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The Souls of Inspyration
The Souls of Inspyration
Columbia - 1971
Michael Panontin
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The Souls of Inspyration were formed in Red Lake, Ontario, a small town in the north of the province near the Manitoba border. Red Lake may have been isolated - it's a three-hour drive just to get to Kenora - but that didn't stop the trio of singer-guitarist John Maciejewski, bassist Don Wilson and drummer Mark Paradis from gigging throughout much of Canada's midwest.
In September 1968, while the group were touring in Quebec, they met up with a keyboardist named Raymond Cloutier in Sherbrooke and decided to set up shop there. With Cloutier on board, the group's sound developed into a hipper mix of airy psychedelia and what could best be described as proto-prog. They were fortunate enough to get on tours with Vanilla Fudge and Tommy James and the Shondells, and that certainly helped to solidify their fan base across la belle province. One newspaper reviewer at the time referred to their music as "an evolution of classical rock".
But the Souls of Inspyration's really big break would come in July 1970. They entered a battle-of-the-bands competition at Montreal's Man and His World exposition, which was held on the site of the city's popular Expo '67. They won not only the first prize but also the right to represent the country at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. The group played for two weeks at the Canada Pavilion and no doubt arrived back home awash in accolades and promise.
All of which attracted the interest of a couple of record producers, Chuck Williams and Don Grashey, who co-produced a single for the guys that year on the Barry label. Williams and Grashey would also help them ink a recording deal with the then-progressive Columbia Canada label, whose adventurous roster at the time boasted the likes of the Magic Bubble, Mashmakhan and It's All Meat.
The Souls of Inspyration was recorded in Thunder Bay ON at Grashey and Williams' relatively new DMG studio, which the pair built after Grashey (whose Gaiety label gave us many a fine record) returned to Canada from Hollywood hoping to record more Canadian acts without the rush of expensive big city studios. Brian Biesenthal, who also shared production credits on the Barry single, built the studio's custom console and engineered the seven-track LP, which can fetch upwards of USD $500 on the collector circuit these days
The Souls of Inspyration veers down some of the same well-trodden paths as their labelmates - and fellow Quebeckers - Mashmakhan. Which is to say, there is plenty of that breezy Hammond organ and those airy vocals, but also lame songwriting and the occasional misplaced guitar solo that are like lead to the musical ether. There are certainly pockets of potential, starting with 'Eyes of Nature', the b-side of their Barry single and probably the best track on the LP. It's a blithe and breezy take on post-psychedelia, with Cloutier's organ and the group's harmonies weaving an especially rich tapestry of sound. And 'Seasons of Change' has an interesting Euro feel to it with its bouncy organ/guitar intro and Maciejewski's potent singing. But for the most part, The Souls of Inspyration founders as often as it floats and is probably best left to languish in obscurity.
This is probably for psych completists only.
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