Although also a recording artist in his own right, Rupert Hine earned perhaps his greatest recognition as one of the most successful and prolific producers of the synth pop era. As half of the duo Rupert & David, he made his recording debut at the age of 16 with the 1965 single "The Sound of Silence"; it was not a success, and so he maintained a low profile until 1971, venturing out as a solo performer with the LP Pick Up a Bone.
After issuing his second solo effort, 1973's Unfinished Picture, Hine turned to production with Kevin Ayers' Confessions of Dr. Dream. In 1976 he began fronting the trio Quantum Jump, debuting that year with a self-titled album and releasing the follow-up Barracuda a year later. Around 1978 he began accepting more and more production work, helming albums from Anthony Phillips, the Members, and Camel, guiding the latter to their most commercially successful effort, I Can See Your House from Here.
by Jason Ankeny
Tracks
1. Landscape - 5:14
2. Ass All - 3:39
3. Me You Mine - 5:24
4. Scarecrow - 3:29
5. Kerosene - 7:32
6. Running Away - 4:57
7. Medicine Munday - 3:20
8. More Than One, Less Then Five - 4:14
9. Boo Boo's Faux Pas - 6:28
10.Pick Up A Bone (Rupert Hine, Simon Jeffes) - 3:51
11.Instant Muse - 1:28
All compositions by Rupert Hine, David MacIver except where stated
Musicians
*Rupert Hine - Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
*Simon Jeffes - Acoustic, Electric, Slide Guitars
*David MacIver - Guitar
*Peter Robinson - Piano, Organ
*Pete Morgan - Acoustic, Electric Bass
*Terry Cox - Drums
*Clive Hicks, Eric Ford, Joe Moretti - Guitars
*Steve Hammond - Electric Guitar, Banjo
*Paul Buckmaster - Electric Cello
*Eddie Mordue, Roy Willox - Sax, Flute
*Raul Mayora - Congas, Bells
*Roger Glover - Tambourine
*Barry de Sousa - Drums
1971's Galactic Zoo Dossier, Arthur Brown's first album with his new band Kingdom Come proved that he still had more great material to give us. So a year later, he decided to record a second album, called Kingdom Come. By this point VCS-3 synthesizer player Julian Paul Brown and bassist Desmond Fisher left, replaced by new bassist Phil Shutt. The rest of the band at this point consisted of Arthur Brown on vocals, of course, guitarist/vocalist Andy Dalby, keyboardist Michael "Goodge" Harris, and drummer Martin "Slim" Steer.
The album starts off with "Water", the Mellotron makes its first appearance (something you'll hear much more on their following album, Journey, where American-born Victor Peraino used plenty of it). Luckily the album gets much better with the wonderful ballad "Love is a Spirit" and the ever eccentric "City Medoly". A lot of this stuff can get pretty unpredictable, especially the second half of "City Medoly".
Perhaps the most absurd song on this album is "Experiment". Parts of this song sounds a little bit like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, where there's another part where Andy Dalby does the singing and it ends up sounding a bit like Traffic's "40,000 Headmen". Then Arthur Brown starts talking about bowel movements with the sound of someone having diarrhea. I could hardly believe I heard something that crude, not even Frank Zappa could think of something that crude in his music.
by Ben Miler
Tracks
1. Water - 8:10
2. Love Is The Spirit (J. P. Brown) - 4:19
3. City Melody 06:10
4. Trafic Light Song - 2:43
5. The Teacher (Kingdom Come, Vincent Crane) - 1:54
6. The Experiment 07:25
7. The Whirlpool - 4:17
8. The Hymn (Andy Dalby) - 8:51
9. Traffic Light Song - 2:41
10.The Hymn - 5:58
11.The Experiment - 8:47
All compositions by Kingdom Come except where indicated
Kingdom Come
*Arthur Brown - Lead Vocals
*Phil Shutt - Bass
*Andy Dalby - Guitar
*Michael Harris - Keyboards
*Martin Steer - Drums
The Millennium's Begin can truly be described as a bona fide lost classic. The brainchild of producers Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher, the group was formed out of the remnants of their previous studio project, Sagittarius, which was preceded by yet another aggregation, the Ballroom.
On Begin, hard rock, breezy ballads, and psychedelia all merge into an absolutely air-tight concept album, easily on the level of other, more widely popular albums from the era such as The Notorious Byrd Brothers, which share not only Usher's production skills, but similarities in concept and construction. The songwriting, mostly by Curt Boettcher, Michael , and Joey Stec is sterling and innovative, never straying into the type of psychedelic overindulgence which marred so many records from this era. For example, "It's You," by Fennelly and Stec, is as powerful and fully realized as the era ever produced, easily on par with songs by the Beach Boys and the Byrds -- and, yes, even the Beatles.
At the time the most expensive album Columbia ever produced (and it sounds like it), Begin is an absolute necessity for any fan of late-'60s psychedelia and a wonderful rediscovery that sounds as vital today as it did the day it was released.
by Matthew Greenwald
The Millennium was the creation of Curt Boettcher, who gathered a handful of California musicians to create a psychedelic rock group with sunshine pop harmonies. Boettcher was from the folk group the GoldeBriars and later The Ballroom which is where he met Sandy Salisbury. Ron Edgar and Doug Rhodes were from The Music Machine which had scored a Top 20 hit with the song "Talk Talk". Lee Mallory was a singer, songwriter and guitarist that had a hit with the cover of the Phil Ochs song "That's The Way It's Going To Be". It was produced by Boettcher and reached #86 on the charts. Joey Stec and Michael Fennelly were singers, songwriters and guitarists that were recruited by Boettcher.
The Millennium recorded one album, "Begin" in 1968. It was highly influential and had some local success with the song, "To Claudia on Thursday" but was commercially unsuccessful. The album was an interesting combination of breezy pop and psychedelic rock. At the time, it was the most expensive record Columbia had ever produced. The song "It's You" become a substantial hit in several regions and "5 AM" became a hit in the Philippines. Before disbanding, the group recorded one follow-up single: "Just About The Same" b/w "Blight," as well as several tracks that were later released on compilation albums.
Boettcher went on to producing and in 1973 released a solo album, "There's An Innocent Face" but it was a commercial failure. In 1979 he had a moderate hit with a 10-minute disco version of the song "Here Comes the Night" by The Beach Boys. He died in 1987 while being treated for a lung infection.
Lee Mallory performed as lead guitarist and a member of the "Tribe" for the first road company of the stage production of Hair. He is the only person known to have served both in the tribe and in the band. He became highly esteemed in San Francisco and The San Francisco Board of Supervisors proclaimed in 2005 that January 10 would be Lee Mallory Day, honoring Lee and all singer-songwriters. He died of liver cancer in March of 2005.
Joey Stec joined the Blues Magoos and after that started the band, The Dependables, and then released a solo album in 1976. In the late 1990s he founded the record label Sonic Past Music which is dedicated to publishing unreleased recordings by classic rock artists.
Sandy Salisbury recorded a solo album, but it was not released until 2001, he worked several jobs before becoming an author of novels and children's literature (under his given name of Graham Salisbury).
Doug Rhodes did studio work for Taj Mahal, The Association and others. He eventually moved to Canada and is a professional piano tuner and piano restorer, as well as playing 1920's style jazz with an orchestra called The Belevedere Broadcasters.
Ron Edgar did studio work for The Association, Bread, Paul Renze and appears on Boettcher's and Salisbury's solo albums. Michael Fennelly would end up in Crabby Appleton.
by Adamus67
Tracks
1. Prelude (Ron Edgar, Doug Rhodes) - 1:18
2. To Claudia On Thursday (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:26
3. I Just Want To Be Your Friend (Curt Boettcher) - 2:34
4. 5 A.M. (Sandy Salisbury) - 2:48
5. I'm With You (Lee Mallory) - 2:35
6. The Island (Curt Boettcher) - 3:18
7. Sing To Me (Lee Mallory) - 2:15
8. It's You (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:21
9. Some Sunny Day (Lee Mallory) - 3:22
10.It Won't Always Be The Same (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 2:57
11.The Know It All (Curt Boettcher) - 2:40
12.Karmic Dream Sequence #1 (Curt Boettcher, Lee Mallory) - 5:58
13.There Is Nothing More To Say (Curt Boettcher, Michael Fennelly, Lee Mallory) - 2:23
14.Anthem (Begin) (Curt Boettcher, Lee Mallory) - 2:39
15.Just About The Same (Michael Fennelly, Doug Rhodes, Joey Stec) - 2:21
16.Blight (Michael Fennelly) - 3:02
17.It's You (Mono Single Version) (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:13
18.I Just Want To Be Your Friend (Mono Single Version) (Curt Boettcher) - 2:35
19.5 A.M. (Mono Single Version) (Sandy Salisbury) - 2:44
20.Prelude (Mono Single Version) (Ron Edgar, Doug Rhodes) - 1:18
21.It Won't Always Be The Same (Mono Single Version) (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:00
22.To Claudia On Thusday (Mono Single Version) (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:09
23.There Is Nothing More To Say (Mono Single Version) (C. Boettcher, M. Fennelly, L. Mallory) - 2:25
The story of pop music in the 1960s is littered with “bands” that were never truly bands, but were, rather, the creation of record companies and record producers anxious to cash in on prevailing trends. This, too, is the story of The Freak Scene.
The Freak Scene was the creation of Rusty Evans, an ostensible folksinger who’d gotten his start recording rockabilly for Brunswick Records. The Kasentez-Katz of psych-pop, Evans was responsible for several albums by “bands” that were, in actuality, Evans and a group of studio musicians. The Freak Scene was the second of Evans’ psych-pop groups, following on the heels of The Deep, and featuring many of the same musicians who’d played on the The Deep’s sole album.
Like The Deep, The Freak Scene was credited with one album before Evans lost interest. Psychedelic Psoul, the lone contribution by The Freak Scene, is a fascinating late-60s curio, made up of songs interspersed with spoken word vignettes that address all the hot-button issues of the time – the Vietnam War, civil rights, the plight of hippies. The result is as much art-rock as psych-pop.
Not surprisingly, the spoken word vignettes have not aged well, but several of the songs on Psychedelic Psoul have lasting appeal. “A Million Grains of Sand,” “Rose of Smiling Faces” and “My Rainbow Life”’ bear heavily the Indian influence that dominated the music of the Summer of Love, with their mystical lyrics and swirling strings; however, “My Rainbow Life” suffers from banal lyrics that make it sound more like a soundtrack entry on an acid exploitation flick than a real song. “Behind the Mind,” “The Center of My Soul” and “Mind Bender” bear a striking resemblance to garage-psych on the level of the Electric Prunes (another pre-fab band) or the Strawberry Alarm Clock.
By far the best offering on Psychedelic Psoul is “The Subway Ride Through Inner Space,” which somehow manages to mash-up the stream-of-conscious lyrical quality of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and any of George Harrison’s sitar-heavy Beatles tracks, all on top of a loping, hypnotic rhythm.
Evans abandoned The Freak Scene after Psychedelic Psoul. Evans worked in A&R for a time, establishing Eastern Productions, which signed both Third Bardo and The Facts of Life, and producing the Nervous Breakdown for Take Six.
Although The Freak Scene was short-lived, Evans wasn’t quite finished with the band’s output; when he re-emerged as a recording artist in 1969 under his given name, Marcus, he recycled “A Million Grains of Sand” as “Grains of Sand,” slowing the tempo, simplifying the instrumentation, and generally going for a more seductive vibe.
Tracks
1. A Million Grains Of Sand - 2:40
2. "...When In The Course Of Human Events" (Draft Beer, Not Students) / Interpolation: We Shall Overcome - 3:33
3. Rose Of Smiling Faces - 4:13
4. Behind The Mind - 2:15
5. The Subway Ride Thru Inner Space - 2:42
6. Butterfly Dream - 1:37
7. My Rainbow Life (R. Evans, T. Randazzo) - 2:48
8. The Center Of My Soul - 2:24
9. Watered Down Soul - 2:35
10.Red Roses Will Weep - 2:18
11.Mind Bender - 2:26
12.Grok! - 1:38
All compositions by Rusty Enans except where noted
Sagittarius is the project (and zodiac sign) of one Gary Usher, collaborator and friend to Brian Wilson and producer of Notorious Byrds, and the ambitious Curt Boettcher, another Beach Boys coconspirator and genius behind the legendary Begin album by The Millennium.
Basically, they are companion albums, released in the same month in 1968, where most recommend starting with Begin and expanding into Present Tense. Some will find this album a bit twee for their tastes, and it is very hard to take seriously on first listen. But a little effort in putting it on, and it won’t take long before the album reveals itself to you. I find Present Tense to be almost a little better put-together than Begin. Realize though, that you’re not going to win points pumping this album full blast; maybe this is an album for headphones on the train, or a light rainy day.
Usually, I would balk at posting a track called “Song To The Magic Frog;” I have to though as it well represents the album. The instruments are eq’d with fairy dust it seems, and nice orchestral touches. “Will you ever, will you ever know” sounds to me like a classic Curt Boettcher melody, and though this is a Gary Usher project, Curt’s prevailing influence is unmistakable. The vocals soar on “Another Time” and it’s near the top, but I promise you that it is worth growing with Present Tense and all of its loveliness.
It’s only a matter of time before some director includes some of this Curt Boettcher madness in a popular film and all this soft California sike blows up. Included here from the bonus selections is the single version of My World Fell Down, with the preserved musique concrete bridge that Clive Davis urged removed from the album version.
by Brendan McGrath
Tracks
Original Album 1967
1. Another Time (C. Boettcher) - 2:39
2. Song To The Magic Frog (Will You Ever Know) (C. Boettcher, M. O'Malley) - 2:48
3. You Know I've Found A Way (C. Boettcher, L. Mallory) - 2:00
4. The Keeper Of The Games (C. Boettcher) - 1:53
5. Glass (E. Sheldon, L. Marks) - 2:26
6. Would You Like To Go (C. Boettcher, G. Alexander) - 2:37
7. My World Fell Down (G. Stephens, J. Carter) - 2:54
8. Hotel Indiscreet (J.A. Griffin, M.Z. Gordon) - 2:11
9. I'm Not Living Here (C. Boettcher) - 2:26
10.Musty Dusty (C. Boettcher) - 3:11
Japan 2006 Extra Tracks Issue
12.My World Fell Down (Mono Single Version) (G. Stephens, J. Carter) - 3:47
Recorded in Phoenix Arizona's Audio Records with producer Hadley Murrell (who also contributed a pair of songs), 1969's "Bliss" was released by the L.A.-based Canyon Records. Musically the LP offered up a mix of originals (all three members contributing material), and blues covers. Interestingly, based on the cover which shows a chalice and a young, angry looking priest, our initial expectations were that this might be a Christian-rock LP. Those thoughts were reinforced by the opener "Ride the Ship of Fool" which blended a nice melody with sweet harmonies and a pseudo-religious lyric and "Cry for Love".
While those characteristics are enough to send a large segment of the population running for cover, in this case the results aren't half bad. The religious sentiments are kept in check throughout and are wrapped in a series of tasty rockers. Powered by Aldred's powerhouse drumming and Reed's fuzz guitar (check out "VIsions" and their cover of Joe Tex's "I Want To be Free"), this is simply a great LP!.
Tracks
1. Ride the Ship of Fools (Hadley Murrell, Larry Tuszon) - 4:11
2. Cry for Love (Brad Reed, Ann Reed) - 5:01
3. Gangster of Love (Johnny Watson) - 2:59
4. I Want To Be Free (Joe Tex) - 3:03
5. Visions (Rusty Martin) - 3:29
6. Don't Think (Buford Riley Aldred) - 2:09
7. I'm Gonna Hurt You (Hadley Murrell, Eddie Campbell) - 2:03
8. Make My Old Soul New (Bard Reed) - 2:08
9. Rock Me Baby (B.B. King) - 3:29
Most reviews I've seen of 1969's "Summerhill" have been less than overwhelming, though it's apparently fairly rare as was included in one of Hans Pokora's "Record Collector Dreams" books (think it's in the 5th volume). Accordingly my expectations for this one were pretty low and when I finally stumbled across a copy of the album it actually sat in my 'to-listen-to' pile for a couple of months before I bothered giving it a spin. To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised by the collection and found it far better than most of the heavily hyped crap out there.
Produced by David Briggs, "Summerhill" showcased a talented line up in the form of keyboardist Doug Burger, bassist Larry Hickman, lead guitarist Alan Parker, and drummer Del Ramos. Featuring ten original compositions, all four members contributed material giving the album a diverse, but occasionally unfocused feel. The set certainly sported a late-1960s West Coast vibe ('course it was recorded a Wally Heider Studio), bouncing all over the musical spectrum, including conventional rock ('Bring Me Around'), sunshine pop ('Soft Voice'), psych ('Follow Us'), a touch of jazz ('What Can I Say'), and brushes with more experimental moves (check out the aural meltdown on side two's 'The Bird').
Elsewhere the album was interesting for showing the band as an early exponent of true country-rock. Parker's pretty country-flavored ballad 'The Last Day' was every bit as good as anything being released by The Byrds, The Buffalo Springfield, or Poco (who's Rusty Young provided pedal steel guitar)'. Speaking of The Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds, Parker's fuzz guitar propelled 'My Way (Hard for You)' would have sounded right at home on one of their early albums. Even better was the fuzz and feedback drenched 'It's Gonna Rain'. A great slice of harmony rich, lysergic soaked rock.
While nothing here was exactly trend setting, it made for an album that was fun to listen to with headphones and play 'spot-the-influences'. Try playing it with 'Friday Morning's Paper'.) In fact, there's only one out-and-out turkey in the form of an overblown ballad (the closer 'Summer Days'). One of the better albums I've stumbled across over the last couple of years and well worth digging up.
Tracks
1. Soft Voice (Larry Hickman) - 3:49
2. Friday Morning's Paper (Alan Parker) - 2:35
3. Bring Me Around (Del Ramos, Alan Parker) - 2:23
4. The Last Day (Alan Parker) - 3:36
5. Follow Us (Larry Hickman) - 3:49
6. The Bird (Del Ramos, Larry Hickman) - 1:22
7. My Way (Hard For You) (Alan Parker) - 3:02
8. What Can I Say (Larry Hickman) - 2:39
9. It's Gonna Rain (Del Ramos, Alan Parker) -3:18
10.Summer Days (Alan Parker) - 4:05
Grinderswitch was a southern rock band formed in Warner Robbins, Georgia. They recorded for Capricorn Records, but never rose to same success as their label mates, The Marshall Tucker Band or The Allman Brothers Band.
Grinderswitch was formed in 1973, while original members Dru Lombar, Larry Howard, Joe Dan Petty and Rich Burnett lived together in farm, practicing and writing songs. Joe Dan Petty was working for The Allman Brother Band at the time and supported other members of Grinderswitch, before they got a record contract.
After Capricorn Records signed them, first album "Honest to Goodness", came out in 1974. It started never ending touring for them, taking brakes only to record new albums. Grinderswitch performed side by side with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wet Willie, The Charlie Daniels Band and other southern rock’s greatest stars. Macon Tracks album came out in 1975 and contained their best known song "Pickin' the Blues".
In mid 70’s the band joined Stephen Miller whose musical adventures included John Lee Hooker, Al Kooper, Tom Fogerty, Elvin Bishop, Allman Brothers among others, he also recorded three albums with Linn County in late 60’s. With Stephen Miller on keyboards and vocals, Grinderswitch released three studio albums “Pullin' Together” 1977, “Redwing” 1977 and “Have Band Will Travel” in 1981 and as producer. There is also 1977 recorded unreleased album under the name "Chasing Wild Desires".
Tracks
1 Red Wing 4:30
2 You And Me 2:53
3 That Special Woman 2:31
4 Taste Of Love 7:16
5 This Road 4:08
6 Wings Of An Angel 3:35
7 Watermelon Time In Georgia (Harlan Howard) - 2:20
8 I Bought All The Lies 2:59
9 Faster And Faster 3:05
All songs written by Grinderswitch except where stated.
Grinderswitch
Dru Lombar - Guitar, Vocals
Stephen Miller - Keyboards, Vocals
Rick Burnett - Drums
Larry Howard - Guitar, Vocals
Joe Dan Petty - Bass, Vocals
Timing, as they say, is everything. The adage is just as applicable to the realms of commerce and marketing as it is to creative inspiration. When the Sopwith Camel's debut album was issued, in 1967, almost a year after its featured hit had peaked ("Remember 'Hello Hello'?" read the sleeve sticker), there was a sense of misalignment, of clock and calendar time running off schedule. In short, despite notching a national Top 30 hit, the San Francisco band's moment had passed.
Recording delays and the departure of Willie Sievers (guitar) and Terry McNeil (guitar) were factors in the album's delayed release. So were the newly formed quintet's inexperience in the studio, its lack of material, lead singer Peter Kraemer's winter illness, New York City and the Albert Hotel. None of which prevented The Sopwith Camel from being one of the most enjoyable, consistent and pop LPs to emerge from mid-'60s Frisco.
The pop factor has always played into folks' perception of the band, since the December '66 Hot 100 success of "Hello Hello," achieved by only the second S.F. group to sign a record contract (the Airplane was first), bugged many underground- rock longhairs, who saw hit singles as impossibly gauche items. "It was a known fact that we weren't hardened musicians," Kraemer told Pete Frame in a Zigzag interview. "We didn't do extended versions of 'Midnight Hour,' though we did 'Born in Chicago' and 'Bright Lights, Big City.'" (I recall them delivering a house-wrecking take on the Stones' "2120 South Michigan Avenue" at the Avalon. August '66, on a bill with the Dead.)
But the Camel's psychedelic papers were in order. Kraemer, after all, had grown up in Virginia City, Nevada—the acknowledged ground zero for the Charlatans and the whole lightshow-LSD-Victoriana formula that would blow the pop-music lab sky high - and was one of the first S.F. State students to room in the Haight (with, among other proto-freaks, future Grateful Dead manager John Mclntyre). Drummer Norman Mayell had played with Charlie Musselwhite in Chicago and hung with Kesey's Pranksters. And the band (which would add London-born, Frisco-bred bassist Martin Beard) formed in the basement of 1090 Page, the delivery room that birthed Big Brother & the Holding Company.
The young band played plenty, on local bills with the Great Society and the Charlatans, Allen Ginsberg and the Dead, the Grass Roots and the Daily Flash. And it caught the ear of producer Erik Jacobsen, who'd helmed the Lovin' Sooonful's hits and recorded the Charlatans "I heard a tape of 'Hello Hello,' and it just knocked me out," recalled Jacobsen in Zigzag. "If that couldn't become a huge hit, I'd eat my watch and chain!"
In short order, the Camel signed with the Spoonful's producer, the Spoonful's label (Kama Sutra) and the Spoonful's manager (Bob Cavallo, later to guide the careers of Little Feat and Prince), and, in late 1966, trekked to New York to cut its album. With Cavallo grooming the band to open for the touring Spoons, it's no surprise that the IP's songs veer to the bright side of the road; they're compact, melodic vehicles, many of which fall into the then-prevalent "goodtime music" bag ("Daydream," "Good Day Sunshine," etc.). The most obvious examples of this style are "Hello Hello," "Walk in the Park" and "The Things That I Could with You," though the campy vaudevilliana of "Little Orphan Annie" (about the Depression-era comic strip that introduced the exclamation "Leapin' lizards!") likewise fits. Inspirational Verse: "The wisdom of the ages/ Clutters Annie's pages."
