Obscure 60's Bands

In this episode of In The Name Of Wax, we explore the obscure blues-psych sounds of A.B. Skhy, revisit the folk-rock craftsmanship of McKendree Spring, and uncover the unique world of String Driven Thing. Along the way, we share stories of rediscovering records we’ve owned for years, the connections that tie musicians together, and why some of the best albums never became household names. If you love forgotten bands, record collecting, and the endless surprises waiting in the grooves, this episode is packed with discoveries worth sharing.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

It is March 29th. Jerry, why don't you get us started with this day in history?

SPEAKER_04 0:12

Okay. I was just going to say there's there's not a lot for today, but there's some significant ones for tomorrow. So I'll go ahead and read today and tomorrow. Okay. Born today, John Tyler, 1790. Don't know who that is. Eugene McCarthy, 1916, Pearl Bailey, 1918. And here's one of Eric's uh favorite artists, and well, mine too, really, that uh Van Gellis or Van Gellus.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

He was born today in 1943. Uh Walt Fraser, 1945, and Michael Brecker of the Brecker Brothers was born today in 1949. Uh, Brecker Brothers, they were in a lot of jazz groups and jazz fusion stuff. They did some of their own albums. But whenever I see Brecker Brothers or one of the Brecker Brothers on an album, I'll get it easy. Okay, events for today. Uh Royal Albert Hall opened in London by Queen Victoria in 1871. Okay, tomorrow, March 30th, uh born was uh Vincent Van Gogh, 1853, Sonny Boy Williamson, the blues heart player in 1914, uh Warren Beatty, 1938, Graham Edge from the Moody Blues in 1944, Eric Clapton was born tomorrow in 1945, uh Jim Dandy from Black Oak, Arkansas was born in 1948. Yeah, I saw those guys in concert. And Dave Ball from Poco Haram was born tomorrow in 1948. Let's see, events for tomorrow. Alaska was purchased on tomorrow's date in 1867. And one other event is Simon and Garfunkel make their first New York appearance at uh Gardy's Folk Fest, Folk City, in 1964.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

That's it.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

That would have been fun to go there.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Yeah, yeah, really, yeah. Yeah, it sure would have. Well, that's it for that.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

All right.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

All right.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

How many how many things do you got to share today, Jerry?

SPEAKER_04 2:31

I have uh two bands and one album. Uh one of the bands is pretty short. And well, the album will sort of be kind of short too, so it's not gonna take up much time. But yeah, I just had two bands and an album.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

All right. Jerry, or uh sorry, Eric, what do you got today?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Uh I have one band to talk about, uh, just sharing my own experience of listening to the band.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Okay. All right. And for all the listeners out there, so we are in the name of Wax, we are a podcast and we are a record club. So this is a podcast on our record club. Anybody can do a record club just getting together with friends, talking about albums and vinyl, and we have a mission statement. So we're gonna have Eric give us the mission statement.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

In the name of Wax is an exclusive record club for music lovers of the analog format through sharing experiences, memories, discoveries, and emotions tied to the albums. Our goal is to build continued appreciation for forgotten bands and members by understanding more of their histories and connections. We reinforce our bond with club members for love of the groove.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

All right. Love of the groove. All right. Who wants to start first?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Uh Jerry, if you'd like to start, you can.

SPEAKER_04 3:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Take it away, Jerry.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

Okay, sounds good. I'll start with uh sort of the sort of band here. Okay, this band, um well, I had I had one of their albums for the longest time, and I had it filed under Rs, but that was like the name of the album. It wasn't the name of the band. But anyway, um, I've had it for quite a while. This band um they formed in 1968, and they ended up splitting up in 1970, or well, early 1970s. They're electric blues, psychedelic rock, and acid rock. Um, they just did the two albums, and uh I actually have both their albums, so that was kind of cool on that part. Um, they formed uh in uh Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 60s. They well New Blues was what they first named their band. They ended up changing it later to uh uh to uh A B Sky, and Sky is spelt S-K-H-Y. Um okay, uh let's see. Uh one of the guys in the band, uh well, one of the guys is kind of connected to Jerry Garcia. Let's see here. Uh the keyboardist uh in the band, he played with uh James Brown and Freddie King. And he also played uh with The Grateful Dead. He played on their American Beauty album. Um, from Milwaukee, they kind of pretty soon they they relocated to a better spot, San Francisco, and they changed that's when they changed their name to AB Sky. And they did a bunch of live performances. They ended up getting signed by MGM Records. You don't see MGM signing too many psych rock or rock bands. Um, let's see here. They released their uh self-titled debut album in 1969. Um let's see here, and that a single from that album uh reached the Billboard Hot 100 at number 100.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

