Gravy Train: Gravy Train 1970 + (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man 1971

A band so obscure even the All-Music Guide classified them under 'Electronica', despite the fact that Gravy Train have far less to do with Electronica than Mike Oldfield has to do with cock-rock. This time, though, the obscurity is actually quite explainable: Gravy Train is a band specially designed for being 'dug up' from among a hundred 'third-rate' ambitious ensembles of the early Seventies, although, to be sure, I don't actually regret digging it up. If anything, they're an excellent example for showcasing all that was right and all that was wrong with that epoch at the same time.
                             

Stupid to say, but perhaps the most wrong thing was that there was so MUCH to do at the time many bands got their heads and minds totally whizzed up. You could go 'underground' and become an esoteric super-complex prog act, or you could appeal to the lowest denominator and go glam, or you could rally up hoardes of "rough boys" and go into hard 'n' heavy, or whatever. Many bands were able to carve out their own identity pretty soon, but obviously many more were not, and some were actually misled in
their quest. Gravy Train, so it seems to me, belong to the latter group.

Gravy Train was a progressive rock group from Lancashire, England, formed by vocalist and guitarist Norman Barratt in 1969. Also featuring J.D. Hughes (keyboards, vocals, wind), Les Williams (bass, vocals) and Barry Davenport (drums), the band would record four studio albums. The first two were released on the Vertigo label, the remainder by Dawn Records. Gravy Train was formed in St. Helens in Lancashire, England in 1969. The original line-up had a considerable pool of talent from which to draw. Liverpool-born John Hughes had been a classically trained pianist. As a teenager, he played saxophone, self-taught, with various Merseybeat groups in the 1960s. O'Regan quotes him from an e-mail interview in March 2006 as saying: "Playing with a big soul band, Spaghetti House, I met bassist Les [Williams]. We formed a progressive rock band, where I played mainly flute and recruited Norm whom Les knew."

Singer/guitarist/songwriter Norman Barratt was born in Newton-le-Willows, halfway between Manchester and Liverpool, in 1949. After leaving school, he honed his guitar skills in local bands The Hunters (with whom he sometimes later still performed) and Newton's Theory, whilst holding down a day-job as a trainee accountant. After passing his accountancy exams, he turned professional, moving to London

in the late Sixties with Newton's Theory. Les had played in a St. Helens-based band called "The Incas", J.D. Hughes had been playing in Spaghetti House, and Barry had been part of a jazz outfit called "The John Rotherham Trio". Les and Barry moved to join J.D. in Spaghetti House. Barratt commented: "A mutual friend introduced me to the others who were looking, as I was, to form an original songs band, and not the usual covers band that we had all been used to up until that time". J.D. Hughes said: "We began rehearsing at St. Helens Cricket Club in the summer, I think, of 1969. I was still living at home in Liverpool, Les Williams and drummer Barry Davenport were from St. Helens and Norm from Earlestown, Lancs."
                                                    

Their debut album mixed elements of the Canterbury school, Sabbathesque heavy metal, Pink Floydish eccentricity and Jethro Tull militant folkishness together in one really intriguing pot. On the very first try, they had a steady base going for them - yet they never fulfilled the promise. Already

the second album, (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man, while definitely not bad by itself, displayed a total lack of progression: much of the previous record's stylistic and instrumental experimentation was totally abandoned in favour of a simpler, yet far less interesting commercialized approach to prog-rock. And the last two records are essentially just generic hard rock - listenable and occasionally even memorable, but its existence is not quite understandable in the light of the gazillion heavy bands that were baking albums in the mid-Seventies. In the end, their pathetic 'undecidedness' actually backfired on the band - the interesting sound of their first album was gone, and the commercial success never really came. Nowadays, Gravy Train are but a minuscule footnote in the history of Seventies' music, and their records are really hard to find.
                                      

Already the second album, (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man, while definitely not bad by itself, displayed a total lack of progression: much of the previous record's stylistic and instrumental experimentation was totally abandoned in favour of a simpler, yet far less interesting commercialized approach to prog-rock. And the last two records are essentially just generic hard rock - listenable and occasionally even memorable, but its existence is not quite understandable in the light of the gazillion heavy bands that were baking albums in the mid-Seventies. In the end, their pathetic 'undecidedness' actually backfired on the band - the interesting sound of their first album was gone, and the commercial success never really came. Nowadays, Gravy Train are but a minuscule footnote in the history of Seventies' music, and their records are really hard to find.

That said, if you do occasionally come across these records, try to get a peek at 'em. Unrealised as their potential was, these guys had a lot of it. Instrumental-wise, they were quite the pros, particularly the band leader, Norman Barrett, with his active knack for first-rate riffs, witty guitar tones and Hendrix-inspired soloing. The vocal melodies were occasionally fascinating as well. Good thing it doesn't come across as obnoxious (see Dave Coverdale for that one). It's pretty squirmy to have rednecky guys singing about the pleasures of country life and stuff, but it's absolutely ridiculous to hear that from a bunch of refined British guys who started out as one hundred percent art-rockers.
                          

Little is known about the subsequent lives of the band members. Barratt appeared in Mandalaband for their second and final album in 1978, then went on to form the Barratt Band, which recorded two albums in the early 1980s and two solo albums Rock for all Ages (with Dave Morris, 1984) and Barratt (1988). He died in 2011 from post-surgery complications. Les Williams has been working at Ocean Entertainments, an agency for bands and acts, since the 1980s. J.D Hughes is currently the founding member of The New Soul Messengers, in which he plays keyboards, saxophone, and vocals. George Lynon died in his sleep in 2002.

Albums

1970: Gravy Train (Vertigo 6360023)
1971: (A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man (Vertigo 6360051)
1973: Second Birth (Dawn DNLS 3046/USA release BELL 1121)
1974: Staircase to the Day (Dawn DNLH 1)

GRAVY TRAIN - GRAVY TRAIN 1970

                                              

Such originalitet, groovy sounds, never heard anything like that before. And the Hipgnosis cover.Wow. one of many classic from these years, not at All inferior to King Crimson and Who's Next!
A minor classic hopelessly lost among all the innumerable "biggies" of the year 1970, it's also absolutely different from everything Gravy Train would do later, and too bad about it: no matter how much the group's limited following gushes over (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man or Staircase To The Day, I can easily see how Gravy Train couldn't make it to fame's top based on those albums. Their debut shows Gravy Train as a brave and daring underground band, heavily influenced by and derivative of other prog/hard acts of the time, yet actually trying to push the boundaries forward. So anyway, Gravy Train is, in many respects, a marvelous album, and the one not to be afraid to blow your cash on if you can trace it anywhere.

Gravy Train – Gravy Train
Label: Repertoire Records – REPUK 1067, Vertigo – none
Format:    CD, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, 2005
Country: UK
Released: 1970    
Genre: Rock
Style: Prog Rock, Hard Rock

TRACKS

                                             

01. The New One    5:15
02. Dedication To Sid    7:17
03. Coast Road    6:46
04. Enterprise    6:20
05. Think Of Life    5:10
06. Earl Of Pocket Nook    16:11

MP3 @ 320 Size: 110 MB
Flac  Size: 309 MB

GRAVY TRAIN - (A BALLAD OF) A PEACEFUL MAN 1971

                                                                   

This album is a Criminally forgotten Gem.
Part of the album's appeal lies in the then-novel concept of splitting its contents neatly in half, the hard rockers on one side, the softer material on the other. On the whole, the ballads have dated a lot better

than the monsters, particularly "Alone in Georgia," which clashes sweet soul with (of all things!) Southern rock and, for some reason, sounds a lot like the Heavy Metal Kids. But that is not to denounce the sheer power of the band in full flood. The title track postulates an unholy collision of Uriah Heep and Atomic Rooster, and shows off Norman Barrett's vocals to maximum effect, while "Won't Talk About It" is almost stubbornly likable, and that despite prophesying every yowling power ballad of the '80s and beyond. Best of all, though, is the spookily atmospheric "Home Again," all throbbing percussion, primal flute, and timeless melancholy. On an album that flirts across a variety of moods, the moodiest track of all makes for a breathtaking finale.

Gravy Train – (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man
Label: Repertoire Records – REP 5060
Format:    CD, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, 2006
Country:Germany
Released: 1971    
Genre: Rock
Style: Prog Rock, Hard Rock

TRACKS

                                                                 

01. Alone In Georgia    4:33
02. (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man    7:10
03. Jules Delight    6:58
04. Messenger    5:59
05. Can Anybody Hear Me?    3:00
06. Old Tin Box    4:47
07. Won't Talk About It    3:09
08. Home Again    3:30

Bonus Track
    
09. Alone In Georgia (Single Edit)    3:59

MP3 @ 320 Size: 288 MB
Flac  Size: 100 MB