Customer Reviews

Elephant's Memory

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

 

 

This album is stange in a way. Its very well made. Nice harmonies on the vocals. All the instruments sound great together. The saxophone also fits well within the tracks. I also have there 2nd album "Elephants Memory" on Apple Records produced by John Lennon & Yoko Ono. Sadly that one is not avalible on CD yet. Hopefully soon enought. If You Like Beatles Related Stuff I strongly recommend this album. Great Addition to any collection.

That score, along with John Barry's original themes and Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'", includes the BEST tunes on this early Elephants Memory Buddah record, "Old Man Willow" and "Jungle Gym at the Zoo."

The rest is uneventful. Not bad, just a producer in search of a band's sound.

Elephant's Memory is a difficult group to pin down. With shifting lineups (Carly Simon actually once sang for them!) and a constantly evolving sound, even the guy who wrote the liner notes for this CD can't quite seem to keep it all straight. (Ask yourself who the lead female voice is on this album. Though nothing on this CD actually indicates it, the singer must be Martha Velez.)

One is tempted to say that Elephant's Memory was a product of the 60s and leave it at that. A combination of acid rock and jazz, this 1969 first album from the group might remind you a bit of Jefferson Airplane with a Big Band/Jazz twist.

The album is a little too inconsistent to be called a classic, but it has enough good tracks and showed enough promise to warrant the 4 stars I give it. "Band of Love" is probably the best of the bunch here, with a feel good chorus where it sounds like the entire band joins in to sing along. "Yogurt Song" and "Hot Dog Man" show the group was not above having a little fun, while "Don't Put Me on Trial No More" and "Takin' a Walk" show signs of the harder direction the group would soon take.

Elephant's Memory grabbed their 15 minutes of fame in 1972 when John Lennon discovered the group and used them as the backing band for his album "Sometime in New York City." What could have been a star turning break for the group ended in disappointment as the album became Lennon's biggest mistake. Bad reviews and bad sales made Lennon quickly forget about Elephant's Memory.

Still, the Lennon period lead to a few other notable releases. They backed Yoko on one of her solo albums, backed John and Yoko during a few concerts (one of which was recorded and would become the posthumous Lennon release "Live in New York City") and had John and Yoko produce and perform on an album for them. That album, released in 1972 and also titled only "Elephant's Memory" (What? They couldn't think of any album titles?) was group's best effort. It is strongly hoped that this album, along with the others they did along the way, will be scheduled for a CD release of it's own sometime soon.

I've read several reviews of this re-issue, and no one seems to be reading my name correctly. All you would be reviewers out there: my name is Michal, not Michael, and I was the singer with the band. Yes Carly Simon and Martha Velez did sing with the band before that, but that's me singing on the recording.

No less royality than John Lennon picked this band as his backup, and the answer why is easy. Elephant's Memory were a rockin' band with a great brass section.

But even when they rocked, like on the opening track here, they rocked well. All kinds of percussion, great singing, and playing that is both rock solid and elastic. Listen to "Jungle Gym" in the Zoo.' The beastly sexual track-- perfectly expressing how previously unspoken impulses were roaring in 1969-rocks as heavy as any non-protometel band could. But listen to how they use a tuba here, and how the orgy takes place over a rubbery blues funk. Even the opening scale is inventive.

But these guys could jazz it--no they were not Coltrane, but RIP and Old Man Willow are the kind of smokey, counter-culture jazz that you would hear in Village Coffee houses. There is a reason this music wound up in Midnight Cowboy. (And, wouldn't RIP be great for a TV Marlboro add, which you could still do in 1969.

Even fun little songs like "Yogurt" hold up because of a rock treatment, not a novalty one.

Get this.;

I HAD THIS ON 8 TRACK WHEN I WAS IN JR. HIGH IN THE EARLY 70S
THE ONLY OTHER INFO I KNEW ABOUT THEM THEN WAS THE WERE THE BACKING BAND
ON THE 1972 JOHN LENNON DOUBLE ALBUM " SOME TIME IN NEW YORK ".....WHEN I ORDERED THE NEW CD I DISCOVERED THEY HAD TWO OF THERE SONGS FEATURED IN
THE MOVIE MIDNIGHT COWBOY .......AND BRIEFLY HAD CARLEY SIMON AS A MEMBER
I HEAR SO MANY INFLUINCES IN THIS ALBUM....THE DOORS...THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE....THE VELVET UNDERGROUND...BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS....THE BEATLES SARGENT PEPPERS !....... ITS AMAZING THEY DIDNT MAKE IT BIG !

THIS ALBUM GREAT IF YOU LIKE PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC WITH A LITTLE JAZZ,BUT MOST OF THEIR SONGS ARE ABOUT FOOD.THIS ALBUM HIGHLY RECONMENED TO EVERY ONE WHO IS A MUSIC FAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elephant's Memory ROCK!!

I love the song "Mr.Hot Dog Man"

so completely ultimately funky, groovey and cool.

flashback to the 60's and well, can't believe they aren't recognized by more, as being iconic of the era