Tryad's If Only You Believe In Lovin', originally released in 1971 as a private press. Ultra-deluxe LP reissue on the newly resurrected Del Val label -- obscure but legendary label previously responsible for early editions by The Brigade, The Bachs, Bent Wind, D.R. Hooker, Fifty Foot Hose, etc. Long overdue and much delayed reissue of this 1971 NYC private press few have heard and less have seen. Comparable to the best UK folk-fusion LPs of the era, this is like a Yankee version of Hunter Muskett's great Every Time You Move (1970) with co-ed vocals plus bass/drums/pedal steel/flute/keys accompaniment and East Coast haunted not West Coast hip, though you'll be reminded of a certain revered private from out there that wouldn't exist for another five years: Relatively Clean Rivers.
"Low key but really cool. Hard to believe it's an NYC piece from '72 from a sonic aspect. There's a kind of innocence to overall heft that puts me in mind of very early Bay Area stuff, like the second We Five LP (1967). That same sort of psych-is-hanging-unnamed-in-the-background vibe. The only thing that really places it in the '70s is that pedal steel which has a definite post-Sneaky-Pete feel. Very cool."
by Byron Coley
Tryad was a trio featuring Jim Lasko, Jesse Lanzillotti, and Norine Lyons. This 10 song LP ranges in influence from basic melodic folk with great harmonies on "Columbia Tavern" to west coast influenced country rock on "Something Sweet In Dying" to the acid folk feel of "Eulogy Raga"
When looking for an album, I usually check out the back cover as most people do, especially in the case of a new group, and ask myself what, if anything, does this group have to say. I like some indication that the album is worth listening to.
This is Tryad’s first effort, I listened and they have something to say, about people, about conscious freedom, about contemporary values.
Within their lyrics, Tryad reveals an intimate personal commitment, and the music gets it across with harmonies that are contrasted against the lack of harmony in our surrounding culture today.
Anyone for a chance at self-doscovering?
by Buffalo Dick Burch, Original Album Liner Notes
Tracks
1. I`m Wonderin` How I Ever Got That Way - 4:04
2. Columbia Tavern (Jim Young) - 4:10
3. Uptown Suburb Alley - 3:25
4. The Coming Time Of Gone (Jim Lasko, Steve Lasko) - 2:34
5. Something Sweet In Dying (Jesse Lanzillotti) - 3:06
Contemporary music documentaries are saturated with exasperating stories just like Scott Fagan’s. Recent cultural excavations have yielded new knowledge about artists like Rodriguez, as examined in the release of Searching for Sugar Man. An entire generation of Cambodian psych-pop music eradicated by Pol Pot’s regime was exposed to audiences far and wide thanks in part to the documentary Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten. The examples go on and on, but the necessity of unearthing undiscovered gems from the past is as much an art form as the gems themselves. In fact, that’s pretty much the storyline for how Scott Fagan’s overlooked debut was introduced to the world.
Upon its release in 1968, South Atlantic Blues, for whatever confounding reasons, dropped like a brick commercially, despite Fagan’s uncanny pedigree. Upon arriving in New York from the Virgin Islands at 21, Fagan landed a successful audition with legendary producer Doc Pomus, gigged with some guy named Jimmy James (later known as Jimi Hendrix), unwittingly sired a literary indie-pop genius in Stephin Merritt (they did not meet in person until 2013), and almost became the first non-Beatle to be signed to the Fab Four’s revered Apple Records label (touche, James Taylor).
Suffice it to say that despite these forces of chaos, they did nothing to lift South Atlantic Blues to the masses, and the LP was pretty much forgotten about very soon after its release. Enter pop artist Jasper Johns, who came upon Fagan’s album in a cutout bin some years later and, bewitched by the strength and wonder of the songs etched into the groove of this discarded unknown, set to creating the pieces for the series “Scott Fagan Record,” which hang in the MET and MoMA today.
There’s a bit of a good luck that set Fagan’s record in the hands of the folks at Saint Cecilia Knows and Light in the Attic—both arbiters of high standard in the art of the reissue. The story of how Fagan’s debut was ignored and rediscovered at random by a respected and popular artist is incredible, no doubt. In a bit of cruel irony, it’s the record itself that’s more incredible, by far.
Beginning with “In My Head,” Fagan’s conscious vocals command attention, ruminating on the hazy inner dialogue of someone coming into his own not just as an artist, but as a man. Fagan sings, “The city street show cracks like a star so I wonder/why is it so strange to rearrange the clouds over and under myself?/and I have always seen the sea as secret lover/but does she want the sky instead?/Oh no; it’s something in my head.” String flourishes and tasteful guitars accentuate the propulsion of what sounds more Motown than sacred psych-folk (as this release is widely incorrectly ballyhooed as), which is one of the first indicators of the album’s otherness. Fagan’s powerful vocal takes are the next.
Belting high in the mix, Fagan’s raw vibrato warbles like Bowie’s but rambles like Reed’s, painting pictures in words not unlike those his son would excel at much later. And while not all Fagan’s lyrical musings can be described as entirely legible in addition to being literarily strong, his striking ability to have injected vignettes of angst into Bacharach-like horn-heavy groovers like “Crying” ought to have endeared him to an entire generation of Van Morrison-worshipping peaceniks.
