Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Maze - 1968 - Armageddon
Rare acid psych killer by obscure San Francisco band from the late '60s.Their all-original material emphasized heavy organ, long drawn-out fuzzy guitar solos, despondent stoned vocals, and minor-key melodies.
Then as a bonus you get to hear what the band sounded like a year or two earlier on a few tracks- the two or three old songs are more folky with a femal vocalist.
Tracks
1. Armageddon
2. I'm So Sad
3. Happiness
4. Whispering Shadows
5. Kissy Face
6. Dejected Soul
7. As For Now
8. Right Time - (previously unreleased)
9. Rumours - (previously unreleased)
10. Whispering Shadows - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
11. Dejected Soul - (previously unreleased, TRUE instrumental)
12. As For Now - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
13. Kissy Face - (previously unreleased, TRUE instrumental)
2. I'm So Sad
3. Happiness
4. Whispering Shadows
5. Kissy Face
6. Dejected Soul
7. As For Now
8. Right Time - (previously unreleased)
9. Rumours - (previously unreleased)
10. Whispering Shadows - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
11. Dejected Soul - (previously unreleased, TRUE instrumental)
12. As For Now - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
13. Kissy Face - (previously unreleased, TRUE instrumental)
The Reviews
1
An obscure San Francisco-area group that cut one extremely rare album in 1968, Armageddon (recorded at Leo Kulka's Golden State Recorders, and issued on MTA), which is highly valued in some collector circles. Actually, they don't rank as a very impressive find, in fact epitomizing some of the period's least enduring excesses. They originally recorded under the name Stonehenge, with a female vocalist, before assuming their more familiar name, and left behind a good deal more than an album's worth of tracks, some of which turned up on the 1995 Sundazed CD reissue of Armageddon. Their all-original material emphasized heavy organ, long drawn-out fuzzy guitar solos, despondent stoned vocals, and minor-key melodies, somewhat in the mold of Iron Butterfly, though not as bombastic. An alternate take of "Whispering Shadows," written by Wayne Gardner-who composed all but two of the 10 songs on Armageddon, fellow members Jensen, Boyd, and Eitrreim dividing two songs between the three of them-was included on Gear Fab's 1997 Psychedelic Crown Jewels Vol. 1.
2
The Maze seek a sense of drama, with long songs, prominent organ, eerie harmonies, heavy lyrics and a singer who becomes unhinged here and there. If you're in the right mood for it, it's pretty enjoyable, especially since there are some crazed fuzz guitar breaks. One truly terrible semi-novelty song, "Kissy Face", destroys the mood, which makes the rest a little harder to take seriously. The overall effect is similar to the album by The Phantom, though the best songs here, especially "I'm So Sad", are more worthy of semi-serious respect than anything on that album. The short songs take a poppier approach, and they're reasonably good, with the one above-mentioned exception. Pretty cool, though not distinctive enough to really stand out in the genre.
Download Link : (@224 + Art Work)
Maze_-_1968.rar
Paul Roland - 1988 - Happy Families
Happy Families.rar
Gothic-psych-baroque-rocker waxing demented in a way only an Englishman can...impeccable." (Goldmine magazine, USA).
"Sublime, fabbo and very, very in. Don't get left behind." (Melody Maker, UK)
"Enigmatic gothic/baroque troubador with the psychedelic fringe" (Ptolemaic Terrascope,UK)
"For some 15 years the enigmatic Paul Roland has carved out a niche in peculiarly ornate British pop music." (Record Collector, UK)
"He must be ranked with the most creative and unique songwriters of his generation...the work of an exceptional talent." (Bucketful Of Brains, UK)
"The male Kate Bush" (Robyn Hitchcock)
"If pop music had existed in the 19th century Roland would have been a star." (Music Week, UK)
"England's popmeister and future King" (The BOB, USA)
from Paul Roland's site:
Since 1979 Paul has been spinning his bizarre tales against an evocative backdrop of rock, psychpop, folk and, occasionally, baroque strings. His most memorable character creations include a crotchety Regency magistrate, various 19th century murderers, a retired executioner, an opium addict, and an entire court of medieval grotesques. But not all his dreams are dark. Among his more whimsical creations are the eccentric characters on the largely acoustic album 'Happy Families' and its prequel 'A Cabinet of Curiosities'.
In England he is better known as a writer of mass market books on mysticism and the occult for major publishers. However, his reputation as a uniquely imaginative and consistently fascinating figure on the psych-pop circuit has substantially increased with each album. Other cult figures such as Robyn Hitchcock, Nick Saloman (Bevis Frond), Nick Nicely, and Andy Ellison (John's Children) have made guest appearances on his albums, several of which are now listed as highly collectable.
Tracks : The Curate Of Cheltenham/Journey To The Pole/Nursery Crimes/Cousin Emilia/Builder Of Follys/The Best Years Of our Lives/Aunty/Animal Crackers plus extra tracks from CD : Beau Brummel (re-recorded)/Go Down You Murderers/ I Can't Control Myself (radio session)/Captain Blood (radio session)
Happy Families released 1988 in the french label New Rose
Liner notes
Paul Roland: Vocals, Accoustic Guitar Cris Randall: Organ, Harpsichord, Bass, Keyboard Mauris Memmond: Violins, John Gallagher : Cello
Recordet at Elsewhere Studios, Kent, August 15-22 1988 Organ&Boys Chorus Recorded in the Chapell of St Trinians School for Backward Boys Canterbury, Kent
Note: Most of the songs are based on the lives of real eccentries who lived during the Victorian Period.
This is for 'Tydalwaves' who is "desperately searching for it". He has the great new blog Hidden Among The Leaves with a lot of out of print records from the 80s (and 2 or 3 Roland LPs).
Update: Gomonkeygo informed us that in his excellent Time is a Disease That Only Space Can Cure blog you can find the Happy Families album, as well as the (better) Danse Macabre album (and many other great records).
Labels: P, R, Rainy Day Sponge 
Gandalf - 1969 - Gandalf
Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5
Gandalf is one of the more sought after pieces of late-60's vinyl. This album itself is prime 1967 psychedelia, but as you may note from the date above, a almost-two year delay (by which time the band had long since dissolved!) relagated Gandalf to obscurity. It probably didn't help that the band's name was somewhat of a misnomer anyway as the group spent 98 percent of their existence as the somewhat unfortunately named Rahgoos.
Still, the name Gandalf easily conjures up images of wizardry and songs about elves and gnomes. Strangely enough, we find none of that here. Instead, the band resembles an American version of the Zombies trapped in an acoustically superior well with a predilection towards showtunes about women's accessories ("Golden Earrings," "Scarlet Ribbons," "Tiffany Rings"). Much of the psychedelia on these cover songs involve an amazing amount of echoey reverb on the vocals. Another lynchpin of Gandalf's sound is some extensive use of the Hammond B3 organ. How much you like that particular instrument will likely influence your opinion of Gandalf.
The strange thing about Gandalf, especially for late-1967 (the recording date), is their lack of original tunes. The two present here, "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone" and "I Watch The Moon," are by no means lacking in songwriting chops. In fact they are some of the best songs here, sporting a great west coast-style (even though they were from Jersey) psych-pop structure as opposed to relying on production tricks alone for an altered sound. Apparently, the band simply didn't have enough original material. It's too bad they couldn't have spent 1968 writing and recording more instead of just waiting for the existing album to be released.
Still, Gandalf's cover selections are outstanding, and even the choices that look questionable on paper end up sounding great. Peggy Lee's hit "Golden Earrings" and "Nature Boy" from the interminably strange Eden Ahbez are transformed from what could easily be novelty numbers into dreamy, floating meditations. "Golden Earrings" in particular ended up being Gandalf's single and is probably their signature number. The band also seems to have outsourced three songs from a fellow named Tim Hardin. In fact, the lurching rhythm of "Hang On To A Dream" is an early highlight of the album. "Tiffany Rings" is the only track her which really doesn't do it for me. On this one the group seems to cross the line from mysterious into twee, which for me disturbs the flow of the album.
The album ends with a pair of deeply psychedelic rock songs. Gandalf was not really a showcase for instrumental prowess, but they were able to lock into a great groove which they take time to draw out a little more on "Me About You," and "I Watch The Moon." "I Watch The Moon" in particular is a goldmine for lovers of the Hammond B3 organ, which on the track is matched with some blazing fuzz guitar.
Also of note is the flamboyantly insane cover art. It seems to depict some kind of tripped-out butterfly god or something. The cover alone catapulted Gandalf to the top of my shopping list. The emotionless expression and yellow eyes actually scare me a little bit. The music isn't really wacked out enough to match this prime display of pop art, but it certainly catches one's attention.
Gandalf is far from the top of the 60's rock pile, but it deserves to be heard. The band managed to carve out a sound similar to the Zombies, but with enough of their own touches to keep from sounding like a knockoff.
As a side note, Gandalf 2 saw release from Sundazed early this year. Apparently, it's a collection of demos, live tracks and such, but it interestingly contains far more original songs. I'd be curious to know how the sound quality holds up on the new disc.
Buy Me:
Gandalf- Gandalf (1969)
Listen To Me:
Gandalf- Gandalf (1969)
Review from Dr. Schluss Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities:
http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Gandalf is one of the more sought after pieces of late-60's vinyl. This album itself is prime 1967 psychedelia, but as you may note from the date above, a almost-two year delay (by which time the band had long since dissolved!) relagated Gandalf to obscurity. It probably didn't help that the band's name was somewhat of a misnomer anyway as the group spent 98 percent of their existence as the somewhat unfortunately named Rahgoos.
Still, the name Gandalf easily conjures up images of wizardry and songs about elves and gnomes. Strangely enough, we find none of that here. Instead, the band resembles an American version of the Zombies trapped in an acoustically superior well with a predilection towards showtunes about women's accessories ("Golden Earrings," "Scarlet Ribbons," "Tiffany Rings"). Much of the psychedelia on these cover songs involve an amazing amount of echoey reverb on the vocals. Another lynchpin of Gandalf's sound is some extensive use of the Hammond B3 organ. How much you like that particular instrument will likely influence your opinion of Gandalf.
The strange thing about Gandalf, especially for late-1967 (the recording date), is their lack of original tunes. The two present here, "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone" and "I Watch The Moon," are by no means lacking in songwriting chops. In fact they are some of the best songs here, sporting a great west coast-style (even though they were from Jersey) psych-pop structure as opposed to relying on production tricks alone for an altered sound. Apparently, the band simply didn't have enough original material. It's too bad they couldn't have spent 1968 writing and recording more instead of just waiting for the existing album to be released.
Still, Gandalf's cover selections are outstanding, and even the choices that look questionable on paper end up sounding great. Peggy Lee's hit "Golden Earrings" and "Nature Boy" from the interminably strange Eden Ahbez are transformed from what could easily be novelty numbers into dreamy, floating meditations. "Golden Earrings" in particular ended up being Gandalf's single and is probably their signature number. The band also seems to have outsourced three songs from a fellow named Tim Hardin. In fact, the lurching rhythm of "Hang On To A Dream" is an early highlight of the album. "Tiffany Rings" is the only track her which really doesn't do it for me. On this one the group seems to cross the line from mysterious into twee, which for me disturbs the flow of the album.
The album ends with a pair of deeply psychedelic rock songs. Gandalf was not really a showcase for instrumental prowess, but they were able to lock into a great groove which they take time to draw out a little more on "Me About You," and "I Watch The Moon." "I Watch The Moon" in particular is a goldmine for lovers of the Hammond B3 organ, which on the track is matched with some blazing fuzz guitar.
Also of note is the flamboyantly insane cover art. It seems to depict some kind of tripped-out butterfly god or something. The cover alone catapulted Gandalf to the top of my shopping list. The emotionless expression and yellow eyes actually scare me a little bit. The music isn't really wacked out enough to match this prime display of pop art, but it certainly catches one's attention.
Gandalf is far from the top of the 60's rock pile, but it deserves to be heard. The band managed to carve out a sound similar to the Zombies, but with enough of their own touches to keep from sounding like a knockoff.
As a side note, Gandalf 2 saw release from Sundazed early this year. Apparently, it's a collection of demos, live tracks and such, but it interestingly contains far more original songs. I'd be curious to know how the sound quality holds up on the new disc.
Buy Me:
Gandalf- Gandalf (1969)
Listen To Me:
Gandalf- Gandalf (1969)
Review from Dr. Schluss Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities:
http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Labels: Dr. Schluss, G
Monday, May 14, 2007
Oliver - 1974 - Standing Stone
http://rapidshare.com/Oliver-_Standing_Stone.rar
Couldn't find too much info or a decent cover picture for this album. I stumbled upon this one inadvertently and it blew me away; it's a true gem of the acid-folk genre!
Here's a brief commentary from http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk:
Recorded in 1974 on a farm in the heart of Wales, a limited vinyl edition of 'Standing Stone' recieved ecstatic reviews in 1992. 'Wholly original, pure and surrealistically sublime', drooled the NME; 'a lost gem', suggested Record Collector; 'an indispensable item in any adventurous person's collection', noted Ptolemaic Terrascope; while John Peel descibed it as 'the find of the year' on Radio One. A maelstrom of folk and acid rock with distinct Beefheartian overtones
Labels: Lanchester, O
V.A. - Wayfaring Strangers_Ladies from the Canyon
Following acclaimed compilations of obscure soul and power pop, the record collectors at Chicago's Numero Group label have turned their attention to female folk singers from the 1970s. One singer on Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies from the Canyon sounds almost exactly like Joni Mitchell. Her name is Caroline Peyton, and her "Engram" is one of the best tracks on the CD. In recent years Peyton's voice has apparently been heard in some Disney cartoons, but you'd never guess that from hearing the song. Barbara Sipple's "Song For Life" reminds me a lot of Kath Bloom, and other artists on the collection sound similar to Judee Sill and Shelagh McDonald. Aside from Ellen Warshaw, whose cover of "Sister Morphine" closes the CD, all of the singers collected here had albums on extremely small private press labels; Warshaw's album came out on Vanguard. There are a lot of pleasant and pretty songs on here, and you're not likely to find them anywhere else. [RH] (March 15, 2006) Tracks
1. A Special Path - Becky Severson
2. Cricket - Collie Ryan
3. Sunlight Shadow - Linda Rich
4. Engram - Caroline Peyton
5. And I A Fiarytale Lady - Carla Sciaky
6. Window - Judy Kelly
7. Eternal Life - Shira Small
8. Maybe In Another Year - Jennie Pearl
9. Dedication - Mary Perrin
10. With All Hands - Priscilla Quinby
11. Rain - Marj Snyder
12. Song For Life - Barbara Sipple
13. Wildman - Ginny Reilly
14. Sister Morphine - Ellen Warshaw
Enjoy !!!
Labels: JANISFARM, Various Artists
Entheogens - 1995 - The Gnostic Mass
Entheogens - 1995 - The Gnostic Mass
01 The Dance of the Priestess
02 Fire At Will
03 IO Pan!
The Gnostic Mass (XMLP-8 1995)
Recensioner:
"Two long oriental esoteric jams with sitar, flute and percussion. This is a really psychedelic party where almost all of Xotic Minds members contribute. The improvisations that were recorded at Adam Axelzons home and at the Babalon Bar in Stockholm reaches orgiastic crescendos, especially the “Io Pan”, a primordial invocation to Pan, with polyrhythmical structures that grows and grows. Reminds one of such masterpieces as “Seven Ate Sweet” or “Taxim” by the mythical Kaleidoscope (USA). The Entheogens LP is a cleansing dip in a oriental acid distortion. A kind of record you seldom see nowadays." – Rockerilla, Italy
Personal fave of LP on the label; as appealing as any US private press monster. All of the label's talent gathered for extended tribal acid oriental jams, partly recorded live. Strange cult inspiration adds an eerie vibe. Never reprinted and hard to find. Has insert. – Patrick ”The Lama”/The Lama Reviews
Medverkande musiker:
Adam Axelzon: pot drum, slagverk
Stefan Kéry: gitarr, bouzoki, sitra, kalimba, klaviatur, sång, FX
Stefan Kälfors: darboka
Lisa: flöjt
Måns Månsson: sitar, sång, FX
Anna Nyström: flöjt, sång
Anders Paulsson: bas, klaviatur
Mikael Sundström: sitar, klaviatur, tablas, sång
Patrik Unge: glockenspiel
Far East Family Band - 1975 - Nipponjin_Join Our Mental Phase Sound
Far East Family Band - 1975 - Nipponjin_Join Our Mental Phase Sound
1 Nipponjin
2 The Cave
3 Undiscovered Northern Land
4 Timeless
5 The God Of Water
6 River Of Soul
7 The God Of Wind
8 Movin' Lookin'
9 Yamato
10 Mystery Of Northern Space
- Fumio Miyashita: guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Akira Ito: keyboards
- Masanori Takahashi (Kitaro): keyboards, percussion
- Hirohito Fukushima: guitar, vocals
- Akira Fukakusa: bass
- Shizuo Takasaki: drums
http://rapidshare.com/Far_East_Family_Band_-_Nipponjin.rar
1 Nipponjin
2 The Cave
3 Undiscovered Northern Land
4 Timeless
5 The God Of Water
6 River Of Soul
7 The God Of Wind
8 Movin' Lookin'
9 Yamato
10 Mystery Of Northern Space
- Fumio Miyashita: guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Akira Ito: keyboards
- Masanori Takahashi (Kitaro): keyboards, percussion
- Hirohito Fukushima: guitar, vocals
- Akira Fukakusa: bass
- Shizuo Takasaki: drums
http://rapidshare.com/Far_East_Family_Band_-_Nipponjin.rar
Thanks Michael for this one !!!
Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, F
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Fat Mattress - 1969 - Fat Mattress
Fat Mattress was a solid, sometimes folky/woodsy, sometimes mystical rock band - very English and very stripped down, without pyrotechnics or pretensions.
Just like Clear Light and Skip Bifferty, Fat Mattress was a short lived band that made a strong impression with their great songs. With the rhythm section of Englebert Humperdinck's band and Noel Redding on guitar they put together a solid band.
There are a lot of influences at work here: Small Faces, Traffic, The Byrds, The Who. If you're gonna crib, crib from the best-it rubbed off on them because these songs are just great! Listen and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Tracks
1. All Night Drinker
2. I Don't Mind
3. Bright New Way
4. Petrol Pump Assistant
5. Mr. Moonshine
6. Magic Forest
7. She Came in the Morning
8. Everythings Blue
9. Walking Through a Garden
10. How Can I Live
BONUS TRACKS ~ Previously Unissued
11. Little Girl in White
12. Margerita
13. Which Way To Go
14. Future Days
15. Cold Wall of Stone
Fat Mattress' first album must have come as a surprise to fans expecting something at least somewhat related to the former activities of its most famous member, ex-Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding. But Fat Mattress doesn't sound at all like Jimi Hendrix (and, for that matter, Redding plays guitar on the album, not bass). Instead, it's passable, pleasant late-'60s psychedelia with a far lighter touch than the hard bluesy psychedelic rock Redding played with Hendrix. From the sound of things, Redding (who had a hand in writing much of the material) and his new cohorts were doing some heavy listening to California psychedelic rock and folk-rock, as this is far breezier and more oriented toward harmony vocals. It's often like an amalgam of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, and Love, with some passing nods to British psychedelia by Traffic (whose Chris Wood plays flute on "All Night Drinker"), the Move, and the Small Faces; there's even a bit of a Monkees-go-spacy feel to "I Don't Mind." In the manner of Forever Changes-era Love, the lyrics have a fleetingly opaque feel, easy on the ear but not really about anything, save soaking up good-time vibes. The problem, at least inasmuch as playing this back to back with something like Forever Changes, is that the words and music don't penetrate nearly as deeply, or coalesce into nearly as strong a group identity. They're pleasing but indeed fleeting in their impression, lacking the indelible hooks or songwriting brilliance of their apparent inspirations, the songs tending to run together in their similar moods. All that said, this isn't a bad album at all; had it not been dismissed by many Hendrix collectors as irrelevant, it might well be getting rediscovered by revisionists and championed as a minor nugget of obscure British light psych. The 1992 reissue on Sequel adds five previously unreleased bonus tracks, undated but from the sound of things cut around the same time as the album or slightly afterward, most of them using a heavier instrumental approach.
Download Link :
fat_matress_-__st__1969_.rar
Rainbow Ffolly - Sallies Fforth (1968)
Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5
No, the double "f's" above are not a typo. This fleeting psych pop band from 1968 chose these strange looking words in honor of a British cartoonist named Wally Ffolks. Fortunately, and unlike many wacked out obscuro bands, these guys had the songwriting chops and atmospherics to shore up their nomenclature.
Sallies Fforth is the sole full length release from this band out of High Wycombe (can't say I know where that is, other than somewhere in England). The album is at heart a collection of demo recordings, and was put out as such by an impressed Parlophone. The only other existant track, included on the Rev-Ola CD, is a great non-LP single called "Go Girl."
The Rainbow Ffolly's musical style does stand out from the rest of the British psych-pop pack. Most bands of the era seemed to use Revolver-era Beatles, Syd Barrett, or the Yardbirds as their basic template to build a psychedelic sound. These guys seem to build their psychedelia more off of the folk-rock sound of Rubber Soul. The ballads in particular are in a distinctly McCartney-esque vein. In fact, there's a song present here called "Drive My Car," although strangely enough it's a completely different song than the Rubber Soul track of the same name.
On top of this template, the Ffolly throw on some well-done music hall touches and echo effects and then stitch the whole album together with some strange British humor and sound effect interludes. In fact the opening of the disc makes me think of the intro tracks often found on Hip-Hop albums, although markedly less funky and more British here.
Also pushing the Ffolly ahead is some great songwriting. There's not a bad song present on the album and most of it is first rate. "Drive My Car," "Hey You," "Sun Song," and "No" are phenomenal rockers. "No" benefits from a strange rubbery beat and fuzz bass, while "Drive My Car" is propulsed by a skiffle like rhythm. Even better are the ballads "Montgolfier" and "Goodbye." These have a bit of a Brazillian touch to my ear and feature perfect arrangements. The band manages some English music hall arrangements that don't come across as dorky-sounding on "I'm So Happy" and "They'm."
As mentioned earlier, Sallies Fforth is basically demo recordings. Parlophone rushed this album out much to the band's dismay. Although the recording is quite good, and much better than typical 60's demo quality, the folks in Rainbow Ffolly wanted to add some more overdubs to flesh the album out. I have to say that I'm glad Parlophone ran off with the unfinished album. I can see where the band might have added soome more stuff, but I think doing so would make Sallies Fforth far less distinctive. Many songs have a truly psychedelic, yet-sparse sound that I don't recall hearing many other places. At times it seems like a more together version of Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs.
Also of note is the tripped-out cover art. It was produced by the band and sort of makes me think of something a relatively talented high schooler would come up with. It's nicely representative of both the music insine and has a basic signifier of British psychedelia.
Those of us plunging through the depths of obscure psychedelia often have to sift through lots of dull or simply "ok" stuff to get to the real gems. Sallies Forth is the kind of disc that makes the searching worth it.
Buy Me:
Rainbow Ffolly- Sallies Fforth
Listen To Me:
Rainbow Ffolly- Sallies Fforth
Review from Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities: http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5
No, the double "f's" above are not a typo. This fleeting psych pop band from 1968 chose these strange looking words in honor of a British cartoonist named Wally Ffolks. Fortunately, and unlike many wacked out obscuro bands, these guys had the songwriting chops and atmospherics to shore up their nomenclature.
Sallies Fforth is the sole full length release from this band out of High Wycombe (can't say I know where that is, other than somewhere in England). The album is at heart a collection of demo recordings, and was put out as such by an impressed Parlophone. The only other existant track, included on the Rev-Ola CD, is a great non-LP single called "Go Girl."
The Rainbow Ffolly's musical style does stand out from the rest of the British psych-pop pack. Most bands of the era seemed to use Revolver-era Beatles, Syd Barrett, or the Yardbirds as their basic template to build a psychedelic sound. These guys seem to build their psychedelia more off of the folk-rock sound of Rubber Soul. The ballads in particular are in a distinctly McCartney-esque vein. In fact, there's a song present here called "Drive My Car," although strangely enough it's a completely different song than the Rubber Soul track of the same name.
On top of this template, the Ffolly throw on some well-done music hall touches and echo effects and then stitch the whole album together with some strange British humor and sound effect interludes. In fact the opening of the disc makes me think of the intro tracks often found on Hip-Hop albums, although markedly less funky and more British here.
Also pushing the Ffolly ahead is some great songwriting. There's not a bad song present on the album and most of it is first rate. "Drive My Car," "Hey You," "Sun Song," and "No" are phenomenal rockers. "No" benefits from a strange rubbery beat and fuzz bass, while "Drive My Car" is propulsed by a skiffle like rhythm. Even better are the ballads "Montgolfier" and "Goodbye." These have a bit of a Brazillian touch to my ear and feature perfect arrangements. The band manages some English music hall arrangements that don't come across as dorky-sounding on "I'm So Happy" and "They'm."
As mentioned earlier, Sallies Fforth is basically demo recordings. Parlophone rushed this album out much to the band's dismay. Although the recording is quite good, and much better than typical 60's demo quality, the folks in Rainbow Ffolly wanted to add some more overdubs to flesh the album out. I have to say that I'm glad Parlophone ran off with the unfinished album. I can see where the band might have added soome more stuff, but I think doing so would make Sallies Fforth far less distinctive. Many songs have a truly psychedelic, yet-sparse sound that I don't recall hearing many other places. At times it seems like a more together version of Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs.
Also of note is the tripped-out cover art. It was produced by the band and sort of makes me think of something a relatively talented high schooler would come up with. It's nicely representative of both the music insine and has a basic signifier of British psychedelia.
Those of us plunging through the depths of obscure psychedelia often have to sift through lots of dull or simply "ok" stuff to get to the real gems. Sallies Forth is the kind of disc that makes the searching worth it.
Buy Me:
Rainbow Ffolly- Sallies Fforth
Listen To Me:
Rainbow Ffolly- Sallies Fforth
Review from Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities: http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Labels: Dr. Schluss, R
Sagittarius - The Blue Marble (1969)
Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5
Although Sagittarius' first album Present Tense has gained somewhat of a reputation over the years, The Blue Marble remains largely unknown. The album debuted on the fledgeling Together Records, which unfortunately folded shortly after the release of this record and forced the music into a nose dive into obscurity. This is quite a shame as The Blue Marble features some great sunshine pop and is a worthy follow up to Present Tense.
Present Tense is more of a peaks and valleys record. While some songs there make me cringe, the high points are among the best that 60's music has to offer. The Blue Marble is a lot more consistant. There's nothing here with the punch of "My World Fell Down," but we are spared another "Musty Dusty."
The Blue Marble seems to have Gary Usher firmly in the driver's seat. Whereas Present Tense ended up having Curt Boettcher working practically as a collaborator, he appears here with only one songwriting credit, three production credits, and a smattering of vocals. Usher wrote a good 80% percent of The Blue Marble, five of them alone.
Usher really was one of the best producers in the late 60's, and that is apparent here with awesome multi-track layering and some tasteful use of the Moog synthesizer. The pitfall on The Blue Marble is that the songwriting tends not to stand out very much. Still, nothing here is embarrassing, and the lyrics aren't too bad.
The lead off track here is a "cover" of the Beach Boys' "In My Room." Since Usher co-wrote the song with Brian Wilson, I'd say he has full rights to play with it, and does so here recasting it in an almost Smile-like baroque-pop arrangement. On "From You To Us," we hear a ripping Moog bass-line, and I'd say if The Blue Marble has one major improvement over Present Tense, it would be in Usher's use of this synth. In fact, I don't recall the Moog being used in a better manner on any other 60's pop album. On the title track the Moog provides an really cool atmospheric atmosphere, while it makes for a nice retro-futuristic lead on "Lend Me A Smile."
It's really hard to choose highlights here as there's an extremely consistant, although far from dull sound. The closing track, "Cloud Track," could speak for the entire album as it's a pretty dreamy affair. The bonus section on my disc provides a few singles and alternate versions, but it does serve up a should-have-been-standout track with "Navajo Girl." There's a nice wall of sound present and the track almost rocks (as much as sunshine pop is going to). It recalls something like the Beach Boys' "Darlin'." The lyrics do seem a touch un-PC in the modern world however.
My 2001 CD reissue mostly does justice to Usher's production and crystaline arrangements. The album does seem to have a touch of vinyl noise here and there, so I'm pretty sure the master tapes were not available for remasering. The bonus tracks are in a too-compressed mono, but they're stilll quite listenable. It is a shame this album remains unknown as it is a sparkling example of sunshine pop.
Buy Me:
The Blue Marble
Listen To Me:
The Blue Marble
Review from Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities: http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5
Although Sagittarius' first album Present Tense has gained somewhat of a reputation over the years, The Blue Marble remains largely unknown. The album debuted on the fledgeling Together Records, which unfortunately folded shortly after the release of this record and forced the music into a nose dive into obscurity. This is quite a shame as The Blue Marble features some great sunshine pop and is a worthy follow up to Present Tense.
Present Tense is more of a peaks and valleys record. While some songs there make me cringe, the high points are among the best that 60's music has to offer. The Blue Marble is a lot more consistant. There's nothing here with the punch of "My World Fell Down," but we are spared another "Musty Dusty."
The Blue Marble seems to have Gary Usher firmly in the driver's seat. Whereas Present Tense ended up having Curt Boettcher working practically as a collaborator, he appears here with only one songwriting credit, three production credits, and a smattering of vocals. Usher wrote a good 80% percent of The Blue Marble, five of them alone.
Usher really was one of the best producers in the late 60's, and that is apparent here with awesome multi-track layering and some tasteful use of the Moog synthesizer. The pitfall on The Blue Marble is that the songwriting tends not to stand out very much. Still, nothing here is embarrassing, and the lyrics aren't too bad.
The lead off track here is a "cover" of the Beach Boys' "In My Room." Since Usher co-wrote the song with Brian Wilson, I'd say he has full rights to play with it, and does so here recasting it in an almost Smile-like baroque-pop arrangement. On "From You To Us," we hear a ripping Moog bass-line, and I'd say if The Blue Marble has one major improvement over Present Tense, it would be in Usher's use of this synth. In fact, I don't recall the Moog being used in a better manner on any other 60's pop album. On the title track the Moog provides an really cool atmospheric atmosphere, while it makes for a nice retro-futuristic lead on "Lend Me A Smile."
It's really hard to choose highlights here as there's an extremely consistant, although far from dull sound. The closing track, "Cloud Track," could speak for the entire album as it's a pretty dreamy affair. The bonus section on my disc provides a few singles and alternate versions, but it does serve up a should-have-been-standout track with "Navajo Girl." There's a nice wall of sound present and the track almost rocks (as much as sunshine pop is going to). It recalls something like the Beach Boys' "Darlin'." The lyrics do seem a touch un-PC in the modern world however.
My 2001 CD reissue mostly does justice to Usher's production and crystaline arrangements. The album does seem to have a touch of vinyl noise here and there, so I'm pretty sure the master tapes were not available for remasering. The bonus tracks are in a too-compressed mono, but they're stilll quite listenable. It is a shame this album remains unknown as it is a sparkling example of sunshine pop.
Buy Me:
The Blue Marble
Listen To Me:
The Blue Marble
Review from Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities: http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Labels: Dr. Schluss, S
Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends (1968)
Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 1.5 out of 5
Sunshine pop does not necessarily equate to psychedelic as this 1968 release attests. It's an odd disc that often earns favorable comparisons to Pet Sounds but in the end remains pretty square. If Laurence Welk ever tried to bring out a rockin' group to show he was "hep and with it," these folks must have been on the top of his list. And if my grandmother could still hear, I'd have no problem playing this one for her. This is not the place to look for anything that would be considered experiementation, but the sound is as sundrenched as anything you'd expect from A&M Records and Herb Alpert's guidance in the 60's.
Even without any particularly new sounds, Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends is a high quality product that takes more attitude from the Sinatra dominated era of pop than the rock age. The arrangements here use a little bit of electricity and occasionally louder drums, but once the tight harmonies are in full effect, the songs tend to resemble a really good toothpaste commercial. The production is top flight and often has a dreamy sheen (hence the 1.5 on the Trip-O-Meter).
Roger Nichols carved out most of his career as a songwriter, penning Carpenters' hits such as "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days And Sundays." For a few years in the 60's he teamed with siblings Murray and Melinda MacLeod for a vocal duo that must have been in it's element in a slightly more upscale Holiday Inn lounge.
Fortunately on this album he cowrote four songs with Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher and the songs have a little more depth than I usually associate with such breezy pop. Still, don't expect anything close to the emotional whallop of Pet Sounds. There are a few more original numbers present, along with a slew of covers, including two Lennon/McCartney songs, two Lovin' Spoonful tracks, and one composition each from Burt Bacharach and Goffin/King. They do a pretty good job fitting all these songs into their signature sound, and I don't come off wishing that they'd included more original material. The Beatles songs in particular include a fine version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" (I certainly enjoy it more than Joe Cocker's version) and a rendition of "I'll Be Back" which includes an original and unexpected tag at the tail end of the song. In fact, it's my favorite moment on the album.
The Rev-Ola reissue includes 8 bonus tracks and makes a pretty nice addition to the set. We get two mono single versions of songs on the proper album while the other tracks are proper outtakes and obscure tracks. They maintain the consistancy of the album with the exception of the completely stupid "St. Bernie The Sno-Dog." But can one really expect much from a song with that title?
This is properly acknowledged as a sunshine pop classic, but don't expect any psychedelia here. The 5th Dimension sound like Captain Beefheart compared to these folks. But Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends is immaculately produced, almost sickeningly consistant, and is a good place to seek out the breezy A&M sound of the 60's.
Buy Me:
Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends
Listen To Me:
Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends
Review from Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities:
http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Trip-O-Meter: 1.5 out of 5
Sunshine pop does not necessarily equate to psychedelic as this 1968 release attests. It's an odd disc that often earns favorable comparisons to Pet Sounds but in the end remains pretty square. If Laurence Welk ever tried to bring out a rockin' group to show he was "hep and with it," these folks must have been on the top of his list. And if my grandmother could still hear, I'd have no problem playing this one for her. This is not the place to look for anything that would be considered experiementation, but the sound is as sundrenched as anything you'd expect from A&M Records and Herb Alpert's guidance in the 60's.
Even without any particularly new sounds, Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends is a high quality product that takes more attitude from the Sinatra dominated era of pop than the rock age. The arrangements here use a little bit of electricity and occasionally louder drums, but once the tight harmonies are in full effect, the songs tend to resemble a really good toothpaste commercial. The production is top flight and often has a dreamy sheen (hence the 1.5 on the Trip-O-Meter).
Roger Nichols carved out most of his career as a songwriter, penning Carpenters' hits such as "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days And Sundays." For a few years in the 60's he teamed with siblings Murray and Melinda MacLeod for a vocal duo that must have been in it's element in a slightly more upscale Holiday Inn lounge.
Fortunately on this album he cowrote four songs with Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher and the songs have a little more depth than I usually associate with such breezy pop. Still, don't expect anything close to the emotional whallop of Pet Sounds. There are a few more original numbers present, along with a slew of covers, including two Lennon/McCartney songs, two Lovin' Spoonful tracks, and one composition each from Burt Bacharach and Goffin/King. They do a pretty good job fitting all these songs into their signature sound, and I don't come off wishing that they'd included more original material. The Beatles songs in particular include a fine version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" (I certainly enjoy it more than Joe Cocker's version) and a rendition of "I'll Be Back" which includes an original and unexpected tag at the tail end of the song. In fact, it's my favorite moment on the album.
The Rev-Ola reissue includes 8 bonus tracks and makes a pretty nice addition to the set. We get two mono single versions of songs on the proper album while the other tracks are proper outtakes and obscure tracks. They maintain the consistancy of the album with the exception of the completely stupid "St. Bernie The Sno-Dog." But can one really expect much from a song with that title?
This is properly acknowledged as a sunshine pop classic, but don't expect any psychedelia here. The 5th Dimension sound like Captain Beefheart compared to these folks. But Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends is immaculately produced, almost sickeningly consistant, and is a good place to seek out the breezy A&M sound of the 60's.
Buy Me:
Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends
Listen To Me:
Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends
Review from Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities:
http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/
Labels: Dr. Schluss, N, R, S
Shocking Blue - 20 Greatest Hits
Dutch Power-Pop PioneersA great collection of some of the most appreciated Shocking Blue recordings. All their hit singles are here, as well as lesser known songs from their various albums, recorded in the first halt of the 1970`s.
Though "Venus" was their only international hit, a lot of these songs had the same potentials. Songs like "Never Marry a Railroad Man", "Mighty Joe", "Dream on Dreamer", or "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" could have been equally big hits, had the wind blown in the Shocking Blue direction, when they were released.
Guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen had an unique skill for writing catchy pop-rock tunes, and their music still sounds fresh and appealing today.
The arrangements are mostly the classical bass, guitar and drums line-up, with occasional piano or saxophones.
They never fell into the trap of overproducing their records, like many of their contemporaries. I guess this is one of the reasons that they have aged so well.
This is a must buy for any fan of melodic power-pop.Saturday, May 12, 2007
The Left Banke - There's Gonna Be A Storm: the complete recordings 1966-69
Though it's missing a few rarities -- namely the Steve Martin single for Buddha that reunited him with Michael Brown -- this is the most definitive Left Banke compilation. It features the entirety of their two late-'60s albums, as well as a couple of singles that didn't make it onto LPs at the time (though they later appeared on Rhino's History) and a previously unissued cut, "Men Are Building Sand." Their debut 1967 LP, Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina, is an underrated classic of the time, matching smart harmonies and pop hooks to baroque orchestration. Its brilliance casts a bit of a shadow over the rest of this collection. The group's 1968 album Too suffered from bloated production and, more importantly, the absence of chief songwriter/arranger Michael Brown. In turn, the 1967 single Brown cut under the Left Banke moniker with singer Bert Sommer suffers from the absence of lead vocalist Steve Martin. By the time Brown and Martin tenuously reunited for a late-1969 single, some of the spark had gone. All of the aforementioned highs and lows of this prodigiously talented but strife-ridden group are on this disc. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music GuideDownload It Here :
Part 1
http://rapidshare.com/files/30885030/leftbanke1.rar
Part 2 :
http://rapidshare.com/files/30902144/leftbanke2.rar
Labels: innocent76, L
Savage Rose - 1968 - Savage Rose
Danish psychedelic rock group, founded in 1967 by Thomas Koppel, Anders Koppel, Alex Riel, Jens Rugsted, Flemming Ostermann, and Annisette. Ilse Marie Koppel was also participating. Nils Tuxen replaced Flemming Ostermann from their second album. Since the mid 1970s, the group has been an acoustic trio consisting of Thomas Koppel, Annisette Hansen and John Ravn as a core. From the beginning of the 1990s, the group returned to electric instrumentation. Thomas Koppel died on February 25, 2006, and the future of the band is still uncertain. Annisette has announced that the 2006 autumn tour in Denmark will be carried out. Their debut album was recently selected to be part of the Danish national "cultural canon".
Official Site :
http://www.thesavagerose.com/srindex.html
Download Link :
http://rapidshare.com/Savage_Rose_-_Savage_Rose.rar
Official Site :
http://www.thesavagerose.com/srindex.html
Download Link :
http://rapidshare.com/Savage_Rose_-_Savage_Rose.rar
Thanks Michael for this one !!!
Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, S
Bob Hocko and the Swamp Rats - 2003 - Disco Still Sucks!
Looking back at the '60s, it seemed like any kid with a garage and a guitar was able to record and release a disc. As a result, the dusty bins of rock & roll history contain too many bands to keep tabs on. Among the avalanche of Nuggets and Pebbles collections, there are passing notices paid to the Swamp Rats, but unlike many of the one-off bands included in those collections, the Swamp Rats are worth revisiting. Hailing from the Pittsburgh, PA suburb of McKeesport, the Swamp Rats emerged in 1966 and gained some degree of renown with their surprisingly wild take on the ubiquitous garage rocker, "Louie Louie." Their reputation was further fueled by a string of raucous singles offering solid versions of tracks by the Beatles ("Here, There and Everywhere"), the Kinks ("She's Got Everything"), and what would become the group's most recognizable song, the Rolling Stones' "It's Not Easy." A thoughtful reissue unleashed by Get Hip in 2003, Disco Still Sucks! does a solid job of gathering up the band's finest moments. With a string of songs originally released from 1966 and 1967, the band made quite an impression among garage rock fans. Graced with extensive liner notes, the album details the band's career from beginning to end. The most immediately jarring thing about Disco Still Sucks! is how brash and noisy the guitar were for 1966. Before kids were armed with digital effects and fancy studio tricks, the Swamp Rats were pounding their instruments into fuzzy revolt with pure teenage fury — and it sounds great. The CD also includes unlisted bonus tracks that seem to show leader Bob Hocko wrestling with some psyched-out Vietnam-era demons. Whether the stories are fact or fiction, the trippy barrage of spoken word pieces and sound effects are an unsettling but offer an intriguing glimpse at the experimental direction the band might've taken had it survived a few more years. (allmusic)
posted by Kyriakos
Peter Ivers Band - Knight of the Blue Communion
Prepare yourselves for one of the strangest albums ever made. Originally released on Epic (!!!!) in the late 60s, this album really has no peers, the nearest possible connection would be to staunchly noncommercial artists such as United States of America, White Noise, Captain Beefheart or Frank Zappa. Peter Ivers-singer/ songwriter, actor, theatre writer, experimental video director, Harvard graduate and all-round nutter/genius created this incredible soundscape from electronic sounds (provided by an "intermodulator"), free jazz, classical yet spontaneous singing, blues and rock.
Many music fans will know Peter Ivers as the writer of 'In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)', which he originally composed for David Lynch's classic film, Eraserhead. The song was later immortalised, of course, by fellow Bostonians, the Pixies.
Ivers may not be a household name, but during his short life he made an impact on many fronts. He was a musician, arranger, composer, screenwriter, catalyst, TV presenter, spotter of new talent, a black belt in karate and a yoga master. Talking to people who knew and worked with him even 24 years after his untimely death, the superlatives still come gushing forth: such epithets as 'perfect'; 'a totally unique and refreshing individual'; 'a legend in the making'; 'a genius in many fields' freely trip off the tongue about him.
Peter's first big music industry break came in 1969, when Epic Records signed him to record his debut solo LP, Knight of the Blue Communion, the first ever legitimate CD reissue of which is now released on Hux Records.
In addition to playing harmonica and providing backing vocals, Peter acted as arranger and composer, while his friend Tim Mayer provided all the lyrics. Ivers assembled a fascinating group of musicians to play on his record. On drums was Cleve Frank Pozar, with Richard Youngstein on contrabass, and Tony Ackerman on guitar. The horn section featured Steve Kowarsky on bassoon, Henry Schuman on oboe and Paul Balmuth on sax. However, the icing on the cake was chanteuse Yolande Bavan, and the way in which Peter used her as lead vocalist on the album. Bavan was a singer and actress who was born in Sri Lanka and had started her professional career working as a vocalist with renowned pianist Graeme Bell. Later, she met and was befriended by the legendary singer Billie Holiday. Holiday took the young Bavan under her wing and in addition to mentoring Yolande, developed a close friendship with her. Subsequently, Yolande found her way to America where she replaced Annie Ross in the renowned jazz vocal trio, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.
On its original release in 1969, Knight of the Blue Communion drew comparisons with Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, with Yolanda appearing to be the conventional vocalist cast in what was often a sea of avant-garde madness, the music a blend of blues, rock & jazz. The LP was produced by the veteran US pop producer Sandy Linzer, who had written and produced the hit 'Let's Hang On To What We Got'.
Yolande left the band the following year and was replaced by Asha Puthli, a forward thinking, boundary breaking vocalist who'd trained in Indian classical singing and was a natural jazz improviser, whom the New York Times described as 'a sound like raga meeting Aretha Franklin'.
With Asha now on vocals, the Peter Ivers Band released their debut single in 1971, a cover of the Marvin Gaye number, 'Ain't That Peculiar', backed by the Ivers' original, 'Clarence O'Day'. Both titles, previously unavailable on CD, are included here as bonus tracks. As Puthli recalls, the single 'received glowing reviews from all three major industry magazines, Billboard, Cashbox & Record World and briefly entered the Top 100 Singles Billboard charts'.
Asha Puthli went on to sing on Ornette Coleman's Science Fiction album and won Downbeat poll award for best female jazz vocalist for her sterling contribution to that classic album.
Track Listings
1. Cat Scratch Fever
2. Water Curtain
3. Dark Illumination
4. Confession
5. Travelling Lightly
6. Showroom Model
7. Tobacco
8. Lord God Love
9. Knight of the Blue Communion
10. Gentle Jesus
Absolutely amazing stoned walk stuff
IMO a must have
http://rapidshare.com/Peter_Ivers.rar
Enjoy
Freeman Sound and Friends - Heavy Trip (1970)
"Unreleased recordings from obscure Ohio band with 1970 45 on the same label as Morly Grey. Much of this is actually modern recordings, nevertheless about half of it is enjoyable sinister psychrock with a late Doors vibe." (AcidArchives)
"World In Sound presents another group that represents the late '60s, early '70s heavy psychedelic era scene in northeast Ohio, USA (the same region that Dragonwyck is from). Having won the Starshine Productions' 'Battle of the Bands' in 1970, the five-member Freeman Sound was established as the most popular of several bands (including Morly Grey), that had records released on the Starshine label. This special collection of original songs and sounds is an exciting bit of rock history that documents some of the charm, wit and depth of talent that made Freeman Sound the special local phenomenon they were. This release includes twelve great, quality tracks, four on an extra 7" record. Bio and photos are on a poster. You'll get stoned on some mind-bending vocals backed by instrumentation that includes some very intense, heavy fuzz and wah pedal guitar sounds, solid drums and a screaming organ with flashes of famous British groups. This band broke up before they were able to make the most of their popularity. With this previously unreleased album, they may be taking up where they left off. For fans of intelligently-executed psychedelic hard rock and pop with a message."
1) Tomorrow Is Plastic
2) Heavy Trip #70 (Freak Out)
3) All I Need
4) If I Could Only
5) Wanting To Be Free
6) All Roads Lead Home
7) 16 Tons
8) Singing My Own Song
9) On The Way
10) Get It While You Can
11) I Just Can't Stop Lovin' You, Babe
12) Christmas Card
DOWNLOAD!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Sea Train - 1969 - Sea Train
Of the Blues Project came Sea Train. This album ranks alongside Family's Music in a Dolls House, Quicksilver's Happy Trails, Steve Miller's Sailor; all classic albums of the time. It's an eclectic mix of classical,country,jazz and psych-fuzz-rock styles that is fragile and inventive and still sounds "quite good".
Tracks
A1 Sea Train 4:07
A2 Let The Duchess No 3:38
A3 Pudding Street 4:55
A4 Portrait of The Lady As a Young Artist 3:45
B1 As I Lay Losing 4:55
B2 Rondo 3:22
B3 Sweet Creek's Suite 4:20
B4 Outwear The Hills 4:40
Roots-fusion combo Seatrain formed from the ashes of the Blues Project -- following the exits of the New York-based group's other members. Flutist/bassist Andy Kulberg and drummer Roy Blumenfeld relocated to Marin County, CA, forming a new lineup with vocalist Jim Roberts, ex-Mystery Trend guitarist John Gregory, former Jim Kweskin Jug Band violinist Richard Greene, and saxophonist Don Kretmar. Though the group's 1968 album, Planned Obsolescence, was issued under the Blues Project name out of contractual obligations, the sextet immediately rechristened itself Seatrain to release a self-titled 1969 LP highlighted by their unique blend of rock, bluegrass, folk, and blues. A series of roster changes plagued the group in the months to follow, however, and in 1970 Seatrain -- now comprising Kulberg, Roberts and Greene in addition to keyboardist Lloyd Baskin, drummer Larry Atamanuik, and former Earth Opera guitarist Peter Rowan -- released their second album, also eponymously-titled, scoring a minor hit with the single "13 Questions." The George Martin-produced Marblehead Messenger followed a year later, with Greene and Rowan soon exiting to join Muleskinner; Roberts and Atamanuik left Seatrain as well, with the latter eventually resurfacing in Emmylou Harris' Nash Ramblers. The remaining duo of Kulberg and Baskin recruited guitarist Peter Walsh, keyboardist Bill Elliot, and drummer Julio Coronado for one final LP, 1973's Watch.
Download Link :
Sea_Train.rar
V.A. - Relics (of the 60's) 1&2
Relics #1 - LP
Side 1
1 The Traits - High On A Cloud (Pelham, NY, U.S.A.)
2 Hot Dog Stand - Zilch
3 The Xtreems - Facts Of Life (St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.)
4 The Soulbenders - 7 And 7 Is (Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)
5 The Basement Wall - Never Existed (Baton Rouge, LA, U.S.A.)
6 The Eyes - I'm Rowed Out (London, U.K.)
7 The Pack - The Colour Of Our Love (Detroit, MI, U.S.A.)
8 Third Power - Snow (Detroit, MI, U.S.A.)
Side 2
1 Bubble Puppy - Beginning (San Antonio, TX, U.S.A.)
2 The Eyes - When The Night Falls (London, U.K.)
3 Plastic Cloud - Shadows Of Your Mind (Bay Ridges, Canada)
4 The Underground - Psychotic Reaction (U.S.A.)
5 The Ninth Street Bridge - Hey Baby (Houston, TX, U.S.A.)
6 Pinkerton Colors - Strange Things (MI, U.S.A.)
Relics #2 - LP
Side 1
1 The Bow Street Runners - Another Face (U.S.A.)
2 Nomads - Hey Joe (Edmonton, Canada)
3 Marcus - A Trip In Time (PA, U.S.A.)
4 Help - Questions Why (CA, U.S.A.)
5 Maxx - 200 Years (MI, U.S.A.)
6 The Day After - The Graduate (PA, U.S.A.)
7 The Night Riders - Journey To The Stars (NC, U.S.A.)
Side 2
1 The Saxons - The Way Of The Down (West Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.)
2 The Saxons - Things Have Been Bad (West Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.)
3 Internal Canitery Sin - Purple Haze (Circleville, OH, U.S.A.)
4 King's English - Mister You're A Better Man Than I (Worthington, OH, U.S.A.)
5 Beau Jests - Love Is A Beautiful Thing (FL, U.S.A.)
6 Little John & The Monks - Black Winds (Blue River, OR, U.S.A.)
7 The Animated Egg - I Said, She Said, Ah Cid (U.S.A.)
8 The Farm - Inner Space (IL, U.S.A.)
Side 1
1 The Traits - High On A Cloud (Pelham, NY, U.S.A.)
2 Hot Dog Stand - Zilch
3 The Xtreems - Facts Of Life (St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.)
4 The Soulbenders - 7 And 7 Is (Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)
5 The Basement Wall - Never Existed (Baton Rouge, LA, U.S.A.)
6 The Eyes - I'm Rowed Out (London, U.K.)
7 The Pack - The Colour Of Our Love (Detroit, MI, U.S.A.)
8 Third Power - Snow (Detroit, MI, U.S.A.)
Side 2
1 Bubble Puppy - Beginning (San Antonio, TX, U.S.A.)
2 The Eyes - When The Night Falls (London, U.K.)
3 Plastic Cloud - Shadows Of Your Mind (Bay Ridges, Canada)
4 The Underground - Psychotic Reaction (U.S.A.)
5 The Ninth Street Bridge - Hey Baby (Houston, TX, U.S.A.)
6 Pinkerton Colors - Strange Things (MI, U.S.A.)
Relics #2 - LP Side 1
1 The Bow Street Runners - Another Face (U.S.A.)
2 Nomads - Hey Joe (Edmonton, Canada)
3 Marcus - A Trip In Time (PA, U.S.A.)
4 Help - Questions Why (CA, U.S.A.)
5 Maxx - 200 Years (MI, U.S.A.)
6 The Day After - The Graduate (PA, U.S.A.)
7 The Night Riders - Journey To The Stars (NC, U.S.A.)
Side 2
1 The Saxons - The Way Of The Down (West Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.)
2 The Saxons - Things Have Been Bad (West Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.)
3 Internal Canitery Sin - Purple Haze (Circleville, OH, U.S.A.)
4 King's English - Mister You're A Better Man Than I (Worthington, OH, U.S.A.)
5 Beau Jests - Love Is A Beautiful Thing (FL, U.S.A.)
6 Little John & The Monks - Black Winds (Blue River, OR, U.S.A.)
7 The Animated Egg - I Said, She Said, Ah Cid (U.S.A.)
8 The Farm - Inner Space (IL, U.S.A.)
Labels: Lost In Tyme, Various Artists
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Many Bright Things - 1st album
From Aural Innovations #5 (January 1999)
This was one of the albums that led me towards writing the Texas Psych-out article. Never mind that I later discovered the band is really from Indianapolis! (Only the issuing label is in Texas.) It's funny, but the style of psychedelia on this one lays right in the Texas tradition. But what the hey? Who cares where they're from...the music is really cool. Many Bright Things is a band (?) with two main protagonists (Stan Denski and Ray Pierle) and a guest guitarist (Larry DeMyer) on one track. Both Denski and Pierle are versatile instrumentalists, sharing guitar and bass duties, but with Denski solely providing the vocals and Pierle the drums. I believe the LP came out a few years' back - this CD reissue also includes three bonus tracks which up the total time to a full hour.
The three-part epic musical rendition of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opens with a female voice reading what I can only imagine is prose originally penned by Shakespeare in the work of the same name. But a majority of the twenty-minutes is just total psychedelic madness with an eastern flavor (there's that sitar sound again). "When the Night" is an excellent piece of work, a 10-minute shamanistic tribal romp featuring successive wah-wah and e-bow guitar solos. Here, Denski's vocals are chant-style and oddly engaging. "Lazy River Blues" is a cover of an old Jon Uzonyi (of Peace Pipe and The Human Equation) tune, though it seems to hearken all the way back to the Robert Johnson delta blues style. MBT adds their own touch to the music though, with the 'tremelo-style vocals' and a particularly intriguing bubbly guitar sound. "4 AM" is a Denski solo signature piece, which could very easily be a Jimmy Page composition for acoustic guitar (a la "White Summer"). I really like this sort of thing when done well, and this one ranks very high. The bonus tracks don't add too much to the original album, though are well worth a listen. "Loop Jam #2" is undoubtedly a bit of fooling around in the studio one day while the tape was rolling, pleasant enough whether 'finished' or not.
From the photos on the back cover, I can tell these guys have been around for awhile and no doubt have recorded things in the past, whether as a unit or separately. I enjoyed this effort and want to seek out more of their work. And now that I realize the band resides in Indiana (just a few hours west of the AI home base), the possibility of researching their past history seems more feasible. So watch this space for more info on this talented duo.
LINK:
Enjoy !
V.A. - Delincuentes (Martian, 2001)
"Jovenes Punks de America Latina"
Side 1
1 Los Hitters - Delincuente
2 Los Yetis - No Me Digas Adios
3 Los Ovnis - Baby Please Don't Go
4 Los Yorks - El Loco
5 Los Yetis - Amor Sideral
6 Los Ampex - Lost Love
7 Los Yaki - Las Estatuas De Marfil
8 The Speakers - Glendora
Side 2
1 Los Yorks - El Sicodelico
2 The Speakers - Lucille
3 Los Ovnis - Ya Se
4 Los Beat 4 - Lo Que Sera
5 Los Saicos - Lonely Star
6 Los Bulldogs - I'm Gonna Find A Cave
7 Los Shain's - Shain's A Go Go
8 The Beat Boys - Wake Me Shake Me
Download!
Labels: caveman78, Various Artists
V.A. - Czechoslovakian Beat vol.1 (Reverendo Moon, 1996)
Side 1
1 The Matadors - Old Mother Hubbard
2 The Matadors - Malej Zvon, Co Mam
3 The Matadors - Don't Bother Me
4 The Bluesmen - A Proto Se Bojìm Mìt Te Rád
5 The Bluesmen - Ler Proc Nemohu Spat
6 Juventus - Bob Hands
7 Juventus - 18 Minut
Side 2
1 The Beatmen - The Enchanted Lie
2 The Beatmen - Safely Arrived
3 Flamengo - Poprava Blond Holky
4 Flamengo - Pani V Cenerem
5 Flamengo - Zavrazdil Jsem Lasku
6 The Olympics - Vzpominka Pliziva
7 Juventus - Procitnuti
Labels: caveman78, Various Artists
Afterflow - 1968 - Afterglow
Extremely Organ/Keyboard driven album with a few catchy pop songs and the aforementioned Pscyh-out "Susies Gone".
Recorded in 1966-67, this Oregon group's sole release is notable for two serious 60s pop classics ("Morning" and "Afternoon"), a 2:29 gem of farfisa, slide guitar, and vocal dementia worth snagging for a "freaky 60s" comp ("Susie's Gone"), and another outstanding pop cut only a step behind the two monsters ("Love"). As the remaining cuts are quite solid and satisfactory, it's an album that holds up well to a full play and repeat plays. The basic sound is dominated by thin, corny, effusive farfisa organ lines and fleshed out with electric guitar, bass guitar, and drumkit. The multi-part male vocals are very clean, pretty, and generic to the era.
Tracks
1. Morning (2:05)
2. Dream Away (2:33)
3. Susie's Gone (2:29)
4. Mend This Heart of Mine (2:37)
5. Afternoon (1:59)
6. Chasing Rainbows (1:49)
7. By My Side (1:54)
8. It's a Wonder (2:28)
9. Love (3:02)
10. Riding Home Again (2:34)
11. Meadowland of Love (2:23)
12. Susie's Gone [Alternate Version) (2:32)
13. Chasing Rainbows [Alt. Backing Track)1:51)
14. Afternoon [Alt. Backing Track ) (1:48)
15. Morning [Alt. Backing Track] (2:11)
2. Dream Away (2:33)
3. Susie's Gone (2:29)
4. Mend This Heart of Mine (2:37)
5. Afternoon (1:59)
6. Chasing Rainbows (1:49)
7. By My Side (1:54)
8. It's a Wonder (2:28)
9. Love (3:02)
10. Riding Home Again (2:34)
11. Meadowland of Love (2:23)
12. Susie's Gone [Alternate Version) (2:32)
13. Chasing Rainbows [Alt. Backing Track)1:51)
14. Afternoon [Alt. Backing Track ) (1:48)
15. Morning [Alt. Backing Track] (2:11)
The Reviews
1
Afterglow starts with "Morning," a gentle folk-rock song that finds the middle ground between the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane. Although there are a couple of tracks similar to "Morning" on the album, it is no more an indication of what's to follow as any other song on the record. Each song on Afterglow sounds as if it could have been written by different bands -- sure, there is the sighing "Mend This Heart of Mine," but it follows the downright bizarre "Susie's Gone," a which, with its dissonant Farfisa organs and slide guitars, sounds like a space voyage. It's not particularly coherent but its sampler nature makes Afterglow a charming psychedelic relic.
2
An obscure psychedelic band based in Oregon, Afterglow released only one album in 1968 before vanishing. Afterglow's lone, eponymous release was sort of like a sampler of American psychedelic styles, featuring songs that recalled not only the Doors and Jefferson Airplane, but also the Byrds, Donovan and trippy garage-psychedelic bands like the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Led by guitarist/vocalist Tony Tecumseh, the group formed in August of 1965 when Tecumseh was convinced by a friend to contact drummer Larry Alexander and a bassist named Mike. The trio, dubbed the Madallions, soon added vocalist Gene Resler and the band played several shows, usually at a local pizza parlor, before they went their separate ways to attend college. They re-formed in 1966, adding new bassist Ron George and keyboardist Roger Swanson. That fall, they began recording with producer Leo Lukla at his Golden State Recorders studio, but due to their studies, they were unable to complete an album until late 1967; the resulting eponymous record appeared early the following year on MTA Records. Afterglow was ignored at the time and the group broke up shortly afterward, but the record became a favorite of psychedelic collectors.
3
Organs, sunshiney guitar, harmonious backup vocals. This record is so good I had to raise the score! The sound is often similar to Belle and Sebastian (I suspect they may have covered "Riding Home Again", or written a song that is an exact copy)other times it's Beatle-esque. Beautiful organ stuff going on (Farfisa?) similar to the Piper at The Gates of Dawn at times (much more bubblegummy song content though in comparison but not overall). They get spaced out on "Susie's gone" almost to a No-Wave groove 10 years too soon. It's kind of a short record, but you'll just want to listen to it again after the first time, so who cares.
Something of a cross between Country Joe and The Fish and British North American Act,their album is certainly worth investigation and has been reissued on CD by Sundazed.
Something of a cross between Country Joe and The Fish and British North American Act,their album is certainly worth investigation and has been reissued on CD by Sundazed.
Download Link :
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Gandalf The Grey -1972 - The Grey Wizard Am I
A spellbinding combination of laid back acid folk rock & psychedelic fuzz guitar,
of the classic 1972 privately pressed album from the New York wizard aka, Chris Wilson.
Originals sell for over $1000! Sixteen tracks in total all recorded between 1966 and 1972.The songs are jangly folk-pop, mixing Tolkien mythology with big-city observationals. Througout the record, Wilson maintains a keen sense of structure and drama, adding little modulations here and there to keep things interesting.
Tracks
1. The Grey Wizard Am I
2. My Elven Home
3. From The Green Havens
4. Here On Eighth Street
5. Go And See
6. The Christmas Song
7. Old Town Church
8. The Home Coming
9. I Don't Know Why The People
10. Mr. Joe's
11. Sunshine Down The Line
12. The World Belongs To The Children
13. A Young Girl Just Died
14. Before Tomorrow
15. The Shadow Of Tomorrow
16. An Elven Song Of Love
One could make the argument that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings fantasy trilogy (published 1954-1955) had as significant a formative influence on the emergent hippie generation as did Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) or Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (1961). Certainly you can hear it in the twee archaisms of British folk from the era and in the more whimsical, otherworldly strains of British psychedelia (the Incredible String Band comes immediately to mind), and, in time, it would saturate '70s prog rock. It is right there, too, as a catalyst in American folk-rock (perhaps Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair/Canticle," probably the Byrds' "Renaissance Fair") and Baroque pop (Sagittarius' Present Tense, Love's "Forever Changes"), and ultimately in its acid folk (Perry Leopold's dark masterpiece Christian Lucifer). But Chris Wilson took the inspiration to its logical extreme on The Grey Wizard Am I. His nom de guerre, appropriated from the novels, is the ultimate homage, while many of the lyrics on the album were directly inspired by Tolkien's imaginary landscapes as well, and even by some of his characters. The remainder convert the ins and outs of Wilson's bohemian life in Greenwich Village into a sort of fantasy world of its own. And it is all quite delightfully, if earnestly, done — or, to be less precious about it, The Grey Wizard Am I is often a transfixing, bewitching little relic, particularly on such songs as "My Elven Home," "Go and See," and "Sunshine Down the Line." It's not likely to have a wide appeal — anything this eccentric, unworldly, and chimeric, no matter how well done, probably has a limited audience — and there is not a great deal of melodic variation from song to song to push it into the upper echelon of similar recordings. Nevertheless, The Grey Wizard Am I is a lovely little pastry for fans of obscure '60s and '70s folkadelica, ideal music for playing dress-up to, or for daydreaming.
Download link
Savage Rose - 1969 - In The Plain
Savage Rose - 1969 - In The Plain01 Long Beofre I Was Born (3:19)
02 I'm Walking Through the Door (4:28)
03 Let's See Her (3:52)
04 Ride My Mountain (5:38)
05 Shepherd and Sally (5:18)
06 His Own Happiness Gods Little Hand (4:19)
07 Evening's Child (3:25)
08 Trial in Our Native Town (7:08)
In the Plain by Denmark's Savage Rose has a striking cover photo with psychedelic color coordinated band members surrounded by wild pink lettering of the group name. Inside is innovative music, pretty much living up to the typical Polygram hype from this era written on the back cover. "Let's See Her" sounds like Ten Wheel Drive meets Vanilla Fudge; brothers Anders Koppel and Thomas Koppel wrote seven of the eight tracks, and created with this one clever sound and arrangements. The sleeper on In the Plain, though, is the one non-original, five minutes and 38 seconds of "Ride My Mountain," a composition by Jade. It's a wonderful production number where Anisette's vocal scream out over the very together instrumentation. The back cover photo reflects the intensity of "Ride My Mountain," the band looking like exiles of Charles Manson's clan in the positive of the back cover photo, a larger negative version above it making this import very hip. The Savage Rose look like they are auditioning for the film The Savage Seven. The opening track reminds one of a hipper Peanut Butter Conspiracy, and there is no doubt that Savage Rose find more inspiration in their music than similar bands from the era. The production is somewhat like Davd Briggs' work on Alice Cooper's Easy Action, while titles like "The Shepherd & Sally" are as experimental as anything on that early Cooper disc. Having the male vocals on "His Own Happiness" is unnecessary, sort of like Big Brother & the Holding Company letting Janis Joplin take a time out. Thankfully, Anissette comes back after a mini-instrumental interlude for a rare look at the band's sangfroid. It is also interesting to hear Thomas Koppel's to-be ex-wife, Llse Maria Koppel, on harpsichord backing his next wife, Anissette. "Evening's Child" is like a psychedelic powwow of jazz-influenced garage rock which cascades into the dirge that is "A Trial in Our Native Town." Without the polish producer Jimmy Miller would bring to the mix on Refugee, In the Plain is a very good look at a highly creative band.
~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
http://rapidshare.com/Savage_Rose_-_In_The_Plain.rar
Hope you like it :-))
Thanks Michael for this one !!!
Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, S
P.J. Orion & The Magnates
P.J. Orion & The Magnates"Local prep-garage LP with a folkrock sound a la Ha'Pennys but slightly more pro-sounding, adds some early 60s and UK R'n'B covers for good measure. Consistent in its $15 jangly Searchers/early Byrds sound, even on Stones and Animals numbers, with a folkrocked "Love Minus Zero" perhaps the most original thing on board. Nice live feel with appealingly loose drummer and amateur vocals. No selfpenned material and kind of short with only nine tracks, even as most of them cross the 3-minute mark. Recorded in New York. The band members belonged to wealthy Greek shipping families (hence "Magnates") and were students at the Groton prep school, which makes their tough greaseball stance on the supercool cover seem a wishful Spring break fantasy. [PL]"
1] As Tears Go By
2] We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
3] Eve Of Destruction
4] Under The Boardwalk
5] Sheila
6] Love Minus Zero
7] What Have They Done To The Rain
8] Bells Of Rhymney
9] Gloria
Download (Sendspace)
or
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Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, P
V.A. - Crude PA vol.1-2 (Distortions, 1996)
Side 1
1 Pat Farrell & The Believers - Brand New Baby
2 The Conductors - She Said So
3 The Soul Generation - I Can't See You
4 The Couriers - Feelings
5 The Changing Tymes - You Make It Hard
6 The Sands Of Time - Come Back Little Girl
7 The Scholars - I'm Gonna Make It
8 The Effects - I've Been Told
9 The Bitter End - If You Want Somebody
Side 2
1 The Snaps - Polka Dotted Eyes
2 J.C. & The New Tones - Love: Human Emotion
3 The Nomads - Point Five
4 The Nomads - I Need Your Energy
5 Facts Of Life - I've Seen Darker Nights
6 The Iron Gate - Feelin' Bad
7 Thee Young Generation - Ruby Tuesday
8 Thee Young Generation - Stupidity
9 The Starfyres - Captain Dueseldorph
Side 1
1 The Wilde Things - Can't See The Sun
2 The Wilde Things - My Life Is Black
3 The Undertakers - Little Girl
4 The Bats - How Could You Have Known
5 The Glas Menagerie - Natasha
6 The Creations - Love Is Tuff
7 Effects/Glass Company - MW Lads
Side 2
1 The Savoys - Only So Much
2 The Savoys - Got To Say Goodbye
3 The Loose Enz - A World Outside
4 The Rising Tydes - Artificial Peace
5 The Rising Tydes - Don't Want You Around
6 The Chosen Few - Staircases, Places And Time
7 Strawberry Tuesday - Return Of The Walrus
8 Mysterious Clown - Mysterious Clown
Labels: caveman78, Various Artists
V.A. - Cicadelic 60's vol.3-1965-66 Folk Rock ( Cicadelic CD,1993)
"The Savage Sounds of 12 Far-Out Groups"
1 The Sting Rays - Baby If I Loved You
2 The Sting Rays - You Better Think Twice3 The Sting Rays - I Can Feel
4 The Sting Rays - Now That You're No Longer Mine
5 The Beats - We Can Work It Out
6 The Beats - Paperback Writer
7 The Mods - Days Mind The Time
8 The London Knights - Go To Him
9 The Maltees Four - You
10 The F.B.I. - What Am I To Do
11 The F.B.I. - Daytime Nightime
12 The Shillings - Laugh
13 The Cascades - She'll Love Again
14 The Uncalled For - Since You've Been Gone
15 The Uncalled For - Masters Of War
16 The Outcasts - Nothing But Love
17 The Outcasts - Something About You
18 The Infinite Pyramid - On A Windowsill
19 The Beats - Norwegian Wood
20 The Beats - Love Me Do
21 The Super Lloyds - River
Download!
Labels: caveman78, Various Artists
V.A. - Attack Of The Jersey Teens (Bona Fide,1984)
"60's Punk from the Garden State"
Side 1
1 The Young Monkey Men - I Believed You
2 The Young Monkey Men - I'm Waiting For The Letter
3 The What-Nots - Morning
4 The What-Nots - I Need You Baby
5 The Friedles - She Can Go
6 The Young Monkey Men - I Love You
7 The What-Nots - I Was A Fool
8 The Friedles - I Lost Her
Side 2
1 T.P. & The Indians - Ally Or Enemy
2 The Friedles - Don't Tell Me What To Do
3 The Young Monkey Men - Bald Headed Woman
4 The Calliope - Streets Of Boston
5 Loved Ones - Surprise, Surprise (For You)
6 The Confederate Society - Pride
7 The Friedles - When Love
8 Saturday's Garbage - The River Of Styx
Download!
2 The Young Monkey Men - I'm Waiting For The Letter
3 The What-Nots - Morning
4 The What-Nots - I Need You Baby
5 The Friedles - She Can Go
6 The Young Monkey Men - I Love You
7 The What-Nots - I Was A Fool
8 The Friedles - I Lost Her
Side 2
1 T.P. & The Indians - Ally Or Enemy
2 The Friedles - Don't Tell Me What To Do
3 The Young Monkey Men - Bald Headed Woman
4 The Calliope - Streets Of Boston
5 Loved Ones - Surprise, Surprise (For You)
6 The Confederate Society - Pride
7 The Friedles - When Love
8 Saturday's Garbage - The River Of Styx
Download!
Labels: caveman78, Various Artists
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Shark Move - Chede Chokra's Shark Move (Indonesia 1970)
(Many thanks to Mr. Attic for the vinyl rip!)
Shark Move started playing in Bandung, Indonesia in 1970 and was founded by Benny Soebardja who play lead guitar and sings. Shark Move is one of the Indonesian rock pioneers who combined rock music with traditional harmonies and progressive sounds. Some songs on this LP using English lyrics, while other bands at that time where still playing sweet music, this is really an experimental recording. Unfortunately at the end of 1970 the keyboard player passed away so Benny decided not to continue with his band and formed a new on named Giant Step. A very complex prog album which is as strong as many good UK albums of the same period but it has this little extra which makes this album unique and great. (Shadoks)
Another heavy new title from Shadoks that restores an obscure 1970 psych monster from Indonesia. Shark Move have that classic slow sunrise sound of countless South American titans mixed with the kind of sunburst vocal style that floats the best of the UK freakbeat sides (Jason Crest et al), crunching fuzz, heavy keyboards and kaleidoscopic song stylings. This is ambitious, florid psych that should please anyone who digs the more dramatic UK sugarcube moments as much as the more enjoyably complex Euro prog shit. And if that ain't you, who the fuck is it? (Volcanic Tongue)
1. My Life
2. Butterfly
3. Harga
4. Evil War
5. Bingung
6. Insan
7. Madat
DOWNLOAD
A Cid Symphony - 1967 - A Cid Symphony
A Cid Symphony - 1967 - A Cid Symphony
[bonus tracks] @256
1. Loudusphone Number 1 - 1:17
2. Loudusphone Number 2 - :35
3. Loudusphone Number 3 - 14:01
4. Pierced Hand Number 1 - 6:30
5. Pierced Hand Number 2 - 4:11
6. Pierced Hand Number 3 - 8:50
7. Golden Gate Number 1 - 7:34
8. Golden Gate Number 2 - 3:21
9. Golden Gate Number 3 - 1:33
10. Golden Gate Number 4 - 3:57
11. Burning Bush Number 1 - 3:02
12. Burning Bush Number 2 - 2:56
13. Burning Bush Number 3 - 8:45
14. Noismakers, No. 1 - :35
15. Noismakers, No. 2 - 4:37
16. Noismakers, No. 3 - 5:46
17. Noismakers, No. 4 - :56
18. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 1 - 8:31
19. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 2 - :26
20. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 3 - 6:43
21. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 4 - 3:21
22. BT 1 [*] - 2:53
23. BT 2 [*] - 4:15
24. BT 3 [*] - 2:37
The artists' name are actually Fischbach & Ewing while the LP is often listed as "Acid Symphony", a reading that one of the band members has approved. The music is stoned acoustic counterculture brainstorms with an Eastern vibe. More bluesy/folky beatnik angle than psychedelia, so beware of the usual dealer hyperbole. Interesting period piece in any event. Engineered/produced by Denise Kaufman of the Ace Of Cups, who handled the publishing via her Thermal Flash Music company (this is NOT the label).
---
Homemade low-key mostly acoustic acid folk with eastern sounds and anti-war spoken word dialogues. Records are on green, orange, and purple vinyl respectively with matching inner sleeves and square labels. [RM]
Any CD that opens with over a minute of country harmonica-backed yodeling followed by an entire 35-second track of silence is bound to be peculiar, even if it was created in a time that hosted more than its fair share of bizarre music. A Cid Symphony certainly wasn't the pop group next door. In fact, there is nothing remotely pop about the group, from their psychedelically derived moniker to the nameless "songs" and original 3-LP, colored-vinyl packaging, and the completely counter-pop, noodling droning of their music — droning sometimes indescribably beautifully, but occasionally in the pejorative sense of that word. The band is unquestionably of their time, yet their music is unique from any other during the '60s. The most obvious way in which their sound is grounded in the heady, spiritually yearning malaise of the '60s is its complete immersion in Hindustani and Middle Eastern music, with modal, raga-esque scale progressions and a discernibly mystical bent filling the entire first CD and a portion of the second. A Cid Symphony easily conjures an image of college-aged kids who are caught up in the kaleidoscope of social and cultural energy of the period, sitting in a public park completely engrossed in the strangely expressive, foreign music coming out of the instruments they're playing, oblivious to any passers-by. This is actually very close to how the music was actually conceived. Ernest Fuschbach's fluttering dulcimer is the basis of these songs, interspersed with Charles Ewing's flamenco-picked guitars. At times, alongside the Eastern underpinnings, the music is wholly evocative of front-porch Appalachian folk and blues, and the mixture of the two genres mostly works brilliantly, and at least much more successfully than it would seem possible. There are also elements of Native American ceremonial music, Spanish music, and a smattering of 12-bar acoustic blues, especially on the second CD, where A Cid Symphony performs several actual folk-blues songs with vocals, although even these are rarely straightforward. At times the music can touch on a palpable dissonance, while at others it can be so lyrical and innocent that the only way to describe it is heart-wrenchingly romantic or entirely sensual. There is no doubt that this is indulgent music, hopped up with not a little bit of naivete and the sort of self-righteous austerity that is only the province of the young, compounded by the righteousness of the era. It can seem underdone or convoluted in small patches, and after long stretches of undisturbed listening, it can also blend together a bit. By and large, though, a profound and transforming sort of innocence shines through these songs, and A Cid Symphony frequently hit on a groove so beautiful that it is mandala-like in its transcendence. — Stanton Swihart
================================
A CID SYMPHONY
Formed 1966 in Berkeley, CA
Unquestionably a harbinger of the times, A Cid Symphony — a folk-and-ethnic music collective that incorporated instruments as wide-ranging as dulcimer, hand-held brass, and Hindustani ankle bells into their extended Middle Eastern-cum-country & folk music drones — was instigated and helmed by Dustin Mark Miller. Miller, was a part of the mid-'60s Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley, spending his time selling protest records to raise money for the movement. The musical passion stuck, so in 1966 he enlisted old pal and neighbor Charles Ewing, whom he had known since kindergarten, and Ernest Fischbach to start a folk/ethnic flower-child band aligned with the San Francisco Diggers. Ewing was an avid flamenco guitar aficianado, and he had met Fischbach while the two were in graduate school together at Cal State Long Beach. The two shared a passion for music, and Ewing soon discovered Fischbach could play any instrument with strings, as well as drums and harmonica. The trio converged in Los Angeles and A Cid (originally Acid) Symphony was born.
Early in the band's genesis, Fischbach married teenage model Deborah Cleall, who promptly became a part of the group, which, moreso than a band, soon grew into a loose band of nomadic friends, a family and tribe. John Goeckermann and Tom Harris often added their percussive skills, and David Goines contributed as well. A Cid Symphony began playing mostly at colleges, often with like-minded peers the Firesign Theatre and sponsored by friends, Students for a Democratic Society, or whomever would support the music. They also crashed the Monterey Pop Festival, playing on the grounds of the festival and meeting Ravi Shankar. According to Digger principles, the band would hold free concerts at which they fed everyone that showed up.
When the band earned its first write-up in the Sunday Los Angeles Times, they all quit their jobs on the spot and migrated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Ewing and Fischbach studied Hindustani music at the Ali Akbar (Khan) College of Music. San Francsco music columnist Ralph Gleason introduced Miller to Max Weiss of Fantasy Records. Weiss allowed the band to use Fantasy's studios, and they recorded and released their first and only record, a self-titled triple LP, in 1967, published by the Thermal Flash Music label of Denise Kaufman, an original Merry Prankster. The Fischbachs went on to play with the Golden Toad, one of California's premier folk/ethnic music bands led by Bob Thomas and a sister band of sorts to the Grateful Dead. They would often join A Cid Symphony at functions such as the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. By the late sixties, after three years together, A Cid Symphony dissolved for the most part as a collective musical entity. Miller and Ewing's families, however, went on to live communally for the next two decades. — Stanton Swihart
A_Cid_Symphony.part1.rar
A_Cid_Symphony.part2.rar
[bonus tracks] @256
1. Loudusphone Number 1 - 1:17
2. Loudusphone Number 2 - :35
3. Loudusphone Number 3 - 14:01
4. Pierced Hand Number 1 - 6:30
5. Pierced Hand Number 2 - 4:11
6. Pierced Hand Number 3 - 8:50
7. Golden Gate Number 1 - 7:34
8. Golden Gate Number 2 - 3:21
9. Golden Gate Number 3 - 1:33
10. Golden Gate Number 4 - 3:57
11. Burning Bush Number 1 - 3:02
12. Burning Bush Number 2 - 2:56
13. Burning Bush Number 3 - 8:45
14. Noismakers, No. 1 - :35
15. Noismakers, No. 2 - 4:37
16. Noismakers, No. 3 - 5:46
17. Noismakers, No. 4 - :56
18. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 1 - 8:31
19. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 2 - :26
20. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 3 - 6:43
21. Scrambled Psychadelic BS Number 4 - 3:21
22. BT 1 [*] - 2:53
23. BT 2 [*] - 4:15
24. BT 3 [*] - 2:37
The artists' name are actually Fischbach & Ewing while the LP is often listed as "Acid Symphony", a reading that one of the band members has approved. The music is stoned acoustic counterculture brainstorms with an Eastern vibe. More bluesy/folky beatnik angle than psychedelia, so beware of the usual dealer hyperbole. Interesting period piece in any event. Engineered/produced by Denise Kaufman of the Ace Of Cups, who handled the publishing via her Thermal Flash Music company (this is NOT the label).
---
Homemade low-key mostly acoustic acid folk with eastern sounds and anti-war spoken word dialogues. Records are on green, orange, and purple vinyl respectively with matching inner sleeves and square labels. [RM]
Any CD that opens with over a minute of country harmonica-backed yodeling followed by an entire 35-second track of silence is bound to be peculiar, even if it was created in a time that hosted more than its fair share of bizarre music. A Cid Symphony certainly wasn't the pop group next door. In fact, there is nothing remotely pop about the group, from their psychedelically derived moniker to the nameless "songs" and original 3-LP, colored-vinyl packaging, and the completely counter-pop, noodling droning of their music — droning sometimes indescribably beautifully, but occasionally in the pejorative sense of that word. The band is unquestionably of their time, yet their music is unique from any other during the '60s. The most obvious way in which their sound is grounded in the heady, spiritually yearning malaise of the '60s is its complete immersion in Hindustani and Middle Eastern music, with modal, raga-esque scale progressions and a discernibly mystical bent filling the entire first CD and a portion of the second. A Cid Symphony easily conjures an image of college-aged kids who are caught up in the kaleidoscope of social and cultural energy of the period, sitting in a public park completely engrossed in the strangely expressive, foreign music coming out of the instruments they're playing, oblivious to any passers-by. This is actually very close to how the music was actually conceived. Ernest Fuschbach's fluttering dulcimer is the basis of these songs, interspersed with Charles Ewing's flamenco-picked guitars. At times, alongside the Eastern underpinnings, the music is wholly evocative of front-porch Appalachian folk and blues, and the mixture of the two genres mostly works brilliantly, and at least much more successfully than it would seem possible. There are also elements of Native American ceremonial music, Spanish music, and a smattering of 12-bar acoustic blues, especially on the second CD, where A Cid Symphony performs several actual folk-blues songs with vocals, although even these are rarely straightforward. At times the music can touch on a palpable dissonance, while at others it can be so lyrical and innocent that the only way to describe it is heart-wrenchingly romantic or entirely sensual. There is no doubt that this is indulgent music, hopped up with not a little bit of naivete and the sort of self-righteous austerity that is only the province of the young, compounded by the righteousness of the era. It can seem underdone or convoluted in small patches, and after long stretches of undisturbed listening, it can also blend together a bit. By and large, though, a profound and transforming sort of innocence shines through these songs, and A Cid Symphony frequently hit on a groove so beautiful that it is mandala-like in its transcendence. — Stanton Swihart
================================
A CID SYMPHONY
Formed 1966 in Berkeley, CA
Unquestionably a harbinger of the times, A Cid Symphony — a folk-and-ethnic music collective that incorporated instruments as wide-ranging as dulcimer, hand-held brass, and Hindustani ankle bells into their extended Middle Eastern-cum-country & folk music drones — was instigated and helmed by Dustin Mark Miller. Miller, was a part of the mid-'60s Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley, spending his time selling protest records to raise money for the movement. The musical passion stuck, so in 1966 he enlisted old pal and neighbor Charles Ewing, whom he had known since kindergarten, and Ernest Fischbach to start a folk/ethnic flower-child band aligned with the San Francisco Diggers. Ewing was an avid flamenco guitar aficianado, and he had met Fischbach while the two were in graduate school together at Cal State Long Beach. The two shared a passion for music, and Ewing soon discovered Fischbach could play any instrument with strings, as well as drums and harmonica. The trio converged in Los Angeles and A Cid (originally Acid) Symphony was born.
Early in the band's genesis, Fischbach married teenage model Deborah Cleall, who promptly became a part of the group, which, moreso than a band, soon grew into a loose band of nomadic friends, a family and tribe. John Goeckermann and Tom Harris often added their percussive skills, and David Goines contributed as well. A Cid Symphony began playing mostly at colleges, often with like-minded peers the Firesign Theatre and sponsored by friends, Students for a Democratic Society, or whomever would support the music. They also crashed the Monterey Pop Festival, playing on the grounds of the festival and meeting Ravi Shankar. According to Digger principles, the band would hold free concerts at which they fed everyone that showed up.
When the band earned its first write-up in the Sunday Los Angeles Times, they all quit their jobs on the spot and migrated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Ewing and Fischbach studied Hindustani music at the Ali Akbar (Khan) College of Music. San Francsco music columnist Ralph Gleason introduced Miller to Max Weiss of Fantasy Records. Weiss allowed the band to use Fantasy's studios, and they recorded and released their first and only record, a self-titled triple LP, in 1967, published by the Thermal Flash Music label of Denise Kaufman, an original Merry Prankster. The Fischbachs went on to play with the Golden Toad, one of California's premier folk/ethnic music bands led by Bob Thomas and a sister band of sorts to the Grateful Dead. They would often join A Cid Symphony at functions such as the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. By the late sixties, after three years together, A Cid Symphony dissolved for the most part as a collective musical entity. Miller and Ewing's families, however, went on to live communally for the next two decades. — Stanton Swihart
A_Cid_Symphony.part1.rar
A_Cid_Symphony.part2.rar
Monday, May 07, 2007
V.A. - A Pot Of Flowers (Mainstream, 1967)
Side 1
1 The Wildflower - Baby Dear
2 The Wildflower - Wind Dream
3 Euphoria - Hungry Women
4 Other Side - Streetcar
5 The Wildflower - Coffee Cup
6 The Harbinger Complex - I Think I'm Down
Side 2
1 The Wildflower - Jump In
2 Other Side - Walking Down The Road
3 The Harbinger Complex - When You Know You're In Love
4 Euphoria - No Me Tomorrow
5 The Harbinger Complex - Time To Kill
6 The Harbinger Complex - My Dear And Kind Sir
Labels: caveman78, Various Artists
Sixto Rodriguez - Coming from Reality (1972)
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez is a US folk musician, born in Detroit, Michigan on the 10th of July 1942. He was named 'Sixto' because he was the sixth child in his family. However, he is also known as Jesus Rodriguez by South African fans. Rodriguez's parents were middle-class immigrants from Mexico, who left in the 1920s. In most of his songs he takes a political stance on the cruelties facing the inner-city poor.
Rodriguez recorded some songs with a small recording company, who later folded due to financial problems. He did, however, manage to produce two albums - "Cold Fact", in 1970, and "Coming to Reality". They were relatively unknown in his home country, and most of the world, but unbeknownst to him went platinum in South Africa, where he achieved cult status. He was also popular in Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Australia. After the failure of the record company, he gave up his career as a musician. He was working on a Detroit building site in the late 1990's when his daughter discovered his fame thanks to a South African fan website.
"South Africa in the early 1970s was a very restrictive society," says Stephen Seger-man, a former Johannesburg jeweller who made it his mission to track down Rodriguez. "Cold Fact was never banned, but it never received any radio play, except on pirate stations like Swazi Radio, which weren't under the censor board. The song I Wonder had this line, 'I wonder how many times you had sex', which for South Africa in those days was about as controversial as it could get. For kids, it was like a joke song, they were like 'listen to this!'. Then they heard the album, and realised there was a lot more in it, it was trippy, it was beautiful, it had a lot of social content. It affected a lot of people in a lot of different ways. The commercial success was unbelievable. If you took a family from South Africa, a normal, middle-class family, and looked through their record collection, you'd find Abbey Road, Neil Young's Harvest and Cold Fact. It was a word-of-mouth success."
The word of mouth did not reach Detroit, where Rodriguez had given up his recording career after a second album, 1972's Coming From Reality, vanished in much the same fashion as his debut. He tried an unsuccessful career in politics, studied for a BA in philosophy, worked in a petrol station and apparently "took part in Indian pow-wows throughout Michigan", before becoming a self-employed labourer. In South Africa, meanwhile, his record company seemed to have no idea of his whereabouts. In place of any concrete information, rumours spread. It was variously assumed he was dead from a heroin overdose, had been burned to death onstage, had been committed to a mental hospital, or was serving a prison sentence for murdering his lover: "Who or what Rodriguez is remains a mystery," claimed the sleeve notes to a reissued CD.
- Climb Up On My Music
- A Most Disgusting Song
- I Think Of You
- Heikki's Suburbia Bus Tour
- Silver Words
- Sandrevan Lubally - Lifestyles
- To Whom It May Concern
- It Started Out So Nice
- Halfway Up The Stairs
- Cause
Subway - 1972 - Subway
A dreamy Acid-Folk album, very much evocative, beautiful.
Truly odd and almost indescribably strange record.
Subway were a half American, half British duo, living in France who released 200 copies of this, their self titled album, on vinyl, and promptly disappeared without trace. Their sole 'gigging' consisted of busking in Paris subways- hence the band's name- and to add to the legend, it seems that most of the unsold copies were melted, which was usual French practice!! The music itself is dark, psychedelically inclined folk with elements of freeform prog: somewhere betwixt Comus and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, but with less instruments.
Tracks
1. I Am A Child
2. Songs For Sinking Shelters
3. Warm You Are
4. All The Good Things
5. Enturbulation - Free Form
6. Arizona Sands
7. Rosana Of The Roses
8. Can I Trade With Your Mind
Early 70s acid folk songcraft from Subway -- the duo of guitarist/singer/composer Irv Mowery and violinist Malcolm Watson -- a lost gem of minimalist psychedelia! Legend has it the the original LP was released in 1972 in an astoundingly small pressing of 200 copies (?!) -- and it's totally worth a rediscovery! The tunes aren't as out there as you might imagine -- the guitar and violin are both plaintive and impeccable, and Mowrey's tunefulness is rewarding -- with real songs that are closer to a stripped down Sunshine era Donovan than the typical overpitched freak folk oddity. Nice! Titles include "I Am A Child", "Song For Sinking Shelters", "Warm You Are", "All The Good Things", "Enturbulation -- Free Form", "Arizona Sands:m "Rosanna Of The Roses" and "Can I Trade You With My Mind".
A Must Have Acid Folk Lovers.
Download Link :
Flying Karpets - 1968 - Flying Karpets
01 Gimme A Little Sign
02 La Felicidad
03 White Rabbit
04 Behind A Young Girl's Smile
05 20th Century Fox
06 That Girl Don't Say Much
07 San Francisco Nights
08 I Wanna Be Free
09 My Back Pages
10 Yes I Know
11 Mercy Mercy Mercy
12 Winter Song
Wonderful mellow psychedelic from late 60's recorded by a bunch of US draft dodgers in Mexico. All english vocals and dreamy trippy psych pop. Full of appealing garagey primitiveness with some originals & great covers of 'My Back Pages', 'San Francisco Nights' & 'White Rabbit'
Labels: F, Lost In Tyme
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Os Mutantes - 1968 - Os Mutantes
http://rapidshare.com/Os_Mutantes.rar
Allmusic review:
The band's debut album, Os Mutantes, is far and away their best — a wildly inventive trip that assimilates orchestral-pop, whimsical psychedelia, musique concrète, found-sound environments — and that's just the first song! Elsewhere there are nods to Carnaval, albeit with distinct hippie sensibilities, incorporating fuzz-tone guitars and go-go basslines. Two tracks, "O Relogio" and "Le Premier Bonheur du Jour," work through pastoral French pop, sounding closer to the Swingle Singers than Gilberto Gil. Though not all of the experimentation succeeds — the languid Brazilian blues of "Baby" is rather cumbersome — and pop/rock listeners may have a hard time finding the hooks, Os Mutantes' first album is an astonishing listen. It's far more experimental than any of the albums produced by the era's first-rate psychedelic bands of Britain or America.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Fallen Angels (US) - 1968 - Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels (US) - 1968 - Fallen Angels
01 Room At The Top
02 Love, Don't Talk To Strangers
03 Your Friends Here In Dundervil
04 I've Been Thinking
05 It Might Be EEasier To Stay Home
06 Most Children Do
07 Introspective Looking Glass
08 I Don't Want To Fall
09 No Way Out
10 Painted Bird
11 Your Mother's Homesick Too
12 You Have Changed
Fallen Angels
Personnel:
JACK BRYANT vcls, bs A B C D E
HOWARD DANCHIK keyb'ds, flte A B C D
WALLY COOK ld gtr A B C D E
NED DAVIS drms A
JACK LAURITSEN gtr, sitar, vibes A B C D E
ROCKY ISAAC drms B
RICHARD KUMER drms C
JOHN "THUMPER" MOLLOY drms D
KEVIN ARMSTRONG bs E
TOM MANSELL drms E
LARRY WILLIS keyb'ds, B-3 E
ALBUMS:
1(C) FALLEN ANGELS (Roulette SR 25358) 1968
2(D) IT'S A LONG WAY DOWN (Roulette SR 42011) 1968
3(B) RAIN OF FIRE (Wild Child! 05852) 1998 (CD only)
45s:
1(A) Everytime I Fall In Love/I Have Found (Laurie 3343) 1966
2(A/B) Have You Ever Lost A Love?/A Little Love From You Will Do (Laurie 3369) 1966
3(C) Room At The Top/Your Friends Here In Dunderville (Roulette 4770) 1967
4(C/D) Hello Girl/Most Children (Roulette 4785) 1967
5(C) Room At The Top / Most Childen Do (PS) (Philco HP-23) c1968
6(D) Everything Would Be Fine/Hid And Found (Sun Dream 704) 1974
NB: (5) is a 'Hip Pocket' 45 - a 4" flexi in a pic envelope, a series issued by Philco. (6) was recorded in 1969 but released posthumously on manager Tom Traynor's local label.
Operating out of Washington D.C. this band was formed in 1965 when Wally Cook and Ned Davis of the Young Rabbits teamed up with Jack Bryant and Charlie Jones. Initially called the Disciples, then the Uncalled Four, they eventually settled on the Fallen Angels. Drummer Rocky Isaac was also a member at one point (he was formerly with the Tejuns, the Creatures, and later Cherry People) but his place was eventually taken by Richard Kumer from the The Mad Hatters by the advent of the first LP. Lauritsen had also replaced Charlie Jones by then and Danchik had been added to make it a quintet.... Their first album has a nice paisley cover and consists of competent rock with some pleasant psychedelic interludes. The second album carried on from where the first had ended. Three tracks in particular - One Of The Few Ones Left, Something New You Can Hide In and I'll Drive You From My Mind - stand out, being full of melodic guitar work, climbing keyboards and sensitive vocals.
The band split in 1969 but in 1974 a retrospective 45 was released on their manager's own-label 45. This has an acoustic mellow rock sound until some mean guitar kicks in, and is notable for affected 'vibrato' vocals. The flip is dull by comparison and full of la-la-la-la-la's.
Both original albums are worth searching for and the second has been repressed. You can also find twelve album tracks on each of the Collectables CDs Roulette Masters, Part 1 and Part 2.
In 1998, The Fallen Angels returned with a new CD Rain Of Fire. Every Time I Fall In Love and Everything Would Be Fine are updated and accompanied by eleven new tunes (all bar one by Jack Bryant). Purists who expect a time-warp back to their garage and psych sounds of 1967/8 will be disappointed; but for those without such unrealistic preconceptions, this is accomplished and mature rock with blues, folk and country influences (just the odd spot of rust in the vocals department).
Compilation coverage has included: Have You Ever Lost A Love? on Mindrocker, Vol. 10 (Dble LP) whilst their decent cover of Arthur Lee's Signed D.C. resurfaced on Psychedelic Moods - Part Two (LP & CD).
For a comprehensive lowdown on the band check out issue #9 of Jeff Jarema's excellent Here 'Tis fanzine. (Max Waller)
01 Room At The Top
02 Love, Don't Talk To Strangers
03 Your Friends Here In Dundervil
04 I've Been Thinking
05 It Might Be EEasier To Stay Home
06 Most Children Do
07 Introspective Looking Glass
08 I Don't Want To Fall
09 No Way Out
10 Painted Bird
11 Your Mother's Homesick Too
12 You Have Changed
Fallen AngelsPersonnel:
JACK BRYANT vcls, bs A B C D E
HOWARD DANCHIK keyb'ds, flte A B C D
WALLY COOK ld gtr A B C D E
NED DAVIS drms A
JACK LAURITSEN gtr, sitar, vibes A B C D E
ROCKY ISAAC drms B
RICHARD KUMER drms C
JOHN "THUMPER" MOLLOY drms D
KEVIN ARMSTRONG bs E
TOM MANSELL drms E
LARRY WILLIS keyb'ds, B-3 E
ALBUMS:
1(C) FALLEN ANGELS (Roulette SR 25358) 1968
2(D) IT'S A LONG WAY DOWN (Roulette SR 42011) 1968
3(B) RAIN OF FIRE (Wild Child! 05852) 1998 (CD only)
45s:
1(A) Everytime I Fall In Love/I Have Found (Laurie 3343) 1966
2(A/B) Have You Ever Lost A Love?/A Little Love From You Will Do (Laurie 3369) 1966
3(C) Room At The Top/Your Friends Here In Dunderville (Roulette 4770) 1967
4(C/D) Hello Girl/Most Children (Roulette 4785) 1967
5(C) Room At The Top / Most Childen Do (PS) (Philco HP-23) c1968
6(D) Everything Would Be Fine/Hid And Found (Sun Dream 704) 1974
NB: (5) is a 'Hip Pocket' 45 - a 4" flexi in a pic envelope, a series issued by Philco. (6) was recorded in 1969 but released posthumously on manager Tom Traynor's local label.
Operating out of Washington D.C. this band was formed in 1965 when Wally Cook and Ned Davis of the Young Rabbits teamed up with Jack Bryant and Charlie Jones. Initially called the Disciples, then the Uncalled Four, they eventually settled on the Fallen Angels. Drummer Rocky Isaac was also a member at one point (he was formerly with the Tejuns, the Creatures, and later Cherry People) but his place was eventually taken by Richard Kumer from the The Mad Hatters by the advent of the first LP. Lauritsen had also replaced Charlie Jones by then and Danchik had been added to make it a quintet.... Their first album has a nice paisley cover and consists of competent rock with some pleasant psychedelic interludes. The second album carried on from where the first had ended. Three tracks in particular - One Of The Few Ones Left, Something New You Can Hide In and I'll Drive You From My Mind - stand out, being full of melodic guitar work, climbing keyboards and sensitive vocals.
The band split in 1969 but in 1974 a retrospective 45 was released on their manager's own-label 45. This has an acoustic mellow rock sound until some mean guitar kicks in, and is notable for affected 'vibrato' vocals. The flip is dull by comparison and full of la-la-la-la-la's.
Both original albums are worth searching for and the second has been repressed. You can also find twelve album tracks on each of the Collectables CDs Roulette Masters, Part 1 and Part 2.
In 1998, The Fallen Angels returned with a new CD Rain Of Fire. Every Time I Fall In Love and Everything Would Be Fine are updated and accompanied by eleven new tunes (all bar one by Jack Bryant). Purists who expect a time-warp back to their garage and psych sounds of 1967/8 will be disappointed; but for those without such unrealistic preconceptions, this is accomplished and mature rock with blues, folk and country influences (just the odd spot of rust in the vocals department).
Compilation coverage has included: Have You Ever Lost A Love? on Mindrocker, Vol. 10 (Dble LP) whilst their decent cover of Arthur Lee's Signed D.C. resurfaced on Psychedelic Moods - Part Two (LP & CD).
For a comprehensive lowdown on the band check out issue #9 of Jeff Jarema's excellent Here 'Tis fanzine. (Max Waller)
V.A. - Turkish Delights_26 Turkish Beat Psyche & Garage Delights
From Mogollar to Erkin Koray this is an excellent compilation,
which prooves that Turkey had a great rock scene back in the 60's.
26 Turkish Beat, Psych & Garage Delights: rarities from beyond the Sea of Mamara (also called Turkish Delights) is a compilation of Turkish rock groups from the 1960s and 70s. The album highlights the early and classic 1966-77 rock periods in Turkey, including giants such as Mavi Işiklar, Erkin Koray, and Moğollar. Informed by the music coming out of Britain and the United States, the fourteen bands in this collection run the gamut from early beat sounds of garage bands to mid-seventies psychedelic explorations, simultaniously infusing the music with a distinctively Turkish sound.
One of the greatest impediments to the total global domination of rock and roll was language. The young and curious in non-anglophone regions were often put off by their inability to decipher the frequently slurred and confusing lyrics of rock and roll. Such was the case in Turkey, which, although it had a small rock contingent in the 1950s, did not truly jump on the bandwagon until a decade later. Early on, the interest in Euro-American popular music was fuelled in Turkey primarily by instrumental bands such as the Ventures or the Shadows. Then the Beatles broke and, as happened in many popular music scenes around the world, everything changed.
No matter the era, most novice rock bands (and some more experienced groups) have participated in the time-honored tradition of copying hit songs, and the garage, beat and psych bands in Turkey were no exception. Turkish Delights includes several covers of early rock songs, ranging from Selçuk Alagöz’s Turkish reworking of a tune by the Israeli group The Cedars (Track 18) to renditions of tunes by more well-known European acts such as the Atwoods or Shocking Blue (Istanbul Erkek Lisesi’s “In the Deepings,” Track 4, and Mavi Işiklar’s “Ask Çiçeği,” track 11), to songs by large top-forty and super-groups like the Yardbirds (İzmar Özel Karşiyaka Lisesi’s “Over Under Sideways Down,” track 8) or Paul Revere and the Raiders (Mavi Işiklar’s “The Great Airplane Strike of 1967.”
While the covers are intriguing, what is truly fascinating are the ways in which Turkish musicians in the 1960s fused rock with more traditional Turkish elements. Turkish youth were in a unique position relative to many of their international peers, placed as they are at the geographical and social crossroads of Europe and Asia. The social and cultural reforms of Ataturk made the young people of that time particularly sensitive to European aesthetics and ideology. Turkish musicians in the 1960s, unlike their counterparts in other regions, were better able to fuse traditional Turkish music with rock and roll, leading to several recordings that are breathtaking in their beauty and audacity.
While the covers are intriguing, what is truly fascinating are the ways in which Turkish musicians in the 1960s fused rock with more traditional Turkish elements. Turkish youth were in a unique position relative to many of their international peers, placed as they are at the geographical and social crossroads of Europe and Asia. The social and cultural reforms of Ataturk made the young people of that time particularly sensitive to European aesthetics and ideology. Turkish musicians in the 1960s, unlike their counterparts in other regions, were better able to fuse traditional Turkish music with rock and roll, leading to several recordings that are breathtaking in their beauty and audacity.
Download Link
Labels: nikos1109, Various Artists
Flat Earth Society - 1968 - Waleeco
Having read the previous review of this album,it's time to set the record straight.Firstly,their cover of the midnight hour[all the other songs are originals]is a fair effort.I wouldn't call it either dreadful or fantastic.
But I would call the haunting,eerie "Dark Street Downtown" fantastic..a masterpiece with its distinctive vocals and piano accompaniment supported by lyrics of the finest order.Turn the lights out,light the candles and just listen.Breathtaking stuff!! Very Baroque and very beautiful.
This standard is maintained on "Prelude For The Town Monk", another Jack Kerivan composition and with equally thought- provoking lyrics.A young man in his late teens getting his message across in the most literate of ways and with a voice to match any before or since in Rock.
His third contribution is "Shadows",an uptempo,organ-driven number but with the same haunting mood of "Dark Street".The rest of the songs are written by Jack Kerivan and Phil Dubuque or Jack Kerivan and Rick Doyle. The latter collaboration contains two excellent instrumentals of a laid-back,psychedelic nature, "Portrait in Grey" and "Satori". Some nice phasing and experimentation that rounded off an excellent debut[and sadly only]album.
If you like Folk Rock, you'll like The Flat Earth Society.If you like Baroque,similarly.Psychedelic,garagey, quite a mix in this album..as the band themselves say "no particular bag at all"
I rate this album with any Boston album of the era and probably any album of any area.But it's for the mellow,haunting moments when you want to be both relaxed yet stimulated by thoughts and imagery.Was music ever so good?
Wonderful fare from one of Boston's greats and if you like this try The Rising Storm's "Calm Before" and The Beacon Street Union's two albums.
Reviewer:C. M. Roughan "Panamaniac" (London,UK)
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/29597865/Flat_Earth_Society.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/29597862/Flat_Earth_Society.part2.rar
But I would call the haunting,eerie "Dark Street Downtown" fantastic..a masterpiece with its distinctive vocals and piano accompaniment supported by lyrics of the finest order.Turn the lights out,light the candles and just listen.Breathtaking stuff!! Very Baroque and very beautiful.
This standard is maintained on "Prelude For The Town Monk", another Jack Kerivan composition and with equally thought- provoking lyrics.A young man in his late teens getting his message across in the most literate of ways and with a voice to match any before or since in Rock.
His third contribution is "Shadows",an uptempo,organ-driven number but with the same haunting mood of "Dark Street".The rest of the songs are written by Jack Kerivan and Phil Dubuque or Jack Kerivan and Rick Doyle. The latter collaboration contains two excellent instrumentals of a laid-back,psychedelic nature, "Portrait in Grey" and "Satori". Some nice phasing and experimentation that rounded off an excellent debut[and sadly only]album.
If you like Folk Rock, you'll like The Flat Earth Society.If you like Baroque,similarly.Psychedelic,garagey, quite a mix in this album..as the band themselves say "no particular bag at all"
I rate this album with any Boston album of the era and probably any album of any area.But it's for the mellow,haunting moments when you want to be both relaxed yet stimulated by thoughts and imagery.Was music ever so good?
Wonderful fare from one of Boston's greats and if you like this try The Rising Storm's "Calm Before" and The Beacon Street Union's two albums.
Reviewer:C. M. Roughan "Panamaniac" (London,UK)
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/29597865/Flat_Earth_Society.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/29597862/Flat_Earth_Society.part2.rar
Labels: as Requested, F, innocent76
Family - Entertainment
FAMILY was formed in 1967 by John ‘Charlie’ Whitney (guitar, vocals), Roger Chapman (vocals), Jim King (saxophone, Flute), Ric Grech (bass) and Rob Townsend (drums) in Leicester.
FAMILY plays a mixture of Rock, Blues and Folk interwoven with Classical and Jazz elements.
The history of FAMILY goes back to1962 when John Charlie Whitney formed the R&B outfit THE FARINAS, together with Jim King (sax & vocals) Harry Overnall (drums) and Tim Kirchin (bass). In 1965 Rick Grech replaced Kirchin on bass and in 1966 singer Roger Chapman joined the band. Chapman’s vocal-style and the use of violin and sax expanded the band’s sound in a progressive direction. They changed their name to ROARING SIXTIES and started to wear double-breasted suits on stage, that gave them a gangster image. Consequently the producer Kim Fowley, who recorded demos with the band in1967,christened them ‘The Family‘. Shortly after becoming FAMILY, drummer Overnall was replaced by Rob Townsend.
In September 1967 FAMILY released a single for ’Liberty’, produced by Jimmy Miller and a year later signed to ’Reprise’ for their first record ’Music In A Doll’s House’ (1968), produced by Dave Mason (TRAFFIC), who contributed one composition to the record. The record presented a mixture of Rock, Blues and Folk with Classical and Jazz-elements, dominated by Roger Chapman’s typical ’throaty’ vocal-style. The record came out with a sophisticated cover, a feature that would become one of FAMILY’S trademarks. In July1968 the band opened for singer Tim Hardin at the ‘Royal Albert Hall’ in London and in 1969 they released their second record ‘Family Entertainment’, that followed the same musical direction as the first. After the release of the record and prior to a US tour Ric Grech quit the band to join BLIND FAITH. John Weider (Ex-ERIC BURDON &THE ANIMALS) joined the band on bass and violin and in 1970 John ‘Poli’ Palmer (Ex-ECLECTION/keyboards & vibes) replaced Jim King ,who was dismissed for his ‘erratic behaviour’.
In 1970 FAMILY released two records ‘A Song For Me’, on which the band developed a more aggressive sound and ‘Anyway’, a half-live half-studio record, with a beautiful ‘Leonardo Da Vinci’ cover . Both records entered the British Top Ten. In 1970 the band played several major European Rock-Festivals (among others ‘The Isle Of Wight Festival‘) and became an appreciated live-act. Roger Chapman became famous for tambourine and mic-stand crashing and his special custom ‘Idiot-Dancing’.
In 1971 the band released a compilation with remixes of older songs plus unreleased singles ’Old Songs, New Songs’. The same year John Wetton (Ex MOGUL TRASH/bass, guitar and vocals ), replaced John Weider. The new line-up recorded ‘Fearless’ in 1971, the first FAMILY album to use a synthesizer and ‘Bandstand’ in 1972. Both albums continued the harder and rockier side of FAMILY‘S music. Prior to a US tour John Wetton left the band to join KING CRIMSON and was replaced by Jim Cregan (Ex -STUD) on bass and guitar and Tony Ashton (Ex-ASHTON, GARDNER &DYKE) replaced Poli Palmer on keyboards. The band recorded one last record ‘It’s Only A Movie’ in 1973 and gave a Farewell-concert in Leicester on October 13. After the dissolution of FAMILY Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney formed the STREETWALKERS until Chapman went solo in 1979.
Family Entertainment was the second album from the British progessive rock band Family, released in February 1969.
The cover of the album was a clear takeoff off the sleeve of the Doors's second album, Strange Days, which Family frankly admitted to.
Family Entertainment was the last album from the group's original lineup, as listed below:
Roger Chapman: vocals and percussion
John "Charlie" Whitney: guitars, organ
Jim King: vocals, saxophone, piano
Ric Grech: bass, vocals, violin
Rob Townsend: drums and percussion
Track list
The Weaver's Answer
Observations From a Hill
Hung Up Down
Summer '67 (instrumental) (Whitney)
How-Hi-the-Li (Grech)
Second Generation Woman (Grech)
From Past Archives Dim Processions (Whitney)
Face In the Cloud (Grech)
Emotions
All selctions are by Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney except where noted.
This album is among the best music that has ever been made, in my opinion.
Enjoy
Labels: as Requested, F, JANISFARM
Daughters Of Albion - 1968 - Daughters Of Albion
Daughters Of Albion - 1968 - Daughters Of Albion
1. I Love Her & She Loves My
2. Still Care About You
3. Yes, Our Love Is Growing
4. Candle song
5. Ladyfingers
6. Sweet Susan Constantine
7. Hat Off, Arms Out, Ronnie
8. Good to Have You
9. Well Wired
10. Hey, You, Wait, Stay
11. Story Of Sad
12. John Flip Lockup
Personnel:
GREG DEMPSEY vcls, gtr A
KATHY YESSE vcls A
ALBUM:
1(A) DAUGHTERS OF ALBION (Fontana SRF 67586) 1968
NB: (1) came with a pair of mini-posters, approx 8"x11", featuring surrealistic hippie drawings. (1) also released by Fontana in U.K. (STL5486) and Holland (887806).
A hippie psych pop duo who were produced and arranged by Leon Russell. All the songs were written by Greg Dempsey (sometimes helped by Dave Luff) and some arrangements are obviously influenced by the Beatles's Sgt. Pepper album. Quite pleasant but nothing essential.
Graced with a really good voice, Kathy Yesse recorded a solo album in 1974 (produced by Greg Dempsey) as Kathy Dalton, Boogie Bands And One Night Stands. This was also released with one different track as Amazing, with both titles appearing on Frank Zappa's Discreet label. While the record itself is unremarkable, failing to showcase her considerable talents, it's worth noting that she was backed by Little Feat with guest apperances including Van Dyke Parks, Sneaky Pete, Carl Wilson, Billy Hinsche (of Dino, Desi and Billy) and others.
(Stephane Rebeschini/Matt Moses/Ed Worcester)
rapidshare
also: http://sharebee.com/014df220
1. I Love Her & She Loves My
2. Still Care About You
3. Yes, Our Love Is Growing
4. Candle song
5. Ladyfingers
6. Sweet Susan Constantine
7. Hat Off, Arms Out, Ronnie
8. Good to Have You
9. Well Wired
10. Hey, You, Wait, Stay
11. Story Of Sad
12. John Flip Lockup
Personnel:
GREG DEMPSEY vcls, gtr A
KATHY YESSE vcls A
ALBUM:
1(A) DAUGHTERS OF ALBION (Fontana SRF 67586) 1968
NB: (1) came with a pair of mini-posters, approx 8"x11", featuring surrealistic hippie drawings. (1) also released by Fontana in U.K. (STL5486) and Holland (887806).
A hippie psych pop duo who were produced and arranged by Leon Russell. All the songs were written by Greg Dempsey (sometimes helped by Dave Luff) and some arrangements are obviously influenced by the Beatles's Sgt. Pepper album. Quite pleasant but nothing essential.
Graced with a really good voice, Kathy Yesse recorded a solo album in 1974 (produced by Greg Dempsey) as Kathy Dalton, Boogie Bands And One Night Stands. This was also released with one different track as Amazing, with both titles appearing on Frank Zappa's Discreet label. While the record itself is unremarkable, failing to showcase her considerable talents, it's worth noting that she was backed by Little Feat with guest apperances including Van Dyke Parks, Sneaky Pete, Carl Wilson, Billy Hinsche (of Dino, Desi and Billy) and others.
(Stephane Rebeschini/Matt Moses/Ed Worcester)
rapidshare
also: http://sharebee.com/014df220
Thanks Chris41 for this one !!!
Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, D
Friday, May 04, 2007
Shiny Gnomes - 1994 - Mc Creatrix
Shiny Gnomes - 1994 - Mc Creatrix(Vinyl Rip @256)
Tracklist :
A 1 Birthday OM
A 2 Healing Sounds Asleep
A 3 It`s All Here
A 4 In Nadreena`s Garde
A 5 Heart Moon
B 1 Lavender Hill
B 2 Dyade
B 3 Triple Mother
B 4 Thinking At The Edge Of The Unthinkable
B 5 Hemlock 93
Limo - voc,g
Gasman - keys, filter
Hanz - b, voc
Ufo - dr, cymbals
“MC Creatrix is a very rich, versatile and almost perfect contemporary psychedelic album, the best Shiny Gnomes have ever made and one of the very best German-made releases from the past years. This is big class and therefore mega-recommended. What more can I say?” (Crohinga Well, Belgium)
Tracklist :
A 1 Birthday OM
A 2 Healing Sounds Asleep
A 3 It`s All Here
A 4 In Nadreena`s Garde
A 5 Heart Moon
B 1 Lavender Hill
B 2 Dyade
B 3 Triple Mother
B 4 Thinking At The Edge Of The Unthinkable
B 5 Hemlock 93
Limo - voc,g
Gasman - keys, filter
Hanz - b, voc
Ufo - dr, cymbals
“MC Creatrix is a very rich, versatile and almost perfect contemporary psychedelic album, the best Shiny Gnomes have ever made and one of the very best German-made releases from the past years. This is big class and therefore mega-recommended. What more can I say?” (Crohinga Well, Belgium)
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Phantasia (2 albums)
Phantasia - 1972 - PhantasiaMonster acid fuzz guitar alert! A much sought after super rare US '70s psych album loaded with trippy, languid West Coast styled fuzz guitar.
Tracks
1 Transparent Face 3:09
2 Winter Wind 2:55
3 Talk to the Moon 3:35
4 Chasing Now the Flying Time 4:54
5 Featheredge 3:39
6 Genena 9:21
7 Willow Creek 5:48
8 Give Life Another Try 3:51
9 I Walk to the Moon 4:30
10 Winter Wind 2:57
11 Chasing Now the Flying Time 5:11
12 The Saddest Song I Know 5:44
2 Winter Wind 2:55
3 Talk to the Moon 3:35
4 Chasing Now the Flying Time 4:54
5 Featheredge 3:39
6 Genena 9:21
7 Willow Creek 5:48
8 Give Life Another Try 3:51
9 I Walk to the Moon 4:30
10 Winter Wind 2:57
11 Chasing Now the Flying Time 5:11
12 The Saddest Song I Know 5:44
Reissue of US psychedelic ultra rarity recorded 1971/72. The original albums (a complete one and a one-sided) are legends for all psychedelic/garage collectors, only 25 copies pressed of each -- not many people have the pleasure of having seen a copy. The music is creeping slowly and sensitively in your mind, whether stoned or not ö it takes you wherever you want. Those are the complete sessions, 55mins in mastertape quality presented the first time to the public. One of the best Psychedelic albums, playing in the same league as Fraction, Music Emporium, Hunger, Mystic Siva, Damon. Later the band changed into Trizo 50. Unbelievable that this extremely talented band didn't make it!!!
