Marquee Revue: Live
Posted on October 11, 2008 by Patrick the Lama
The generic 'sun-dial' cover keeps delivering hits, here in the form of an early 70s club band who pack a lot more punch than expected. Straight outta Omaha, the Marquee Revue have more in common with fuzzed out hippie cover bands like Smack or Marble Phrogg than the lounge-rock acts they're usually lumped in with. They do offer some lukewarm Top 40 moves in the middle of side 1 (including the one band original), but prior to that we get a pretty good wah-wah take on CSN:s "Carry On", while the first side closes with a ballsy, crude take on the James Gang's "Funk 49″. This is just a warm-up for side 2, where we're treated to extended, raw, guitar-jam covers of "Sympathy For The Devil", "Evil Ways", and Sly Stone's "Higher", the latter which goes into hard urban drone-funk noise that sounds almost like The Numbers Band. The Stones cover is arguably even better with a superb rhythm section groove, and the whole second side reminds me of heavy shit like the Cosmic Travelers. According to a band member, only a few hundred copies were sold, but due to its unassuming surface and fairly unknown status, this album can probably be scored for modest dollars. Among early 70s cover band LPs from the Midwest, this one is hard to beat.
Filed under: Pop / Rock, Psych / Prog
10 Comments to “Marquee Revue: Live”
The one band original is actually a well sought after blue eyed soul tune and was also cut as a studio 45 on the same label. The band had another later 45 that is pretty bland.
Yeah, I know that it was out on 45 but haven’t heard it — I hope that version is better than the lukewarm crooning they deliver on the LP.
No, it’s very similar but recorded in the studio. The 45 has it’s fans within the soul scene. There were a few other similar blue eyed soul groups from this neck of the woods in the late 60s like the Mods and Chevrons that have some solid 45s (not garage or psych at all though).
OK. I’ll give side 1 another shot before filing the album away, but so far “What Good Tomorrow” sounds like one of the weakest moments on the LP; the guy’s voice didn’t seem strong enough to carry such a vocal-oriented tune. They were dynamite musicians in any event, side 2 really cooks.
lama, you find this record in omaha? curious as iv lived her my whole life (23) and never heard of this group…
No, I found it (pretty cheap) on eBay, from a Midwestern record dealer. I’m guessing they sold copies on gigs, so they’re probably scattered across NE and neighboring states. I’ve seen some talk about this LP in recent months, I guess its time has come. This webpage has a brief bio of an ex-member (guy at the bottom).
http://members.aol.com/hrdknocks/bandbios.html
Lovely. Proper live too. No quotation marks need.
+ed
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