Pure Love & Pleasure – A Record Of Pure Love & Pleasure (1970)
Artist: Pure Love & Pleasure
Title: A Record Of Pure Love & Pleasure
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Dunhill
Pure Love & Pleasure were a San Fransisco, CA band consisting of Pegge Ann May (lead vocals), David McAnally (lead vocals), John Allair (vocals-organ-piano), Dick Rogers (vocals-drums-percussion) and Bob Bohanna (vocals-guitar-bass).
Guitarist/Bassist Bob Bohanna had previously been a member of Morning Glory, whose “Two Suns Worth” album was released by Fontana Records in 1967. “A Record Of Pure Love & Pleasure” was produced by the trio of Steve Barri, Harvey Bruce and Joel Sill and features a mix that ranged from hippie rock to more lightweight flower power. A sort of mixture of Cold Blood and The Mamas and Papas.
Pure Love & Pleasure continued gigging into 1971 with Jacques Furman replacing Rogers on drums and adding Rod Moitoza as full-time bassist and were ready to return to the studio to record their follow-up album when Dunhill terminated their contract for unkown reasons. (Howard Hales Broom)
Track Listing
- Too Scared To Go
- All In My Mind
- What’cha Gonna Do
- My Lies
- Hard Times
- Mama Said
- Joyce
- Relax
- Love, Love, Love You
- The Lord’s Prayer
James Late – Fulton Fish Market (1970)
Artist: James Late
Title: Fulton Fish Market
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Metromedia
The Fulton Fish Market is a fish market in The Bronx, New York, United States. It was originally a wing of the Fulton Market, established in 1822 to sell a variety of foodstuffs and produce. In November 2005, the Fish Market relocated to a new facility in Hunts Point in the Bronx, from its historic location near the Brooklyn Bridge along the East River waterfront at and above Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
During much of its 183-year tenure at the original site, the Fulton Fish Market was the most important wholesale East Coast fish market in the United States of America. Opening in 1822, it was the destination of fishing boats from across the Atlantic Ocean. By the 1950s, most of the Market’s fish were trucked in rather than offloaded from the docks.
The wholesalers at the Market then sold it to restaurateurs and retailers who purchased fresh fish of every imaginable variety.It was possible for fish to be rushed from fishing ports in New England to wholesale buyers at the Fulton Fish Market, who might then resell it to retail markets and restaurants in the very same towns where the catch originated. (Wikipedia Excerpt)
Folk artist James Late was discovered by Metromedia executives while performing his songs in Central Park. Late also had another source of employment, “moonlighting” at the historic Fulton Fish Market in New York City, which provided an unusual artistic concept for this album, which features Late talking intros of his experiences and observations working at the fish market followed by his original compositions dealing with the trials and tribulations of everyday life there.
The songs are direct observations, a sort of musical diary, dealing with various themes in the work place and they hold up very well on their own. The listener might get the impression that these songs could have been in Late’s head while he was working those long nights on such songs as the title track, “Fulton Fish Market“, “Very Good Man“, “We Work Together“, “Make It On My Name“, “Five More Miles” and “My Mind Has Got To Keep Rolling Along“. “Dust” contains an actual “live” track recorded at Fulton Fish Market. (Jack Dominilla)
Track Listing
- Fulton Fish Market
- Very Good Man
- Man On The Corner
- Hard Hard Life
- Baby Please Come Home
- We Work Togethe
- Lazy River
- Make It On My Name
- Dust (Instrumental)
- Five More Miles
- Dock Of Beekman Street
- My Mind Has Got To Keep Rolling Along
Great Jones – All Bowed Down! (1970)
Artist: Great Jones
Title: All Bowed Down!
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Tonsil
Great Jones is an odd combination: a jazz loving guitarist, a blues-freaking drummer, and an ex-folk- singing bassist. A mixture of diverse musical stylesfor sure. Though this could easily be a hinderance to a group in eastablishing itself a smooth textured, unified sound,it is just the opposite in this case.
Billy Cadieux, Gary Kollarus, and David Tolmie have been able to mold their different musical preferences into a common denominator of natural blues and funk, and have created a fantastically novel and racy sound.
In about any song on this album, one can hear Great Jones alternating blues and funk, funk and blues, or a fusing of the two to make an unusually new entity. The group offers an overabundance of originality and a constant variety for one to select a favorite musical mood.
