Bassist Dan Friedman and singer/drummer David Stock met in 1966 when they were attending The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Interested in forming a rock band they quickly recruited fellow students keyboardist Mark Jordan and lead guitarist Mark Ziegler. As The Thomas A. Edison Electric Band the quartet began playing local Philadelphia dances and parties, getting their first break when they were signed by Cameo-Parkway. The following the year they released their debut single:
- 1967's 'Methyl Ethyl' b/w 'The Name Of The Game' (Cameo-Parkway catalog number C-490)
While the single didn't do anything commercial, they were then hired to provide music for a quickie exploitation album on Cameo-Parkway's Wyncote budget label. Released in 1967 and credited to The Chimps, the album featured a collection of Monkees covers and throwaway garage numbers ("Monkey Business" Wyncote catalog W-9199).
Frustrated with their inability to break commercially the group followed the rest of the country, heading for San Francisco in 1968. Having shortened their name to The Edison Electric Band, in 1970 they scored a contract with Atlantic's Cotillion subsidiary, releasing their debut album; the Joel Dorn and Jack Shaw produced "Bless You Dr. Woodward". In an unfortunate turn of events during the recording sessions Ziegler broke his arm in motorcycle accident and T.J. Tindall (who'd already recorded a single as a member of the Trenton, New Jersey-based The Galaxies IV) was brought in as a replacement. Showcasing a largely original set of material, the album was quite diverse with the band taking shots at a broad array of genres including blues, country-rock, pop, and conventional rock. Showcasing Stack's likeable voice and a line up with more technical proficiency than most of the competition, virtually all of the performances were good, but the absence of a distinctive sound certainly didn't help their cause. In fact the set was so diverse at times you almost wondered whether it was the same band. It almost sounded like they were recording a marketing demo intended to showcase their ability to handle any genre.
- Opening up with a breezy pop melody, ''Ship of the Future' started the album with a surprisingly commercial orientation. Even better was Jordan's cool mid-song synthesizer solo. Not sure what he was playing, but it had a mesmerizing sound. rating: *** stars
- 'Over the Hill' began with an atmospheric church organ segment before morphing into a pretty mid-tempo ballad, and finally ending as an Allman Brothers-styled guitar workout. The track also served as a nice platform for Stack's attractive and commercial voice (which had just enough edge to be FM friendly). rating: *** stars
- Their instrumental cover of Percy Mayfield's bluesy 'Please Send Me' marked a sudden change in direction. Propelled by Jordan's piano, a nice Friedman bass, and a restrained Tindall solo, the results were attractive in a supper club kind of way. Nothing all that special. rating: ** stars
- 'Baby Leroy' found the band pursuing a nice blue-eyed soul feel. Imagine something Delaney and Bonnie might have recorded. rating: *** stars
- 'Royal Fool' started side two with a nice country-rock number. Pretty melody with a nice electric keyboard from Jordan made this one quite radio friendly. Stack turned in one of his best vocals on this one. rating: *** stars
- 'West Wind' was a standard and pedestrian blues-rocker. The first real disappointment, the best things here were Friedman's busy bass pattern and the nice call and response harmony vocals. rating: ** stars
- It's funny, I'm normally not a big R&B fan but their cover of Doc Pomus' 'Lonely Avenue' was one of the standout performances. Stack's hesitant vocals (it almost sounded like he was singing it phonetically), and Jordan's Hammond B-3 gave the song an interesting edge. Very nice ! rating: **** stars
- Another abrupt shift in musical direction, 'Island Sun' found the band turning in a Latin-flavored rocker. Sporting heavy percussion and some nice twin lead guitar, this one sounded like a Manassas outtake. rating: *** stars
- So why not take a stab at a heavy metal song? Okay, here's 'Smokehouse'. With Stacks spoken word segments this one sounded like a Black Oak Arkansas throwaway (not that wasn't a good thing). rating: ** stars
- Tacked on to the end of the album, Tindall's only contribution, the brief instrumental 'Lebanese Packhorse' was also the standout performance. It didn't even last a minute, but the track had an instantly appealing ominous feel. Wish they'd included a longer take. rating: **** stars
Cotillion also tapped the album for a single in the form of:
- 'Ship of the Future' b/w 'West Wind' (Cotillion catalog number 45-44071
Shame they weren't able to imprint more personality on the album. Largely panned by critics (bless his soul Robert Christgau was one of the few exceptions), the album didn't do much commercially and within a couple of months the band had called it quits.
