THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,045) Circus Maximus — “Lost Sea Shanty”
Yesterday, we had a sailor lost at sea, today a lost sea shanty. From Jerry Jeff Walker’s (see #485) early band Circus Maximus (see #348) — “[a] precursor to the cosmic cowboy movement, [a] folk rock/outfit [with] more than a touch of psychedelia and plenty of country” (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/circus-maximus-mn0000130844) — this lost classic is “[p]owered by jangle rock guitars, activist lyrics . . . and lysergic energy, [with] a distinctive Byrds [see #1,430, 1,605, 1,965] feel.” (Scott Blackerby, http://badcatrecords.com/CIRCUSmaximus.htm)
It’s “a great song, so ignore the other reviews. Yes, it is somewhat derivitive and dated, but in a great way.” (britto, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/circus-maximus/circus-maximus/reviews/2/) Other reviews? Maybe like this one: “a dated, jangly love-peace-and-harmony crap feast indicative of the year this was made; i don’t hate it, but it’s skip worthy”. (channon, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/circus-maximus/circus-maximus/reviews/1/)
As to the LP, Casey Chambers writes:
The Circus Maximus self-titled debut album is psych-tinged garagey folk-rock. It has occasional freakouts and the tracks sound bright and loose with jangling guitars reminiscent a little of mid-period Byrds or Beau Brummels [see #713]. The music is catchy and original.
https://www.thecollegecrowddigsme.com/2020/12/tccdm-pulls-one-outcircus-maximus.html
RDTEN1:
[The band] came together in 1967. . . . Calling Austin, Texas home they were originally known as The Lost Sea Dreamers. Relocating to New York City where they became part of the Greenwich Village scene, they were spotted and signed by Vanguard Records. The label immediately demanded a name change, feeling the Lost Sea Dreams (aka LSD) nameplate was too risky from a marketing standpoint. . . . Rechristened Circus Maximus the band was subsequently ushered into the recording studio. . . . [Co-producer] Samuel Charters was riding high on successes with Country Joe and the Fish and some of the album’s more West Coast psych influences bore at least a mild resemblance to [their] early work.
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/circus-maximus/circus-maximus/reviews/1/
Ochsfan says:
Had this group received a little more exposure during its brief existence, they would undoubtedly be spoken of in the same reverential tones as Buffalo Springfield [see #1,555, 2,025]. Indeed, the competition in songwriting between Jerry Jeff Walker and Bob Bruno mirrors the duel between Neil Young and Steve Stills. Circus Maximus added enough psychedelic touches to be in step with the times, but not so many that they completely obscured the country-folk base of their sound. If The Byrds had kept David Crosby instead of making Sweetheart of the Rodeo, you’d have something pretty close to what’s found here. Jangly guitars mingle with close harmonies and frenzied keyboards, but none of it sounds forced. . . . Bruno is clearly the heavier, more psychedelicized of the two. . . .
http://pointblankplay.blogspot.com/2011/05/circus-maximus-circus-maximus-1967-us.html?m=1
Geoffrey Himes recounts Jerry Jeff Walker’s early years:
[Jerry Jeff Walker] was born Ronald Clyde Crosby . . . in Oneonta, N.Y. He joined the National Guard and went AWOL under the name of Jerry Ferris, thanks to the borrowed ID of a fellow guardsman [Who is he, Don Draper?!]. . . . [I]n Greenwich Village, Ferris renamed himself Jerry Walker after Harlem jazz pianist Kirby Walker. He wasn’t making much headway as one of a thousand guitar-strumming, singer-songwriter folkies that had popped up like mushrooms in the wake of Bob Dylan. So he joined a psychedelic-rock band called Circus Maximus for two albums, before drifting back to the folk scene in the Village.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/jerry-jeff-walker/jerry-jeff-walker-obiturary/
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