The Charlatans (American band)

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The Charlatans
General information
Genre (s) Rhythm and blues , folk rock , rock 'n' roll
founding 1964
resolution 1970
Founding members
George Hunter (until 1968)
Mike Wilhelm
Sam Linde (until 1965)
Michael Ferguson (until 1967)
Richard Olsen
former members
Drums, electric guitar, vocals
Dan Hicks († 2016; 1965–1968)
Drums
Terry Wilson (from 1967)
piano
Patrick Gogerty (1967–1968)
piano
Daniel DeVore (from 1968)
Guest musician
Hank Bradley
Vocals, electric guitar
Lynne Hughes

The Charlatans , also known as The Amazing Charlatans , was an American rock group from San Francisco .

The band formed in 1964 and played mainly rhythm and blues and folk rock influenced by the British Invasion . During their live performances, they developed their own style, known as the San Francisco Sound , which served as a template for many other bands in the Bay Area . The Charlatans were thus crucial for the development of psychedelic rock .

history

1964–1965: The beginnings in the Red Dog Saloon

It was in the summer of 1964 that architecture student George Hunter, inspired by the Beatles , decided to form a band. He had hardly any musical knowledge. He played a little autoharp and had only made tape collages for a dance group that included his friend Lucy Lewis. A Rolling Stones concert on May 14, 1965 in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium gave both George Hunter and Ron Nagle further impetus. Ron Nagle founded the band The Terrazzo Brothers, which were to be renamed The Mystery Trend that same year and, like the Charlatans, took up the style of the bands of the British Invasion. The Charlatans initially played simple rock 'n' roll or rhythm and blues standards such as Got My Mojo Working or My Babe . This was very unusual for San Francisco at the time, as purely acoustic folk music dominated there.

“It was an unwritten rule: it was okay to play rock 'n' roll until you were 18; after that it had to be folk. "

Michael Ferguson owned a boutique called Magic Theater for Madmen Only in the Haight Ashbury area of San Francisco. He mainly sold antique clothing, a little art and all sorts of knickknacks. He joined the band in May 1965. Shortly afterwards, Sam Linde left the group and was replaced by Dan Hicks. The band dressed completely in a Wild West fashion from an era that was sometimes described as Edwardian (1901-1910), sometimes as Victorian (1837-1901). They wore vests , cowboy boots, cowboy hats, bowler hats, pocket watches and holstered pistols or Winchester rifles , which they brought on stage and placed against the amplifier. They embodied the Wild West romance of the Belle Epoque and wore their hair longer than the Beatles.

The band made their first appearances in an old Wild West saloon in the budding ghost town of Virginia City . The city was once a lively mining town and had a population of around 30,000 in the 1870s, until the gold and silver mines were exhausted, making the city less important. In the 1960s it had just 450 inhabitants. Mark Ubnobsky had an old three-story hotel renovated for $ 5,000 and renamed it the Red Dog Saloon . The Victorian style building was intended to be reminiscent of the gold rush era and was also furnished in this style. At the opening, on July 29, 1965, the Charlatans had their first appearance in the Red Dog Saloon after the opening date had to be postponed a few times, and their outfit fit in like no other band. Ferguson and Hunter designed a special concert poster for the show, which was later called the Seed because it was considered the first psychedelic concert poster. It was clearly inspired by Art Nouveau and resembled the posters for 19th century medicine shows . Originally the Charlatans were only booked for two weeks. In the end, however, they played the whole summer and had become the house band of the Red Dog Saloon . In addition to a band, the operators of the Red Dog Saloon also hired Bill Ham, who provided a psychedelic light show by including a. experimented with an overhead projector and kinetic materials, projecting moving light paintings onto the wall. From the first night on, LSD was circulating in the Red Dog Saloon and both the audience and the band took it. The Charlatans were supposedly the first rock band to give a concert under the influence of LSD.

While performing live at the Red Dog Saloon, Lynne Hughes sang a few pieces with the Charlatans. Hughes actually worked there as a waitress.

1965–1970: studio recordings and the end

In August 1965, the Charlatans made demo recordings for the Autumn Records label, which was run by radio DJ Tom Donahue . But there was no contract because the label was on the verge of bankruptcy and was bought by Warner Brothers . The Charlatans suffered the same fate as the Grateful Dead , who had also made demo recordings for the Autumn label on November 3, 1965 under the name The Emergency Crew . In the spring of 1966 the band went back to the studio. This time for Kama Sutra Records . The singer Lynne Hughes had her obligatory guest appearance on the pieces Sidetrack and Devil Go My Man . For their debut single, the Charlatans had planned a cover version of Buffy Sainte-Marie's piece Cod'ine . The play was about the negative experiences with codeine that Sainte-Marie had during a respiratory illness. The record company found the piece's drug topic too sensitive and the recording initially remained unreleased. The Kama Sutra label sold the recordings to Kapp Records and so the Coasters track The Shadow Knows was released as a single on Kapp Records in October 1966. The single flopped and the other Kama Sutra recordings by the Charlatans stayed a long time unpublished.

