Boston's Brother Fox and the Tar Baby featured the talents of former Profits and The Front Page Review guitarist Richie Bartlett, Pugsley Munion bassist Tom Belliveau, guitarist Dave Christiansen, drummer Bill Garr, singer Steve High. and keyboardist Joe Santangelo. One of the era's isolated multi-racial bands, the group were signed by the small Oracle label, which released 1969's Bruce Patch produced "Brother Fox and the Tar Baby". Christiansen was credited with penning all eleven tracks, the result being an odd hodge-podge of musical styles.
Quite diverse, the set included stabs at conventional hard rock ('We All Love Him'), ballads ('I Start To Cry') and the plain bizarre ('Maxie the Meanie'). The first couple of times I listened to the album I'll readily admit to being a little under whelmed, but repeated spins saw me start to warm up to the collection. To my ears the highlights included 'Metal Soldier', 'Three Tots and a Man and their most psych-oriented track 'Mr. Sleepy'. (The album was original released in a gatefold sleeve.)
Tracks
1. Electric Chair - 4:19
2. Old Ladies - 2:56
3. Steel Dog Man - 3:47
4. Maxie The Meanie - 3:03
5. We All Love Him - 2:30
6. To Your Dreams - 3:34
7. Three Tots And A Man - 4:03
8. I Start To Cry - 3:12
9. Metal Soldiers - 4:42
10.Mr. Sleepy - 4:48
11.Crazy John - 3:54
All songs by Dave Christiansen
Brother Fox And The Tar Baby
*Richie Bartlett - Guitar
*Tom Belliveau - Bass
*Dave Christiansen - Guitar
*Bill Garr - Drums, Percussion
*Steve High - Vocals, Percussion
*Joe Santangelo - Keyboards
Related Acts
1968 Front Page Review - Mystic Soldiers
1970 Pugsley Munion - Just Like You
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