{"id":168,"date":"2010-02-18T11:03:44","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T16:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=168"},"modified":"2025-06-14T09:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T13:01:12","slug":"blast-from-the-past-chirco-visitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/02\/18\/blast-from-the-past-chirco-visitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Blast From the Past: Chirco – Visitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an obscure (as in, “didn\u2019t sell”) album from 1972 called Visitation <\/em>by a group called Chirco<\/strong>. The disc is classified by some as progressive rock, but this reviewer hears more of a hard-rock-meets-horn-rock style. Neither the best nor the worst of its style, the album remains an interesting curiosity.<\/p>\n

And it has something of a connection to \u2013 of all things \u2013 garage rock of the 1960s. Allow me to explain.<\/p>\n

Vernon Joynson\u2019s Fuzz, Acid and Flowers<\/em>, the indispensable guide (long available in html format)\u00a0 to U.S. psychedelic and garage music contains two listings relating to Barry Tashian<\/strong>, leader of legendary rock group The Remains<\/strong>. (My full-length feature\/interview on that group will appear in an upcoming issue of the excellent print magazine Shindig<\/em>!)<\/p>\n

One listing is for the Remains themselves. But the other one mentions these Chirco fellows: \u201cBarry was also connected with Chirco who released one rather rare LP The Visitation<\/em> [sic] on Crested Butte.\u201d The link to the Chirco listing notes that Tashian \u201chelped the band record\u201d their lone album.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Tashian assures me; he did no such thing. \u201cBut I know the group, and can tell you about them. The group was named after the drummer, Tony Chirco<\/strong>, who was a very fine studio and jazz drummer in Fairfield County, Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tashian recalls the group\u2019s vocalist. \u201cBobby Lindsay was, to me, a legendary singer. He was previously part of a group, Dick Grass and the Hoppers<\/strong>. They had a regional hit when I was in junior high school (\u201cMr. John Law\u201d b\/w \u201cPlease Dear\u201d). \u201cMr. John Law\u201d had a siren and the sound of a car motor and everything. They would appear on local rock n’ roll shows that I would go to in Norwalk, Connecticut. They were heroes to me, because they were up there<\/em>. I was in the 8th grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBobby Lindsay,\u201d Tashian says, \u201ccould sing anything really high. And he had a great voice. I used to go to a function hall in Norwalk, Connecticut on Wednesday nights and watch that big band rehearse, and I just dug it. You know, all of the saxes and trombones and trumpets.\u201d This was in the period just after the Remains broke up, a time during which Tashian says he was doing \u201cnot much. Pretty much just hangin\u2019 out. I was staying at my mother\u2019s house. But I used to like going to watch these guys rehearse. Tony Chirco, the drummer, was great. Duke Ellington<\/strong> stuff. Count Basie<\/strong>, whatever. I got to know Tony, and this group was recording, and was looking for material. I had this song called ‘Mr. Sunshine’ and I gave it to him. And the next thing I know he sends me a copy of the album which they recorded in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI listened to it,\u201d Tashian\u00a0 says, \u201cand it’s nothing like what I<\/em> would do, and to me it’s totally different than anything I would expect of Bobby Lindsay’s vocals.\u201d He recalls something Lindsay told him at one of Chirco\u2019s rehearsals: \u201cI’m giving this one more try, and if this doesn’t work I’m just gonna sing for the Lord.\u201d Chirco\u2019s album didn\u2019t sell in large quantities, and despite later overtures from impresario Don Law, Lindsay never recorded again. He passed away some years ago.<\/p>\n

So, mystery solved. I\u2019m sure that one kept you awake at night.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an obscure (as in, “didn\u2019t sell”) album from 1972 called Visitation by a group called Chirco. The disc is classified by some as progressive rock, but this reviewer hears […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29616,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions\/29616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}