"THE OTHER HALF - THE OTHER HALF" (CRUDE GARAGE US 1966)
"The Other Half" were an obscure Garage combo from Pottstown, PA.
The members were: "Bob Collett" (vocals), "Andrea Inganni" (vocals), "Don Karr" (bass keys on "Farfisa Compact Organ", "Fender Bass"), "John Hawkins" (bass), "Dominick Puccio" (guitar, "Fender Bass"), "Rex Lamb" (lead guitar), "Robert Potter" (drums mk2), "Cranleigh Sammis" (drums mk1).
"The Other Half" were formed at The Hill School, a prep school in Pottstown, PA, with members originating from all over the locale - Long Island, central Jersey, just outside Philly.
Both "John Hawkins" (bass) and "Cranleigh Sammis" (drums) were previously in "The Half Tribe" (of Manasseh) whose equally rare private LP.
"The Other Half" lasted two years: the academic years of 1965-66 and 1966-7.
Their album was made in the Spring of 1966, recorded on the top floor of the Oasis Hotel in Camden NJ (just across the river from Philadelphia) in a small for-hire recording studio.
"Don Karr" recalls:- "Two members, the bassist and drummer ("John Hawkins" and "Cranleigh Sammis"), carried over from "The Half Tribe" to "The Other Half".
They both graduated in 1966.
For "The Other Half" Mk.2, the following academic year, a new drummer was added, "Robert Potter".
Puccio and I took over the bass (Puccio played Fender Bass; I played either Fender Bass or bass keys on the Farfisa Combo Compact).
Inganni, Lamb, Puccio, and Collett all graduated in 1967. Potter, who was class of '68, went on to graduate; I was class of '69 (indeed, a mere freshman when I joined) and left The Hill after the '66-'67 school year (my second year)".
"A second album was planned, to be recorded Spring of 1967, but one of the members was expelled from school just days before the recording was to take place".
"The Other Half played at numerous socials at The Hill School and at some of the near-by girls' schools where co-ordinated glee club concerts were followed by dances.
The only engagements which were not directly Hill related were a frat party at Lafayette University (Easton PA) and a private party on Long Island".
"The Other Half" have a solid Northeastern sound and a little more Punk edge than their regional competition.
Their eponymous album ("The Other Half - The Other Half" 7/2 Records HS 1-2, 100 copies) included two cool originals and the rest are Rhythm'n'Blues and British Invasion covers (Them's Gloria, "Rolling Stones"' Satisfaction, "Time Is On My Side", "As Tears Go By", "The Outsiders"' "Time Won't Let Me", ecc.)
Their original songs are issued on single "A Lot To Live For" / "Aspens Of The Night" (7/2 P-1 1/2) in August 1966.
No relation to the Californian - "The Other Half - The Other Half" (Raw Rhythm and Blues Psychedelic US 1968) - or Canadian groups of the same name.
Enjoy it!!!
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