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Music gives soul to universe, wings to mind, flight to imagination, charm to sadness, and life to everything.

Plato

Friday, July 27, 2012

Tax Free - Tax Free (1970 dutch, jazzy folk rock masterpiece, by Wally Tax "The Outsiders" frontman with guests John Cale and Richard Davis from "Astral Weeks" fame)



The short-lived Tax Free consisted of Wally Tax (vocals), David Oliphanr (guitar), Jody Purpora (vocals, guitar) and Leendert Busch (drums). Tax and Busch had both been members of legendary Dutch band The Outsiders, who'd broken up in mid-1969. They soon befriended the British-born Oliphant and the US-born Purpora in Amsterdam and - together with Ray Gordel - began to jam in a studio beneath a railway bridge, though they had to play in the dead of night to avoid the noise of passing trams. 

With management in place, in the spring of 1970 they travelled to New York, where they stayed in the infamous Chelsea Hotel. Having secured a record deal through contacts at Radio Luxemburg, they returned to NY that September (without Gordell) and set about taping an album at Jimi Hendrix's recently completed Electric Lady studio. The producer was Lewis Merenstein, who was also their co-manager (with Marty Thau). Merenstein is best known for his production of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, an album with which Tax Free shares a certain introspective, jazz-tinged vibe. 

The influence of Tim Hardin (with whom Tax was personally acquainted) can also be detected. Merenstein had also worked with John Cale on his Vintage Violence album, and Cale contributed some viola to the Tax Free recordings, alongside other session heavyweights such as string bassist Richard Davis (who'd featured prominently on Astral Weeks). 

The sessions weren't smooth, however. Tax later complained that 'Lewis was going through a difficult divorce. Therefore he wasn't a very smooth coordinator. Sometimes he was late or didn't turn up at all.' An even worse portent was the death of Hendrix during the sessions, which overshadowed the atmosphere. Tax Free was released in March 1970. 

The original promo material boasted that it 'epitomizes the tender, intimate cool of an Amsterdam cellar, the impressionistic, mystic Dutch sky, the mellow, hazy sounds of sadness and joy. It's light, easy and quietly relaxing,' but few copies were sold, and the band was quickly lost in the shuffle. 

The band returned to Holland, and had split up by the summer, propelled by what Tax considered to be hypochondria from the sickly Purpora. Somewhat surprisingly, Billboard announced that September that 'Polydor plans to reissue the Tax Free LP due to heavy airplay and the review action it has received in the past six months.' Unfortunately, nothing changed second time around.


Tracks
1. Yiva - 5:23
2. Along the Shadowed Quay - 3:56
3. The Great Lie - 5:00
4. Day Revealed Your Face - 2:51
5. Ginny - 4:52
6. Amsterdam  -4:58
7. My Lady Truth 4:19
8. Evening - 3:42
9. Back by the Quinnipiac - 6:24

Tax Free
*Wladimir "Wally" Tax - Vocals
*David J.L. Oliphanr - Guitar
*Jody W. Purpora - Vocals, Keyboards
*Leendert H.M. Busch - Drums
with
*Jerry Spaulding - Saxophone
*Ron Johnsen - Vibes
*John Cale - Electric Viola
*Richard Davis - Bass

Free Text

15 comments:

  1. Many thanks, Marios. A total unknown to me so can't wait to wrap my hearing aid around this.

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  2. Wow, this really sounds nice. Thx again...
    Have a nice weekend everybody

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  3. Unknown to me. Thanks very much...

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  4. Superb album for the band that I never heard before.Thanks...

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  5. Thanks for posting this, I was looking for this album for a long time and I finally found it. Thanks again!

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  6. Wonderful music! Thank you so much, Marios!

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  7. Hi! I love your blog!

    Great Blog and posts!.. please visit my Rock blog sometime :)

    Rock 1on1

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  8. The Outsiders son un grupo a tener en cuenta. Este disco de Wally Tax se aleja un poco de lo que hizo con ese grupo pero está muy bien. Está claro que no es Astral Weeks, pero repito, está muy bien. Thank you very much for this album.

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  9. Really a great album, Richard Davis has played with Eric Dolphy, Elvin Jones, Andrew Hill and many others. "Jerry" Spaulding I think it is actually "James" a great jazzman who has recorded a lot for the Blue Note. Thanks

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  10. muchas gracias !!!

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  11. Apparently Jody did a soundtrack in 1971 for "Stella da Falla" that seems to be credited to Tax Free

    https://www.discogs.com/Jode-Purpora-TaxFree-Stella-da-Falla-Original-Film-Soundtrack/release/10688101

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