Short-lived outfit showcased the talents of bassist Curt Jonnie, the late guitarist Tony Grasso and drummer Mike Zack (Jonnie and Zack had previously played in the band Wild Honey; while Zack was briefly a member of The Cherry People). Largely unknown, for what it's worth, Puzzle may be one of Washington D.C.'s best late-1960s rock outfits.
Signed by ABC Records, the trio's self-titled 1969 debut teamed them with producers Ed Kramer and Jay Senter. Largely written by Grasso and Jonnie, tracks like the leadoff rocker 'Hey Medusa' (which for some reason wasn't shown on the album track listing), 'Make the Children Happy' and 'Babe' offered up a first rate set of hard-rock. Complete with strong melodies, some excellent harmony vocals and occasional shots of fuzz guitar (courtesy of Grasso), "Puzzle" put lots of better known names to shame.
Mind you there wasn't anything particularly original or earth shattering to be found on the set, but these guys played with considerable enthusiasm and energy. While their predominant orientation was hard rock, tracks like 'No Complaints' and 'Golden Butterfly' demonstrated a more commercial, though no less appealing sound. To be honest, the only disappointments were the seemingly endless blues-rock workout 'Working for the Rich Man' and a heavily phased and less-than-convincing foray into psych 'Got My Head Right Yesterday' (which actually started to grow on you given a couple of beers and some time to kill).
Hammersmith was the direct descendent of Painter, a Calgary-based hard rock band that had relocated to Seattle and produced one album in '74. Once Painter had played its last note in '74, Doran Beattie on lead vocals, guitarist Dan Lowe, Royden Morice on bass and keyboards and drummer Herb Ego moved back to Calgary and reinvented themselves.
They were still under contract to Mercury Records, and Bruce Allen, manager of BTO, agreed to manage them. Keeping the same harder edge to their music as their predecessor Painter, they added Jeff Boyne as a second guitarist and began touring western Canada while making stops in Sounds West Studios in Calgary and Timbre Sound in Vancouver to put some material they'd written onto tape. The bulk of these songs were written while the band was still Painter, but in the middle of the recording sessions, Ego left and was replaced behind the drum kit by James Llewellyn.
With Lowe producing, their self-titled debut came out in the summer of '75. "Late Night Lovin' Man" was released as a single, cracking the Top 40 at home. Before long "Funky As She Goes" followed suit, and they found themselves touring Canada for the rest of the year. Other noteable tracks included the cover of Rick Derringer's "Daybreak" and "Breakin' Down," the only original song Lowe didn't have a hand in writing.
By next spring Craig Blair had replaced Boyne on guitars and Llewellyn was gone and Cold Lake native Dale Buchner was the new drummer. They travelled to Sundown Recorders in Edmonton for their 1976 follow-up, IT'S FOR YOU. This time they relied on Jim Gaines, who'd worked with them when they were Painter to co-produce the album with Lowe. "Dancin' Fools" was released as a single, which failed to crack the Top 40. With the record failing to make much of an impression, Mercury had grown impatient with the band and they found themselves without a label.
Once they were off the road, Beattie quit, though the band carried on without him while searching for a new singer and a new deal. Among the people trying out for the singer position was future Moxy and Loverboy frontman Mike Reno (still going by his real name Mike Rynoski), though he didn't last long. By the end of '77 Lowe pulled the plug and everyone went on to do their own thing.
Lowe started up a new project, 451 Degrees a couple of years later, and then Prototype. In addition to becoming a successful producer, he also invented a stereo enhancement process involving multiple microphones called Q Sound, which has been used by such artists as Madonna, Sting, and Pink Floyd, as well as in cell phone technology. Beattie did some session work and became a respected country artist.
1. Late Night Lovin' Man (J. Boyne, D. Beattie, D. Lowe) - 3:21
2. I've Got A Right To Know (D. Beattie, D. Lowe) - 2:32
3. Money Rock (D. Beattie, D. Lowe, R. Morice) - 3:52
4. Breakin' Down (D. Beattie, R. Morice) - 2:52
5. Daybreak (R. Derringer) - 4:42
6. Feelin' Better (D. Beattie, D. Lowe, R. Morice) - 3:18
7. Nobody Really Knows (Why The Sun Goes Down) (J. Boyne, D. Lowe) - 3:39
8. Low Ridin' Ladies (D. Beattie, J. Boyne) - 2:31
9. Funky As She Goes (D. Beattie, D. Lowe, R. Morice) - 2:39
10.Open Up The Sky (D. Beattie, D. Lowe, R. Morice) - 6:32
Tracks
1. Be A Star (R. Morice, D. Lowe, D. Beattie, C. Blair) - 3:58
2. Barre's Bizarre (D. Lowe, C. Blair) - 2:35
3. Good-Bye, Good-Bye (C. Blair, D. Lowe, D. Beattie) - 3:50
4. When I Was Young (D. Beattie, C. Blair, D. Lowe, R. Morice, D. Buchner) - 5:57
5. Breakaway (C. Blair, D. Lowe, D. Beattie) - 4:19
6. Dancin' Fools (D. Beattie, D. Lowe) - 2:58
7. Kickin' Back (C. Blair, D. Lowe, D. Beattie, D. Buchner) - 3:37
8. Hello, It's for You (D. Beattie, R. Morice, D. Lowe) - 2:57
9. Under the Sea (D. Beattie, C. Blair, D. Lowe, R. Morice, D. Buchner) - 6:11
10.Mr. Las Vegas (R. Morice) - 4:03
Hammersmith 1975 Hammersmith
*Doran Beattie - Lead Vocals
*Dan Lowe - Lead Guitar
*Royden Morice - Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
*Bob Ego - Drums
*Jeff Boyne - Rhythm Guitar
*Jim Llewellyn - Drums 1976 It's For You
*Dan Lowe - Lead Guitar
*Doran Beattie - Lead Vocals
*Craig Blair - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
*Royden Morice - Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
*Dale Buchner - Drums
A really good Hard Rock album this is boasting high production values throughout and apart from its rocking 12-bar opener, features some of the best hard rock psych you're likely to hear, with some outstanding flute in the Ian Anderson style and some fine synth work augmented by some strong piano and accompanying strings. Many tracks feature some decidedly jazzy interludes.
