Pre -

Pre was an American symphonic-rock band, active circa 1973 in Kentucky. They recorded an album’s worth of material that appeared 21 years later courtesy of archivists ZNR.

Members: Alfred Collinsworth (lead and backing vocals, twelve-string guitars), Larry Collinsworth (electric, bowed, and acoustic guitars; backing vocals), Brian E. Paulson (Hammond organ, electric piano, grand piano, Minimoog), Steve DeMoss (bass, vibraphone, glockenspiel, backing vocals), Dwight Dunlap (drums, timpani, bells, percussion)

Background

Brothers Alfred and Larry Collinsworth formed Pre in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1973 with keyboardist Brian E. Paulson, bassist Steve DeMoss, and drummer Dwight Dunlap. Alfred Collinsworth sang with the Ashland-area Outcasts and co-wrote their Plato single “Loving You Sometimes.” Larry played in the Groovin’ Misfits before the brothers joined a Pennsylvania cover band that worked eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The Pennsylvania group split, and a Lexington booking contact encouraged the brothers to return to Kentucky. Alfred contacted local musicians and reached Paulson, who brought DeMoss and Dunlap into the project. Pre first rehearsed in the basement of Dunlap’s parents. The musicians planned a cover set, but original material replaced that repertory almost immediately.

Alfred and Larry brought in ideas developed on a reel-to-reel recorder in Pennsylvania. Paulson supplied additional material, and the full group shaped each arrangement. The quintet rehearsed almost daily and completed the core album within five weeks. Pre opened a 1973 Climax Blues Band concert at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

The group carried the tapes to New York for an appointment with Columbia A&R director Stuart Love, but corporate upheaval surrounding the May 1973 ouster of label president Clive Davis ended the meeting before a contract discussion. Further label pitches produced no agreement, and financial pressure dissolved the lineup within several months.

Pre

In 1994, ZNR Records released Pre, a collection of the group’s 1973 Lexington masters.

The CD preserves eight tracks and places “Path,” “Who’s Laughing Now,” and “Water Meeting” before the epic five-piece sequence that begins with “Bowing Down.” The Collinsworth brothers and Paulson supplied the core material.

Singer Alfred Collinsworth interweaves twelve-string guitars with Larry’s balance of electric, bowed, and acoustic guitars; both enmeshed with Paulson’s Hammond organ, electric piano, grand piano, and Minimoog. DeMoss adds vibraphone to “Water Meeting” and glockenspiel to “Ballet for a Blind Man,” where Dunlap also plays timpani.

“Path” glides through pastoral arpeggios and brief experimental tones. “Who’s Laughing Now” lingers over dark acoustic backing, with heightened singing held close to sparse accompaniment. “Water Meeting” quickens through intricate keyboard exchanges and repeated tempo turns. “Bowing Down” drifts from delicate strings into gentle arpeggios. “Ascetic Eros/Hymn of Transfiguration” surges through frequent tempo shifts, contoured high-set sung lines, and prolonged instrumental passages.

“Firmer Hand” swells from introspective singing through a sustained crescendo, extended organ solo, march figure, and sung finale. “Child of Sorrow” settles into acoustic figures and layered orchestral passages. “Ballet for a Blind Man” careens through three movements, alternating solo and choral passages as hard-edged guitar flights and broad ensemble themes gather toward a climax.

1. “Path” (1:33)
2. “Who’s Laughing Now” (3:33)
3. “Water Meeting” (5:28)
4. “Bowing Down” (3:37)
5. “Ascetic Eros” (11:19)
— a. “Ascetic Eros”
— b. “Hymn of Transfiguration”
6. “Firmer Hand” (9:05)
7. “Child of Sorrow” (3:40)
8. “Ballet for a Blind Man” (19:06)
— a. “Fields of Darkness”
— b. “Is It You Who’s Caught the Blues?”
— c. “Must Have Been Ten Years”

Pre recorded in March and June 1973 at Cardinal Studios and Track 16 in Lexington, where Bob Ernspiker and Tom Tandy shared engineering credit with the band. Keyboardist Brian Paulson and singer-guitarist Alfred Collinsworth produced the ZNR compact disc after John Toffolo restored the original masters at Bennett Innovations in Indianapolis. Digital Domain founder Bob Katz remastered the tapes in New York amid his early-Nineties recording and engineering work for Chesky Records.

ZNR founder and executive producer Stephen Roberts commissioned Louisville artist Denny Whalen for the cover, which places a reflective silver sphere above a red desert. Designer Tommie Ratliff set the typography and production art, while booking agent Mike Bullington contributed photographs from the group’s 1973 activity. ZNR packaged the artwork behind a transparent gold-lined jewel-case insert.

French archival label PQR-Disques plusqueréel reissued the recordings as Progressive Rock Experience on January 7, 2026, in numbered 180-gram vinyl editions and an eight-page digipak CD. PQR designated “Who’s Laughing Now,” “Water Meeting,” and “Path” as bonus tracks and added a two-page insert with rare photographs and a band history. The label assigned PQR040 to the LP and PQR052 to the CD.

Postlude

Paulson later joined Hugo Smooth, an Indianapolis group that released a self-titled album in 1980 on Big Time Records and shared regional bills with Flora Purim and Dizzy Gillespie. Larry Collinsworth continued as a guitarist and composed music for film and television, including trailer and game placements.

Discography: