Rock band from Bergen, formed in late 1969 , and disbanded in the spring of 1974. They had several reunions since then. Saft was among the first rock bands to sing in Nynorsk ("Fjovisere" in 1971), also made history when they won the European summit with "People In Motion" in November 1971.
The members of the first Saft incarnation came from other established Bergen bands: Ove Thue (vocals, guitar), Tom Harry Halvorsen (keyboards, vocals) and Trygve Thue (guitar, vocals) from Neither Nor, Magne Lunde (drums) from Human Beings, and Rolf Skogstrand (bass) from various - including Human Beings. The band had ample opportunity to play in the hippie musical Hair on the National Stage in Bergen in the autumn of 1970. A recording from the performance was released on LP by Polydor just before Christmas 1970. Saft made a demo recording of their self-composed material at about the same time, and a contract deal with Polydor.
In summer of 1971 they released "People In Motion" / "Albertine Hall", which was a big success and critical aclaimed. The record was chosen as Norway's contribution to the European Summit on November 20, 1971. “Horn” was their second album released in 1971 an experimental record with diverse styles, and improvisations with all members contribute in songwriting.
Tracks
1. Green Grass (Tom H. Halvorsen) - 4:57
2. Not Going Bald (Ove Thue) - 2:38
3. See Me (Ove Thue, Tom H. Halvorsen, Trygve Thue) - 6:07
4. Take Off (Trygve Thue) - 0:58
5. Help, I'm In The Middle Of The World (Trygve Thue) - 3:37
6. Rubber Boots (Tom H. Halvorsen) - 0:37
7. People In Motion (Ove Thue) - 3:10
8. Sky Hy (Tom H. Halvorsen) - 3:07
9. You Can Always Have A Go (Tom H. Halvorsen, Trygve Thue) - 3:09
10.Omaka Si Pi (Magne Lunde, Ove Thue, Rolf Skogstrand, Tom H. Halvorsen, Trygve Thue) - 7:10
Saft
*Ove Thue - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Flexatone
*Trygve Thue - Acoustic, Slide, Electric Guitars, Vocals
*Tom H. Halvorsen - Organ, Acoustic, Electric Pianos, Vocals
Santana III is an album that undeservingly stands in the shadows behind the towering legend that is the band's second album, Abraxas. This was also the album that brought guitarist Neal Schon -- who was 17 years old -- into the original core lineup of Santana. Percussionist Thomas "Coke" Escovedo was brought in to replace (temporarily) José Chepitó Areas, who had suffered a brain aneurysm, yet who recovered quickly and rejoined the band. The rest were Carlos, organist Gregg Rolie, drummer Michael Schrieve, bassist David Brown, and conguero Michael Carabello. "Batuka" is the powerful first evidence of something being very different.
The band was rawer, darker, and more powerful with twin leads and Schon's harder, edgier rock & roll sound paired with Carlos' blend of ecstatic high notes and soulful fills. It cooks -- funky, mean, and tough. "Batuka" immediately transforms itself into "No One to Depend On," by Escovedo, Carabello, and Rolie. The middle section is highlighted by frantic handclaps, call-and-response lines between Schon and Rolie, and Carlos joining the fray until the entire track explodes into a frenzied finale. And what's most remarkable is that the set just keeps on cooking, from the subtle slow burn of "Taboo" to the percussive jam workout that is "Toussaint l'Overture," a live staple in the band's set list recorded here for the first time (and featuring some cooking Rolie organ work at its beginning). "Everybody's Everything" is here, as is "Guajira" and "Jungle Strut" -- tunes that are still part of Santana's live show. With acoustic guitars, gorgeous hand percussion, and Santana's fragile lead vocal, "Everything's Coming Our Way" is the only "feel good" track here, but it's a fitting way to begin winding the album down with its Schon and Santana guitar breaks.
The album ends with a completely transformed reading of Tito Puente's "Para los Rumberos," complete with horns and frantic, almost insanely fast hand drumming and cowbell playing. It's an album that has aged extremely well due to its spare production (by Carlos and the band) and its live sound. This is essential Santana, a record that deserves to be reconsidered in light of its lasting abundance and vision.
by Thom Jurek
With Guitar Virtuoso Neal Schon in Fold, Santana Makes Musical Magic That Truly Spans the Globe Years Before “World Music” Became a Genre
The final Santana album recorded with the leader’s famed Woodstock lineup, one of the most capable and explosive bands ever assembled, Santana III (commonly referred to as The Third Album) is a beacon of Latin-tinged rock, melodic creativity, and cohesive interplay. The record also marks the debut of young guitar virtuoso Neal Schon, who functions as the ideal foil to Santana, whose playing on this 1971 set rivals that of the finest in his career. If not for arriving after the monumental Abraxas, it is likely Santana IIIwould be mentioned in the same breath as groundbreaking psychedelic classics such as Bitches Brew. It’s that good.
Embracing the concept that all of the members should share their musical ideas, Santana added two crucial components to his band: Schon, discovered at the age of 15 playing in a Palo Alto club, and Thomas “Coke” Escovedo, who during the sessions temporarily replaced ill percussionist Chepito Areas, and whose percussive assistance helped define the album’s feel. With Schon in the fold, Santana strives for the unknown, and yet, manages to stave off the numbing excesses that define much of the period’s output.
From the opening “Batuka,” peppered with Schon’s stirring guitar lines, to the sensitive “Everything Is Coming Our Way,” infused with a mesmerizing Hammond organ underpinning that supports Santana’s vocal pathos, the record teams with inventiveness. Involving albeit accessible concoctions of funk, jazz, rock, blues, and soul run throughout the set. Spanish-styled flavors infuse a majority of the material, ranging from the salsa piano on “Guarjira” to the distinctive “No One to Depend On,” a lively take on the cha-cha-cha.
A globe-spanning armada of percussive instruments – timbales, congas, drums, vibes, tambourines, and more – as well as the existence of a three-person percussion team that fits in harmoniously with Santana, Schon, and company makes Santana III a masterful accomplishment in musical chemistry and the exploration of true world craft.
The tension of Schon’s guitar lines, the album’s open sound, and extensive use of studio echoes (check the presence of the backward echo on “No One to Depend On”) fill the soundstage, replete with the kind of depth and dynamics one expects from a first-rate audiophile recording.
Audio Venue
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Batuka (Gregg Rolie, Carlos Santana, Neal Schon, David Brown, Michael Shrieve, José Areas, Mike Carabello) - 3:34
2. No One To Depend On (Coke Escovedo, Michael Carebella) - 5:31
3. Taboo (Gregg Rolie, José Areas) - 5:35
4. Toussaint L'Overture (Gregg Rolie, Carlos Santana, Neal Schon, David Brown, Michael Shrieve, José Areas, Mike Carabello) - 5:59
This was Lindisfarne's comeback album after a fairly dire patch in the mid-'70s. Back and Fourth (originally issued by Polygram) was smoothly commercial.
With its original lineup back together, Lindisfarne went for the gold this time, building their music on folk-like melodies (and a distinctly American sound, at that), country-type hooks ("King's Cross Blues"), and pleasing harmonies, exemplified by "Warm Feeling," where the group sounds like an earthier, edgier Firefall.
Alan Hull's writing also took on a trans-Atlantic character -- gone was the distinct English character of songs like "Fog on the Tyne," and in its place was a poppier American sound, with some brief, embarrassing digressions into funky R&B ("Get Wise"). "Woman," whose subject is no more ambitious than its title, would have been an embarrassment to Lindisfarne during the early '70s, but it was the kind of sound that didn't offend radio programmers, and "Run for Home" became a familiar track on FM radio even in America, where the band had scarcely made any impression in earlier years.
Producer Gus Dudgeon kept the instrumentation simple and the sound pretty much rooted in midtempo rock, and the result was a pleasing collection of new tunes.
by Bruce Eder
Tracks
1. Juke Box Gypsy - 2:23
2. Warm Feeling (Ray Jackson, Charlie Harcourt) - 4:00
3. Woman - 3:22
4. Only Alone - 3:41
5. Run For Home - 4:19
6. Kings Cross Blues (Ray Jackson, Charlie Harcourt) - 3:43
7. Get Wise - 3:08
8. You And Me - 3:03
9. Marshall Riley's Army - 3:38
10.Angels At Eleven - 2:55
11.Make Me Want To Stay - 3:57
12.Stick Together (David Edgar, Simon Cowe) - 3:13
13.Brand New Day - 3:31
All music and Lyrics by Alan Hull except where indicated
Although Free made excellent studio records, Free Live! is perhaps the best way to experience the band in all its glory. Led by singer-guitarist Paul Rodgers and lead guitarist Paul Kosoff, the band swings through nine songs with power, clarity, and a dose of funk. Of course, the hit single "All Right Now" is gleefully extended, much to the audience's and listener's delight. Superbly recorded by Andy Johns, this is one of the greatest live albums of the 1970s.
by Matthew Greenwald
Tracks
1. All Right Now - 6:26
2. I'm A Mover - 3:42
3. Be My Friend - 5:56
4. Fire And Water - 3:58
5. Ride On A Pony - 4:31
6. Mr Big (Andy Fraser, Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke) - 6:20
7. The Hunter (Al Jackson Jr., Booker T. Jones, Carl Wells, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Steve Cropper) - 5:20
8. Get Where I Belong - 4:18
9. Woman - 4:34
10.Walk In My Shadow (Paul Rodgers) - 4:18
11.Moonshine (Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers) - 9:23
12.Trouble On Double Time (Andy Fraser, Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke) - 3:51
13.Mr Big (Andy Fraser, Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke) - 5:53
14.All Right Now - 5:32
15.Get Where I Belong - 4:21
All titles by Andy Fraser, Paul Rodgers except where indicated
Bonus Tracks 9-15
Tracks 1, 7, 11, 12, 13 were recorded live at Sunderland Locarno-Fillmore North, January 1970.
Tracks 2 - 6, 9, 10, 14 were recorded live at Fairfield Halls, Croydon, 13th September 1970.
Tracks 8, 15 were recorded at Island Studios, 26th March 1971.
The best British folk-rock band of the late '60s, Fairport Convention did more than any other act to develop a truly British variation on the folk-rock prototype by drawing upon traditional material and styles indigenous to the British Isles. While the revved-up renditions of traditional British folk tunes drew the most critical attention, the group members were also (at least at the outset) talented songwriters as well as interpreters. They were comfortable with conventional harmony-based folk-rock as well as tunes that drew upon more explicitly traditional sources, and boasted some of the best singers and instrumentalists of the day. A revolving door of personnel changes, however, saw the exit of their most distinguished talents, and basically changed the band into a living museum piece after the early '70s, albeit an enjoyable one with integrity.
When Fairport formed around 1967, their goal was not to revive British folk numbers, but to play harmony- and guitar-based folk-rock in a style strongly influenced by Californian groups of the day (especially the Byrds). The lineup that recorded their self-titled debut album in 1968 featured Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews, and Simon Nicol on guitars; Ashley Hutchings on bass; Judy Dyble on vocals; and Martin Lamble on drums. Most of the members sang, though Matthews and Dyble were the strongest vocalists in this early incarnation; all of their early work, in fact, was characterized by blends of male and female vocals, influenced by such American acts as the Mamas & the Papas and Ian & Sylvia. While their first album was derivative, it had some fine material, and the band was already showing a knack for eclecticism, excavating overlooked songs by Joni Mitchell (then virtually unknown) and Emitt Rhodes.
Fairport Convention didn't reach their peak until Dyble was replaced after the first album in 1968 by Sandy Denny, who had previously recorded both as a solo act and with the Strawbs. Denny's penetrating, resonant style qualified her as the best British folk-rock singer of all time, and provided Fairport with the best vocalist they would ever have. What We Did on Our Holidays (1969) and Unhalfbricking (1969) are their best albums, mixing strong originals, excellent covers of contemporary folk-rock songs by the likes of Mitchell and Dylan, and imaginative revivals of traditional folk songs that mixed electric and acoustic instruments with a beguiling ease.
Matthews had left the band in early 1969, and Lamble (still in his teens) died in an accident involving the group's equipment van in mid-1969. That forced Fairport to regroup, replacing Lamble with Dave Mattacks, and adding Dave Swarbrick on fiddle. Their repertoire, too, became much more traditional in focus, and electrified traditional folk numbers would dominate their next album, Liege and Lief (1969). Here critical thought diverges; some insist that this is unequivocally their peak, marking a final escape from their '60s folk-rock influences into a much more original style. This school of thought severely underestimates their songwriting talents, and others feel that they were at their best when mixing original and outside material, and contemporary and traditional styles, in fact becoming more predictable and derivative when they opted to concentrate on British folk chestnuts.
The Liege and Lief lineup didn't last long; by the end of the '60s, Ashley Hutchings had left to join Steeleye Span, replaced by Dave Pegg. More crucially, Denny was also gone, helping to form Fotheringay. Thompson was still on board for Full House (1970), but by the beginning of 1971 he too had departed, leaving Nicol as the only original member.
Fairport have kept going, on and off (mostly on), for the last 25 years, touring and performing frequently. It may be too harsh to dismiss all of their post-Thompson records out of hand; Angel Delight (1971), the first recorded without the guitarist on board, was actually their highest-charting LP in the U.K., reaching the Top Ten. Nicol's exit in late 1971 erased all vestiges of connections to their salad days. Fairport was now not so much a continuous entity as a concept, carried on by musicians dedicated to the electrified British folk style that had been mapped out on Liege and Lief.
So it continues to this day, supported by a devoted fan base (Dirty Linen, the top American roots music magazine, originally began as a Fairport Convention fanzine). Denny would actually return to the group for about a year and a half in the 1970s, prior to her death in 1978; Nicol rejoined in 1976. Keeping track of Fairport's multitudinous lineup changes is a daunting task, and the group has coexisted on an erratic basis with the various other projects of the most frequent members (Nicol, Mattacks, and Pegg, the last of whom has played with Jethro Tull since the late '70s). They played annual reunion concerts during the 1980s and '90s (sometimes joined on-stage by Fairport alumni like Thompson), events that turned into some of the most popular folk festivals in Europe. They've also released some albums of new material intermittently throughout the last couple of decades, mostly pleasant, unexceptional traditional-oriented outings that appeal primarily to diehards.
The most distinguished graduates of Fairport, however, have continued to shape the British folk and folk-rock scene with notable solo and group projects. Richard Thompson is one of the most critically acclaimed singer/songwriters in the world; Ian Matthews made some interesting recordings as a solo act and with Plainsong and Matthews Southern Comfort; Denny sang with Fotheringay and released several solo albums before her death; and Hutchings carried on the most traditional face of British folk-rock with Steeleye Span, the Albion Band, and the Etchingham Steam Band.
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
Disc 1 Original Album
1. Come All Ye (Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings) - 5:00
2. Reynardine (Traditional) - 4:30
3. Matty Groves (Traditional) - 8:07
4. Farewell, Farewell (Richard Thompson) - 2:37
5. The Deserter (Traditional) - 4:21
6. Medley (Traditional) - 4:06
.. The Lark in the Morning
.. Rakish Paddy
.. Foxhunters' Jig
.. Toss the Feathers
7. Tam Lin (Traditional) - 7:11
8. Crazy Man Michael (Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick) - 4:41
Disc 2 Studio Out-takes and BBC Sessions
1. Sir Patrick Spens (Traditional) - 3:59
2. Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Traditional, Richard Farina) - 5:59
3. The Ballad Of Easy Rider (Roger McGuinn) - 4:53
4. Tam Lin (Traditional) - 7:46
5. Medley - The Lark In The Morning/Rakish Paddy/Foxhunter's Jig/Toss The Feathers (Traditional) - 4:13
6. Sir Patrick Spens (Traditional) - 3:44
7. Reynardine (Traditional) - 4:19
8. Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Traditional, Richard Farina) - 7:50
9. The Lady Is A Tramp (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) - 2:11
10.In Other Words (Fly Me To The Moon) (Bart Howard, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) - 2:21
Their Doors-influenced style of psych rock was captured on a demo LP in 1970 which is now very collectible. A second demo LP was recorded in 1973 (including a couple of remakes of songs from the first LP). Then a 45 in 1974. More changes were in store, including gigs and recording under the names Flying Turns (the name of a thrill ride at the defunct Euclid Beach Park) and Fun (a Gentle Giant influenced period), before the band called it quits.
I was born in Venezuela. When I was a child, my parents moved to the industrial city of Cleveland, Ohio. In the 1960’s, Cleveland had some of the best radio in America. Plus we were able to receive CKLW out of Detroit. Almost all early rock and roll music was black. Great performances of 3 chord songs loaded with rhythm and attitude. After the Beatles, music became more intelligent, using chord patterns and harmonies no one had ever heard before. And it wasn’t just the Beatles. All British bands were so fucking great. It was the beginning of progressive music. Those two separate attitudes of rhythm and composition were my main musical influences when I was young.
The early 70’s was rock and roll heaven. There were a lot of great original bands and places to play. Cleveland was a factory town with hard drinking men and women who loved loud rock bands, and going out 3 or 4 nights a week to support them. Besides the night clubs, Dragonwyck toured with rockers Foghat, Golden Earring, The Edgar Winter Group and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. It was a very exciting time for music, and for us being in the middle of it all.
It’s really hard to tell them without the context of the time. The 70’s was a decadent decade throughout the world. Everybody, EVERYWHERE was living outside of the walls of conformity that exist today. There was so much more tolerance and social freedom to misbehave. But to say that the 70’s was a drunken, drug induced fuck-fest, would be an understatement. It was a beautiful time.
‘Chapter 2’ was recorded at Audio Recording Studio in Cleveland. This was 1972 and the studio had an Ampex 16-track machine. The mellotron and moog synthesizer was just released at that time, so we bought one each and had a ball recording that record. We also put a lot of work into background vocals on that album. The “fun” album was anything but fun. It was interesting from a clinical point of view, and in 1974 we were one of the first bands to be using samples, albeit primitive tape loops. We did a lot of tape edits on that record, and from that point on, I never went back to recording effects more that musical performance.
The first three songs on the album were recorded on a primitive 1/4 track in the wilds of Torquay, in the West of England. "The Band" and "Ragtime Brahms", Maddie's title for the track, were recorded about 9 months after the 'Fuchsia' album was released. With our musical progress on hold for the best part of a year, we were looking for a new record company to record & promote us. The third song is from the original Fuchsia demo acetate. The Mahagonny project was I suppose a second incarnation of Fuchsia. In 1975/76 I wrote a series of songs for a theatre show.
The inspiration for Mahagonny came from two works by Bertholdt Brecht and Kurt Weill, and I believe came closest to realising the true potential of the string trio/rock band ensemble. Mahagonny was based loosely on The Threepenny Opera, and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. It was a story of urban decay and exploitation, a story told through 'black humour' and satire, of a society divided by wealth and poverty, as its protagonists go about securing their livelihoods in any way they could. The end comes as the masses eventually take up arms. Michael Gregory from Fuchsia played drums on the demos, while other players were friends I was working with at the time, or students from the Royal College of Music, London.
I wrote and arranged the songs over about twelve months. We eventually recorded five demo tracks at 'Spaceward Studios', Cambridge, then mixed them at Majestic Studios, Clapham London. Being part of a theatre production, the aim was to secure Arts Council backing in the UK supported by a record deal. One major label was interested in signing but the deal was never done. Perhaps not too surprising as punk rock was emerging as the new 'big thing' in London. It was around this time that I recorded the next 2 songs with my good friend Bob Chudley in a small London 8 track studio. He wrote "Me and My Kite" on the Fuchsia album, and some other really good stuff, but never got the publishing deal he deserved. "I'll Remember Her Face, I'll Remember Her Name" was part of some music I recorded for a film around 1978. I love John's vocals.
Thanks to all the great people who made this music possible by contributing so much to these projects. Special thanks to my good mate Gianpaolo, at Night Wings Records.
by Tony Durant
After the premature ending of the Fuchsia experience, Vanessa played briefly with an unrecorded band called Touchstone, and Tony Durant went on playing for a while around London with Michael Day and Michael Gregory. Tony then joined the hard blues oriented Punchin' Judy led by 'leather-larynx' Barbara O'Meara (who previously sang with Old Nick, one 7" on Decca in 1971). Whilst the band had an album out on the Transatlantic record label it had all but disbanded. The only survivors from the recording sessions were Barbara, Keith Grant-Evans -ex-Downliners Sect- and Robin Langridge. So Durant and Gregory filled the gap and Punchin' MK2 toured England and Holland (where a single was also issued) and also recorded some interesting demos for an eventual second album but the album was never recorded.
Tony, Michael, Robin and Keith became the de facto 'house' band for Transatlantic, helping out various new signings to the label. They became part of pop-reggae band Greyhound for a brief time, culminating in one excellent live performance for the Jimmy Saville Show in 1975. Tony recorded some great demos with Glenroy Oakley, the Greyhound vocalist and both Gregory and Durant played on 'The Mind Parasites' (Transatlantic, 1976), an Al Stewart sounding LP by Simon Boswell who later became a highly regarded soundtrack composer. Tony continued to write, and in 1974 began toying with the idea of writing some songs for a theatre show based on the two Brecht works.
In 1975 Tony began work on the "Mahagonny" project. Five songs were recorded and these follow the three Fuchsia demos on the CD. Even if the musical direction was far from the first Fuchsia LP, you can clearly hear their shared heritage. Tony and Michael were joined in these recordings by friends Keith and Robin. The vocals were handled by Nick Pallett (from the late Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, the 'other' great Exeter folk-rock band) and Jan Pulsford. Jan's sister Angela (both are the elder sisters of Nigel, bassist with rock stars Bush, and Jan went on to tour with the Thompson Twins and write songs for Cindy Lauper) and a friend, Philida Ahearn, formed the string section.
It's odd to note that, as happened with Jonesy's fourth album (also issued for the first time by Night Wings Records in 2003), it was again Richard Branson's Virgin who missed a good opportunity. 'Fuchsia, Mahagonny & Other Gems' kicks off with the two demos Fuchsia recorded after the first album was issued, when they were looking for a new label. They were out of luck, but the beautiful "The Band" and "Ragtime Brahms" show they still had huge potential. Then we hear a track from their first demo, probably the only surviving acetate, sent around the record companies by Tony and his mates, which secured them their original contract. The second track on the demo, "Shoes and Ships", was unfortunately too damaged to be recovered in its entirety, with a slightly different arrangement including a French horn part not included in the album version.
Next up are the Mahagonny demos, followed by two great songs by Bob Chudley (who also co-wrote "Another Nail" on the first album). After having occasionally worked with Chris Cutler (his and Tony's old pal in psychedelic band Louise), this underrated songwriter continued to write without finding a publisher. Luckily, some of his songs were recorded with Tony, these demos being Bob's last venture into serious songwriting. Finally, as the icing on the cake, we've added a great folk-rock song, "I'll Remember Her Face", recorded in 1978 and sung beautifully by John Tams, then of the Albion Band (along with Michael Gregory and Pete Bullock). The song was composed with other incidental music for a film production called "The Golden Medallion".
