To close the article series about Vertigo Records in 1970, I chose five debut albums by bands that truly showcased the progressive music side of the adventurous label. We begin with a band that would continue to produce some of the progressive rock’s most interesting albums throughout the 1970s.
Gentle Giant’s Debut
Gentle Giant was formed when brothers Derek Shulman (vocals), Phil Shulman (vocals, saxophone, trumpet), and Ray Shulman (guitar, violin, trumpet, vocals) wanted out of the pop music market that trapped their band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. Although the band had hits, including the #8 UK single Kites in 1967, they did not represent the siblings’ aspirations to create more ambitious music, the kind not driven by radio plays and single sales. Derek Shulman remembers: “It was 1970. King Crimson were happening, Yes were just coming up and we were into the same sort of thing.” Their conviction was strong enough to decline an offer from Elton John to join the band and contribute songs that later became hits for him, Your Song being one of them.
Adding keyboardist Kerry Minnear, guitarist Gary Green and drummer Martin Smith, a new sextet was formed. They named themselves Gentle Giant after François Rabelais’s 16th-century pentalogy of novels Gargantua and Pantagruel, a telling of the adventures of two giants. In 1970, with Tony Visconti in the producer’s seat, the band recorded their self-titled debut album. Visconti, who went on to become one of the most revered art-rock producers in history, was quite enthusiastic about recording Gentle Giant: “I was a very optimistic young man in 1970. I thought music like theirs would save the world from mediocrity. I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth in it. I championed their cause by becoming sympathetic to the point where I temporarily joined the band. I modified their arrangements and pulled off some stunning audio effects that gave their sound more depth and immediacy.”
Working closely with a producer who believed in their art and was well-versed in studio recording was a new experience for the band. Ray Shulman adds: “With Simon Dupree, we would typically go into the studio, record a single in three hours and it was done. Making a record with Tony was a godsend. The whole process of how you record a band by first doing the basic tracks and getting the right feel, then doing overdubs and experimental things on top of those was so important for the album.”
Guitarist Gerry Green was also impressed by the producer: “Tony was an eye-opener for me. Neither Kerry nor I had ever done any professional recording previously. Tony was incredibly encouraging and positive towards us. Rather than just record things like my guitar flat and then mix them, he would incorporate added touches like octave effects and double-tracking. It all seemed magical and somehow normal at the same time.”
Gentle Giant’s self-title debut was released in November 1970. In the best tradition of progressive music albums of the period, the album was adorned by a wonderful cover art, created by George Underwood. Over the next couple of years Underwood would create the iconic album covers for David Bowie’s Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust.
A standout track on the album is Nothing At All. The vocal harmonies are reminiscent of Crosby, Stills and Nash, who were at their peak of popularity at the time. Kerry Minnear, who wrote the opening guitar intro, commented: “Structurally, you can tell it’s a keyboardist playing the guitar. It was one of my earlier contributions. The Black Sabbath-like riff that starts two-and-a-half minutes into it came from the Shulman brothers. I recall we all had to go to the pub and take a break while making it, because it wasn’t going very well initially.”
The song is unique in Gentle Giant’s studio albums discography for featuring a drum solo, fed into a phaser effect. Gary Green remembers: “When we did the drum solo on ‘Nothing At All’, that was real chaos. I remember Martin and Kerry and Ray all playing on Martin’s drum kit and shouting as they were doing it. I think they did several takes. Most of them ended with everybody just lying on the floor laughing, not able to believe they were producing this cacophonous sound.” The drum solo remained a favorite part of the band’s live performances, known as the ‘Drum Bash’. In the studio recording, Kerry Minnear plays on top of the drum solo, a beautiful piano melody quoting ‘Liebestraum No. 3’ by Franz Liszt.
