New Zealand Trading Company As Love Is Born An Ominous Death For Hatred

You have to evolve and grow and become a stronger individual through life experiences. I've recently been through a very black period and it has left me determined about several things. Most importantly, I must take better care of myself and that includes all forms of health mental and physical. I've disowned nearly all heavy metal and even a lot of offshoots. I need to start giving myself a heavy dose of Europe in the form of German masterpiece albums like my fave Walpurgis's QUEEN OF SABA- their only album and the one absolutely essential-for-every-collection album on the otherwise lame OHR label. I am planning to see Germany for the first time this year by saving a lot of money. Germany is a country I have a lot of love for for many reasons. My next blog will be all on Walpurgis. Most of the sun coming into my life now is not coming anymore from England.  In a dark and disillusioned state I listen a lot to albums like QUEEN OF SABA (actually fairly upbeat), Fairy Tale's ONCE UPON A TIME, and New Zealand Trading Company who you'll read about here. I'm no longer an Anglophile. That is the biggest change of them all. I've been through hatred-of-England periods before, but they never lasted that long and it always was over something that could be mended. You can't mend a heart that's been broken or anger that's been brought on as many times as mine. However, I still love British bands and I still have some really amazing friends in England who I talk to regularly including several I'd like to meet in the top notch Parachute Regiment. The Paras, as they refer to themselves as and are referred to, are not just Britain's elite fighting force,  but they usually are a really good bunch who care about devotion to other people as well as their own mates. I don't hate England as I will never allow myself to hate any country, but the constant slamming of America, Germany, well you know it British Nationalism is a really disturbingly sick offshoot of Patriotism. There is nothing wrong with being Patriotic, but keep an open mind.
     Lately I just can't stomach much heavy metal anymore and I'm growing more and more sick of music that all sounds too redundantly loud for a whole album or career. I guess I could elude to The Rolling Stones- once one of the greats and now for a long time (really since shortly after Brian Jones died) a bad joke unless you catch them in concert (I wish I could!). Still, when Jagger/Richards and cohorts became a bad joke they became really funny so funny that I think it is intentional. The Stones love coming to America. It's used to be a lot of a grass-is-greener case especially with me and some musicians. You get British bands who really just want to conquer America and American bands who want to conquer England. It was much more so that way in the 60s and 70s when the swapping of influences hit big leading right here to a different swapping in New Zealand Trading Company. All native Maoris they wrote all their own material except for an insane cover of "Hey Jude" and instead of British or American influences they oddly enough went heavily for a Northern European sound. We'll get to them soon, but cold weather sounds are funny coming from a band from a Subtropical climate for most of the year. Also, add to that the name New Zealand Trading Company to throw people off. They sound as far removed from New Zealand as Denmark! Now we'll move to another little bit of writing and thinking.

     -Are Europe And America Better Than England? A Question Without An Easy Answer-
            Nowadays I spend so much time listening to music and getting pickier and pickier that if you want to impress me you've gotta really be something outrageously fantastic. I'm getting more and more into bands from America and Europe and would make an exception for New Zealand Trading Company and consider them European since their sound is more than 100% not New Zealand complete with thickly accented vocals and a strong Dutch/Danish vibe that is almost as if they'd recorded the album in Holland or Denmark. That may be the case. As nobody can dig up much information on the group the question as to where did they record the album and who got involved in the album during the recording to make it sound so good is up for investigation seemingly long term. I personally feel that I have spent too much time listening to British bands of all levels of quality from the best that I still place really high up there right down to complete mediocrity in the world of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Now I have no interest in heavy metal from ANY country. My British music is like my music from anywhere- more thoughtful even when rocking out hard. I never listen to shit music from anywhere, but let's just say that I was listening to some pretty shit metal from England, mainly on YouTube, but now I limit myself to Tygers Of Pan Tang and Diamond Head- only the masters will do. I don't even like Black Sabbath anymore. I find them stiff and sludgy.
Paul Major, though a very good friend, referred to The Open Mind as "stiff." No! Not at all! The Open Mind is a classic. England made so much possible, but not everything. Most of my favorite British records that are still favorite British records will not appeal to a whole lot of people who will go out and praise some British bands that I have a lot of trouble listening to. Read Canterbury Prog and I never liked any Canterbury bands except for early Caravan. These people usually are prog snobs or psych nuts who won't listen to anything that could ever be considered in the least bit commercial. I love good hooks and good melodies, clever songwriting, and great playing combined. Face up to the truth Ben, you're a perfectionist. Before I move onto this twisted gem let me thank and give a thumbs down to some people. In my thank you column all my really good friends both home and abroad who have stuck by me, all the good people who have given me a lot of helpful advice I really should and will heed, animals, artists, writers who write good poetry and literature, the good soldiers of ALL COUNTRIES, and all good music. In my thumbs down and wish you were dead column The Rifles Regiment of England who have caused unbearable pain and all nationalists, racists, bigots, prejudiced and hate-driven hate-loving sick people everywhere. If you don't have your mind open and have it screwed on better to have it blown off! To answer my own question the only answer that makes sense is that England isn't the paradise I'd thought it was, but no country is. Generally speaking Europeans and Americans are friendlier and Germany seems to really have a lot going for it, but there isn't a "best and better than any other" country. You take the good aspects of every country and then you'll be there where you should be. You don't pin all your hopes and dreams on just one country. That is the lesson I've had to learn about England.
          -The New Zealand Trading Company Dark As It Gets With A Tropical Breeze-
             It just doesn't get any better than this album for progressive rock with strong psychedelic leanings and I find it rather shocking that the only groups they are compared to are usually the polar opposite Strawberry Alarm Clock and Association! What The Hell!? To tell you the truth if you want light mellowed out dreamy psych this album has dreamy moments, but it is firmly a progressive record. There are a lot of jazz influences, a wide array of instrumentation, and despite the vocal led selections that cover this brilliant slice of vinyl perfection the vocals have a strong dark prog vibe to them that sounds sinuous even at the most breezy and joyful moment which is the stellar opening track "Oh What A Day." If you see this record in a store and your reaction is "Boy Are Those Six Ugly Guys!" don't put it back- buy it. You could be passing by one of the still undiscovered treasures of the early 70s. The Maoris are the Native peoples of NZ who had terrible acts of genocide committed against them just like the Australian Aborigines and American Indians. There is a lot of anger on this record and the fact that the band are criticizing so much of society and the evils of man really shouldn't be surprising. What is amazing is that "Oh What A Day" perfectly sums up the simple fact that man is only a true man of the earth when he is the closest to earth and to nature in a song that isn't an epic, but a short and joyful melodic progressive pop work of real integrity. The vocals are strong and very dramatic. The harmonies soar and right off the bat I'm thinking of Ache when they went for the heavily vocal oriented sound in 1976 as opposed to their earlier instrumentally driven attack. "Oh What A Day" like the rest of the album has thick accented vocals that sound very Dutch, Danish, or German and a backing with driving guitar, crisp rhythms, and some remarkably beautiful flute melodies.
   "Jam And Anti Freeze" is one of the most bizarre song titles I ever have seen on a record. Don't ask me what it means, but it sounds pretty creepy and the song itself can send more than a few chills up and down your spine. After the beautiful flute driven "Oh What A Day" comes this ominous psych into prog track with very creative dark winding venomous harmonies which at times scream and cackle in what sounds like an outbreak of rage. There are a million time changes, freaky vibes, dark jazzy guitar riffs, screaming fuzz tone passages, and quite a bit of eerie freaky organ work is used. A six piece band you can hear the fullness of their sound on the first two tracks with a very powerful contrast in atmosphere between these first two songs. I will quote you how this scary little track ends:
       "Along The Road Ride Horsemen Who Are Picking Fruit From Trees While Baby Builds A Castle Of Jam And Anti Freeze- Jam And Anti Freeze! Jam And Anti Freeze!"
    It sounds like a beach that has been covered in garbage and waste and destruction and that is the vibe of this song- waste and destruction all around and no way you can avert your eyes or in this case your ears and mind away from it. Still, it isn't so creepy you can't listen to it. If you know the Ache record PICTURES FROM CYCLUS 7 imagine an alternate take of "Still Hungry (Vampire Song)."
       "Nine To Five" is a topic covered by a million artists. Again, though, New Zealand Trading Company tread along a darker path and spice it up a whole lot more with dexterous passages of riffing guitars, swirling organ, and a nimble rhythm section who add a lot to the complexity. The song chronicles the nervous breakdown of an overstressed conformist office worker who goes completely mad and whose whole life has no meaning, nothing in it but misery and pain. Vocally these guys are really out there- tight yet both strongly harmonious and abrasive in the most subtle manner possible. This is also very much like Ache or Old Man And The Sea who I have only heard on YouTube and can't really comment on especially as my dream of getting an original copy will probably never become something that really happens. I bet this band are the only Mayoris who sound like Danish or Dutchmen! I will mention two other bands who this album bears a resemblance to- Earth And Fire and Golden Earrings/Earring. Both as you know are Dutch. My first guess when hearing this album was they were a Dutch band. Well, no, but it could have been recorded there. That is open to speculation. "Nine To Five" is a stunning track and a very sympathetic story song. There isn't a hero and an anti Hero boss isn't brought in either. You could say that it sounds existentialist, but it is something more like a narrative about conformity and redundancy in a man's life that he thinks will keep him safe, but ultimately what drives him to a nightmarish state.
    "Hey Jude" goes on for over 8 minutes and the histrionic progressive take on the Beatles/McCartney classic really sounds full of yet more anger and resentment as after the first half the vocalist screams like Demis Roussos of Aphrodite's Child gone completely mad on a really terrible hair day. Whether this take will freak you, blow you away, or antagonize you really isn't easy to answer as you will probably be freaked by how unlike the original it is, be blown away by the clever arrangement, and you might hate the guy's guts for screaming so much and going crazy. It kind of fits with the rest of this very strange album. Only the first year of the 70s and the youthful joy and optimism of the 60s is gone. It is so tragic. Music would go on to be just as or at least nearly as exciting as the 60s, but as I have said if you only like light psychedelic pop rock avoid this album- your narrow mind won't be able to understand a word or a note of it. I've never understood the appeal of what I call "Glee Club Psych" like The Strawberry Alarm Clock or The Free Design- to me it sounds like some kind of "The Beatles Never Happened" nightmare. That is not the case here!
     "Winnifried Jellicoe" has the worst opening line of the album, but the song manages to overcome its overt attempt to be the band's "Eleanor Rigby" by utilizing very clever vocals, mood changes, and instrumentation. I've never liked songs about old people, but this one is actually crazy enough to be good. There are some astonishing harmonies and the flute player in the band really is great for the whole album and adds a special sound to their music which is closer to the melodic playing of Peter Gabriel in Genesis than the abrasive style made famous by Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson (another great one). I've always loved the flute so that is quite nice on this album and it makes up for the absence of guitar solos. Like the rest of the album "Winnifried Jellicoe" is both stark and with a bit of a tropical breeze thrown in. The lyrics deal with the decay of old age and senility, but they also tell a rather amazing love story that happened a very long time in the past.
     "Ruo Moko" is sung in the band's native tongue and manages to convey both an atom shower storm and a tropical vacation lazing by palm trees and bright sunshine at the same time! There is an unsettling vibe to this whole album. It really keeps you wondering just how much darker it can get and if anything is safe on offer by the New Zealand Trading Company. "Ruo Moko" as I don't understand Maori it could mean any number of things, but they are probably attempting the statement "We Are Proud Of Who We Are And You Won't Knock Us Down Again."
    "Could Be" is the brightest song on the album along with "Oh What A Day" with some great harmonies, more jazz influences, and some cool tropical percussion effects. There are some great heavy psychedelic guitar solos, beautiful vocals, and a really bright vibe that is a rarity of only two tracks on the album this and "Oh What A Day." Their sound is very Danish/Dutch for the whole album and that makes it very unique especially for an album that to my knowledge only gained a tiny American release.
   "The Prisoner" is where New Zealand Trading Company are at their very most disturbing. This creepy, violent, and raw, graphic story song chronicles a crazed and even more insanely desiring to get back to his "woman" escaped felon who begins by senselessly killing the dogs that are set after him during his failed run to the state border and ends on the grim note of him getting fried in an electric chair. This is the hardest track to be subjected to, but very well-written and performed. It's a great song and a very clever song, but really frightening lyrically and the music is almost as creepily phrased as the story of the track. When I listen to this I feel each time that this is really a statement of pacifism. They are saying that if you kill a living thing you will die violently.  I wish it were that way. I wish that even saying cruel words could lead to something bad happening to you that would either make you change your attitude or be severely punished. I think we've all wished something horrible to happen to somebody at many times in our life. This song begins with a man who has no reason to live except to murder and ends with his death. That could have more meaning than you think on first listening.
   "Total Stranger" ends things on a depressed and completely dejected note. However, this is a real standout track with a great use of organ and a very European vibe with again a very thickly accented voice. The affair has gone sour and there is no reason to live anymore is only the bare narrative of the lyric. There is something deeper than most broken hearted songs here and that is a sense of being a completely lost outsider who has been turned away from the one he loves to the point of severe depression. The vocal is solo this time with no harmonies, very stark, and full of what sounds like real pain and anguish. There is a brutal guitar solo and an Aphrodite's Child gone into miserable near suicidal depression vibe about this.. This record is a lot like Ache and I love it nearly as much as I love Ache's PICTURES FROM CYCLUS 7. The major differences here are mainly that no two albums are exactly alike and that instead of ending on a note of optimism like Ache New Zealand Trading Company end with despair. This is probably the best Northern European fucked up progressive album not recorded by a Northern European band! Think now of how strange that is. I can't fathom how they came up with this record. A Maori band who sound like Europeans I would think would be impossible- even the Maori band part is a real exception. If you want something mild and sunshine oriented like the wrong descriptions of this you'll be horrified by it, but if you want a great, brilliant, amazing psych into progressive masterpiece you can place up there with the best look no further. If you find this album and you love that dark freaky European sound then don't pass up the opportunity to hear a great record. I'd highly recommend New Zealand Trading Company. It has a permanent place in my collection.
             

