Now Playing: Arthur LP on LHI
Topic: Addition
Here's an old 'secret want' that I finally located after hearing a couple of tracks on a mix tape 4-5 years back. In addition to its general obscurity, it connects to a well-known underground music nexus...
FRAN'S BAND (New York City, NY)
Tomorrow Never Comes 1977 (Tribute 1005)
One of the least commonly seen titles on this tax-scam label with Frankie Carr involvement. This is almost certainly recordings from earlier parts of Carr's career, much like what can be found on the All Natural Band album. About 2/3rds of Fran's Band features blue-eyed soul-pop with a Young Rascals-Critters sound. The lead vocals are remarkably good, the playing tight, and the overall sound pretty professional. There are no horns, and this stuff could probably go over well with collectors of '60s Eastcoast teenbeat. I would guesstimate a 1969 recording year for this material. Carr was apparently a member of the later-day Critters, so maybe that is the source. On side 2 are a couple of faceless tracks in inferior sound and a more '70s style, reminiscent of the weaker aspects of the Spare Change Band. Again, there are no credits at all, but to me it sounds like it could well be a Carr-led outfit. The album then turns up the heat considerably for the two closing tracks, which are crude, grungy basement rock with fuzz guitars and stoner vocals, sounding a bit like Boa or Negative Space. This may not be Carr; at least it's rawer than anything I've heard from him, but it wraps up the album very nicely into an above-average trip for tax-scams. Housed in a generic, ill-fitting cover, four copies are known to exist of the LP at this point. [PL]
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see => Spare Change Band; Frankie Carr; Tea Company
