Nektar - Sunday Night At London Roundhouse (1974 uk, spectacular progressive rock, Bellaphon double disc set)

Releasing a live LP with side A containing one and a half song from a recorded concert and side B containing three cuts from a jam that lasted several hours was not a very sensible thing to do in 1974. The LP was titled Sunday Night At London Roundhouse, and its release looked somewhat overdone between the steady flow of album releases the band had anyway in those days (ten sides of vinyl in three years). I never though it was a very good album; it was too short. Too short for a live album, and too short to show anything that the band could do when jamming. 

Nektar recorded their last date on the English 1973 tour (in support of their early 1973 album ...Sounds Like This, although the masterpiece that was following it, Remember The Future, was released two days before this concert took place) on November 25th, because the record company wanted a live album. Good idea, why not, although the band were more into their next studio album, of course. 

Early the following year, while recording the following studio album Down To Earth, the bass player's birthday was a reason to go jamming for a few hours having the tape recorded running - it was March 27th, 1974. A good reason! Besides the opener Desolation Valley, many of the music that followed was pure improvisation or at least unreleased material. And sometimes very unlike their usual sound. 

With recordings like that I could never imagine how a record company could take only two songs from the live concert for one side of a live album (Desolation Valley and A Day In The Life Of A Preacher including the birth of Oh Willie, the latter was even cut in half for the release) and making a very short B side with Oops - Unidentified Flying Abstract, Mundetango, and Summer Breeze from the jam session. I once wrote that the only reasonable thing the record company could do is release a double CD of the full concert and if necessary a multi CD set of the jam. 

Well, what do you know? They did almost exactly that! First, there is a double CD featuring the complete concert in wonderful stereo quality. Crying In The Dark / King Of Twilight is good, great to hear Cast Your Fate and especially Odyssey of which I knew only one other live version. Remember The Future and 1-2-3-4 are wonderful. A Day In The Life Of A Preacher is at last complete, and a special version indeed as it has the origins of what would become Oh Willie on the following studio album Down To Earth. It shows how the band could jam while in concert, it shows how tight the unit of these musicians was, and it shows the diversity in their musical ideas. With the following jam, titled Summer Breeze, the sound is going from dreamy to heavy agressive. I have always loved this contrast in the band's sound.

The album also shows that after ...Sounds Like This and Remember The Future, the band was letting in the guitar more and more, a little away from the somewhat psychedelic sounds of the first album and the title track of A Tab In The Ocean, though still being progressive. Well, with Down To Earth coming on, this is hardly a surprise. Playing A Tab In The Ocean live in 1976, it was like the band was saying they never stopped liking their earlier sound, but they were just exploring further. (It is beyond the scope of this review to go into the sound of the album after that, Recycled, but on there, the keyboards regained importance.)

Being more of a progressive rock fan than a rock and roll fan, the rock and roll medley show closer is less interesting, but what's 6 minutes on a 100 minute show, eh? But also being a fan of early blues and hard rock, songs like 1-2-3-4 and Odyssey are just marvellous! The emotion that is feeding the musicians results in such performances that is best heard live. With the band having reformed, I am very much looking forward to seeing them on stage! 

The other side of the original Sunday Night LP received the same "and now a proper CD release" treatment, resulting in a 41 minute disc. Significantly more than the 15 minutes on the LP. I guess these are the parts from the jam that were worth a commercial release. I am still curious to what the rest of the tapes hold secret, but I am more than satisfied with what is offered here.

It is starting with a song we all know, but you can hear and feel the band is more relaxed than in front of an audience. You can hear it on other recordings as well, but not as clear as here, how subtle a guitar player Roye Albrighton is.

The other tracks are all otherwise unreleased. One Mile Red and Summer Breeze were played in concert several times, though. The first definitely bears the Nektar signature on it. But the remaining tracks all have something surprising, making this release a very special one. Being in a relaxed environment obviously lets the musicians play looser tracks, almost jazzy as in We Must Have Been Smashed or Oops, although the latter was not that laid back. 

These CDs are a real treat for Nektar fans! Fans will have it already, it's not for them I write this. If you like Nektar and would like to hear how they sound live, get this Sunday Night album right away! Unidentified Flying Abstract is amazing for fans, but there are other albums to hear first if you want to get to know the band. 

by Gert Hulshof

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Crying In The Dark / King Of Twilight - 12:10

2. Desolation Valley - 8:58

3. A Day In The Life Of A Preacher Including The Birth Of Oh Willie - 19:50

4. Summer Breeze - 3:04

5. Cast Your Fate - 5:42

Disc 2
1. Remember The Future Part One - 18:47
2. Odyssey - Ron's On - 11:15
3. 1-2-3-4 - 12:31
4. Remember The Future Part Two - Let It Grow - 5:14
5. Woman - 6:09

Nektar
*Allan "Taff" Freeman - Keyboards, Vocals
*Derek "Mo" Moore - Bass, Vocals
*Mick Brockett - Lights
*Ron Howden - Drums, Percussion
*Roye Allbrighton - Guitars, Vocals

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Grace Slick And The Great Society - Conspicuous Only By Its Absence / How It Was (1968/71 us, west coast psychedelic rock, historical live recordings at Frisco's matrix club 1966, Collector's Item issue)

This double-LP/single-CD reissue combines both of the Great Society's live albums, Conspicuous Only by Its Absence and How It Was, and features "Somebody to Love" in its original slower, more menacing version. It also includes the Society's extended version of Grace Slick's "White Rabbit" along with several other haunting originals which strike an exhilarating balance between tight songwriting and psychedelic jamming. Based on his raga-tinged work here, guitarist Darby Slick (Grace's then brother-in-law) deserves a lot more recognition than he's ever received for his pioneering explorations of Eastern scales. 

Bassist Peter Van Gelder isn't far behind him in the innovation department, and makes significant contributions here on saxophone and flute as well, plunging into John Coltrane territory on the former -- and his work on "White Rabbit," by itself, is worth the price of admission. Additionally, Grace Slick's singing was already about 95-percent of what it would be with the Airplane when she came aboard the latter, and if you close your eyes and forget what you're hearing, there are moments when you'd swear you were listening to her work from Surrealistic Pillow, After Bathing at Baxter's, or Crown of Creation. 

What's more, the CD edition is very nicely produced, the engineers overcoming most of the sonic limitations of the original concert tapes that made the original LP versions sound so flat in spots. All of these attributes make the title of this release something of a misnomer -- far more than a "Collector's Item," this is a genuinely exciting glimpse into the birth of psychedelic music, and essential listening for any devotees of the latter, or the San Francisco sound in any of its manifestations; the Great Society might not have made it past 1966, but they left behind music here that was as solid, substantial, and enduring -- and worth hearing today -- as anything the Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and the Charlatans were doing at the time. (And if you do look for this CD -- which, amazingly, is still in print as of 2007 -- a lot of stores tend to file it under Grace Slick rather than Great Society). 

by Richie Unterberger and Bruce Eder 

Tracks
Conspicuous Only By Its Absence
1. Sally, Go 'Round The Roses (Lona Stevens, Zell Sanders) – 6:32
2. Didn't Think So (Grace Slick) – 3:23
3. Grimly Forming (Peter Vandergelder) – 3:53
4. Somebody To Love (Darby Slick) – 4:27
5. Father Bruce (D. Slick, G. Slick, J. Slick, D. Miner) – 3:31
6. Outlaw Blues (Bob Dylan) – 2:27
7. Often As I May (Grace Slick) – 3:43
8. Arbitration (Peter Vandergelder) – 3:58
9. White Rabbit (Grace Slick) – 6:15
How It Was
10.That's How It Is (David Miner) - 2:39
11.Darkly Smiling (Darby Slick) - 3:08
12.Nature Boy (E. Ahbez) - 3:10
13.You Can't Cry (David Miner) - 2:58
14.Daydream Nightmare (David Miner) - 4:34
15.Everybody Knows (Darby Slick) - 2:37
16.Born To Be Burned (D. Slick, J. Slick) - 3:13
17.Father (G. Slick, D. Slick, J. Slick, D. Miner) - 6:35

