Jeffrey Arthur, Neil Gottlieb, and Michael Hurley discovered a common interest in music while they were attending the University of South Florida in the early 1970s. The trio somehow attracted the attention of Clive Davis who signed them to Columbia. Co-produced by Clay Pitts and David Spinozza and recorded in New York with an all star cast of sessions players, the group made their debut with 1973’s cleverly-titled “Arthur Hurley & Gottlieb”. Arthur was responsible for all of the material which was heavily geared to sensitive singer-songwriter and country-flavored moves.
Their first single release was: ”Sunshine Ship”, an Arthur penned classic from the self titled LP. The group recorded 2 albums for Columbia before moving to A&M Records in 1975. No hits followed the “Sunshine Ship release”, and the group broke up pursuing solo ventures. Jeff Arthur went on to become an Addy winning jingle writer and producer for some of the largest advertising clients in the country.
Tracks
1. Sunshine Ship - 2:35
2. Time Carousel - 3:29
3. Cruisin' - 2:33
4. She's Got Feelings Too - 2:25
5. Fulton County Fair (Christopher Horrell, Jeffrey Arthur, Michael Hurley, Neil Gottlieb) - 2:14
Aquila were a five-piece progressive rock band from Wales who, in their time together during that wonderfully creative and burgeoning prog scene of the day, sadly left us with only one 1970-issued, self-titled release on RCA. The band were the brainchild of Blonde On Blonde guitarist, Ralph Denyer, who wrote and composed all the music and songs on the album.
Flute, sax, and the venerable Hammond augment the classic bass-drums-guitar bedrock, affording a jazz-inflected sound not too dissimilar to the output of the Neon, Dawn, and Transatlantic labels at that time—think Raw Material, Diabolus, Tonton Macoute, or Hannibal..Why Aquila broke up after just one album is a mystery. It sounds very competent against some of the other albums of the time, not least for the careful production work of Patrick Campbell-Lyons from Nirvana UK fame.
by Sébastien Métens, April 24, 2015
Tracks
1. Change Your Ways - 5:16
2. How Many More Times - 6:18
3. While You Were Sleeping - 5:23
4. We Can Make It If We Try - 4:32
5. The Aquila Suite First Movement - Aquila - Introduction / Flight Of The Golden Bird - 8:27
6. The Aquila Suite Second Movement - Cloud Circus / The Hunter / The Kill - 8:48
7. The Aquila Suite Third Movement - Where Do I Belong? / Aquila - Conclusion - 8:55
Prairie Madness is Chris Ducey on the guitar and singing lead and Ed Mills on the piano with a voice that adds to the sharp quality and flow of the duo's harmonics.
Prairie Madness (Columbia) carries a positive message in their sounds and lyrics. Like a westerly, they are a steady and warming change. They bringing a fresh western wind of folk-gospel sounds with an exciting mixture of original compositions. The album was produced by Matthew Fisher, former Procol Harum organist, who also plays keyboards on some tracks, backing by a full band with session musicians such as Jack Conrad on bass, Jim Young and Richie Hayward on drums, plus Airto Moreira and Emil Richards on Percussion.
Opening with "Nothing for Sophia," a somewhat haunting piece, they then showed what they are all about with "Shame the Children" and "Girl from Cincinnati." Ducey has a voice that moves in and along with the mate- rial in rich and ranging gospel tones which add to the performance. One does find him somewhat subdued on the guitar. Mills comes through nicely on the keyboard, especially so when blending vocally with Ducey.
Other songs are "Choo Choo Nairobi," an interesting figuration of sound and beat, "Broke Down," a rich blues-gospel piece, and "I'm Ready".
Tracks
1. Nothing For Sophia (Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 4:29
2. Up You Go (Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 3:23
3. Girl From Cincinnati (Kendrew Lascelles, Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 4:19
4. Choo Choo Nairobi (Chris Ducey, Edward Millis) - 3:31
The story of Mike Furber is one of a star that shone brightly but briefly, and a tale which ultimately had a tragic ending for the shy, sensitive and naive young man who was chewed up and spat out by the frantic sixties Aussie pop music scene.
Mike was born in London in 1948 and emigrated with his family to Brisbane at an early age. In mid-1965, at around age 16, he chanced to meet Paul Wade and Neville Peard on a suburban train journey, and got to discussing music and the fact that he was keen on singing. A friendship and alliance soon grew among the lads. Wade and Peard had already formed a garage band with Greg Walker and Robbie Van Delft that evolved into the Bowery Boys, and upon meeting Mike they invited him join as lead singer.
It must be stressed that in the beginning the band was definitely a single entity, The Bowery Boys, not "Mike Furber and ...". It was only after flamboyant impresario Ivan Dayman spotted Furber and offered the young outfit recording and performing opportunities with his burgeoning Sunshine empire, that attention became more firmly focussed on the lead singer. Dayman's intention was to establish Mike Furber as a pop idol in his own right along the lines of Normie Rowe, with whom Dayman had already achieved enormous national success.
Writer, collector and pop historian Dean Mittelhauser (on whose article in Australian Record Collector much of this profile is drawn) doesn't have much good to say about Ivan Dayman's involvement with Furber ("boy, could I tell you a few stories about him!") and hints that Dayman was planning to to edge the band out of the spotlight and groom Mike for solo stardom more or less from the outset and intending -- hence, the billing as Mike Furber & the Bowery Boys.
Mike had a limited vocal range but used his voice to maximum effect. Its deep timbre belied the cute and appealing "little boy lost" look portrayed in his promo photos. Here, certainly, was Dayman's future Rowe-style superstar in the making and, to paraphrase the old paradigm, "the little girls understood". Furber and band for a short time stormed national stages to a general response of screaming hysteria.
Beginning with the gritty and confident-sounding group-composed "Just A Poor Boy", the band achieved moderate chart success but attracted intent industry scrutiny. They followed up with a commanding cover of Graham Gouldman & the The Mockingbirds' "You Stole My Love" it sounds like the backing vocals on this one were provided by Sunshine labelmates Marcie Jones & the Cookies, though this assumption needs to be verified. A smart and tight single, nevertheless. Interestingly enough, this 45 was released concurrently on the Sunshine and Kommotion labels, territorially, although both issues had similar catalogue numbers and were, after all, pressed and distributed by parent company Festival.
The third Mike Furber single, his last with Bowery Boys backing, was a tough, punkish stormer called "That's When The Happiness Began". Mittelhauser cites it as every bit as good as companion versions from Grains Of Sand (US) and The Montanas (UK). Its oft-overlooked flip, "You", is a cool punk ballad, if you can imagine such a thing.
It was at this point (around August '66) that Furber and the Bowery Boys parted ways. Dean Mittelhauser to explain the unfortunate rift:
"A lot of the blame can be rested firmly at Mr Ivan Dayman's feet. He was already middle-aged and knew nothing about rock & roll. He continually pushed Furber while leaving the Bowery Boys out of television appearances and interstate tours. It's strange now to imagine, but we all think that Furber was a solo star and The Bowery Boys were a bunch of patsies who were just paid to back him. This of course is false, but it was exactly what Dayman wanted everybody to think. Well, he succeeded even though the guys from The Bowery Boys still thought of themselves as part of the whole box and dice and not just Mike Furber's backing band."
Although Mike released three solo singles during 1967, he seemed to have retreated into obscurity. Despite the patronage of Bee Gees supremo Barry Gibb ("Where Are You?", "Second Hand People"), all three discs stiffed on the charts. Another single, covering Skip James' "I'm So Glad" (done in similar style around this time by Cream) failed as well, and things weren't helped by further lacklustre outings like "If You Need Me". Musical backing for this brace of tracks was provided by Brisbane outfit The Escorts, who also backed singer and future Uptight! host Ross D. Wylie in his early career.
In October '67, Go-Set magazine plugged Furber's next single, "Bring Your Love Back Home" with the banner headline "Mike Furber Back On The Scene", and reported:
"There is no doubt that this is the best disc he has ever had. It could be the break he has been waiting for to put him right back on top."
