• Digital Album

  Streaming + Download

  Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
  
  This album is also available on all on-line music sites including: Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, Amazon Music, eMusic and others.
  
  Lyrics & music to all songs by Chet Nichols
  Produced, recorded and mixed by Stephen Barncard
  Co-produced by Chet Nichols
  Recorded at Wally Heider's Studio in San Francisco, CA 1970-71
  Remix-mastering 2015 at International House Of Cubes Sebastopol
  houseofcubes.com
  Instrumentation and vocals on all tracks by Chet Nichols, except:
  "(Spinning On The) Time Loop" co-produced by Nick Gravenites
  …… Lyrics and further credits shown on individual song pages
  
  
  If you haven’t heard Chet Nichols, and love great original acoustic music, be prepared to have your socks blown off. He’s a wonder of nature that plays and sings these original, complex yet endearing melodies, and sounds like 3 people playing.
  
  This state is enabled thanks to the gifts of incredible range and choir-boy quality of the voice, driving rhythms that may include hands, feet, rings, ( sometimes even a trick knee ) and special “open tunings” used to create the song space.
  
  I first caught Chet back in KC in 1969, where he was headlining at the Vanguard Coffee House on Main street. I was blown away. An invitation is offered to come to play at KCJC, the radio station (where I was known as ‘NightFreak’) followed, and the rest is history.
  
  That night at the radio station, I set up the news mic on Chet’s guitar (an old RCA 44) and another beat up 44 at my announcer’s position, and just let him play..
  
  .. after an hour and a half of a stunning performance I realized we had to work on a project together at some point in the future.
  
  And it happened - we ended up in San Francisco and were able to cut the tracks for this record between 1970 and 1971.
  
  This release is the long-awaited 2015 remix of Chet Nichols' CD, "Beetles Are Coming". It features ALL-NEW HD/HiFi-quality restoration, re-mixed, re-edited and re-mastered tracks from Chet's ground-breaking first album, "Time Loop".
  
  Great care was taken to preserve all that was on the original master tapes:
  16track 2inch 3m or Ampex machine ——>
  3m tape——>
  16 track Studer——>Digital HD 24/96——>
  digital mix——>
  dithering-resampling to 44/16 in mastering—>
  44/16 master file at Bandcamp—>
  Bandcamp delivers file format of your choice.
  
  This remixed-remastered version restores the vision we had had for this project all along. It just took a little time. We located some better takes and alternate parts and took away some others. We also fixed some pesky phase and polarity problems with the many microphone experiments, including stereo vocals.
  
  Revisionism? Perhaps, but for the better. For the songs. For the Sound. This record is a special treat.
  
  You can have the best experience if you download the larger Apple Lossless or FLAC files before burning to CD or placing in your library. We hope to offer a 24/96 version at some point in the future.
  
  thanks for listening.
  
  
  stephen barncard
  barncard.com
  
  ——————————————————
  
  ALL SONGS Copyrights by:
  Chet Nichols (ASCAP) & Magic Garage Music (ASCAP) - USA
  ALL US & GLOBAL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED
  
  These songs or any portion thereof (lyrics, music, samples, vocals) may not be reproduced in any form or media, distributed, transmitted, downloaded, shared or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publishers. For permission requests, write to the publisher at chetnichols@me.com or www.chetnichols.net, or addressed to "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the address below.
  Magic Garage Music, PO Box 2398, Northbrook, IL 60065
  
  More information at: www.chetnichols.net
  
  _______________________________
  
  CD REVIEWS
  
  VINYL ANTIQUITY
  
  
  Friday, March 1, 2013 by Blake Mitchner
  
  Chet Nichols Is On The Time Loop Of Your Mind-
  
  Here's One For You Freaky Folk Prog Fans!
  
  In America and really worldwide in the early to late 70s the solo
  artist or if you like "Singer Songwriter" came into his or her own
  with classic releases by the likes of Emmit Rhodes, Carole King,
  Todd Rundgren, and lesser known masterful artists like Pete Dello
  and Clifford T. Ward who himself is only lesser known a bit in
  America. Now there didn't have to be a whole band it could be
  one person with a whole lot to say and a great melodic sense. If
  you take away the valuable content and the great melodic or
  creative sense you end up with some of the worst rubbish ever,
  but in my mind at least the vast array of early 70s solo artists
  could come up with some really briliant and interesting results.
  
  Chet Nichols Gets Deserved Respect From Paul Major
  And From Me
  
  Chet Nichols probably got signed to Kama Sutra not because
  he was a later west coast San Francisco progressive folk psych
  mastermind who came up by himself with a full band sound on
  his one album TIME LOOP, but probably because Kama Sutra
  thought his eccentricities would be overlooked for the very
  pleasant and inventive voice he has. Far removed from James
  Taylor, Jim Croce, Leonard Cohen and the like Chet's music is
  more comparable to British pastoral on-the-edge folk psych
  progressive acts like Northwind and their lead vocalist Brian
  Young and Dog That Bit People's John Caswell.
  
