Neapolitan

band: Fushia
album: Fushia
rating: epic ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ (5/5 stars)

tracklist:

1. Gone With The Mouse 4:01
2. A Tiny Book 8:03
3. Another Nail 6:57
4. Shoes And Ships 6:14
5. The Nothing Song 8:23
6. Me And My Kite 2:34
7. Just Anyone 3:33

band members:

• Tony Durant - acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
• Michael Day - bass
• Michael Gregory - drums, percussion
  • string section:
• Janet Rogers - violin, backing vocals
• Vanessa Hall-Smith - violin, backing vocals
• Madeleine Bland - cello, piano, harmonium, backing vocals

I love this album. Usually I get bored with albums and stop half way through, (I can even get bored with a three minute song) but with this album is so different. It's such easy listen. I feel compelled to listen to from beginning to end. Very much like how people say they so intrigued with a book they can't put it down. From beginning to end there is something going on, some build up, some change that keeps it interesting.

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Neapolitan

band name: Twin Engine
members:
Constantine Gusias - guitar, vocals
Randy Naylor - acoustic guitar, organ, vocals
album title: Twin Engine

1. Give My Love A Chance
2. My Life Gets Better Every Day
3. Secrets
4. Mistress Of The Morning
5. No Time Is Better Than Now
6. Darlin'
7. Flowered Wall
8. Can't Keep My Mind Off Of You
9. Gold Mine
10. When Will I Be Loved
11. The Time Is Now
12. Same Train

This is an album I found by chance on YouTube. It is one of those albums that was recorded and canned for whatever reason. It was recorded in 1971 and then released thirty-something years later in 2004.

Twin Engine are are singer/song writers Constantine Gusias and Randy Naylor. Looking up information on it I was surprise to find to see who's on the album. For studio musicians they have Clarence White, Chris Hillman and Sneaky Pete Kleinow. Sneaky Pete was a sessions musician for The Byrds and the recording artist he record with reads like a Who's Who. The Everly Brothers, Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, The Ventures et al. I really enjoyed the album before I knew all of that. But after learning that I felt I stumbled into a really great find. The guitar playing can be intricate and layered. The harmony style is very good, and lie somewhere between The Everly Brothers and The Byrds. In fact they do a cover of the EB, When Will I Be Loved.

This is an album to hear if you like The Byrds are into The Flying Burrito Brothers. The album is a missing puzzle piece to what else was done by the members of those bands.

The Time Is Now

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JGuy Grungeman

Gonna try this out. 1971 is one of my favorite years in music, anyway.

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I'm a pretty nice troll if you ask me.

Neapolitan

band: Garth Watt-Roy - clarinet, lead vocals
album title: Speech
year: 1972
members:
Mick Bradley - drums
Louis Cennamo - bass, vocals
Martin Pugh - guitar, vocals
Garth Watt-Roy - session vocalist, clarinet

1. Penumbra: (22:42)
   1. Entrance
   2. Battlements
   3. Passage To Remorse
   4. Sightless Substance
   5. Mortal Thought
2. Telegram (Nature's Mischief) (12:00)
3. For Against (10:58)

The album starts off slow, with what sounds like a cello and a human voice sonically intertwining with each other. After the last harsh draw of the bow the guitar starts. It sounds somewhat similar to Steve Howe's riff on To Be Over from about 3:48 to 3:52 off the Relayer album by Yes. But this riff repeats over throughout the jam and is accompanied by a very frantic drumming, and it continues until the bass come comes in. The singing doesn't start until around five minutes and thirty seconds into the album, this if anything proves it has Prog Rock ambition in form. Around 7:50 the guitar enters, this time along with Alex Lifeson-like riff. And around eleven minutes they start jamming with an ABB feel. I am not saying the guitar player is influence by them, just what to expect. Over all it goes through various style and moods throughout the album. The last song ends with a drum solo somewhere between Soul Sacrifice and Moby Dick. If you like to indulge in an album by a jam band whether by Prog or Blues Rock, band or some Stoner Rock band than this is worth investigating.

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Neapolitan

band:
album title: Begin
tracklist:

1. Prelude
2. To Claudia On Thursday
3. I Just Want To Be Your Friend
4. 5 A.M.
5. I'm With You
6. The Island
7. Sing To Me
8. It's You
9. Some Sunny Day
10. It Won't Always Be The Same
11. The Know It All
12. Karmic Dream Sequence #1
13. There Is Nothing More To Say
14. Anthem (Begin)
    bonus:
15. Just About The Same
16. Blight

The album opens with a prelude, simply called "Prelude." The first thirty seconds can only be described as "Baroque Trip Hop," if there was ever such a thing. Then the album settles into lazy Sunday afternoon of dreamy Sunshine Pop. The harmonies are some of the best I've heard. When it comes to vocals, I think are good as The 5th Dimension, The Associations and The Hollies. The male singer has a familiar voice. At times he sounds somewhere between Gene Pitney and Graham Nash, favoring the latter. As the album progresses so does the music, it leans more towards Psychedelia. When finally get to Anthem it becomes full-blown psychedelic trip, more experimental than the previous tracks. I can imagine Kevin Barnes finding Anthem an inspiration and road map for songwriting. If he never heard of that song before, and he wasn't influenced it certainly makes for a strange synchronicity.

My favorite moment on the album besides the first thirty second Baroque Trip Hop bliss, is To Claudia On Thursday. In the song (I'm only guessing) they use a cuíca or kweeca which kind sounds like rubbing a wet finger on glass. Just think of Tropicalia by Beck on his album Mutations. When the song is nearly over they play it very unconventionally making it sound just like a dog whimpering for affection. Well at least that's the sound that my Dachshund would make if it wanted to be petted. Another favorite is The Island the guitar strumming reminds me of Julia from the album "The Beatles" aka the White Album." It has fake animal noises and a lovely lap steel guitar. The album is filled with fun. It captures the the 60s "Sunshine" Zeitgeist.

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Neapolitan

band: Whalefeathers
album: Declare

band members:

• Stephen Bacon — drums, percussion
• Ed Blackmon — organ, piano, vocals
• Michael Jones — guitar, vocals
• Leonard LeBlanc — bass, vocals

tracklist:

1. Declare-Prelude 3:55
2. Lost Dimension 7:12
3. Know Thyself 2:51
4. Imagine 3:02
5. Omaha 5:35
6. Please Me For A While 5:15
7. Invention Sequence 3:58
8. Love Can't Be Wrong 3:42

band: Whalefeathers
album: Whalefeathers

band members:

• Stephen Bacon — drums, percussion
• Ed Blackmon — organ, piano, vocals
• Michael Jones — guitar, vocals
• Leonard LeBlanc — bass, vocals

tracklist:

1. World Of Pain 8:25
2. I Don't Need No Doctor 3:31
3. It's A Hard Road (Back Home) 5:04
4. Bastich 6:20
5. Pretty Woman 3:26
6. Shadows 10:28

What hooked me into listening to their albums was the opener of the second album World Of Pain. For all you Cream fans: Yes! it's a cover-song of the third track off of Disraeli Gears. World of Pain was written by Gail Collins Pappalardi, who also wrote songs for Mountain. Whalefeathers give the song a decent make-over, extending the length, and adding a Hammond organ. They impress me so much I thought I give their whole two album discography a listen. ... and I glad I did.

Whalefeather hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, within their five years together only had the chance to release two albums. The first album has the sound of Traffic circa 1968. Invention Sequence for some reason vaguely reminds me of Traffic's "You Can All Join In," a song written by Dave Mason. There are a lot of Traffic moments on the album, while on their second album they switch gears and have more Bluesy sound like that of ABB, especially the song It's A Hard Road and Pretty Women. The latter was written by the Texas born William Dees, it's not the Roy Orbison song. There are only few moments where I thought they could done better, but besides that they are pretty consistent. The band is tight and can jam like no bodies business. I think this band would appeal to fans of Cream, ABB, Traffic, Blues and jam bands in general.

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Neapolitan

band: Michaelangelo
members:
Steve Bohn - guitar, vocals
Robert Gorman - bass, vocals
Michael John Hackett - drums
Angel Petersen - autoharp, vocals

album: One Voice Many
order: debut
released:1971
category:Psychedelic Folk

1. West 2:40
2. Come To See Me 1:51
3. This Bird 3:11
4. Son (We've Kept The Room Just The Way You Left It) 4:15
5. Medley: Take It Bach / Michaelangelo 5:15
6. It's Crying Outside 3:40
7. 300 Watt Music Box 2:32
8. Okay 1:53
9. Half A Tap 2:55
10. One Voice Many 6:48

Just found the album today, and I immediately fell in love with the whole idea that one of the main instrument being featured for this Psychedelic Folk band is the autoharp. Its sound is similar to the harpsichord, except the autoharp is a bit softer in sound. There are a few artist that use it, The Carter Family, Joni Mitchell and John Sebastian from Lovin Spoonful. It's heard on their song "Do You Believe In Magic." I really don't know of any band that used the instrument to this extent. Besides using the not-too-familiar Folk instrument, the band incorporate styles from Rock, Folk, Psychedelia, Sunshine Pop, and Country. The guitar is diverse using Country guitar licks, at times has a warm and fuzzy tone, often heard in Progressive Rock.

The Bird is a favorite of mine. The melody of the lyrics are slightly similar to Chad and Jeremy.
Son is a coming of age song about a guy who is is hooked on coke. He's narrating his Prodigal Son story to his mom as if he is reading a letter he wrote to her. Except he is reluctant go home. I guess her response to him would be "Son, we've kept the room just the way you left it." anticipating his return.

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