Plain and Fancy

Monday, September 2, 2024

The Stanky Brown Group - If The Lights Don't Get You The Helots Will (1977 us, nice maintream rock, 2010 edition)

Three straight years, three straight Sire LPs on the national charts for Stanky Brown from New York City. "If The Lights Don't Get You The Helots Will" from 1977 is their second and one of those 70s records that has everything going for it, but somehow never got a chance to get off the mark – well-written and catchy tunes, a tight approach to production that's also somehow fresh, and a sense of personality that marks this second set by the band to be one where they're really hitting their stride! The record's of the AOR generation, but it's also got a sense of individuality that really shines through – never too polished, but also not an indie effort as well – and some nice echoes of the kind of cuts that would have peaked on British radio a few years before. Titles include "Confident Man", "Coaltown", "As A Lover I'm A Loser", "Alone Tonight", "Good To Me", "Free & Easy", and "Faith In The Family"

Tracks

1. Coal Town (Jeff Leynor) - 3:22

2. Life Beyond (James Brown, Frank Greene) - 4:05

3. Woman, Don't Let It Slip Away (James Brown, Frank Greene, Jeff Leynor) - 3:28

4. Confident Man (James Brown) - 3:15

5. Faith In The Family (James Brown, Frank Greene) - 3:55

6. Alone Tonight (James Brown, Frank Greene) - 3:11

7. Good To Me (James Brown) - 3:12

8. As A Lover, I'm A Loser (James Brown) - 2:31

9. Stop In The Name Of Love (Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier) - 3:06

10.Free And Easy (Jeff Leynor) - 5:05

The Stanky Brown Group

*Ames Brown - Keyboards, Vocals

*Jeffrey Leynor - Acoustic, Electric Guitars, Vocals

*Richard Bunkiewicz - Fretless Fender Bass

*Jerry M. Cordasco - Drums, Percussion, Vocals

*Allan J. Ross - Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute

*Jimmy Miller - Solo Guitar (Track 4)

With

*Elliot Randall - Electric Guitars

*Jimmy Maelen - Congas (Track 7)

*Werner Fritzsching - Gultar (Tracks 1,3,8)

*David Lasley, Lynn Pitney, Arnold McCuller - Background Vocals (Tracks 7-9)

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Dhope - Musical Exhibitions (1978 germany, fine post prog krautrock, 2021 edition)

Dhope from Paderborn in Westphalia played progressive rock in the style of the seventies. Their only LP, "Musical exhibitions" from 1978, contains almost exclusively their own songs, appears only very rarely on the record market and has not yet been re-released. Keyboardist Niko Dragun (born in February 1955) tells the story of Dhope in his own words:

"It all started in the seventies in Brilon, a small town in the Sauerland. In the youth centre there, a soundproof rehearsal room had been set up that was available to everyone. Various musicians met there again and again to do sessions together. Two of them were the singer Thomas Haberland (born in January 1959) and me, the keyboard player Niko Dragun. We both enjoyed jamming together so much that we decided to form a band. We got Heinz Weber as a drummer, with whom we had already rocked out several times. Heinz later played the drums for the Short Romans for many years. Finally, bass player Christoph Brumberg joined us, who later played guitar in the Brilon band Crossfire.

One day Christoph brought along a work colleague: Erlend Luck (born in November 1957) had already gained experience as a songwriter and band musician. And these five 'professionals' called themselves Random Music. Our role models were German rock legends like Jane, Novalis and Grobschnitt, but also English-language bands like Genesis and Jethro Tull. When I got a place to study in Paderborn, the rehearsal room was moved there. At that time, the drummer parted ways with the band. Heiko Klingenberg (born in November 1957) was brought in as the new drummer, and Claus Peter (born in November 1956) also joined as the new bass player. Both also studied in Paderborn. Claus had previously played in the Gütersloh band Corpus and occasionally filled in as a substitute bass player in other bands. Christoph now exchanged the bass for a guitar, but left the band after the first gig of the new formation, which now renamed itself Dhope.

And then it took off. We put together a rock repertoire with German and English lyrics, which we presented at the university festival 'Musik für 'ne Mark' (Music for one Mark) at a late hour in front of a full house and brought the place to the boil. Xenon, whose guitarist Reinhard Hennecke (born in October 1959), who had previously played with the Meschede band Ephesus, met Claus at this event. The two of them did an extensive jam session after the Dhope gig, which went so well that Reinhard also joined us. At some of the early concerts, Christian Voss, a guest musician friend from Bielefeld, had also played percussion. With the new musicians, new, e.g. funky, stylistic elements flowed into the music. More gigs followed. Among other things, we also played as the opening act for Ramses. Soon after, we decided to produce the LP 'Musical Exhibitions' at our own expense.

All in all, the money was enough for just under a week in the studio, although this studio was by no means comparable to that of a Conny Plank. The record label, Harz Records, reflected our limited financial possibilities. With the LP, the possibilities for gigs could be improved, as the acceptance by promoters was increased. And especially live performances showed the quality of the band with a very high degree of joy in playing and improvisation. Although Dhope combined various stylistic elements, they always saw themselves as one of the last Krautrock bands in the tradition of Eloy, Epitaph, Karthago, Jane and Birth Control. Psychedelic passages combined with melody rock and funk were combined according to the motto of the gigs 'Lust und Laune' ('on a whim'). We were also one of the few bands that sang in both German and English. This is reflected in the LP, and the title 'Musical Exhibitions' was meant to express this diversity. By the way, the idea for the cover artwork came from Thomas, the singer. The execution was done by a friend from Brilon, the highly talented draughtsman Ralf Jupe. In the lyrics, an examination of themes of the transition from the seventies to the eighties becomes clear.

