Friday, November 10, 2006

Peter Kelley - Path of the Wave (1969)

Peter Kelley released two records under his name--this is the first (and IMHO the better). Fuzz, Acid and Flowers describes it as "folk-psych with almost whispered vocals. Songs range from Dylanesque ballads to the monster cut The Man Is Dead (6'56") with fuzz guitar." Which is an apt if rather short description. Most of the cuts feature sparse instrumentation (often just an acoustic guitar is featured) and singing that owes a lot to Dylan's style of vocal delivery (and perhaps something to psychoactive substances as well). The Man Is Dead may be the best cut but is far from typical, but the whole album is worth a listen.

The band/crew on this consists of David Budin (Guitar, Piano, Bass, Saxophone, Producer), Rusti Clark (Viola), Chuck Colin (Trumpet), Danny Federici (Organ), Barton Friedman (Producer), Richard Gottehrer (Viola), Eddie Guzman (Drums), Richard Husson (Engineer), Harriet Jacoff (Piano), Peter Kelley (Main Performer), John Lehr (Guitar), Walton Mendelson, Jack Nailon (Guitar (Bass)), Roy Nievelt (Guitar (Electric)), & Warren Slaten (Engineer).

Here's the tracklist: Apricot Brandy/High Flyin' Mama/Christine I, II/All I Needed/Childhood's Hour/Man Is Dead/In My Own & Secret Way

And here's the music (reupped on mediafire).

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm listening to this now & it's all good so far.
Q. Is this a rip from vinyl & are the cover scans original? I ask 'cos what little info i can find is confilcting..AMG & scans say LP was on London/Sire & EIL have a cat # of HAK8402 ??

best regards & keep up the good work( & don't let deletions get yer down)

Max said...

Glad you're enjoying it. It is my vinyl rip but the scans were grabbed off the Web. As for the catalog number Fuzz, Acid & Flowers notes that the US release was on Sire SES-97009 but there was also a UK release on London HAK 8402.

Anonymous said...

Max,

thanks for posting this Peter Kelley album. I have been a fan of his second album "Dealin' Blues" for years. After hearing this, I still think his second album is better and more complex. The second album even includes interesting guest musicians and the T.O.N.T.O synthesizer. His second album "Dealin' Blues" definitely can compete with albums like Gary Higgin's "Red Hash".

Peter Kelley was on Sire, at a time when Sire was still actually a cool hip label.

thanks again.
murdock

Radio Free Wohlman said...

Hi Max,
Great blog!
Thanks for the tunes. Plese visit me at Radio Free Wohlman.

I will add your link soon! Please do the same.

Rock on,
Dave

Anonymous said...

I was on the roof of my parents' house in the summer of '69, sweating in the sun, working on something and listening to FM radio. Two songs played: "Honky Tonk Women" and "Apricot Brandy." Of course we've all lived with "Sticky Fingers" ever since. But I also sought out and bought "Path of the Wave" in Athens, Ohio, at Ohio University, a month or so later. As it turned out, my girlfriend at the time, went to school in New Jersey and partied with Peter Kelley.

An extraordinary album, more so when compared to "Dealin Blues," which has none of this inspired brooding poetry or spooky melodious musicality.

I still have my original well-played, worn copy. Thanks for uploading a complete album of fresh tracks.

Miss Pin Productions said...

I am so happy to see that people are keeping his spirit alive. I am rediscovering his music and am currently looking for a copy of Path of the Wave. The song Heather on Dealin Blues has personal significance to me.

Max said...

Hopefully some good soul will provide me with my file so I can repost it.

Anonymous said...

Great seeing folks that know Peter Kelleys music.I bought both his albums new.Dealing Blues is a masterpiece,musically,and meaningful,powerful messages in his words.Enjoy.............

Anonymous said...

hello
great blog
if it's possible to re-up this album ?
thank you very much.

Max said...

This will be reupped by the end of the day. Sorry, I thought I had reposted this already.
Max

Anonymous said...

thank you for reposted
very quickly
again thanks.

Anonymous said...

Peter died in a car crash in Rhode Island in 1983. He was born in 1946.

Anonymous said...

Peter was a good friend of mine, my first big connection, I sold all his weed and hash back in the day. Sad to finally find out what happened to Peter. I wrote about him in my book King of Nepal Life before the drug wars. trineday.com
I spent many a night partying with Peter, his version of Nadine rocked but maybe never recorded. It was Peter who introduced me to the world. Sent me off to Nepal back in 70. I think that Jack is still alive and Lynas the` great harmonica.Those were great days. Joe pietri

Freelancelot said...

Nice to see all these fans. I 've got both albums, still pull out dealin blues (of which I have a very playable spare copy!) to impress my friends who've never heard of him. The title cut totally rocks and the rest has a lot of thought and introspection put into it. The album was deleted/cutout when I bought it, but is worth a lot to me. I also have the first album, which I got later, and not in as good condition...thus haven't become close to it yet, but these comments will propel me to clean and listen to the album in the near future. Freelancelot