Exclusive track premiere of ‘Babe’ by Cincinnati, OH-based rock band Mad Anthony. The band is resurfacing with a release a series of lost 1975 recordings, compiled together as ‘The Lost Tapes’ (out Spring 2023 via Earth Libraries).

The band consisted of John Schwab on Piano/Vocals/ Acoustic Guitar, Carl Richards on Vocals/Acoustic Guitar/Flute, and Larry Dotson on Acoustic Guitar/Slide Guitar/Vocals. The recordings were recorded on Teac Two-Track, 1/4 in tape, with overdubs recorded in a barn in Santa Barbara, Sarasota Fl, and Chatsworth Ca.

The cyclical “Babe” exhibits three voices interwoven with serene precision, a veil of acoustic guitar figures fluttering in the breeze. Though it may not have had the gloss of a professional studio, the barn recordings retain an amicable warmth, thanks in part to the classic Shure SM-57 microphone the trio left at the center of their formation. “We needed to use the kind that Roger Daltrey used,” Schwab remembers with a laugh. Particularly impressive as well is the effortless manner in which the trio’s fingerpicked guitars lope around each other, all straight to a two-track recorder.

John Schwab about his time in the band:

Carl “Mad Anthony” Richards, Larry Dotson and I met in Cincinnati. We started an acoustic band and played a lot of shows in Ohio and Louisville and Lexington, KY. Carl “Mad Anthony” Richards and I moved to Sarasota, FL where we recorded ‘Take Care of Yourself’.

Carl “Mad Anthony” Richards went to Santa Barbara with wife and kids. We joined him in Cali after a while. ‘Babe,’ ‘Going Away,’ ‘Harriet Ann,’ and ‘Nobody Knows’ were recorded in the barn in Santa Barbara. Eventually we moved and rented a house in Chatsworth LA. ‘Rina,’ ‘Someday,’ and ‘Loving You’ were recorded there using one Shure SM57 mic and a two-track reel to reel tape recorder. I wrote ‘Babe,’ ‘Rina,’ ‘Going Away,’ ‘Loving You,’ and ‘Someday’ myself. I co-wrote with Carl “Mad Anthony” Richards ‘Harriet Ann’. Larry Dotson wrote ‘Nobody Knows’ and ‘Take Care of Yourself’ alone. We had two Martin guitars and a $75 upright piano. We also used a Gibson acoustic on loan to us.

Larry Dotson left and went back to Florida to marry a girl he met there. Carl “Mad Anthony” Richards and I started playing with LA musicians and a friend named Tod Edmundson. They started writing good songs together but for me it wasn’t the same without Larry Dotson. I eventually left, got married, had kids and my life changed.

Like uncovering a lost treasure from a golden era of California soft rock, ‘The Lost Tape’ beckons listeners in to pull up a stool in that old barn and let the beautiful melodies surround.

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