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Curt Newbury - Half a Month of May Days (1970)

Track listing:
  1. S & C See Me 4:43
  2. Christ. How Easy Could it Be 4:03
  3. to Marcia 2:42
  4. Highchair Blue 3:17
  5. Letīs Hang Some Pictures Tonight 4:01
  6. Half a Month of Maydays 4:51
  7. Colonel Haygood 3:39
  8. A Girl is Just Too Much 4:31
  9. Maybe Summer Bells 3:34
  10. Private Jackson Regrets 2:09

Notes


Texan born, Curt Newbury began picking folk guitar in the coffee houses then became a flying instructor and a licensed hypnotist. He recorded his only solo album in 1970 at The Sound Factory in Hollywood, produced by Don Hall. Backed up by four members of Kaleidoscope:- Lagos, Kaplan, the enigmatic Parsley/Budha (aka Fenrus Epp or Chester Crill) and Ron Johnson, plus Mike Deasy and some other players, Newbury composed and sang all the tracks resulting in an interesting album of West Coast folk/rock with some brilliant guitar solos.

It's excellent, West-coast, folk-rock with a fair amount of country twang and some psychedelic influences (both chemical and musical, I imagine). The lyrics are good and touch on the appropriate concerns of the time (love, protesting the war, hanging pictures--I guess times haven't changed that much).

The band (which consists of the majority of the fine psychedelic group, Kaleidoscope [U.S.]) is in top form, and Mike Deasy contributes some smokin' guitar solos. In addition to writing his own material Newbury was also a flying instructor and a licensed hypnotist (although I'm not sure how those activities influenced his musical work).

The personnel:
Richard Aplanalp clarinet
Mike Deasy guitar, mandolin
Coffi Hall percussion
Howard Johnson tuba
Ron Johnson bass
Jeff Kaplan guitar, organ, bass, piano
Paul Lagos drums
Rick Matthews percussion
Curt Newbury vocals, guitar
Templeton Parsley (Max Buda) electric violin, harmonica
Pat Smith bass fiddle