Plateau. 1978 Tube
I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Ontario in the 1970's was an extension of the US Midwest - at least from an economic perspective. And so it comes as no surprise that the music shares similarities. We've waxed on a number of times about this most unique of American made rock music. And I'll be honest, I never viewed Connolly with this lens, until a revisit of the LP a couple of years back. Wham-bam, bullseye! Get your Ethos, Dillinger, Starcastle, and October albums out and compare.
Even though Connolly is standing next to a double neck guitar on the back cover, I believe his true passion is keyboards (and he's loaded with all the fun analog stuff like Mellotron, Mini Moog, and Hammond). The concept is pure 1970's space alien fantasy and comes complete with a goofy comic book (and any righteous CD label MUST reproduce this bad boy). For the album, Connolly put together two entirely different groups, each side represented. Side 1 mixes narration, female vocals, acoustic balladry and all out progressive rock that recalls Eloy's Power and the Passion, but truthfully better. Side 2 is where Connolly hands over the guitar duties as well as brings on a male lead singer - while he focuses entirely on the keys. No question this side is the more traditional progressive rock, though the vocals tend towards the AOR side, typical of the region. Given this new outlook, I'm appreciating Robert Connolly's album more now than ever. It's the time and place.
Priority: 2
1/15/11 (new entry); 7/12/14 (update)
2 comments:
I'd love to find out more about Connolly. There is a photo of him on the back, but no photo of this guy that found skulls in Peru, whom may or may not be Robert. Cambrix Publishing doesn't seem to exist anymore... and Tube Records, they may have well not existed with how much info is available on them.
One of the backup artists, Greg McIlveen, plays/played with Johnie Lovesin, an artist who may be accessible.
Robert Connolly here - It's interesting that this early work of mine has a few fans. Yes I am the same one that took the pictures of the skulls. The search for ancient wisdom was a spin off my my TV series "Timeless Places" and now I am directing my attention to healing with electromagnetic fields. I am almost finished a doc about it - and it will be an eBook too.
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