Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Prog-Rock 1972)

Most folks know Manfred Mann from his '60s hits, but too few have ever heard the brilliant Manfred Mann's Earth Band album. Exploring arty and progressive directions, the Earth Band was a wholly different group from Mann's earlier lineup. Unlike the heavier art rock groups that would follow (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes), the Earth Band never became burdened by its own seriousness.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band combines hypnotic instrumentals ("Tribute"), exhilarating original songs ("Captain Bobby Stout"), and three definitive covers all laden with hooks worthy of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy." Mann mines Dylan's basement tapes again for "Please Mrs. Henry" (see "Quinn the Eskimo" and "Get Your Rocks Off" on other releases). An obscure Dr. John song, "Jump Sturdy" nearly jumps off the record. The synthesizer solo "Sloth" segues into the album's centerpiece, "Living Without You." With its thumping bassline and "So hard" chorus, this might be the best version of a Randy Newman song ever recorded. Closing the album, the Mann himself takes vocal turns on "Part Time Man" and "Up & Leaving," quiet acoustic tales that contrast with the complex instrumentals of the rest of the record. On whole, Manfred Mann's Earth Band is a completely satisfying album and one of the most underrated of the '70s.

AMG Review by J.P. Ollio

Camel - Rain Dances (1977 Prog-Rock)

The band's fifth release, Rain Dances is Camel at its best, offering the most consistent and representative package in their saga. The addition of Caravan-cofounder Richard Sinclair proves profitable, as do a few colorist touches by Brian Eno on "Elke." Mel Collins' woodwinds are among the highlights, especially on "Tell Me" and the title track. From beginning to end, this project flows gracefully.

AMG Review by Matthew Plichta

Steely Dan - Aja (Wonderful Jazz-Rock 1977)

Steely Dan hadn't been a real working band since Pretzel Logic, but with Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights. A coolly textured and immaculately produced collection of sophisticated jazz-rock, Aja has none of the overt cynicism or self-consciously challenging music that distinguished previous Steely Dan records. Instead, it's a measured and textured album, filled with subtle melodies and accomplished, jazzy solos that blend easily into the lush instrumental backdrops. But Aja isn't just about texture, since Becker and Fagen's songs are their most complex and musically rich set of songs — even the simplest song, the sunny pop of "Peg," has layers of jazzy vocal harmonies. In fact, Steely Dan ignores rock on Aja, preferring to fuse cool jazz, blues, and pop together in a seamless, seductive fashion. It's complex music delivered with ease, and although the duo's preoccupation with clean sound and self-consciously sophisticated arrangements would eventually lead to a dead end, Aja is a shining example of jazz-rock at its finest.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Walkabouts - New West Motel (1993 Indie Rock)

The double-album New West Motel bears more than a passing similarity to the work of Neil Young (whose "Like a Hurricane" gets covered here), thanks to its edgy juxtaposition of blistering guitar workouts and plaintive acoustic cuts.

AMG Review by Jason Ankeny

Waterboys - A Pagan Place (2nd album Alternative Rock 1984)

On their second album, A Pagan Place, the Waterboys turn Celtic folk-rock into a monumental fusion of Van Morrison's poetry, arena rock, and Phil Spector's monolithic wall of sound. Mike Scott's ideas are simply too grand to be executed properly, yet A Pagan Place has enough thrilling moments to make his embarrassing missteps forgivable.

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees (Beautiful Blues-Rock 1972)

Arguably the first consistently strong album Fleetwood Mac ever recorded -- all the way back into the Peter Green/Jeremy Spencer era, the Mac's albums had previously consisted of individual moments of brilliance in a sea of uninspired filler -- 1972's Bare Trees is also the album where the band finally defines its post-blues musical personality. Low-key but less narcoleptically mellow than 1971's sleepy Future Games, Bare Trees is a singer/songwriter album in the traditional early-'70s style, backed up with just enough musical muscle to keep from sounding like weedy soft rock in the manner of Bread or Cat Stevens. This is the one Fleetwood Mac album on which singer/guitarist Danny Kirwan is the dominant figure, writing five songs to Chistine McVie and Bob Welch's two apiece. Impressively, all three writers get off a small masterpiece on side two; McVie's "Spare Me a Little of Your Love" sounds like a dry run for the string of hits she would start writing with 1975's Fleetwood Mac, and it's her first really good pop song. By comparison, Kirwan and Welch's best songs are all-time career highlights. Kirwan's "Dust" combines a gentle, gliding melody with resigned, melancholy lyrics and his most memorable chorus. Welch's "Sentimental Lady" was, of course, his first solo hit in its 1977 re-recorded version, but this original take is far superior, and one of the great lost pop songs of the early '70s. Outfitted with a terrific vocal melody, hooks galore, and an impressive tremolo guitar solo, "Sentimental Lady" is perhaps a little trite lyrically, but it's a heartfelt and lovable tune regardless, and the best thing Fleetwood Mac did in the years between "Albatross" and "Over My Head." The rest of the album is less magical, but the instrumental "Sunny Side of Heaven" and the downright funky "Danny's Chant" are impressive in their use of atmospheric arrangements and so point toward the subtle but effective production choices that would make Fleetwood Mac and Rumours among the most listenable albums of their time. Bare Trees isn't in that league, but it shows that after five years of false starts and failed experiments, Fleetwood Mac were finally on their way.

AMG Review by Stewart Mason

Eric Burdon & the Animals - Winds of Change (1967 Psychedelia)

Winds of Change opened the psychedelic era in the history of Eric Burdon & the Animals -- although Burdon's drug experiences had taken a great leap forward months earlier with his first acid trip, and he and the group had generated some startlingly fresh-sounding singles in the intervening time, it was Winds of Change that plunged the group headfirst into the new music. The record was more or less divided into two distinctly different sides, the first more conceptual and ambitious psychedelic mood pieces and the second comprised of more conventionally structured songs, although even these were hard, mostly bluesy and blues-based rock, their jumping-off point closer to Jimi Hendrix than Sonny Boy Williamson. The band's new era opened with waves washing over the title track, which included sitar and electric violin, while Burdon's voice, awash in reverb, calmly recited a lyric that dropped a lot of major names from blues, jazz, and rock. "Poem by the Sea" was a recitation by Burdon, amid a swirl of echo-drenched instruments, and it led into one of the group's handful of memorable covers from this period, "Paint It Black" -- driven by John Weider's electric violin and Vic Briggs' guitar, and featuring an extended vocal improvisation by Burdon, their approach to the song was good enough to make it part of the group's set at the Monterey International Pop Festival that June, and also to get a spot in the documentary movie that followed. "The Black Plague" opens with a Gregorian chant structure that recalls "Still I'm Sad" by the Yardbirds, and was another vehicle for Burdon's surreal spoken contributions. There were also, as with most of the group's work from this period, a few easily accessible tracks that could make good singles, in this instance "Good Times" and "San Franciscan Nights," a Top Ten record in various countries around the world in the last quarter of 1967, although, as Alan Clayson points out in his notes, the latter song was overlooked in England for nearly 12 months after its release elsewhere, and then appeared as the B-side to the relatively straightforward, brooding, moody rocker "Anywhere." Burdon was so inspired by Jimi Hendrix's music that he wrote one of the psychedelic era's rare "answer" songs, "Yes I Am Experienced," as an homage to the guitarist; the latter's influence could also be heard in "It's All Meat," the LP's closing track, and a song that calls to mind an aspect of this band that a lot of scholars in earlier years overlooked -- the fact that Briggs, Weider, et al. had the skills to make music in that style that was convincing and that worked on record, on their terms.

AMG Review by Bruce Eder

Michaelangelo - One Voice Many (1971 Folk-Rock)

This lost classic finally makes its CD debut here. Led by the aptlynamed Angel, the band only recorded one album, which has become one of the best-loved folk-rock albums of its era. Recorded in New York and produced by longtime Wendy Carlos collaborator Rachel Elkind, it's a haunting collection of autoharp-led pop songs, boasting strong melodies and powerful electric guitar, but sold poorly on release in 1971, causing the band to splinter.

Delicate and melodic baroque soft-rock with a mellow hippie aura. Vocally not unlike the softer moments of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy or Comfortable Chair. Where they came from is unknown, though some of the credits hint at it being recorded in New York City. To be taken in the drawing-room with perfumed tea.

Little's known about this group, even though their sole album, 1971's One Voice Many, came out on a major label, Columbia. Sounding more like a record from the late '60s than the early '70s, its folk-rock-psychedelic blend was unusual for prominently featuring the autoharp of Angel Autoharp (as she's billed on the record), which sometimes functioned much as a lead guitar or organ would within a rock lineup. Autoharp also wrote the material on the LP, which presented both instrumentals (on which the autoharp took its strongest role) and vocal numbers with male-female vocal blends/alternations, all the while maintaining a slightly haunting yet cheery flavor consistent with the sound of many Californian bands of the era.

Personnel:
ANGEL autoharp, vcls
STEVE BOHN gtr, vcls
ROBERT GORMAN bs, vcls
MICHAEL JOHN HACKETT drms

ALBUM:
1. ONE VOICE MANY (Columbia C 30686) 1971

45s:
1. 300 Watt Music Box/Half A Tap (Columbia 4-45328) 1971
2. West/It's Crying Outside (Columbia 4-45459) 1971

Album
01. West
02. Come To Me
03. This Bird
04. Son (We've Kept The Room Just The Way You Left It)
05. Medley
06. It's Crying Outside
07. 300 Watt Music Box
08. Okay
09. Half A Top
10. One Voice Many

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Sisters Of Mercy - Some Girls Wander By Mistake (1992 Great Darkwave Compilation)

For over a decade, the early singles of Andrew Eldritch's goth crew, the Sisters of Mercy, existed only in a limited-edition vinyl format. They also went for fairly high prices, something that led to extensive bootlegging. Thankfully, in 1992 head honcho Eldritch decided to release all of the Sisters' pre-major-label material on a single compilation CD. He was rewarded with a U.K. number one album, and the opportunity to buy himself a new Porsche. The title comes from a Leonard Cohen song, "Teachers," which was the first song performed by the fledgling Sisters. All five early singles/EPs are here, from 1980's "The Damage Done" to 1983's "Temple of Love." The material is not presented chronologically, which is fine since the band's first two singles are the weakest on the album. "The Damage Done" might command a high price on vinyl but isn't a particularly good song, and the 30-second B-side "Home of the Hit-Men" is entirely pointless. Follow-up single "Body Electric" is better, featuring the classic punk workout "Adrenochrome," but it wasn't until 1982's "Alice" that the band hit its stride. The title track is an instant classic, while "Floorshow" became a live show staple. The Reptile House EP, featuring tracks five to ten on the CD, saw the Sisters take a turn into more overtly dark territory, featuring some of their bleakest and most anguished work. Their final indie release, "Temple of Love," continued this trend, with Eldritch turning in an impressive vocal performance. The cover of "Gimme Shelter" doesn't entirely work, but it's an interesting glimpse into the band's roots. Some Girls Wander By Mistake captures the Sisters of Mercy at their most ferocious and angry, in the years before the band became weighed down by over-produced synth-based efforts. As a look at the formative years of a still-popular band, it's great, but as a reminder of the punk roots of the goth movement, it's priceless.

AMG Review by Jim Harper

Calexico - Hot Rail (2000 Indie Rock)

Continuing the Tijuana Brass meets Giant Sand and Ennio Morricone in a dark neuvo-waveo spaghetti Western approach they've gradually refined over the past two albums, multi-instrumentalists John Convertino and Joey Burns keep exploring terrain they've uniquely staked out. While not as cinematic, sprawling, and impressive as 1998's The Black Light, the duo create vivid soundscapes as dry, hot, and shimmering as the weather of their Tucson, Arizona home. Although they subtly expand their palette in all sorts of interesting ways, the spooky, late-'70s Miles Davis feel they inject into the nearly eight-minute "Fade" through jazzy drums, spacy vibes, and ominous cello works best. The songs, especially the appropriately named atmospheric instrumentals "Untitled II" and "Untitled III" tend to meander, but the duo keeps peeling back more layers and different instruments to pull the listener's interest. "Sonic Wind" and "Ballad of Cable Hogue" are as succinct, melodic, and tight as they've ever been, and Joey Burns' yearning, whisper of a voice suits this evocative music perfectly. This could easily turn into schtick, though, and it's to the duo's credit that they not only take themselves seriously, but don't pummel their weirdness into the ground. Instead, they push and knead the already elastic boundaries of a genre they've practically created, in jazzy, bluesy, and experimental directions that indicate they have a rich future ahead of them. Hot Rail isn't a great album; it's far too spotty and inconsistent musically. But it's an important one because it proves Calexico isn't content to remain stuck in an intriguing but limiting rut and is willing to explore new sonic directions while maintaining a distinctive identity and vision.

AMG Review by Hal Horowitz

Nick Cave - Your Funeral...My Trial (1986 Post-Punk)

Reduced to a quartet for the most part, with Barry Adamson joining Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey and Thomas Wydler on only a couple of tracks, the Bad Seeds turn from the interpretive triumph of Kicking Against the Pricks to another strong high, the mostly-original Your Funeral...My Trial. The one cover is a sharp, unsurprisingly dramatic version of Tim Rose's "Long Time Man." As for the rest of the album, Trial shows the Seeds working as, again, a remarkably accomplished and varied act, ever available and ready to explore a wide range of musics distilled into Cave's often dark, always passionate vision. Arguably Cave and company have by now so clearly established their overall style that Your Funeral...My Trial is much more a refinement of the past than anything else, but so good is their work that resistance is near impossible. If anything, the brooding power of the Seeds is more restrained than ever, suggesting destructive endings and overwhelming love without directly playing it. Songs like "Jacks Shadow" and the gentler but still melancholy moods of "Sad Waters," detailing a riverside scene between a couple, are simply grand. The opening title track sets the mood well, Cave handling not merely vocals but Hammond organ, adding a strangely sweet air to the late-night atmosphere of the piece. "The Carny" is a definite highlight, the cracked music-box/carnival accompaniment courtesy of Harvey utterly appropriate for Cave's tale of a circus gone horribly wrong in ways Edward Gorey would appreciate. "Hard On for Love," as the title pretty clearly gives away, is at once sensual and blunt right down to the lyrics, Biblical references and all, as the feverish music rises in a tide of emotion.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Nick Cave - The Good Son (1990 Alternative)

Losing Wolf, aside from the final reprise of "Lucy," but otherwise making no changes in the line-up, the Seeds followed up Tender Prey with the equally brilliant but generally calmer Good Son. At the time of its release there were more than a few comments that Cave had somehow softened or sold out, given how he was more intent on exploring his dark, cabaret pop stylings than his thrashy, explosive side. This not only ignored the constant examples of such quieter material all the way back to From Her to Eternity, but Cave's own constant threads of lyrical darkness, whether in terms of romance or something all the more distressing. This said, the softly crooning group vocals and sweet strings on the opening "Foi Na Cruz" certainly would catch some off guard. The title track itself captured the overall mood of the album, a retelling of the Bible's prodigal son story from the other son, the one who stayed at home and did what he was meant to do. The elegant, reflective "Lucy" and the staccato then sweeping "Lament" are two further high points, but the flat-out winners come dead center. "The Weeping Song," a magnificent duet between Cave and Bargeld, starts out sounding a bit like Gene Pitney's "Something's Gotta Hold of My Heart," which the Seeds covered on Pricks, before shading into its own powerful, blasted drama. "The Ship Song," meanwhile, equals if not overtakes the Scott Walker ballads Cave so clearly is inspired by, a soaring, tearjerking declaration of intense love that's simply amazing.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge (Alternative Pop/Rock 1983)

With two years, numerous radio sessions, and incessant gigging under their belts since their debut single, "In Shreds," the Chameleons came to the studio determined to make a great first album with Script of the Bridge. To say they succeeded would be like saying Shakespeare did pretty well with that one Hamlet play of his. Script remains a high-water mark of what can generally be called post-punk music, an hour's worth of one amazing song after another, practically a greatest-hits record on its own: the John Lennon tribute "Here Today," "Monkeyland," "Pleasure and Pain," "Paper Tigers," "As High as You Can Go," the breathtaking closer, "View From a Hill." Starting with the passionate fire of "Don't Fall," Script showcases how truly inventive, unique, and distinctly modern rock & roll could exist, instead of relentlessly rehashing the past to little effect. The scalpel-sharp interplay between the musicians is a sheer wonder to behold, the Dave Fielding/Reg Smithies guitar team provoke nothing but superlatives throughout, and John Lever and Mark Burgess make a perfect rhythm section — while the crisp production of Colin Richardson and the band adds delicate synth lines and shadings, courtesy of early touring keyboardist Alistair Lewthwaite, and just the right amount of reverb and effects on the guitars. Add to that the words of Burgess, one of the few lyricists out there who can tackle Big Issues while retaining a human, personal touch, and it all just adds up perfectly. The best one-two punch comes from "Second Skin," a complex, beautifully arranged and played reflection on the meaning of music and fandom, and "Up the Down Escalator," an at once harrowing and thrilling antinuclear/mainstream politics slam. [An important note: avoid at all costs the original U.S. vinyl issue on MCA, which not only switches the song order but removes a full third of the songs.]

1. Don't fall

2. Here today

3. Monkeyland

4. Second skin

5. Up the down escalator

6. Less than human

7. Pleasure and pain

8. Thursday's child

9. As high as you can go

10. Person isn't safe anywhere these days

11. Paper tiger

12. View from a hill

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Gravy Train - Staircase to the Day (1974 Heavy Progressive)

GRAVY TRAIN were a British quartet who play a very on the progressive rock side of classic rock. "Staircase to the Day" is considered a classic in the prog rock circles and I must agree. GRAVY TRAIN blend the English style classic rock sound with progressive movements creating an excellent but very different style. "Staircase..." offers nice mood swing throughout and ranges from HENDRIX-like guitar driven moments to pastel / keyboard laden parts.

1. Starbright Starlight (4:28)
2. Bring My Life On Back To Me (5:48)
3. Never Wanted You (4:04)
4. Staircase To The Day (7:31)
5. Going For A Quick One (5:16)
6. The Last Day (5:36)
7. Evening Of My Life (2:59)
8. Busted In Schenectady (8:11)

Line-up / Musicians - Norman Barrett / guitar, vocals
- George Lynon / guitar
- Barry Davenport / drums
- Lester Williams / bass, vocals
- J.D. Hughes / keyboards, vocals, flute, saxes

with
- Mary Zinovieff / keyboards, violin
- Peter Solley / keyboards, vocals
- Jim Frank / Drums
- PP Arnold, Faye Doris, Bobby Harrison / Backing vocals
- Vic Smith / Cowbell

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5776

Baby Grandmothers - Baby Grandmothers (1968 Psychedelia from Sweden)

Baby Grandmothers were a short-lived Swedish band, but one of the most prolific and unique psychedelic, modal, experimental power-trios to emerge out of the Scandinavian psychedelic underground-scene in 1967. Although hailing from Stockholm, Sweden they only released a single in Finland, which has since become one of the most sought after pieces of vinyl from the era. Baby Grandmothers were formed out of the legendary R&B / beat band T-Boones in the summer of 1967. T-Boones are probably best known for their ìAt the club/King of the Orientî single which is one of the best, and most collectable, out of the Swedish garage beat-era. Guitar-wiz Kenny HÂkansson joined the band in 1965and with the group down to a trio they drifted into the psychedelic sounds of the time and in August 1967 released the single ìI Want Youî, which definitely was the first hard-rock recording ever made in Sweden. The band was then re-christened Baby Grandmothers by the co-founder of the newly opened psychedelic club Filips, for which he needed a house-band. Filips was the legendary breeding ground for bands such as Hansson & Karlsson, P‰rson Sound, as well as orgiastic all night jams with foreign luminaries such as Jimi Hendrix and the Mothers of Invention. Baby Grandmothers also supported Jimi Henrix on his Swedish tour in 1968 and then turned into Mecki Mark Men, who became the first Swedish rock band to tour the US. Founding member Kenny HÂkansson went on to form the highly influential Kebnekajse, who created the Swedish electric folk psych sound. This unique collection brings live-recordings made at Filips, their impossibly rare single and a rare live recording made in Finland. Painstakingly collected and researched by Dungenís guitarist Reine Fiske.

Baby Grandmothers were one of the most prolific and unique power-trios to emerge out of the Scandinavian psychedelic underground-scene in 1967. Although hailing from Stockholm, Sweden they only released a single in Finland, which has since become one of the most sought after pieces of vinyl from the era.

The band consisted of guitarist Kenny HÂkansson, bassist Bengt ìBellaî Linnarsson and drummer Pelle Ekman. These musicians were later to join forces with Mecki Bodemark and became the second formation of Mecki Mark Men, whoís LP ìRunning in the summer nightî was released on Mercury Records sub-label Limelight in the U.S in 1969. This CD contains the Baby Grandmothers single, various live-recordings and the full story of one of Swedenís most obscure psych bands.

The origins of Baby Grandmothers can be traced back to deep within Stockholmís wild and vital pop-scene of 1965/66 with T-Boones, one of the most original r & b bands of the era. T-Boones were successful on the club circuit and their debut-single, ìAt the Club / King of the Orientî was a highly original piece of vinyl. A super-rare Swedish garage-classic today, the single was produced by the band themselves under the supervision of Bill ÷hrstrˆm, whose own band, stable-mates The Merrymen, were an equally original and rockier version of the r & b sound. The Merrymen included one Bo Hansson on guitar and Bill would later work as the producer for Bo when he switched to the Hammond-organ in the duo Hansson & Karlsson with jazz-man Jan Carlsson on drums. T-Boones were joined by guitarist Kenny HÂkansson (b. 1945) sometime in 1965. Kenny: ìMy group The Agents needed a new singer and when I heard rumours about the T-Boones splitting up I contacted their much talented singer and songwriter Kjell Lagerstrˆm. The T-Boones werenít breaking up though but the contact was made and this led me to join them instead.î A guitar-player since his early teens, Kennyís love for the blues and rock & roll via the sound of The Shadows made him the perfect fit for the T-Boones sound and in 1966 came the release of the bands second single ìDonít you ever leave me / What a feelingî on Polydor. It was a slight departure from their debut the record and had a softer approach and was produced by Bill ÷hrstrˆm. Still playing their own brand of self-penned r & b inspired songs and various blues numbers done in unique renditions during live-sets, they often played at the Liverpool club, a boat anchored up in the inner-city of Stockholm. Gigs at the club were often shared with the even younger and now legendary mod-band Friends.
Most of the T-Boones members had already completed their military-service except for Kenny who got drafted in 1966. During this period some of the guys sometimes joined pianist/singer Slim Notiniís group Slimís Blues Gang but also with blues harpist Linkiní Louisiana Peps, with whom they recorded with in early 1967. Slim was something of a John Mayall-like character in Stockholm at the time, with his band functioning as a spring-board for various talented musicians. According to hearsay, this ìbig-bandî would on certain wild occasions make music in the direction of the coming U.S. West Coast scene, with a loose and almost free-form attitude. Sax-player and future jazz-man Tommy Koverhult was also a frequent guest with both T-Boones and Slimís band. Bill ÷hrstrˆm sometimes joined in on vocals and congas along with his younger guitar-playing brother Guy (later in Indian inspired acoustic group Handgjort). With Kenny finally back in the fold T-Boones recorded yet another still unreleased single in the folk-rock direction and in early 1967 the original quintet was down to being a trio.

With original members Pelle Ekman (b. 1945) on drums and Gˆran Malmberg (b. 1943) on bass Kenny HÂkansson was now taking to the stage as lead-guitarist and main vocalist. Gˆranís interest in electronics made him start to design the bands own amps in early 1966, including a very unique square bass-drum for Pelle built entirely of metal. Gˆran: ìI had some contacts in England that made me hook up with various groups there, including The Troggs, so I built some amps for them. During a trip to England in May 1967 we also purchased two100 Watt Marshall amps as well as going shopping for some great outfits on Carnaby Street. We also went to many of the best clubs in London, one of the more memorable nights being a gig with Graham Bond and his band at The Speakeasy. I later built my own replicas of the Marshall speaker-cabinets as well as my own version of the Gibson EB-1 bass-guitar.î The T-Boones, with a sound leaning towards heavy blues under the influence of Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, was definitely turning louder. Kennyís playing in particular had evolved massively during this period and the band became very popular at various Stockholm clubs. They were the resident-band at CobalibreÈ, but also at L‰rkan and later moving on to the legendary jazz-club The Golden Circle. During this time they also started to do shorter tours around the country. The band recorded a single for Decca, a powered-up rendition of the Graham Bond Organisationís ìI want youî backed with John Mayallís ìMr. Jamesî. ìI want youî (available on the ìWho Will Buy These Wonderful Evilsî Vol.1 comp) was definitely the first hard-rock recording ever made in Sweden and was released in August 1967.

At this time the band needed a stand-in for Gˆran Malmberg whilst playing The Golden Circle and Bengt ìBellaî Linnarsson (b. 1946) was called in. ìBellaî, originally from Jˆnkˆping in the South-East of Sweden, had been in various groups including The Bell Boys, GÂrunt show and the amazing free-form jazz-group Nisse Sandstrˆms Grupp (which also included the multi-instrumentalist Bjˆrn J:son Lindh). ìBellaî had chosen to stay in Stockholm to look for jobs and to maybe join a new band and upon meeting Bill ÷hrstrˆm he was offered a gig with the T-Boones. ìBellaî: ìI had never heard about this band before but I dressed up a bit and headed off to the club with my Hofner-bass. I asked for the guys in the band at the bar and the bartender said that the two characters over by the stage must be the T-Boones. The two almost looked like some ìwoodsy trollsî to me and I introduced myself and said that I was their bass-player for the night and if Bill had mentioned this. They looked very surprised and Kenny said ìWell, you can use Gˆran¥s gearÖî Then we just went into some sort of a blues-jam and it worked out pretty wellî. Gˆran Malmberg eventually needed more time for his own business and this led to ìBellaî replacing
him full-time. Gˆran would later form another version of T-Boones and had his own company running for over 20 years, designing guitars and PA systems.

The Golden Circle which had previously been a strict jazz-club now started to support pop and blues music. With this the club started to function as a small forum for the more ìeducatedî pop-listeners in Stockholm and to some of the more progressive sounds of the time. The drums/organ duo Hansson & Karlsson had scored a huge success at the club. Together with the likes of Mecki Mark Men, The Outsiders and Lea Riders Group they were all a hint of things to comeÖ

FILIPS stands out as something of a landmark in Swedish progressive music history. Being one of the first psychedelic clubs in Scandinavia it was the musical dynamo and home for many of the important musicians within the coming underground-rock movement in Stockholm. The club was mainly run by a closely knitted circle of friends with Bill ÷hrstrˆm, Englishman Steve Roney and Hansson & Karlsson drummer Jan Carlsson in the forefront the place was very much put together around the current success of H&K. Billís visits to the West Coast in the U.S and London had sowed the seed for opening a psychedelic club in Stockholm. Apart from H&K another band was needed to share the bill and to function on a regular weekly-residency. Erik ìKaptenî Dahlb‰ck, former band-mate of ìBellaî and future drummer of Fl‰sket Brinner, was intended as the drummer for this band but instead of putting together a totally new group, Bill re-christened the T-Boones ; Baby Grandmothers, and gave them the spot. The band played their long, modal and more or less improvised ìsongsî on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays on the second floor of the club. Kenny: ìThese ìsongsî originally started off as being one slow number moving into a faster one. They were originally called ìGeorges Slowî and ìGeorges Fastî. The vocal parts, if there were any, was mainly me ìhowlingî the occasional melodyî. One specific visitor to the club was Finnish multi-artist M.A Numminen, who was brought there by fellow composer and friend Folke Rabe, and was totally blown away by the Baby Grandmothers sound. This may have happened on the same night as P‰rson Sound made one of their few and rare appearances at the club, Folke being an acquaintance of P‰rson Sound founder and leader Bo Anders Persson. M.A Numminen immediately wanted Baby Grandmothers to record for his own label Etenp‰‰in!/Forward!, but this wasnít put into reality until later next year. The two notorious mods Kenta and Stoffe were often present at the club. These characters would later be immortalized in film-maker Stefan Jarlís classic Mods-trilogy. Baby Grandmothers were also intended to create the soundtrack for the debut-film ìDom kallar oss modsî. This is the reason why Stefan Jarl made the FILIPS recording included as a large part of this CD. In the end the the Lea Riders Group with Hawkey FranzÈn in the forefront got this spot resulting in another classic slice of Swedish psychedelia.

FILIPS was a four-story building with a playful, and for many, mind-expanding creative consciousness shared in a myriad of rooms. Whether you were a mod turning on to the hippie scene, a sensitive listener, or just wanted to dance the night away to the latest sounds within the coming psych-scene, FILIPS was the place to be during its 4-months of existence. Anders Lind (later founder of Silence Records and producer of Bo Hansson) was a DJ at FILIPS and he also recorded many of the sacred tapes still in existence from the club. Among the many visitors of the club were the British band Blossom Toes (a recording has even surfaced as a bootleg). Blues Section, being in the forefront of progressive sounds in Finland, also played there. Swedish jazz-legends Lars F‰rnlˆf and Staffan Abbelen with their group were sometimes present as well as Don Cherry who often came for a jam with his pocket-trumpet. The Mothers of Invention came to hang out after their two concerts at Konserthuset with support-acts Mecki Mark Men and Hansson & Karlsson and later that night Jimmy Carl Black jammed with Baby Grandmothers. And Jimi Hendrix, a big admirer of Hansson & Karlsson, showed up for a long late-night jam with the duo. Pink Floyd however played at The Golden Circle that autumn and they were booked by the clubs much fore-seeing manager ≈ke Abrahamsson who got this interesting group to perform for the Stockholm crowd.

But Stockholm was changing its old picturesque faÁade of old neighbourhoods in the area, FILIPS eventually became a demolition-site for a new concrete-face of Stockholm, sadly destroying a big part of the very centre of town. After the club closed Bill ÷hrstrˆm¥s eager attempts to support the FILIPS bands finally resulted in his re-opening of the Domino club. Perhaps the biggest international act to perform at Domino was The Pretty Things. Together with the company Artist-tj‰nst Bill also arranged for Baby Grandmothers and Mecki Mark Men to support The Jimi Hendrix Experience on their short Scandinavian tour in December / January 1968. Gigs were held in Sandviken, Gothenburg, Copenhagen and a closing night at Konserthuset in Stockholm. Travelling in a big bus, at times all three groups together, Hendrix is remembered as filming the wintry Swedish landscape with his 8mm camera from the bus-window. What most Hendrix-fans know about the tour is the fatal night in Gothenburg where he was arrested after smashing up his hotel-room and cutting up his hand on a mirror. In the very same room, hiding in the toilet, was Bill ending up with Hendrix blood on his afghan-fur jacket (it is still there).
Kenny: ìDuring that short tour we deliberately drifted away from those long improvised things to some extent. Perhaps we saw it as a wise step, at the time, when reaching a bigger crowd. I canít remember what the songs were really but I do remember Bill having contacts with various music publishers so we did tryout some of that materialÖî In March 1968 Baby Grandmothers finally headed off for Finland. Teaming up with Estonian shaman/musician/underground-artist Robert J‰ppinen and Norwegian born, but Swedish based, artist Kjartan Slettermark the band was to perform in their ìSymfoni Realista No. 3 ñ Diamanten HuÈî. They were invited to perform the happening at the Art Festival of Dipoli in Otaniemi. Pelle: ìKjartan and Robert got rooms in a hotel closer to town but we had to stay in these barracks on the festival campus and it was freezing cold there. We wanted to hang out with them; they had all the goodies with them tooÖî A couple of days later they made a TV-appearance together and on the 23rd of March Baby Grandmothers entered a Finnish Radio studio with M.A Numminen and Pekka Gronow to record their single ìSomebody keeps calling my name / Being is more than lifeî. M.A Numminen: ìBaby Grandmothers were the first band that me and Pekka actually saw sharing a ìpeace-pipeî before heading off into their first song. I definitely saw them as a real find. Their sound was so original and direct. It had a unique focus that was created between them. And Kenny was such an amazing guitar-playerî. Being a late-night session and due to some technical problems involving Kenny¥s amp (itís actually heard clapping out towards the ending of the B-side) only a couple of tracks were put to tape. Kenny¥s guitar-tone is remarkable on the recording, and his use of the Fuzz Face-pedal has created a significant change in his sound compared to the earlier FILIPS recordings. The rumoured tapes from Finland have long since been lost and the master for the A-side is the only tape still in existence today. The single was released as Etenp‰‰in GN-5 in May 1968 and was never really distributed outside of Finland, leading to immediate obscurity in Sweden and basically only reaching the bands inner circle of friends and fellow musicians. It is rumoured to have been a minimal pressing of 300 copies. The only proper Swedish review of the record appeared in the jazz-magazine Orkesterjournalen (!).

Shortly after the bands return to Sweden they teamed up with their friend Mecki Bodemark whose band Mecki Mark Men had disbanded. Mecki now joined the trio on organ and flute, turning Baby Grandmothers into a quartet. Mecki Mark Men was one of few bands that the record label Philips, Sweden, was still eager to support and Mecki was just as eager to keep the band going, especially with a possible American record-deal with Mercury on the way. The new band did their first proper gig together on an outdoor-stage in Heby, about an hour drive west of Stockholm, on the 15th of May in 1968. In June they headed off, still as Baby Grandmothers, for another tour of Finland now acting as the backing-band for vocalist Anki Lindkvist (later in folk-pop group Cumulus) in her ìAikakoneî (Time-machine) show. The tour went as far as the very north of Finland. Kenny: ìIn my memory Anki¥s material was mostly made up by cover-versions of other peopleís songs. We got to perform some of our own numbers as well, though often to little appreciation from the crowdsÖî

Exactly when Baby Grandmothers choose to become the new formation of Mecki Mark Men is still a bit uncertain but the more loose concept of the original trio definitely got the opportunity to team up with a distinctive and highly talented arranger/songwriter in Mecki. The band was hastily pushed forward and later the same year they were incorporated and to play and to act in the Swedish production of the musical ìHairî. In the autumn of 1968 the band left for the 2nd Beat Festival in Prague, again teaming up with M.A Numminen and Anki Lindqvist. There they shared the bill with The Nice, Cuby & The Blizzards and Modry Effekt.

Mecki Mark Men were the first Swedish band to tour the U.S in early 1970 and some recordings made in Chicago, with Anders Lind, would later result in the ìMarathonî album.

Mecki Mark Men eventually broke up in the summer of 1971 and with the release of the ìMarathonî album in Sweden the original Baby Grandmothers went their own way again with Kenny forming Kebnekajse with the addition of ex- Steampacket guitarist/singer Rolf Scherrer. After the release of their 1971 debut ìResa mot ok‰nt mÂlî on Silence Records, Bengt ìBellaî Linnarsson finally left the world of underground-rock in mid 1972 to concentrate on work as back-up musician in a constellation called Opus 3. He is currently active within the world of computers and programming. Pelle and Kenny continued with Kebnekajse which grew into a travelling musical collective that at times consisted of as many as 12 people. The band has become legendary within the Swedish progressive rock movement and by mixing traditional Swedish Folk with their own amazing improvisational skills and original material they were an extraordinary live-band. Apart from their five albums recorded for the Silence label Kenny made his first solo-album ìSpringlekar och gÂnglÂtarî (-78) and also worked with Bo Hansson on ìUr trollkarlens hattî (-72), ìMellanv‰senî (-76) and ìEl ahraihraî (-77) as well as being a highly regarded session-player. Kenny later went on to join Dag Vag, one of Swedenís most popular rock bands in the early 1980¥s, and as a solo-artist as Beno Zeno. He has become something of a ìguitarists-guitaristî in Sweden. Kebnekajse, with Pelle Ekman still steady behind the drums, have taken up playing again on a more regular basis and are currently working on a new album. (Reine Fiske ñ ti¥llindien)

01.Somebody Keeps Calling My Name 9:14
02.Being Is More Than Life 5:40
03.Bergakungen 16:20
04.Being Is More Then Life 19:44
05.St. George's Dragon 7:03
06.St. George's Dragon 2 0:57
07.Raw Diamond 1:31

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Frank Nuyens (Rainman) - Rainman (1970 Folk-Psych from Holland)

Originally released only in Holland, this is the first CD reissue of the superb 1970 solo LP from Frank Nuyens aka Rainman -- the lead guitarist of legendary Dutch blues/psych-rockers, Q65.

A moody blend of folk, pop and psychedelia, with some blazing guitar leads, the album also features his Q65 bandmate Jay Baar, as well as Dick Beekman (Cuby & The Blizzards), Francois Content (Swinging Soul Machine) and other leading Dutch musicians on flute, vibes, congas and other instruments. It's presented here complete with an ultra-rare bonus track taken from his sole, non-LP 45, making it an essential purchase for all fans of acid-tinged singer-songwriting.

01. Rainman
02. Natural Man
03. Don't
04. Vicious Circle
05. Don't Make Promises
06. You Will Be Freed By Me
07. Money Means Nothing At All
08. Get You To Come Through
09. She Told Me So
10. They Didn't Feel
11. The Joy That Is Inside
12. The Bird (Bonus)

Post By ChrisGoesRock

Roxy Music - Roxy Music (Art-Rock 1st album 1972)

Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music's eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock's boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures. Although no musician demonstrates much technical skill at this point, they are driven by boundless imagination — Brian Eno's synthesized "treatments" exploit electronic instruments as electronics, instead of trying to shoehorn them into conventional acoustic patterns. Similarly, Bryan Ferry finds that his vampiric croon is at its most effective when it twists conventional melodies, Phil Manzanera's guitar is terse and unpredictable, while Andy Mackay's saxophone subverts rock & roll clichés by alternating R&B honking with atonal flourishes. But what makes Roxy Music such a confident, astonishing debut is how these primitive avant-garde tendencies are married to full-fledged songs, whether it's the free-form, structure-bending "Remake/Remodel" or the sleek glam of "Virginia Plain," the debut single added to later editions of the album. That was the trick that elevated Roxy Music from an art school project to the most adventurous rock band of the early '70s.

1. Re-make/Re-model
2. Ladytron
3. If There Is Something
4. Virginia Plain
5. 2 H.B.
6. The Bob (Medley)
7. Chance Meeting
8. Would You Believe?
9. Sea Breezes
10. Bitters End

AMG Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

KAK - Kak-Ola (1969 San Fransiscan Psychedelia)

Although formed in Davis, California, Kak were based in San Francisco for a good part of 1968, when they recorded their only album. Lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter Gary Lee Yoder and lead guitarist Dehner Patten had been in the Oxford Circle, an obscure early Northern Californian psychedelic band that had cut one garage/psych single ("Foolish Woman"/"Mind Destruction") and played some shows on the San Francisco psychedelic circuit, while bassist Joe-Dave Damrell had been on a 1965 single on Scorpio Records with Group "B".

The self-titled Kak LP was minor-league San Francisco psychedelic rock colored by a lot of influence from bigger Bay Area bands, particularly Moby Grape; the vocal harmonies and curling guitar work on tracks like 'Disbelievin'" and "Everything's Changing" in particular sounded like a more pedestrian Moby Grape. There were also more distant echoes of Quicksilver Messenger Service (in the guitar work) and the Grateful Dead (in faint traces of country-blues-rock). Kak were best, and least derivative, at their quietest, as on the gentle country-tinged rocker "I've Got Time, " the good-time wistful psych-folk-rock of "Lemonade Kid, " and the harpsichord-decorated ballad "Flowing By, " which was as derivative of Donovan as much of their other songs were of Moby Grape.

Kak's album was barely promoted and sold little. It didn't help that the band played less than a dozen shows before breaking up in early 1969, Damrell having already quit prior to the split. Yoder did a single for Epic and and then joined Blue Cheer. The Kak album eventually became a pricey collector item, and was reissued on CD by Big Beat (with the new title Kak-ola) in 1999 with plenty of bonus cuts, including previously unreleased acoustic demos and Yoder solo tracks from the late sixties. - Richie Unterberger

None of the plodding riffs, histrionic vocal stylings, or blues posturing that plagued many similar groups of this era mar this collection of melodic, tasteful progressive hard rock (as well as some mellower country-rock songs). Leader and main songwriter Gary Yoder would eventually join Blue Cheer and add his distinctive stamp to that band's sound. The 1999 Big Beat CD, titled Kak-Ola, includes everything from the Kak LP, but also adds eleven bonus tracks. These include the 45 version of "Rain"; five previously unreleased acoustic cuts, four of them versions of songs from the LP, one ("Bye Bye/Easy Jack") of a tune that was not included on Kak; the "Flight From the East"/"Good Time Music" Gary Yoder solo single on Epic, released after Kak had split; and three Yoder solo demos from late 1967. - Jim Powers

Track Listings
01. HCO 97658
02. Everything's Changing
03. Electric Sailor
04. Disbelievin'
05. I've Got Time
06. Flowing By
07. Bryte 'N' Clear Day
08. Trieulogy
09. Lemonaide Kid
10. Rain(Single Version)
11. Everything's Changing(Previously Unissued
12. I've Got Time((Previously Unissued Acoustic Demo)
13. Medley: Bye Bye/Easy Jack(Previously Unissued)
14. "Bryte ""N"" Clear Day(Previously Unissued
15. Medley; Mirage/Rain(Previously Unissued Acoustic)
16. When Love Comes In(Previously Unissued)
17. I Miss You(Previously Unissued)
18. Lonely People Blue(Previously Unissued)
19. Flight From The Fast
20. Good Time Music

Post by ChrisGoesRock

Loreena McKennitt - The Visit (Wondeful New Age 1991)

Loreena McKennitt's fourth release, and first for a major label, is a quietly majestic tapestry of worldbeat and Celtic pop that effortlessly weaves together traditional and contemporary songs into lush showcases for her fluid voice and harp. The multi-talented Canadian utilizes all of her strengths here, resulting in her most rewarding batch of tunes to date. With larger production values and more ambitious arrangements than the sparse Elemental and Parallel Dreams, her flair for the dramatic and the theatrical runs rampant throughout. Whether she's toasting the souls of the departed with Pagan glee on the delicious "All Souls Night," or reinterpreting King Henry VIII's "Greensleeves" through Tom Waits, it's never without both feet in the water. Often when artists attempt to blend modern instruments (keyboards, guitars, etc.) into the traditional folk idiom, the results are instantly dated and horribly overwrought. McKennitt, however, never allows the two to compete, and it's a testament to her belief in the songs themselves that they don't devolve into garish new age drivel. Her adaptation of Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott," which utilizes an opening melody lifted -- probably unknowingly -- from the bagpipe solo at the end of AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)," is The Visit's most powerful moment. Clocking in at 11 minutes, the poet's lovelorn tale of Camelot's most famous peasant maiden is rendered brief by McKennitt's breathless delivery and atmospheric and austere presentation. The Visit is Loreena McKennitt at her most comfortable, creative, and soulful.

AMG Review by James Christopher Monger

Massive Attack - Protection (1994 Trip-Hop)

Massive Attack's sophomore effort could never be as stunning as Blue Lines, and a slight drop in production and songwriting quality made the comparisons easy. Still, from the first two songs Protection sounds worthy of their debut. The opening title track is pure excellence, with melancholy keyboards, throbbing acid lines, and fragmented beats perfectly complementing the transcendent vocals of Tracey Thorn (an inspired choice to replace the departed Shara Nelson as their muse). Tricky, another soon-to-be-solo performer, makes his breakout on this record, with blunted performances on "Karmacoma," another highlight, as well as "Eurochild." But even though the production is just as intriguing as on Blue Lines, there's a bit lacking here — Massive Attack doesn't summon quite the emotional power they did previously. Guest Craig Armstrong's piano work on the aimless tracks "Weather Storm" and "Heat Miser" leans uncomfortably close to Muzak, and his arrangement and conducting for "Sly" isn't much better (vocals by Nicolette save the track somewhat). Though it's still miles ahead of the growing raft of trip-hop making the rounds in the mid-'90s, Protection is rather a disappointment.

AMG Review by John Bush

Ozric Tentacles - Erpland (Space Rock 1990)

With a perfectly blended fusion of numerous musical styles and ideas, the Ozrics elevate consciousness and open the spaces on their sophomore post-cassette outing (which includes a re-recorded "Eternal Wheel," originally laid down in the cassette days). The infusion of reggae, dub, and Middle Eastern elements help to make this particular set a true joy to experience -- it's hard not to bliss out while this is playing. Ozric Tentacles have developed an impressive following during their existence, defying every attempt to pigeonhole them as one thing or another -- the best approach is simply to abandon all categories and go with the flow. That said, this 1998 CD release treats the music with great respect, and sounds wonderful.

AMG Review by Steven McDonald

Procol Harum - Grand Hotel (1973 Prog-Rock)

Procol Harum's first album for Chrysalis, Grand Hotel, found the band returning to the grandeur of earlier works such as Shine on Brightly and Salty Dog. Robin Trower's replacement Mick Grabham is capable, even powerful, but not nearly as distinctive as his predecessor; consequently, the material tends to rely more on ornate arrangements than guitar riffs, making this somewhat more dignified than either of their previous studio albums, Home and Broken Barricades. Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid step up with strong material, notably the title track, "Toujours L'Amour," and "Fires (Which Burnt Brightly)." While the keyboard and orchestra-based arrangements harken back to earlier triumphs, the lyrics deal less with whaling stories than with social commentary; "A Souvenir of London" is about social diseases, with "T.V. Caesar" about the pervasive influence of television.

AMG Review by James A. Gardner

Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo (2nd [also great] Album 1974)

If The Human Menagerie, Cockney Rebel's debut album, was a journey into the bowels of decadent cabaret, The Psychomodo, their second, is like a trip to the circus. Except the clowns were more sickly perverted than clowns normally are, and the fun house was filled with rattlesnakes and spiders. Such twists on innocent childhood imagery have transfixed authors from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, but Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel were the first band to set that same dread to music, and the only ones to make it work. The Psychomodo was also the band's breakthrough album. The Human Menagerie drew wild reviews and curious sales, but it existed as a cult album even after "Judy Teen" swung out of nowhere to give the band a hit single in spring 1974. Then "Mr Soft" rode his bloodied big top themes into town and Rebelmania erupted. The Psychomodo, still possessing one of the most elegantly threatening jackets of any album ever, had no alternative but to clean up. Harley's themes remained essentially the same as last time out -- fey, fractured alienation; studied, splintered melancholia, and shattered shards of imagery which mean more in the mind than they ever could on paper. Both the swirling "Ritz" and the ponderous "Cavaliers" are little more than litanies of one-liners, pregnant with disconnected symbolism ("blow-job blues and boogaloos"... "morgue-like lips and waitress tips"), but they are mesmerizing nevertheless. Reversing the nature of The Human Menagerie, the crucial songs here are not those extended epics. Rather, it is the paranoid vignette of "Sweet Dreams," surely written in the numbing first light of that precipitous fame; the panicked brainstorm of the title track; and the stuttering, chopping, hysterical nightmare of "Beautiful Dream" (absent from the original LP, but restored as a CD bonus track) which stake out the album's parameters. The hopelessly romantic "Bed in the Corner" opens another door entirely -- relatively straightforward, astoundingly melodic, it was (though nobody realized it at the time) the closest thing in sight to the music Harley would be making later in the decade. Here, however, it swerves in another direction entirely, the dawn of a closing triptych -- completed by "Sling It" and "Tumbling Down" -- which encompasses ten of the most heartstoppingly breathless, and emotionally draining minutes in '70s rock. Indeed, though the latter's final refrain was reduced to pitifully parodic singalong the moment it got out on-stage, on record it retains both its potency and its purpose. "Oh dear!" Harley intones, "look what they've done to the blues." The fact is, he did it all himself -- and people have been trying to undo it ever since.

Side 1

1. "Sweet Dreams" – 2:05
2. "The Psychomodo" – 4:04
3. "Mr.Soft" – 3:17
4. "Singular Band" – 2:59
5. "Ritz" – 7:15

Side 2

1. "Cavaliers" – 8:35
2. "Bed in the Corner" – 3:30
3. "Sling It!" – 2:45
4. "Tumbling Down" – 5:55

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie (Classic Album 1974)

Indulging for the first time in Cockney Rebel's debut album -- and one uses the word "indulging" deliberately, for like so much else that's this delicious, you cannot help but feel faintly sinful when it's over -- is like waking up from a really weird dream, and discovering that reality is weirder still. A handful of Human Menagerie's songs are slight, even forced, and certainly indicative of the group's inexperience. But others -- the labyrinthine "Sebastian," the loquacious "Death Trip" in particular -- possess confidence, arrogance, and a doomed, decadent madness which astounds. Subject to ruthless dissection, Steve Harley's lyrics were essentially nonsense, a stream of disconnected images whose most gallant achievement is that they usually rhyme. But what could have been perceived as a weakness -- or, more generously, an emotionally overwrought attempt to blend Byron with Burroughs -- is actually their strength. Few of the songs are about anything in particular. But with Roy Thomas Baker's sub-orchestral production driving strings and things to unimaginable heights, and Cockney Rebel's own unique instrumentation -- no lead guitar, but a killer violin -- pursuing its own twisted journey, those images gel more solidly than the best constructed story. The Human Menagerie is a dark cabaret -- the darkest. Though Harley has furiously decried the band's historical inclusion in the glam rock pack, there's no separating the nocturnal theatrics of "Muriel the Actor," "Mirror Freak," or "What Ruthy Said" from at least the fringes of the movement. The difference is, other artists simply sung about absinthe and Sweet Ipomoea. Harley actually knew what they were. Unquestionably, he drew from many of the same literary, artistic, and celluloid sources as both David Bowie and Bryan Ferry, the only performers who could reasonably claim to have preempted his vision. But he went far beyond them, through the Berlin of Isherwood to the reality of the Weimar; past the Fritz Lang movies which everyone's seen, to the unpublished screenplays which no one has read. And though Harley might not have been the first cultural genius of his age, he was the first who wasn't content to simply zap the prevailing zeitgeist. He wanted to suck out its soul. And he very nearly succeeded.

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike (2005 "Gypsy Punk")

These "gypsy punks," as the band jubilantly describes itself, were once precisely that, a spectacular clash of cultures that smashed the exuberance of Ukrainian gypsy music and the pounding rhythms and exhilarating fire of Slavic folk, with the roar of punk rock. That was then, but now globalization has got them in its grip, and Gogol Bordello set about crashing through national boundaries, reconnecting the cultural links borders have severed. If a fire and fury for life fed the soul of the gypsy, the Slav, and the punk, it also lay at the heart of hard rock and heavy metal, and so into the meat grinder goes incendiary lead guitar. Flamingo's fire lies in its emotive rhythms and dangerous atmospheres, both of which seep into the set as well. You can hear it on "60 Revolutions," and even more magnificently on the stomping "Think Locally Fuck Globally," whose rhythms subtly quicken into a furious flamingo fire, before sweeping into a tribal tattoo, finally flinging itself out in a gypsy swirl. "Not a Crime" careens into Arabesque, "Immigrant Punk" skanks straight into reggae, while "Underdog World Strike" heads underground, interweaving hip-hop, punk, and reggae to gypsy's own roots. Frontman/lyricist Eugene Hütz explains how his own history drives him on the autobiographical "Undestructable," accompanied by a cheery punky reggae backing that defies one not to sing along. And it's not the only one for much of the set is spectacularly anthemic, from the fist-in-the-air fervor of the Oi!-esque "Not a Crime," the fashion-fling command chorus of "Start Wearing Purple," to the life-affirming "Undestructable." One may even start phonetically parroting the lyrics of "Santa Marinella." That latter song is not sung in English, and there's foreign lyrics sprinkled about the set, but the emotional meaning is always clear. A truly universal album that encompasses America's eternal immigrant story, urban living, and a love of life and music that translates into every language on earth. It's the fire in not just the gypsy soul, but the soul of everyone, and Bordello ignite it into a blaze as bright as life itself.

AMG Review by Jo-Ann Greene