Thomas & Richard Frost - Visualize (Reissue) (1969-70/2002)

Thomas & Richard Frost (born Thomas Martin and Richard Martin) were members of several San Mateo, CA-based groups during the early to mid-'60s -- including a surf group (the Impressions), a folk-rock group (the Newcastle Five), and a fuzz rock group (the Art Collection, teaming up with visiting New Zealand singer Ray Columbus) -- before forming a mod-pop power trio called Powder. This group moved down to L.A. to record an album at Hollywood's Gold Star studios, and while they were there also found employment as Sonny & Cher's touring group. Despite hailing from Northern California, their pop art-psychedelic singles were the closest thing the West Coast to rival swinging London's early Who and the Creation. Unfortunately for the brothers Martin, Powder's LP was never released. Discouraged, they returned to San Mateo, but it wasn't long before they were recording new material again, this on their own. They soon attracted the attention of Imperial Records, who signed the duo, who were now calling themselves Thomas & Richard Frost.

Thomas & Richard Frost recorded a handful of classic pop singles for Imperial from 1968 through 1970, including "She's Got Love," which charted at number 83 on Billboard's Top 100 singles chart. In November 1969, they appeared on TV's American Bandstand, performing the song. Each subsequent single was a step toward what was sure to be their artistic tour de force, an album they envisioned as Visualize. For these fantastic 1969 recordings, the duo were backed by Kim Fowley's usual Imperial session gang, including Skip Battin (ex-Skip & Flip, the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage), Steppenwolf guitarist Mars Bonfire, and legendary drummer Hal Blaine. Unfortunately for all concerned, this album was also -- and somewhat inexplicably -- canceled in the 11th hour by the powers-that-be at Imperial, even though the group's master recordings were in the can, and the album had been assigned a catalog number and was being prepared for release. The only explanation Imperial gave at the time was that they were undergoing reorganization after being acquired by Liberty Records; their album simply wasn't a priority to the new suits, and, so, Visualize was indefinitely shelved.

All of this resulted -- as you might expect -- in Thomas & Richard Frost becoming disillusioned with their record company. In 1972, they recorded a few additional tracks to get out of their record deal, then moved over to UNI, where they eventually released an accomplished country-rock flavored singer/songwriter album, the self-titled Thomas & Richard Frost, produced by Joe Saraceno. In 1996, the Distortions label issued a collection by Powder, entitled Biff! Bang! Powder, which was comprised mostly of their 1968 demos. In 2002, Rev-Ola reissue maven Joe Foster happily negotiated the release of not just the complete Visualize album (tracks one through 12), but additional outtakes and all of the duo's original mono singles, released prior to the album sessions.