Phantom - Phantom's Divine Comedy Part 1. 1974 USA-Michigan

---4/27/18 update

I recently received a very nice note from RD Francis, who has written a book about "The Phantom". Looks very interesting, and nice to know the facts are now coming to the fore.

---original 7/25/15 review

Phantom were in reality a Detroit area band slumming around with the name Walpurgis. Vocalist Ted Pearson* had an uncanny resemblance in both voice, and even appearance, to Jim Morrison, and thus Capitol thought it might be a good idea to exploit the myth that Morrison was still alive. It's hard to imagine a corporate entity such as Capitol getting in on such sophomoric antics, but it does appear that's exactly what happened. Naturally the whole idea fell on its face, and Phantom disappeared as they came, through the ether.

The sad thing about this ruse, is it was entirely unnecessary. Phantom, in fact, were really quite adept on their own accord. In effect, Phantom are a hard rock band, with psychedelic and progressive characteristics. So the Doors comparisons begins and ends with Pearson's voice. The rest is somewhat unique for an American major label band from 1974. The opening track 'Tales from a Wizard', 'Spider's Will Dance', and the last 16 minutes of the album are the highlights. It's just this kind of mystical hard rock that is now being recreated by a new inspired youth. So while Capitol were trying to exploit history, Phantom were actually predicting the future. Wonderful irony.

* - For years thought to be Tom Carson, but he was in another band. Ted Pearson later legally changed his name to Arthur Pendragon. All the hard data is out there now, so no more need for conspiracy theories :-)

Ownership: LP: 1974 Capitol. Single sleeve. Recent online acquisition (2023)

Former ownership: CD: 1993 One Way. Jewel case with little info.

1996 (first listen); 7/25/15 (review / new entry); 4/27/18; 1/22/25 (update)