ROBISON CHRIS - CD CHRIS ROBISON & HIS..

Popis - CHRIS ROBISON & HIS..:
Chris Robison and his Many Hand Band, released privately in 1973 and reissued now on CD for the first time, was one of the worlds first records by an openly gay songwriter. Coming just a few years after the Stonewall Riots of 1969, Many Hand Band is a dazzling feat of musical daring. But Chris Robison is not just a pioneering gay musician, he is an all-pervasive presence in New York rock from the late 60s onwards, having played with everyone fron Elephants Memory and Steam to Kiss, the New York Dolls, John Phillips and Bob Dylan. Not only that, Many Hand Band is a totally freewheeling and unique album, coalescing all the sensory overload of downtown New York City life in the early 70s. It touches on folk, psychedelia rock, Latin funk and more, all filtered through Robisons sly and cheeky personality. There is no "woe is me" self-pity here, just an uplifting sense of fun and natural self-expression. Recorded almost totally by Chris himself late at night in a cut rate studio, Many Hand Band is one of the few remaining undiscovered classics from the period, gay or otherwise. Its difficult to appreciate now, more than thirty-five years later, how daring and how groundbreaking
songs like Looking For A Boy Tonight and Italian Boy were on their release. In the albums comprehensive liner notes, filled with rare photos and a frank interview with Chris, he talks of
RCA records turning him down because they didnt want another "faggot" on their roster (aside from Lou Reed and David Bowie). Meanwhile he became a poster boy for the burgeoning gay lib
movement, playing Washington Square Park with Bette Midler in front of thousands in 1973. After Many Hand Band and its followup Manchild (to be released by Chapter Music in 2010)
Chris would go on to play with pre-Kiss group Wicked Lester, as well as join the New York Dolls for their Japanese tour of 1975.