'Dream Of Peace' and 'Auf ein Wort, Herr General' ('May I have a Word with you, General?') undoubtedly reflect the pacifist spirit of the time, but when you look at what is happening in the world at the moment, they are more topical than ever. With 'X-Ray', the subject of nuclear power was taken up. And somehow the boys also mourned the ‘old times', the 68ers and the hippie movement, whose high points they had not consciously experienced themselves. This becomes clear in the song 'Monotony'. So besides the fun of music, a social-political approach was also important to the band. Progressiveness instead of conformity. In 1980/81, the original line-up of the band changed. Thomas, who in the meantime had got a place at university in Mönchengladbach, Erlend and I left the band. Heiko, Claus and Reinhard looked for new musicians and played together as Dhope for about two more years. But the style changed from so-called Krautrock to the somewhat harder Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave).

I still played in various Paderborn bands such as Chashed Briegel, Wart's Ab and One Of A Kind. Thomas is still the singer of the Stanley Beamish Blues Band from Gladbach. Reinhard joined the Paderborn hard rock band Stryker as bass player after his time with Dhope. Yes, that's how it was back then. It was a long, long time ago that the band carried their heavy equipment out of the rehearsal room into the cars on an early Monday morning to rush into the Harz mountains and record this longplayer: 'Musical Exhibitions'. Have fun with it!"

A few things can be added to this. The artists first asked the well-known producer Conny Plank from Wolperath for the recordings, but they couldn't pay him and had to go elsewhere. The edition of the LP "Musical exhibitions" (Harz Records RP 10213) was 500 copies, as far as the musicians can remember. But for that it appears very seldom. The main purpose of the release was that they could get gigs better with an LP to show for it. The Harzstudio/Tonstudio Hahn in Osterode, where the tracks were recorded at that time, no longer exists, owner Hahn is probably no longer alive. Harz Records was the studio's own label, but only a few records were released there. The actual order number, RP 10213, is written on the narrow spine of the cover. What is given as the order number on Discogs (www.discogs.com) -76.21016-01 is the matrix number in the run-off of the LP. It was probably set by the cutting studio and stamped into the matrix, not incised. The group commissioned studio owner Hahn to handle the pressing order, and he in turn apparently had the whole thing run through Record Partner from Hamburg, as indicated by the abbreviation "RP" in the order number. It is important to know that Record Partner do not have their own pressing plant, but rather have the LPs manufactured wherever there is free capacity.

So it's an agency that provides its expertise, relieving artists and small labels of the sometimes cumbersome steps involved in releasing a record or CD. The rights, however, were and are held solely by the artists. Almost all the songs on the LP were written by Dhope themselves. The lyrics of "Do it another way" were written by Gerry Phillips, a friend of the group, and those of "Auf ein Wort, Herr General" are loosely based on a text by Woile. Six of the ten pieces are sung in English, two are instrumentals ("Aufbruch" and "Flying" which has nothing to do with the Beatles song of the same name), the first ("Monotonie") is sung in German, and the last ("Auf ein Wort, Herr General") is spoken in German. The photograph on the back of the LP cover was snapped by a daughter of studio owner Hahn and shows from left to right Thomas Haberland, Reinhard Hennecke, Heiko Klingenberg, Niko Dragun, Claus Peter and Erlend Luck. What does the band name actually mean? Originally they wanted to call themselves Deutsche Hoffnung (German Hope), sometimes abbreviated to D. Hope in Germish/Denglish. They simply merged that into Dhope. So it has nothing to do with the name Dope for hashish. The meaning of the LP title "Musical exhibitions" has already been explained by Niko Dragun in his review. The cover shows, appropriately enough, a few drawn exhibitionists, an idea of singer Thomas Haberland. The only concert poster of Dhope can be seen here in the booklet at hand on page 13, but there were also a few festival posters on which, among others, Dhope were mentioned. The colour photographs on pages 17 to 23 were snapped at a Dhope gig in Paderborn. The one on page 15 shows Reinhard Hennecke with his former band Xenon. And the black and white photograph on page 14 shows Christian Nóvé from Dice and Claus Peter at a joint jam session in Mohns Park in Gütersloh in the summer of 1976, before Dhope was founded.

Thomas Haberland started his studies in Mönchengladbach in the winter semester 1980/81 - that is in the autumn of 1980 - whereupon he left the group, as did Niko Dragun and Erlend Luck. The others continued to play with new people under the old name for a few years, at least until 1984, roughly in the style of the NDW group Fee from Brunswick. The collectors' value of the Dhope LP increased considerably over the decades. In the fourth and last edition of the "Cosmic Price Guide to Original Krautrock Records" (Reinbek 2018) by Ulrich Klatte, which has been greatly expanded in the meantime, it is listed at €300 for mint condition. The year of release is listed there as 1976. The LP is not listed at all in the otherwise fairly complete Rock&Pop price catalogue 2020/21 of the German record collectors' magazine "Oldie-Markt" - a sign of its great rarity. Hans Pokora, lacking experience values for this record, lists the LP in his book "6001 Record Collector Dreams” (Vienna 2010) with an all too modest two units, which corresponds to a value of €100 to €180; so he preferred to remain cautious with his estimate. On the internet at Discogs (www.discogs.com), only one copy is currently (2021) offered, at a price of €750. At Popsike (www.popsike.com), six sales results are listed. The most expensive specimen listed there was sold for €561, on Ebay Germany in 2012, with 22 bidders, in not quite mint condition (mint-). The next most expensive one sold in the same year for €462, also on Ebay Germany, also not in mint condition. If you extrapolate the results to mint condition, you get a value of about €500-700.

