Balaklava (album)
Encyclopedia
Balaklava was the second album recorded and released by psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine
, in 1968.
For the album, original group members Tom Rapp
, Wayne Harley and Lane Lederer were joined by Jim Bohannon, who replaced Roger Crissinger. Like the group’s previous LP on ESP-Disk
, "One Nation Underground
", it was recorded at Impact Sound in New York City. Recordings probably took place in early 1968 – although some CD reissues state that it was recorded in 1965, this appears to be an error. Lederer left the group during, or shortly after, the recordings, and the basic group was augmented by studio musicians.
Rapp has stated that he wanted to produce a themed anti-war album, and chose the Charge of the Light Brigade
at Balaklava
in 1854 as an example of the futility of war. The album was dedicated to Private Edward Slovik
, the only US soldier executed for desertion in the Second World War. The front cover, a detail of "The Triumph of Death
" by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
, showed a grotesque allegorical depiction of the horrors of war, while the back cover showed a photograph of a young girl at an anti-war protest. The cover also included the quote ”Only the dead have seen the end of war” by George Santayana
, together with surreal and horrific drawings by Jean Cocteau
. Incidentally, the cover contributed to the mystique surrounding the group - there were few if any photographs of its members published, and Pearls Before Swine did not perform in concert before 1971.
The album itself starts with a recording of “Trumpeter Landfrey” (his name was in fact Martin Lanfried) , one of the original buglers from the 1854 battle
. Together with the recording of Florence Nightingale
later on the album, this was taken from an archive 1890 cylinder recording, which had been reissued on 78rpm records in the 1930s.
The recording segues into "Translucent Carriages", one of Rapp’s most lasting songs (which he performed, for instance, at the Terrastock 6 Festival
in 2006). Simply performed with acoustic guitar, it is rendered otherworldly by breathing noises and whispered lines of commentary, including the quote from the ancient Greek historian Herodotus
- "In peace, sons bury their fathers / in war, fathers bury their sons."
"Images of April", in contrast, is an evocation of nature, featuring dubbed bird song.
After "There Was A Man", a simpler story-based folk song, another highlight is "I Saw The World". Its innocent but heartfelt lyric (Rapp was just 21 at the time) - "I saw the world spinning like a toy / Hate seems so small compared to it all, so why don’t you do joy ?" - is supplemented by overdubs of natural sounds including waves, as well as wind chimes and a lush string arrangement. "Guardian Angels" is a ballad recorded deliberately to sound as it if it were on a scratchy 1920s 78rpm record, and was presented as such ("recorded in Guadelope, Mexico, in 1929…" ) on the sleeve.
The generally less artistically successful second side of the original LP starts with a version of Leonard Cohen
's "Suzanne
" , followed by Rapp’s original "Lepers and Roses", a complex ballad full of allegorical classical references. After the archive recording of Florence Nightingale, the final track, "Ring Thing", is a dramatic evocation of Tolkien
's The Lord of the Rings
with crashing gongs and bagpipe drones. At the end, the sound of a tape spooling backwards through the album takes the listener back to "Trumpeter Landfrey" – the message seeming to be that the cycle of war and confusion is destined to continue.
The album repeated its predecessor’s critical success on the underground college scene of the late 1960s, and has subsequently been regularly rated most highly of all Rapp’s albums. Following the album's release, Rapp extricated himself from his ESP contract and signed with Reprise Records
. After seven further albums he retired from music in the mid-1970s to qualify and work as a lawyer, returning to perform and record occasionally after the mid-1990s. Balaklava has been reissued several times on CD since the 1980s.
The band Psychic TV
covered "Translucent Carriages" on their 1984 album Pagan Day.
Pearls Before Swine (band)
Pearls Before Swine was an American psychedelic folk band formed by Tom Rapp in 1965 in Eau Gallie, now part of Melbourne, Florida. They released six albums between 1967 and 1971, before Rapp launched a solo career.-Early years, 1965-68:...
, in 1968.
For the album, original group members Tom Rapp
Tom Rapp
Thomas Dale Rapp is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the leader of Pearls Before Swine, the psychedelic folk rock group of the 1960s and 1970s. More recently he has practiced as a lawyer.-Life:...
, Wayne Harley and Lane Lederer were joined by Jim Bohannon, who replaced Roger Crissinger. Like the group’s previous LP on ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk is a New York-based record label, founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations—a philosophy summed-up by the...
, "One Nation Underground
One Nation Underground (Pearls Before Swine album)
One Nation Underground was the debut album by American psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine. It was released on the ESP-Disk label in October 1967....
", it was recorded at Impact Sound in New York City. Recordings probably took place in early 1968 – although some CD reissues state that it was recorded in 1965, this appears to be an error. Lederer left the group during, or shortly after, the recordings, and the basic group was augmented by studio musicians.
Rapp has stated that he wanted to produce a themed anti-war album, and chose the Charge of the Light Brigade
Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
at Balaklava
Balaklava
Balaklava is a former city on the Crimean peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol which carries a special administrative status in Ukraine. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government...
in 1854 as an example of the futility of war. The album was dedicated to Private Edward Slovik
Eddie Slovik
Edward Donald Slovik was a private in the United States Army during World War II and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War....
, the only US soldier executed for desertion in the Second World War. The front cover, a detail of "The Triumph of Death
The Triumph of Death
The Triumph of Death is an oil painting on panel, painted c. 1562 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It is in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.The painting is a panoramic landscape: the sky in the distance is blackened by smoke from burning cities and the sea is littered with shipwrecks. Armies of...
" by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a Flemish renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes . He is sometimes referred to as the "Peasant Bruegel" to distinguish him from other members of the Brueghel dynasty, but he is also the one generally meant when the context does...
, showed a grotesque allegorical depiction of the horrors of war, while the back cover showed a photograph of a young girl at an anti-war protest. The cover also included the quote ”Only the dead have seen the end of war” by George Santayana
George Santayana
George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...
, together with surreal and horrific drawings by Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
. Incidentally, the cover contributed to the mystique surrounding the group - there were few if any photographs of its members published, and Pearls Before Swine did not perform in concert before 1971.
The album itself starts with a recording of “Trumpeter Landfrey” (his name was in fact Martin Lanfried) , one of the original buglers from the 1854 battle
Battle of Balaclava
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Anglo-French-Turkish campaign to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea...
. Together with the recording of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
later on the album, this was taken from an archive 1890 cylinder recording, which had been reissued on 78rpm records in the 1930s.
The recording segues into "Translucent Carriages", one of Rapp’s most lasting songs (which he performed, for instance, at the Terrastock 6 Festival
Terrastock
Terrastock is a music festival organised periodically by Phil McMullen, formerly editor of the Ptolemaic Terrascope and since 2005 the publisher of the Terrascope Online website. The event typically features independent bands playing psychedelic rock....
in 2006). Simply performed with acoustic guitar, it is rendered otherworldly by breathing noises and whispered lines of commentary, including the quote from the ancient Greek historian Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
- "In peace, sons bury their fathers / in war, fathers bury their sons."
"Images of April", in contrast, is an evocation of nature, featuring dubbed bird song.
After "There Was A Man", a simpler story-based folk song, another highlight is "I Saw The World". Its innocent but heartfelt lyric (Rapp was just 21 at the time) - "I saw the world spinning like a toy / Hate seems so small compared to it all, so why don’t you do joy ?" - is supplemented by overdubs of natural sounds including waves, as well as wind chimes and a lush string arrangement. "Guardian Angels" is a ballad recorded deliberately to sound as it if it were on a scratchy 1920s 78rpm record, and was presented as such ("recorded in Guadelope, Mexico, in 1929…" ) on the sleeve.
The generally less artistically successful second side of the original LP starts with a version of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
's "Suzanne
Suzanne (Leonard Cohen song)
"Suzanne" is a song written by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen in the 1960s, and often heard in a recording by Judy Collins. It has become one of the most-covered songs in Cohen's catalogue....
" , followed by Rapp’s original "Lepers and Roses", a complex ballad full of allegorical classical references. After the archive recording of Florence Nightingale, the final track, "Ring Thing", is a dramatic evocation of Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
with crashing gongs and bagpipe drones. At the end, the sound of a tape spooling backwards through the album takes the listener back to "Trumpeter Landfrey" – the message seeming to be that the cycle of war and confusion is destined to continue.
The album repeated its predecessor’s critical success on the underground college scene of the late 1960s, and has subsequently been regularly rated most highly of all Rapp’s albums. Following the album's release, Rapp extricated himself from his ESP contract and signed with Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
. After seven further albums he retired from music in the mid-1970s to qualify and work as a lawyer, returning to perform and record occasionally after the mid-1990s. Balaklava has been reissued several times on CD since the 1980s.
The band Psychic TV
Psychic TV
Psychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
covered "Translucent Carriages" on their 1984 album Pagan Day.
Track listing
- "Trumpeter Landfrey" – 0:35
- "Translucent Carriages" – 4:00 (Herodotus/Harley/Rapp)
- "Images of April" – 2:44 (Rapp)
- "There Was a Man" – 2:59 (Rapp)
- "I Saw the World" – 3:28 (Rapp)
- "Guardian Angels" – 3:02 (Rapp)
- "SuzanneSuzanne (Leonard Cohen song)"Suzanne" is a song written by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen in the 1960s, and often heard in a recording by Judy Collins. It has become one of the most-covered songs in Cohen's catalogue....
" – 5:01 (CohenLeonard CohenLeonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
) - "Lepers And Roses" – 5:23 (Rapp)
- "Florence Nightingale" – 0:17
- "Ring Thing" – 2:20 (Tolkien/Rapp)
Credits
- Tom RappTom RappThomas Dale Rapp is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the leader of Pearls Before Swine, the psychedelic folk rock group of the 1960s and 1970s. More recently he has practiced as a lawyer.-Life:...
– guitar, vocals, breathing - Jim Bohannon – organ, piano, clavinette, marimba
- Wayne Harley – banjo, harmony
- Lane Lederer – bass, guitar, swinehorn
- Guest artists :-
- Joe FarrellJoe FarrellJoseph Carl Firrantello , known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name on the CTI record label and for playing in the initial incarnation of Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:Farrell was born in Chicago...
– flute, English horn (tracks 3, 7) - Lee Crabtree – piano, organ, flute (tracks 5, 8)
- Bill Salter – bass (tracks 5, 7, 8, 10)
- Al Shackman – guitar (track 8)
- Warren Smith – string arrangements (track 5)
- Selwart Clarke – string arrangements (track 6)
- Joe Farrell
- Arielvaced out of Onlyville by Richard L. Alderson, Impact Sound, N.Y.C.
- We wish to dedicate this album to Pvt. Edward D. Slovik, U.S. Army, deceased