Splinter Harder To Live (Vinyl, Dark Horse Records, 1975) ***
Splinter Two Man Band (Vinyl, Dark Horse Records, 1977) **
Genre: pop/ rock; Dark Horse Records
Places I remember: George Courts' music bar (K Road); Marbeck's Records; Taste Records
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Costafine Town (The Place I Love)
Gear costume: Somebody's City (The Place I Love); Half Way There (Harder To Live)
Active compensatory factors: Splinter is a duo (Bill Elliott and Bob Purvis) with solid gold Beatle connections. Bill Elliott had already appeared on an Apple Records' single as Bill Elliott and The Plastic Oz Band doing a couple of Lennon songs.
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Costafine Town (The Place I Love)
Gear costume: Somebody's City (The Place I Love); Half Way There (Harder To Live)
Active compensatory factors: Splinter is a duo (Bill Elliott and Bob Purvis) with solid gold Beatle connections. Bill Elliott had already appeared on an Apple Records' single as Bill Elliott and The Plastic Oz Band doing a couple of Lennon songs.
After Apple Records folded George maintained his interest in Splinter - signing them to Dark Horse Records and he was all over the debut album - producing and playing loads of instruments. Somebody's City sounds like an outtake from All Things Must Pass (it's that good).
George drafted in a stellar crew of mates to play on the album - Alvin Lee, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Willie Weeks. So - it sounds great. Bill and Bob contribute some memorable songs and sing well. Costafine Town was a huge hit and deservedly so.
Second album, Harder To Live, follows the same blue print - snappy arrangements, nice harmony vocals, same George Harrison/Beatles lite sound, but limited participation from George this time (he only appears on one track).
Although Half Way There is an excellent song, with a country/folk leanings, there was no big hit on this one.
Two Man Band, the third and final Dark Horse album for Splinter, was a good effort without being especially memorable. The presence of strings on a few tracks doesn't help but it's a melodic set of songs without any hit song being apparent. Still, if you want a pleasant soft rock album for those chill moments of an evening you could do a lot worse.
Where do they all belong? I haven't bothered with the albums after Two Man Band as they weren't on Dark Horse Records, nor did they get widespread distribution.
Where do they all belong? I haven't bothered with the albums after Two Man Band as they weren't on Dark Horse Records, nor did they get widespread distribution.
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