Tracks
1. Early Riser - 4:17
2. The Sailor Song - 6:14
3. Evil and Cruel - 5:31
4. Day of Doom - 4:54
5. Andrea - 2:21
6. Earth - 4:06
7. Me and My Momma - 2:37
8. The Brighter Side - 3:08
Crack
*Andrea Borega - Lead Vocals, Synthesizer, Percussion,
*Darryl Kaye - Backing Vocals, Flute, Guitar, Bass, Harp
The politically charged David Peel & the Lower East Side directly contrasted their 1968 acoustic live debut, Have a Marijuana (recorded in New York City's Washington Square Park), with 1970's American Revolution, an amplified studio outing. The real similarity between the two remains Peel's no-holds-barred, in-your-face attitude and staunchly liberal espousing. Once again joining in the festivities are Peel (guitar/vocals), Billy Joe White (guitar/vocals), and Harold C. Black (tambourine/vocals), as well as new instrumentally intensive recruits Tony Bartoli (drums), Herb Bushler (bass), David Horowitz (organ), and Richard Grando (soprano sax).
Although Peel's earlier effort hinted at the band's proto-punk and garage rock leanings, the aggressive electric bashing that accompanies "Lower East Side," "Hey, Mr. Draft Board," and "Girls, Girls, Girls" allows them to bring that restless spirit to complete fruition. While Peel's work has been considered as little more than a hippie novelty, the sheer range of his topical lyrics is often a direct reflection of the then-current anti-establishment movement.
His music deals candidly with their attitudes regarding Vietnam ("I Want to Kill You"), the repression of local law enforcement ("Oink, Oink, Oink"), hypocritical drug laws ("Legalize Marijuana"), sex ("Girls, Girls, Girls"), and even more contemplative esoteric concepts ("God"). Peel also takes on other sacred cows; "Pledge of Allegiance" is a parody that not only reaffirms his pro-pot perspective, but could likewise be interpreted as expressing anti-American sentiments. But that would be missing the point entirely, as Peel's anger and sarcasm are both well-founded and rooted in his love for the freedoms that the United States has stood for.
by Lindsay Planer
Tracks
1. Lower East Side (White) - 3:14
2. Pledge Of Allegiance - 0:35
3. Legalize Marijuana - 2:52
4. Oink, Oink - 4:30
5. I Want To Get High - 2:27
6. I Want To Kill You - 4:18
7. Girls, Girls, Girls - 3:55
8. Hey, Mr. Draft Board - 3:42
9. God - 2:23
10.Here Comes The Cops (Bonus Track) - 3:15
11.Have A Marijuana (Bonus Track) - 2:27
All songs written and composed by David Peel, except where noted. Extra tracks 10-11 taken from their 1968 "Have a Marijuana" LP
Musicians
*Tony Bartoli – Drums
*Harold C. Black – Vocals, Tambourine
*Herb Bushler – Bass Guitar
*Richard Grando – Soprano Saxophone
*David Horowitz – Organ
*David Peel – Vocals, Guitar
*Billy Joe White – Vocals, Guitar Free Text Just Paste
By 1972, Gene Clark had settled into a new life in Mendocino far from the intrusive media glare and fan adulation that still surrounded someone of his stature as a former member of the Byrds. However, he still owed A&M Records one more album. Gathering together the cream of the Los Angeles country-rock fraternity—innovative guitarist Clarence White, Chris Ethridge on bass, ex-Byrd and Burrito Brother Michael Clarke on drums, pedal steel guitarist extraordinaire Sneaky Pete, Byron Berline on fiddle and pianist Spooner Oldham—Gene set about recording an album of pure country rock unfettered by any commercial dictates.
Although the spring 1972 recording sessions were ultimately abandoned, Gene left eight precious songs in the vaults. “Full Circle Song” (later recorded by the reunited Byrds and a bona fide country-rock classic) and “Shooting Star” reveal a deep, introspective soul-searching. “I Remember the Railroad” and “In a Misty Morning” reflect a longing for the simpler days of his youth. The sessions also produced spirited versions of Flatt & Scruggs’ “Rough and Rocky,” the country standard “I Really Don’t Want to Know,” Freddie Weller’s rollicking “Roadmaster” and a reinterpretation of his standout Byrds song, “She Don’t Care About Time.”
Gene’s manager Jim Dickson took these eight tracks and paired them with three additional unreleased recordings to assemble Roadmaster. The unreleased tracks chronicled two previous attempts at a Byrds reunion (“One in a Hundred” and “She’s the Kind of Girl”) as well as the stunning “Here Tonight,” with Gene backed by The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Originally a 1973 European-only release, imported copies of Roadmaster soon found their way to North America as fans came to recognize the brilliance in the ill-fated sessions. “The album itself I was proud of,” acknowledged Gene years later. “I was proud of the writing and proud of the bunch of people who played on it.” This legendary recording makes its Sundazed debut on compact disc and wondrous vinyl. It has been painstakingly mastered from the original A&M session tapes and is packaged in new album artwork. CD includes extra photos and new liner notes by Gene Clark biographer John Einarson. Add this recording to your collection and bear full witness to Gene Clark’s panoramic musical vision.
Tracks
1. She's The Kind Of Girl (Clark) - 2:59
2. One In A Hundred (Clark) - 2:45
3. Here Tonight (Clark) - 3:29
4. Full Circle Song (Clark) - 2:44
5. In A Misty Morning (Clark) - 4:56
6. Rough And Rocky (Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs) - 3:14
7. Roadmaster (Clark) - 4:12
8. I Really Don't Want To Know (Howard Barnes, Don Robertson) - 4:35
9. I Remember The Railroad (Clark) - 2:31
10.She Don't Care About Time (Clark) - 3:37
11.Shooting Star (Clark) - 4:38
Musicians
*Gene Clark - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Clarence White - Electric Guitar, Vocals
*Spooner Oldham - Keyboards, Vocals
*Byron Berline - Fiddle
*Sneaky Pete Kleinow - Pedal Steel Guitar
*Michael Clarke - Drums
*David Crosby - Electric Guitar, Vocals
*Roger Mcguinn - Electric Guitar, Vocals
*Chris Hillman - Bass Guitar, Vocals
*Rick Roberts - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
*Bud Shank - Flute
Those crazy Dutch! What with their pancakes, pornography and “specialist” coffee shops; they are a nation whose very fabric is cut from the most permissive of cloths. It pervades the culinary, the literary and what gets sprinkled on the Old Holborn. Let it be a lesson to us all: part a man from his bicycle and he’ll cock the proverbial snook at your fascist agenda ten millionfold.
This liberal mindset made the Dutch music scene of the late 60s and early 70s a hotbed of psychedelic and progressive experimentation, and Fantasio Daze is a fruity selection of some of the rarest English language singles to hit the Netherlands during this era.
It’s safe to say that every artist appearing on Fantasio Daze is new to HFoS and, as is the case with the majority of compilations, the spectrum of ‘fro-frazzlingly good, to knee-shreddingly awful is enthusiastically covered.
It’s the good that leads the charge, with the thoroughly disturbing ‘The Killer’ by Names & Faces. As an opener, it grabs the able listener by his able undercarriage and squeezes tight, refusing to let go for its five minute duration and rendering everything that follows pretty much redundant.
Yes indeed, the battle is won with barely a shot fired and even the enemy’s secret weapon, the gut-blisteringly dreadful ‘Ode to Jimi Hendrix’ by Phoenix, can’t put a downer on ‘The Killer’s’ victory parade.
Of course, these are just the two extremes of Fantasio Daze and though the earlier assertion of the remainder being “redundant” might seem a little on the harsh side, such is the glorious shadow cast by the ‘The Killer’, it may as well be. Nevertheless, a healthy mix of the sublime and the mediocre jockey for position, looking to win over the hearts, heads and minds of our good selves.
Worthy of recognition are Cinderella’s ‘From Town to Town’, with its all female psychedelic folk harmonies; the wonderfully mad ‘The Doting King’ by The Dream; and the tempered edge of Crying Wood’s ‘Blue Eyed Witch’.
Elsewhere, there’s a curio from Adjeef The Poet, who appears to be a Netherlandic Kim Fowley. His ‘Eek, I’m a Freak’ is as worthy as anything his US counterpart recorded during the psychedelic age. Read into that what you will.
Overall though, Fantasio Daze offers one fantastic song right at the start, followed by the occasional obscure lovely; the festival of fair-to-middling fodder; and a reet bad lot trying its hardest to up heave the uneasy truce holding it all together.
Needlessly offensive national stereotypes aside (see the beginning of review), Fantasio Daze offers an enticing window on the pre-prog stage of the Dutch music scene that resided on the 60s/70s cusp. For that reason alone – and despite the intermittent lapses in quality control – this makes for an intriguing and, nonetheless, enjoyable listen to the connoisseur of psychedelic rock in all its manifold forms.
Artists - Tracks
1. Names 'n' Faces - The Killer - 5:08
2. Sense Of Humour - Sunset Show - 2:45
3. Cinderella - Town To Town - 3:04
4. Crown's Clan - No Place For Our Minds - 2:10
5. Human Orchestra - The Silly One - 2:08
6. St Giles System - Swedish Tears - 3:49
7. Sound Of Imker - Train Of Doomsday - 2:40
8. Bag - Tripdream - 3:03
9. Phoenix - Ode To Jimi Hendrix - 5:08
10.The Tykes - Hey Girl - 2:30
11.Turqoise - Daughter Of Johnny Ray - 3:35
12.The Dream - The Doting King - 2:46
13.Bag - Nothing Will Remain - 3:08
14.Crying Wood - Blue Eyed Witch - 3:28
15.The Eddysons - Cousin Pretty - 3:23
16.OPMC - Firechild - 3:39
17.Adjeef The Poet - Eek, I'm A Freak - 2:50
18.Opus - Master Of My Fate - 3:09
19.Bobby Green Selection - I Never Saw The Love So Clear - 2:29
20.Group 1850 - Don't Let It Be - 3:09
21.Jeep - The Rain - 2:29
One of Britain's most prolific songwriting professionals, Roger Cook first came to prominence during the British Invasion, usually working in tandem with Roger Greenaway. After the pair hit big with the Fortunes' oldies radio staple "You've Got Your Troubles," they continued to crank out hits for years to come, also writing numerous ad jingles (one of which, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," was a massive pop hit in its own right). By the late '70s, Cook had moved to Nashville to become a successful country-pop songwriter.
Roger Cook was born in Bristol, England, on August 19, 1940. He first sang in church choir at age 11, and performed in vocal harmony groups for much of his youth. He wrote his first song in 1958, and that same year recorded a few sides with a vocal group called the Sapphires. the Sapphires disbanded the following year, and Cook next sang with a group called the Londons, splitting off with bandmate Jill Stevens to form Jon & Julie in 1962. The duo recorded a bit for Columbia, but broke up when Stevens became pregnant.
Cook spent about a year away from music performing in theatrical productions as a mime, but returned to singing in early 1965 when Roger Greenaway invited him to join a harmony group called the Kestrels, which actively toured the British variety circuit. They also featured future studio vocalist extraordinaire Tony Burrows, who split for a solo career not long after Cook joined up. Cook and Greenaway stuck together, forming a songwriting partnership and working as session singers in the meantime.
The two caught their big break when the Fortunes recorded their composition "You've Got Your Troubles." It was a Top Ten smash in both the U.S. and U.K., falling just one spot short of the top in the latter. In its wake, Cook and Greenaway teamed up to record as the soft pop duo David & Jonathan, scoring a transatlantic hit with their cover of the Beatles' "Michelle" in early 1966.
Meanwhile, the Fortunes released their follow-up hit, "This Golden Ring," and Gary Lewis & the Playboys scored an American Top Ten hit with "Green Grass," both Greenaway-Cook creations. David & Jonathan landed their biggest U.K. hit that summer with the Top Ten "Lovers of the World Unite," and the two subsequently began writing advertising jingles, most notably for Coca-Cola. In late 1967, Gene Pitney scored a Top Five U.K. hit with "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart."
Cook and Greenaway decided to end their David & Jonathan partnership in early 1968, but kept writing songs together, including Cilla Black's U.K. Top Ten "Conversations" (1969). Meanwhile, Cook made a few solo recordings under the name Roger James Cooke (culminating in the 1970 album Study, which was reissued on CD by RPM in 2012), and joined the pop band Blue Mink in 1969 as a featured vocalist.
Blue Mink scored a succession of U.K. hits through 1973, including "Melting Pot," "Good Morning Freedom," "Banner Man," "Stay with Me," and "Randy." Meanwhile, Cook and Greenaway briefly re-teamed in the studio group Currant Kraze, and wrote a Top Ten U.S. and U.K. hit for White Plains in 1970 with "My Baby Loves Lovin'"; their "Home Lovin' Man" was also a U.K. hit for crooner Andy Williams. In late 1971, Cook and Greenaway's most popular Coke jingle was adapted into the pop song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" and became a hit for both the Hillside Singers and the New Seekers; the latter's version became the pair's first U.K. chart-topper. Naturally, demand for the pair's ad jingles skyrocketed during the next few years.
In the meantime, Cook and Greenaway continued to collaborate on the occasional pop hit. The Congregation had a U.K. hit in 1971 with a cover of David & Jonathan's "Softly Whispering I Love You." "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)," written with Hollies lead singer Allan Clarke, became that group's biggest American hit in 1972; two years later, "Doctor's Orders" became a hit for R&B singer Carol Douglas. Meanwhile, Cook released two solo albums under his own name on Regal Zonophone, 1972's
Meanwhile Back at the World and 1973's Minstrel in Flight. By late 1975, Cook had split amicably from Greenaway, and moved to the United States. He drifted through New York and Los Angeles before settling in Nashville, where he completed the solo album Alright in 1976. Moving into country territory, Cook scored a breakthrough with Crystal Gayle's 1978 chart-topper "Talking in Your Sleep," written with Bobby Wood. In 1980, he teamed with Sam Hogan to write another number one country hit, Don Williams' "I Believe in You."
The year 1981 brought two country Top Fives in Gayle's "Livin' in These Troubled Times" and Williams' "Miracles." Williams landed another number one in 1983 with "Love Is on a Roll," which Cook co-wrote with folkie John Prine; the two would continue to collaborate off and on in the years to come.
Cook's writing activities tailed off as the '80s wore on, though 1989 found him back on top of the British charts thanks to Marc Almond's remake of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," which featured duet vocals from original artist Gene Pitney.
In 1991, he teamed with ex-Strangler Hugh Cornwell and guitarist Andy West to form Cornwall, Cook and West, issuing the album CCW the following year. In 1997, Cook became the first Englishman to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame; later that year, he returned to writing, collaborating with Eddie Kilgallon on George Strait's number one smash "One Night at a Time." In 1998, Strait landed another chart-topper with his cover of Cook and Prine's "I Just Want to Dance with You."
by Steve Leggett
Tracks
1. Primrose Jill - 3:33
2. Black Paper Roses (Belle Gonzales) - 2:13
3. Teresa (Hammond, Hazlewood) - 2:36
4. Something (G. Harrison) - 2:59
5. Ellie (Martin, Jordan) - 2:21
6. Not That It Matters Anymore - 2:55
7. Skyline Pigeon (E. John, B. Taupin) - 3:36
8. Today I Killed a Man I Didn't Know - 3:17
9. Is It You That Has the Power - 2:43
10.My Home City (Drewett, Dymond) - 3:17
11.3 Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol - 2:23
12.Ain't That a Wonderful Thing (feat. Eve Graham) - 2:42
13.Stop - 2:35
14.I'm Burning - 2:45
15.Paper Chase (Barter, Greenaway) - 2:36
16.Smiling Through My Tears (feat. Eve Graham) (Cedric Carnal) - 2:47
17.Someday - 3:36
18.Jubilation - 3:59
19.Anticipation Grows (Barter) - 3:32
20.If You Would Stay - 4:34
21.Mama Packed a Picnic Tea (Matthews, Guilguid) - 4:09
22.People I've Gotta Dream - 3:39
All song by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway except where indicated.
By 1967 manager of The Crusaders Barry Kaye, who was a real Hollywood creep, took every penny they made off of some real big gigs, persuaded The Crusaders to change their name to The Love Exchange, and moved to San Francisco, California.
By late November 1967 The Love Effect released a single "Swallow the Sun" (written by John Merrill) (backed by "Meadow Memory"), which is described as the band's "chief claim to fame", and "a nice folk-rock-psychedelic tune that's emblematic of the time with its trippily optimistic lyrics, garage-like Mamas & the Papas female-male harmonies, and swirling organ". "Swallow the Sun" was "a re-titled cover of 'Dark On You Now' (with some different lyrics) by the Peanut Butter Conspiracy", which had previously been recorded by Merrill's previous band, The Ashes. The song was anthologized on the Los Angeles portion of the Highs in the Mid-Sixties series, and also on the folk-rock volume of the vinyl Nuggets series on Rhino in the 1980s.
The Love Exchange's eponymous 1968 album Love Exchange was recorded in one day at Leo de Gar Kulka's Golden State Recorders Studios at Harrison Street, San Francisco, produced by Number One Productions of Larry Goldberg, who "put his name on our songs", and was credited with writing most of the songs, with the exception of "the appropriately melancholy and ghostly 'Ballad of a Sad Man' (written by bassist Mike Joyce)".
In an act of "psychsploitation", Goldberg took some of the LP's backing tracks and used them on a soundtrack album for a musical titled How Now, Dow Jones, credited there to the Floor Traders". These songs were "Step to the Rear" and "Live a Little", both with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and music by Elmer Bernstein. The original soundtrack album "How Now, Dow Jones" was released by RCA Victor by January 1968.
In April 1968 Love Exchange was released without the two Broadway songs, and received a favorable rating by Billboard magazine The Love Exchange played often in Los Angeles, including gigs at the Pandora's Box and other Sunset Strip clubs, the Los Angeles Sports Arena, and at some festivals, but broke up after appearing at the Newport '69 Pop Festival in June 1969.
Tracks
1. Get Out Of My Life, Woman (Alain Toussaint) - 2:28
2. Swallow The Sun (Jack Merrill) - 2:46
3. Flying High (Larry Goldberg) - 2:40
4. Meadow Memory (Larry Goldberg, M. Andrews) - 2:00
5. Saturday Night Flight 505 (Larry Goldberg, M. Andrews) - 2:25
6. Give Up On Love (Kenny Smith) - 3:00
7. Two-O-Tango (Walter Flannery) - 3:02
8. Ballad Of A Sad Man (Mike Joyce) - 2:48
9. Nothing At All (Danny Hutton, Larry Goldberg) - 2:35
10. Mrs. Ansel Griffith (M. Cooper) - 2:37
11. Boston (Fred Barnett,Walter Flannery) - 4:11
12. Live A Little (Elmer Berstein, Carolyn Leigh) - 2:12
13. Step To The Rear (Elmer Berstein, Carolyn Leigh) - 1:54
14. Get Out Of My Life, Woman - 2:26
15. Meadow Memory - 2:00
16. Swallow The Sun - 2:32
Bonus tracks 11-16 previously unissued.
The Love Exchange
*Dan Altchuler - 12 String Guitar
*Jeff Barnett - Drums
*Fred Barnett - Six String Guitar
*Walter Flannery - Organ
*Mike Joyce - Bass
*Bonnie Blunt - Vocals, Tambourine
Cykle produced one album's worth of solid garage rock, and it certainly proves that the band was an enthusiastic bunch of musicians. Despite claims to the contrary, Cykle's music cannot be called psychedelia; instead, it's closer in sound to the garage punk that started to come out a couple years before the album was released, in 1969.
Jimmy Sossamon came up with decent songs, and the band played the hell out of them. Cykle may have been somewhat derivative, but they could occasionally be thrilling, too, and their playing sometimes bursts with a teenage energy that makes the songs fun to listen to. Rave-ups like "If You Can," "Walkout," "Walkin' Through My Mind," and "It's Her" are exciting punkers full of scorching guitar along the lines of the Chocolate Watchband and the great, final raga-fied incarnation of the Vejtables.
