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RARE BIRD

Crossover Prog • United Kingdom


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Rare Bird picture
Rare Bird biography
Formed in London, England in late 1969 - Disbanded in 1975

RARE BIRD is a quartet that relied heavily on keyboards as both Kafinetti and Field played together, the former on piano and synthesizers and the latter on organ - much like PROCOL HARUM and later on GREENSLADE. They had a hit with "Sympathy" in the UK but were more successful in Continental Europe where they became quite popular, their sound often reminding us of BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST. This double keyboard attack held no place for a guitarist until Field left along with the drummer Ashton and another keyboard player Lamb. This change occurred as they switched to Polydor label and they took on a guitar player, and played a harder rock with some funky lines. Nic Potter of VDGG played on two albums of the second line-up and John Wetton guested on one.

Most progheads will appreciate their first two albums and will also want to check out FIELDS, Field's new group at that time.

: : : Hugues Chantraine, BELGIUM : : :

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RARE BIRD discography


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RARE BIRD top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.80 | 127 ratings
Rare Bird [Aka: Sympathy]
1969
3.98 | 214 ratings
As Your Mind Flies By
1970
3.42 | 89 ratings
Epic Forest
1972
2.81 | 74 ratings
Somebody's Watching
1973
2.79 | 64 ratings
Born Again
1974

RARE BIRD Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

RARE BIRD Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

RARE BIRD Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.29 | 5 ratings
Rare Bird '75
1975
3.38 | 28 ratings
Sympathy
1976
4.50 | 2 ratings
Rare Bird: Polydor Special
1977
3.41 | 10 ratings
Rare Bird / Somebody Is Watching
1990
2.64 | 10 ratings
Third Time Around: An Introduction to Rare Bird
2004
4.50 | 10 ratings
1st/Somebody's Watching/Born Again/As Your Mind Flies By
2005
4.92 | 5 ratings
Beautiful Scarlet: Recordings 1969-1975
2021

RARE BIRD Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

3.78 | 10 ratings
Sympathy/Devil's High Concern
1970
3.67 | 3 ratings
Diamonds flexi 7''
1974

RARE BIRD Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Beautiful Scarlet: Recordings 1969-1975 by RARE BIRD album cover Boxset/Compilation, 2021
4.92 | 5 ratings

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Beautiful Scarlet: Recordings 1969-1975
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

5 stars This boxed set brings together Esoteric's welcome remasters of the five Rare Bird studio albums, a biography of the band, and a hitherto-unreleased live set hailing from a few months after the release of their swansong, Born Again. The albums are presented in nice-quality cardboard sleeves replicating the LP releases (including gatecovers), which feel nice and sturdy in contrast to some of the thinner buncha-albums-in-a-boxed-set releases out there, so Esoteric have kept up their usual good production quality here.

The remastered studio albums sound as good as they ever have; the tune-up is particularly welcome when it comes to their self-titled debut and As Your Mind Flies By, both albums affected by fairly hasty and low-budget recording processes. I'd say that only As Your Mind Flies By is truly essential - but having good versions of the rest available in a well-priced package is certainly nice, and perhaps this offering might prompt people to give more of a chance to their Polydor-era albums, which seem to get short shrift - whilst I wouldn't put them on the level of As Your Mind Flies By, I think they're rather neat, and a bit more consistent than the debut.

If there's one disappointment to be had here, it's that the live set doesn't really touch on the band's early, more emphatically prog-oriented style. It's a fairly terse set (they weren't headlining, but were playing support for Barclay James Harvest), and it consists solely of songs from Born Again itself and Somebody's Watching - the band clearly wantng to promote their newer sound instead of harking back to their original style. On the plus side, the live set absolutely cooks, injecting a little extra life into this material.

It would have been good to be able to get a nice-sounding live release from their more symphonic era - there's bootlegs which circulate with material from some German dates on the As Your Mind Flies By tour, though having not heard those I can't speak to their sound quality and it's entirely possible that they are simply unusable, so I can't really mark down the box for not stretching to include substandard material.

As it is, this provides a nicely complete summation of the Rare Bird story, a worthwhile archival release that should help ensure the legacy of a band who never enjoyed the mega-success of Charisma cousins Genesis (or, for that matter, the cult stature and the rapturous reception in certain markets that fellow family member Van der Graaf Generator enjoyed), despite the early chart success of the Sympathy single. It's an OK song, but it'd be a shame for their reputation to rest solely on that; with this set, Esoteric have helped make sure that doesn't happen.

