Foxx "The Revolt Of Emily Young (A Rock Novella By Buzz Cason And Pepper Martin"1970 US Psych Pop Rock
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A concept album co-written by singer/guitarist Pepper Martin, the collection was produced by Cason and credited to the studio band Foxx (consisting of bassist Butch Bourque, former Livin’ End drummer Little Joe Martin, singer/rhythm guitarist Martin, and well known studio pro Al Perkins on lead guitar). This is one of those early-197s albums that’s been largely lost to audiences. Judging by the number of reviews you’ll find, it’s even escaped notice from hardcore collectors with the few on-line reviews tending to be brief and somewhat critical. That’s unfortunate since the set was actually quite enjoyable and innovative in its own way.. Yeah, it was clearly a product of a certain timeframe and parts of the set haven’t aged all that well (other than wine, few things do), but it’s one of those albums that grows on you the more you listen to it. Like many concept pieces, the plotline to this one was a little vague to my ears, but seemed to follow the birth, childhood, and brief life of namesake Emily Young (along with her impact on family and friends). Side one got you from birth through early adulthood where Emily left home in order to hitchhike across the country. Side two followed her spiritual search (‘Opus Epyllion (The Age Of Light)’), downfall ('Flight Termination’), and death ('Just Another Village Incident’). Kind of a bummer ending … Still, musically the set was quite good. Pepper had one of those chameleon-like voices that was equally at home on country-tinged material ('Into Something Real’), hard rock ('Rock Jock Bobby Sloan’), pop (the Beach Boys-styled harmony rich 'Rebecca’s Prayer’), and even sunshine psych flourishes ('Sunshine Children’). Though never a flashy player, Perkins turned in nice leads when required - check out his solo on 'Flight Termination’. All-in-all quite enjoyable and something that sunshine pop fans would certainly clamor to hear. Even better, it’s still quite affordable….Bad Cat…~
I don’t know why this fantastic pop psych. concept album is so underrated… Am I the only one living in my planet? Am I stupid? While re-listening to it, I was thinking about a sort of American version of the Pretty Things circa SF SORROW or PARACHUTE. This means no flaws, no tedious moment and the perfect compromise between many diverse influences with soft passages and rockier ones, the lead guitar reminding me of Jimi HENDRIX. More seriously, I find the comparison with STEELY DAN quite accurate….by….GAZHOO117 …~
The American Foxx group is a one-time studio project, formed by producer Buzz Cason, specially for recording the concept album The Revolt Of Emily Young. All the songs on the record were written by Kaeson in collaboration with singer and guitarist Pepper Martin. The disc has a subtitle “rock novella” and can be regarded as a vinyl product with a rigid concept, since it contains an exposure (storyline) that progressively develops from the first composition to the last one. The album tells listeners about entering into the mature life of a girl named Emily Young, and it, perhaps, can be attributed to the category of mini rock operas. It is likely that this is the only Nashville project of the time, which sounded as if recorded in England by British musicians. Since the main role in the creation of this record belongs to the producer Buzz Kaesong, then, probably, it is worth to get to know him better.
The singer, composer, producer and sound engineer James E. Cason (nicknamed “Buzz”) was born on November 27, 1939 in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1956, he founded his first band The Casuals, which is considered to be the first Nashville band to perform rock and roll. In 1957, after recording the first album, “The Casuals” was replaced on the “The Everley Brothers” tour, playing about 60 concerts instead. Later they became the accompaniment of Brenda Lee. Together with Richard Williams and Hugh Jarrett from the vocal group “The Jordanaires” Kaeson organized a new band “The Statues”, with whom he recorded the hit single “Blue Velvet” at Liberty. In 1960 he started a solo career and under the pseudonym Harry Miles (Garry Miles) released a very successful song “Look For A Star”, which reached the 16th place in the list of the best-selling single records. In 1962, Buzz produced a new version of the Mexican folk song “La Bamba” for “The Crickets”, adapted in due time to the rock-and-roll sound of Richie Valens (Richie Valens). In 1967, Buzz, together with Mac Gayden (Mac Gayden) wrote the song “Everlasting Love”, which became his most successful hit. Originally it was performed by Robert Knight (Robert Knight), without much success, however. However, after it was re-recorded in January 1968 by the band “Love Affair”, it managed to take off on the first line of the British charts. In 1974, Carl Carlton performed 6th in the list of the best selling singles of the United States. In the late '60s, Buzz Kaeson became a rather prominent figure in the music industry. Together with Bobby Russell (Bobby Russell) he created the musical publishing house “Russell-Cason Music”. In addition, Buzz headed the record company “Rising Songs” he created and became the owner of the state-of-the-art recording studio “Creative Workshop”. It will subsequently record stars such as Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed, Emmylou Harris, Olivia Newton-John and The Doobie Brothers. Being a prolific author and a powerful generator of new ideas, Buzz Kaeson sought to expand his sphere of interest in show business, and boldly mastered the previously uncharted creative territories. And in the light of a new era in popular music following the release of the historical mega-album “The Beatles”, “The Orchestra of the Club of Lonely Hearts of Sergeant Pepper”, the concept album “The Revolt of Emily Young” conceived by Buzz Kazon seems to be an idea that is inherently well founded and more than adequate spirit of the era.
This record is a historical document reflecting the mood of the progressive part of American youth of that period in music. The aspirations and hopes of the colorful hippie hairy tribe slowly fell into decay before the cynical face of reality. Many stars of the sixties have already moved to a different world from the overabundance of their chosen lifestyle. The escalation of violence initiated by the Nixon administration against peaceful student demonstrations shocked the American youth: May 4, 1970 - the shooting of a protest action against the war in Vietnam at Kent University (4 killed, 9 wounded), May 9, 1970 - shooting demonstration in defense of civil rights Afro-American students in Augusta (Georgia) (6 killed, 80 wounded), May 15 - shooting anti-war demonstration at Jackson University (2 dead, 12 wounded), August 29 - shooting in East Los Angeles coalition protest march Rica-Mexico Youth «Chicano Moratorium» (4 killed). It is hardly possible to imagine a more gloomy year for the pacifist of a long-haired America tuned.
