Sunday, December 22, 2013

Rare Bird - Somebody's Watching (1973 uk, great mild prog rock, 2008 remaster)



Self-produced 1973's "Somebody's Watching" found the band continuing to troll the progressive playground, but just barely.  To be honest, by this point in their career Rare Bird had essentially become a pop band.  The only real link to their progressive past was 'Dollars' which was an interesting instrumental adaption of Steve Winwood's Traffic meets Ennio Morricone's "A Few Dollars More".  

Elsewhere, featuring largely group-penned material, songs such as the tile track and 'Third Time Around' were shorter, more focused and quite commercial (as in suitable for radio).  With the addition of guitarist Andy Curtis Gould seemed to have become comfortable as lead singer and the band's forays into folk-rock ('Turn Your Head' and 'Hard Time') were among the set highlights.  
Tracks
1. Somebody's Watching (S. Gould, F. Kelly, D. Kaffinetti, A. Curtis) - 5:26
2. Third Time Around (S. Gould, F. Kelly, D. Kaffinetti, A. Curtis) - 4:56
3. Turn Your Head (S. Gould, F. Kelly, D. Kaffinetti, A. Curtis) - 4:39
4. More And More (S. Gould, F. Kelly, D. Kaffinetti, A. Curtis) - 4:06
5. Hard Time (Blondie Chaplin, Ricky Fataar) - 3:06
6. Who Is The Hero (Kevin Lamb) - 3:40
7. High In The Morning (Paul Korda) - 3:32
8. Dollars (S. Gould, F. Kelly, D. Kaffinetti, A. Curtis) - 0:31
9. A Few Dollars More (Ennio Morricone) - 8:12
10.Virginia (S. Gould, F. Kelly, D. Kaffinetti) - 3:11
11.Lonely Street (S. Gould, F. Kelly, D. Kaffinetti) - 4:16

Rare Bird
*Steve Gould - Bass, Guitar, Saxophone, Vocals
*Dave Kaffinetti - Organ, Synthesizer, Piano, Keyboards, Clavinet
*Andy Curtis - Guitar
*Nic Potter - Bass
*Fred Kelly - Percussion, Drums, Vocals
With
*John Wetton - Bass
*Paul Korda - Vocals
*Nicky James - Vocals
*Kevin Lamb - Vocals
*Sammy Abu - Percussion, Conga
*Paul Holland - Percussion, Conga
*Al Matthews - Percussion, Conga

1969  Rare Bird - Rare Bird (2007 Esoteric remaster bonus tracks issue)
1970  Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By  (2007 Esoteric remaster bonus tracks issue)
1972  Rare Bird - Epic Forest
1974  Rare Bird - Born Again (2008 Esoteric remaster)

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