The Eric Burdon Band - Sun Secrets / Stop (1974-75 uk, great classic rock)

The story of these two albums is equally troubled as the story and career of Eric Burdon, maybe the most important voice of the British Invasion of the 60s. Either with the Alan Price Combo (later to be renamed to Animals) in 1962 or with the Animals until their MkIII disband in 1968 and either with WAR or the New Animals that follow him with various forms until today, Eric Burdon is probably the only musician of the 60s that lived through all the versions of success and failure, on both sides of the ocean, working together but more importantly living together with the biggest personalities of the music scene of the era.  

In any case, he differs a lot compared to the other big stars of the time, for two particular reasons. First, he was never a star. He was there prior to all of the others (except everybody’s teacher Alexis Korner) and he was there to see the Silver Beatles moving to Germany and he was there to see them return as the Beatles. He was also there to see the Rolling Stones release their first hit and project into a stardom that he would never experience. Second, because instead of just get inspired by the same idols that he shared with the others, he made that music his own, he lived with those idols and worked with them without expecting profit or glory. He served his childhood heroes and along with them he served the music that he loved so much and that he remained faithful to, against the weather, until today. 

Eric Burdon experienced the dark side of stardom as no other and sucked to it to the bone, carrying his experiences along with his music. He engrafted his art with what he managed to gain from his relationship with Jimmy Hendrix but also his death, from the blues lessons he received from an old blind, poor road bluesman in Los Angeles. He learned by heart and accumulated the most he could from working with Howling Wolf and Jimmy Witherspoon and so many blues greats. He travelled around the world and he is still the most charismatic bluesman, even if he is white, even if he can no longer stand singing in rooms full of smoke and sweat. 

After the Animals finally broke up and Burdon going bankrupt because of bad management from their agent and the dubius part that Price and Chandler had in it, Eric almost quit and he was just ready to return to Newcastle and the coalmines that his father worked, if lady luck had not brought him to a show by a band named Nightwish, early in 1969. Eric took the opportunity, he named himself singer of the band, added up the Dane youngster Oscar Lee to the lineup and changed the band’s name to WAR, just soon enough to present them to the world with the album “Eric Burdon Declares WAR” with several more highly successful works to follow. 

This project was not meant to last for long, though. Constant quarrels with Record Companies and Eric’s continuous abuse of drugs and alcohol made him break up with WAR and decide to get on with a solo career. This turn brought him in touch with guitarist Aalon Butler with whom he recorded and released “Sun Secrets” in 1974 when Burdon decided to add up guitarist John Sterling and record with him “Stop” in 1975. “Stop” finally, hit the selves just after the Eric Burdon Band was already history and as :Sun Secrets” before it, failed to make an impact. 

On the other hand, Eric, continuing his endless fight with the Record Companies, decided to block the releases and withdraw the albums since the company refused to pay him his rights. The two albums were released anew in 1993, both on one CD, again meeting the resistance of Burdon. This and the two original releases of the two albums, are, now, quite hard to find. 

As hard as it was with these two albums, so similar they looked to each other, as they were recorded and composed during one of Burdon’s most troubled periods. 

Sun Secrets relies more in the Animals and WAR era, albeit with a twist. In this album, Eric buries his blues roots as deep as he can and performs, among others, classic Animals hits like It’s my life (opening cut), Don’t let Me Be Misunderstood and When I was Young, although in a unique, angry and aggressive way, with a rock energy that startles. 

He seems to denunciate his own past, twisting it in purpose, trying, maybe, to change the way things flow, already knowing that he cannot. Johnny Cash’s hit Ring Of Fire arrangement in this album is given in such a way that it proves beyond any doubt what Eric was like at those times and the way that he looked upon himself as an artist. The Real Me and Letter from The Country Farm show the most heavy, melancholic and isolated Eric ever, while the instrumental Sun Secrets is just there to fit with the mood of the rest of the album. 

Stop, equally angry if you look at it through Burdon’s perspective, has a distinctly different compositional aspect playing games between rock, jazz and soul/funk shades, colouring Eric melancholic mood with a deliberately lighter mood, however it fails to hide his desire to cut off. It is quite characteristic that in the songs that Burdon has a part in the composition, the blues feeling is more than evident, even id none of the songs resembles his earlier style. 

Indeed, City Boy, Rainbow and All I Do really make a change amongst the album’s ambience and make a turn back to Eric’s roots, while in the rest (with the exception of the excellent Stop) Eric sounds detached and alienated while his performance and his voice sound different and estranged. In any case, the great performer is there, even if he “pretends”, successfully though, to be someone else, until the albums grand finale where he bursts out screaming Stop to the end of his voice in one of the best cuts the 70s ever produced. 

Two of the less known albums that Eric Burdon recorded, they are still classics in their own way. They are classics because they picture the life and the artistic journey of a 60s legend after the lights are gone. They are classics because they prove beyond doubt, that these great performers do not need a light beam to show, because at the end of their prime they just lend some of their light to others, only to deterministically take it back in the end. 

