01	Give'em Some Rawhide Chewies						03:52
	02	Cancer of The Band						06:51
	03	To-Ta In The Moya						10:16
	04	Boris and His Three Verses						02:51
	05	Flow Guides Aren't My Bag						04:45
	06	My Doc Told Me I Had Doggie Head						05:04
	07	3, Almost 4, 6 Yea						08:39

Yezda Urfa [USA]
Updated 5/11/03
Discography
Boris (75)
Sacred Baboon (76)


Reviews
Yezda Urfa 1975 - Mark Tippins, Rick Rodenbaugh, Marc Miller, Brad Christoff and Phil Kimbrough

Mostly Gentle Giant and Yes influences, as I recall. They were pretty decent instrumentally, but the lyrics are bombastic garbage, and the vocalist, while sporting a very impressive, Jon Anderson-ish range, has an annoying tendency to sing out of tune. Had they been well produced, they might've made some good records. As it is, I'd say they were only fair. (Less than amazing singers have killed quite a few bands, eh?) I preferred Babylon.

Musically, the closest parallel is with Gentle Giant, in terms of the harmonies, and complex time-signatures and structures of the compositions, with additional bite. Judging by the "stream of consciousness" lyrics, it seems as if Yezda Urfa use vocals as an additional instrument. For example, "kickback with a plastic brickbat one fine day went to heal undue redress brown or black mess no charge for porcelain meal" (!) Someone (made anonymous for the purposes of this survey) remarked that this was like "Gentle Giant on overdrive," and that aptly sums it up.
Yezda Urfa is evidence of the excellent progressive music produced in the United States in the seventies, and also evidence of the neglect of the genre by major labels once the disco and punk waves hit. Boris was independently released and distributed by the band, and the followup album sat in the vaults for well over a decade until rescued by Syn-Phonic in '89. Their sound is a brilliant and intelligent blend of high energy complex rock with lots of changes, witty lyrics, great vocal harmonies, and sense of purpose. Justifiable comparisons might be made with Yes (although Yezda Urfa has a less lofty approach) or Gentle Giant (but Yezda Urfa puts the Gentle Giant style into overdrive), even some of Frank Zappa's more accessible moments. In general, their playing is much harder than these other bands, they don't let up for a minute. Baboon was recently re-released on CD, and boris is scheduled.
My original description of Yezda Urfa, after hearing their track on the Past, Present, Future compilation was, "Yes develops a sense of humor, drops acid, and tries to sound like Gentle Giant." Naturally, I was looking forward to hearing an entire album by the band. Sacred Baboon was recently re-issued by Syn-Phonic, and is pretty much what I expected: an elaborate, chaotic, whimsical tour de force of the mid-seventies sympho style. Their compositions match the complexity level of 72-73 Gentle Giant, and use that band's knack for two and three part vocal harmony. However, the sound of the individual instruments reminds me of Yes, especially the lead vocals and rhythm section. With song titles like "Give 'em Some Rawhide Chewies," "Flow Guides Aren't My Bag," and "(My Doc Told Me I Had) Doggie Head," Yezda Urfa shows that they don't necessarily take themselves too seriously. The lyrics are stream of conciousness nonsense rattled off at high speed. Maybe they actually mean something, but only the band-members would know. Reading the liner notes can be impressive, confusing and hysterical all at the same time. If you like music that changes styles and time sigs often and checking out Yezda Urfa should be on your list of things to do. While not as powerful as Syn-Phonic's earlier release of Mirthrandir's For You the Old Women, Sacred Baboon ranks number two of all the CDs put out by this up and coming label. The only disappointment I can muster is that this release doesn't contain the chaos and utter complexity of the Yezda Urfa track on Past, Present, Future.
Combine equal parts Gentle Giant and Yes. Add major portions of humor. That sums up Sacred Baboon by Yezda Urfa. A great album, full of inventive instrumentation and interplay played by five guys who don't take it too seriously. Song titles like "(My Doc Told Me I Had) Doggie Head" and "Give 'em Some Rawhide Chewies" indicated the humorous slant evident throughout the music. But there's nothing humorous about the music. These guys can play with the best of the classic progressive bands including fantastic Gentle Giant-like interplay with instruments and vocals. The lead singer is reminiscent of Jon Anderson and there is a general Yes-like quality to many of the songs. Mixing the styles of these two well-known bands provides a fresh musical outlook on these musical paradigms. One of the best bands from mid-'70s USA and well worth a listen.
The music a band or record producer chooses as the opening track on an album sometimes baffles me. Given the choice, I would select the strongest piece to hook the listener in to listening to the whole album. It shouldn't be the weakest example, otherwise you run the risk of the listener punching the eject button without hearing the rest of the disk. Such is the case with Yezda Urfa's reissued second album Sacred Baboon. If you only heard the opening song "Give 'em Some Rawhide Chewies," you would dismiss them as just another Styx or Kansas clone not worthy of further attention. HOW WRONG YOU WOULD BE! My advice is to buy this CD, program your player to always skip track one, and then sit back and enjoy some great progressive music combining elements of Gentle Giant, Gryphon, and King Crimson with a unique US perspective. Yezda Urfa was an obscure US progressive band hailing from Illinois in the mid 70s. They played a wide variety of instruments: Brad Christoff (drums, percussion, metalophone, glockenspiel, and cough), Rick Rodenbaugh (lead vocals, air guitar, and cough), Mark Tippins (guitars, backing vocals, and cough), Marc Miller (bass, marimba, cello, vibraphone, backing vocals, and cough), and Phil Kimbrough (keyboards, recorders, flute, accordion, mandolin, backing vocals, and cough). Their interwoven poly-rhythmic vocals and melodies created a musical Persian carpet. Caught in this musical warp and woof are beautiful interludes like the acoustic guitar - cello duet on 3, almost 4, 6, Yea. Their fantasy lyrics, off-the-wall titles (e.g., "Cancer of the Band," and "To-Ta in the Moya"), and inventive instrumentation makes Sacred Baboon a must-buy CD.

