Born in Sayre, Pennsylvania on February 11, 1917. As a child, his father Antonio (Tony) played an Enrico Caruso disc for young Johnny and from that time on Johnny knew what he wanted to do with his life. As a result he became a child prodigy singing whenever possible in public or private in the Sayre, Athens and Towanda area of Pennsylvania, as well as Waverly, New York, and as far as Scranton, Pennsylvania and Elmira, New York. He turned professional as a child after winning a talent show/contest that was produced in Sayre at the Sayre Theatre by the great 'Blackstone the Magician' in c.1926.
Young Johnny sang for every club or organization in the area that needed or wanted talent to perform for their various causes,i.e. The Elks, Lions, The D.A.R. et,al. In 1932 after a fire almost destroyed the family home, young Johnny, with his father's blessing, decided to travel alone to NYC to become a band vocalist. His childhood idols and inspirations were Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo, Red McKenzie, as well as Caruso.
The album was released in a private edition of 300 copies and most of them were given away to family and friends. In the late 80s, one of those copies was unearthed by rare record dealer Paul Major, who was one of the first persons to appreciate the singularities of “Reachin’ Arcesia”. Since then, the album, which mixes over the top crooner vocals with late 60s acid-rock / pop arrangements is now considered a lounge-psych / real people masterpiece.
Tracks
1. Pictures In My Window (J. Johnson, Perry) - 2:31
2. Soul Wings - 4:01
3. White Panther - 2:31
4. Leaf - 3:00
5. Voice Of Love - 2:34
6. Reaching (Furth, Perry, Arcessi) - 2:43
7. Summer Of Love (D. Totten, Perry) - 3:14
8. Mechanical Doll - 1:51
9. Butterfly Mind - 2:52
10.Desiree (J. Johnson, Lejon) - 3:02
11.Rainy Sunday - 3:24
All songs by John Arcessi and Lejon except where stated.
Tales of Justine only had one single, 1967's "Albert (A Pet Sunflower)"/"Monday Morning," both sides of which are included on this release. But with the addition of 13 tracks recorded between August 1967 and January 1969 that were unreleased at the time, there's enough for a full album with this LP, pressed in a limited edition of 1000 copies. Entirely written by David Daltrey (except one song he co-wrote with Paul Myerson), it's very much in the school of flowery British pop that, ahem, flowered in the period just post-Sgt. Pepper's
Even by the gaudy standards of the style, it's inclined toward storybookish lyrics and precious melodies, quite possibly taken to excess on "Obsolete Incident," which manages to fit in references to whitewashed coal, chocolate flowers, a clock that runs backwards, and sunburned toast just in the first 40 seconds. Orchestration gets loaded into the mix on the five tracks recorded in December 1968, perhaps looking forward to the kind of musicals on which producer Tim Rice and arranger Andrew Lloyd Webber would collaborate in the near future. If you're the kind of listener who just loves, say, the Hollies in their most psychedelic period around the time of Butterfly, you may well find this to your liking, though it's on the candy-coated side even in comparison with the Hollies' sweetest pop-psychedelia. A harder side surfaces on "Evil Woman," with its pungent psychedelic organ. basic mod rock, and freak-out instrumental break, but that's an atypical effort in the context of this collection.
Though Tales of Justine were yet more precious in their approach. Bandmember and singer/songwriter David Daltrey was featured in the early Rice-Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and later formed the group Carillion, a support act in a tour during David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust phase. The group's single, and numerous unreleased tracks from 1967-1969, were compiled on the 1,000-copy limited-edition Tenth Planet LP Petals from a Sunflower in 1997.
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. Albert (A Pet Sunflower) - 2:51
2. Monday Morning - 3:22
3. Sunday School - 3:24
4. Evil Woman (David Daltrey, Paul Myerson) - 3:33
5. Obsolete Incident - 2:39
6. Music To Watch Us By - 3:05
7. Sitting On A Blunestone - 2:40
8. So Happy - 3:10
9. Morpheus - 4:02
10.Aurora - 2:53
11.Something Special - 2:44
12.Pathway - 3:41
13.Saturn - 3:19
14.Jupiter - 2:16
15.So Much Love To Give You - 3:27
All songs written by David Daltrey except where indicated
You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here is generally considered Ralph McTell's finest album; it is also one of the best albums of the singer/songwriter movement of the early 1970s. Gus Dudgeon (Elton John) was enlisted as producer, and he brought in guitarist Caleb Quaye, as well as Roger Pope and, on mandolin, Davey Johnston. The sessions also featured soon-to-be-famous keyboardist Rick Wakeman and arranger/conductor (and future David Bowie producer) Tony Visconti, among others. Like Dudgeon's early Elton John records, You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here had a restrained production in which the added instrumentation and string arrangements were only used to support McTell's vocals and acoustic guitar.
The songs made for a loose concept album that began with creation ("Genesis I Verse 20"); continued with primitive man ("First and Last Man"); and, while taking in love ("In Some Way I Loved You"), drinking, and celebration ("Lay Your Money Down"), man's best friend ("Old Brown Dog"), and war ("Pick Up a Gun"), merged into the singer's own autobiography. The second half of the album revolves around character and story songs, but the whole album reflects McTell's broad experience, especially of some of the seamier sides of life. In that sense, the substitution on the American version of the album of his most famous song, "Streets of London," for "Chalkdust," which appeared on the British version, was an appropriate one, since it fit with the sympathetic depictions of other poor people on the record. McTell's calm singing and the discreet touches of Dudgeon's production gave these portraits even greater depth, making this a singularly impressive work.
by William Ruhlmann
Tracks
1. Genesis 1:20 - 4:28
2. First And Last Man - 3:35
3. In Some Way I Loved You - 2:54
4. Lay Your Money Down - 2:48
5. Old Brown Dog - 4:25
6. Pick Up A Gun - 4:19
7. You, Well Meaning Brought Me Here - 3:15
8. Chalk Dust - 3:15
9. The Ballad Of Dancing Doreen - 3:08
10. Claudia - 3:46
11. The Ferryman - 7:04
Music and Lyrics by Ralph McTell
This unique and fascinating album has belatedly garnered a considerable following in recent years as a result of the new interest in what is nowadays referred to as Acid Folk. In reality it’s finely-structured acoustic folk-rock, but with strong elements of psychedelic studio treatment and twentieth-century avant-garde classical and choral music. Until now it’s only rated a couple of oblique references in these pages; now it’s time to give it the full exposure it deserves.
The album was the product of a chance conversation between Los Angeles periodontist Linda Perhacs and one of her patients, film score composer Leonard Roseman. Perhacs had written the songs as a hobby sideline, composing with just modally-tuned acoustic guitar and her own beautifully clear voice. Stimulated by Perhacs’s own graphic visualisation of her composition “Parallelograms” as “visual music sculpture” encompassing light, form and colour as well as sound, Roseman offered to develop her songs into an album, arranging and enhancing them in George Martin fashion and utilising the services of his studio’s state-of-the-art technology plus session musicians including guitarist Steve Cohn and percussionists Milt Holland and Shelley Manne. The stunning results found a release on Kapp records, but there the interest stalled; the label pressed the songs out of sequence with dull AM-friendly equalisation on poor quality vinyl, and then proffered no publicity for it, and the brashly commercial Los Angeles AM radio stations refused to play it. When what would become her first and only album in almost four decades tanked, Perhacs went back to the day job.
Over thirty years later she was alerted to the fact that the new generation of Acid Folk musicians such as Devendra Banhart were drawing inspiration from her long-lost work. Reissued by Wild Places in 1996 and by Sunbeam in 2008, the currently-available CD is correctly sequenced, beautifully remastered and comes with eight bonus demos, alternative versions and unreleased songs plus a superb booklet history by Perhacs herself. Perhaps best of all, its belated success has induced Perhacs to start creating music again and she’s issued two albums of new music in partnership with musician/producer Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl since 2007.
The quirky acoustic guitar tunings of Parallelograms may suggest early Joni Mitchell and the clear, crystalline vocals similar-period Joan Baez, but on this album Linda Perhacs utterly transcends both with her dazzling originality. The gently-rippling guitar arpeggios and cascading multi-tracked harmonies of the opening “Chimacum Rain” set out the collection’s predominant motifs, but the following “Paper Mountain Man” is surprisingly funky and blues-inflected with its jazzy percussion and distant, ethereal harmonica, and the wonderfully ironic critique of South Californian society marital celebrations, “Porcelain Baked-Over Cast-Iron Wedding”, rocks along similarly on oriental percussion and delightfully atonal 12-string.
Head and shoulders above the rest, the title track even eschews proper lyrics, the singer’s tongue playing mischievously with the syllables of the title and the names of other geometric forms in a sinuous flow of sound, broken by a Gyorgy Ligeti-like musique concrete interlude, all being the product of Roseman’s realisation of Perhacs’s original scroll-like pictorial depiction of the song. “Moons And Cattails” and “Morning Colours” are similarly, though slightly less, experimental, the former again utilising superbly melismatic vocals and the latter glorious electronically-processed flute obbligati. The rest is more conventional, but still well to the left of the field. As with the avant-garde music that largely inspired it, this is an album to be listened to, not merely heard.
by Len Liechti
Tracks
1. Chimacum Rain - 3:33
2. Paper Mountain Man - 3:13
3. Dolphin - 2:56
4. Call Of The River - 3:51
5. Sandy Toes - 3:00
6. Parallelograms - 4:36
7. Hey, Who Really Cares? (Perhacs, Nelson) - 2:44
8. Moons And Cattails - 4:09
9. Morning Colors - 4:48
10.Porcelain Baked-Over Cast-Iron Wedding - 4:01
11.Delicious - 4:08
12.If You Were My Man (Demo) - 3:30
13.If You Were My Man (Alt. Take) - 2:59
14.Hey, Who Really Cares? (With Intro) - 3:01
15.Chimacum Rain (Demo) - 3:45
16.Spoken Intro To Leonard Rosenman - 2:19
17.Chimacum Rain (Demo With Sounds) - 4:13
18.BBC Interview - 5:52
19.I Would Rather Love - 3:06
All tracks composed and written by Linda Perhacs, except where noted.
In its original vinyl form, Dr. Z's Three Parts to My Soul rates among the most valuable British prog albums of all time. But it is a rarity among such rarities in that it is also as good as a high three-figure value leaves you hoping it would be. Dr. Z was discovered by Nirvana UK frontman Patrick Campbell-Lyons, who is also credited as executive producer on the album. But Three Parts could not be further from its mentor's taste for eclectic airiness. The dominant mood is of percussive keyboards, alternately majestic and militaristic, the sound, if you like, of a Keith Emerson harpsichord concerto if Carl Palmer matched him note for note on a kettle drum. The vocals, meanwhile, have that kind of bellowed edge of conviction which makes every lyric resonate like a profoundly meaningful motto.
The first half of the near-singalong "Spiritus Manes et Umbra" moves like a battalion of tanks, with the LP's title itself rendered as compulsive a chant as any "gabba gabba hey" could be. There are moments of less-than-scintillating activity: the four-minute drum solo which punctuates that same song flags long before the chorus careens back into view, while "Summer for the Rose" is a ponderous snarling in desperate need of melody. At its most inventive and textured, however, Three Parts is an excellent example of early-'70s prog at its deepest and darkest, as inventive as it is occasionally magpie-like. "Burn in Anger," the most commercial song in sight, is a dead-ringer for a classic rock hit which will forever float just beyond your ability to name it, while the closing "In a Token of Despair" is a tour de force of Floydian winds, Crimson-ish signatures, and electifyingly symphonic structure. The Si Wan reissue concludes with two bonus tracks drawn from a similarly rare Dr. Z single released a year or so before the LP. Produced by the Pretty Things' Dick Taylor, "Lady Ladybird" and "People in the Street" have little in common with the main attraction beyond a similar taste for crashing drums and keyboards; the world's first orchestral garage band.
by Dave Thompson
Dr. Z's first and only album is the most rare record released on the Vertigo-swirl label. It sold only about 70 copies (!!) when it was released, and the rest of the pressings were trashed.
Tracks
1. Evil Woman's Manly Child - 4:47
2. Spiritus, Manes Et Umbra - 11:52
3. Summer For The Rose - 4:36
4. Burn In Anger - 3:26
5. Too Well Satisfied - 5:52
6. In A Token Of Despair - 10:33
7. Lady Ladybird - 2:47
8. People In The Street - 3:09
All compositions by Keith Keyes
Dr Z
*Keith Keyes - Piano, Harpsichord, Organ, Vocals
*Bob Watkins - Drums, Percussion
*Rob Watson - Bass
Redbone's story is interesting from more then one point of view. The band itself of course, who had a great career, with ups and downs. The fact that the musicians were all native americans from different origins (Cherokee, Yaquis, Apaches and Shoshones...). Their political implication and the fact their were censored that shows a very interesting political and social background of the US nation. All this plus the fact that they produced a unique, powerfull and soulfull music !
Lolly and Pat Vegas were well-known musicians in the rock and jazz "milieu"in Los Angeles during the sixties. Candido Albelando Vasquez (Lolly Vegas) and Patrick Morales Vasquez (Pat Vegas) were born in Fresno, California. The brothers were of mixed Yaqui/Shoshone and mexican descent. Very early the singing/guitar playing brothers began their musical careers backing and touring with Jimmy Clanton of "Just A Dream" fame. In 1961 the brothers relocated to Los Angeles.
The brothers played with Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson at the Monterey Jazz and Pop Festival before relocating to Los Angeles in 1963. Calling themselves the Avantis, the brothers attempted to cash in on the surf craze popularized by Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys, with such songs as "Gypsy Surfer" and "Wax 'em Down" on the Chancellor label, and "The Phantom Surfer" on the Regency label. The Avantis featured future Beach Boy drummer Mike Kowalski, and their recordings earned them an opening slot on a Beach Boys' tour.
The Vasquez brothers also recorded the singles "Let's Go" as the Routers, "Surf Stomp" and "Batman" as the Mar-kets, and "Hotrodders' Choice," "Dawn Patrol," "Double A Fueller," and "Satan's Chariot" as the Deuce Coupes. The 1963 Deuce Coupes' sessions featured impressive session help from Glen Campbell, David Gates, and Leon Russell.
They then meet manager/producer Bumps Blackwell who suggest they change their names to Pat & Lolly Vegas. In 1963, Pat & Volly Vegas recorded "Boom, Boom, Boom" and "Two Figures" for the Reprise label (Reprise 20199).
Bumps Blackwell helped the brothers become the house band at Los Angeles' The Haunted House. In 1966, produced by Leon Russell and Snuff Garrett they would record an album for Mercury entitled "Pat & Lolly Vegas At the Haunted House"
While fulfilling a residency at a Los Angeles nightclub named Gazzarri's, the Vegas brothers met guitarist Tony Bellamy. A Yaqui Indian who had performed with Dobie Gray, and a member of Peter and the Wolves (a San Francisco band that evolved into the psychedelic band Moby Grape), Bellamy had grown up in a family of dancers and musicians. He had learned to play flamenco guitar as part of his musical education as well, and he was recruited by the Vegas brothers to accompany them on session work with Odetta, John Lee Hooker, and the Everly Brothers.
According to Pat, it was Jimi Hendrix who talked the musicians into forming an all-Native American rock group. Vegas told Record Collector writer Jeremy Isaac, "Hendrix was a friend of ours.... and he was half Indian. Once he knew that we were Indian too he used to come and hang with us because of that. Jimi made me aware of my roots: He'd say 'Native American is beautiful, man, be proud of that.'"
Signed to CBS's Epic subsidiary in 1969, the band took its name from the Cajun epithet "Rehbon", meaning half-breed, and its self-titled debut album Redbone, released in 1970, was an extraordinary affair. Think of it: an unknown band producing its first record and releasing a double album. Redbone played primarily rock music with R&B, Cajun, Jazz, tribal, and Latin roots. This first album was released as a double album in North America. In Europe it was released both as a double (EPC 67242) and as a single album (BN 26280) on the Epic label.
Lolly was one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of the distinctive Leslie rotating speaker effect in his electric guitar amplification set-up. Vegas played improvised, jazz-influenced guitar. Drummer Peter DePoe (born 1943, Neah Bay, Washington) is credited with pioneering the "King Kong" style of drumming, which features sharply accented polyrhythms involving the bass and snare drums and is similar to funk styles of drumming. The band referred to DePoe's "King Kong Beat" in their lyrics to the song "Prehistoric Rhythm" on their debut album. Pat Vegas' style of bass playing is still coveted by bass players in the world, even taught in college courses of music. The level of creativity each member held on his own instrument added to the power of the band.
Tracks
1. Crazy Cajun Cakewalk Band (Jim Ford, Lolly Vegas, Pat Vegas) - 3:08
2. Prehistoric Rhythm - 3:58
3. Niki Hokey (Jim Ford, Lolly Vegas, Pat Vegas) - 3:17
4. Promise I Won't Let It Show - 3:07
5. Minor Seven Heaven - 4:21
6. Night Come Down - 3:53
7. Tennessee Girl - 2:25
8. Rebecca - 3:05
9. Jambone (Lolly Vegas, Pat Vegas, Pete Depoe, Tony Bellamy) - 7:48
10.Little Girl - 3:57
11.Chance To See - 4:32
12.Red And Blue - 2:44
13.Suite Mode (Pat Vegas, Pete Depoe, Tony Bellamy) - 8:22
14.(I Can't) Handle It - 5:36
15.I'm A Man - 2:57
16.Danse Calinda - 2:45
17.Things Go Better (Lolly Vegas, Pat Vegas, Pete Depoe, Tony Bellamy) - 7:34
All songs by Lolly Vegas except where stated
Wake Up! was originally recorded and released in 1970 by a band that seemingly lacked the wherewithal to manage such a thing. A practised and experienced live outfit that had made a name for itself in and around Munich, the members of Out Of Focus hit the studio for the first time having procured label support from Eckart Rahn’s Kuckuck which had established itself the year before. However, the band was usually stoned and their live set featured prolonged jams that could see them playing for 3 hours. The discipline and rigour of the studio presented a challenge to the band who had to be made aware of the need for accuracy, tuning and brevity. “It took them a bit of adjustment,” remembers Rahn.
Nevertheless, there was a genuine desire to allow the band their artistic freedom and capture something of the socially conscious, psychedelic, and slightly surreal live experience that had made them a popular act in the first place. So they had two long weekends to track the album and, on listening to it, it has that cohesive, driven quality that often comes from the exquisite pressure of time.
Opening with See How A White Negro Flies, we get an immediate sense of the musical direction this album is going to take. A heavy, plodding, psychedelic groove supported by a spectacular ‘walking’ bass motif combines tightly with Klaus Spφri’s energetic and busy drumming while Remigius Drechsler pulls off a riff that would turn Ennio Morricone green. Drechsler’s guitar work is a highlight of the album and the band’s overall sound. He combines spastic thrashing rhythm work with electrifying, fuzzed and distorted lead work as well as dealing in clean picked box-riffs and gently strummed atmospherics. You get a real sense of this range in God Save The Queen Cried Jesus which cycles through vivid shades and phases led as much by Moran NeumÏŒller’s wonderfully dynamic flute work as his off-the-wall, impassioned and theatrical vocal delivery. NeumÏŒller’s declamatory squawking is something of an acquired taste however, often sounding too much like a hangover from ‘60s American protest music, although occasionally, he sounds passingly like Jim Morrison.
Hey John is an extended jam on a rising and descending chord pattern held dramatically and melodically in tow by NeumÏŒller’s flute. Again Spφri’s athletic drumming is powerfully supported at every turn with fluid and intuitive bass runs while Hennes Hering (organs, piano) and NeumÏŒller interject lengthy improvisational solos over the shifting weight and changing light of the band’s delicately calculated soft/loud dynamic. No Name has a similar feel in its brief, shouty moment and is perhaps remarkable in that it predates by some 7 or 8 years the raucous, New Wave aggro of early Ian Dury And The Blockheads.
Out Of Focus’ strength lies firmly in their instrumental endeavours. With the two closing tracks being longer than ten minutes each, there’s plenty of scope for the improvisatory excursions that have served them well throughout the album. There’s little development of the formula, just energetic, occasionally frenetic shaping of the dynamics. It’s raw and vivid, but I’m not getting much out of it by the end, just roach burn.
