Customer Reviews

Seatrain

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased the ORIGINAL Sea Train (two words) on A&M Records (SP 4171) in 1969. The original cover of the vinyl album is different from the cover portrayed on the Edsel release. The background is simply white, the two words "Sea Train" mirrored and filled in with pictures of underwater plants, while the faces of the band members remain the same on a "coconut" looking ship. This album was the next step by the group previously performing under the revamped "Blues Project" name and their "Planned Obsolescence" album of 1968. The Blues Project made serious changes after Al Kooper, Danny Kalb and Steve Katz left. They kept the name for one more album before changing band names and record companies. This original Sea Train album had some marvelous, yet haunting melodies, including two great instrumentals, "Pudding Street" and "Sweet Creek's Suite" (both Andy Kulberg tunes). Two other songs, "As I Lay Losing" and "Outwear the Hills," both surfaced again on future albums. Needless to say, this album never found commercial success, even on local "underground" stations. After another shake-up of band members, the new and improved "SEATRAIN" (one word) emerged now on Capitol Records. This was the album which gained huge success for the band, including the finest version (my opinion) of the Orange Blossom Special ever issued! The band issued another two albums, "Marblehead Messenger" and "Watch" before calling it quits in 1973. Oh, by the way, every album is GREAT. Truly a fabulous band from a great era of music.

...this is NOT it!

However, said album is NOW AVAILABLE here on Amazon.com! In fact, if you input the word "Seatrain" in the search box above, two offerings appear -- this single CD (from A&M [now, Edsel], released in 1969)-- AND a double CD set: the 1971 "Seatrain" album (which includes "13 Questions") coupled with their other 1971 album called "Marblehead Messenger".

That double CD's number here on Amazon is ASIN: B00001R3KM and is called: (Seatrain/Marblehead Messenger).

I wrote these comments because I noticed quite a few people who have posted here requesting the Seatrain recording which features "13 Questions". Remember, there are ten other really great tunes on that album, including "Orange Blossom Special".

It's my favorite album of all time and I was dying to get my hands on a CD version.

Well, my prayers were answered thanks to Amazon.com. I've been playing this CD nearly non-stop since receiving it a few weeks ago!

I cannot imagine what my college years would have been like if it weren't for this Seatrain album!

As a songwriter with roots in classical music as well as pop, I've been listening to this album for 35 years and still consider it one of the ten best non-classical productions ever--
perhaps even the best. From the passages of triple counterpoint to the rapturous displays of delicious, loving pop satire ("Sweet
Creek's Suite") to the heartfelt lyrics, this work has it all.
Special compliments to the work of Richard Greene and his richly
overdubbed quartet stylings. So where are these brilliant guys now?

I'm really glad to see other people appreciate this brilliant debut album by Sea Train--it should be released as a twofer with Blues Project PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE, which contained the same band members. I agree with the sentiment that called it was one of the greatest non-classical rock records ever (relevant because of the album's baroque stylings and virtuoso musicianship) and also one of the geekiest yet strangely moving records ever. From the time when experimental bands could still get signed...terrific violin and guitar, truly adventurous arrangements, musically all over the map, sounds like no one else and yes, it rocks too. Most of the music appears to have been written by Andy Kulberg, the flute player! I even dig the effete vocals, which fit nicely. Not to be confused with Sea Train SAME produced by George Martin which aims for a similar ecleticism but doesn't have the songs this one does....

"Tommy" may've been first "theme" rock album, but this Seatrain set the high-watermark for symphonically arranged and orchestrated blues/rock. I've never heard any other group achieve such clarity with fiendishly complex interwoven motifs, changes of mood and tempo, deftness of performance. Few folk note that George Martin, who had produced so many successful Beatles tracks, was impressed enough by Seatrain to produce their second album. Astoundingly, after the second album the group in an interview expressed extreme dis-satisfaction with their first album ("It's a piece of sh*t!" one of them spat) because of the artificiality of the multi-layered overdubbing. For the second album (the one with OBS, Song of Job, Waiting for Elijah, et al) they meant to have a recording they could reproduce faithfully in live performance.

In '69, this Seatrain album got me re-started fiddling after a year of college bewilderment. I'd played with classical orchestras since kid and pop/rock with my guitar-pickin' brother. In 3 decades since, I've met a score of other fiddlers who've said they were similarly re-awakened by Seatrain and Richard Greene's fiddlework. After 40 years of fiddling from Bach&Brahms to Celtic to Crossroads to bluegrass to Joplin, I have to acknowledge Richard Greene as having the best combination of flawless technique and integration of styles. Seatrain has stood the test of 3 decades--- they're a constant source of ideas and inspiration. (If you can find it, listen also to Richard Greene with Jim Kweskin Jug Band on the album "Garden of Joy".) --- David March, fiddler & animator