Links
Click here for the Yezda Urfa web site






Yezda Urfa - Sacred Baboon - (1976) 1989
This was our second album, again put together by ourselves. Since no interest had been generated by our demo album, we decided to go for a second album that would be released on our own label with the hope that after it generated enough interest, it would attract the attention of a record company,

We funded the project ourselves, and just before finishing, we almost had a deal with a small label in Chicago, but the deal fell through. After completing the recording, but short of cash, we abandoned the idea of releasing the album and shelved the master tape.

Some eight years later, we were discovered by Syn-Phonic and the album was released in 1989 (thank you Peter Stoller!).

This album was recorded in about two weeks, in two different studios. We had started using the same studio as for the Boris album, but switched to another, more modern studio shortly after we started recording. In the time that had elapsed since recording Boris, our music had progressed and improved. Some of the material that appeared on Boris was reworked for this album.

Syn-Phonic Synpho-3 LP

Side 1
Give 'em Some Rawhide Chewies (3:50)
Cancer of the Band (6:48)
Tota in the Moya (10:14)

Side 2
Boris and his Three Verses (2:50)
Flow Guides Aren't My Bag (4:45)
(My Doc Told Me I Had) Doggie Head (5:02)
3, Almost 4, 6 Yea (8:39)

Brad Christoff: drums, tubular bells, metalaphone, glockenspiel, percussion
Phil Kimbrough: keyboards, accordion, mandolin, flute, recorder, vocals
Mark Tippins: guitar, vocals
Marc Miller: bass, cello, marimba, vibes, vocals
Rick Rodenbaugh: vocals

Produced and Recorded at Universal Studios, Chicago and Hedden West Recorders, Schaumburg, Illinois.



Yezda Urfa - Sacred Baboon - (1976) 1991
This is a CD release of our LP Sacred Baboon. The content is unchanged. However, considerable work was done with the packaging.

