Post by darkstar on Apr 27, 2006 18:44:49 GMT
LINER NOTES FOR DAVID ACKLES'S SUBWAY TO THE COUNTRY
By Richie Unterberger
David Ackles's 1968 self-titled Elektra debut (also reissued on CD by
Collectors' Choice Music) had unveiled one of the most unusual singer-
songwriters of the late 1960s. Brooding and intense, if leavened by a
certain proud resilience and touches of mordant whimsy, it also
merged the late-1960s Elektra house rock sound with elements of
Ackles's background in musical theater. His 1969 follow-up Subway to
the Country was still, just about, a rock singer-songwriter record.
Yet it amplified the theatrical facet of his work, while expanding
from a rock base into more involved and orchestrated arrangements.
Ackles had cut his first album with rock musicians (most of whom
would later play in Rhinoceros) who had played with Iron Butterfly,
the Electric Flag, and Buffalo Springfield. Only one of those session
men, guitarist Doug Hastings, would reappear in the credits to Subway
to the Country. More than 20 musicians, in fact, would contribute to
the record, produced by Russ Miller (who had co-produced David Ackles
with David Anderle), among them such A-team L.A. session cats as
drummer Jim Gordon and bassist Larry Knechtel. For all that traffic,
the arrangements were sharply honed, with Fredric Myrow adding the
most orchestral colors with his arranging and conducting.
Like Ackles, Myrow had no background to speak of in rock music, but
somehow got drawn into the unpredictable net of Elektra's rock roster
in the late 1960s, when borders of all kinds were falling right and
left. He'd been a composer-in-residence under Leonard Bernstein at
the New York Philharmonic, but by the late 1960s was scoring an
experimental movie for former UCLA film student-turned-rock-star Jim
Morrison, Highway. Myrow would go on to discuss creating a musical
with Morrison, with Myrow doing the music and Morrison the text and
lyrics, although those plans were scrapped after the Doors' singer's
death in 1971.
Source: www.richieunterberger.com/subway.html
By Richie Unterberger
David Ackles's 1968 self-titled Elektra debut (also reissued on CD by
Collectors' Choice Music) had unveiled one of the most unusual singer-
songwriters of the late 1960s. Brooding and intense, if leavened by a
certain proud resilience and touches of mordant whimsy, it also
merged the late-1960s Elektra house rock sound with elements of
Ackles's background in musical theater. His 1969 follow-up Subway to
the Country was still, just about, a rock singer-songwriter record.
Yet it amplified the theatrical facet of his work, while expanding
from a rock base into more involved and orchestrated arrangements.
Ackles had cut his first album with rock musicians (most of whom
would later play in Rhinoceros) who had played with Iron Butterfly,
the Electric Flag, and Buffalo Springfield. Only one of those session
men, guitarist Doug Hastings, would reappear in the credits to Subway
to the Country. More than 20 musicians, in fact, would contribute to
the record, produced by Russ Miller (who had co-produced David Ackles
with David Anderle), among them such A-team L.A. session cats as
drummer Jim Gordon and bassist Larry Knechtel. For all that traffic,
the arrangements were sharply honed, with Fredric Myrow adding the
most orchestral colors with his arranging and conducting.
Like Ackles, Myrow had no background to speak of in rock music, but
somehow got drawn into the unpredictable net of Elektra's rock roster
in the late 1960s, when borders of all kinds were falling right and
left. He'd been a composer-in-residence under Leonard Bernstein at
the New York Philharmonic, but by the late 1960s was scoring an
experimental movie for former UCLA film student-turned-rock-star Jim
Morrison, Highway. Myrow would go on to discuss creating a musical
with Morrison, with Myrow doing the music and Morrison the text and
lyrics, although those plans were scrapped after the Doors' singer's
death in 1971.
Source: www.richieunterberger.com/subway.html