STONEGROUND - Family Album (Warner Brothers Records 2ZS 1956, 1971)

Stoneground was formed in 1968 in the San Francisco suburb of Concord, California. The original lineup consisted of Tim Barnes (guitars, vocals], Craig Randall (bass, vocals), and Mike Mau (drums). Band manager and former Autumn Records executive Tom Donahue, a San Francisco DJ, introduced the band to ex-Beau Brummels singer Sal Valentino and John Blakely (guitars, bass), both of whom joined Stoneground. The group appeared in two films: 'Medicine Ball Caravan' (1971), a documentary of a 154-person bus and truck tour that set out to spread the gospel of flower power to the hinterlands of the U.S. It was eventually released with the far more interesting title of 'We Have Come For Your Daughters', and among those appearing in the movie were Tim Barnes (lead guitar), John Blakeley (vocals/guitar, ex-The Fast Bucks, who made a 1967 LP for Kama Sutra which also included Ron Nagle), Brian Godula (bass), a quartet of female vocalists in Lynn Hughes [ex-Tongue & Groove, a short-lived Bay Area band in the late 1960s), Deirdre La Porte (who apparently designed album sleeves), Lydia Mareno and Annie Sampson (both from the San Francisco cast of 'Hair' - for the uninitiated, 'Hair' was a massively popular musical of the late 1960s), Cory Lerios (keyboards), Steve Price (drums) and Sal Valentino, who were all members of Stoneground, and Bonnie Bramlett (of Delaney S. Bonnie fame], Alice Cooper, B.B. King and cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw.

'Dracula A.D. 1972' is a 1972 horror film, produced by Hammer Films. It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham. Unlike earlier films in Hammer's Dracula series, 'Dracula A.D. 1972' has (at the time of filming) a contemporary setting, in an attempt to update the Dracula story for modern audiences. Dracula is brought back to life in modern London. The soundtrack was composed by Manfred Mann member Mike Vickers, and is in a funky, 'blaxploitation' style reflecting the early 1970s setting of the film. It was not released commercially until a CD release in 2009. The film also features two songs, 'You Better Come Through For Me' (a song which also appears on 'Stoneground 3' here) and 'Alligator Man', when Stoneground were a late replacement for The Faces. Tom Donahue recruited Pete Sears for Stoneground when they were in the UK for the Medicine Ball Caravan in 1970, but after recording the eponymous debut LP included here, Sears was the bass player in the Long John Baldry Blues Band for a US tour and also joined Copperhead, the band launched by John Cippolina after he left Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Pete Sears returned to Blighty to join a band launched by keyboard star Nicky Hopkins, but far various reasons, that band didn't happen, so Sears went on to co-produce, arrange the music and play on, Kathi McDonald's Insane Asylum' album, using many celebrated guest stars, including Sly Stone, The Pointer Sisters, Nils Lofgren, Neal Schon and the Tower of Power horns. He also co-founded a band called Sears, Schon, Errico with Neal Schon and Greg Errica, and in 1974, he joined Jefferson Starship, leaving that band circa 1987, and also working with Jefferson Airplane offshoot Hot Tuna. It seems to be generally agreed that his time with Jefferson Starship was at the height of that band's achievements, and Sears conceivably deserves the too often used epithet legend' far more than many others. Five of the ten tracks on the first Stoneground LP were written by Sal Valentino, who co-produced it with Tom Donahue. 'Rainy Day In June' was written by Ray Davies and had appeared on the 1966 Kinks LP, 'Face To Face', while 'Great Change Since I've Been Born' was written by Reverend Gary Davis, (1896 - 1972], a blues and gospel singer and guitarist, whose fingerpicking guitar style influenced many other artists, including Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Dave Van Ronk, Rory Block, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Wizz Jones, Jorma Kaukonen and John Sebastian (of the Lovin' Spoonful).

'Don't Waste My Time' appeared on a couple of LPs by John Mayall, who co-wrote the song with bass player Steve Thompson. A live version is on Mayall's 1969 album, The Turning Point', and a studio take was on the same year's studio effort, 'Empty Rooms'. Bad News' was written by the often under-rated John D. Loudermilk (1934 - 2016), a singer/ songwriter from North Carolina, who wrote, among many others, 'A Rose & A Baby Ruth' (UK title 'A Rose & A Candy Bar'), which in 1956 was the first and only US Pop Top 10 hit for George Hamilton IV, and Eddie Cochran's first hit, 'Sittin' In The Balcony', not to mention the two biggest Nashville Teens hits, Tobacco Road' and 'Google Eye', plus Break My Mind', Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye' and 'Ebony Eyes'. Perhaps another aspect of this album worth a mention, is the message on the rear of the sleeve, which reads "Rock'n'Roll Is Bio-Degradable'.

1971 brought The Stoneground Family Album', a double LP with one side of studio recordings and three sides of live material. The album includes cover versions of songs by such artists as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Swamp Dogg. By 1973 only Barnes and Sampson remained from the original group, and Stoneground kept going until 1984, Barnes and Sampson on board all the while. Pete Sears found the most fame of any of the original Stonegrounders as a member of Jefferson Starship. While many of the others faded from the music business, Barnes remains active in Northern California as a guitarist in Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers, as does Sampson, who plays live often and releases solo recordings on her own label.

Which brings us to 1972 and the next LP by Stoneground, the uninspiringly titled 'Stoneground 3' described thus on the internet: "Released in late 1972, 'Stoneground 3' sold poorly and the band was dropped by Warner Bros. With no label and escalating tensions within the group, Stoneground played a final concert on January 6, 1973 at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Within weeks of the concert, Valentino quit the group. Band members Cory Lerios and Steve Price left and formed a new group, Pablo Cruise. The remaining members also departed except for Tim Barnes and Annie Sampson, who reformed Stoneground with a new roster later that year". The line-up for 'Stoneground 3' was Valentino, the female vocal quartet of Lynn Hughes, Deirdre La Porte, Lydia Mareno and Annie Sampson, Tim Barnes, John Blakeley, Terry Clements (horns), David McCulloch (bass), Cory Lerios and Steve Price. As mentioned before, it's difficult for a group with so many members to make both decisions and money, so they split up, but later reformed. Stoneground continued for several years after Sal Valentino left the band in 1973.

 

ARTHUR LEE & LOVE - Five String Serenade (Last Call Records 3069862, 2001)

Arthur Lee was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 7, 1945 in John Gaston Hospital, to Agnes (née Porter), a school teacher, and Chester Taylor, a local jazz musician and cornet player. As an only child, Lee was known by the nickname "Po", short for Porter, and was looked after by additional family members so his mother could proceed her teaching career. With his father being his first connection with a musician, Lee was fascinated by music at young age. He would sing and hum along to blues musicians such as Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters on the radio. At the age of four, Lee made his debut on the stage at a Baptist church, reciting a small poem about a red telephone. In the early 1950s, his parents separated as his father "refused or neglected to provide for her", the divorce petition states. Lee only remembered seeing his father three times during his entire life. Subsequently, Lee and his mother packed their things and took a train to California, while his father was at work. Lee and his mother resided in Los Angeles permanently in 1952. In 1953, their divorce was granted and his mother married Clinton Lee, a successful construction worker, on April 23, 1955. Lee was formally adopted by Clinton Lee on June 6, 1960, legally acquiring his surname, after filing for an adoption notice in 1958. His mother was able to resume her teaching career, enabling the family to buy a new home in the West Adams area of South Central Los Angeles. Attending the same schools as Lee, the neighbourhood was also home to Johnny Echols, who would later be the lead guitarist for Love.

