Aesop's Fables
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1966-69) - Ronny
Alterville (aka Ronny Carle) -- bass, guitar, backing vocals
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- Sonny Bottari (solo efforts) - The Laughing Dogs (Ronnie Alterville and John Scaduto) - Mud In Your Eyes (Ronnie Alterville and John Scaduto) - New Wine (John Scaduto and Barry Taylor) - Sum Pear (John Scaduto)
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Genre: horn-rock Rating: *** (3 stars) Title: In Due Time Company: Cadet Concept Catalog: LPS-323 Year: 1969 Country/State: Hampstead, Long Island Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: minor ring wear; white promo label Available: 1 Catalog ID: 5003 Price: $50.00 Cost: $1.00
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Falling somewhere in the musical spectrum between David Clayton-Thomas & Blood, Sweat and Tears and The Young Rascals, the short-lived and little known Aesop's Fables deserved a better fate. Led by singer/songwriter Sonny Bottari, the Long Island-based group was formed in 1966, eventually signing with Atlantic's ATCO subsidiary where they released a series of four widely ignored singles:
- 1966's 'I've Got Troubles' b/w 'Hidin' My Love' (ATCO catalog number 45-6453) - 1967's 'Girl, I've Got News For You' b/w 'Yes, I'm Back' (ATCO catalog number 45-6508) - 1967's 'Take A Step' b/w 'What's A Man To Do' (ATCO catalog number 45-6523) - 1968's 'The Truth' b/w 'Slow And Easy' (ATCO catalog number 45-6565)
After the four unsuccessful singles ATCO dropped the band. In a matter of months the group rebounded attracting the attention of the Chess affiliated Cadet Concept label. Eager to expand its catalog of rock material, Cadet Concept gave the go ahead for an album teaming them with producer/songwriter Bob (Robert) Gallo for their1969 label debut "In Due Time". Sporting two capable vocalists in Sonny Bottari and drummer John Scaduto, the collection aptly demonstrated the octet's enjoyable blend of blue-eyed soul and more experimental horn based outings ('Everybody's Talking' and 'Look Out' and 'In the Morning'). Featuring a mixture of Gallo-penned numbers and band originals, blue-eyed soul moves like 'Lift Up Your Hearts', 'What Is Soul' and The Rascals blue-eyed soul clone 'What Is Love' were quite commercial. Unfortunately, in the midst of a burgeoning blues and metal scene, the band's easygoing soul moves also seemed slightly out of date; almost like they were a year or two behind popular tastes. Elsewhere there were a couple of stabs at updating the sound. Sporting a much harder rock sound 'Spoons Full of Sand' came off as a weird hybrid of Cream-meets Blood, Sweat & Tears. Goofy but kind of neat. In contrast the group's lounge lizard cover of the Supremes' 'I'm Gonna Make You Love Me' was simply a boneheaded move.
Unfortunately
that seems to have been about it as far as promotional support went. By the way, dock the
collection half a star for having one of the year's ugliest covers. 1.) Lift Up Your Hearts (Barry Taylor - Ronny Alterville) - 3:33 rating: *** stars The
opener was a perfect example of the band's mash-up of Young Rascals-styled
blue-eyed soul and horn rock moves. Sonny Bottari's vocals reminded me
of Felix Cavaliere with the backing vocals hitting that You Rascals sense of
innocence and optimism. The punchy horns were okay, but really didn't
add much to the overall effect. As an aspiring bassist I always
thought I could handle Alterville's pumping bass line. Surprising
drummer John Scaduto's
opening hasn't been sampled right and left. His work provided the
highlights on this track. This time the vocals bore a distinctive
David Clayton Thomas gruffness with the overall tune sounding like a James
Brown knock off. The
title track ballad found the band going back to The Young Rascals-styled
blue-eyed soul. The harpsichord propelled mid-song section was
cute. Derivative, but still enjoyable. Wow,
Frank Krepala's
fuzz guitar added a touch of blues-rock to the mix ... well at least until
the horns kicked in and the end of the song when keyboardist Barry Taylor
was told to cut loose. With
the mildest of psych touches, 'Everyone's Talking' sounded like they'd
borrowed the Mark Lindsey book of top-40 hits. The song structure was
interesting with some cool back vocals, though the horns kept getting in the
way. Well
it opened sounding like a polka, but their nod to 'Taxman' lifted my
interest. Elsewhere the song was gave keyboardist Taylor a chance to show
his chops on Hammond B-3 while Krepala
got to nod at the George Harrison altar with another nod to 'Taxman'.
Worth hearing as one of the album's harder rocking efforts. (side 1) 1.) The Sound of Crying (Sonny Bottari - Barry Taylor - Ronny Alterville - Heins) - 2:40 rating: *** stars While
it was another tune where Bottari's vocals recalled Felix Cavaliere, 'The Sound of
Crying' with a breezy Caribbean lilt, the song was unlike anything else on
the album. Cute and it had a high "ear candy' factor. Penned
by producer Gallo, 'What Is Love' was subjected to the Phil Spector
"wall of sound" production approach. The song's sound
incredibly busy and dense, but lurking in the mess was a great chorus and
hook. Also worth noting, drummer Scaduto
played his butt off on the track. Streamlined
the song would have made a great single. It subsequently appeared as
the "B" side to their non-LP 'Temptation
'Bout To Get Me' single. Powered
by some Taylor Hammond B3, the rollicking 'Look Out' sounded a bit like a
Brian Auger and Oblivion Expressed crossed with Vanilla Fudge and The
Rascals. It was pleasant enough, but never shifted gears making for
one of the album's least memorable performances. I guess it makes sense that a record company would go with a known quantity; in this case a remake of the Diana Ross and the Supremes hit 'I'm Gonna Make You Love Me'. Their arrangement was okay; reminding me of something The Association might have done, but it wasn't even close to the original. Smothered in strings and horns, it was simply too MOR-ish for anyone to enjoy. This was the kind of pop you'd hear on The Merv Griffin show. Naturally it was the track that Cadet Concept released as a single:
- 1969's 'I'm Gonna Make You Love Me' b/w 'They Go Out and Get It' (Cadet Concept catalog number 7005).
No idea when or
where it was filmed, but YouTube has a clip of the band lip-synching the
song: Aesops
Fables- I'm Gonna Make You Love Me Nice suits.
5.) And When It's Over (Bert Sommer) - 6:21 rating: **** stars I'd previously heard Bert Sommer's original version of 'And When It's Over' (found on his 1969 "The Road To Travel" album). I'd actually owned a copy of The Vagrants cover of the song. Musically the Aesop's Fables version fell between Sommer's acoustic folkie take and The Vagrant's rock-ified arrangement. Personally I think The Aesop's Fables version was the best of the three. With the horns finally shoved into the background their arrangement sported a modest lysergic vibe; some gorgeous harmony vocals, a touch of sound collage nonsense (sounded like power tools going nuts), Taylor's Hammond B3 moves and a pair of brief Scaduto drum solos. It was an awesome way to end the album
Having already invested the money in recording sessions Cadet Concept went ahead and released a series of non-LP singles. The first two were credited to Aesop's Fables.
- 1968's 'Temptation 'Bout To Get Me' b/w 'What is Love?' (Cadet Concept catalog number 7011) - 1969's 'What Is Love?' b/w 'And When It's Over' (Cadet Concept catalog number 7016)
And then it gets weird. Producer Gallo established his own Mandala label and seemingly obtained additional Aesop's Fables material, releasing a pair of singles under the name "Aesop's Fables featuring Sonny Bottari".
- 1972's 'Ain't that Particular' b/w 'California' (Mandala catalog number 10001) - 1973's 'Easy Evil' b/w 'Pickin' Up the Pieces' (Mandala catalog number 45-2516X)
That was followed by the release of a posthumous second Aesop's Fable album on Mandala.
