Customer Reviews

Colonized! Best of The New Colony Six

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

was just reading the reviews of this cd and it made me feel so nostalgic that i have to add my own to the list.

i never cease to be surprised how many other people throughout the country waited for the sun to go down and WLS to come on at '89. it was like a miracle--one minute there was nothing but static and noise--and the next there was the greatest radio ever. i started with ron riley and art roberts and was still hanging around at the end of 1989 with john landecker.

those were the days of real radio--not programming companies in seattle that make every station play the same playlist and not dj's who get to read a liner and then aren't allowed to talk.

radio stations had their own personality and their own playlists and broke their own records in their market.

which leads to this wonderful cd and the joy of hearing all the new colony six records on WLS.

growing up in rural western kentucky we knew the chicago bands as well as anyone in chicagoland. american breed--buckinghams--shadows of knight--cryan shames and of course new colony 6. i remember the early stuff--"I confess"--"let me love you" and it was fine. but the ballads--oh my! they were simple and yet beautiful. delicious tennage angst! in a parked car under the stars these songs were the soundtrack of many a french kiss and decent grope. on the dance floor if you had pitch you could softly sing along to "i will always think about you" close to your date's ear and become a romantic.

in 1968--age 16--i was hired as a dj at a local radio station that played top 40--and they let me pick my music--heaven on earth. amazingly our playlist included all the chicago bands that we heard after dark on WLS. we didn't care what billboard magazine said was no. 1.

my greatest dream at that time was to live in chicago--visit WLS and go to all these great "battle of the band" shows. this cd takes me back to that time and reading these other reviews lets me know that there were a lot of us that knew we were living in a special time. no--you can't go back there--but you can turn the lights down and turn up the stereo with this cd on--and for a few minutes smell "heaven scent" perfume and think about getting your tux at "carole's red hanger shoppes" and your new stereo at "playback--the electronic playground".

I was looking for a song by a Chicago group called "I Love You So Much". What a surprise to find my way to Amazon.com and not only find this song but 3 New Colony Six CD's. I am 52 years old and a native of the South Side of Chicago. I am not sure these days what was fact or fiction about growing up on the southside of Chicago. I seem to recall seeing groups like The Cyran Shames,Buckinghams and The New Colony Six in Battle Of The Bands at Brother Rice Hight School. I can't recall who won the contest but I do recall how much I liked the music. WLS in Chicago played this Chicago Garage Band music all the time but having grown up and entering the Army I lost track of most of these bands. The Buckinghams and Cyran Shames signed with good record labels but the best band,for my money,The New Colony Six, ever really got off the ground. I can recall picking up WLS in Ft Polk LA at about 2 in the morning and hearing "I Love You So Much",it was such a relief to be able to escape these turbulent times. I was on my way to Viet Nam and both Bobby and Martin Luthur King had just been killed. Yhank you Amazon.com for bringing these songs back to life. I highly recommend these CD to all midwest 60's music lovers. Playing this CD will remind you of all the songs you have forgotten even existed. These are some of the best examples of Chicago based Garage based music. I dont know who was responsible for this group never reaching their public but thank you Amazon.com for giving them one more chance to reach their music lovers. The ballads in this collection are some of the best arranged and performed songs you will ever hear. The New Colony Six were caught in the British invasion and besides poor management got over looked like many other American bands during this time. "I Will Always Think About You","Things I'd Like To Say","I Want You To Know",I Could Never Lie To You". All These songs sound great. I can still recall the poor quality of the old 45's and LP's,what a great sound to be recaptured on this great CD.

The New Colony Six were never big hitmakers (out of 10 charted pop hits, only two made the Top Forty), and many music fans born after the early 60s may never have heard of them, but they are perhaps the most underappreciated American pop group of the late 1960s. One listen to the touching ballad "I Will Always Think About You," or its companion piece, the beautiful "Things I'd Like to Say," should put a lump in anyone's throat. Other tracks run the gamut from garage rock ("I Confess," their first charting) to Brit-pop (the Holliesish "Can't You See Me Cry") to late 60s vocal pop-rock (the Turtleseque "I Could Never Lie to You"). With excellent liner notes, this CD is the best possible introduction to a band that should be remembered as one of the era's best.

All that I can say is that I'm really glad that this medium doesn't wear out. I'd forgotten about all of the songs except my favorite "Things I'd Like To Say". Rhino has done a great job of bringing back the classic 60's music. The production is great. The mostly original music is right up there with the best. I'm a big fan of ballads, and the New Colony Six excelled at them. I remember listening to them on WLS-Chicago on my transistor radio which I could pick up easily AFTER SUNDOWN from near Cleveland where I grew up. An excellent choice for real 60's music lovers.

Once the sun set on Little Rock back in the day, the radio came alive with stations outside of our normal listening area. The king of them all was WLS in Chicago. It was "89" that played quality music from dusk till dawn. I often fell asleep at night with Art Roberts spinning the hits through my transistor radio. One of the great things about WLS was the exposure to regional Chicago bands. My favorite was the New Colony Six. It amazes me they never cracked the Billboard Top Forty. This collection by Rhino covers their years as a garage band (At The River's Edge)through their development as pop balladeers (I Will ALways Think About You). I knew most of the songs on this set. The unknown songs were a pleasant surprise and did nothing to change my opinion of the band. I recommend this as a superb collection from one of the good bands who never seemed to get the recognition they deserved.

Living in northern Wisconsin in the 60's was as good as a desert isle..but thanks to Larry Loujack, John Landecker, et al of Chicago's famed am rocker WLS, we kept up with the current sound. It was a tossup between The New Colony Six and The Buckinghams as to who was my favorite group at the time (and still so). But the NC6 was my favorite "back seat" group..many hours parked with that special someone, waiting for one of their songs to come on. It was guaranteed kissing practice. It was always hard to understand as to why the NC6 got just modest national recognition..listen to these songs, and you will wonder also. "Things I'd Like To Say" sums up every man's thought about the latest breakup..and still brings back floods of memories. A masterpiece of lyric and music. Lead singer Ray Graffia hangs out all the feelings in this and all the songs, and you will not find better harmonizing in any other group. "I Will Always Think About You" put them on the Billboard map to stay, and is another song about adolescent fretting.

As a member of the forgotten group that opened for the NC6 during the summer of 1967, I was so pleased to see that Rhino has done a mostly outstanding job of capturing their magic.

If you like their recordings, you would have been completely blown away by their live performances. Truly superb showmanship and amazing to watch! Too bad nobody was recording their stage magic.

No doubt if your into the underground of 60's garage bands, The New Colony Six is a definite must have. 20 tracks folks. What I like about this group is the experimentation of sounds. Lesliefied guitar and that Farfisa Compact Combo! Granted you only get two legitimate hits, but you'll find yourself listening to the more obscure tunes even more. A good variety of NC6 throughout their career. Rhino does a great job, and the liner notes are very interesting. My only complaint is very minor. Track 18 was obviously transfered from vinyl. The song "roll on", though barely noticeable there are a few embedded ticks. I would have liked for them to have used another tune if just to keep in the quality of the rest of the album.

One of the many Chicago "garage" bands of the 1960's, the New Colony Six spread their brand of blue-eyed soul throughout the Midwest. Though probably not as well known as their fellow Chicagoans "The Buckinghams", or "The Cryan Shames", the New Colony Six ventured into the pop-rock venue with sometimes lush love ballads, complete with strings and violins and multi-part harmonies. This album is the definitive collection of their hits. Take a trip back through lover's lane with "Can't You See Me Cry" and "Things I'd Like To Say"... and the many more gems on this CD!!!

Thank you, WLS! Hearing "Love You So Much" for the first time in '67 was simply awesome. It also made me very suspicious of my hometown stations when they ignored this great NC6 song. And I STILL can't get enough of it!

The only disappointment was that some of the Sunlight 45s - the last 3 tracks on the CD - were mastered from vinyl. As Sunlight had pressed those records on a very substandard grade of vinyl, I was really looking forward to no pops. No luck. "Roll On" is the worst-sounding of the three, but the cleanup done on this track at least sounds better than a mint 45 ever did. One only hopes that the master tapes will surface someday.

I could play "Long Time To Be Alone" forever and never tire of it. Sounds good, too - I suspect that this was dubbed from the 1974 reissue on an MCA 45. I do wish that "Long Time"'s flip side, "Never Be Lonely" (another great ballad) had also been included.

The mid '60s was such an exciting time for musical experimentation. The whole Beatles/Beach Boys competition spurred every group on to try something different. "I Confess" is a great example of this, with an eeriness that still manages to stay true to its power pop feel. If the cultists ever tire of Big Star, just wave the NC6 under their noses.

The most fun part of this whole collection is when you discover through the liner notes that the calliope that you thought you heard in "You're Gonna Be Mine" is really Ronnie Rice playing the PART of a calliope! Holy Inventiveness, Batman!!