Kyle
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1972) - William Kyle Eidson II (aka William Eidson) -- vocals, rhythm guitar
supporting musicians (1971) - Jimmy Calvert -- rhythm guitar - Rhys Clark -- drums, percussion - Joe DeAndrea -- drums, percussion - Don Evans -- lead guitar - Steve Feldman -- keyboards - Brian King --- keyboards - Gary King -- bass - Kenny Laghuna -- harpsichord - Norman Marzano -- bass
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- The Sin-Say-Shuns
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Genre: pop Rating: 2 stars ** Title: Times That Try a Man's Soul Company: Paramount Year: 1971 Country/State: Pasadena, California Grade (cover/record): NM/NM Comments: still sealed; includes lyric sheet Available: 1 Catalog ID: -- Price: $30.00
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Trolling around the internet I couldn't find a great deal of information about Kyle (aka William Kyle Eidson II), or his 1971 debut album. In fact, the longest "review" I could find of his 1971 debut LP "Times That Try a Man's Soul" was about 100 words in length. Yeah, good luck forming an opinion of an album on that.
Turns out singer/guitarist Eidson was previously a member of the Pasadena, California based Sin-Say-Shuns who recorded a series of mid-'60s garage singles and a 1966 album for the small Hollywood-based Venett label ("I'll Be There: Live! At P.J.'s, Hollywood" (Venett catalog number VS-940).
1971 found Eidson teamed with label owner/producer Artie Ripp and his recently established Family Productions imprint; distributed nationally by Paramount. Ripp's probably best known for signing a young Billy Joel to a long-term recording contract and then managing to master his debut album "Cold Spring Harbor" at the wrong speed. Ultimately Ripp had the last laugh since he owned Joel's recording soul for the next five years, extracting a large percentage on all sales and holding on to Joel's publishing rights until the late-'70s when Columbia Records purchased them and gifted them back to Joel.. Sounds like the kind of guy you'd want to go into business with - right?
1971's
"Times That Try a Man's Soul" was produced by Artie
Ripp at New York's The Record Plant. With backing from Family studio
musician like drummer Rhys Clark and guitarist Don Evans the collection
featured eight Kyle original tunes that bounced across the musical spectrum
including singer/songwriter ballads ('Time'), country-tinged performances
('Virginia Travell
"Times
That Try a Man's Soul" track listing: 1.) Virginia Traveller (Kyle) - 4:04 rating: ** stars Kyle's voice wasn't anywhere near as interesting as Joe South, or Tony Joe White, but the country-tinged, blue-collar-life-sucks lyrics sounded very much like something South or White might have penned. Kyle certainly tried to sell the song, but to my ears it sounded like he was simply trying too hard. Not sure why it was tapped as the leadoff single:
- 1971's 'Virginia Traveller' b/w 'The Reason' (Paramount catalog number PAA-0100)
2.) Some Day (Kyle) - 4:29 rating: ** stars The "let's share in everyone's pain" lyrics were very early '70s and haven't aged particularly well. And once again, Kyle's "hard sell' vocals were kind of irritating. 3.) Times That Try A Man's Soul (Kyle) - 3:12 rating: ** stars The title track was a bouncy country-rocker that was dragged down by heavy orchestration and a raw and ragged Kyle lead vocal. The song was also released as a single:
- 1971's 'Times That Try A Man's Soul' b/w 'Soul Smith' (Family catalog number FPA 0920X)
4.) Think I'm Gonna Rain (Kyle) - 4:17 rating: *** stars Perhaps the album's prettiest performance, the heavily orchestrated ballad 'Think I'm Gonna Rain' gave Jimmy Webb a run for his money in the anguished singer/songwriter department. Nice guitar solo from Don Evans.
(side
2) Musically 'Black Gets Blacker' was the album's most conventional rocker. In contrast Kyle's lyrics decrying racial relations in this country were anything but conventional. Sad that there's been so little change since 1971. I have to laugh at the thought of a radio station even contemplating playing this one. 2.) Soul Smith (Kyle) - 4:30 rating: ** stars Starting as a pretty singer/songwriter ballad, 'Soul Smith' grew progressively more rock oriented as it rolled along. Like many of the other performances, the tune was ultimately undermined by Kyle's overly earnest vocals and John De Andrea's heavy-handed orchestation. 3.) Time (Kyle) - 4:41 rating: *** stars Another pretty ballad, 'Time' was the song that came the closest to being memorable. It was also the song that served to showcase how nice Kyle's natural voice was. 4.) The Reason (Kyle) - 3:12 rating: ** stars Hey, let's throw in a closing ballad ...I know, you've heard these comments before - 'The Reason' offered up a slice of heavily orchestrated, sensitive singer/songwriter material. Yeah, this one was a bit fey even for those of you who enjoy the likes of Donovan and Lobo. The song also appeared as the 'Virginia Traveller' 45's "B" song.
© Scott R. Blackerby, September, 2024
© Scott R. Blackerby |
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er')
to more rock-oriented numbers ('Black Gets Blacker'). Kyle had a
decent voice, but he didn't do himself any favors whenever he decided to
over sing the material. Admittedly on 'Virgina Traveller' and several
other tracks it sounded like he was simply trying to avoid being overwhelmed
by Ripp's production and
John De Andrea's heavy-handed orchestration. As a writer his material
was eclectic with a penchant for addressing social issues; check out 'Some
Day' (the plight of a retiree; a bride's devastating discovery) and his
comments on racial relations ('Black Gets Blacker'). Ultimately
there wasn't anything here to distinguish the album one way or the
other. Competent, but forgettable comes to mind. In my
simplistic rating baseline it fails the tripwire - how many songs do you
remember an hour after
listening to the collection? In my case the answer was one performance
- the weird rocker 'Black Gets Blacker.' By the way, this would have
been the perfect album for Ripp to release on his Family label as a tax scam
package. I'm actually surprised it didn't reappear as a tax scam
project. You can read more about Family Records as a taxscam entity
at: 
