Greg Sage - Straight Ahead (Wipers' frontman solo album 1985)

Finally, the Wipers' incredible frontman finds a new label to release his records, and in this case, he tries a solo outing instead of convening a fourth Wipers album to go with the three stunning ones they did from 1980-1983. Side one is Wipers-type guitar songs from an uncharacteristic folky approach, and fans will likely lap them up with the same joy that they did the output of Is This Real?, Youth of America, and Over the Edge, which every fan needs. This is what we expect from Sage, in terms of his characteristically involved guitar playing pegged to more simple riffs, a formula that still works so well for him. Side two, though, now that's a totally different kettle of fish, one no one could have expected. How to describe it? Let's call it all strange-echo-soundtrack experiences/insights on the human race. There are no drums; it's almost like a soothing but spacey guitar orchestra, the man testing the outer limits of the moods a mere six strings can manage without other sounds' interference. It all adds up to another interesting look into a true and obvious talent. Get his Wipers LP too, though, you need everything this man does.

AMG Review by Jack Rabid

Barclay James Harvest - Barclay James Harvest (Superb debut album 1970 - plus bonus tracks)

Barclay James Harvest's sensibly titled debut album was one of the unsung classics of the late '60s, a post-psychedelic pop album that posits a peculiar collision between the Bee Gees' vision of classic grandeur and the heftier sounds leaking out of the rock underground. Add Norman Smith's epic production and one cannot help thinking that if the Pretty Things had ever looked elsewhere for their follow-up to S.F. Sorrow, Barclay James Harvest could have handed it to them on a plate. The opening "Taking Some Time On" is absolutely phenomenal, churning and riffing on the one hand, positively hymnal on the other -- and poised, during its chorus, to plunge into a virtual dry run for R.E.M.'s "Talk About the Weather." Elsewhere, "When the World Was Woken" is unmistakably daubed in a whiter shade of Procol Harum, while the 12-minute closer, "Dark Now My Sky," is simply spellbinding. Barclay James Harvest ranks among the finest albums of the entire early prog boom.

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Lemon Fog - The Psychedelic Sound Of Summer (1968 Fine US Psychedelia)

The Lemon Fog were a Houston-based quintet that had the distinction of being the first rock act signed to Ray McGinnis' Orbit Records label. They started out in the spring of 1963 as the Bar Eights, formed by Fillmore High School classmates Danny Ogg and Terry Horde, with Timmy Thorpe on bass, and Dale VanDeloo on saxophone and vocals. They were a Rip Chords-type surf band, with a few pop-soul numbers mixed into their sets. The group got a few coffee bar gigs and a sock hop or two to play before they broke up when VanDeloo supposedly attacked Ogg with a mike stand during an argument. Enter Chris Lyons, who was recruiting musicians at Clem's Music in Houston for a new band he was forming. Danny Ogg showed up at the store, and Lyons asked him to join -- Ogg agreed on condition that Timmy Thorpe, who had just gotten laid off from work, play bass. Lyons agreed, and by that weekend, the Pla-Boys, as they were known, were playing their first gig, at St. Regis College for the Arts. It was there that they were seen and heard by Ted Eubanks, an avant-garde composer on Houston's mod scene, who caught The Pla-Boys' act, which consisted mostly of covers of such garage greats as Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs and ? and the Mysterians. Eubanks liked the way they played more than what they played, and immediately approached them after the show. The band liked his suggestions, and he began putting original numbers into the group's sets. He also changed their image from clean-cut, matching suits to psychedelic, including beads. In a matter of weeks in 1965, they went from being the Pla-Boys to the Lemon Fog, who quickly became recognized as one of the more formidable bands in Houston.

The group's lineup soon shifted as Timmy Thorpe was dropped and Danny Ogg moved to bass, with Terry Horde taking over the lead guitar spot. They won a local battle of the bands, and, with help from producer-songrwriter Jimmy Duncan, were approached by Orbit Records with the offer of a recording contract. Only three singles were ever issued on the group by Orbit, although they recorded many hours' worth of demos under Eubanks' direction -- he handled most of the songwriting, alternating with Duncan. The best of these was "The Living Eye Theme," also known as "The Lemon Fog," which reached number eight on the regional and local charts in the Houston area. The group was a major draw there and in the Houston area, and made many television appearances promoting their singles.

