From The Animals to the movies and beyond!
Alan Price’s Savaloy Dip is one of history’s great lost albums. It was recorded as a full-length clearly intended for official release, accidentally issued for a nanosecond (on 8-track!) then recalled, the circumstances behind its fate murky to this very day.
The tale of the tape, as sleuthed out thus far: In 1974, the 32-year-old founder/keyboardist of The Animals and arranger of “House Of The Rising Sun,” was rather on a roll. He’d built a solo career that included commercial hits (in the U.K.), a reputation as a canny song-crafter strongly influenced by Randy Newman, and a soundtrack composer coming off a successful film (O Lucky Man!, Lindsay Anderson’s 1973 comedy starring Malcolm McDowell). Price’s movie score drew nothing but raves. With praise like this, anticipation was in the air, greater expectations on the wind—from both clued-in music heads and Price’s record label, Warner Bros.
The March 18 issue of Warners’ house organ, the weekly Circular magazine, teases Price’s “forthcoming album,” which is described as “every bit as good as O Lucky Man!” But the LP that arrived was Between Today And Yesterday, not Savaloy Dip. Somewhere after the release of O Lucky Man!—it hit stores in the summer of ’73, same time as Tony Joe White’s Home Made Ice Cream and Van Morrison’s Hard Nose The Highway—and spring of ’74 is the brief space within which Savaloy Dip breathed. Warners A&R VP Lenny Waronker couldn’t recollect why, but for some reason Savaloy Dip, scheduled to be the follow-up to O Lucky Man!, was scotched. To complicate matters, a few 8-track versions of the album were pressed (at Ampex’s Elk Grove Village, Illinois plant) and distributed before being recalled. Price salvaged one track from the project, “Between Today And Yesterday,” as the centerpiece for his subsequent album.
Omnivore is proud to present the first ever, non 8-track release of a great lost album, Savaloy Dip! Dig in!.
Smells Like Lemon, Tates Like Wine Willie The Queen You Won’t Get Me Poor Jimmy Savaloy Dip Keep On Doin’ It Country Life Passin’ Us By Over And Over Again And So Goodbye Between Today And Yesterday