Interestingly, “Nickels and Dimes” predates Morrison’s “Moondance” by two years, at least in terms of release, and pulses on the same Pink Panther-esque menagerie of sultry horns and suspicious melodies inspired by Caribbean sensibilities and R&B swagger. South Atlantic Blues utilized plunky keys, warm bass and barely-there percussion to guide songs to emerge both as ethereal aural maps as well as perfectly unobtrusive melodic foundations for Fagan’s fanciful crooning. “Nickels and Dimes” is the opus of a confused spirit, bemused by the calling of his talent even at age 21, when so much of the world had still yet to be discovered. Whether those discoveries were made in quite the way Fagan imagined is a question this record, sadly, probably never prophesied.
If it’s possible to listen to this album with the context of when it was released in mind, when the Donovans of the world were sipping champagne from velvet slippers and The Beatles were still together, try your hardest. The story is great, but it wouldn’t mean shit if this was a work of garbage, despite its rescue from such a fate at the hands of Johns.
After listening to South Atlantic Blues, the likely thought-route is to ponder the whereabouts of the thousands of staggeringly great pieces of music, art, literature just gathering dust in a bin somewhere, and who might be paying attention enough to pick them up. Luckily, this one was given a new life, and with it, a new testament to the staying power of rebellious, mischievous, talented songwriters.
by Ryan J. Prado
Tracks
1. In My Head - 4:09
2. Nickels And Dimes - 2:18
3. Crying (Joe Kookoolis, Scott Fagan) - 4:27
4. The Carnival Is Ended - 4:07
5. South Atlantic Blues - 4:48
6. Nothing But Love (Joe Kookoolis, Scott Fagan) - 2:40
7. Tenement Hall (Joe Kookoolis, Scott Fagan) - 4:47
8. In Your Hands - 3:20
9. Crystal Ball (Mort Shuman, Scott Fagan) - 3:52
10.Madam Moiselle - 4:42
Bonus Tracks
1. They Think She’s Crying Cause She’s Happy - 3:41
2. When You’re Lonely And You’re Blue - 3:53
3. Bonua (Traditional) - 2:30
4. I’ve Been So Lonely For So Long - 3:31
5. All For The Sake Of Love (Doc Pomus, Joe Kookoolis) - 2:46
Bonus tracks not including on CD or LP editions, only as lossy format via label's download page.
All Words and Music by Scott Fagan unless as else stated
Skip Griparis has flourished in many of the performing arts. After first studying piano and saxophone as a boy, he began his professional career while at Joliet West High School as a singer/guitarist in the first of a succession of top-rated pop/rock bands. Skip also found the time to work as an announcer at WJRC-AM Radio. Following high school, he continued his music studies at Joliet Junior College.
Soon Skip released his first album on Mercury Records as a member of Trilogy, a Joliet- based band that opened for such artists as Count Basie and Buddy Rich. Griparis also became a staff writer for United Artists Publishing, where he penned songs that have sold worldwide. Next, he joined Chicago's MCA recording artists New Colony Six. After a two-year stint, he left to sing and play in the Olivia Newton-John band, a position he held for four years. Skip performed with Olivia in a wide range of venues, including the Bu-Do Kan in Tokyo, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
After his tours with Newton-John ended, Griparis performed in several Joliet Drama Guild productions, and then completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater at Lewis University. He has acted in everything from professional world-premier productions to classic Shakespeare. His film and TV appearances include the role of Monte the colorman in the blockbuster hit movies Major League I and II.
Always looking for a new challenge, Skip combined his sense of humor with his music and acting skills to produce a satiric musical comedy act. In addition to performing numerous times at the Rialto Theater, he has headlined Dangerfield's in New York, Zanies in Chicago, and the Ice House in Los Angeles. A Chicago Tribune poll recognized Griparis as one of the top five comics in the country.
American classic rock band with folk shades, good vocal hamonies and excellent guitar with some psychedelic influences. They were from Chicago area but in their hearts they must have been from San Francisco.
Tracks
1. Red Wine (Skip Griparis) - 3:43
2. Thought (#1) (Skip Griparis) - 0:41
3. Three Blind Minds (Kevin McCann) - 3:35
4. The Royal Shut (Kevin McCann) - 2:57
5. Thought (#2) (Bob Wilson) - 0:21
6. Removing Myself (Bob Wilson) - 2:47
7. Thought (#3) (Kevin McCann) - 0:27
8. Goodbye Flying (Skip Griparis) - 3:13
9. I'm Beginning To Feel It (Kevin McCann) - 2:45
10.March 16th (My Closet Shelf) (Bob Wilson) - 2:58
11.Comin Up Soon (Skip Griparis) - 4:07
12.Thought (#4) (Kevin McCann) - 0:52
13.For An Occasion (After The Ball) (Kevin McCann) - 2:10
14.Trilogy For Carol (Bob Wilson) - 5:17
Trilogy
*Skip Griparis - Lead Guitar, Piano, Vocals,
*Kevin McCann - Guitar, Harmonica, Organ, Vocals,
*Bob Wilson - Lead Guitar, 12-String Guitar, Vocals With
*Bernie Pershey - Drums, Tabla
*Rick Barr - Drums
*Thom Richards - Bass, Flute
The band is named after Amen Corner, a small residential area on the edge of Bracknell in Berkshire. Initially they specialised in a blues and jazz-orientated style, but were steered by their record companies into more commercial pastures.
Their first singles and album appeared on Decca's subsidiary label Deram, but they left at the end of 1968 to join Immediate, where they were instantly rewarded with a No. 1, "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" (originally a song by Lucio Battisti) in early 1969, followed by another top five entry with the Roy Wood composition "Hello Susie".
After recording a live album, Farewell To The Real Magnificent Seven, and a final single, a rather premature cover version of The Beatles' "Get Back", they disbanded at the end of 1969.
