Monday – lost Psychedelic Artifacts

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Monday we are celebrating some true overlooked classics….featuring Victoria, Sweetwater, Paul and Georgia, The Comfortable Chair and the Butts Band….so join me on a trip down memory lane at www.radiojj.co.uk
Victoria
 Victoria were superb band who made an ultra rare US psych concept album that has a Sweetwater/Airplane feel. 
This psych beauty, sometimes dreamy, sometimes totally wild,sometimes so far out it's in has female vocals, 
titanic horns & distorted guitars. Sweet tunes full of full on dark psych-power. 
Greg Ruban, the composer and front-man of Victoria recorded their one album just before 
he had to go to Vietnam. When he returned from War, obviously mentally snafu'd,
he took his unreleased album on a 3 month trip to Europe on a motorbike to promote it, 
but unfortunately that did not work out at all. The project died there and then but not anymore…..
 
Members SHARON BARTON, MAUREEN DEIDELBAUM GREG RUBAN,CHERYL SIMPSON

Peace – 2.44 
Cumberland – 4.41 
Gevaro – 4.11 
Ride A Rainbow – 2.50 
Never Knew Blues – 4.58 
Down To The Park – 2.57 
Village Of Etaf – 12.23 
Core Of The Apple – 8.09 
there are a few alts and diff acetates flying about that include
Mister Let Me Go (Bonus Acetate) – 3.37 
Johny & Lisa (Bonus Acetate) – 3.02 
Peace (Bonus Acetate) – 2.52 
Cumberland (Bonus Acetate) – 2.51 
Child Of Princess (Bonus Real-To-Real Track) – 3.07 
Sundance (Bonus Real-To-Real Track) – 1.46 
Wheels (Bonus Real-To-Real Track) – 2.02
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Paul and Georgia
 
In 1965, Jim and Ray studied at the Theatre Arts Department of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Here, they befriended another film student Paul Ferrara, who later went on to become the band’s official photographer and cinematographer. 
 
Georgia Newton belonged to a Californian aristocratic conventional family. As a teenager, she hitchhiked regularly and joined other youngsters on the Sunset Strip, where she also met John and Robby. Paul met Georgia in 1968 for the first time during the screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Very soon, the two became a couple.Paul and Georgia shared a remarkable love for music. During the course of their relationship, they recorded many songs. But The Paul And Georgia Album is the only album of the duo that exists. It was released just a few years ago when their recordings, unheard for several years, were found at Paul’s New Mexico ranch. They were then digitalised from their analogue forms. 
 
The pair’s music grants the listener a path to escape and experience, via ears, a ride through the tumultuous nomadic lives of the 60s American generation.  Every song has been intrinsically woven with a great depth in lyrics, and yet clutching its simplicity till the very end.
Paul played the acoustic guitar smoothly and Georgia offered her haunting vocals. Her voice may sound like the blended vocals of an eerie Native American folk singer and other female musicians – Grace Slick and Joan Baez.
 
The Doors have also rendered music in two songs of this album. In Hopi Robby gives a guitar solo and Jim sings a bit at the starting. The other one is One More Drink, which was initially supposed to be sung by Janis Joplin. 
 
Paul shot several photographs of The Doors, including the cover and promotional photographs for their album Waiting For The Sun. He created the ‘Lizard King’ image of Jim, and directed the movie HWY: An American Pastoral, with Jim playing the lead character of a road killer in the Joshua Tree desert of California. The film features the song Bald Mountain from The Paul And Georgia Album. It turns out that Jim really liked this musical piece and wanted to use it in the plot.
 
1. Paul & Georgia – Hopi  2:49
2. Paul & Georgia – Salt2:15  
3. Paul & Georgia – Change3:07  
4. Paul & Georgia – One More Drink2:58  
5. Paul & Georgia – Nuilena3:22    
6. Paul & Georgia – Sweet Wine3:15  
7. Paul & Georgia – Black Gold3:15  
8. Paul & Georgia – Bald Mountain3:11  
9. Paul & Georgia – James3:03  
10. Paul & Georgia – Black Jack Pine2:32  
11. Paul & Georgia – How Have You Been3:38  
12. Paul & Georgia – Not Right to Fight1:56  
13. Paul & Georgia – Joyride3:04  
14. Paul & Georgia – Need You2:51    
15. Paul & Georgia – Ice Cream1:38 
 
  • Drums: John Densmore
  • Guitar: Paul Ferrara
  • Violin: Tim McIntire
  • Keyboards: Ray Manzarek
  • Vocals: Paul Ferrara
  • Guitar: Robby Krieger

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The Comfortable Chair was a west coast band that released a 1969 self-titled album The Comfortable Chair.
The Doors ' band members John and Robby served as producers for their sole 1969 album on ode records
The band was never big outside of the 1960s California circuit. The album features all-original songs (virtually every band member contributing to the writing chores). The lead singers are Bernie Schwartz and Barbara Wallace. Songs include Ain't No Good No More, Let Me Through, and the ballad I'll See You.
The band made its film debut in the hope/gleason comedy vehicle movie How to Commit Marriage (1969) as a psychedelic-hippie rock band associated with the young people in the plot of the story. This group appeared in video-style presentation in the film, performing their hippie anthem, A Child's Garden.
 They were a band heavily influenced by the likes of It's a Beautiful Day,Sweetwater and Jefferson Airplane. 
1. Ain't No Good No More
2. Child's Garden
3. I'll See You
4. Princess
5. Now
6. Some Soon Some Day
7. Be Me
8. Loved It All
9. Let Me Through
10. Stars In Heaven
11. Pale Night Of Quiet
12. The Beast