Their sound, initially typical garage band-dance material, had advanced by leaps and bounds. Some of their songs resembled the folk-rock of the Byrds or the Beau Brummels, while their playing was closer in spirit to the complexity of Moby Grape, with lots of unexpected twists in the guitar and organ parts, and interesting harmonies. Personality conflicts eventually doomed the band, despite some extraordinary music to their credit. Egos clashed, and the use of drugs hampered the talents of one member, and in 1970, Eubanks was cutting records as a solo artist, which heralded the group's disintegration.

AMG Review by Bruce Eder

Original post by Rockasteria & Phrock

Love Exchange - The Love Exchange (1969 Sunshine Psychedelia from Los Angeles)

The Love Exchange's only album is an obscure also-ran psychedelic effort, though it's not poor. "Swallow the Sun," their most familiar tune due to its appearance on some '60s anthologies, is the standout on this assortment of rudimentary trippy garage-psych explorations. The minor-key yet poppy melodic progressions, leaning on snaky guitar lines and organ, are typical of much 1966-1968 California hippie rock. The tunes, however (often written by producer Larry Goldberg), are derivative and the lyrics self-conscious in their incense-tuous air. The production sometimes verges on the hasty and crude; Bonnie Blunt's voice, usually the focal point, is deserving of better material and arrangements. The folk-rock quotient comes to the fore on two of the better tunes, the appropriately melancholy and ghostly "Ballad of a Sad Man" (written by bassist Mike Joyce) and "Nothing at All," on which Blunt cedes the lead vocal position to one of the guys. The latter song, in fact, has a garage folk-rock air (and unrefined production) that leads one to suspect that it may have been cut earlier than most or all of the other tracks on the record. The 2001 Sundazed reissue has three previously unissued cuts (including a couple of awful quasi-showtune ditties) and three alternate takes of songs from the LP.

AMG Review by Richie Unterberger

Original post by Rockasteria & Phrock

Walkabouts - Train Leaves at Eight (Superb Alternative collection of covers 2001)

The Walkabouts' second collection of covers comes with a quite definite theme, a musical tour of Europe, ranging from Greece in the South all the way up to Norway. And it's most definitely a journey, one which suits the darker, more introspective, and very literate nature of this Seattle band. But the ground covered is more than geographic; not many bands could move from Greek icon Mikis Theodorakis to Krautrockers Neu! on the same record. But the Walkabouts, whose career has largely happened in Europe, handle it with aplomb, throwing up plenty of changes in arrangements and working hard to penetrate to the core of a song, even the enigmatic "Solex in a Slipshod Style," on the face of it an odd choice, coming from Dutch sampling queen Solex. A few of the writers might be familiar to Americans, like Jacques Brel and Scott Walker, but the majority of the names will be unknown -- a good thing, since the music can be judged on the interpretation, not the original version. A few famous friends, like R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Los Lobos sax man Steve Berlin add contributions, but it's the band who make it special, with Carla Torgerson's velvety voice caressing the lyrics while Chris Eckman worries his way into others. It might not be the most relaxing journey on offer, but it's one of the most rewarding, a night train across a Europe, not only through the countries, but also the hearts, minds, and souls.

AMG Review by Chris Nickson

Procol Harum - A & B: The Singles (Great compilation of all the PH singles)

