Andy Pratt - piano, vocals; Mark Doyle - guitar, arranger, keyboards, vocals; Gary Link - bass, vocals; Andy Mendelson - organ, keyboards, guitar; Frank DeFonda - drums
Singer/songwriter Andy Pratt was supposed to be America's answer to Elton John, and despite some great material and exciting shows, the hype was more than he could have lived up to. Based in Boston, Pratt was raised as a trust fund baby (his great grandfather was an oil tycoon who founded the Pratt Institute), whose closet interest in rock 'n' roll was often scorned by his family. He attended and graduated from Harvard in the '60s with a degree in English Lit, all the while working in various bands while getting his degree. A 1969 debut solo album received little notice.
Upon graduating from Harvard, he built and operated a state-of-the-art recording studio, experimenting in the newest technology and the recently developed art of overdubbing. He submitted a demo of a song called "Avenging Annie," which landed him a deal with Columbia Records. His self-titled Columbia disc would fare much better than its 1969 predecessor. Pratt used his extensive studio experience to write and record a brilliant album, including a stunning re-make of "Avenging Annie," which took over 500 hours to record.
Though Andy Pratt got rave reviews and was a hit in the Northeast U.S., Columbia dropped him in 1974. He signed with Nat Weiss's Atlantic Records-distributed Nemporer Records in 1976, releasing Resolution, the first of three LPs he would make for Weiss. He did see another burst of success when Roger Daltrey of the Who had a solo hit with "Avenging Annie," from his One Of The Boys album.
This would also mark the beginning of a long collaboration with Syracuse-born guitarist, Mark Doyle, formerly of Jukin' Bone and the Doyle-Whitting Band. In 1979, Pratt became a Born Again Christian, and opted to drop out of the contemporary music scene. He didn't stop writing and recording, however, focusing instead on Christian music. He married a Dutch woman and moved to Belgium, where here he remained until 2003. Pratt then returned to Boston after his second divorce, and has returned to making commercial records. He has since re-grouped with both Mark Doyle and Gary Link from his classic mid-1970s band.
This show is one of three recorded over two nights at New York's Bottom Line club for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, while Pratt was promoting his fourth record, Shiver In The Night.