From the USA came Lift, an enthusiastic and talented progressive ensemble that released their debut album "Caverns of Your Brain" during the second half of the 70s, although their repertoire at the time was older ,as well as more abundant than the one finally container in the original release. What we have here is a combination of vibrating melodic symphonic prog (pre-Howe Yes, Flash), the energy of "Remember the Future"- era Nektar and the eerie ambiances of Floydian inspiration, generally for the softer parts of the material. Hilton-Green's vocal timber helps the band to keep their Yessian tendencies well alive. The musical ideas are more focused on dynamics than on solidity, which makes them stand closer to their compatriots Quill and The Load and less closer to Kansas and Babylon (just to name other compatriots): the musicians of Lift are more into deepening the potentials of their musical ideas and transform them into robust jamming in an ordered fashion, yet revealing wide space for freedom in the culmination of their sonic expression. Given the special role assumed by orchestrations, leads and ornaments on his instrumental array, keyboardsman Chip Gremillion manages to become the band's musical leader, although this factor shouldn't stop the listener from noticing the fluidity of the rhythm section's input. The bass player takes his Squire influences into a solid territory of his own, while the drummer provides a very interesting swing to his performances. This recording kicks off with 'Simplicity', a pretty joyful number that expands itself in combining tempos of 4/4 and 7/8 in order to exploit the catchiness of the main motif. It is a simplistic yet effective motif, indeed. 'Cavers' portrays a more solemn mood built on a slow rhythm pace. There is plenty of room for the elaboration of mesmeric synthesizer and mellotron layers, which set a majestic pace for the appearance of ethereal guitar leads (perhaps a steel guitar?). Very Floydian in essence, although it patently bears a sense of pomposity that leans them closer to the Yes Thing. 'Buttercup Boogie' is a boogie rock built on a bluesy organ motif that is displayed in a very frantic tempo. This is the catchiest tune in the album, but not without its old fashioned progressive complexity - that is, here you will find well crafted guitar and keyboard solos, as well as the crucial momentary bass guitar adornments, while the drummer keeps himself busy and concentrated on maintaining a perfect precision while things keep going on. The last 11 minutes are occupied by the album's highlight, the epic 'Trippin' over the Rainbow', which comprises the most complex articulation of various musical motifs. The alternation between the most serene and the rockiest passages is very well balanced, and again, Gremillion's predominant role on keyboards (especially mellotron and synthesizers) proves essential for the preservation and consistent enhancement of the song's orchestral feel all the way through. While not being a groundbreaking album per se, this Lift effort is a real progressive lost gem that is awaiting a proper recognition from prog collectors. "Caverns of Your Brain" should be a valuable item for genuine symphonic prog lovers.
~ Cesar Inca, Prog Archives
'The New Orleans Years' (1972-1975):
LIFT was formed in June, of 1972, by keyboardist, Chip Gremillion, bassist, Cody Kelleher and drummer, Chip Grevemberg. Although they all had worked together in numerous groups previously, LIFT was formed with the purpose of being a progressive band from the South. Chris Young was added on rhythm guitar, 12 string and vocals in the first month. Lead vocalist Courtenay Hilton-Green, from Pensacola Florida, who had worked with Gremillion previously and lead guitarist Richard Huxen of New Orleans joined within several months. Chris Young left the group shortly thereafter to pursue other interests, but not before penning the lyric to "Simplicity" and co-writing the lyric for "Caverns" with Chip Gremillion and Courtney Hilton-Green. By late fall of 1972 the five member group now consisting of Gremillion, Kelleher, Grevemberg, Hilton-Green and Huxen began to rapidly build a strong following, even among area musicians who were often seen at LIFT performances. Throughout 1973 LIFT continued to attract the support of audiences and local music critics. LIFT became a frequent highlight performer at area universities for special events. Local club performances were often standing room only with musicians and fans enjoying the show equally. LIFT continued to cover ever increasing and complex pieces of progressive music. LIFT would often begin it's show with the Genesis tune, "Watcher of the Skies". Imagine the condition this created in a southern audience in 1973. Aside from standard southern bands, LIFT covered, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Uriah Heap, Robin Trower, ELP, Yes, King Crimson, Moody Blues and gradually introduced original material as it was composed. In the summer of 1974 producer Sonny Fox put LIFT in the studio and recorded four songs; Simplicity, Caverns, Buttercup Boogie and Tripping Over the Rainbow. Most band members were barely 19 at the time. LIFT continued to perform in the New Orleans area and increase in popularity. LIFT incorporated the recorded songs as well as additional original material into their live sets. In the late Fall of 1975, at the suggestion of Sonny Fox, LIFT relocated to Atlanta.
