Taos “Taos”
Here’s an unusual jewel, released on Mercury Records in 1971. The band Taos was actually a quintet pieced together by a group of young men who had moved to the legendary Taos commune in the early 1970s, namely: Jeff Baker on guitar and vocals, Steve Oppenheim on keyboards and vocals, Albie Ciappa on drums, Burt Levine on guitar and banjo, and Kit Bedford on bass, with the occasional intermixing of instruments going on in between cuts. If the band’s commune connection leads you into expecting some sort of stoned, improvisational musical meanderings, however, you’re in for a surprise: their sole, self-titled record is pop music all the way.
Indeed, the band itself is surprisingly together, tempering mildly eccentric diversions into psychedelia and country music with a solid foundation in 1960s rock and roll. If there’s one band to which Taos owes its biggest debt, I’d say it would have to be The Beatles. Kit Bedford’s warm, melodic bass work channels Paul McCartney all the way, while the group’s vocal harmonies show a tendency to lean more towards the ragged schoolboy charm of the Four than the choirboy constructions of American groups such as the Byrds, or the Mamas and Papas. This influence is not to say that Taos lacks an identity of its own, however. On the contrary, they manage to take this influence in surprising directions, whether it’s the lonesome cosmic cowboy pastiche “After So Long” or the phased psychedelic boogie of “Twenty Thousand Miles In the Air Again”.
Despite the general cohesiveness of the album, however, there are the occasional faults, such as the unnecessary, repeating theme “The Day Begins,” which should have simply been turned into a full-fledged song rather than left as fragmentary interruptions in the tracklist. Every now and again the musicians also reveal a slight weakness in the vocal department, as the slightly squirrely lead on “Morning Sun” illustrates. Lastly, the song lyrics aren’t really worth shedding too much ink over – there’s certainly no metaphysical contemplation or social commentary going on here, whatever other Sixties sensibilities the record may boast. These latter complaints border on quibbling, though, because the music here is almost too much fun to criticize. Again, this is pop music, and should be enjoyed for what it is. I think that Taos is certainly consistent enough that, if you’re digging the tracks below, you’re gonna like what you hear the rest of the way through.
Unfortunately, Taos is currently unavailable digitally. Yeah, there had to be a bum note at the end of all this. It looks as if you all are going to have to search this one out on vinyl, though at the time of writing this article it looks as though there are at least a few copies haunting eBay for around ten or fifteen dollars apiece, which certainly ain’t bad. And speaking of the vinyl, this record comes adorned in a really great gatefold sleeve, with pictures of the band rehearsing and bumming around Taos. I’m almost tempted to imagine the psychedelic, southwestern Hard Day’s Night bouncing around in these kids’ heads.
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“After So Long (So Long)”
Original | 1970 | Mercury | search ebay ]
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Though on second listen I probably didn’t provide the best tracks to back up my whole under-the-influence-of-the-Beatles spiel. In a way I reckon that’s telling, though – the best music that the band made was that which ventured furthest from their core set of influences.
I’ve enjoyed this album for 40 years. This is one band that repeated “googling” provides almost no information for. They aren’t on iTunes either. I’d be interested in whether any of them were able to make a living in the music business after this. If you ever make another song available might I request “Take Good Care.” In any case, thanks.
Albert, the drummer was my step father and listend to this album quite a bit as a kid!
Hi Scott and Nik – Well I have good news for you. Kit is my friend and oh by the way I found out he is a hell of a musician. He and his wife Katherine live in Half Moon Bay South of San Francisco. I live in Pacifica just North of that and I do a monthly show called ‘Sing The Beatles’. Well as fortune would have it Kit is now playing bass for us and yes indeed he channels McCartney. I saw all the TAOS stuff at his house last night and the material is indeed available on CD from his wife. Kit also has all the original material and posters and stories. Oh my gosh what interesting stories. The crazy van rides cross country on bald tires with guys stacked on equipment to the roof and the ‘WHAT IF’ moment of the Atlanta festival. Anyway email me or call and I will let Kit know. I specifically asked him last night if it was OK if I posted stuff about him on line and he said OK. I want to do this carefully and let him and Katherine control it though. My email is in this post phone is 760 six nine six 0 2 four seven. OK? Call or email with questions. I will be following this web page for updates.
Steve Oppenheim (aka Steve Sidhly) lives in the Boston area and is still a gigging musician, he can be reached at: Steve@jahspirit.com
OK I got a copy of “Rising Storm” Saturday from Kit. It is FANTASTIC. I was so inspired I laid down the main guitar and main vocals then a slide guitar into Garage Band “I am Flying”. It is a bit off and needs work but I am hoping Kit wants to start doing Taos material around town because it emphasizes harmony singing. Man if I had heard this stuff in 1971 I would have bought the album. It is really good. The one about the airplane is good too. It is in my CD player in my car until I get sick of it and I have it all memorized.
Good news! The Taos record IS available on digital. Kismet has put it out (see CD Universe online) as a British import, with great sound and graphics. It meets the approval of Taos founder Kit Bedford. I grew up and went to high school with Kit in Pacifica, CA, and have played in bands with him over the last decade. We just spoke about the CD and he has the inspiration to remove some audio gimmicks and re-sequence the track order to what they wanted to produce to begin with! More later. (Hi, Jeannine!)
Barrett? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot !!!!! Like Syd?
The CD sounds much better than the LP, as the producer and engineer at the original sessions did not really have the chops to make the album as good as it could have been, and there was little studio time assigned to the tracking. However, I love to hear some of the old guitars on the tracks. This was in the days of 16-track 2″ tape. I wonder how Kismet will be paying royalties to us for the writing, performance, etc?
The album was from 1968/1969. We were sent to Taos by a producer at Mercury to pick up on the lifestyle that was happening then – Easy Rider, Hippies, Communes, the WEST, etc.). We left San Francisco right after an earthquake scared the crap out of us (zipped on LSD, Albie and I placed our hands on the wall of our building and commanded, “Stop!” IT DID NOT STOP! So, it was off to Taos. While we were there (in a 10 bedroom ski lodge with a steam bath and pool table rec-room, and the only hot water and stuff for the Hippies who were scrounging there), we encountered a group called, I believe, The Family. They ran the Free Store and Free Clinic (where you could get a free shot of Penicillin to cure the social diseases of that era), and they also came to our place frequently with beautiful young women and they filmed, recorded, and (early tech) videotaped us rehearsing and just living in that scene. These guys were strange. At some point we made a film with Dennis Hopper’s brother, to try to raise funds for Evans-Wentz’s publication of the Hopi book of rituals (he had done the Tibetan Book Of The Dead which was very popular with the LSD set). So, I ran into Dennis Hopper and spent some time with him in the 1980s. He said, “Do you know who the Family was?” His brother had told him. “They were the FBI checking up on the youth scene and rounding up run-aways!” And, somewhere in the bowels of the FBI files, there are a lot more Taos recordings.
Hey Kit (if you’re monitoring this site) or Jeannine (if he’s not), I’ll be at the Chit Chat tomorrow for Sing the Beatles anyway and will be happy to buy a CD — even though I haven’t heard it! — if you or Kathryn can bring one. I have no way to play vinyl anymore. In fact, I’ve actually given up buying CDs in favor of digital files but I’ll make an exception in this case. If that’s not possible, I’ll check out the site Doug mentions above. (Nice to hear from you, Doug! Maybe see you tomorrow?)
Hi Burt – You guys song ‘Spacebird’ is a big hit when and where we play it. A group called “Hophead” (Kim Richards) plans to cover it in their act. I hope we bring you guys some much overdue recognition for this and other fine work. I gotta tell you that whole F to A thing sounds so cool then throwing the old Beatles sound of C#m to G#m into the bridge …. very cool sound. Anyway … Kit is exited about this whole thing too. He carts the Taos CD and album around so folks can enjoy the stories.
Thanks, Jeannine. I always liked that tune, too. It can let you float away.
Could someone identify for me the bandmembers as they appear on the cover left to right? Thanks.
Albie, Burt, Jeff, Steve, Kit
Thanks Burt…other than having Jeff and you reversed I had it right.
Hi all
glad to hear about / from some of the old TAOS crew whom I knew back when the first of them was getting together in a member’s parents house in a to stay unnamed westchester suburb.also stored instruments in my house for albie for a while. i didn’t want to break out the news that the record company sent the band to taos , but burt did, so i guess the idea that they were there or from there is not a legend he needs to preserve. i was in touch with one of the original.former band members – patrick – for a while but lost track of him somewhere in maine ” a long, long time ago”.
i remember those days, your music and all of you fondly. i still have the vinyl.strawberry rush anyone? jehed
Jehed,
Glad you found this site. Thanks to Jeannine that I even know about it.
I never minded the truth being told, that Mercury set us up in Taos.
If you would like to say hi I guess I’ll ‘come out’, so to speak,
and leave my e-mail. In doing so I have a question for Scott as well.
Having had the album 40 years, were you there in New Mexico-or?
-And Jehed, I remember us on the streets of Manhattan one winter night
with your sister. Regards to her too. Write for the continuing story.
kit@coastside.net
Kit