I saw Seatrain at the Carrousel Ballroom in San Francisco in 1968, in a program that also featured Santana and Yusef Lateef (jazz flute). Seatrain's performance was a bit unusual, for that era, in that their first set was identical to their second set, in other words, the music really wasn't mainly improvisation. That performance was also different from the album, in that the music was more percussive and vigorous, and the singer was different. He had a sharper sounding voice. He wasn't the soft-voiced John Gregory listed on the album. If there could be any improvement on the album, it would be the same songs but with the sharp-voiced singer.... The entire album is an original. No other rock'n'roll group has this style, except perhaps for the style found in Love's "She Comes in Colors," "Stephanie Knows Who," or "Orange Skies." "As I Lay Losing" is such a beautiful song, that it is worthwhile to seek out another version of this same song, on Seatrain's Marblehead Messenger album, put out by One Way Records of Albany, New York. Here, the song is entitled "Losing All the Years," and the singer is Peter Rowan. "Outwear the Hills" is one of the most beautiful of all rock'n'roll songs. It actually has a real tune! All of the pieces on this album are beautifully segued together. Most amusing is the Ventures-type surf guitar episode found on "Sweet Creek's Suite." I would say that this Seatrain album is as great as Crosby, Stills, and Nash's album with "Wooden Ships." I would say that it is greater than anything done by the Talking Heads, Squeeze, or the B52's. It is not as great as Abbey Road or Magical Mystery Tour or the Byrds' 5D album, though. To repeat, this Seatrain album is exquisite from start to finish, and the only thing that could improve on it would be to replace the soft-voiced singer, and occasional mild instrumentation, with a more aggressive singer and more forceful instrumentation, like the set I heard in San Francisco (some time ago).

Deep in the darkest hour of a very heavy week three earthmen did confront me and I could hardly speak! They showed me 13 terrors and each one shook my soul. They threw me 13 questions-each one an endless hole! I saw this band at WildWood N.J. Convention Center in 1971 and they were TERRIFIC!. My friends and I wore out our vinyl copy of 13 questions. I haven't been able to hear those words sung for over 20 years. If anyone knows how to get a Cd version of the 13 Questions SeaTrain album( Song of Job, Orange Bloosom Special, I'm Willin'), please send me the info by email. I'll be very very grateful.

I purchased this "Sea Train" LP back in 1969 at a local record store. A friend recognized some of the musicians from the Blues Project, however, we never heard any of the actual songs from this album. We were amazed (back then) of the unique songs and their instrumentation. Thirty-Five years later, this LP ranks in my "TOP 10" list from a collection of over 500 albums from the 1960's through 1970's. There are very few bands that come close to this style of music (ie. It's A Beautiful Day, Hello People). Playing the first side forces me to stop and reflect, entering a relaxed state of melancholy, totally entertained by these great musicians. I had the opportunity a few years back to speak with Andy Kulberg, just before his passing. I asked Andy if the guys ever thought of getting back together for a reunion album. He told me everybody was off doing their own thing and that there were not enough fans around to warrant a reunion. That may be the case, but I am proud to have experienced this exceptional group of days passed, in my youth, when life was much easier.....at the seventh dawn, of the sixth sun, during fifth moon, for the fouth time.....................

Bought this record when it originally came out (and soon after bought another copy cuz I had worn it out by playing it too much). I can't remember when I first heard them - on FM radio or when they played with Procol Harum at Constitution Hall in D.C.. Finally saw them live 4 times with their first 2 line-ups. I enjoy all 3 line-ups of musicians, and love all of their albums (including "Planned Obsolescence" as Blues Project), but this first Seatrain album is my favorite. Why? Because it has beautiful songs with intricate patterns and great musicianship. I much prefer John Gregory's vocals over Lloyd Baskins (who, while I like, can be a little too thearatical and did not re-interpret "As I Lay Losing" and 'Outwear The Hills" nearly as good as the original versions. Andy Kulberg was a wonderful artist, and of course Richard Greene was flaming fantastic - what a shame he didn't stick around for "Watch". When the opportunity came around to buy the original on a CD, I was overjoyed. The music stays strong after all of these years.

Seatrain formed from remains of the Blues Project and the Jim Kerswin Jug Band. Peter Rowan, late of the great Earth Opera, also joined, but not on this first album

This is great, organic rock with a driving jazz violin. It is nothing like Zappa's Hot Rats, despite the fiddle. The songs lack Frank's roller coaster chord structres and dense as a beahive solos. Instead, this is pollished blues with fresh chord subtitutions and exellent emsable playing.


The band can be sophistacated and rootsey at once, and the result is unique. 1969 was an incubative year for this type of music. B--ch's (Amazon's idea, not mine) Brew was a year away, and labals like Vertigo were in infancy. Music beyond straight rock had no name, so bands like Seatrain expermented as they saw fit, infusing more advanced musical elements into music they played natrually. Everything was possible, because no one knew what any genre was called. Better still, no one cared. Everyone was trying to outdo the other guy, and that was an petrie dish for loads of great work. Maybe Miles captured the mileu best, making albums subtited "Directions In Music."

Seatrain went in one of those great directions.