The exact year of the LP's release has been a mystery until now, as it is neither mentioned on the cover, nor on the label, nor in the run-off. The style suggests theseventies, which of course doesn't mean anything. The matrix number in the run-off of the LP (76.21016-01-1/1 on the A side and 76.21016-01-2 on the B side) starts with the number 76, which could be taken as a hint. And so on Discogs, on Rateyourmusic (https://rateyourmusic.com) and in all four editions of Ulrich Klatte's "Cosmic Price Guide" the year of release is given as 1976, on YouTube sometimes 1976, sometimes 1981. Hans Pokora in his book "6001 Record Collector Dreams" gives the year 1977, wherever he got this information - probably just guessed. But if you go to Discogs, where often also the matrix numbers are mentioned, and look there under "Record Partner" (founded in January 1977), you will quickly find that the number sequence "76" has nothing to do with the year 1976. You can often find it there in the run-off, even on RP records from 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985 or 1986, for example. So it must be an internal numbering of the cutting studio, the pressing plant or Record Partner, independent of the year of release. The fact that there are other records listed on Discogs with the release year 1976, although Record Partner was only founded in 1977, also has nothing to say. Because on these releases, as with Dhope, no vintages are named on cover and label; they were merely assumed on the basis of the matrix numbers with the initial digits "76", nothing more - thus worthless and obviously incorrect information. In truth, the LP was recorded and released at the end of 1978, as far as the band members can remember.

Because of its great rarity, only a few reviews of the Dhope LP can be found. A short one, written by Alan Freeman, appeared in the English magazine Audion. Five more, also all written in English, can be read on the internet at Rateyourmusic (https:// rateyourmusic.com). The record is rated there by a total of 24 participants with 3.64 out of 5.00 possible units.

After such a long time it was not possible to find out who had taken the photographs back then. Should their reproduction infringe a copyright, we hereby apologise and are certainly willing to compensate the claims. The same applies to the poster reproduced, lyrics, etc.

Many thanks for their kind help to Claus Peter, Niko Dragun, Heiko Klingenberg, Reinhard Hennecke, Erlend Luck, Thomas Haberland-Jagielski, Ralf Jupe, Christian Voss, Gerry Phillips, Hans Pokora, Jürgen Kaun, the municipal archive Bad Driburg and the Westfalen-Blatt.

CD Liner Notes

Tracks

1. Monotonie - 2:48

2. Dream Of Peace - 7:36

3. No More Trouble - 3:22

4. Snowqueen - 4:53

5. Aufbruch - 3:40

6. Orientexpress - 3:50

7. Do It Another Way - 5:13

8. Flying - 2:40

9. X-Ray - 4:03

10.Auf Ein Wort Herr General - 6:00

All songs by Thomas Haberland, Claus Peter, Niko Dragun, Reinhard Hennecke, Erlend Luck, Heiko Klingenberg

Dhope

*Thomas Haberland - Vocals

*Claus Peter - Bass

*Niko Dragun - Keyboards

*Reinhard Hennecke - Guitar

*Erlend Luck - Guitar

*Heiko Klingenberg - Drums

Friday, August 30, 2024

Buckacre - Buckacre (1978 us, nice melodic country stadium rock, 2018 korean remaster)

Buckacre formed in Illinois River Valley, USA, in mid seventies, this is their second and final album. With the addition of a new keyboardist, they have shifted from the West Coast country rock of their previous album to a more edgy power pop/electro-pop sound. An excellent album that shows the band's true character, breaking away from the Eagles imitation. Grant Reeves, whose credits include Archie James Cavanagh's work, makes a guest appearance on alto sax.

Tracks

1. Star That Shines (Richard Hally, Les Lockridge) - 3:15

2. No Lover's Fool (Richard Hally, Alan Thacker) - 3:52

3. Fire, Wind, Water (Skip Griparis, Robert K. Wilson) - 3:50

4. Same Old Song, Dance (Richard Hally, Alan Thacker) - 3:00

5. Here's A Stranger (Richard Hally, Alan Thacker) - 3:55

6. Night Driver (Skip Griparis, Robert K. Wilson) - 3:50

7. Tear Down The Walls (Richard Hally, Alan Thacker) - 3:32

8. Secrets (Richard Hally, Alan Thacker) - 3:20

9. Don't Be Blue (Les Lockridge, Alan Thacker, Richard Verucchi) - 3:35

10.Empty Nights (Tom Austin) - 3:18

Buckacre

*Alan Thacker - Guitar, Violin

*Darrell Data - Guitars, Pedal Steel, Vocals

*David Anson - Grand Piano, Keyboards, Vocals

*Dick Halley - Banjo, Bass

*Dick Verucchi - Drums, Percussion

With

*Grant Reeves - Alto Saxophone

*David Jackson - Strings Arranger, Conducter (except Track #2)

1966 Autumn '66 ( 2007 japan bonus tracks)

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

The Pete York Percussion Band - The Pete York Percussion Band (1972 uk, sensational jazz brass blues rock)

Pete was born in Middlesbrough, England on 15th August 1942. The Second World War was raging but he had nothing to do with it.

1950 He began to play on a toy drum and his mother’s cooking pots while listening to American jazz on the radio; probably his first exposure to drum legend, Gene Krupa.Pete played drums throughout his school years and joined the Trent College Jazz Club, School Orchestra and Army Cadet Force Band. On leaving school in 1960 he had acquired some rudimentary technique on the drums and his enthusiasm was growing fast for a life in music. He went to Birmingham and soon got involved in the music scene there, playing everything from Dixieland to modern jazz. In 1962 came his first TV appearance with an award-winning new jazz group.

