Stories -

Stories was an American art-rock|pop band from N.Y.C. that released the 1972–73 albums Stories and About Us on Kama Sutra. After the departure of keyboardist and co-writer Michael Brown, singer Ian Lloyd took rein for the single “Brother Louie” and a third album, Traveling Underground. Brown hailed from baroque pop legends The Left Banke.

Members: Ian Lloyd (bass, vocals), Steve Love (guitar), Bryan Madey (drums), Kenny Aaronson (bass), Michael Brown (vocals, keyboards, 1972-73), Ken Bichel (keyboards, 1973-74)

Background

Stories started in 1971 when bassist Ian Lloyd and keyboardist Michael Brown formed a songwriting partnership.

Lloyd (b. Lloyd Buonconsiglio, 1947, Seattle) had been singing and cutting demos as Lloyd London. Brown (b. Michael Lookofsky, 1949, Brooklyn) recorded the heralded album Walk Away Renée / Pretty Ballerina and several additional singles (“And Suddenly,” “Desiree”) in The Left Banke, followed by one album in Montage. They were introduced by their fathers, veteran session violinists Peter Buonconsiglio and Harry Lookofsky.

Intent on forming a band in the vein of Revolver, they teamed with guitarist Steve Love and drummer Bryan Madey and signed as Stories to the NY-based Kama Sutra label. Concurrently, Love and Madey did session work for rustic label-mates Gunhill Road.

Stories

Stories released their self-titled debut album in May 1972 on Kama Sutra.

The album contains ten originals co-written by Michael Brown and Ian Lloyd, including “Winter Scenes,” “Saint James,” “Nice to Have You Here,” and the single “I’m Coming Home.”

Guitarist Steve Love harmonizes with bassist Lloyd, who sings all leads while Brown plays piano, harpsichord, organ, and Moog synthesizer. “You Told Me” and “Kathleen” feature their violinist fathers, Harry Lookofsky and Peter Buonconsiglio. The back-cover pictures both father/son pairs.

A1. “Hello People” (3:54)
A2. “I’m Coming Home” (2:38)
A3. “Winter Scenes” (4:18)
A4. “Step Back” (3:20)
A5. “You Told Me” (3:06)

B1. “Saint James” (4:13)
B2. “Kathleen” (3:14)
B3. “Take Cover” (3:01)
B4. “Nice to Have You Here” (3:25)
B5. “High and Low” (4:28)

Sessions occurred at Bell Sound Studios, where Stories self-produced the album with Izzy Disenhaus, who engineered the 1971 Buddah Records release Richard Nixon: Superstar by comedian David Frye. Stories features string arrangements by Larry Wilcox, a longtime Connie Francis orchestrator who did likewise for Gunhill Road and 1972 Kama titles by Dust and Exuma.

Kama Sutra lifted “I’m Coming Home” as a single (b/w “You Told Me”). In September, “Step Back” became the b-side of “Top of the City,” a non-album Brown/Lloyd original.

A. “Top of the City”

About Us

Stories released their second album, About Us, in March 1973 on Kama Sutra.

The album contains eleven songs co-written by Michael Brown and Ian Lloyd, including the epic rockers “Hey France” and “Please, Please” and the baroque ballads “Love Is In Motion” and “What Comes After.”

Brown plays piano, harpsichord, and mellotron on About Us, which features dual guitar/sitar by Steve Love, who wrote the rollicking Side B opener “Changes Have Begun.”

About Us originally contained twelve songs. In July, Kama Sutra re-released About Us with a thirteenth track: “Brother Louie,” a Hot Chocolate cover that charted as a standalone single.

A1. “Darling” (2:38)
A2. “Don’t Ever Let Me Down” (2:16)
A3. “Love Is In Motion” (3:14)
A4. “Hey France” (2:50)
A5. “Please, Please” (4:55)

B1. “Changes Have Begun” (3:30)
B2. “Circles” (1:34)
B3. “Believe Me” (3:31)
B4. “Words” (2:21)
B5. “Top of the City” (2:58)
B6. “Down Time Blooze” (1:18)
B7. “What Comes After” (2:00)
B8. “Brother Louie” (3:55)

Sessions spanned October 1972 through January 1973 in New York (Bell Sound) and London (Olympic Studios). Stories self-produced the album apart from “Darling,” “Hey France,” “Please, Please,” and “Changes Have Begun,” each recorded with Eddie Kramer, a prolific late-Sixties soundman (Family, Graffiti, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic) with recent credits behind Buzzy Linhart, Cactus, Steel, and Zephyr.

