These Trails - These Trails (1973 us, lovely folk rock, korean remaster)

These Trails was recorded in Honolulu in 1973 and originally released in a small private pressing, and it is one of those rare albums whose backstory is almost wholly audible in the music. Primarily written and performed by singer-songwriters Margaret Morgan and Patrick Cockett, the album has long circulated among fans of obscure psych-folk, and it has been reissued several times in perhaps-not-entirely-legit versions. The album's reputation is well-earned, as These Trails is a lovely and incredibly evocative slice of Pacific folk-rock, and Drag City has performed a good service by finally reissuing the album in a handsome new authorized edition.

The musicians behind the creation of These Trails were never even officially a band-- they played no professional gigs together and made no other recordings. (Which is why there are no outtakes or bonus materials included with this reissue.) Margaret Morgan and Patrick Cockett lived together in Hawaii in what sound like idyllic circumstances, writing and playing songs based largely on the majesty of their natural surroundings. The duo was joined in the studio by singer-guitarist Carlos Pardeiro and Dave Choy, a studio engineer who embellished the group's acoustic material with what was then a state-of-the-art Arp synthesizer. The addition of these vintage electronics helps to give the album a slightly off-kilter wobble, creating an otherworldly atmosphere that would echo decades later in the work of Stereolab and Broadcast.

For the most part, however, the music on These Trails sounds as though it could have been created only in its own specific time and place. Like many of the best psych-folk documents of the era, the album seems to have been produced in a completely irony-free environment, and it has a sense of guilelessness that would be virtually impossible to reproduce today. Morgan sings in a voice highly reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, but with a distinctive island lilt of her own. Throughout the album she harmonizes with Cockett in a manner that sounds both unique and effortless, backed chiefly by acoustic guitars, dulcimer, and Choy's mysterious burbling Arp.

Lyrically the album abounds with references to local Hawaiian landmarks, flora, and vocabulary. Songs such as "Our House in Hanalei" or "Waipoo" can serve as a sort of personal guidebook, with Morgan and Cockett pointing out various natural features along the trail. ("Banana leaves describe the breezes... gingers grow, where white buds lay sleeping.") Especially evocative is "Rusty's House", which describes a visit to the front porch of surfer Rusty Miller, whose remote home was accessible only by foot, in an account so vivid that the listener can practically feel the sunshine and taste the pot smoke.

Even more transporting are the album's instrumental interludes "Psyche I" and "Psyche II", on which Choy gently explores the Arp's cosmic possibilities. These mildly trippy moments aside, most of the action on These Trails remains firmly affixed in the verdant Hawaiian soil. The songs are short and melodic, and the musicians avoid many of the indulgences that mar so many psychedelic albums of the time period-- there are thankfully no prolonged organ solos or overt references to The Lord of the Rings.

Patrick Cockett has gone on to perform with such artists as Buffy Sainte-Marie and Taj Mahal, but by all evidence the enigmatic Margaret Morgan, who passed away in 2004, never recorded again. This fact makes These Trails seem all the more like a snapshot from an exquisite but fleeting moment in time. And though it is interesting to speculate where their music might have gone from here if the artists had continued to write and record together, there is no denying that they captured something special on These Trails, and while the album plays that seems like enough.

by Matthew Murphy

Tracks
1. These Trails - 1:24
2. Our House In Hanalei - 1:51
3. Of Broken Links - 1:40
4. El Rey Pescador (Carlos Pardeiro) - 3:07
5. Psyche I And Share Your Water - 5:22
6. Hello Lou - 3:47
7. Rusty's House And Los In Space ( Patrick Cockett, Carlos Pardeiro)  - 5:49
8. Psyche II - 2:30
9. Sowed A Seed - 2:17
10. Rapt Attention - 2:15
11. Waipoo (Patrick Cockett) - 2:36
12. Garden Botanum (Patrick Cockett, Margaret Morgan) - 3:31
All songs by Margaret Morgan unless as else stated.

These Trails
*Margaret Morgan - Dulcimer, Guitar, Vocals
*David Choy - ARP Synthesizer
*Patrick Cockett - Guitar, Slide Guitar, Tabla, Vocals
With
*Eric Kingsbury - Guitar
*Carlos Pardeiro - Guitar, Sitar, Vocals

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Junco Partners - Junco Partners (1970 uk, great hard blues rhythm and beat, 2007 reissue)

Junco Partners sprang from the same Newcastle music scene that launched Eric Burden and the Animals.  Formed in 1964 (the name came from a famous blues song), the original line-up featured singers John Anderson and Ronnie Baker, guitarist Charles Harcourt, bassist David Sproat, keyboardist Peter Wallis, and drummer John Woods.  

With The Animals breaking through to an  international audience, Junco Partners seemed groomed for similar success.  Immensely popular on the local club scene, in 1964 they packed up for Hamburg's infamous Star Club, but were turned back by German immigration officials who discovered they were too young to get work permits.  That setback seemed momentary with the band signing a recording deal that saw the release of their debut single.

Even though it was an intriguing mix of blues and more pop-oriented moves (imagine a mash-up of The Animals and The Zombies), the single did little commercially (# 60 on the UK pop charts), and the band returned to the English circuit where they spent the next six years opening for name bands and serving as a touring unit for a stream of American blues acts, including Freddie King and Howlin' Wolf.

By the time the band got a chance to finally record an album the line-up had shrunk to former Jackson Heights alumnus Charles Harcourt on lead guitar and vocals, Sargeant on lead vocals and keyboards, Sproat on bass, and drummer Woods.  Produced by Fritz Fryer, to my ears 1970's "Junco Partners"  was one of those albums that didn't immediately hit you, rather crept up on you and simply wouldn't leave you alone (kinda' like a bad woman).  

So here's what the band has to say about the collection: "The The Junco Partners Album was recorded in various big London studios for "Barclay" record label over a six week period in between touring in 1969 with Howlin Wolf, Freddie King and others. It was released in England, France and Germany after the band split up in 1970. At the time of recording, the band was a very slim four piece, renown for its dynamic live performances and gave its all to Bob Sargeant's songs.  But truthfully we still didn't capture the essence of what we were when we started out, or what we are now - "A bloody good blues band". However it did awakened Bob Sargeant's recording and producing prowess - he went on to produce number 1's on both sides of the Atlantic, including more than twenty top 20 hits and on reflection the songs are not that bad either."

Judging by these ten tracks I'd say their opinion was a bit on the modest side.  Anyone expecting to hear a standard collection of British guys doing lame blues covers was going to be in for a major surprise.  While material like their cover of Joe Cocker's Change In Louise' and the Sargeant-penned 'Am I Blue' underscored their longstanding blues fixation, the album was far more diverse than expected with credible stabs at progressive, psych, and commercial rock.  

Sargeant may not have been able to compete with the bluesy intensity of former lead singers John Anderson and Ronnie Baker, but he was actually quite good, occasionally sounding a bit like a gruffer Stevie Winwood and on tracks like 'Fly Me High' and 'Reprieve' he was magnificent.  Guitarist Harcourt also handled vocals on a couple of tracks and was also a strong presence.  As for the rest of the band, Harcourt was a real rarity - a rock guitarist who didn't play a single unnecessary chord, while the Sproat/Woods rhythm section was consistently superb - easy to see why American blues men wanted to work with them.

Bad-cat

Tracks
1.  The Minotaur - 4:21
2.  Fly Me High - 4:44
3.  Change In Louise (Joe Crocker, Chris Stainton) - 3:50
4.  Black Widow - 4:03
5.  Help Me (Charles Harcourt) - 3:43
6.  Natural Thoughts - 3:25
7.  Am I Blue - 4:21
8.  Reprieve - 3:45
9.  In The Morning- 4:10
10. Death By Fire (P. Rowan) - 5:28
All songs by Robert Sargeant except where stated

Junco Partners
*Charles Harcourt - Vocals, Guitar
*Robert Sargeant - Vocals, Keyboards
*David Sproat - Bass
*John Woods - Drums, Percussion

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Sky Farmer - Amazing Grace (1973-75 us, fabulous psych blues jazz rock with female vocals, 2002 release)

Skyfarmer was created from the ashes of the Mountain Bus Band (a Chicago psychedelic blues rock band), which had gone down in flames in 1971 with the costs of defending it's Sundance LP against a lawsuit from the band Mountain, allegedly over the name Mountain in Mountain Bus. (This despite the tact that Mountain Bus was formed years before Mountain came into existence).

