Buried Treasure: Do You Remember Tim Moore?

Obscurity claims another victim. It's time to become acquainted with Philadelphia's Tim Moore. He has been totally forgotten in his home town and was never known enough anywhere else in North America to have even achieved forgotten status. Isn't it true that to be forgotten someone had to know who you were in the first place?

Here in the tri-state area, Moore was best known for a song Art Garfunkel also turned into a minor hit, the moving ballad, "Second Avenue." Unfortunately, except in Philadelphia, Garfunkel's version did better on the national charts (#34, compared to the composer's #58) and on the radio. To this day Moore's version remains one of my all-time favorite breakup songs.

Early on, Moore was the drummer for a local Philadelphia band, Woody's Truck Stop, featuring Todd Rundgren. Later, believe it or not, Frank Zappa became a fan and wanted to produce the rather conventional rocker and singer-songwriter. However, when the avant-garde composer didn't have the time to follow through with it, Moore left New York City and came home to work for Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. He then recorded one album with Daryl Hall in a band called Gulliver before John Oates came along.

Soon Moore's songwriting attracted enough attention to secure a record deal with Asylum. The multi-instrumentalist played almost everything himself on his 1974 eponymous debut album. The record contains some really good songs: "A Fool Like You," "When You Close Your Eyes," "Charmer," and "Second Avenue."

Three more LPs soon followed. Moore composed "Rock 'n Roll Love Letter," a song The Bay City Rollers turned into a hit for his second disc, Behind The Lines. Don't let the The Rollers connection fool you. Moore's version really kicked-ass. His third, White Shadows, was recorded in Los Angeles in 1977 with help from Bill Payne of Little Feat, Timothy B. Schmidt, drummer Jeff Porcaro, David Foster, and Michael McDonald. High Contrast followed two years later. None achieved even a modicum of success before he disappeared from the music scene.

In 1985 Moore returned with one more album, Flash Forward, and a song from it, "Yes," became a giant hit in both Brazil and Portugal in the late 80s. This resulted in a long tour of The South American country after the song went to the top of the charts. Meanwhile, Moore remained a non-entity in the United States where his eponymous, debut CD is available only as an expensive import.

Today, Moore lives and works in Woodstock, NY.