A blast from Man's psychedelic past, this debut shows the band making an auspicious debut with Hammond-drenched guitar rock. It's easy to see, between the spacy effects and unearthly vocal choruses of their single "Sudden Life," how Man positioned themselves between the space prog of Nektar and the acid-fried rock of Quicksilver Messenger Service.
When "The Future Hides Its Face" melds Apollo mission control transmissions with jamming, it's certainly evocative of time both musically and historically. "And Castles Rise in Children's Eyes" takes a more measured and orchestral approach, while the wonderful "Don't Just Stand There" is the great should-be single of the album, careening as it does between spiraling organ solos and sunny choruses of harmonica and Dylanesque vocals. Not every experiment works on this album, but when Man get it right, they get it very right.
by Paul Collins
Tracks
1. And In The Beginning..... (Roger Leonard) - 4:22
2. Sudden Life (Roger Leonard, Clive John) - 4:40
3. Empty Room (Clive John, Ray Williams) - 3:43
4. Puella! Puella! (Woman! Woman!) (Mike Jones) - 3:34
5. Love (Roger Leonard) - 2:52
6. Erotica (R. Leonard, C. John, Mike Jones, Jeff Jones, Ray Williams) - 4:10
7. Blind Man (Roger Leonard) - 4:17
8. And Castles Rise in Children's Eyes (Mike Jones) - 3:21
9. Don't Just Stand There (Come in Out of the Rain) (Mike Jones) - 4:15
10.The Missing Pieces (R. Leonard, C. John, M. Jones, J.Jones, R. Williams) - 1:55
11.The Future Hides Its Face (Roger Leonard) - 5:30
12.Erotica (First Version) (R. Leonard, C. John, M. Jones, J.Jones, R. Williams) - 8:40
13.Sudden Life (Roger Leonard, Clive John) - 4:12
14.Love (Roger Leonard) - 2:52
15.Erotica (R. Leonard, C. John, M. Jones, J.Jones, R. Williams) - 4:14
Bonus Tracks 12-15
Man
*Deke Leonard - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Clive John - Keyboards
*Ray Williams - Bass
*Micky Jones - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Jeff Jones - Drums
The original band, initially called: "Children Of Fools" was Co-Founded in Berlin, Germany, by two Americans -NYC Composer/Pianist Fred Schwartz and Jazz Trumpeter/298th Army Bandsman LARRY "FISH" BROWN Jr., after recording a demo of Fred's new music with a small group of top Euro and American session men (including: UK Drummer Dai Bowen and US Jazz Altoist Leo Wright) at a West Berlin Recording Studio, in 1969.
It all began began back at Berlin's famous Jazzgalerie! Fred had turned-up at 'The Gallerie' one evening, looking for some good 'Horn Men' to fill-out the sound and solos on a Jazz/Rock demo session. Featured Artists at the club that night were Leo Wright and Jazz Trumpeter Carmell Jones! During break after the 1st set, Fred was able to book Wright for the session. As it turned out, Jones was "too busy" but he introduced and recommended Brown (a friend, protege and Trumpeter with The 298th US Army Band!)
The resulting session was inspirational -and with the Master Copy of that demo, (later lost) Schwartz and Brown were able to bring-in other Top Bandmates: -Brian Bevan, g.,and voc./ Major Wilburn Jr., t.,and s.sx./ Jerome Johnson, tb./ George "Bert" Thompson Jr., bs./ and Bob Howell, dr., -who were later granted a Public Relations motivated "Early Out" from the military (negotiated by Schwartz) -initially forming-up as: "Fun, Travel and Adventure" -and shortly thereafter, as: "Adventure Train!" Fish ran the band rehearsals, Fred composed music and booked the gigs and Everyone helped to shape the arrangements!
By early '71, the group had grown to 10 members -and were gigging around Germany, when the they were offered a Contract to Record in the UK!. At that time, Brown opted to remain on Berlin's Jazz Scene, while the group (now appearing as: "Fishbrown" with Brown's old roommate Ron Phillips replacing him on Trumpet) made the the move to London! Once on Great Britian's vibrant Rock Scene, the group was further expanded with Philly and NYC Jazzmen brought in by Schwartz -Altoist Charles Bowen and Drummer William Goffigan, along with London session men- Trumpeter Jim Dvorak, Afro Percussionist Joe Oge -and Bassist Neville Whitehead, who is Heard on All Tracks, but Not Credited, because of his decision to Sign On with Don "Sugarcane" Harris! They recorded at Morgan Studios, London, as: "The Gasoline Band" having been persuaded by the lure of "Product Marketability" advised by executives at the new Cube Record Label.
"The Gasoline Band" LP was released in May of 1972! -The Melody of this tune, "Ein Grosses" (written by Bevan in 1969) came-into Brian's head while sharing a pitcher of Schultheiss with Fish Brown, over at Frau Falk's Pub: "The Hoffbrau Haus" (located diagonally across the the street from the front gates of Andrews Barracks) and it became one of the band's earliest Jazz/Rock Jams! *Note: None of these facts (nor many others) about the group were recorded in Bob Harris' liner notes on The Gasoline Band Album's Cover! Solos here, feature: Major Wilburn (S.Sax) and Brian Bevan (Guit/Comp.) AwRight- Dig It! -bluesviews
Tracks
1. The Bitch (Brian Bevan, Jerome Johnson) - 5:08
2. Can't You See Me (DougHowell) - 3:50
3. Find It In You (Brian Bevan, Jerome Johnson) - 2:23
4. Ein Grosses (Brian Bevan) - 5:12
5. Folk Song (Brian Bevan) - 4:35
6. Schrapnel (Doug Howell) - 4:21
7. Loafers End (Erhardt, Fred Schwartz) - 3:51
8. Road (Brian Bevan) - 2:06
9. World What You Gonna Do (Brian Bevan, Jerome Johnson) - 4:30
10.Now's The Time (Fred Schwartz) - 5:00
The Gasoline Band
*Fred Schwartz - Keyboards
*William Goffigan - Drums
*Brian Bevan - Guitar, Vocals
*Jerome Johnson - Trombone
*Major Wilburn Jr. - Saxophones
*Charles Bowen Jr. - Saxophones
*Jim Dvorak - Trumpets
*Ronald Phillips - Trumpets
*Jose Oge - Congas
*George Thompson Jr. - Bass
Blue Pine Trees was the sound of Unicorn at the peak of their musical and songwriting abilities. An album that puts you in mind of Lindisfarne before they got desperate, or the Beatles if Ashley Hutchings had produced them, this is British folk-rock at one of its most idiosyncratic extremes. On the one hand, Unicorn's roots in the sounds of the American west coast are unmistakable. But, on the other, they never forget their English roots and, mindful too of their familial links to Pink Floyd (Dave Gilmour produced the best of their albums), Blue Pine Trees soars with melancholy subtlety above all of its influences, to remind us just how unique Unicorn were.
Key cuts like "Electric Night," "Autumn Wine," and the spectral beauty of "Ooh! Mother" are subjective; like a great Al Stewart album, with the Flying Burrito Brothers behind him, Blue Pine Trees might lure you in with its overall sheen, but it can continue surprising your ears for weeks. And, according to the fan club, it's not even the best record they ever made!
by Dave Thompson
Tracks
1. Electric Night - 4:52
2. Sleep Song - 4:58
3. Autumn Wine (Smith, St. John, Waters) - 3:04
4. Rat Race (Smith, St. John, Waters) - 4:22
5. Just Wanna Hold You - 5:04
6. Holland - 3:26
7. Nightingale Crescent - 3:36
8. The Farmer - 3:32
9. In The Gym - 5:28
10.Blue Pine Trees - 3:46
11.Ooh Mother! - 3:52
12.Ooh Mother! (Single Version) - 2:45
13.Bogtrotter - 4:52
14.I Believe In You (The Hymn) - 3:34
15.Take It Easy - 2:42
16.Volcano - 3:21
All compositions by Ken Baker except where indicated
Bonus Tracks 12-16
The Unicorn
*Ken Baker - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
*Pat Martin - Bass, Mandolin, Vocals
*Peter Perrier - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*Kevin Smith - Guitar, Slide Guitar
Following the path laid by Buffalo Springfiled, The Byrds, Poco, The Eagles and many other Country Rock bands in the 70's, Unicorn instilled its own British flair into some pretty inspired tunes and released 4 albums in The UK and 3 in the USA on Capitol Records with the help of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
1976 brought us the follow-up to "Blue Pine Trees" - a dream come true for any fan of the first American album. Songs like "Weekend," "Ferry Boat," "Bullseye Bill" and "No Way Out of Here" (later made famous by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour) and to be honest, every other track on this album, are songs that have flown into my brain at any given moment over the last 29 years without warning simply because they made such an impression on me from first listen back in the day. Not one month in the last 3 decades has gone by without these Unicorn LPs making their way to my turntable, cassette deck or CD player (I burned the vinyl to CD long ago).