'The Atlanta Years' (1975-1979):
From the outset Atlanta was a challenge. Nothing went according to plan! Just months after relocating and based upon the material from the 1974 "Caverns" session, LIFT went to Philadelphia to re-record modified versions of "Simplicity", and "Tripping over the Rainbow" as well as a newer instrumental tune entitled, "To Undulate Rapidly." (The band was unaware of the pending release of the bootleg LP. Members only became aware of the "Caverns of Your Brain" release in 1990 when Greg Walker from Syn-Phonic contacted Chip Gremillion to release a CD from the original master tapes. The title originally was to be "Simplicity" or simply "LIFT".) LIFT drove from Atlanta to Philadelphia, set up, recorded and mixed the three tunes with no sleep. The session was described by producers as "very hot." LIFT was involved in a short mixing session, listened to a good playback of each tune and headed back to Atlanta with promises of dupes and Masters to follow. To this day no one has ever received a copy of that session. The Winter of 1975 -76 was harsh for Atlanta and for LIFT. By early Spring, bassist Cody Kelleher and lead vocalist, Courtenay Hilton-Green left the group. Nearly a 7 month search ensued for replacements with virtually no luck. In early Fall of 1976 Laura "Poppy" Pate a soprano voice teacher answered an ad placed at a local music store. She claimed to be checking us out for a student. After hearing our music she was immediately part of the group. Within weeks a chance meeting between Chip Grevemberg, Mike Mitchell and Tony Vaughn in an apartment hallway resulted in what can only be described as musical critical mass! In less than six months of intense rehearsals LIFT added five new compositions to its catalog and completed rearrangements the "Caverns" material to better fit the new personnel line up. In spite of no live performances LIFT quickly garnered the respect of local musicians who frequented rehearsals and also the curiosity of British record producer Michael Stewart. Working in the studio as a group and the rehearsals that followed caused LIFT to develop a very tight "live" sound. As the band rehearsed to duplicate the studio performance we all felt our time was approaching. A professional photography session was booked, A&R reps from different record companies began expressing interest and enthusiasm was mounting. Based upon one listen to the new material, LIFT was booked as the opening act for an upcoming major show at Atlanta's leading concert venue of the time, Alex Cooley's Electric Ballroom. A&R people from up to four interested labels were to be in attendance. LIFT was ready! Two weeks prior to the scheduled show Poppy informed the group she was leaving immediately for personal reasons. Decision Final! Shortly after Poppy's departure and our withdrawal from the concert Richard Huxen left the group. Over the next six months Chip Gremillion, Mike Mitchell, Chip Grevemberg and Tony Vaugn invited a number a guest musicians to rehearse in an attempt to recreate LIFT'S capabilities, but to no avail. However, the remaining foursome soon realized that we were quite capable of producing a unique sound. In that remaining period some of LIFT'S best material was composed. Six to seven additional compositions were created; ironically it was this music that potentially had the greatest chance of commercial success. LIFT disbanded in February, 1979.
The music from the 'New Orleans years' is typical Seventies, YES-inspired symphonic rock, loaded with vintage keyboards (Hammond, Moog, Mellotron) along pleasant male vocals, fiery electric guitar and a powerful and dynamic rhythm-section. The music from the 'Atlanta years' (with a slightly changed line-up) is more in the vein of mid-GENESIS, the female vocals evoke Annie Haslam from RENAISSANCE.
***************
Track List:
01. Simplicity [0:10:06.00]
02. Caverns [0:09:20.72]
03. Buttercup Boogie [0:06:13.30]
04. Trippin' Over The Rainbow [0:11:43.58]
Personnel:
Chip Gremillion - Hammond B-3, Mellotron 400, electric & acoustic pianos, Moog Sonic Six, ARP Odyssey
Cody Kelleher - Rickenbacker bass and Taurus bass pedals
Chip Grevemberg - Rodgers drums, chimes, gongs, bells, percussion
Richard Huxen - lead guitar, electric & acoustic guitars, steel slide guitar
Courtenay Hilton-Green - lead vocals, flute
Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 10. April 2019, 19:35
Lift / Caverns Of Your Brain [Belle Antique 9013]
Used drive : HL-DT-STBD-RE BH10LS38 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 10:06.00 | 0 | 45449
2 | 10:06.00 | 9:20.72 | 45450 | 87521
3 | 19:26.72 | 6:13.30 | 87522 | 115526
4 | 25:40.27 | 11:43.58 | 115527 | 168309
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename D:\Rips by Alder\Lift - Caverns Of Your Brain [Belle Antique 9013].wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Extraction speed 7.2 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A8566545
Copy CRC A8566545
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
---- CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: as6hsIminxZMTY5p5YKu9PyJBpc-] found
Submit result: as6hsIminxZMTY5p5YKu9PyJBpc- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
2 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
3 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
4 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum 400F8EC919D86A4116B93DB8997C4DC54A30175464C44F64BF739322C49A91E8 ====
foobar2000 1.3.16 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2019-05-05 17:46:49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Lift / Caverns Of Your Brain [Belle Antique 9013]
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR12 -2.11 dB -16.01 dB 10:06 01-Simplicity
DR12 -0.25 dB -16.10 dB 9:21 02-Caverns
DR12 -0.12 dB -14.40 dB 6:13 03-Buttercup Boogie
DR12 -1.87 dB -16.75 dB 11:44 04-Trippin' Over The Rainbow
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Number of tracks: 4
Official DR value: DR12
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 897 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