Much Thanks To Bill Bonham And Matt Bridger Fairfield Ski Now Recieve The Praise They Deserve For A Lost Masterpiece

   Hi everybody, I've been gone for a long time battling a serious illness and going through much pain with a million and one reasons to never trust anyone again, but out of that gloom came some surprisingly good news from the original keyboard player of the not-even-known-who-they-were Fairfield Ski. I just recently during more crisis and domestic horrors have had a little light from co lead singer (on the rockier stuff)/bass player Matt Bridger! This band recorded the best album in British progressive music history and it never even gained a promo release at the time. Their album only made it to the acetate stage- that means a thick grimy slab of metal that looks bad and sounds like shit usually. This was completely unbelievable as had this very strongly crafted album and great talented band gained a release it would have placed them at the top. Until YouTube came to me with a surprise message from Bill Bonham, the keyboard player (And a great one at that!) I had no clue who these guys were. I mistakenly thought they were from the North of England or Scotland, but as it turns out all four members Bonham (keyboards/vocals), Nigel Wright (who sings the orchestrated softer tracks), Dave Hynds (Drums/lyrics on a lot of tracks/vocals), and Matt Bridger (bass/lead and backing vocals) hailed from music city par excellence Birmingham and Bill gives his/the band's story here from an interview this humble and great British expatriate (he's in America now) did with me, although I should point out that when he says the band split because Bridger left it was really because their publishing company went bankrupt:

                                  -Bill Bonham Sets The Record Straight-

"I myself played with john bonham and Robert Plant I have studied music since six and also played with Terry Reid and a lot more. I had left Terry due to an illness and came back to the Birmingham England area and saw an advert for a keyboard player for a band called the Cheetahs
(Check them at  http://brumbeat.net/    There was a guy involved named Nigel Husselby who financed and produced us. He died a few years ago from a heart attack. The name came from his girlfriend a PAN AM flight attendant named Ski from Fairfield  USA.
I wrote the arrangements for some and others were done by session guys. We all wrote music and lyrics and Nigel was not influenced by anyone in particular maybe Buddy Holly.. We disbanded after Matt quit and fell apart. I learned of this from Dave Hynds. There is an album coming out in Europe this June with a follow up from recordings we made back then.
Nigel and I also played in Sight and Sound another Birmingham band then we both came to the USA in 1975. I stayed and he went back home. I stay in touch with all of them still.
We never made a dime from anything and I suppose progressive rock is a correct term.
I was quite shocked to learn about the album a disc was found at an airport in Germany a while ago and after searching they found Dave and so it goes on.. Not sure how I feel as I have had so many disappointments through the years. The music business was hijacked by the attys who fear anything new and creative they want only what works that is why music is all the same these days
You can also find more from me at www.billbonham.com and at the brumbeat site. Bill"

It should be noted by me and as said by Matt Bridger that it was actually the bankrupt state of their publishing company that is the accurate reason for why the band split up, but despite this handicap the band are all still the best of friends and are very proud of the work they did together back in the early 70s.

        -Fairfield Ski The Legend The Betrayal By A Long Gone Geek The Vindication Coming-

     Bill Bonham became a Christian, but it was Matt Bridger who wrote "Man From Galilee" which sounds like Sweet gone subtly Christian progressive. A more progressive Move or Sweet may be a good comparison for their music, but with the meaningful name of Fairfield Ski especially in light of manager/man behind the band name Nigel Husselby's sadly not being here with us any longer changed to Fairfield Sky it is a really awful ending that on the scant few pressings done some years ago their name is changed from "Ski" to "Fairfield Sky" which is blatant skullduggery. The "reissue" came with a horrible wronger-than-wrong paste on liner note and no cover except for a tiny pasted on black and white bit of nothing on the front. This is the long gone asshole who shall go nameless's slandering of the band and it is also unfortunately the only way you'll hear this. The acetate barely exists and when copies were found they sold on the high thousands range making this rare hack job the only way you can hear their music. I can see why Bill Bonham would have mixed feelings, but at least if you fork over $125 or under for this less than satisfactory necessity you can tell that this is one of the most impressive albums ever made- that alone is a sign of coming vindication. If I had my own reissue label this would be the first album I'd put out. I suppose you want to know what makes it the best melodic psych into mellow progressive record ever. Can I back up my high praise? Oh I can you bet! For one thing Fairfield Ski could write intelligent, melodic, and inventive songs in several different genres yet be able to fit their sound under the "progressive" banner more for the inventive arrangements and powerful organ work than some of the more overblown aspects of that genre. A perfect case in point is the wistful strings and brass augmented ballad "Silver Tavern" which begins the record. Nigel Wright's soft high vocal never strains despite the Clifford T. Ward alike fragility of his voice on this track which is about how lonely a musician can be. So many songs have been written about being in a dead end pub and drinking your sorrows away, but there is a twist to "Silver Tavern." He has gone to the tavern not in search of a few 15 beers which is a small amount for an Englishman, but he is trying to persuade someone he meets in the tavern to be his romantic partner. The song is all about the hardships of a musician which is almost spooky as no sooner would Fairfield Ski complete their album than it wouldn't even see a release come about. The session players take the arrangement of this song into the stratosphere, but the most impressive thing is Nigel's voice and the atmosphere the band are able to create whilst they string pop right along with progressive. 

    "Circus" is much heavier yet still ultra melody oriented. Not a hard rock band really and they weren't intending this to be a hard rock album, but for hard rockers "Circus" with its light Uriah Heep meets Sweet meets Queen sound will be the album's standout. Bonham comes in with forceful organ work, the rhythm section fire high with the attack, and Matt Bridger's voice  is very gentle almost  sounding like Pete Dello or Ray Cane of Honeybus meets the late lamented Sweet frontman Brian Connolly. Since Brian Connolly is my favourite singer practically and Sweet my favourite band I guess I can come right out and say I was big into this one from the start! However, there is the vocal similarity to Brian Connolly and Sweet at their most pop psych/light glam, but other perhaps even better points of reference are The Left Banke, The Zombies, and Yorkshire's equally ill-fated Angel Pavement. Like Angel Pavement's singer Paul Smith Bridger and Wright tend to be very quiet and mellow in his delivery and you could also say they sometimes sound a little bit like Colin Blunstone. However, there is just enough force there to make Brian Connolly an even more apt comparison. Also, like Sweet, Fairfield Ski were four multitalented individuals who formed a very cohesive unit. "Circus" is the one out and out rocker, but they stay really sharp and focused without going into a pointless barrage of noise. The organ solo rivals Keith Emerson, though, bringing a heavy keyboard into melodious progressive pop. 

     "Would You Mind/The Writer" is both a medley and a long two part epic. Easily the best progressive track ever recorded by a British band along with the likes of bands like England, Yes, Northwind, Shape Of The Rain's "Broken Man" rocker, Kestrel (someone please get me an original of that!), and a few other really brilliant ones (I'm thinking Yes and Camel, but this is even better!)  it really is shocking, horrendous, and unfathomable that Fairfield Ski were completely fucked over without the album coming out at all! You won't believe me until you hear this probably, but it rivals even Yes!!!!! Yes for me are the best progressive band that made it- Yes and Uriah Heep. I also have to give a high ranking to Procol Harum so I think you know what's coming- Bridger sings just as well or better (if such a thing is even possible) than Jon Anderson and the inventive huge sound created by the band is grandiose in a Procol Harum/mellow Uriah Heep kind of way. "Would You Mind" the first part reminds me heavily of the late 60s when everything was really happening and music had become a way of blowing the mind and taking it new places. Lay back and let the waves of sound wash over you. The lyrics, like the whole album, are friendly and inviting asking you to come on in and have a good time. Glam was big in 1973 when this was recorded, but there was already beginning to be the split between the serious musicians like Sweet and throwaway rubbish like Paper Lace with Fairfield Ski firmly the former not the latter. There are glam like moments on the album, but here the sound is very progressive. Bonham's majestic organ is the main instrument and soars above the rhythm section. There are some psychedelic effects at irregular intervals, but this song isn't just an average progressive epic it says something important.The lyrics are Anti men who hate and destroy and have no love with a strong Pacifist/Anti Bigotry message:

    "I"d Like To Write A Book For Future Eyes To Read/Men Without Love Are Souls That Are Dead Like A Book That You've Got, But Already Read"

I couldn't agree more. Most soldiers I've met in person haven't been without love, but they've been a both with a lot of love and a lot of fighting spirit in them. I've had a lot of good times with soldiers so I can't say they are "Men Without Love," but the line in this song nails it to any man who doesn't have love and only has hate. If you hate everybody and can't give or receive affection you should be dead.  I probably am going to have to mention The Move and The Beatles here as influences too with a bit of Roy Wood here and there and some Lennon/McCartney magical vibes too. You listen to this track and the amount of love and effort put into it makes the band's bad luck heartbreaking. Most people will never hear this and it beats out anything else. Nothing else is as good as this that I can think of! Certainly the bullshit that was/is/always will be Pink Floyd failed miserably at attempting to create a similar kind of huge wall of sound. Pink Floyd sound like pompous prats compared to "Would You Mind/The Writer." The song also comes to a very psychedelic ending with backwards vocal effects and lots of phasing. The bastard who put this out compared this to Forever Amber and that is both relevant and way off the mark. Forever Amber is another example of one of the most amazing records ever made and a band that ran into a lot of bad luck and personnel issues amongst themselves which also did not help them to gain a proper release. However, there is a big difference among many big differences. Forever Amber had only a measly 99 copies pressed of their masterpiece THE LOVE CYCLE, but it is an actual album release and was later given royal treatment by the great Tenth Planet label only to go out of print as soon as it was officially put out! Don't know why! 

       Side Two of Fairfield Ski is something different altogether and shows a more overtly pop side to their progressive ambitions with plenty of brilliant hooks and amazing vocals from Nigel, Bill on "Meet Me At The Station," and Matt on the rockin' stuff. The harmonies are beautiful and some tracks like "Meet Me At The Station" in particular sound like fellow Brummies The Idle Race had Jeff Lynne reformed the group. Jeff Lynne, well there's another genius I could say I'm reminded of by Fairfield Ski. If you want hooks, melodies, beautiful music look no further. "Something On Your Mind" should have gained the band a worldwide album release and gone to number one the world over, but how many times am I gonna have to express that this band was given the worst letdown ever for a band with so much going for them. Maybe The Magic Lanterns gaining a US release (it probably was a comp) and a smash hit with "Shame Shame" was just luck. Maybe it all is just luck if you go anywhere at all! If I had more hair left (I have some, but not like my old big page boy bangs and seductive locks!) I'd be tearing it out over how bad things were for Fairfield Ski! And not even an official release to introduce the world to their great music. I would not put them in with Northwind or Dog That Bit People because they don't have rural or folkrock leanings despite the melodic sound all 3 bands share. Fairfield Ski are coming more from a progressive pop side and that makes for a different masterpiece than many other British early 70s releases. The songs on Side Two are all fairly short and some are very much like Clifford T. Ward, Honeybus, The Zombies, The Left Banke, and McCartney, but even with all those other superb artists named this is pure Fairfield Ski all the way. Standout tracks are "Something On Your Mind," "Meet Me At The Station," "Si Te Dois Partis," "Suddenly I'm sure" with lovely harmonies, and the beautiful closing track "Time Is Fast Approaching/Goodnight." I've mentioned the whole side I think! This is really something special. England was going through something of a musical upheaval and musical brilliance in the 60s and 70s, but this may well be the best it ever got and it wasn't even a record at the time. So the best thing to do is unfortunately to try and find this bad release from 1996 long out of print and be contented with what matters most- the music.

   My sincere thanks and appreciation to Bill Bonham and Matt Bridger for helping me out on this one. You made amazing music and you made some dreams come true in a life that is full of pain and fearfulness. May your brilliant music live on for eternity!

New Hope's To Understand Is To Love Underrated In The Extreme Until Now!

It's amazing how there still are some things out there that have a low level rep, but are actually miles better than a lot of hugely hyped and very expensive records. I find that with most American records the best ones are just really hard to locate and some of the most highly thought of ones not only does every nefarious or not-so-nefarious as the case may be record dealer have, but they just aren't any good. I was to find this out in a very revelatory way in 1994 when I grabbed for $5 a beat up copy of New Hope's only record TO UNDERSTAND IS TO LOVE and was harangued by a bad dealer about it and later in the fall heard the hyped up overrated The Frederic which many dealers rave about and hated it with a passion. My hatred over the years of The Frederic's PHASES AND FACES except for one brief bounce in the wrong direction for about a week has never lowered its fury. I consider it about the worst that there can be and it is about time somebody said who that band were and what their album really is. Hyperbole from dealers and some collectors aside The Frederic isn't psych and isn't pop psych. They were a supper club/lounge/nightclub band from Grand Rapids Michigan and that's all they were. A square, smug, smarmy, phoney, and very basic-in-a-bad-way lounge pop/folk record is all their PHASES AND FACES is. So if you've heard that they sound like The Zombies and Chad And Jeremy take my word- you've been lied to. If you want a quaint pop/folk record that has some pop psych in it actually and is great and does sound like The Zombies or Chad And Jeremy (read Baroque Pop) then for a fraction of the cost of The Frederic buy the masterful The New Wave on the aptly named Canterbury label. You will find what I have said fact when also you find that The New Wave is a lot harder to track down than The Frederic.
      However, to get back to my original shock and the point of what I'm saying to the fore here I didn't know The New Wave or who they were in 1994. I also didn't know who New Hope were. Let's get onto that. Are you ready!?
       -The New Hope Of New Hope's TO UNDERSTAND IS TO LOVE A Real Masterpiece-
      Go back in time to 1994. I was 18 years old and had been collecting psych and pop psych and other stuff from the 60s/early 70s era for a bit and I all too occasionally took the chance on something I knew nothing about for cheap and bought it. $5 wasn't the usual cheapest I'd go, but something about that bare and mysterious looking black and white cover roped me in. I'm glad I bought it. If you move ahead several months to the end of that year a friend was so knocked out by New Hope that he not only borrowed it from me- he stole it the little bastard! At the time there was no grudge and there isn't one now. I've had this album a few times over the years and funnily enough the best vinyl copy I've had and have hung onto only cost me 50 cents in (you guessed it) New Hope PA. So who were the New Hope your probably wondering? They were a band who had a minor hit when they were The Kit Kats with a brilliant song they wrote called "Won't Find Better Than Me" and were led by virtuoso vocalist Kit Stewart. Kit Stewart and Carl Von Hausman (keyboard virtuoso) reworked their hit into even more of a Left Banke/Four Seasons cross to make it a really stunning work on their next album TO UNDERSTAND IS TO LOVE by their next band New Hope. New Hope came from Eastern Pennsylvania and comprised Kit Stewart, Carl Von Hausman, "Big" John Bradley, and Ron Shane. They had some fairly wide success in the NJ/PA area, but for no reason never broke out nationally. Their album is among the best records ever recorded by an American band and as far as pop with power pop, baroque, and progressive inclinations goes you can't find better than their record TO UNDERSTAND IS TO LOVE. Recorded in Philadelphia and released by the small Jamie label they aren't hugely expensive yet, but they certainly are no longer around now. Maybe word has gotten out, but I kinda doubt it. This should be one of the most famous American albums and I was of that opinion when I first discovered it in 1994. If I've loved something that long and it hasn't worn off a bit on me then it really must be good although I must point out that I had really good taste even back then.
     TO UNDERSTAND IS TO LOVE begins with "Won't Find Better Than Me" which can rank up there with the most genius moments of Brian Wilson and Michael Brown with great vocal harmonies and a great lead voice from Kit Stewart who isn't far off from The Left Banke's Steve Martin. There is also an obvious Four Seasons influence and since they are a great band too for what they did there is nothing wrong with that. The Four Seasons, however, belonged to a different time and different kind of world. The influence of their harmonies is a prominent one in many vocal oriented groups, but unlike the bands that adapted their influence to Baroque or power pop something had happened after the early shock of The Four Seasons and that was The British Invasion. New Hope adapted to the changing times, but they also here dabble in 50s rock and roll and early 60s mainstream pop in a very energetic experimental medley of "Won't Find Better Than Me" which comes right after their headlong leap into brilliant Baroque pop on their first new take on their classic. They must have known they'd really hit the right spot with "Won't Find Better Than me" and I like the medley a lot. "You're So Good To Me" is a Brian Wilson song and sounds very much like The Beach Boys with an added bonus- there is kind of a freaky big echo effect on this album like they recorded it inside an old church or something and the huge amount of sound that comes out really is stunning. "Distance" is one of the real high points of New Hope's album. It blows the lid of The Grass Roots and some of the early Turtles hits with soaring harmonies, strong piercing lead vocals and a clever juxtaposition between minor key verses and major key choruses. It could be an American Zombies at work- well in fact it is! There are no weak links on here, but definitely "Distance" is one of the best songs on the whole record. I think that New Hope really had a lot of credibility and certainly their talent as musicians can't be questioned so the small label and mysteriousness of the whole project is fun for collectors, but must have been anything but fun for them.
  The problem is addressed in the last 3 tracks on Side One all of which are really great. I am guessing this album is from 1970 rather than 1968 going by the out and out progressiveness of Side Two's stunning first track "Look Away" (no, not an early version of the Chicago catastrophe which is anything but progressive) and the last 3 tracks on Side One sound not even 1968 or 1969. "Let's Get Lost On A Country Road" goes through a lot of changes, but the summery happiness just sounds way more earlier than with the current program. "Breezy" and "You've Got To Know" also have so much joy and optimism that despite an attempt to move the harmony pop forward they sound even less forward than Vanity Fare or White Plains- two bands who owe much of their brilliance to overt American influences. I keep using the word "American" here, but New Hope are a lot more Anglo than The Frederic! 
     The Frederic is bluntly put and truthfully put a despicable record that never should have been made. It ranks as one of the worst and most obnoxious albums ever made with an ugly truth coming out of it when their most talentless member David Idema changed his name to David Geddes and had a hit with the as sick as Bloodrock disgusting and horrendous "Run Joey Run." I rest my case here. Actually, let me rub the salt in even more and turn it to a burning painfulness. American dealers oftentimes I have noticed have their head right up their ass. I said that The Frederic, Darius, Stone Harbor all were crap albums that a lot of dealers had and a lot of dealers hyped. I then said that the best American records may have been less money, but try finding them. I then after that said that imports, particularly British Imports, were going to skyrocket in value. I was right about all of it. With me never seeing more than one copy back 20 years ago of a major label album like SATURN RINGS by Michele which I hope to own this Saturday not only will I take it and be glad it really is rare and really is brilliant.
     I have sometimes heard so many bad records from America that I really scratch my head about our country, but damn it the 1960s hit in a big way here and that is very much stated not just in heavy or even just out and out psychedelic rock, but also in pop psych and straightforward pop records. A great case would be New Hope. While they definitely were never hippies that isn't a prerequisite. What New Hope are they are. They don't try to fake you into thinking they aren't just some really talented guys who love the more pop side of the British tuppence and American coins having a great time, but they really pull off something remarkable here. Side One is the side where the flowers are blooming and summer time can be yours even on the most depressing of winter evenings. It's the side where 1967 meets before that and it all sounds brilliant. However, on Side Two there is a real move towards a more progressive direction and no track is more a perfect hybrid of progressive arranging and pop hooks than the epic "Look Away." The lyrics are actually very meaningful here all about how you can't just hide from it when things in the world and your life are not right. Kit Stewart is really passionate and the combination of soaring piano and bagpipes takes this one up to the stars. Yes, there is a long bagpipe/Scottish section and a lot of Michael Brown like piano gone to where I would think Brown would have taken The Left Banke had the huge split between him and the rest of the group not happened. Michael Brown was too moody and too cantankerous maybe. He blew a great thing and went off into oblivion before reappearing in Stories who are awesome and "Look Away" isn't far from Stories when Mike was in the band. Unfortunately, like Stories a huge amount of ongoing success just didn't come for New Hope. Unlike Stories there wasn't a number one hit. I'm glad for that actually as I can not only live without "Brother Louie" I'd make a bet with Mike Brown that we both hate it equally! Brown was definitely hipper, more of an artiste than New Hope, but that isn't necessarily something that is a brilliant attribute. When you alienate everyone you work with you must be not playing all your cards right or living in the way you should.
   That someone as talented as Mike Brown and New Hope can both just vanish is really sad. It tells you a lot about the music business. For 5 minutes and 37 seconds New Hope tell you a whole lot and they make something that lasts longer than anything else- a perfect song. "Look Away" has not one note I would change. The whole song is just so brilliant that it makes a whole lot of what else was out there sound really sterile and uninteresting. Side Two moves into two very mature melodic pop tracks with "Find Someone" and "They Call It Love" which both combine East Coast techniques with a California 1965-1967 kind of Beach Boys alike hopefulness. There aren't any angry riot scenes and bomb blasts on this record. It isn't a reflection of the despair that had set in which makes it very different from something like Liverpool England's The Koobas who sang of riots and used bomb blasts in their brilliant epic "Barricades" in 1969. Again, I'm not sure of the year of New Hope, but I would guess they came out later than most other more fresh faced and love fueled melodic pop rock bands and albums. "The Money Game" however shows that these guys could get to a sort of Elvis meets Koobas masterpiece if you can even imagine something that bizarre and it comes complete with screaming fuzz guitar! The heavy fuzz tone on "The Money Game" is another clever little trick and the words are again progressive and true. They say they've had it with wealth and greed running everything. Well I have too. More tricks come on the last real track here "Rain" which is then followed by a Gregorian Chant called (of course) "Gregorian" of "Won't Find Better Than Me" as a rather dark end to the album. "Rain" combines progressive inclinations with perfect melodic pop only here the sound is a bit more leaning to some British influences which do come up on some tracks. New Hope go where The Beach Boys couldn't. You have to remember that as strong a presence as he is to the Beach Boys Brian Wilson always had Mike Love to knock him down. The reason why The Beach Boys couldn't move further is simple. They couldn't move to consistency because of square Bruce Johnston and asshole Mike Love. There are probably around 4 or 5 Beach Boys albums that are masterful all the way through, but there also are the albums like SURF'S UP that I'd rather just forget where Brian is off his rocker and Mike Love gets his evil way with "Student Demonstration Time."
     Now The Beach Boys are reinventing themselves and making great music again thanks in no small part to Brian Wilson and his now it would seem to be permanent writing partner the unlikely Jim Peterik who masterminded one of the best AOR bands ever to exist Survivor. Survivor always cut way deeper than most. Now that Jim is working with Brian Wilson you can believe the guy really has something if you were stupid enough not to when he and Frankie Sullivan were writing all those great songs in Survivor. Yes, I'm getting to the fact that New Hope DIDN'T survive. That may be because you can tell they weren't exactly as young as most of the competition out there, but it may also be just as much because they were an East Coast band at a time when very heavy vibes were coming in everywhere and 60s melodic groups had an alarming fall out rate. Come mid to late 1970 things were changing in a big way. The progressive and hard rock influences from the West Coast, England, and Europe were coming in with sometimes brilliant sometimes painful results and the charts began filling up with schlock when it came to American bands/artists. The most easy to point out problem however must have been the small label. With a label that went under pretty much as soon as TO UNDERSTAND IS TO LOVE came out and not enough promotion there is probably the reason for New Hope packing it in. I've heard a few things over the years to the effect that New Hope also never left Pennsylvania or New Jersey. That, true or not, also would hurt. Not getting national exposure and not getting a major label deal aren't always a recipe for a masterpiece, but with New Hope that's what you have- a perfect masterpiece and one of the best records ever made. Your collection isn't complete without New Hope. I said that when I was a lot younger than today and I'll be saying it when I'm older than today. And I know.

An End Forever To Mail Order For Me + How Do You Tell Soft Pop From Sugary Sweet Ick? I know How.

The last 3 weeks of my life have been my own Trials Of Job. I have been violently ill with arthritic/paralyzing symptoms in my arms and hands brought on by stress and strain and when these horrible pains don't occur I suffer serious upset of the stomach also brought on by stress, strain, and nerves.  My life has become so full of stress, tension, and horrors that I find it hard to live. I've even had trouble listening to music I've been so sick and yet my one hope and my own thing to keep me alive has remained music and the fact that I am finally getting to go where I wanted to go to avoid the horrendous deal that just happened when I go to make amends and make a record transaction I can love on next Saturday in a PROPER STORE. This is over 3 weeks too late to have saved me from my sickness, but will be a welcome bright spot in a very black period for me. How did this all start? How did it all happen? With the worst goodwill gesture ever from me and the worst nightmare of a record deal I've ever been through. The dealer whom I am now wishing would be in as much pain as I am shall go nameless and so will any other details of the last fatal record nightmare. Let's just say that MOST mail order dealers are parasites who never could run a store because they'd go bankrupt in two seconds. Some of these people, like the one the latest nightmare happened with, are decent to good people who shouldn't be in this business. Honesty is the key and once the lying and conniving starts you're finished and over with. I would also appreciate someone telling me about why I've had to be miserable for such a long period of time with seemingly no end to it... I think I'd better cool down and relax as much as I can before I say something here I regret.
                    -Is There A Better Life Ahead For Me? I Hope So!-
     Music has gone through a lot of evolutions and so does life. I am hoping that out of the blackness will rise an Age Of Light And A Healing Of Body And Mind for me where I will become a healthier, happier, saner person. I've always been very emotional and always been, as you can tell from my previous entries, fairly hard about certain things and people. One thing that has been a constant since I was a teenager has been the hunger to hear just about everything there is out there worth hearing and that is fed by my ultra eclectic tastes in not just music, but everything. I have developed both a weakness for McCartneyesque or otherwise well written soft pop/soft rock and also for the harder, heavier kind of psychedelic and progressive rock.
                        -A Little Bit Of Variety And A Lot Of Emotion Make Life/Music Good-
    Some bands have lasted long enough to dabble in both art forms such as Jigsaw, but usually an eclectic release that is between heavy/hard and soft/calm is a one off release. I never figured that out, but there are an endless amount of bands and artists who have straddled both lines and not gone beyond one masterful or great yet a little flawed recording. I think to show the dark side is important, nigh on essential. So too must it be to make positive statements and not to encourage things like suicide or destruction in recorded form. Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest have been blamed for this when they were firmly singing and writing from the heart against it which shows what a sketchy subject it is. Having lost two really good friends to suicide I have only written one song lyric about it and placed on a more biblical level of someone who is a demon who kills himself and then goes to Hell. Easily it is my darkest lyric ever that I would actually put to vocal lines and music. I've lost a lot of interest in heavy metal although you'll find me listening to hard rock, AOR, Pomp Rock, and hard progressive underground rock/heavy psych and plenty of it.
                                      -Delving Even Deeper Getting Even Heavier-
      Asgard will always be a firm favourite, but their one album is a melodic heavy underground one with plenty of delicious British cosmic psychedelia thrown in. I suppose I couldn't call The Scorpions' masterpiece LONESOME CROW "melodic," but the fury has a structure to in on that album lacking in a lot of other hard heavy rock brain blasters that because of their lack of variety don't get half the time on my turntable as LONESOME CROW does. Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton not to mention Jimmy Page and a whole bunch of others began what was at that time a very novel and good thing. Then sometime later on other people took hard rock away from the blues base and turned it into heavy metal. That does not mean that classical influences don't work- they actually can be downright essential. It would be the preachy teachy or "Look At Me I'm Just Soo Sexy" stuff like Iron Maiden and Metallica in the former Guns & Roses in the latter category that there is absolutely no need for. Guns & Roses began life as a great hard rock band with an annoying lead singer, but Axl Rose got himself so twisted around that he turned their music into a joke. Many people start and end with the very first album. I never bought it after Mr. Axl Rose's racist and gay bashing lyrics and comments following LIES (their second effort) brought them down to the lowest level along with his good buddy Sebastian Bach who showed his evil true colours.
     When you make music out of hate you ain't making music. I was always more into the really good stuff like UFO or Diamond Head and I still love those bands. I also still have a lot of love for Grand Prix and Shy who are two of the most melodic of all hard rock/Pomp rock/AOR bands. Another great melodic band would be Magnum. That Magnum built an institution on a cult following and a few glimpses of major success is amazing. They began life as an out progressive rock band! Give plenty of credit to Tony Clarkin whose pen hasn't dried up or his guitar prowess and Bob Catley who is blessed with a majestic voice.
     There is the question of where music can go to now. I wonder about that a lot. For all the new advances in technology and the vast improvement of music over the last several years there still is an awful lot of trash out there. Most of it is filed under "Heavy Metal," but there are the huge selling commercial artists as there always will be even during a musical renaissance period. The one period where almost everything was exciting was the mid to late 1960s. Things fragmented in the early 70s, but undoubtedly there was a lot of brilliant music being made then that just didn't take off and sell in any quantity.

