Indian Puddin' & Pipe - Indian Puddin' & Pipe (Reissue) (1969/2017)

Psych-rock combo Indian Puddin' and Pipe formed in Seattle in 1966--originally dubbed the West Coast Natural Gas, the group initially comprised singer/guitarist Kep, guitarists Chuck Bates and Kris Larson, bassist Dave Burke and drummer Jeff LaBrache. A latter-day lineup minus Kep and Bates and featuring vocalist Pat Craig and guitarist Steve Mack relocated to San Francisco and in late 1967 issued the lone WCNG single, the Matthew Katz-produced "Go Run and Play." Katz--the manager of Moby Grape, It's a Beautiful Day and other luminaries of the San Francisco psych scene--structured his contracts so that different lineups could appear under a given group's name anytime and anywhere he desired; one lineup of Indian Puddin' and Pipe already existed, but Katz nevertheless rechristened West Coast Natural Gas with the name as well, moving Craig to keyboards and recruiting vocalist Lydia Mareno for what is now considered the definitive version of the group. Indian Puddin' and Pipe never recorded a full-length LP, but did produce four excellent tracks for the compilation Fifth Pipe Dream, issued on Katz's San Francisco Sound label in 1968. This incarnation of the group split soon after, with Mareno later resurfacing in Stoneground and Craig and Mack reuniting in Pipe.