Galliard - Strange Pleasure (1969 UK)

Primer álbum de esta ecléctica banda que descubrí hace un tiempo y no me canso de escuchar. Su verde portada gritaba a los cuatro vientos una oportunidad en LasGalletas, así que aquí lo dejo caer, para quien desee escucharlo Canciones que se resuelven en un mundo de rock progresivo, sicodelia, folk rock y jazz con variedad de matices. Los vientos de la trompeta juegan un papel importante en mayoría de temas. El acidulante sonido de la guitarra da el punto mas sicodelico del disco en los temas 5 y 6, las notas perdidas de harmónica en el tema que cierra el disco. En definitiva, un disco de esos que me pone verde.

Biography:

The first signs of a good band were felt when "Craig" were formed by Geoff Brown and Richard Pannell. Members included the drummer Carl Palmer. From there came Immediate Pleasure and then Galliard.

Formed in the latter part of 1968 the band grew from a four piece to a six piece to include a trumpet and sax. Full line up were Les Marshall (drums, percussion and vocals), who joined following a lengthy tour with Tim Rose. He replaced John Bonham as Tim's drummer. Richard Pannell (lead guitar and vocals), Andy Abbott (bass guitar and vocals), Geoff Brown (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Dave Caswell (trumpet, flugelhorne) and John Smith - Replaced by Lyle Jenkins (soprano, alto and tenor saxophones).

Following extensive rehearsals and tour dates, Galliard went on to record two albums produced by the now legendery Phil Wainman, and a sampler album. The first album, Strange Pleasure, (Deram) was much admired by the musical press and by the bands many admirers, however, failed to generate significant sales. The second album, New Dawn (Deram) also failed to impress the record buying public. Much was written in praise of their levels of musicianship, and influential people like John Peel said "I spent a couple of fine evenings with them, remembering some of the great records of the early fifties. Galliard have an LP for mid January release on the Deram-Nova label and it should be pretty good".

The line up changed when Lyle Jenkins replaced John Smith in 1969. This was the beginning of the end for Galliard. Other brass players were joining the band including John Morton on trombone. Everyone wanted to be in the band. There was a time when Galliard auditioned Wizard's, Nick Pentelow. Unfortunately he wasn't good enough on the sax for Galliard's high standards. Strange that!

They toured the UK, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Africa, France and managed to acquire a good following throughout Europe. This is now reflected in the demand for their albums as prices have rocketed to almost $400 for genuine vinyl copies.

In the early part of 1970 the brass section was poached by Ashton Gardner and Dyke and Lyle Jenkins and Dave Caswell left Galliard. The band were in disarray. As it happens, both Dave Caswell and Lyle Jenkins went on to join Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar, John Miles and many other rock superstars of that era. So, in a way, Galliard were well respected for producing such good Jazz / Progressive Rock that other industry professionals wanted the same brass sound that was produced by them.

Following the departure of the brass section, Galliard continued without key brass players. Touring Europe and the UK with not much success. Eventually the drummer Les Marshall left the band whilst they were in St. Tropez totally disillusioned and frustrated. He felt that their management, Astra Associates in Wolverhampton weren't doing enough to promote Galliard at the right venues.

The rest of Galliard changed their name to Muscles. Muscles became a Jazz Funk band incorporating many line up changes along the way. They finally broke up for good in 1978. Richard Pannell left soon after to become electronics engineer for Electric Light Orchestra.

Andy Abbott now lives in France, Geoff Brown is Chief Executive of a software company in Los Angeles, Les Marshall worked for the BBC till 1993 and is now retired, and Richard Pannell works for Computer Services at Birmingham University. More interestingly, Dave Caswell (allegedly) is living in America and is a Lay Preacher. Unfortunately, there is no present info concerning Lyle Jenkins, John Smith or John Morton.

Tracklist:

01 - Skillet

02 - A modern day fairytale

03 - Pastorale

04 - I wrapped her in ribbons

05 - Children of the sun

06 - Got to make it

07 - Frog Galliard

08 - Blood

09 - Hear the colours

10 - I wanna be back home


Line up:

Andrew Abbott: bass

Geoff Brown: vocals

Dave Caswell: woodwind

Richard Pannell: guitar

Leslie Podraza: drums

John Smith: woodwind

(@320 + covers)

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