Lead guitarist Bill Kees headed for the hills of southwest Wisconsin after the demise of Mountain Bus. He hooked up with Stan Kane. Lee Buch, Jimbo Walsh. Kim Gitlis and fellow Mountain Bus member, bassist Craig Takehara to form the band Skyfarmer Skyfarmer was to become more than just an R&R band It was also a community. The band's main residence was in a large stucco house with a few outbuildings on an old tobacco farm (renamed Skyfarm by it's new inhabitants) located about 60 miles west of Madison.

Wisconsin In this quiet valley, they converted a two car garage into rehearsal space where (in warm seasons with the doors open) soft muiti reflective echoes would bounce back in lush, layered reverberations off me hillsides as the band rehearsed. As time went on, the outbuildings were converted into residences and soon the number of people living at the residence grew rapidly. As Bill Kees put it in an interview in the Wisconsin State Journal, "When I first came up here, I was looking to start another band.

There were a lot of small communes popping up out here, Skyfarmer became another. We were among many urban refugees coming out. and we all became part of the cultural landscape." Life at Skyfarm often took on "On Inn bits* Merry Prankster qualities. Craig and Elliott were at one time banned from the communal dinner table as the puns and jokes that emanated nonstop from the duo too often resulted in milk being ejected out of the nostrils of others at the table.

The band went through a seiies of transformations (personnel as well as musical focus) until it reached it's final metamorphism with Annie Hat (lead vocals), EHiott Delman (rhythm guitar), Ernest Mansfield (Flute, Sax. Keys) formally of the Mormos band. Bill Kees (lead guitar). Craig Takehara (Bass guitar) and Woody Sims (Drums) formerly of Mountain Bus. Another change was in band management from Kim Gitlis tn Skeets Millard (of the underground paper The Chicago Seed fame) who was to help the band expand from the local club scene. The resulting mix of influences created a unique sound and style and some quite original and eciectic music.

This was quite far a field for the Mountain Bus members who were coming from a hard rock/ blues background, as well as for the Mormos members who came from the folk scene in France. Skyfarmer played in an equally mixed assortment of venues. They developed a devoted tan base locally playing in local rural taverns and Community Halls while expanding out to a tour radius that included four states, playing a mix of dubs in cities and college towns Skyfarmer toured in a modified 64 passenger GMC school bus, which was in constant need of repair but somehow always managed to get the band to gigs.

The schedule evolved into as much as 2-3 weeks on the road and 1-2 weeks of local gigs, tending to the gardens and critters, catching up wrth the local scene and grooving on the natural beauty of the hills and valleys of rural southwest Wisconsin. This changed when the band won a long-term gig playing at the Goodman Theater's Chicago production of "The Tooth of Crime". The long absence of the band from Skyfarm caused some problems with trie folks left at home who after awhile felt a bit abandoned. After the band's run at the Goodman, it was back on the road again.

By this time, the rigors of the road were taking its toll and band members were getting married. I he band collectively started to break up. Lead guitarist Bitt Kees and manager Skeets MiHard started planning the next band incarnation which was to be a straight ahead rock band Unfortunately. Skeets was killed in an after gig road accident. The shock of his death and the destruction of the band bus and gear weighed hard on the band. Yet, the band played on until the last gig at "Amazing Grace* in Evanston, IL January 6th, 1975. In the last few months of gigs after the accident, Skyfarmer was joined by Rocko Jans (Keyboards) and Joe Habao TexkJor (percussion, of the Hassan Roland Kirk jazz band fame).

This added another layer of texture to the musical mix. The band's music was a balance between structured arrangements and improvisational jamming. It was understood that no jam would ever be played the same way twice. However, in the passage of time, themes would evolve and diveige. appeal and disappear or become transformed altogether. After the last gig, Annie Hat Joined up with Rocko Jans to form "Rocko and  the Hat" Craig Takehara and Woody Sims joined the "Jim Schwall Band", Elhott Delman had already joined the "Bonnie Koioc Band*, and Bill Kees moved on without Sheets to form the "Broken Winy Band" which continued to work the local club scene for a while, before moving to L.A. Skyfarmer started out playing original songs mixed with covers of rock and country tunes.

