|
Post by jk on Aug 27, 2020 8:30:47 GMT -5
Here's another from the "Not Impressed With" tier. Tastes differing as they do, it's very likely that there are things in there that I might like -- which makes it great fun dipping in (as in look the other way and see where the cursor lands). This one I chose deliberately. It was the band's name that caught my eye: Jardine. Look in the Window is an okay-ish album. I'm not a folk person and some of the material is a trifle on the ghoulish side (e.g., "Execution of A Child") but it's colourful and varied, which makes it good for one listen. Talking of ghoulish, this sample track, "Masochists Of Strangulation", sounds right up the OP's street. lightintheattic.net/releases/436-look-in-the-window
|
|
|
Post by jk on Aug 30, 2020 7:26:35 GMT -5
I don't believe I've posted this gem anywhere else on the forum. "Tailor Man" is one of many bonus tracks on the 2004 reissue of the 1968 album The United States of America by the band of that name. Dorothy Moskowitz wrote and stunningly sings it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_United_States_of_America_(album)
|
|
|
Post by E on Aug 30, 2020 12:01:14 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by jk on Aug 30, 2020 13:31:06 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by jk on Aug 31, 2020 15:10:34 GMT -5
Well I tried, Ed, but it's just not my kind of music. Hopefully others round here will appreciate it more. This is one I know I posted at PSF but never backed up. Discogs tells me that Sleepy John was an Idaho blues psych band whose 1970 recordings were unreleased until 1999 on Rockadelic Records. This was an eight-track LP -- the 2004 CD rerelease changed the order and added a further seven tracks. This CD is a "Keeper" in the OP's list ("first half is great anyway"). "You Say" is my favourite track so far. I love the sound this band produces, particularly the organ: Jim Bartlett ~ Bass Lawson Hill ~ Drums John "Bosco" Jackson ~ Bass David Lee ~ Keyboards David Lesher ~ Fender/Rhodes Piano Frank Trowbridge ~ Guitar Tom Williams ~ Drums www.discogs.com/Sleepy-John-Sleepy-John/master/717074
|
|
|
Post by E on Sept 2, 2020 9:03:49 GMT -5
Starless: Earthbound
|
|
|
Post by jk on Sept 9, 2020 12:45:45 GMT -5
Street's self-titled album got a review from the OP at PSF. It's one of her "Worth Another Listen"s. I can't for the life of me remember which song she linked there (she certainly won't know). So here's the whole thing. It sounds great so far -- and not just for the nostalgia value: 1. Multilevular Conversational Tightrope Walkin’ Shoes 2. Boeing 707 3. Some Thoughts Of A Young Man’s Girl 4. Medley: If I Needed Someone (Harrison) / Tomorrow’s A Long, Long Time (Dylan) 5. See See Rider 6. What A Strange Town 7. It’s Hard To Live On Promises 8. There’s One Kind Favor 9. High Heel Sneakers Anya Cohen - Vocals, tambourine Michael Lynne - Electric, acoustic and bass guitars, vocals John Williamson - Electric and bass guitars, vocals Will Betz - Electric and bass guitars Al Camardo - Percussion Tom Champion - Drums and percussion en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_(band)
|
|
|
Post by jk on Sept 21, 2020 8:57:13 GMT -5
For all its audacious cover art, Velvett Fogg's lone self-titled album didn't impress the OP and it doesn't impress me either. The curiously titled "Yellow Cave Woman" (what's yellow, the cave or the woman?) opens the album to great effect but the rest doesn't hold up so well. It's as if you've heard it all already... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvett_Fogg
|
|
|
Post by jk on Sept 23, 2020 8:23:30 GMT -5
'Tis but a small step from Velvett Fogg to Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera (although my friend didn't take that step) and a bizarre song I remember from the year it was released. "Dream Starts", from the band's self-titled 1968 debut album, features some preposterously treated vocals from Dave Terry (aka Elmer Gantry): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Gantry%27s_Velvet_Opera
|
|
|
Post by jk on Sept 30, 2020 5:38:09 GMT -5
Last night I embarked on a new late night/early morning listen. Genesis, the haunting lone album recorded by Wendy & Bonnie in 1969, has been rereleased in a deluxe 2-CD edition with 24 additional tracks of all kinds. (I'm sure I've commented on this album before, either here or at PSF.)
