Jerry LaCroix was born October 10, 1943 in Alexandria, LA, and a 30-mile journey from his kinfolk's home in nearby Jena. His first musical exposure came by way of family. At early age LaCroix moved to Port Arthur and attended Port Arthur and Port Neches schools, he graduated from Port Neches-Groves High School in 1961 before going to Lamar University.
Although he was never a household name in his own right, LaCroix's soulful vocals made him a favorite performer for those in the know -- a group that, early in his career, included Columbia president Clive Davis, who not only presided over White Trash's deal with the label's Epic subsidiary, but ended up playing matchmaker between LaCroix and Blood, Sweat & Tears after White Trash fell apart. Although he'd just released his own solo album, 1974's 'The Second Coming,' he decided to abandon promotional efforts because, as he put it, "Blood, Sweat & Tears was going on a world tour and I hadn't seen the world."
Staying with the band long enough to contribute to their 1974 'Mirror Image' album, LaCroix soon left because, as he told Swampland, "they weren’t really a kick-ass band like White Trash was and I wasn’t happy." But just as quickly as he left one band, he joined another: Rare Earth's manager soon came calling, and as LaCroix recalled in the same interview, "He flew me out to L.A. and we talked a little bit and he said, 'Oh, by the way, tomorrow we’re going to be on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. You want to sing with us?' No rehearsal, no nothing. I just got on live TV and sang 'Get Ready.' He said and then, day after tomorrow, we’re going on tour. So I had to learn all of their songs in two days."
While LaCroix continued to enjoy local legend status in the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast region, he turned his back on the music industry after the '80s; at one point, he told Swampland, "I was living up in Oregon cutting wood. A guy had a 2000-acre ranch. It was just pristine but it wasn’t music." Returning to Texas to care for his ailing father, he started a new band, but he harbored no delusions of grandeur regarding that stage of his career. "I'm doing a compilation tape of things I've recorded in the past. A little package to give more or less as souvenirs to people who come to see us. Demos, if somebody wants to hear something," he mused in one late interview. "I'm also working on an anthology. I'm getting my own CD burner so I can make my own CDs and do them out of the back end of the Winnebago."
After the turn of the century, LaCroix dedicated himself to caring for his elderly mother, but in the summer of 2010, his own health took a turn for the worse. Local musicians banded together to help raise money for his medical care after he suffered congestive heart failure; he recovered enough to perform at his induction into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in January of 2012, but over time, his condition continued to deteriorate.
The man behind one of Southeast Texas' most noted, soulful voices enchanted the area for more than four decades, the "blue-eyed soul brother" never fully recovered, he passed away on May 7th, 2014.
Tracks
1. On The Road Again - 3:25
2. Drivin' Wheel (B. B. King, JulesTaub) - 5:15
3. A Little Bit O' Trust (Edgar Winter, Jerry La Croix) - 4:39
4. New Orleans Song - 3:57
5. Marshall's Tune (Marshall Cyr) - 3:25
6. Tired Of Feeling Sorry For Myself - 3:23
7. Ninety-Nine And A Half (Eddie L. Floyd, Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett) - 3:41
8. Sexy Linda Lee - 2:50
9. I'd Like To Write A Song - 3:12
10.All Join Together - 6:30
All songs by Jerry La Croix except where stated
Musicians
*Jerry La Croix - Lead Vocals, Harp, Saxophone, Piano
*Barry Rillera - Lead Guitar, Backgound Vocals
*Bobby Ramirez - Drums, Congas, Percussion
*George Sheck - Bass
*Jon Smith - Saxophone, Backgound Vocals
*Tilly Lawrence - Trumpet, Percussion
*Marshall Cyr - Trumpet, Percussion
*Jose Silva - Bass (Tracks 1,2,7,9,10)
*Michael Omartian - Piano (Tracks 3,6)
*Greg Mathieson - Piano (Tracks 9,10), Organ (Track 7)
Originally released in 1972 (on the Vertigo label) Legend's third album, Moonshine, gets out into the sun again (via the Repertoire imprint) as a 2500-copy limited edition. The band represented here was the "Mark III" version, consisting of John Bobin, Mo Witham, Bob Clouter and the legendary Mickey Jupp.