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THE BUTTS BAND
Butts Band was a British and American group formed by ex-Doors members John Densmore and Robby Krieger that was active from 1973-1975. The band released two albums. With the exception of Krieger and Densmore, both albums consisted of different band personnel.
Butts Band came about as a consequence of The Doors trying to find a replacement for Jim Morrison. The remaining Doors were in London in 1973 had auditioned several British singers including Howard Werth (the singer with Audience), Kevin Coyne (from Siren) and Jess Roden (who was the leader of Bronco UK).
Howard Werth rehearsed with the band for a week with a view to stepping into Morrison's shoes. Elektra records founder Jac Holzman favoured Werth as he had at one stage foreseen Audience taking over The Doors' spot on Elektra – but Audience had fallen apart and he now saw Howard and The Doors merging as the new Doors. However, Ray Manzarek and his wife Dorothy were expecting a child, and Manzarek eventually called it off and went back to Los Angeles, leaving Densmore and Krieger in London. They began looking for a new project, linking up with Roden, Phil Chen and Roy Davies to form the Butts Band.
In an early interview in Melody Maker or NME Krieger explained the origin of the name: "'Butts Band' equalled a bunch of losers desperate for a gig, hence the tattered speaker on the front cover."
Their debut, the self-titled album Butts Band was released in 1974. After the pressure of two members living in California and three in London led the band to split (following a low key tour and the odd TV appearance), Krieger and Densmore released all the band members and recruited an all American band to produce a second album, titled Hear and Now, in 1975.

Former members

  • John Densmore – drums (1973-1975)
  • Robby Krieger – guitar (1973-1975)
  • Phil Chen – bass (1973-1974)
  • Roy Davies – keyboards, synthesisers (1973-1974)
  • Jess Roden – vocals (1973-1974)
  • Mick Weaver – organ (1973-1974)
  • Mike Berkowitz – drums (1974-1975)
  • Alex Richman – keyboards, vocals (1974-1975)
  • Karl Ruckner – bass (1974-1975)
  • Michael Stull – guitar, vocals (1974-1975)
  • David Paul Campbell – keyboards, vocals (1975)
SWEETWATER

Sweetwater was an American rock band originally from Los Angeles, California. They were the act scheduled to open the Woodstock Festival in 1969; however, due to being stopped by the police on their way to the festival, folksinger Richie Havens' trio (Daniel Ben Zebulon, percussion, Paul "Deano" Williams, guitar, backing vocals) performed first. Sweetwater performed next, becoming the first band to perform at the festival.[1]

The band originally formed to perform in local coffee houses in Los Angeles until being signed to a major label. Sweetwater were early developers of the psychedelic rock/fusionstyle that was popularized by Jefferson Airplane to be regarded as the archetype "60s Sound". In 1968-69, the band often toured with The Doors. They were also one of the opening acts for Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1968. One of their best-known recordings is a version of the traditional folk song "Motherless Child". It appeared on their debut album, Sweetwater, the band's only album to chart nationally in the U.S.. As the band progressed, they developed music more toward the psychedelic folk genre.[2]

The original members of the band were Nancy "Nansi" Nevins (lead vocals/guitar), August Burns (cello), Albert Moore (flute/backing vocals), Alan Malarowitz (drums), Elpidio Cobian (conga drums), Alex Del Zoppo (keyboards) and Fred Herrera (bass). The band's size was unusual for the period, having eight, but with the additional members, they were able to create a more unique sound in recordings and live performances.

On December 8, 1969, three days after Sweetwater performed on The Red Skelton Show, singer Nansi Nevins was severely injured in a car accident, which stopped the progress of the band. Nansi experienced brain damage for some years following the collision, and one of her vocal cords was permanently damaged. Nansi would never again complete a full album with the band, although she still had some recordings prepared for the next two albums.[3][4]

The group reunited for Woodstock '94 in 1994 with three original members – Nevins, Herrera and Del Zoppo. August Burns died in the 1980s, Alan Malarowitz was killed in a car crash in 1981, Albert Moore died of pneumonia in 1994. Elpidio Cobian works as a film statist. In 1999, the band's story was depicted in a VH1 TV-movie called Sweetwater: A True Rock Story. Amy Jo Johnson portrayed Nansi Nevins, while Michelle Phillips portrayed an older Nancy.

Sweetwater discography

  • Sweetwater (1968)
  • Just for You (1970)
  • Melon (1971)
  • Cycles: The Reprise Collection (1999) – (Individually numbered limited edition of 10,000 copies)
  • Live At Last (2002)

Nancy Nevins' solo discography

  • Nancy Nevins (1975)