The Far Cry • The Far Cry (Vanguard/Apostolic, 1969)

As the year comes to a close, and I look back at the various excavations that I have been lucky enough to benefit from; The Czalak Minor Temple wall paintings proving the Empire of Alzatho was a contemporary, or the left foot of that fearsome beast washed ashore twenty million years after it's extinction on Long Island Sound, none come close to my discovery of The Far Cry's lone LP.

How this inventive a band has escaped the books is beyond me! Even though there are some musical reference points; The dreaded Grateful Dead, or Paul Butterfield Blues Band, it's the crazed vocals of Jere Whiting that almost steal the show. To the untrained ear, you would think him a poor Van Vliet, but where the Captain's voice is a organic part of the sound of the Magic Band, Whiting's is a shrill non put on insanity, contrary to the polish of the band. I could not imagine anyone else fronting the group. A lesser visionary would no doubt be tempted to slick up the singing, and turn this into a B level Blood, Sweat, & Tears. Thank God for Jere. He shrieks, yells, misses cues, and even gives the Sax player a run for his money, and it works. On the one track he doesn't emote on, the instrumental Earthlight, The Far Cry employ the same loping back beat that the Dead use. Yet where the Dead go on full snooze, emulating a muzak version of Take Five for the hippies, The Far Cry it's an aggressive affair. Tight playing and a heavy Sax way up front. Best of all, in 1969 when most musicians overstayed their welcome the moment they tuned up, the whole thing is done under four minutes.

Please click on the review title for selected track: Midnight Juice