After a string of pop hits that were, and largely remain, underrated for their artistry, Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde were looking for the project that would boost their esteem beyond the teen idol level. Releases like Pet Sounds and Sgt. Peppers had raised the bar for pop production considerably, and in September of 1967, Chad & Jeremy entered the studio to create their response, Of Cabbages And Kings. Although the album didn't have the commercial impact the duo hoped for, it has stood as one of the underrated gems of 60's pop. Sundazed has assembled the original album's six bonus cuts for reissue, and it's a reissue that should delight any fan of Brit-pop who is familiar with it, and happily inform those who aren't.
Producer Gary Usher ran interference with the Columbia accountants, providing Stuart and Clyde the time and resources they needed to realize their ambitions, and their ambitions were high. Using sounds ranging from didgeridoo, horns and strings to flushing toilets and the verbal antics of their labelmates, The Firesign Theater, they produced a set of original songs that included the five movement "Progress Suite," a collage of music and found sounds.
The result was an album worthy of inclusion in the pantheon established by its noteworthy predecessors, but ultimately it wasn't the album Chad & Jeremy fans were looking for, and save for the relative handful of us who revered it both then and now, it became best remembered more as a novelty near the end of a career (they would record one more album, the similarly ambitious The Ark, before Clyde departed to pursue an acting career on British stages) than as a triumphant peak.
by Shaun Dale
Tracks
1. Rest In Peace (Chad Stuart) - 6:47
2. The Gentle Cold Of Dawn - 3:52
3. Busman's Holiday - 3:25
4. Can I See You - 3:49
5. Family Way - 2:47
6. I'll Get Around To It When And If I Can (James William Guercio) - 2:41
7. Prologue (Chad Stuart) - 5:48
8. Decline (Chad Stuart) - 4:08
9. Editorial (Vocal) - 2:56
10.Fall (Chad Stuart) - 8:30
11.Epilogue (Vocal) - 5:08
12.Rest in Peace (Chad Stuart) - 3:18
13.Family Way - 2:47
14.The Progress Suite: Editorial - 2:56
All compositions by Jeremy Clyde except as else indicated
Count Five (also Count V) was a garage rock group consisting of the member Kenn Ellner, John “Sean Byrne”, Roy Chaney, John “Mouse” Michalski and Craig “Butch” Atkinson, from San Jose California who’s song Psychotic Reaction reached number 5 in the Billboard charts in 1966 and was selected as one of the five hundred most influential songs in Rock n’ Roll History by the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Psychotic Reaction was released worldwide and obtained prominence in United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, and Mexico.
The history of the Count Five begins in 1964 in San Jose, CA with two friends Roy Chaney (born 1948) and John “Mouse” Michalski (born 1949). They formed a surf band known as the Citations. An additional member was Skip Cordell who played drums. In 1965 Roy and Mouse wanted to add a lead vocalist and change the direction of the band so after auditions they added as lead vocalist a long time friend Kenn Ellner (born 1948) and a piano player Phil Evans. All of the members went to Pioneer High School in San Jose, CA except for John Michalski who attended Blackford High School but later also attended Pioneer for a short time.
The band’s new direction and genre was English Invasion music and some rhythm and blues. The name of the band was changed to The Squires. Both Skip and Phil exited the band. A new neighbor moved in across the street from Kenn Ellner his name was John “Sean” Byrne (1947-2008). John was a prolific song writer a guitarist and great vocalist. One day while at Pioneer High School Kenn heard John playing his guitar and singing Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter. Kenn asked John if he would like to come to rehearsal that night at his house and see if he would like to join the band. John joined the band and a few months later at Kenn’s kitchen table the two band members came up with both a new name for the band Count V and style of Dracula capes and “Tom Jones (the movie)” styled shirts as stage outfits. The band had gone through several drummers and Kenn Ellner talked to Craig “Butch” Atkinson (1947-1998) who also attended Pioneer High School and asked if he would come to a rehearsal at his house and see if he wanted to play with the band. The first song he played was an original and Butch played it as if he had been playing the song for years. Butch was a perfect fit and he joined the group.
The band shifted genres to mostly garage style rock and roll with influences from The Yardbirds, The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones. The Standells were not an influence. The line up for the band was Kenn Ellner vocals and harmonica, John “Sean” Byrne vocals and rhythm guitar, Roy Chaney, Bass Guitar, John “Mouse” Michalski, Lead Guitar, and Craig “Butch” Atkinson, drummer. The band members were rejected by several record labels before they got signed to the Los Angeles-based Double Shot Records. The band decided to pursue their collegiate endeavors and disbanded in 1968 and reunited as later described.
