"The guy's name was Don Gallucci, and his band/album "TOUCH" makes Pet Sounds sound like a series of nursery rhymes."

Wow. Those are big words. You mention Yes was influenced? Does that mean Touch is pretentious prog rock with 45 minute songs?

The answer is YES.

Well, no; actually -- I think 11 minutes is the longest tune (the incredible last cut from the original album, a song mentioned above called "Seventy-Five". But more than a few parts of this album sound almost exactly like Yes.

A lot of the later prog-rock people paid homage to the Touch album as highly liberating and influential.

I also forgot to mention that Gallucci penned a song called "The Death of Howard Greer" that was to be his answer to the Beatles "A Day In The Life". And it comes pretty darn close.

Check it out and lemmee know what ya think.

re. "...Does that mean Touch is pretentious prog rock with 45 minute songs?"

See the opening sentence in the essay above.

heh.

Don Gallucci was also the producer of
what is considered to be the greatest LP
by Iggy & The Stooges - "Funhouse".

Sax, thanks for that info; I didn't have time to get to Gallucci's producing career.

Funnty that -- for all his accomplishments -- he'll be remembered for those 3 chords in Louie-Louie.

Dunt dunt dunt --
dunt dunt -
dunt dunt dunt -
dunt dunt...

Don was brilliant and impressed by Vanilla Fudge. He put his heart into the Touch recordings. It was a big departure from the mainstream music that brought him to Hollywood and it is not hard to see why he lost one group of followers and found another. This was also a rough time for all the band members who could not always understand Don's pursuit of the mystic, The third way, etc. we parted ways at that time and I would like to know how he is and if he found his passion in art, music, or life.

Sorry, that was Forth Way, Gurdjieff, that he was into. I wanted to put the record straight.

Ann, thanks for your comments.

The Vanilla Fudge influence is interesting; they were definitely pushing the boundaries with that first album.

BTW: Sounds like you were a personal friend of Gallucci..?

Do tell!

I fully agree with your review of the TOUCH album, and your perception of the wonderful "75". I've just found and bought the CD after a quest of more that 30 years and "75" is still impressive even after all those years. This album is undoubtedly a milestone in rock's history.

I grew up with Don Gallucci as my personal/professional hero - While The Kingsmen did not impress me, Don & The Goodtimes were everything a developing musician could hope for. To me, they were particularly accessible through a close acquaintance with his cousin, with whom I shared classrooms throughout grade school. If they were contemplating a new song, I would have the lyrics to it before anyone else!

When TOUCH came out, it was exactly what Gallucci meant to create: A place in the future of music. It was also genius, a term not casually (or always deservedly) applied to rock musicians. I can't say it eclipsed The Beatles, but maybe it did on a different level. It certainly would have eclipsed everything out there, had it not been so far ahead of its time. To paraphrase George Harrison, Don had the word, but few had ears to hear.

TOUCH stands alone in many respects - it remains a unique recording that holds its place as such, without contenders - it remains a faithful friend to those who had ears to hear, all those years ago - and it is a DELIGHTFUL discovery for those just knocking upon its door. What IS genius is the brave young record exec who exhibited the foresight to make this recording available on CD for future generations to enjoy - which is exactly what Don envisioned.

I saw The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band at the 1967-68 Teenage Fair in Portland, Oregon. My band was playing the opposite side of the Coliseum and, on a break, I got over to check them out. A VERY ambitious bit of entertainment, to say the least -

For those who never experienced it (which is the only way to describe the event), I remember it this way: There is a huge red/white-striped circus tent. One would find their way through the darkened interior to find (reads, stumble into) a folding chair, one of a couple of hundred in this dark tent. Did I mention it was dark?

Among the sixty or so people who similarly found their seats, I sat awaiting, what? The answer was a light show akin to Gary Ewing on acid; maybe I shouldn't go there, but those who know what I mean will understand and forgive. Lights of every color and configuration then known began to bathe the interior of the tent walls which were conveniently white - then the swirling oils began. Then somewhere among all of this incredible visual stimulation, some very loud music began.

I mean no evil in saying this, but I honestly don't remember a note of it, nor any of those who created it. The band (was it a band???) and the music was completely secondary to the light show. I DO recall walking out after a couple of minutes with two thoughts: What could this have possibly cost and, why would anyone do such a thing?

I intend to buy the album for the simple reason that many things were WAAAY ahead of me in those days, and just maybe I might better align with something 38 years old (hmmm... I'm now 54 and can very well see myself aligning with something 38 years old, were I not happily married with two Standard Poodles... but I digress). I might actually GET it, without the distraction of the lights and oils and incense. If not, there's always e-Bay -

Cheers!

Oh man, I'm so glad just to see someone even MENTION the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, let alone actually know something about them. I absolutely love the albums, as well as the Markley album(well, it's basically just the next WCPAEB album, seeing as it's the same band). I can't imagine how well they grooved live, I wish I could've seen them. I've tried to dig up more stuff that anybody in the band did or any bootlegs (I'd do anything for some live material), but with no sucess. Do you know of any other acts any of the members were part of that I could find any material from?

Thanks all for the kind words about our group Touch. It was a labor of love and intended to evoke a positive life experience in/for the listener.

The Fourth Way was the original/1st name of Touch and we performed at two locations using that name. The Avalon Ballroom thanks to Family Dog Productions/Chet Helms and The Galaxy Club on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles thanks to Rose & Michael Dietch. We got the name from The Fourth Way and In Search of the Miraculous, books by P D Ouspensky which relate the teachings of G I Gurdjieff in a format designed to be understood by people of the Western World on a path to consciousness.

Gurdjieff: "A man does not see the real world. The real world is hidden from him by the wall of imagination. He lives in sleep. He is asleep.

Only by beginning to remember himself does a man really awaken. And then all surrounding life acquires for him a different aspect. He sees that it is the life of sleeping people, a life in sleep. All that men say, all that they do, they say and do in sleep.

How can one awaken? How can one escape this sleep? These questions are the most important, the most vital that can ever confront a man."

Now it's nearly 40 years later and that aspect of the human existance hasn't really changed. So we continue to seek and hope that Touch's music may have awakened us if for only a moment.

Thanks & best regards,

I know I mentioned this in a thread once, but when I was about 11 or 12 years old, through a series of trivial circumstances, I ended up down my block hanging out with a cool 16 - 17 year old who really knew his music. "Lookit this crap my mom got me for my birthday (Neil Diamond's Hot August Night). Jusy because he has long hair." He showed me a few more from his collection, then said, "Lookit this - it's by a band called Touch. No one knows who they are, bu they might be the greatest band EVER."

I spent years looking for that record, but literally, no one I ever met had ever heard of them - most people thought I was crazy or had misheard or misread the name. I finally forgot about it, but about a year ago, Touch was mentioned right here on bc. Now I just gotta track one down and lissen to it.......