This Gear Fab reissue adds some recordings from Sossamon's pre-Cykle band, the Young Ones, who were certainly of their day, combining hints of the Beatles, instrumental party music, soul, and beach music. The album is filled out with a couple of songs Sossamon wrote for and helped record with the Rhodes Scholars. A distinct departure from Cykle, the Rhodes Scholars played straight pop/rock with full brass arrangements -- much closer to the sound of bands like Chicago and the Buckinghams -- and their songs were actually pretty solid, with quite a bit of commercial potential.
by Stanton Swihart
Tracks
1. Too Much Lovin' - The Young Ones (The Young Ones) - 2:12
2. Harbor Melon - The Young Ones (Trad. Arr. The Young Ones) - 2:49
3. Big Teaser - The Young Ones (Sossamon, Hayes, Warwick) - 1:55
4. It's You - The Young Ones (Warwick) - 2:14
5. If You Can - Cykle (Sossamon) - 2:40
6. Walkout (Of My Mind) - Cykle (Sossamon) - 2:13
7. Maiden Girl - Cykle (Sossamon) - 3:06
8. Walkin' Through My Mind - Cykle(Sossamon) - 2:30
9. A Little Faith - Cykle (Sossamon) - 2:49
10.It's Her - Cykle (Sossamon) - 2:01
11.Lesson To Learn - Cykle (Sossamon) - 3:14
12.In Love My Friend - Cykle (Sossamon) - 3:38
13.Do My Thing - Cykle (Sossamon) - 4:03
14.What You Do To Me - Cykle (Sossamon) - 7:26
15.In My Dreams - Jimmy Sossamon (Sossamon) - 2:45
16.In My Dreams - The Rhodes Scholars (Sossamon) - 3:49
17.What's On Your Mind - The Rhodes Scholars (Sossamon) - 2:17
The Young Ones
*Carlton Warwick - Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals
*Johnny Hayes - Bass Guitar, Vocals
*Ronnie Baxley - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
*Jimmy Sossamon - Drums
*Dicky Britt - Organ
Cykle
*Ralph Stephens - Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Backup Vocals
*Ken Allen - Lead Vocals
*Jeff Hardin - Rhythm Guitar, Backup Vocals
*Grady Pope - Bass Guitar, Backup Vocals
*Rick Wilson - Organ, Backup Vocals , Lead Vocals ("It's Her")
*Jimmy Sossamon - Drums, Piano, Harpsichord, Vibraphone
Vibist Lynn Blessing is best known for his membership in the jazz-rock band Advancement, who recorded a single, self-titled album in 1969, and as a member of Bill Plummer's Cosmic Brotherhood and Gabor Szabo's studio band. Previously, however, he and Plummer were also an integral part of cornet master Tommy Peltier's Jazz Corps, one of the house bands at the famed Lighthouse between 1963 and 1967.
Born Cicero, Indiana, 12/4/38, started playing drums at age 10, vibes at age 17, Blessing met Freddie Hubbard in high school and formed his first jazz group with him at that time (Blessing played drums). He also worked with Paul Horn, Martin Denny, Tony Bennett, and Fred Katz. Sunset Painter is Blessing's only date as a leader and was originally issued on Epic in 1969. Produced by Paul Horn, the LP also features pedal steel guitar whiz Sneaky Pete Kleinow, bassist Wolfgang Melz, drummer Mel Telford, and guitarists John Beck and Robert Hirth. Sunset Painter is deeply influenced by sounds coming from Los Angels and San Francisco at the time, particularly those of Laurel Canyon.
As such, this is not a "jazz" record per se. It is a collection of almost entirely instrumental pop tunes, four of which were written by the rock icons of the day: "Mother Nature's Son," by Lennon and McCartney; "Pinball Wizard," by Pete Townshend; "Country Pie," by Bob Dylan; and "Child of the Universe," by Roger McGuinn. The rest were either self-penned or by the sidemen on the date; Melz and Hirth wrote one apiece.
The sound is loose, breezy, laid-back, and full of Eastern tinges (acoustic guitars played like sitars with open droning lead and rhythm parts as on the title track with its shimmering 12-string, and Blessing's single-note melodies). Then there is "Mother Nature's Son" done country-raga style -- no kidding. The warm feel of the set offers the same feel as many of Gary McFarland's sides on Skye but is less pop-oriented and more psychedelic in texture. The opener, "Cosmic Cowboy," features Blessing on a pair of harmonicas playing one just behind the other, a popping electric bassline, and breakbeats skittering around the middle before Blessing's vibes enter, resembling something cut out of the hoedown section of Aaron Copland's Billy the Kid.
The lithe openness on most of this recording is caught perfectly in "Anacalyspsis," where the pedal steel -- playing more like a slide guitar -- engages with Blessing's vibes, and the drums widen out in a slippery country stroll given dimension, texture, and depth by Blessing's solo and sophisticated melodic improvisation. And while it's true that the album is relatively brief, clocking in at exactly 38 minutes, it is a minor masterpiece.
It's very much of its time and stands in stark contrast to so much of the jazz that was being recorded on the American side of the pond at the time. In some sense, it's not a jazz record, but neither is it a pop, or psych or folk or rock record either. It is all things at once and none of them, but its sense of order, focus, and attention to melody, atmosphere, and brevity make it a wonderfully focused listen.
While Charles Lloyd was messing about trying out his singing in trying to bring the rock and blues sensibilities to his records, he might have tried hanging out with Blessing, who had the boundaries down and was interested in integration more than extrapolation. Fallout Records in the U.K. reissued this gentle treasure in 2007, and it is well worth seeking out as an experiment that succeeded aesthetically, even if it failed commercially.
by Thom Jurek
Tracks
1. Cosmic Cowboy (Blessing) - 3:27
2. Sunset Painter (Blessing) - 2:39
3. Mother Nature’s Son (Lennon, McCartney) - 2:24
4. Anacalypsis (Blessing) - 3:32
5. From Deep Within For Lynn (Melz) - 2:13
6. An Awakening (Hirth) - 5:14
7. Country Pie (Dylan) - 3:21
8. Pinball Wizard (Townshend) - 3:14
9. Emerald River (Sill) - 2:37
10. Child Of The Universe (Grusin, McGuinn) - 1:49
11. “Monk 136” (Hirth) - 4:22
12. Where There Is Grass (Melz) - 3:09
Glass Prism's first album, 1969's Poe Through the Glass Prism, was one of the most unusual early concept albums of the psychedelic era. Despite some initial encouraging promotional push from RCA however, it and a single drawn from the LP, The Raven TEl Dorado," didn't make the national impact for which the band and their management had hoped.
Glass Prism did get to put out another album on RCA, On Joy and Sorrow, but not under ideal circumstances, the group's momentum having been curtailed by business complications. Explains Glass Prism guitarist Tom Varano, 'We're pretty sure (our managers) Mort Lewis and Gene Weiss made a deal with RCA that when they released the album, if RCA would do everything possible, they would do everything possible on their end. Which means, they were gonna put us on tour with Blood, Sweat & Tears. That was gonna be a major tour."
The tour was canceled, however, "and as soon as that broke off, RCA shut down their promotional campaign. It killed the whole thing. Because we were gonna be punished, along with Mort Lewis, for losing what was gonna help RCA to sell more records." Complicating the situation was Lewis's withdrawal from the music business, which to some degree is a mystery that's persisted to this day "He managed Dave Brubeck, the Four Freshmen, Simon & Garfunkel and Blood, Sweat & Tears, and we were his fifth act," says Varano. 'That was it. I met Paul Simon at his office, and Paul had listened to our stuff.
I remember Paul saying, 'Hey, why don't you guys write your own words?'" he laughs, Poe Through the Glass Prism having been devoted to the band's adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe works to music. The following year Simon, continues Varano, "married Mori's wife. I'm pretty sure Mort probably had a breakdown. He never, ever again managed anybody. He went down to Florida. I could never reach him again by phone, ever. Gene Weiss went down to Florida, and could not get in touch with him; he was out on his yacht and wouldn't come in. And he never spoke to Gene Weiss again, according to Gene's wife, in all those years." In the meantime, however, "we were still performing.
We still had to make a living, but it was really somewhat depressing because of what happened. We were still trying to communicate '••.in Lewis; It wasn't happening. I didn't know whether something was gonna still happen, whether we were gonna end up still having another shot. Gene called up one day and said, 'Oh, your record contract calls for a second album.' I said, 'Well, are we supposed to do something?1 He said, 'Yeah, you're supposed to record it. And you got eleven days to get ready.'" Taken aback, the band would have to get enough original material together almost on the fly. 'We were writing just a little bit, a few songs," notes Tom. 'We weren t doing any more Edgar Allan Poe stuff.
That whole thing became depressing to us. We would still play 'The Raven' and maybe a couple of songs, 'cause people would ask for them. But we were sick and tired of it. Because of the way things worked out, it wasn't of interest. We were just playing copy music, and there were just a couple of original songs." Nonetheless, "Gene said, 'You have to record an album.' I said, 'We don't even have an album. We don't have songs.' So I went home and just wrote a bunch of songs, and we got together in rehearsals. Augie wrote a couple songs, and we just worked those out within a few days.
When we got to the studio, we weren't ready; we didn't even have enough songs. We had to pull some stuff together in the studio. So you're hearing songs that were all written within a few days for the most part. There may have been one or two songs written on that album that were written before, but not many. We practiced for a few days, and went into the studio and recorded the songs. I don't even remember being in there for the mix." With RCA's diminishing interest in the band, giving Glass Prism more time to prepare and record their second LP did not seem to be a priority, "'cause we didn't have any notice.
I just figured they could care less about the contract, 'cause they shut everything down. They stopped all the ads, they stopped doing everything. We had a great distribution situation; the first album went everywhere, that's why there were so many of those albums around. The second album, it was just part of their contract" - which likely accounts in part for why original copies of On Joy and Sorrow are so much more difficult to find than original copies of Poe Through the Glass Prism. Like Poe Through the Glass Prism, On Joy and Sorrow was recorded in just three days, though this time Glass Prism would use RCA's Studio A in New York, rather than guitar legend Les Paul's studio in Nyack.
One day, Varano reveals, "Pat Boone was upstairs. He had a priest with him that would pray before he would go and record. He ended up leaving early that day, because he just couldn't get it right or something." Yet despite not being hatched under optimum conditions, On Joy and Sorrow did showcase the distinctive elements of Glass Prism's sound that had been introduced on the musical arrangements of their Poe adaptations. There was bassist Augie Christiano's husky soul-rock singing, balanced by songs on which drummer Rick Richards took lead vocals; B3 organ in the spirit of bands like the Spencer Davis Group (whose "I'm a Man" the band covered onstage), Procol Harum, and Vanilla Fudge; and Varano's versatile lead guitar, equally accomplished at fuzzy hard rock riffs and deft jazz-influenced picking.
Most of the material was written by Tom, with Augie contributing "Maggie Don't You Hear Me" and "Renee," and organist/guitarist Carl Siracuse coming up with "I Laugh." "There are little pieces of each song, I guess, that were kind of interesting, but it never got developed," reflects Tom. "She (On Joy and Sorrow)' and 'She's Too Much' had the theme of the album, and we tried to write songs kind of around that, so we would keep within some kind of a focus. 'Cause we thought we were supposed to; that's what the first album was. I kind of like the song 'She (On Joy and Sorrow)' that Rick sings; the way the harmonies come in, it's a little different, it has some unusual chords in it. 'She's Too Much was going to be a single.
It was kind of like a John Kay and Steppenwolf thing. But again, listening to it, it's like that really needed work to get it where it needed to be." Still, he adds, "I kind of like some of the ideas. 'Maggie Don t You Hear Me' is neat, kind of a rhythm and bluesy thing. The song that a lot of people like, which has two chords in it,'I Laugh,'was written in the studio. It was just, 'Let's fill the album.' It was also kind of a bluesy thing." The jazzy lick that kicks off "Here You Are," he says, has been sampled, as has the wah-wah guitar from Poe Through the Glass Prism's "Dream Within a Dream," and guitar from the same LP's "Hymn."
As for Christiano's two songs named after girls, Varano confirms that both "Renee" and "Maggie Don't You Hear Me" are about real people. That was the Edgar Allan Poe thing, when you write about a girl, but you change her name," he explains. "Maggie"s about one of his girlfriends." Released by RCA with minimal promotion and no accompanying 45, On Joy and Sorrow would be Glass Prism's final record for the label. In retrospect, Varano muses, "we probably should have been sticking with the Edgar Allan Poe thing. We should have been going further with it, and that's what they should have been telling us to do. Because if it was working, why would you want to change it? I know Augie, that's all he ever wanted to do - just do more and more of it, as much as possible.
He thought the second album should have been the same way. But we weren't prepared for that. Even though there were more songs [based on Poe's work] that I had written, I hadn't brought them to the group. When it was time to do the second album, nobody said, 'Do some more.' They just said, 'Come and do an album, do what you have.' All we had was a couple of songs that we were playing live - I think 'She's Too Much' was one of them - that were not even really related." But while Glass Prism's association with RCA had ended, the band continued, if not always under the Glass Prism name.
Playing not just in the northeast Pennsylvanian region that was their base, but also New York, New Jersey, and Ohio, they shared bills over the course of their career with Procol Harum, Vanilla Fudge, Three Dog Night, and Guess Who. In 1971, with Carl Siracuse departing and Louie Cossa joining on bass and keyboards, they evolved into Shenandoah. The self-titled album they recorded was, in Varano's view, "a better album than the first two. We wrote all the songs; we actually figured out how to write our own words." But "it never got released. The guy who was producing, Seth Greenkey, could not get a deal. Almost had a couple deals that never happened." Two years later, in 1976, "we quit." In October 2007, however, this lineup reunited as Glass Prism to play a concert in Philadelphia at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, naturally featuring material from Poe Through the Glass Prism.