This concept album, inspired, no doubt, by the psychedelic recordings of The Beatles and Pretty Things (SF Sorrow), tells the story of a teenage girl named Emily Young from the time she was born until she entered adulthood when she leaves the house and travels around the country hitchhiking (side A). The second side narrates about her spiritual quest (“Opus Epyllion (The Age Of Light)”), the fall (Flight Termination) and death (Just Another Village Incident), which came most likely from an overdose. The plot line, as in many conceptual works of that time, is slightly vague and the authors do not give precise indications of the reasons for its transition from real life to another dimension. Whether it was an unforeseen accident or a deliberate decision to interrupt his journey in search of light, the creators of the rock novella give the right to decide for the listeners themselves. The album also does not give any unambiguous answers, why the heroine of the record in particular, and the “children of flowers” in general, found themselves in such a hopeless situation, in such a spiritual impasse. Was Emily really a pure and innocent creature, entangled in her own search and strayed? Or was she the victim of a cynical deception that led to such a sad ending? Or was she simply not able to achieve that enlightenment she was striving for? In any case, the spiritual aspects of human existence, considered on this concept album, make his audition a very unusual activity, because besides aesthetic pleasure, it also provides ample food for philosophical reflections.
Musically, “The Revolt of Emily Young” is a magnificent collection of psychedelic pop songs. Spiritual quest for the heroine takes place against the backdrop of melodic music, psychedelic guitar sound and impeccable orchestration performed by former classmate Buzz Casson, and by that time already a well-known arranger Bergen White. Basically, this is folk-rock with psychedelic elements, although sometimes there are heavier compositions (seventies after all in the yard), but they sound quite smoothly and calmly, without a far-fetched emotional tear. In the Foxx music, there are no visible, more accurately audible drawbacks, no tedious or protracted moments - it represents an ideal compromise between various sound influences, among which you can find quiet, gentle passages, and a guitar impregnated with the spirit of Jimi Hendrix. On the plate there is not a single pass-through composition and, in addition, its consistency is very rigorously verified, which, unfortunately, many albums of this kind are sorely lacking.
In addition to the above-mentioned singer and rhythm guitarist Pepper Martin, Foxx also included bass player Butch Bourque, a former member of the Livin End group, drummer Little Joe Martin and solo guitar player Al Perkins. In addition, the producer of the disc Buzz Kaeson participated in the recording as a pianist and organist. The most famous and experienced musician “Foxx” was, of course, a Texas multi-instrumentalist, producer, sound engineer and composer Al Perkins (18.01.1944). The guitar company “Gibson” will name him later the most influential performer in the world for Good. Welcome (Dobro) - six-string resonator guitar, invented in the US in the early XX century, came from the Czech Republic brothers Dopera. From the usual acoustic guitar Good differs in the built-in metal resonator. But back, however, from the world of six-string instruments to El Perkins himself - in 1968, after serving in the army, he moved to California with the Texas group “The Sparkles”, and in 1969 he returned home and took part in the Foxx project. In 1970 he again went to California with a group of East Texas “Shiloh”, in which you could find the future member of The Eagles by Don Henley and the producer and arranger Jim Ed Norman, will soon be working with the same “Eagles”, the group “America”, Linda Ronstadt (Linda Ronstadt) and many other famous American performers. In 1971, after the breakup of the Shiloh group, Al Perkins became a member of the Manassas group of Stephen Stills. In 1973 he joined the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. In addition, he recorded with Flying Burrito Brothers, Dan Fogelberg, Leonard Cohen, Gram Parsons, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. “ However, the list is far from complete.
Not surprisingly, a musician at the level of Al Perkins in the creative spike with producer Buzz Kazon set a very high level of professionalism on this disc. The bass parts of Batcha Burka are perfected throughout the whole album, Pepper Martin’s voice is like a chameleon and perfectly merges with any sound material - whether it’s dissected country (Into Something Real), proto-hard rock (Rock Jock Bobby Sloan) or pop-psychedelia , full of iridescent vocal harmonies in the style of "The Beach Boys” (“Rebecca’s Prayer” and “Sunshine Children”). Al Perkins himself does not bend a stick in any of the compositions and pulls the blanket on himself, his solo parts are strict, correct and technically verified. The performance of all the songs is almost flawless and very strange that, despite the enormous creative potential, this fantastic project was not appreciated by contemporaries and did not have any continuation. This record, released in May 1970 - one of the lost pearls of the early seventies. And it’s very sad….~
Foxx:
Pepper Martin - Guitar, Vocals
Al Perkins - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Butch Bourque - Bass, Vocals
Little Joe Martin - Drums, Vocals
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Buzz Cason (aka James Cason) - Piano, Organ
Tracks:
01. New Bethel Awakening 3:32
02. Rebecca’s Prayer 2'15
03. Doctor John 2'13
04. Sunshine Children 2'38
05. (Untitled Track) 0'30
06. Rock Jock Bobby Sloan 0'28
07. In The Garden 3'04
08. Syndrome Of Change 3'19
09. Highway Children 4'30
10. Into Something Real 3'28
11. Opus Epyllion (The Age Of Light) 3'20
12. Flight Termination 3'53
13. Just Another Village Incident 3:54
14. Last Words 2'29
15. New Bethel Awakening II 2'15
16. The Revolt Of Emily Young 1'14
