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Showing posts with label Ben Wiseman Remasters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Wiseman Remasters. Show all posts

Thursday 8 October 2020

"Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun" by PAUL KANTNER, GRACE SLICK and DAVID FREIBERG – June 1973 US Album on Grunt Records featuring John Barbara, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen and Papa John Creach of Jefferson Airplane, Craig Chaquico of Jefferson Starship, Jerry Garcia and Micky Hart of The Grateful Dead, David Crosby of The Byrds and CSNY, Chris Ethridge of The Flying Burrito Bros and The Pointer Sisters (March 2020 UK Esoteric Recordings - Newly Remastered Edition – Ben Wiseman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...





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"...Riders Of The Rainbow...."

David Crosby nicknames for Paul Kantner and Grace Slick as an album title - very cool idea. 

As I recall Jefferson Airplane and most of its solo offshoots were all but dead in the water by the time this album was released Stateside in June 1973 on their own Grunt Records. It peaked at a low No. 120 on the US Billboard LP charts - starting a decline from his first solo album "Blows Against The Empire" from December 1970 at No. 20 to the "Sunfighter" album from December 1971 at No. 89. In Blighty and Ireland as I recall, this triple-credited solo album barely registered – also turning up in shops June 1973 to a bit of curiosity in the artwork and odd name – but a yawn at most else.

Which is a damn shame because what's contained within is one of their better almost hidden solo-gems in a long cannon of Airplane/Starship works - a transition LP between the sound of old Airplane morphing into the new Starship (David Freiberg had been a Vocalist, Guitarist and Songwriter with Quicksilver Messenger Service). And Esoteric Records of the UK (part of Cherry Red) seem to think so too giving the wee uppity litter runt of the litter a properly tasty reissue that restores the weird original artwork (all that physical and mental health stuff) and uses first generation Grunt master tapes for a reasonably improved audio go-round to an album that hasn't done well on digital before. Let's get chromium, healthy and restore posterity's noble heritage...

UK released 27 March 2020 (delayed from 4 March) - "Baron Von Tollbooth And The Chrome Nun" by PAUL KANTNER, GRACE SLICK and DAVID FREIBERG on Esoteric Recordings QECLEC 2713 (Barcode 5013929481381) offers a straightforward Remaster of the 1973 album and plays out as follows (40:25 minutes):

1. Ballad Of The Chrome Nun [Side 1]
2. Fat 
3. Flowers Of The Night 
4. Walkin' 
5. Your Mind Has Left Your Body 
6. Across The Board [Side 2]
7. Harp Tree Lament 
8. White Boy 
9. Fishman 
10. Sketches Of China 
Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun" - released June 1973 in the USA and UK on Grunt Records BFL1-0148 (same catalogue number for both countries). Produced by PAUL KANTER, GRACE SLICK and DAVID FREIBERG - it peaked at No. 120 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK). 

PAUL KANTNER - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Glass Harmonica on "Harp Tree Lament" and "White Boy" 
GRACE SLICK - Lead Vocals, Piano on all tracks except "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun" and "Harp Tree Lament"
DAVID FREIBERG - Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Piano on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun" and "Harp Tree Lament"

Guests:
JERRY GARCIA (of The Grateful Dead) - Guitar on all tracks except "Flowers Of The Night" and "Harp Tree Lament" - Steel Guitar on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun" and "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" - Banjo on "Walkin'" 
JORMA KAUKONEN (of Jefferson Airplane) – Lead Guitar on "Your Mind Has Left Your Body"
CRAIG CHAQUICO (of Jefferson Starship) – Lead Guitar on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun", "Flowers Of The Night" and "Fishman"
JACK TRAYLOR – Acoustic Guitar and Vocals on "Flowers Of The Night" - Vocals on "White Boy" and "Sketches Of China"
PAPA JOHN CREACH (of Jefferson Airplane) – Electric Violin on " Walkin'"
CHRIS ETHRIDGE (of The Flying Burrito Bros) – Bass Guitar on all tracks except "Your Mind Has Left Your Body", "White Boy" and "Fishman"
JACK CASADY (of Jefferson Airplane) – Bass Guitar on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun", "Flowers Of The Night" and "Fishman"
JOHN BARBATA (of Jefferson Airplane) – Drums and Percussion 
MICKEY HART (of The Grateful Dead) - Gongs on "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" and "Sketches Of China" - Water Phones on "Your Mind Has Left Your Body"
DAVID CROSBY (of The Byrds and CSNY) - Vocals on "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun"
THE POINTER SISTERS – Vocals on "Fat"

The gatefold card digipak and picture CD reproduce the 1973 LP artwork whilst the 16-page booklet gives the artwork of the inner sleeve a placing too. You get lyrics to all the songs, the three faces behind skulls and two skeleton paintings of the inner sleeve as well as those Hippocrates, Aristotle, Da Vinci etc drawings that adorned the top of the inner plus that gobbledygook about ‘good health’ – now spread strikingly across the booklet’s centre pages. 

Instead of the separate insert which came with original LPs that gave track-by-track musician breakdowns as well as vocal credits, Esoteric have compiled a who-played-on-what list themselves on Page 7 of the booklet. There are new liner notes entitled 'Find Out What And Who You Are' by MIKE METTLER that feature interviews with Jorma Kaukonen and Craig Chaquico about their Lead Guitar solo contributions (which lifted up so many of the better tracks) and there are the usual reissue credits. A good read then, with a favourable reappraisal of the album in the grand scheme of JA/JS things. 

The remaster boasts first generation Grunt Records master tapes but as anyone who knows the 'love it or lump it' production values of this LP, the audio even in the hands of BEN WISEMAN (a very experienced Audio Engineer) is better but never great. Audiophile fans should look away immediately. Having said that and having had this album for near on 50 years now - the Remaster is better on more cohesive and less cluttered tracks like the guitar-driven "Flowers Of The Night" and the expansive grunge drone guitars of the head-game "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" are way meatier than I've ever heard them. When its good - it's good - but when stuff like Grace Slick's angry "Across The Board" comes on or that intrusive Mellotron sound that hunkers down in the background of "Harp Tree Lament" - there is only so much you should expect from this. I like the improvements and am glad I have them. To the tunes and players...

