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Gypsy softball game team photo against Crow. Gypsy won.

Review: MINNESOTA'S INSIDER MAGAZINE, 1971 Gypsy, "In the Garden," (Metromedia). This is the second nationally distributed album by the group descended from Minneapolis' old Underbeats, and it is generally a much more consistent performance then the first double album. The disc was recorded at Los Angeles' Larrabee Studios during Feburary and March. Gypsy is an uncommonly unified group, and their second album relects this unity. While none of the individual performers stand out, all contribute uniformly excellent playing to get a rich vocal-intrumental blend that gives Gypsy it's unique and very musical sound. Gypsy's music accomplishes something few groups besides the Beatles manage without becoming overly schlocky and commercial: besides being solid, foot-stomping rock, it is beautiful stuff.

Generally, the formula for this album is the same as for the last. Rico Rosenbaum sings effortless, sometimes boyish lead on most of the numbers, Jim Johnson contributes his unusually tasteful and melodic lead guitar playing and backup vocals, and keyboard man Jim Walsh adds depth with very full organ playing and high harmony vocals. Willie Weeks, who replaced Doni Larson on bass for this album and has since been replaced with Randy Cates, plays some dancing bass lines and provides inspired accompaniment most of the time, and Bill Lordan flirts with polyrhythms while leading an exceptionally competent rhythm section of himself and Jim Walsh(?). At times the two of them could probably show Santana a few things.

The compositions are all well above average. Most of them are tightly arranged with very little space to stretch out, but the group usually manages to maintain a high level of interest, by consistently presenting a new idea just before the repeated riff starts to wear on the listener. This is particularly true of the last song on the first side, "As Far As You Can See, As Much As You Can Feel" which combines rather touching lyrics with one of the groups typically excellent melody lines to maintain interest thru several segments of what could have easily become a light but boring instrumental. All of the group's instrumental work retains a simple brand of complexity that holds the listener without putting a millstone around his neck.

The other long piece on the album is the two part "Here in the Garden" , which is bridge in the middle by a Walsh/Lordan percussion tour de force. The song, which seems to touch upon ecological themes, begins with some very subtle acoustic guitar playing by Rosenbaum and Johnson, moves into harmony parts capped with superb high singing from, I assume, Walsh. After the drum solo, Johnson launches the second part of the song with a driving flute riff propelled with Week's fast bass and Lordan's solid drumming. The second side of the album closes with Walsh's "Time will make it better" a nice piano ballad with just the right measure of sentimentality.

All in all, this album is a very creative and at the same time listenable effort, A single chosen from the ear-catching tunes presented here could do much to expand Gypsy's small but devoted following.
Tom Murtha. (INSIDER MAGAZINE, LONG OUT OF PRINT)















LETTER FROM RCA ABOUT JAMES WALSH GYPSY, 1978.