(Folk-Rock / Female Vocals) Ashes (feat. Pat Taylor) - Ashes - 1966, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless // pre-The Peanut Butter Conspiracy

The history of the Ashes, a minor mid-'60s folk-rock band, has been pretty murkily and confusingly reported.
Three of their members -- guitarist John Merrill, bassist Al Brackett, and drummer Jim Voight -- formed part of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, though the mechanics of that transition are hazy.
Pat Taylor, the female vocalist who is definitely the singer on their sole album, has been reported to have also been the singer on their two non-LP singles; other sources have reported that the singer on those two singles was Peanut Butter Conspiracy singer Sandi Robinson. Also, drummer Spencer Dryden was a member before he joined Jefferson Airplane, though apparently he didn't play on any of the Ashes' recordings.
The Ashes, in whatever configuration, did manage to release some decent, characteristically Los Angeles 1960s folk-rock recordings. Their first two singles, which definitely sound as if they predate the LP, cross the jangle of early Byrds-style folk-rock with harmonized sunshine pop and some Phil Spector-like production touches.
That's particularly evident on the yearning, chiming "Is There Anything I Can Do," one of the better obscure Californian 1960s folk-rock singles and one of the best songs Jackie DeShannon wrote for another artist. Also of note is "Dark on You Now," also recorded (in a much better-known version) by the Love Exchange under the title "Swallow the Sun"; the Ashes' rendition is far slower, more dignified, and less candy pop, with some excellent Roger McGuinn-like 12-string guitar and a heart-melting lead female vocal.
The album (The Ashes) sounds as if it was recorded (at least in part) slightly later than the circa-1966 singles. It's pleasant if average folk-rock with touches of commercial pop and country-rock, featuring Taylor's stirring vibrato vocals.
Taylor was gifted with a razor sharp voice that simply out-classed contemporaries like Grace Slick. Her performances on tracks such as 'Gone To Sorrow,' 'Return Home' and 'Look Around Rock' were all first-rate.
While Taylor handled most of the vocals, Merrill's three performances were creditable. 'The Now' and 'Rainbows' both sported catchy country-rock melodies. For some reason the album was subsequently shelved where it sat until Vault unexpectedly released it in 1971.
Overall an excellent slice of mid-1960s Southern California lite-rock now available for the first time on CD."

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009
EAC extraction logfile from 4. October 2009, 19:07
Ashes (Featuring Pat Taylor) / Ashes (Featuring Pat Taylor)
Used drive : PHILIPS DVD+-RW SDVD8820 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Not detected, thus appended to previous track
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:30.51 | 0 | 15800
2 | 3:30.51 | 2:47.32 | 15801 | 28357
3 | 6:18.08 | 2:39.52 | 28358 | 40334
4 | 8:57.60 | 2:19.64 | 40335 | 50823
5 | 11:17.49 | 3:22.53 | 50824 | 66026
6 | 14:40.27 | 2:25.54 | 66027 | 76955
7 | 17:06.06 | 2:13.72 | 76956 | 87002
8 | 19:20.03 | 2:33.07 | 87003 | 98484
9 | 21:53.10 | 2:35.00 | 98485 | 110109
10 | 24:28.10 | 2:20.24 | 110110 | 120633
11 | 26:48.34 | 2:04.22 | 120634 | 129955
Track 1
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\01 - Gone To Sorrow.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 4D3D8450
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\02 - Sleeping Serenade.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 5078FB5E
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\03 - Homeward Bound.wav
Peak level 98.5 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 674C2F1F
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\04 - Sands Of Love.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 034FDD53
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\05 - My Life Has Changed.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC CDD2AABC
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\06 - Return Home.wav
Peak level 95.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC E1E6A8F3
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\07 - Her Invention.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 85AE6F4A
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\08 - Look Around Rock.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Copy CRC 6A7A8940
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\09 - The Now.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 054C55B9
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\10 - Rainbows.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC EDAEF0B1
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 11
Filename C:\music\a\Ashes (1966)\11 - Simple Complexities.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC FD9B6BFD
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report