Alun Davies
Jon Mark
Nicky Hopkins
Harvey Burns
Brian Odgers
This short lived outfit,featured the most well known uk keyboard player from the 60s and 70s Nicky Hopkins,who has featured on so many recordings,its embarrassing.What about the others?
Alun Davies and Jon Mark(aka John Michael Burchell), played as a duo and issued an album in 1963"Relax Your Mind",Alun Davies would be an in demand session player,and played with Spencer Davis Group,but went on to play with Cat Stevens,he also issued a 1972 solo album titled"Daydo",Jon Mark had played with the likes of Marianne Faithful,John Mayalls Bluesbreakers and onto Mark_Almond,Brian Odgers was another in demand session player,playing with the likes of Al Stewart,Top Topham,Georgie Fame and Jan and Lorraine,before Sweet Thursday,Harvey Burns another top session guy,and the list of artists he has recorded with is ridiculous,including George Fame,Al Stewart and Cat Stevens.
A real talented bunch,and the coming together of such top players,can be a anti climax as so much is expected from them.......so is this album a disappointment?
Well i've read real mixed views concerning its merits,so i'll give my own view on it.
i was so glad to pick this up on the only legit cd reissue issued by Sony in 1998,with NO liners at all unfortunately,but sound quality is good.In truth it was a blind buy and i had no idea what to expect.
I luckily bought something i enjoyed,5 of the numbers are written by Jon Mark,and are quite eclectic but with a folky vibe with the first 3 songs "DEALER","JENNY"and"LAUGHED AT HIM"showing this folk influence,but with accompaniment of organ,tinkling keyboards and acoustic guitar,"COBWEBS"written by Brian Odgers is my type of thing,which is a lovely hazy trippy floaty number veering on psychedelia with its woodwind,harpsichord and stoned vocals,"RESCUE ME"by John Mark again,has a Spencer Davis Group feel,with a jazzy,bluesy sound with organ to the fore,nothing spectacular,"MOLLY"by Brian Odgers is another damn fine piece of hippie pop, very much in Traffic back to the country mode with vibes of psychedelia and tinkling harpsichord,"SWEET FRANCESCA"the last of Jon Marks songs,is certainly indepted to 66 era Bob Dylan,even down to the vocals,pronounciation,lyrical content and music,"SIDE OF THE ROADt"he only song from Alun Davies,is a rather bluesy number with honky tonk piano runs and electric guitar,but unfortunately for me its kinda pedestrian,draggy and the least interesting number,the type of thing Paul and John would have a jam with to pass time between takes recording a Beatles album,"GILBERT STREET"is the final number at over 10 minutes long,well it is 1969,i absolutely love this,and for me its head and shoulders above much of this album,with its fuzzed up bass,acoustic picking and strumming,with spacey floaty organ,but unfortunately the vocals are not the greatest,this has the vibe of late 60s Procol Harum,Freedom,post chart Spencer Davis Group.
A criticism,i feel the production and final mix has not enough oomph and is rather flat,and some of the instrumentation seems to be muffled low in the mix,which is a pity.
IN SUMMARY
It's NOT a classic by any imagination,but for me a mostly enjoyable listen none the less,though some of the songwriting seems rather lacklustre,though those 2 Brian Odgers songs COBWEBS and MOLLY along with GILBERT STREET are what makes this album worthwhile,no doubt about that, as others are rather nondescript and not memorable enough to stick in the mind,or make a big impact,and it is an album of a rather languid pace,with not too many extremes of mood,pace and sound!!
It's a shame there are NO Nicky Hopkins written numbers as his 73 album "The Tin Man Was A Dreamer"has many fabulous numbers by him.
Just to add there was a non-album single (Getting It Together/Mary On The Runaround), both songs don't add much to their work anyway. Curiosuly never issued in the UK though!