From RYM (rdten1)
Of the multitude of obscure fusion albums released in the mid 1970s, Drops is definitely in the top tier of that bunch. Foregoing the temptation to add US styled funk seems to be the separator, while the band focuses more on melody and composition rather than pointless solos. 5 piece group with all the requisite instrumentation (sax, flute, el. piano, synthesizer, guitar, bass and drums). While certainly not at the level of the best German fusion groups like Embryo or Missus Beastly, Drops is well worth considering especially if your tastes run more towards jazz than rock. Features two members from Thors Hammer. Drops is on the same label as Fred Israel and Buki-Yamaz.
From RYM (ashratom)
ok some of it is, but on half of these tracks, the lead vocals were handled by some session singer at the management's or label's or producer's request.
frankly that decision is plain baffling, because the singer used would clearly have been more suited to soul/motown music than a trippy garagey album and because the band's own singer (who sings on a handful of songs here and some fine singles) sounds like a snottier west-coast version of Mick Jagger.
Then there's the two instrumentals created by the producer that the band doesnt even play on.
sure the band were short changed by some of those decisions, especially the singer, but at the end of the day the finished record is actually really good.
its a mix of trippy garagey music, with some more overtly psychedelic moments such as the two aforementioned instrumentals, the bo diddley-meets-raga track of Gone And Passes By, the backwards ending of the title track and the trippy ending of Gossamer Wings.
Sure this could have been better if the band's own singer (should really put in the effort to look up his name here) had handled the vocals, but as it is this is a great psychedelic garage album.
From RYM (koeeoaddi_there)
This group's only album was released on the Apostrophe label, apparently a private label ran by the band, since one of their compositions on the album was entitled "Apostrophe".
Well, if you're a Gentle Giant fan, give this album a try. This is very much the French-Canadian answer to that band: lots of similar complex instrumental arrangements and ingenious vocal harmonies that are undeniably Gentle Giant influences. But there's also some big differences, for one thing, they featured a female vocalist named Marie Bernard Pagé, who handles some keyboard work. She even handled an Ondes Martenot, an early synthesizer prototype from the 1920. Et Cetera is the only prog band I know to use one, it's more associated with avant garde classical and sci fi (including the female chorus you hear on the original 1960s Star Trek TV theme song). The rest of the band consists of what you often expect in prog: Minimoog, string synths, piano, electric piano, Hohner clavinet, guitars (both electric and acoustic), bass, drums, flute, and sax. While I'm not familiar with the music of Maneige, that was one band Et Cetera is often compared with. There is the occasional acoustic passage that reminds me of Pollen during their more acoustic moments or perhaps Harmonium, while the more jazzy moments remind me a bit of Sloche when the Gentle Giant influences show up in that band (perhaps because Sloche used a similar setup of keyboards and they too had two keyboardists).
Clone bands might get a few running away, especially those who had a bad experience with Starcastle or Triumvirat (I realize as excellent as those bands are, many don't take to kindly to those bands, not just certain prog rock fans, but less surprisingly, the rock critics), but Et Cetera really did a great job with the Gentle Giant sound with their own touches. Great stuff and highly recommended.
From RYM (Proghead72)
Fat City's first album on ABC's Probe imprint is a good slice of psychedelic folk-rock. This is before they met and befriended John Denver. Reminds me of bands like Pidgeon and Jefferson Airplane.
From RYM (Sleepobsessed)
The debut from last of the important Danish hippe-groups, before punk and new wave made their kind seem terribly obsolete.
By accident I witnessed their debut-concert as they were support for my beloved Blue Öyster Cult in - I think - 1975, before even this album was out. It was in their first and best incarnation with the guioar-player Finn Jensen, who also was a great singer in the John Lennon-mold. And way before Happy Mondays/Bez they had a guy, who just danced and play various percussion. He was called Anapurna and given a single song as well, "Narrens sang", which is included here.
