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"The Flock/Dinosaur Swamps" is a special compilation of The Flock that was released in 1972. This is an economicpackage that includes their eponymouos debut studio album "The Flock" released in 1969 and their second studioalbum "Dinosaur Swamps" released in 1971. It's a very interesting compilation because it includes the two debutstudio albums released by The Flock. These are, in general, considered the two best studio albums released by TheFlock.Lasting only three years, The Flock might have ended up as nothing more than a footnote on the creative rockscene between 1965 and 1975. But, this guitar trio with a horn section was the first sighting of violinist JerryGoodman, who'd go on to greater fame as a member of Mahavishnu Orchestra. So, Mahavishnu Orchestra fansmight be interested in this double album reissued of the group's two first studio albums solely on the strength ofthe violinist's involvement.Maybe not as impressive as Chicago, who emerged around the same time, The Flock was still an impressive band.But, this may explain why The Flock never achieved the commercial success of some other horn sectioned bands ofthe time. The eclecticism of The Flock meant that it was hard to pin down just what they wanted to be. Betweentheir debut and the follow-up "Dinosaur Swamps" there's a lot of territory covered, often within the confines of anonly single track.As I've already reviewed these two albums previously on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to doit again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read thosemy both reviews. However, in here, I'm going to write something about them in a more short way. So, of course, I'mnot going to analyze them track by track, as I made before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of bothalbums."The Flock": "The Flock" is a great album from 1969, the year of the "horn band" explosion. The Flock is really a bigband with the violin, the horns, the rhythm section and nice lead and backup vocals. Yet, this adept music is neverovercrowded and never flashy. They actually make their tracks sound less complex than they are. This stuff willgrab you in a first listen, but listen more. Listen to how good these guys were, in those times. The writing,arrangements and performances are viscerally punchy and while unequivocally dated, the music is fun in a guiltykind of way. And even if Chicago is more consistent songwriting rightfully led to them notching all the chart hits andraking in all the dough, The Flock deserves some credit for having carved a more unique, if significantly lesssuccessful style which remains largely without equal. The music is one huge melting pot, varying between rock,classical, jazz, blues, and even soul, often within the same song. Lyrically, "The Flock" has a lot of counter-culturestuff. The music is well planned no matter where they go. The vocal harmonies are well constructed. The songs arenot jams, but spotlights that rotate over the members of the band. This is a great album indeed and I still listen to it,even in our days. So, this is great classic stuff."Dinosaur Swamps": "Dinosaur Swamps" shows the band more at home with their prog and jazz sensibilities, thanits predecessor debut studio album. It's perhaps even more progressive, and completely bewildering. This is a verydense sounding album. Usually, Glickstein using both guitar and keyboards and Goodman playing at the same time,frequently the horns as well, both get a larger role effect into the album. The songs are in general very good. Still,the band seems to have too many musical ideas at the same time. I confess that I like very much of "DinosaurSwamps". It represents a good surprise to me. It's better than I thought after my first listening of it. This is an albumvery fun despite it sounds too much to the 60's. I'm not really a great fan of the 60's, in general. By the other hand, it also has too much influences of country music, of which I'm not a great fan either. Still, the album is full of playfulmusic. I'm sure these guys seemed to have fun doing what they do, which is a great thing. I think "DinosaurSwamps" ranges several styles of music, probably too much on the same album. And maybe it even sounds toomuch dated too. However and despite all I said before, I think the final result is a very good album, a greatcollection of great songwriting and performances.Conclusion: This reissue of The Flock's first two albums shows a band searching for an identity, at times finding it,and others coming up a bit empty. "The Flock" is ultimately a more successful album than "Dinosaur Swamps" is. Itsuffered from ultimately too ambitious and self-indulgent for its own good. And if "The Flock" was more eclectic,"Dinosaur Swamps" was positively more schizophrenic, with tinges of bluegrass/country, psychedelic musings withelectronic treatments, flat-out funk, higher octane blues/rock and hints of Zappa-esque absurdity. However anddespite the writing, arrangements and performances being perhaps dated, the music is fun in a guilty kind of way.Goodman may be the drawing card, but this reissue rescued from the obscurity a group that may not haveachieved the success of its contemporaries, but over the course of this two albums they produced a diverse andinteresting body of work.Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*) social review comments Review Permalink
Posted Sunday, December 20, 2020 Review this album Report (Review #2486370)
The Flock was an American progressive rock band based in Chicago. Like many other prog acts from Chicago, TheFlock was a prog/jazz/blues rock band from the late 60's and early 70's. However, they didn't achieve thecommercial success of some other jazz/rock groups of that era such as Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears, but wererecognized for featuring a violin prominently on their recordings. The Flock claims to fame because were they thatlaunched the violinist Jerry Goodman. Goodman went on to later fame when he becomes a member of theMahavishnu Orchestra. Later, he was also a member of the Dixie Dregs between 1992 and 2017, before starting anew career as a solo artist.The Flock was founded in 1964. They released a few singles untill 1969, the year they released their debut studioalbum. So, between 1969 and 1971, The Flock released two studio albums, their eponymous debut 'The Flock' in1969 and the second one 'Dinosaur Swamps' in 1971. Both albums have the presence of Jerry Goodman. Theybegan working on a third studio album but with the recruiting of Goodman for the Mahavishnu Orchestra's project,The Flock fell apart. So, it was only in 1975, when The Flock reunited only briefly, that the band released their thirdstudio album 'Inside Out'.However, in 2004 a new album was released of a 1973 live concert called 'Live In Europe', which features MichaelZydowsky on violin in place of Goodman and includes the original members Fred Glickstein, Jerry Smith, and RonKarpman. Finally, a fourth studio album was released in 2014, 'Heaven Bound ' The Lost Album'. As it nameindicates, the album has 70's lost recordings from the band recently discovered. These recordings were neverreleased before.So, 'Dinosaur Swamps' is the second studio album of The Flock and was released in 1971. The line up on the albumis Jerry Goodman (vocals, violin and guitar), Fred Glickstein (lead vocals, guitars and Hammond organ), Jerry Smith(vocals and bass guitar), Rick Canoff (vocals and tenor saxophone), Frank Posa (trumpet), John Gerber (vocals, altoand tenor saxophones, flute and banjo) and Ron Karpman (drums).'Dinosaur Swamps' has an intricate gatefold artwork, which is a reproduction of a mural of pterosaurs, flyingreptiles, at the American Museum of the Natural History, painted by Constantine Astori and A. Brown in 1942. Itshows a host of pterosaurs flying and clinging to cliffs above an ancient beach. Into this iconic piece of paleoart, theband's members of The Flock have been inserted in the painting and they are looking to those flying reptiles withdifferent expressions.'Dinosaur Swamps' shows the band more at home with their prog and jazz sensibilities, than its predecessor debut.It's perhaps even more progressive, and completely bewildering. This is a very dense sounding album. Usually,Glickstein using both guitar and keyboards and Goodman playing at the same time, frequently the horns as well,both get a larger role effect into the album. The songs are in general very good. Still, the band seems to have toomany musical ideas.'Dinosaur Swamps' has seven tracks. The first track 'Green Slice' is a brooding instrumental. It has some melodicsax accompanied by swirling organ, and seques into the bluegrass feel of 'Big Bird'. It's interesting to hear thecombination of country fiddle and a full horn section, and comes across like the early Dixie Dregs if they jammedwith Chicago. The strong country feel on 'Big Bird' is pretty evident. The third track 'Hornschmeyer's Island' is amore straightforward pop tune with a very psychedelic feel, very indicative of the late 60's San Francisco hippysound, which makes that it sounds a bit dated by today's standards. The fourth track 'Lighthouse' is heavier thanthe predecessor tracks. Overall this is a heavy rock number with throbbing bass lines from Jerry Smith, Glickstein'spower chords, and a raging horn section. The fifth track 'Crabfoot' is mostly an instrumental track with plenty oftrumpet and saxophone. It's a symphonic blues jazz number with percussion solos, backwards noises and a strangehorn noise section. The sixth track 'Mermaid' is a sort of a romantic British folk sounding minstrelly ballad with acomplex little ditty featuring violins, trumpet, and medieval sounding vocals. Perhaps the band pre-dates GentleGiant on the song 'Mermaid'. The seventh track 'Uranian Sircus' closes the album with a jangly of guitar rock. Thisis a very cool way to finish the album.Conclusion: I must confess that I like very much of 'Dinosaur Swamps'. It was a real good surprise for me. It's betterthan I thought after my first listening of it. This is an album very fun despite it sounds too much to the 60's. I'm notreally a great fan of the 60's, in general. By the other hand, it also has too much influences of country music, ofwhich I'm not a great fan either. Still, the album is full of playful music. I'm sure these guys seemed to have fundoing what they do, which is a great thing. I think 'Dinosaur Swamps' ranges several styles of music, probably toomuch on the same album. And maybe it even sounds too much dated too. However, despite all I said before, I thinkthe final result is a very good album, a great collection of great songwriting and performance. So, after somehesitation I give to it 4 stars.Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*) social review comments Review Permalink
Posted Sunday, September 15, 2019 Review this album Report (Review #2251335)