Alexander Rabbit - Hunchback Of Notre Dame - 1970 Mercury Original - Prog/Psych

$

25

The Time Has Come to Auction Off A Sizable Portion of My Collection Each Album is an Original Not A Modern Reprint Unless Specified      These Have Been In My Library For 40 Plus Years        Inner & Outer Sleeved and Played with Loving Care         I Have Play Tested Both Sides of These Prior To Posting Them
Alexander Rabbit  The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (The Bells Were My Friends) Mercury - SR-61291 USA 1970
Keyboard player Charles Brodowicz, bassist Len Demski, drummer Alan Fowler and guitarists Chris Holmes and T.J. Tindall met while attending the Blessed Sacrament Grammar School in Trenton, New Jersey.  By 1962 they were performing as The Galaxies IV, playing local dances and clubs.  Tindall dropped out of the band when his family moved.  He reappeared as a member of Edison's Electric Band and then became part of the Philadelphia International studio band MFSB With the addition of singer Steve Scheier, by the mid-'60s the band was playing local New Jersey dances and clubs such as The Allentown Fairgrounds, The Tird Ear, Murphy's Chuck Wagon, and The RKO Lincoln Theater.  Sponsored by St. John Terrell’s Music Circus in Lambertville, New Jersey, they beat out 300 contestants to win 1965's initial World Rock n' World Championship.  Judges included Phil Spector and DJ Cousin Brucie Morrow. The win led to a contract to play some 40 shows at the World's Fair and attracted the attention of United Artists' Veep subsidiary.  Veep signed the group to a contract that saw the release of their debut 45.  That was followed by a sophomore single for Irving Spice's New York based Mohawk Records and a third single for RCA By 1967, now known as Alexander Rabbit the band signed with A&M, releasing an intriguing one-shot 45, before being dropped by the label.  Moving on to Mercury Records, the band somehow convinced their new label to finance an LP.  Not only that, but they managed to get the label to okay a concept album - in this case the plotline seemingly inspired by Victor Hugo's bell ringing hunchback Quasimodo. Recorded in New York's Associated Recording Studios, 1970's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame (The Bells Were My Friends)" was co-produced by Irving Spice and Max Ellen (the eccentric Jerry Samuels (aka Napoleon XIV) engineered the sessions.  In spite of the goofy title, the collection of largely original material (a blue-eyed soul cover of Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long" being the one exception), was diverse and surprisingly engaging.  The extended title track Is Procol Harum-meets-Tolken art-rock mysticism, elsewhere the band displayed considerable versatility, capably polishing off nifty rockers like the scorching "Goin' Down", and ballads ("My Woman") and decent pop-rock ("Faraway Man").  Perhaps just an urban myth, but the band was apparently scheduled to appear at Woodstock, but their management company killed the performance; unhappy with the amount of money being offered.
Members: Alan Fowler - Drums  Chris Holmes - Guitar Len Demski - Bass TJ Tindall - Guitar Charles Brodowitz - Keyboards Steve Shier - Vocals
Tracks:  A1 The Hunchback of Notre Dame A2 Goin' Down A3 My Woman  A4 Faraway Man  A5 Living in This World  B1 She Don't Come Around  B2 Dreams of My Life  B3 I've Been Loving You Too Long  B4 Medley: I Knew I'd Want You / I've Got You B5 Look Through Me


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