Crystal Revelation

Crystal Revelation got together in 1963 in Rochester (Pittsford) NY. John Lake and John O'Brien were in a band called The Norsmen. Their first gig was when they were in the 7th grade. When they was just 12 years old they played a high school dance. They learned the meaning of "grinding" at that gig. In 1966 they got together with Ray Shostak (drummer) and they played as a power trio until 1969 when Mark Connolly (keys) joined. They played the Catskills in the summers and frat parties all over upstate New York during the school year. The founding members were John O'Brien and John Lake. They were originally called the Crystal Ship after the Norsmen, but had to change their name again when the Doors song came out. The Crystal Revelation came from the song lyric "mystic crystal revelation" from Aquarius by The Fifth Dimension. In the summer of 1968 they played with a local group called the Infinity Of Sound. They played a lot of clubs and had a male and female front for vocals. They were somewhat influenced by the Young Rascals, also from the area. They played in several "battles of the bands" events. They covered songs by The Who, Cream, Otis Redding and Three Dog Night. They played for initiation week at Syracuse University in the student center in September 1970. They played all over the areas of downstate New York and throughout New England in many clubs and hotels. They decided to record at the Fine Recording Studio because the producer/engineer was very likeable and competent. Vince Jan really embraced the fact that none of them had ever recorded. The place was a mess, but the experience very tight and not messy. Vince put his focus on recording excellence, not an orderly studio. Their 45 received airplay mainly late at night on Syracuse AM stations when they personally went on promotion visits. They sold some through records stores in the Rochester/Syracuse area. Not many bands had records at the time so they got some notoriety. Once the four of them were together they didn't change personnel. The band broke up in 1971 due to the draft, and things were just running their course. They drifted apart more than broke up. Mark went on to play in a country band, Ray moved to England, John went into video productions.