Unicorn's music is timeless and perfect and anyone who has yet to appreciate this music is in for a major revelation. Even though I know this music quite well - and love it more than I can say, I envy anyone hearing it for the first time. What a rush that must be!
by Dean Sciarra
Tracks
1. Weekend - 3:22
2. Ferry Boat - 5:07
3. He's Got Pride - 4:10
4. Keep On Going - 4:36
5. Too Many Crooks - 4:26
6. Bullseye Bill - 5:24
7. Disco Dancer - 3::25
8. Easy (Smith, Waters, St. John) - 3:34
9. No Way Out Of Here - 5:20
10.In The Mood - 4:25
11.So Far Away (Bonus Track) - 3:23
All songs by Ken Baker except where indicated
The Unicorn
Ken Baker - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Pat Martin - Bass, Mandolin, Vocals
Peter Perrier - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Kevin Smith - Guitar, Slide Guitar With
Chris Pidgeon - Keyboards
David Gilmour - Pedal Steel Guitar
Help Yourself formed in 1970, and although they hailed from London physically, their musical souls were firmly rooted in Laurel Canyon. Leader Malcolm Morley’s finely crafted songs predated the current Americana fixation by over 40 years, and at the time Help Yourself remained a well-kept and low selling secret. From early in the band’s existence a close relationship was forged with United Artist label mates Man, the two bands frequently playing gigs and tours together, and later swapping band members in a manner that would delight Pete Frame.
Rolling Stone, upon hearing Help Yourself’s self-titled first album in spring 1971 stated that singer Malcolm Morley “sounds more like Neil Young than Neil Young does”. Oddly, the song from that LP that sounds most like the famous Canadian is titled Old Man, and although it is a different song it is very similar in pace, tone, and sentiment to the far more well-known Harvest tune of the same name, the only thing giving it a distinctive edge being some Grateful Dead-like acidic lead runs from Richard Treece. However, as the Help’s Old Man was recorded before Young’s version by at least a month, probably longer, one can only assume it is nothing more than a coincidence arising from the Help’s obsession with the West Coast sound in general, and on this song, Buffalo Springfield in particular.
Reaffirmation contains six tracks apiece from the first two LPs, with second album Strange Affair, released in 1972 seeing an enforced change of personnel. Bassist Ken Whaley was ousted by the management who considered that the group’s communal idyllic stoned existence at Headley Grange, recently vacated by Led Zeppelin, was not exactly conducive to the work ethic. Whaley himself described the band as living in “drugged out bliss” – hippies, eh? Doncha just love ‘em? By sacking Whaley, they hoped it would give the rest of the Helps a much needed kick up the collective backside. Richard Treece took up the bass, and Ernie Graham (ex-Eire Apparent) and JoJo Glemser were drafted in.
Around the time leading up to Strange Affair Malcolm Morley, who was suffering from undiagnosed depression, took more of a back seat with front man duties falling to Graham. That and the initial absence of the spidery acidic wanderings of Treece’s guitar makes Strange Affair take more of a country rock route, with big nods to Poco and America, especially on Brown Lady. The newly arrived duo of Graham and Glemser had no sooner plugged in than they were off again, leaving during the recording of Strange Affair. Treece returned to the lead guitar with Paul Burton filling the bass position. Blimey, this lot have more comings and goings than Chelsea football club!
As well as the country rock, Burton’s R&B style seeps through on funky proto-pubrock numbers Heaven Row, a particularly classy number, and the title track. The pubrock connection also arises with the long workout The All Electric Fur Trapper which was based on a story by roadie Sean Tyla, later to lead his own barrelhouse rabble-rousers Ducks Deluxe. However, there is no pubrock connection musically on this song, as the nine minute-plus mini epic is a psychedelic paen to Quicksilver Messenger Service, and quite wonderful it is, too. Many Ways Of Meeting and Deanna Call And Scotty show an identifiable Help Yourself style emerging from the Americana roots, the latter being a piano-led ballad that sounds like the kind of classy pop song of the time that Clifford T. Ward would have been proud of.
Malcom’s continued battle with depression is reflected in the title of third album Beware The Shadow, released in late 1972. At various points between the release of Strange Affair and Beware The Shadow either Deke Leonard, then on one of his sabbaticals from Man, or Sean Tyla were drafted in as replacements for Morley while he battled with his demons, the latter flitting between the status of roadie and front man on the whim of Morley, depending on his state of mental health – it can’t have been easy for either of them.
The Helps establish their own sound on Beware The Shadow with an effortless laid back funk that stands as a British parallel to Little Feat. The title track to this compilation starts out as a blissed out keyboard-led stroll through a leafy glade, with Paul Burton’s heavily reverbed bass adding an extra layer of groove. The tune then changes tack to a trademark solo from Treece, and then into an extended funk-lite workout. One can see how easily this would fit into Man’s repertoire when Morley and Ken Whaley both joined that band after the demise of the Helps in 1973. Passing Through, the concluding track on CD1 is a quite lovely and highly accomplished acoustic ballad, showing how the band were developing at a pace.
The second CD is a less consistent affair, the album cuts being broken up by a novelty Xmas single and ending with an extended live wigout, but it is no less fun for all that. Opening with another of Morley’s superior pop songs, the straight love song She’s My Girl underlines the fact that Beware The Shadow, despite the sad subject of its gloomy title is by far the band’s best and most enjoyable album.