The sound is fairly raw throughout, with the kind of loose, relaxed musicianship that comes from pro cats getting down and having fun. Rock, blues, country and a touch of traditional balladeering inform each of the disc's 13 tracks and find the group right at home with those stylistic touchstones.
Whether they're stripped-down and rockin' (as on the rousing "Moonshine" and "Captain Cool") or dramatic and string-filled (the plaintive "Another Guy" and "The Writer of Songs") there's an element of toughness that keeps the band from ever sounding stuffy, and it's that same barroom machismo that makes this record stand out as a near-classic example of down-home, '70s British rock done correctly -- with fun and chutzpah in equal amounts.
by J. Scott McClintock
Tracks
1. Moonshine (Mickey Jupp, Bob Clouter, John Bobin, Mo Witham) - 3:49
2. Another Guy - 3:30
3. Mother of My Child - 3:25
4. Captain Cool (Mickey Jupp, Bob Clouter, John Bobin, Mo Witham) - 1:43
5. Ausfahrt - 0:56
6. Eingang - 0:41
7. Shine on My Shoes (Mickey Jupp, Bob Clouter, John Bobin, Mo Witham) - 2:50
8. The Writer of Songs - 4:57
9. Local Folk'ol - 3:04
10.At the Shop - 2:52
11.Just Because - 3:51
12.Don't You Never - 2:58
13.Someday - 2:16
All songs by Mickey Jupp unless otherwise written.
Legend
*John Bobin - Lead Guitar, Bass, Spanish Guitar, Vocals
*Bob Clouter - Drums
*Mickey Jupp - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Piano
*Mo Witham - Lead Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm Guitar, Spanish Guitar, Vocals
The Second Coming, an Album by Jerry LaCroix released in 1974 on Mercury records. Jerry (also know as Jerry “The Count” Jackson) has a great track record as a rhythm and blues artist as part of great groups such as The Boogie Kings, Edgar Winters White Trash, Blood Sweat & Tears and Rare Earth. He never stopped performing until his death in 2014 at the age of 70.
His style of vocals and harmonies with many artists as well as a saxophonist is amazing. There are great cuts on this album such as Mean Old World, Genesis, You’ll Always Be Mine, She Does It To Me and many more. Highly recommend to listen this album as well music he has done with other artists.
In some circles, Mickey Jupp is something of a minor legend, a roots rocker with excellent taste and a cutting wit, best heard on the songs "Switchboard Susan" and "You'll Never Get Me Up in One of Those," both covered by Nick Lowe.
Basher's endorsement is a clear indication that Jupp is a pub rocker, a guy who specializes in laid-back good times, so it shouldn't come as a great surprise that his first band, Legend, was proto-pub, an unabashed celebration of old-time rock & roll, filled with three-chord Chuck Berry rockers and doo wop backing vocals. Nevertheless, listening to their 1970 LP is a bit of a shock, as it's completely disassociated with anything that was happening in 1970, even with Tony Visconti enlisted as their producer.
Legend's sensibility is ahead of its time in its retro thinking, pointing the way to the rock & roll revival of the late '70s and not even that similar to the country-rock of Eggs Over Easy or Bees Make Honey, as this has little of the rustic feel of the Band: it's just straight-up oldies rock, a trait emphasized by those incessant doo wop harmonies that are on almost every cut on this LP (but do disappear on the bonus live cuts on the Repertoire reissue, possibly because they were too busy playing to harmonize).
Those harmonies and the light, almost goofy, touch of Jupp's writing here distinguish Legend and also illustrate why they made no waves in 1970; it's hard to see the counterculture getting roused over the verse "If you were an apple you'd be/Good good eating/If you were a book you'd be/Good good reading."
These slightly silly flourishes do have a lot in common with the wry humor of Nick Lowe, who at this time was denying this mischievous streak as he attempted to sound like Crosby, Stills & Nash, but at this point, Jupp was largely on his own doing this light, good-time pub rock. That may be why it sank without a trace at the time, but heard apart from its era, Legend is a minor delight, one of the first flowerings of the pub rock sensibility.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracks
1. Cross Country - 3:28
2. Cheque Book - 3:22
3. Lorraine, Pt. 1 - 2:58
4. Nothing Wrong with Me - 2:06
5. Somebody in Love - 2:42
6. Goin' To - 2:37
7. Anything You Do - 3:08
8. My Typewriter - 2:57
9. Five Years - 3:00
10. Hole in My Pocket - 2:09
11. Lorraine, Pt. 2 - 3:34
12. I Feel Like Sleeping - 3:16
13. Life - 3:02
14. Late Last Night (Single B-Side) - 3:54
15. Don't You Never - 2:56
16. Someday (Single B-Side) - 2:16
All songs by Mickey Jupp
American psychedelic group who recorded two excellent albums for the tiny Nasco label circa 1970, which later became a widely known imprint amongst collectors of obscure underground blues-rock and psychedelia. Both of their released albums, Whalefeathers Declare and their self-titled second album, have been collectors' items of extraordinary value to LP hounds which were finally reissued on the Akarma label in 2001. Maybe it's telling of the sound herein to know that the group does a cover version of Skip Spence's "Omaha," a psychedelic gem from his time in Moby Grape. For the most part, Whalefeathers deal in heavy rock based around keyboard-driven psychedelia and hard blues-rock.
On their second album, the standouts are a cover version of "World of Pain," originally by Mountain, and a rave-up on the blues standard "Don't Need No Doctor," while elsewhere they soak in instrumentals with electric keyboards and guitar distortion with no apparent direction. m Cincinnati, Ohio, this outfit used to gig frequently with Westfauster and played a heavy, very keyboard-dominated blend of music. Their albums have distinct psychedelic influences. Both albums are sought-after by collectors.
by Dean McFarlane
Tracks Declare 1970
1. Declare - Prelude (Michael Jones) - 3:53
2. Lost Dimension (Ed Blackmon) - 6:47
3. Know Thyself (Michael Jones) - 2:59
4. Imagine (Michael Jones) - 3:06
5. Omaha (Alex "Skip" Spence) - 5:48
6. Please Me For A While (Ed Blackmon, Michael Jones) - 5:20
7. Invention Sequence (Ed Blackmon) - 3:41
8. Love Cant Be Wrong (Michael Jones) - 3:46 Whalefeathers 1971
9. World Of Pain (Felix Pappalardi, Gail Collins) - 8:36
10.I Dont Need No Doctor (Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson) - 3:26
11.Its A Hard Road (Back Home) (Lee Blanc) - 5:07
12.Bastich (Steve Cataldo) - 6:20
13.Pretty Woman (Andrew Charles Williams, Jr.) - 3:31
14.Shadows (Ed Blackmon) - 10:36
The third album by this incarnation of Renaissance was a match for their previous success, Ashes Are Burning, with equally impressive performances and songwriting and a few new musical twists added. The songs here fit more easily into a rock vein, and the prior album's folk influences are gone.
Turn of the Cards rocks a bit harder, albeit always in a progressive rock manner, and Jon Camp's bass and Terence Sullivan's drums are both harder and heavier here, the bass (the group's only amplified instrument) in particular much more forward in the mix. This change works in giving the band a harder sound that leaves room for Jimmy Horowitz's orchestral accompaniments, which are somewhat more prominent than those of Richard Hewson on the prior album, with the horns and strings, in particular, more exposed.
Annie Haslam is in excellent voice throughout, and finds ideal accompaniment in Michael Dunford's acoustic guitar and John Tout's piano. The writing team of Dunford and Betty Thatcher also adds some new wrinkles to the group's range -- in addition to progressive rock ballads like "I Think of You," they delivered "Black Flame," a great dramatic canvas for Haslam and Tout, in particular; and "Mother Russia" is a surprising (and effective) move into topical songwriting, dealing with the plight of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and other victims of Soviet repression (you had to be there in the 1970s to realize what a burning issue this was).
