UK Psychedelia Discussion Forum
Regal Zonophone 2
I almost called this post "Where JJ and Wallace meet..." because this album is perhaps the only record I could imagine them both listening to and enjoying. Although it may not be prog enough for Wallace, and it may not be pop enough for JJ.
I enjoy it a lot though. It's basically the band Toast who did "Summer of Miranda" with an Irish female singer providing some harmony (she doesn't sing lead vocals anywhere on the album). One of the songs "Emma and Harry" sounds very much like Toast. A lot of the rest is kind of Caravan-ish (the bass player John Perry ended up in Caravan later).
I guess it's as close to a "Toast" album as there is! I can't say anything nice about the next band Henry Marsh joined however, called Sailor. They seem like the spark that lit the Sex Pistol's fuse. Not for me, thanks...
But thankfully, Gringo are nothing like that and I think it's a good album. Tapestry of Delights illuminates the Ice/Toast/Affinity/Gringo connection.
If that's a union of prog and psych, I guess I'm glad I wasn't invited to the wedding...
...or the surgery...
Which one is Wallace?
Hi Omar, as you know the Toast 45 was in 1970, (and the two unreleased Toast songs on Syde Trips Five were 1969, which may have been when the single was recorded as well). The Gringo album is 1971 but I think recorded just a few months after the single was released.
This link covers the info pretty well, although I prefer their Paul Simon cover a little more than they do, even if it is pretty heavily orchestrated...
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2391
Not surprisingly, there are other bands with the same name, but the one Gringo album was released on Decca and has an art deco cover drawing with the name Gringo on it.
This gives the record information so that if you are looking for it, you don't get another record by mistake!
http://badcatrecords.com/BadCat/GRINGO.htm
There's an interesting little interview with John Perry at the bottom of the page talking about his memories of the band of his time in Caravan.
Cheers,Joe! 