The Great Society
*Grace Slick – Piano, Vocals
*Darby Slick – Guitar
*David Miner – Guitar
*Jerry Slick – Drums
*Peter Vandergelder (Van Gelder) – Bass, Flute, Saxophone

1965-66 The Great Society - Born to Be Burned

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Mapleoak - Mapleoak (1970-71 uk/canada, fine classic rock melted with rural, blues and jazzy tunes, featuring Peter Quaife from the Kinks fame)

During the mid-‘60s, guitarist Stan Endersby was at the forefront of the Toronto music scene, playing with some of the city’s most experimental and musically inventive bands. As a member of The Tripp, Endersby worked alongside future singer-songwriter Neil Merryweather and pianist Rick Bell, who later played with Janis Joplin and The Band. 

Later, he travelled to England and led the Anglo-Canadian group Maple Oak, the band formed by ex-Kinks bass player Peter Quaife. The band issued a rare and now much sought after single for Decca and an album (recorded after Quaife’s departure) before the remaining members returned to Canada. 

Tracks
1. Son Of A Gun - 3:40
2. Hurt Me So Much - 2:17
3. Guitar Pickers - 3:20
4. Natural Joy - 3:44
5. Roses - 2:43
6. Bring Me Water - 3:12
7. Down Down - 3:48
8. Treetors - 5:13
9. Flying Circus - 2:04
10.Sail Away - 2:35
11.I Don`t Know - 4:24
12.All These Times - 2:13
13.Frankley Stoned - 5:03

Mapleoak
*Stan Endersby - Guitar, Vocals
*Martin Fisher - Keyboards
*Peter Quaife - Bass
*Mick Cook - Drums
*Gordon Macbain - Drums

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The Great Society - Born to Be Burned (1965-66 us, classic west coast psych garage with young Grace Slick , Sundazed edition)

Before joining Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick sang lead and played various instruments for the Great Society, who were nearly as popular as Jefferson Airplane in the early days of the San Francisco psychedelic scene. Instrumentally, the Great Society were not as disciplined as Airplane. 

But they were at least their equals in imagination, infusing their probing songwriting with Indian influences, minor key melodic shifts, and groundbreaking, reverb-soaked psychedelic guitar by Slick's brother-in-law, Darby Slick. Darby was also responsible for penning "Somebody to Love," which Grace brought with her to Airplane, who took it into the Top Five in 1967. the Great Society broke up in late 1966.

by Richie Unterberger 

Tracks
1. Free Advice (Darby Slick) - 2:29
2. Someone To Love (Darby Slick) - 3:03
3. You Can't Cry (David Miner) - 2:32
4. That's How It Is (David Miner) - 2:27
5. Girl (David Miner) - 2:09
6. Where (David Miner) - 2:10
7. Heads Up (Grace Slick) - 1:17
8. Free Advice (Alternate Version #2, Darby Slick) - 2:06
9. Father Bruce (Grace Slick, Darby Slick, Jerry Slick, David Miner) - 3:07
10.Born To Be Burned (Darby Slick, Jerry Slick) - 2:05
11.Double Triptamine Superautomatic Everlovin' Man (David Miner) - 1:55
12.Love You Girl (David Miner) - 3:06
13.That's How It Is (Alternate Version, David Miner) - 2:22
14.Right To Me (David Miner) - 3:04
15.Where (Alternate Version, David Miner) - 2:13
16.Free Advice (Alternate Version #1, Darby Slick) - 2:09
17.Daydream-Nightmare-Love (David Miner) - 3:17

The Great Society
*Darby Slick - Guitar, Backing Vocals
*Grace Slick - Vocals, Guitar,
*David Miner - Vocals, Guitar
*Jerry Slick - Drums
*Bard Dupont - Bass

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Skin Alley - Skin Tight (1973 uk, fine classic rock)

After a live gig and a TV show in Memphis, we were introduced to Don Nix who had just been doing work at Muscle Shoals and with the Joe Cocker entourage.  He was keen to produce our next album and agreed to come to England to do this.  Hence the misinformation that we were an anglo-american band, no we were not, if anything, we were an anglo-polish band!