While sax players Alan Jones and Mike Smith went on to form Judas Jump, guitarist and vocalist Andy Fairweather-Low led Dennis Byron (drums), Blue Weaver (organ), Clive Taylor (bass) and Neil Jones (guitar) into a new band, Fair Weather. The band scored a UK No.6 hit with "Natural Sinner" in 1970 and recorded one album before disbanding a year later.
Fairweather-Low went on to a successful solo career in the 1970s, notably with the top ten hit "Wide Eyed and Legless" (1975); he became a regular player with Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Roger Waters. He also worked with The Strawbs and the Bee Gees.
Amen Corner's Decca back catalogue has been reissued as part of 'The Collection' series; and their Immediate work, as a double CD, including their singles, live album and material recorded for an unreleased studio album, under the title "If Paradise Was Half as Nice: The Immediate Anthology".
Tracks Disc 1
1. (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice (Jack Fishman, Lucio Battisti) - 2:47
2. Hey Hey Girl - 3:03
3. Hello Susie (Roy Wood) - 2:36
4. Evil Man's Gonna Win - 4:02
5. Get Back (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 2:41
6. Farewell To The Real Magnificent Seven - 6:36
7. Lady Riga - 3:18
8. Proud Mary (John Fogerty) - 3:06
9. At Last I've Found Someone To Love (Dominic King) - 3:47
10.Scream And Scream Again (Dominic King) - 3:36
11.Sanitation - 2:46
12.Mr Nonchalant - 3:31
13.The Weight (Robbie Robertson) - 5:50
14.Welcome To The Club - 3:05
15.Recess (Fletcher Henderson) - 2:29
16.When We Make Love (Dominic King) - 2:51
17.Things Ain't What They Used To Be - 2:07
18.Long Chocolate Limousine - 3:13
19.Natural Sinner - 4:14
20.(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice (Jack Fishman, Lucio Battisti) - 2:49
21.Hello Susie (Roy Wood) - 2:55
22.Hey Hey Girl - 3:06
23.Evil Man's Gonna Win - 3:40
Tracks 2,4,6,7,11,12,14,17,18,19,22,23 written by Andy Fairweather Low
Disc 2
1. Introduction-MacArthur Park (Jimmy Webb) - 3:39
2. Baby Do The Philly Dog (Fred Smith, Sherlie Matthews, Walter Ward) - 2:36
3. You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Discuss It) (Dick Cooper) - 2:17
Since the last tranche of Esoteric Climax Blues Band reissues were reviewed here we have had the sad news of Pete Haycock's death, and he now joins co-founder Colin Cooper in that great 12-bar line up in the sky. This series of reissues by Esoteric Recordings has provided a fitting if unintended tribute.
Gold Plated was, until many years later, both my entry and exit point where following the career of the Climax Blues Band was concerned. This was courtesy of the band's biggest hit Couldn't Get It Right which was released in the late autumn of 1976. A few weeks later the seismic shift of punk burst on to the U.K. scene and well-crafted blues funk was consigned to the dumper by those of us who were the right age at the right time and in the right place. This was a shame, because Gold Plated, the band's ninth album, was a set of finely crafted funky moves, of the kind favoured at the time by the likes of Kokomo and the Average White Band, with some well-seasoned blues chops never far below the surface.
If you look at the chart trajectory of their previous albums, you can see a slow but steady upwards progression in the States, albeit in the foothills of the chart mountain, and unfortunately no action to speak of back home. The band decided to popularise their take on the blues by stirring in the funky ingredients, and it worked, as Gold Plated turned out to be the high point in their career charts-wise, peaking at no. 27 in the U.S.A., and even making an appearance in the charts over here.
CBB came to the funk from their blues background, where the two bands I mentioned above had soul dancin' shoes. Dem blooze are still well represented on this highly polished record, produced once again by Mike Vernon. Although the record has a very sophisticated American sound, it was actually mostly recorded in the decidedly English setting of Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire. The band's U.S. label decided the record needed a hit and this turned out to be a song written in no time at all and included on the album without Vernon's participation, recorded separately in London. The off the cuff nature of "the hit" is apparent when listening to the album, but it remains irresistibly catchy to this day.
The album opens with the radio friendly Together and Free, and already fans of the band must have been taken aback by the change in the group's sound, but the usual high quality musicianship and writing meant that this was probably only a fleeting reservation. Mighty Fire combines the blues chops with the new-found funky dance moves with some panache, and many rugs are cut to the precise and at the same time loose-limbed Chasin' Change, which exemplifies the AWB comparison.
Despite its title, Berlin Blues is more of an R&B belter in the mould of the Allman Brothers than a straight blues workout. "The hit" we've already mulled over, and it is testament to its sharps hooks that it reached the dizzy heights of no.3 in the States and no.10 over here.
We have to wait until Rollin' Home for the first out-and-out blues number, and even that is not a traditional 12-bar, adding in some Stax soul for good measure. The guitar on this is quite magnificent by the way! Sav'ry Gravy is a slow funk shuffle, and the album concludes with Extra, which rolls out some more down home boogie for our delectation. The "gold plated" of the album name also refers to Pete Haycock's Veleno guitar, and great fun was had by the guitarist reflecting the spotlight back into the audience, no doubt!
The bonus tracks include a session for the John Peel show, and without the benefit of studio production embellishments the sheer professionalism of the band stands out. It cannot have been long after that session that punk took over, ironically given its first radio exposure by Peel, and the Climax Blues Band were never as high profile again, but that does not detract from a highly crafted and fun album.
by Roger Trenwith
Tracks
1. Together And Free - 3:52
2. Mighty Fire - 4:49
3. Chasing Chase - 4:18
4. Berlin Blues - 3:27
5. Couldn't Get It Right - 3:17
6. Rollin' Home - 3:12
7. Sav'ry Gravy - 4:52
8. Extra - 3:37
9. Fat Mabellene (Single B Side) - 3:14
10.Together And Free (Single Edit) - 3:16
11.Chasin' Change (Extended Take) - 5:16
12.Shadow Man (Previously Unreleased) - 1:24
13.Couldn't Get It Right (BBC Radio One John Peel Session) - 3:11
14.Chasin' Change (BBC Radio One John Peel Session) - 4:41
15.Together And Free (BBC Radio One John Peel Session) - 3:58
16.Mighty Fire (BBC Radio One John Peel Session) - 5:06
All songs written by Climax Blues Band
Bonus Tracks 9-16
The Climax Blues Band
*Colin Cooper - Vocals, Alto, Tenor Saxes, Rhythm Guitra, Clarinet
*Pete Haycock - Vocals, Lead Guitar. Slide, Acoustic Guitars
*Richard Jones - Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals
*Derek Holt - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Electric Piano
*John Cuffley - Drums, Percussion
A short lived British band strongly inspired by American rural southern rock bands. The album illustrates excellent examples of swamp and British rock backed up by nice electric guitar.
Coast Road Drive s brief glimpse of success transpired with Delicious and Refreshing released on Decca s progressive arm, Deram, in 1974. The band itself boasted an impressive cast of musicians most of whom had already enjoyed a varied musical career in the late Sixties revealing a depth of musical prowess that had come together from psychedelic acts such as Methuselah, Distant Jim, Ray Owen s Moon, Quintessence and Judas Jump. Delicious and Refreshing finally receives its deserved retrospective re issue with analytical liners detailing the band s brief existence and the musical pedigree behind it.
Tracks
1. Sail Away (Les Nicol, Steve Chapman, Steve Krieger) - 3:35
2. Coal Black Night - 4:38
3. It's All So Easy - 5:02
4. Take My Time - 3:20
5. Jason - 3:33
6. This Time Around (Terry Cox) - 4:26
7. Hard To Handle (Charlie Harrison) - 3:13
8. If You Ain't Got The Key (Terry Cox) - 4:25
9. Keep On (Les Nicol) - 3:13
10.Over The Mountain - 4:55
All songs by Steve Krieger except where stated
Coast Road Drive
Craig Austin - Vocals
Steve Chapman - Drums, Vocals
Charlie Harrison - Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Les Nicol - Guitar, Vocals
Steve Krieger - Guitar, Vocals With
Henry Lowther - Trumpet
Chris Mercer - Sax
Mick Weaver - Keyboards
Nicky Hopkins - Piano
UK supergroup from such origins as The Herd, Amen Corner and the Mindbenders, branching out to the beyond, with a more progressive direction, as was de rigueur at the fag end of the 60's. Despite a fair amount of promotion and a contract with the Beatles label: Parlophone, they only made this one great album and 2 singles, but failed to click with the public.
With Amen Corner's Alan Jones they were able to augment their sound with brass and woodwind, and listening today you can see some parallels with contemporaries Chicago and BST, but most of all the flavour is British and puts you in mind of a Traffic/Spooky Tooth groove, with some Jethro Tull thrown in for good measure - yet their pop roots were not deserted, which is what sets this album apart from so many others that line my shelves from the 1969/1970 period.
In common with many contemporaries at this time, Judas Jump were keen to throw of the shackles of the pop success they'd previously enjoyed with their Top 40 bands. Judas Jump was their collective attempt to "go progressive". Luckily for us they avoid the pitfalls of many of their bombastic pretentious contemporaries and retain a poppy, rocky edge which permeates the whole album. "Scorch" kicks off with "John Brown's Body", a great lurching ballsy opening statement as ever you'll hear, with a nice wailing harmonica backdrop.
The pace hardly lets up with "Rocking Chair" and "Beer Drinking Woman", but slows a little for the closing percussive dressed "Bossa Jump". Following by "Cry De Cry", an acoustic part, and then we get the tasty single, Trevor Williams' "Run For Your Life". It's not all wonderful though as towards the end of the album, it runs out of steam, and like a disappointing fizzy drink • goes slightly flat.
Ending with the thoroughly awful Ye-Olde-Musical- Hall-Romp "Private Holiday Camp" - this dated piece of nonsense is not on the US copy - be thankful my American cousins! Alan Jones, Trevor Williams and Andy Sown all contribute material, but Bown deservedly gets the lion's share • as it's at that point where the others kick in, that downward trend is marked. Unbelievably, these days Andy Bown sessions for the boogie stalwarts Status Quo, so he's still around, and still doing it.
A strange place for him to be? Maybe not so strange when you consider Status Quo and The Herd were Pop Contemporaries in the late 60's, which is no doubt where they must have met up and down the proverbial swinging circuit. In fact the Quo were a formidable pop combo back in the days before they discovered the 12 bar ad nauseum and their early albums: "Picturesque Matchstickabie Messages", and "Spare Parts are full of charming youthful and naive psychedelic whimsy.