Lonesome Piano and Guitar open Side 1's "Ballad Of The Chrome Nun", Grace Slick taking the first lead vocal, lyrics about 'not needing to be baptised' - while Craig Chaquico's guitar notes make themselves known. Axeboy Chaquico had been around the JA camp since his notice-me-right-now solo for "Earth Mother" on Kantner's 1971 effort "Sunfighter". Prodigy Chaquico would of course get better and better and I can vividly recall watching the Old Grey Whistle Test on British TV as Bob Harris told his audience to note Chaquico's stunning playing on "Ride The Tiger" from the "Dragon Fly" LP in late 1974. Speaking on cool guests and their excellent contributions, David Crosby does a Harmony Vocal over the guitar that is so subtle and sweet too. I didn't like "Fat" at first, but typically it's the kind of song that grows in stature although the Remaster hasn't made the intrusive Mellotron sound any better (The Pointer Sisters guest as Backing Singers). 

A member of the obscure West Coast band Steelwind, guest and pal to the band Jack Traylor wrote and sings "Flowers Of The Night" - once again CC providing genuinely notable guitar work. Traylor also had an album on Grunt in 1973 co-credited to him and Steelwind called "Child Of Nature" (Grunt Records BFL1-0194) - not a vinyl you see every day of the week. Papa John Creach lends his violin to "Walkin'" - a good tune - while Side 1 ends on what I think is the album's best cut - the mind melding ever-so-spaced-out Pink Floyd feel to "Your Mind Has left Your Body". Jorma Kaukonen lets his lead guitar shimmer in the grunge, while Kantner sings about riders of the rainbow and other mad let it grow hippie lyrics. There is a huge and magnificent feel to this lengthy Side 1 finisher - like they were on to something soundwise and were riding the waves as they came crashing out through the speakers. 

Side 2 opens with Grace being angry at both women and men on "Across The Board" – and especially women who need men for their dimensional skill sets.  David Hunter of The Grateful Dead fame lends his lyrics to the David Freiberg song "Harp Tree Lament" – a tune that hasn’t dated well really. Soundwise, again Kantner comes on all Pink Floyd circa "Animals" or even "The Wall" with the ominous and brooding "White Boy" subtitled in brackets on the record label as "Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues". It floats and uplifts in that strange Floyd Prog Rock kind of way as Kantner name-checks races and colours and creeds – the guitar drenched in a very cool sustain. I find both the cod rocker "Fishman" and the murky warlords in "Sketches Of China" to be both overwrought – JA just not knowing when to stop with the layer after layer of instruments. 

There are those who rate "Baron Von Tollbooth..." as a five-star forgotten gem. I would proffer three stars elevated up to four for this tasty 2020 reissue. Whatever you remember, I was a little taken aback at how much I enjoyed revisiting this audio-compromised mishmash. Nice one again boys...

Friday 26 June 2020

"Long John Silver/Thirty Seconds Over Winterland" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE – July 1972 (Studio) and April 1973 (Live) LPs on Grunt Records (USA and UK) featuring Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, Papa John Creach and John Barbata with Guest Drummers Joey Covington and Sammy Piazza on the Studio Album and Guest Vocalist David Freiberg on the Live LP (27 March 2020 UK Esoteric Recordings Reissue – 2LPs onto 2CDs (No Bonuses) – Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...







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TUMBLING DICE - 1972
- Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
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"...Trial By Fire..."

Jefferson Airplane's seventh and final studio album (as JA) "Long John Silver" was US released in late July 1972 on their own Grunt Records with a 7-track live reminder of their August/September 1972 US 'Silver' tour captured on "Thirty Minutes Over Winterland" – released April 1973. Both albums (minus any bonus material) are gathered here by England's Esoteric Recordings with New Remasters from original Grunt Records tapes in another typically exemplary reissue.

"Silver" charted well at home - peaking at No. 20 but only made No. 30 in the UK LP charts at the beginning of September 1972 and for only one week. "Winterland" pushed it to No. 53 in America in April 1973 but failed to ignite any real interest in Blighty where the band was seen as something of a 60ts spent force. And that's where this reissue comes in.

Typically rated in music guides as 5 out of 10 type-material from the classic line-up pens of Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jack Casady, Papa John Creach and Jorma Kaukonen - Esoteric wants you to reconsider. Like most fans at the time, I liked the elaborate and clever packaging for both records but wasn't too fussed on the music in the actual grooves. And I didn't start listening again until I heard Craig Chaquico's incendiary lead guitar playing on December 1974's "Dragon Fly" LP when it was featured by Bob Harris on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' - by which time the group was now the newly-named Jefferson Starship.

Maybe I missed something, Esoteric say. And having honestly not heard these platters in over 45 years and with these new remasters - the dapper English reissue lads may have something of a point (in places). Let's get to the cigar-box and the flying clock-toasters...

UK released 27 March 2020 - "Long John Silver/Thirty Seconds Over Winterland" by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE on Esoteric Recordings QECLEC22707 (Barcode 5013929480780) offers two albums from 1972 and 1973 newly Remastered onto 2CDs (no bonus tracks) that plays out as follows:

CD1 (42:19 minutes):
1. Long John Silver [Side 1]
2. Aerie (Gang Of Eagles)
3. Twilight Double Leader
4. Milk Train
5. The Son Of Jesus
6. Easter? [Side 2]
7. Trial By Fire
8. Alexander The Medium
9. Eat Starch Mom
Tracks 1 to 9 are their seventh studio album "Long John Silver" - released July 1972 in the USA on Grunt Records FTR-1007 and August 1972 in the UK on Grunt Records with the same catalogue number. Produced and Arranged by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - it peaked at No. 20 in the USA and No. 30 in the UK.

CD2 (37:48 minutes):
1. Have You Seen The Saucers? [Side 1]
2. Feel So Good
3. Crown of Creation
4. When The Earth Moves Again [Side 2]
5. Milk Train
6. Trial By Fire
7. Twilight Double Leader
Tracks 1 to 7 are the live album "Thirty Seconds Over Winterland" - released April 1973 in the USA on Grunt Records BFL-1-0147 and April 1973 in the UK on Grunt Records FTR 0147. Produced by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - it peaked at No. 53 in the USA (didn't chart UK) and the band featured David Freiberg on Vocals as well as the "Long John Silver" line-up of Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, Papa Jon Creach and John Barbata.

The three-flaps foldout card digipak feels substantial and it includes the artwork for both LPs spread across the digipak and 20-page booklet. You get '9 Fine Blends Of Fragrant Weed' artwork that came with original copies of the elaborately packaged 'Silver', the JA cigars inner and band photos, the lyrics to both sets, the fat man cartoon for the live Winterland set, period photos and the marijuana pictured on the original vinyl has even been repro'd beneath each see-through CD tray. It's nicely done and toped of with new liner notes from MIKE METTLER called "Oh, I Think That's Something You Might Have Missed!"

For sure JA fans may lament that the extended concert versions which appeared on the "Last Flight" 2CD reissue in 2007 would have complemented the live CD here and there was room to place some of the tracks too. But I think the New Remasters by BEN WISEMAN from original Grunt Records tapes more than makes up for any omissions. Both of these forgotten LPs feel alive and kicking anew - especially the studio set which is way better than I remember it. Let's get to the music...

The deliberately muddy production of "Long John Silver" combined with Slick's vocals feeling like they're in some adjacent hotel room lends the rollicking song about a man who's like a clock that needs no winding a sort of ramshackle magnificence. The same doomy vibe permeates Slick's "Aerie (Gang Of Eagles)" but this time the guitar work feels plodding. Creach and his violin come into the fore on "Twilight Double Leader" - the treated guitars now with more punch. "I just want to ride it some of the time..." Slick howls on "Milk Train" which feels like a rage at drugs taking much of her body and getting close to relieving her of most of her mind too. It's angry and one of the LP's better full-frontals.

The tirade continues with two attacks on organised religion - "The Son Of Jesus" and "Easter?" where JA speculate that Jesus may have had a daughter and Pope John should stop talking in a language no one understands or wants (Latin). The acoustic opening of "Trial By Fire" sounds great on this Remaster - Jorma Kaukonen making his vocal and songwriting presence seen for the first time. Love that sloppy guitar too and that final solo as he attacks some judgemental jerk with "...don't try to tell me just who I am when you don't know yourself..." Kantner sounds unconvincing on "Alexander The Medium" - another JA tune that threatens to be great but never quite gets there. It ends on the guitar riffage of "Eat Starch Mom" where Grace rants at men and their machines and their dumb statements.

The Live LP opens with a performance of "Have You Seen The Saucers?" from San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom taped in September 1972, the band sounding more coherent than they did on the studio album. They give it some Lou Reed Rock 'n' Roll Animal guitar groove in the eleven and half minutes of "Feel So Good" - Creach and crew stretching out in what feels like a really good Grateful Dead jam. The August 1972 Chicago Auditorium crowd roars their approval for "Crown of Creation”. They give it some Rock 'n' Roll on "Milk Train" - guitar and violin doing battle. Even better is "Trial By Fire" - five minutes of moving on out to the highway - Kaukonen adding some Allman Brothers cool to proceedings with his slinky groove. And it ends with a stretched out "Twilight Double Leader" - five and half minutes of guitars and combined vocals.

Both platters and their congested kind of Rock are of course period pieces now and you wouldn't say either album deserves more than five out of ten in 2020. But this reissue has done their forgotten grooves proud. Wings on clock toasters - well of course there are...

Thursday 28 May 2020

"When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS – Including The US Albums "Winds Of Change" (September 1967), "The Twain Shall Meet" (March 1968), "Every One Of Us" (August 1968), "Love Is" (December 1968 2LP set, April 1969 UK as a Single LP) and more (21 February 2020 UK Esoteric Recordings 5CD Box Set Containing Four Albums with Mini LP Card Repro Sleeves (the Mono and Stereo Sleeves of "Winds Of Change" are separate), a Fold-Out Poster and 66-Page Booklet Plus Ten Bonus Tracks – Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...







This Review Along With Over 310 Others Is Available In My
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CADENCE /CASCADE 
PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters
Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On
Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 
Just Click Below To Purchase
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"...The Twain Shall Meet..."

I've enjoyed a few tasty Box Sets in 2020 (despite lockdowns and other enslavements) - but this has to be one of my faves and an absolute shoe-in for how reissue should be approached. What a humdinger this gorgeous looking thing is. And it sounds the Ben Sherman too.

There's a lot of coloured rain, meetings of twains, winds of change, uppers and downers and a girl named Sandoz to wade through - so without any further sky pilots, let's get all San Franciscan man...

UK released 21 February 2020 - "When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 52700 (Barcode 5013929480001) is a 56-Track 5CD Oversized Clamshell Box Set of Remasters covering Four Studio Albums Plus Ten Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Winds Of Change" STEREO (60:34 minutes):
1. Winds Of Change [Side 1]
2. Poem By The Sea
3. Paint It Black
4. The Black Plague
5. Yes I Am Experienced
6. San Franciscan Nights [Side 2]
7. Man - Woman
8. Hotel Hell
9. Good Times
10. Anything
11. It's All Meat
Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Winds Of Change" - released September 1967 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4484 in Stereo (Mono variant is Disc 5) and November 1967 in the UK on MGM Records C 8052 (Mono) and CS-8052 (Stereo) – the STEREO MIX is used here. Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 42 in the USA (didn't chart UK).

BONUS TRACKS:
12. When I Was Young
13. A Girl Named Sandoz
Tracks 12 and 13 are the A&B-sides of a stand-alone 45 7" single released March 1967 in the USA on MGM Records K 13721 and May 1967 in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1340 - peaked at No. 15 in the USA and No. 45 in the UK

14. Ain't That So
Track 14 is the non-album B-side of "Good Times" - a UK 45 7" single released August 1967 on MGM Records MGM 1344 and December 1967 in the USA as the B-side of "Monterey" on MGM Records K 13868 - it peaked at No. 20 in the UK and with the different A-side at No. 15 in the USA

15. Gratefully Dead
Track 15 is the non-album B-side to "San Franciscan Nights" - a UK 45 7" single released October 1967 on MGM Records MGM 1359. The September 1967 US 45 7" single for "San Franciscan Nights" had "Good Times" on its B-side (MGM Records K 13794) - the UK B-side was exclusive

16. Anything (Single Version)
Track 16 is the non-album B-side to "Monterey" in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1412 - "Anything" was issued as a US 45 7" single in May 1968 on MGM Records K 13917 but as the A-side with "It's All Meat" on the flipside. The UK A-side is Track 11 on Disc 2

Disc 2 "The Twain Shall Meet" STEREO and MONO (56:22 minutes):
1. Monterey [Side 1]
2. Just The Thought
3. Closer To The Truth
4. No Self Pity
5. Orange And Red Beams
6. Sky Pilot [Side 2]
7. We Love You Lil
8. All Is One
Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "The Twain Shall Meet" - released March 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4537 in Stereo (only Promo copies were in Mono) and May 1968 in the UK on MGM Records C 8074 (Mono) and CS 8074 (Stereo) - the STEREO MIX is used here - Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 79 in the USA (didn't chart UK)

BONUS TRACKS:
9. Sky Pilot (Part One)
10. Sky Pilot (Part Two)
Tracks 9 and 10 are the A&B-sides of a Stereo 45 7" single released January 1968 in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1373 and May 1968 in the USA on MGM Records K 13939 - it peaked at No. 14 USA and No. 40 in the UK

11. Monterey (Mono Single Version)
Track 11 is the A-side of a May 1968 UK 45 7" single on MGM Records MGM 1412 (the B-side is Track 16 on Disc 1)

Disc 3 "Every One Of Us" STEREO (49:04 minutes):
1. White Houses [Side 1]
2. Uppers And Downers
3. Serenade To A Sweet Lady
4. The Immigrant Lad
5. Year Of The Guru
6. St. James Infirmary [Side 2]
7. New York 1963 - America 1968
Tracks 1 to 7 are the album "Every One Of Us" - released August 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4553 in Stereo (only Promo Copies were in Mono on MGM Records E-4553) - the STEREO MIX is used. Produced by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS - it peaked at No. 152 in the USA (this LP had no UK release).

BONUS TRACK:
8. White Houses (Single Version, Stereo Mix)
Track 8 is the A-side of a November 1968 US 45 7" single on MGM Records K 14013 (the B-side is "River Deep, Mountain High" – Track 10 on Disc 4)

Disc 4 "Love Is" STEREO (73:54 minutes):
1. River Deep, Mountain High [Side 1]
2. I'm An Animal
3. I'm Dying, Or Am I?
4. Ring Of Fire [Side 2]
5. Colored Rain
6. To Love Somebody [Side 3]
7. As The Years Go Passing BY
8. Gemini
9. The Madman
Tracks 1 to 9 are the US double-album "Love Is" - released December 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4591-2 in Stereo only and April 1969 in the UK as a 'single album' on MGM Records CD 8105 in Stereo. 
The 6-track UK LP can be sequenced from this CD as follows - Side A: 1. River Deep, Mountain High 2. I'm An Animal 3. I'm Dying, Or Am I? Side B: 1. Ring Of Fire 2. Coloured Rain 3. To Love Somebody 

BONUS TRACK:
10. River Deep. Mountain High (Single Version, Stereo Mix)
Track 10 is the B-side of "White Houses - a November 1968 US 45 7" single on MGM Records K 14013 (the A-side "White Houses" is Track 8 on Disc 3)

Disc 5 "Winds Of Change" MONO (43:53 minutes):
1. Winds Of Change [Side 1]
2. Poem By The Sea
3. Paint It Black
4. The Black Plague
5. Yes I Am Experienced
6. San Franciscan Nights [Side 2]
7. Man - Woman
8. Hotel Hell
9. Good Times
10. Anything
11. It's All Meat
Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Winds Of Change" - released September 1967 in the USA on MGM Records E-4484 (Mono) and MGM SE-4484 (Stereo) and November 1967 in the UK on MGM Records C 8052 (Mono) and CS-8052 (Stereo) – the MONO MIX is used here – Stereo CD Variant is Disc 1. Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 42 in the USA (didn't chart UK).







Substantial to hold and pretty to look at - the glossy outer hard-case Box Set has a pull out tray that offers five Mini LP Card Repro Sleeves of the American Artwork – Discs One to Five as listed above with the Stereo versions of "Winds Of Change" and "Love Is" being gatefolds while the other three are single sleeves (as per their original MGM Records artwork). The one-sided six-leaf foldout poster is fact an advert for the Box Set (very cool looking) and is a nice touch.

But the 66-Page Booklet is a straight-up work of art, a veritable feast of info and images. There are so many Psych-based posters of the period, concert and festival flyers, rare ticket stubs, trade adverts, live photos, promotional material and more. But surely the piece de resistance is Pages 56 to 63, each offering up a huge array of foreign picture sleeves for both singles and albums – France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Norway, Yugoslavia, USA, UK demos – and all in gorgeous colour. Combined with the preceding text that is in itself peppered with rare period stuff – it doesn’t half make an impact.

MALCOLM DOME also puts together a fantastic history of the period – his liner notes liberally dosed with recent conversations and remembrances on sessions and tours from band member Antion Meredith (the new name for Vic Briggs), guest Zoot Money (talking about future Police guitarist Andy Summers), producer Keith Olsen and more. There are even lists of live dates on the final pages that show the band criss-crossing the UK, Europe and the States. Although there are loads of snaps and warm recollections of his talent and charisma, conspicuous is the absence of EB in the notes? Also Esoteric forgot to put in the catalogue numbers I’ve provided above for any of the releases. But these minor points don’t stop "When I Was Young..." from being exemplary in every way.

The transfers are care of the vastly experienced Audio Engineer BEN WISEMAN – 24-bit digital Remasters from original tapes done at Broadlake Studios in Herefordshire. Those of us who have had to pick at the bones of these recordings across the decades will marvel at these punchy little beasts – only the BGO CD reissue of "Every One Of Us" gets close to how good these CDs sound. To the music...

After the dissolution of the R&B phase of the Animals with November 1966's "Animalisms", Burdon relocated to San Francisco and soaking up the hippy Psych counter-culture exploding there, he relaunched as Eric Burdon & The Animals. Drummer Barry Jenkins remained from the old line-up and in came the trio of John Weider on Guitar, Violin and Bass, Vic Briggs on Guitar and Piano (now known as Antoin Meredith) and Danny McCulloch on Bass. Wasting no time, the band launched their MGM contract with the Eddie Kramer engineered 45 times were very hard "When I Was Young" in April 1967 with the heavy fuzz-guitar Psych-based "A Girl Called Sandoz" on the flipside. Also recorded at that session was "And Just That" - a tune used in the 1967 James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin and Bobby Darin movie "Stranger In The House" (all three turn up in the Bonuses on Disc One). Burdon's new incarnation of The Animals hit big and fast - the single peaking at No. 9 in the USA while his native England seemed less interested with a No. 45 placing (Tina Turner, The Ramones and The Smashing Pumpkins have subsequently covered "When I Was Young"). To the mish-mash that was their MGM debut...

The "Winds Of Change" album is a product of Tom Wilson's one-take lackadaisical Production and the band's have-no-material, let's-make-it-up-right-here approach. But it did give way to experimentation with styles - the Tex Mex trumpet on "Hotel Hell", strings and Jazz moments on the ballad "Anything", Music Machine Bassist and future Producer Keith Olsen playing Bass on "Winds Of Change" and "The Black Plague" and Piano on "Good Times" because McCulloch had broken his wrist. A patchy album anyway, but when MGM put Burdon’s liner notes (a eulogy to acid) on the front cover instead of the inside (without his permission) – the band hated it and the public thought he was a preachy git. So even with good tunes like "San Franciscan Nights" and the Ray Charles, Ravi Shankar praising "It's All Meat" – stupid moves like Producer Wilson tricking the band into recording a substandard cover of "Paint It Black" by The Stones and then putting it on the album without their knowledge or permission – left a ranker.

And of course it's a period piece so stuff like the Tabla 'n' words experimentation of "Man - Woman" sound a tad trite 52 years on – but with this cracking audio – tunes like the sitar-driven eternity song "Winds Of Change", the I took a walk and wrote a "Poem By The Sea" song (with crashing percussion) and the take you under my wing "Anything" sound ahead of their time and not bound by it. I also rejigger the track list of the LP – drop "Man - Woman" and "Paint It Black" to include the Cream-sounding British B-side "Gratefully Dead" and "When I Was Young" – to get the album I really want (but that's just me!).

Ravi Shankar, The Who, Hugh Masekela, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix all get praised in the cool sounding "Monterey" – a fab groover about the famous 60ts Festival. With Guitar, Sitar and Horns ripping along like the theme song to some Tarantino movie about car chases and drugs – that sexy opener for "The Twain Shall Meet" album from March 1968 quickly segues into the Summer of Love swish and sway flower song "Just The Thought" (fab audio). Clever cross channel panning of the vocals and guitars opens the equally wicked "Closer To The Truth" and already three songs in and the album feels like the masterpiece the first LP struggled to be. Burdon advises that no matter how low you are, there is always someone lower in the philosophically dodgy and sound (at the same time) "No Self Pity" – a be what you are piece given hippy nuances with the Harpsichord and Sitar doing battle with the Bass and Burdon's otherworldly delivery. The seven minutes and thirty-six seconds of "Sky Pilot" is all flanged vocals and guitars - soldier's blood and crying mothers back home filling up the anti-war song with genuinely well-written lyrics. Another near eight-minute piece ends this excellent album - "All Is One" - opening with an uncredited Royal Scots Guards giving in some highland moaning bagpipes before we embark on a very-Doors we're all one and the sun is your son hippy trip. Yeah baby...

The "Every One of Us" LP divides people – I think its part genius and part crap. It starts out so well too. Eric thinks people better get straight in "White Houses" – a rather good jaunty tune tail-ended by cool guitar soloing. "Uppers And Downers" is a 20-second piss-take on the Grand Ole Duke of York melody of olde. Better is the John Weider instrumental "Serenade To A Sweet Lady" – a polished toe-tapping piece of Rock-Jazz music for the woman who would become his wife of the next 50 years (she sadly passed in 2019). Seagull screeches begin "The Immigrant Lad" – a very Donovan/Dylan strummed acoustic song - the Remastered audio gorgeous as Eric sings of coal and old sailors and the waters of time. Side 1 then ends with a tambourine-shaking shuffling rocker called "Year Of The Guru" that could have been a kick-ass single - clever follow-your-leader warning lyrics backed by brilliant piano fills and sexy overdubbed guitars.

Side 2 opens with "St. James Infirmary" – a brilliant Eric Burdon groove that is quickly side-swapped by the beast the album is most remembered for - the infamous near 19-minutes of "New York 1963 – America 1968" playing out Side 2 and overstaying its welcome big-time. Starting out well with sung lyrics about arriving in New York in 1963 where EB goes to the Bronx and the Apollo theatre – his Newcastle mind blown by multicultural parts of the city and the possibilities it offered. But of course assassinations in the news and the riots that followed soured the dream. Throughout this social commentary workout that then extends into 1968, John Weider plays a stormer on guitar while Zoot Money (credited as George Bruno) plays Organ and Piano. About 6:16, the music stops and becomes a spoken dialogue about a Government-abused pilot only to return to a slow-build of I Feel Free chants and music. You can either love it or hate it – and like most – you'll probably feel a bit of both.