           -Soft Rock, Melodic Prog, Melodic Pop, Or Soft Slush, Wimp Prog, Icky Sweet-
     I used to find records that were worth trying and would form my musical flights of fancy in record stores and it will go back to that. I will be only dealing in stores with knowledgeable and helpful people who run them and nevermore with twisted mail order record vampires. That reminds me of one of the most strange and unnerving songs ever written "Still Hungry (Vampire Song)" by the Danish band Ache off their best album PICTURES FROM CYCLUS 7. That album is a melodic progressive gem with an edge to it. I got into soft pop after soft progressive, but be warned there is a lot out there you never should hear that is soft slush and icky sweet wimpy nothing. Wimpy or light isn't even necessarily what will destroy an album or band it is when it crosses the line into sickly sweet rubbish. I will always love Jigsaw, Wings, Camel, Kayak, Klaatu because these bands made really good music. Paul McCartney has done an incredible volume of work that has gone everywhere from the classiest melodic pop/rock around to the sweetest sappiest non-music, but he has never stopped creating. Give him a lot of credit. Give The Beatles the most credit of any band ever formed. You can put Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys up there too, but they have a sound harder to imitate without being too squeaky and icky and sugary. It takes a huge amount of talent to even come within a hair of Brian Wilson yet the writing teams of greatness like Greenaway/Cook and Jigsaw's Des Dyer/Clive Scott have made some real magic happen. Whilst Rogers Greenaway and Cook wrote lots of great songs for bands like White Plains that was also coming out of the beat boom of the 60s in England. I suppose that there isn't really any easy way of giving you the advice of how to tell if something is going to be a McCartney or a White Plains or Jigsaw or Ache or if it's gonna make you cringe. Usually, though, go by song titles and sometimes an album cover is the cue as to whether to jump on in or forget about it. A word of warning would be that Katch 22's IT'S SOFT ROCK AND ALL SORTS comes in a cover to die for, but the cover version songs on the back and the sappy titles give it away. There are glimpses of hope in some of the original material, but this one is way off the mark. On the other hand Angel Pavement never even got a record out at the time, but they may be The Best Of The Best. Just buy the now long out of print official anthology MAYBE TOMORROW and you will be blown out of your mind by how great their music is- a perfect mixture of Baroque Pop and melodic British flowery psych. For the loungier kinds of fun that are still solid good fun and for quality melodic rock and pop look no further than a lot of great Canadian and European bands like 25th Regiment's ECOLOGY Beatlesesque masterpiece and Abba- one only famous to collectors the other a worldwide phenomenon. Remember it's your taste and your choice. It doesn't matter what other people think about it. There lies the key to happiness- live for yourself and give to others, but don't give too much. I gave too much recently and got 1st degree burns. Do be careful who you deal with and a word of advice- stay away from mail order. Don't be lazy because it will cost you mightily. Heed that advice and up to a sweet Bedfordshire you go!

       

Stingray's 1979 US Release- Ultimate AOR/POMP From More Than Unlikely South Africa

