Customer Reviews

Mothballs

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I've found so many cases where an artist's early work grabs me MORE than what they later became famous for, MOTHBALLS was right up my alley. There's something wonderfully goofy about a bunch of white ENGLISH guys singing black AMERICAN songs, and The Syndicats' cover of Chuck Berry's "Maybelline" fits that description! Call me mad, but Tom Ladd's vocals blow Berry's out of the water. Sadly (and that goes for the record label at the time) Kevin Driscoll soon replaced him as lead singer and did some positively awful wailings, which may have helped sink the group in the long run. Just before Steve Howe quit to join The In Crowd, Johnny Lamb sang lead on a cover of Sam Cooke's "On The Horizon", another real highlight here.

If there's anything about this disc that bugs me, it's that I already had the TOMORROW and BODAST discs, and the songs from those later bands here were redundant. Also, I'd have liked to have the earlier In Crowd singles before Steve joined (they can be found on the EXCERPTS FROM KEITH WEST package!).

The In Crowd, of course, "evolved" into Tomorrow, and Howe & West made a formidable team. "Why Must They Criticize" is very much in the Dylan tradition; "I Don't Mind" is at least a slightly better cover of the James Brown song than The Moody Blues had done around the same time; "Finger Poppin'" (originally unreleased) may be the catchiest "get up and dance" tune here.

Of the later material, "Revolution" appears to be the 45 version (it's not quite either version that turned up on the '99 EMI TOMORROW featuring KEITH WEST reissue). Keith West's solo "The Kid Was A Killer" is moody & fascinating, and opens with the identical chords used on a later Bodast song. It also has the distinction of turning up on 3 DIFFERENT repackages; this sort of thing leads me to wish someone had done a more "complete", organized reissue of all this wonderful material. (But, I guess that's what home CD-writers are for, EH??)

I reccomend this-- despite its flaws-- but that's just me. But absolutely ESSENTIAL are both the TOMORROW and BODAST albums in their entirety. For someone who grew up on top-40 rock & roll in the 60's & 70's, I've enjoyed those 2 albums MORE than most of the the entire output of Yes since I first heard them!

The following review refers to the original RPM release:

This album features 25 select recordings from all of the bands that Steve Howe was in prior to Yes. These bands include Syndicats, In Crowd, Tomorrow, Keith West, Canto, Bodast, and two solo efforts. Steve's early involvements with Syndicats and In Crowd, which consist of a handful of cover songs as well as original material, is nice from a "complete history" standpoint. However, his most notable contributions come from Tomorrow, Canto (an early incarnation of Bodast), and Bodast. The two solo efforts are also interesting.

Though Steve's presence is moderately discernible in Syndicats and In Crowd, his prevalence is much more pronounced in the later bands such as Tomorrow and Bodast. The most popular song by Tomorrow seems to be My White Bicycle. Also noteworthy are songs like Revolution and Real Life Permanent Dream. Come Over Stranger, the contribution from Canto, is notable for a theme that appears in another song about fourteen years later! I will let you figure out the mystery track to which I am referring! Steve definitely makes his presence known in Bodast. Especially in the song Nether Street which contains a major part of yet another composition that was recorded about three years later. Though it will be painfully obvious which song I am referring to here once you hear it, I will not spoil this one either. You will just have to buy the album!

Separate albums by Tomorrow and Bodast are also available and worth the investment.

In closing, though Steve's early material with Syndicats and In Crowd are not really my cup of tea, I feel that this recording is still worth having for historical value as well as for a chance to hear the later pre-Yes material from Tomorrow, Canto and Bodast. Thus, unless you are a fan of mid 60's rock, this album may not be in heavy rotation in your CD player. Nevertheless, it will be dusted off occasionally for a listen or two.