Pete had also begun to play blues and R & B with Spencer Davis, Steve and Muff. Eventually the Spencer Davis Group would record in 1964. The record releases that followed resulted in critical acclaim in many countries and ever-increasing chart success. “Keep On Running” reached Number One in 1965 to be followed in the next year by “Somebody Help Me”, “When I Come Home”, “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m A Man”.

Pete appeared with the SDG in several films, countless TV shows around the world and is heard on all the million selling singles and albums. But there always comes that time to move on and Steve and Muff had already left.

In 1969 Pete left Spencer on friendly terms to form a unique duo with Eddie Hardin. Hardin and York were sometimes dubbed “the World’s Smallest Big Band” and released several albums with great success, especially in Europe. The duo often played as opening act for bands like Deep Purple and it is from this time that Pete’s friendship with Jon Lord and Ian Paice stems.

Pete York originally formed The Percussion Band back in 1971 as a solo project, and recorded a solitary studio album produced by Ian Paice. After that he maintained it on a part-time basis, roping in friends such as Paice and Jon Lord to take part in live shows.

'Sombrero Sam' is a second highly enjoyable jazz instrumental from the Percussion Band album. It's something of a percussion fest. The style rotation continues with the brass lead jazz of 'Moleshawk' , with busy drums and an even busier guitar solo. Good stuff. This is an enjoyable, and sometimes very exciting album, though much more successful in the jazz-rock rather than the r&b direction.

Tracks

1. Keep On Running (Jackie Edwards) - 4:34

2. Nothing Yet (Roger Munns) - 3:37

3. Cold Night In The City (Steve Fearn) - 2:13

4. Sombrero Sam (Charles Lloyd) - 10:32

5. Mel's Blues (Mel Thorpe) - 3:02

6. Moles Hawk (Bill Coleman) - 4:04

7. Stroke (Bill Coleman) - 3:58

8: The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba (Georg Friedrich Händel) - 2:55

9. Points (Roger Munns) - 4:14

10.It's Over (Steve Fearn) - 2:47

Musicians

*Pete York - Drums, Congas, Percussion

*Steve Fearn - Guitar, Vocals

*Roger Munns - Electric Piano, Trombone, Clarinet

*Bill Coleman - Bass Guitar, Electric Piano

*Mel Thorpe - Tenor, Soprano Saxophones, Flute, Clarinet

*Gordon Williamson - Drums, Percussion.

*Ian Paice - Congas (Track 4)

*Barry Sutton - Trumpets

with Eddie Hardin

1969-70 The World`s Smallest Bigband (2008 remaster)

1969-70 Tomorrow Today

Monday, August 26, 2024

Emergency - Emergency (1971 czechia / germany / uk, remarkable jazz brass prog rock, 2017 remaster)

Quite remarkably from today's view, Anglo-American beat and pop music did not just spread in the West, but beyond the „Iron Curtain" of the time. In the GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia (today the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary etc., many young musicians got themselves instruments and amplifier equipment, of- ten under difficult conditions and against the will of the ruling class. Their aim was to follow the electrifying "new music" that came from the West, and to play beat and later on rock music. This was particularly the case in former Czechoslovakia, where (quite in contrast to the GDR) a fairly liberal wind was blowing in the mid 1960 - considering it was under Soviet control - and where the ruling powers allowed the young generation to tailor themselves to the West both musically and with regard to their outward appearance.

The roots of Emergency date back to the beat band The Madators, originally founded in 1965 as "Fontana" by bassist Otto Bezloja (born on 04.07.1945, died 28.12.2001). The Madators from Prague were one of the leading beat bands in former Czechoslovakia, and also very popular in the GDR, since they often had gigs there. Their live program mainly consisted of cover versions of successful contemporaries like "The Who", "The Kinks", or the "Small Faces". The band released two singles, two EP's and a complete album, where they also played own titles. Singer Reddy Kirken (real name: Miloš Vokorka, born 28.05.1942) took over the vocals with The Madators from 1968-1969. Befo- re that, he had sung and played the guitar with the "Hell's Devils" (1963-1964) and with Komety (1967-1968).

Keyboarder Jiří Matoušek (born 20.09.1942 in Prague) also played with The Madators from 1968-1969, together with sax player Hanuš Berka (15.12.1941, died on 14.04.1978). Before that, Jiří Matoušek had played the keyboard with "The Colour Images", the backing band of the Czech beat pioneer Pavel Sedláček. Hanuš Berka probably possessed the most impressive career until the foundation of Emergency. He had been instructed in classic piano since his early childhood, and had later on learned the guitar, clarinet, saxophone and flute. After his study at the conservatory in Prague he was honored best tenor saxophone player at the German amateur jazz festival.

In 1966 he worked as arranger for singer Karel Gott. Together they spent one year in Las Vegas, where he became honorary citizen and occasionally played with Ray Charles and Count Basie. Since Karel "made music I was no longer interested in", the jazz virtuoso and Coltrane fan separated from his partner. Back in Prague the former MBA and civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Trade was part of the traditional jazz studio and played together with world renowned jazzmen Jan Hammer (keyboarder with the Mahavishnu Orchestra 1971-1973, and many others) and Miroslav Vitouš (bass, founding member of Weather Report). His "jazz mass❞ was successful at the jazz festival in Oslo.

Together with The Madators' colleagues mentioned he went to Munich in 1969 and became musical director of the German version of the musical "Hair". The Madators had been engaged as a band for this musical and also recorded the album "Haare". With that the beat- and pop era ended and the musicians obvious- ly wanted to broaden their musical horizon. Together with London guitarist Barry Newby and top session drummer Udo Lindenberg they founded Emergency. Technically top on their instruments they managed to establish a progressive brass rock alongside the funky krauty psychedelic- and electro rockers, which initially convinced a live audience.

