Locksley Hall - Locksley Hall (OR Records Vinyl Rip) 1969 - 1970

Biography : Locksley Hall was one of the better known psychedelic bands in the Pacific Northwest during their existence from 1967 thru' 1970. The album was recorded in 1969 at the legendary Audio Recorders in Seattle with long time Northwest guitarist Ned Neltner (Mark Five, Gas Company, Junior Cadillac) producing and Sonics engineer Kearny Barton at the console. It remained unreleased until the limited edition came out in 1996. The album reminds us of every band who ever played the Fillmore West in the late sixties and blends together elements of It's A Beautiful Day, Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and The Holding Co. Recommended.("Fuzz, Acid & Flowers")

While a lot of co-ed groups of the era sound rather generic, Locksley Hall manages to escape identity in a slightly different way. This album plays almost like a sampler of West Coast music. On various songs they sound like Country Joe & The Fish, Jefferson Airplane, The Charlatans, Big Brother & The Holding Company, and the Association.

Despite the crudeness of the recordings there’s a definite sense of professionalism here. They’re more appealing as a hard rock band than a soft rock band, but the only real dud here is the good timey song that ends side one. Both the male and female vocals are quite good, though as is often the case they sound much better apart than together. There is some excellent guitar playing here and a few very solid songs, most notably a long rocker on side one. The mix of styles is a bit disconcerting, but overall, this is much better than a lot of genre albums that did end up getting major label releases at the time. The LP was recorded in Seattle for Epic in the late 1960s but not released at the time. ("The Acid Archives")

Tracklist
01.Locksley Hall (Poem)
02.Boy
03.Let me blow out your candle
04.Baby blue eyes
05.D-O-P-E
06.Some say love
07.What does a lonely heart do?
08.Que-Bell
09.Wake up (Tubby’s tune)
10.When autumn leaves turn to gold
11.Locksley Hall (Poem)

Line-up
Ben Stanley - Guitar, Vocals
Shannon Svenson - Vocals
Kevin Svenson - Vocals
Roy Castleman - Bass, Vocals
Denny Langdale - Keyboards
Randy Thompson - Drums