A reunion concert at the Scranton Cultural Center on June 7, 2008 was filmed and used for a recent 55-minute documentary on the band. On Joy and Sorrow: The Glass Prism Story. They're now working on a new studio album {details on their website, www.glassprismband.com) that will combine new material, a medley of classic rock tunes, and re-recordings of songs from Poe Through the Glass Prism. "Five of those songs are gonna be on the new album, and they're gonna be different," says Varano. "You're still gonna have the song, but you're gonna have some things that have happened.
Like we've created an introduction to The Raven' that's a piece within itself. It's just a piano and bass; it's like a mood, it brings the song in, and the song itself is much more powerful. You can't change it that much, but we did. We changed it just enough." In addition, "we have a song on the new album that is about Edgar Allan Poe, as opposed to using his words." Summarizes Tom Varano when looking back at Glass Prism's RCA albums, "I think if you listen to the two albums, they're from a long time ago, written by young guys writing their first songs. They're simple. We would have progressed.
We just did what we did, 'cause that's what we liked to do. We didn't really think that we could have done it any different at the time, although listening to it 40 years later, you say, 'oh wow, what about this, what about that, and where are the strings,' you know? You think of all these other different things. But that was the true band in 1969. "Really, it was the Poe stuff that caused the attention. Those songs were being developed based on the theme of the music. 'Can I capture what this guy's trying to say here?' As a musician, I like the fact that something doesn't sound like something else. And something happens maybe by itself."
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. She's Too Much (Lay Your Body Down) - 4:10
2. Extention 68 - 2:18
3. What Can We Do - 2:32
4. Who Loves Me - 2:13
5. Nothin's Wrong Song - 2:46
6. Maggie Don't You Hear Me (T. Varano, A. Christiano) - 3:53
7. She (On Joy And Sorrow) / I Want To Play - 4:22
8. Here You Are - 3:07
9. Renee (T. Varano, A. Christiano) - 2:01
10.I Laugh (Rick Richards) - 3:07
All songs by Tom Varano except where indicated. *Note that by mistake the Korean label merged two songs together, (She (On Joy And Sorrow) / I Want To Play), that's why we have 10 songs listed, actually all 11 original songs are included.
By 1970 Big Brother had evolved a very distinct sound which is nonetheless a bit difficult to describe. James Gurtey had moved over to the bass and Peter and I were playing guitars, along with David Schallock who had come to the band from The Sons of Champlin, Mr. Schallock was a fine guitar player and a sterling human being, and it was a real pleasure to have him in the band.
Thus, with James, a guitar player, on the bass and then three other guitar players, the sound was very much in the treble range. Dave was a good guitar player and he mellowed out all that high end by playing very melodically in thirds with us on most of the tunes. Dave Getz was playing very cleanly at this point and he was taking risks too, propelling the band and having the courage and energy to get off into some new areas. Of course, this is my interpretation of the Big Brother sound of 1970, What the audience heard was something else.
Here are some adjectives they used to describe what we were doing: energetic, rambunctious, raucous, reckless, rowdy, rebellious, brash, confident, viscera! and aggressive. We had a cleaner sound, our technique was better, we were trying some things that we hadn't tried before, so it was a good direction for the band. The cover of the "Be A Brother" album is revealing.
All primary colors and there is that madman, limned by Bob Seideman who did that Blind Faith album cover with the girl and the hood ornament, and the madman is giving us the peace sign and grinning inanely. This is anti-Art and beyond technique, or below technique. The background is a sort of insane map of California, "Be A Brother" was the first album we did after Janis. We had learned to tune the guitars by this time and what we played in tune was more developed.
There were some complaints, even in the band, that we weren't sticking to our roots, and that we were being a little too adventurous in our songwriting/ composing, I think it is a real shame that we didn't continue on after "How Hard it Is, the next album, and do several more along just this same experimental tack. "Keep On" is the first song on the "Be A Brother album," which is fitting because the feeling in the band at the time was that we were going to persist no matter what. "Through the valley of tears, child," we were going to go on and improve and do something worthwhile.
We wanted to work with Nick Gravenites because he wrote songs of real meaning. I also had had the good fortune to meet Kathi MacDonald a year or so earlier when I had been volunteered to be her birthday present one fine sunny afternoon. We wrote a song together and I was astonished at how talented she was. Kathi knew more songs than anyone ! had ever worked with, but it was her voice, that razor sharp instrument, that made me want to get her into Big Brother.
Kathi and Nick were quite a combination. Nick was a burly man who looked like a Chicago truck driver as drawn by R, Crumb in Zap Comix and Kathi was so slender she hid behind the microphone stand. We had Mike Finnegan in the band too. He had played with The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood and he also had his own band. Mike is now one of the main keyboard players in the Los Angeles recording scene and he plays with all the big guns down there but I always thought his singing was the best.
Let's see, we had other side people on this album. We had Richard Green from Seatrain who played some marvelous violin. We had Janis Joplin. As far as I know, we were the first rock band to use Tower of Power as a horn section and it was an education to see them planning out the head arrangements for the tunes. They came into the studio with no charts or written music of any kind, sat over in a corner talked for a while about who was going to take a third or a fifth and then played their parts beautifully.
The tune "Home On The Strange" features Peter Albin playing a lovely melody that reminds me a bit of his work on "Cuckoo/Sweet Mary" in the early Big Brother days. The melody is "I Wonder As 1 Wander," an ancient tune that long predated the John Jacob Niles version of it from the 1930s. I like the feel of this tune. In some ways it reminds me of "All Is Loneliness, a Moondog tune that we did on our first album. James is doing some interesting basswork and David Schailock is making everything musical. "Someday" is another song of hope.
Another song that looks forward and tries to describe a better future. Another song that begins with a pattern in the guitars, echoed in thirds, and reechoed in the bass. "Sunshine Baby" is one of those dreams of unachievement of interruption, one of those dreams where you just can't quite slip free of the bonds that are holding you to earth, where you just can't quite make it to the stage.
There's a feeling of desperation there, of being at the end of one's tether. "I've searched away the night time, Sunshine, just trying to get back to you." In April of 1970 we played at The Filtmore in San Francisco and Janis came onstage to sing a couple of numbers with us. She and Nick did a tune that became "Ego Rock. We asked Janis if she would come and sing a bit on our new album...noth ing elaborate, just some backup vocals and she came and celebrated a bit with us. She did some funny vocal work on "Mr, Natural." That's her cackling voice you hear back in the mix. Janis was amazed when I brought "Mr. Natural" into the rehearsal room, our living room, at Lagunitas, because the tune was much more worked out than the usual Big Brother tune.
