Chase - re-issued again on CD

[B. Clugston]

The band "If" was more to my liking during this time.

Great musicians like Dick Morrissey and Dave Quincy

and a powerful singer in J.W. Hodgkinson with that unique voice.

Still sounds great today.

Good call. Hodgkinson is a great singer.

[Tjazz]

Chase's "Get It On" did not sound all that unusual on AM radio when it was released, as I recall. It was a time when just about anything could become a hit. Pop radio was not segmented like it is today. Soul classics and rock and roll songs, bubble gum and light pop, country crossover and even an occasional jazz song, were all mixed together on the charts played by every radio station in the U.S.

I think that Chase gained some benefit there from the hit singles of Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago in the two years or so before.

I think there was a group call LIGHTHOUSE too. Can't remember their hit.

[Tjazz]

Okay, I just listened to "the hit" and had two thoughts.

1. How in the hell did this become a hit in the first place?

2. I think I'll pass...it sounds like a jazzier version of Uriah Heep.

Yeah, tell these guys.

[Free For All]

Chase's "Get It On" did not sound all that unusual on AM radio when it was released, as I recall. It was a time when just about anything could become a hit. Pop radio was not segmented like it is today. Soul classics and rock and roll songs, bubble gum and light pop, country crossover and even an occasional jazz song, were all mixed together on the charts played by every radio station in the U.S.

I think that Chase gained some benefit there from the hit singles of Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago in the two years or so before.

I think there was a group call LIGHTHOUSE too. Can't remember their hit.

Was it "One Fine Morning"?

[rostasi]

I think there was a group call LIGHTHOUSE too. Can't remember their hit.

"One Fine Morning"...they were from Toronto, I think.

Forgot about them. A little more pop than jazz for my taste,

but there were parts of their first LP, I think

(the one with the reflective silver cover...just like If's first LP as well),

that had some nice moments.

[felser]

I think there was a group call LIGHTHOUSE too. Can't remember their hit.

"One Fine Morning"...they were from Toronto, I think.

Forgot about them. A little more pop than jazz for my taste,

but there were parts of their first LP, I think

(the one with the reflective silver cover...just like If's first LP as well),

that had some nice moments.

Lighthouse did a fun "Eight Miles High" on their live album. They were from Canada for sure, Toronto sounds right. Skip Prokop, who had been in the Paupers (shoulda woulda coulda been 60's psych stars if their bass player hadn't blown up at the Monterey Popfest), was the leader.

If were fabulous for sure, but to me they and the other British bands with horns were doing a very different thing than the American groups, more reeds and keyboards and prog and cerebral, less brass and flash and bluster, so there isn't a direct comparison to really be made. Dick Morrissey had apparently been a well-respected jazz sax player in England prior to forming If. Anything our friends from there can add about Morrissey, especially his pre-If work, would be greatly appreciated.

Edited June 5, 2008 by felser

[gmonahan]

http://tinyurl.com/3422u6

One thing about all these 70s horn bands- they provided a lot of music for the basketball/marching/pep bands. Hearing these groups was what first got me interested in music. I remember playing in a high school group where we transcribed and performed a bunch of Chicago, BS&T etc. Big fun. The algebra teacher played bass, so we called the group "Aftermath".

I grok that. We played "Spinnin' Wheel" in my high school stage band. I think that was in the late Jurassic period. I ordered this set, if only to chill out to the days of my callow long-haired youth (and enjoy Bill Chase--a good trumpeter)! I still don't know who that grey-haired guy is in the mirror each morning!

Greg Mo

[sidewinder]

Dick Morrissey had apparently been a well-respected jazz sax player in England prior to forming If. Anything our friends from there can add about Morrissey, especially his pre-If work, would be greatly appreciated.

Some very fine albums from the 1960s in particular with Harry South and Phil Seamen. 'Storm Warning' and 'It's Morrissey, Man' on UK Mercury and 'Have You Heard' on Doug Dobell's '77' label. His most prominent work was in the late 70s/early 80s with Jim Mullen in Morrisey/Mullen. This band got quite a bit of airplay with their jazz-funk, 'disco friendly' recordings (but very good quality). Also remember them touring extensively at the time. Dick, sadly, passed away some years ago. Great player.

Edited June 5, 2008 by sidewinder