As time went on, original songs and extended freeform jams became the hallmark of the band. They would often times meet up with other road bands at truck stops after gigs, who would often express amazement that  Skyfarmer was able to play original music on the road and make a living at it. Of course Skyfarmer was not making very much money. This was subsistence living at best, but It was fun. In fact, it was family. The commercialization of underground rock music was well under way by this time and Disco and Glam rock were the new thing.

The Vietnam War was over, and so was the alternative lifestyle of the communes across the country. Richard Nixon had resigned the presidency in disgrace The innocence of the 50s and 60s had been lost. The great underground FM stations were disappearing and so was the psychedelic and eclectic music scene. But psychedelic music would live on, percolating underground, waiting to emerge again.

by Bill Kees 

Tracks
1. Okcoch Farewell (Demo 1974) (Elliott Delman) - 4:23
2. Torch Poem (Live at Ruby Gulch, Champaign IL 10/31/74) (Jim Cuomo) - 4:08
3. No Babe (Live at Amazing Grace, Evanston IL  1/6/75) (Elliott Delman) - 7:47
4. One Good Man (Live at Amazing Grace 1/6/75) (Elliott Delman) - 4:11
5. Playboy After Dark (Live at Amazing Grace 1/6/75) (Bill Kees) -  19:23
6. Senortta (Live at Amazing Grace 1/6/75) (Elliott Delman) - 6:47
7. Out of Hand (Demo 1973) (Ernest Mansfield) - 3:11
8. Nobody's Wife (Demo 1973) (Ernest Mansfield) - 5:02
9. Mountain Bus (45' released 1973) (Bill Kees, Elliott Delman) - 4:12
10.Working Man's Blues (Live at Minstrels, Chicago 1973) (Merle Haggard) - 2:42
11.Band Introductions by Elliot. 2:22

Sky Farmer
*Annie Hat - Lead vocals (except 9, 10)
*Bill Kees - Lead Guitar
*Elliott Delman - Rhythm Guitar
*Craig Takehara - Bass Guitar
*Ernest Mansfield - Ftute, Saxophones, Keyboards
*Woody Sims - Drums
*Lee Buch - Vocals (tracks 7-9)
*Arm Linguist - Vocals (track 9)
Guest Musicians at last gig at Amazing Grace 1/6/75: 
*Rocko Jans  - Piano
*Joe Habao Texidor  - Percussion

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Message - The Dawn Anew Is Coming (1972 germany / uk, excellent hard progressive rock with some psych drops, extra track issue)

This was a German-British band led by Allan Murdoch. The story of Message is quite similar to that one of Nektar: in the early seventies they released some excellent, refined progressive rock albums, spanning from lyrical, melodic folk-rock over to heavy guitar outbursts. 

Their music was supervised by the well-known Bacillus recording team of Peter Hauke (label manager, producer) and Dieter Dierks (studio owner, engineer). The crew that recorded The Dawn A New Is Coming (1972). Only the rhythm section of this group was German! Taff Freeman from Nektar contributed with vocals and mellotron on one track. Overall, it was an excellent album with the title track and "When I'm Home" being the highlights - a very obviously British melodic progressive rock.

from "A Guide to German Progressive and Electronic Rock"

Tracks
1. Changes - 3:39
2. The Dawn Anew Is Coming - 8:39
3. Evil Faith And Charity - 4:00
4. Heaven Knows - 9:48
5. When I'm Home - 7:40
6. Smile (Bonus Track) - 2:14
All compositions by Message, Lyrics by Tommy McGuigan

Message
*Alan Murdoch - Guitars
*Tommy McGuigan - Vocals, Sax
*Billy Tabert - Vocals, Guitar, Spinet
*Horst Stachelhaus - Bass
*Gerhard Schaber - Drums, Vocals
With
*Taff Freeman - Vocals, Mellotron

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Tina And David Meltzer - Green Morning (1969 us, brilliant acid folk tunes and crystal clear vocals)

Tina and I were under contract with Vanguard Records where we recorded two albums - Serpent Power and Poet Song - both produced by noted blues scholar, novelist and poet, Sam Charters. After the release of Serpent Power -- and a gig at the Fillmore for Country Joe and the Fish and Serpent Power's debut album, Tina quit the band.  She didn't like how she sounded on the record and didn't like singing for an audience she couldn't see.