Eric Burdon is simply one of these great performers. He lived through the revolutions of music and youth in a way and extent that no one else did and he is still alive to remember. And while some others just live or have already passed away, he, at sixty six years old, he continues to be fully active, releasing one album after another, just doing the same thing he started in Newcastle by mistake, back in 1960. Singing the blues better than anyone. 

by Alex Politis

Tracks
1. It's My Life (Atkins, D'Errico) - 4:43
2. Ring Of Fire (Carter, Kilgore) - 6:11
3.. Medley - 8:30
..a.When I Was Young (Burdon)
..b.War Child (Burdon, Butler)
4. The Real Me (Butler) - 3:34
5.. Medley - 8:25
..a Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Benjamin, Marcus)
..b Nina's School (Burdon, Butler)
6. Letter From The County Farm (Burdon, Gordon) - 13:05
7. Sun Secrets (Butler) - 3:02
8.City Boy (Burdon, Sterling) 3:50
9. Gotta Get It On (Sterling, Hodgson) - 2:57
10.The Man (Sterling, Mitthauer, Ryan) - 2:56
11 I'm Lookin' Up (Sterling, Kesterson) - 2:15
12.Rainbow (Burdon, Morris, Kesterson) - 2:39
13.All I Do (Burdon, Kesterson, Sterling) - 2:08
14.Funky Fever (Ryan, Sterling) - 2:48
15.The Way It Should Be (Sterling) - 3:13
16.Stop (Sterling, Kesterson, Haney) - 5:45

The Eric Burdon Band
Sun Secrets
*Aalon - Guitar
*Alvin Taylor - Drums
*Randy Rice - Bass Guitar
*Eric Burdon - Vocals
Stop
*Eric Burdon - Lead Vocal
*John Sterling, Aalon - Guitars
*Alvin Taylor, George Suranovich - Drums
*Kim Kesterson, Randy Rice - Bass
*Terry Ryan - Keyboards
*Moses Wheelock, Alvin Taylor - Percussion

with The Animals
1967  Eric Is Here
1967  Winds of Change
1968  The Twain Shall Meet
1966-68  Roadrunners! Rare Live And Studio Recordings

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Van Morrison - Blowin' Your Mind! (1967 ireland, essential debut solo album, extra tracks edition)

Van Morrison...turbulent...today...inside....a mult colored window through which one views at time  himself and his counterself. Van Morrison...erratic and painful...whose music expressed the now! Unreal now!! the right now of his own road, his ancient highway. 

Born and raised in Ireland of mother and music and radios of stained wood and torn doth speakers that touched upon him with few but precious fragments of South and Soul...a different introduction for the Belfast boy of typical destiny who counted thousands of picket fences, decayed; leading him to Conservatory and the brass future of sound and distance. His books; his cathedral and one might have suspected no strange parallel within the cluttered floors and shelves of his library....Mother England and Muddy Waters...Land of Eire and Leadbelly... soldiers of bloodless legions and the endless army of notes whole and quarter skipping across the lines; the miles of his own battalions of music and music.

For Morrison no purpose of clouded lyrics promising jungles of purple birds or heavens of wish granting angels...for Morrison it was an infinite yearning, a hope to express the shape and smell of sheets embracing life and death...for Morrison it was and is the uncanny drive to hum of pain and women...to hum of small spaces between bed and floor...to sing of flesh and inflict...to toss darts at clouds of intangible super-structures and fantastic shapes and still hold tight to the real of dust of bottles and heartbreak.

"She comes to my room and sits on my bed and makes me feel so good." This from his pen, this from the group he formed "Them" and suddenly stardom, through the streets of London and recording studios all electric and surrounded by men of coin and dialect and repeating over and over "come on baby...once more, we got a hit" and Van blows and Van sings and Van screams and Van listens and Van says, "up them all" and becomes Van and what the hell that's his friend and now he can live with himself. He's on the golden heels of success and his recordings are ubiquitous "baby please don't go" from the down home weed country of the United States of Afro America.

This LP is Van Morrison. We won't explain it to you. With this one, go for yourself.

by Bert Berns, 1967, Original Album liner notes.

Tracks
1. Brown Eyed Girl - 3:06
2. He Ain't Give You None - 5:13
3. T.B. Sheets - 9:45
4. Spanish Rose - 3:06
5. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) (Wes Farrell, Bert Russell) - 2:58
6. Ro Ro Rosey - 3:04
7. Who Drove The Red Sports Car? - 5:35
8. Midnight Special (Traditional) - 2:52
9. Spanish Rose - 3:37
10.Ro Ro Rosey - 3:12
11.Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) (Farrell, Russell) - 2:42
12.Who Drove The Red Sports Car? - 3:51
13.Midnight Special (Traditional) - 2:47
All songs by Van Morrison except where noted
Bonus tracks 9-13

Musicians
*Van Morrison - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
*Eric Gale - Guitar
*Al Gorgoni - Guitar
*Paul Griffin - Keyboards
*Arthur Kaplan - Wind
*Herb Lovell - Drums
*Hugh Mccracken - Guitar
*Russell Savkas - Bass
*Myrna Smith - Vocal
*Don Thomas - Guitar
*Jeff Barry - Percussion, Vocal
*Bert Berns - Vocal
*Bob Bushnell - Bass
*Artie Butler - Keyboards
*George Devens - Percussion
*Seldon Powell - Wind
*Brooks Arthur - Vocal
*Gary Chester - Drums
*Cissy Houston - Vocal
*Dee Dee Warwick - Vocal

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The Fox - For Fox Sake (1970 uk, beautiful colorful pyschedelia, RPM edition)

