 genre: psych
country: us
quality: lossless (flac, cue, log, covers)
time: 39'28" size: 234 mb
Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
From San Francisco, Lamb was primarily a hippy duo formed by Barbara Mauritz and Bob Swanson. Appearing at several concerts in the Bay Area, by the time of their third album, they were a quintet with a strong rhythm section, backing Barbara Mauritz' powerful voice. Their music is a mix of west coast and soul with some oriental and jazzy influences.
From Beaumont, Texas originally, Barbara Mauritz was born into a very musical family that claims Gypsy blood. At the age of four she began playing piano and at fifteen started playing in the local clubs. There she met artists like Edgar and Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin, the latter being a close friend of Barbara's sister.
A year later, Barbara moved first to Houston, where she opened for Lightning Hopkins and The American Blues, and then New Orleans. Around this time she started playing guitar and composing songs, but it wasn't long before the attractive "new sounds" coming out from California led her to settle in San Francisco.
There she formed Lamb with Bob Swanson and after being spotted by producer David Rubinson, got to open for CSN & Y at the Winterland for four nights. Suitably impressed, Bill Graham took Lamb under his wing. In 1969 their first album for the Fillmore label, A Sign Of Change was released. Still today it has a unique and very distinctive sound, enhanced by the unusual instrumentation: classical guitars, upright bass, cello, flute, oboe and Barbara's beautiful voice. Traveler's Observation, In My Dreams and The Odyssey of Ehram Spickor are real gems of acoustic psych-rock.
After recording Hello Friends for the famous Last Days Of The Fillmore set, Lamb switched to Warner Bros., and produced two further albums. Both A Cross Between and Bring Out The Sun offered more haunting songs composed by both Barbara and Swanson, but with a fuller and sometimes elaborated sound due to the participation of many more talented musicians. These included Jerry Garcia, Ed Bogas, Bill Attwood, Mark Springer, John McFee and Tom Salisbury, to name a few. The best tracks probably remain the more acoustic numbers like Sleepwalkers, While Waiting, The Vine; or the lively Ku, Milo And The Travelers and Live To Your Heart.
In 1973 Barbara Mauritz became a solo artist and completed Music Box, a good - even if a little more mainstream - offering. Particularly noteworthy are two beautiful ballads, Winter In The Valley and the title track. The same year The Pointer Sisters went platinum with a cover of Barbara's River Boulevard (originally on Bring Out The Sun). In 1974 she wrote a music score for "Where The Lilies Bloom" movie, sharing the musical space with Earl Scruggs.
In 1976 a bad road accident interrupted her live performances, major label recording deals and an eight year management contract with Bill Graham's Fillmore Management. Still in 1977 and '78 Barbara collaborated with artists like Tom Salisbury and Chris Michie, but only in 1983 resumed writing again. More recently she has composed more than 150 commercials, including a Levi-Strauss one and you can hear her sing on albums by Link Wray (1973), Steve Douglas (1983) and Vince Wellnick (1998). Today she has plenty of new songs, runs an independent label called Citylife Records and publishing company.
David Hayes went on to work with Jesse Colin Young and Terry and The Pirates.~ (Stephane Rebeschini / Gianpaolo Banelli)
01. Flying 2:36
02. Now's Not the Time 3:37
03. Cross Between 3:46
04. Sleepwalkers 5:44
05. Reach High 4:06
06. Ku 5:01
07. While Waiting 3:55
08. Flotation 4:31
09. Milo and the Travelers 6:13
BARBARA MAURITZ vcls
BOB SWANSON gtr
DAVID HAYES bs
ED BOGAS violin
BILL DOUGLAS bs
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