New cover art was created, and the original LP cover was reproduced in the centerfold. Color photos of the band members were added as well as a discography. Have you seen the description of the photo of Rick Rodenbaugh in the General Info section?

Syn-Phonic SYNCD 8

Give 'em Some Rawhide Chewies (3:50)
Cancer of the Band (6:48)
Tota in the Moya (10:14)
Boris and his Three Verses (2:50)
Flow Guides Aren't My Bag (4:45)
(My Doc Told Me I Had) Doggie Head (5:02)
3, Almost 4, 6 Yea (8:39)

Brad Christoff: drums, tubular bells, metalaphone, glockenspiel, percussion
Phil Kimbrough: keyboards, accordion, mandolin, flute, recorder, vocals
Mark Tippins: guitar, vocals
Marc Miller: bass, cello, marimba, vibes, vocals
Rick Rodenbaugh: vocals
Produced and Recorded at Universal Studios, Chicago and Hedden West Recorders, Schaumburg, Illinois.




Yezda Urfa - an introduction
Yezda Urfa is a progressive rock band that formed in the fall of 1973 and existed until the spring of 1981.We took the progressive form nearly to its limit in terms of instrumentation and composition. Rather than just doing what others were doing, we did it to extreme.We have been compared to Gentle Giant in terms of vocal arrangements and instrumentation, and Yes in terms of the rythm section and vocalist, but our sound was no doubt original.

Unfortunately, we were unable to secure a recording deal during our existance. However, some eight years after the demise of the band, we were discovered by Greg Walker of Syn-Phonic, and our second self-produced but unreleased album, Sacred Baboon, was released on LP. A few years later, the album was re-released on CD.




The name Yezda Urfa comes from Yazd, Iran and Urfa, Turkey. We came across them while flipping through a dictionary while looking for a name for the band. Yazd was changed to Yezda to aid in pronunciation.

Many years later we even went so far as to change Urfa to Erfa because so many people were having trouble pronouncing Urfa. They always seemed to want to make the "u" long, as in "you-ref-a" or something like that!






Here's Some Interesting Stuff...
Cough
What is Table Percussion?
Song Names
Is that really Rick Rodenbaugh pictured in the CD version of Sacred Baboon?
A trip to New York...
The Dharma debacle...or how we almost signed a recording deal in 1976.
How were we rediscovered some 7 years after we gave up?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why is there a cough in Cancer of the Band on Sacred Baboon?
Well, it ain't something deep like being related to cancer...actually, when the guitar solo section was being recorded, Mark goofed at one point but kept going, thinking that he might be able to patch the mistake. But since we were working on such a tight budget (we were paying for the whole darn thing ourselves), one of us suggested that a cough be recorded over the mistake to cover it up. The recording engineer immediately grabbed a microphone, and we all coughed at precisely the correct moment! Hence, we all get a 'cough' credit.

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What exactly is Table Percussion?
On a lark, which is something we took advantage of as often as possible, we discovered that a small wooden table covered with kitchen utensils makes a very interesting percussive sound when hit. So, we put on our album. Listen carefully to (My Doc Told Me I Had) Doggie Head. At precisely 4:00 (that is, on the CD) for six beats you can hear it. We actually brought our table and utensils to the recording studio. However, the effect was not quite as good as the original sound, which was produced on a wooden floor above a basement. The floor would amplify the sound, making quite a noise. How did we make the sound? We simply hit the table with a fist.

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Song Names
You may have noticed some strange sounding song titles. The lyrics are strange, so why not strange titles. Well, the two have nothing in common, as you might have guessed. Many of our titles came from Brad. He would often suggest something that simply sounded good to him, sometimes before the music was even conceived! For example, we were at a restaurant eating dinner and during a conversation, I said something like '3, almost 4, 6, yea!' (I have no idea what I was talking about except having to do with counting some occurrence of something or other) and Brad says, "hey, that sounds like a good song title" So, eventually we found a piece of music worthy of the title. Another example is Tota in the Moya, which was Brad's nieces' way of saying "Two (o'clock) in the morning" and once again Brad filed this phrase away for future use. I believe Brad can be credited also with "Give 'Em Some Rawhide Chewies", a reference to the dog toys that a friends' dog liked, as well as "Flow Guides Aren't My Bag", which was a reference to some sort of equipment Brad used as a millwright. There is also "The Basis of Dubenglazy While Dirk Does the Dance", but I have no idea where Brad came up with this one!

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Is it really Rick?
Nope! Those are pictures of Chuck. A one-time member of YU. Needless to say, Rick wasn't too happy about the mistake. Here's what happened: I was asked to supply any color pictures I had of the band for the Sacred Baboon CD. I had a few pictures from when Chuck was our singer. I assumed (never assume anything) that the pictures would be used along with others as a montage. I wasn't asked if the pictures were current as of the time of the recording or anything else, just "send what you have" so I did. Then the CD is released, I get my copies, and I almost died laughing as I see my pictures and only my pictures in the CD, incorrectly labeled. If only someone had asked a question. Again, I assumed the pictures would be correctly labeled. How was I to know without asking. Oh well, now the truth is out. Sorry Rick, please forgive us.

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The Dharma Debacle
We were in the process of recording Sacred Baboon. Before the album was finished, somehow Dharma Records, Libertyville, IL. became aware of us and they were interested. We were invited to their office for a meeting. This was very exciting for us. This was the closest we had come to this sort of thing and what we had been hoping for for some time.

We met with the two guys that were the head of the company (I think they were brothers). In the meeting, we explained how we had financed the recording up to now and were about 75% through.

They informed us they were interested in our music and would distribute the album (yes!) if WE finish funding the recording and also advertising (no!). This turned out to be a raw deal, where we would take all the risk and they could reap all the benefits if we succeeded. This was not the record deal we had always dreamed about. We were dumbfounded by the offer. It was incredibly ridiculous. But it was an opportunity and we needed to give it some thought.

We were given time to think over the offer, but before we had returned home, we unanimously agreed to decline the offer. But we kept the t-shirts they gave us.

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Rediscovery
The band broke up sometime in 1981, after Brad's, then my (Marc) departure, and the realization by Mark and Phil that it was too difficult to continue as a duo (plus the fact that the music scene had shifted so far from progressive). We all pretty much put it behind us and went on with our lives, in most cases in directions away from music. Then some seven years later, a fellow by the name of Peter Stoller stumbles onto a copy of our demo album Boris. It had been sold (traded in?) to a record store where he worked and he came across it and thought it looked interesting, so he bought it. He enjoyed it and brought it to the attention of Greg Walker of Syn-Phonic, whom then attempted to contact Phil, since his name and telephone number had been scrawled on the cover. After some effort (Phil had since moved and his number changed), Greg contacted Phil and the rest is history...

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Go Back




Yezda Urfa Members, Past and Present:
Present line-up
Brad Christoff christoffs1@juno.com
Born 1955 Gary, Indiana. Currently resides in Portage, Indiana with his wife and daughter Nicole. Plays with pick-up groups and works as a millwright. Self-taught musician.

Brad has produced a parody CD with a band called Dead Nuts. E-mail Brad if you are interested in purchasing a copy.

Phil Kimbrough
Born 1955 Alamogordo, New Mexico. Currently resides in Pasadena, California with his wife and three of his four step-children. Composes music for Film and TV in Los Angeles. Studied privately on piano, guitar, flute.

Marc Miller mmiller565@comcast.net
Born 1955 Chicago, Illinois. Currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with two of his four children. Employed as an electronics engineer at a national laboratory. Studied privately on cello, otherwise self-taught.

Marc is dabbling in music composition in his home studio. Two CD's of solo work are available at www.mp3.com/mmmiller.

Mark Tippins tmtippins@comcast.net
Born 1955 Chicago, Illinois. Currently resides in Valparaiso, Indiana with his wife and two sons. Has written music for local commercials. Studied privately on various instruments and taught guitar for many years.

Rick Rodenbaugh Dawnamric@aol.com
Born 1953 Park Forest, Illinois. Currently resides in Dunedin, Florida with his wife and daughter. Performs regularly with local progressive rock bands and owns his own roofing company. Self-taught musician.

Mike Barry mbarry53@comcast.net
Born 1959 Chicago, Illinois. Studied classical piano privately in Chicago and St. Louis, toured worldwide, and performed on over a dozen cd's. Mike has joined Yezda Urfa as our touring keyboard player.

Other Members
Mike Davies

Chuck Nuzo

Gary Stewart




Yezda Urfa
Sacred Baboon
Syn-Phonic (SYNCD 8)
USA 1976

Brad Christoff, drums, tubular bells, metalaphone, glockenspiel, percussion;
Phil Kimbrough, keyboards, accordion, mandolin, flute, recorder, vocals;
Mark Tippins, guitar, vocals;
Marc Miller, bass, cello, marimba, vibes, vocals;
Rick Rodenbaugh, vocals

Tracklist:
1. Give 'em Some Rawhide Chewies - 3:50
2. Cancer of the Band - 6:48
3. Tota in the Moya - 10:14
4. Boris and his Three Verses - 2:50
5. Flow Guides Aren't My Bag - 4:45
6. (My Doc Told Me I Had) Doggie Head - 5:02
7. 3, Almost 4, 6 Yea - 8:39

total time 40:08


nick

What would you get if you combined the sounds of Yes and Gentle Giant with a large dose of psychedelic chemicals? You'd probably get something that sounds a lot like Yezda Urfa. Yezda Urfa is the craziest, zaniest, most incredible progressive rock band that you have never heard. Most of the tracks on Sacred Baboon are two speeds: fast and really fast, although they do make room for some lighter moments. Those of you who like guitar dominated progressive rock will have loads to feast on here. Mark Tippins' guitar work always runs full throttle throughout the album with incredibly fast melodic parts, and there's plenty of other virtuosity to be found on the album as well. An ocarina and recorder chorus fill out the beginning of "Cancer of the Band". Vibes, harpsichords, synths, organs, and voices play in tandem with the guitar. Yezda Urfa pull out all the stops however on "3, Almost 4, 6 Yea," a high energy track featuring multiple time signatures, cross-cutting sections, and a heartrendingly beautiful classical guitar solo. Sacred Baboon stands up well against similar efforts by other contemporary American acts such as Happy the Man. If you can make it past the juvenile titles such as "My Doctor Said I had a Doggie Head" and "Give 'Em Some Rawhide Chewies," you'll discover a long-lost classic of prog's darker days.

12-20-03 - post a comment (0)


(c) ground and sky



Yezda Urfa - Sacred Baboon

Released: 1989 / 1992
Label: Syn-Phonic
Cat. No.: SYNPHO 3 / SYNCD 8
Total Time: 42:08


Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, June 2004
Yezda Urfa - their name taken from two locations: Yazd, Iran and Urfa, Turkey (Yazd changed to Yezda) - were formed in circa 1975, recording the demo album Boris that year. Although it was never released officially - i.e., released by any label - the band was briefly signed to Dharma Records. But the label's financial problems meant that the second album, Sacred Baboon was recorded but not released. Not until Greg Walker and Syn-phonic released it, on vinyl, in 1989. It made its CD debut in 1992.

