The story of Aerovons is quite fascinating, in fact it should be made into a movie. This is a St. Louis rock band from the 1960s, made up of teenagers, strongly influenced by The Beatles, making a record at Abbey Road studios only to be shelved for few decades. As unlikely success as one can only imagine. What’s worse, the album was well recorded, and the songs were great. It had the potential to create a lasting career, but in the most dramatic sense, it was not to be.
Tom Hartman was the main engine for The Aerovons, and his mom managed to band. She did great, she got them to sign to EMI and record at Abbey Road, the same time The Beatles completing their final opus there. The album resembles a strong fascination with The Beatles, The Beach Boys, early Bee Gees, and Everly Brothers. It completely reflects the times in which it was written and recorded. At the end of the recording process, the band was reduced to two members, and since there was no band to promote this album, EMI decided to shelve it. It only came out in 2001 for the first time on vinyl. This time, it’s the album, various singles, and some later recordings from Tom Hartman. This set is as complete as it gets. All of it spread into 2 CDs. There will be many people discovering this great band for the first time, and trying to justify how such record was hidden from the general public for so many years.
The booklet is quite impressive with photos, and stories. There is a general narrative explain how the band came to be, and their full story to the very end. There is another essay from Tom Hartman himself, talking about their teenage adventure in rock’n’roll, the recording process, and how they meet individual members of The Beatles. You get a sense this was the adventure of a lifetime for those St. Louis boys. It’s just a shame it came to an end so quickly.
Mark Kadzielawa
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