 Born Again by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1974
2.79 | 64 ratings

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Born Again
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Born Again was Rare Bird's third album on Polydor, and final album of their run; they would split up within a year or so of its release, the band having become discouraged by their lack of commercial success and popular acclaim. In the essay accompanying Beautiful Scarlet, the recent boxed set which offers tasteful remasters of this and their other albums, Steve Gould describes the album title as "wishful thinking"; far from finding the band Born Again, it saw them bowing out.

Even without the benefit of hindsight, the album title is faintly misleading; far from being a radical reimagination for Rare Bird, a last stab at a new musical direction in the hope of righting the ship (like Dave Kaffinetti's most successful band project, Spinal Tap, attempting their "jazz odyssey"), the band give one last try to the same general approach they took for all their Polydor albums, having debuted it on Epic Forest. This veers away from the proto-prog and symphonic prog of their debut and As Your Mind Flies By (their masterpiece) and instead mashes up elements of bluesy hard rock, West Coast folk rock, and perhaps a little funk, and applies progressive songwriting sensibilities to the overall package.

Once again, proceedings are softer this time around than they were on Epic Forest - the hard rock elements of Epic Forest having been toned down - and as a result this release can be seen as a companion piece to Somebody's Watching. For my part, I quite like it - it's got an air of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young jamming with Supertramp at points, with the closing song, Last Tango In Beulah, in particular sounding a little like a prototype for mid-1970s Supertramp, thanks to Kaffinetti's keyboard contribition.

On balance, it really feels like time had already passed Rare Bird by in 1974. Sure, CSNY might have been riding high in the early 1970s, by the middle of the decade they were a little past their peak, as were the Byrds and other West Coast groups whose sound influences Rare Bird here; whilst Epic Forest still felt close-ish to the zeitgeist, here on Born Again it feels like Rare Bird are digging in their heels as the rest of the musical world is passing them by. As such, it's no surprirse that the album was a flop on its original release. Equally, the passage of time has left it ripe for a reappraisal, and Esoteric's sensitive remastering job (available by itself or, more conveniently, as part of the aforementioned Beautiful Scarlet box) helps to tease out its finer points.

 Somebody's Watching by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1973
2.81 | 74 ratings

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Somebody's Watching
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Somebody's Watching - but is anyone listening? That was the question which Rare Bird were grapping with as they crafted their fourth album, since it was now some four years after Sympathy gave them their last hit single and fickle audiences hadn't stuck with them in the intervening time.

Anyone who was still paying attention, though, may well have concluded that this album was Epic Forest Part 2, a similar mix of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young-esque West Coast folk rock with elements of bluesy hard rock, all mixed together with progressive sensibilities that retained a link to their early albums without going for a full symphonic prog compositional approach.

This time around, the West Coast folk rock aspect seems to be a bit more prominent, the hard rock seems to be dialled back a little, but at the end of the day it's a similar enough prospect that if you liked Epic Forest, you will like this - but if you think Rare Bird took a wrong turn on that album, this won't convince you otherwise.

 Epic Forest by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1972
3.42 | 89 ratings

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Epic Forest
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Rare Bird's third album finds the band going through a heap of changes. Graham Field is out, and the old "two keyboardists, no lead guitar" approach of the band is no more - indeed, this time they have two lead guitarists.

This would prompt a shift in their sound, even if they had otherwise stayed the course stylistically, but there's more changes involved; having produced an early prog masterpiece in the form of As Your Mind Flies By, the group seem to have decided that the side-long Flight from that album was about as far into symphonic prog as they wanted to go, prompting them to dial back this time around. The songs are shorter, there's more influence from the sort of bluesy hard rock which was then-current, and in general the whole package seems much more conventional.

Whilst I can't say this hits the heights of its predecessor, I have to admit the band are quite good at this new sound. There's just enough progressive and power pop ingredients in the mix to stop affairs descending into tedious Led Zeppelin posturing, it's clearly a notch more thoughtful than much of the hard rock/blues rock at the time, there's an interresting dose of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-esque harmony vocals and folk-rock influence on the title track, and on the whole it's an interesting new sound for the band. It's not the direction I'd have chosen for them in an idea world, but they make it work and more or less win me over.