Despite this valuable coverage, and extraordinarily extensive promotion -- not to mention the magnificence of the single itself -- it sank without a trace. This disappointment was possibly one prompter for the first of a series of nervous breakdowns that poor Mike was to suffer. There is still much to be discovered about the fortunes of the Sunshine organisation, but it is probable that Mike's career slump was brought about by the collapse of Sunshine in 1967. It is known that Sunshine's house producer Pat Aulton suffered serious consequences, since Pat had reportedly been made a director of the company without his knowledge, and as a result he had his car and furniture repossessed.
And indeed, Mike disappeared from public view for 18 months or so, only to emerge in 1969 with a fresh EMI Columbia deal. But was this to mean a form of settlement for Furber? Another mediocre chart performance with his EMI single debut, "There's No Love Left" was less than encouraging, but a further disappointment occurred with the follow-up single.
Specially composed for Mike by Harry Vanda and George Young (anticipating their hugely successful "Evie" in 1973) the innovative "I'm On Fire" / "Watch Me Burn" was an ambitious two-part suite spread across both sides of the 45. However it failed to ignite the imagination of punters and programmers alike and was apparently withdrawn soon after release.
Furthering his involvement with Albert Productions, in May 1970 Mike recorded two tracks for the company, "Helen Jane" and "Love Song" (the former written by Ted Mulry) but these were never released.
In June 1970 Furber undertook a national tour with The Sect and Doug Parkinson In Focus, as support acts to visiting Motown legends The Four Tops. Without much to really prompt him, Go-Set reporter Stephen MacLean bagged Mike's performance:
"Mike Furber should also be placed in the 'embarrassing' category. 'What happened?' he asked. 'The last time I played Festival Hall it was packed'. Mike was referring to the reasonably small audience. This was amusing in light of the fact that Mike's admirers wouldn't fill an out-house. He summed up his sincerity when he stripped down to a lace see-through shirt to sing 'I'm A Man' like that. Groovy, Mike".
From then on, the story of Furber's progress is a little clouded. We know that in the early seventies he did his stint of national service and this experience was apparently very traumatic for Mike. Yet after that, he returned to performing, and won good notices in the stage production of Godspell.
In 1973 Mike won a role in the rock musical Nuclear (written by Brian and Carole King from The Executives) but he was sacked from the production soon afterwards. It has been claimed that this plunged Mike into into a deep depression but his friend, bassist Bob Daisley, says that although Mike was disppointed by losing the role, he continued working, and that there was no indication that he planned to take his own life.
MIke died in mysterious cirucmstances on the 10 May 1973, aged only 25. It is alleged that he hanged himself in the garage of his Sydney house, but there have been persistent claims that Mike was murdered as a result of underworld entaglements. Dean Mittelhauser detailed some of these conspiracy theories. A recent Melbourne newspaper article commemorating Mike's 60th birthday reported that his family and friends (such as musician Bob Daisley) still believe that Mike was murdered, and refute claims that he killed himself.
by Paul Culnane
Tracks
1. Just A Poor Boy (Paul Wade, Robert Van Delft, Neville Peard) - 2:26
2. You Stole My Love (Graham Gouldman) - 2:41
3. You (Mitchell Bottler, Harvey Price) - 1:58
4. Where Are You (Barry Gibb) - 2:03
5. Mailman Bring Me No More Blues (Ruth Roberts, Bill Katz, Stanley Clayton) - 2:56
6. It's Gonna Work Out Fine (Rose Marie McCoy, Joe Seneca) - 2:21
7. That's When Happiness Began (Dick Addrissi, Don Addrissi) - 2:16
8. Second Hand People (Barry Gibb) - 2:27
9. I'm So Glad (Skip James) - 3:10
10.It's Too Late (Bobby Goldsboro) - 2:31
11.Bring Your Love Back Home (Brian Henderson, Liza Strike) - 2:29
12.If You Need Me (Robert Bateman, Wilson Pickett, Sonny Sanders) - 2:24
13.You're Back Again (Lonnie Lee) - 2:18
14.Love Talk (Peter Best) - 1:26
15.Take This Hammer (Muff Winwood, Steve Winwood, Peter York, Spencer Davis) - 2:14
The Weeds were Fred Cole's (later founder and frontman of the legendary Dead Moon) second band but the suits being suits forced the band to moonlight under the cutesy Lollipop Shoppe tag to lure in sweet-toothed teens. Thankfully, the sound doesn't change from name to name; this is tough, acid-laced garage rock from the cradle of the sound, the Pacific Northwest. The Weeds gained notice in garage rock circles, and their only single, "It's Your Time" b/w "Little Girl," has become a collectors' favorite. It is a snarling, raw example of '60s punk, and the a-side appeared on one of the Nuggets anthologies.
