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Tag Archives: Spooky Tooth

Black Sheep

23 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by garystormsongs in Music I Love

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Black Sheep, Foreigner, Lou Gramm, Louis Grammatico, Mick Jones, Spooky Tooth

Black Sheep was a local band from Rochester, New York featuring a nice Italian boy as lead singer named Louis Grammatico.  They put out three albums that received little notice.  Then at the invitation of Mick Jones, of Spooky Tooth, Louis auditioned for an, as yet, unnamed band.  The result was the corporate rock phenomenon, Foreigner, for which he changed his name to Lou Gramm.  He became the cloying archetypal voice of stadium rock.

But before all that, I loved this naked song, “When It All Makes Sense.”  Electric piano.  No drums.  Simple beautiful guitar solo, threading a single line.  The quietness of the arrangement manifests the feeling of lying awake at night.  And Gramm displays consummate virtuosity in his singing.  The song opens in a vibratoless scratchy voice, as he whines about the ordinary travails of getting along with his lover.  But then in the chorus he realizes:

When the moon is alone in the sky and weeping
And the one you love lies beside you sleeping
That’s when it all makes sense.

And the fullness and passion and warmth fill his voice.  Mellifluous high tones.  Perfect phrasing.  Beautiful.

Larry Crozier, Louis Grammatico, “When It All Makes Sense,” WB Music Corp. and Open Love Music Inc. (ASCAP) (1975).  From Black Sheep, Encouraging Words, Capitol Records, ST-11447 (1975).  Photography – Lavey-Pincus.

Hapsash and the Coloured Coat

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by garystormsongs in Music I Love

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Hapsash and the Coloured Coat, Michael English, Mike Batt, Nigel Waymouth, psychedelic, Spooky Tooth, T. S. McPhee

What the hell is this?  Thumping screeching jamming with drums and guitars and piano, like we’ve all done late at night bombed out of our nuts in a living room.  Except these wackos released it on vinyl.  They sound like a bunch of rich kids who could hardly play any instruments got into a studio did a bunch of drugs and banged and strummed and whooped.  They hoot “H-O-P-P Why?”

I don’t know if Michael English and Nigel Waymouth were rich but the rest of my presumptions hold.  They were actually founders of a design company called  Hapsash and the Coloured Coat that created spectacular iconic psychedelic posters for many British groups like Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and Spooky Tooth.  They put out what has become one of the most collectible albums from the psychedelic era:  Hapsash and the Coloured Coat Featuring The Human Host and The Heavy Metal Kids.  The Heavy Metal Kids were the musicians who went on to form Spooky Tooth.

Waymouth continued as Hapsash and recorded a second album called Western Flyer which was produced by the brilliant and sophisticated Mike Batt.  It also has become a consummate collector’s item.  It was at least as wacky and sloppy as the first Hapsash album.  The great slide guitarist, T. S. McPhee (later the leader of the Groundhogs) noodles away on his strings, clearly saying with each note, “Well, at least I’ll get paid (I hope).”

Guy Stevens, Nigel Waymouth, Michael English, “H-O-P-P Why?,” (BMI) (No date).  From Hapsash and the Coloured Coat, Hapsash and the Coloured Coat Featuring The Human Host and The Heavy Metal Kids, Imperial Records, LP-12377 (No date).  Art Direction – Woody Woodward; Album design – Gabor Halmos; Photography – Ekim Adis.

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