Repost: RIFF RAFF - Original Man (1974 UK Progressive Rock Fusion)

NEW POSTING WITH ALL COVERS!!

ÓTIMA BANDA, EXCELENTE ALBUM!! OS CARAS FAZIAM UM SOM QUE MISTURAVA COM MAESTRIA O PROGRESSIVO COM PITADAS JAZZ, BLUES E HARD ROCK!! TUDO NA MEDIDA CERTA!! NESTA BANDA HÁ UMA CURIOSIDADE, POIS TEMOS UM BRASILEIRO NA PERCUSSÃO CHAMADO AUREO DE SOUZA, UM CARIOCA JÁ RODADO NA INGLATERRA E QUE JÁ GRAVOU COM OUTRAS BOAS BANDAS, COMO POR EXEMPLO, A BANDA NUCLEUS!! "TOMMY EIRE" É UM MULTI-INSTRUMENTISTA E ERA O TECLADISTA ORIGINAL DA GREASE BAND DE JOE COCKER, TAMBÉM FEZ PARTE DA AYNSLEY DUNBAR RETALIATION EM DOIS ALBUNS DA BANDA!! TOCOU AINDA NA BANDA JUICY LUCY!! EXCELENTE VENENO E ÓTIMA RARIDADE!!

Original Liner Notes:

Riff Raff brings together four men of varying musical experiences whose sound spans both rock and modern jazz but cannot be pigeonholed in either camp.

Their music is their own; they write, arrange and produce themselves, and the result is music of today that succeeds in avoiding the self-indulgence of many of their contemporaries. They named themselves Riff Raff with tongues firmly in cheek, although the name serves to emphasize the individuality of each member of the band. All four musicians have known or known of each other for a couple of years or more: that goes double for bassist Roger Sutton and keyboard man Tommy Eyre, who both ended a two-year run with the Mark-Almond band during the Summer of 1972; guitarist Pete Kirtley is a Geordie last seen as an Alan Price sideman; and percussionist Aureo de Souza hails, as all good percussionists should, from Rio de Janeiro.

Tommy Eyre plays Fender Rhodes electric piano, organ, six- and 12-string guitar, concert and bass flute. He was classically trained on the piano from the age of three (an infant prodigy as they say), and should be best known as the keyboardist in Joe Cocker's original Grease Band (indeed he played on and arranged Joe's cover of "With A Little Help From My Friends"). Later joined Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation (with Roger Sutton) with whom he made two albums. When Aynstey left to join Zappa, Tommy had a brief period with Juicy Lucy and then moved on to Mark-Almond. Roger Sutton's bass is a specially-made fretless Fender, to which he adds cello, double bass, and six- and twelve-string guitars. He has been a pro musician since he was 17, and played his first starring part as bassist for Brian Auger's Trinity in the days of Julie Driscoll: several Sutton numbers were recorded by Jools and the band. Next came Aynsley Dunbar's Blue Whale (with Tommy Eyre), Heavy Jelly, and in mid-1970 - Mark-Almond. Roger is one of Riff Raff's main sources of original material.

Pete Kirtley has played self-taught guitar professionally from the age of 16 and his first real band of note was Graham Bell's Griffin, which also included Alan White (now of Yes) and later Bud Beadle who added saxes to Riff Raff's album. Also spent some time as session man with Alan Price and met Roger Sutton during sessions in London. Now plays a Fender Telecaster for preference.

Percussionist Aureo de Souza was born in Rio de Janeiro and left Brazil in March 1971. He has played with Paul Horn and Nucleus, and when Riff Raff were looking for a drummer, they heard of him by reputation and signed him on. Altough completely at home with the conventional drum kit, and able to underpin the band with a solid beat, he has a vast knowledge of Latin American percussion techniques which gives his playing a subtlety, sensitivity, and variety not usually found in the majority of rock drummers.

Bud Beadle, formerly with Ginger Baker's Airforce, and currently with Riff Raff, plays saxes on the album. Riff Raff made a most encouraging if somewhat hasty debut at London's Conway Hall and in something like half an hour manifested a superb show amalgamating moods with exciting melodies, catchy hooks and lots of free blowing. In fact, they exuded too much music, too much energy for the human mind to comprehend - the only way to dig the music was on a visceral level like you would on a night when the Buddy Miles Band or Santana were really cooking or if Shorter, Vitous and Zawinul suddenly walked into your local jazz cellar and took over. About the same time as this concert, I was handed the first pressing of the band's album, recorded in the carefully chosen environment of the Manor Studios in Oxfordshire.

It took some considerable effort to pass onto the second track for having heard Roger singing in unison with himself on his own "Your World", the tendency was always to go back for more.

In as much as it is the only yardstick by which to judge Tommy and Roger's stylistic changes, Riff Raff highlight the inadequacies that existed within Mark-Almond. The group could never sustain itself without a lead guitar and in Riff Raff the emphasis is constantly changing between guitar, horns and keyboards. Pete Kirtley isn't the strident lead player I had expected, in fact, he is entirely cooperative in the true sense of the word.

Composers' credits are shared throughout. Two of Kirtley's songs show the different ways in which Riff Raff choose the handle composition and in each case the result is staggering: "For Every Dog" contains a fairly uniform backing illustrating a strong melodic theme written into the composition, whereas "You Must Be Joking" is total energy and improvisation, the only reconciliation point coming where the musicians join hands for the strong hook. Dig the humour in this one too - it's a wonderful piece of escapism.

It's easy to relate the Riff Raff discography to the many sources of music which Tommy and Roger site as being their sources of inspiration. And yet no album with this vitality can be taken on such a unilateral basis for in their exposition of West Coast jazz and West Coast rock. Riff Raff speak volumes of their own experiences. And if you want to see the claustrophobic climate known as the English rock scene through a musician's eyes, then cop an earful of this album. But superlatives soon become redundant - the validity of the music goes on forever.

- Tommy Eyre / keyboards, string synthesizer, vocals
- Bud Beadle / saxophones
- Steve Gregory / saxophone, flute, clarinet
- Pete Kirtley / guitars, vocals
- Roger Sutton / bass, cello, vocals
- Aureo De Souza / drums, percussion

1. Original Man (7:40)
2. Havakak (6:06)
3. Goddamm the Man (6:09)
4. In The Deep (3:59)
5. The Waster (5:09)
6. Tom's Song (4:22)
7. Speed (9:16)

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