Graham Bond 1970

 

GRAHAM BOND-Walking In The Park/Springtime In The City U.K. Warner Brothers WB 8004 1970

Organ maestro Graham Bond's career had sadly dovetailed by the late 1960's. Addicted to heroin and frequently being tracked down by bailiffs and the police over his bankruptcy situation he was miraculously signed up by Warner Brothers who issued a single comprised of two tracks recorded in 1966 with Dick Heckstall Smith (saxophone) and John Hiseman (drums) AND paid him a healthy sum of  £5,000! The youthful Hiseman (22 at the time) produced by tracks. 

"Walking In The Park" (penned by Bond) sounds like it was literally made up on the spot with it's simplistic word rhymes, but it's a rather rollicking track nonetheless thanks to the band's solid playing. It is NOT the version that featured on the Graham Bond Organization's debut LP "There's A Bond Between Us".  Bond's organ trills are amazing and Heckstall Smith gives 101% as always and Hiseman nails it down nicely behind the kit! 

"Springtime In The City", another Bond original, is a moody piece of business. It sounds at times like it was made up, lyrically anyway, on the spot. But there's a spooky feel to it with Bond's Hammond organ trills and Dick Heckstall Smith's sax work which meshes perfectly with the improvisational nature of the song (a trademark of any Graham Bond 60's recording). Heckstall-Smith must have had the patience of the Master because he continuously stuck with Bond as the only ever present G.B.O. member!

Rare Portuguese pressing

Both sides were collected on the Warner Brothers 1970 double album compilation "Solid Bond" issued in several countries (also available on CD) as well as being available to hear on Spotify.  

Hear "Walking In The Park":

https://youtu.be/sTrPkouaU1E?si=eYs3gK1OJEU_JGPV

Hear "Springtime In The City":

https://youtu.be/bnDcxLCaSWc?si=MEPjxj3C0jGvBrjI