Okay, the group uh split.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

It doesn't really say let's see, the group split, and that's when the keyboardists left, and he went on to play with Harvey Mandel from Canteed. We talked about our Harvey Mandel a few couple months ago. I don't know if you remember that, Eric. Uh, from can't from Canteed, yeah. And he played with Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead. Um, the other guy went on and played uh with the Versa Tones, and he also played with Steve Miller band. And then yeah, then they ended up getting back together to do their 1970 album uh called Ramblin' On, and that's the one I had uh for the longest time and never listened to it until just recently. Um they're both really good albums. Um they started a third album, but then they split up. Uh one of them went on to play uh with Boss Skags and um let's see, one other somebody else.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Oh, okay, the other guy who's doing still doing stuff with Steve Miller, apparently. Um let's see.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

And that is that is really about it. Um yeah, they're two two good albums, and I'd say pretty obscure, but I don't know that they'd be really that hard to find. I mean, I don't think there's too many people to know about them.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

I mean, I didn't even know about them, and I had one of them, so yeah, obscure band there. Yeah, me neither.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

Yeah, their first album, Ramblin', it's like um it's like they're outside, they're kind of it's like off in the distance, uh, the band's kind of just walking like up this up this hill. And yeah, it's and the other album is kind of like their their name, AB Sky, is like coming out of the sky and like neon lights or something.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Uh the album Ramblin, is it spelt with an ing at the end or in? Like Ramblin or Ramblin'.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

Uh Ramblin, yeah. IN. Double check here. Yeah, IN, yep. That was an and they're both on MGM, which still seems kind of odd to me. I don't know how many like rock or psych bands MGM signed, but I don't really associate MGM with too many of those. But oh yeah, well, uh looks like um later on, this was like later on, um A B let's see, Crossing. Okay, looks like they released a three CD various artists live album featuring AB Sky along with Grateful Dead, Joy of Cooking, Sal Valentino, Ron Elliott, and Linda Phillips, Congress of Wonders, It's a Beautiful Day, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Um, the album contained all previously unreleased live recordings, was called the the name of the compilation CD, whatever, is Curiosities from the San Francisco Underground. I'm gonna kind of make a note of that. That sounds like it'd be a fun yeah, it'd be fun to listen to that one, yeah. So, yeah, a band that uh I thought fit our mission statement as far as discoveries of screw bands.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

How would you describe the genre? Did you say like a psychedelic? Did I hear that right?

SPEAKER_04 10:23

Uh shoot. I I kind of was thinking in my mind what they reminded me of. I I mean, I listened to them, I listened to one, I think, early this morning. Um It reminds me sort of it they remind me kind of like um kind of like uh uh let's see, kind of like kind of like John Mayle with with horns behind him.

unknown 10:53

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 10:54

It's like very good blues, but then there's kind of like an added, I mean, there's a keyboardist and and horns behind them too. So it's sort of like it reminded me of of John Mayle, but then backed up by some horns and keyboards.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

So, yeah, so great music, and they you know, they don't really like sound like anybody. I can't really connect them to really sounding like somebody else, another band really. So they kind of did their own thing and sounds like they had a good time there for a few years.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

And what was the name of the band? I don't think he's revealed that yet. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's A B Sky. It's like capital A, period, capital B, period, and then SKHY.

unknown 11:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:50

A B Sky. They don't they don't say why they named themselves that, really, because it's kind of an odd name. It's not really a catchy name or anything like that. And that might have been one of the reasons I've kind of just overlooked this record for many years.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I I think I misheard you. I thought that was the name of one of the albums. So I was thinking about like huh.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

Well, their first yeah, it was they did have a self-titled I see.

unknown 12:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:20

Their their first album was just named their their name of the group.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 12:25

And then that was their 68th one. And their 71 is A B Sky Ramblin' or Ramblin' On.

unknown 12:33

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

I'm starting to realize that seems to be more normal, a band's first album to be just self-titled.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

It's kind of a good, I think it's kind of a good promotional thing because um, you know, it gets their name out, it is gonna get the band's name out there, and and they're gonna, whatever hits they have, or whatever the, you know, for whatever reason the label signed them, they must have liked, you know, one or two of their songs. So to put their first album out, uh or how do they put it? They call it their empitamous, or it just means self-titled.

unknown 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

I think it's a good um, I mean, it's it might be the the label's idea to do that too, even to you know, push the sales.

unknown 13:27

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Or like you said, just to get the name.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

Right, right. And plus, especially with a name like A B Sky, right? You know, who's gonna like that's kind of a hard one to remember, but if the main album, the first album is called that, that helps.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah, that that's like one of the fun parts. I mean, that is like probably one of my favorite parts about just like collecting records itself, is finding bands that only did one album or just two albums or just a small handful of records, because you you don't know what stuff might have came out under a very small run, or they only did two records and that's it. So yeah, those uh interesting obscurities like that, those are the best ones.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Yeah, and I can send you guys pictures of both these albums too.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, please do.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

So that's it for that band.

unknown 14:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Very cool. And the the connections there were cool too. It sounds like someone had a connection with Grateful Dead. Um, sounds like the other Steve Miller. Yeah, one of the other members had a connection with Steve Miller. Very cool.

SPEAKER_03 14:35

So Boss Gagge, I think, was in there.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Okay. It's the web, like you talk about, Jerry, the web.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

The web. It's all connected. And plus the way I like to think of it is we're connected to the web now, too. Yes. We're in deep.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

We're trying to bring the web to the masses. Well, we will let them know there is a web.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Right, right, right. Yes. It we'll we'll be not only appreciating ourselves, but other people will be appreciating everything too.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

All right.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

Yeah, because just knowing about it helps like it helps listening to it, it helps like looking for it, or you know, maybe you're flipping through and you see something that you know, it's like, geez, I heard this one, or I heard somebody say something about this some one time way back when.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

So uh, where did you find this this record?

SPEAKER_04 15:35

In my living room.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Do you remember when you purchased it?

SPEAKER_04 15:40

Boy, you know, I would just have to guess. I mean, you know, 10 to 20 years ago, probably. I don't know.

unknown 15:50

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

But it's sort of uh, you know, it's just kind of a plain cover, and it's like these guys walking up a hill, that was about it, you know. And I don't know, I just I thought the name of the group was Ramblin', but it was the name of the album. Just the the A B Sky was in kind of small print, you couldn't hardly see it. But so yeah, so then from that album, then I'm like, geez, this is this is good. And if they just have one other one, you know, that's worth picking up, which you know, I got a good deal on it on eBay. So so I thought, well, good, I've got both albums this band ever did. So cool.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yeah, I was thinking it's funny when when I discover a new record, I'm I'm going to a store and I'm discovering it. And and Jerry, you have so many records where you're like rediscovering stuff in your own collection. It's like, oh yeah, these guys.

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Right, right. Well, uh well, Eric's heard me say this before too, but when I was you know like younger, like teenage, whatever, I always thought it'd be the coolest thing would be to live in a record store. And it really is like that now.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

I have I can believe it because even my small record collection uh at home now. So I I got like this little plastic like crate that you can pick up for like five bucks at Walmart. So I just have my records sitting in that right now.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

That's good if they're on the floor, because if the floor gets wet, that'll protect them.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Right, right. And so just the other day going through the uh going through my records, you know, very short, you know, collection of records, but I was already finding stuff that I kind of forgot that I had. So I can't imagine with when you when you have as many records as you do, it's probably very easy to forget.

SPEAKER_04 17:41

Well, plus the older you get, the more your memory fades.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

So it is like a record store then.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like uh the benefit of a fading memory.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Very good.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Yeah, and I I get that way too, just with records that I have. I mean, I have I mean even stuff that I need to like catalog still, even when I flip through that, like, oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot that I got that one.

SPEAKER_04 18:06

Yeah, yeah. Like, where the hell did this come from?

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yep, yep. And then um, yeah, just making the it's the discoveries. It's the discoveries of bands and then the discoveries of what you even own. And then right, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 18:20

Yeah, yep. Yep. We're all like we're all like better than we think we are.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

I think I think Eric has something he wants to share now.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Okay. Okay, so speaking of um the discoveries of bands, so like this is a band that um I actually only have two albums of theirs. So um I've when I first got this band, I just thought the cover looked good, and when I listened to it, it's it was very good. I really enjoyed it. Um so this band they started in 1968 and they were active mostly through the early 70s. Um this is a Prague folk rock band. Um interestingly, most of the band members they stuck together. So like it made me think of like uh Barclay James Harvest where they primarily stayed together. Wishbone ash, they stayed together. Um and what labels are stand on? Uh they were on DECA, MCA, and Pi. Um I think only one band member shifted. Um their music was often considered to be avant-garde and experimental. Um and but that might have been more from like their earlier records. So like I the two records that I have of theirs is from 73 and 76. And 76 was their last record from their initial incarnation, and then they kind of broke up for quite a few years and they got back together in 2015 for like a reunion final show kind of a thing. Um but so this group, their first record okay, their first record is also self-titled. Um I don't I don't have their first, second or or third albums, so I have their fourth and their sixth album. Um, and I was wrong. They did uh two other recordings in seven 2007 and 2010. So their albums are from 69, 70, 72, 73, 75, and 76. Um they were first released on DECA from 1969 to 1970 and 72. Uh they were on MCA in 73, and then they were on Pi in 75 and 76. It looks like their first album it didn't chart at all. On the US top one top 200, it didn't chart. Um their second third album was uh their second album uh was at 192, and their third album was at 163. Um it looks like they had another record in 72, the second record in 72, and that didn't chart at all. Um one of the things that I really enjoyed about just discovering this band was they did have a lot of uh sounds that made me think a lot of like James Barclay Harvest and like that really came to mind when I listened to these guys. Um and Jerry, I'm just wondering uh uh what albums of this band do you have, 'cause I know you have a couple of them, if not maybe all of them. Um Uh but they also have Mellotron, and Melotron is my probably my favorite instrument of all time. It just has such a unique sound and it's it's always a mind-blowing sound. It never gets old. So going into a little bit of the history, there isn't an awful lot about their history. Um just based on like the Wikipedia page, it's actually quite short. It's only it's only four paragraphs long. Uh and that's what's listed here. Um let's see. Looks like the bass and vocalist and the drummer and vocalist were added for the live at the Beachland live performance and for that recording in 2007. Um to their early history. Um they formed at the uh at Iron Deck Community College at Queensbury, New York. Their first bass player was Larry Tucker, followed by Fred Holman and Dr. Michael Dreyfus, who played electric violin, viol uh viola, moog, uh, harp, and mellotron. Let's see. And it looks like they were primarily a quartet. Let's see. Christopher Bishop replaced Holman on bass as a the 1973 album. Um some of their music ventured into avant-garde or experimental territory, such as God Bless the Conspiracy from their album three with its um violin, viola, synthesizer solo. So it sounds like they were willing to uh branch out from their own sound. Because it this band this band is considered to be folk rock, which I I would agree with that. Um it sounded more like like soft rock, but with like you know, really good musicianship. And it just had like a I don't know, just like a feel-good mellow uh just uh feel-good music, basically. Uh let's see. Not much on like their actual history as a band. It kind of like just goes straight into um their 2007 and 2010 recordings. Um let's see, in the summer of Steve Anderson and Alan Stoker were added uh to the live at Beachland performance in 2007 for that release. In addition, Dave Morrison on Harmonica also played on the live on their live album. Uh in the summer of 2010, Christopher Bishop rejoined the group and uh for the recording of five songs. Uh this recording also featured Alan Stoker, who did drums, percussion, and vocals, Paul Hollowell on Keys, and Fred Mullen on Synthesizer. The band reunited for one final show at the legendary Douglas Corner Club in Nashville in May of 2013, uh, which was uh video recorded and released on December fifth December of 2015 on DVD.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

