By 1974, and the release of our second LP Mammoth Special, Decameron had established itself as a very popular live contemporary folk band with regular tours of the UK, Holland, Belgium and Germany. A follow-up album Beyond The Days was recorded for the Mooncrest label but never released.
However manager Sandy Roberton then signed the band to Transatlantic Records and the album was re-worked in March 1975 with producer Tom Allom. Dave Bell remembers being on holiday in Cornwall when the band got a phone call saying the LP was to be released in September and they needed a new title. Dave said "Call it Third Light and set fire to it – the cover not the album!".
Third Light is still considered by the band and many of our fans to be our best album. It received a number of great reviews in the press and the Sunday Times critic Derek Jewell included it in his Top Ten albums of 1975. Many of the lyrics have been misconstrued over the years, but I consider that songs like Trapeze', "The Ungodly” and 'Journey's End' are some of the finest that Dave and I wrote together.
The album was promoted with tours of Holland and Belgium and a major UK tour in the autumn of 1975. Drummer Bob Critchley had joined the band and our single 'New Girl In School', released under the name of our alter ego, The Magnificent Mercury Brothers, had received a lot of airplay. Our fourth and final LP Tomorrow's Pantomime was recorded in April 1976, just a few months before we performed our final gig at Southsea on the 4th July.
I remember the album being recorded in a hurry and under a cloud of uncertainty about the future, but I still think it includes some of our strongest material. The title track was written on a terrible ferry crossing from Gothenburg to Amsterdam, while 'The Shadows On The Stairs' was finished on tour in Germany. 'So This Is God's Country' and 'Peace With Honour' were written in the wake of Nixon and Vietnam, and partly based on my brief experience of living in America a few years earlier.
by Johnny Coppin, June 1997
Decameron's first Transatlantic release was their third album, appropriately titled Third Light, and features the original line-up of Johnny Coppin, Dave Bell, Dik Cadbury, Geoff March and Al Fenn. The album contains nine original Coppin and Bell songs and their version of 'Morning Glory', by Tim Buckley, one of the band's singer-songwriter heroes.
Transatlantic released the follow- up Tomorrow's Pantomime in 1976 by which time the band had added drummer Bob Critchley. Seven of the ten songs from Tomorrow's Pantomime are included in this CD re-issue. Johnny Coppin now has a successful solo career as a singer-songwriter, having released several albums such as Force Of The River and A Country Christmas on his own label, Red Sky Records.
Dave Bell still writes songs and together with Al Fenn can still recall amazing details of Decameron's gigs. Dik Cadbury plays in various bands and has a phenomenal memory for all the band's vocal harmonies, while Geoff March, now a tree consultant and part-time cello player, admits to remembering very little! Decameron's music still lives on and in recent years they have re-united for a few-special one-off concerts. This is the first time these two albums have been re-issued on CD.
by Laurence Aston
Tracks 1975 Third Light
1. Rock And Roll Away (Bell) - 3.38
2. All The Best Wishes (Coppin, Bell) - 5.16
3. The Strawman (Bell) - 4.33
4. Saturday (Cadbury, Bell) - 3.01
5. Wide As The Years (Coppin, Bell) - 6.04
6. Journey's End (Bell, Coppin) - 4.41
7. Road To The Sea (Coppin, Bell) - 3.08
8. Trapeze (Coppin, Bell) - 4.52
9. The Ungodly (Bell, Coppin) - 4.08
10. Morning Glory (Buckley, Beckett) - 5.32
1976 Tomorrow's Pantomime
11. The Deal - 4.41
12. Fallen Over - 2.28
13. Ask Me Tomorrow - 5.14
14. Tomorrow's Pantomime - 4.37
15. The Shadows On The Stairs - 6.29
16. So This Is God's Country - 5.30
17. Peace With Honour - 3.20
Words and Music by Dave Bell and Johnny Coppin.
Decameron
*Dave Bell - Vocals, Acoustic, Electric Guitars, Bass Guitar, Percussion
*Dik Cadbury - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Violin, Viola, Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
*Johnny Coppin - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards
*Al Fenn - Acoustic Guitar, Lead Guitar, Tiple, Bass Guitar
*Geoff March - Vocals, Cello, Keyboards, Psaltery
*John Halsey - Drums (Tracks 1-10)
*Bob Critchley - Drums (Tracks 11-17) With
*John Mealing - Organ (Tracks 5, 7)
*Mike Winfield - Cor Anglais (Track 4)
Decameron was the contemporary folk group formed by Johnny Coppin and Dave Bell back in 1969, who then, with the addition of Al Fenn and Geoff March, went professional in August 1971. The band were originally managed by Jasper Carrott and John Starkey, and their first album was "Say Hello To The Band" in 1973 on Vertigo Records.
Celebrated folk-rock svengali Sandy Roberton produced the album and at the end of recording he told the band he wanted to be their manager. At this point things moved up a gear – a recording deal with Mooncrest, tours in Holland, Germany and Belgium, bigger venues in the UK and the addition of another band member Dik Cadbury on bass. Bass player Dik Cadbury then joined the band and they went on to record 3 more albums, and tour the UK and Europe extensively before breaking up in 1976.
Tracks
1. Say Hello To The Band - 3:50
2. Byard's Leap - 7:27
3. Judith - 3:24
4. Innocent Sylvester Prime - 4:26
5. Crows - 5:00
6. The Moon's In 'A' - 4:39
7. Stoat's Grope - 2:30
8. Ride A Lame Pony - 5:22
9. Shine Away - 2:41
10.Friday Nignt At The Regal (B-Side 1973) - 3:01
Decameron
*Dave Bell - Guitar, Vocals
*John Coppin - Guitars, Vocals
*Al Fenn - Lead Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
*Geoff March - Cello, Violin, Vocals With
*B.J. Cole - Dobro
*Andy Roberts - Dulcimer
*Ian Whiteman - Piano, Organ
*Pat Donaldson - Bass
*Timi Donald - Drums
Discovered by recording artist, producer and arranger H.B. Barnum and signed to his Mothers Records label in 1968, The Novells, an LA-based outfit, managed to release That Did It! and a couple of singles before calling it a day a year later.
Barnum, whose arrangement credits included work for Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Etta James, The Supremes, The Temptations and Aretha Franklin, had clearly taken on more than he could chew with The Novells whose album, That Did It! was a nice blend of pop melodies and heavier rock -- not Barnum's thing at all, although he did manage to convince the band to do a cover of Otis Redding's 'Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay.
' There's also some tasty fuzz guitar on tracks such as 'Love' (a Lee Michaels cover) but the band seemed unable to decide on exactly what their musical identity was, as they were a passable pop group as well as a serious rock band and evidence of their ability to be both is found here in ample supply. This is a surprisingly good, with varied styles, thought worthy of investigation.
Tracks
1. Almost There - 2:59
2. Love - 3:13
3. Age of Innocence - 3:06
4. Glass House - 2:52
5. Sitting On the Dock of the Bay - 3:18
6. Pink Wallpaper - 2:41
7. Sunshine of Your Love - 3:30
8. Tomorrow's Yesterday - 2:37
9. Only You - 3:24
10.Can't Ya See It - 2:50
11.Time to Show Her - 3:27
The Novells
* Robert Archer - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard, Fiddle,
* Ed Benson - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard,
* Chip (Frederic) Moore - Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Xylophone,
And yet another trip back to the days of "Love and Peace" trip in every sense of the word. It's going to Detroit in the "Motor City" and "Rock City" as KISS later described as beautiful,which lead you to the holy grail of psychedelic music.
A very young band, the musicians traveled between 16 and 17 hours of recordings on this album, called MYSTIC SIVA had set out to conquer the world with emotional charged psychedelic rock inclusive easily hard rock gem impact here and there. A task which unfortunately never really succeeded.
Here, the signs were good. How the 1969 and 1970 live recorded tracks on the "Under the influence" points out, there are no bunglers that here the instruments, including organ Hammond B3 (about as fat as a grand piano, at least in terms of weight) hard-driven pounding hypnotic shred.
A relaxed grooving opener with a fine organs Hammond carpet on which the guitarist can then indulge in endless solos arouses my attention. Purely instrumental rock is 'Keep Your Head' in your heart. You can hear at once that it must have been recorded live, whether in concert or as a demo in a mini studio or rehearsal room, who knows to say that? The wild leads to the very relaxed rhythms are certainly very exciting.
'Spinning A Spell' is more atmospheric with dark melodic vocals and dark, psychedelic rock with gorgeous distorted lead guitar and organs deposits, but still quite ingratiating and straightforward. Could have been at a proper studio recording the Doors compete, the degree Acid leads the guitar Your senses have turned upside down.
'Come On Closer' again is a bit more on Boogie Rock the guitar and the organ provide a proper background to the song, the rhythm crew to the subtle foundation. Fine rock song, but less spectacular.
'Super Natural Mind' is then pure Acidrock, beautifully atmospheric and aggressive, especially with the lead guitar. The drum has a sick sound as if someone whacked too much reverb and echo added duplicated tracks slightly offset. Sounds trippy! The singer here pretty angry roars into the microphone, while the basic instrumentation relaxed weaves their soundscapes.
'Come Together' is a cover of a famous Beatles song, which consists of elongated introduction of intensive organ carpets, singing to wailing lead guitar, which plays the basic riff) and still relaxed rhythm starts up then the singing . Just this beguiling organ sounds make the song into a spiritual experience, even if the Hammond is not used as a lead instrument really nice acidic wah rhythm that would make any cover sound good.
'Magic Luv' is then straighter skirt with Boogey and Blues in the ass. However, Mystic Siva made in the chorus in some left-sounding runs. The vocalist for his tender age has already bought a powerful male voice and my old rabbit really the cutting.
Us gently flows against the melancholy atmosphere of 'Find Out Why'. However, this song is in the chorus is a bit energetic, away from the rainy mood, braces itself against the band for a brief moment of resignation and sadness. Beautiful organ lines and a lovely clean guitar instrumental bear brunt. Oh yeah, did I mention that the drummer is the lead singer? Should there be, I am thinking only of the Dave Clarke Five (Beat Tape) or later as troops Exciter Or Autopsy in Metal. It's not wrong to do what the guys here. More of it.
By Spencer Davis Group cover ' I´m A Man' it goes on acidrockig a nice driving beat, a steady and howling lead guitar which makes fire properly, straight, powerful vocals and this thrilling organ riffs, all it takes for a good hard rock song. And this is hard rock! Over seven minutes, the band was made to cover this track! She was formally noted in the fun they had there.
'Tobacco Road' is also a cover, a hit of the composer and musician John D. Loudermilk,which is here modeled to a jam blues to hard rock. Mystic Siva make the song lives up to take him in their time and can who is there trans riff into a jam Blues Rock. Mystic Siva make the song lives up to take him in their time and are up there with older guys like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, who also like these scattered passages of free improvisation and jam in the actual compositions, the listener can appreciate where would Mystic Siva can go if their perseverance would have been just a little stronger.
'Sitting In A Room' an eruptive own composition A mystical guitar line, a fat organ and open scream,massive groovy heavy rock with very good sound and captivating spherical vocal line is offered here. The organ riffs and guitar attacks penetrate your soul and leave a bloody lump of mind. You could almost here "Blue Cheer meets Doors" Fit as a comparison. Killer Song!
The lead guitar saws unstoppable and even the usually relaxed rhythm section has to do something properly. How could the man on the drums to sing then? Eventually, the song is quiet, reserved, somewhat hypnotic and atmospheric, this very evocative of howler Backing vocalist are sick reminder of werewolves. In the singer speaks with aggressive voice when he would make a speech in front of a bunch of demons. I would say that we have THE highlight of the original songs on this album already very strong before us. It drives me to despair when I think that these are all previous shots here that were not previously published.
'Black Sheep', acting in the album, it is a cover again, this time. By local Detroit rock heroes SRC, the biggest rival of the aspiring MC 5 and certainly examples of our music-making villain - Mystic Siva It is quietly flowing, melodic Acidrock with beautiful vocal melody and thought-provoking lead guitar. The organ plays more than just the basic carpets, takes even the harmonies in the verses, while the undistorted guitar rhythms played is a fine finish! Beautiful!
by Adamus67
Tracks
1. Keep Your Head (D. Mascarin, Al Tozzi) - 4:47
2. Spinning A Spell (D. Mascarin, Al Tozzi) - 3:21
3. Come On Closer (D. Mascarin) - 3:10
4. Super Natural Mind (D. Mascarin, Al Tozzi) - 4:59
5. Come Together (Lennon, Mc Cartney) - 5:14
6. Magic Luv (D. Mascarin, Al Tozzi) - 3:02
7. Find Out Why (D. Mascarin) - 4:51
8. I´m A Man (Winwood, Miller) - 7:08
9. Tobacco Road (Loudermilk) - 6:46
10.Sitting In A Room (D. Mascarin, Al Tozzi) - 6:05
11.Black Sheep (S.R.C.) - 4:17
The first of the two LPs by this obscure British group offers delicate folk and folk-rock, very much grounded in acoustic guitars, though some percussion and wind instruments are also heard on some tracks. It's not colored, however, with the traditional British folk slant identified with the most well-known of the U.K. acts in the style from the period.
It's more pop-influenced than trad-influenced, emphasizing the group's high, quavering harmonies on songs that are both wistful and self-effacingly humorous. At their most serious (as on "Wilhelmina Before Sunrise"), they sound a bit like Fairport Convention did in their early pre-traditional folk-rock days (à la "Decameron").
At times, a Simon and Garfunkel influence becomes a little too obvious; "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," "Althea Williams," and especially "Pisces" can't fail to recall that celebrated duo, all the way down to Paul Simon-like bent note guitar flourishes. Just to mix things up even more, there are tunes with a somewhat vaudevillian good-time flavor, sounding a little like the Lovin' Spoonful, or Peter and Gordon in their "Lady Godiva"/"Afternoon Tea" era.
While all of these bands and duos are good ones with whom to have similarities, the usual rule when such similarities crop up applies: Gothic Horizon themselves are not as good or identifiable as any of these apparent influences. It's on the slight and mild side, but nice enough as such second-and-third-tier rarities go, often bearing something of a sunny-morning-by-the-creek feel.
