Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Quatrain
Company: Tetragrammaton
Catalog: T-5002
Year: 1969
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG+
Comments: minor ring, edge and corner wear (black cover makes it somewhat noticeable); gatefold sleeve
Available: 1
GEMM catalog number:
Price: $65.00
Geez, we really do try to learn about obscure bands, but here's another outfit that's a mystery to us ... So what do we know? One reference work says they were from L.A.
We do know that with a line up consisting of drummer Jim Lekas, bassist Buff Lindsay, rhythm guitarist Eric Pease and lead guitarist Don Senneville, Quatrain
were one of the first acts to get themselves signed by Bill Cosby's Tetragrammaton label.
Released in 1969, the cleverly-titled "Quatrain" teamed the band with David Briggs in the production/engineering role. With Lekas credited with the majority of the dozen songs (Lindsay and Senneville both contributing one effort), the collection offered up a decent mix of conventional hard rock ("Fragments" and "Early Morning Company") and modest psych-influenced numbers ("Unconquered Islands" and "Flowing Robes"). In spite of the fact the band lacked a truly distinctive lead singer (all five members sharing vocal duties), the shortcoming was somewhat compensated for via lots of tasty guitar (check out the meltdown rocker "Black Lily" and the introduction to "Canyon Woman" ... wonder why they faded the song out once the vocal track kicked in?). Interestingly, the standout tracks
included the one outright psych number ("The Tree") and the LP's most
atypical offering. "Fields of Love" would have made a dandy top-40 single. (The album was originally released with a gatefold cover.)
"Quatrain" track listing:
(side
1)
1.) Fragments (Jim Lekas - Buff Lindsay) -
2.) Unconquered Islands (Jim Lekas) -
3.) Flowing Robes (Jim Lekas) -
4.) Fields of Love (Jim Lekas) -
5.) Canyon Woman (instrumental) (Jim Lekas) -
6.) Rollin (Jim Lekas) -
(side
2)
7.) Black Lily (Jim Lekas) -
8.) Early Morning Company (Jim Lekas) -
9.) Ask Me No Questions (Buff Lindsay) -
10.) Try To Live Again (Jim Lekas) -
11.) Masquerade (Don Senneville) -
12.) The Tree (Jim Lekas) -
Senneville subsequently reappeared as a member of Simon Stokes and the Nighthawks (see separate entry).