The entire album is an original, in view of its use of flute, saxophone, and fiddle. Few rock'n'roll groups have come close to using this variety of instruments, aside from Love. Four of the songs on this SEATRAIN album compare favorably with Love's masterpieces, SHE COMES IN COLORS, STEPHANIE KNOWS WHO, and ORANGE SKIES. The songs on the SEATRAIN album are as follows: (1) SEA TRAIN (4:09). The words begin, "Comin' on easy on the seatrain, walking under the fog again." Here the music is quiet, with a swirly guitar in the background, sounding somewhat like the beginning of H.P.Lovecraft's WHITE SHIP. But then there is a transition, at 45 seconds, where a burst of continuing energy begins and the onset of these lyrics, "I'm going under, and comin' on out, to see you again." (2) LET THE DUCHESS NO (3:40). This song is like a slow country & western song, except that it is in 3/4 time and contains a double-tracked fiddle and a flute. (3) PUDDING STREET (4:54). This is an instrumental, beginning with a jazzy descending riff on flute, then a swirly sounding part, and continuing with an aleatory guitar sounding like a darting fly. (4) PORTRAIT OF THE LADY AS A YOUNG ARTIST (3:42). The song begins like an easy-listening jazz piece. But then there is a transition, where a repetitive chisel-like sound from the keyboards, and a descending chord pattern. Once the tension is built up by the spiking, repetitive sound and the eerie descending chords, the lyrics start with, "She stays in a castle of her own making, fools in the courtyard with a jester or two." When I heard Seatrain perform this piece in San Francisco, it was played more thrashingly and percussively. (5) AS I LAY LOSING(4:57). This is such a beautiful song that it might be worthwhile to seek out another version of this same song, on Seatrain's Marblehead Messenger album, put out by One Way Records of Albany, New York. Here, the song is entitled "Losing All the Years," and the singer is Peter Rowan. (6) RONDO (3:24). The is a sad-sounding song, with just a singer, acoustic guitar, and electric bass. (7) SWEET CREEK'S SUITE (3:56). This is an instrumental, distinguished by a plethora of fine melodies and moods. One mood contains a wailing sax, as might be found on an early Elvis album, an amusing Venture's style surf interlude, and a part sounding like a cello playing creepy horror movie music. Sweet Creek's Suite segues without interruption into Outwear the Hills. (8) OUTWEAR THE HILLS (5:15). This song has an anthemic quality. Outwear the Hills has a great tune, on par with the final theme of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, which is repeated over and over in the Firebird Suite. All of the songs are in a similar style. There is no attempt to "experiment" with different styles of music, in the manner found in the first couple of Beatles albums. At the time of this SEATRAIN recording, the musicians had many years of experience with BLUES PROJECT, and other groups. The result, in my opinion, is as great as the first CROSBY, STILLS, and NASH album (Suite Judy Blue Eyes; Wooden Ships; etc.). I saw Seatrain at the Carrousel Ballroom in San Francisco in 1968, in a program that also featured Santana and Yusef Lateef (jazz flute). Seatrain's performance was a bit unusual, for that era, in that their first set was identical to their second set, in other words, the music really wasn't mainly improvisation. That performance was also different from the album, in the singer was different. He had a sharper sounding voice. He wasn't the soft-voiced John Gregory listed on the album. If there could be any improvement on the album, it would be the same songs but with the sharp-voiced singer.
The violin solo on this, played by Richard Greene through a fuzzbox (I believe he was the first to do that) is incredible. I wish that I could isolate his violin playing from the rest of the band's music, which I generally am not into. FYI, he was also the violin on Rod Stewart's "You Wear it Well" and "You're in My Heart." If you want to hear some absolute mastery on the violin (through wah-wah and delay!), check the solo on this one at 2:40 - ua-cam.com/video/QyJGW9GZziE/v-deo.html&start_radio=1&list=RDQyJGW9GZziE. Richard Greene is a true genius.
Gee, this only anticipates Dave Mathews' instrumentation by about 30 years... At 2:48, an honest-to-god fugue begins, for at least three entrances. I recently heard Jonathan Schwartz on Sirius/XM, Mr. "American Songbook" himself, refer to 1968-72 as "that glorious period in music where something magic was happening every 15 minutes." As if further proof were needed... Here's Exhibit A.
Coming out of pure Midwest AM and wanting to rebel against our parents Country and Pop.... The 60's/70's, the importation of our own shunned inheritance from our black brothers by British kids.....POW! Add LSD for comic relief.
I absolutely adore this song - brilliant composition by my fellow Buffalonian Andy Kulberg! The fuzz violin solo @ 2:18 by Richard Greene is unbelievable - BTW, I always thought that the solo was a sax through a fuzztone, but I wrote to Richard Greene and he said it was he - if you listen close to that last high note with the intense vibrato, it surely IS a violin. You can get the remastered 2nd and 3rd albums on Amazon or from BGO-Records
This is rather amazing and gives a taste of Jazz Fusion way before its time. The fuzz guitar solo sounds like a synth, and so do the electric sax solos. It is maybe the most eclectic music I've ever heard. Must have been a chore to play it live...Like playing a film score I guess. Sometimes the words don't mesh well with the music. It holds up well after 40 years, but it didn't sell many records as I recall.
I will check that out. The standard for my uploads were: 1. Was it on UA-cam already? 2. Do I like it? You will notice that all the tracks I uploaded are the first of their kind.
Never knew 2:18 was violin. Fantastic. Richard deserves far more attention for his playing in Seatrain. I think psychedelic music like this became passe by 1970. Seatrain was definitely positioned to play what came next-- rootsy music like the Band.
@tonkehar nah...not ALL crap. there's some really good stuff, but it's hard to find because there's so much out there now, and there's so many music formats. in the 60s there was basically just top 40 and progressive for rock radio--much easier to keep track. when seatraincame to my town, they all were generous to sign my album ("look! someone bought our album!"). i don't know who i should leave it to--who would most value it. prob the family of one of the members. if a fan has ideas, plmk.
+Tony M close my friend! this album was produced by henry lewy the next album titled "sea train" instead of "seatrain" was the one produced by the great george martin!
No sorry, this album was not produced by George Martin. This album is Sea Train's first album, and it was produced by Sea Train with engineers, Henry Lewy and Robert Di Sousa. Instead, George Martin produced Sea Train's second album.
Good music is timeless--thanks for sharing.
I've been looking for this song for 20 years (I wore the album out).
The entire album is an original, in view of its use of flute, saxophone, and fiddle. Few rock'n'roll groups have come close to using this variety of instruments, aside from Love. Four of the songs on this SEATRAIN album compare favorably with Love's masterpieces, SHE COMES IN COLORS, STEPHANIE KNOWS WHO, and ORANGE SKIES.
The songs on the SEATRAIN album are as follows:
(1) SEA TRAIN (4:09). The words begin, "Comin' on easy on the seatrain, walking under the fog again." Here the music is quiet, with a swirly guitar in the background, sounding somewhat like the beginning of H.P.Lovecraft's WHITE SHIP. But then there is a transition, at 45 seconds, where a burst of continuing energy begins and the onset of these lyrics, "I'm going under, and comin' on out, to see you again."
(2) LET THE DUCHESS NO (3:40). This song is like a slow country & western song, except that it is in 3/4 time and contains a double-tracked fiddle and a flute.
(3) PUDDING STREET (4:54). This is an instrumental, beginning with a jazzy descending riff on flute, then a swirly sounding part, and continuing with an aleatory guitar sounding like a darting fly.
(4) PORTRAIT OF THE LADY AS A YOUNG ARTIST (3:42). The song begins like an easy-listening jazz piece. But then there is a transition, where a repetitive chisel-like sound from the keyboards, and a descending chord pattern. Once the tension is built up by the spiking, repetitive sound and the eerie descending chords, the lyrics start with, "She stays in a castle of her own making, fools in the courtyard with a jester or two." When I heard Seatrain perform this piece in San Francisco, it was played more thrashingly and percussively.
(5) AS I LAY LOSING(4:57). This is such a beautiful song that it might be worthwhile to seek out another version of this same song, on Seatrain's Marblehead Messenger album, put out by One Way Records of Albany, New York. Here, the song is entitled "Losing All the Years," and the singer is Peter Rowan.
(6) RONDO (3:24). The is a sad-sounding song, with just a singer, acoustic guitar, and electric bass.
(7) SWEET CREEK'S SUITE (3:56). This is an instrumental, distinguished by a plethora of fine melodies and moods. One mood contains a wailing sax, as might be found on an early Elvis album, an amusing Venture's style surf interlude, and a part sounding like a cello playing creepy horror movie music. Sweet Creek's Suite segues without interruption into Outwear the Hills.
(8) OUTWEAR THE HILLS (5:15). This song has an anthemic quality. Outwear the Hills has a great tune, on par with the final theme of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, which is repeated over and over in the Firebird Suite.
All of the songs are in a similar style. There is no attempt to "experiment" with different styles of music, in the manner found in the first couple of Beatles albums. At the time of this SEATRAIN recording, the musicians had many years of experience with BLUES PROJECT, and other groups. The result, in my opinion, is as great as the first CROSBY, STILLS, and NASH album (Suite Judy Blue Eyes; Wooden Ships; etc.).