Serpent Power reassembled as a working band which included Bob Cuff (of The Mystery Trend) on rhythm guitar, Jim Moscoso (kid brother of artist/poster maker/cartoonist Victor Moscoso), and myself as lead guitarist and vocalist. In our weekend gigs at The Coffee Gallery and Dino's & Carlo's (which became Keystone Korner in the 80's), the often included additional musicians like J.P. Pickens on amplified 5-string banjo, poet Daniel Moore on shenei (Chinese oboe), conch shells, miscellaneous bells and his friend Christian (nobody ever knew his last name) who was exploring the alto saxophone.

Besides regular gigs at the two North Beach venues we also did our share of benefits and weird gigs like playing off-nights at a strip club or for prototypical yuppies in a singles bar on Union Street. It should be mentioned that Serpent Power was more influenced by modal free jazz and spontaneous bop prosody than by the coverable pop tunes of the day. Our ears were tuned to Monk not the Monkees.

Our Vanguard contract was for two albums with an option for more. Since the band had developed into a performing and improvisatory unit, we had hope the second Vanguard albumcould be a document of a live performance at one of the clubs we worked at. Sam Charters came to check us out one weekend at Dino's & Carlo's, sat through a set, and when we met afterwards told us that what we were doing wasn't commercially feasible. 

Sam told us we'd have to rethink our second album. After working almost a year in this format, rejection brought the band members down. Everyone was bummed out. Soon the band dissolved: Jim went to join The Cleveland Wrecking Company, a funk band; I think Cliff stopped playing;  Clark found Susan, married and moved with her to the Berkshires to become a major voice in experimental writing; Daniel went to Europe and became deeply immersed in Sufism, changed his name, and continues working in that discipline; as for Christian, nobody knew where he went or what he's doing now. J.P. Pickens and his family became involved with various communes, he continued playing, creating junk sculptures, but was betrayed by methamphetamine and died too early.

 Poet Song, our second Vanguard album, was written for Tina as a showcase for her intimate and warm voice. Sam suggested that I read some of my poems and double-track guitar behind them. We recorded it at Sierra Sound in Berkeley where Serpent Power was recorded. Some string players from the Oakland Philharmonic -- including violist Tom Heimberg, an old Fairfax High School buddy-- were assembled at the studio by arranger Ed Bogas. I wanted to write songs almost exclusively for Tina, since I'd dominated our first album. The songs and orchestration were to sound more like art song, the antithesis of what Serpent Power was doing in the clubs.

Vanguard seemed pleased and held an option for us to do a third album. A mutual friend Chris Brooks introduced us to Vic Briggs who had been the lead guitarist with The Animals. Vic was now producing records for Capitol and liked Poet Song tremendously but thought he could produce a better album. He asked us to make a demo-tape for him to pitch to his bosses at Capitol.  

I wrote some more songs and Tina and I put together a tape using a clunky Sony tape recorder. (We managed to double-track vocal harmonies and guitar textures but, being technologically challenged, didn't realize they had to be mixed, which was moot since we didn't have the equipment.) Nevertheless, Capitol liked what their new British producer played and they gave the green light. We left Vanguard amicably and signed with Capitol.

The instrumental tracks were cut at the Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood. Our studio was down corridor from a big studio where Sinatra was in the process of cutting an album. Vic selected most of the musicians for the date including John Guerin on drums, Lyle Ritz on bass,  David Lindley played violin, Michael Rubini, piano. I hired bluegrass mandolinist Scott Hambly. 

The string section was added at another time. (During a session break, some of the A-List Hollywood studio musicians talked about their various investments, airplanes, real estate holdings, while Scott and I reminisced about his bluegrass band, The Ridge Runners, featuring Greg Lasser on the 5-string, who was part of my band, The Snopes County Camp Followers, with Tina, Joe Edmiston on gutbucket bass.)

Our vocal tracks were recorded in Wally Heider's San Francisco studio which, at the time, was state-of-the-art and was like entering onto a set in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Our engineer had just finished a long haul working on a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album. We felt like we were in the big time; super-stardom was just around the corner, glimmering like Las Vegas at night.

