Rare Bird [1969]

Personnel: Steve Gould (vocals, guitar, saxophone, bass guitar); Mark Ashton (vocals, drums, background vocals); Ced Curtis (guitar); Dave Kaffinetti (electric piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Graham Field (organ); Fred Kelly (drums).
This debut featured an organist and an electric pianist, but no guitarist, resulting in a moody Hammond-heavy album from a band that would later become more progressive and varied in its sound. "Beautiful Scarlet" shifts easily from histrionic soul to offhanded slow-four interludes, and the instrumental "Iceberg" shows off the organist Graham Field and the rest of band's chops well. The whispered vocals and weird background noises of "God of War" achieves the kind of creepy gloom appropriate to an era of carpet bombing and napalm. Indeed, the production and instrumentation of this album makes it very much of a period piece, though certainly not in any derogatory sense. ~ Paul Collins