Manager Abi Ofarim, in whose cellar the band rehearsed, made contact with CBS and in no time a record contract for two albums was signed. Since the band had also caught the interest of the head of promotion of the American CBS, who was checking out Teutonic sound as a talent scout in Germany, the LP was released simultaneously in the USA and in Germany. Emergency's 1st album of the same name consisted of Reddy Kirken (Miloš Vokorka, aged 26 at that time), who had a black voice of rugged beauty and looked like a close (if beardless) relative of Rasputin. His parents were Red Indians, Sioux, who had landed in Prague. With his old friends Jiří Matoušek and Otto Bezloja he was companion of Hanuš Berka. Barry Newby, guitarist from London, who caressed the strings of his guitar as gently as Fred Glickstein from the "Flock", and eventually top drummer Udo Lindenberg from Hamburg intended to follow the Bohemian Berka on his path to the top of the world ranking list.

The record premiered in May 1971. Its rhythmic intensity and musical precision is by all means comparable to the earlier albums of the "Chicago Transit Authority” (I'm A Man). Cream of the crop! In January 1972 the second album Entrance was recorded and released shortly after. Guitarist Barry Newby had left for his home London, in order to produce T. Rex, resp. Marc Bolan. He was replaced by Frank Diez (Armageddon, Atlantis, and many others). Englishman John Redpath took over from Udo Lindenberg, who wanted to get his solo career started. In spite of excellent critiques the second album did not have the desired financial success; and so the band split up. Hanuš Berka continued with new musicians (for example Veit Marvos, Peter Bischof, Richard Palmer-James) and a more catchy sound. Another two regular albums were released on the brain label (Get Out Of The Country, 1973, and No Compromise, 1974), before the band finally dissolved in 1975.

Hanuš Berka died in 1975 after a traffic accident. In 1991 Otto Bezloja reactivated The Madators (with whom he played until his death in 2001). The Madators had their last concert in 2008. The first legal rerelease of the Emergency CBS albums, which have been unavailable for a long time, is dedicated to the memory of Hanuš and Otto.

by Manfred Steinheuer, September 2016

Tracks

1. Springtime (Hanus Berka, Schirrat) - 5:58

2. Jump Into Your Grave (Miloš "Reddy Kirken" Vokurka, Schirrat) - 5:02

3. Times Passed By (Hanus Berka, Schirrat) - 9:25

4. Love Is Here To Stay (Hanus Berka) - 6:12

5. My Woman's Gone Now (DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin) - 9:48

6. Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis, Steve Winwood) - 6:16

Emergency

*Miloš "Reddy Kirken" Vokurka - Vocals, Percussion

*Hanus Berka - Tenor, Baritone Saxophones, Flute, Percussion

*Jiro Matousek - Organ, Electric Piano, Piano, Percussion

*Otto Bezloja - Bass

*Barrie Newby - Guitar

*Udo Lindenberg - Drums, Percussion

With

*Dusko Goykovic - Trumpet

Saturday, August 24, 2024

Pandora - Measures Of Time (1974 sweden, warm energetic prog rock)

This is the only album by Pandora, a progressive rock group from Sweden that included Bertil Jonsson, who later played in Fresh Air, and Åke Rolf, formerly of H2O. The album is a clean and lyrical work with emotional vocals, focusing on classical phrases with prestigious harpsichord and piano, and beautiful twin lead guitar ensemble, backed by a neat rhythm section. Although it is a self-produced album, its melancholy melodies filled with Scandinavian-style sentimentalism are now attracting attention as a hidden gem that resonates with the heartstrings of the Japanese people as well.

Pandora was formed in 1971 by drummer Bertil Jonsson and guitarist Urban Götling in the southern Swedish city of Norrköping. In the same year, vocalist Peter Hjelm, bassist Björn Malmqvist, and keyboardist Jan-Erik Dockner joined the group under the name Pandora. They initially played hard rock influenced by the British Uriah Heep, but also progressive rock like Genesis, King Crimson, and Emerson Lake & Palmer, and became more popular in Sweden, they tried to changed their musical style to a more symphonic one. The band's guitarist, Arvind Arbuthnot, was also a member of the band. At this time, guitarist Urban Gottling left the band early and was replaced by Åke Rolf, formerly of the group H2O. Another guitarist, Leif Herkqvist, also joined the band to make it a twin-guitar formation.

They played at a club in their hometown of Jönköping and reportedly attracted attention for their symphonic sound. 1974 they left their hometown and turned the top floor of the Bergaskolan school building in the sea-side town of Södersöping into a studio, where keyboard player Jan-Erik Dockner was the main force behind the composition and rehearsals by all members of the band. They then entered the Take-3 studio in October and November 1974 to record with producer and studio engineer Lars Finstrom. They would release an album in December 1974 under the title “Measures of Time” on the independent Swedish label of Scarlet Music AB (aka SMA). The album is a melancholic sound similar to that of Genesis, Greenslade, and Beggars Opera in the UK, with twin guitars that seem to fold in on classical harpsichord and piano phrases, and powerful, melancholic vocals that are sung emotionally. The album is a gem.

The first track on the album, “Measures of Time,” opens with a simple harpsichord melody overlaid with bass notes, and then builds into a lyrical ensemble with a neat rhythm section. The second track, “Dusty Ledger,” is a melancholy melody filled with sentimentalism in a classical setting, with emotional Peter Hjelm's vocals and melodic guitar interrupting, The second song, “Dusty Ledger,” has an impressive singing style reminiscent of Peter Gabriel of Genesis. Overall, the ensemble is flowing and centered around a lyrical Genesis-esque piano, with sharp drumming. The third track, “Queen,” is a bright pop tune with familiar melodies. The fourth song, “Life is Good, Life is Bad,” also has a classical rock feel with its impressive piano melody, but it is based on krautrock and blues. Very rhythmic in its heaviness, it can be described as easy listening blues rock, while the fifth track, “The Tailor,” is an iconic song with soft piano, guitar, and vocal ensemble.

