From Soup To Nuts Dept.

We all [assumes STEVE SHARK - Ed.] have them tucked away in our collections of music, I'm sure - obscure albums by obscure bands who we think should have had a more successful career in music, but never made it for one reason or another.

So, look, here's SOUP.

Led by an extremely talented guy called Doug Yankus, Soup impressed a lot of people - including Clapton and Hendrix apparently - although they mainly stayed a local act, coming out of Wisconsin with the occasional foray into the New York area.

Yankus' first proper recordings were with a band called The Private Property of Digil, taking in influences from the Byrds - yes, there's some 12 string jangle - and even a touch of Beach Boys. Nice enough stuff, but not a whole lot different from what other people were doing in 1967 and 68.

Deciding to go quite a bit heavier, Yankus then formed Soup - a power trio in which his guitar playing really blossomed, showing him to be one of the most talented players of his generation, in spite of some very obvious rough edges.

Their first album, Soup, was a home produced affair, with one live and one studio side in a plain brown paper sleeve with mimeographed liner notes, which they sold at gigs. It contains some fabulous guitar playing - most notably on a 16 minute slow blues, I'm So Sorry, which has Yankus letting rip with some licks I've never heard before or since. Yes, it's rough and raw, but it really is something special. This is, apparently, what drew people to their gigs. I can see why.

I'm Just Not The Man To Be Tied is a tad jazzy with Yankus scatting along with his guitar. Then there's the very West Coast sound of Tennessee and the almost Love/Lee acoustic vibe of Veronica. The music isn't exactly what you'd call polished but there's enough there to see the potential the band had.

Soup's second and last album - The Album Soup - is a far better produced affair which is more rooted in melodic rock, with a welcome use of harmonies, which might have benefited the previous album in the less rocky numbers. Yankus' guitar is still evident, but he's playing more for the song than for his instrument. However, that said, it lacks the drive of their previous offering and at no time does Yankus' playing really catch fire.

After Soup, Yankus eventually hooked up with John Hiatt in White Duck, who cut two albums of pretty generic country-tinged rock. Yankus then continued with Hiatt, who embarked on a solo career with Hangin' Around The Observatory on which Yankus featured. I have no idea what he did after that, but he was dead at 32 from diabetes-related disease.

Fortunately, Doug's brother Chris has made a large amount of Soup's music available on YouTube and there's ample opportunity to hear what people raved about - their live performances.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChdepjYpXBQQw6GmYMILWDg/videos

Here's a cracking version of Sonny Rollins' Oleo which shows off Doug's jazz playing.

I reckon Doug could have been huge - he certainly had the chops to be a world class player - although it was probably a case of the wrong music at the wrong time. By the early 1970s, there was a move away from guitar-led heavy rock, and power trios were a little out of fashion.

Three albums in the comments for you - Digil, the debut album, and The Album Soup.