** From Clark Ray to All on 10 Aug 97  16:42:00
 ** Prog I've bought recently
 CR> Spirit -- The Family That Plays Together
 CR> Very good stuff, but I typically skip the first song, "I Got A Line On
 CR> You," because I've heard it too much.  Neat stuff these guys do.  Why
 CR> don't Prog fans talk about this more?  I've also got _The Twelve
 CR> DReams of Dr. Sardonicus_ and it's quite good too.
 I heard the other week that Randy California, the lead guitarist, died
 in a drowning accident in California.*  A shame, since Spirit was a good
 band and Randy was crazed in concert. Incidentally, Spirit drummer Jack
 Cassidy was Randy's father.  Anything by them is worth having.
 *I heard this at a Moby Grape gig, no less. Yep, Moby Grape, another
 original '60's band, popping out of retirement after 30 years to do
 some club dates in NYC.  I always have mixed feelings about this sort
 of thing, but the Grape show was a delight throughout.  Three original
 members (Jerry Miller, Peter Lewis, and Bob Mosely), plus a new drummer
 replacing original Don Stevenson, and Sam Andrew from Big Brother and
 the Holding Company filling in for Skip Spence on rhythym guitar and
 vocals.  In proper 90's fashion, Skip faxed a greeting to the band
 during the gig...  Age and time doesn't seem to have dimmed their
 enthusiam or chops - they rocked like a bitch through the whole set, and
 did most of the material from that first Grape LP that is *another* of
 my ten all time faves. Yet another band that is off topic, however -
 these are the guys I used to refer to when I told Lynyrd Skynyrd fans
 I'd heard that sort of thing done better ten years before LS became
 known.
 CR> Roxy Music -- Viva! Roxy Music
 CR> A live set recommended to me by Stuart (he used to be here too) and
 CR> I'm glad I bought it.  I haven't had a chance to listen to the whole
 CR> thing more than once, but "If There Is Something" and "Out of the Blue"
 CR> stand out.
 Just about anything Roxy did stands out.  I saw tham live, and a friend
 who was in the upper balcony doing nitrous oxide babbled about having a
 religious experience when they played.  I *wasn't* doing nitrous oxide,
 and I damn near had one, so I understand his feelings. If my apartment
 was on fire and I could only save ten of the 1500+ albums I own,
 something by Roxy would be one of them.  The only question is which
 one, and I might well die of smoke inhalation trying to make up my
 mind...
 Side note on Roxy - Brian Ferry, the bassist, and the drummer would lay
 down basic rhythym tracks and vocals in the studio, then guitarist Phil
 Manzanera would takes the tapes home and work with them in his home
 studio.  By the time he got done, they sounded completely different..
 If I recall correctly, there is an LP with Manzanera playing in the
 same group with Richard Thompson, called _Phil Manzanera and the
 Explorers, or somesuch.  One of these days I'll find a copy.
 CR> The Moody Blues -- Days of Future Passed, On The Threshold Of A Dream,
 CR> To Our Children's Children's Children, In Search of the Lost Chord
 CR> I used to not think that this band was Prog, but I was wrong.  I
 CR> suppose that it fits more in with Psychedelic sometimes, but I like it
 CR> equally.  They can be scary on one song and quite beautiful on the
 CR> next. I like that.
 I'm long OD'ed on _Days of Future Past_, but I consider _To Our
 Children's Children;s Children_ an overlooked classic.  I never really
 thought of them as a prog band, or a psychedelic band.  They started as
 a blues rock outfit, but made a complete change when they started
 dabbling with an orchestra.
 CR> Ultimate Spinach -- III
 CR> I bought this at a Rhino records outlet in L.A. because it was cheap.
 CR> Stuart told me that they were suppossed to be Psych.  Well, it's not,
 CR> The cover of "Romeo and Juliet" is decent as is "Some Days You Just
 CR> Can't Win."
   Back in the 60's, when the "San Franciso Sound" was the big
 thing, Capitol, Warner/Reprise, and Columbia Records pretty much sewed
 up the market.  Also-ran MGM tried to start a movement of their own
 based on Boston bands called the Bosstown Sound, and Ultimate Spinach
 was one of them.  It bombed, for good reason.  For a Boston band on MGM
 from that period that *is* worth listening to, try to find a copy of
 the LP _Definition_ by a band called Chrysalis.  The sound is Zappaish,
 with harpsichord riffs scampering around odd time signatures and
 distorted guitar. Leader Spider Barbour was a grad student in
 Entymology, and the songs have all manner of strange insect references.
 I like to play it back to back with _The United States of America_:
 they seem to fit together well.
 Another Boston band from that period worth looking for is Earth Opera,
 whose two albums on Elektra introduced the rock audience to Peter
 Rowan.  Earth Opera was as close to prog as Rowan got.  He did three
 albums with his brothers Chris and Lorin for Asylum, which were
 California country rock, and these days is pretty much a straight
 bluegrass musician.  (The first Rowan Brothers album is another of my
 ten all time faves, and what I always *wished* CSN&Y would sound like,
 but hardly on topic for this echo. :-) )
 CR> Gentle Giant -- In A Glass House
 CR> Up there with _Free Hand_ in my opinion, and I really like _Free
 CR> Hand_. The opening song works better on the _Playing The Foole_ live
 CR> album, but it's a great song anyway.
 I like just about anything by Gentle Giant, thouhg my favorite may be
 _Octopus_.
 CR> Gentle Giant -- In Concert (BBC)
 CR> This is later material played live and so you can't expect much.  The
 CR> only stuff that I like is when they play the earlier material.  They
 CR> could still pull it off.
 This I don't have, but wouldn't mind hearing.
 [Email: dmccunney@roper.com]
---
 * Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 *
--- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j'
---------------