The production values on this are notably tighter than on their preceding two albums; their debut was the first release from Charisma, and so was recorded on a tight budget and in a hurry because the fledgling company simply didn't have the resources to offer more. Their second album saw the band themselves try to take on the production process, and in later years they've admitted that they were a bit in over their head. By comparison, the album sounds remarkably good, the band certainly not wasting the opportunity presented by virtue of being on a major label.

The first issue of the album included a bonus 7" single with three extra songs on it; these have been appended to recent CD editions. Whilst "bonus tracks" are more of a product of the CD era, these songs very much fall into that category - in other words, they're inferior material which didn't make the cut for the main album. Setting them aside, though, Epic Forest provides a solid basis for a new beginning for what you could think of as Rare Bird Mk. II - there's no going back to the approach of the first two albums, but the fresh approach here is interesting in its own right.

 Rare Bird [Aka: Sympathy] by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1969
3.80 | 127 ratings

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Rare Bird [Aka: Sympathy]
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Beautiful Scarlet

3 stars Today I review the album that has spawned my name and been quite influential on me as an artist, Rare Bird. I know this album like the back of my hand, having heard it many times yet as can't give this album higher than three stars. Albums are a collection of songs, should even one falter the album is stricken from god tier 5*. Rare Bird has many beautiful songs that are unfortunately counteracted by equally terrible songs.

Iceberg opens the album, the longest track and one of the best. It opens with energetic keyboard chords and possesses effulgence vocal lines delivered by Steve Gould (Fantastic singer). Great song.

Times follows and is just awful 2* filler material. Cheesy vocals and annoying drums propel this song to cringe inducing territory. Fortunately a distorted key solo saves the song from 1*.

You went away is quite sublime, a pretty ballad lamenting the going away of another.

Melanie is a song with an absolutely horrific head. Downright agitating, bad enough I'm considering removing the bridge from it. Speaking of the bridge it is great, jazzy, chill and intoxicating.

Beautiful Scarlet, my namesake is a song that just resonates with me. Memorable.

Sympathy was a hit in Europe back in 1969, it's ok.

Natures fruit is not bad, worse then some of the better tracks while similar enough to not be needed on the album.

Bird On A Wing is the same as Nature's fruit.

God Of War is an epic closing track with a dark edge the song proves to be a haunting coda to Rare Bird

Overall this album is 3/5, however I do recommend listening to some of the tracks, specifically; Iceberg, Beautiful Scarlet and God Of War.

 Born Again by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1974
2.79 | 64 ratings

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Born Again
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Beautiful Scarlet

2 stars Kind of bad.

Continuing there move from their early sound into a less successful rock band Rare Bird created Born Again. This album has the same unremarkable albums you find on the previous album without anything verging on good. What really drives this down to 2* is the song Last Tango In Bellulah. Large portions of the song consist of the cringe inducing line, "truckin' on down" repeated over and over. I find this song to be pretty much irredeemably bad, thus the otherwise average album falls to bad territory.

Overall I don't recommend this album, even if you like Rare Birds previous efforts I don't recommend "Born Again" as the album adds nothing you haven't already heard done much better.}

 Somebody's Watching by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1973
2.81 | 74 ratings

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Somebody's Watching
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Beautiful Scarlet

3 stars Solid album.

Most of the songs on here follow the sound of Epic Forests 3 minute long songs. One song, Dollars (8 minutes) is purely instrumental and really delightful music. It plays an old westerns theme then heads into jazzy goodness lead by guitar and returns to theme but at half the tempo to create a really majestic sight. I think this song shows the wasted potential of Rare Bird and this album. I wish Your Lost off Epic Forest was included on this album as it could have marked a lovely change from that Early British sound of Rare Birds first two Albums towards Jazz Fusion/Funk.

Overall this is a solid album, if you like Rare Birds previous album then I'd recommend this for sure, particularly the song Dollars.