Lee attended Sixth Avenue Elementary School and excelled in athletics but was behind academically. Being known as "the toughest kid in the neighborhood", Lee was pressured into succeeding in school by his great aunt, a former school principal, but showed interest in sports, music, reading, and animals. Lee later attended Mount Vernon Junior High, where his interest in music would soon outweigh his focus on sports. Lee's first musical instrument was the accordion, which he took lessons in from a teacher. He adapted to reading music and developed a good ear and natural musical intelligence. While he was never formally taught about musical theory and composition, he was able to mimic musicians from records and compose his own songs. Eventually, he persuaded his parents to buy him an organ and harmonica. Graduating from Susan Miller Dorsey High School, Lee’s musical ambitions found opportunities between his local community and classmates. As opposed to attending a college under a sports scholarship, he strived for a musical career. His plan of forming a band was under the influence of Johnny Echols, after seeing him perform "Johnny B. Goode" with a five-piece band at a school assembly.

In July 1972, Lee released his first solo album, Vindicator, on A&M Records, featuring a new group of musicians also playing as the band Love. At one point in time they would use the name Bandaid, a name originally suggested by Jimi Hendrix for a briefly considered lineup of himself, Lee, and Steve Winwood. This album failed to chart. Lee recorded a second solo album in 1973 entitled Black Beauty for Buffalo Records, but the label folded before the album was released. Lee contributed the title track to the 1974 blaxploitation film Thomasine & Bushrod. Lee's next move was to credit the backing group for Black Beauty with the addition of guitarist John Sterling as a new Love for Reel to Real (1974). Once again, the album went nearly unnoticed. A new Lee solo album, called just Arthur Lee, appeared on Rhino Records in 1981, featuring covers of The Bobbettes' "Mr. Lee" and Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" and musicians Sterling (guitar), George Suranovich (drums), and Kim Kesterson (bass), as well as some of the members from "Reel to Real".

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, there were various attempts to reunite the original Love lineup. At the suggestion of guitarist John Sterling who first joined Arthur for Reel To Real, one such show from the Whisky in October 1978 was recorded by Sterling on cassette. It featuring Lee and Bryan MacLean with Sterling (guitar), George Suranovich (drums), and Kim Kesterson (bass), and was released on Rhino as a live album picture disc entitled Love Live (1980) on Rhino Records. In 1982, MCA released Studio/Live, which was a collection of tracks from the early 1970s incarnation of Love coordinated by rock lawyer/journalist Stann Findelle, including never before heard tracks recorded from Bill Graham's Fillmore East. Apart from the Studio/Live package on MCA, the 1980s were a mostly fallow period for Lee. According to him: "I was gone for a decade. I went back to my old neighborhood to take care of my father, who was dying of cancer. I was tired of signing autographs. I was tired of being BS'd out of my money...I just got tired." Alice Cooper did record a cover version of Lee's "7 and 7 Is" on a 1981 album, Special Forces.

Lee did not re-emerge until 1992, with a new album entitled Arthur Lee & Love (Five String Serenade) on the French New Rose label. The title track, "Five String Serenade", was later recorded by Mazzy Star and Jack White of The White Stripes. The album also featured a new artist he discovered from San Francisco, Keith Farrish aka Demian X Diamond. He performed live around this time in Paris, London, and Liverpool. In 1993 he played shows in New York and England. The following year he released a 45rpm single, "Girl on Fire" backed with "Midnight Sun", on Distortions Records. He began to tour regularly with a backup band comprising former members of Das Damen, and LA group Baby Lemonade. In 1995, Rhino Records released the compilation Love Story, a two-disc set with extensive liner notes which chronicled the period 1966–1972, and reignited interest in the band. In fact, the original Love planned to reform and tour in promotion of the compilation, but Arthur's legal troubles prevented this.

Originally issued in 1992 by New Rose Records as Arthur Lee And Love under the title "Arthur Lee And Love" was this "Five String Serenade" a welcomed gem of one of the greatest singer/songwiters of the hippie aera. I've always got a song in my back pocket," Arthur Lee told me when I interviewed him in the early '70s, somewhere about the time his RSO album, Reel to Real, was about to be released. Indeed, for a legendry cult artist whose mood swings and erratic behaviors seemed to work at cross-purposes with the delicate arrangements and melodies of his best work (though his forays into Hendrix-influenced hard rock shouldn't be discounted), his discography is extensive and intriguing in its twistings and turn-turn-turnings. Influenced by the Byrds (whose former road manager, Bryan Maclean, became his most important sidekick in Love), Lee had been an organ player in the Booker T. mold with his first instrumental band, the L.A.G.'s; but when long-haired musicians started infiltrating the Sunset Strip, he donned a pair of weirdly-shaped sunglasses, stepped out front vocally, and landed a deal with Elektra Records — one of their first non-folk signings.

Love's first three albums with the label are classic examples of going-for-baroque: reinterpreting Burt Bacharach ("My Little Red Book") and Billy Roberts ("Hey Joe") in the guise of jingle-jangle folk-rock, taking on the Stones with an 18-minute track in "Da Capo," and practically templating garage-rock's drag-strip acceleration with "7 & 7 Is." Their third album, Forever Changes, orchestrated and flamenco'ed and filled with rhyme-of-consciousness lyricism, is one of rock's most star-crossed accomplishments; the last sight I had of Arthur Lee, on a stage in Williamsburg a year or so before his untimely passing, was performing that work with all its tremulous quaver intact. Love hardly ventured forth from LA during their glory era, and so it was doubly gratifying to hear Arthur sing himself across the years.

Some of those years were spent in prison, stretches seemingly self-destructed by Lee's short temper and paranoia. Judging from Five String Serenade, they were creatively lost to us as well. This was the last major album Arthur made before taking a called third strike and finishing out the century behind bars for waving a gun about in public. Recorded in Los Angeles in 1992, released on the French New Rose label the following year, it contains some of Lee's most affecting work, from the minuet stateliness and melancholy of the title track — which has been covered by Mazzy Star and the White Stripes — to such full-out rockers as "Seventeen," which attempts to overtake "7 & 7 Is" on the straightaways ("7" can't be beat, fueled as it is by nuclear power).

"Somebody's Watching You" frames Lee's look over his shoulder in a setting that's two steps down the Strip from the Seeds; "Pass By" is blues in the Jimi 12-barroom mode, reminding of Lee and Hendrix crossing paths as black men in a white psychedelic garage scene. "You're the Prettiest Song" is the prettiest song, without the barbed hook Arthur usually planted in the second verse. His voice, like a lithe Sam Cooke or Johnny Mathis, slides from the back of his throat in slight vibrato. Finally released from jail after seven years, reunited with Baby Lemonade, he returned to the fore and gave rapturously-received renditions of his body of work before he passed on in August of 2006. He was no stranger to comebacks. "I never went away," he told me when we met. And still hasn't.

 

SHAWN PHILLIPS - Transcendence (RCA Victor Records AFL1-3028, 1978)

Dubbed "the best kept secret in the music business" by the late rock musician Bill Graham, Shawn Phillips' music is as wide as his more-than-4-octave vocal range. Praised for his unusual musical style and full use of the English language, Phillips defies all conventions of popular music. He has composed some of the most intense and thought-provoking music in the business, yet has achieved only a small, but devoted following, and yet, remains devoted to composing, no matter how few hear his wonderful music. Shawn Phillips was born 3 February 1943 in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of spy novelist/poet James Atlee Phillips.

His first introduction to music was sitting under the piano while his mother played "Malaguena". He first picked up the guitar at the age of 7. He and his family traveled all around the world living in many varied places, such as Tahiti, and Shawn absorbed the music of wherever he was. He moved back to Texas in his teens, briefly joined the Navy at the age of 16, moved back to Texas and then to California in the early 1960s, immersing himself in the folk music scene. Looking for a change, he moved to England where he recorded two albums for Columbia's Lansdowne Series, "I'm A Loner" (1965) and "Shawn" (1966). While in England Shawn met folk musician Donovan Leitch, and played guitar on Donovan's 1965 Pye album "Fairy Tale", which included the Shawn Phillips composition "Little Tin Soldier". Later he got into trouble with the media when he claimed to have co-written many of the songs on Donovan's 1966 album "Sunshine Superman".

