This self-titled album by The Growing Concern curiously first saw the light of day in 1969 on Bob Shad's
Mainstream label, an imprint more familiar to jazz and blues fans than
devotees of psych/pop. Shad, who had worked as an A&R man for
Mercury, Savoy and Emarcy in the '50s, working with the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Blue Mitchell and Curtis Fuller, had the fortune to sign the then-unknown Big Brother And The Holding Company, whose contract, along with that of the band's vocalist Janis Joplin,
Shad wisely sold for a not-insignificant sum to Columbia. Perhaps Shad
thought he was going to repeat his commercial triumph with The Growing
Concern. However, the band was a different proposition altogether with
its emphasis on beautiful vocal harmonies and fantastic guitar and organ
work rather than the Joplin-dominated R&B of Big Brother.
Consequently, Shad only allowed the group into the studio on a single
occasion, dropping them from the label after this, their eponymous
debut. All in all, this is a fine album.
The support of vocalists
Bonnie MacDonald and
Mary Garstki are an intrinsic part of the band's distinctive sound, and the songs contributed by organist
Dan Passaglia, bassist
John Pedley and guitarist
Ralph Toms are more than equal to the offerings from more illustrious contemporaries such as
Mike Hugg ("Mister You're A Better Man Than I") or
Stephen Stills
("Sit Down I Think I Love You"). The album, which is brilliantly
recorded, is of a consistently high musical quality and the band surely
deserved a better fate than the obscurity that Shad's indifference
consigned them to.(forcedexposure.com)
Psychedelic/Sunshine pop with some darker lyrics as usual for this kind of music.
Enjoy!
Frank Flac
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