Gracious~1970 - Gracious

In the mid-sixties Alan Cowdery and Paul "Sandy" Davis, who had studied in a Catholic school in the suburbs of London, decided to organize a group. Invited for this purpose their friends Martin and Tim Kitketa ​​Uetli, they slowly began to rehearse in the school building and learning the folk songs and fashion hits of those years. 

Paul Davis - vocals, guitar, timpani
Martin Kitcat - Mellotron, piano, electric piano, harpsichord, vocals
Alan Cowderoy - guitar, vocals
Tim Wheatley - bass
Robert Lipson - drums

They soon decided that Davis stands to switch from drums to vocals, and the team was invited to another party - drummer Robert Lipson. Fairly quickly group prepared material which is a conventional pop music of those years, and began to give concerts in the school premises. Initially, the group was called SATAN'S DISCIPLES. Teenagers seem "cool" that the group, based in the premises of the Catholic religious schools, will be wearing a "controversial" title.
Gradually musicians gain knowledge and experience, and soon they are no longer satisfied pop format in which they worked. The guys decided to work seriously and "prikolchiki" with the name of Satan is not "pinned". Eventually, at the suggestion of their manager David Botha (David Both), they took the name GRACIOUS! (with an exclamation point at the end).
In the late sixties group prepared a demo and presented it experienced producer Norrie Paramor (Norrie Paramor), known for his work with Cliff Richard and THE SHADDOWS. He highly appreciated the work, but said that "this is not the format" and brought musicians with Tim Rice (Tim Rice - the author of the libretto of the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar"). Rice intercede for the word group, and soon she got a record deal in the company's records "Vertigo".
Around the same time, another event occurred, strongly affected the fate GRACIOUS! Group was lucky enough to work on the same stage with KING CRIMSON, and musicians first heard Mellotron, were stunned by its original character and features. Soon they acquired and mastered this very expensive and complex to set up a tool, and it strongly influenced the sound and style of the band.
In 1970 came the debut record GRACIOUS! Unfortunately, mellotron musicians used too often, but they are very well able to write on the rock structure harpsichord (very sorry that this great tool so rarely used in rock music), which added to their work of elegance and charm. Often used reminiscences of the classics, sometimes in a joking manner, and the structure of the compositions was quite varied and interesting. Virtuosi none of instrumentalists, perhaps not, but they all did their job quite competently and tasteful. Vocals pretty mediocre, but does not cause rejection. The result was a dramatic measure, reasonably handsome, fairly sophisticated and rather good album, strongly reminiscent of the early works of KING CRIMSON, and is sometimes associated with the debut album ELP. Perhaps, on the background of "Grand" this record someone will seem anachronistic, but do not forget that it was written in 1970, when the progressive movement was only beginning to gain momentum.
Recorded the first album, the band rhinestones set to work on a new album, but the company's management, the slow pace of dissatisfied sales of the first album, slowed down the production of new work team. With concert activity so it was not all plain sailing, and the group began to leapfrog the composition, especially the relationship between musicians have always been far from ideal. The second plate is still left in 1972, but by that time the group no longer existed.
It's quite a strange job. The first four-part composition "Super Nova", which lasts more than twenty minutes, shows that the group has made a significant step forward. This thing is very well structured and arranged, beautiful and quite original (though without affecting CRIMSON not done and this time). Musicians already quite comfortable with mellotron, and this instrument sounds and already much more interesting than on the debut record. The drawback of this thing is that the group is not as actively using the harpsichord, which previously sounded very nice and appropriate.
But then miracles begin. The other four songs - pretty mediocre progressive, much inferior to that group did the year before. Mellotron is active, but it does not save the situation, and the harpsichord was quite audible. Things are much more songs unpretentious and "sloppy", and the impression that they were written in a hurry, or simply without much enthusiasm. Perhaps this is due to the fact that during the recording of the group was on the point of collapse. Only krimzonoobraznaya mellotronizirovannaya ballad "What's Come to Be" quite beautiful and melodious, but it sounds just three and a half minutes. Overall, the album is not bad, but it only pulls the first composition.
After the dissolution of GRACIOUS! ex-members of the group did not show itself in any known bands. Only Uetli was invited into the then still not very successful (at the time) of SUPERTRAMP, but refused, as a lot of regret later. In 1977 he founded his own studio "Chestnut" in Germany and played there the little-known group of local scale. The rest of his comrades chosen career sound technicians or music managers.
In 2003, on the initiative of a small Japanese record company held a reunion GRACIOUS! Representatives of the firm suggested recording a new album, which "will sound as if it was recorded in the early seventies." At the moment, the new work team can not hear anything, but perhaps we will soon get another interesting album from the band with a beautiful name GRACIOUS!

1. Introduction
2. Heaven
3. Hell
4. Fugue in 'D' Minor
5. The Dream
6. Beautiful
7. What A Lovely Rain
8. Once On A Windy Day



- Alan Cowderoy / guitar, vocals
- Martin Kitcat / piano, Harpsichord, keyboards, piano (electric), vocals, Mellotron
- Robert Lipson / drums
- Tim Wheatley / bass
- Paul Davis / guitar, vocals

Gracious~1970 - Gracious