Genre: psych
Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: The Unwritten Works of Geoffrey, Etc.
Company: Uni
Catalog: 73934
Year: 1969
Country/State: Fort Worth, Texas
Grade (cover/record): VG/ VG
Comments: still in shrink wrap though opened and somebody scawled 'WtP Brosh on the front cover
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: not yet listed
Price: $120.00
For an album released on a major label like Uni, this one's incredibly difficult to locate. The fact it was name checked on an episode of The Gilmore Girls and made Mojo's list of top 600 LPs only made it that much harder to find ...
Prior to forming Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit & Greenhill (WCDG), singer/guitarists Eddie Lively (aka Geoffrey Chaucer) and Scott Fraser (aka Benjamin Whistler) had recorded a couple of singles as members Fort Worth's The Mods. With the addition of John Carrick (who quit before their album was released), David Bullock (aka Nathan Detroit) and Phil White aka Phillip Greenhill), the quintet began recording demos at Fort Worth's Sound City Studios with producer Joseph Burnett (aka the future T-Bone Burnett).
Gawd only knows how they got Uni to sign them, but the company took a chance with them, releasing "The Unwritten Works of Geoffrey, Etc." in 1968. With Bullock, Fraser, Lively and Burnett all contributing songs, the album was full of interesting melodies, nice vocal harmonies and plenty of studio effects. While it may not have been the year's most focused collection, the LP offered up an interesting mix of country ('The Viper (What John Rance Had To Tell)'), blues (the funky instrumental 'Live ' Till I Die'), folk ('Upon Walking from the Nap') and psych ('Day of Childhood') influences. The set's low-keyed, easy going charm was also quite appealing. Pure speculation on my part, but the inclusion of numerous instrumentals including ' Street In Paris' and 'As Pure as the Freshly Driven Snow' and the fact a couple of tracks like ' Tribute To Sundance' sounded incomplete left the impression that they simply ran out of time, moneyor record label patience in completing the album. Shame since with a couple more psych or rock numbers like 'On Lusty Gentlemen' and 'Ready To Move' they would have had a killer on their hands.
"The
Unwritten Works of Geoffrey, Etc." track listing:
(side 1)
1.) The Viper (What John Rance Had To Tell) (instrumental) (John Burnett) - 2:23
2.) Day of Childhood (Scott Fraser - Eddie Lively) - 3:02
3.) Upon Walking from the Nap (David Bullock) - 1:59
4.) Live 'Till I Die (Instrumental) (David Bullock) - 2:12
5.) Street In Paris (instrumental) (John Burnett) - 2:58
6.) As Pure as the Freshly Driven Snow (instrumental) (John Burnett) - 1:38
(side
2)
1.) Tribute To Sundance (instrumental) (David Bullock) -
2:56
3.) House of Collection (instrumental) (Scott Fraser - Eddie Lively) - 1:43
4.) Just Me and Her (Scott Fraser - Eddie Lively) - 2:24
5.) On Lusty Gentlemen (John Burnett) - 2:41
6.) Ready To Move (instrumental) (David Bullock) - 3:16
Within a year the band was history, though Bullock, Fraser, and White continued their collaboration as members of Space Opera.