For more information there's a post (with links) devoted to this album at the blog in my signature. Actually that post is an updated and expanded version of a review to be found here at EH. The blogger's favourite track (and mine, so far) is "By The Sea":
|
|
|
Post by jk on Oct 15, 2020 16:28:25 GMT -5
Back in late 1972, at a charity organization whose premises I frequented, this Canadian girl played side two of a self-titled album by someone she knew personally, a certain David Wiffen. The first track on that side, "Driving Wheel", is a stunner: According to her, David was beset by depression at the time and it shows. His heartbreaking take on "Since I Fell For You" can easily vie with Lenny Welch's 1963 hit version. But the whole album, Beach Boys brief as it is at 29 minutes long, is worth a listen. (Curiously, and possibly of interest to the OP, it was produced by Ed Bogas just after his stint with the US band The United States of America.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wiffen
|
|
|
Post by jk on Oct 21, 2020 12:50:47 GMT -5
I see this thread has been getting something like 200 views a day for the last few days. I'm not promoting it anywhere (I haven't posted in it for almost a week!) and the list is at the OP's own blog anyway. So why? The internet can be such a strange place!
|
|
|
Post by jk on Nov 14, 2020 8:02:37 GMT -5
I'm sure I posted about this album in the PSF equivalent of this topic... Back in 1970, the band I was in gathered at the drummer's house to play each other their favourite new LPs. Most folks brought the likes of this Blossom Toes album, UK stuff I sneered at at the time. My own contribution was side two of the Velvets' White Light White Heat. I'll show them, I thought. The opening chaos of "I Heard Her Call My Name" was greeted with cries of "We could do better than that!" Not long after, they decided that no, we probably couldn't do better than that. I recall the drummer was most impressed with "Sister Ray". Fast forward to 2017, which is when I first encountered the OP's list at the start of this thread (in the original PSF topic, a while before I joined). Since then my tastes have done a 180 (I believe that's the expression). The previous four pages can bear that out. (A large share of the blame can be laid at the door of my blogger friend.) From Blossom Toes' 1967 debut album, We Are Ever So Clean, this [was] the opening track, "Look At Me I'm You": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blossom_Toes
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 3, 2021 15:59:29 GMT -5
This is one I discovered while looking up stuff for the Kingsmen thread. In 1969, a "prog rock" band called Touch released a lone self-titled album. Among their ranks was one Don Gallucci, a keyboardist whose most famous moment was his iconic intro to "Louie Louie" six years earlier. The other members of Touch were Jeff Hawks (vocals), Joey Newman (guitar), Bruce Hauser (bass) and John Bordonaro (percussion). Everyone sang, including Gallucci. [ Source] From that album, this is "Seventy-Five", the epic closing track: www.furious.com/perfect/touch.html
|
|
|
Post by jk on Apr 26, 2021 16:23:50 GMT -5
It's time this extraordinary topic was back on page 1. And what better way than with this criminally obscure 1972 album recorded in 1969 by ex-Crazy World of Arthur Brown bassist Nicholas Greenwood. Cold Cuts is good from start to finish, so dip in anywhere, folks. As a singer, Mr Greenwood certainly learned a lot from his former boss! The excellent YouTube blurb warrants reproducing in full (I'm still laughing about the sentence in bold type): "Nicholas Greenwood was born in Hertford on March 2nd 1948. Having played bass and toured America and elsewhere with the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, in 1969 he left the band to focus on his own music. After brewing up the material for Cold Cuts with his collaborator Dick Heninghem [sic], they returned to America with drummer Eric Peachey in 1970 and recorded the album in Los Angeles, with engineer Richard Barcelona at the controls and Greenwood and Marc Chase producing. The sessions also included input from guest musicians including Bunk Gardner from the Mothers of Invention and Bryn Haworth, formerly of Les Fleur de Lys, and the powerful results are rightly regarded as a