In the late '60s, a band arose from Worcester, MA, named Orpheus, after the Greek god of songs. Orpheus was ultimately a tragic figure in the Greek pantheon - his wife Eurydice was killed by a snake at their wedding, and his attempt to retrieve her from Hades ended in an even sadder fashion - and Orpheus the band didn't have the happiest ending either.At the time Orpheus the band was making regional waves, popular media were taking note of the "San Francisco sound" - a convenient buzz phrase identifying all the hippie jammers shaking things up in '67, from the Airplane to the Dead to Quicksilver and so forth. The scene had grown organically and helped drive thousands of young folks to head West and apprehend a new way of life. So, of course, a guy got the bright idea to manufacture a similar "scene" in Boston, another city with a thriving crop of youthful musicians. That the bands in the "scene" were of wildly divergent styles and barely knew much less jammed with one another mattered little - they would be "the Bosstown sound," the kids would like it, and that was that.
But the kids recognized contrivance for what it was, so a lot of those Boston-area bands got a bad rap for the disbelieved hype. And Orpheus may have been the most shafted of them all. Sure, their lyrics could be possessed of hokey, dated catchphrases ("baby, remember when we turned on to a rainy day"), but their music was sophisticated, jazz-informed, with unexpected chords and tasteful orchestration augmenting their sweet melodies. They made the nether reaches of the Hot 100 twice, with the songs "Can't Find the Time" and "Brown Arms in Houston."
Happily, the former retains some cachet among oldies connoisseurs - even clocking in at #2 in a recent music-fanatics poll of the all-time "shouldabeens" (as in, shoulda been a bigger hit) - and remains in rotation on Boston oldies radio. It's an all-time favorite of mine, and I hope you'll enjoy it too - since later this week I'll spotlight another version or two of "Can't Find the Time." Enjoy.
3 comments:
Like the city they came from, they were big, but not big enough.
But we found Congress Alley!
-D*
Ba-da-da-da-da-da-daaaaa...
Lovely. And I was thrilled to see that the Hz So Good survey had 3 of my all-time faves in the top 5: This, the Flirtations, and the Magic Lanterns.
Completely agree, Mike. And had I remembered to vote in time, Orpheus would have made #1 instead of #2 (and the fabulous Flirtations likely would have been #2).
D*: I sent the members of Orpheus Reborn the pics of Congress Alley a couple of years ago. They were pleased.
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