All Pearls, No Swine Vol. 4 - In Which We Meet A Certain Number Of Relatively Known Folks...

Back to the Future Past, as we dip back into the Seventies. It seems that Vol. 3, the series' first foray into the Eighties was slightly less popular around here, through no fault of its all-no star line-up. So, back to the Seventies, and by now you know the drill. A lot of unknown stuff from private press/micro label artists, this time topped off with a number of higher profile names. Norman Greenbaum you know of course for "Spirit in the Sky", and only that one probably, but he had two more albums in the early Seventies before his run was over. "Hook And Ladder" is from his second platter, Home Again. Stevie Wright was lead singer of The Easybeats, and "Evie" was an Australian number one. It's actually a three-part 11 minute song, with the track here being the middle portion. There will be more from the Curtis Brothers coming up here, but "Seven League Boots" will sound very familiar, as Stephen Stills later turned it into the CSN hit "Southern Cross". Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks play on this demo. And finally Gene Clark, who you'll be seeing a lot more from on these pages, is represented with an interesting version of his classic composition "Silver Raven" off No Other, trying out a funk arrangement (thus the subtitle I gave it). It's not entirely successful, but definitely worth checking out. 

As for the rest of the crew, I'll point out some folks and let you do your own research in case any of the other artists strike you as worthy of investigation. Iris & Tom Messina's song for example is a true one-off. They were a married couple from Sacramento, and their one song came out on a compilation of local talent, but I don't think they published anything else. Cochise was one of a dozen bands with that name, this is the British one from the early Seventies, who played rock with country, folk and even slightly jazzy tendencies. Larry Groce, on here with early country-folk number "Compton", had a novelty hit five years later with "Junk Food Junkie", then co-founded and became radio host for the classic Mountain Stage program, as well as voice artist for a number of popular Disney albums. 

Oh, I almost forgot: There's a bonus track! My version of The Beach Boys' unreleased (until last year) "Carry Me Home", a great number combining the talents of then-Beach Boys Ricky Faatar and Blondie Chaplin with Dennis Wilson's. It was left off Holland, I suspect not only because of runtime restrictions. I imagine certain members of the band *coughMikeandAlcough* didn't want to get too political. My mix goes 180 on that and turns the subtext into text: Hear tricky Dicky defending the Vietnam war! Hear Mike Love being a faithful patriot! But most importantly: hear Dennis' sing his heart out in the role of a dying soldier.

That's it. Have a lovely Sunday with all pearls and no swine, and some fine, fine music.