Frantic - Conception (1971)

allmusic:

"Formed in 1965 in Billings, Montana, the Frantics were a sextet who drew their influences from Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and, later, Jim Morrison (note the Lizard Records imprint for their second album). They were a little on the heavy side in terms of their musical approach, and were ambitious--they played throughout the United States and relocated several times, to New Mexico and then to Colorado Springs, Colorado, before settling in Los Angeles in 1969. The group released a pair of singles, "La Do Da Da" b/w "Route 66" and "Midnight To Six Man" b/w "Shady Sam." They also cut two albums, Relax Your Mind, which dated from 1968 and was unreleased until the 1990's, and a second album, Conception, late in their history. At around that same time, they dropped the "s" from their name and worked as The Frantic.

Fuzz, Acid & Flowers:

We are informed that this group hailed from Billings, Montana, originally, though they toured all over the country. In 1968 they relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico, then moved onto Colorado Springs before making L.A. their final base in 1969, removing the final 'S' from their name and recording the Conception LP. All told they lasted from 1965 to 1971 and just 1,000 copies of their first 45 were pressed back in 1966.

The Conception album has been likened to early MC5, but the Relax Your Mind CD of an unreleased 1968 album, is more overtly psychedelic and is one of Collectables' more worthwhile reissues. It was recorded at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico.

When the band broke up in 1971, three members went on to form an outfit called The Cows, who recorded an unreleased album, Hunchbacks From Outer Space. It had been thought that Frantic had become an act known as Farm Band, however Frantic member Dennis Devlin, says this is false... commenting "I suppose one shouldn't discount the possibility that there may have been more than one band in the USA calling themselves Frantic; there were certainly several "The Frantics" as you know. Another theory springs to mind as to why they may have been connected to us. It was common practice in the Midwest during the late sixties for unscrupulous promoters to book unknown local bands into venues as touring English bands, as it was thought at the time that all musicians with long hair looked alike. When we were playing Midwestern gigs there was a bogus "Them" playing the same circuit. Most people wouldn't have known the difference. I assume these bands were encouraged to work up a few songs by whatever group they were pretending to be and hope for the best. What this is leading to is that after Frantic broke up, we heard rumours of a bogus Frantic playing back in the Midwest, apparently having learned our album. I know none of the original Frantics were involved, but perhaps the Farm Band started off as a bogus Frantic? It would be interesting to hear from a Farm Band member." (buy it)

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