Genre: blues-rock
Rating: ** (2 stars)
Title: A-B-E Blueprints
Company: Tayl
Catalog: TLS-1
Year: 1969
Country/State: Hartford, Connecticut
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: pop on 'Cold Iron Blues'
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: not yet listed
Price: $400.00
Big ticket dealers would have you believe this is a lost psych masterpiece. Take my word - it isn't, rather this is one of those cases where the band was upfront and honest with their image ... note the name American BLUES exchange.
With a line-up consisting of lead guitarist Roger Briggs, singer Roy Dudley, bassist Peter Hartman, rhythm guitarist Dan Mixter and drummer Dale Reed this quartet apparently started their short lived recording career while students at Hartford, Connecticut's Trinity College. Like thousands of their contemporaries, they began playing local clubs, dances and parties before finding a 'sponsor' in the form of Nancy Taylor. Taylor apparently put up the money for recording sessions and financed the release of an album on their own Tayls imprint. For her efforts Taylor got a thank you in the liner notes.
With four of the five members contributing material, the predominant sound on 1970's "A-B-E Blueprints" is blues. Briggs and Mixter showcase some nice dual lead guitar of tracks like ''Cold Iron Blues' and 'The Taker', but this stuff is little more than standard blues workouts. Elsewhere Mixter's 'Recorder Thing' is a throwaway instrumental (showcasing a recorder lead instrument - nightmares back to my own limited music education). So far doesn't exactly sound like a must-own psych classic does it? Well you can forget the term psych classic, but things do get a little better. Dudley isn't the world's most impressive singer but on the lead off track 'Oh Solitude' and the rocker 'Age Child' his amateur performances are actually kind of engaging. The album also improves markedly when the group moves away from the blues. 'Oh Solitude', 'Burlington Letter' and 'The True Son Confesses' are all pretty good with the latter two songs actually reflecting a mild psychedelic edge.
"A-B-E
Blueprints" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Oh Solitude (Roy Dudley) - 3:32
2.) Cold Iron Blues (Roy Dudley) - 6:00
3.) Recorder Thing (instrumental) (Dan Mixter) - 2:39
4.) The Taker (Peter Hartman - Dan Mixter) - 5:17
5.) Burlington Letter (Roy Dudley) - 6:25
(side
2)
1.) Ode To the Lost Leg of John Bean (Roger Briggs - S.
Melhun - 3:22
2.) Big Max Revenge (instrumental) (Roger Briggs) - 4:30
3.) The True Son Confesses (Roy Dudley) - 4:50
4.) Age Child (Roy Dudley) - 3:24