product: Eye - Anthology (3 CD Box)

label: Pride & Joy Music

release date: 20.01.2023

territory: world

PR contact: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!

Remarks: includes 50 tracks from the band’s archives, rare picture material, a 24 pages booklet incl. liner notes written by Mike Varney, ltd. on 500 copies only

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Timmy (EYE)
a histography

It all started in 8th grade, 1967, the summer of love, in Buckhead, Georgia.
Keyboardist John "Langford" Harrison met guitarist Donny Macleod, and the rest was history.
For nearly five decades, they still practiced every night.
Why? Because they loved it.

From the beginning, they had to have that "Brown" soun'.
(Translated into laymens terms, that basically means a Marshall on ten).
Thus the name 'Timmy'.
A contradiction in terms, dialectic, or a sucker punch.
I am reminded of when Elvis Presley came on the Ed Sullivan show, and said,
"Okay, we're gonna slow it down a little...You ain't nothin' but a houndog!!!
That knocked me back on my heels as a three-year-old.

So Timmy comes out with a friendly little  name,
and then proceeds to knock you back on your heels!

Heralded as the unsung progressive band of the seventies, that no one''s ever heard of,
Timmy boasts an impressive history of associates that includes:
Andy West of the Dixie Dregs, Mark O'Conner, world renowned fiddle champ,Vince Welnick, of the Tubes and Grateful Dead,
Eddy Offord, produce of Yes and ELP, and engineer on John Lennon's Imagine, and infamous rock manager Tony Secunda, who managed such acts as Procol Harem, Moody Blues, T Rex, Motorhead, Denny Laine, Chrissie Hinde, and Steel-Eye Span.

1975
Marin County California
Timmy joins forces with Cream of Chicken,
replacing guitarist Angie Makurak with Peter Penhallow, (aka Mr. Cheez),
and drummer Dave Obiedo with Paul Southard, (aka Paul Zahl...his girlfriends tall!).

Peter eventually moves to mini moog, (the 'saxophone', as John would affectionately refer to it), Donny moves, from bass to guitar, and John takes over the bass with his killer left hand.

One of their songs at that time was called "Big Long One", which says it all.
Most of their tunes, mostly written by John, and collaborated with by Donny and Peter, were anywhere from ten minutes to a half hour long, and were these fantastic and beautiful epics with time changes every measure.

From 1975 to 1988, various drummers came in and out,
while John, Donny and Peter remained as the core of the group.

Zahl stayed maybe a year, and maybe came back once or twice,
but was eventually replaced with Mitch Hinard, (aka Panda McCaan).
The music was a stretch for Panda, but he rose to the occasion and then some and hit excellent and hard.

After Panda came Bob, (Uncle Woofy), easily among the best progressive drummers on the planet.
The Uncle Woofy period was a height.
The tunes were longer, crazier, more beautiful than ever, and played with precision.
The band opened for many progressive bands of that era to standing ovations.

(Bill Bruford, Dixie Dregs, Captain Beefheart, Allan Holdsworth, Brian Auger, etc.)

Next up was Charlie Tapp on drums.

Charlie also brought in a few nice tunes.
The band was also recruited by famed rock manager Tony Secunda.
A shift in the music occurs: shorter tunes, straighter beats.
This was a typical shift for progressive bands at this time, e.g. Asia,
the early eighties rhing,
and Timmy handled the shift with grace.

1983
Andy West, bass player for the Dixie Dregs, joined the band.

1984
The band made a demo, (The Atlanta Project), produced by Eddy Offord.
All the King's men loved it, just the King's A and R guys went, ehh!

Hello Brain! Paul Chatterton III on the drums.

Vince Welnick came in to co-write and produced a few tunes for the "Eye" CD.

1988
"Has anyone seen Peter?"
"Hey Peter, when ya comin' to rehearsal?"
"Guys, I ran away from home to play piano for babies".

Brain left the band soon after Mr. Cheez,
and eventually flew into the arms of God
from the seat of his Harley.
God bless ya, brother.

1990
Andy Bishop joins the band on drums, they were a bad ass rockin' trio.

The Timmy line up at that time was: John (Langford) Harrison, Donny (Jock McNutt) MacLeod, Andy Bishop

30 years of Rock and Roll!

So I seriously doubt that this is...

The End

Bio, originally published in Strtterzine magazine, was written by Peter Mr. Cheez Penhallow, 2005.

R.I.P

John Gimma Langford Harrison – Jan. 3, 1953 – June 25, 2012

Donny McLeod – Sept. 27, 1952 – Jan. 10, 2010