Meadow – The Friend Ship (1973)

Artist: Meadsow
Title: The Friend Ship
Year: 1973
Format: LP
Label: Paramount

Meadow were an early seventies folk-psych group remembered mostly for featuring future pop star vocalist Laura Branigan. The group also included Walker Daniels (acoustic guitar-vocals), Chris Van Cleave (vocals-acoustic guitar) and Bob Valdez (bass) backed by a large group of studio session musicians.

After recording their lone album “The Friend Ship“, the group broke up and Branigan would move on to various jobs, including a stint as one of Leonard Cohen’s backup singers for his European tour before signing with Atlantic Records in the late seventies.

The album was never re-released to capatilize on her solo career and Branigan for personal reasons, preferred not to discuss her involvement with Meadow publicly. (Tamara Bonfiglioli)

Track Listing

1. In The Beginning: When You Were Young
2. The Illusion: Vanity Fair
3. The Game: See How They Run
4. The Street: Lawless Lady
5. The Question: Completely
6. The Dream: Artist
7. The Road: Cane And Able
8. The Celebration: Sweet Life
9. In The End: Everything I’ve Known
10. The Word: There’s Only One Thing To Remember
11. In The Beginning: Home Free (The Friend Ship)

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

1. These Hands
2. Count On Me
3. A Song For Every Mood
4. Take Me Nearer To The Kingdom
5. Saler’s Hands
6. Lily
7. Yellow Afternoon
8. Here
9. More Than My Life
10. Days Of The Gingham
11. We’ll Give It A Name

Colours – Colours (1968)

Artist: Colours
Title: Colours
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Century

The second of three releases from the Lubbock Texas group which consisted of Susan Swenson, Jim Ratts, Jan Lammers and Gordon Parrish. Susan Swenson had replaced Molly Puckett who was vocalist on the first LP “Song Without End” another personnel change was Jim Ratts replacing Mike Merchant.

The album is beautiful folk psych dealing mainly with cover versions, including Bob Dylan’s “Wheel’s On Fire”, Eric Anderson’s “Violets Of Dawn” and of course, Donovan’s “Colours”.

Context….music has to be listened to within a “context”….

Ho, 1968 and 68 was one year in Century. one part of what pow-wow decade the Swinging 60s.. 68 a year of spit and riot and revolution, a year of feed-back guitars and three years beyond backwards sitars. and 68 was the year of the White Album, and students fell in Ohio and rose on the Sorbonne.. and I was 19 years old.

I am about to listen to Colours this November, in the context of the sun setting over the Firth and after laying a friend into the cold cold ground the cemetery was full of deep dark sunshine and the gulls were circling, looking for scraps, my friend is over on the Golden Shore, and aye afloat is coming on air not knowing what to expect.

A look at the bleached out album cover draws me towards a mystery. I take a Janus like look at the track listing from an ABC view-point and as listed on the sleeve.. ahh. “Colours” or “Cocaine”? what time is kick-off? AND how will Colours the band breathe any life into such familiar tracks?

Wham!!…. into Colours with “Colours” and i’m into the land of Big Pink, Norman Greenbaum banjo with hints of ESP’s Custard-Suckin’ Band stuff.

Donovan played this sort of stuff in Cornwall’s beaches circa ’64 and took it into the heart of psyche. Susan in “Hey Babe” comes on strong like someone who could hang onto Steve Weber’s arm and be his girl till the end of time or mind. This is Stars and Stripes seen through a Texan dust storm, a troubled song dominated by the silence beyond.

“One Dyin and A Buryin’” heck, this is the ghost of Woody seen through the eyes of U.S. twisted ad-man, whoops the banjo-like visions are out of tune and this track hits the spots as it comes through the back door and I love spoken baritone tracks like this.

“Someday Soon”.. has a distant Peter Greenish feel, and with our banjo friend more subdued and a rag-baggish timpanist at work, Colours as a band, hit top form here, such a pity that Susan tries a bit of karaoke, rather than applying her own tattoo to the vocal.