The Fox formed in Brighton in 1968 when veterans of several local bands teamed together. Hammond organist Alex Lane, drummer Tim Reeves, and percussionist-singer Nick Apostiledes had been in the mod-soul band the Alex Lane Group. Reeves had also been in the soul band Omega Plus, as had bassist-keyboardist Dave Windross. Songwriter and guitarist Steve Brayne, who had known Lane and Reeves since primary school, completed the first lineup, though Apostiledes was soon replaced by guitarist Winston Weatherill (formerly in Gary Farr & the T-Bones). The band made test recordings at a 12-hour session in Radio Luxembourg Studios, which worked out so well that most of them were issued as For Fox Sake, though a couple tracks were re-recorded. Management interest cooled off, however, and The Fox broke up soon after the album's release. 

by Richie Unterberger

The Fox's lone album is essential and worthy of any record collection. Originally released on Fontana Records in 1970, the album is an work of art with some great haunting guitar work and hammond organ. All the songs included here are expertly crafted pop with enough experimentation, psychedelia, and intelligence to make it worth your while and if the works on this album are anything to go by then, they must have been a great live act.

For many of us the Fox were first introduced to us via the fourth Rubble compilation, 'The 49 Minute Technicolour Dream', anyone remember "Butterfly"?, which despite it's majestic sound and liner notes, actually featured no sitar at all!

Top picks from the album include the single, "Secondhand Love" which has some nice guitar and organ interplay; "Glad I Could" has a nice feel to it making it a nice beaty pop number which would have made an excellent single; "Birthday Card" has some really nice harmonies and lovely organ work; "Madame Magical" is real brain stormer and the most psychedelic sounding clocking in at almost ten minutes. 

Marmalade-skies

Tracks

1. Second Hand Love (Alex Lane) - 3:10

2. Lovely Day (Steve Brayne) - 3:28

3. As She Walks Away (A. Lane) - 5:32

4. Glad I Could (Steve Brayne) - 3:04

5. Butterfly (S. Brayne, A. Lane) - 3:26

6. Look In The Sky (S. Brayne, A. Lane) - 3:46

7. Goodtime Music (Steve Brayne) - 2:50

8. Mr Blank (Steve Brayne) - 3:26

9. Man In A Fast Car (Steve Brayne) - 3:01

10.Birthday Card (A. Lane, N. Apostiledes) - 4:17

11.Madame Magical (S. Brayne, N. Apostiledes) - 9:48

12.Lovely Day (Bonus Track, Demo) (Steve Brayne) - 3:37

13.Mr Blank (Bonus Track, Demo) (Steve Brayne) - 3:23

The Fox

*Steve Brayne - Lead Guitar

*Alex Lane - Hammond Organ, Piano

*Tim Reeves - Drums

*Winston Weatherill - Lead Guitar, Sitar

*David Windcross - Bass, Piano

*Nick Apostiledes - Composer

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The Mandrake Memorial - Medium (1969 us, nice psych early prog rock)

The Mandrake Memorial began with an unknown New York City band called The Novae Police, featuring the rhythm section of Kevin Lally (drums) and Randy Monaco (bass, vocals). They played in the Village for a while, opening for bands like The Flying Machine with james Taylor. Randy was also doing a lot of demo work, singing on the first demo of "Happy Together", which The Turtles later recorded. Meanwhile, guitarist Craig Anderton was playing in a college band from the University of Pennsylvania called The Flowers of Evil, who played shows with Todd Rundgren's first band. Woody' Truck Stop. 

Keyboardist Michael Kac was in a Philadelphia band. Cat's Cradle, whose bass player, Greg Irons, later became a psychedelic artist on the West Coast. The Mandrakes came together through promoter Larry Schriver. Who was working in conjunction with club owner Manny Rubin. Manny was looking for a house band for his club. The Trauma, which was located on 22nd and Arch Streets in Philadelphia, right around the corner from The Electric Factory. 

Larry's job was to put together a band and got Craig and Michael to quit their bands and form a group with Randy and Kevin, who were recommended as a great rhythm section by Ken King from Lothar And The Hand People, who were playing at The Trauma. With the incentive of being the house band and playing every weekend, the Mandrake Memorial was born in late 1967. They started playing the Philadelphia, New York, Boston and college circuits at clubs like The Boston Tea Party. Psychedelic Supermarket. Electric Circus. Cafe A Go- Go fin NYC). Second Fret and The Main Point just outside Philadelphia, where they were most popular. 

The group opened for top acts like Big Brother, Zappa and Moby Grape. They also played on TV with Pink Floyd. Through Trauma owner Manny Rubin, they were signed to a new label. Poppy, which was a subsidiary of MGM. Their first album, called simply "Mandrake Memorial", was released in the fall of 1968 and sold over 100.000 copies, mainly in Philadelphia. New York and Boston. By the time their second LP, "Medium", was released in the spring of '69, harpsichord player Michael Kac had left the band due to musical differences. 

As a three piece, the group went to England to record an LP with Shel Talmy as producer. They had a tour set up in England, but weren't allowed to play due to some union disagreement that was going on in 1969 between England and American groups, which also prevented The Nazz (Rundgren's new group) from playing there as well. While in England, the Mandrakes recorded a very intimate acoustic guitar album that was deemed "too uncommercial" and was thus shelved. Such "unplugged" material would become very popular just a few months later with Crosby Stills and Nash. 

