The Flock: RFI; C/D?

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Once again, I turn my eyes to you, ILM.

Known for having future Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jerry Goodman, the Flock apparently sounded something like the Chicago Transit Authority (who became Chicago. I only really know them in their later guise, and never dug 'em then).

My father contends that their first album was great (another one from his collection lost to the sands of time) and the standout track was supposedly a cover of the Kinks' Tired of Waiting.

What's the verdict? How much effort should I put into scouting this out? Were the Chicago Transit Authority decent? Were the Flock albums good? Anybody wanna YSI (the Flock albums seem to be out of print)?

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 22 December 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

i have Dinosaur Swamps on vinyl, but haven't listened to it more than once or twice. i should pull it out again to give it another chance

― jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 22 December 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

I used to own "Dinosaur Swamps," can't remember any of it and so evidently didn't think too highly of it. Tepid fusion of jazz and rock with not enough of either is what I recall. The comarison to early Chicago is, I think, apt -- and they didn't do much for me either.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Thursday, 22 December 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Heh. Ringing endorsments...

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

I went and listened to samples online and I *STILL* didn't remember any of the songs. Guess that's what pruning the collection is all about...

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)

I bought the first album and listened to it. I sold it on an impulse, though would like to obtain it/revisit it at some point.
I don't remember much specifically beyond that it was okay and if you are into that style of brass-rock music, you should like it.
Still, I think classic-era Chicago and BS&T were generally better.

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

I have Dinosaur Swamps too, and third (or whatever) what's said above. Never really clicked. I liked the first 2 or 3 Chicago LPs much better, though wasn't much of a fan of BS&T. Cool cover on DS, tho.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 23 December 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

Bought the debut at a garage sale 20 yrs ago (exact same day as the original Live Aid concert in fact, youngsters) and haven't listened to it in 19. My favourite track was "Intro", the brief guitar-violin duet - I had a low tolerance (at the time) for that sort of Stan Kenton jazz-rock that Columbia Records specialized in in 1969. (Still don't much like it.) Whatever, Jerry Goodman's violin was certainly the best thing about the band - hard to believe he started out as just their roadie.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 23 December 2005 07:33 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I should add that I've grown to quite like that CTA album, largely because it's more lead-guitar dominated than their later stuff. (Terry Kath's "free-form" axe heroics being largely jettisoned along with the "Transit Authority" portion of their name.) But that's just a personal preference.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 23 December 2005 07:48 (twenty years ago)

My fatehr has clarified for me that only the first Flock album is worth listening to...

― js (honestengine), Saturday, 24 December 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

I just listened to Dinosaur Swamps, which I boughta used copy of for a dollar almost a year ago probably, and it sounded really good! Reminded me of, I dunno, the Hampton Grease Band or somebody! Or maybe the Good Rats! Or the Dixie Dregs! Or all three! None of whom have anything in common with each other, I realize! So I'm probably full of shit!

Now I am playing the Fat Mattress album by Fat Mattress! And it is likewise very good! But not as good as the Flock, I don't think! Partically because it's not as weird, and more mellow! Though maybe if Scott is out there he can convince me otherwise! But how to compare apples and oranges?!

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 01:35 (eighteen years ago)

Wooagh, second side of the Fat Mattress LP is pretty boring! I probably overrated them even more than I overrated the Flock. Maybe I was just in a good mood!

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 01:44 (eighteen years ago)

But wait, "Everything's Blue" by Fat Mattress sounds like "Tonight" by the MC5; that's pretty cool, no?

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 01:47 (eighteen years ago)

honest engine's father just wishes to say that honest engine can find the Flock's first album in his father's collection for seekers. It is neither as good as he remembered nor as bad as one might suppose.

honest engine's father has no use for Fat Mattress or the Buckingham/Nicks album, which are tied only by father's memory that when E. J. Korvette's department store closed out of the LP business, the bins were full of B/N, Fat Mattress, and Lord Sutch & His Heavy Friends by the truckload.

― Soren Kierkegaard Existential Light Orchestra, Thursday, 3 January 2008 00:03 (eighteen years ago)

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