Rock Archeologia

Michael McGinnis - Welcome To My Mind (1969) 

Artist: Michael McGinnis
Album: Welcome To My Mind
Label: Forward Records
Catalog#: ST-F-1008
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1969
Genre: Rock, Pop, Folk, World, & Country
Duration: 00:28:29

• Here’s an album by Michael McGinnis, released in 1969 on the West Coast Forward label that also released the WCPAEB’s Bob Markley’s off-shoot “Markley A Group”. (I figured i throw that in, though that’s the only thing these two releases have in common).
• The album could be classified folk/pop with some nice mellow cuts and features Larry Brown and David Jackson of the sixties group Moon, (a group that also featured Beach Boy David Marks) and Chuck Blackwell and Robbie Edwards of the group Colours (with Carl Radle). Jim Keltner and Keith Barbour also appear on this record. All these guys appeared on Buzz Clifford’s “See Your Way Clear” around the same time.
• “I have another song titled “October Country” by an artist named Michael McGinnis. It appears on his LP “Welcome To My Mind” on the Forward label from 1969. If anyone has any info regarding this LP please let me know, I haven’t been able to turn up much on it other than an entry on a Japanese website that is only partially in English.
• The “October Country” song on this album is an outstanding track with an extremely melancholy, mournful, almost apocalyptic feel. I especially like the horns on the song, which are reminiscent of the horns used on Neil Diamond’s “Solitary Man”. Several years after finding this LP I found that the song’s lyrics are actually a poem by Ray Bradbury from his book “The October Country”. However, this is not acknowledged in the songwriters credits.
• Another noteworthy song on the LP, called “Orange Ice”, is the most upbeat, psychedelic track and is another superb tune. This song has a childlike, whimsical atmosphere that still manages to sound slightly sinister, and clocks in at less than two minutes.
• For the most part the album is what I would call country rock, not as psychedelic as the title “Welcome To My Mind” would lead one to believe… the backing musicians are former members of The Moon and Colours. ” (Art Longmire)

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 • Side One:
A1. Welcome To My Mind - 01:37
A2. Lock Myself Inside My Head - 02:28
A3. October Country - 02:18
A4. The Great Kansas Hymn - 03:07
A5. Sea of Love - 02:09
A6. You Don't Need a Reason For Love - 03:16
 • Side Two:
B1. Orange Ice - 00:40
B2. Key Gardens - 02:48
B3. Didn't You Know - 02:43
B4. You Don't Have To Tell Me - 01:57
B5. Love Doesn't Happen That Way - 02:54
B6. October Girl - 02:27

Personel:
Jim Keltner, Chuck Blackwell - drums
Michael McGinnis - vocals, rhythm guitar
David Jackson - bass
Robbie Edwards - lead guitar
Dan Moore - organ, rhythm guitar, back vocals, producer
Bobby Doyle - piano
Pat Webb - acoustic & lead guitar
Larry Brown - organ, cello, tamburine, producer
Rodney Dillard - dobro
Bob Klimes - strings & horns
Dave Roberts - horns
Keith Barbour - bells
Gloria Jones, Carolyn Willis - back vocals
Julia Tilman, Peter Morse - back vocals

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