01	What You Want To Know			Track 5 (Flight),is 4 parts. Part 1;( As Your Mind Flies By). Part 2 (Vacuum). Part 3 (New Yorker). Part 4 (Central Park).			05:59
	02	Down On The Floor						02:41
	03	Hammerhead						03:31
	04	I'm Thinking						05:40
	05	Flight			Track 5 (Flight) is 4 parts			19:38

Personnel
Graham Field Organ and assorted keyboards
David Kaffinetti Electric piano and assorted keyboards
Steve Gould Lead vocals and bass guitar
Mark Ashton Drums and vocals


Rare Bird [UK]
Rare Bird (69), As Your Mind Flies By (70), Epic Forest (72), Attention! (73), Somebody's Watching (73), Born Again (74), Rare Bird (75), Sympathy (76, comp.)

I have their first album from 1969. Heavily organ dominated music, there are no guitars or flutes, just drums, bass, and organ. The opening cut, "Iceburg" sounds very similar to Highest Bidder era Supersister. There are vocals on nearly all, if not all, songs. For this album anyway, the music is song oriented and there isn't much development within a song. There also doesn't seem to be much change from song to song across the album. There are some nice moments here and there, e.g., "God of War," and the entire album has a nice underground feel to it. I've not heard later albums, so I don't know how the band matured over the years. If you like the organ, you may want to check out their compilation, Sympathy. But, given this style, I'd just as soon hear Supersister which has much more variety and ultimately sustains my interest more than this band.

The first album has its moments, but really only rises above mediocre songs a couple of times. The two singers' voices and instrumental ideas show promise, which is much more in evidence on their second release, As Your Mind Flies. This has better developed songs and a side-long progressive suite full of great riffs. No guitars which was fairly unusual for the time. Epic Forest showed a great maturing of song writing, playing and composing ability. Somebody's Watching and Born Again were also excellent, although they were gradually tending more towards the standard song format. Still, their harmonies and instrumental ideas were excellent. These are albums I don't get tired of listening to. The Sympathy CD is merely the same material that appeared on an LP of the same name pressed in 1976 that included songs from their first two LPs. It only runs about 30 minutes and is a ripoff if you pay more than about $10 U.S. for it. Frankly, on the strength of this collection alone, you don't get a very impressive view of what this band was capable of. -- Tim Scott

[See Fields]

Aside from Julian Jay Savarin and the big names (Yes, Van der Graaf, King Crimson) Rare Bird's debut was one of the first albums of real audible evidence of British prog rock. A quartet composed of a bassist/singer, two keyboardists (one on organ, the other on electric piano) and a drummer, their sound was built around the haunting organ work of Graham Field and the passionate vocals of Steve Gould. Not surprisingly, the long tracks are the standouts: "Beautiful Scarlet" and "Iceberg" emphasizing the band's aforementioned strong points perfectly. The rest of the songs are short and often poppy, "Sympathy" became something of a hit single in the UK. As Your Mind Flies By is their finest hour, including a sidelong piece that varies from symphonic to spacy to heavy. Epic Forest adds guitar and percussion, and subtracts Graham Field, leaving American Dave Kaffinetti their only keyboardist. The music is for the most part folkier and more subdued, with the nine-minute title song and "Title No. 1 Again (Birdman)" being the best songs. The emphasis is shifted from organ to dual-guitar interplay. Later albums are for the most part faceless pop/rock with folky tinges. Somebody's Watching does include a prog piece, an interpretation of themes from Ennio Morricone's "A Fistful Of Dollars" soundtrack. Born Again isn't really prog at all, though "Last Tango In Beulah" has some Supertramp-esque keyboard work, "Peace of Mind" and "Redman" are nice, and "Harlem" has a powerful, affecting vocal by Gould. -- Mike Ohman





Rare Bird


Personnel:
Mark Ashton - Drums, Vocals
Graham Field - Organ
Steve Gould - Vocals, Sax, Bass, Guitar
Dave Kaffinetti - Keyboards, Synth
Kevin Lamb - Organ, Vocals
Andy Curtis - Guitar
Paul Holland - Percussion
Paul Karas - Bass
Fred Kelly - Drums, Vocals



Albums:
Rare Bird (Charisma CAS 1005) 1969
As Your Mind Flies By (Charisma CAS 1011) 1970
Epic Forest (Polydor 2442 101) 1972
Somebody's Watching (Polydor 2383 211) 1973
Born Again (Polydor 2383 274) 1974
Rare Bird (Polygram 9299 008) 1975
Sympathy (Compilation) (Charisma CS 4) 1976

Rare Bird + Somebody's Watching reissued on 1 CD - Red Fox Records, RF603, 1998
As Your Mind Flies By reissued on CD - Red Fox Records, RF606, 1999
Epic Forest reissued on CD - Red Fox Records, RF604, 1998
Born Again reissued on CD - Red Fox Records, RF625, 2002



EP:
Sympathy/Devil's High Concern/What You Want To Know/Hammerhead (PS) (Charisma CB 179) 1972

45s:
Sympathy/Devil's High Concern (Charisma CB 120) 1970 27
What You Want To Know/Hammerhead (Charisma CB 138) 1971
Roadside Welcome/Four Grey Walls/You're Lost (PS) (Polydor 2814 011) 1972
Virginia/Lonely Street (Polydor 2058 402) 1973
Body And Soul/Redman (Polydor 2058 471) 1974
Don't Be Afraid/Passin' Through (Polydor 2058 591) 1975

Singles reissued:
Sympathy/Beautiful Scarlet (Charisma CB 262) 1975
Sympathy/Beautiful Scarlet (Old Gold OG 9040) 1979



Rare Bird formed in London in October 1969 and began rehearsing in a room at organist's Graham Field's London apartment. Indeed, Field and keyboardist Dave Kaffinetti played a key role in conceiving the group's then-novel two-keyboard sound. Gould (ex-Fruit Machine) proved to be a powerful vocalist and their drummer was former Turnstyle member Mark Ashton.

Within a few weeks, the group was offered a residency at London's Marquee, and before the end of the year they'd issued a much acclaimed debut album, which got to No.117 in the US Charts. This included the atmospheric "Sympathy", which would prove to be a minor hit in the UK, but it was very popular on the continent too. The final cut, "God Of War", was both atmospheric and innovative in its use of percussion, whilst "You Went Away" and "Beautiful Scarlet" featured powerful vocals and good keyboards.

"As Your Mind Flies By" was another fine album of keyboard-driven rock punctuated by Steve Gould's often melodramatic vocals. The whole of side 2 was taken up by the ambitious four-movement track, "Flight", but the whole of side 1 is recommended listening too. The group's line-up was expanded for "Epic Forest" (which was varied, ranging from the heavy riffing of "Hey Man" to mellower numbers like "House In The City" and "Fears Of The Night"), but somehow they failed to maintain any sort of momentum in the UK, although they remained very popular in mainland Europe.

Their second 45 A-side, "What You Want To Know", later resurfaced on the "One More Chance" compilation. Fred Kelly had earlier been involved in the Astral Navigations Thundermother project.

Taken from The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976, Vernon Joynson
ISBN 1 899855 04 1