Genre: psych
Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Livin' Loving
Company: Athena
Catalog: 6001
Year: 1969
Country/State: Nashville, Kentucky
Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+
Comments: small bullet hole
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: not yet listed
Price: $100.00
First let me mention that some folks have claimed this outfit was a joke - literally an elaborate hoax staged by studio musicians out to fool a gullible audience. Based on what I know, including having talked to folks who actually saw the group perform, I don't subscribe to such a theory. Instead, Nashville's little known The Feminine Complex have to be seen as groundbreakers (albeit some twenty years ahead of popular tastes). As an all girl, self-contained band, simply having had the talent, skills and fortitude to record an album in the late-'60s stands as an amazing accomplishment. The fact the set is as good as it is, makes it all the more impressive.
front row left to right
:Pame Stephens - Jean Williams - Judy Griffiths
back row left to right: Lana Napiers - Mindy Dalton
Attending Nashville's Maplewood High School, in 1966 sophomores Lana
Napiers and Jean Williams decided to form their own band. They quickly
recruited fellow students/friends Mindy Dalton and Judy Griffith,
practicing under the name The Pivots (the name apparently suggested by
their basketball coach). Within a couple of months, the quartet had
mastered their instruments, as well as cobbling together a set of popular
covers). They began playing dances and talent shows (including an early
date at one of their school assemblies). Adding friend/keyboard player
Pame Stephens to the lineup, the quintet opted for a name change. As The Feminine
Complex, by the following year the group was regularly gaining paying
dates (probably not hurt by their attractive looks at penchant for high
boots and miniskirts). By 1968 the band was beginning to attract
considerable attention, including appearances on local Nashville
television shows (The Noon Show and The Ralph Emery Show). The resulting
publicity led to an opening slot for a 1910 Fruitgum Company concert in
New York City and appearance on NBC's Showcase '68 television program.
They also caught the attention of Dee Kilpatrick and Rick Powell. Having
just formed their own Athena label, they were the first band signed to the
new label.
performing on NBC's Showcase
left
to right Pame Stephens - Jean Williams - Judy Griffith - Lana Napiers - Mindy Dalton
Produced by Powell, 1969's "Livin' Love"
was a strange effort. Largely penned by Dalton (Williams contributing one
of the 11 selections), musically the set offered up a weird mix of raw
rockers and surprisingly tame MOR ballads. On one hand, fuzz and feedback
propelled rockers such as the leadoff stomper "Hide and Seek",
the feedback paced "It's", "Time Slips By (When You Are On
My Mine)" and the soulful, horn-propelled "Run That Thru Your
Mind" were apparently a true reflection of the band's live act. At
the other end of the spectrum, backed by studio musicians and elaborated
arrangements, "Now I Need You", "Are You Lonesome Like
Me" and "I Won't Run" reflected Kilpatrick and Powell's
desire to give the band a more polished and commercial sound. With the
latter material recalling the Petula Clark school of top-40 success (check
out "Forgetting"), guess which numbers were more impressive?
Ironically, by the time the record was released, falling victim to
parental pressure to complete school, Napiers, Stephens and Williams had
all quit the band. (That probably explains why Dalton and Griffith were
the only two band members shown on the back cover.) With a matter of
months the other two had called it quits.
"Livin' Love" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Hide and Seek (Mindy Dalton) - 3:36
2.) Now I Need You (Mindy Dalton) - 3:29
3.) Are You Lonesome Like Me (Mindy Dalton) - 2:53
4.) I Won't Run (Mindy Dalton) - 3:18
5.) Six O'Clock In the Morning (You're Gone) (Mindy Dalton) - 3:22
6.) Run That Thru Your Mind (Mindy Dalton) - 2:26
(side 2)
1.) It's Magic (Mindy Dalton) - 2:34
2.) I Don't Want Another Man (Mindy Dalton) - 2:28
3.) Forgetting (Jean Williams) - 2:12
4.) I've Been Workin' On You (Mindy Dalton) - 2:34
5.) Time Slips By (When You Are On My Mine) (Mindy Dalton) - 4:01
I've never heard it, but in 1997 the small Northern Virginia based Teenbeat label released "To Be In Love: A Collection of Live Performances and Rare Demolition Recordings". A 21 track compilation of demos and live tracks, the collection actually sounds pretty interesting.
1.) Stepping
Stone, (I'm Not Your)
2.) You Can't Do That
3.) Leslie
4.) Without You
5.) Jaguar Jimmy
6.) Now I Care
7.) To Be In Love
8.) Here Comes The Judge
9.) I've Been Workin' On You
10.) Never My Love
11.) Hold On! I'm Comin'
12.)You Keep Me Hangin' On
13.) Come On Up
14.) Forgetting
15.) Spooky
16.) Theme (The Feminine Complex)
17.) Summertime
18.) I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore
19.) Ferry Cross The Mersey
20.) Look In My Eyes
21.) (untitled) - (hidden track)
Teenbeat catalog number 236
In 2000 the label reissued the collection in CD format along with various demos (Teenbeat catalog # TB-196).