The Corporation - The Corporation (1969) LP

The debut album of the American psychedelic team (they have two more in their archive), released in February 1969 on Capitol Records.
The “Corporation” was originally based in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), but after a contract with a record company, it relocated to Detroit (Michigan). The group consisted of six people: lead vocalist Daniel Vincent Peil, guitarist, pianist, harpist and flautist John Alexander Kondos, his brother - drummer Nicholas Alexander Kondos, lead guitarist Gerard Jon Smith, bassist Kenneth Bernard Berdoll and another keyboardist (and trombonist) Patrick Daniel McCarthy. Yes, yes, just like that, officially, with middle names (as they are indicated on the record). Maybe to emphasize the “corporate” nature of the group, saying that they are a “serious organization”? And they all sang in the group (but the main vocalist was, of course, Pale).

The group was formed in the second half of the sixties, through the efforts of John Condos (most of the band members had experience playing in local rock bands before that) and their sound was strongly influenced by jazz (it’s not for nothing that Coltrane’s theme is replayed on the first album in the composition “India”) and so called the “Chicago sound”. This genre was psychedelic rock with a strong influence of soul style and bore such a “geographical” name after the place of its origin. The Corporation, with its abundance of brass instruments, could themselves be classified as this genre (especially since the states of Michigan and Illinois border each other). So we seem to have decided on the stylistic definition of the group. Although the band’s sound is a little “dirty”, and the presentation is driving, in the spirit of garage rock, and just look at the name of the first composition from the record – “I Want To Get Out Of My Grave”. And the design of the record, where the guys are standing in some narrow alley with a very daring look (and on the back they are posing next to the sign “Danger! No entry!”). In general, there was some hooliganism!

The band's career began at the end of 1967 with performances in clubs in Milwaukee, where they were noticed (at the beginning of 68) by representatives of Capitol Records. Having signed a contract, the musicians of The Corporation go to Detroit, where they record their first record (named, like many rock debuts, after the group) at the local Tera Shirma Studios. The producer of this work was John Rhys, and the release of the record was also accompanied by the release of a single with the songs “I Want To Get Out Of My Grave” / “Highway” from it.

The music presented on the album, for all its complexity and instrumental diversity, sounds rock-like cheerfully (without unnecessary melancholy): keyboard passages, trumpets, flutes, and polyphonic backing are combined with fuzzed guitars and drum fills, and it all ends with an epic nineteen-minute composition ( occupying the entire second side of the original record).

Despite the fact that “I Want To Get Out Of My Grave” became a No. 3 hit in their native Milwaukee, the full-length album only took 197 position on the national charts. In general, this is a good result for the debut of a not very well-known team, but apparently the label management expected more. Perhaps that’s why the contract with Capitol Records will soon be terminated (since the band’s next albums will be released on the Age Of Aquarius Records label), and the musicians will return from Detroit to Milwaukee, where they will continue their careers.