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Post by jk on Jun 3, 2020 12:30:28 GMT -5
Another from the "Worth Another Listen" tier is Small Faces' Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Back in 1968 I arrived home one day to hear this remarkable string-fuelled music issuing from the open window of my brother's room. It was the opening instrumental title track. Hard to pick just one song, so these are the next two on the album, here in one video. "Afterglow" shows just what an outstanding singer Steve Marriott was. Nice organ too--and manic drums. "Long Agos and Worlds Apart" features for once the dulcet tones of keyboardist Ian McLagan and a trick ending. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogdens%27_Nut_Gone_Flake
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Post by jk on Jun 3, 2020 12:35:48 GMT -5
The OP put me straight on something that had been bothering me for more than half a century! Side two of Love's Da Capo consists of one long improvised track (apart from Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer's Bach harpsichord bits bookending it). After the tight arrangements on side one, I always regarded it as a let-down and a throwaway side. I think I only played it twice, the second time just to confirm my dislike of it. If I remember correctly what she told me, Arthur Lee in his autobiography says something to the effect of regretting not having released a long live track from those days (maybe it was because of the quality, maybe those gigs were never recorded). So in a way, "Revelation" compensates for that omission. I've been listening to it with different ears ever since. Thank you, that person. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Capo_(Love_album)
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Post by jk on Jun 3, 2020 12:48:56 GMT -5
This is the opening track from the first LP by Haphash and The Coloured Coat. Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids was released in 1967 and I bought it soon afterwards. It was done on coloured vinyl but I can't recall if it was red like the copy being played here. "H.O.P.P. Why?" features some wonderful scrunchy bass work: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapshash_and_the_Coloured_Coat
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 3:43:57 GMT -5
Surrealistic Pillow never made it onto the OP's list, maybe because she decided it was overfamiliar (which I suppose it is). Lots to say about this one but I'll restrict myself to saying thank you, first of all to a kind Capitol Board poster for sending me the original US version many years back (a breath of fresh air after the UK hatchet job, which I bought at the time and wondered what all the fuss was about) and to the OP for reviving my interest in it. This is for them: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealistic_Pillow
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 3:50:20 GMT -5
Can't forget Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop. Among the OP's "Worth Another Listen"s, it's another I used to own, having bought it in '66 on the strength of their hit single, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet". I wasn't impressed with much of the rest at the time. I did listen again recently (i.e., ten years ago) and was pleasantly surprised! (I may be wrong but I can't recall seeing the album title on the original UK release, which means it was regarded there as self-titled. Perhaps the record company balked at the drug-related word "psychedelic".) This is their psyched-out version of John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road", best known in the version by the UK band The Nashville Teens. It's one track I did like at the time: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_Lollipop
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 3:57:34 GMT -5
It was a comment on YouTube that brought me face to face with one of the many "Wasn't Impressed With"s in the OP's list. Recorded in late 1967, Cauldron, the lone album by Fifty Foot Hose, sounds great to me. So good in fact that when I first heard it I played it twice in a row. I can imagine her being put off by the persistent comparison being made everywhere between it and The United States of America's self-titled album. Chalk and cheese, I'd say. USA is highly sophisticated, whereas this is lo-fi mad-professor's-laboratory stuff, where anything goes. I just love those cheapo electronics burbling to themselves throughout just about every track. This is the aptly titled "If Not This Time". Thankfully, I copied and pasted the YouTube blurb reproduced below from the earlier upload--it's essential reading for those interested in this band and this album: Picture Dr. Who jamming with a more proficient Great Society featuring an adenoidal Grace Slick on vocals, and you have at least a scant aural reference for this rare proto-synthesizer-in-an-acid-garage-band junction. It was recorded in late 1967 on Mercury’s subsidiary Limelight label, so it comes to no surprise that they were unceremoniously dumped after it failed to become the label’s answer to "Surrealistic Pillow." They broke up mid-1968, which quickly resigned "Cauldron" to the ever-growing scrap heap of one-off Bay Area bands signed in the wake of the 'Summer of Love' that were forgotten long before autumn's end. This is a pity, as Fifty Foot Hose’s "Cauldron" is a small but terrifying monster of homegrown psychedelia. Only the unmistakably West Coast guitar jamming spree in their epic cut and paste "Fantasy" is there audio evidence as to the space (San Francisco) and time (1967) they occupied, but the uniqueness of the album is in the efforts of Corky Marcheschi and his bulky, homemade electronic instrument, a nameless behemoth consisting of audio generators plugged through echo and fuzz boxes, a huge cardboard tubes, a plastic outdoor speaker and other homemade devices. It was jerry-rigged, unglamourous...and highly effective. It's presence runs throughout the whole jazz, folk, R&B potpourri and turns it into a proto-electronic stew with practically every other track solo audio generator experimentations, some 2 minutes and some so brief they act more like codas to the song they trail. "The Things That Consern You" is an acidhead reassuring his old lady that "The things that I do now/ they don’t consern you now/ I’m just trying to feed my head." But with all the beeping, flashing and fucked up crude electronics, they seem to be not only feeding his head but also setting it alight like a flickering neon sign. A tremendous rock out and the high point of the record is "Red The Sign Post." Here lead vocalist Nancy Blossom gives it some strident Slick vocalising as husband David Blossom goes for it on customised Gretsch with fuzztone built directly into his axe. It’s a blistering surge out, recalling "Bombay Calling" by It’s A Beautiful Day. Not that it sounds the least bit like it, mind you. But just as "Bombay Calling" provided Deep Purple with the inspiration for "Child In Time," "Red The Sign Post" (deep breath) is the undeniable source where Ritchie Blackmore based a note for note guitar blueprint for The Purps very own "Space Truckin'." Aaarrghughhh! The album calms down (somewhat) with the Owsley-dosed coffeehousing of Billy Holliday's "God Bless The Child." Acoustic guitar and hissing jazz hi-hat and traps are surrounded by incongruous space whooshes and bleeps in a proto-synth, fifties sci-fi movie manner. It all ends on with the hellish title track, "Cauldron" with the echoed clang of struck bells and an aggrieved woman's wailing as Nancy Blossom’s chiding tones are slowed and sped up at will over a backward-masked rhythm section. The vocals get more and more filtered and unreal, at first intoning only words that start with an 's', and becoming the demented little sister of the second side of Brainticket's "Cottonwood Hill" -- another femme vox-scalded, hellbound psycho-out. After only one album, this proto-cyber psych outfit passed as quickly as they came. Their only mention would be a name-check in Ralph J. Gleason's 1969 book, "The Jefferson Airplane And The San Francisco Sound" published over a year after their demise. But recent interest caused by both US and UK re-issues of "Cauldron" led to a reformation and a small string of gigs in San Francisco in 1997, a full thirty years on. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Foot_Hose
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 6:55:52 GMT -5
And this is where I came in, so to speak. The next ten or so were originally posted here by me on my first visit. With thanks to Mikie for not deleting these goodies until I backed them up for reposting, first at another place entirely (where I no longer visit) and now here. First off is the UK band Goliath, whose self-titled album was released in 1970. The interview linked below may shed some light on it. This is the opening track, "Port And Lemon Lady", although you really need to check out the entire album: www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2014/07/goliath-interview.htmlJoseph Rosbotham--flute, tenor sax Malcolm Grundy--guitar Linda Rothwell--vocals John Williamson--bass Eric Eastman--drums, vibes, percussion Side one: 1. Port and Lemon Lady (Williamson)--4:05 2. Festival of Light (Williamson/Rothwell)--4:58 3. No More Trash (Grundy)--3:43 4. Hunter's Song (Williamson)--9:54 Side two: 5. Men (Grundy)--3:43 6. I Heard About a Friend (Williamson)--4:31 7. Prism (Grundy)--6:06 8. Emerge, Breath, Sunshine, Dandelion (Williamson/Rothwell)--3:32 9. Maajun (A Taste of Tangier) (Davy Graham)--4:30
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 7:03:35 GMT -5
I've probably said this before but really I can't say it often enough. It's a wonderful experience being introduced to albums I missed first time round, passed over or simply forgot about. Wonderful too because tastes change and things I sneered at the time I now much prefer to albums I used to swear by. So many thanks to the OP, who was born twenty years after most of these albums were made! An Escape from a Box (1972) by the Italian band Circus 2000 is a curious album. The almost childish lyrics and tight instrumental work shouldn't work together but they do--and wonderfully well, as evidenced by the opening track, "Hey Man". (A technicality perhaps, but the original LP cover confirms that this album features their second drummer, Franco "Dede" Lo Previte, who joined in 1972.) www.italianprog.com/a_circus2000.htm
