Clinic - Now We're Even (1972 france folk rock with classic rock touches - excellent Silverado vinyl rip - MP3 320K and FLAC)

Beginnings:
At the end of his junior year in high school, Philip moved with his family to Paris, France, and from 1969–1970 attended The American School of Paris.

It was in Paris that Philip met Phil Steele, then known as Phil Trainer. He was a 22- or 23-year-old bass player and vocalist, and he "raided" Philip's high school rock band, taking Phil on guitar, Gerry Murphy on drums, and flute player Chris Hayward.

Steele had previously played in Japan and Italy and knew British keyboard player Alan Reeves, then 25 or 26, because Reeves had played in a band called Clinic in both countries, and Phil Steele did some Clinic gigs in Italy.

They put together a five-piece band, and because they were British-American, and had some music industry connections, they immediately got signed to a production company, and subsequently were signed to EMI in France.


The Road To Salina:
After signing with EMI France, Reeves' fashion model wife, Albane Navizet, took a bit part in a French film by director Georges Lautner called Road to Salina.

Lautner already had French pop singer Christophe on board for a few songs, and some orchestral stuff, but wanted some rock music for his film.

He originally wanted Pink Floyd, then popular in Europe though virtually unknown in the U.S., but they were not available, so Clinic got a demo tape together and Albane gave it to Georges Lautner.

He liked what he heard. By mostly luck, Clinic were in the right place at the right time, and got the nod to work on the soundtrack.

Since the songs were being written individually by Steele, Reeves, or Brigham, or in some combination, they decided to say that all songs were Brigham-Reeves-Steele, to avoid arguments over which songs got shown to the film people.


Early Recordings:
Some of the seven songs used in the film were written before they saw the sections of film the director wanted music for, but luckily they fit.

In a few cases, such as for example "The Chase," they were brand new compositions and really was a collaborative effort between the writers.

They were very young when they got the chance to write music for Road to Salina, mostly in their late teens, or early 20s, and young, as in the band had not been together very long.

By the time they got to do their own album, Now We're Even (recorded in 1971, released in 1972 in France), they had more of a style, similar to Santana on instruments meeting Crosby, Stills and Nash on vocals.

When they were either writing new tunes specifically for the movie, or trying to find songs that fit from songs various Clinic members had written before, they were still trying to find a sound.


Forming A Sound:
Phil Steele was more of a pop guy, influenced by The Hollies, or The Turtles or The Zombies.

Alan Reeves had learned jazz piano by his father's side when he was a boy, and had become quite the Hammond organ player, à la Jon Lord from Deep Purple, or Keith Emerson of The Nice and Emerson Lake and Palmer. Chris Hayward had studied classical music for flute and recorder.

Gerry Murphy was a jazz fan but was also the kind of guy that turned everybody on to The Band.

Phil Brigham was coming at music like a singer-songwriter, like Donovan or James Taylor or Neil Young, although since Clinic, other musicians think of him more as a rock lead guitarist.

Bringing all of those influences together was exciting for the young band, but it took them a long time to figure out how it might all fit (from Wikipedia).



Track List:
01.Tell Me What You See 4:05
02.My Love Is East 4:25
03.Gypsy 5:00
04.Know My Mind 5:00
05.Prelude 1:51
06.Here I Stand 5:00
07.Country Ways 3:00
08.Now We're Even 7:58

Clinic:
*Alan Reeves - Organ, Harpsichord, Piano, Synthesizer, Vocals
*Phil Brigham - Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Vocals
*Phil Trainer - Bass, Vocals
*Gerry Murphy - Drums, Timpani


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CODE: 51231