Dada - Dada (1970 uk, fine jazz fusion rock, with Elkie Brooks and Paul Korda)

Fronted by the talented lead singer Elkie Brooks (who was quite popular in England at the time), Dada was a short-lived band project. Sounding something like a slightly arty, British version of Delaney and Bonnie, Dada's sound was heavy, gospel-oriented rock 'n' roll. 

"Seed of peace' a gospel-soaked piano drives the chorus, led by Brooks' excellent lead. It's a wonderful track, somewhat reminiscent of Delaney & Bonnie's "Getto." It succeeds precisely because of the understatement in its arrangement. Unfortunately, this is one of the few examples of a laidback approach on the album; they could have done more of these. 

by Matthew Greenwald

Tracks
1. Big Dipper (Paul Korda, Pete Gage) - 4:09
2. The Last Time (Keith Richards, Mick Jagger) - 3:37
3. This Is My Song (Paul Korda, Pete Gage) - 4:33
4. Seed Of Peace (Don Shinn, Paul Korda) - 3:26
5. Organ Interlude (Don Shinn) - 0:54
6. Tonite Is (Don Shinn, Paul Korda) - 0:54
7. She Walks Away (Zagni, Pete Gage) - 3:22
8. Aspen, Colorado (Tony Joe White) - 4:58
9. Eyes Of The Warren (Don Shinn) - 4:08
10.Jasamin (P. Korda) - 2:36
11.Dada (P. Korda) - 3:45

Dada
Elkie Brooks - Vocals
Paul Korda - Vocals
Don Shinn - Keyboards, Organ, Vibraphone
Barry Duggan - Alto, Baritone Saxophones, Flute
Martyn Harryman - Drums, Percussion
Pete Gage - Guitar, Bass
Malcolm Capewell - Tenor Saxophone, Flute
Ernie Luchlan – Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Jimmy Chambers – Vocals, Percussion

Related Acts
1969-71  Paul Korda - Passing Stranger (2012 Esoteric remaster)
1969  Don Shinn - Takes A Trip (Flawed Gems edition)

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The Flies - Complete Collection (1965-68 uk, raw mod freakbeat psychedelia)

The minor British band the Flies are most well-known for a couple of things, neither of which entirely prepares listeners for the pretty average brand of pop-psychedelia on most of their recordings. One is their debut single, "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone," issued at the end of 1966, which is a hard rock treatment of a number more associated with the Monkees, but with plenty of crunching fuzz guitar. It wasn't a hit, but it did start to get the Flies a reputation among psychedelic collectors after being included in the very first compilation of rare British psychedelia, Chocolate Soup for Diabetics. The other thing they're notorious for are their sometimes outrageous live performances, particularly their appearance at the 14-Hour Technicolour Dream psychedelic festival in April 1967 in London, where they arranged to have hundreds of bags of flour explode and cover the audience at the end of their set.

The Flies grew out of an East London band called the Rebs, and in 1965 they recorded a British Invasion exploitation album under the name of the In-Sect, all but one of the songs on the LP being covers of contemporary hits. By the end of 1966 they were signed to Decca and were recording as the Flies, though they issued only a couple of singles for the label. Arguably, their version of "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" is overrated, and not particularly psychedelic, What's more, it wasn't too typical of their output, which on the Decca singles, at least, was filled out by unmemorable pop and pop-psych numbers with prominent vocal harmonies, in the manner of many other fair but unremarkable British groups recording non-hit discs at the time.

The Flies did manage to put out one more single on RCA in 1968, another middling piece of pop-psych titled "The Magic Train." Some unissued demos from the time show the band moving toward a more organ-based, ethereal sound, but the group disbanded at the end of that year. Members surfaced in the subsequent obscure British psychedelic/progressive groups Infinity, Please, Bulldog Breed, and T2. In addition, while still in the Flies, singer Robin Hunt recorded a very British, fey pop/rock-psychedelic 1967 single for CBS under the pseudonym Alexander Bell, "Alexander Bell Believes"/"A Hymn...With Love." All six sides of the three Flies singles, as well as both sides of the Alexander Bell 45, various 1965-68 demos, and cuts from the In-Sect album, were reissued on the CD Complete Collection 1965-1968. 

by Richie Unterberger

Tracks
1. The Flies - (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone (Boyce, Hart) - 2:40
2. The Flies - The Magic Train (Dunton) - 2:22
3. The Flies - House Of Love (Jones, Grainger) - 2:17
4. The Flies - Turning Back The Page (Dunton) - 3:47
5. The Flies - Gently As You Feel (Dunton) - 2:39
6. The Flies - Talk To Me (Ivor Raymonde) - 1:55
7. The In-Sect - Tired Of Waiting For You (Davies) - 2:26
8. No Flies On Us But - Just Won't Do (Baldwin, Da Costa, Hunt) - 1:59
9. No Flies On Us But - (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone (Boyce, Hart) - 3:05
10.The Flies - The Magic Train (Dunton) - 2:52
11.Alexander Bell - Alexander Bell Believes (Murray, Callender) - 3:08
12.Alexander Bell - A Hymn.... With Love (Murray, Callender) - 3:12
13.The Flies - Sincerely Yours (Dunton) - 2:43
14.The Flies - Where (Dunton) - 3:43
15.The In-Sect - There Ain't No Woman (Da Costa, Hunt) - 1:56
16.The Flies - Winter Afternoon (Dunton) - 2:45
17.The Flies - It Had To Be You (Kahn, Jones) - 2:22
18.The Flies - The Dancer (Dunton) - 2:57
19.The In-Sect - Reelin' And Rockin' (Berry) - 2:23
20.The In-Sect - Ticket To Ride (Lennon, McCartney) - 2:58
21.The In-Sect - There Ain't No Woman (Da Costa, Hunt) - 1:56
22.The Flies - Winter Afternoon (Dunton) - 2:06

The Flies
*John DaCosta - Guitar, Harmonica, Piano
*Robin Hunt - Drums, Vocals
*Ian Baldwin - Bass
*George Haywood - Guitar
*Brian Gill - Guitar
*Peter Dunton - Drums
*Dave Phimister - Lead Guitar

Related Acts
1967-69  Bulldog Breed - Made In England
1969-70  Infinity - Collected Works
1970  T2 - It'll All Work Out in Boomland
1971-72  Keith Cross, Peter Ross - Bored Civilians

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Paul Korda - Passing Stranger (1969-71 uk, astonishing bright colorful acid folk rock, 2012 remaster and expanded)

If you don’t know the name of Paul Korda, you might have reason to be grateful that the compilers at RPM Records do!  Korda’s story is one dotted with familiar personages: P.P. Arnold, Roger Daltrey, Chris Spedding, Madeline Bell, Doris Troy, Andrew Loog Oldham, Onnie McIntyre and Alan Gorrie (Average White Band), Vic Smith (The Jam) on the musical side, Cat Stevens and even Johnny Depp on the personal side.  Korda’s career has taken him from the original West End cast of Hair (alongside Paul Nicholas and Marsha Hunt) to the silver screen in the first two Pirates of the Caribbean films, but a lasting legacy has been his 1971 debut album Passing Stranger.  Originally released on Gordon Mills’ MAM label, also the home of Gilbert O’Sullivan, the album was well-received upon its release but has languished ever since, with only a Japanese release in the CD era.  Thankfully, RPM has remedied that with its new, expanded reissue of Passing Stranger.

Paul Korda’s musical apprenticeship was a diverse one, including stints as a singer for the U.K. Columbia label, a producer at Fontana and Parlophone/EMI, and a staff songwriter for Immediate Records, the label owned by Rolling Stones impresario Andrew Loog Oldham.  A detour into musical theatre led to a success with Hair, but songwriting still called to Korda.  After forming the fusion-rock group Dada (with Elkie Brooks among its members) and recording with Dada for Atco, Korda signed with MAM and decamped at London’s Olympic Studios to record the album that became Passing Stranger.

The backing vocals of Doris Troy and Madeline Bell (both established vocalists in their own right and also famed for their contributions to Rolling Stones records) add mightily to the leadoff single, “Between the Road.”  The presence of Troy, Bell and Nanette Newman give the song a distinctly soulful vibe, and Korda’s full-throttle attack led the NME to favorably compare it to the music of Hair, and his more aggressive side also comes out on the rocking “To Love a Woman” and the raw “Into Your Station.”  On the other end of the spectrum, ballads like “Morning Wakes the Sun” and folk/rock songs like “Ode to the Ministry” recall the best of Cat Stevens, a friend of Korda’s.  There’s even a Beatlesque lilt to “Pass Me Winter” and a gentle, melodic “We Are Each Other” that’s not too far off from the singer/songwriter style of James Taylor.  Chris Spedding, Onnie McIntyre, Alan Gorrie, Andy Roberts and Ray Russell all perform on the album, recorded by co-producers Korda and Vic Smith.

Two bonus tracks are included on Passing Stranger,  “English Country Garden” was the non-LP flipside of “Between the Road,” while the haunting, baroque-styled “Seagull” (also covered by Love Sculpture) was released on Parlophone in 1969.   “Seagull,” recorded at Abbey Road and subtitled “The West Coast Oil Tragedy,” is particularly fascinating in revealing Korda’s prescience about ecological matters.  Simon Murphy has remastered the album, and Michael Heatley contributes detailed new liner notes.  The booklet is illustrated with copious label photos and memorabilia reproductions.

by Joe Marchese 

Tracks
1. Between The Road - 2:33
2. Morning Wakes The Sun - 2:46
3. Dover Ferry - 2:57
4. To Love A Woman - 4:26
5. Ode To The Ministry - 2:45
6. Into Your Station - 3:12
7. Pass Me Winter (Paul Korda, Ray Rayes) - 2:17
8. Under Other Skies - 2:29
9. Rubble My Cauldron - 2:34
10. We Are Each Other - 4:04
11.A Passing Stranger - 2:53
12.Sunny In The Dawn - 2:28
13.Mud Mother - 1:13
14.English Country Garden (Single B-Side) - 2:43
15.Seagull (Single 1969) - 3:39
All song by Paul Korda except where stated.

Musicians
*Paul Korda - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
*Chris Spedding - Guitars
*Ray Russell - Guitars
*Owen McIntyre - Guitars
*Allan Gorrie - Bass, Guitars, Keyboards
*Rob Tait - Drums

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Johnny Lunchbreak - Appetizer / Soup's On (1974-75 us, amazing garage psych)

Johnny Lunchbreak, never even released an album. The band had roots at King Philip Junior High in West Hartford, Conn., and their story is a prototype for thousands of groups-- start out playing because it's fun, get serious, find success elusive (complete with cool reception by the NYC press), call it quits in frustration when you realize that feeding your child is more important than gigging at bars in Vernon for chump change. 

But what most of those other bands didn't have was an album's worth of really good, unique songs that show a band tantalizingly close to a breakthrough. "Tinsel Days" has a colossal power pop hook and a great independent bassline, but the killer is "Not a Dry Eye in America", which shows off their harmonies and fakes you into believing it's a ballad before ramping up to a moody, blues-inflected climax. The recording quality is clean but not clear (these are demos in the true sense), but these guys had it, and it shows through the relatively murky sound.

by Joe Tangari

Tracks
1. A Very Papal State - 5:33
2. Tinsel Days - 3:50
3. The Same Could Happen To You - 2:42
4. Never Found - 2:29
5. It's Got A Hold On You (Tom Ekwurtzel) - 5:16
6. Take Me Baby (John Gengras) - 3:36
7. Amazing Pain (Tom Ekwurtzel) - 3:24
8. Not A Dry Eye In America - 4:06
9. The Best That I Had - 5:43
All songs by Andrew Merritt except otherwise stated.

Johnny Lunchbreak
*Andrew Merritt - Guitar, Vocals, Drums
*Michael Clare - Bass
*John Gengras - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Guy Gengras - Drums, Vocals, Congas
*Tom Ekwurtzel - Guitar, Piano, Moog

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Elvin Bishop - Live! Raisin' Hell (1977 us, splendid blues rock funk roots 'n' roll, 2012 remaster edition)

Growing up in the 1940s on a farm in Iowa with a loving but non-musical family, Elvin seldom heard music as a kid. “This was before TV,” Elvin says, “and on the radio you got a lot of Frank Sinatra and ‘How Much Is That Doggie In the Window’ type of stuff.” The family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when Elvin was 10, in 1952. Tulsa was “totally segregated,” says Elvin, “I mean, hard core.” However, “the one thing they couldn’t segregate was the airwaves. When rock and roll started up, in the mid-’50s, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard showed up on white radio.”

And then, late one night when Elvin was 14 or 15, the atmospheric conditions a little rough, Jimmy Reed’s harmonica came cutting through the static from WLAC in Nashville, and Elvin Bishop’s life was changed. The song was “Honest I Do.” “That piercing harp came through, cutting in like a knife, and I said, ‘Oh, man, that’s it.’ I found out that blues was where the good part of rock and roll was coming from.”

And about that time, he started trying to play guitar. “I wanted to play it from the beginning,” Elvin says. “I kept trying and then quitting it. Hurtin’ my fingers, playing those old pawn-shop guitars with the strings two inches off the fret board. Nobody I knew played.” But he kept after it. “Not being able to dance, and seeing how the musicians did with the girls, and loving the music, I finally stuck with it.”

Hooked on the sounds emerging from the radio, Elvin had to find out where they were coming from and who was responsible. When he was awarded a National Merit Scholarship in 1959, he could have gone to pretty much any college he wanted, but chose The University Of Chicago, because that’s where the blues were. And so he landed in the middle of one of the richest and most vital scenes in blues history. “Any night of the week you could hear Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Hound Dog Taylor, Otis Rush, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Bobby King, Eddie King, Little Smokey, Big Smokey, and a whole ton of people you never heard of.”

His first week in Chicago, he came across Paul Butterfield, who was sitting on some steps drinking beer and playing blues on guitar. “We fell together right away,” says Elvin. “I was amazed to find other white guys into blues.” After playing with a lot of different people, including J.T. Brown, Hound Dog Taylor and Junior Wells, Elvin hooked up with Butterfield to form the legendary Paul Butterfield Blues Band, with bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, who’d been Howlin’ Wolf’s rhythm section. Producer Paul Rothchild of Elektra Records encouraged them to add guitarist Michael Bloomfield. “I’d met Bloomfield before, in a pawn shop,” says Elvin, “when I was looking for guitars. We got to talking. He got a guitar out, started playing circles around the world.”

In 1965 the Butterfield band went into the studio and recorded The Paul Butterfield Blues Band album, which turned out to be a sea-change record for thousands of rock fans and musicians. An integrated band playing blues music in 1965 was unheard of. It introduced a lot of people to the blues, and to the musicians who had influenced the Butterfield band. After several more albums with Butterfield, including the pivotal genrebending East West, Bishop took off on his own. “I wanted to stretch out, see how far I could take it on my own,” says Elvin. Bishop had visited San Francisco with the Butterfield band during the Summer of Love in 1967. “I loved the people, the weather, and not having to watch my back all the time.” And like several other Chicago musicians he ended up moving to the Bay Area.

The 70’s saw Elvin hit the charts with solo tracks like “Travelin’ Shoes,” “Sure Feels Good” and what would become his biggest hit, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” with a powerful vocal by Mickey Thomas (later of Jefferson Starship). During the 1980’s, Elvin spent most of his time on the road, “entertaining the people and maybe having a little too much fun myself.” Later in the decade he hooked up with Alligator for a number of excellent albums that grew right out of his blues roots.

"Live! Raisin' Hell' was recorded between March 1976 and February 1977 initially as a gig in Georgia, and subsequently at four shown in California, was released in late summer 1977, and became Bishop's second US Top 40 album, spending three months in the chart. He does not appear to have subsequently worried mainstream chart compilers, although he remained with Capricorn for two more albums, 1978's "Hog Heaven" on which Amos Garrett and Maria Muldaur guested, and 1979's "Best Of Elvin Bishop".

Tracks
1. Raisin‘ Hell - 2:51
2. Rock My Soul - 4:54
3. Sure Feels Good - 4:49
4. Calling All Cows (Earley Drane) - 6:20
5. Juke Joint Jump - 4:12
6. Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (E. Bishop, Mickey Thomas, Phillip Aaberg) - 3:21
7. Joy - 4:11
8. Stealin‘ Watermelons - 4:49
9. Fooled Around And Fell In Love - 5:33
10.Little Brown Bird (McKinley Morangfield) - 6:06
11.Yes Sir - 4:23
12.Struttin‘ My Stuff - 3:40
13.Give It Up (William Slais, M. Thomas) - 3:44
14.Travelin‘ Shoes - 7:17
15.Medley - 13:01
.a.Let The Good Times Roll (Leonard Lee)
.b.A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)
.c.Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke)
All songs by Elvin Bishop except where stated

Band
*Elvin Bishop - Vocals, Lead, Rhythm, Slide Guitars
*Don Baldwin - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*Micheal "Fly" Brooks - bass
*Debbie Cathey - Vocals
*Melvin Seals - Synthesizer, Organ, Piano, Clavinet
*Bill Salis - Alto, tenor Saxophones, Clavinet, Synthesizer, Organ
*Reni Slais - Vocals
*Mickey Thomas - Vocals
*Johnny Vernazza - Lead, Rhythm, Slide Guitars, Vocals
*Chuck Brooke, Bob Claire, Dave Grover, Bill Lamb - Horns
Guest Musicians
*Mic Gillette, Steve Kupka, Greg Adams - Horns

Related Acts
1966-68  The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Strawberry Jam

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Maypole - The Real (1970-71 us, outstanding hard psych, 2005 issue)

The Story of Maypole was about freedom, people being natural, true to themselves and the others around them. We told the truth about things and what we saw. The beauty, the ugliness, the injustice, of the times.The plight of hungry hearts on their journey seeking to find true happiness. Maypole was not a typical group. Our approach was artistic and on a spiritual level. 

Demian's guitar style has been compared to Jimi Hendrix,Frank Marino, and Carlos Santana. The reality is, that Demian was playing just as long as the afore mentioned players. His influences were what was going on around him. The hardships of his early life made him sensitive and thoughtful about life.He was run over by a bus in Baltimore when he was just 4 years old and suffered severe injuries. Long rehabilitation helped to build his concentration, endurance and his character. His ability to make his guitar sound in so many different ways is what made the guitar interesting for him. A way to express himself with no boundaries.He lives in Germany at the moment,where his new version of The Maypole is based.

Dennis Tobell- Under the stage name of Denny Romans, later to be known as Demian Bell. Principle writer and Lead Guitarist and Vocals. Born near Chicago, to a show business Father and Mother, grew up in Maryland, Ohio, and California. First started piano at age 7, then guitar at 13. First professional gig at 14, with 'The Rogues' at the Gold Horse Saloon in Folsom California. He was a member of 'The Moss' a Baltimore Blues band that won many competitions known as 'Battle of The Bands' at 15. He founded the 'Psychedelic Propellor' at 16, in Baltimore Md. Played with 'Van Morrison' and 'Moulty and the Barbarians' at 18 and 'Maypole' when 20, with Paul Welsh.

Paul Welsh- Drummer and writer and co-founder with Dennis Tobell. Born in Frankfurt Germany, to a French mother and American father. Raised in Towson , Maryland. A brilliant student in History, Literature, Languages and music. His first love was music as he saw it, as a tremendous way to communicate with the masses. Playing drums since age 10, he first played with 'The Paupers', 'Daddy Warbucks'and then with 'Maypole' Paul commited suicide in 1988.

Steve Mace- Writer, singer and second guitarist. Born in Baltimore, raised in Towson , Paul and Steve were next door neighbors all their lives. He also was a member of the 'Paupers', 'Daddy Warbucks', before joining 'Maypole'

Kenny Ross- Singer, songwriter. Born in Baltimore and grew up in the Govans area of Baltimore. Kenny was also a member of 'The Paupers' with Paul and Steve. Kenny passed away in May 2005.

John Nickel- Bass Guitar was born in Baltimore, was from the Essex area of Baltimore, and played in many area bands before joining 'Maypole'.

We could give a hoot about making a hit single and even though they tried to push us to do it. It was the music we felt and believed in. We weren't concerned with song lengths and snappy hook lines , we were searching for a whole new way to express ourselves.We played with power and conviction, inside of many new styles. Some of these things are universal. Genres are nonsense. Music is music, and you'd be amazed at all the ways there are to play it. Why limit yourself? That's a form of slavery."

Demian and Paul had met in 1966 while both playing on the same bill together in different bands at a local Baltimore teen center. Demian in the "Psychedelic Propellor" and Paul in "The Paupers". They liked each others playing, became friends, and had many occasions to talk about music and to jam together. In late 1969 after Demian returned from Boston, they decided to form a new group. 

They would call it "Maypole" after the famous story by Nathaniel Hawthorne called the "Maypole of Merry-Mount" which describes how some Puritans went off into the woods to erect a Maypole and danced around it in complete violation of the rules of the day. They were arrested and punished for the crime of dancing and basically having a good time. They saw the parallel to the times they were living and the principle of freedom that it represented.

After some session they fired their manager. Their new managers were London Records promo men who knew how to get airplay and did a great job. The band did dozens of interviews on the air and played concerts to try and promote an album that had no company behind it. because Colossus went bankrupt. Without the support of a solvent record company the record could go no farther. They did several TV shows in the Baltimore Washington area. 

The high points were, that they could push any button on the car radio and a "Maypole" song was playing at the same time in the Baltimore, Washington, and Virginia area. The review by legendary record-rater Bill Gavin, spoke of a "Great Band". "The American Led Zeppelin"as he called them. Dave Marsh of "Rolling Stone Magazine" spoke well of their record. They did some local and national TV shows.They toured with Bob Seeger, Nils Lofgren and Grin, Elephant's Memory,and several other acts. There was no one to distribute the album. It showed up in cut-out bins years later.But the music refused to die. It became a collectable. Showing up in record collecting guides throughout the 80's and 90's Finally reaching upwards of $250.00 usd per copy on EBay.

Then we had a chance to re-issue the legal versions. In early 2006 it was released on Gear Fab on CD, and later in October 2006 on Anopheles on Clear Vinyl with the sound and artwork restored to better than original condition.

by Dennis Tobell

Tracks
1. Glance at the Past (Welsh) - 1:25
2. Show Me the Way - 2:09
3. Henry Stared - 6:32
4. Changes Places - 3:40
5. Under a Wave (Welsh) - 5:46
6. Look at Me - 4:24
7. Johnny (Mace) - 4:26
8. Comeback - 4:24
9. You Were (Welsh) - 2:51
10.In the Beginning (Ross) - 4:37
11.Dozy World - 3:06
12.Stand Alone - 7:11
13.Who Was She - 3:12
14.All in the Past - 5:41
All songs by Dennis Tobell except where indicated
Bonus tracks 13-14

Maypole
*Dennis Tobell - Guitar, Vocals
*Paul Welsh - Drums
*Steve Mace - Vocals, Guitar
*Kenny Ross - Vocals
*John Nickel - Bass
With

(On bonus tracks only)
*Carey Altshuler - Keyboards
*Chuck Burke - Bass, Vocals
*Alan Wall - Drums
*Guille Garcia - Percussion

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Water - Damburst (1976 dutch, beautiful prog rock with jazz drops)

Damburst seems to be some sort of concept album about a struggle between man and nature. The band that made the album is named Water, and they include among their personnel ex-members of the old 60's proto-prog band Sandy Coast.

Also, they include a harmonica player, unusual for a prog band. The gentle flute playing, churning string-synths and sustain-filled guitar-solos on tracks like "Sail away" remind me mostly of Camel.

There are also some more mainstream rock pieces, but they aren't really offensive enough to make me skip them, though most of them aren't especially exciting or distinctive. The vocals are occasionally memorable, resembling Roger Daltrey on "Damburst II" 

by Mike Ohman

Tracks
1. What Happened To Your Dreams - 3:15
2. Whisper Of Doom - 1:02
3. Damburst I - 2:10
4. Feeling's Real - 5:52
5. Up The Ladder - 4:45
6. Message - Don't Break Me - 4:55
7. Aggression - 2:49
8. Water - 3:51
9. Sail Away - 5:09
10.Last Seagull - 4:21
11.Damburst II - 3:10
12.It's Over - 4:43

Water
*Boris Farberow - Bass, Vocals
*Allaert Troost - Guitar, Slide Guitar
*Jan Van Dijk - Flute, Guitar, Vibraphone, Vocals
*Martin Van Hilst - Percussion, Drums
*Ron Westerbeek - Organ, Vocals, Piano

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If - Not Just Another Bunch Of Pretty Faces / Tea Break Over (1974-75 uk, nice jazzy prog blues rock)

After switching label for the fourth time in just as many years, If released their sixth album with "Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces". The fact that the keyboardist, guitarist and bassist had been replaced once again revealed that If now was a loosely based project with Morrisey as the main member. The album was closer to the style of the original If than what "Double Diamond" had been, but the sound was slicker and more mainstream. Having said that, most of the material on the album is decent enough.

My favourite is probably "Chiswick High Road Blues". It's based in a very simple but beautifully efficient organ-riff that lays the foundation for the rest of the song. "In the Winter of Your Life", "Still Alive" and the instrumental "Follow That With Your Performing Seals" are all good tracks that partly tries to bring the band back to the If-style of old. "Borrowed Time" is the slickest song on the album, although the flute-solo in the middle makes up for some of it. The closer "I Believe in Rock and Roll" was catchy enough to be chosen as If's fourth, and to my knowledge, last single.

If's final album continued in the polished and funky vein of "Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces". My personal favourite is "Don Quixote's Masquerade", a delicious piece of laidback and atmospheric jazzy '70s rock. The opener "Merlin the Magic Man" is very typical for this version of If, complete with funky rhythm guitar and the obligatory jazzy horn riffs. 

"Ballad of the Yessirrom Kid" is of the more straightforward and rocking kind, listenable but not fantastic. But the band would always shine in their instrumental numbers, and "Song for Alison" and "Raw Sewage" is no exceptions to that rule. The title-track is on the other hand a bit harder to make stick to the ears, at least mine. "Tea-Break Over - Back on Your 'Eads" is overall a respectable offering and the band could have closed their career in a far worse way, but the real and true If was in my opinion the first version of the band that lasted from 1970-1972. 

Vintage-prog

Tracks
Not Just Another Bunch Of Pretty Faces 
1. In The Winter Of Your Life (Whitehorn, Davies) - 5:01
2. Stormy Every Weekday Blues (Davies) - 6:09
3. Follow That With Your Performing Seals (D. Morrissey) - 5:53
4. Still Alive (D. Morrissey, B. Morrissey) - 4:31
5. Borrowed Time (Davies) - 4:32
6. Chiswick High Road Blues (Davies) - 5:19
7. I Believe In Rock & Roll (Davies) - 4:55
Tea Break Is Over-Back On Your 'Eads 
8. Merlin The Magic Man (Davies) -  5:07
9. I Had A Friend (Davies) -  4:31
10.Tea-Break Over-Back On Your 'Eads (Whitehorn, Davies, Monaghan) -  6:07
11.Ballad Of The Yessirrom Kid (Davies) -  5:20
12.Raw Sewage (Davies) -  5:46
13.Song For Alison (D. Morrissey) -  3:57
14.Don Quixote's Masquerade (Davies) -  7:52

If
*Cliff Davies - Drums, Synthesizer, Vocals
*Gabriel Magno - Keyboards
*Walt Monaghan - Bass Guitar, Vocals
*Dick Morrissey - Saxes, Flute
*Mike Tomich - Bass Guitar
*Geoff Whitehorn - Guitars, Vocals

1970  If - If  (Repertoire remaster)
1970  If - If 2 (Repertoire remaster)
1971  If - If 3 (Repertoire remaster)
1972  If - If 4 (Repertoire remaster)
1972  Waterfall (Repertoire remaster)
1972  If - Europe '72 (Repertoire remaster)
1973  Double Diamond (2010 reissue)
Related Acts
1968  Terry Smith - Fall Out
1974  Zzebra - Zzebra

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Quill - Quill (1970 us, fine psych experimental early prog rock, 2010 issue)

This one came as a total surprise package to this reviewer. On reading their unexpectedly extensive Wikipedia entry I found that they’d played at Woodstock despite being an unrecorded act; that they were a popular regional attraction around Boston and the northeast; and that virtually all of them were multi-instrumentalists with a penchant for swapping the instruments around onstage: guitarists and keyboardists switching to horns, woodwind or cellos at the drop of a setlist.

The Woodstock slot came courtesy of a well-received appearance in NYC, and on hearing of their impending festival appearance with its film and live album potential, Ahmet Ertegun signed Quill to Atlantic’s Cotillion subsidiary in the summer of ’69. 

The non-appearance of the band’s set in the Woodstock movie contributed to the label losing interest and the band’s insistence on producing the debut album themselves didn’t particularly help their cause with Ertegun either. Although it was released the following year it received next to no corporate support and quickly stiffed. Like many another unsuccessful opus of the period it lay doggo for decades until resuscitated for CD reissue by the excellent Wounded Bird imprint in 2010.

The music itself is also surprising, distinctively and wilfully strange, somewhere between the Doors and early British prog-rock. The band members are all credited under wigged-out pseudonyms, Beefheart-style, and the compositions themselves have similarly wacky titles. Sonically, it’s sparsely realised despite the multifarious talents of the musicians, populated by barely-audible organs and pianos and mixed-back guitars and drums – the most prominent instrument is often the bass guitar. 

The arrangements are of the apparently loose, adlibbed type that can only result from the most meticulous orchestration and rehearsal. The lyrics are far from the usual hippie abandon of the day, laden with social commentary, and the backings are full of irregular chord sequences and modulations. There’s no telling where it’s going from one track to the next, or sometimes within any given track.

After an unpromising raggedy-ass intro, the opening “Thumbnail Screwdriver” builds around a catchy Hendrixoid guitar riff and features a chiming solo by harmonised guitars. The nine-minute “They Live The Life” is a minimalist shuffle with warped Moody Blues harmonies and a sparse drum solo which builds into a collapsing cacophony of chanting and percussion, apparently a favourite concert closer. 

“BBY” showcases the alternative horn skills of the players and comes over like Zappa bowdlerising Chicago, while “Yellow Butterfly” uses only flanged, wah-ed guitar and sparse bass and has ghostly vocals redolent of Syd Barrett. The closing “Shrieking Finally” opens with a droll mock Gregorian chant which leads into a fragmented prog workout with distinctive piano trimmings. Although all the musicianship is excellent, it’s probably Roger North’s inventive and technically adroit drumming that stays longest in the memory.

It’s all wacky and it all works. You won’t whistle the melodies as you walk down the street, but without doubt this is another rarity that deserves its rediscovery.

by Len Liechti

Tracks
1. Thumbnail Screwdriver - 5:22
2. Tube Exuding - 3:47
3. They Live The Life - 9:16
4. Bby - 4:58
5. Yellow Butterfly - 4:09
6. Too Late - 3:52 (Norm Rogers)
7. Shrieking Finally - 7:30
All songs composed by Jon and Dan Cole, unless otherwise noted.


Quill
*Dan Cole  - Vocals, Guitar, Trombone
*Norm Rogers  - Guitar, Bass, Cello, Vocals
*Jon Cole  - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
*Phil Thayer  - Keyboards, Bass, Saxophone, Vocals
*Roger North  - Drums, Vocals

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Pearls Before Swine - City of Gold (1971 us, fabulous progressive folk rock)

I dropped out with Tom Rapp, at his invitation, somewhere around the time I discovered his first ESP-disk in a Luv Summer suburban shopping center, drawn to his Elizabethan (even his wife was named Elisabeth) idealism and agape in a land of mammon. He had set up shop in the city of pyrite, fool's gold, and transmuted it.

An unlikely survivor of the most avant label of the avant-sixties. City of Gold (his fifth album, and third for Reprise) is two or three strands of tangling appalachia, the olde English ballad and the fiddle and the waltz; always the waltz. "Thomas" sings Shakespeare, Leonard Cohen, the autobiographical Judy Collins, and Brel-McKuen; but mostly it's his quavery midwest twang telling tales of a land "I don't mean here", but everywhere. His songs reconcile eras, mingling harpsichords and harmonicas, string quartets and dobros. 

He stands outside lime even as it passes, a Christ's span of years showing these pearls of wisdom to he a milky strand of dream, the dangling participle of the last song's title , the question continuing on and on, until you wake.

by Lenny Kaye, December 2002

Tracks
1. Sonnet #65 (William Shakespeare, Tom Rapp) - 0.49
2. Once Upon A Time - 2.40
3. Raindrops - Feat. Elisabeth - 2.05
4. City Of Gold - 3.09
5. Nancy - 4.50 - Leonard Cohen
6. Seasons In The Sun (Jacques Brel, Rod McKuen) - 3.24
7. My Father - 2.22 - Judy Collins
8. The Man - 2.30
9. Casablanca - 2.33
10.Wedding - 1.42
11.The Flower - Did You Dream Of Unicorns? - 2.49
All songs Written by Tom Rapp except where otherwise noted

Musicians 
*Tom Rapp - Vocals, Guitar
*Elisabeth Rapp  - Vocals
*David Noyes - Vocals
*Charles McCoy - Dobro, Guitar, Bass, Harmonica
*Norbert Putnam - Bass
*Kenneth A. Buttrey - Drums
*Buddy Spicher - Violin, Cello, Viola
*Mac Gayden - Guitars
*David Briggs - Piano, Harpsichord
*John Duke - Oboe, Flute
*Hutch Davie - Keyboard
*Bill Pippin - Oboe, Flute

Pearls Before Swine
1967 One Nation Underground (Japan remaster)
1968  Balaklava (Japan remaster) 
1971  Beautiful Lies You Could Live In
Tom Rapp
1972  Tom Rapp - Stardancer (2009 Lemon edition)
1973  Sunforest (2009 Lemon edition)

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