Tracks
1. John Brown's Body - 3:24
2. Rockin Chair - 2:57
3. Beer Drinkin' Woman - 3:33
4. 49 Fingers - 1:02
5. Purple God - 3:09
6. Bossa Jump - 4:30
7. Cry-De-Cry - 2:36
8. Run For Your Life - 3:39
9. Cully - 2:34
10.Mississippi Turnpike - 2:57
11.Primrose Lady - 4:33
12.Scorch (instrumental) (Alan Jones, Andy Bown) - 1:30
13.Private Holiday Camp - 3:29
All songs by Andy Brown except where noted.
Judas Jump
*Andy Bown - Keyboards, Guitar
*Charlie Harrison - Bass
*Alan Jones - Woodwind
*Henry Spinetti - Drums
*Adrian Williams -Vocals
*Trevor Williams - Guitar
Often associated with the Power Pop genre given to Ardent Label Mates Big Star, Cargoe projected more of a stylized artistic nuance to their songwriting and performing, with harmonies exhibiting a strong American/Southern Roots cultural influence.
The band recorded their Album CARGOE with Terry Manning producing at, John Fry's Ardent Studios. They scored numerous Billboard and Cashbox Top 100 listings, and reviews from 1970 through 1973, along with major radio play of their first single “Feel Alright” and follow-up “I Love You Anyway”. The band’s studio LP CARGOE was even featured, with Isaac Hayes Shaft, which won an Academy Award/Oscar that year for Best Original Song, in a Special Edition section of Billboard’s June 3, 1972 “The Deck is STAX” promotion.
The band began a west coast tour the summer of 1972, but was caught up in the distribution and bankruptcy label problems at Stax/Volt, who distributed the album and owned the masters. Distribution was sold to Columbia Records who failed to include Cargoe in their catalog, which meant that listeners who heard the hit couldn't actually buy the record. “Feel Alright” and their debut CARGOE LP fell off the charts instantly.
The same label troubles caused both Cargoe and Big Star to disband within a short time. Big Star went on to become one of the most beloved and influential bands of the entire decade, while Cargoe pretty much disappeared out of the popular memory.
Ardent Records contracts for distribution with Stax/Volt gave Stax ownership of the master tapes. When Stax went bankrupt in the mid-'70s, ownership of the masters eventually wound up in the hands of Fantasy Records Saul Zaentz, and no one's been able to get the tapes for domestic release.
It's certainly worth noting that after nearly 40 years of producing and engineering countless hit records including ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, George Thorogood, Celine Dion, Björk, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, and many others, Terry Manning to this day regards Cargoe as “the great record he helped make that no one ever discovered”..
by Frank Gutch Jr.
Tracks
1. Come Down (Bill Phillips) - 3:59
2. Feel Alright (Tommy Richard) - 2:33
3. Horses And Silver Things (Tommy Richard, Max Wisley) - 2:49
4. Scenes (Max Wisley) - 3:46
5. Things We Dream Today (Bill Phillips) - 2:44
6. Time (Bill Phillips, Max Wisley) - 4:09
7. Feelin Mighty Poorly (Tim Benton) - 5:35
8. Thousand Peoples Song (Tommy Richard) - 4:13
9. Heal Me (Tommy Richard, Max Wisley) - 3:11
10.I Love You Anyway (Tommy Richard) - 4:02
11.Leave Today (Bill Phillips) - 5:14
12.Tokyo Love (Bill Phillips, Jim Peters) - 3:51
Third album for McGuinness Flint, titled "Rainbow", released in September 1973. It features individual compositions by Tom McGuinness “High Again,” with a country feel, “Bye Bye Baby” a piano-heavy ballad, Lou Stonebridge's “Rocking Chair,” pedal steel guitar driven rockin' beat, “Dear Folks at Home” a honky tonk hybrid. The album also includes one song each by Hughie Flint “If You Love Me” hello pedal steel, we already know each other, Jim Evans cajun “This Song” with Harmonica and banjo and handclapping in a quick tempo. Evans again co-wrote the true rocker “Berry Blue Tuesday” with Dean, who co-wrote the opening track “Ride On My Rainbow” with outside partner McGann.
Tracks
1. Ride On My Rainbow (Dixie Dean, Mike McGann) - 2:58
2. If You Love Me (Hughie Flint) - 3:13
3. High Again (Tom McGuinness) - 2:25
4. Berry Blue Tuesday (Dixie Dean, Jim Evans) - 3:35
Dropped by Capitol, the band were enticed back by Gerry Bron who had managed the Manfreds in the years before their demise. They recorded two albums for Bron's label, Bronze, 'C'est La Vie' and 'Rainbow' and in spite of recapturing their former sound (with new members Jim Evans on guitar and Lou Stonebridge, ex Palladin, on keyboards and vocals) they finally called it a day in 1975 after Hughie Flint suffered a collapsed lung and it was clear he would be convalescing for some time.
Tracks
1. Catfish (Tom McGuinness) - 3:32
2. C'est La Vie (Tom McGuinness) - 3:07
3. Ride That Horse (Tom McGuinness) - 5:05
4. (I Don't Like Your) Country Music (Dixie Dean, Mike McGann) - 3:46
5. Please Give Me (Dixie Dean) - 3:39
6. Fast Eddie (Tom McGuinness) - 4:28
7. Siren Sadie (Dixie Dean) - 5:12
8. Union Hall (Lou Stonebridge) - 3:03
9. Rabbitt Isle (Lou Stonebridge) - 7:24
McGuinness Flint
*Dixie Dean - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Guitar, Horns, Harmonica
“Think Pink” is one trippy, hobbity mindfuck of the highest water. It’s a complex and varied album where no two songs are the same, but seem to be examples of sub-genres entire ALBUMS could be fashioned from. Come to think of it, it’s probably the last high-water mark of old-school psychedelia the moment before it gave up the ghost. And Twink had steadily worked his way through a succession of bands that by the time he was in The Pretty Things, making many musical acquaintances via The Pretties’ management, the Bryan Morrison Agency, who also handled The Deviants and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Soon enough they had performed enough gigs together to force Morrison to circulate a letter to these three bands requesting that they refrain from ever showing up at each other’s gigs ever again. Because if there was havoc to be caused, it WAS caused, and if there was none to be found, it would be located immediately.
