STORIES
''TRAVELING UNDERGROUND''
1973
41:21
1/Bridges
Ian Lloyd/5:08
2/Soft Rain
Ian Lloyd / Steve Love/4:34
3/Hard When You're So Far Away
Steve Lowe/4:27
4/If It Feels Good (Do It)
John Stevenson/2:48
5/Mammy Blue
Hubert Giraud / Phil Trim/3:41
6/Stories Untold
Ian Lloyd/4:03
7/I Can't Understand It
Steve Love/3:55
8/Earthbound/Freefall
Kenneth Bichel / Ian Lloyd/8:14
9/Traveling Underground
Ian Lloyd/4:31
Kenny Aaronson /Bass, Guest Artist
Kenneth Bichel /ARP Synthesizer, Keyboards, Mellotron, Synthesizer
Michael Brown /Keyboards, Synthesizer
Ian Lloyd /Vocals
Stewe Love /Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Bryan Madey /Drums, Percussion
Larry Wilcox /String Arrangements
REVIEW
by Alex Henderson
With 1973's Traveling Underground, Stories changed its name to Ian Lloyd & Stories and unveiled a new five-man lineup. Lead singer Lloyd (a whiskey-voiced belter comparable to Rod Stewart and Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant), guitarist Steve Love, and drummer Bryan Madey were still on board. But keyboardist/composer Michael Brown (a graduate of Left Banke and Montage) was gone, and the new members were keyboardist Kenneth Bichel and bassist Kenny Aaronson. Traveling Underground proved that there was life after Brown for Stories; this is a generally solid effort, although About Us remains the band's most essential album. Like before, Stories came out with an R&B-minded single that doesn't sound anything like the rest of the album it's on. "Mammy Blue" is as different from the other songs on Traveling Underground as "Brother Louie" is from the rest of About Us. A long way from the R&B leanings of "Mammy Blue," tracks like "Stories Untold," "Hard When You're So Far Away," and "Earth Bound/Freefall" favor the type of baroque art-rock approach that had worked so well on Stories' previous releases. "Brother Louie" and "Mammy Blue" indicated that Stories might have made a great blue-eyed soul band, instead, Traveling Underground is the work of a fine pop-rock/art-rock band that occasionally detoured into blue-eyed soul.
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Though originally helmed by onetime Left Banke mastermind Michael Brown, Stories ironically scored their lone hit, the 1973 chart-topper "Brother Louie," following Brown's exit from the lineup. After leaving Left Banke in 1967, Brown -- the keyboardist who composed the group's classic "Walk Away, Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina" -- cut a 1969 LP with the band Montage which closely recalled the pioneering baroque pop approach of his previous work; he then formed Stories with vocalist Ian Lloyd, guitarist Steve Love, and drummer Bryan Madey. Following the group's self-titled 1972 Kama Sutra label debut, the mercurial Brown abruptly resigned, at which point the remaining Stories recruited bassist Kenny Aaronson and pianist Ken Bichel to record 1973's About Us. "Brother Louie," a tale of interracial romance penned by Hot Chocolate's Errol Brown, hit number one that summer, but Stories never again returned to the Top 40. Brown, meanwhile, resurfaced in 1976, leading the short-lived Beckies before spending the following decades out of the limelight.
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''TRAVELING UNDERGROUND''
1973
41:21
1/Bridges
Ian Lloyd/5:08
2/Soft Rain
Ian Lloyd / Steve Love/4:34
3/Hard When You're So Far Away
Steve Lowe/4:27
4/If It Feels Good (Do It)
John Stevenson/2:48
5/Mammy Blue
Hubert Giraud / Phil Trim/3:41
6/Stories Untold
Ian Lloyd/4:03
7/I Can't Understand It
Steve Love/3:55
8/Earthbound/Freefall
Kenneth Bichel / Ian Lloyd/8:14
9/Traveling Underground
Ian Lloyd/4:31
Kenny Aaronson /Bass, Guest Artist
Kenneth Bichel /ARP Synthesizer, Keyboards, Mellotron, Synthesizer
Michael Brown /Keyboards, Synthesizer
Ian Lloyd /Vocals
Stewe Love /Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Bryan Madey /Drums, Percussion
Larry Wilcox /String Arrangements
REVIEW
by Alex Henderson
With 1973's Traveling Underground, Stories changed its name to Ian Lloyd & Stories and unveiled a new five-man lineup. Lead singer Lloyd (a whiskey-voiced belter comparable to Rod Stewart and Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant), guitarist Steve Love, and drummer Bryan Madey were still on board. But keyboardist/composer Michael Brown (a graduate of Left Banke and Montage) was gone, and the new members were keyboardist Kenneth Bichel and bassist Kenny Aaronson. Traveling Underground proved that there was life after Brown for Stories; this is a generally solid effort, although About Us remains the band's most essential album. Like before, Stories came out with an R&B-minded single that doesn't sound anything like the rest of the album it's on. "Mammy Blue" is as different from the other songs on Traveling Underground as "Brother Louie" is from the rest of About Us. A long way from the R&B leanings of "Mammy Blue," tracks like "Stories Untold," "Hard When You're So Far Away," and "Earth Bound/Freefall" favor the type of baroque art-rock approach that had worked so well on Stories' previous releases. "Brother Louie" and "Mammy Blue" indicated that Stories might have made a great blue-eyed soul band, instead, Traveling Underground is the work of a fine pop-rock/art-rock band that occasionally detoured into blue-eyed soul.
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Though originally helmed by onetime Left Banke mastermind Michael Brown, Stories ironically scored their lone hit, the 1973 chart-topper "Brother Louie," following Brown's exit from the lineup. After leaving Left Banke in 1967, Brown -- the keyboardist who composed the group's classic "Walk Away, Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina" -- cut a 1969 LP with the band Montage which closely recalled the pioneering baroque pop approach of his previous work; he then formed Stories with vocalist Ian Lloyd, guitarist Steve Love, and drummer Bryan Madey. Following the group's self-titled 1972 Kama Sutra label debut, the mercurial Brown abruptly resigned, at which point the remaining Stories recruited bassist Kenny Aaronson and pianist Ken Bichel to record 1973's About Us. "Brother Louie," a tale of interracial romance penned by Hot Chocolate's Errol Brown, hit number one that summer, but Stories never again returned to the Top 40. Brown, meanwhile, resurfaced in 1976, leading the short-lived Beckies before spending the following decades out of the limelight.
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