 Rare Bird [Aka: Sympathy] by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1969
3.80 | 127 ratings

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Rare Bird [Aka: Sympathy]
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Psychedelic Paul

5 stars RARE BIRD were a London-based Prog-Rock quartet who released five albums between 1969 and 1974:- "Rare Bird" (1969); "As Your Mind Flies By" (1970); "Epic Forest" (1972); "Somebody's Watching" (1973); and finally, "Born Again" (1974). Rare Bird's best-known song, "Sympathy", featured on their first album and the single reached No. 27 in the U.K charts. Their music is a very keyboard-heavy sound, due to the fact that the four-piece line-up included two keyboard players. Rare Bird's original LP albums have now become "rare birds" too, as they're pretty hard to get hold of these days. Incidentally, the "Rare Bird" album reviewed here, was the first album to be issued on the Prog-Rock Charisma label. Two bonus tracks were added to the original nine songs on the album in the re-mastered 2007 CD edition.

The album opens powerfully and dramatically with "Iceberg", an imposing cliff of pristine white ice as tall as a building with the awesome latent power to sink ships. This imposing organ-powered piece of music has similar grandeur and magnificent majesty. The song begins as a delicate and atmospheric slow fugue, sounding like a church organ, before erupting into a wild keyboard jamboree in which the organist goes absolutely berserk in a roaring storm of sound. The golden-voiced singer emerges from the organ storm in full impassioned voice in this dramatic refrain. It's powerful and heavy, but also beautifully melodic at the same time. This is the kind of thunderous and unrestrained organ music they ought to play in a grand cathedral as the bishop glides diagonally down the aisle across the chequered floor. How can Rare Bird possibly follow that storming opening foray onto the music scene. They follow it with "Times", a fast-based barnstorming number with all the unstoppable power of Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf leading his army into battle. This powerful raw and raucous song features fantastic fugues and pounding percussion, so don't play it TOO loud or it might just give you a pounding headache. Onwards now to "You Went Away", a refined and sweet-sounding organ piece with the vocalist imploringly pouring his heart out over his lost love:- "You went away, And left me one that day, When we were much too close, Dreaming of a private piece, You went away." ..... This is no gentle ballad though, because the crazy organist and manic drummer are just waiting in the wings, so be prepared for a sonic onslaught in their wild moment of glory for the powerful grand finale. There's no let-up in the incredible pace and power of this album with "Melanie", a flamboyant and foot-stompingly good slice of funky fusion to close out Side One.

Opening Side Two comes "Beautiful Scarlet", an elevating and exuberant blitzkrieg of music which explodes into life with a dramatic chord sequence. This is energetic keyboard playing to die for, the like of which we don't hear any more. This is exhilarating and exuberant music designed to lift the spirits up into the stratosphere. The pianist and organist battle it out in unison to see who's the greatest keyboard player of them all. It's pompous and passionate and everything we could wish for in a powerful burst of Progressive Rock. And now for Rare Bird's BIG number, "Sympathy", their main claim to fame which was a massive hit across Europe but only made it to No. 27 in the British charts, so it looks like the good people of continental Europe knows a good song when they hear it. "Nature's Fruit" is another rollicking and rambunctious keyboard-driven song on an album full of outstanding songs where every song sounds like it's good enough to be released as a single. We're taking flight now with "Bird on a Wing", an emotionally-rich song featuring soaring vocals and the sound of that oh-so-beautiful organ in accompaniment. The dazzling guitarist deserves a mention too with his stirring power chords carrying the music along on a sonorous wave of sound. Just when you thought this album couldn't get any better comes "God of War" to close out the album in dramatically fine style. The music rumbles along like a powerful express train steaming down the tracks with the powerful voice of the singer sounding like he's ominously prophesising doom and gloom and catastrophe. It's a suitably dynamic and dramatic conclusion to a superb album.

You can't beat a good solid dose of boom and bombast in a Prog-Rock album and this passionate and powerful album has it in spades. This is spectacular organ-driven British Rock, going full speed ahead on full locomotive power from beginning to end. it's also melodic and occasionally melancholic, but it's ALWAYS great music. This first Rare Bird album deserves to be treasured and preserved like a magnificent golden eagle.

 Rare Bird [Aka: Sympathy] by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1969
3.80 | 127 ratings

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Rare Bird [Aka: Sympathy]
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

4 stars RARE BIRD were the first band to have an album released on Charisma Records, a label that would be known for the likes of GENESIS, VDGG, HAWKWIND and many others. A dual keyboard band with Hammond organ and electric piano and no guitar. Bass and drums too of course along with an excellent vocalist. For me the organ, drums and vocals all standout the most, and the organ is played by Graham Fields. Released in 1969 and yes it sounds like it but man I just love their sound. The first two albums are fairly equal in my opinion and well worth picking up. You'll notice that this self-titled release has "Aka; Sympathy" in brackets as that song became a hit for them in the UK and Europe.

Not sure about the track listing shown here at PA, it's not the one I have anyway. So we get started with "Iceberg" the longest tune on here at almost 7 minutes. A mellow start with organ and more as it starts to build until kicking in hard at one minute with piano and drums bringing some classic RPI bands to mind. The organ joins in pulsing away as the piano steps aside. Reserved vocals only 2 minutes in as bass joins in followed by drums and organ. Nice. I like how urgent sounding this is after 2 1/2 minutes then we get a calm a minute later before themes are repeated. Excellent!

"Times" is the one song I have trouble with. I'm not into that energetic intro with vocals, drums and organ. It does change around 1 1/2 minutes though as we get drums and organ only and the organ sounds incredible. "You Went Away" is better with that quiet start with laid back vocals. He stops singing as the organ comes to the fore sounding really good once again. It's building as powerful vocals kick in. Contrasts continue and it all ends with a drum solo.

"Melanie" is a brighter song and uptempo with pulsing organ and drums as the vocals join in. Catchy but not one of my favs. It does sound much better starting before 1 1/2 minutes as it's more laid back but then it kicks in again. "Beautiful Scarlet" opens with some impressive drumming as the organ joins in then vocals. Organ to the fore as the vocals step aside. Contrasts continue then a calm with vocals and more. So good!

"Sympathy" is worthy of being a hit single in my opinion with those meaningful lyrics along with the organ and vocals. Timpani ends it. "Natures Fruit" is catchy with drums and vocals to start as the organ joins in. I like when the vocals stop a minute in and the organ comes to the fore. Vocals are back quickly though.

"Bird On A Wing" is a feel good song and quite relaxing. It does pick up a minute in with more passionate vocals. A nice instrumental section then back to the sounds of the intro. "Gods Of War" is such a good closer and it has a different vibe to it when compared to the other tracks. It opens with almost gothic-like harmonies with organ and more. Spoken words take over 1 1/2 minutes in as the drums continue. Great instrumental sound 4 minutes in with the organ and drums especially. Vocals are back before 5 minutes. A powerful tune.

I kind of lean towards the second album with the side long track "Flight" that is quite proggy and experimental, but this one is more consistent in my opinion so get both(haha).

 Epic Forest by RARE BIRD album cover Studio Album, 1972
3.42 | 89 ratings

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Epic Forest
Rare Bird Crossover Prog

Review by Progfan97402
Prog Reviewer

4 stars After As Your Mind Flies By, it was apparent the band broke up, looked like creative difference between Graham Field and David Kaffinetti. Graham Field ended up in a group called Fields that released an album in 1971 on CBS and seemed to have disappeared from the music business. At least he didn't mind Kaffinetti and Steve Gould using the Rare Bird name with a new band. While the original band featured two keyboardists and no guitars, this lineup featured only one keyboardist (Kaffinetti) and two guitarists, one of them newcomer Ced Curtis, with Steve Gould switching from bass to guitar. For those with an aversion to prog seem to take more kindly to this version of the band. The bands takes on a more easy rock approach, with a West Coast influence, a bit in the vein of Crosby, Stills & Nash in places. It's basically a totally different band so don't expect As Your Mind Flies By Part II. Steve Gould's vocals tend to be much more low key, although on the title track he uses that unmistakable voice that I loved so much with the first two albums. Speaking of the title track, it's easily the most progressive thing on the album, and a great highlight. "Her Darkest Hour' is a nice acoustic piece, while "Turning the Lights Out" and "Title No. 1 Again (Birdman)" shows they can rock too. If you're luck to own the original British LP, you should have a 7" EP that came with it (it plays at 33, not 45), on there are three songs, "Roadside Welcome", "Four Grey Walls" and "You're Welcome". I really thought these were nice additions. One gets the impression they were trying to go for a double album, but either didn't have enough material and just cram the rest on a 7", or it was a gimmick, or the record company didn't think it was a good idea for them to record a double album (especially since it was their debut for Polydor). Of the three albums they did for Polydor, this is by far the best album. Just don't expect As Your Mind Flies By.
Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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