I have provided the great people at Progarchives with information about McLuhan, the Group and also the musicians that recorded the Anomaly album. Here is that information for anyone interested:
McLuhan was a concept group. The creator of the idea was David Wright, who also played trumpet, slide-whistle, and some vocals on the Anomaly album. The concept was to develop a mixed-media group where no particular musical venue or style would necessarily prevail. We wanted to throw out pre-conceived ideas of what would be “acceptable” to an audience. The idea was to try different things in our performances including special sound effects such as baby’s crying, various weird instruments, background sounds and we even played old movies during our performance (“Monster Bride” was actually Bride of Frankenstein and in live performance we would turn on the movie at the point where we played the 20th Century Fox theme). Yes, we had a little attitude. We were tired of commercial music, marching band music, Burt Bacharach music, elevator music in general. McLuhan was telling us that “the medium was the message”, not the content. So, we basically had an attitude that it was not important to be defined as a certain type of band (Rock, Jazz, dixieland, Soul, Prom, Bar-Mitzvah, Country, etc.) Labels didn’t matter. We were saying that the world should wake-up and reject conventional norms (Spiders - “business men in ranch-house cages, mindless-prisoners of routine”).
David Wright was known to me as a fellow-student at UICC (University of Illinois Chicago) who played trumpet in the concert band. I was playing clarinet and had paid my way through College with week-end prom gigs on Sax, Flute, Clarinet. My group was called the Seven Seas which did a lot of Burt Bacharach with a female vocalist. We lost our Trumpet player and so I asked David to fill-in. He had never played professionally but I loved his trumpet sound quality. He enjoyed the few months he played with us. Marvin Krout also played organ with the Seven Seas at the time of the break-up. Then it happened, the group had a falling apart thing with the singer and guitar player feeling like they were the stars, deserved more, had big plans, etc. (Never did hear what Lawrence Welk program they might have ended up on.) So, we sat there in my basement after the two stars had walked-out and it was then that Dave introduced us to the McLuhan concept. He said he had some material that he would like to try to develop as a group. It was perfect timing. We were all about 20 years old and at a perfect time in each of our lives to commit to something like this. My neighbor Neal Rosner heard some of the sounds coming from my house and stopped in and told us he played the base and could sing. Turned out he really could. We brought in John Mahoney who was a drummer in the concert band and could also sing very well. I then ran into a childhood friend also at school who seemed really strung-out but said he played electric guitar. His name was Mark Rabin. He gave our group a push over the top to where we were clearly “different”. Unfortunately, we lost track of Mark before the album was created and he was replaced with Stoney Phillips who filled-in great on the album. Michael Linn was a friend of Stoney’s and he filled-in on drums on “Witches”. John Mahoney had gone to Indiana to their Music program so Mike Linn performed with us, but John came back to record most of the album with us. Marvin had left for Canada before the album was recorded and so Tom Tojza (I believe Stoney Phillips knew him) replaced him and recorded the album with us. I’ll get back to the album, but let me just say that we approached the studio with the same “anything goes” attitude as we did live performance. So, we created a different sound by using the 16 tracks to the fullest degree. For example Dave was the only trumpet player but we often sounded like there was at least 5 players screaming.
Our rehearsals were part development of the piece and performance. We created together. We crashed for hours that summer (I think the summer of 1970). Then in the fall we did a few performances that were not that well received (frat parties wanted Chicago and until we gave that to them they looked at us with blank stares). We did do the full “Make Me Smile” routine and some other knock-off pieces including a dynamite “Beginnings”. Anyway, we took our original material down to an audition at “Wise-Fools Pub” on
Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. They actually hired us to perform every Monday night and that is where we did develop a small local following. The room was filled at about 75 people and it was a great performance environment. We really got tight as a performance gorup at Wise Fools. Eventually that led to our Brunswick Record contract.
The group only was together for about 1 to 1 ½ years. The very last thing we did was produce the album. We never had a live performance where we could promote the album because we disbanded right after the album was completed. We all were at crossroads in our lives and their really seemed to be no hope of earning of living with the "new" music which we had invented, so-to-speak.
There is a lot of catching-up needed if we can put together a reunion, first step to find everyone. Last I knew John went to Univ of Indiana graduate school in Music and later was at IBM, Neal a doctor in Chicago area, Dave had gone to work repairing trumpets and I don't have any idea after that, Marvin had moved to Canada, and I also lost track of Stoney and Tom.
The producer of the album is Bruce Swedien who went on to become the God of recording engineers, winning something like 13 Emmys. (He did Thriller for example). He and Dave were a great team in the booth and although we were in the studio maybe for 8 or 9 hours total over maybe 3 different days, the album turned out to be a gem.
OK, get this…..Nothing ever happened to this album that I ever knew about for 35 years! Yes I am an old man now of almost 57. We all knew it was special but no one including Brunswick Records promoted it. It got some obscure radio play but it was “dead” as far as we all knew. Years went by and occasionally one of my kids would run into it and ask about it. About five years ago my daughter took it to a local studio and had a CD made for me. It brought back huge emotion when I listened again. Then last November my wife was telling me about my cousin Bryan Scary and his new group (Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears). She said I could order his album on-line and so I did. Then it happened. I googled “McLuhan Anomaly” and I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were people out there buying my album on Ebay (my daughter bought me my own album for $35). There were companies bootlegging the album in Japan Germany and other places. There were reviews that called my album legendary and mysterious. Nobody knew anything about where it came from. I was thrilled that people were listening.
Of course the story fits. The internet had given new life to this 1971 moment. The very thing that we sang about (Electric Man, Electric Man, Electric Man, in “Brief Message”, 10 years before Bill Gates had thought about computers, the very Global Village that we were referring to also in “Brief Message” had given life to our album. Brings a tear to me, sorry.
Now, here is where I need your help. I can’t find David Wright. I googled him and no, he isn’t the guy in England or the baseball player on the Mets. He doesn’t come up. He is not on alumni records and the last place he worked in Chicago doesn’t know where he went. He is the one who should be the most proud and I don’t know if he is alive to tell him about the new recognition that people like you have given his concept album. In fact the only other person I have been able to get in touch with is Neal Rosner (Base and Vocals). area. Hopefully they are all alive and well.
I also am extremely interested in getting a CD re-release although after approaching Brunswick I think this will not be easy. However, I am just so thrilled that McLuhan Anomaly has found an audience.
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