Artist: Ray Fenwick Title Of Album: eep America Beautiful Get A Haircut Year Of Release: 1971 Label: Angel Air Country: UK Genre: Country folk psych classic rock Audio codec: FLAC (*.flac) Rip type: tracks+covers A definitive British rock journeyman, guitarist Ray Fenwick played with numerous famous acts, though even most serious collectors would be hard pressed to identify him. He replaced future Yes guitarist Steve Howe in the Syndicates in the mid-'60s, and played a wild freakbeat solo on their single "Crawdaddy Simone," which comprised some of the most adventurous guitar work of the British Invasion era. He served time in Dutch groups After Tea and the Tee Set (who would later make the U.S. Top Five with "Ma Belle Amie") before joining the post-Stevie Winwood lineup of the Spencer Davis Group in the late '60s. There were also stints in the Guitar Orchestra with future Procol Harum lead guitarist Mick Grabham; Fancy, who had two Top 20 hits in the U.S. in 1974; the Ian Gillan Band; and, in the 1980s, Forcefield, which also featured Jan Akkerman and Cozy Powell. Fenwick also did a lot of work as a sessionman and producer. And, finally, he made one solo album in 1971, Keep America Beautiful, Get a Haircut, a run-of-the-mill mix of the era's popular hard rock/progressive-rock styles. Ray Fenwick died on April 30, 2022 at the age of 75. Fenwick's only solo album, recorded with Elton John's rhythm section (Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums), touches on a lot of facets of British rock circa 1970 -- Traffic-like folk-rock, country-rock, Paul McCartney-ish melodic bits, and rumbling, pedestrian boogie -- without really getting anywhere. Much of the material was inspired by his travels in the U.S., and there are some quasi-suites supposed to reflect journeying through the American landscape, but the execution is unremarkable. The 1997 CD reissue adds five bonus tracks. Tracks 1. Stateside: Mr Straight / The American Way / $ Jesus Saves - 8:06 2. Anniversary - 3:56 3. I Wanna Stay Here - 4:49 4. City Ride - 4:34 5. The Dream: The Exotic Escape / The Working Man's Dream / Nightmare / Reality - 11:53 6. Back USA - 2:45 7. The New Jersey Turnpike - 3:52 8. Your Man - 2:50 9. Groupie - 4:04 10.Stone Song - 3:33 11.Back USA - 2:32 12.Blues Never Gonna - 2:40