The legends surrounding a cult classic often outstrip the music’s realities. Perhaps an album remains a “Best Record You’ve Never Heard” mainstay simply because it’s rare, a collector’s way of flexing muscle. A less cynical take understands that the truth can’t compete with decades of word-of-mouth hyperbole or the expectations we’ve created as we cultivate our want lists. Or perhaps we perpetually covet because we want to do the impossible, to relive the formative experiences of first encountering our desert island picks. Fortunately, there are holy grails like Bill Jerpe’s long-obscure self-titled release, recently reissued by Soft Estate Records, that justify the mythology.
Early in his career, Jerpe, a Mid-Hudson Valley singer-songwriter, signed with Epic Records, one of the countless “Next Bob Dylan” hopefuls plucked from the mid-1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. Jerpe’s jittery, fussy cuts, including the single “Navigation Blues”, are hootenanny appropriate: socially conscious, informed, wry, playful, if not a bit cocky. Yet they did not garner him mainstream attention, and Epic cut ties with Jerpe. Yes, the same hard rain that befell a thousand other would-be Zimmermans.
By 1969, Jerpe, by then considered an “elder statesman of the folk scene,” gathered a group of local musicians to record a full-length. Perhaps jaded after a run with a major label, Jerpe and company cut the songs during a two-day session in a motel room, a venue choice that helped solidify the album’s reputation as one of the first indie efforts. The result is a collection of songs so immediate that you feel you already know them by heart. Compared to his feisty Epic sides, this is a come-down affair, sober, wounded, and grounded.
Album opener “Another Day Goes Down” is a hands-in-the-air resignation with a wistful melody that belies the reality that, “Here you’re dead or you’re upside down, and all I can do is let another day go down.” It’s a stunning track, an instant classic that could overshadow the rest of the album if the rest of the album weren’t as essential.
Elsewhere, the material here is less greasy spoon, more art gallery. Dylan’s inescapable influence still lingers, but an affection for the Velvet Underground also reveals itself. “You’ll Get the Heaven” chugs alongside “Foggy Notion” and “Thanks A Lot For Coming Into My Life” echoes the most tender moments of VU’s self-titled LP. The album takes a rustic psychedelic turn with “Have You Heard Any Good Jokes Lately?”, recalling the cosmic country of Gram Parsons and The Flatlanders.
Despite these nods, Jerpe never succumbs to his influences or the trappings of the folk genre. Instead of relying on topical songs that would render this album a dead letter, he delivers an album that trades social capital for self-exploration, in turn providing a blueprint for the DIY experience.
Loadstone formed in Las Vegas. Devers, Abernathy and Phillips were backing Bobby Darin at the time when he went on his hiatus to find himself, leaving them looking for a gig. Ryan, Douglas, Sterling and Cernuto were freelance musicians in Vegas looking for work. Thanks to a guitar player by the name of Mike Richards, who originally was in the group, they got together and formed a cover band to make some cash.
The band worked a club in Vegas called 'The Pussycat A Go Go' where Andy Williams used to hang out. He signed the band to his label, Barnaby Records, because of the big following the band attracted to its live performances. Andy also got Dave Grusin to produce the album as well as play piano on one track, Dayshine. The album was recorded in a two week period in the Summer of 1969 and other than record promotion concerts and a few club gigs in L.A., the band never toured.
Their self titled sole album a highly consistently as a good effort, The music, prog tinged rock, with lots of horns, and psych influences. "Flower Pot" 15 minute-long psychedelic suite, complete with sound effects, phasing, screams, echo loops and bird noises, the track was recorded in one take, with the voices overdubbed later. The album’s lack of sales caused the group to slowly dissolve to working lounge gigs in Vegas. When that was over the band members went on to other groups.
Tracks
1. See The Light (Barry Abernathy, John Sterling, Larry Devers) - 3:25
2. Keep On Burning (Larry Devers, Terry Ryan) - 2:47
3. Dayshine (John Sterling, Larry Devers) - 5:16
4. Time (Larry Devers, Sqamuel Cernuto) - 3:43
5. It Couldn't Be Bad (John Sterling, P. Dowland, Terry Ryan) - 3:15
6. Flower Pot (Barry Abernathy, John Phillips, John Sterling, Larry Devers, Steve Douglas, Samuel Cernuto, Terry Ryan) - 15:15
The underground folk-rock band Evergreen Blueshoes was conceived in Los Angeles in June of 1967 by a guitarist/songwriter and bassist/singer trying to bring their two musical experiences together to form a unique new one. It survived the turbulence of the following year only to die of neglect in mid-1969. Its heart was the partnership of Allan “Country Al” Ross aka Al Rosenberg aka A.P. Rosenberg, a struggling songwriter and folk and country music guitarist and Clyde “Skip” Battin, a singer-bassist hoping to turn a 1959 hit record into a post-Beatles career. The band was rounded out by Kenny Kleist, organ and trumpet, Lanny Mathijssen, Rock ‘n Soul guitar, and Chet McCracken, a soul-type “heavy” drummer.
At its best in live concerts the group presented a humming blend of different musical genres: American and ethnic folk, Rock & Soul, Country, 20th Century modernism and poetry, knitted together by spoken narrative to form a continuous 40 minute set and album [Amos Records (vinyl, of course) , a sub-label of Warner Bros.]
Most of the band’s repertoire was written by Ross (Rosenberg at the time), a protégé of Doc Watson and student of American string-band music and Balkan dance accompaniment while an undergrad at UCLA. [Jewish Teahouse] is an example of what could happen when he got his shit together. The melody is lifted from Ladarke, a kolo dance tune complete with accelerating entrance, a Haiku-like lyric and Rock bridge. It was the first song in a projected cycle that left Ross and the band with three recorded but unreleased songs, Gypsy Wedding , Telephone Sue and Piece of the Action.
Battin brought his 1959 ballad “Cherry Pie” to the table in the band’s efforts to get gigs and court record producers, as well as his front-man charisma and sexuality (“Pick one girl in the audience and take her home with your eyes.”) The “Cherry Pie” identification cut both ways: they would get low-paying gigs in beer joints from owners Skip had known in his “Skip and Flip” days, backing up “Cherry Pie,” but they’d often have to play the song, which by that time Skip hated. If they didn’t, there were occasional consequences. Once, in a mainly Chicano San Fernando bar, a Pachuco came up to the stage in the middle of a cutting-edge, no-breaks concept set, loomed over Kenny, the organ player, and said, “Play ‘Cherry Pie.’ Play it now.’” Another time Skip and Al were trying to get the attention of Snuff Garrett, a heavy-hitter producer/A&R guy at Liberty Records. They made a plea in his office to hear some of Al’s “now” compositions. As they made their pitch, Garrett leaned back in his chair, smiled and said, “I’ll consider it, if you sing ‘Cherry Pie.’” Skip reportedly looked like he was going to cry but did it anyway. Garret did not make a record of them.
Two things kept the band under constant pressure: the need to work, especially in venues that encouraged acts to perform fresh material (no “Top 40,” please) and the development of…fresh material. For Skip, booking the band into small, out-of-the-way venues that paid bills but gave no exposure to the record industry and had no use for new material, was easy. The hard part was convincing the band’s foot soldiers, organist Kenny Kleist, guitarist Lanny Mathijssen and an early drummer named Willie, that it was necessary to give up a gig at, say, the Plush Purple Lounge in Anaheim at $145/week per man for a week at the Topanga Canyon Corral, a hot but low-paying club in the Santa Monica Mountains, because producers, A&R guys and other scouts came there, if only to scope out hippy chicks who danced flowingly with no underwear on and macramé tops as concealing as hurricane fences. Generally speaking, though, Lanny and Kenny, and, later, drummer Chet McCracken, went along with it, probably sensing that small, obscure, Top Forty bars were not where it was “happening” in middle/late ‘Sixties Pop and Rock. So the band worked steadily from its inception in the summer of 1967 until early 1969.
It was in the development of material that Skip and Al’s partnership worked best. Skip, old pro that he was, admitted he had trouble writing, in fact, with creativity in general. So he recruited Al, a local country-folk guitarist who taught at and frequently accompanied acts appearing at the Ash Grove, to form a band with him, fifty-fifty in every way. He, Skip, would sing lead, play bass, recruit other members and, at first, lead them to gigs. Al, inexperienced as a rock player but more in touch with where music was headed in the mid-‘Sixties than Skip, would write and adapt Public Domain material like this arrangement of Life’s Railway to Heaven, perform and, later, book the band into such venues as the Topanga Corral, Ash Grove, Troubadour and Whiskey A Go Go.
Though never expressly articulated, it was a good plan, because Skip had great stage presence, sex appeal and knowledge of the record business, if not the material itself. He knew what to do with fresh product even if he couldn’t produce it himself. He also had a line to Al’s imagination that enabled him as a mentor to guide his disciple along creative paths that might pay off. They developed a strong friendship, which included sharing acid trips, as well as the exciting, exhausting business of launching and sustaining a new band. The result was that soon after their first meeting Al began writing, adapting and arranging songs and instrumentals for Skip to sing and the band to play.
Al’s creative “product,” as credited either in the album’s liner notes or the group’s estimation, included “Life’s Railway to Heaven,” “Line Out” (with Skip), “The Raven” (with E.A. Poe), “Mrs. Cohen’s Little Boy” (with Dave Cohen), “Moon Over Mt. Olympus” and “Jewish Teahouse.” There were three post-album songs he wrote but never recorded: “(Have You Ever Seen a) Gypsy Wedding?,” “Telephone Sue” and “Midget at the Whiskey,” as well as a novel bluegrass treatment of the Hedgehog Song written and performed by the Incredible String Band, a British group.
This material was hatched, slowly at first, then more quickly as Al became more sure-footed as a composer and lyricist. There were always stages, risers, bars, love-ins, high school auditoriums, music festivals and shows to test the new material in and, therefore, get feedback from. In general, the feedback was nearly always positive, often dramatically so in venues like the Corral, Ash Grove, Whiskey, and, for one magical night when the band was supposed to go on as ringers for the United Fruit Company but ended up performing as EGBS, at Bill Graham’s Fillmore Auditorium.
Although the band played a lot of bars at the beginning, for nothing but survival pay, things got better and better as an identity gradually emerged. Some time in mid-1968 Bob Hite, lead singer for Canned Heat and champion of EGBS to the bookers at the Topanga Corral, introduced Skip and Al to John Hartmann and Skip Taylor, partners in Kaleidoscope, a fledgling management and representation agency that would be out of business in less than a year. In the meantime, they booked the band into larger, higher-paying one-night venues, like the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Anaheim Playhouse and some classier lounges in Las Vegas, and began to expose the band to producers, A&R men and record labels. But it was at the Whiskey A Go Go, on the Sunset Strip, that Mike Post, future TV theme-music giant (“Rockford Files,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Law and Order,” et al) found and, ultimately, produced them.
There was definitely public awareness of the band at the height of their activity. The Whiskey and Ash Grove dates drew capacity crowds and “for twenty minutes,” as Al said, they were considered the most popular underground band in L.A. Members of Buffalo Springfield, Pogo (later “Poco”), Canned Heat and the Byrds could be seen in audiences, and, perhaps, drew some spiritual if not musical sustenance from the band.
But, as with so many unseasoned bands, things began to fall apart between the time the album, “The Ballad of Evergreen Blueshoes,” was produced and its release. The post-recording doldrums had Skip hating the record production, producer and production company with good reason: all of them sucked. It was Al who’d found and put them in everybody’s faces, mainly because he believed in Mike Post, an ambitious if moderately gifted producer, who had just had a huge hit single, Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas.” That Post was also the producer of Sammy Davis, Jr., didn’t raise questions in Al’s mind says something about his inexperience. Skip never completely forgave Al for his aggessiveness, which he characterized as “Rossiprocity.”
For his part, Al came to despise the managers that followed the suddenly-defunct Kaleidoscope, Laurel Canyon Productions, which he blamed for the breakup of the band because they paid the members salaries in lieu of getting them gigs. Thus, Skip and Al honored their tacit 50-50 partnership agreement even as the band slid into oblivion, the album’s eventual distribution notwithstanding. !0,000 pressings were said to have been made, though’ this seems to be an educated guess rather than an accountancy fact.
As for the rest of the band, Wisconsin farmer/organist Kenny Kleist, construction-worker/guitarist Lanny Mathijssen and Kid Chet McCracken (ten years younger than the next oldest band member, Al) they thought they’d died and gone to heaven. They were in a real-deal hippy band making music (when they were actually making music) in L.A., were on a double-jacketed album cover emblazoned with a four-color photo of them cavorting nude in the Hollywood Hills (the first such album-cover artwork in the Industry), were being paid by their “Canyon” managers to not work, had bought a bunch of new furniture, had tried cocaine, had copies of their production contract with four pages missing right where it talked about reporting of proceeds, advances against royalties and gross (as opposed to net) accounting. Which they signed! It doesn’t get any better, and neither did Evergreen Blueshoes.
Riding the wave of the psychadelic movement taking the West Coast by storm in the late 1960s, Mother Tuckers Yellow Duck was originally a loose group of stage performers, where everyone had different characters on stage, and guitarist Bob O'Connor was the only actual musician, and was centred around Boston native Kathy Kay as Mother Tucker.
He left to join Medusa, but before long fellow bandmates bassist Charles Faulkner and drummer Hughie Lockhead left when Mother Tuckers vocalist John Patrick Caldwell (whose original role was the actual talking yellow duck) said he was looking to form an actual musical group. Along with guitarist Roger Law, they hooked up with promoter Cliff Moore and played the Vancouver area, making a couple of trips down the western seaboard to California.
They eventually caught the attention of executives at London Records, who rushed out their first single, "I" b/w "Funny Feeling." It did nothing on the charts in '68, but encouraged, the label issued a follow-up, "One Ring Jane" b/w "Kill The Pig" the following spring. When it also failed to make the top 40, the band decided to do things its own way, and formed Duck Records, with distribution through Capitol. They re-released their first two singles, and as they made their rounds around Vancouver, they became regulars at The Retinal Circus, and also made the area's high school dances part of their regular routine.
After adding Donnie McDougall on guitars and vocals, they entered the Vancouver Recording Company studios with producer Robin Spurgin, and released their debut album, HOMEGROWN STUFF in the fall of '69, which saw a re-recorded version of "One Ring Jane" get released again, with "Times Are Changing" as its b-side. It became their only US release. A second single, "Little Pony" made its way to the charts, but fell off just as quickly. Primarily written by Law, McDougall, and Caldwell, the music was influenced by everything from the San Fransisco peace movement and traditional country to distorted guitars and spoken word, and contained interesting vibes in songs like "Elevated Platform," the country-rocker "One Glass For Wine," "Intermission Poetry," and "Bye Dye."
They were originally supposed to appear on an album full of West Coast artists that was to benefit The Cool Aid House, a sanctuary opened in Vancouver for the homeless youth and hippies, but the band pulled out of the commitment at the last minute. They played the back-up role on JK. & Co's SUDDENLY ONE SUMMER album in '69, and they toured alongside the likes of Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, The Yardbirds, and opened the Pacific Colisseum with Cream. Law's departure paved the way for his younger brother Les to replace him.
Their sophomore album came in the summer of 1970 in the form of STARTING A NEW DAY. The title track b/w "No One In Particular" from the first album was the only single, which failed to resonate with radio stations or the buying public. More in the same experimental vein as its predecessor, other noteable cuts included "True Blue," "Middlefield County," and "Nightfowl."
