Farm 1971 Farm

Genre: Blues-Rock
Rate: 320 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:28:25
Size: 64,99 MB



The line up consisted of bassist Jim Elwyn, percussionist Steve Evanchik, singer/guitarist Gary Gordon, keyboard player Roger Greenwalt, guitarist Del Herbert and drummer Mike Young. I also know that their 1971 debut "Farm" was recorded at Golden Voice Studios in South Perkin, Illinois and was limited to a 500 copy pressing. Featuring largely original material, the set was fairly varied. The opening instrumental 'Jungle Song' and 'Sunshine In My Window' were both strong guitar-propelled numbers that sounded heavily influenced by both The Allman Brothers and Santana. Elsewhere, 'Cottonfield Woman' was a nice slice of blues-rock, while as you'd probably expect from the title, 'Let the Boy Boogie' and a cover of 'Statesboro Blues' were okay slices of boogie rock. (Quoting from the liner notes - "Many thanks to George Leeman, our friend and spiritual guide" - anyone know who Leeman was?) Kudos to engineer Jerry Milam for the quality sound - you normally don;t hear anything nearly as bright and clear on such albums.

- 'Jungle Song' opened the album up with a catchy Allman Brothers-meet-Carlos Santana-styled instrumental. (Okay there were some wordless vocal harmonies on the track so technically it may not have been an instrumental.) I'm not sure if the song featured a multi-tracked Greenwalt lead guitar, or it was Greenwalt and Gordon playing together, but the results were surprisingly melodic making for one of those rock song's you unexpectedly found yourself humming. It was also one of those rare songs that didn't start to get boring over the near eight minute running time. As for the title, if you were expecting to hear something with a tropical lilt, this wasn't the place to go. Nice leadoff ...

- Give the band 'truth-in-advertising' kudos since 'Let That Boy Boogie' was a 100% accurate description. As far as bar band boogie went, this wasn't bad, but there wasn't a great deal of originality here. Greenwalt's speed-of-light guitar funs provided most of the highlights. The mysterious George Leeman provided squawking harmonica. rating: ** stars

- Opening up with a blazing lead guitar segment, 'Sunshine In My Window' morphed into the album's most conventional AOR performance (and the shortest song). Very nice.

- Gary Gordon's best vocal, 'Cottonfield Woman' was a tasty country-tinged rocker (emphasis on rock) that had everything required to have been an FM staple. Great melody, rollicking lead guitar, pounding rhythm section (Mike Young's drums were particularly impressive), what wasn't to like on this one. My pick for standout performance.

- For anyone doubting The Allman Brothers influence, there was always the band's cover of 'Statesboro Blues'. So here's the thing about this one ...their cover was great; easily one of the best I've ever heard, but at least to my ears the problem was that if you wanted to hear this song, why bother with any cover. The Allmans cut the definitive version so that's where I'd go. Course if I was in a mid-western club and had a couple of cold ones, this would probably have sounded pretty darn good to me. (http://badcatrecords.com)



Tracklist:

01 - Sunshine In My Window 03:58

02 - Cottonfield Woman 04:01

03 - Statesboro Blues 04:25

04 - Jungle Song 07:50

05 - Let That Boy Boogie 08:11





Farm here:

DL