progressive rock classic. "Upon their return to the UK the trio formed Khan in April 1971, with ace guitarist Steve Hillage (formerly of Uriel, better-known as Arzachel, and then Egg). Managed by Terry King, who also handled Caravan, they gigged around the UK over the course of the year, supporting bands such as Audience, Lindisfarne, Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator. Heninghem departed in October, and was replaced by Dave Stewart (previously of Egg) in time to rehearse and record an album in December. They continued to gig widely in 1972, but Greenwood departed in June (replaced by Nigel Griggs, later of Split Enz). Khan's album, Space Shanty, appeared in September 1972. "At much the same time Terry King was setting up his own label, Kingdom Records, which finally issued Cold Cuts in December, almost three years after it had been recorded. Despite also appearing in France and Holland (on the Pink Elephant label), it made no impact at all. Part of this might be to do with the off-putting sleeve, which depicts a seated figure made out of meat. It was in fact a 1970 artwork by Australian-born Philippe Mora, entitled Pork Chop Ballad. According to his online biography, 'in the Sigi Krauss Gallery's exhibition in 1970, Mora's main contribution was a life-size sculpture of a seated figure made entirely of meat, placed on a bentwood chair… The police were called when Princess Margaret complained about the stench when dining at the restaurant across the street, and Krauss was forced to move it to the back garden, where the neighbours, thinking the artwork was a murder victim, called in Scotland Yard again.' The credit for the artwork went to Bon Seideman and noted US psychedelic artist John Van Hamersveld, who had also worked on Magical Mystery Tour by the Beatles, Crown Of Creation by Jefferson Airplane and Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones. It is not known how many copies of Cold Cuts were pressed or sold but it is at the apex of ultra rare UK prog items." Nicholas Greenwood: bass, vocals, effects, co-producer Bryn Howarth: guitar Chris Pritchard: guitar Dick * Henningham*: keyboards Bunk Gardner: woodwinds Janet Lakatos: violin Margaret Immerman: violin Margaret Shipman: viola Nils Oliver: cello Eric Peachey: drums The Teardrops: harmony vocals Charles Lamont: arrangements
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 11, 2021 7:30:34 GMT -5
This one is certainly obscure, and perhaps rightly so. Of its four long tracks, track #2 is arguably the least unlistenable:
The YouTube blurb from Terminal Passage's upload of the entire album...
01 Heinäsirkat I 02 Korvapoliklinikka Hesperia 03 Jazz Jazz 04 Dodekafoninen Talvisota
...is worth quoting in full:
"1967 saw the birth of the notorious Helsinki ensemble The Sperm, led by Mattijuhani Koponen and Pekka Airaksinen and with such members as J.O. Mallander and Markus Heikkerö. Airaksinen had previously written some experimental pieces with the equipment provided and built by Erkki Kurenniemi for The University of Helsinki Electronic Music Studio (where also composers Henrik Otto Donner and Erkki Salmenhaara had been working).
"The Sperm's performances concentrated, alongside music, on breaking sexual taboos, and Mattijuhani Koponen eventually had to spend some time at a correctional facility (the fuss was all about Koponen's alleged public copulation with an anonymous woman while lying on a grand piano at a performance), since this sort of avantgardism seemed to be too much for the establishment of time."
|
|
|
Post by nts1drums on Jun 12, 2021 17:12:36 GMT -5
Not actually an album per se, but still pretty obscure by some standards. During the recording of their 1976 LP Wind & Wuthering, Genesis left 3 recordings to be released on an EP. This 1977 EP was called Spot The Pigeon. It contains three tracks: Match Of The Day (lyrics by Phil Collins, which he hated so badly that it was excluded from a 2000 box set with b-sides and rarities called Genesis Archive 2). Pigeons (lyrics by Mike Rutherford, and has criticism from guitarist Steve Hackett relating to the structure of the song). There is also Inside & Out (lyrics by Phil Collins, and also has serious praise from Hackett, who believes it should’ve been on Wind & Wuthering, with the track becoming a standard for his solo shows).
Enjoy!
