CD Details

CONTRASTS

BLONDE ON BLONDE
1969 , UK , EAN CODE 5013929731844 - EURO 13.00

Label: ESOTERIC RECORDINGS

ALBUM REVIEW
In spite of the unoriginal name (they apparently borrowed it from Dylan's 1965 album), this short-lived and little known Welsh outfit stands as one of my favorite 'unknown' bands. Even though they enjoyed strong reviews from music critics and achieved massive exposure playing before gigantic crowds at the 1969 Isle of Wight festival (coincidently headlined by Dylan), they never managed to generate much in the way of UK sales and did even less in the States. Best of all - their three albums sported a tremendously talented guitarist in Gareth Johnson. Drummer Les Hicks, bassist/keyboard player Richard Hopkins and guitarist Gareth Johnson started their collaboration in 1967 as members of the Newport, South Wales-based blues-rock outfit The Cellar Set. Deciding they needed a singer they put an ad in Melody Maker, hiring Ralph Denyer Band frontman Denyer for the job. They also brought in Simon Lawrence on second guitarist, though his tenure was brief. As Blonde On Blonde convinced they could make it in the big leagues, in 1968 the quartet packed up their gear leaving Wales for London. Playing clubs such as London's Middle Earth generated a groundswell of publicity, as did an opening slot on The Jefferson Airplane's first UK tour. Pye Records subsequently signing the band (Janus Records acquiring US distribution rights). The band debuted with the UK single 'All Day All Night' b/w 'Country Life' (Pye catalog number 7N 17637). While it did little commercially, Pye stuck with the band funding an album. Released in 1969, I've seen the quartet's Barry Murray produced debut "Contrasts" described as progressive. To some degree that's a major misnomer and disservice to the band. While there are some true progressive leanings, the majority of the set's simply too diverse to be dumped under such a broad and meaningless genre. These guys rather effortlessly manage to cover a wide range of genres, including hard rock (the leadoff jam "Ride with Captain Max"), folk ("Island On an Island"), psych (Johnson's "Spinning Wheel" sports a great sitar solo), and conventional pop ("Jeanette Isabella" and "Goodbye" - the latter featuring a beautiful harpsichord-propelled melody which would have made for a wonderful radio hit). Elsewhere, the album included a pair of the Robin Williamson covers "No Sleep Blues" and a blazing, feedback propelled "I Need My Friend". (Williamson's International String Band could only wish they'd turned in an effort with as much energy). Personal favorite was Denyer's hysterical "Conversationally Making the Grade". Among the few blatant missteps was a needless horn enhanced cover of The Beatles "Eleanore Rigby". (RDTEN1 - Rate Your Music)