The ‘Voice’ tour
Tony Ferguson (vocals, guitar, bass, flute, pedal steel) / Dave Nevin (vocals, guitar, bass, recorder, mellotron, synthesizer, percussion, vibes) / Roger Willis (vocals, drums, piano, harmonica) / Grahame White (vocals, guitar, lute, balalaika, keyboards) / Kenny Rowe (vocals, bass, percussion) / Joe Williams (vocals, percussion)
These early gigs really do tax the old brain cells! If I’m honest, I can’t remember whether or not I went to this gig, but it is exactly the period that I started and I know that I was at the Penthouse for the next few gigs, so I more than quite probably was at this one. There – that’s cleared that up then! 🙂
I like Cap Brown; always have done. They only ever recorded two albums and both were already out by this time: ‘From Scratch‘ and ‘Voice‘ both of which I later owned on CD, but these days I am re-building my vinyl collection to the extent that as well as having their stellar second album I also now have ‘Liar‘, the compilation album of their material.
There’s an excellent biography of the band on Progarchives which tells us that “Capability Brown had and still have a cult following in UK music history as a “progressive” band, ultimately based on an outstanding piece from their second album, ‘Voice.’ But largely their range covered mainstream pop music, treated in an “arty”, alternative fashion. The band was a six-piece in which everyone sang and played instruments. The line-up consisted of Tony Ferguson (guitar, bass), Dave Nevin (keyboards, guitar, bass), Kenny Rowe (bass, percussion), Grahame White (guitar, lute, balalaika, keyboards), Joe Williams (percussion) and Roger Willis (drums, keyboards).
Ferguson and Nevin wrote the majority of the band’s material, and the band also excelled in covers of obscure material (Rare Bird’s ‘Beautiful Scarlet’ and ‘Redman’, Argent’s ‘Liar’, Affinity’s ‘I Am And So Are You’ and Steely Dan’s ‘Midnight Cruiser’).
Capability Brown’s forte was vocalising. Together they sounded not unlike The Association: a massed choir of voices, ranging from baritone to high clean falsettos. Their first album, ‘From Scratch’, which included ‘Liar’, was average and unexceptional. The second album ‘Voice’, released in 1973, was their claim to fame, incorporating an over-20-minute richly melodic piece called ‘Circumstances’ (‘In Love, Past, Present, Future Meet’) – a stunning piece of music incorporating keyboards, a cappela voices, synthesizers and mellotrons, solo vocals, delicate harpsichord-like acoustic guitar sections, powerful electric guitar chords and massed vocal choirs.
The band did not manage to record again after this, and in 1974 Tony, Roger and Graham were recruited by friend and Christie member Roger Flavell to join his group, Christie for a tour of South America. Thus Capability Brown was no more.”
Clearly their style ticked all of the boxes on my list, so I know that I wouldn’t have been disappointed by their performance. I would also see elements of this band again a few years later when I saw Krazy Kat at Reading Festival in 1977.
Setlist: unknown
Gigs'n'Stuff 