High Treason – High Treason (1969 us, west coast psych sound with baroque touches, Gear Fab release)

The seeds of High Treason started at Temple University in Philadelphia, circa 1967. Edgar Koshatka started jamming with an assortment of “alternative music types” that were fairly commonplace in those days of sit-ins, protests, and general mayhem. Edgar was a jazz guy-at heart and a by-then-halfhearted classical guy as a music major.

Edgar always kept half-an-ear cocked to some of the innovative new rock radio stations springing up, and was completely “blown-away” (hey, it was the sixties, right?) when the rich textures, modal harmony, and sonic power of the Jefferson Airplane, circa “After Bathing At Baxters”. In mid-’68 or so,, Edgar met Marcie Rauer and Saul Goodman, and many musical ideas began to be exchanged.

The eclectic, multi-style musical mix that was to be the band’s trademark began to emerge, based around the writing of Edgar and the instrumental and vocal contributions of all. Joe Cleary, a successful top-40 type who had seen “the light” came aboard, and various bass players and drummers came and went with regularity (a problem that was to plague the band; there are also more than one-of-each on the album). The instrumental and vocal nucleus of Edgar, Marcie, Saul, and Joe remained constant, however.

By late ’68, the band had become a full-fledged effort, with a manager, a bunch of equipment, roadies, a band house, and lots of record company inquiries. Along with that came many gigs at scores of PA, NY, NJ, DE, and occasionally furtherafield concert halls, coffee houses, and especially at the symbolic late 60’s venues that would later be dubbed “psychedelic garages”. These, of course, were the arch typical social and music centers of the time for the alternative culture that had wafted from west coast to east.

The band finally signed a record deal in 1969 with, of all things, a label that was best known for recordings of children books (Amer