Sunday, May 04, 2008

The Tangerine Zoo – The Tangerine Zoo (1968)


Personnel:
ROBERT BENEVIDES (*) ld gtr, bs, vcls A B
WAYNE GAGNON gtr, vcls A B
RONALD MEDEIROS hrmnca, organ, vcls A B
DONALD SMITH drms, vcls A B
TONY TAVARES bs, gtr A
NB: (*) shown as Benevedes on the second album.

ALBUMS:
1(A) THE TANGERINE ZOO (Mainstream S6107) 1968
2(B) OUTSIDE LOOKING IN (Mainstream S6116) 1968
NB: (2) has been counterfeited on vinyl. (1) and (2) have also been counterfeited on one CD (Fingerprint CDTZ 2173).

45s:
1(A) One More Heartache/A Trip To The Zoo (Mainstream 682) 1968
2(B) Like People/? (Mainstream 690) 1968
NB: (1) both sides taken from their debut album. (2) both sides taken from their second album.

From Newport, Rhode Island. Although their first album contains some impressive swirling organ work and occasional fuzztone guitar, its material, which is largely written by the band, lacks originality. Their second effort, Outside Looking In is the better of the two. Tavares departed prior to its recording and the remaining quartet produced wilder and more imaginative music which translated to vinyl quite effectively. On this, Wake Up Sun, Can't You See, Confusion and a cover of The Moody Blues' Another Morning are all excellent. It's a pity that the group didn't recruit a new lead vocalist, however, as shortcomings in this department are occasionally obvious.

Tangerine Zoo evolved out of The Ebb Tides, and Wayne Gagnon later played in an outfit called Wadsworth Mansion. Pebbles, Vol. 21 includes a version of one of their better tracks Nature's Children as by The Kidds, a previous incarnation of this outfit.
(Vernon Joynson/Clark Faville)

Tracks:
01 - Gloria
02 - Trip To The Zoo
03 - Please Don't Set Me Free
04 - Nature's Child
05 - The Flight
06 - Mommy And Daddy
07 - Symphonic Psyche
08 - Crystalescent Heaven
09 - One More Heartache

1 comment:

Eloise said...

Thanks for both Tangerine Zoo tooo... your blog is so fine