Magic Ship
The Blues Magoos had done a lot to light up the Big Apple with their neon suits, but the group that matured the east coast sound was the underrated Magic Ship. They started out as the New Primitives comprising of Edward ‘Tommy’ Nikosey (guitar and vocals), Anthony ‘Guss’ Riozzi (bass and Hammond B three), Patrick Garrigan (vocalist), Robert Buckman (drummer), and Philip Polimeni (acoustic and Gibson electric guitar). Their debut gig was at St. Anselm’s Dance Hall in September 1965. Magic Ship composed their first original, the hallucinatory “On the Edge” which earned them $65.00. Most of their early repertoire comprised of soul cover versions but thanks to the newly employed bass player Gus Riozzi , the group was introduced to the Yardbirds, Cream, and Them.
Their new management team gave them the name Magic Ship and also a magnificent ballad called “Night Time Music” which the notorious Tokens produced as their first official single, selected on WMCA Radio as ‘Pick Hit of the Week’. The groups follow-up single “Hummin” proceeded which received rave reviews from radio stations and TV studios. Although the sixties energy had saturated their repertoire their finest songs could water the darkest alleys of New York city such as the easy grooving “Wednesday Morning Dew”, the high energy “Life’s Lonely Road” and soulful “Where Are We Going?” When it came to cover versions these guys were dead centre with superior versions of Andy Gibb’s “To Love Somebody” and an outstanding rendition of Neil Young’s “Down By The River”. The Magic Ship version of “To Love Somebody” with squelching wah wah improved radically compared to the Bee Gees original. The lead guitar solos on “Sioux City Blues” with its cross section of rhythms and bass drive are vehemently transported with an urgency and thrust as if knowing that the flowerpower revolution was about to fade.
Magic Ship thanks to Milt Schnapf could well have been New York’s finest moment that sadly disbanded due to a fire destroying their musical equipment in January 22, 1971.