Whatever became of April Lawton? (WAS : Finally listened to Ramatam)
can...@my-dejanews.com
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DATE: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 00:23:50
Yes Lin you are quite correct in pointing out that April Lawton was the
primary lead guitarist of Ramatam. That fact is emphasized on the even more
obscure second Ramatam album which was done after Pinera (and Mitchell) had
split from the band. Her work on that album, at least solely in terms of her
playing, is staggering. Her "singing" left quite a bit to be desired though,
as did her song-writing. In all, Ramatam has to rate the odd distinction of
being rocks all-time greatest "where did we go so wrong" story. Mitchell of
course needs no introduction to readers of this board. Pinera had impeccable
credentials from his lead-guitarist/song-writer stints with Blues Image, Iron
Butterfly and Cactus. There were a few other lesser known but well regarded
supporting players and then... April Lawton was unknown but her talent had
reached legendary status among those on the inside. In short, this band
could not possibly fail! Except of course for the plain and simple fact that
they did - miserably!
The impending release of the first LP had been hyped for months with
full-page ads in Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy and such and prestigious feature
spots lined up on major tours, such as the E.L.P. opening slot. Anticipation
must have been about as high as that for any "blockbuster" new release. When
the thing hit the racks though it left an awful lot of people scratching
their heads wondering if the performers who's pictures were on the cover were
even really involved in the making of the disc inside. To call the songs
amaturish would be too kind. There wasn't a memorable hook, lick, lyric,
chorus, riff or tune to be found from start to finish. One might at least
have hoped that the presence of three unquestioned virtuoso players could
have somehow redeemed even the weakest material but not so. All three rose
to the occasion and turned in performances every bit as mind-bogglingly bad
as the songs were. Reviewers writing about the album at the time sound
almost desperate to find something positive to say about it. It just would
have been so "cool" to have been able to like this record. No amount of good
will on the part of reviewers could stop this train wreck though. The band
almost immediately broke up and no one, but NO ONE involved would talk about
it. It's probably no coincidence that this collosal embarrasment was the end
of the line for the major label careers of both Pinera and Mitchell. If ever
a lesson was needed as to why the concept of a "supergroup" is rarely a good
idea, Ramatam was it.
The Ramatam name did sputter on a bit longer thought with a Lawton-led
three-piece version that put out one more album (with the vaguely
lewd-sounding title "In April Came The Dawning of the Red Suns"). Oddly
enough, it was actually a slight improvement over the disastrous debut LP.
The songs were only marginally better, but Lawtons guitar work stood out from
the forgettable tunes to clearly show why she was deserving of her hype as
one truly remarkable guitar-slinger. It's hard to seperate an analysis of
her technical prowess from the sub-par material she's playing but in terms of
style her work seemed to fall somewhere in the territory between Ted Nugents
on the Mainstream label Amboy Dukes LP's and Johnny Winter from the "Second
Winter" period. One could also easily have imagined her slipping into the
sort of session work that Tommy Bolin was to cement his reputation with only
a few years later. There is certainly no doubt that if she had ever managed
to hook up with someone who could write a halfway decent tune and perhaps
even sing, she would have been MAJOR! The Bolin comparison is particularly
apt in that regard (ditto perhaps Adrian Belew or Steve Vai as well)
Whatever has become of her is one of rock's great
mysteries. She was also quite talented as a graphic artist and for a while
in the 1970's her very impressive work would occasionally turn up in science
fiction "graphic novels". Since then though, she seems to have disappeared
from the face of the earth. Too bad..... Ramatam was certainly an unworthy
testament to her abilities (not to mention a tragically dismal requeim for
Pinera and Mitchell). Chalk this one up right at the top of the "might have
been" list.
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In article <MPG.1186b622e...@news1.channel1.com>,
lspr...@channel1.com (Lin Sprague) wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Apr 1999 19:04:11 -0400 (EDT), and...@webtv.net said...
> > You posted...April Lawton(lead guitar)...did you really mean lead
> > vocals? I've never heard Ramatam...maybe they have 2 lead gtrs.,...
> > but I'd bet it's probably, April Lawton(lead vcls.)...Mike
> > Pinera(lead gtr.). The "blistering solos" you mention are surely
> > courtesy of Mike Pinera.
>
> No! It really was April Lawton playing those excellent solos. I saw
> Ramatam open up for Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in 1972 (I think that was
> the year) and she was outstanding! I ran out and bought the album
> the next day. Pinera was hardly featured, either on-stage, or on that
> first Ramatam album.
>
> I think the album is kinda crappy, except for isolated moments, but they
> were very exciting in concert.
>
> --
> ...Lin Sprague...
>
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I bought the first Ramatam album and thought the mix was one of the crappiest I'd ever heard. I thought the songs, vocals and guitar work were very good. But man, to this day I've not heard an album mixed as badly as that one.
April died a few years ago of a heart attack in New York. She still was a great lead guitarist and collaborated with a friend of mine named Rishard before she died. They recorded a song called 'Breathless' that has some of the finest guitar work you'll ever hear in rock circles.