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"...Bloodshot Eyes..."
Marin
County's SEATRAIN made little impact in the UK and "Watch" - their
4th studio album and first/last for Warner Brothers in 1973 - ploughs a poor
man's path between substandard America and England Dan and John Ford Coley.
It's a strictly 3-star album – but it has at last been given a proper 5-star
audio reissue by England's Beat Goes On. Here are the Californian details...
UK
released 27 January 2017 - "Watch" by SEATRAIN on Beat Goes On BGOCD
1262 (Barcode 5017261212627) is a straightforward CD Reissue of their 1973
9-track album on Warner Brothers Records that plays out as follows (39:56
minutes):
1.
Pack Of Fools [Side 1]
2.
Freedom Is The Reason
3.
Bloodshot Eyes
4.
We Are Children Too
5.
Abbeville Fair
6.
North Coast [Side 2]
7.
Scratch
8.
Watching The River Flow
9.
Flute Thing
Tracks
1 to 9 are their 4th studio album "Watch" - released March 1973 in
the USA on Warner Brothers BS 2692 and Warner Brothers K 46222 in the UK.
Engineered by Jay Messina and Produced by Buell Neidlinger - it failed to chart
in either country.
SEATRAIN
was:
ANDY
KULBERG - Bass, Flute and Lead Vocals
PETER
WALSH - Guitar, Bass and Vocals
LLOYD
BASKIN - Keyboards, Clavinet and Vocals
BILL
ELLIOTT - Keyboards, Accordion and ARP Synth
JULIO
CORONADO - Drums
JIM
ROBERTS - Lyrics, Vibes, Ideas
Guests:
Sha
Na Na - Party Vocals on "North Coast"
Sandra
Lee - Duet Vocals on "Freedom Is The Reason"
Bob
Stuart on Tuba and Bill Keith on Banjo - "Bloodshot Eyes"
The
outer card slipcase is classy looking and the 16-page booklet affords lyrics,
full musician credits and a new essay on the band's history by noted writer
JOHN O'REGAN. He talks of their 2nd and 3rd albums on Capitol Records being
produced by none other than George Martin of Beatles fame. But the big news for
fans of this album (long since absent from any decent reissue) is stunning new
audio care of a High Definition transfer from real tapes by BGO's resident
Audio Engineer ANDREW THOMPSON. This CD sounds amazing and for lovers of the
album will be a must buy.
I
wish I could say the same about the music. Of all the first four Seatrain
albums that cluttered up bargain bins for decades - this non-charter was the
most common and it’s painfully obvious why. Setting aside two wildly useless
cover versions acting as filler on Side 2 - Bob Dylan's "Watching The
River Flow" and Al Kooper's "Flute Thing" instrumental from his
days with The Blues Project - the other seven band originals (lyrics by Jim
Roberts) are insipid sub Americana tunes without the melodies to keep you interested.
A
genuine moment of Soulful Rock though comes in the form of the Kulberg/Roberts
composition "Freedom Is The Reason" - but cheese like "We Are
Your Children Too" and the cod Vaudeville of "Bloodshot Eyes"
are hard to take. Lovers of funky instrumentals by Rock acts with a Soulful tip
in them – will dig the hippy Flute and Bongo vibe of "Flute Thing"
too - a track that was featured on the Rhino 4CD Box Set for Funky Rare Grooves
from the WEA Archives called "What It Is!" in 2006.
This
is a beautiful sounding CD for sure - one in a long line from England's Beat
Goes On. I just wish I could say the music was worth it. Still - fans of the
album and Seatrain in general will absolutely need to own this...
