Open Up (1977)By 1977, Ethos were facing serious headwinds. Disco, punk, and the rest of them were aiming to destroy whatever fragments of progressive rock that had managed to creep into the American landscape. For a regional group with no presence to speak of, it was nigh impossible for the band to gain any kind of foothold. Lucky for us, Ethos paid no mind to current trends and went about releasing one more solid progressive rock outing before calling it a day. Songwriting is front and center, so it's not an obvious gymnastic styled prog, but close listens reveal quite a bit of complexity. Fantastic production and highly original material as well. This is one of those albums that once you buy the premise, the value goes up considerably.
Incidentally there's only one original LP pressing of Open Up, which tells us the album was anticipated to sell poorly - and it did. It's much rarer than you might initially think.
Ownership: 1977 Capitol (LP). Acquired in 1992.
9/23/92; 2009; 7/3/23 (review)
Relics (1973-1974 / 2000)
Fort Wayne Indiana's Ethos are one of the bellwether bands on my
USA Midwest / Ontario Progressive Rock (1970's/early 80s) list. If you've read my reviews long enough, or studied that list, then you know what to expect here. Of course this being an archival release - and it predates their major label debut - then you can probably expect more progressive and less commercial. And that's exactly what you receive. Most of the material here is from 1974, with a couple of rougher demos going back to 1973.
For me, on reflection, it's a bittersweet experience. On the one hand it is truly wonderful to hear such great treasure being mined from the vaults like this. On the other, one inherently knows that there should have been so much more. Countless bands operating in a similar territory, but not unified - disparate groups influenced by the same UK bands, though not learning from each other and pushing the boundaries as you would see in England, Germany, or Italy. Everything was grassroots. One of the primary themes of the Midwest Prog list is that America did not have a national scene like the various European countries did. Not a single enlightened record executive, nor a super wealthy individual stepped up and said "I got this". Where were the patrons of the arts? Not everything has to have a bottom line, if one has the wealth to subsidize. I'm pretty sure those that bankrolled the magnificent church frescoes in Medieval times weren't demanding an "ROI". Sigh.
Ownership: 2000 Black Moon (CD). A great reissue from UMR's good friend Mike O'Neal. Comes with a poster insert filled with historical data. Acquired in 2000.
2000; 9/13/17 (review)
Ft. Wayne's Ethos were like many bands of the Midwest whose obsession with Yes, Genesis, and Gentle Giant are well documented. These English progressive bands would enjoy regular airplay on the local underground, and very popular, FM stations played throughout the region. Concerts were met with great enthusiasm, and any kid that possessed a great talent for musicianship, along with a hyperactive imagination, were quickly assembling together a band and making a go of it for themselves. Most ended up nowhere. Some procured a private release handed out at sparsely attended concerts by local union workers who were more interested in the booze and broads than the music itself. And then a few made the "big time". In this scenario, Ethos were one that
made it. Today, they're the kind of band that late middle aged guys whisper quietly about in a game of I-know-more-about-music-than-you-do. As in "I own an album I bet you haven't heard, that's way cool - a band called Ethos. Bet you haven't heard of them!". So popular enough to still be called out by over-aged dorks, yet too obscure for anyone at Corporate America to give a rat's ass about. Pretty much sums up the American progressive rock scene of the 1970s doesn't it?
Today, I'm sure Ethos is held up at corporate meetings as a prime example of "Mistakes from the Past - How to Avoid them, a Seminar".
Ownership: 1976 Capitol (LP). Acquired in 1989.
1989; 1996; 2009 (review)
1/23/10 (new entry)