“Darling” preceded the album as a January 1973 single, backed with the earlier “Take Cover.” Between the album’s completion and release, Brown left Stories, which continued with Dust bassist Kenny Aaronson, whose presence gave Lloyd free-handed reign as a vocalist.

In May, “What Comes After” became the b-side of “Brother Louie,” a cover of the recent UK No. 7 hit by Hot Chocolate, written by Errol Brown and bassist Tony Wilson.

Dust guitarist Richie Wise produced “Brother Louie,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of August 25. The song ousted “Touch Me In the Morning” by Diana Ross and reigned for two weeks before Marvin Gaye took the honors with “Let’s Get It On.”

Traveling Underground

Stories released their third album, Traveling Underground, in December 1973 on Kama Sutra, which now billed the group as Ian Lloyd & Stories.

Lloyd fronts a reconfigured five-piece lineup with recent recruit Kenny Aaronson, co-founders Steve Love and Bryan Madey, and session keyboardist Kenneth Bichel, who plays mellotron and ARP.

Traveling Underground contains three songs by Lloyd (“Bridges,” “Stories Untold,” the title track), two by Love (“Hard When You’re So Far Away,” “I Can’t Understand It”), and the co-written “Soft Rain.” Lloyd and Bichel co-wrote “Earthbound / Free Fall,” an epic medley inspired by Genesis.

Side A contains covers of Climax (“If It Feels Good, Do It”) and the much-covered Europop hit “Mammy Blue.”

A1. “Bridges” (5:08)
A2. “Soft Rain” (4:30)
A3. “Hard When You’re So Far Away” (4:25)
A4. “If It Feels Good, Do It” (2:47) is a 1972 song by Climax, written by their keyboardist John Stevenson.
A5. “Mammy Blue” (3:40) is a 1970 song by French composer Hubert Giraud, recorded in 1971/72 by Joël Daydé, Roger Whittaker, Dalida, and Nicoletta.

B1. “Stories Untold” (4:01)
B2. “I Can’t Understand It” (3:55)
B3. “Earthbound / Free Fall” (8:13)
B4. “Traveling Underground” (4:31)

Stories recorded the album at Bell Sound with additional work at the LA studios Crystal Sound and United Sound. They co-produced Traveling Underground with Aaronson’s ex-Dust bandmate Richie Wise, who worked concurrently with Jobriath on the Elektra singer’s debut album, which features backing by Love and Bichel.

Traveling Underground also involved Bell engineer Warren Dewey and early Kiss producer Kenny Kerner, the sound team behind Imagination, the Buddah debut by former Motown stars Gladys Knight & The Pips.

Traveling Underground appeared in a gatefold with cosmic serigraphed imagery of the band (front and inner) and a psychedelic photo collage (back) by Gene Szafran, an artist for the first Stardrive album.

“Mammy Blue” first appeared in October (b/w “Traveling Underground”). In February 1974, Kama Sutra lifted “If It Feels Good, Do It” (b/w “Circles”). For the ensuing tour, Love cleared for Bungi guitarist Richie Ranno.

In July 1974, “Love Is In Motion” reappeared on the backside of “Another Love,” the standalone final Stories single.

A. “Another Love” (3:16) is a song by Bobby Flax and Lanny Lambert, the team behind Bullet, which scored a moderate 1971 hit with “White Lies, Blue Eyes.”

After Stories

Michael Brown formed The Beckies, which released a self-titled album in 1976 on Sire.

Ian Lloyd made his solo debut with a self-titled 1976 album on Polydor, recorded with alumni of King Crimson (Ian McDonald), Spooky Tooth (Mick Jones), and Jobriath’s Creatures (Gregg Diamond). Lloyd released two further albums in 1979/80 on Scotti Bros. Records. In 1984, he surfaced in Fast Forward, a Canadian AOR band with producer Bruce Fairbairn.

Steve Love did sessions work for Lloyd, Diamond, Garnet Mimms, Phyllis Hyman, Hall & Oates, and Evelyn “Champagne” King. In 1982, he joined the English electro band Landscape for their third album, Manhattan Boogie Woogie.

Kenny Aaronson served time in Derringer, Foghat, and the 1984 supergroup HSAS with Sammy Hagar, Neal Schon, and Michael Shrieve.

Richie Ranno recorded four 1976–78 studio albums with Starz, a Looking Glass spinoff fronted by Michael Lee Smith.

Discography: