stanley Unwin, about a character called "Happiness Stan."
The core of the sound, however, is found in the pounding "Rollin' Over," which became a highlight of the group's stage act during its final days -- the song seems lean and mean with a mix in which Ronnie Lane's bass is louder than the overdubbed horns. Even "Mad John," which derives from folk influences, has a refreshingly muscular sound on its acoustic instruments.
Overall, this was the ballsiest-sounding piece of full-length psychedelia to come out of England, and it rode the number one spot on the U.K. charts for six weeks in 1968, though not without some controversy surrounding advertisements by Immediate Records that parodied the Lord's Prayer. Still, Ogdens' was the group's crowning achievement -- it had even been Marriott's hope to do a stage presentation of Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, though a television special might've been more in order.
by Bruce Eder
Tracks Disc 1
1. Ogden's Nut Gone Flake (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 2:39
2. Afterglow - 3:33
3. Long Agos And Worlds Apart (Ian McLagan) - 2:36
4. Rene - 4:06
5. Song Of A Baker - 3:15
6. Lazy Sunday - 3:10
7. Happiness Star - 3:38
8. Rollin' Over - 2:13
9. The Hungry Intruder (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan) - 2:15
10.The Journey (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 4:03
11.Mad John - 4:20
12.Happydaystoytown (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 3:02
Disc 2
1. Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 2:28
2. Afterglow of Your Love - 3:29
3. Long Agos and Worlds Apart (Ian McLagan) - 2:34
4. Rene - 4:31
5. Song of a Baker - 3:16
6. Lazy Sunday - 3:06
7. Happiness Stan - 2:37
8. Rollin' Over - 2:49
9. The Hungry Intruder (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan) - 2:15
10.The Journey (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 4:09
11.Mad John - 2:50
12.Happy Days Toy Town (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 4:18
Disc 3
1. Lazy Saturday/ Whatcha Gonna Do About It (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian Samwell, Brian Potter) - 3:49
2. Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 4:08
3. Afterglow - 5:34
4. Long Agos And Worlds Apart (Ian McLagan) - 3:23
5. Rene - 2:50
6. Rene/ Song Of A Baker - 3:44
7. Lazy Sunday - 4:45
8. Untitled Spoken Word Track - 2:35
9. Happiness Stan - 2:57
10.Rollin' Over - 4:32
11.The Hungry Intruder (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan) - 4:18
12.The Journey (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 3:46
13.Mad John - 4:39
14.Untitled Spoken Word Track - 0:52
15.Happydaystoytown (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones) - 2:57
16.The Universal - 4:10
All songs by Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane except where stated
Small Faces
*Steve Marriott - Vocals, Guitar
*Ronnie Lane - Backing Vocals, Bass Guitar
*Kenney Jones - Drums
*Ian McLagan - Keyboards
By early 1968,The Paupers were heading towards meltdown.The group had lost its inspirational bass player Denny Gerrard, its debut album had been a commercial failure and debts were mounting. Against all odds, the group rallied and recorded its second album, Ellis Island, arguably one of the best records to emerge from the Canadian rock scene during the'60s.
The first step towards re-establishing The Paupers as a major act was finding a new bass player; no easy feat considering Gerrard's near legendary status. An impossible task, many would agree, but the remaining musicians came up with an excellent substitute in Brad Campbell from The Last Words. Campbell's group were no strangers to the Toronto scene. Having released three singles between late 1965 and early 1967, only one,"l Symbolise You" issued on Columbia, had seriously troubled Toronto's CHUM chart, reaching #14, although it reportedly reached #1 in some Canadian cities.
No doubt Campbell was delighted to be offered the job. The new line up hit the road in a bid to revive The Paupers'flagging fortunes,and a notable highlight during this "difficult" period was a memorable set at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto on 24 February, supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Soft Machine. Taking time off the road,The Paupers stopped in Nashville to record three tracks -"All About Me""Words I Say" and "See Yourself "but according to Seal the sessions did not go well and the recordings were shelved.
Despite the failure to complete any tracks towards a new album, Beal says the Nashville trip was far from being uneventful. "For me the highlights included meeting Tex Ritter, listening to Flatt and Scruggs record, watching one of the Jordinaires get so rapped up in a game of ping pong, he forgot that he left his car with the engine running and it ran out of gas, and above all having Floyd Cramer play on our session. It was nuts, we just called his answering service and within 15 minutes, he was there." In early May,The Paupers travelled to New York where their new producer Elliot Mazer hooked them up with keyboard player Al Kooper, who had recently been ousted from his group, Blood, Sweat & Tears.
Turning his creative energies to The Paupers, Kooper's contributions complement the group's performances brilliantly and the resulting album, Ellis Island, recorded at Columbia Studios over several months, remains a hidden gem of late '60s rock. Lacking the consistency of the group's debut outing, the record's strength lies in its individual tracks. These range from extended hard-rock workouts like "Southdown Road" and "Numbers" (featuring Brad Campbell on lead vocal),to more reflective pieces such as Prokop's"0h That She Might"with a rare vocal outing from the drummer.
