Copies of Fresh Air's only album, 1970's A Breath of Fresh Air - one of the very first albums released on the Amaret label, who issued recordings by the Minneapolis blues-rock quintet Crow -- are highly sought-after and treasured by collectors.
Featuring dramatic organ flourishes and flamboyant guitar leads throughout, A Breath of Fresh Air is similar to other organ-driven hard pop groups of the era, including Sugarloaf, Blues Image, and Three Dog Night.
The highlight here is the leadoff track, a fast-paced, histrionic discotheque take on Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" -- by then already a few years old -- which features heavy distorted guitar and Marc Piscitelli's intense lead vocals. Six of the remaining tracks were written by the group's "sixth member," Louie Caridi, including "Somewhere a Mountain Is Moving" (taking its title from a line in the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina").
This was a different Fresh Air from the group of the same name that featured keyboardist Don Randi (they recorded a self-titled Fresh Air album around the same time, but for Columbia Records). Piscitelli later became an engineer and backing vocalist, working with a varied group of artists during his career, including Glen Campbell, Juice Newton, Spirit, and John Travolta.
by Bryan Thomas
1. For What It's Worth (Stephen Stills) - 2:40
2. Faces In The Fire - 3:50
3. December (Marc Piscitelli) - 4:50
4. Somewhere A Mountain Is Moving - 2:30
5. Get Away Car Car - 2:39
6. I've Lost My Faith - 3:10
7. Baby Lady (R. Kutner) - 3:20
8. Sleeping In Sunshine - 3:20
9. Sailor Man (Marc Piscitelli, Louie Caridi) - 2:30
10.I Finally Found A Friend - 2:45
All songs by Louie Caridi except where noted
Fresh Air
*Allen Carey -
*Louie Caridi -
*Mick Jones -
*Marc Piscitelli - Lead Vocals
*Peter Plumeri - Drums
*Tim Whitcanack - Bass, Keyboards
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This is a breath of fresh air! Many thanks for the flac update, time to delete my mp3s.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of Allen, these are all guys I gigged and recorded with extensively in the 60s and early 70s.
ReplyDeleteWhen Fresh Air broke up around 1969, Lou Caridi, Pete Plumeri and Mike (not Mick) Jones who played lead guitar, regrouped with myself (Rick Clingman) and Steve Wolfenbarger to form the group called "Everything Under the Sun."
We showcased at the Troubadour and had major label interest (actually did some tracking at A&M) but never could seal the deal and we all eventually went our way.
I'm still gigging in a duo in Oregon, Lou now writes and records under the name of Marshall Holly (see mySpace).
I found this page after going in search of anything online by Lou Caridi. I got to know him as Marshall Holly on MySpace a number of years ago and have been online friends with him for 15 years where we swapped musicm chat and ideas. Sadly he passed away in Kentucky on 23rd August 2021 after suffering a stroke in 2017. I was fortunate to visit him from Scotland in Claremont in 2018 and spend some time with him.
ReplyDeleteHi Marios
ReplyDeleteRe-upload Request = Could you please repost
Fresh Air - A Breath Of Fresh Air 1969 Thank you
Rob, "Fresh Air - A Breath Of Fresh Air", refreshed....
ReplyDeleteMarios
ReplyDeleteThank you
Many thanks for re-up in uncompressed!!!
ReplyDelete