1978 was a magic year for Tony. By chance he met Dave Warner, an emerging Australian punk songwriter, and they recorded some demos in London. At the same time he worked with an old Exeter University mate Steve Jamieson on his Zero Zero project. There was a lot of interest in this band around the London 'scene' and EMI provided some studio time. Zero Zero produced a good single but no follow up, even if an album worth of material was recorded. Meanwhile Warner's demos attracted some strong interest in Australia and Tony joined him in Melbourne for the first national tour of Warner's band - Dave Warner From The Suburbs. Tony produced the band's first album, 'Mug's Game' and it moved up the charts. When back in London, Pete Farndon of the Pretenders contacted Tony through some mutual friends, Aussie folk icons the Bushwackers who Farndon had previously been playing with in Australia. The Pretenders were then an unsigned band and Pete Honeyman Scott was considering leaving. Farndon was looking for a replacement but Pete made the right decision and stayed with the band. Tony flew back to Australia where Warner was riding a wave of success and based himself in Perth. The collaboration with Dave lasted for two years before Tony moved on into production, jingles and advertising.
In the early '90's Tony moved to Sydney with a new Polygram publishing contract. The band, Cat's Crafty went on to produce some great music, but never signed a record deal and eventually folded. On a bibliographic note, it is interesting to know that Nick Pallett went on to sing with Contempt in '77 together with Howard Paul and Robin Langridge, who in turn played with Medium Medium, Karel Fialka, Michael O'Brien, Ivor Biggun, Annabel Lamb, Paul Roberts, Ofra Haza, Sniff'n Tears and joined for a while the reformed Downliners Sect, of course with Keith Grant-Evans. Keith deserves a page on his own, with a career that included lesser known bands like Magnet (led by Mick Cox of Eire Apparent and Van Morrison fame), Nasty (around 1970/72, with Dave O'List!), a collaboration with ex-Magnet Tony Kelly in 1972 and a band called Tarot in 1976. Today Keith is still playing with Downliners Sect, helped by Alan Brooks (from Punchin' Judy MK1) and Alan's old pal in the sixties band (Purple) Barrier, Del Dwyer.
Night-Wings
Tracks
1. The Band - 3:21
2. Ragtime Brahms - 5:02
3. Ring Of Red Roses - 4:02
4. Prologue - 5:43
5. Pirate Jenny - 3:44
6. Mr. Munch's Interminable Lunch - 5:26
7. Drunken Meanderings - 4:22
8. Behind Innocent Eyes - 3:52
9. Absent Friends - 4:36
10.Mary Used To Play The Piano (Robert Chudley) - 2:15
11.I'll Remember Her Face - 2:32
All songs written by Tony Durant except where indicated
Tracks 1-3 as Fuchsia
Tracks 4-8 as Mahagonny
Tracks 9-10 as Robert Chudley
Track 11 The Golden Medaillion
Musicians
*Tony Durant - Guitars, Lead Vocals
*Michael Gregory - Drums, Percussion
*Michael Day - Bass (Fuchsia, Robert Chudley)
*Janet Rogers - Violin (Fuchsia)
*Madeleine Bland - Cello (Fuchsia)
*Vanessa Hall-Smith - Viola (Fuchsia)
*Jan Pulsford - Vocals (Mahagonny)
*Nic Pallett - Vocals (Mahagonny)
*Robin Langridge - Keyboards (Mahagonny)
*Keith Grant-Evans - Bass (Mahagonny)
*Angela Pulsford - Violin (Mahagonny)
*Philida Ahearn - Cello (Mahagonny)
*Bob Chudley - Vocals, Guitar (Robert Chudley)
*Andrew Wilson - Keyboards (Robert Chudley)
*John Tams - Vocals, Accordion (The Golden Medallion)
I was born in London, Palmers Green, (a first generation post war baby boomer!) and moved to South Africa when I was 6 months old. My family returned to England when I was 10. Then boarding school, Dover College, a middling English public school. I started playing drums at school, then guitar when I left school, and during the '60's found myself caught up in the progressive psychedelic music thing. From 1966 to 1968 I played in a band called Louise in south London, with Robert Chudley and Chris Cutler (later with Henry Cow), doing some pretty weird stuff, original songs ("Another Nail" resurfaced years later, while a recording of "Look at the Sun" could still exist somewhere!) and others with long free form sections in the middle...liquid light shows, all that kind of stuff.
With the end of the '60's, the band was going nowhere and I felt a need to do something quite different, so I went to Exeter University to escape music for a while. Two weeks into University, and I had started writing music again, this time for a night of poetry based around Ferlinghetti's poems, on Goya's pictures of the Napoleonic wars of all things, and with a general anti war theme. I advertised for players and found a London Cockney piano player (Mick McGee) and ex colonial Dave Haskins on drums. From memory the bass player could have been Mick Day. It was a good night, which had me totally hooked into music again. Then I wrote and recorded some harder edged songs like "Ring of Red Roses", playing them at one of the Ottawa concerts in 1971, organised by Chris Cutler and featuring various luminary associates of his. I played this gig as a three piece with Chris Cutler on drums and Mick Day on bass.
About the same period, I formed the Fuchsia band with Michael Gregory and Mick Day. I wanted to experiment with writing songs not to the normal pop format, rather a series of musical themes, which start at a particular, point and move on, without necessarily following the normal classic pop song format. Also I wanted to experiment making string parts an integral part of the song itself, rather than something added to embellish the song once written (this was pre Electric Light Orchestra, remember), so we were soon joined by Madeleine Bland (Cello), Janet Rogers (Violin) and Vanessa Hall-Smith (Viola). Also students at Exeter, the girls were from a purely classical background and wanting to do something different. It was a very adventurous project with great production difficulties in actually amplifying the strings for live performances, together with our relative lack of experience.
We played a few gigs at the university, and recorded two songs, "Ring of Red Roses" coupled with "Shoes & Ships", at a demo studio in Torquay. A good friend in the industry, Paul Conroy, passed the demo on to Terry King, who signed us up to his new Kingdom Records label, distributed through Chrysalis Records. I think Terry was as impressed by the radically different approach to the music as he was by the fact that there were three girls in the band! We recorded the album in the early summer of '71 with David Hitchcock producing, and then went back to university, with the intention of doing a promotional tour for the album in the next holidays. The album was released with one ad in Melody Maker and some reviews in various papers, which were all very complimentory. That was the total extent of the promo it received. The proposed promotional tour disappointingly never eventuated, and after months in limbo, the project came to an end.... and a band that don't play together, don't stay together.
We recorded another demo, ("The Band" and "Ragtime Brahms") but failed to capture a new record deal. I continued to play with the drummer and bass player, eventually ending up in London and playing round there. The Fuchsia concept revived itself in 1975, when I wrote a series of songs for a theatre show based on Brecht's Threepenny Opera, which to this day I feel was the best thing I ever did in terms of realising the true potential of the string trio/rock band ensemble. This was with various players from the London College of Music. There was some interest from Virgin records, but a miss is as good as a mile!!
The rest is history. I played with Punchin' Judy with Greg, Robin Langridge and Keith Grant-Evans, (a true legend-Downliners Sect) and am still in touch with Keith today. This blues based band had a deal with Transatlantic Records and an LP to promote, so we played mainly university venues in England, and toured Holland. The album was also issued (in 1972) in France too, this time by Kingdom label itself (cat. KV 6002). Fuchsia owed their name to the excellent Mervyn Peake's book Titus Groan.
by Tony Durant
Tracks
1. Gone With The Mouse - 4:59
2. A Tiny Book - 8:03
3. Another Nail (Tony Durant, Robert Chudley) - 6:57
4. Shoes And Ships - 6:14
5. The Nothing Song - 8:23
6. Me And My Kite (Robert Chudley) - 2:34
7. Just Anyone - 3:33
All songs written by Tony Durant except where indicated.
Fuchsia
*Tony Durant - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Lead Vocals
*Michael Day - Bass Guitar
*Michael Gregory - Drums, Percussion
*Janet Rogers - Violin, Backing Vocals
*Madeleine Bland - Cello, Piano , Harmonium, Backing Vocals
The choice of “Welcome,” a John Coltrane composition from Kulu Se Mama, as the title tune of the new Santana album is a natural follow-up to Carlos’ album with Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. Coltrane pioneered the direct rendering of spirituality through music in performances like “A Love Supreme” and “Welcome,” and the recent resurgence of interest in his work by spiritually inclined rock musicians is scarcely surprising.
But Welcome covers more territory than Love Devotion Surrender, which was simply a series of ecstatic jams on Coltrane and Coltrane-influenced material. Unlike the latter album, it refers explicitly to its various inspirations. Carlos has apparently been impressed by Airto’s Fingers, Chick Corea’s Light as a Feather and recent recordings by Leon Thomas, Alice Coltrane and Lonnie Liston Smith. In fact, Welcome begins with an Alice Coltrane arrangement, and both Leon Thomas and Airto’s vocalist, Flora Purim, make brief appearances. None of these is integral to the album, suggesting an intended tribute to sources of musical enlightenment rather than an all-star session or a round of hip name-dropping.
