- Victoria Domalgoski - vocals

- none known

Genre: rock

Rating: ** (2 stars)

Title:  The Secret of the Bloom

Company: San Francisco

Catalog: SD-201

Year: 1970

Country/State: San Francisco, California

Grade (cover/record): VG/VG

Comments: --

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 4465

Price: $12.00

Cost: $66.00

Her name was Victoria Domalgoski (easy to see why she elected to go with her first name) and she somehow caught the attention of Atlantic Records newly formed San Francisco subsidiary.

Her 1970 debut "The Secret of the Bloom" was co-produced by David Rubinson and Fred Catero and features a mix of original material and popular covers.  Musically the set's kind of schizophrenic offering up a mixture of sensitive singer/songwriter material and some pseudo-country flavored numbers.  That mix of styles is probably a reflection of the fact half of the album was recorded in Nashville with the cream of the city's sessions players, while half of it was recorded in San Francisco's Pacific Recording Studios.  Victoria certainly had a decent, if somewhat fragile voice that occasionally recalled a younger Judy Collins, though Collins wasn't nearly as shrill.  (I've also seen a couple of reviews that compare her to Joni Mitchell.)  There's certainly nothing horribly wrong here, but there isn't really anything particularly mesmerizing.  So what's worth hearing?  The set includes one of the earliest Warren Zevon covers I've heard ('Tule's Blues'), while her cover of 'Helplessly Hoping' may be the lamest Stephen Stills cover you'll ever hear. 

"The Secret of the Bloom" track listing:

(side 1)

1.) Tule's Blues   (Warren Zevon) - 4:20

2.) Out In the Country   (Jeffrey Comanor) - 5:30

3.) Time Has a Funny Way   (Paul Wells - Fred Pagel) - 5:04

4.) Secret of the Bloom   (Victoria) - 3:52

(side 2)

1.) New Country Song   (Victoria) - 3:53

2.) Fawn (Fran & Annie's Wedding Night)   (Victoria) - 4:25

3.) Helplessly Hoping   (Stephen Stills) - 4:30

4.) A Famous Myth   (Jeffrey Comanor)  3:55

Genre: rock

Rating: ** (2 stars)

Title:  Victoria

Company: San Francisco

Catalog: SD-206

Year: 1971

Country/State: San Francisco, California

Grade (cover/record): VG/VG

Comments: gatefold sleeve

Available: SOLD

GEMM catalog ID: SOLD

Price: SOLD

Cost: $66.00

1971's cleverly titled "Victoria" was again produced by David Rubinson and Fred Catero.  This time around, singer/songwriter Victoria (Domalgoski) dropped outside covers in favor of focusing on original material.  While sensitive singer/songwriter remains the primary genre, this one's a marginal improvement over the debut.  Her rather shrill voice remains an acquired taste, but this album gets the nod as the better of her two releases, if only due to the fact it featured  an interesting mix of players, including keyboardist Herbie Hancock, bassist David Hayes and guitarist Ron Montrose.  'One Way Road' has kind of an interesting jazzy feel to it, while the somewhat atypical 'We've Got Ways to Keep High' sported a nice Ed Duran guitar solo.  

For those of you who care about stuff like this, novelist Richard Brautigan provided some of the year's lamest liner notes - can only hope the rest of his catalog isn't as dull.  I'm not sure what the relationship was, but Victoria is the woman pictured on the front of Brautigan's 1966 novel "The Abortion: An Historical Novel".

"Victoria" track listing:

(side 1)

1.) One Way Road   (Victoria) - 2:39

2.) Two Doves   (Victoria) - 3:50

3.) Song Cycle - 10:22

     a.) Greenhouse Woman   (Victoria) - 3:00

     b.) Grant Avenue May   (Victoria) - 3:04

     c.) Sweet Baby Man    (Victoria) - 4:18

(side 2)

1.) Now You're Gone   (Victoria) - 3:42

2.) Song About The Sun   (Victoria) - 3:54

3.) Nevasong   (Victoria) - 2:45

4.) We've Got Ways to Keep High   (Victoria) - 6:34