Though I had bought Sacred Baboon release some years ago, it was only when I played it again to review for our NEARfest page (the band was on the bill for NF 2004) that I was struck by how much like Yes they sounded. Mainly because of the vocals of Rick Rodenbaugh, but also in the rumbling bass work of Marc Miller (well, he is playing a Rickenbacker, among other basses), the guitar work of Mark Timmons and the overall arrangements of the pieces. But there is also something Yes-like in the keyboards of Phil Kimbrough, which on only a couple of brief occasions recall Emerson rather than Wakeman. However, Kimbrough's style isn't as showy as Wakeman's. Think of "Heart Of The Sunrise," "Close To The Edge" and the other rockier pieces of Yes - this is the general feel. Yezda Urfa's sound is a little rawer and less refined than that associated with Yes... by which I mean, I little more immediate. Maybe Yes in their early days if they were playing the material of their middle days.

Now, there is also much that doesn't sound like Yes - parts of the quieter, more subtle "Cancer Of The Band," for instance, or the flute driven (Kimbrough) and energetic sections of "To-Ta In The Moya." And while there are Yes-like harmonies, there are times where you have layers of vocals crossing over each other (Gentle Giant, say). Other instruments that Yezda Urfa bring to the mix are marimba, cello, vibraphone, recorders, accordian, and mandolin... (okay, Howe does play mandolin). What you can expect are extended arrangements with lots going on, complex arrangements that hold interest through their lively interaction. If nothing else, it sounds like a band enjoying what they're doing. Aside from "Cancer..." the band do have other places that are more subtle in sound and texture, the acoustic guitar and flute interlude on "3, Almost 4, 6, Yea" being but one example).

But, just as Yes' lyrics are interpretive poetics, so too are Yezda Urfa's. In fact, the lyrics to "Cancer..." read like the "sentences" of random words you find in spam (if you've looked at the source of a message before). And yet there is a rhythmic pattern to them, which makes them either ironically compatible or not quite so random as it appears. Well, some are clearly phrases, even if they don't make much sense. Oh, why not mention "Roundabout" (similar sound bass work here), too. Not that any of these Yezda Urfa songs sound like any one track in particular, but rather have a Yes-ness about them, drawing upon certain Yes characteristics. The first song, "Give 'Em Some Rawhide Chewies" is probably the track that covers just about all of Yezda Urfa's bases, and is probably the most wholly Yes-like piece on the album.

Sacred Baboon is a very good album. "Cancer..." is recorded so quietly that it might come across as too subtle, but the rest of tracks are engaging, and fun to listen to, even they aren't necessarily played for mere entertainment purposes. There's just a bouncy joviality to them that is infectious. And I've always found Yes to be an upbeat band even in passages that might be termed dark. Yes-like, yes; Yes-clones, no.

Rating: 4.5/5

More about Sacred Baboon:

Track Listing: Give 'Em Some Rawhide Chewies (3:50) / Cancer Of The Band (6:48) / To-Ta In The Moya (10:14) / Boris And His Three Verses (2:50) / Flow Guides Aren't My Bag (4:45) / (My Doc Told Me I Had) Doggie Head (5:02) / 3, Almost 4,6, Yea (8:39)

Musicians:
Brad Christoff - drums, tympani, orchestra bells, bulb horn, temple blocks, metalaphone, tubular bells, gong, agogo bells, brushes, table percussion, marching snare, hong sarp, glockenspiel, cough
Phil Kimbrough - Hammond B-3, Moog Model 15 synth, Wurlitzer electric piano, mini Moog, Elka String Machine, Yamaha Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes, Memory Moog, celeste, harpsichord, accordion, Gibson H-1 mandolin, flute, soprano and tenor recorder, backing vocals, cough
Marc Miller - Rickenbacker bass, Gibson Ripper Bass, marimba, cello, vibraphone, backing vocals, cough
Rick Rodenbaugh - lead vocals, air guitar, cough
Mark Tippins - Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, Fender Telecaster electric guitar, Martin D18 acoustic guitar, Hofner classical guitar, backing vocals, cough

Contact:

Website: mywebpages.comcast.net/mmiller565/yuhome.htm
Note: will open new browser window

Discography

Boris (1975, currently OOP*)
Sacred Baboon (rec. 1976/rel. 1989/1992)
Past Present Future (comp. feat. one YU track) may soon be released on CD