One acetate of this album survives today and many of these songs would later appear on their final album, "Puzzle", released in the fall of 1969. Produced by Ronald Frungipane. "Puzzle" contained grandiose classical ideas that were the result of his background in classical music. After "Puzzle", the group recorded a version of the Thunderclap Newman hit "Something In The Air", which was released as a 45 with picture sleeve in the winter of '69. After this 45. Kevin left the band and Craig formed an electronic band. Anomaly, with musicians Charles Cohen and Jeff Kane. 

They backed up singer/songwriter Linda Cohen on her first two Poppy LPs. released in 1971-72. Randy Monaco ended up playing with a later version of The 1910 Fruitum Co. before his death in the late '70s from cirrhosis.

by David L. Brown, July 1996

Tracks
1. Snake Charmer - 2:45
2. Witness The End / Celebration - 5:42
3. Other Side - 3:25
4. Last Number - 4:31
5. After Pascal - 6:51
6. Smokescreen - 5:06
7. Barnaby Plum - 6:10
8. Cassandra - 5:26

The Mandrake Memorial
*Craig Anderton - Guitars, Electronics, Sitar
*Michael Kac - Keyboards, Voices
*Randy Monaco - Bass, Voices
*John Kevin Lally - Drums

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Stone Harbour - Emerges (1974 us, rough basement acid psych)

Stone Harbour  are two multi-instrumentalists creating a melancholic dreamlike state with songs fading in and out of the speakers, cavemen drums, primitive electronics and murky fuzz lurking in the background. The best tracks go into places no other albums reach. 

Actually closer to the heart of psychedelia than most other records listed here.' Acid Archives of Underground Sounds 'What's a boy to do? It's 1974, you're young and have a head full of Hawkwind and Roky and the Elevators, and old brutalist blues in the Hound Dog Taylor/Fred McDowell backwoods whisky-fucked mode; you're stuck in Hicksville, USA; the music scene sucks: glam's dead or dying slowly; punk is a good year or so from even starting to get itself born. 

Town's too damn small to even muster up a band. It's just and your buddy and that's it, man. So you grow your hair and wear satin, wander wide-eyed and tripping across small-town railway tracks and hang loose at the weekend in your basement. You gather a bunch of cheapo instruments on the never-never and you start cutting low-fi bedroom demos. Stone Harbour were Ric Ballas and Dave McCarty, and out of nowhere and nothing, at entirely the wrong time, they cut an LP that will blow your head clean off. This is a trip into the true dark heart of psychedelia! 

The music? 'You'll Be a Star' shimmers and aches in the midnight; cymbals wash over you, Dave McCarty's vocals emerge from some subterranean cave, as the keyboards flicker, flicker, flash across the periphery of the song; 'Rock & Roll Puzzle' is dark, twisted fried garage punk blues brutality, pre-empting The Gories and Pussy Galore by a good ten years! Songs fade in and out; finger-picking blurs into screaming squelching synths; guitars melt in the mid-summer heat. 

'Grains of Sand' frazzles like The Stooges through a fucked-up amp and filtered through a transistor radio with the valves burning out, whilst 'Summer Magic is Gone' is the most haunted, haunting song in many a long strange moon. Shimmers like stars in the 2 am fog and haze, and bleeds lost and lonely and bruised into the heat-warped dawn. You're still awake, although the brain doesn't work like it used to. 

Blurred and bleary and exhilarated and stoned to the very core of your soul.' Booklet includes lyrics and notes; disc has a handful of previously unreleased tracks from 1975 sessions as bonus tracks.

Light in the Attic

Tracks
1. You'll Be A Star (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 4:34
2. Rock 'n' Roll Puzzle (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 3:16

3. Grains Of Sand (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 5:14

4. Summer Magic Is Gone - 3:15
5. Stone's Throw - 1:25
6. Thanitos - 1:48
7. Still Like That Rock 'n' Roll - 4:02
8. Ride - 3:30
9. Dying To Love You - 3:24
10.Workin' For The Queen - 3:05
11.Taurus - 4:15
12.Wonderland (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 3:58

13.Witch To You (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 4:37

14.BattleAxe - 3:17
15.(Untitled) - 1:00
All songs by Ric Ballas  except where noted

Stone Harbour
*Ric Ballas - Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals
*Dave McCarty - Vocals, Drums, Percussion

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Sweetwater - Sweetwater (1968 us, attractive sunny baroque psych folk rock)

An unusual rock group in both the size of their lineup (which numbered eight), the instrumentation employed, and the eclectic scope of their material, Sweetwater didn't quite get the first-class songs or breaks necessary to make them widely known. Lead singer Nansi Nevins was backed not just by conventional guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, but also flute (Albert Moore), conga (Elpidio Cobian), and cello (August Burns). 

Their self-titled debut album was the kind of release that could have only been the product of the late '60s, with the music flying off in all directions, and a major label willing to put it out. Sweetwater blended Californian psychedelia with jazzy keyboards and a classical bent, especially in the flute and cello, but did not cohere into a readily identifiable aesthetic, or write exceptional songs, although they were okay. 

Perhaps Reprise was willing to give such a hard to market and classify band a shot, figuring that in the midst of psychedelic rock scaling the charts that would have seemed unimaginably weird just a couple of years before, who knew what would sell now? Sweetwater was formed from a group of friends that jammed at coffeehouses in Los Angeles in the mid '60s. 

