Plain and Fancy

rep>>> The Third Eye - Searching (1969 south africa, spectacular heavy garage psych rock)

Time and fortune have not been kind to Third Eye. Back in the late 1960s they were one of the top acts in South Africa, recording three powerful albums that easily matched the creative output of their now better-known contemporaries. Four decades on, though, and they are the also-rans in the contest to name the nation’s rock royalty. Search the web for information on the band and all that pops up is sketchy information on their recording output and brief notes on recent revival concerts. Search for the recordings of Third Eye and you would – until this timely reissue – have been hard pressed to find anything other than the hugely expensive original vinyl pressings. Although badly reproduced CDs of their releases – Awakening, Searching and Brother – have been available on bootleg labels, the band have been poorly represented in digital form. Contrast this with the plethora of bootlegs and, more recently, official releases on offer from other South African artists of that era.

Perhaps their ‘misfortune’ was that they lived and performed in Durban, a coastal city several hundred miles away from the recording and musical hub of Johannesburg (although they recorded their three albums in Johannesburg). Perhaps it was the fault of their record label – Polydor – which did not promote them as heavily as EMI did its stable of artists (although Third Eye got to feature on two internationally released Polydor Super Groups compilation albums, in the company of global stars Cream, Hendrix, John Mayall and The Who among others). Perhaps it was simply that just not enough people outside of Durban heard their driving, organ-powered rock for it to remain lodged in their consciousness over the years.

Remember, back in South Africa in the early 1970s there was no television to give a band national coverage, radio airplay was almost exclusively on state-controlled stations and government censors had a very narrow view of what would or wouldn’t subvert the nation’s youth; Third Eye’s version of Arthur Brown’s Fire was kept off the airwaves by these very custodians of the nation’s morals. The band did get support from LM Radio, the first commercial radio station in Africa that was broadcasting from Lourenco Marques, now Maputo, in Mozambique. Fire b/w With the Sun Shining Bright was on the station’s hit parade for six weeks and Apricot Brandy, which featured on the Awakening album, later became a playoff signature tune on the station. But LM Radio and the state broadcasters focused solely on pop-oriented singles; and as for radio airplay of extended album tracks, the band’s forte – forget it.

Third Eye coalesced in Durban in 1968 around the young brother and sister team of Ron and Dawn Selby. The two – with Ron on guitar and Dawn, just into her teens, on Hammond organ – had played alongside bassist Mike Sauer in a Durban band It’s a Secret. Formed in 1963, It’s a Secret had played mainly commercial cover music, but the times they were a-changing’. The arrival of Maurice Saul, a guitarist who had worked the boards in what was then Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) before travelling the well-worn path south, and Robbie Pavid, a drummer who doubled as the percussionist for Abstract Truth, another Durban-based progressive outfit, saw the band morph into Third Eye.

Mixing original compositions with favourites from the overseas scene – such as Deep Purple and Hendrix – Third Eye gigged around Durban and the neighbouring city of Pietermaritzburg, with Robbie playing the cocktail set with Abstract Truth between 5pm and 7pm before taking up the sticks with Third Eye. At the start the band played ‘sessions’, with Third Eye blitzing a single venue alongside such groups as The Flames, The In Crowd and The Bats. As they grew in popularity, so did the number of gigs they played. ‘Battles of the Bands’, peculiarly South African musical contests that saw bands competing against each other at mini-festivals, were fought and full-blown festivals trawled. Soon Third Eye found themselves playing to bigger, more appreciative audiences and having the freedom to perform their own compositions. The scene was blossoming, on the verge of a massive creative flowering – and the record executives were sensing an opportunity.

In 1968 the song Fire had been recorded by the band on four-track at Troubadour Studios in Johannesburg under producer Billy Forrest, and it was the strength of this single that led to a more significant recording contract. Third Eye were snapped up by Trutone, on the Polydor label, one of the premier labels at the time, which signed them for three albums. It heralded a hectic couple of years, with Awakening released in 1969 followed by two releases in a single year in 1970 – Searching and Brother. Amazingly the three albums were recorded in just six days.

They were heady days – both musically and politically. Awakening had been dedicated by Maurice Saul, driven by a “personal disgust with war and hatred”, to all “young men in this world forced to go to war”. It could have been directed nearer to home, where boys were being conscripted into the army and the white society was becoming deeply polarised. The increasingly authoritarian government clearly saw rock musicians as a threat, playing “devil’s music” to the gullible young. No one could escape the looming crackdown. And it all came to a head in October 1970 at the Milner Park 24 hour rock festival near Johannesburg, with Third Eye as top of the bill alongside a host of other big names – including The Flames, Otis Waygood, Freedoms Children, Abstract Truth and Suck. As the good-natured crowd gathered, they were stormed by conservative youths – divinity students from a nearby university, say some, while newspaper reports claim they were from a local police college – who dragged some of the audience away to cut their hair.

