Everfriend

Everfriend was the project of New Jersey-based keyboardist Bill Rhodes (real surname Rupprecht), operating with drummer Mike Jacoby and bassist Paul Kozub, all previously connected through a band called the All Night Flyers. Rhodes self-released Everfriend's recordings between 1980 and 1983 on his own Jazzical Records label in very limited vinyl editions: Tropicsphere (1980), Sphere of Influence (1981), and Shoot to Kill (1983), the latter first released as a tape. The project sits in an unusual position in the American underground: prog rock in the ELP tradition, built around Mellotron, electric piano, and layered synthesizers, but operating entirely outside any commercial or critical framework, self-financing and self-distributing with a seriousness and consistency that outlasted most of its contemporaries. Shoot to Kill, described by VOD as the "electronic/synth-based compositional masterpiece," later caught the attention of Klaus Schulze's Innovative Communication label, which released digitally remastered and remixed versions of Rhodes's 80s works on CD in the early 1990s.

This double LP (VOD146.EF1/2) collects all four Everfriend releases in original, unprocessed form, with the warmth and naturalness of the source tapes intact. The material spans the full arc from the early Tropicsphere period through to the synthesizer-dominant sound of Shoot to Kill, revealing a composer who moved steadily from symphonic rock toward something more overtly electronic without ever abandoning the melodic ambition that defines the whole project. Issued in an edition of 444 hand-numbered copies as a stand-alone release, and as part of the VOD American cassette culture box set.