firock-psych

Repost: Rosetta West - X Descendant (Blues/Psych 2004)

2011-08-05T12:18:00.002+03:00

Please feel free to ask for any re-post of deleted ones!

2011-05-30T22:27:00.003+03:00

R/S has deleted all (or most) of the posts. Until the time the blog moves to another host (you will be informed), if you want any repost, please let me know, by leaving a comment and I will try to satisfy all of these requests. Thanx for your support throughout these years. Hope to be together soon!

Dragonfly - Dragonfly (1968 US Psych/Garage)

2011-05-18T00:02:00.003+03:00

A favorite among some collectors of rare late-'60s /early-'70s psychedelic albums, Dragonfly's self-titled LP is a not-so-finely balanced mixture of the sort of overwrought bluesy hard rock by bands of the period like Iron Butterfly with the poppier, more power chord-driven hard rock of the late-'60s Who. While it might be predictable for a critic to prefer the Who influences to the more generic psychedelic hard rock ones, Dragonfly are at their best when they favor the former over the latter. When they get into more standard blustery macho rock à la "Blue Monday" (not the Fats Domino classic) or "Hoochie Coochie Man," they're pretty dispensable. Yet "Portrait of Youth" has some powerhouse drumming that seems to make it pretty unlikely the percussionist hadn't avidly studied Keith Moon, and passages nodding to foppish late-'60s British pop-psychedelia are mixed into the package, sometimes incongruously so. Furious distorted guitar and some psychedelic trickery are in relative abundance, yet not at the expense of some fairly Who-ish harmonies and airier sensibilities. But there aren't any really outstanding songs here, and the mix of approaches can be cluttered and confused.

AMG Review by Richie Unterberger

Funkadelic - Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow (Great Psychedelic Soul from 1970)

2011-05-08T16:42:00.003+03:00

It's one of the best titles in modern musical history, for song and for album, and as a call to arms mentally and physically the promise of funk was never so perfectly stated. If it were just a title then there'd be little more to say, but happily, Free Your Mind lives up to it throughout as another example of Funkadelic getting busy and taking everyone with it. The title track itself kicks things off with rumbling industrial noises and space alien sound effects, before a call-and-response chant between deep and chirpy voices brings the concept to full life.

As the response voices say, "The kingdom of heaven is within!" The low and dirty groove rumbles along for ten minutes of dark fun, with Bernie Worrell turning in a great keyboard solo toward the end ó listening to it, one gets the feeling that if Can were this naturally funky, they'd end up sounding like this. From there the band makes its way through a total of six songs, ranging from the good to astoundingly great. "Funky Dollar Bill" is the other standout track from the proceedings, with a great, throw-it-down chorus and rhythm and a sharp, cutting lyric that's as good to think about as it is to sing out loud.

The closing "Eulogy and Light," meanwhile, predates Prince with its backward masking and somewhat altered version of the Lord's Prayer and Psalm 23. At other points, even if the song is a little more straightforward, there's something worthwhile about it, like the random stereo panning and Eddie Hazel's insane guitar soloing on "I Wanna Know If It's Good for You," with more zoned and stoned keyboard work from Worrell to top things off. The amount of drugs going down for these sessions in particular must have been notable, but the end results make it worthy.

01. Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
02. Friday Night, August 14th
03. Funky Dollar Bill Listen
04. I Wanna Know If It's Good To You?
05. Some More
06. Eulogy And Light

Post by CGR

Echo & the Bunnymen - Live in Athens 28 Apr. 2011 (photos)

2011-04-29T16:43:00.007+03:00

Id - The Inner Sound of the Id (US Psychedelia 1967)

2011-04-20T21:40:00.005+03:00

Official CD re-issue of this incredible album recorded in San Diego in 1967 and very much influenced by The Beatles, this album contains some great power pop, Eastern quasi-mysticism and psychedelic punk interludes packed with fuzzed up guitar and demented vocal treatments.This expanded version contains 10 bonus tracks including the interesting"Our Man Hendrix" and detailed booklet.

Paul Arnold was clearly the brainchild behind this San Diego band and produced their Beatles - influenced album. The title track is a strange voyage into the mysticism of Eastern-influenced music, which is not wholly successful. It does contain one outstanding cut, though, Boil The Kettle, Mother, which features some fine fuzztone guitar work and demented vocal style and lyrics, making it one of the classic psychedelic punk recordings.

Strangely, three versions of tracks from the Inner Sounds album: Wild Times, Don't Think Twice and Boil The Kettle turn up on the exploito-psych album Give Me Some Lovin' by The Projection Company (Custom CS 1113) 1967. The Id-entical (sic) first two also reappear as by The Associated Soul Group on the Top Hits Of Today album from 1968. They sound close enough to the originals at times, especially Don't Think Twice, to make one wonder whether The Id were behind these and perhaps other exploito tracks/albums credited to faceless (Id-less?) or fictitious groups.

Guitarist Jerry Cole had been in the Champs for a couple of years (he joined them in 1961) and also had several solo releases as well as session work. [source unknown]

01. The Rake - 2.01
02. Wild Times - 3.06
03. Don't Think Twice - 2.46
04. Stone And Steel - 3.40
05. Baby Eyes - 2.51
06. Boil The Kettle, Mother - 3.01
07. Butterfly Kiss - 2.34
08. Short Circut - 3.01
09. Just Who - 2.44
10. The Inner Sounds Of The Id - 10.29
11. Wild Times (Bonus) - 2.17
12. Don't Think Twice (Bonus) - 2.52
13. Kimega (Bonus) - 2.50
14. Our Man Hendrix (Bonus) - 3.10
15. Tune Out Of That Place (Bonus) - 2.26
16. Gimme Me Some Lovin' (Bonus) - 2.33
17. Boil The Kettle (Instr.) (Bonus) - 3.08
18. What Else (Bonus) - 2.18
19. Uh Uh Uh (Bonus) - 3.16
20. I Can't Stand It Baby (Bonus) - 2.21

Post by CGR

Deviants - Disposable (1968 British Psychedelia)

2011-04-17T11:52:00.004+03:00

Originally known as The Social Deviants (line-up 'A') this was a London-based community underground band that grew up in the Notting Hill area. Farren and Russell ran into a 21 year old millionaire who put up £700 to finance their first album on their own Underground Impressarios label. This was distributed by mail order through 'Oz' and 'The International Times' and sold sufficiently well for Decca to reissue it.

The material on their three albums was variable. The first included harsh punk (I'm Coming Home), percussion dominated progressivism (Nothing Man) as well as long gimmicky diatribes interspersed with none too imaginative music. Child Of The Sky and Bun were evidence of a softer side, but Deviation Street summarized their intent with a series of political slogans, sound effects and a variety of musical approaches which have not stood the test of time well.

Disposable had its moments, notably with good rock songs like Slum Lord, Jamie's Song, You've Got To Hold On, Fire In The City and Guaranteed. The remainder of the album was eminently disposable, however.

The Deviants also issued a single, which is now a rare collectors' item. After a disappointing third album the band disintegrated during an American tour. The remaining members plus Twink formed Pink Fairies. Rudolph also had a spell with Hawkwind.

In 1977 Farren reformed the band with a new line-up including Andy Colquhoun on bass/vcls and issued an EP for Stiff, entitled Stiff EP. In the same year their first album was reissued on Logo. Readers may also be interested in Human Garbage (Psycho 25), another 1984 reunion album, with a line-up of Farren (vcls), Sanderson (bs), Larry Wallis (gtr), Wayne Kramer (gtr) ex-MC5, and George Butler (drms). Recapturing the band's original sound and spirit quite well, it includes a re-work of Ramblin' Rose, Wallis' Police Car and Zappa's Trouble Coming Every Day.

Mick Farren started out with The Social Deviants, then truncating their name to simply The Deviants in 1967. At that time the band also consisted of Cord Rees (bass), Sid Bishop (guitar) and Russell Hunter (drums). Ptooff! was their debut album.

Rees was forced out, to be replaced by Farren's flat-mate, Duncan Sanderson. A second album, Disposable, was released.

Bishop left and Paul Rudolph joined from Vancouver (on the recomendation of Jamie Mandelkau). A third album, simply entitled The Deviants was released in 1969.

Long overdue first time re-issue of the Deviants hard to find second and possibly best album. Drugged out madness and revolutionary political rants that later would evolve into The Pink Fairies. No psych collection should be without it......

01. Somewhere to go
02. Sparrows and wires
03. Jamie's song
04. You've got to hold on
05. Fire in the city
06. Let's loot the supermarket
07. Pappa oo mao mao
08. Slum lord
09. Blind Joe McTurk's last session
10. Normality jam
11. Guaranteed to bleed
12. Sidney B Goode
13. Last man

Post by CGR

Cockney Rebel Live in Athens 8 Apr 2011 (photos)

2011-04-13T23:09:00.001+03:00

Miracle Workers - Inside Out (1985 US Garage Rock)

2011-04-13T22:46:00.003+03:00

Although the sound of this recording is a little cleaner than it needs to be for this style of music (just like most of the VOXX recordings of the mid-'80s), this album really spotlights the fact that this is one of the only garage bands that can actually boast song-writing as one of their strengths. Most bands themselves to just dig up a bunch of obscure cover songs and maybe only wrack their brains enough to write one or two half way decent originals. Here the Workers present a dozen or so great originals with only one carefully picked cover song "Hey Little Bird". Highlights include "Go Now", "Already Gone", "Tears", and "Mystery Girl". These are songs I can still hum even if I haven't listened to this disc in ages. If you love the 13th Floor Elevators, the Sonics, the Seeds, or other psychedelic/garage type music, then you'll enjoy this record too.

1. Go Now

2. That Ain't Me

3. Inside Out

4. You'll Know Why

5. Another Guy

6. Love Has No Time

7. I'll Walk Away

8. 5:35

9. Tears

10. Already Gone

11. Hey Little Bird

12. Mystery Girl

13. One Step Closer To You

Pisces - A Lovely Sight (Late 60's US Psychedelia)

2011-04-02T21:29:00.004+03:00

Though it's primarily known for its "eccentric soul" reissues, the founders of Chicago's Numero Group label also have a deep and abiding love for the wildly inventive and genre-blurring qualities of vintage psychedelic rock, and with their latest release, they've unearthed as brilliant a buried treasure as I've ever heard from the fertile period that followed "Sgt. Pepper's" and the much-vaunted Summer of Love.

Hardly a hippie haven, the psychedelic trip as interpreted in Rockford, Ill., circa 1969 was darker, grittier and on occasion more sinister and threatening than anything heard in sunny San Francisco--not for nothing does Numero describe the group of studio musicians who called themselves Pisces as aiming for "the Beatles and Jefferson Airplane, but somehow sounding more like the Velvet Underground's meth'd out Midwest cousin." As with the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, that hint of menace makes the group's journey toward the white light all the more powerful.

Previously heard only on three ultra-rare 45's issued back in the day--the group's one album remained unreleased until this collection--Pisces' other big asset is the warm, robust Earth Mother voice of sometimes vocalist Linda Bruner, who shines on tracks such as the enchanting "Dear One," the lovely "Say Goodbye to John" and the haunting "Sam." The band was not immune to the indulgences of the times--a song like "Mary" sinks under the weight of all that phasing and studio trickery, while the somber spoken-word bit in "Genesis II" would have been better left to the Moody Blues. But overall, the enduring melodies and unique ambience of "A Lovely Sight" sound as vibrant and relevant today as they did four decades ago.

The Numero Group may be more popularly defined by their various soul and funk compilations, such as the ongoing Eccentric Soul series, but for me, the most rewarding releases from the label have more often come via the excavation of decades-old fringe acts almost too obscure to even be considered undiscovered. Previous entries in the catalogue have spotlighted such musical footnotes as Antena, Catherine Howe, the original Yellow Pills compilation, Kansas Cityís Titan pop label, and most illuminating for me, the Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies from the Canyon collection, which rescued over a dozen female folk singers from the early 70s post-hippie wash-out.

Numeroís latest non-soul resurrection comes in the form of late-60s psych-pop group Pisces, who kicked around the Rockford, Illinois scene for a few years before bowing out without a whimper or even an album to their name. Adding to the romanticized back-story, the Pisces tapes which make up this compilation could still feasibly be rotting away in an Illinois basement somewhere if not for the luck of the Numero Group, who coincidentally ran across a handful of Pisces singles as they researched the bandís fledgling label, Vincent Records, presumably for an upcoming selection of highlights from the short-lived imprint.

As is the case with nearly anything Numero unearths, the music itself must stand up to modern scrutiny, as it can become too easy to elevate the status of these ¸ber-obscure acts, many of which could well be unknown for a reason. Thankfully, Pisces left behind a strong, trippy and frequently enchanting collection of psych-pop curiosities, and as always, Numero has painstakingly compiled these tracks into one revealing document, which here theyíve dubbed A Lovely Sight, after the studio run by Pisces co-leaders Jim Krein and Paul DeVenti.

As I mentioned earlier, Pisces never got around to releasing an actual album, so whatís interesting about A Lovely Sight is that Numero has taken the liberty of sequencing a selection of 13 Pisces tracks into a kind-of revisionist full-length. Theyíve done a considerable job in my view, as A Lovely Sight plays out as seamlessly as anyone could have hoped, with two distinct sides and even an Extended Play appendix, adding two additional tracks to this mock-album. And of course, the entire package is immaculate, with detailed liner notes and a handful of suitably psychedelic photos adding to the druggy nostalgia.

But back to the music, which is not only consistently strong, but also rendered in surprising clarity, as to accentuate every backwards guitar line and hand-manipulated tape experiment. The bandís occasional forays with these hallucinatory tape editing techniques remind me most directly of their contemporaries in The United States of America. But whereas USA utilized the kaleidoscopic aspects of these experiments to stretch out into lengthier head-trip excursions, Pisces use them in service of stand-alone pop songs. And these pop songs are, through and through, equally reminiscent of post-Rubber Soul Beatles, Nico-fronted Velvet Underground ballads, and Jefferson Airplane-style psych-rock rave-ups.

Early album highlight ìMotley Mary Annî on its own could pass for a Revolver outtake and in all seriousness could actually make a convincing argument for that same level of pop perfectionism. These Krein and DeVenti-led tracks are all charmingly left-of-center pop oddities, but itís when they hand the reigns over to a mysterious female vocalist by the name of Linda Bruner that Pisces really begins to add a unique dimension to their proto-typical garage psych sound. Bruner recorded vocals for four Krein/DeVenti originals, and her earth-mother sighs add an ominous atmosphere to opener ìDear One,î while her more operatic flair comes to the fore on the thrilling combo of ìSay Goodbye to Johnî and ìSam.î

Despite these considerable highlights, A Lovely Sight ends with arguably its two best tracks: ìElephant Eyesî is a steadily skipping garage-rock number of a fairly high order, and if Pisces werenít so obscure Iíd swear the Black Lips had lifted its woozy nonchalance for blatant use on their latest album; and closer ìCircle of Timeî brings things full circle, both thematically and lyrically, doubling back on ìDear Oneî and quite easily standing out as the most energetic and rocking of the tracks in this set (complete with a dizzying drum solo). It truly does sound like some sort of alternate reality hit, where Jefferson Airplane never took off and Vincent Records had the means to distribute the single outside the insulated Rockford community.

A Lovely Sight is certainly one of the stronger Numero pop/rock releases thus far, and one that will no doubt satisfy those clamoring for more from this seemingly endless well of Nuggets-style psychedelic pop. And Pisces can now stand apart from their equally obscure brethren in that their legacy wonít have to amount to a single track as part of a gargantuan box set sans context, but rather as a fully told story, complete with 15 examples of their pop ingenuity. It really is a lovely sight, and one that the Numero Group has now made a whole lot easier to admire.

01. Dear One
02. Children Kiss Your Mother Goodnight
03. Motley Mary Ann
04. Say Goodbye To John
05. Mary
06. Genesis II
07. Sam
08. Music Box
09. Like a Hole In The Wall Where The Rat Lives
10. Are You Changing In Your Time
11. In the Dreams Of Paula
12. Elephant Eyes
13. Circle Of Time
14. Flower For All Seasons
15. In The Summer The Grape Grows

Post by CGR

Incredible String Band - The Incredible String Band (Incredible debut Folk-Rock album 1966)

2011-03-25T23:35:00.004+02:00

The debut release from the original Incredible String Band trio -- Robin Williamson (violin/whistle/mandolin/guitar/vocals), Clive Palmer (banjo/guitar/vocals), and Mike Heron (guitar/vocals) -- was also their most simple. It is this minimalism that allowed the natural radiance of the band's (mostly) original material to be evident in the purist sense, and likewise without many of the somewhat intricate distractions and musical tangents that their future work would incorporate. Immediately striking is the group's remarkable and collective prowess on seemingly all things stringed -- hence, their apropos moniker. With an unmistakable blend of distinct instrumentation and harmony vocals, the Incredible String Band take inspiration from traditional music on both sides of the Atlantic. Their impish charm and tongue-in-cheek fairytale mythology also add to their folkie mystique. This first long-player -- originally issued in 1966 -- contains a bevy of songs that, while steeped in conventional folk music, are completely unique. This likewise holds true for the three traditional pieces, "Schaeffer's Jig," "Whistle Tune," and the rare Clive Palmer instrumental solo, "Niggertown." Palmer, formerly of the highly underrated Famous Jug Band, would exit the Incredible String Band after this record, and thus the perpetually rotating personnel that would guide the group for the remainder of its existence began, perhaps aptly, at the beginning. The original songs range from light and airy love ballads -- such as the Williamson solo "Womankind" or the understated mischief of "Dandelion Blues" -- to the high and lonesome sound of Mike Heron's mandolin-driven "How Happy I Am." There are likewise darker -- yet no less poignant -- tunes such as "Empty Pocket Blues" and the haunting "Good As Gone." While this album is a tremendous launch pad for potential enthusiasts, be aware that every Incredible String Band recording is also extremely individual and reflects the current membership of the group.

AMG Review by Lindsay Planer

July - 2nd of July (Unissued material from 1967 - British Psychedelia)

2011-03-20T11:29:00.005+02:00

July started out in the early '60s as an Ealing-based skiffle act working under the name of the Playboys, and then metamorphosed into an R&B outfit known as the Thoughts and then the Tomcats, through which John "Speedy" Keen passed as a drummer. The final Tomcats lineup, which evolved out of an unrecorded band known as the Second Thoughts, found some success in Spain when they went to play a series of gigs in Madrid in 1966. They returned to England in 1968, the group's lineup consisting of Tony Duhig on guitar, John Field on flute and keyboards, Tom Newman on vocals, Alan Jamesplaying bass, and Chris Jackson on drums, and changed they their name to July. The band lasted barely a year, leaving behind one of the most sought-after LPs of the British psychedelic boom (on the Major Minor label in England, and Epic Records in the U.S. and Canada).

Their sound was a mix of trippy, lugubrious psychedelic meanderings, eerie, trippy vignettes ("Dandelion Seeds," "My Clown"), and strange, bright electric-acoustic textured tracks ("Friendly Man"), with some dazzling guitar workouts (Crying Is for Writers") for good measure, all spiced with some elements of world music, courtesy of Tony Duhig (who has since come to regard July as an embarrassing element in his resume). Their first single, "My Clown" b/w "Dandelion Seeds," has come to be considered a classic piece of psychedelia while the album is just plain collectable, despite some shortcomings. The band separated in 1969, with Duhig moving on to Jade Warrior, Newman becoming a well-respected engineer, with Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells to his credit, and bassist Alan James later working with Cat Stevens and Kevin Coyne, among others. Of the various reissues, Bam-Caruso's 1987 Dandelion Seeds is the most accessible, with Essex's The Second of July consisting of previously unissued recordings from 1967.

01. You Missed it All - 1.57
02. My Clown - 2.31
03. Dandelion Seeds - 2.40
04. Stamping Machine - 1.41
05. (A) Bird Lived - 1.54
06. Look At Her - 2.17
07. The Way - 2.03
08. Friendly Man - 2.01
09. I See - 2.23
10. The Girl in The CafÈ - 1.57
11. You See Me I See You - 2.11
12. Man Outside - 3.27
13. Move On Sweet Flower - 2.10
14. Hello to Me - 2.13

AMG Review by Bruce Eder

July - July (1968 Excellent British Psychedelia)

2011-03-17T18:18:00.003+02:00

They started out as a skiffle act from Ealing, called The Playboys and then became a R&B combo The Tomcats. John (Speedy) Keen was in them for a while. In 1966, The Tomcats went to Spain with a new line-up (the future July one). As Los Tomcats, they got in the Charts with four EPs, one of which was all in Spanish! They returned to the UK in 1968, still basing themselves in Ealing.

July recorded what has become one of the most sought-after British psychedelic sixties albums. Twenty-five years on time has not been kind to all the tracks (e.g. Jolly Mary) but overall it's well worth purchasing for its eerie brand of psychedelia (on Dandelion Seeds and My Clown) and some fine psychedelic guitar work (Crying Is For Writers). More accessible are the Bam-Caruso reissue, which was put out in a different sleeve, and the Aftermath CD reissue. Both also include the second 45, which wasn't on the first album. Duhig and Field went on to be in Jade Warrior and Tom Newman later released solo albums on Virgin and Decca. He also set up Branson's Manor Studios and engineered Tubular Bells I and II. Duhig was also later in Assagai. Alan James went on to play for Cat Stevens, Duffy Power, Neil Innes and Kevin Coyne. They were managed by Spencer Davis.

July started out in the early '60s as an Ealing-based skiffle act working under the name of the Playboys, and then metamorphosed into an R&B outfit known as the Thoughts and then the Tomcats, through which John "Speedy" Keen passed as a drummer. The final Tomcats lineup, which evolved out of an unrecorded band known as the Second Thoughts, found some success in Spain when they went to play a series of gigs in Madrid in 1966. They returned to England in 1968, the group's lineup consisting of Tony Duhig on guitar, John Field on flute and keyboards, Tom Newman on vocals, Alan Jamesplaying bass, and Chris Jackson on drums, and changed they their name to July. The band lasted barely a year, leaving behind one of the most sought-after LPs of the British psychedelic boom (on the Major Minor label in England, and Epic Records in the U.S. and Canada). Their sound was a mix of trippy, lugubrious psychedelic meanderings, eerie, trippy vignettes ("Dandelion Seeds," "My Clown"), and strange, bright electric-acoustic textured tracks ("Friendly Man"), with some dazzling guitar workouts (Crying Is for Writers") for good measure, all spiced with some elements of world music, courtesy of Tony Duhig (who has since come to regard July as an embarrassing element in his resume). Their first single, "My Clown" b/w "Dandelion Seeds," has come to be considered a classic piece of psychedelia while the album is just plain collectable, despite some shortcomings. The band separated in 1969, with Duhig moving on to Jade Warrior, Newman becoming a well-respected engineer, with Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells to his credit, and bassist Alan James later working with Cat Stevens and Kevin Coyne, among others. Of the various reissues, Bam-Caruso's 1987 Dandelion Seeds is the most accessible, with Essex's The Second of July consisting of previously unissued recordings from 1967.

Post by CGR

Xit - Entrance (Late 60's group of Sioux Indians from Albuquerque, New Mexico)

2011-03-12T14:08:00.003+02:00

Fantastic rare album of some beautiful previously unreleased pre-Lincoln Street Exit tracks recorded from 1967-68 and released in 1974 by the Phoenix based Canyon Records after XIT’s two Rare Earth releases. (Max Collodie)

Track Listing

Half A Man
Open Doorway
Yellow Man Of Paris
She’s Upon Her Way
Orange Benevolence
Mississippi Riverboat Gamblin’ Man
Sunny Sunday Dream
Soulful Drifter
St. Louis Mama
Forever Or Not At All
She’s My Everything

http://www.redtelephone66.com/2010/11/xit-entrance-1974/

Hard Stuff - Bulletproof (1972 British Hard Rock)

2011-03-10T22:09:00.002+02:00

John Cann, the guitarist for Hard Stuff, came hot off the heels of Atomic Rooster, a hard driving prog rock group led by keyboardist mastermind, Vincent Crane. Hard Stuff's Bulletproof, which was released under Deep Purple's Purple Label in 1972, was considerably heavier with thick mounds of aggressive guitar chords and lightning fast leads. The music itself is very rooted in the 70s and doesn't age as well as say, Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin. But that's really if your ear is untrained to true 70s hard rock authenticity. Hard Stuff is to Blairwitch Project as Led Zeppelin is to Nightmare on Elm Street, with the latter being more raw, gritty, and not filtered through big production values and commercialism. Songs on the album like the hard hitting blues fest 'Sinister Minister' or the heavy metal self-document 'Time Gambler', convey a sense of soul, strength, and edginess which seem to be missing in most of today's contemporary hard rock music. To sum up, if you want to experience the vintage sounds of of an obscure long-haired, 70's metal group, then this is it.

1. Jay Time

2. Sinister Minister

3. No Witch At All

4. Taken Alive

5. Time Gambler (Rodney)

6. Millionaire

7. Monster In Paradise

8. Hobo

9. Mr Longevity - Rip

10. Provider - Part One

http://www.amazon.com/Bulletproof-Hard-Stuff/dp/B0009YNR7K

David Sylvian/Robert Fripp - Damage (1993 Fine Art-Rock)

2011-03-06T11:26:00.003+02:00

Damage is derived from the closing shows of the 1993 Road to Graceland tour, which heralded the collaborative reunion of King Crimson's Robert Fripp (guitar) with David Sylvian (guitar/keyboards/vocals), the former leader of Japan. This hour-plus set finds Sylvian in tremendous voice and Fripp sonically enveloping spaces and respecting silences in a bout of well-manicured fretwork. The pair is augmented by soon-to-be Krim members Pat Mastelotto (drums) and Trey Gunn (Chapman stick/vocals) as well as former Martha & the Muffins axeman Michael Brook (guitar). The contrast in styles from Fripp's ethereal Soundscapes and edgy guitar inflections to Sylvian's smoother and refined demeanor is reminiscent of Brian Eno's early collaborations with Roxy Music. The fact that both know how to manipulate the spaces between the notes unites them further. Damage is full of those moments; so many, in fact, it is amazing that Fripp and Sylvian do not make the time to work together more often. "Firepower" contains a premier example of exactly how each craftsman is able to compliment the other. Fripp's extended solos at the end of the piece are definitive and singularly his own, yet the context in which he approaches his role as soloist yields an overwhelmingly palpable symbiosis between music and musician(s). Likewise, listeners who consider Fripp a calculated and overtly technical guitarist might be shocked by his cerebrally funky additions to tracks such as "God's Monkey" and "20th Century Dreaming (A Shaman's Song)." The syncopated nature of the melodies allows for a great deal of interplay and collaboration between Gunn and Mastelotto -- a trait they'd further incorporate into the mid-'90s version of King Crimson.

AMG Review by Lindsay Planer

UFO - No Heavy Petting (1976 Great Hard-Rock)

2011-03-03T22:20:00.002+02:00

Following the breakout success of Phenomenon and Force It, UFO had finally ascended to the first division of British hard rock. And after hiring a second guitarist and keyboard player in Danny Peyronnel, Schenker and Mogg led the group back into the studio to record their fifth album, No Heavy Petting. A noticeably cautious effort, Petting stuck so close to the rules laid down by Force It that all the excitement of the band's performance wound up slipping through the cracks. Gutsy opener "Natural Thing" was competent enough to become a concert regular, but lukewarm material like "Can You Roll Her" and "Reasons Love" simply added nothing new. And bass player Pete Way didn't help things any with his only contribution, the plodding, amazingly dull "On with the Action." Even the album's best moment, the beautifully executed "I'm a Loser" (which unleashes Schenker for one of his most jaw-dropping solos ever), mimics Force It's "Out in the Street" before closing with a piano pattern straight out of progressive rockers Kansas' "No One Together." The overly dramatic "Belladonna" (complete with synthesizer-simulated harpsichord), on the other hand, is mostly a casualty of time; the kind of ballad that was effective enough in its time, but simply hasn't aged well. Thankfully, UFO would rebound in spades the following year, delivering their best all-around studio effort, Lights Out

AMG Review by Eduardo Rivadavia

801 - Live-The Rehearsal Version (Extra CD with the rehearsal version of the classic live of 1976)

2011-02-27T11:28:00.002+02:00

801 provided Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera with one of his most intriguing side projects. Although the band only played three gigs in August and September 1976, this album captures a night when everything fell right into place musically. That should only be expected with names like Eno and Simon Phillips in the lineup. (Still, the lesser-known players -- bassist Bill MacCormick, keyboardist Francis Monkman, and slide guitarist Lloyd Watson -- are in exemplary form, too.) The repertoire is boldly diverse, opening with "Lagrima," a crunchy solo guitar piece from Manzanera. Then the band undertakes a spacey but smoldering version of "Tomorrow Never Knows"; it's definitely among the cleverest of Beatles covers. Then it's on to crisp jazz-rock ("East of Asteroid"), atmospheric psych-pop ("Rongwrong"), and Eno's tape manipulation showcase, "Sombre Reptiles." And that's only the first five songs. The rest of the gig is no less audacious, with no less than three Eno songs -- including a frenetic "Baby's on Fire," "Third Uncle," and "Miss Shapiro"'s dense, syllable-packed verbal gymnastics. There's another unlikely cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me," while Manzanera turns in another typically gutsy instrumental performance on "Diamond Head." This album marks probably one of the last times that Eno rocked out in such an unself-consciously fun fashion, but that's not the only reason to buy it: 801 Live is a cohesive document of an unlikely crew who had fun and took chances. Listeners will never know what else they might have done if their schedules had been less crowded, but this album's a good reminder.

AMG Review by Ralph Heibutzki

Neil Young - Mirror Ball (Great Neil Young album with the contribution of Pearl Jam 1995)

2011-02-23T20:05:00.004+02:00

Neil Young uses Pearl Jam on Mirror Ball much as he has used his perennial backup band Crazy Horse, looking for feel and spontaneity. At the start of the record, he can be heard instructing them: "No tuning, nothing," and the take of "I'm the Ocean" is an obvious run-through that became a master take. But Pearl Jam is not Crazy Horse; in place of the latter's primitive, nonswinging sound, the former boasts spirited rhythms and dense guitar interplay that Young makes excellent use of in a series of songs built out of simple, melodic rifts. Those songs come mostly in pairs: "Song X" and "Act of Love," the first two tracks, both seem to be about abortion, especially in its religious aspect, each containing a reference to "the holy war"; "What Happened to Yesterday" and "Fallen Angel" are song fragments on which Young plays the pump organ; and "Downtown" and "Peace and Love" find Young addressing the musical and philosophical concerns of hippies and contain name checks of Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Led Zeppelin. The songs also share highly imagistic lyrics that are allusive and frequently just obscure. At their best, notably on "I'm the Ocean" and "Scenery," they provide intriguing portraits of the artist -- "People my age/They don't do the things I do," Young sings in "Ocean" -- while "Scenery" is one of his bitter denunciations of celebrity. Such subject matter is not new for Young, and Mirror Ball is typically uneven. But it is always interesting musically, suggesting that he has found another catch-up that works. Probably due to the commercial power of Pearl Jam, the album became Young's highest charting record since Harvest 23 years earlier, though it had a relatively short chart life.

AMG Review by William Ruhlmann

Procol Harum - Something Magic (1977 Prog-Rock [final album of the 1st PH era])

2011-02-18T11:18:00.005+02:00

When Procol Harum's ninth studio album, Something Magic, was released in March 1977, it sold poorly and was largely dismissed, with the group breaking up at the end of the promotional tour for it. With this reissue more than 30 years later, annotator Roland Clare argues it is "in need of outright reappraisal." He doesn't actually make that case, but he does explain the circumstances that led to the debacle. After its previous album, Procol's Ninth, produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Procol Harum might have been expected to go back to a more conventional approach; instead, the group hired the hot studio of the day, Criteria in Miami, and its hot resident producers, Ron and Howie Albert. When the band arrived in Florida and played the songs intended for the album, the Albert brothers threw half of them out. That left half of an album to fill, which led singer/pianist/composer Gary Brooker to turn to a parable-like poem written years earlier by his lyric partner Keith Reid, "The Worm & the Tree," and -- in a move anticipating This Is Spinal Tap -- writing a musical suite around it to fill up side two. He then recited the poem rather than actually setting it to music, creating a pretentious work just at a time when critics and fans were tiring of peers like Jethro Tull and Yes doing much the same thing. It didn't help that the songs making up side one were relatively minor Procol Harum. None of this has changed in the ensuing decades, but Clare's explanation is interesting to read; the remastered sound is terrific; and the album boasts three bonus tracks including not only the instrumental B-side "Backgammon," which has appeared elsewhere, but also previously unreleased live versions of two of the songs the Alberts rejected, "You'd Better Wait" and "This Old Dog." They do not suggest that Something Magic could have been a great or even good Procol Harum album. But they do add to an understanding of one of the more confusing chapters in the band's history.

AMG Review by William Ruhlmann

Damon - Song of a Gypsy (1970 Folk Psych)

2011-02-13T12:35:00.003+02:00

The Damon recordings are amongst the most sought-after and widely-loved of the late-60s underground scene. Simply put, they convey emotion and power in a very concise and believable way. Song Of A Gypsy is is an excellent psychedelic album and both gatefold/non-gatefold versions are monster rarities. There's lots of fuzz guitar and a mystical feel about tracks like Do You? and The Night, I Feel Your Love which has a sleepy, stoned atmosphere sounding rather similar to The Deep. Another track, Birds They Fly High, has spoken lyrics and 'snake charming' music, again creating a sort of Eastern mystical feel.

Based in Los Angeles, David Del Conte and Charlie Carey had already pursued careers in popular music for many years before deciding to embrace the underground rock movement. Del Conte released a considerable number of 45s; it is possible that as much as half of his discography will be found to be too early to fall within the timeframe of this book. The last recordings he made pre-Damon (aside from a handful of acetates never made available to the public) may be of interest to readers. As Damon Lane, he issued at least three singles on the Del Con label - these possess a unique Byrdsy jangle over which his trademark authoritative voice presides.

The first Damon single has a non-album 'B' side and a different lead vocal than the album version of the 'A' side. (It is, by all accounts, significantly rarer than the album and fortunately these tracks are included as one side of a 7" EP of bonus material with the reissue on the Little Indians label.) The record set the tone of the band's campaign which ran the course of 1968 - the message of love and self-expression coupled with an almost arrogant disregard for the establishment:

"I wake up each day about noon
I live in a rainbow-coloured room
I break every rule in the book
I don't even bother to look
I laugh at the heat, I've got bells on my feet
And oh, what a good boy am I"

The album itself is made up of (similarly) short, urgent tracks that overflow with Carey's amazing distorted leads and Del Conte's powerful, otherworldly voice. The title track opens Side One in dramatic fashion; the opening lyric "Today I feel like cryin', Today I feel like dyin'" delivered in a most convincing manner. It's obvious right away that you're listening to something very special. If there really is such a thing as psychedelic music, this is surely it.

It should be noted that the sound quality of this album is exemplary. Like the Cykle album, the fidelity is so good that even the bootlegs impress...

Del Conte and Carey, despite living roughly a thousand miles apart, continue to perform together and collaborated on a new album project in 1998. The resulting CD release, Gypsy Eyes has much to recommend it, not the least of which is the fact that it sounds like a second Damon album! The closing track, The Gift, is truly mindblowing, as good as anything on the first album.

You can also find the LP version of Song Of A Gypsy on Love, Peace And Poetry: American Psychedelic Music (LP & CD), but obviously, the Damon album is an essential purchase.

01. Song of a Gypsy (2:25)
02. Poor Poor Genie (2:55)
03. Don't You Feel Me (2:33)
04. Did You Ever (3:01)
05. Funky Funky Blues (3:00)
06. Do You (3:12)
07. Night (2:06)
08. I Feel Your Love (2:15)
09. Birds Fly So High (3:29)
10. Road of Life (2:44)

Post by CGR

The Cult - Sonic Temple (1989 Alternative/Metal)

2011-02-10T17:37:00.004+02:00

More varied than its predecessor, Electric, Sonic Temple finds the Cult trying several different metal styles, from crunchy Electric-era '70s grooves and the fuzzy, noisy psychedelia of Love, to mellow ballads and commercial '80s hard rock. Not all of the experiments work, as some of the songs lean toward ponderousness, but enough of them do to send Sonic Temple into the Billboard Top Ten, due to the exposure provided by the hit single "Fire Woman."

AMG Review by Steve Huey

Vanilla Fudge - The Return (2002 VF Comeback)

2011-02-05T11:20:00.004+02:00

The Return is the seventh album by the rock band Vanilla Fudge, it was released in 2002. It featured new versions of songs from throughout their career. It also features new covers of songs from 'N Sync: "Tearin' Up My Heart", Backstreet Boys: "I Want It That Way", Marvin Gaye: "Ain't That Peculiar", and a Fudge version of the Rod Stewart hit "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy", which Fudger Carmine Appice co-wrote with Stewart. The album also featured the return of Vince Martell and a new member: Bill Pascali.

Line-up / Musicians

- Carmine Appice / drums, vocals
- Tim Bogert / bass, vocals
- Vince Martell / guitar, vocals
- Bill Pascali / organ, vocals

Tracklist

"Ain't That Peculiar"
"You Keep Me Hangin' On"
"Tearin' Up My Heart"
"Shotgun"
"People Get Ready"
"Take Me For A Little While"
"Good Good Livin'"
"I Want It That Way"
"Need Love"
"She's Not There"
"Season Of The Witch"
"Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_Fudge_2001

Ultravox - Vienna (Great New Wave 1984)

2011-02-02T20:24:00.003+02:00

With the departure of vocalist John Foxx and guitarist Robin Simon behind them, Vienna kicked off Ultravox's second phase with former Rich Kids vocalist Midge Ure at the helm. Trading Foxx's glam rock stance for Ure's aristocratic delivery, Vienna recasts the band as a melodramatic synth pop chamber ensemble with most of the group doubling on traditional string quartet instruments and the synthesizers often serving to emulate an orchestra. It was a bold move that took awhile to pay off (the first two singles, "Sleepwalk" and "Passing Strangers," went unnoticed), but when the monolithic title track was released, the Ure lineup became the band's most identifiable one almost overnight. The simple and instantly recognizable drumbeat of "Vienna" proved infectious, taking the single to the top of the charts in the U.K. and making an impression in a new wave-apprehensive America. Drummer Warren Cann's monotone narration on "Mr X" and the frantic ride that is "Western Promise" give the album just enough diversity and showcase the rest of the group on an Ure-heavy album. There are plenty of pretentious and pompous moments at which Foxx-era purists cringe, but taken as a snooty rebellion against the guitar-heavy climate of the late '70s, they're ignorable. Returning producer Conny Plank's style adapted well to the new group, pitting the stark and the lush against one another. Add Anton Corbijn's photography and Peter Saville's smart cover design and all the ingredients for an early-'80s classic are there. A few albums later, it would all seem like a fluke, but on Vienna, all the pieces come together.

AMG Review by David Jeffries

Van der Graaf - Pawn Hearts (Superb Prog-Rock 1971)

2011-01-30T12:03:00.003+02:00

Van Der Graaf Generator's third album, Pawn Hearts was also its second most popular; at one time this record was a major King Crimson cult item due to the presence of Robert Fripp on guitar, but Pawn Hearts has more to offer than that. The opening track, "Lemmings," calls to mind early Gentle Giant, with its eerie vocal passages (including harmonies) set up against extended sax, keyboard, and guitar-driven instrumental passages, and also with its weird keyboard and percussion interlude, though this band is also much more contemporary in its focus than Gentle Giant. Peter Hammill vocalizes in a more traditional way on "Man-Erg," against shimmering organ swells and Guy Evans' very expressive drumming, before the song goes off on a tangent by way of David Jackson's saxes and some really weird time signatures -- plus some very pretty acoustic and electric guitar work by Hammill himself and Fripp. The monumental "Plague of Lighthouse Keepers," taking up an entire side of the LP, shows the same kind of innovation that characterized Crimson's first two albums, but without the discipline and restraint needed to make the music manageable. The punning titles of the individual sections of this piece (which may have been done for the same reason that Crimson gave those little subtitles to its early extended tracks, to protect the full royalties for the composer) only add to the confusion. As for the piece itself, it features enough virtuoso posturing by everyone (especially drummer Guy Evans) to fill an Emerson, Lake & Palmer album of the same era, with a little more subtlety and some time wasted between the interludes. The 23-minute conceptual work could easily have been trimmed to, say, 18 or 19 minutes without any major sacrifices, which doesn't mean that what's here is bad, just not as concise as it might've been. But the almost operatic intensity of the singing and the overall performance also carries you past the stretches that don't absolutely need to be here. The band was trying for something midway between King Crimson and Genesis, and came out closer to the former, at least instrumentally. Hammill's vocals are impassioned and involving, almost like an acting performance, similar to Peter Gabriel's singing with Genesis, but the lack of any obviously cohesive ideas in the lyrics makes this more obscure and obtuse than any Genesis release.

AMG Review by Bruce Eder

David Sylvian - Gone to Earth (Very Good Art-Rock 1986)

2011-01-30T11:58:00.004+02:00

David Sylvian is a brilliant rock & roll guitarist and vocalist. He is also a great electronic minimalist. Sadly, he tries hard to do both together. Gone to Earth has moments of brilliant instrumental ambience with deep samples and misplaced vocals. The instrumental virtuosity grabs listeners immediately. Sylvian surrounds himself with some of the greats -- Bill Nelson, Robert Fripp, and Mel Collins among them. The sound is dynamic and gentle at the same time. There is an ambient version of Gone to Earth, which is a better disc but hard to find.

AMG Review by Jim Brenholts

Rust - Come With Me (1969 British Psychedelic Rock)

2011-01-23T11:40:00.003+02:00

Originally released in 1969 on the independent German label Hor Zu. A minor masterpiece of British psychedelic pop full of gorgeous keyboard sounds, weird & sparse arrangements, treated piano, general garage mayhem, fuzzed-up guitar, distorted vocals and sound effects. For fans of the Deviants. Miniature LP sleeve with original artwork.

Upon a first listening of these guys you may be tempted to write them off as one of those bands whose groovy shtick consisted of phased guitars and distorted vocals. The first song proper, "You Thought You Had It Made" doesn't do much to dispel this. By the time you get to "Please Return", however, you will notice that something very peculiar is happening-they're writing some fantastic songs! This song, especially, is a wonderful melodic metaphor for loneliness that wouldn't have been lost in a John Donne anthology with a great, understated guitar solo to boot. It doesn't stop there, brace yourself for "Should I", a song that reaches heights sublime you will not here very often on music from this era; and that chorus: "Should I ask the sunset for another dance/ Should I ask the stars for some more romance/Should I have a home now shuffling my feet/Should I laugh at dirty faces talking in the street?" The title track is a winner for the chorus-there's also a neat intro to the song that opens the album.

It is too bad they can't sustain this kind of quirky greatness throughout the album. Although the playing is first rate (the drummer especially shines at times), it's hard to top finer moments of the earlier songs. The next few songs are some of the standard psychedelic fare you often heard in this time period. "Think Big" recalls Evil Hearted You-era Yardbirds; "Rust" is a decent enough song whose vocal and lyrical styles evoke some of Syd Barret's work on the first Floyd album; "Delusion" might make you think of some of the heavier moments of the Amboy Dukes. "The Endless Struggle", though having very heavy metaphysical lyrics, doesn't quite reach the majestic heights of "Please Return". In all, this album doesn't so much represent what the mainstream of the sixties was like, but is nevertheless one of those turns down a strange alley that, although not leading to anywhere particularly special, remain unforgettable in the least.

01. Come With Me (Introduction)
02. You Thought You Had It Made
03. Please Return
04. Should I
05. Think Big
06. Rust
07. Delusion
08. Doesnt Add Up To Me
09. Find A Hideaway
10. Come With Me
11. The Endless Struggle

Post by CGR

Swampgas - Swampgas (1972 Hard Blues Rock)

2011-01-22T15:39:00.003+02:00

If you find this album, buy it, whatever the cost. A band that has a southern drawled singer, so they gotta be from Texas, Louisiana or somewhere nearby. Blazing heavy guitars all over the place with wah-wah, backwards fazing and east/west stereo special effects. Everything you need for psychedelic guitar perfection.

Loose, rural psych/hard rock from 1972 with fluid guitar and masterful organ, produced by Artie Kornfield at A&R in New York. 8 powerful tracks with interplay that is similar to bands like (early) Lynyrd Skynyrd, Trapeze etc. Great songs like "Frolic Child" build from a gentle ballad into a beautiful guitar workout whilst "Trapped in the City" is a 6 minute bluesy workout with excellent phased Hammond work. Nice album.

01.Patato
02.Don't
03.The Waiting, E Train Blue
04.Trapped In The City
05.Eulogy
06.Frolic Child
07.Pala
08.Egg Shells

Post by CGR

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971 Great Psychedelic Soul)

2011-01-19T20:15:00.002+02:00

Funkadelic is a heavyweight psychedelic-soul experiment that pits rough rock guitar and instrumentals against soul chants. A collective of voices and musicians, who also double as Parliament, Invictus group, rock and soul, some of the funkiest, far-out flings in soul music. "Can You Get To That," "You And Your Folks" and "Wars at Armageddon" are typical Funkadelic freak-outs. (Billboard 1971)

I'll just say it up front: the title song of this album contains the best guitar solo in the history of rock music. You won't believe me, probably, because you have your own favorite solos clutched tightly to your chest, and anyway, isn't Funkadelic, well, y'know, a funk band? I salute your right to worship your own guitar gods; that's why we listen to loud music. But don't let the name of the band, or their color, or the age of this album fool you: Eddie Hazel recorded - in one take - the solo against which all other solos would be measured if he hadn't been African American. Sorry to play the race card, but it MUST be true.

The story on Maggot Brain is that George Clinton, out of his mind on Yellow Sunshine, told Hazel to play the first half of the song as if he had just heard that his own mother was dead, and then the second half as if he had found out she was alive. The result is beyond "astonishing" or "powerful" or anything else critics usually say; it's an improvised composition, of both deep blues purity and cold, hard, futuristic vision. There is a band backing it, but it fades out (reputedly because they sounded shitty next to Hazel), and it's pretty much just one man showing us what he's made of. If you've heard it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, well, the record store is open and you just got paid.

The rest of the album is excellent, too, and diverse, with the soul of "Back in Our Minds" sounding great next to the Black Sabbath funk of "Super Stupid" (which contains, by the way, another stunning Eddie Hazel solo), and the Bernie Worrell organ burnout of "Hit It and Quit It." And the whole thing ends in perfect Funkadelic fashion with "Wars of Armageddon," a long-ass guitar workout featuring screaming, hilariously over-the-top crowd chanting, sound effects that make no sense (cows, farts, sirens, canned sitcom laughter), and the overall feeling that everything is coming apart. (Hey: it was Detroit in 1971.) This CD is not quite 37 minutes long, but it runs the gamut of emotions, musical styles, and points of view. And it contains the greatest guitar solo in the world.(Matt Cibula)

Funkadelic, a black group from the still riot-smoldering streets of Plainfield, New Jersey, pushed their energies into total freak-rock mind expansion beyond their riot-wrecked environs and heads and beyond the staid, tried and true frontiers/boundaries of what both black and white American culture demanded from black musicians. These said styles--soul, R&B, blues and doo-wop-- also operated to some extent as an imprisoning musical ghetto. So it was a true leap forward when George Clinton, Funkadelicís guiding light, vocalist, songwriter and arranger, synthesized elements from all these styles and fused them into a ghetto blast off that was Funkadelic, about as alien to the older black music establishment as possible.
All the Hendrix and Zappa comparisons are just that because early Funkadelic from this period was a far more casual and hungry a proposition. I mean, if you can ever get your hands on the original Westbound LP, just look at the group picture in the gatefold: A bald and eye-shaded Tawl Ross is holding a Belgian block in one hand, head tilted to one side, wearing a cheap and ugly multi-coloured leather jacket oozing nothing but attitude (And in a totally Iggy way, as a friend of mine pointed out recently). The other members are posed in positions of not street corner bullcrappiní, but stoned, thin, ready for everything and smiling out of their skulls, from the barren, rubble-strewn abandoned Plainfield lot.

The title track instrumental unfurls side one with a Clinton intonation and damply echoed drums slowly thud out against an ever-swaying, cradling rhythm guitar which guitarist Eddie Hazel begins to hang his delay, fuzz-wah and sustain runs against. Thereís even the crackling of unseated guitar-to-amp cord, which doesnít do anything but add to the real, stripped of all pretense atmosphere. Thereís soaring feedback trail-offs, and the guitar does gently disappear at times, only to reappear along with the drums, occurring unnoticeably often. A hi-hat is way in the background as Hazel reappears with a sprightly guitar run with all effects off, only to deftly slip back into a fuzz-wah double-tracked delay right before it rips through all the barbed wire stitches and into an ultra-psychedelic disjointed run that hovers over the waste of ghettos everywhere. Itís a wail of injustice, with nowhere to turn but to guitar and amplifier as cop, judge and jury. And the only judgment a soothing voice encouraging, ìGo, Maggot Brainî. Even at about ten minutes long, it still fades to soon, and this track holds some of the purest, expressive and unwavering guitar soloing ever. It is imbued and practically short-lists ALL THE SHIT from Hazelís personal experiences specifically and is a microcosm of all the flaming shit hoops blacks had to jump through not to just be accepted, but to SURVIVE. How these actions impacted psychologically over several hundred years worth of this treatment and manifested within members of this exploited and suppressed human race is unfathomable to conceive. And it was this experience that drove Clinton to create a mythology to catapult himself out of the white world, out of the USA and into the heavens with his ideas, music and stage presentation. Because only then was he was a free man.

The rest of side one is taken up with three songs. ìCan You Get To Thatî is gospel hour, with low, low Ruben & The Jets ìyou can come out of the closet nowî vocalizing against a group chorus with acoustic guitar and Bernie Worrellís first appearance, here on piano. ìHit It And Quit Itî is where Worrell is on genre-traversing Hammond leads as an echo-chambered Hazel solo, appear though at the fade out, burns on and on. The bottom heavy ìYou And Your Folks, Me And My Folksî features more of the drums echoed into almost metallic bursts as piano and percussion fill a dark and heavy night. The assembled vocal chorus of ìYeah, yeah, yeahî sways throughout in a gospel zone dub out.
Side two is where Funkadelic go completely over the top. There are only three songs, and they are relentlessly free of everything except for the ability to zap at two thousand paces. The first track, ìSuper Stupidî is about as heavy as Funkadelic ever gotówhich is to say, itís got a tighter stop and start groove than Bonzo on ìPresenceî and the most roaringingly out-of-control-yet-in-control and out there guitar Eddie Hazel ever laid down. His rhythm snakes through an entire scat-ass chorus, mimicking it, and never loses speed. In fact, Hazel, Fulwood, Nelson, Worrell, Ross, everybodyóis unconsciously so behind the groove, that the combined momentum pushes it ever so slightly and undetectably faster with every second (You only need to listen to it on CD repeat a few times. After it ends, compare it to the opening of the drums at the beginning. I donít know how they ever laid that down or made it work, but there was no thought behind it at all. Itís magic, sheer fuck magic). And Hazelís electric fence fry-out at the fade is some of the most O-mind French kissing of all time. ìBack In Our Mindsî is the necessary goofball percussion and piano sing-along, seeing as itís wedged between ìSuper Stupidî and the extended LP finale, ìWars Of Armageddonî, which is nearly ten minutes of ìTime Has Come Todayî cowbell, while Worrellís organ and the tight drums keep it all in the pocket as the sounds of crying babies, more extreme wah-wahíed soloing from Hazel, cries of ìGoddamn hypocrite!î all fly over the ever-steady Funkadelic rhythm section. In this case, the whole band is the rhythm section, so tight yet loose as it is. More muddled voices and then laughter appear. The groove has been heating up for four minutes with no sign of stopping when a cuckoo clock sounds, along with a goofy ìPoo poo pa doo!î as the Grandest Funk Railroad of all times is steaming down the tracks, not even stopping for the cow moo sound effects. The drums get all hammered into an ultra-compressed tinny din like King Tubby recording The Who in 1965, and then the whole ìMore Power/Pussy/People to The People/Pussy/Powerî proclamations start up, and pretty soon, farting. It all cuts off with multiple A-bombs going off, Clinton intoning as the last minute becomes nothing but silenceÖall the bullshit, along with the entire world, is goneÖuntil a human heartbeat appears.

Then the wildly giddy Funkadelic jam returns ever so slightly, just to blow your mind even further. Which their Westbound albums do at an alarming rate, but fewer still at this velocity. (Reviewed by The Seth Man, 24th July 2000)

01 - Maggot Brain - 10.20
02 - Can You Get To That - 2.50
03 - Hit It And Quit It - 3.50
04 - You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks - 3.36
05 - Super Stupid - 3.57
06 - Back In Our Minds - 2.38
07 - Wars Of Armegeddon - 9.44

Post by CGR

REPOST: Stavros Logaridis - Stavros Logaridis (1978 Greek Prog-Rock from a member of the legendary Poll)

2011-01-16T12:06:00.006+02:00

Ο Λογαρίδης γεννήθηκε στην Κωνσταντι-νούπολη το 1953 και, σε ηλικία μόλις 18 ετών, γνωρίζει την επιτυχία και την καταξίωση με τους θρυλικούς POLL στις αρχές των 70ς [Τουρνάς / Λογαρίδης / Ουίλλιαμς]. Μετά τη διάλυση των Poll, άρχισε η - πολύπλευρη και ενδιαφέρουσα - προσωπική του καλλιτεχνική σταδιοδρομία. Στην αρχή με τους ΑΚΡΙΤΑΣ, ένα πολύ καλό προγκρέσιβ ροκ σύνολο, στους οποίους ο Σταύρος έπαιζε μπάσο και τραγουδούσε. Οι "ΑΚΡΙΤΑΣ" κυκλοφόρησαν το 1973 έναν δίσκο - που σήμερα είναι συλλεκτικός - και μετά διαλύθηκαν. Μέχρι τα μισά των 80ς έβγαλε κάποιους προσωπικούς δίσκους, οι οποίοι δεν γνώρισαν την απήχηση που τους άξιζε [πάντως, λατρεύω το τραγούδι του "ΜΑΝΟΥΛΑ ΕΛΛΑΣ"]. Για μένα, όμως, η αγαπημένη του δραστηριότητα ήταν οι μουσικές που έγραφε για τηλεοπτικά σήριαλς και εκπομπές και για τον κινηματογράφο !!! Αν δεν το ξέρετε, η μουσική της εκπομπής ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟΡΑΜΑ είναι δική του !!! Όμως, η αγαπημένη μου μουσική είναι αυτή που έγραψε για την ταινία του ΠΑΝΟΥΣΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ "ΟΙ ΑΠΕΝΑΝΤΙ", όπου ο Σταύρος παίζει μόνος του όλα τα όργανα !!! Επίσης, γνωστή είναι και η αντιδικία του με τον ΒΑΓΓΕΛΗ ΠΑΠΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ, καθόσον ισχυριζόταν ότι η μουσική του τελευταίου στο "ΔΡΟΜΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΦΩΤΙΑΣ", για την οποία είχε πάρει Όσκαρ, ήταν δικής του έμπνευσης !!! Πάντως, οι δικαστικοί αγώνες δικαίωσαν τον Vangelis [αν κάποιος γνωρίζει περισσότερες πληροφορίες γι' αυτό, θα είναι χαρά μου να τις διαβάσω] !!! Στα μέσα των 80ς εμφανίζεται ξανά στον δίσκο του ΓΙΩΡΓΟΥ ΖΗΚΑ "ΜΕ ΤΑ ΦΕΓΓΑΡΙΑ ΧΑΝΟΜΑΙ", όπου επωμίζεται το ρόλο τόσο του ερμηνευτή όσο και του ενορχηστρωτή !!! Μετά ... χάθηκε ξανά για αρκετό καιρό. Ώσπου .....

Στα μέσα των 90ς τον πέτυχα στο μικρό μπαράκι "ΕΝΑΛΛΑΞ", να παρουσιάζει έναν καινούριο δίσκο του, μετά από σχεδόν μια δεκαετία δισκογραφικής [και όχι μόνο] απουσίας !!! Τίτλος της δουλειάς του "ΟΝΕΙΡΕΜΕΝΕΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΕΣ" [πολύ αξιόλογος δίσκος, στον οποίο συνέβαλε, νομίζω, και η ΒΑΣΩ ΑΛΑΓΙΑΝΝΗ, που, όμως, πέρασε απαρατήρητος] !!! Μιλάμε .... η σκηνική του παρουσία με είχε μαγέψει !!! Έπαιζε όρθιος την κιθάρα του, ταξιδεύοντάς μας είτε με τα παλιά των Poll, είτε με παλιά ρεμπέτικα, είτε με τα καινούρια τραγούδια του .... Μαγευτικός, υπέροχος .... Και ... κρίμα που εκείνη την ημέρα [που ουσιαστικά σηματοδοτούσε την επιστροφή αυτού του πολύ σπουδαίου καλλιτέχνη στα πράγματα] ήμασταν στο μαγαζί μόλις .... 15 άτομα !!!!

"Σταύρος Λογαρίδης"!!!!!!!!!! με ένα πολύ καλό artwork με κοπτικό εξώφυλλο του Θόδωρου Πανταλέων!!!φωτό Άλιντα Μαυρογένη, η παραγωγή έγινε από τον Γιάννη Πετρίδη και τον Βίκο Αντύπας με ηχολήπτη τον Νίκο Δεσποτίδη, μουσικοί που συμμετύχαν:Δήμης Παπαχρίστου - όλες τις κιθάρες, Γιώργος Φιλιππίδης -μπάσσο, Γιώργος Τρανταλίδης -τύμπανα, Γιώργος Μαγκλάρας -βιολί, Νίκος Πολίτης -μπάσσο, Νίκος Βαρδής -μπάσσο, Γιώργος Τσουπάκης - τύμπανα, Μαριάντζελα & Ευτυχία - φωνητικά, Μάκης Παπαθεοδώρου - πνευστά,

Α' πλευρά :) 1. Το Πρώτο τραγούδι, στίχοι: Ρασούλης, 2. Πόλεμος, 3. Ράντη, 4. Σνιφ - σνιφ, 5. Jane

B' Πλευρά:) 1. Close the door, 2. O Απελπισμένος, 3. Light, 4.Παρ'ολίγο..., 5. Βέρα Κρούζ εξπρές

http://www.musicheaven.gr/html/modules.php?name=Splatt_Forums&file=viewtopic&topic=16577&gotolast=1

Magazine - The Correct Use of Soap (Great Post-Punk 1980)

2011-01-15T12:16:00.002+02:00

This is something of a return to standard operational form for Magazine, who thawed after recording Secondhand Daylight to throw together an energetic batch of colorful and rhythmically intricate songs. It's an unexpected move considering that they enlisted Martin Hannett (Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, Crispy Ambulance), master of the gray hues, as the producer. A looser, poppier album than its predecessors -- somewhat ironically, a cover of Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is the most subdued song -- it features the rhythm section of John Doyle and Barry Adamson at their taut, flexible best and guitarist John McGeoch at his most cunningly percussive. Save for the called-for razzle-dazzle on "Sweetheart Contract," keyboardist Dave Formula takes more of a back seat, using piano more frequently and no longer driving the songs to the point of detracting from the greatness of his mates, as the most frequent complaint of Secondhand Daylight goes. Howard Devoto's lyrics are also a little less depressive, though they're no less biting. The closing "A Song from Under the Floorboards" -- another near-anthem, an unofficial sequel to "The Light Pours Out of Me" -- includes sticking Devoto-isms like "My irritability keeps me alive and kicking" and "I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit." His themes of distrust and romantic turbulence remain focal, evident in "You Never Knew Me" ("Do you want the truth or do you want your sanity?") and "I Want to Burn Again" ("I met your lover yesterday, wearing some things I left at your place, singing a song that means a lot to me"). "Because You're Frightened" is the closest they came to making a new wave hit, zipping along with as much unstoppable buoyancy as Lene Lovich's "New Toy" or the Teardrop Explodes' "Reward," yet it's all fraught nerves and paranoia: "Look what fear's done to my body!" Song for song, the album isn't quite on the level of Real Life, but it is more effective as a point of entry.

AMG Review by Andy Kellman

David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees (Brilliant Art-Rock 1985)

2011-01-09T10:03:00.003+02:00

For an album of only seven tracks, Brilliant Trees is an eclectic affair fusing funk, jazz, and ambient. Its best pieces are the moody jazz of "Red Guitar," the dusky atmosphere of "Weathered Wall," and "Brilliant Trees" itself, both of which feature the woozy trumpet of Eno collaborator and fourth-world pioneer Jon Hassell. The record also showcases guest players like Holger Czukay. Some CD editions also carry the three-part "Words With the Shaman" to make up a fuller album.

AMG Review by Kelvin Hayes

Pearl Jam - Ten (Superb Alternative/Grunge 1991)

2011-01-06T15:48:00.003+02:00

Nirvana's Nevermind may have been the album that broke grunge and alternative rock into the mainstream, but there's no underestimating the role that Pearl Jam's Ten played in keeping them there. Nirvana's appeal may have been huge, but it wasn't universal; rock radio still viewed them as too raw and punky, and some hard rock fans dismissed them as weird misfits. In retrospect, it's easy to see why Pearl Jam clicked with a mass audience -- they weren't as metallic as Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, and of Seattle's Big Four, their sound owed the greatest debt to classic rock. With its intricately arranged guitar textures and expansive harmonic vocabulary, Ten especially recalled Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. But those touchstones might not have been immediately apparent, since -- aside from Mike McCready's Clapton/Hendrix-style leads -- every trace of blues influence has been completely stripped from the band's sound. Though they rock hard, Pearl Jam is too anti-star to swagger, too self-aware to puncture the album's air of gravity. Pearl Jam tackles weighty topics -- abortion, homelessness, childhood traumas, gun violence, rigorous introspection -- with an earnest zeal unmatched since mid-'80s U2, whose anthemic sound they frequently strive for. Similarly, Eddie Vedder's impressionistic lyrics often make their greatest impact through the passionate commitment of his delivery rather than concrete meaning. His voice had a highly distinctive timbre that perfectly fit the album's warm, rich sound, and that's part of the key -- no matter how cathartic Ten's tersely titled songs got, they were never abrasive enough to affect the album's accessibility. Ten also benefited from a long gestation period, during which the band honed the material into this tightly focused form; the result is a flawlessly crafted hard rock masterpiece.

AMG Review by Steve Huey

Christine Perfect - Christine Perfect (1969 Great Blues Rock)

2011-01-03T14:01:00.004+02:00

Christine Perfect is the self-titled debut album of the music artist of the same name (Perfect being the maiden name of the future Christine McVie). It was released just after she left Chicken Shack but before she joined Fleetwood Mac. The Album contained the hit single "I'd Rather Go Blind" from Christine's days with Chicken Shack.

Christine McVie (born Christine Anne Perfect on July 12, 1943 near Greenodd, Cumbria) is an English rock singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary fame came as a member of the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac though she has also released three solo albums. McVie has a deep contralto vocal range.

Christine Anne Perfect was born in the small village of Bouth in the Lake District, but eventually grew up in the Bearwood area of Smethwick, where her father, Cyril, was a college professor and concert violinist. Christine's mother Beatrice (called Tee) was a medium, a psychic and a faith healer. Her grandfather had played the organ in Westminster Abbey. Although Christine had been introduced to the piano at age four, she didn't really take to music until she was 11. She continued taking classical music lessons until the age of 15, when her older brother, John, brought home a Fats Domino songbook which transformed her musical interest from classical music to rock n' roll. Other early influences include The Everly Brothers and The Beatles.

Christine studied sculpture at an art college in Birmingham, England for five years, with the goal of becoming an art teacher. During that time she met a number of budding musicians in England's blues scene. Although studying art at the time Christine had an innate love for the music business. Her first foray into the music field didn't come until she met two friends Stan Webb and Andy Silvester in a pub one night. At the time they were playing in a band called "Shades Of Blue" which had a few dates booked but no bass guitarist. Knowing that Christine had musical talent they asked her to join. Also during that time she would often sing with Spencer Davis. After five years Christine graduated from art college with a teaching degree, but by that time "Shades of Blue" had split up.

Fresh out of art college, Christine found that she didn't have enough money to launch herself into the art world, so she moved to London, where she worked briefly as a department store window dresser.

In 1968, a friend of Christine told her that her ex-bandmates Andy Silvester and Stan Webb were forming a blues band and were looking for a pianist, so she wrote to them asking to join them. A few days later they replied, inviting her to play keyboards/piano and sing background vocals in their band Chicken Shack. Christine stayed with Chicken Shack for two albums and together they scored the top 10 British hit "I'd Rather Go Blind" with Christine on lead vocals. She was given a Melody Maker award for female vocalist of the year, and she was lauded for having one of the "top 10 pairs of legs in all of Britain". Christine left Chicken Shack in 1969 after meeting Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie.

Christine was a big fan of Fleetwood Mac at the time and while touring with Chicken Shack the two bands would often run into each other (they were also stablemates at Blue Horizon). Encouraged to continue her career, she recorded a solo album, Christine Perfect, which she does not feel is among her better works. As Christine McVie, she joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970, just after marrying Fleetwood Mac bass guitarist John McVie. She had already contributed backup vocals, played keyboards, and painted the cover for Kiln House. The band had just lost founding member Peter Green and its members were nervous about touring without him. McVie had been a huge fan of the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, and since she knew all the lyrics to their songs, she went along. McVie quickly became an essential member of the group and the author of some of its finest songs, a position she would continue to hold for nearly 25 years.

The early 1970s was a rocky time for the band, with a revolving door of musicians, and only the albums Mystery to Me and Bare Trees scoring any successes. Furthermore, a group impersonating Fleetwood Mac was touring the United States without their permission. John McVie's alcohol drinking became unbearable, and Christine had an affair with a music producer.

01. "Crazy About You Baby" (Williamson) - 3:03
02. "I'm on My Way" (Robey) - 3:10
03. "Let Me Go (Leave Me Alone)" (McVie) - 3:35
04. "Wait and See" (McVie) - 3:14
05. "Close to Me" (McVie, Haywood) - 2:40
06. "I'd Rather Go Blind" (Jordan, Foster) - 3:52
07. "When You Say" (Kirwan) - 3:14
08. "And That's Saying a Lot" (Jackson, Godfrey) - 2:58
09. "No Road Is the Right Road" (McVie) - 2:49
10. "For You" (McVie) - 2:46
11. "I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)" (Hendricks, Otis) - 3:26
12. "I Want You" (White) - 2:23

Post by CGR

Blue Cheer - New! Improved! (1969 Acid-Psych)

2010-12-26T11:27:00.004+02:00

New!Improved! Blue Cheer is the third album by Blue Cheer, first released in March 1969 on Philips Records. The group's sound was hard to categorise, but was definitely blues-based, psychedelic, and loud. The group underwent several personnel changes after the 1968 release of Outsideinside, and then yet more changes during and after 1969's New! Improved! Blue Cheer (different guitarists on side 1 and 2). After Leigh Stephens was replaced by Randy Holden, formerly of Los Angeles garage rock band The Other Half, in 1968, Blue Cheer's style changed to a more commercial hard rock sound ‡ la Steppenwolf or Iron Butterfly. For the fourth album Blue Cheer, Holden, who had left during the third album, was subsequently replaced by Bruce Stephens. Stephens later quit and was replaced by Gary Lee Yoder, who helped complete the album.

Randy Holden is a guitarist best known for his involvement with the West Coast proto-metal group Blue Cheer on their third album, New! Improved! Blue Cheer (1969).

Randy Holden was born on the 2nd of July 1945 in Pennsylvania and grew up on the move. He played in a number of bands including The Iridescents (blues rock), The Fender IV (surf rock) and The Sons of Adam (surf rock/psychedelic rock). While playing in The Sons of Adam Holden opened for the Rolling Stones at their first show at the Long Beach Sports Arena. Holden was heavily influenced by Keith Richard's guitar and amp set up which helped change his own attitude towards equipment and tone.[2] The Sons of Adam (specifically Holden) began experimenting with distortion and feedback which pushed into psycedelic rock. Holden left the band frustrated with the lack of original material.

Holden joined up with The Other Half, a psychedelic garage band from Los Angeles. They recorded one album together before Holden parted ways. He then replaced Leigh Stevens in Blue Cheer and appeared on one side of the album New! Improved! Blue Cheer (1969). Holden toured with Blue Cheer for an entire year before once again parting ways.

Frustrated with lack of control over the bands, Randy formed his own band with drummer Chris Lockheed. At first Lockheed played both drums and keyboard simultaneously, but later decided to stick with just drums. During this time Holden obtained a sponsorship deal with Sunn amplifiers. Through this he received his legendary sixteen 200 Watt amplifiers. His new band was dubbed Population II which was a reference to the fact there were only two members in the band as well as an astronomical term (see metallicity). The band recorded a single album, Population II (1969). Trouble with the release of the album led to Holden going bankrupt, losing all his equipment and quitting music. Population II was eventually released in bootleg forms and official released years later.

After 23 years he began playing music again, reportedly coerced into playing again by a loyal fan. He recorded Guitar God in 1994

01. "When It All Gets Old" (Kellogg) - 3:01
02. "West Coast Child of Sunshine" (Stephens) - 2:41
03. "I Want My Baby Back" (Stephens) - 3:19
04. "Aces 'n' Eights" (Kellogg, Peterson, Stephens) 2:47
05. "As Long as I Live" (Peterson, Stephens) - 2:20
06. "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" (Dylan) - 3:16
07. "Peace of Mind" (Holden) - 7:22
08. "Fruit & Icebergs" (Holden) - 6:05
09. "Honey Butter Lover" (Holden) - 1:16

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Bethnal - Crash Landing (British New Wave 1978)

2010-12-26T11:23:00.003+02:00

Bethnal was a British rock band formed in London in 1972 and featured George Csapo (vocals, keyboards, violin), Pete Dwoling (drums), Nick Michaels (guitar), and Everton Williams (bass). A straight-ahead rock ensemble (albeit with the unusual addition of violin), Bethnal was mistakenly redefined as a punk group in the mid-'70s. It was an error corrected by listening to their two 1978 albums, the second of which, Crash Landing, was made under the direction of the Who's Pete Townshend. Bethnal failed to find an audience and broke up in 1980.

AMG Review by William Ruhlmann

UFO - Lights Out (Superb British Hard-Rock 1977)

2010-12-21T13:55:00.003+02:00

Michael Schenker and Phil Mogg really started to find their groove as a songwriting team with their second album together (and fourth UFO release overall), Force It. In fact, the last remaining folk and space rock tendencies that had stolen much of Phenomenon's thunder are summarily abandoned here, as the group launches itself wholeheartedly toward the hard rock direction that would make them stars. The first step is taken by Schenker, of course, who confidently establishes the aggressive, biting guitar tone that would define all the releases of the band's glory years. "Let It Roll" and "Shoot Shoot" kick off the album in rousing fashion, and while holding them under a microscope might reveal them as rather disposable slabs of hard rock, they would remain concert favorites for the band nonetheless. The punchy single "Love Lost Love" sounds tailor-made for the American market and acoustic ballad "High Flyer" is quite good, despite taking a dip in energy. But things only really start to gell on the album's second half. Schenker and Mogg wheel out their most mature composition yet with the piano-led "Out in the Street," whose softer sections truly highlight Mogg's highly disciplined, understated vocal style and make the guitar player's more restrained soloing all the more memorable. Schenker is soon back in charge, however, on the stuttering riffs and blistering fretboard work of "Mother Mary" and the downright vicious stop-start strut of "This Kids" -- both UFO anthems. One of the band's best albums, Force It will not disappoint lovers of '70s English hard rock.

AMG Review by Eduardo Rivadavia

Plastic Cloud - Plastic Cloud (Great Folk-Psych 1968)

2010-12-21T13:46:00.007+02:00

Quite simply, one of the greatest psychedelic albums ever made. This 1968 Canadian release is one hip album, full of catchy melodies and hippie harmonies, as well as some of the most superb (and trippiest) fuzz guitar ever recorded. There is no point singling out a specific track, they are all excellent. Remastered from the tapes; the accompanying twenty-page booklet has all the lyrics, thanks to Don Brewer, the man who wrote them, as well as rare photos and a replica of an original press release that must be seen to be believed.

From Bay Ridges, Ontario, this band made one of the best and most sought-after albums of the psychedelic era. All of the tracks were written by Don Brewer and it's one of the most consistently good Canadian albums of this era. There's lots of fuzz guitar on tracks like Shadows Of Your Mind, Face Behind The Sun and Civilization Machine, whilst Dainty General Rides and Art's A Happy Man are nice soft rock numbers. The pick of the album? The ten minute Eastern-influenced You Don't Care, which is full of lots of lovely fuzz. The album was produced by Jack Boswell and Bill Bessey.

01. Epistle To Paradise - 3.36
02. Shadows Of Your Mind - 4.18
03. Art¥s A Happy Man - 3.12
04. You Don't Care - 10.36
05. Bridge Under The Sky - 4.36
06. Face Behind The Sun - 4.50
07. Dainty General Rides - 4.14
08. Civilization Machine - 8.51

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Oriental Sunshine - Dedicated to the Bird We Love (Very Good Folk-Psych 1970)

2010-12-18T14:12:00.003+02:00

Yet another mysterious and long-lost psych-folk album, Dedicated to the Bird We Love, originally released in Norway at the dawn of the '70s and then re-released by Sunbeam in 2006, is a more worthy candidate than most for its status, if not truly a unique artifact. It's a pleasant enough listen which mixes and matches its styles in an easygoing fashion. Thanks in part to the strong quality of Nina Johansen's voice, an obvious comparison point might be the Shocking Blue, but Oriental Sunshine's brief is less fierce, hook-driven hits than a more contemplative ramble. That said, this isn't a spare guitar-and-nothing-else effort either -- opener "Across Your Life" has a surprisingly thick, busy sound deep in the mix, with drums, sitar, keyboards, and more turning into a roiling bed of music at once agitated and strangely serene. This depth becomes a hallmark of the album, as Johansen and Rune Walle's singing steps to the fore with the key melodies while the music unobtrusively fills out the sound. Sometimes the mix does get calmer in overall comparison, as on songs like "Visions," but it provides a gentle variety to the album as a result. Flute and sitar appear often enough to be core to the sound rather than simply window dressing, though admittedly neither are used in strikingly unique fashion -- as with the album as a whole, the result is an enjoyable niche rather than a lost masterpiece flat-out, and once or twice, as with the introduction to "Unless," the effect feels more clichéd than anything else. (The lyrics themselves veer there at points too, but never to the point of distraction.)

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

The Cramps - Off the Bone (1983 Psychobilly Compilation)

2010-12-18T14:07:00.004+02:00

This British compilation includes the entirety of the Cramps' first release, the Gravest Hits EP, along with selections from Songs the Lord Taught Us, Psychedelic Jungle, Smell of Female, and a live version of "You Got Good Taste" (shortened here to "Good Taste"). It covers the years 1979-1983, a formative period in the band's long career. Ten of the tracks can also be found on the domestic compilation Bad Music for Bad People, which was released the following year. Although the bulk of the material consists of covers, you can hardly tell (barring an intimacy with any of the originals). Once the Cramps get hold of a song, they always make it their own -- even the more recognizable numbers like "Surfin' Bird," "Lonesome Town," and "Fever." All benefit from Lux Interior's vocal prowess. He's a proto-punk screamer like Screamin' Jay Hawkins or the Sonics' Gerry Roslie on the rockin' numbers, but can caress a ballad like mid-period Elvis when the need arises. None of the songs sound as if they could possibly have been written anytime after the '60s. Alex Chilton produced the first ten tracks, the Cramps the remaining seven. The cover art for ...Off the Bone has varied over the years; the 1987 Illegal edition is rendered -- appropriately enough -- in 3-D.

AMG Review by Kathleen C. Fennessy

Cowboy Junkies - The Caution Horses (1990 Alternative Rock)

2010-12-12T11:55:00.003+02:00

With the ethereal voice of Margo Timmins gleaning the lyrics "The phone rings, but I don't answer it/Good news always sleeps till noon" on the opener ("Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning), listeners rest assured -- the Junkies haven't compromised their comfortable, country-twanged, folk-rock style to cater more to the trends of the masses. Mellow, honest, and provocatively reticent at points, their melancholic tone might seem bland to those with more aggressive tastes, or to simply more mainstream palettes, but for those whose tastes float serenely upstream, and for Junkies fans in general, this album is a treat. As usual, brother and lead guitarist Michael Timmins has created narratives that make poetry of everyday observations and anecdotes. Not as rocking as later releases, but offering more originals than earlier ones, this, their third full-length, brings back the mandolin and fiddle playing of Jeff Bird, the accordion stylings of Jaro Czerwinec, and pedal & lap steel guitar from Kim Deschamps -- all of which gracefully complemented the Trinity Sessions recordings. Their arrangements seem simply planned, and it's the combination of such a consistently minimalist quality with Michael Timmins' delicate songwriting that evokes ghost-story moods ("Witches") and sunset-beyond-the-porch-swing moments. Aside from the Neil Young cover "Powderfinger," The Caution Horses marks the Junkies' gradual shift toward more original work, and stands as the calm before the more rocking, commercially successful storm of material that followed. Highlights include "'Cause Cheap Is How I Feel," "Rock and Bird," and "Escape Is Simple."

AMG Review by Deanne Briggs

Arthur Brown - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (Superb Psychedelia 1968)

2010-12-12T11:50:00.001+02:00

Though a bit over-the-top, this album was still powerful and surprisingly melodic, and managed to be quite bluesy and soulful even as the band overhauled chestnuts by James Brown and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. "Spontaneous Apple Creation" is a willfully histrionic, atonal song that gives Captain Beefheart a run for his money. Though this one-shot was not (and perhaps could not ever be) repeated, it remains an exhilaratingly reckless slice of psychedelia. The CD reissue includes both mono and stereo versions of five of the songs. Although the mono mixes lack the full-bodied power of the stereo ones, they're marked by some interesting differences, especially in the brief spoken and instrumental links between tracks.

AMG Review by Richie Unterberger

Craig Armstrong - The Space Between Us (Great Trip-Hop 1998)

2010-12-11T11:27:00.004+02:00

Craig Armstrong's long history of string arrangements and composing (for U2, Massive Attack, the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack) helps him out on his solo debut album. The Space Between Us is impeccably produced, from the redos of Massive Attack's "Weather Storm" and the music from the balcony scene of Romeo + Juliet to the new ballad "This Love," with vocals by Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser. If there is a problem with the album, it's that the other tracks have that vague feel of a soundtrack or original score that sounds pleasant enough but doesn't make for diverting listening.

AMG Review by John Bush

Edgar Broughton Band - Edgar Broughton Band (Superb Blues-Rock 1971)

2010-12-10T17:14:00.004+02:00

The most conventional of the Edgar Broughton Band's first (and best) three albums, 1971's Edgar Broughton Band finds the group dispensing with the no-holds-barred mania and theatricality responsible for such classics as "Out Demons Out," "Up Yours," and "Apache Drop Out" and concentrating instead on more musical endeavors. It's an approach that arguably captures the band at their very best at the same time as revealing them at their ugliest. The two-part epic "For Dr. Spock" conjures images of Gong, as it drifts closer to space rock than the Edgar Broughton Band had hitherto ventured, while "House of Turnabout" certainly restates the group's free-freak credentials with its rumbling percussion and scything guitars, a second cousin to the roars that punctuated Wasa Wasa and Sing Brother Sing. The heart of Edgar Broughton Band, however, lies elsewhere. The lilting chant "Thinking About You," with its spectral reminders of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero," is certainly one of their most rancorous concoctions, while "Evening Over Rooftops" rides an acoustic guitar as pretty as its flowery lyric, but you know there's something rotten squirming just below the surface, even if you can never quite put your finger on it. The pure pop backing vocals, all "sha-la-la" and "doo-be-doo-be-doo," of course, only add to your unease. And, as that is merely the opening number, you can guess what you're in for over the rest of the album long before you actually get it.

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Eyeless in Gaza - Photographs As Memories (Post-Punk 1981)

2010-12-10T17:11:00.002+02:00

With no real songs to speak of, Eyeless in Gaza's debut was inundated with an erratic pop sensibility and a frustrating non-style-over-substance sense of work ethic. Only the occasional success hinted of things to come. The one-two punch of "Speech Rapid Fire" and "John of Patmos" would go on to stand up well against anything the band later released, the former a mangled, melancholic take on '80s synth pop and the latter squealing off in far too many directions to suggest a well-adjusted mindset and using both pre-IDM beat mechanics and structureless Arkestra anti-music to deconstruct the ubiquitous mid-album ballad. [This was later reissued on CD in 2000 with the bonus tracks "Invisibility," "Three Kittens," "Plague of Years," "Others," "Jane Dancing," "Ever Present," and "Avenue With Trees."]

AMG Review by Dean Carlson

10cc - Sheet Music (2nd album Art-Rock 1974)

2010-12-04T14:13:00.003+02:00

10cc's second album was the next phase in what guitarist Eric Stewart called the band's "masterplan to control the universe. The Sweet, Slade, and Gary Glitter are all very valuable pop," he proclaimed, "but it's fragile because it's so dependent on a vogue. We don't try to appeal to one audience, or aspire to instant stardom, we're satisfied to move ahead a little at a time as long as we're always moving forward." Sheet Music, perhaps the most widely adventurous album of what would become a wildly adventurous year, would more than justify that claim. "It grips the heart of rock'n'roll like nothing I've heard before," raved Melody Maker, before describing 10cc as "the Beach Boys of "Good Vibrations," the Beatles of "Penny Lane," they're the mischievous kid next door, they're the Marx Brothers, they're Jack and Jill, they're comic cuts characters, and they're sheer brilliance." Stewart certainly agreed -- he told that same paper, 10cc's music was "better than 90% of the sheer unadulterated crap that's in the charts" and, 20 years on, bassist Graham Gouldman continued, "Sheet Music is probably the definitive 10cc album. What it was, our second album wasn't our difficult second album, it was our best second album. It was the best second album we ever did." Three hit singles spun off the record, and most of the other tracks could have followed suit; it says much for Sheet Music's staying power that, no matter how many times the album is reissued, it has never lost its power to delight, excite, and set alight a lousy day.

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Slade - Sladest (Glam-Rock compilation 1973)

2010-12-04T14:08:00.002+02:00

Falling somewhere between the glam of T.Rex and the hard rock of Nazareth, Slade's finest moments came with arena rockers "Cum on Feel the Noize," "Mama Weer All Crazee Now," and "Gudbye t' Jayne," songs specifically written to be strong live numbers that would get kids up off their seats. Sladest is a "best-of" collection that includes all of the material that helped the band sell tons of records and fill arenas in the U.K. in the early '70s. When Slade stray from their successful formula of catchy guitar riffs and big choruses -- with soft rockers like "Coz I Luv You" and "Pouk Hill" -- they tend to fall flat.

AMG Review by Paul Tinelli

Jonathan Richman - It's Time for... Jonathan Richman (1986 Alternative Rock)

2010-12-01T21:49:00.004+02:00

Produced by Andy Paley, It's Time for... welcomes back to the fold former Modern Lovers guitarist Asa Brebner, resulting in a fuller and more lively sound than Richman has enjoyed in some time. Taking full advantage of Richman's sax-blowing acumen, the record sports a wistful early rock & roll feel: "Let's Take a Trip" and "Yo Jo Jo" are energetic rave-ups, "This Love of Mine" is a sweet doo wop ballad, and "It's You" is a joyous romantic romp. The highlight is "Corner Store," an impassioned plea against modernization.

AMG Review by Jason Ankeny

Lucifer's Friend - Lucifer's Friend (Hard Rock 1970)

2010-11-28T13:18:00.004+02:00

Lucifer's Friend is probably most known Lawton's project after Uriah Heep. Band was formed in 1970. (from almost a same lineup band Asterix)

This is the first album by heavy metal/progressive rock band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1970. There are many Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin influences heard throughout this album, most notably the dark lyrics heard on many songs, especially the song "Lucifer's Friend." There is a little controversy that "Ride In The Sky" is a rip off of the "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, but this is not true due to the fact that "Ride In The Sky" was written before Robert Plant wrote "Immigrant Song." There are also some very striking similarities between this album and Black Sabbath's debut because both are the first and self-titled albums by both bands, both have a self-titled song, and both have arguable anti-christ band names.

The British-born John Lawton was vocalist for a group called Stonewall. Peter Hecht, Dieter Horns, Peter Hesslein, and Joachim Reitenbach were members of a band called the German Bonds. The five joined together to record an album under the band name of Asterix in 1970, then changed their name to Lucifer's Friend and continued under that name. Another group called the Pink Mice was a side project by some of the members in 1971 minus Lawton.

The early albums were released on the Vertigo Records label in Europe, but in the United States those albums were released on a series of small independent record labels (Billingsgate, Janus, Passport), often a year or more after their release in Europe. Thus, despite airplay in some markets and a cult following, the band's albums were hard to find and commercial success eluded them. The band was finally signed to Elektra Records in the late 1970s who released three albums with a more commercial pop oriented sound, but by then interest in the band had waned; those albums were even less successful than the earlier ones.

Lucifer's Friend was known for changing musical styles and influences on each album. The self-titled 1970 debut had dark lyrics and a stripped-down guitar and organ style heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath[citation needed]. That album is still sought after by fans of early heavy metal music. The second album, Where the Groupies Killed the Blues, took an entirely different direction; it was a very experimental album of progressive and psychedelic rock, mostly composed by John O'Brien Docker. On the third album, I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer, they changed direction again, this time in the straightforward rock style popularized by such groups as Grand Funk Railroad, and gritty "life on the road" themes in the lyrics. Banquet featured extended, multi-layered jazz fusion compositions and a 30-piece backup band, alternating with some shorter tracks reminiscent of Chicago and Traffic. Those first four albums are all concept albums of a sort and along with the self-titled Asterix album are the most sought after today.

Mind Exploding established a holding pattern and tried to combine the jazz of Banquet with the garage-rock of Rock & Roll Singer, but was not as well received as the earlier albums. Vocalist John Lawton left in 1976 to join Uriah Heep and was replaced by Mike Starrs, former vocalist with Colosseum II. John Lawton returned for the 1981 album Mean Machine. On the two albums without Lawton they moved to a more commercial sound, on 1978's Good Time Warrior and 1980's Sneak Me In.

John Lawton's 1980 solo album on RCA, Heartbeat, was a Lucifer's Friend album in everything but name, with the lineup from Sneak Me In performing as backup musicians on that project. Lawton's official return, Mean Machine, found the band returning to heavy metal, this time in the vein of Rainbow. The band officially broke up in 1982 but briefly reformed in the early 1990s to release a new CD, Sumo Grip.

01. "Ride in the Sky" - 2:55
02. "Everybody's Clown" - 6:12
03. "Keep Goin'" - 5:26
04. "Toxic Shadows" - 7:00
05. "Free Baby" - 5:28
06. "Baby You're a Liar" - 3:55
07. "In the Time of Job When Mammon Was a Yippie" - 4:04
08. "Lucifer's Friend" - 6:12
09. "Horla" [Bonus]
10. "Lucifer's Friend" [Bonus]

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Magazine - Secondhand Daylight (1979 Great Post-Punk album)

2010-11-28T13:14:00.001+02:00

Secondhand Daylight, the second Magazine album, sounds like it must have been made in the dead of winter. You can imagine the steam coming out of Howard Devoto's mouth as he projects lines like "I was cold at an equally cold place," "The voyeur will realize this is not a sight for his sore eyes," "It just came to pieces in our hands," and "Today I bumped into you again, I have no idea what you want." You can picture Dave Formula swiping frost off his keys and Barry Adamson blowing on his hands during the intro to "Feed the Enemy," as guitarist John McGeoch and drummer John Doyle zip their parkas. From start to finish, this is a showcase for Formula's chilling but expressive keyboard work. Given more freedom to stretch out and even dominate on occasion, Formula seems to release as many demons as Devoto, whether it is through low-end synthesizer drones or violent piano vamps. Detached tales of relationships damaged beyond repair fill the album, and the band isn't nearly as bouncy as it is on Real Life or The Correct Use of Soap -- it's almost as if they were instructed to play with as little physical motion as possible. The drums in particular sound brittle and on the brink of piercing the ears. Despite the sub-zero climate, the lack of dance numbers, and the shortage of snappy melodies, the album isn't entirely impenetrable. It lacks the immediate impact of Real Life and The Correct Use of Soap, but it deserves just as much recognition for its compellingly sustained petulance. Even if you can't get into it, you have to at least marvel at "Permafrost." The album's finale, it's an elegant five-minute sneer, and as far as late-'70s yearbook scribbles are concerned, "As the day stops dead, at the place where we're lost, I will drug you and f*ck you on the permafrost" is less innocuous than "All we are is dust in the wind."

AMG Review by Andy Kellman

Mainstream - Mainstream (1998 Alternative Rock)

2010-11-27T13:24:00.003+02:00

Stranded
Join Us
Little By Little
Bewitched
Privilege
Castaway
Plain Truth
Transatlantic
Can Jam
Rolled On Southern Blues
Step Right Up

Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink (Superb British Prog-Rock 1971)

2010-11-23T17:16:00.004+02:00

In the Land of Grey and Pink is considered by many to be a pinnacle release from Caravan. The album contains an undeniable and decidedly European sense of humor and charm. In addition, this would mark the end of the band's premiere lineup. Co-founder David Sinclair would leave Caravan to form Matching Mole with Soft Machine drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt in August of 1971. As a group effort, In the Land of Grey and Pink displays all the ethereal brilliance Caravan created on their previous pair of 12" outings. Their blending of jazz and folk instrumentation and improvisational styles hints at Traffic and Family, as displayed on "Winter Wine," as well as the organ and sax driven instrumental introduction to "Nine Feet Underground." These contrast the decidedly aggressive sounds concurrent with albums from King Crimson or Soft Machine. In fact, beginning with the album's title, there seems to be pastoral qualities and motifs throughout. Another reason enthusiasts rank this album among their favorites is the group dynamic which has rarely sounded more singular or cohesive. David Sinclair's lyrics are of particular note, especially the middle-earth imagery used on "Winter Wine" or the enduring whimsy of "Golf Girl." The remastered version of this album includes previously unissued demos/alternate versions of both tracks under the titles: "It's Likely to Have a Name Next Week" and "Group Girl," respectively. The remastered disc also includes "I Don't Know Its Name (Alias the Word)" and "Aristocracy," two pieces that were completed, but shelved in deference to the time limitations imposed during the days of wine and vinyl. The latter composition would be reworked and released on Caravan's next album, Waterloo Lily. The 12-page liner notes booklet includes expanded graphics, memorabilia, and an essay penned specifically for the reissue.

AMG Review by Lindsay Planer

Calexico - Aerocalexico (Great collection 2001)

2010-11-21T09:52:00.002+02:00

This is one of the better odds and ends collections you'll run across from any band -- with one or two more vocal tracks, and a pinch more of their mariachi-surf-Ennio Morricone signature sound; this tour/website disc would be indistinguishable from the band's official releases and arguably as good. That's because Aerocalexico is home to some of the band's best songs, B-sides, and compilation entries, like the hard-driving "Crooked Road & the Briar," the holiday song "Gift X-Change," covers of the traditional ("All the Pretty Horses"), Nick Drake's "Clothes of Sand," and yet another version of "Crystal Frontier" (the band's EP, Even My Sure Things Fall Through, features two more versions). Many of the vocal-less interludes may be little more than studio snippets that don't amount to too much taken out of context (eight of the 23 tracks are under one minute long), but woven together they form a cohesive quilt for the traditional songs, and some of the more elaborate instrumentals. Some of the soundscapes stand on their own quite well, offering a compendium of the Calexico stylebook: "Blacktop" features tape loops, synth wash, and a slightly distorted nylon-stringed guitar accompanying the grizzled voice of Southwest historian and author Lawrence Clark Powell; "Impromptu for Piano & Contrabass" is a moody, Erik Satie-inspired composition showcasing the classical leanings of bandleaders Joey Burns (contrabass), and John Convertino (piano); the desert noir-like "Sequoia" is an evocative, image-conjuring soundtrack; and the full-band treatment that Goldfrapp's "Humano" gets morphs it from an electronica James Bond homage into a jazz-inflected, instrumental rave-up. Calexico is one of indie rock's more imaginative musical collectives, and Aerocalexico is a wide-ranging document of their talents and influences, despite its humble origins.

AMG Review by John Schacht

Andwella's Dream - World's End (Prog/Psych Rock 1970)

2010-11-21T09:46:00.003+02:00

Andwella (also known as Andwella's Dream and The Method) was an obscure UK/Irish band in London formed in 1969. Specialising in progressive rock, it was fronted by Dave Lewis from Northern Ireland, who went on to write "Happy To Be An Island In The Sun" that was recorded by and became an international hit for Demis Roussos. Andwella released three LPs: Love & Poetry (Reflection 1969), World's End (CBS 1970) and People's People (CBS 1971). The track "World's End" was played frequently in the early 1970s on the then-underground FM station in Georgetown, WMAL. The original vinyl LP Love & Poetry has for some time been a valuable collector's item

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andwella

Dubrovniks - Audio Sonic Love Affair (1991 Aussie Rock)

2010-11-20T13:48:00.003+02:00

The Dubrovniks are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1987. The band's name was coined from the fact that founding members Roddy Radalj and Boris Sujdovic were born in Dubrovnik, a town in Croatia. Both Radalj and fellow founder James Baker had been founding members of Hoodoo Gurus (as Le Hoodoo Gurus). All three had earlier associations in Perth, Western Australian punk scene.

The band were first established in August, 1986 when Radalj teamed up again with James Baker (by then ex-Beasts of Bourbon), together with Boris Sujdovic (ex-Rockets, The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon) and Peter Simpson (Spectre's Revenge) as the Adorable Ones. Within a year the Adorable Ones had renamed themselves the Dubrovniks in honour of the fact that Radalj and Sujdovic were both born in the historical Croatian city of Dubrovnik. The band having to change names as there already was a Brisbane band with that name.

Citadel issued the singles "Fireball of Love" b/w "If I Had a Gun" in April, 1988 and a cover of Alvin Stardust's "My Coo Ca Choo" b/w "Girls Go Manic" in November, 1988. By the time the band recorded and issued the single "Speedway Girls" b/w "Freezin' Rain" in June, 1989 and their debut album, Dubrovnik Blues in August, 1989, Radalj had moved on to form a new band, the Punjabbers, comprising Radalj, Brett Ford (drums; ex-Kryptonics, Lubricated Goat), Tony Robertson (bass; ex-The Hitmen, New Christs, Naked Lunch) and Tony Thewlis (guitar; ex-Scientists) The Punjabbers only had one release, a single "Rock'n'Roll Loveletter" on Timberyard Records in December, 1988. Radalj then formed The Surfin' Caesars and recorded several albums.

Chris Flynn (guitar, vocals; ex-Headstones) eventually replaced Radalj, and the band signed to Mushroom Records. The band's releases on Mushroom, both produced by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley, maintained the revved-up, trashy rock'n'roll tradition. Audio Sonic Love Affair released September, 1990 included the singles "She Got No Love" b/w "Got this Far" (June, 1990) and "Love is on the Loose" b/w "Something's not Right in the World" (October, 1990). Glenn Armstrong (guitar; ex-Horny Toads-Girlies) replaced Simpson in 1990, and the band issued Chrome in June, 1992. The album produced two singles, "Saigon Rose" (February, 1992) and "French Revolution" (June, 1992). In between albums, Baker and Sujdovic toured and recorded with Beasts of Bourbon. In early 1991, the two severed their commitments to the Beasts in order to concentrate on The Dubrovniks. Mushroom dropped the band in 1993. German label, Normal, issued Medicine Wheel in Europe, and Mushroom Distribution Services (MDS) distributed it in Australia.

The Dubrovniks broke up in 1995 with Baker returning to Perth, where he joined power pop band, Satellite 5, with John Rushin (vocals), Phil Bradley (guitar; ex-Jackals), Doug Thomas (guitar; ex-Dagoes, Spikes) and Howard Shawcross (bass; ex-Elks, Howard I Know, Jackals). Sujdovic went on to form a new band, Black Dirt, together with Flynn, Chris Collins and Paul Loughhead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovniks

Electronic Hole - Electronic Hole (Psychedelia 1970)

2010-11-20T13:42:00.004+02:00

Last time we discussed Phil Pearlman, I stated he must've been some kind of musical genius, though I knew very little about him apart from the evidence of two highly obscure privately pressed albums. This time around I only know a touch more about his back-story, but this record of his from 1970 under the moniker the Electronic Hole proves he was indeed, a musical genius. Recorded in between the Beat of the Earth and the rural rock masterpiece Relatively Clean Rivers, the Electronic Hole bridges the gap between the drone raga rock of the former and the tunefulness of the latter. And it just may be the best of the three.

Two long suites comprising seven songs of very forward-looking psychedelic rock quite unlike any I've ever heard before, effortlessly prefiguring the likes of Galaxie 500 and Spacemen 3. The Electronic Hole is somewhat more menacing than either of Pearlman's other incarnations, more heroin-y sounding perhaps, but from what I understand he was a teetotaler only prone to getting high on life and the fragrance of incense. Heroin seems an appropriate touchstone though as the only other group even coming close to the primal-ness of these songs were the Velvet Underground, and by 1970 even they'd primarily traded those baser emotions in for a sort of melancholic roots rock. On the final track, an early incarnation of one of the Relatively Clean Rivers songs appears, devoid of any ruralness with pure white noise in its stead. And I mean like Les Rallizes Denudes molten white noise. Superb.

Reissue of the extremely obscure 2nd Radish label album, originally issued in 1970. "Raw, noisy, droning and completely mesmerizing album recorded by Phil Pearlman between the first Beat of the Earth album and Relatively Clean Rivers. Pearlman assembled The Electronic Hole in 1969 strictly for personal use -- to audition musicians for his new band. To do this, and to add to his own collection of demos, he used local studios in off-hours thanks to his friendship with album engineer Joe Sidore. The result is entirely different from Beat of the Earth, as it abandons a freeform improvisational approach in favor of 'compositions', including a wild cover of Frank Zappa's 'Trouble Every Day'. Pearlman plays sitar to great effect on the album, and another track has the thickest wall of fuzz guitars imaginable -- an effect he achieved by running his Fender amplifier out of a child's chord organ ('sounded great for about two weeks, then it blew up!'). Few albums have such an eclectic yet appealing sound."

A raw, noisy, droning and completely mesmerizing album recorded by PHIL PEARLMAN between the first Beat of the Earth album and Relatively Clean Rivers. Pearlman assembled the ELECTRONIC HOLE in 1969 strictly for personal use to audition musicians for his new band." Recorded in local studios during off-hours, the album is entirely different from Beat of the Earth, as it abandons a freeform improvisational approach in favor of "compositions," including a wild cover of Frank Zappa's "Trouble Every Day." Pearlman plays sitar to great effect on the album, and another track has the thickest wall of fuzz guitars imaginable.

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Kristyl - Kristyl (1975 Psychedelia from Kentucky)

2010-11-17T18:28:00.000+02:00

Recorded at Allen-Martin Productions Louisville, Kentucky. This is a psych christian rock group Kristyl who released this LP in private pressings of only 200 in 1975. The music is reminiscent of Wishbone Ash from the Argus album. This album is homemade guitar psychedelia from Kentucky. A nice mixture of gentle dreamy passages, heavier acid guitar and wah-wah fuzz along with charmingly teenage vocals.

Highly regarded local Christian 1970s melodic guitar-rock with an open late-1960s westcoast vibe, dual guitars and great organic playing/vocals all around. They have a very distinct sound which makes the tracks seem similar at first, but it opens up after some plays and remains that way. The best tracks such as "Deceptions of the mind" and "Valley of life" are truly monumental. Personal fave, one of the big ones in the style. Great sleeve design - note the drummers t-shirt. Originals were pressed on very thin vinyl, so most copies have slight bowl warps.

Timeless pinnacle of teenage, rural, Christian psychedelia. The consensus seems to be that this is a 1975 recording, but dealers always (accurately) describe it as sounding much earlier. The psychedelic playing on ëDeceptions of the Mindí often contrasts with the anti-drugs/sex lyrics: ìAlcohol and sex unclean, copping drugs all over the scene/What is it that we need, Lord itís love and itís for freeî. Kentucky canít have been an easy place to strike a deal to have this recorded, so maybe they felt they needed to put an anti-drugs message in here and there. The music is consistently wonderful, side 1 in particular, with side 2 ending with the beautiful ëMorning Gloryí. The dual guitars are laden with effects and full of interesting twists and turns. The singing is honest and clear. Not as crazed as Fraction, but in the same league of expressive, sincere musicianship. A beautiful, naÔve feeling pervades the whole LP, like they believed anything could happen, the world could change as a result of their sounds. For me, they were right. Why is the drummer wearing a shirt with a hash leaf on it, perhaps it says ìhash free zoneî underneath? The sleeve art is also top-ten, being a monochrome crudely drawn snake encircling the earth.

01 - Together
02 - Deceptions
03 - Like A Bird
04 - The Valley Of The Light
05 - Woman
06 - Blue Bird Blues
07 - Morning Glory

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Langsyne - Langsyne (Very Good German Prog-Rock 1976)

2010-11-17T18:21:00.002+02:00

This album is a validation of the notion that less can, indeed, be more. Recorded in 1976, just as the progressive rock era had passed its peak, it never got the attention it should have earned from fans of Amazing Blondel, the Strawbs, Jethro Tull, or Fairport Convention. The quietly, elegantly harmonized vocals and interlocked acoustic guitars that run throughout this record, ornamented with some flute, banjo, koto, and sitar, among other instruments, are not only hauntingly beautiful but memorable in a way that many louder bands never quite achieved. The lyricism just pours out of the performances and the music, and this trio laces its folk preferences with elements of Orientalism and other exotic attributes. Listening to this record (which was re-released on CD in the 1990s) today, while luxuriating in the music, one must get past the sad thought that this group never cut another album. If there was ever one failed prog rock group that deserved better, this was it.
1. Medina (Frose)
2. Morning (Frose)
3. Changing (Nahle)
4. Cynghanedd (Nahle/Frose)
5. A Very Sarcastic Song (Frose)
6. Carnivore (Frose)
7. Mignon (Nahle)
bonus track
8. Lady Mary

Egbert Frose : gitarre, orgel, psalter, koto, maultrommel,
sitar, quintengitarre, sologitarre, gesang
Matthias Mertler : gitarre, glockenspiel, percussion, psalter,
banjo, sologitarre, basspedal, gesang
Ulrich Nahle : sologitarre, flote, slidegitarre, glockenspiel,
percussion, glocke, gesang

AMG Review by Bruce Eder

Magazine - Real Life (Great Debute Album 1978)

2010-11-14T11:18:00.004+02:00

Howard Devoto had the foresight to promote two infamous Sex Pistols concerts in Manchester, and his vision was no less acute when he left Buzzcocks after recording Spiral Scratch. Possibly sensing the festering of punk's clichés and limitations, and unquestionably not taken by the movement's beginnings, he bailed -- effectively skipping out on most of 1977 -- and resurfaced with Magazine. Initially, the departure from punk was not complete. "Shot by Both Sides," the band's first single, was based off an old riff given by Devoto's Buzzcocks partner Pete Shelley, and the guts of follow-up single "Touch and Go" were rather basic rev-and-vroom. And, like many punk bands, Magazine would likely cite David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Roxy Music. However -- this point is crucial -- instead of playing mindlessly sloppy variants of "Hang on to Yourself," "Search and Destroy," and "Virginia Plain," the band was inspired by the much more adventurous Low, The Idiot, and "For Your Pleasure." That is the driving force behind Real Life's status as one of the post-punk era's major jump-off points. Punk's untethered energy is rigidly controlled, run through arrangements that are tightly wound, herky-jerky, unpredictable, proficiently dynamic. The rapidly careening "Shot by Both Sides" (up there with PiL's "Public Image" as an indelible post-punk single) and the slowly unfolding "Parade" (the closest thing to a ballad, its hook is "Sometimes I forget that we're supposed to be in love") are equally ill-at-ease. The dynamism is all the more perceptible when Dave Formula's alternately flighty and assaultive keyboards are present: the opening "Definitive Gaze," for instance, switches between a sci-fi love theme and the score for a chase scene. As close as the band comes to upstaging Devoto, the singer is central, with his live wire tendencies typically enhanced, rather than truly outshined, by his mates. The interplay is at its best in "The Light Pours out of Me," a song that defines Magazine more than "Shot by Both Sides," while also functioning as the closest the band got to making an anthem. Various aspects of Devoto's personality and legacy, truly brought forth throughout this album, have been transferred and blown up throughout the careers of Momus (the restless, unapologetic intellectual), Thom Yorke (the pensive outsider), and maybe even Luke Haines (the nonchalantly acidic crank).

AMG Review by Andy Kellman

Lyres - On Fyre (Garage 1984)

2010-11-14T11:13:00.001+02:00

Of the dozens of bands that emerged in the 1980s garage rock revival, Lyres were one of the few that seemed to realize that the point wasn't about how much paisley clothing you could wear or finding the right vintage effects pedals (i.e. wallowing in nostalgia for an era you were too young to have actually witnessed -- the musical equivalent of living in an episode of Happy Days), but about playing cool stripped-down rock & roll. Jeff "Monoman" Conolly understood that the Sonics and the Ramones were traveling in the same direction, but merely using a different path to get there, and, as a result, Lyres' recordings have an energy and passion that's stood the test of time far better than most of their contemporaries; their debut LP, On Fyre, may well be their best. Lyres divide their time equally between covers and originals here, and Conolly's songs are strong enough to stand proudly beside those of his heroes; truth to tell, the album's two most exciting songs, "Don't Give It Up Now" and "Help You Ann," came from his pen. While Conolly's Vox Continental organ keeps his 1960s obsessions up-front throughout, the rest of the band is capable of generating a hard-driving groove, and the performances capture what was exciting and soulful about 1960s punk without drowning in a sea of "retro." If On Fyre has a flaw, it's pacing; the best songs appear on side one, rendering the second half just a bit anticlimactic. But there's good stuff throughout the album, and anyone who digs rock of all eras will find something to shake to on On Fyre.

AMG Review by Mark Deming

k.d. Lang - Drag (Very Good Indie Rock 1997)

2010-11-12T09:41:00.003+02:00

Returning, however tentatively, to the torch stylings that made Ingénue her most successful album, k.d. lang crafted an odd commercial comeback with Drag. A collection of covers that are somehow related to smoking, Drag is far more ambitious than the average cover record. She recasts Steve Miller's "The Joker" and the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe" as slow, bluesy cabaret numbers, while traditional '50s pop like "Don't Smoke in Bed" and "Smoke Rings" act as seductive counterpoints. lang's rich voice and the measured arrangements make Drag a ringer for Ingénue in places, but the tone is considerably lighter and more humorous, which certainly makes it an enjoyable listen. Nevertheless, the very presence of a tongue-in-cheek, all-covers tribute to smoking is a little disheartening in the wake of the wonderful, if severely underappreciated, All You Can Eat, which found lang pushing herself forward. Drag, in comparison, can't help but sound like a retreat.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

James - Laid (Great Alternative Rock 1993)

2010-11-12T09:31:00.003+02:00

After having become superstars in the U.K. with songs like "Sit Down" and then undergone an acoustic American tour opening for Neil Young, James took a consciously quieter, subtler turn with its follow-up to Seven, Laid. This turned out not merely to be a nice way to undercut expectations, but a creative benchmark for the group, arguably its artistic peak. While there had always been a folky, rushed element to the band's work in its earliest days, the now-sextet, following the departure of trumpet Andy Diagram to concentrate on the Spaceheads, here focused instead on understated, moody compositions. Part of this approach no doubt had something to do with Brian Eno's production work, and certainly it's another feather in his cap. While his work with U2 combined with James' own seeming assumption of that band's throne in big rock terms could have resulted in The Joshua Tree redux, that didn't prove to be the case. Admittedly, a couple of songs are specifically aimed at arena-level singalongs, including lead single "Sometimes," which almost drowns under its own weight and speed, and the title track, a celebration of love and lust that ended up giving the band a surprise stateside radio hit. But Tim Booth generally avoids Bono's melodramatics in both hushed and soaring mode, his ruminative singing sounding more like the calm reflections after energetic action, the band's quiet soundscapes a perfect combination of Eno's ear for space and vastness and the group's own abilities. Strong tracks are legion, including "One of the Three," allegedly about British hostages in Lebanon but much more accurately a sharp, harrowing meditation on Jesus and apparently meaningless sacrifice, and the low-key beauties of "Out to Get You" and "Knuckle Too Far." But the best punch is right at the end -- the heartbreaking "Lullaby," a piano-led sigh of regret and wistful hope, and "Skindiving," Booth's near-wordless keen at his most affecting, floating over the low-volume shuffle and bite of the band.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

And Also The Trees - The Evening of the 24th (Alternative Rock 1987)

2010-11-07T10:37:00.005+02:00

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.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Moby Grape - Moby Grape (Superb Folk/Psych 1967)

2010-11-03T18:16:00.004+02:00

Moby Grape's career was a long, sad series of minor disasters, in which nearly anything that could have gone wrong did (poor handling by their record company, a variety of legal problems, a truly regrettable deal with their manager, creative and personal differences among the bandmembers, and the tragic breakdown of guitarist and songwriter Skip Spence), but their self-titled debut album was their one moment of unqualified triumph. Moby Grape is one of the finest (perhaps the finest) album to come out of the San Francisco psychedelic scene, brimming with great songs and fresh ideas while blessedly avoiding the pitfalls that pockmarked the work of their contemporaries -- no long, unfocused jams, no self-indulgent philosophy, and no attempts to sonically re-create the sound of an acid trip. Instead, Moby Grape built their sound around the brilliantly interwoven guitar work of Jerry Miller, Peter Lewis, and Skip Spence, and the clear, bright harmonies of all five members (drummer Don Stevenson and bassist Bob Mosely sang just as well as they held down the backbeat). As songwriters, Moby Grape blended straight-ahead rock & roll, smart pop, blues, country, and folk accents into a flavorful brew that was all their own, with a clever melodic sense that reflected the lysergic energy surrounding them without drowning in it. And producer David Rubinson got it all on tape in a manner that captured the band's infectious energy and soaring melodies with uncluttered clarity, while subtly exploring the possibilities of the stereo mixing process. "Omaha," "Fall on You," "Hey Grandma," and "8:05" sound like obvious hits (and might have been if Columbia hadn't released them as singles all at once), but the truth is there isn't a dud track to be found here, and time has been extremely kind to this record. Moby Grape is as refreshing today as it was upon first release, and if fate prevented the group from making a follow-up that was as consistently strong, for one brief shining moment Moby Grape proved to the world they were one of America's great bands. While history remembers the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane as being more important, the truth is neither group ever made an album quite this good.

AMG Review by Mark Deming

Julian Cope - Jehovahkill (1992 Alternative Rock)

2010-11-03T18:12:00.004+02:00

Moving into what he later described as the second part of a trilogy of albums, Jehovahkill sees Julian Cope's focus shift from environmental collapse to raging against the destructiveness of mainstream religion and an attendant celebration of earlier, heathen impulses. The artwork and design draw this out further, with Cope providing commentary on a number of ancient megalithic temples and sites, along with attendant poetry. As with Peggy Suicide, though, the music is what is first and foremost, and following that earlier album's success Cope was on a roll. With only Skinner and Cosby making up the core band this time out, plus a variety of guest performers and snippets (including cult musician/astronomer Dr. Fiorella Terenzi on the crazed Krautrock/funk of "Poet Is Priest..."), Cope turned in another 70-minute-long effort. If Jehovahkill isn't quite as perfectly balanced as Peggy Suicide, it comes darn close, definitely leaving the late-'80s trough behind. "Soul Desert," the opening number, actually almost picks up where Peggy Suicide left off, with "Las Vegas Basement," with the same low-key late-night vibe. Cope's voice is again at full strength, whether gently singing or just going all out; here he's able to do both as the song amps up further about halfway through. From there Jehovahkill move through three phases, much like Peggy Suicide was divided into four. The overall tone of the record is looser than Peggy, with Cope's various celebrations and condemnations often sounding like they were captured on a first-time run-through. He definitely sounds like he's more performing intense rituals instead of songs, as on the powerful, building intensity of "Up-Wards at 45 Degrees" and the awesome "The Tower." Combined with everything from the rural blues-goes-drone rock of "The Mystery Trend" and the combined Neu!/Stooges tribute "The Subtle Energies Commission" to the amusing "Julian H. Cope," it adds up to another fine Cope album.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Fleetwood Mac - Mr. Wonderful (1968 Blues-Rock [Καλά εξώφυλλο με τον Ψάλτη έβγαλαν αυτοί;])

2010-10-30T17:28:00.004+03:00

Although it made number ten in the U.K., Fleetwood Mac's second album was a disappointment following their promising debut. So much of the record was routine blues that it could even be said that it represented something of a regression from the first LP, despite the enlistment of a horn section and pianist Christine Perfect (the future Christine McVie) to help on the sessions. In particular, the limits of Jeremy Spencer's potential for creative contribution were badly exposed, as the tracks that featured his songwriting and/or vocals were basic Elmore James covers or derivations. Peter Green, the band's major talent at this point, did not deliver original material on the level of the classic singles he would pen for the band in 1969, or even on the level of first-album standouts like "I Loved Another Woman." The best of the lot, perhaps, is "Love That Burns," with its mournful minor-key melody and sluggish, responsive horn lines. Mr. Wonderful, strangely, was not issued in the U.S., although about half the songs turned up on its stateside counterpart, English Rose, which was fleshed out with some standout late-'60s British singles and a few new tracks penned by Danny Kirwan (who joined the band after Mr. Wonderful was recorded).

AMG Review by Richie Unterberger

Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints (Terrific Psychedelic Album 1967)

2010-10-30T17:21:00.003+03:00

This is the debut long-player from the southern California-based Strawberry Alarm Clock -- the title track of this album topped national singles charts in December of 1967. As the cover art might suggest, their image practically defined both the musical as well as peripheral aspects of the pseudo-psychedelic counterculture. However, below that mostly visual veneer, Strawberry Alarm Clock actually have more in common with other "Summer of Love" bands such as Love and Kak than the bubblegum acts they have long been associated with. Prior to Strawberry Alarm Clock, the band was initially named Thee Sixpence and issued a 45 -- "In the Building" b/w "Hey Joe" -- in the spring of 1966. As legend has it, none of the actual bandmembers sang lead on the hit single; the singer was in fact a vocalist named Greg Munford, who was attending the session as a visitor. The track was originally issued by Thee Sixpence on the regional All-American label. By the second pressing, however, the band's name had changed to Strawberry Alarm Clock. Sensing the possibility of a national hit, they were scooped up by the MCA Records subsidiary Uni and given the go-ahead to commence recording this, their debut LP. Much of the band's sound is due at least in part to the writing styles of George Bunnell (bass/vocals) and the uncredited Steve Bartok (flute/vocals). The edgy fuzz-toned guitar sound of "Birds in My Tree" and the Los Angeles freeway-inspired "Paxton's Back Street Carnival" exude a garage rock flavor similar in style to that of Spirit's self-titled debut long-player. Another distinguishing factor is Strawberry Alarm Clock's multi-layered vocals. "Hummin' Happy" and "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" are precursors to the sophisticated harmonies that would also inform "Tomorrow" and "Pretty Song From Psych-Out," from their follow-up long-player, Wake Up...It's Tomorrow.

AMG Review by Lindsay Planer

Vanilla Fudge - Vanilla Fudge (Great Psychedelic Rock 1967)

2010-10-24T10:58:00.003+03:00

In a debut consisting of covers, nobody could accuse Vanilla Fudge of bad taste in their repertoire; with stoned-out, slowed-down versions of such then-recent classics as "Ticket to Ride," "Eleanor Rigby," and "People Get Ready," they were setting the bar rather high for themselves. Even the one suspect choice -- Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang" -- turns out to be rivaled only by Mott the Hoople's version of "Laugh at Me" in putting Bono's songwriting in the kindest possible light. Most of the tracks here share a common structure of a disjointed warm-up jam, a Hammond-heavy dirge of harmonized vocals at the center, and a final flat-out jam. Still, some succeed better than others: "You Keep Me Hanging On" has a wonderfully hammered-out drum part, and "She's Not There" boasts some truly groovy organ jams. While the pattern can sound repetitive today, each song still works as a time capsule of American psychedelia.

AMG Review by Paul Collins

Van der Graaf - H to He, Who Am the Only One (Superb Prog-Rock 1970)

2010-10-24T10:53:00.004+03:00

The foreboding crawl of the Hammond organ is what made Van Der Graaf Generator one of the darkest and most engrossing of all the early progressive bands. On H to He Who Am the Only One, the brooding tones of synthesizer and oscillator along with Peter Hammil's distinct and overly ominous voice make it one of this British band's best efforts. Kicking off with the prog classic "Killer," an eight minute synthesized feast of menacing tones and threatening lyrics, the album slowly becomes shadowed with Van Der Graaf's sinister instrumental moodiness. With superb percussion work via Guy Evans, who utilizes the tympani drum to its full extent, tracks like "The Emperor in His War-Room" and "Lost" are embraced with a blackened texture that never fades. The effective use of saxophone (both alto and tenor) and baritone from David Jackson gives the somberness some life without taking away any of the instrumental petulance. H to He is carpeted with a science fiction theme, bolstered by the bleak but extremely compelling use of heavy tones and the absence of rhythms and flighty pulsations. This album, which represents Van Der Graaf in their most illustrious stage, is a pristine example of how dark progressive rock should sound.

AMG Review by Mike DeGagne

Whitesnake - Starkers in Tokyo (1997 Live)

2010-10-23T12:43:00.004+03:00

Whitesnake's grip on the U.S. record-buying public may have lessened considerably by the late '90s, but in other parts of the world (especially Japan), David Coverdale and company still reigned supreme. Keeping in step with the unplugged craze of the decade, Coverdale and longtime guitarist Adrian Vandenberg united for such a performance in the land of the rising sun, resulting in the release of 1998's Starkers in Tokyo. Anyone wondering if Coverdale can still cut it vocally all these years later will be pleasantly surprised -- the bloke can still sing splendidly, as the duo perform selections from throughout the singer's career. Expectedly, the ballads sound the best in this stripped-down setting ("Is This Love," and especially the overlooked Deep Purple nugget "Soldier of Fortune"), as do made over renditions of "Love Ain't No Stranger" and "The Deeper the Love." While the majority of the numbers work quite well, some are best suited for a full band (and especially with a ripping guitar accompaniment) -- as evidenced here by "Here I Go Again." If you're looking for new, bare-bone takes of Whitesnake classics, hunt down an import copy of Starkers in Tokyo.

AMG Review by Greg Prato

Common People - Of the People, By the People, For the People (Very Good Psychedelia 1969)

2010-10-23T12:39:00.002+03:00

The Common People's only album is melancholy psychedelia, quirky but in a pretty forgettable way. The mood's set by the opening "Soon There'll Be Thunder," where an appealing two-chord melancholy melody is set to raindrop-falling haunting electric keyboard and sweeping, gloomy strings. It's a groove that's mined too often by the subsequent tracks, which are passably pleasing moody pop-psychedelia in limited doses, but too similar to each other when grouped so closely. The constant rain-cloud-hovering-over-a-hung-head ethos begins to turn sour rather than soothing after a few songs, even though the string arrangements used on just a few cuts have a nicely shivering, weepy quality. "They Didn't Even Go to the Funeral" is a most unfortunate departure into mock vaudeville humor, and while a couple other songs get dressed up with some peppy horns, it's hard to tell whether the embarrassing grunts in "This Life She Is Mine" are an attempt at funky soul or simulations of the moment of orgasm. The pace does get broken up by the hard but monotonous fuzz-guitar piano rock of "Go Every Way," as well as some more folk-rockish and melodically limited sullen stuff.

AMG Review by Richie Unterberger

Cowboy Junkies - Lay It Down (Great Alternative Country Rock 1996)

2010-10-21T21:03:00.004+03:00

Released in 1996, this CD definitively answers a question that has occasionally plagued the Cowboy Junkies: yes, they sound good, but can they rock? Though still laden with the melancholia that has marked previous efforts, this CD is sonically dense, guitar-drenched, and good at high-volume levels. Margo Timmins' voice has never been more expressive, and the lyrics shimmer with intensity. Although the band has occasionally touched on quiet moments reminiscent of fellow Canadian Neil Young, little they have done before this album approached the emotive wail of his louder efforts. The Cowboy Junkies have proven their versatility while retaining their unique sound.

AMG Review by Jeff Crooke

William Orbit - Strange Cargo Hinterland (1995 Ambient)

2010-10-21T20:51:00.003+03:00

William Orbit's take on ambient-house has big beats and guitars, and occasional vocals to liven the mix. The result isn't terribly revolutionary, but it is an engaging listen nevertheless.

AMG Review by John Bush

Mecano - The Half Inch Universe (1996 Post-Punk compilation from Netherlands)

2010-10-17T13:02:00.003+03:00

Face Cover Face
Iron I An Eye
Killroy's Tango
State Of Apprehension
Dissident Lament
Untitled
Posterity Chant
The Chassis Force
Robespierre's Remarks
Meccano
Permanent Revolt
Note Of A Stroll In Spring
On Still Life
Links
Escape The Human Myth
History Landmarked
Robespierre's Remarks II
Room For Two
Profile
The Suggestive Sleep
Entr'Acte
BECHPH3OPHIE
Autumnmatic Play
The Mutant Jazs
The March Of The Iron Workers
To Life's Re-Union

Love and Money - Strange Kind of Love (Very Good Indie Pop 1988)

2010-10-17T12:55:00.002+03:00

Much of Love & Money's 1988 album, Strange Kind of Love, sounds like music emanating from a pub at three in the morning. James Grant's despondent, husky voice and lovelorn narratives echo the heartache of lonely souls crying in their whiskey glasses. A pointed line in "Jocelyn Square" summarizes his downcast mood: "I loved you so much I hated your guts." However, don't expect gothic angst à la the Cure or the Smiths' jangly sorrow. Rather, these Scotsmen look to America for inspiration: funk, blues, jazz, and country. With the exception of relatively upbeat tracks such as "Halleluiah Man," Strange Kind of Love takes its time to unfold, and repeated spins are needed for Love & Money's bar band grooves to be keenly felt, such as on the slow buildup of "Shape of Things to Come." The sophisticated arrangements and Grant's brooding vocals on "Shape of Things to Come" recall the British group Tears for Fears, but the album is distinctly American in style. While Strange Kind of Love is slicker than many of the roots rock records this LP is reminiscent of, the production doesn't soften the band's rhythm section -- guitars weep like wounded animals; basslines thump robustly; and drums are struck with authority, especially on the title track. The album is moody but never boring. Grant's lyrics are often more miserable than the music suggests. In "Strange Kind of Love," he pines for a woman stuck in an abusive relationship and wishes for death in the gripping "Avalanche." "Jocelyn Square" is a bitter "Dear John" letter with a funky, toe-tapping riff that sweetens the bile in Grant's words. When Grant sings, "I hope it rains the day I die" in "Avalanche," one can imagine the tavern lights dimming, the bartender offering a final drink before an evening of barbed confessions is over.

AMG Review by Michael Sutton

Humble Pie - Performance/Rockin' the Fillmore (1971)

2010-10-16T17:45:00.004+03:00

Recorded while Peter Frampton was still in the band, Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore captures an early performance by Humble Pie where Steve Marriot's lyricism and ideas where balanced by Frampton's searing lead guitar. This is hardly as engaging as As Safe Yesterday Is, which had studiocraft along with songcraft, but as a document of a band at a pivotal point in their existence, this is valuable and at times insightful.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Jesus and Mary Chain - Munki (Alternative Rock 1998)

2010-10-16T17:36:00.005+03:00

As befits an album bookended by tracks titled "I Love Rock'n'Roll" and "I Hate Rock'n'Roll," the Jesus and Mary Chain's Sub Pop label debut, Munki, is schizophrenic and impassioned, a record that both summarizes the band's career to date and cleans the slate for their future. Virtually each of the 17 tracks here echoes a prior moment in the Chain's existence, moving at breakneck pace from the volcanic noise of their earliest material to the bleak grace of Darklands, through to the sleek, supercharged pop of Automatic -- even Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval makes a cameo, as she did on Stoned & Dethroned. In a sense, it's an ideal primer to the Reid brothers' mercurial world, flirting with both brilliance and mediocrity; even after well over a decade, the Jesus and Mary Chain continue to thrill, irritate, and confound -- they're a true love/hate obsession.

AMG Review by Jason Ankeny

Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes (Superb Glam-Rock 1972)

2010-10-16T17:31:00.004+03:00

Just at the moment Mott the Hoople were calling it a day, David Bowie swooped in and convinced them to stick around. Bowie spearheaded an image makeover, urging them to glam themselves up. He gave them a surefire hit with "All the Young Dudes," had them cover his idol's "Sweet Jane," and produced All the Young Dudes, the album that was designed to make them stars. Lo and behold, it did, which is as much a testament to Bowie's popularity as it is to his studio skill. Not to discount his assistance, since his production results in one of the most satisfying glam records and the title track is one of the all-time great rock songs, but the album wouldn't have worked if Mott hadn't already found its voice on Brain Capers. True, Dudes isn't nearly as wild as its predecessor, but the band's swagger is unmistakable underneath the flair and Ian Hunter remains on a songwriting roll, with "Momma's Little Jewel," "Sucker," and "One of the Boys" standing among his best. Take a close look at the credits, though -- these were all co-written by his bandmates, and the other highlight, "Ready for Love/After Lights," is penned entirely by Mick Ralphs, who would later revive the first section with Bad Company. The entire band was on a roll here, turning out great performances and writing with vigor. They may not be as sexy as either Bowie or Bolan, but they make up for it with knowing humor, huge riffs, and terrific tunes, dressed up with style by Ziggy himself. No wonder it's not just a great Mott record -- it's one of the defining glam platters.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight (Superb Alternative Rock/New Wave 1980)

2010-10-10T13:16:00.003+03:00

After recording the material that would later comprise the bulk of Invisible Hits, the Soft Boys recorded their masterpiece, the shimmering neo-psychedelic Underwater Moonlight. Essentially, the band didn't change their style for the record -- they merely perfected it. The Soft Boys don't hide their influences -- whether its the ringing guitars of the Beatles and Byrds or the surreal humor of John Lennon and Syd Barrett -- but they assimilate them, resulting in a fresh, edgy take on '60s guitar pop. Robyn Hitchcock's subject matter tends to be more explicitly weird and absurdist than his influences, as titles like "I Wanna Destroy You," "Old Pervert," and "Queen of Eyes" indicate -- even "Kingdom of Love" equates romance to bugs crawling under your skin. But the lyrics aren't the only thing that are edgy -- the music is too. The Soft Boys play pop hooks as if they were punk rock. "I Wanna Destroy You" isn't overtly threatening like their post-punk contemporaries, but with its layered guitar hooks and dissonant harmonies, it is equally menacing. Furthermore, the group can twist its songs inside out and then revert them to their original form, as evidenced by "Insanely Jealous." Although the neo-psychedelic flourishes are fascinating, the key to record's success is how each song is constructed around rock-solid hooks and melodies that instantly work their way into the subconscious. In fact, that's the most notable thing about Underwater Moonlight -- it updates jangling, melodic guitar pop for the post-punk world, which made it a touchstone for much of the underground pop of the mid-'80s, particularly R.E.M.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

New York Rock & Roll Ensemble - Reflections (Superb Psychedelic version of Manos Hadjidakis' work 1970)

2010-10-10T12:58:00.007+03:00

On their first two albums, The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble and Faithful Friends, the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble had helped innovate the use of classical instrumentation, classical musical influences, and even actual classical compositions within a rock context. On one level, Reflections did so as well, but on another, it was something of a detour. For rather than focusing on original material, the band instead collaborated with Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis on a score for a movie that was never released—though Reflections is the soundtrack that would have been used in the film.
As bassist/cellist Dorian Rudnytsky explains, "A Turkish filmmaker, Ulvi Dogan, had made a film titled Susuz Yaz (in English, Dry Summer), which received lots of praise and won some awards in the late '60s. The music score had been written by Manos Hadjidakis [best known in the US as the composer of the score for Never on Sunday, including its title song]. Dogan wanted the film to be released in the Unites States, but for this needed to 'modernize' certain aspects of his (basically folk-style) film, and the idea came about to write out a new musical score for the film, with Manos's music and NYR&RE arrangements, sound, vocals, and lyrics. Manos came looking for us; we found the idea appealing and interesting enough, and went ahead with the project. The other obvious change was renaming the film Reflections, and that's why the album kept that title."

However, Rudnytsky continues, "If memory serves me, Manos and Dogan had a disagreement of some sort. I'm sorry to say that today I don't remember at all what it was about, but I do recall the screaming fight between the two of them at Atlantic Records during one of our sessions, and I know that it was a 'terminal fight.' One thing, however, was certain—the project halted, although the score was completed. We did not spend a lot of time mourning the stop on the film release, since we had more and more live gigs to play and also began, quite directly after the work for Reflections, [working] on Faithful Friends. Reflections was actually recorded before Faithful Friends, but released as the third album. We at that time gave no thought to the commercial possibilities of Reflections, since it was meant to be a movie soundtrack only."

The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble were nonetheless happy to work with Hadjidakis on the project, for which they were likely one of the few rock bands of the time who made for appropriate collaborators. According to Dorian, "Manos wrote the music and the orchestral arrangements. We did our own band arrangements of his works. If he had specific wishes, then we complied without problems, and if we had ideas for him, he also accepted them very graciously and happily. The work together was extremely productive and successful all around, if not a bit difficult at first for the 'non-classically-trained' members of the band. [Rhythm guitarist] Brian [Corrigan] and [lead guitarist] Clif [Nivison], the self-taught guys, had more problems with this music, especially since they could not read music and everything Manos did was on sheet music or charts. But they enjoyed the project as well once they got into it and became more familiar with the Greek-style arrangements and orchestrations. I don't mean to underrate Clif or Brian—they were extremely fast learners and extraordinarily creative. They simply had not been confronted with this sort of music nor style of work prior to this project."

Hadjidakis also produced the album with (in the words of the credits) "the collaboration of Adrian Barber & Bruce Tergesen," who produced the group's Faithful Friends album and also managed the band. "We originally viewed this studio work as a 'film project,' which for us was quite a positive thing to do," elaborates Rudnytsky. "We were aware that to do a film score could open new doors and possibilities for us. Already [keyboardist/oboist] Michael [Kamen] and [drummer/oboist] Marty [Fulterman] both had a distinct interest [in] those areas and pressed very enthusiastically for this project right from the start. And in this sense, it was very much a part of our band's work—steps for building our future."

Every member of the band except Fulterman had at least one lead vocal on the record (which also featured two instrumentals), and all except Kamen were credited with supplying lyrics for Hadjikdakis's music. "We simply picked out certain songs or melodies we liked and felt a kinship to, and went off to do our best," remembers Dorian. "In some cases, more than one person wrote lyrics for one song, and then the band as a whole chose the one we liked best. This was normal for us. Manos also took part, but his English was not 100 percent so he commented less on the choices of the lyrics." Points out Nivison, "Michael did write lyrics, but Manos didn't use his lyrics. Although he didn't get credit, some of Michael's lyrics are in the songs in spots. Manos tried all of us singing all the songs and picked the vocalist that suited the song." Dorian also speculates that Kamen might have taken relatively little part in the work as "he might have been concentrating his creative work more for the then-upcoming Atlantic sessions for Faithful Friends."

As for his own lyrical contributions, Rudnytsky notes, "I specifically recall that no one else in the band wanted to deal with the music that later became 'Orpheus.' I attempted several different directions of lyrical ideas with this music and settled on the Orpheus legend as a basis after discussions and advice about it with my first wife Monique and her mother, the poetess Marie Ponsot. I think it was due to the unusual lyric that everyone involved agreed I should sing it myself as well—my one and only appearance as 'lead singer.' 'Noble Dame' was more easy to write. My basis was an earlier relationship I had had with, indeed, a noble young lady (a Baroness) from Germany. She was the basic image I wrote at, and of course then with imagination altered to become the person in the song called the 'Noble Dame.' Life took its most peculiar and wonderful course, and I met this Baroness again many many years later. One thing led to another, and now Brigitte and I are married, and I am in Germany due to her marvelous presence in my life."

Also using some instrumental contributions by Greek musicians in the New York area, Reflections was a creative endeavor for the band, but not a commercially successful one. "The older people responded more favorably, the younger less," recalls Dorian. "Our root audience did not care for it much." Similarly, Nivison feels the album "lost us all our audience and confused all our fans. Atlantic had a three-album deal with us; they used this album [which, as noted, was actually recorded before their second LP to be released on Atlantic, Faithful Friends] to fulfill their end of the deal. If we knew they were going to use this as our third album, we never would have done it. Ironically, the Reflections album is the one that was a hit in Europe, had some Top 20 songs over there, and has given us the most royalties and airplay of all our albums. It also doesn't sound dated. It is timeless. It has been re-recorded [on a 2005 CD] song for song by the Greek Top 20 band Raining Pleasure, and is a hit again." Add Rudnytsky, "We were too young and immature to notice and follow what happened with it in Europe. If we had, I believe the whole Ensemble experience would have been something very, very different after this album."

As it turned out, however, Atlantic Records dropped the band after the LP's 1970 release, though the group (continuing as a quartet without Corrigan) would record more albums for Columbia as the New York Rock Ensemble. The late Kamen, as it turned out, would do quite a bit more work on soundtracks after the group split (including Brazil, Lethal Weapon, and Die Hard), as well as making important contributions to records by David Bowie and Pink Floyd. Fulterman, too, made a name for himself (as Mark Snow) in the soundtrack world, particularly for his work on television's The X-Files series. Rudnytsky worked with Snow in Los Angeles for a time as a cellist for the TV/film industry, although since 1995 he's been living in Germany, where he's active as a cellist and bassist, and composes for theatrical productions. "No bands since our time have had more than just one member in the band who could whip out a classical instrument during a rock set, and play it not only well, but on an internationally qualitatively competitive level," he observes. "I'm still proud and eternally happy for that chance I had to be in such a band."

By Richie Unterberger
http://www.richieunterberger.com/nyrr2.html

Spain - I Believe (Alternative Rock 2001)

2010-10-06T20:10:00.004+03:00

With the 2001 release of I Believe, Josh Haden's Spain increased from a trio to a four piece, adding guitarist/keyboardist Shon Sullivan and new drummer Will Hughes (replacing the sorely missed Joey Waronker). The sound has expanded too, sounding fuller and more open, compared to the band's previous intimate, almost cradling sound. Humming organ and additional guitar lines resonate in the background of nearly every song, creating an almost Phil Spector-like "wall of sound"…well maybe not to that extreme, but when compared to Spain's previous albums, I Believe sounds almost bombastic. Gone are the warm pockets of silence in the songs, the space between the notes is now occupied by the hums and cymbal rides of the able performers. Curmudgeonly purist gripes aside, I Believe is a fine album, filled with bassist Haden's trademark understated croon and rich sonic textures. The loping "You Were Meant for Me" sounds for all the world like the band is channeling the ghost of Morphine's Mark Sandman, while the sublime "Mary" is among the best songs the band has recorded and would be far less successful without the haunting church organ and extra instrumentation. While some listeners will welcome this growth and expansion of sound, longtime fans will doubtless lament the lack of pure intimacy and calm melancholy that enveloped Spain's first and second albums.

AMG Review by Zac Johnson

Jade Warrior - Released (Fine British Psychedelia 1971)

2010-10-06T20:07:00.002+03:00

If Jade Warrior's second album has any overwhelming flaw, it is that its predecessor traveled so far off the conventional beaten tracks of early-'70s prog that anything less than absolute reinvention could only be regarded as a rerun of past glories. To write off Released as little more than a slapdash shadow of Jade Warrior, however, is to overlook the leaps and bounds that the band did make. The opening "Eyes On You" journeys in on a positively spiky guitar and horn duel, while Glyn Havard's vocals have taken on tones that are far-removed from the Jethro Tull-shaped nuances with which they were once most readily compared. Staggering, too, are the almost bluesy guitar work-outs that leap unexpectedly in and out of the mix, overwhelming all but the most ferocious elements elsewhere in the arsenal -- judging only by the crescendo that closes it, "Three Horned Dragon King" could not have been better named. Similarly, "Water Curtain Cave" is as much a melting of souls as it is a gentle song, while other numbers tackle light jazz and classical prog without once vacating the band's accustomed framework of brilliance. Again, there is little here that Jade Warrior itself did not predict, but the unerring delivery of those predictions is a marvel in itself.

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Sacred Spirit - More Chants and Dances of the Native Americans (New Age 2003)

2010-10-03T18:51:00.003+03:00

Given the multi-million-copy selling success of Sacred Spirit: Chants and Dances of the Native Americans, its follow-up, Sacred Spirit II is bound to have a built-in audience. Like its predecessor, the collection mixes chant and song with dance beats and electronic instrumentation. While tracks such as "Dela Dela" and "Yane-Heja-Hee" meld these elements most effectively, the overall effect of the synthesized sound is heavily over the top and distracting from the gentle melodies and heartfelt cries of Native music at its best. A prime example is the tender and lovely female vocal on "May You Walk in Sunshine," obscured by overly aggressive accompaniment. A more solid and aesthetically pleasing choice for the genre is Prophecy: A Native American Collection, which achieves a finer balance of modern and ancient.

Tracklist:

01. Intro_ Gods & Heroes
02. Looking For North
03. Dela Dela
04. Land Of Promise
05. The State Of Grace
06. Yane-Heja-Hee
07. A-La-Ke
08. May You Walk In Sunshine
09. The Spirit
10. O-Loa-Ki-Lee
11. That Noble Dream
12. The Sad Eyed Chief

String Cheese - String Cheese (1971 Folk/Psych from Chicago)

2010-10-03T18:42:00.003+03:00

Originally released in 1971, this lost gem makes its CD debut here. Based in Chicago, the band produced a mellow fusion of West Coast-style songs, flowing guitar leads and electric violin that has led them to be compared to Itís A Beautiful Day. Despite being released in countries including the UK and France, the album didnít connect commercially and has languished in undeserved obscurity ever since.

A sort of poor man's It's A Beautiful Day from Chicago. Indeed electric violinist Greg Block, who contributed much to their album was later in It's A Beautiful Day and drummer John Maggi was earlier with Turnquist Remedy. This album features some nice lead guitar work and is definitely worth a spin. It was produced by James Golden.

01. For Now
02. Crystal
03. We Share
04. Here Am I
05. Empty Streets
06. Forage
07. Soul Of Man
08. Certain Kind Of Day
09. Woke Up This Morning
10. Coming

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Sun Dial - Other Way Out (1990 debute album British Neopsychedelia)

2010-10-02T10:07:00.003+03:00

"Originally released in 1990, Other Way Out is an unsung masterpiece of classic ‘60s style psych rock. It’s a culmination of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Can, Hawkind, and classic rock ala Hendrix and Cream. It has an organic, warm sound to it, making it sound like less a product of its time than a relic from the ‘60s. It’s a pleasant acid trip of an album. It’s very engrossing and involving, with each song taking you further along on Sun Dial’s musical journey. Other Way In contains alternate takes and non-album tracks. If you’re a fan of classic psychedelic rock, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t own this. Other Way Out never got its due when it was first released, but those who’ve heard it know that it’s essential listening."

Arzgarth
StonerRock.com

http://www.allthatisheavy.com/info.asp?item_num=ATH-3405

Sun Dial - Acid Yantra (British neoPsychedelia 1995)

2010-10-02T10:00:00.003+03:00

Though it may at first sound heavy criticism to suggest that songwriting, as such, isn't a strength of a band, remember that some records are enjoyable purely because of their sound, the sheer aural pleasure that they can give. I think Acid Yantra is such a record. And with such a title, a psychedelic coloured sleeve and instrumentation including wah-wah guitars, a mellotron and exotic percussion, do I really have to waft a joss stick in front of you to let you know the kind of sounds we're dealing with here?

Sundial are a three-piece band who are clearly very much in love with the sounds of the 60s and it's not difficult to hear the influence such bands as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd and others of their era have had on them.

You know the cliche about wannabe rockstars posing in front of their bedroom mirror playing along to guitar solos on their tennis rackets? Well, listening to "Are You Supernatural?" makes me think that Sundial's guitarist Gary Ramon probably drenched his raquet with lighter fuel and set it alight too... ala Jimi Plays Monterey. It shows a lot of dedication when a fan goes all out to play like their heroes, but this guy even goes as far as getting the same incidental rumblings and feedback intro as Hendrix did at that famous show! Unfortunately, while he matches the tone, the songwriting isn't a patch on Hendrix himself.

Random notes: "Red Sky", opens with a gentle "Wind Cries Mary" echoey guitar and filtered vocals before jumping in with its heavy fuzztone chorus. "3,000 Miles" combines acoustic guitar with spacey synth-like tones. "Bad Drug" is more aggressive, with an almost Stooges-style riff. "Rollercoaster" is funky.

The most successful track for me is "Nova" with its "2000 Light Years From Home"-style haunting Mellotron strings. This song is more freeform than the others and allows the band to do what they do best... play the music and not worry about having a structured "song". There are flutes and a heavier section that reminds me of 1969-era Alice Cooper, and is the sort of track you can get caught up in. In fact, though it segues into the closing "Yantra Jam", you hardly notice the join - it just sehttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1717586220402428521ems one long flow of music.

In conclusion, if you're a fan of '60s psychadelic bands, you'll probably be a fan of this album.

http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1996/04.09/revsund.html

Albert Collins - Ice Pickin' (1978 Superb Blues from Texas)

2010-10-02T09:56:00.005+03:00

Ice Pickin' is the album that brought Albert Collins directly back into the limelight, and for good reason, too. The record captures the wild, unrestrained side of his playing that had never quite been documented before. Though his singing doesn't quite have the fire or power of his playing, the album doesn't suffer at all because of that ó he simply burns throughout the album. Ice Pickin' was his first release for Alligator Records and it set the pace for all the albums that followed. No matter how much he tried, Collins never completely regained the pure energy that made Ice Pickin' such a revelation.

Born in Leona, Texas, Collins was a distant relative of Lightnin' Hopkins and grew up learning about music and playing guitar. His family moved to Houston, Texas when he was seven. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he absorbed the blues sounds and styles from Texas, Mississippi and Chicago. His style would soon envelop these sounds.

He formed his first band in 1952 and two years later was the headliner at several blues clubs in Houston. By the late 1950s Collins began using Fender Telecasters. He later chose a "maple-cap" 1966 Custom Fender Telecaster with a Gibson PAF humbucker in the neck position and a 100 watt RMS silverfaced 1970s Fender Quad Reverb combo as his main equipment, and developed a unique sound featuring minor tunings, sustained notes and an "attack" fingerstyle. He also frequently used a capo on his guitar, particularly on the 5th, 7th, and 9th frets. He primarily favored an "open F-minor" tuning (low to high: F-C-F-Ab-C-F).

Collins began recording in 1960 and released singles, including many instrumentals such as the million selling "Frosty". In the spring of 1965 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri and made a name for himself.

Many of Kansas City's recording studios had closed by the mid 1960s. Unable to record, Collins moved to California in 1967. He settled in San Francisco and played many of the venues popular with the counter-culture. In early 1969 after playing a concert with Canned Heat, members of this band introduced him to Liberty Records. In appreciation, Collinsí first record title for United Artists "Love Can Be Found Anywhere", was taken from the lyrics of "Refried Hockey Boogie". Collins signed and released his first album on Imperial Records, a sister label, in 1968.

Collins remained in California for another five years, and was popular on double-billed shows at The Fillmore and the Winterland. Collins moved back to Texas in 1973 and formed a new band. He was signed to Alligator Records in 1978 and recorded and released Ice Pickin'. He would record seven more albums with the label, before being signed to Point Blank Records in 1990.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Collins toured the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. He was becoming a popular blues musician and was an influence for Coco Montoya, Robert Cray, Gary Moore, Debbie Davies, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jonny Lang, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Mayer and Frank Zappa.

In 1983, when he won the W. C. Handy Award for his album Don't Lose Your Cool, which won the award for best blues album of the year. In 1985, he shared a Grammy for the album Showdown!, which he recorded with Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland. The following year his solo release Cold Snap was also nominated for a Grammy. In 1987, John Zorn enlisted him to play lead guitar in a suite he had composed especially for him, entitled "Two-Lane Highway," on Zorn's album Spillane.

Alongside George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Bo Diddley, Collins performed at Live Aid in 1985, playing "The Sky Is Crying" and "Madison Blues", at the JFK Stadium. He was the only black blues artist to appear.

Collins was invited to play at the 'Legends Of Guitar Festival' concerts in Seville, Spain at the Expo in 1992, where amongst others, he played "Iceman", the title track from his final studio album.

01.Honey, Hush! (Talking Woman Blues) (Fulson/Washington) - 04:28
02.When The Welfare Turns Its Back On You (Weaver/Thomas) - 05:26
03.Ice Pick (Collins) - 03:08
04.Cold, Cold Feeling (Robinson) - 05:19
05.Too Tired (Bihari/Davis/Watson) - 03:00
06.Master Charge (Colins) - 05-12
07.Conversation With Collins (Collins) - 08:52
08.Avalanche (Collins) - 02:39

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Al Stewart - Time Passages (Great classic album 1978)

2010-09-29T21:33:00.002+03:00

Year of the Cat brought Al Stewart a genuine worldwide smash with its title track, and for its successor, he did make a few concessions. These, however, were slight -- just a slight increase of soft rock productions, an enhancement of the lushness that marked not only Year of the Cat but also Modern Times. These happened to be welcome adjustments to Stewart's sound, since they increased the dreamy continental elegance at the core of his work. And that's why Time Passages is the equal of Year of the Cat -- it may be more streamlined, but the adjustments to his sound and the concessions to the mainstream just increase the soft grace of his eloquent historical pop epics. It's possible to view this as too precious, because it is pitched at an audience who believes the common-day concerns of pop are piffle, but this is exceptionally well-crafted, from Stewart's songs, where even three-minute songs seem like epics, to Alan Parsons' cinematic arrangements and productions. This added concentration on the texture of the recording, ensuring that it was clean, spacious, and gentle, with a welcoming surface. Of course, this means that Time Passages can work very well as background music, but it also reveals much upon concentrated listening -- enough to make it stand proudly next to Modern Times and Year of the Cat as one of Al Stewart's very best albums.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dead Can Dance - Garden of the Arcane Delights (1984 EP between 1st & 2nd DCD album)

2010-09-29T21:29:00.000+03:00

Garden of the Arcane Delights (1984) was released by the group Dead Can Dance on 4AD. This was the only EP release by Dead Can Dance and it was originally released as a 12" record. Later, the four songs were added to Dead Can Dance's self titled debut album when it was re-released on CD.

The cover art is a sketch done by Brendan Perry and represents the themes of the song "The Arcane". As Perry explains:

…The naked blindfolded figure, representing primal man deprived of perception, stands, within the confines of a garden (the world) containing a fountain and trees laden with fruit. His right arm stretches out - the grasping for knowledge - towards a fruit bearing tree, its trunk encircled by a snake. In the garden wall - the wall between freedom and confinement - are two gateways: the dualistic notion of choice. It is a Blakean universe in which mankind can only redeem itself, can only rid itself of blindness, through the correct interpretation of signs and events that permeate the fabric of nature's laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_the_Arcane_Delights

Dead Can Dance - Dead Can Dance (1984 Debut Album of a superb band)

2010-09-29T21:22:00.001+03:00

Early punk backgrounds and the like behind them, Perry and Gerrard created a striking, dour landmark in early-'80s atmospherics on their first, self-titled effort. Bearing much more resemblance to the similarly gripping, dark early work of bands like the Cocteau Twins and the Cure than to the later fusions of music that would come to characterize the duo's sound, Dead Can Dance is as goth as it gets in many places. Perry and Gerrard's wonderful vocal work -- his rich, warm tones and her unearthly, multi-octave exaltations -- are already fairly well established, but serve different purposes here. Thick, shimmering guitar and rumbling bass/drum/drum machine patterns practically scream their sonic connections to the likes of Robin Guthrie and Robert Smith, but they still sound pretty darn good for all that. When they stretch that sound to try for a more distinct, unique result, the results are astonishing. Gerrard is the major beneficiary here -- "Frontier" explicitly experiments with tribal percussion, resulting in an excellent combination of her singing and the rushed music. Then there's the astonishing "Ocean," where guitar and chiming bells and other rhythmic sounds provide the bed for one of her trademark -- and quite, quite lovely -- vocal excursions into the realm of glossolalia. Perry in contrast tends to be matched with the more straightforward numbers of digital processing and thick, moody guitar surge. The album ends on a fantastic high note -- "Musica Eternal," featuring a slowly increasing-in-volume combination of hammered dulcimer, low bass tones, and Gerrard's soaring vocals. As an indicator of where the band was going, it's perfect.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Gogol Bordello- Super Taranta! (Superb Alternative/Punk 2007)

2010-09-26T11:12:00.002+03:00

Gogol Bordello is a group that will never slow down. Album after album, show after show, Eugene Hütz and his group of enthusiastic, disheveled gypsies continue to make fantastically inventive, provocative, smart, raucous music that refuses to be categorized or confined. But Gogol Bordello isn't trying to separate itself from the crowd in order to limit its audience, to attract only a select group of people; instead, their inclusion of so many different musical forms -- besides gypsy, there's also dub, punk, flamenco, Italian folk, and reggae on Super Taranta! -- only serves to broaden their allure, to give them a kind of universal appeal that transgresses geographic and cultural boundaries. It's the pure form, rather than the homogenized, that's stifling and limited. "I wanna walk this earth like it is mine/And so is everyone in our fun-loving tribe/C'mon man, is that real so much to ask?" Hütz asks in his charming dialectic English in the song "Tribal Connection," gently prodding his listeners to move beyond themselves and their cultural restraints and to look towards a globalized society where birthplace and familial origin are only two factors of many. He pokes fun at the U.S. ("Have you ever been to American wedding?/Where is the vodka, where is marinated herring?"), but it's in a lighthearted way, from someone who's benefited from its diversity, and though he's sometimes nostalgic for home (in "Suddenly...(I Miss Carpaty)," for example) it's also clear he has an affection for the country he now lives in. The album itself is Gogol Bordello's usual mix of riotous gypsy rhythms, fast string and accordion work, and loud guitars, but there's also a melodiousness here that comes out more strongly than on the band's previous albums, an underlying darkness that hints at the problems in the world without succumbing to them. "I can't go on, I will go on" Hütz repeats over and over in "Forces of Victory," the tension in his voice and the music working together to express the struggle holding him, and all people, back. This is what he's best at, actually, his ability to convey the common human experience, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or even language. Hütz, like every great vocalist -- and he is one, although not in the traditional sense -- doesn't rely on only the safety net of words to communicate his message, so even when he sings in Ukrainian or English or whatever else, his intent, his ideas, his passion (and needless to say those of the band, who combine rustic folk progressions with modern punk stylings seamlessly) is always comprehensible. Super Taranta! is the culmination of superb musicianship, endless energy, and an inborn sense of fun and a dedication to progression and innovation, and if that's not something to celebrate and dance to, it's hard to know what is.

AMG Review by Marisa Brown

Echo and the Bunnymen - Echo and the Bunnymen (Great Alternative Rock 1987)

2010-09-26T11:08:00.002+03:00

Echo & the Bunnymen caught the group at a fortuitous career juncture; the clutch of songs here were among the hookiest and most memorable the band would ever write, while the arrangements are noticeably clean and punchy, mostly eliminating strings and similar clutter to focus almost exclusively on guitars, keyboards, drums, and occasional percussion touches. The warmly expressive "All My Life," which might perhaps have received an overheated arrangement on prior albums, benefited especially from this approach. The band rocked out convincingly on other selections, such as "Satellite" and "All in Your Mind." Pete DeFreitas' solid drumming at times veered toward the danceable on tracks like "Lost and Found," "Lips Like Sugar," and the overtly Doors-influenced "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo." Surprisingly, vocalist Ian MuCulloch appeared to have rediscovered the maxim "less is more"; his singing was comparatively restrained and tasteful, resulting in a more natural, unforced emotiveness that was extremely effective. The production values were excellent, with many subtle touches that do not detract from the album's overall directness. In short, doing it clean really paid off here.

AMG Review by David Cleary

Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House (Superb Blues-Rock 1970)

2010-09-21T18:18:00.001+03:00

Fleetwood Mac was still primarily a blues band on this, their first album after the departure of founder/nominal leader Peter Green. But the remaining members, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Jeremy Spencer, and Danny Kirwan (plus McVie's wife, Christine, not yet officially part of the group) started broadening the band's use of blues into other contexts, and adding new influences in the absence of Green's laser-like focus. Jeremy Spencer's fascination with American rock & roll manifests itself on the album opener, "This Is the Rock" (which crosses paths with Elvis Presley's Sun Records sides), whilst "Hi Ho Silver" is a higher-wattage shouter covering the same territory that Spencer explored with the band (sans Green) on "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight," only with a little more subtlety and grace; and his tribute to Buddy Holly, "Buddy's Song," even outdoes the classic Joe Meek/Mike Berry "Tribute to Buddy Holly" as a memorial to the late rock & roll star — and it was always too good and sincere to be mistaken for part of any oldies revival. "Jewel Eyed Judy" and "Earl Gray" are two superb showcases for Danny Kirwan, the former as a vocalist and player and the latter as a composer and guitarist in tandem with Spencer, in what was a pretty good successor to the Green-era instrumental hit "Albatross." "One Together" shows off a harmony-vocal side to this band that was something new in 1970, on one of the prettiest tunes they ever had to work with. And Kirwan gets the spotlight once again as a guitarist on the hard-rocking "Tell Me All the Things You Do." The album ends with the lyrical, relaxed McCartney-esque folky pop of "Mission Bell," which seemed to point the way toward their future direction. None of this may be as intense as the music they cut with Peter Green running the show, but in its relaxed way Kiln House represents the same virtuoso blues-rock outfit having a little fun while making a record — think of it as roughly Fleetwood Mac's equivalent to the Rolling Stones' Between the Buttons.

AMG Review by Bruce Eder & William Ruhlmann

Ian Dury - 4000 Weeks Holiday (1984 underestimated Dury album)

2010-09-21T18:10:00.003+03:00

4000 Weeks Holiday suffers from a polished, radio-ready production that is entirely devoted to Ian Dury's fascination with disco and lite-funk. Over these slick backing tracks, Dury runs through a familiar litany of working-class anthems, love songs, social commentaries and bad jokes, all delivered with noticeably less inspiration than before. Despite a couple of bright moments, 4000 Weeks Holiday represents Dury at a creative nadir.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dulcimer - And I Turned as I Had Turned as a Boy (Superb Progressive Folk 1971)

2010-09-19T14:07:00.001+03:00

Dulcimer consisted of Dave Eaves and Pete Hodges on vocals and guitar, and bassist Jem North. Finding a mentor in the form of producer/manager Larry Page (yes, the guy who was behind The Troggs), 1971 found the trio signed by the small UK Nepentha Records (Mercury acquiring American distribution rights). Produced by Page, the trio debuted with 1970's oddly titled "And I Turned As I Had As a Boy". Best described as acoustic folk-rock, Hodge and Eaves-penned material such as "Pilgrim from the City", "Morman's Casket" and "Fruit of the Musical Tree" is full of pretty melodies and a weird series of mideaval and mythological lyrics (check out the bizarre "Ghost of the Wandering Minstrel Boy").
To give you some frame of reference, to our ears much of the set recalls early Al Stewart. Elsewhere, actor Richard Todd recites some hackneyed poetry on "Sonnett To the Fall" and "Caravan". Highlights include the pretty ballads "Glochester City" and "Starlight" (the latter featuring some nice electric bass from North). All told, the set's pleasant and never less than enjoyable, though nothing here is particularly original. Interestingly, the UK pressing (which is what we're offering), is far rarer and sought after than the US Mercury release. (The album was originally released with a gatefold sleeve.)

01. Sonnet To The Fall
02. Pilgrim From The City
03. Morman's Casket
04. Ghost Of The Wandering Minstrel Boy
05. Gloucester City
06. Starlight
07. Caravan
08. Lisa's Song
09. Time In My Life
10. Fruit Of The Musical Tree
11. While It Lasted
12. Suzanne

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Repost: Rosetta West - X Descendant (Blues/Psych 2004)

2010-09-19T13:52:00.005+03:00

ROSETTA WEST hails from the Mid-West, and plays true raw psychedelic blues; the sound is basic, crude and savage, almost gothic in its grandeur, and echoes the likes of JAMES BLOOD ULMER, and CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, alternating grungy blues tunes and acoustic numbers to create a landscape of voodoo nightmares, whiskey-fueled raves, and fever-stricken deathbed laments. Starting in 1996, the band has already released a series of self-produced recordings praised by critics, DJs and musicians around the world, including the likes of THURSTON MOORE, PHIL MILSTEIN and BYRON COLEY. After a two year break, ROSETTA WEST is back, always under the guidance of guitarist/singer JOSEPH DEMAGORE, with JAY DANIELS on bass, MIKE WEAVER on drums ... and the infamous NATHAN Q. SCRATCH. Alive records is proud to bring you 'X Descendant', a unique album of acoustic and electric down and dirty blues-swamp-rock.

"X Descendant" is a 9-song witch's brew of distilled booze, swamp sweat, Mississippi mud, bayou Blues, and barroom Psychedelia. I'll just call it "blooze", and let Rosetta West speak for themselves in all of their gritty, voodoo-laced splendor. Influences seem to range from John Lee Hooker and Creedence Clearwater Revival to early ZZ Top and even The Black Keys. The sound is stark, rural, and abundantly mannish, yet with a purgatorial, somewhat melancholy feel to it. X Descendant should be played as midnight fades into the shadows and the full moon rises low. Bring your own jug, and beware the hound dogs howlin' in the distance.

01 - Blue Honey - 3.24
02 - Slow Train - 3.53
03 - The Flag - 3.44
04 - Vampire Song - 2.30
05 - Shakin¥ All Over - 4.34
06 - Children - 3.34
07 - Shine - 3.05
08 - Deeper Than Magic - 6.01
09 - Return To Inferno - 4.42

Post by ChrisGoesRock