Alan Price gets an intoxicating sound out of his trusty synthesizer on this lovely track from 1974’s Between Today and Yesterday on Warner Brothers:
“Look at My Face“
Alan Price (1974)
LP Musician & Production Credits
Alan Price – Piano, Organ & Vocals
Colin Green – Guitar
Dave Markee – Bass & Bass Guitar
Derek Wadsworth – Orchestrator
Assistant Engineer – David Hamilton-Smith
Engineer – Keith Grant
Producer – Alan Price
If The Who‘s anthemic “Baba O’Reilly” is – as Dave Marsh once stuffily proclaimed – the first “bona fide” use of the synthesizer as a rock instrument, then let me be the first to declare Alan Price‘s “Look at My Face” to be the first “powerfully understated” use of the synthesizer as a pop instrument.
I sure have a knack for picking the B-sides — as it turns out, this tune was the flip side of Price’s “Jarrow Song” 45 (which went to #6 in the UK). As it were, Price was educated at Jarrow Grammar School, so that’d be like if I wrote something called “Roselawn Song.”
Alan Price’s would adorn picture sleeves for single releases in Germany, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
45 picture sleeve
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LINK to Moog +/- Synthesizer
3 Responses
I definitely heard the synthesizrer at 1:13, but anywhere else?
Yes, try 0:01 – right after the opening bass line, listen for the song’s melody being played on a synthesizer right up to the vocal. You can also hear a synth each time he sings “clear the air.” When the song’s bridge appears around 0:42, you can also hear stereo synthesizers playing in complementary fashion – as they do later during the instrumental break.
In the last couple of years I have discovered Alan Price. I never tire from his songs – an amazing organist/pianist/key board player with a wonderful manly voice. Not easy to track down al his music but am trying to