He was eventually thrown out of England for playing without a work permit. He lived briefly in Paris, then moved to Italy. He then went back to London in the year of 1968 with the idea of releasing not a 3-record album, but a collection of 3 separate albums released at the same time. He was rejected at every turn since none were willing to take on such a vast undertaking for such an unknown musician, that is until he met producer Jonathan Weston at A&M Records, who agreed to sign him under the condition that his 3 albums be released separately instead of at the same time. Reluctantly, Phillips agreed and signed on. In 1970, "Contribution" was released, followed by 1971's "Second Contribution", considered by many critics to be his crowning achievement, and was the record that brought most attention to him from music critics and the media alike, though by popular standards, it was not close to what other popular artists at the time were receiving. Subsequent albums under A&M were released: 1971's "Collaboration" 1972's "Faces", 1973's "Bright White", 1974's "Futhermore", 1975's "Do You Wonder", 1976's "Rumpelstiltskin's Resolve" and 1977's "Spaced". Then, A&M dropped him, citing poor album sales.

He was picked up by RCA in 1978 and released the album "Transcendence" under the label. He was given $100,000 to make the album and he spent $95,000 of it. Despite the fact that 7 of the 9 songs on the album had full orchestral arrangements, the entire album was recorded in an astounding 20 days, from the first day of walking into the studio to the day the master discs got shipped. What can there be to be ashamed of? For it's a strong set, a stylish classical-oriented AOR opus with plenty of accomplished writing and playing, fulsome and capable orchestral arrangements. Naturally, it's dated, in the good prog-rock sense, and some of its gestures might now seem overblown, but Shawn's vision is consistent and often more fascinatingly all-embracing than he's given credit for. There's much contrast here, with outright rock (I'm An American Child) set unashamedly alongside affectionate country-tinged romancer Good Evening Madam, massive orchestral driving funk (Julia's Letters), classical pretensions that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Future-Passed Moodies (the beautiful, lush pastel of Implications), florid orchestral chanson (Lament Pour L'Enfant Mort) and delicate pastoral balladry (Lady In Violet): a slightly out-of-kilter mix perhaps, with vocals that can border on the histrionic at times yet remaining in control, staying just the right side of pomp. Charming, and not a little frightening. The album "Transcendence" is a curious artefact, in that it sounds both of its time and out of its time, and even listening to it today, more than a touch unearthly.

RCA soon let Phillips go, and in 1980, his first "Best Of" collection was released in Canada, called "The Best of Shawn Phillips". Though he continued to play gigs whenever he could and continued to compose, he was not picked up by another record label until the late 1980s. Under the Chameleon record label, he released 1988's "Beyond Here Be Dragons". As was expected, the album sold poorly and he was dropped again. In the same fashion, he was signed on by yet another label, Imagine, and in 1994, he released "The Truth If It Kills". A couple of years earlier, in 1992, A&M released in America his 2nd compilation album, entitled "The Best of Shawn Phillips: The A&M Years". They released yet another in 1996 called "Another Contribution: An Anthology". In 1998, under his own record label, Wounded Bird Records, he re-released 8 of his albums: "I'm A Loner", "Shawn", "Contribution", "Bright White", "Furthermore", "Do You Wonder", "Transcendence" and "Beyond Here Be Dragons". In 2002, he released his 15th album, the aptly titled "No Category". He toured for the album in South Africa, where he felt his music would make the most difference. Shawn released his first live album "Living Contribution" in 2007, and "At The BBC" in 2009.

He gave his free time as an Emergency Medical Technician, Marine Firefighter Rescuer (a rescue scuba diver) and firefighter in Houston, and in 2001, received the First Responder of the Year Award in 2001 from Pedernales Emergency Services, who gave Phillips his training. His wife, Juliette Phillips, is also a firefighter and an Emergency Care Attendant with Shawn. About his limited success, Phillips remains modest, and has no regrets. He continues to compose and remains the epitome of a major record company's worst nightmare, refusing to compromise himself under any situation. As of 2009, Shawn lives in Port Elizabeth, South Africa with his wife and their son Liam. He remains an inspiration to those searching for something deeper and more meaningful in the world of "popular music".

 

POLLYANNA - Hello Halo (Mushroom Records MUSH 33043.2, 1997)

Pollyanna were formed in Sydney, as Blue Trike, (they changed their name on their 13th gig) in 1993. The original line-up was Andrea Croft on vocals and guitar (who left prior to any recording), Matt Handley on lead vocals and lead guitar, Maryke "Rayke" Stapleton on bass guitar and vocals, and Serge Luca on drums and vocals. Croft and Handley had been in a local pop band, Catherine Wheel, which had issued an extended play, Self Portraits. Croft had previously been a member of the Honeys (originally from Perth), which had released an album, Goddess (1988). Croft later recalled why she left the Honeys, "I wanted to try something different. We'd been touring pretty intensely over a few years – me and four smelly boys in a Holden HG. I wanted to try something poppy. It wasn't a big blow up." After Catherine Wheel, Croft co-wrote some tracks with Handley, she left Pollyanna due to homesickness, "In the end I just came home to Perth where all my family is. I'm a little boomerang – I always come back home."

Pollyanna's five-track first extended play, FordGreenSilverRocket, was released in October 1994 through Mushroom Records/Festival Records' new imprint Bark. They had signed to the label earlier in that year. The EP "was largely ignored" on the local market. Their second five-track EP, Junior, was picked up by Australian radio after its release in February 1995, largely due to the track, "Pale Grey Eyes". Jonathan Lewis of AllMusic described their early sound, "noisy indie guitar pop, reminiscent of Sugar or Happy Days-era Catherine Wheel." In September of that year they issued their third EP, Lemonsuck, with four tracks. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, noticed that both Junior and Lemonsuck had, "reached #1 on the national alternative charts, with tracks like 'Pale Grey Eyes' and 'Lemonsuck' becoming live favourites."

Pollyanna's debut album, Long Player, was released in March 1996, which peaked at No. 31 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Recorded at Sydney's Paradise Studios with David Trump, the album received mostly positive reviews for its guitar-driven pop. Lewis rated it at three-out-of-five stars and observed, "it was an alternative hit in Australia, several of its tracks became radio staples." He continued, "While their music-writing remained strong (even if lacking somewhat in variation), guitarist/vocalist Matt Handley's lyrics were, on the whole, lightweight." Long Player's lead single "Lemonsuck" briefly cracked the ARIA Singles Chart, whilst staying at the top of the Australian independent charts for several weeks. Soon after the album's release, Pollyanna had four singles—"Pale Grey Eyes", "Lemonsuck", "Keep Me Guessing" and "Piston"—all simultaneously in the Top 20 singles of the Australian independent charts. "Lemonsuck" and "Pale Grey Eyes" were listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1995 – a radio listener's poll. Long Player received nominations for Breakthrough Artist – Album and Best Alternative Release at the ARIA Music Awards of 1996. 

Pollyanna re-released their two early EPs, remixed and compiled onto one disc, Junior Rock, in November 1996. Lewis rated it at four stars and explained, "they are able to inject a lot more variety into their guitar-driven pop songs, with 'Grover Washington', 'Truck' and 'Cows Crossing' being among the best on the album. These tracks showed that Pollyanna were able to write great songs without bludgeoning the listener with their guitars." They toured nationally supporting Powderfinger. At this time, DeSoto Records released a 7" double-A sided single, "Fordgreensilverrocket" / "Grover Washington", in the United States. Pollyanna toured through 1996 and 1997, including several headline tours, a national tour supporting Hoodoo Gurus and support slots for the Australian leg of separate world tours by Weezer, Paw, Teenage Fanclub, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Sebadoh, the Cranberries and Garbage. They appeared at Big Day Out, Homebake, Falls, and Livid festivals.

