Day Blindness

Band members               Related acts

- Felix Bria - vocals, bass, keyboards (1967-70)

- Roy Garcia - vocals, drums (replaced Dave Mitchell)
- Dave Mitchell - vocals, drums (1967-70)
- Gary Pihl - vocals, guitar (1967-70)

- Johnny Vernazza - guitar (1967-70)

   

 

 

- The Elvin Bishop Band

- Boston (Gary Pihl)

- Crossfire (Gary Pihl)

- The Fox

 

 

 

 

Genre: psych

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  Day Blindness

Company: Studio 10 Records

Catalog: DBX 101

Year: 1969

Country/State: San Francisco, California

Grade (cover/record): VG/VG+

Comments: minor ring, edge and corner wear

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 4

Price: $100.00

Cost: $66.00

 

 In the wake of the commercial successes enjoyed by San Francisco-based bands such as Country Joe and the Fish, The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane, big and small record labels went into a corporate feeding frenzy, determined to find another act that could bolster their profit and loss statements. As you'd expect, the results of their search were mixed, with lots of marginal acts getting a brief shot at the spotlight. 

One of the bands that apparently benefited from that corporate talent search was Day Blindness.   Singer/keyboardist Felix Bria, drummer Dave Mitchell and guitarist Gary Pihl started out in 1967.  Within a year they'd made a minor name for themselves on the city's club circuit, where they became fairly regular performances at Bill Graham's Fillmore, the Avalon Ballroom, as well as a regular featured at free concerts at Golden Gate Park.  Along the way Mitchell was replaced by Roy Garcia, with Bria being replaced by Johnny Vernazza. 

Recorded at San Francisco's Studio 10 with Tom Preuss producing, 1969's cleverly titled "Day Blindness" seems to fall in the latter category. While we've seen it garner some fairly high sales prices on recent lists, musically their album isn't anything to get real excited about.  Recorded as a trio in the wake of Vernazza's departure (he reappeared as a member of the Elvin Bishop Band, followed by a stint with Norton Buffalo),  the remaining trio were certainly competent musicians, but none of their material was particularly original. Tracks such as 'Young Girl', 'Middle Class Lament' and 'I Got No Money' offered up a fairly standard mix of pedestrian electric blues, harder rock numbers and modest psych moves. That lack of originality, coupled with the absence of a strong or distinctive singer didn't exactly help the proceedings. If you had to pick a couple of highlights, go with the bouncy 'Live Deep' (which also sported a nice Pihl solo) and the weird, 12 minute plus Doors-influenced 'Holy Land'. 

"Day Blindness" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Still Life Girl - 6:22
2.) Jazz Song - 2:18
3.) Middle Class Lament - 3:38
4.) I Got No Money - 4:28
5.) House and a Dog - 1:58

(side 2)

1.) Live Deep - 2:45
2.) Young Girl Blues - 4:20
3.) Holy Land - 12:30

The band subsequently morphing into The Fox. Pihil reappeared as a member of Crossfire (with future producer Mitchell Froom) and in the mid-1970s became a member of one of Sammy Hagar's bands.  In 1985 he joined Boston.

 

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