Gary Green – lead guitar, 12 string guitar
Kerry Minnear – keyboard, some bass, cello, lead vocals, backing vocals, some tuned percussion
Derek Shulman – lead vocals, backing vocals, some bass
Phil Shulman – sax, trumpet, recorder, lead vocals, backing vocals
Ray Shulman – most bass, violin, some guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Martin Smith – drums, percussion
Cressida
The next band in this review started under the name Charge, when guitarist John Heyworth and vocalist Angus Cullen began writing material together and decided to look for like-minded musicians to play together. Expanding to a quintet, they played covers of songs by The Doors, The Drifters and Spirit, alongside original compositions. Like another band on the Vertigo roster, Uriah Heep, they decided to change their name based on a work by a literary giant: William Shakespeare, and his tragic play Troilus and Cressida.
Cressida were influenced by many musical styles, notably sounds coming from the US West Coast. Drummer Iain Clark explained: “I think with Cressida there was a combination of influences from both sides of the Atlantic. We were listening to American artists like Quicksilver Messenger Service, Iron Butterfly and the West Coast groups, the bands that were doing more interesting things. To be honest, it is only in retrospect that you can look back and see a little Tom Rush or Jeferson Airplane in the material.”
The band quickly signed a management and production contract with Ossie Byrne, who previously worked with the Bee Gees on their early singles. Bassist Kevin McCarthy remembers: “Ossie came to hear us play. He wanted to know if we could do harmonies, so we sang ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’ which we later agreed sounded pretty bad! Fortunately for us, Ossie wanted to sign us anyway.” Byrne wasted no time finding a record label to record the band’s debut. The first to show interest was the respected label Elektra, who released albums by The Doors, Love and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
The band ended up with Vertigo Records, an unknown entity to the band at the time. Kevin McCarthy: “We had never heard of Vertigo and of course had no idea how iconic the label would become. But it didn’t matter. We just thought it meant we were on our way to achieving some success.”
In September 1969 a lineup change took place and keyboardist Peter Jennings joined Cressida. The new addition gave the band a major musical boost. Iain Clark: “Peter’s arrival in many ways transformed the band. Here we had an absolutely superb musician whose Hammond playing was on par with anybody’s at that time. That gave us encouragement to start pushing the boundaries in terms of arrangement and the complexity of the songs.”
Vertigo quickly booked the band into a recording studio in October 1969. Clark remembers: “We got to record our first album in the brilliantly equipped Wessex studios, which at the time had the UK’s first 16 track mixing desk. A few weeks before us, King Crimson had recorded their debut there, another good omen. I should also say that we were well prepared to record our songs live in the studio, we had been a well-rehearsed live band.”
Unlike many progressive rock albums from that period, Cressida’s debut consists of shorter songs between 2 and 5 minutes long. Iain Clark talked about that: “We were very much focused on the songs that were often only three and a half minutes long but which had a structure to them that was not unfamiliar, though not necessarily typical, of the prog bands of the era. Nevertheless, we played them as a progressive band if you like.”
Vertigo released the album on February Friday 13 1970, a date picked carefully for another album release by the label the same day, Black Sabbath’s debut. Reviews of the album were positive in trade magazines. Iain Clark: “I don’t think we knew what to expect. We had made the album and then it was more a question of waiting to see what the critics thought. We were obviously blown away by many of the reactions. It was very rewarding.” Kevin McCarthy: “I always thought that this album was a good debut album. It took a couple of weeks to create, I remember.”
Vertigo label head Olav Wyper said of the album: “That first Cressida album is as good as it gets – those guys were entitled to the crown of ultimate ‘progressive’ bands as much as King Crimson, but unless you are into Vertigo or deeply into progressive music from the era, my bet is you never heard of the band.”
A favorite track from the album is the closer Tomorrow Is a Whole New Day. The combination of Hammond organ, acoustic guitar and the voice of Angus Cullen work wonders for this band, and this track is a great example. Reminds me of the rockier side of the Moody Blues at times. The song lyrics has traces of social unrest, student protests and the Vietnam war. Clark: “There was very much a rising political awareness that really influenced those times hugely and much of the music that was recorded then. I vividly remember writing it and taking it in and much to my amazement the others liked it.”
Angus Cullen – lead vocals
Kevin McCarthy – bass
Iain Clark – drums
John Heyworth – guitars, vocals
Peter Jennings – organ, piano
Gracious!
Another progressive rock debut in 1970 was by the band Gracious!, who started as a pop outfit. In July 1969 they shared a double bill with King Crimson, an event that changed the way they thought about music. Their influences widened to include Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Chicago, Todd Rundgren and Spirit. Bassist Tim Wheatley talked about that shift: “We had started to move on from the Pop/Tamla mix of covers and originals and started to write and perform progressive material. There were still pop melodies and harmonies interspersed in much longer pieces and we did some odd stuff like ‘Fugue in D minor’ which was a chance for our keyboard player to show off some classical chops.”
The band’s material was written by guitarist Paul Davis and keyboardist Martin Kitcat. Davis talked about working with his songwriting partner: “I had lots of words and phrases which I’d picked up from the era, and Martin had his classical training and was rearing to go. I probably would have said, well we will try an F-sharp, E-minor to an F-sharp major, and he would have played a little riff. I would have come up with some phrase I had in my head and if we thought the phrase was good, we would have then changed the melody a little bit.”
Watching King Crimson also triggered the use of mellotron by Martin Kitcat. Drummer Robert Lipson said: “That changed our lives. Martin got a Mellotron and we were off!” The arsenal of instruments increased to also include another distinctive-sounding keyboard instrument. Paul Davis: “The harpsichord was near to Martin because he had been trained classically and I guess that is one of the key instruments that you get trained on or with. But we just liked the sound.”
The band started to perform at better-known venues alongside some of the key bands and artists of that time: Pink Floyd, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, the Moody Blues. At one of these shows they were visited by the label that signed them to a recording contract. Tim Wheatley: “We were on a circuit of clubs and colleges and the A&R people from Vertigo came to see us play at Klooks Kleek, a famous pub gig in London. They liked what they saw and offered us a contract. I remember sharing the bill that night were Keith Relf’s Renaissance.”
The band’s self-titled debut was recorded at Philips studios in Stanhope Place, Marble Arch, later owned by Paul Weller. The producer was Hugh Murphy who a few years later produced the multi-million selling ‘Baker Street’ for Gerry Rafferty. The album was recorded over a few days in early 1970 and released in July. The material was mostly recorded live in the studio with only a few guitar and vocals overdubs.
My favorite track on the album is Heaven, a great listen for lovers of the mellotron, with keyboard player Martin Kitcat using the instrument with a unique configuration. Damon Fox of Bigelf talked about the use of mellotron on this album: “Kitcat was the first person to put ‘lead’ sounds on both sides. Most bands had Mk II’s and used them as they were sold: the rhythm sounds on one side, and then flutes, strings, horns — the lead sounds — on the right side. But Martin was the first guy to contact the Bradley brothers (UK-based Mellotron manufacturers) and have his made custom, with lead sound on both sides.”
Paul “Sandy” Davis: lead vocals, 12-string guitar, percussion
Alan Cowderoy: guitar, backing vocals, percussion
Martin Kitcat: Mellotron, organ, Hohner pianet, piano, backing vocals
Tim Wheatley: bass, backing vocals, percussion
Robert Lipson: drums
Affinity
We continue with debut albums and come to Affinity, a band with strong jazz influences. Their name was taken from a title of a 1961 Oscar Peterson album. They started out as an instrumental jazz-rock group named ‘Ice’ and then added a singer, the excellent vocalist Linda Hoyle. The talented singer talked about her motivation to join the band: “I was engaged to a lovely guy, who I let down badly after seeing Lynton Naiff from a distance playing divine jazz piano. He was tanned, handsome, aloof, and didn’t want me. What more could a girl ask? Needless to say, we ended up together for three years. It turned out I could sing jazz, having done so essentially since birth along with my father’s 78’s. He needed a singer for the trio, and later for Affinity.”
Bass player Mo Foster listed the eclectic list of artists that influenced the band members: “We drew our influences from many sources. At different times: The Shadows, Duane Eddy, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Cream, Brian Auger, Billie Holiday, Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderley, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Gary Burton, Aretha Franklin.”
In 1968 they secured a performance contract at the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s jazz club, starting at the upstairs room and then moving downstairs to play along well-known jazz acts such as Stan Getz and Les McCann. Ronnie Scott agreed to manage the band and continued booking them alongside jazz legends like Elvin Jones, Gary Burton and Charles Mingus. On the strength of these shows the band managed to secure a recording contract with Vertigo Records.
Reviews of their debut album were quite positive in the British music magazines. The Times: “There is a great deal of fine musicianship to enjoy: The solos, the interplay between guitar and bass guitar, the tightness of the group as a whole, and a singer, Linda Hoyle, who is powerfully effective.” Daily Mail: “Listening to Linda Hoyle you cannot help feeling that this is how Bessie Smith must have sounded had she been born at a different time. Organist Lynton Naiff and guitarist Michael Jopp improvise with great verve and originality.”
Affinity’s self-titled debut album included a number of great interpretations of well-known songs, one of them a long jam on Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, made famous by Jimi Hendrix’s timeless cover. This is a treasure for lovers of the Hammond organ (the band bought the Hammond that was previously used by Brian Auger). Mo Foster on the song: “This Bob Dylan song was arranged to be a feature for both Linda and Lynton. When we played the song live it could last half an hour. Our version pre-dates the (very different) version by Jimi Hendrix.”
Another great cover from this album is Mr. Joy, composed by Annette Peacock and featured on a Paul Bley album a couple of years earlier. Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones contributed brass and strings arrangements to a couple of songs. The album’s cover resembles Black Sabbath’s debut in style, again the distinct coloring created by photographer Marcus Keef. Although the album received great reviews and the band was constantly touring, they did not last long and remaining recordings with a modified lineup were released only many years later.
Linda Hoyle – vocals
Lynton Naiff – Hammond B3 organ, piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, harpsichord, vibraphone, percussion
Mo Foster – bass guitar, double bass, percussion
Mike Jopp – electric, acoustic and 12-string guitars, percussion
Grant Serpell – drums, percussion
Beggar’s Opera – Act One
The last band in this review hails from Glasgow, Scotland. Their unique name was picked randomly from a crossword dictionary, a reference to a 1728 play by the English poet John Gay. They were influenced by classical music pieces, and their debut album includes the epic track Light Cavalry, based on Austrian composer Franz von Suppé’s operetta Leichte Kavallerie Overture from 1866. An early engagement at Burns Howff club at West Regent Street in Glasgow was covered by journalist Iain McDonald: “If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. I had never seen a queue of over 200 people waiting to get into a pub. The reason that the place has become so popular is the group on the stage – Beggar’s Opera.”
Guitarist Ricky Gardiner, who later played with David Bowie (Sound and vision) and Iggy Pop, talked about the other band members: “There was a strong classical influence from keyboardist Alan Park. The drummer, Ray Wilson, was like a wild man and wore a Scottish kilt, a long beard, a large hat and nothing else. He was an admirer of Ginger Baker. The bass player, Marshall Erskine, was widely experienced in popular music. Our singer, Martin Griffiths, admired Frank Sinatra and enjoyed putting a lot of drama into his singing, to good effect. He was very theatrical.”
The band’s debut album Act One was released in 1970. Sound engineer on the album, Martin Birch, worked at the time as engineer on classic albums by Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash. He would go on to become a legendary hard rock producer with Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. The band had nothing but praise to say of him: “He wasn’t the producer, but he knew exactly what he wanted. We had a lot of respect for him. I don’t know if he respected us too. In any case, we were on the same wavelength.”
The album was recorded in two days, live in the studio like many other Vertigo recordings of the time. Martin Griffiths on the experience in the studio: “I was the metronome. We put all our emotions, our hearts into it. We were nervous, of course, and probably played a bit faster. We didn’t think there was too little time at the time. We weren’t entirely happy with the finished production, but it had a certain spontaneity.”
Martin Griffiths – vocals
Alan Park – organ
Raymond Wilson – drums
Ricky Gardiner – lead guitar
Marshall Erskine – bass guitar
Sources:
Gentle Giant: Acquiring the Taste, by Paul Stump
Gentle Giant – Three Piece Suite 2017 CD booklet liner notes by Anil Prasad
Cressida’s official website: https://cressida-group.co.uk/
Cressida’s debut 2012 CD release on Esoteric Recordings booklet
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