Sweetwater - Just For You (Reissue) (1970/2005)

Founded in Los Angeles, USA in 1968 - Disbanded in 1971 - Reformed from 1994-???

In the late 60's the USA Psychedelic/Proto Prog movement was full of great artists ahead of their time but the band that pioneered the fusion of Rock, Classical, Folk and Jazz was a modest group of kids from Los Angeles called SWEETWATER.

They didn't just limited to hiring a Symphony Orchestra to enhance the music, instead they were one of the first USA bands to include Cello, flute and Congas to the usual rock instruments, having a lineup of eight official members (plus guests), something pretty unusual for 1968.

It's unclear if they joined in 1967 or 1968, but due to the excellent voice of Nansi Nevins plus the absolutely innovative and eclectic blend of influences in their music they were immediately recruited by Warner Reprise and released their self titled debut album "Sweetwater".

This LP was ahead of their time, the killer keyboards of Alex Delzoppo were efficiently backgrounded by the unusual (for that moment) flute of Albert Moore, Cello by August Burns and Conga of the amazing Elpidio Cobian plus the usual instruments of a Rock band.

"Sweetwater" was a moderate success, most probably too advanced for the moment but it allowed the band to be invited as the first group to play in Woodstock. After the popularity gained in the festival, heaven was the limit and they returned to the studio where they recorded their second album "Just for You" being the title song a 10 minutes epic that blended all the influences of the band.

This good album deserved a better destiny but they were not able to finish the recording sessions normally or tour to promote it because in December 1969 the tragedy reached SWEETWATER, Nansi Nevins was crashed by a drunk driver and remained in comma for more than a week, she waked up just to discovered that her vocal chords were severely damaged and was unable to return to the band or sing in more than a year except one more track in the third album.

Warner Reprise still had faith in the band and gave them another chance so they released "Melon", an album described by some people as a blend between Jethro Tull, Santana and Jefferson Airplane, but the time had passed and they were not so advanced in 1971 as in 1968 and without Nansi they were unable to regain their lost audience, so they disbanded after a short tour.

In 1995 they were invited for Woodstock II and reunited without Albert Moore, Alan Malarowitz and August Burns who had already died neither Elpidio Cobian who despite their efforts was impossible to find.

One more album (Live at Last 2002) has been released since then and a movie about the band filmed for the 30th anniversary of Woodstock.

I'm sure that if it wasn't for Nansi Nevins accident, SWEETWATER would have kept evolving and probably be considered one of the early icons of USA Prog, but despite that destiny didn't allowed them to reach this status they deserve a place in Prog Archives.