Adam Mitchell emerges as the dominant writing force and his "Cairo Hotel" apparently written about a hotel in Washington DC where most of the tenants were down and outs, is particularly poignant. Another noticeable difference on the album, compared to its predecessor, is the group's experimentation with exotic sounds - one particular track, "Ask Her Again' 'features Prokop on the koto, a Japanese stringed instrument (and a present given to the drummer by Peter, Paul & Mary after a Japanese tour).
Complete with a flick book gimmick, Ellis Island garnered favourable reviews. Chris Keen, writing in the Toronto Telegram's After Four section on 19 October, raved about the album, arguing that it was a huge improvement on The Paupers'debut outing."Whereas Magic People was a shallow album containing numbers from their stage show, all of which were musically similar, Ellis Island is a experience," he noted."It is a deep album - there is so much happening in each song that even after hearing it many times you will probably still be making new discoveries."
With the album in the can, the band realized that it needed to reproduce Kooper's keyboard parts in a live format, and duly recruited former Fraser Loveman Group member John Ord during late July. As Ord recalls, "I had a little trio called The Nuclear Tricycle that was playing in a bar on YongeStreet.lt was a summer job for me and I was at university. Skip heard about me and came in to see me. I went out to Brad Campbell's house in Oakville to meet the band and they played me the album. I was able to play off the keyboard parts pretty fast and they thought it would be a good fit." The quintet quickly reconvened to Ord's parents 'farm in Fenwick in the Niagara peninsula.
Rehearsing intensively for a week in a nearby farmhouse, the new Paupers line-up soon launched in to a small tour. The band's debut show at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit on 2-4 August proved memorable, not least because the club still had bullet holes in it from the race riots earlier in the year. During this period, some of the band members flew to New York between dates to do studio work. For newcomer Ord, the musicians 'extra curricular activities contributed to the group's collapse the following month."I found out that the band was in a state of conflict and frustration perhaps partially because some musicians were recording and the others were stuck on the road.
In the end, the band broke up and everyone went home to Toronto." Things had come to ahead when Prokop announced his decision to leave the band after The Paupers' engagement at the Electric Circus in New York, which ran from 29 August to 1 September. Although he would subsequently form his own outfit, the big band Lighthouse, Prokop nearly joined Janis Joplin's new group, soon to become better known as The Kozmic Blues Band, but declined her offer. Brad Campbell meanwhile landed on his feet.
After briefly gigging with the Pozo Seco Singers, he did accept an offer to play with Joplin.The bass player would remain with the troubled singer until her untimely death, appearing in both The Kozmic Blues Band, and its successor, the Canadian-dominated Full Tilt Boogie Band. With Prokop and Campbell out of the picture but with debts of $40,000, the remaining members decided to carry on. "l recall advocating that we reform The Paupers in Toronto as the band was well known and we could probably do well with a change of members," says Ord.
The Paupers recruited local drummer Roz Parks from The Creeps and Magic Circus fame and perhaps more importantly, in terms of credibility, brought original bass player Denny Gerrard back in to the fold. Though Gerrard had spent most of 1968 recovering from his drug exploits, he had recently returned to studio and live work with Toronto's highly rated blues combo, McKenna Mendelson and was in fighting form. After intensive rehearsals,The Paupers returned to the local club scene, debuting at the Night Owl on 26-27 October.
Journalist Ritchie Yorke writing that November in the local RPM magazine, reviewed the show and captured perfectly the new line-up's potential."They emerged as a tight, cohesive musical unit, devoid of pseudo-hippiness and brimming over with confidence." True the group may have found a new confidence, but this was soon shattered by Gerrard's erratic behavior. As Ord recalls, "we did well for a while getting quite a bit of work and playing a lot. Then Denny started to lose it again...missing rehearsals and eventually not showing up for an important concert. In the end we had to fire him and found a new bass player." Denny Gerrard made sporadic appearances on record throughout the 70s, most notably on Jericho's superb eponymous album for Bearsville Records in 1971, and in his work with Rick James's pre-Motown bands, Heaven and Earth and Great White Cane.
Still revered by his contemporaries, Gerrard remains a local legend. In 1997, after years of inactivity, he made a rare appearance on record, playing with Mike McKenna's blues band Slidewinder. Gerrard's departure prompted Adam Mitchell to exit the group in April 1969, and while the remaining members carried on for four months with guitarist James Houston from The Magic Circus and bass player Mel O'Brien, it was the same band in name only. "We did a bunch of local dates with Mel but it was clear that the band was going nowhere real fast, "says Beal."We knew we needed a record deal and booked some time into the RCA studios in Toronto to do some demos of Jaime's tunes. Mel didn't show up for the session and that was it for him. After that none of us had the energy or the desire to start over again so, we packed it in. A sorry end to what was once a pretty good band." While The Paupers' potential was never fully realized, the degree of talent within the band can be gleaned from its best work, and the subsequent achievements of its leading members.
