VIRTUAL DIGS: PECULIAR FRIENDS
I remember reading about Ten Wheel Drive in Rolling Stone in the early 1970s. The large jazz/rock ensemble, fronted by powerhouse vocalist Genya Ravan, was touted as the next big thing. Ravan has said the band combined her love of show tunes and the early work of Blood, Sweat & Tears, and this is plainly evident on their third album Peculiar Friends from 1971. Bold horn arrangements and Ravan’s high octane voice feature prominently throughout. While the musicianship is impeccable, shifting effortlessly from jazz to rock and blues, I found Ravan’s show-biz belting a little too much at times. It wasn’t until the slinky Janis Joplin take of “Love Me” that I could finally appreciate her raw talent (Joplin was an acquaintance and once sat in with the group). Her scatting along with the intricate brass lines on the funky “Fourteenth Street (I Can’t Get Together)” is quite impressive as well.
It’s easy to hear why Ten Wheel Drive garnered so much media attention back in the day. They had the chops, a unique sound and a formidable performer fronting them. Yet the band’s lineup was constantly unstable and finally Ravan herself left after Polydor Records refused to record their rock opera at a 1971 Carnegie Hall concert that featured a full symphony and choir. She says, ” I swear ’til this day, had it been recorded, Ten Wheel Drive would have gone down in history. It was one of the reasons I was disillusioned into leaving the label. It made me want to quit the business.” The band then recorded an album with singer Annie Sutton, but the momentum was lost and it proved to be their swan song.