Harvey Gerst, who had written a Byrds song with Roger McGuinn ("It Won't Be Wrong"), was an unofficial member of sorts, sometimes acting as road manager and playing guitar. For their debut album they were produced by Dave Hassinger, who had worked, as recording engineer and producer, with the Rolling Stones, Electric Prunes, and the Grateful Dead. In the late '60s they opened for a lot of big-time acts, and played a bunch of festivals without breaking into the headliner ranks. In fact, they were the very first band to take the stage at Woodstock.

In December 1969, twenty year old Nansi Nevins was in a serious car accident in which she suffered severe brain trauma and damaged her vocal cords, putting her in a coma for weeks and necessitating physical therapy for years. Although she had recorded a couple of tracks on their second Reprise album, she was unable to rejoin the band, which had to stop touring and lost any career momentum it had developed. Producer Richard Perry tried working with them, but that didn't pan out well, although the second album was completed with other members of the band taking lead vocals. 

They broke up in the summer of that year. The surviving trio of Nevins, keyboardist Alex Del Zoppo and bassist Fred Herrera reunited Sweetwater in 1997, and two years later -- to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Woodstock -- cable network VH1 produced and broadcast a film about the group, with Felicity co-star Amy Jo Johnson cast as Nansi Nevins; the picture sparked a considerable resurgence of interest in the group.

by Richie Unterberger

Tracks
1. Motherless Child (Fred Herrera, Nancy Nevins, Traditional) - 5:05
2. Here We Go Again (Nancy Nevins) - 2:33
3. For Pete's Sake (Alex Del Zoppo) - 2:51
4. Come Take A Walk (Nancy Nevins) - 3:46
5. What's Wrong (Alex Del Zoppo) - 4:02
6. In A Rainbow (Alex Del Zoppo) - 3:17
7. My Crystal Spider (Fred Herrera, Nancy Nevins) - 3:52
8. Rondeau (Fred Herrera) - 1:16
9. Two Worlds (Nancy Nevins) - 3:53
10.Through And Old Storybook (Alex Del Zoppo, Fred Herrera) - 2:31
11.Why Oh Why (Albert B. Moore) - 3:01

Sweetwater
*Nanci Nevins - Lead Vocals
*August Burns - Cello
*Alex Del Zoppo - Keyboards, Vocals
*R.G. Carlyle - Bongos, Guitar, Vocals
*Elpido "Pete" Cobian - Congas, Percussion
*Albert B. Moore - Flute, Vocals
*Fred Herrera - Bass, Vocals
*Alan Malarowitz - Drums

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The Petards - The Petards (1967-71 germany, fabulous beat psych with some heavy rock touches)

Originally from Schrecksbach (near Schwalmstadt/Hessen) The Petards, besides bands like "The Lords" or "The Rattles", were one of Germanys most successful and most popular Beat bands in the mid-sixties.

In 1966 Horst Ebert, Klaus Ebert, (git. and voc.) Ruediger "Roger" Waldmann (bass) and Hans Juergen Schreiber (drums) were forming The Petards, Schreiber was replaced in June 1967 by Arno Dittrich, at that time known as best rock - drummer in Germany. Arno's famous drum soli soon became one of the highlights in the band's live performances. With him they won the SWF - New - Generation - Competition, which made it possible to record their first LP "A Deeper Blue". The singles "Shoot Me up To the Moon" as well as "Golden Glass" quickly got number one in HR and SWF hit parades

In the Year 1968 their second album "Petards" was released including another radio number one, "Pretty Liza". The very catchy "Misty Island", a single, produced in the same Year still ranks as a classical of the beat era.

Touring excessively throughout Germany, The Petards had been one of the first beat - bands playing behind the so called "Iron Curtain" with their successful concerts in the CSSR.

Particularly The Petards - fan clubs (up to 380) with their tremendous support were extremely helpful for the band's success and sold out venues over these Years. In the pop poll of "music express" magazine they were voted to be "Best group of new generations". On "Album of the Year” The Petards reached a 5th place

Besides that the group still produced, with aliases such as Zonk and Flittermouse, several Cover LPs, e.g. with songs of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

1970 their third Album "Hit shock" was released. Appearances on French television and in the "Olympia" in Paris followed. Their single "Blue Fire Light" reached the Top Ten in France and Belgium. They showed their musical versatility also with the production of the musical “Wie es euch gefällt” (a free adoption of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night) at the Staatstheater Bremen. As the founder and organizer of the legendary "Burg Herzberg Festival" the band settled a tradition that still works today (note: After the second festival in 71 the band gave up planning another one. 

A decade later a group of musical agents took over the festivals name and installed it again nearby the original venue, of which it moved in 2004 to several other places.) The debut in 1970 had an audience of over 5000, who came to see the stars of the beginning Kraut – Rock scene such as Can, Frumpy and Amon Düül II, just to name a few.

At the end of 1970 The Petards said good-bye to Klaus Ebert, who left the band to become head of the A’n’R department at Liberty Records in Munich. As replacement for Klaus, Bernd Wippich, of whom they said he played an excellent "Hendrix - style guitar", was picked out of 60 applicants.

