Pavlov's Dog - Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried (2007)

(U.S 1972–1977, 1990–present)

Pavlov's Dog is the kind of band you love or you hate, everything is black or white, there are no tones of gray, especially because of the peculiar voice of their lead singer David Surkamp, who sounds a lot like Geddy Lee with extra helium singing in the style of Edith Piaff (he has the typical trembling voice of French singers). It was Surkamp's vocals that drew me to the band in the first case, closely followed by the backing strings (violin) and clever guitar work. Yes - I love the band.

There are two versions about the birth of the band, according to Mike Safron, he and Siegfried Carver decided to create Pavlov's Dog, but the best known version is that they started from the ashes of a small band named 'High On A Small Hill' where David Surkamp and Rick Stockton played. But the important thing is that the original lineup was formed in St. Louis Missouri by David Surkamp (vocals and guitar), David Hamilton (keyboards), Doug Rayburn (mellotron and flute), Mike Safron (drums and percussion), Rick Stockton (bass guitar), Siegfried Carver (violin) and Steve Scorfina (lead guitar) between 1972 and 1973, calling themselves the St. Louis Hounds

Before they released their first album, the band recorded some tracks at a studio in Pekin Illinois which in opinion of the members of the band were really good, only a few tracks from the Pekin Tapes reached their first album but caught the attention of the executives of ABC Dunhill Records who gave them an incredible advance of US$ 650,000.00 in 1974. "Pampered Menial" saw the light in 1975 and the first thing that gained attention was the incredible art cover that featured engravings by Sir Edwin Landseer who had died almost 100 years before the band was formed. 

The music is simply amazing, as most USA bands they mixed Symphonic Progressive with Hard Rock, with excellent tracks as the instrumental Preludin, Julia and Late November. In some moment after the recording of the album, Pavlov's Dog signed with Columbia Records (there are many versions to choose), so Pampered Menial was released twice, almost simultaneously. The reaction of the people was diverse, they loved or hated the band, specially David Surkamp's voice but the album reached a moderate success.

Almost immediately they went back to the studio (this time in New York and England) and recorded their second album "At the Sound of the Bell" in clear reference to Pavlov's's experiments with dogs, this time with Tom Nickeson playing acoustic guitar. Siegfried Carver left shortly after the release of this album. According to most fans "At the Sound of the Bell" is Pavlov's Dog magnum opus, but I stay with "Pampered Menial", which is less progressive than the second release but much more innovative and original.

The third album of the band is called "Third" which was released as bootleg versions after Columbia cut their link with the band and gave copies of this release to the members, the most famous one entitled "Pavlov's Dog – Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried?" (as featured in this post).
The curious title 'Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried' is a reference to original violin player Sigfried Carver, who left Pavlov`s Dog after the first album, and vanished not to be seen any more.

Even though "Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried" was never really finished, the material's actually more memorable than on its predecessor. It's also slightly more mainstream, with tracks like Trafalger (nice spelling!) and Suicide sounding familiar on replaying. Rayburn's Mellotron work is clustered around the middle of the album, with heavy strings, plus occasional choir and flutes on tracks 4-7, with maybe the best use being the string part on the lush, instrumental While You Were Out. Songs like "Only You" or "Jenny" breath the spirit of "Pampered Menial".

The bonus tracks contain a rare and previously unreleased compilation of live and studio recordings from 1974 to 1977.

The band officially split after a successful farewell concert at a St. Louis riverboat known as The Admiral, where they managed to reunite all the original members including Siegfried Carver, sadly there are no tapes of that reunion which in words of Rick Stockton was their best show ever. [some extracts from somvalvulado.blogspot.com]

David Surkamp talks about the Great Lost Pavlov's Dog Album

So this is what you want to hear about, huh? Okay, I suppose it is worth a shot. Those were heady days, and more than a little depressing for your former poet and singer.

Pavlov's Dog had been touring in support of "The Sound of the Bell," bringing its melodic romanticism to some of the strangest venue's your narrator could have imagined in his youth. Yet we were living it! Concert dates with Nektar, Slade, Kraftwerk, Blue Oyster Cult, Journey, ELO, Thin Lizzy, Peter Frampton, ad nausea I left the band tired, restless and completely discontent.

The rhythm section had been salvaged, with Kirk Sarkesian more than capably handling the drum chores in the wake of Mike Safron and Bill Bruford's exits. David Hamilton was handling the piano in the studio, with Tom Nickeson holding it down on tour, in addition to his vocals and guitar duties. Me, I was just plain unhappy with the record company, management and agencies all pushing for a "Hit". Now lets be a triffle honest here, shall we? I write love songs, this is not the Brill Building

Major Plan Concocted! Bring in new producers (Krugman and Perlman - help meeeeeee!). The band decides they are songwriters (even the roadies), and everybody wants to sing!  Did I want to vomit - you betcha!

"Painted Ladies" and "Trafalgar" in minutes, not our best work. "Falling In Love" and "Jenny" were tossed out, spent seconds of pleasure on that pair. "Only You", "I Love You Still" and "Suicide", were squarely where my heart was.

The recording began in St. Louis at Technosonic Studios, not far from both my boyhood and present homes. Mark Spector and John Jansen co-producing this awful mess. I came equipped with my bulldog Charlie and Telecaster guitar each day, and amid wrestling bouts with Mark (yes...really), I managed to get the basic tracks recorded with the band spinning out of control.

Overdubs were not pretty. Steve Scorfina is singing "It's All For You", a song he had from his REO Speedwagon days, and Tom came up with a quick instrumental exit track for the album, "While You Were Out". I'm singing the Jefferson Airplanes' "Today", (is this somebody's idea of the 'Hit'?) and hating my every waking moment. It was time to ditch this scene, David and Douglas escape to New York....with the master tapes!

Time to bring in the ringers!  Jeff Baxter takes a masterful turn on the guitar solo on "Painted Ladies", thanks Jeff!

Jack and Elliot Randall compose some melodic harmony guitars for "Falling In Love", "Jenny" and elsewhere. Jim Maelen contributed some terrific percussion and smoothing quite a few bad patches. That's Elliott on the solo in "Falling In Love"; he said he really liked the song and I didn't. O well.....

In any case, the gothic intrigue of "Only You" still holds measure with me today (I love Scorfina's tragic pathos on the solo), as does "Suicide". Is that where the unfortunate rumours of my untimely demise stem? I still perform "I Love You Still", from time to time. I enjoy the way my voice sounds!  Also, "Only You", occasionally. It still maintains the potential and penchant for a heartbreak....so it goes. Just David. [Liner Notes]

This post consists of FLACS ripped from CD (remastered in 2007), but originated from one of the master tape copies given to each band members in 1977.  Full album artwork is included as usual.  

Track List

01 Only You 4:33

02 Painted Ladies 3:22

03 Falling In Love 3:27

04 Today 3:08

05 Trafalgar 3:10

06 I Love You Still 4:04

07 Jenny 4:07

08 It's All For You 3:50

09 Suicide 2:03

10 While You Were Out 2:38

Bonus Tracks - Unreleased Live And Studio Recordings

11 Song Dance (Live) 6:29

12 Of Once And Future Kings (Live) 6:50

13 Natchez Trace (Live) 4:18

14 A Little Better (Live, Previously Unreleased) 2:18

15 A Look In Your Eyes (Live, Previously Unreleased) 4:27

16 Julia (Live) 2:55

17 She Came Shining (Live) 4:37

18 Did You See Him Cry (Live) 6:06

19 Theme From Subway Sue (Previously Unreleased Early Version) 5:40

20 I Wait For You (Previously Unreleased 1977 Studio Recording) 1:44

Lead Vocals – David Surkamp

Bass – Rick Stockton

Drums – Kirk Sarkisian

Keyboards – Doug Rayburn

Keyboards, Guitar, Backing Vocals [Harmonies] – Tom Nickeson

Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Steve Scorfina

Violin – Sigfried Carver (tracks: 11-15)

Vocals – Steve Scorfina (tracks: 8)

Tracks 11-15 recorded live at Ambassador Theatre, St. Louis in 1975.

Tracks 16-18 recorded live at Ford Auditorium, Detroit in 1976.

Track 19 previously unreleased early version recorded at Pekin Studios.

Track 20 previously unreleased song recorded in 1977, performed by David Surkamp and Doug Rayburn.

Pavlov's Dog Link (485Mb) New Link 05/09/2023