Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Food - Forever Is A Dream (us 1969)


Food - Forever Is a Dream (us 1969)

Formed: Chicago, IL, United States

Members:
*Ted Ashford (keybords),
*Erick Scott Filipowitz (bass),
*Barry Mraz (drums),
*Steve White (vocals),
*Bill Wukovich (guitar).

Tracklisting:
side 1
01. Forever Is a Dream (Ted Ashford - Steve White - Bill Wukovich) - 4:05
02. Native Prayers (Bill Wukovich) - 6:25
03. No (Ted Ashfrod) - 2:46
04. Lady Miss Ann (Steve White - Bill Wukovich) - 3:09
05. Fountains of My Mind (Ted Ashford - Steve White) - 3:09
06. Coming Back (Steve White - Bill Wukovich) - 3:03
side 2
01. What It Seems To Be (Steve White) - 6:03
02. Inside the Mirror (Bill Wukovich) - 2:22
03. Marbled Wings (Bill Wukovich) - 3:19
04. Traveling Light (Ted Ashford - Steve White - Bill Wukovich) - 2:42
05. Leaves (Ted Ashford - Steve White) - 3:38
06. Here We Go Again (Steve White) - 3:23

This one's always been somewhat of a mystery to us. First off, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of biographical info on these guys. They certainly didn't leave behind an extensive catalog. Besides, how come the cover shows four guys, while the liner notes and the back cover photo show the band to be a five piece ... who's missing on the cover? Chicago-based Food sported a line up consisting of keyboardist Ted Ashford, bassist Eric Scott Flipowitz, drummer Barry Mraz, singer Steve Whiteand guitarist Bill Wukovich. If you subscribe to the popular story they were discovered by the same outfit that found Grand Funk Railroad. Along with Grand Funk, they were signed by Capitol, but with Grand Funk generating strong sales, Capitol lost all interest in Food. Produced by Ashford "Forever Is a Dream" is pretty darned impressive. True, it may not be the year's most original offering, but with three of the five members contributing material, material such as the extended title track, "What It Seems To Be" and "Marbled Wings" is literally drenched in a dense and dreamy aura. It's all wrapped up in a series of attractive melodies, intriguing lyrics, coupled with plenty of fuzz guitar, whacked out drumming and interesting bits of orchestration, including some surprisingly nice horn charts ("No"). Elsewhere, on material such as "Native Prayers" and "Fountains of My Mind" vocalist White sounds like he's been partying pretty hard. Great headphone album !!!
Supposedly a couple of these songs were used in the soundtrack for the porn flick 'The Babysitters'.
~ by RDTEN1 (RYM).
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"Mysterious, wondrous masterpiece that most collectors dismiss as the little brother to the other Capitol monsters (Gandalf and Common People) when it's actually the best of the three. Intensely emotional and dramatic; these guys had a vision and multiple listens begin to reveal its depth. String-laden ballads hold hands with fleeting blasts of power chords. Bits and pieces that seem to have no purpose blend together to create a surprisingly coherent whole. It's hard to know if they even intended this to be a 'concept album,' but it's definitely a case of the whole being more then the sum of the pieces, good as the pieces are."
~ by Acid Archives.

Download Link:
http://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/0B9SKREO/Food_-_Forever_Is_A_Dream__us_1969_.rar_mirrors
or:
http://sharebee.com/9b7c043d

Filename: Food - Forever Is A Dream (us 1969).rar Size: 70.65 MB
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8 comments:

pogopod said...

I was a friend of Ted Ashford's. He was the brains behind Food. I spent time in the studio with Food after the album was released. Somewhere there is a kick ass single called Going To Wauwatosa. Ted was a brilliant musician and taught at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He left for California sometime inthe early 70 seventies. He played on several albums including a Country Joe and the Fish offering and a couple of jazz albums. He died in 1984 of a heart attack. Agreat loss.

alfaios said...

Thank you very much Pogopod for these infos you gave us!
You have to be proud of your friend...

Tabularasaman said...

Separately and collectively, like FOOD or not, the members of that group played the 60s American musical game at a perfect time to play it, obviously played it better than 98% of the groups during that era, got out before they had to go to rehab and then 'POOF' they were gone. The old Chicago 'hit and run'. The groups writers spoke of love, death, suicide, end time prophecy and the deceit of 60's society ( What it seems to be). I guess that all got to them. I have heard the expression 'better to be a has been than a never was' many times when FOOD has come into a conversation at a convention.

Theories and unprovable 'personal' information of the group from groupies and 'wannabes', who were not there with the group, are rampant. Little to no information was found or could be verified on the other members, however......
After FOOD, Ashford and White, sometimes from two different locations worked on such films as THE THREE WARRIORS, HINKEY AND BOGGS, THE BABY SITTER, SCUBA, THE DARING DOBERMANS to name a few and with groups Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe and the Fish, the Grateful Dead. Ashford, as he did before FOOD, continued working inthe many facets of the music industry. White moved on to the stable of cult filmmaker Herschell Lewis. He acted in JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT, SHE DEVILS ON WHEELS, ALLEY TRAMP and BLAST OFF GIRLS where he also wrote and performed the opening tune BAD DAY.

All members are presumed dead.


The title tune FOREVER IS A DREAM has been released recently along with the Steve Miller band and the Beach boys in AH FEEL LIKE AHCID, a copulation of 24 tunes picked by the 'biggies' of the industry to represent the 'Summer of Love' and the grandfathers of 'Psychedelia'.

The album FOREVER IS A DREAM has increased in value nearly at the same rate as gold. An original issue, now over 200 USD, is a rare collectable. The limited re-issues on Vinyl and CD have increased steadily in rarity and value.

alfaios said...

Dear Tabularasaman!
Thank you very much for all these priceless infos you gave us!
Alfaios

Anonymous said...

Thanx a lot!

Anonymous said...

I just got done watching The Babysitter(which is an exploitation movie by the way, not porn) and there are no songs by them per se, but they are playing an instrumental in a basement party scene, and in the opening credits it says "introducing the music of The Food". It's funny because there are horns on it, yet no one in the band is miming a horn.

Anonymous said...

I found this LP in a barn full of albums about 9 years ago. Perfect condition except for the punch out hole. $0.60. Not a bad price ;P

Morrison said...

Apparently those "The Food" found in "The Babysitter" could be a different band. There was a band called "The food" that same year in Spain. The sound of the songs in the film remind closer to the psycho pop of those days in the spanish shore than the well formed american folk rock in this album ( great album, by the way). Anyway I could not certify one point or another due to the lack of trustable information about both bands.