This album is a fairly good representation of the Danish grass-roots hippie movement in its last stage. And as such quite enjoyable. But also almost unbearably naïve in places.
From RYM (Drifterdk)
The review below is probably a little bit exaggerating, but this is indeed a very good record, which occupies a thin line between popsike and proto-progressive. Usually referred to as a Moody Blues wannabes or something, Jupiter Sunset were in fact a highly talented band with a great knack for bright, infectuous melodies - Paul McCartney would have been proud to write some of the tracks from this album. The arrangements are top-notch as well, mostly based on guitars and keys (piano, organ, you name it), but also utilising strings and horn section when necessary. Recommended!
From RYM (levgan)
Fairly typical mid-70's symphonic prog. Featuring a mix of English and German vocals, this is a decent blend of medium and hard prog with synthesizer and symphonic moves, as well as some heavy guitar. My track gradings are all pretty evenly spaced between C+ and B+, including the bonus tracks. Comes with the standard Garden of Delights booklet. Recommended.
From RYM (tymeshifter)
From RYM (b_olariu)
- 1967's 'Shake A Tail Feather' b/w 'Tell Me What To Do' (Paula catalog number 261)
- 1967's 'Harlem Shuffle' b/w 'You Really Got A Hold On Me' (Paula catalog number 283)
- 1967's 'Fire' b/w 'Hang Up' (Paula catalog number 302)
The third single provided the group with a modest top-60 hit which was apparently enough for Paula to rush the group into the studio to record a supporting album. Produced by Gene Kent, 1968's "Next Exit" offered up a mix of the earlier singles and new studio material. Apparently not too comfortable with the band's creative talent, the focus was on better known material; in this case a mix of popular and lesser known hits. Green's wonderful 'Too Much Tomorrow' was the one exception and also provided the stand out track making you wonder how good the album would have been if they'd been given a little more creative freedom. Clearly determined to maximize commercial potential, the set covered virtually every musical niche imaginable including competent stabs at blue-eyed soul ('Soul Man'), conventional top-40 pop, and frat rock (their earlier 'Shake a Tail Feather' rave-up). Best of all were the band's stabs at psych oriented material. Their raw cover of Joe South's 'Hush' easily put Deep Purple's better known cover to shame. Similarly 'Nothing You Do', their wild take on Arthur Lee and Love's '7 and 7 Is' (be sure to check out the re-channeled stereo with a good pair of headphones), and the sitar propelled cover of The Sir Douglas Quintet's 'She Digs My Love' were all worth hearing. Paula also pulled another single from the album: 'Ain't Gonna Be Your Fool No More' b/w 'She Digs My Love'
From RYM (RDTEN1)
Relatively cool Buffalo Springfield inspired major label release with a sprinkle of Beatlesque harmonies in spots. It steps up a notch due to the cult therapy inspiration and overall life values implied in the liner notes, which breathes limited showers and rice diets. Charmingly of its time, but wholly entertaining - an enjoyable listen in the realm of labelmates The Oxpetals. Production expirements in unexpected areas are a plus!
From RYM (latenight)
Funny how i dont like Savage Grace at all however this album has some really good tunes. Mystery Train (The Vocals Sound Like Mick Jagger) Babylon is a great song as is Matchstick (Matchstick has some pretty brutal lyrics). Check this out.
From RYM (classicrockman)
Really good jazzy rock stuff. The stand out tracks for me are "Contry Pine" and "Stay Awhile".
I love these bands that have both black and white players, lots of members, facial hair, horn sections, a flute and somewhere maybe some bongos. This combination can normally only lead to excellent soulful jazzy rock..
From RYM (MH1000)
Pretty decent obscure Canadian band playing music in a similar style to American bands such as Blues Image but maybe more (Slightly) proggy in places like the intro to the excellent title track which then goes off in a country/rural direction. Lots of good acoustic guitar work in places.
"Be Free" is a nice shorter commercial track with an attractive acoustic guitar riff.
From RYM (PROGROCKASAURUS)
