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Rare Bird was a progressive rock band founded in 1969. They were formed in England, but had more 
success in other European countries than they did at home. They are mostly remembered for the 
haunting, organ-based track Sympathy. It sold one million copies globally.

The history of Rare Bird began when Graham Field placed an advertisement for a pianist in a musical 
periodical. He got thirty replies and formed a group called Lunch. He met Dave Kaffinetti in November 
1968, and together they formulated the basic ideas for Rare Bird. In August 1969, they finally found the 
ideal rhythm section in Steve Gould, Chris Randall and Mark Ashton. Field and Kaffinetti had originally 
envisaged that the band would be a four piece and were looking for a singer/bass player. Steve and 
Chris, who had both previously been members of the Pop-Psych band Fruit Machine, applied to the ad 
as vocals/guitar and bass respectively and were taken on. Lunch played a few gigs, one notable one was 
at the Tilbury Working Mens Club for the princely sum of five pounds. The band had no van and they 
managed to get amps, drums, guitars and Hammond organ into their cars. The gig was marred by Chris 
receiving a bad electric shock whilst on stage.  

Along with Van der Graaf Generator and The Nice, they were one of the very first bands that signed to 
Charisma Records, the record label that Tony Stratton-Smith had founded. Their late 1969 release 
Sympathy reached No. 2 in Italy, sold 500,000 copies in France and over one million globally. It became 
their only UK hit single, reaching No. 27 and staying on the chart for 8 weeks. A 1970 cover version of 
the track by The Family Dogg, reached number two in the Netherlands. The song returned to the UK 
chart in 1992 when a version by Marillion reached No. 17. In 2001, the track was sampled by Faithless 
in their song Not Enuff Love, named after a chorus line in Sympathy. 

1969 - Rare Bird (2007 Remastered)
1970 - As Your Mind Flies By (2007 Remastered)
1972 - Epic Forest (1998 Reissue)
1973 - Somebody's Watching (2008 Remastered)
1974 - Born Again (2008 Remastered)

All albums with bonustracks