And then there were the soaring, pounding group virtuoso numbers like "Things I Don't Understand," which managed to hold audience interest across nine or ten minutes of running time.
by Bruce Eder
Tracks
1.Running Hard - 9:35
2.I Think Of You - 3:07
3.Things I Don't Understand (Dunford, Jim McCarty) - 9:27
4.Black Flame - 6:25
5.Cold Is Being - 3:00
6.Mother Russia - 9:17
All Songs credited to Michael Dunford, Betty Thatcher except where noted.
Renaissance made considerable impact and won an enthusiastic cult following when they first emerged at the beginning of the seventies. The British art rock band was born from the ashes of the original Renaissance founded by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf in 1969. The new band continued with the concept of mixing classical music with poetry, blended with elements of rock, jazz and folk. The result was a highly individual sound blessed with hauntingly beautiful themes.
A variety of artists played with different versions of Renaissance, but the key members were guitarist and composer Michael Dunford, and singer Annie Haslam, who worked mainly with the gifted musicians John Tout (keyboards) and John Camp (bass). The lyrics to their romantic songs were contributed by the Cornish poetess Betty Thatcher, who listened to demo tapes of Dunford's songs and then posted on her lyrics. Annie Haslam, from Bolton, Lancashire, joined the band in 1972 to record their first album with the post McCarty-Relf line-up, called Prologue. Its success led to a more ambitious follow up album Ashes Are Burning.
Guitarist Rob Hendry who contributed to Prologue had left the band, and composer Michael Dunford joined the ranks as acoustic guitarist. "I went to visit the band and played them a few songs with my acoustic guitar," recalls Michael. "The acoustic sounded quite good and after a few rehearsals I became a full time member. In fact the piano was the main lead instrument which suited the orchestrated songs. There was a strong classical feel to the music. On Ashes Are Burning we worked with a string arranger called Richard Hewson who was great. The album was recorded at CTS Music Centre, which was than called De Lane Lea Studios, in Wembley.
The band line-up was John Tout, Terry Sullivan, John Camp, Annie and myself, and that was the line-up that continued until 1979. We used a 22 piece string section with woodwinds for two of the songs, "Can You Understand" and "Carpet Of The Sun". It was such an emotional feeling because we'd always wanted to work with an orchestra. Hearing the run through was absolutely fantastic, and we felt it was the way to go in the future. Over the next few years we did several "live" shows with orchestras. In the later years we changed too much, and got away from that sound, which was probably a bit of a mistake! But it was a breath of fresh air when we first recorded with the orchestra.
We didn't get any hit records off Ashes Are Burning but we gained a cult following and that album did very well in America. We were managed by Miles Copeland at the time and we went to America in 1974 for the first time. American audiences respond instantaneously and if they like you, they tell you. We were overwhelmed at the reaction to our first show, in a college in Brooklyn. We were astonished at the fact that people knew our songs. It was such a boost."
The title track "Ashes Are Burning" is an extended piece which became the band's encore number at concerts. "It gave everybody a chance to play a solo and have a bit of blow, because ninety per cent of the songs were heavily arranged. I remember one show we did at Radio City Music Hall in New York, where Betty Thatcher came out to see us play to 6000 people. We did three nights there on a huge stage, and I remember Betty introduced us. There was a cab strike in New York at that time, and we got hold of a Yellow Cab and put it on the hydraulic ramp under the stage and as the curtains opened, the cab came up with us inside it. We were greeted with rapturous applause!"
Annie Haslam remembers the Wembley recording sessions as: "A fantastic experience. We had a great engineer, Dick Plant, who really helped us a lot. The most incredible part of that album was when the orchestra came in. The first number they stuck up was "Carpet Of The Sun". I was standing next to John Tout and our eyes were welling up with tears, because all of a sudden, there was an orchestra playing our music. It felt so emotional because we had taken a step further from Prologue, and the music was progressing." The song title came from a child's inspired turn of phrase, as lyricist Betty Thatcher explains. "A child living in my home asked if the grass in the garden was a carpet, "Oh yes," I said, "It's the carpet of the sun", and I wrote the song for that child."
Renaissance rehearsed their new set of songs in a church hall before they took the plunge and started recording. Annie suggested they start the album with the sound of a gong, which can be heard on the opening track "Can You Understand". Says Haslam: "It's such a great album I love all tracks, but "At The Harbour" is one of the best things we ever did. Jim McCarty wrote "On The Frontier", which was the last time we used any of his music."
