There’s nothing particularly wrong with Stavia, the only album made by Ohio band The Brotherhood. If this were a common dollar-bin staple, it might be a pleasant surprise. But the album’s reputation precedes it, and the hype just isn’t earned. Released in 1972 in a private press edition of maybe 200 or 300 copies, the album has sold for $250 to $750, and there’s an original pressing on Discogs right now that can be all yours for $1,100. But don’t be misled by those prices, or by the name of the Spanish label reissuing the album. The Brotherhood plays perfectly competent soulful rock with a social conscience, yet there’s nothing outsider about it.
As the band’s name and diverse lineup suggests, The Brotherhood fosters racial harmony. “Color Line” starts the album with the earnest lyric, “I’m feeling blind/ That color line, yeah!” The musicianship is solid, the drums especially fevered as the well-meaning lead singer pleads, “I’m looking to the day when people can be themselves.” It’s a commendable sentiment delivered with a little soul but with perhaps less conviction than his band, who delivers solid lead guitar and swirling, mildly acid-tinged organ swirls. Stavia offers good musicianship that evokes the mellow side of ‘70s rock, but if you seek out private press records to hear something unfamiliar and unusual, there isn’t a whiff of that here.
by Pat Padua
Tracks
1. Color Line (Bill Fairbanks, John Hurd) - 2:39
2. Rock And Roll Band (John Hurd) - 3:20
3. Back Door (Bill Fairbanks) - 2:30
4. For Her Time (John Hurd) - 3:03
5. Meditation Pt. 1 (John Hurd) - 1:53
6. Uncle (Bill Fairbanks, John Hurd) - 4:38
7. Cry Of Love (John Hurd) - 4:04
8. Tragedy (John Hurd) - 3:35
9. Meditation Pt. 2 (Bill Fairbanks, John Hurd) - 3:26
Long lean groovers from Brian Auger and the Oblivion Express group – recorded with a slightly freer feel than some of the group's earlier albums, and an approach that has them stretching out nicely! Brian still sings a bit on some tracks, but there seems to be more of a focus than before on the keyboards – that nicely compressed Auger use of Hammond and electric piano that actually went onto influence a fair bit of American players at the time, in the way that Auger himself had been influenced before by their own earlier work. Rhythms are great throughout – making all tracks funky, in a laidback sort of way – and titles include a remake of "Bumpin' On Sunset", one of the band's best tracks, plus "Change", "Beginning Again", "You'll Stay In My Heart", and "Straight Ahead".
Jim Keays fronted the successful Master's Apprentices until they broke up in the U.K. 1971. This marked a career change and he returned to Australia, where he worked for Go-Set magazine, formed the Rock On Agency, and appeared at the Mulwala Rock Festival in April 1972. In March 1973, he starred in the Australian version of the Who's Tommy and in January 1974, Keays participated in the third annual Sunbury Festival.
Keays then returned to music, recording his debut solo album, The Boy From the Stars, a concept album about an extraterrestrial visitor who attempts to warn people of the earth's imminent destruction. Keays, playing the role of the boy from the stars, wrote most of the music and all of the lyrics. "Kid's Blues"/"&Inter-Planetary Boogie" (December 1974) and "The Boy From the Stars"/"Take It on Easy" were released as singles and Keays undertook an ambitious tour in support of the album, but due to the size of the show, only three concerts were staged.
The anti-drug song "Give It Up"/"Love Is" was released in June 1975. He then formed Jim Keays' Southern Cross with Mick Elliot, Rex Bullen (keyboards), George Cross (bass), and Rick Brewer (drums). They released a reworking of the Masters Apprentices' "Undecided"/"For Someone" in December 1975, by which time the lineup had changed to Peter Laffy (guitar), Ron Robinson (bass), and John Swan.
