Whail
33089 – You Are What I Am
Gordon Lightfoot, Moose CAPAC
33090 – Summer Holiday
Gibson, King, Mack Vicki Music BMI
LUV 714
Produced By Ron Hanson
A Product Of G.M. Recording Co., East Detroit, Michigan, 48021
1974
These two tracks previously issued on their album
(see below)
Whail
Fresh Air
Side one [32583]
I've Never Seen Love Like This
You Are What I Am
I Am Not Sayin
Circles
Julia
Drugstore Man
Be What You Want
Prelude to Side Two
Side two [32584]
I Want You Girl
I Can't Make It Anymore
Can I Look
Kalamazoo Winter
Summer Holiday
Long Long Time
Hey Boy
Luv 701
Rite account #5778
Lounge rock with a wide range of styles from Gordon Lighfoot covers to a couple more psych tracks. Occasional use of synth.
The Luv label was an offshoot of the GM recording studio on Nine Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan - named after its owner Guido Maresco who owned a car repair business located next door to the studio.
The band, with roots in the 60s garage era, started as the Unknowns, then became popular as Fresh Air but changed to Whail to avoid confusion with another group. From Fostoria, Ohio, the band was active from 1965 to 1975. Band members recording the LUV LP were : Ken Reeves, Dianne B?, Bill Jeffery, Rick Pryba, Mike Reinhard, Don Hanson and leader Ron Hanson.
Fresh Air had several other records on the GM, LUV and Moseka labels.(none pressed by Rite Records)
Ron Hanson started his own studio and a label called Moseka, first in Fostoria and then in New Riegel, Ohio.The Moseka studio run by the Hanson brothers, still active today, has a website
This group was heavily inspired by the Worcester Massachusetts-based group Orpheus, which was fronted by Bruce Arnold. They even covered an Orpheus song called "I've Never Seen Love Like This", which was released as single and appears on the band's 1968 debut album for MGM (SE-4524). Orpheus released two more albums on MGM, "Ascending" (SE-4569) and "Joyful" (SE-4599) as well as several singles including the charting "Can't Find the Time" (1968) and "Brown Arms in Houston" (1969).
ReplyDeleteArnold disbanded the group in '69 and hired the studio musicians who had played uncredited on the band's previous releases including the legendary Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. This new Orpheus would record another self-titled album released on Bell Records in 1971 (BELL-6061), which in recent years has been lauded by audiophiles as a bonified cult-classic.
Orpheus has many notable fans and inspired a long list of artists including Laura Nyro, Elvis Costello, Steely Dan, The B52's, Jerry Harrison (The Talking Heads), Don Was, The Youngbloods, Boston, St. Etienne, The Doves, Shuggie Otis and Hootie & The Blowfish - who covered "Can't Find The Time" for the Jim Carrey comedy "Me, Myself & Irene".
Additional Note: Fresh Air (a.k.a. Whail) even copied elements of the fourth Orpheus album's cover design. See for yourself.
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/orpheusband/orpheus/Orpheus-FreshAir.jpg