The title track "Ashes Are Burning" became one of the most important numbers in their act, and says Annie: "I have been doing it recently in my own stage shows. It's a great piece to show off the musicians in the band and I can do an operatic vocalise thing at the end. Of course since this album was made my vocal range has stretched, so I can sing higher than I did then. On the album the piece lasts about 12 minutes and Andy Powell from Wishbone Ash does a solo at the end. In the show it went on for half an hour." Betty Thatcher recalls that the song was inspired by a very strange set of circumstances. "I had a so-called "near-death experience" and I was told to go back as I didn't finished. I actually argued with God, but God won and I came back and wrote "Ashes Are Burning"."
After the album was released in 1973 Renaissance went on to create such works as Turn Of The Cards (1974), Scheherazade And Other Stories (1975), Live At Carnegie Hall (1976), Novella (1977), A Song For All Seasons (1978), Azure D'Or (1979), Camera Camera (1981) and Time Line (1983), before they finally broke up.
In recent years Annie Haslam has relocated to live in America where she tours with her own band and has released a solo album Blessing In Disguise with producer Tony Visconti. Michael Dunford has also returned with a new album called The Other Woman while in Spring 1995 there were plans afoot to revive the original Renaissance with Jim McCarty, John Hawken and Louis Cennamo. The music of Renaissance seems to be spreading outwards likes ripples in a sea of talent. Says Annie: "I don't think there was anything like the music Renaissance used to produce in the seventies and eighties. We were put in the pigeon hole of classical folk rock, but there wasn't another band like us and the albums just got better and better. Looking back - I feel blessed with everything that happened."
by Chris Welch
Tracks
1. Can You Understand - 9:56
2. Let It Grow - 4:19
3. On The Frontier (Jim McCarty, Betty Thatcher) - 4:58
4. Carpet Of The Sun - 3:37
5. At The Harbour - 6:50
6. Ashes Are Burning - 11:35
7. Can You Understand - 11:13
8. Let It Grow - 4:55
9. Ashes Are Burning - 12:28
All compositions by Michael Dunford, Betty Thatcher except track #3
Bonus Tracks 7-9 for BBC Radio One "In Concert" Recorded 3rd January 1974 at the BBC Paris Theatre, London. Previously unreleased
Renaissance
John Tout - Keyboards And Vocals
Annie Haslam - Vocals
Jon Camp - Bass Guitar And Vocals
Terry Sullivan - Drums, Percussion And Vocals
Michael Dunford - Acoustic Guitar With
Andy Powell - Guitar On "Ashes Are Burning"
Richard Hewson – Strings Arrangements
A Gift From Euphoria is a well-funded album loaded with symphonic arrangements, excellent studio musicianship, psychedelic audio collage, and sound effects. It’s probably near to the apex of experimental rock from this era, and of the melding and juxtaposition of different styles of music.
The first two tracks on the record demonstrate the pace. Lisa an expansive and string laden orchestral number gives way to a legit bluegrass-country tune with banjo and pedal steel. Wait a little longer and you’ll get some fuzz guitar brain melters. Euphoria is all over the place on this album, which was recorded in Hollywood, London, and Bradley’s Barn. Some of the best session men in town put this one together, and it shows. Nary an unprofessional sound is on this record and some of the arrangements are stunning. They could use this album to replace the orchestra at the Boston Pops.
This is the only album released by the short lived Euphoria. The liner notes imply that the members disappeared, but parts of the liners are as out there as the sounds. Get this one for a supreme example of country and rock gone suicidally psychedelic, sounding remarkably fresh today.
by Brendan McGrath
Tracks
1. Lisa - 3:56
2. Stoen River Hill Song - 2:10
3. Did You Get The Letter - 5:38
4. Through A Window - 2:45
5. Young Miss Pflugg - 3:03
6. Lady Bedford - 3:02
7. Suicide On The Hillside, Sunday Morning, After Tea - 1:47
8. Sweet Fanny Adams - 4:22
9. I'll Be Home To You - 2:47
10.Sunshine Woman - 2:54
11.Hollyville Train - 3:03
12.Docker's Son - 2:49
13.Something For The Milkman - 0:54
14.Too Young To Know - 0:49
15.World - 3:09
All songs written by Hamilton Wesley Watt Jr., William D. Lincoln
Personnel
*William D. Lincoln - Bass, Vocals
*Hamilton Wesley Watt - Vocals
*Doug Delain - Guitar
*Dave Potter - Drums
*Irwin Webb - Orchestral Arrangement, Direction
*Nikolas Venetoulis - Direction
If you were paying close attention to the UMG-released Zappa titles, you may have noticed that Uncle Meat was one of the few pre-1982 albums that wasn't reissued using the original master tapes for the first time (all the Ryko masters were altered by Zappa). Meat Light remedies that by finally releasing the Uncle Meat original vinyl mix, remastered from the original master tapes for the very first time on CD. The results are stunning. The album literally sounds better than it ever has, with a crisp clarity to all the instruments, even on the most dense tracks. This alone would justify purchase for most Zappa fanatics...but wait! There's more!
Who knew there was ANOTHER Uncle Meat?!? Yes, disc two and part of disc three present "Uncle Meat: Original Sequence." Many of the tracks are exactly the same, but with different sequencing and some completely unreleased material, all segued together with some additional contributions from the Apostolic Vlorch Injector (responsible for the blasts of noise on Uncle Meat and We're Only in It for the Money). "Whiskey Wah" and "The Whip" are previously unreleased guitar solos. "King Kong" doesn't end the set; it's the end of "Side 2" (of four), and it doesn't include the part that was recorded on a flatbed diesel at a Miami Pop Festival. "Cops and Buns" was included on The Lost Episodes, but in an edited form. Some of the other spoken bits ("Our Bizarre Relationship," "If We'd Been Living in California...") have just a little bit of extra material on them, providing a bit of further insight. "Mr. Green Genes" has a slightly different mix with some additional organ and vocals. The "Original Sequence" closes with "Cruisin' for Burgers"...but that's not the end of Meat Light! "A Bunch of Stuff" seems to be a spoken intro to the film Uncle Meat. Tracks like "Tango" and "More Beer" are just short cues. The single version of "Dog Breath" is a gas: no main vocals/lyrics -- just prominent (and awesome!) backing vocals with extra guitar and saxophone mixed in. "The String Quartet" is a medley of Uncle Meat tunes that was often performed live by the Mothers, but this sounds like a studio version. "Electric Aunt Jemima" is a different, more modern-sounding mix, while "Exercise 4" is an unused further elaboration of the "Uncle Meat Variations."
The alternate mix of "Mr. Green Genes" has a different vocal mix and cool keyboards added. "Echo Pie" takes Jimmy Carl Black's displeasure in "If We'd Been Living in California" and kicks it up a notch or five. "1/4 Tone Unit" is a short, pretty chamber ensemble piece, "Sakuji's March" is a short percussion piece, and "No. 4" is a scored piece with some amazing double piano followed by double marimba. The extended version of "Prelude to Uncle Meat" adds about a minute and a half to the standard version, along with some interesting extra guitar at the end. "My Guitar (Proto 1)" is a ripping instrumental with FZ jamming on the "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" riff. Hearing the guitar from "Nine Types of Industrial Pollution" played at the original speed is extremely interesting. You can hear Frank playing acoustic guitar over a faint, slowed-down drum track. It's rare to hear Zappa play acoustic guitar at all, and his playing here is quite different than what he's normally known for. The live version of "Uncle Meat" sounds great. The instrumental version of "Dog Breath" is a bit more refined and not quite as raucous as the single version...until the guitar solo! Meat Light closes with an alternate mix of "The Dog Breath Variations." This is a set fans have been waiting for for years.The sound is a huge improvement over all previous Uncle Meat CDs and the additional material is all excellent.
