Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Nick Castro and the Poison Tree - Further From Grace
SAAH030 CD
Release Date: June 7, 2005Nick Castro - Voice, Piano, Organ, Guitar, Mijwiz, Whistles
The Poison Tree:
Otto Hauser - Percussion, Dumbek, Trap-Kit
Helena Espvall - Flute, Cello, Percussion
Chris Smith - Bass
Adam Hershberger - Flugelhorn
Meg Baird - Lap Dulcimer on "Sun Song"
Josephine Foster - Voices on "Sun Song"
Track Listing:
01 Sun Song (4:09)
02 To This Earth (3:29)
03 Unborn Child (3:40)
04 Won't You Sing To Me (4:26)
05 Waltz for a Little Bird (4:18)
06 Guilford (5:13)
07 Music for Mijwiz (2:42)
08 Deep Deep Sea (8:09)
09 Walk Like a Whisper (4:29)
Beaming warmly from the underground enclaves of Los Angeles, CA like a lambent ray of soft sunlight, the music of Nick Castro is breathing fresh life and pristine wonderment into an old sound. Castro released a beguiling album called A Spy in the House of God in 2004 on his own imprint Records of Ghaud, and it caused quite a stir in the new acid folk circles. Imagine a melding of More-era Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett solo and a touch of Incredible String Band with modern fractured folk sound weavers like the Tower Recordings and maybe you are in the right sphere. For his follow up, Castro has assembled a cast of players calling themselves The Poison Tree, boasting amongst its ranks underground folk icons Josephine Foster and members of Espers. It is a heavenly match as evidenced on Further From Grace, a simply mystical sophomore effort illustrating with a feathery wallop that Castro is a major voice amongst the new insurgence of THC troubadours.
Further From Grace bewitches with an intoxicating mood sustained throughout. Instrumentation is lush and exotic, but in the hands of Nick Castro and The Poison Tree, otherwise disparate implements such as flugelhorn, lap dulcimer and mijwiz are deftly melded into a pan-cultural elixir comprised of American and British folk traditions, classical balladry and Middle Eastern. Masterful songwriting, ornamented by Castro's ardent vocals and dreamlike lyrics, are relieved by hypnotic and utterly stoned instrumental passages. Opening with "Sun Song", ripe with visions of Castro's native California as filtered through a heavy-lidded hashish haze, Further From Grace weaves along through song after striking song, melody after beautiful melody. Instrumental excursions like "Music for Mijiwiz" kick up acoustic mini-ragas along the way, until the whole journey cascades into the shimmering, hum-along outro of "Walk Like a Whisper".
Induced by flourishes of psychedelic 60's folk bards like Tom Rapp (Pearls Before Swine) and Bert Jansch, laced with flashes of Amon Düül-like acoustic communal atmosphere (circa Paradieswärts Düül), Further From Grace is a graceful tab of Nick Castro's own heady universe, an acid-folk masterpiece advancing today's sound into sparkling new frontiers.
Yesterday's Thoughts - Searchin In Shadows
Greece's garage band, that's gonna blow your mind out out with their fuzzy guitar sound, backed uo by gorgeous organ and dynamic vocals. Straight from the past, straight from the heart.
The Yesterday's Thoughts were formed in September of 1997. They started playing covers of their favorite 60s garage/punk standards, but soon they began composing their own songs. 4 such original tracks are featured in the band's debut 7inch EP, released by Action Records. During the recording sessions their bass player was Stelios Adamoudas, who left the band right afterwards and was replaced by Lefteris Galanis.
The Yesterday's Thoughts drag their inspiration from the 60s garage/punk and psychedelic scene, and that's the feeling of their debut EP.
FORMAT: LP
TITLE: "Searching in Shadows"
Limited Edition of 1000 copies
After their EP (1999 - Girl You're Gonna To Cry) before 2 years this is their first full LP. The band keeps their spirit with haunting vocals and wild organ. They welcome you at their Garageland.
Labels: innocent76, Y 
Heldon I & III
Titles:
1/ Zind (2: 18)
2/ Back to Heldon (8: 31)
3/ Northernland Lady (6:57)
4/ Ouais Marchais mieux qu'en 68 (Le voyageur) (4: 22)
5/ Circulus Vitiosus (8: 43)
6/ Ballade pour Puig Antich (révolutionnaire assassiné en Espagne) (2: 19)
Musicians:
Richard Pinhas: AKS synth, 1957 Gibson Les Paul guitar
Alain Renaud: guitar (3)
George Grunblatt: VCS3 synth (4)
Patrick Gauthier: piano and VCS3 synth (4)
Coco Roussel: drums (4)
Pierrot Roussel: guitar bass (4)
Gilles Deleuze: voice (4)
Heldon - 1975 - It's always Rock and Roll
Titles:
1/ ICS Machnique (4: 11)
2/ Cotes de cachalot à la psylocybine (8: 35)
3/ Méchamment rock (3: 33)
4/ Cocaine Blues (9: 42)
5/ Aurore (18: 13)
6/ Virgin Swedish Blues (7:27)
7/ Ocean Boogi (5: 53)
8/ Zind Destruction (8: 22)
9/ Doctor Bloodmoney (16: 49)
Musicians:
Richard Pinhas: ARP & VCS3 synthé, guitars, bass, tapes, mellotron
George Grunblatt: mellotron, guitars (2 & 7)
Patrick Gauthier: ARP synth (9)
Gilbert Artman: drums (3)
Jean My Truong: drums (9)
Ariel Kalma: indian harmonium (5)
Between 1974 and 1982, Frenchman Richard Pinhas recorded at least twelve LPs either under the Heldon name or his own, alternating between guitars and keyboards himself and accompanied by a variety of associates on guitars, drums and analog synthesizers. This double CD reissue includes Heldon's very first release, Electronique Guerrilla, and their third, It's Always Rock 'n' Roll (itself a double LP originally). These releases are sometimes referred to as Heldon I and Heldon III (Heldon II, otherwise known as Allez Teia, was recorded earlier in 1975). In spite of the rather aggressive album titles, these early recordings are mellow to the point of ambient, and inscrutably (or perversely), there's very little music in the entire program which would be considered rock & roll by any stretch of the imagination. (Very unobtrusive drums appear only on several of the later tracks on the Rock 'n' Roll reissue.) Most musical biographies of Heldon/Pinhas speak of the Eno/Fripp influence, and indeed, Pinhas encouraged the connection in early interviews by referring to the two English musicians in terms bordering on hero worship. But Pinhas is too modest. Much of the better-known electronic trance music that Pinhas and Heldon seem to be imitating, e.g., early Tangerine Dream, Soft Machine, Fripp and Eno, etc., actually comes after these early Heldon recordings -- or is occurring at roughly the same time. Aside from Fripp/Eno's No Pussyfooting, only the first edition of Fripp's King Crimson band could be considered as an obvious influence, but Pinhas doesn't use vocalists, and seldom demonstrates any delusions of prog-rock grandeur on these releases. If Pinhas is paying homage to Fripp on these recordings, then he is also extending Fripp as well, with the wailing sustain of Pinhas' heavily processed guitar gliding over the top of a number of looped and sequenced synthesizer patterns to good effect. By later standards, the electronic equipment used by Heldon is almost laughably antique, and the concepts may also seem simple and predictable to a more sophisticated audience. Nonetheless, there is a purity and conviction to this music, and a dark, slightly sinister element perhaps best exemplified in the long "Dr. Bloodmoney," a title inspired by the great sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick. Like Dick, Pinhas has a talent for messing with your head, and combines overlapping patterns in such a way that time itself sometimes seems suspended. ~ William Tilland, All Music Guide
Bio:
Led by guitarist Richard Pinhas, the French group Heldon released seven groundbreaking albums, melding electronic and rock forms, from 1974 to 1978. Pinhas also recorded six albums under his own name. Pinhas was heavily influenced by Robert Fripp; this shows in his guitar playing, and in the titles of several of his compositions. While early LPs sometimes evoked the sound of Fripp and Eno, Heldon evolved in its own direction. The release of Heldon IV: Agneta Nilsson saw the group heading toward a more intense, menacing sound. Heldon V: Un Reve Sans Consequence Speciale was the first to feature the "classic" lineup of Pinhas, drummer Francois Auger, and keyboard player Patrick Gauthier. These three would be the key personnel on Heldon's last four albums. The entire Pinhas/Heldon catalog was reissued on CD by Cuneiform, several featuring bonus live tracks. ~ Jim Dorsch, All Music Guide
Rhinoceros - 1968 - Rhinoceros
RHINOCEROS (1968)
01. WHEN YOU SAY YOU'RE SORRY (Gerber)
02. SAME OLD WAY (Finley)
03. APRICOT BRANDY (Weis/Fonfara)
04. THAT TIME OF THE YEAR (Gerber)
05. YOU’RE MY GIRL (I Don’t Want To Discuss It) (Cooper/Beatty/Shelby)
06. I NEED LOVE (Williams)
07. I'VE BEEN THERE (Gerber/Finley)
08. BELBUEKUS (Weis/Finley)
09. ALONG COMES TOMORROW (Gerber)
10. I WILL SERENDADE YOU (Finley)
Produced By PAUL A. ROTHCHILD
JOHN FINLEY – Vocals
ALAN GERBER – Vocals.Piano
DANNY WEIS – Guitar, Piano
DOUG HASTINGS – guitar
MICHAEL FONFARA – Organ, Piano
JERRY PENROD – Bass
BILLY MUNDI – Drums, Percussion
Rhinoceros: Story Albums Discography
Barry Ryan - Singing The Songs Of Paul Ryan
Barry Ryan
ALBUMS:
1 SINGS PAUL RYAN (MGM MGM-C(S) 8106) 1968 SC
2 BARRY RYAN (Polydor 583 067) 1969
3 ELOISE (Polydor 2872 109) 1982
45s: 1 Goodbye/I'm So Sad (MGM MGM 1423) 1968 - 2 Eloise/Love I Almost Found You (MGM MGM 1442) 1968 2 3 Love Is Love/I'll Be On My Way Dear (MGM MGM 1464) 1968 25 4 The Hunt/Oh, For The Love Of Me (Polydor BM 56348) 1969 34 5 Magical Spiel/Caroline (Polydor BM 56370) 1970 49 6 Kitsch/Give Me A Sign (Polydor 2001 035) 1970 37 7 It Is Written/Annabelle (Polydor 2001 154) 1971 - 8 Can't Let You Go/When I Was A Child (Polydor 2001 256) 1971 32 9 From My Head To My Toe/Alimony Money Blues (Polydor 2001 335) 1972 - 10 I'm Sorry Susan/LA Woman (Polydor 2001 362) 1972 - 11 Do That/Summer's Over (Dawn DNS 1109) 1975 - 12 Where Were You/Making Do (Private Stock PVT 70) 1976 - 13 Brother/Life's So Easy (Private Stock PVT 87) 1977 -
Reissue 45s: 14 Eloise/Love Only Comes Tomorrow (Polydor 2001 630) 1976 - 15 Eloise/(Flip by different artist) (Old Gold OG 9440) 1984 -
Reissue 45s: 14 Eloise/Love Only Comes Tomorrow (Polydor 2001 630) 1976 - 15 Eloise/(Flip by different artist) (Old Gold OG 9440) 1984 -
Barry along with his brother, Paul, who were both identical twin sons of Marion Ryan, a fifties pop singer, were signed by Decca in 1965. With neat long hair and carefully selected fashionable clothes they were skilfully marketed by Decca although thankfully none of the slushy songs written for them (I haven't bothered to list them in this book) met with much success. In 1968 Barry Ryan went solo and Paul took to songwriting. An early result of this new partnership was Eloise, a stunning single with its melodramatic vocal style and heavily orchestrated backing. This was certainly Barry's magnum opus and he soldiered on for several years after without achieving the same heights again.
Compilation appearances include: There You Go on The Mod Scene (CD), Pop Inside The '60s, Vol. 2 (CD), Sixties Lost And Found, Vol. 3 (LP) and Sixties Explosion, Vol. 1 (CD); Gotta Go Out To Work on A Whiter Shade Of Pale (LP); I Can't Make A Friend on Electric Sugar Cube Flashbacks (CD).
Review by w*w.revola.co.uk
When Paul and Barry Ryan split as a performing duo in 1968 nobody expected to hear from them again. Their fine Britpop singles and overlooked semi-Freakbeat/Pop albums weren't selling, they were trapped on a cabaret circuit they loathed. The image of the handsome swinging, singing twin brothers was under severe strain. So when Barry reappeared at the end of the year and scored a colossal worldwide hit (reaching number one in six countries!) with the epic, Paul-penned "Eloise" it was akin to a particularly unlikely phoenix rising from the ashes. The single was a stunning five and a half minute tour de force of grandiose orchestral pop and Uber-Jim Webb-ism which sounded unlike anything else in the charts at the time, and is fondly remembered and covered worldwide still! The subsequent entirely Paul-penned album, imaginatively entitled Barry Ryan Sings Paul Ryan, received rave reviews and has become something of a cult favourite amongst fans of contemporary orch-pop works by Scott Walker, Glen Campbell and even Tom Jones. Other hits including "Love Is Love" and "The Hunt" followed into the '70s, as did five more solo albums, none of which have ever been reissued on CD.... until now! "Barry Ryan: Singing The Songs Of Paul Ryan (1968-69)" couples that classic debut with its remarkable eponymous 1969 follow-up and adds two ultra-rare tracks found only on the German version of the second album, all remastered for your sonic delight! It also features in-depth liner notes containing new interview material with Barry, previously unseen photographs, rare cuttings and memorabilia. A great rediscovery awaits
Tracklist...
Barry Ryan Sings Paul Ryan:
01 Theme To Eutopia
02 Why Do You Cry My Love
03 The Colour Of My Love
04 Crazy Days
05 Eloise
06 My Mama
07 I Will Bring You Love
08 Love Is On The Way
09 What's That Sleeping In My Bed?
10 You Don't Know What You're Doing
11 Kristan Astra Bella
Barry Ryan:
12 The Hunt
13 Sunday Theme
14 Swallow Fly Away
15 Sunrise In The Morning
16 Isn't That Wild
17 Man Alive
18 Makin' Eyes
19 No Living Without Her Love
20 Sea Of Tranquillity
21 See You
22 Feeling Unwell
23 Where Have You Been?
Bonus Tracks:
24 Look To The Right, Look To The Left
25 Oh For The Love Of Me
Cheers! PT1 PT2
This Album it's not available for Downloading,
But you can Buy it here :
http://www.revola.co.uk/
Reason : At Comments
Barry Ryan Sings Paul Ryan:
01 Theme To Eutopia
02 Why Do You Cry My Love
03 The Colour Of My Love
04 Crazy Days
05 Eloise
06 My Mama
07 I Will Bring You Love
08 Love Is On The Way
09 What's That Sleeping In My Bed?
10 You Don't Know What You're Doing
11 Kristan Astra Bella
Barry Ryan:
12 The Hunt
13 Sunday Theme
14 Swallow Fly Away
15 Sunrise In The Morning
16 Isn't That Wild
17 Man Alive
18 Makin' Eyes
19 No Living Without Her Love
20 Sea Of Tranquillity
21 See You
22 Feeling Unwell
23 Where Have You Been?
Bonus Tracks:
24 Look To The Right, Look To The Left
25 Oh For The Love Of Me
Cheers! PT1 PT2
This Album it's not available for Downloading,
But you can Buy it here :
http://www.revola.co.uk/
Reason : At Comments
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Asylum Choir - Look Inside The Asylum Choir
The Asylum Choir
Personnel: MARC BENNO vcls, drms A
LEON RUSSELL vcls, gtr, keyb'ds A
ALBUMS: 1 LOOK INSIDE THE ASYLUM CHOIR (Smash 67107) 1968 2 THE ASYLUM CHOIR II (Shelter 8910) 1971
NB: (1) reissued in 1971 (Smash SRS-67107, group photo cover), (2) also issued in Holland (Philips 6369107) 1971. (2) reissued in 1974 (Shelter 2120), 1976 (Shelter 52010) and 1979 (MCA 684).
45s: 1 Soul Food/Welcome To Hollywood (Smash 2188) 1968 2 Indian Style/Icicle Star Tree (Smash 2204) 1969 3 Straight Brother/Tryin' To Stay Alive (Shelter 7313) 1971
A Los Angeles-based venture, which for Russell and Benno represented a largely unsuccessful journey into psychedelia. After a first single as Le Cirque, their debut album was released. This sold badly, partly because the cover featured a toilet roll, but mainly because the music was quite patchy. A mix of pop, R&B and psych, with arrangements (especially on the second side). Smash later reissued it with a group cover. Benno and Russell wrote all the songs, with the assistance of Greg Dempsey (Daughters Of Albion), Bill Boatman, Jerry Riopelle and the mysterious Markham and Wilson, who may have played on the backing group.
Although the second album was recorded in April 1969, Mercury did not release it on their Smash subsidiary and Russell bought the tapes to release it on his own Shelter label two years later. It's bluesier than the debut and contains some good songs (notably an anti Vietnam song Ballad To A Brother).
Russell and Benno's involvement is the main reason why collectors seek out these albums.
Born in 1947 in Dallas, Benno would later play with The Doors (on L.A. Woman), Rita Coolidge and Rick Roberts. He also released three excellent albums on A&M between 1970 and 1972, recorded with Ry Cooder, Jesse Ed Davis and Clarence White. Afterwards he disappeared only to return in 1979 with Lost In Austin (with Eric Clapton). In the nineties, he has recorded two good texas blues albums.
(Vernon Joynson/Stephane Rebeschini)
NB: (1) reissued in 1971 (Smash SRS-67107, group photo cover), (2) also issued in Holland (Philips 6369107) 1971. (2) reissued in 1974 (Shelter 2120), 1976 (Shelter 52010) and 1979 (MCA 684).
45s: 1 Soul Food/Welcome To Hollywood (Smash 2188) 1968 2 Indian Style/Icicle Star Tree (Smash 2204) 1969 3 Straight Brother/Tryin' To Stay Alive (Shelter 7313) 1971
A Los Angeles-based venture, which for Russell and Benno represented a largely unsuccessful journey into psychedelia. After a first single as Le Cirque, their debut album was released. This sold badly, partly because the cover featured a toilet roll, but mainly because the music was quite patchy. A mix of pop, R&B and psych, with arrangements (especially on the second side). Smash later reissued it with a group cover. Benno and Russell wrote all the songs, with the assistance of Greg Dempsey (Daughters Of Albion), Bill Boatman, Jerry Riopelle and the mysterious Markham and Wilson, who may have played on the backing group.
Although the second album was recorded in April 1969, Mercury did not release it on their Smash subsidiary and Russell bought the tapes to release it on his own Shelter label two years later. It's bluesier than the debut and contains some good songs (notably an anti Vietnam song Ballad To A Brother).
Russell and Benno's involvement is the main reason why collectors seek out these albums.
Born in 1947 in Dallas, Benno would later play with The Doors (on L.A. Woman), Rita Coolidge and Rick Roberts. He also released three excellent albums on A&M between 1970 and 1972, recorded with Ry Cooder, Jesse Ed Davis and Clarence White. Afterwards he disappeared only to return in 1979 with Lost In Austin (with Eric Clapton). In the nineties, he has recorded two good texas blues albums.
(Vernon Joynson/Stephane Rebeschini)
Track Listing
Side 1
Welcome to Hollywood
Welcome to Hollywood
Soul Food
Icicle Star Tree
Death of the Flowers
Indian Style
Side 2
Episode Containing 3 Songs: N.Y. Op. Land of Dog Mr. Henri the Clown Thieves in the Choir
Episode Containing 3 Songs: N.Y. Op. Land of Dog Mr. Henri the Clown Thieves in the Choir
Black Sheep Boogaloo
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Volume 3 : A Child's Guide to Good and Evil
With their soaring psychedelia, achingly pure folk-rock and Zappa/Beefheart strangeness, these seminal underground gems from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band--Part One, Vol. 2 and A Child's Guide To Good & Evil--can be seen as encyclopedic primers of the late-'60s Los Angeles musical experience.
The band reached a creative peak with A Child's Guide To Good And Evil, which offered an enthralling patchwork of material ranging from sumptuous harmony pop (Eighteen Is Over The Hill) to off-the-wall eccentricity (Our Drummer Always Plays In The Nude).
Ron Morgan now became more or less an unofficial member of the band. The back-cover picture shows front: Shaun Harris (bass), middle: Bob Markley (percussion) and top: Ron Morgan (lead guitar, electric sitar).Danny Harris involvement with this album was minimal or non-existent.
Download Link :
http://rapidshare.com/files/2047307/WCPAEB1968Vol3AChild_sGuideToGood_Evil.rar
Ron Morgan now became more or less an unofficial member of the band. The back-cover picture shows front: Shaun Harris (bass), middle: Bob Markley (percussion) and top: Ron Morgan (lead guitar, electric sitar).Danny Harris involvement with this album was minimal or non-existent.
Download Link :
http://rapidshare.com/files/2047307/WCPAEB1968Vol3AChild_sGuideToGood_Evil.rar
Labels: innocent76, W
Purple Overdose - Reborn
THE BAND:
Costas Constantinou: Electric & acoustic guitars, E–Bow guitar, Lead & backing vocals, Cymbal, effects
Vasilis Kapanikis: Organ, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Flute, and S &T Recorders
Andreas Andriopoulos: Bass guitar
Chris Triantaphilopoulos: Drums & percussion
Stavros Eleftheriou: Congas, Jug & assorted percussion
Costas Constantinou: Electric & acoustic guitars, E–Bow guitar, Lead & backing vocals, Cymbal, effects
Vasilis Kapanikis: Organ, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Flute, and S &T Recorders
Andreas Andriopoulos: Bass guitar
Chris Triantaphilopoulos: Drums & percussion
Stavros Eleftheriou: Congas, Jug & assorted percussion
- GUESTS:
Stelios Drisis: Sitar
Aris Christou: Backing vocals & effects
ALBUM TRACKS :
01. (It’s a) FORTUNE TELLER 12.00
02. GONNA BE TOMORROW, TODAY 4.55
03. NOBODY THERE 8.04
04. HER ARMS EMBRACED THE SUN 8.11
05. FADING SOUND OF LOST THOUGHTS 3.22
06. THE DRONE 1.29
07. LONG WAY DOWN 3.06
08. THE FLIGHT (Part 1) 2.22
09. THE FLIGHT (Part 2) 3.16
10. REBORN 5.00
They're considered by their fans and music experts in Greece and abroad as the one and only band of the 90's which faithfully revives and improves the fine psychedelic music of the 60's and 70's. The band was formed in Athens, Greece in 1987 by Costas Constantinou (born Athens, 1960), a gifted and inspired man who plays guitar, sings, composes music and writes lyrics of exceptional sensitivity and beauty, in the fine tradition of the futuristic psychedelic philosophy. The band recorded their first album which was released in June 1988 andtitled '' E X I T # 4 '' At the beginning of 1990, PURPLE OVERDOSE, started the recording sessions for their next album, which was finally released in April of the same year, again by ''PEGASUS Records'' and titled ''INDIGO''. Another small independent record label outside Athens ,''FIFTH DIMENSION'', asked PURPLE OVERDOSE to record a couple of new songs in order to release a 7''single . They remixed an outtake track from the album ''INDIGO'', '2008 Old View' and recorded a new one 'You Lose It'. On both tracks they hired as organ player an old pal Vasilis Kapanikis (who soon after that joined the band) and on drums the session musician Makis Bellos. The above single was released in 1993 to a limited edition of abt.1000 copies. When their drummer returned from the army PURPLE OVERDOSE started the recording sessions on March 12, 1994 at the studio 'PERIPOU'.. By the end of the sessions on April 7 they realized that they had created an exceptional album which was simply titled ''PURPLE OVERDOSE'' as a sign of their new beginning. The new album was released on June 7,1994 by 'PEGASUS' with an extraordinary cover which was a giant poster of a painting by Iliana Noea. Inside the multicolored cover was a vinyl record with 8 new masterpieces of psychedelic music. PURPLE OVERDOSE'S album received a very warm reception from the Greek musical press and also from abroad, describing it as one of the finest psychedelic albums worldwide. ''PEGASUS Records'' soon after that released their two earlier albums in coloured vinyl (EXIT #4 in yellow and ''INDIGO'' in red). A new album is ready by early 1996. Recorded by the band from December 16, 1995 to February 21, 1996 at PERIPOU' studios with Andreas Troussas once more as recording engineer and co-producer with the band. 'PEGASUS' released the album on May 13,1996 which was titled ''SOLEMN VISIONS''. By mid 1998 they had signed to a new independent small company ''ACTION RECORDS'' and in November of the same year recording sessions began at ''ACTION'' studios in Athens. Recording engineer was Aris Christou. After 180 hours of recordings everything was ready. It's a concept album and the first PURPLE OVERDOSE material to be released on CD. The title of the new album is ''REBORN'' and it was released on April 22,1999. How can one describe a masterpiece? PURPLE OVERDOSE steals the heart of every listener of 'REBORN'. A hopeful message of sensitive and optimistic viewS about the coming of the new century, is the meaning of 'REBORN' . In Spain, magazine 'ATROPOS' rated this album with the maximum and wrote the following as a conclusion to the review….''probably is the best psychedelic band in the world. But what a pity! They are not from England….'' (JAN. 2000). A series of selected performances, electric and unplugged, were recorded in the spring of 2000 in various clubs and the material collected was very good and more than enough for a CD and a double vinyl record set. During September the band spent time remixing the recorded material and the album released February 7th on CD and June 7th 2001 on a limited edition vinyl containing different songs from the CD. The title of the album ,''THE SALMON'S TRIP LIVE! ,was an idea of their manager Steven Panagiotakis trying to describe the 13 hard years of the band's history in the rock scene of Greece, identical to the counter-current voyage of salmon trying to fulfill its destiny in life, against all odds… The band throughout the years deserves an unexpected publicity in Greece and abroad.Many radio stations,especially European and American ones include tracks from the "Salmon's Trip Live" in their playlist. By the June of 2004 a small but devoted new record company from Salonica,"ON STAGE Records" interested to release a tape with early but unreleased recordings and a demo of "Indigo" which recorded in 1989 with alternates.Band agreed and on August 12th a brand new quality vinyl album was available.Soon after a new circle of interviews started in magazines, tracks from this album entered the playlists mostly in USA and Europe (as usually). After all these 19 years, PURPLE OVERDOSE, remains an underground band devoted completely to its dream: The evolution of the futuristic and visionary psychedelic music of the 60's.
Download-Link :
Labels: innocent76, P
The Bolshoi - Friends
Extracts from press releases Autumn 1984 - singer / guitarist Trevor Tanner and drummer Jan Kalicki emerged from deepest Wiltshire to form the Bolshoi. Having hitch-hiked to the darkest wastelands of Woolwich to seek their fame and fortune, the boys recruited bassist Nick Chown and within 3 months had guested live with The Cult, Lords Of The New Church, Wall Of Voodoo, The Redskins, March Violets, culminating with a headline show at Londons famous Marquee club in January 1985, selling it out on word-of-mouth alone.Their first single,’Sob Story’, was released that spring, followed by a mini-album ‘Giants’ which included the irresistably anthemic ‘Happy Boy’. “I don’t think we sound like anyone else” concedes the charismatic Trevor. “That’s not a conscious thing - we simply do what we do. We’re like a ‘real’ band... we’re real people who actually enjoy what we’re doing, work well together and are unaffected by what’s going on musically outside. I’m not saying we’re different, but people have diverse impressions of us. I don’t know what we sound like, and I don’t think anybody else knows what we sound like either!”.Growing to a four piece with the addition of Paul Clark on keyboards, the band continued to build on their live following and finally released a full length album ‘Friends’, in September 1986 which included singles ‘AWay’ (“an understated mini-epic which easily overruns the chronically abbreviated runway of charts ‘80’s style” - Sounds) and ‘Books On The Bonfire’. Sounds again applauded “the musical artistry of this album... this flowing stream of vinyl perfection... if you’ve seen this group you’re already hopelessly addicted”.“So who are these four young men and what makes them so special? Firstly, let us introduce Trevor Tanner, the groups self appointed visionary and lyricist. Outwardly extrovert and with a mesmerising stage presence, The Bolshoi’s lead singer and guitarist belies a dark and pensive nature. He is acutely observant of society’s shortcomings and is not scared to draw attention to them in his songs. Next, Jan Kalicki, the polish connection, on drums - a sensitive and artistic soul. Nick Chown is the affable bass player and last, but not least, is Paul Clark who is a northerner with an appalling sense of humour - something which the whole band share.”“Adventurously entertaining at the best of times, with live performances that dramatically demand attention and equally powerful vinyl workings, The Bolshoi’s subtly humerous melodies, effective dance beat rhythms and memorable choruses easily entice the listener. Sagaciously confident performers, The Bolshoi produce clear, charismatic pop that’s effervescent, bold and ultimately longlasting. They are a very special band”.In January 1987 The Bolshoi released a remix of their finest single so far, AWay, entitled AWay II, which also featured in the soundtrack of Jonathan Demme’s ‘Something Wild’. A hectic touring schedule took them to the USA, across Europe from Norway to Italy, the UK supporting Peter Murphy and Spear Of Destiny as well as headline London dates (in fact the band became very well travelled, with a South American tour and even shows behind the iron curtain in Poland, East Germany Hungary and Russia.)Apart from touring, 1987 saw the band recording new singles, ‘Please’ and ‘T.V. Man’ and their second full length album, ‘Lindy’s Party’ which was released that September. Despite favourable reviews and further international touring it was all over and the band drifted apart. The final postscript is left to Trevor Tanner in his sleeve notes for The Bolshoi’s long overdue ‘Best of’...“Furtive, backward glances from a speeding car, intense apathy followed by spontaneous combustion. Long international flights with visits to the cockpit to discuss philosophy with the Brazilian pilots. Sad, introspective binges in various ‘old mens’ pubs in South London. Ridiculous outbursts, followed by reconstructive surgery. These are some of my immediate recollections of life with The Bolshoi, never the easiest band to be in. From the humble beginnings of a broken face (making too much noise) in the darkest regions of the west country, to the dizzy heights of malaria shot madness, on a ‘chart topping’ tour of South America. It was never, ever dull. I suppose the main thing that kept us together was our friendship, we were all great mates, honest. When we weren’t ‘working’, we spent a lot of time in those aforementioned pub, arguing about anything we could disagree about. I honestly do not know another band who spent as much time together. We were best friends with our management too, like a big, dysfunctional family, always, well nearly always, fun. The question I am most often asked is, “what went wrong?” Well nothing really, it just wasn’t fun anymore. We didn’t want to go into a stuka like spiral of decline (like so many others) so we just ..stopped.
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Labels: B, innocent76
And Also The Trees - the evening of the 24th
From a rural village in Worcestershire, England, brothers Simon (vocals) and Justin Jones (guitar) formed And Also the Trees in 1979 with bassist Steven Burrows and drummer Nick Havas. In response to an ad by the Cure looking for support bands on their English tour, the Jones brothers sent a tape and ended up doing several dates and later an entire tour with Robert Smith and co. in 1981. And Also the Trees still hadn't released any material at that point, so the Cure's Lol Tolhurst produced a single ("Shantell") and the band's eponymous debut album, released in February of 1984. Tolhurst's work made the Cure an easy pointer for And Also the Trees' sound, though the fragile beauty of Joy Division and the Chameleons also lend comparisons. The band contributed a session to John Peel's BBC radio show, and Continental critics lavished praise on subsequent albums Virus Meadow (1986), The Millpond Years (1988) and the live LP The Evening of the 24th (released 1987). The notoriously fickle U.K. music press, however, deserted the waning Goth fad and the group was left drifting. Farewell to the Shade, released in 1989, was And Also the Trees' final British release, as well as the only album available in America (on Troy Records). The group moved to the German label Normal for 1992's Green Is the Sea and The Klaxon, released the following year. The Evening Of The 24th Recorded at a Swiss gig for the Virus Meadow tour, Evening captures the Trees in their early prime, with their theatrical/Romantic with a capital R art goth style running at full blast. Simon Jones sings at points like his breath is being ripped from his body, as the band demonstrates solid abilities at being able to create lush musical tapestries as much as full-bodied but elegant thrashers. Justin Jones' ability to flesh out the live sound on his guitar proves especially compelling, using what must have been a fair amount of effects pedals to reproduce the Trees' trademark sonic touches, often sounding like a mandolin producing amped-up folk for a electric post-punk world. Opener "A Room Lives in Lucy" sets the initial tone perfectly, with an especially impassioned vocal from Simon Jones, and the band never lets up throughout, to the cheers of an understandably enthralled crowd. Songs like "Wallpaper Dying" and an especially intense take on "Slow Pulse Boy" sound just fantastic, practically miniature Grand Guignol dramas; early tunes like the debut single "Shantell" have an even more concentrated power live than the sometimes murky studio production allowed. Wrapping up with frazzled, live-wire versions of "So This is Silence" and an thoroughly ominous take on "The Renegade," Evening is that rare live album worth its salt !
