Heavyfeather – Soft Hard And Heavy (1972)
Artist: Heavyfeather
Title: Soft Hard And Heavy
Year: 1972
Format: LP
Label: Ace Of Hearts
Heavyfeather, possibly from Pennsylvania, consisted of Tom Casey (bass-guitar-percussion-four speed), Dave Shader (vibes-guitar-percussion-fishing pole), Ronnie Volk (keyboard-guitar-t.v. knobs) and John Wilson (drums-guitar-cue stick).
Though pretty obscure, this rare album does hold some renown among collectors. I was relatively disappointed on first listen. Though recorded in ’72, it sounds significantly older, circa late ’60′s. I was pretty much hearing fairly light vocal pop, though with good period flavor, but not much else. There are a few heavier tracks, but they didn’t jump out at me on the first go ’round. But re-listening after all these years, and I have come to realize what I was missing.
Yeah, the lighter vocal pop cuts aren’t particularly compelling, but they’re not as weak as I remembered. The harder tracks are worthy of note, and feature some limited use of fuzz guitar. There is a fairly even split between the light and heavy material, so which ever your leanings, there should be something of interest. The tiny label (Ace Of Hearts) is from Nashville, TN. which has led many to believe they were from the area.
But there is a tiny p. s. in the fine print on the back cover thanking someone for practice sessions, followed by a Camp Hill, PA. address. We need RDTEN1 (Bad Cat) to do another “in depth” search on this one. (tymeshifter RYM)
Track Listing
- So Long, Farewell, Goodbye
- Let There Be A Change
- The Way I Do
- So Glad It’s Over
- Can You Help?
- Rock And Roll Man
- Brand New Day
- Magic Days
- Belongs To Me
- Happiness Runs In Circles
Leonard,
This sounds so good.How do you find these Lp’s.
I picked up a copy of this a few years back. The sleeve is in pretty nice shape but unfortunately the record has some marks. Plays well but it would have been a really good find had the record been as nice as the sleeve.
I posted about this on AudioKarma and of course I got a silly response (Why do people bother with that over run site of mostly nit wits?)
I feel the way the blogger does. Not great, but good. I doubt I would be putting the money down I see people paying for this but I would never pay what people for collectible vinyl anyway.
Anyway fairly cool record. Definetely a good buy if it can be had for $15 or less.in nice shape.
As i posted earlier , where does leonard fid them..This is something that i like to hear the most.Yes all the big name stuff from this time period is great,but these are the real jem’s of the time period..Hope we can hear this.