Madura
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1970-72) - Alan De Carlo -- guitar, vocals - Ross Salomone -- drums, percussion - David "Hawk" Wolinski -- vocals, bass, keyboards
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- Bangor Flying Circus (David Wolinski and Alan De Carlo) - Chicago (Hawk Wolinski) - Ted Nugent - Rufus - Shawdows of the Knight (David Wolinski) - The Wild Horses (David Wolinski) - David Wolinski (solo efforts)
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Genre: jazz-rock Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Madura Company: Columbia Catalog: G
30794 Country/State: Chicago, Illinois Grade (cover/record): VG/VG+ Comments: gatefold sleeve; double LP, no poster; 4 inch top seam split on one of the sleeves Available: 1 Catalog ID: 6098 Price: $20.00
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As members of Bangor Flying Circus, guitarist Alan De Carlo and singer/keyboardist David "Hawk" Wolinski recorded a decent 1969 album for ABC Dunhill. When that outfit folded in 1970, the pair elected to continue their partnership as the Chicago-based Madura with the addition of drummer Ross Salomone. The name? Remeber this was the early 1970s. It was inspired by the Meenakshi Hindu temple locate in the Indian city of Madurai.
Finding
a sponsor in the form of James William Guerico (who'd enjoyed considerable
success with The Buckinghams and The Chicago Transit Authority), the trio
sub
LP inner sleeve
"Madura" track listing:
1.) Hawk Piano (instrumental) (David Wolinski) - 1:23 rating: * star The instrumental 'Hawk Piano' started the album off with a minute and a half of atonal, discordant keyboards ... not an impressive way to start a double album set. 2.) Drinking No Wine (David Wolinski) - 4:18 rating: *** stars Showcasing Wolinski's likeable voice, 'Drinking No Wine' offered up a much more conventional and commercial piece. A nice slice of FM-oriented rock, like quite a few songs on the set this one sound a bit like Robert Lamm and Chicago. 3.) Dreams (David Wolinski) - 4:24 rating: ** stars 'Dreams' started out as a breezy, mid-tempo slice of pop that had some radio potential. 4.) Plain as Day (David Wolinski) - 5:35 rating: ** stars 'Plain as Day' was one of those compositions that never really got in gear. Within the span of five minutes the track managed to bounce between pop, rock, jazz, and experimentation without ever finding its groove. Shame since buried in the mess were the basics of a good song. The song also included a great De Carlo fuzz guitar solo (which would have made Terry Kath proud). 5.) My Love is Free (David Wolinski) - 7:09 rating: ** stars 'My Love is Free' was another song that unsuccessfully tried to blend different genres into a coherent end product. The song had distinct pop elements, including some nice harmony vocals, but spread over seven minutes the pop focus kept getting lost in a meandering jazz jam. Forgettable ...
(side
2) Showcasing De Carlo's tasty fuzz guitar and one of the more focused melodies, the rocker 'Free from the Devil' stands as my choice for standout performance. With a bit of judicious editing it would have made a dandy single. For anyone interested in hearing a snippet of the band live, YouTube has a brief clip of them performing 'Free from the Devil'. The performance is pulled from the James William Guercio produced and directed film Electra Glide in Blue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kevIEwfJxL4 2.) My My What a World (A.J. DeCarlo) - 1:01 rating: **** stars Free from the Devil' flowed right into the equally enjoyable rocker 'My My What a World' and then the album hit a brick wall ... 3.) Stimulation (instrumental) (R.A. Salomone) - 3:56 rating: * star 'Stimulation' was a four minute Salomone drum solo (his only contribution to the writing chores). Unless you were a drummer, this wasn't going to do much for you. Need I say anything else ? 3.) Don't Be Afraid (A.J. DeCarlo) - 2:01 rating: **** stars A brief and straight-forward rocker, 'Don't Be Afraid' was another album highpoint (especially coming after the drum solo). 4.) Damnation (David Wolinski) - 3:49 rating: *** stars 'Damnation' found the band showing they could handle a bluesy-rocker. Laidback and slinky, it made a nice change from the jazz-tinged numbers. 5.) See for Yourself (A.J. DeCarlo) - 5:59 rating: *** stars The first half of 'See for Yourself'' was a nice, blues ballad that captured the band at their most focused and enjoyable. It could have been a nice single, but the second half of the song found the band starting to wander all over the place, including some ill-advised scat singing.
