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Faithful Friends: A Forgotten Sixties Gem
by Bob Bembridge in Album Reviews
It was easy to have your album overlooked in 1969.
That was the year of Abbey Road, Let it Bleed, Volunteers, and debut albums by Blind Faith, Santana, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and the Allman Brothers. One overlooked gem that year was the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble’s “Faithful Friends…Flattering Foe.”
The 1969 version of NYRRE was comprised of three Julliard students – Dorian Rudnytsky, Marty Fulterman, and soon-to-be famous film score composer Michael Kamen. These three classical musicians were joined by Rudnytsky’s two fellow rockers from Toms River, NJ – Brian Corrigan and Clif Nivison. NYRRE artfully combined classical music with the Sixties rock sound. The group was a great favorite of Leonard Bernstein who invited them to appear at one of his concerts with the New York Philharmonic.
Between 1968 and 1973 NYRRE produced eight albums of uneven quality, but “Faithful Friends” was the swan song of the group’s most talented line-up. Guitarist Brian Corrigan, who co-wrote seven of the album’s 13 cuts, left the group shortly after “Faithful Friends” was released in 1969. Corrigan co-wrote the two best songs on the album, “Nel Cox” and “Thinking of Mary,” with Kamen and Dorian Rudnytsky (respectively).
Although Corrigan temporarily dropped off the musical map, Rudnystsky later played and composed for theater, TV, and film productions. Fulterman changed his name to Mark Snow and now composes for TV and film. Nivision continued to play guitar with rock bands in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Michael Kamen’s later achievements surpassed them all, scoring more than 70 films including “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and “101 Dalmatians.”
“Faithful Friends” has been available as a CD since 2006, and the album can occasionally be found on vinyl. Do yourself a favor and give this one a listen.
Interesting note: “Sing Lady Sing” by Kamen, Corrigan, and Nivison was apparently ripped off by former Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles and repackaged as his 1970 hit, “Them Changes.”
3 Responses to “Faithful Friends: A Forgotten Sixties Gem”
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August 31st, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Thanks for the heads-up. I always love discovering classic albums. It’s on my search list.
December 30th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I agree Thinking of Mary and Nel Cox were good but I liked the title song Faithful Friends (And Flattering Foe).
September 12th, 2009 at 10:38 am
nyrre did not make 8 albums , they made 5 they are as follows :
first self titled
then refelctions which was made 2nd but released as third album
then faithful friends
then they changed their name to new york rock ensemble [ leaving the "roll" out of it]
then came roll over their fantastic real rock album and should have been a big hit seller
then their last album freedomburger which was ok but sadly not up to par with any of the previous. their version of a whiter shade of pale [ procol harum] was decent
then and not really a combined group effort as all that was left was michael and dorian called new york rock [ only album not released on cd yet. it is a nice album but not a nyrre or nyre album!
then there was a release on a no name label from new york called
“former members of new york rock ensemble” with only cliff and marty from original band. it also is interesting but the production is thin and is also not an nyrre or nyre album. it is very rare to find and has not been released on cd either nor do i believe it was a legit release to begin with or maybe an after thought for tax purposes i would have to guess.
so there you have it !
also they co starred in a hippy western called zachariah during their roll over album period and also on a earlier 1960’s b&w arty film made in long island new york called out of control where they do some of the background music not found on any album.