In 1977, Keays formed the Manning/Keays Band with Phil Manning. The next year, Keays formed the Jim Keays Band with Ron Robinson, James Black (guitar), and David Rowe (drums). Guitarists John Moon and Geoff Spooner replaced Black, and by 1979, the band had evolved into the Keays with a revamped lineup of Moon, Bruce Stewart (guitar), Peter Marshall (bass), and Nigel Rough (drums). In early 1980, the band began recording an album which was never finished due to Stewart's ill health. The single "Lucifer Street"/"The Living Dead" was released and the band broke up.
The unfinished album was finally released in 1983 as a solo Jim Keays project titled Red on the Meter and "Lucifer Street" was re-released as a single. Keays then began working as a DJ until a new deal with Virgin in 1987 saw him fly to the U.K. to record with producer Craig Leon (the Ramones, the Bangles) and ex-Sweet guitarist Andy Scott. Two singles were released from the sessions: "Undecided"/"Dubcided" (July 1987) and "Reaction"/"Bates Motel" (October 1987). The Masters Apprentices then re-formed until Keays issued his second solo album in 1993, Pressure Makes Diamonds, on the Gemstone label. BMG reissued the album in mid-1994, after which Keays revived the Master's Apprentices again.
Keays and his fellow Master's Apprentices bandmembers were inducted into the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 1998. In 1999, Keays published his first book, His Master's Voice, which told the story of the Masters Apprentices. In January 2000, Raven Records reissued Keays' 1974 solo album, The Boy From the Stars, with five bonus tracks. The Mavis's contributed a cover of "The Boy From the Stars" to the original soundtrack of the Australian film Sample People in May 2000.
by Brendan Swift
Jim Keays passed away on Jun 13, 2014, he had been suffering from Multiple Myeloma for seven years.
Tracks
1. The Boy From The Stars - 5:45
2. Take It On Easy (Jim Keays, John Brownrigg) - 4:36
3. Nothing Much Left (Jim Keays, John Brownrigg) - 5:05
4. Space Brothers - 9:07
5. Alchemical Takeover - 4:45
6. Urantia (Jim Keays, John Brownrigg) - 5:50
7. Kids' Blues - 3:28
8. The Right Way To Go - 5:24
9. Reason To Be Living - 7:52
10.Inter-Planetary Boogie - 4:06
11.Give It Up (Cocainut) - 4:10
12.For Someone - 5:40
13.Interview With John O'Donnell 3XY. 1:34
14.Nothing Much Left / Urantia (Jim Keays, John Brownrigg) - 11:04
All compositions by Jim Keays except where stated
Bonus Tracks 10-14
Tracks 10-12 from Singles releases
Track 14 Live At Sunbury 1975
Freedom were a legendary British psychedelic hard-rock band. This is their fourth album, originally released for the collectable Vertigo label in 1971. Powerful hard-rock / bluesy sound with loud wah /distorted guitars, long tracks, wasted vocal.
Tracks
1. Freestone (Bobby Harrison, Roger Saunders, Walter Monaghan) - 6:15
2. Through The Years (Roger Saunders) - 4:26
3. Get Yourself Together (Bobby Harrison, Roger Saunders, Walter Monaghan) - 6:19
4. London City (Bobby Harrison, Walter Monaghan) - 4:41
5. Thanks (Bobby Harrison, Roger Saunders) - 4:39
6. Toe Grabber (Bobby Harrison, Roger Saunders, Walter Monaghan) - 7:24
This gently psychedelic album is another of my vinyl bargain bin discoveries from the early ‘70s, which I picked up only because I knew Harvey Mandel had played with my favourites Canned Heat and John Mayall. Best known as a sideman – he later auditioned for the Rolling Stones on Mick Taylor’s departure – this was Harvey’s first solo work, dating from 1968, and an impossibly young-looking Mandel is pictured on the back artwork, a diminutive figure dwarfed by his big Gibson 355. The grooves within demonstrate not only his virtuosity on guitar, but also why his tenure with Heat and Mayall was so brief and why the Stones declined to hire him. Mayall described his technique as “Harvey’s wall of sound”, which aptly encompasses his early mastery of controlled feedback through his customised Bogan amplifier, and his later featuring of two-handed tapping, well before EVH got hold of that particular trick.
This album is completely instrumental, a rarity in pop-psych terms; the only voice to be heard is that of a wordless soprano singer on the title track. However, the stylistic diversity of the tunes and the variety of the backing tracks means that it is by no means repetitive. It was mostly recorded in LA and Nashville, using the top rhythm section sessioneers of both camps: Art Stavro and Eddie Hoh from the Wrecking Crew, stalwarts of the early Monkees sessions, and Bob Moore and Kenny Buttrey, soon to anchor Dylan’s Nashville Skykine. The LA tracks also feature tight string and brass arrangements, while the Nashville ones benefit from Pete Drake’s sympathetic pedal steel accompaniment.
The album as a whole is the best late-night-listening record I know of, beautifully laid-back funky arrangements fronted by a bewildering array of restrained guitar tricks from Mandel, dazzling but never flashy or tasteless. The titles give the idea: “Lights Out”, “Nashville 1AM”, “Before Six”. “Cristo Redentor” is Portuguese for Christ The Redeemer, and this title track is the exception to the rule of funk, being a solemn, operatic piece.
“Before Six” features some of Harvey’s most mind-boggling sustain work, the sound looping wildly between the stereo speakers, plus a mouth-watering cameo on Hammond by longtime LA collaborator Barry Goldberg and tasty brass stabs throughout. “You Can’t Tell Me” is funkier than your average Nashville session, with Harvey wringing out the best Memphis scale licks I’ve ever heard, intertwining with Pete Drake’s slippery steel chords.
The CD reissue, on the estimable Raven label from Australia, dates from 2003 and includes bonus tracks from Harvey’s Canned Heat days and from his own short-lived instrumental band, Pure Food & Drug Act. None of these quite live up to the quality of the solo album tracks, though Heat’s “Let’s Work Together” – the nearest Harvey ever got to being a pop star – has a certain boozy charm.
On this CD release the two sides of the original vinyl have been reversed, probably to make the best-known track, “Wade In The Water”, the leadoff track. The original running order works better, so if you get hold of this CD, play tracks 6-10 followed by tracks 1-5 for the most satisfying programme.
by Len Liechti
Tracks
1. Wade In The Water (James Woodie Alexander II) - 7:49
2. Lights Out (Sam Cooke) - 4:52
3. Bradley's Barn (Harvey Mandel) - 3:15
4. You Can't Tell Me (Dino Valente, Harvey Mandel) - 4:17
5. Nashville 1 A.M. (Abe Kesh, Harvey Mandel) - 3:35
6. Cristo Redentor (Columbus Calvin Pearson, Jr.) - 3:45
7. Before Six (Larry Frazier) - 6:27
8. The Lark (Abe Kesh, Harvey Mandel) - 4:37
9. Snake (Harvey Mandel) - 3:45
10.Long Wait (Barry Goldberg, Harvey Mandel) - 2:43
11.Spirit Of Trane (Barry Goldberg) - 4:00
12.My Time Ain't Long (Alan Wilson) - 2:57
13.Let's Work Together (Wilbert Harrison) - 2:47
14.That's All Right (Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup) - 5:28
15.A Little Soul Food (Don Harris, Shuggie Otis) - 4:02
16.What Comes Around Goes Around (Victor Conte, Don "Sugarcane" Harris, Paul Lagos, Harvey Mandel, Randy Resnick) - 4:19
17.My Soul's On Fire(Victor Conte, Don "Sugarcane" Harris, Paul Lagos, Harvey Mandel, Randy Resnick) - 4:11
18.Which Witch Is Which (Arthur Lee) - 1:56
Bonus Tracks 11-18
Track 11 from LP "Barry Goldberg" 1969
Tracks 12-14 from Canned Heat LP "Future Blues" 1970
Tracks 15-17 from Pure Food And Drug Act, 1972
Track 18 from Love LP "Reel To Reel" 1974
Musicians (tracks 1-10)
*Harvey Mandel - Guitar
*Jacqueline May Allen - Vocals
*Graham Bond - Keyboards
*Kenny Buttrey - Drums
*Nick DeCaro - Keyboards
*Pete Drake - Guitar (Steel)
*Larry Easter - Saxophone
*Barry Goldberg - Keyboards
*Catherine Gotthoffer - Harp
*Fast Eddie Hoh - Drums
*Bob Jones - Guitar
*Chip Martin - Guitar
*Stephen Miller - Keyboards
*Bob Moore - Bass
*Charlie Musselwhite - Harmonica
*Hargus "Pig" Robbins - Keyboards
*Art Stavro - Bass
*Julia Tillman Waters - Vocals
*Carolyn Willis - Vocals
"Southern Fried" album teams Hammond with the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and four tracks with guest guitarist Duane Allman. Hammond later recalled that the studio band didn't seem to rate him highly, until Allman arrived, professed himself a fan, and asked to sit in.
by Robin Lynam
John Hammond recalls:
I had been sent by Atlantic Records to Memphis to record with Tommy Cogbill producing. I got down there and whatever it was, I didn’t seem to connect with him on what I perceived his direction to be. I called Jerry Wexler and said that I didn’t think it would work out. So, he sent me down to Muscle Shoals Sound. These guys backed Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and all these guys.
I arrived and assumed they would all be black studio musicians. They were all white guys. They were all a clique and everyone knew each other and their wives and it was a homegrown kind of thing. I liked Marlin Greene and he was a very easygoing and likable guy, and then Jimmy Johnson who is just a terrific guy. They all seemed sympathetic to me. I had these tunes that I wanted to do, and some were Howlin’ Wolf tunes and stuff, with Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins and David Hood and all these phenomenal players. I mostly connected with Eddie Hinton. He was a cool guy, great guitar player and songwriter, and a great singer in his own right. I had been there for about three days and we had cut some tunes and I was feeling very frustrated and couldn’t get across some of the ideas that I had in mind. Then this guy Duane Allman and his friend Berry Oakley showed up and they had driven from Macon in this old milk truck. They walked in the door and everybody was like, ”Hey, Duane, how are you doing?”
Eddie Hinton said he was the guy that played the slide guitar on “The Weight,” but it was still not clear in my mind. Then Duane said he wanted to meet John Hammond. We decided to do a tune together and we did “Shake for Me” and my jaw just slacked. This guy was just phenomenal. So, all of a sudden all of these guys that I could not communicate with before understood exactly what I meant and that was the beginning of a short lived, but intense relationship. This was before The Allman Brothers Band was happening. Duane was just phenomenal and a really cool guy; and everything just came together and we made the whole record in one week. I didn’t get to know all the guys that well, but Duane, Berry and Eddie Hinton were the ones that I knew. Eddie was my connection to Muscle Shoals.
Tracks
1. Shake For Me (Willie Dixon) - 2:44
2. Cryin' For My Baby (Harold Burrage) - 2:42
3. I'm Tore Down (Sonny Thompson) - 2:45
4. Don't Go No Further (Willie Dixon) - 2:40
5. I'm Leavin' You (Chester Burnett) - 3:19
6. It's Too Late (Chuck Willis) - 3:02
7. Nadine (Chuck Berry) - 3:41
8. Mystery Train (Herman Parker, Sam C. Philip) - 2:59
9. My Time After A While (Robert L. Gaddins, Ronald Dean Badger) - 4:01
10.I Can't Be Satisfied (McKinley Morganfield) - 3:12
11.You'll Be Mine (Willie Dixon) - 2:35
12.Riding In The Moonlight (Chester Burnett) - 2:28
Devil's Kitchen Band was a four piece rock and roll band that lived and performed in San Francisco from the Spring of 1968 through the Summer of 1970. We were the "house band" at Chet Helm's "Family Dog Ballroom on the Great Highway" opening for, and often jamming with, many of the most well known groups of the times. We performed at all of the major West Coast venues from San Francisco's Fillmore West to L.A.'s Whisky A Go Go.
During the summer of 1970 while in the midst of a Midwest tour, the band fell apart when a series of gigs at colleges and universities was cancelled in response to the Kent State shootings. Our last big gig was Labor Day weekend 1970 at the Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival in Hayward, IL.
Everybody wants to know about the name: Devil's Kitchen... No we weren't a devil-worship-motorcycle-gang-heavy-metal-band... That wasn't what we were called when we formed and for the first year or two we were playing. We started out as "Om", the Hindu word/concept (click on the symbol to learn more about the meaning)... but when we got to San Francisco there were two or three other bands named that or some variation of spelling (most notably, AUM) playing in the Bay Area. We had spent a couple months practicing at the lakeside vacation cabin of the family of our good friend and roadie, Rolf Olmsted. We had fond memories of our time there and named the group after the lake - Devil's Kitchen Lake, an 810-acre lake about 8 miles from Carbondale (home of Southern Illinois University).
How did the band start? The full version could be a very long story, but the short version is that Brett, Robbie, Bob, and Steve knew each other from playing in different groups. Bob had been a driving force as the bassist in a local blues rock band called the Nite Owls (aka the Nickel Bag) and also played multiple instruments in various groups as part of the Folk Arts Society, perhaps most notably, the bluegrass group, the "Dusty Roads Boys". Steve had been the standout drummer playing with a local psychedelic rock group, "Hearts of Darkness" where he picked up the nickname "Naz". Robbie had gained notoriety as the exceptionally talented young lead guitarist and band leader in a series of local high school bands, most recently the "Viscounts". Brett played in various folk groups and was active singing and palying in the Folk Arts Society, and was the band leader, vocalist and guitarist for a typical college party band, "Om", whose personnel changed from semester to semester. One semester, they decided to re-form "Om" with the best players from the best local groups.
... parties, protests and teen clubs... Besides playing the usual campus parties and local teen clubs and campus gigs, we were the "house band" for a new teen club aka rock emporium in nearby Murphysboro called the Hippodrome. Early song lists were mostly covers of Folk-rock, blues, Brit-rock and classic American rock and roll - "Purple Haze", "Sunshine of Your Love", "Rock Me Baby", "Mr. Fantasy", "I Can See For Miles", "Johnny B. Goode", etc... As we continued to perform, we started adding more and more original songs to our repertoire until we were ready to present sets of mainly original material.
Brett, who was from the Bay Area, had visited San Francisco for the "Summer of Love" the previous summer, worked with the Diggers, found a "Frame of Reference" and now wanted to take the band out there to live and play. The band practiced intensely for a couple months and then hit the road - everybody and our equipment packed up in Brett's Blue VW bus. The first time we only got as far as Freeport, IL before burning out the motor. After getting a new motor, we set out again and drove cross-country to San Francisco...
...practice, practice, practice... When we got to San Francisco, we rented an old auto garage in the Mission District across the street from a pie factory and set up a practice space surrounded by improvised living space. We played for anyone who would let us perform in front of an audience, getting several gigs in small local venues and doing benefits for the SF Mime troupe, etc. (see the Photos/Posters for some of our earlier gigs) Eventually we started getting the occasional opening slot in local concert halls.
...sex, drugs, and rock & roll... not necessarily in that order... Yeah, we did the whole rock and roll band life style with all that involves, but it wasn't all just one big party... okay, yeah, it was...
After a while and with a growing coterie of roadies, girlfriends and just friends of the band passing through San Francisco, we needed a better living space and found a roach infested but huge 12-room apartment on the second floor of the building on the NE corner of Haight and Ashbury. Janis Joplin lived around the corner and down the block and we were close to Golden Gate Park and the weekend concerts where we played several times. After the riots, we moved across the Panhandle to an old rooming house on Fell Street. We got more and more paying gigs all around the Bay Area, auditioned at the Fillmore where Bill Graham took an interest in us and helped us get more gigs and sent us into a studio to learn recording.
Eventually we hooked up with a new manager, Harvey Morrison, who knew the local music scene well and who moved us to an old rooming house on Fell Street across from the panhandle of Golden Gate Park. He also introduced us to Chet Helms who was in the process of opening a new venue after the Avalon had been shut down. We opened the Family Dog Ballroom with the Jefferson Airplane and the Amazing Charlatans, and played there on and off as sort of the "house band" for the next year and a half, frequentyly filling in for bands that canceled at the last minute for one reason or another...
We did one LA tour, playing the Golden Bear, the Brass Ring, the Corral, and the Whiskey a Go Go, where we opened for Savoy Brown. Mostly though, we played Northern Califorenia and the Bay Area at places like the Matrix, Keystone Korner, the San Francisco Art Institute, Stinson Beach, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, San Jose, Boulder Creek, Monterrey, etc. while living in the Fell St house. One of our favorite gigs was a week playing every evening at a Ski Resort, Bear Valley... skiing all day, party all night...
During the summer of 1970 while in the midst of a Midwest tour, the band fell apart when a series of gigs at colleges and universities was cancelled in response to the Kent State shootings. We had just played in Cincinnati at the legendary Ludlow Garage again and returned to Carbondale where we were performing at many of the local clubs. First Steve left and we got an old friend, Randy Bradle, to join us on drums, and then after our final gig at the Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival, Bob left, heading back to the West Coast with no intention of re-forming the band back in San Francisco.
For several months, Robbie and Brett continued to play as Devil's Kitchen in and around Carbondale as a trio with Robbie on guitar, Brett on bass and Randy on drums. We also started jamming with some old friends who had a group called Coal Dust (Carla Peyton and Bob Pina). Eventually, the two groups merged to become "Coal Kitchen". Shortly after that, Brett dropped out of the group. Robbie and Randy stayed with Coal Kitchen for a little while, but eventually Robbie, Randy and Bob Pina broke out to form another band, "Rolls Hardly". Robbie later returned to the West Coast for a time where he performed with Mickey Hart and Robert Hunter on their solo albums and played bass for a time with the Quicksilver Messenger Service,.. and so it goes
Tracks
1. City - 3:53
2. Farm Bust Blues - 10:51
3. Earthfields - 9:34
4. (You've Got Your) Head On Right - 3:04
5. Dust My Blues (Elmore James, Robert Johnson) - 2:36
6. Cookin' - 3:47
7. Mellow Pot Blues (Buster Bennett) - 5:12
8. Mourning Glory - 4:45
All songs by Brett Champlin, Robbie Stokes, Bob Laughton, Steve Sweigart except where indicated
Frumpy - By the Way, the title track of their third album, released in 1972. Frumpy evolved out of a gospel/folk outfit called The City Preachers in Hamburg, Germany in early 1970. They were one of the many fantastic bands to emerge from the "Krautrock" scene that was blossoming at the time.
Frumpy, though, were pretty unique, in that their music encompassed elements of folk, jazz, blues, progressive rock and classical music. Led by the dynamic Inga Rumpf ( vocals, acoustic guitar,songwriter extraordinaire), they also employed the services of Jean Jacques Kravetz, an excellent French keyboard player in the Keith Emerson mould. Bassist Karl-Heinz Schott and drummer Carsten Bohn completed the initial line-up, which was augmented by former Sphinx Tush guitarist Rainer Baumann from their second album, "Frumpy 2", onward.
Their second album is widely felt to be their best album, with some elaborate and extensive instrumental work, guitar and keyboard duets. with classical and blues undertones. This album, " By the Way", showed that Frumpy could rock with the best. It is, without doubt, one of the best progessive rock albums of all time, and should occupy a space in the collection of any self respecting lover of progressive rock music.
When Frumpy folded in 1972, Rumpf would go onto form "Atlantis" with Schott and Kravetz, together with drummer Curt Cress and guitarist Frank Diez. Frumpy reformed in the late eighties, and Inga Rumpf has become a successful blues and jazz singer. This lady has incredible talent and her songwriting ability always was one of her major strengths.
In 1972, Fleetwood Mac's ‘Bare Trees’ was a marked improvement after the releases of "Kiln House" and "Future Games". In fact, several decades later, it still sounds decent.
With Danny Kirwan’s ‘Child Of Mine’ the album starts with best foot forward. Its uplifting mixture of California pop and guitar boogie is easily compared to Delaney & Bonnie, although with a tougher edge. As expected, McVie lays down a solid bassline, never flashy, and Kirwan and Welch indulge in top notch almost Allman Brothers style guitar interplay. Christine McVie’s organ work bubbles just under the surface. You have to ask why the band sounds so vibrant here, when on the preceding album exactly the same line-up sounded lost and tired? Maybe on ‘Future Games’ they’d not found their footing together…
Christine McVie takes the helm for ‘Homeward Bound’, a piano-led pop rock workout with punchy edges. It’s not quite got the finesse of her later songwriting, but here she proves that she’s more than a valuable addition to the band. Bob Welch turns in a great guitar solo, which at the end becomes twin lead with the addition of Kirwan. ‘Spare Me a Little of Your Love’ points further in the direction Christine’s writing would later take the band, with its almost perfect arrangement and plain emotion. ‘Sunny Side of Heaven’ is a gorgeous instrumental piece, with all members putting in top performances – particularly of note is Kirwan’s understated lead work. It would have been so easy for him to overstep the mark and play something flash, but he opts for lyrical soloing, creating a beautiful end result.
‘Bare Trees’ also features less immediate material. ‘Danny’s Chant’ features Kirwan in aggressive mode. At the beginning, he plays a spiky guitar riff through a wah-wah pedal leading into a groove with heavy accompaniment from the rhythm section. With hindsight, I wonder if he’d already begun to feel out of place in the band, with Welch’s material becoming stronger. ‘Dust’ features some nice vocal harmonies, but ultimately, the end result is slight.
‘The Ghost’ is softer, with its slightly jazzy tendencies. A strong chorus shows the potential behind Welch’s songwriting in a way that little of ‘Future Games’ ever did. I often hear an influence from Stephen Stills in Welch’s best work with Fleetwood and this is no exception. His other key number here, ‘Sentimental Lady’ (later re-recorded for his ‘French Kiss’ solo record), is little more than easy listening singer songwriter fare. The title cut offers mid-paced pop that’s fine, but now sounds like the most dated thing the album has to offer. Again, there’s some decent interplay between Welch and Kirwan, so at least it’s got that going for it.
The album closes with a home recording of an old lady reading her own poetry. Apparently Mrs. Scarrott lived near the band’s communal home. I’m not sure why they chose to include it – maybe it was just in keeping with the hippie spirit of the times…or maybe she kept making them jam.
Like most of the albums Fleetwood Mac recorded during the first half of the 70s, ‘Bare Trees’ could never be called classic in the traditional sense, but has more than enough to recommend it.
Tracks
1. Child Of Mine (Danny Kirwan) - 5:26
2. The Ghost (Bob Welch) - 4:02
3. Homeward Bound (Christine McVie) - 3:22
4. Sunny Side Of Heaven (Danny Kirwan) - 3:12
5. Bare Trees (Danny Kirwan) - 5:03
6. Sentimental Lady (Bob Welch) - 4:34
7. Danny's Chant (Danny Kirwan) - 3:20
8. Spare Me A Little Of Your Love (Christine McVie) - 3:46
9. Dust (Danny Kirwan) - 2:42
10.Thoughts On A Grey Day (Mrs. Scarrott) - 1:46
What would The Doors have sounded like had they included lead violin and fuzzed out guitars with their organ driven brand of psychedelic rock and roll? Perhaps something like High Tide, a very interesting band from the late 60's/early 70's UK proto-prog scene. The band was part of the Clearwater Management stable of bands that also included Hawkwind, Skin Alley, and Cochise, and their debut album Sea Shanties was on the Liberty/United Artists label. Made up of Tony Hill (guitar/vocals/keyboards), Simon House (violin/keyboards), Peter Pavli (bass) and Roger Hadden (drums), these four musicians mustered together some powerful sounds here on their debut, complete with plenty of bone crunching and doomy guitar riffs, wah-wah solos, soaring violin flights, raging organ, pounding drums, and a Jim Morrison-influenced vocal attack. Much of the music is pretty heavy for the time, with lots of wild and intricate jamming going on between the guitar and violin, which can certainly be heard to full effect on the mind-blowing frenzy of the instrumental "Death Warmed Up", a real scorcher featuring savage, distorted guitar and violin solos.
Their classic "Futilist's Lament" is a real driving hard rock/early prog number, with catchy riffs, swirling organ, melodic violin, and passionate vocals. "Pushed, But Not Forgotten" sounds like a strange marriage of The Doors and Led Zeppelin, with creepy organ, powerful vocals, and plenty of Jimmy Page styled wah-wah guitar flourishes ("Dazed and Confused" anyone?), not to mention some whispy violin. After the bruising hard rock of "Walking Down the Outlook", which also features a killer violin solo from House, the band launches into the unique sounding "Missing Out", a near 10-minute mix of doom and jazzy hoedown themes. You want scorching guitar riffs, sizzling violin, and haunting vocals-well, this one has it all.
The regular part of the album ends with the rocking "Nowhere", a song with dizzying guitar & violin interplay, but the intense fuzz guitar sound that Hill gets on this one is what is so attractive about this proggy track. The bonus material presented here is pretty neat, mostly demo and unusued studio recordings worked on before the finished album. Of these, the extended jams of "The Great Universal Protection Racket", the crunchy rocker "Dilemma", and the driving mix of prog and heavy rock of "Time Gauges" perfectly complement the album.
High Tide only recorded one more album after this one, and by 1971 had ceased to exist. Simon House joined Third Ear Band and then Hawkwind, before joining up with David Bowie for a few years, while drummer Peter Pavli collaborated with sci-fi author Michael Moorcock in his band Deep Fix as well as working with Hawkwind's Robert Calvert. Tony Hill resurrected High Tide briefly in the early 90's, but today keeps most of attention centered on his own band Tony Hill's Fiction. For the most part, the music of High Tide was buried deep in the vaults until now, but thanks to Eclectic Discs these raw & powerful recordings can be enjoyed by lovers of the early 70's proto-prog and hard rock scene.
by Pete Pardo
Tracks
1. Futilist's Lament - 5:17
2. Death Warmed Up - 9:08
3. Pushed, But Not Forgotten - 4:43
4. Walking Down Their Outlook - 4:58
5. Missing Out - 9:38
6. Nowhere (Roger Hadden, Simon House) - 5:54
7. The Great Universal Protection Racket - 11:24
8. Dilemma - 5:14
9. Death Warmed Up (Demo) - 7:35
10.Pushed, But Not Forgotten (Demo) - 4:01
11.Time Gauges - 6:24
All tracks by Tony Hill except where stated
High Tide
*Roger Hadden - Drums
*Tony Hill - Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
*Simon House - Violin, Organ
*Peter Pavli - Bass