Ex Dandelion's Lion and future Police axeman Andy Summers joined EB, Zoot Money, John Weider and Barry Jenkins for the double-album "Love Is" from December 1968. In an interesting aside, Eric Burdon & The Animals would join a very minimalist set of ranks - bands or artists who released three studio albums in the same year or three albums of original material in the same year (Creedence, Fleetwood Mac and Fairport Convention in 1969, Canned Heat and Matthews Southern Comfort in 1970, Nilsson in 1971, James Brown in 1973 to name but a few - my list is on-going and presently has only 22 names on it). Another cover of the Ike & Tina Turner classic "River Deep, Mountain High" might induce a yawn amongst listeners - but EB and his newly infused band go at it with Rocking R 'n' B gusto for seven and half minutes - his love for the lady boundless. Sly Stone's "I'm An Animal" gets an almost DIY punk ethic going on - hey hey hey, they shout - before it gets all mellow yellow and Soul-Rock-ish.

Their cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" sees EB give it some welly on those burns-burns-burns lyrics. But one of the double's undoubted highlights is the nine and half minutes of "Coloured Rain" where Summers and the other guitarists in the band get to stretch out with chops and changes on the Traffic cover that are almost Prog in their structure. Seven minutes of "To Love Somebody" does The Bee Gees proud - a daring re-working of their catchy hit made into an epic Rock tune. Don Robey's "As The Years Go Passing By" has Eric waxing lyrical about Blues Music and its effect - a fantastic ten-minute piano-and-guitar Blues Rock shuffler than got left off the single British LP when "Love Is" was finally released April 1969 in Blighty. "Gemini" gets eleven minutes of Psych blissed out free form brilliance - an obscure Steve Hammond song that would eventually show up on the lone self-titled Quatermass LP in May 1970 on Harvest Records (Hammond has also been in the ranks of Fat Mattress). It ends on the huge chunky doomy riffage of "The Madman" - a song that soon becomes a bopper as Eric ponders the world.

I'm fairly sure that 'outsiders' who do not know this part of Eric Burdon and The Animals story might wonder what all the fuss is about. But do I love you (my oh my) - bet your life baby. Well done to all the good bods who brought the legacy of "When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" to life...

Thursday 21 May 2020

"It's All About" by SPOOKY TOOTH - July 1968 UK Debut LP on Island Records in Stereo – featuring Mike Harrison, Gary Wright, Luther Grosvenor, Greg Ridley and Mike Kellie with Production and Song Co-Writes by Jimmy Miller (September 2016 UK Universal UMC/Island Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Ten Bonuses – Paschal Byrne and Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 




"...Love Really Changed Me..."

Underrated debuts, there's a shed load of them - and you can add July 1968's "It's All About" by SPOOKY TOOTH to that list.

Principal band member and lead vocalist Mike Harrison had come up through the 60ts R&B ranks with The V.I.P.'s in 1963 through to the Psych sounds of ART on Island Records (they made one revered album called "Supernatural Fairy Tales" in 1967) before forming Spooky Tooth with Keyboardist and Lead Vocalist Gary Wright, Lead Guitarist Luther Grosvenor, Bassist Greg Ridley and Drummer Mike Kellie (later 70ts ranks of the band would feature Mick Jones of Foreigner).

Between 1968 and 1974 Spooky Tooth popped out seven accomplished albums all of which have been Remastered and Reissued for these exemplary CD series (September and October 2016 releases). Their debut was actually issued in three configurations in the UK and America (different artwork too) and this CD reissue will allow punters to sequence all three. It's all about a roundabout indeed, to the rainbow details...

UK released 30 September 2016 - "It's All About" by SPOOKY TOOTH on Universal UMC/Island 570 547-1 (Barcode 602557054712) offers their 1968 debut album in Stereo in an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with 10 Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (72:01 minutes):

1. Society's Child [Side 1]
2. Love Really Changed Me
3. Here I Lived So Well
4. Too Much Of Nothing
5. Sunshine Help Me
6. It's All About A Roundabout [Side 2]
7. Tobacco Road
8. It Hurts You So
9. Forget It, I Got It
10. Bubbles
Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "It's All About" - released July 1968 in the UK on Island ILPS 9080 in Stereo and September 1969 in the USA as "Spooky Tooth" on Bell Records BELL 6019 with the tracks in a different running order. Produced by JIMMY MILLER (of Rolling Stones fame) - it didn't chart in either country.
To sequence that American LP use the following:
Side A: 1. It's All About A Roundabout 2. Tobacco Road 3. It Hurts You So 4. Forget It, I Got It 5. Bubbles
Side B: 1. Society's Child 2. Love Really Changed Me 3. Here I Lived So Well 4. Too Much Of Nothing 5. Sunshine Help Me
The American LP was reissued again in June 1971 on A&M Records SP-4300 with different artwork but with the original 1968 British album line up of songs (Tracks 1 to 10 above). The only difference being that "Too Much Of Nothing" was replaced as Track 4 on Side 1 with a cover version of The Band classic "The Weight" (Track 13 in the Bonuses).

BONUS TRACKS:
11. Sunshine Help Me (Original Version, Recorded 13 October 1967)
12. Weird (January 1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6022, non-album B-side to "Sunshine Help Me")
13. The Weight (September 1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6046, A, non-album track, cover of The Band classic)
14. Do Right People  (September 1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6046, B-side of "The Weight", non-album track)
15. Love Really Changed Me (Single Version) (June 1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6037, A)
16. Luger's Groove (June 1968 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6037, B-side of "Love Really Changed Me", non-album track)
17. It Hurts You So (Mono Mix)
18. Sunshine Help Me
19. Too Much Of Nothing (Tracks 18 and 19 are from a BBC Radio One "Top Gear" Session recorded 21 February 1968)
20. The Weight (Track 20 is from a BBC Radio One "Top Gear" Session recorded 30 September 1968)

The 12-page booklet is a pleasingly fact-filled affair although it could have featured the different US artwork for the "Tobacco Road" version of the album that also has the song "The Weight" substituted for "Too Much Of Nothing" – but alas. What you do get is new liner notes from MARK POWELL of Esoteric Recordings that features interviews with two of the band’s principal players – Mike Harrison and Gary Wright – both reminiscing with affection of their time with the eclectic Rock Band. There are also colour photos from the album cover shoot of the boys amidst the vegetation, other period snaps, a rare foreign picture sleeve for "Bubbles" and the usual musician/reissue credits.

