Genre: psych
Rating: ** (2 stars)
Title: Big Lost Rainbow
Company: private pressing
Catalog: none
Year: 1973
Country/State: Connecticut
Grade (cover/record): G+/VG-
Comments: noticeable hiss; top and bottom seams are split; cover has some staining and aging; this is an original pressing with lyric and band member inserts
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4232
Price: $200.00
Cost: $100.00
Ridley Pearson, Otis Head, Robin Pfoutz, Adam Berenson, Tony Morse and J.P. Bailhe first crossed paths in 1970 while attending the private Pomfret School in Pomfret, Connecticut. A common interest in music led to occasional jam sessions and some local club performances. 1971 found them recording a couple of demos, but unable to find corporate backing, by 1972 they'd split, the members going off to college. The breakup was brief; within a matter of months they'd collective curtailed their academic plans in favor of another go at music.
Relocating to Cape
Cod, Massachusetts they began rehearsing, eventually deciding to cut some
more demos. Recorded in August and September 1973 at studios in
Timonium, Maryland and New Haven Connecticut, the set served to spotlight
the talents of Rid Pearson. In addition to writing the majority of material
(seven out of nine tracks), Pearson was credited with lead vocals and much
of the instrumentation. Pearson was also gifted with a nice voice, well
suited to acoustic folk-rock numbers such as "Lady Love",
"Brothers", "Ocean" and "It's Over Now". As
for the music, it's certainly mellow - imagine something along the lines of
Brewer and Shipley (less the goofy humor and with the addition of lots of
flute) and you'll get a feel for this stuff. Elsewhere, the jazzy
"Morning Sunshine" is one of the few selections sporting an
electric guitar. In terms of production, the set's surprisingly good - far
better than what you'd expected from a private press. (In case you care, our
copy is an original press with a silkscreen front cover, paste-on back cover
and lyric and band member inserts.)
"Big Lost Rainbow" track listing:
(side
1)
1.) Sail (Charlie
Read) -
2.) I Go Alone (Rid Pearson) -
3.) Lady Love (Rid Pearson) -
4.) Brothers (Rid Pearson)
5.) Ocean (Rid Pearson) -
(side 2)
1.) Idaho (Rid
Pearson) -
2.) It's Over Now (Rid Pearson) -
3.) Morning Sunshine (Rid Pearson) -
4.) Lady of Music (Rid Pearson - Berenson) -
In the wake of the LP's release the band spent the next two years touring throughout New England. Unable to score a national contract, they called it quits in 1975.
Pearson went on to fame as a novelist.
The band briefly reunited at Pearson's Sun Valley, Idaho home in 1992 (they even recorded some material) and in 1998 their LP was reissued by the Gear Fab label in CD format. The reissue included three previously unreleased tunes: "Slow Rider", " Patricia Jane Moon" and "Allegiance Of Apathy".