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Friday, November 03, 2006
The Meanie Geanies
The Meanie Geanies - 1998 - I'm On My Way [single7'']
01 I'm On My Way
02 You Left Me Blue
The Meanie Geanies - Live [02-02-2004]
01 Won't Be By Your Side
02 Every Night
03 Love Has No Tyme
04 Anglo Girl Desire
The Meanie Geanies , the only New Greek 60's garage girl band, were formed in the Spring of 1996, in Athens/Greece, by girls that shared the same love for the mid 60s spirit, music, styles, movies and philosophy. They got their name from Tony Brook's and The Breakers song named “Meanie Geanie”, when they listen to it played as a cover from their favourite band The Sound Explosion.
A female 60's Garage - Punk band was the dream and Meanie Geanies is the dream came true. Their music was a mixture from the innocent and primitive 60's Garage!!! Back From The Grave style, row surf and moody 60's punk.
The band's sound was the… purest possible, using equipment and recording techniques straight from the 60's. .
Meanie Geanies performed in several live shows with bands like Cardinals , Walking Screams and Outtasites . At the end of 1998, after some necessary changes in formation , they recorded their first 7” 45 rpm single for Action Recs (I'm On My Way / You Left Me Blue ) and in 1999 they stopped playing together . After that , the singer and the Farfisa player made another band ( Six Tin Trash) and the bassist formed the Teardrops. In spring of 2002 they met again (!) deciding to reform M eanie Geanies.
Since then they have performed in several live shows with many international bands like Fuzztones , Electralane , Sky Saxon & The Seeds as well as with main Greek bands like Sound Explosion , Frantic V , Psykicks , Teardrops in the greatest live spaces ( Gagarin , Mylos, An Club… ) and festivals ( Garage Festival , Vavel Comics Festival , Indie Free Festival ...). In the last three years they have visited several cities all over Greece for performing ( Thessaloniki , Komotini, Florina, Agrinio, Kalamata …).
In July 2005, they recorded their first LP ( Bloody Date ), that would be released in late 2006 . Recently they recorded a live bootleg in order to present their favorite covers . The title of this release could not be other than … Cover Ups !.
Their sound is more wild and primitive than ever before, full of swirling farfisa sound, tons of fuzz, pounding drums, screams and tambourines!
The Meanie Geanies are :
Mary Jane : Vocals, screams, tambourine
Eve deVille : swirling Farfisa organ
Angel LoVerde : fuzz Guitar, backing vocals
Nandia Insane : Bass, backing vocals
Rigo Starr : pounding Drums
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Dr Z - Three Parts To My Soul - 1971
Dr. Z Three Parts To My Soul(1971)
The basis of the record is the concept of the division of the soul into three - the Spiritus, which represents the inhereent good side of Man, the side of beauty, gentleness and goodness; the Manes or the part of the soul which inhabits the underworld, more benevolent than malevolent but mixing with the damned; and lastly the Umbra, the shade of the soul which refuses to leave the earth, and stays to haunt the world. Only around 80 copies were reputedly sold of this keyboard dominated progressive album, making it one of the most difficult major label (Vertigo) releases to trace. It was, however, better than it's reputation would suggest. The band were the musical vehicle of a North Wales professor called Keith Keyes. They were signed to Vertigo by Patrick Campbell-Lyons after he'd been sent a tape of Keyes' singing accompanied only by a piano. The lyrics are all written by professor Keyes, and his philosophical point of view is strongly reflected in the lyrics. Although this inevitably hanged heavy on the music, the careful approach applied to most of it saved a lot. The parts where the shadow side of the soul plays the cardinal role are full of real despair and get a convincing musical treatment. The sparse instrumentation, virtually without guitar, is skillfully used by this English trio. The cover had been designed by Barney Bubbles, who was better known for designing Hawkwind's sleeves. Sadly, little is know about this recording, which became the only album Dr. Z ever made.. Tracks:
1. Evil Woman's Manly Child (4.47)
2. Spiritus, Manes Et Umbra (11.36)
3. Summer For The Rose (4.28)
4. Burn In Anger (3.26)
5. Too Well Satisfied (5.51)
6. In A Token Of Despair (10.13)
Band Members: Keith Keyes - Piano, harpsichord, organ and vocals Bob Watkins - Drums and percussion Rob Watson - Bass guitar --- Produced by Keith Keyes Executive Producer: Patrick Campbell-Lyons Recording Engineer: Richard Digby Smith Assistant: Trevor Lucas Design: Barney Bubbles/Phil Freaks Compositions published by Chappell and Co Ltd Recorded at Island Studios, London Release info: Released by Vertigo (Vertigo 6360 048) 1971 R3 Reissued on CD (Vertigo/Second Battle SB 012) 1991. Reissued on CD (Si-Wan Records SRMC 0015) 1994. The 1991 CD reissue came in two formats and included both sides of their earlier non album 45:Lady Ladybird/People In The Street (Fontana 6007 023) 1970, which was a fine example of inventive late sixties pop (without any occult matters thus not included at this page). Aside from the straight-forward CD reissue, there's also a lavish 7" sleeve CD package which tries to replicate the original open out sleeve.The 1994 CD reissue also came in the original open out sleeve, with their earlier non album 45 songs as bonus tracks.
Review:This album is quite a concept. I guess you really have to be a professor to write such lyrics and know so much about "the voyage of the soul" and the afterlife. Musically, this record reminds me of early Black Widow stuff, but with some exceptions. The voice of the singer sounds more sinister and pissed off, or evil for that matter, on this record. The voice is sung double on the tracks "Evil Woman's Manly Child" and "Burn In Anger". By double I mean one ordinary voice and one whispering one. The whispering one is quite creepy. Also, the music is of course very harpsichord dominated (since no guitar is used), and that gives this band their own sound in a way. There are actually some flute (may be a keyboard-flute) on the song "Burn In Anger", which is quite a nice touch. The song "Spiritus, Manes Et Umbra" has a cool intro, with a choir (echo) voice singing "Spiritus, Manes Et Umbra" over and over again. Later the track falls apart by a long, uninteresting drumming part, like a drum solo that goes on for 5 minutes...it is far from the best part of this album. The best part is saved to the last track, "In A Token Of Despair", which is a pretty, calm and peaceful song. It also includes some choir parts where the soft choir (echo) sings "Dies Irae, Dies Illa" - my favorite part of the album. Very beautiful.... In all I would recommend this album if you like what you've read here, might be interesting to give it a listen. B. E. Eide
Review:This album is quite a concept. I guess you really have to be a professor to write such lyrics and know so much about "the voyage of the soul" and the afterlife. Musically, this record reminds me of early Black Widow stuff, but with some exceptions. The voice of the singer sounds more sinister and pissed off, or evil for that matter, on this record. The voice is sung double on the tracks "Evil Woman's Manly Child" and "Burn In Anger". By double I mean one ordinary voice and one whispering one. The whispering one is quite creepy. Also, the music is of course very harpsichord dominated (since no guitar is used), and that gives this band their own sound in a way. There are actually some flute (may be a keyboard-flute) on the song "Burn In Anger", which is quite a nice touch. The song "Spiritus, Manes Et Umbra" has a cool intro, with a choir (echo) voice singing "Spiritus, Manes Et Umbra" over and over again. Later the track falls apart by a long, uninteresting drumming part, like a drum solo that goes on for 5 minutes...it is far from the best part of this album. The best part is saved to the last track, "In A Token Of Despair", which is a pretty, calm and peaceful song. It also includes some choir parts where the soft choir (echo) sings "Dies Irae, Dies Illa" - my favorite part of the album. Very beautiful.... In all I would recommend this album if you like what you've read here, might be interesting to give it a listen. B. E. Eide
V.A. - Greasy Truckers Live at the Dingwalls
Greasy Truckers Live at the Dingwalls
Dingwalls Dance Hall, Camden Lock, on October 8th 1973
SIDE 1
CAMEL
God of Light Revisited (Parts One, Two and Three)
SIDE 2
HENRY COW
Off The Map
Cafe Royal
Keeping Warm In Winter
Sweet Heart Of Mine
SIDE 3
GLOBAL VILLAGE TRUCKING CO.
Look Into Me
Earl Stonham (The Gunslinger)
You're A Floozy Madame Karma (But I Love Your Lowdown Ways)
Everybody Needs A Good Friend
SIDE 4
GONG
General Flash Of The United Hallucinations
Floating Anarchy (Part 32)
Part I
Part II
Info Here
Labels: Opa-Loka, Various Artists
Chris Lucey - Song Of Protes And Anti-Protest
Ripped By @rcadium @320kbps from cd.
Chris Lucey
Personnel:
ROBERT PARKER JAMES aka CHRIS LUCEY/BOBBY JAMESON hrmnca, vcls A
ALBUM:
1(A) SONGS OF PROTEST AND ANTI-PROTEST (Surrey SS 1027) c1965/6
NB: Mono and stereo versions exist. There were also two different label colors: red and purple, red being the somewhat rarer one and the purple label crediting "Chris Ducey". Mint copies can fetch upwards to $150-300. (1) also issued in the UK as by Bobby Jameson, but entitled Too Many Mornings. Also issued in Canada, some copies say "Chris Lucey" on cover and labels, some say "Chris Ducey" on cover and labels!
Robert Parker James was born in Tucson, Arizona but took the pseudonym Bob Jameson and was most likely based in California. In the US, this album was released under the alternative pseudonym Chris Lucey, but in the U.K. it was released as Too Many Mornings as by Bob Jameson. Produced by ex-surfer Marshall Lieb and issued in the U.S. on the same budget label as The Leaves debut, no info is given on the cover other than the picture of a Byrd look-alike with his mouthharp(*). The album also includes an excellent version of Girl From The East similarly featured on the Leaves album.
The music is laidback folk/rock with echoes of Byrds, Tim Buckley, Steve Noonan and Lovin' Spoonful. Many of the songs feature charming guitar parts, dreamy arrangements, jazzy even Lee Underwood-ish backing. Some of the highlights are I'll Remember Them and Girl From Vernon Mountain, both of which are excellent introspective pieces. Most of the album is filled with a haunting atmosphere and all the tracks are originals.
Collectors may wish to note that the Mono copies differ considerably to the Stereo ones.
Surrey was a sort-of subsidiary label of VeeJay operated by their West Coast promo team, led by Randy Wood and Steve Clark (the link between BJ and Boettcher). They cut Hoyt Axton and various others on the budding folk-rock club scene in L.A. According to Axton, he went over to the office one day, and everything was gone, even the desks and chairs!
Jameson's records were promoted by Tony Alamo, who also worked with many other artists and John and Bobby Kennedy. L.A. musician Denny Bruce recalls: "To introduce Bobby Jameson to the 'industry' Tony Alamo took out a 7-page fold out ad (four color in Billboard) that showed Bobby standing on top of a limo somewhere on the Pacific Coast Highway. With the ocean in the background, so he was not lit, you just saw this guy with a cowboy hat, with his staff next to the limo: very much like the Village People- wearing the very obvious uniforms of their jobs: chef, nurse, barber, bodyguard, driver, etc. There were at least 10 of them. Tony arranged for Bobby to be the opening act for another new act that had signed to Atlantic and were getting a buzz. The showcase was to be at lunch time, so with food being served, everyone came. The act was Caesar and Cleo, wearing togas with olive wreaths in their hair. They of course, became Sonny and Cher. They went on first. Needless to say, when Tony took the mike and had Bobby backlit, behind some see-through screen and was saying "Ladies and gentlemen, here's an act that can act as well as James Dean, sell as many records as the Beatles, on and on, everybody got up and started walking out while a four-track demo was playing, with Bobby is lip-synching to an almost empty house."
NB: (*) This picture, according to Denny Bruce, was actually a photograph of Brian Jones, pictured at a Hollywood club called 'The Action'.
(Claus Frisenberg Povlsen/John Paul Jones/Michael Johnson/Joe Foster)
Track List
01 That's The Way This World Has Got To Be
02 I'll Remember Them
03 Girl From Vernon Mountain
04 I Got The Blues
05 Saline
06 That's The Way This World Has Got To Be (Part Two)
07 With Pity, It's Too Late
08 You Came, You Saw, But You Didn't Conquer Me
09 Girl From The East
10 Don't Come Looking
Bonus tracks never before released:
11 Metro Man
12 There's a War Going On
13 Insecure Little Person
14 World War 3
Enjoy
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
V.A. - Greasy Truckers Party
Greasy Truckers Party
Chalk Farm, The Roundhouse, London
13th February 1972
SIDE 1
MAN
Spunk Rock
SIDE 2
MAN
Angel Easy
MAN:
Martin Ace--Bass guitar, Vocals
Michael Jones--Guitar, Vocals
Roger Leonard--Guitar, Vocals
Terry Williams--Drums
ANDY DUNKLEY (Speech Only)
POWER CUT
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ
Wonder Woman
It's Just My Way of Saying Thank You
I'm Ahead If I Can Quit While I'm Behind
SIDE 3
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ
Midnight Train
Surrender To the Rhythm
MAGIC MICHAEL
Music Belongs to the People
SIDE 4
HAWKWIND
Master of the Universe
Born to Go
HAWKWIND
Bob Calvert: vocals
Dave Brock: guitar, vocals
Lemmy: bass guitar, vocals
Nik Turner: saxophone, vocals
Dik Mik: audio generator, electronics
Del Dettmar: synthesisers
Simon King: drums
Stacia: mime & dance
Get It Here !!!
part I
part II
Info Here
Chalk Farm, The Roundhouse, London
13th February 1972
SIDE 1
MAN
Spunk Rock
SIDE 2
MAN
Angel Easy
MAN:
Martin Ace--Bass guitar, Vocals
Michael Jones--Guitar, Vocals
Roger Leonard--Guitar, Vocals
Terry Williams--Drums
ANDY DUNKLEY (Speech Only)
POWER CUT
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ
Wonder Woman
It's Just My Way of Saying Thank You
I'm Ahead If I Can Quit While I'm Behind
SIDE 3
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ
Midnight Train
Surrender To the Rhythm
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ
Bob Andrews Keyboards, Vocals
Billy Rankin Drums
Nick Lowe Bass, Vocals
Brinsley Schwarz Guitar, Vocals
Ian Gomm Guitar, Vocals
Bob Andrews Keyboards, Vocals
Billy Rankin Drums
Nick Lowe Bass, Vocals
Brinsley Schwarz Guitar, Vocals
Ian Gomm Guitar, Vocals
MAGIC MICHAEL
Music Belongs to the People
SIDE 4
HAWKWIND
Master of the Universe
Born to Go
HAWKWIND
Bob Calvert: vocals
Dave Brock: guitar, vocals
Lemmy: bass guitar, vocals
Nik Turner: saxophone, vocals
Dik Mik: audio generator, electronics
Del Dettmar: synthesisers
Simon King: drums
Stacia: mime & dance
Get It Here !!!
part I
part II
Info Here
Labels: Opa-Loka, Various Artists
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The Wylde Mammoths - Go Baby Go
"The Wylde Mammoths" -a swedish 80s garageband sounding like an original 60s one- released two albums on the American label, Crypt Records. Crypt, had up to that point in time, solely released different compilations with the obscure sixties-bands, for instance "Back from the Grave". When Tim Warren (from Crypt), heard "The Wylde Mammoths" for the first time, he was totally knocked out and realised he had to help out the band. "The Wylde Mammoths" made two LPs and a handful of singles before they called it a day.
Discography
7”s
Four Wolly Giants EP, Mystery Scene Records, 1986
Tracklist:
All The Birds Are Gone/I’ve Been Hurt (And She Don’t Care)/I Got You/You Gonna Need Me When I’m Gone
Personnel:
Peter Maniette, vocals/guitar/harp
Per Wannerberg, guitar
Patrick Emt, bass
Johan Maniette, drums
Help That Girl EP, Crypt Records, CR-45-3, 1987
Tracklist:
Help That Girl/Nothing I Can Do/You/In My Lonely Room
Personnel:
Peter Maniette, vocals/guitar/harp
Per Wannerberg, guitar
Patrick Emt, bass
Stellan Wahlstrom, drums
I Can’t Go Without You/Deep Down In Misery, Splendid magazine #3, CH 002, 1988
Before It’s Too Late/I Can’t Win, Unique Records, UNR 45002.3, 1990
Personnel:
Peter Maniette, vocals/guitar
Thomas Sodergran, guitar
Jens Linberg, bass
Patrik Sjorvist, drums
You Gotta Go EP, Misty Lane Records, MISTY 017, 1994
Tracklist:
You Gotta Go/Drivin’/Bloodhound/I Can’t Change
Albums
Go Baby Go!!, Crypt Records, CRYPT 011, 1987
Tracklist:
Hooked/Enough Of your Love/Gone Away/I’m Going Out/Don’t Stop It Baby/Day And Night/Do-Da Do-Da/Pretty Baby/Plane To Chicago/The Night Is Black/Thinkin’ Of Her/I Never Loved Her/Won’t Make Up Her Mind
Personnel:
Peter Maniette, vocals/guitar/harp
Per Wannerberg, guitar
Patrick Emt, bass
Johan Maniette, drums
Things That Matter, Crypt Records, CRYPT 012, 1988
Tracklist:
Things That Matter/Run From Her/Ain’t No Use/Have You For My Own/Make Up Your Mind/Good Love/It’s The Same All Over The World/C’mon Little Girl/Someone Like Me/Down And Out/Two Kinds Of People/I Need You/I Cried Like A Child
Personnel:
Peter Maniette, vocals/guitar/harp
Per Wannerberg, guitar
Patrick Emt, bass
Stellan Wahlstrom, drums
Your Download-Link :
http://rapidshare.com/files/1436902/mammoths.rar
Labels: innocent76, W
Bob Mosley - Bob Mosley -1972
Personnel:
WOODIE BERRY A
BOB MOSLEY bs, vcls A
FRANK SMITH A
ALLEN WEHR drms A
(ED BLACK pedal steel A)
(MEMPHIS HORNS horns A)
ALBUM: 1(A) BOB MOSLEY (Reprise MS 2068) 1972
45: 1 Gypsy Wedding/Gone Fishin' (Reprise REP 1096) 1972
NB: (1) double headed promos also exist.
Born in December 1942 at Paradise Valley, California, James Robert "Bob" Mosley played bass with the Misfits and The Strangers before joining Moby Grape in 1966. In 1969, Mosley left the group to join the US Marines (one of the very few San Francisco musicians to do this!) but after nine months and a fight with an officer, he had to return to civil life. He rejoined Moby Grape in 1971 for their fifth album and, when the group disbanded again, he went solo and co-produced his first album with Michael O'Connor (a friend of Chris Darrow). The sessions were held in November 1971 in Hollywood with a backing group including Allen Wehr, the former drummer of Morning Glory, and Ed Black (ex-Superfine Dandelion). The Memphis Horns also played on three tracks. The album is interesting overall, with good vocals and strong instrumental parts displayed on various styles: rock, West Coast, country rock and white soul. The best moments are probably The Joker and Gone Fishin. The album included a new version of Gypsy Wedding also recorded on Moby Grape's 20 Granite Creek.
After this, Mosley played for a while with Chris Darrow but nothing was released. In October 1973, he teamed again with the Moby Grape guitarist Jerry Miller to play the Californian bars and clubs circuit under various names (Maby Grope, Original Grape...). The group finally managed to get a contract with Polydor and released a decent album as Fine Wine in 1976. For obscure reasons, the LP was only released in Germany. Miller then left Mosley to play with the other ex-Grape members Lewis and Spence.
In 1977/78, Mosley returned playing the clubs circuit with John Craviotto and Jeff Blackburn (ex-Blackburn and Snow) as The Ducks. During several weeks, they were joined by Neil Young (some tapes and bootlegs exist). Between various Moby Grape reformations, Mosley would later have severe personal problems (he spent several years homeless) and had to wait until the late eighties to release some other solo records: Wine And Roses (Niteshift) 1986, Mosley Grape, Live at Indigo Ranch (San Francisco Sounds) 1989 and Never Dreamed (Taxim) 1999. In recent years, he has played several live dates with Moby Grape.
(Stephane Rebeschini)
45: 1 Gypsy Wedding/Gone Fishin' (Reprise REP 1096) 1972
NB: (1) double headed promos also exist.
Born in December 1942 at Paradise Valley, California, James Robert "Bob" Mosley played bass with the Misfits and The Strangers before joining Moby Grape in 1966. In 1969, Mosley left the group to join the US Marines (one of the very few San Francisco musicians to do this!) but after nine months and a fight with an officer, he had to return to civil life. He rejoined Moby Grape in 1971 for their fifth album and, when the group disbanded again, he went solo and co-produced his first album with Michael O'Connor (a friend of Chris Darrow). The sessions were held in November 1971 in Hollywood with a backing group including Allen Wehr, the former drummer of Morning Glory, and Ed Black (ex-Superfine Dandelion). The Memphis Horns also played on three tracks. The album is interesting overall, with good vocals and strong instrumental parts displayed on various styles: rock, West Coast, country rock and white soul. The best moments are probably The Joker and Gone Fishin. The album included a new version of Gypsy Wedding also recorded on Moby Grape's 20 Granite Creek.
After this, Mosley played for a while with Chris Darrow but nothing was released. In October 1973, he teamed again with the Moby Grape guitarist Jerry Miller to play the Californian bars and clubs circuit under various names (Maby Grope, Original Grape...). The group finally managed to get a contract with Polydor and released a decent album as Fine Wine in 1976. For obscure reasons, the LP was only released in Germany. Miller then left Mosley to play with the other ex-Grape members Lewis and Spence.
In 1977/78, Mosley returned playing the clubs circuit with John Craviotto and Jeff Blackburn (ex-Blackburn and Snow) as The Ducks. During several weeks, they were joined by Neil Young (some tapes and bootlegs exist). Between various Moby Grape reformations, Mosley would later have severe personal problems (he spent several years homeless) and had to wait until the late eighties to release some other solo records: Wine And Roses (Niteshift) 1986, Mosley Grape, Live at Indigo Ranch (San Francisco Sounds) 1989 and Never Dreamed (Taxim) 1999. In recent years, he has played several live dates with Moby Grape.
(Stephane Rebeschini)
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Merseybeats - I Think Of You
Merseybeats - I Think Of You_the complete recordings.
The Merseybeats were one of the better quartets to come out of the British Invasion without ever making a dent on the charts in the United States -- along with the Roulettes, the Chants, and the Undertakers, they represent an undeservedly lost chapter in early-'60s British rock & roll. Although they enjoyed a little less than a year of serious chart success, the Merseybeats were unable to pull together the various facets of their sound into a cohesive, coherent whole in the manner of the Beatles or the Hollies, and into something lasting, in part because of a lack of original songwriting ability in their ranks. The group's roots go back to the early '60s in Liverpool, and a band originally known as "the Mavericks," comprised of Tony Crane (lead guitar, vocals), Billy Kinsley (bass, vocals), David Elias (rhythm guitar, vocals), and Frank Sloane (drums). They were doing well but soon found the name to be a drag on their success, making people think that they were a country & western band. They briefly used the name "the Pacifics," and then became the Merseybeats -- evidently their timing was such that they grabbed the name, previously a local music reference, ahead of anyone else in a city boiling over with musical activity.
By the end of 1962, the Merseybeats lineup had solidified around Crane and Kinsley, with Aaron Williams joining on rhythm guitar in place of Elias and John Banks succeeding Sloane. The group made their recording debut around this time as part of the Oriole label's Liverpool showcase, This Is Merseybeat. With the help of the manager of the Cavern Club, they were formally signed to Fontana Records in mid-1963, and made their debut in August of that year with a single of "It's Love That Really Counts" b/w "Fortune Teller" -- the A-side, a Bacharach/David tune, was a solid piece of British Invasion pop/rock in the best Beatles/Hollies/Searchers mode, with memorable guitar hooks and a memorable chorus, and it reached number 24 on the U.K. charts. They were later signed up by the Beatles' legendary manager, Brian Epstein, but the fit was an awkward one, owing to differences in musical sensibility -- the group was a fairly hard rock & roll outfit, but their singles tended much more to the pop side of rock & roll, and the A-sides never represented their real sound very well. In early 1964, the Merseybeats released a second single, "I Think of You" backed with the pop/rock standard "Mister Moonlight," which reached number five in England. In both of these instances, the B-side was closer to the band's sound than the A-side and, in both instances, the band had latched onto the material first -- but was eclipsed by rival versions by the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
Though it had come along a little late, "It's Love That Really Counts" turned the group into a major pop/rock act, and the future looked good for them. But there were problems on the horizon, starting with the fact that neither of those singles had made even the slightest impact in the United States, which was where the real fortunes were to be made; and, much more seriously, the decision by Billy Kinsley to leave the band in 1964 in order to form his own group, the Kinsleys. In his place, they got John Gustafson on bass and vocals. formerly of Liverpool's Big Three trio, who also contributed some songwriting. In April of 1963, they released "Don't Turn Around" b/w "Really Mystified," which -- despite a beautifully catchy, harmony-and-hook-laden A-side that was heavily influenced by the work of Roy Orbison, and an original B-side co-authored by Crane and Gustafson -- didn't do quite as well, peaking at number 13. A third single in July, "Wishin' and Hopin'" b/w "Milkman" (the latter another Crane/Gustafson original), also reached number 13. The band released a pair of extended-play singles, including "I Think of You" and "Merseybeats on Stage," the latter capturing their real sound in concert and included "Long Tall Sally" and "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover" in early 1964. They also worked their way into two rock & roll featurettes, Swinging UK and UK Swings Again -- one of their clips, "Don't Turn Around," was nicely staged, the band miming to the single on a platform that, on the chorus of the title, starts to rotate.
The Merseybeats were successful enough to get an LP release, and the resulting self-titled album showcased their limitations as well as their virtues. Amid a few inspired moments, mostly on the single-sides (such as "Milkman") picked up for the LP, there were some "originals" that were highly derivative of Bo Diddley and Little Richard, interspersed with some decent Liverpool-style adaptations of American R&B ("Bring It on Home to Me," "He Will Break Your Heart,") and a strange choice of show tunes, one ("Hello Young Lovers") partly successful and the other not. Apart from a lack of originality in their sound, the album pointed to the group's very thin in-house songwriting -- they were almost wholly dependent on Peter Lee Stirling, who had written their three biggest, single A-sides, for success. And to judge from the weak diversity on their album, one couldn't tell if the Merseybeats wanted to sound like the Beatles, the Fortunes, or the Pretty Things, and as a consequence gained very few fans from the release.
Their fall 1964 single "Last Night I Made a Little Girl Cry" b/w "Send Me Back," barely made the British Top 40, peaking at number 40, and it wasn't long after this that Gustafson left the band and was replaced by Kinsley, whose return to the lineup coincided with their last round of success as the Merseybeats. By 1965, the Liverpool sound synonymous with the term "Merseybeat" was considered old-hat, and the name that had helped gain the group some vital recognition was now weighing them down. Following "I Love You, Yes I Do" b/w "Good, Good Lovin'," and "I Stand Accused" (later covered by Elvis Costello) backed with "All My Life," which peaked at numbers 22 and 38, respectively, the group seemed to have run its course for commercial success by early 1966. They were rescued by the interest of the members of the Who, whose members knew Crane and Kinsley, and got them under the management of Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert.
In mid-1966, Crane and Kinsley became the Merseys and scored a huge hit with "Sorrow" later that year, reaching number four in England. They'd still never charted a record in America, however, and their next single, a fine rendition of the Who song "So Sad About Us," never charted. The duo called it quits after the release of their single "Lovely" b/w "Loretta Drifting." Kinsley went on to form Rockin' Horse, while Crane later re-fomed the old band -- after a fashion -- as Tony Crane & the Merseybeats during the '70s and '80s, with Bob Packham on bass and vocals, Alan Cosgrove on drums and vocals, and Colin Drummond on keyboards and vocals. The original group was fondly remembered and the band did well embracing its own past; in the meantime, David Bowie covered "Sorrow" on Pin Ups in 1973, an acknowledgment of the lingering appeal of their best work. By the '90s, Kinsley was working with them again as the Merseybeats, built around that same core lineup except for Dave Goldberg on keyboards. In 2000, Crane's son Adrian joined on keyboards and guitar, and Lou Rosenthal took over on drums. ~ Bruce Eder & Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Your Download Link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/1026075/merseybeats.rar.html
Eclection - Eclection - 1968
Eclection
Personnel:
GERRY CONWAY drms A B
GEORGE HULTGREN bs, vcls A B
TREVOR LUCAS gtr, vcls A B KERILEE MALE vcls A
MIKE ROSEN gtr, vcls A B
DORRIS HENDERSON vcls B
Personnel:
GERRY CONWAY drms A B
GEORGE HULTGREN bs, vcls A B
TREVOR LUCAS gtr, vcls A B KERILEE MALE vcls A
MIKE ROSEN gtr, vcls A B
DORRIS HENDERSON vcls B
POLI PALMER keyb'ds B
ALBUM: 1(A) ECLECTION (Elektra EKS 4023) 1968 R1
45s: 1 Nevertheless/Mark Time (Elektra EKSN 45033) 1968
2 Another Time, Another Place/Betty Brown (Elektra EKSN 45040) 1968
3 Please/Saint George And The Dragon (Elektra EKSN 45042) 1968
4 Please (Mark II)/In The Early Days (Elektra EKSN 45046) 1968
5 Nevertheless/Please (Elektra K 12196) 1976
An interesting folk-rock group from Birmingham who failed to achieve any commercial success despite quite a lot of media attention. When Kerilee Male vanished in October 1968, Dorris Henderson, a vibrant vocalist from LA was drafted in as a replacement. She was an ex-folk club singer who had recorded two albums, There You Go and Watch The Stars with one time partner John Renbourn. The new line-up recorded a strong 45, Please, but success continued to elude them and, even now, their album is only of minor interest to collectors. Eclection split in October 1969, although Dorris Henderson did make an unsuccessful attempt to revive the band in the early 1970s. When they split Poli Palmer later joined Family, George Hultgren changed his name to George Kajanus and later enjoyed a certain amount of fame with Sailor. Australian Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway later joined Fotheringay and Mike Rosen resurfaced in an outfit called Mogul Thrash.
Eclection can be heard singing Confusion on Elektra's 1969 Begin Here compilation and Nevertheless on Elektrock The Sixties
ENJOY!
ALBUM: 1(A) ECLECTION (Elektra EKS 4023) 1968 R1
45s: 1 Nevertheless/Mark Time (Elektra EKSN 45033) 1968
2 Another Time, Another Place/Betty Brown (Elektra EKSN 45040) 1968
3 Please/Saint George And The Dragon (Elektra EKSN 45042) 1968
4 Please (Mark II)/In The Early Days (Elektra EKSN 45046) 1968
5 Nevertheless/Please (Elektra K 12196) 1976
An interesting folk-rock group from Birmingham who failed to achieve any commercial success despite quite a lot of media attention. When Kerilee Male vanished in October 1968, Dorris Henderson, a vibrant vocalist from LA was drafted in as a replacement. She was an ex-folk club singer who had recorded two albums, There You Go and Watch The Stars with one time partner John Renbourn. The new line-up recorded a strong 45, Please, but success continued to elude them and, even now, their album is only of minor interest to collectors. Eclection split in October 1969, although Dorris Henderson did make an unsuccessful attempt to revive the band in the early 1970s. When they split Poli Palmer later joined Family, George Hultgren changed his name to George Kajanus and later enjoyed a certain amount of fame with Sailor. Australian Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway later joined Fotheringay and Mike Rosen resurfaced in an outfit called Mogul Thrash.
Eclection can be heard singing Confusion on Elektra's 1969 Begin Here compilation and Nevertheless on Elektrock The Sixties
ENJOY!
Friday, October 27, 2006
The Incredible String Band - God's Holiday
The Incredible String Band
God’s Holiday
The Incredible String Band Broadcasts and other rarities.
Waiting for this stuff to be released is like waiting for God to take a holiday.