Trutone were not renewing the contract and there were no royalties coming from the three albums already recorded. “With no support from our record company in terms of publicity or marketing (despite having signed a very binding contract which still stands today) it was impossible for us to continue,” says Dawn. “If we wanted to play, and earn something back for what we had put in, we had to go commercial and do the gig band thing. It became a ‘chicken and egg‘ situation. To create the music, we needed to spend time with the band. But as the band was not earning any income we had to work in the day (I started teaching when I was 14) to support ourselves. But this limited our time for rehearsing or travelling to the better gigs.”

Maurice and Robbie called it a day. Ron, Dawn and Mike continued to carry the flag for Third Eye, although Mike eventually quit a year later. In 1973 Third Eye, with only Ron and Dawn as surviving members of the original line-up, returned to RPM Studios in Johannesburg to record some tracks for an album. Two of these songs – Caterpillar b/w What’s Going On – were released by Bluejeans Records in the Benelux countries and one – Free – made its way on to an EMI compilation album in 1998. Needless to say, no royalties have been forthcoming.

Disillusionment with the industry had set in but the band battled on. Ron remembers that “after the recordings of the albums, and with the band line-up changes, we were wary of dealing with untrustworthy promoters and managers so we undertook to do our own concerts, bookings and marketing. We recorded with Chris Kritzinger at RPM and the single Caterpillar was released.

“In the early ’70s we toured South Africa’s eastern Cape province, playing some of the original material as well as newly written compositions. We were very well supported, despite the Christian group outside Port Elizabeth’s city hall who were demonstrating with placards, we think because of the banning of Fire on state radio. The irony of this is that we were no longer performing Fire, as our new vocalist, Richard Wright, had a different vocal feel and we had a different repertoire to suit the new line-up. We realised that the market was not supporting progressive rock music, so we had no choice but to go the commercial route.”

Dawn is still championing the band – a task, she says, that is a load of fun despite time constraints. “I am grateful that I have been able to remain in the music industry for 46 years and am still very active (one big advantage of having started playing at such an early age), but it hasn’t been easy a lot of the time. I’ve always felt that Third Eye was a wonderful band creating great music and it is a pity that, at the time, we didn’t get what I felt we should’ve. We have had such a lot of fun with our recent reunion concerts [in 2008, 39 years after it all began, the members of the original band - minus Mike - reunited for concerts in Durban] and hopefully the reissue of the albums will change a few things for the better.”

Ron now runs an audio-visual and lighting company, Mike is in the motor industry and Robbie has a jewellery business. Only Maurice and Dawn remain deeply involved with the music industry; Maurice is gigging one-nighters as a solo artist, while Dawn still performs and is involved with orchestral arrangements and teaching.

Today, any revisionist rewriting of the history and influence of South African psychedelic and progressive music would see Third Eye back in their rightful place among the rock aristocracy – battered and bruised, but jostling in a mighty Battle of the Bands to see just who, among the many creative and innovative acts thrown up in such a peculiar place and time as South Africa in the ‘60s and ‘70s, was the leader of the pack. No one can say who would win. But what an awesome contest that would be.

by Roger Browning

Tracks
1. A Sad Tale - 5:34
2. Selby's Hospitality - 2:09
3. Retain Your Half-Ticket - 3:56
4. Stagemakers - 5:34
5. Awakening - 13:52
6. I Can't Believe It - 3:07
All songs by Maurice Saul

The Third Eye
*Ronnie Selby - Lead Guitar
*Maurice Saul - Vocals, Lead Guitar
*Dawn Selby - Piano, Hammond Organ
*Robbie Pavid - Drums
*Mike Sauer - Six String Bass

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1967 No Way Out (Sundazed expanded issue)
1968 The Inner Mystique (Sundazed expanded issue)
1969 One Step Beyond (Sundazed expanded issue)

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Sunday, May 31, 2026

rep>>> The Chocolate Watchband - Melts In Your Brain...Not On Your Wrist • The Complete Recordings (1965-67 us, fascinating garage psych, 2005 Big Beat two disc set)

Great rock'n'roll rarely translates properly to disc. The history of the genre is littered with literally thousands of acts that were blinding and transcendent on the bandstand, yet limp, ineffectual or misguided in the studio. And the opposite is just as true, though the art of the recording medium allows for a control and an innovation that usually isn't possible in a live context. When the two disciplines are matched, there is the potential for true greatness; yet for those involved, the realization of such may come only after years of frustrated disillusion with the initial outcome. Such is the case with the Chocolate Watchband.