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
1. The Jason Lodge Poetry Book - 4:20
2. Song For Susan (Andy Desmond) - 2:49
3. Odysseus - 5:12
4. A.J.Lone's Dog - 2:52
5. Willow Tree Vale Song - 3:52
6. Six Summers Back - 2:09
7. Song - 3:58
8. Althea Williams (Andy Desmond) - 3:47
9. Wilhelmina Before Sunrise (Andy Desmond) - 3:17
10.St. Valentine's Day Massacre - 2:47
11.A Third For Jason Lodge - 2:09
12.Pisces (Andy Desmond) - 3:48
13.A Farewell Ode To Port Sunlight (Andy Desmond) - 2:34
All selections by Mike Simmons except where stated
The Koobas were among the better failed rock bands in England during the mid-'60s. Their peers, among the most talented group of the early British beat boom never to make it, included the Roulettes, the Chants, and the Cheynes. Favorites of the press and popular for their live shows, they somehow never managed to chart a record despite a lot of breaks that came their way, including a tour opening for the Beatles, top management representation, and a contract on EMI-Columbia.
The group was formed in 1962 by guitarist/singers Stuart Leathwood and Roy Morris, drummer John Morris (who was quickly succeeded by Tony O'Reilly), and bassist Keith Ellis, all of whom were veterans of Liverpool bands such as the Thunderbeats and The Midnighters. The band, known at one point as the Kubas, did a three week engagement at the Star-Club in Hamburg in December 1963 and out of that built up a serious reputation as performers.
They had a sound that was comparable to the Beatles, the Searchers, and the Mojos, as Liverpool exponents of American R'n'B with a strong yet lyrical attack on their guitars and convincing vocals. It wasn't until after Brian Epstein signed them a year later, however, that a recording contract (with Pye Records) came their way.
They got one false start through an appearance in the movie Ferry Cross the Mersey, starring Gerry and the Pacemakers, playing one of the groups that loses a battle-of-the-bands contest, but the Koobas' footage ended up being dropped from the final cut of the film. Their debut single, "I Love Her" b/w "Magic Potion," failed to chart, as did its follow-up, despite the exposure the group received opening for the Beatles on their final British tour.
Coming off of those nine shows, the group was booked into the most prestigious clubs in London and started getting great press, but two more singles failed to dent the charts in 1965 and 1966. They jumped from Pye Records to EMI-Columbia in 1966, and continued to get good, highly visible gigs, including a January 1967 appearance with the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Savile Theatre (owned by Brian Epstein), and a tour of Switzerland with Hendrix.
The group's sound was a lean yet melodic brand of R'n'B-based rock 'n' roll, similar to the Beatles, though the Koobas didn't start to blossom as songwriters until fairly late, which may have been part of their problem. They recorded good-sounding and very entertaining songs, but somehow never connected with the right sound at the proper moment.
By the middle of 1967, they'd altered their look and their sound, moving away from American-style R'n'B and toward psychedelia. The group members also began writing their own material, sometimes with help in the lyric department from their new manager, Tony Stratton-Smith. Their singles still utilized outside songwriters, however, and the group's best crack at the chart came early in 1968 when they recorded Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is the Deepest," complete with heavy fuzz-tone guitar. Their single garnered some airplay but was eclipsed by P.P. Arnold's Top 20 version of the same song.
Despite his best efforts, Stratton-Smith couldn't help the group overcome the failure of their last single. The quality of their gigs and the fees they were earning began declining, and their morale soon followed. By the end of 1968, the Koobas had agreed among themselves to go their separate ways. Ironically, the group's split coincided almost perfectly with Stratton-Smith's final effort on their behalf. Despite the failure of a succession of singles, EMI-Columbia agreed to let the band cut a long-player in late 1968.
The group lasted just long enough to finish the album, Koobas, a mix of topical songwriting, psychedelia, R'n'B, and nostalgia that might've found an audience if only there had been a Koobas still together to tour behind it and promote the record in early 1969. Instead, by 1970 the album was already in the cut-out bins. Keith Ellis jumped to Van Der Graaf Generator and then Juicy Lucy (with whom he played on the major U.K. hit "Who Do You Love"), and later moved to Los Angeles.
Stuart Leathwood became part of the duo Gary and Stu, with Gary Holton, and was later a member of the group March Hare. The Koobas' early work on Pye is effectively scattered over several CD releases, including Watch Your Step from Sequel Records. In the summer of 2000, Beat Goes On reissued their self-titled EMI-Columbia album with eight bonus tracks drawn from their early singles for the label, thus assembling their complete post-1966 work in one place for the first time.
by Bruce Eder
Tracks
1. Royston Rose (Ellis, Morris) - 3:51
2. Where are the Friends? (Ellis, Leathwood) - 3:37
3. Constantly Changing (Ellis, Morris, Leathwood) - 2:44
4. Here's a Day (Ellis, Morris, Leathwood) - 3:10
5. Fade Forever (Ellis, Leathwood) - 2:59
6. Barricades (Ellis, Stratton-Smith, Leathwood) - 5:02
7. A Little Piece of My Heart (Blackwell, Scott) - 2:42
8. Glod Leaf Tree (Ellis) - 3:38
9. Mr. Claire (Leathwood) - 3:44
10.Circus (Ellis, Leathwood) - 5:42
11.Sweet Music - 2:40
12.Face - 2:32
13.Sally - 2:35
14.Champagne And Caviar - 2:28
15.Gypsy Fred - 3:03
16.City Girl - 2:26
17.First Cut is the Deepest - 3:05
18.Walking Out - 1:48
Chillum was one of the bands featured on the now famous Mushroom label, which has become one of the most collectable independent labels from the early seventies. The label's small release schedule, the originality of its artists and the diversity of their music, almost guarantee that vinyl collectors prize ownership of an original Mushroom issue for musical content and rarity alike.
The label was founded by Vic Keary, who recorded most of its releases at London's Chalk Farm studios, where he worked as an engineer. It was Vic's vitality and enthusiasm that ensured bands like Chillum were released. The Chillum album (this is supposed to be the 3rd Secondhand album) has a tale or two behind its release. Secondhand had parted company with their guitarist and were involved in a seemingly fruitless search for a replacement.
One prospective axeman was Tony McGill; his audition, held at the Chalk Farm studios, was fortunately recorded and it was during this session that he and the band formed such an instant rapport that Vic, taping everything as usual, just allowed the tape to run. Now we have a chance to hear the raw, unedited result of this first meeting with Tony as "Brain Strain ".
After a break, another jam session took place - "Yes We Have No Pajamas ". The laughter that can be heard at the beginning of Chillum's "Land Of A Thousand Dreams " is attributable to a couple of young doctors from the nearby Royal Free Hospital, who wandered into the studios because they could hear the band from the Belmont Pub next door (now called The Engine Room), where they often went for a drink.
This epic session extended into early morning hours, when drummer Kieran fell asleep after recording his drum solo. Vic recalls with obvious relish that breathing or snoring mightily, with headphones still clamped to his ears, Kieran's somnolent efforts were recorded and then played back to him, so he was able to double track for about three minutes in perfect sync while still asleep, thus providing the ending "percussion" track for "Land Of A Thousand Dreams ".
The grunt at the very end represents engineer Vic's none too delicate wake up boot. Its this raw, as it happened, unrehearsed craziness that shines through the playing. Chillum's music has much of the originality and inventiveness these musicians brought to their releases, with unfamiliar time sequences and rhythm patterns on some of the tracks.
The lengthy workouts and the live, unrestrained format allowed them free reign to experiment with the unusual in the informal atmosphere these sessions generated. The acoustic track "Promenade Des Anglais " was Tony's interpretation of a song Ken had written about a street in the south of France, where the band often played on tours. The bonus tracks "Fairy Tale" and "Celebration" were recordings made after the band returned from a further European tour; these were never released, as this line up split up shortly afterwards. "This Is Not Romance" was a recording made by Ken with just a Steinway grand piano, just before the main album was recorded.
This song was never used on any other album. "Incubator" was a track created by engineer Mike Craig, using a Leslie-type speaker and on audio oscillator. The sleeve credits on the album deserve some explanation. The band and Vic decided to use pseudonyms, because a couple of their overseas distributors suggested they release a session featuring some famous London musicians, even if they played under assumed names.
So, for the record, Ken became Elliot Ness, Kieran was Max Fish, George changed to Sticky Schmaltz and Tony, for no apparent reason, evolved into Buddy Cuddy. Engineers Vic and Mike Craig were not spared this evolutionary process and duly became Blind Joe Smith and Herr Von Tskutting. The distributor's reaction is unfortunately unknown. Chillum's album sleeve was produced "cottage style", after the first attempt was banned by Music Week.
Taking the Beatles White Album as their influence, the band hand printed, painted and stickered each plain sleeve, using car aerosol spray, an old printing set and some rubber stamps. By mid 1972, the Mushroom label ceased to record and release albums. This was a tough time for Vic and his circle of close musician friends. It was with great sadness that he admitted defeat, forced to stop releasing a series of highly original albums that so closely reflected his love of music. But the musical force that was Ken Elliot drove Chillum & Secondhand onward.
Lacking a label did nothing to stop the creative process and shortly after the final demise of Mushroom, Seventh Wave were born from the remains of the previous bands. They released two albums "Things To Come" and “PSI-FI"on the Gull label in 1974 and 1975.
Tracks
1. Introduction by Brain Surgeons from R.F. Hospitial - 0:16
2. Brain Strain - 21:42
3. Land Of A Thousand Dreams (Ken Elliott) - 1:19
4. Too Many Bananas (Kieran O'Connor) - 4:11
5. Yes! We Have No Pajamas - 10:33
6. Promenade Des Anglais (Ken Elliott) - 2:04
7. The Lone Commuter - 1:33
8. Three Bllind Mice - 1:45
9. Celebration - 6:05
10.This Is Not Romance - 5:12
All compositions by Ken Elliott, George Hart, Kieran O'Connor, Tony McGill except where indiacated
So declares Nancy Jeffries, shareholder of the Insect Trust, which congealed in Memphis circa 1966 and melted away in Hoboken by 1971. Strictly speaking, "everybody" was a quintet. Jersey-born Jeffries was the singer, sucked into the Memphis scene after her first band secured a residency in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and abandoned their trek to San Francisco. There she met reed player/rock critic Robert Palmer and fell for Skip James rediscoverer and guitar acolyte Bill Barth. Soon Barth and Jeffries visited New York and wound up renting a place in the same cheap old Hoboken building occupied by Luke Faust, who joined them on banjo, fiddle, and harmonica after they all shared a brief fling with Peter Stampfel's Holy Modal Rounders. Back in came Palmer, who had moved north after college and was writing for a radio-financed freebie masterminded by the guy who later gave the world Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. New Orleans-born saxophonist Trevor Koehler hooked up via a crazed Memphis beatnik they knew.
The quintet included at least two superb musicians: Barth, ranked by James biographer Stephen Calt with the devil man himself, and Gil Evans regular Koehler. But it did not include a rhythm section. This made it hard for them to play out, as did their tendency to traipse off to Tennessee. But it also threw them in with some unlikely sidemen. Drummer Buddy Saltzman, superbassist Chuck Rainey and rhythm guitarist Hugh McCracken, the hired hands on Capitol's 1968 The Insect Trust, were renowned studio cats who also backed, for instance, the Archies--which is less surprising when you learn that manager Steve Dubow came aboard straight from the Cowsills.
The long-lost 1970 masterwork you've purchased is more ragtag; Joseph Macho and Charlie Macey, for instance, have passed into obscurity. But in addition to nonpareil r&b drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie (who's on the debut too), Atco reimbursed contributors including avant bassist William Folwell (Albert Ayler, Buddy Guy), pro bassist Bob Bushnell (Mickey & Silvia, Ian & Sylvia) and, on two tracks, Elvin Jones, the premier jazz drummer of our time.
In 1998 interviews posted by the Perfect Sound Forever netzine, Barth--amid claims that he was "never really a big Insect Trust fan" and that the project must have been a failure because its sole purpose was "making plenty of money"--hits paydirt: "I consciously tried to keep the musical ideas separate and distinct. Fusion music was beginning to happen in those days, and I personally regarded it as mush." Note that Barth assumes leadership of this band he didn't like, the one Jeffries just called "everybody's." Note that Jeffries has also recalled, "Bill was the leader because he was the biggest asshole." Compare Faust's analysis: "The band was a democracy--Bill was the leader but he was laid back." Then return to Barth's point.
The Insect Trust did not make fusion music. They encompassed blues and old-timey and what was called folk-rock and plenty of jazz and, quiet as it's kept, bubblegum, too. But except for the bubblegum, submerged in the unobtrusive competence that underpins The Insect Trust and the quickened tune sense that sparks Hoboken Saturday Night, the ingredients didn't fuse into mush. They coexisted, strikingly in many of the best cases but always easily and naturally. This was pluralistic tolerance in action, at once traditionalist, futuristic and entranced with the here-and-now.
It was something else too--bohemian. Why else begin with a 35-second opening snatch composed by blind Manhattan street musician Louis "Moondog" Hardin, for decades a fixture in his Viking or Native American leathers at Sixth Avenue and 54th Street? "Be a hobo and go with me/From Hoboken to the sea," quaver Faust and Barth over Palmer's recorder obligato and somebody's bongos. Then Jeffries belts, drawls, swallows and surrounds the title credo about having fun because there's nothing better to do. The groove is solid if not quite in the pocket, with mild mayhem all around including more recorder.
By the time her three minutes are up, Jeffreys is talking gibberish or speaking in tongues, only to right herself on the lovely lope of "Eyes of a New York Woman"--Bushnell-sounding bass line that never stumbles, harmonizing horns, wearily wistful recorder solo, literary lyric lifted from Thomas Pynchon's V. As a traveling man promises escape on the Barth-Jeffries "Ragtime Millionaire," the horns say hello New Orleans-style, with Palmer picking up his clarinet and Folwell and/or kibitzing beatnik buddy Warren Gardner tootling trumpet.
But the horns don't fully assert themselves till Koehler's "Somedays." An infectious Diddleybeat drives a garbled lyric that kind of begins "I can't ask why who knows when/Because it is and then again" and may or may not wonder whether "we're crazy." But it's the unison reeds that define the track's freneticism. Which--more yin and yang--is immediately corrected by William and Arloha Folwell's pastoral love song "Our Sister the Sun," where Jones's bish-bashing waltz time and bassist Folwell's spirit quest gently tether a clarinet-dominated outro that carries the tune past seven minutes on an album where only one other track exceeds 3:23. In 1970, that seemed a suitable farewell to side one, but on CD it leads to another gear switch: Faust's "Reciprocity," the catchiest, liveliest, silliest and nicest song on the record: "Woke up with this tune in my head/It said, 'You're dead.'" Faust disagrees, with horns and a second-line march to back him up.
The middle of the second side is where vinyl albums used to let up, and there is one dip, Jeffries' breathy rendition of a pretty Koehler tune that doesn't justify the grand title "Reincarnations." But before then, she has her proudest moment, the preemptively feminist/womanist "Trip on Me," where she unlooses her assertive voice, a loud mix of booze, smoke, brass and Middle Eastern scales, on lines like "Understand you're just another man/Everything you touch you don't have to own." "I've done all I can, I'm only human, I'm me," she abruptly concludes--only then once again there's a switch.
Sprightly banjo-and-recorder that recalls Othar Turner's panpipe blues leads into Jeffries's sweet voice, the murmured lyric something about a train that ends with a reassuring, "Hold me tight, Daddy, everything is OK/I'll stay"--which segues immediately on the same track, into a Faust folk song about the assassination of James Garfield. Then the dip, and then, incredibly, the peak: a fully orchestrated version of a ditty about a play date involving spaceships written and initially sung by Koehler's six-ish son Glade. Banjo, hand drums, grownup duet, crazy unison horn section and Elvin Jones all work and play well with others to climax this joyously eccentric and intensely humanistic album. Yes, the literal ending is nearly six minutes of Koehler and Gardner's wonderful instrumental-plus-scat "Ducks." But it's a coda--a prequel to a sequel, a glimpse of a next that never came.
Anyone who wonders what the hippie '60s were like--or could be like, with the arrant nonsense and obsessive back-biting avoided or suppressed--can find out from this true collective. Not the Beatles or the Stones--they were different, bigger and often better, mass culture. Hoboken Saturday Night--like Have Moicy!, the later and smaller and more pastoral and perfect album Peter Stampfel helped actualize, and maybe the Dead's Aoxomoxoa or even Dylan's Basement Tapes--is subcultural. All involve folkies untouched by self-righteous sentimentality.
Three of the Insect Trust are not gone. Koehler--responsible for Moondog and Jones and "Glade Song," all decisive touches--committed suicide in 1976, a genius misfit to his unnecessary end. Palmer died of liver failure in 1997, a former New York Times staffer who left behind two important books (Deep Blues and Rock & Roll: An Unruly History) and much uncollected journalism and scholarship. Barth was painting in Amsterdam when a heart attack got him in 2000.
Faust still lives in Hoboken, where he co-directs the Monroe Street Movement Space and teaches tai chi. "Surprised that in later life I was able to function," Jeffries became an a&r luminary, signing the likes of Suzanne Vega and Ziggy Marley before she lost her Elektra vice-presidency in 2000. Understandably, she's feeling disaffected. She thinks bands aren't in it for the music anymore. She's wrong--there are many more such now than in the '60s. But if any of them have a Hoboken Saturday Night in them, I wish they'd tell me about it.
by Robert Christgau
Tracks
1. Be A Hobo (Louis "Moondog" Hardin) - 0:35
2. Hoboken Saturday Night (Nancy Jeffries , Robert Palmer, Bill Barth) - 3:00
3. The Eyes Of A New York Woman (Jeff Ogden, Thomas Pynchon) - 3:08
4. Ragtime Millionaire (Nancy Jeffries, Bill Barth) - 3:20
5. Somedays (Trevor Koehler) - 2:47
6. Our Sister The Sun (Arloha Folwell, William Folwell) - 7:20
7. Reciprocity (Luke Faust) - 3:23
8. Trip On Me (Nancy Jeffries, Robert Palmer, Bill Barth) - 2:45
9.a. Now Then Sweet Man (Trevor Koehler)
b. Mr Garfield (Traditional arr. by Luke Faust) - 3:07
10.Reincarnations (Trevor Koehler) - 3:15
11.Glade Song (Luke Faust, Trevor Koehler) - 3:00
12.Ducks (Trevor Koehler, Warren Gardner) - 5:40
Back in the '60s, most white blues fans trying to play the music took the approach of struggling to sound as serious and authentic as possible, and a big part of the charm of the Insect Trust's debut album is that, by accident or design, they went in an entirely different direction.
While the Insect Trust were clearly and affectionately influenced by classic blues and folk, they were also eager to mess around with it, and Robert Palmer and Trevor Koehler's horns and woodwinds often throw this music into a loopy, atonal, and acid-infused direction while the loose, slightly rickety sound of Bill Barth and Luke Faust's guitars and banjos honors the styles found on vintage 78s just as their rock-oriented chops keep the results from sounding as if they spent much time actually learning the original riffs.
Given the loose but insistent backporch funk of this music -- perhaps held in place by guest musicians Bernard Purdie, Hugh McCracken, and Chuck Rainey -- the sweet tone of Nancy Jeffries' vocals seems a bit out of place, but she never seems less than committed, and she gives "World War I Song" and "Declaration of Independence" a full-bodied reading that fits their meaning, if they don't sound especially "bluesy."
And the final two cuts, "Mountain Song" and "Going Home," take off into a never-never land of pastoral avant-garde whimsy that exists in a world all its own. the Insect Trust refined their worldview on their second, last, and finest album, 1970's Hoboken Saturday Night, but their debut has more than its fair share of lovely moments and is an engaging example of roots music fans letting their freak flag fly with righteous joy.
by Mark Deming
Tracks
1. The Skin Game - 4:07
2. Miss Fun City - 5:04
3. World War 1 Song - 3:18
4. Special Rider Blues - 7:45
5. Foggy River Bridge Fly - 1:07
6. Been Here And Gone So Soon - 3:29
7. Declaration Of Independence - 2:30
8. Walking On Nails - 3:12
9. Brighter Than Day - 2:31
10.Mountain Song - 2:49
11.Going Home - 5:10
Enclosed was the title of Magic's debut album released in 1969, and this Gear Fab reissue by the same name includes the entirety of that debut, but also adds a 1968 single from the original lineup and songs from the 1971 sessions on Motown imprint Rare Earth that culminated in their second self-titled album, so it really can be considered the definitive document of the band.
On the original single, the band leaned toward rock & roll that was very much informed by black music -- one side was a cover of the Otis Redding classic "That's How Strong My Love Is," the other a Duane King original that Sam & Dave could have easily torn into; in fact, Magic, and particularly its most talented songwriter, King, displayed an almost magic knack for penning songs that sound like lost Southern soul classics.
King's lead vocals could be strikingly bluesy, and the band cooks throughout the album, moving from the loping country-rock & soul of the opening track "Keep on Movin' On" to the electric blues of "Who Am I to Say?" to the sunny country-rock of "California" to the Stax-styled ballad, "You Must Believe She's Gone." Stax is, in fact, a good reference point for the entire debut album.
The rhythm section consistently locks into a transcendent groove, and Joey Murcia's fabulous guitar work is slightly busier than Steve Cropper's but approaches the work of that legend, with a proper grit to it that is never wasted. It is surprising that Magic never quite found a wider audience.
The final track from the first album, "Sound of the Tears Is Silent," sounds as if it could have come from the pen of Smokey Robinson, and it leads perfectly into the band's subsequent stint on Motown's Rare Earth label.
Most of the songs from that period that show up on the Gear Fab reissue, however, seem to veer closer to streamlinened, hard blues-rocking territory (with a couple of country-ish cuts) and are, as a result, not quite as appealing as the previous soulful material. Still, the early Magic songs alone make this a welcome reissue, especially for lovers of Stax and Southern soul music.
by Stanton Swihart
Tracks
1. Keep On Movin' On (Duane King) - 3:22
2. Indian Sadie (Joey Murcia) - 3:57
3. You Must Believe She's Gone (Duane King) - 4:04
4. ETS Zero (Duane King) - 2:42
5. Wake Up Girl (Duane King) - 2:35
6. One Minus Two (Duane King) - 2:37
7. Who Am I To Say? (Duane King) - 1:57
8. I'll Just Play (Duane King, Joey Murcia) - 11:55
9. I Think I Love You (Duane King) - 2:38
10.That's How Strong My Love Is (Jamison) - 3:07
11.California (Joey Murcia) - 2:51
12. Sound Of The Tears Is Silent (Duane King) - 2:59
13.I Do (Duane King) - 3:26
14.Hold Me Tight (Duane King) - 3:35
15.Compassion (Duane King) - 2:44
16.Be At Peace With Yourself (Duane King) - 3:23
17.Too Many People Starving (Joey Murcia) - 3:45
Magic
*Nick King - Bass, Backing Vocals
*Gary Harger - Drums
*Duane King - Guitar, Lead Vocals
*Joey Murcia - Lead Guitar
*Clyde Hamilton - Organ, Trumpet, Backing Vocals
*Paul Rankin - Steel Guitar
*Mike Motz - Guitar
