Thursday, August 11, 2011

Artist: Luke Gibson (Luke & The Apostles), Album: Another Perfect Day, Song: You Make Me High

Luke Gibson is a blues rock performer from Toronto.  He is a founder of one of Canada's pioneering rock acts called, Luke & The Apostles.  Strangely enough though, that band had a rather short recording history.  They rose from the underground via the coffeehouse circuit in Yorkville.  They were one of the first bands to popularize the blues rock sound in the early to mid sixties.  The other notable member in the band was Mike McKenna who would go on to play in other influential bands like Mainline, Diamondback (see blog 5/8/11) and The Ugly Ducklings (see blog 6/26/11).  The band attracted the attention of Elektra Records and one, Paul Rothchild, which led to the release of their first single in 1967.  Paul would go on to have great success as the producer for The Doors in later years.  In this instance, he got pinched for possession and a full length recording never materialized.  The band would also attract the interest of promoter Bill Graham and Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, following some opening gigs for the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane in Toronto.  By that time, the members were starting to move in different directions.  McKenna went off to join the Ugly Ducklings and Gibson joined Kensington Market (see blog 2/23/11).  However, they did reform in 1970 and cut this single, You Make Me High, on True North Records.  The band would go through some line up changes while touring in support of this single.  As a result, Walter Rossi (see blog 6/19/11) became a member of the band for a short time when McKenna decided to return to Mainline.  Luke Gibson, however, went solo and released two albums for True North that have been recently re-released.  On his 1971 album, entitled, Another Perfect Day, this Luke & The Apostles' track was included which is fantastic because the vinyl is virtually non-existent today.  You can purchase this album on Itunes.  You can hear the song, You Make Me High, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0i4QKXJ0lE).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!