(2021) The Fringe - Token for My Mind[1967-1968 Sound]



Review:
From studio sessions in 1967-1968, The Fringe recordings are finally being re-issued after years of requests by their loyal fans around the world. This Toronto-based innovative psychedelic rock band, popular in the late 1960s, toured Ontario and made one cross-Canada tour in 1968 – plus appearing with the newly-formed Guess Who on a Winnipeg TV show. They had four commercially released songs on two singles. Eleven tracks are available here mastered from the original analog tapes including five for the first time. The Fringe, formed in 1967 and are remembered for having as a founding member the late Chuck Cadman (guitar & keyboards), a three-times elected BC Member of Parliament who died of cancer in 2005. Cadman, together with Doug Daniel (bass), John Murkin (lead vocals & guitar) and Chris Thomas (drums) signed with producer Greg Hambleton and laid down thirteen tracks, some of which Greg licensed to Quality Records, a major distributor at the time. The energetic and enteprenurial Bill Riley, who also later managed A&M heavy rocker “The Churls”, became their manager and booked them in many Yorkville clubs in 1968. The cover photo was taken by Greg on the steps of the Night Owl in Yorkville. The Fringe’s first release was “Flower Generation” b/w their chart success “Token For My Mind” – a trippy psych-rocker written by John Murkin and Chuck Cadman. Murkin and Cadman also wrote the more acid-rock follow-up “Plastic People”. Bill Riley booked a tour accross Canada in the spring of 1968 without Doug Daniel and with new member Wayne Leslie. Sadly, Doug passed away shortly after. Successful shows in many cities promoted their single, including Winnipeg, where they taped the CBC show “Let’s Go” along with the newly minted Guess Who and host Chad Allen. While still in Alberta, in a Calgary club, the band finally broke up. Chuck Cadman headed for Vancouver, got married and evenually entered politics. Dr. John Murkin settled in at Western University in London, Ontario. Chris Thomas became a deep-sea diver, successful commercial photographer, photojournalist and artist in Vancouver and recently married Dona, widow of Chuck Cadman.



Track Listing:
01. Token For My Mind
02. Angela's Purple Dream
03. Morning Glory
04. Plastic People
05. Paintbrush
06. She Don't Care
07. Inside Looking Out (Rosie)
08. Flower Generation
09. You Got It Wrong
10. I Don't Want To Live
11. Executive Dream


Media Report:
Genre: rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits