MILKWOOD TAPESTRY
During the late 1960s, the duo of Roland Antonelli & Joseph Ransohoff,
known as Milkwood Tapestry, was a mainstay on the New York City rock circuit.
Their musical style equally looked to British Isle folk bands such as The
Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention, as well as acid rock bands
like the Jefferson Airplane and Jethro Tull. They somehow successfully pulled
off an intriguing balance between the two diametrically opposed styles.
At one of their Greenwich Village performances, they met Donovan's manager
who in turn arranged an audition for the pair before a group of Metromedia
record executives. They were signed on the spot and by 1969, Antonelli &
Ransohoff had entered the studio to record this progressive LP, simply titled
Milkwood Tapestry. This was their one & only release, complete with its
flourishes of medieval minstrel hippie instrumentation and Elizabethan era
Baroque lyricism, all adding to a patina of delightful guilelessness, rustic
charm, and a certain childlike whimsy. Sometimes the music take a harder
edge, with psychedelic overtones, fuzz guitar solos, acidic ebbs and flows,
dark turns of melody, and wildly manic vocals from Ransohoff. "Beyond The
Twelve Mile Zone" and "Signs of the Invisible Chalk" are prime examples,
rising to and then retreating from electric crescendos before frantically
bubbling again just before dramatic halts. "Journey-Less Ride" is also an
excursion into exceedingly trippy territory, while "The Window Sill's Song"
is positively Left Banke-caliber in its stateliness and mod pop flower power
overtones. The rest has a certain heady, swirling quality that makes consistently
wonderful listening. Selection (with times) are: Beyond the Twelve Mile
Zone (2:34); Wonderous Fairy Tale (3:31); Window Sill's Song (2:18); Signs
of Invisible Chalk (5:24); Sunday Raindrops (2:58); Journey-Less Ride (3:38);
Seas of Marshmellow Bees (2:28); Look at the Children (3:28); Tockless Time
Morning (3:20); Pink Painted Butterfly (3:08); Sunshine Castles (4:05);
Purple Side of Sunset (3:05). Produced by Manny Kellem (King Curtis; Sir
Walter Raleigh; Jack Scott; others). This is one of the first sessions engineered
by Tony Bongiovi, who later went on to produce Jimi Hendrix; Ozzie Osbourne;
Aerosmith; The Ramones; and many, many others). If you like the Forest LP
(on Harvest Records from the same year), then you'll want this seldom seen
Original 1969 pressing on METROMEDIA RECORDS (1007), with gatefold cover.
There is a some minor color rubbing to the all black cover, but all the
seams are intact & is in overall Excellent to near Mint condition. The
record labels are bright & clean. The playing surfaces are also bright &
clean, and appear in overall beautiful EXcellent condition!
