The 44th Street Portable Flower Factory – S/T
Picked this one up based on the fact that I noticed Bob Dorough was the vocalist and Steve Swallow arranged, produced, and played bass and keyboards on this. The Peter Max styled cover was another draw. A fairly strong 45 EP of covers including: Let’s Get Together, Atlantis, Runaway Child, and Blackbird. I’ve always been a big Bob Dorough fan. Maybe it was just the early Schoolhouse Rock initiation, but he has this perfectly relaxed and joyful delivery and tone that always manages to improve my spirits. Anyway, Runaway Child has this great keyboard-led groove and is certainly worth a listen. Blackbird is not that much of a departure from the original, but it’s a strong take with Bob’s vocals to spice things up.
9 Comments
thanks for reminding me of this one, I have it somewhere, hope I didn’t throw it away
man! i really regret not buying this the time i ran into it now…its probably still at that shop, i’ll have to go back.
Not to hate but beyond the cool cover I was not into this record when I had it.
I can see how some might not be all that impressed with this, but I’m pretty much a soft serve sucker for Dorough’s voice.
This was the only one of the three releases by this aggregation that I don’t have. The second was called “Rainy Day Garden” and the third went by the shortened band name “The Portable Flower Factory.” Don’t know why I never got rid of them, but I’m glad now I didn’t. Dorough, Swallow, Dave Frishberg — academia & jazz in the days before Bob gave birth to “Schoolhouse Rock.”
from 1970 – this ep was on ebay for 22 Canuck Bux mid/august2006. nice find…for both of us!
Oh, my God… oh my God, oh my God…
Seeing this cover brings a flood of memories… This disc was given to me by a friend when I was in 8th grade. It has always meant a lot to me.
Thamk you for putting it here!
Any possibility of anyone upping the remaining two tracks on this one – and/or the EP on which they went by “The Portable Flower Factory”? I have the entire “Rainy Day Garden” EP ripped in good sound and will be happy to share it with anyone who wants it. Between the 3 EPs, this group put out a whole album’s worth of material; if we pool our resources we can create the “Complete Portable Flower Factory” album!
I got this record from a shop for two bucks!!!! The cover art hooked me and the music reeled me in. Great record. I have this ripped in decent quality MrBill