Can I take a can I take a stab? Sure.

SPEAKER_04 25:30

It's not that Lynn Lindisfair, is it? Or Lindisfarne? Hi.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

L-A-N-D-I-S-F-A-R-N.

unknown 25:39

No.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

For their single. They're not connected to VanGraaff Generator, are they?

SPEAKER_01 25:45

I'm not seeing any connections. Uh not to any, not to any other bands. Looks like this band primarily stayed together, but they didn't like break up. Only uh one person was replaced throughout their whole career from how this reads currently. Um they had two charting, they only had uh two charted singles. It was uh Because It's Time in 1971 that charted at 105, and then 76, Too Young to Feel This Old was charted at 110. So they didn't have any like major, major hits, but God that that title sounds really familiar to me.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Um too young to feel this old. Either we talked about it, or I'm I feel like I might have heard it from you like a long time ago. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Um it wouldn't have been from me a long time ago because I just recently got that record.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Okay. So yeah, I I have no more guesses, uh, whatever you're ready to reveal.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

All right. This is uh McKendry Spring. Oh, wow. Okay. So I have two records of theirs. I have Spring Sweet from 1973, and I just recently found Too Young to Feel This Old.

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Yeah, that's I've got that one too. Yeah, I've got like I think four of their albums.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Um she said she'd never leave Chicago. That's I always love that song. I forget which one that's on, but yeah, McKinley Spring, yeah. It's uh uh great band. Reminds me of a friend that uh isn't uh not here anymore, but but yeah, I've always liked that band. And uh there's they're sort of like uh sort of a gentleman's band or something. They're not like hard rock or you know, nothing like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

They're more like uh I like the gentleman's band.

SPEAKER_04 27:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some like a little more mature audience kind of or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

How is McKendry spelt?

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Uh it's M-Capital K-E-N-D-R-E-E. And McKendry is the last name of the main member of the band.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:07

Yeah. And like I I'm curious, did because I don't know that they have like, you know, this huge fan base or whatever. And but I've liked them for a long time. I mean, there's plenty of bands I like that who knows if anybody else even likes them. But um did did I tell did I talk to you about McKendry Spring before? Or how did you find them, Eric?

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Uh I first found McKendry Spring from um, it was actually the record store that I frequented quite a bit, probably about like five, six years ago. Um, I'd go there every weekend and I'd help out and I'd grab records from him and and uh I would bring my record cleaner over there and we'd clean records back and forth. Um he would give me a first chance at grabbing records over there. And I just happened to see McKendry Spring there. So uh their first record that I have, Spring Suite, I found that maybe six, seven years ago. Uh, and that was my first discovery of them.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

Yeah, there's I mean, they're just not a very like well-known band, so it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Um I mean, I'm glad you found them, and I'm you know, I'm glad you like them, yeah. I'm just looking at my M's here.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

And that was a really good way to put it, like a gentleman's band, because they were just like they are just like more mature. There's no it's it's not aggressive, but it's like you could tell like all of them are very tight and they all know what they're doing, and you can just tell like uh it's like it's like you're listening to everybody who are either like married or have kids, and you can just kind of hear like the maturity and what they're talking about and what the lyrics are and how they're playing playing alongside each other where it's not just like loud, aggressive banging. Um it was it was uh it's yeah, very enjoyable. And I I really enjoy I really like this band. And for only having two albums of theirs, I I'm excited to get more of them.

SPEAKER_04 30:28

And uh I don't how many is there? I don't know that there's that many, like maybe five or six. That's about it, I think.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Yeah, so McKendry Spring, their first record was 1969, Second Thoughts is 1970, uh McKendry Spring 3, 72. There's another another album just called Tracks. So total, there's one, two, three, four, five, six. There's seven. Seven records going up to 2006. Sorry, 1976. They did three albums afterwards. Uh they did a live album in 2007, and then they did another recording called Recording Number Nine in 2010, and then uh 2015 was their uh their last album uh or their last performance. It was called Times Like These. But that's on DVD. So but as far as records, there's seven.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:26

Yeah, very cool. Great band. Yeah, whenever I listen to them, I'm reminded of my friend when I listen to him because he's he's the one that got me that got me into that. So very cool. I'm glad you I'm glad you like I'm glad you're a fan.

unknown 31:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

Because, you know, if we kind of if we kind of a asked around to find like McKendry Spring fans, I think we're hard to come by. For I don't know why really, but because they're a great band.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

So And I think just the fact that they only had like two charting tracks, but they were in the they were in the hundreds and they they didn't have like major looks like they they were releasing music, but they didn't really break through. Um but it also looks like for what following they did have, um, it was they were still appreciated very much so because they were able to carry on in 2007, 2010, and 2015.

SPEAKER_04 32:25

So yeah, see grabbing those are you know, it kind of proves that you know you don't have to have some like high charting band to, you know, that you need to look for, grab.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

You can there's there's lots of great music out there that are kind of like under the radar. Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

I've noticed too, just bands being able to just stay in the game for as long as they can. Sometimes that will keep them relevant. So like this band, they they stuck around and even and into the 2000s, they're still releasing music. I'm sure they're doing you know, small performances. Obviously, they're not selling out arenas or anything, but um, I think that just and you see that just in other walks of life and and other you know industries and job professions. You just you stay in the game long enough and you you will achieve you know some sort of success. So very cool, very cool.

SPEAKER_03 33:23

Alrighty, back to you, Jerry.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

Okay, well, um and okay, I'm gonna do this other band, but I'm gonna withdraw that album that I was gonna do because I didn't listen, I like to listen to them before I do them. I I didn't listen to that one well this morning yet or recently yet. So all I got all I'll have is this this last band. Okay. Uh and I believe, like Eric can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe uh he and I l listened to this together, and it's sort of like we both discovered how good they were, like at the same time. Kind of surprised us both. I think this is I think this is the band, and like I say, if well I'll I'll I'll name one of the albums' names toward the end. And I mean if yeah. Okay, anyway. These it these it's also a folk rock, progressive folk group, active from 1967 to 1975, uh, then again in 91, and then actually 2001 to present. Uh they have signed with uh Concord Records, Charisma Records, Otis Morphus Records, never heard of that, and then Back Shop Records. Okay. Uh let's see, they're out of Scotland. Um let's see here. Uh well they formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967. Um let's see, they're they they are another one that did the name of the band as their first album.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

Uh see, it's a theme.

SPEAKER_04 35:28

I don't know how to pronounce that. Yeah, it's it's I think it's a marketing thing, a good idea, and I don't really blame bands that do that. I think it's a good thing. Okay. Um yeah, this kind of came up right away when they talked about their first album, and it was on this Concord label, and then it has in parenthesis right in the Wikipedia page. Copies of this album are very collectible and difficult to find. So, of course, that made me go look for it, and you can't find one. So they are difficult to find.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Eric, we should put that label on our first album and just say that it's very rare and hard to find. Right.

SPEAKER_04 36:16

Um okay. They let's see, although a long way from there later. Okay. They put most a lot of their stuff came out on charisma. I mean, I've always liked that label too. Um the group moved to London in 72. Um then one of the members uh kind of steered the band toward more electric folk stuff, and he started doing most of the songwriting, uh, often featuring hard-bitten and bitter observations capturing the harsher side of life, uh, would have been seen uh to better effect. Um I guess that's that guy's opinion or whatever. Okay, by 72, uh they got a uh uh classically trained violinist to join the group. Um let's see here. Another album came on, okay, London, London Studios. Uh they toured um the UK and Europe with their charisma stable mates, uh Linden's Fair and Genesis. Uh this exposure razor profile led to TV appearances on an American tour. Their second album, um, I don't want to say the title just yet, but I thought it was like the coolest title for an album, and it was a cool cover, so that's why I bought it. And that was in uh 73. That was their first album I ever bought, just because it was such a cool title. Okay. Uh let's see here.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

They broke up in 75.

SPEAKER_04 38:09

Um, one of the guys uh went on and one of the guys turned into like an engineer record producer, and he uh worked with uh Elvis Costello, uh the Bluebells, um and then another one went on to become a guitar technician for Jeff Beck and Steve Winwood. I don't know if that sounds familiar to you, Eric.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

It should, but um I mean I like I know who Steve Winwood is, but I don't I it's not ringing the bell.

SPEAKER_04 38:48

I think yeah, but I feel like uh uh I must have read this Wikipedia page like years ago or something. Okay. Um let's see here.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

Yeah, being Jeff Beck's guitar tech would be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 39:02

Exactly. Along with Steve Winwood's tech, too. Um so these guys are all talented with you know all kinds of stuff. Uh then one of the other members uh in 78 played a number of session bands, notably at Barron's Court Tavern in Barron's Court, London, where he was a regular favorite of Alexander's, better known as the King of the Witches. And the violinist went on and joined Vandergraft Generator in 77, and also was featured on some of Peter Hamill's albums. He later joined Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

We're in the 2001 now. Um one of them joined a Burning Spirits album. I don't know, never heard of that one. Okay, the discography. Well they did looks like about twenty, twenty-five albums. But their first group they did one, two, three, four, five.

SPEAKER_04 40:33

Well, their their tours weren't recorded until in the nineties or something, so okay. Um I'll I'll name the the first album I when I say the name of the album, I think Eric will recognize it. Such a cool name. Uh, the machine that cried.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Uh yep, I know who it is. It's uh string-driven thing.

SPEAKER_04 41:03

Yes. String-driven thing. Now, do you remember, Eric? It wasn't too long after I moved into my quadna place. We were just kind of listening to records, or you just kind of came to hang out for the day or whatever, and we were listening to records. And so I was grabbing just things I didn't know what they were. And I don't know if you remember that one with the toothpaste coming out.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Um doesn't ring a bell.

SPEAKER_04 41:34

Like it's a close-up of a uh the front of a tube of toothpaste with toothpaste coming out. Well, where did you first hear string driven thing?

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Oh, uh, it was actually it was with you. That's what I thought. It was listening to the machine that cried. Well, it was it the machine that cried, okay. Yep, yep. That was my first my first uh exposure. And I think it was the album cover where I was like, okay, the album cover is great, and that name is amazing. Uh yeah. Yeah, I'm like, let's see what this is all about.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:12

So so yeah, and and I ended up getting uh um a three album lot of string-driven thing. Um well, there's one uh another one of the toothpaste one, but then two other ones I don't have. So I mean, I'll have like five or six of their albums now. So I just thought, I mean, it's a cool band, and they're not really like any other band, it seems like. So, yeah, string-driven thing. I mean, it's an odd name for a group and very odd.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

What is what's the name of the album with the toothpaste coming out?

SPEAKER_03 42:59

Let's see here, where the heck is that thing?

SPEAKER_00 43:02

I kind of like the symbolism behind it, because like there's a saying, I mean, like once the you know, toothpaste comes out, you can't get it back in the in the tube.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Yeah, it is called Keep Your N on It. Keep Y-E-R and then A N D on It.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

And it's in really small print above the, but it's a gigantic close-up of the front of a toothpaste tube with toothpaste coming out. Yeah, so I mean, I can send you pictures of these too.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Yeah. I'll have to check because I know I have two albums of them. Um, I know I have The Machine That Cried.

SPEAKER_04 43:50

Yeah. Uh Justin, what do you think of that title? The Machine That Cried.

SPEAKER_00 43:57

Uh I have

SPEAKER_04 44:00

questions I I would like to know like why that why that name I know and then what's what's the what's the meaning of a uh toothpaste coming out of the front of a tube?

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Well so we're really off topic but like there was uh like this like financial podcast that I was listening to and they were talking about like the you know the economic situation in in America and inflation and they were talking about like the inflation genie and you know it it kind of goes along with you know you can't get the genie back in the bottle it's kind of the same thing with like once you squirt the toothpaste out like you can't get you can't get toothpaste back in the tube. So it was just kind of like a metaphor for like once something starts like you can't stop it.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

And so okay all right that's and I feel like makes more sense than anything else I can think of.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Yeah and I think in my life I I feel like I've heard that saying before too but I I think it's it's uh it's kind of a universal you know saying you know when something starts you can't yeah when you can't stop something after it starts you can use that that analogy of the toothpaste.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

Yep there's nothing that makes it more clear than that. Yeah and I think with like with the the machine that cried what came to my mind when I heard that was like um it's like mechanisms that are becoming humanistic or getting humanistic yeah it's almost like kind of like a an octopus or an insect and it's a close up and it's almost like it has scales.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Yeah I think it's uh I think it's a close up of like a fly or a fly's eye.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Yeah it's hard to tell and I'll yeah I'll send pictures of this all these yeah and I just checked my discogs I have three albums of theirs so I actually have uh I have that one the toothpaste one okay and then uh the other one I have is yeah you yeah while he's looking at that even the name string driven thing like that almost implies some sort of like a motor or or a machine you know everybody knows like what a like a like a like a bicycle is a is a chain drive you know um uh or a guitar yeah uh oh sure sure or a violin yeah an instrument yeah heck even a even a piano you know a piano has strings with just little hazardous exactly yeah something that mm interesting and like string driven thing meaning like the thing that's driving it is also delicate strings break oh yeah that's so cool yeah and if you and if you want to get if you wanna you know get somebody's attention name yourself some really weird n thing that takes people a while to figure out you don't want to have some common name right and yeah the the photos are cool yeah the one I've got coming I don't know it's like a guy with uh uh tennis racket up to his face and he's kind of looking through the tennis racket or something yeah a good share can I sh uh I don't have an an album to share but I always want to share an update with uh just look you know once you think you you understand receivers then you you realize that you don't okay so uh I got this new receiver and it had you know several different inputs on the back so there were there were four inputs that were labeled line inputs so line one two three and four each with left and a right um I just went on I just went and on and plugged into line one and I was getting the same um sort of response from my other so my other receiver that I was using um didn't have those separate line inputs there was a there was a CD input um uh I think there was a phonal phono input anyway I I I tried all the inputs and I was getting a very weak signal coming out of the receiver so I so I got this new receiver and uh plugged into into this line one and I was getting the same kind of response and that's when I started thinking like oh maybe it's the turntable Eric gave me a new needle last week I changed the needle out still the same thing and I just I I I googled it I I was looking it up and it said something about you know the the final input and so I just I flipped the receiver around and I I tried plugging into that input and it was nice and powerful and I got really really excited I almost peed my pants and realized like oh my god like the turntable works I could tell you were excited you know and this receiver works and like in that moment I was I started looking at all my records and I'm like I want to listen to them all right now and I just I didn't have time to listen to them all so but but I threw a few and I had my kids with me so of course I had to throw revolver on there for the umpteenth time but but they love that album so much and um um it was actually cool because I in a panic I had to I had to leave to go pick up my daughter and I had just put it on and so I like quickly like I had to take 10 seconds I had to show Isaac how to turn the turntable off and like how to and he already I've already had him like flipping records before so he was kind of familiar with it. But um I called him up later I'm like I'm like Isaac did you turn the turntable off yeah yeah we turned it off so because I was starting to freak out I'm like oh my god like what if like it stopped and it was just been like spinning you know in in in the dead wax for like 20 minutes but no he was he was responsible and he turned it off and and took the needle off and and everything but I'm just super excited that I have a a working system now and it sounds it sounds really good.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Yeah congrats yeah good job yeah so with that like if it's the phono where it sounds good but then other inputs are bad so like each of those inputs there there's a different board responsible for the signal pushing. So that might be just be like the phono board maybe like the output transistor might be bad where it's a smaller or weaker signal where there could just be bad caps in that one board.

SPEAKER_00 50:29

Yeah. Yeah I'm I mean I'm thinking I think in that that old receiver definitely has an issue then because I tried I remember trying all the different inputs uh because there there weren't many sure you know there's CD phono blah blah blah um but I think what I was reading I'll have to do some more information but I think these line inputs might require another maybe some sort of like a preamp that it power source. Yeah that that it has to go in and out of before it goes into the in the line. But what was funny is I uh so when I got this receiver it came with a an adapter um uh like a what's like the three and a half millimeter um you know stereo jack that you have on your phone and then it it it adapts to uh um it's got two you know stereo left and right yeah RCA yep exactly so I had that little adapter and so I plugged it into the line input just so I just created music on my phone and and it came through really nice on on the um through the receiver. So I was like well there's nothing wrong with that but there's just my phone must be creating enough of a power signal to get through versus when you plug the turntable into it like it just it was really weak and until you plug it into that into that you know funnel. Am I pronouncing that right phonel or phono? Phono.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

Phonal okay phono so but anyway um yeah just just hearing music at full volume yes it's it's a game changer because then you're gonna hear a lot more of the music that you never heard before. Yeah um and then just the joy of appreciating your system and you know seeing what upgrades you want to get later on and that that it's a that's a very fun and enjoyable thing.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

Yeah well actually like I'm relieved to know like at least for a while I'm not gonna put any more money into it. Like I've got a turntable I got a receiver I got speakers like I've I've got what I need to survive right now.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Yeah and you got time.