The supremely daft 1972 Xmas single, Mommy Won’t Be Home For Christmas, penned by Neil Innes and Roger McGough is an amusing, if jarring interlude, and after a refreshingly different live barroom take on Johnny B.Goode, we venture on to the fourth album. The Return Of Ken Whaley was released in 1973, which as the title suggests sees the original bass player rejoining the fold. A return to communal living, this time in Finchley, north London leads to a looser and slightly less coherent recorded statement. However, with the exception of It Has To Be the album is surprisingly tight, with a continuation of the Anglicisation (is that a word?) of their sound. On Candy Kane, Morley’s nasal whine sounds not a million miles from John Lennon. From Buffalo Springfield to The Beatles in four albums, the Helps were coming home!
The aforementioned It Has To Be was an extended jam under the influence of an acid trip, with drummer Dave Charles adding spontaneous synthesiser. As jams go it’s ok, but I’ve heard better, not least from their mates Man. Speaking of whom, The Return… contains Man, We’re Glad To Know You, a musical thank you to their musical colleagues and mutual support network…ah, bless. The convergence with the Welsh wizards continues with Blown Away, which could easily have been a track on a Man album of the time.
Released as a free bonus LP with The Return… was Happy Days, a document of the live show toured earlier in the year. There are two tracks from it, Virginia and I’ve Got Beautiful You. The former returns to the Helps’ west coast fixation, and the second is a quaint rock’n’roll and West Coast mix.
The band split in the summer of 1973 during sessions for a fifth album as the mounting pressures on Morley to continually come up with the goods began to take its toll. The fifth album was eventually completed and released as “5” in 2002, on the Hux label. It is actually rather good, and if you like what you hear on this collection you should certainly check it out. Sadly Ken Whaley passed away last year, but Malcolm Morley remains active, and info can be found on his website (see link below).
To conclude, Reaffirmation is a classy summation of a band that are something of a lost treasure. If you have never heard of Help Yourself and you are partial to West Coast sounds and the free spirit of 70s rock music, then do please help yourself to this charming compilation.
by Roger Trenwith
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Running Down Deep - 3:38
2. I Must See Jesus For Myself (Traditional) - 4:02
3. Paper Leaves - 3:05
4. Old Man - 6:40
5. Deborah - 3:25
6. Street Songs - 5:34
7. Strange Affair - 3:25
8. Brown Lady - 4:46
9. Heaven Row - 4:17
10.The All Electric Fur Trapper - 9:32
11.Many Ways Of Meeting - 3:54
12.Deanna Call And Scotty - 3:48
13.Alabama Lady - 4:05
14.Reaffirmation (Malcolm Morley, Paul Burton, Richard Treece) - 12:37
15.Passing Through - 4:34
All songs by Malcolm Morley except where indicated
Disc 2
1. She’s My Girl (Malcolm Morley) - 3:34
2. American Mother (Malcolm Morley) - 7:47
3. Mommy Won’t Be Home For Christmas (Neil Innes, Roger McGough) - 3:24
4. Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry) - 3:36
5. Candy Kane (Malcolm Morley, Richard Treece) - 4:15
6. Who Killed Paradise? (Malcolm Morley) - 3:44
7. It Has To Be (Malcolm Morley) - 12:20
8. Man, We’re Glad To Know You (Malcolm Morley, Richard Treece, Ken Whaley, Dave Charles) - 3:23
9. Blown Away (Malcolm Morley) - 4:24
10.Virginia (Vivian Morris) - 3:43
11.I’ve Got Beautiful You (Martin Ace, George Ace, Malcolm Morley) - 4:52
12.Eddie Waring (Deke Leonard) - 14:04
Normally, if a young girl is looking to tag along with her big brother and his friends, she will most likely be told to buzz off. Ron Selby, who played lead guitar in South Africa’s premier heavy-prog band the Third Eye, instead recruited his kid sister to play organ in the band. And with then-14-year-old Dawn Selby at the keys, the Third Eye released a trio of psychedelic nuggets in 1969-70 that could have been stiff competition for the likes of such similar-sounding acts as Chicago Transit Authority, Alice Cooper, and the Electric Flag had the US and Europe not banned groups from South Africa on account of the growing Apartheid movement there.
The scarcity of original copies of these albums, recorded and released on Polydor, make 1969’s Awakening… and its follow-up Searching and 1970’s Brother worth quite a small fortune on the collector’s market. But thanks to the folks at Shadoks Music, the entire set has been remastered and repackaged to be discovered by a whole new generation of young record hounds who certainly only heard of these albums spoken of by elder vinyl junkies like they were trading old myths.
“Awakening”, which features a driving organ solo from Dawn Selby that certainly gave Jon Lord of Deep Purple a run for his money at the time. The Third Eye’s debut album, also called Awakening…, is the group’s most soulful outing, thanks to the killer brass section accompanying the songs.
by Ron Hart
Tracks
1. All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - 3:12
2. Lost Boy (Maurice Saul) - 4:28
3. Valley Of Sadness (Boris Bergman, Vangelis Papathanassiou) - 3:05
4. Apricot Brandy (Danny Weis, Michael Fonfara) - 5:08
5. Magic Handkerchief (Alan Bown, Jeff Bannister, Jess Roden, Tony Catchpole) - 3:06
6. Love Is A Beautiful Thing (Harvey Pearl, Lee Pearl, Lewis Bellin) - 3:10
7. My Head Spins Round (Maurice Saul) - 3:28
8. Snow Child (Maurice Saul) - 3:28
9. Morning Dew (Bonnie Dobson) - 4:30
10.Society's Child (Janis Ian) - 3:58
The Third Eye
*Ronnie Selby - Lead Guitar
*Maurice Saul - Vocals, Lead Guitar
*Dawn Selby - Piano, Hammond Organ
*Robbie Pavid - Drums
*Mike Sauer - Six String Bass
Billy Te Kahika was a truly inspired guitarist who is only unknown because of geography. Billy TK as he is known is a Maori from Palmerston North in New Zealand and played with The Human Instinct on their first three albums – Stoned Guitar is the second album released in 1970. If you like screaming ’70s wah wah guitar solos, then this is for you. Like the Japanese bands of this era, (Flower Travellin’ Band for example) they often played cover versions live as well as their own songs, but they also recorded them on albums . The Kink’s You Really Got Me, Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Maiden Voyage by Ashton, Gardner and Dyke (the last two wrongly credited on the record) all appear on the first album Burning Up Years 1969. Their last album Pins In it 1971 has a cover of Pink Floyd’s The Nile Song. I read the All Music Review where the reviewer called the solos over long -really? That’s like calling Van Der Graaf Generator overwrought…that’s the point!
The single Black Sally (another cover originally recorded by Australian band Mecca) gives a taster of what is to come in the guitar department. The second and title track starts with beautiful feedback and develops into some exciting tones and solos. It makes Robin Trower sound half asleep. (That’s why I like him by the way.) Jugg-A-Jug, one of two songs by Jesse Harper, a non band member guitarist and song writer and something of a New Zealand enigma had contributed songs to the band on the first album as well. Midnight Sun begins with the riff from Mountain’s Mississppi Queen before becoming its own song. The last two tracks are also covers, the acoustic Tomorrow (Tomorrow I’ll Go) by John Kongas. Kongos a South African is remembered for two hits in the early seventies Tokoloshe Man (I still have the Fly Records 7 inch single) and the Happy Mondays covered, He’s Gonna Step On You Again (Step On).
Rory Gallagher ‘s Railway And Gun complete with overdubbed crowd noises and introduction even though the song was recorded in the studio – probably sounded like a good idea at the time. This is a song recorded by Gallagher’s band Taste from their their scond and last studio album On The Boards 1970. It seems that in those days musicians around the world were inspired by their contemporaries and there was no issue with playing or recording their songs. Hendrix famously came to London in 1967 the week Sgt. Pepper ws released and played the title track live.
To conclude, Billy TK is a traditional rock guitar player, a late sixities and early seventies soloist for fans of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. He played in his own frantic and inspired way and is probably someone you’ve never heard of. Enjoy.
The cover art is by Michael Smither and is called Two Rock Pools and was a finalist in the 1968 Benson & Hedges Art awards. Smither born in 1939 is famous for his iconic paintings of New Zealand scenery.
by Marty Willson-Piper
Tracks
1. Black Sally (Dennis Wilson) - 7:35
2. Stoned Guitar (Billy TK, Larry Waide, Maurice Greer) - 7:47
3. Jugg-A-Jug Song (Jesse Harper) - 9:00
4. Midnight Sun (Jesse Harper) - 10:40
5. Tomorrow (John Kongos) - 5:20
6. Railway And Gun (Rory Gallagher) - 10:17
7. Play My Guitar (Billy TK) - 2:52
8. The Nile Song (Roger Waters) - 3:07
9. Duchess Of Montrose (Neil Edwards) - 2:42
10.Rainbow World (Maurice Greer, Mrs G.R. Edwards, Neil Edwards) - 4:10
Bonus tracks 7-10 live recordings
The Human Instinct
*Maurice Greer - Lead Vocals, Drums, Tambourine
*Billy TK - Lead Guitar
*Larry Waide - Bass, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Derek Neville - Baritone Sax
This is an excellent unearthed gem of West Coast psychedelic rock: inspired songs, sturdy musicianship, and a fantastic cleanup job on the master tapes. Mendelbaum was active in the late '60s and early '70s in San Francisco. Singer, guitarist, and main songwriter Chris Michie would become a studio musician (he recorded with the Pointer Sisters and Van Morrison) and solo artist, while drummer Keith Knudsen would later join the Doobie Brothers. Bassist Tom LaVarda, sax player George Cash, and organist Ronnie Page (heard on the live cuts from the Matrix on the second disc, later replaced by J.D. Sharp) complete the group.
