Fludd - Fludd (1971 canada, wonderful blend of smart folk, classic rock and glam tinges, 2010 edition)

After toiling away in various local bands in the Toronto area, brothers Brian and Ed Pilling packed their bags and headed to England where they formed Wages Of Sin in 1969. Less than a year later they'd caught the eye of Cat Stevens who took them under his paw, renaming them Zeus and using them as his back-up band. But at odds with Stevens over music direction, the 2 brothers quit and returned to Canada before the end of the year. They recruited bassist Greg Godovitz, who they played with a few years earlier in a band called The Pretty Ones. Add drummer Jorn Andersen and guitarist Mick Walsh, and the first incarnation of Fludd was born.

They became mainstays of the Toronto club scene and soon landed a contract with Warner Bros. Adam Mitchell, most noteable for his stint with The Paupers was brought in to the recording studios in California to help produce the band's debut. Released in '71, the self-titled album featured the Canadian top 20 hit "Turned 21". Work on the second record began the next spring in Toronto, with Mitchell returning as producer. By this time however, Walsh had left and was replaced by fellow Wages Of Sin alumni Mick Hopkins.

While still working on the final touches of the album, they released the single "Get Up, Get Out, Move On" that April. However dissension with their label led Hopkins to return to England, where he formed the group Quartz. After being dropped by Warner Brothers, and sensing a change was in need, Fludd continued on their next project but with a different direction in mind. This led to the hiring of keyboardist Peter Csanky.

Fludd was perhaps better known for the list of musicians who played with the band at one time or another, rather than for the music itself. But it definitely has to be noted that the Pilling brothers, and whoever else was in the band at the time, never bowed to pressure from the executives. Always pushing the envelope, they always did things their way, while recording some of Canada's most under-rated and ground-breaking rock in the process. 

by Frank Davies and Greg Godovitz

Tracks
1. Turned 21 - 2:26
2. Sailing On - 1:42
3. David Copperfield - 3:10
4. The Egg - 3:02
5. Come Back Home - 2:07
6. A Man Like You - 2:33
7. Birmingham - 2:37
8. Mama's Boy (Greg Godovitz) - 2:59
9. Easy Being No One - 2:03
10.Make It Better - 2:51
11.You See Me - 2:17
12.Tuesday Blue - 3:21
All songs by Brian Pilling and Ed Pilling except where noted.

Fludd
*Mick Walsh - Guitar
*Edmund "Ed" Pilling - Vocals
*Brian Pilling - Guitar
*Greg Godovitz - Bass
*Jorn JJ Andersen (John Andersen) - Drums

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Dave Mason - It's Like You Never Left (1973 uk, great classic rock)

Dave Mason may have been done too soon in the sense that Mason hadn't come up with an album's worth of good new material. In fact, he had only six new songs, filling up the collection with covers of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me" and Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" (in an arrangement that recalled the Jimi Hendrix version on which Mason had appeared), as well as a remake of "Every Woman" from the previous album in a longer, more elaborate arrangement with strings. (The version on It's Like You Never Left, despite the presence of Nash, was a near-demo running only one-minute-and-40-seconds.) 

The new songs were good ones, however, particularly "Show Me Some Affection." And while there were no hotshot guest stars this time, the musicians were Mason's road band, including second guitarist Jim Krueger, who would be Mason's partner for many years to come, and keyboardist Mike Finnigan, plus the rhythm section of bassist Bob Glaub and drummer Rick Jagger. The result was a more cohesive band sound in the playing that actually made Dave Mason a stronger musical effort than its predecessor. It also sold better, reaching number 25 during a 25-week chart run and going gold within two years. Even though a hit single would elude Mason until he came up with "We Just Disagree" in 1977, many of the songs on It's Like You Never Left and Dave Mason joined perennials such as "Feelin' Alright?" and "Only You Know and I Know" in his concert repertoire, and these albums helped re-establish him with fans. 

Over the years, several different record companies licensed It's Like You Never Left and Dave Mason from Columbia Records for reissue together on a single CD. In 2007, the British Acadia label accidentally pressed its version with the tracks from Dave Mason sequenced ahead of those from It's Like You Never Left, even though the CD booklet indicated that the opposite was the case; thus, on this disc, the tracks shown as one-ten were really ten-nineteen, and those shown as eleven-nineteen were really one-nine.

by William Ruhlmann

Tracks
1. Baby... Please - 3:15
2. Every Woman - 1:40
3. If You've Got Love - 3:24
4. Maybe - 4:03
5. Head Keeper - 3:36
6. Misty Morning Stranger - 4:32
7. Silent Partner - 3:03
8. Side Tracked (Mason, Jordan, Jaeger, Turner) - 3:34
9. The Lonely One - 4:43
10. It's Like You Never Left - 3:03
All songs by Dave Mason except where stated

Personnel
*Dave Mason - Guitar, Vocals
*Graham Nash - Guitar, Vocals, Synthesizer
*Chuck Rainey - Bass
*Rick Jaeger - Drums
*Rocky - Congas
*Jim Keltner - Drums
*Clydie King, Julis Tillman - Vocals
*Kathleen Saroyan, Maxine Willard - Vocals
*Carl Radle - Bass
*Mark Jordan - Piano
*Greg Reeves - Bass
*Nastyee - Congas
*Stevie Wonder - Harmonica
*Malcolm Cecil - Moog
*Lonnie Turner - Bass
*Dennis Morouse, Norma Bell, Steve Madaio - Horns

1970  Dave Mason - Alone Together (Japan remaster)
1972  Dave Mason - Headkeeper (Japan SHM remaster)
1976-77  Certified Live / Let It Flow  (2011 remaster)

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