When Twink left The Pretties, he assembled a virtual roll call of London underground musicians: Viv Prince, Wally Waller, John Povey, Victor Unitt, The Deviants, Quiver bassist Honk, John “Junior” Wood (ex-Tomorrow) and Steve “Peregrine” Took. This album owes a grand debt to Paul “Black George” Rudolph for his uncredited arrangements and outstandingly effortless yet complex Stratocaster noise guitar burn-outs (which populate “Think Pink” in sheer and blissful abundance) are huge, soaringly hard and were barely hinted at on the third Deviants album. And the sessions yielded all things loose, crazy and hardened post-psychedelic. There is even a surprisingly manic funk out rare for even white dopers at the time as well as acoustic numbers that don’t sound the least bit obligatory, raga-based chants and group sing-alongs. Along with Rudolph, the other main inspiration for “Think Pink” was undoubtedly Twink’s pretty, blonde and Kohl-eyed girlfriend Silver, who appears on both the back cover and the album with an unforgettable vocal interlude.
The album opens with “The Coming Of The Other One,” a vocal incantation as screeching backwards sitars, further vocal mantras and randomly hit percussion float through the air and clang in a dark, incense-filled basement from “Performance” with Steve Took emitting fear-inducing animal noises in a dark corner. It fades as sitars race back in time, and the air clears and gets brighter with the remake of Twink’s minnow-psych pop A-side for The Aquarian Age, “Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box.” A celebration of “a thousand colourful shadows dancing around my head/Rejoicing to the waking of the dead...” over heavily recorded drums as Rudolph covers the drums and telephonically-phased vocals with underpinning streams of pink cirrus clouds at daybreak noise/guitar. But Rudolph winds up shanghai-ing the piece into a soaringly free-noise hurricane as he peels riff after riff out of his bottomless Strat.
“Standing Tiptoe On The Highest Hill” is a chilly, overcast autumn morning with swelling mellotron, muted guitar and somber drums, bursting your heart when the grim (yet sung angelically-echoed) lines come in and it dawns on you that this is the acoustic grandfather of Joy Division’s “Decades.” Backward noise/guitar streaks by Rudolph transform the whole piece into a coiled and curling jam out that cuts out to let the song descend quietly back into the sand and it’s seaweed-strewn grave. “Fluid” ends the album side, an instrumental stripped bare of everything but genitals. Slow bass, guitar and drums crack out an undulating and repeating rhythm as Twink and Silver coo to each other, barely touching and letting their vocal vibrations do the work of a thousand fingers. It’s Joy Division again, only a decade earlier and this time it’s “I Remember Nothing.” This is just side one, but side two is just as fantastically charged up and out there, reaching its apex with the Took-damaged, “The Sparrow Is A Sign.”
by The Seth Man
Tracks
1. The Coming Of The One - 3:42
2. Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box (Twink, John Junior) - 4:28
3. Dawn Of Majic - 1:45
4. Tiptoe On The Highest Hill - 5:18
5. Fluid - 4:05
6. Mexican Grass War - 5:28
7. Rock And Roll The Joint - 2:26
8. Suicide - 4:22
9. Three Little Piggies (Steve Took, Twink) - 3:12
10.The Sparrow Is A Sign (Steve Took, Twink) - 2:23
11. 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box (Twink, John Junior) - 3:25
12. Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard (Twink, John Junior) - 4:40
13. 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box (Twink, John Junior) - 4:54
14. Dawn Of Magic - 3:24
15. Fluid - 3:40
16. Fluid - 4:19
17. Rock An’ Roll The Joint - 2:15
18. Suicide - 3:10
All titles by Twink except where indicated
Bonus tracks 11-18
Musicians
*Twink – Drums, Tablas, Vocals
*Paul Rudolph – Guitar, Bass, Vocals
*John "Junior" Wood – Bass
*Wally Allen – Piano
*John Povey – Sitar, Mellotron
*Steve Peregrin Took – Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
*Viv Prince – Drums
*Vic Unite - Guitar
*John Lodge - Bass
*Silver Darling - Vocals
*Mick Farren - Spoken Words
Singer Terry Clarke, guitarist Derek Smallcombe and drummer Roger 'Spodge' Siggery had all played in UK psych legends Jason Crest. Following their collapse in 1969, Clark joined short-lived UK rockers Hunter, whose sole LP was released in America only under the band name Orang Utan, while his former bandmates played with High Broom, best-known for releasing a version of Dancing In The Moonlight on Island in 1970. Smallcombe then played a stint with progressive rockers Samuel Prody, whose sole LP was released in Germany only, before rejoining Clark and Siggery in 1972 to form the quintet Holy Mackerel, along with new recruits Chris Ware (guitar) and Tony Wood (bass).