There were then changes within the band. During renewed studio recordings in July 1967, the pianist Ferguson left and was replaced by Patrick Gogerty. Ferguson formed the band Tongue and Groove with singer Lynne Hughes and Randy Lewis on guitar. Terry Wilson joined the Charlatans and took over the drums from Dan Hicks, who from then on concentrated on guitar playing and singing. This occupation only lasted until early 1968. The poor relationship between Hunter and Gogerty led to the departure of Gogerty. Shortly thereafter, Dan Hicks, the only professional musician, left the band for good after forming a second band called Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. The band then disbanded completely, only to regroup shortly afterwards. The founding members Mike Wilhelm and Richard Olson continued to play as a quartet with Terry Wilson and the new pianist Daniel DeVore. With this line-up, the band made again in early 1969 recordings for an album that was released on Philips Records . However, the Charlatans' musical style was already out of fashion and the album, despite some good reviews, was not selling well. The remaining members played together until 1970 when the band finally broke up.

Michael Ferguson released two singles with Tongue and Groove and an album in 1969 on Mercury Records with the participation of Charlatans bassist Richard Olson. Dan Hicks contributed the piece Fallin 'Apart .

1970 to today: Late honors

Although the band gave many concerts from their first appearances in the Red Dog Saloon to their breakup, the unfortunate circumstances with the record companies and unsuccessful releases never let them stand out above the status of local heroes. So the Charlatans ended up as a neglected footnote in music history. Until a number of releases since 1979 , consisting of old studio material, reminded of the band again. Book authors such as Charles Perry (1984), Gene Sculatti & Davin Seay (1985), Jack McDonough (1985), Vernon Joynson (1993) or Joe Selvin (1994) discovered the band as an important part of the music scene in San Francisco.

The pianist Michael Ferguson died in 1979 from complications caused by diabetes .

Style and influence

The band's repertoire consisted of many cover versions . Including Alabama Bound , Wabash Cannonball , classic folk songs like I Saw Her (As She Came and Went) or Jack of Diamonds , blues pieces like Devil Got My Man (aka Devil Got My Woman ) and 32-20 (aka 22-20 Blues ) by Skip James . The acoustic autoharp was used for some recordings. Ferguson's piano playing sounded like barrelhouse piano, which gave some pieces an old-time jazz character. For the single The Shadow Knows , the band used echo effects on the vocals, which was nothing unusual back then. As with the Beatles, many pieces were recorded with polyphonic singing. This is also the case with their own composition We're Not on the Same Trip , which was recorded in 1967 and, with its strange feedback recordings, was the only psychedelic piece by the band, but remained unreleased until 1996.

Charles Perry called the Charlatans a " pop art statement", the American answer to the concepts of British mods such as: B. That of the Beatles with their mushroom hairstyles and collarless suits. In addition, the Charlatans broke with the view that one can only belong to an artistically ambitious bohemian as a folk musician . The events at the Red Dog Saloon in the summer of 1965, where the most important components of psychedelic rock, whether intentional or accidental, coincided, are considered by many authors as the birth of the psychedelic era in California. Only Chet Helms put this view into perspective: "There were just a lot of bands in San Francisco and one of these bands just had their first appearance in the Red Dog Saloon ... What happened here in San Francisco would have happened without the Red Dog Saloon."

Discography

Singles

  • The Shadow Knows / 32-20 (1965; Kapp)
  • Radio Spot (1969; Philips), publication with short interviews for the radio
  • High Coin / When I Go Sailin ' (1969; Philips)

Albums

  • Charlatans (1969; Philips), republished in 2000 as The Charlatans 1969 by Acadia
  • Charlatans (1979; Groucho Marx), reconstruction of the 1966 unreleased album; Re-released in 1983 by Eva as Alabama Bound
  • Amazing Charlatans (1996; BigBeat), compilation of studio recordings from 1965 to 1968

Bibliography

  1. ^ Harry Shapiro: Sky High - Drug and Music in the 20th Century , Hannibal Verlag, 1995, p. 187. ISBN 3-85445-148-2
  2. a b c d e f g h Vernon Joynson: Fuzz, Acid And Flowers - A Comprehensive Guide to American Garage, Psychedelic and Hippie Rock (1964-1975) , Borderline Productions, 1993, pp. 55-56. ISBN 0-9512875-8-3
  3. ^ Dan Hicks: Discography - The Amazing Charlatans. Seen: June 30, 2008
  4. a b c d e f Musician Biographies: The Charlatans Biography. Seen: June 30, 2008
  5. ^ A b c d e f Charles Perry: The Haight-Ashbury - A History. Random House, New York 1984, pp. 8ff. ISBN 0-394-41098-X
  6. Simon Frith / Howard Horne: Art Into Pop , Methuen Young Books, New York 1987, p. 94. ISBN 0-416-41540-7
  7. Gene Sculatti / Davin Seay: San Francisco Nights , Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1985, p. 91
  8. Professor Poster: Seed
  9. ^ A b All Music: Lynne Hughes Biography by Richie Unterberger. Seen: June 30, 2008
  10. ^ E. Richard & Linda R. Churchill: 45 Profiles in Modern Music , Walch Publishing, Portland 1996. p. 111. ISBN 0-8251-2853-6
  11. Puremusic No. 86: A Conversation with Dan Hicks. (Viewed June 1, 2008)
  12. ^ Point Loma High School Foundation and Alumni Association: Al Frowiss: Byron Michael Ferguson.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.plhsfaa.org   Seen: June 29, 2008
  13. The Amazing Charlatans , CDWIKD 138, Big Beat / Ace Records, London 1996.
  14. Simon Frith / Howard Horne: Art Into Pop , Methuen Young Books, New York 1987, p. 94. ISBN 0-416-41540-7
  15. Michael Spörke: Big Brother & The Holding Co. 1965 - 2003: The band that made Janis Joplin famous. Books On Demand GmbH, Norderstedt 2003, pp. 37-38. ISBN 3-8311-4823-6

Web links