How many times have you encountered the term ‘lost gem’ when a reviewer talks about an album from decades ago? It has been both used and abused, particularly by record labels big and small. After all, they have to at least try to recuperate their investment, or hopefully make some money. If the original artists get something, lucky them.
But, then, what qualifies as a lost gem? Very often, it is just some lost album that somebody stumbles upon, that only hardcore fans of a certain genre or completists would go for, no matter the quality. But then, once in a while, something crops up that really deserves the label of a great album that got lost in the cracks.
The paths to such a discovery take many twists and turns. These days, though, the multitude of blogs, mostly personal who post all sorts of albums become a source for such discoveries. In many cases, posters did not secure the rights. But, if the album pricks the wars of a label, something good might come out of it.
This brings us to a case in point - a seemingly unassuming album bearing the title of ‘Bored Civilians’ by a British duo of Keith Cross & Peter Ross, originally released in 1972 on Decca. The copies of the album first started reappearing on a few music blogs sometimes as the new century began. Obviously, it caught the ear of people at Esoteric Recordings, who reissued the album in 2014.
Now, neither Cross nor Ross was big musical names at the time (or later on). Both certainly had the experience, as Cross was a guitarist with T2, an early prog band, while Ross was a singer with somewhat better known Hookfoot, a ‘standard’ bluesy band common at the time. Still, they were able to enlist names like Nick Lowe and the excellent pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole for this sole effort.
So what is going on here? Again, by description, nothing much. It is the British take on the West Coast sound of the late Sixties and early Seventies, from CSN(&Y) to The Doobie Brothers and Asylum stable of singer/songwriters, coupled with a Steely Dan sensibility (the band which was only picking up steam at the time).
But, what a take it is! Cross & Ross and all the guests are able to make such a fusion with ample individuality to make it all sound like something that should stay for weeks on album charts at the time. Or any other time.
So what went wrong? Who knows. It could be the shoddy PR from Decca, the original label. After all, these were the guys who originally refused The Beatles as they thought they were not ‘chart savvy.’ Or it could be any of the other reasons that make the music market act like the stock market.
Not that the Esoteric reissue made much of a splash either. A shame, because ‘Bored Civilians’ stands as one of the better seventies West Coast albums not recorded on the West Coast.