The first disc of this double eponymous set is comprised of studio demos recorded in 1970 for Warner Bros. The group's blues-rock leanings and troubled topics make this music heavier than your run-of-the-mill West Coast psych rock (and at times evoking England's Savoy Brown). Pop attempts like "Since I Met Her" had no chance to make it on the radio -- the song is simply too frantic and ecstatic (which is all the better). Other highlights include Sharp's "Key of Be" and Michie's "Oh, Yes, Yes!" The second disc culls 54 minutes of live material from two concerts in 1969. Both recordings have been nicely restored. The group gets bluesier, stretching "Last Saturday Night" and "Every Day and Every Night" over seven minutes -- good occasions to witness Michie's impressive guitar work. Highly recommended to scavengers of psychedelia and '60s rock. Michie died on March 27, 2003, two months before the release date of this album.
by François Couture
Tracks
Disc 1 studio 1970
1. Days Gone By (Tom LaVarda) - 4:18
2. Since I Met Her (Tom LaVarda) - 3:29
3. Oh, Yes, Yes! - 3:49
4. Key Of Be (J. D. Sharp) - 7:17
5. No Hiding Place - 5:29
6. All My Life (Tom LaVarda) - 2:50
7. Walk With Me - 2:46
8. I'm A Fool - 2:21
9. Blood Of The Nation - 3:06
All songs by Chris Michie except where indicated
Disc 2 Live
1. Wars To Rainstorms - 4:09
2. Rhyme Of Time - 3:14
3. No Reason - 4:30
4. They Don't Know - 1:49
5. Message For The People - 3:32
6. What To Do - 4:28
7. Last Saturday Night - 7:08
8. Learning To Die - 2:36
9. Lost Hope (Tom LaVarda) - 5:20
10.Every Day And Every Night - 8:30
11.Drivin' Wheel (Roosvelt Sykes) - 5:51
12.Since I Met Her (Tom LaVarda) - 3:09
All songs by Chris Michie except where stated
Tracks 1-8 recorded at The Matrix, S. F. by Peter Abram And Dave Martin, 1969
Tracks 9-12 recorded at The Fillmore West by Bill Graham and friends, 1969
Mendelbaum
*Chris Michie - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Tom LaVarda - Bass, Piano, Vocals
*Keith Knudsen - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*George Cash - Sax, Percussion, Vocals
*Ronnie Page - Organ (Disc 2, Tracks 1-8)
*J. D. Sharp - Organ
Time and fortune have not been kind to Third Eye. Back in the late 1960s they were one of the top acts in South Africa, recording three powerful albums that easily matched the creative output of their now better-known contemporaries. Four decades on, though, and they are the also-rans in the contest to name the nation’s rock royalty. Search the web for information on the band and all that pops up is sketchy information on their recording output and brief notes on recent revival concerts. Search for the recordings of Third Eye and you would – until this timely reissue – have been hard pressed to find anything other than the hugely expensive original vinyl pressings. Although badly reproduced CDs of their releases – Awakening, Searching and Brother – have been available on bootleg labels, the band have been poorly represented in digital form. Contrast this with the plethora of bootlegs and, more recently, official releases on offer from other South African artists of that era.
Perhaps their ‘misfortune’ was that they lived and performed in Durban, a coastal city several hundred miles away from the recording and musical hub of Johannesburg (although they recorded their three albums in Johannesburg). Perhaps it was the fault of their record label – Polydor – which did not promote them as heavily as EMI did its stable of artists (although Third Eye got to feature on two internationally released Polydor Super Groups compilation albums, in the company of global stars Cream, Hendrix, John Mayall and The Who among others). Perhaps it was simply that just not enough people outside of Durban heard their driving, organ-powered rock for it to remain lodged in their consciousness over the years.
Remember, back in South Africa in the early 1970s there was no television to give a band national coverage, radio airplay was almost exclusively on state-controlled stations and government censors had a very narrow view of what would or wouldn’t subvert the nation’s youth; Third Eye’s version of Arthur Brown’s Fire was kept off the airwaves by these very custodians of the nation’s morals. The band did get support from LM Radio, the first commercial radio station in Africa that was broadcasting from Lourenco Marques, now Maputo, in Mozambique. Fire b/w With the Sun Shining Bright was on the station’s hit parade for six weeks and Apricot Brandy, which featured on the Awakening album, later became a playoff signature tune on the station. But LM Radio and the state broadcasters focused solely on pop-oriented singles; and as for radio airplay of extended album tracks, the band’s forte – forget it.