This is the first official reissue of The Weeds (a.k.a. The Lollipop Shoppe), authorized by Fred Cole. Life for a young band on the road & on the way up is a merry chaos. When "You Must Be a Witch" proved to be a hit single, The Weeds were hot. The group regularly opened for The Doors, The Seeds, and Moby Grape as well as a few one-offs with the likes of Buffalo Springfield, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane. This is `60s garage/psychedelia as its best. A long-awaited re-issue, the album has been beautifully re-mastered by Mark "Bosshoss" Taylor.
Tracks
1. It's Your Time (Dennis Wynne, Eddie Bowen) - 2:22
2. Little Girl (Van Morisson) - 3:00
3. You Must Be A Witch (Fred Cole) - 2:46
4. Underground Railroad (Fred Cole, Ron Buzzel) - 7:43
5. Baby Don't Go (Bob Atkins, Fred Cole) - 2:42
6. Who'll Read The Will (Bob Atkins, Fred Cole) - 2:30
7. It's Only A Reflection (Eddie Bowen) - 3:08
8. Don't Look Back (Fred Cole) - 2:33
9. Don't Close The Door On Me (Fred Cole, Ron Buzzel) - 4:25
10.It Ain't How Long (Eddie Bowen, Fred Cole) - 2:44
11.It's Makin' It (Eddie Bowen, Fred Cole) - 2:30
12.I'm Gonna Be There (Bob Atkins, Fred Cole) - 2:41
13.You Don't Give Me No More (Bob Atkins, Fred Cole) - 2:17
14.Sin (Fred Cole) - 2:25
15.Mr. Madison Avenue (Bob Atkins, Fred Cole) - 2:35
So steadfast was their faith in Jesse Colin Young, Warner Brothers ended up giving the frontman and his Youngblood cohorts the keys to a subsidiary label as the 1960s faded out. Raccoon Records would be best known for releasing Michael Hurley’s second and third LPs—a significant measure that can distort the label’s legacy when having to compare the remainder of the catalog to those now-legendary slabs. At the time, however, Snock fit in just fine with the unknowns that made up Raccoon’s non-Youngblood roster: a coterie of friends, acquaintances, and partners of the band running the show. Better yet, the label offered an opportunity for the non-Jesse members of the band an opportunity to bring their ideas to life. At the tail end of the label’s run guitar-, keys-, and anything else he would pick up-man Lowell Levinger gave it a go, leaving us with the overlooked and splendid Mid-Mountain Ranch.
We’re offered a greasy affair overall. The tunes are rollicking, delightfully out of key at times, and general front porch pickin’ fare. Appropriately, the record begins with Chuck Berry’s “Back in the USA” and about half of the tunes on the record come from the same vein of classic Americana. Bill Monroe’s “Sittin’ Alone in the Moonlight” (also covered by Raccoon labelmates High Country) makes an appearance. “Ocean of Diamonds” by Cliff Carnahan offers Levinger a chance to show off some pedal steel chops and Hank Williams makes an appearance with the group giving “Honky Tonk Blues” an off-kilter swing. The selections and the general atmosphere of camaraderie is cut from the same cloth as The Band’s early output (though with far less emphasis on the tightness of arrangements and harmonies).
Every so often, however, the fellas get cleaned up and down to business. “Vanderbilt’s Lament” is exactly the sort of paganistic midsummer romp needed to liven up an otherwise comfortable affair. Images of the ensemble set against a massive pyre in the middle of a swamp are conjured up as the rabid hootenanny devolves into the far-more-gentle, though equally haunting “Interlude.” The perfect circular instrumental with its flawless dosage of creepiness is as much indebted to John Fahey as Dr. John. “Familiar Patterns” is credited to bassist Michael Kane, and packs a wallop of heartache into the wide open sparse arrangement. The pedal steel returns and lets the tune drift endlessly through one’s ears all day. Before shutting down the show, Banana delivers the fantastic “Lucas Valley Breakdown”, a Flatt and Scruggs style number on which Levinger plays all instruments involved. The record closes with “The Rights of Man”—and Banana’s finest vocal delivery on the LP. Accompanied only by guitar, Levinger adheres to the whole brevity thing, making his point and shutting things down beautifully.
by James Rooney
Tracks
1. Back In The U.S.A (Chuck Berry) - 2:54
2. My True Life Blues (Lowell Levinger) - 3:48
3. Vanderbilt's Lament (Joe Bauer, Richard Anderson, Lowell Levinger, Michael Kane) - 2:49
4. Interlude (Lowell Levinger) - 2:49
5. Double Interlude (Lowell Levinger, Joe Bauer, Steve Swallow) - 0:57
6. Sittin' Alone In The Moonlight (Bill Monroe) - 2:16
7. In Foggy Old London (Al Robinson) - 1:45
8. Before The Sun Goes Down (Jerry Organ, Vernon Claud) - 2:03
9. New Sail Away Ladies (Lowell Levinger) - 2:31
10.Ocean Of Diamonds (Cliff Carnahan) - 3:51
11.Familiar Patterns (Michael Kane) - 3:38
12.Great Blue Heron (Lowell Levinger) - 3:29
13.Honky Tonk Blues (Hank Williams) - 2:09
14.Lucas Valley Breakdown (Lowell Levinger) - 1:37
Coming on like Hawkwind’s ‘You Shouldn’t Do That’ with tone generators and bleeping underground noises, ‘All Ends Up’ crashes in with a massive Phil Spector-type buzzsaw guitar rhythm undercut by more splatter-clatter drumfills from Steve Clayton, before setting off on a super-paranoid tale of The Man and how to avoid him. Suggestions for not getting ripped off: don’t remotely engage The Man, don’t even step into the portals of his office, don’t believe his words whatever they are, and you’ll be safe. Ish. Funnily enough, I know from experience what they mean and they were right, though staying in Rochdale and doing an LP every few years throughout the coming 70s and 80s on a tiny independent label does seem like a pretty bleak alternative to me. Whatever, ‘All Ends Up’ has that insanely claustrophobic and hugely over-dubbed sound that (experience tells me) you can only get from working in studios with huge limitations. Excellent indeed, and really one of the best ways to achieve high rock’n’roll magnificence.
Although the epic eight minutes of ‘Little Girl in Yellow’ kicks off like the heads’ answer to Jake Thackaray (complete with a fey acoustic northern-accented tale of fairies and goblins) it’s soon blasting into a grim reaper scythe-wielding territory of 6/4 electric guitar rhythms and we could be in the middle of one of those epic Krautrock LPs by Kalakackra or their ilk. Is this the best piece of music on the entire record? Probably! Massive solo guitars undermine everything but the rhythm of the hi-hats and the sound gets more heavy rock than any heavy rock band on a major label ever could or ever did. Think of the ever-changing sound on Speed, Glue & Shinki LPs or even 1969’s somewhat similar Saint Stephen LP, wherein everything temporarily disappears down a shock corridor before emerging blinking and bleary-eyed in the cold light of day. This is a severely psychedelic mixing desk freakout in the best Dieter Dierks-stylee, and could only have increased in massiveness by lasting for the whole of the side.