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 13, 2021 7:19:02 GMT -5
Not actually an album per se, but still pretty obscure by some standards. During the recording of their 1976 LP Wind & Wuthering, Genesis left 3 recordings to be released on an EP. This 1977 EP was called Spot The Pigeon. It contains three tracks: Match Of The Day (lyrics by Phil Collins, which he hated so badly that it was excluded from a 2000 box set with b-sides and rarities called Genesis Archive 2). Pigeons (lyrics by Mike Rutherford, and has criticism from guitarist Steve Hackett relating to the structure of the song). There is also Inside & Out (lyrics by Phil Collins, and also has serious praise from Hackett, who believes it should’ve been on Wind & Wuthering, with the track becoming a standard for his solo shows). Enjoy! Curiously, I was watching a telecast comp of TV performances by and interviews with Phil (an even more unlikely pop star than Elton John!) only last night. It showcased some fabulous solo songs, including a quite terrifying live version of "Sussudio", but unfortunately nothing of his work with Genesis. These three sound pretty good to me, particularly the spectacular "Inside & Out". Thanks for sharing!
|
|
|
Post by bobbreckwoldt on Jun 28, 2021 14:11:00 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by jk on Sept 12, 2021 9:07:53 GMT -5
This one is perhaps a little early for the OP's time frame, but there you are. Pierre Henry was initially at the forefront of musique concrète in the 1950s but later turned his hand to more poppy stuff. His collaboration with the UK's Spooky Tooth did not go down well with the band, who felt the electronic sauce splashed all over their 1969 album Ceremony must have been produced in his toilet. Two years earlier he had released an album of ballet music called Messe pour le temps présent, my favourite part of which is "Psyché Rock". His musical collaborator on Mpltp was none other than Michel Colombier of "Deirdre" fame, as can be heard in the flutes. In a way, this is typical pop music by a "classical" composer. That said, it has a rough-and-readiness to it that appeals to me: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Henry
|
|
|
Post by jk on Nov 3, 2021 10:25:49 GMT -5
It was SMiLE-Holland who pointed me at the Dutch band Q65 and their 1966 album Revolution. Q65 most effectively blended influences ranging from the Chess bluesmen to UK bands of the day, creating their own style in the process. "Bring It On Home", the album's long closing track, has shades of the Stones' "Goin' Home", Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction" and Love's "Revelation", all released some time that same year. Whether Q65 heard any of these before recording their album is anyone's guess... The lineup (with an educated guess at who plays what on "BIOH") is Willem (Wim) Bieler (vocals, harmonica), Joop Roelofs (lead guitar), Frank Nuyens (rhythm guitar), Peter Vink (bass guitar) and Jay Baar (drums). R.I.P. Willem and Joop. [Regrettably this video has done a runner -- jk]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q65_(band)
|
|
|
Post by jk on Nov 5, 2021 6:52:35 GMT -5
The following description is a light(ish) reworking of information found on * this page*: Part of a vibrant Amsterdam pop music scene in the late sixties but with a harder edged blend of psychedelic rock and Chicago blues, Dutch band Brainbox paid homage to American and British contemporaries while developing their own more progressive brand of pop music. Brainbox was formed in 1968 shortly after guitarist Jan Akkerman and drummer Pierre van der Linden (both later of Focus) joined 19-year-old singing prodigy Kazimierz "Kaz" Lux to lay down a couple of demos after the latter had won a talent contest. Of Polish descent and Dutch upbringing, Lux had previously sang with several Dutch pop bands but his heartfelt vocal deliveries were closer to those of Howlin' Wolf and Leadbelly with occasional forays into a higher register. Newcomer bassist André Reijnen completed the new band, as Jan Akkerman had played the bass parts himself on the two demo recordings. While Lux's emotive voicings sounded similar to contemporary blues rockers across the Channel such as Rory Gallagher and Joe Cocker, when fused with Akkermans's imaginative guitar the result was a blistering meltdown of emotive blues and heavy rock with jazz attitudes. They experimented with interpretations of music by Gershwin, Tim Hardin and others in addition to playing their own compositions. Akkerman's adventurous guitar work gave the band a progressive aspect with his