(side 3) 1.) I Think I'm Dreaming (A.J. DeCarlo) - 4:23 rating: *** stars Side three started with one of the album's most commercial offerings - the pop-tinged 'I Think I'm Dreaming'. Yeah, De Carlo's falsetto was an acquired taste, but he made up for it with a great guitar solo. 2.) It's a Good Time for Loving (David Wolinski) - 4:55 rating: **** stars Coming completely out of left field, 'It's a Good Time for Loving' was a surprisingly commercial slice of blue-eyed soul with some simply gorgeous harmony vocals and some of Salomone's best drumming; his solo was short and sweet on this one. Absolutely nothing like the rest of the album and one of my picks for standout performance. -3.) Trapped (David Wolinski) - 7:45 rating: ** stars Complete with Robert Lamm styled vocals (okay, I don't think Lamm ever tried to scat), and Terry Kath-styled guitar pyrotechnics 'Trapped'' was a bad idea made worse by the seven plus minute length, Blame producer Guerico for not having made it clear they were not the band Chicago. 4.) Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry) - 6:02 rating: ** stars I'll leave it up to others to judge their strange cover of the Chuck Berry classic 'Johnny B. Goode'. For what it's worth, I didn't think much of it ... Turning it into a lame soul-jazz number complete with painful scat segment just seemed to be a terrible way to treat the song. You had to wonder why in the world Columbia would have tapped this as the single when there were so many better performances on the album.
- 1971's 'Johnny B. Goode' (Part 1) b/w 'Johnny B. Goode' (Part 2) (Columbia catalog number 4-45483)
Ouch, 'Realization' started out sounded like ELP with Geddy Lee sitting in for a jam session. 2.) Man's Rebirth through Childbirth Part I (David Wolinski) - 2:52 rating: ** stars 3.) Man's Rebirth through Childbirth Part II (David Wolinski) - 1:12 rating: ** stars What are you suppose to make of a song with a title like 'Man's Rebirth through Childbirth (Parts 1 and 2)' ? This was another Wolinski composition that wanted to have it both ways - progressive and commercial at the same time. The song actually had a conventional chorus and could have actually been quite good had it stuck with that particular melody, but then fell headlong into over-the-top pretentious and wannabe progressive complete with Uriah Heep-styled Hammond keyboards. 4.) Joy in Old Age by Way of Self Observation (David Wolinski) - 4:03 rating: *** stars Almost Gospel-tinged, De Carlo and Wolinski shared lead vocals on 'Joy in Old Age by Way of Self Observation'. Yeah, their performances quickly got out of hand and shrieky, but the big surprise was the band's sweet harmony vocals - this was one of their finest displays of this particular talent. 5.) Talking to Myself (David Wolinski) - 4:53 rating: *** stars A heavily orchestrated ballad (complete with layers of strings and horns), 'Talking to Myself' was pretty, but vapid. It reminded me of a mid-1980s Chicago track ... like something Peter Cetera might have written for the band with a goal of radio domination.
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I've never bothered to track down a copy, but there's a second Madura LP - 1972's "Madura II" (Columbia catalog number KC-32545) and a second single:
- 1973's 'Save a Miracle' b/w '???' (Columbia catalog number ???).
For
anyone interested, there's a nice Madura website at:
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sequently won a contract with Columbia Records. With Guerico
producing, at least to my ears much of 1971's "Madura"
sounded like an early Chicago album though thankfully without the irritating
horns. With all three members sharing writing duties (there was one
outside cover), the collection bounced around between pop ('I
Think I'm Dreaming'), FM-oriented rock ('Drinking
No Wine'), jazzy
interludes (''My Love is
Free'), and more
experimental excursions ('Hawk
Piano'). These guys
were clearly quite talented. Wolinski had a nice voice that sounded a
bit like a cross between Chicago's Terry Kath and Robert Lamm, (he also
played a mean Hammond organ),. De Carlo also had a decent voice and a
knack for spinning off catchy jazz-tinged solos. While there were
several strong compositions, allowing the trio to stretch out over four
sides was probably a mistake since it forced them to fill up lots of space
with poorly deigned jams and experimentation ('Plain
as Day'). Hard
to imagine Columbia, or any major label allowing a new band to debut with a
double album, nineteen track set in this
day and age ...
