Genre: rock
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title: Voice
Company: Passport
Catalog: PPSD-98004
Year: 1973
Country/State: UK
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: cut lower right corner; cut out notch lower edge
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 5467
Price: $20.00
Before coming together as Capability Brown (named after a famed 18th century British landscaper/gardener Lancelot Capability Brown), these guys had a rather impressive pedigree, At different times Tony Ferguson, Joe Nevin, Grahame White and Roger Willis had all been members of Harmony Grass. White had also been a member of Fuzzy Duck. Kenny Rowe had been in The Moments (not the US soul outfit), while Roger Willis had been a member of The Gremlins.
The six members came together in 1971, eventually signing with Charisma which showed immense faith in the group's commercial potential, releasing their debut single the same year: 'War' (Charisma catalog number BCP 7). Ironically the flip side wasn't even a Capability Brown track, rather featured label mates Spreadeagle and their song 'Nightmare'.
Overlooking the hideous Hipgnosis designed album cover, 1973's "Voice" offered up a side pf wonderful British power pop coupled with a sidelong progressive opus. (Released by Charisma in the UK, the following year the Passport label released the collection in the States.) Exemplified by tracks like 'I Am and So Are You' and 'Keep Death Off the Road (Drive On the Pavement)' side one was packed with insidiously catchy melodies, interesting lyrics, and killer group vocal harmonies (wonder if Terry Thomas and Charlie ever listened to 'So Are You' ...) As commercial and catchy as anything in the Nicky Chinn-Mike Chapman catalog, virtually any of the four side one tracks would have made a dandy 45. Clocking in just short of 20 minutes, the side two opus 'Circumstances (In Love, Past, Present, Future Meet)'' found the band touching base with their progressive roots. Ever heard Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'? Well check out the first segment of side two and guess where Freddie Mercury and company appear to have gotten their inspiration ... Elsewhere the inclusion of 'Midnight Cruiser' made them one of the first bands to cover a Steely Dan tune. Passport also tapped it as a US single:
- 1974's Midnight Cruiser' b/w 'Silent Sounds' (Passport catalog number PPA-1903)
"Voice" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) I Am and So Are You (Alan Hull) -
2.) So Am I
3.) Midnight Cruiser (Donald Fagen - Walter Becker) -
4.) Keep Death Off the Road (Drive On the Pavement)
(side
2)
1.) Circumstances (In Love, Past, Present, Future Meet)
The band called it quits in 1976 at which point Tony Ferguson, Grahame White and Roger Willis continued their partnership in Krazy Kats.
I've never bothered to track down a copy, but the posthumous 'Liar' was a compilation of material pulled from the two earlier studio sets. Not sure why it is so sought after ...
Charisma catalog number CS 5