Conceived by sixties' psychedelia, the beginning of the seventies saw the birth of several truly unique progressive rock bands. In the vanguard were Kansas, King Crimson, Genesis and Pavlov's Dog.
The first three went on to varying levels of greater glory. Not so Pavlov's Dog, despite receiving the biggest advance ($600,000), at the time (1975), from a record company.
The band, David Surkamp, Steve Scorfina, Sigfried Carver, Mike Saffron, Rick Stockton, David Hamilton and Doug Rayburn came together in St.Louis in 1974 out of the ashes of local bands.
The groundbreaking music created on the band's first album, characterised by the sound of a classical piano, velvet string tones, mellotrons and Surkamp's trilling, quivering vibrato, has already been reissued by
Europe's enterprising Rockville label.
The label reissued the band's third and fourth albums
'Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried' and
'Lost In America' in 2007.
And now, oh joy of joys, the label has reissued the band's debut and follow up,
'Pampered Menial' and '
At The Sound Of The Bell', from 1975 and 1976 respectively.
Both have been lovingly (and I mean that) remastered and put together with 4 bonus (and they are) tracks.
These bonuses include a magnificent, 10 minute live version of Carver's sole composition,
'Preludin' recorded at the Ambassador Theatre, St.Louis in 1975. Okay, the sound is not pristine, but the performance is breathtaking and the passion palpable. Eat your heart out Kansas.
The artworks for the debut are small objects of desire in themselves. Taken from original Landseer engravings, which happened to be in the possession of Steve Scorfina's mother . . . bought at a booksale. You couldn't make it up.
But what of the music?
It's clearly unique, but like everybody's sound, you can hear echoes of others. There's a distinctly audible Beatles' influence on '
Fast Gun' and '
Natchez Trace' in tone and construction, with spare guitars used to punctuate the surging keyboards and electric violin behind Surkamp's soaring melodies.
The passionate, neo-symphonic art rock of '
Julia', '
Theme From Subway Sue' and
'Episode' could easily be claimed as the conceptual template for contemporary Progressive Rock. Lyrically they are as dramatic and as spiritual as the music, full of stunning imagery and satisfying lyrical payoffs.
'At The Sound Of The Bell' took a small, tentative stop toward the mainstream, with more involvement from other band members in the songwriting, though all the band's trademark sounds are alive and well,
It was recorded at The Record Plant in New York and at Abbey Road Studios in the UK.
It's a more reflective piece of work. Melancholy even.
It's amazing to think of such outstanding material being produced in an artistic vacuum.
Europe (Genesis, Yes, KC, Procol Harum, Caravan) was where the progrock action was, and this was the American Midwest in the mid seventies, where Eric Carmen was considered cutting edge.
The only other band of the time producing this kind of intelligent, arty, theatrical rock, often gentle and fragile, frequently soaring and uplifting, was Canada's Klaatu, whose 'Hope' album is similar in feel, construction and arrangement.
The Ambrosia influenced '
Mersey' is just sublime. Proving at least that Surkamp and Scorfina listened to the radio.
Openers
'She Came Shining' and the Lennon-esque
'Standing Here With You' are less texturally rich than the tracks on the debut, but are more technically refined.
Along with
'Valkerie' they float by on a slow, emotional undertow, never seeming to go anywhere, but by the time they're finished you realise you wanted the journey to last forever.
PD's melodies seldom hit you between the eyes. They orbit you in ever decreasing circles, then crash land in your consciousness, where they remain - talking personally - indefinitely.
The cheery, up tempo
'Try To Hang On' and the immense
'Gold Nuggets' are the closest thing here to instantly memorable, brilliant evocations of life with relatively immediate melodies.
Live versions of
'Gold Nuggets', '
Standing Here.' and '
Try To Hang On' are the bonus tracks. The first was recorded at the 'Burg Herzberg Festival 2007', so recorded quality is excellent. The other two were taken from the band's gig at Ford Auditorium Detroit in 1976, and surprisingly, the sound is good quality.
If you consider yourself a Progressive Rock fan, these are two albums you just have to own.
Ratings:
PM : 9/10
ATSOTB : 8.5/10
Written by
Brian Saturday, March 27, 2010
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