The double album "Pet-Arts" appeared at the beginning of 1971 as their best and most creative one with affectionately sophisticated Songs like "Baby Man" and "Good Good Donna". In March 4th, 1972 Arno’s thousandth performance took place. A few months later at the third of September, the Petards staged their instruments for their last gig at the “Western Saloon” in Wiesbaden.

The Petards

Tracks
1. Golden Glass - 2:58
2. Shoot Me Up To The Moon - 2:42
3. Summerwind - 2:49
4. Roses For Kathy - 2:40
5. Misty Island - 2:35
6. Pretty Liza - 2:32
7. The Fountain - 2:10
8. Some Sunny Sunday Morning - 2:53
9. On The Road With My Bag - 3:31
10.Blue Fire Light - 3:34
11.Pictures - 2:25
12.The Dream - 2:51
13.Keep On - 3:09
14.My World - 3:17
15.Don't You Feel Like Me? - 2:48
16.Good Good Donna - 3:44
17.Rainy Day - 3:58
18.On The Road Drinking Wine - 2:35
19.Baby Man - 4:41
20.Hello My Friend - 3:45

The Petards
Bernd Wippich - Vocals, Guitar (1970-1972)
Arno Dittrich- Drums (1967-1972)
Franz Binder - Drums (1967)
Hans Jurgen Schreiber - Drums (1966-1967)
Ray King - Guitar (1971)
Klaus Ebert - Back Vocals, Keyboard (1966-1972)
Rudiger "Roger" Waldmann - Bass, Back Vocals (1966-1972)
Horst Ebert - Vocals, Guitar (1966-1970)

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Bo Diddley - Gold (1955-66 us, pioneer rock 'n' roll, rhythm 'n' blues, 2008 two disc set)

He only had a few hits in the 1950s and early '60s, but as Bo Diddley sang, "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover." You can't judge an artist by his chart success, either, and Diddley produced greater and more influential music than all but a handful of the best early rockers. 

The Bo Diddley beat -- bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp -- is one of rock & roll's bedrock rhythms, showing up in the work of Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, and even pop-garage knock-offs like the Strangeloves' 1965 hit "I Want Candy." Diddley's hypnotic rhythmic attack and declamatory, boasting vocals stretched back as far as Africa for their roots, and looked as far into the future as rap. 

His trademark otherworldly vibrating, fuzzy guitar style did much to expand the instrument's power and range. But even more important, Bo's bounce was fun and irresistibly rocking, with a wisecracking, jiving tone that epitomized rock & roll at its most humorously outlandish and freewheeling.

Before taking up blues and R&B, Diddley had studied classical violin, but shifted gears after hearing John Lee Hooker. In the early '50s, he began playing with his longtime partner, maraca player Jerome Green, to get what Bo's called "that freight train sound." Billy Boy Arnold, a fine blues harmonica player and singer in his own right, was also playing with Diddley when the guitarist got a deal with Chess in the mid-'50s (after being turned down by rival Chicago label Vee-Jay). 

His very first single, "Bo Diddley"/"I'm a Man" (1955), was a double-sided monster. The A-side was soaked with futuristic waves of tremolo guitar, set to an ageless nursery rhyme; the flip was a bump-and-grind, harmonica-driven shuffle, based around a devastating blues riff. But the result was not exactly blues, or even straight R&B, but a new kind of guitar-based rock & roll, soaked in the blues and R&B, but owing allegiance to neither.

Diddley was never a top seller on the order of his Chess rival Chuck Berry, but over the next half-dozen or so years, he produced a catalog of classics that rival Berry's in quality. "You Don't Love Me," "Diddley Daddy," "Pretty Thing," "Diddy Wah Diddy," "Who Do You Love?," "Mona," "Road Runner," "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover" -- all are stone-cold standards of early, riff-driven rock & roll at its funkiest. Oddly enough, his only Top 20 pop hit was an atypical, absurd back-and-forth rap between him and Jerome Green, "Say Man," that came about almost by accident as the pair were fooling around in the studio.

As a live performer, Diddley was galvanizing, using his trademark square guitars and distorted amplification to produce new sounds that anticipated the innovations of '60s guitarists like Jimi Hendrix. In Great Britain, he was revered as a giant on the order of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. the Rolling Stones in particular borrowed a lot from Bo's rhythms and attitude in their early days, although they only officially covered a couple of his tunes, "Mona" and "I'm Alright." Other British R&B groups like the Yardbirds, Animals, and Pretty Things also covered Diddley standards in their early days. Buddy Holly covered "Bo Diddley" and used a modified Bo Diddley beat on "Not Fade Away"; when the Stones gave the song the full-on Bo treatment (complete with shaking maracas), the result was their first big British hit.

The British Invasion helped increase the public's awareness of Diddley's importance, and ever since then he's been a popular live act. Sadly, though, his career as a recording artist -- in commercial and artistic terms -- was over by the time the Beatles and Stones hit America. He would record with ongoing and declining frequency, but after 1963, he never wrote or recorded original material on par with his early classics. 

