Orchards & Vines – "In The Darkness" (2000)
2010/02/16Audio Stream (and Free MP3): http://www.orchardsandvines.com/music.html
Occasionally I like to turn on my random 80s one-hit-wonders playlist. It includes songs like Franky Goes To Hollywood's "Relax", Tommy Tutone's "867-5309", and Nena's "99 Luft Balloons". Good stuff.
Somehow this song "In The Darkness" by Orchards & Vines ended up in the list even though it is not from the 80s. I thought it odd. I ask G if she knew about it or the band. Nope. So I search YouTube for "Orchards & Vines". Nothing. It materialized apparently. What is also odd is how little information about them is on the Internet. All I can find of substance are some rave reviews (like this one), the Orchards & Vines website and MySpace page, and the place on Amazon where their album, "Tomorrow's Yesterday", was sold, once upon a time. No Wikipedia page. Weird.
It is as though the band disappeared, and the album with it. However there is no indication of this Jefferson Airplane like band disbanding. There is even a mention of new albums being in the works but the only date to cling to is the 2009 copyright at the bottom of the website. Did singer Cindy Tomlinson and the band memebers Ted Koppman, Elinor Harshenin, Jesse Cullen and Ron Mann all just fall off the face of the planet? I have no idea. They are from Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Perhaps they are at the Olympics?
I have to wonder though, how many bands that did not score radio time and whose album failed to earn much for their record label, just kind of fade away? I suppose some bands are destined to be forgotten, unable to grasp the great success they had hoped for. I'd like to believe this one should not be one of them.
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Click here for more info on Orchards & Vines – Tomorrow's Yesterday – "In The Darkness".
The MP3 may be downloaded for free here… Orchards & Vines - Tomorrow's Yesterday
I HAVE AN UPDATE!
I found the album on eBay and bought it. After an initial listen I'd say it is good. It is very promising because some of my favorite albums I dismissed after one listen and rediscovered later. Unfortunately for you, if you want to buy it you'll have to hunt for it like I did!
ALSO I emailed Orchards & Vines to see if they were still active. They responded with this…
We're still active and playing occasional shows in Vancouver but have been focusing on our new project War Of The Minds ( http://www.waroftheminds.com ) which grew out of some of the heavier material we were working on. The WOTM CD is about to be mastered for release in the very near future, and we're also hoping to put out a free O&V EP later this year which will include the songs Take Flight and Touch The Sky (we put early versions on the O&V MySpace a few months ago).
Vancouver is quite isolated and not a very practical touring base since it's so far from the other major cities in Canada and the US border is posing many problems for bands on both sides. That said, we're planning to tour in support of the War Of The Minds CD and will be playing a couple of O&V songs in the set.
Cheers!
O&V
It is good to hear they continue and I will definitely be looking into "War of the Minds" and I will be watching for the free Orchards and Vines EP!
As of this year (2011) I saw on the WWW some Canadian tour/show dates and a couple of show reviews about O&V. Most of their stuff is definitely a cut above anything I've heard so they rate highly in my view.
Over the years I have heard many great tracks from what/who then became 'obscure' bands/artists, so perhaps O&V, whilst most definitely being very talented as a group, just aren't 'mainstream' enough to garner the corporate marketing support (or even interest) that they need? Or..they just might not be too fused about becoming 'popular'?
The bottom-line for me is that they are a terrific band and their stuff is well worth listening to. The 'new' tracks that are apparently 'coming' also sound absolutely fabulous (Take Flight, Ever Dream of Moonlight and the truly wonderful Breathing)and deserve full commercial airplay in my humble opinion. O&V produce stuff that is way better than most drivel dished out to the masses via the commercial music money-making enterprises.
I signed up on the Orchards & Vines email list, so I will be waiting and watching. Also, I have decided the "mainstream" and most radio stations are becoming more and more irrelevant. The action is on the web… on turntable.fm, spotify, pandora, youtube, etc. They are the new 'radio stations', and they allow access to a lot more genres and artists large and small. You can be sure, I'll be playing some Orchards & Vines on turntable.fm!