"Images, Clear Skies and Rainbows" was an impressive venture into prog-rock teetering on the edge of progressive by a group called Imagine.
An exceptionally solid effort from start to finish. The first side shows the group in more of a progressive vein with several good but abbreviated guitar runs, giving you a taste of what direction the group could actually go in when they decided to. On the second side they bear down and let you see their true colors by stretching out the guitar interludes into longer segments in each song.
The best song on the entire LP is "Tomorrow." The bass and guitar team up to give you a tour de force of rock and roll. The flute adds another dimension to the taken as a whole sound, giving it that decidedly progressive edge. Judging from the sound and vocal style. This LP is remarkably good considering I have never heard of them and cannot seem to find any history of the group anywhere.
by Keith Hannaleck
Tracks
1. Come Alive - 5:33
2. City Lights - 5:06
3. Rock And Roll Man - 4:37
4. Superstar - 5:31
5. Images Clear Skies And Rainbows - 5:34
6. Tomorrow - 5:26
7. My Golden Lady - 4:33
8. Castles Of Sand - 5:31
9. Just A Dream (Bonus) (Jeffery Levy) - 5:06
10.Flight 491 To Nowhere (Bonus) (J. Levy, E. Slaski) - 4:30
All songs by Ted and Mike Kieta, except where noted.
Musicians
*Mike Kieta - Bass Lead Vocal
*Ted Kieta - Guitar, Vocals
*Bob Rowland - Acoustic Percussion
*Mike Prichard - Flute, Lead Vocal
*Todd William - Lead Guitar
*Ray Smith - Lead Guitar
*Keith Dickerson - Saxophone
*M.H. Dickson - Keyboards
*Nancy Black, Karen Smith and Carol Dickerson - Backing Vocals
Weren’t Born A Man, released in 1973, is Dana Gillespie’s third album and contains her version of ‘Andy Warhol’, a song that David Bowie originally wrote for her. Bowie and Mick Ronson produced said track and Gillespie’s original ‘Mother, Don’t Be Frightened’, and Ronson and Spiders from Mars members Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey played on both cuts. 43 years after its original release, Weren’t Born A Man stands as a must-have record for anyone with an interest in 70s music. 180g vinyl.
Hardcore David Bowie fans should have heard by now about the so-called Bowpromo album. It contains ‘rough mixes’ of original tracks that would later be included on the Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust albums, as well as an exclusive track and the early (and shorter) versions of some amazing songs that would later make their way into Dana Gillespie’s Weren’t Born A Man LP from 1973: ‘Mother, Don’t Be Frightened’ and ‘Andy Warhol’. In fact, these two tracks on Dana’s album were produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson, featuring the members of The Spiders from Mars as backing band. Weren’t Born A Man is Gillespie’s third album after some previous folk and pop recordings and a rather successful career as an actress. She played Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972.
However, her involvement in music would soon be connected to some of the key players in the London scene, such as Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page and David Bowie. But there is much more to this album that just Bowie’s glam sound influence. ‘All Cut Up On You’, ‘All Gone’, ‘Eternal Showman’ or the title track ‘Weren’t Born A Man’ are all outstanding tracks on their own that show Dana Gillespie’s various moods, from mellow notes to sexually ambiguous statements. Sadly, record sales did not match RCA’s expectations and after one more album Dana was forced to take a long break on her recording activity that would eventually lead her to a very different approach to music. During the 80s Gillespie made a comeback becoming a member of the Mojo Blues Band and her career as a blues singer has not stopped since then, releasing over 25 albums to date. 43 years after its original release, Weren’t Born A Man stands as a must-have record for anyone with an interest in 70s music.
