MALLARD LIVE : WDR Studio L - THE ROCKPALAST, Cologne, Germany - September 7th 1976 | BUMP!

  MALLARD 

BUMP!*

So after my plea (see below) ZigZag Wanderer* dropped by and posted a link to this, the elusive Mallard set from the Rockpalast in Cologne Germany back in 1976. It is really good quality and I am endebted to him. He also posts a link to a five track video of the concert which I don’t know how to post here but again it is well worth having and watching. ZigZagWandereer says the vid is poor quality and has some noise bars across the bottom but frankly I have seen a whole lot worse! (the one I posted down below the other day is dreadful by comparison!)

* "probably the world’s biggest Beefheart fan” says Silent Way at Floppy Boot Stomp! 

Mediafire link here

The text files from the original poster says:

Mallard

WDR Studio L

Cologne, Germany

September 7th 1976

Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) and Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) created this band on guitar/bass respectively having split from Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. They recruited Sam Galpin as singer, moved to the UK and made two great albums. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull helped them and they used his studio to make the debut album. Legend has it that they even recorded some material with Anderson but Harkleroad destroyed the tapes. (no mention here of George Dragotta on drums and while they cover four John French songs or co-written numbers he is notable by his absence here. George does a good job but he ain’t no Drumbo IMO - but then I hold John as one of the world’s best and his contribution to Beefheart compositions is a given that with him and his musical notations most things from Trout Mask on wouldn’t have come to fruition- just an opinion)

I have done a bit of remastering to my CD copy as that seemed very boomy on the bass frequency. Much nicer sound now I think.

By this time another Beefheart refugee, John Thomas, (stop sniggering at the back) had joined them on keyboards.

regards

Titus

01 She's Long & She's Lean

02 One Day Once

03 A Piece of Me

04 Green Coyote & His Companion

05 Harvest

06 Mamma Squeeze

07 Back on the Pavement

08 Reign of Pain

09 Winged Tuskadaro

10 Road to Morocco

 

Sam Galpin: vocal

Bill Harkleroad: guitar

Mark Boston: bass

John Thomas: keyboard

George Dragotta: drums

 It is a FLAC file so be patient but the increased quality is worth it

Meanwhile the vid is available here again for the avid fan really worth checking out 

Mallard
Rockpalast Cologne Germany
7th September 1976

Back On The Pavement
One Day Once
Reign Of Pain
A Piece Of Me [split]
Mama Squeeze

here . . . 

note this vid file is 1.5GB so patience may be required . . . . 

On recording and playing with Mallard “[Virgin] put us up in this castle called Clearwell Castle, right on the border of Wales. We spent a couple of weeks there, and to me, it was a whole 'nother world. I loved it.” Mark Boston

Niether Sam nor George are still with us but the rest of the boys are working away and still around I am glad to say although Mark has periods of ill health having had heart surgery recently he is taking things easier , the sniggering joke about John JT Thomas is ironic to a degree as he is a very accomplished player and has a wide experience _having played with Bruce Hornsby And The Noisemakers, Mallard, ModeReko, Rattlesnakes & Eggs, The Magic Band) Bill’s info here Bill’s webpage here , Mark here at The Radar Station

Rockette Morton Art

drop by and buy one of Rockette’s psychedelic drawings

*Why did I BUMP this?

Well after the chat at The Facebook pages of John ‘Drumbo’ French and The Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band page too, I have been listening to little else lately and keep coming back to this gleaned from exceptionally kind, the legendary supreme Beefheart fan, Zig Zag Wanderer!?

Have at it! Don’t believe me? Try 'Green Coyote and His Companions' and say 'Back on The Pavement' . . . . excellent. It may, I say MAY, be a tad fast for the band seem to take these not easy pieces to play at breakneck speed for the most part but the vocals from Sam sound about right so make of that what you will!? Anyone? Zig Zag? 

Enjoy?! I know I am [can you tell?]

This has been a ZigZagWanderer/ Swappers production!

MALLARD LIVE : WDR Studio L - THE ROCKPALAST, Cologne, Germany - September 7th 1976

 MALLARD 

So after my plea ZigZag Wanderer* dropped by and posted a link to this, the elusive Mallard set from the Rockpalast in Cologne Germany back in 1976. It is really good quality and I am endebted to him. He also posts a link to a five track video of the concert which I don’t know how to post here but again it is well worth having and watching. ZigZagWandereer says the vid is poor quality and has some noise bars across the bottom but frankly I have seen a whole lot worse! (the one I posted down below the other day is dreadful by comparison!)

* "probably the world’s biggest Beefheart fan” Silent Way at Floppy Boot Stomp! 

Mediafire link here

The text files from the original poster says:

Mallard

WDR Studio L

Cologne, Germany

September 7th 1976

Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) and Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) created this band on guitar/bass respectively having split from Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. They recruited Sam Galpin as singer, moved to the UK and made two great albums. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull helped them and they used his studio to make the debut album. Legend has it that they even recorded some material with Anderson but Harkleroad destroyed the tapes. (no mention here of George Dragotta on drums and while they cover four John French songs or co-written numbers he is notable by his absence here. George does a good job but he ain’t no Drumbo IMO - but then I hold John as one of the world’s best and his contribution to Beefheart compositions is a given that with him and his musical notations most things from Trout Mask on wouldn’t have come to fruition- just an opinion)

I have done a bit of remastering to my CD copy as that seemed very boomy on the bass frequency. Much nicer sound now I think.

By this time another Beefheart refugee, John Thomas, (stop sniggering at the back) had joined them on keyboards.

regards

Titus

01 She's Long & She's Lean

02 One Day Once

03 A Piece of Me

04 Green Coyote & His Companion

05 Harvest

06 Mamma Squeeze

07 Back on the Pavement

08 Reign of Pain

09 Winged Tuskadaro

10 Road to Morocco

Sam Galpin: vocal

Bill Harkleroad: guitar

Mark Boston: bass

John Thomas: keyboard

George Dragotta: drums

 It is a FLAC file so be patient but the increased quality is worth it

Meanwhile the vid is available here again for the avid fan really worth checking out 

Mallard
Rockpalast Cologne Germany
7th September 1976

Back On The Pavement
One Day Once
Reign Of Pain
A Piece Of Me [split]
Mama Squeeze

here . . .

note this vid file is 1.5GB so patience may be required . . . . 

On recording and playing with Mallard “[Virgin] put us up in this castle called Clearwell Castle, right on the border of Wales. We spent a couple of weeks there, and to me, it was a whole 'nother world. I loved it.” Mark Boston

Niether Sam nor George are still with us but the rest of the boys are working away and still around I am glad to say although Mark has periods of ill health having had heart surgery recently he is taking things easier , the sniggering joke about John JT Thomas is ironic to a degree as he is a very accomplished player and has a wide experience _having played with Bruce Hornsby And The Noisemakers, Mallard, ModeReko, Rattlesnakes & Eggs, The Magic Band) Bill’s info here Bill’s webpage here , Mark here at The Radar Station

Rockette Morton Art

drop by and buy one of Rockette’s psychedelic drawings

This has been a ZigZagWanderer/ Swappers production!

MALLARD | ONE DAY ONCE Live in Germany (search)

 Somebody mentioned the only ROIO of Mallard and ‘One Day Once' from a performance in Germany at The Rockpalast (mostly) over at The Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band Facebook page . . . . . They quoted John French (Drumbo) from his page on his reflections on same and he said