South Africa is a country that I always have had some serious issues with. Even as a child in the 1980s I was aware of Apartheid through songs like "Biko" by Peter Gabriel and " I Ain't Gonna Play Sun City" which both were big songs on the radio then. To me nothing is worse than bigotry of any kind and I have no room for ill-founded judgement of other people because of their race, class background, Nationality (although I admit it's here that I too have some prejudices- I don't like Ireland or Israel, but I'm not vehemently hateful of people from these countries on a "Take One Person At A Time" basis) or any other reason. What I have overlooked is that not all South Africans were/are racists and perpetrators of genocide.
            -From The Narrow Mind To An Open Door Looking At Stingray's Background-
     Whilst there hasn't been an amazing music scene out of South Africa they did have a very large music scene in the 1960s through to the mid to late 1980s and many of the bands were opposed to Apartheid. It was not the case with atrocious John Kongos, but it would definitely be the case with the part Black (Julian Laxton) part white Freedom's Children- maybe the only truly great South African psych band. Stingray, the band I'm writing about here, are produced by Julian Laxton and indeed he produced quite a few South African bands in the 70s. Also, Trevor Rabin came from South Africa and was opposed to Apartheid from the start- even attacking it during some of the worst times in the 80s when he was in the newly revitalized Yes. I've talked to South Africans who serve in the British Army years ago on the phone and none of them supported the racist beliefs of the South African government or the benighted people who were the supporters in the population. So I guess you can't prejudge anything or anybody.
    Stingray, who formed in the mid 1970s, are probably the peak of melodic AOR/pomp rock and came from South Africa. They made an album that came out in the States just named after themselves that I've known about since I had a book called The International Encyclopedia Of Hard Rock And Heavy Metal when I was just 13 years old. They were described as sounding a lot like Boston which is partially very true. Stingray had some huge success in their Native country, but unfortunately the US release didn't generate much of anything in terms of sales and it has gone on to be quite a rare record. I had heard it before I got it two years ago and overlooked the entire record- what a huge glaring error that was! After Stingray broke up their awesome lead vocalist/writer Dennis East had quite a successful solo career in South Africa, but his brilliance seems to be unheralded everywhere but in South Africa!!!! That is very unfortunate because this man had a great set of pipes and he could put to pen some killer AOR. Also, there is vast talent from the rest of the band with soaring guitars and keyboards which together with a powerful dexterous rhythm section  make this album essential for any collection of obscure 70s/80s bands. You can place this next to the other AOR/Pomp masterpiece records I've written up like Alliance, Painter, and Lionheart. I'm going straight into the music now.
Take hold and listen well.
            -Stingray From 1979 On The Usually Lame Carrere Label An Amazing Record-
   Stingray got at least one of their albums released in the States and worldwide on the usually horrendous Carrere label which only had one other great band I can think of on their roster- Saxon. Saxon played and now are playing again more melodically charged and lyrically interesting heavy metal and it's probably a good guess that whatever A&R man got Saxon their deal with the mainly worthless Carrere also signed Stingray. In the mid to late 70s early AOR bands like Boston, Styx, and Foreigner were making huge money and a lot of bands were signed in the wake of the success of such amazing bands. There is no resemblance to the bluesier Foreigner on this album, but Boston and Styx are good reference points for Stingray. However, that tells you less than half the story about what their brilliant 1979 international album just called STINGRAY sounds like.
       Stingray numbered six men with a whole lot of ability. Besides Dennis East on vocals (and he also was a huge part of the writing in the band penning or cowriting over half the material)
there is guitarist/vocalist Mike Pilot, organist Danny Anthill (from I believe Freedom's Children!), keyboard player Allan Goldswain, bass player Eddie Boyle, and drummer Shaun Wright. In a six piece band you'd expect there to be at least one guy in the band who isn't a musical maverick. That ain't so here. Right off I can tell you that both Goldswain and Anthill beat the living shit out of the horrible keyboard player Pat Leonard in the otherwise great band Trillion from the States. If Trillion's Leonard had learned not to masturbate with his synthesizers then Trillion would also be another good comparison just for how much positive energy is generated by the music made by Stingray. There aren't any songs on this album that are going to make you feel miserable. On the contrary you'll be feeling good when you hear Stingray.
        The first track "Better The Devil You Know..." is misleading. It's the longest track on the album and unlike the more laidback material on offer for much of the record is almost a melodic metal behemoth. Right from the beginning of the album Dennis East displays a superb range and a powerful voice to begin with which includes a lot of character. The relentless yet catchy guitars, soaring harmonies, and powerful keyboards are fantastic with a lot of energy and aggression. The lyrics are on the subject of cheating in a relationship of the kind of that he comes home and his wife is screwing another man, but they are clever enough to rise above the cliched subject matter. Mike Pilot unleashes some great guitar leads and also contributes excellent driving riffs. The rhythm section of Boyle and Wright is very strong and energetic with nothing coming up short. However, Stingray aren't a sort of more metallic Boston or Toto with pomp leanings so this track is more of a big overture and workout than indicative of the rest of the songs on the album.
     "Hard Headed Loner" is more what Stingray are about. Multitracked guitars that you can't believe are all one guitar player, catchy keyboards, and amazing vocals spur on a very melodic upbeat kind of AOR that sounds a little bit earlier than the release date and also perfect 1979 music with a very open sound. By that I mean what is the key to a lot of Stingray's music. They aren't just another band. The amount of melody in their music and their carefree vibe are most welcome when too many bands are either copying what's in the charts or too busy moaning and groaning to get anything done properly. Again, there is a compelling lyric to the song about an enigmatic female who needs no one else to satisfy her.  Most bands would bitch and slam a self-sufficient woman who doesn't need anything or anyone else. Instead Stingray leave you to your own interpretation.
  "Lucy" is another different sort of a track penned all by East with a keyboard heavy Pomp backing and wailing majestic vocals from this brilliant man. I can think of few singers who hold a candle to him. He appears to be coming from some other kind of background in most of the songs here than normal rock and roll singing largely because he is so down to earth and sounds like he would never be arrogant to anybody. He has the perfect AOR voice, but his lyrics and songwriting show a maturity seldom heard in a lot of rock music of all kinds. "Whole Lotta Fire" continues the soul influences of "Lucy" in a more upbeat way and drops the heavy mysterious approach of that song.  There's plenty of energy and fun with strong vocals and cool harmonies. Everything Stingray does is hyper professional. I get the impression that if anyone had auditioned for this band who was the least bit mediocre in some way or middling even they wouldn't have been part of the group. Big praise from finicky me. Also, there is the sense of fun. Stingray aren't gonna bring you down. They're really a polar opposite to the much too serious kind of music that clutters up so much of rock and like all great music from all eras an all-out professional carefree band like Stingray make one appreciate really meaningful melodies and songs a whole lot more.
    "Where Do We Go From Here?" is the first song to indicate the kind of direction much of this album, indeed the whole of Side Two, takes. It's highly melodic pop meets the rock foundation of the previous tracks with stellar vocal harmonies, nice acoustic/electric guitar combinations, and yeah there are a few similarities to Styx and Boston especially. Funny thing here is that I'd guess this was the work of an American band if I didn't know. It doesn't sound at all English, but I mean that as a compliment. "Where Do We Go From Here?" really is a fantastic track and Dennis East is amazing when his voice soars above the already up-in-the-heavens harmonies. A Pomp Rock masterpiece. If you like the songs of bands like Argent, Boston, Styx, and John Lawton era Uriah Heep this album belongs in your collection and your collection needs it if it isn't already there and on your regular playlist!
             It is the second side of the album from the first track "The Man In My Shoes" through to the beautiful closer "How Much?" that cements the brilliance of this record and makes it the best ever. I'm melodically oriented. As soon as songs fly out the window and become jack offs I lose all interest. The lack of melodic vocals and good songwriting is what kills bands like Judas Priest after the early stuff and just about all of Iron Maiden's music, but a lot of AOR/Pomp bands could have used a dose of the humour, craftsmanship, and songwriting prowess of Stingray. Frankly, compared to them a lot of other music is boring and does not get regular plays from me. That would be not just the AOR genre, but also I need there to be great songs and solid performances in any kind of the broad genre that rock is and Stingray are up there with the best. Oftentimes I'll go from a psych record or a progressive record or a pop record and plunge right into this one afterwards. That speaks highly of it.
    "The Man In My Shoes" has a really strong melody, smooth harmonies, excellent guitars, and soaring lead vocals from East in a song about a rock star who wants nothing more than to end his stardom to lead a normal happy sane life. You can't believe that kind of maturity on a first effort. It sounds more like what a band would close out with saying than begin by saying right away "You can have all the superstar nonsense I'm just a good singer and a good musician." How refreshing it is. The only other bands I can think of who are on the same level of melodic brilliance of Stingray are bands like Magnum whom I love, Sweet, Boston's 1st, Styx at their best, The Beatles, and some other ones that I've raved about here recently who are in a whole other genre closer to The Beatles and just post Beatles era.
    "Gonna Keep My Head Together" has a title that speaks for itself. It's a fuck off statement without any whining, groaning, or "Oh How You Broke My Heart" jilted nonsense. He is the one who knows from the song's start that the relationship has gone bad, but his response is to move on and walk away from the annoying behaviors that have led to the end of the love affair or friendship. This song doesn't have any romantic or sexual implications so it really is an anthem for all of us who have been tricked and used by other people. You don't need that person. Don't freak over them just get rid of them. Again, Stingray have maturity. The harmonies would make even Brian Wilson blush! There are only two credited with vocals on the album (Dennis East on lead and Mike Pilot guitar/vocals), but on a lot of tracks it sounds like all six of them are harmonizing! The production job from Julian Laxton is very impressive and everyone gets to show their various strengths from the vocals right through to the impressive rock drumming. "Gonna Keep My Head Together" has a great solo from Pilot where he never once goes off the rails and stays really melodic. I'm usually unable to get through a solo and do that! I seem to always end up showing off on the guitar and I know that strong melodies are really hard to come up with especially in a solo. As much as I love Angel and Trillion even they start to sound a bit indulgent compared to Stingray! There is nothing that is better than this album for the genre.
  "Lovesaver" together with "How Much?" is my personal favourite track on the album. It begins with a happy little electric piano and then the knock-you-out A Capella harmonies come in sounding like Queen meets The Beatles meets Boston meets Styx!  Then the band come in full blast and take you into the stratosphere. Awesome! The lyrics are full of emotion and are about finding the perfect loving sympathetic person in a relationship who saves the protagonist and fills their life with bliss. You get that big upbeat feeling from the song like you do from the best of a band who have the unusual surname of Stingray's guitar player as their name- Pilot. I have forgotten Pilot up til now, but they'd be another great band who I could say a lot of kind things about. Blue,  from Scotland like Pilot, are also a band who made enduring and endearing music of the best quality. The reflective verses in "Lovesaver" remind me a bit of Blue's early work and The Beatles making the chorus even more impressive. Sweet Paradise as the lyrics say indeed.
     "Breakdown" is the most adventurous vocal arrangement of the album together with the previous track and when it's put together with the solid no nonsense melodic rock of the song that is Stingray's trademark. Intricate harmonies, clear and precise lead vocals, and soaring guitars combine with non stop rock excitement to make for a masterpiece of an album that is great to listen to. "Breakdown" like "Lovesaver" begins with strong harmonies, but this time the lyric is about a love affair that goes completely sour and he just says to the bad person "dish it out." The carefree vibes are really great because a lot of AOR and all love oriented lyrics in rock tend to be full of unnecessary angst and tantrum throwing. Some bands and singers can make that brilliant, but not many. I would say skip right over the second Trillion record CLEAR APPROACH- ONLY because it has the worst "Poor Jilted Broken Ruined Me" song ever written on it complete with inept masturbating bass, synthesizers, and guitars and may be even worse than Gentle Giant! The song I'm referring to is "I Know The Feeling." You do? Well then I can thankfully say that I DON'T. I have had many bad endings to relationships, but after feeling sorry for myself I usually realize that I'm better than the person I was trying to win over. Trillion sound like amateurs compared to Stingray and that is saying something as I love Trillion especially their amazing first album just called TRILLION which also benefited from a very gifted lead vocalist/writer Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen. Fergie was known as Dennis on Trillion's debut, but after that ever since joining the long lasting Louisiana band Le Roux then Toto for one album (the brilliant ISOLATION) he's been known as Fergie. If I were asked who had the most golden brilliant flowing silvery wonderful killer voice in AOR it would be Dennis East of Stingray and Fergie whilst his replacement in Trillion Thom Griffin is nearly up there. AOR is music and metal is mostly not. I find myself enjoying metal sometimes and thinking even some of it is really good music, but that's only the kind where it gets passionate. I think most metal is noise. Stingray are all about melody and great songs and they just happen to be virtuoso musicians. There isn't any showing off or upstaging of anybody on this record. Also, to get back to them being South Africans it sounds like they have great hearts and would never support Apartheid. Their working closely with a black producer is very indicative of that lack of bigotry and small minded thinking that was seriously damaging to all South Africans then.
    "How Much?" is a beautiful ballad of uncertainty. It is about someone who can't address the needs for a shared relationship where it isn't just taking it's also the giving to the singer of the lyrics. They need some time to work it out, but Dennis sings without straining and the lyrics are sophisticated and well-written. I love this song. It makes me feel better when I hear it. It has a soothing melody and beautiful harmonies. When I've gone through bad periods I've pulled this record out and "How Much?" and the whole record have given me the strength to go on with my life. Thank you Stingray, you may never have hit it huge here, but you're better than nearly any of the competition. Since Stingray are a great "Songs AND Chops" band you can listen to them with song bands as different from them as Honeybus whom I love and chops bands as brilliant as Yes. Stingray are amazing. Find this rare masterpiece and put it right on the turntable and bliss out like I do when I play it. Enough said.
         

From The "West Coast" Of England One Of The Best Ever Made Little Big Horn

 There always has been a "grass is greener" complex between countries that are strong musically and culturally and are oceans apart. Back in the 1960s and early 1970s a lot of young people in America were heavily into and influenced by England with at some times the British looking right towards America for its powerful counterculture. In some ways I suppose this was a way of the British Invasion being paid back by how it led to the American bands trying to sound British and even adopting the "Mod" look. In 1964-1969 no places were hipper for music, lifestyles, image, and influence than England and America if you just gave a quick look at what was happening in both places. However, you can't overlook how much important and brilliant music was brought to us (I'm American myself with a huge Anglo/European side to my personality + musical tastes) by The Germans, Dutch, and Scandinavians. Most of these bands would only be cult bands for huge collectability later on when the interest in psych and progressive music surged, but they were there at the time making brilliant music.
                                  -A Little Prelude To Little Big Horn's Victorious Assault -
  As American influences came into play with British and European bands the most important thing if you were going to be influenced by the "West Coast Sound" was to put a firm British or European stamp on it and turn it into your own creation.. Little Big Horn from England were only released in Germany by Bellaphon in 1971 or 1972. This is incongruous that they weren't released in America only with the number of British bands who only came out here at the time when you look at how Anglo/American their sound is. I'm not saying that Little Big Horn were just copying the Americans, but the California and also the Southern Rock/Rural Rock influences are really a key component to the sound this amazing little band produced on their self titled lone release. Little Big Horn at times go for a very British late Mod into early 70s West Coast/Southern Rock sound that leads to a huge difference between Side One's Anglo ambitions and Side Two's all out Pastoral Americana/UK rural rock. It's in these pages that you'll find out just how successful this band are at their look towards both their native England and America.
           -They Came And Went As Fast As They Came Little Big Horn's Musical Ride-
    In a crazy steal I got a perfect original of Little Big Horn's rare and valuable one release for $25 from a German dealer for Christmas when before the copy I'd had and lost was $250 from an American dealer who is now someone I don't deal with nor ever will again not because of anything acrimonious just because we are two very different kinds of people with very different views. The expensive copy went to one of the worst fiends ever to have come into my life from the depths of Hell itself! He moaned and freaked about it sounding like "An American Major Label Record." So what!? Also, it DOES NOT sound like just some British band who are American obsessed. People will often not hear music properly and just completely miss the entire point of not just one song, but an entire album.
                     -Little Big Horn Take On Post Mod Psych And The American West-
      If you love Andwella's Dream (I do) from Northern Ireland and wish they'd carried on their psych sound when they went for Americana this album is compulsory- an absolutely brilliant work of musical genius. Then also if you love Dog That Bit People, Northwind, Fairfield Ski (their name is misspelled Fairfield Sky" on their only vinyl release from the mid 90s because the guy who did it was an idiot), Honeybus (I love all of the bands I'm mentioning) and other British melodic Pastoral rock this album will be your favourite for a long time to come. It's crazy how this amazing band only came out in Germany, but I firmly prefer them to some other UK only released in Europe bands such as I Drive who are horrendous. In collector's circles bands that only came out in a country that wasn't their own are both highly sought after and vastly overlooked. At the time they made almost no impression in their native land or else were just dealt an unkind blow by ignorance. Thankfully bands like Peter And The Wolves stirred up some interest in America and got released here (their masterpiece is credited to "Wolfe" on the Rare Earth label) whilst bands like Little Big Horn and the inferior yet still good Diabolus were only released in Germany. Diabolus had a German drummer and so did Light Of Darkness which makes sense, but Little Big Horn as far as I know had no German connection whatsoever.
      Comprised of keyboard player/vocalist/main writer Jim Turner, bass player/vocalist Barry Beasley, drummer Billy Slaney, lead vocalist Alan Davis, and guitarist/vocalist Danny Maidment England's Little Big Horn named themselves after one of the most powerful Native American legends who finally ended the appalling genocide of General Custer. With a name like that you can tell they were big into The American West. With a cover that shows cavalry on horses behind a psychedelic American flag you have an idea where this band were coming from. However, you only have a small idea.
      My guess is that Little Big Horn are from Northern England and their melodic yet very powerful approach is made even better by very intelligent and downright great lyrics to every song on their record bar the two cover versions which open the album. The covers are of Lovin' Spoonful's "Good Time Music" and a Jon Mark composition "Getting It Together." The rocked up wild ass guitar frenzy that starts the album with "Good Time Music" is exciting fun. "Getting It Together" is a really nice Pastoral rock song with great vocals and some unusual sounding electric piano. The best songs, however, follow the two covers and are all original compositions. "I Wish I Had The Words" and the rest of Side One leap head first into amazing later era British heavy psych complete with lots of trippiness, cranked fuzz and effects loaded guitars, and very appealing strong melodic vocals together with more unusual keyboard motifs that are unique to this record. "I Wish I Had The Words" is about the lack of communication that needs to be addressed by people everywhere and uses that as a springboard for other very important things that are constantly overlooked by most people. Alan Davis has a great voice on the whole record that is laid back and inviting. The harmonies are also great and the instrumental work of Little Big Horn is incredible. Give full marks to guitarist Maidment who is a really great musician and who also knows how to play in an emotional, tasteful way that takes nothing away from the songs. "Anything That Turns You On" comes next and is just as awesome as "I Wish I Had The Words." Despite the quality studio Sound Techniques the sound is very odd on this album and while that works to their benefit it also leads one to wonder if it was hastily recorded then run through again in marathon sessions for a week. No one will ever know and I don't think anyone in Little Big Horn went onto other bands. "Anything That Turns You On" indeed all of Side One's 4 tracks after the two covers are some of the best melodic heavy psych ever laid down anywhere. The lyrics are a really big reason why this whole album is so good. For once there is not a single trite pretentious hackneyed take on something of importance and the words to the songs are all very sympathetic, even downright savvy. Clearly Little Big Horn were looking at America AND England and wondering just what was going wrong with people. Also just as clearly they never mock, attack, or try to put others down. This record is beautiful at the same time that it rocks. The general feeling is that of an open door to a place where there is warm sunshine flowing out of it. You could probably say that about Honeybus and Northwind, but Little Big Horn at the same time as having some things in common with those bands sound really like no one else.
      If psych/heavy psych is your thing Side One is outstanding, but don't overlook the more country rock oriented second side of the album as it has just as much to offer. Everything changes from one side to the next in stellar contrast on this record. "Something Good" is the beautiful song that heralds in a change of pace with soft soaring harmonies, warm and honest music, and a very appealing take on melodic Pastoral pop/rock. "Ain't No Harm" is somewhere between Side One and what follows it on Side Two with some Rural/Country rock influences, strong vocals, and intelligent lyrics. "Isn't It Strange" is a melodic country-ish/hippie rock song with more intelligent lyrics, great vocals, and some nice olde time acoustic fingerstyle guitar. It is the last two tracks which are still very good, but for once become a bit far fetched. "Just Ain't Fair" is a great song, but I've heard this whole "Oh Look How Much The World Hates Me For My Long Hair And My Open Attitude" so much that even when done way better than average it sounds a bit pedestrian in comparison to the rest of the album. Everything is great in this song including a painful story line that speaks nothing but truth, Unfortunately, as I said I wish it was up to the higher level of what proceeded it. "Another Man's Song" is a kind of melodic Gospel Rock I would say song about Jesus and has a big string arrangement, soaring mutli vocals and the rest. I wonder though from the words to the song if Little Big Horn were having a bit of an identity crisis and that strange juxtaposition that's been going on for much of the album takes a turn towards big budget commercial early 70s radio rock here. It's a great song, but on this record it sounds a bit out of place. I hate to say that because it is a really good song, but I've heard too many songs about Jesus and having to live by his Word. So what you have on Little Big Horn's record is a mixture of the best in the world and nothing that goes beneath "pretty" to "really" good. This album is very hard to find and has always been a serious rarity. My running into it at such a low price I unfortunately have to tell you probably won't happen for you. The realistic value is around what my first copy cost, but this album is so obscure that it would probably turn up when you least expect it. Word should get around about what a great one this is- it certainly beats loads of hyper expensive rarities that are just as rare and not half as good.

In Memory Of Brian Connolly and Mick Tucker My Tribute To Sweet- One Of The Few Big Bands Who Deserved Huge Acclaim