Following a successful career with Lighthouse, Prokop leant his talents to a diverse range of projects, including working with street kids, running an advertising agency and doing jingles. In 1979, he issued a solo album,/4// Crowed Up, and in recent years has played in a reformed Lighthouse. He is currently writing his autobiography. Adam Mitchell worked as a producer and a musical director before emerging as a successful songwriter; his compositions covered by John Waite, Olivia Newton-John, Art Garfunkel and Kiss to name a few. He also found time to record a rare solo album, Red Head In Trouble, in 1979 and continues to produce, write and perform in the US and Canada.
Chuck Beal briefly worked as a music producer, promoter and manager for Canadian bands, including Jericho. Later, he worked at the Canadian National Institute For The Blind, producing the talking books series and also did some writing and research for CBC radio in Toronto. Looking back, Mitchell is philosophical about the band's premature demise."As incredible as the band truly was, we were victims of just plain bad luck," he says."Bad luck, not only that Denny did too many drugs at Monterey and Chuck had a bad guitar chord. But perhaps more importantly, bad luck that we had the wrong record producer, the wrong studio and the wrong label. We were young, the business was new and we didn't know any better."
by Nick Warburton
Tracks
1. South Down Road (Mitchell, Prokop) - 8:30
2. Cairo Hotel (Mitchell) - 4:10
3. Cant Go On (Mitchell, Prokop) - 3:35
4. Another Man's Hair On My Razor (Mitchell) - 4:15
5. Numbers (Mitchell, Prokop) - 5:33
6. Oh That She Might (Prokop) - 4:56
7. Yes I Know (Campbell, Mitchell, Prokop) - 6:23
8. Ask Her Again (Mitchell, Prokop) - 4:00
9. Juliana (Mitchell) - 2:49
10.If I Call You By Some Name (Rick Shorter) - 2:52
11.Copper Penny (Prokop) - 2:36
12.White Song (Prokop) - 2:55
Although these albums were made by an all-but-unknown Indianapolis band in the latter half of the 1970s, Inside the Shadow and No Longer Anonymous are prime '60s-style psychedelia that stands up to many of the genre's better-known releases.
The songs on 1976's Inside the Shadow, built around Marsha Rollings' lovely voice and Ron Matelic's heavily Byrds-influenced guitar (the ultra-jangly "Pick Up and Run" could be an outtake from 5D), are an impressive lot, with a stronger sense of melody and structure than the aimless jamming that typifies so many psychedelic albums.
Matelic's songs are determinedly on the poppy end of psychedelia, with catchy choruses, soaring harmonies, and plenty of hooky instrumental riffs to keep the listener's attention. Even the nine-minute "Baby Come Risin'," with its extended jam middle section, sounds more composed than one would expect.
No Longer Anonymous was recorded in 1977 by a revised lineup of the band -- Rollings, unfortunately, is gone, and the new version of Inside the Shadow's high point "We Got More" shows how much she's missed -- and originally released under the name J. Rider. Matelic's liner notes claim that this album was originally intended as a demo tape of the group's most commercial songs.
Indeed, this is a more determinedly rock-oriented affair. Despite the reissue's flaws, this CD is the best (not to mention least expensive) way to hear these two largely unknown but eminently worthwhile albums.
by Stewart Mason
Tracks
1. Who's Been Foolin' - 3:17
2. J. Rider - 4:27
3. Up to YouI, Pt. 1 - 3:18
4. Shadow Lay - 5:56
5. Pick Up and Run - 4:55
6. We Got More - 5:06
7. Sweet Lilac - 4:19
8. Baby Come Risin' - 9:09
9. One Sided Lover - 2:41
10.Kiss of Your Soul - 4:49
11.We Got More - 4:51
12.High Roller - 6:05
13.Pike River - 2:48
14.Sunday's Hero - 7:12
All songs by Ron Matelic
AIthough Pat Kilroy's 1966 Elektra album Light of Day attracted little attention upon its release, it's sjnce come to be recognized for what it is, a groundbreaking wedding of lysergically-enhanced mysticism and exotic instrumentation. Nowadays we call such music acid folk, and you'd be hard pressed to come up with an earlier example of it than this, predating as it does the Incredible String Band's 5,000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion by a year. That said, Light of Day is not a seamless listening experience.
The presence of straightforward blues numbers such as "Canned Heat" on an album otherwise devoted to far-out and eastern-leaning songs like "Vibrations" and "Star Dance" is indeed more than a little puzzling. Knowing something about how the album came to be, however, helps make sense of it all. Pat Kilroy grew up in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, and Antonio Pineda, a classmate at the Jesuit prep school St. Ignatius, remembers Pat as "a capricious, well-humored bloke with a lot of prankster in him, as well as a penchant for reaching for the stars."
