Peace & Quiet

Sporting a pretty nifty cover (courtesy of Henrietta Condak and Robert Grossman), here's another one I bought without knowing anything about the band. Turns out my 25 cent investment was a pretty good move. Unfortunately like many early-1970s outfits, there simply isn't a great deal of bibliographical information out there on this outfit. Luckily, keyboardist Chuck Witherow stumbled on this website and was kind enough to fill in some of the gaps: "The group originated from a band in Miami called the "Bad Boys" (1967), also known as "The Nervous System" (see the Rock Pow Wow). The members of that band were Roger Pavlica (guitar), Greg Williams (drums), Chuck Witherow (keyboards) and Jim Keegan (bass). Jim Keegan was let go when Jim Tolliver (bass) and Rick Steele (vocals) were added and the name changed to Peace & Quiet." Prior to joining Peace & Quiet singer Steele had kicked around with a number of Southern Florida bands, including The Villagers. Bassist Tolliver had followed a similar path, recording with The Birdwatchers and Razor's Edge. By the time the band attracted the attention of CBS's Kinetic label, the line up featured Steele, Tolliver, guitarist Roger Pavlica, keyboardist Chuck Witherow and drummer Gregg Williams. Relocating to Massachussetts their cleverly titled debut "Peace & Quiet" was recorded in New York with Larry Fallon producing. It's a surprisingly impressive collection. I've seen a couple of dealers describe it as being psych, but that's not a particularly descriptive tag. Featuring six extended tracks, material such as 'You Can Wait Till Tomorrow' and 'Country Thing' is more along the lines of hard rock, with occasional progressive moves. Probably doesn't sound very promising, but Steele had a good voice (occasionally giving the band a Deep Purple-ish feel) and all six tracks boast strong melodies and enthusiastic performances. Stand out track is the closing instrumental 'Looney Tunes'. One truly commercial pop-ish song and I would have given this four stars.