Having relocated from their native Kent to rural Lancashire, they devised a set that drew on progressive, pop and country influences before starting to gig. According to their LP's sleevenotes, they 'took the Northern college circuit by storm, experimenting and refining their music until they were ready for their album'. Having come to the attention of producers Roger Easterby and Des Champ (best-known for making hits with pop artists including Vanity Fare, Deep Feeling, Dr Marigold's Prescription and Chicory Tip), they were signed to CBS and entered the studio. A single coupling Rock-A-Bye and New Black Shoes was issued in late October 1972, preceding the appearance of their self-titled LP in November.
Unfortunately, as 1973 came around the market for such records was fast shrinking, and it sold poorly despite an enthusiastic endorsement from John Peel ('A group to watch and, of course, a good one to listen to as well') and 45 releases in Germany, Turkey and elsewhere. They appeared on Peel's show in November, performing Waterfall, Spanish Attraction, Oh! and Trie Boy & The Mekon, but it made little difference to their success. They did go on to record a follow-up album, entitled Closer To Heaven, but CBS didn't release it and it languished until finally appearing in 1993.
Having departed CBS, the band remained with Easterby and Champ for three further singles that appeared on the producers' own Santa Ponsa label (a subsidiary of Pye), but none of those charted, so they finally called it quits in mid-1974.
CD Liner-Notes
Tracks
1. Going To The Country (Steve Miller, Ben Sidran) - 3:05
2. Virginia Water (Derek Smallcombe) - 3:49
3. Spanish Attraction (Terry Clark) - 7:38
4. Rock-A-Bye (Barry Ian Green, Ron Roker) - 2:36
5. Oh! (Derek Smallcombe) - 5:19
6. Were You At All (Chris Ware) - 2:59
7. New Black Shoes (Terry Clark, Roger "Spodge" Siggery, Chris Ware, Derek Smallcombe, A. Wood) - 3:49
8. The Boy And The Mekon (Terry Clark) - 5:50
The Holy Mackerel
*Terry 'Nobby' Clark - Vocals
*Derek 'Mort' Smallcombe - Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
*Chris Ware - Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
*Tony Wood - Bass
*Roger 'Spodge' Siggery - Drums
Check the liner notes of an album by an artist that doesn’t primarily write their own material, and the credits will be teeming with the names of the people responsible for penning the songs. Sometimes these names will be familiar: fellow performers, star producers, or the rare songwriter or writing team that has earned enough hits to be well-known in their own right. Much of the time, however, the names will be more obscure, listing writers who may have worked steadily for years turning out album tracks and B-sides, or recording with minor artists rather than stars. If they’re very lucky, they might even manage to punctuate their career with a hit or two.
Such is the case of Bobby Lance, a Brooklyn native who started writing songs with his older sister Fran Robins (17 years his senior) while still a teenager in the late ’50s. Most of their material was doled out to little-known doo-wop and girl group outfits, but the duo scored big when Aretha Franklin took their song “The House That Jack Built” to the Top 10 on both the pop and R&B charts in 1968. The hit granted Lance the opportunity to record two albums for Atlantic Records, 1971’s First Peace (released on the Cotillion imprint) and 1972’s Rollin’ Man, both now compiled onto a single disc and released on CD for the first time by Real Gone Music.
Lance’s debut, 1971’s First Peace, was made with the full backing of the Atlantic machine, featuring a lineup of musicians familiar to anyone who’s studied the liner notes of the label’s classic soul albums of the era. The Swampers, house band for Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, serves as Lance’s core group, while legendary saxophonist King Curtis leads the horn section, and the gospel group the Sweet Inspirations provides the backing vocals. Lance, for his part, leads with a gutsy, Southern-inflected voice of surprising range and intensity, well-suited for the soulful ballads and bluesy rockers comprising the album.
“More Than Enough Rain” is by far the best-known song on either of Lance’s LPs, due to the rumor that Duane Allman plays slide guitar on the track. (Bill Kopp’s liner notes for this reissue presents it as fact, but it’s apparently still a source of debate for avid Allman Brothers fans.) The six-minute psych-blues rocker is a bit of an outlier, however. More typical of First Peace is opening track “Somebody Tell Me,” a mid-tempo R&B groover that mixes blues boilerplate (“My mama had me on a block of wood / in an old broken-down shack”) with vaguely hippie sentiments (“everybody helps each other, yeah”).
First Peace sometimes feels weighed down with Lance’s insistence on piling on the dramatics and “soulful” signifiers, but it’s also packed with enough gems to demonstrate why he managed to be in demand by not one, but two of the most important record labels of the era. (See below.) The underwritten melody line and tired “I’m a man, you can’t hold me down” lyrics of “Somewhere in Between” are more than made up for by its thundering, desperate chorus, which singlehandedly propels the song to the top of the pack. “One Turn You’re In One Turn You’re Out” and “Trouble is a Sometimes Thing” are radio-friendly ballads that could have been R&B hits (though perhaps in cover versions), while the moody atmosphere and tense arrangement of “Shake Down Blues” lends the song a directness largely lacking from rest of the album.
First Peace met with little success. At some point before its release, Lance had also managed to sign a songwriting contract with Motown Records. The legal wrangling between the two labels resulted in a decision that they would split the profits of Lance’s albums, and Atlantic had little interest in promoting a record in which it had only a limited financial stake. Rollin’ Man, released the following year, is far more stripped down, probably due to budgetary restrictions. Gone are the strings and horns, the Sweet Inspirations backing vocals, and Robins as his writing partner. Instead, Lance wrote all the tracks — nine on this album, shrunk down from the 11 on First Peace — and recorded them in New York with a four-piece rock band he had recruited on his own. Even the cover of his second album knocked a few superfluous letters from his name, billing him only as “B. Lance.”