The recorded legacy of this supreme psychedelic punk combo paints a picture quite removed from the truth, yet as our definitive new anthology MELTS IN YOUR BRAIN . . . NOT ON YOUR WRIST demonstrates, it nevertheless holds up as one of the finest catalogues of the 1960s, balanced between the Watchband's own Anglophile blueswailing, and a preternatural aura, the result of studio trickery imposed without the bands knowledge or consent. The juxtaposition acts as a paradigm of how the British Invasion-inspired punk fury acquired an experimental veneer, and led to something unique. By unwittingly having their record career mapped out for them by producer Ed Cobb, the Watchband paradoxically wrote themselves into the annals of cultdom; yet it is the rock'n'roll heartbeat of this once-in-a-lifetime band that is their true heirloom.

As well as handily collecting their complete recorded works 1965-69 in one nicely remastered package, Melts In Your Brain . . . Not On Your Wrist" seeks to finally clarify the peculiar and fascinating history of this consummate group. The tracklisting on this definitive 2 CD set clearly delineates between the tracks that truly feature the definitive Watchband ie the grinding 1966 model led by frontman par excellence David Aguilar - and everything else attributed to the Chocolate Watchband name, whether it be recordings by the earlier and later incarnations of the combo, or those trippy cuts on their three long-players either adulterated or recorded by someone else entirely.

The many aficionados that have come to love the Watchband's albums over the years are no doubt blissfully unaware of the machinations behind the substitutions and studio fakery on their records, and no doubt cherish the non-Watchband sides on those records just as much. To which end, their studio adventures, as well as the illustrious life and times of the Watchband are examined in great detail in the copiously illustrated booklet, with commentary from all the bands members, and a rare interview with the late Ed Cobb.

by Alec Palao

Tracks
Disc 1

1. Let's Talk About Girls (Manny Freiser) - 2:44

2. Sweet Young Thing (Ed Cobb) - 2:55

3. Baby Blue (Bob Dylan) - 3:16

4. Blues Theme (Mike Curb) - 2:09

5. Loose Lip Sync Ship (David Aguilar, Mark Loomis) - 3:16

6. Don't Need Your Lovin' (David Aguilar) - 2:36

1. Sitting There Standing (David Aguilar, Gary Andrijasevich, Bill Flores, Mark Loomis, Sean Tolby) - 2:19

8. Misty Lane (Martin Siegel) - 3:20

9. She Weaves A Tender Trap (Ed Cobb) - 2:31

10.Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love In) (Don Bennett, Ethan McElroy) - 2:23

11.No Way Out (Ed Cobb) - 2:20

12.In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett, Steve Cropper) - 3:28

13.Come On (Chuck Berry) - 1:41

14.Gone And Passes By (David Aguilar) - 3:12

15.I'm Not Like Everybody Else (Ray Davies) - 3:41

16.I Ain't No Miracle Worker (Nancie Mantz, Annette Tucker) - 2:48

11.Milk Cow Blues (Kokomo Arnold) - 2:55

18.Medication (Minette Alton, Ben Ditosb) - 2:11

19.'Til The End Of The Day (Ray Davies) - 2:37

20.Psychedelic Trip (David Aguilar, Gary Andrijasevich, Bill Flores, Mark Loomis, Sean Tolby) - 1:56

Songs 4,5 as The Hogs

Disc 2

1. Let's Talk About Girls (Manny Freiser) - 2:43

2. In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett, Steve Cropper) - 4:25

3. Hot Dusty Roads (Stephen Stills) - 2:24

4. Gossamer Wings (Don Bennett, Ethan Mcelroy) - 3:24

5. Baby Blue (Bob Dylan) - 3:11

6. Medication (Minette Alton, Ben Ditosti) - 2:05

7. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (Gerry Marsden, Les Chadwick, Les Maguire. Fred Marsden) - 2:49

8. Since You Broke My Heart (Don Everly) - 2:20

9. Uncle Morris (Gary Andrijasevich, Mark Loomis) - 3:09

10.How Ya Been (Gary Andrijasevich, Danny Phay) - 3:09

11.Devil's Motorcycle (Gary Andrijasevich, Sean Tolby) - 3:00

12.I Don't Need No Doctor (Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson) - 4:00

