Update on The Fried Chicken Band from 1979: The first time we ever met the Blues [limited]

I posted this some 4 and a half years ago and over the passing of time I've only become more convinced of the brilliance of some of the songs, although much of it is bluegrass-style folk or country that doesn't appeal to me, it might to others.  You can see the credits here on discogs.

I wish I had that time machine and I could go back in time to the late seventies and force every radio station in North America to listen to the song Haunted and play it to make it a number one hit all over the continent.  Perhaps it would have been had it been recorded in the US instead of in Germany.  It's one of about a handful of songs discovered in the period of this blog, now covering over 7 years since 2013, that I think was tragically underrated and should have become number one hit songs back in the day, songs like Mimmie, or Mach One's Fly Away, or the Banjo Man from The Exceptions come to mind though I know there are many others I've forgotten.

Again here's Haunted, and dig the incredible, gorgeous acoustic guitarwork, I get chills now every time I hear that opening:

And I will gladly say that this song has haunted me since I first heard it. I think what makes it twenty times more amazing is the fact that she wrote that song at such a young age, a song that you might recall I thought was an old folk song because its lyrics were so amazing (for ex., by Judy Collins).  (I transcribed the lyrics in the earlier post.)  It might as well have been the anthem of the whole Donald Trump era where, paradoxically, the neglected forgotten blue collar worker of middle America in his pickup truck full of ammo and guns votes for millionaire political elites who in addition to not caring anything of their situation only favour cutting taxes for enormous faceless corporations that will exploit them even further, as if they couldn't help shooting themselves in the foot in their depressed confused state in their old pickups filled with Sackler/Purdue's billionaire-making, widow-making oxycontin tablets.  It's a classic human tragedy, perhaps the classic political human tragedy (warned about by the Ancient Greeks 2500 years ago): the demagogue populist who takes advantage of the democratic system and poor people's disaffection to come to power in order to satisfy his own pathological narcissistic needs.  (Actually, it's even more common in the cult setting, e.g. scientology or more recently that weird nexvm or whatever cult.)  

Anyways back to the music.

There is another song also written by "Liz" Burns called Take Them With You (horribly misspelled on the back of the record with joke as the first word, but not on the inner label) that grew on me in the years since I first heard this album, due to the extreme depth and beauty of the lyrics combined with the harmony vocals between female and male singers who alternate stanzas (always a great touch, reminding me of for example the Jefferson Airplane I used to adore as a child).  In the case of this composition, she has made it so they are like lovers talking to each other about the breakup.  Anyone who has experienced this especially following a long relationship will understand that sentiment of taking the memories with you when you leave so you're not tortured by them alone.

Here's that track:

Every time I listen to it, I'm amazed at the depth of feeling that she & the band put into it.  And to think she was a teenager at the time!

you seem determined in your leaving, 
I can' t make you change your mind
it seems a shame I have to start out again 
without you or your love.
you could join the memories and just stay here
or hurt me by leaving them behind
just be fair and take them with you,
leave me with a little peace of mind

there's a guilt you always gave me
always had a hurt inside
think revenge is when you're walking away:
dramatic phrases, the last farewell;
well you could join the memories and just stay here
hurt me, by leaving them behind
just be fair and take them with you--
leave me with a little peace of mind

so I can't give back the things you gave me
and the times living something I never do [?]
please don't leave with all that hate in your mind
I 'll never forget that, no matter how much I cry--

[chorus]

Now what prompted this is the fact the artist herself, god bless her, clarified some things in the comments section of the post I made 5 years ago, in particular:

Hi, Julian, thanks so much for this wonderful review! I was an exchange student livihg in a suburb outside of Essen when I met the other members of the band, 17 years old at the time, and we recorded it about 8 months later. Great musicians and people, and an experience I'll never forget. We're all still playing in one capacity or another, you can check out stuff I've done here: https://www.reverbnation.com/lizburns.  So sweet to hear that this album made such a positive impression - it was definitely a labor of love.