The beautiful arrangement is reminiscent of Beggars Opera or Camel. The second half of the album has a psychedelic development with energetic guitars, while the sixth track, “Turbulent Heart,” is a pastoral vocal piece with guitars and lyrical piano. The song takes a bluesy turn with heavy guitars in the middle, and is interspersed with slow and steady phrases along with flowing piano and beautiful sounding guitars. The emotional vocals continue to the end of the song before quietly fading out. Listening to the album as a whole, the melodic elements of the classical keyboards and bluesy guitars, along with the warm vocals, create a wonderful album with a grainy Scandinavian tone that is used throughout the songs. The arrangements are surprisingly complex, with heavy development by twin guitars and psychedelic keyboard work that folds in on itself. However, the production is favorable, with flowing harpsichord and piano leading the way until the end, and not losing the symphonic touch until the very end.

After the album's release, they played local clubs for a while, but guitarist Leif Herkqvist left the band in 1976. The reason was that his girlfriend said she could not dance to Pandora's music, and Björn was told by her to play in a dance group. In the same year, bassist Björn Malmqvist also left the band to enter a music college, they replaced by Uffe “Ulf” Stern (keyboards), Gunnar Hermelin (bass), formerly of the group Madira, as new members, and they appeared on Swedish radio Tonkraft on March 1, 1979.

And in the same year, they recorded the single “Makten och Härligheten”. The single was said to have a strong jazz-rock sound, influenced by Uffe and Gunnar. Approaching Pandora was a group called Tribute, from the same hometown of Norsköping. They advocate progressive rock, and two of their members, Gideon Anderson and Per Rumsby, frequently visited Pandora's concerts. Ramsby, who became friends with Pandora, has filled in for Uffe Stern at some of their gigs. They used this opportunity to play concerts in Holsalen, Norrköping, fronting groups such as Trettioåriga Kriget and Kaipa , which were popular in Sweden, and were well received by progressive rock fans. Pandora also began operating a record store, Rockslag, in Norsheping at this time.

Around 1979, the members began to work independently, and in 1980, Pandora almost spontaneously disbanded. After the breakup, keyboardists Jan-Erik Dockner and Uffe Stern, and later guitarists Ake Rolf and Gunnar Hermelin joined the group and continued playing in Floyd & the Boys, which had been active since 1975. Also, Björn Malmqvist, who was the bassist, is now playing as a member of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.

Tracks

1. Measures Of Time 4:29

2. Dusty Ledger - 8:02

3. The Queen - 5:07

4. Life Is Good, Life Is Bad- 4:26

5. Tailor - 5:32

6. Mind Of Conclusion - 7:06

All songs by Åke Rolf, Bertil Jonsson, Björn Malmqvist, Jan-Erik Dockner, Leif Hellqvist, Peter Hjelm

Pandora

*Björn Malmqvist - Bass

*Peter Hjelm - Vocals

*Ake Rolf - Guitar

*Jan-Erik Dockner - Acoustic Piano, Moog-Synthesizer

*Leif Hellquist - Guitar

*Bertil Jonsson - Percussion

1966 The Cyrkle - Red Rubber Ball (2001 remaster and expanded)

Thursday, August 22, 2024

The Cyrkle - ‘The Minx’ Original Soundtrack (1968 us, nice sunny beat folk psych, 2003 remaster and expanded)

Here’s as unlikely a pairing as you’re likely to encounter, even within the context of 1960s pop culture. The Cyrkle were an American pop group whose greatest claims to fame were twofold: one, they recorded and released a single, “Red Rubber Ball,” written by one Paul Simon. Two, they were part of the package of opening acts on the Beatles’ final tour of the U.S.

Perhaps a third notable item should be added to that list (or perhaps not; that’s for you to decide). In 1969 a low-budget X-rated(!) film called The Minx was released to select theaters. The film featured original music by none other than The Cyrkle. Was this a bid for hip cred? Was the band forced to take part in this somewhat cheesy endeavor? Does their music fit at all with the movie? And is the music any good? Questions, questions.

Actually, the tunes are catchy enough, in a light, somewhat inconsequential way. Songs like “Murray the Why” (yes, it’s about whom you think it’s about, though that has not-a-lot to do with the film) are pleasant enough. The lyrics aren’t exactly deathless, but the arrangement is professional, and the vocal charts are lovely.

As with most any film soundtrack, some of the music is little more than filler, a kind of audio wallpaper to help set the scene. “The Minx” (vocal)” is such a tune. And when you spin the LP and hear the twangy, cowboy-flavored “Walter’s Riff,” your imagination will pretty much tell you what’s happening onscreen during the tune. “The Rigging” is little more than the most common of melodies, but it does feature some sorta-interesting keyboard fills.

“The Party” starts off with a riff lifted from Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen,” but quickly heads in a sub-”Theme from A Summer Place” direction. That said, it does feature some nice enough wordless harmonies with a Beach Boys flavor. “Nicole” features some too-earnest-by-half “exotic” trappings: sitar and off-key wooden flute. But it’s kinda cool nonetheless, despite its drone-y vocals. The instrumental track “The Chase” is pretty good in a poor-man’s Mission: Impossible sort of way.