For instance, in “I Ain’t Got Long”, the group’s own composition, one can hear Billy Cadieux emoting some of the most delicate sounding blues guitar yet rendered. It’s soft and tender, yet cringing with the most emotional tension.
Interweaving with Billy’s guitar are David Tolmie’s commanding and directive bass notes which enhance the blues effect; Tolmie’s raspy and gutsy vocals; and gary Kollarus’ all-engulfing drumming, which sets the perfect mood for the blues tune.
Yet the group can alter it’s identity drastically, and, listening to “Cripple Creek”, one can hear how they obiously change the atmosphere to a funky dimension. Bouncy bass notesd and sharply accenuated drum beats create a giggling sensation.
The acoustic guitar adds to the euphoria as Cadieux plays a catchy riff which permeates the memory and repeats itself over and over again. ”Cripple Creek” becomes a request for all to rejoice and it lightens the load of the heavy blues doldrums.
There’s a plentiful supply of good material to be peceived and grasped in this album. There’s been a lot of planning, a lot of learning, a lot of experimenting for Great Jones, the outcome being a lot of finesse and good technique. Great Jones is an odd combination-and it’s great that they are. (Allan Richards)
Track Listing
- Cripple Creek
- Finding My Way
- United State Of Mind
- You Don’t Know Nothin’ About Love
- All Bowed Down
- Idaho Potatoes
- Leaving Trunk
- I Ain’t Got Lon
- Leaving California
Spirit In Flesh – II (1979)
Artist: Spirit In Flesh
Title: II
Year: 1979
Format: LP
Label: Private Pressing
Here’s the second recording by the Massachusetts communal band Spirit In Flesh released as a Private Pressing at the end of the seventies. On this album the group progressed into a matured Country Rock outfit, which is a bit of a departure from the more rock oriented sounding debut of eight years earlier.
Among the album’s twelve tracks are three remakes from the that first LP, “Fine Line“, The Jack Baker Song and “Flesh & Gut” here titled “Flesh & Guts” and has been transformed into a beautiful Country/Gospel track which closes the album. For more info, see the first album’s post of June 18, 2010. (Max Collodie)
Spirit in Flesh…1971…took some finding on the phone….having been first posted in one of its earliest incarnations on June 16, 2009….ahhhh…now where is that old red phone logo…..
In my search for SIFlesh, I got sidetracked by giving Spirits And Worms another spin…now there’s a record…goat on the grave and all…and before realising that S&Worms ain’t SIFlesh….Worms took me back into an olive grove on the island of Crete listening to Grace Slick type licks…hmmm finding the correct wave-length….a play of SIFlesh, 1971 will take you into the heart of “communal hippie psych” being played at blistering pace and full of power riffs, and well worth seeking out……a mammoth album from that pivotal year. The album never gives up, never runs out of steam and there ain’t a ballad to be had. A good place is to compare the two S’sIFlesh are the three tracks that double up from 71-79.
1971’s ……“Fine Line” is rocking C/W with blasting electric guitars and head-shaking organ work……“Jack Baker Song” is full of punching power, searing guitar with heavenly girlie chorus and our gruff singer veering from macho-posing into falsetto…. “Flesh and Gut”….is pyche n psuch in spades of swirling singers and stone swamp rock all a bit like having Meatloaf round for afternoon worship…..wow….how any of these guys and guys got through 71-79…oh of course they were part of a “Hippy Commune”….thank God for tomatoes and butter-nut squash….and crystal clear water from a mountain stream….
1979’s……. “Fine Line” is in another place….our noble singer is upfront and accompanied by banjo, a strolling bass and neat stick work by the drummer….oh yes the girls are still with us and their heavenliness is wholesome…..we get a “ye hah” and our banjo gives us a Hobart Smith workout……I may say that the lyric here is in your face not a bit like the rock n roll from 71 blasters…… “Jack Baker Song”….aha…this too is all about the singing….the band are in fine form….but they are more Xian C/W than psyche n psuch….
