After All - 69 - After All
Hastily put together in 1969 by a veteran quartet of Tallahassee, FL, musicians and
together for only a handful of months, After All is merely a footnote in the history of
late-'60s and Florida rock.
Their single recorded effort, however, was a moody slice of acid-tinged progressive pop
that, while perhaps not among the finest obscurities from the era, brings back the
grooviness and off-the-cuff adventurousness of the decade in full color. All of the
members of After All had a history playing in various rhythm & blues and jazz bands,
dating back to the late '50s, performing at clubs and parties throughout the Tallahassee
region. Drummer Mark Ellerbee was fresh out of Vietnam and a graduate of the Florida State
School of Music when he bumped into fellow Florida State graduate and keyboardist Alan
Gold, who was performing at the time in one of the area's top night club bands. With the
addition of fellow scenesters bassist Bill Moon and jazz guitarist Charles Short, After
All was officially born. The group envisioned creating a concept album by throwing together
a variety of the era's newest styles, from acid and classical rock to structural complexity
and surreal lyrics. To help with the latter, they enlisted a young local poet, Linda
Hargrove, to provide the lyrics to most of the songs. The band knew a Nashville producer
who was willing to record a "spec album" for them at no cost provided if they did it
quickly, so they entered the studio in 1969 and recorded After All in a couple days.
Following the release of the album on Athena Records, the instrumentalists returned to
Florida and took up their respective careers again. Hargrove, on the other hand, remained
in Nashville and carved out a fine, if under-recognized, career for herself as a country
singer/songwriter and performer.
1. Intagible She (Ellerbee/Hargrove) - 7:16
2. Blue Satin (Ellerbee/Hargrove) - 3:46
3. Nothing Left to Do (Ellerbee/Hargrove) - 7:07
4. And I Will Follow (Ellerbee/Hargrove) - 4:51
5. Let It Fly (Ellerbee/Hargrove) - 4:32
6. Now What Are You Looking For (Moon) - 3:05
7. A Face That Doesn't Matter (Ellerbee/Hargrove) - 4:31
8. Waiting (Ellerbee/Hargrove) - 4:23
After All may have only been a band in the loosest sense of the term, but its only record
is a quite wonderful — if ultimately difficult to categorize — one-shot relic of the
transitional late-'60s. The four members of the combo were actually friends and
acquaintances in different bands on the Tallahassee, FL, rock circuit before culling
their skills together, along with lyrical assistance from young local poet and songwriter
Linda Hargrove, when an opportunity to record an album in a Nashville studio presented
itself. The resulting piece of work is the type of strangely compelling hybrid album that
could only have come together in the musical gumbo of the post-psychedelic era. Drummer
and primary vocalist Mark Ellerbee wrote most of the music, and his songs are basically
freeform, open-ended tone poems that eschew typical verse-chorus and melodic considerations
(although the odd melodic hook or harmony surfaces from time to time) for music that is
much more amorphous and improvisational. There are elements of rock, R&B, blues,
progressive, classical, avant-garde composition, and, to an even greater degree, jazz
weaving through the music, while a thick hallucinatory cloud hovers over the whole of the
album, giving it an oddly surreal and even ghostly demeanor. It is a complex and ambitious
mix that doesn't always come off seamlessly, but is by and large an engaging amalgam,
exploring similar territory to that being investigated during the period by much higher
profile bands such as Chicago, Procol Harum, and Blood, Sweat & Tears (Ellerbee's singing,
in fact, is a dead ringer for David Clayton Thomas). Each band member displays near
virtuosity on his instrument, which allows After All to harness all its sonic influences
and renders the music exciting to hear even when the songwriting drags the slightest bit
or loses its way. But, for the most part, the songs are rather outstanding. "Intangible
She" and the psychedelic "A Face That Doesn't Matter" play with the foreboding, seedy
flair that frequently made the Doors' songs seem like such ominous musical prophecies,
while "Blue Satin" is a bit more swirling and romantic but maintains an edgy sense of
intangible mystery, represented by the flute that threads through the song's final
moments. "Let It Fly," on the other hand, is pure groove, and maybe the best example of
the band's playing capabilities (if not the best song), while "And I Will Follow" builds
a slow, tensive burn to match the yearning nature of the lyrics before turning more wistful.
Hargrove's beautifully lustful and longing words frequently create an interesting tension
with the spacier instrumental interplay, and the music is even more enigmatic as a result.
After All is not easy to fully enter, but it is well worth the effort. As obscurities from
the era go, it may not be one of the most fascinating, but it may have some of the most
accomplished musicianship.
Linda Hargrove - Lyricist
Bill Moon - Bass, Vocals
Mark Ellerbee - Drums, Vocals
Alan Gold - Organ, Keyboards
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