The Flock: Truth - The Columbia Recordings 1969 - 1970

Forming in late-'60s Chicago, the Flock forever languished in the shadow of the Chicago Transit

Authority (later famous as just plain Chicago), whose peculiar approach to art rock, incorporating horns and other unorthodox instrumentation into rock and jazz forms, they also pursued. But though they clearly lacked Chicago's smash-hit-penning abilities, the Flock possessed a secret weapon in masterful violinist Jerry Goodman, and their genre-smashing compositions were often even more extreme, if not exactly Top 40 material.
                                                          

Rick Canoff (vocals, saxophone) and Fred Glickstein (vocals, guitar, organ) were already performing in

a garage band called the Exclusives in 1965 when they decided to rename themselves the Flock. The duo recorded a number of independent singles with various backing musicians over the next few years, but it wasn't until they discovered that their guitar tech, one Jerry Goodman, also happened to be a virtuoso violinist and invited him into the fold that the Flock's sound truly began to take shape.
                                                  

By 1969, the septet was completed by Jerry Smith (bass), Ron Karpman (drums), John Gerber (sax, flute, banjo), and Tom Webb (sax, flute), and had scored a deal with Columbia Records, for whom they

recorded their groundbreaking eponymous debut that same year. But, not even enthusiastic endorsements from some of the era's most respected musicians (including English blues legend John Mayall, who famously dubbed them the "best American band" he'd heard and wrote the album's liner notes) could help sell the Flock's complicated music, which simply proved too unusual and inaccessible for most consumers.
                                                          

The band continued to plug along on the live circuit, including a stint at the prestigious 1970 Bath

Festival (where they performed before a then-skyrocketing Led Zeppelin), but their label, Columbia, was already beginning to lose faith. Complicating matters further, 1971's Dinosaur Swamps proved a disappointing second effort, falling well short of its predecessor's inspirational flights; it is perhaps best-remembered for its beautiful cover artwork, rather than the songs contained within.
                                                          

A third LP, reportedly to be called "Flock Rock," was summarily shelved uncompleted, and the Flock

had fallen apart by 1972. Violinist Goodman later worked with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Dixie Dregs, among others, but except for a brief, disastrous reunion which yielded 1975's ill-received Inside Out album, the remaining members of the Flock soon faded into rock & roll obscurity.
Artist Biography by Eduardo Rivadavia

THE FLOCK - THE FLOCK  1969

                                                                                 

The first thing you hear is an electric guitar, but listeners are quickly exposed to the band's secret weapon, the violin of Jerry Goodman. The instrumental opening track lays out the group's bold fusion

of classical and rock. Subsequent tracks, including the Ray Davies chestnut "Tired of Waiting," add jazz to the mix with an unconventional horn section of two tenor saxes and a trumpet. Veteran English bluesman John Mayall raves about the Chicago septet in the liner notes. Like the Blind Faith album, this powerful debut is undercut by a too-long jam at the end.
By Mark Allan

TRACKS

01. Introduction    04:53.
02. Clown   07:45
03. I Am the Tall Tree    05:34
04. Tired of Waiting    04:39
05. Store Bought - Store Thought    07:00
06. Truth    15:24
07. What Would You Do If the Sun Died?    02:48
08. Lollipops And Rainbows    04:05
09. Tired of Waiting (Single Version)    02:42]
10. Store Bought - Store Thought (Single Version)    02:44
11. Clown (Part One)    03:12
12. Clown (Part Two)    04:38

MP3 @ 320 Size: 153 MB
Flac  Size: 392 MB

THE FLOCK - DINOSAUR SWAMPS  1970

                                                                                        

This album is a fine follow-up to their first. If you want to feel what and where music was for many in 1970, give this album a listen. Pretty good. Pretty pretty good.

TRACKS

 

01. Green Slice    02:03
02. Big Bird    05:50
03. Hornschmeyer's Island    07:25
04. Lighthouse    05:18
05. Crabfoot    08:14
06. Mermaid    04:53
07. Uranian Sircus    07:13
08. Chanja    02:38
09. Atlantians Truckin’ Home    04:50
10. Afrika    04:34
11. Just Do It    06:35
12. Mermaid (Single Version)    02:49
13. Crabfoot (Single Version)    02:49

MP3 @ 320 Size: 153 MB
Flac  Size: 417 MB