Third Eye coalesced in Durban in 1968 around the young brother and sister team of Ron and Dawn Selby. The two – with Ron on guitar and Dawn, just into her teens, on Hammond organ – had played alongside bassist Mike Sauer in a Durban band It’s a Secret. Formed in 1963, It’s a Secret had played mainly commercial cover music, but the times they were a-changing’. The arrival of Maurice Saul, a guitarist who had worked the boards in what was then Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) before travelling the well-worn path south, and Robbie Pavid, a drummer who doubled as the percussionist for Abstract Truth, another Durban-based progressive outfit, saw the band morph into Third Eye.
Mixing original compositions with favourites from the overseas scene – such as Deep Purple and Hendrix – Third Eye gigged around Durban and the neighbouring city of Pietermaritzburg, with Robbie playing the cocktail set with Abstract Truth between 5pm and 7pm before taking up the sticks with Third Eye. At the start the band played ‘sessions’, with Third Eye blitzing a single venue alongside such groups as The Flames, The In Crowd and The Bats. As they grew in popularity, so did the number of gigs they played. ‘Battles of the Bands’, peculiarly South African musical contests that saw bands competing against each other at mini-festivals, were fought and full-blown festivals trawled. Soon Third Eye found themselves playing to bigger, more appreciative audiences and having the freedom to perform their own compositions. The scene was blossoming, on the verge of a massive creative flowering – and the record executives were sensing an opportunity.
In 1968 the song Fire had been recorded by the band on four-track at Troubadour Studios in Johannesburg under producer Billy Forrest, and it was the strength of this single that led to a more significant recording contract. Third Eye were snapped up by Trutone, on the Polydor label, one of the premier labels at the time, which signed them for three albums. It heralded a hectic couple of years, with Awakening released in 1969 followed by two releases in a single year in 1970 – Searching and Brother. Amazingly the three albums were recorded in just six days.
They were heady days – both musically and politically. Awakening had been dedicated by Maurice Saul, driven by a “personal disgust with war and hatred”, to all “young men in this world forced to go to war”. It could have been directed nearer to home, where boys were being conscripted into the army and the white society was becoming deeply polarised. The increasingly authoritarian government clearly saw rock musicians as a threat, playing “devil’s music” to the gullible young. No one could escape the looming crackdown. And it all came to a head in October 1970 at the Milner Park 24 hour rock festival near Johannesburg, with Third Eye as top of the bill alongside a host of other big names – including The Flames, Otis Waygood, Freedoms Children, Abstract Truth and Suck. As the good-natured crowd gathered, they were stormed by conservative youths – divinity students from a nearby university, say some, while newspaper reports claim they were from a local police college – who dragged some of the audience away to cut their hair.
Trutone were not renewing the contract and there were no royalties coming from the three albums already recorded. “With no support from our record company in terms of publicity or marketing (despite having signed a very binding contract which still stands today) it was impossible for us to continue,” says Dawn. “If we wanted to play, and earn something back for what we had put in, we had to go commercial and do the gig band thing. It became a ‘chicken and egg‘ situation. To create the music, we needed to spend time with the band. But as the band was not earning any income we had to work in the day (I started teaching when I was 14) to support ourselves. But this limited our time for rehearsing or travelling to the better gigs.”
Maurice and Robbie called it a day. Ron, Dawn and Mike continued to carry the flag for Third Eye, although Mike eventually quit a year later. In 1973 Third Eye, with only Ron and Dawn as surviving members of the original line-up, returned to RPM Studios in Johannesburg to record some tracks for an album. Two of these songs – Caterpillar b/w What’s Going On – were released by Bluejeans Records in the Benelux countries and one – Free – made its way on to an EMI compilation album in 1998. Needless to say, no royalties have been forthcoming.
Disillusionment with the industry had set in but the band battled on. Ron remembers that “after the recordings of the albums, and with the band line-up changes, we were wary of dealing with untrustworthy promoters and managers so we undertook to do our own concerts, bookings and marketing. We recorded with Chris Kritzinger at RPM and the single Caterpillar was released.
“In the early ’70s we toured South Africa’s eastern Cape province, playing some of the original material as well as newly written compositions. We were very well supported, despite the Christian group outside Port Elizabeth’s city hall who were demonstrating with placards, we think because of the banning of Fire on state radio. The irony of this is that we were no longer performing Fire, as our new vocalist, Richard Wright, had a different vocal feel and we had a different repertoire to suit the new line-up. We realised that the market was not supporting progressive rock music, so we had no choice but to go the commercial route.”
Dawn is still championing the band – a task, she says, that is a load of fun despite time constraints. “I am grateful that I have been able to remain in the music industry for 46 years and am still very active (one big advantage of having started playing at such an early age), but it hasn’t been easy a lot of the time. I’ve always felt that Third Eye was a wonderful band creating great music and it is a pity that, at the time, we didn’t get what I felt we should’ve. We have had such a lot of fun with our recent reunion concerts [in 2008, 39 years after it all began, the members of the original band - minus Mike - reunited for concerts in Durban] and hopefully the reissue of the albums will change a few things for the better.”