“It’s a Lovely Game, Louise” is standard romantic scene fare, and “The Minx (instrumental)” features some incongruous Herb Alpert-wannabee brass work. But it has a catchy walking bass line. “On the Road” benefits from a catchy melodic line and some tasty electric 12-string guitar. “Something Special” is perhaps the cleverest and most original pop tune on the album, but it’s not strong enough to rescue the relatively faceless character of the music as a whole. Much about the music as a whole feels very “1967,” which makes sense: that’s when the film was shot and the soundtrack was recorded.

Never bad, not at all great but consistently okay-to-good, the Cyrkle’s soundtrack for The Minx is a curio, an artifact of its era. Andrew Sandoval’s liner notes are very on-the-nose when he writes “…by the time the X-rated version of The Minx finally hit screens in late 1969, the film had been in the can almost as long as the band’s chart career.”

One track on The Minx may come as a bit of a shock to aficionados of 1960 popsike, British edition. A beautifully orchestrated instrumental, “Kites” is actually a cover. The best and most well-known version of the tune is the 1967 recording by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, a group whose members would go on to form Gentle Giant. The Minx‘s version of “Kites” is without a doubt the highlight of the entire package.

The new vinyl reissue is lovingly put together, perhaps affording more care and creativity than its contents deserve. A gatefold sleeve features lots of photos (none all too racy; sorry), and the record itself is – wait for it – hot pink.

by Bill Kopp On April 17, 2018

Tracks

1. Squeeze Play - 3:06

2. The Minx - 2:31

3. Murray The Why - 2:59

4. The Rigging - 1:14

5. The Party - 3:08

6. Nicole - 4:12

7. It's A Lovely Game Louise (Tom Dawes) - 2:15

8. The Minx - 2:51

9. Something Special - 2:27

10.On The Road - 3:28

11.Walter's Riff - 1:12

12.The Chase - 2:17

13.Terry's Theme - 2:09

14.Something Special - 2:29

15.Kites (Hal Hackady, Lee Pockriss) - 3:58

16.Squeeze Play - 3:14

17.Murray The Why - 3:00

18.Nicole - 4:09

19.Baxter's Dangerous Game - 2:41

20.Terry's Escape - 5:07

All songs by Don Dannemann, Tom Dawes except where stated

The Cyrkle

*Don Dannemann - Guitar, Vocals

*Tom Dawes - Guitar, Bass, Sitar, Vocals

*Marty Fried - Drums, Tambourine, Finger Cymbals, Triangle, Gong, Vocals

*Michael Losekamp - Keyboards

1967 Cyrkle - Neon (2006 japan remaster and expanded)

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Chris Gantry - At The House Of Cash (1973 us, fascinating folk rock with blues and prog tinges, 2017 remaster)

“It was pretty far out there. When people heard it, they thought I’d lost my mind,” That’s original Nashville outlaw Chris Gantry, talking about his 1973 album At the House of Cash, adding, “which I had, thank God. Or else I never would have done it.” At a time when the biggest thing coming out of Music City was countrypolitan schlock, Gantry was holed up at his pal Johnny Cash’s place, cutting brilliantly strange-sounding, peyote-inspired tunes about UFOs and lizards.

At the House of Cash was too freaky for mid-’70s Nashville. It’s probably too freaky for 2017 Nashville. “Nobody would pick it up,” Gantry remembers. “It was just too off the map for around here. People were putting out eclectic, art-driven records in other places.” It’s taken four and a half decades for his left-field, nearly-lost masterpiece to finally see the light of day.

Informed by rock, urban folk, and Beat poetry, Gantry was an unlikely prospect for the Music Row publishing houses, but after getting kicked out of a college about 100 miles from Nashville in 1963, he made his way to the country music hub. “I realized there was a counterculture going on here,” he recalls, “but the music business was still the old guard. They were holding on for dear life, but the revolution was moving in and things were changing. If there was an outlaw movement down the road, I might have brought the seed of that with me, because eventually the songs I wrote with that vibe started to get recorded by other artists in country music.”

Somehow Gantry’s idiosyncratic, folk-influenced songs found a home in Nashville, and he became a staff writer at “Long Black Veil” co-songwriter Marijohn Wilkin’s upstart publishing company Buckhorn Music. “She put a quote out in Billboard at that time that they were signing Chris Gantry, and that he was Nashville’s answer to Bob Dylan,” Gantry says. “That gave me impetus to be even more individual and really seek my own voice.” About a year later, Kris Kristofferson arrived at Buckhorn, and though it was Kristofferson who really galvanized the outlaw movement in Nashville in the early ’70s, it was Gantry who got the ball rolling. “I know I influenced a lot of early Kris songs, and I was influenced by a lot of his stuff too,” says Gantry. “He and I were hanging out together every day for four years at Buckhorn, and then when we left we went to Combine Music and we were there for another two years, and we saw each other every day there too; we were around each other all the time—osmosis.”

Gantry’s big breakthrough came when Glen Campbell scored a hit with his song “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife,” which was included on the milestone 1968 album Wichita Lineman, preceding the legendary title track’s release as a single. That same year, Gantry released his debut album, Introspection, including his own version of the song alongside a batch of gracefully orchestrated, harmonically and lyrically sophisticated folk-rock tunes. Though there was no shortage of such sounds coming from either coast, it was still an anomaly in Nashville. “It was probably one of the first real singer/songwriter albums that was orchestrated like a Glen Campbell record, but Nashville-style,” Gantry assesses. “But it just did not catch on in the way that I thought it would.”

After Gantry fell under the spell of Charles Mingus’s jazz innovations, his muse led him even further afield, and his next album, 1970’s Motor Mouth, made its predecessor seem staid by comparison. ” I didn’t want to stay Mr. ‘Dreams of the Everyday Housewife’ for the rest of my life,” he says. “So I changed, and I got a lot of slack for it. I sang those songs when I was on the road with Kris. I was his opening act, and I would do all that wacky shit opening for Kris.”