However, this stuff hits the spot. I yearn to play this on my desert island as it beckons me home? “Gentle On My Mind” is more main-streama bit of a spell breaker. with its Paxton, Lightfoot noddings. However, Susan and the leading male vocalist do interplay well.

Dylan’s “Wheels On Fire”and our Peter Green fan is back, Susan is again off and running, the tracks charm is found in mixing a little twanging guitar and drumour drummer chews his baccy well. This has not the width and power of Julie Driscoll and the Trinity version or of Dylan’s off-the-wall psyche n psuch, no this is a straight drill into third-eye stuff.

Colours are a band to be found under the gas light at the end of the roadwith only the darkening desert separating them from the sea. “Hey, Thats No Way To Say Goodbye”.. what a great ten second Baptist-organ intro to Cohen’s paean to loves lost adventure, maybe our Weber’s arm was hanging too loose, or Susan lost her tenuous grip on reality.

This track will crack you up and make you remember why you try to forget her, the she of she she-ness this track pulls no punches and is a high-light track.

“Foggy Mountain Breakdown” is back inside the Modal Rounders landscape, and the banjo plays a fairly nifty duel with our trusty bass player. This is whoopy I die do land. and one wonders who Colours audience were? This is so straight-laced that it really is, out there!

“Younger Generation” is another standard, aha, is this an exploito album?? one wonders if Colours didn’t record their own tunes cos they didnt have any? The track though is really saved by a mournful organ player, a tad too earnest for my ears, but fits well into the envelope-kaleidoscope that Colours are.

Twin acoustic guitars and our gentle baritone breathes his ego into Eric’s early signature tune, “Violets Of Dawn”, Susan comes into full strength as an accompanist here. Heh. do you want to get a glimpse into the 60s?…. well go stick Colours on.. you will not be disappointed, the songs on show here are all about retreating within psyche n psuch. The track is full of shadows emerging into light.

“Cocaine” leads us into the outro, Susan employs the talking style used by our baritone friend on “One Dyin And a Buryin’”. Here, even Dave Van Ronk would stand back amazed at this version.. “Cocaine” is Susan’s high-point on the album. In her delivery we get more than a glimpse of her tattooed heart. “Cocaine” is redolent of the loss hinted at in “Hey, Thats No Way To Say Goodbye”, i’ll play this track again and again and will include it on a mix-tape.

“If I Were Free” takes us out, bam bam, where have I heard this before? . but like Colours the track is sitting outside the circle. the camp-fire is dimming, the colours are fading, 1968 is outside the circle of hands, the world is on fire, the spit and venom of Ohio is beckoning, the barricades are going up and the victims of fame and glory are about to wither, and “If I Were Free” says it all, and more besides.

Contexts apart, this album stands alone together it fits neatly into redtelephone’s psyche n psuch. like hand to glove. This is not for fans of heavy 60′s, it will appeal to those who like their folk fried in country fat.. the geese will fly, they will not hang around for Christmas, in other words, Colours will be like that tap on your shoulder and when you turn to talk to the seeker of you, you’ll find the Stranger gone.. leaving only faint traces on the soft sand of your mind. Highly recommended. (REVIEWED BY AYE AFLOAT)

Track Listing

1. Colours
2. Hey Babe, Open Your Mind
3. I’m Sleeping
4. One Dyin’ And A Buryin’
5. Someday Soon
6. Gentle On My Mind
7. Wheel’s On Fire
8. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
9. Foggy Mountain Breakdown
10. Younger Generation
11. Violets Of Dawn
12. Cocaine
13. If I Were Free
    

Screaming Gypsy Bandits – In The Eye (1973)

Artist: Screaming Gypsy Bandits
Title: In The Eye
Year: 1973
Format: LP
Label: Bar-B-Q

Screaming Gypsy Bandits is still a pretty interesting artifact. The band was apparently the brainchild of college dropout and former Elektra songwriter Mark Bingham.

Returning from a couple of disillusioning years in California, Bingham formed The Screaming Gypsy Band with a loose group of friends and Indiana University students including bassist John Clayton, lead guitarist Brendan Harkin, drummer Rick Lazar, and singer Caroline Peyton.

Local club dates got them signed to the small Bar-B-Q label which Bingham claims was nothing more than a drug front for the ‘owners’. Produced by Mark Hood, 1973′s “In Your Eye” showcased a series of nine Bingham originals.

Penned during the 1972-73 timeframe and apparently recorded over a week in Jack Gilfoy Studios, one of the album’s most interesting characteristics is simply how un-1970s it sounded.

Not knowing any of the band’s history, the first time I heard the album I was convinced it was a 2000-era release. It just had that ‘college’ band vibe that sounded incredibly modern to my ears. (Bad Cat)

Track Listing

1. Prematurely (Fly Me Away)
2. Junior
3. All This Waiting
4. Path Of Flight
5. In The Eye
6. White Teeth
7. Pedigree
8. Mules
9. Foggy Windows
   

Steve Baron Quartet – The Mother Of Us All [Vinyl] (1969)

Artist: Steve Baron Quartet
Title: The Mother Of Us All
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Tetragrammaton

The Steve Baron Quartet recorded an obscure album in 1969, “The Mother Of Us All”, that combined Baroque folk-rock with some psychedelia, jazz, orchestration, pop, and singer/songwriter balladry in an unusual if erratic manner.

Prior to the album, Steve Baron had been in the Hardly-Worthit Players (see April 16, 2011 posts of their two albums), a satirical group that had a Top 20 hit (credited to Senator Bobby in 1967) with a takeoff on “Wild Thing,” featuring a lead vocal that was an obvious facsimile of then-Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Baron also wrote a song, “Loneliness,” that was recorded by Jim & Jean on their 1966 folk-rock album, “Changes” (see January 18, 2010 post).

“This is one of those obscure and completely forgotten musical gems recorded and released in the late 1960s, only to disappear from the face of the earth for many years and pop up again recently as one of the thousands of albums frantically reissued by specialist labels.

American singer / songwriter Steve Baron created his group called Steve Baron Quartet with a few young Jazz oriented players and recorded this single album after playing with them for about a couple of years. Baron wrote all the songs on the album, which are a strange and beautiful mixture of Folk, Psychedelics and Jazz, as appropriate for the time when everything in music was allowed and possible.

Most of the album is song oriented, but on a couple of tracks (and especially the final 11 minutes long track closing the album) long instrumental Jazz improvisations are present, showing the great talent of guitarist Bill Davidson and pianist Tom Winer.

It’s very difficult to classify this album genre wise, so for lack of better terms I’ve placed it under Jazz-Rock, but it really is beyond any specific genre, just wonderful. Listening to this obscure gem makes me always wonder how many more such great recordings remain hidden in the past.” (Jazzis RYM)

Track Listing

1. Bertha Was The Mother Of Us All
2. Don’t You Hate The Feeling
3. I Sang About My Lady
4. In The Middle
5. Lonely River
6. Goodbye Road
7. Mr. Green
8. Love Me Laura
9. God Never Lived For Me
10. Shadow Man
    

String Cheese – String Cheese (1971)

Artist: String Cheese
Title: String Cheese
Year: 1971
Format: LP
Label: Wooden Nickel

Led by female/male vocals and rich harmonies…The Chicago hippie crew “String Cheese” could have been the next “It’s A Beautiful Day” with proper backing and encouragement. Like that San Francisco band, String Cheese’s sound was steeped in sparkling hippie subject matter, strongly delivered by chanteuse Sally Smaller and aided by electric violin & acidy guitar leads.

Unfortunately, their debut album was also their last. Lead, 12-string guitarist and co-vocalist Lawrence Wendelken wrote most of the songs on String Cheese, and there are some truly tasteful arrangements contained within. “Soul Of Man”, for example, benefits from lush, live arrangements with folksy acoustic guitar picking and sparse drums, while a Larry and Sally voice trade offs and harmonies shine on the winding road that is the human experience.

Meanwhile, the harpsichord-led intro to “Woke Up This Morning” comes straight out of a renaissance court, progressing to a summery, psychedelic electric sitar jam with lyricism glowing in sunshine-induced optimism. There is some serious talent on display here. The winding acid guitar throughoutthe album is a highlight …

After their debut album failed to register a blip in the marketplace due only to poor promotion and not lack of talent, “String Cheese” promptly faded away. (Esterdamin)

Track Listing

1. For Now
2. Crystal
3. We Share
4. Here Am I
5. Empty Streets
6. Forage
7. Soul Of Man
8. Certain Kind Of Day
9. Woke Up This Morning – Coming
   

Sage And Seer – Sage And Seer (1969)

Artist: Sage And Seer
Title: Sage And Seer
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Stylist

Courtesy Of Faintly Blowing
Sage & Seer were a folk-pop-psych duo based in Denver, Colorado and consisted of Don Beckman (lead guitar, vocals) and David Rea (lead vocals, guitar).

Unusual item for a private press as it’s an ambitious and elaborate lite-psych effort that would have fit well on Epic or ABC. There are a few standout tracks, but all are filled with well-orchestrated string and horn sections. Influences are mainly British with obvious nods to 1967 Donovan and the Beatles.

In addition to this album, the duo also released three singles, one of them included the non-LP tracks “I Can’t Take You Home” and “Calling” All their recordings were released on the local Denver Stylist Records label. (Collectors Frenzy)

Track Listing

1. Pictures Through A Sunday Afternoon
2. She Died Again
3. Candle
4. I’ve Cried
5. Time Has Come Between Us
6. Be Still When You Cry
7. Clarissa
8. I Want You To Know
9. All Those Yesterdays
10. No
11. Blue, Blue And Blue
12. Farewell St. John
    

Pat Kilroy – Light Of Day [Stereo Vinyl] (1966)

Artist: Pat Kilroy
Title: Light Of Day
Year: 1966
Format: LP
Label: Elektra

Pat Kilroy was one of the most little-known singer/songwriters to record for Elektra Records in the 1960s, issuing just one album, 1966′s Light Of Day. It’s a strange record, with the folk-blues base common to many performers of the era just before they leapt into folk-rock, but lacking the rock instrumentation and arrangements that would have made it an early folk-rock album.

Kilroy’s vocals and material are in some ways similar to those on Tim Buckley’s weirder late-’60s folk-rock-jazz-psychedelic albums, but without the depth and power of Buckley’s singing or songwriting. Skilled musicians Stefan Grossman, Eric Kaz, and Marc Silber are among the accompanists, and there’s a world jazz flavor in the use of conga, tabla, flute, and glockenspiel.

The songs sometime seem to be attempting to conjure a mystic aura, but lack the quality content necessary to live up to those ambitions. Kilroy did not release anything other than this LP (this is the rare stereo version), which has become pretty rare. (Jimmy James)

Track Listing

The Magic Carpet
Roberta’s Blues
Cancereal
A Day At The Beach
The Pipes Of Pan
Mississippi Blues
Vibrations
Light Of Day
The Fortune Teller
Canned Heat
The River

Hollins And Starr – Sidewalks Talking (1970)

Artist: Hollins And Starr
Title: Sidewalks Talking
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Ovation

First let me warn you that Chuck Hollins and Dave Starr are folkies at heart and much of 1970′s Norm Christina produced “Sidewalks Talking” showcases those musical tendencies. I also have to admit that I’m surprised I like this album as much as I do.

The first couple of times I played the LP Dave Starr’s omni-present flute proved a major stumbling block to my ears, particularly those segments where he’s give the spotlight to cut lose (the end of ‘Hard Headed Women’ and the band’s odd decision to cover Bach’s “Vivach”).

Luckily I tend to play an album at least four times before making a decision as to whether its a keeper or not. By the fourth spin the flutes remained a source of irritation, but the album’s other charms compensated for that particular distraction.

With the pair splitting writing duties, acoustic material like “Twin City Prayer”, “John Hurt” and “Lovable” (the latter recalling something Nick Drake might have done) was pretty and quite listenable.

Hollins and Starr were both gifted with pretty voices and on tracks such as the pretty ballad “Cry Baby Cry” and “Feelin’ Good” they turned in some truly gorgeous harmonies. That said, the collection’s highlights came courtesy of their occasional discordant, psych and rock splashes – if you want to hear all three genres collide at once then check out the wild “Hard Headed Woman”.

Equally impressive were the surprising fuzz guitar propelled ‘Home?’ and ”. A real charmer that rewards repeated visits … okay, okay you might want to skip “Digress”. (Bad Cat)

Track Listing

1. Talking To Myself
2. Krishna Boy
3. Cry, Baby Cry
4. Twin City Prayer
5. John Hurt
6. Hard Headed Woman
7. Home?
8. Vivace (2nd Movement Flute Sonata In A Minor)
9. Lovable
10. Digress
11. Stayin’ High
12. Sidewalks Talkin’
13. Feelin’ Good
    

Leonda – Woman In The Sun [Vinyl] (1968)

Artist: Leonda
Title: Woman In The Sun
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Epic

Though it was released on a major label (Columbia’s Epic subsidiary) in the late ’60s, Leonda’s sole album, Woman in the Sun, is extremely rare, and little known even among fans of singer/songwriters of the era. Because Leonda is Native American, and sometimes uses prominent vibrato in her vocal phrasing, she might generate comparisons to the most well-known Native American singer/songwriter of that era, Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Actually, however, she’s almost as similar to Annisette of Savage Rose or (more distantly) Melanie, or perhaps some of the gutsier woman singers from late-’60s West Coast rock bands. While Leonda has an appealing, somewhat raspy voice, her folk-bluesy material (with backup help from members Adam Mitchell and Skip Prokop of the Canadian rock band the Paupers) is less impressive.

The songs are fairly meandering and not all that tuneful, if good-natured with a vaguely hippie uplifting vibe. Things are better when she moves away from a blues base to a folkier one, as she does with the orchestrated “When I Lived in My Grandmother’s House” and the acoustic “Zono My Bird.” (Howard Hales Broom)

“Featuring superb backing from Skip Prokop, Adam Mitchell and Brad Campbell of The Paupers (see their posts from January 24, 2010 and the Pozo-Seco “Shades Of Time” August 3, 2010 post), as well as long-time Muddy Waters sideman Sammy Lawhorn, Ted Irwin (renowned for his early collaborations with Jake Holmes) and Brad Cambell (The Paupers, Janis Joplin), it features haunting acoustic tunes and Native American-themed lyrics that are sure to appeal to fans of female hippie rock.

Sad-tinged folk from Leonda, an artist who appears to have some Native American affiliations, at least from the themes of the songs — and who’s working here with backings that are well-done, but never too professionally polished!

The Paupers help out with a good deal of the instrumentation, and backings are usually gentle, but with some slightly complicated phrasings in ways that almost remind us a bit of Tim Hardin at times, but which come off quite differently given Leonda’s slightly bluesy vocal approach.

Also this is singer-songwriter related but with a somewhat bluesier and still soulful vibe. For many songs she keeps this bluesy style alive, with a mostly rather gently soft-rock moodily vibe. But there also a few more folkier, or calmer blues-of-heart personal songs, like “When I Lived In My Grandmother’s House”, with a more sad bluesy folk flavour, with a gifted voice for showing emotions in the song, or “come take a waltz through my heart”.

A musically more unique and distinctive track is “Peace And Pipes” a song with several musical references to native Indians, in the singing improvisations, with an open tuned guitar that adds more psychedelic parts, and a drum arrangement that clearly refers to a powwow drumming. Also “Zozo My Bird” continues just slightly this reference..before definitely returning to more direct bluesy folk associations.” (Acid Visions)

Track Listing

1. Mist In The Sky
2. Somebody’s Gonna Ask Me Who I Was
3. When I Lived In My Grandmother’s House
4. Blue Diamond In A Platinum Setting
5. Mother In Love
6. Come Take A Waltz Through My Heart
7. Peace And Pipes
8. Zono My Bird
9. Head Country (To The Lost City Of ZooZoo)
10. Make It All Right