Ron now runs an audio-visual and lighting company, Mike is in the motor industry and Robbie has a jewellery business. Only Maurice and Dawn remain deeply involved with the music industry; Maurice is gigging one-nighters as a solo artist, while Dawn still performs and is involved with orchestral arrangements and teaching.
Today, any revisionist rewriting of the history and influence of South African psychedelic and progressive music would see Third Eye back in their rightful place among the rock aristocracy – battered and bruised, but jostling in a mighty Battle of the Bands to see just who, among the many creative and innovative acts thrown up in such a peculiar place and time as South Africa in the ‘60s and ‘70s, was the leader of the pack. No one can say who would win. But what an awesome contest that would be.
by Roger Browning
Tracks
1. A Sad Tale - 5:34
2. Selby's Hospitality - 2:09
3. Retain Your Half-Ticket - 3:56
4. Stagemakers - 5:34
5. Awakening - 13:52
6. I Can't Believe It - 3:07
All songs by Maurice Saul
The Third Eye
*Ronnie Selby - Lead Guitar
*Maurice Saul - Vocals, Lead Guitar
*Dawn Selby - Piano, Hammond Organ
*Robbie Pavid - Drums
*Mike Sauer - Six String Bass
A couple of important explanatory notes before I get to the music. First, the full title of the album is truly exquisite: Dust In The Air Suspended Marks The Place Where A Story Ended. (And if you like that “dusty” title, you’ll want to search out another rare solo album made by a one-time member of another famous band: Uriah Heep’s Ken Hensley’s lovely 1973 album Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf.) Second, the last two of the bonus tracks on this album are credited not to Dick Heckstall-Smith alone but to the band Manchild (featuring Heckstall-Smith, of course). Finally, Dick Heckstall-Smith died of cancer in 2004, five years before the re-release of this excellent 1972 album.
Dick Heckstall-Smith was Colosseum'’s saxophonist. When the band broke up, several of its members (notably Jon Hiseman) contributed to this solo album; also heard on the album is the incomparable Chris Spedding. In a modest, now-dated way, this is an all-star effort, and I think it’s just superb. Nope, it’s not for all tastes; but if you’re a fan of fusion, you’ll love it; if you liked Colosseum, you’ll love it; if you like saxophone in general, you’ll love Heckstall-Smith’s playing in specific.
What I love most about the album – hmm, having started that sentence, I realize it’s going to be hard for me to pick one thing. Okay, what I love most about the album are the many passages in which Heckstall-Smith’s saxophone lines, often ridiculously complex, twisting and turning, are doubled by guitar – sometimes by two guitars, sometimes by wordless vocalizing, too. The saxophone is absolutely integral to every one of these compositions, and Heckstall-Smith has a command of numerous styles – some of which he sometimes employs in the same song, sometimes at the same time, via overdubs!
Listening to this album, I find myself genuinely sorry that he won’t be making any more. Here was a talented man who played an important role in one of the important early progressive/fusion bands but who also had a distinctive musical voice of his own. Aided by a bunch of other gifted musicians, he’s left us an album to be cherished.
by Gerald Wandio
Tracks
1. Future Song - 4:06
2. Crabs - 5:12
3. Moses In The Bullrushourses - 3:41
4. What The Morning Was After - 5:30
5. The Pirate's Dream (D.H. Smith, C. Clempson, P. Brown) - 11:09
6. Same Old Thing (D.H. Smith, C. Clempson, P. Brown) - 6:41
7. Moses In The Bullrushourses (Live Version) - 7:44
8. The Pirate's Dream (Live Version) (D.H. Smith, C. Clempson, P. Brown) - 10:19
9. No Amount Of Loving (Live Version) (Paul Butterfield) - 9:25
10.I'll Go Back To Venus - 3:44
11.I Can't Get It - 3:04
All compositions by Dick Heckstall Smith, Lyrics by Pete Brown except where noted
Bonus Tracks 7-11
Tracks 10-11 recorded as Manchild
Musicians
*Dick Heckstall Smith - Winds
*Chris Farlowe - Vocals
*Jon Hiseman - Bongos, Congas, Drums, Maracas
*Gordon Beck - Piano
*Graham Bond - Moog Synthesizer, Organ, Piano, Vocals
*Malcolm Clarke - Bass, Vocals
*Caleb Quaye - Acoustic, Electric Guitar
*Chris Spedding - Electric Guitar
*Rob Tait - Drums
*Mike Vickers - Moog Synthesizer
*Dave Greenslade - Piano
*Paul Williams And His Hucklebuckers - Vocals