Cover photos were taken and liner notes were written by poet Kenneth Rexroth, a founding father of the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movement. In a couple of weeks we received a tape of the mixed-down album and played it for anybody who stumbled into our home. Then there was an odd silence. Then there was a long-distance call from Vic who broke the news. He and four or five other producers who Capitol management had hired had been let go. Why? A corporate turn-over: a new management team was brought in and canceled all of the previous management's projects. Vic was out of a job; David and Tina would not become mega-stars but they did have a very expensive home tape. The songs you're about to listen to.

by David Meltzer

Tracks
1. Heavenly City - 3:34
2. Let The Door Stay Open - 3:30
3. Hungry - 4:38
4. Luna Tune #1 - 0:43
5. Green Morning - 3:38
6. Shara - 1:40
7. Keep On Lovin' - 3:16
8. The Garden - 4:37
9. Child Ballad - 4:01
10.Luna Tune #2 - 0:53
11.The Angel - 2:45
12.Let The Light In - 1:45
13.Do You Think Your God - 5:17
14.It's Simple - 0:47
Words and Music by David Meltzer

Musicians
*Tina Meltzer - Vocals
*David Meltzer - Guitar Vocals, Harmonica
*John Guerin - Drums
*Lyle Ritz - Bass
*David Lindley - Violin
*Michael Rubini - Piano
*Scott Hambly - Mandolin

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Kaplan Brothers - Nightbird (1976 us, weird peculiar expressive lounge rock)

The ultimate lounge-rock extravaganza. A self-proclaimed 'electric symphony' that mixes Ennio Morricone with King Crimson as recorded by a Holiday Inn/bar mitzvah band from outer space. Crooner vocals soar on top of overly-elaborate keyboard arrangements as the music abruptly throws you from one intense mood into another in true psychedelic fashion. 

No ideas are discarded as the meaning of life unfolds in glitzy Z-grade fashion -- if there's a bad, cheesy move to be made, they'll go for it. These guys probably thought they'd made the greatest LP of all time, and in a way, I guess it is -- even regular folks with no interest in this scene are blown away by the Kaplans' unsurpassed pretense and lack of reality-checks. Must be heard to be believed, preferably on acid. 

Acid Archives

Tracks
1.  Ode To Life - 3:06
2.  Vodka And Caviare - 3:33
3.  Epitaph (Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Greg Lake, Michael Giles, Peter Sinfield) - 5:12
4.  Listen To The Falling Rain (John Claude Gummoe) - 3:53
5.  Life And Me - 5:09
6.  Love Is Life - 5:41
7.  Night Bird (Larry Andies) - 5:10
8.  Happy - 4:32
9.  He - 5:30

All songs by Ed Kaplan, Richard Kaplan except where indicated

The Kaplan Brothers
*Ed Kaplan - Percussion, Flute
*Richard (Dick) Kaplan - Guitar, Vocals
*Larry Andies - Bass

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The Comfortable Chair - The Comfortable Chair (1968 us, pretty west coast sunny psych, 2010 reissue)

What little attention this West Coast sunshine-rock band's 1969 self-titled album The Comfortable Chair has gotten seems to stem from the fact that it was The Doors' lead singer Jim Morrison who discovered them, while his fellow bandmembers John Densmore and Robbie Krieger served as producers for their sole 1969 album on Ode Records

It seems unfortunate that they were never a big band outside of the 60s California circuit since their set is actually quite impressive in its own right. Featuring all-original songs (virtually every band member contributing to the writing chores), the self-titled album bounces all over the musical spectrum.

Lead singers Bernie Schwartz and Barbara Wallace are both quite good, navigating through the different genres without any trouble. Highlights include the opening rocker Ain't No Good No More, Let Me Through, and the sweet ballad I'll See You.

The band made its film debut in the Bob Hope - Jackie Gleason comedy vehicle movie How to Commit Marriage (1969) and really shines in the film as a psychedelic-hippie rock band associated with the young people in the plot of the story.

This fantastic group did a wonderful music video-style presentation in the film, performing their charming hippie anthem, A Child's Garden. Exemplified by Some Soon, Some Day and Stars In Heaven much of the set features a lazy, dreamy aura that's quite captivating.