A full length shot taken from below, in a back street alley with Stapleton (in centre, leaning forwards and wearing a red jacket, black pants and long black boots with her hands behind her back) and Handley (at right, leaning back onto a brick wall and wearing a dark suit with blue shirt, his arms are also behind his back) shown with a third person to the left. That man wears a blue suit with a white shirt and red tie; his hands are in his pockets. He stands on the kerb near the brick wall. That wall includes a one-way sign (pointing left, partly obscured behind the man) and above it is an advertising placard with red oriental script on yellow background (also partly obscured beyond Stapleton). The brickwork shows some graffiti. A black, rectangular shaped drain pipe descends at the extreme left, with its lower end out of frame.

Work began on their second album, Hello Halo, in early 1997 at Festival Studios in Sydney with producer, Paul McKercher. During recording Luca quit to join local psychedelic pop outfit, Drop City. Glenn Maynard, who had played drums in Melbourne-based bands, Have a Nice Day and Violetine, joined on drums, and recorded the few remaining tracks with the band. Pollyanna then shifted base from Sydney to Melbourne. Hello Halo was released in late 1997, again to positive reviews. Moody tracks like "Brittle Then Broken", "Velocette" and "Cooling Your Heels" confirmed that Pollyanna were capable of writing more than just straightforward guitar rock. Strings, horns, keyboards and orchestral percussion were used on several tracks as the band sought to expand their sound. A heavy touring schedule ensued, including being part of the new-look 1998 Homebake Festival, which played in Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast. Several more appearances on national TV further increased their exposure.

For Pollyanna's third studio album, Delta City Skies, the band headed to the US in October 1998 to record at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee with producer Brian Paulson (Something for Kate, Jayhawks, Wilco, Beck). The album had a more wide screen sound than its predecessors and many tracks featured organ, leading to the addition of a keyboard player, Ace Moley, to the touring band. After further touring in Australia, including with Ben Folds Five, plus a slot on the 1999 Falls Festival, and a brief tour in the US in support of Delta City Skies. In mid-2000 Stapleton left Australia to live in the US with her partner/husband in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. By July of that year the band had been dropped by their label, Mushroom Records, and their drummer, Maynard, had left. Handley performed solo shows, Jasper Lee of Oz Music Project described his set list, "a combination of new and old stuff, the acoustic versions of favs including 'Cinnamon Lip', 'Vanilla Coated Salesmen' and 'Home is Where My Heart Sank'."

The group's fourth and final studio album, Didn't Feel a Thing (July 2001), was recorded in the US with Paulson producing again, this time at Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, Virginia. Pollyanna were recording as a duo where Handley played most of the parts on the album, including drums, with Stapleton contributing bass guitar. Shock Records released it via its Longshot sub-label. A new-look four-piece band hit the road: Stapleton had returned from the US to resume bass guitar duties alongside Handley and they were joined by Andy Strachan on drums and Adrian Whitehead on keyboards (ex-the Tims). Touring members between 1999 to 2002 included, Sam Holloway on keyboards, Shaun Lohoar on drums and Richard Coneliano on drums. In 2002 Pollyanna split up, Handley later reminisced, "While on tour for Didn't Feel a thing, Andy (our drummer) was asked to join the Living End, and our bassplayer Rayke was about to have a baby. It felt like the wheels were falling off the band so I thought it was probably high time for a break."

 

THE SIEGEL SCHWALL BAND - Sleepy Hollow

(RCA Victor Records LSP 10394, 1972)

Corky Siegel was born in Chicago in 1943 and musically influenced by Elvis, Chuck Berry, little Richard, Fats Domino, and everything eke on '50s and '60s radio. He had played tenor sax in a high school band that also featured Russ Chadwick, Siegel-Schwall's first drummer. Jim Schwall was also born in Chicago, a year earlier than Corky. He had started playing guitar in high school, influenced by the Weavers and other mainstays of the late '50s folk revival. He played in bluegrass bands, but also took on the influences of folk blues players including Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Robert Pete Williams, lonnie Johnson, and Brownie McGhee. Siegel was barely 21 in 1964 when he met his fellow Roosevelt University music student in an elevator. Schwall was studying composition, Siegel was majoring in classical saxophone. That year, however, Siegel was introduced to the blues by a couple friends who played Dylan-style harmonica (one was Bob Buchanan, of the hit folk group the New Christy Minstrels).

While both played in the school's jazz band, Siegel hadn't noticed Schwall until he saw the guitar slung around his future partner's neck in the elevator. Siegel played a Wurlitzer electric piano with a makeshift bass drum and high hat cymbals underneath. Schwall had the same '50s era blond Gibson B-25 acoustic guitar—with an electric pickup literally bandaged over the sound hole—which he still uses to this day (though it's been rebuilt a couple times since he first acquired it in 1959). As The Two Man Blues Band, Siegel and Schwall auditioned for Johnny Pepper at Chicago's famed South Side blues club Pepper's Show Lounge. They were then, and still are, unique instrumentalists. An extraordinarily inventive harmonica player with a broad vocabulary of inimitable riffs and tones, he would alternate chunky folk-blues chords with Chicago blues single notes and throw in vocal groans and yips (listen to "Angel Food Cake," from final Vanguard album Siegel Schwall 70). His piano playing was likewise unorthodox: "Down In The Bottom," the Howlin' Wolf classic which opened the band's 1966 self-titled debut album, prompted a puzzled Wolf, who used to sit in with the band frequently and was Siegel's favorite blues Founding Father, to point out that he was playing the key piano part "backwards."

Schwall, who stayed with his sturdy acoustic Gibson because its "boxy" neck could withstand his punishing hard play, was similarly incomparable. His guitar lines attacked from all directions: up, down, sideways, diagonally predictably and from out of nowhere. His slide work, as on the heretofore unreleased "Easy Rider" or the slow blues buzz of Slim Harpo's "I'm A King Bee" from the band's second album Say Siegel- Schwall, was utterly dazzling; so was his mandolin play on that album's "Bring It With You When You Come." (His use of the mandolin as a blues instrument, incidentally, put him in the company of the late Yank Rachell and very few others in using the mandolin as a blues instrument.) After a few months at Pepper's, the band moved to Big John's on the North Side, where they took the slot previously occupied by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Now called The Siegel-Schwall Band, it had solidified a lineup also including bassist Jos Davidson-another Roosevelt student and Mike Bloomfield's bassist-and drummer Chadwick. Within weeks of their first Big John's gig, The Siegel-Schwall Band was discovered by Sam Charters, talent scout (or Vanguard Records, the venerable folk music label.

The author of The Country Blues and producer of such blues greats as Lightnin' Hopkins, Charters was immediately struck by the group's commitment, excitement, and innovative take on the traditional blues genre. He produced the songs on The Siegel- Schwall Band-a mix of covers by major influences like Howlin' Wolf and jimmy Reed with originals in a similar stylistic vein—in one take at Universal Recording Studios in Chicago. he album was released in 1966, just as the San Francisco music explosion was getting underway. Siegel Schwall soon became a big draw in the Frisco scene, sharing stages with virtually every major act from that period including Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. hey also mode inroads on the East Coast, at clubs like the Bitter End, and Steve Paul's Scene, where Tiny Tim used to open their shows and where the over of Say Siegel Schwall was shot. That album, released in 1967, as recorded in Vanguard's New York studio, using the downstairs washroom for an echo chamber. Jack Dawson, who had played bass in a Detroit band, had replaced Davidson, who left to pursue a career in social work.

Once again, the contents came from the band's set list and continued its founders' use of traditional blues as a base for contemporary expression. One tune, the slow blues "My Baby Thinks I Don't Love Her," would soon be embellished by composer William Russo in "Three Pieces for Blues Band And Symphony Orchestra." (Siegel Schwall would later record it with prominent fan Seiji Ozawa and The San Francisco Symphony for release on the Deutsche Grammophon label in 1973. Ozawa had conducted The Chicago Symphony in the late '60s and, like Charters, fell in love with the band after stumbling upon them at Big John's. They first performed with Ozawa and The Chicago Symphony in 1968, and would later appear with other orchestras; they even joined Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops in a concert televised on PBS.)

The Siegel-Schwall Band's 1972 album "Sleepy Hollow" was the progressive Chicago blues hand's second of five early '70s albums for the RCA-distributed Wooden Nickel label also the early home of Styx following four discs for Vanguard. It followed the quartet's 1971 self-titled album, which mixed studio and live tracks in essentially the same blues rock format of the preceding final Vanguard entry, "Siegel-Schwall '70". But "Sleepy Hollow" was all studio and showed the increasing experimentation within the blues format that would mark the band's final few years though it should be notted that Siegel-Schwall continues to reunite periodically for concert appearances, with the great Sam Lay replacing the late Shelly Plotkin on drums. The title track, then, seems to bear little resemblance to the Chicago blues form that the Vanguard Siegel-Selm all releases typified. Written and sung by Siegel, a piano and harmonica virtuoso of  remarkable invention and wit. The mellow tune was an appropriately lazy take on a relaxed rustic homestead  the complete opposite of the band's urban reality.

Other Siegel tunes included the fast-back "Somethin's Wrong," characterized by Siegel as a "blues polka": "Always Thinkin’ Of You Darlin'." Which offered a poppy slant on a standard blues shuffle; and "Hey. Billy Jean," written with Chicago Folkie Jim Post (formerly of Friend And Lover and "Reach Out Of The Darkness" fame) and demonstrating Siegel's "hoe-down blues" harmonica mastery. Schwall. who met up with Siegel in 1964 when both were music students at Roosevelt t'niversity in Chicago, was also a unique blues stylist, with an electrified (Gibson B-25) acoustic guitar. Here he's represented by some of his most memorable songwriting. Especially the immortal "Sick To My Stomach." which delightfully documented the nausea the singer experienced when jealously imagining his girl being with someone else. "Blues For A Lady" showcased his guitar prowess in the slow Blues format, while the shuffle of "You Don't Love Me Like That" juxtaposed Sehwall’s guitar work and Siegel's blues-harp play. Bassist Hollow Radford. who went on to play with Sun Ra, was ever the band's crowd-pleaser, thanks to his unrestrained soul on numbers like his lead track "I Wanna Love Ya." But the most telling track of the set was Siegel's "His (Good Time Band." The tribute to an exemplary musician who just didn't care to compete commercially, but was content enough to sit back and play his music solely for the love of it. surely spoke for Siegel-Sehwall—which in the late ‘60s and early '70s virtually owned the Midwest, yet disbanded at the height of its popularity to pursue other interests. Five of the nine tracks on "Sleepy Hollow" resurfaced last year on Varese Vintage's "The Very Best Of The Siegel-Schwall Band The Wooden Nickel Years (1971-74)." 

Say Siegel Schwall is followed in this set with four previously unreleased tracks. "Easy Rider" and "I Like The Way You Rock" are demo versions of late '60s earty '70s concert favorites, while "Don't Want No Woman" and "Sneaky Pete" are outtakes from the first Vanguard sessions. The third Vanguard album, Shake!, was also cut in New York, mainly as a collection of song demos. After its 1968 release, the band, which had toured heavily for two and a-half years, took a year off, returning in 1969 with a new rhythm section in Rollo Radford, who had played with Dinah Washington and Martha and the Vandellas, and the great Chicago blues drummer Sam Lay, who had played in Siegel's interim band along with guitarist Jim McCarty of Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels fame. Drummer Shelly Plotkin was in place when Siegel Schwall recorded its final Vanguard album, Siegel- Schwall 70, at Paragon Studios in Chicago. Whereas the preceding studio albums could only hint at the exhilarating roller coaster ride of the Siegel- Schwall Band live, Siegel- Schwall 70 fully captured it in two concert performances: "Angel Food Cake" and Seawall's guitar masterpiece "A Sunshine Day In My Mind." They were recorded live at Chicago's premiere showcase dub The Quiet Knight, where the band now held court every Tuesday. To use a term evocative of the time, they had by now become a "boogie band" second to none, and almost every track on the album was a concert favorite.

Siegel, who currently fronts Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues, a Chicago-based blues-classical hybrid also featuring four string players and a tabla player. Schwall now lives in Madison, working as a high school teacher and part time social services worker when not planning a run for mayor. Radford, who went on to play bass with the likes of Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, and Sun Ra, is a special education teacher in Chicago, and also plays in jazz groups.  Plotkin, a master drummer, died of heart failure in 1990. Yet The Siegel Schwall Band remains "a bond in perpetuity," to use Siegel's designation. A reunion concert recorded in 1987 and released on Alligator Records returned Sam Lay to the fold, and found the group in lop form-and up-to-date, as the "Find yourself another hippie" line in "I Don't Want You To Be My Girl" was contemporized to "Find yourself another yuppie." They still get together occasionally, more than 35 years after their historic first Vanguard album. And so the Siegel-Schwall magic lives on, and with it, that special Siegel Schwall induced smile. It's all there in Siegel- Schwall's The Complete Vanguard Recordings and More, a deserved commemoration of the timeless talents of two immensely influential musicians-and more. Much more.

JOHNNY KIDD & THE PIRATES - The Best Of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates

(EMI Gold Records 50999 228142 2 7, 2008)

It may surprise you to know that The Beatles were not the first British rock act to top the chart with one of their own compositions – that honour goes to Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, whose No. 1 hit, 'Shakin' All Over", is also the earliest British penned rock song to ever reach the US Top 20. Born Frederick Allbert Heath in WillesdenWillesden, North London on November 23 1935, Johnny was the youngest of Margaret and Ernest Heath's three children. He attended Wesley Road Secondary Modern School before going on to Willesden Technical College, and first became interested in music when an uncle gave him a banjo for his birthday. In 1956, together with some friends, he formed a skiffle group, who at various times were known as Bats Heath & The Vampires, The Frantic- Four, and The Five Nutters Skiffle Group. The group fared well in a handful of talent shows, which led to an appearance on the BBC radio show Skiffle Club and performances at the No.l skiffle venue. The '2 I's coffee bar in Soho.

When the skiffle train ran out of steam, the group had a few name changes before settling on Freddie Heath & The Nutters. Unlike many contemporary British rockers, Johnny also wrote songs. In 1959, George Martin produced the duo The Bachelors (Steve Keen & Rikki Gabin - no connection to the later Irish trio) singing 'Please Don't Touch', which Kidd composed with his manager Guy Robinson. Simultaneously Johnny was ottered a contract with another EMI label, HMV, and on April 18, 1959, the group recorded their version of that song with upand- coming producer Peter Sullivan, later famous for his work with acts like Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. It was while recording this track (it took 28 takes), and its equally exciting, written-inthe- studio, b-side 'Growl' , that the group learned that they would now be known as Johnny Kidd & The Pirates - a decision they presumed had been taken by either Sullivan or Robinson.