Despite the cutbacks — or, more likely, because of them — the lean Rollin’ Man is the superior album, tamping down the previous album’s florid blue-eyed soulisms and focusing on a tighter rock groove. Lusty opener “Bar Room Sally” introduces Lance in a less self-serious mood; during the coda, he even provides the voice of “Sally” and kissy noises against a clattering, saloon-style piano. For all its goofiness, though, “Bar Room Sally” also sets the template for the level of songcraft throughout the album. Unlike First Peace, where even many of the stronger tracks seemed either underwritten or overly busy, epic rockers like “Something Unfinished” and “John the Rollin’ Man” are packed with hooks, but lean enough to keep them sharp and let them sink in.
Lance’s taste for grandeur hadn’t abated entirely, however, as testified by the lengthy instrumental solos on the eight-and-a-half-minute-long “Hot Wood and Coal,” and the expansive, Neil Diamondesque pop balladry of “Last Stop Change Hands” and “She Made Me a Man.” Yet the limitations of the recording process seem to have inspired Lance. While First Peace at times sounded like a songwriter’s demo tape — a song for Aretha, followed by a song for Clarence Carter — Rollin’ Man is fully committed to Lance’s personal blend of influences and interests. Ever the professional songwriter, however, there’s nothing on the album so personal or idiosyncratic that it couldn’t be covered by a band like Three Dog Night or Grand Funk Railroad. The one exception is album closer “Tribute to a Woman,” a delicate, relatively elliptical hymn that barely runs over a minute, yet contains more genuine feeling than First Peace‘s ode to ladykind, “Walkin’ on a Highway.”
Despite the fact that Lance found his groove, however, Rollin’ Man would prove to be his final album; like its predecessor, it foundered. Lance briefly continued to work as a songwriter for Atlantic, but the trouble he had caused for the label ensured his contract wasn’t renewed when it expired. The man who had worked in the music business since he was a teenager suddenly found himself locked out of the industry. Unlike many of his songwriting peers, however, Lance was lucky enough to leave behind a recorded legacy of his own. First Peace and Rollin’ Man aren’t perfect albums, but Lance’s talent shines throughout. Had he had as much of a head for legal matters and business as for songwriting and performing, it’s possible these albums wouldn’t be just cult curiosities, but the start of a fascinating career.
by Sally O'Rourke
Tracks
1. Somebody Tell Me - 2:22
2. Somewhere In Between - 3:44
3. One Turn You're In One Turn You're Out - 4:12
4. More Than Enough Rain - 5:54
5. I May Not Have Enough Time - 3:12
6. It Can't Be Turned Around - 2:18
7. Brother's Keeper - 3:28
8. Trouble Is A Sometimes Thing - 3:49
9. Cold Wind Howling In My Heart - 3:39
10.Shake Down Blues - 3:11
11.Walkin' On A Highway - 5:07
12.Bar Room Sally - 4:20
13.Hot Wood And Coal - 8:26
14.Somewhat Unfinished - 3:33
15.She Made Me A Man - 2:30
16.John The Rollin' Man - 4:33
17.Last Stop Change Hands - 5:10
18.You Got To Rock Your Own - 3:12
19.He Played The Reals - 3:38
20.Tribute To A Woman - 1:18
All selections written by Bobby Lance except Tracks 1-11 co written with Fran Robins
The Ghost LP is one of the most fabulous UK psych/prog albums. This Birmingham band featured guitarist Paul Eastment, previously in The Velvett Fogg. The album, originally released back in 1970 on the Gemini label in the UK and in 1971 on Exit/Ekipo records in Spain, is one step ahead psychedelia entering the realm of prog music, yet retaining an atmospheric mind expanding feel through it all.
Loads of Hammond organ swirls, pyrotechnical guitar licks, beautiful accoustic guitar parts, and above it all killer vocal arrangements. The lead-off track, "When You're Dead," is the most effective and famous (at least in the world of psychedelic collectordom) cut. Lead singer Paul Eastment sounds much like Family's Roger Chapman, but even creepier (and more ostentatious), as the group vamp around a skin-crawling riff, anchored by an almost garagey shrill organ.
Yet the second song, "Hearts and Flowers," could almost be the work of an entirely different outfit, with the band's other lead singer, Shirley Kent, shining on a pretty folk tune reminiscent of some of Fairport Convention's most precious early numbers (Shirley would later move on to record the "Fresh Out" LP as Virginia Tree). Top quality remastered sound, an impressing addition to your psych prog collection!
Tracks
1. When You're Dead (Paul Eastment, Paul Keatley) - 4:25
2. Hearts And Flowers (Shirley Kent) - 2:54
3. In Heaven (Terry Guy) - 3:21
4. Time Is My Enemy (Shirley Kent) - 4:06
5. Too Late To Cry (Paul Eastment, Paul Keatley) - 5:04
6. For One Second (Terry Guy) - 5:25
7. Night Of The Warlock (Paul Eastment, Terry Guy) - 4:22
8. Indian Maid (Terry Guy) - 4:21
9. My Castle Has Fallen (Paul Eastment) - 2:57
10.The Storm (Paul Eastment, Paul Keatley) - 3:36
11.Me And My Loved Ones (Terry Guy) - 4:09
12.I'Ve Got To Get To Know You (Shirley Kent) - 4:02
The Ghost
*Daniel MacGuire - Bass Guitar
*Charlie Grima - Drums, Percussion
*Paul Eastment - Lead Guitar
*Terry Guy - Organ, Piano
*Shirley Kent - Vocals