I worked out the two guitar tracks for "Mr. Natural" at the Chelsea Hotel in New York on one of the new Sony tape recorders while Danny Rifkin was talking to me nonstop about the prospects for his band The Grateful Dead. I was thinking that the Dead were fortunate to have someone like Danny on their side, because he never stopped thinking about how to get them to the next step. I think he and Rock Scully had a lot more to do with the Dead's success than people realize. in May of 1970 we played at The Bermuda Palms in San Rafael, California, and Janis was there with The Full Tilt Boogie Band.
This was a very chaotic affair. Janis had too much to drink and she began a rant on the microphone that sounded like a parody of her usual self. This is the first time I felt scared for her. She seemed flabby and tired and at the end of her rope. Earlier that afternoon, she had told me, "I'm not going to die. I come from good, strong pioneer stock. I'm a survivor." This statement sent a chill down my spine. It seemed as If she were tempting the gods, and her talking like that didn't seem like a good idea at all. In July of 1970, we played at The Sports Arena in San Diego on the same bill with The Electric Flag and Janis and The Full Tilt Boogie Band. That was a strange engagement.
Janis was very keyed up and she was hanging onto James Gurley for dear life, We all flew home on the same plane and Michael Bloomfield regaled us with an incredible story of how he taped two balloons full of warm water to the bathroom mirror and masturbated to them. Well, maybe you had to be there. One thing about Michael, he never held back! I had the same eerie, unpleasant feeling watching Janis on the plane as I did at the San Rafael engagement with her. She was tense because we were all together and she was obviously indulging too much for her own good. Janis was so full of herself that you could tell she was nervous and insecure about something.
There was no hope of calming her down, but we tried anyway. This "Be A Brother" album came out in October of 1970, quite a month. I wrote a tune about James Gurley one day. James is from Detroit and he has a Detroit soul, funky, threadbare and a bit country. That funkiness is a strange admixture in the psychedelic zenmaster guru that James also can be, and I was trying to get some of this complexity into the tune that I called "Funky Jim." I brought it into the studio one day and Nick Gravenites completely appropriated it because he liked the idea so much. Nick actually knew James before I did, and he must have thought he had a prior claim, Anyway, the song came out well. Tower of Power added some horn parts, someone changed the spelling to "Funkie Jim" and we had another tune.
Merle Haggard, who has a face to match his name, and who has a deep grained country soul, wrote a song called "Okie From Muskogee" that was intended to celebrate the downhome virtues and the American cleanliness of that city. Conservative elements on the American political scene fastened onto this song as a sort of anthem which became a kind of "Ballad of the Green Berets" for the home front. Ah, if we could only get back to Muskogee, all would be peace and light again.
The problem was that in reality Muskogee, Oklahoma, not only had hippies down by the courthouse, it had a lot of them. In fact, people from Oklahoma, such as Mike Finnegan who was playing with us at the time told us that Muskogee was the center for countercultural activity at the time. Nick wrote 'Til Change Your Flat Tire, Merle," as a kind of riposte to the specious patriotism that Okie From Muskogee represented. Big Brother played in London recently and as I was coming off stage someone handed me a CD that had a hiphop/rave version of "I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle" on it, so the song lives on as a bow to the opposition.
I have a tape of Big Brother playing most of the tunes on this album at the Terrace Ballroom in Salt Lake City June 1970 and it's good to hear that we actually did the parts live on stage with Nick, Kathi and Mike Finnegan. I say "actually did the parts" because often with the recording process there are vocal and instrumental overdubs that are impossible to play live. I was not sure if we could do the songs the way we recorded them, but we did do them that way in Salt Lake, Be a brother. Be a sister, Be the one who tries harder, to get it together, Thank you for listening.
by Sam Andrew, May 2002
Tracks 1971 How Hard It Is
1. How Hard It Is (S. Andrew, D. Getz) - 4:21
2. You've Been Talkin' Bout Me, Baby (R. Rhrera, W. Hirsch, G. Garnet) - 3:25
3. House On Fire (D. Getz, L Rappaport) - 3:55
4. Black Widow Spider (S. Andrew) - 3:32
5. Last Band On Side One (S. Andrew, Roscoe) - 1:56
6. Nu Boogaloo Jam (S. Andrew, D. Nudelman) - 3:23
7. Maui (S. Andrew, Roscoe) - 3:25
8. Shine On (P. Albin, S, Andrew, D. Getz) - 5:24
9. Buried Alive In The Blues (N. Gravenites) - 3:57
10.Promise Her Anything But Give Her Arpeggio (D.Shallock) - 3:55 1970 Be A Brother
11. Keep On (S. Andrew, P. Albin, D. Getz, J. Gurley, D. Shallock) - 4:19
12. Joseph's Coat (N. Gravenites, J. Clpollina) - 3:08
13. Home On The Strange (Arranged/Adapted by P. Albin, S. Andrew) - 2:12
14. Someday (S. Andrew) - 2:15
15. Heartache People (N. Gravenites) - 6:34
16. Sunshine Baby (S.Andrew, P. Albin, D. Getz, J. Gurley, D. Shallock) - 3:28
17. Mr. Natural (S. Andrew) - 3:31
18. Funkie Jim (S. Andrew, P. Albin, D. Getz, J. Gurley) - 3:45
19. I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle (N. Gravenites) - 3:11
20. Be A Brother (N. Gravenites) - 3:03
Big Brother and the Holding Company
*Nick Gravenites - Lead Vocals
*Kathi Mcdonald - Lead Vocals (Tracks 1-10)
*Sam Andrew - Guitar, Vocals
*James Gurley - Guitar
*Dave Schallock - Guitar
*Peter Albin - Bass
*Dave Getz - Drums
*Mike Finnegan - Vocals, Keyboards (Tracks 1-10)
This very rare 1973 private press hard rock record in that Primevil, Magi, Wedge vein but even more primitive and down and dirty with filthy acid guitar like you love.
Euphoria formed Wiscons round 1973, showed amazing songwriting talent plus musical ability Classic midwest American heavy psych with somewhat biker vibe Raging agressive Fuzz-guitar leads with great echoey-reverb effects ,true sledgehammer bass ,crunching drums ,very melodic tunefull vocals. A Must for all 70 s heavy psych enthusiasts.
This is a heavy rock album with lots of fine guitar work, particularly on the title track, Lost In Trance, the most psychedelic cut, and Enchanted. All the songs on the album were written by lead guitarist D. Walloch.
Tracks
1. Brotherhood - 5:00
2. Just for a Moment - 6:35
3. Lost in Trance - 6:32
4. Oriental News - 5:15
5. Enchanted - 4:51
6. Middle Asian Lament - 6:09