CD 01 - The Past and the Future and Similar Tenses
1. Jazz Bo’s Holiday
2. Intro From Mike And Robin
3. Way Back In The 1960’s
4. Perfumed Garden/Chinese White
5. Painting Box
6. Mercy I Cry City
7. Chinese White
8. Nightfall
9. Three Is A Green Crown
10. Geordie
11. See All The People
12. Won't You Come See Me
13. You Get Brighter
14. All Too Much For Me
15. Ducks On A Pond
16. I Bid You Goodnight
17. Intro
18. The Half Remarkable Question
19. Intro
20. Painting Box
21. Noah And The Dove
22. Mercy I Cry City (partial version)
23. Hendrix-Manitas de Platas Comparison
24. Three Is A Green Crown
25. The Head
1 Edinburgh Folk Festival Vol. 1 LP (Decca LK4546)
2 Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending Film
3 Promo Single (Elektra EKSN 45013)
4 John Peel on Radio London with Promo Single (Elektra EKSN 45013)
5-8 Pete Drummond & Tommy Vance 'Top Gear', 10.Oct.67 (Broadcast 15.Oct.67), BBC Radio One
9-11 Julie Felix 'Once More With Felix', 03.Feb.68, BBC 2 television Broadcast
12-16 John Peel's 'Nightride', 4.Mar.68 (Broadcast 6.Mar.68), BBC Radio One
17-20 Julie Felix 'Once More With Felix', 23.Mar.68, BBC 2 television Broadcast
21-25 Royal Festival Hall, London, 30.Mar.68, Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending Film
CD 02 - Exchanging Love Tokens
1. The Head
2. Douglas Traherne Harding
3. Radio Announcement
4. See All The People
5. Tuning
6. You Get Brighter
7. Tuning
8. Maya
9. Intro
10. Waltz Of The New Moon
11. Tuning
12. You Get Brighter
13. A Very Cellular Song
1-8 Bob Fass ‘Radio Unnamable’ WBAI Studios, New York, 13.May.68, Live broadcast WBAI Radio, NYC
9-13 Fillmore East, New York, 5.June.68 (Broadcast June 1969), Benefit Concert for WBAI Radio, NYC
CD 03 - Fiddlehead Ferns and Daffodils
1. Radio Announcement And Tuning
2. October Song
3. Setup
4. Bell Ringing
5. Tuning
6. The Pig Went Walking Over The Hill
7. See All The People
8. Swift As The Wind (cut)
9. Play Music (cuts)
10. Ducks On A Pond
11. Tuning
12. Puppies
13. Tuning
14. Chinese White
15. Tuning
16. Maya
17. The Iron Stone
1-16 Fillmore East, New York, 5.Jun.68 (Broadcast June 1969), Benefit Concert for WBAI Radio, NYC
17 Live In The Studio Recording, Sound Techniques, Chelsea, Early 1969, Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending Film
CD 04 - A Very Small Door
1. All Writ Down
2. Dust Be Diamonds
3. Theta
4. Fine Fingered Hand
5. All Writ Down
6. Fine Fingered Hand
7. Maya
8. Dust Be Diamonds
9. The Letter
10. Come With Me
11. This Moment
1-4 John Peel's 'Nightride', 5.Feb.69 (Broadcast 5.Mar.69), BBC Radio One
5,6 Julie Felix 'Once More With Felix', 15.Feb.69, BBC 2 television broadcast
7-11 Ludlow’s Garage, Cincinnati, May '69, Soundboard recording
CD 05 (partI) (partII) - Love of Love is Very Huge
1. Black Jack Davy
2. The Letter
3. This Moment
4. Gather Round
5. Waiting For You
6. Invocation (partial version)
7. The Letter
8. This Moment (partial version)
9. When You Find Out Who You Are
10. Intro
11. Waiting For You
12. Black Jack David
13. Flowers Of The Forest
14. Beautiful Stranger
15. Won't You Come See Me
16. Dark Eyed Lady
17. Empty Pocket Blues
1-5 John Peel's 'Nightride', 5.Aug.69 (Broadcast 24.Aug.69), BBC Radio One
6-9 Woodstock Festival, Bethel, NY, 15.Aug.69, Woodstock Film outtakes/Audience video tape
10-12 Texas International Pop Festival, Lewisville, TX, 31.Aug.69, Texas Pop bootleg soundboard recording
13-17 John Peel's 'Top Gear', 20.Jul.70 (Broadcast 25.Jul.70), BBC Radio One
CD 06 - Peacocks in the First, Kokilas in the Fifth
1. Everything's Fine Right Now
2. Jigs (Coleman's Fancy/Rakish Paddy/The Wayward Fox/Johnny Grey)
3. Won't You Come See Me
4. Raga Puti
5. Ring Dance
6. The Circle Is Unbroken
7. Raga Puti
8. Everything's Fine Right Now
9. Long Long Road
10. Everything's Fine Right Now
11. Intro
12. Black Jack Davy
13. Tuning
14. Won't You Come See Me
15. Jigs (Coleman's Fancy/Rakish Paddy/The Wayward Fox/Johnny Grey)
16. Intro
17. Flowers Of The Forest
18. Cold Harbour
19. Tuning
20. Long Long Road
21. Lady Wonder
1-5 Stuart Henry's 'Sounds Of The Seventies', 17.Sep.70 (Broadcast 24.Sep.70), BBC Radio One
6-9 John Peel's 'Top Gear', 6.Oct.70 (Broadcast 9.Jan.71), BBC Radio One
10 Beat-Club, German TV, 24.Oct.70, Radio Bremen TV broadcast
11-21 Pacific High Studios, San Francisco, 15.Feb.71, Live simulcast KPFA, KPFB Radio, Berkeley; KSFX Radio, San Francisco, CA
CD 07 - The Sun in the Pale Silence
1. Intro
2. Bright Morning Stars
3. Intro
4. Worlds They Rise And Fall
5. Intro
6. Jigs (Sunday Is My Wedding Day/Drops Of Whisky/Grumbling Old Men/Eyes Like Leaves)
7. Intro
8. Spirit Beautiful
9. Intro
10. Willow Pattern
11. Intro
12. Cosmic Boy
13. Intro
14. Turquoise Blue
15. Intro
16. Whistle Tune
17. Intro
18. Darling Belle
19. Intro
20. Adam And Eve
21. Intro
22. You've Been A Friend To Me
1-22 Paris Theatre, London 18.Mar.71, BBC Radio One In Concert
~~~~~~~~~~
Artwork (covers)
The Incredible String Band Broadcasts and other rarities.
Waiting for this stuff to be released is like waiting for God to take a holiday.
CD 01 - The Past and the Future and Similar Tenses
1. Jazz Bo’s Holiday
2. Intro From Mike And Robin
3. Way Back In The 1960’s
4. Perfumed Garden/Chinese White
5. Painting Box
6. Mercy I Cry City
7. Chinese White
8. Nightfall
9. Three Is A Green Crown
10. Geordie
11. See All The People
12. Won't You Come See Me
13. You Get Brighter
14. All Too Much For Me
15. Ducks On A Pond
16. I Bid You Goodnight
17. Intro
18. The Half Remarkable Question
19. Intro
20. Painting Box
21. Noah And The Dove
22. Mercy I Cry City (partial version)
23. Hendrix-Manitas de Platas Comparison
24. Three Is A Green Crown
25. The Head
1 Edinburgh Folk Festival Vol. 1 LP (Decca LK4546)
2 Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending Film
3 Promo Single (Elektra EKSN 45013)
4 John Peel on Radio London with Promo Single (Elektra EKSN 45013)
5-8 Pete Drummond & Tommy Vance 'Top Gear', 10.Oct.67 (Broadcast 15.Oct.67), BBC Radio One
9-11 Julie Felix 'Once More With Felix', 03.Feb.68, BBC 2 television Broadcast
12-16 John Peel's 'Nightride', 4.Mar.68 (Broadcast 6.Mar.68), BBC Radio One
17-20 Julie Felix 'Once More With Felix', 23.Mar.68, BBC 2 television Broadcast
21-25 Royal Festival Hall, London, 30.Mar.68, Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending Film
CD 02 - Exchanging Love Tokens
1. The Head
2. Douglas Traherne Harding
3. Radio Announcement
4. See All The People
5. Tuning
6. You Get Brighter
7. Tuning
8. Maya
9. Intro
10. Waltz Of The New Moon
11. Tuning
12. You Get Brighter
13. A Very Cellular Song
1-8 Bob Fass ‘Radio Unnamable’ WBAI Studios, New York, 13.May.68, Live broadcast WBAI Radio, NYC
9-13 Fillmore East, New York, 5.June.68 (Broadcast June 1969), Benefit Concert for WBAI Radio, NYC
CD 03 - Fiddlehead Ferns and Daffodils
1. Radio Announcement And Tuning
2. October Song
3. Setup
4. Bell Ringing
5. Tuning
6. The Pig Went Walking Over The Hill
7. See All The People
8. Swift As The Wind (cut)
9. Play Music (cuts)
10. Ducks On A Pond
11. Tuning
12. Puppies
13. Tuning
14. Chinese White
15. Tuning
16. Maya
17. The Iron Stone
1-16 Fillmore East, New York, 5.Jun.68 (Broadcast June 1969), Benefit Concert for WBAI Radio, NYC
17 Live In The Studio Recording, Sound Techniques, Chelsea, Early 1969, Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending Film
CD 04 - A Very Small Door
1. All Writ Down
2. Dust Be Diamonds
3. Theta
4. Fine Fingered Hand
5. All Writ Down
6. Fine Fingered Hand
7. Maya
8. Dust Be Diamonds
9. The Letter
10. Come With Me
11. This Moment
1-4 John Peel's 'Nightride', 5.Feb.69 (Broadcast 5.Mar.69), BBC Radio One
5,6 Julie Felix 'Once More With Felix', 15.Feb.69, BBC 2 television broadcast
7-11 Ludlow’s Garage, Cincinnati, May '69, Soundboard recording
CD 05 (partI) (partII) - Love of Love is Very Huge
1. Black Jack Davy
2. The Letter
3. This Moment
4. Gather Round
5. Waiting For You
6. Invocation (partial version)
7. The Letter
8. This Moment (partial version)
9. When You Find Out Who You Are
10. Intro
11. Waiting For You
12. Black Jack David
13. Flowers Of The Forest
14. Beautiful Stranger
15. Won't You Come See Me
16. Dark Eyed Lady
17. Empty Pocket Blues
1-5 John Peel's 'Nightride', 5.Aug.69 (Broadcast 24.Aug.69), BBC Radio One
6-9 Woodstock Festival, Bethel, NY, 15.Aug.69, Woodstock Film outtakes/Audience video tape
10-12 Texas International Pop Festival, Lewisville, TX, 31.Aug.69, Texas Pop bootleg soundboard recording
13-17 John Peel's 'Top Gear', 20.Jul.70 (Broadcast 25.Jul.70), BBC Radio One
CD 06 - Peacocks in the First, Kokilas in the Fifth
1. Everything's Fine Right Now
2. Jigs (Coleman's Fancy/Rakish Paddy/The Wayward Fox/Johnny Grey)
3. Won't You Come See Me
4. Raga Puti
5. Ring Dance
6. The Circle Is Unbroken
7. Raga Puti
8. Everything's Fine Right Now
9. Long Long Road
10. Everything's Fine Right Now
11. Intro
12. Black Jack Davy
13. Tuning
14. Won't You Come See Me
15. Jigs (Coleman's Fancy/Rakish Paddy/The Wayward Fox/Johnny Grey)
16. Intro
17. Flowers Of The Forest
18. Cold Harbour
19. Tuning
20. Long Long Road
21. Lady Wonder
1-5 Stuart Henry's 'Sounds Of The Seventies', 17.Sep.70 (Broadcast 24.Sep.70), BBC Radio One
6-9 John Peel's 'Top Gear', 6.Oct.70 (Broadcast 9.Jan.71), BBC Radio One
10 Beat-Club, German TV, 24.Oct.70, Radio Bremen TV broadcast
11-21 Pacific High Studios, San Francisco, 15.Feb.71, Live simulcast KPFA, KPFB Radio, Berkeley; KSFX Radio, San Francisco, CA
CD 07 - The Sun in the Pale Silence
1. Intro
2. Bright Morning Stars
3. Intro
4. Worlds They Rise And Fall
5. Intro
6. Jigs (Sunday Is My Wedding Day/Drops Of Whisky/Grumbling Old Men/Eyes Like Leaves)
7. Intro
8. Spirit Beautiful
9. Intro
10. Willow Pattern
11. Intro
12. Cosmic Boy
13. Intro
14. Turquoise Blue
15. Intro
16. Whistle Tune
17. Intro
18. Darling Belle
19. Intro
20. Adam And Eve
21. Intro
22. You've Been A Friend To Me
1-22 Paris Theatre, London 18.Mar.71, BBC Radio One In Concert
~~~~~~~~~~
Artwork (covers)
Greenwood, Curlee and Clyde - 1972 - One Time, One Place
Personnel:
JOHN CURLEE vcls, hrmnca, trumpet A
DAVE CUSHING drms A
RICHARD GREENWOOD vcls, sitar, gtr, violin A
CHIP HARDING gtr A
REID McLEAN flute A TONY PAUL perc A
JEFF SCHROEDER bs A
CLYDE THOMPSON vcls, keyb'ds, gtr A
ALBUM: 1(A) ONE TIME ONE PLACE (No label GC-72105) 1972 R3
This local Minnesota electric folk album contained a couple of great Eastern - influenced tracks. The privately pressed release included an insert with lyrics and photos.
(Clark Faville)
GREENWOOD, CURLEE & CLYDE (MN)
"One Time, One Place" 1972 (no label gc-72105) [silkscreened cover; lyric insert with photos] [2]
Local communal hippiefolk artefact with a couple of really good psychy tracks and the rest passable singer/songwriter sounds. In general the guitar-based songs are good, while I think the piano tracks drag the album down. On level with the similar-sounding Big Lost Rainbow. Has the entire commune joining in on my favorite track which mixes 1970s "aware" lyrics with raga acoustic and flute, like a politically correct Manson Family. [PL]
---Cool counterculture artifact from well-meaning hippies who spent two years perfecting their craft. Most collectors lament that there΅―s too much piano here but even the overlong ballads are good. This is a great album. The intelligent lyrics are foul-mouthed in a wholly appealing way, and the mellow music is very well-played. Nice little guitar parts come when you least expect them, giving energy to the quieter songs, and the vocals are confident in a laid-back way. [AM]
Enjoy !!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
ST 37 - Down On Us
ST 37 - Down On Us(Emperor Jones 2002, EJ55CD)
Song Title :
01.The Grain Kings
02.A Huge, Rare Cheese
03.Stack Collision With Heap
04.Daniel Said
05.Curse Of The Strained
06.Sweet Thought
07.Caves Of Ice
08.You'll Die In A Carcrash
09.Hit In The Head
10.Oh My, Goddamn
11.Valentine Alibi
ST 37:
Joel Crutcher (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar)
David Cameron (vocals, guitar, drums, percussion)
SL Telles (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, bass)
Mark Stone (guitar)
From Aural Innovations #22 (January 2003)
For their follow up to I Love to Talk, If There's Anything to Talk About, Texas space psych demons ST 37 head into somewhat more accessible rock n roll territory, while still retaining enough of their nasty space punk aggression and experimental bits to satisfy long time fans. The biggest change is that Carlton Crutcher is no longer a full-time member, only guesting on four tracks.
The disc opens with a trio of songs that on the surface have elements of straightforward rock. "The Grain Kings" is a power trip-pop song that is catchy and has a definite sense of rock n roll, but still has oodles of that nasty ST 37 space punk aggression. "A Huge, Rare Cheese" is similar but with killer meltdown guitars. "Stack Collision With Heap" is the track that would be ST 37's best shot at a single with college radio play. But don't let that put you off because the whining and winding ST 37 guitars are still much in evidence.
Things change dramatically, however, with "Daniel Said", a chunky slab of balls to the walls holy shit here comes a meteor SPACE PUNK! Phewwwww... not even 4 minutes long and this one wore me out. "Oh My, Goddamn" is a space punk instrumental that I enjoyed. And the band get a little into punk metal with "Caves Of Ice". "Sweet Thought" is a tune that almost has a love song quality, though all around it are ricochet UFO synths and whining trip guitars. "Hit In The Head" is similar but the guitars go far deeper into space. "Curse Of The Strained" is a trancier tune with haunting cello by guest Sara Nelson. But it soon blasts off into space with wall-of-sound chainsaw guitar chords and freakout alien synths. An excellent song. "You'll Die In A Carcrash" is a cool tune with classic ST 37 cosmic aggression. And the closing track, "Valentine Alibi", is a 14 minute psycho acid meltdown that plods along like Godzilla having a stroll through the streets of Tokyo. If you want something meditational you can forget it... this is dark and aggressive stuff that Klingons and Romulons everywhere will love.
In summary, for me this is ST 37 at their very best. The trademark ST 37 space and psychedelic punk sensibility is not only ever present but shows a band well tuned to one another during instrumental workouts and jams. Fans don't want to miss this one.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz.
Bio :
ST 37 was formed in January 1987 as a merger of sorts between Austin cult bands Tulum and the Elegant Doormats. Bassist S.L. Telles has been active in the Texas music underground since singing with Houston teen punkers Vast Majority in '79-'80, releasing a single on Wild Dog records that has since been reissued several times, including outtakes. Telles formed the Elegant Doormats in spring 1982 with original ST 37 drummer John Foxworth (who later joined Tulum). The group endured for five years, playing with bands like the Butthole Surfers and the Reivers, and recording with legendary God of Hellfire Arthur Brown.
Guitarist Joel Crutcher and vocalist Carlton Crutcher founded Tulum in 1985, and recorded for Rabid Cat records before that label disintegrated. Jello Biafra wrote, "The bizarre side of Austin is still alive - first the Buttholes, then Scratch Acid, and now Tulum."
After recruiting Jon Torn (son of Rip; from the band Thanatopsis Throne) on keyboards, ST 37 began playing out in April of 1987 at the Cave Club with the Def MFs (still called Def MCs at that point). The stage was set right away when Telles informed the crowd that if they didn't like it they could leave.
The band released the cassette EP "billygoat nothinghead" late in the year, and thus began a string of cassette only releases.
ST 37 made their vinyl debut in 1990 on the Noiseville Records sampler, "From Twisted Minds Come...", and the 7" single, "Look at yr Chair", followed soon afterward. Lance Farley replaced Foxworth on the drum throne at this point and Shane Shelton took over from Torn on the keyboard duties.
Live shows continued unabated, with ST 37 organizing the Noisefests at Waterloo Park featuring bands like Ed Hall, Seemen, Crust, Liquid Mice, Pocket FishRmen, Coz the Shroom, Squat Thrust, etc.
Following the cassette LPs "feature silica vicarious" and "from space w/love" ST 37 finally entered the digital age with Over and Out records of Austin releasing the "Invisible College" CD. The release of a second single, "Taboo/Hoodoo", saw the addition of Craig Johnson from Puffy Brutha Man on rhythm guitar. This expanded six piece lineup traveled to Phoenix for the Arizona Music Conference, but disintegrated soon after that, with Farley leaving first to be replaced by Cisco Ryder G. and Shelton and Johnson bailing shortly thereafter. Carlton Crutcher expanded his musical role in the band to include sequencer (Roland SH 101) and Telles began utilizing occasional keyboards and drones to fill the gap.
ST 37's first tour followed, with the newly trim 4-piece lineup playing two weeks of shows on the west coast in January 1993. A third single, "The Gypsy's Curse" was released on Prospective in 1994, spawning a two week Midwestern jaunt that summer. The band met with Paul Stark of Twin Tone records in Minneapolis, papers were signed, an advance was paid, but alas.. it was not to be. Perhaps ST 37's next project, the sprawling double LP, "Glare", was a bit much for Twin Tone. John Kass of Prospective was soon able to find a home for it with Helter Skelter records of Rome.
After "Glare", ST 37 toured the Midwest again, this time with Prospective lablemates the Green Machine. Further recording projects followed, including appearances on Bowie and Hawkwind tribute records. Finally, after completing the sessions the resulted in the "derobe" split LP with Vocokesh on RRR, Cisco quit the band, but was kind enough to find his own replacement, Dave Cameron of Roky Erickson and Evilhook Wildlife E.T., Glass Eye, Brave Combo, 3-Day Stubble, etc., etc. fame.
1997 saw the addition of Mark Stone on rhythm guitar, allowing Joel to further explore the stratosphere on lead. Another Midwest jaunt was undertaken which saw the band playing their largest and most successful show yet at Weedstock outside of Madison WI. A compilation CD of the event was released featuring a smokin' live version of the band's Neu! cover medley, "Hallohero".
Contacts formed from roadwork enabled the band to fulfill a long-term ambition to play with Hawkwind . This happened on Labor Day weekend at the Strange Daze festival in Sherman, NY. Other space rock luminaries such as Nik Turner's Space Ritual, F/i Farflung, Alien Planetscapes, etc. were also on the bill. A CD compilation of this show has been released on Pangea records.
January 1998: After the release of "Spaceage" on yet another Italian label (Black Widow of Genoa), ST 37 saw their most significant local recognition yet with a major feature in the Austin Chronicle and a string of prime Saturday night shows with the likes of 7% Solution, Ursa Major and 60's psych legends Silver Apples. An original score for the 1926 Fritz Lang classic "Metropolis" was written that summer and has been played three times since then at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to ecstatic, ticket-scalping crowds and adoring press. Large portions of the score will emerge on "The Insect Hospital", a forthcoming double LP/single CD from Black Widow Records.
July 1999: After the release of the vinyl-only limited edition LP "The Secret Society", ST 37 played five dates in the Bay Area with some great bands like 3-Day Stubble, Liquorball, Beyond-O-Matic and the amazing Rubber O Cement.
1999 also saw the release of "I love to talk...if there's anything to talk about..." on Emperor Jones. Finally the ST 37 virus can spread to all corners of the globe through the massive veins of the Touch and Go/ADA/Southern Studios distribution/global conspiracy network. Along with Alastair Galbraith and Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid, ST 37 accompanied Pip Proud on his Emperor Jones CD, "Oncer", released 2/00. No less than six different compilations appeared featuring ST 37 contributions.
Summer 2000: ST 37 journeys to the East Coast to make their NYC debut at Tonic. Shows are also played with Bardo Pond in Philadelphia and at Strange Daze 2000 with Daevid Allen's University of Errors and many more. A live broadcast is recorded at WFMU studios. A good time is had by all.
KFJC releases the extended 3-guitar version of "Nicht Jetzt" on their excellent 2xCD compilation "Live from the Devil's Triangle Vol. 2". The band finishes work on "The Insect Hospital" CD and double LP in the spring of 2001, and begins a series of limited edition CDR releases with the improvisational "Frantic Search for Zero". After a stellar Roky Erickson benefit show the band enters Sweatbox Studios to record their ninth LP. Midway through the recordings Carlton Crutcher leaves the band. Although a founding member, Carlton's musical role in the band was changing and he needed to devote more time to his project with his wife Sharon, Book of Shadows...Nonetheless, the as yet untitled album is rushing towards completion as the band awaits the proposed February 2002 release of "The Insect Hospital". Work has also begun on a new score for another Fritz Lang silent film, "Destiny" (Der Mude Tod), which will debut at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on 4/27/02...
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren (Video)
(at the Monkees TV Show)
Song To The Siren
Long afloat on shipless oceans
I did all my best to smile
'Til your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving to your isle
And you sang
Sail to me
Sail to me
Let me enfold you
Here I am
Here I am
Waiting to hold you
Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you hare when I was fox?
Now my foolish boat is leaning
Broken lovelorn on your rocks,
For you sing, "Touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow:
O my heart, O my heart shies from the sorrow"
I am puzzled as the newborn child
I am troubled at the tide:
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Should I lie with Death my bride?
Hear me sing, "Swim to me, Swim to me, Let me enfold you:
Here I am, Here I am, Waiting to hold you.
Song To The Siren
Long afloat on shipless oceans
I did all my best to smile
'Til your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving to your isle
And you sang
Sail to me
Sail to me
Let me enfold you
Here I am
Here I am
Waiting to hold you
Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you hare when I was fox?
Now my foolish boat is leaning
Broken lovelorn on your rocks,
For you sing, "Touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow:
O my heart, O my heart shies from the sorrow"
I am puzzled as the newborn child
I am troubled at the tide:
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Should I lie with Death my bride?
Hear me sing, "Swim to me, Swim to me, Let me enfold you:
Here I am, Here I am, Waiting to hold you.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The Trees - Unreleased "3rd Album" (Demos) 1970/71
1.Forest Fire
2. Prince of Heathens
3. Tom of Bedlam
4. Cry of morning
5. Berben Polka
6. Friar Tuck Bets His
7. Innocent Hare
8. Van Daemon's Land
9. Polly on the Shore*
* alternate studio version
Lineup:
Celia Humphries - Vocals
Barry Clarke - Guitar
Barry Lyons - Bass Guitar
Alan Eden - Drums; percussion
Chuck Fleming - Violin.
Unreleased Third Album Demos 1970-1971. "Another great UK folk-rock band here, The Trees, an amazing but largely underrated band; their two albums are among the finest offerings in the folk rock world; they have been released on CD by BGO and CBS and are well worth checking out!"
2. Prince of Heathens
3. Tom of Bedlam
4. Cry of morning
5. Berben Polka
6. Friar Tuck Bets His
7. Innocent Hare
8. Van Daemon's Land
9. Polly on the Shore*
* alternate studio version
Lineup:
Celia Humphries - Vocals
Barry Clarke - Guitar
Barry Lyons - Bass Guitar
Alan Eden - Drums; percussion
Chuck Fleming - Violin.
Unreleased Third Album Demos 1970-1971. "Another great UK folk-rock band here, The Trees, an amazing but largely underrated band; their two albums are among the finest offerings in the folk rock world; they have been released on CD by BGO and CBS and are well worth checking out!"
1 of the 5 best folk rock bands in a unknown (to me) masterpiece (almost).
Lamp of the Universe - 2005 - Earth, Spirit & Sky
Lamp of the Universe - 2005 - Earth, Spirit & Sky
(September Gurls LP)
01 As We Unfold in the Skies
02 Enlighten
03 My Princess
04 Mystic Soul of Heaven
05 Earth, Spirit & Sky
06 Call of the Ancient
07 Existence
08 Zion
3rd album by Lamp of The Universe, the acid folk/psychedelic project of Craig Williamson from Hamilton, New Zealand (known also from heavy/stoner rock band Datura). The sitar-driven, mantraesque songs on Earth Spirit & Sky mark another step forward on Craig's way to conveying a meditative, mind-expanding musical experience. Earth Spirit & Sky appears to be an epic unit made up of 8 songs. Craig uses sitar, acoustic/electric guitar, tablas, flute, blissed out voice and blends elements of space/folk/blues with sounds from the Eastern shore for hippiesque psychedelia. Imagine an exotic incarnation of Ethereal Counterbalance's Rod Goodway jamming with Spacemen 3, Holy River Family Band, Saddar Bazaar and reaching/producing a trancelike phantasmagoric state...
The album"Earth, Spirit & Sky" is now availible on CD at the Lotusof1000petals mailorder, go HERE to order a copy. Thanks!!!!
You can Also Listen to :
Lamp of the Universe - 2001 - The Cosmic Union
here
(September Gurls LP)
01 As We Unfold in the Skies
02 Enlighten
03 My Princess
04 Mystic Soul of Heaven
05 Earth, Spirit & Sky
06 Call of the Ancient
07 Existence
08 Zion
3rd album by Lamp of The Universe, the acid folk/psychedelic project of Craig Williamson from Hamilton, New Zealand (known also from heavy/stoner rock band Datura). The sitar-driven, mantraesque songs on Earth Spirit & Sky mark another step forward on Craig's way to conveying a meditative, mind-expanding musical experience. Earth Spirit & Sky appears to be an epic unit made up of 8 songs. Craig uses sitar, acoustic/electric guitar, tablas, flute, blissed out voice and blends elements of space/folk/blues with sounds from the Eastern shore for hippiesque psychedelia. Imagine an exotic incarnation of Ethereal Counterbalance's Rod Goodway jamming with Spacemen 3, Holy River Family Band, Saddar Bazaar and reaching/producing a trancelike phantasmagoric state...
The album"Earth, Spirit & Sky" is now availible on CD at the Lotusof1000petals mailorder, go HERE to order a copy. Thanks!!!!
You can Also Listen to :
Lamp of the Universe - 2001 - The Cosmic Union
here
Denny Gerrard - Sinister Morning - 1970
01 Native Sun
02 True Believer
03 Hole In My Shadow
04 Last But One
05 Rough Stuff
06 Stop Or Drop It
07 Autum Blewn
08 Eye For Eye
09 Atmosphere
Very Reccomended! Enjoy!
RS Link
02 True Believer
03 Hole In My Shadow
04 Last But One
05 Rough Stuff
06 Stop Or Drop It
07 Autum Blewn
08 Eye For Eye
09 Atmosphere
Very Reccomended! Enjoy!
RS Link
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Turquoise - The Further Adventures Of Flossie Fillett
01 Tales Of Flossie Fillett
02 Flying Machine (Second Version)
03 Sister Saxophone
04 53 Summer Street
05 The Sea Shines
06 Village Green
07 Saynia
08 Sunday Best
09 Woodstock
10 Stand Up And Be Judged
11 Woodstock (First Reduction)
12 Flying Machine (First Version)
13 Leana (backing Track)
14 What's Your Name
15 Mindless Child Of Motherhood
16 You're Just Another Girl (As The Brood)
17 Wrong Way (As The Brood)
18 The Turquoise 1968 Christmas Record
03 Sister Saxophone
04 53 Summer Street
05 The Sea Shines
06 Village Green
07 Saynia
08 Sunday Best
09 Woodstock
10 Stand Up And Be Judged
11 Woodstock (First Reduction)
12 Flying Machine (First Version)
13 Leana (backing Track)
14 What's Your Name
15 Mindless Child Of Motherhood
16 You're Just Another Girl (As The Brood)
17 Wrong Way (As The Brood)
18 The Turquoise 1968 Christmas Record
Personnel:
VIC JANSEN bs A B
GUS PETERS ld gtr, piano A B
EWAN STEPHENS drms A B
GEOFF SYRETT gtr A B
BARRY HART B
45s:
1 53 Summer Street/Tales Of Flossie Fillet (Decca F 12756) 1968
2 Woodstock/Saynia (Decca F 12842) 1968
1 53 Summer Street/Tales Of Flossie Fillet (Decca F 12756) 1968
2 Woodstock/Saynia (Decca F 12842) 1968
This Muswell Hill outfit was closely linked to Ray Davies - hence the strong Kinks' influence in some of their songs. Keith Moon and John Entwistle took a keen interest in them and they were produced and managed by Tom Keylock, The Rolling Stones' tour manager.
Both of their 45s are now quite sought-after and collectable, but aside from 53 Summer Street, the other three sides have been compiled. The Kinks' influence circa Autumn Almanac is evident on Tales Of Flossie Fillet, which is full of jangling acoustic guitars and appealing melodies and harmonies. Woodstock was similar in style, although with the addition of a fifth member, Barry Hartby their sound had been filled with some punchier guitar work and a Hammond organ. (Incidentally Woodstock was not the Joni Mitchell song that Matthews Southern Comfort took to No 1.) The flip side, Saynia, was every bit as good - a melancholic ballad about a lost love with strong vocals and ideally suited harmonies and instrumentation.
The group deserved more success.
Compilation appearances include: Woodstock on The Psychedelic Scene (CD), Rubble, Vol. 11 - Adventures In The Mist (LP), Rubble, Vol. 6 (CD), British Psychedelic Trip, Vol. 3 (LP) and Great British Psychedelic Trip, Vol. 2 (CD); Tales Of Flossie Fillet on Rubble, Vol. 6 - The Clouds Have Groovy Faces (LP) and Rubble, Vol. 4 (CD); Tales Of Flossie Fillett and Saynia on The British Psychedelic Trip, Vol. 1 (LP) and Great British Psychedelic Trip, Vol. 1 (CD).
(from the liner notes...)
Cult UK pop-psych heroes Turquoise burst forth from Muswell Hill with two of the most perfectly formed pop singles of 1968 then went the way of so many of their contemporaries and vanished back to the building sites and tax offices of north London. But this story goes a lot deeper than that... Friends and neighbours of Ray and Dave Davies, Ewan Stephens, Vic Jansen and Jeff Peters would watch with envy as The Kinks rose to global fame during the mid-1960s, eventually forming a band of their own. A little of the brothers' influence inevitably rubbed off on The Brood (for 'twas they) with Dave producing demo sessions for them and touting the results round the labels to no avail. Through Dave, they were soon being managed by John Mason, the infamous 'car dealer to the stars', who had his clients Keith Moon and John Entwistle produce another session for them in 1967. Mason then hooked The Brood up with another of Mason's clients, Tom Keylock, The Rolling Stones' tour manager, who, along with Kirk Duncan of the Spencer Davis agency, secured them a recording contract with Decca, a publishing deal with Apple and a name change to Turquoise. The next few months were spent rehearsing at the Stones' space in London's Docklands, visiting various London recording studios, running with The Who and The Kinks and generally having a ball being young pop stars in swinging London. Although only two singles appeared - "53 Summer Street"/"Tales Of Flossie Fillett" and "Woodstock"/Saynia", now much-loved classics of the psychedelic pop genre - the band cut several tracks during this time which remained unreleased until now. However, the lack of a hit single and the fickle nature of the pop business inevitably resulted in Turquoise's premature demise in 1969. Ewan Stephens forged a solo career, cutting further singles for Decca while Jeff Peters and latter day Turquoise member Barry Hart formed the hard-rockin' Slowbone who cut the album "Tales Of A Crooked Man" in 1974. "The Further Adventures Of Flossie Fillet" brings together every surviving recording made by The Brood and Turquoise between 1966 and 1969, including a virtual album's worth of prime 1968 pop in a Kinks/Who/Small Faces/Move style as well as alternate versions and demos. It features liner notes by noted psych/Apple authority Stefan Granados and brand new in-depth interview material with Turquoise main man Jeff Peters. The complete surviving recordings by this cult north London pop-psych act, most of which have never been heard before! Features the much-loved singles "53 Summer Street", "Tales Of Flossie Fillett", "Woodstock" and "Saynia"! Mates of The Kinks, The Who, Apple and the Spencer Davis agency. Ultra-hip credentials! Beautifully re-mastered in the usual Rev-Ola style! In-depth liner notes by Stefan Granados featuring brand new interview material with Turquoise main man Jeff Peters. Stuffed to the gills with fantastic original photos and memorabilia from the band's own archives !A landmark release and a MUST for all fans of quality UK '60s pop, pop-psych, The Kinks, The Who, Small Faces, The Beatles.Hell, everybody really!
ENJOY!
Edgar Broughton Band - 1973 - Oora
Edgar Broughton Band - 1973 - Oora
1. a) Hurricane Man 2) Rock 'N' Roller
2. Roccococooler
3. Eviction
4. Oh You Crazy Boy
5. Things On My Mind
6. a) Exhibits From A New Museum b) Green Lights
7. a) Face From A Window b) Pretty c) Hi-Jack-Boogie d) Slow Down
8. Capers
Edgar Broughton : Lead Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitar.
Victor Unitt : Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Harmonica.
Art Grant : Bass Guitar.
Steve Broughton : Drums, Percussion, Vocals.
guests:
David Bedford : Piano.
Madeline Bell, Doris Troy, Lisa Strike : Backing Vocals.
The five albums The Edgar Broughton band recorded for EMI’s “progressive” label, Harvest between 1969 and 1973 were full-on sonic attacks that took no prisoners. They also contained some truly thoughtful and beautiful music of great originality.
By the time Oora was released The Edgar Broughton Band had been in Morgan studios in Willesden since mid-June recording material for what would become their final album for Harvest. Like their previous vinyl effort, sessions also took place in Olympic Studios in Barnes. It was here that the band resumed their relationship with arranger David Bedford, who wrote and conducted orchestral arrangements for Hurricane Man / Rock n’ Roller and Things on My Mind.
The tracks Rock n’ Roller, Oh! You Crazy Boy, Things on My Mind, Exhibits From a New Museum and Face From a Window all featured the backing vocals of Doris Troy, Madeline Bell and Lisa Strike.
Oora was released in May 1973, in an elaborate sleeve designed by artist Barney Bubbles (noted for his work with fellow musical anarchists Hawkwind), the album was perhaps the most sophisticated of all The Edgar Broughton Band’s releases for Harvest, notably on the track Face From a Window / Pretty / Hi-Jack Boogie / Slow Down.
The Edgar Broughton Band left EMI Records after the release of “Oora” and Victor Unitt departed the fold.
Biography:
Formed in Warwick, England, the Edgar Broughton Band arrived on the London underground music scene in 1968. Led by the Broughton brothers, vocalist/guitarist Edgar and drummer Steve, and fleshed out by bassist Arthur Grant and guitarist Victor Unitt (who also briefly served with the Pretty Things), they soon signed with the Harvest label, and issued their debut Wasa Wasa -- a collection of underground electric blues jams anchored by Edgar's Captain Beefheart-like vocals -- in late 1969. The Edgar Broughton Band returned in 1970 with Sing Brother Sing, which reached the U.K. Top 20 and spawned a pair of minor hit singles, "Out Demons Out" and "Apache Drop-Out" (a fusion of Beefheart's "Dropout Boogie" and the Shadows' "Apache"). The group seemed poised for a major commercial breakthrough, but even as their brand of heavy rock was flourishing thanks to groups like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, the Broughton Band made an about-face, and their music became considerably more quiet and politically-charged. Their chart momentum stalled, and a 1971 self-titled effort failed to catch on.
After both 1972's Inside Out and 1973's Oora met a similar fate, the group left Harvest for NEMS. Legal wrangles locked them out of the studio for a number of months, but they finally resurfaced in 1975 -- minus Unitt, who'd been replaced by guitarist John Thomas -- with Bandages. A brief break-up followed, but in 1978 they returned with Live Hits Harder. By the release of 1979's Parlez Vous English?, the group had expanded to a six-piece, and was now going under the name the Broughtons. The record was their last, but they continued on, eventually returning to the Edgar Broughton Band moniker and touring throughout the 1980s and 1990s. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
1. a) Hurricane Man 2) Rock 'N' Roller
2. Roccococooler
3. Eviction
4. Oh You Crazy Boy
5. Things On My Mind
6. a) Exhibits From A New Museum b) Green Lights
7. a) Face From A Window b) Pretty c) Hi-Jack-Boogie d) Slow Down
8. Capers
Edgar Broughton : Lead Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitar.
Victor Unitt : Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Harmonica.
Art Grant : Bass Guitar.
Steve Broughton : Drums, Percussion, Vocals.
guests:
David Bedford : Piano.
Madeline Bell, Doris Troy, Lisa Strike : Backing Vocals.
The five albums The Edgar Broughton band recorded for EMI’s “progressive” label, Harvest between 1969 and 1973 were full-on sonic attacks that took no prisoners. They also contained some truly thoughtful and beautiful music of great originality.
By the time Oora was released The Edgar Broughton Band had been in Morgan studios in Willesden since mid-June recording material for what would become their final album for Harvest. Like their previous vinyl effort, sessions also took place in Olympic Studios in Barnes. It was here that the band resumed their relationship with arranger David Bedford, who wrote and conducted orchestral arrangements for Hurricane Man / Rock n’ Roller and Things on My Mind.
The tracks Rock n’ Roller, Oh! You Crazy Boy, Things on My Mind, Exhibits From a New Museum and Face From a Window all featured the backing vocals of Doris Troy, Madeline Bell and Lisa Strike.
Oora was released in May 1973, in an elaborate sleeve designed by artist Barney Bubbles (noted for his work with fellow musical anarchists Hawkwind), the album was perhaps the most sophisticated of all The Edgar Broughton Band’s releases for Harvest, notably on the track Face From a Window / Pretty / Hi-Jack Boogie / Slow Down.
The Edgar Broughton Band left EMI Records after the release of “Oora” and Victor Unitt departed the fold.
Biography:Formed in Warwick, England, the Edgar Broughton Band arrived on the London underground music scene in 1968. Led by the Broughton brothers, vocalist/guitarist Edgar and drummer Steve, and fleshed out by bassist Arthur Grant and guitarist Victor Unitt (who also briefly served with the Pretty Things), they soon signed with the Harvest label, and issued their debut Wasa Wasa -- a collection of underground electric blues jams anchored by Edgar's Captain Beefheart-like vocals -- in late 1969. The Edgar Broughton Band returned in 1970 with Sing Brother Sing, which reached the U.K. Top 20 and spawned a pair of minor hit singles, "Out Demons Out" and "Apache Drop-Out" (a fusion of Beefheart's "Dropout Boogie" and the Shadows' "Apache"). The group seemed poised for a major commercial breakthrough, but even as their brand of heavy rock was flourishing thanks to groups like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, the Broughton Band made an about-face, and their music became considerably more quiet and politically-charged. Their chart momentum stalled, and a 1971 self-titled effort failed to catch on.
After both 1972's Inside Out and 1973's Oora met a similar fate, the group left Harvest for NEMS. Legal wrangles locked them out of the studio for a number of months, but they finally resurfaced in 1975 -- minus Unitt, who'd been replaced by guitarist John Thomas -- with Bandages. A brief break-up followed, but in 1978 they returned with Live Hits Harder. By the release of 1979's Parlez Vous English?, the group had expanded to a six-piece, and was now going under the name the Broughtons. The record was their last, but they continued on, eventually returning to the Edgar Broughton Band moniker and touring throughout the 1980s and 1990s. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Petals
The Petals - 1993 - Parahelion
Parahelion is The Petals' first album, released by November Rain. The songs here are essentially psych-pop, with additional folk and occasional rock elements, and are all ultra-melodic. This CD is totally fantastic, packed full of completely brilliant songs. It's an album I want to play all the way through; there are no specific favourites and no duffers here, all songs are superb. I can't praise this album enough, it's a real classic. I've been listening to this a lot of late and I'm sure I'll be listening to it for a long time to come as well.
by Kim Harten @ Bliss Aquamarine
01 Imaginations Daughter 2:30
02 Castle Days 2:47
03 If I Open 3:00
04 Panciflight 2:29
05 Wrong Side of the Looking Glass 2:10
06 Rule of Three 3:16
07 Fade Away Eliza 2:15
08 Parahelion 4:47
09 Eight Swords 2:56
10 Boats 2:36
11 Step Out Today 2:21
12 Ground Sloth 2:14
13 Cedric Stone 2:53
14 Bird House 2:26
15 Come and Stay 2:06
The Petals - 1994 - Cadis Center
Cadis Center also on November Rain. This is yet another psych-pop masterpiece! The songs vary from delicate folky tracks (such as Silver) to music with a strong rock influence (such as Old Blue Dress and Tim's Song) as well as a whole host of more poppy tracks, such as Project Magnet, a supremely catchy song about flying saucers, which comes complete with UFO sound effects, and which makes me grin from ear to ear whenever I listen to it! I've had this song on the brain so much lately! Once again, there's not a duff track to be heard on this album. I've come to the conclusion this band can do no wrong!
by Kim Harten @ Bliss Aquamarine
01 Everett Reuss 3:34
02 Unicorns 3:27
03 High Pants 1:54
04 Silver 2:20
05 Wood Sorrel [instrumental] 1:49
06 Old George 2:26
07 Cadis Valley Tinker 3:01
08 Howdy Wowdy Vine 1:55
09 Potato Bug 2:33
10 Goddess 1:58
11 Project Magnet 2:20
12 Sheldon's Cavern 3:35
13 Old Blue Dress 4:44
14 The Years Have Come to Pass 2:56
15 Tim's Song 2:30
16 Colors of My Mind 3:53
The Petals - 2003 - Butterfly Mountain
01 Brown Cow 2:53
02 Seed Separator 2:57
03 Daydream Stash 3:20
04 Pallid Mask 3:55
05 A Place in the Shade 2:52
06 Autumn Latch 3:43
07 Living Room 4:45
08 Sarsaparilla 3:26
09 Rex, Sandra and Jasper 3:23
10 Stone Circle Dancers 2:25
11 Butterfly Mountain 4:52
12 Neutron Star 4:17
Nine years after their second album, Cadis Center, the Petals reconvened for another round of vintage psychedelic pop songs. Butterfly Mountain is so faithful to staples of the genre that it gains an ironic or meta-musical dimension. Are these songs genuine or do they hide a commentary on their own nature? The fact that the lyrics often play on double entendres while referencing every possible psychedelic symbol only enhances the feeling that the Petals aim for something between vintage flower power and Weird Al Yankovic's twisted sense of irony. Verses like "And I see by your handle you're a saucepan/You fry up all of my old spam/On a lonely mushroom day" (from "Brown Cow") or "Counting the freckles on your face/They stand in pretty contrast/And I often play connect the dots/In my secret daydream stash" (from "Daydream Stash") have that kind of strangeness that may not hit you on first listen, but will eventually bring you back just to make you understand correctly. And what about the excellent "Seed Separator," where the agricultural machine is an object of desire and dream, a symbol for the "gates of time"? If the lyrics hold so many gems, the music also features a lot of pleasant items: sitar in "Brown Cow," banjo, dulcimer, and recorder. The quartet of Cary Wolf, Laurie Kern, Tim Kern, and J.D. Tessier is joined by a dozen guests who blend seamlessly into the polished sound of the group. More playful than the Green Pajamas' Northern Gothic and more overtly pop than the Lazily Spun's debut album, Butterfly Mountain scores another point for the Camera Obscura label.
by François Couture~AMG
and here you can listen,
the Petals cover to Hawkwind's "Hurry On Sundown"
from "Assassins of Silence_A Tribute to Hawkwind"
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Heron - 1972 - Twice as Nice & Half the Price
Heron - 1972 - Twice as Nice & Half the Price
part I part II
Track List
1. Madman
2. Take Me Back Home
3. Love 13 (Lone)
4. Something Inside
5. Miss Kiss
6. John Brown
7. Big A
8. Winter Harlequin
9. Sound Of The Music
10. Your Love & Mine
11. You Really Got A Hold On Me
12. Great Dust Storm
13. My Turn To Cry
14. This Old Heart Of Mine
15. Minstrel & A King
16. Getting 'Em Down
17. I Wouldn't Mind
18. He's A Poor Boy
19. Devil
20. Wanderer
21. Harlequin
This second Heron album from 1972 was originally released as a double album at the price of one; hence the title.
The album shows a greater variety of musical styles than the 1970 debut album. Still it's the acoustic folk-style that's predominant, mixed with some more rocking tunes. Most of the album was recorded out in the open outside a Devon country cottage, which gives the album an unique atmosphere.
Their songwriting is even more convincing here than on their debut. Their have 2 excellent songwriters in Gerald T. Moore and Roy Apps ( who is still with the band ).
Here on their early records it's Moore who is shining the most. His songs "My Turn to Cry", "Minstrel and the King", "The Devil" and "Big A" are simply outstanding. Roy Apps' strongest contributions here are probably "Take Me back Home" and "Your Love and Mine". Another favourite out mine is their charming version of Woody Guthrie's "The Great Dust Storm".
A shame that a lot of people are not aware that the band is still together and recording fine new material from time to time, released on their own Relaxx label.
Roy Apps has once stated that the album probably ought to have been cut down to a single album; maybe . . but it would have been extremely hard to pick out the tracks that would have to go!
This album is highly recommendable!!
part I part II
Track List
1. Madman
2. Take Me Back Home
3. Love 13 (Lone)
4. Something Inside
5. Miss Kiss
6. John Brown
7. Big A
8. Winter Harlequin
9. Sound Of The Music
10. Your Love & Mine
11. You Really Got A Hold On Me
12. Great Dust Storm
13. My Turn To Cry
14. This Old Heart Of Mine
15. Minstrel & A King
16. Getting 'Em Down
17. I Wouldn't Mind
18. He's A Poor Boy
19. Devil
20. Wanderer
21. Harlequin
This second Heron album from 1972 was originally released as a double album at the price of one; hence the title.
The album shows a greater variety of musical styles than the 1970 debut album. Still it's the acoustic folk-style that's predominant, mixed with some more rocking tunes. Most of the album was recorded out in the open outside a Devon country cottage, which gives the album an unique atmosphere.
Their songwriting is even more convincing here than on their debut. Their have 2 excellent songwriters in Gerald T. Moore and Roy Apps ( who is still with the band ).
Here on their early records it's Moore who is shining the most. His songs "My Turn to Cry", "Minstrel and the King", "The Devil" and "Big A" are simply outstanding. Roy Apps' strongest contributions here are probably "Take Me back Home" and "Your Love and Mine". Another favourite out mine is their charming version of Woody Guthrie's "The Great Dust Storm".
A shame that a lot of people are not aware that the band is still together and recording fine new material from time to time, released on their own Relaxx label.
Roy Apps has once stated that the album probably ought to have been cut down to a single album; maybe . . but it would have been extremely hard to pick out the tracks that would have to go!
This album is highly recommendable!!
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
V.A. - Glastonbury Fair Festival 1971
Note that it was Glastonbury Fair, not Fayre.
The costs were picked up by rich hippies such as Arabella Churchill (who is still involved - running the Theatre/Circus areas) and Andrew Kerr. There was no alcohol for sale on site, and all food was vegetarian.
The first (temporary) Pyramid Stage was built of scaffolding and plastic sheets.
About 12,000 attend, to see David Bowie, Joan Baez, Traffic, Hawkwind, Pink Fairies, Fairport Convention, Edgar Broughton Band, Melanie, Quintessence, Family, Arthur Brown & Brinsley Schwarz.
A triple album is released, which includes a side from the Grateful Dead, who were meant to play but didn't.
There's some fantastic photos of the festival online here.
(This was the last "proper" festival at Worthy Farm until 1979, although groups of upto about 1,000 turned up most years anyway for an unschedualed festival).
"The front cover, it's just the wonderful pyramid pictured above. In fact the whole sleeve unfolds into one big poster. The track list is on a separate sheet ("The Electric Score") which was slipped into the back of the plastic protective sleeve. This LP also included a photo booklet of the event with weird hippy stuff and a cut-and-fold miniature silver pyramid."
01 Grateful Dead - Dark Star [23.59]
02 Brinsley Schwartz - Love Song [4.03]
03 Mighty Baby - A Blanket In My Meusli [15.53]
04 Marc Bolan - Sunken Rags [2.26]
05 Pete Townshend - Classified [3.48]
06 David Bowie - Supermen [2.40]
07 Hawkwind - Silver Machine & Welcome [7.20]
05 Skin Alley - Sun Music [4.46]
09-12 Daevid Allen and Gong - Glad Stoned Buried Fielding Flash And Fresh Fest Footprints In My Memory [22.56]
13 Pink Fairies - Do It [4.06]
14 Pink Fairies - Uncle Harry's Last Freak-Out [19.34]
15 Edgar Broughton Band - Out Demons Out [20.19]
Glastonbury Fair - 1971
"Imagine, we're going to concentrate the celestial fire and pump it into the planet to stimulate growth." - Andrew Kerr. Andrew Kerr was what you might call an intellectual hippy. Former director of the research team which had worked on Randolph Churchill's biography of his father, Sir Winston, his interests now lay in the area of the earth's spiritual energies. This included ley lines, numerology, and the geometry used for ancient buildings such as Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids. Together with Randolph's daughter Arabella, he now wanted to organise a 'fair in the medieval tradition' at the Summer Solstice, when the earth's energies are at their peak. Michael Eavis' farm was the obvious choice: it was in the Vale of Avalon, close to Glastonbury Abbey, a building and location of great power; and Eavis had shown his willingness to host an event by the previous year's festival. The centrepiece of the Fair was a pyramid, doubling as a stage, one tenth the size of the Great Pyramid at Giza, which was built over a 'blind spring', a place where the earth releases and absorbs energy. The festival, which was free, attracted about 12,000 people. It was described at the time by Somerset's medical officer as having conditions like those in a refugee camp, and recalled recently by Michael Eavis as 'very pretty, very romantic'. The bands who played read like a Who's Who of the British hippy underground, plus some who had already gone overground: David Bowie, Traffic, Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, Fairport Convention, Edgar Broughton Band, Quintessence, Brinsley Schwartz, Family, Arthur Brown. And Melanie. The Grateful Dead famously did not show up, having to satisfy themselves with playing the real Great Pyramids five years later. The Fair attracted local and national media coverage, mostly of an incredulous nature. The Observer, calling it 'one of the weirdest events ever staged in modern Britain', was more interested in Andrew Kerr's ideas. The Sun concentrated on orgies in the mud, naked hippies dancing on stage, and beetroot-dyed junior asprin being sold as LSD. The local press was more concerned with noise and damaged fields. Michael Eavis went back to being a dairy farmer for the next eight years. Arabella Churchill is still involved with the festival, organising the theatre and circus events. If anybody knows what happened to Andrew Kerr, who will be 63 by now, I'd be fascinated to know.
Labels: Opa-Loka, Various Artists
Hello to All.
We have a lot of requests and a lot of deleted previous posts.
We're doing our best to complete all requests and re-uploads....
Have patience. And enjoy the music !!!
Lighthouse - 1969 - Lighthouse
01 Mountain Man (Prokop-Devereux-Cole) (4:18)
02 If There Ever Was A Time (Prokop) (5:01)
03 No Opportunity Necessary (Havens-Williams-Price) (3:00)
04 Never Say Goodbye (P. Hoffert-B.Hoffert) (3:00)
05 Follow the Stars (Prokop) (4:00)
06 Whatever Forever (Hoffert-Prokop) (4:59)
07 Eight Miles High (McGuinn-Crosby-Clark) (5:08)
08 Marsha Marsha (Prokop) (3:22)
09 Ah I Can Feel It (Prokop) (4:49)
10 Life Can Be So Simple (Prokop-Devereux) (4:57)
Recorded in 1969 at Eastern Sound Studios.
Lighthouse
Personnel: DICK ARMIN cello A
RALPH COLE gtr A
DON DINOVO violin A
PAUL HOFFERT keyb'ds, vibes A
KEITH JOLLIMORE sax, flute A
BOB McBRIDE vcls A
PETER PANTALUK tpt A
SKIP PROKOP drms A
HOWARD SHORE sax, flute A
LARRY SMITH trombone A
LOUIS YACKNIW bs A
VICTOR CAUVIN
Personnel: DICK ARMIN cello A
RALPH COLE gtr A
DON DINOVO violin A
PAUL HOFFERT keyb'ds, vibes A
KEITH JOLLIMORE sax, flute A
BOB McBRIDE vcls A
PETER PANTALUK tpt A
SKIP PROKOP drms A
HOWARD SHORE sax, flute A
LARRY SMITH trombone A
LOUIS YACKNIW bs A
VICTOR CAUVIN
ALBUMS: (up to 1975)
1( ) LIGHTHOUSE (RCA Victor 4173) 1969
2( ) SUITE FEELING (RCA Victor 4241) 1969
3( ) PEACING IT ALL TOGETHER (RCA Victor 4325) 1970
4( ) ONE FINE MORNING (GRT 1002) 1971
5( ) THOUGHTS OF MOVIN' ON (GRT 1010) 1971
6( ) LIGHTHOUSE LIVE! (GRT 1014) 1972
7( ) SUNNY DAYS (GRT 1016) 1972
8( ) CAN YOU FEEL IT (GRT 1039) 1973
9( ) GOOD DAY (Polydor 6028) 1974
10( )THE BEST OF LIGHTHOUSE ( ) 1975
NB: (4) also issued on Evolution (3007) 1971.
(5) also issued on Evolution (3010) 1971.
(6) also issued on Evolution (3014) 1972.
(7) also issued on Evolution (3016) 1972.
(8) also issued on Polydor (5056) 1973.
45s: 1 Eight Miles High/Got A Feeling (GRT 1230-90) 1969 -
2 Eight Miles High/If There Ever Was A Time (RCA Victor 0224) 1969 -
3 Feel So Good/ (RCA Victor 0285) 1969 55
4 The Chant/ (RCA Victor 479808) 1970 38
5 Fiction Of 26 Million/Just A Little More Time (RCA Victor 1059) 1971 -
6 Hats Off (To The Stranger)/Sing Sing Sing (GRT 1230-04) 1971 9
7 One Fine Morning/Little Kind Words (GRT 1230-10) 1971 2
8 Take It Slow/Sweet Lullaby (GRT 1230-19) 1971 12
9 I Just Wanna Be Your Friend/1849 (GRT 1230-25) 1972 54
10 Sunny Days/Lonely Places (GRT 1230-39) 1972 4
11 You Girl/Merlin (GRT 1230-46) 1972 17
12 Broken Guitar Blues/Letter Home (GRT 1230-52) 1972 34
13 Pretty Lady/Bright Side (GRT 1230-63) 1973 9
14 Can You Feel It/Is Love The Answer (GRT 1230-61) 1974 19
15 Good Day/Going Downtown (GRT 1230-77) 1974 66
NB: (6) also issued on Evolution (1041) 1971.
(7) also issued on Evolution (1048) 1971.
(8) also issued on Evolution (1052) 1971.
(9) also issued on Evolution (1058) 1972.
(10) also issued on Evolution (1059) 1972.
(13) also issued on Polydor (14198) 1973.
(15) also issued on Polydor (14246) 1974.
This was one of the most significant groups to come out of Canada in this era and was put together by drummer Skip Prokop in 1968. A horn rock band, they are often considered to be Canada's answer to Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Prokop earlier played in Toronto bands Riverside Three and later The Paupers. Also featured in the band was guitarist Ralph Cole, who'd been in several Michigan-based bands and it was also notable for an ambitious string and horn section, including Grant Fullerton and Victor Pinky Dauvin from Toronto-based Stitch In Tyme and saxophonist Howard Shore. Dauvin later went solo as Pinky. Their first big break came when they were drafted in as last minute replacements for Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield, who'd cancelled a show at Toronto's Rockpile. After this they went on to play at the Newport, Monterey and Boston Globe jazz festivals, the Atlantic City Pop Festival and the Isle Of Wight Festival. They were competent musicians but their early albums for RCA lack drive and are mostly disappointing. On their first eponymous album there are two good tracks:- Whatever Forever with nice melodies, few horns and fine swirling organ and trumpet solos, and the cover version of The Byrds' Eight Milers High, which features lots of excellent fuzz guitar leads. On Suite Feeling there's the long instrumental track Places On Faces Four Blue Carpet Traces, where the band manages to achieve some musical coherance. The result is a good piece of jazz-rock (comparable to Blood, Sweat and Tears' work), featuring longish solo excursions using organ, drums, vibrophone, trumpet and fuzz guitar. Interesting too is their cover of The Beatles' A Day In The Life, which closes with Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. Suite Feeling included also a bad cover of The Band's Chest Fever and plagiarism of The Weight entitled Eight Leaves. Peacing It All Together was recorded in New York instead of Toronto, like the previous albums. Here the outstanding track is On My Way To L.A., which is basically a psychedelic song of the Jefferson Airplane school, with a catchy melody line, violin licks, guitar leads and horn extravaganzas in the end. A gem that needs a new (and better) cover version. Also Little People is strong enough, and of lesser interest are: Mr. Candleman, in The Band vein, the mellow tracks Sausalito and Daughters And Sons, and The Country Song, which must be the first and only country rocker with brass arrangements!
1( ) LIGHTHOUSE (RCA Victor 4173) 1969
2( ) SUITE FEELING (RCA Victor 4241) 1969
3( ) PEACING IT ALL TOGETHER (RCA Victor 4325) 1970
4( ) ONE FINE MORNING (GRT 1002) 1971
5( ) THOUGHTS OF MOVIN' ON (GRT 1010) 1971
6( ) LIGHTHOUSE LIVE! (GRT 1014) 1972
7( ) SUNNY DAYS (GRT 1016) 1972
8( ) CAN YOU FEEL IT (GRT 1039) 1973
9( ) GOOD DAY (Polydor 6028) 1974
10( )THE BEST OF LIGHTHOUSE ( ) 1975
NB: (4) also issued on Evolution (3007) 1971.
(5) also issued on Evolution (3010) 1971.
(6) also issued on Evolution (3014) 1972.
(7) also issued on Evolution (3016) 1972.
(8) also issued on Polydor (5056) 1973.
45s: 1 Eight Miles High/Got A Feeling (GRT 1230-90) 1969 -
2 Eight Miles High/If There Ever Was A Time (RCA Victor 0224) 1969 -
3 Feel So Good/ (RCA Victor 0285) 1969 55
4 The Chant/ (RCA Victor 479808) 1970 38
5 Fiction Of 26 Million/Just A Little More Time (RCA Victor 1059) 1971 -
6 Hats Off (To The Stranger)/Sing Sing Sing (GRT 1230-04) 1971 9
7 One Fine Morning/Little Kind Words (GRT 1230-10) 1971 2
8 Take It Slow/Sweet Lullaby (GRT 1230-19) 1971 12
9 I Just Wanna Be Your Friend/1849 (GRT 1230-25) 1972 54
10 Sunny Days/Lonely Places (GRT 1230-39) 1972 4
11 You Girl/Merlin (GRT 1230-46) 1972 17
12 Broken Guitar Blues/Letter Home (GRT 1230-52) 1972 34
13 Pretty Lady/Bright Side (GRT 1230-63) 1973 9
14 Can You Feel It/Is Love The Answer (GRT 1230-61) 1974 19
15 Good Day/Going Downtown (GRT 1230-77) 1974 66
NB: (6) also issued on Evolution (1041) 1971.
(7) also issued on Evolution (1048) 1971.
(8) also issued on Evolution (1052) 1971.
(9) also issued on Evolution (1058) 1972.
(10) also issued on Evolution (1059) 1972.
(13) also issued on Polydor (14198) 1973.
(15) also issued on Polydor (14246) 1974.
This was one of the most significant groups to come out of Canada in this era and was put together by drummer Skip Prokop in 1968. A horn rock band, they are often considered to be Canada's answer to Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Prokop earlier played in Toronto bands Riverside Three and later The Paupers. Also featured in the band was guitarist Ralph Cole, who'd been in several Michigan-based bands and it was also notable for an ambitious string and horn section, including Grant Fullerton and Victor Pinky Dauvin from Toronto-based Stitch In Tyme and saxophonist Howard Shore. Dauvin later went solo as Pinky. Their first big break came when they were drafted in as last minute replacements for Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield, who'd cancelled a show at Toronto's Rockpile. After this they went on to play at the Newport, Monterey and Boston Globe jazz festivals, the Atlantic City Pop Festival and the Isle Of Wight Festival. They were competent musicians but their early albums for RCA lack drive and are mostly disappointing. On their first eponymous album there are two good tracks:- Whatever Forever with nice melodies, few horns and fine swirling organ and trumpet solos, and the cover version of The Byrds' Eight Milers High, which features lots of excellent fuzz guitar leads. On Suite Feeling there's the long instrumental track Places On Faces Four Blue Carpet Traces, where the band manages to achieve some musical coherance. The result is a good piece of jazz-rock (comparable to Blood, Sweat and Tears' work), featuring longish solo excursions using organ, drums, vibrophone, trumpet and fuzz guitar. Interesting too is their cover of The Beatles' A Day In The Life, which closes with Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. Suite Feeling included also a bad cover of The Band's Chest Fever and plagiarism of The Weight entitled Eight Leaves. Peacing It All Together was recorded in New York instead of Toronto, like the previous albums. Here the outstanding track is On My Way To L.A., which is basically a psychedelic song of the Jefferson Airplane school, with a catchy melody line, violin licks, guitar leads and horn extravaganzas in the end. A gem that needs a new (and better) cover version. Also Little People is strong enough, and of lesser interest are: Mr. Candleman, in The Band vein, the mellow tracks Sausalito and Daughters And Sons, and The Country Song, which must be the first and only country rocker with brass arrangements!
