\t\t\t\tPerhaps Douglas Fir is the greatest soul group to slip through the sixties unnoticed. Headed by the drummer Douglas A Snider the original formation started as a trio with this rumbling Hammond b 3 player called Tim Doyle and weeping Richie Moore on lead guitar. Known as The Sun Trio the group played much of the pub circuit in the North West. Thanks to engineers Mike Carter and Russ Gorsline , Sun Trio recorded a few tracks until their destined encounter with MGM where they changed their name to Douglas Fir and included bassist Bruce Bye. Douglas Fir\u2019s debut single, the chompy \u201cSmokey Joe\u201d put its honky tonk riff into the radio airwaves, leadbreaks and all. In hindsight the single was a poor reflection of the true soul vigour that could hollow out of their varied repertoire. <\/p>\n
Universal Songs launched their 1970 album Hard Heartsinging with a title track opener that could widen any crevice reaching for breath . Richie Moore opens up wide on this number as Douglas Snider wallows and engulfs in the spirit of soulful lament . Likened to Jimmy Powell & The Five Dimensions or a little bit of Rascals aka – Vagrants these cats could tear at the soul with relative ease. Their rendition of Donovan\u2019s \u201cJersey Thursday\u201d is the best doggone cover of this folky ever applied to wax. The arrangement is a soothing massage that climaxes into a squelching riff of guitar fretwork. <\/p>\n
The soulful \u201cI Didn\u2019t Try\u201d is Rascals with a drift of Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation\u2019s trembling hammond superbly solidified with motif harmony and a tight staggered riff. Tim Doyle knows how to elbow that hammond , jerky style to Richie\u2019s crying fender. \u201cEarly In The Morning Rain\u201d is where the breath of the North West used to blow and take rest but once disbanded left a definite vacuum. <\/p>\n
The ballad weeping Hammond holler that etches in the realm of Greg Allman or Lee Michaels holds its rustic refrain purely on it\u2019s hollowed out sincerity. \u201cNew Orleans Queen\u201d closer to th rockabilly of CCR grumbles two step, not quite their style while \u201cMoratorium Waltz\u201d stumbles straight into the Joe South territory.Their\u2019s a moment of whispering in \u201cComing Back Home\u201d with its lonely trumpet dirge that brasses into a tempo not unlike some of Blood Sweat & Tears\u2019 earlier Al Kooper creations. <\/p>\n
\u201cTom\u2019s Song\u201d with outstanding rolls by Doug amplifies its acute timing with aural magnificence. Doug Snider would go onto produce and write for the great Leon Russell, Willie Nelson and Tom Jones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perhaps Douglas Fir is the greatest soul group to slip through the sixties unnoticed. Headed by the drummer Douglas A Snider the original formation started as a trio with this rumbling Hammond b 3 player called Tim Doyle and weeping Richie Moore on lead guitar. Known as The Sun Trio the group played much of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}