JOHNNY FARFISA: The Sky Is Falling LP

Description

Obscure 1965-1968 recordings, most of them previously unreleased, by The Individuals, The Tokays and Euphorian Railway, bands which featured Andy Cahan aka Johnny Farfisa as main songwriter and organ player. Over those three years, Cahan and his teenage bandmates produced a remarkable set of R&B/garage/blue-eyed soul tracks of outstanding quality, collected here for the first time.

Growing up in the town of New Rochelle, New York, young Andy Cahan was also a gifted piano player with a good musical ear. Like thousands of American kids, his life changed forever when The Beatles debuted on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. His first surf band The Jaguars became The Tokays, named after a brand of sweet white Hungarian wine. The group started to play some of Andy’s original material, inspired by The Beatles and other British invaders like The Zombies and The Dave Clark Five. One of those tracks, the plaintive minor-key ballad “Where Young Lovers Go”, is included here. Soon after, Andy traded his Thomas organ for the new Farfisa Combo Compact red organ. He purchased Beatle boots, as did his bandmates, and they changed the name to The Individuals. The group found time, in between band contests, to go into the studio in 1965 and 1966 to record demos — most of which can be heard on this album. The Individuals broke up around 1967 when Larry Kramer elected to go to college rather than pursue music full-time. Andy, Sandy Reiner, and Reno Franzereconfigured as The Boys In Dutch, adding Jerry Delesio on guitar, and gigged around New York throughout 1967. After that band ran its course, Andy decided to start a new project, Euphorian Railway, with Reno on lead vocals, Vinny Derminity on guitar and vocals, Ken Lennington on bass and vocals, and Frank McConville on drums. Euphorian Railway cut an album’s worth of original material in one five-hour session in March 1968 and. Five tracks are featured here, including dynamic new material. The influence of The Rascalsis strong, especially in Reno’s impassioned Eddie Brigati-like vocals, but Cahan’s electric harpsichord provides some distinctive touches. The band was short-lived. In the summer of 1968 Cahan relocated to Los Angeles, where he quickly made a name for himself as a keyboard player and arranger, working with such people as Graham Bond, Dr John, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Harry Nilsson, and Flo & Eddie of The Turtles. He was also a founding member of Geronimo Black, along with ex-Mothers Jimmy Carl Black, Denny Walley, and Bunk and Buzz Gardner, and one-time Love member Tjay Contrelli. As for his Johnny Farfisa alias, that originated with David Gibson of Moxie Records, who in 1980 released an EP of The Individuals’ mid-60s recordings titled Johnny Farfisa’s Greatest Hits.

Teaser

Tracking:
01. The Individuals – Shes Gone Away (vocal)
02. The Individuals – I Dont Play (version 1)
03. The Individuals – It May Be
04. The Individuals – The Sky Is Falling
05. The Individuals – I Dont Play (soul Version)
06. The Individuals – Monkey On My Back
07. The Individuals – My Babys Bad
08. The Tokays – Where Young Lovers Go
09. The Individuals – I Dont Play (12-string Version)
10. Euphorian Railway – The Sky Is Falling
11. Euphorian Railway – She Showed Me
12. Euphorian Railway – On My Way To The Sun
13. Euphorian Railway – I Thought I Knew You
14. Euphorian Railway – Nothing And No One
15. The Individuals – Shes Gone Away (instrumental)