"Hastily put together in 1969 by a veteran quartet of Tallahassee, FL, musicians and together for only a handful of months, After All is merely a footnote in the history of late-'60s and Florida rock. Their single recorded effort, however, was a moody slice of acid-tinged progressive pop that, while perhaps not among the finest obscurities from the era, brings back the grooviness and off-the-cuff adventurousness of the decade in full color. All of the members of After All had a history playing in various rhythm & blues and jazz bands, dating back to the late '50s, performing at clubs and parties throughout the Tallahassee region. Drummer Mark Ellerbee was fresh out of Vietnam and a graduate of the Florida State School of Music when he bumped into fellow Florida State graduate and keyboardist Alan Gold, who was performing at the time in one of the area's top night club bands. With the addition of fellow scenesters bassist Bill Moon and jazz guitarist Charles Short, After All was officially born. The group envisioned creating a concept album by throwing together a variety of the era's newest styles, from acid and classical rock to structural complexity and surreal lyrics. To help with the latter, they enlisted a young local poet, Linda Hargrove, to provide the lyrics to most of the songs. The band knew a Nashville producer who was willing to record a "spec album" for them at no cost provided if they did it quickly, so they entered the studio in 1969 and recorded After All in a couple days. Following the release of the album on Athena Records, the instrumentalists returned to Florida and took up their respective careers again. Hargrove, on the other hand, remained in Nashville and carved out a fine, if under-recognized, career for herself as a country singer/songwriter and performer. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide"
Here
.jpg)
2 comments:
Well..I have this album edit CD Gear Fab Records 2000
Very nice full breath,disc based on the wording referring to the and the creation and Doors Procol Harum. Delicate, slightly psychedelic and at times even somewhat jazzy atmosphere. As for Americans, it was a fairly unusual material.
Scene is dominated by Hammond organ sounds and a classicist - at times like this nocturnal - sounds of the piano. Music in itself is perhaps not particularly diverse. And each record appear to be similar to each other (this is not the plea). Games played are, in fact, at a similar pace, and all without exception, of course, bring the listener into a world full of bitterness and suffering.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to get bored with this album. Is played sparingly and with feeling. Excellent compositions are made of dignity, although they lack lightness, so that even for a moment the whole does not become pretentious or boring. It is worth noting that in the recording of 'Nothing Left To Do' introduces the theme reminiscent of the final part of the 'Skip Softly (My Moonbeans)' Procol Harum, which in turn was undoubtedly inspired by the 'Sabre Dance' Aram Khachaturian.
The cover adorns of one of the most liked of my illustrations. Great idea.
Review of modest, but I assure you that we refer to making After All. This is an excellent album worthy of discovery. This is an excellent album worthy discoveries, especially in the Japanese edition SHM-CD that sounds fantastic!
Thanks Georgie,
Drummer Mark Ellerbee later joined the Oak Ridge Boys. This was in the early '70s during their Gospel days. Mark was featured singing in concert & on albums. The four singers would usually leave the stage while Mark & the other band members did their thing. The Oaks Band at that time was Mark on drums, Don Breland on bass, John Rich on guitar & steel and Tony Brown on piano. Brown of course went on to be a major force in Nashville. I'm not sure how long Mark stayed with the ORB after the switch to country music.
Post a Comment