Thoughts on Mallard: My take on Mallard is that it was a bad name, first off.  The second thing is, When I was with them, we were in Humboldt Country, which was and is a culturally and financially-repressed area.  Thirdly, I doubt any band could have recovered and "found themselves" and their own unique sound so soon after working with Don.  He took everyone to  an unrecoverable place, and even he couldn't really ever recover any semblance of a profitable music career.  His commercial attempts (the Mercury albums) received pretty bad reviews, though some people loved them.  Don was basically a blues singer, so why was he trying to be a "POP" singer in order to "make it?"  He took The Magic Band to an unknown destination, and basically left them to fend for themselves -- both physically and musically.  His "leadership" consisted of a lot of brow-beating and character assassination.  All of us were told constantly that the only thing we had going for us was him, that the only interest was in him, and that we were lucky to be along for the ride, which mostly involved having as close to nothing as possible without completely disintegrating -- it was subsistence living at the worst.  When I moved to Humboldt to work with what would become Mallard, I saw the poverty and living conditions first hand, which were in stark contrast to Van Vliet, who lived on a hill overlooking the ocean in a fairly nice house.  After everyone moved to SoCal, Ian Anderson offered the band money to do a demo -- and I was on board for a short time, but the whole thing was so rushed that I backed out.  We were rehearsing in Palmdale in a dance studio for a short time, but I could see it wasn't a band with a real identity -- it was a bunch of guys who had to meet a deadline -- but had no real identity as a group as of yet.  Mallard's first album was that demo that Anderson financed -- at least, according to Bill.  I was happy that "A Piece of Me," "Reign of Pain," "One Day Once," and "South of the Valley" were included.  "A Piece of Me" was more of a band piece than anything else -- the band had put together the music, and I wrote the lyrics.  I was just barely starting to get a feel for writing lyrics.  Actually, I thought "Winged Tuskadero" was great -- good lines and Mark's narrative voice worked with it.  All in all, it was a bit of a hodge-podge.  Everyone was pulling in a different direction -- Bill more towards Jazz and Mark more towards Country.  I was probably more Rock/Blues oriented.  I think if the band would have had a common place to rehearse for about six months, we could have been great.  I think the caterpillar never got a chance to turn into a butterfly, and that's a shame.

DRUMBO

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band 

Sorry about the quality but this was all I could find for the moment . . . . . . 

So if anyone has a good copy of this or links to same  please get in touch

* ONE DAY ONCE recorded live 09-07-1976 Germany TV program ‘Rockpalast'

 +  Luxembourg 1994 oh boy

MALLARD AT HQ - The Radar Station

Mallard at Beefheart.XYZ

MALLARD LIVE! & Magic Band Demos plus

 MALLARD

Mama Squeeze

One Day Once

The only live vids I could find the other day after playing my Mallard albums and checking out how good they were . . . . . although ridiculously partisan about Don (and the Captain!) I took no part in the side taking he encouraged with the comment about 'bunch of quacks' from childish misplaced petty jealousy. . . . . . . 

There were much better vids available at one point but I couldn't find any of the clips from the rest of the Rockpalast gig

For the scarcity value alone I will post this from the album which is Bill (Harkleroad) John (French - writing credits only) and Mark (Boston) and Art (Trip III) at their very best 

Tracks 

Mallard 1975 

1. Back On The Pavement (David Wagstaff, Harkleroad) - 3:09 2. She's Long And She's Lean (Ted Alvy, Harkleroad) - 3:15 3. Road To Morrocco (Harkleroad, Boston) - 2:58 4. One Day Once (John French, Harkleroad) - 3:25 5. Yellow (Harkleroad) - 2:22 6. Desperadoes Waiting For A Train (Guy Clark Arr. Jim Dickenson) - 3:30 7. A Piece Of Me (French, Harkleroad) - 4:36 8. Reign Of Pain (Dan Moore, French, Harkleroad) - 3:03 9. South Of The Valley (John French, Arr. Harkleroad) - 4:48 10.Winged Tuskadero (Wagstaff, Harkleroad) - 3:18 11.Peon (Donald Van Vliet) - 3:26 

In A Different Climate 1976 

 12.Green Coyote (Harkleroad, Boston) , - 4:15 13.Your Face On Someone Else (Wagstaff , Harkleroad, Thomas) - 4:30 14.Harvest (Wagstaff, Thomas) - 3:40 15.Mama Squeeze (Alvy, Harkleroad) - 4:04 16.Heartstrings (Harkleroad, Thomas) - 8:08 17.Old Man Grey (Boston) - 1:45 18.Texas Weather (Alvy, Harkleroad) - 4:32 19.Big Foot (Alvy, Harkleroad) - 4:39

MAGIC BAND Rehearsal  DEMOS (+ John French on vocals)

Members: Bill Harkleroad - Guitar Alex Snoufer - Guitar Mark Boston - Bass John Thomas - Keys John French - Drums & Vocals 00:00 A Piece of Me 04:12 Let That Child Live 07:36 Reign of Pain 10:52 One Day Once 14:12 Hot Ice (Instrumental) 18:22Hot Ice (Vocals)

John French:

That demo was recorded in two places. The instrumentals were recorded in Bill's "shed" house in Arcata. He had a loft bed, and the drums were underneath. That was the "drum booth." The vocals were added in Malibu at the beach house of some famous DJ ( can't recall which one, but it could have been Casey Kasem). Ted Alvy, as I recall, did the technical stuff using the DJ's tape decks. I think the shower was my vocal booth! The personnel was Bill Harkleroad, Alex Snouffer, Mark Boston, John Thomas ( keys) and myself. We were planning on getting a drummer and I would just sing, but it never happened. BTW -- we were never called Mallard then. That was a name they chose after re-forming without me. We were "The Magic Band." I noticed that "Hot Ice" riffs were later used on "You Know You're a Man." Probably, Don just used a riff of Bill's and claimed it as his own. I know Bill would never do that. It must have been the Fall of 1974. We rapped it a couple of months later. I came back to Lancaster from Northern California on November 21. I was 26. I've never been much on lyrics and would have much rather played instrumental music, but I think that the music ( mostly Bill's) really was the shining moment in that music. I had been in theater for three years when they called me to play and so had to start over with the singing. I can't remember much about this, but will give a listen on my iPod while working and see what comes back. We recorded this music in Bill's shed -- where he was living with his girlfriend at the time. We borrowed a Teac 3340 -four-track tape recorder and begged a bunch of mics and a mixer off some friends. Bill was the main impetus of the group when I showed up. The first thing I heard was "One Day Once" and I went outside and wrote lyrics in about 10 minutes. Art Tripp was still playing drums at that point but he left shortly after -- burned out from the music business. Most of the stuff was in the wrong key for me. All the stuff that says "Harkleroad, Music" was written before I arrived with the exception of "Reign Of Pain" which was a song I did with another band . Bill added the middle section. Hot Ice may have been a collaboration on the lyrics. That's about all I know. Just don't call it a "Mallard Demo." It was The Magic Band then. Mallard was something they came up with after I left.

320 KBPS MP3: http://www.mediafire.com/download/hfp...

because  . . . . . . . well largely because I have been in touch with John French on his Facebook page and a few of the guys were talking about his roll post Beefheart in Mallard both albums of which I bought when they came out. I consider John one of the best drummers in the world and any band that featured him and Art Tripp III was my idea of heaven. He is also a generous and wonderful man. I last saw him play in Oxford with the Magic Band which stands as one of the best night's gigs I ever witnessed.

Here: MALLARD

Music - Bill Harkleroad, Lyrics David Wagstaff


Music - Mark Boston/Bill Harkleroad


Music Bill Harkleroad/Mark Boston Lyrics: Ted Alvy


Music: Bill Harkleroad Lyrics - John French


Music: Bill Harkleroad Lyrics - John French, Bill Harkleroad


Music/ Lyrics John French Are. Bill Harkleroad


Written allegedly by Captain Beefheart this is a tour de force by Bill Harkleroad,  a master guitarist

Music Bill Harkleroad

I love these last two and they show Bill at his creative best IMHO and a true master of his art

MALLARD live (rare as hen's teeth)