At a rehearsal in early 1966, Psychotic Reaction was composed by the group. Psychotic Reaction” is an early garage rock song released by the American rock band Count Five in 1966, and also the title of their only album. The song Psychotic Reaction was written by the five members of the Count Five, Craig “Butch” Atkinson, John Byrne, Roy Chaney, Kenn Ellner and John “Mouse” Michalski. The song started off as an instrumental jam between Ellner, Chaney and Michalski and was composed in the living room of Craig Atkinson’s at the beginning of a rehearsal. Kenn Ellner was breaking in a new harmonica for the first time and Chaney and Michalski were jamming and composing. The harmonica was a C harmonica, so the jam was in G. Atkinson and Byrne joined the rehearsal and added to the jam and composition. Many weeks prior to this monumental rehearsal Byrne had a psychology class at San Jose City College.
The lecturer was discussing psychotic reactions and a friend and classmate Ron Lamb thought it would be a good name for a band. John Byrne had mentioned to the band about that event and it evolved from the name of the band to a good name for a song. At the rehearsal Ellner and Byrne looked at each other and said this is “Psychotic Reaction”. The song was played by the band for a long time at their live performances as an instrumental and was well received by the Count Five fans in attendance. Fans were wildly ecstatic about the instrumental version. However, after much prodding from the band’s manager Sol Ellner at a rehearsal at Ellner’s house, Byrne was told by Sol to “Go across the street and don’t return without lyrics to the song” (Byrne lived across the street from Ellner with Byrne’s uncle Leo). Byrne complied.
The song went through months of modifications by the band modifying beats, rhythm and the like. As the band auditioned for various labels and producers all had constructive criticism about the song and its structure. Taking into account some of the criticisms and discarding others the band members worked many hours and many months modifying and rearranging the composition with assistance from multiple sources., a DJ from KLIV Radio Brian Lord, various producers of audition sessions, management, agents, friends and fans. In the studio at Nashville West on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, Double Shot Record’s producer even modified the lyrical content by suggesting and adding the famous tag line “And it feels like this”. Psychotic Reaction was truly a collaborative composition. This is the true story of how the song was composed.
Psychotic Reaction was not written by any one individual any such report is entirely false. The song was modeled after the Yardbirds’s song “I’m a Man”, with a repetitious rhythm that eventually changes to a faster beat, an electric guitar playing a hypnotic melody going up the scales, and a similar style of percussion to that of the Yardbirds hit.
Upon the initial establishment of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Psychotic Reaction was featured in a long running exhibit in the Hall entitled The Five Hundred Most Influential Songs of Rock n’ Roll History. The name of the exhibit has changed to The Most Influential Songs of Rock n’ Roll History as additional songs have been added.
The band regrouped first for their high school twenty year reunion in 1986 all original members in tact. Then again in 1987 they appeared at “One Step Beyond” in Santa Clara California, with a new drummer Rocky Astrella for most of the set, though Butch did perform on Psychotic Reaction. That was the last time all of the original members performed together. This performance has been released as Psychotic Reaction Live.
The Count Five is still performing as of this writing in April 2012 with the latest line up consisting of Chaney, Ellner, Michalski, Indovina and Astrella.
Jeff Thorpe wrote about Heron, that after attempting to research the group (and coming up empty handed), that perhaps he was content to leave their biography a mystery and let the music speak for itself. In truth, even if one would like to dig deeper, when it comes to Heron it is not a matter of preference, but rather, a true lack of information.
Aside from a few band members’ reflections – found on an otherwise completely sparse website – there is very little history to be found. [...] Recently, we were lucky enough to track down one of the albums by its lonesome, abd listening to it as an individual document proves that the painfully overlooked group was crafting a remarkably unique sound that feels both new and yet very familiar. The record is Twice As Nice & Half the Price.
An album in which songs of jolly demeanor (“My Turn to Cry,” a driving song with the heaviest drums on the record and sung like a smiley pop orchestration) are mixed into the record seamlessly between solo-efforts and quiet introspective works. Two of the LPs most devastating tracks are both covers. The Isley Brothers “This Old Heart of Mine” is reinvented to reflect the forlorn nature of the lyrics. Dylan’s “John Brown” can be added to the short list of tracks whose cover version is stronger than the original.
A war-commentary originally penned in 1963 and mostly forgotten until it’s appliance in an “Unplugged” setting, it is sung here in a beautiful harmony that is far from perfect, with a jangling but not up-front piano. It’s this looseness that makes many of these tracks feel like old standards instead of originals. Jovial, yet sad songs that blossom with the raw emotion of single-takes. This is non-abrasive, “easy” folk of the highest caliber, allowing the listener to either get lost in its lyrics, the instrumentation, or the Sunday-afternoon delight.
by B. Kramer, 2008
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Madman (G.T. Moore) - 4:42
2. Take Me Back Home (R. Apps) - 2:03
3. Love 13 (Lone) (T. Pook) - 2:49
4. Something Inside (R. Apps) - 2:32
5. Miss Kiss (G.T. Moore) - 2:47
6. John Brown (Bob Dylan) - 7:14
7. Big A (G.T. Moore) - 2:58
8. The Sound Of Music (G.T. Moore) - 8:49
9. Winter Harleequin (G.T. Moore) - 4:01
10. Your Love And Mine (R. Apps) - 2:25
Disc 2
1. You Really Got A Hold On Me (S. Robinson) - 3:18
2. The Great Dust Storm (W. Guthrie) - 3:32
3. My Turn To Cry (G.T. Moore) - 1:59
4. This Old Heart Of Mine (Holland, Dozier) - 4:44
5. Minstrel And A King (G.T. Moore) - 5:29
6. Getting 'Em Down (R. Apps) - 2:00
7. I Wouldn't Mind (G.T. Moore) - 4:02
8. He's A Poor Boy (R. Apps) - 2:42
9. The Devil (G.T. Moore) - 2:40
10. Wanderer (T. Pook) - 2:55
11. Harlequin 5 (G.T. Moore) - 2:52
Also an alumni of Robbie Lane and The Disciples, when Dominic Troiano left Mandala in 1969, he was looking for a change from the high class big band r&b rhythms. Along with Mandala-mates vocalist Roy Kenner and Pentti 'Whitey' Glan on drums, they moved to Arizona early the next year to get different musical vibes and a fresh start. They recruited bassist Parkash John and began playing the circuit, cutting their teeth on the harder blues based riffs and less sophisticated material they were trying out on a hungry market looking for something different to wet their appetite.
They caught the attention of Reb Foster, an LA disc jockey while he was in Arizona. Foster ran a management company through his Cuordoroy Records that was affiliated with ABC/Dunhill Records. He agreed to manage the band and had them signed to Dunhill in early 1970. Bush in fact was the first band to sign with Cuordoroy. They got bigger gigs, opening for the likes of Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night, but found themselves in the middle of a nightmarish R'n'R political BS situation as they prepared to release their first lp. ABC/Dunhill sued Cuordoroy, and Bush became the football, punted back and forth with no one ever scoring.
Their first and only lp was self-titled and like the band's name, straight forward, simple, catchy and easy. Tracks like the lead off "Back Stage Girl, "Got To Leave The City," "Messin' Around With Boxes" and their only single "I Can Hear You Calling" all showed Troiano and company were looking for a different direction, straight to the bones driving rhythms. The reminiscent "Yonge St. Patty" paid homage to 'the girls from home,' not far from where Troiano grew up.
They carried along the dusty trails but by early the next year, they were broke. The band packed it in, but Troiano and Kenner weren't out of work for long. The James Gang came knocking on Troiano's door to fill Joe Walsh's guitar duties, and he convinced them Kenner would be the perfect vocalist for them. Troiano then would go on to join The Guess Who and cut several solo albums, as well as form his Black Market project before becoming immersed in production and behind the scenes work, scoring a number of soundtracks for film and television. Kenner would also appear on again off again in Troiano's solo projects, as well as in Black Market, as did John, who also went on to record with Alice Cooper, along with Glan.
The album was re-released in 1995, but not without controversy. Around the same time that Troiano was remastering the album, a band came out of Britain with the same name. To avoid legal hassles, they changed their name to Bush X for their Canadian release. The original Bush did indeed re-release their only lp, but oddly - with a different cover. Also included were four live tracks from the last show they ever performed at LA's Bitter End club with Three Dog Night.
Two years later, Troiano and Gavin Rossdale, leader of the British band held a press conference in Toronto to announce they'd been given permission to use the 'Bush' name on recordings.
Tracks
1. Back Stage Girl (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 2:57
2. Yonge St. Patty (Domenic Troiano) - 2:48
3. Got to Leave the City (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 3:36
4. I Miss You (Domenic Troiano) - 2:52
5. Grand Commander (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 4:19
6. Cross Country Man (Domenic Troiano) - 3:56
7. I Can Hear You Calling (Pentti "Whitey' Glan, Roy Kenner, Hugh Sullivan, Domenic Troiano) - 2:48
8. Messin' Around With Boxes (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 2:51
9. Livin' Life (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 3:17
10.Turn Down (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 4:00
11.Drink Your Wine (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 5:51
12.Try (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 2:50
13.Lookin' (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 3:22
14.Wicked Woman (Roy Kenner, Domenic Troiano) - 3:11
15.Cross Country Man (Domenic Troiano) - 20:21
Tracks 12-15 Recorded Live at The Bitter End Los Angeles, June 5-6 / 1971
Bush
*Domenic Troiano - Guitars, Vocals
*Roy Kenner - Vocals
*Pentti "Whitey' Glan - Drums
*Prakash John - Bass, Vocals
*Hugh Sullivan - Piano (Only on tracks 12, 13, 14)
Early '70s French psych-rock here, not so much on the proto-metal side of things but still totally groovy, and from the get-go not failing to rock the cowbell (well, the opening track on this 22 song collection, "Peut-etre Demain", is the number one cowbell culprit, gotta love it). Wakhevitch was an avant-garde, electronic composer whose first few albums enlisted the fuzzed guitars of Triangle as part of their surreal soundscapes. So we'd been always curious to hear Triangle's own music. Of course it's not as far out as the Wakhevitch stuff, they're basically a pop band, tres commercial, yet with a freaky side to 'em.
This disc, as the title reveals, collects some of their crucial cuts from '69 through '74... a lot of upbeat numbers with DJ-friendly beats, symphonic prog moves, catchy choruses, and swingin' horns. Really, judging from this disc, Triangle were all over the place, from synth-laced proto-disco to placid piano ballads to bubblegum hard rock. If you like stuff of the "B-music" persuasion (like the Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word comp), or that Total Freakout collection on Mucho Gusto, or rad '70s "library music" and things like that, we figure you'll dig these Triangle tunes.
This digipack includes pictures of all of Triangle's original 33 and 45 rpm record sleeves, which are nice to have -- the first album's got a piano engulfed in flames on it, the second has Triangle lined up for a firing squad, also comprised of the band members. But there's no liner notes to speak of, so we don't know a heck of a lot more about 'em, other than that they recorded three albums and a bunch of singles, had some hits, went on to back up pop singer Papillon on a solo LP of his (three tracks from that album, including their cover of Bowie's "Starman" en Francais, are to be found here).
Tracks
1. Peut-Etre Domain - 4:47
2. Elegie A Gabrielle (F. Jeanneau, G. Fournier, J,P. Prevotat, P. Farges) - 4:58
3. Blow Your Cool (Version Single) (Triangle, C. Watson) - 3:09
4. Let Brumes De Chatou - 5:16
5. Les Contes Du Vieil Homme - 4:24
6. J'ai Vu - 3:32
7. Viens Avec Nous - 3:01
8. Litanies - 5:08
9. L'arbre De Juin - 3:16
10.A Cor Et A Cri - 2:47
11.Le Temps Des Tams Tams - 3:08
12.I.A.M. - 3:02
13.Mama, Tu Ne Sais Pas - 3:18
14.Peut-Etre Domain (Version Anglaise Inedite) - 4:48
15.Vlvre Au Present (I Heard It Through The Grapevine) (N. Whitfield, B. Strong, Triangle) - 4:21
16.Con Nosotros (Version Espagno) (Triangle, Adapt. A. Betgrano) - 3:09
17.Genenque 1042 (Homefaber) - 1:41
18.Un Ticket Pour... - 2:16
19.Dis Moi - 3:55
20.La Planete Rock'n'roll (G. Foumief, B. Bergman) - 2:23
21.Le Rock Plus Electricite (Free Electric Band) (Hammond, Hazelwood, E. Roda Gil) - 3:19
22.L'air Que Je Chante (Starman) (Gringo, D. Bowie) - 3:37
All compositions by Triangle except where noted
Living Game is the most appealing of Mick Greenwood's '70s trilogy of albums, more focused than 1972's To Friends and much less slick than 1974's Midnight Dreamer. Recorded with members of Fotheringay (drummer Gerry Conway) and Fairport Convention (bassist Dave Pegg), among others, Living Game is a straightforward British folk-rock album with some pop and psychedelic influences.
The lilting opener, "Taxi," sounds rather like Kiln House-era Fleetwood Mac (although Lyn Dobson's fluid, mellow flute work adds a not-unappealing hippie-ish edge) and the quite pretty, Indian-accented closer, "Sight," features both the album's best lyrics and strongest melody. Some of what lies between is forgettable post-hippie singer/songwriter stuff, but surprisingly, what could potentially have been the album's worst track, the lengthy centerpiece "After the First World War," is one of its triumphs.
Greenwood and lead guitarist Jerry Donahue up their instrumental intensity a few notches here, for a sound that melds folkish grace and heavy electrics in the manner of contemporaneous Fairport Convention, and Greenwood spits out the ironic lyrics in a credible sneer. Living Game isn't a buried treasure or anything, but it has much that would interest a curious fan of British folk-rock.
by Stewart Mason
First released back in 1971, 'Living Game' is an album that still holds a strong appeal some 30 years later. Here we are treated to well composed pieces that are not long winded and self indulgent affairs, but concise and to the point. Furthermore, the songs are played with with an honest simplicity and a sense of conviction that is sadly lacking in many modern day recordings, and which allows the listener to easily connect with the music.
by Simon Hill
Tracks
1. Taxi - 2.57
2. Friend of Mine - 2.42
3. Living Game - 4.34
4. My Life - 3.50
5. To The Sea - 3.23
6. After The First World War - 5.50
7. To The Farside - 2.45
8. Truth Seeker - 2.46
9. Situation Number Four - 2.22
10.Keep Coming Back - 4.07
11.Sight - 4.00
All songs written by Mick Greenwood
Ariel formed in mid-1973, after the breakup of Spectrum. When Spectrum drummer Ray Arnott announced he was leaving to join Ross Wilson's new band Mighty Kong, Putt and Rudd commendably decided to end the band rather than try to recruit a new member, feeling that it wouldn't be possible to recreate the special spirit of that group. Within a few months of Spectrums's farewell performance their new band (whose name was taken from the character in Shakespeare's "The Tempest") was up and running. Ironically, the two new members, Tim and Nigel, had originally come to Melbourne to work with Ross Wilson and Ross Hannaford on their new project (which became Mighty Kong) and it was after they departed that Wilson asked Ray Arnott to join, thus precipitating the split of Spectrum!
Strong record company interest in Ariel quickly led to a contract with EMI's progressive Harvest imprint. Their superb debut single "Jamaican Farewell" looked set to repeat the early success of Spectrum but it only managed to reach No.34, its success hampered by lack of airplay, especially in Sydney, although it impressed the industry enough to win the FACB 'Single Of The Year'. They toured as support to Gary Glitter November 1973 and released their excellent first LP A Strange Fantastic Dream in December, with writing credits split fairly evenly between Gaze and Rudd. According to Noel McGrath, the album was also the first use of Moog synthesizer on an Australian rock record (though it's possible Tully may have been the first Australian band to recod with one) and producer Peter Dawkins still names it as one of his favourite productions.
It fared well commercially and critically, reaching #12 in the LP charts in February 1974, although there was a minor controversy about Stephen Nelson's brilliant, hallucinatory cover painting, which included (shock! horror!) a hypodermic syringe. Airplay for the LP was further hindered by the banning of three songs ("Confessions Of A Psychotic Cowpoke", "Medicine Man" and "Chicken Shit") by the commercial radio industry's self-regulatory body, the FACB.
One particularly important outcome for the group was that EMI International's President, Allan Davies, fell in love with the album: "You know, Peter," he enthused to Dawkins, "I can't recall ever hearing a song about necrophilia!" Renowned British DJ John Peel also picked up both album and single and "said some really nice things about both of them". These and other factors led to Ariel being invited to tour the UK and record their next album at Abbey Road.
Tracks
1. Jamaican Farewell (Rudd, Gaze) - 2:50
2. No Encores - 3:47
3. Confessions of a Psychotic Cowpoke - 4:43
4. And I'm Blue - 2:52
5. Garden of the Frenzied Cortinas - 7:46
6. Miracle Man (Gaze) - 5:29
7. Chicken Shit - 4:23
8. Worm Turning Blues - 2:56
9. Wheezer Grunter Module Threadaboy/Harry v. Dirchy (God the Man) (Ariel, Gaze) - 4:20
10.Hard Way to Go - 3:49
11.And if it Wasn't for You - 2:32
12.Red Hot Momma - 2:38
All songs by Mike Rudd unless as else stated
By 1970 Galliard was recognized as one of the new-wave of progressive rock bands and following the impact of the first album went back into the studios in late 1969 to commence work on the next album 'New Dawn'. John Smith the original sax player had become increasingly unreliable and had been replaced by a tremendous new player friend of Dave's, Lyle Jenkins. The only trouble with having such a brilliant brass section was that it was being eyed by other bands of much higher recognition than Galliard at the time.
The second album, 'New Dawn', was recorded in the Beatles' legendary Abbey Road Number 2 studio. Surrounded by an array of extra instruments (including the famous Mellotron from Strawberry Fields), the band included supplemented brass sections, sitars, keyboards, sine-wave generators, accordion, harpsichord and other creative inputs that meant it took longer to record than the first album. The album, again produced by Phil Wainman, was far more ambitious and polished than the first album and the band had finally found its own sound.
The first two tracks; the classic 'New Dawn Breaking' written by Geoff with a great brass arrangement by Dave Caswell and a stunning free-form sax-solo from Lyle Jenkins; and 'Premonition', an instrumental written by Dave, were both finished by February 1970. The third track with them playing trumpet and sax, 'Your Mind's Eye', was completed by March. Then, out of the blue, both Dave and Lyle were poached by 'The Keef Hartley Band'. Understandable now as Keef Hartley was an established professional London band with a big following, but at the time it was a massive blow and it was hard to replace them. Keef Hartley subsequently lost Dave and Lyle to 'Ashton Gardner & Dyke'.
Dave and Lyle played together in various bands following AG&D and Dave went on to play with some very high profile bands and artists such as The Who, Elkie Brooks, Rick Wakeman, Randy Crawford, The Yellowjackets, Paul McCartney and many others.
Undeterred, the remaining Galliard line-up was determined to get the album finished. John Morton, a local trombone player and arranger, and a friend of Geoff's, was the key to providing the musicians and working alongside Geoff on the arrangements for the remaining tracks of New Dawn. He also contributed as a co-writer with Geoff on a couple of new songs for the album.
Galliard were back in the studio in May 1970 with a new line-up to include John Hughes brass arranger and trombone/keyboards, Tony Roberts (sax), and Harry Becket - a session trumpeter to complete the album. The first track, 'Winter-Spring-Summer' with this ensemble was recorded on the 3rd May 1970 with a stunning flugelhorn solo by Harry Becket, followed by one of Geoff's favorite tracks, 'Open Up Your Mind' on the 31st May. The album was completed in July and released in September 1970.
John Peel had a major radio-show at the time and invited Galliard to appear live twice earlier in the year when Dave and Lyle were still with the band. The recordings are still available as bootlegs and show how exciting the band could be in a live setting. The band was then a 6-piece with John Morton on trombone and Bob Rae on sax/trumpet.
1970 was a busy year for Galliard with lots of live performances plus a gig in June at the legendary 'Festival of The Midnight Sun' at the Mantorps Racing Circuit in Sweden. This gig though was played as a quartet with no brass section as the guys couldn't make it and it became clear to the band that the cost of touring with a brass section, plus the unreliability of the players and the changes of personnel made it necessary to revert back to the four-piece guitars, bass and drums line-up. This was the line-up that went, inexplicably, to the Belgian Congo in November 1971 to play for Mobutu's presidential celebrations - and came back alive!
Losing the brass section was not a detrimental thing for Galliard who continued to thrive and tour with the quartet line-up. Richard still played sitar and Geoff supplemented with keyboards as synthesizers slowly started to creep into rock group line-ups.
Phil Wainman meantime, with his pop successes, wanted to record Galliard under a different name. The same line-up released a single in 1971 under the name of 'Helicopter' on Phil's own 'Maple Annie' label with a song written by Geoff entitled 'I Belong To Yesterday' which featured Richard on his legendary sitar. The band unfortunately by then had lost its way. The lack of success at the time of the albums had disheartened the guys and Les decided to quit.
Geoff had by then moved on from progressive rock to more commercial music and was attracted to the keyboards and the possibilities that they offered, especially the new electronic samplers and other synthesizers. It was really the end of the road for Galliard as Geoff's new songs moved the band in a new direction towards funk/jazz black-American influenced music that got Geoff and Andy back to their R&B/Blues roots, which was not the direction that all the band wanted to go in. It also got the band more work as they switched to the Birmingham-based Fewtrell/Tully agency and started to work in more night clubs than colleges.
Richard Pannell eventually left in 1973 and joined E.L.O. as their permanent sound engineer. Les Podraza moved on as he wasn't interested in the new music, to be replaced firstly by the late Fred Woolley, followed by Steve James, and then another Geoff drummer discovery, Mel Gaynor (Carl Palmer being the first). Mel later went on to fame with Simple Minds! Lyle Jenkins is still playing and runs a jazz club and teaches sax/woodwinds in Essex. Dave Caswell is retired but still active with local bands in Dorset. He commutes to Germany each year for serious jazz gigs.
Geoff's next band to take the stage and make an impact in Birmingham and the recording scene was 'Muscles' who became Birmingham's answer to 'Level 42', but that's another story!
Tracks
1. New Dawn Breaking - 4:22
2. Ask For Nothing - 9:01
3. Winter-Spring-Summer - 5:57
4. Open Up Your Mind (Brown, Morton) - 3:14
5. And Smile Again - 4:09
6. Something Going On (Brown, Morton) - 4:55
7. Premonition (Caswell) - 4:45
8. In Your Mind's Eyes - 6:28
All songs by Geoff Brown except where stated
Musicians
*Andrew Abbott - Bass, Lead Vocals
*Geoff Brown - Lead Vocals, Rhythm, 12 String Guitars, Hammond Organ, Piano
*Dave Caswell - Trumpet. Indian Flute, Electric Piano, Vocals
*Richard Pannell - Lead Guitar, Sitar, Vocals
*Leslie Podraza - Drums, Tambourine, Sleigh Bells, Vocals
*Harald Beckett - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
*John Hughes - Trombone
*Lyle Jenkins - Tenor, Baritone Saxophones
*John Morton - Piano
*Tony Roberts - Saxophone, Flute
*Tommy Thomas - Congas
Galliard, formed in Birmingham during the summer of 1968, were one of the few progressive rock bands to come out of Birmingham. They were, in essence, a much-augmented later metamorphosis of Craig, the four-piece who recorded the fearsome 'I Must Be Mad'. Galliard cut two albums, 'Strange Pleasure' and 'New Dawn', released on the Deram Nova label, both of which were produced by Phil Wainman, drummer and future Bay City Rollers' manager.
The four members of Craig went their separate ways in 1966. Carl Palmer went off to join Chris Farlowe's Thunderbirds, and then went to 'The Crazy World of Arthur Brown'. He later became part of the very successful 'Emerson, Lake & Palmer' trio. Geoff Brown went off to British Leyland's computer department as a programmer, which stood him in good stead when many years later he set up an international game publisher, US Gold. Len Cox dropped out of the music scene to reappear many years later as a priest. Richard Pannell went on to finish his electronics' degree - the skills gained proving very useful when he later became the sound engineer for ELO.
After Craig, Richard Pannell began playing guitar semi-pro with an Irish showband led by vocalist John Fitzgerald called 'The Castaways' (coincidentally the same name as the first band Geoff and Richard formed in '62, which later became The King Bees). Also playing in the showband were John Smith (sax), Dave Caswell (trumpet), Andy Abbott (bass), and drummer Frank McGonagle. In late 1967 Richard asked Geoff if he would like to join the band on a semi-pro basis as it was only playing weekends and Geoff agreed. Like most Irish showbands at the time the music was an eclectic mix, but what worked really well were the soul-based Stax-type songs with the brass section.
Tiring of the Showband scene, Geoff suggested they form a regular band and concentrate on the soul aspect of the music. Stax was the vogue label at the time and with the brass laden tracks they were ideal songs for the band to cover. Geoff was singing confident lead vocals having cut his teeth on blues with the King Bees. In mid-1968, the band was launched as 'Immediate Pleasure' and played the local clubs such as The Rum Runner and The Cedar Club, gaining a small but enthusiastic group of fans.
Like most bands there are a couple of seminal things that influence the direction and musical genre that any band decides to play; the ability and influence of the leading band members, and the prevailing styles of music around at the time. In the case of Immediate Pleasure it was Geoff's eclectic music tastes linked with Dave and John's jazz background plus Richard's expertise in electronics and experimentation. In addition, groups were emerging in the USA that included brass sections in the line-up, the most notable being 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' with their 1968 album 'Child is Father to the Man' followed in April 1969 later by 'Chicago' with 'Chicago Transit Authority'. Both these bands at the time seemed to Geoff to be an exciting new genre of music that Immediate Pleasure could tackle as it had the line-up to attempt it. It also sparked off Geoff's songwriting skills again.
A somewhat obscure North American group called 'Ars Nova', who released an album Ars Nova in 1968 that had an intriguing mix of psychedelic rock with classical overtones and a brass section, caught the band's interest. The iTunes review of the album almost sums up where Galliard's initial inspiration came from: "There are haunting tunes with a folk-rock base and a faint Renaissance ballad melodic influence - and harder rocking period psychedelic tracks with a bent for unpredictable bittersweet progressions and vocal harmonies..." This eclectic mix was the spark for Geoff to ignite the inspiration for Galliard. The galliard was a popular medieval dance of the 16th century and, influenced by the sound of Ars Nova, Geoff wrote a song for the first album called 'Frog Galliard' and named the band after it.
Strangely enough, for a relatively unknown band, Ars Nova must have been listened to by other Birmingham musicians as one of their album tracks 'Fields Of People' was released by The Move on their 1970 album 'Shazam'. There were other influences in the band though which came from the jazzy brass section and also the early blues songs that the King Bees had played. Slowly, but surely Galliard was developing its own eclectic style.
Frank, the drummer, was not interested in the new direction the band was taking and the search was on for a drummer that would complement and enhance Geoff's Galliard songs and the final piece of the Galliard sound came when Les Podraza joined the band in February 1969. Les was a young, local Birmingham musician who had just come off tour with Tim Rose where he replaced John Bonham on drums. He was very creative and so with Les's drumming and Andy Abbott's original tight bass playing the rhythm section was complete and could easily match the different styles that the band was incorporating. Andy, very influenced by the playing of Blood, Sweat & Tears' Jim Fielder, was also taking some lead vocal parts and singing harmony with Geoff to augment the overall vocal sound. Once Les joined the band, they started to gig solely as Galliard with original material mostly provided by Geoff.
Galliard was still operating semi-professionally, but was building up a major following around the Midlands and on the college circuit, and was starting to support headlining bands - sometimes stealing the show! The band was managed at the time by Alan Clayton of Astra Agency in Wolverhampton, and it was Alan who arranged for Galliard to audition for a new record producer, Phil Wainman, who was looking to step into the emerging progressive rock scene. Decca were launching a new progressive label at the time, Deram Nova, and Galliard produced by Phil was an ideal band to be amongst the first wave of album releases.
By this time, Galliard had amassed enough songs to fill an album and went into Olympic Studios in London to record their first LP entitled 'Strange Pleasure', the fourth album released in the Deram Nova catalogue in November 1969. The mix of songs was very eclectic with the opening track being an arrangement of an old traditional blues classic 'Skillet Good 'n Greasy' first heard by Geoff on Davy Graham's 'Folk, Blues and Beyond' 1964 album - but what an arrangement, with classic guitar build-up riffs, plus a blasting horn arrangement straight out of the BS&T bag. The album also included Galliard's first single, 'I Wrapped Her In Ribbons' a haunting folk-type song punctuated with a brilliant brass arrangement and great trumpet solo in 5/4 time (edited out for the single). The B-side was 'The Hermit And The Knight', a song written by Dave Caswell and included on the second Galliard album.
An interesting note is that, of all people, Frank Ifield recorded Galliard's I Wrapped Her In Ribbons as a B-side to his single 'Three Good Reasons' in May 1970. Why, or how, he chose the song Geoff has no idea. Other highlights of the album were backward guitar solos, sound effects, harmonica and classical trumpet solos amongst other original touches.
Tracks
1. Skillet - 3:46
2. A Modern Day Fairy Tale - 3:16
3. Pastorale - 2:29
4. I Wrapped Her In Ribbons - 3:52
5. Children Of The Sun - 3:46
6. Got To Make It - 4:00
7. Frog Galliard - 3:22
8. Blood - 3:47
9. Hear The Colours - 3:48
10.I Wanna Be Back Home - 4:54
11.The Hermit And The Knight - 2:42
12.I Wrapped Her In Ribbons (Single Version) - 3:09
Neon’s 1970 debut album was produced by Tommy James and Bob King (the pair also handled musical arrangements and contributed one song to the set). "Neon" is actually a surprisingly good heavy rock album. With Crabtree penning the majority of the material, the set offered up a nice blend of guitar rock ('Mountain Baby' - ignore the ponderous drum solo) and more commercial moves (check out the Tommy James and the Shondells-styled harmonies on 'Hold Back My Tears').
Personal favorites were the band's cover of James' 'Dark Is the Night' (always liked that 1960s sitar sound), the rocker 'Can't Stop Myself (From Loving You)' and the mildly psychedelic 'Magic Man'. Listening to the album a couple more times, the set sounds like something The Shondells might have done had the ever elected to go for a tighter, AOR audience - that's meant as a compliment. A pleasant surprise and a bargain at the asking price
Tracks
1. Mountain Baby - 6:26
2. Hold Back My Tears - 3:24
3. Dark Is The Night (Tommy James, Bob King) - 3:26
4. Can't Stop Myself (From Lovin' You) - 6:20
5. Magic Man - 7:31
6. Nobody Nowhere (P. Brannigan, F. Crabtree, R. Leslie, F. Porter) - 7:30
7. Funny Kind Of Feelin' - 5:15
8. Darling Before I Go (Stereo Single Bonus Track) - 2:13
9. Movin' (Mono Single Bonus Track) - 2:37
All songs by Francis Crabtree except where indicated
