IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
I went to a record collectors show a few weeks ago. One of the vendors had a box of records for $5 each. I ended up buying two or three simply because I had never seen them before. That’s pretty unusual for me. I come across a lot of records I don’t own, but very few I’ve never heard of or seen.
One was a double album by a band called Heads Hands & Feet. Have you ever heard of them? Well, they were pretty damn good.
I had to do a lot of digging on the web to learn about them. Here’s what I found. They were a British sextet made up mostly of professional session musicians. Chas Hodges (bass, violin, vocals) had been around the block, working with Joe Meek, Shirley Bassey and Jerry Lee Lewis. Lead guitarist Albert Lee went on to a long career in the music biz including work with Eric Clapton, Dave Edmunds and Willie Nelson. He was best known as James Burton’s replacement in Emmy Lou Harris’ Hot Band, contributing to several of her best known albums including Luxury Liner and Evangeline. His reputation rests on his ability to play very fast. Tony Colton (lead vocals) and Ray Smith (guitar) co-wrote most of the songs.
Most of the info I found on the band describes them as a country band. If you check out their YouTube videos they definitely live up to that billing. But the disc I bought (their debut) is much more expansive.
Take, for example, today’s SotW – “Look at the World It’s Changing/You Because You Know Me.”
Heads Hands & Feet – Look at the World It’s Changing/You Because You Know Me
The first song in the suite, “Look at the World…,” sounds more like early prog rock to me — a bit of Pink Floyd here, a dash of The Strawbs there. Drummer Pete Gavin’s style reminds me of ELP’s Carl Palmer. It also has a pretty nifty alto sax solo by guest Elton Dean. Dean had played with Reginald Dwight in Long John Baldry’s band. (Dwight combined their first names to come up with his famous stage name – Elton John.)
“Look at the World…” segues gently into “You Because…” which is a beautiful folk song. It has certain elements that could have been lifted out of the Paul Simon songbook.
So the record show was a success for me. I scored a good record and learned about a band I’d never heard of before. I love it!
BTW – This cut is a vinyl rip because the song isn’t available for download. Nor is it available on YouTube or Spotify. It’s just too rare.
Speaking of vinyl records… today is Record Store Day. Please try to support your favorite local record store. You can probably find a cool special edition collectible by one of your favorite artists or some unexpected gem like today’s SotW.
Enjoy… until next week.