Crow formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. in August, 1967. Originally known as the "South 40", they were former members of the Rave-Ons and the Jokers Wild. The original band members were Dave Wagner (vocals), Larry Wiegand (bass/vocals), Dick Wiegand (guitar), Dave (Kink) Middlemist (Hammond organ/vocals) and Harry Nehls (drums/vocals). They released the "South 40 Live at Someplace Else" LP in 1968.
In 1969 they added Denny Craswell (Castaways) on drums/vocals, changed their band name to Crow, and released the album "Crow Music" on the Amaret label. They had a number of Top-40 hits from 1969 to 1972, including "Evil Woman", "Slow Down", "(Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie) On the King of Rock n' Roll" and "Cottage Cheese" among others.
They disbanded in 1972 but reformed again in 1988. They continue to play select concerts all over the United States and have released numerous CD's. All the members have won Minnesota Music Awards for their own individual instruments. In 2005 they were inducted into the Minnesota Rock/Country Hall of Fame and in 2009, the Iowa Rock & Roll Music Hall of Fame.
Tracks
1. Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me) (Larry Wiegand, Dick Wiegand, David Waggoner) - 3:10
2. White Eyes (Larry Wiegand, Dick Wiegand) - 4:13
3. Thoughts (David Waggoner) - 4:48
4. Da Da Song (Dave Middlemist) - 3:19
5. Busy Day (Larry Wiegand) - 2:30
6. Time To Make A Turn (Larry Wiegand) - 2:47
7. Rollin' (Dick Wiegand, David Waggoner) - 3:20
8. Listen To The Bop (Larry Wiegand, Dick Wiegand, David Waggoner) - 3:07
9. Gonna Leave A Mark (Larry Wiegand) - 2:53
10.Sleepy Woman (Larry Wiegand) - 9:53
The Crow
*David Wagner - Lead Vocals
*Dick Wiegand - Lead Guitars
*Larry Wiegand - Bass
*Kink Middlemist - Keyboards
*Denny Craswell - Drums
Formerly known as The Method, they signed with CBS in London for whom they recorded three albums and several singles. Their stunning debut LP "Love & Poetry" (1969) is regarded as a psychedelic classic by many collectors around the world. Their name was shortened to Andwella in 1970 and their further long players "World's End" (1970) and "People's People" (1971) were issued under this moniker.
by Clark Faville
Tracks
1. Hold On To Your Mind - 3:50
2. Lady Love - 4:16
3. Michael Fitzhenry - 3:32
4. I'm Just Happy To See You Get Her - 2:57
5. Just How Long - 3:18
6. World's End Part I (Bobby Scott) - 3:00
7. World's End Part II - 2:25
8. Back On The Road - 3:24
9. I Got A Woman - 2:56
10.Reason For Living - 3:10
11.Shadow Of The Night - 3:39
All compositions by David Lewis except where stated.
Originally known as The Method, a heavy psych/blues trio led by David Lewis (and the band Brush Shiels first saw Gary Moore play with when Gary subbed for David when the Method played a Dublin club in 1967?).
The Method became Andwella's Dream when they moved from Belfast to London in 1968. They signed to CBS and recorded a stunning debut LP "Love & Poetry". The original drummer only plays on one track ("Felix") as he got homesick and returned to Belfast. Gordon Barton then joined the band.
"Love & Poetry" captures the moment when psychedelia was at the point of splintering into progressive and acid folk. There are various styles and moods across the record with consistently strong melodies and some killer Hendrix-esque guitar. It's rightly regarded as a psychedelic classic by many collectors around the world.
CBS released three singles including two non-LP A-sides "Mrs Man" and "Mister Sunshine" which are worth tracking down. These have not surfaced on CD reissues for some reason.
In 1970 Dave McDougall joined on keyboards, the band name was shortened to Andwella. They moved to CBS's Reflection imprint (home to Steamhammer & Dogfeet) for subsequent releases.
A gorgeous Hammond organ sound underpins the two albums released on Reflection. The first of these was "World's End", released in 1970, which is the better of the two. Though it is less psychedelic and less adventurous than the debut and doesn't revisit the same heights, it is more consistent, more measured and contains several outstanding songs. At times recalls the best work of Traffic and early Santana.
That same year, David Lewis produced another album on Reflection, hippie poet David Baxter's very odd "Goodbye Dave" album. All the music on this LP was written by Lewis and performed by Andwella.
In 1971 the original rhythm section was replaced by Dave Struthers (bass/vocals) and Jack McCulloch (ex One In A Million & Thunderclap Newman, drums). This lineup recorded the final album, "People's People" (1971) which is a step closer to the mainstream but still an enjoyable album. In 1974 a track from this album was released as a single credited to The Bridge.
After Andwella split, David Lewis released two solo albums on Polydor in the 70s.
Dave McDougall later worked with Speedy Keen (ex Thunderclap Newman). Nigel Smith was later in Khan (after their LP), Magna Carta and Pentangle.
Tracks
1. She Taught Me to Love - 3:16
2. Saint Bartholomew - 3:04
3. World of Angelique - 3:35
4. Mississippi Water - 3:28
5. I've Got My Own - 2:45
6. Are You Ready - 2:32
7. Four Days in September - 3:51
8. Lazy Days - 1:26
9. People's People - 3:27
10.Behind the Painted Screen - 3:30
11.All for You - 2:20
All compositions by David Lewis
Andwella’s Dream was a thrusting injection of freakbeat that could not be ignored. Their slicing riffs were high core psyche injected from guitarist / keyboardist David Lewis, bassist Nigel Smith and drummer Gordon Barton who started out as The Method that at one time included Gary Moore.They were regulars at the Maritime Club where Van Morrison had his early days with Them.
The Method evolved into Andwella’s Dream and were the primal Irish psyche next to Eire Apparent. Dave Lewis the soaring guitarist who wrote all the songs also recruited keyboardist Dave McDougall, ex McCullochs Struthers & Paterson bassist Dave Stuthers, Nigel Portman Smith and ex One In A Million/Andromeda drummer Jack McCulloch.The bamboo flute and sax was played by future Egg Bob Downes. When Andwella’s Dream moved to London they released their primal 1969 debut Love And Poetry with surging numbers like the thrusty opener “The Days Grew Longer For Love” and guitar razzling “Sunday”.
Dave’s throttling axe exerts fury on “Lost A Number Found A King” with its ancient Indian flute and ambient acoustic textures. The two finest numbers “Cocaine” with McDougall pushing hard and the soaring “Shades Of Grey” where ex Thunderclap Newman Jack McCulloch’s drums are best heard create a furnace of fusion.
Acoustic delights are “Midday Sun”, “Goodbye” and the Hammond rolling “Felix” which opens into crescendo breaks by Lewis. In 1970 they evolved into Andwella and launched a further two albums Worlds End (1970) and Peoples People (1971) plus a bounty of singles. World’s End although a lyrical romantic masterpiece did ignite the past as on the psyche “Michael Fitzhenry” exalting frenetic flute and Dave’s insatiable guitar riffs. The harmonies and melody that bend around the brassy I’m Just Happy To See You Get Her are creative marvels.
Future Bad Company definitely copped the riffs from “Just How Long” while the double linked “World’s End” is just so underplayed. Sterling jazz riffs trip through Steely Dan styled “Back To The Road” with Bob Downes giving it stick in the wind. There’s a bit of Billy Joel in the People’s People or even Tremeloes in the opener “She Taught Me To Love” which crystalises into the spiritual “Saint Bartholomew”.
Lewis was the songwriter extraordinaire having written the award winning film War and songs as varied as “Happy To Be An Island In The Sun”, #1 for ex Aphrodite Child Demis Roussos. David’s 1969 The Songs Of David Lewis remain a collector’s dream.
by Shiloh Noone
Tracks
1.The Days Grew Longer For Love - 3:55
2.Sunday - 3:13
3.Lost A Number, Found A King - 6:03
4.Man Without A Name - 2:41
5.Clockwork Man - 2:44
6.Cocaine - 4:59
7.Shades Of Grey - 3:36
8.High On A Mountain - 2:31
9.Andwella - 3:15
10.Midday Sun - 3:40
11.Take My Road - 3:22
12.Felix - 4:16
13.Goodbye - 2:17
14.Mrs. Mann - 3:59
15.Mister Sunshine - 3:17
16.Every Little Minute - 3:55
17.Michael FitzHenry - 3:42
18.Take My Road - 3:26
19.Man Without A Name - 2:38
20.Paradise Isle - 3:44
21.Miles Away From My Baby - 4:37
All songs by David Lewis
Bonus tracks from 14-21.
Andwella's Dream
*Dave Lewis - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
*Nigel Portman Smith - Bass
*Gordon Barton - Drums with
*Bob Downes - Flute, Percussion, Chinese Bells, Tam Tam
*Wilgar Campbell - Drums
Liverpool's Wimple Winch are best known to obsessive collectors of U.K. freakbeat for a handful of rare but potent singles, such as the malevolent "Save My Soul and "Rumble on Mersey Square South," a mini-rock opera that feels like a more compact contemporary to the Who's "A Quick One While He's Away."
But Tales from the Sinking Ship, which collects Wimple Winch's singles for Fontana along with recordings that came from earlier and later incarnations of the band serves best as an object lesson in how radically the British music scene would change between 1964 and 1968. The set opens with a dozen sides recorded when
Dee Christopholus (vocals and guitar), John Kelman (lead guitar), and Larry King (aka Lawrence Arendes, drums) were members of the beat combo the Four Just Men (who briefly became the Just Four Men), who start out playing pleasant but unremarkable instrumentals not unlike what the Shadows were doing and eventually moved on to pop vocal sides that make them sound like competent but unremarkable also-rans on the Merseybeat scene.
They improved as they went along, and the last of the Four Just Men sides here are the best, the moody but dramatic "In the Shelter of Your Arms" and a solid cover of the Bacharach/David classic "Trains and Boats and Planes." However, when bassist Stuart Sirrett left at the end of 1965 and Barry Ashall took over in early 1966, something kicked in with this band, which adopted the new name Wimple Winch and embraced a far more aggressive and compelling sound, with a crispness that suggested the mod sound that was coming into vogue, along with shades of psychedelia creeping into "Atmospheres" and a dash of Ray Davies-style wit informing "Typical British Workmanship."
None of the Wimple Winch singles were hits, and this collection closes out with eight demos that confirm the group was continuing to evolve and innovate even after it was dropped by Fontana, with the psychedelic influences moving comfortably to the forefront and pop-minded pastoral accents coloring the melodies.
Phil Smee's richly detailed liner notes tell more about Wimple Winch's story than most fans will ever need to know, and a family tree makes it easy to follow the many personnel shifts in the group; this is fascinating stuff for those enamored of the point where beat music fell under the lysergic influence, and reveals just how weird a seemingly ordinary, clean-cut band could get during the first era of acid.
by Mark Deming
Tracks
1. Ad-Ventures (Theme From Friday Night) (Unknown) - 1:00
2. Half Past Five (Dee Christopholus, John Kelman) - 1:58
3. Aggravatin' (Unknown) - 2:43
4. Colours (Unknown) - 2:38
5. Four Just Men Theme (Aka Laura Norder) (Unknown) - 2:16
6. Sorry Girl (Unknown) - 2:23
7. Don't Come Any Closer (Demo Version) (Dee Christopholus) - 2:17
8. I Just Can't Make Up My Mind (Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King, Pete Turner) - 1:45
9. Woman Needs A Man (Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King, Pete Turner) - 2:04
10.I Still Care (Unknown) - 2:06
11.Thinking About Your Love (Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King, Pete Turner) - 2:24
12.Tomorrow (Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King, Pete Turner) - 2:45
13.In The Shelter Of You Arms (Jerry Samuels) - 2:32
14.Trains And Boats And Planes (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) - 2:25
15.What's Been Done (Barrie Ashall, Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King) - 2:44
16.I Really Love You (Lawrence Arends, Dee Christopholus) - 3:41
17.Save My Soul (Dee Christopholus) - 3:06
18.Everybody's Worried 'Bout Tomorrow (Ashall, Christopher, Kelman) - 2:34
19.Rumble On Mersey Square South (Dee Christopholus) - 4:31
20.Atmospheres (Dee Christopholus) - 4:27
21.Typical British Workmanship (Barrie Ashall, Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King) - 2:59
22.Bluebell Wood (Demo Version) (Dee Christopholus) - 3:32
23.Lollipop Minds (Dee Christopholus) - 3:10
24.Marmalade Hair (Dee Christopholus) - 3:00
25.Coloured Glass (Barrie Ashall, Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King) - 2:17
26.Those Who Wait (Barrie Ashall, Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King) - 2:29
27.Three Little Teddy Bears (Barrie Ashall, Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King) - 2:45
28.Sagittarius (Dee Christopholus) - 2:47
29.The Last Hooray (Barrie Ashall, Dee Christopholus, John Kelman, Larry King) - 3:18
Tracks 1-14 performed as Four Just Men
