Thoughts about 70s Music led me to – Pearl Before Swine
I was thinking about music in the late 60s and early 70s this morning.My thoughts quickly turned to one of my favorite bands, Pearls Before Swine. During those years the underground music scene was exploding. Typically AM commercial radio stations played pop music that was singles oriented. Underground music was album oriented and the tracks played were usually much more complex and longer. As the popularity of underground music grew several Philadelphia radio stations adopted the underground music format. Both WDAS and WMMR made the switch.To me the beauty of the format was the ability of the DJ to play just about anything HE wanted to play. WIBG’s DJ Hy Lit led the transition on WDAS and Dave Herman and his Marconi Experiment paved the way at WMMR.
This morning I read in the article on Underground Music at Wikipedia that Frank Zappa said this about the music….“mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground.” Anyway new bands seemed to appear every day. Bands came together then split and reformed new bands and it was great.
Pearl Before Swine – The Use of Ashes
Pearls Before Swine founder Tom Rapp
Pearls Before Swine was one of my favorite bands from that era. The band probably received more praise by critics, than commercial success. Again from Wikipedia……
Pearls Before Swine was an American psychedelic folk band formed by Tom Rapp in 1965 in Eau Gallie, now part of Melbourne, Florida. They released six albums between 1967 and 1971, before Rapp launched a solo career…..
My first and favorite Pearls Before Swine album was their 1970 release The Use of Ashes. From Wikipedia….
……The band signed for Reprise Records in 1969, although by this time the other original members had left and the band name now referred to Rapp and whichever musicians he was recording or touring with, one of whom, Jim Fairs, was previously a member of The Cryan’ Shames. The five albums on Reprise were generally more conventional in sound, but contained a unique blend of humanistic and mystical songs, with some whimsical touches. Some were recorded in New York and others – particularly The Use of Ashes and City of Gold – in Nashville with top session musicians including Charlie McCoy, Kenny Buttrey, and other members of Area Code 615.
Wow, one of the things that I had forgotten about the album was the session musicians that played on it. Charlie, Kenny and Area Code 615 were favorites!
One thing that I think many would again with is that Tom Rapp did not have a commercial music voice. It was quirky and lispish, but for me the musical composition and lyrics of their music more than made up for Rapp’s voice.
Favorite Songs from The Use of Ashes
My two favorite tracks on The Use of Ashes have always been, “The Jeweler” and “Rocket Man” Each of the songs create images for me, that are not soon forgotten. Hey they’ve stayed with me for over 46 years!! Through the years every time I heard Elton John’s “Rocket Man” I would think about Pearl Before Swine. From Wikipedia…..
“Rocket Man ….written the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon – was credited by Bernie Taupin with inspiring his hit song with Elton John of the same title. Quote : “We didn’t steal that one from Bowie, we stole it from another guy, called Tom Rapp…”.
Listening to The Use of Ashes this morning reminded how much I like the album! So Check It Out!
P.S. My son Andrew has been a big fan of progressive rock bands. Several years ago he told me I should give the genre a listen. I did and discovered that I did like the genre. I also discussed that I had been listening to Prog from many years. Many of the bands that I listened to like Jethro Tull and King Crimson were the founders of progressive rock. Surprisingly Pearls Before Swine also falls into the Progressive Rock genre. Their music is considered Prog Folk!
