A gift from Euphoria
This album is one of the best junk store finds I ever made. The LP has sold for several hundred dollars on the usual sources. I found a sealed copy in a junk store in Johnson City, TN for a buck. Woooo!
The really good news is that this is one of the megabuck records that really is worth hearing. A GIFT FROM EUPHORIA is a terrific country-psych album. The songs are excellent, the arrangements are interesting, the singing and playing are magnificent. There’s not a bad song on the LP. It’s up there with late-period Byrds and Neil Young’s first solo record. Really.
William D. "Bill" Lincoln and Hamilton Wesley Watt were Euphoria. The duo had been playing together in various mid-60’s Los Angeles and Houston bands. They joined a Hollywood folk group named Euphoria in 1967, soon they were the only two members left in the band. Mainstream records released one 45 "Hungry Woman"/"No Me Tomorrow" (which I don’t have) and included both songs on an LP called A POT OF FLOWERS (which I don’t have). Also, there is a handful of unreleased songs (which I don’t have) from this period.
In 1969, Capitol Records signed a bunch of bands and gave them free rein to record whatever they wanted. Euphoria was one of the chosen bands and used Capitol’s money to record in Hollywood, Nashville and London. There’s British accents, animal noises, a symphony, banjos, a shootout, and a TV audience in here somewhere. Most of the songs are about departure or death – suicide is a topic more than once.
The Bee Gees are thanked in the liner notes. I think their only contribution was leaving a studio in time for Euphoria go in to record some stuff. Capitol took a bath on these bands. None of them had any hit records, most of them didn’t even make a second record. Euphoria didn't.
A GIFT FROM EUPHORIA was re-issued on See For Miles records in 1996. Rev-Ola Records released it again this year. No bonus tracks yet!
The really good news is that this is one of the megabuck records that really is worth hearing. A GIFT FROM EUPHORIA is a terrific country-psych album. The songs are excellent, the arrangements are interesting, the singing and playing are magnificent. There’s not a bad song on the LP. It’s up there with late-period Byrds and Neil Young’s first solo record. Really.
William D. "Bill" Lincoln and Hamilton Wesley Watt were Euphoria. The duo had been playing together in various mid-60’s Los Angeles and Houston bands. They joined a Hollywood folk group named Euphoria in 1967, soon they were the only two members left in the band. Mainstream records released one 45 "Hungry Woman"/"No Me Tomorrow" (which I don’t have) and included both songs on an LP called A POT OF FLOWERS (which I don’t have). Also, there is a handful of unreleased songs (which I don’t have) from this period.
In 1969, Capitol Records signed a bunch of bands and gave them free rein to record whatever they wanted. Euphoria was one of the chosen bands and used Capitol’s money to record in Hollywood, Nashville and London. There’s British accents, animal noises, a symphony, banjos, a shootout, and a TV audience in here somewhere. Most of the songs are about departure or death – suicide is a topic more than once.
The Bee Gees are thanked in the liner notes. I think their only contribution was leaving a studio in time for Euphoria go in to record some stuff. Capitol took a bath on these bands. None of them had any hit records, most of them didn’t even make a second record. Euphoria didn't.
A GIFT FROM EUPHORIA was re-issued on See For Miles records in 1996. Rev-Ola Records released it again this year. No bonus tracks yet!
posted by KS at 4/05/2007 07:50:00 PM
1 Comments:
hey! fab blog, like always! I was really looking forward to this post..but the File has expired! :( Can we arrange either to repost, or for you to send it to me? I have tons of stufff to trade : freqazoidiac.blogspot.com
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