Fever Tree - Creation / For Sale (1969-70 us, marvelous psychedelic rock with blends of blues and classic rock)

Although a Texas, USA-based act, Fever Tree made its mark with a tribute to the Summer of Love’s host city with their 1968 anthem ‘San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native)’. Comprising Rob Landes (keyboards), Dennis Keller (vocals), E.E. Wolfe (bass), John Tuttle (drums) and Michael Knust (guitar), the psychedelic band formed in Houston, Texas, in the mid-60s as Bostwick Vine. The name change came in 1967 and the band subsequently signed with the Chicago-based Mainstream Records. 

Two unsuccessful singles were recorded, and the unit then signed to Uni Records, and recorded their self-titled debut album in 1968. ‘San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native)’ was penned by Vivian Holtzman, one of the band’s producers. Although only a minor chart hit, it received much airplay on the new USA FM rock stations and on John Peel’s Top Gear radio programme in the UK. Fever Tree recorded four albums, three of which charted in the USA, before splitting up in 1970. Interest in the band was renewed in the mid-80s psychedelic revival, and compilation albums were issued in both the USA and UK.

 by Colin Larkin

Their third and fourth albums presented here,  find the legendary Houston '60s psych band moving away from their pop/psych West Coast leanings and developing an introspective darker edge. Both albums include some great sounds, with a monster 13 minute cover of "Hey Joe" being the highlight.... 

For Sale is first, Though credited as a Fever Tree release, 1970's ironically-titled "For Sale" was little more than a collection of the earlier Mainstream sides (which may have been rerecorded) and leftover Uni-era odds and ends. A quick glance at the liner notes indicated the band had basically collapsed with keyboardist Rob Landis and drummer John Tuttle credited as 'formerly of Fever Tree'.

Their places were taken by former Byrds drummer Kevin Kelley, keyboardist Grant Johnson, and various members of the Wrecking Crew and The Blackberries on ill thought out backing vocals and Dennis Keller's vocals shine on the old standard "I Put a Spell on You," (not to mention some luscious background singing by the Blackberries, who later warbled in Humble Pie) and the Love song, "She Comes In Colors." Two of the cuts, "Girl Don't Push Me" and "Hey Mister" are actually early singles;(For Sale was the band's fourth album and was put together as they were breaking up.) In short For Sale is good but not great.

Again produced by husband and wife team of Scott and Vivian Holzman in 1969 Creation:starting with "Woman, Woman" (not the Gary Puckett song), the remaining cuts are from Creation and are all excellent, particularly "Wild Woman Ways," "Catcher in the Rye", "Run Past My Window", and "Time is Now," the latter featuring excellent guitar work by future ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons.

All of the band's work is first-rate, particularly that of Dennis Keller and superb keyboardist Rob Landes. (Note: Landes is serving as organist and musical director at a church in Houston; not surprising, since many Fever Tree songs are reminiscent of liturgical music at it's finest.)

In conclusion, a must-have purchase for your Fever Tree collection, particularly for those beautiful, melodic gems from the Creation album.

by Adamus67

Tracks
1. I Put A Spell On You (Slotkin, Hawkins) - 3:23
2. You're Not The Same Baby (S. Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 3:46
3. She Comes In Colors (Arthur Lee) - 3:04
4. Hey Mister (S. Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 2:06
5. Come On In (Sean Bonniwell) - 2:50
6. Girl Don't Push Me (S. Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 2:39
7. Hey Joe (Billy Roberts) - 12:56
8. Woman, Woman (Woman) (Jancy Lee Tyler) - 2:33
9. Love Makes The Sun Rise (F. Davis, S, Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 2:32
10.Catcher In The Rye (R. Landes, S, Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 3:12
11.Wild Woman Ways (Jancy Lee Tyler) - 4:05
12.Fever Blue (S, Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 3:33
13.Run Past My Window (Jancy Lee Tyler) - 3:25
14.Imitation Situation (Complete And Unabridged) (R. Landes, S, Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 4:47
15.Time Is Now (S, Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 4:05
16.The God Game (R. Landes, S, Holtzman, V. Holtzman) - 4:35

