Touch - Down At Circe's Place (1969) Prog Band (Obscure)

[swampratje]

wauw - i'm impressed! thanx for posting

[TheKenfig]

....have just flown by, with the last 10 just gone in the blink of an eye. That is what is strange ; how each decade seems to go faster than the last. I think I am unusual as I was brought up close to my eldest brother who from when I was 5 years old played for me rock records he owned and borrowed from school friends. So by the age of 7 I was a rock music fanatic, wanting new albums by bands like The Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Roy Harper, Cream and lots of others instead of kids toys !!

[Alun53]

An absolute lost classic. This song alone was so far ahead of its time. I heard it on the compilation album 'Wowie Zowie! The World of Progressive Rock' way back in 1969. It still sends a shiver down the spine after all these years. Apparently the album did the rounds in the underground London scene and helped spark a revolution in music. Hardly surprising. Utter genius!

[TheKenfig]

@Alun53 Hey, I had that album as a 9 year old kid too !! - it had East Of Eden on it and Keef Hartley Band on it didn't it ? with an orange deram label and a sticker saying 19 shillings & 6 pence old money !!

[Alun53]

@TheKenfig A great compilation album indeed! I seem to recall tracks also by Johny Almond, Genesis and the Moody Blues. This was the track however that I kept on playing. Its sound was so weird to my ears and, in retrospect, influenced my musical taste right up the the present.

[TheKenfig]

@Alun53 Yes Alun, you're right although as I no longer have it, I had forgotten some of the tracks and had to look the content up. Ironically, although I had forgotten The Moodies being on it, I have all their prog stuff anyway & so theirs was probably the most well known on it as they were big selling megastars ; I also liked the track from 'Bare Wires', by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, an album that I now have on cd but didnt see in shops in the 70s & 80s, as I didnt live in cities

[Alun53]

@TheKenfig And I had forgotten the John Mayall track. I recall buying that album as a result. Its fascinating how we can recall in detail something like that from so long ago. I feel old!

[TheKenfig]

@Alun53 For me, what I can't get my head around is that lots of memories do not seem like so long ago in my mind. Like 30 years ago, when I was 18, I can remember everything in detail ; events, dates, people, names, what was no.1 in the charts etc etc. It's pretty much like that for me for 40 years ago too. I just have a good memory back to when I was 3 in 1966. I remember my first year at school then & what was on tv then too. It's just that the 70s seemed to last forever & the last 20 years...

[Alun53]

@TheKenfig ...have flown by! I know. We are now are parents age and what we were told about time passing quicker the older you are now is true for us. It seems hardly fair. I am as interested now in new music as I was in the 70's. I guess that part of me has still not given in to middle age cynicism.

[TheKenfig]

@Alun53 Well good luck to you friend, good to share memories of exactly the same album from all that time ago with other folks !

[venusfly9108]

I'm not 21 yet and I've just found out about these guys. It's hard to believe these guys went staggeringly overlooked throughout the 40 years while being innovative to bands like Yes, Kansas, and Uriah Heep. Makes me kinda sad.

[1969alias]

Any body know what happened to these guys?

[salamisalamibaloney]

You've lost your form, bridged the norm and come to the land where the sirens play.

Faces of red, yellow, blue, red-white sound . . . . they will sensify you.

Gently peel back your mind petals and listen, listen, listen!

[silvertube52]

So the Deram cover wasn't like the US version? The US album cover opened like a tripytch so the two out stretched arms of the group members folded to meet in the middle (as pictured on what I guess is the back of the Deram cover). Inside it was orange with hand written liner notes. It came with an orange paper band that you needed to slide off to open the hands (does that make sense?) Brilliant packaging, which is why I bought it back in 1969. So glad I did!!

[ottowes]

Don Gallucci was the nucleus behind this band, which could not tour and replicate the complex musical arrangements they were able to create in the studio. Jimi Hendrix actually reserved studio time just to have an advanced listen to their compositions. Sadly, the band split and the release received hardly any airplay at all. Gallucci played in Don and The Goodtimes, on a Dick Clark daily ABC show and he played the played the organ on Louie, Louie by The Kingsmen at age 16.

[manfromjax]

This was my favorite album when i was a "stoner" It really did sound good when one was stone.. Have it in my collection. Brings back memories. Didn't think there was anyone else who knew about TOUCH except for me!

[audiotrax2000]

I've been looking for this since a friend played it for me in the 70's. Almost thought I imagined it. Thank you so much for posting this!

[squidaudio]

Thanks minute, just picked up 5 copies on ebay incl the Deram 1033 UK LP. I was 14 yrs old when this band made a huge impression on a young hellraiser. I lost the first copy, and was never the same so had to aquire them again. One of the band members Bruce Hauser e-mailed me on 11/09/09 (my birthday to thank me for a nice comment I made about the band on MySpace. Posters are hard to come by. Glad to see a rebirth of interest in TOUCH.

[PQRLOVE]

@squidaudio Is there any different music on the Deram album? Ask Bruce how soon for a new album. I know bands need to take a break, but after four decades...

[puddypuss]

Ive also got this lp, and I believe its come out on cd now but the lps a better art form. it still sounds good today. I can trace elements of groups like vanilla fudge, the nice and jefferson airplane in there

[PQRLOVE]

The next lines are, "we are sitting there, looking at smoke rings, ... and a little bit of truth creeps in..."

[ectowle]

@PQRLOVE

?

"Aleisha & Others" sounds like American Music Club's "Apology For An Accident"

[PQRLOVE]

@ectowle Is AmeMusClb a band? Or are you being sarcastic?

[PQRLOVE]

One of the three finest albums of the century. I fortunately own two copies. NFS

Total Beauty

The Very Best

[breeenan]

I've never written a youtube comment- but I can't believe I'm seeing and hearing this cut on line- I wore this album out as a kid- I LOVE IT! So cool you put that on.