Based out of Houston, Texas, not that Liberty Bros are anything but country boys from the Lone Star state, nosiree, there’s a bit of everything to do here from the beautiful decade that was the 70’s.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Liberty Bros
ALBUM: No Time Lasts Forever
LABEL: Astro Records
SERIAL: LB-0378
YEAR: 1977
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Tommy Campbell – drums, vocals * Shannon Taylor – piano, mellotron, percussion, vocals * Gordon Morris – bass, 12 string guitar, piano, vocals * Mike Thompson – lead and acoustic guitars, bass, vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Do You Have To Remind Me * 02 Anywhere Anytime * 03 Nesadel Song (War Machine) * 04 Our Love Was Made With Time * 05 Two AM * 06 The Reds * 07 You Do It To Yourself * 08 I Believe (That You Belong To Me) * 09 No Time Lasts Forever
WEBLINKS: NA
Liberty Bros Background
I’m pretty certain this rare offbeat psych meets prog rock LP from Texan outfit Liberty Bros will have you scratching your head. That is once you take a listen to ‘No Time Lasts Forever’.
It’s a strange and weird listen upon first hearing. Some of you may fall in love with its wacky eccentricity by the time the needle is lifted. But where do we start?
‘No Time Lasts Forever’ was released in 1977 on the equally mysterious label Astro Records. It was apparently created by country music legend Mickey Gilley way back in the early 60’s.
Based out of Houston, Texas. However Liberty Bros are anything but country boys from the Lone Star state. No siree, there’s a bit of everything to do here from the beautiful decade that was the 70’s.
Factor in Supertramp, Kansas. A bit of a latin mix too a la Chango and Santana in parts. Plus we get a dose of Max Webster wackery to boot. Woah! What do we have here?
The Songs
‘Do You Have To Remind Me’ is a hilarious opener, about the constantly hen-pecked man who seems to get it wrong everytime. A changeable tune, with shifting piano and mellotron, plus odd instruments chucked in the mix to confuse everyone. The sax solo at the end is straight out of the Supertramp school for sure.
‘Anywhere Anytime’ is a song about a couple of sex addicts (it would seem) who can’t seem to keep their hands off each other! The acoustic and grandiose sound is hardly the sound of soft porn, in fact it sounds like cow-poke (pun intended) material. Not since the Starland Vocal Band taught us all about ‘Afternoon Delight’ has another band come (another pun intended) close!
‘War Machine’ is a fantastic track, with fuzz guitar straight out of the 70’s. It’s a combo of funk and fiery fuzz rock with a killer lead guitar solo.
‘Our Love Was Made With Time’ moves into wistful ballad territory, with a Brit pop sound with orchestral strings gliding in the background.
‘Two A.M’ is the token Kansas effort here, I’m sure a few ideas were nicked from Livgren, Walsh, Steinhardt and co.
The boys in Liberty Bros must have been colour blind with the next track ‘The Reds’. Because it’s a deadeye dick for the blues in the style of fellow Texans Point Blank. Perhaps the songtitle was titled deliberately?
‘You Do It To Yourself’ is a fun time romp, bordering on slapstick. Any quirkier these boys would be knocking on the door of Kiwi outfit Split Enz.
‘I Believe’ is full of acoustic guitar and veers toward the prog rock side of the fence. While the title track is unique for the fact the vocals border on helium inductee David Surkamp. He was of course formerly of classic rockers Pavlov’s Dog.
In Summary
An engaging listen, for which some of you might be up to the task. Pretty hard to find these days, you may see one or two copies on EvilBay going for reasonable prices.
It’s usually the postage which is a killer, but for what it’s worth, the track ‘War Machine’ is worth the price of admission alone.
Liberty Bros on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