Fever Tree
*Kevin Kelley - Drums
*E. E. Wolfe - Bass
*Michael Knust - Guitar
*Grant Johnson - Keyboards
*Dennis Keller - Bass, Vocals
With
*John Tuttle - Drums
*Rob Landis - Keyboards
*Hal Blaine - Drums
*David Cohen - Guitar
*Walt Mescal - Guitar
*Joe Osborne - Bass
*Larry Knechtal - Piano
*Billy Gibbons - Guitar
*The Blackberries - Vocals

Other Fever Tree albums
1968-69  Fever Tree / Another Time, Another Place

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The Deviants - The Deviants 3 (1969 uk, great underground proto punk with experimental mood, japan edition)

In the late '60s, the Deviants were something like the British equivalent to the Fugs, with touches of the Mothers of Invention and the British R&B-based rock of the Yardbirds and the Pretty Things. Their roots were not so much in the British Invasion as the psychedelic underground that began to take shape in London in 1966-1967. Not much more than amateurs when they began playing, they squeezed every last ounce of skill and imagination out of their limited instrumental and compositional resources on their debut, Ptooff!, which combined savage social commentary, overheated sexual lust, psychedelic jamming, blues riffs, and pretty acoustic ballads -- all in the space of seven songs. 

Their subsequent '60s albums had plenty of outrage, but not nearly as strong material as the debut. Lead singer Mick Farren recorded a solo album near the end of the decade, and went on to become a respected rock critic. He intermittently performed and recorded as a solo artist and with re-formed versions of the Deviants. 

by Richie Unterberger

The third and, for the time being, final Deviants album is also, according to frontman Mick Farren, the record that they should never have made. Writing in his 2001 autobiography, Give the Anarchist a Cigarette, Farren observes that even the album's title encapsulated the group's state of mind -- "so creatively tapped out we couldn't even come up with a snappy name for the damned record." He is being harsh. While The Deviants, No. 3  is still a fascinating glimpse into the state of the British underground in 1969. 

A few of the songs are indeed as unrehearsed (and certainly undeveloped) as Farren has since complained -- "Death of a Dream Machine" is little more than a jingle, when it ought to be a masterpiece. But it's also a considerably more coherent album than the group's speed-freak monster mash reputation might allow you to expect, and it doesn't even sound that horribly dated. At its most seething, "Billy the Monster," the sinister Zappa-esque chant with which the album opens, captures the archetypal hippie-freak. Then, skip over the somewhat Airplane-y "Broken Biscuits" and "First Line," and you reach "The People's Suite" -- and what could be more brilliant than a suite that lasts just two and a half minutes? "We are the people who pervert your children, lead them astray from the lessons you taught them": 

Again, Zappa hangs heavy over the proceedings, but if the tabloids of the day ever needed to have their worst fears confirmed, the Deviants were pleased to oblige. Musically, The Deviants, No. 3 hangs in a void somewhere between the early Edgar Broughton Band, with whom they enjoyed the wildest rivalry, and the incipient Pink Fairies, to which all the members bar Farren soon fled. Culturally, however, it is a brutal reminder of that moment when the '60s dream teetered on the brink of the precipice, and the planet went to hell in a handcart around it.

by Dave Thompson

Tracks
1. Billy the Monster - 3:26
2. Broken Biscuits - 2:10
3. First Line (Seven The Row) - 2:44
4. The People Suite - 2:24
5. Rambling B(l)ack Transit Blues - 5:37
6. Death of a Dream Machine - 2:50
7. Playtime - 3:06
8. Black George Does It With His Tongue - 1:20
9. The Junior Narco Rangers - 0:28
10.Lets Drink To the People - 1:32
11.Metamorphosis Explosion - 8:57
All songs by Deviants

The Deviants
*Mick Farren - Lead Vocals
*Paul Rudolph - Guitar, Vocals
*Duncan Sanderson - Bass, Vocals
*Russell Hunter - Percussion, Vocals
Additional Personnel
*Tony Ferguson - Organ
*Tony Wiggens - Lead Vocal On "First Line"
*David Goodman - Backing Vocals
*Jenny Ashworth - Vocals

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