Oldish Psych and Prog

Their two albums of acid psychedelia are highly rated by some. Their first album is consistently good throughout and is certainly recommended. A wide range of material is held together by tight playing and some fine guitar/organ interplay. Unfortunately, the second album pales by comparison and is largely uninspired with no real highlights.

The band came from Chicago and during the mid sixties were a popular Top 40's lounge group, going by the name of The Exceptions. After a couple of years of regurgitating the latest hits, they were getting bored and were looking for room to explore their musical talents, when producer Bill Traut (of Dunwich Records) approached them with an offer to record an album of original material. All of the group with the exception of Pete Cetera lept at the chance, and with the bass slot now filled by Bobby Jones, they renamed themselves as Aorta.

Curiously their first album was released the same month as three other Chicago acts signed to Columbia Illinois Speed Press, The Flock, and Chicago (who incidentally included Pete Cetera). This was a marketing ploy to push a "Chicago" scene and all four albums entered the Billboard Top 200, with Aorta's peaking at around 168 and remaining in the chart for a respectable six weeks. Incidentally, the basic tracks and vocal tracks for the first album were recorded at Great Lakes Recording studio in Sparta, Michigan, with one track Sprinkle Road To Cork Street referring to two roads in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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Steve Detray, a student at Oberlin College in Ohio, took a break in 1966 and early 1967 to spend time in Logan, Utah with his brother. While out there, he formed a band which he named Ant Trip Ceremony after a suggestion from a local English professor who had seen the term in a novel. The phrase was a description of modern human society and Detray thought it an appropriate name for his band. Before he returned to Oberlin for the 1967/8 academic year, Steve disbanded the band but retained the name when he formed a new electric rock band at Oberlin. Gary Rosen, George Galt, and Mark Stein had been playing together in a blues band. Stein was a flute major at Oberlin, Roger Goodman was also a student, and the only non-college member was the drummer, Steve Williams, a 16-year-old local kid who had some jazz-drumming experience.

The band mainly played gigs at Oberlin and were noted for long improvisatory jams. Their album was recorded in two sessions, the first in February 1968 and the second some months later. Steve Detray was only present for the first session as he left the College in the spring of 1968. Technical faults affected the recording: the KLH deck used for playback had a faulty right speaker and the mixdown was affected as a result with vocals sounding further back in the mix than originally intended. The producer, David Crosby, was a fellow-student at Oberlin and contrary to legend is not the David Crosby of The Byrds/CSN&Y fame. Only 300 copies of the album were pressed and sold around campus.

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A heavy guitar/organ band from Galt, Ontario. The album has lots of fuzzy distorted guitar work and includes a cover of Traffic's Mr. Fantasy.

(Vernon Joynson/Chris Gerbig/Clark Faville)