Felt: Felt 1971 (Remaster 2010)

 

Not much is known about this mysterious Prog-hard rock/psych group. Felt hailed from Alabama and released their only album on the Nasco label in 1971.  Formed in the late 60s, Felt’s lineup featured two solid guitarists in Myke Jackson and Stan Lee. The latter would eventually play guitar for the legendary (and great) late 70s/early 80s punk band, the Dickies. Other group members were bassist Tommy Gilstrap and drummer Mike Neel.

A very little information is available about this obscure US group. Felt came from Alabama. Their self  titled album was recorded for Nasco in 1971. The bands leader, Myke Jackson also made a solo album. Tommy Gilstrap can also be found on recordings by Mychael (LP "Neon Dreams" 1978,  Free Flight No. 3400). LP "Felt" is a very interesting and unique album. The opening cut, "Look at the sun" is a very melodic and a bit like Lennon - McCartney compositions. Instrumentally their sound was dominated by organ and
guitar. The band played an imaginative amalgam of psychodelia and progressivism. They managed to make a great album with complex
arrangements,  rich instrumental textures and soulful vocals. Great songs are here, like "The Change" and "Destination"a real fusion of main jazz, rock and blues.
                                                                

This record is Genuine Treasure! 

Their album is a sterling example of late 60s/early 70s American underground rock n roll – a very strong disc. Felt alternates between crunchy blues based rock (with biting teenage vocals) and Beatlesque psych.  Their ten minute epic, “The Change,” is two or three songs wrapped into one. Most bands would never be able to pull a trick like this off but Felt gets by on great musicianship and interesting arrangements: plenty of potent guitar solos, fresh organ interplay, blistering drums and brooding hard rock vocals.
                                                                                                   

“Weepin Mama Blues” and “World” are similar cuts with more of a blues influence – solid early 70s hardrock with none of the histrionic wailing or 10 minute guitar solos that plagued so many LPs of the era. The remaining half of this disc sports more of a psych feel. “Look At The Sun” is a downbeat popsike gem while “Now She’s Gone” and “Destination” are great tracks that feature jazzy time signatures and good psychedelic guitar work.  Felt is definitely a keeper without any real weaknesses – a solid 4 star album.

The mostly blues-styled songs on this album are full of great guitar work and contain fine Beatles-esque harmony vocals. While most of this album has a blues feeling to it, some of the songs hint of progressive rock with swirling keyboards, intense drumming, and blistering guitar solos. The album has recently been discovered for its musical excellence and has become a very rare collectors' item.
Guitarist Lee would later go on to become a member of punk band the Dickies in the late '70s. This welcome re-release by Akarma Records features a reproduction of the original foldout album graphics in the mini-LP-styled Akarmapack.

Akarma reissued this lost gem several years ago. Flawed Gems followed Akarma in 2010. In spring of 2012 they completed their second album after forty one years!
                                                                    

[Myke Jackson and Mike Neel were high school buddies in Arab, Alabama, a small town of about 5,000 people 20 miles south of Huntsville,  my home town. We met at a music festival at an ampitheater atop Monte Sano in  Huntsville summer of 1969.
Myke's dad was a fiddle (violin) player for a lot of  top Nashville country music artists in the 50's and 60's and was a regular on  the Grand Old Opry so Myke was immersed in the music business from an early age. Myke was blessed with not only extraordinary talent for guitar playing and singing but is also a very prolific songwriter, having written literally hundreds. He was looking for some musicians to bring his creations to life and our paths crossed. We sat down at a picnic table and he played me a couple of  his tunes and I was blown away. Some friends of mine were playing at the  festival so I talked them into loaning us some equipment and we actually played  our first show ("World" and "Weepin' MamaBlues") for about 1,000
cheering fans after knowing each other less than an hour! We needed a fuller sound so I  recruited Stan, a high school friend of mine , to play rhythm guitar a few weeks later.
                                                                                    

Myke Jackson

This quartet rehearsed intensly, and within a couple of months had a  repertior of 25-30 of Myke's original tunes, with the band mates contributing to the arrangements. We were rehearsing one night when a local radio disc jockey  happened to hear us as he was driving by. He knew a man in Birmingham, Alabama (about 100 miles south of Huntsville) that owned a small recording studio and  took us there to record a demo. The studio
engineer liked our stuff so much that  the scheduled 3 hour session turned into an all night affair that yielded 5 pretty good songs complete with triple tracked harmony vocals. Not long after  the demo session we met Alan, a couple years older than the rest of us. He asked to jam with us and his Hammond B-3 organ really completed the sound that we all  had in our heads.
We gave the demo tape to Myke's dad and he shopped it around  to some labels in Nashville but at that time, Nashville was strictly country  music.
                                                                       

A small company called Nashboro/Nasco, which at the time was primarily bluegrass, gospel and country, decide to give rock music a try. We recorded the album in 2 days at Woodland Sound Studios on Nashville's east side.
Our producer, Bob Tubert, gave us an incredible amount of freedom in the studio considering our young age and relative lack of knowledge concerning the  differences between playing live and recording. A couple months after completing  the album, Myke was busted with an ounce of pot in his pocket. Being 17 years old in the state of Alabama in 1970 that got him 6 months
in state reform school  and effectively spelled the end of Felt as a band. I must sign off for now, some band stories at a later date.
  Tommy Gilstrap, Orange Park,
June, 2007]

Finally, in April, 2010, Sweden company called Flawed Gems issued another compact disc.

Mike Neel - in 70s, he played with Myron and the VanDells
Alan Darlymple - he died in a car accident in the mid 70's
Stan Lee - he plays jazz and classical guitar in Huntsville. He is coowner Redstone Audio. T.Gilstrap said:"I'm pretty sure that Stan was not a part of The Dickies"
Myke Jackson - He continued his musical career.

MEMBERS

Myke Jackson - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Mike Neel - Drums  
Tommy Gilstrap - Electric Bass  
Stan Lee - Electric Guitar   
Allan Dalrymple - Keyboards
Rex Collier - Engineer   
Jimmy Moore - Photography   
Bob Tubert - Producer  

Label: Flawed Gems Records GEM 11
Country: Sweden
Released: 1971
Format: CD Remastered 2010
Genere: Rock
Style; Psych - Hard Prog - Blues, Jazz Rock

TRAXS

 

01. Look At The Sun     3:18
02. Now She's Gone     5:29
03.Weepin' Mama Blues     4:40
04. World     5:36
05. The Change       10:00
06. Destination     6:43

MP3 @ 320 Size: 84  MB
Flac  Size: 240 MB