Uncle Meat is arguably Zappa's most avant-garde, most dense, most wide-ranging, and one of his most difficult albums for some. It's also one of his very best and Meat Light really does justice to this masterpiece.
by Sean Westergaard
Tracks Disc 1 Original 1969 Vinyl Mix
1. Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme - 1:56
2. The Voice Of Cheese - 0:26
3. Nine Types Of Industrial Pollution - 6:02
4. Zolar Czackl - 0:54
5. Dog Breath, In The Year Of The Plague - 3:59
6. The Legend Of The Golden Arches - 3:27
7. Louie Louie (At the Royal Albert Hall in London) - 2:18
8. The Dog Breath Variations - 1:50
9. Sleeping In A Jar - 0:50
10.Our Bizarre Relationship - 1:05
11.The Uncle Meat Variations - 4:46
12.Electric Aunt Jemima - 1:46
13.Prelude To King Kong - 3:39
14.God Bless America (Live at the Whisky A Go Go) - 1:10
15.A Pound For A Brown On The Bus - 1:29
16.Ian Underwood Whips It Out (Live on stage in Copenhagen) - 5:09
17.Mr. Green Genes - 3:13
18.We Can Shoot You - 2:03
19.“If We’d All Been Living In California...” - 1:14
20.The Air - 2:57
21.Project X - 4:49
22.Cruising For Burgers - 2:18
23.King Kong (as played by the Mothers in a studio) - 0:51
24.King Kong (its magnificence as interpreted by Dom DeWild) - 1:19
25.King Kong (as Motorhead explains it) - 1:45
26.King Kong (the Gardner Varieties) - 6:14
27.King Kong (as played by 3 deranged Good Humor Trucks) - 0:37
28.King Kong (live on a flat bed diesel in the middle of a race track at a Miami Pop Festival... the Underwood ramifications) - 7:24
Disc 2 Original Sequence
1. Dog Breath, In The Year Of The Plague - 2:55
2. The Legend Of The Golden Arches - 3:16
3. The Voice Of Cheese - 0:26
4. Whiskey Wah - 1:34
5. Nine Types Of Industrial Pollution - 6:03
6. Louie Louie (Live at the Royal Albert Hall in London) - 2:27
7. The Dog Breath Variations - 1:51
8. Shoot You Percussion Item - 1:28
9. The Whip - 5:03
10.The Uncle Meat Variations - 4:47
11.King Kong - 10:46
12.Project X Minus 5 - 1:47
13.A Pound For A Brown On The Bus - 1:29
14.Electric Aunt Jemima - 1:46
15.Prelude To King Kong - 3:39
16.God Bless America (Live at the Whiskey A Go Go) - 1:11
17.Sleeping In A Jar - 0:51
18.Cops And Buns - 5:56
19.Zolar Czakl - 0:47
19.Zolar Czakl - 0:47
Disc 3
1. We Can Not Shoot You - 1:16
2. Mr. Green Genes - 3:13
3. “PooYeahrg” - 0:32
4. Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme - 1:27
5. Our Bizarre Relationship - 1:10
6. “Later We Can Shoot You” - 0:15
7. “If We’d All Been Living In California…” - 1:19
8. ‘Ere Ian Whips It/JCB Spits It/Motorhead Rips It - 2:30
9. The Air - 2:58
10.Project X .5 - 2:38
11.Cruising For Burgers - 2:23
12.“A Bunch Of Stuff” - 1:40
13.Dog Breath (Single Version) - 2:55
14.Tango - 0:24
15.The String Quartet - 3:06
16.Electric Aunt Jemima (Mix Outtake) - 1:40
17.Exercise 4 Variant - 4:32
18.Zolar Czackl (Mix Outtake) - 0:45
19.“More Beer!” - 0:17
20.Green Genes Snoop - 1:13
21.Mr. Green Genes (Mix Outtake) - 3:11
22.Echo Pie - 2:16
23.1/4 Tone Unit - 1:06
24.Sakuji’s March - 0:35
25.No. 4 - 1:52
26.Prelude To King Kong (Extended Version) - 5:24
27.Blood Unit - 1:22
28.My Guitar (Proto I- Excerpt) - 2:12
29.Nine Types Of Industrial Pollution (Guitar track, normal speed) - 9:53
30.Uncle Meat (Live at Columbia University 1969) - 4:44
31.Dog Breath (Instrumental) - 2:50
32.The Dog Breath Variations (Mix Outtake) - 1:46
Personnel
*Frank Zappa — Guitar, Low Grade Vocals, Percussion
*Ray Collins — Swell Vocals
*Jimmy Carl Black — Drums, Droll Humor, Poverty
*Roy Estrada — Electric Bass, Cheeseburgers, Pachuco Falsetto
*Don (Dom De Wild) Preston — Electric Piano, Tarot Cards, Brown Rice
*Billy (The Oozer) Mundi — Drums
*Bunk (Sweatpants) Gardner — Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Sax, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Bassoon (All Of These Electric,/Or Nonelectric Depending)
*Ian Underwood — Electric Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, Celeste, Flute, Clarinet, Alto Sax, Baritone Sax, Special Assistance, Copyist, Industrial Relations, Teen Appeal
*Artie (With The Green Mustache) Tripp — Drums, Timpani, Vibes, Marimba, Xylophone, Wood Blocks, Bells, Small Chimes, Cheerful Outlook, Specific Enquires
*Euclid James (Motorhead/Motorishi) Sherwood — Pop Star, Frenetic Tenor Sax Stylings, Tambourine, Choreography, Obstinance, Equipment Setter-Upper When He’s Not Hustling Local Groupies
*Ruth Komanoff Who Plays Marimba, Vibes With Artie On Many Of The Tracks,
*Nelcy Walker - The Soprano Voice
Taking their band and album name from the titular character in the first book of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast series, Titus Groan’s eponymous 1971 album is a heavy, kingsize slab of progressive rock. The sort that rattles window frames and loosens fillings.
Even the Greek Titan Atlas would’ve struggled to support the weight of a song as extraordinarily dense as ‘Hall of Bright Carvings’, and he was known for carrying the substantial burden of the heavens upon his shoulders.
One can almost envisage the heads-down hairiness of the band as they attack their instruments throughout the passage of Titus Groan. Thankfully, this unprovoked assault on their musical apparatus – and the listener’s eardrums – doesn’t register as some unholy and unlistenable mess that’s dribbled down the inside leg of Satan’s own purple loon pants.
Titus Groan, the band’s one and only album, sees the four members getting to grips with a variety of instrumentation, including the usual guitars etc. the ubiquitous organ and piano, and in the case of Tony Priestland, sax, oboe and the progger’s weapon of choice, the common or garden flute.
The combination of sax and oboe incorporates a jazzier influence that breezes across the sometimes impenetrable undercurrent of the guitars and drums, particularly on the opener ‘It Wasn’t For You’. ‘Hall of Bright Carvings’ remains as excellent as ever, with its 12 minute barrage of tuneful noise and occasional medieval flavour, and is easily Titus Groan’s finest moment.
The aforementioned flute comes to the forefront on ‘I Can’t Change’, rendering a more introspective track upon which the intricate melodies weave in and out of the heavy rock grumbling away in the background.
Overall, Titus Groan’s first and last album is progressive rock from the heavier end of the spectrum, free from the overly self-indulgent trappings that bogged down, and ultimately sank, many of their peers.
by Nick James
Tracks
1. It Wasn't for You (Stuart Cowell, Tony Priestland) - 5:32
2. Hall of Bright Carvings (Stuart Cowell, Tony Priestland, Jim Toomey) - 11:39
3. I Can't Change (Titus Groan) - 5:40
4. It's All Up With Us (Stuart Cowell, Tony Priestland, Jim Toomey) - 6:08
5. Fuschia (Tony Priestland) - 6:05
6. Open the Door Homer (Stuart Cowell, Tony Priestland, Jim Toomey) - 3:28
7. Woman of the World (Stuart Cowell, Tony Priestland, Jim Toomey) - 4:27
8. Liverpool (Stuart Cowell, Tony Priestland, Jim Toomey) - 5:52
Bonus Tracks 6-8
Titus Groan
*Stuart Cowell - Guitar, Keyboards, Organ, Piano
*John Lee - Bass
*Tony Priestland - Flute, Oboe, Saxophone, Wind
*Jim Toomey - Drums, Percussion
