Wednesday, October 16, 2013

After Autosalvage (The Unreleased Recordings Of Thomas Danaher)

I got this recording from Richard Eriksen. My pal John converted it from chrome cassette to CD. Thomas Danaher, after his group Autosalvage disbanded, recruited Richard and fellow Greenfielder Thomas Howes (Thomas would later join the localSpirit & Flesh/Renaissance Community commune led by Michael "Rapunzel" Metelica and be a key member of the Spirit & Flesh house band that recorded an album for Metromedia) to record with him under the name 91. There was one session at RCA Studio B in New York City in 1968 and one session at a farmhouse in Maryland in 1969. Nothing came of the recordings. Thomas Danaher left the music world and the unheralded band he had assembled went their separate ways. While the 91 recordings don't resemble the music to be found on the one and only Autosalvage album recorded for RCA Victor (One of the most accomplished U.S. progressive "psychedelic" rock records of the 60's) the songs here are certainly worth hearing if you are a fan of the era and you can definitely hear the turn to a more bucolic/country-tinged/traditional sound that so many rockers took as they headed into the 70's. The more I listen, the more these songs - as unfinished as they may be - grow on me. Danaher's voice was always one of my favorite elements of Autosalvage's sound, and he sounds great here. Think early NRBQ or the quirky roots rocker of your choice. Autosalvage were ahead of their time if you ask me. And the 91 material, to me, works the same fertile ground (at an earlier date) that a lot of other 70's rockers would be rooting around in a little later. Here are song-titles not listed on the Soundcloud:

1. real hard work
2. blues (unknown title)
3. montgomery clift
4. unknown title
5. we killed your hun
6. untitled instrumental
7. radio love
8. orange rock
9. my arms stay open late (tammy wynette cover)
10. danville girl

1968 recordings: thomas danaher: lead guitar and vocals, racey gilbert: drums, thomas howes: 2nd guitar and bass, richard ericksen: piano and bass.
1969 recordings: same but with doug bover replacing thomas howes on 2nd guitar and bass.

https://soundcloud.com/djdutch-1/91-1968-69-demos-by-the-tom