By Davie G (213.251.162.249 - 213.251.162.249) on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 07:44 pm:

Hi Ralph,

Loved the new episode of the Tera Shirma story.
The photos were great - I'd never seen a photo
of Bob Babbitt before - a bit of a bear !

The correct name of the band was Mandala -
the blond guy in the photo is their drummer
Pentti Glan ( it's a Finnish name). They were
from Toronto and were from what I've heard the
best white soul band in Canada. They did manage
to make some records. There's a single by a group
called Mandala on the KR label which might be them but I've never heard it. What I have heard
is their only album "Soul Crusade" issued by
Atlantic in '68. The general consensus is that
the group were miles better "live" and that the
album is a pale reflection of how good a band they weremainly because their original lead singer had been replaced by the time they got to record,

The original lead was (I think) George Oliver - he'd been replaced by Roy Kenner when the album was recorded.

the leader of the group was guitarist Dominic
Troiano who had the reputaion of being the
hottest guitarist in Toronto in the 60's through
to the late 70's.

MAndala broke up soon after the release of their
only album - Troiano, Kenner and Glan brought in a new bass player then changed their name to
Bush and moved to the West Coast. They lasted one album ( on Dunhill) then Troiano was drafted into
the JAmes Gang to replace Joe Walsh who was going solo at the time. Troaino later brought MAndala
singer Roy Kenner into the James Gang for a while
but that didn't work out so he left to join the Guess Who. |He later fronted his own band who
had a couple of albums around 75 - 77.

There are a few Detroit connections -

Pennti Glan joined Funkadelic for a time - without
checking this would've been around the time of their second album. I've a feeling Bush bass player Prakash John was also involved with
Funkadelic but I'm not sure how long he was around.

Do you remember a group called the Stone Soul
Children ? They were half - Detroiters, half
Toronto-ers ( or whatever they call themselves )

They were a nine or ten piece band fronted by a pair of singers, a girl called Shawne Jackson
- the male lead was Joe Harris who went on
to Undisputed Truth.

Shawne Jackson went solo when the band broke up and ended up with a pretty good solo album
for RCA around '76 produced and mainly written
by Troiano.

This is probably far more than you wanted to know but hopefully it'll bring back some pleasant
memories.


The other guys in the group were singer

By david, glasgow, scotland (62.252.128.5 - 62.252.128.5) on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 09:17 pm:

sorry you seemed to get cut-off davie.

keyboards must have been burnin' up.

will update tera shirma with your info. thanks.

can't find pentti glan on any funkadelic albums however.

drummer credits are usually ramon 'tiki' fullwood or frank waddy or jerome brailey.

come back to us on this please, very interesting.

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 11:43 pm:

Davie,
Well you could about knock me over with all that information. Once again I can only credit this incredible forum for all of this. So all the years I have looked at that particular picture and assumed these guys just drifted into obscurity. Absolutely amazing. I don't remember all that much about them individually but I do remember that they were really nice guys.Davie...thank you so much.

By Davie G (213.251.162.249 - 213.251.162.249) on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 06:56 pm:

Hi Ralph,

Glad to be of help - Whitey Glan went on to become
Lou Reed's drummer both on record and touring
for a couple of years in the early 70's then
Reed's band which was based around Steve Hunter
and Dick Wagner ( Michigan guitarists - you
probably know them ) beceme the road and studio band for Alice Cooper when the original Alice
Cooper groupo got dumped. I haven't heard much
about him since but I'd imagine after spending
five years with a pair like Lou Reed and Alice
Cooper a quiet life might seem like a damn good idea !

Dick Wagner was from ( I think) Saginaw and
was involved with loads of regional bands in
the sixties. He had a band called Ursa Major
around 69/70 with an album on RCA that's highly
regarded by some collectors. There's a Wagner
solo album from 1978 on Atlantic which is like a Mandala reunion as Troiano,Pentti Glan and Prakash
John play on it as does a certain Bob Bsbbitt.

Re the MAndala - Bush - Funkadelic connection

I can't find anything that credits "Whitey" Glan
but Prakash John crops up on both PArliament's
"Chocolate City" and Funkadelic's "America Eats
Its Young" - I don't have the albums handy at the
moment but maybe somebody could check and see
what their sleeves say.

By david, glasgow, scotland (62.252.128.5 - 62.252.128.5) on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 07:38 pm:

pj is accredited with bass on both albums.

and vocals on america eats it's young.