Customer Reviews

Avenue Road

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally we have a CD release of this fantastic 60s Toronto band. This was their first release of two albums. The sound is typical of the Toronto Queen Street West scene of the 60s - a little of the soft sound of the British invasion and little edge of American rock as with the a similar sounding group - the Paupers.

Kensington Market came out with 2 albums in the late 60's. Don't know too much about styles, or "what type of music" this is. The first album contains some haunting songs that defy decription. The second one, Aardvark, is a gem. Both these albums need to be listened to a few times before you "get it", and the music will stay with you. Kind of strange in a subtle way. Can't explain it in words. I bought Aardvark around 1970, converted it to CD, and still listening.

Okay, I reviewed Kensington Road's two albums in reverse order. For good reason. All references I used in deciding to purchase these cds led me to believe that "Aardvark" was far superior to the bands debut release. After several listens, I would have to say that I disagree. Both albums seem so pedestrian and full of pop fluff that its difficult to find redeeming value in either. I purchased the cds based on the Amazon reviews, the fact that Felix Pappalardi produced the lps, and the somewhat optimistic review of the albums in Vernon Joynson's wonderful reference work "Dreams, Fantasies, and Nightmares." I'm confused as to how Kensington Market's albums even made it into Joynson's books. And if anyone has good things to say about these two albumss I wonder if they have really given either a listen in the 40 years since their original release. The shortcomings of "Avenue Road" are much the same as "Aardvark." A horribly short run time of 29 minutes, pop pablum performed in pedestrian fashion by a band obviously not the most talented in Canada. After listening to many very interesting, contemporary Canadian releases I was extremely letdown by both albums. I can't honestly say which I prefer. My initial response is to say neither. I'm amazed that Pappalardi, the talented producer that he was, wasted his time on Kensington Market. And I'm equally amazed that a major label, Warner Bros. would sign the quintet. Perhaps if the lps had been released on a 2 on 1 it wouldn't hurt so bad. No, that wouldn't help. Bad music is bad music. Perhaps if non-lp single sides had been added I would have some hint as to why these albums were released in 1968 and 1969 respectively, and why Wounded Bird took the time and effort to reissue them in 2008. The entry in the Joynson tome was not exactly upbeat, but even its mildly optimistic review is in my mind overstated. Avoid the Kensington Market cds. There is way too much good Canadian music of the day available to waste your time and hard earned money on these throw away lps. No wonder they hit the cut out bins shortly after release. Pick up Plastic Cloud, the 49th Parallel, and any number of Canadian lps of the same time frame. They are full of wonderful tunes from north of the border. Don't make the mistake I did of spending $6 on each of the Kensington Market cds. They may have been cheap, but I still feel slighted. I have no idea why I gave the cds 2 stars. That is far too generous. A more honest review would be 1 star, or if possible, 0. Yes, these lps are actually that bad. Don't make the mistake I did. Take my advice and save your money and your ears. These are by far the most cruel reviews I've ever written, but I'm just being honest. And that's what reviews are all about, isn't it?

Wow, it amazes me that anyone could dislike these two albums. But it shouldn't---is there anything in this world that is universally popular? No, not even water, trees, the air we breathe, apparently... And let's not even include supreme deities (oops!). As for me, I would definitely include A & AR on any desert island (or Mars/Lunar outpost) list. But that is merely the opinion of one who was profoundly touched by these offerings, admittedly. They were a special find in the record cut-out bin for me when I was young, and I grew up with them.

I am glad that they are finally available, after many long years, on compact disc. Too bad they weren't both included on a single twofer CD since, as has been pointed out, they would have both fit on one 80 min disc with room to spare for those lost singles and maybe some unreleased tracks, alternate versions, and whatnot. Or, since they were released on separate discs, even more tracks could have been added---perhaps even interviews. As it is, I already have both albums on vinyl.

Being's there wasn't a lot of data about this fantastic group on the album covers, I hadn't been able to find out much about them until relatively recently. Given was that they were produced by Felix Pappalardi of Mountain (check out Nantucket Sleighride, and others) fame, who also produced Cream (good example: Wheels of Fire). On Aardvark, he is credited with "Musical Direction" as well as production, and it shows in the heaviness, and the wistful, surreal weirdness of most of the tracks (similar in atmosphere to Cream's Wheels Of Fire and the Mountain albums), even contributing a short interval piano piece called "Ciao".

Kensington Market were: Gene Martynec (keyboard, guitar, vocals), Keith McKie (rhythm guitar, vocals), Luke Gibson (guitar, vocals), Alex Darou (bass), and Jimmy Watson (drums & percussion). Same personnel both albums. Gene Martynec later showed up as an arranger on Lou Reed's Berlin album. These guys were all standout musicians and played well together. Ponderous of sound, rhythmically oriented, delicate and ethereal. It's sad that they haven't gotten more recognition, hard to figure.

Let me peer into the crystal a little... Sometime back, I remember reading something about the group that doesn't appear on either album cover, though for the life of me I can't recall the source. I think that they were based in Canada (the fact is well established now), but the members were possibly multinational (well, Martynec, at least---I do remember reading that he was from Germany). That's about it, that's all I see. Not much...

The Avenue Road vinyl was designated WS 1754. Aardvark was WS 1780. Both on the Warner Bros. Seven Arts label. All in all, I enjoy these two albums immensely and would love to hear a faithfully done remaster of them (without compression---please!). As I haven't sprung for the 2 CDs, I can't critique their audio fidelity, and leave that for someone else who has. It is stated that they were digitally remastered; that sounds promising.

Two standout tracks from Avenue Road: "Aunt Violet's Knee", a lovely, haunting piece in the return-to-childhood mold ("...Early as evening the east winds have come, Warm to the west they bring wet and they're done..."), and "Looking Glass", about a different time, a different war ("...Cooking a ration card meal for herself, and her cat, Now she is dusting the chair where her boy once sat, After all it's war..."). This album tinkles like windchimes, refracts light like a suncatcher in the window, has the charm of a luminous crescent moon candle, glow-in-the dark stars on the bedroom ceiling. They seemed to be casting about a bit on this LP, not sure whether they wanted to present themselves as pop or psych. One or two of the girl paeans struck me as a little banal, but as they are beautifully arranged (in keeping with the rest of the tracks), listenable.

A very different record indeed is Aardvark, the more mature album of the two, and I have to wonder where they could have gone from there. I would call it a masterpiece, though I must say in its defense, that I didn't warm up to it right away (nor, most likely, to Avenue Road). But, for some reason, I did keep listening. Sometimes when you're straining too hard to "find" something, it's just not there, and your preconceptions blind you to those intangible qualities that are. If you're looking for a Clapton, best listen to Cream. He was great there, but his frenzied licks would have been out of place here. There's no need for me to do a track by track analysis, because I love them all. Each is a thing of beauty to me; the melodies are strange, otherworldly, the bass lines powerful and seismic. I will say that one of my early favorites, the one that probably got me hooked into the album, was "Half Closed Eyes", a tender, ecstatic, psychedelic country ballad penned by McKie and given an out of this world treatment on organ and Moog that reminded me, in some ways, of snowflakes falling. And it was, simply...out of sight... But the entire record is great, and they deserve to be counted among the many influencial groups of the 60s.

Kensington Market suffered the fate of most bands and disintegrated. They made their statement, and departed. Most of us didn't even manage that.

© 2010 RAPWreckerds

This late 1960s Canadian group rides the line between straight forward and barouqe pop.

And either way, it works. This was produced by Felix Pappalardi, who produced Creams albums and founded Montian. The singer actually has a blue eye soul voice, but there is little of that here.


But there is some beautiful work, some of which reminds me of Love's Forever Changes.

These guys should have been much bigger.