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BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLE - SELF TITLED - CD

1. Love Is Here
2. Yellow’s Dream
3. Feel Like A Bandit
4. Troubles
5. Loveless Lives
6. No Regrets
7. Winding Your String
8. Sweet Mama
9. Promise Of Love
10. Trivial Sum
Bonus tracks
11. Marianne (stereo)
12. Marianne (mono)

This superb collection of acid-influenced guitar rock originally appeared in 1970 and has languished in underserved obscurity ever since. Produced in LA by legendary engineer Bill Halverson (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Cream, the Grateful Dead), it’s heavily imbued with West Coast influences and features superb musical interplay throughout. The band supported acts including Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, but proved sadly short-lived. The album makes its long-awaited CD debut here, complete with both mixes of their sole non-LP 45, making it an obligatory purchase for all devotees of US psychedelia.

‘Blue Mountain Eagle is a new rock group that stands out among the newcomers who’ve been hitting the market at a seemingly incessant rate. It is a truly heavy group, with accent on guitars, but with a stress on harmony and original arranging style’ – original press release

Blue Mountain Eagle were an early ‘supergroup’, formed from the ashes of numerous bands. Their founder was Canadian-born drummer Dewey Martin, late of Buffalo Springfield. In July of 1969 the final incarnation of that band (calling itself ‘New Buffalo’ after legal action from Neil Young and Steven Stills) had splintered, and he’d accepted a solo offer from Uni Records. The other members of New Buffalo – bassist Randy Fuller (once of the Bobby Fuller Four) and guitarists David Price and Bob ‘BJ’ Jones – already had interest from Atco Records, and decided to proceed with drummer Don Poncher (ex-Don & the Good Times). Having signed a deal, they hooked up with singer / guitarist Joey Newman (also known as Vern Kjellberg, and another alumnus of Don & the Good Times, as well as Liberty Party, Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts and Touch), and renamed themselves Blue Mountain Eagle, after an Indiana newspaper, the Blue Mountain Eagle Express.

Their sole album was recorded in Los Angeles in August and December 1969, and produced by legendary engineer Bill Halverson (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Cream, the Grateful Dead). It appeared early in 1970, trailed by their sole 45, Yellow’s Dream / Marianne (the latter penned by Buffalo Springfield founder Stills, and included here as a bonus track in its mono and stereo mixes). To promote the album the band gigged with Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Love and Eric Burdon, but sales were disappointing and relationships became uneasy. In May 1970 Fuller decided to leave, joining Dewey Martin’s Medicine Ball, who were still recording their debut LP. The band folded soon afterwards, with Price, Jones, and Poncher joining Augie Meyers of the Sir Douglas Quintet for his 1973 Western Head Music LP. Jones went on to play with Harvey Mandel, while Price became a recording engineer. Poncher, meanwhile, became a successful session man, notably working alongside Joe Cocker, and joining Arthur Love for his Vindicator LP in 1972.

1. Love Is Here (Newman)
2. Yellow’s Dream (Newman)
3. Feel Like A Bandit (Price)
4. Troubles (Meyer / Jones)
5. Loveless Lives (Poncher / Jones / Newman)
6. No Regrets (Poncher / Price)
7. Winding Your String (Newman)
8. Sweet Mama (Fuller)
9. Promise Of Love (Newman)
10. Trivial Sum (Furlong / Bowen)
Bonus tracks
11. Marianne – stereo (Stills)
12. Marianne – mono (Stills)

David Price - rhythm guitar, vocals
Randy Fuller - bass, guitar, vocals
Bob 'BJ' Jones - lead guitar, vocals
Joey Newman - lead guitar, keyboards, vocals
Don Poncher - drums, vocals

Produced and engineered by Bill Halverson
Recorded at Wally Heider's Studio, LA
Direction - Mike Zalk
Art direction / design - Gary Burden / Boyd Elder
Front cover photography - Robert Knight Company
Back cover photography - Henry Diltz
Special thanks to Ahmet Ertegun, Bill Halverson, David Geffen, Harvey Weinstein, Vega Associates

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