extensive soloing and intricate rhythms and resulted in a pioneering 16-minute-plus showpiece, "Sea Of Delight" (see video), the last track on their excellent self-titled debut album of 1969. Guest multi-instrumentalist Tom Barlage (of Dutch prog band Solution) played flute on a couple of tracks and Akkerman also contributed organ and (so my spies tell me) vibes. (Despite their experimental approach Brainbox became better known for their singles, three of which had been released by the end of that year.) Side One:1. Dark Rose (Kazimierz Lux, Jan Akkerman) - 5:20 2. Reason To Believe (Tim Hardin) - 2:23 3. Baby, What You Want Me To Do (Jimmy Reed) - 2:36 4. Scarborough Fair (Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel) - 6:26 5. Summertime (George Gershwin) - 4:22 Side Two:1. Sinner's Prayer (Lowell Fulsom) - 2:31 2. Sea Of Delight (K. Lux, J. Akkerman, A. Reijnen, P. van der Linden) - 16:58 [Regrettably this video has done a runner -- jk]en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainbox
|
|
|
Post by jk on Nov 5, 2021 17:35:07 GMT -5
Divergence (1972) is the second album by the Dutch prog rock band Solution. Among the most progressive of their albums, it consists of three instrumental pieces ("Fever", "Theme" and the title track) alongside three tracks with vocals by bassist Guus Willemse, who had replaced original member Peter van der Sande in 1971. All tracks are attributed to all four members of Solution.
Beginning as a piano-led song, "Second Line" morphs into a lengthy instrumental section reprising a theme first heard in "Preview" from the band's self-titled debut album (1971). Similarly, "Theme" is based on a motif from the introduction to the earlier album's "Concentration".
If part of the title track sounds familiar (here at 0:21), it's because it was used by Focus to stunning effect in the "Eruption" suite on their 1971 hit album Focus II (Moving Waves). That section was entitled "Tommy" after Solution saxophonist Tom Barlage (see previous post). Consequently, the original song is perhaps Solution's best-known track, owing to the success Focus enjoyed in the early seventies.
Side One: 1. "Second Line" 2. "Divergence" 3. "Fever"
Side Two: 1. "Concentration" 2. "Theme" 3. "New Dimension"
Tom Barlage – saxophone, flute Willem Ennes – keyboards Guus Willemse – bass guitar, vocals Hans Waterman – drums
(All information adapted from the album's wiki page.)
|
|
|
Post by jk on Nov 6, 2021 14:59:20 GMT -5
I'd posted this album in this thread before but the videos went missing. Thanks to uploader Diana P. (and the necessary time and inclination), I can repost them now. In den Gärten Pharaos ("In the Gardens of the Pharaoh", 1971) is one of those rare pop albums with one track per side. And oh, how these two tracks differ! The title track is a wonderfully delicate, almost pastoral affair whereas the "B-side", "Vuh", batters the listener with a wall of massive organ chords, aided and abetted by waves of metallic percussion. The OP has a two-track album of her own, * Just a Poke* by * Sweet Smoke* (1970), which is very high on her list of "Keepers" (see the opening post). I suppose it's what you're used to. I've listened to Just a Poke and I can see its charms but still Popol Vuh's album wipes the floor with it in my book. Maybe the contrast between the two sides is starker... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_den_Gärten_Pharaos
|
|
|
Post by jk on Nov 27, 2021 13:32:10 GMT -5
Judy Henske and Jerry Yester's Farewell Aldebaran never made it onto my friend's lists -- unsurprisingly really, since she followed up links in comments leading from one album to the next and this 1969 offering, much like her beloved self-titled album by The United States of America from the previous year, is in a field of one... The entire album is worth dipping into (it's on YouTube). For now, here are the first and last tracks on the original side two (the descriptions come from the album's wiki page): "Raider", which has been described as an "acid sea shanty", has a bluegrass feel created by bowed banjo and dulcimer backing a folksy-sounding but surreal lyric: The title track, featuring electronically treated vocals and Moog synthesizer, is a unique piece of "space-rock" based upon an insistent bass-drum, full of rushing, wailing and bleeping sounds as Yester intones "the comets cling to her, the fiery bride, she is the mother of the mark and the prize, the glaze of paradise is in her eyes, her mouth is torn with stars..." before the track fades into chaos: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_Aldebaran
|
|