Two of Universal’s leading Audio Engineers BEN WISEMAN and PASCHAL BYRNE have handled the analogue to digital transfers, mixes and Remasters – and this sucker boogies. Spooky Tooth always made somewhat of a chaotic and cluttered racket with moments of Psych and Rock Funk punctuating the guitars and keyboards and this Remaster handles the lot with admirable aplomb.

Their debut opens with a cover of Janis Ian's "Society Child" which like their version of Loudermilk's oft-copied "Tobacco Road" further on in the album is a radically reworked thing. But for me the album really opens with one of their own - the Luther Grosvenor, Jimmy Miller and Gary Wright composition "Love Really Changed Me" where they get piano funky on the intro only to go into 'save me' vocals towards the melodramatic end. Spooky Tooth had a certain sound that felt like a mash-up of Traffic, Moby Grape and Procol Harum - a sort of Soulful Rock meets art-house Psych - evidenced on the slow and trippy "Here I Lived So Well" (gorgeous Remaster on those etherial vocals and punchy bass).

Another cover gets Toothed - Bob Dylan's "Too Much Of Nothing" first aired by Peter, Paul & Mary in 1967 - bending guitar notes soon start going into a high-vocal Rock boogie - like Uriah Heap having too much fun. One of the album's best tracks, the Harpsichord opening and funky 'crazy dreams' "Sunshine Help Me" feels like Prog Rock Donovan meets Blood, Sweat & Tears (the single version is one of the bonus tracks). The short two minutes of "It's All About A Roundabout" opened the American LP on Side 1 and you can hear why - a poppy hippy moment that maybe Radio or DJs might hook into to. But my faves are two Jimmy Miller and Gary Wright songs - the hide and seek "It Hurts You So" and the brilliant "Forget It, I Got It" - a sort of Joe Cocker "Feelin' Alright" piano bopper that at times feels like Marriott and The Small Faces having an Immediate Records whig-out. Of the Bonuses, a real digital winner is the rarely heard B-side "Do Right People" – a Funky Rock charmer that could easily have been on the album. Speaking of those who like their 60ts on a funky tip – the 21 June 1968 45 on Island WIP 6037 has a winner non-LP B-side instrumental called "Luger's Groove" - Spooky Tooth having a sort of Santana goof off moment – speedy guitar soloing anchored by piano rolls – very cool indeed.

Mike Harrison did three solo albums on Island and Good Ear Records between 1971 and 1975 (see my review of those on Beat Goes On CDs), Luther Grosvenor joined Stealers Wheel for a brief stint in 1972, then changed his name to Ariel Bender and joined Mott The Hoople for their seventh album "The Hoople" in 1974. Gary Wright later had two huge No. 2 US hit singles with the Yacht Rock of "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive" in 1976 – both from his 1975 platinum Warner Brothers album "The Dream Weaver".

For sure July 1968's "It's All About" is something of an acquired taste in May 2020 – but it sounds good to me and those ten bonuses make it taste a whole lot better too...

SPOOKY TOOTH
September and October 2016 
Universal/Island CD Expanded Edition Remaster Series:

1. It's All About (1968 Debut) - 30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-1 (Barcode 602557054712) with 10 Bonus Tracks
2. Spooky Two (1969 2nd LP) - 7 Oct 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-3 (Barcode 602557054736) with 9 Bonus Tracks
3. Ceremony: An Electronic Mass (1969 3rd LP with Pierre Henry) - 7 Oct 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-0 (Barcode 602557054705) with 6 Bonus Tracks
4. The Last Puff (1970 4th LP) - 7 Oct 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-5 (Barcode 602557054750) with 6 Bonus Tracks
5. You Broke My Heart...So I Busted Your Jaw (1973 5th LP) - 30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-8 (Barcode 602557054781)
6. Witness (1973 6th LP) - 30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-7 (Barcode 602557054774) with 1 Bonus Track
7. The Mirror (1974 7th LP) - 30 Sep 2016 CD release on Universal/Island 570 547-6 (Barcode 602557054767)

Tuesday 28 April 2020

"Refugee" by REFUGEE – April 1974 Debut and Only LP on Charisma Records featuring Bassist Lee Jackson and Drummer Brian Davison (both ex The Nice) with Keyboardist Patrick Moraz of Yes (30 August 2019 UK Esoteric Recordings 3CD Expanded Edition Box Set featuring Two Live CDs as Bonuses – A Previously Unreleased BBC Radio One "In Concert" Show from 9 May 1974 and a Live Show at Newcastle City Hall 16 June 1974 First Issued in 2007 – Jean Ristori and Patrick Moraz Remaster of The Album and Newcastle Show with a Ben Wiseman Remaster on the May 1974 BBC Radio One Concert) - A Review by Mark Barry...







"...Grand Canyon and The Future Relayer..."

In 2020, the three multi-instrumentals that made up England's REFUGEE are a footnote in Prog Rock's rich and illustrious history – a banks-of-keyboards band that could have become a force to be reckoned with, but were hit with bad luck and inopportune timing.

To set the scene - newcomer and then virtual unknown Swiss Keyboardist Patrick Moraz had joined forces with two other virtuoso players – Bassist Lee Jackson and Drummer Brian Davison – both of whom had done Prog and Classical Rock time with The Nice before Keith Emerson broke of to form ELP in 1970. Taking their name from a girlfriend's comment, Refugee made one album on Charisma Records in 1974 but then promptly imploded when Moraz was poached for YES (replacing Rick Wakeman).