   When Brian Connolly died I found out a year or two later- I think two years later after watching a special on "Glam Rock." I was devastated. Brian was and always will be one of my biggest heroes and someone I look up to not just for the unique voice he had or just for his brilliance as a writer, but for what an interesting and fun personality he was. With drummer unmatchable Mick Tucker dead in 2000 Sweet are half dead although Andy Scott has done everything he can over the years to keep the band alive. I applaud him for that. It's like Joey Molland keeping the music of Badfinger alive when he's the only surviving member of that grimly doomed four piece great band. If The Rolling Stones can survive into their 70s playing live and still exciting people it's a great thing and not a bad thing. I don't believe that Andy Scott, Joey Molland, or Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts are opportunistic. I don't believe Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney are now washed up hacks (The Beatles are a band that will live on forever and I need not even state that).  I believe what is fact and that is when you have something really special that not just you, but also other people love keeping it alive and still going is the best thing to do. When you consider how many artists go on way past their sale date and aren't even interesting it really speaks miles for the music of the great ones who stay great. I've been to concerts of 1960s/1970s bands and artists and been knocked out many times. I never got a chance to see Sweet. I owned a VHS when I was 16 of them on various TV shows in the UK and with interviews from all four at the end. There's a lot of grief that two of the key members of the group including wonderful Brian Connolly are dead not just for the two survivors (bass player Steve Priest and lead guitarist Andy Scott), but for someone such as myself who grew up loving them. Sweet are the most versatile group of the 70s as much as any name out and out progressive bands like Yes, Genesis. 10cc, or Emerson Lake And Palmer and they kept their music far more interesting than most especially godawful Mark II ugly screamer Ian Gillan fronted Deep Purple. I used to get into heated arguments with one of my best friends over Sweet and Deep Purple. I honestly don't know what people can see in somebody who was ugly, never washed himself once, and who did nothing but scream and the band he was in were made of great, but very misguided musicians. Sweet live on musically with a lot more power and resonance than anything Deep Purple or any number of "seriously heavy" bands do. I will put them with Queen, UFO, and Sparks as some of the only name bands I'll ever write about in detail here. That says a lot for them. I'm very finicky about who gets in here and who doesn't. In loving memory of Brian Connolly and Mick Tucker and huge support for the two surviving members this is my own personal loving write up of Sweet.
       -The Early Years From Bubblegum To "The Juicer" To Andy Scott And New Sounds-
   Formed at the end of the 60s under the monicker Sweetshop in Middlesex Sweet as they changed their name to comprised at first lead vocalist Brian Connolly, vocalist/bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Frank Torpey, and vocalist/drummer Mick Tucker. They were a heavy psychedelic rock band who were forced into recording outside material much of which was throwaway lightweight pop of the worst kind like the odious "Lollipop Man." However, early B sides revealed their heavy psychedelic brilliance with no song a better indication of how powerful they could be than "The Juicer." This monolithic hard rocking track with wild tough vocals from Connolly and blasting guitars would later translate into such hard rock/glam classics and "Hell Raiser," "Man From Mecca," and "Blockbuster." Already Brian Connolly had a very unique voice and his unbelievably perfect blond pageboy heavenly good looks would help him immensely too. Connolly, a native of Hamilton Scotland, would go through his entire career until he passed away the consummate professional pop/rock/hard rock vocalist. Even on the worst of the forced-down-their-throats early material he was special. However, Torpey was proving to be an unfit match for the rest of the band and soon the most notable line up of Sweet was born.
    Andy Scott on vocals/lead guitar replaced Frank Torpey and The Sweet as they were known then as a great band were born. Few other bands went through as many drastic changes in style, content, and image as Sweet. Almost none, in fact maybe none, could lay claim to as many classic songs and classic albums as The Sweet. When they met Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn their earlier bubblegum became a bit closer to quality pop psych, in fact much closer to it, on their first album FUNNY HOW SWEET CO CO CAN BE. The material did tend toward a kind of light psychedelic power pop, but the songs are all really good even the Ska meets bubblegum pop of "Co Co" and the rather harder to listen to "Poppa Joe." This last track appears uncredited as the last track of the Columbian pressing that I own a VG copy of so maybe it only appears on a pressing of the album in Columbia of all places! Andy Scott adds a considerably punchier sound to the group and the four part harmony vocals are superb. Brian Connolly shines throughout and where he and the group really shine for the pop psych songs is on their masterful Motown cover "Reflections." Brian's vocal is very emotional and already he was making that one of his trademarks. Later ultra passionate singers as unlike Connolly as David Coverdale and Kal Swan make for a nice change from the usual worthless overmasculine heavy metal rubbish vocals. Brian Connolly wasn't imitated by very many singers even in the beginning and that's because NO ONE CAN SOUND JUST LIKE HIM. I've heard some come very close, but nobody could ever equal or replace him.
             -From Bubblegum To The Masters Of Glam To The Split From Chinn/Chapman-
      The Sweet were scoring hits with songs like "Funny Funny" (great song) and "Co Co" (good song), but soon they wanted their heavier side to come to the fore. After several more power pop/glam hit singles with overtly sexual lyrics like "Little Willy" and "Wig Wam Bam" they would go onto glam rock superstardom and infamy. They still were mainly scoring hits with Chinn/Chapman material, but their own brilliance as writers was really coming through with songs like "Man From Mecca," "Heartbreak Today," "Sweet F.A" and many others. Signing to Capitol in the States after former label Bell went bankrupt (and Bell didn't do much for the bands on their roster except make their albums into obscurities) the first Sweet album I ever heard was the American version of DESOLATION BOULEVARD. This really should be seen as the ultimate glam rock/power pop album and I can't think of another album with such stellar songs and performances except some other albums by (you guessed it) Sweet. With outlandish outfits, a flamboyant often banned stage act, brilliant musicianship, and great vocals Sweet stressed some things that later ill-advised imitators like Motley Crue and Poison never had. Firstly it was total professionalism. Secondly it was very much a strong melody band that Sweet are. Thirdly and by no means last it was to really bond together as a band and do nothing but make music that would always be classy.
   Despite Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn writing some great singles for them Sweet wanted to produce, write, and record their own material completely. The critics and at first the public thought Sweet wouldn't last two seconds, but "Fox On The Run" put an end to that. With the best glam rock anthem ever Sweet became even more hugely successful both as a star band and as a band who could actually have big hit singles that were great songs. The split was not acrimonious and the band with a really massive hit now could have complete artistic freedom. This is where it gets really, really good,
             -From Brilliant To Even More Brilliant From Glam Rock To Hard Rock To Progressive Pop
              The Best Times For Sweet From 1974 to 1979-
       When I first heard the American version of DESOLATION BOULEVARD right through to the brilliance of "Action" and GIVE US A WINK to my discovery of how great a progressive pop group they could be on LEVEL HEADED Sweet have the best albums of any glam or glam affiliated (as they would turn out to be) or Any Band for that matter from the 70s. Unfortunately, their best years also would take a huge toll on Brian Connolly and put the band under enormous pressure. Brian was no longer a best kept secret he was a pin up boy, a star, and probably a lot of other things that didn't sit too well with him. Sweet now could care less about those aspects of their career.
     They may have been four very cute to very good looking guys, but the music came first from now on. Democratic bands usually suffer quite a bit and don't make for great ones. Sweet are a true exception. Unlike Slade who were another great band who were entirely based around the songs of Noddy Holder and Jim Lea or David Bowie or Roy Wood's glam period Sweet were actually a band where all 4 of them would write, record, and produce together. The production sound of their records is astonishing. There aren't any other bands that are more professional without sounding too polished for their own good. A big difference between Sweet and 10cc was that Sweet didn't suffer from two very different visions of what their music should be.
    Like if Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman had made 10cc a melodic pop group all the way through Sweet played melodic hard rock with pop hooks thrown in for great measure all the way from DESOLATION BOULEVARD to OFF THE RECORD. During this period Sweet were a top of the line live and studio band where you got live what you got in the studio and you got in the studio what you got live, but even better. The emergence of flamboyant bands like Freddie Mercury/Brian May led Queen and by no means to a lesser degree of any kind the wonderful Mael brothers Ron And Russell led Sparks meant there was a lot of room for experimentation in the studio even more so than onstage.
     By the time of GIVE US A WINK Sweet were branching out. They had gotten even way heavier, but also even stronger with their melodies. 4 of the best singers and musicians in the world they came up with an album where melodic heavy power pop/hard rock, progressive influences, loud upfront abrasive passages, and soaring vocals would yield an album's worth of classics. I would say that for the entire duration of their career once Andy Scott came in and things really took off Sweet exemplified British Rock. As British As Can Be they are a band who stressed tight discipline, soaring harmonies, and some tricks learned from the masters The Beatles. GIVE US A WINK captured Sweet at their most sexually outrageous not stopping with the gimmick cover ("Winking Instructions First Pull Up Then Push Down") and funny masturbation jokes on the sleeve. "Action," however, showed the most aggressive side of Sweet with a perfect amalgam of Led Zeppelin, Queen, and the already tried and tested classic Sweet sound. "Action" is mainly a put down song full of clever deadpan British humour whilst "Yesterday's Rain" is the most sexually explicit song I can think of. Even the best later bands like Sweden's greatest Treat it's time for you to step up and admit it- You Heard Sweet. There are also progressive songs like the amazing epic "The Healer" where Connolly goes from Brian Connolly trademark to Ozzy to Bowie back to Brian Connolly trademark. When Brian shouted and roared occasionally for effect he never sounded idiotic like Ian Gillan's screaming or the macho obnoxious side of Roger Daltrey. A melodic singer from beginning to end Brian Connolly had more class than anyone else I can think of. Soon he'd get a chance and Sweet would get a chance to stress that even more.
      GIVE US A WINK is Sweet's heaviest record, but soon after that crowning achievement some changes were afoot. The album had sold really well, but Sweet were getting a little tired of playing a repertoire of what sometimes was almost proto metal (I don't mean that as an insult). The changes would come gradually at first, but they would come. OFF THE RECORD is a much more power pop than hard rock record except for some songs like "Windy City," "Live For Today," and "Hard Times" or the last stab at sexual overload "She Gimme Lovin'." The lead off track "Fever Of Love" has everything- confident and classy vocals from Brian Connolly, great harmonies, Andy Scott's soaring melodic guitar work, and upfront driving rhythms where the softer moments of the song are dealt with effortlessly along with the rocking out sections. There is a clever allusion to The Beach Boys if you listen to the second verse. "Laura Lee" was Sweet's best ballad as of then with beautiful harmonies and great lead vocals from Brian. Some songs tried for other things. Sweet didn't entirely approve of David Bowie's smooth soul crossover from glam rock master and made a little bit of a piss take on him with "Funk It Up (David's Song)." I can't say I disagree! If Bowie was going to keep reinventing himself why couldn't Sweet!? They sure as Hell could. OFF THE RECORD had a smoother production and Andy Scott had been experimenting a lot with synthesizers over the 1974 to 1977 period. Sweet were about to go through an enormous change in image and direction. That would transpire on LEVEL HEADED.
       LEVEL HEADED would prove to tragically be Sweet's last record with Brian Connolly. Arguments and blow ups were beginning to flare in the group and the rift between Brian and Andy Scott was beginning to make it difficult to keep the band together. The pressures of enormous success were also causing their fair share of strife and irritation as Brian's drinking problem got worse and worse and worse. LEVEL HEADED however is a real artistic triumph. Throwing any affiliations with glam rock out the window Sweet were now a smooth progressive pop group. I can't choose a favourite Sweet record, but this one always comes close. Despite the drastic change in style it works beautifully. The first track "California Nights" features Steve Priest on lead vocals and Brian singing a lot of harmonies with the other 3. It's a stab at Eagles meets Sweet and what may seem impossible is actually a pretty good song. Where pretty good becomes amazing is on "Silverbird" the next track. One of the most emotional songs ever written Brain Connolly sings his heartfelt lyrics with unrestrained passion and everything in this song goes beyond the skies and beyond the heavens. It gives you a feeling of riveting bliss like the best of Abba and the best of The Beatles, but it's Sweet all the way just a very different side shown to Sweet. "Dream On" is a mellow and again very emotional ballad sung by Andy Scott. Sweet could all sing great and after Brian Connolly left the group they'd still be able to sound really good with Andy Scott and Steve Priest trading off on lead vocals. Their best moment with all four of them for their new progressive pop sound would be the Godlike "Love Is Like Oxygen." This song, mainly completely written by Andy Scott, may be Sweet's crowning achievement. Whilst LEVEL HEADED is all very emotional this dark love song is Sweet at the highest peak of emotion ever performed, written, and recorded by a band. Every time I watch Brian singing this song he looks like he's crying and it is pretty sad. Love does get you high, though, and "Love Is Like Oxygen" blew me away when I first heard it. If anybody could listen to this or the ultra sophisticated second half of the album and doubt that Sweet had progressed to progressive they surely must be the same kind of fools drooling for tickets to either a bad prog wank off show or a Slayer concert. Sweet get put down and trashed by stupid people all the time, but a Sweet lover like me knows that there are more of us than the idiotic ones! "Love Is Like Oxygen" is an epic with classical (nylon string) guitar passages and lots of electric piano, but on "Lady Of The Lake (Anthem #1)" which is the first song on Side Two a full baroque orchestration is brought in. Like the rest of the album this is a wrenching, emotional song sung and written by Brian about love tragically ended by death with only the belief in an afterlife consolation. It could have been Brian writing his own epitaph, but here it's about a soldier who dies not an alcoholic.
        LEVEL HEADED is an amazing record, a masterpiece, but during recording sessions for their next album all of the problems and frustrations came to a head and Brian Connolly was out of the group. I'm not going to say that I blame anyone in particular, but Andy Scott tends to blame himself the most for things going wrong with Brian. Unfortunately, one of the main reasons why Brian was gone from the group was that he had gone off the rails with his drinking problem. That would be what would kill him and after several heart attacks throughout the 80s, aborted attempts to get the band going again with the name Brian Connolly's Sweet, and a too late to help mending of their relationship Connolly's last heart attack happened in 1997 and he died from it. He had been off the bottle, but not long enough. Throughout the 70s and much of the 80s his drinking abuse was his downfall and his tragedy. His health was rapidly becoming a serious issue during the last years of his life and he had done himself in. I knew he wasn't all there anymore, but still his tragic end is hard for me to deal with. I can only say this- Brian if there is a Heaven is there. He was a great singer and an honest, caring, talented, emotional man who had beneath the good looks and charisma a great heart. The music will live on forever. Sweet you have earned your place at the highest level of the best bands ever to come out of anywhere, but especially the great music filled UK.