Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Everfriend - "Sphere of Influence" {USA} [1981]

Here's an interesting discovery, if I do say so myself! Totally unknown private press LP by this band, who seems to have been mainly the project of keyboardist Bill Rhodes. It's hard to tell where he was actually from, because the album was recorded with a few different lineups at a number of separate times (1978-1981) and places (New Jersey, Florida, Georgia) and there's no label address on the sleeve. Anyway, it displays an interesting mixture of styles, from spacey and classically influenced keyboard pieces featuring tons of vintage gear (including Mellotron!) to full-blown complex symphonic prog and even some weird synth-fronted jazz-rock. This one could only have come from the US prog underground. It just totally has that "feel", if you know what I mean. I do know that he/they released an equally obscure album in 1980 called "Tropicsphere", and there might be one more from later on as well (I seem to remember seeing it once, but can't remember clearly). I'll definitely be trying to track those down now, as I find this album strangely endearing and have listened to it many times since I picked it up.

Given the Time...

thanks to fusionaut :)

14 comments:

nahavanda said...

http://lix.in/-92272b

Mara Bunta said...

Downloading! :D Thanks

Anonymous said...

very nice - thanks!

Ben Sommer said...

Certainly has that 1981 sound. Love that hard-picking walking bass jazz section! Sorry - there's a reason this one stayed underground.

Anonymous said...

It s all simply great !and it s really prog with a lot of keys ! Very rare ! Thank you very much !

Sosgotcha

Harmonix said...

This is a really nice gem. Like that the music isn't too esoteric and not too aggressive or obtuse. Just right. Just the way I like it. If you ever come across the rest of their albums, I'd love to hear.

everfriend drummer Mike Jacoby said...

Hello fellow progressive music lovers. I just found this page by accident and was very surprised and delighted to find the band Everfriend included and reviewed. I played drums on two cuts on Sphere of Influence; Everfriend and On the Fringe. I have not seen or heard from Bill Rhodes (real last name Rupprecht) in almost 30 years. When we played together in the All Night Flyers band and worked on the Everfriend project, he lived in the Piscataway/Metuchen New Jersey area. Those two cuts also included Bassist Paul Kozub who was also from the same area as Bill. He also played in the All Night Flyers with Bill and me. I would be very interested to know how you discovered the album. I would be glad to field questions or inquiries. Bill and Paul, if you're out there, let me hear from you - reneeajacoby@hotmail.com. I am still interested in expanding my musical boundaries and am always glad to meet and play with like minded musicians. As Bill said on the album, "Music is your Everfriend"

Melissa said...

Bill "Rhodes" Rupprecht and I were very close friends when Bill was recording with Everfriend in Florida (think the other album you may have been thinking of was "Snake with the Firehat.") The last I heard from Bill was that he was working in synthesizer sales and development. Hope he's well. We had some interesting times in Florida and our move to Atlanta.

tymusic said...

nice one....... i was hooked from the taster really!!

Anonymous said...

reminds me of the chakra record....

Anonymous said...

Hello... This is an old LP...Signed later 1991 to Tangerine Dream Label,Hamburg Germany...thank you for listening!...New music excerpts at www.myspace.com/rhodeworks...Anybody looking for soundtrack music pls contact me...Hi Mike!...Best,Dr.Bill Rhodes

chillybonkers said...

Wow. OK - Tristan - here is living proof that what you are doing with this blog MATTERS.

Anonymous said...

This is a good lp ! Does anyone have a link to the Tropicsphere lp ? I've looked for that one on ebay and other places, no luck

Anonymous said...

great things going to happen with unpublished and published releases of many albums in Fall 2015...look for a "new" format...BR

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