Stephen Houston on keyboards and vocals,
Vincent McCusker on guitar and vocals,
Peter Farrelly on bass and lead vocals, and
Martin Foye on drums.
Managed (and more) by Paul Charles.
John Mason succeeded Stephen on keyboards.
UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 12th, 2009
New live recording uploaded of 'Seaward Sunset' from Liverpool, England, Everyman Theatre, November 16th, 1974, kindly shared by Mike Artell.
UPDATE: JUNE 16TH, 2009
NEW LIVE FRUUPP UPLOAD: FRIARS AYLESBURY 19th APRIL 1975
See also the Friars Aylesbury website:
http://www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk/fruupp75.html
Back in 1975, then only 16, music lover Roger Pettit and friend Chris Partridge went to see Fruupp perform at their fave local venue the Friars in the small town of Aylesbury, UK.
They had a cassette recorder with them, which did a very adequate job of capturing some of the concert. This was about the 3rd or 4th time the two lads had seen Fruupp perform live, their first experience being at Wycombe Town Hall back when Stephen Houston was still with them.
This recording has never before been aired nor shared, and was for many years (1984 to 2008) hidden in a carton of audio tapes in Roger’s house in Tanzania, where he was working. Having discovered the Fruupp website, he went and searched for his long-lost tape only to find it had been moved from house to house and very nearly lost or dumped. As fate would have it, he found the tape and was able to share it here.
This new upload features a beautiful rendition from the concert, 'The Perfect Wish', as featured on the “Prince of Heavens Eye” album. Recording quality is good, and aside from a little background hiss, it is crisp and clear, and shares unique live moments from a magical Fruupp concert. This is now only the 6th live recording to ever emerge in the whole world, and is undoubtedly a real gem!
This concert took place soon after the release of Modern Masquerades, their fourth album, and only months after they released “Prince of Heavens Eyes” , so this Fruupp line-up includes John Mason on keyboards, successor of first keyboard player, Stephen Houston.
Finally, a word from Roger himself, now aged 50 and a lapsed leftie rhythm guitarist himself,,,,, “For those who remember the progressive rock scene in 1975, it was a real achievement for a band to have remained fresh, creative and at the top of their game at a time when many top bands were running out of steam (ie Yes, Genesis, Purple, Sabbath etc) .Sure enough the coming of Punk Rock was imminent, and yet Fruupp maintained their unique dynamism and unrivalled talent. Enjoy the music and let me know if you want me to write more about this gig. Sadly there is no performance of the highly elusive Steam Machine, but the rendition of Annie Austere is simply awesome! We might just upload it if there is demand. Please give feedback by commenting below”
THIS PAGE HOSTS LIVE RECORDINGS OF FRUUPP, RECORDED BY VINCENT LYONS BACK AROUND 1973. EXTENSIVE DETAILS ABOUT FRUUPP ARE AVAILABLE ON ROBERT CERVERO'S FRUUPP TRIBUTE WEBSITE (CLICK LINK OPPOSITE).MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT ALL FOUR OF THE AMAZING FRUUPP ALBUMS, ALL RE-RELEASED ON CD IN FEBRUARY 2009.
Edited extracts taken from Robert Cervero's Fruupp tribute website:
http://www-dcrp.ced.berkeley.edu/Cervero/fruupp.htm
The original group formed in 1970, and following several transitions, settled into a foursome featuring Stephen Houston on keyboards and vocals, Vincent McCusker on guitar and vocals, Peter Farrelly on bass and lead vocals, and Martin Foye on drums. During the early seventies the band played hundreds of gigs, and in the space of about two years, put out four amazing albums -- a level of productivity that any modern group couldn't begin to fathom. Fruupp's unique blend of Irish folk and art rock music has, like a fine wine, weathered well with time.
Adjectives used by reviewers to describe their aural outputs include "lush", "pastoral", "symphonic", "dark", "ethereal", "subdued", "manic", "dignified", "melodic", "breath-taking", and "arty-farty". This was a band that pushed the envelope of music of the time, dancing on the dialectic edges of the early seventies progressive rock movement.
About these live recordings:
CORK CONCERT
Cork, Ireland, City Hall
28 July 28 1973
Unquestionably the best-quality live recording of Fruupp known to date. An indoor concert recorded with a hand-held tape cassette recorder (a mid-60's Philips unit and a (then) top-of-the-range Philips hi-fi cardiod microphone from a reel-to-reel tape deck). The recording quality is crisp and true. The music is outstanding and they perform three tunes from the first album 'Future Legends', and introduce the audience to the second album 'Seven Secrets' as well, by playing 'Faced with Shekinah'.
Vincent Lyons:
"First band was a pleasant, local band, Smog, that played covers. Then Fruupp came on. Just picture it; we're there to see the main band, Mungo Jerry, then the stage goes very dark. This 'strange' guy sitting at the keyboard wearing a big cross on a chain around his neck and bathed in green light introduces the first song. Amazing 'graveyard' type of atmosphere on stage. But the energy of the performance was mesmerising.
McCusker's guitar was breath-taking -- extremely powerful and precise. Martin Foye was spectacular -- hitting the skins with long blond hair, and waving drum sticks, like juggling balls above his head, while playing unbelievably. I later read that he previously played in a circus band! And what bass from Farelly -- pumping away at lead-guitar speed, and then being able to sing over it. Despite being very concerned about depleting batteries before the main act, I still just had to record a half-hour of Fruupp.
Of course, the real joy was listening to the concert at home afterwards with headphones. After the first few listens, it was clear how magical the performance had been. I'm sure that many of the (still very appreciative) audience (full house) didn't have time to digest just how good it all was. Remember, everyone thought the best was yet to come in Mungo Jerry.
The performance was very loud, so much so that I couldn't set the recording level low enough; this explains the occasional 'drop out' as I wrestled to cope with Fruupp's spectacular use of dynamics, sometimes from a whisper to an ear-wrenching roar, carefully set up for maximum audience shock. At one time, the entire audience literally jumped out of their seats with the shock and you can year the reaction on the tape. By the way, Mungo Jerry were even louder, I'm sure well above any safety standards...even painful!"
Gerald Hennessy:
"Went to see Mungo Jerry, but we were confronted by a ‘weird’ band. We were blown away -- a theatrical performance. It was a circus, an act, a visual theatre; nothing we were ready for…the costumes, the visuals; the audio. The lighting was brilliant, the music was unclassifiable, from rock to classical to ‘circus’. The drummer was great to watch. The guitarist blew us (guitar heads) away. The keyboard player wore a priest’s collar. The crowd expected to see a ‘pop’ support act, but still gave a brilliant reaction to Fruupp. Listening back was astounding, wished we had recorded more. Mungo Jerry were good, but the spectacle of Fruupp left a lasting impression on many."
FRUUPP ON TV:
FRUUPP featured on at least two TV programmes, including one by BBC Northern Ireland, and one by Ulter TV. Clearly, this recording is of a studio live concert, rather than a documentary. So which show the music originates from remains unclear. Apparantly, neither of the shows are available anymore, aside from this off-air audio recording. Does anybody from the Northern Ireland 'TV community' have additional insight to share?
Belfast, Northern Ireland, Ulster TV Studio
5 November 1973
The quality of the recording is superb and the band's performance is fantastic (though they were reputedly miming to pre-recorded music...in the words of the recorder, "unspeakable for a band as tight as Fruupp!!"). The band was really "on", blistering through a tight set of tunes from their first album, including On a Clear Day. The audience receives the band well, politely clapping between songs, as if in TV studio (which is exactly where they were). Steve Houston poetically introduces the theme behind each song.
Thanks for the add guys. I have a lot of good memories of your gigs.I still play the albums. Misty Morning Way from Modern Masquerades is an all time favourite. all the best. Andy
My wife and I do not hear exactly the same kind of music, but FRUUPP is one of those few bands that we have always reached agreement! Thanks to FRUUPP for giving us such of wonderful music and for sharing your friendship! Love & peace Daniele
listened to Fruupp all day today. The instrumental sections of 'Crystal Brook' and 'Sheba Song' are so perfect... and every song on Modern Masquerades is wonderful!!
so nice to meet FRUUPP here, these live recordings are very good indeed!
Fruupp has always been an act for "insiders" only in switzerland as the dawn label had not the best distribution service here (it was Vogue then)- and there was hardly any support from that side. Of course I owned all original albums, and now also in digital form.....
Online Now!