'Please Don't Touch' had more of a raw rock'n'roll sound than any other British record at the time, and their performance of it on BBC" radio's Saturday Club helped push it into the Top 20. Most unusually for a UK rock song it was covered in the USA by Chico Holliday (on RCA), and 22 years later revisited the UK charts by heavy metal heroes Motorhead and Girlschool. Johnny, who wore an eye patch and calf length cowboy boots on stage to enhance his pirate image, followed this hit with a beat rendition of the First World War favourite 'If You Were The Only Girl In The World' - recorded just days after the death of its composer George Meyer. The group then returned to the chart with a cover version of 'You Got What It Takes' penned by future Motown owner Berry Gordy Jr. At this time the Pirates had reduced to a trio consisting of Alan Caddy (lead guitar) Brian Gregg (bass), and Clem Cattini (drums). It was this line-up, with the addition of noted session guitarist Joe Moretti, that recorded their next single. The A-side was intended to be their rockin' revival of the 1925 favorite 'Yes Sir, That's My Baby', hut it was the "throwaway" b-side that went down in rock'n'roll history. They penned 'Shakin' All Over' in just six minutes at Chas McDevitt's Freight Train coftee bar in Soho the day before going into the studio on Friday the 13th May I960. Legend has it that the track, which features Moretti's playing the chilling guitar figure and classic solo, was recorded in just two takes. Johnny recalled "When we saw a girl who was a real sizzler we used to say that she gave us 'quivers down the membranes'. It was this that inspired me to write the song".

EMI instantly realised the track's potential and made it the a-side. The group launched it on Jack Good's TV show Wham!. It charted immediately and seven weeks later in August 1960 replaced Cliff Richard's 'Please Don't Tease' at No. 1. Incidentally, Cliff later recorded the song as did The Who, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Normie Rowe (who took it to the top in Australia) and Canada's Guess Who (who took it into the US Top 2O). Johnny's final I960 release was the haunting 'Restless' which narrowly missed the Top 2O. He returned to the Hit Parade the following year with the R&B song 'Linda Lu' but the next release 'Please Don't Bring Me Down', which owed more than a little to 'Shakin' All Over', failed to chart. It was soon after this that Brian, Alan and Clem thought thev were leaving a sinking ship and quit the Pirates - they would soon all be part of the Tornados, who had a transatlantic No. 1 with "Telstar' in 1962. Johnny's final release of 1961 was the 'Fever' flavoured 'Hurry On Back To Love', on which the Pirates were replaced by the Mike Sanimes Singers. It also sold relatively few copies.

By 1962 there was a new line-up of Pirates; Johnny Spence (bass), Frank Farley (drums) and Johnny Patto (guitar), who as the Redcaps had previously hacked Oh Boy! regular Cuddly Duddly. The group spent most of that year gigging around the UK and in Hamburg, where they starred at the prestigious Star Club. The cutlass wielding buccaneer and his band were particularly popular in Liverpool, where they often played the Cavern Club, where future Merseybeat stars watched and learned from their idols, and also topped the bill over The Beatles on a Mersey riverboat shuffle.

In January 1963 the group scored with their verson of A Shot Of Rhythm ‘n’ Blues' coupled with the equally popular 'I Can Tell', the first track to feature guitarist Mick Green who replaced Patto. That summer their new manager  Gordon Mills convinced them to record “Never Get Over You”, a catchy song he had written, and previously recorded with his group The Viscounts, which had a Merseybeat feel. Initially the group were not too keen as it was a little too commercial for them. However, it rocketed into the Top 5 and the similarly styled Mills-penned follow up 'Hungry For Love' also gave them a Top '20 entry, and a year later was used by The Searchers as the lead track on a Top 5 EP. The group's last chart entry came in 1964 with Always And Ever', which was based on the 19th century Neapolitan song 'Santa Lucia".  Later singles, including Kidd's versions of Jewel Akins hit The Birds & The Bees', The Miracles' million seller 'Shop Around', Marvin Rainwater's 1958 No.l ' Whole Lotta Woman' and an updated 'Shakin' All Over '65' sold only moderately well but this did not really affect Johnny's amazing capacity for pulling big crowds wherever he played.

In 1966, Johnny married long time girl friend Jean Complin and among his wedding guests were Tom Jones, Georgie Fame, and members of The Hollies and Pretty Things. In April that year The Pirates set sail without Johnny in search of more fame and fortune, and after that mutiny he put together The New Pirates (who evolved from Liverpool band The Avengers). He was very happy with the group and their live shows were very well received. As a Norfolk newspaper reported "Always a very visual performer, Johnny's voice sounded more powerful today than when this legend of British rock'n'roll was in the charts! ". However, tragically, soon afterwards, when driving back from a gig in Nelson, Lancashire, Kidd was killed in a crash near Bury.

'Send For That Girl', which Johnny had hoped would return him to the top, was released shortly after his funeral. Despite the fact that he had played such a pivotal role in British rock music, the single received little support from the British music media and, ironically, even the recently launched Pirate Radio ships turned a blind eye to the record. It seemed that Johnny's image and sound no longer fitted. Perhaps the reason was in his genes, he was too Gene Vincent and not enough Gene Pitney for the .swinging sixties set. Apart from all the A and B sides of all the group's singles, this top notch collection includes many noteworthy recordings that were not made available until after Johnny's death. Among the lesser known jewels are the group's distinctive interpretations of rock favourites The Fool', 'Let's Talk About Us', Dr. Feelgood' and 'Some Other Guy'. In addition, they offer unique treatments of 'Your Cheating Heart', 'Right String But The Wrong Yo Yo', 'You Can Have Her' and 'I Just Want To Make Love To You' (recorded three years before the Rolling Stones version!). Although they never had a hit of their own in the USA, they are held in high esteem there. Rolling Stone magazine summed up Kidd's group by saying "They were a prototype for the heavy metal guitar trios that they predated by nearly a decade", while other American critics pointed out that they were recording R’n’B songs long before the Beat Boom and British Invasion bands. This set plunders Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' vault and oilers you the very best of their recordings - and, if you'll excuse the pun, it's an album to treasure.

DAVID GRAY - White Ladder (IHT Records IHTCD001, 1998)

"White Ladder" is the fourth studio album by English folk singer-songwriter David Gray. It was first released in November 1998 through Gray's own record label, IHT Records, but failed to chart. On 1 May 2000, the album was re-released by Dave Matthews' label ATO Records and debuted at number 69 on the UK Albums Chart, before climbing to number one on 5 August 2001, more than a year later. "White Ladder" produced five singles, including the hit "Babylon", which ignited interest in the album and shot Gray to worldwide fame. Other singles released from the album were "This Year's Love", "Please Forgive Me", "Sail Away" and "Say Hello Wave Goodbye". "White Ladder" spent almost three consecutive years in the UK top 100, charting between May 2000 and March 2003. Its total charting time as of 2015 is 175 weeks, making it one of the longest-charting albums in UK chart history. It was massively successful in Ireland, where it spent six consecutive weeks at number one on the Irish Albums Chart and had sold 350,000 copies by 2002. It is currently the biggest selling album of all time in Ireland. "White Ladder" was the fifth best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK, selling 2.9 million copies. "White Ladder" has sold over 3 million copies in the UK, making it the eighth best-selling album of the 21st century and the 26th best-selling album of all time. The album has also sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

"White Ladder" was self-financed and was recorded in Gray's London apartment. To support the album, Gray toured the United States with the Dave Matthews Band, whose lead singer Dave Matthews released "White Ladder" in the United States on his label ATO in 2000 as the label's first release. Following the album's success, he toured the US and UK extensively between 2000–01 to promote the album. A hidden track, "Through to Myself", can be found in the pregap of the original 1998 IHT Records release (by rewinding from the start of "Please Forgive Me"). The US CD release does not include the secret track, but instead includes the audio bonus track "Babylon II", as well as an enhanced section which includes a mini-documentary with a live performance of "Babylon", a brief biography and web links. The Japanese release includes the bonus track "Over My Head", which also appears as a B-side on the 1999 "Babylon" single.