As part of the band Mud In Your Eye Ronnie Alterville and John Scaduto recorded the album "Million" (Mandala catalog number MANX-003) for Gallo's Mandala label. After the collapse of Mud In Your Eye they formed the New Jersey based Laughing Dogs.
Postscript: Via YouTube I discovered a 1970's version of the band reconvened for a September, 2003 reunion at the Flaming Hearth nightclub. Sonny Bottari appears to be the only "original" member as the run through a series of popular covers. AESOPS FABLES (1970'S CLUB AND SHOW COVER BAND)--- INTRO (25 YEAR REUNION)
© Scott Blackerby December, 2022
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Genre: rock Rating: *** (3 stars) Title: Pickin' Up the Pieces Company: Mandala Catalog: ST 14001 Year: 1972 Country/State: Hampstead, Long Island Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: small punch out hole top left corner; Canadian pressing Available: 1 Catalog ID: 5701 Price: $100.00 Cost: $1.00
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Most folks don't realize that there was a second Aesop's Fables album. For goodness sakes, most folks don't realize there was a debut Aesip's Fables LP. Featuring a front cover drawing of front man/vocalist Sonny Bottari and credited to "Aesop's Fables Featuring Sonny Bottari", technically you could argue it was a Bottari solo effort rather than a true band release. I won't argue the point either way. Regardless 1972's "Pickin' Up the Pieces" remains largely unknown. Many music reference works don't even list it. Of course that's understandable given it saw an extremely limited releases in Australia, Canada, and Holland (the latter released on the Pink Elephant label).
Purely speculation on my part, but it seems likely that the material for this album was recorded as a planned follow-up to 1969's "In Due Time", or reflected outtakes and other miscellaneous material recorded during the debut sessions. Produced by Bob Gallo and the first release on his Capitol-affiliated Mandala label, unlike the debut this album featured an all covers set of material. Lots of late-1960s FM stuff was to be found here including Blood, Sweat & Tears, a Stephen Stills song, three Dave Mason tunes and the Gallo-penned title track. Musically the performances weren't half bad. Bottari had a nice voice with a chameleon-like quality that made it easy for him to adapt to a variety of styles including soul ('Ain't that Particular''), pop (the title track), and harder rock ('Look At Me Look At You'). To my ears he sounded a little bit like a less hyper David Clayton-Thomas (check out the BS&T cover - 'I Can't Quit Her'). The big problem with this set was that none of the covers strayed very far from the originals which made you wonder why they bothered. Standout performance - the soulful cove of Gene Barge's 'I Don't Know'. Not an essential release, but an interesting curiosity.
"Pickin'
Up the Pieces" track listing:
1.) Ain't that Particular (Tarplin - Rogers - Smokey Robinson - Moore) - 3:14 - 1972's 'Ain't that Parrtcular' b/w 'California' (Mandala catalog number 10001) 2.) Sit Yourself Down (Stephen Stills) - 2:40 3.) Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave (Dave Mason) - 3:40 4.) California (N. Marchiano) - 3:07 5.) Look At Me
Look At You (Dave Mason) - 5:25 (side 2) 1.) I Can't Quit Her (Al Kooper - Levine) - 2:55 2.) Pickin' Up the Pieces (Bob Gallo) - 4:00 3.) Girl I've Got New for You (R. Pucetti - Brad Shappiro) - 2:50 4.) I Don't Know (Gene Barge) - 2:54 5.) Only You Know and I Know (Dave Mason) - 3:09
I
n the mid-'70s the master tapes were somehow acquired by Marvin L. Popkin's Guinness label. Known as a tax scam imprint ,the collection was slapped with a new cover and released under the title "Pickin' Up the Pieces" as a Bottari solo effort (Guinness catalog number GNS 36050).
© Scott Blackerby December, 2022
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