Although Procol Harum owed their career to their initial single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale," they were never really a singles band. Annotator Chris Welch notes that the group was not a one-hit wonder, but it might be called a three-hit wonder by tossing in "Homburg" and "Conquistador" (four, if "Pandora's Box," a U.K. Top 20, is included). For the most part, Procol Harum were known for their LPs, so the idea of organizing a compilation around singles that happen to have been excerpted from those LPs, largely without the band's say-so, in one country or another, is a curious one. But A&B: The Singles, a three-CD set running just under three and three-quarter hours, manages to include most of Procol Harum's better tracks along with rarities that will intrigue fans. Of course, there are the non-LP B-sides, such as "Lime Street Blues," "Good Captain Clack," "Long Gone Geek," "Drunk Again," "Backgammon," and "Into the Flood." Then, there are foreign curios, including "Shine on Brightly" sung in Italian ("Il Tuo Diamante") and a French single with "Adagio di Albinoni" on one side and "Blue Danube" on the other. Getting into hair-splitting territory, there are singles that represent alternate takes ("Quite Rightly So," "In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence"); that have been remixed ("As Strong as Samson Is"); that have been edited for single release; or that are in mono because that's how they were released as singles. The average fan may lose interest at this level of obscurity, but the more fanatic will be engaged. And that's who this collection is aimed at: Procol Harum aficionados who have already bought most of these tracks umpteen times, but not all of them, and not necessarily in these exact forms. For those fans, this album is a godsend; for others, it will seem redundant.

Disc one:
1. A whiter shade of pale
2. Lime Street blues
3. Homeburg
4. Good Captain Clack
5. Il tuo diamente
6. Fortuna (Repent Walpurgis)
7. Quite rightly so
8. In the wee small hours of sixpence
9. Quite rightly so (alternate)
10. Rambling on
11. In the wee small hours of sixpence (alternate)
12. A salty dog
13. Long gone geek
14. The devil came from Kansas
15. Boredom
16. Whisky train (single edit)
17. Broken barricades
18. Power failure

Disc two:
1. Simple sister
2. Song for a dreamer
3. Homburg
4. Conquistador
5. Conquistador (live)
6. Luskus Delph (live)
7. A salty dog (live)
8. All this and more (live)
9. Robert's box (single edit)
10. A rum tale
11. Grand Hotel (single edit)
12. Bringing home the bacon
13. Fires (which burnt brightly)
14. A souvenir of London
15. Toujours l'amour
16. Nothing but the truth
17. Drunk again
18. Beyond the pale
19. Fresh fruit

Disc three:
1. Pandora's box
2. The piper's tune
3. The final thrust (single edit)
4. Taking the time
5. As strong as Sampson (remix)
6. The unquiet zone
7. Adagio di Albinoni
8. The blue Danube (live)
9. Wizard man
10. Backgammon
11. Something magic
12. All our dreams are sold
13. The truth won't fade away
14. A dream in ev'ry home (edit)
15. (You can't) turn back the page
16. One more time
17. Perpetual motion
18. Learn to fly
19. Into the flood

AMG Review by William Ruhlmann

Plan 9 - Keep Your Cool & Read the Rules (1985)

Keep Your Cool covers lots of stylistic ground, including the film noir ambience of "Street of Painted Lips" sung by DeMarco, an unclassifiable rollicking instrumental ("King 9 Will Not Return") and various stripes of '60s rock, running the stylistic gamut from Spirit to Steppenwolf. Although some are a little undeveloped, the band's songs are solid; the two covers are righteously arcane.
Tracklist:
01 - That's Life
02 - Poor Boy
03 - The Beast Was An Old Tale
04 - For Hillary
05 - Machines
06 - Face In The Box
07 - 11th Hour
08 - Street Of Painted Lips
09 - King Nine Will Not Return
10 - Keep Your Cool
11 - Hot Day

Plan 9

Vampyros Lesbos - Sexadelic Dance Party (Beautiful Funky/Psychy/Jazzy Soundtrack 1969)

"Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party" is a total trip. As the CD's liner notes explain, this disc contains music from the soundtracks of three films made by Jess Franco in 1970. The music was conducted and composed by Manfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab. The 14 tracks have such intriguing titles as "The Lions and the Cucumber," "Necronomania," and "The Six Wisdoms of Aspasia."

The liner notes describes the genre of this music as "acid jazz-pop," which is probably as good a description as any. The music combines ebullient horns, weird vocal effects, exotic Eastern-sounding instrumental effects, and other elements into a truly unique blend. This CD is often sensuous and often playful, and has bewitchingly sinister aspects as well.