Whether he'd spent his muse, or just felt he could coast on his laurels, is hard to say. But he remains a vital part of the collective rock & roll consciousness, and occasionally reached wider visibility via a 1979 tour with the Clash, a cameo role in the film Trading Places, a late-'80s tour with Ronnie Wood, and a 1989 television commercial for sports shoes with star athlete Bo Jackson. 

by Richie Unterberger

Tracks
Disc 1
1. Bo Diddley - 2:46
2. I'm A Man - 3:01
3. Little Girl - 2:34
4. You Don't Love Me (You Don't Care) - 2:48
5. Diddley Daddy - 2:27
6. She's Fine, She's Mine - 2:43
7. Pretty Thing (Willie Dixon) - 2:51
8. Bring It To Jerome (Jerome Green) - 2:30
9. Diddy Wah Diddy - 2:31
10.I'm Looking For A Woman - 2:32
11.I'm Bad - 3:18
12.Who Do You Love? - 2:30
13.Cops And Robbers - 3:26
14.Down Home Special - 3:14
15.Hey! - 2:12
16.Mona - 2:22
17.Say Boss Man - 2:33
18.Before You Accuse Me - 3:06
19.Say Man - 3:14
20.Hush Your Mouth - 2:54

Disc 2
1. Dearest Darling - 2:53
2. The Clock Strikes Twelve - 3:01
3. Crackin' Up - 2:06
4. Don't Let It Go (Hold On To What You Got) - 2:45
5. I'm Sorry - 2:26
6. Mumblin' Guitar - 2:50
7. What Do You Know About Love - 3:16
8. Story Of  - 2:54
9. She's Alright - 4:05
10.Say Man, Back Again - 3:09
11.Road Runner - 2:47
12.Spend My Life With You - 2:53
13.Cadillac - 2:47
14.Deed And Deed I Do - 2:22
15.Ride On Josephine - 3:04
16.Bo Diddley's A Gunslinger - 1:54
17.Pills - 2:50
18.I Can Tell (Samuel F. Smith) - 4:27
19.You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover (Willie Dixon) - 3:11
20.Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut - 2:56
21.Ooh Baby - 2:50
All songs written by Bo Diddley unless as else stated.

Musicians
*Bo Diddley - Vocals, Guitar
*Willie Dixon - Bass, Double Bass
*Otis Spann - Piano
*Billy Boy Arnold - Harmonica
*Little Walter - Harmonica
*Gene Barge - Tenor Sax
*Bobby Baskerville - Bass, Vocals
*Gloria Morgan, Harvey Fuqua, Alexander Graves, Lily "Bee Bee" Jamieson - Vocals
*The Carnations,  The Flamingos, The Moonglows, Bo Ettes, Dorothy Holliday - Vocals
*Bobby Joe Lester, Vivian, Delores Redmond - Vocals
*Lester Davenport - Harmonica
*Billy Downing - Drums
*Eddie Drennon - Electric Violin
*The Duchess - Guitar
*Jerome Green - Maracas, Vocals
*Clifton James - Drums
*Jesse James Johnson - Bass
*Ricky Jolivet - Guitar
*Peggy Jones - Guitar, Vocals
*Frank Kirkland - Drums
*Lafayette Leake - Piano
*Chester Lindsey - Bass
*Connie Redmond - Tambourine, Vocals
*Little Willie Smith - Harmonica
*Jody Williams - Guitar

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Waterloo - First Battle (1970-71 belgium, wispy psych folk with organ heavy bombast, extra tracks edition)

There’s an old gag particularly prevalent in Britain that goes along the lines of “I bet you can’t name five famous Belgians”. In fact this small bilingual, bicultural European country has produced more celebrities than you’d think: Gérard Mercator, designer of the universal map projection that bears his name; Adolphe Sax, who invented the saxophone; and Georges Simenon, creator of classic fictional detective Maigret, are just three. Perhaps thinner on the ground are famous Belgian musicians: poetic songwriter Jacques Brel is certainly the best known, and then there’s Jean “Toots” Thielemans who uniquely plays jazz on chromatic harmonica . . . and of course Plastic Bertrand.

Prior to 1980 or thereabouts, home-grown Belgian rock bands were certainly a select species, at least in terms of penetration outside their homeland and France. Waterloo was a fine, sturdy prog-rock outfit in the English mould of the late 1960s, coming together in ’69 with members from two just-folded Belgian pop-psych groups, releasing their sole album the following year and folding themselves about a year later after precious little commercial success. Their musical pedigree was beyond doubt; organist Marc Malyster was a conservatoire-trained keyboard player, whilst lead vocalist/flautist Dirk Bogaert had been an operatic boy soprano and drummer Jacky Mauer was steeped in jazz. With the workmanlike rock chops of guitarist Gus Roan who also doubled on flute, and bass guitarist Jean-Paul Janssens, they covered all the bases.

First Battle was recorded in England with all the lyrics in English; given this plus the band’s propensity for driving three-four rhythms and breathy flute accompaniments, it’s no surprise they frequently recall Mick Abrahams-period Jethro Tull. However Malyster’s organ work marks them out from the Brit combo, favouring a churchy drawbar setting on his Hammond and incorporating plenty of Bach-like touches in the style of his main rock influence, Keith Emerson. 

The album offers nine tightly-composed, tightly-performed songs, none breaching the four-minute barrier, all with tuneful pop sensibility and lyrical hooks and featuring fine harmony vocals and terse, pithy solos. Only on the ten-minute closing opus “Diary Of An Old Man” is each player is given the chance to feature more extensively, with excellent expositions by Bogaert on simultaneous flute and scat vocal and by Roan who finally gets to really stretch out on guitar. 

