#1211: Our Love’s a Chain by Illustration
Peak Month: May 1970
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Our Love’s A Chain”
The Illustration was a Canadian big band jazz-rock ensemble formed in a similar vein to Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, the Ides of March and Lighthouse. Their horn section led the way giving them a jazz-rock and R&B fusion. Norman Burgess, Donald Sanders and Glenn Higgins played saxophone. Leo Harinen, Benoit Perreault and Billy Sheill played trumpet. Roger Homefield played trombone, while Bill Ledster provided lead vocals that rivaled David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Jim Peterik of the Ides of March. Rounding out the dozen musicians in the band were guitarist Garry Beattie, bassist Richard Terry, drummer Claude Roy and John Ranger on keyboards. The band was from St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, and formed at the Fontaine Blue in 1969. They were excellent musicians but suffered from poor management causing their star to fade just as they were about to take off.