Genre: rock
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title: Primeval Road
Company: Same Old Label
Catalog: SRK 1000
Year: 1976
Country/State: East Dubuque, Iowa
Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+
Comments: gatefold sleeve; 2nd version with 'Dear Friends' (opened shrink wrap and played once to copy to CDR for personal use)
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 5344
Price: $100.00
This album sat in my 'to-listen-to' pile for over two years. The butt ugly cover and the fact it was a sealed copy combined to keep me skipping over it in favor of something else. Dumb of me since it's become one of my favorite recent discoveries.
Can't say I know a great deal about David Chalmers, other than what I cribbed off of his entertaining website. He's been a professional musician since the mid-1960s playing in a stream of local bands including The Dark Side, Butterscotch Grove/The Grove, Dogs That Fly, and the cleverly named Dave Chalmers Band. He also owns Sound Workshop Studios located in Loomis, California.
As a solo artist Chalmers made his debut with 1976's "Primeval Road". Co-produced by Chalmers and Albert Hurst (who also played drums on a number of songs), there were actually two versions of the LP. The first was released by the Same Old Label (catalog number 64109) with a gatefold sleeve and featured nine songs. Sporting the same artwork, the second version was released by River Records and sported an eight song track listing - the song 'Dear Friends' replacing a pair of guitar rockers found on the first version ('Houston' and 'Snow-White Horse'). As mentioned earlier, musically the set was surprisingly good for something that showcased a significant singer/songwriter quotient. Technically Chalmers may not have owned the most impressive voice you've ever heard, but he certainly knew how to use his gift, turning in a series of songs that were both melodic and lyrically entertaining. Tracks such as 'Dear Friends' (which really did recall something out of The Moody Blues' catalog), 'Stage Coach' and 'Don't Want To Go Home' were nothing short of charming, holding up to repeated listenings far better than a lot of more heavily hyped offerings. You also had to admire Chalmers' guitar work. Operating under the long lost 'less-is-more' idiom, solos on songs like 'Hotel Room' and 'Don't Want To Go Home' were kept short and tasteful, only serving to underscore the man's considerable talents. That probably disappointed a lot of folks who bought the album expecting to hear a wall of wailing guitar. I wasn't one of them. The album's other notable characteristic was its sound. It may have been recorded in 1976, but the atmosphere and vibe was pure early-1970s. Mind you the album wasn't perfect. With an over-abundance of slow tunes, side two started to fade, before being rescued by the synthesizer propelled closer 'Function Clan'.
"Primeval
Road" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Dear
Friends (David Chalmers) - 4:00
2.) Hotel Room (David Chalmers) - 4:00
3.) Stage Coach (David Chalmers) - 4:46
4.) Don't Want To Go Home (David Chalmers) - 6:13
(side
2)
1.) Driver's Wheel
(David Chalmers) - 3:22
2.) Primeval Road (David Chalmers) - 7:35
3.) I Don't Want To Talk About It (Danny Whitten) - 4:11
4.) Function Clan (David Chalmers) - 4:54
Interestingly in 2005-2007 Chalmers got into the resale act himself. Apparently sitting on a large stash of the first two LPs, he began selling them on eBay with prices quickly tumbling from the $100 range down to $50-$60 though the supply seems to have dried up. (Yes I bought my copies from him and he was nice enough to include a CD featuring some more recent work.)
Here's a link to Chalmers' entertaining website:
