Epic / Amber Soundroom 
Subway (1972)***°'
Subway was a LP project by an American/English duo consisting of singer-songwriter Irv Mowrey, guitar, vocals and composer/violinist Malcolm Watson. They travelled from San Fransisco towards the UK, France and Germany. In France they appeared on radio and TV and played in official places, resulting in this album, from which only 200 were printed. A lack of immediate success resulted in the unsold albums being destroyed. Most of the time the duo seemed to have travelled and even busked on the streets. I guess that’s how they chose the title for their project of “Subway” to give it that underground feel and to remind them of where they were destined to disappear once more into the unknown. The songs on this album are really strong and the arrangements, which are violin picking and improvisations and orchestrations, with some vocal and some percussion effects on the first couple of tracks make them sound even better. With each track the songs get more hand percussion & drums added and some electric bass, progressing the inner evolution and energy inside them. By the fourth track, “All the good things” the music has some true acid folk psychedelic tension. The most progressive track is “Enturbulaton-free form” on side B, which uses this improvisation energy and adds even organ and mellotron, electric guitar and a couple of echo effects to this jam. This is followed by two more folk-rock singer-songwriting tracks. Worth mentioning are the fine drumming with bass and violin improvisations on "Rosanna Of The Roses". Last track, "Can I trade with you my mind" is a beautiful song with some depth in emotions in the words. Also this track builds up its own progressive arrangements, making a perfect conclusion for a classic album and unique moment of a short time to arrange well a couple of songs made on the road during their touring.
Riverdale Rec. Mowrey Jnr & Watson : Busker (1976)***°
A few years later they were picked up from the streets once more. This time it was in San Francisco. Under their true names they were able to release a second (?) album which I accidentally found cheaply on the second hand market. It is a more quiete album because there’s no drumming or rock element to it. It has however similar tracks to the Subway album, from which especially the longer tracks stand out and are very comparable. This other album seems to have been unnoticed by collectors so far. Even the label mentions that there only exist one album by the duo. I wonder why the duo, who cooperated in the reissue of Subway didn’t make any mention of it.
(Old description from radioshow :
"Relatively unknown but original album of the same violin/guitar duo. Good intrumentation, with more into depth songs. Don't know what to think about the second side (after a while I got a bit bored unless its potential). Picked up from the streets of San Fransisco."
(Airplayed tracks in radioshow : 3,4,5)
PS. Subway now is reissued by Guerssen Records. I told them about the second album which wasn't known amongst collectors yet. He decided to release it soon as well.