But ultimately, the music is a lot of fun. If you're seeking musical accompaniment for an orgy, a Satanic ritual, an avant-garde fashion show, or a late 60's/early 70s theme party, check out "Vampyros Lesbos."

Brian Auger's Oblivion Express - A Better Land (Great Art-Rock 1971)

Whereas Brian Auger had taken the lion's share of composing responsibility on the deft, labyrinthine, jazz-rock debut album by the Oblivion Express, guitarist Jim Mullen steps up to the plate in a big way here, writing or co-writing seven of A Better Land's nine tracks, and arranging "Marai's Wedding," a traditional tune. Auger wrote just one, "Tomorrow City," and co-wrote two with Mullen. The feel and vibe of the record is almost a mirror image of its predecessor from earlier in 1971. Mullen composed on the guitar, therefore, the languid, sparer approach to harmony is everywhere apparent. But it's the songs themselves, with their lush use of acoustic guitars, country music melodies, and early rock tropes, such as on "Dawn of Another Day," the Band-inspired "Trouble," and the ethereal melody of "Women of the Seasons." There is also a pair of tracks here written with future AWB boss Alan Gorrie. The lilting jazz in the lead is countered with infectious pop hooks. On the Auger tunes, "Fill Your Head With Laughter," and "Tomorrow City," R&B is at their hearts. A Better Land is one of the more enduring pop records from the era, with its ultra-sophisticated compositioning and arrangement skills. It's as if the Oblivion Express wanted to reveal themselves as capable of anything, which, of course, they were. This is a fantastic place to start any Brian Auger collection.

AMG Review by Thom Jurek

Art Of Lovin' - Art Of Lovin' (1968 East Coast Psychedelia)

A Massachusetts outfit whose album is full of interesting and quite imaginative pop/folk-rock, obscure enough to have been reissued. Apart from a cover of Tim Hardin's Hang On To A Dream, all the songs were penned by Paul Applebaum. It's certainly worth hearing.

01.Paul's Circus
02.What The Young Minds Say
03.You've Got The Power
04.Take A Ride
05.Good Times
06.Daily Prayer
07.The First Time
08.You'll Walk Away
09.(How Can we) Hang On To A Dream
10.State Of Mind

Post by CGR

Carol Of Harvest - Carol Of Harvest (Prog-Psych from Germany 1978)

One of the many German bands to release a single album on a private label and watch it grow into a collector's dream. Carol of Harvest played a dreamy blend of Progressive Rock and Folk with female vocals that might be compared with Mellow Candle and early Clannad mixed with Jane, Pentangle and Renaissance. The music has the added edge of long arrangements with Moog synth and acid guitar solos, and in reality has little to do with Krautrock.
Information on the band members is very hard to find, helping to shroud this hard to find album with an air of mystery.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2099

Stavros Logaridis - Akritas (Prog-Rock from Greece 1973)

Few music and musicians from Greece have propulsated progressive rock greatly and with resonance, not to mention originally (and none so extensively). Along with the monumental APHRODITE'S CHILD (with whose conceptual merge they're actually far from identifying) and with AXIS or SOCRATES (with whom they match better), AKRITAS is strongly recommended for its lasting vintage sound up to an exciting mix of impressions. Definitely hidden from the amateur eye (also, given the music, against it) and exceptionally regarded, although exactly inside the level and the story of Greek passionate prog, the band made a tasteful effort.

AKRITAS formed in the late moments of 1972, being made of vocalist, guitarist and bassist Stavros Logaridis, former member of POLL, drummer Giorgos Tsoupakis and keyboardist Aris Tasoulis, former member of BOURBOULIA. Their praised effort came later in 1973, crediting a collaboration with guitarist Dimos Papachristou, and also benefiting of greek magic lyrics from Kostas Ferris. After that, the magic vanished.

The impressions that do exist, regarding influences and prog touches, can be mixed, going still on a refined blend of swirling progressive, psychedelic (or psycho-space), symphonic rock archetipes (with sufficient melodic moments, of a mediterranean breeze), Canterbury, jazz-rock improvisations and several other intimately approached nuances - to which we can still add the traditional and the conceptual opening towards, simply put, riveting rock. Except the already mentioned relations with the greek prog minds of the period, the influences also stretch towards ELP (the rythms are said to meat the expectations of none other than Carl PALMER), AMON DUUL II, light OSSANA, SPRING, ARCADIUM, or, more peculiarly, GENTLE GIANT, FRANK ZAPPA, DR. Z, GRACIOUS. There's an uncomparable Italian symph fluency to be considered, more closely in the lines of BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO.

Akritas is not only a full portrait of the band's passion, creativity and standards, but also gains itself the price of admission towards a sort of prog rock killer mood (with demanding bits, here and there). Drawn as a concept of particular obscurity and experimentality, judging the multi-instrumental complexity, it saves some space though for the vocal originality and emotiveness. Mixing the sound of psych-(s)paced guitar play, baroque organs, pianistic tunes, driving drumming, art vocalizing and sound high effect, the material can be an uncomparable stigma or a curiosly scaled revelation. A varied project, therefore, with entairtaing parts for the deep listening soul and with the tricks that make it entirely artistic, perhaps only missing the classic recognition. The organ and keyboard work is especially appreciable for its special technique of Mellotron and Moog, while the guitar holds the traditional sonority.

There is one note about another album having been made by the band, in an uncertain year, still the source is singular and the 1973 album's relevance remains highest.

AKRITAS, with a more or less epocal recording, tell the story of traditional music, ambitious playing, rock-filling versatileness and lyrism, having the mix of at least three prog movements and pleasing with a connectivity that goes from the simplest (music play) to the most ambitious patterns. A bit of a one-off success, that laments the short living of the group.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2824

Frank Tovey - Tyranny and the Hired Hand (Great Alternative Folk 1989)

In 1989, Fad Gadget changed musical tactics in his criticism of industrialization, recording a mostly acoustic album of protest and labor songs Tyranny and the Hired Hand including such standards as "Sixteen Tons."














Track Listing
31 Depression Blues
Hard Times in the Cotton Mill
John Henry/Let Your Hammer Ring
The Blantyre Explosion
Money Cravin' Folks
All I Got Is Gone
Midwife Song
Sam Hall
Dark as a Dungeon
Men of Good Fortune
Sixteen Tons
North Country Blues
Buffalo Skinners
Black Lung Song
Pastures of Plenty
Joe Hill

Delirium - Dolce Acqua (1971 Italian Hippy-Psych)

DELIRIUM's "Dolce Acqua" is a wild concaution of Jazz, Prog, World and Psychedelic influences yet always retains that Characteristically 70's Italian influence. Musically this album explores a wide range of impressions with some great flute, piano and percussive passages... lots of gentle syncopation. Vocals are deep and full of emotion. Songs are quite rhythmic and heavily centered on a the melodic aspect... even some orchestration. This album unveils many highs for this music lover with its wide spectrum of bright and bouncy colors and sounds. Although 70's sounding throughout, "Dolce Acqua" leans much more on the Jazz-prog arena than many of the heavy Ital-Prog albums of its era and most certainly that of their second album. One of the most remarkable aspects of this album for me lies in its sound reproduction which comes to life in the CD re-mastered version. Sonically this album offers great wide speaker separation and clear definition making the performers sound as if they are in your living room. Might be one of the best recorded albums of 1971... Captivating and then some!!- Ivano Fossati / lead vocals, acoustic & electric flute, acoustic guitar, recorder, harmonica - Marcello Reale / bass, vocals
- Peppino Di Santo / drums, percussion, timpani, vocals
- Ettore Vigo / piano, organ, electric piano, celesta, vibraphone, cembalo, prepared piano, harmonium
- Mimmo Di Martino / acoustic guitar, vocals

http://orexisofdeath.blogspot.com/2009/01/delirium-dolce-acqua-1971-it.html

Mick Farren - Vampires Stole My Lunch Money (British Punk 1978)

One of the key albums made on the periphery of the late-1970s punk explosion, Deviants frontman Mick Farren's return to raw rock, following most of a decade spent in journalism, was less a timely resurrection than it was a vicious reminder that none of this new noise was actually very new. He'd been doing exactly the same stuff a decade before, and would still be doing it two decades hence. In the 1960s, after all, the Deviants depicted the underside of the peace and love rhetoric by asking just one simple question: what will happen if the revolution succeeds? In the 2000s, they pinpoint the formless agitation which has sucked the optimism out of everything. And in the 1970s, Farren solo snagged the tabloid nihilism which now dominated the punk scene, and played it up for all it was worth. Vampires was released hot on the heels of one of the most glorious singles of the era, the seething teen riot anthem "Let's Loot the Supermarket Again Like We Did Last Summer"; indeed, combine that one track with the best bits of Vampires and there's probably no better illustration of Farren's (continued) ability to press the pulse of the period. Possibly unintentionally, and now certainly unbelievably, Vampires marks the closest Farren has ever strayed towards becoming a true commercial proposition. He opens the album with a Frank Zappa cover, rather than a mutated approximation of what he thought the Mothers should sound like -- at the height of Britain's late 70s culture wars, "Trouble Coming Every Day" had been screaming out for reinvention, but Farren did more than that. Shortened and sharpened, stripped of weary cynicism and imbibed instead with apocalyptic foreboding, it became the statement of intent and detente which the punks had been trying to elucidate all along, and proved that all the latest generation were really doing was mainstreaming the imagery of the radicals of ten years before. In truth, the remainder of Vampires cannot live up to such an incendiary beginning; in its favor, it doesn't even try. With the exception of the remarkably prescient "Bela Lugosi," dedicated to the man who would, a year hence, be subpoenaed by Bauhaus to create the gothic movement, Vampires plays a hard-drinking, beautifully wasted game, living up to a dissolute image which may or may not have been Farren's personal modus operandi at the time, but certainly summed up his public persona. "Half Price Drinks," "I Want a Drink," "Drunk in the Morning" -- there's a definite conceptual angle here, and a rewarding game of spot the rock star, too, as Farren ropes in Chrissie Hynde, Wilco Johnson, Curved Air's Sonja Kristina, Pink Fairy, Larry Wallis, and sundry past and future Deviants to add to the dyspeptic ambience. It's probably the least essential album in Farren's canon, distilling his dark visions into bite sized morsels of fairly catchy poppy songs. But it is also the most enjoyable; a rolling, boiling, sassy swagger which makes only one persistent demand on the listeners. They have to buy the next round.

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Iggy Pop - The Idiot (Classic album 1977)

In 1976, the Stooges had been gone for two years, and Iggy Pop had developed a notorious reputation as one of rock & roll's most spectacular waste cases. After a self-imposed stay in a mental hospital, a significantly more functional Iggy was desperate to prove he could hold down a career in music, and he was given another chance by his longtime ally, David Bowie. Bowie co-wrote a batch of new songs with Iggy, put together a band, and produced The Idiot, which took Iggy in a new direction decidedly different from the guitar-fueled proto-punk of the Stooges. Musically, The Idiot is of a piece with the impressionistic music of Bowie's "Berlin Period" (such as Heroes and Low), with it's fragmented guitar figures, ominous basslines, and discordant, high-relief keyboard parts. Iggy's new music was cerebral and inward-looking, where his early work had been a glorious call to the id, and Iggy was in more subdued form than with the Stooges, with his voice sinking into a world-weary baritone that was a decided contrast to the harsh, defiant cry heard on "Search and Destroy." Iggy was exploring new territory as a lyricist, and his songs on The Idiot are self-referential and poetic in a way that his work had rarely been in the past; for the most part the results are impressive, especially "Dum Dum Boys," a paean to the glory days of his former band, and "Nightclubbing," a call to the joys of decadence. The Idiot introduced the world to a very different Iggy Pop, and if the results surprised anyone expecting a replay of the assault of Raw Power, it also made it clear that Iggy was older, wiser, and still had plenty to say; it's a flawed but powerful and emotionally absorbing work.

AMG Review by Mark Deming

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

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

Dragonfly - Dragonfly (1968 US Psych/Garage)

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

Miracle Workers - Inside Out (1985 US Garage Rock)

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)

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