SPEAKER_00 52:28

Yes. Yep. Yep so I am I'm not currently looking to spend any more money other than just buying more records but I I can because I mean I live in an apartment so I can't blast it anyway. So it's it's honestly it's the perfect system for the apartment because it's like this the speakers aren't too overpowering. But it's defin like when I listen to it it definitely sounds healthy versus before like you like I had to crank the bass up all the way on the receiver just to hear a little bit of bass. Yeah and it was very minimal if that. And then when you turn all the settings back to normal it's like it's completely flat. I mean you you might as well just be listening to the record with no receiver at all and just like listening to the sound just resonating off the record. Oh that's good and you had to and you had to crank the volume all the way just to get something so now that I drop I drop the needle and like you don't even have to touch the volume and it's nice and it's loud enough it's clear it's good. So definitely a win in my household um very excited to just that's nice yeah I can put a record on and and actually go in the kitchen and I can still hear it. Nice um and then Eric I brought two of your records back. Oh nice uh so I had two BG albums here so horizontal and idea and so I just want to just quickly report on those uh I absolutely loved horizontal um I'm already kind of forgetting exactly what I heard but I remember listening to it thinking like this this is beautiful um idea was good I I kind of got almost I mean I didn't fall asleep but like I kind of got lulled with it. Like it's good like you hear the musicians the musicianship in it but um it wasn't as exciting as horizontal. Horizontal just sounded very you know a little bit more novel. Sure. Um an idea just kind of felt like I don't know I I might be speaking out of place but kind of like they're just kind of going through the going through the motions. It's just you know an album in their repertoire maybe maybe not the most album that they're really known for but that that's just listening to it one time through I also had the kids with me and I I did get distracted a little bit by doing stuff in the kitchen so I I didn't give it my full 100% sure attention. So that's kind of on my bad too but um overall really liked it. Horizontal definitely was was good.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Horizontal's the one that has Peter Green on it.

SPEAKER_00 55:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

Yeah that's good. And Idea was the the other album that actually aside from Odessa, but Idea was the other record where I was like okay I really need to get into these guys. So Idea was actually Idea and Odessa were the breakthrough albums for me with getting into them. I described like Idea as their revolver album. Okay. Like it's that to me it's that good. Okay. Um I really really enjoy it I still do. So and horizontal's great too like they're all good. Yeah um but that those were like my those were uh my breakout albums and then we were talking about horizontal and talking about how Peter Green is in there. So uh I just figured it was worth worthy of letting you borrow it so you can listen to it.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

Glad you enjoyed it. Yep. Um back at home I still have uh HP Lovecraft which I I did put on again I was getting distracted I was I was in the kitchen I had the kids so I didn't so I heard a little bit it sounded good I wasn't ready to give that back because I want to give it one more listen because like in the background I heard a couple things that did kind of like make me stop and like ooh what's going on but again I just I I couldn't give it my full attention so I want to take some more time and give it my full attention and then I have two humble pie albums too. Nice that I think one of them I started listening to but again now that now that my receiver's working I I have to re-listen to it. Yep. Yeah the first time doesn't call it the first year first yeah yeah yeah well okay so uh once I once I got it working uh we listened to Revolver the next record that I put on that I had to listen to was um uh psychedelic lollipop um oh blues magoose blues Magoos uh I went right to side two the the the first track on side two is so so good so I had to listen to that so I just wanted to report that that was besides revolver that that was the next album that I went to that I I I had to listen to on on my new setup so very it was very fun.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

Good job that's that's all I got I just had one quick question from Eric sure um for McKinley Spring do you have um get me to the country is that the song it's the name of the album oh no I don't I have um Spring Sweet and too young to feel this old okay okay um my favorite McKinley Spring is get me to the country that's the one that's got um uh da da da you should oh yeah said she'd never leave Chicago I would listen to that over and over yeah get me to the country if you get a chance to get McKinley Springs get me to the country I think you'd like that album sure we'll keep I I'm gonna keep an eye out for them from here on out just to see well I always have but I I don't see them very often either which is uh another Yeah I I believe that yeah okay well gentlemen good record club as always uh Eric you gonna listen to any records today uh probably uh I just don't know which one yet okay what about you Jerry or have you besides the records that you mentioned is there anything that you've already listened to today well yeah probably but well um I mean I've been into this band um UltraBox okay yeah they're good um what else oh boy I mean I was listening to all kinds of stuff this morning I mean some of the stuff that I talked about but um well I did get a a free box of records um at the Hill City thrift store I went over I stop in there usually once a week or whatever and I pulled up and it's like there's a box of records sitting out on the free shelf and I'm like well there's a reason they're free you know they're probably just a bunch of junk but it's like I I thought to myself maybe they made room for new ones that they put inside so I just grabbed the box and threw it in the back of my truck and went inside and to find that that wasn't the case it still was all the old junk or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 59:56

So I get home and I'm going through the box and it's like well it was probably about 90 records. I probably saved 30 you know 60 went right into the dumpster but out of the ones I kept there there was um uh Adam Ant's uh friend or foe and I always like Adam Ant and Friend or foe is one of his albums I have already but uh I might talk about Adam Ant at some point because he was kind of a he was sort of a character and yeah he kind of yeah I don't know if you guys know Adam Ant at all but I do not know okay very okay well we will carry on all right sounds good take care Jerry yeah yeah you guys too thanks