But unable to catch a big break, the band split up by early 1971. McDougall gained the most notoriety of any of the members, eventually joining The Guess Who for the first time, and would also end up in several other versions of the band's many lineups over the years. Roger Law died in the mid '90s in a car collision. Faulkner joined the Wild Root Orchestra for their lone album in 1981, then got out of the business all together after a couple of other ill-fated groups.
by John Bower, Doug Larson, Tressa Novicelle, Mike Panontin
Tracks
1. Starting A New Day (Donald McDougall, Patrick Caldwell, Rodger Law) - 2:40
2. Love's Been A Long Time Coming - 3:37
3. Middlefield County (Donald McDougall, Leslie Law, Patrick Caldwell) - 4:48
4. True Blue (Donald McDougall) - 3:15
5. Natchez Theme (For Natchez) - 1:50
6. Wood U Call It - 4:40
7. Nightfowl - 2:30
8. Did You Ever (Leslie Law, Patrick Caldwell) - 2:37
9. Collin's Breakdown (Donald McDougall) - 1:01
10.A Play On Children (Donald McDougall, Patrick Caldwell, Rodger Law) - 5:15
All compositions by Donald McDougall, Patrick Caldwell except where noted
Danish band, originally from Jutland, formed in 1968, as a cover band, but soon the five musicians find their skills in original song writing and released their sole album in 1972. English lyrics in hard prog vein with full-bodied rock grafts that balance between vocals of the singer Ole Wedel, the powerful organ by Tommy Hansen,the sharp guitar by Benny Stanley, and the rhythm section punching above its weight.
"Jingoism", with the acid guitar solo, "Princess" with the melodic piano. "The Monk Song"pt 1, a very tight rock that melts the vocals with the organ, before the slight final flute crescento in a vaguely jazzy key. Pt 2 recalls the English dark prog (Atomic Rooster ), with the guitar taking over before Hansen's organ flood the space. The collaboration between the five musicians is remarkable.
"Going Blind", bears the signature of the bassist, gives a warm rock-blues rich in nuances and the usual vocal harmonies, before giving way to Stanley's incisive lead guitar, with flute, piano and organ playing crowns the evolution of the long guitar theme. The record, still very enjoyable, remains a gem of the brilliant Danish prog scene of the time. They disbanded in 1975.
Tracks
1. Living Dead (Benny Stanley, John Lundvig, Ole Wedel, Tommy Hansen) - 7:48
2. Princess (Knud Lindhard) - 6:02
3. Jingoism (Knud Lindhard) - 6:56
4. Prelude (Tommy Hansen) - 1:11
5. Monksong, Pt. 1 (Tommy Hansen) - 5:51
6. Monksong, Pt. 2 (Tommy Hansen) - 3:36
7. Going Blind (Knud Lindhard) - 10:31
8. Circulation (Benny Stanley, Knud Lindhard, Ole Wedel, Tommy Hansen) - 5:58
9. Lady Nasty (Tommy Hansen) - 7:49
10.Nasty Backbone (Ole Wedel) - 4:23
11.Roll The Dice (Knud Lindhard, Tommy Hansen) - 3:17
12.The Jam (John Lundvig, Knud Lindhard, Roar Eskesen, Tommy Hansen) - 7:20
Among so many other great landmarks in the history of rock & roll, the late ‘60s witnessed numerous technological advances when it came to recording and performing equipment, and, thanks in no small part to the emergence of Marshall amplifiers, the decade also gave rise to the era of hard rock and heavy metal. Power trios such as Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the deafening Blue Cheer provided the initial thrust, but once the subsequent holy trinity of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath burst onto the scene, the hard rock virus really spread like a plague across the globe -- even into distant, chilly, staid Norway, from whence came the aptly named Titanic.
