Harte The Race Fir The Atom

Faded old-world flowers adorn both sides of the cover with a big strip of black grease disturbing the lovely imagery on the back. Beginning with Arthur Crudup's "My Baby Left Me," like that other band of famous backup players, the Section, how can this be anything but very musical? Guitarist/vocalist Henry McCullough's "Mistake No Doubt" has eerie backing vocals and is suitably well done, as is his "Let It Be Gone," and though this is far from commercial, it is important to have this document of the guys who made magic behind Joe Cocker in 1969 and Marianne Faithfull in the mid-'70s. This came right in the middle, and the Grease Band's collaborative effort, "Jesse James," could be mistaken for Doug Yule singing Lou Reed's "Train Comin' Round the Bend." It's got that chug-a-lug subdued rock sound. With Henry McCullough's Wings connection, The Grease Band gets a touch of the Beatles' guilt-by-association mystique. As intriguing and wonderful as this album is, had Joe Cocker guested on bassist Alan Spenner's "Down Home Mama" or had Marianne Faithfull taken on the traditional "To the Lord," there would have been that something extra, that intangible that makes records so very special.

Though it's not obvious from the cover, this 22-track CD compilation is basically a reissue of the New Colony Six's third and fourth LPs (1968's Revelations and 1969's Attacking a Straw Man), presenting the albums one after the other with their original track sequences. This was the era in which the Chicago band, which started off with a rawer garage pop sound, softened its approach considerably and found some modest national commercial success. Those who swear by the group's earlier work (particularly the excellent 1966 debut, Breakthrough) are likely to be disappointed by the far more mainstream harmony pop/rock of these records, though on the other hand, fans of groups like the Association might favor this era more than the previous one…