The resultant album was "Skin Tight" which was recorded at Chipping Norton and was done in a direct almost live-recording style, at that time unusual in England. Musically it was close to the work of many of the American bands we admired and certainly a hemisphere away from our first albumalbum.

After the release of this album we were forced to face the reality that there would be no money coming from our record deal and the live gig scene was going the David Bowie, Mott the Hoople and Marmalade way, so, reluctantly, we disbanded.

by Krzysztof Juszkiewicz

Tracks
1. If I Only Had The Time (Bob James) - 3:50
2. At A Quarter To One (Bob James) - 3:51
3. How Long (Nick Graham) - 3:28
4. Surprise Awakening (Nick Graham) - 4:14
5. Broken Eggs (James, Juszkiewicz, Knight) - 4:05
6. Maverick Woman Blues (Don Nix) - 3:55
7. The Heap Turns Human (Nick Graham) - 3:50
8. What Good Does It Do? (Bob James) - 5:02
9. Mr Heavy (Bob James) - 3:28
10.Instermental (Nick Graham) - 3:41

Skin Alley
*Bob James - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Lead Vocals
*Nick Graham - Bass, Vocals
*Tony Knight - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
*Krzysztof Juszkiewicz - Piano, Organ, Vocals
Additional Musicians
*Dave Coxhill - Baritone Saxophone
*Phil Kenzie - Tenor Saxophone
*Geoff Driscoll - Tenor Saxophone
*Martin Drover - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
*Bud Parkes - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
*The  Lounge Lizards - Brass

1970  Big Brother Is Watching You

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Tramline - Somewhere Down the Line (1968 uk, power blues rock, 2008 remaster)

Somewhere Down The Line' is the first of two albums by a group that was a contemporary of fellow Island Records' signing Free and created a similarly, powerful blues sound. Micky looks back on his early adventures with Tramline in an exclusive new interview with Repertoire’s Chris Welch for the informative liner notes: 'On the blues tunes we sounded like 60-year-old black guys from the Mississippi, which is odd when you’re only 17 and from North Yorkshire!'

Signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records (A&M acquiring US distribution rights), Tramline featured the talents of singer John McCoy, lead guitarist Mick Moody, drummer Terry Popple and bassist Terry Sidgwick. Produced by Blackwell, 1968's "Somewhere Down the Track" showcased the band's intense commitment blues genre. The only non-blues selection was a strange cover of Stephen Stills 'Rock and Roll Woman'.

Still in his teens, Moody was certainly a talented slide guitar player though the band's full hearted devotion to the blues didn't exactly give him a platform to showcase those talents. Similarly, as lead vocalist/harmonica player McCoy was a decent, if somewhat anonymous performer.

by Adamus67

Tracks
1. Harpoon Man (McCoy, Atanbridge, Butler, Wilburn) - 4:05
2. National Blues (Moody, Thomas) - 3:25
3. Sorry Sorry (Moody, McCoy, Sidgwick, Popple) - 9:00
4. Look Over Yonder Wall (Moody, McCoy, Sidgwick, Popple) - 4:39
5. Rock And Roll Woman (Stills) - 4:01
6. Somewhere Down The Line (Taylor) - 3:35
7. Mazurka (Popple, Sidgwick, Moody) - 2:45
8. Statesborough Blues (Taj Mahal) - 3:36
9. Killing Floor (Burnett) - 4:50

Tramline
*John McCoy - Harmonica, Vocals
*Micky Moody - Guitar
*Terry Popple - Drums
*Terry Sidgwick - Bass, Vocals

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The Rockets - The Rockets (1968 us, respectable west coast blended psychedelic rock pre Crazy Horse)

It's easy to see why The Rockets attracted Neil Young's attention. Listen to "Let Me Go," Danny Whithen's ambling blues/rock shuffle that appears five songs into this CD. Over a deceptively simple and hypnotic rhythm, Whithen's electric guitar begins a slow but determined build, erupting into fits and snarls and showers of sparks, never turning lo speed riffs but relying instead on the pulse and amplified grit of two or three notes. 

Neil Young's distinctive electric sound is, of course, a variation on this approach; it first caught the public's car on 1969's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere album, on which Young exchanged this kind of staccato, rapid-fire note-play with Danny Whitten. By then, The Rockets had become Crazy Horse, and the chemistry that developed between the band members and Neil Young has served them well for more than three decades. Long may they run. The Rockets was released in 1968 on While Whale Records, the Los Angeles label that had turned the world on to The Turtles and "Happy Together." 

Four years earlier, Danny Whitten (guitar/vocals) and Billy Talbot (bass/vocals), as Danny & the Memories, had released a single called "Can't Help Loving That Girl Of Mine," but it hadn't clicked. Drummer Ralph Molina joined in '66, and the band re-located to San Francisco, where the gigs were good, and where their ranks swelled with the addition of guitarist brothers George and Leon Whitsell. On the spur of the moment, Talbot invited classical violinist Bobby Notkoff, who'd never played rock V roll but was eager to learn, to join the band. Complete, they headed back to L-A. to find their fortunes. 

Neil Young, no surprise, was one of their biggest fans, and enjoyed jamming with the band when he wasn't on the road or in the studio with Buffalo Springfield. Barry Goldberg, the organist in The Eleclric Flag, was recruited to produce The Rockets at Paramount Recording. He quickly discovered that the key lo The Rockets was letting them find their groove, which, contrary to the heaviest rock of the day, was often understated — as much about the spaces in between the notes as the notes themselves. 

The band showed solid potential. With Whitten's material taking up the whole of side one on the original album, and Leon Whitsell's fierce psychedelic blues on side two (check out the gritty "Pills Blues," a high point of the band's live show), The Rockets might have soared. But fate had other plans for them. Neil Young wanted a road band, and after Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere — on which he'd employed Whithen, Talbot, Molina and (on one song) Notkoff— he wanted them. And he wouldn't take no for an answer. 

The Rockets wasn't exactly tearing up the charts, so with the others' blessings, Danny, Billy and Ralph rode off into history as threequarters of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Danny Whitlen died in 1972, at age 29, a casualty of the needle and the damage done. George Whitscll briefly took up the guitar chair in Crazy Horse, until Frank "Pancho" Sampedro joined in '75. The Rockets is a great little record, an embryonic peek into what was to come — and, in the case of Danny Whitten, a bittersweet reminder of what might have been.

by Bill DeYoung

Tracks
1. Hole In My Pocket (Danny Whitten) - 2:32
2. Won't You Say You'll Stay (Danny Whitten) - 2:49
3. Mr. Chips (Danny Whitten) - 2:19
4. It's A Mistake (Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot) - 1:51
5. Let Me Go (Danny Whitten) - 3:47
6. Try My Patience (Leon Whitsell) - 2:16
7. I Won't Always Be Around (Leon Whitsell) - 2:52
8. Pill's Blues (George Whitsell) - 4:02
9. Stretch Your Skin (Leon Whitsell) - 4:11
10.Eraser (Leon Whitsell) - 1:56

The Rockets
*Danny Whitten - Guitar, Vocal
*George Whitsell - Guitar, Vocal
*Leon Whitsell - Guitar
*Billy Talbot - Bass
*Ralph Molina- Drums, Vocal
*Bobby Notkoff - Violin

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Tangerine - The Peeling Of Tangerine (1971 us, excellent hard psych jam rock, Gear Fab issue)

In the late fifties and early sixties Big Al was on of the local, (Latrobe, PA), musicians that had the privilege of playing with some of the greats of Rock and Roll His guitar showed up on the local stages with the likes of the Everly Brothers, Fabian, Bo Didley and Lou Christy. Big Al got his first Silvertone guitar when he was in high school It didn't take long for him to excel. He went from playing on the street corner by the Sun Drugs in the afternoon to his first group playing trie local seen in a matter of months. 

