The pnf readers among us will recall that a mono mp3 rip of Gold's Night Ride was posted
there way back in 2012, by none other than isabelbc, of course (a million thanks again to her!):
Killer little known private press with all original songs written by lead singer/guitarist Bob Wamnes. Great driving hard rock/blues rock/classic rock with some good fuzz guitar and rough vocals throughout. Sort of a garage/bar band feel. Recorded in Florida. Sounds more early to mid 70's. Label - Sun Song 7783 - Florida private press rock LP. Interesting stuff, ranges from straight-up hardrock to a couple laid-back numbers to the prog / jazzrock style "New York, New York". Somewhat lo-fi recording (done on a Teac 3340S, according to the back cover) - http://www.popsike.com/
Subsequently I made their masterpiece available to everyone,
"No Class What so ever" and even
Tom Hayes was impressed by it (priority 2).
A chromatic downgoing arpeggiated riff tears the still air into shreds on "Light Speed" leading into the stellar clusters of the "milkyway" on the second track of side a ... absolutely a one-two punch worth the price of admission to this incredible ultra-unknown secret and long-lost set of music from Miami, Fla.
There are considerable similarities to the "Mr. Euphoria" record I posted some time ago, and if you follow this blog you'll recall Isabelbc posted their first record here ("Night Ride") about a year ago. So I'll dedicate this newly-ripped version of the second record to Isabel, wherever she may be. Oddly enough the guys reverted to an all-instrumental album here but they brought all the power in the book to play here. On the back, the following note: "This album was a first take live recording with no over-dubbing." Pretty cool!
The album was written by the lead guitarist whose name is Bob Wamnes ("the Wam" as he is called on the back cover) perfect in his mustachio and tuxedo. His band is rounded out with Ed Mallett on drums and wind chimes, Tom McCance on bass and Jeff Powers on lead guitar as well. I'm guessing these guys were high school pals who started a band, I wonder where they are now? I sure would love to hear from the brilliant Bob Wamnes, truly a lost artistic genius in the US prog sphere as I think Tom would agree. Just listen again to those big fat huge guitar chords on Light Speed and the way drummer Ed machetes his way through the jungle of power cables to the end to clear the way for the next track.
Truly a lost treasure of the late American guitar-based progressive style. That late, great, style.
[prognotfrog]
Now, why not get losslesses on both albums? I think it's a good idea...
Notice that Bob Wamnes reused some of the tracks from the first album on the second. In fact in my opinion he recycled the best compositions for his subsequent masterpiece. The first side of this first LP suffers a little from being desultory and aimlessly loiters from boogie to hard rock to an attempt at buskering outside some traffic sounds ("Love City")... (you'll see what I mean...) and even a poppy song that sounds like an attempt at a commercial radio hit ("Everlasting End") also notice the sound was very poorly recorded, almost mono in some areas (as mentioned by popsike), as you can easily tell if you compare the two versions of the track "Night Ride" on either album through a pair of beautiful headphones which have the added advantage of blocking out your wife and children yelling at you from another room.
I wanted to post this little comment from Jeff, the lead guitarist for the band here and on No Class, which he sent to me (he's bottom right in the No Class picture):
" Hello and thank you for listening and enjoying our music :)
I just wanted to correct one thing-- I was the Lead Guitarist for Gold. Bob (the Wam) played rhythm and only added some leads with his Fender Strat on Light Speed and Milky Way. All of my work was done on a 1952 Les Paul and I used a slide on Milky Way. Thank you again for sharing this. we felt it was something special when we recorded it, live. ;) [referring to the second album of course]
...I do see Bob on occasion. In fact I am stopping by tomorrow ;)
Again, I want to thank you for getting our music out to where people might enjoy it! Keep up the good work my friend. Blessings to YOU!!
Jeff Powers "
And take a moment to have a look at those beautiful young faces of the musicians on the back of this record and their love of pure, beautiful, no-compromise, creative rock. (Note the handwritten dedication to
"Ruth, the nicest lady I know -- Keep on Playing," from Bob.)
You Know My Secrets:
And that song of course goes out to isabelbc-- the princess of prognotfrog...
wherever you are...
And let this gorgeous unknown music live forever!
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