THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,593) Majic Ship — “Wednesday Morning Dew”
A NYC band trending toward hard rock gives us a beautiful and languid ballad that is “like a warm summer evening” (xiropigado, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmRG-OddRy0), a “fabulous track which shows theres no justice[, s]hould have been huge”. Qrogbrown1965, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15238GvsuI8) But there is an undercurrent of fear here — “I’m not sure that I can make it”.
Mark Deming tells us of the LP:
While on their early singles Majic Ship was a solid pop band who mostly devoted themselves to imaginative interpretations of covers, by the time they cut their first LP in 1970 they’d shifted gears and become a hard rock act with an undertow of pastoral psychedelia, and their self-titled album . . . is an interesting artifact of its era. Lead guitarist Phil Polimeni embraced a warm but fuzzy sound that suggests the influence of Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townsend without the aggressive histrionics of either artist, and vocalist Mike Garrigan was a more than capable blue-eyed soul singer with an admirable sense of restraint on moodier numbers such as . . . “Wednesday Morning Dew.” When the band turns up the volume . . . the results are a bit less immediately impressive, since a number of bands were following a similar path at the time, but Majic Ship still has plenty to offer when they rock out. The performances here sound warm and organic, and sway with an easy but impassioned groove . . . impressive harmonies. . . . It’s probably a mistake to regard Majic Ship as a lost classic from the era when psychedelia was giving way to hard rock, but it’s a solid and enjoyable record from a band who had genuine talent and some fine songs; it’s not hard to imagine these guys could have become major stars if their luck had been a bit better back in the day.
Stanton Swihart tells us of the band:
Arising out of adolescent garage band the Primitives, which played primitive covers of British Invasion tunes, the New Primitives came together in New York City in 1966, originally composed of a group of high school friends . . . . They kept a busy performance schedule throughout the next few years when their high school commitments allowed it. In 1968 . . . former ’50s crooner turned manager Johnny Mann saw the band live and promised to get them a recording contract. . . . [T]he New Primitives became Majic Ship. Mann introduced the band to the Tokens, who produced their first single, “Night Time Music.” It became a local hit, even gaining the band some national airplay, as did a second single, “Hummin.” After much touring and a couple more singles, Majic Ship found their way to a studio to record their self-titled debut album in the summer of 1969. They melded hard rock, pop, and psychedelia in a way similar to fellow New Yorkers Vanilla Fudge. The band continued on for the next couple of years with plans to record a second album, but those plans were nixed when the band’s shared house in Staten Island burned to the ground in 1971, taking with it virtually all their recording equipment and instruments. Without any insurance, the bandmembers called it quits.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/majic-ship-mn0000671711#biography
https://techwebsound.com/artist/?artist=333
Here is the 45:
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