After a change in personnel and label, Lighthouse recorded, again in Toronto, One Fine Morning, which was much better than the previous albums, and at last they had a hit with the eponymous song. One Fine Morning has strident guitar chords, a horn section which blends in perfectly, catchy melody, strong vocals by their new singer Bob McBride, jazzy piano and guitar solos. A gem of the horn rock genre! This along with Love Of A Woman, a soulful jazz-rocker featuring great solo sax work, are the best tracks of the album. The rest, except the soul/gospel influenced Hats Off (To The Stranger), Show Me The Way and Sing Sing Sing are more mellow, but on Step Out On To Sea and Old Man there are segments of strong Chicago-like horn instrumentation. Of interest also is the peaceful Little Kind Words, which has a very good melody, ideal for late night audition. The following album, Thoughts Of Movin' On, was a step back. The material consists of mediocre, undistinctive and ordinary compositions, also lacking the band's previous occasional imaginative instrumentation and solo excursions. Although the more rocking tracks are What Gives You The Right, Insane and Rockin' Chair (the latter comparable to Rod Stewart's material), the most interesting is the soft and melodic song You And Me, which closes with a flute solo. In 1972 they made further personnel changes. With their new bassist Al Wilmot from SRC (he had also played previously, along with Ralph Cole, in Thyme), they recorded Sunny Days, probably their best album. Although there's nothing very catchy, with commercial potential, like One Fine Morning, the album as a whole achieves a high standard and contains some excellent tracks. At last, Ralph Cole's guitar, which was pushed aside or buried under the horns on the two previous albums, resumes a leading role. The outstanding tracks are: You Give To Me, which begins as a slow song with wonderful melody, and then becomes very fast with adventurous improvisations by guitar, sax and something sounding like an organ, although it is probably L. Smith's mellophonium; the tight and energetic Lonely Places, and the slow bluesy Beneath My Woman, featuring sax, imposing viola and guitar solos. The personnel changes had continued in 1973, and the band went again to New York, to record Can You Feel It. This was an attempt to attain commercial status, and tracks like Set The Stage, Pretty Lady and Is Love The Answer are more mainstream and poppy (the latter with some Steely Dan influence). However, most of the compositions are well crafted and good enough, making this album as a whole more satisfying than Thoughts Of Moving On. Same Train has a fine Beatlesque, sixties psych melody line (if only there was a sitar here!); Magic's In The Dancing and Disagreeable Man are in the horn rock genre direction, the former with electric viola solos, the latter with an impressive, gypsy sounding violin intro, and Can You Feel It is a very catchy dance number, featuring good guitar work. Of lesser interest are the slow and mellow Lonely Hours, with trombone solos and trumpet fillings and No More Searching, which is comparable to Joe Cocker's material. In 1974, when Skip Prokop left the band, Ralph Cole became the central figure for a while, but the group disbanded in 1976. The original members reformed in September 1982, playing four shows at the Ontario Place Forum. The following year there was another reformation involving Hoffert, Prokop and Cole from the original line-up, Danny Clancy as lead singer and Donald Quan on keyboards. The occasion was a concert in Toronto's City Hall Square. In the nineties Prokop got into Christianity and hosted his own weekly radio programme of Christian rock and gospel music called 'Rock In The Hard Place'. (CA/Vernon Joynson)
ENJOY!
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
St. John Green - 1968 - St. John Green
St. John Green - 1968 - St. John Green
01 - 7th Generation Mutation - 3.19
02 - Canyon Women - 3.01
03 - Devil And The Sea - 2.18
04 - Do You Believe - 2.11
05 - Help Me Close The Door - 1.02
06 - Messages From The Dead - 4.09
07 - Goddess Of Death - 2.25
08 - St. John Green - 3.05
09 - Spirit Of Now - 2.33
10 - Love Of Hate - 2.11
11 - One Room Cemetary - 3.43
12 - Shivers Of Pleasure - 3.19
“‘St. John Green’ is one of the great lost records…Somebody will reissue it someday and people will start crying and jacking off and smoking dope to it. It’s a great record. There’s only a handful of records that I’ve made that are great.”
-Kim Fowley to Mike Stax (“Ugly Things” magazine issue #19, 2001)
Through mutual associations in Topanga Canyon, St. John Green connected with Fowley sometime in 1968, and he in turn spurred them on to outdo or to die all over what would be their sole album…So they wound up doing both.
“St. John Green” is by turns frightening, dark, funny and stupid as it reeks of bad trip freak outs in matte black painted rooms with no furniture lit only by a single red bulb and burning cigarette ends. What emanates forth immediately from this darkness are the mystic incantations of vocalist/bassist Ed Bissot who is mean, moody, magnificent AND for his sins is stuck in a garage of sick creep psychedelia for all eternity. His delivery is so full of promises -- not threats -- you begin to feel that this guy who exists precariously balanced over a yawning chasm between Jim Morrison and Arthur Brown without trying at all really MEANS IT. And he is shored up all the way by a fine-tuned band in total sync with his visions of the four D’s --death, doom, damnation and dread -- in a weirdly accomplished album that runs a gamut of styles -- from supernatural ruminations to the cheapest of goofball novelties.
Bissot’s massive intonations open the apocalyptic “7th Generation Mutation”, where his early death god in a garage vibe bears more than a passing resemblance to Robert Calvert’s space age narratives that threaded Hawkwind’s “Space Ritual Alive.” A total lack of drums makes his hypnotic bass line the only percussion as it sways pendulum-like above the restrained and gagged music which has already cut out from one speaker and lurks behind his initial intonation of “In the darkness of my empty cage, a being from Venus speaks to me” which then switches to a massively echoed snotty sneer:
”I have seen your planet suffer seven nuclear wars…
I’ve seen your civilisation rise from its ruin
Only to crumble once more to ash.
Noah’s Ark was a period of time, and not a boat.
It is through such misconceptions
Your beliefs are weakened and your faith lost…
WHY CAN YOU NOT SEE…?
Earth is born of molten lava
Torn from the breast of a violent star.
Man is created
And rises from the dust-fringed edges of the cooling mud
To love...To conquer…To kill...
AND HE WILL!”
Tape speed wind chases this insistently freaky track into the fading gloom and late night Booker T & The MG’s outtake from “Gris-Gris” vibe of the Fowley-penned “Canyon Women”, a place where sexually rhythmically percussion hangs in the background like swamp gas silhouetting the band as they respond to Bissot’s vocals with low, bullfrog refraining as over-recorded organ and casual grunts pass by in the shadows. “Devil And The Sea” is the psychic link between The Doors’ “When The Music’s Over” and Alice Cooper’s “Black Juju” as those familiar prominent organ swells cut in, out and all around Bissot’s vocals of truly beacon-in-the-wilderness qualities. “Do You Believe” is all corn-fed and howling harp as Bissot starts vocally delivering in down home, religious revival tones against distinctly Fraternity of Man/Holy Modal Rounders backing. “Go!” commands Fowley from behind the glass for the next gross-out, “Help Me Close The Door” signaling commencement of a somber Bissot narration painting a portrait of a broken man with the paint roller. It’s cheap pathos galore over a lullaby piano rock-a-bye-ing as several species of small furry animals chirp continually along with little girls’ persistent calls of “Daddy?” Tears well up until the surprise final set up line of “If you have any heart at all…You’ll help me close the door!” that causes all studio denizens to erupt in cackling glee at the egg on your face. “Messages From The Dead” follows with a mid-tempo “Mystic Eyes” beat and prominent 2-fingered bass. Bissot has just hooked himself a one-way ticket onto that down bound train to Sheol with ol’ Satan hisself, and with each passing level the flames shoot higher and higher: here represented by hugely recorded organ smears all up and down the keyboard against a backwards hi-hat pattern. After seven levels of Hell have been traversed, Bissot’s finally had enough of those flames licking up his body so he’s now down on his knees pleading right before the organ-led coda, “No, God….don’t burn me down in hea-uh! Please don’t burn me down, God!” So they tightly burn down the track instead -- in a way Fowley would later describe as “Vanilla Fudge minus the fucking bubblegum.”
Side two is just as diverse, great and fucked up. “Goddess of Death” is a sleep-walking creep-out supreme with all the eeriness of “You’re Lost Little Girl” by The Doors. Descending organ quietly curls like smoke in the background as electric guitar piano-type notes are plucked as Bissot intones from a waking dream: ”And we walked into the endless valley…Looking back in tears while the echoes of life faded from our ears…We walked into the cold silence, being careful not to step on those who had passed out there in previous times…and I ask, ‘Why are we here? Why are we here? Why are we here?” The band responds only with the swaying chant, “Why? Why? Why? Why?”…and neither are graced with an answer. Spook-eh!
Leave it to Fowley to compose St. John Green’s own signature tune, entitled (naturally) “St. John Green” and of course sounds like nothing else on the album. Bissot’s vocals now switch to Dylanesque overtones as they spread over a dum-dum re-vamp “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” filling the background with a clutch of piano, tuba-tone bass and heavily sustained organ that clump around great lyrics like ”Just because we’re so young and deadly/Why did we have to lose our light?” Next up is the quicker paces of “Spirit Of Now”, akin to the later basement psychedelia of The C.A. Quintet. Here, guitarist Bill Kirkland is finally allowed a solo for the first time on the record, and it’s fantastic -- followed by a sprinting organ solo by Mike Baxter, whose arrangements throughout are strong, fine-tuned and as consistently weird as his neatly-placed organ fills. “Love Of Hate” is an elegiac vocal (what else?) intonation accompanied by organ alone, with Bissot channeling words from and about the world beyond the grave. The Fowley-penned “One Room Cemetery” is the terrifying highlight of side two as elements of free form freak outs scatter behind Bissot’s intonations from a dark and lonely place as tom-tom rolls, solidly plucked bass lines and random, skittering guitar all conspire to creep you out. Over ominously building drums, Bissot hurls out echoed grunts, calls for bo-weevils to meet him in his one room cemetery and calmly free associating all over the place with “We’re playing with the world… We’re playing with the world…When a love song has gone wrong…where does a sad girl go? Where does the sad girl go when her love song is over? We’re playing with the world…We’re playing with the world…” right before all fades to black with a single, jerked musical curtain pull.
But as weirdly dark and epic that “St. John Green” well and truly is, where can it go but sign off but with “Shivers Of Pleasure”, a bouncy showbiz coda: all jaunty piano, lounge hi-hats and vocal A-Z alphabetical dedications like: ”F is for Fowley: is he putting us on?”, “T is for Teenage girls” (accented by a non-too subtle pelvic thrust grunt, “Uuhhh!”) and so on, cracking sophomoric jokes in a manner altogether out of context with the rest of the album. It’s kinda disconcerting in its clean cut kid delivery, but then again, it may be an intentional move in case if too many people got the wrong idea whilst hanging onto each of Bissot’s every word, taking them too far upon the album’s termination by offing themselves outright…
For maximum effect, play in absolute darkness.
~ Reviewed by The Seth Man ~
01 - 7th Generation Mutation - 3.19
02 - Canyon Women - 3.01
03 - Devil And The Sea - 2.18
04 - Do You Believe - 2.11
05 - Help Me Close The Door - 1.02
06 - Messages From The Dead - 4.09
07 - Goddess Of Death - 2.25
08 - St. John Green - 3.05
09 - Spirit Of Now - 2.33
10 - Love Of Hate - 2.11
11 - One Room Cemetary - 3.43
12 - Shivers Of Pleasure - 3.19
“‘St. John Green’ is one of the great lost records…Somebody will reissue it someday and people will start crying and jacking off and smoking dope to it. It’s a great record. There’s only a handful of records that I’ve made that are great.”
-Kim Fowley to Mike Stax (“Ugly Things” magazine issue #19, 2001)
Through mutual associations in Topanga Canyon, St. John Green connected with Fowley sometime in 1968, and he in turn spurred them on to outdo or to die all over what would be their sole album…So they wound up doing both.
“St. John Green” is by turns frightening, dark, funny and stupid as it reeks of bad trip freak outs in matte black painted rooms with no furniture lit only by a single red bulb and burning cigarette ends. What emanates forth immediately from this darkness are the mystic incantations of vocalist/bassist Ed Bissot who is mean, moody, magnificent AND for his sins is stuck in a garage of sick creep psychedelia for all eternity. His delivery is so full of promises -- not threats -- you begin to feel that this guy who exists precariously balanced over a yawning chasm between Jim Morrison and Arthur Brown without trying at all really MEANS IT. And he is shored up all the way by a fine-tuned band in total sync with his visions of the four D’s --death, doom, damnation and dread -- in a weirdly accomplished album that runs a gamut of styles -- from supernatural ruminations to the cheapest of goofball novelties.
Bissot’s massive intonations open the apocalyptic “7th Generation Mutation”, where his early death god in a garage vibe bears more than a passing resemblance to Robert Calvert’s space age narratives that threaded Hawkwind’s “Space Ritual Alive.” A total lack of drums makes his hypnotic bass line the only percussion as it sways pendulum-like above the restrained and gagged music which has already cut out from one speaker and lurks behind his initial intonation of “In the darkness of my empty cage, a being from Venus speaks to me” which then switches to a massively echoed snotty sneer:
”I have seen your planet suffer seven nuclear wars…
I’ve seen your civilisation rise from its ruin
Only to crumble once more to ash.
Noah’s Ark was a period of time, and not a boat.
It is through such misconceptions
Your beliefs are weakened and your faith lost…
WHY CAN YOU NOT SEE…?
Earth is born of molten lava
Torn from the breast of a violent star.
Man is created
And rises from the dust-fringed edges of the cooling mud
To love...To conquer…To kill...
AND HE WILL!”
Tape speed wind chases this insistently freaky track into the fading gloom and late night Booker T & The MG’s outtake from “Gris-Gris” vibe of the Fowley-penned “Canyon Women”, a place where sexually rhythmically percussion hangs in the background like swamp gas silhouetting the band as they respond to Bissot’s vocals with low, bullfrog refraining as over-recorded organ and casual grunts pass by in the shadows. “Devil And The Sea” is the psychic link between The Doors’ “When The Music’s Over” and Alice Cooper’s “Black Juju” as those familiar prominent organ swells cut in, out and all around Bissot’s vocals of truly beacon-in-the-wilderness qualities. “Do You Believe” is all corn-fed and howling harp as Bissot starts vocally delivering in down home, religious revival tones against distinctly Fraternity of Man/Holy Modal Rounders backing. “Go!” commands Fowley from behind the glass for the next gross-out, “Help Me Close The Door” signaling commencement of a somber Bissot narration painting a portrait of a broken man with the paint roller. It’s cheap pathos galore over a lullaby piano rock-a-bye-ing as several species of small furry animals chirp continually along with little girls’ persistent calls of “Daddy?” Tears well up until the surprise final set up line of “If you have any heart at all…You’ll help me close the door!” that causes all studio denizens to erupt in cackling glee at the egg on your face. “Messages From The Dead” follows with a mid-tempo “Mystic Eyes” beat and prominent 2-fingered bass. Bissot has just hooked himself a one-way ticket onto that down bound train to Sheol with ol’ Satan hisself, and with each passing level the flames shoot higher and higher: here represented by hugely recorded organ smears all up and down the keyboard against a backwards hi-hat pattern. After seven levels of Hell have been traversed, Bissot’s finally had enough of those flames licking up his body so he’s now down on his knees pleading right before the organ-led coda, “No, God….don’t burn me down in hea-uh! Please don’t burn me down, God!” So they tightly burn down the track instead -- in a way Fowley would later describe as “Vanilla Fudge minus the fucking bubblegum.”
Side two is just as diverse, great and fucked up. “Goddess of Death” is a sleep-walking creep-out supreme with all the eeriness of “You’re Lost Little Girl” by The Doors. Descending organ quietly curls like smoke in the background as electric guitar piano-type notes are plucked as Bissot intones from a waking dream: ”And we walked into the endless valley…Looking back in tears while the echoes of life faded from our ears…We walked into the cold silence, being careful not to step on those who had passed out there in previous times…and I ask, ‘Why are we here? Why are we here? Why are we here?” The band responds only with the swaying chant, “Why? Why? Why? Why?”…and neither are graced with an answer. Spook-eh!
Leave it to Fowley to compose St. John Green’s own signature tune, entitled (naturally) “St. John Green” and of course sounds like nothing else on the album. Bissot’s vocals now switch to Dylanesque overtones as they spread over a dum-dum re-vamp “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” filling the background with a clutch of piano, tuba-tone bass and heavily sustained organ that clump around great lyrics like ”Just because we’re so young and deadly/Why did we have to lose our light?” Next up is the quicker paces of “Spirit Of Now”, akin to the later basement psychedelia of The C.A. Quintet. Here, guitarist Bill Kirkland is finally allowed a solo for the first time on the record, and it’s fantastic -- followed by a sprinting organ solo by Mike Baxter, whose arrangements throughout are strong, fine-tuned and as consistently weird as his neatly-placed organ fills. “Love Of Hate” is an elegiac vocal (what else?) intonation accompanied by organ alone, with Bissot channeling words from and about the world beyond the grave. The Fowley-penned “One Room Cemetery” is the terrifying highlight of side two as elements of free form freak outs scatter behind Bissot’s intonations from a dark and lonely place as tom-tom rolls, solidly plucked bass lines and random, skittering guitar all conspire to creep you out. Over ominously building drums, Bissot hurls out echoed grunts, calls for bo-weevils to meet him in his one room cemetery and calmly free associating all over the place with “We’re playing with the world… We’re playing with the world…When a love song has gone wrong…where does a sad girl go? Where does the sad girl go when her love song is over? We’re playing with the world…We’re playing with the world…” right before all fades to black with a single, jerked musical curtain pull.
But as weirdly dark and epic that “St. John Green” well and truly is, where can it go but sign off but with “Shivers Of Pleasure”, a bouncy showbiz coda: all jaunty piano, lounge hi-hats and vocal A-Z alphabetical dedications like: ”F is for Fowley: is he putting us on?”, “T is for Teenage girls” (accented by a non-too subtle pelvic thrust grunt, “Uuhhh!”) and so on, cracking sophomoric jokes in a manner altogether out of context with the rest of the album. It’s kinda disconcerting in its clean cut kid delivery, but then again, it may be an intentional move in case if too many people got the wrong idea whilst hanging onto each of Bissot’s every word, taking them too far upon the album’s termination by offing themselves outright…
For maximum effect, play in absolute darkness.
~ Reviewed by The Seth Man ~
Laughing Soup Dish - we are the dish
Laughing Soup Dish's tongue-in-cheek garage/psyche is so raw, wild and authentic- you'll never believe they aren't a "real" '60s band worthy of inclusion on Pebbles Volume 1!
members:
Wayne Larsen
Dave DeSantes
Kile Zimmermen
Curtis Leyhe
Jon Davies
Laughing Soup Dish was a psychedelic band from Long Branch,New Jersey. They achieved some notoriety in Greece. Some claim their name was a play on "LSD" (Laughing Soup Dish). They had several albums, most notably "Underthrow the Overground." . The band released two LPs, two 45s, and have been featured on numerous compilation albums. Their single Teenage Lima Bean only recently went out of print, as a vinyl 45 was still available for purchase (from the indie label Bomp Records) until recently.
The band never achieved mainstream success, but are regarded in cult status in the underground psychedelic/garage music world. Their music is still played on various radio stations.
Like most of the 1980s Jersey psych bands, you won't find LSD albums in the cut-out bin, as they are regarded as collector's items, and usually fetch a large price.
Trivia
Jon Davies fronted the Laughing Soup Dish when he opened for The Dead Kennedys in Dover. The band performed under the name The Secret Syde.
Their albums are infamous for their tongue-in-cheek, humorous covers, which usually depict a cartoon Soup Dish, either laughing, dancing, or both.
The insert to the X-men's debut album "X-Men" features several pictures of the band, including a photo of a van, on which there is an advertisement for a Laughing Soup Dish show. This may have something to do with the fact Dave DeSantis was, at one time, a member of both bands, and he designed the insert.
Discography
We Are The Dish
Teenage Lima Bean (45)
Underthrow The Overground(1990)
Be A Caveman: The Best of the Vox Garage Revival
References:
answers.com/topic/laughing-soupdish
Label:VOXX Release Number:200047
A1 "Acidland"
A2 "Seven seas"
A3 "Plant life"
A4 "Flowering"
A5 "Now you know"
A6 "Your so plastic"
B1 "Princess"
B2 "Black River"
B3 "Last impressions"
B4 "For the yesterdays"
B5 "No one home"
B6 "Sunrise"
Unfortunately i have only their "underthrow the overground!"album in vinyl(don't ask me to rip it) and i don't know the mp3 titles of this one.i've contacted Wayne Larsen in order to get some info about the tracks and the album cause unfortunately it's very hard to find the titles and the cover of the LP.
i hope that he will correspond...
anyway grab it and enjoy it ! great and rare band
Your Download-Link :
http://rapidshare.com/files/4807834/lsd.rar
"Hello to all my Friends! the Laughing Soup Dish also can be heard on Voxx " the Secret Team" with the track "No ones home" , the Shadowmouth Record with "Walking By the Sea" and the "Liquid Salad Dinner" bootleg containing Live and rehersal versions of many early LSD songs. I am hoping that George Markou will re release this on his Gew Gaw Lablel. Anyone wishing to contact me can at:
www.myspace.cpm/bluemaryguitar
or:
waynealarsen@msn.com
Thank You,
Wayne Larsen"
www.myspace.cpm/bluemaryguitar
or:
waynealarsen@msn.com
Thank You,
Wayne Larsen"
Labels: innocent76, L
Monday, October 16, 2006
Everyone Involved - 1972 - Either Or
Everyone Involved - 1972 - Either OrEITHER
Fragments of a Vision
Chant Song
A Sad Song
Motor Car Madness
The Master Man
A Song for the System
OR
An Anti-Social Multi-Person Song
Leaves and Paper
A Gay Song
A Liberated Man
Hallo Morning Sun
Music of the Spheres
Either/Or was the name of the (only) album performed and recorded by Everyone Involved.
I wrote all the lyrics and produced the album. I suspect the track you probably want to put on your website is "A Gay Song" but please feel free to use as many tracks as you like. The whole point of the album was not to produce a consumer item so we all contributed what we could afford which produced a print run of 1000 copies which was divided equally between the sixteen contributors. The only rule was that they were not to be sold and to this end it actually says on the disk label: "This record is free. If you paid for it you were conned."
Because we were trying to make as many copies as we could for as little money as we could, we used plain white albums (before the Beatles!) and embossed them with the title. So the only way I can send you the "design" is to use an image I produced for my own CD copies. (Above.) Hope this is all helpful.
All the best.
Alan Wakeman
*********************************
Above, an email I received from Alan Wakeman, the producer and co-writer of the 1972 "Either/Or" album. This UK band's entire album is available for free downloads at the link below. It was one of the earliest albums containing openly gay material.
Everyone Involved website
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Six Feet Under - In Retrospect 1969-70
01. Inspiration in My Head
02. Freedom
03. What Would You Do?
04. Baby I Want to Love You
05. In Retrospect
06. Fields
07. Running Around in the Sun [Reference Mix]
08. Black Movies[Instrumental]
09. Six Feet Under Theme
10. Suzy Q
11. City Blues
12. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
13. Basement Jam
14. Sonix Commercial
15. Inspiration in My Head [Alternate Take][Instrumental]
16. Freedom [Live]
17. What Would You Do?
18. Fields [45 Version]
19. Boogie Man Bash
02. Freedom
03. What Would You Do?
04. Baby I Want to Love You
05. In Retrospect
06. Fields
07. Running Around in the Sun [Reference Mix]
08. Black Movies[Instrumental]
09. Six Feet Under Theme
10. Suzy Q
11. City Blues
12. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
13. Basement Jam
14. Sonix Commercial
15. Inspiration in My Head [Alternate Take][Instrumental]
16. Freedom [Live]
17. What Would You Do?
18. Fields [45 Version]
19. Boogie Man Bash
A great psychedelic band featuring a prominent organ, female vocalist and distorted hard rock guitar, Six Feet Under released a couple of 1970 singles on Scepter before disbanding. Influenced by the Doors, Iron Butterfly and Jefferson Airplane, they favored gloomy melodies and songs reflecting the state of social unrest and psychedelic exploration in the counterculture circa 1969-70. Their legacy was greatly expanded by a CD reissue on Arf! Arf! in 1998 that included previously unreleased material that approximated what their debut album might have sounded like, along with some unissued home, live and rehearsal recordings.
Jerry Dobb and Scott Julian formed the Marc 5 in 1966 in Colonia, New Jersey. Later known as the Sonix, they decided to change musical direction in 1968 and new personnel were secured to form Six Feet Under. The first drummer didn't last long, his seat being taken by Hector Torres. By 1970, seeking a recording contract, another shake-up resulted in the exit of Torres and the acquisition of a young female vocalist to strengthen that department.
The CD retrospective comprises nineteen tracks - eight studio, five home recordings plus live and radio spots. It showcases the width of the bands hippie-acid-psych repertoire, sounding like Ill Wind one minute and Iron Butterfly the next. An excellent and welcome release with a fascinating history and track-by-track breakdown from Jerry Dobbs. And as Jerry points out, ironically it was only ousted drummer Torres who found real success and fame. After returning home to Sayerville, he'd bounce back after teaming up with a promising youngster called Jon Bon Jovi...
Six Feet Under Theme, an unreleased '68 effort, resurfaced on 30 Seconds Before The Calico Wall (CD) and their unreleased cover of Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on Beyond The Calico Wall (CD). Their first 45 occupies similar territory - heavy acid-rock with hippie undertones..
Jerry Dobb and Scott Julian formed the Marc 5 in 1966 in Colonia, New Jersey. Later known as the Sonix, they decided to change musical direction in 1968 and new personnel were secured to form Six Feet Under. The first drummer didn't last long, his seat being taken by Hector Torres. By 1970, seeking a recording contract, another shake-up resulted in the exit of Torres and the acquisition of a young female vocalist to strengthen that department.
The CD retrospective comprises nineteen tracks - eight studio, five home recordings plus live and radio spots. It showcases the width of the bands hippie-acid-psych repertoire, sounding like Ill Wind one minute and Iron Butterfly the next. An excellent and welcome release with a fascinating history and track-by-track breakdown from Jerry Dobbs. And as Jerry points out, ironically it was only ousted drummer Torres who found real success and fame. After returning home to Sayerville, he'd bounce back after teaming up with a promising youngster called Jon Bon Jovi...
Six Feet Under Theme, an unreleased '68 effort, resurfaced on 30 Seconds Before The Calico Wall (CD) and their unreleased cover of Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on Beyond The Calico Wall (CD). Their first 45 occupies similar territory - heavy acid-rock with hippie undertones..
Your Download-Links
part 1:
http://rapidshare.com/files/13783103/sfu_1.rar.html
part 2:
http://rapidshare.com/files/13800750/sfu_2.rar.html
Labels: innocent76, S
En Plo - 1989 - En plo
80s greek band . Unique band for the greek standards for that period of time .They certainly influenced a lot of greek bands .
En Plo were a band with a completely personal sound, drawing their musical influences not only from the likes of Savage Republic or 17 Pygmies but also from Greek ethnic folk music. Their first album ("En Plo", 1989, now deleted) is considered to be one of the best Greek underground records ever made. Swirling guitars, a very tight rhythm section and mind-blowing clarinet (!) give it an aura of melancholic research and the class of a real work of art.
Unfortunately they didn't last long and their members continued contributing to the greek underground scene with their own projects.
Your download link :
http://rapidshare.com/files/2976124/EnPlo1989EnPlo.rar
En Plo were a band with a completely personal sound, drawing their musical influences not only from the likes of Savage Republic or 17 Pygmies but also from Greek ethnic folk music. Their first album ("En Plo", 1989, now deleted) is considered to be one of the best Greek underground records ever made. Swirling guitars, a very tight rhythm section and mind-blowing clarinet (!) give it an aura of melancholic research and the class of a real work of art.
Unfortunately they didn't last long and their members continued contributing to the greek underground scene with their own projects.
Your download link :
http://rapidshare.com/files/2976124/EnPlo1989EnPlo.rar
Labels: E, innocent76
Perth County Conspiracy - 1970 - Does Not Exist
The Perth County Conspiracy - 1970 - Does Not Exist
part I part II
01 Midnight Hour
02 Epistle of the Borderliner
03 Easy Rider
04 Truth & Fantasy
05 Don't You Feel Fine
06 You Have The Power
07 Keeper of the Keys
08 Lady of the Country
09 Listen to the Kids
10 Trouble on the Farm
11 Excerpt form "As You Like It"
12 The Dancer
13 Crucifixation Cartoon
Cedric Smith (vocals, guitar)
Richard Keelan (guitar, vocals)
Michael Butler (bass)
Terry Jones (guitar, vocals)
George Taros (piano, vocals)
While the disadvantages of major labels, their questionable output and oft-myopic philosophy has been lamented in these pages over and over, the advantages of these maligned oligarchies should not be denied. If the cogs are allowed to interlock as desired it's obviously preferable for all people involved to have a record created with a big, powerful corporation backing it, rather than just what available money could afford. OK, so these cases are rare, but they do exist.
Such generous thoughts cross my mind while listening to the debut LP by Canada's PERTH COUNTY CONSPIRACY. This is because the album is a triumph of realization, more than anything else. I don't know what the PCC guys think of it now -- maybe they hate it, a lot of musicians hate their old records -- but it seems to me that whatever their ambitions were back in 1970, they couldn't have been far removed from the sounds rising from the finished grooves. This is an expensive production, with one of the most attractive soundscapes I have ever come across within the genre, which could be described as Progessive Hippie Folkpsych. Whatever studio time the PCC requested they had it, and other resources at Toronto Sound were obviously provided as needed. Even the artwork, a greatlooking gatefold with booklet insert, shows a good-natured record company at work. Of course, this isn't just any major label we're talking about but Columbia Canada, whose batting average in the early 1970s is rivaled only by that of the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays; It's All Meat, Jarvis St Revue, Ptarmigan are just a few examples of the label's remarkable output at the time (see Fraser & Debolt review below for yet another).
However, "Does Not Exist" differs from these LPs in not being a 3-figure rarity, and looking around it appears that Perth County Conspiracy were a near-household name in Canada back in the daze. Maybe this is also the reason why they haven't quite entered the psychedelic pantheon yet, especially outside their homeland. I haven't heard anything from their subsequent and rather confused discography, but this first outing alone should warrant a chair at a table within shouting distance from the musical gods.
Tuning up for the recording session
The Perth County Conspiracy band was formed in Stratford, Ontario as a typical hippie-era art/folk music commune; plenty of people involved, wives, brothers, kids and maybe a couple of shaggy dogs too. Other than contemporary folk their inclination was towards poetry and the theatre, and indeed one of the key guys ended up as a famous actor later on. Doesn't take an oracle to see that coming as literary references and ambitions are all over this LP, including recitations of Dylan Thomas and Shakespeare, the latter being a particular obsession of the band and the area they came from (as the name Stratford implies). Now if this sounds just a wee bit scary, I'm prepared to deliver the first of a handful testimonies where my opinion may differ from that of the typical 1960s/70s psych admirer. This is it: the PCC recitations are daring and pretentious, but I think they work. Yep. Two reasons why: the readings are done in a skillful manner by guys who obviously understand the difficulties involved. They don't play it safe like the sherry-sipping gentleman heard on the Moody Blues albums, but dive head first into the alliterations, rhythms and turns of classic poetry. The opening Dylan Thomas incantation is especially successful, establishing a self-assured, literary tone for the album that thousands of progressive bands could only dream of. The other reason it works is just this; that the band is able to carry that tone into the actual music, which is neither classical nor pretentious, but highly appealing folkpsych and singer/songwriter with a definite 1970 stamp.
So initially we're thrown between the exhilarating poetry of Thomas and an equally exhilarating tune right out of the CSNY/Incredible String Band intersection where Perth County resides. As with many Canadian bands there is an explicit (and physical -- ex-Spikedrivers member Richard Keelan was from Michigan and had moved up North to escape the draft) connection to the USA, linking the perceived wrongs of their own country (war, violence, pollution, etc) with those of the yankees. This makes for a rather complex trip that perhaps could only be understood then and there; in any event we are told that it is the "Americanadian way". But again like many of their maple leaf peers, there is also a strong presence of the British music scene, messieurs Heron & Williamson in particular. While I think the PCC are a bit more successful than the ISB in their cross-cultural ambitions, mainly because they don't automatically assume themselves to be geniuses, one can't deny that the avant-literary folk path that the String Band carved out from 1966 onwards was followed by thousands of bands around the world. I've also seen "Does not exist" compared to Pearls Before Swine, and it's a useful reference that captures the delicate and atmospheric nature of its best tracks.
The opening mix of half-sung poetry and hippie anthem is followed by a Brit-sounding piano-led downer trip, recalling Nick Drake and Isolation but given a nice edge by Cedric Smith, whose acidic vocals is one of the album's many strengths. We are then transported halfway across the world, out into the Californian desert where a deftly understated tribute to "Easy Rider" -- the movie -- rises from the ground like an evening campfire. Richard Keelan's vocals are more of a Steven Stills type introspection, and the difference in style between the two main guys is cleverly juxtaposed throughout the LP. The redneck gunshot at the end of "Easy Rider" is used as a bridge into a highly theatrical spoken bit, full of convoluted anti-war propaganda; graphic and unpleasant but also ironic and multilayered. This in turn works as an introduction to "Truth and fantasy", a suite of superb folkpsych mixed with short theatrical interludes. Labyrinthine? Confusing? Well, that's what the LP is like -- trips opening within trips, yet constantly moving forward. This is also why I consider this a more genuinely psychedelic album than most of the artifacts of its genre. Hey, there's nothing wrong with being pretentious as long as you pull it off. Of course, almost none of the prog-folkers do, but on this LP the Perth County Conspiracy do with flying colors, God bless 'em.
I won't detail the other tracks that round out the whopping 26 minutes of side 1, except to say that they're marvels of production value, vocal harmonies and elaborate arrangements. Over on side 2 we are first treated to the beautiful folkpsych of "Keeper of the keys" which is a good pick to play for a friend you want to convince of the album's greatness; in fact you have to be dead from the neck up not to worship this tune. This is followed by the album's one spot of weakness, the well-intended, charming, and ultimately hopeless "Listen to the kids". A merger of children's poems and a nice little CSN:ish tune, it's not the sugary Graham Nash nightmare you might envision but it's not terribly successful either; the contrast with the very grownup recitation that follows is just too sharp. As the LP as a whole clocks in at no less than 53 minutes this track could have been removed, leaving you still with an unusually generous playtime. Ah, what the hell. Flaws are part of the psychedelic world too. The Orwellian uptempo excursion of "Trouble on the farm" provides a welcome change of mood, before the Conspiracy gears up for the grand finale. First there's a bit of Shakespeare with an unexpected loungey backing, then we are treated to the "The Dancer" which parallels the introspective Albion mood of the second track on side 1, creating a neat arch-like structure for the album as a whole.
These are just preparations for the awesome acid folk epic that closes the LP in a way better than anyone could hope for. "Crucifixation cartoon" is simply stunning, a trip deep into the cranium that reminds me of that long monster track on the Search Party LP, and proof that guilt trip loner anthems are not exclusively the domain of local mid-70s private press albums; at least not if your record label is Columbia Canada. This is where it's at, daddy-o: There's a cross on every tree
When you're learning to be free which may recall the Poet's immortal: The trees in our gaze
Will show us the love that we bring them A C.O.B-like mood emerges with the inventive use of a "ukelin" to provide the lead as this masterpiece of melancholy draws to its inevitable close. The album's end signals the end of an almost physical experience, and I must admit that there really aren't that many LPs around that leave me in such a state of involvement as "Does not exist"; not just once, but pretty much every time I hear it. Helped in no small part by the Toronto money behind them it seems the Perth County Conspiracy, on their first album no less, managed to provide us with a glimpse of an absolute music beyond the veil, something not many groups have done. I realize that to an avid fan of "crude garage fuzz" or "screaming basement psych" this LP may come off as pretentious and foppish, but to anyone with at least half an ear for transcendental folkpsych it is certain to delight, and maybe surprise too, given its non-rare nature.
I was tempted to take a point off for these high-fallooting Canucks referring to their lyric booklet as a "libretto" but hell, I'll give them some leeway on that one too. Best folkpsych LP outta Canada so far! As mentioned before their discography is a bit confusing, and there is in fact another LP by them also titled "Does not exist", due to the band's strange idea to make these words part of their moniker -- as if it wasn't unwieldy enough already. So be sure to check that the label is Columbia before adding "Does not exist" to your collection. The band followed this with a live LP, also on Columbia, before moving on to private labels where they made a handful more LPs during the 1970s. I hear they recently reformed for local gigs.
Madden & Harris - 1975 - Fools Paradise
Madden & Harris (Australia) - 1975 - Fools Paradise01 Wishes
02 Fool's Paradise pt
03 The Wind At Eve
04 Margaret O'Grady
05 I Heard A Man Say
06 O'Weary bBrain
07 Cool September
08 Fools Paradise
09 Remember Me
10 A Simple Song
"This Australian duo is responsible for an exceptional fusion of progressive rock and folk, as the grooves of this album, originally released in a limited edition of 500 copies, prove. Published by Jasmine Records in 1975, Fool's Paradise manages to raise from its folkish background to a fuller rock experience, with the addition of mellotron and vintage keyboards. Dave Madden and Peter Harris are here backed up by a great rhythm section composed by Paul Baker (bass) and Doug Gallagher (drums) for an amazing session that reaches its apex in the suite that gives the name to the album. Impeccable."
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Deviants - 1968 - Disposable
Deviants - 1968 - Disposable
Song Title :
01 Somewhere To Go
02 Shadows And Wires
03 Jamies Song
04 You've Got To Hold On
05 Fire In The City
06 Lets Loot The Supermarket
07 Pappa-Oo-Mao-Mao
08 Slum Lord
09 Blind Joe Mcturks Last Lesson
10 Normality James
11 Guarenteed To Bleed
12 Sadney B Goode
13 Last Man
Mick Farren - Lead Vocals
Russell Hunter - Drums
Sid Bishop - Guitar
Duncan Sanderson - Bass
Biography
In the late '60s, the Deviants were something like the British equivalent to the Fugs, with touches of the Mothers of Invention and the British R&B-based rock of the Yardbirds and the Pretty Things. Their roots were not so much in the British Invasion as the psychedelic underground that began to take shape in London in 1966-1967. Not much more than amateurs when they began playing, they squeezed every last ounce of skill and imagination out of their limited instrumental and compositional resources on their debut, Ptooff!, which combined savage social commentary, overheated sexual lust, psychedelic jamming, blues riffs, and pretty acoustic ballads -- all in the space of seven songs. Their subsequent '60s albums had plenty of outrage, but not nearly as strong material as the debut. Lead singer Mick Farren recorded a solo album near the end of the decade, and went on to become a respected rock critic. He intermittently performed and recorded as a solo artist and with re-formed versions of the Deviants.
~AMG- Richie Unterberger
Song Title :
01 Somewhere To Go
02 Shadows And Wires
03 Jamies Song
04 You've Got To Hold On
05 Fire In The City
06 Lets Loot The Supermarket
07 Pappa-Oo-Mao-Mao
08 Slum Lord
09 Blind Joe Mcturks Last Lesson
10 Normality James
11 Guarenteed To Bleed
12 Sadney B Goode
13 Last Man
Mick Farren - Lead Vocals
Russell Hunter - Drums
Sid Bishop - Guitar
Duncan Sanderson - Bass
Biography
In the late '60s, the Deviants were something like the British equivalent to the Fugs, with touches of the Mothers of Invention and the British R&B-based rock of the Yardbirds and the Pretty Things. Their roots were not so much in the British Invasion as the psychedelic underground that began to take shape in London in 1966-1967. Not much more than amateurs when they began playing, they squeezed every last ounce of skill and imagination out of their limited instrumental and compositional resources on their debut, Ptooff!, which combined savage social commentary, overheated sexual lust, psychedelic jamming, blues riffs, and pretty acoustic ballads -- all in the space of seven songs. Their subsequent '60s albums had plenty of outrage, but not nearly as strong material as the debut. Lead singer Mick Farren recorded a solo album near the end of the decade, and went on to become a respected rock critic. He intermittently performed and recorded as a solo artist and with re-formed versions of the Deviants.
~AMG- Richie Unterberger
Friday, October 13, 2006
Ed Askew - 1968 - Ask The Unicorn
Ed Askew - 1968 - Ask The Unicorn
Song Title
01. Fancy That
02. Peter And David
03. Marigolds
04. Mr. Dream
05. Red Woman-Letter To England
06. Garden, The
07. May Blossoms Be Praised
08. 9-Song
09. Love Is Everyone
10. Ask The Unicorn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of ESP-Disk's true acid folk classics, up there with their Pearls Before Swine and Fugs albums, Ed Askew's Ask the Unicorn is one of the most unique singer/songwriter albums of the '60s. Rather than the usual guitar, Askew plays the tiple, a Latin ten-stringed instrument that's sort of a cross between a lute and a ukulele. It's a loud, trebly instrument with a lot of sustain and some interesting harmonics created by the way the strings resonate together, and it adds an intriguing instrumental texture to the album. Askew has said that the tiple also affects his vocal style on this album; because the instrument is so difficult to play, there's a strained quality to his vocals. Indeed, on the opening, "Fancy That," Askew sounds like the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano trying to sing North African rai. Lyrically, Ask the Unicorn is nowhere near as hippie-dippy as the title suggests. Askew is a gifted, confessional lyricist, and the songs are emotionally engaging in a way that many psychedelic records are not. In a particularly interesting element of the album considering its pre-Stonewall recording date, Askew's lyrics address his homosexuality in an admirably matter-of-fact way, neither ducking the point nor focusing on it exclusively. Other tracks use a number of floral metaphors in a way similar to Georgia O'Keefe's codedly erotic flower paintings. The simply produced live-with-no-overdubs feel of Ask the Unicorn gives the album a folk-like immediacy even on the most out-there songs, like the seven-minute drone "May Blossoms Be Praised." Askew never did another commercial release after Ask the Unicorn, although a 1970 follow-up on ESP-Disk made it as far as a test pressing. In the decades since, the New York-based Askew has pursued a relatively successful career as a painter and poet, and has self-released several cassettes of new material that can be found on the fringe music tape-trading underground.
~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
Song Title
01. Fancy That
02. Peter And David
03. Marigolds
04. Mr. Dream
05. Red Woman-Letter To England
06. Garden, The
07. May Blossoms Be Praised
08. 9-Song
09. Love Is Everyone
10. Ask The Unicorn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a unique acid folk item, even by ESP standards. Askew plays the tiple, an acoustic instrument in the same world as mandolin, dulcimer and autoharp. The effect isn’t a whole lot different from guitar-and-voice, but it’s just exotic enough to have curiosity value. The instrument takes a lot of energy to play, and the effort gives Askew a strained vocal style that actually gives his music an appealing edge. The songs are odd enough (and good enough) to keep the listener’s interest despite the sparse arrangements. The lyrics are quirky and occasionally mystical, but quite effective and affecting. Askew has a bizarre sense of romanticism that fits his street poet mentality. Supposedly some of these lyrics address his homosexuality, making him way ahead of his time. He does so, though, in such abstractions that the words can be interpreted in other ways. Like all purely solo albums, after 43 minutes there’s a saminess to this, but this really is one of the best albums of its type, and is recommended highly to fans of loner folk and oddball singer-songwriters. there is apparently also a reissue retitled "Ask the unicorn" in an altered cover. [AM]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of ESP-Disk's true acid folk classics, up there with their Pearls Before Swine and Fugs albums, Ed Askew's Ask the Unicorn is one of the most unique singer/songwriter albums of the '60s. Rather than the usual guitar, Askew plays the tiple, a Latin ten-stringed instrument that's sort of a cross between a lute and a ukulele. It's a loud, trebly instrument with a lot of sustain and some interesting harmonics created by the way the strings resonate together, and it adds an intriguing instrumental texture to the album. Askew has said that the tiple also affects his vocal style on this album; because the instrument is so difficult to play, there's a strained quality to his vocals. Indeed, on the opening, "Fancy That," Askew sounds like the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano trying to sing North African rai. Lyrically, Ask the Unicorn is nowhere near as hippie-dippy as the title suggests. Askew is a gifted, confessional lyricist, and the songs are emotionally engaging in a way that many psychedelic records are not. In a particularly interesting element of the album considering its pre-Stonewall recording date, Askew's lyrics address his homosexuality in an admirably matter-of-fact way, neither ducking the point nor focusing on it exclusively. Other tracks use a number of floral metaphors in a way similar to Georgia O'Keefe's codedly erotic flower paintings. The simply produced live-with-no-overdubs feel of Ask the Unicorn gives the album a folk-like immediacy even on the most out-there songs, like the seven-minute drone "May Blossoms Be Praised." Askew never did another commercial release after Ask the Unicorn, although a 1970 follow-up on ESP-Disk made it as far as a test pressing. In the decades since, the New York-based Askew has pursued a relatively successful career as a painter and poet, and has self-released several cassettes of new material that can be found on the fringe music tape-trading underground.
~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
SpiroGyra - 1971 - St. Radigunds
SpiroGyra - 1971 - St. RadigundsTracks :
01. The Future Won´t Be Long (4:27)
02. Island (3:39)
03. Magical Mary (6:20)
04. Captain's Log (2:00)
05. At Home In The World (2:40)
06. Cogwheels Crutches And Cyanide (6:00)
07. Time Will Tell (5:32)
08. We Were A Happy Crew (5:29)
09. Love Is A Funny Thing (2:00)
10. The Duke Of Beaufoot (7:08)
Line-up
- Steve Borrill / bass
- Martin Cockerham / guitar, vocals
- Julian Cusack / violin, keyboards
- Barbara Gaskin / lead vocals
Guest musicians:
- Dave Mattacks / drums
- Tony Cox / VCS 3
- Bill Bruford / drums Spirogyra's first album is the closest thing that comes to Comus's First Utterances. It actually pre-dates it by a few weeks! Please note that Dave Mattacks will drum on al three albums but will never be a member! He was busy in Fairport Convention at the time and will also drum for Jethro Tull during the 80's. Barbara Gaskin is also known for her work with Hatfield And The North (as one of the Northettes along with Amanda Parsons) and her work with National Health and in the 80's with Dave Stewart and Bill Bruford!
What we have here is superb folk rock , avoiding some of the clichés (no done-to-death covers of traditional tunes) , inventive enough to be classified as folk-prog. The main writer Cockerham is also often engaging in great duos with Gaskin and this is , along with the violin of Cussack and Borril's great bass lines, the main reasons for sounding so close to Comus! But where Comus was dark and demonic, Spirogyra is more political and romantic.
Many tracks are stupendous as they work very tightly and have great interplaying. Future , Island and Magical Mary are all very enthralling tracks. Comes in two of the three shorter and more reflective tracks (Captain's Log and At Home In the World) but also slightly less interesting! Cogwheels is absolutely fascinating with Gaskin underlining Cockerham's acidic vocals (much the same way Grace Slick , Balin and Kantner did in Jefferson Airplane). Time Will Tell shows how politically conscious the band was. Happy Crew is relatively slow starting because of lenghty and not entirely successful string arrangement and when it does take off, it is too short. They saved their best track to close the album. The Duke of Beaufoot is simply riveting and really holding your attention much the same way that Traffic did with John Barleycorn Must Die.
~Review by Sean Trane/Hugues Chantraine [Progarchives]
Get It Here :
RapidShare or SendSpace
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Mythos - 1975 - Dreamlab
Track listing
01. Dedicated to Wernher von Braun (5:53)
02. Message part I (2:49)
03. Message part II (5:24)
04. Expeditions (6:02)
05. Mythalgia (2:12)
06. Dreamlab: (11:17)
-a) Echophase (3:03)
-b) Quite amazed (3:10)
-c) Going to meet my lady (5:04)
07. Eternity (7:07)
Total Time: 40:44
Line-up
- Stephan Kaske / flute, acoustic & electric guitars, synths, vocals
- Robby Luizaga / bass, acoustic guitar, Mellotron
- Hans-Jürgen Pütz / drums, Moog drum, vibes, percussion
+ Starmaiden / backing vocals (4)
Cosmically dreamy ensemble combining experimental classical space influences with that 70's underground German psychedelia. "Dreamlab" was MYTHOS' 2nd album, from 1975, and was originally released on Cosmic Couriers. "Dreamlab" is somewhere between YATHA SIDRA and ASH RA TEMPEL with some ethnic percussion carrying a earthy feel throughout. Vocals are in English but are not used all that often (and that is a good thing) as the strength of this music is clearly in the instrumentation. I treat this album as a classic and regard it highly as a tremendous piece of work. Moog and Mellotrons also help create those lush analog atmospheres which when combined with the array of hand drums and electric guitar accents will put you into a permanent "Dreamlab".
01. Dedicated to Wernher von Braun (5:53)
02. Message part I (2:49)
03. Message part II (5:24)
04. Expeditions (6:02)
05. Mythalgia (2:12)
06. Dreamlab: (11:17)
-a) Echophase (3:03)
-b) Quite amazed (3:10)
-c) Going to meet my lady (5:04)
07. Eternity (7:07)
Total Time: 40:44
Line-up
- Stephan Kaske / flute, acoustic & electric guitars, synths, vocals
- Robby Luizaga / bass, acoustic guitar, Mellotron
- Hans-Jürgen Pütz / drums, Moog drum, vibes, percussion
+ Starmaiden / backing vocals (4)
Cosmically dreamy ensemble combining experimental classical space influences with that 70's underground German psychedelia. "Dreamlab" was MYTHOS' 2nd album, from 1975, and was originally released on Cosmic Couriers. "Dreamlab" is somewhere between YATHA SIDRA and ASH RA TEMPEL with some ethnic percussion carrying a earthy feel throughout. Vocals are in English but are not used all that often (and that is a good thing) as the strength of this music is clearly in the instrumentation. I treat this album as a classic and regard it highly as a tremendous piece of work. Moog and Mellotrons also help create those lush analog atmospheres which when combined with the array of hand drums and electric guitar accents will put you into a permanent "Dreamlab".
St. Mikael
St. Mikael - 1988 - Visions of a Trespasser
01. The Serpent (8:36)
02. Dagon (4:27)
03. Heading For The Sky (3:48)
04. Microworlds (4:53)
05. Bom Bom Mahadev (3:59)
06. The Soul Searcher (3:51)
07. In The Forest (3:35)
08. Calling The Djinn (6:56)
09. Dreams Of Eternity (5:59)
10. The Voice (6:26)
11. Seed Of The Sun (5:50)
12. Universe (5:36)
13. Where Can I Go, Why Can't I Se (6:18)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
St. Mikael - 1991 - Claustromania
01 Prisoner
02 Vault
03 Claustromania
04 Spirit 1
05 Venus And Beyond
06 Before Your Eyes
07 Time Caravan
08 Spirit 2
09 Polaris
10 Soul Ritual
11 A New Era
12 Androgyno's Song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
St. Mikael - 1996 - Soul Flower
part I ~ part II
01 Back Home
02 Godly
03 Belly Drumming Soul
04 Evening Bossa
05 Improvisation
06 Beyound The Haze
07 Soul Flower
08 Worlds Within Worlds
09 The Titans
10 Sanat Michael
11 The Turkish flower
12 Moving Together
13 I Just Wanted To Say
14 She Came With The Spring
15 You Are A Light
16 The Night Stars
17 Summer In My Life
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Discography:
Visions of a Trespasser (XMMS-1 1989)
Visions of a Trespasser box (XMMS-1 1989)
The Unknown (XMMS-2 1991)
Claustromania (MS-3-XMLP-1 1991)
Visions of a Trespasser 2nd Edition (XMMS-1 1993)
Psychocosmic Songs (XMLP-4 MS-4 1994)
Soul Flower (SUB XMLP-11 1996)Reviews:
S.T. MIKAEL: Visions of a Trespasser
Recorded in his bedroom and it´s so beautiful! Best psych album since the early 70´s! - Stefan Dimle, Mellotronen, Sweden
This basement acid tripper exists briefly in the real world of vinyl! Folk rocky melodic elements flow with waves of heavy fuzzphase leads. A weird detached haunted vocal echoes over the band and the whole thing seems to teeter on the brink of psychedelic oblivion’s. Not revival either. One of the big unearthings in resent memory. Joyride thru an altered state! – Monster time! - Paul Mayor, X-tabay/Parallel World, USA
This is so mind twisting, soul swirling, upper psychedelia that your third eye takes you on a cosmic journey through the dark ages of Serpents, glimpses of Gyrax, the land of Fauns, the mystic Orient, dark forests, angels of doom and the dreams of Eternity...this is some of the places and events the Saint brings you to on his masterpiece. I give you a 100 % money back guarantee if you don`t love this album! - Jorn Andersen, Rock Garden, Norway
Incredible mind blowing psyche! The best album of the last years...only 150 copies made and destined to the highest ranks of collectordom! -Walter Geertzen, Belgium.
ST Mikael...distorts instruments other people don’t even dream of using and displays a cunning understanding of vocal phrasing and harmony as well as playing the hell out of his guitar in a really nice, understated way... -Ptolemaia Terrascope, England
S.T. MIKAEL: The Unknown (XMMS-2 1991)
Real disturbed garagy psych with his tormented vocals, guitars and a total homemade obscure vibe to it...tremendous acid bird cover painting. -Gregg Breth, USA
Fantastic Swedish Psych...one of the best of the last year! - A Trip With Mushrooms, Netherlands
S.T. MIKAEL: Claustromania (MS-3-XMLP-1 1991)
The latest from underground-scene heavy psych one-man crew of angels & psychedelic flashes. This LP makes your brain start thinking in those pebble splash pond mind circular expanding waveforms that people on this vibe await the returning ship their roots sent out to bring back the password to tomorrow. - Paul Major, Parallel World, USA.
Soulful music clothed in flashing psychedelia! His best, the highest ranks! – Länstidningen, Sweden.
Features a bunch of atmospheric psychedelic pieces, with phased vocals, melodic mellotron pieces and guitars on a slow burning fuse! Plenty of wig lifting material here...” -Freakbeat, UK
S.T. MIKAEL: Psychocosmic Songs (XMLP-4 MS-4 1994)
”A new album by the Swedish multi-instrumentalist ST Mikael...with a hand painted cover and a colorful booklet filled with drawings, comics and a picture story about Evolution on Earth. It’s impossible to compare him and his music with any other group or artist. On this record he plays guitars, sitars, turkish saz, drums, congas, tablas, organ, moog and does all the vocals. Some of the best tracks here is in that new, truly original style he has made his own. He will probably be one of the future-legends of the Psychedelic Music...” -Old Man Willow, Norway
”His 4th LP makes new references between the electric and acoustic instruments, which contributes to the new consciousness condensing the moments of insight!” - Rockerilla, Italy
S.T. MIKAEL: Soul Flower (SUB XMLP-11 1996)
"This double LP is the best album he ever released, but it’s his most unconventional as well. The four sides of "Soul Flower" all bear a different character: Side A is more or less the S.T: Mikael we know from previous LPs: the melancholic psychedelic singer/songwriter who records all his twisted songs on his home equipment with a skill and a passion seldom demonstrated elsewhere. Highlights here are the pounding "Godly" and the moody "Beyond the Haze". Side B is the strangest but also one of the best. ST Mikael experimented with Turkish ethnical instruments and musical style elements, resulting in the magnificent title track, the intriguing "The Titans" and the exotic, fuzzy "The Turkish Flower". Side C brings songs from one session and it shows ST Mikael in a very emotional, spiritual mood; he sings and plays his songs with the intensity of a young Tim Buckley. Highlights here are the long, semi-instrumental "Moving...Together" and the elegant "She Came With The Spring". Side D only features two tracks; the dreamy, soft "The Night Stars" and "Summer In My Life", a long jam (filling almost the entire side) recorded in the In Deep-studio with backing by Adam Axelzon and other friends."/" All of this resulted in an utterly stoned, mind lifting instrumentation with layers of exotic percussion, sitars going overdrive, spacy keyboards and burning guitar lines, an absolute best on an album full of high-quality psychedelics. ST Mikael proved once again to be a gifted songwriter and an unconventional performer with a very personal ear for acoustics and an emotional honesty seldom seen these days." – Crohinga Well/Belgium
VISIONS OF THE UNKNOWN
Here at last is a chance for the world to join in, and pick up some bonus tracks along the way. His recording has a homemade charm with wah-wah fuzz guitars, keyboards, sitars and primitive psychedelic effects. You do get the feeling that Mikael actually lives the lifestyle rather than just emulating it. His soaring vocals, surreal lyrics, fragile, folky melodies and penchant for the spiritual and mystical make this altogether a fascinating voyage. – Record Collector magazine (UK)
THE STORY OF S.T. MIKAEL
Mikael Sundtsröm (aka S.T. Mikael) was born in Södertälje, Sweden March the 27th, 1963. His father was a jazz swinging plumber and his mother was an innocent forest girl. He was a lonely, introspective boy who developed a bizarre imagination and an obsession for everything odd, mysterious and supernatural in life. His head was filled with images from Sci/Fi-Fantasy and Horror movies and books, but he also built his own dream worlds with creatures, characters, phantoms and prehistoric images in his drawings, comics and short stories. At 15 he picked up his mothers old guitar and started improvising and recording music. At the age of 19 - in 1982, he tried to find members for a group, but it took him until 1985 when he joined a garage-combo called ”Dickie Dickhead and the Outcast” as a lead guitarist. Although it brought many laughs and good fun into his heart and the fact that they developed from ”the worst and unintentionally most absurd band in town” to a serious and expressive experimental rock band, he left after two struggling years to form his own group. The trio ”The Twilight Souls” , was where he could sing and play his own compositions. He tried to fuse heavy rock and soul music with psychedelic influences which can be heard on the title track of his ”Unknown”-album. During this time he searched for the psychedelic experience and took his first dose of LSD. Because of exhaustion and inability to secure any gigs the band broke up in 1988. After this he gave up the rock´n roll band dream, understanding that there wasn’t anyone in town that had the same psychedelic ambitions as he had. With no expectations for the future he continued working with his ideas and primitive home recordings.
In 1989 he moved to Stockholm where he met Stefan Kéry, a psychedelic connoisseur, and gave him a cassette with some of his many recordings. To Mikaels great surprise he found that the tape was received with great enthusiasm and an album was soon made out of that very tape. The album was titled ”Visions Of A Trespasser” and was released early 1990 in an edition of 150 copies only. The album cover featured a colorful, organic vortex with images of beings of the galaxy in it painted by Mikael. Each and every record had differently hand painted labels. The album was mainly distributed among friends. It showed his very personal style of music covering all kinds of musical directions, all laced with the psychedelic sound. Among these ”not-meant-to-be-heard-by-others”-recordings you will find unbelievable sound’s from tea-balls, spoons and boilers. Except for the 3 studio tracks which was recorded together with a friend, he played everything himself - singing through his guitar-amp and using a pitched guitar for a bass.
In March 1991 he released his follow-up, ”The Unknown” , an odd home cassette- collection with new old haunting songs. The album was distributed the same way as the first one.
After forming Xotic Mind Productions Stefan Kéry let him go into a 8-channal studio and Mikael built up a whole new album all by himself (the only way he knew to work) step-by-step, beginning with the drums and nothing else but except a good memory! The result: ”Claustromania” (meaning: manic obsession for locking oneself in, which derives from the introspective state of mind he always go into while creating!) . The music is filled with pulsating, organic expressions, always emotionally gripping with his soulful voice. The album has a circular concept: The songs about other worlds, man against infinity and the human mind, soul and spirit are linked together with small musical inventions building a story that never ends, ending the way it started, starting the way it ended. The composition also reflects his past life of loneliness and emptiness that now has been replaced by a new existence of love, happiness and possibilities. Mikael says “Claustromania” also is an homage to LSD which helped him make the transformation possible.
His creative years had only begun. In 1994 Mikael wrote a book with novellas in the horror-fantasy tradition crammed with drawings done during the last 15 years and drawn, copied and shaped 4 volumes of comic-fanzines - all still available in Swedish only! He acted in a 16mm film and in his own 3 fantasy video films as well as taking acting- and dancing- lessons! During the years he has been invited to participate on other Xotic Mind projects, like playing sitar on Adam Axelzons well-received ”Eura”album and with sitar and Tablas on the ”Gnostic Mass”-LP by The Entheogens, an improvisation-group he joined together with Adam Axelzon, Måns ”Word of Life”Månson and Stefan Kéry, among others.
In January 1994, people Xotic Mind released S.T. Mikaels new album ”Psychocosmic Songs” which was even better received than any of his previous LPs. The LP was recorded in a modern, high-tech studio. This time the tracks was a mixture of acoustic and electric singer-songs painted with sitar and tabla jams, heavy fuzz guitar sessions and airy, pulsating sounds done in the same step- by-step method like Claustromania! Although it is serious and soulful in tone, ST Mikael himself says he misses the playfulness and vitality which is more prominent in his home recordings.
In the spring of 1994 ST Mikael was living in a rented house with a beautiful garden of fruits, berries and flowers. For the first time he found an immediate presence of self confidence and also a more emotional and limitless way to express himself. In changing direction from somewhat stylish compositions to more improvised-on-the-spot creations he found that the happiness of a live-performance could be caught on a Pot-induced multi tracked solo recording.
During 1994 he made a huge collection of organic home recordings, far away from any inexperienced studio-technician, planning to release some of the material as a new album. With the addition of the extended studio track ”Summer In My Life” , which was recorded by an experienced crew and with additional musicians like Adam Axelzon. Xotic Mind released it in 1996 as a double-album - titled Soul Flower. As always - with a homemade painting on the cover. It can be seen as a rock opera without a plot, an invitation to a small living room full of impressions of many far away places.
During the years that passed since that album, St Mikael seemed to become more secretive and reclusive, but still making home-made music. Some of this music, still stretching out in many different musical directions,has been done freely and spontaneously in an extremely relaxed and happy environment, and has been compiled into the home-made double CD "Mind Evolution", which is not really an official album.In the last few years, Mikael has renewed his lifestyle, has found love in Cheska, an American woman, and has travelled around in Europe, and recently in the USA. He has also taken up studies in English and Playstation 2. Anyhow, he has not stopped doing what he has been doing since a young teenager. He plays in a halfimprovising trio called "Just Beyond" featuring guitar, drums, vocals and bambooflute. The projects of the future includes, besides a brand new album, a Best Of CD, and more comic books.
01. The Serpent (8:36)
02. Dagon (4:27)
03. Heading For The Sky (3:48)
04. Microworlds (4:53)
05. Bom Bom Mahadev (3:59)
06. The Soul Searcher (3:51)
07. In The Forest (3:35)
08. Calling The Djinn (6:56)
09. Dreams Of Eternity (5:59)
10. The Voice (6:26)
11. Seed Of The Sun (5:50)
12. Universe (5:36)
13. Where Can I Go, Why Can't I Se (6:18)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
St. Mikael - 1991 - Claustromania
01 Prisoner
02 Vault
03 Claustromania
04 Spirit 1
05 Venus And Beyond
06 Before Your Eyes
07 Time Caravan
08 Spirit 2
09 Polaris
10 Soul Ritual
11 A New Era
12 Androgyno's Song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
St. Mikael - 1996 - Soul Flower
part I ~ part II
01 Back Home
02 Godly
03 Belly Drumming Soul
04 Evening Bossa
05 Improvisation
06 Beyound The Haze
07 Soul Flower
08 Worlds Within Worlds
09 The Titans
10 Sanat Michael
11 The Turkish flower
12 Moving Together
13 I Just Wanted To Say
14 She Came With The Spring
15 You Are A Light
16 The Night Stars
17 Summer In My Life
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
S.T. Mikael
Discography:
Visions of a Trespasser (XMMS-1 1989)
Visions of a Trespasser box (XMMS-1 1989)
The Unknown (XMMS-2 1991)
Claustromania (MS-3-XMLP-1 1991)
Visions of a Trespasser 2nd Edition (XMMS-1 1993)
Psychocosmic Songs (XMLP-4 MS-4 1994)
Soul Flower (SUB XMLP-11 1996)Reviews:
S.T. MIKAEL: Visions of a Trespasser
Recorded in his bedroom and it´s so beautiful! Best psych album since the early 70´s! - Stefan Dimle, Mellotronen, Sweden
This basement acid tripper exists briefly in the real world of vinyl! Folk rocky melodic elements flow with waves of heavy fuzzphase leads. A weird detached haunted vocal echoes over the band and the whole thing seems to teeter on the brink of psychedelic oblivion’s. Not revival either. One of the big unearthings in resent memory. Joyride thru an altered state! – Monster time! - Paul Mayor, X-tabay/Parallel World, USA
This is so mind twisting, soul swirling, upper psychedelia that your third eye takes you on a cosmic journey through the dark ages of Serpents, glimpses of Gyrax, the land of Fauns, the mystic Orient, dark forests, angels of doom and the dreams of Eternity...this is some of the places and events the Saint brings you to on his masterpiece. I give you a 100 % money back guarantee if you don`t love this album! - Jorn Andersen, Rock Garden, Norway
Incredible mind blowing psyche! The best album of the last years...only 150 copies made and destined to the highest ranks of collectordom! -Walter Geertzen, Belgium.
ST Mikael...distorts instruments other people don’t even dream of using and displays a cunning understanding of vocal phrasing and harmony as well as playing the hell out of his guitar in a really nice, understated way... -Ptolemaia Terrascope, England
S.T. MIKAEL: The Unknown (XMMS-2 1991)
Real disturbed garagy psych with his tormented vocals, guitars and a total homemade obscure vibe to it...tremendous acid bird cover painting. -Gregg Breth, USA
Fantastic Swedish Psych...one of the best of the last year! - A Trip With Mushrooms, Netherlands
S.T. MIKAEL: Claustromania (MS-3-XMLP-1 1991)
The latest from underground-scene heavy psych one-man crew of angels & psychedelic flashes. This LP makes your brain start thinking in those pebble splash pond mind circular expanding waveforms that people on this vibe await the returning ship their roots sent out to bring back the password to tomorrow. - Paul Major, Parallel World, USA.
Soulful music clothed in flashing psychedelia! His best, the highest ranks! – Länstidningen, Sweden.
Features a bunch of atmospheric psychedelic pieces, with phased vocals, melodic mellotron pieces and guitars on a slow burning fuse! Plenty of wig lifting material here...” -Freakbeat, UK
S.T. MIKAEL: Psychocosmic Songs (XMLP-4 MS-4 1994)
”A new album by the Swedish multi-instrumentalist ST Mikael...with a hand painted cover and a colorful booklet filled with drawings, comics and a picture story about Evolution on Earth. It’s impossible to compare him and his music with any other group or artist. On this record he plays guitars, sitars, turkish saz, drums, congas, tablas, organ, moog and does all the vocals. Some of the best tracks here is in that new, truly original style he has made his own. He will probably be one of the future-legends of the Psychedelic Music...” -Old Man Willow, Norway
”His 4th LP makes new references between the electric and acoustic instruments, which contributes to the new consciousness condensing the moments of insight!” - Rockerilla, Italy
S.T. MIKAEL: Soul Flower (SUB XMLP-11 1996)
"This double LP is the best album he ever released, but it’s his most unconventional as well. The four sides of "Soul Flower" all bear a different character: Side A is more or less the S.T: Mikael we know from previous LPs: the melancholic psychedelic singer/songwriter who records all his twisted songs on his home equipment with a skill and a passion seldom demonstrated elsewhere. Highlights here are the pounding "Godly" and the moody "Beyond the Haze". Side B is the strangest but also one of the best. ST Mikael experimented with Turkish ethnical instruments and musical style elements, resulting in the magnificent title track, the intriguing "The Titans" and the exotic, fuzzy "The Turkish Flower". Side C brings songs from one session and it shows ST Mikael in a very emotional, spiritual mood; he sings and plays his songs with the intensity of a young Tim Buckley. Highlights here are the long, semi-instrumental "Moving...Together" and the elegant "She Came With The Spring". Side D only features two tracks; the dreamy, soft "The Night Stars" and "Summer In My Life", a long jam (filling almost the entire side) recorded in the In Deep-studio with backing by Adam Axelzon and other friends."/" All of this resulted in an utterly stoned, mind lifting instrumentation with layers of exotic percussion, sitars going overdrive, spacy keyboards and burning guitar lines, an absolute best on an album full of high-quality psychedelics. ST Mikael proved once again to be a gifted songwriter and an unconventional performer with a very personal ear for acoustics and an emotional honesty seldom seen these days." – Crohinga Well/Belgium
VISIONS OF THE UNKNOWN
Here at last is a chance for the world to join in, and pick up some bonus tracks along the way. His recording has a homemade charm with wah-wah fuzz guitars, keyboards, sitars and primitive psychedelic effects. You do get the feeling that Mikael actually lives the lifestyle rather than just emulating it. His soaring vocals, surreal lyrics, fragile, folky melodies and penchant for the spiritual and mystical make this altogether a fascinating voyage. – Record Collector magazine (UK)
THE STORY OF S.T. MIKAEL
Mikael Sundtsröm (aka S.T. Mikael) was born in Södertälje, Sweden March the 27th, 1963. His father was a jazz swinging plumber and his mother was an innocent forest girl. He was a lonely, introspective boy who developed a bizarre imagination and an obsession for everything odd, mysterious and supernatural in life. His head was filled with images from Sci/Fi-Fantasy and Horror movies and books, but he also built his own dream worlds with creatures, characters, phantoms and prehistoric images in his drawings, comics and short stories. At 15 he picked up his mothers old guitar and started improvising and recording music. At the age of 19 - in 1982, he tried to find members for a group, but it took him until 1985 when he joined a garage-combo called ”Dickie Dickhead and the Outcast” as a lead guitarist. Although it brought many laughs and good fun into his heart and the fact that they developed from ”the worst and unintentionally most absurd band in town” to a serious and expressive experimental rock band, he left after two struggling years to form his own group. The trio ”The Twilight Souls” , was where he could sing and play his own compositions. He tried to fuse heavy rock and soul music with psychedelic influences which can be heard on the title track of his ”Unknown”-album. During this time he searched for the psychedelic experience and took his first dose of LSD. Because of exhaustion and inability to secure any gigs the band broke up in 1988. After this he gave up the rock´n roll band dream, understanding that there wasn’t anyone in town that had the same psychedelic ambitions as he had. With no expectations for the future he continued working with his ideas and primitive home recordings.
In 1989 he moved to Stockholm where he met Stefan Kéry, a psychedelic connoisseur, and gave him a cassette with some of his many recordings. To Mikaels great surprise he found that the tape was received with great enthusiasm and an album was soon made out of that very tape. The album was titled ”Visions Of A Trespasser” and was released early 1990 in an edition of 150 copies only. The album cover featured a colorful, organic vortex with images of beings of the galaxy in it painted by Mikael. Each and every record had differently hand painted labels. The album was mainly distributed among friends. It showed his very personal style of music covering all kinds of musical directions, all laced with the psychedelic sound. Among these ”not-meant-to-be-heard-by-others”-recordings you will find unbelievable sound’s from tea-balls, spoons and boilers. Except for the 3 studio tracks which was recorded together with a friend, he played everything himself - singing through his guitar-amp and using a pitched guitar for a bass.
In March 1991 he released his follow-up, ”The Unknown” , an odd home cassette- collection with new old haunting songs. The album was distributed the same way as the first one.
After forming Xotic Mind Productions Stefan Kéry let him go into a 8-channal studio and Mikael built up a whole new album all by himself (the only way he knew to work) step-by-step, beginning with the drums and nothing else but except a good memory! The result: ”Claustromania” (meaning: manic obsession for locking oneself in, which derives from the introspective state of mind he always go into while creating!) . The music is filled with pulsating, organic expressions, always emotionally gripping with his soulful voice. The album has a circular concept: The songs about other worlds, man against infinity and the human mind, soul and spirit are linked together with small musical inventions building a story that never ends, ending the way it started, starting the way it ended. The composition also reflects his past life of loneliness and emptiness that now has been replaced by a new existence of love, happiness and possibilities. Mikael says “Claustromania” also is an homage to LSD which helped him make the transformation possible.
His creative years had only begun. In 1994 Mikael wrote a book with novellas in the horror-fantasy tradition crammed with drawings done during the last 15 years and drawn, copied and shaped 4 volumes of comic-fanzines - all still available in Swedish only! He acted in a 16mm film and in his own 3 fantasy video films as well as taking acting- and dancing- lessons! During the years he has been invited to participate on other Xotic Mind projects, like playing sitar on Adam Axelzons well-received ”Eura”album and with sitar and Tablas on the ”Gnostic Mass”-LP by The Entheogens, an improvisation-group he joined together with Adam Axelzon, Måns ”Word of Life”Månson and Stefan Kéry, among others.
In January 1994, people Xotic Mind released S.T. Mikaels new album ”Psychocosmic Songs” which was even better received than any of his previous LPs. The LP was recorded in a modern, high-tech studio. This time the tracks was a mixture of acoustic and electric singer-songs painted with sitar and tabla jams, heavy fuzz guitar sessions and airy, pulsating sounds done in the same step- by-step method like Claustromania! Although it is serious and soulful in tone, ST Mikael himself says he misses the playfulness and vitality which is more prominent in his home recordings.
In the spring of 1994 ST Mikael was living in a rented house with a beautiful garden of fruits, berries and flowers. For the first time he found an immediate presence of self confidence and also a more emotional and limitless way to express himself. In changing direction from somewhat stylish compositions to more improvised-on-the-spot creations he found that the happiness of a live-performance could be caught on a Pot-induced multi tracked solo recording.
During 1994 he made a huge collection of organic home recordings, far away from any inexperienced studio-technician, planning to release some of the material as a new album. With the addition of the extended studio track ”Summer In My Life” , which was recorded by an experienced crew and with additional musicians like Adam Axelzon. Xotic Mind released it in 1996 as a double-album - titled Soul Flower. As always - with a homemade painting on the cover. It can be seen as a rock opera without a plot, an invitation to a small living room full of impressions of many far away places.
During the years that passed since that album, St Mikael seemed to become more secretive and reclusive, but still making home-made music. Some of this music, still stretching out in many different musical directions,has been done freely and spontaneously in an extremely relaxed and happy environment, and has been compiled into the home-made double CD "Mind Evolution", which is not really an official album.In the last few years, Mikael has renewed his lifestyle, has found love in Cheska, an American woman, and has travelled around in Europe, and recently in the USA. He has also taken up studies in English and Playstation 2. Anyhow, he has not stopped doing what he has been doing since a young teenager. He plays in a halfimprovising trio called "Just Beyond" featuring guitar, drums, vocals and bambooflute. The projects of the future includes, besides a brand new album, a Best Of CD, and more comic books.
Labels: Lost In Tyme, S
Ross - 1974 - Ross
Ross - 1974 - Ross
Musicians:
Alan Ross: guitar, vocals
Bob Jackson: keyboards, vocals
Steve Emery: bass, vocals
Tony Fernandez: drums, percussion
Rueben White: percussion
01 Alright By Me (Alan Ross / Steve Emery / Bob Jackson)
02 You're Looking Down A Road (Alan Ross)
03 Wherever You Go (Alan Ross)
04 Caroline (Alan Ross)
05 Changes (Alan Ross)
06 Help Me Understand (Alan Ross)
07 Blackbird (Alan Ross)
08 I Need Your Love (Alan Ross)
09 Buxton (Alan Ross)
10 Leave It All Behind You (Alan Ross)
Musicians:
Alan Ross: guitar, vocals
Bob Jackson: keyboards, vocals
Steve Emery: bass, vocals
Tony Fernandez: drums, percussion
Rueben White: percussion
01 Alright By Me (Alan Ross / Steve Emery / Bob Jackson)
02 You're Looking Down A Road (Alan Ross)
03 Wherever You Go (Alan Ross)
04 Caroline (Alan Ross)
05 Changes (Alan Ross)
06 Help Me Understand (Alan Ross)
07 Blackbird (Alan Ross)
08 I Need Your Love (Alan Ross)
09 Buxton (Alan Ross)
10 Leave It All Behind You (Alan Ross)
Bob Jackson (born 1949, Coventry, England), is a keyboardist/guitarist whose career has been interwoven with various rock and pop bands since the early 1970s.
Jackson formed his first professional rock group in 1969, called "Indian Summer". The group released the album Indian Summer in 1971, and then disbanded the following year.
John Entwistle of the Who wanted to tour in 1972 with his own band. He therefore formed a new band "Rigor Mortis" in 1972 Bob Jackson was the keyboard player of this group and Alan Ross was the guitarist. Both played on their debut tour.
Once the "Rigor Mortis" tour had ended Bob Jackson and fellow bandmate Alan Ross decided to put together their own group in 1973, calling themselves "Ross" and recorded two albums on RSO Records; "Ross" in 1974 and "The Pit and the Pendulum" 1975. This hard rock group failed to capture an audience and disbanded after the release of its second album.
Latin Funky Heavy-riffing....in Santana style !!!Posted by Sadness [???]
Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, R
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Deviants - 1969 - No. 3
Deviants - 1969 - No. 3
track list
01 Billy the Monster
02 Broken Biscuits
03 First Line
04 The People's Suite
05 Ramblin Black Transit Blues
06 Death of a Dream Machine
07 Playtime
08 Black George Does It
09 Junior Narco Rangers
10 People of the City
11 Metamorphosis Exploration
~-~-~
Mick Farren - Lead Vocals & Production
Russell Hunter - Percusion, Vocals & Stereo Panning
Paul Rudolph - Guitar, Vocals & Mouth Music
Duncan Sanderson - Bass & Vocals
Tony Wigens - Equipment & Lead Vocals on "First Line"
David Goodman - Equipment & Back-Up Vocals
Tony Ferguson - Organ
Jenny Ashworth - Vocals
Roy Baker & Victor Gamm - Engineering
Keith Morris - Photography
~-~-~
In The Same Time Space that it took to Record this Album, A 16-year-old Girl was Imprisoned by the Rulers For Refusing To Deny that She Loved A Married Man. In The Same Time Space A Vacant Lot In Berkeley, CA, was Transformed Into a People's Park; When the Rulers Re-occupid the Park Subsequently One Died and Hundreds were Injured and Arrested. In The Same Time Space the Rulers Arrested and Imprisoned Hundreds Throughout the World For Inhaling the Smoke of the Common Herb. Also In The Same Time Space, 70,000 People Gathered in A London Park for A Rock & Roll Consert. For the Past 13 Years Rock & Roll Has Been the Secret Language of A Generation, Dispite Lapses Into Gibberish and Side-Tracks Into Academic Obscurity. Rock & Roll Is A Secret Language that the Rulers Cannot Understand. It Is Possible For One Person To Communicate with Another On More Than One Level; You Can Talk To Each Other; You Can Feed Each Other; You Can Screw Each Other. Everyone Is A Level Of Communication And the Rock Musisian Is Able to Work In Terms of All This Levels. The Rock Musician Is Not Understood By the Rulers since they Use Only Multi-Level Communication to Pervert and Titillate. They Fear Him, But since He Is Marketable Commodity (Product?) they Allow Him To Continue.
MICK FARREN, 1969
The third and, for the time being, final Deviants album is also, according to frontman Mick Farren, the record that they should never have made. Writing in his 2001 autobiography, -Give the Anarchist a Cigarette, Farren observes that even the album's title encapsulated the group's state of mind -- "so creatively tapped out we couldn't even come up with a snappy name for the damned record." He is being harsh. While The Deviants, No. 3 can in no way be compared to either of its predecessors, or to Farren's own magnificent solo album Mona, it is still a fascinating glimpse into the state of the British underground in 1969. A few of the songs are indeed as unrehearsed (and certainly undeveloped) as Farren has since complained -- "Death of a Dream Machine" is little more than a jingle, when it ought to be a masterpiece. But it's also a considerably more coherent album than the group's speed-freak monster mash reputation might allow you to expect, and it doesn't even sound that horribly dated. At its most seething, "Billy the Monster," the sinister Zappa-esque chant with which the album opens, captures the archetypal hippie-freak. Then, skip over the somewhat Airplane-y "Broken Biscuits" and "First Line," and you reach "The People's Suite" -- and what could be more brilliant than a suite that lasts just two and a half minutes? "We are the people who pervert your children, lead them astray from the lessons you taught them": Again, Zappa hangs heavy over the proceedings, but if the tabloids of the day ever needed to have their worst fears confirmed, the Deviants were pleased to oblige. Musically, The Deviants, No. 3 hangs in a void somewhere between the early Edgar Broughton Band, with whom they enjoyed the wildest rivalry, and the incipient Pink Fairies, to which all the members bar Farren soon fled. Culturally, however, it is a brutal reminder of that moment when the '60s dream teetered on the brink of the precipice, and the planet went to hell in a handcart around it.
~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyway this is my favourite Deviants album
David Blue - David Blue - 1966
David BluePersonnel: DAVID BLUE (aka DAVID COHEN) vcls, gtr A
HARVEY BROOKS bs A
MONTE DUNN gtr A
PAUL HARRIS piano, organ, celeste A
HERBERT LOVELLE drms A
BUDDY SALZMANN drms A
ALBUM:(Selective) 1(A) DAVID BLUE (Elektra EKS-74003) 1966
Much influenced by Bob Dylan, who was his friend in Greenwich Village, David Blue (aka David Cohen) was in the wave of singers/songwriters who moved away from folk into topical songs. (Comparable with, say, Richard Farina, Tom Rush or Eric Andersen.) His first album is truly excellent and explores the ways opened by Dylan with Highway 61 and Blonde And Blonde: poetic songs with a strong electric back-up, often with strident guitar solos. Check out Justine, It Tastes Like Candy, If Your Monkay Can't Get It or Arcade Love Machine. Three of these songs can also be heard on Jim and Jean's Changes (also with Harvey Brooks and Paul Harris).
Blue then moved to California and his following albums are in the singer/songwriter style, often using excellent musicians (Cooder, Lindley, Barbata, Dave Mason, Levon Helm or Dylan).
David Blue died in 1983.
(Stephane Rebeschini)
ENJOY!!!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Man - 1970 - Man
Man - 1970 - ManTrack List :
01. Romain 6:11
(Ace/John/Jones/Leonard/Williams)
02. Country Girl 3:08
(Ace/Leonard)
03. Would The Christians Wait Five Minutes?
04. The Lions Are Having A Draw 12:52
(Ace/Jones)
05. Daughter of the Fireplace 5:11
(Leonard)
06. Alchemist 20:41
(Ace/John/Jones/Leonard/Williams)
Line-up :
- Micky Jones / guitars, vocals
- Deke Leonard / guitars, piano, vocals
- Terry Williams / drums, percussion
- Martin Ace / bass, acoustic guitar
- Clive John / organ, piano, guitar, harpsichord, vocals
The group that has been called the Welsh answer to the Grateful Dead actually earn the nickname on this album. There are definite similarities, including both bands' evident affection for American country and roots music, sprightly rock tunes, and extended and rambling instrumental jams. The example of the last on this album is rather self-indulgent; {"Would the Christians Wait Five Minutes? The Lions Are Having a Draw"} has little going for it besides its title and a nice crescendo near the end. The other extended track, "The Alchemist," is at least interestingly weird, sounding like the band has been listening to lots of old horror movie scores before going into the studio for a long jam session. Other cuts here are essential to Man fans, such as the frantic rockabilly tune "Daughter of the Fireplace," in which the band seems to be channeling Jerry Lee Lewis and "Country Girl," which could have been cut in Nashville instead of Swansea. Man was definitely exploring musical boundaries on this album, and even if every cut isn't successful, it is still a fun listen.
~Richard Foss, All Music Guide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Biography
Man was one of the most promising rock bands to come out of Wales in the early 1970s. Along with Brinsley Schwarz, they helped establish the core of the pub-rock sound, but they played louder and also had a progressive component to their work that separated them from many of their rivals. The group originated as a Four Seasons-cum-Beach Boys vocal outfit, based in Swansea, Wales, called the Bystanders, who began experimenting with a tougher, more progressive sound on stage. They were encouraged to pursue this direction, and Man was formed -- Micky Jones (lead guitar, vocals), Deke Leonard (guitar, vocals), Clive John (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Ray Williams (bass), and Jeff Jones (drums).
Their first release, Revelation, issued in 1969 on Pye, was a concept album that yielded a successful European single, "Erotica," which contained the sound of an orgasm and thus failed to chart in England. Their second album, 2 Ozs. of Plastic With a Hole In the Middle, showed a slightly new direction for the band, with a nearly live-in-the-studio sound and more creative interplay between the guitars, that some critics compared to early Quicksilver Messenger Service and other West Coast bands. Deke Leonard, in particular, whose playing was heavily influenced by Mick Green of the Pirates, became the star of the group by popular acclaim.
Their contract with Pye Records ended in 1969, and the group signed with United Artists-Liberty, with a new rhythm section, consisting of Terry Williams on drums and vocals and Martin Ace playing bass. Their third album, Man, was a critical success, and their follow-up, 1971's Do You Like It Here, Are You Settling In, yielded several popular concert numbers.
In February 1972, the group appeared at the Greasy Truckers' Ball, a benefit concert held in London that was taped for posterity, alongside Brinsley Schwarz and Hawkwind. Their performance was so impressive that United Artists chief Andrew Lauder (who was also responsible for helping the post-Roy Loney Flamin' Groovies get their sound together) encouraged them to do a full live album. The result was Live at the Padget Rooms, Penarth, the band's breakthrough album, even though it was originally released in a limited-edition pressing of 8000 copies. The album became a much-sought collector's item in England, and suddenly the group had the attention of most of the record-buying public.
Unfortunately, it was at after the release of that album that Deke Leonard decided to exit the lineup to pursue a solo career, which he launched with the successful album Iceberg. Man was making a reputation for itself, their next album Be Good to Yourself at Least Once a Day yielding some good songs ("Bananas"). At that point, Pye released a retrosepctive of their first two albums, while the group's current lineup began shifting again -- Deke Leonard was back for Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics, and Slow Motion led to the group's first American tour. They followed this up with their first serious misstep, a hook-up with Quicksilver's John Cippolina as producer for what proved a disappointing album, Maximum Darkness. The Welsh Connection, released by MCA in 1976, marked the end of the original group's history, although they did get one more album out, entitled All's Well That Ends Well.
During the 1980s, Micky Jones reunited the group and those interested members (including Deke Leonard) and found a steady living on the pub-rock circuit. Meanwhile, Terry Williams went on to join Rockpile and Dire Straits. Interest in Man was strong enough to justify the release of a compilation, Perfect Timing -- The UA Years, in 1991. In the mid-1990s, Beat Goes On began reissuing Man's individual albums and Deke Leonard's solo work on compact disc.
~Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Get It Here :
RapidShare or SendSpace
The Snake Corps - 1990 - More Than The Ocean
More Than The Ocean
COMPILATION
1990Midnight MusicCHIME 1.12 CD
Vocals: Marc Lewis
Guitar: Tristan Garel-Funk
Keyboards: David Wood, Ian Gibson
Bass: Liam McGuinness, Jim Blanchard
Drums: Jon Greville
Tracks :
Colder than the Kiss
Calling YouSomething Wrong
More than the Ocean
Clint
Look East for Eden
Strangers
Crimson and Clover
I'm Not Afraid
In Flux
Colder than the Kiss
Calling You
The story...
The Snake Corps came together in 1984 following the break-up of Sad Lovers & Giants (SL&G) the previous year.Aiming for a harder-edged sound, core members Tristan Garel-Funk and Nigel Pollard advertised in the Melody Maker for the necessary musicians. After many auditions they settled on Marc Lewis and Liam McGuinness on vocals and bass respectively. This original incarnation set about establishing its own sound - recording demos of songs later to appear on the band’s albums as well as a video of Look East for Eden at Kingston Poly where Marc was a student.
After some initial success building a local following and reconnecting with many of the fans of SL&G, Nigel left the band and was replaced by Jon Greville from the three-piece Rudimentary Peni. This line up went into record the first album: Flesh on Flesh, released on Midnight Music.Tours in europe helped to build and consolidate the band's following, but at home the story was one of press and radio indifference.
Feeling a need to broaden the scope of the Snake Corps sound the band decided to add keyboards. This resulted in the return of school friend and SL&G founder member David Wood. With the addition of Jim Blanchard from label-mates The S-Haters replacing Liam on bass guitar, this line-up recorded the band's second album Smother Earth.More gigs followed but UK recognition continued to elude the Snake Corps despite growing interest from around the world; the bulk of the band's record sales going overseas.
David Wood eventually quit the band and Ian Gibson (recently having left the Mk2 version of SL&G) replaced him on keyboards.
Free of their contract with Midnight Music but with their commitment to release the next album as a one-off, this line-up went in (at their own expense) to record The 3rd Cup at Midnight-owned Berry Street Studios. With Brad Grisdale at the controls, it seemed for the first time there was a creative meeting of minds between the band and their engineer. The result was what many consider to be the Snake Corps finest album.
But behind the scenes all was not well. Continuing UK indifference to their music had left spirits at an all time low and it was feared that the album would be released into a vacuum. Then, after years of financial hardship Midnight Music went into receivership and was bought up lock stock and barrel by Cherry Red Records. The band suddenly found that all their music: back catalogue, stock and copyright was now owned by someone else. This proved too much and the Snake Corps split. It seemed that the best-of compilation Spice subsequently released by Cherry Red would probably be the band's swan-song.
Thankfullly, the finished master tapes of The 3rd Cup were already in the band's possession when Midnight went under but it was to be couple of years before the album was finally released on CD by Ophidian an off-shoot of the Oxford label Rotator.
info obtained from : snakecorps.com
innocent76's comment:
Great band ! Worthy bairn of Sad Lovers & Giants . "Clint" is one of my personal highlights of this era. Reminds me a little bit of Vietnam Veterans (especially the keyboards) ,but this is a good thing ,right ?
highly recommended ! (all of their albums actually)
Labels: innocent76, S
Monday, October 09, 2006
Camel - 1973 - Camel
Camel - 1973 - Camel
Track listing :
01. Slow Yourself Down (4:45)
02. Mystic Queen (5:53)
03. Six Ate (5:57)
04. Separation (4:54)
05. Never Let Go (6:20)
06. Curiosity (5:52)
07. Arubaluda (6:26)
08. Never Let Go (single version) (3:36)
09. Homage To The God Of Light (Live At The Marquee Club 29-10-1974) (19:01)
Total Time: 40:07
Line-up :
- Andy Ward / drums, percussion
- Doug Ferguson / bass, vocal (2 & 6)
- Peter Bardens / keyboards, vocal (5)
- Andy Latimer / guitar, vocal (1 & 4)
The roots of Camel can be already found in 1969 when guitarist/flute player/vocalist Andrew Latimer (born on May 17, 1947), bassist Doug Ferguson and only 14-year-old drummer Andy Ward met in the band The Brew as a trio. In 1970, the trio teamed up with singing keyboardist and changed the name according to him to Phillip Goodhand – Tait. But at the end of the same year, Phillip quit the band. In May of 1971, Peter Bardens, a keyboard player (ex Them), came to strengthen the orphaned trio. The new quartet formed in Surrey chose the name Camel. December 4, 1971 was the day of the band first performance as a support band of more famous Wishbone Ash.
In August of 1972, Camel signed the contract with MCA Records and by the end of 1973, the band released the debut album "Camel". [more]
Their self-titled debut was a quite rough and unpolished product, but it still featured the two first classic Camel-tracks with the beautiful "Mystic Queen" and the catchy "Never Let Go". Both tracks demonstrated the group's ability to write very strong vocal-melodies combined with lengthy and tasty instrumental-passages. "Never Let Go" also featured one of the few examples recorded of a mellotron-solo. "Separation" and the opener "Slow Yourself Down" are both harder rock tracks where the latter one is the most complex and progressive, featuring some excellent solos from Latimer and Bardens. There are also two pure instrumental-numbers here with the jazzy "Six Ate" and the energetic "Arubaluba". The energy on the latter one may sounds a bit forced, but it still demonstrated well what a tight unit Camel were. Overall, a promising, exciting and interesting debut.
Paul Kantner & Grace Slick - Sunfighter - 1971
Sunfighter Produced by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick Released on December 1971
Ripped by @rcadium from cd @320kbps
TRACK LISTING :
SILVER SPOON (Grace Slick) 5:40
DIANA - PART 1 (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 0:52
SUNFIGHTER (Paul Kantner) 3:50
TITANIC (Phil Sawyer) 2:25
LOOK AT THE WOOD (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 2:08
WHEN I WAS A BOY I WATCHED THE WOLVES
(Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 4:59
MILLION (Paul Kantner) 4:02
CHINA (Grace Slick) 3:17
EARTH MOTHER (Jack Traylor) 3:16
DIANA - PART 2 (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 1:01
UNIVERSAL COPERNICAN MUMBLES (Pat Gleeson/John Vierra/Paul Kantner) 2:03
HOLDING TOGETHER (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 7:40
CREDITS :
PAUL KANTNER -- GRACE SLICK -- heavy water light libretto booklet Craig Chaquico -- guitar (9) Maurice The Miracle Man -- Tru Engine Hearing Phil Sawyer -- Pat Ieraci -- engineer Acy Lehman -- cover, booklet assistance Mary Ann Mayer, Joan Chase -- lights inside Gary Blackman -- booklet assistance.
This is something of a family album, co-credited to Paul Kantner and his wife, Grace Slick, and featuring on its cover a photograph of their infant daughter, China. It also features the family of San Francisco Bay Area musicians, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and other current members of Jefferson Airplane and future members of Jefferson Starship. Its style of loosely arranged acid rock music and radical left political lyrics is similar to such recent albums as the Kantner/Starship Blows Against the Empire (December 1970) and the Airplane's Bark (August 1971), which were made by most of the same players. But Kantner and Slick's usual stridency is not counterbalanced by substance as much as on earlier efforts, perhaps because they were making too many albums too quickly to keep up the quality of their songwriting. Still, anyone who enjoys the sweet-and-sour unison singing of X's John Doe and Exene Cervenka should listen to Sunfighter to see where they got it from. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Ripped by @rcadium from cd @320kbps
TRACK LISTING :
SILVER SPOON (Grace Slick) 5:40
DIANA - PART 1 (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 0:52
SUNFIGHTER (Paul Kantner) 3:50
TITANIC (Phil Sawyer) 2:25
LOOK AT THE WOOD (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 2:08
WHEN I WAS A BOY I WATCHED THE WOLVES
(Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 4:59
MILLION (Paul Kantner) 4:02
CHINA (Grace Slick) 3:17
EARTH MOTHER (Jack Traylor) 3:16
DIANA - PART 2 (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 1:01
UNIVERSAL COPERNICAN MUMBLES (Pat Gleeson/John Vierra/Paul Kantner) 2:03
HOLDING TOGETHER (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner) 7:40
CREDITS :
PAUL KANTNER -- GRACE SLICK -- heavy water light libretto booklet Craig Chaquico -- guitar (9) Maurice The Miracle Man -- Tru Engine Hearing Phil Sawyer -- Pat Ieraci -- engineer Acy Lehman -- cover, booklet assistance Mary Ann Mayer, Joan Chase -- lights inside Gary Blackman -- booklet assistance.
This is something of a family album, co-credited to Paul Kantner and his wife, Grace Slick, and featuring on its cover a photograph of their infant daughter, China. It also features the family of San Francisco Bay Area musicians, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and other current members of Jefferson Airplane and future members of Jefferson Starship. Its style of loosely arranged acid rock music and radical left political lyrics is similar to such recent albums as the Kantner/Starship Blows Against the Empire (December 1970) and the Airplane's Bark (August 1971), which were made by most of the same players. But Kantner and Slick's usual stridency is not counterbalanced by substance as much as on earlier efforts, perhaps because they were making too many albums too quickly to keep up the quality of their songwriting. Still, anyone who enjoys the sweet-and-sour unison singing of X's John Doe and Exene Cervenka should listen to Sunfighter to see where they got it from. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Geeza - 1977 - StreetLife
Geeza - 1977 - StreetLife
(Australian Hardrock)
track list:
01 Sydney City Ladies
02 You Can't Do That
03 Song To Warilla
04 Streetfighter
05 Dragon Queen
06 Run 'N' Hide
07 Too Much Goin On Here
08 The Jean Genie
LINE UP
Terry Halliday (vocals)
Gabriel Vendetti (guitar)
Lee Martin (bass)
Alan Fraiel (drums)
This band only did the one album but it has some brilliant songs. The cover of Bowie`s Gene Genie is the best i`ve heard. Hope you enjoy the album.
Link-
http://rapidshare.com/files/9389749/Geeza_1977_StreetLife.rar
track list:
01 Sydney City Ladies
02 You Can't Do That
03 Song To Warilla
04 Streetfighter
05 Dragon Queen
06 Run 'N' Hide
07 Too Much Goin On Here
08 The Jean Genie
LINE UP
Terry Halliday (vocals)
Gabriel Vendetti (guitar)
Lee Martin (bass)
Alan Fraiel (drums)
This band only did the one album but it has some brilliant songs. The cover of Bowie`s Gene Genie is the best i`ve heard. Hope you enjoy the album.
Link-
http://rapidshare.com/files/9389749/Geeza_1977_StreetLife.rar
Posted by Sadness
Labels: by Friends and Visitors of this Blog, G
Friday, October 06, 2006
V.A. - Aliens, Psychos and Wild Things
Aliens, Psychos And Wild Things Vol. 1
01. Satellites - When Will You Stay
02. Satellites - The Next Boy
03. Wild Cherries - I Cried Once
04. Wild Cherries - Baby, Baby
05. Heart Attacks - Babba Diddy Baby
06. Swinging Machine - Do You have to Ask
07. Swinging Machine - Comin’ on Back Home
08. Lenis Guess - Workin’ for My Baby
09. Wild Thing - Weird Hot Nights
10. Swinging Machine - Do You Have to Ask
11. Proverbial Knee Hi’s - Crying for Her
12. Proverbial Knee Hi’s - Watch Out
13. Rude Awakening - A Certain Girl
14. Denis and the Times - Flight Patterns
15. Reactors - 1-A
16. Banana - There She Goes Again
17. Banana - She’s Gone
18. Dean Kohler - Gooseberry Pie
19. Beachnuts - What Makes You think
20. Psychos - Black River
21. Aliens - Love Someone
22. Journey Back - Runaway Baby
23. Journey Back - Synthetic People
24. New Directions - Springtime Lady
25. Steve Peele Five - Frankie’s Got It!
26. New Directions - Springtime Lady
This compilation follows in the vein of many similar regional '60s garage/psych collections that surfaced towards the end of the 20th century, thanks to a combination of ever deeper interest in obscurities and the general proliferation of cheap CD runs for a small but obsessive market. Like the best of the bunch, from Nuggets on down, a combination of liner notes, photos, and general stories provides a good amount of the appeal. This particular disc focuses on bands from the Tidewater area of Virginia, named after three of the groups featured here. All are pretty well unknown outside of the occasional appearance on a similar comp or two, and generally speaking the performances are an obvious mix of derivative originals and good-spirited covers dedicated to raising a fun cheap racket, like so many other regional hits and misses of the era. So coming to this for revelations isn't at all a good idea, but listening in for the heck of it often turns up some rough and ready fun. The higher octane numbers make this a good party disc and the various ballads are sweet enough, and as the compilers are proud to say, it's different from the regional "beach music" that the area is known for. Wild Thing are probably the most notable of the bunch, not only for their mighty fine "Weird Hot Nights" (dig the crazed laughs on the breaks) but their utterly insane look of huge silver pompadours and general alien decadence. It must have taken sheer chutzpah to even think of a look like that in 1966. Another noteworthy cut is from the Electrical Banana -- it's a fair cover of "There She Goes Again" by the Velvet Underground that suddenly breaks into a peppy, kick-up-your-heels ending. Not only was it probably one of the first remakes of that band ever, the actual recording was done via a gas-generator powered deck in Vietnam, where bandleader Dean Kohler, veteran of the Satellites (also featured on this collection) had ended up to serve his tour of duty! ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Aliens, Psychos And Wild Things Vol. 2
01 The Panics - No More
02 Live Wires - Scrambled Eggs
03 The Roaches - Someone With A Heart
04 Miller Brothers - Jump,Jack,Jump
05 Smacks - Reckless Ways
06 Smacks - Nobody Else Is Gonna Do
07 Smacks - There'll Come A Day
08 The Flys - The Way Things Are
09 Nite Beats - You're A Better Man Than I
10 HazzardsHey Joe -
11 The Barracudas - I Can't Believe
12 The Escorts - My Only Love
13 Phantom - I Want To See Her Cry
14 Minuteman - Why Do I Cry?
15 Uprisers - Let Me Take You Down
16 Uprisers - Nine To Five
17 The Changing Times - Go Your Own Way
18 The Changing Times - Keeper Of Souls
19 Kool Kuzzins - Love Can Be True
20 Sound On Sound - Girl You've Got To Turn Me On
21 Shades, Inc. - Fragile Fruit
22 Creations - Better Watch Out
23 Creations - I'm Mad
24 Creations - Soul And Feelin'
25 Creations - To Whom It May Concern
Like the first compilation in this series, the focus of this collection of regional garage/psych singles from the '60s covers Virginia, in this case looking more at the north of the state, near the D.C. area and elsewhere. As with the predecessor, it's a fun labor of love -- besides packing the disc full of goodies, including a slew of never released cuts, the compilers have a lot of photos and band stories to offer. One statement says it all: "True fans want the human side, not just the sides on old 45s." There are a few numbers that cropped up elsewhere, but the liner notes promise cleaner transfers and indeed everything sounds pretty darn good throughout, given both the recording conditions and the need to transfer from vinyl at points. The general musical flavor remains pretty much the same -- there's nothing really deathless throughout the 25 songs on the compilation, but all the vaunted energy and good times ascribed to the American garage explosion has a fine echo here. Standouts include the nervy "Jump, Jack, Jump" by the Miller Brothers, with some just threatening enough vocals on the verses, and a fairly echoey but still excitable enough take on the Yardbirds' "You're a Better Man Than I" by the Nite Beats. There are a lot of numbers that were clearly designed first and foremost for the local dances and gigs just about all these bands thrived on -- the Live Wires' "Scrambled Eggs" and the murkily recorded but still sharp "Let Me Take You Down" by the Uprisers are two good examples. Two brothers, Larry and Stanley Burnell, crop up in a number of bands and as producers along the way -- being a pretty good rhythm section obviously made their services in demand! ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Aliens, Psychos And Wild Things Vol. 3
01 Shades, Ltd. - Frog Hunt on Mars
02 Del-Fi's - Now It's Time
03 Perpetuated Spirits of Turpentine - I'm a Lucky Guy
04 Perpetuated Spirits of Turpentine - I'm a Double Naught Spy
05 Rejects - Just a Little Bit of You
06 Wanted & Co. - Why
07 IV Pak - Whatzit
08 Lost Souls - Minds Expressway
09 Lost Souls - For You
10 Changing Tymes - The Only Girl I Love
11 Banana - I'm a Man
12 Clover - Way She Smiles
13 Baracudas - Days of a Quiet Sun
14 Bosom Blues - Hippie Queen
15 Morning Disaster - Song of Innocence
16 Morning Disaster - Black Leather Books
17 Morning Disaster - Urban 44
18 Velvet Haze - Last Day on Earth
19 Shirley Hughey - Pink and Green
20 Plague - Cherry Road
21 Wilson Castle - Party
22 Wilson Castle - The Greatest Moments
23 Wilson Castle - Instrumental
The third installment of Arcania International's exhaustive overview of Tidewater/Richmond Virginia garage and psych from the mid-'60s is chock-full of bands that -- well -- no one has ever heard of. Like the folks at specialty labels like Gear Fab and Norton, Arcania recognizes the appeal of unknown, unsigned bands from yesteryear. And though much of this material is extremely lo-fi (Velvet Haze's fuzz-drenched "Last Day on Earth") and amateurish (Banana's disastrous "I'm a Man"), there are several gems to be found. Some tunes, like Wilson Castle's "Party" and The Bosom Blues Band's "Hippie Queen" reveal legitimately sincere attempts at musical sophistication, posing the question; what could some of these bands have accomplished with a skilled producer and first-class recording gear? The surprisingly good CSN&Y-soundalike psych-ballad, "Cherry Road," by a band called Plauge is just another fine example of this. What is, perhaps, most interesting about these bands, though, is to hear their imitation of the more popular sounds of the day. Shades of the Animals, Yardbirds, Jefferson Airplane, Iron Butterfly, and the Byrds are clearly evident. And while this collection proves that a fuzz box in the wrong hands -- or at the wrong feet -- can be a room-emptying disaster, there is no denying the exuberance, innocence, and bittersweet naivete of rock's under-the-radar bands of the 1960s. Compilations such as this, however, are perhaps most interesting to the un-initiated as -- at best -- social anthropology. This is not for the average vintage rock enthusiast, but dive right in if you are looking for something slightly strange but surely fun. ~ John Duffy, All Music Guide
Labels: Opa-Loka, Various Artists
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Chad & Jeremy - Of Cabbages And Kings - 1967
Album Review It is said that finding someone who has actually listened to this album is harder than locating the rabbit hole that led Alice down into Wonderland. The '60s were indeed a wonderland in musical terms, especially when one got past the middle of the decade, at which point any recording artist with a contract was expected to create a deep, complex, and provocative masterpiece that could be compared to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is ironic that the entire second side of this late-period Chad & Jeremy album would be entitled "The Progress Suite," since for most listeners the music on this album hardly represented any kind of progress. This duo had been known for their beautiful harmonies and romantic, wistful music. Many a teenage couple had held hands to the sound of these British lads crooning the lines "Trees, swaying in the summer breeze." A case could be made that the efforts of Chad & Jeremy were just as important to the ambience of early-'60s radio as Mick Jagger and the lads, but the only kind of hands being held when it comes to Of Cabbages and Kings might be someone preventing someone else from putting it on. Yet it really isn't all that bad. True, it would be a lie of the first order to call it a masterpiece, which is often the temptation when a listener cradles the attractive cover in one's hand or thinks about what nice personalities these two performers seem to have. The biggest problem with the record is not that it aspires falsely toward greatness, but that the music composed by Jeremy Clyde and arranged and scored by Chad Stuart sadly lacks what is sometimes referred to in composition class as attractive melodic kernels. The writing tends to be drab and, worse, sounds like something one has heard thousands of times already. And this is really quite remarkable, considering the amount of trouble the artists went to gaudying it up with all manner of orchestral trickery, all professionally done and sounding crystal clear in the mixes. Chad Stuart might write "big deal" on the liner notes under his credit for playing a variety of string and keyboard instruments, but it is something of a big deal when the performer in question was thought of previously as "just" a cute guy with a good voice and cool glasses. He is talented, and took on much work putting together the arrangements throughout this album. The end result is similar to, for example, the music performed by the high school orchestra at the conclusion of the film Mr. Holland's Opus. Or it may remind some of a performance by their own high school orchestra doing an original composition by everyone's favorite professor. The influence of the Beatles is a bit much, as some of the music is almost directly lifted from "A Day in the Life" and "Eleanor Rigby." One might also want to blame the Indian music influence on the Fab Four as well, but other listeners may find Chad Stuart's use of sitar as a regular part of the orchestra diverting, and perhaps even more relaxed than the Beatles' own blotting up of classical Indian influences. The song material that enters off and on through the long suite has some effective moments, as well as showing the vocal timbre and harmony singing style that made this duo popular in the first place. There is also skilled use made of various sound effects and voices, none of which makes the material any less pretentious. The set of songs on the first side also doesn't slouch when it comes to ambition, mixing in a variety of pop music styles, including some heavy guitar. There is excellent bass playing throughout the record, sometimes pushed to the top of the mix. One of the songs is written by James William Guercio, a musically pompous character who went on to great success with Chicago -- the band, not the city. In summation, the album seems to make a case for tolerance; repeated listening with an open mind will reveal more substance here than might seem the case based on the type of quick dismissals this record often gets. But only an extremely tolerant individual, with lots of time on their hands, is going to bother. The 2002 CD reissue on Sundazed adds five bonus tracks, including the single versions of "Rest in Peace" and "Painted Dayglow Smile" (the latter of whose LP version appeared on the 1968 album The Ark, not Of Cabbages and Kings); the 1968 single "Sister Marie"; a previously unissued instrumental version of "The Gentle Cold of Dawn"; and the previously unissued Jeremy Clyde originals "Manners Maketh Man" and "Cautionary Tale," both recorded in September 1966, a few months before any of the material that made it onto Of Cabbages and Kings. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide Chad & Jeremy - Of Cabbages and Kings 1967 (2002 Bonus Tracks)
1 Rest in Peace (6:50) 2 Gentle Cold of Dawn (3:53) 3 Busman's Holiday (3:27) 4 Can I See You (3:50) 5 Family Way (2:49) 6 I'll Get Around to It When and If I Can (2:43) 7 Progress Suite: Prologue (5:51) 8 Progress Suite: Decline (4:09) 9 Progress Suite: Editorial (2:58) 10 Progress Suite: Fall (8:33) 11 Progress Suite: Epilogue (5:11) 12 Manners Maketh Man (*) (2:15) 13 Cautionary Tale (*) (1:37) 14 Gentle Cold of Dawn (*)(Instrumental) (3:43) 15 Rest in Peace (Single Version)(*) (3:20) 16 Painted Dayglow Smile (Single Version)(*) (2:31) 17 Sister Marie (*) (3:00) Album Credits Chad Stuart Arranger, Score Gary Usher Engineer Jud Cost Liner Notes Bob Irwin Mastering Don Thompson Quartet Engineer Kip Smith Mastering Joyce Rainboldt Cover Photo Tim Livingston Project Manager Jeff Smith Design Stephanie Kennedy Production Coordination Bill Dhalle Design Tom May Engineer Jeremy Clyde Performer Chad & Jeremy Main Performer
Janis Joplin - 1968 - Live at Winterland
Great live album! But, unfortunately (or fortunately), Janis live and Janis in the studio are exactly the same thing.
Track 8
Track listing:
01) Down On Me (version 1)
02) Flower In The Sun
03) I Need A Man To Love
04) Bye Bye Baby
05) Easy Rider
06) Combination Of The Two
07) Farewell Song
08) Piece Of My Heart
09) Catch Me Daddy
10) Magic Of Love
11) Summertime
12) Light Is Faster Than Sound
13) Ball And Chain
14) Down On Me (version 2) Big Brother mostly built their reputation on live shows, playing lots of venues in San Francisco and all over the States, so that they didn't even bother about recording their new material properly in the studio (Cheap Thrills mostly consists of live material). Therefore, this album can easily serve you as a good substitute for both of their original LP's, as well as for the later Farewell Song: practically all of Janis' big hits and lots of smaller, but none the less interesting tunes are included. The CD is actually a complete recording of their two shows played in Mid-April at Winterland, San Francisco, with everything to recommend it and practically nothing to despise about it. The sound quality is quite tolerable, maybe even excellent at times. The only possible pick is that there are two versions of 'Down On Me' on here - opening and closing the album; but this, together with all the stage banter, even the most boring bits of it, being preserved, only confirms the idea that both of the sets are included in their completeness - a thing rarely cared about by record companies.
Chronologically, this is the band's next album after the self-titled one, and it's really important, because this is the era when Janis finally made the ultimate transgression and got completely loose on stage. Both shows are rather short, with seven songs in each performance, but it's fairly obvious every such show had to leave the poor girl completely exhausted, and not just because it was hard to get her lungs overcome the double guitar distortion, of course. This is where Janis becomes the unstoppable live monster, the 'give-it-yer-all' epiphany of American rock, together with Hendrix.
Track listing:
01) Down On Me (version 1)
02) Flower In The Sun
03) I Need A Man To Love
04) Bye Bye Baby
05) Easy Rider
06) Combination Of The Two
07) Farewell Song
08) Piece Of My Heart
09) Catch Me Daddy
10) Magic Of Love
11) Summertime
12) Light Is Faster Than Sound
13) Ball And Chain
14) Down On Me (version 2) Big Brother mostly built their reputation on live shows, playing lots of venues in San Francisco and all over the States, so that they didn't even bother about recording their new material properly in the studio (Cheap Thrills mostly consists of live material). Therefore, this album can easily serve you as a good substitute for both of their original LP's, as well as for the later Farewell Song: practically all of Janis' big hits and lots of smaller, but none the less interesting tunes are included. The CD is actually a complete recording of their two shows played in Mid-April at Winterland, San Francisco, with everything to recommend it and practically nothing to despise about it. The sound quality is quite tolerable, maybe even excellent at times. The only possible pick is that there are two versions of 'Down On Me' on here - opening and closing the album; but this, together with all the stage banter, even the most boring bits of it, being preserved, only confirms the idea that both of the sets are included in their completeness - a thing rarely cared about by record companies.
Chronologically, this is the band's next album after the self-titled one, and it's really important, because this is the era when Janis finally made the ultimate transgression and got completely loose on stage. Both shows are rather short, with seven songs in each performance, but it's fairly obvious every such show had to leave the poor girl completely exhausted, and not just because it was hard to get her lungs overcome the double guitar distortion, of course. This is where Janis becomes the unstoppable live monster, the 'give-it-yer-all' epiphany of American rock, together with Hendrix.
TRUTH - OF THEM & OTHER TALES
TRUTH
I was surprised to learn that this magnificent CD, one of the best retrospective releases of the mid-1990s, is still in print. Apparently a second run was made for a licensing deal which then fell through, leaving the good people at Epilogue with a big stack of CDs for a release that had already run its course on the home market. The good news is that 8 years down the line a new generation of heads have an equal opportunity to jump into this exhilarating roller coaster ride of west coast-style guitarpsych at its finest. TRUTH is one of the more obscure twigs on the amazingly vast tree that grew out of a 1964 Belfast hoodlum r'n'b act first (and last) known as Them. You've heard the great Van-era recordings, the even greater Belfast Gypsies recordings, the inconsistent but occasionally brilliant Texas-era recordings -- but prior to this CD you're unlikely to have heard this Chicago-based franchise, featuring guitarist Jim Armstrong and vocalist Kenny McDowell from the Belfast/Texas incarnations of the band, lured back to the US by a music biz impresario circa 1969. The ex-Themers teamed up with two local musicians and Truth was born, rehearsing like crazy and playing local Windy City gigs with some success. I'll refer to John Berg's very detailed liner notes for the full story and move on to the music. The bulk of the 14 songs contained on the CD are 1969 recordings made for a movie titled "College For Fun And Profit" in which the band can actually be spotted in one scene. The remaining tunes come from a 3-track acetate recorded for a prospective Epic LP that never happened. According to Jim Armstrong "Truth was the best band I ever played in. There was no pulling in different directions". It's not hard to believe him, because that's what Truth sounds like -- skillful musicians delivering music that radiates warmth, harmony and synchronization. If this sounds a bit like vintage Grateful Dead then all the better, because there is a distinct similarity between the Dead of, say, "China cat sunflower", and the airy, good-natured guitarpsych of Truth. Not much is said about the band's influences in the liner notes but if I were to define them in terms of a pin placed on a wall-map of the USA, the spot would be Highway 1 halfway between LA and the Bay Area. There is already a pin there, marked Stalk-Forrest Group, and apart from the Dead that's one band that Truth remind me of. Impressive credentials for sure, but Truth needn't be embarrassed in this company, because their music is faultless and at its best outright stunning. So very few bands manage to play music that allows space for the members full range of versatility without degrading into prog or fusion; Truth manage to do so and still deliver melodic, open-ended music. The opening "Music is life" is a program declaration as good as any; complex rhythms and bold chord shifts, yet as inviting as a Byrds 45 with McDowell's joyful vocals setting the tone for all that follows. "6 O'Clock Alarm" is your standard white-collar grind lament except with a 5-minute Garcia/Lesh-style jam in the middle, before the vocals pull you back to planet Earth. I have to refrain myself from describing every track in detail but all of it progresses along the superb '69 Dead/Stalk-Forrest axis described above; an exquisite sitar track adds a foreign flavor, while the 10-minute revisit to the Texan Them's "Square room" shows just how good raga rock can be if done with serious intentions -- like a sequel to "East-West" by the Butterfields 3 years earlier. There is another great track called simply "HIGH!" which is how you feel when hearing it, and a take on "Circle round the sun" that suits the band very well. The CD closes with the 3 tracks off the aforementioned acetate, and they're just as swell, bringing in organ and flute and a slight British influence (think Traffic) to produce one of the very best tracks on the entire CD, the powerful "Castles in the sand" that is likely to blow anyone's head off. There is some very minor surface noise on the acetate tracks while the earlier recordings are crystal clear and can be played loud as fuck! Most of the unreleased 1960s-70s stuff that appears is disappointing and shows mainly why it wasn't released in the first place, but this Truth CD is the perfect antithesis of that cynicism -- just like Stalk-Forrest Group it's better than almost anything that WAS released at the time. from lama reviews
PS THANKS TO NIKOS FOR THE INFO
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Teen Trash Series
This series full of independent newcomer-bands from all over the world, with one foot in the 60's and the other in the year 2000. A tribute to a cult that refuses to die. Cover artwork has been drawn by RUDI 'ACTION' PROTRUDI of the 'fabulous' FUZZTONES; the first eleven releases show you a typical drive-in movie theater in the usa out of the best days of rock 'n' roll, the second TEEN TRASH cover will scare you with a monstereous cover out of the best days of 50's B-movies.
My aim is to support all those local new acts, so they are able to present some vinyl or CD's to a much wider audience, than just the area where they come from. please find below a listing of all available TEEN TRASH products so far, hopefully to be continued..........
[because this post is to big......
I remove it HERE]
Enjoy !!!
My aim is to support all those local new acts, so they are able to present some vinyl or CD's to a much wider audience, than just the area where they come from. please find below a listing of all available TEEN TRASH products so far, hopefully to be continued..........
[because this post is to big......
I remove it HERE]
Enjoy !!!
Labels: Opa-Loka, Various Artists
Dave Bixby - Ode to Quetzlcoatl
Moody drug damage reflections loner xian folk psych.
lp (70?, no label D-24 700320) Ode to The Quetzalcoatl [3?]
01. Drug Song
02. Free Indeed
03. I Have Seen Him
04. Mother
05. Morning Sun
06. Prayer
07. Loneny Faces
08. Open Doors
09. 666
10. Waiting For the Rains
11. Secret Forest
12. Peace
[ Strange enchanting dreamy acoustic custom of slow melodic tunes sleepily adrift in a hazy stereo-echoed blur of ethereal guitar work and sedated vocals, heavy on the lost loner “real people” vibes. Bixby’s story is detailed on the back cover – how he destroyed his life with substance abuse (recounted in ‘Drug Song’), cried out to God for his sanity, and eventually received a testimony of Jesus Christ. Ode To Quetzalcoatl contains twelve of his post-conversion songs, featuring titles like ‘Free Indeed’, ‘I Have Seen Him’, ‘Morning Sun’, ‘Open Doors’, ‘666’ and ‘Waiting For The Rains’. Occasional cosmic weirdity in the lyrics, as on ‘Prayer’ (“pick out a cloud, and speak very loud, and that cloud will be yours forever”). Sometimes joined by a second guitar, plus onetime appearances of harmonica (‘Secret Forest’) and spacey flute (‘Peace’). The mysterious album title reference to the ancient Mexican serpent god isn’t explained anywhere, nor is it mentioned in any of the songs. Some highly unusual yet very captivating stuff here, guaranteed to make yourself ask “where is this guy coming from?”. -- Ken Scott, Archivist ]
I've been on a mild "'70s Jesus hippies" kick lately; there's the same post-apocalyptic comedown quality that's on all the folk records of the time, but some of the Jesus music is especially morose, not like today's "haha you blue-state pussies, WE WON (burrrrrrp)" cheerleaders for Team Goodbook. No, actually, with Bixby being a loner and all, it's not surprising that Quetzalcoatl is pretty solipsistic and self-absorbed -- if he were coming of age in the '80s instead, surely he'd be cutting his musical teeth doing covers of "Sanitarium" and "How Soon is Now?" at open mic nights.
01. Drug Song
02. Free Indeed
03. I Have Seen Him
04. Mother
05. Morning Sun
06. Prayer
07. Loneny Faces
08. Open Doors
09. 666
10. Waiting For the Rains
11. Secret Forest
12. Peace
[ Strange enchanting dreamy acoustic custom of slow melodic tunes sleepily adrift in a hazy stereo-echoed blur of ethereal guitar work and sedated vocals, heavy on the lost loner “real people” vibes. Bixby’s story is detailed on the back cover – how he destroyed his life with substance abuse (recounted in ‘Drug Song’), cried out to God for his sanity, and eventually received a testimony of Jesus Christ. Ode To Quetzalcoatl contains twelve of his post-conversion songs, featuring titles like ‘Free Indeed’, ‘I Have Seen Him’, ‘Morning Sun’, ‘Open Doors’, ‘666’ and ‘Waiting For The Rains’. Occasional cosmic weirdity in the lyrics, as on ‘Prayer’ (“pick out a cloud, and speak very loud, and that cloud will be yours forever”). Sometimes joined by a second guitar, plus onetime appearances of harmonica (‘Secret Forest’) and spacey flute (‘Peace’). The mysterious album title reference to the ancient Mexican serpent god isn’t explained anywhere, nor is it mentioned in any of the songs. Some highly unusual yet very captivating stuff here, guaranteed to make yourself ask “where is this guy coming from?”. -- Ken Scott, Archivist ]
I've been on a mild "'70s Jesus hippies" kick lately; there's the same post-apocalyptic comedown quality that's on all the folk records of the time, but some of the Jesus music is especially morose, not like today's "haha you blue-state pussies, WE WON (burrrrrrp)" cheerleaders for Team Goodbook. No, actually, with Bixby being a loner and all, it's not surprising that Quetzalcoatl is pretty solipsistic and self-absorbed -- if he were coming of age in the '80s instead, surely he'd be cutting his musical teeth doing covers of "Sanitarium" and "How Soon is Now?" at open mic nights.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
The Chesterfield Kings
Who Are the Chesterfield Kings?
During the late 70's and early 80's while most bands were trying to ride the New Wave, Rochester New York's Chesterfield Kings set their own course into the past... destination 1966. Since their first single ("I Ain't No Miracle Worker" b/w "Exit 9" Living Eye Records, LSD-1), released in 1979 on their own Living Eye label, the Chesterfield Kings main objective has always been to record their own collectible garage 45's. With a repertoire recognized by only a handful of 60's garage-rock-fanatics, and by keeping the early pressings small (only 500 of the first single, a mere 50 of the third), the Kings not only have achieved their goal, but in the process became the pioneers of the then flourishing garage rock revival, and continue to this day to raise the bar on the once again reborn scene.
The first release was followed in 1981 by a track on Greg Shaw's Bomp Records compilation Battle of the Garage (1981Bomp Records). Walking away with the "Battle" crown the Kings traveled from Rochester, for what would be a series of dates at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City, where they would carve out their statue, educate the next crop of bands, and draw the praise of rock journalists and New York "hipsters" alike.
1982 Here Are the Chesterfield Kings
01. Hustler
02. You Better Look Now
03. Outside Chance
04. Little White Lies
05. Won't Come Back
06. I'm Going Home
07. Expo 2000
08. No Way Out
09. Come With Me
10. Fluctuation
11. Satisfaction Guaranteed
12. 99th Floor
13. Time to Kill
14. 60 Second Swinger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1979 I Ain't No Miracle Worker [7'']
01 I Ain't No Miracle Worker
02 b/w Exit 9
Derroll Adams - Feelin Fine 1972
VTS17
VTS17
Derroll, like so many of the more technically gifted performers we booked, was introduced to us by Ian A. Anderson (it was only afterwards he told us an album was about to be released on his label - joke Ian honest!).
He was born in Portland, Oregon on 27th November 1925.
Derroll was first brought to Europe by Ramblin' Jack Elliott and his wife June in 1957. They toured together for four years before Elliott returned to the States leaving Derroll to fend for himself, something he did pretty well finally marrying Danny and settling in Antwerp.
He was a man with style and presence reaching legend status in Europe with his unique banjo style. Meeting Pete Seeger after the war persuaded him to take up the banjo.
He was a friend of the stars including the Animals, Them, the Small Faces, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Donovan. Baez indeed made his song 'Portland Town' famous. He appeared in Dylan's famed documentary 'Don't Look Back' in 1965.
Our very own Allan Taylor wrote of Derroll: 'Though now over 70 years old, his opinions, his ideas and his street learned philosophy is as fresh and to a certain extent idealistic as a young man of twenty. He never lost sight of the dream that we all shared when we started out 'on the road'. Not for him fame or glory or money, just the joy of playing music and getting by.'
Derroll Adams passed away on February 6, 2000 in Antwerp, Belgium. He remains unjustifiably better known in Europe than in the country of his birth. Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
He was born in Portland, Oregon on 27th November 1925.
Derroll was first brought to Europe by Ramblin' Jack Elliott and his wife June in 1957. They toured together for four years before Elliott returned to the States leaving Derroll to fend for himself, something he did pretty well finally marrying Danny and settling in Antwerp.
He was a man with style and presence reaching legend status in Europe with his unique banjo style. Meeting Pete Seeger after the war persuaded him to take up the banjo.
He was a friend of the stars including the Animals, Them, the Small Faces, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Donovan. Baez indeed made his song 'Portland Town' famous. He appeared in Dylan's famed documentary 'Don't Look Back' in 1965.
Our very own Allan Taylor wrote of Derroll: 'Though now over 70 years old, his opinions, his ideas and his street learned philosophy is as fresh and to a certain extent idealistic as a young man of twenty. He never lost sight of the dream that we all shared when we started out 'on the road'. Not for him fame or glory or money, just the joy of playing music and getting by.'
Derroll Adams passed away on February 6, 2000 in Antwerp, Belgium. He remains unjustifiably better known in Europe than in the country of his birth. Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
"This guy is what i call troubadour and a great personallity. Not psychedelic, mostly southern banjo stuff but with great meanings."
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The Stillroven - Cast Thy Burden Upon The Stillroven
Tracks:
01 • I'm Not Your Stepping Stone
02 • She's My Woman
03 • Hey Joe
04 • Sunny Day
05 • And My Baby's Gone
06 • Little Picture Playhouse
07 • Cast Thy Burden Upon The Stone
08 • Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me
09 • Have You Got A Penny
10 • Cheating - (previously unreleased)
11 • Little Games - (previously unreleased)
12 • Love Is A Beautiful Thing - (previously unreleased)
13 • Under My Thumb - (previously unreleased)
14 • Signed D.C. - (previously unreleased)
15 • Come In The Morning
16 • Necessary Person
17 • Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me - (previously unreleased, Version 2)
18 • Freakout - (previously unreleased)
The band known as the Stillroven began in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale, MN. It was 1965, and their original name was "the Syndicate," a name they thought should be changed when original guitarist Mark Moorhead left the band in 1966. The original lineup also consisted of bassist Rock Peterson, guitarist John Howarth, keyboardist Dave Dean, and drummer Phil Berdahl. When Moorhead left, they recruited Dan Kane to take his spot and changed their name, eventually recording "She's My Woman"/"(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" for Falcoln that year. There were only 50 copies printed for radio stations, but their next single was the first one that the public had access to. "Hey Joe"/"Sunny Day" was a hit in their hometown, but that was not enough for Peterson and Kane, who departed the same year. The band found a new bassist and guitarist in Dave Berget and Jim Larkin respectively, and soon was recording their next singles. "Little Picture Playhouse"/"Cast Thy Burden Upon the Stone" was hailed as a hallucinogenic masterpiece by garage rock enthusiasts, but the average music fan did not catch on to the regional popularity they enjoyed in Minneapolis. Their manager moved to Tucson, AZ, where he continued to guide their career from a distance. Larkin and Berget left the band as quickly as they came, being replaced by bassist Mike Flaherty and guitarist Mike O'Gara. They recorded a fourth single under this lineup, "Come in the Morning"/"Necessary Person," but after the first 100 copies printed there was enough internal dissension to have "Come in the Morning" pulled from the single and replaced with a cover of the Small Faces' "Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me." This would be the last release from the band, as they quietly broke up toward the end of 1968. A career retrospective, Cast Thy Burden Upon the Stillroven, was released in 1996 to appease garage band enthusiasts who had been waiting for more material from the group. The album included many unreleased songs, as well as a few tracks that were originally on compilations. Rumor has it that the band has an entire album recorded from 1968 that has never seen the light of day, and Sundazed Records has even promised a release of the album. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
Tracks:01 • I'm Not Your Stepping Stone
02 • She's My Woman
03 • Hey Joe
04 • Sunny Day
05 • And My Baby's Gone
06 • Little Picture Playhouse
07 • Cast Thy Burden Upon The Stone
08 • Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me
09 • Have You Got A Penny
10 • Cheating - (previously unreleased)
11 • Little Games - (previously unreleased)
12 • Love Is A Beautiful Thing - (previously unreleased)
13 • Under My Thumb - (previously unreleased)
14 • Signed D.C. - (previously unreleased)
15 • Come In The Morning
16 • Necessary Person
17 • Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me - (previously unreleased, Version 2)
18 • Freakout - (previously unreleased)
The band known as the Stillroven began in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale, MN. It was 1965, and their original name was "the Syndicate," a name they thought should be changed when original guitarist Mark Moorhead left the band in 1966. The original lineup also consisted of bassist Rock Peterson, guitarist John Howarth, keyboardist Dave Dean, and drummer Phil Berdahl. When Moorhead left, they recruited Dan Kane to take his spot and changed their name, eventually recording "She's My Woman"/"(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" for Falcoln that year. There were only 50 copies printed for radio stations, but their next single was the first one that the public had access to. "Hey Joe"/"Sunny Day" was a hit in their hometown, but that was not enough for Peterson and Kane, who departed the same year. The band found a new bassist and guitarist in Dave Berget and Jim Larkin respectively, and soon was recording their next singles. "Little Picture Playhouse"/"Cast Thy Burden Upon the Stone" was hailed as a hallucinogenic masterpiece by garage rock enthusiasts, but the average music fan did not catch on to the regional popularity they enjoyed in Minneapolis. Their manager moved to Tucson, AZ, where he continued to guide their career from a distance. Larkin and Berget left the band as quickly as they came, being replaced by bassist Mike Flaherty and guitarist Mike O'Gara. They recorded a fourth single under this lineup, "Come in the Morning"/"Necessary Person," but after the first 100 copies printed there was enough internal dissension to have "Come in the Morning" pulled from the single and replaced with a cover of the Small Faces' "Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me." This would be the last release from the band, as they quietly broke up toward the end of 1968. A career retrospective, Cast Thy Burden Upon the Stillroven, was released in 1996 to appease garage band enthusiasts who had been waiting for more material from the group. The album included many unreleased songs, as well as a few tracks that were originally on compilations. Rumor has it that the band has an entire album recorded from 1968 that has never seen the light of day, and Sundazed Records has even promised a release of the album. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
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