Gulliver
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1969-70) - Daryl Hall -- vocals, keyboards
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- The Assembled Multitude (Thomas Sellers)
- The Electric Indian (Daryl Hall, Jim Helmer
and Tom Sellers) - Pal and the Prophets (Daryl Hall) - Andy Robinson - The Temptones (Daryl Hall)
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Genre: rock Rating: ** (2 stars) Title: Gulliver Company: Elektra Catalog: EKS-74070 Year: 1969 Country/State: US Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: promo white label, promo sticker on cover, minor ring, edge and corner wear; minor staining on cover Available: 1 Catalog ID: -- Price: $20.00
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Brought together by manager/producer John Madara, Gulliver was an early effort at marketing what might best be termed "corporate" music. With a line up consisting of Temple University student/vocalist Daryl Hall, drummer Jim Helmer, bassist Thomas Sellers and singer/guitarist Tim Moore, the group had more than it's share of talent, quickly attracting the attention of Jac Holtzman's Elektra Records.
1.) Every Day's a Lovely Day (Tom Sellers - Tim Moore - Daryl Hall) - 2:45 rating: **** stars "Every Day's a Lovely Day" displayed a bouncy keyboard propelled melody and Daryl Hall's instantly recognizable voice. The song's real highlight came in the form of the ear candy chorus. Easy to see why Elektra tapped it as a single and it should have been a hit.
- 1970's "Every Day's a
Lovely Day" b/w "Angelina" (Elektra catalog number
EKM-45689-A/B)
With Moore handling lead
vocals, "I'm Really Smokin'" found the band demonstrating they
could handle a harder rocking tune. With
some classical organ touches, the keyboard ballad "Christine"
found Hall singing in an atypical lower register.
Interesting to see former The Dovells lead
singer Len Barry credited with co-writing the tune. Shame the song was
truncated just as a nice keyboard solo kicked in. The song as also
tapped as the "B" side on the band English "Angelina"
45.
"Rose Come Home"
offered up a weird mix of top-40 pop (nice melody) and barbershop quartet
moves. Not their finest moment though it had some commercial
potential.
Essentially
a Tim Moore solo effort, "Enough" was a pretty, if forgettable
acoustic ballad. In contrast "Over the Mountain" was a full
band arrangement with Moore and Hall swapping lead vocals on an attractive
Gospel-tinged ballad. Kind of a Motown vibe here. Unlike
"Enough" where Moore's voice sounded tenuous and fragile, he
sounded great on "Over the Mountain" - actually better than
Hall.
(side 2) 1.) Angelina (Tim Moore) - 3:10 rating: *** stars A pretty harpsichord powered ballad with a nice chorus and great band backing vocals, Moore's wispy vocals gave "Angelina" an English pop flavor. The track was tapped as a single in the UK. In the States it appeared as the "B" side on their "Every Day's a Lovely Day" single.
- 1970's "Angelina" b/w :Christine" (Elektra catalog number 2101-017-A/B
"Flogene"
found Moore and the band striving to show they could rock out. To my
ears the song sound extremely derivative, marred by lousy vocals, weird
backing vocals and some bland Moore lead guitar.
Another
attempt at sounding "heavy". The opening riff sounded like
it had been borrowed from the "Batman" theme and while it wasn't
great, Hall's voice was better suited to the genre than Moore's.
My
choice for the album's standout performance, the lone instrumental,
"Seventy" sported some of Moore's best lead guitar and a nice,
rock oriented melody.
Hum, I'd argue "A Truly Good Song" really wasn't ... The sentiments may have been sincere, but came off as '70s naive. When the children's chorus "la-la-las" kicked in it all became sickening sweet. Think I'd rather hear The New Seekers singing to Coke commercial. It sounded more sincere.
All four band members provided backup support on Bernard Binnick's The Electric Indian studio project and the resulting 1969 "Keem-O-Sabe" album (United Artists catalog number UAS 6728). Sellers was also credited with arranging several tracks on the album.
For any hardcore fans, the four band members (along with Hall's future partner John Oates), participated in recording sessions for Philadelphia-based folk singer Andy Robinson's second album - 1970's "Break Out of the City" (Janus catalog number JLS 3013).
With Hall going on to enjoy gigantic success as a member of Hall and Oates and a solo act, it was only natural record labels would start looking for early Hall material to release in order to supply material to rabid fans. Wes Farrell's RCA affiliated Chelsea label joined the fray with the release of 1976 "Past Times Behind" (Chelsea catalog number CHL-547). Released as a Hall & Oates effort, the album included three Gulliver tracks "A Lot Of Changes Comin'", an alternative version of "Angelina" (with Hall handling lead vocals) and "The Reason Why". Chelsea even released one of those tracks as a single:
credited to "Daryl Hall with Gulliver" - 1976's "The Reason Why" (mono) b/w "The Reason Why" (stereo) (Chelsea catalog number CH 3063)
Moore and Sellers reappeared with solo careers.
Sadly, Sellers died in a 1988 house fire.
® Scott R. Blackerby Septmeber 2025
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,
to my ears 1969's "Gulliver" lacked anything that made it
particularly distinctive. With Hall and Moore responsible for the majority
of the eleven compositions, the album found the quartet trying to find a path between conventional rockers
like "I'm Really Smokin" and "Flogene" and early stabs at blue-eyed Philly soul
like "Every Day's a Lovely Day" and "Over the
Mountain". In addition to writing most of the material, Hall and
Moore handled lead vocals. Hall's voice was instantly recognizable and
for the most part his performances were stronger than Moore's work.
When serving as lead singer Moore just didn't make much of an impression
on softer, acoustic numbers like "Enough"
and "Angelina". He was far
better swapping vocals with Hall on the up-tempo tracks like the
gospel-tinged "Over the Mountain".
The album wasn't a total washout with performances like the single "Every Day's a Lovely Day"
and "Lemon Road" sported decent melodies. Best of the
lot was the lone instrumental "Seventy".
Elektra certainly didn't put much effort into promoting the
collection; and the album proving a commercial flop. The group quickly disbanded, though not before recording a couple of demos with guitarist John Oates.
