We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
Here is another one of those late 60’s-early 70’s bands that delivered top-notch music but never really found a large following. Seatrain originally hailed from Northern California before landing in Marblehead Massachusetts which delivered the title for their 1971 LP ‘Marblehead Messenger”.
The band first came to my attention the previous year with the song “13 Questions” which was a minor American hit.
This band could bring a heady mix of rock, jazz and country blues driven by the electric violin of Richard Greene who hailed from the late, lamented Jim Kweskin’s Jug Band. Greene’s violin took center stage on many of the tunes including “Gramercy” and the song-poem ” Despair Tire” which moves from bluegrass to fusion-jazz seamlessly.
Adding to Greene’s violin comes the guitar of Peter Rowan who handles much of the singing as well. He’s got a great guitar tone and delivers some excellent solos on “How Sweet Thy Song” and some of the other tracks.
Andy Kulberg lays down the bass groove but also contributes some flute especially on the anti-war title track.
This band could move in many different genres…from the countrified blues of “Mississippi Moon” to more poppy stuff like “Lonely’s Not The Only way To Go” or “London Song”. “Protestant Preacher” sounds like a Richard Manuel song that could have been on one of The Band’s records.
The album was produced by George Martin and certainly deserved more attention than it got. If you are first discovering them…enjoy!
- “Gramercy” (Kulberg, Roberts) 2:59
- “The State of Georgia’s Mind” (Kulberg, Roberts) 4:01
- “Protestant Preacher” (Rowan) 5:23
- “Lonely’s Not the Only Way to Go” (Baskin) 2:23
- “How Sweet Thy Song” (Rowan) 5:00
- “Marblehead Messenger” (Kulberg, Roberts) 2:40
- “London Song” (Kulberg, Roberts) 4:20
- “Mississippi Moon” (Rowan) 3:13
- “Losing All the Years” (Kulberg, Roberts) 4:34
- “Despair Tire” (Greene, Kulberg, Roberts) 5:29
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