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From time to time we will run features on various projects Chris has been involved with 2013 Musical video and project focussing on POW/MIA families - see video NOT FORGOTTEN in the Catalog page. Historical Feature: THE MEADOW STORY There has been some mystery through the years regarding the folk-rock group Meadow. This was the group that had Walker Daniels (original lead in HAIR), Chris and Laura Branigan as the three featured artists. Chris, now being the sole surviving member of the group has finally put into writing his experience with MEADOW and the release of their critically acclaimed album "The Friend Ship". All these years later, it is useful to put into perspective how young the members of Meadow were, and what was going on in America and the world at the time. Chris had come up to New York when he was 21. Woodstock had happened three years earlier, the hippie culture was still in full swing; antiwar demonstrations drew 100,000 demonstrators in US cities; it was the start of the Watergate scandal; surprisingly it was as late as 1972 that saw the Equal Rights Amendment which provided for the legal equality of the sexes; the average wage was $11,800/year and an average house cost $27,000 with gas at .55c/gallon. Swimmer Mark Spitz won his 7 gold medals at the Munich Olympics, where tragically 11 Israeli athletes were also gunned down, and 1972 also saw the withdrawal of the last ground troops from Vietnam. The following were Cash Box’s top ten in the months surrounding Meadow’s release of The Friendship: CASH BOX – TOP SINGLES – Oct-Dec 1972 ......................................................THE MEADOW STORY After my audition at AADA, I walked across the street to a deli with my friend Mark and decided to pull out my guitar (a Gibson Hummingbird) to play a couple of songs there. An interesting looking man and lady, both in denim jackets and custom- made leather tote bags, came over to me. The man complimented my playing and said that he also had a Gibson Hummingbird guitar, then asked if he could play a song on mine. I said “Sure,” and then listened to a very unusual song with intriguing lyrics that he had written, “Vanity Fair.” We agreed to get together again soon to jam, and possibly write, and did so very soon thereafter. For John, we again sat across from his desk with our guitars and played him a couple of songs. He picked up the phone to George Pincus and said something like, “Well, George, you finally sent me some talent!” He then set up a demo session to be done with us at a very large midtown studio. Within the next few days, Walker invited me to go with him and Sharon to see a studio production of Beggar’s Opera at AADA that his friend Harry had directed. Harry was very excited about one of his featured students in that show who was playing Pirate Jenny. So we went to the production and to this day all I can really remember about it was this beautiful young lady with an amazing voice, and this lady was Laura Branigan. We invited her to Walker’s to sing with us and that developed into the mutual interest of continuing on as a group. As we rehearsed and collaborated on writing, we soon had enough material as a group to record. Meanwhile, George was still looking for a record deal for us. All this was within a few months of our meeting and coming together as a band. We auditioned live for several record industry executives and labels, including Don Ellis, Epic, RCA, and other industry legends like Sid Bernstein and Jerry Weintraub. Our first recording session was at National-Edison Studios to record three songs: “ Cane & Able,” “ Something Borrowed, Something Blues,” and “Here I Am.” George hired in a producer/arranger–– Lou Hemsey–– who wrote up the charts and hired the session musicians. After that session, Steven (he had recently adopted the last name of Tree) was very upset with the music arrangements and orchestration, feeling like the spirit and sound of our band had been buried and lost. He then left the band, married a lady who was in Oh Calcutta, and began working as a carpenter for theatre companies. Walker, Laura, and I continued on as Meadow with Bob Valdez joining the group (as mentioned later). Having listened on and off to the album over the years, I personally believe that Lou’s arrangement of the album was far ahead of its time, and as with other “out of the box” innovations, the industry, then and now, doesn’t always know what to do with it. (Lou kindly took the time to write about his experience in producing The Friend Ship for this article. Check out his website to see the incredible work he has created over the years and what we have to look forward to!) John Hammond was interested in Meadow but had not fully committed yet. Then after a couple of months we got a call from George saying that Paramount Records had made us an offer, which we agreed to. Two singles (45 rpm’s) were cut from the three- song session we had recorded and were released. These singles (and the album to follow) received positive reviews in Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World. We also got a positive review from Variety for our showcase gig at Max’s Kansas City and we performed further showcases at Kenny’s Castaways, The Bottom Line, and The Bitter End.
Sometime within all this development, we recorded our album, The Friend Ship, which included “Cane & Able” (the first song Walker and I co-wrote) from our singles and an additional ten songs. The Friend Ship was a concept album which traced a journey through this world and crossing over into the next. In the Beginning: ” WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG” written by Walker Daniels. Lyrics When you were a baby "You're invited down to the Vanity Fair | At Insanity Square | Say, on a mourning Sunday
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