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Wednesday, May 27, 2026

rep>>> Sons of Champlin - The Sons (1969 us, fabulous psych jazz rock, 2005 japan issue)



The Sons of Champlin's sprawling, double-LP debut album, Loosen Up Naturally, had its launch marred by the discovery of an obscenity in the cover art that resulted in a mass recall and ruined its commercial chances. 

They were also beset by internal strife, and when the time came to release their second album only six months later, they chose to de-emphasize the primacy of lead singer and main songwriter Bill Champlin by shortening their name to "the Sons" and also giving that name to the record. But their music remained essentially the same, a mixture of Champlin's thoughtful lyrics and gritty singing with Terry Haggerty's inventive lead guitar work and the two-man horn section of Tim Caine and Geoffrey Palmer. 

As usual, there was almost too much going on in the arrangements, which gave the songs touches of folk, rock, jazz, and psychedelia, often in the same song, as a couple of the tunes extended beyond ten minutes in length, changing tempo and feel in mid-flight. Clearly, this was a band that was accustomed to using its songs as frameworks for free playing in concert, but the bandmembers still hadn't quite figured out how that worked in the studio, and their arguments about musical direction could be heard in the music itself. 

Champlin remained the strongest presence in the band, but his songs (all of which were credited to the Sons communally) took a backseat to the group that was playing them any way it wanted to. The results could be exhilarating, if in a somewhat anarchic way.
by William Ruhlmann
Tracks
1. Love Of A Woman - 7:54
2. Terry's Tune - 3:47
3. Boomp Boomp Chop - 10:08
4. Why Do People Run From The Rain - 3:29
5. It's Time - 3:57
6. Country Girl - 1:49
7. You Can Fly - 11:33
All compositions by Jim Beem, Bill Bowen, Tim Caine, Bill Champlin, Terry Haggerty, Geoffrey Palmer, Al Strong

The Sons of Champlin
*Jim Beem  - Trumpet
*Bill Bowen  - Drums
*Tim Caine  - Saxophone
*Bill Champlin  - Guitar, Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals
*Terry Haggerty  - Guitar, Vocals
*Geoffrey Palmer  - Bass, Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals
*Al Strong  - Bass

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rep>>> Wizards From Kansas - Wizards From Kansas (1970 us, splendid rural psych folk rock with west coast breeze, 2007 digi pak remaster and 2012 expanded edition)



Truly The Wizards From Kansas are America’s finest horseman to gallop the spirited clouds of the Cherokee.The Wizards started their journey as Pig Newton launching their 1968 debut album Still In Kansas that pushed out a wah wah sapped version of Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” and the speckled “Exchange Of Clouds”. Wizards From Kansas blew Bill Graham’s mind during their enduring gifted sets at the Fillmore East in the summer of 1970. These convincing live performances gave the group a recording break which put out their self titled masterpiece.

The lineup now slightly changed has John Paul Coffin playing some of the most exact lead breaks ever to slit the Stars & Stripes particularly on the galloping “Ride With The Witches” where the vox command of Robert Joseph Menadier and his fortified bass takes full charge and authority.The obvious strength of the group was ex Little Boy Blues drummer Marc Evan Caplan who rolls with an incredibly deliberate shuttle, often in jazz restrain. The songsmith behind the Wizards was twelve- string guitarist Robert Manson Crain who wrote six tracks while guitarist Harold Earl Pierce often helped out on vox when Caplan took percussion.

The Wizards were in the same esoteric drift as Clear Light or Emitt Rhodes without Coffin’s fiery breaks.The acoustic tranquility is crystalline as it flows through “Misty Mountainside” and even more meditated upon is the spaced version of Bill Wheeler’s “High Flying Bird” far more voluptuous than We Five or Judy Henske. A stimulating edge spits through Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Codine” influenced by the Quicksilver jam session with Blood Sweat & Butterfield Mark Naftalin on keyboards.
by Shiloh Noone
Tracks
1. High Flying Bird (Billy Edd Wheeler) - 5:07 
2. High Mister (Harold Earl Pierce, M.A. Heiman) - 2:36
3. 912 1/2 Mass (Robert Joseph Menadier, Robert Manson Crain, T. Crain) - 5:00
4. Codine (Buffy Sainte Marie) - 5:56
5. Freedom Speech (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:42
6. Flyaway Days (Ronald Sandhauss) - 4:07
7. Misty Mountainside (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:38 
8. Country Drawn (Robert Manson Crain) - 2:22
9. She Rides With Witches (Robert Manson Crain) - 4:06
Bonus Tracks 2012 Sunbeam Expended edition
10.All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - 4:04
11.Codeine (Buffy Sainte Marie) - 5:44
12.Clouds Of Exchange (Ronald Sandhauss) - 5:16
13.High Flying Bird (Billy Edd Wheeler) - 5:18
14.Country Dawn (Robert Manson Crain) - 2:36
15.Flyaway Daze (Ronald Sandhauss) - 4:34
16.She Rides With Witches (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:36
17.Misty Mountainside (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:23
18.River Road (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:35
Bonus Tracks 10-18 only on 2012 edition
Track 18 from reunion on 2010

The Wizards From Kansas
*Robert Joseph Menadier - Bass, Vocal
*Marc Evan Caplan - Drums, Percussion
*John Paul Coffin - Lead Guitar
*Robert Manson Crain - Guitar, Vocals
*Harold Earl Pierce - Guitar, Vocals
With 
*Mark Naftalin - Keyboards

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