Rediscovering some vintage acts

Sound off

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/09/04/sound_off_rediscovering_some_vintage_acts/

On our minds and on our playlists

By James Reed
Globe Staff / September 4, 2009

2009 could go down as the year Boston looked back on some of its
bands that fell through the cracks. Quill, which technically opened
the first day of Woodstock but never made it into the documentary,
debuted on CD as part of Rhino's comprehensive new box set
"Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm.''

Even more interesting, though, is the rediscovery of two other '60s
relics: psychedelic rock band Ill Wind and porcelain-voiced Cambridge
folkie Dayle Stanley, both of whom also made the leap to CD recently.

Long relegated to bootlegged copies and serious record collectors,
Ill Wind's debut, "Flashes,'' has been reissued by British label
Sunbeam Records, with a second disc of bonus material. It's a classic
period piece (sample song: "Hung Up Chick''), but the music is
fascinating, sounding like the love child of the Mamas and the Papas
and Jefferson Airplane. The band's website, www.ill-wind.com, gives a
full rundown on how the band formed at MIT and came this close to
making it big. It's especially amusing to see photos of the band
members in all their stoner glory at the Boston Tea Party.

Meanwhile, "Women Blue,'' a compilation of long-lost female
vocalists, unearths a song by Stanley, who's even more of an anomaly.
Google her name, and you'll get little more than passing references
to her peculiar vocal style, which she called "tremolando'' and gave
the impression she was singing underwater. Sounding eerily like Joan
Baez, Stanley was even voted best local folk singer by Broadside
magazine in 1963 before disappearing completely. Fifty bucks to the
first person who can tell me what happened to her: jreed@globe.com.
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Both "Flashes'' and "Women Blue'' are available at www.forced exposure.com.

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