Within a year he was backing up some of the top names in the business Piano was Big Al's first instrument but the guitar won his heart. He also plays flute, percussion and trumpet. Big Al was the mam influence on who Tangerine was in the 60's and 70's. Crash |oined the group in the late 60's and even though he was raised with the 50's rock and roll he brought with him a taste of the English sound, the sound of his era. Crash also brought a new type of vocal harmony to the group With the use of minors and falsetto the new vocal sound was created. 

Crash shared lead vocals with Al for live performances Crash's first intro into music was also the piano but went rapidly toward the woodwinds Clarinet, alto, tenor and baritone sax, bassoon and oboe were all instruments Crash played in high school. But because of his big brother AL, he learned to play the guitar Congas came later after the group had formed. His first professional gig was with the "Fireflies" an East Coast group. Crash has since become an outstanding bassest, his current instrument with the Ferraro Brothers. 

Tangerine has evolved into the "Ferraro Brothers" band. They're new CD, "Run that by me again", was recorded back in 1997 in Fullerton CA. They are working on a new release that will be out hopefully in the summer of 2000 When the two are not playing Big Al has an accounting Office in Latrobe, PA And brother Crash is an operational consultant and travels across the USA. Both hope to finish out the decade by tounng and playing rock and roll They have both moved back to their roots in Pennsylvania several years ago, leaving Los Angeles behind. 

The new sound is a blend of 50's 60' and 70's music It consists of more vocal harmonies and a milder blend of instrumentation.

by Lynn "Crash" Ferraro, Latrobe, PA. June 1999

Tangerine - ''The Peeling of Tangerine'' CD Reissue of their ultra-rare and very hard rock psychedelic LP from 1971, recorded at the famous WRS Recording Studios in Pittsburgh, PA. Great guitar work throughout, plus a 13 minute long track which shows off the great talent this band possessed. Very much in the vein of early Iron Butterfly!!!

Led by the multi-instrumentalist Ferraro brothers Al and Crash (they mainly played guitar), Tangerine started playing together in the late '60s, but the group's sole album was released in 1971. In many ways, The Peeling of Tangerine is a stellar, accomplished album. More than anyone, the band recalls a slightly heavier Santana; the music is full of Latin chord progressions, salsafied and tribal drumming and percussion, and Al Ferraro's beautiful guitar work, as well as some of the dynamics of early '70s psychedelia and soul.

The band doesn't stake out their own musical ground and the songs are not altogether distinctive enough; more often than not, they sound like structureless (but not formless) jams passing for songs. In the other hand, those jams are often scintillating, with a slight mysterious lurch -- had they been honed in and further fleshed out, they had the makings of blazing tunes. Underused lead vocalist Al Ferraro is a blue-eyed soul shouter along the lines of Steve Winwood, and the band is capable of cooking.

The first side of the album recalls the Allman Brothers, but stripped down to a guitar trio. The sound could benefit from a larger palette of colors, and even the guitar isn’t amped up, maintaining a mid 60s surf tone throughout are mixed in their only album, psychedelic, hardcore, jazz - a bit of everything. The album opens very brief psycho-blues 'Come And See Me', where the guitar line in the chorus is remarkably similar to Love Potion # 9, most of the known performance in The Searchers. Next - jazz-rock 'The Hutch' with blues guitar line and 'Chain Gang', where too much obvious influence of jazz, rhythm and kept it to "float" bass riff, then Ches guitar, and bass, in turn, plays a solo. Heavy blues 'AJF' is an unjustly forgotten Latin-soul gem,built on a meditative guitar riff Feedback completes the first side of the plate.

The other side does plug in, and is made up primarily of a heavy jam in the Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer mold The epic 13-minute final cut, "My Main Woman," perhaps summarizes both Tangerine's abilities and excesses best. The song contains gorgeous passages of snaking guitar lines, hyper drumming, and rumbling bass as well as joyous percussive parts, but those parts can go on far longer than taste would merit, thus losing the momentum and drive of the song for short spells before regaining its footing which was reminiscent of Iron Butterfly, where all the members are demonstrating their art of using tools (including solos on bongos).
by Adamus67

Tracks
1. Come And See Me (Al Ferraro) - 2:44
2. The Hutch' (Al Ferraro) - 3:26
3. Chain Gang (Al Ferraro, Dennis Kostley) - 5:42
4. A.J.F. (Al Ferraro, Dennis Defelice, Crash) - 5:32
5. My Main Woman (Al Ferraro, Dennis Defelice) - 13:11
'The Hutch was written during a live performance at "The
Hutch" in Vienaa, West Virginia, Feb. 28 1971

Tangerine
*Al Ferharo - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Lynn (Crash) Ferraro - Congas, Guitar, Vocal
*Dennis Defelice - Bass
*Dennis Kostley - Drums

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Fear Itself - Fear Itself (1968 us, awesome heavy acid psych blues rock, 2006 edition)

A late sixties San Francisco outfit, whose album is full of fuzz-blues material sounding rather like a psychedelic Groundhogs. Its more psychedelic tracks included Underground River and For Suki. Only two covers are present, a bluesy version of The Letter and Born Under A Bad Sign, both were chosen for their 45. The album is now a very minor collectors' item and was produced by Tom Wilson.

The album was originally released in 1969 on Dot-Records but didn?t receive too much attention - maybe it appeared as a too freaked out heavy version of Jefferson Airplane or Big Brother & the Holding Co. The group started back in Atlanta Georgia in 1967 as a quartet with 2 guitars and played true psychedelic sounds, recorded at the Record Plant in NYC, and moved to Woodstock (NY).

Their 5 original tunes, 2 arrangements of traditional tunes and 3 others are electric heavy blues with a strong Hendrix feel with duelling guitarwork, an outstanding female voice/vocals/screams...lots of intense stereo effects. They performed at Woodstock Festival in 1968 (one year before...) and at the hottest locations of NYC such as Filmore East.

Ellen McIlwaine, the founder of the group made an international solo career as blues-singer and slide guitarist sharing the bill with Jimi Hendrix, Laura Nyro, Howlin' Wolf, Weather Report, Taj Mahal, George Thorogood, Tom Waits, Chicago, Bruce Springsteen and played a series of concerts with Johnny Winter. This release, is issued with stunning sound quality and includes a great booklet with pictures and biographical background. - For all 60?s collectors who are not familiar with this masterpiece - it?s a must - there a not many groups that were able to present the freewheelin? live on stage feeling on their studio album!

World In Sound

Tracks
1.Crawling Kingsnake (Johnny Lee Hooker, Bernard Bassman) - 3:20
2.Underground River (Ellen McIlwaine) - 3:23
3.Bow'd Up (Ellen McIlwaine) - 1:41
4.For Suki (Ellen McIlwaine) - 2:47
5.In My Time Of Dying (Traditional) - 8:48
6.The Letter (Wayne Carson Thompson) - 2:08
7.Lazarus (Ellen McIlwaine) - 5:46
8.Mossy Dream (Ellen McIlwaine) - 2:49
9.Billy Gene (Ellen McIlwaine) - 3:06
10.Born Under A Bad Sign (Booker T. Jones, William Bell) - 3:33

Fear Itself
*Ellen McIlwaine - Vocals, Harp, Rhythm Guitar, Organ
*Chris Zaloom - Lead Guitar
*Bill McCord - Drums
*Paul Album - Bass

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The Flame - Psychedelic Essentials (1970 south africa, wonderful psychedelia, produced by Carl Wilson, 2011 remaster)

As the Flames, brothers Ricky. Steve ('Brother') and Edries Fataar, together with Blondie Chaplin, were one of South Africa's most popular 60s bands. Playing soulful cover versions with exotic touches that hinted at their Malaysian heritage, they had a string of local hits between 1964 and 1968, including a 14 week run at number one with a cover of Jerry Butler & The Impressions' For Your Precious Love. 