13.Flowers (Gary Andrijasevich, Danny Phay) - 2:45

14.Fireface (Sean Tolby) - 2:49

15.And She's Lonely (Mark Loomis, Sean Tolby) - 4:16

16.Dark Side Of The Mushroom (Richie Podolor, Bill Cooper) - 2:34

17.Expo 2000 (Richie Podolor) -2:39

18.Voyage Of The Trieste (Ed Cobb) - 3:37

19.In The Past (Wayne Proctor) - 3:06

20.The Inner Mystique (Ed Cobb) - 5:34

21.The Uncharted Sea Aka Voyage Of The Trieste (Ed Cobb) - 3:23

22.Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go (Hank Ballard) - 2:36

23.Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go (Hank Ballard) - 2:15

Songs 18-21 as The Yo-Yoz

Songs 22,23 as The Inmates

The Chocolate Watch Band

1965

*Ned Torney - Guitar

*Mark Loomis - Guitar

*Rick Young - Bass Guitar

*Pete Curry - Drums

*Jo Kemling - Organ

*Danny Phay - Lead Vocals

1966–1967

*Mark Loomis - Lead Guitar, Keyboards

*David Aguilar - Lead Vocals, Harmonica

*Gary Andrijasevich - Drums, Backing Vocals

*Sean Tolby - Rhythm Guitar

*Bill 'Flo' Flores - Bass, Backing Vocals

1967

*Sean Tolby - Lead Guitar

*Bill 'Flo' Flores - Bass

*Tim Abbott - Rhyhtm Guitar

*Mark Whittaker - Drums

*Chris Flinders - Vocals

1968

*Sean Tolby - Guitar

*Bill "Flo" Flores - Bass

*Mark Loomis - Guitar

*Gary Andrijasevich - Drums

*Ned Torney - Guitar

*Danny Phay - Vocals

More Chocolate...

1966-68 44 (Big Beat)

1973-75 The Butts Band - The Complete Recordings

rep>>> Paul And Georgia - The Paul And Georgia Album (1968-76 us, classic folk intertwined with acid psych, blues, country and roots 'n' roll including members from the Doors, 2004 remaster)

This album introduces the songs of Paul Ferrara and his wife Georgia, recorded between 1968 and 1976. In the early sixties, Georgia Newton, a teenager with a love for music and a strong desire to search for something more, became part of the Sunset scene as she hitchhiked her way down Beverly Glen every night, leaving behind her conventional family. While on the famous Strip, she met John Densmore and Robby Krieger, two talented musicians who would soon form half of The Doors.

Paul Ferrara, who studied film at UCLA with Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, later became the band's photographer and cinematographer, filming their exploits on and off-stage and giving birth to Live at the Hollywood Bowl as well as the yet-to-be-officially-released Feast of Friends. In the process, Paul developed a close friendship with Jim Morrison.

They wrote songs together like Waiting For the Sun and played music late into the night. In 1968, at a showing of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Paul and Georgia met for the first time, and the two soon became a couple. Paul had always played the guitar, and Georgia started to sing along with him. Their songs, along with her stunningly natural and almost haunting voice, caught the attention of several producers, including Doors' producer Paul Rothschild. Rothschild was particularly interested in the song One More Drink and wanted to give it to a young female artist he produced named Janis Joplin. Paul and Georgia refused, wanting to keep the song for themselves -- a decision they've both regretted to this day.

Paul and Georgia recorded two of their songs with The Doors backing them, following the band's rehearsal. Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robbie Krieger are featured on the tracks One More Drink and Hopi. The couple would also record two more songs with the band Nite City, Manzarek's post-Doors project.

They also recorded at Elektra Studios with actor and musician Tim McIntire, the man who scored the music for the motion picture Jeremiah Johnson. Jim Morrison, who would usually attend Paul and Georgia's recording sessions, fell in love with the song Bald Mountain. Morrison used the song in HWY, a film he wrote. In HWY, Morrison plays the lead part of the killer on the road in the desert near Joshua Tree, California.

Paul was the man behind the camera for the filming of the movie, a cult classic in Europe only seen in art houses that will soon be released in the USA. In 1970, Paul and Georgia's son Rio was born. Soon after that, Jim Morrison left Los Angeles and flew to Paris to join his longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson and pursue his life as a writer and poet. Paul, Georgia and Rio began to explore the USA and decided to settle on a ranch near Taos, New Mexico where the couple continued to write music.

Thought to be lost, these recordings were recently found at Paul's New Mexico ranch, preserved and digitally remastered from the original analog masters that had not been heard for almost thirty years. Paul's arrangements, melodies and simple yet intricate instrumentation are a perfect complement to Georgia's gorgeous and ethereal voice. That voice will bring to mind the likes of Laura Nyro, Janis Joplin, and Grace Slick.

Paul and Georgia were more than their recorded legacy. They embodied the struggles that young couples of the late 60's faced fighting for independence and against conformity. At ground zero of the rock'n'roll world of The Doors, they embraced the counterculture, the anti-war sentiment and the consciousness expansion movements of the times. Their love bond would lead them on a return to the country and a spiritual quest; their story is worthy of a major motion picture.

A biography of Paul Ferrara is also in the works. He will discuss the years he attended the UCLA Film School with Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, his career as a Hollywood photographer for Nancy Sinatra, her father, Ravi Shankar and many others, including The Doors. He will also discuss his acting career, including his part alongside Peter Sellers in the motion picture The Party, and his relationship with Georgia.

If you are too young to have lived through the tumultuous sixties, when these songs were created, or if you are lucky enough to remember the musical renaissance that the period produced, you will find comfort in the beauty contained in the recordings of Paul and Georgia's long overdue debut album.

by Anne Sophie Dacosta and Kyle Vincent

Tracks
1. Hopi - 2:49
2. Salt - 2:15
3. Change - 3:07
4. One More Drink - 2:58
5. Nuilena - 3:22
6. Sweet Wine - 3:15
7. Black Gold - 3:15
8. Bald Mountain - 3:11
9. James - 3:03
10.Black Jack Pine - 2:32
11.How Have You Been - 3:38
12.Not Right to Fight - 1:56
13.Joyride - 3:04
14.Need You - 2:51
15.Ice Cream - 1:38
All songs by Paul Ferrara

Musicians
*Georgia Ferrara Pulos - Vocals
*Paul Ferrara - Guitar, Vocals
*John Densmore - Drums
*Robby Krieger - Guitar
*Ray Manzarek - Keyboards
*Tim McIntire - Violin

Related Acts
1971-72 The Doors - Other Voices / Full Circle (2015 double disc remaster)

1977-78 Nite City - Nite City • Golden Days Diamond Nights (2006 release)

Saturday, May 30, 2026

rep>>> Iveys - Maybe Tomorrow (1969 uk, baroque psych pop, 2010 reissue)

The story is well-known: south Wales pop group, the Iveys, are discovered by the Beatles' aide-de-camp Mal Evans, who not only signs them to Apple Records but produces their first sessions. Their first single, the glorious Bee Gees-like ballad "Maybe Tomorrow," is released in November 1968, yet it unaccountably stiffs. Disheartened, Apple shelves the planned U.S./U.K. release of the Iveys' debut album, though it does eventually sneak out in Japan and Germany.

The group replaces bassist Ron Griffiths with Liverpudlian Joey Molland and, at label exec Neil Aspinall's suggestion, changes their name to Badfinger, swiped from Paul McCartney's working title for "With a Little Help From My Friends." (John Lennon wanted to call them "Prix," preferably with the final letter pronounced.) Despite their early success, Badfinger goes on to become probably the unluckiest and one of the most tragic bands in pop music history.

However, very few people have ever heard the Iveys' Maybe Tomorrow album; copies of the original Japanese and European pressings were hens-teeth rare, and even the 1992 CD reissue with bonus tracks was seemingly in print for about 35 seconds. This is a shame, because Maybe Tomorrow ranks with Badfinger's best; in some ways, it's actually preferable to Badfinger's albums, because the production (four tracks by Mal Evans, the rest by a then-unknown Tony Visconti) is much fresher and less precise than it would be on Badfinger's slicker later albums. (Even the six tracks that eventually ended up in remixed form on Badfinger's debut, Magic Christian Music, sound better here.)

Though the party line has always been that the Iveys sounded like the Beatles, in reality, these 12 tracks have much more in common with the minor-key mopery of the early Bee Gees, from the heartbreaking "Dear Angie" (Griffiths' only writing contribution, which ironically would show up again on the first Badfinger album after he was kicked out of the group) to the frankly rather silly music hall-style "They're Knocking Down Our Home," a Pete Ham exercise in maudlin sentimentality that makes "She's Leaving Home" look subtle, though it does feature a nice clarinet part. Mike Gibbins' Kinks-like "Think About the Good Times" is the album's undiscovered gem, though the Ham and Tom Evans co-write "Yesterday Ain't Coming Back," with its weird staccato reeds section and unexpectedly aggressive middle eight, complete with burping, frog-like bass vocals, is probably the best track.

Of the four bonus tracks, the extremely silly "Looking for My Baby," from the Iveys' 1967 Apple demo, and the Creation-like rocking flip of the "Maybe Tomorrow" single, "And Her Daddy's a Millionaire," are the best, with "No Escaping Your Love" and the previously unreleased "Mrs. Jones" there for completists' sake.

by Stewart Mason

Tracks

1. See-Saw Granpa - 3:33

2. Beautiful And Blue - 2:38

3. Dear Angie (Ron Griffiths) - 2:39

4. Think About The Good Times (Mike Gibbins) - 2:21

5. Yesterday Ain't Coming Back (Pete Ham, Tom Evans) - 2:57

6. Fisherman - 3:09

7. Maybe Tomorrow - 2:52

8. Sali Bloo - 2:35

9. Angelique - 2:26

10.I'm In Love - 2:25

11.They're Knocking Down Our Home - 3:41

12.I've Been Waiting - 5:15

13.No Escaping Your Love - 2:12

14.Mrs. Jones - 2:15

15.And Her Daddy's A Millionaire (Pete Ham, Tom Evans) - 2:08

16.Looking For My Baby - 2:08

Songs 1,8,10,11,12,14,16 by Pete Ham

Songs 2,6,7,9,13 by Tom Evans

Iveys
*Pete Ham - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
*Tom Evans - Guitar, Vocals
*Ron Griffiths - Bass, Vocals
*Mike Gibbins - Drums, Vocals

1970 Badfinger - Magic Christian Music (Japan issue)
1970 Badfinger - No Dice (24karat Gold disc)
1971 Badfinger - Straight Up (24karat gold disc)

Friday, May 29, 2026

rep>>> The Who - Live At Fillmore East (1968 uk, high energy rock 'n' roll, japan press, 2001 edition excellent sound quality)

The second night of The Who's first run ever playing at the Fillmore East is an unbelievably great document of the band in its early prime, still full of the punk attitude that they would initially define while beginning to venture off into more artistic and experimental territory. Every minute of this performance is fascinating and much of this material cannot be found, in better quality or at all, on any other Who recordings. This set captures the entire band fully engaged in their music. Although many songs were still short and concise during this stage of their career, the intensity level is undeniable. Opening the show with Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," they immediately set a bar that most other bands could never even approach.

The previous year, two members of The Rolling Stones were arrested on drug charges under questionable circumstances, and were victimized by the U.K. courts. They were harshly sentenced in an attempt to make an example out of them, which immediately caused an uproar that shook London to the core. Following Jagger and Richards' ridiculous sentencing, The Who quickly recorded two of their more popular songs in support and vowed to record nothing but Stones songs until the two were released. Their second song of this set is the Stones' cover of the Allen Toussaint penned "Fortune Teller," which they had just performed for the first time ever the previous night.

They continue with "I Can't Explain," one of the few songs American audiences were familiar with at the time, but with a new level of aggression that wasn't apparent on that early single. Next up is their current single at the time, "Happy Jack," a tune that found them exploring new directions and beginning to experiment with dynamic changes. Extremely rare live performances of "Relax" and "My Way" follow and continue to explore and expand on the boundaries within the band's music. "Relax" surprisingly turns out to be one of the heavier numbers on this set and the band takes flight into some inspired jamming following the verses. Unfortunately, the jam fades out and is incomplete.

John Entwistle then steps up for his defining song, "Boris The Spider," lending his dark sense of humor to the proceedings. At this point, the band launches into "My Generation" and this version is amazing. The improvisational section following the verses is a great early example of the band letting the music propel itself. Although at times it seems like they are on the verge of being out of control, they never are, and early signs of Townshend developing themes within a jam are also surfacing. The approach to their instruments and the sound they create as a unit is utterly unique and unlike any other band at that time. The reels were changed during this jam, so a small part of it is missing on this recording.

This surely must have left the audience breathless, so while they were recovering, the band embarks on their most experimental composition yet, "A Quick One While He's Away," which is incomplete and begins in the middle of the song. This adventurous suite of songs, loosely tied together, is a hint at Townshend's future aspirations that would eventually be realized in his first full-blown rock opera, Tommy. This is a fascinating performance for its entire eight minutes.

They close their set this night with another propulsive jam on "Shakin' All Over," again letting the music propel the band through several pulverizing jams, including spontaneous flailing of riffs familiar from other songs. Again, the raw energy is astounding. This and the previous night's performance must have gone a long way towards cementing their reputation in New York City. This should be required listening for anyone interested in that era of rock music and especially for anyone interested in The Who - absolutely essential.

The Wolf-gang

Tracks
1. Summertime Blues - 4:17
2. Fortune Teller - 2:29
3. Tattoo - 4:01
4. Little Billy - 2:32
5. I Can't Explain - 2:20
6. Happy Jack - 3:00
7. Relax - 8:07
8. A Quick One While He's Away - 8:03
9. My Way - 2:31
10.Shakin' All Over - 9:28
11.Boris The Spider - 2:52
12.My Generation - 9:28
13.I'm A Boy - 2:53
14.Substitute - 2:51
15.My Generation - 4:50
Tracks 13-15 recorded Live at The Pier Pavillion, Felixstowe, UK.

The Who
*Pete Townshend - Guitar, Vocals
*Roger Daltrey - Vocals
*John Entwistle - Bass
*Keith Moon - Drums

1965 The Who - My Generation (Japan SHM Remaster)
1966 The Who - A Quick One (Japan SHM Remaster)
1967 The Who - Sell Out (Japan SHM Remaster)

1966-67 The Sons Of Champlin ‎- Fat City (1999 Big Beat)

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

rep>>> Sons of Champlin - The Sons (1969 us, fabulous psych jazz rock, 2005 japan issue)

The Sons of Champlin's sprawling, double-LP debut album, Loosen Up Naturally, had its launch marred by the discovery of an obscenity in the cover art that resulted in a mass recall and ruined its commercial chances.

They were also beset by internal strife, and when the time came to release their second album only six months later, they chose to de-emphasize the primacy of lead singer and main songwriter Bill Champlin by shortening their name to "the Sons" and also giving that name to the record. But their music remained essentially the same, a mixture of Champlin's thoughtful lyrics and gritty singing with Terry Haggerty's inventive lead guitar work and the two-man horn section of Tim Caine and Geoffrey Palmer.

As usual, there was almost too much going on in the arrangements, which gave the songs touches of folk, rock, jazz, and psychedelia, often in the same song, as a couple of the tunes extended beyond ten minutes in length, changing tempo and feel in mid-flight. Clearly, this was a band that was accustomed to using its songs as frameworks for free playing in concert, but the bandmembers still hadn't quite figured out how that worked in the studio, and their arguments about musical direction could be heard in the music itself.

Champlin remained the strongest presence in the band, but his songs (all of which were credited to the Sons communally) took a backseat to the group that was playing them any way it wanted to. The results could be exhilarating, if in a somewhat anarchic way.

by William Ruhlmann

Tracks
1. Love Of A Woman - 7:54
2. Terry's Tune - 3:47
3. Boomp Boomp Chop - 10:08
4. Why Do People Run From The Rain - 3:29
5. It's Time - 3:57
6. Country Girl - 1:49
7. You Can Fly - 11:33
All compositions by Jim Beem, Bill Bowen, Tim Caine, Bill Champlin, Terry Haggerty, Geoffrey Palmer, Al Strong

The Sons of Champlin
*Jim Beem - Trumpet
*Bill Bowen - Drums
*Tim Caine - Saxophone
*Bill Champlin - Guitar, Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals
*Terry Haggerty - Guitar, Vocals
*Geoffrey Palmer - Bass, Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals
*Al Strong - Bass

1969 The Sons Of Champlin - Loosen Up Naturally (2003 Acadia)

1971 The Sons Of Champlin - Follow Your Heart (2002 Acadia)
1973 Sons Of Champlin - Welcome To The Dance (2001 Acadia)

Just Paste

rep>>> Wizards From Kansas - Wizards From Kansas (1970 us, splendid rural psych folk rock with west coast breeze, 2007 digi pak remaster and 2012 expanded edition)

Truly The Wizards From Kansas are America’s finest horseman to gallop the spirited clouds of the Cherokee.The Wizards started their journey as Pig Newton launching their 1968 debut album Still In Kansas that pushed out a wah wah sapped version of Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” and the speckled “Exchange Of Clouds”. Wizards From Kansas blew Bill Graham’s mind during their enduring gifted sets at the Fillmore East in the summer of 1970. These convincing live performances gave the group a recording break which put out their self titled masterpiece.

The lineup now slightly changed has John Paul Coffin playing some of the most exact lead breaks ever to slit the Stars & Stripes particularly on the galloping “Ride With The Witches” where the vox command of Robert Joseph Menadier and his fortified bass takes full charge and authority.The obvious strength of the group was ex Little Boy Blues drummer Marc Evan Caplan who rolls with an incredibly deliberate shuttle, often in jazz restrain. The songsmith behind the Wizards was twelve- string guitarist Robert Manson Crain who wrote six tracks while guitarist Harold Earl Pierce often helped out on vox when Caplan took percussion.

The Wizards were in the same esoteric drift as Clear Light or Emitt Rhodes without Coffin’s fiery breaks.The acoustic tranquility is crystalline as it flows through “Misty Mountainside” and even more meditated upon is the spaced version of Bill Wheeler’s “High Flying Bird” far more voluptuous than We Five or Judy Henske. A stimulating edge spits through Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Codine” influenced by the Quicksilver jam session with Blood Sweat & Butterfield Mark Naftalin on keyboards.

by Shiloh Noone

Tracks

1. High Flying Bird (Billy Edd Wheeler) - 5:07

2. High Mister (Harold Earl Pierce, M.A. Heiman) - 2:36

3. 912 1/2 Mass (Robert Joseph Menadier, Robert Manson Crain, T. Crain) - 5:00

4. Codine (Buffy Sainte Marie) - 5:56

5. Freedom Speech (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:42

6. Flyaway Days (Ronald Sandhauss) - 4:07

7. Misty Mountainside (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:38

8. Country Drawn (Robert Manson Crain) - 2:22

9. She Rides With Witches (Robert Manson Crain) - 4:06

Bonus Tracks 2012 Sunbeam Expended edition

10.All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - 4:04

11.Codeine (Buffy Sainte Marie) - 5:44

12.Clouds Of Exchange (Ronald Sandhauss) - 5:16

13.High Flying Bird (Billy Edd Wheeler) - 5:18

14.Country Dawn (Robert Manson Crain) - 2:36

15.Flyaway Daze (Ronald Sandhauss) - 4:34

16.She Rides With Witches (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:36

17.Misty Mountainside (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:23

18.River Road (Robert Manson Crain) - 3:35

Bonus Tracks 10-18 only on 2012 edition

Track 18 from reunion on 2010

The Wizards From Kansas
*Robert Joseph Menadier - Bass, Vocal
*Marc Evan Caplan - Drums, Percussion
*John Paul Coffin - Lead Guitar
*Robert Manson Crain - Guitar, Vocals
*Harold Earl Pierce - Guitar, Vocals

With

*Mark Naftalin - Keyboards

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

rep>>> Morse Code Transmission - Morse Code Transmission II (1972 canada, tremendous heavy progressive rock, 2012 O-Music edition)

One of Quebec's most experimental psychadelic rock bands, Morse Code Transmission was formed in the late 1960s by Montreal natives guitarist Michel Vallee and drummer Raymond Roy. Then going by the name of Les Maitres (The Masters), they released a string of unsuccessful singles in English before the turn of the decade, though they also incorporated French songs into roughly half their live sets.

With Christian Simard on vocals and keyboards, and guitarist Jocelyn Julien, they became a hot commodity on the Quebec bar circuit and after signing a deal with RCA Records, and on the label's insistence, changed their name. They also dropped the original French material they'd written from their playlist, and began work with producer/songwriter Bill Meisener.

They released their self-titled debut album in the summer of '71, and although the single, "Oh Lord" b/w "Fire Sign" went nowhere, it was complimented by other heavy organ vibes and slick guitar solos in songs like "It's Never Easy To Do," "Souvenirs of Our Days," and "Freedom Train" still meant decent album sales. Although heavy on the organ and deep on bass, the music was diverse - from the grungy "Never Easy To Do" to the Beatlesesque "Today I'm Alive," cello solo compliments of Peter Schenkman, and a full strings accompaniment to Al Cherney's fiddle in "Hunting and Laughing."

By the time they were in the studios recording a follow-up, Berny Tapin had replaced Julien on guitars, and Morse Code Transmission II was released in '72. Simard was once again the chief writer, and more crunchy vocals and a pounding backbeat served up the only single, "Cold Society" b/w "Satan's Song." It failed to make a dent in the charts, but other cuts like the lead-off "Funk Alley," "Soul Odyssey," and "Sky Ride" were indicative of the more all-encompassing sound the band was trying to achieve.

The album was housed in a superbly colourful gatefold sleeve which pictures a woman lying under a tree. They play a fairly exciting organ-driven hard rock. Later the band changed their name to Morse Code and sang in French.

Canadian-bands

Tracks
1. Funk Alley - 8:14
2. Soul Odyssey - 3:34
3. Graveyard Of Man - 4:54
4. Stick The Fork In - 8:39
5. Liberty, Freedom, Man - 9:29
6. Cold Society - 4:40
7. New Woman Kind - 4:33
8. Sky Ride - 4:31
9. Satan Song - 3:24
Songs 1-4 by Christian Simard
Songs 5-9 by Christian Simard and Michel Vallée

Morse Code Transmission
*Raymond Roy - Drums, Percussions
*Michel Vallée - Bass, Vocals
*Berny Tapin - Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
*Christian Simard - Piano, Organ, Tonga, Lead Vocals

1971 Morse Code Transmission - Morse Code Transmission (2012 O-Music)