Founded in Oslo in 1969, Titanic was initially comprised of guitarist Janne Løseth, organist and bassist Kenny Aas, drummer John Lorck, and percussionist Kjell Asperud. But then, in a trend soon to be followed by a number of German heavy rock combos such as Lucifer's Friend, Blackwater Park, and Epitaph, Titanic hired a British-born singer and lyricist -- one Roy Robinson -- in an effort to raise their international prospects.
The ploy worked well enough for Titanic to be offered a deal by the French office of Columbia Records, which duly released the band's eponymous debut later that same year, and later booked them to perform at the Cannes Film Festival's gala screening of the Woodstock motion picture. The members of Titanic then decided to switch their base of operations to the south of France, and perhaps it was the change of environment that helped broaden the band's musical horizons, leading to the incremental classical, jazz, and Latin music influences.
by Eduardo Rivadavia
Tracks
1. Searchin' (Janny Loseth, John Lorck, Kenny Aas) - 6:59
2. Love Is Love (Kenny Aas, Kjell Asperud) - 4:15
3. Mary Jane (Kenny Aas) - 4:31
4. Cry For A Beatle (Kenny Aas, Roy Robinson) - 2:08
5. Something On My Mind (Janny Loseth, Kjell Asperud, Roy Robinson) - 5:46
6. Firewater (John Lorck, Kenny Aas, Roy Robinson) - 2:38
7. Schizmatic Mind (Janny Loseth, John Lorck, Kenny Aas, Kjell Asperud) - 2:51
8. I See No Reason (Kenny Aas, Roy Robinson) - 8:15
9. Half Breed (Kenny Aas, Roy Robinson) - 4:16
10.Santa Fe (Janny Loseth, John Lorck, Kenny Aas, Kjell Asperud, Roy Robinson) - 2:56
1973's "Eagle Rock" was critically acclaimed and once again quite eclectic, (featuring new keyboardist Helge Groslie and bassist Arica Siggs). There's a slight African tribal percussion theme running through the album, reminding me of, er, Uriah Heep on Look at Yourself. It does have a couple of highlights, though, in the epic One Night In Eagle Rock and the excellent Dying Sun, where the band stumble across a great rif. "Eagle Rock" is one for aficionados of the era.
Tracks
1. One Night In Eagle Rock (Arica Siggs, Janne Loseth, Roy Robinson) - 7:46
2. All Around You - 3:56
3. One Of Your Kind - 5:28
4. Heia Valenga (Arica Siggs, Helge Groslie, Janne Loseth, John Lorck, Kjell Asperud, Roy Robinson) - 1:37
5. Dying Sun - 6:17
6. And It's Music - 3:16
7. Richmond Express (Janne Loseth, Roy Robinson) - 3:36
8. Maureen - 6:12
9. The Skeleton (Arica Siggs, Helge Groslie, Janne Loseth, John Lorck, Kjell Asperud, Roy Robinson) - 2:31
10.Rain 2000 (Kenny Aas, Roy Robinson) - 3:47
11.Blond (Kenny Aas, Roy Robinson) - 5:36
12.Macumba (John Williamson, Roy Robinson) - 3:52
13.Midinght Sadness (Janne Loseth, Roy Robinson) - 3:44
All compositions by Arica Siggs except where stated
1973’s #10, is most famous for not being the bands tenth album. In fact, it was the 12th studio album. However, it was the tenth with vocalist Burton Cummings.
The album is more than decent and starts out with a good song in “Take It Off My Shoulders.” “Cardboard Empire” and “Glamour Boy” are also fine tunes that see Cummings reaching outside of his comfort zone and showing new sides to his musical vocabulary.
Missing from the album are any real hits. Because this album did not have any classic Guess Who moments some fans think it was a flop, however, when given a second listen, the album contains some good music, it is just not what fans of the band were used to hearing, and it's worth for checking it out.
by Jeb Wright
Road Food is filled with leader/singer Burton Cummings's intriguing variety of musical styles and bizarre lyrics. It is also thankfully free of filler. The music ranges from the blithe pop sound of the title track and "Star Baby" to the light jazz feel of "Straighten Out." Many songs evoke the pop/R&B styles of the Fifties and early Sixties, notably "Don't You Want Me" (with its Shirley & Lee piano), "Pleasin' For Reason," and the amusing "Clap for the Wolfman," a potential single with cameo interjections from the legend himself. The antique flavorings are subtle: The ambience is contemporary, with skillfull playing, smooth harmonies and Cummings' nonpareil vocals.
Lyrically Cummings mixes distorted snatches of classic rock & roll songs, sardonic commentary on the travails of touring, and tantalizing, if meaningless, images. "Hurricane wonder boy scratchin' for the scrunge now" or "Well, have you ever seen a Madras monkey/ Have you ever seen an Orlon eel?" reach the heights of whimisical absurdity, but "Don't You Want Me?" (redone from a previous LP) is a ridiculously exaggerated and bloodthirsty jealousy number.
The murky images come together in "Ballad of the Last Five Years," a moody, melodic blues higly reminiscent of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks monoliths: It's a haunting climax for a first-class album from one of rock's most consistently fascinating maverick bands.
by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 6-20-74
Tracks
1. Star Baby (Burton Cummings) - 2:40
2. Attila's Blues (Bill Wallace, Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson, Kurt Winter) - 4:54
3. Straighten Out (Bill Wallace, Burton Cummings) - 2:27
4. Don't You Want Me (Burton Cummings) - 2:21
5. One Way Road To Hell (Bill Wallace, Burton Cummings) - 5:29
6. Clap For The Wolfman (Bill Wallace, Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter) - 4:16
7. Pleasin' For Reason (Burton Cummings, Don McDougall) - 3:21
Despite their musical excellence, Sydney band Galadriel never achieved any commercial success during their short career, and they were forgotten for many years. Ironically, their eclectic and ultra-rare 1971 LP has now became one of the most collectible artefacts of Australian '70s progressive rock and they are now internationally known, thanks the burgeoning worldwide interest in Australian music of the 60s and 70s, and especially due to the efforts of rock historian Ian McFarlane, who championed them in his Freedom Train fanzine and included this long-overlooked group in his Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop.
Galadriel is one of a group of Sydney bands whose histories are connected with the formation of Sherbet -- guitarist/songwriter Garry Adams and drummer Doug Bligh had come from Sydney band House of Bricks, whose other members were singer Daryl Braithwaite and bassist Bruce Worrall, who both moved on to Sherbet during 1969. Taking their name from the Elven queen of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Galadriel was formed in 1969 by guitarist and songwriter Garry Adams (ex House of Bricks) and drummer Doug Bligh. In the late 1960s, the repertoire of working bands like House of Bricks usually consisted of covers of local and overseas hits, but Galadriel's members wanted to write and perform their own original material.
Recruiting hotshot lead guitarist Gary Lothian from the highly regarded Sydney band Elliot Gordon Union, singer John "Spider" Sholtens and flautist Mick Parker from fellow Sydney dance band Samael Lilith, Galadriel soon made a name for themselves on the thriving Sydney dance/discotheque circuit. They often played at Sydney's "Joseph's Coat" disco -- and they shared gigs with many of the top progressive groups of the day including , Kahvas Jute, Blackfeather and Spectrum.
The band signed with Gus McNeil's Cellar Music, which was also the publishing company for Spectrum's Mike Rudd and Coutnry Radio's Greg Quill. Around October 1970 Galadriel recorded ten original songs at Sydney's United Sound Studios with American engineer-producer Tom Lubin. Their debut single "Lady Was A Thief" / "Girl of Seventeen" (February 1971) was picked up for release by Martin Erdman's independent label Du Monde, which played such an important part in the Sydney music scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Galadriel shopped the recordings around for several more months without success, but eventually they were signed by the Polydor label (part of the German-based Polygram corporation) , who released the LP and their second single "Standing In The Rain" / "Working", in May 1971. These were Polydor's first local rock releases in Australia and although the recordings were remarkably good, Polydor evidently lacked the experience and clout to get it noticed and regrettably both album and single sank without trace.
Following the single's release, Mick Parker left the band and was replaced by two new members, Bruce Belbin (ex Gutbucket) and flautist Dave Allen. Late in 1971 Galadriel prepared to record their second album. Tracks slated for new LP included the epic live highlight "Song For Your Reason", "In The Night" and "Poor Boy", one of their most commercial numbers, which was earmarked as a probable single. Unfortunately, the second Galadriel LP was never recorded and it's been claimed that it was recorded but then erased.
Dave Allen wrote:
"My memory is this. The second album was to be recorded with Festival. Contracts were drawn up, the band was rehearsing, but there was some dispute between Gary Adams and Spider Sholten, the songwriters of the group, and the whole thing was broken up. The second album never existed."
Adams and Bligh joined Mario Millo's band The Clik, and Bligh later played on Sebastian Hardie's acclaimed Symphinity LP. Gary Lothian played for over a decade with popular Sydney R&B outfit The Cyril B. Bunter Band (1973-1985) and these days he is part of the roots/boogie duo Swamphouse.
Mick Parker joined Jell Ellif for a few months after leaving Galadriel and finished up flute studies at the Sydney Conservatorium when his flute teacher Peter Richardson died. He then moved to Coffs Harbour where he formed small acoustic based bands which included Andrew Gray and former 2SM DJ John Carroll. He also toured regional NSW on a bus (equipped with wood stove and chimney) with a busking trio. In 1976 he moved to Adelaide and was partly responsible for the rise in busking and the headline-making confrontation with Adelaide Council over busking. He also recorded with No Thongs, an original rock band, and Neil Dreamer & The Nightmares, a busking band.
Mick returned to the Coffs Harbour-Bellingen area and joined The Tallowood Bush Band in 1980, which is still going. Tallowood has backed Rolf Harris, Ted Bullpit and Wendy Harmer. Tallowood have four CDs, the most recent of which features Russell Crowe on the backing vocals. Mick comments:
"Tallowood are trying to survive to their 30th annivesary at least. This is not easy as two of their fiddle players (inlcuding Ray Shleifel who played with Pixie Jenkins on the fiddler albums) and a piano player have passed away."
Mick is also an animator and DVD producer and has animated ads and Medieval DVD's circulating locally and overseas.
Top quality Danish psych prog from 1971 with English vocals. Ranges from powerful guitar driven tracks through to Sitar drenched chill out's. Of it's type, one of the best Scandinavian albums of the '70s and originally on a major label!.
Hurdy Gurdy emerged from the Danish group Peter Belli and the Boom Boom Brothers (aka The B.B. Brothers) in June 1967, when three members of the B.B. Brothers, guitarist Claus Bøhling, drummer Jens Otzen and British vocalist and bassist Mac MacLeod formed the power trio HUrdy Gurdy. Inspired by Cream but with more psychedelic leanings, they split from Peter Belli and MacLeod named the band ‘Hurdy Gurdy’.
Otzen and Bøhling had to return to Denmark shortly after those recordings, as they were unable to secure work permits from the Musician's Union. A new bassist (Torben Forne) was recruited to replace MacLeod, and in the early 1971 they released a self-titled album for CBS. MacLeod briefly joined the post Zombies group Argent.
Claus also designed all the artwork for the single cover and rare poster, plus many unseen paintings on the printed inner sleeve and insert of this reissue. The single itself on famous Spectator Records is harder to get than the CBS album. What the band “Charlies” was for Finland, “Hurdy Gurdy” was for Denmark. Extra heavy guitar psychedelic with great drums and bass and extra cool vocals, on the same musical level as British Cream, sometimes even better! We love this album – solid underground all the way!
Tracks
1. Ride On (Claus Bøhling, Torben Forne) - 5:09
2. The Giant (Claus Bøhling) - 4:37
3. Tell Me Your Name (Claus Bøhling, Jens Marqvard Otzen, Torben Forne) - 4:28