They were a band heavily influenced by the likes of It's a Beautiful Day, Sweetwater and Jefferson Airplane. Their one and only now-highly collectible record album was released on CBS-Ode Records in 1969 

by ukask.com

Tracks
1. Ain't No Good No More - 2:35
2. Child's Garden - 2:38
3. I'll See You - 2:26
4. Princess - 2:43
5. Now - 2:56
6. Some Soon Some Day - 3:10
7. Be Me - 2:37
8. Loved It All - 2:26
9. Let Me Through - 2:19
10.Stars In Heaven - 3:00
11.Pale Night Of Quiet - 3:52
12.The Beast (Kali Yuza) - 3:26

The Comfortable Chair
*Bernie Schwartz - Lead Vocals
*Barbara "Baczek" Wallace - Vocals
*Gene Garfin- Clarinet, Percussion, Vocals
*Greg Leroy - Bass Guitar, Guitar
*Warner Davis - Drums
*Tad Baczek - Guitar

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High Tide - High Tide (1970 uk, excellent heavy rock with prog traces, 2010 bonus tracks edition)

In April 1970 High Tide started recording their second album to be released in July. The eponymous second album showed progress. Where the first album was dominated by Tony Hill’s guitar, on the second album the instruments are more balanced and give room to each other. Also the organ is added in some of the tracks. High Tide is more melancholic than its predecessor; it’s reminiscent of early Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett. 

Despite its good reviews it didn’t sell more copies than the first album and High Tide lost its record deal with Liberty. Simon House left the band to join the Third Ear Band and in 1973 he joined Hawkwind. He was a member of Hawkwind until 1978 although he occasionally performed with Hawkwind afterwards. House was a member of David Bowie’s band and he also released some solo albums under the name Spiral Realms.

Tony Hill, Peter Pavli and Roger Hadden became involved with Rustic Hinge. In 1972 Roger Hadden suffered from mental health problems and was replaced by former Arthur Brown-drummer Drachen Treaker. Peter Pavli became a member of Michael Moore’s band Deep Fix and would also perform with Robert Calvert. 

In 1990 High Tide was revitalized with Tony Hill, Peter Pavli, Drachen Treaker, violinist Dave Tomlin and vocalist Sushi Krishnamurthi. They released the album Ancient Gates, but further plans were aborted when Drachen Treaker unexpectedly died. Tony Hill is still active in music performing and recording with his band Tony Hill's Fiction.

by Erik Gibbels

Tracks
1. Blankman Cries Again - 8:25
2. The Joke - 9:25
3. Saneonymous - 14:25
4. The Great Universal Protection Racket (Tony Hill) - 15:45
5. The Joke - 7:44
6. Blankman Cries Again - 8:25
7. Ice Age (Tony Hill) - 3:25
All compositions by High Tide except where noted

High Tide
*Roger Hadden - Drums, Piano, Pipes Organ
*Tony Hill - Guitar, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Organ
*Simon House - Electric Violin, Organ, Piano
*Peter Pavli - Bass Guitar

1970  High Tide - Precious Cargo

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Davy Graham - Large As Life And Twice As Natural (1969 uk, outstanding blend of blues raga folk psych rock, 2005 remaster)

This is Davy Graham's third adventure on an LP …and along roads that are folk, blues, jazz, Arabic, Indian-and one or two more things. Travelling with a guitar and also Danny Thompson, bass Jon Hiseman, drums, Harold McNair, flutes, and Dick Heckstall-Smtih, saxophones. Travelling like Baudelaire's travellers; 'who move simply to move'. The man himself is equally at home in Edinburgh ('a stately city'); Glasgow ('such warm acid'); or in Athens ('gold and purple in the evening. Smooth as marble hollow solid eyes of panthers. So exhausting for strangers.') But he is never at home in any one place for very long. And this seems to be in exact parallel with his music. For he cannot be pigeonholed: fortunately. 

He is a life-member on the roundabout of alteration. Like his deep-down blues, and you have to accept his setting of a 1000 year old Romeo and Juliet story. Go with him on a musical flight to Morocco ('Jenra' : pavilion'd in splendour) and the return journey will be via an extended raga. But always-I should add-in the company of originality. For after introducing North African music to Western guitar, he has now done the same for India. It's a bit like Dr Bannister running his 4-minute mile and then going off in search of another distance. All of which is quiet disparate, but also very thorough and exciting and satisfying. In the past few years Davy has played his folk at the Edinburgh Festival, his jazz in some of the best clubs in London, his Arabic interpretations in Tangier and his ragas to people who know Ravi Shankar's records. (Unlike those who have gone to India for a 3-week Sitar course, he has investigated the form of ragas.) So far nobody who has listened has found his music a disappointment. And certainly not the many who have brought his two previous LPs.

