Pig Iron -

Pig Iron was an American brass-rock band from NYC that released a 1970 self-titled album on CBS/Columbia.

Members: Alan Abrahams (lead vocals, drums), Marty Fogel (saxophone), Adam Ippolito (keyboards, trumpet, vocals), Bill Peters (lead guitar, vocals), Paul Squire (trumpet), Gary Van Scyoc (bass, trumpet, vocals)

Background

Pig Iron formed in New York in the late 1960s around drummer–singer Alan Abrahams. He assembled the album-era lineup with saxophonist Marty Fogel, trumpeter Paul Squire, guitarist–singer Bill Peters, bassist–trumpeter–singer Gary Van Scyoc, and keyboardist–trumpeter–singer Adam Ippolito.

Abrahams came from Pittsburgh and attended Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill. As Beatlemania hit, he filled a vacant drum chair in a college rock group and met the singer later billed as Sir Richard. Producer Freddie Cannon paired them as the faux-British duo Lord Alan and Sir Richard, which cut the 1964 Cannon single “Run in the Dark” / “Little Things” and appeared on Dance Party, a Pittsburgh music show hosted by KDKA-TV personality Clark Race. They to their act to the New York clubs with engagements at the Metropole.

Fogel grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in a musical household and took up tenor saxophone by age twelve. He earned a music-education degree from Montclair State College in 1967 and left graduate study for full-time performance.

Gary Van Scyoc was born on November 21, 1946, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and studied music at Salem College in West Virginia, where he joined The Dynatones as bassist and lead singer. The group recorded at Gateway Studios in Pittsburgh and secured a national Hanna-Barbera release for “The Fife Piper.” After a stint with Cotillion act Mr. Flood’s Party, Van Scyoc moved to New York. Ippolito grew up in New Jersey with a drummer father and grandfather.

By early 1970, Pig Iron built a national itinerary around clubs and colleges. Pig Iron shared February bills with Alice Cooper at Philadelphia’s Electric Factory and March dates with Ten Years After at Detroit’s Eastown Theatre. Columbia signed Pig Iron that spring and announced further appearances at the Boston Tea Party and Chicago’s Kinetic Playground ahead of the self-titled debut.

Pig Iron

Pig Iron released their singular album in 1970 on Columbia.

The album contains four Abrahams-led originals and five outside numbers, including songs associated with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (“I Put a Spell on You”), Jimmy Hughes (“Neighbor, Neighbor”), P.J. Proby (“I Can’t Make It Alone”), and The Box Tops (“People Gonna Talk”). Ippolito and Van Scyoc double on trumpet beside Squire, while Fogel supplies saxophone within the four-man horn complement.

“I Put a Spell on You” veers from a tuning-like prelude into horn-punctuated syncopation, then shifts from saxophone to trumpet solos. “Neighbor, Neighbor” churns through brisk, firm phrases. “I Can’t Make It Alone” slows beneath a female choir. “Abe’s Blues” saunters through sustained piano and guitar figures. “Wake Up Mr. Charlie” rallies emphatic lines over tambourine shakes. “Out of Town” surges through a brief, abrasive harmonica passage. “Top of the World” glides through measured brass figures.

A1. “People Gonna Talk” (3:01) – Penn, Oldham
A2. “I Put a Spell on You” (4:45) – Hawkins
A3. “Neighbor, Neighbor” (2:48) – Valier
A4. “I Can’t Make It Alone” (4:58) – Goffin, King

B1. “Easy Time Now” (3:18) – Abrahams, Ahlers, M. Barcley
B2. “Abe’s Blues” (5:20) – Abrahams
B3. “Wake Up Mr. Charlie” (2:49) – Baskin
B4. “Out of Town” (1:34) – Abrahams, M. Barcley
B5. “Top of the World” (2:43) – Abrahams, Ahlers, M. Barcley

Abrahams co-produced the album with engineer Malcolm Addey, a soundman on the 1969 Chick Corea Sundance sessions and the 1971 Kool & the Gang concert albums Live at the Sex Machine and Live at P.J.’s.

Pig Iron uses a colorized crop of the 1869 Andrew J. Russell photograph East and West Shaking Hands at Laying of Last Rail, taken at Promontory Summit for the Golden Spike ceremony that completed the First Transcontinental Railroad. Russell photographed Union Pacific construction across the American West after earlier Civil War work. Columbia set the image beneath a metallic PIG IRON nameplate; the backsleeve shifts to a monochrome studio portrait of the six members.

Columbia issued “People Gonna Talk” in 1970 (b/w “Neighbor, Neighbor”) as the album single. Later that year, “Abe’s Blues” appeared as a follow-up single (b/w the non-album “Put Your Hand in the Hand”).

FootPrint Records returned the album to CD in Sweden with a 2007 reissue.

Postlude

Van Scyoc and Ippolito joined Elephant’s Memory and entered John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band lineup. Both musicians appear on Some Time in New York City and the John-and-Yoko-produced 1972 album Elephant’s Memory.

Fogel formed the Everyman Band in 1973 and joined Lou Reed’s touring group two years later. He remained for five years and co-wrote “The Bells” with Reed for the 1979 album of the same name.

Abrahams moved into production and record-company work, including an executive-producer post at RCA. His later projects included albums by Joan Baez and Les McCann, plus a catalog of jazz and gospel productions.

Discography: