Thursday, August 4, 2022

Puff - Puff (1969 us, fabulous garage beat psych, 2009 remaster)



Puff has a connection to the early sixties group The Ramrods, originally called The Rockin Ramrods. I loved them in back in the day and Bright Lit, Blue Skies is a local classic.

Vin Campisi and Robert Henderson are the Ramrods who started Puff. Ronn Campisi wrote all the songs on the album but supposedly was not a member.

The Puff album didn't get as much attention as some of the other Bosstown Sound albums it seems to me.The album is produced by Alan Lorber so it has his production values and is on MGM Records.

It's a calm sounding album. No real loud rock moments. There are many nice passages and it grows on you the more you hear it. 
Tracks
1. Dead Thoughts Of Alfred - 2:02
2. Rainy Day - 2:42
3. Vacuum - 2:12 
4. Walk Upon The Water - 2:00
5. Who Do You Think You Are - 2:27
6. Of Not Being Able To Go To Sleep - 5:09
7. When I Wake Up In The Morning - 3:05
8. Trees - 3:00 
9. It's My Way - 2:52
10.I Sure Need You - 6:29
11.Go With You - 2:55
12.Changes - 2:30
All songs by Ronn Campisi

Puff
*Jim Mandell - Organ, Flute, Piano, Vocals
*David Allen Ryan - Bass, Vocals
*Vin Campisi - Guitar
*Robert H. Henderson - Drums, Vocals

Jim Spencer - Landscapes (1973 us, amazing acid folk psych rock, 2009 korean remaster)



Jim Spencer was always looking for a stairway to success beyond, but Milwaukee was a Mobius loop he could not escape. He played many roles with grace; he was a musician, songwriter, poet, magus, and congenial salesman of ideas. He was a dealer in rare books, antiquities, and fantasies. He was a D.I.Y. publisher and indie recording artist at a time when circulating self-produced poetry and music beyond one’s hometown was a challenge on par with swimming the English Channel. He was Milwaukee famous—at least to anyone who cared about music and poetry. He was not much known elsewhere.

He released three albums under his own name and one as Major Arcana, a band-persona that enabled him to escape his singer-songwriter image. All were issued under the imprimatur of cryptically-monikered labels: Thoth, Akashic, and Castalia Records. “He had forbidden books in his basement,” said frequent collaborator Sigmund Snopek, a classically trained progressive rock keyboardist. “He was fascinated by other cultures and religions and incorporated some of that into his music.”

1973’s Landscapes is Jim Spencer’s first, and perhaps most disciplined and fully-realized record in a singer-songwriter mode. Recorded with a band and released on Thoth (after the Egyptian God of writing and learning), Landscapes shows a level of confidence and sophistication one simply doesn’t associate with private press debuts.
Tracks
1. El-Mar'a (Jim Spencer, Richard Thomas) - 1:55
2. You To Me (Jim Spencer, Kathleen Wingner, John Voyles) - 3:47
3. Poor Dolly (Jim Spencer) - 2:12
4. River Run (Jim Spencer, Kathleen Wingner, Ilze Platais) - 3:15
5. The One Who Cries (Jim Spencer, John Voyles) - 2:37
6. On My Way To You (Jim Spencer, Richard Thomas) - 3:02
7. One Thing Less To Lose (Jim Spencer, Kathleen Wingner) - 3:25
8. She Can See (Jim Spencer, Kathleen Wingner, Roger Skentny) - 3:52
9. Another Lonely Day (Jim Spencer, John Voyles) - 2:14
10.As The Foundation Crumbles (In The House Of Your Love) (Jim Spencer) - 2:08
11.Where Do You Run? (Jim Spencer) - 4:42
12.A Finger For Old Glory (Jim Spencer) - 2:38

Musicians
*Jim Spencer - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Susan Thomas - Vocals
*Richard Thomas - Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Vocals
*Mike Balistierri - Bass, Flute, Piano
*Mike Pageant - Acoustic Guitar
*Ilze Platais - 12 String Guitar, Bouzouki
*Gary Kemp - Acoustic, Electric Guitars
*John Voyles - Electric, Acoustic Guitars
*Kenny Knoll - Electric Pedal Steel Guitar
*Kent Carpentier - Mandolin, Fiddle
*Alan Ek - Bass
*Rob Fixmer - Percussion
*Jim Hall - Percussion
*The Magnetic Staircase - Vocals