GRAHAME BOND
''LOVE IS THE LAW (BONUS TRACKS)''
1967
59:41
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1 Love Is the Law 04:31
2 Moving Towards the Light 04:29
3 Our Love Will Come Shining Through 03:05
4 I Couldn't Stand It Anymore 04:08
5 Sun Dance 02:24
6 Crossroads of Time 02:35
7 Bad News Blues 02:49
8 Strange Times, Sad Times 04:00
9 The Naz 05:10
10 The World Will Soon Be Free 03:55
11 Long Tall Shortly (Bonus Track) 02:21
12 Long Legged Lady (Bonus Track) 02:17
13 Tell Me (Bonus Track) 02:50
14 Love Come Shining Through (Bonus Track) 02:03
15 Lease On Love (Bonus Track) 02:46
16 My Heart's in Little Pieces (Bonus Track) 03:22
17 St. James Infirmary (Bonus Track) 03:39
18 Soul Tango (Bonus Track) 03:09
All Tracks By Billy Gamble (aka Graham Bond)
8 Bonus Tracks (4 Singles Originally Released Between 1964 And 1966)
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Graham Bond/Organ, Mellotron, Alto Sax, Vocals
Hal Blaine/Drums
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REVIEW/AMG
Richie Unterberger
Love Is the Law is the first of the two LPs Graham Bond recorded for the Pulsar label in the late '60s after his move to the United States, and is the better of the pair by a wide margin. That doesn't mean, it should be cautioned, that it's that great, and it's considerably below the standard of the discs he cut in the U.K. in the mid-'60s as the leader of the Graham Bond Organisation. That might not only be because he was missing musicians of the extremely high caliber of his supporting players in the Organisation; it might also be due to him having played everything himself on the LP, with the exception of drums (by Hal Blaine) and some soulful female backup vocals. Yet there's still substantial pleasure -- if that's the right word to use for a musician with such a demonic vocal, instrumental, and compositional flavor -- to be had from Bond's consistently spooky blues-rock organ and Mellotron. If his vocals are a bit croaky, and his lyrics (where odes to free love dovetail with dread and the occult) a bit creepy, that's part of the reason the music stands out even from the eclectic palette of late-'60s rock; there's nothing else quite like it, even if it might not be his best work. The title track and "The World Will Soon Be Free" are certainly among the absolute highlights of his post-Organisation discography, and if the remake of "Our Love Will Come Shining Through" isn't up to the level of the great obscure mid-'60s U.K. 45 on which he first issued the song, it's still pretty good. If some of the lyrics seem a bit awkward and confused in their confluence of naïve romanticism and ominous foreboding, they're made up for by some quite groovy blues-jazz organ riffs. Overall, it sounds like the songwriting could have done with some polish and the arrangements with some fleshing out, but Bond fans will still find it worthwhile to seek out this rare LP.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Richie Unterberger
An important, underappreciated figure of early British R&B, Graham Bond is known in the U.S., if at all, for heading the group that Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker played in before they joined Cream. Originally an alto sax jazz player -- in fact, he was voted Britain's New Jazz Star in 1961 -- he met Bruce and Baker in 1962 after joining Alexis Koerner's Blues Incorporated, the finishing school for numerous British rock and blues musicians. By the time he, Bruce, and Baker split to form their own band in 1963, Bond was mostly playing the Hammond organ, as well as handling the lion's share of the vocals. John McLaughlin was a member of the Graham Bond Organization in the early days for a few months, and some live material that he recorded with the group was eventually issued after most of their members had achieved stardom in other contexts. Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith completed Bond's most stable lineup, who cut a couple of decent albums and a few singles in the mid-'60s.
In their prime, the Graham Bond Organization played rhythm & blues with a strong jazzy flavor, emphasizing Bond's demonic organ and gruff vocals. The band arguably would have been better served to feature Bruce as their lead singer -- he is featured surprisingly rarely on their recordings. Nevertheless, their best records were admirably tough British R&B/rock/jazzsoul, and though Bond has sometimes been labeled as a pioneer of jazz-rock, in reality it was much closer to rock than jazz. The band performed imaginative covers and fairly strong original material, and Bond was also perhaps the very first rock musician to record with the Mellotron synthesizer. Hit singles, though, were necessary for British bands to thrive in the mid-'60s, and Bond's group began to fall apart in 1966, when Bruce and Baker joined forces with Eric Clapton to form Cream. Bond attempted to carry on with the Organization for a while with Heckstall-Smith and drummer Jon Hiseman, both of whom went on to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Colosseum.
Bond never recaptured the heights of his work with the Organization. In the late '60s he moved to the U.S., recording albums with musicians including Harvey Brooks, Harvey Mandel, and Hal Blaine. Moving back to Britain, he worked with Ginger Baker's Airforce, the Jack Bruce Band, and Cream lyricist Pete Brown, as well as forming the band Holy Magick, who recorded a couple albums. Bond's demise was more tragic than most: he developed serious drug and alcohol problems and an obsession with the occult, and it has even been posthumously speculated (in the British Bond biography Mighty Shadow) that he sexually abused his stepdaughter. He committed suicide by throwing himself into the path of a London Underground train in 1974.