Following this later collection I know have no idea where his next stop will be. He might take a bicycle to Mexico or slip inside a carrier pigeon's message to Senegal. Or it could be Canterbury. At least I know it will be fascination though as his producer of records, apart from supervising the sessions, I have found myself becoming more and more an editor of the ideas, which zoom out from him like flying saucers, with there origins just as mysterious. He will sometimes break off in the middle of a 'take' that another guitarist might become a Faust for, to tell me about three points of recording and it is preserved there for everyone to buy-he rarely performs it before an audience again. "I have to avoid the cliche," he says. "I want to keep them on the move…"Well on behalf of those of us who have done cur best to keep up with him. I hope he does. 

by Ray Horricks,  Original LP liner notes 

Tracks

1. Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell) - 6:02

2. Bad Boy Blues (Traditional) - 2:17

3. Tristano (Davy Graham) - 4:00

4. Babe, It Ain't No Lie (Traditional) - 2:27

5. Bruton Town (Traditional) - 3:59

6. Sunshine Raga (Davy Graham) - 6:19

7. Freight Train Blues (Fred McDowell) - 4:04

8. Jenra (Davy Graham) - 3:10

9. Electric Chair (Unknown) - 3:10

10.Good Moring Blues (Traditional) - 2:45

11.Beautiful City (Brownie McGhee, Rev. Gary Davis, Sonny Terry) - 2:28

12.Blue Raga (Davy Graham) - 5:23

Musicians
*Davy Graham - Guitar, Vocals
*Dick Heckstall Smith - Saxophones
*Jon Hiseman - Drums
*Harold Mcnair - Flutes
*Danny Thompson - Bass

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Clifford T. Ward - Home Thoughts From Abroad (1973 uk, delicate vocal orchastrated folk mild rock)

Right in the middle of glam rock 1973 came a homely singer/songwriter from the small village of Stourport near Birmingham named Clifford T. Ward who took the charts by storm with a simple love song,  "Gaye",  telling the age-old story of a girl and how much she meant to him. 

This was like a breath of fresh air in the overproduced mid-'70s by its very nature. For here was a man who told simple stories, with beautiful melodies, played with the minimum of fuss. Hot on the heels of the single  - Gaye -  came his second album, Home Thoughts, which Ward was heavily involved with writing and producing, as well as playing keyboards. 

Home Thoughts opened with the lovely ballad  "Gaye"  and continued in the same vein as the single with piano backed ballads sung with clear, concise lyrics, reflecting Ward's homespun family thoughts, living as an ordinary man with a wife and three children, spurning the attention from the media, refusing to tour or play any live gigs that would take him away from his family, and also shying away from the pop press, interviews, and photographs, except when absolutely necessary. 

Clifford T. Ward had been working as an English teacher at a local school and it was here he developed his love of poetry and words, an asset he brought to his songs, especially  "Where Would That Leave Me"  and  "Time the Magician",   "Home Thoughts from Abroad",  and  "The Open University"  in which he namechecks his favorite authors, and  "Wherewithal",  a song he wrote simply because he liked the sound of the word. But for all the beautiful songs on Home Thoughts, the standout track is the hit single  "Gaye"  with its instantly memorable singalong melody. 

by Sharon Mawer

Tracks
1. Gaye - 3:34
2. Wherewithal - 2:53
3. The Dubious Circus Company - 3:15
4. Nightingale - 2:19
5. Where Would That Lead Me? - 2:44
6. The Traveller - 5:18
7. Home Thoughts from Abroad - 3:17
8. Where's it going to End? - 3:32
9. Time, the Magician - 3:08
10.Give Me One More Chance - 3:40
11.Cold Wind Blowing - 3:07
12.The Open University - 2:19
13.Crisis - 2:19
All songs written by Clifford T. Ward

Musicians
*Clifford T. Ward - Vocals, Keyboards
*Ken Wright - Drums, Percussion
*Derek Thomas - Guitars
*Terry Edwards - Bass
*Richard Hewson - Orhestal Arrangements

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