The St. Louis band which rivaled the MC5 in their support of the Anti-War Movement. The 1969 Street Suite LP,all their 45 releases, and Three Unreleased songs from the LP sessions.
A local St. Louis, Missouri band. Only 100 copies of their album were pressed and the above two non-LP 45s were often given away free with it. We're talking an ultra rarity of the highest order here. There are a couple of throwaway country tracks (Happy Face and Got To Keep Travelling On) and the finale, Gettin' Off, is marred by a tedious drum solo but the rest is for the most part mindblowing psychedelia. The best of these are Catfish, with some bluesy psychedelic guitar work, and two social commentary songs, Get A Gun and Let's Keep The Children On The Streets, a song about the riots of the sixties.
Ray Schulte had earlier played in Bob Kuban and The In Men in 1962, before helping to form The Guise and, with his brother Jerry, an act called The Sheratons. Tiring of the pop and R&B scene, Touch were formed in mid-67, to create a more powerful fusion of psychedelic blues, and they quickly picked up support slots for acts such as Steppenwolf, Cream and Iron Butterfly, also playing at a free festival with Big Brother & The Holding Co. and Hourglass in '68.
Shortly after their album was recorded, Paulette headed West to join a commune, and Ovid quit. A new line-up recorded two further 45s, which feature some good fuzzy guitar work and in particular their version of Light My Fire, which is slower and fuzzier than The Doors', comes off well.
One final session in 1970, with Royal on electric harpsichord and lead vocals and David Surkamp (later of Pavlov's Dog) on rhythm guitar, resulted in three songs that have been included on the Gear Fab reissue. In particular The Magic Inside You is noteworthy for some fine lyrics, echoing the changing times. Incongruously, the band then landed the job as back up band for Tony Orlando & Dawn, who were riding high on a wave of commercial success from hits such as Tie A Yellow Ribbon.
Today, Royal and Ray Schulte are still performing in the St. Louis area as The Essence.