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GBO BIOGRAPHY/WIKIPEDIA
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GB/BIOGRAPHY/WIKIPEDIA
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''LOVE IS THE LAW (BONUS TRACKS)''
1967
59:41
**********
1 Love Is the Law 04:31
2 Moving Towards the Light 04:29
3 Our Love Will Come Shining Through 03:05
4 I Couldn't Stand It Anymore 04:08
5 Sun Dance 02:24
6 Crossroads of Time 02:35
7 Bad News Blues 02:49
8 Strange Times, Sad Times 04:00
9 The Naz 05:10
10 The World Will Soon Be Free 03:55
11 Long Tall Shortly (Bonus Track) 02:21
12 Long Legged Lady (Bonus Track) 02:17
13 Tell Me (Bonus Track) 02:50
14 Love Come Shining Through (Bonus Track) 02:03
15 Lease On Love (Bonus Track) 02:46
16 My Heart's in Little Pieces (Bonus Track) 03:22
17 St. James Infirmary (Bonus Track) 03:39
18 Soul Tango (Bonus Track) 03:09
All Tracks By Billy Gamble (aka Graham Bond)
8 Bonus Tracks (4 Singles Originally Released Between 1964 And 1966)
**********
Graham Bond/Organ, Mellotron, Alto Sax, Vocals
Hal Blaine/Drums
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Richie Unterberger
Love Is the Law is the first of the two LPs Graham Bond recorded for the Pulsar label in the late '60s after his move to the United States, and is the better of the pair by a wide margin. That doesn't mean, it should be cautioned, that it's that great, and it's considerably below the standard of the discs he cut in the U.K. in the mid-'60s as the leader of the Graham Bond Organisation. That might not only be because he was missing musicians of the extremely high caliber of his supporting players in the Organisation; it might also be due to him having played everything himself on the LP, with the exception of drums (by Hal Blaine) and some soulful female backup vocals. Yet there's still substantial pleasure -- if that's the right word to use for a musician with such a demonic vocal, instrumental, and compositional flavor -- to be had from Bond's consistently spooky blues-rock organ and Mellotron. If his vocals are a bit croaky, and his lyrics (where odes to free love dovetail with dread and the occult) a bit creepy, that's part of the reason the music stands out even from the eclectic palette of late-'60s rock; there's nothing else quite like it, even if it might not be his best work. The title track and "The World Will Soon Be Free" are certainly among the absolute highlights of his post-Organisation discography, and if the remake of "Our Love Will Come Shining Through" isn't up to the level of the great obscure mid-'60s U.K. 45 on which he first issued the song, it's still pretty good. If some of the lyrics seem a bit awkward and confused in their confluence of naïve romanticism and ominous foreboding, they're made up for by some quite groovy blues-jazz organ riffs. Overall, it sounds like the songwriting could have done with some polish and the arrangements with some fleshing out, but Bond fans will still find it worthwhile to seek out this rare LP.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Richie Unterberger
An important, underappreciated figure of early British R&B, Graham Bond is known in the U.S., if at all, for heading the group that Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker played in before they joined Cream. Originally an alto sax jazz player -- in fact, he was voted Britain's New Jazz Star in 1961 -- he met Bruce and Baker in 1962 after joining Alexis Koerner's Blues Incorporated, the finishing school for numerous British rock and blues musicians. By the time he, Bruce, and Baker split to form their own band in 1963, Bond was mostly playing the Hammond organ, as well as handling the lion's share of the vocals. John McLaughlin was a member of the Graham Bond Organization in the early days for a few months, and some live material that he recorded with the group was eventually issued after most of their members had achieved stardom in other contexts. Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith completed Bond's most stable lineup, who cut a couple of decent albums and a few singles in the mid-'60s.
In their prime, the Graham Bond Organization played rhythm & blues with a strong jazzy flavor, emphasizing Bond's demonic organ and gruff vocals. The band arguably would have been better served to feature Bruce as their lead singer -- he is featured surprisingly rarely on their recordings. Nevertheless, their best records were admirably tough British R&B/rock/jazzsoul, and though Bond has sometimes been labeled as a pioneer of jazz-rock, in reality it was much closer to rock than jazz. The band performed imaginative covers and fairly strong original material, and Bond was also perhaps the very first rock musician to record with the Mellotron synthesizer. Hit singles, though, were necessary for British bands to thrive in the mid-'60s, and Bond's group began to fall apart in 1966, when Bruce and Baker joined forces with Eric Clapton to form Cream. Bond attempted to carry on with the Organization for a while with Heckstall-Smith and drummer Jon Hiseman, both of whom went on to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Colosseum.
Bond never recaptured the heights of his work with the Organization. In the late '60s he moved to the U.S., recording albums with musicians including Harvey Brooks, Harvey Mandel, and Hal Blaine. Moving back to Britain, he worked with Ginger Baker's Airforce, the Jack Bruce Band, and Cream lyricist Pete Brown, as well as forming the band Holy Magick, who recorded a couple albums. Bond's demise was more tragic than most: he developed serious drug and alcohol problems and an obsession with the occult, and it has even been posthumously speculated (in the British Bond biography Mighty Shadow) that he sexually abused his stepdaughter. He committed suicide by throwing himself into the path of a London Underground train in 1974.
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**********
GB/BIOGRAPHY/WIKIPEDIA
**********
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