Cheryl Dilcher - Magic

Cheryl Dilcher – Magic

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Musically, Cheryl Dilcher was unlike any other female artist I have come across covering a mixture of pop, prog rock and glam styles that separated her from the better known 70’s rock queens of the day.

Written by: Eric

ARTIST: Cheryl Dilcher
ALBUM: Magic
LABEL: A&M
SERIAL: SP-3640
YEAR: 1974
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Cheryl Dilcher – lead vocals, acoustic 12-String * Rick ‘Robin’ Beilke – guitars, background vocals * Randy Koontz – bass, background vocals * Joe Aglio – drums, background vocals * Clarence McDonald – keyboards * Rusty Young – pedal steel * Nino Tempo – saxophone

TRACK LISTING: 01 Magic * 02 Home To Me * 03 Devil Song * 04 It’s A Secret * 05 Fantasy * 06 Who’s The Captain (Of Rock N Roll) * 07 The Good Times * 08 Together * 09 You’re The One * 10 Dance

WEBLINKS: NA

Background

Apparently Cheryl Dilcher, a Greenwich Village folkie released two albums prior to ‘Magic’ that frankly I’ve never bothered to check out. Not my scene really, best left to coffee shops, peace rallies and the Birkenstock crowd.

But from what I gather both of those albums ‘Special Songs’ and ‘Butterfly’ seem to have a cult following to this day. This is only helped by the fact Dilcher mysteriously dropped out of the music scene in 1977 following her ‘Blue Sailor’ album, never to be seen or heard from again.

The Songs

Not sure about the cover on this one, but on the flip we find Dilcher looking a little more presentable and quite ‘leggy’ I might add with an unsmiling band dressed in 1974 finery that defies description. God, we dressed bad back then! Musically, Cheryl Dilcher was unlike any other female artist I have come across.

Cheryl. covers a mixture of pop, prog rock and glam styles with an approach that separated her from the better known 70’s rock queens of the day. Vocally comparisons can be made to Grace Slick without the shrill and Mariska Veres from Dutch pop superstars Shocking Blue (remember ‘Venus’?).

The opening cut and title track is a progressive rock instrumental that crosses Yes with Nazareth ala ‘Rose In The Heather’ from ‘Hair Of The Dog’. Nicely done and just a guess but this had to throw off her folk audience as the mood of all ten tracks is very upbeat, not dour or introspective in the least.

With this said, standouts include ‘Devil Song’ which features the pedal steel of Rusty Young from Poco, a band Dilcher toured with the year previous. The two odes to British glitter rock ‘Who’s The Captain (Of Rock ‘N Roll)’ and the closing ‘Dance’ finishes the record off in glam slam style demanding repeated plays.

In Summary

With the exception of ‘Blue Sailor’ which was highly visible in the cut-out bins from day one, ‘Magic’ and the other two Dilcher albums are getting difficult to find these days without spending some well earned money. Never on CD, if you are in the mood for something different from an artist that actually took chances rather than try to fit into any musical category.

Unlike most female ‘stars’ of today who could take a cue from Cheryl Dilcher, then by all means grab yourself a copy before it disappears – like magic. Footnote: Cheryl passed away during February 2005 in Los Angeles, aged 55.

Video

High

Cheryl Dilcher - "High"

Devil Song
Cheryl Dilcher - Devil Song (Think I Fell In Love With The)

Dance
Cheryl Dilcher - Dance (1974)


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