This is a fairly convincing debut that mashes several strands of the underground scene from the late ‘60s into a blend of Traffic, The Doors, early (Saucerful Of Secrets) Floyd with the hard rock of The Edgar Broughton Band and Atomic Rooster. Having said that, Out Of Focus are resolutely their own band with their own sound and their own take on the underground music scene of their day. It has an immediate appeal, made all the more attractive by Ben Wiseman’s excellent remaster.
by Jon Bradshaw
Tracks
1. See How A White Negro Flies - 5:49
2. God Save The Queen, Cried Jesus - 7:31
3. Hey John - 9:39
4. No Name - 3:07
5. World's End - 9:56
6. Dark, Darker - 11:40
All compositions by Out Of Focus
Following CBS bailing out on Skin Alley, the band carried on regardless, gigging across the country and even getting a slot on the legendary Glastonbury Fayre Festival and subsequent live album. To help entice a new label, the band entered Trident Studios in London to lay down some new material under the guidance of the then largely unknown producer Roy Thomas Baker. Drawing on material from the unreleased Stop Versuschka album, the group recorded an expanded version of Sun Music which helped ink the deal with Transatlantic Records, originally a folk label that had recently started diversifying into more progressive music by signing such artists as Stray and Peter Bardens. Upon signing the deal, the quartet, Bob James, Krzystof Juskiewucz, Nick Graham and Tony Knight, immediately settled into Rockfield Studios with regular producer Fritz Fryer to record their third album proper.
Opening number Nick's Seven showed the band in a new light. A muscular rock number with James in fine form with his lead guitar attack which lead the way for the new direction the band were heading in; away from the blues and jazz of the CBS years into a sound more akin to Welsh band Man. The band let loose with layers of vocal harmonies, which were also present on the next track So Many People which also featured Graham's flute. This song is much more open and jamming than previous releases giving it a looseness that is dispelled by the rockier Bad Words And Evil People. A lively repetitive piano motif permeates the song instilling it with a feel similar to Graham's old band, Atomic Rooster, particularly with the organ solo at the end of the piece.
Graveyard Shuffle is also driven by the piano but is a more sedate and reflective piece featuring James on slide guitar. Whereas previous albums had been dominated by compositions from Bob James, Two Quid Deal is largely the work of Nick Graham. Of the two 'new' pieces written by James, So Glad is the most unusual and proggy with a variety of instruments, including an accordion, blended into the mix. Perhaps coming over a mite twee on first hearing, it soon gets into the brain!
Graham's A Final Coat once again features his flute playing as well as the welcome return of James' saxophone. At times sounding a bit like Caravan, again the piece is very free flowing and open which lends it an air of improvisation. Another resurrection from the Stop Versuschka album, the slightly renamed and reworked instrumental Skin Valley Serenade, keeps its Camelesque demeanour and is a fine piece of music, as is Demagogue whose opening lyrical onslaught reminds me of Long Time Gone by David Crosby. Other than that the two songs have absolutely nothing in common!
The original album ends with the excellent Sun Music, the track that prompted Transatlantic to sign the band. Ironically it practically stands alone in style to the remainder of the album, being largely acoustic. The live 'Glastonbury Fayre' version is also included as a bonus track and, is better suited to my tastes than the album version, with a more hippy/psychedelic sound, which is even further removed from the style of the album! However, I do feel it was a mistake to replace the flute lines of the live version with organ. Second bonus track is the A side of the single released on the same day as the album, You Got Me Danglin'. An ideal single for the times and it is surprising that it failed to crack the charts, but nice to have it included on this release.
Two Quid Deal was the band's bestselling album which is a justifiable reflection of the quality and consistency of the album. However, the band couldn't capitalise on this as their future lay in a different direction as the first white non-American group to sign to the Stax label and recording of a final album (Skintight) in the US which introduced a more commercial and funky direction to the music. The album, released in November 1973, was a flop and before 1974 had hardly begun the band split. This one is probably the most 'prog friendly' and although a fine album just misses gaining a coveted recommended tag. But don't let that deter you from checking it out!
by Mark Hughes
Tracks
1. Nick's Seven (Nick Graham) - 5:00
2. So Many People (Bob James) - 6:07
3. Bad Words And Evil People (Nick Graham) - 6:13
4. Graveyard Shuffle (Nick Graham) - 4:45
5. So Glad (Bob James) - 5:23
6. A Final Coat (Nick Graham) - 5:00
7. Skin Valley Serenade (Bob James, Tony Knight) - 3:40
8. The Demagogue (Nick Graham) - 5:16
9. Sun Music (Bob James) - 5:00
Skin Alley
*Bob James - Guitars, Lead Vocals, Saxophone, Flute
*Nick Graham - Bass, Vocals
*Tony Knight - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*Krzysztof Juszkiewicz - Piano, Organ, Vocals
While The Exception were well-known locally, toured Europe, and recorded an album along with several innovative singles, they were unable to attain the level of success worthy of the collective talents within the band. The core of the group consisted of drummer Alan "Bugsy" Eastwood and guitarist Roger Hill who were both former members of The Brumbeats.
A blues-based line-up known as 'The Hooties' were formed in Birmingham during the summer of 1966 with guitarist Roger Hill, Alan "Bugsy" Eastwood on drums, and Tony Clarkson on bass guitar. Alan and Roger had previously played together in The Brumbeats with Roger later joining Steve Gibbons in The Uglys. Dave Pegg (also from The Uglys) was recruited to replace Tony Clarkson who left later that year and went on to join World Of Oz. The idea at the time was to create a trio along the same lines as Eric Clapton's 'Cream'. Rehearsals at Bugsy's house near Spaghetti Junction soon resulted in a very tight-sounding line-up.
The Hooties played many of the well-known local venues including Old Hill Plaza, The Ritz (King's Heath), and The Belfry (Sutton Coldfield). They exploited their instrumental skills on-stage by sometimes swapping instruments in addition to Alan also playing harmonica or vibes as well as playing drums and singing lead vocals at the same time!
In addition to performing blues standards and radio hits, Alan Eastwood began composing original material for the band. One of Dave Pegg's friends was future Led Zeppelin star Robert Plant who at the time was contracted to CBS Records. Robert recommended The Hooties to well-known music publisher Eddie Kassner which gained the band a recording contract with CBS.
Re-naming themselves 'The Exceptions' their first single release was recorded at Regent Sound studios in London. Robert Plant actually played tambourine on the A-side titled 'The Eagle Flies On Friday' which was a powerful drums and vibes driven track. This, along with the B-side 'Girl Trouble' were both original compositions by Alan Eastwood.
In 1968 another Exception single titled 'Helicopter' had been issued so no time was wasted in selecting John's replacement. Following a recommendation from Dave Pegg, bass guitarist Malcolm Garner joined in September 1968 by which time the band had relocated to London. Malcolm had previously played in Brum bands The Andicaps and the Jasper Stubbs Gloryland Band. Saxophone player Steve Yetson also joined the line-up to help fill out the sound on-stage. Malcolm recalls; "We lived at the Madison Hotel, Sussex Gardens in Paddington. From there we undertook two extensive tours of Germany including West Berlin which was a big deal in those days."
The German tours left lasting memories for Malcolm Garner; "At a gig in Lansdberg near Munich, we were contacted by members of the Landsberg Blues Club who wanted lots of blues so we obliged. Gigs in West Berlin were memorable because of the trip through the GDR and hassles with Soviet soldiers. We were scared stiff when we went to East Berlin via 'Checkpoint Charlie' and the Soviets wouldn't let us return to West Berlin!"
Despite recording and releasing more Alan Eastwood composed singles including the excellent 'Jack Rabbit', chart success still eluded the band. Alan also had his own solo single issued on President in mid 1968 titled 'Blackbird Charlie'. In light of this it seems strange then that Eddie Kassner had The Exception record an entire album that was released early in 1969. The LP titled 'The Exceptional Exception' was filled with Alan Eastwood compositions, most of which seemed lyrically biographical and some such as 'Woman Of The Green Lantern' and 'Mrs. Cocaine' reflecting a darker side of his imagination or experience. The sole "exception" was Roger Hill's psychedelic-styled 'Don't Torture Your Mind' that seemed to echo a trend now past.
Alan "Bugsy" Eastwood left The Exception shortly after the album's release. Roger Hill took over on lead vocal and another drummer was enlisted for yet another German tour. The revised line-up was well-received on the tour but it wasn't the same anymore. In retrospect, it seems The Exception experienced their greatest success as an energetic blues/R&B act - something their record company failed to capitalize on and instead issued singles aimed towards a pop audience. Malcolm says; "We found another drummer but of course he was no replacement for Bugsy and the band split in May 1969. That's when I went to Germany with my German fiancee Ulrike, learned the lingo and stayed".
Roger Hill was enlisted by former Move front-man Carl Wayne to join his new backing group known as 'Mongrel' but tours proposed for the line-up never materialized. Roy Wood later recruited most of the band to form his own chart-topping 'Wizzard'. Roger then re-joined his former band-mate Dave Pegg as part of the Fairport Convention line-up for a tour of the U.S.A. He later embarked on a long career as a jazz guitarist to which his talent was well suited. In later years, he formed his own 'Roger Hill Band' with whom he performed around the Birmingham area. Roger Hill passed away at age 66 in November 2011, Alan Eastwood continued to work in the music business and spent his later years in London where he lived until his death from heart failure on October 25, 2007.
Tracks
1. Jack Rabbit - 2:00
2. Hong Kong Blues (Hogie Carmichael) - 3:42
3. Rock Bottom Cinder - 2:38
4. Woman Of The Green Lantern - 2:54
5. Don't Torture Your Mind (Roger Hill) - 2:52
6. Tailor Made Babe - 2:41
7. Pendulum - 3:13
8. Karen Train Blues - 2:08
9. Too Much In Love With A Bad Thing - 3:42
10.Mrs. Cocaine - 5:08
11.Bums Puzzle - 2:44
12.Keep The Motor Running - 2:06
All song by Alan "Bugsy" Eastwood except where noted.
The Exception
*Alan "Bugsy" Eastwood - Lead Vocal, Drums, Percussion, Vibes, Harmonica, Guitar
*Roger Hill - Lead Guitar, Vocal
*Malcolm Garner - Bass, Vocal
*Steve Yetson - Saxophone, Keyboards
Werwolf (Werewolf), a band from Olpe in the Sauerland in Germany, was formed in 1970 by Peter Besting (born 2/4/1951 in Olpe) on drums and vocals, Hartwig Kugoth on guitar and Peter Lorenz on bass. Before, Peter Besting had already been playing for a year in the band Age. The band name had no deeper meaning but was simply a reference to Steppenwolf whose recordings the original member of Werwolf appreciated a lot.
They bought their first large PA equipment form the Scorpions' mastermind Rudolf Schenker in the early seventies. After rehearsing in a self-built and soundproof wooden hut with freezing temperatures during the winter, Werwolf changed their rehearsal room into Peter Besting's newly built house in Wenden in 1972.
In the course of time other musicians joined the band: Jürgen Göckler from Olpe on keyboards and as background singer, Michael Schlimm from Olpe on saxophone and on cross flute and singer Ellen Wiederstein from Attendorn. When Peter Lorenz quit, Hartwig Kugoth played double-neck guitar combining bass strings. Similar to the Doors, Jürgen Göckler played the bass accompaniment on the keyboard whenever Hartwig Kugoth played the high notes. With this line-up, Werwolf recorded a thirty minute demo tape in the Studio Eden in Lüdenscheid in May 1979 in order to gain a record deal, but without success.
After several changes of the line-up, Werwolf independently released the album 'Creation' in 1982 in a limited edition of 1000 copies with Peter Besting on drums, Gerd Heuel on Guitar, Burkhard Huckestein on bass, Wolfgang Unthan on keyboards, Gitta Löwenstein as singer and Jürgen Göckler as occasional guest keyboarder. WDR and SWF presented the album which is a collectors items worth more than US$ 50 now.
This edition now contains the complete record 'Creation' of 1982 as well as all three tracks of the demo tape recorded in 1979. The cover art is the American version painted in 1992 by Lee Gaskins. He renewed some details for us. The mastering was done by Bob Katz in Florida.
by Kony Eisenring
Tracks
1. Höhenflug (Burkhard Huckestein, Wolfgang Unthan) - 5:17
2. Die Reise Ins Land Der Flugschweine (Gerd Heuel) - 8:23
3. Way To Paradise (Gerd Heuel) - 6:06
4. Daydream (Burkhard Huckestein, Gerd Besting, Gerd Heuel, Wolfgang Unthan) - 4:46
5. The Game Is Over (Burkhard Huckestein, Gerd Besting, Gitta Loewenstein, Wolfgang Unthan) - 5:07
6. Der Achte Tag (Gerd Heuel) - 10:32
7. The Song - 8:21
8. My Story - 11:30
9. The Dreamer - 9:22
