Gandalf (American band)

Last updated
Gandalf
Gandalf band.jpg
Background information
Origin New York City, U.S.
Genres
Years active1965–68
Labels
Past membersPeter Sando
Frank Hubach
Bob Muller
Davy Bauer

Gandalf were a short-lived American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in New York City. [1] [2] The band only released one studio album, the self-titled Gandalf in 1969, after disbanding the previous year.

Contents

History

Originally called the Rahgoos, the group consisted of guitarist Peter Sando, bassist Bob Muller, keyboardist Frank Hubach and drummer Davy Bauer. [3]

They signed a recording contract with Capitol Records in 1967. Producers Koppelman & Rubin were not happy with the band's name, and suggested it be changed to the Knockrockers. [4] However, Peter Sando commented that they "hated that and bantered about various names". [4] Despite being against the band's will, and losing local fan recognition, Davy suggested the name "Gandalf and The Wizards", which ended up sticking as "Gandalf". [5]

They recorded their first LP the same year. The record includes covers of Tim Hardin, Eden Ahbez and Bonner & Gordon (the writers of "Happy Together") and two songs composed by the band's guitarist, Peter Sando. But Capitol spurned them and only released the LP in 1969 with the wrong record inside the sleeve. The copies were recalled and damaged the band's career. Capitol didn't promote the record, which made the sales worse.[ citation needed ] Over the years the album's reputation grew and it was re-released by Sundazed Records in 2002. A second album, 2, was released by Sundazed in 2007. [6]

Band members

Discography

Gandalf (1969)

  1. "Golden Earrings" (Ray Evans/Jay Livingston/Victor Young cover)
  2. "Hang On To A Dream" (Tim Hardin cover)
  3. "Never Too Far" (Hardin)
  4. "Scarlet Ribbons" (Evelyn Danzig/Jack Segal cover)
  5. "You Upset The Grace Of Living" (Hardin)
  6. "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone" (Peter Sando)
  7. "Nature Boy" (Eden Ahbez cover)
  8. "Tiffany Rings" (Garry Bonner/Alan Gordon cover)
  9. "Me About You" (Bonner/Gordon)
  10. "I Watch The Moon" (Sando)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moby Grape</span> American rock group

Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lead vocalists and songwriters. The group's first incarnation ended in 1969, in part due to members Bob Mosley and Skip Spence suffering from mental illness. The group has reformed many times afterwards and continues to perform occasionally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Turtles</span> American rock band

The Turtles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965 and best known for their 1967 hit song "Happy Together". They charted several other top 40 hits, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby" (1966), "She'd Rather Be With Me" (1967), "Elenore" (1968) and "You Showed Me" (1969).

eden ahbez American songwriter and recording artist (1908–1995)

George Alexander Aberle, known as eden ahbez, was an American songwriter and recording artist of the 1940s to 1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential in the hippie movement. He was known to friends simply as ahbe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Miller Band</span> American rock band

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band's contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to the Steve Miller Band. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album, Children of the Future. It went on to produce the albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, The Joker, Fly Like an Eagle, Book of Dreams, among others. The band's Greatest Hits 1974–78, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. In 2016, Steve Miller was inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Hardin</span> American singer-songwriter (1941–1980)

James Timothy Hardin was an American folk and blues songwriter. As well as releasing his own material, several of his songs, including "If I Were a Carpenter" and "Reason to Believe", became hits for other artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sundazed Records</span> American independent record label

Sundazed Music is an American independent record label founded in Coxsackie, New York and currently based in Hillsborough, North Carolina. It was initially known as a '60s-centric surf, garage, and psych label. Over time with the additions of imprints such as Modern Harmonic, Americana Anthropology, Beat Rocket, Dot Matrix Recordings, and Liberty Spike Recordings, their reach spans most genres and many decades while still firmly rooted as an archival label.

<i>All Around My Hat</i> (album) 1975 studio album by Steeleye Span

All Around My Hat is a 1975 album by Steeleye Span, their eighth and highest-charting; it reached number 7 on the UK Albums Chart, and stayed on the chart for six months. It was produced by Mike Batt, who also produced their follow-up album Rocket Cottage. It briefly made the band a household name in the UK. In the United States it became the band's first album to chart, reaching number 143.

Amon Düül was a West German political art commune formed out of the student movement of the 1960s that became well known for its free-form musical improvisations. This spawned two rock groups, Amon Düül and the more famous Amon Düül II. After both groups disbanded in the 1970s, some of the original members reunited in the 1980s under the name Amon Düül again, though this incarnation is commonly referred to as Amon Düül UK to avoid confusion with earlier versions of the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Fenwick</span> English guitarist (1946–2022)

Raymond John Fenwick was an English guitarist and session musician, best known for his work in The Syndicats and in The Spencer Davis Group in the 1960s, and as the lead guitarist of Ian Gillan's post-Deep Purple solo project, the Ian Gillan Band.

<i>Happy Together</i> (The Turtles album) 1967 studio album by the Turtles

Happy Together is the third studio album by the American rock band the Turtles. It was released in April 1967 on White Whale Records.

East of Eden were a British progressive rock band, who had a Top 10 hit in the UK with the single "Jig-a-Jig" in 1970. The track was stylistically unlike any of their other work. Although some might consider them a symphonic progressive band, others state that their style is mostly jazz-oriented.

The Merry-Go-Round was an American psychedelic rock, Los Angeles based band, best known for the singer-songwriter Emitt Rhodes and featuring Joel Larson on drums, Gary Kato on lead guitar, and Bill Rinehart on bass. The group gained inspiration from bands like the Beatles, the Byrds, and the Left Banke for its vocal harmonies and instrumental acquisitions. They used their contemporaries' styles to create their own sound.

The Choir was a garage rock band largely active in the greater Cleveland area from the mid-1960s into the early 1970s. Originally called The Mods, their largest commercial success came with the release of their first single "It's Cold Outside" in December 1966. The song, considered to be a classic of the garage rock era, was featured on Pebbles, Volume 2, one of the earlier garage rock compilation LPs. The flipside, "I'm Going Home" was included as a bonus track when the Pebbles album was reissued as a CD, and it can also be found on a garage rock compilation LP on Ohio bands, Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 9. The Choir is well known for containing three of the four original members of Raspberries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steamhammer (band)</span> English rock band

Steamhammer are an English rock band from Worthing, England, that were formed in 1968 by vocalist Kieran White, guitarists Martin Quittenton and Martin Pugh, bassist Steve Davy, and drummer Michael Rushton.

Eire Apparent were a band from Northern Ireland, noted for launching the careers of Henry McCullough and Ernie Graham, and for having Jimi Hendrix play on, and produce, their only album.

"How Can We Hang On to a Dream" is a song composed and recorded by Tim Hardin. It was Hardin's first single after he signed with Verve Folkways, released around six months before his debut album Tim Hardin 1. The single was titled "Hang On to a Dream" in some territories.

Morly Grey is an American psychedelic rock band that formed in the late 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Partridge</span> Musical artist

Donald Eric Partridge was an English singer and songwriter, known as the "king of the buskers". He performed from the early 1960s first as a folk singer and later as a busker and one-man band, and achieved unexpected commercial success in the UK and Europe in the late 1960s with the songs "Rosie", "Blue Eyes" and "Breakfast on Pluto". He later was a founder of the group Accolade, which released two albums. He continued writing music, playing, busking and recording, mainly as a solo artist, until 2008.

Jerald Edward Kolbrak, known professionally as Jerry Cole, was an American guitarist who recorded under his own name, under various budget album pseudonyms and as an uncredited session musician.

The Magicians were an American garage rock band formed in New York City, New York, in 1965. The group released four singles during their brief recording career with Columbia Records, with their most well-known song being "An Invitation to Cry". Members Alan Gordon and Garry Bonner later became a successful songwriting duo, and the Magicians' material was assembled on a compilation album in 1999.

References

  1. Gandalf. AllMusic
  2. "Peter Sando from Gandalf Interview", neotomic aliviac fanzine.
  3. Gandalf homepage.
  4. 1 2 "Lost Bands #2 - Gandalf - Interview With Peter Sando", Music-Drop Magazine.
  5. Collectors Alert, Gandalf.
  6. http://petersando.com