When their ambitions began to stretch beyond South Africa, however, they decamped to the UK. where their LP Bunting Soul appeared on Page One in 1968. It failed to sell, but they still spent the next few months playing London club dates. The future seemed uncertain, until one night (probably in July 1969) Beach Boys guitarist AI Jardine happened to see them play Blaise's nightclub (where they had a residency). 

Duly impressed, he brought fellow band member Carl Wilson along to see them the next night, and he promptly offered to produce an album for them, to appear on the Beach Boys' planned Brother Records imprint. The Flames gladly accepted, and later that summer they flew to California, where Carl rented them a beautiful house overlooking Sunset Boulevard. Work permits were slow to materialise, however, which allowed them not only to immerse themselves in LA's hedonistic atmosphere, but also to move away from the cover versions that had defined them thus far, and start honing their own material under Wilson's encouraging supervision. 

The songs they came up with combined the punch of their live performances with the melody and craft of Paul McCartney - who, incidentally, name-checked them as one of his favourite groups around this time. Sessions finally began in October 1969 and. without the constraints of a tight studio schedule (a benefit of being produced by a superstar), they were given free rein to perfect their arrangements. Recording of the LP was completed the following July, and they embarked on a promo tour to support its October 1970 release (under the name 'Flame', to avoid confusion with James Brown's 'Famous Flames'). 

Heavily trailed in the music press, it came complete with a lavish poster and was the first album ever to be available in compatible quadraphonic sound. However, despite favourable reviews and having a minor hit (See The Light I Better  Get Your Mini! Made Up) which reached #95 on the Billboard chart in November 1970) – it sold badly. They undertook a support slot on a Beach Boys' US tour, but a second single (Another Day Like Heaven I I'm So Happy) also flopped. 

The band soldiered on to make another LP, reportedly with fuller string and horn arrangements, but it was never released and, frustrated, they disbanded shortly afterwards. Ricky and Blondie promptly joined the Beach Boys, appearing on their Holland LP and touring extensively with them in the mid-70s. Ricky also went on to appear in the cult favourite Beatles parody The Rutles, as well as appearing as a sideman to Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Crowded House and others. 

Blondie, meanwhile, became an in-demand session player, appearing on the Rolling Stones Bridges To Babylon album in 1997 and touring with them to this day. Edries and Steve found it harder to sustain careers in music, however. Steve now lives back in Durban, where he is still active in the local music scene, but Edries died tragically young in 1978, as did Carl Wilson (who succumbed to cancer in 1997). 

Despite their lack of contemporary success, however, power pop aficionados and Beach Boy completists have always kept the Flame flickering, and it is to be hoped that this CD reissue will spread awareness of their superb music wider than ever before.

Tracks
1. See The Light 3:06
2. Dove - 2:18
3. Make It Easy - 3:06
4. Get Your Mind Made Up - 4:10
5. Don't Worry Bill - 3:17
6. Lady - 3:28
7. I'm So Happy - 3:17
8. Another Day Like Heaven - 5:42
9. Hey Lord - 3:49
10.Highs And Lows - 4:49
11.See The Light (Reprise) - 1:28
All songs Steve Fataar, Blondie Chaplin, Edries 'Brother' Fataar, Ricky Fataar

The Flame
*Blondie Chaplin - Guitar, Vocals
*Steve Fataar - Guitar, Vocals
*Edries 'Brother' Fataar - Bass, Vocals
*Ricky Fataar - Drums, Vocals

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