Esoteric Recordings, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, continues to mine gold for fans of the more progressive sounds coming out of the fertile, late-1960s/early 1970s British music scene.
The self-titled 1971 album by Spring (not to be confused with the group of the same name involving Brian Wilson's first wife Marilyn and sister Diane) was the sixth release by the short-lived RCA Neon label. RCA had established Neon to compete with other prog-minded imprints like EMI's Harvest, Philips' Vertigo, Decca's Nova, and Pye's Dawn. Spring came with a strong imprimatur thanks to producer Gus Dudgeon, already known by that point for his work for both Elton John and David Bowie. Though vocalist Pat Moran and bassist Adrian "Bone" Maloney had first worked together in 1965 as part of the band Sleepy John's Opus and then in Sissy, Spring formed in 1969 with the pair joined by Tony Shipman on guitar, Graham Bevin on keyboards and Terry Abbs on drums. While writing material and honing their craft on the road, Spring splintered, with Shipman and Abbs departing in late 1969 to be replaced by Ray Martinez and Pick Withers, respectively, both of whom had been part of The Primitives. The revolving door kept on moving, with Graham Bevin leaving in January 1970 and Kips Brown taking over on keyboards. The line-up of Moran, Maloney, Martinez, Brown and Withers was the group that entered Rockfield Studios (and later, Trident) to record Spring, which Esoteric has reissued as a 2-CD deluxe edition.
Gus Dudgeon's light touch was evident on the organic sound of Spring. He recorded the group like a live band, with minimal overdubs and only utilizing orchestration when subtle and appropriate. The mellotron, played by three of the band's members, also aided in lending Spring's album a distinctive style. With just eight tracks, Spring was a tight showcase for the group's original songs - both lengthy cuts like the epic, seven-minute "Golden Fleece" and taut, short songs like "Boats" and piano ballad "Song to Absent Friends (The Island)." (The liner notes reveal that those two tracks were the only two of the album's songs not performed in concert by the forward-thinking band.) Crisply melodic but with enough room for instrumental exploration, Spring's sound blending folk, pop and progressive rock might have propelled the band to success, but it wasn't meant to be despite some key gigs like an opening slot for The Velvet Underground.
Following the album's disappointing sales, Spring fractured again. Moloney, one of the two longest-serving members, departed in September 1971 to be replaced by Pete Decindis. Martinez followed Moloney out of the band, though he returned in a session musician capacity for Spring's intended follow-up LP. But RCA declined to release the record (which contained some more mellow tracks in addition to the expected prog offerings), and Spring broke up. Moran remained at Rockfield Studios as an engineer and then moved into production, helming albums by Iggy Pop, Hawkwind, Robert Plant, Big Country and others. Martinez remained a session guitarist, and Withers too developed a reputation as a first-call session drummer before joining Dire Straits for that band's first four LPs.
Happily, Esoteric's reissue not only boasts the Spring LP as remastered by Ben Wiseman from the original master tapes, but also premieres nine tracks from the aborted second album. Those songs are joined by all three bonus tracks which previously appeared on a 1992 CD edition of Spring. The 20-page color booklet accompanying the reissue features new liner notes by Malcolm Dome as well as full lyrics and a Spring timeline and performance calendar for 1965-1972!
Spring is available now from Esoteric Recordings at the links below!
Spring, Spring: Expanded Edition (RCA Neon NE 6, 1971 - reissued Esoteric ECLEC 22495, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
CD 1: The Original Album
- The Prisoner (Eight by Ten)
- Grail
- Boats
- Shipwrecked Soldier
- Golden Fleece
- Inside Out
- Song to Absent Friends (The Island)
- Gazing
CD 2: Demos and additional recordings 1971
- Devil's Bandits (Jack and Jim)
- Hendre Mews (First Version)
- World Full of Whispers
- Painted Ship
- High Horses
- Fernleigh Avenue
- Blackbird (Helping the Helpless)
- Beautiful Losers
- Flying Is an Easy Speed (Get My Share)
- Fool's Gold
- Hendre Mews (Extended Version)
- World Full of Whispers (Alternate Version)
All tracks previously unreleased except Tracks 10-12 first released in 1992 on The Lasers Edge CD.
Re; the *other* Spring… Not that it's a big deal, but Ginger Blake wasn't Marilyn (Rovell) Wilson's sister; they were cousins. The sisters were Diane and Marilyn (and it remains a source of amusement to me that Brain wrote a love song called "My Diane" but not one called "Marilyn"! Awkwaaaaard...). All three were, of course, known as The Honeys, but American Spring included only the two Rovell sisters.
And to make matters more confusing, there was also a *third* Spring band in Canada at the same time!
WK
Indeed, William, that was just a typo (or a Freudian slip?) substituting Ginger's name for Diane's - a case of Honeys on the mind! It's since been caught and rectified. Thanks for reading!
Spring were a band that originated from Leicester UK.
Unclear how Joe Marchese making comment about Spring, or for that matter, William Keats.
John Moran (pronounced as per Irish).
Joe Marchese has not done his homework.
I, one of Pat Moran's brothers knows better.
Do not publish until you know what you are talking about.
John Moran.
With all due respect, I am unclear as to what you are objecting. There were two groups called Spring - the subject of the article above, and the American group led by Marilyn Wilson. What is your issue with the article above? If you feel anything above is in error, please feel free to share. Thank you!