The two outstanding qualities which have separated Santana’s music from that of its competitors—Carlos’ expressive abilities as a guitarist and the talents of the band’s various percussionists—are much in evidence throughout Welcome. The qualities which characterize the “new” Santana are the keyboard work of Tom Coster and Richard Kermode and the broad range of the material. As examples of the latter, “Yours Is the Light” is similar in both design and execution to Airto’s current style of hot, neo-samba percussion with jazz keyboard solos, while “Mother Africa” departs considerably from Herbie Mann’s original with a kalimba introduction, thundering Afro-percussion, and a boiling, post-Trane soprano saxophone solo by Jules Broussard. “Going Home,” the Alice Coltrane arrangement, is a sea of organ sounds: “Samba De Sausalito” is a meeting of Brazilian and Puerto Rican rhythmic thrusts with an extended electric piano solo by Coster riding over the top, and “Love, Devotion and Surrender” sets words to the theme of the Santana/Mahavishnu album and builds to an impassioned, gospel-inflected chorus by Leon Thomas.
Carlos himself has never played better. On “Flame” and “Welcome,” he displays a resourceful guitar adaptation of the flutter-tonguing techniques introduced by Coltrane on the soprano sax; there is now more content and less effect in his solos, without the slightest diminution of the delicate touch and bell-like tone which make his work so unmistakable. The rhythm section is at its loosest and best; veteran Afro-Cuban powerhouse Armando Peraza and the much younger Jose Areas interact beautifully, and Michael Shrieve is developing a bag of his own out of directions laid down by Airto and Elvin Jones. There is more use of suspended time, different rhythmic structures and percussive colorations, making Welcome the most rhythmically satisfying rock recording since Professor Longhair’s.
Conceptually, the album sprawls somewhat, due to the occasionally divergent pulls of its various inspirations. But Carlos’ devotion to the musical substance of the Coltrane legacy is admirable, and he seems less inclined toward the superficial treatments which marred Love Devotion Surrender. There may not be another “Black Magic Woman” here, but there is enough of the old Latin fire to satisfy the fans, as well as a promising expansion of sources and resources.
by Bob Palmer, January 3, 1974
Tracks
1. Going Home - 4:11
2. Love Devotion And Surrender (Carlos Santana, Richard Kermode) - 3:38
3. Samba De Sausalito (Jose "Chepito" Areas) - 3:11
4. When I Look Into Your Eyes (Maitreya Michael Shrieve, Tom Coster) - 5:52
5. Yours Is The Light (Maitreya Michael Shrieve, Richard Kermode) - 5:47
6. Mother Africa (Carlos Santana, Tom Coster, Herbie Mann) - 5:55
7. Light Of Life (Carlos Santana, Richard Kermode, Tom Coster) - 3:52
8. Flame-Sky (Doug Rauch, Carlos Santana, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin) - 11:33
9. Welcome (John Coltrane) - 6:35
10.Mantra (Carlos Santana, Maitreya Michael Shrieve, Tom Coster) - 6:11
PFM were already Italy's premiere progressive rock band when Emerson, Lake & Palmer signed them to the British trio's own Manticore label in 1972 and turned to King Crimson alumnus Peter Sinfield to write English-language words (sung phonetically) for this, the Italian group's debut international release.
A phantasmagorical creation, Photos of Ghosts is filled with lush melodies and rich musical textures, all wrapped around Sinfield's frequently surreal lyrics, which seem an extension of some of his better work from King Crimson's Lizard and Islands albums. In contrast to ELP's music of the same period, PFM's music still retains some loud echoes of psychedelia, and the music has a refreshingly airy, open sound, free from the thick, heavy-handed Germanic textures generated by most of the rival U.K. classical rock bands of the period -- this album can stand next to competing works by Genesis, Yes, et al. from the same period.
Additionally, PFM were not only unafraid of doing songs that changed time signatures radically, but reveled and thrived in such unusual structures, as demonstrated by "Il Banchetto," the one song on the album transferred -- at least in terms of lyrics -- intact from the original Italian release. The phonetically sung English lyrics also take on a special eeriness on track such as "Promenade the Puzzle." Oddly enough, the group actually became a better rock band in the year following this release, with a shift in personnel and the addition of bassist Patrick Djivas, and subsequent releases rocked harder and better, but they never had a finer, more consistently rewarding body of music in one place to their credit than this album. T
he various CD editions have been a major improvement over the fuzzy, indistinct mastering (and accompanying poor pressings) of the original 1970s-era U.S. vinyl release. The 2010 CD re-release also features significant bonus tracks, consisting principally of early mixes and unaccompanied backing tracks from much of the album -- all of which bring the running time up past 70 minutes -- and reveal a wealth of inner detail and instrumental textures that were otherwise masked on the finished album, plus the single edit of "Celebration."
