I've had so many records to go through (I still have a couple of piles to play) that I've not really taken the time to root around on the streaming side of things.
Recently my Aunt Jeanne, the cool aunt from my childhood who introduced me to a lot of cool music, was in town. We sat in the back yard and talked about old music. Well, I talked and she listened. She's still the cool aunt. It started with me reminiscing about Vanity Fare's "Hitchin' a Ride," a 45 she had when I was a kid. I played that single over and over and over on a little suitcase player, and that song still hits me in the feels.
She then mentioned a band she liked that was a little different but was probably so obscure they'd been forgotten, but they were cool. It took her a moment to get the name of the band from her long term memory, but eventually she came up with Goose Creek Symphony. She said they did a great version of "(Oh Lord Won't You Buy Me a) Mercedes Benz" and she really liked "Guitars Pickin', Fiddles Playin' / Orange Blossom Special." The fact she remembered the names was as impressive as her being able to dredge up the memory in the first place.
I figured I'd see if they were out there, and sure enough they were, and true to her word, those two songs were really good and the band was eclectic and also very traditional at the same time. So on this edition of A Streaming Pile of Hit where you put the "s" in hit is up to you let's revisit the debut by Goose Creek Symphony, Est. 1970.
Released in 1970 on Capitol Records, the album kicks off with a short piano centred spiritual, "I'll Fly Away." It's reminiscent of an old time hymn and is over before you know it. The song that sets the tone for the album is "Charlie's Tune." It is equal parts jug band and bluegrass, with fiddles and a lot of slide. It's played straight, but you can tell the band is holding back and doesn't quite let loose. You get the sense the band is biding its time before going on a tear. The vocals are buried way back in the mix as if to emphasize the down home feel of a bunch of guys sitting in a circle trying to be heard over their instruments.
"A Satisfied Mind" is a rough sounding recording, but the vocals are front and centre, and the piano sounds like it was recorded with a single mic from across the room. Musically this reminded me of The Band. It's a really good song. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Turns out it was first recorded by Porter Wagoner in 1955, and everyone from Glen Campbell to Dylan with The Band (I knew it sounded like The Band!) recorded their own versions before Goose Creek Symphony decided to take a crack at it.
"No News Is Good News" is pure country rock that reminded me a little of The Monkees' "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round," although that's hardly a fair comparison, it's just what it sounded like to me. Of course the pool of reference material I have to draw on from this time period is pretty bloody thin. When this came out I was exactly old enough not to know any better.
I got a kick out of the foot stomping jaw harp that started "Talk About Goose Creek And Other Important Places," which eventually morphs into a psychedelic guitar driven jam with a frenetic drum beat and reverse effects that meandered and built up a decent head of steam over almost nine minutes. Any sense that these guys were a bunch of Kentucky hillbillies was put to rest ... mostly - they were hillbillies who could melt faces, but dang that jaw harp was just so good.
It was subtle, but the band was now in rock mode, and the next few songs were firmly ensconced in that early '70s groove that was the bread and butter of bands like Three Dog Night, Allman Brothers and even The Grateful Dead. "Beautiful Bertha" and "Big Time Saturday Night" were mid tempo rockers and pretty decent songs. The album's closer, "Symphony," like most of the originals on the album, was written by Charles Gearheart (aka Ritchie Hart, not that it helps with name recognition), who played lead guitar and was the primary vocalist. It was another good song, and closed out with a snippet of "I'll Fly Away" that tied the end to the beginning before coming to an end. I suppose that was to make the 8 track sound cool, as in a sense it would be one never ending loop.
This was one of those cool finds I never knew existed. Considering this was new to me, the tendency was to try and figure out where this would have fitted at the time. Why didn't this catch on? Was it just a matter of place and time? The band had an audience, but they never really broke into the commercial mainstream. They may have been a band that flew just under the radar, but my Aunt knew of them, and after all this time remembered some of the songs.
The songs were good and enjoyable but if I'm comparing them to bands like, well - The Band, or The Grateful Dead, they were good really but in terms of that standout track the band was bubbling but not quite at a boil.
I'm not dismissing them at all, there was something about them that was just so enjoyable, and I've played their debut a few times and each listen is better than the last. I'll get through the rest of their early albums in due course. I want to savour the moment. Goose Creek Symphony is one of those obscure eclectic buried treasures and once unearthed are worth a play or two, and this was the first of a few albums the band would release in the early '70s.
After all this time my Aunt is still introducing me to cool stuff.
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