I missed the Bible quotes first time around….now they are upfront and that is not a bad place for them to be…… “God in me, God in you”…… “Flesh & Guts”…completes the trio of cross-over tracks…..confirming the transformation from rock group, into two ton solid country rockers…..and brings home the spirituality of the band….they may have veered towards the Xian side of the road….but enter with no fear, this band are not on a recruitment drive rather they have had to go Private Pressing to enable others to hear of their joyful existence, down on the farm, and “Flesh and Guts” clocks in at 5.17, double the time spent on the 1971 rockers……
Spirit In Flesh II contains songs of testimony…..they may be finger pointing, but firmly at the band pointing at themselves, thereby somehow, making them Universal. Spirit in Flesh, clothing all on show, in strikingly good Country Rock comes over not just as Gospel/Xian…rather the band truly live up to their name…..Spirit in Flesh. The songs are not about personal salvation, they are about placing a focus on Our time ‘here and now’…rather than the ‘Hereafter’….
The two openers “Greater Than Man”, “I Have Walked”, are straight in your face Country rock with the guitars and pedal steel to the fore….. “Cold Winds” is a song Johnny Cash should have recorded?“Riverside Song”….dwells on ‘animism’, certainly not Xian…… “Bury My Body” does veer off into the ‘hereafter’ and the more cynical may find this a giggle….be assured these boys mean business, and Marty Robbins or Hank Snow could have had a real good go at this….. “Heaven Don’t Allow”….continues the theme of spend your time here wisely….be wholesome as you rock and roll and stay away from the cess-pit…..again many may find the theme/songs simply a gas….however, it takes one to know one…
So if you prefer the blasting 1971 Spirit in Flesh ‘power-house’ then stick with it…however, if you want to see what clean living does to your ability to communicate straight to the heart (as against the head-banging or foot-stomping) then grab yourself a sack and head off to Spirit and Flesh’s farm someway downs the road….. “Yellow Wings”…..is a gentle acoustic folk rock ballad….and we are on Steve Cash Land’s front porch with just the empty sky and far away mountains within reach….gorgeous…..and it all swirls up into the lands beyond flight….
“One Little Thought”…is a gentle strolling ballad delivered in world-weary tones…this is the most finger-pointer on show…… “Reason for Living” finds the boys picking up their electric guitars again but this is simply to add bounce and tone to the message…..
What you have is what you find and I recommend this to all those who have grown tired of ‘downer-folk’ like Dave Bixby etal…..this will get you up dancing to a whole new outlook? (REVIEWED BY AYE-AFLOAT)
Track Listing
- Greater Than Man
- I Have Walked
- Cold Winds
- Fine Line
- Riverside Song
- Bury My Body
- Heaven Don’t Allow
- Yellow Wings
- One Little Thought
- Reason For Living
- Jack Baker Song
- Flesh & Guts
The Hindu Kush Mountain Boys Plus One – The Hindu Kush Mountain Boys Plus One (1979)
Artist: The Hindu Kush Mountain Boys Plus One
Title: The Hindu Kush Mountain Boys Plus One
Year: 1979
Format: LP
Label: Cliff Hanger
The Hindu Kush Mountain Boys Plus One were a spiritual bluegrass group consisting of Larry Siegel (vocals-guitar-mandolin), Jim Queen (vocals-violin-fiddle), Rich Miller (vocals-guitar-piano) and Rhonda Mattern (vocals-banjo).
The album is always described by record dealers as psych, but it is standard bluegrass with philosophical spiritual lyrics based in Eckankar, the religion of Light and Sound. Its teachings emphasize the value of personal experiences as the most natural way back to God.
According to the album’s liner notes, the LP “contains some of the liveliest, happiest music this side of Tibet” adding… “This group managed to kick up a new breed of spiritual music that doesn’t belong to the world of time-weary tradition and religious ritual. Instead, their songs have grown out of a joyous realization that death is a myth, and that during this lifetime each person can consciously experience worlds which lie beyond the range of the physical senses. ”
Larry Siegel has performed for over thirty years on guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, harmonica and as a singer/composer/producer. He has been a featured instrumentalist with Dolly Parton, Lester Lanin, and others. His national television appearances include Rosie O’Donnell and Breakfast Time with Tom Bergeron.
Jim Queen had a 30-year career in the U. S. Air Force Band, the first 20 of which were spent in its Strolling Strings. In 1993, he founded Silver Wings, the U. S. Air Force’s country band. Since retiring from the band in 2004, he has freelanced extensively as a violinist/fiddler/guitarist/banjoist, and recently completed a run in the Ford Theater’s production of Shenandoah.
Rich Miller has performed around the world, playing bass, guitar, piano, and saxophone, and has been a featured performer with Jack Jones, nationally acclaimed guitarist Al Bruno, and others. He is best known for his clear, deep voice that brings out the full harmony that the Hindu Kush Mountain Boys Plus One use so well.
Rhonda Mattern Stapleton, a former editor of Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine, is the “One” female in the group. Her songs on the joys and struggles of spiritual awakening have won numerous awards in national songwriting competitions, including the prestigious Billboard song contest.
The group recently reunited and are currently in the studio recording a new collection of songs that are due for release this year. For more info please check the Cliff Hanger Records website at http://mca3.com/ls/index.cgi (Howard Hales Broom)
Track Listing
- HU MAHANTA
- Give The Master The Nod
- If You Wanna Be Happy
- The Eye
- Little Willie Gee
- Ain’t It Amazing?
- The Sound Of The ECK
- Is It True, Necessary, Kind?
- Peddar Zaskq
- Life Is Only A Dream
The Serpent Power – Ouroboros (1969)
Artist: The Serpent Power
Title: Ouroboros
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Locust
1969: After Serpent Power, our first LP for Vanguard (please see July 1, 2010 post), Benny Ellis (rhythm guitar) and David Stenson (bass) quit the band. They’d been with The Grass Roots and did the Vanguard recording session as a favor to mutual friend Chris Brooks. Clark Coolidge and I were the sole survivors since Tina, the lead singer, quit after hearing the first album and then performing at The Fillmore.
We had a contract for a second album and had a year to put together a new band and get our shit together. Working out of a cave-like basement in a big office building in San Francisco with mounds of dirt in various uneven slopes and ridges, Clark and I began auditioning musicians for the new band. Mostly we spent hours improvising.
We hired Bob Cuff, rhythm guitarist, who was a member of The Mystery Trend, one of the first art school art bands in San Francisco, and Jim Moscoso, bass. Jim was the younger brother of our friend Victor Moscoso, an artist and one of the vanguard poster & underground comic artists of the 60s.
We also re-enlisted banjoist J.P. Pickens to join in whenever he had the time. (J.P. and I had been experimenting at the Coffee Gallery of our version of free folk-music, sometimes joined on acoustic guitar by Jim Gurley (who became lead guitar for Big Brother.)
This newly formed group was invited by John Rockwell (now a New York Times cultural critic) to perform on his weekly show on KPFA-FM in Berkeley. Cuff, Coolidge, Moscoso, Meltzer and Pickens walked into KPFA and were greeted by Daniel Moore (visionary poet, leader of The Floating Lotus Opera Company, and now Sufi teacher and storyteller in the East coast.)
He introduced us to his friend Christian who had an alto saxophone which he was in the first stages of learning how to play. They wanted to sit in. Daniel was/is one of the greatest intuitive musicians I’ve run into.
He brought his shenei (Chinese oboe) and a bunch of bells and conch shells into the studio. It was all decidedly spontaneous and in the moment since none of us had really played together. (Daniel and Christian were to become regular members of the band when we worked weekend gigs in North Beach clubs; Pickens would sit in whenever he could, developing new sounds from his amplified banjo.)
This hunk of that first confrontation is one of two reel-to-reel tapes recorded at KPFA that night. I gave the other half to Jim Moscoso & suspect it’s lost in Borgesville. David Meltzer, Oakland, CA Autumn, 2006
Track Listing
- This Side
- The Other Side
Barbara Barrow & Mike Smith – Mickey And Babs Get Hot (1974)
Artist: Barbara Barrow & Mike Smith
Title: Mickey And Babs Get Hot
Year: 1974
Format: LP
Label: Bell
“…After high school, Mike Smith’s family moved to Florida. Two years later, he started college and his interest in folk music blossomed. He cites The Kingston Trio and Harry Belafonte as his earliest folk influences. He spent three years of the 1960s working at a Miami venue called The Flick, playing six nights a week.
He was in a Peter, Paul and Mary-style trio for a couple of years which included his wife Barbara Barrow. They expanded into a rock band called Juarez and recorded one album for Decca before disbanding (see January 12, 2010 post for more info)Smith and his wife then played as an acoustic duo for most of the early 70s.” (Wikipedia Excerpt)
The great thing about the redtelephone is how memories of sounds from it can linger on and on and on, long after being heard…..Juarez….was one great posting and can Mickey and Babs “Get Hot” top it?….Juarez was packed with so many multi-spangled soundscapes and finishing as it does with the epic St-Mary’s Railroad…
Oh and those short “The Little Kids”….and “Kyrie”…..and Juarez boasted such a stellar cast of players….Juarez came over like some lost OST….boy….that would have been one great movie: so a good place for the casual listener to begin, is to compare the 1970 version of The Dutchman with the one on offer here…..
Juarez in kaleidoscope fashion lilts into “The Dutchman” with such a café society feel….and Barbara enters the fray coming in on in as an Abba soundalike…if that’s possible? The 1970 “The Dutchman” is a classic of sorts…with Mike’s whistling and evocative accordion playing which Garth Hudson would have been proud of, adding to the mix……yup….and the whole thing finishes off with military taps and Mike mouthing off some Dutch….
In contrast: the 1974 “The Dutchman” is given a breathy treatment….one in which Barbara shows she has lost none of her Agnetha touches….the ‘74 version is much starker…..Barbara being accompanied by some neat ivory tinkling by Mike? This Dutchmen is a real tear-jerker….world-weary even…..gone is the full band with sound effects approach to this sparer, stripped back skeleton….staring at a mirror Babs closes an empty diary…..Babs and Mickey sure have matured well.
Mickey and Babs Get Hot…kicks off with “Steal Away”, sounding like it was recorded inside a cardboard box….the elastic band guitar and off beat drumming is simply hypnotic….and Mickey yawls away tearing the heart of any mother crying for the return of her Prodigal Son……this theme is developed with “Mom and Dad”…and the fun hear is trying to work out who is singing which role….are Babs & Mickey our Prodigals or our parents….and “Just What Would Jesus Say”…..so has Juarez found religion?
Bang!! “Belmar” breaks the reverential mood as Mickey fairly tinkles in with some manic boogie-woogie on piano and we are up and off on a runaway wagon going downhill at 50mph, dodging trees – and then in comes some Bonzo’s soundadelics, whoah….we are treated to some serious 1920’s vaudeville toy-town band-yahoo!! Just who the heck was or is Belmar? Causing, “my bass pedals broke!!”….(come on ye Charlatans!)
“Honeydew” steers us out of the wreckage into the safe Mom’s Apple Pie hands of Babs as she slews us off into oft-kilter Bobby Gentry witchy territory and some fine pedal steel is on show – indeed “Honeydew” brings in a complete band feel to all that is on show…..
“Save My Child” finds Mike behind the bar-stool piano…this time milking us into a kirk-mission theme….and from out of the back room a heavenly chorus strikes up into a Mad River, ‘Paradise and Grill tune! Babs, here, emotes from a real deep dark place, accentuated by some noble organ and sympathetic playing……so Babs and Mike sure see a place for ‘spirituality’ in their musical palette….God and Jesus walks the plains searching for lost souls…..
Man’s Sins are further developed as a harp player rises from the wreckage of “Belmar” and chunters in with a Dylanesque theme…. “Osceola’s Last Words”….Babs walks towards us from the mist of the wilderness and introduces Osceola’s lyrics and hey the band picks up on the elegiac melody….superbly carried by native drum and Baptist organ…
Mickey adds his vocal and together in “Osceola’s Last Words” our minstrels strike up poignancy…..this is one regal affair….Seminole blood drips from America’s young flag…..here is a track that could grace and fit neatly onto Juarez?….a stand-out essential anthem! Who said that protest was dead? This music is an amalgam, garnered from a tune from across the seas, married to the ghostly music found in long-forgotten pow-wows!!
“Blazin Guns”…with the injuns out of the way…Babs and Mickey get their teeth into the gun and thunder of the Old West where white man faced white man and no one backed down…..in the background within the wailing dust cloud are faint traces of injun yo ha ha woah ha’s!!
“Blazin Guns” is a western mini-epic….our band cook up a little head of steam here – piano/organ/drum and a generous smattering of full-on electric geetar, and Mike at his warbling best! This nostalgic land of Desperados is the rich vein that The Eagles tapped into (sugarly)– but here the folk roots are prominent neatly hanging onto Hollywood’s coat-tails…..superb.