For whatever reasons, Pat left St. Ignatius and transferred to Galileo High, graduating in 1962. While enrolled at the University of California in Berkeley, he started getting serious about music, and his guitar teacher, Perry Lederman, turned him on to open tunings, something Pat would continue to explore for the rest of his short life. Once he started performing locally in folk clubs, Pat became known for his extraordinary vocal powers.
Greenwich Village musicians Stefan Grossman and Marc Silber, both of whom would later play on Light of Day, first saw Pat on a trip to California in the summer of 1964. "Pat was phenomenal then," remembers Stefan. "Whether it was a Child ballad or a slow blues, you could hear a pin drop. He sounded like a choir boy with soul." During his Berkeley sojourn, Stefan befriended Pat and his then-girlfriend Roberta, and this initial connection would eventually lead to Pat's Elektra album.
Pat's future musical partner Susan Graubard, then a freshman majoring in music and ceramics at Cal Berkeley, first heard Pat in the Student Union. "He was just sitting there by himself, singing these beautiful Child ballads," she remembers. "I was really drawn to Patrick, his voice and his singing." She would again occasionally see Pat on campus, but didn't share more than a few words with him before he left for Big Sur with Roberta. It wouldn't be until spring break of '65 that Susan next encountered Pat, under very serendipitous circumstances.
On her way down to Santa Barbara with some friends, the VW bus they were riding in broke down at the Big Sur Hot Springs, and Susan ran into Pat there. He was living in a lean-to with Roberta and working in the kitchen of the Esalen Institute. There Susan and Pat had a chance to get to know one another a bit, and found a musical connection in their shared fascination with eastern music. The Pat Kilroy of spring 1965 was a very different person from the coffee house ballad singer of the year before.
Through psychedelic experience, spiritual exercise, a vegetarian diet and immersion in both Indian music and esoteric literature, Pat had undergone something of an epiphany there in Big Sur, one that he would later describe in his liner notes for Light of Day as "a growing awareness of existing universal unity." There was also in him an emerging desire to bring this new-found awareness, through music, to the wider world. "He was definitely on a mission," says Bob Amacker, who met Pat in Big Sur that summer, and would later play tablas on Light of Day. "The mission was a little vague, but it was clear that he was on one." Apart from a hitchhiking excursion with Pat and Roberta, Susan wouldn't see Pat again until December '65, when he appeared in Berkeley with his guitar, his backpack, and an extraordinary proposal.
He and Roberta had split up. As Susan remembers it, "Pat said, 'I want you to come to New York with me and make a record together, and then we'll take the money and we'll go around the world seeking out indigenous musicians, playing music, and collecting instruments.'" Susan said yes, and met Pat in New York the following month. Upon arriving in New York, Pat stayed at Stefan Grossman's house on St. Mark's Place, which was, along with Marc Silber's Fretted Instruments in the Village, a favored musicians' hang out.
Although Pat didn't perform publicly while he was in the city, he soon got heard. "Pat Kilroy made quite a stir when he showed up," remembers Artie Traum. "Not only could he play and sing beautifully, Pat had a mysterious quality about him. At the time he reminded me of James Dean." Stefan introduced Pat to his friend and former band mate in the Even Dozen Jug Band, Peter Siegel, who'd recently been hired to do engineering and production work for Elektra.
Peter was impressed with Pat's singing, and in due course Pat was signed to the label. There was one potential problem, though: Peter thought he'd be getting a bluesy record, and that was not exactly what Pat had in mind. One of the first people Pat looked up in the city was Bob Amacker, who'd been studying tabla for several months.
As Stefan recalls, "Pat was very impressed, because Bob was really learning Indian music, the structure and rhythms of it, and Pat was trying to learn that from him." Once Susan got to New York, the three began rehearsing together. "At first I didn't know how we could do it," Susan remembers. "Neither Pat nor Bob could write nor read music and I was like, 'Well, I don't know how to play without music in front of me!" So, it took some time to figure out how to integrate her flute into what Pat and Bob were playing.
Pat wanted her on the album—that was why she'd come to New York, after all—and in the end convinced her that, with Susan playing on the record, they'd have a bit more money for their impending trip to Europe. Precisely which songs they recorded before leaving is something Susan can't recall, but believes they included numbers the trio had been initially rehearsing, "Light of Day" and the raga-like "Cancereal" (which derived its name from the fact that all three of them were Cancers).
After landing in Iceland, Pat and Susan worked their way through Europe, often sleeping under bridges or in cow pastures while they wrote and rehearsed new songs, checked out local musicians, played casual gigs, and collected instruments. As Pat was Irish on his father's side and Basque on his mother's, they made a point of hitting Ireland and Spain. They eventually ferried down to Tangiers, where Pat became seriously ill, forcing them to cut their trip short. They had an album to complete, in any case.
