Pearls Before Swine -Tom Rapp

The word underscore comes to mind when I hear Pearls Before Swine. Here lies a wooden expression lightly fused with jazz tempo, but solidified exoterically with remarkable poetry, the ultimate impression of Tom Rapp.

Tom got it together quite early when he recruited high school friends Wayne Harley (banjo, mandolin), Lane Lederer (bass, guitar) & Roger Crissinger (piano, organ) as Pearls Before Swine. Tom a folk nurtured disciple was strongly influenced by a group of beat poets called The Fugs which gave rise to Pearl Before Swine’s EP styled 1967 debut One Nation Underground that reflected mysticism, solitary love and protest. The controversial “Miss Morse”, spelled out an obscenity in code while the opening “Another Time” was sheer angelic tears. Largely an experimental album with varied sounds, the real strength of the album was its hippy sincerity (“Drop Out”) and un-pretentious avante -garde message. With tears in my eyes I have rarely heard anything this beautiful (“Morning Song”), it pierces heart and cleanses the soul.

One Nation Underground was largely underrated amidst the halcyon of ‘Haight Ashbury’ and although the album was respectable in sales, disappeared into collector vaults and FBI coffers. Original member Roger Crissinger left the group in 1968 and joined San Francisco band One, replaced by keyboardist Jim Bohannon while Lederer later a member of the Florida Orchestra. The Bosch painted cover of One Nation was very much a collectors item, followed by the anti-war Balaklava sporting Brueghel art and some of the most intrinsic folk songs of the time. Recorded in Holland, home of his hippy artist wife Elizabeth, Balaklava swirled with wooden gems namely “Translucent Carriages”, “There Was A Man” and the eerie “Ring Thing”, some forty years before the award winning soundtrack. Also included was a sterling cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne”, slightly more abstract and introverted. Session musos included Fugs / Holy Modal Rouninstruments. The early singles include “Morning Song” / Drop Out! (1967, ESP-Disk) “I Saw The World” / Images Of April (1968, ESP-Disk) “These Things Too” / If You Don’t Want To (1969, Reprise) “Suzanne” / There Was a Man (1969, Reprise) “The Jeweller” / Rocket Man (1970, Reprise) “Marshall” / Why Should I Care? (1972, Blue Thumb).

What followed was the ‘Reprise’ period with Rapp recording or touring with Cryan Shames guitarist Jim Fairs who produced These Things Too, in my mind one of Rapp’s most underrated. The latter included Seatrain’s Richard Greene on violin and Eric Gale, a one time Fug believe it or not. There was also duelling banjo Eric Weissberg and Elizabeth’s angelic vox opening on Mon Amour”, a lady whose voice should have been more utilised. Numerous albums followed, in particular The Use of Ashes that conceived “The Jeweller” and “Rocket Man” which inspired Bernie Taupin’s hit song with Elton John. (Musicians behind these albums werders pianist Lee Crabtree, Bill Withers bassist/ songsmith Bill Salter and Thad Jones /Mel Lewis Orchestra flautist Joe Farrell who started out with Charlie Mingus. The album included Interpretations of Tolkien with credit to Tolkien (must be a first) and expounded an eclectic variety of e mostly Nashville’s Area Code 651)The epitaph ‘Reprise’ album, Familiar Songs, was a collection of demo re-recordings of some of Rapp’s earlier songs, and was released (under his own name In 1971, Pearls Before Swine toured for the first time comprising Rapp, Mike Krawitz (piano), Gordon Hayes (bass) & Jon Tooker (guitar). These happenings were collected as Live Pearls, recorded at Yale University. Tom Rapp also released under his own name namely Stardancer and Sunforest. The group now comprising Rapp, Art Ellis (flute), Bill Rollins (bass, cello) and Harry Orlove (guitar, banjo).

Rapp’s final performance in 1976 supporting poet gave way tom studying law and graduating from Brandeis University, as a civil rights lawyer. Recently he has re-appeared in 1997 at Terrastock, a music festival in Providence, Rhode Island, with his son’s band, Shy Camp. (In 1999 he launched ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’) Groups to claim influenced from PBS are The Dream Academy, Damon & Naomi, Bevis Frond, The Late Cord, This Mortal Coil, and Japanese band Ghost.