“The Ballad of Dan Moody” is squeezed in before Babs tour de force “The Dutchman”…the western theme continues but we are caught up in a less than satisfying chunky 1/2/3 feel – mercifully we are treated to the use of some mean fiddle playing and in this ballad our Mr and Mrs finally do get Hot as their harmonising rises well above expectations…..
“Mr Dutchman” closes things off majestically and so the sum of the parts on show here have been slung into a rag-bag and hung onto Bell’s corporate hook….but this album is one well worth exploring….and I for one will be more than happy to tune into this collection again as there is much joy and despair to be found within these grooves. Just where does the redtelephone find such treasures? (REVIEWED BY AYE AFLOAT)
Track Listing
- Steal Away
- Mom And Dad
- Belmar
- Honeydew
- Save My Children
- Osceola’s Last Words
- Blazing Guns
- The Ballad Of Dan Moody
- The Dutchman
William Saint James – A Song For Every Mood (1973)
Artist: William Saint James
Title: A Song For Every Mood
Year: 1973
Format: LP
Label: Dunhill
William Saint James were a Folk Rock trio consisting of Annie Willcocks (vocals), Bill Kirkland (vocals-twelve string acoustic guitar-piano) and Jim Wilson (vocals-six string acoustic guitar)
Also appearing on this album is Maury Muehleisen (lead acoustic guitar on “These Hands”), Eric Weissberg (lead acoustic guitar on “Lily” and mandolin on “Days Of The Gingham”)
Other musicians appearing throughout are Joe Macho (bass), Paul Rolnick (electric guitar), Terence Minogue (keyboards) Tommy West (keyboards), Arnie Lawrence (flute-saxophone) and Rick Marotta (percussion).
The album was produced by Terry Cashman and Tommy West with assistance from Terence Minogue with strings arranged and conducted by Pete Dino. (Note: Elder below compares this to Renaissance which is a good description, but it also reminds me of a long lost Curt Boettcher production.)
“A surprisingly upbeat record, given the period in which it was done, with elements that manage momentarily to evoke Renaissance in a folky mood. Cut seven years late stylistically, but still a sweet record.” (Bruce Elder)
Wow…. 1973…. we are in the wobbly times beyond the Golden Age 65-71….. do you recall coming home, in the mid 70’s with a pile of cut-outs…. you played each of them….. glad that you were hearing sounds ‘not found on the radio’….
But also feeling deflated that some of your ‘finds’ weren’t that good…. then you stuck something like ‘A Song For Every Mood’ and the world turned over, and you couldn’t wait for your next ‘trip’ down to the cut-out bin…….
Dunhill certainly knew how to record their artists well…. the production is superb…and the content ain’t too bad either. The album is jam-packed with juicy ‘folk-rock’ and all played with a certain energy which allows us to skip over some of the ‘po-faced’ stances to be found in ‘A Song For Every Mood’.
Highly recommended for those seeking a quick lift up out of the mire of the X-Factor world of music which so dominates 2011….. and that makes me think that 1973 wasn’t too bad back then compared to now?
A lovely record and one, at the very least, you will find a song or two to add to a compilation of soft sounds for gentle people. (REVIEWED BY AYE AFLOAT)
Track Listing
- These Hands
- Count On Me
- A Song For Every Mood
- Take Me Nearer To The Kingdom
- Saler’s Hands
- Lily
- Yellow Afternoon
- Here
- More Than My Life
- Days Of The Gingham
- We’ll Give It A Name
The Chimps – Monkey Business (1967)
Artist: The Chimps
Title: Monkey Business
Year: 1967
Format: LP
Label: Wyncote
Here’s the first album by the Chimps, “Monkey Business”. Rock exploitation at it’s best!!! (unfortunately this rip is at it’s worst, a lot of “snap, crackle, pop, but that’s not going to matter in this case) For more info see the posting of their second album “Monkeys A-Go-Go” on February 16, 2011.
There’s a scene in a short story by Ray Bradbury in which the hero of the story is playing 78’s using a hawthorn spike on a wind-up gramophone….(post-Atomic-Holocaust of course)…..and with the wind howling outside a rude shelter, our hero vividly recalls the loss of innocence beyond The Fall……oops…and in a poem (also by Bradbury)….
He locates a scrunched up piece of paper (written in his youth) and as a man in the autumn of life….he opens the paper and reads….. “I Remember You”…well listening to The Chimps is a bit like all of this and more.
If ever an exploito album could benefit from having the album cover erased…well Monkey Business is that album.
So sit back and imagine yourself loving the Monkeys (Mike, Peter, Mickey and Davie of course)….and going “yuck, who are these Monkeys (anon studio-musos of course) they’re crappy copy-cats” when this anon-exploito first hits your senses….whoa….wait a minit….something else is going on down here….
YUP….in comes the second side with all that wonderworld of snap crackle and phizz that only the redtelephone66 can capture (ie ‘real-sound’ for ‘real-people’)….and therein you’ll discover yourself swimming in an Ali-Babi cauldron of 60’s wipe-out sounds.
If at all possible….this second posting of exploito-Monkeys hits and replenishes places better than the Feb 16th posting……so Leonard thanks for making my day and reuniting me with two ancient memories of Ray Bradbury, courtesy of ‘Monkey Business’…..now just what was that flash I see on the Horizon? (REVIEWED BY AYE AFLOAT)
Track Listing
- I’m A Believer
- Last Train To Clarksville
- Sunday’s Kid
- Papa’s Blue Jeans
- Sally Sally
- Watch Out
- Sit Tight Girl
- Just A Little Too Early
- No Survivor
- I Realize
David Patton – David Patton (1971)
Artist: David Patton
Title: David Patton
Year: 1971
Format: LP
Label: Wooden Nickel
Contributed By Eliot W.
David Patton made two countrified albums for Chicago-based Wooden Nickel, the successor to Bill Traut’s Dunwich label of the 1966-67 era. Distributed by RCA, Wooden Nickel was owned by Traut and Jim Golden and Jerry Weintraub and it lasted from 1971 to 1977.
But for all intents and purposes, it stopped real operations when their star group, Styx, left for A&M in 1975. Patton’s first self-titled album was produced by James Lee Golden and had such players as Larry Carlton, Larry Brown, Tom Hensley, Bill Perry, and Buddy Emmons. (Eliot W.)
Listening to David Patton…. makes me hungry to hear Alex Harvey and his “Delta Dawn” from the same era…. oh what a rich vein David taps into…. that side-saddle position that took such singers out of the rhine-stone shine into a slightly risqué outlaw stance…. yet holding on, hanging on actually, to all the trappings that Nashville had to offer? (most clearly demonstrated by the likes of “I’d Rather Be At The Grand Old Opry”), a track that takes us out to Nam where our trooper is dodging bullets and raindrops yearning to back home in the home of ‘Country’……a great track.
For starters David has one fine set of singing chops…. and secondly he is ably backed throughout, by players who can really sweetly play over the tortured songs on offer here and the torture is fully placed where it belongs….. woman trouble presaged by the passage of Time. So piano, guitar, banjo, drumming first rate and a world-weary voice years removed from Jim Reeves, (though both celebrate the same lonliness) …. aha…. one way question the occasional use of saccharine strings…. obligatory of course…. just ask Jesse Winchester.
One of the niggles, which may be one of the albums strengths, is David has not found his own style…. veering as he does from Glen Campbell sound-alike to Doug Kershaw sound-alikes’ and all stopping off points in-between.
Many a fine singer has been swallowed by the Nashville machine…. was David Patton? ……. just not sure how Nashville, Wooden Nickel or Dunwich were….. but RCA as distributor….. hmmm…just what is David doing these days?
The album is a sweet mixture of rumpity bumpity shoogling slightly upbeat tunes and wandering, meandering melancholy ballads……listening to it makes me think of “Paint Your Wagon”…. now go light up your pipe to that one.
The album closes off with a couple of tunes that sum up this album: one a reflective pointer to a future, where our intrepid David will be a fit and able match for HER……and a yucka chucka boom beat rear-view glance to “That Girl”…aha…just about time for David to tightened his belt, button up his denim shirt and git on that horse and head off to anywhere else?
Recommended to lovers of soft country Americana with one hand firmly hanging onto Nashville? (REVIEWED BY AYE AFLOAT)
Track Listing
- You Are Gone
- The T. V.A.
- The Devil In Me
- Lincoln Freed Me Today
- I’d Rather Be At The Grand Ole Opry
- Bourgeoise Woman
- Winter’s Comin’ On
- Only Yesterday
- Back To Atlanta
- Sweet Little Baby I Care
- That Girl
