Day six of the Rocky Mountain Battle of the Garage Bands has us back in Colorado. Today we spin a record by Greeley, Colorado band, The Soothsayers.
The Soothsayers rose out of the farm town of Greeley, Colorado to record two very fine singles for Acropolis Records in 1966. Both had great picture sleeves that show a little bit of artsy-fartsy tendencies of the designer. The front side of the sleeve was taken at the corner of Colfax Avenue and Broadway with the State Capitol building peeking out from behind the fountain. But check out the heart throb photo on the backside of the cover. Nice. The band was Dave Van Omen on guitar, John Gibson on lead guitar, Rich Sallee on bass and lead vocals, Rick Irvine on the keys and Steve Jaynes on drums.
The A-Side is the Zombies-like I Don't Know, composed by Dave Van Omen and some hep-cat named G. Finney. Maybe it is more like The Nightcrawlers of Florida. Hmmm. Harmonies and jangly guitar abound on the gentle, inquisitive number.
The flip-side, Please, Don't Be Mad was composed by the two guitarists, Dave Van Omen and John Gibson. A little bit more of an upbeat rocker, it features Rich Sallee's vocals more front and center but with nice harmonies plotted in at the appropriate times.
The two songs were apparently produced by dad, a Mr. Gary Sallee. Good job, dad.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!
HI, I'm Steve Jaynes, VERY young fellow on the far right in the picture, drummer of the Soothsayers. I can tell you our Lead Guitarist, John Gibson is alive and well living in Idaho. Rich (Richie) Sallee remained true to the craft and became an extremely accomplished bassist in the jazz music scene in and around Denver. He is well known and respected in the Denver jazz and blues circles. I played semi-professionally until 1980, but was mainly focused on my 46 year career in electronics and computers and my family of six. Now retired, I'm still married after 48 years but sustained two separate accidents to each wrist which precluded a continued long hours of playing the drums. I can still rip out some good riffs, but the bad wrists have ended my endurance. I can still show the youngsters the tricks they'll only otherwise learn with years on the throne...
ReplyDeleteI love it. Thanks for stopping by Steve and giving us the update. You do look so young in that picture. I sill need to pick up the second single from Greeley's finest.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity who is G. Finney?
ReplyDelete