Скачать или смотреть The New Colony Six - Blue eyes (1969)

Formed in Chicago in 1964 and originally known as The Patsmen, singer Ray Graffia, drummer Chick James, keyboardist Craig Kemp, bassist Wally Kemp, guitarist Jerry Van Kollenberg and multi-instrumentalist Patrick McBride found their original inspiration in English Invasion bands such as Eric Burdon and the Aniimals, Van Morrison and Them (okay they were Irish), The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds. By 1965 the band had decamped to California where their efforts were greeted with complete indifference. Within a year they were back in their native Chicago having taken the audacious step of forming their own Centaur label.

Over the next year the band became exceptionally popular on the Chicago club scene, even enjoying a modest national hit with their 1966 debut 'I Confess' b/w 'Dawn Is Breaking' (Centuar catalog number 1201). As was standard marketing procedure, with the single selling well the band rushed into the studio to record a supporting album. Unlike most such efforts, 1966's "Breakthrough" stands as a classic (and highly sought after) slice of mid-1960s garage rock
In spite of the Yellow Submarine-styled psychedelic cover drawing, 1969's "Attacking the Straw Man" differed little from earlier offerings. With all seven members contributing material, the collection offered up a mildly entertaining set of Association-styled MOR pop rock. Sounding like a suite out of a Leonard Bernstein composition, among the few exceptions to their comfortable MOR sound was the weird 'Prairie Grey'.) Unfortunately, in an era of Zepplin-styled metal the band's penchant for short, poppy, radio-ready songs such as 'Sun Within You', 'Ride the Wicked Wind' and 'Love, That's the Best I Can Do' were largely out of public favor. That wasn't to say the band had completely lost their audience. They remained very popular in their native Chicago and throughout the midwest.