But there's ambition and adventurousness present too. "The Great Morpheum" starts ominously and builds, on some great changes, to a killer chorus, and the largely instrumental "Maybe in a Dream," a modal, 12-string-harmonium-fuzz-guitar piece not unlike Country Joe & the Fish's "Cetacean," is a sleeper treat. Sievers' "Saga of the Low Down Let Down" resembles a jangly Charlatans-Spoonful co-venture, while the punky "Cellophane Woman," with its "Diddy Wah Diddy" verse rhythm, could easily have come from the Standells or Chocolate Watch Band songbooks. It sports a classic Frisco psyche guitar solo, as does the subtler "Frantic Desolation."
The marketplace failure of The Sopwith Camel and the group's subsequent dissolution make one wonder what could have been. The 45 follow-up to "Hello Hello," though it barely scraped the bottom of Billboard's Hot 100, may have been the band's finest four minutes. The A-side, "Postcard from Jamaica," sounds solidly commercial, the band having sanded off some of the campy edges of its style while retaining the knack for melody and striking arrangements. The flip, "Treadin,"' is simply sublime — Spoonful-ish, yes (think "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice"), but with a sparkling twin-guitar solo unspoolmg mid-song and some of the Bach-ish flavour that makes "Maybe in a Dream" so tasty.
As quickly as "Hello Hello" charmed its way up the charts, the Sopwith Camel got the goodbye look and disappeared down the hall of pop-rock history. A reunited band produced 1972's The Miraculous Hump returns from the Moon (Reprise), but the timing and the tunes failed to connect. One certified classic album was all they had in them, but we can surely be thankful for it.
by Gene Sculatti, November 2005
Tracks Stereo
1. Hello Hello (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:27
2. Frantic Desolation (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:15
3. Saga Of The Low Down Let Down (W. Sievers) - 1:46
4. Little Orphan Annie (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:53
5. You Always Tell Me Baby (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 1:47
6. Maybe In A Dream (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:02
7. Cellophane Woman (W. Sievers) - 2:27
8. The Things That I Could Do With You (T. MacNeil, P Kraemer) - 2:12
9. Walk In The Park (W. Sievers) - 2:25
10.The Great Morpheum (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:57
11.Postcard From Jamaica (T. MacNeil, P Kraemer) - 2:25 Mono
12.Treadin' (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) – 2:19
13.Hello Hello (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:27
14.Frantic Desolation (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:15
15.Saga Of The Low Down Let Down (W. Sievers) - 1:48
16.Little Orphan Annie (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:53
17.You Always Tell Me Baby (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 1:47
18.Maybe In A Dream (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:02
19.Cellophane Woman (W. Sievers) - 2:27
20.The Things That I Could Do With You (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:12
21.Walk In The Park (W. Sievers) - 2:25
22.The Great Morpheum (T. MacNeil, P. Kraemer) - 2:57
23.Postcard From Jamaica (T. MacNeil, P Kraemer) - 2:25
Originated from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire circa 1970. Previously known as Slow Dog whose lone single was issued by EMI in 1972. Hemery, Knibbs, Judd, Ward, Loakes was the line-up responsible for these recordings. All songs recorded at Beck studios in Wellingborough. Rape and Superior Camp recorded January 1971 (sourced from surviving acetate).
Finding Out and Saga recorded December, 1971. Playing To You, To The Old and Young, Castles, Work Song recorded February, 1973. The band supported many famous acts such as Renaissance, Uriah Heep, UFO and Sam Apple Pie. They were managed by Rufus Manning Associates, a booking agency based in Huntingdon responsible for managing artists such as Mr. Lucifer, Little Women, Cuckoo and Tuesday's Children.
Tracks
1. Playing To You - 3:36
2. Work Song - 4:47
3. Castles (Geoff Knibbs) - 5:17
4. To The Old and Young - 4:54
5. Finding Out - 7:24
6. Saga - 5:54
7. Rape - 6:27
8. Superior Camp - 8:37
All songs by Nick Hemery except where stated
Tracks 1-4 February 1973
Tracks 5-6 December 1971
Tracks 7-8 January 1971
