{"id":16376,"date":"2019-04-03T05:30:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T09:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16376"},"modified":"2019-03-15T11:56:44","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T15:56:44","slug":"purple-image-funk-psych-lost-and-found-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/03\/purple-image-funk-psych-lost-and-found-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Purple Image: Funk-Psych Lost and Found, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

First setting up in Adams\u2019s basement, the new group began work. To insulate the sound and avoid annoying the neighbors, Adams says, \u201cI put out an edict that each member bring a mattress. We had eight mattresses on the walls and windows.\u201d They worked collaboratively to develop a full arrangement of \u201cMarching to a Different Drummer.\u201d \u201cWe all had a very similar idea of what the song was saying not only personally, but as far as what society was during that period, the revolution and everything taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a name was needed. The group first tried to come up with something based on the number of people, but that went nowhere. \u201cIt might be better to be a color,\u201d Adams suggested. They ran through a list of colors, and then Adams thought of a particular outfit of his, one he would wear in a (black-and-white) photo of the band featured on the back cover of the group\u2019s eventual album. \u201cSo we said, \u2018Well, purple! Purple what? Purple people, even? Nope. But there\u2019s an image<\/i> to those that see us and hear us.\u2019 We put the two together and became Purple Image.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight mattresses couldn’t quiet the roaring, groove-based sound Purple Image was making, so they had to move. The group eventually ended up in an unlikely space. \u201cWe rehearsed in a place that was actually a children\u2019s daycare center,\u201d Adams recalls. \u201cThey were renting out an abandoned car dealership that had a great big picture window. We had people walking by, and we didn\u2019t know if they could hear us or not. We\u2019d be there until 12:00 or 1:00 at night.\u201d They might have gone later, but Adams had made promises to Moran\u2019s and Payne\u2019s parents that he would encourage them to keep up their school studies.<\/p>\n

The group began to develop original songs, too; those tunes\u2014like the stomping heavy funk of \u201cLiving in the Ghetto\u201d\u2014expressed the collective perspective of the group members. In fact, those songs would be the creative equal or better of the tune bestowed on them, the one that started it all. After workshopping at the daycare center\/car dealership, Purple Image developed enough songs for an album. \u201cThe music would just take us where it took us, and without any difficulty,\u201d Adams says. \u201cAll the songs developed were the true emotions and suggestions from each member of the band. That\u2019s how all of our songs were put together: everybody had an emotion, everybody had a thought, and everybody had a process. And we gelled that into songs.\u201d The band members knew they had something special.<\/p>\n

While all of this was happening, Jacocks and Reed got a recording of Purple Image playing \u201cMarching to a Different Drummer\u201d and took it to influential Cleveland radio deejay Billy Bass. Bass was impressed; he started playing the song on his show. \u201cIt was just strange enough that people started responding to it,\u201d Adams says. \u201cIt became the number one single in Cleveland for a whole week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon Jacocks traveled to New York City, where he visited Map City\/De-lite Records, a label run by members of Kool & the Gang. Discussions went well, so he returned again, this time with the band in tow. \u201cI remember we were all sitting there: Kool & the Gang, Purple Image, Bill Jacocks and Victor Reed,\u201d Adams recalls with a smile. \u201cThe next thing we knew, we had a contract signed!\u201d<\/p>\n

The band cut the songs for Purple Image<\/i> at Audio Studios back home in Cleveland; Map City released the album in 1970. Though the record features six songs, Adams reveals that ten were recorded. Asked if those unheard tracks might ever be released, Adams is circumspect. \u201cWe\u2019ll let fate takes its course,\u201d he says. Today original pressings of the record\u2014most of which are marked as promotional copies\u2014change hands for $150 or more. Unauthorized LP and CD reissues appeared in the 21st<\/sup> century, but the new Tidal Waves Music LP re-pressing is the only reissue sanctioned by the band.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As the record was released, Purple Image found itself doing live appearances. \u201cThey had us going to Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago,\u201d Adams says. \u201cWe were doing all those American Bandstand<\/i> type [local] shows that were happening on the East Coast.\u201d Onstage, the band cut a striking image, one that helped expand its audience to include new fans, both black and white. \u201cWe always had buckskin boots, the flower child look,\u201d Adams says. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful look, right? And when we\u2019d come out, we\u2019d fill the room with our rhythm and sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to playing big halls and opening for high-profile artists, the band played the Piper Rock Festival in Akron, Ohio in May 1970. The first band to take the stage in the morning, Purple Image played to an audience of about 10,000. Other acts on the bill included Barnyard (an early version of Joe Walsh\u2019s Barnstorm), Canned Heat, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, the Rascals, Alice Cooper and Cold Blood. Heavy rains forced the cancellation of a set by the Byrds.<\/p>\n

Yet despite the momentum gained through live appearances, a planned second album didn\u2019t materialize. Sessions in Chicago collapsed, owing to disagreements with the producer over how certain things were to be recorded. The resulting tension spelled the end of Purple Image.<\/p>\n

Today, several of the eight band members have passed on, but Adams stays in touch with his surviving former band mates. \u201cWe have camaraderie when it comes to many things, even in music,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s still a sparkle of who we are, and our musical thoughts.\u201d And Adams carries many fond memories of the all-too-brief phenomenon of Purple Image. \u201cWhen I listen to the songs, I can hear and almost tell you how they\u2019re moving or where they\u2019re standing,\u201d he says wistfully. \u201cIt was always a very positive, very cohesive energy. We\u2019d start completing each other\u2019s sentences. It was almost scary, in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams jokes that with the new reissue of his old band\u2019s album, he\u2019s ready to go onstage and accept his Grammy award. After the laughter subsides, he turns more serious. \u201cNo, I\u2019m as comfortable as I\u2019ve always been, and in love with the world. And I hope everybody can find a way to do the same.\u201d To underscore his point, Warren Adams quotes the title of one of his favorite tunes off of 1970\u2019s Purple Image<\/i>. \u201cWe got to pull together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

An edited version of this feature appeared previously in <\/i>Goldmine.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… First setting up in Adams\u2019s basement, the new group began work. To insulate the sound and avoid annoying the neighbors, Adams says, \u201cI put out an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,39,41,57,62,64,73],"tags":[3776],"class_list":["post-16376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funk","category-indie","category-interview","category-psych","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-vinyl","tag-purple-image","cat-31-id","cat-39-id","cat-41-id","cat-57-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16380,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376\/revisions\/16380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}