Saint Steven - Over The Hills / The Bastich (us 1969)

Saint Steven - Over the Hills / The Bastich (us 1969 Boston psychedelic acid rock)

Members:
* Steven Cataldo guitar, vocals
* John Turner Arrangement of the Band
* Russ Hamm Arrangement of the Band
* Stephen Pinney drums (on Bonustracks)
* Ian Bruce Douglas 12string guitar (on Bonustracks)
* Barbara Vanderloop backing singer (on Bonustracks)
* Kerry Frangione backing singer (on Bonustracks)

Tracklisting:
- Over the Hills
01. Over The Hills 0:43
02. Animal Hall 2:50
03. Gladacadova 2:11
04. Over The Hills 0:18
05. Poor Small 2:41
06. Ay-Aye Poe Day 3:22
07. Grey Skies 2:51
08. Over The Hills 1:28
- The Bastich
09. Bastich I 3:07
10. Voyage To Cleveland 2:51
11. Sun In The Flame 2:26
12. Bright Lights 2:02
13. Louisiana Home 2:51
14. Bastich II 1:06
- Bonus Tracks (Recorded in 1966: Previously Unreleased)
15. My Sunday Love (Bonustrack) 2:57
16. Where Has The Time Gone To (Bonustrack) 2:38

The brainchild of original Ultimate Spinach member Steven Cataldo, the album is a fine example of the "Boston" Sound of 1969 and was conceived and recorded against the backdrop of social and political unrest of america in the Late 1960's. This was one of those records that came out of nowhere, was played on FM radio a bit and then disappeared without a trace.It was ABC/Probe Records, the same label as Soft Machine's first album in 1969. No musicians were listed inside, just the producer, engineer and cover design folks. The lyrics were included and are quite poetic with the feeling of dread buried beneath some of the warmer imagery. With master tapes thought to have been lost, an exhaustive search by Eclectic Discs has resulted in the discovery of the master in an archive in England.Each side of the album was a suite, "Over the Hills" on side one and "The Bastich" on side two. The songs balances the innocent with the darker forces that we all must confront.The cover features "Saint Steven" hugging his guitar floating up in the clouds as the sun radiates around him with a drawing of a sea monster slithering down at the edge of the ocean.With the Vietnam war at Its height and the assassination of Robert Kennedy a recent memory, this legendary album juxtaposed fine rock music with audio excerpts from US television news and is a true one-off.Saint Steven uses his own mythical figures, "Gladacadova" and "Ay-Aye-Poe-Day", to add magic and mystery to his little tales.In the middle of "Poor Small", the song stops and we get an excerpt from one of the Presidential elections in which some old woman is reading the tally of states and hitting a gavel. The song continues and so does the tally in the background, it still reminds me of sad realities of life that we try to escape from with music. Although the original album was rather short (about 29 minutes), it still worked as one entire piece, amazing from the beginning to the end. I can't compare it to any other bands, because it doesn't really sound like anyone else, although I do hear a bit of Spirit in some of those hypnotic sustained guitar parts.
~ OldrockerBR

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