This beautifully done 3CD Box Set from Esoteric Recordings of the UK (part of Cherry Red) remasters their solitary self-titled album and throws in two live shows on Discs 2 and 3 recorded in the same year (1974) – one Previously Unreleased BBC Concert, the other only issued in 2007 – with the whole lot newly remastered under the supervision of Moraz. Let's get to the Grand Canyon and the future Relayer…

UK released 30 August 2019 - "Refugee" by REFUGEE on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 32685 (Barcode 5013929478503) is a Expanded Edition 3CD Mini Clamshell Box Set of Remasters that plays out as follows:

CD1 "Refugee" (51:27 minutes):
1. Papillon [Side 1]
2. Someday
3. Grand Canyon
First Movement - The Source
Second Movement - Theme For The Canyon
Third Movement - The Journey
Fourth Movement - Rapids
Fifth Movement - The Mighty Colorado
4. Gate Crasher
5. Ritt Mickley [Side 2]
6. Credo
First Movement - Prelude
Second Movement - I Believe
Third Movement - Theme
Fourth Movement - Lost Cause
Fifth Movement - Agitato
Sixth Movement - I Believe (Part II)
Seventh Movement - Variation
Eighth Movement - Main Theme Finale
Tracks 1 to 6 are their debut and sole album "Refugee" - release 19 April 1974 in the UK on Charisma CAS 1087 and July 1974 in the USA on Charisma FC 6066. The one-minute track "Gatecrasher" appeared on the US LP (in the position its placed on this CD) but was not credited on the UK vinyl variant.

CD2 "BBC Radio One In Concert 9 May 1974" (33:13 minutes):
1. Ritt Mickley
2. Someday
3. The Grand Canyon Suite
First Movement - The Source
Second Movement - Theme For The Canyon
Third Movement - The Journey
Fourth Movement - Rapids
Fifth Movement - The Mighty Colorado
Produced by JEFF GRIFFIN and Engineered by JOHN ETCHELS (introduction from Mike Harding) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD3 "Live At The Newcastle City Hall 16 June 1974" (64:22 minutes):
1. Outro - Ritt Mickley
2. One Left Handed Peter Pan
3. The Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon
4. Someday
5. Papillon
6. She Belongs To Me
7. The Grand Canyon Suite
First Movement - The Source
Second Movement - Theme For The Canyon
Third Movement - The Journey
Fourth Movement - Rapids
Fifth Movement - The Mighty Colorado
8. Refugee Jam
First issued 2007 as the CD "Live In Concert (Newcastle City Hall 1974)" on Voiceprint VP421CD. Tracks 3 and 6 are cover versions - 3 originally by The Nice and 6 by Bob Dylan.
 
These mini Clamshell Box Sets always lend a release a whiff of class and the Remastered and Extended "Refugee" is no different. You get three card sleeves - the two live sets featuring new artwork, a 16-page booklet with new liner notes from MARTYN HANSON author of "Hang On To A Dream: The Story Of The Nice", period photos of the three-piece in live mode and trade adverts. More importantly, the whole shebang is touched up with top-notch Remasters by JEFF RISTORI at MTX Mastering (CD 1 and CD3) - whilst long-time association audio engineer to Esoteric BEN WISEMAN handled the new BBC In Concert recordings on CD2 - all supervised by Moraz. The Audio is massive and full on - multi-instrumental passages coming at you like Todd Rundgren's Utopia on too many Vitamin C shots. To the music...

The second the wild piano-playing of "Papillon" hits your speakers, you know you're in the presence of a beast - a full-on ELP outburst in all but different name. Brian Davison plays Drums, Timpani, Gongs, Tibetan Temple Bells, African Drums, Kabassa and even a bit of Broken Glass - and you can hear the lot. "Someday" features Lee Jackson on Lead Vocals shouting about going on a trip to far flung places - locking up the house and the Bass Guitar - and while his vocals haven't dated that well - the sheer Greenslade exuberance of that keyboard break has. The first of the album's centerpieces is a seventeen-minute five-moment called after an appropriately majestic thing - "Grand Canyon". The keyboard flourishes and clear-as-a-bell Bass notes are so Yes and remind me of passages in Jon Anderson's 1976 masterpiece "Olias Of Sunhillow". 

The keyboard throwaway moment (complete with cough and voices) that is "Gatecrasher" is huge - one minute of Moraz getting funky with his synth before it crashes into Side 2 proper and the very ELP "Ritt Mickley" - fantastic muscle in the audio. We piano-slide into the album's second centerpiece - eighteen minutes of the eight-part "Credo" - Moraz really getting to shine as he races up and down that grand piano. Those huge organ notes and vocals around about seven minutes are now bigger than I remember it. Audio-wise I’d admit the BBC session is good without ever being great - huge chunky notes and the rhythm section of Bass and Drums rattling across your speakers with intent - even if it feels as if the keyboards are too far back on occasion. But when Moraz is soloing – it’s damn impressive. The 2007 set are simply more of the same.

When Refugee imploded, Swiss Keyboardist Patrick Moraz joined the ranks of Yes replacing Rick Wakeman who was pursuing a successful solo career over on A&M Records with "The Six Wives Of Henry The VIII" (1973) and "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" (1974). Filling very big boots, Moraz would be successfully launched by Yes in November 1974 with the brilliant "Relayer" album on Atlantic Records and then get his own solo LP in 1976 on Charisma with "The Story Of 'I'". Brian Davison did a short stint in Steve Hillage’s Gong in 1975 - another band getting noticed over on Virgin Records while Bassist Lee Jackson would stay out of the limelight until the 2010s when he joined a reformation of his old Charisma Label Prog Rock muckers The Nice for live shows.

Despite original refusals to join Yes, Moraz was too good to stick around with Refugee and ultimately made the right choice (a perfect fit for the English supergroup). Still – Refugee had had their moment and left behind a rich one. And as a remembrance with both stylistic presentation and top Audio - this is as good as any almost-supergroup could have hoped for…

INDEX - Entries and Artist Posts in Alphabetical Order