Balaklava
Studio album by Pearls Before Swine
Released	1968
Genre	psych folk, folk rock
Length	29:49
Label	ESP Records ESSP 1075
Producer(s)	Richard L. Alderson
Professional reviews
All Music Guide [1]

Balaklava was the second album recorded and released by psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine, in 1968. A Studio Album is an album of regular studio recordings. ... For other uses of the phrase Pearls Before Swine, see Pearls Before Swine (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 4. ... For other uses of the phrase Pearls Before Swine, see Pearls Before Swine (disambiguation). ...

For the album, original group members Tom Rapp, Wayne Harley and Lane Lederer were joined by Jim Bohannon, who replaced Roger Crissinger. Like the group’s previous LP on ESP-Disk, "One Nation Underground", it was recorded at Impact Sound in New York City. Recordings probably took place in early 1968 – although some CD reissues state that it was recorded in 1965, this appears to be an error. Lederer left the group during, or shortly after, the recordings, and the basic group was augmented by studio musicians. Tom Rapp (born 1947) is an American composer and folk singer. ... ESP-Disk is a New York-based label, owned and operated by Bernard Stollman. ...

Rapp has stated [2] that he wanted to produce a themed anti-war album, and chose the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854 as an example of the futility of war. The album was dedicated to Private Edward Slovik, the only US soldier executed for desertion in the Second World War. The front cover, a detail of "The Triumph of Death" by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, showed a grotesque allegorical depiction of the horrors of war, while the back cover showed a photograph of a young girl at an anti-war protest. The cover also included the quote ”Only the dead have seen the end of war” by George Santayana, together with surreal and horrific drawings by Jean Cocteau. Incidentally, the cover contributed to the mystique surrounding the group - there were few if any photographs of its members published, and Pearls Before Swine did not perform in concert before 1971. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Balaklava (Ukrainian: , Russian: , Crimean Tatar: ) is a town in the Crimea, Ukraine which has an official status of a district of the city of Sevastopol. ... // Private Eddie Slovik Edward Donald Slovik (February 18, 1920 – January 31, 1945) was a private in the United States Army during World War II and the first American soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. ... The Triumph of Death The Triumph of Death is an oil on panel, approximately 117 by 162 centimeters, painted c. ... Bruegels The Painter and The Connoisseur drawn c. ... George Santayana George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain – 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. ... Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (July 5, 1889 – October 11, 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker. ...

The album itself starts with a recording of “Trumpeter Landfrey” (his name was in fact Martin Lanfried) [3] [4], one of the original buglers from the 1854 battle. Together with the recording of Florence Nightingale later on the album, this was taken from an archive 1890 cylinder recording, which had been reissued on 78rpm records in the 1930s. It has been suggested that The Thin Red Line (1854 battle) be merged into this article or section. ... Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910), who came to be known as The Lady with the Lamp, was a pioneer of modern nursing, and a noted statistician. ...

The recording segues into "Translucent Carriages", one of Rapp’s most lasting songs (which he performed, for instance, at the Terrastock 6 Festival in 2006). Simply performed with acoustic guitar, it is rendered otherworldly by breathing noises and whispered lines of commentary, including the quote from the ancient Greek historian Herodotus - "In peace, sons bury their fathers / in war, fathers bury their sons." Terrastock is a music festival organised periodically by Phil McMullen, formerly editor of the Ptolemaic Terrascope and since 2005 the publisher of the Terrascope Online website. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

"Images of April", in contrast, is an evocation of nature, featuring dubbed bird song. After "There Was A Man", a simpler story-based folk song, another highlight is "I Saw The World". Its innocent but heartfelt lyric (Rapp was just 21 at the time) - "I saw the world spinning like a toy / Hate seems so small compared to it all, so why don’t you do joy ?" - is supplemented by overdubs of natural sounds including waves, as well as wind chimes and a lush string arrangement. "Guardian Angels" is a ballad recorded deliberately to sound as it if it were on a scratchy 1920s 78rpm record, and was presented as such ("recorded in Guadelope, Mexico, in 1929…" ) on the sleeve.

The generally less artistically successful second side of the original LP starts with a version of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" , followed by Rapp’s original "Lepers and Roses", a complex ballad full of allegorical classical references. After the archive recording of Florence Nightingale, the final track, "Ring Thing", is a dramatic evocation of Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' with crashing gongs and bagpipe drones. At the end, the sound of a tape spooling backwards through the album takes the listener back to "Trumpeter Landfrey" – the message seeming to be that the cycle of war and confusion is destined to continue. Leonard Norman Cohen, CC (born September 21, 1934 in Westmount, Quebec) is a Canadian poet, novelist, and singer-songwriter. ... Suzanne is a song written by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen. ... J. R. R. Tolkien in 1916, wearing his British Army uniform in a photograph from the middle years of WW1. ... Dust jacket of the 1968 UK edition The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy story by J. R. R. Tolkien, a sequel to his earlier work, The Hobbit. ...

The album repeated its predecessor’s critical success on the underground college scene of the late 1960s, and has subsequently been regularly rated most highly of all Rapp’s albums. Following the album's release, Rapp extricated himself from his ESP contract and signed with Reprise Records. After seven further albums he retired from music in the mid-1970s to qualify and work as a lawyer, returning to perform and record occasionally after the mid-1990s. Balaklava has been reissued several times on CD since the 1980s. Reprise Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, operated through Warner Bros. ...

Track listing

1. "Trumpeter Landfrey" – 0:35
2. "Translucent Carriages" – 4:00 (Herodotus / Harley / Rapp)
3. "Images Of April" – 2:44 (Rapp)
4. "There Was A Man" – 2:59 (Rapp)
5. "I Saw The World" – 3:28 (Rapp)
6. "Guardian Angels" – 3:02 (Rapp)
7. "Suzanne" – 5:01 (Cohen)
8. "Lepers And Roses" – 5:23 (Rapp)
9. "Florence Nightingale" – 0:17
10. "Ring Thing" – 2:20 (Tolkien / Rapp)

Credits

• Tom Rapp – guitar, vocals, breathing
• Jim Bohannon – organ, piano, clavinette, marimba
• Wayne Harley – banjo, harmony
• Lane Lederer – bass, guitar, swinehorn

• Guest artists :-
  • Joe Farrell – flute, English horn (tracks 3, 7)
  • Lee Crabtree – piano, organ, flute (tracks 5, 8)
  • Bill Salter – bass (tracks 5, 7, 8, 10)
  • Al Shackman – guitar (track 8)
  • Warren Smith – string arrangements (track 5)
  • Selwart Clarke – string arrangements (track 6)

• Arielvaced out of Onlyville by Richard L. Alderson, Impact Sound, N.Y.C.

• We wish to dedicate this album to Pvt. Edward D. Slovik, U.S. Army, deceased

Tom Rapp (born 1947) is an American composer and folk singer. ... Joe Farrell (born, Chicago Heights, Illinois, USA 1937 - died, Los Angeles, California, 1986) was a jazz saxophonist (plus flute and other woodwinds). ...

External links

• Lyrics to Balaklava
• AMG review
• EMusic review
• Official site for Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine
• Fan site on MySpace