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"...Temporary Serenade..."
In
August 2020 - few people know of, let alone care about, New York's student
ensemble ARS NOVA (Latin for 'New Art'). Unfortunately, it was pretty much the
same when they were a new band in the late Sixties.
Formed
in the melting pot of 1967, the musically ambitious six-piece popped out two
Blood, Sweat & Tears/Chicago-type albums that fused Psych with Sixties
Rock, Blues, Jazz, Classical and even a wee bit of Latin-Spanish where
principal players Wyatt Day and Jon Pierson had holidayed and absorbed local
influences during a European summer of love (Spain and France). Ars Nova even
opened for The Doors at the Fillmore East in March 1968 (albeit not every
successfully) just before the release of their Elektra Records debut a month
later. Typically, Esoteric Recordings of the UK doesn't care about our foolish
indifference and has given these forgotten troubadours a fat digipak and a
digital mouthwash.
"Fields
Of People..." combines their two stereo albums - the "Ars Nova"
debut from April 1968 on Elektra Records and its equally unheard-of follow-up
"Sunshine And Shadows" from June 1969 on Atlantic Records -
remastering both to splendid new heights and tickling our fusion appetites in
the process. It may not be all genius and there is a non-album B-side missing
that could easily have been included, but there is still enough to enjoy and
rediscover (and it sounds the biz-schnizz). Here are the Enacte Pavans, Ibiza
Ribbons and Temporary Serenades...
UK
released 28 February 2020 - "Fields Of People: The Elektra And Atlantic
Recordings 1968-1969" by ARS NOVA on Esoteric Recordings QECLEC22711
(Barcode 5013929481183) is a 2CD Remastered compilation that plays out as
follows:
CD1
"Ars Nova" (34:38 minutes):
1.
Pavan For My Lady (Fall, Winter, Summer and Spring) [Side 1]
2.
General Clover Ends A War (Enacte: Le Messe Notre Dame (Guillaume de Machaut
arr. Ars Nova)
3.
And How Am I To Know (Enacte: Dancer)
4.
Album In Your Mind
5.
Zarathustra
6.
Fields Of People [Side 2]
7.
Automatic Love
8.
I Wrapped Her In Ribbons (After Ibiza)
9.
Song To The City
10.
March Of The Mad Duke's Circus
Tracks
1 to 10 are their debut album "Ars Nova" - released April 1968 in the
USA on Elektra EKS-74020 in Stereo and June 1968 in the UK on Elektra EKL 4020
(Mono) and Elektra EKS 74020 (Stereo). Produced by PAUL A. ROTHCHILD - it
didn't chart in either country. This CD uses the STEREO Mix.
For
their debut ARS NOVA was:
JON
PIERSON - Lead Vocal and Bass Trombone
WYATT
DAY - Piano, Organ, Rhythm Guitar and Vocals
GIOVANNI
PAPALIA - Lead Guitar
BILL
FOLWELL - Trumpet, String Bass and Vocals
JONATHAN
RASKIN - Bass Guitar and Vocals
MAURY
BAKER - Percussion and Organ
CD2
"Sunshine & Shadows" (38:55 minutes):
1.
Sunshine And Shadows [Side 1]
2.
I Was Once
3.
Temporary Serenade
4.
She Promises Everything
5.
Well, Well, Well
6.
You Had Better Listen
7.
Round Once Again [Side 2]
8.
Walk On The Sand
9.
Rubbish
10.
Please Don't Go Now
Tracks
1 to 10 are their second and final studio album "Sunshine &
Shadows" - released June 1969 in the USA on Atlantic SD 8221 (US
Promo-Copies were Mono) and July 1969 in the UK on Atlantic 588 196 in Stereo.
Produced by ARTHUR GORSON and ARS NOVA - it failed to chart in either country
For
their second album ARS NOVA was:
SAM
BROWN - Lead Guitar
WYATT
DAY - Guitar and Vocals
JON
PIERSON - Bass Trombone and Vocals
JIMMY
OWENS - Trumpet
WARREN
BERNHARDT - Keyboards
ART
KOENING - Bass
JOE
HUNT - Drums and Percussion
The
three-way foldout card digipak reproduces the 'life masks' artwork of the debut
album on the inner flaps while both CDs are picture discs reflecting the
respective 1968 and 1969 LPs. The 20-page booklet has the lyrics to the debut
(not the second LP), artwork, a colour photo of the six-piece band and new
liner notes from Esoteric's knowledgeable MARK POWELL (compiled and
co-ordinated the release). Powell details their US beginnings in an Upper West
Side of Manhattan college through to exploratory sojourns in Spain (Jon Pierson
and Wyatt Day) followed by a return to New York for a hook-up with Maury Baker
to absolve all those Psych/Latin/Rock influences. It even reproduces the Jon
Borgzinner (Life Magazine) liner notes for the "Sunshine & Shadows"
LP. It's very nice to look at (if not a little light on any new images) and
explains how bad luck and management decisions saw the band loose any real
chance of momentum (the second LP's material was almost a year old when it
finally surfaced in June 1969, so already dated to some degree).
The
24-bit Remastered Audio comes courtesy of PASCHAL BYRNE at Audio Archiving and
has been licensed from Rhino and feels huge even if their youthful enthusiasm
for the material outweighs their technical capabilities of the day. To the
music...
Anyone
who bought the stunning "Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra
Records 1963-1970" Multiple -Disc Box Set on Rhino in 2006 will have liked
the huge Sunshine Pop musicality of "Fields Of People" by ARS NOVA -
the band's lone representation on that behemoth. Elektra saw its commerciality
at the time too and issued "Fields Of People" as a cool 45 in both
the USA and UK (the first of only two singles issued for them in Blighty).
Elektra put another debut album track on the flipside - "March Of The Mad
Duke's Circus". The A-side sang of the awakening times - strange new ideas
of love – worlds beginning again – fields of positive people losing their seeds
of hatred. The same clever musicality flows through "General Clover Ends A
War" and there is a very definite Byrd’s guitar-jangle in "And How Am
I To Know" - a finger to my lips ballad that cries out to be covered.
"Album
In Your Mind" is a parody on worried parents (I went through the same
thing at your age) that was probably hip in 1968 but feels terribly dated 50
years after the smug event. The instrumental "Zarathustra" is a Maury
Baker composition that feels like a backing track in need of lyrics (in need of
something). Over on Side 2 "Automatic Love" tells of computers where
you pay only four dollars to find the right girl as trombones blast like a
vaudeville nightmare. Best on that side is "I Wrapped Her In Ribbons"
- a pretty melody that far outshines "Song To The City" and
"March Of the Mad Duke's Circus" that end the album. Elektra UK tried
a second 45 in the shape of "Pavan For My Lady" with the non-LP
"Zoroaster" on the flipside in late October 1968 (Elektra EKSN 45029)
but to no avail (it had been their first 45 in the USA in February 1968 on
Elektra EK-45627). The problem with the debut is that you can 'feel' good ideas
and clever melody structures trying to break through but their youth combined
with perhaps a bit more time polishing the material would actually have
produced a debut as good as say "Child Is Father To The Man" (B, S
& T).
Despite
a reinvigorated line-up that added Sam Brown on Lead Guitar and Warren
Bernhardt on Keyboards - the second albums feels like songs from
"Hair" - Trumpets and Trombones on stuff like "Temporary
Serenade" - neither good nor bad. Wyatt Day provided the guts of the tunes
except for three – two of them "Sunshine & Shadows" and "She
Promises Everything" were co-written with Gail Collins who would become
Gail Pappalardi, the wife of Felix Pappalardi of Mountain and Cream fame while
number three "Temporary Serenade" was a co-write with songwriter Greg
Copeland who would eventually have his debut album "Revenge Will Come
Back" on Geffen Records produced by Jackson Browne as far ahead as 1982.
"You Had Better Listen" is the only cover on the LP – a Jimmy Owens
song – one-time trumpeter with Dizzy Gillespie's Big Band.
Atlantic
pre-empted the second LP with a taster 45 in April 1969 - Atlantic 45-2625
combining the hungry title track "Sunshine & Shadows" on the
A-side with Side 2's Wyatt Day song "Walk On The Sand" (and smell the
sea) on the flip. At least there's some punch and life to "You Had Better
Listen" but Side 2's "Round Once Again" is typical of the record
- good but never really great.
For
sure the music of Ars Nova is a very dated business indeed 52 years after the
event (2020) - but lovers of late Sixties Rock will find enough to interest and
the presentation/audio is top notch...
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