я являюсь большим поклонником всего, что в 60-е продюсировал великий Курт Бетчер: Millenium, Saggitarius, Ballroom, Emitt Rhodes etc. Хрустальный звук, вызывабющий ощущение, словно в долгий летний день смотришь на облака. Вот еще одна группа из его обоймы, с которй пока не довелось плотно пощнакомиться.
Personnel:
CHUCK WARREN bs, vcls A B C D E
BOB GALLOWAY drms, vcls A B C D E
MARDI SHERIDAN ld gtr, vcls A B D
MIKE BALZOTTI keyb'ds, vcls A B C D
JOHN DRANEY ld vcls A
'APPLE ANDY' gtr C
MARK CHELSON vcls, sax C
ALBUM:
(A) THE BARDS - FIRST AMERICAN (Piccadilly 3419) 1969
NB: (1) not released at the time, the above album was later released on Picc-A-Dilly in 1980, R1.
45s:
The Owl and The Pussycat/Light Of Love (Piccadilly 224) 1966
The Jabberwocky/My Generation (Piccadilly 232) 1967
Never Too Much Love/Light Of Love (Piccadilly 242) 1967
My Generation/Jabberwocky (Panorama 52) 1967
Never Too Much Love/Jabberwocky (Capitol 2041) 1967
The Owl and The Pussycat/The Light Of Love (Capitol 2l48) 1968
Goodtime Charlie's Got The Blues/Tunesmith (Parrot 337) 1968
Goodtime Charlie's Got The Blues/Tunesmith (Jerden 9O7) 1969
Jubilation/Our Love (Parrot 344) 1969
Walla Walla/Day By Day (Parrot 351) 1969
I Want You/Freedom Catcher (Burdette 103) 1971
NB: (1) was originally scheduled for release as Panorama 46 but was never released. (4) Not released.
Operated out of Moses Lake, Washington between 1961-69. They evolved out of a school teen combo called The Fabulous Continentals, who were a late fifties and early sixties covers outfit. They took their new name, The Bards from Roget's Thesaurus - the word 'Bard' meaning 'a travelling English minstrel, poet ...' they were a travelling group of musicians and the reference to England clinched it because they wanted to sound like The Beatles. They even became a foursome when John Draney, their lead vocalist, left to join the army.
Their big break came when Never Too Much Love, an original arrangement of an old Curtis Mayfield tune, made it to No 67 nationally in the Cash Box Top 100, although it seems not to have figured in the Billboard charts. It created the opportunity for them to tour with big name acts like The Turtles, The Dave Clarke Five and Paul Revere and The Raiders. During 1967 Mardi Sheridan left the band for a while to head for San Francisco and was temporarily replaced by virtuoso guitarists known as Apple Andy and Mark Chelson, who joined from George Washington and the Cherry Bombs. When Sheridan returned they headed for LA to find a producer.
In Hollywood they met Curt Boetcher and Keith Olsen and in 1969 under their production recorded an unreleased album, although this resulted in the break-up of the band. After its completion Curt Boetcher wanted to go back to the Northwest to sing with the band which delighted Mike and Mardi but not Bob and Chuck who wanted to get back on their old gig circuit and preserve their autonomy. So the split came when Mike and Mardi left and ultimately headed to LA to pursue writing and recording careers, although Bob and Chuck regrouped and carried on with the name for a while. For their Boettcher/Olsen period, they renamed themselves Moses Lake and a 45 was released under that monicker on Together Records. The Multitrack masters still exist for the album too.
Michael Balzotti later played in a duo with Seattle singer/songwriter Michael Langdon called The Michaels. Mardi Sheridan now works in advertsing; Chuck Warren manages an irrigation company in Moses Lake; Bob Galloway raises show horses and Mike Balzotti owns a real estate company in Seattle. You can check out their recordings on the following compilations:- Owl and The Pussycat on Battle Of The Bands, Vol. 1 and History of Northwest Rock, Vol. 2; My Generation on Battle Of The Bands, Vol. 2 and History Of Northwest Rock, Vol. 3: Tunesmith and Never Too Much Love on Vol. 1 and Goodtime Charley's Got The Blues on Vol. 6 of the same series.
У них есть приятно оформленный сайт:
http://www.bardsmusic.com/BardsHomePage.htm
