"...Beans And Things..."
Now here's a sweetheart. I
remember a pal of mine in Dublin who was Wishbone Ash mad at the time and was
pigging out on "Argus" and "Pilgrimage" on an almost daily
basis. It didn’t take him long to discover the twin lead guitars of Cardiff's
SASSAFRAS who came on like a combo of Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash – a mix I’ll
take any day of the week. I never thought I’d see their brill 1973 debut on CD
and you have to say that Esoteric Recordings of the UK (part of Cherry Red)
have done a bang up job with it. Great audio from original tapes, interviews
with Lead Guitarist Dai Shell, repro of the original and distinctive Ian Murray
gatefold artwork, period photos etc - very tasty. Here are the beans and
things...
UK released April 2014 –
"Expecting Company" by SASSAFRAS on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2442
(Barcode 5013929454248) is an 'Expanded Edition CD' with Two Bonus Tracks and breaks down as
follows (46:28 minutes):
1. Electric Chair
2. Busted Country Blues
3. Beans And Things
4. Across The Seas Of Stars
5. School Days [Side 2]
6. The Way Of Me
7. The Goose That Laid The
Golden Egg
8. (a) Expecting Company (b)
Meanwhile Back In Merthyr
Tracks 1 to 8 are their
debut album "Expecting Company" – released December 1973 in the UK on
Polydor Super 2383 245.
BONUS TRACKS:
9. Oh, Don't it Make You
Want To Cry
10. Kansas City Wine
Tracks 9 and 10 are a
non-album UK 7" single released July 1974 on Polydor 2058 497 in the UK
The 5-piece Welsh band
SASSAFRAS featured Vocalist Terry Bennett (ex Exit), dual Lead Guitarists Ralph
Evans and Dai Shell, Ricky John Holt on Bass and Rob "Congo" Jones on Drums (Jones was ex Dave Edmunds' Love Sculpture). PHIL SAMPSON produced
the original album and PASCHAL BYRNE has done the transfers and CD remaster
from original master tapes. Paschal Byrne has compiled, researched and
co-ordinated the release in conjunction with the band – and his huge experience
of CD remasters shows (has done hundreds of these reissues). This CD sounds
fabulous – really great Audio – all the instruments 'there' in the mix – not too
trebled up for the sake of it either.
It opens with a huge fan
fave "Electric Chair" – a five-minute slice of wicked Classic 70ts
Rock – riffs that hook and stay. You're also struck by the band’s sound (so
Wishbone Ash) - Terry Bennett's great gravely vocals out front backed by interlocking
guitars and a tight rhythm section – in fact the group sounding like they’ve
been playing together since 1970 never mind early 1973. The trio of Ricky Holt,
Ralph Evans and Dai Shell wrote all the songs except "Across The Seas Of
Stars" which is by Ricky Holt and "The Goose That Laid The Golden
Egg" which is by Steve Finn. After the boogie of "Electric
Chair" – the countrified jaunt that is "Busted Country Blues"
comes as bit of a pleasant shock. It’s witty lyrics, harmonising vocals and
Elvin Bishop hog-rhythm is very Area Code 615 - an American Country-Rock band
Shell liked (their "Stone Fox Chase" was used as the theme to
"The Old Grey Whistle Test"). We go back to Rock and MAN territory
with the excellent "Beans And Things" – a crowd pleaser to this day
whenever they play live (the licks flicker like wild in one speaker while the
harmony vocals come out of the other – and it has that clever keyboard break
half way into its 5:35 minutes). We end Side 1 with a guitar ballad – six
minutes of the pretty "Across The Seas Of Stars" which is almost like
the Byrds in its harmony structure.
Side 2 opens with more
twin-axes in "School Days" which (with an edit) would have made a
great lead-off single. "The Way Of Me" again mines that Man and
Wishbone Ash groove – Bennett's vocals really making the tune (the bass on this
track is amazing too). We get a little Heavy Metal Kids Rock 'n' Roll on
"The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg" – where (uncool title aside) the
vocals and boogie-guitars chug along very nicely. The album finishes of a
two-parter (a) Expecting Company and (b) Meanwhile Back In Merthyr – probably
the best sounding tracks on this reissue. The complex vocal lines are
impressive (almost Prog) - while Part 2 goes into a faster twin-guitar battle
that is very Man. The single shows how they'd progressed – far removed from the
sound of the album – why it's almost AWB in its brass Funk rhythm like Ned
Doheny years later on Warner Brothers. The B-side is a straightforward
3-minutes of Barroom Boogie (boys in the band) that's actually impressive.
Brilliant extras...
Their debut isn't an
out-and-out masterpiece for sure – but it’s a hugely accomplished start. They
would release two further LPs - "Wheelin' 'n' Dealin'" on Chrysalis
CHR 176 in April 1975 followed by "Riding High" on Chrysalis CHR 1100
in July 1976 – both of which were put on CD by Gott Discs in 2005 but is hard
to find now. In the meantime – check out the classic 70ts Rock of Sassafras –
remembered with real affection for a reason...
