Stalk-Forest Group

[Albert Bouchard]

On Jan 12, 2005, at 3:30 PM, Doug Pearson wrote:

> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:19:16 -0000, Chris Allen
> <beautiful_foot at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>> If you didn't like those extra songs, St Cecilia won't do anything for
>> you either.
>
> I'd say "not necessarily".  The extra songs on the first CD don't
> really
> include (IIRC) any of the more jamming/psychedelic moments on 'St.
> Cecilia' (especially the title track - that one actually reminds me
> quite
> a bit of the Grateful Dead circa 1968!).  If a jazzy Byrds-meets-Dead
> vibe
> sounds appealing, I'd recommend checking out the album; if not, then I
> wouldn't.

I agree. While it's nice to hear some of those demos on the Columbia
Records, the fact is that they were all recorded in one day . We took
nearly a month to do the Elektra album (except I'm on the Lamb, which
was done in a demo studio at Elektra on Broadway in one entire day) and
were more prepared. Also the engineering by Brian Ross-Meyering
(Chicago, Bread) was better than the Columbia demo guys.

> If you're into BOC for the "heavy rock" aspect, then, yeah, the Stalk-
> Forrest CD probably won't do much for you.  To compare the SFG album to
> some of the others that (actually) came out on Elektra at the same
> time,
> I'd say it sounds a lot more like Tim Buckley (with something of a
> folk-
> jazz vibe) or Paul Butterfield (with virtuoso not-so-heavy guitar
> jamming)
> than the Stooges or MC5.

You could never get the SFG mixed up with any of those groups. Lots of
jamming and a West Coast vibes were our specialty. You forgot the Doors
as a comparison. Way too much blues for Tim Buckley too.

> Apparently there's a European SFG CD with the same track listing as the
> original vinyl boot (i.e. less than the Rhino version), but it may be
> much
> cheaper than the Rhino one (probably not in the States, though, given
> the
> currency situation).  I believe that http://www.anophelesrecords.com/
> has
> copies (although the website only lists their own releases, not the
> other
> labels' stuff they stock).
>
> I really like the album, for whatever that's worth. :^)

I wouldn't recommend the bootleg as the sound quality is not very good
whereas the Rhino one sounds better than I remember by quite a bit,
besides the packaging is very nice with original artwork and pretty
accurate linear notes. There aren't any hits on it but the music is
quite pleasant and Eric Bloom's vocals sound more like Donald's than
they ever would again.
Al