Gas Mask - Their First Album (2024) [Hi-Res]

Gas Mask was an American brass-rock band from N.Y.C. that released one album, Their First Album, on Tonsil Records in 1970.

Members: Bill Davidson (lead guitar), Richard Grando (winds), David Gross (saxophone), Nick Oliva (keyboards), Bobby Osborne (vocals), Enrico Rava (trumpet), James Strassburg (drums), Ray Brooks (bass, ?-1970), Lynn Welshman (trombone, 1970-?), Michael Moore (bass, 1970-?)

https://jazzrocksoul.com/artists/gas-mask/

Gas Mask signed to the short-lived NY label Tonsil Records and released their singular album, ironically titled Their First Album, in 1970. It features 10 songs: two by Gross (“The Immigrant,” “The I Ching Thing”) and eight by Oliva, including “If You Just Think of Me,” “Just Like That,” “Thank You My Dear,” and “Watch Myself Grow Tall.”
“If You Just Think of Me” rides on a shaky groove in Gm/Cm with percolating bass, rippling organ, and a darting sax riff. Osborne’s gruff, soulful vocals command the staccato, angular refrain and major-seventh chorus.
A subdued bass in B heralds “Just Like That,” where emotive, stretched-vowel vocals soar amid cascading organ keys and trumpet overlays. Midway, sax/trumpet tradeoffs are undercut with loose tom rolls.
“Thank You My Dear” enters on a tight, two-chord, half-step riff (F#/G) with a drum-pummeled, locked-horn pattern. It soon unfolds to an open-cadence chorus with cascading organ, bobbing bass, and Osborne’s sonorous croon. Midway, brass floodbursts collide with icy organ layers.
The band cuts loose on the two instrumentals. “The Immigrant” features a persistent bassline in E against an ascending brass/organ riff (C-D-E). It soon cuts to a mute trumpet solo.
“The I Ching Thing” begins with dark, faint, distant billowing sounds. One minute in, a shaky pattern in Cm/F forms with flute, muted trumpet, and chordal strikes. Things loosen in the middle with perforating flute, scaling bass, and roaming drums.
Their First Album was produced by Teo Macero, best known for his production work on jazz classics by Miles Davis (Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, Miles In the Sky), Charles Mingus (Mingus Ah Um), and Thelonious Monk (Criss-Cross). Original copies are housed in a gatefold sleeve with a lyric/photo inner-spread. The label bears Tonsil’s distinct open-mouth trademark against a red background.
The Gask Mask album was one of three released on Tonsil, which otherwise only handled the acts Canada Goose, Great Jones, and a field recording by actor Robert Redford (The Language and Music of the Wolves), plus a single by Joey Dee and the New Starliters. In France, the album was released on Musidisc as Pop No End and credited just to Bobby Osborne with generic, psychedelic gogo girl cover art.

Tracklist:
1-1. Gas Mask - If You Just Think of Me (04:17)
1-2. Gas Mask - Light the Road (02:45)
1-3. Gas Mask - The Immigrant (05:42)
1-4. Gas Mask - Just Like That (04:38)
1-5. Gas Mask - Thank You My Dear (03:53)
1-6. Gas Mask - I'll Go Blind (04:53)
1-7. Gas Mask - The I Ching Thing (05:38)
1-8. Gas Mask - Watch Myself Grow Tall (03:28)
1-9. Gas Mask - Nothing to Do Today (03:24)
1-10. Gas Mask - Young Man (04:10)