Pick of the other tracks are the Tullish “Why May I Not Know” which sets out the band’s stall for the following numbers; the jazzy, socially aware “Black Born Children” which thematically if not musically recalls the Nice’s “Daddy, Where Did I Come From”; and the splendid classically-harmonised riff of “Life” which also features a vocal dialogue, fruity flute obbligati and muscular bass guitar work. In all honesty there are no weak tracks anywhere on this album. The record was cut at an unidentified Soho eight-track studio under producer David McKay (who also masterminded Belgium’s other high-profile group of the day, Wallace Collection) and the sound quality, at least on the CD reissue, is exemplary, being powerful and clean with each lead instrument deftly forefronted.

Tensions within the band must have surfaced soon after the recording, because Janssens was gone by July ’70 and Malyster bailed soon after. Replacements were found but the tight, virtuosic sound of the original lineup was never emulated; the band struggled on for another year or so, cutting a couple of singles that strangely reverted to a pop-psych template. These were included as bonus cuts on the first (vinyl) reissue of First Battle by French musicians’ cooperative label Musea, now long out of print, and also appear on the excellent CD reissue by Spanish imprint Guerszen which is still available. Devotees of the Nice, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple and other early progressive rockers will find a lot to like on this collection.

by Len Liechti

Tracks
1. Meet Again - 3:02
2. Why May I Not Know - 3:06
3. Tumblin' Jack - 2:34
4. Black Born Children - 3:42
5. Life - 2:45
6. Problems - 2:58
7. Why Don't You Follow Me? - 3:30
8. Guy In The Neighbourhood - 2:54
9. Lonesome Road - 2:48
10. Diary Of An Old Man - 10:58
11. Plastic Mind - 4:25
12. Smile - 3:50
13. I Can't Live With Nobody But You - 3:41
14. The Youngest Day - 7:33
15. Bobo's Dream - 4:58
16. Bad Time - 3:19
Bonus Tracks 11-16

Waterloo
*Dirk Bogaert - Lead Vocals, Flute
*Gus Roan - Guitar
*Jacky Mauer - Drums
*Marc Malyster - Organ (Tracks 1-12)
*Jean-Paul Janssens - Bass (Tracks 1-12)
*Frank Wuyts - Organ (Tracks 13 To 16)
*Jean-Paul Musette - Bass (Tracks 13 To 16)
*John Van Rymenant - Saxophone (Tracks 13 To 16)

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Bob Mosley - Never Dreamed (1974-77 us, beautiful country blues 'n' roll)

It seems that sometimes triumph and tragedy go hand in hand and the story of Bob Mosley goes well with this theory. His creative highs are closely bound with personal downfalls – in true Moby Grape style, it seems. For this is the musical legend with whose legacy the man's name is ultimately connected. Much has been made of the band's early heydays, the mishaps and scandals, and the great music that came with them. 

Bob Mosley, singer, bass-player and guitarist, was one of the four songwriters in Moby Grape, next to Peter Lewis, the late Skip Spence and Jerry Miller. Some of his classic contributions to the Grape repertoire: "Mr. Blues", "Come In The Morning", "Lazy Me", "Bitter Wind", "Rose Colored Eyes", "Trucking Man", "It's A Beautiful Day Today", "Hoochie" and more. Listening again to these classic cuts it becomes evident that Bob Mosley's personal style is very much based upon the concept of intensity. 

His urgent style of singing has distinct expressive qualities and sometimes is reminiscent of John Fogerty. Despite the versatility of the band's music, Bob Mosley's musical priorities can be safely located at the crossroads of country and blues. That's where he seems to be at home. His voice is unmistakable. No matter what.

Never Dreamed is a collection of previously unreleased songs. It's a chapter from the man's history that's been completely unknown until now and presents the story of a remarkable encounter: a meeting of rock and country giants from Buddy Holly's "Crickets" and the legendary band of Elvis Presley. To be precise: James Burton and Sonny Curtis (guitars), J.I. Allison (drums), Glen D. Hardin (piano) plus Joe Osborn and Emory Gordy (bass) with fellow "Cricket" Joe B. Mauldin serving as sound engineer. So is this Moby Grape meets Texas meets Nashville meets Memphis? Well, in a way it is. but NEVER DREAMED is first of all the brainchild of songwriter and producer Jean-Pierre "J.P" Whitecloud

Taxim-recs

Tracks
1. There Is The Sun - 3:12
2. Dead Or Alive - 3:23
3. Never Dreamed - 5:14
4. Willy Shakespeare Blues - 4:31
5. Shoot The Xylophone Man - 2:32
6. Put It Off Until Tomorrow (Dolly Parton, Bill Owens) - 3:30
7. Louisiana Mama (Gene Pitney) - 2:44
8. Question (Justin Hayward) - 3:00
9. Leavin' Through The Back Door - 3:24
10.Willy Shakespeare Blues (Alternate Take) - 4:30
11.Never Dreamed (Alternate Mix) - 5:20
Music and Lyrics by Susan Whitecloud and Pete Delacroix unless as else written

Musicians
*Bob Mosley - Vocals
*James Burton - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
*Sonny Curtis - Acoustic Guitar
*Glen D. Hardin - Piano
*Joe Osborn - Bass
*J.I. Allison - Drums
*Frank Arnett - Steel Guitar
*Emory Gordy - Bass
*J.P. Whitecloud - Tambourine, Background Vocals

1972  Bob Mosley

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