Download Link : (224 @ with artwork)
phantasia-_1972_-_phantasia.rar
Phantasia 1969-1972 A Psychedelic By
This is unreleased material laid down in the Damon Studios from 1969 into the early Seventies.
The sound is gentle psychy hippie-rock but with the odd heavier moments as witness the excellent slow burnin' psychedelic workout A Stumbling Dragon.
Other highlights the siren effects on the rocky Ride Me and the phasing and bubbling sounds on I'm Alive.
Some songs of this album are from the time the group called Trizo-50.
Download Link :
phantasia_-_1969_-_a_psychedelic_by_phantasia.rar
Hungry Wolf - 1970 - Hungry Wolf
Hungry Wolf - 1970 - Hungry WolfMy favourite line-up of session men combine on this album from 1970 Hungry Wolf fantastic organ from the king of Hammond Alan Hawkshaw and the most inventive bass you'll ever hear from ace bassman Herbie Flowers.This album is the little brother of Ugly Custard-same 1971, which I'll post if requested.
1. Melanie
2. Watching and Waiting
3. Custards Last Stand
4. Country Wild
5. Waiting For the Morning Sun
6. Like Now
7. Hole In My Shoe
8. Sleepy
9. The Drifter
10. Revolution???
Alan Hawkshaw-Piano,organ
Alan Parker-Guitar
Clem Cattini-Drums
Herbie Flowers-Bass
Peter Lee Stirling-Vocals
Enjoy !!!
1. Melanie
2. Watching and Waiting
3. Custards Last Stand
4. Country Wild
5. Waiting For the Morning Sun
6. Like Now
7. Hole In My Shoe
8. Sleepy
9. The Drifter
10. Revolution???
Alan Hawkshaw-Piano,organ
Alan Parker-Guitar
Clem Cattini-Drums
Herbie Flowers-Bass
Peter Lee Stirling-Vocals
Enjoy !!!
Thanks Steve for this one !!!
Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, H
Folly's Pool (Fresno, CA)
FOLLY'S POOL (Fresno, CA)
"Folly's Pool" 1977 (Century 44675)
Tracks
01 Folly's Pool
02 Fallen Pony
03 Just a Memory
04 Jig in A
05 Before the Gates of Elessaar
06 Kathleen
07 West of the Skies
"Here's another little musical gem, this time featuring the indisputable talents of guitarist and singer/songwriter Steve Ono and his chums in Folly's Pool. Folly's Pool is another of the literally hundreds of private pressings which appeared in 1977 on the specialist label, Century Records, although it must be said that there can't be many other bands on the label that attain this level of recording quality and impressive musicianship. Under the stewardship of Fresno-born Ono, the band takes us on a tour de force of acoustic-based rural rock with folk, prog and country influences often to the background. At times Folly's Pool sounds like they're trying to be The Eagles or Loggins & Messina, but in many ways this does the band a disservice as they have successfully created an individual approach to their music which often turns the ordinary into the exceptional (the cunning transformation from folk to prog of 'Jig In A' is worth the price of admission alone) and the high standard of everything the band plays (the stunning electric guitar solos are particularly fine) makes this album one to play and savour."
This is an unusual album, kind of to prog what The Third Estate is to psych, with the same combination of acoustic guitars and wide-open low-budget production sound. It’s highly ambitious despite obvious recording limitations. It’s also extremely varied, going from California-style 70s rural rock to long folk songs with jig beats to flute-heavy prog epics. The creative approach to an otherwise mainstream style is intriguing, though the sound is really smooth, with harmonies that occasionally make me long for the good taste, restraint and passion of the Eagles and Seals & Croft. The sharp acoustic guitar sound doesn’t exactly mix well with the showoffy electric leads either. There seems to be a good deal of talent here to go along with the creative ideas, but ultimately it sounds like the slickest possible major label recording (but without a major label budget.) I find much of it irritating, but I think that if the basic sound of it doesn’t turn you off, with deep listens you’ll find a lot more to like here than I do. In fact, this is the kind of unique record that may become an absolute favorite to the right person. The way they turn “Jig in A” from an old fashioned folk tune into a prog epic and back is unlike anything else I’ve heard. Also noteable: the last song is based around the interesting lyric “we’re waiting on a mountain to die.” [AM]
~~~ These guys tried hard to eat their cake and have it too, as they mix Eagles-style 1970s westcoast with musically advanced UK guitar-prog and hope that noone's going to complain. Few people probably will, as they do both styles in a surprisingly adept way for a vanity label band, with nice country-flavored melodies and strong vocal harmonies on the LA cowboy stuff, and adventurous and technically impressive guitar arrangements on the prog moves. Possibly originating from Jethro Tull, the end result recalls another Tull-influenced band, Denmark's great Culpeper's Orchard, although Folly's Pool don't quite reach that level of consistency and inspiration. Third Estate is another possible reference, although the dreamy psych x-factor magic of that LP isn't really to be found here. Still, I enjoy this LP quite a bit, and as a merger of two seemingly opposite musical styles it's a rare experience. [PL]
I am really into it right now.... west coast feeling but something makes it different.....
Very Recommended
@128
http://rapidshare.com/files/27510021/follys_pool.rar
you can buy this here: http://www.radioactiverecords.com/acatalog/radioactiverecords_RRCD150_to_RRCD199__.html
Enjoy
The Ill Wind - 1968 - Flashes
American hippie psychedelic monster from 1968.
A Boston band made only this album. Guitars that intertwine like incense and soaring male/female vocals harmonies, make this an aural pleasure.
Tracks
1 Walkin' and Singin'
2 Sleep
3 Little Man
4 Dark World
5 L.A.P.D.
6 High Flying Bird
7 Hung-Up Chick
8 People of the Night
9 Full Cycle
2 Sleep
3 Little Man
4 Dark World
5 L.A.P.D.
6 High Flying Bird
7 Hung-Up Chick
8 People of the Night
9 Full Cycle
Bonus
10 illwind
10 illwind
11 You΄re All I See Now
12 It΄s Your Life
13 People Of The Night
14 R.U. Write
15 Tomorrow You'll Cme Back
The Reviews
1
The psychedelic group Ill Wind released just one album, and even though it was for a fairly big label (ABC), it was indeed ill-distributed and heard by few at the time. Like a number of late-'60s bands from Boston, Ill Wind suffered from the lack of a consistent musical direction and uneven material and production that didn't make the most of the bandmembers' assets, though there was some instrumental and vocal talent in the group. Their album, Flashes, was a tense, brooding stew of folk-rock and freaky psychedelia that didn't quite coalesce, with the stirring, assertive vocals of Conny Devaney the best ingredient. Although it was produced by one of the best producers in 1960s rock, Tom Wilson (who had worked with Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, the Mothers of Invention, and others), it didn't do much, and the Ill Wind disbanded at the end of 1968, though the group re-formed for a few months in 1970.
2
In 1988, after buying Vernon Joynson's FLASHBACK, I had the cheek to ask him if he'd do some tapes for me. At that time, there were next to no re-issues and the cost of 2nd hand albums was way beyond me. ILL WIND's 'FLASHES' was among some of the first batch that he did me. I grew up in Glasgow, as did my wife and between us we had virtually no West Coast music, mine was all STOOGES, VELVETS, KRAUTROCK & TAMLA MOTOWN. There was something abourt FLASHES which just got to that peak in us, and it still does. Ignorant people who know little about music would compare them to JEFFERSON AIRPLANE etc. My cherished little TDK tape from Vernon has given my wife and I years of delight. They didn't slcken either when listening to them on mushrooms, just got more powerful. I LOVE this album, and I can really relate to Stardancer and how he feels about them. In my opinion, a TRULY Psychedelic album that cuts to the Central Nervous System like a laser, Ill go into the Glaswegian vernacular now - fucking brilliant, Alistair. By the way, in exchange for all the tapes Vernon did me, I did the first cover of FUZZ, ACID & FLOWERS, and the cover for his re-issue of FLASHBACK before he began using a more laid back Artist not possessing the Celtic edge.
3
My album collection was stolen from my apartment in the mid 70's. Of all the albums I lost, it was the Ill Wind - Flashes that I missed the most. I had to go to an oldies shop and have them record this for me on tape ( I've since put it on CD) I was probably the first person in my area to ever hear of Ill Wind and only because, at the tender age of 16, I fell deeply and passionately in love ( summer romance) with a handsome, older man (19) from Massachusetts. Ahhhh Frank S...where are you now? He and his family introduced me to this album and I've been in love with it ( and maybe him) since. My taste in music has changed over the years but I still love cranking up the radio in my car and flying down the road on the Ill Winds of time.
Download Link :
the_ill_wind_-___68__flashes__us_.rar
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Jan Dukes de Grey - Mice and Rats in the Loft (1971)
Awesome progressive acid-folk. Reminiscent of the excellent Fuchsia album but somewhat darker, slightly more rock oriented and "out," and peppered with almost Gong-like jams. And maybe a tiny touch of Tim Buckley in the vocals? The first side-length track features great melodies and intelligent, complex, well-arranged song structures that make it a delight to parse. The two songs of the second side are more freeform but equally engaging. Highly recommended by me and the NWW list, too.
Get it HERE.
Labels: fuzztunnel, J
Robbie The Werewolf - Live at the Waleback
ROBBIE THE WEREWOLF: Live at the Waleback (no label US 1964)
This is one of the rarest beatnik and monster-related lps. It was featured in the book “Incredibly Strange Music” (which is a guidepost to any collection like this). This is a small press, local record of a beat poet reciting in full werewolf get up at club in California in the early sixties.
Vampire man
Drums and guns
My little brother
Frankie Stein
That judge
Censored man
Count Dracula
Lucifer
Streets of Transylvania
Rockin' werewolf
Inside story of flamenco
Tip-toe through the wolfbane
Censored Dooley
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/tabacid/Robbie.html
Live jawdropper bohemian folk comic "real person" with monster concept. Strummed guitar lunatic tunes about Frankenstein, the joys of werewolfdom, and Count Dracula. A cover to die for with serial photos of lycanthropic transformation. [RM]
--- Remarkable early private press LP that manages to be a folk LP and a parody of a folk LP at the same time. Half of it is monster-fan piss-takes on standards such as "Tom Dooley", "Tip toe through the tulips", other half is Robbie originals of varying quality, hitting an unforgettable apex with the echo-laden Count Dracula track, which warns us to "...watch out for those vampires, some of them are QUEER". Also daring for the time marijuana and sex jokes, and a general bohemian counterculture feel to it all. Some of his in-between song jokes aren't all that funny, but the Santa Monica crowd had had enough red wine & weed to cheer and laugh at pretty much everything, creating a nice vibe. Unique artefact, made even more compelling by the fact that this guy later turned up in big time band Clear Light. [PL]
http://lost-in-tyme.blogspot.com/2006/11/clear-light-1967-black-roses.html
I LOVED IT..... VERY FUNNY VERY HIP AND VERY UNIQUE.....
VERY RECOMMENDED
http://rapidshare.com/files/29055907/ROBBIE_THE_WEREWOLF.rar
ENJOY
Labels: as Requested, JANISFARM, R
Deerfield - Nil Desperandum
Texas had the knack in the late '60s and early '70s for birthing excellent rock bands — whether they were psychedelic, blues-rock, pop/rock, or some oddball hybrid — that were, first and foremost, exceedingly heavy. Loud was the rule rather than the exception, and incendiary guitar work and thundering drums the hallmark of the sound, even as each band found individual ways of utilizing the volume. On their 1971 debut, Nil Desperandum, Deerfield occasionally show the vaguest hints of heaviness — white-lightning guitar runs, for instance — but mostly follow a decidedly divergent path, one that emphasizes a laid-back charm and textured group harmonies. The album is a smiling, fresh-faced effort, permeated by a good-time communal vibe so full of country goodwill that it melts away any possibility for cynicism. While Nil Desperandum is without question a rock & roll album, roots music is an important formative influence on the record — and not just the normal, blues-based infatuation most of Deerfield's Lone Star peers favored. This is unequivocally American music, bursting at the seams with references to, and borrowed tricks from, California country-rock, folk-rock, and bluegrass. Its rootsy amalgam strongly recalls the Grateful Dead, and, indeed, there are strong strains of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty on the loping title track, the effervescent "Kitty Is a Lady," and "Me Lovin' You" that rarely sound like affectations. Sunny, CSNY/America-like harmonies pop up on occasion, and there are fingerprints of Buffalo Springfield all over the songwriting. The band also toss in the odd British touch (the offbeat, English music-hall feel of "Magapolis/Out Without") and a bit of Bob Dylan's spicy humor, as well. Many of their contemporaries couldn't shoehorn such overt influences into a personal hybrid, but there's something singularly appealing about Deerfield's music. There are missteps along the way, to be sure: The playing can occasionally drag, while "Riverside" and "Do You Believe in Words," attempts to write epic Neil Young/Crazy Horse-style tracks, are only partly successful. But surprises such as the funky, wah-wah-laced "Better Way" and "The Great Rio Grande Border Run," with its hayseed guitar picking and farmyard languidness, easily trump any criticisms that can be leveled at this sweetheart of an album.
Labels: D, Lanchester
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Fresh Maggots - 1971 - Fresh Maggots
Fresh Maggots were just two people, Mick Burgoyne and Leigh Dolphin, they recorded their only vinyl in London 1971. They played acid folk-rock with electric and acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, tambourine, violin, tin whistles and vocals.
The original vinyl is very much sought-after today.
Tracks
Tracks
1.Dole Song
2. Rosemary Hill
3. Quickie
4. Everyone's Gone To War
5. And When She Laughs
6. Spring
7. Balloon Song
8. Guzz Up
9. Who's To Die?
10. Elizabeth R
11. Frustration
Bonus Tracks
12. Car Song (non-album A-side)
13. What Would You Do? (non-album B-side)
The Reviews
1
Long established as a cult classic and collector's grail, Mick Burgoyne and Leigh Dolphin's sole album is presented here with their full co-operation. Originally recorded in 1971 when they were just nineteen and fresh to the studio, Fresh Maggots is one of the best distillations of folk and psychedelia ever recorded. Varying in tone form heavy rock 'Frustration', to protest 'Everyone's Gone To War', social commentary 'Dole Song' and pastoral 'Rosemary Hill', it's a highly unusual and powerful record that enjoyed extravagant acclaim on release but sold poorly. Welcomed by all lovers of acid folk.
2
This duo from Warwickshire that had a meteoric career, but their sole album is ultra-sought after especially so that both vinyl pressings had major fabrication flaws. They developed an acid-folk-prog that was particularly personal but their style was wide-ranging including fuzz guitars. Even before their debut album, this multi-instrumental duo was hyped by the music press, but there was an unusual delay (including an artwork change) between the recording and the release of the album, and when it did finally arrive on the market, all interest had waned. Which is a real shame, because the duo had much talent and they were switching from guitars to violin to glockenspiel to guitars again. Sadly they became one of the many casualty from the era’s overcrowded scene.
3
Fresh Maggot played melodic acid folk-rock with electric (heavy on the fuzz side) and acoustic guitar mixed with glockenspiel, tambourine, violin, tin whistles and harmony vocals. The results are stunning particularly on the evergreen "Rosemary Hill" which features some beautiful harmonies. The electric fuzz guitar kicks in at various points on the record to startling effect, particularly evident on "Everyone's gone to War".
A must have for lovers of early Strawbs, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span etc.
Download Link :
Human Zoo - 1968 - Human Zoo
Human Zoo - 1968 - Human Zoo
@256
01 It's Got To Be
02 Na - Na
03 Help Me
04 I Don't Care No More
05 Funny
06 Late To My Resurrection
07 When Papa Started Drinking
08 Gonna Take Me A Ride
09 Stone Sassy Fox
10 Human Zoo
11 The Time Was Over
Personnel:
Jim Cunningham -vcls A
Bob Dalrymple -bs A
Larry Hanson -gtr, keyb'ds A
John Luzadder -gtr A
Kim Vydaremy -drms A
Roy Young -vcls A
Album:
1(A) The Human Zoo (Accent ACS 5055) 1969
Labels: H, Lost In Tyme
V.A. - Best Of IGL _Folk Rock
Best Of IGL - Folk Rock
1] The Scavengers - It's Over
2] The Scavengers - But If You're Happy
3] The Scavengers - She Don't Care About Time
4] The Dark Knights - Send Her To Me
5] The Epicureans - I Don't Know Why I Cry
6] The Torres - Don't You Know
7] The Restrictions - Down On The Corner
8] Dale & The Devonaires - Never Be Free
9] Second Half - Forever In Your Mind
10] The Berries - Baby, That's All
11] The Berries - I've Been Looking
12] The Dynamic Hursemen - You Tell Me Why
13] Mad Lads - Everything Is Blue
14] Napoleon I & His Relatives - Summer Love
15] The Pawnbrokers - Someday
16] The Senders - She Told Me
17] The Kingpins - Come And See
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