Pearls Before Swine was an American psychedelic folk band formed by Tom Rapp in 1965 in Eau Gallie, now part of Melbourne, Florida. They released six albums between 1967 and 1971, before Rapp launched a solo career. <br /> <br />Balaklava was the second album recorded and released by psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine in 1968. <br />For the album, original group members Tom Rapp, Wayne Harley and Lane Lederer were joined by Jim Bohannon, who replaced Roger Crissinger. Like the group’s previous LP recorded on ESP-Disk titled "One Nation Underground," it was recorded at Impact Sound in New York City. Recordings took place sometime in early 1968, but no records exist of the sessions. Some CD reissues have stated that it was recorded in 1965, but this is an error, as Lederer left the group during or shortly after the recordings and the basic group was augmented by studio musicians. <br /> <br />Rapp has stated that he wanted to produce a themed anti-war album, and chose the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854 as an example of the futility of war. The album was dedicated to Private Edward Slovik, the only United States soldier executed for desertion during the Second World War. <br /> <br />The album cover <br />The front cover is a detail of "The Triumph of Death" by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, showing a grotesque allegorical depiction of the horrors of war, while the back cover showed a photograph of a young girl at an anti-war protest taken by Mel Zimmer. The cover also included the quote "Only the dead have seen the end of war" by George Santayana, together with surreal and horrific drawings by avant-garde artist Jean Cocteau. The cover contributed to the mystique surrounding the group - there were few if any photographs of its members published, and Pearls Before Swine did not perform in concert until 1971. <br /> <br />The album repeated the band's critical success in the underground college scene of the late 1960s, and has subsequently been regularly rated the highest of all of both the band's - and Rapp’s - albums. Following the album's release, Rapp backed out of his ESP contract and signed with Reprise Records. After seven further albums he retired from music in the mid-1970s, went back to school and became a successful civil rights lawyer for over three decades. He returned to perform and occasionally record in the mid-1990s. <br /> <br />Credits <br />Tom Rapp – guitar, vocals, breathing <br />Jim Bohannon – organ, piano, clavinette, marimba <br />Wayne Harley – banjo, harmony <br />Lane Lederer – bass, guitar, swinehorn <br />Guest artists :- <br />Joe Farrell – flute, English horn (tracks 3, 7) <br />Lee Crabtree – piano, organ, flute (tracks 5, 8) <br />Bill Salter – bass (tracks 5, 7, 8, 10) <br />Al Shackman – guitar (track 8) <br />Warren Smith – string arrangements (track 5) <br />Selwart Clarke – string arrangements (track 6) <br /> <br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaklava_(album)