I saw Seatrain at the Carrousel Ballroom in San Francisco in 1968, in a program that also featured Santana and Yusef Lateef (jazz flute). Seatrain's performance was a bit unusual, for that era, in that their first set was identical to their second set, in other words, the music really wasn't mainly improvisation. That performance was also different from the album, in the singer was different. He had a sharper sounding voice. He wasn't the soft-voiced John Gregory listed on the album. If there could be any improvement on the album, it would be the same songs but with the sharp-voiced singer.
i'm going in - i'm going out - to see you again - to meet you again ..
love it.
The violin solo on this, played by Richard Greene through a fuzzbox (I believe he was the first to do that) is incredible. I wish that I could isolate his violin playing from the rest of the band's music, which I generally am not into. FYI, he was also the violin on Rod Stewart's "You Wear it Well" and "You're in My Heart." If you want to hear some absolute mastery on the violin (through wah-wah and delay!), check the solo on this one at 2:40 - ua-cam.com/video/QyJGW9GZziE/v-deo.html&start_radio=1&list=RDQyJGW9GZziE. Richard Greene is a true genius.
Zappa did it 1st w fuzz and wah
i have this promo 2x on vinyl... changed my life. best fusion pre-beck of all time. imfho
The Blues Project, Phase II.
Gee, this only anticipates Dave Mathews' instrumentation by about 30 years...
At 2:48, an honest-to-god fugue begins, for at least three entrances.
I recently heard Jonathan Schwartz on Sirius/XM, Mr. "American Songbook" himself, refer to 1968-72 as "that glorious period in music where something magic was happening every 15 minutes."
As if further proof were needed...
Here's Exhibit A.
Coming out of pure Midwest AM and wanting to rebel against our parents Country and Pop.... The 60's/70's, the importation of our own shunned inheritance from our black brothers by British kids.....POW!
Add LSD for comic relief.
I absolutely adore this song - brilliant composition by my fellow Buffalonian Andy Kulberg! The fuzz violin solo @ 2:18 by Richard Greene is unbelievable - BTW, I always thought that the solo was a sax through a fuzztone, but I wrote to Richard Greene and he said it was he - if you listen close to that last high note with the intense vibrato, it surely IS a violin. You can get the remastered 2nd and 3rd albums on Amazon or from BGO-Records
Very cool, especially the Little Feat! Totally willin, keep movin me forward! Thanks, your pal, T
This is rather amazing and gives a taste of Jazz Fusion way before its time.
The fuzz guitar solo sounds like a synth, and so do the electric sax solos.
It is maybe the most eclectic music I've ever heard. Must have been a chore
to play it live...Like playing a film score I guess. Sometimes the words don't
mesh well with the music. It holds up well after 40 years, but it didn't sell
many records as I recall.
Thanks, I was not aware of that.
ME NEITHER, Anyone know who the fuck this is singing ?
All fine and good, big names Martin, George, Traffic... Good 1sr album. Want "hippie" bluegrass, go back and find Goose Creek Symphony
I will check that out. The standard for my uploads were: 1. Was it on UA-cam already? 2. Do I like it? You will notice that all the tracks I uploaded are the first of their kind.
YES FINALLY !
Never knew 2:18 was violin. Fantastic. Richard deserves far more attention for his playing in Seatrain. I think psychedelic music like this became passe by 1970. Seatrain was definitely positioned to play what came next-- rootsy music like the Band.
mrswimmyboy distorted violin in 1968?? This shit was so ahead of its time!
Hey dad I didnt know you posted this
It wasn't available on UA-cam at the time.
I wrote to Richard Greene (Google him) and he said the solo was his violin through a fuzz box. Neat.
Never heard this cut .
@tonkehar yes, a classic!! :)
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seatrain_(band)
@tonkehar nah...not ALL crap. there's some really good stuff, but it's hard to find because there's so much out there now, and there's so many music formats. in the 60s there was basically just top 40 and progressive for rock radio--much easier to keep track.
when seatraincame to my town, they all were generous to sign my album ("look! someone bought our album!"). i don't know who i should leave it to--who would most value it. prob the family of one of the members. if a fan has ideas, plmk.
according to Wikipedia, this was produced by the late GREAT GEORGE MARTIN.
+Tony M close my friend! this album was produced by henry lewy the next album titled "sea train" instead of "seatrain" was the one produced by the great george martin!
No sorry, this album was not produced by George Martin. This album is Sea Train's first album, and it was produced by Sea Train with engineers, Henry Lewy and Robert Di Sousa. Instead, George Martin produced Sea Train's second album.
@@tombrody9208 thank you. LET IT BE was on YT again last week. I wonder if it's still there.