Pat and Susan were very high on the new songs, "Vibrations," "Fortune Teller" and "Star Dance," all of which featured the glockenspiel they'd found in London. According to Stefan, though, Peter Siegel didn't quite share their enthusiasm for the new material. "Pat was really adamant that this was his new music, and then it got to be 'Well, we don't want to record it; this is not what we signed you up to do.' Then it had to be negotiated, so you get these songs like 'Canned Heat' that has nothing to do with Pat—he'd never even played that song."
A compromise was reached: the new songs stayed, but Stefan, Marc Silber and Eric Kaz were brought in for the blues numbers. If the resulting album was disjointed, the haunting power of its best moments, like the title track and "Star Dance," is undeniable. With the album completed, Pat and Susan returned to the Bay Area. Though he'd been asked to join them, Bob Amacker declined, and Berkeley conga player Jeffrey Stewart was eventually brought in.
Pat's new direction was maybe a little too weird for the Greenwich Village of 1966, but the emerging Bay Area scene seemed to get it, and Pat Kilroy and the New Age regularly performed there and in Big Sur in the coming months. Says Barry Melton of Country Joe and the Fish, "A lot of us had at least some kind of investment in the spiritual side in those days -at least as much of it as was available on a sugar cube- but Pat was the real deal."
Pat was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during sessions for a Warner Brothers debut album, and passed away on December 25, 1967. Upon hearing of Pat's death, Stefan Grossman wrote "Requiem for Pat Kilroy," which would appear on his 1968 album with Danny Kalb, Crosscurrents.
by David Biasotti
Tracks
1. The Magic Carpet - 2:02
2. Roberta’s Blues - 2:35
3. Cancereal - 4:24
4. A Day At The Beach - 3:43
5. The Pipes Of Pan - 2:37
6. Mississippi Blues - 3:38
7. Vibrations - 3:14
8. Light of Day - 3:00
9. The Fortune Teller - 2:46
10. Canned Heat - 3:01
11. The River - 4:08
12. Star Dance - 1:58
All titles by Pat Kilroy
Nowadays we're all fans. Or at least we're told we should be. We need to be entertained and demand new familiar or not-so-familiar sounds to satisfy our consumer instinct. For many, music is more about selling and buying than creating. Looking back at "psych" music we can check any number of musical commodities and ask ourselves, "Was it pop with ornamentation or something heavier and far-out?" In our disposable age it's hard to see the effect that an album could have artistically, especially in retrospect.
Bands now are happy to ape each other with ironic glee or frustration for a time when pop music seemed very important. The frustration also seems to be with the overwhelming entertainment directive that guides so many of our lives.
But in 1969 Roger Bunn put together "stream-of-consciousness" words with jazz rhythms and acid-psych, punctuated by the occasional James Brown horns, to make a unique album. How many albums, even in the sixties, captured the real sense of unknown territory evident in Ken Kesey's "Merry Pranksters" bus rides?
All through "Piece of Mind" we hear songs that have the same mythic sense of exploration that was about more than fashion and drug use. The need to entertain is certainly not just a new phenomenon. Even the Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" seems pulled between the demands of well-crafted radio-friendly pop expectations and the sense of abandon and new territory suggested by psychedelia.
They pull it off pretty well of course (as they tended to do), but one could argue that this split between commercial expectation and artistic development is really what broke up the Beatles in the end. "Magical Mystery Tour" (the film anyway) certainly didn't go down very well at the time, and it seemed to be a possible sign of self-indulgence. But maybe in retrospect we can see that it was just a sign of the complexity of the times and the difficult balance that's needed to recreate an experience that is truly internal and "psychedelic" in a way that can be enjoyed by all.
With "Piece of Mind," we have a real testament to one person's take on many of the influences of the time, and the journey is definitely as inward as it is outward. Looking back, there will be those who prefer more pop with psychedelic tinges in their music, as well as more accommodations for listeners who want their music a certain way. But this is an album that sets its own standard.
While the Doors plastered some jazz chord changes onto "Light My Fire," they also couldn't escape the blues background that placed them firmly in a traditional setting. "Piece of Mind" is part jazz as well, but the sound changes from song to song, and it points towards the experimentation of bands like Can, Agitation Free, and the German rock of the 1970's. Listeners may hear cues from folk, jazz and psychedelia, but it's really an album "sui generis" that stands out as an anomaly. People may love it or hate it, but that could well have something to do with where this album points towards, and the listener's attitude about the developments in music and marketing that occurred throughout the seventies.
Regardless, this James Brown meets Arthur Brown meets Pete Brown sort of eclectic style is definitely ahead of its time. Although there is some folk and plenty of acoustic guitar to be heard, this is not a traditional album. The reference guide "Tapestry of Delights" calls Roger Bunn's "Piece of Mind" 'weird but serious pop-sike.' You can hear that in the album along with a whole lot of other sounds.
Meeting Roger one afternoon and listening to him weave a conversation from history and religion through politics and music, (the whole time accompanied by gentle improvisation on his electric guitar), I could tell that this was a person who puts a lot of himself into what he does. "Piece of Mind" is definitely of a time, but as a message from Roger himself, it also makes you see the artificial limits of our rush for "new" sounds and things. There is new and old, and then there is truly adventurous music.
"Piece of Mind" has some of the sound of a particular time in musical history, but it also has the enduring sound of someone trying something different. And it's that second part that goes a long way towards explaining the difference between commodity-based entertainment and art.
by Joe McFarland
Tracks
1. Road to the Sun (Bunn) - 5:37
2. Jac Mool (Bunn, Mackie) - 0:44
3. Fantasy in Fiction (Bunn) - 1:35
4. Jac Mool (Bunn, Mackie) - 0:16
5. Crystal Tunnel (Bunn, Mackie) - 2:57
6. Three White Horses (Bunn) - 2:43
7. Catatonia (Bunn, Mackie) - 1:33
8. Suffering Wheel (Bunn, Mackie) - 1:40
9. Guido the Magician (Bunn, Mackie) - 2:45
10.Powis Square Child (Bunn, Mackie) - 2:30
11.Old Maid Prudence (Bunn, Mackie) - 5:21
12.Humble Chortle (Bunn, Mackie) - 1:52
13.Jason's Ennui (Bunn, Mackie) - 3:52
14.110° East + 107° North (Bunn) - 3:21
15.A Weekend in Mandraxia (Bunn) - 6:08
16.Life Is a Circus (Bunn) - 6:14
17.Falling Ships (Bunn) - 3:20
18.In the Future (Bunn) - 3:29
19.Lin-da's Jukebox (Bunn) - 5:58
20.You and I (Bunn) - 3:43
21.In Love with You Babe (Bunn) - 4:24
22.Up for Grabs (Bunn, Pete Brown) - 5:47
Most fans' first taste of War was with their 1970 collaboration with ex-Animal Eric Burdon, 'Spill the Wine'. But these long-lived denizens of Los Angeles multi-racial funk and soul have their brotherly roots in a hip instrumental combo by the name of Senor Soul. Decked out in ponchos and sombreros, the Senors' label promoted the band with a superficial novelty image, but the sounds they produced were anything but novelty: a hip synthesis of Latin-flavoured jazz and dead-on-the-one psychedelic funk.
The man in charge of Senor Soul throughout their brief two-year career was Chuck Miller, a Kansas native and multi-talented horn and keyboard player who had been performing as far back as 1962 in the Creators, a suburban Long Beach, California band that actually included the core members of the future War: Howard Scott on guitar. Lonnie Jordan on organ, Morris "BB" Dickerson on bass, and Howard Brown on drums. The Creators broke up when Scott was drafted, but Miller continued to play in other outfits.
The way their bio tells it. Senor Soul was formed by Miller in early 1967, though they were probably first known as the Romeos, under which name they made two singles for Warner Brothers' R&B subsidiary Loma in 1967 judging by titles like 'Mucho Soul' and 'Calypso Chili', the outfit already had a Latin soul shtick down. By that time Miller's cohorts were guitarist Howard Talley, Edwin Stevenson on vibes and piano, bassist Willie Briggs, and James Tillman Crump on drums.
Later in 1967 the group signed to happening LA indie Double Shot Label co-owner Hal Winn recalls that Chuck Miller had come into the company's Sunset Boulevard office touting the band, but it is also possible that Winn knew of the Romeos already, as he had produced the Invincibles for Loma. 'There was always a great feeling when you could deal with somebody like Chuck," notes Winn, "someone who was in control of his own group. Because if not, it was like five arguments instead of one. He directed everything. Later on it wasn't that way, and he eventually lost control of the band when they became War."
Senor Soul's first record was an infectious vibes and flute-filled take of Miriam Makeba's 'Pata Pata' that immediately received airplay, thanks to the experienced efforts of Double Shot's Irwin Zucker, famous for his Promotion In Motion publicity stamp.'"Pata Pata' sold pretty well in some parts of the country," recalls Zucker "Basically it was not a hit record but it sold about 30,000 copies just in a place like Detroit."
The group made their official live debut in January 1968. And that same month completed an album."Plays Funky Favorites". Cut live at Sunset Sound Studios, the record featured jazzy interpretations of recent chart hits such as 'Get On Up', 'Spooky', 'Sunshine Superman', 'l Heard It Through The Grapevine' and 'Uptight', all laden with chugging guitar, sparkling vibes and the occasional vocal aside grunted in a charming ersatz Chicano.
Producers Winn and Joe Hooven made sure the Senors also covered a handful of Double Shot copyrights including Brenton Wood's 'Lovey Dovey Kinda Lovin" and Count Five's 'Psychotic Reaction', the latter transformed into a whacked-out acid jazz masterpiece. Miller contributed two originals, one of which. 'Poquito Soul', would later be successfully covered by One G Plus Three in 1972. Senor Soul quickly became a popular live draw in the Los Angeles area, appealing to both the Hispanic community of East LA, and general R&B clubgoers from Ventura to San Diego.
There were two further singles on Double Shot during 1968, including a version of the novelty Tip Toe Through The Tulips', before Winn and Hooven moved the group to the label's new subsidiary Whiz in early 1969. However, it appears that the combo had suffered a personnel change, with only Miller remaining from the original line-up.
The first Whiz single was a strong take on the oft-covered 'It's Your Thing' that eschewed the vibes and flute of the old Seniors for a basic, Hammond-dominated funk feel. It's uncertain who exactly was on the session but it was supervised by Maurice Rodgers, organ player for Double Shot outfit Kent and the Candidates, and subsequently the label's principal A and R staffer. The single got action on R and B charts around the nation but once again fell short of becoming a hit.
A second album named for the single was prepared in June 1969, and offered further evidence that the original Senor Soul was in disarray. Some cuts were outtakes from the first LP sessions, while others were actually recycled backing tracks from other Double Shot/Whiz releases. Specifically, 'Hypnotizer' had originally been released with a vocal as 'Mesmeriser' by the Fantastics, while'Make The Funk Jump' used the same track as the Recitations' vocal version on Whiz, which itself had cannibalized an earlier Kent & the Candidates single The Neck'.
But nevertheless, "It's Your Thing" was as listenable as its predecessor and it has since become a highly regarded item amongst funk connoisseurs, not least for The Mouse1, two and half minutes of pounding fatback groove penned by Kodgers, and issued as a single in July 1969. From the same session comes an equally appealing outtake. The Sneak', featuring a spiraling, spluttering organ and a splash of wah-wah. When quizzed on the status of the band at this point, Hal Winn offers the following observation:"! don't remember a split, but they were becoming War while we still had them." What seems probable is that Miller reconnected with his old cohorts from the Creators around this period.
The standard history of War mentions their evolution from a rand called the Nightshift that Eric Burdon ran across in a Long Beach club called the Rag Doll in the summer of 1969.The combo were providing accompaniment to ex-football player Deacon Jones, who had a novelty act that consisted of doing one-arm push ups while singing R & B ballads. They may have been working live with Jones as the Nightshift, but on vinyl at least the group were still Senor Soul.
Burden's epiphany at discovering the band coincided with his formation of Far Out Productions with Jerry Goldstein, who was quick to contact Winn about taking over the group's contract But interestingly enough, the final session that the band recorded for Double Shot was in February 1970, some time later. It produced two vocal tracks that are unmistakably War in everything but name, with a communal writing credit that confirmed the line-up: Miller, Dickerson, Brown, Scott, Jordan and newcomer Lee Oscar, introduced to the band by Burdon.
The latter's plaintive harmonica is to the fore on both the ballad 'I Ain't Got No Soul Today (What It Is,Y'All)' and the impossibly catchy 'Don't Lay Your Funky Trip On Me', solid tunes chat could slot effortlessly onto "All Day Music". War's two year hence debut. The tracks became the Senors' last two A-sides, and 'I Ain't Got No Soul Today' in particular got decent airplay. But they were overshadowed, however, by 'Spill The Wine’ #3 chart placing in July 1970, which made the newly christened War, with the addition of Papa Dee Allen on keyboards, national stars.
In the years since, the group have rarely referred to their roots in Senor Soul, but there is no doubt the band had much to do with informing War's complex and unique blend of funk, R & B, rock and Latin jazz. And the Senors made some great records on their own right.
by Alec Palao
Tracks
1. The Mouse (Maurice Rodgers) - 2:31
2. Don't Lay Your Funky Trip On Me (H. Brown, H. Scott, M. Dickerson, L. Jordan, L. Oskar, C.Miller, T. S. Allen) - 3:32
3. Psychotic Reaction (Kenn Ellner, Roy Chaney, Sean Byrne, John Michalski, Craig Atkinson) - 2:06
4. It's Your Thing (Ronald Isley, O'kelly Isley. Rudolph Isley) - 2:26
5. Pata Pata (Miriam Makeba, Jerry Ragovoy) - 2:22
6. Get On Up (Gilbert Moorer, Bill Sheppard, Johnny Taylor) - 2:43
7. Poquitosoul (Charles Miller) - 2:49
8. The Sneak (Maurice Rodgers) - 3:03
9. I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Norman Whitfield. Barrett Strong) - 2:44
10.Hypnotizer (Maurice Rodgers) - 2:04
11.I Ain't Got No Soul Today (What It Is, Y'all) (H. Brown, H. Scott, M. Dickerson, L. Jordan, L. Oskar, Ch. Miller) - 3:58
12.Spooky (Mike Shapiro, Harry Middlebrooks, Buddy Buie, Jr Cobb) - 2:33
13.Uptight (Everything's Alright) - (Henry Cosby, Stevie Wonder, Sylvia Moy) - 4:40
14.Soul Fiesta (Charles Miller) - 2:26
15.Lovey Dovey Kinda Lovin' (Alfred Smith, Joe Hooven, Hal Winn) - 3:15
16.Some Got It, Some Don't (Alfred Smith, Joe Hooven, Hal Winn) - 2:16
17.Sunshine Superman (Donovan Leitch) - 3:08
18.Make The Funk Jump (Maurice Rodgers) - 2:54
19.El Loco (Maurice Rodgers) - 2:38
20.I Dig Rock & Roll Music (David Dixon, James Mason, Paul Stookey) – 2:24
Senor Soul
*B.B. Dickerson - Bass
*Charles Miller - Saxophone, Flute, Keyboards
*Harold Brown - Drums
*Howard Scott - Guitar
*Lee Oskar - Harmonica
*Lonnie Jordan - Piano, Organ
*Papa Dee Allen - Vocals, Percussion, Keyboards
The Belfast Gypsies' sole album was a very credible blast of British Invasion-styled R&B-rock. Released a year about after it was recorded and the produce by Kim Fowley gives this rough-hewn R&B a manic, freaky edge on cuts like "People, Let's Freak Out," "Suicide Song," and "Secret Police."
The Them-like atmosphere is heightened by singer Jackie McAuley, who's very much a Van Morrison-style vocalist ("Gloria's Dream" is a blatant cop of "Gloria"), though not in Morrison's league. Still, it's quite a solid effort, McAuley's organ pacing the band's brittle rock-R&B, with some decent originals and a diverse assortment of imaginative covers, ranging from Donovan to traditional folk to a tongue-in-cheek classical instrumental.
Their tense version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is one of the greatest obscure Dylan covers, and the magnificent harmonica on "Midnight Train" is a highlight. [In 2003, it was reissued on CD by Rev-Ola with six bonus tracks, five of them barely different EP and 45 mixes of songs from the original LP (though the French EP mix of "Midnight Train" seems to straighten out a varispeed flaw that had afflicted previous pressings).
The other bonus track (and sole cut not to have appeared on the original LP), "The Gorilla," is a generic soul-rock instrumental with prominent organ that appeared on a French EP. Note, though, that while that recording did originally appear on a Belfast Gypsies release, it's not actually the Belfast Gypsies performing on the track, which was likely done by some or all members of Shotgun Express (particularly as two of them, including keyboardist Peter Bardens, shared in the songwriting credits).
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. Gloria's Dream (K. McLeod, M. Scott, J.J. McAuley, P.J. McAuley, R. Henderson, K. Fowley) - 2:13
2. The Crazy World Inside Me (McAuley, McLeod) - 3:02
3. Midnight Train (Traditional) - 3:31
4. Aria Of The Fallen Angels (K. McLeod, M. Scott, J.J. McAuley, P.J. McAuley) - 3:50
5. (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue (Bob Dylan) - 3:48
6. People, Let's Freak Out (K. McLeod, M. Scott, J.J. McAuley, P.J. McAuley) - 2:30
7. Boom Boom (John Lee Hooker) - 2:27
8. The Last Will And Testament (K. McLeod, M. Scott, J.J. McAuley, P.J. McAuley) - 4:51
9. Portland Town (Daryl Adams) - 3:19
10.Hey Gyp, Dig The Slowness (Donovan) - 2:05
11.Suicide Song (K. McLeod, M. Scott, J.J. McAuley, P.J. McAuley) - 4:13
12.Secret Police (K. Fowley, Hardesty, Walther) - 2:32
13.Portland Town (French EP Mix) (Daryl Adams) - 3:40
14.(It's All Over Now) Baby Blue (French EP Mix) (Bob Dylan) - 3:48
15.Midnight Train (French EP Mix) (Traditional) - 3:30
16.The Gorilla (French EP Mix) (P. Bardens, R. Henderson, J. Mooreshead) - 1:59
17.Secret Police (45 Mix) (K. Fowley, Hardesty, Walther) - 2:38
18.Gloria's Dream (45 Mix) (K. McLeod, M. Scott, J.J. McAuley, P.J. McAuley, R. Henderson, K. Fowley) - 2:14
Them
*Jackie Mcauley - Vocals, Keyboards
*Pat Mcauley - Drums
*Ken Mccleod - Guitar
*Mark Scott - Bass