Liz4 May 2021 at 10:09

And no, it's not a cover: I wrote the song when I was 15.

Prior to this, a helpful commenter had already explained:

The song is written by Elizabeth Burns. She was the singer of the band "Fried chicken band". It was a German group of the town Essen. I went with one of the members to school and own the LP. I like this LP very much, but I also think, that "Haunted" is one of the [best] songs. It's the only one LP of the band.

The other simply gorgeous track is the cover version of Jackson Browne's apocalyptic Before the Deluge.  I love his version but I think they dramatically improved on it, which is saying a lot:

I love that song.  And gotta love the electric slide guitar plus the fiddling.  Notice the adept harmony vocals too.

Think back to the times when that song was written, the 'back to nature' that led sadly to Charlie Manson, the hippie communes, etc.

Btw I think you can hear the whole album on youtube, where someone posted it a long time back.

I can't believe these artists who were unlucky enough to have bypassed fame despite their immense talent, with a song so perfect and gorgeously written it should be known, or should have been known, by every human being alive at that time, or should be played currently on satellite radio to be enjoyed by those who still listen to James Taylor or whatever similar SSW.  It would even be appropriate on the alternative folk type stations where Sarah McLachlan etc. are still played.  Then again that's the whole purpose of this blog, though it would obviously accomplish more on youtube or other such social media.

Again, note the artist site:

https://www.reverbnation.com/lizburns

Alain Renaud's three brilliant guitar fusion albums, 1975 to 1982

His three albums form a kind of trilogy, with the style not changing much at all despite the passing of seven years from beginning to end.  In addition to that some songs are recycled from one album to the next, or titles refer back to earlier titles, a track called Back and In becomes Back and In Again by the third album, several songs are referenced by opus number, Did You Try from the 2nd becomes Yes I Did Try by the third, etc.  It's great that the 1982 opus shows absolutely zero influence from the 80s with no digitalese, no drum machine, no jumpy staccato playing, etc.

The database discography is here.  Note that he made an album with friend Alain Bellaiche in 1974, which is chansonnier SSW unfortunately, no fusion or prog at all.  In keeping with his experience in Triangle and with Richard Pinhas' Heldon there is a little synthesizer noodling here and there, but really not to excess.  I love the use of different guitars, sometimes unison thirds playing the melodies which is always nice to hear (think Led Zep's Black Dog when the riff is played a third interval apart on two separate guitars).  There is quite a bit of bluesy songwriting too, which I find appealing in conjunction with the heavy electric guitarwork.

From the first album, Voyage without guide:

From the 2nd, Opening Opus 19:

And look at that great hair:

The cover of the first album is beautiful, and that calligraphic doodling adds to the charm in my opinion, presumably the drawings were by the artist?  Btw for those who are older, the Egyptian references from the second may remind people of the smash hit effects of the King Tut exhibit.

I'll throw in the 1976 album from Alain Bellaiche alone, without Renaud, which trends towards more electric fusion, because it kind of complements these others. At least, Bellaiche's guitar-playing is similar to Renaud's on the latter album, though it's relatively generic AOR with one nice exciting fusion track, the ST Sea Fluorescent.

Brazilian Genius Egberto Gismonti's First Five from 1969 to 1973

This brilliant composer who is like an elevated progressive version of Joao Gilberto/Milton Nascimento, more progressive in terms of musical complexity than Wagner Tiso who was such a find for me personally, hit his peak with the album called Orfeo Novo from 1971, imho, as the kids say and by kids I mean anyone under the age of 40 (too good a line to waste on using once).  I'm posting a lossless that brings out the brilliance of his guitar compositions, the ne plus ultra of which is the Three Portraits for Guitar, the first part, Retratos 1 sounding like this:

Really amazing stuff. Should be played in concert halls everywhere in the world, assuming they ever reopen to live audiences.

The rest of the album just blows me away too.  Masterpiece homerun all the way, outta the ballpark.  Sometimes we don't even get inside the ballpark at all.

I wanted to mention also the musical miracle which is the track called Adagio from the 1973 ST (which is aka Arvore), also something that just takes my breath away, the combination of orchestral arrangement surrounding a short piano concerto-like melody is beyond perfect (note that he wrote the orchestrations, as well as playing the piano here, according to these credits):

Absolutely tragic that this kind of musical perfection is unknown to the average human being, isn't it?

One-off Apprentice Rough Draft from 1982

Here's an oldie I wanted to resuscitate, because on listening again it shot right up to the top of the pile for that old classic US-style fusion.  I mean this kind of music, like Chopin, should be eternal.  IMHO, as the kids say, and by kids, I mean anyone under the age of 40.

Apprentice - 1982 - Rough Draft:

James Pastman: Acoustic and Electric Piano,Mini,Micro Moog,Obertheim Polyphonic,Clavinet and Percussion

Mitch Hayes: Acoustic and Electric Guitars

Kenny Nugent: Bass

Jerry Leake: Vibes,Marimba,Hand Drums and Percussion

Frank Stauffer: Drums

From pnf:

On fire with a US fusion tear here, from the fantastic master shige we have this amazing high-quality rip... This time from the early eighties, you can't mistake those digital keys and splashy drumming style. Musically this album is phenomenal, high energy and great composition. I step back for magister dixit:

Very professionally played fusion by this experienced (albeit unknown) team, one throwaway song in the form of the christmas charlie brown song, I think the compositions are really outstanding, you can listen many times to this and always find new ideas to enjoy yourself with...

Track 5 (Privately Maintained) reminds me a lot of Finnforest with the circular electric piano pattern and strong electric guitar statements starting with a windy-atmospheric beginning. Definitely my favourite for the aforementioned european sound. Digital strings make an appearance but thankfully are kept subdued in the background. A more unfortunate 80s-sound casio keyboard starts off the next track though-- is it possible we really loved that casio sound back then, 25 years ago? Hard to know. 

Track 7 (Time Change) is a more progressive shadowfax-like [in the watercourse way sense] composition with a lot of energy and velocity to drive us through to the end.

Hopefully there can be no complaints about the high-quality, highly competent rip here, tracklists are included for once in my posts. For those who hated my last two submissions and the fact they were put out publically rather than fantasized about in the privacy of a basement alone, I would appreciate more positive comments if there are any people who are thankful, which, of course, there may not be. Thanks to the two people who posted kind remarks to the last two albums. No thanks to  those who complained about the Coalition post, I suggest maybe just deleting the file from your computer if you don't like it, you can right-click on the file if you want and press the 'delete' button.

It seems the old adage "say nothing if you have nothing good to say" has transmuted in blogs to: "only speak if you have a complaint." I don't want to sound too old, but honestly, I couldn't be the only one who finds it depressing that we encounter rudeness everywhere we go in this world today, and I know from travels, that this is a phenomenon that is pretty much worldwide except possibly certain small pockets of Hawai'i.

Finally, we all hope and wish for the best for the people of Japan in this unbelievable tragedy, whose repercussions will continue for a long long time.... A quote again from master Shige:

"Sometimes a little good.

Almost all bad.

They are our lives."

I wrote this after the Fukushima disaster, btw, ten years ago!!

It's amazing to me how 'eternal' this music is for me, listening to it again and admiring the stunning and varied ideas and melodies they put into this.

I included a nice .m4a rip too, which sounds wonderful. 

Thoughts out there on that file type?

Contrevent's Three Fusion Albums Jeu de Paume, Youkali, Terre de Feu from 1985 to 1993 [limited time only]

Again, like the previous, these Canadian guys made wonderful instrumental fusion that is mostly missed today.  Three albums in total, with--big surprise--the first being the standout.  It's just filled with wonderful ideas and compositions, e.g. Chanterelle (as in, the mushroom I think):

But without a doubt, like in the case of Solstice, the subsequent albums are a bit less impressive.

From the last album, a very inventively semi-dissonant track called Smog: