Gypsy - 1971 [1990] "In The Garden"

In the Garden is the second album by the progressive rock band Gypsy, their second for Metromedia. It peaked at #173 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts in 1971.

 This was Gypsy's second album and their  the most collectable. The song "As Far As You Can See (As Much As You Can Feel)" is a 12 minute epic which is probably their best song from all of their albums. This song also received the most radio airplay from this album.

The band has matured greatly with this album. The basic music is structured much like their first LP, but the sound is more together and the organ, played by Jimmy Walsh, seems to be the focal point of the group's maturity. "As Far As You Can See" is an enchanting education; while the second side of the LP contains one view of paradise entitled "Here in the Garden,".

Gypsy began life as the hugely popular teen band The Underbeats, hailing from the fertile Minneapolis/St. Paul music scene. In 1969 The Underbeats decided to go for the big time and headed for California, where they eventually secured house band status at the Whiskey A Go-Go. Around this time the Underbeats name was sounding a bit dated so the band was rechristened Gypsy. The band started to attract attention from record labels and wound up with two solid offers, Atlantic and the upstart Metromedia. The band chose Metromedia and proceeded to record their self titled debut album, released in 1970. After the first album the band embarked on a successful national tour, playing large venues and festivals. In 1971, along with some personnel changes, the band returned to LA and began recording their second album In The Garden. Due to financial problems at Metromedia the album never got the attention it deserved.

1971 was a terrific year for Progressive Rock and Gypsy's second album provides more memorable music. This band is prodigiously talented in every way. Almost anyone can relate to the lovely "Time Will Make It Better". It should have been a hit, and the album is real progressive masterpiece,in fact, marks the transition from traditional to psychedelic progressive rock. with beautiful melodic structures, vocal harmonies and a very good competent guitarist In The Garden excites and thrills from start to finish with their beautiful songs and always welcome timbre of the good old organs Hammond B3. As Far As You Can See (As Much As You Can Feel) is a small epic of almost 12 minutes long with chilling harmonies and solos. In The Garden II is another firecracker album!!!

This gem was my one of my favorite LPs from the early 70s. It is instrumentally complex and lyrically powerful, just a joy to listen to. "Antithesis" is also good but "In the Garden" is probably Gypsy's best work. Gypsy was far and away the best Minneapolis-based group of their generation, doing truly original work.

I am old enough to remember the American progressive rock band named Gypsy in their prime. As many have written, this band is far better than the meager recognition they have ever gotten. As a student at the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, IA) in 1976 I remember sitting in the student union, listening to a mid-day concert by this band and two things kept coming to mind. First, this band should have been playing much larger halls and getting way more airplay than they were getting, and second, this is the ONLY band I have ever seen in a live concert that sounded EXACTLY like their recorded albums did, although The Zombies and (early) Chicago were pretty close. Now, here it is thirty-nine years later, and I still think their music is just as powerful and wonderful. It may be the 'old codger' in me, but the 1963-1979 era of rock music can NOT be beat by anything since, and in my humble opinion Gypsy was a vibrant part of that legacy.

The only sad thing about Gypsy is that as far as I know they only made two albums. These guy's were just a great band period and so unappreciated. The band I was in at the time of this release actually covered two of their songs Around You and As far As I Can See. People would be like who does those songs. I could have told them I wrote them cause they were just not put out there and a appreciated. I play this disc all the time never leaves my car, wish they would get back together.

Track listing:

1 "Around You" – 5:27
2 "Reach Out Your Hand" – 2:33
3 "As Far As You Can See (As Much As You Can Feel)" (Rosenbaum with intro by Lordan/Walsh) – 12:09
4 "Here in the Garden I" – 6:43
5 "Here in the Garden II" – 3:07
6 "Blind Man" – 3:59
7 "Time Will Make It Better" (Walsh) – 2:53

Personnel:

Enrico Rosenbaum - guitar, vocals
James Walsh - keyboards, vocals
James Johnson - guitar, vocals
Bill Lordan - drums
Willie Weeks - bass
Joe Lala - percussion