Gypsy - Selftitled (Superb Rock Album UK 1971)

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Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Gypsy's self-titled debut LP (released, confusingly, under the title English Gypsy in the US) was the work of a British band extremely influenced by late-1960s Californian folk-psychedelic-rock — more so than almost any other UK group you could name, in fact. Why is that, then, that hardly anyone can name Gypsy these days? It's because the album's extremely derivative of Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and especially Moby Grape, particularly in the vocal harmonies. And it's because, while those are good influences to work from, the songs aren't nearly as good as the best work by the aforementioned acts. 

Some specialists would cavil that it's unfair to hold secondary bands like Gypsy up to such high standards, and that the music should be judged on its own terms. But let's be straight about it: on this particular platter, the similarities are inescapable. The lead vocals often have the gritty tremble characteristic of numerous Moby Grape tracks; the harmonies on "I Don't Care Do You Mind?" are very much in the early CSNY style; the extended soloing on "Turning Wheel" can't fail to recall Neil Young's "Down By the River"; some of the lyrics on "Standing Alone, Feeling So Bad" sound rather like Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul"; "Pony Ride" is a son (or should that be "grandson"?) of Moby Grape's "Hey Grandma"; etc. It's well played and well sung, with some appealing sustained guitar effects, but more originality (and better material) were needed to make something enduring. The 2004 CD reissue on Hux adds the 1971 non-LP single "Changes Comin'"/"Don't Cry on Me," as well as six previously unreleased tracks recorded around the same time.

They were from Leicester, U.K. but the San Francisco sound of the late '60s is all over the group Gypsy. John Knapp (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Robin Pizer (guitar/vocals), Rod Read (guitar/vocals), David McCarthy (bass/vocals) and Moth Smith (drums) came together in 1968 and released a single on Fontana as Legacy before changing the group's name to Gypsy. Their self-titled debut was released by United Artists in 1971 and soon Rod Read left and was replaced by Ray Martinez. 

Little attention was paid to the band's 1972 sophomore album, Brenda & the Rattlesnake, and when the band handed in their third album in 1973, United Artists wasn't interested and it remained unreleased. German label Worldwide reissued both albums on CD in 1994 and a decade later Hux issued The Romany Collection containing the first album, a single, and six unreleased tracks.

(01) What Makes A Man A Man?
(02) Keep On Trying
(03) I Don’t Care,Do You Mind?
(04) Turning Wheel
(05) Feel About The Country Fine
(06) Standing Alone,Feeling So Bad
(07) I Wanna Be Beside You
(08) Please Don’t Stay
(09) Let Me Take You Home
(10) Pony Ride

Bonus
(11) Changes Comin’
(12) Don’t Cry On Me
(13) Listen To The Music
(14) I Don’t Wanna Lose You
(15) I Guess She’ll Have To Know
(16) There’s A Party
(17) It Don’t Bother Me
(18) What A Day 

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