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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.”
5 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.
May 4th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Wow, Bob! I can’t believe you have a review of an NYRRE album on the internet. (This might take a while, so hold on!) I was a big (and i mean big) NYRRE fan, starting with their first album. My best friend from junior high, Karen Leicher (hi, if you’re out there, Karen!), told me about them around 1967 because she went to Music and Art H.S. and was friends with Michael Kamen’s brother, Lenny, who turned her onto them. I loved that album, but only remember 2 songs from it, “Mr. Tree” and “Studeo Atlantis”, which named Ahmet (sp) Ertegun and other Atlantic Records big shots. (That was their label). I don’t remember the first time i saw them perform, but i developed a crush on MK immediately (and thought Marty Fulterman was pretty cool, too. I didn’t know he was Mark Snow, too.) and, of course, his electric piano playing was awesome. I bought all of their albums, including one you didn’t mention that was done with a top Greek composer (forget his name). I wasn’t into classical music, but i loved the oboe duets MK and MF used to do onstage in between the rock stuff and i’ve never forgotten the beautiful keyboard intro MK would always play at the beginning of their shows. I can’t remember the composer’s name, but i think he lived in the 17th or 18th century. Do you know his name? Anyway, NYRRE was my favorite band, even ahead of the Beatles and Stones. I went to every NYC show they did, including the 3 fabulous Bitter End shows they did in the summer of 1969 in the Village. I brought 2 friends down one night and we sat a foot from the stage. At these shows, i took photos (they didn’t come out) and recorded the music. (I almost got thrown out for doing that.) Other shows i saw were at Hunter College, Brooklyn College (i think it was a fraternity party and, at the end, MF came up to me and put his hands on my head — not sure why), a club up in the Bronx (White Plains Road?), the Prospect Park bandshell (B’klyn), and a Young People’s concert with Leonard Bernstein, which i think was later shown on tv. I’m sure there were other gigs i can’t recall. They were on the Today show (June 25 or 26, 1968) the day of my high school graduation. I also saw them in “Zachariah”, which starred John Rubinstein and featured Country Joe and the Fish (“We’re musicians and singers, not gunslingers”, they sang). Sadly, i lost my NYRRE albums a long time ago, but i have a CD with “Faithful Friends” and one of their other albums on it. (Someone i met online sent it to me). It was awesome hearing all those great songs again after 30 years, especially “Sing, Lady, Sing”, which was always my favorite. I’m glad MK finally had a big international hit with “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”, which he wrote with Bryan Adams and, of course, it was fantastic that he had so much success writing for movies. One of the worst days of my life was the night of the 2004 Oscars when i saw MK’s photo on the screen during the segment where they showed celebrities who had died in the past year. He had died about 3 months before, but i didn’t find out until then.
Anyway, they were an incredibly talented band who broke up much too soon — a brief burst of fireworks that brought me and many others great joy. RIP Michael Kamen and the New York Rock ‘n’ Roll Ensemble. I’ll always remember you.
May 14th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
wow I guess u might say u had a crush on them! I loved them as well and they were the 1st band I ever saw live which was at Carnegie Hall. What a concert. Also saw them in central park,town hall with last time being as michael kamen & NY Rock at Electric Circus in 73. Too bad nothing live is available as they w (except a cd someone sent me from a L Island NY Studio) a great live band!