Unfortunately, this otherwise monstrous and mind manifesting LP finishes disappointingly, without style or consideration of any kind, first with the acoustic drivel of ‘The Watcher’ (‘he knows that willingness in others is a blessing’? Even in 1972, oh puh-leaze!) followed swiftly by the cod electric blues of ‘Ravenscroft’s 13-Bar Boogie’. The first mentioned could have been on THE WAY WE LIVE and is trite shite indeed, whereas the final track at least has the charm of being acceptably generic boogie of The Yardbirds’ ‘Nazz is Blue’ variety. However, as this Album of the Month only achieves its place because of the sad death of Tractor’s mentor John Peel, let’s offer up a bit of compassion and state this – when six of the eight tracks are as good as those offered within these grooves, it would take someone more churlish than I to (in these circumstances) give the final two under-achieving tracks a merciless kicking. Instead, let’s just blank them out and pretend the whole LP is a riot from beginning to end, and hope that M’Lud John ‘Ravenscroft’ Peel is currently spinning his favourite vinyl for the angels and devils of both heaven and hell as we speak. Because we have kenned John Peel all these past years, and we have listened, learned and been changed forever. Hey John Peel, wherever you are, we salute ye! U-Know!
Steel was a US rock group with members (keyboardist/vocalist Duane Hitchings, guitarist Steve Busfield, bassist Roland Robinson, drummer Jerry Norris and singer/backing vocalist Carl Sims). . Some of them are well known on the rock and blues circuit. Duane Hitchings was a member of the Buddy Miles Express and Roland Robinson, in addition to working for the Stax label, had the opportunity to jam with Jimi Hendrix (he is credited on the title "Jimi/Jimmy Jam" in the posthumous album, “Nine To The Universe” published in 1980). In 1971 the quintet released their self-titled LP on behalf of Epic with Hendrix's sound engineer, Eddie Kramer, at the helm.
10 tracks for an LP totaling 33 minutes, this album offers excellent hard rock rich in melodies which flirts with prog but especially with soul music. Vocals are shared between Duane Hitchings and Carl Sims, the latter providing backing vocals on all of the songs. The leaden biker riffs of many of the tracks (“Eye To Eye” in the opening, “Road Runner”, “Rosie Lee”) recall those of Leslie West from Mountain. The quintet offers celestial heavy ballads (“Never On A Monday”, “Merry Go Round”). The musicians focus on boogie (“Maybe” and the instrumental “Loving You”) but also rhythm ‘n’ blues (“Can’t Watch One Hand”). The vinyl ends in a hard blues register with “Driving Wheel” and “To You Who Are Watching” more funky for the latter.
A promising, endearing, well-made record, very pleasant to listen to but which unfortunately did not meet with success, leading to the separation of Steel. Carl Sims will attempt a solo career in the funk style. Steve Busfield joined the Buddy Miles Express in 1973. Duane Hitchings, Roland Robinson and Jerry Norris will join guitarist Mike Pinera in The New Cactus for the short-lived album, Son Of Cactus released in 1973. Subsequently Roland Robinson and Duane Hitchings will write the hit “Infatuation” for Rod Stewart.
UK band released only this album in Belgium, combines the feel-good groovy instrumental organ rock of Eden Rose with the more measured introspective UK scene like Cressida or Still Life. Sounds a bit dated for 1971, more like 1969 - probably due to the ‚"carnival‚" sound of the organ, which is the dominant instrument. Flute is put to good use as well. No guitars, which is unusual for the era. Also pick up some Julian Jay Savarin in places. Yet another creative version of ‚"Eleanor Rigby‚". A good one.
Tracks
1. Return Of A Stranger (Barry Kirsch) - 2:40
2. Little Victim (Julian Kirsch) - 3:30
3. Clog I (Barry Kirsch, Pinder Paul) - 2:30
4. Clog II (Pinder Paul) - 2:35
5. Only A Sad Thing (Barry Kirsch, Ashford Jon, Wilson Robert) - 4:35
6. Steamer (Barry Kirsch) - 2:10
7. Island (Barry Kirsch) - 4:00
8. Freeway (Barry Kirsch, Wilson Robert) - 4:40
9. Eleanor Rigby (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 2:25
10.Suite For Selena (Barry Kirsch) - 8:40
.a) You Are My.../ b) Motivation / c) Thursday 32nd / d) Make Me / e) Malachi
Black Merda were a funky rock combo with a significant debt to Jimi Hendrix, mixing fuzz-toned, psychedelic blues-rock with folky acoustic passages and contemporary late-'60s soul. Featuring guitarists Anthony and Charles Hawkins, bassist VC Veasey (aka Veesee L. Veasey), and drummer Tyrone Hite, the group got its start in the late '60s after Veasey, Hite, and Anthony Hawkins had spent time in a band called the Soul Agents, backing Edwin Starr and Gene Chandler. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced?, they added Anthony's younger brother Charles on second guitar and christened themselves Black Merda. Despite some interest around their Detroit base -- including Norman Whitfield and Eddie Kendricks -- Black Merda signed to Chess, thanks in part to the psychedelic soul eccentric Fugi (aka Ellington Jordan), who they also backed on his Mary, Don't Take Me on No Bad Trip LP for Chess.
Black Merda's self-titled album sounded revolutionary enough, although the bandmembers were disappointed that it didn't reflect their heavy live shows. They then moved to the West Coast to continue playing with Fugi, but returned to Chicago to record a second album. Shortening their name to Mer-Da, the group returned in 1971 with Long Burn the Fire, a funkier outing that bore a likeness to early Funkadelic. The band quickly fizzled out, but over the next three decades, continued record-collector interest in the group eventually resulted in a reunion with Veasey, both Hawkins brothers, and Fugi, although Hite had died in 2004.
by Steve Huey
Usually linked in with the brief explosion of "black rock" bands that followed Jimi Hendrix in the late '60s and early '70s, Black Merda's formula was a good bit more complicated than most, and their debut album blends elements of hard rock, blues, soul, folk, and embryonic funk with a tough and uncompromising political consciousness that makes the disc at once a product of its time and not quite like anything else around back in the day.
The guitar work from Anthony Hawkins and Charles Hawkins is tough and organic, whether they're stretching out on extended blues jams such as "Over and Over" and "Windsong" or cutting some hard R&B-accented rock on "Cynthy-Ruth" and "Prophet." Bassist Vessee L. Veasy (who also contributes most of the lead vocals) and percussionist Tyrone Hite generate a lean but effective groove throughout as they jump from the streetwise soul of "Reality" to the acoustic meditation of "Think of Me." But as good as the music is on this album (and despite bland production from someone named Swan, most of it is very good indeed), what really sets it apart is the dark vibe reflected in the minor-key tenor of the melodies and the bitter realities of the lyrics.
Grinding poverty, racism, political and social inequality, the ongoing nightmare of Vietnam, the growing schism between youth culture and the establishment, and the absence of any easy answers to the dilemmas of a nation spinning out of control dominate songs such as "Reality," "Ashamed," and "That's the Way It Goes," and the grim but wholly appropriate fable of "I Don't Want to Die" ends this album as if a lid were being slammed shut on a coffin.
Black Merda anticipates the grim consciousness-raising session of Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On, which wouldn't arrive in stores until a year after this album, and if it isn't the stark masterpiece that Sly's album was, it's good enough that this group deserves to be regarded as much more than a footnote in the black music scene of the early '70s.
by Mark Deming
Tracks
1. Prophet (Anthony Hawkins) - 2:54
2. Think of Me (Anthony Hawkins, Charles Hawkins, Tyrone Hite) - 2:33
3. Cynthy-Ruth (Roosevelt Veasey) - 3:06
4. Over and Over (Anthony Hawkins, Charles Hawkins, Tyrone Hite) - 5:33
5. Ashamed (Anthony Hawkins) - 3:52
6. Reality (Roosevelt Veasey) - 2:01
7. Windsong (Anthony Hawkins, Charles Hawkins, Tyrone Hite) - 4:14
8. Good Luck (Anthony Hawkins) - 3:46
9. That's the Way It Goes (Roosevelt Veasey) - 3:16
10.I Don't Want to Die (Anthony Hawkins, Charles Hawkins, Tyrone Hite) - 3:52
11.Set Me Free (Anthony Hawkins) - 0:43
12.For You - 4:43
13.The Folks From Mother's Mixer - 4:13
14.My Mistake - 5:30
15.Lying - 3:30
16.Long Burn The Fire - 3:21
17.Sometimes I Wish - 3:45
18.I Got A Woman - 5:01
19.We Made Up - 3:45
Songs from 12 to 19 were written by Anthony Hawkins, Charles Hawkins, Roosevelt Veasey
