The new 4 Out Of 5 Doctors CD, "Reconstruction"Way back in the early 80's, some of my friends and I used to regularly go to see an up-and-coming local power pop band called 4 Out Of 5 Doctors. The band consisted of Cal Everett on lead vocals and bass, Jeff Severson on guitar, keyboards and vocals, George Pittaway on guitar and vocals, and Tom Ballew on drums and vocals.
We saw them at the (now defunct) Bayou in Georgetown, and at the Wild West Rock Club in Springfield VA (now Jaxx), among other places. They put out two albums, and then pretty much disappeared.
Their two records never got released on CD, so over time, their music faded into memory.
They were fondly remembered, however, and in fact, my band back in the 80's, *Batteries Not Included, used to play a cover of the Doctors' song "Danger Man" at pretty much every one of our shows.
A couple of years ago, I exchanged emails with both Jeff and Cal, asking if any of their music was available on MP3, and the response was that it was pretty much unavailable.
Then, last week, I got word that the Doctors were playing a reunion show at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA on July 20th, and what's more, both their albums would be available for the first time on CD. There was no way I could miss this!
With great anticipation, we arrived at Jammin' Java last night, and took our seats right in the front row for the sold-out show. At about 7:30, after Jeff came on stage to play an acoustic guitar instrumental rendition of one of their songs, the whole band took the stage and launched into "Danger Man". They then proceeded to rip right through song after song from their eponymous first album. After a short break, they came back and played several songs from the second album, "Second Opinion", along with a couple of covers, and an original song, "Coliseum Rock", that we used to hear them play that had never been released on a record.
It was as if no time had passed - they sounded just like they always did, and although there were some occasional glitches (we couldn't hear George's guitar very well for a lot of the show, and there were moments where it seemed as if somebody had forgotten to play something), they put on a terrific show. Cal was in excellent voice, and the band just radiated energy and confidence.
I got an opportunity to talk with Cal and Jeff after the show, and they confirmed that the reason they'd been iffy about the MP3's a while back was that there was some question about whether they had rights to release the music. Apparently, those issues were resolved, because they had a new 2-disc CD on sale at the show, "Reconstruction", containing both of the original two albums plus a couple of bonus tracks, one of which I don't recall ever hearing before, and the other being "Coliseum Rock".
Listening to the CD, I was struck by how great a live band they are, and how all of that energy didn't seem (to me, anyway) to have made it onto the recordings. Perhaps with the right producer and a little luck, they might have made it big, rather than giving up the ghost in 1983 (except for playing a reunion show back in 1991, which I only recently found out about).
I asked Cal about the possibility of any more live shows, and he seemed dubious - it's a big production to get the band together for a show like this, one reason being that only half of the band are still local - George is in Richmond, and Tom is all the way out in Washington state. However, he didn't dismiss the idea entirely. And he did say that there was material recorded for a third never-released album which might now see the light of day.
So while they may not have found huge commercial success, 4 Out Of 5 Doctors found a loyal following that has stayed with them for 30 years, without having released any recordings since 1982, and having played only two shows since 1983. That sounds to me like success.
Official 4 Out Of 5 Doctors website (you can purchase the CD there):
http://www.4outof5drs.com/Pictures of the show:
http://picasaweb.google.com/elmobalderdash/4OutOf5Doctors72008