By 1973, Gantry was befriended by Johnny Cash, who’d recorded Gantry’s “Allegheny” and brought him on his TV show to sing it himself. The Man in Black offered his fellow maverick refuge on a number of levels. “I had just been busted for growing pot on my farm,” remembers Gantry, “which back then was like a federal offense. And John called me up and said, ‘Just come out and live at the house until shit blows over.'”

Cash also signed Gantry to his publishing company, and while he was staying with him, he gave Gantry free reign to make his next record at his House of Cash home studio. But a crucial inspiration for the album came from outside of Nashville. “Right before I signed with Johnny, I went to Mexico,” explains Gantry, “and met up with a guy I had met some years before down there, and we ended up in a peyote ritual down in Oaxaca. Coming out of that peyote experience I wrote three songs down there that were on this Cash album. One was ‘The Lizard,’ one was ‘Different,’ and the other was ‘Away Away.’ I came back to Nashville with those three songs and everything else just fell out of that.”

When Cash heard the final results, Gantry says he told him, “’Chris, June and I listened to your record last night, and I don’t think even the drug people are gonna understand it.’” But Gantry wasn’t deterred. “I liked what he said, because it just let me know that I had achieved what I set out to do,” he says. “I was trying to defy genre, to create a genre.”

The album literally starts off in outer space, with Gantry singing about flying saucers amid otherworldly electronic sounds on the aforementioned peyote-inspired “Away Away.” The impressionistic lyrics, swooping vocal, and offbeat orchestrations of “Different” feel more like a Radiohead outtake than a mid-’70s Nashville product. “Tear” is a Beat-influenced spoken poem with abstract, Eastern-tinged backing from renowned folk-jazz band Oregon. “Flower of the Mountain” moves through a dizzying array of unexpected changes, framed by grandly plucked harp and angular woodwinds. And “The Lizard,” another product of peyote visions, is just downright freaky, starting off with the line “The lizard introduced me to the orange flying bird,” and getting progressively further out from there, as the narrator converses with the reptile, and then with the ghost of his own late grandfather.

“It was relatable to me,” says Gantry of his striking, surreal imagery, “because I was experiencing that. But as far as other people were concerned, I could have been Captain Beefheart.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, the album found no takers among the era’s Nashville-based labels. “It was pretty far out there,” he says. “Nobody would do anything for that. And then right after that, John sold his company and all that stuff got lost, including some of his stuff.”

Ready to try something different, Gantry moved to Key West for six years, pursuing prose as a novelist and playwright, winning the Tennessee Williams playwriting contest and hanging out with songwriter and author Shel Silverstein and celebrated novelist Thomas McGuane. He eventually returned to Nashville and resumed his music career, but the Cash sessions were basically forgotten.

“It got lost for 45 years,” Gantry says. “I had no idea where it was, until I got a call from John Carter [Cash, Johnny’s son]. He told me, ‘Chris, we’re looking around here and we found some tapes of yours with your name on it.’ They sent them to me and I sent them to [reissue producer] Jerry DeCicca.”

However belatedly, At the House of Cash has finally been released, with DeCicca playing midwife for Drag City, and even all these years later, it remains an astonishing piece of work. “My feeling is that I outlasted the 45 years that it took for this record to find ears that liked it and saw value in it,” says Gantry.

Despite the decades it took for the record’s time to come, the years have not diminished its arresting individuality. “I don’t like saying that anybody is ahead of their time,” says Gantry. “Everybody is in the exact time they’re supposed to be in. I was in the exact time I was supposed to be in musically when I did the House of Cash. I wasn’t 50 years ahead or 100 years behind, I was exactly where I should be, because I was doing what an artist is supposed to do, he’s supposed to keep progressing in his art, and keep moving forward.”

Today Gantry is still busy performing, writing, and recording, with a number of albums out over the last few years and a new solo acoustic record in the works. And he’s sanguine about the way things worked out with At the House of Cash. “I did the right thing by making that record,” he says. “I might not be a household name, and I might not have made the paychecks that a lot of the other guys have done, but I stayed true to artistic pursuit, and I’m still doing it, and that is my legacy. That is what I was born to do.”

by Jim Allen,· December 08, 2017

Tracks

1. Away Away - 3:39

2. Different - 3:11

3. Tear - 4:05

4. Dreaming' Of A Leaving' Train - 4:06

5. Saddest Song Ever Sung - 2:45

6. Flower Of The Mountain - 4:06

7. Hatred For Feeny - 3:39

8. Clair Oh Clair - 3:25

9. Oobabalap - 2:54

10.The Lizard - 4:12

11.See Ya Around - 1:22

All Words and Music by Chris Gantry

Personnel

*Chris Gantry - Harmonica, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals

*Spady Brannan - Bass

*Bergen White - Strings

*Irving Cain - Strings

*Shane Keister - Synth, Moog, Piano

*Chris Laird - Drums

*Bashful Brother Oswald - Jug

*Jerry Smith - Dobro, Electric Guitar

*Buddy Spicher - Fiddle

*Bobby Thompson - Banjo

*Unknown - Harp Player

the band Oregon featured on track 3

*Paul McCandless - Oboe, English Horn

*Glen Moore - Flute, Acoustic, Electric Bass

*Collin Walcott - Violin, Guitar, Sitar, Tabla, Mridangam, Esraj, Percussion

*Ralph Towner - 6, 12-String Guitars, Mellophone

1968 Chris Gantry - Introspection

1969 Chris Gantry - Motor Mouth