(Rock) Blue Ash - No More, No Less - 1973, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Blue Ash is a United States band, formed in Ohio in the summer of 1969
by bassist Frank Secich & vocalist Jim Kendzor. Guitarist Bill Yendrek
and drummer David Evans were recruited later that summer.

The band debuted at "The Freak Out", a club in Youngstown, OH on October
3, 1969. They gained a loyal following playing an endless stream of
one-nighters over that year. In October 1970, Bill Yendrek, was replaced
by guitarist/songwriter Bill "Cupid" Bartolin.

Blue Ash continued playing 250-300 dates a year throughout Pennsylvania,
New York, Ohio and West Virginia, while the songwriting team Frank
Secich and Bill Bartolin accumulated an enormous amount of original
material. In June 1972, Blue Ash signed a production contract with
Peppermint Productions of Youngstown and started recording and sending
out demos. In late 1972, they were signed to Mercury Records. Their
first album "No More, No Less" was released in May, 1973 and received
rave reviews in the rock press. It is considered a power pop classic,
and is regarded as highly collectible among fans of that genre (it was
finally released on CD on the Collectors' Choice label in September
2008). Blue Ash toured and opened for such acts as the Stooges, Bob
Seger, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and more but for lack of sales they were
dropped by Mercury Records in May, 1974.

Blue Ash continued to play live and record, adding drummer Jeff Rozniata
who replaced David Evans in 1974. They were signed to a singles deal
with Playboy Records in 1977. The first single, "Look At You Now" became
a regional hit in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as
in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Playboy then offered an album deal. The LP
"Front Page News" was recorded in Los Angeles in August of 1977 and
released in October of that year. It was selling well, but in early 1978
Playboy International pulled the plug on Playboy Records and Blue Ash
was once again without a label. They called it quits in 1979.

A few audience-recorded live tapes of the band exist (including one of
the original lineup from January 31, 1974 at the Packard Music Hall in
Warren, OH) but are of generally poor recording quality. Other tapes
recorded by a fan who followed Blue Ash to many of their gigs are
rumored to exist, but have yet to surface on the collectors circuit.

In the summer of 2003 original members Frank Secich, David Evans, Bill
Bartolin and Jim Kendzor got together privately in Ohio to play once
again and decided to reform the band. On November 8 they played the
International Pop Overthrow at the Khyber Club in Philadelphia.

In the late 1990s, renewed interest toward the band was given a boost as
a large cache of unreleased Blue Ash recordings fell into circulation
amongst collectors. In the summer of 2004 an official release of that
material -- a two CD retrospective called "Around Again" -- was released
on Not Lame Records. It contains 44 songs of unreleased material
spanning their career.

For their "reunion" gigs from 2003-2009, Frank Secich moved from bass
guitar to rhythm guitar, and former members Brian Wingrove (piano) and
Jeff Rozniata (drums) completed the band along with Bobby Darke (bass).

On October 3, 2009, guitarist Bill "Cupid" Bartolin died from
complications of cancer, thus bringing to a sad end the story of Blue
Ash.

Frank Secich is now a member of Deadbeat Poets, who have released three
critically acclaimed CD's "Notes From The Underground" 2007,
"Circustown" 2010 & "Youngstown Vortex Sutra" in 2011.

In the late 1990s, Jim Kendzor's nephew, guitarist Leonard Crist, and
Bill "Cupid" Bartolin's son, drummer Sean Bartolin, formed Cork, a
short-lived band based out of Brookfield, Ohio. Bartolin went on to
record Christian rock in the band Namesake, while Crist played in the
Youngstown indie rock bands Savage Pastry, Isabella the Brave, You Are
The War That I Want and Abortopotamus Rex.

Discography

* No More, No Less (1973)
* Front Page News (1977)
* Around Again (2004)

About Blue Ash, from Wikipedia:

No More, No Less is the first album by the Youngstown, Ohio band Blue
Ash, released in 1973 on Mercury Records SRM1-666. (see 1973 in music).
The album is composed mostly of originals with two covers, "Dusty Old
Fairgrounds" by Bob Dylan and "Any Time At All" by The Beatles. The
album remained out of print for many years until re-released on CD by
Collector's Choice Music in late 2008.

Jim Kendzor – Lead vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Frank Secich – Bass guitar, background vocals
Bill "Cupid" Bartolin – Lead Guitar, background vocals
David Evans – Drums, background vocals