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Sunday, December 10, 2023

Prairie Madness - Prairie Madness (1972 us, elegant folk melodic rock)



Prairie Madness is Chris Ducey on the guitar and singing lead and Ed Mills on the piano with a voice that adds to the sharp quality and flow of the duo's harmonics.

Prairie Madness (Columbia) carries a positive message in their sounds and lyrics. Like a westerly, they are a steady and warming change. They bringing a fresh western wind of folk-gospel sounds with an exciting mixture of original compositions. The album was produced by Matthew Fisher, former Procol Harum organist, who also plays keyboards on some tracks, backing by a full band with session musicians such as Jack Conrad on bass, Jim Young and Richie Hayward on drums, plus Airto Moreira and Emil Richards on Percussion.

Opening with "Nothing for Sophia," a somewhat haunting piece, they then showed what they are all about with "Shame the Children" and "Girl from Cincinnati." Ducey has a voice that moves in and along with the mate- rial in rich and ranging gospel tones which add to the performance. One does find him somewhat subdued on the guitar. Mills comes through nicely on the keyboard, especially so when blending vocally with Ducey.

Other songs are "Choo Choo Nairobi," an interesting figuration of sound and beat, "Broke Down," a rich blues-gospel piece, and "I'm Ready". 
Tracks
1. Nothing For Sophia (Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 4:29
2. Up You Go (Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) -  3:23
3. Girl From Cincinnati (Kendrew Lascelles, Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 4:19  
4. Choo Choo Nairobi (Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 3:31        
5. Moondust (Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 5:27 
6. Shame The Children (Edward Millis) - 3:17
7. Sunbeam To His Heart (Edward Millis) - 4:17 
8. Broke Down (Edward Millis) - 4:57 
9. I'm Ready (Edward Millis) - 5:43

Prairie Madness
*Chris Ducey - Acoustic, Electric Guitar, Vocals
*Edward Millis - Piano, Accordion, Vocals
With
*Matthew Fisher - Organ, Harpsichord
*Richie Hayward - Drums
*Jack Conrad - Bass
*Ralph Bryan - Electric Guitar
*Emil Richards - Percussion, Steel Drums
*Airto Moreira - Percussion
*Jim Young - Drums, Percussion
*Joyce Vincent - Backing Vocals
*Patti Austin - Backing Vocals 
*Telma Hopkins - Backing Vocals