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 7:09:21 GMT -5
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 7:13:51 GMT -5
Next up from the archive: I was alerted to this brilliant album in April 2018 by my erstwhile partner in crime at PSF. The name Fuzzy Duck doesn't ring a bell although I can't believe I never heard anything by them back in the day. From their one and only (eponymous) album, this is "Afternoon Out": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_Duck_(band)
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 11:52:07 GMT -5
After hearing a brilliant song by The Action at the Hoffman Boards, I read them up and discovered that the singer on that 45, Reg King, left soon after and in 1971 made a stunning and criminally obscure self-titled album. This is the opening track, "Must Be Something Else Around": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_King
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 11:56:28 GMT -5
Here's another from the "Keepers" list. From 1967, these are The Freeborne--god these guys were young!--with the mesmerizing "Land Of Diana". (Most appropriate, as I know the OP is a fan of Princess Diana.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freeborne
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 12:01:31 GMT -5
And here's another recommendation from the same source (another "Keeper). The Peppermint Rainbow seem to have made little impression in the UK at the time (1969) and in fact only had one hit in the US, the gorgeous "Will You Be Staying After Sunday?" I have had little time for sunshine pop in the past but if much of it is like this, I may be converted yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peppermint_Rainbow
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 12:04:59 GMT -5
Sticking to the "Keepers", I remember this lovely song from when it was released in 1966. John Sebastian may have written "A Younger Girl" and recorded it with the Spoonful but The Critters took it to greater heights in my opinion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Critters
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 12:11:53 GMT -5
And here's another gorgeous "Keeper" (they keep coming!). Love the ambience on Human Expression's "Optical Sound" (1967). The title is possibly a reference to the synaesthesia sometimes experienced when tripping. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Expression
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 12:23:30 GMT -5
Here's another from that same tier. Rainbow Ffolly could only hail from the UK with a name like that. "Sun Sing" is from their 1967 album Sallies Fforth. Lots going on--the psychedelic video is pretty cool too. Love the spoken bit at the end!!! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Ffolly
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 12:26:11 GMT -5
This one is in the "Worth Another Listen" section. From Salt Water Taffy's 1968 album Finders Keepers, "You Baby" has been singled out as "great". I'm no fan of sunshine pop but I'm willing to be converted by the likes of this. (One review unfairly describes it as The 5th Dimension trying to do a BB cover.) Lotsa good stuff in them there lists.
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Post by jk on Jun 4, 2020 12:28:53 GMT -5
Looking for obscure late 60s, early 70s albums (a habit of mine these days), I came across this one from 1971 by Bolder Damn (great name!). It's not really my kind of music but I was quite taken by what the drummer was doing. Apparently he uses double bass drums with pillows stuffed into them! Love that "bell" sound he gets too. This is the opening track, "Find A Way": www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2014/05/bolder-damn-interview-with-john-anderson.html
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Post by jk on Jun 6, 2020 6:16:26 GMT -5
The cover of Room's Pre-Flight (1970) is my avatar at Hoffman. Apparently, this album was recorded in a single day! (See the "Comment" link below.) I like the use of strings and brass on this most varied outing, which for that reason bears up to repeated listens. Tracks with starting times: 1. Preflight (00:00) 2. Where Did I Go Wrong (08:57) 3. No Warmth In My Life (14:29) 4. Big John Blues (19:05) 5. Andromeda (21:43) 6. War (26:52) 7. Cemetery Junction Parts I & II (31:29) - Jane Kevern / vocals, tambourine - Steve Edge / lead & rhythm guitars - Chris Williams / lead guitar - Roy Putt / bass - Bob Jenkins / drums, congas, percussion With: - Richard Hartley / arrangements - Moe Miller / flugelhorn - John McLevy / trumpet - Nigel Carter / trumpet - Ray Hudson / trumpet - Peter Hodge / trombone - Brian Smith / violin - Denis East / violin - Eric Eden / violin - Raymond Moseley / violin - Max Burwood / viola - Tom Lister / viola - Dennis Nesbitt / cello - Norman Jones / cello - Michael J. Hart / bass www.wsr.org.uk/room/comment.htm
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Post by pendlewitch on Jun 6, 2020 13:39:45 GMT -5
jk, how do you find time to eat and sleep?
This came out of a bargain bin in Our Price records in the 90s sometime, and it became one of my then favourites. Pele were 'big in Liverpool'. You jolted my memory and now, with this internet thingy, I've been able to do a bit of catching up. The main man seems now to be titled, "The Scouse Springsteen"
This is just the title track.
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Post by jk on Jun 6, 2020 16:17:17 GMT -5
jk, how do you find time to eat and sleep?
This came out of a bargain bin in Our Price records in the 90s sometime, and it became one of my then favourites. Pele were 'big in Liverpool'. You jolted my memory and now, with this internet thingy, I've been able to do a bit of catching up. The main man seems now to be titled, "The Scouse Springsteen"
This is just the title track.
Well thankfully I seem to find time to eat. Sleeping is more of a problem though. Actually you could ask the same of the OP! She listened to 300 albums to draw up her list! What a lovely track! I see there are four or five other videos of Pele on YT and at least one of Prowse's next band Amsterdam. I must investigate! I read them up at Wikipedia (their website seems to be down): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele_(English_band)Thank you for joining in!
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Post by jk on Jun 11, 2020 8:26:55 GMT -5
Toad, a 1971 album by the Swiss hard rock band of that name, was one I visited while at PSF, where my evidently unbacked-up post on the subject seems to have gone the way of that forum. One of the "Keepers", Toad sprang (terrible choice of word!) from Brainticket, a band whose Cottonwoodhill is almost at the top of that list and a huge favourite of the OP's. I've revisited two tracks so far, beginning with "Cottonwood Hill" (two words this time). This album is as engaging a listen as Brainticket's debut. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_(band)
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Post by jk on Jul 9, 2020 7:59:43 GMT -5
I've been holding back on Skip Spence's Oar for months. (It's riding high in the OP's "Keepers" tier.) In fact I'm still out on it. I played it all the way through just to make sure (that I was still out on it). Three tracks do jump out at me: "All Come To Meet Her", the preposterous "Lawrence Of Euphoria"... "I'm Lawrence from Euphoria I'll share your tent, pay your rent It's worth every single cent I'm Lawrence from Euphoria "You'll rise from the deep Come in your sleep No more will you weep I'm Lawrence from Euphoria "There's Vivian from Oblivion She does it for free for my friends and me She's Vivian, I'm Lawrence Lawrence from Euphoria "There's Ellie Mae from Californ-i-a She does it all right but her lips are tight She tucks me in to bed at night She's Vivian's twin sister Ellie Mae And I'm Lawrence from Euphoria" ...and the ominous closer, "Grey/Afro": Skip's life story makes a hair-raising, heart-rending read. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_Spence
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Post by jk on Aug 5, 2020 12:38:40 GMT -5
Here's a track prompted by, of all things, "Lady Lynda" across the way. When I bought Love's second album Da Capo back in 1967, I played the side-long "Revelation" once only and long regarded it as a chaotic mess compared with the tight arrangements on side one. It was the OP who after reading a biography of Arthur Lee explained to me that "Revelation" was representative of what Love did live when they jammed. I also recall she said Lee wasn't happy with "Revelation" as it stood but that nothing else had been recorded -- or recorded successfully. Anyway, that put it in another perspective, although it does split Da Capo neatly down the middle. And here is "Revelation", complete with incongruous Bach intro and outro by harpsichordist Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer (second from left in the video still): While I'm here, this is my cleaned-up version of the OP's list, with a view to easier identification of albums and artists.
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Post by jk on Aug 25, 2020 15:29:10 GMT -5
I never know when I'm going to get back to this topic. But it's just a matter of time. I was alerted to Saturnalia's 1973 release Magical Love by this essay by the OP. It's one of her "Wasn't Impressed With"s and I can see why. There's Aletta Lohmeyer's voice for a start (thankfully she doesn't sing lead on every track). The material itself is nothing to write home about either, although it does have its moments. This is track two, "She Brings Peace", arguably the best song on the album: badcatrecords.com/BadCat/SATURNALIA.htm
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