  Back in the beginning with Paul Major we didn't agree on
  everything and certainly he always had a weakness for the inept,
  but he loved and hopefully still loves great British records and
  that may be just one reason why he raved about Chet Nichols
  ages later championing his album TIME LOOP as a work of
  stunning somewhat strange folk psych.
  
  When I first heard Nichols in 2002 I was very impressed by
  the album, but I couldn't believe despite the sparse nature that
  this was all one guy. Hearing him again now I can say that my
  opinion hasn't changed. That means something. Paul was onto
  something that really had merit with Chet Nichols and its a
  shame that some other dealers don't share his views on the
  album and have unjustly slammed it. Well to each his own
  pleasures and prejudices and I'd say this album belongs in
  every collection in my opinion.
  
  I recently heard what is supposed to be the big monster on
  Kama Sutra to most dealers/collectors Hackamore Brick's
  ONE KISS LEADS TO ANOTHER and what a piece of garbage!
  I actually got both records from the same record store on the
  same day and ONE KISS went right out the door with Chet
  securing a permanent home in my collection. Hackamore Brick
  sound nothing like The Velvet Underground who they are
  claimed to be just like. That could have been a good thing since
  for the most part I hate Velvet Underground and most other
  experimental New York noise groups like The Godz for instance-
  I'll admit they were hugely talented revolutionaries, but myself
  if I'm gonna go out there I prefer something more like Earth Opera.
  
  Hackamore Brick is a bad plain country rock record with a
  few other ideas thrown in that go nowhere and the whole album
  sounds like the band were in a comatose or just plain sloppy and
  lazy mindset when they made the album. Don't waste your time
  and your dough. To get back to Chet Nichols his album
  TIME LOOP really is special, but it doesn't get enough praise
  for how brilliant and creatively inventive it is. Initially the album
  was $50 to $75 and worth it and now the price fluctuates all the
  time and proves that the price of an album means nothing.
  I picked this up for $25 mint in the shrink and it is musically
  even beyond $50 or $75 it's priceless. So now let me give you
  the lowdown. Are you ready and steady to here my latest rant!?
  Hold on coz a here it comes!
  
  Spinning On The TIME LOOP With Chet Nichols An Extraordinarily Great Record
  
  Chet Nichols only used other musicians on one track on his
  TIME LOOP album and that is the title track with an appearance
  on piano from the late and brilliant Nicky Hopkins. The title
  track is a great song, but much more commercial than the rest
  of the amazing record. Tracks like "Electra," "Tell Me What The
  Count Is" and the bizarre short closing bit of madness "Quasar
  Sleeper" are all vocals and instruments by Nichols himself. Even
  when it is just a sparse backing of acoustic guitar and weird vocal
  effects somehow this album is far from folky in the bad way and
  much more roomy, much more progressive. I mean the kind of
  progressive that was going on in the UK at the time and I apologize
  for my slandering of Britain in one of my last blogs.
  
  I shouldn't let stupid people put me off my favorite country
  although I think England is really in a bad state of decline now
  like much of the world. The songs tend to be a bit longer on here
  than on Dog That Bit People and a bit shorter than some of
  Northwind's, but both bands with their freaky mellow progressive psychedelic laced sound would be good comparisons especially
  Northwind. There's a subtle moodiness here and some subtly
  dark moments that might even bring to mind some of the eccentric ramblings of the aforementioned Earth Opera's Peter Rowan.
  Unlike Rowan Chet Nichols had a voice that would have been
  commercially marketable had he not been a really progressive
  writer and singer with grand ideas and strong leanings towards
  freaked out wasted psychedelia.
  
  "Electra" begins the album and is a strong percussive number
  with soaring vocals and a captivating sound to it that sounds half
  California half England. The half California half England vibe
  comes up a lot. It's a shame Paul Major and I have been so long
  out of touch. I'd like to think that Paul will see this and be glad
  because Paul is a great guy and I'm sad to no longer be in
  communication with him. "Electra" has some very out there lyrics
  and a nice balance between acoustic and electric instrumentation
  with a nod to the past decade of the 60s and what the
  counterculture could produce in terms of brilliant music.
  Stoned looking Chet is definitely not a square guy- in fact
  you could say he's pretty strange and definitely someone
  who would defy authority.
  
  "Water Sand Castles" delves into a nautical mood that is very
  pastoral and pleasant with excellent vocals from Chet and
  some great musical creativity flowing from this brilliant man.
  He is very different from Todd Rundgren because he is coming
  from a completely different background and a completely
  different part of the country. Todd started out in a band. They
  were called Nazz and they were a great band, but Todd abandoned
  his Angophile phase before his solo career and became the East
  Coast's foremost pop/progressive/weirdness purveyor before he
  went completely narcissistic and crazy. I love Todd Rundgren, but
  I prefer Chet Nichols. Chet has going for him that he only did one
  album. He has going for him the UK meets San Fran vibe of songs
  like "Water Sand Castles" with its oceanic sweetness, the
  environmentally concerned thought provoking beautiful folk
  pop of "Who Stole The Ivy" and the stark acoustic guitar and
  voice intensity of "Lonely Woman." Every song on this album
  tries something new.
  
  There's a lot going on and a lot of pleasure to be had if you have
  an open mind. "Who Stole The Ivy" would have fit perfectly on an
  album from 1967 or 1968, but it is updated a little here to sound
  more of the early 70s era. Most of the songs on TIME LOOP were
  written between 1968 and 1970, but the album was recorded in
  1972 and came out then. A sure sign that it was the 70s and not
  the utopian 60s is the lyrically violent musically crazed closing
  track on Side One "The Ballad Of Diamond Joe" about a guy who
  kills 3 guys with a saw and then gets hunted down and killed by the protagonist which is of course Chet's character.
  
  This kind of old West gone mad vibe was so popular in the early
  70s, but it speaks of something that is as dark as the lyric Chet
  wrote. Altamont had happened (To Hell with the Hell's Angels
  says I!) and so had Kent State. The 60s were in retreat and getting
  further and further from the dream of a beautiful world as the
  70s went on. There were still places and still dreams of places
  where there was a more relaxed and open life, but society and
  authority were closing in leading to paranoia and disillusionment.
  
  Side One of this album covers the ground from the hopes of the
  60s right on through to the turning back on the world "We've Got
  To Just Make It Alone" vibe of the 70s. Strangely, it isn't a sad
  album. In fact, you may like me have a sense of joy or relief even
  when you hear the sound more of the early 70s era.
  
  Side Two begins with "(Spinning On The) Time Loop" a really
  catchy commercial number and the only track to use session
  players including Nicky Hopkins the late keyboard genius who
  helped out The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. "(Spinning On The)
  Time Loop" isn't like anything else on the record and it works
  instead of sounding like something hastily thrown together to fill
  up space.
  
  "Tell Me What The Count Is" goes right back into the UK
  and California gone twisted folk psych progressive vibes with
  insightful wary lyrics and a real sense of intensity. Nichols does
  a lot by working by himself. The least full sounding track is the
  title track with the full backing of session players and something
  like "Tell Me What The Count Is" speaks a lot for the true
  eccentric solo artist who does it all ably by himself.
  
  I, personally, would probably not sound half as good attempting something like this. I love Chet's voice it is so warm and crystal
  clear yet so quietly intense. He has that gift for sounding real
  and human that Brian Young in Northwind and John Caswell
  in Dog That Bit People have. He gives you the facts. He sings
  from the heart not the intellect.
  
  "The Offing" is a very pleasant song with a nautical theme
  again like "Water Sand Castles" and a really beautifully wasted
  vocal sound that drifts along just like the sea he is talking about.
  The lyrics are very pastoral and the sound is very warm and
  honest with a magical vibe about it that the whole album has.
  By contrast "The Beetles Are Coming" is a put down character
  study of someone who has no real personality and is just a loser
  trying to string other people along into his or her shallow
  selfish life.
  
  I know the type well. The hangers on had become even more
  stale and annoying than they were in the beginning as the 1960s
  dream was really getting far from view and it was the beginning
  of a bad period of people pretending to live in that kind of
  counterculture way who were just as conformist as those they
  said they despised. I turned my back on most of the friends I
  had when I was at my height of Hippy-in-my-own-way because
  of all the fake people who were fucking my life around with their
  narrow beliefs and drug abuse.
  
  I still have a lot of counterculture-alike beliefs and believe in
  living my life with a love for nature and other people and an
  open mind, but it gets harder and harder. "The Beetles Are
  Coming" nails it. Chet Nichols isn't as pissed off as Bob Dylan's
  pissed off lyrics, but he certainly lets whoever this was written
  for know that they are a loser.
  
  Even when Nichols is at his most intense he remains more
  gentle than overbearing although he isn't at all fragile sounding
  in the way that someone like the brilliant much lamented
  Clifford T. Ward was/is/will stay. Clifford T. Ward is far from
  Chet Nichols in the kind of music he produced during his
  all-too-brief life. Clifford was more British pop at its most
  melancholic and refined. He wrote sad and tear jerking songs
  and he wrote a few happy ones too, but Clifford was so British
  sounding and England oriented that there can't really be an
  American Clifford T. Ward without the word "Americana"
  coming into play. There is a little Americana here and there
  on TIME LOOP, but Chet Nichols is looking toward the UK
  and then he sends you off into outer space with the crazy
  mind-blowing psychedelic strangeness of "Quasar Sleeper"
  which is more just strange sounds than a song.
  
  This is a wonderful album. There's not a track I'd take off or
  a thing I would change. Everything is so tasteful and so good
  and Chet has so much talent that I'm glad he is back performing,
  writing, and playing again with new interest in his music
  making him smile I'm sure. Nichols never could have made
  it on a pop/bubblegum label like Kama Sutra and it's unfortunate
  that back in 1972 his album went largely unnoticed, but I'd like
  to help out by my rave review here and Chet if you read this
  drop me a comment and I'll be overjoyed. I will be overjoyed
  if people go out and buy this record after reading this as it is
  definitely a masterpiece and a very, very special work of
  musical art.
  
  
  ________________________________________________
  
  "Time Loop" record review
  Chet Nichols : Time Loop
  (Kama Sutra - 1972)
  Category : criminally overlooked
  4:33 stars
  
  If you're into smart and poetic Folky singer/songwriter stuff, then this
  obscure release is a must have because of the high quality of the songs and the driven yet pleasant way in which they are performed. But as several of these Chet Nichols songs also have doses of Rock, I guess the album could also be of interest to fans of Classic Rock and Folk Rock.
  
  'Time Loop' has a pure and honest and at the same time slightly
  melancholic feel that's reminiscent of James Taylor or, to name someone more recent, José Gonzales. And it's just as good as the best material either of these artists released, which raises the question why this album didn't get the attention it deserved and why it didn't propel Nichols to stardom. One listen to the album highlights 'Electra' and
  'Who Stole The Ivy' is enough to make you understand what a
  gifted composer and lyricist he was. In fact, there's only one
  average track on the entire album (not counting the superfluous
  outro 'Quasar Sleeper').
  
  Highly recommended.
  
  A RECORD REVIEW:
  
  “Time Loop” – a review
  
  “Amongst the obscurest LPs on the Kama-Sutra label, bent loner
  outsider folkie like a disturbed Tim Buckley at times, has a raw underground
  edge that it gaining a big following with collectors. But it is still a bargain
  having been released in the waning days of this semi-major label.
  Weird song titles like "Who Stole The Ivy", "The Offing", "The Beetles Are
  Coming", “Water Sand Castles” and "Quasar Sleeper, give an indication
  that this guy was out there. But he makes the acoustic guitar really sing
  and he creates some of the most unique guitar tunings ever created. His
  voice is melodious and multi-faceted. His lyrics are spacey, yet, thoughtful
  in an abstract way. The lyrics are borderline poetry. This record really
  grows on you. Chet’s Co-Producer and Engineer, Stephen Barncard, states
  at his website that Nichols was his guinea pig to help create the acoustic
  guitar sound made famous by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Nichols is
  also quite a musician and plays all the instruments on this record, something
  very rare in the early 1970s. He combines a Richie Havens feel, a Donovan
  attitude with a Dylan prespective. The production is minimalist, yet
  dynamic. On the title tune, "Time Loop", he has San Francisco's Nick
  Gravenites producing and he brings in a back-up band that includes
  piano by Nicky Hopkins (Rolling Stones-RIP), drums by Dave Garabaldi
  (Tower Of Power) and bass by Peter Sears (The Airplane). Quite a
  supporting cast. The record was recorded at Wally Heider's studio in SF,
  so maybe he's outta California. This is a necessary LP for fans of outside
  folk, since Nichols appears to be one of the pioneers of this unique genre.
  I caught a concert that he played at Long Island University and he was
  the best solo performer I saw play back in the 1970’s.”
  
  A RECORD REVIEW:
  
  "TIME LOOP is one of the BEST FOLK PSYCHEDELIC ALBUMS EVER MADE!
  
  Thank you CHET for this KILLER ALBUM.
  
  Warm Regards,......Miguel - Germany"
  
  A RECORD REVIEW:
  
  "I picked up a copy of your album, "Time Loop" on Kama Sutra yesterday. I had never heard of you, but it looked interesting. When I listened to it, I realized that it was a tragically overlooked album. There
  isn't a bad song on it. Thanks for making such great music!"
  
  Sean Gaston.....04/09
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  credits
  released January 1, 2023
  
  album credits
  license
  all rights reserved ... more
  Purchasable with gift card

  Buy Digital Album   $11 USD  or more

  Send as Gift  

• Full Digital Discography

  83

  releases

  Get all 83 Chet Nichols releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

  Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Flying My Pyramid, It's My Town At Christmas, Christmas Is A Great Day, Ticking Stars, Stairway To Peace, Prayer Bucket, Spirit Passes, Soft Waters, and 75 more. , and , .

  Purchasable with gift card

  Buy Digital Discography   $356.29 USD or more (20% OFF)

  Send as Gift  

• Share / Embed

about

credits

license