The cover of "Say Hello Wave Goodbye", originally by Soft Cell, features additional lines from the Van Morrison songs, "Madame George" and "Into the Mystic". "White Ladder" was originally released on Gray's own label IHT Records in November 1998. It spent six weeks at number one in Ireland, selling 100,000 copies in that time. By September 2001, the album had been certified 20× Platinum by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) for sales of over 300,000; it remains the biggest-selling album in Ireland. It was only after its re-release in May 2000 on ATO Records that the album managed to chart in the UK, debuting at number 69 on the UK Albums Chart. On 5 August 2001, fifteen months after the re-release and almost three years after its original release, it reached number one. "White Ladder" has spent a total of 175 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. Aside from "Please Forgive Me," which charted at No. 72 on the UK Singles Chart, all other single releases charted within the Top 20: the re-released "Please Forgive Me" charted at No. 18, and "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" and "Sail Away" peaked at No. 26. "White Ladder" was the UK's fifth best-selling UK album of the 2000s. It had sold 2,940,575 units in the UK by 24 July 2011 and hit the 3 million mark in March 2015. As of June 2015, it is the eighth best-selling UK album of the 2000s.

In the United States, the album peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard 200, spending a whole year on the chart. The album earned Gray a nomination in the United States at the 44th Grammy Awards for Best New Artist. Reflecting on the success of "White Ladder" in 2010, Gray stated: "I still pinch myself when I think about it. That record will be there for ever. It just connected in such a big way with people. It was the period that came after that was difficult. I'm sort of seen as a pop artist. I'm dismissed as slight, I'd say, because of White Ladder." In Ireland, "White Ladder" was originally released on November 27th 1998, entering the Irish chart at #25. 61 weeks later, and for the first time, the album went to #1 on January 24th 2000, spending six weeks at #1, and subsequently spending much of the next four years in and around the top 10. It eventually went 23 x Platinum and remains the bestselling album in the Republic of Ireland; at one stage, it was said that 1 in every 4 Irish households had a copy of the album.

The year 2001 also saw the release of two compilation albums of Gray's early works and unreleased material, The EPs "1992-1994" and "Lost Songs 95-98", both of which followed "White Ladder" into the Top 20 in the UK Albums Chart. In November 2002, Gray released the follow-up to "White Ladder", entitled "A New Day at Midnight". The new release did not receive the same critical acclaim as its predecessor, but still went straight in at number 1, famously beating Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates's debut album "What My Heart Wants to Say" to the summit and selling nearly 150,000 copies in its first week of release. It went on to achieve platinum status within a year, eventually being certified four times platinum overall, and was the second-biggest selling album by a UK artist in 2002, behind Pop Idol winner Will Young's debut album "From Now On". "A New Day at Midnight" produced two further UK Top 30 hits in "The Other Side" and "Be Mine" and a minor US hit with "Dead in the Water".

David Gray's early music was in a contemporary folk-rock, singer-songwriter mode; his primary instrument was acoustic guitar, with occasional piano. 1996's album "Sell, Sell, Sell" featured some rock arrangements and electric instrumentation. Starting with the release of "White Ladder", Gray began to make significant use of computer-generated music to accompany his voice and acoustic instrumentation, a technique which differentiates him from many of his peers. "A New Day at Midnight" continued this direction, although lyrically it was darker in tone than "White Ladder" and the instrumentation much more downbeat. In the liner notes, Gray dedicated the album to his father, who died in 2001. Gray also provided vocals on the electronic-based band Orbital's 2001 single "Illuminate". Despite the move to more complex music, Gray has used small-scale, often home-based, recording methods and equipment and espoused a do-it-yourself approach to music production.

 

GRAHAM BOND + PETE BROWN - Two Heads Are Better Than One

(Chapter One Records CHS-R-813, 1972)

It was inevitable that one day Pete Brown and Graham Bond would work together. They had been friends going back to the early 1960s and the jazz poetry gigs where Pete, Mike Horowitz, Spike Hawkins and the other pioneers of performance poetry would vent their literary spleen backed by musicians on the lunatic fringes of the London jazz scene - including Graham, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Ginger Baker. For Pete, the Graham Bond Organisation was the best British band and he wrote his classic song 'Theme for an Imaginary Western' with the GBO in mind as they took the blues and R&B all over the UK in vans held together with hope and string to places where the music had never been heard. Pete had been writing songs for Graham and was to play in the last incarnation of the band, but it all fell apart before Pete could join.

In 1972, Pete's band Piblokto was winding down. Meanwhile Graham was in the process of being sacked from the Jack Bruce Band. They had been on tour, promoting Jack's album Harmony Row; guitarist Chris Spedding and drummer John Marshall with saxophonist-surgeon Art Theman comprised the rest of the line-up. Graham was in modern parlance, 'high maintenance1 especially during the times when he was nursing a serious drug habit. Because of his medical duties, Art couldn't make the gig in Rome, which was unfortunate because he was the band's peace-maker between Jack and Graham. But it was there in the dressing room of the Teatro Boncaccio, that Jack got so exasperated with Graham that he ripped the sink out of the wall and threw it at him.

So Pete and Graham found themselves in limbo and decided to join forces. There were a couple of Piblokto gigs to do; one at the Seymour Hall in London and what Pete describes as a "very depressing gig in Southend, a terrible organ trio were the main event singing 'Knees Up Mother Brown' with a singer who was completely out of tune. We were in the psychedelic ghetto with about 18 people." For the new band, Pete brought in drummer Ed Spevock from Piblokto and bassist deLisle Harper from the recently disbanded Gass formed by Bobby Tench with drummer Godfrey McLean. Graham recruited guitarist Derek Foley from prog rock band Paladin with Graham's wife Diane Stewart on vocals. They got a record deal with Chapter One, a label formed by composer and conductor Les Reed who went into partnership with Wessex Studios and Donna Music Ltd. Most of the product was 'easy listening', light classical and a few comedy albums, but there was also a connection with Mecca Ballrooms who were looking to book some more progressive acts on their circuit.

The band had two managers, one was a 'silent partner'; the other a tough guy called Mick Walker. His brother is Savoy Brown's Dave Walker; back in the day, they played skiffle together in teenage bands going on to form the Red Caps who landed a record deal with Decca. Dave carried on in bands while Mick became a businessman, establishing the famous Rumrunner Night Club in Birmingham which later became the launch pad for Duran Duran. Maybe the writing was on the wall for Bond and Bond with their manager's opening remarks on meeting the band, "I've just seen Pete Brown and Graham Bond albums together in a remainder bin."

The album was recorded at Richard Branson's Manor Studios, engineered by Tom Newman who worked on Tubular Bells and at Wessex, one of Pete's favourite studios, but sadly sold to developers for housing in 2003. They began by recording an EP which featured 'Lost Tribe', 'Milk Is Turning Sour In My Shoes' and 'Macumbe' and then the tracks for the album. Unlike most British musicians of the times, Pete and Graham had a real affinity for digging into the grooves of a song and imbuing it with soul and funk feels strongly linked to Africa; Pete was a percussionist as well as a lyricist and singer - the Graham Bond Organisation had been driven by Ginger's strong African rhythms who had included Graham (and Diane) in his short-lived band Airforce. So amidst the welter of heavy rock and codclassical prog rock that dominated the British underground scene of the day, this album came from a very different musical sensibility and inspiration.

Between them Pete and Graham wrote most of the songs with contributions from deLisle Harper (nowadays an accomplished arranger) including 'Oombati'. One song, 'Colonel Fright's Dancing Terrapins' was recorded with a slightly different and earlier line-up featuring guitarist Mick Clark from the Clark Hutchinson duo. The song was inspired by some graffiti spotted scrawled on a French wall during a Piblokto tour; "Somebody asked what CFDT meant," says Pete, "it was probably some political slogan, but I just said, 'Colonel Fright's Dancing Terrapins', but we're in northern France so there is something in there about first world war tanks".

Songs like 'Lost Tribe' and 'Looking for Time' were an attempt to express the fact that musicians like Pete and Graham found themselves on the outside of the rock scene in the early seventies, just like they had done in the early sixties when they inhabited the demi-monde of be-bop and 'beat poetry' scorning and in turn being scorned by the jazz establishment. The playfulness in Pete's lyrics sometimes found its way into the music itself; '"Scunthorpe Crabmeat', has about a million time signatures - loads of stops and drop beats all over the place. Piblokto did a straight version of that, a straight shuffle. This was a bizarre, perverted version." As was 'Massed Debate' "a British pervert song" and Pete's homage to 'Arnold Layne'.

The song with the most interesting antecedence was Graham's 'Ig the Pig'. IG were the initials of the Los Angeles boss of a Mercury Records subsidiary label called Pulsar. During his time in the States in 1968, Graham found himself signed to this label along with Dr John and the Doug Sahm Band. With his reputed 'heavy' connections, IG was the guy who did his business at the point of a gun and was one day confronted by Diane (on behalf of Graham who was sick), Mac Rebennack and Wayne Talbot from the Quintet, all coming in search of promised cash. Now Graham, Mac and Johnny  Perez from the Sahm Band all had an abiding interest in the occult - and when they realised that no cash would be forthcoming, they got together to put a whammy on IG. The result? His wife caused a hit and run accident and IG himself was demoted to the ranks very shortly afterwards.

The band were a regular working outfit on the road with a small, but strong following of freaks and hairies especially at The Roundhouse and The Temple in Wardour Street, one of the last hippie outposts of the acid deranged and damaged. They were also signed to EMI in France who were very pro-active in promoting the band where Pete had always had an enthusiastic fan base - although how the band actually survived was a small miracle. Whenever Graham was driving, wheels had the habit of coming off. In fact most of the chaos of this band on the road had Graham at its core. They were in France doing 90 mph with a van full of gear and people, when a wheel rolled past them, "Oh, I think that's one of ours", said Graham. They spun off into a field and somehow Graham managed to bring the van under control before they all perished. With heroin in short supply, Graham would engage country chemists in a series of mumbles and hand signals which would produce varieties of noxious brews that only Graham could stomach. And e.erybody else's stomach turned at the sight of Graham tucking into a huge plate of bloody tripe straight out of a local meat market after an exhausting drive. Coming back through customs, Graham did his bit for Anglo-French relations with loud cries of "You won't find any drugs up my arse."

And it was drugs that finally did for the band. There was trouble anyway because Diane and the manager fell out, resulting in the singer being fired and bringing the fires of hell raining down on Graham's head. They were on tour in Leicester where Pete recalls, "this incredibly frightening woman appeared and gave Graham loads of acid and he did nothing but play feedback all night." The next night in Scarborough, Graham was hospitalised and they did this and the next gig without him and after that the whole band folded. This was to be Graham's last recorded album. His mental health was deteriorating as his obsession with the occult grew. After a spell in a mental hospital, his life ended tragically under the wheels of a London Underground train in May 1974. Pete went on to a renaissance career in both music and film, continuing to write with Jack Bruce, forging another productive partnership with ex-Man keyboardist Phil Ryan, recording albums on his own label, touring his band, working in the studio with an array of promising young talent and writing and producing films. He is currently working on his autobiography.

 

 

LEFT END - Spoiled Rotten (Polydor Records PD 6022, 1974)

The rain continued to fall on a September Friday evening in downtown Youngstown, Ohio. The thick air made the last chords of the last song ring on beyond their normal cry. It was over. The young rock group Cherry Paup had finished their last gig. Guitarist Tom Figinsky, keyboardist Fred Dolovy, bassist Rod Buckio and drummer Pat Palombo had come to the end of their four years together. They were billed as The New Teen Sensations from 1964 through 1969, from high school freshmen to now graduating high school seniors. Now, it was a time of passage from boys to men, from the dreams of rock & roll to the challenges of the real world from high school heroes to regular faces in the crowd. It was during a break at the Apartment Nightclub on Youngstown’s south side in the summer of 1972 that an articulate, brash, boastful and at times vulgar gentleman walked into the group’s dressing room. He announced himself as Steve Friedman and confidently told the group he wanted to manage them. At first, the guys took Mr. Friedman as just another hawker that was not to be taken seriously. But Friedman’s obvious knowledge of the music business and his arrogance were appealing to the group. After a couple of meetings, Left End had a management/production contract with Steven Friedman.

The group recorded more demos and Steve began meeting with record company executives in New York City. By October of 1972, Friedman landed the group a recording contract with Polydor Records. The contract gave the group a lucrative recording budget that included a minimum of two singles and one album a year for five years. Left End could choose any studio at which to record. The group unanimously selected Cleveland Recording in Cleveland, Ohio. Why?  Because that is where Grand Funk recorded its early albums with the great engineer Ken Hamann. The group finished its winter engagements while writing and testing new material for an album.  Polydor released "Bad Talkin Lady" on its label and the single began to sell nationally. In the late spring of 1973 Left End began recording their first album.  The group continued to perform during this period. The group recorded on Monday through Thursday. One night with a few guests on hand, someone noted the total chaos and mess at the large hotel dining table that had been created by sliding several tables together. There were beer bottles and mixed drink glasses lying on their side surrounded by stacks of china and half-eaten desserts. The guest said, “Boy, you guys are really spoiled rotten.” That was it, he perfect name for Left End’s first album "Spoiled Rotten". To fit the image, Dennis changed his name to Dennis T. Menass.

The "Spoiled Rotten" LP was released by Polydor Records in the late fall of 1973. It went to #1 on “Album Pix” charts in the tri-state area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia over night. The album picked up momentum and began to sell throughout the Midwest. Left End's live performances also picked up dramatically and they began playing concert venues to “standing room only” crowds. Steve Friedman strongly supported the group’s spoiled rotten image by equipping the group with dead frogs to throw into the crowd, ping pong ball firing canons and suckers with wrappers that boldly read “YOU SUCK!”  Below in smaller print it read Left End. The group did a mock slow ballad called, “Your Mine” or “The Pimple Song” in which a large weather balloon filled with water, whipped cream, and mustard was wheeled onstage in a small red wagon. At the end of the song Dennis T. Menass would burst the balloon and those against the front of the stage got the worst of the exploding pimple.

Battles on stage with giant gorillas and “staged” attacking fans that Dennis T. would subdue with beer bottles, whips and clubs became a standard. The press labeled them “Big Time Wrestling Meets Heavy Rock.” The group wore lavish “glam rock” costumes of bright silver, gold, black and red. When in New York City, the group would head to Greenwich Village and SoHo to find the most outlandish boots, belts, and leather outfits. Dennis T. would change outfits several times during a concert set. Certain songs commanded a special look. Of course, the group continued closing their shows with flash pots and pyrotechnics. Left End was known for their introduction tapes that were played prior to the group appearing on stage. These were comical thematic collections of live and taped recordings compiled by Thomas John and Jerry Starr of what was then WSRD FM Radio (The Wizard). These intros became very popular with Left End fans. The Cleveland press dubbed them, “The Monster That Ate Cleveland.”

Soon after the "Spoiled Rotten" album was released, Polydor released the single "Loser" from the album. The group began performing in large concert venues with the likes of the Eagles, the J. Geils Band, Brownsville Station, the New York Dolls, Trapeze, George Clinton and the Funkadelic Parliament, and dozens of others. Left End appeared in Rolling Stone, Cash Box, Billboard, Cavalier and other national magazines. They were frequently featured in local periodicals in the tri-state area. Polydor Records held a big reception for Left End after the group performed in concert at Cobo Arena in Detroit. The concert was a great success. Left End finished the set with the usual flash pots on stage and added a full blown fireworks display. The crowd went crazy and literally attacked the group. Later, at the reception for the group, Polydor executives, still buzzing from the concert, began to lay out plans for the group. Left End had captured the Midwest and there was great interest from east and west coast cities.Their plan was to take the group to Europe where it was felt that they would be an instant success and then bring them back here as “The Monster That Ate Europe.” Group members were floating on clouds anticipating their rise to greater stardom until communication with Polydor Records suddenly came to a halt.